the clansman ------------------------------------------------------------------------- the illustrations shown in this edition are reproductions of scenes from the photo-play of "the birth of a nation" produced and copyrighted by the epoch producing corporation, to whom the publishers desire to express their thanks and appreciation for permission to use the pictures. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [illustration: the reign of the klan] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- the clansman an historical romance of the ku klux klan by thomas dixon author of the leopard's spots, comrades, etc. illustrated with scenes from the photo-play the birth of a nation produced and copyrighted by epoch producing corporation grosset & dunlap publishers :: new york ------------------------------------------------------------------------- copyright, by thomas dixon, jr. the country life press, garden city, n. y. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- to the memory of a scotch-irish leader of the south my uncle, colonel leroy mcafee grand titan of the invisible empire ku klux klan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- to the reader "the clansman" is the second book of a series of historical novels planned on the race conflict. "the leopard's spots" was the statement in historical outline of the conditions from the enfranchisement of the negro to his disfranchisement. "the clansman" develops the true story of the "ku klux klan conspiracy," which overturned the reconstruction régime. the organization was governed by the grand wizard commander-in-chief, who lived at memphis, tennessee. the grand dragon commanded a state, the grand titan a congressional district, the grand giant a county, and the grand cyclops a township den. the twelve volumes of government reports on the famous klan refer chiefly to events which occurred after , the date of its dissolution. the chaos of blind passion that followed lincoln's assassination is inconceivable to-day. the revolution it produced in our government, and the bold attempt of thaddeus stevens to africanize ten great states of the american union, read now like tales from "the arabian nights." i have sought to preserve in this romance both the letter and the spirit of this remarkable period. the men who enact the drama of fierce revenge into which i have woven a double love story are historical figures. i have merely changed their names without taking a liberty with any essential historic fact. in the darkest hour of the life of the south, when her wounded people lay helpless amid rags and ashes under the beak and talon of the vulture, suddenly from the mists of the mountains appeared a white cloud the size of a man's hand. it grew until its mantle of mystery enfolded the stricken earth and sky. an "invisible empire" had risen from the field of death and challenged the visible to mortal combat. how the young south, led by the reincarnated souls of the clansmen of old scotland, went forth under this cover and against overwhelming odds, daring exile, imprisonment, and a felon's death, and saved the life of a people, forms one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of the aryan race. thomas dixon, jr. dixondale, va. december , . ------------------------------------------------------------------------- contents book i the assassination chapter page i. the bruised reed ii. the great heart iii. the man of war iv. a clash of giants iv. the battle of love vi. the assassination vii. the frenzy of a nation book ii the revolution chapter page i. the first lady of the land ii. sweethearts iii. the joy of living iv. hidden treasure v. across the chasm vi. the gauge of battle vii. a woman laughs viii. a dream ix. the king amuses himself x. tossed by the storm xi. the supreme test xii. triumph in defeat book iii the reign of terror chapter page i. a fallen slaveholder's mansion ii. the eyes of the jungle iii. augustus cæsar iv. at the point of the bayonet v. forty acres and a mule vi. a whisper in the crowd vii. by the light of a torch viii. the riot in the master's hall ix. at lover's leap x. a night hawk xi. the beat of a sparrow's wing xii. at the dawn of day book iv the ku klux klan chapter page i. the hunt for the animal ii. the fiery cross iii. the parting of the ways iv. the banner of the dragon v. the reign of the klan vi. the counter stroke vii. the snare of the fowler viii. a ride for a life ix. "vengeance is mine" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- leading characters of the story scene: washington and the foothills of the carolinas. time: to . ben cameron grand dragon of the ku klux klan margaret his sister mrs. cameron his mother dr. richard cameron his father hon. austin stoneman radical leader of congress phil his son elsie his daughter marion lenoir ben's first love mrs. lenoir her mother jake a faithful man silas lynch a negro missionary uncle aleck the member from ulster cindy his wife colonel howle a carpet-bagger augustus cæsar of the black guard charles sumner of massachusetts gen. benjamin f. butler of fort fisher andrew johnson the president u. s. grant the commanding general abraham lincoln the friend of the south ------------------------------------------------------------------------- the clansman ------------------------------------------------------------------------- book i--the assassination chapter i the bruised reed the fair girl who was playing a banjo and singing to the wounded soldiers suddenly stopped, and, turning to the surgeon, whispered: "what's that?" "it sounds like a mob----" with a common impulse they moved to the open window of the hospital and listened. on the soft spring air came the roar of excited thousands sweeping down the avenue from the capitol toward the white house. above all rang the cries of struggling newsboys screaming an "extra." one of them darted around the corner, his shrill voice quivering with excitement: "_extra! extra! peace! victory!_" windows were suddenly raised, women thrust their heads out, and others rushed into the street and crowded around the boy, struggling to get his papers. he threw them right and left and snatched the money--no one asked for change. without ceasing rose his cry: "_extra! peace! victory! lee has surrendered!_" at last the end had come. the great north, with its millions of sturdy people and their exhaustless resources, had greeted the first shot on sumter with contempt and incredulity. a few regiments went forward for a month's outing to settle the trouble. the thirteenth brooklyn marched gayly southward on a thirty days' jaunt, with pieces of rope conspicuously tied to their muskets with which to bring back each man a southern prisoner to be led in a noose through the streets on their early triumphant return! it would be unkind to tell what became of those ropes when they suddenly started back home ahead of the scheduled time from the first battle of bull run. people from the south, equally wise, marched gayly north, to whip five yankees each before breakfast, and encountered unforeseen difficulties. both sides had things to learn, and learned them in a school whose logic is final--a four years' course in the university of hell--the scream of eagles, the howl of wolves, the bay of tigers, the roar of lions--all locked in death's embrace, and each mad scene lit by the glare of volcanoes of savage passions! but the long agony was over. the city bells began to ring. the guns of the forts joined the chorus, and their deep steel throats roared until the earth trembled. just across the street a mother who was reading the fateful news turned and suddenly clasped a boy to her heart, crying for joy. the last draft of half a million had called for him. the capital of the nation was shaking off the long nightmare of horror and suspense. more than once the city had shivered at the mercy of those daring men in gray, and the reveille of their drums had startled even the president at his desk. again and again had the destiny of the republic hung on the turning of a hair, and in every crisis, luck, fate, god, had tipped the scale for the union. a procession of more than five hundred confederate deserters, who had crossed the lines in groups, swung into view, marching past the hospital, indifferent to the tumult. only a nominal guard flanked them as they shuffled along, tired, ragged, and dirty. the gray in their uniforms was now the colour of clay. some had on blue pantaloons, some, blue vests, others blue coats captured on the field of blood. some had pieces of carpet, and others old bags around their shoulders. they had been passing thus for weeks. nobody paid any attention to them. "one of the secrets of the surrender!" exclaimed doctor barnes. "mr. lincoln has been at the front for the past weeks with offers of peace and mercy, if they would lay down their arms. the great soul of the president, even the genius of lee could not resist. his smile began to melt those gray ranks as the sun is warming the earth to-day." "you are a great admirer of the president," said the girl, with a curious smile. "yes, miss elsie, and so are all who know him." she turned from the window without reply. a shadow crossed her face as she looked past the long rows of cots, on which rested the men in blue, until her eyes found one on which lay, alone among his enemies, a young confederate officer. the surgeon turned with her toward the man. "will he live?" she asked. "yes, only to be hung." "for what?" she cried. "sentenced by court-martial as a guerilla. it's a lie, but there's some powerful hand back of it--some mysterious influence in high authority. the boy wasn't fully conscious at the trial." "we must appeal to mr. stanton." "as well appeal to the devil. they say the order came from his office." "a boy of nineteen!" she exclaimed. "it's a shame. i'm looking for his mother. you told me to telegraph to richmond for her." "yes, i'll never forget his cries that night, so utterly pitiful and childlike. i've heard many a cry of pain, but in all my life nothing so heartbreaking as that boy in fevered delirium talking to his mother. his voice is one of peculiar tenderness, penetrating and musical. it goes quivering into your soul, and compels you to listen until you swear it's your brother or sweetheart or sister or mother calling you. you should have seen him the day he fell. god of mercies, the pity and the glory of it!" [illustration: "your brother sprang forward and caught him in his arms."] "phil wrote me that he was a hero and asked me to look after him. were you there?" "yes, with the battery your brother was supporting. he was the colonel of a shattered rebel regiment lying just in front of us before petersburg. richmond was doomed, resistance was madness, but there they were, ragged and half starved, a handful of men, not more than four hundred, but their bayonets gleamed and flashed in the sunlight. in the face of a murderous fire he charged and actually drove our men out of an entrenchment. we concentrated our guns on him as he crouched behind this earthwork. our own men lay outside in scores, dead, dying, and wounded. when the fire slacked, we could hear their cries for water. "suddenly this boy sprang on the breastwork. he was dressed in a new gray colonel's uniform that mother of his, in the pride of her soul, had sent him. "he was a handsome figure--tall, slender, straight, a gorgeous yellow sash tasselled with gold around his waist, his sword flashing in the sun, his slouch hat cocked on one side and an eagle's feather in it. "we thought he was going to lead another charge, but just as the battery was making ready to fire he deliberately walked down the embankment in a hail of musketry and began to give water to our wounded men. "every gun ceased firing, and we watched him. he walked back to the trench, his naked sword flashed suddenly above that eagle's feather, and his grizzled ragamuffins sprang forward and charged us like so many demons. "there were not more than three hundred of them now, but on they came, giving that hellish rebel yell at every jump--the cry of the hunter from the hilltop at the sight of his game! all southern men are hunters, and that cry was transformed in war into something unearthly when it came from a hundred throats in chorus and the game was human. "of course, it was madness. we blew them down that hill like chaff before a hurricane. when the last man had staggered back or fallen, on came this boy alone, carrying the colours he had snatched from a falling soldier, as if he were leading a million men to victory. "a bullet had blown his hat from his head, and we could see the blood streaming down the side of his face. he charged straight into the jaws of one of our guns. and then, with a smile on his lips and a dare to death in his big brown eyes, he rammed that flag into the cannon's mouth, reeled, and fell! a cheer broke from our men. "your brother sprang forward and caught him in his arms, and as we bent over the unconscious form, he exclaimed: 'my god, doctor, look at him! he is so much like me i feel as if i had been shot myself!' they were as much alike as twins--only his hair was darker. i tell you, miss elsie, it's a sin to kill men like that. one such man is worth more to this nation than every negro that ever set his flat foot on this continent!" the girl's eyes had grown dim as she listened to the story. "i will appeal to the president," she said firmly. "it's the only chance. and just now he is under tremendous pressure. his friendly order to the virginia legislature to return to richmond, stanton forced him to cancel. a master hand has organized a conspiracy in congress to crush the president. they curse his policy of mercy as imbecility, and swear to make the south a second poland. their watchwords are vengeance and confiscation. four fifths of his party in congress are in this plot. the president has less than a dozen real friends in either house on whom he can depend. they say that stanton is to be given a free hand, and that the gallows will be busy. this cancelled order of the president looks like it." "i'll try my hand with mr. stanton," she said with slow emphasis. "good luck, little sister--let me know if i can help," the surgeon answered cheerily as he passed on his round of work. elsie stoneman took her seat beside the cot of the wounded confederate and began softly to sing and play. a little farther along the same row a soldier was dying, a faint choking just audible in his throat. an attendant sat beside him and would not leave till the last. the ordinary chat and hum of the ward went on indifferent to peace, victory, life, or death. before the finality of the hospital all other events of earth fade. some were playing cards or checkers, some laughing and joking, and others reading. at the first soft note from the singer the games ceased, and the reader put down his book. the banjo had come to washington with the negroes following the wake of the army. she had laid aside her guitar and learned to play all the stirring camp songs of the south. her voice was low, soothing, and tender. it held every silent listener in a spell. as she played and sang the songs the wounded man loved, her eyes lingered in pity on his sun-bronzed face, pinched and drawn with fever. he was sleeping the stupid sleep that gives no rest. she could count the irregular pounding of his heart in the throb of the big vein on his neck. his lips were dry and burnt, and the little boyish moustache curled upward from the row of white teeth as if scorched by the fiery breath. he began to talk in flighty sentences, and she listened--his mother--his sister--and yes, she was sure as she bent nearer--a little sweetheart who lived next door. they all had sweethearts--these southern boys. again he was teasing his dog--and then back in battle. at length he opened his eyes, great dark-brown eyes, unnaturally bright, with a strange yearning look in their depths as they rested on elsie. he tried to smile and feebly said: "here's--a--fly--on--my--left--ear--my--guns--can't--somehow-- reach--him--won't--you--" she sprang forward and brushed the fly away. again he opened his eyes. "excuse--me--for--asking--but am i alive?" "yes, indeed," was the cheerful answer. "well, now, then, is this me, or is it not me, or has a cannon shot me, or has the devil got me?" "it's you. the cannon didn't shoot you, but three muskets did. the devil hasn't got you yet, but he will unless you're good." "i'll be good if you won't leave me----" elsie turned her head away smiling, and he went on slowly: "but i'm dead, i know. i'm sleeping on a cot with a canopy over it. i ain't hungry any more, and an angel has been hovering over me playing on a harp of gold----" "only a little yankee girl playing the banjo." "can't fool me--i'm in heaven." "you're in the hospital." "funny hospital--look at that harp and that big trumpet hanging close by it--that's gabriel's trumpet----" "no," she laughed. "this is the patent office building, that covers two blocks, now a temporary hospital. there are seventy thousand wounded soldiers in town, and more coming on every train. the thirty-five hospitals are overcrowded." he closed his eyes a moment in silence, and then spoke with a feeble tremor: "i'm afraid you don't know who i am--i can't impose on you--i'm a rebel----" "yes, i know. you are colonel ben cameron. it makes no difference to me now which side you fought on." "well, i'm in heaven--been dead a long time. i can prove it, if you'll play again." "what shall i play?" "first, '_o jonny booker help dis nigger_.'" she played and sang it beautifully. "now, '_wake up in the morning_.'" again he listened with wide, staring eyes that saw nothing except visions within. "now, then, '_the ole gray hoss_.'" as the last notes died away he tried to smile again: "one more--'_hard times an' wuss er comin'_.'" with deft, sure touch and soft negro dialect she sang it through. "now, didn't i tell you that you couldn't fool me? no yankee girl could play and sing these songs, i'm in heaven, and you're an angel." "aren't you ashamed of yourself to flirt with me, with one foot in the grave?" "that's the time to get on good terms with the angels--but i'm done dead----" elsie laughed in spite of herself. "i know it," he went on, "because you have shining golden hair and amber eyes instead of blue ones. i never saw a girl in my life before with such eyes and hair." "but you're young yet." "never--was--such--a--girl--on--earth--you're--an----" she lifted her finger in warning, and his eyelids drooped in exhausted stupor. "you musn't talk any more," she whispered, shaking her head. a commotion at the door caused elsie to turn from the cot. a sweet motherly woman of fifty, in an old faded black dress, was pleading with the guard to be allowed to pass. "can't do it, m'um. it's agin the rules." "but i must go in. i've tramped for four days through a wilderness of hospitals, and i know he must be here." "special orders, m'um--wounded rebels in here that belong in prison." "very well, young man," said the pleading voice. "my baby boy's in this place, wounded and about to die. i'm going in there. you can shoot me if you like, or you can turn your head the other way." she stepped quickly past the soldier, who merely stared with dim eyes out the door and saw nothing. she stood for a moment with a look of helpless bewilderment. the vast area of the second story of the great monolithic pile was crowded with rows of sick, wounded, and dying men--a strange, solemn, and curious sight. against the walls were ponderous glass cases, filled with models of every kind of invention the genius of man had dreamed. between these cases were deep lateral openings, eight feet wide, crowded with the sick, and long rows of them were stretched through the centre of the hall. a gallery ran around above the cases, and this was filled with cots. the clatter of the feet of passing surgeons and nurses over the marble floor added to the weird impression. elsie saw the look of helpless appeal in the mother's face and hurried forward to meet her: "is this mrs. cameron, of south carolina?" the trembling figure in black grasped her hand eagerly: "yes, yes, my dear, and i'm looking for my boy, who is wounded unto death. can you help me?" "i thought i recognized you from a miniature i've seen," she answered softly. "i'll lead you direct to his cot." "thank you, thank you!" came the low reply. in a moment she was beside him, and elsie walked away to the open window through which came the chirp of sparrows from the lilac bushes in full bloom below. the mother threw one look of infinite tenderness on the drawn face, and her hands suddenly clasped in prayer: "i thank thee, lord jesus, for this hour! thou hast heard the cry of my soul and led my feet!" she gently knelt, kissed the hot lips, smoothed the dark tangled hair back from his forehead, and her hand rested over his eyes. a faint flush tinged his face. "it's you, mamma--i--know--you--that's--your--hand--or--else--it's--god's!" she slipped her arms about him. "my hero, my darling, my baby!" "i'll get well now, mamma, never fear. you see, i had whipped them that day as i had many a time before. i don't know how it happened--my men seemed all to go down at once. you know--i couldn't surrender in that new uniform of a colonel you sent me--we made a gallant fight, and--now--i'm--just--a--little--tired--but you are here, and it's all right." "yes, yes, dear. it's all over now. general lee has surrendered, and when you are better i'll take you home, where the sunshine and flowers will give you strength again." "how's my little sis?" "hunting in another part of the city for you. she's grown so tall and stately you'll hardly know her. your papa is at home, and don't know yet that you are wounded." "and my sweetheart, marion lenoir?" "the most beautiful little girl in piedmont--as sweet and mischievous as ever. mr. lenoir is very ill, but he has written a glorious poem about one of your charges. i'll show it to you to-morrow. he is our greatest poet. the south worships him. marion sent her love to you and a kiss for the young hero of piedmont. i'll give it to you now." she bent again and kissed him. "and my dogs?" "general sherman left them, at least." "well, i'm glad of that--my mare all right?" "yes, but we had a time to save her--jake hid her in the woods till the army passed." "bully for jake." "i don't know what we should have done without him." "old aleck still at home and getting drunk as usual?" "no, he ran away with the army and persuaded every negro on the lenoir place to go, except his wife, aunt cindy." "the old rascal, when mrs. lenoir's mother saved him from burning to death when he was a boy!" "yes, and he told the yankees those fire scars were made with the lash, and led a squad to the house one night to burn the barns. jake headed them off and told on him. the soldiers were so mad they strung him up and thrashed him nearly to death. we haven't seen him since." "well, i'll take care of you, mamma, when i get home. of course i'll get well. it's absurd to die at nineteen. you know i never believed the bullet had been moulded that could hit me. in three years of battle i lived a charmed life and never got a scratch." his voice had grown feeble and laboured, and his face flushed. his mother placed her hand on his lips. "just one more," he pleaded feebly. "did you see the little angel who has been playing and singing for me? you must thank her." "yes, i see her coming now. i must go and tell margaret, and we will get a pass and come every day." she kissed him, and went to meet elsie. "and you are the dear girl who has been playing and singing for my boy, a wounded stranger here alone among his foes?" "yes, and for all the others, too." mrs. cameron seized both of her hands and looked at her tenderly. "you will let me kiss you? i shall always love you." she pressed elsie to her heart. in spite of the girl's reserve, a sob caught her breath at the touch of the warm lips. her own mother had died when she was a baby, and a shy, hungry heart, long hidden from the world, leaped in tenderness and pain to meet that embrace. elsie walked with her to the door, wondering how the terrible truth of her boy's doom could be told. she tried to speak, looked into mrs. cameron's face, radiant with grateful joy, and the words froze on her lips. she decided to walk a little way with her. but the task became all the harder. at the corner she stopped abruptly and bade her good-bye: "i must leave you now, mrs. cameron. i will call for you in the morning and help you secure the passes to enter the hospital." the mother stroked the girl's hand and held it lingeringly. "how good you are," she said softly. "and you have not told me your name?" elsie hesitated and said: "that's a little secret. they call me sister elsie, the banjo maid, in the hospitals. my father is a man of distinction. i should be annoyed if my full name were known. i'm elsie stoneman. my father is the leader of the house. i live with my aunt." "thank you," she whispered, pressing her hand. elsie watched the dark figure disappear in the crowd with a strange tumult of feeling. the mention of her father had revived the suspicion that he was the mysterious power threatening the policy of the president and planning a reign of terror for the south. next to the president, he was the most powerful man in washington, and the unrelenting foe of mr. lincoln, although the leader of his party in congress, which he ruled with a rod of iron. he was a man of fierce and terrible resentments. and yet, in his personal life, to those he knew, he was generous and considerate. "old austin stoneman, the great commoner," he was called, and his name was one to conjure with in the world of deeds. to this fair girl he was the noblest roman of them all, her ideal of greatness. he was an indulgent father, and while not demonstrative, loved his children with passionate devotion. she paused and looked up at the huge marble columns that seemed each a sentinel beckoning her to return within to the cot that held a wounded foe. the twilight had deepened, and the soft light of the rising moon had clothed the solemn majesty of the building with shimmering tenderness and beauty. "why should i be distressed for one, an enemy, among these thousands who have fallen?" she asked herself. every detail of the scene she had passed through with him and his mother stood out in her soul with startling distinctness--and the horror of his doom cut with the deep sense of personal anguish. "he shall not die," she said, with sudden resolution. "i'll take his mother to the president. he can't resist her. i'll send for phil to help me." she hurried to the telegraph office and summoned her brother. chapter ii the great heart the next morning, when elsie reached the obscure boarding-house at which mrs. cameron stopped, the mother had gone to the market to buy a bunch of roses to place beside her boy's cot. as elsie awaited her return, the practical little yankee maid thought with a pang of the tenderness and folly of such people. she knew this mother had scarcely enough to eat, but to her bread was of small importance, flowers necessary to life. after all, it was very sweet, this foolishness of these southern people, and it somehow made her homesick. "how can i tell her!" she sighed. "and yet i must." she had only waited a moment when mrs. cameron suddenly entered with her daughter. she threw her flowers on the table, sprang forward to meet elsie, seized her hands and called to margaret. "how good of you to come so soon! this, margaret, is our dear little friend who has been so good to ben and to me." margaret took elsie's hand and longed to throw her arms around her neck, but something in the quiet dignity of the northern girl's manner held her back. she only smiled tenderly through her big dark eyes, and softly said: "we love you! ben was my last brother. we were playmates and chums. my heart broke when he ran away to the front. how can we thank you and your brother!" "i'm sure we've done nothing more than you would have done for us," said elsie, as mrs. cameron left the room. "yes, i know, but we can never tell you how grateful we are to you. we feel that you have saved ben's life and ours. the war has been one long horror to us since my first brother was killed. but now it's over, and we have ben left, and our hearts have been crying for joy all night." "i hoped my brother, captain phil stoneman, would be here to-day to meet you and help me, but he can't reach washington before friday." "he caught ben in his arms!" cried margaret. "i know he's brave, and you must be proud of him." "doctor barnes says they are as much alike as twins--only phil is not quite so tall and has blond hair like mine." "you will let me see him and thank him the moment he comes?" "hurry, margaret!" cheerily cried mrs. cameron, reëntering the parlour. "get ready; we must go at once to the hospital." margaret turned and with stately grace hurried from the room. the old dress she wore as unconscious of its shabbiness as though it were a royal robe. "and now, my dear, what must i do to get the passes?" asked the mother eagerly. elsie's warm amber eyes grew misty for a moment, and the fair skin with its gorgeous rose tints of the north paled. she hesitated, tried to speak, and was silent. the sensitive soul of the southern woman read the message of sorrow words had not framed. "tell me, quickly! the doctor--has--not--concealed--his--true--condition--from--me?" "no, he is certain to recover." "what then?" "worse--he is condemned to death by court-martial." "condemned to death--a--wounded--prisoner--of--war!" she whispered slowly, with blanched face. "yes, he was accused of violating the rules of war as a guerilla raider in the invasion of pennsylvania." "absurd and monstrous! he was on general jeb stuart's staff and could have acted only under his orders. he joined the infantry after stuart's death, and rose to be a colonel, though but a boy. there's some terrible mistake!" "unless we can obtain his pardon," elsie went on in even, restrained tones, "there is no hope. we must appeal to the president." the mother's lips trembled, and she seemed about to faint. "could i see the president?" she asked, recovering herself with an effort. "he has just reached washington from the front, and is thronged by thousands. it will be difficult." the mother's lips were moving in silent prayer, and her eyes were tightly closed to keep back the tears. "can you help me, dear?" she asked piteously. "yes," was the quick response. "you see," she went on, "i feel so helpless. i have never been to the white house or seen the president, and i don't know how to go about seeing him or how to ask him--and--i am afraid of mr. lincoln! i have heard so many harsh things said of him." "i'll do my best, mrs. cameron. we must go at once to the white house and try to see him." the mother lifted the girl's hand and stroked it gently. "we will not tell margaret. poor child! she could not endure this. when we return, we may have better news. it can't be worse. i'll send her on an errand." she took up the bouquet of gorgeous roses with a sigh, buried her face in the fresh perfume, as if to gain strength in their beauty and fragrance, and left the room. in a few moments she had returned and was on her way with elsie to the white house. it was a beautiful spring morning, this eleventh day of april, . the glorious sunshine, the shimmering green of the grass, the warm breezes, and the shouts of victory mocked the mother's anguish. at the white house gates they passed the blue sentry pacing silently back and forth, who merely glanced at them with keen eyes and said nothing. in the steady beat of his feet the mother could hear the tramp of soldiers leading her boy to the place of death! a great lump rose in her throat as she caught the first view of the executive mansion gleaming white and silent and ghostlike among the budding trees. the tall columns of the great facade, spotless as snow, the spray of the fountain, the marble walls, pure, dazzling, and cold, seemed to her the gateway to some great tomb in which her own dead and the dead of all the people lay! to her the fair white palace, basking there in the sunlight and budding grass, shrub, and tree, was the judgment house of fate. she thought of all the weary feet that had climbed its fateful steps in hope to return in despair, of its fierce dramas on which the lives of millions had hung, and her heart grew sick. a long line of people already stretched from the entrance under the portico far out across the park, awaiting their turn to see the president. mrs. cameron placed her hand falteringly on elsie's shoulder. "look, my dear, what a crowd already! must we wait in line?" "no, i can get you past the throng with my father's name." "will it be very difficult to reach the president?" "no, it's very easy. guards and sentinels annoy him. he frets until they are removed. an assassin or maniac could kill him almost any hour of the day or night. the doors are open at all hours, very late at night. i have often walked up to the rooms of his secretaries as late as nine o'clock without being challenged by a soul." "what must i call him? must i say 'your excellency?'" "by no means--he hates titles and forms. you should say 'mr. president' in addressing him. but you will please him best if, in your sweet, homelike way, you will just call him by his name. you can rely on his sympathy. read this letter of his to a widow. i brought it to show you." she handed mrs. cameron a newspaper clipping on which was printed mr. lincoln's letter to mrs. bixby, of boston, who had lost five sons in the war. over and over she read its sentences until they echoed as solemn music in her soul: "i feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. but i cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. i pray that our heavenly father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. "yours very sincerely and respectfully, "abraham lincoln." "and the president paused amid a thousand cares to write that letter to a broken-hearted woman?" the mother asked. "yes." "then he is good down to the last secret depths of a great heart! only a christian father could have written that letter. i shall not be afraid to speak to him. and they told me he was an infidel!" elsie led her by a private way past the crowd and into the office of major hay, the president's private secretary. a word from the great commoner's daughter admitted them at once to the president's room. "just take a seat on one side, miss elsie," said major hay; "watch your first opportunity and introduce your friend." on entering the room, mrs. cameron could not see the president, who was seated at his desk surrounded by three men in deep consultation over a mass of official documents. she looked about the room nervously and felt reassured by its plain aspect. it was a medium-sized, officelike place, with no signs of elegance or ceremony. mr. lincoln was seated in an armchair beside a high writing-desk and table combined. she noticed that his feet were large and that they rested on a piece of simple straw matting. around the room were sofas and chairs covered with green worsted. when the group about the chair parted a moment, she caught the first glimpse of the man who held her life in the hollow of his hand. she studied him with breathless interest. his back was still turned. even while seated, she saw that he was a man of enormous stature, fully six feet four inches tall, legs and arms abnormally long, and huge broad shoulders slightly stooped. his head was powerful and crowned with a mass of heavy brown hair, tinged with silver. he turned his head slightly and she saw his profile set in its short dark beard--the broad intellectual brow, half covered by unmanageable hair, his face marked with deep-cut lines of life and death, with great hollows in the cheeks and under the eyes. in the lines which marked the corners of his mouth she could see firmness, and his beetling brows and unusually heavy eyelids looked stern and formidable. her heart sank. she looked again and saw goodness, tenderness, sorrow, canny shrewdness, and a strange lurking smile all haunting his mouth and eye. suddenly he threw himself forward in his chair, wheeled and faced one of his tormentors with a curious and comical expression. with one hand patting the other, and a funny look overspreading his face, he said: "my friend, let me tell you something----" the man again stepped before him, and she could hear nothing. when the story was finished, the man tried to laugh. it died in a feeble effort. but the president laughed heartily, laughed all over, and laughed his visitors out of the room. mrs. cameron turned toward elsie with a mute look of appeal to give her this moment of good-humour in which to plead her cause, but before she could move a man of military bearing suddenly stepped before the president. he began to speak, but seeing the look of stern decision in mr. lincoln's face, turned abruptly and said: "mr. president, i see you are fully determined not to do me justice!" mr. lincoln slightly compressed his lips, rose quietly, seized the intruder by the arm, and led him toward the door. "this is the third time you have forced your presence on me, sir, asking that i reverse the just sentence of a court-martial, dismissing you from the service. i told you my decision was carefully made and was final. now i give you fair warning never to show yourself in this room again. i can bear censure, but i will not endure insult!" in whining tones the man begged for his papers he had dropped. "begone, sir," said the president, as he thrust him through the door. "your papers will be sent to you." the poor mother trembled at this startling act and sank back limp in her seat. with quick, swinging stride the president walked back to his desk, accompanied by major hay and a young german girl, whose simple dress told that she was from the western plains. he handed the secretary an official paper. "give this pardon to the boy's mother when she comes this morning," he said kindly to the secretary, his eyes suddenly full of gentleness. "how could i consent to shoot a boy raised on a farm, in the habit of going to bed at dark, for falling asleep at his post when required to watch all night? i'll never go into eternity with the blood of such a boy on my skirts." again the mother's heart rose. "you remember the young man i pardoned for a similar offence in ' , about which stanton made such a fuss?" he went on in softly reminiscent tones. "well, here is that pardon." he drew from the lining of his silk hat a photograph, around which was wrapped an executive pardon. through the lower end of it was a bullet-hole stained with blood. "i got this in richmond. they found him dead on the field. he fell in the front ranks with my photograph in his pocket next to his heart, this pardon wrapped around it, and on the back of it in his boy's scrawl, '_god bless abraham lincoln_.' i love to invest in bonds like that." the secretary returned to his room, the girl who was waiting stepped forward, and the president rose to receive her. the mother's quick eye noted, with surprise, the simple dignity and chivalry of manner with which he received this humble woman of the people. with straightforward eloquence the girl poured out her story, begging for the pardon of her young brother who had been sentenced to death as a deserter. he listened in silence. how pathetic the deep melancholy of his sad face! yes, she was sure, the saddest face that god ever made in all the world! her own stricken heart for a moment went out to him in sympathy. the president took off his spectacles, wiped his forehead with the large red silk handkerchief he carried, and his eyes twinkled kindly down into the good german face. "you seem an honest, truthful, sweet girl," he said, "and"--he smiled--"you don't wear hoop skirts! i may be whipped for this, but i'll trust you and your brother, too. he shall be pardoned." elsie rose to introduce mrs. cameron, when a congressman from massachusetts suddenly stepped before her and pressed for the pardon of a slave trader whose ship had been confiscated. he had spent five years in prison, but could not pay the heavy fine in money imposed. the president had taken his seat again, and read the eloquent appeal for mercy. he looked up over his spectacles, fixed his eyes piercingly on the congressman and said: "this is a moving appeal, sir, expressed with great eloquence. i might pardon a murderer under the spell of such words, but a man who can make a business of going to africa and robbing her of her helpless children and selling them into bondage--no, sir--he may rot in jail before he shall have liberty by any act of mine!" again the mother's heart sank. her hour had come. she must put the issue of life or death to the test, and as elsie rose and stepped quickly forward, she followed; nerving herself for the ordeal. the president took elsie's hand familiarly and smiled without rising. evidently she was well known to him. "will you hear the prayer of a broken-hearted mother of the south, who has lost four sons in general lee's army?" she asked. looking quietly past the girl, he caught sight, for the first time, of the faded dress and the sorrow-shadowed face. he was on his feet in a moment, extended his hand and led her to a chair. "take this seat, madam, and then tell me in your own way what i can do for you." in simple words, mighty with the eloquence of a mother's heart, she told her story and asked for the pardon of her boy, promising his word of honour and her own that he would never again take up arms against the union. "the war is over now, mr. lincoln," she said, "and we have lost all. can you conceive the desolation of _my_ heart? my four boys were noble men. they may have been wrong, but they fought for what they believed to be right. you, too, have lost a boy." the president's eyes grew dim. "yes, a beautiful boy----" he said simply. "well, mine are all gone but this baby. one of them sleeps in an unmarked grave at gettysburg. one died in a northern prison. one fell at chancellorsville, one in the wilderness, and this, my baby, before petersburg. perhaps i've loved him too much, this last one--he's only a child yet----" "you shall have your boy, my dear madam," the president said simply, seating himself and writing a brief order to the secretary of war. the mother drew near his desk, softly crying. through her tears she said: "my heart is heavy, mr. lincoln, when i think of all the hard and bitter things we have heard of you." "well, give my love to the people of south carolina when you go home, and tell them that i am their president, and that i have never forgotten this fact in the darkest hours of this awful war; and i am going to do everything in my power to help them." "you will never regret this generous act," the mother cried with gratitude. "i reckon not," he answered. "i'll tell you something, madam, if you won't tell anybody. it's a secret of my administration. i'm only too glad of an excuse to save a life when i can. every drop of blood shed in this war north and south has been as if it were wrung out of my heart. a strange fate decreed that the bloodiest war in human history should be fought under my direction. and i--to whom the sight of blood is a sickening horror--i have been compelled to look on in silent anguish because i could not stop it! now that the union is saved, not another drop of blood shall be spilled if i can prevent it." "may god bless you!" the mother cried, as she received from him the order. she held his hand an instant as she took her leave, laughing and sobbing in her great joy. "i must tell you, mr. president," she said, "how surprised and how pleased i am to find you are a southern man." "why, didn't you know that my parents were virginians, and that i was born in kentucky?" "very few people in the south know it. i am ashamed to say i did not." "then, how did you know i am a southerner?" "by your looks, your manner of speech, your easy, kindly ways, your tenderness and humour, your firmness in the right as you see it, and, above all, the way you rose and bowed to a woman in an old, faded black dress, whom you knew to be an enemy." "no, madam, not an enemy now," he said softly. "that word is out of date." "if we had only known you in time----" the president accompanied her to the door with a deference of manner that showed he had been deeply touched. "take this letter to mr. stanton at once," he said. "some folks complain of my pardons, but it rests me after a hard day's work if i can save some poor boy's life. i go to bed happy, thinking of the joy i have given to those who love him." as the last words were spoken, a peculiar dreaminess of expression stole over his careworn face, as if a throng of gracious memories had lifted for a moment the burden of his life. chapter iii the man of war elsie led mrs. cameron direct from the white house to the war department. "well, mrs. cameron, what did you think of the president?" she asked. "i hardly know," was the thoughtful answer. "he is the greatest man i ever met. one feels this instinctively." when mrs. cameron was ushered into the secretary's office, mr. stanton was seated at his desk writing. she handed the order of the president to a clerk, who gave it to the secretary. he was a man in the full prime of life, intellectual and physical, low and heavy set, about five feet eight inches in height and inclined to fat. his movements, however, were quick, and as he swung in his chair the keenest vigour marked every movement of body and every change of his countenance. his face was swarthy and covered with a long, dark beard touched with gray. he turned a pair of little black piercing eyes on her and without rising said: "so you are the woman who has a wounded son under sentence of death as a guerilla?" "i am so unfortunate," she answered. "well, i have nothing to say to you," he went on in a louder and sterner tone, "and no time to waste on you. if you have raised up men to rebel against the best government under the sun, you can take the consequences----" "but, my dear sir," broke in the mother, "he is a mere boy of nineteen, who ran away three years ago and entered the service----" "i don't want to hear another word from you!" he yelled in rage. "i have no time to waste--go at once. i'll do nothing for you." "but i bring you an order from the president," protested the mother. "yes, i know it," he answered with a sneer, "and i'll do with it what i've done with many others--see that it is not executed--now go." "but the president told me you would give me a pass to the hospital, and that a full pardon would be issued to my boy!" "yes, i see. but let me give you some information. the president is a fool--a d---- fool! now, will you go?" with a sinking sense of horror, mrs. cameron withdrew and reported to elsie the unexpected encounter. "the brute!" cried the girl. "we'll go back immediately and report this insult to the president." "why are such men intrusted with power?" the mother sighed. "it's a mystery to me, i'm sure. they say he is the greatest secretary of war in our history. i don't believe it. phil hates the sight of him, and so does every army officer i know, from general grant down. i hope mr. lincoln will expel him from the cabinet for this insult." when, they were again ushered into the president's office, elsie hastened to inform him of the outrageous reply the secretary of war had made to his order. "did stanton say that i was a fool?" he asked, with a quizzical look out of his kindly eyes. "yes, he did," snapped elsie. "and he repeated it with a blankety prefix." the president looked good-humouredly out of the window toward the war office and musingly said: "well, if stanton says that i am a blankety fool, it must be so, for i have found out that he is nearly always right, and generally means what he says. i'll just step over and see stanton." as he spoke the last sentence, the humour slowly faded from his face, and the anxious mother saw back of those patient gray eyes the sudden gleam of the courage and conscious power of a lion. he dismissed them with instructions to return the next day for his final orders and walked over to the war department alone. the secretary of war was in one of his ugliest moods, and made no effort to conceal it when asked his reasons for the refusal to execute the order. "the grounds for my action are very simple," he said with bitter emphasis. "the execution of this traitor is part of a carefully considered policy of justice on which the future security of the nation depends. if i am to administer this office, i will not be hamstrung by constant executive interference. besides, in this particular case, i was urged that justice be promptly executed by the most powerful man in congress. i advise you to avoid a quarrel with old stoneman at this crisis in our history." the president sat on a sofa with his legs crossed, relapsed into an attitude of resignation, and listened in silence until the last sentence, when suddenly he sat bolt upright, fixed his deep gray eyes intently on stanton and said: "mr. secretary, i reckon you will have to execute that order." "i cannot do it," came the firm answer. "it is an interference with justice, and i will not execute it." mr. lincoln held his eyes steadily on stanton and slowly said: "mr. secretary, it will have to be done." stanton wheeled in his chair, seized a pen and wrote very rapidly a few lines to which he fixed his signature. he rose with the paper in his hand, walked to his chief, and with deep emotion said: "mr. president, i wish to thank you for your constant friendship during the trying years i have held this office. the war is ended, and my work is done. i hand you my resignation." mr. lincoln's lips came suddenly together, he slowly rose, and looked down with surprise into the flushed angry face. he took the paper, tore it into pieces, slipped one of his long arms around the secretary, and said in low accents: "stanton, you have been a faithful public servant, and it is not for you to say when you will no longer be needed. go on with your work. i will have my way in this matter; but i will attend to it personally." stanton resumed his seat, and the president returned to the white house. chapter iv a clash of giants elsie secured from the surgeon-general temporary passes for the day, and sent her friends to the hospital with the promise that she would not leave the white house until she had secured the pardon. the president greeted her with unusual warmth. the smile that had only haunted his sad face during four years of struggle, defeat, and uncertainty had now burst into joy that made his powerful head radiate light. victory had lifted the veil from his soul, and he was girding himself for the task of healing the nation's wounds. "i'll have it ready for you in a moment, miss elsie," he said, touching with his sinewy hand a paper which lay on his desk, bearing on its face the red seal of the republic. "i am only waiting to receive the passes." "i am very grateful to you, mr. president," the girl said feelingly. "but tell me," he said, with quaint, fatherly humour, "why you, of all our girls, the brightest, fiercest little yankee in town, so take to heart a rebel boy's sorrows?" elsie blushed, and then looked at him frankly with a saucy smile. "i am fulfilling the commandments." "love your enemies?" "certainly. how could one help loving the sweet, motherly face you saw yesterday." the president laughed heartily. "i see--of course, of course!" "the honourable austin stoneman," suddenly announced a clerk at his elbow. elsie started in surprise and whispered: "do not let my father know i am here. i will wait in the next room. you'll let nothing delay the pardon, will you, mr. president?" mr. lincoln warmly pressed her hand as she disappeared through the door leading into major hay's room, and turned to meet the great commoner who hobbled slowly in, leaning on his crooked cane. at this moment he was a startling and portentous figure in the drama of the nation, the most powerful parliamentary leader in american history, not excepting henry clay. no stranger ever passed this man without a second look. his clean-shaven face, the massive chiselled features, his grim eagle look, and cold, colourless eyes, with the frosts of his native vermont sparkling in their depths, compelled attention. his walk was a painful hobble. he was lame in both feet, and one of them was deformed. the left leg ended in a mere bunch of flesh, resembling more closely an elephant's hoof than the foot of a man. he was absolutely bald, and wore a heavy brown wig that seemed too small to reach the edge of his enormous forehead. he rarely visited the white house. he was the able, bold, unscrupulous leader of leaders, and men came to see him. he rarely smiled, and when he did it was the smile of the cynic and misanthrope. his tongue had the lash of a scorpion. he was a greater terror to the trimmers and time-servers of his own party than to his political foes. he had hated the president with sullen, consistent, and unyielding venom from his first nomination at chicago down to the last rumour of his new proclamation. in temperament a fanatic, in impulse a born revolutionist, the word conservatism was to him as a red rag to a bull. the first clash of arms was music to his soul. he laughed at the call for , volunteers, and demanded the immediate equipment of an army of a million men. he saw it grow to , , . from the first, his eagle eye had seen the end and all the long, blood-marked way between. and from the first, he began to plot the most cruel and awful vengeance in human history. and now his time had come. the giant figure in the white house alone had dared to brook his anger and block the way; for old stoneman was the congress of the united states. the opposition was too weak even for his contempt. cool, deliberate, and venomous alike in victory or defeat, the fascination of his positive faith and revolutionary programme had drawn the rank and file of his party in congress to him as charmed satellites. the president greeted him cordially, and with his habitual deference to age and physical infirmity hastened to place for him an easy chair near his desk. he was breathing heavily and evidently labouring under great emotion. he brought his cane to the floor with violence, placed both hands on its crook, leaned his massive jaws on his hands for a moment, and then said: "mr. president, i have not annoyed you with many requests during the past four years, nor am i here to-day to ask any favours. i have come to warn you that, in the course you have mapped out, the executive and legislative branches have come to the parting of the ways, and that your encroachments on the functions of congress will be tolerated, now that the rebellion is crushed, not for a single moment!" mr. lincoln listened with dignity, and a ripple of fun played about his eyes as he looked at his grim visitor. the two men were face to face at last--the two men above all others who had built and were to build the foundations of the new nation--lincoln's in love and wisdom to endure forever, the great commoner's in hate and madness, to bear its harvest of tragedy and death for generations yet unborn. "well, now, stoneman," began the good-humoured voice, "that puts me in mind----" the old commoner lifted his hand with a gesture of angry impatience: "save your fables for fools. is it true that you have prepared a proclamation restoring the conquered province of north carolina to its place as a state in the union with no provision for negro suffrage or the exile and disfranchisement of its rebels?" the president rose and walked back and forth with his hands folded behind him before answering. "i have. the constitution grants to the national government no power to regulate suffrage, and makes no provision for the control of 'conquered provinces.'" "constitution!" thundered stoneman. "i have a hundred constitutions in the pigeonholes of my desk!" "i have sworn to support but one." "a worn-out rag----" "rag or silk, i've sworn to execute it, and i'll do it, so help me god!" said the quiet voice. "you've been doing it for the past four years, haven't you!" sneered the commoner. "what right had you under the constitution to declare war against a 'sovereign' state? to invade one for coercion? to blockade a port? to declare slaves free? to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_? to create the state of west virginia by the consent of two states, one of which was dead, and the other one of which lived in ohio? by what authority have you appointed military governors in the 'sovereign' states of virginia, tennessee, and louisiana? why trim the hedge and lie about it? we, too, are revolutionists, and you are our executive. the constitution sustained and protected slavery. it _was_ 'a league with death and a covenant with hell,' and our flag 'a polluted rag!'" "in the stress of war," said the president, with a far-away look, "it was necessary that i do things as commander-in-chief of the army and navy to save the union which i have no right to do now that the union is saved and its constitution preserved. my first duty is to re-establish the constitution as our supreme law over every inch of our soil." "the constitution be d----d!" hissed the old man. "it was the creation, both in letter and spirit, of the slaveholders of the south." "then the world is their debtor, and their work is a monument of imperishable glory to them and to their children. i have sworn to preserve it!" "we have outgrown the swaddling clothes of a babe. we will make new constitutions!" "'fools rush in where angels fear to tread,'" softly spoke the tall, self-contained man. for the first time the old leader winced. he had long ago exhausted the vocabulary of contempt on the president, his character, ability, and policy. he felt as a shock the first impression of supreme authority with which he spoke. the man he had despised had grown into the great constructive statesman who would dispute with him every inch of ground in the attainment of his sinister life purpose. his hatred grew more intense as he realized the prestige and power with which he was clothed by his mighty office. with an effort he restrained his anger, and assumed an argumentative tone. "can't you see that your so-called states are now but conquered provinces? that north carolina and other waste territories of the united states are unfit to associate with civilized communities?" "we fought no war of conquest," quietly urged the president, "but one of self-preservation as an indissoluble union. no state ever got out of it, by the grace of god and the power of our arms. now that we have won, and established for all time its unity, shall we stultify ourselves by declaring we were wrong? these states must be immediately restored to their rights, or we shall betray the blood we have shed. there are no 'conquered provinces' for us to spoil. a nation cannot make conquest of its own territory." "but we are acting outside the constitution," interrupted stoneman. "congress has no existence outside the constitution," was the quick answer. the old commoner scowled, and his beetling brows hid for a moment his eyes. his keen intellect was catching its first glimpse of the intellectual grandeur of the man with whom he was grappling. the facility with which he could see all sides of a question, and the vivid imagination which lit his mental processes, were a revelation. we always underestimate the men we despise. "why not out with it?" cried stoneman, suddenly changing his tack. "you are determined to oppose negro suffrage?" "i have suggested to governor hahn of louisiana to consider the policy of admitting the more intelligent and those who served in the war. it is only a suggestion. the state alone has the power to confer the ballot." "but the truth is this little 'suggestion' of yours is only a bone thrown to radical dogs to satisfy our howlings for the moment! in your soul of souls you don't believe in the equality of man if the man under comparison be a negro?" "i believe that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which will forever forbid their living together on terms of political and social equality. if such be attempted, one must go to the wall." "very well, pin the southern white man to the wall. our party and the nation will then be safe." "that is to say, destroy african slavery and establish white slavery under negro masters! that would be progress with a vengeance." a grim smile twitched the old man's lips as he said: "yes, your prim conservative snobs and male waiting-maids in congress went into hysterics when i armed the negroes. yet the heavens have not fallen." "true. yet no more insane blunder could now be made than any further attempt to use these negro troops. there can be no such thing as restoring this union to its basis of fraternal peace with armed negroes, wearing the uniform of this nation, tramping over the south, and rousing the basest passions of the freedmen and their former masters. general butler, their old commander, is now making plans for their removal, at my request. he expects to dig the panama canal with these black troops." "fine scheme that--on a par with your messages to congress asking for the colonization of the whole negro race!" "it will come to that ultimately," said the president firmly. "the negro has cost us $ , , , , the desolation of ten great states, and rivers of blood. we can well afford a few million dollars more to effect a permanent settlement of the issue. this is the only policy on which seward and i have differed----" "then seward was not an utterly hopeless fool. i'm glad to hear something to his credit," growled the old commoner. "i have urged the colonization of the negroes, and i shall continue until it is accomplished. my emancipation proclamation was linked with this plan. thousands of them have lived in the north for a hundred years, yet not one is the pastor of a white church, a judge, a governor, a mayor, or a college president. there is no room for two distinct races of white men in america, much less for two distinct races of whites and blacks. we can have no inferior servile class, peon or peasant. we must assimilate or expel. the american is a citizen king or nothing. i can conceive of no greater calamity than the assimilation of the negro into our social and political life as our equal. a mulatto citizenship would be too dear a price to pay even for emancipation." "words have no power to express my loathing for such twaddle!" cried stoneman, snapping his great jaws together and pursing his lips with contempt. "if the negro were not here would we allow him to land?" the president went on, as if talking to himself. "the duty to exclude carries the right to expel. within twenty years we can peacefully colonize the negro in the tropics, and give him our language, literature, religion, and system of government under conditions in which he can rise to the full measure of manhood. this he can never do here. it was the fear of the black tragedy behind emancipation that led the south into the insanity of secession. we can never attain the ideal union our fathers dreamed, with millions of an alien, inferior race among us, whose assimilation is neither possible nor desirable. the nation cannot now exist half white and half black, any more than it could exist half slave and half free." "yet 'god hath made of one blood all races,'" quoted the cynic with a sneer. "yes--but finish the sentence--'and fixed the bounds of their habitation.' god never meant that the negro should leave his habitat or the white man invade his home. our violation of this law is written in two centuries of shame and blood. and the tragedy will not be closed until the black man is restored to his home." "i marvel that the minions of slavery elected jeff davis their chief with so much better material at hand!" "his election was a tragic and superfluous blunder. i am the president of the united states, north and south," was the firm reply. "particularly the south!" hissed stoneman. "during all this hideous war they have been your pets--these rebel savages who have been murdering our sons. you have been the ever-ready champion of traitors. and you now dare to bend this high office to their defence----" "my god, stoneman, are you a man or a savage!" cried the president. "is not the north equally responsible for slavery? has not the south lost all? have not the southern people paid the full penalty of all the crimes of war? are our skirts free? was sherman's march a picnic? this war has been a giant conflict of principles to decide whether we are a bundle of petty sovereignties held by a rope of sand or a mighty nation of freemen. but for the loyalty of four border southern states--but for farragut and thomas and their two hundred thousand heroic southern brethren who fought for the union against their own flesh and blood, we should have lost. you cannot indict a people----" "i do indict them!" muttered the old man. "surely," went on the even, throbbing voice, "surely, the vastness of this war, its titanic battles, its heroism, its sublime earnestness, should sink into oblivion all low schemes of vengeance! before the sheer grandeur of its history our children will walk with silent lips and uncovered heads." "and forget the prison pen at andersonville!" "yes. we refused, as a policy of war, to exchange those prisoners, blockaded their ports, made medicine contraband, and brought the southern army itself to starvation. the prison records, when made at last for history, will show as many deaths on our side as on theirs." "the murderer on the gallows always wins more sympathy than his forgotten victim," interrupted the cynic. "the sin of vengeance is an easy one under the subtle plea of justice," said the sorrowful voice. "have we not had enough bloodshed? is not god's vengeance enough? when sherman's army swept to the sea, before him lay the garden of eden, behind him stretched a desert! a hundred years cannot give back to the wasted south her wealth, or two hundred years restore to her the lost seed treasures of her young manhood----" "the imbecility of a policy of mercy in this crisis can only mean the reign of treason and violence," persisted the old man, ignoring the president's words. "i leave my policy before the judgment bar of time, content with its verdict. in my place, radicalism would have driven the border states into the confederacy, every southern man back to his kinsmen, and divided the north itself into civil conflict. i have sought to guide and control public opinion into the ways on which depended our life. this rational flexibility of policy you and your fellow radicals have been pleased to call my vacillating imbecility." "and what is your message for the south?" "simply this: 'abolish slavery, come back home, and behave yourself.' lee surrendered to our offers of peace and amnesty. in my last message to congress i told the southern people they could have peace at any moment by simply laying down their arms and submitting to national authority. now that they have taken me at my word, shall i betray them by an ignoble revenge? vengeance cannot heal and purify: it can only brutalize and destroy." stoneman shuffled to his feet with impatience. "i see it is useless to argue with you. i'll not waste my breath. i give you an ultimatum. the south is conquered soil. i mean to blot it from the map. rather than admit one traitor to the halls of congress from these so-called states i will shatter the union itself into ten thousand fragments! i will not sit beside men whose clothes smell of the blood of my kindred. at least dry them before they come in. four years ago, with yells and curses, these traitors left the halls of congress to join the armies of catiline. shall they return to rule?" "i repeat," said the president, "you cannot indict a people. treason is an easy word to speak. a traitor is one who fights and loses. washington was a traitor to george iii. treason won, and washington is immortal. treason is a word that victors hurl at those who fail." "listen to me," stoneman interrupted with vehemence. "the life of our party demands that the negro be given the ballot and made the ruler of the south. this can be done only by the extermination of its landed aristocracy, that their mothers shall not breed another race of traitors. this is not vengeance. it is justice, it is patriotism, it is the highest wisdom and humanity. nature, at times, blots out whole communities and races that obstruct progress. such is the political genius of these people that, unless you make the negro the ruler, the south will yet reconquer the north and undo the work of this war." "if the south in poverty and ruin can do this, we deserve to be ruled! the north is rich and powerful--the south a land of wreck and tomb. i greet with wonder, shame, and scorn such ignoble fear! the nation cannot be healed until the south is healed. let the gulf be closed in which we bury slavery, sectional animosity, and all strifes and hatreds. the good sense of our people will never consent to your scheme of insane vengeance." "the people have no sense. a new fool is born every second. they are ruled by impulse and passion." "i have trusted them before, and they have not failed me. the day i left for gettysburg to dedicate the battlefield, you were so sure of my defeat in the approaching convention that you shouted across the street to a friend as i passed: 'let the dead bury the dead!' it was a brilliant sally of wit. i laughed at it myself. and yet the people unanimously called me again to lead them to victory." "yes, in the past," said stoneman bitterly, "you have triumphed, but mark my word: from this hour your star grows dim. the slumbering fires of passion will be kindled. in the fight we join to-day i'll break your back and wring the neck of every dastard and time-server who fawns at your feet." the president broke into a laugh that only increased the old man's wrath. "i protest against the insult of your buffoonery!" "excuse me, stoneman; i have to laugh or die beneath the burdens i bear, surrounded by such supporters!" "mark my word," growled the old leader, "from the moment you publish that north carolina proclamation, your name will be a by-word in congress." "there are higher powers." "you will need them." "i'll have help," was the calm reply, as the dreaminess of the poet and mystic stole over the rugged face. "i would be a presumptuous fool, indeed, if i thought that for a day i could discharge the duties of this great office without the aid of one who is wiser and stronger than all others." "you'll need the help of almighty god in the course you've mapped out!" "some ships come into port that are not steered," went on the dreamy voice. "suppose pickett had charged one hour earlier at gettysburg? suppose the _monitor_ had arrived one hour later at hampton roads? i had a dream last night that always presages great events. i saw a white ship passing swiftly under full sail. i have often seen her before. i have never known her port of entry, or her destination, but i have always known her pilot!" the cynic's lips curled with scorn. he leaned heavily on his cane, and took a shambling step toward the door. "you refuse to heed the wishes of congress?" "if your words voice them, yes. force your scheme of revenge on the south, and you sow the wind to reap the whirlwind." "indeed! and from what secret cave will this whirlwind come?" "the despair of a mighty race of world-conquering men, even in defeat, is still a force that statesmen reckon with." "i defy them," growled the old commoner. again the dreamy look returned to lincoln's face, and he spoke as if repeating a message of the soul caught in the clouds in an hour of transfiguration: "and i'll trust the honour of lee and his people. the mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the union, when touched again, as they surely will be, by the better angels of our nature." "you'll be lucky to live to hear that chorus." "to dream it is enough. if i fall by the hand of an assassin now, he will not come from the south. i was safer in richmond, this week, than i am in washington, to-day." the cynic grunted and shuffled another step toward the door. the president came closer. "look here, stoneman; have you some deep personal motive in this vengeance on the south? come, now, i've never in my life known you to tell a lie." the answer was silence and a scowl. "am i right?" "yes and no. i hate the south because i hate the satanic institution of slavery with consuming fury. it has long ago rotted the heart out of the southern people. humanity cannot live in its tainted air, and its children are doomed. if my personal wrongs have ordained me for a mighty task, no matter; i am simply the chosen instrument of justice!" again the mystic light clothed the rugged face, calm and patient as destiny, as the president slowly repeated: "with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as god gives me to see the right, i shall strive to finish the work we are in, and bind up the nation's wounds." "i've given you fair warning," cried the old commoner, trembling with rage, as he hobbled nearer the door. "from this hour your administration is doomed." "stoneman," said the kindly voice, "i can't tell you how your venomous philanthropy sickens me. you have misunderstood and abused me at every step during the past four years. i bear you no ill will. if i have said anything to-day to hurt your feelings, forgive me. the earnestness with which you pressed the war was an invaluable service to me and to the nation. i'd rather work with you than fight you. but now that we have to fight, i'd as well tell you i'm not afraid of you. i'll suffer my right arm to be severed from my body before i'll sign one measure of ignoble revenge on a brave, fallen foe, and i'll keep up this fight until i win, die, or my country forsakes me." "i have always known you had a sneaking admiration for the south," came the sullen sneer. "i love the south! it is a part of this union. i love every foot of its soil, every hill and valley, mountain, lake, and sea, and every man, woman, and child that breathes beneath its skies. i am an american." as the burning words leaped from the heart of the president the broad shoulders of his tall form lifted, and his massive head rose in unconscious heroic pose. "i marvel that you ever made war upon your loved ones!" cried the cynic. "we fought the south because we loved her and would not let her go. now that she is crushed and lies bleeding at our feet--you shall not make war on the wounded, dying, and the dead!" again the lion gleamed in the calm gray eyes. chapter iv the battle of love elsie carried ben cameron's pardon to the anxious mother and sister with her mind in a tumult. the name on these fateful papers fascinated her. she read it again and again with a curious personal joy that she had saved a life! she had entered on her work among the hospitals a bitter partisan of her father's school, with the simple idea that all southerners were savage brutes. yet as she had seen the wounded boys from the south among the men in blue, more and more she had forgotten the difference between them. they were so young, these slender, dark-haired ones from dixie--so pitifully young! some of them were only fifteen, and hundreds not over sixteen. a lad of fourteen she had kissed one day in sheer agony of pity for his loneliness. the part her father was playing in the drama on which ben cameron's life had hung puzzled her. was his the mysterious arm back of stanton? echoes of the fierce struggle with the president had floated through the half-open door. she had implicit faith in her father's patriotism and pride in his giant intellect. she knew that he was a king among men by divine right of inherent power. his sensitive spirit, brooding over a pitiful lameness, had hidden from the world behind a frowning brow like a wounded animal. yet her hand in hours of love, when no eye save god's could see, had led his great soul out of its dark lair. she loved him with brooding tenderness, knowing that she had gotten closer to his inner life than any other human being--closer than her own mother, who had died while she was a babe. her aunt, with whom she and phil now lived, had told her the mother's life was not a happy one. their natures had not proved congenial, and her gentle quaker spirit had died of grief in the quiet home in southern pennsylvania. yet there were times when he was a stranger even to her. some secret, dark and cold, stood between them. once she had tenderly asked him what it meant. he merely pressed her hand, smiled wearily, and said: "nothing, my dear, only the blue devils after me again." he had always lived in washington in a little house with black shutters, near the capitol, while the children had lived with his sister, near the white house, where they had grown from babyhood. a curious fact about this place on the capitol hill was that his housekeeper, lydia brown, was a mulatto, a woman of extraordinary animal beauty and the fiery temper of a leopardess. elsie had ventured there once and got such a welcome she would never return. all sorts of gossip could be heard in washington about this woman, her jewels, her dresses, her airs, her assumption of the dignity of the presiding genius of national legislation and her domination of the old commoner and his life. it gradually crept into the newspapers and magazines, but he never once condescended to notice it. elsie begged her father to close this house and live with them. his reply was short and emphatic: "impossible, my child. this club foot must live next door to the capitol. my house is simply an executive office at which i sleep. half the business of the nation is transacted there. don't mention this subject again." elsie choked back a sob at the cold menace in the tones of this command, and never repeated her request. it was the only wish he had ever denied her, and, somehow, her heart would come back to it with persistence and brood and wonder over his motive. the nearer she drew, this morning, to the hospital door, the closer the wounded boy's life and loved ones seemed to hers. she thought with anguish of the storm about to break between her father and the president--the one demanding the desolation of their land, wasted, harried, and unarmed!--the president firm in his policy of mercy, generosity, and healing. her father would not mince words. his scorpion tongue, set on fires of hell, might start a conflagration that would light the nation with its glare. would not his name be a terror for every man and woman born under southern skies? the sickening feeling stole over her that he was wrong, and his policy cruel and unjust. she had never before admired the president. it was fashionable to speak with contempt of him in washington. he had little following in congress. nine tenths of the politicians hated or feared him, and she knew her father had been the soul of a conspiracy at the capitol to prevent his second nomination and create a dictatorship, under which to carry out an iron policy of reconstruction in the south. and now she found herself heart and soul the champion of the president. she was ashamed of her disloyalty, and felt a rush of impetuous anger against ben and his people for thrusting themselves between her and her own. yet how absurd to feel thus against the innocent victims of a great tragedy! she put the thought from her. still she must part from them now before the brewing storm burst. it would be best for her and best for them. this pardon delivered would end their relations. she would send the papers by a messenger and not see them again. and then she thought with a throb of girlish pride of the hour to come in the future when ben's big brown eyes would be softened with a tear when he would learn that she had saved his life. they had concealed all from him as yet. she was afraid to question too closely in her own heart the shadowy motive that lay back of her joy. she read again with a lingering smile the name "ben cameron" on the paper with its big red seal of life. she had laughed at boys who had made love to her, dreaming a wider, nobler life of heroic service. and she felt that she was fulfilling her ideal in the generous hand she had extended to these who were friendless. were they not the children of her soul in that larger, finer world of which she had dreamed and sung? why should she give them up now for brutal politics? their sorrow had been hers, their joy should be hers, too. she would take the papers herself and then say good-bye. she found the mother and sister beside the cot. ben was sleeping with margaret holding one of his hands. the mother was busy sewing for the wounded confederate boys she had found scattered through the hospital. at the sight of elsie holding aloft the message of life she sprang to meet her with a cry of joy. she clasped the girl to her breast, unable to speak. at last she released her and said with a sob: "my child, through good report and through evil report my love will enfold you!" elsie stammered, looked away, and tried to hide her emotion. margaret had knelt and bowed her head on ben's cot. she rose at length, threw her arms around elsie in a resistless impulse, kissed her and whispered: "my sweet sister!" elsie's heart leaped at the words, as her eyes rested on the face of the sleeping soldier. chapter vi the assassination elsie called in the afternoon at the camerons' lodgings, radiant with pride, accompanied by her brother. captain phil stoneman, athletic, bronzed, a veteran of two years' service, dressed in his full uniform, was the ideal soldier, and yet he had never loved war. he was bubbling over with quiet joy that the end had come and he could soon return to a rational life. inheriting his mother's temperament, he was generous, enterprising, quick, intelligent, modest, and ambitious. war had seemed to him a horrible tragedy from the first. he had early learned to respect a brave foe, and bitterness had long since melted out of his heart. he had laughed at his father's harsh ideas of southern life gained as a politician, and, while loyal to him after a boy's fashion, he took no stock in his radical programme. the father, colossal egotist that he was, heard phil's protests with mild amusement and quiet pride in his independence, for he loved this boy with deep tenderness. phil had been touched by the story of ben's narrow escape, and was anxious to show his mother and sister every courtesy possible in part atonement for the wrong he felt had been done them. he was timid with girls, and yet he wished to give margaret a cordial greeting for elsie's sake. he was not prepared for the shock the first appearance of the southern girl gave him. when the stately figure swept through the door to greet him, her black eyes sparkling with welcome, her voice low and tender with genuine feeling, he caught his breath in surprise. elsie noted his confusion with amusement and said: "i must go to the hospital for a little work. now, phil, i'll meet you at the door at eight o'clock." "i'll not forget," he answered abstractedly, watching margaret intently as she walked with elsie to the door. he saw that her dress was of coarse, unbleached cotton, dyed with the juice of walnut hulls and set with wooden hand-made buttons. the story these things told of war and want was eloquent, yet she wore them with unconscious dignity. she had not a pin or brooch or piece of jewellery. everything about her was plain and smooth, graceful and gracious. her face was large--the lovely oval type--and her luxuriant hair, parted in the middle, fell downward in two great waves. tall, stately, handsome, her dark rare southern beauty full of subtle languor and indolent grace, she was to phil a revelation. the coarse black dress that clung closely to her figure seemed alive when she moved, vital with her beauty. the musical cadences of her voice were vibrant with feeling, sweet, tender, and homelike. and the odour of the rose she wore pinned low on her breast he could swear was the perfume of her breath. lingering in her eyes and echoing in the tones of her voice, he caught the shadowy memory of tears for the loved and lost that gave a strange pathos and haunting charm to her youth. she had returned quickly and was talking at ease with him. "i'm not going to tell you, captain stoneman, that i hope to be a sister to you. you have already made yourself my brother in what you did for ben." "nothing, i assure you, miss cameron, that any soldier wouldn't do for a brave foe." "perhaps; but when the foe happens to be an only brother, my chum and playmate, brave and generous, whom i've worshipped as my beau-ideal man--why, you know i must thank you for taking him in your arms that day. may i, again?" phil felt the soft warm hand clasp his, while the black eyes sparkled and glowed their friendly message. he murmured something incoherently, looked at margaret as if in a spell, and forgot to let her hand go. she laughed at last, and he blushed and dropped it as though it were a live coal. "i was about to forget, miss cameron. i wish to take you to the theatre to-night, if you will go?" "to the theatre?" "yes. it's to be an occasion, elsie tells me. laura keene's last appearance in 'our american cousin,' and her one-thousandth performance of the play. she played it in chicago at mcvicker's, when the president was first nominated, to hundreds of the delegates who voted for him. he is to be present to-night, so the _evening star_ has announced, and general and mrs. grant with him. it will be the opportunity of your life to see these famous men--besides, i wish you to see the city illuminated on the way." margaret hesitated. "i should like to go," she said with some confusion. "but you see we are old-fashioned scotch presbyterians down in our village in south carolina. i never was in a theatre--and this is good friday----" "that's a fact, sure," said phil thoughtfully. "it never occurred to me. war is not exactly a spiritual stimulant, and it blurs the calendar. i believe we fight on sundays oftener than on any other day." "but i'm crazy to see the president since ben's pardon. mamma will be here in a moment, and i'll ask her." "you see, it's really an occasion," phil went on. "the people are all going there to see president lincoln in the hour of his triumph, and his great general fresh from the field of victory. grant has just arrived in town." mrs. cameron entered and greeted phil with motherly tenderness. "captain, you're so much like my boy! had you noticed it, margaret?" "of course, mamma, but i was afraid i'd tire him with flattery if i tried to tell him." "only his hair is light and wavy, and ben's straight and black, or you'd call them twins. ben's a little taller--excuse us, captain stoneman, but we've fallen so in love with your little sister we feel we've known you all our lives." "i assure you, mrs. cameron, your flattery is very sweet. elsie and i do not remember our mother, and all this friendly criticism is more than welcome." "mamma, captain stoneman asks me to go with him and his sister to-night to see the president at the theatre. may i go?" "will the president be there, captain?" asked mrs. cameron. "yes, madam, with general and mrs. grant--it's really a great public function in celebration of peace and victory. to-day the flag was raised over fort sumter, the anniversary of its surrender four years ago. the city will be illuminated." "then, of course, you can go. i will sit with ben. i wish you to see the president." at seven o'clock phil called for margaret. they walked to the capitol hill and down pennsylvania avenue. the city was in a ferment. vast crowds thronged the streets. in front of the hotel where general grant stopped the throng was so dense the streets were completely blocked. soldiers, soldiers, soldiers, at every turn, in squads, in companies, in regimental crowds, shouting cries of victory. the display of lights was dazzling in its splendour. every building in every street, in every nook and corner of the city, was lighted from attic to cellar. the public buildings and churches vied with each other in the magnificence of their decorations and splendour of illuminations. they turned a corner, and suddenly the capitol on the throne of its imperial hill loomed a grand constellation in the heavens! another look, and it seemed a huge bonfire against the background of the dark skies. every window in its labyrinths of marble, from the massive base to its crowning statue of freedom, gleamed and flashed with light--more than ten thousand jets poured their rays through its windows, besides the innumerable lights that circled the mighty dome within and without. margaret stopped, and phil felt her soft hand grip his arm with sudden emotion. "isn't it sublime!" she whispered. "glorious!" he echoed. but he was thinking of the pressure of her hand on his arm and the subtle tones of her voice. somehow he felt that the light came from her eyes. he forgot the capitol and the surging crowds before the sweeter creative wonder silently growing in his soul. "and yet," she faltered, "when i think of what all this means for our people at home--their sorrow and poverty and ruin--you know it makes me faint." phil's hand timidly sought the soft one resting on his arm and touched it reverently. "believe me, miss margaret, it will be all for the best in the end. the south will yet rise to a nobler life than she has ever lived in the past. this is her victory as well as ours." "i wish i could think so," she answered. they passed the city hall and saw across its front, in giant letters of fire thirty feet deep, the words: "union, sherman, and grant" on pennsylvania avenue the hotels and stores had hung every window, awning, cornice, and swaying tree-top with lanterns. the grand avenue was bridged by tri-coloured balloons floating and shimmering ghostlike far up in the dark sky. above these, in the blacker zone toward the stars, the heavens were flashing sheets of chameleon flames from bursting rockets. margaret had never dreamed such a spectacle. she walked in awed silence, now and then suppressing a sob for the memory of those she had loved and lost. a moment of bitterness would cloud her heart, and then with the sense of phil's nearness, his generous nature, the beauty and goodness of his sister, and all they owed to her for ben's life, the cloud would pass. at every public building, and in front of every great hotel, bands were playing. the wild war strains, floating skyward, seemed part of the changing scheme of light. the odour of burnt powder and smouldering rockets filled the warm spring air. the deep bay of the great fort guns now began to echo from every hilltop commanding the city, while a thousand smaller guns barked and growled from every square and park and crossing. jay cooke & co's. banking-house had stretched across its front, in enormous blazing letters, the words: "the busy b's--balls, ballots, and bonds" every telegraph and newspaper office was a roaring whirlpool of excitement, for the same scenes were being enacted in every centre of the north. the whole city was now a fairy dream, its dirt and sin, shame and crime, all wrapped in glorious light. but above all other impressions was the contagion of the thunder shouts of hosts of men surging through the streets--the human roar with its animal and spiritual magnetism, wild, resistless, unlike any other force in the universe! margaret's hand again and again unconsciously tightened its hold on phil's arm, and he felt that the whole celebration had been gotten up for his benefit. they passed through a little park on their way to ford's theatre on th street, and the eye of the southern girl was quick to note the budding flowers and full-blown lilacs. "see what an early spring!" she cried. "i know the flowers at home are gorgeous now." "i shall hope to see you among them some day, when all the clouds have lifted," he said. she smiled and replied with simple earnestness: "a warm welcome will await your coming." and phil resolved to lose no time in testing it. they turned into th street, and in the middle of the block stood the plain three-story brick structure of ford's theatre, an enormous crowd surging about its five doorways and spreading out on the sidewalk and half across the driveway. "is that the theatre?" asked margaret. "yes." "why, it looks like a church without a steeple." "exactly what it really is, miss margaret. it was a baptist church. they turned it into a playhouse, by remodelling its gallery into a dress-circle and balcony and adding another gallery above. my grandmother stoneman is a devoted baptist, and was an attendant at this church. my father never goes to church, but he used to go here occasionally to please her. elsie and i frequently came." phil pushed his way rapidly through the crowd with a peculiar sense of pleasure in making a way for margaret and in defending her from the jostling throng. they found elsie at the door, stamping her foot with impatience. "well, i must say, phil, this is prompt for a soldier who had positive orders," she cried. "i've been here an hour." "nonsense, sis, i'm ahead of time," he protested. elsie held up her watch. "it's a quarter past eight. every seat is filled, and they've stopped selling standing-room. i hope you have good seats." "the best in the house to-night, the first row in the balcony dress-circle, opposite the president's box. we can see everything on the stage, in the box, and every nook and corner of the house." "then i'll forgive you for keeping me waiting." they ascended the stairs, pushed through the throng standing, and at last reached the seats. what a crowd! the building was a mass of throbbing humanity, and, over all, the hum of the thrilling wonder of peace and victory! the women in magnificent costumes, officers in uniforms flashing with gold, the show of wealth and power, the perfume of flowers and the music of violin and flutes gave margaret the impression of a dream, so sharp was the contrast with her own life and people in the south. the interior of the house was a billow of red, white, and blue. the president's box was wrapped in two enormous silk flags with gold-fringed edges gracefully draped and hanging in festoons. withers, the leader of the orchestra, was in high feather. he raised his baton with quick, inspired movement. it was for him a personal triumph, too. he had composed the music of a song for the occasion. it was dedicated to the president, and the programme announced that it would be rendered during the evening between the acts by a famous quartet, assisted by the whole company in chorus. the national flag would be draped about each singer, worn as the togas of ancient greece and rome. it was already known by the crowd that general and mrs. grant had left the city for the north and could not be present, but every eye was fixed on the door through which the president and mrs. lincoln would enter. it was the hour of his supreme triumph. [illustration: the assassination.] what a romance his life! the thought of it thrilled the crowd as they waited. a few years ago this tall, sad-faced man had floated down the sangamon river into a rough illinois town, ragged, penniless, friendless, alone, begging for work. four years before he had entered washington as president of the united states--but he came under cover of the night with a handful of personal friends, amid universal contempt for his ability and the loud expressed conviction of his failure from within and without his party. he faced a divided nation and the most awful civil convulsion in history. through it all he had led the nation in safety, growing each day in power and fame, until to-night, amid the victorious shouts of millions of a union fixed in eternal granite, he stood forth the idol of the people, the first great american, the foremost man of the world. there was a stir at the door, and the tall figure suddenly loomed in view of the crowd. with one impulse they leaped to their feet, and shout after shout shook the building. the orchestra was playing "hail to the chief!" but nobody heard it. they saw the chief! they were crying their own welcome in music that came from the rhythmic beat of human hearts. as the president walked along the aisle with mrs. lincoln, accompanied by senator harris' daughter and major rathbone, cheer after cheer burst from the crowd. he turned, his face beaming with pleasure, and bowed as he passed. the answer of the crowd shook the building to its foundations, and the president paused. his dark face flashed with emotion as he looked over the sea of cheering humanity. it was a moment of supreme exaltation. the people had grown to know and love and trust him, and it was sweet. his face, lit with the responsive fires of emotion, was transfigured. the soul seemed to separate itself from its dreamy, rugged dwelling-place and flash its inspiration from the spirit world. as around this man's personality had gathered the agony and horror of war, so now about his head glowed and gleamed in imagination the splendours of victory. margaret impulsively put her hand on phil's arm: "why, how southern he looks! how tall and dark and typical his whole figure!" "yes, and his traits of character even more typical," said phil. "on the surface, easy friendly ways and the tenderness of a woman--beneath, an iron will and lion heart. i like him. and what always amazes me is his universality. a southerner finds in him the south, the western man the west, even charles sumner, from boston, almost loves him. you know i think he is the first great all-round american who ever lived in the white house." the president's party had now entered the box, and as mr. lincoln took the armchair nearest the audience, in full view of every eye in the house, again the cheers rent the air. in vain withers' baton flew, and the orchestra did its best. the music was drowned as in the roar of the sea. again he rose and bowed and smiled, his face radiant with pleasure. the soul beneath those deep-cut lines had long pined for the sunlight. his love of the theatre and the humorous story were the protest of his heart against pain and tragedy. he stood there bowing to the people, the grandest, gentlest figure of the fiercest war of human history--a man who was always doing merciful things stealthily as others do crimes. little sunlight had come into his life, yet to-night he felt that the sun of a new day in his history and the history of the people was already tingeing the horizon with glory. back of those smiles what a story! many a night he had paced back and forth in the telegraph office of the war department, read its awful news of defeat, and alone sat down and cried over the list of the dead. many a black hour his soul had seen when the honours of earth were forgotten and his great heart throbbed on his sleeve. his character had grown so evenly and silently with the burdens he had borne, working mighty deeds with such little friction, he could not know, nor could the crowd to whom he bowed, how deep into the core of the people's life the love of him had grown. as he looked again over the surging crowd his tall figure seemed to straighten, erect and buoyant, with the new dignity of conscious triumphant leadership. he knew that he had come unto his own at last, and his brain was teeming with dreams of mercy and healing. the president resumed his seat, the tumult died away, and the play began amid a low hum of whispered comment directed at the flag-draped box. the actors struggled in vain to hold the attention of the audience, until finally hawk, the actor playing dundreary, determined to catch their ear, paused and said: "now, that reminds me of a little story, as mr. lincoln says----" instantly the crowd burst into a storm of applause, the president laughed, leaned over and spoke to his wife, and the electric connection was made between the stage, the box, and the people. after this the play ran its smooth course, and the audience settled into its accustomed humour of sympathetic attention. in spite of the novelty of this, her first view of a theatre, the president fascinated margaret. she watched the changing lights and shadows of his sensitive face with untiring interest, and the wonder of his life grew upon her imagination. this man who was the idol of the north and yet to her so purely southern, who had come out of the west and yet was greater than the west or the north, and yet always supremely human--this man who sprang to his feet from the chair of state and bowed to a sorrowing woman with the deference of a knight, every man's friend, good-natured, sensible, masterful and clear in intellect, strong, yet modest, kind and gentle--yes, he was more interesting than all the drama and romance of the stage! he held her imagination in a spell. elsie, divining her abstraction, looked toward the president's box and saw approaching it along the balcony aisle the figure of john wilkes booth. "look," she cried, touching margaret's arm. "there's john wilkes booth, the actor! isn't he handsome? they say he's in love with my chum, a senator's daughter whose father hates mr. lincoln with perfect fury." "he is handsome," margaret answered. "but i'd be afraid of him, with that raven hair and eyes shining like something wild." "they say he is wild and dissipated, yet half the silly girls in town are in love with him. he's as vain as a peacock." booth, accustomed to free access to the theatre, paused near the entrance to the box and looked deliberately over the great crowd, his magnetic face flushed with deep emotion, while his fiery inspiring eyes glittered with excitement. dressed in a suit of black broadcloth of faultless fit, from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet he was physically without blemish. a figure of perfect symmetry and proportion, his dark eyes flashing, his marble forehead crowned with curling black hair, agility and grace stamped on every line of his being--beyond a doubt he was the handsomest man in america. a flutter of feminine excitement rippled the surface of the crowd in the balcony as his well-known figure caught the wandering eyes of the women. he turned and entered the door leading to the president's box, and margaret once more gave her attention to the stage. hawk, as dundreary, was speaking his lines and looking directly at the president instead of at the audience: "society, eh? well, i guess i know enough to turn you inside out, old woman, you darned old sockdologing man trap!" margaret winced at the coarse words, but the galleries burst into shouts of laughter that lingered in ripples and murmurs and the shuffling of feet. the muffled crack of a pistol in the president's box hushed the laughter for an instant. no one realized what had happened, and when the assassin suddenly leaped from the box, with a blood-marked knife flashing in his right hand, caught his foot in the flags and fell to his knees on the stage, many thought it a part of the programme, and a boy, leaning over the gallery rail, giggled. when booth turned his face of statuesque beauty lit by eyes flashing with insane desperation and cried, "_sic semper tyrannis_," they were only confirmed in this impression. a sudden, piercing scream from mrs. lincoln, quivering, soul harrowing! leaning far out of the box, from ashen cheeks and lips leaped the piteous cry of appeal, her hand pointing to the retreating figure: "the president is shot! he has killed the president!" every heart stood still for one awful moment. the brain refused to record the message--and then the storm burst! a wild roar of helpless fury and despair! men hurled themselves over the footlights in vain pursuit of the assassin. already the clatter of his horse's feet could be heard in the distance. a surgeon threw himself against the door of the box, but it had been barred within by the cunning hand. another leaped on the stage, and the people lifted him up in their arms and over the fatal railing. women began to faint, and strong men trampled down the weak in mad rushes from side to side. the stage in a moment was a seething mass of crazed men, among them the actors and actresses in costumes and painted faces, their mortal terror shining through the rouge. they passed water up to the box, and some tried to climb up and enter it. the two hundred soldiers of the president's guard suddenly burst in, and, amid screams and groans of the weak and injured, stormed the house with fixed bayonets, cursing, yelling, and shouting at the top of their voices: "clear out! clear out! you sons of hell!" one of them suddenly bore down with fixed bayonet toward phil. margaret shrank in terror close to his side and tremblingly held his arm. elsie sprang forward, her face aflame, her eyes flashing fire, her little figure tense, erect, and quivering with rage: "how dare you, idiot, brute!" the soldier, brought to his senses, saw phil in full captain's uniform before him, and suddenly drew himself up, saluting. phil ordered him to guard margaret and elsie for a moment, drew his sword, leaped between the crazed soldiers and their victims and stopped their insane rush. within the box the great head lay in the surgeon's arms, the blood slowly dripping down, and the tiny death bubbles forming on the kindly lips. they carried him tenderly out, and another group bore after him the unconscious wife. the people tore the seats from their fastenings and heaped them in piles to make way for the precious burdens. as phil pressed forward with margaret and elsie through the open door came the roar of the mob without, shouting its cries: "the president is shot!" "seward is murdered!" "where is grant?" "where is stanton?" "to arms! to arms!" the peal of signal guns could now be heard, the roll of drums and the hurried tramp of soldiers' feet. they marched none too soon. the mob had attacked the stockade holding ten thousand unarmed confederate prisoners. at the corner of the block in which the theatre stood they seized a man who looked like a southerner and hung him to the lamp-post. two heroic policemen fought their way to his side and rescued him. if the temper of the people during the war had been convulsive, now it was insane--with one mad impulse and one thought--vengeance! horror, anger, terror, uncertainty, each passion fanned the one animal instinct into fury. through this awful night, with the lights still gleaming as if to mock the celebration of victory, the crowds swayed in impotent rage through the streets, while the telegraph bore on the wings of lightning the awe-inspiring news. men caught it from the wires, and stood in silent groups weeping, and their wrath against the fallen south began to rise as the moaning of the sea under a coming storm. at dawn black clouds hung threatening on the eastern horizon. as the sun rose, tingeing them for a moment with scarlet and purple glory, abraham lincoln breathed his last. even grim stanton, the iron-hearted, stood by his bedside and through blinding tears exclaimed: "now he belongs to the ages!" the deed was done. the wheel of things had moved. vice-president johnson took the oath of office, and men hailed him chief; but the seat of empire had moved from the white house to a little dark house on the capitol hill, where dwelt an old club-footed man, alone, attended by a strange brown woman of sinister animal beauty and the restless eyes of a leopardess. chapter vii the frenzy of a nation phil hurried through the excited crowds with margaret and elsie, left them at the hospital door, and ran to the war department to report for duty. already the tramp of regiments echoed down every great avenue. even as he ran, his heart beat with a strange new stroke when he recalled the look of appeal in margaret's dark eyes as she nestled close to his side and clung to his arm for protection. he remembered with a smile the almost resistless impulse of the moment to slip his arm around her and assure her of safety. if he had only dared! elsie begged mrs. cameron and margaret to go home with her until the city was quiet. "no," said the mother. "i am not afraid. death has no terrors for me any longer. we will not leave ben a moment now, day or night. my soul is sick with dread for what this awful tragedy will mean for the south! i can't think of my own safety. can any one undo this pardon now?" she asked anxiously. "i am sure they cannot. the name on that paper should be mightier dead than living." "ah, but will it be? do you know mr. johnson? can he control stanton? he seemed to be more powerful than the president himself. what will that man do now with those who fall into his hands." "he can do nothing with your son, rest assured." "i wish i knew it," said the mother wistfully. * * * * * a few moments after the president died on saturday morning, the rain began to pour in torrents. the flags that flew from a thousand gilt-tipped peaks in celebration of victory drooped to half-mast and hung weeping around their staffs. the litter of burnt fireworks, limp and crumbling, strewed the streets, and the tri-coloured lanterns and balloons, hanging pathetically from their wires, began to fall to pieces. never in all the history of man had such a conjunction of events befallen a nation. from the heights of heaven's rejoicing to be suddenly hurled to the depths of hell in piteous helpless grief! noon to midnight without a moment between. a pall of voiceless horror spread its shadows over the land. nothing short of an earthquake or the sound of the archangel's trumpet could have produced the sense of helpless consternation, the black and speechless despair. the people read their papers in tears. the morning meal was untouched. by no other single feat could death have carried such peculiar horror to every home. around this giant figure the heartstrings of the people had been unconsciously knit. even his political enemies had come to love him. above all, in just this moment he was the incarnation of the triumphant union on the altar of whose life every house had laid the offering of its first-born. the tragedy was stupefying--it was unthinkable--it was the mockery of fate! men walked the streets of the cities, dazed with the sense of blind grief. every note of music and rejoicing became a dirge. all business ceased. every wheel in every mill stopped. the roar of the great city was hushed, and greed for a moment forgot his cunning. the army only moved with swifter spring, tightening its mighty grip on the throat of the bleeding prostrate south. as the day wore on its gloomy hours, and men began to find speech, they spoke to each other at first in low tones of fate, of life, of death, of immortality, of god--and then as grief found words the measureless rage of baffled strength grew slowly to madness. on every breeze from the north came the deep-muttered curses. easter sunday dawned after the storm, clear and beautiful in a flood of glorious sunshine. the churches were thronged as never in their history. all had been decorated for the double celebration of easter and the triumph of the union. the preachers had prepared sermons pitched in the highest anthem key of victory--victory over death and the grave of calvary, and victory for the nation opening a future of boundless glory. the churches were labyrinths of flowers, and around every pulpit and from every gothic arch hung the red, white, and blue flags of the republic. and now, as if to mock this gorgeous pageant, death had in the night flung a black mantle over every flag and wound a strangling web of crape round every easter flower. when the preachers faced the silent crowds before them, looking into the faces of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and lovers whose dear ones had been slain in battle or died in prison pens, the tide of grief and rage rose and swept them from their feet! the easter sermon was laid aside. fifty thousand christian ministers, stunned and crazed by insane passion, standing before the altars of god, hurled into the broken hearts before them the wildest cries of vengeance--cries incoherent, chaotic, unreasoning, blind in their awful fury! the pulpits of new york and brooklyn led in the madness. next morning old stoneman read his paper with a cold smile playing about his big stern mouth, while his furrowed brow flushed with triumph, as again and again he exclaimed: "at last! at last!" even beecher, who had just spoken his generous words at fort sumter, declared: "never while time lasts, while heaven lasts, while hell rocks and groans, will it be forgotten that slavery, by its minions, slew him, and slaying him made manifest its whole nature. a man cannot be bred in its tainted air. i shall find saints in hell sooner than i shall find true manhood under its accursed influences. the breeding-ground of such monsters must be utterly and forever destroyed." dr. stephen tyng said: "the leaders of this rebellion deserve no pity from any human being. now let them go. some other land must be their home. their property is justly forfeited to the nation they have attempted to destroy!" in big black-faced type stood dr. charles s. robinson's bitter words: "this is the earliest reply which chivalry makes to our forbearance. talk to me no more of the same race, of the same blood. he is no brother of mine and of no race of mine who crowns the barbarism of treason with the murder of an unarmed husband in the sight of his wife. on the villains who led this rebellion let justice fall swift and relentless. death to every traitor of the south! pursue them one by one! let every door be closed upon them and judgment follow swift and implacable as death!" dr. theodore cuyler exclaimed: "this is no time to talk of leniency and conciliation! i say before god, make no terms with rebellion short of extinction. booth wielding the assassin's weapon is but the embodiment of the bowie-knife barbarism of a slaveholding oligarchy." dr. j. p. thompson said: "blot every southern state from the map. strip every rebel of property and citizenship, and send them into exile beggared and infamous outcasts." bishop littlejohn, in his impassioned appeal, declared: "the deed is worthy of the southern cause which was conceived in sin, brought forth in iniquity, and consummated in crime. this murderous hand is the same hand which lashed the slave's bared back, struck down new england's senator for daring to speak, lifted the torch of rebellion, slaughtered in cold blood its thousands, and starved our helpless prisoners. its end is not martyrdom, but dishonour." bishop simpson said: "let every man who was a member of congress and aided this rebellion be brought to speedy punishment. let every officer educated at public expense, who turned his sword against his country, be doomed to a traitor's death!" with the last note of this wild music lingering in the old commoner's soul, he sat as if dreaming, laughed cynically, turned to the brown woman and said: "my speeches have not been lost after all. prepare dinner for six. my cabinet will meet here to-night." while the press was reëchoing these sermons, gathering strength as they were caught and repeated in every town, village, and hamlet in the north, the funeral procession started westward. it passed in grandeur through the great cities on its journey of one thousand six hundred miles to the tomb. by day, by night, by dawn, by sunlight, by twilight, and lit by solemn torches, millions of silent men and women looked on his dead face. around the person of this tall, lonely man, rugged, yet full of sombre dignity and spiritual beauty, the thoughts, hopes, dreams, and ideals of the people had gathered in four years of agony and death, until they had come to feel their own hearts beat in his breast and their own life throb in his life. the assassin's bullet had crashed into their own brains, and torn their souls and bodies asunder. the masses were swept from their moorings, and reason destroyed. all historic perspective was lost. our first assassination, there was no precedent for comparison. it had been over two hundred years in the world's history since the last murder of a great ruler, when william of orange fell. on the day set for the public funeral twenty million people bowed at the same hour. when the procession reached new york the streets were lined with a million people. not a sound could be heard save the tramp of soldiers' feet and the muffled cry of the dirge. though on every foot of earth stood a human being, the silence of the desert and of death! the nation's living heroes rode in that procession, and passed without a sign from the people. four years ago he drove down broadway as president-elect, unnoticed and with soldiers in disguise attending him lest the mob should stone him. to-day, at the mention of his name in the churches, the preachers' voices in prayer wavered and broke into silence while strong men among the crowd burst into sobs. flags flew at half-mast from their steeples, and their bells tolled in grief. every house that flew but yesterday its banner of victory was shrouded in mourning. the flags and pennants of a thousand ships in the harbour drooped at half-mast, and from every staff in the city streamed across the sky the black mists of crape like strange meteors in the troubled heavens. for three days every theatre, school, court, bank, shop, and mill was closed. and with muttered curses men looked southward. across broadway the cortège passed under a huge transparency on which appeared the words: "a nation bowed in grief will rise in might to exterminate the leaders of this accursed rebellion." farther along swung the black-draped banner: "justice to traitors is mercy to the people." another flapped its grim message: "the barbarism of slavery. can barbarism go further?" across the ninth regiment armoury, in gigantic letters, were the words: "time for weeping but vengeance is not sleeping!" when the procession reached buffalo, the house of millard fillmore was mobbed because the ex-president, stricken on a bed of illness, had neglected to drape his house in mourning. the procession passed to springfield through miles of bowed heads dumb with grief. the plough stopped in the furrow, the smith dropped his hammer, the carpenter his plane, the merchant closed his door, the clink of coin ceased, and over all hung brooding silence with low-muttered curses, fierce and incoherent. no man who walked the earth ever passed to his tomb through such a storm of human tears. the pageants of alexander, cæsar, and wellington were tinsel to this. nor did the spirit of napoleon, the corsican lieutenant of artillery who once presided over a congress of kings whom he had conquered, look down on its like even in france. and now that its pomp was done and its memory but bitterness and ashes, but one man knew exactly what he wanted and what he meant to do. others were stunned by the blow. but the cold eyes of the great commoner, leader of leaders, sparkled, and his grim lips smiled. from him not a word of praise or fawning sorrow for the dead. whatever he might be, he was not a liar: when he hated, he hated. the drooping flags, the city's black shrouds, processions, torches, silent seas of faces and bared heads, the dirges and the bells, the dim-lit churches, wailing organs, fierce invectives from the altar, and the perfume of flowers piled in heaps by silent hearts--to all these was he heir. and more--the fierce unwritten, unspoken, and unspeakable horrors of the war itself, its passions, its cruelties, its hideous crimes and sufferings, the wailing of its women, the graves of its men--all these now were his. the new president bowed to the storm. in one breath he promised to fulfil the plans of lincoln. in the next he, too, breathed threats of vengeance. the edict went forth for the arrest of general lee. would grant, the commanding general of the army, dare protest? there were those who said that if lee were arrested and grant's plighted word at appomattox smirched, the silent soldier would not only protest, but draw his sword, if need be, to defend his honour and the honour of the nation. yet--would he dare? it remained to be seen. the jails were now packed with southern men, taken unarmed from their homes. the old capitol prison was full, and every cell of every grated building in the city, and they were filling the rooms of the capitol itself. margaret, hurrying from the market in the early morning with her flowers, was startled to find her mother bowed in anguish over a paragraph in the morning paper. she rose and handed it to the daughter, who read: "dr. richard cameron, of south carolina, arrived in washington and was placed in jail last night, charged with complicity in the murder of president lincoln. it was discovered that jeff davis spent the night at his home in piedmont, under the pretence of needing medical attention. beyond all doubt, booth, the assassin, merely acted under orders from the arch traitor. may the gallows have a rich and early harvest!" margaret tremblingly wound her arms around her mother's neck. no words broke the pitiful silence--only blinding tears and broken sobs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- book ii--the revolution chapter i the first lady of the land the little house on the capitol hill now became the centre of fevered activity. this house, selected by its grim master to become the executive mansion of the nation, was perhaps the most modest structure ever chosen for such high uses. it stood, a small, two-story brick building, in an unpretentious street. seven windows opened on the front with black solid-panelled shutters. the front parlour was scantily furnished. a huge mirror covered one wall, and on the other hung a life-size oil portrait of stoneman, and between the windows were a portrait of washington irving and a picture of a nun. among his many charities he had always given liberally to an orphanage conducted by a roman catholic sisterhood. the back parlour, whose single window looked out on a small garden, he had fitted up as a library, with leather-upholstered furniture, a large desk and table, and scattered on the mantel and about its walls were the photographs of his personal friends and a few costly prints. this room he used as his executive office, and no person was allowed to enter it without first stating his business or presenting a petition to the tawny brown woman with restless eyes who sat in state in the front parlour and received his visitors. the books in their cases gave evidence of little use for many years, although their character indicated the tastes of a man of culture. his pliny, cæsar, cicero, tacitus, sophocles, and homer had evidently been read by a man who knew their beauties and loved them for their own sake. this house was now the mecca of the party in power and the storm-centre of the forces destined to shape the nation's life. senators, representatives, politicians of low and high degree, artists, correspondents, foreign ministers, and cabinet officers hurried to acknowledge their fealty to the uncrowned king, and hail the strange brown woman who held the keys of his house as the first lady of the land. when charles sumner called, a curious thing happened. by a code agreed on between them, lydia brown touched an electric signal which informed the old commoner of his appearance. stoneman hobbled to the folding-doors and watched through the slight opening the manner in which the icy senator greeted the negress whom he was compelled to meet thus as his social equal, though she was always particular to pose as the superior of all who bowed the knee to the old man whose house she kept. sumner at this time was supposed to be the most powerful man in congress. it was a harmless fiction which pleased him, and at which stoneman loved to laugh. the senator from massachusetts had just made a speech in boston expounding the "equality of man," yet he could not endure personal contact with a negro. he would go secretly miles out of the way to avoid it. stoneman watched him slowly and daintily approach this negress and touch her jewelled hand gingerly with the tips of his classic fingers as if she were a toad. convulsed, he scrambled back to his desk and hugged himself while he listened to the flow of lydia's condescending patronage in the next room. "this world's too good a thing to lose!" he chuckled. "i think i'll live always." when sumner left, the hour for dinner had arrived, and by special invitation two men dined with him. on his right sat an army officer who had been dismissed from the service, a victim of the mania for gambling. his ruddy face, iron-gray hair, and jovial mien indicated that he enjoyed life in spite of troubles. there were no clubs in washington at this time except the regular gambling-houses, of which there were more than one hundred in full blast. stoneman was himself a gambler, and spent a part of almost every night at hall & pemberton's faro palace on pennsylvania avenue, a place noted for its famous restaurant. it was here that he met colonel howle and learned to like him. he was a man of talent, cool and audacious, and a liar of such singular fluency that he quite captivated the old commoner's imagination. "upon my soul, howle," he declared soon after they met, "you made the mistake of your life going into the army. you're a born politician. you're what i call a natural liar, just as a horse is a pacer, a dog a setter. you lie without effort, with an ease and grace that excels all art. had you gone into politics, you could easily have been secretary of state, to say nothing of the vice-presidency. i would say president but for the fact that men of the highest genius never attain it." from that moment colonel howle had become his charmed henchman. stoneman owned this man body and soul, not merely because he had befriended him when he was in trouble and friendless, but because the colonel recognized the power of the leader's daring spirit and revolutionary genius. on his left sat a negro of perhaps forty years, a man of charming features for a mulatto, who had evidently inherited the full physical characteristics of the aryan race, while his dark yellowish eyes beneath his heavy brows glowed with the brightness of the african jungle. it was impossible to look at his superb face, with its large, finely chiselled lips and massive nose, his big neck and broad shoulders, and watch his eyes gleam beneath the projecting forehead, without seeing pictures of the primeval forest. "the head of a cæsar and the eyes of the jungle" was the phrase coined by an artist who painted his portrait. his hair was black and glossy and stood in dishevelled profusion on his head between a kink and a curl. he was an orator of great power, and stirred a negro audience as by magic. lydia brown had called stoneman's attention to this man, silas lynch, and induced the statesman to send him to college. he had graduated with credit and had entered the methodist ministry. in his preaching to the freedmen he had already become a marked man. no house could hold his audiences. as he stepped briskly into the dining-room and passed the brown woman, a close observer might have seen him suddenly press her hand and caught her sly answering smile, but the old man waiting at the head of the table saw nothing. the woman took her seat opposite stoneman and presided over this curious group with the easy assurance of conscious power. whatever her real position, she knew how to play the role she had chosen to assume. no more curious or sinister figure ever cast a shadow across the history of a great nation than did this mulatto woman in the most corrupt hour of american life. the grim old man who looked into her sleek tawny face and followed her catlike eyes was steadily gripping the nation by the throat. did he aim to make this woman the arbiter of its social life, and her ethics the limit of its moral laws? even the white satellite who sat opposite lynch flushed for a moment as the thought flashed through his brain. the old cynic, who alone knew his real purpose, was in his most genial mood to-night, and the grim lines of his powerful face relaxed into something like a smile as they ate and chatted and told good stories. lynch watched him with keen interest. he knew his history and character, and had built on his genius a brilliant scheme of life. this man who meant to become the dictator of the republic had come from the humblest early conditions. his father was a worthless character, from whom he had learned the trade of a shoemaker, but his mother, a woman of vigorous intellect and indomitable will, had succeeded in giving her lame boy a college education. he had early sworn to be a man of wealth, and to this purpose he had throttled the dreams and ideals of a wayward imagination. his hope of great wealth had not been realized. his iron mills in pennsylvania had been destroyed by lee's army. he had developed the habit of gambling, which brought its train of extravagant habits, tastes, and inevitable debts. in his vigorous manhood, in spite of his lameness, he had kept a pack of hounds and a stable of fine horses. he had used his skill in shoemaking to construct a set of stirrups to fit his lame feet, and had become an expert hunter to hounds. one thing he never neglected--to be in his seat in the house of representatives and wear its royal crown of leadership, sick or well, day or night. the love of power was the breath of his nostrils, and his ambitions had at one time been boundless. his enormous power to-day was due to the fact that he had given up all hope of office beyond the robes of the king of his party. he had been offered a cabinet position by the elder harrison and for some reason it had been withdrawn. he had been promised a place in lincoln's cabinet, but some mysterious power had snatched it away. he was the one great man who had now no ambition for which to trim and fawn and lie, and for the very reason that he had abolished himself he was the most powerful leader who ever walked the halls of congress. his contempt for public opinion was boundless. bold, original, scornful of advice, of all the men who ever lived in our history he was the one man born to rule in the chaos which followed the assassination of the chief magistrate. audacity was stamped in every line of his magnificent head. his choicest curses were for the cowards of his own party before whose blanched faces he shouted out the hidden things until they sank back in helpless silence and dismay. his speech was curt, his humour sardonic, his wit biting, cruel, and coarse. the incarnate soul of revolution, he despised convention and ridiculed respectability. there was but one weak spot in his armour--and the world never suspected it: the consuming passion with which he loved his two children. this was the side of his nature he had hidden from the eyes of man. a refined egotism, this passion, perhaps--for he meant to live his own life over in them--yet it was the one utterly human and lovable thing about him. and if his public policy was one of stupendous avarice, this dream of millions of confiscated wealth he meant to seize, it was not for himself but for his children. as he looked at howle and lynch seated in his library after dinner, with his great plans seething in his brain, his eyes were flashing, intense, and fiery, yet without colour--simply two centres of cold light. "gentlemen," he said at length. "i am going to ask you to undertake for the government, the nation, and yourselves a dangerous and important mission. i say yourselves, because, in spite of all our beautiful lies, self is the centre of all human action. mr. lincoln has fortunately gone to his reward--fortunately for him and for his country. his death was necessary to save his life. he was a useful man living, more useful dead. our party has lost its first president, but gained a god--why mourn?" "we will recover from our grief," said howle. the old man went on, ignoring the interruption: "things have somehow come my way. i am almost persuaded late in life that the gods love me. the insane fury of the north against the south for a crime which they were the last people on earth to dream of committing is, of course, a power to be used--but with caution. the first execution of a southern leader on such an idiotic charge would produce a revolution of sentiment. the people are an aggregation of hysterical fools." "i thought you favoured the execution of the leaders of the rebellion?" said lynch with surprise. "i did, but it is too late. had they been tried by drum-head court-martial and shot dead red-handed as they stood on the field in their uniforms, all would have been well. now sentiment is too strong. grant showed his teeth to stanton and he backed down from lee's arrest. sherman refused to shake hands with stanton on the grandstand the day his army passed in review, and it's a wonder he didn't knock him down. sherman was denounced as a renegade and traitor for giving joseph e. johnston the terms lincoln ordered him to give. lincoln dead, his terms are treason! yet had he lived, we should have been called upon to applaud his mercy and patriotism. how can a man live in this world and keep his face straight?" "i believe god permitted mr. lincoln's death to give the great commoner, the leader of leaders, the right of way," cried lynch with enthusiasm. the old man smiled. with all his fierce spirit he was as susceptible to flattery as a woman--far more so than the sleek brown woman who carried the keys of his house. "the man at the other end of the avenue, who pretends to be president, in reality an alien of the conquered province of tennessee, is pressing lincoln's plan of 'restoring' the union. he has organized state governments in the south, and their senators and representatives will appear at the capitol in december for admission to congress. he thinks they will enter----" the old man broke into a low laugh and rubbed his hands. "my full plans are not for discussion at this juncture. suffice it to say, i mean to secure the future of our party and the safety of this nation. the one thing on which the success of my plan absolutely depends is the confiscation of the millions of acres of land owned by the white people of the south and its division among the negroes and those who fought and suffered in this war----" the old commoner paused, pursed his lips, and fumbled his hands a moment, the nostrils of his eagle-beaked nose breathing rapacity, sensuality throbbing in his massive jaws, and despotism frowning from his heavy brows. "stanton will probably add to the hilarity of nations, and amuse himself by hanging a few rebels," he went on, "but we will address ourselves to serious work. all men have their price, including the present company, with due apologies to the speaker----" howle's eyes danced, and he licked his lips. "if i haven't suffered in this war, who has?" "your reward will not be in accordance with your sufferings. it will be based on the efficiency with which you obey my orders. read that----" he handed to him a piece of paper on which he had scrawled his secret instructions. another he gave to lynch. "hand them back to me when you read them, and i will burn them. these instructions are not to pass the lips of any man until the time is ripe--four bare walls are not to hear them whispered." both men handed to the leader the slips of paper simultaneously. "are we agreed, gentlemen?" "perfectly," answered howle. "your word is law to me, sir," said lynch. "then you will draw on me personally for your expenses, and leave for the south within forty-eight hours. i wish your reports delivered to me two weeks before the meeting of congress." as lynch passed through the hall on his way to the door, the brown woman bade him good-night and pressed into his hand a letter. as his yellow fingers closed on the missive, his eyes flashed for a moment with catlike humour. the woman's face wore the mask of a sphinx. chapter ii sweethearts when the first shock of horror at her husband's peril passed, it left a strange new light in mrs. cameron's eyes. the heritage of centuries of heroic blood from the martyrs of old scotland began to flash its inspiration from the past. her heart beat with the unconscious life of men and women who had stood in the stocks, and walked in chains to the stake with songs on their lips. the threat against the life of doctor cameron had not only stirred her martyr blood: it had roused the latent heroism of a beautiful girlhood. to her he had ever been the lover and the undimmed hero of her girlish dreams. she spent whole hours locked in her room alone. margaret knew that she was on her knees. she always came forth with shining face and with soft words on her lips. she struggled for two months in vain efforts to obtain a single interview with him, or to obtain a copy of the charges. doctor cameron had been placed in the old capitol prison, already crowded to the utmost. he was in delicate health, and so ill when she had left home he could not accompany her to richmond. not a written or spoken word was allowed to pass those prison doors. she could communicate with him only through the officers in charge. every message from him was the same. "i love you always. do not worry. go home the moment you can leave ben. i fear the worst at piedmont." when he had sent this message, he would sit down and write the truth in a little diary he kept: "another day of anguish. how long, o lord? just one touch of her hand, one last pressure of her lips, and i am content. i have no desire to live--i am tired." the officers repeated the verbal messages, but they made no impression on mrs. cameron. by a mental telepathy which had always linked her life with his her soul had passed those prison bars. if he had written the pitiful record with a dagger's point on her heart, she could not have felt it more keenly. at times overwhelmed, she lay prostrate and sobbed in half-articulate cries. and then from the silence and mystery of the spirit world in which she felt the beat of the heart of eternal love would come again the strange peace that passeth understanding. she would rise and go forth to her task with a smile. in july she saw mrs. surratt taken from this old capitol prison to be hung with payne, herold, and atzerodt for complicity in the assassination. the military commission before whom this farce of justice was enacted, suspicious of the testimony of the perjured wretches who had sworn her life away, had filed a memorandum with their verdict asking the president for mercy. president johnson never saw this memorandum. it was secretly removed in the war department, and only replaced after he had signed the death warrant. in vain annie surratt, the weeping daughter, flung herself on the steps of the white house on the fatal day, begging and praying to see the president. she could not believe they would allow her mother to be murdered in the face of a recommendation of mercy. the fatal hour struck at last, and the girl left the white house with set eyes and blanched face, muttering incoherent curses. the chief magistrate sat within, unconscious of the hideous tragedy that was being enacted in his name. when he discovered the infamy by which he had been made the executioner of an innocent woman, he made his first demand that edwin m. stanton resign from his cabinet as secretary of war. and for the first time in the history of america, a cabinet officer waived the question of honour and refused to resign. with a shudder and blush of shame, strong men saw that day the executioner gather the ropes tightly three times around the dress of an innocent american mother and bind her ankles with cords. she fainted and sank backward upon the attendants, the poor limbs yielding at last to the mortal terror of death. but they propped her up and sprung the fatal trap. a feeling of uncertainty and horror crept over the city and the nation, as rumours of the strange doings of the "bureau of military justice," with its secret factory of testimony and powers of tampering with verdicts, began to find their way in whispered stories among the people. public opinion, however, had as yet no power of adjustment. it was an hour of lapse to tribal insanity. things had gone wrong. the demand for a scapegoat, blind, savage, and unreasoning, had not spent itself. the government could do anything as yet, and the people would applaud. mrs. cameron had tried in vain to gain a hearing before the president. each time she was directed to apply to mr. stanton. she refused to attempt to see him, and again turned to elsie for help. she had learned that the same witnesses who had testified against mrs. surratt were being used to convict doctor cameron, and her heart was sick with fear. "ask your father," she pleaded, "to write president johnson a letter in my behalf. whatever his politics, he can't be _your_ father and not be good at heart." elsie paled for a moment. it was the one request she had dreaded. she thought of her father and stanton with dread. how far he was supporting the secretary of war she could only vaguely guess. he rarely spoke of politics to her, much as he loved her. "i'll try, mrs. cameron," she faltered. "my father is in town to-day and takes dinner with us before he leaves for pennsylvania to-night. i'll go at once." with fear, and yet boldly, she went straight home to present her request. she knew he was a man who never cherished small resentments, however cruel and implacable might be his public policies. and yet she dreaded to put it to the test. "father, i've a very important request to make of you," she said gravely. "very well, my child, you need not be so solemn. what is it?" "i've some friends in great distress--mrs. cameron, of south carolina, and her daughter margaret." "friends of yours?" he asked with an incredulous smile. "where on earth did you find them?" "in the hospital, of course. mrs. cameron is not allowed to see her husband, who has been here in jail for over two months. he cannot write to her, nor can he receive a letter from her. he is on trial for his life, is ill and helpless, and is not allowed to know the charges against him, while hired witnesses and detectives have broken open his house, searched his papers, and are ransacking heaven and earth to convict him of a crime of which he never dreamed. it's a shame. you don't approve of such things, i know?" "what's the use of my expressing an opinion when you have already settled it?" he answered good-humouredly. "you _don't_ approve of such injustice?" "certainly not, my child. stanton's frantic efforts to hang a lot of prominent southern men for complicity in booth's crime is sheer insanity. nobody who has any sense believes them guilty. as a politician i use popular clamour for my purposes, but i am not an idiot. when i go gunning, i never use a popgun or hunt small game." "then you will write the president a letter asking that they be allowed to see doctor cameron?" the old man frowned. "think, father, if you were in jail and friendless, and i were trying to see you----" "tut, tut, my dear, it's not that i am unwilling--i was only thinking of the unconscious humour of _my_ making a request of the man who at present accidentally occupies the white house. of all the men on earth, this alien from the province of tennessee! but i'll do it for you. when did you ever know me to deny my help to a weak man or woman in distress?" "never, father. i was sure you would do it," she answered warmly. he wrote the letter at once and handed it to her. she bent and kissed him. "i can't tell you how glad i am to know that you have no part in such injustice." "you should not have believed me such a fool, but i'll forgive you for the kiss. run now with this letter to your rebel friends, you little traitor! wait a minute----" he shuffled to his feet, placed his hand tenderly on her head, and stooped and kissed the shining hair. "i wonder if you know how i love you? how i've dreamed of your future? i may not see you every day as i wish; i'm absorbed in great affairs. but more and more i think of you and phil. i'll have a big surprise for you both some day." "your love is all i ask," she answered simply. within an hour, mrs. cameron found herself before the new president. the letter had opened the door as by magic. she poured out her story with impetuous eloquence while mr. johnson listened in uneasy silence. his ruddy face, his hesitating manner, and restless eyes were in striking contrast to the conscious power of the tall dark man who had listened so tenderly and sympathetically to her story of ben but a few weeks before. the president asked: "have you seen mr. stanton?" "i have seen him once," she cried with sudden passion. "it is enough. if that man were god on his throne, i would swear allegiance to the devil and fight him!" the president lifted his eyebrows and his lips twitched with a smile: "i shouldn't say that your spirits are exactly drooping! i'd like to be near and hear you make that remark to the distinguished secretary of war." "will you grant my prayer?" she pleaded. "i will consider the matter," he promised evasively. mrs. cameron's heart sank. "mr. president," she cried bitterly, "i have felt sure that i had but to see you face to face and you could not deny me. surely it is but justice that he have the right to see his loved ones, to consult with counsel, to know the charges against him, and defend his life when attacked in his poverty and ruin by all the power of a mighty government? he is feeble and broken in health and suffering from wounds received carrying the flag of the union to victory in mexico. whatever his errors of judgment in this war, it is a shame that a nation for which he once bared his breast in battle should treat him as an outlaw without a trial." "you must remember, madam," interrupted the president, "that these are extraordinary times, and that popular clamour, however unjust, will make itself felt and must be heeded by those in power. i am sorry for you, and i trust it may be possible for me to grant your request." "but i wish it now," she urged. "he sends me word i must go home. i can't leave without seeing him. i will die first." she drew closer and continued in throbbing tones: "mr. president, you are a native carolinian--you are of scotch covenanter blood. you are of my own people of the great past, whose tears and sufferings are our common glory and birthright. come, you must hear me--i will take no denial. give me now the order to see my husband!" the president hesitated, struggling with deep emotion, called his secretary, and gave the order. as she hurried away with elsie, who insisted on accompanying her to the jail door, the girl said: "mrs. cameron, i fear you are without money. you must let me help you until you can return it." "you are the dearest little heart i've met in all the world, i think sometimes," said the older woman, looking at her tenderly. "i wonder how i can ever pay you for half you've done already." "the doing of it has been its own reward," was the soft reply. "may i help you?" "if i need it, yes. but i trust it will not be necessary. i still have a little store of gold doctor cameron was wise enough to hoard during the war. i brought half of it with me when i left home, and we buried the rest. i hope to find it on my return. and if we can save the twenty bales of cotton we have hidden we shall be relieved of want." "i'm ashamed of my country when i think of such ignoble methods as have been used against doctor cameron. my father is indignant, too." the last sentence elsie spoke with eager girlish pride. "i am very grateful to your father for his letter. i am sorry he has left the city before i could meet and thank him personally. you must tell him for me." at the jail the order of the president was not honoured for three hours, and mrs. cameron paced the street in angry impatience at first and then in dull despair. "do you think that man stanton would dare defy the president?" she asked anxiously. "no," said elsie, "but he is delaying as long as possible as an act of petty tyranny." at last the messenger arrived from the war department permitting an order of the chief magistrate of the nation, the commander-in-chief of its army and navy, to be executed. the grated door swung on its heavy hinges, and the wife and mother lay sobbing in the arms of the lover of her youth. for two hours they poured into each other's hearts the story of their sorrows and struggles during the six fateful months that had passed. when she would return from every theme back to his danger, he would laugh her fears to scorn. "nonsense, my dear, i'm as innocent as a babe. mr. davis was suffering from erysipelas, and i kept him in my house that night to relieve his pain. it will all blow over. i'm happy now that i have seen you. ben will be up in a few days. you must return at once. you have no idea of the wild chaos at home. i left jake in charge. i have implicit faith in him, but there's no telling what may happen. i will not spend another moment in peace until you go." the proud old man spoke of his own danger with easy assurance. he was absolutely certain, since the day of mrs. surratt's execution, that he would be railroaded to the gallows by the same methods. he had long looked on the end with indifference, and had ceased to desire to live except to see his loved ones again. in vain she warned him of danger. "my peril is nothing, my love," he answered quietly. "at home, the horrors of a servile reign of terror have become a reality. these prison walls do not interest me. my heart is with our stricken people. you must go home. our neighbour, mr. lenoir, is slowly dying. his wife will always be a child. little marion is older and more self-reliant. i feel as if they are our own children. there are so many who need us. they have always looked to me for guidance and help. you can do more for them than any one else. my calling is to heal others. you have always helped me. do now as i ask you." at last she consented to leave for piedmont on the following day, and he smiled. "kiss ben and margaret for me and tell them that i'll be with them soon," he said cheerily. he meant in the spirit, not the flesh. not the faintest hope of life even flickered in his mind. in the last farewell embrace a faint tremor of the soul, half sigh, half groan, escaped his lips, and he drew her again to his breast, whispering: "always my sweetheart, good, beautiful, brave, and true!" chapter iii the joy of living within two weeks after the departure of mrs. cameron and margaret, the wounded soldier had left the hospital with elsie's hand resting on his arm and her keen eyes watching his faltering steps. she had promised margaret to take her place until he was strong again. she was afraid to ask herself the meaning of the songs that were welling up from the depth of her own soul. she told herself again and again that she was fulfilling her ideal of unselfish human service. ben's recovery was rapid, and he soon began to give evidence of his boundless joy in the mere fact of life. he utterly refused to believe his father in danger. "what, my dad a conspirator, an assassin!" he cried, with a laugh. "why, he wouldn't kill a flea without apologising to it. and as for plots and dark secrets, he never had a secret in his life and couldn't keep one if he had it. my mother keeps all the family secrets. crime couldn't stick to him any more than dirty water to a duck's back!" "but we must secure his release on parole, that he may defend himself." "of course. but we won't cross any bridges till we come to them. i never saw things so bad they couldn't be worse. just think what i've been through. the war's over. don't worry." he looked at her tenderly. "get that banjo and play 'get out of the wilderness!'" his spirit was contagious and his good humour resistless. elsie spent the days of his convalescence in an unconscious glow of pleasure in his companionship. his handsome boyish face, his bearing, his whole personality, invited frankness and intimacy. it was a divine gift, this magnetism, the subtle meeting of quick intelligence, tact, and sympathy. his voice was tender and penetrating, with soft caresses in its tones. his vision of life was large and generous, with a splendid carelessness about little things that didn't count. each day elsie saw new and striking traits of his character which drew her. "what will we do if stanton arrests you one of these fine days?" she asked him one day. "afraid they'll nab me for something?" he exclaimed. "well, that is a joke. don't you worry. the yankees know who to fool with. i licked 'em too many times for them to bother me any more." "i was under the impression that you got licked," elsie observed. "don't you believe it. we wore ourselves out whipping the other fellows." elsie smiled, took up the banjo, and asked him to sing while she played. she had no idea that he could sing, yet to her surprise he sang his camp songs boldly, tenderly, and with deep, expressive feeling. as the girl listened, the memory of the horrible hours of suspense she had spent with his mother when his unconscious life hung on a thread came trooping back into her heart and a tear dimmed her eyes. and he began to look at her with a new wonder and joy slowly growing in his soul. chapter iv hidden treasure ben had spent a month of vain effort to secure his father's release. he had succeeded in obtaining for him a removal to more comfortable quarters, books to read, and the privilege of a daily walk under guard and parole. the doctor's genial temper, the wide range of his knowledge, the charm of his personality, and his heroism in suffering had captivated the surgeons who attended him and made friends of every jailer and guard. elsie was now using all her woman's wit to secure a copy of the charges against him as formulated by the judge advocate general, who, in defiance of civil law, still claimed control of these cases. to the boy's sanguine temperament the whole proceeding had been a huge farce from the beginning, and at the last interview with his father he had literally laughed him into good humour. "look here, pa," he cried. "i believe you're trying to slip off and leave us in this mess. it's not fair. it's easy to die." "who said i was going to die?" "i heard you were trying to crawl out that way." "well, it's a mistake. i'm going to live just for the fun of disappointing my enemies and to keep you company. but you'd better get hold of a copy of these charges against me--if you don't want me to escape." "it's a funny world if a man can be condemned to death without any information on the subject." "my son, we are now in the hands of the revolutionists, army sutlers, contractors, and adventurers. the nation will touch the lowest tide-mud of its degradation within the next few years. no man can predict the end." "oh, go 'long!" said ben. "you've got jail cobwebs in your eyes." "i'm depending on you." "i'll pull you through if you don't lie down on me and die to get out of trouble. you know you _can_ die if you try hard enough." "i promise you, my boy," he said with a laugh. "then i'll let you read this letter from home," ben said, suddenly thrusting it before him. the doctor's hand trembled a little as he put on his glasses and read: _my dear boy_: i cannot tell you how much good your bright letters have done us. it's like opening the window and letting in the sunlight while fresh breezes blow through one's soul. margaret and i have had stirring times. i send you enclosed an order for the last dollar of money we have left. you must hoard it. make it last until your father is safe at home. i dare not leave it here. nothing is safe. every piece of silver and everything that could be carried has been stolen since we returned. uncle aleck betrayed the place jake had hidden our twenty precious bales of cotton. the war is long since over, but the "treasury agent" declared them confiscated, and then offered to relieve us of his order if we gave him five bales, each worth three hundred dollars in gold. i agreed, and within a week another thief came and declared the other fifteen bales confiscated. they steal it, and the government never gets a cent. we dared not try to sell it in open market, as every bale exposed for sale is "confiscated" at once. no crop was planted this summer. the negroes are all drawing rations at the freedman's bureau. we have turned our house into a hotel, and our table has become famous. margaret is a treasure. she has learned to do everything. we tried to raise a crop on the farm when we came home, but the negroes stopped work. the agent of the bureau came to us and said he could send them back for a fee of $ . we paid it, and they worked a week. we found it easier to run a hotel. we hope to start the farm next year. our new minister at the presbyterian church is young, handsome, and eloquent--rev. hugh mcalpin. mr. lenoir died last week--but his end was so beautiful, our tears were half joy. he talked incessantly of your father and how the country missed him. he seemed much better the day before the end came, and we took him for a little drive to lovers' leap. it was there, sixteen years ago, he made love to jeannie. when we propped him up on the rustic seat, and he looked out over the cliff and the river below, i have never seen a face so transfigured with peace and joy. "what a beautiful world it is, my dears!" he exclaimed, taking jeannie and marion both by the hand. they began to cry, and he said with a smile: "come now--do you love me?" and they covered his hands with kisses. "well, then you must promise me two things faithfully here, with mrs. cameron to witness!" "we promise," they both said in a breath. "that when i fall asleep, not one thread of black shall ever cloud the sunlight of our little home, that you will never wear it, and that you will show your love for me by making my flowers grow richer, that you will keep my memory green by always being as beautiful as you are to-day, and make this old world a sweeter place to live in. i wish you, jeannie, my mate, to keep on making the young people glad. don't let their joys be less even for a month because i have laid down to rest. let them sing and dance----" "oh, papa!" cried marion. "certainly, my little serious beauty--i'll not be far away, i'll be near and breathe my songs into their hearts, and into yours--you both promise?" "yes, yes!" they both cried. as we drove back through the woods, he smiled tenderly and said to me: "my neighbour, doctor cameron, pays taxes on these woods, but i own them! their sighing boughs, stirred by the breezes, have played for me oratorios grander than all the scores of human genius. i'll hear the choir invisible play them when i sleep." he died that night suddenly. with his last breath he sighed: "draw the curtains and let me see again the moonlit woods!" they are trying to carry out his wishes. i found they had nothing to eat, and that he had really died from insufficient nourishment--a polite expression meaning starvation. i've divided half our little store with them and send the rest to you. i think marion more and more the incarnate soul of her father. i feel as if they are both my children. my little grandchick, hugh, is the sweetest youngster alive. he was a wee thing when you left. mrs. lenoir kept him when they arrested your father. he is so much like your brother hugh i feel as if he has come to life again. you should hear him say grace, so solemnly and tenderly, we can't help crying. he made it up himself. this is what he says at every meal: "god, please give my grandpa something good to eat in jail, keep him well, don't let the pains hurt him any more, and bring him home to me quick, for jesus' sake. amen." i never knew before how the people loved the doctor, nor how dependent they were on him for help and guidance. men, both white and coloured, come here every day to ask about him. some of them come from far up in the mountains. god alone knows how lonely our home and the world has seemed without him. they say that those who love and live the close sweet home life for years grow alike in soul and body, in tastes, ways, and habits. i find it so. people have told me that your father and i are more alike than brother and sister of the same blood. in spirit i'm sure it's true. i know you love him and that you will leave nothing undone for his health and safety. tell him that my only cure for loneliness in his absence is my fight to keep the wolf from the door, and save our home against his coming. lovingly, your mother. when the doctor had finished the reading, he looked out the window of the jail at the shining dome of the capitol for a moment in silence. "do you know, my boy, that you have the heritage of royal blood? you are the child of a wonderful mother. i'm ashamed when i think of the helpless stupor under which i have given up, and then remember the deathless courage with which she has braved it all--the loss of her boys, her property, your troubles and mine. she has faced the world alone like a wounded lioness standing over her cubs. and now she turns her home into a hotel, and begins life in a strange new world without one doubt of her success. the south is yet rich even in its ruin." "then you'll fight and go back to her with me?" "yes, never fear." "good! you see, we're so poor now, pa, you're lucky to be saving a board bill here. i'd 'conspire' myself and come in with you but for the fact it would hamper me a little in helping you." chapter v across the chasm when ben had fully recovered and his father's case looked hopeful, elsie turned to her study of music, and the southern boy suddenly waked to the fact that the great mystery of life was upon him. he was in love at last--genuinely, deeply, without one reservation. he had from habit flirted in a harmless way with every girl he knew. he left home with little marion lenoir's girlish kiss warm on his lips. he had made love to many a pretty girl in old virginia as the red tide of war had ebbed and flowed around stuart's magic camps. but now the great hour of the soul had struck. no sooner had he dropped the first tender words that might have their double meaning, feeling his way cautiously toward her, than she had placed a gulf of dignity between them, and attempted to cut every tie that bound her life to his. it had been so sudden it took his breath away. could he win her? the word "fail" had never been in his vocabulary. it had never run in the speech of his people. yes, he would win if it was the only thing he did in this world. and forthwith he set about it. life took on new meaning and new glory. what mattered war or wounds, pain or poverty, jails and revolutions--it was the dawn of life! he sent her a flower every day and pinned one just like it on his coat. and every night found him seated by her side. she greeted him cordially, but the gulf yawned between them. his courtesy and self-control struck her with surprise and admiration. in the face of her coldness he carried about him an air of smiling deference and gallantry. she finally told him of her determination to go to new york to pursue her studies until phil had finished the term of his enlistment in his regiment, which had been ordered on permanent duty in the west. he laughed with his eyes at this announcement, blinking the lashes rapidly without moving his lips. it was a peculiar habit of his when deeply moved by a sudden thought. it had flashed over him like lightning that she was trying to get away from him. she would not do that unless she cared. "when are you going?" he asked quietly. "day after to-morrow." "then you will give me one afternoon for a sail on the river to say good-bye and thank you for what you have done for me and mine?" she hesitated, laughed, and refused. "to-morrow at four o'clock i'll call for you," he said firmly. "if there's no wind, we can drift with the tide." "i will not have time to go." "promptly at four," he repeated as he left. ben spent hours that night weighing the question of how far he should dare to speak his love. it had been such an easy thing before. now it seemed a question of life and death. twice the magic words had been on his lips, and each time something in her manner chilled him into silence. was she cold and incapable of love? no; this manner of the north was on the surface. he knew that deep down within her nature lay banked and smouldering fires of passion for the one man whose breath could stir it into flame. he felt this all the keener now that the spell of her companionship and the sweet intimacy of her daily ministry to him had been broken. the memory of little movements of her petite figure, the glance of her warm amber eyes, and the touch of her hand--all had their tongues of revelation to his eager spirit. he found her ready at four o'clock. "you see i decided to go after all," she said. "yes, i knew you would," he answered. she was dressed in a simple suit of navy-blue cloth cut v-shaped at the throat, showing the graceful lines of her exquisite neck as it melted into the plump shoulders. she had scorned hoop skirts. he admired her for this, and yet it made him uneasy. a woman who could defy an edict of fashion was a new thing under the sun, and it scared him. they were seated in the little sailboat now, drifting out with the tide. it was a perfect day in october, one of those matchless days of indian summer in the virginia climate when an infinite peace and vast brooding silence fill the earth and sky until one feels that words are a sacrilege. neither of them spoke for minutes, and his heart grew bold in the stillness. no girl could be still who was unmoved. she was seated just in front of him on the left, with her hand idly rippling the surface of the silvery waters, gazing at the wooded cliff on the river banks clothed now in their gorgeous robes of yellow, purple, scarlet, and gold. the soft strains of distant music came from a band in the fort, and her hand in the rippling water seemed its accompaniment. ben was conscious only of her presence. every sight and sound of nature seemed to be blended in her presence. never in all his life had he seen anything so delicately beautiful as the ripe rose colour of her cheeks, and all the tints of autumn's glory seemed to melt into the gold of her hair. and those eyes he felt that god had never set in such a face before--rich amber, warm and glowing, big and candid, courageous and truthful. "are you dead again?" she asked demurely. "well, as the irishman said in answer to his mate's question when he fell off the house, 'not dead--but spacheless.'" he was quick to see the opening her question with its memories had made, and took advantage of it. "look here, miss elsie, you're too honest, independent, and candid to play hide-and-seek with me. i want to ask you a plain question. you've been trying to pick a quarrel of late. what have i done?" "nothing. it has simply come to me that our lives are far apart. the gulf between us is real and very deep. your father was but yesterday a slaveholder----" ben grinned: "yes, your slave-trading grandfather sold them to us the day before." elsie blushed and bristled for a fight. "you won't mind if i give you a few lessons in history, will you?" ben asked softly. "not in the least. i didn't know that southerners studied history," she answered, with a toss of her head. "we made a specialty of the history of slavery, at least. i had a dear old teacher at home who fairly blazed with light on this subject. he is one of the best-read men in america. he happens to be in jail just now. but i haven't forgotten--i know it by heart." "i am waiting for light," she interrupted cynically. "the south is no more to blame for negro slavery than the north. our slaves were stolen from africa by yankee skippers. when a slaver arrived at boston, your pious puritan clergyman offered public prayer of thanks that 'a gracious and overruling providence had been pleased to bring to this land of freedom another cargo of benighted heathen to enjoy the blessings of a gospel dispensation----'" she looked at him with angry incredulity and cried: "go on." "twenty-three times the legislature of virginia passed acts against the importation of slaves, which the king vetoed on petition of the massachusetts slave traders. jefferson made these acts of the king one of the grievances of the declaration of independence, but a massachusetts member succeeded in striking it out. the southern men in the convention which framed the constitution put into it a clause abolishing the slave trade, but the massachusetts men succeeded in adding a clause extending the trade twenty years----" he smiled and paused. "go on," she said, with impatience. "in colonial days a negro woman was publicly burned to death in boston. the first abolition paper was published in tennessee by embree. benjamin lundy, his successor, could not find a single abolitionist in boston. in over half the people of tennessee favoured abolition. at this time there were one hundred and forty abolition societies in america--one hundred and three in the south, and not one in massachusetts. it was not until that massachusetts led in abolition--not until all her own slaves had been sold to us at a profit and the slave trade had been destroyed----" she looked at ben with anger for a moment and met his tantalizing look of good humour. "can you stand any more?" "certainly, i enjoy it." "i'm just breaking down the barriers--so to speak," he said, with the laughter still lurking in his eyes, as he looked steadily ahead. "by all means go on," she said soberly. "i thought at first you were trying to tease me. i see that you are in earnest." "never more so. this is about the only little path of history i'm at home in--i love to show off in it. i heard a cheerful idiot say the other day that your father meant to carry the civilization of massachusetts to the rio grande until we had a democracy in america. i smiled. while massachusetts was enforcing laws about the dress of the rich and the poor, founding a church with a whipping-post, jail, and gibbet, and limiting the right to vote to a church membership fixed by pew rents, carolina was the home of freedom where first the equal rights of men were proclaimed. new england people worth less than one thousand dollars were prohibited by law from wearing the garb of a gentleman, gold or silver lace, buttons on the knees, or to walk in great boots, or their women to wear silk or scarfs, while the quakers, maryland catholics, baptists, and scotch-irish presbyterians were everywhere in the south the heralds of man's equality before the law." "but barring our ancestors, i have some things against the men of this generation." "have i, too, sinned and come short?" he asked with mock gravity. "our ideals of life are far apart," she firmly declared. "what ails my ideal?" "your egotism, for one thing. the air with which you calmly select what pleases your fancy. northern men are bad enough--the insolence of a southerner is beyond words!" [illustration: lillian gish as elsie, and the sentinel.] "you don't say so!" cried ben, bursting into a hearty laugh. "isn't your aunt, mrs. farnham, the president of a club?" "yes, and she is a very brilliant woman." "enlighten me further." "i deny your heaven-born male kingship. the lord of creation is after all a very inferior animal--nearer the brute creation, weaker in infancy, shorter lived, more imperfectly developed, given to fighting, and addicted to idiocy. i never saw a female idiot in my life--did you?" "come to think of it, i never did," acknowledged ben with comic gravity. "what else?" "isn't that enough?" "it's nothing. i agree with everything you say, but it is irrelevant. i'm studying law, you know." "i have a personality of my own. you and your kind assume the right to absorb all lesser lights." "certainly, i'm a man." "i don't care to be absorbed by a mere man." "don't wish to be protected, sheltered, and cared for?" "i dream of a life that shall be larger than the four walls of a home. i have never gone into hysterics over the idea of becoming a cook and housekeeper without wages, and snuffing my life out while another grows, expands, and claims the lordship of the world. i can sing. my voice is to me what eloquence is to man. my ideal is an intellectual companion who will inspire and lead me to develop all that i feel within to its highest reach." she paused a moment and looked defiantly into ben's brown eyes, about which a smile was constantly playing. he looked away, and again the river echoed with his contagious laughter. she had to join in spite of herself. he laughed with boyish gayety. it danced in his eyes, and gave spring to every movement of his slender wiry body. she felt its contagion enfold her. his laughter melted into a song. in a voice vibrant with joy he sang, "if you get there before i do, tell 'em i'm comin' too!" as elsie listened, her anger grew as she recalled the amazing folly that had induced her to tell the secret feelings of her inmost soul to this man almost a stranger. whence came this miracle of influence about him, this gift of intimacy? she felt a shock as if she had been immodest. she was in an agony of doubt as to what he was thinking of her, and dreaded to meet his gaze. and yet, when he turned toward her, his whole being a smiling compound of dark southern blood and bone and fire, at the sound of his voice all doubt and questioning melted. "do you know," he said earnestly, "that you are the funniest, most charming girl i ever met?" "thanks. i've heard your experience has been large for one of your age." ben's eyes danced. "perhaps, yes. you appeal to things in me that i didn't know were there--to all the senses of body and soul at once. your strength of mind, with its conceits, and your quick little temper seem so odd and out of place, clothed in the gentleness of your beauty." "i was never more serious in my life. there are other things more personal about you that i do not like." "what?" "your cavalier habits." "cavalier fiddlesticks. there are no cavaliers in my country. we are all covenanter and huguenot folks. the idea that southern boys are lazy loafing dreamers is a myth. i was raised on the catechism." "you love to fish and hunt and frolic--you flirt with every girl you meet, and you drink sometimes. i often feel that you are cruel and that i do not know you." ben's face grew serious, and the red scar in the edge of his hair suddenly became livid with the rush of blood. "perhaps i don't mean that you shall know all yet," he said slowly. "my ideal of a man is one that leads, charms, dominates, and yet eludes. i confess that i'm close kin to an angel and a devil, and that i await a woman's hand to lead me into the ways of peace and life." the spiritual earnestness of the girl was quick to catch the subtle appeal of his last words. his broad, high forehead, straight, masterly nose, with its mobile nostrils, seemed to her very manly at just that moment and very appealing. a soft answer was on her lips. he saw it, and leaned toward her in impulsive tenderness. a timid look on her face caused him to sink back in silence. they had now drifted near the city. the sun was slowly sinking in a smother of fiery splendour that mirrored its changing hues in the still water. the hush of the harvest fullness of autumn life was over all nature. they passed a camp of soldiers and then a big hospital on the banks above. a gun flashed from the hill, and the flag dropped from its staff. the girl's eyes lingered on the flower in his coat a moment and then on the red scar in the edge of his dark hair, and somehow the difference between them seemed to melt into the falling twilight. only his nearness was real. again a strange joy held her. he threw her a look of tenderness, and she began to tremble. a sea gull poised a moment above them and broke into a laugh. bending nearer, he gently took her hand, and said: "i love you!" a sob caught her breath and she buried her face on her arm. "i am for you, and you are for me. why beat your wings against the thing that is and must be? what else matters? with all my sins and faults my land is yours--a land of sunshine, eternal harvests, and everlasting song, old-fashioned and provincial perhaps, but kind and hospitable. around its humblest cottage song birds live and mate and nest and never leave. the winged ones of your own cold fields have heard their call, and the sky to-night will echo with their chatter as they hurry southward. elsie, my own, i too have called--come; i love you!" she lifted her face to him full of tender spiritual charm, her eyes burning their passionate answer. he bent and kissed her. "say it! say it!" he whispered. "i love you!" she sighed. chapter vi the gauge of battle the day of the first meeting of the national congress after the war was one of intense excitement. the galleries of the house were packed. elsie was there with ben in a fever of secret anxiety lest the stirring drama should cloud her own life. she watched her father limp to his seat with every eye fixed on him. the president had pursued with persistence the plan of lincoln for the immediate restoration of the union. would congress follow the lead of the president or challenge him to mortal combat? civil governments had been restored in all the southern states, with men of the highest ability chosen as governors and lawmakers. their legislatures had unanimously voted for the thirteenth amendment of the constitution abolishing slavery, and elected senators and representatives to congress. mr. seward, the secretary of state, had declared the new amendment a part of the organic law of the nation by the vote of these states. general grant went to the south to report its condition and boldly declared: "i am satisfied that the mass of thinking people of the south accept the situation in good faith. slavery and secession they regard as settled forever by the highest known tribunal, and consider this decision a fortunate one for the whole country." would the southerners be allowed to enter? amid breathless silence the clerk rose to call the roll of members-elect. every ear was bent to hear the name of the first southern man. not one was called! the master had spoken. his clerk knew how to play his part. the next business of the house was to receive the message of the chief magistrate of the nation. the message came, but not from the white house. it came from the seat of the great commoner. as the first thrill of excitement over the challenge to the president slowly subsided, stoneman rose, planted his big club foot in the middle of the aisle, and delivered to congress the word of its new master. it was ben's first view of the man of all the world just now of most interest. from his position he could see his full face and figure. he began speaking in a careless, desultory way. his tone was loud yet not declamatory, at first in a grumbling, grandfatherly, half-humorous, querulous accent that riveted every ear instantly. a sort of drollery of a contagious kind haunted it. here and there a member tittered in expectation of a flash of wit. his figure was taller than the average, slightly bent, with a dignity which suggested reserve power and contempt for his audience. one knew instinctively that back of the boldest word this man might say there was a bolder unspoken word he had chosen not to speak. his limbs were long, and their movements slow, yet nervous as from some internal fiery force. his hands were big and ugly, and always in ungraceful fumbling motion as though a separate soul dwelt within them. the heaped-up curly profusion of his brown wig gave a weird impression to the spread of his mobile features. his eagle-beaked nose had three distinct lines and angles. his chin was broad and bold, and his brows beetling and projecting. his mouth was wide, marked, and grim; when opened, deep and cavernous; when closed, it seemed to snap so tightly that the lower lip protruded. of all his make-up, his eye was the most fascinating, and it held ben spellbound. it could thrill to the deepest fibre of the soul that looked into it, yet it did not gleam. it could dominate, awe, and confound, yet it seemed to have no colour or fire. he could easily see it across the vast hall from the galleries, yet it was not large. two bold, colourless dagger-points of light they seemed. as he grew excited, they darkened as if passing under a cloud. a sudden sweep of his huge apelike arm in an angular gesture, and the drollery and carelessness of his voice were riven from it as by a bolt of lightning. he was driving home his message now in brutal frankness. yet in the height of his fiercest invective he never seemed to strengthen himself or call on his resources. in its climax he was careless, conscious of power, and contemptuous of results, as though as a gambler he had staked and lost all and in the moment of losing suddenly become the master of those who had beaten him. his speech never once bent to persuade or convince. he meant to brain the opposition with a single blow, and he did it. for he suddenly took the breath from his foes by shouting in their faces the hidden motive of which they were hoping to accuse him! "admit these southern representatives," he cried, "and with the democrats elected from the north, within one term they will have a majority in congress and the electoral college. the supremacy of our party's life is at stake. the man who dares palter with such a measure is a rebel, a traitor to his party and his people." a cheer burst from his henchmen, and his foes sat in dazed stupor at his audacity. he moved the appointment of a "committee on reconstruction" to whom the entire government of the "conquered provinces of the south" should be committed, and to whom all credentials of their pretended representatives should be referred. he sat down as the speaker put his motion, declared it carried, and quickly announced the names of this imperial committee with the hon. austin stoneman as its chairman. he then permitted the message of the president of the united states to be read by his clerk. "well, upon my soul," said ben, taking a deep breath and looking at elsie, "he's the whole thing, isn't he?" the girl smiled with pride. "yes; he is a genius. he was born to command and yet never could resist the cry of a child or the plea of a woman. he hates, but he hates ideas and systems. he makes threats, yet when he meets the man who stands for all he hates he falls in love with his enemy." "then there's hope for me?" "yes, but i must be the judge of the time to speak." "well, if he looks at me as he did once to-day, you may have to do the speaking also." "you will like him when you know him. he is one of the greatest men in america." "at least he's the father of the greatest girl in the world, which is far more important." "i wonder if you know how important?" she asked seriously. "he is the apple of my eye. his bitter words, his cynicism and sarcasm, are all on the surface--masks that hide a great sensitive spirit. you can't know with what brooding tenderness i have always loved and worshipped him. i will never marry against his wishes." "i hope he and i will always be good friends," said ben doubtfully. "you must," she replied, eagerly pressing his hand. chapter vii a woman laughs each day the conflict waxed warmer between the president and the commoner. the first bill sent to the white house to africanize the "conquered provinces" the president vetoed in a message of such logic, dignity, and power, the old leader found to his amazement it was impossible to rally the two-thirds majority to pass it over his head. at first, all had gone as planned. lynch and howle brought to him a report on "southern atrocities," secured through the councils of the secret oath-bound union league, which had destroyed the impression of general grant's words and prepared his followers for blind submission to his committee. yet the rally of a group of men in defence of the constitution had given the president unexpected strength. stoneman saw that he must hold his hand on the throat of the south and fight another campaign. howle and lynch furnished the publication committee of the union league the matter, and they printed four million five hundred thousand pamphlets on "southern atrocities." the northern states were hostile to negro suffrage, the first step of his revolutionary programme, and not a dozen men in congress had yet dared to favour it. ohio, michigan, new york, and kansas had rejected it by overwhelming majorities. but he could appeal to their passions and prejudices against the "barbarism" of the south. it would work like magic. when he had the south where he wanted it, he would turn and ram negro suffrage and negro equality down the throats of the reluctant north. his energies were now bent to prevent any effective legislation in congress until his strength should be omnipotent. a cloud disturbed the sky for a moment in the senate. john sherman, of ohio, began to loom on the horizon as a constructive statesman, and without consulting him was quietly forcing over sumner's classic oratory a reconstruction bill restoring the southern states to the union on the basis of lincoln's plan, with no provision for interference with the suffrage. it had gone to its last reading, and the final vote was pending. the house was in session at a. m., waiting in feverish anxiety the outcome of this struggle in the senate. old stoneman was in his seat, fast asleep from the exhaustion of an unbroken session of forty hours. his meals he had sent to his desk from the capitol restaurant. he was seventy-four years old and not in good health, yet his energy was tireless, his resources inexhaustible, and his audacity matchless. sunset cox, the wag of the house, an opponent but personal friend of the old commoner, passing his seat and seeing the great head sunk on his breast in sleep, laughed softly and said: "mr. speaker!" the presiding officer recognized the young democrat with a nod of answering humour and responded: "the gentleman from new york." "i move you, sir," said cox, "that, in view of the advanced age and eminent services of the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania, the sergeant-at-arms be instructed to furnish him with enough poker chips to last till morning!" the scattered members who were awake roared with laughter, the speaker pounded furiously with his gavel, the sleepy little pages jumped up, rubbing their eyes, and ran here and there answering imaginary calls, and the whole house waked to its usual noise and confusion. the old man raised his massive head and looked to the door leading toward the senate just as sumner rushed through. he had slept for a moment, but his keen intellect had taken up the fight at precisely the point at which he left it. sumner approached his desk rapidly, leaned over, and reported his defeat and sherman's triumph. "for god's sake throttle this measure in the house or we are ruined!" he exclaimed. "don't be alarmed," replied the cynic. "i'll be here with stronger weapons than articulated wind." "you have not a moment to lose. the bill is on its way to the speaker's desk, and sherman's men are going to force its passage to-night." the senator returned to the other end of the capitol wrapped in the mantle of his outraged dignity, and in thirty minutes the bill was defeated, and the house adjourned. as the old commoner hobbled through the door, his crooked cane thumping the marble floor, sumner seized and pressed his hand: "how did you do it?" stoneman's huge jaws snapped together and his lower lip protruded: "i sent for cox and summoned the leader of the democrats. i told them if they would join with me and defeat this bill, i'd give them a better one the next session. and i will--negro suffrage! the gudgeons swallowed it whole!" sumner lifted his eyebrows and wrapped his cloak a little closer. the great commoner laughed as he departed: "he is yet too good for this world, but he'll forget it before we're done this fight." on the steps a beggar asked him for a night's lodging, and he tossed him a gold eagle. * * * * * the north, which had rejected negro suffrage for itself with scorn, answered stoneman's fierce appeal to their passions against the south, and sent him a delegation of radicals eager to do his will. so fierce had waxed the combat between the president and congress that the very existence of stanton's prisoners languishing in jail was forgotten, and the secretary of war himself became a football to be kicked back and forth in this conflict of giants. the fact that andrew johnson was from tennessee, and had been an old-line democrat before his election as a unionist with lincoln, was now a fatal weakness in his position. under stoneman's assaults he became at once an executive without a party, and every word of amnesty and pardon he proclaimed for the south in accordance with lincoln's plan was denounced as the act of a renegade courting favour of traitors and rebels. stanton remained in his cabinet against his wishes to insult and defy him, and stoneman, quick to see the way by which the president of the nation could be degraded and made ridiculous, introduced a bill depriving him of the power to remove his own cabinet officers. the act was not only meant to degrade the president; it was a trap set for his ruin. the penalties were so fixed that its violation would give specific ground for his trial, impeachment, and removal from office. again stoneman passed his first act to reduce the "conquered provinces" of the south to negro rule. president johnson vetoed it with a message of such logic in defence of the constitutional rights of the states that it failed by one vote to find the two-thirds majority needed to become a law without his approval. the old commoner's eyes froze into two dagger-points of icy light when this vote was announced. with fury he cursed the president, but above all he cursed the men of his own party who had faltered. as he fumbled his big hands nervously, he growled: "if i only had five men of genuine courage in congress, i'd hang the man at the other end of the avenue from the porch of the white house! but i haven't got them--cowards, dastards, dolts, and snivelling fools----" his decision was instantly made. he would expel enough democrats from the senate and the house to place his two-thirds majority beyond question. the name of the president never passed his lips. he referred to him always, even in public debate, as "the man at the other end of the avenue," or "the former governor of tennessee who once threatened rebels--the late lamented andrew johnson, of blessed memory." he ordered the expulsion of the new member of the house from indiana, daniel w. voorhees, and the new senator from new jersey, john p. stockton. this would give him a majority of two thirds composed of men who would obey his word without a question. voorhees heard of the edict with indignant wrath. he had met stoneman in the lobbies, where he was often the centre of admiring groups of friends. his wit and audacity, and, above all, his brutal frankness, had won the admiration of the "tall sycamore of the wabash." he could not believe such a man would be a party to a palpable fraud. he appealed to him personally: "look here, stoneman," the young orator cried with wrath, "i appeal to your sense of honour and decency. my credentials have been accepted by your own committee, and my seat been awarded me. my majority is unquestioned. this is a high-handed outrage. you cannot permit this crime." the old man thrust his deformed foot out before him, struck it meditatively with his cane, and looking voorhees straight in the eye, boldly said: "there's nothing the matter with your majority, young man. i've no doubt it's all right. unfortunately, you are a democrat, and happen to be the odd man in the way of the two-thirds majority on which the supremacy of my party depends. you will have to go. come back some other time." and he did. in the senate there was a hitch. when the vote was taken on the expulsion of stockton, to the amazement of the leader it was a tie. he hobbled into the senate chamber, with the steel point of his cane ringing on the marble flags as though he were thrusting it through the vitals of the weakling who had sneaked and hedged and trimmed at the crucial moment. he met howle at the door. "what's the matter in there?" he asked. "they're trying to compromise." "compromise--the devil of american politics," he muttered. "but how did the vote fail--it was all fixed before the roll-call?" "roman, of maine, has trouble with his conscience! he is paired not to vote on this question with stockton's colleague, who is sick in trenton. his 'honour' is involved, and he refuses to break his word." "i see," said stoneman, pulling his bristling brows down until his eyes were two beads of white gleaming through them. "tell wade to summon every member of the party in his room immediately and hold the senate in session." when the group of senators crowded into the vice-president's room the old man faced them leaning on his cane and delivered an address of five minutes they never forgot. his speech had a nameless fascination. the man himself with his elemental passions was a wonder. he left on public record no speech worth reading, and yet these powerful men shrank under his glance. as the nostrils of his big three-angled nose dilated, the scream of an eagle rang in his voice, his huge ugly hand held the crook of his cane with the clutch of a tiger, his tongue flew with the hiss of an adder, and his big deformed foot seemed to grip the floor as the claw of a beast. "the life of a political party, gentlemen," he growled in conclusion, "is maintained by a scheme of subterfuges in which the moral law cuts no figure. as your leader, i know but one law--success. the world is full of fools who must have toys with which to play. a belief in politics is the favourite delusion of shallow american minds. but you and i have no delusions. your life depends on this vote. if any man thinks the abstraction called 'honour' is involved, let him choose between his honour and his life! i call no names. this issue must be settled now before the senate adjourns. there can be no to-morrow. it is life or death. let the roll be called again immediately." the grave senators resumed their seats, and wade, the acting vice-president, again put the question to stockton's expulsion. the member from new england sat pale and trembling, in his soul the anguish of the mortal combat between his puritan conscience, the iron heritage of centuries, and the order of his captain. when the clerk of the senate called his name, still the battle raged. he sat in silence, the whiteness of death about his lips, while the clerk at a signal from the chair paused. and then a scene the like of which was never known in american history! august senators crowded around his desk, begging, shouting, imploring, and demanding that a fellow senator break his solemn word of honour! for a moment pandemonium reigned. "vote! vote! call his name again!" they shouted. high above all rang the voice of charles sumner, leading the wild chorus, crying: "vote! vote! vote!" the galleries hissed and cheered--the cheers at last drowning every hiss. stoneman pushed his way among the mob which surrounded the badgered puritan as he attempted to retreat into the cloakroom. "will you vote?" he hissed, his eyes flashing poison. "my conscience will not permit it," he faltered. "to hell with your conscience!" the old leader thundered. "go back to your seat, ask the clerk to call your name, and vote, or by the living god i'll read you out of the party to-night and brand you a snivelling coward, a copperhead, a renegade, and traitor!" trembling from head to foot, he staggered back to his seat, the cold sweat standing in beads on his forehead, and gasped: "call my name!" the shrill voice of the clerk rang out in the stillness like the peal of a trumpet: "mr. roman!" and the deed was done. a cheer burst from his colleagues, and the roll-call proceeded. when stockton's name was reached he sprang to his feet, voted for himself, and made a second tie! with blank faces they turned to the leader, who ordered charles sumner to move that the senator from new jersey be not allowed to answer his name on an issue involving his own seat. it was carried. again the roll was called, and stockton expelled by a majority of one. in the moment of ominous silence which followed, a yellow woman of sleek animal beauty leaned far over the gallery rail and laughed aloud. the passage of each act of the revolutionary programme over the veto of the president was now but a matter of form. the act to degrade his office by forcing him to keep a cabinet officer who daily insulted him, the civil rights bill, and the freedman's bureau bill followed in rapid succession. stoneman's crowning reconstruction act was passed, two years after the war had closed, shattering the union again into fragments, blotting the names of ten great southern states from its roll, and dividing their territory into five military districts under the control of belted satraps. when this measure was vetoed by the president, it came accompanied by a message whose words will be forever etched in fire on the darkest page of the nation's life. amid hisses, curses, jeers, and cat-calls, the clerk of the house read its burning words: "_the power thus given to the commanding officer over the people of each district is that of an absolute monarch. his mere will is to take the place of law. he may make a criminal code of his own; he can make it as bloody as any recorded in history, or he can reserve the privilege of acting on the impulse of his private passions in each case that arises._ "_here is a bill of attainer against nine millions of people at once. it is based upon an accusation so vague as to be scarcely intelligible, and found to be true upon no credible evidence. not one of the nine millions was heard in his own defence. the representatives even of the doomed parties were excluded from all participation in the trial. the conviction is to be followed by the most ignominious punishment ever inflicted on large masses of men. it disfranchises them by hundreds of thousands and degrades them all--even those who are admitted to be guiltless--from the rank of freemen to the condition of slaves._ "_such power has not been wielded by any monarch in england for more than five hundred years, and in all that time no people who speak the english tongue have borne such servitude._" when the last jeering cat-call which greeted this message of the chief magistrate had died away on the floor and in the galleries, old stoneman rose, with a smile playing about his grim mouth, and introduced his bill to impeach the president of the united states and remove him from office. chapter viii a dream elsie spent weeks of happiness in an abandonment of joy to the spell of her lover. his charm was resistless. his gift of delicate intimacy, the eloquence with which he expressed his love, and yet the manly dignity with which he did it, threw a spell no woman could resist. each day's working hours were given to his father's case and to the study of law. if there was work to do, he did it, and then struck the word care from his life, giving himself body and soul to his love. great events were moving. the shock of the battle between congress and the president began to shake the republic to its foundations. he heard nothing, felt nothing, save the music of elsie's voice. and she knew it. she had only played with lovers before. she had never seen one of ben's kind, and he took her by storm. his creed was simple. the chief end of life is to glorify the girl you love. other things could wait. and he let them wait. he ignored their existence. but one cloud cast its shadow over the girl's heart during these red-letter days of life--the fear of what her father would do to her lover's people. ben had asked her whether he must speak to him. when she said "no, not yet," he forgot that such a man lived. as for his politics, he knew nothing and cared less. but the girl knew and thought with sickening dread, until she forgot her fears in the joy of his laughter. ben laughed so heartily, so insinuatingly, the contagion of his fun could not be resisted. he would sit for hours and confess to her the secrets of his boyish dreams of glory in war, recount his thrilling adventures and daring deeds with such enthusiasm that his cause seemed her own, and the pity and the anguish of the ruin of his people hurt her with the keen sense of personal pain. his love for his native state was so genuine, his pride in the bravery and goodness of its people so chivalrous, she began to see for the first time how the cords which bound the southerner to his soil were of the heart's red blood. she began to understand why the war, which had seemed to her a wicked, cruel, and causeless rebellion, was the one inevitable thing in our growth from a loose group of sovereign states to a united nation. love had given her his point of view. secret grief over her father's course began to grow into conscious fear. with unerring instinct she felt the fatal day drawing nearer when these two men, now of her inmost life, must clash in mortal enmity. she saw little of her father. he was absorbed with fevered activity and deadly hate in his struggle with the president. brooding over her fears one night, she had tried to interest ben in politics. to her surprise she found that he knew nothing of her father's real position or power as leader of his party. the stunning tragedy of the war had for the time crushed out of his consciousness all political ideas, as it had for most young southerners. he took her hand while a dreamy look overspread his swarthy face: "don't cross a bridge till you come to it. i learned that in the war. politics are a mess. let me tell you something that counts----" he felt her hand's soft pressure and reverently kissed it. "listen," he whispered. "i was dreaming last night after i left you of the home we'll build. just back of our place, on the hill overlooking the river, my father and mother planted trees in exact duplicate of the ones they placed around our house when they were married. they set these trees in honour of the first-born of their love, that he should make his nest there when grown. but it was not for him. he had pitched his tent on higher ground, and the others with him. this place will be mine. there are forty varieties of trees, all grown--elm, maple, oak, holly, pine, cedar, magnolia, and every fruit and flowering stem that grows in our friendly soil. a little house, built near the vacant space reserved for the homestead, is nicely kept by a farmer, and birds have learned to build in every shrub and tree. all the year their music rings its chorus--one long overture awaiting the coming of my bride----" elsie sighed. "listen, dear," he went on eagerly. "last night i dreamed the south had risen from her ruins. i saw you there. i saw our home standing amid a bower of roses your hands had planted. the full moon wrapped it in soft light, while you and i walked hand in hand in silence beneath our trees. but fairer and brighter than the moon was the face of her i loved, and sweeter than all the songs of birds the music of her voice!" a tear dimmed the girl's warm eyes, and a deeper flush mantled her cheeks, as she lifted her face and whispered: "kiss me." chapter ix the king amuses himself with savage energy the great commoner pressed to trial the first impeachment of a president of the united states for high crimes and misdemeanours. his bill to confiscate the property of the southern people was already pending on the calendar of the house. this bill was the most remarkable ever written in the english language or introduced into a legislative body of the aryan race. it provided for the confiscation of ninety per cent. of the land of ten great states of the american union. to each negro in the south was allotted forty acres from the estate of his former master, and the remaining millions of acres were to be divided among the "loyal who had suffered by reason of the rebellion." the execution of this, the most stupendous crime ever conceived by an english lawmaker, involving the exile and ruin of millions of innocent men, women, and children, could not be intrusted to andrew johnson. no such measure could be enforced so long as any man was president and commander-in-chief of the army and navy who claimed his title under the constitution. hence the absolute necessity of his removal. the conditions of society were ripe for this daring enterprise. not only was the ship of state in the hands of revolutionists who had boarded her in the storm stress of a civic convulsion, but among them swarmed the pirate captains of the boldest criminals who ever figured in the story of a nation. the first great railroad lobby, with continental empires at stake, thronged the capitol with its lawyers, agents, barkers, and hired courtesans. the cotton thieves, who operated through a ring of treasury agents, had confiscated unlawfully three million bales of cotton hidden in the south during the war and at its close, the last resource of a ruined people. the treasury had received a paltry twenty thousand bales for the use of its name with which to seize alleged "property of the confederate government." the value of this cotton, stolen from the widows and orphans, the maimed and crippled, of the south was over $ , , in gold--a capital sufficient to have started an impoverished people again on the road to prosperity. the agents of this ring surrounded the halls of legislation, guarding their booty from envious eyes, and demanding the enactment of vaster schemes of legal confiscation. the whiskey ring had just been formed, and began its system of gigantic frauds by which it scuttled the treasury. above them all towered the figure of oakes ames, whose master mind had organized the _crédit mobilier_ steal. this vast infamy had already eaten its way into the heart of congress and dug the graves of many illustrious men. so open had become the shame that stoneman was compelled to increase his committees in the morning, when a corrupt majority had been bought the night before. he arose one day, and looking at the distinguished speaker, who was himself the secret associate of oakes ames, said: "mr. speaker: while the house slept, the enemy has sown tares among our wheat. the corporations of this country, having neither bodies to be kicked nor souls to be lost, have, _perhaps_ by the power of argument alone, beguiled from the majority of my committee the member from connecticut. the enemy have now a majority of one. i move to increase the committee to twelve." speaker colfax, soon to be hurled from the vice-president's chair for his part with those thieves, increased his committee. everybody knew that "the power of argument alone" meant ten thousand dollars cash for the gentleman from connecticut, who did not appear on the floor for a week, fearing the scorpion tongue of the old commoner. a congress which found it could make and unmake laws in defiance of the executive went mad. taxation soared to undreamed heights, while the currency was depreciated and subject to the wildest fluctuations. the statute books were loaded with laws that shackled chains of monopoly on generations yet unborn. public lands wide as the reach of empires were voted as gifts to private corporations, and subsidies of untold millions fixed as a charge upon the people and their children's children. the demoralization incident to a great war, the waste of unheard-of sums of money, the giving of contracts involving millions by which fortunes were made in a night, the riot of speculation and debauchery by those who tried to get rich suddenly without labour, had created a new capital of the nation. the vulture army of the base, venal, unpatriotic, and corrupt, which had swept down, a black cloud, in wartime to take advantage of the misfortunes of the nation, had settled in washington and gave new tone to its life. prior to the civil war the capital was ruled, and the standards of its social and political life fixed, by an aristocracy founded on brains, culture, and blood. power was with few exceptions intrusted to an honourable body of high-spirited public officials. now a negro electorate controlled the city government, and gangs of drunken negroes, its sovereign citizens, paraded the streets at night firing their muskets unchallenged and unmolested. a new mob of onion-laden breath, mixed with perspiring african odour, became the symbol of american democracy. a new order of society sprouted in this corruption. the old high-bred ways, tastes, and enthusiasms were driven into the hiding-places of a few families and cherished as relics of the past. washington, choked with scrofulous wealth, bowed the knee to the almighty dollar. the new altar was covered with a black mould of human blood--but no questions were asked. a mulatto woman kept the house of the foremost man of the nation and received his guests with condescension. in this atmosphere of festering vice and gangrene passions, the struggle between the great commoner and the president on which hung the fate of the south approached its climax. the whole nation was swept into the whirlpool, and business was paralyzed. two years after the close of a victorious war the credit of the republic dropped until its six per cent. bonds sold in the open market for seventy-three cents on the dollar. the revolutionary junta in control of the capital was within a single step of the subversion of the government and the establishment of a dictator in the white house. a convention was called in philadelphia to restore fraternal feeling, heal the wounds of war, preserve the constitution, and restore the union of the fathers. it was a grand assemblage representing the heart and brain of the nation. members of lincoln's first cabinet, protesting senators and congressmen, editors of great republican and democratic newspapers, heroes of both armies, long estranged, met for a common purpose. when a group of famous negro worshippers from boston suddenly entered the hall, arm in arm with ex-slaveholders from south carolina, the great meeting rose and walls and roof rang with thunder peals of applause. their committee, headed by a famous editor, journeyed to washington to appeal to the master at the capitol. they sought him not in the white house, but in the little black house in an obscure street on the hill. the brown woman received them with haughty dignity, and said: "mr. stoneman cannot be seen at this hour. it is after nine o'clock. i will submit to him your request for an audience to-morrow morning." "we must see him to-night," replied the editor, with rising anger. "the king is amusing himself," said the yellow woman, with a touch of malice. "where is he?" her catlike eyes rolled from side to side, and a smile played about her full lips as she said: "you will find him at hall & pemberton's gambling hell--you've lived in washington. you know the way." with a muttered oath the editor turned on his heel and led his two companions to the old commoner's favourite haunt. there could be no better time or place to approach him than seated at one of its tables laden with rare wines and savoury dishes. on reaching the well-known number of hall & pemberton's place, the editor entered the unlocked door, passed with his friends along the soft-carpeted hall, and ascended the stairs. here the door was locked. a sudden pull of the bell, and a pair of bright eyes peeped through a small grating in the centre of the door revealed by the sliding of its panel. the keen eyes glanced at the proffered card, the door flew open, and a well-dressed mulatto invited them with cordial welcome to enter. passing along another hall, they were ushered into a palatial suite of rooms furnished in princely state. the floors were covered with the richest and softest carpets--so soft and yielding that the tramp of a thousand feet could not make the faintest echo. the walls and ceilings were frescoed by the brush of a great master, and hung with works of art worth a king's ransom. heavy curtains, in colours of exquisite taste, masked each window, excluding all sound from within or without. the rooms blazed with light from gorgeous chandeliers of trembling crystals, shimmering and flashing from the ceilings like bouquets of diamonds. negro servants, faultlessly dressed, attended the slightest want of every guest with the quiet grace and courtesy of the lost splendours of the old south. the proprietor, with courtly manners, extended his hand: "welcome, gentlemen; you are my guests. the tables and the wines are at your service without price. eat, drink, and be merry--play or not, as you please." a smile lighted his dark eyes, but faded out near his mouth--cold and rigid. at the farther end of the last room hung the huge painting of a leopard, so vivid and real its black and tawny colours, so furtive and wild its restless eyes, it seemed alive and moving behind invisible bars. just under it, gorgeously set in its jewel-studded frame, stood the magic green table on which men staked their gold and lost their souls. the rooms were crowded with congressmen, government officials, officers of the army and navy, clerks, contractors, paymasters, lobbyists, and professional gamblers. the centre of an admiring group was a congressman who had during the last session of the house broken the "bank" in a single night, winning more than a hundred thousand dollars. he had lost it all and more in two weeks, and the courteous proprietor now held orders for the lion's share of the total pay and mileage of nearly every member of the house of representatives. over that table thousands of dollars of the people's money had been staked and lost during the war by quartermasters, paymasters, and agents in charge of public funds. many a man had approached that green table with a stainless name and left it a perjured thief. some had been carried out by those handsomely dressed waiters, and the man with the cold mouth could point out, if he would, more than one stain on the soft carpet which marked the end of a tragedy deeper than the pen of romancer has ever sounded. stoneman at the moment was playing. he was rarely a heavy player, but he had just staked a twenty-dollar gold piece and won fourteen hundred dollars. howle, always at his elbow ready for a "sleeper" or a stake, said: "put a stack on the ace." he did so, lost, and repeated it twice. "do it again," urged howle. "i'll stake my reputation that the ace wins this time." with a doubting glance at howle, old stoneman shoved a stack of blue chips, worth fifty dollars, over the ace, playing it to win on howle's judgment and reputation. it lost. without the ghost of a smile, the old statesman said: "howle, you owe me five cents." as he turned abruptly on his club foot from the table, he encountered the editor and his friends, a western manufacturer and a wall street banker. they were soon seated at a table in a private room, over a dinner of choice oysters, diamond-back terrapin, canvas-back duck, and champagne. they presented their plea for a truce in his fight until popular passion had subsided. he heard them in silence. his answer was characteristic: "the will of the people, gentlemen, is supreme," he said with a sneer. "we are the people. 'the man at the other end of the avenue' has dared to defy the will of congress. he must go. if the supreme court lifts a finger in this fight, it will reduce that tribunal to one man or increase it to twenty at our pleasure." "but the constitution----" broke in the chairman. "there are higher laws than paper compacts. we are conquerors treading conquered soil. our will alone is the source of law. the drunken boor who claims to be president is in reality an alien of a conquered province." "we protest," exclaimed the man of money, "against the use of such epithets in referring to the chief magistrate of the republic!" "and why, pray?" sneered the commoner. "in the name of common decency, law, and order. the president is a man of inherent power, even if he did learn to read after his marriage. like many other americans, he is a self-made man----" "glad to hear it," snapped stoneman. "it relieves almighty god of a fearful responsibility." they left him in disgust and dismay. chapter x tossed by the storm as the storm of passion raised by the clash between her father and the president rose steadily to the sweep of a cyclone, elsie felt her own life but a leaf driven before its fury. her only comfort she found in phil, whose letters to her were full of love for margaret. he asked elsie a thousand foolish questions about what she thought of his chances. to her own confessions he was all sympathy. "of father's wild scheme of vengeance against the south," he wrote, "i am heartsick. i hate it on principle, to say nothing of a girl i know. i am with general grant for peace and reconciliation. what does your lover think of it all? i can feel your anguish. the bill to rob the southern people of their land, which i hear is pending, would send your sweetheart and mine, our enemies, into beggared exile. what will happen in the south? riot and bloodshed, of course--perhaps a guerilla war of such fierce and terrible cruelty humanity sickens at the thought. i fear the rebellion unhinged our father's reason on some things. he was too old to go to the front; the cannon's breath would have cleared the air and sweetened his temper. but its healing was denied. i believe the tawny leopardess who keeps his house influences him in this cruel madness. i could wring her neck with exquisite pleasure. why he allows her to stay and cloud his life with her she-devil temper and fog his name with vulgar gossip is beyond me." seated in the park on the capitol hill the day after her father had introduced his confiscation bill in the house, pending the impeachment of the president, she again attempted to draw ben out as to his feelings on politics. she waited in sickening fear and bristling pride for the first burst of his anger which would mean their separation. "how do i feel?" he asked. "don't feel at all. the surrender of general lee was an event so stunning, my mind has not yet staggered past it. nothing much can happen after that, so it don't matter." "negro suffrage don't matter?" "no. we can manage the negro," he said calmly. "with thousands of your own people disfranchised?" "the negroes will vote with us, as they worked for us during the war. if they give them the ballot, they'll wish they hadn't." ben looked at her tenderly, bent near, and whispered: "don't waste your sweet breath talking about such things. my politics is bounded on the north by a pair of amber eyes, on the south by a dimpled little chin, on the east and west by a rosy cheek. words do not frame its speech. its language is a mere sign, a pressure of the lips--yet it thrills body and soul beyond all words." elsie leaned closer, and looking at the capitol, said wistfully: "i don't believe you know anything that goes on in that big marble building." "yes, i do." "what happened there yesterday?" "you honoured it by putting your beautiful feet on its steps. i saw the whole huge pile of cold marble suddenly glow with warm sunlight and flash with beauty as you entered it." the girl nestled still closer to his side, feeling her utter helplessness in the rapids of the niagara through which they were being whirled by blind and merciless forces. for the moment she forgot all fears in his nearness and the sweet pressure of his hand. chapter xi the supreme test it is the glory of the american republic that every man who has filled the office of president has grown in stature when clothed with its power and has proved himself worthy of its solemn trust. it is our highest claim to the respect of the world and the vindication of man's capacity to govern himself. the impeachment of president andrew johnson would mark either the lowest tide-mud of degradation to which the republic could sink, or its end. in this trial our system would be put to its severest strain. if a partisan majority in congress could remove the executive and defy the supreme court, stability to civic institutions was at an end, and the breath of a mob would become the sole standard of law. congress had thrown to the winds the last shreds of decency in its treatment of the chief magistrate. stoneman led this campaign of insult, not merely from feelings of personal hate, but because he saw that thus the president's conviction before the senate would become all but inevitable. when his messages arrived from the white house they were thrown into the waste-basket without being read, amid jeers, hisses, curses, and ribald laughter. in lieu of their reading, stoneman would send to the clerk's desk an obscene tirade from a party newspaper, and the clerk of the house would read it amid the mocking groans, laughter, and applause of the floor and galleries. a favourite clipping described the president as "an insolent drunken brute, in comparison with whom caligula's horse was respectable." in the senate, whose members were to sit as sworn judges to decide the question of impeachment, charles sumner used language so vulgar that he was called to order. sustained by the chair and the senate, he repeated it with increased violence, concluding with cold venom: "andrew johnson has become the successor of jefferson davis. in holding him up to judgment i do not dwell on his beastly intoxication the day he took the oath as vice-president, nor do i dwell on his maudlin speeches by which he has degraded the country, nor hearken to the reports of pardons sold, or of personal corruption. these things are bad. but he has usurped the powers of congress." conover, the perjured wretch, in prison for his crimes as a professional witness in the assassination trial, now circulated the rumour that he could give evidence that president johnson was the assassin of lincoln. without a moment's hesitation, stoneman's henchmen sent a petition to the president for the pardon of this villain that he might turn against the man who had pardoned him and swear his life away! this scoundrel was borne in triumph from prison to the capitol and placed before the impeachment committee, to whom he poured out his wondrous tale. the sewers and prisons were dragged for every scrap of testimony to be found, and the day for the trial approached. as it drew nearer, excitement grew intense. swarms of adventurers expecting the overthrow of the government crowded into washington. dreams of honours, profits, and division of spoils held riot. gamblers thronged the saloons and gaming-houses, betting their gold on the president's head. stoneman found the business more serious than even his daring spirit had dreamed. his health suddenly gave way under the strain, and he was put to bed by his physician with the warning that the least excitement would be instantly fatal. elsie entered the little black house on the hill for the first time since her trip at the age of twelve, some eight years before. she installed an army nurse, took charge of the place, and ignored the existence of the brown woman, refusing to speak to her or permit her to enter her father's room. his illness made it necessary to choose an assistant to conduct the case before the high court. there was but one member of the house whose character and ability fitted him for the place--general benj. f. butler, of massachusetts, whose name was enough to start a riot in any assembly in america. his selection precipitated a storm at the capitol. a member leaped to his feet on the floor of the house and shouted: "if i were to characterize all that is pusillanimous in war, inhuman in peace, forbidden in morals, and corrupt in politics, i could name it in one word--butlerism!" for this speech he was ordered to apologize, and when he refused with scorn they voted that the speaker publicly censure him. the speaker did so, but winked at the offender while uttering the censure. john a. bingham, of ohio, who had been chosen for his powers of oratory to make the principal speech against the president, rose in the house and indignantly refused to serve on the board of impeachment with such a man. general butler replied with crushing insolence: "it is true, mr. speaker, that i may have made an error of judgment in trying to blow up fort fisher with a powder ship at sea. i did the best i could with the talents god gave me. an angel could have done no more. at least i bared my own breast in my country's defence--a thing the distinguished gentleman who insults me has not ventured to do--his only claim to greatness being that, behind prison walls, on perjured testimony, his fervid eloquence sent an innocent american mother screaming to the gallows." the fight was ended only by an order from the old commoner's bed to bingham to shut his mouth and work with butler. when the president had been crushed, then they could settle kilkenny-cat issues. bingham obeyed. when the august tribunal assembled in the senate chamber, fifty-five senators, presided over by salmon p. chase, chief justice of the supreme court, constituted the tribunal. they took their seats in a semicircle in front of the vice-president's desk at which the chief justice sat. behind them crowded the one hundred and ninety members of the house of representatives, the accusers of the ruler of the mightiest republic in human history. every inch of space in the galleries was crowded with brilliantly dressed men and women, army officers in gorgeous uniforms, and the pomp and splendour of the ministers of every foreign court of the world. in spectacular grandeur no such scene was ever before witnessed in the annals of justice. the peculiar personal appearance of general butler, whose bald head shone with insolence while his eye seemed to be winking over his record as a warrior and making fun of his fellow-manager bingham, added a touch of humour to the solemn scene. the magnificent head of the chief justice suggested strange thoughts to the beholder. he had been summoned but the day before to try jefferson davis for the treason of declaring the southern states out of the union. to-day he sat down to try the president of the united states for declaring them to be in the union! he had protested with warmth that he could not conduct both these trials at once. the chief justice took oath to "do impartial justice according to the constitution and the laws," and to the chagrin of sumner administered this oath to each senator in turn. when benjamin f. wade's name was called, hendricks, of indiana, objected to his sitting as judge. he could succeed temporarily to the presidency, as the presiding officer of the senate, and his own vote might decide the fate of the accused and determine his own succession. the law forbids the vice-president to sit on such trials. it should apply with more vigour in his case. besides, he had without a hearing already pronounced the president guilty. sumner, forgetting his motion to prevent stockton's voting against his own expulsion, flew to the defence of wade. hendricks smilingly withdrew his objection, and "bluff ben wade" took the oath and sat down to judge his own cause with unruffled front. when the case was complete, the whole bill of indictment stood forth a tissue of stupid malignity without a shred of evidence to support its charges. on the last day of the trial, when the closing speeches were being made, there was a stir at the door. the throng of men, packing every inch of floor space, were pushed rudely aside. the crowd craned their necks, senators turned and looked behind them to see what the disturbance meant, and the chief justice rapped for order. suddenly through the dense mass appeared the forms of two gigantic negroes carrying an old man. his grim face, white and rigid, and his big club foot hanging pathetically from those black arms, could not be mistaken. a thrill of excitement swept the floor and galleries, and a faint cheer rippled the surface, quickly suppressed by the gavel. the negroes placed him in an armchair facing the semicircle of senators, and crouched down on their haunches beside him. their kinky heads, black skin, thick lips, white teeth, and flat noses made for the moment a curious symbolic frame for the chalk-white passion of the old commoner's face. no sculptor ever dreamed a more sinister emblem of the corruption of a race of empire builders than this group. its black figures, wrapped in the night of four thousand years of barbarism, squatted there the "equal" of their master, grinning at his forms of justice, the evolution of forty centuries of aryan genius. to their brute strength the white fanatic in the madness of his hate had appealed, and for their hire he had bartered the birthright of a mighty race of freemen. the speaker hurried to his conclusion that the half-fainting master might deliver his message. in the meanwhile his eyes, cold and thrilling, sought the secrets of the souls of the judges before him. he had not come to plead or persuade. he had eluded the vigilance of his daughter and nurse, escaped with the aid of the brown woman and her black allies, and at the peril of his life had come to command. every energy of his indomitable will he was using now to keep from fainting. he felt that if he could but look those men in the face they would not dare to defy his word. he shambled painfully to his feet amid a silence that was awful. again the sheer wonder of the man's personality held the imagination of the audience. his audacity, his fanaticism, and the strange contradictions of his character stirred the mind of friend and foe alike--this man who tottered there before them, holding off death with his big ugly left hand, while with his right he clutched at the throat of his foe! honest and dishonest, cruel and tender, great and mean, a party leader who scorned public opinion, a man of conviction, yet the most unscrupulous politician, a philosopher who preached the equality of man, yet a tyrant who hated the world and despised all men! his very presence before them an open defiance of love and life and death, would not his word ring omnipotent when the verdict was rendered? every man in the great courtroom believed it as he looked on the rows of senators hanging on his lips. he spoke at first with unnatural vigour, a faint flush of fever lighting his white face, his voice quivering yet penetrating. "upon that man among you who shall dare to acquit the president," he boldly threatened, "i hurl the everlasting curse of a nation--an infamy that shall rive and blast his children's children until they shrink from their own name as from the touch of pollution!" he gasped for breath, his restless hands fumbled at his throat, he staggered and would have fallen had not his black guards caught him. he revived, pushed them back on their haunches, and sat down. and then, with his big club foot thrust straight in front of him, his gnarled hands gripping the arms of his chair, the massive head shaking back and forth like a wounded lion, he continued his speech, which grew in fierce intensity with each laboured breath. the effect was electrical. every senator leaned forward to catch the lowest whisper, and so awful was the suspense in the galleries the listeners grew faint. when this last mad challenge was hurled into the teeth of the judges, the dazed crowd paused for breath and the galleries burst into a storm of applause. in vain the chief justice rose, his lionlike face livid with anger, pounded for order, and commanded the galleries to be cleared. they laughed at him. roar after roar was the answer. the chief justice in loud angry tones ordered the sergeant-at-arms to clear the galleries. men leaned over the rail and shouted in his face: "he can't do it!" "he hasn't got men enough!" "let him try if he dares!" the doorkeepers attempted to enforce order by announcing it in the name of the peace and dignity and sovereign power of the senate over its sacred chamber. the crowd had now become a howling mob which jeered them. senator grimes, of iowa, rose and demanded the reason why the senate was thus insulted and the order had not been enforced. a volley of hisses greeted his question. the chief justice, evidently quite nervous, declared the order would be enforced. senator trumbull, of illinois, moved that the offenders be arrested. in reply the crowd yelled: "we'd like to see you do it!" at length the mob began to slowly leave the galleries under the impression that the high court had adjourned. suddenly a man cried out: "hold on! they ain't going to adjourn. let's see it out!" hundreds took their seats again. in the corridors a crowd began to sing in wild chorus: "old grimes is dead, that poor old man." the women joined with glee. between the verses the leader would curse the iowa senator as a traitor and copperhead. the singing could be distinctly heard by the court as its roar floated through the open doors. when the senate chamber had been cleared and the most disgraceful scene that ever occurred within its portals had closed, the high court impeachment went into secret session to consider the evidence and its verdict. within an hour from its adjournment it was known to the managers that seven republican senators were doubtful, and that they formed a group under the leadership of two great constitutional lawyers who still believed in the sanctity of a judge's oath--lyman trumbull, of illinois, and william pitt fessenden, of maine. around them had gathered senators grimes, of iowa, van winkle, of west virginia, fowler, of tennessee, henderson, of missouri, and ross, of kansas. the managers were in a panic. if these men dared to hold together with the twelve democrats, the president would be acquitted by one vote--they could count thirty-four certain for conviction. the revolutionists threw to the winds the last scruple of decency, went into caucus and organized a conspiracy for forcing, within the few days which must pass before the verdict, these judges to submit to their decree. fessenden and trumbull were threatened with impeachment and expulsion from the senate and bombarded by the most furious assaults from the press, which denounced them as infamous traitors, "as mean, repulsive, and noxious as hedgehogs in the cages of a travelling menagerie." a mass meeting was held in washington which said: "resolved, that we impeach fessenden, trumbull, and grimes at the bar of justice and humanity, as traitors before whose guilt the infamy of benedict arnold becomes respectability and decency." the managers sent out a circular telegram to every state from which came a doubtful judge: "great danger to the peace of the country if impeachment fails. send your senators public opinion by resolutions, letters, and delegates." the man who excited most wrath was ross, of kansas. that kansas of all states should send a "traitor" was more than the spirits of the revolutionists could bear. a mass meeting in leavenworth accordingly sent him the telegram: "kansas has heard the evidence and demands the conviction of the president. "d. r. anthony and , others." to this ross replied: "i have taken an oath to do impartial justice. i trust i shall have the courage and honesty to vote according to the dictates of my judgment and for the highest good of my country." he got his answer: "your motives are indian contracts and greenbacks. kansas repudiates you as she does all perjurers and skunks." the managers organized an inquisition for the purpose of torturing and badgering ross into submission. his one vote was all they lacked. they laid siege to little vinnie ream, the sculptress, to whom congress had awarded a contract for the statue of lincoln. her studio was in the crypt of the capitol. they threatened her with the wrath of congress, the loss of her contract, and ruin of her career unless she found a way to induce senator ross, whom she knew, to vote against the president. such an attempt to gain by fraud the verdict of a common court of law would have sent its promoters to prison for felony. yet the managers of this case, before the highest tribunal of the world, not only did it without a blush of shame, but cursed as a traitor every man who dared to question their motives. as the day approached for the court to vote, senator ross remained to friend and foe a sealed mystery. reporters swarmed about him, the target of a thousand eyes. his rooms were besieged by his radical constituents who had been imported from kansas in droves to browbeat him into a promise to convict. his movements day and night, his breakfast, his dinner, his supper, the clothes he wore, the colour of his cravat, his friends and companions, were chronicled in hourly bulletins and flashed over the wires from the delirious capital. chief justice chase called the high court of impeachment to order, to render its verdict. old stoneman had again been carried to his chair in the arms of two negroes, and sat with his cold eyes searching the faces of the judges. the excitement had reached the highest pitch of intensity. a sense of choking solemnity brooded over the scene. the feeling grew that the hour had struck which would test the capacity of man to establish an enduring republic. the clerk read the eleventh article, drawn by the great commoner as the supreme test. as its last words died away the chief justice rose amid a silence that was agony, placed his hands on the sides of the desk as if to steady himself, and said: "call the roll." each senator answered "guilty" or "not guilty," exactly as they had been counted by the managers, until fessenden's name was called. a moment of stillness and the great lawyer's voice rang high, cold, clear, and resonant as a puritan church bell on sunday morning: "not guilty!" a murmur, half groan and sigh, half cheer and cry, rippled the great hall. the other votes were discounted now save that of edmund g. ross, of kansas. no human being on earth knew what this man would do save the silent invisible man within his soul. over the solemn trembling silence the voice of the chief justice rang: "senator ross, how say you? is the respondent, andrew johnson, guilty or not guilty of a high misdemeanor as charged in this article?" the great judge bent forward; his brow furrowed as ross arose. his fellow senators watched him spellbound. a thousand men and women, hanging from the galleries, focused their eyes on him. old stoneman drew his bristling brows down, watching him like an adder ready to strike, his lower lip protruding, his jaws clinched as a vise, his hands fumbling the arms of his chair. every breath is held, every ear strained, as the answer falls from the sturdy scotchman like the peal of a trumpet: "not guilty!" the crowd breathes--a pause, a murmur, the shuffle of a thousand feet---- the president is acquitted, and the republic lives! the house assembled and received the report of the verdict. old stoneman pulled himself half erect, holding to his desk, addressed the speaker, introduced his second bill for the impeachment of the president, and fell fainting in the arms of his black attendants. chapter xii triumph in defeat upon the failure to convict the president, edwin m. stanton resigned, sank into despair and died, and a soldier secretary of war opened the prison doors. ben cameron and his father hurried southward to a home and land passing under a cloud darker than the dust and smoke of blood-soaked battlefields--the black plague of reconstruction. for two weeks the old commoner wrestled in silence with death. when at last he spoke, it was to the stalwart negroes who had called to see him and were standing by his bedside. turning his deep-sunken eyes on them a moment, he said slowly: "i wonder whom i'll get to carry me when you boys die!" elsie hurried to his side and kissed him tenderly. for a week his mind hovered in the twilight that lies between time and eternity. he seemed to forget the passions and fury of his fierce career and live over the memories of his youth, recalling pathetically its bitter poverty and its fair dreams. he would lie for hours and hold elsie's hand, pressing it gently. in one of his lucid moments he said: "how beautiful you are, my child! you shall be a queen. i've dreamed of boundless wealth for you and my boy. my plans are napoleonic--and i shall not fail--never fear--aye, beyond the dreams of avarice!" "i wish no wealth save the heart treasure of those i love, father," was the soft answer. "of course, little day-dreamer. but the old cynic who has outlived himself and knows the mockery of time and things will be wisdom for your foolishness. you shall keep your toys. what pleases you shall please me. yet i will be wise for us both." she laid her hand upon his lips, and he kissed the warm little fingers. in these days of soul-nearness the iron heart softened as never before in love toward his children. phil had hurried home from the west and secured his release from the remaining weeks of his term of service. as the father lay watching them move about the room, the cold light in his deep-set wonderful eyes would melt into a soft glow. as he grew stronger, the old fierce spirit of the unconquered leader began to assert itself. he would take up the fight where he left it off and carry it to victory. elsie and phil sent the doctor to tell him the truth and beg him to quit politics. "your work is done; you have but three months to live unless you go south and find new life," was the verdict. "in either event i go to a warmer climate, eh, doctor?" said the cynic. "perhaps," was the laughing reply. "good. it suits me better. i've had the move in mind. i can do more effective work in the south for the next two years. your decision is fate. i'll go at once." the doctor was taken aback. "come now," he said persuasively. "let a disinterested englishman give you some advice. you've never taken any before. i give it as medicine, and i won't put it on your bill. slow down on politics. your recent defeat should teach you a lesson in conservatism." the old commoner's powerful mouth became rigid, and the lower lip bulged: "conservatism--fossil putrefaction!" "but defeat?" "defeat?" cried the old man. "who said i was defeated? the south lies in ashes at my feet--the very names of her proud states blotted from history. the supreme court awaits my nod. true, there's a man boarding in the white house, and i vote to pay his bills; but the page who answers my beck and call has more power. every measure on which i've set my heart is law, save one--my confiscation act--and this but waits the fulness of time." the doctor, who was walking back and forth with his hands folded behind him, paused and said: "i marvel that a man of your personal integrity could conceive such a measure; you, who refused to accept the legal release of your debts until the last farthing was paid--you, whose cruelty of the lip is hideous, and yet beneath it so gentle a personality, i've seen the pages in the house stand at your back and mimic you while speaking, secure in the smile with which you turned to greet their fun. and yet you press this crime upon a brave and generous foe?" "a wrong can have no rights," said stoneman calmly. "slavery will not be dead until the landed aristocracy on which it rested is destroyed. i am not cruel or unjust. i am but fulfilling the largest vision of universal democracy that ever stirred the soul of man--a democracy that shall know neither rich nor poor, bond nor free, white nor black. if i use the wild pulse-beat of the rage of millions, it is only a means to an end--this grander vision of the soul." "then why not begin at home this vision, and give the stricken south a moment to rise?" "no. the north is impervious to change, rich, proud, and unscathed by war. the south is in chaos and cannot resist. it is but the justice and wisdom of heaven that the negro shall rule the land of his bondage. it is the only solution of the race problem. lincoln's contention that we could not live half white and half black is sound at the core. when we proclaim equality, social, political, and economic for the negro, we mean always to enforce it in the south. the negro will never be treated as an equal in the north. we are simply a set of cold-blooded liars on that subject, and always have been. to the yankee the very physical touch of a negro is pollution." "then you don't believe this twaddle about equality?" asked the doctor. "yes and no. mankind in the large is a herd of mercenary gudgeons or fools. as a lawyer in pennsylvania i have defended fifty murderers on trial for their lives. forty-nine of them were guilty. all these i succeeded in acquitting. one of them was innocent. this one they hung. can a man keep his face straight in such a world? could negro blood degrade such stock? might not an ape improve it? i preach equality as a poet and seer who sees a vision beyond the rim of the horizon of to-day." the old man's eyes shone with the set stare of a fanatic. "and you think the south is ready for this wild vision?" "not ready, but helpless to resist. as a cold-blooded, scientific experiment, i mean to give the black man one turn at the wheel of life. it is an act of just retribution. besides, in my plans i need his vote; and that settles it." "but will your plans work? your own reports show serious trouble in the south already." stoneman laughed. "i never read my own reports. they are printed in molasses to catch flies. the southern legislatures played into my hands by copying the laws of new england relating to servants, masters, apprentices, and vagrants. but even these were repealed at the first breath of criticism. neither the freedman's bureau nor the army has ever loosed its grip on the throat of the south for a moment. these disturbances and 'atrocities' are dangerous only when printed on campaign fly-paper." "and how will you master and control these ten great southern states?" "through my reconstruction acts by means of the union league. as a secret between us, i am the soul of this order. i organized it in to secure my plan of confiscation. we pressed it on lincoln. he repudiated it. we nominated frémont at cleveland against lincoln in ' , and tried to split the party or force lincoln to retire. frémont, a conceited ass, went back on this plank in our platform, and we dropped him and helped elect lincoln again." "i thought the union league a patriotic and social organization?" said the doctor in surprise. "it has these features, but its sole aim as a secret order is to confiscate the property of the south. i will perfect this mighty organization until every negro stands drilled in serried line beneath its banners, send a solid delegation here to do my bidding, and return at the end of two years with a majority so overwhelming that my word will be law. i will pass my confiscation bill. if ulysses s. grant, the coming idol, falters, my second bill of impeachment will only need the change of a name." the doctor shook his head. "give up this madness. your life is hanging by a thread. the southern people even in their despair will never drink this black broth you are pressing to their lips." "they've got to drink it." "your decision is unalterable?" "absolutely. it's the breath i breathe. as my physician you may select the place to which i shall be banished. it must be reached by rail and wire. i care not its name or size. i'll make it the capital of the nation. there'll be poetic justice in setting up my establishment in a fallen slaveholder's mansion." the doctor looked intently at the old man: "the study of men has become a sort of passion with me, but you are the deepest mystery i've yet encountered in this land of surprises." "and why?" asked the cynic. "because the secret of personality resides in motives, and i can't find yours either in your actions or words." stoneman glanced at him sharply from beneath his wrinkled brows and snapped. "keep on guessing." "i will. in the meantime i'm going to send you to the village of piedmont, south carolina. your son and daughter both seem enthusiastic over this spot." "good; that settles it. and now that mine own have been conspiring against me," said stoneman confidentially, "a little guile on my part. not a word of what has passed between us to my children. tell them i agree with your plans and give up my work. i'll give the same story to the press--i wish nothing to mar their happiness while in the south. my secret burdens need not cloud their young lives." dr. barnes took the old man by the hand: "i promise. my assistant has agreed to go with you. i'll say good-bye. it's an inspiration to look into a face like yours, lit by the splendour of an unconquerable will! but i want to say something to you before you set out on this journey." "out with it," said the commoner. "the breed to which the southern white man belongs has conquered every foot of soil on this earth their feet have pressed for a thousand years. a handful of them hold in subjection three hundred millions in india. place a dozen of them in the heart of africa, and they will rule the continent unless you kill them----" "wait," cried stoneman, "until i put a ballot in the hand of every negro and a bayonet at the breast of every white man from the james to the rio grande!" "i'll tell you a little story," said the doctor with a smile. "i once had a half-grown eagle in a cage in my yard. the door was left open one day, and a meddlesome rooster hopped in to pick a fight. the eagle had been sick a week and seemed an easy mark. i watched. the rooster jumped and wheeled and spurred and picked pieces out of his topknot. the young eagle didn't know at first what he meant. he walked around dazed, with a hurt expression. when at last it dawned on him what the chicken was about, he simply reached out one claw, took the rooster by the neck, planted the other claw in his breast, and snatched his head off." the old man snapped his massive jaws together and grunted contemptuously. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- book iii--the reign of terror chapter i a fallen slaveholder's mansion piedmont, south carolina, which elsie and phil had selected for reasons best known to themselves as the place of retreat for their father, was a favourite summer resort of charleston people before the war. ulster county, of which this village was the capital, bordered on the north carolina line, lying alongside the ancient shore of york. it was settled by the scotch folk who came from the north of ireland in the great migrations which gave america three hundred thousand people of covenanter martyr blood, the largest and most important addition to our population, larger in number than either the puritans of new england or the so-called cavaliers of virginia and eastern carolina; and far more important than either, in the growth of american nationality. to a man they had hated great britain. not a tory was found among them. the cries of their martyred dead were still ringing in their souls when george iii started on his career of oppression. the fiery words of patrick henry, their spokesman in the valley of virginia, had swept the aristocracy of the old dominion into rebellion against the king and on into triumphant democracy. they had made north carolina the first home of freedom in the new world, issued the first declaration of independence in mecklenburg, and lifted the first banner of rebellion against the tyranny of the crown. they grew to the soil wherever they stopped, always home lovers and home builders, loyal to their own people, instinctive clan leaders and clan followers. a sturdy, honest, covenant-keeping, god-fearing, fighting people, above all things they hated sham and pretence. they never boasted of their families, though some of them might have quartered the royal arms of scotland on their shields. to these sturdy qualities had been added a strain of huguenot tenderness and vivacity. the culture of cotton as the sole industry had fixed african slavery as their economic system. with the heritage of the old world had been blended forces inherent in the earth and air of the new southland, something of the breath of its unbroken forests, the freedom of its untrod mountains, the temper of its sun, and the sweetness of its tropic perfumes. when mrs. cameron received elsie's letter, asking her to secure for them six good rooms at the "palmetto" hotel, she laughed. the big rambling hostelry had been burned by roving negroes, pigs were wallowing in the sulphur springs, and along its walks, where lovers of olden days had strolled, the cows were browsing on the shrubbery. but she laughed for a more important reason. they had asked for a six-room cottage if accommodations could not be had in the hotel. she could put them in the lenoir place. the cotton crop from their farm had been stolen from the gin--the cotton tax of $ could not be paid, and a mortgage was about to be foreclosed on both their farm and home. she had been brooding over their troubles in despair. the stonemans' coming was a godsend. mrs. cameron was helping them set the house in order to receive the new tenants. "i declare," said mrs. lenoir gratefully. "it seems too good to be true. just as i was about to give up--the first time in my life--here came those rich yankees and with enough rent to pay the interest on the mortgages and our board at the hotel. i'll teach margaret to paint, and she can give marion lessons on the piano. the darkest hour's just before day. and last week i cried when they told me i must lose the farm." "i was heartsick over it for you." "you know, the farm was my dowry with the dozen slaves papa gave us on our wedding-day. the negroes did as they pleased, yet we managed to live and were very happy." marion entered and placed a bouquet of roses on the table, touching them daintily until she stood each flower apart in careless splendour. their perfume, the girl's wistful dreamy blue eyes and shy elusive beauty, all seemed a part of the warm sweet air of the june morning. mrs. lenoir watched her lovingly. "mamma, i'm going to put flowers in every room. i'm sure they haven't such lovely ones in washington," said marion eagerly, as she skipped out. the two women moved to the open window, through which came the drone of bees and the distant music of the river falls. "marion's greatest charm," whispered her mother, "is in her way of doing things easily and gently without a trace of effort. watch her bend over to get that rose. did you ever see anything like the grace and symmetry of her figure--she seems a living flower!" "jeannie, you're making an idol of her----" "why not? with all our troubles and poverty, i'm rich in her! she's fifteen years old, her head teeming with romance. you know, i was married at fifteen. there'll be a half dozen boys to see her to-night in our new home--all of them head over heels in love with her." "oh, jeannie, you must not be so silly! we should worship god only." "isn't she god's message to me and to the world?" "but if anything should happen to her----" the young mother laughed. "i never think of it. some things are fixed. her happiness and beauty are to me the sign of god's presence." "well, i'm glad you're coming to live with us in the heart of town. this place is a cosey nest, just such a one as a poet lover would build here in the edge of these deep woods, but it is too far out for you to be alone. dr. cameron has been worrying about you ever since he came home." "i'm not afraid of the negroes. i don't know one of them who wouldn't go out of his way to do me a favour. old aleck is the only rascal i know among them, and he's too busy with politics now even to steal a chicken." "and gus, the young scamp we used to own; you haven't forgotten him? he is back here, a member of the company of negro troops, and parades before the house every day to show off his uniform. dr. cameron told him yesterday he'd thrash him if he caught him hanging around the place again. he frightened margaret nearly to death when she went to the barn to feed her horse." "i've never known the meaning of fear. we used to roam the woods and fields together all hours of the day and night: my lover, marion, and i. this panic seems absurd to me." "well, i'll be glad to get you two children under my wing. i was afraid i'd find you in tears over moving from your nest." "no, where marion is i'm at home, and i'll feel i've a mother when i get with you." "will you come to the hotel before they arrive?" "no; i'll welcome and tell them how glad i am they have brought me good luck." "i'm delighted, jeannie. i wished you to do this, but i couldn't ask it. i can never do enough for this old man's daughter. we must make their stay happy. they say he's a terrible old radical politician, but i suppose he's no meaner than the others. he's very ill, and she loves him devotedly. he is coming here to find health, and not to insult us. besides, he was kind to me. he wrote a letter to the president. nothing that i have will be too good for him or for his. it's very brave and sweet of you to stay and meet them." "i'm doing it to please marion. she suggested it last night, sitting out on the porch in the twilight. she slipped her arm around me and said: "'mamma, we must welcome them and make them feel at home. he is very ill. they will be tired and homesick. suppose it were you and i, and we were taking my papa to a strange place.'" * * * * * when the stonemans arrived, the old man was too ill and nervous from the fatigue of the long journey to notice his surroundings or to be conscious of the restful beauty of the cottage into which they carried him. his room looked out over the valley of the river for miles, and the glimpse he got of its broad fertile acres only confirmed his ideas of the "slaveholding oligarchy" it was his life-purpose to crush. over the mantel hung a steel engraving of calhoun. he fell asleep with his deep, sunken eyes resting on it and a cynical smile playing about his grim mouth. margaret and mrs. cameron had met the stonemans and their physician at the train, and taken elsie and her father in the old weather-beaten family carriage to the lenoir cottage, apologising for ben's absence. "he has gone to nashville on some important legal business, and the doctor is ailing, but as the head of the clan cameron he told me to welcome your father to the hospitality of the county, and beg him to let us know if he could be of help." the old man, who sat in a stupor of exhaustion, made no response, and elsie hastened to say: "we appreciate your kindness more than i can tell you, mrs. cameron. i trust father will be better in a day or two, when he will thank you. the trip has been more than he could bear." "i am expecting ben home this week," the mother whispered. "i need not tell you that he will be delighted at your coming." elsie smiled and blushed. "and i'll expect captain stoneman to see me very soon," said margaret softly. "you will not forget to tell him for me?" "he's a very retiring young man," said elsie, "and pretends to be busy about our baggage just now. i'm sure he will find the way." elsie fell in love at sight with marion and her mother. their easy genial manners, the genuineness of their welcome, and the simple kindness with which they sought to make her feel at home put her heart into a warm glow. mrs. lenoir explained the conveniences of the place and apologized for its defects, the results of the war. "i am sorry about the window curtains--we have used them all for dresses. marion is a genius with a needle, and we took the last pair out of the parlour to make a dress for a birthday party. the year before, we used the ones in my room for a costume at a starvation party in a benefit for our rector--you know we're episcopalians--strayed up here for our health from charleston among these good scotch presbyterians." "we will soon place curtains at the windows," said elsie cheerfully. "the carpets were sent to the soldiers for blankets during the war. it was all we could do for our poor boys, except to cut my hair and sell it. you see my hair hasn't grown out yet. i sent it to richmond the last year of the war. i felt i must do something when my neighbours were giving so much. you know mrs. cameron lost four boys." "i prefer the floors bare," elsie replied. "we will get a few rugs." she looked at the girlish hair hanging in ringlets about mrs. lenoir's handsome face, smiled pathetically, and asked: "did you really make such sacrifices for your cause?" "yes, indeed. i was glad when the war was ended for some things. we certainly needed a few pins, needles, and buttons, to say nothing of a cup of coffee or tea." "i trust you will never lack for anything again," said elsie kindly. "you will bring us good luck," mrs. lenoir responded. "your coming is so fortunate. the cotton tax congress levied was so heavy this year we were going to lose everything. such a tax when we are all about to starve! dr. cameron says it was an act of stupid vengeance on the south, and that no other farmers in america have their crops taxed by the national government. i am so glad your father has come. he is not hunting for an office. he can help us, maybe." "i am sure he will," answered elsie thoughtfully. marion ran up the steps lightly, her hair dishevelled and face flushed. "now, mamma, it's almost sundown; you get ready to go. i want her awhile to show her about my things." she took elsie shyly by the hand and led her into the lawn, while her mother paid a visit to each room, and made up the last bundle of odds and ends she meant to carry to the hotel. "i hope you will love the place as we do," said the girl simply. "i think it very beautiful and restful," elsie replied. "this wilderness of flowers looks like fairyland. you have roses running on the porch around the whole length of the house." "yes, papa was crazy over the trailing roses, and kept planting them until the house seems just a frame built to hold them, with a roof on it. but you can see the river through the arches from three sides. ben cameron helped me set that big beauty on the south corner the day he ran away to the war----" "the view is glorious!" elsie exclaimed, looking in rapture over the river valley. the village of piedmont crowned an immense hill on the banks of the broad river, just where it dashes over the last stone barrier in a series of beautiful falls and spreads out in peaceful glory through the plains toward columbia and the distant sea. the muffled roar of these falls, rising softly through the trees on its wooded cliff, held the daily life of the people in the spell of distant music. in fair weather it soothed and charmed, and in storm and freshet rose to the deep solemn growl of thunder. the river made a sharp bend as it emerged from the hills and flowed westward for six miles before it turned south again. beyond this six-mile sweep of its broad channel loomed the three ranges of the blue ridge mountains, the first one dark, rich, distinct, clothed in eternal green, the last one melting in dim lines into the clouds and soft azure of the sky. as the sun began to sink now behind these distant peaks, each cloud that hung about them burst into a blazing riot of colour. the silver mirror of the river caught their shadows, and the water glowed in sympathy. as elsie drank the beauty of the scene, the music of the falls ringing its soft accompaniment, her heart went out in a throb of love and pity for the land and its people. "can you blame us for loving such a spot?" said marion. "it's far more beautiful from the cliff at lover's leap. i'll take you there some day. my father used to tell me that this world was heaven, and that the spirits would all come back to live here when sin and shame and strife were gone." "are your father's poems published?" asked elsie. "only in the papers. we have them clipped and pasted in a scrapbook. i'll show you the one about ben cameron some day. you met him in washington, didn't you?" "yes," said elsie quietly. "then i know he made love to you." "why?" "you're so pretty. he couldn't help it." "does he make love to every pretty girl?" "always. it's his religion. but he does it so beautifully you can't help believing it, until you compare notes with the other girls." "did he make love to you?" "he broke my heart when he ran away. i cried a whole week. but i got over it. he seemed so big and grown when he came home this last time. i was afraid to let him kiss me." "did he dare to try?" "no, and it hurt my feelings. you see, i'm not quite old enough to be serious with the big boys, and he looked so brave and handsome with that ugly scar on the edge of his forehead, and everybody was so proud of him. i was just dying to kiss him, and i thought it downright mean in him not to offer it." "would you have let him?" "i expected him to try." "he is very popular in piedmont?" "every girl in town is in love with him." "and he in love with all?" "he pretends to be--but between us, he's a great flirt. he's gone to nashville now on some pretended business. goodness only knows where he got the money to go. i believe there's a girl there." "why?" "because he was so mysterious about his trip. i'll keep an eye on him at the hotel. you know margaret, too, don't you?" "yes; we met her in washington." "well, she's the slyest flirt in town--it runs in the blood--has a half-dozen beaux to see her every day. she plays the organ in the presbyterian sunday school, and the young minister is dead in love with her. they say they are engaged. i don't believe it. i think it's another one. but i must hurry, i've so much to show and tell you. come here to the honeysuckle----" marion drew the vines apart from the top of the fence and revealed a mocking-bird on her nest. "she's setting. don't let anything hurt her. i'd push her off and show you her speckled eggs, but it's so late." "oh, i wouldn't hurt her for the world!" cried elsie with delight. "and right here," said marion, bending gracefully over a tall bunch of grass, "is a pee-wee's nest, four darling little eggs; look out for that." elsie bent and saw the pretty nest perched on stems of grass, and over it the taller leaves drawn to a point. "isn't it cute!" she murmured. "yes; i've six of these and three mocking-bird nests. i'll show them to you. but the most particular one of all is the wren's nest in the fork of the cedar, close to the house." she led elsie to the tree, and about two feet from the ground, in the forks of the trunk, was a tiny hole from which peeped the eyes of a wren. "whatever you do, don't let anything hurt her. her mate sings '_free-nigger! free-nigger! free-nigger!_' every morning in this cedar." "and you think we will specially enjoy that?" asked elsie, laughing. "now, really," cried marion, taking elsie's hand, "you know i couldn't think of such a mean joke. i forgot you were from the north. you seem so sweet and homelike. he really does sing that way. you will hear him in the morning, bright and early, '_free-nigger! free-nigger! free-nigger!_' just as plain as i'm saying it." "and did you learn to find all these birds' nests by yourself?" "papa taught me. i've got some jay-birds and some cat-birds so gentle they hop right down at my feet. some people hate jay-birds. but i like them, they seem to be having such a fine time and enjoy life so. you don't mind jay-birds, do you?" "i love every bird that flies." "except hawks and owls and buzzards----" "well, i've seen so few i can't say i've anything particular against them." "yes, they eat chickens--except the buzzards, and they're so ugly and filthy. now, i've a chicken to show you--please don't let aunt cindy--she's to be your cook--please don't let her kill him--he's crippled--has something the matter with his foot. he was born that way. everybody wanted to kill him, but i wouldn't let them. i've had an awful time raising him, but he's all right now." marion lifted a box and showed her the lame pet, softly clucking his protest against the disturbance of his rest. "i'll take good care of _him_, never fear," said elsie, with a tremor in her voice. "and i have a queer little black cat i wanted to show you, but he's gone off somewhere. i'd take him with me--only it's bad luck to move cats. he's awful wild--won't let anybody pet him but me. mamma says he's an imp of satan--but i love him. he runs up a tree when anybody else tries to get him. but he climbs right up on my shoulder. i never loved any cat quite as well as this silly, half-wild one. you don't mind black cats, do you?" "no, dear; i like cats." "then i know you'll be good to him." "is that all?" asked elsie, with amused interest. "no, i've the funniest yellow dog that comes here at night to pick up the scraps and things. he isn't my dog--just a little personal friend of mine--but i like him very much, and always give him something. he's very cute. i think he's a nigger dog." "a nigger dog? what's that?" "he belongs to some coloured people, who don't give turn enough to eat. i love him because he's so faithful to his own folks. he comes to see me at night and pretends to love me, but as soon as i feed him he trots back home. when he first came, i laughed till i cried at his antics over a carpet--we had a carpet then. he never saw one before, and barked at the colours and the figures in the pattern. then he'd lie down and rub his back on it and growl. you won't let anybody hurt him?" "no. are there any others?" "yes, i 'most forgot. if sam ross comes--sam's an idiot who lives at the poorhouse--if he comes, he'll expect a dinner--my, my, i'm afraid he'll cry when he finds we're not here! but you can send him to the hotel to me. don't let aunt cindy speak rough to him. aunt cindy's awfully good to me, but she can't bear sam. she thinks he brings bad luck." "how on earth did you meet him?" "his father was rich. he was a good friend of my papa's. we came near losing our farm once, because a bank failed. mr. ross sent papa a signed check on his own bank, and told him to write the amount he needed on it, and pay him when he was able. papa cried over it, and wouldn't use it, and wrote a poem on the back of the check--one of the sweetest of all, i think. in the war mr. ross lost his two younger sons, both killed at gettysburg. his wife died heartbroken, and he only lived a year afterward. he sold his farm for confederate money and everything was lost. sam was sent to the poorhouse. he found out somehow that we loved him and comes to see us. he's as harmless as a kitten, and works in the garden beautifully." "i'll remember," elsie promised. "and one thing more," she said hesitatingly. "mamma asked me to speak to you of this--that's why she slipped away. there one little room we have locked. it was papa's study just as he left it, with his papers scattered on the desk, the books and pictures that he loved--you won't mind?" elsie slipped her arm about marion, looked into the blue eyes, dim with tears, drew her close and said: "it shall be sacred, my child. you must come every day if possible, and help me." "i will. i've so many beautiful places to show you in the woods--places he loved, and taught us to see and love. they won't let me go in the woods any more alone. but you have a big brother. that must be very sweet." mrs. lenoir hurried to elsie. "come, marion, we must be going now." "i am very sorry to see you leave the home you love so dearly, mrs. lenoir," said the northern girl, taking her extended hand. "i hope you can soon find a way to have it back." "thank you," replied the mother cheerily. "the longer you stay, the better for us. you don't know how happy i am over your coming. it has lifted a load from our hearts. in the liberal rent you pay us you are our benefactors. we are very grateful and happy." elsie watched them walk across the lawn to the street, the daughter leaning on the mother's arm. she followed slowly and stopped behind one of the arbor-vitæ bushes beside the gate. the full moon had risen as the twilight fell and flooded the scene with soft white light. a whippoorwill struck his first plaintive note, his weird song seeming to come from all directions and yet to be under her feet. she heard the rustle of dresses returning along the walk, and marion and her mother stood at the gate. they looked long and tenderly at the house. mrs. lenoir uttered a broken sob, marion slipped an arm around her, brushed the short curling hair back from her forehead, and softly said: "mamma, dear, you know it's best. i don't mind. everybody in town loves us. every boy and girl in piedmont worships you. we will be just as happy at the hotel." in the pauses between the strange bird's cry, elsie caught the sound of another sob, and then a soothing murmur as of a mother bending over a cradle, and they were gone. chapter ii the eyes of the jungle elsie stood dreaming for a moment in the shadow of the arbor-vitæ, breathing the sensuous perfumed air and listening to the distant music of the falls, her heart quivering in pity for the anguish of which she had been a witness. again the spectral cry of the whippoorwill rang near-by, and she noted for the first time the curious cluck with which the bird punctuated each call. a sense of dim foreboding oppressed her. she wondered if the chatter of marion about the girl in nashville were only a child's guess or more. she laughed softly at the absurdity of the idea. never since she had first looked into ben cameron's face did she feel surer of the honesty and earnestness of his love than to-day in this quiet home of his native village. it must be the queer call of the bird which appealed to superstitions she did not know were hidden within her being. still dreaming under its spell, she was startled at the tread of two men approaching the gate. the taller, more powerful-looking man put his hand on the latch and paused. "allow no white man to order you around. remember you are a freeman and as good as any pale-face who walks this earth." she recognized the voice of silas lynch. "ben cameron dare me to come about de house," said the other voice. "what did he say?" "he say, wid his eyes batten' des like lightnen', 'ef i ketch you hangin' 'roun' dis place agin', gus, i'll jump on you en stomp de life outen ye.'" "well, you tell him that your name is augustus, not 'gus,' and that the united states troops quartered in this town will be with him soon after the stomping begins. you wear its uniform. give the white trash in this town to understand that they are not even citizens of the nation. as a sovereign voter, you, once their slave, are not only their equal--you are their master." "dat i will!" was the firm answer. the negro to whom lynch spoke disappeared in the direction taken by marion and her mother, and the figure of the handsome mulatto passed rapidly up the walk, ascended the steps and knocked at the door. elsie followed him. "my father is too much fatigued with his journey to be seen now; you must call to-morrow," she said. the negro lifted his hat and bowed: "ah, we are delighted to welcome you, miss stoneman, to our land! your father asked me to call immediately on his arrival. i have but obeyed his orders." elsie shrank from the familiarity of his manner and the tones of authority and patronage with which he spoke. "he cannot be seen at this hour," she answered shortly. "perhaps you will present my card, then--say that i am at his service, and let him appoint the time at which i shall return?" she did not invite him in, but with easy assurance he took his seat on the joggle-board beside the door and awaited her return. against her urgent protest, stoneman ordered lynch to be shown at once to his bedroom. when the door was closed, the old commoner, without turning to greet his visitor or moving his position in bed, asked: "are you following my instructions?" "to the letter, sir." "you are initiating the negroes into the league and teaching them the new catechism?" "with remarkable success. its secrecy and ritual appeal to them. within six months we shall have the whole race under our control almost to a man." "_almost_ to a man?" "we find some so attached to their former masters that reason is impossible with them. even threats and the promise of forty acres of land have no influence." the old man snorted with contempt. "if anything could reconcile me to the satanic institution it is the character of the wretches who submit to it and kiss the hand that strikes. after all, a slave deserves to be a slave. the man who is mean enough to wear chains ought to wear them. you must teach, _teach_, teach these black hounds to know they are men, not brutes!" the old man paused a moment, and his restless hands fumbled the cover. "your first task, as i told you in the beginning, is to teach every negro to stand erect in the presence of his former master and assert his manhood. unless he does this, the south will bristle with bayonets in vain. the man who believes he is a dog, is one. the man who believes himself a king, may become one. stop this snivelling and sneaking round the back doors. i can do nothing, god almighty can do nothing, for a coward. fix this as the first law of your own life. lift up your head! the world is yours. take it. beat this into the skulls of your people, if you do it with an axe. teach them the military drill at once. i'll see that washington sends the guns. the state, when under your control, can furnish the powder." "it will surprise you to know the thoroughness with which this has been done already by the league," said lynch. "the white master believed he could vote the negro as he worked him in the fields during the war. the league, with its blue flaming altar, under the shadows of night, has wrought a miracle. the negro is the enemy of his former master and will be for all time." "for the present," said the old man meditatively, "not a word to a living soul as to my connection with this work. when the time is ripe, i'll show my hand." elsie entered, protesting against her father's talking longer, and showed lynch to the door. he paused on the moonlit porch and tried to engage her in familiar talk. she cut him short, and he left reluctantly. as he bowed his thick neck in pompous courtesy, she caught with a shiver the odour of pomade on his black half-kinked hair. he stopped on the lower step, looked back with smiling insolence, and gazed intently at her beauty. the girl shrank from the gleam of the jungle in his eyes and hurried within. she found her father sunk in a stupor. her cry brought the young surgeon hurrying into the room, and at the end of an hour he said to elsie and phil: "he has had a stroke of paralysis. he may lie in mental darkness for months and then recover. his heart action is perfect. patience, care, and love will save him. there is no cause for immediate alarm." chapter iii augustus cÆsar phil early found the home of the camerons the most charming spot in town. as he sat in the old-fashioned parlour beside margaret, his brain seethed with plans for building a hotel on a large scale on the other side of the square and restoring her home intact. the cameron homestead was a large brick building with an ample porch looking out directly on the court house square, standing in the middle of a lawn full of trees, flowers, shrubbery, and a wilderness of evergreen boxwood planted fifty years before. it was located on the farm from which it had always derived its support. the farm extended up into the village itself, with the great barn easily seen from the street. phil was charmed with the doctor's genial personality. he often found the father a decidedly easier person to get along with than his handsome daughter. the rev. hugh mcalpin was a daily caller, and margaret had a tantalizing way of showing her deference to his opinions. phil hated this preacher from the moment he laid eyes on him. his pugnacious piety he might have endured but for the fact that he was good-looking and eloquent. when he rose in the pulpit in all his sacred dignity, fixed his eyes on margaret, and began in tenderly modulated voice to tell about the love of god, phil clinched his fist. he didn't care to join the presbyterian church, but he quietly made up his mind that, if it came to the worst and she asked him, he would join anything. what made him furious was the air of assurance with which the young divine carried himself about margaret, as if he had but to say the word and it would be fixed as by a decree issued from before the foundations of the world. he was pleased and surprised to find that his being a yankee made no difference in his standing or welcome. the people seemed unconscious of the part his father played at washington. stoneman's confiscation bill had not yet been discussed in congress, and the promise of land to the negroes was universally regarded as a hoax of the league to win their followers. the old commoner was not an orator. hence his name was scarcely known in the south. the southern people could not conceive of a great leader except one who expressed his power through the megaphone of oratory. they held charles sumner chiefly responsible for reconstruction. the fact that phil was a yankee who had no axe to grind in the south caused the people to appeal to him in a pathetic way that touched his heart. he had not been in town two weeks before he was on good terms with every youngster, had the entrée to every home, and ben had taken him, protesting vehemently, to see every pretty girl there. he found that, in spite of war and poverty, troubles present and troubles to come, the young southern woman was the divinity that claimed and received the chief worship of man. the tremendous earnestness with which these youngsters pursued the work of courting, all of them so poor they scarcely had enough to eat, amazed and alarmed him beyond measure. he found in several cases as many as four making a dead set for one girl, as if heaven and earth depended on the outcome, while the girl seemed to receive it all as a matter of course--her just tribute. every instinct of his quiet reserved nature revolted at any such attempt to rush his cause with margaret, and yet it made the cold chills run down his spine to see that presbyterian preacher drive his buggy up to the hotel, take her to ride, and stay three hours. he knew where they had gone--to lover's leap and along the beautiful road which led to the north carolina line. he knew the way--margaret had showed him. this road was the way of romance. every farmhouse, cabin, and shady nook along its beaten track could tell its tale of lovers fleeing from the north to find happiness in the haven of matrimony across the line in south carolina. everything seemed to favour marriage in this climate. the state required no license. a legal marriage could be celebrated, anywhere, at any time, by a minister in the presence of two witnesses, with or without the consent of parent or guardian. marriage was the easiest thing in the state--divorce the one thing impossible. death alone could grant divorce. he was now past all reason in love. he followed the movement of margaret's queenly figure with pathetic abandonment. beneath her beautiful manners he swore with a shiver that she was laughing at him. now and then he caught a funny expression about her eyes, as if she were consumed with a sly sense of humour in her love affairs. what he felt to be his manliest traits, his reserve, dignity, and moral earnestness, she must think cold and slow beside the dash, fire, and assurance of these southerners. he could tell by the way she encouraged the preacher before his eyes that she was criticizing and daring him to let go for once. instead of doing it, he sank back appalled at the prospect and let the preacher carry her off again. he sought solace in dr. cameron, who was utterly oblivious of his daughter's love affairs. phil was constantly amazed at the variety of his knowledge, the genuineness of his culture, his modesty, and the note of youth and cheer with which he still pursued the study of medicine. his company was refreshing for its own sake. the slender graceful figure, ruddy face, with piercing, dark-brown eyes in startling contrast to his snow-white hair and beard, had for phil a perpetual charm. he never tired listening to his talk, and noting the peculiar grace and dignity with which he carried himself, unconscious of the commanding look of his brilliant eyes. "i hear that you have used hypnotism in your practice, doctor," phil said to him one day, as he watched with fascination the changing play of his mobile features. "oh, yes! used it for years. southern doctors have always been pioneers in the science of medicine. dr. crawford long, of georgia, you know, was the first practitioner in america to apply anesthesia to surgery." "but where did you run up against hypnotism? i thought this a new thing under the sun?" the doctor laughed. "it's not a home industry, exactly. i became interested in it in edinburgh while a medical student, and pursued it with increased interest in paris." "did you study medicine abroad?" phil asked in surprise. "yes; i was poor, but i managed to raise and to borrow enough to take three years on the other side. i put all i had and all my credit in it. i've never regretted the sacrifice. the more i saw of the great world, the better i liked my own world. i've given these farmers and their families the best god gave to me." "do you find much use for your powers of hypnosis?" phil asked. "only in an experimental way. naturally i am endowed with this gift--especially over certain classes who are easily the subjects of extreme fear. i owned a rascally slave named gus whom i used to watch stealing. suddenly confronting him, i've thrown him into unconsciousness with a steady gaze of the eye, until he would drop on his face, trembling like a leaf, unable to speak until i allowed him." "how do you account for such powers?" "i don't account for them at all. they belong to the world of spiritual phenomena of which we know so little and yet which touch our material lives at a thousand points every day. how do we account for sleep and dreams, or second sight, or the day dreams which we call visions?" phil was silent, and the doctor went on dreamily: "the day my boy richard was killed at gettysburg, i saw him lying dead in a field near a house. i saw some soldiers bury him in the corner of that field, and then an old man go to the grave, dig up his body, cart it away into the woods, and throw it into a ditch. i saw it before i heard of the battle or knew that he was in it. he was reported killed, and his body has never been found. it is the one unspeakable horror of the war to me. i'll never get over it." "how very strange!" exclaimed phil. "and yet the war was nothing, my boy, to the horrors i feel clutching the throat of the south to-day. i'm glad you and your father are down here. your disinterested view of things may help us at washington when we need it most. the south seems to have no friend at court." "your younger men, i find, are hopeful, doctor," said phil. "yes, the young never see danger until it's time to die. i'm not a pessimist, but i was happier in jail. scores of my old friends have given up in despair and died. delicate and cultured women are living on cowpeas, corn bread, and molasses--and of such quality they would not have fed it to a slave. children go to bed hungry. droves of brutal negroes roam at large, stealing, murdering, and threatening blacker crimes. we are under the heel of petty military tyrants, few of whom ever smelled gunpowder in a battle. at the approaching election, not a decent white man in this country can take the infamous test oath. i am disfranchised because i gave a cup of water to the lips of one of my dying boys on the battlefield. my slaves are all voters. there will be a negro majority of more than one hundred thousand in this state. desperadoes are here teaching these negroes insolence and crime in their secret societies. the future is a nightmare." [illustration: henry walthall as ben cameron.] "you have my sympathy, sir," said phil warmly, extending his hand. "these reconstruction acts, conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity, can bring only shame and disgrace until the last trace of them is wiped from our laws. i hope it will not be necessary to do it in blood." the doctor was deeply touched. he could not be mistaken in the genuineness of any man's feeling. he never dreamed this earnest straightforward yankee youngster was in love with margaret, and it would have made no difference in the accuracy of his judgment. "your sentiments do you honour, sir," he said with grave courtesy. "and you honour us and our town with your presence and friendship." as phil hurried home in a warm glow of sympathy for the people whose hospitality had made him their friend and champion, he encountered a negro trooper standing on the corner, watching the cameron house with furtive glance. instinctively he stopped, surveyed the man from head to foot and asked: "what's the trouble?" "none er yo' business," the negro answered, slouching across to the opposite side of the street. phil watched him with disgust. he had the short, heavy-set neck of the lower order of animals. his skin was coal black, his lips so thick they curled both ways up and down with crooked blood marks across them. his nose was flat, and its enormous nostrils seemed in perpetual dilation. the sinister bead eyes, with brown splotches in their whites, were set wide apart and gleamed apelike under his scant brows. his enormous cheekbones and jaws seemed to protrude beyond the ears and almost hide them. "that we should send such soldiers here to flaunt our uniform in the faces of these people!" he exclaimed, with bitterness. he met ben hurrying home from a visit to elsie. the two young soldiers whose prejudices had melted in the white heat of battle had become fast friends. phil laughed and winked: "i'll meet you to-night around the family altar!" when he reached home, ben saw, slouching in front of the house, walking back and forth and glancing furtively behind him, the negro trooper whom his friend had passed. he walked quickly in front of him, and blinking his eyes rapidly, said: "didn't i tell you, gus, not to let me catch you hanging around this house again?" the negro drew himself up, pulling his blue uniform into position as his body stretched out of its habitual slouch, and answered: "my name ain't 'gus.'" ben gave a quick little chuckle and leaned back against the palings, his hand resting on one that was loose. he glanced at the negro carelessly and said: "well, augustus cæsar, i give your majesty thirty seconds to move off the block." gus' first impulse was to run, but remembering himself he threw back his shoulders and said: "i reckon de streets free----" "yes, and so is kindling wood!" quick as a flash of lightning the paling suddenly left the fence and broke three times in such bewildering rapidity on the negro's head he forgot everything he ever knew or thought he knew save one thing--the way to run. he didn't fly, but he made remarkable use of the facilities with which he had been endowed. ben watched him disappear toward the camp. he picked up the pieces of paling, pulled a strand of black wool from a splinter, looked at it curiously and said: "a sprig of his majesty's hair--i'll doubtless remember him without it!" chapter iv at the point of the bayonet within an hour from ben's encounter he was arrested without warrant by the military commandant, handcuffed, and placed on the train for columbia, more than a hundred miles distant. the first purpose of sending him in charge of a negro guard was abandoned for fear of a riot. a squad of white troops accompanied him. elsie was waiting at the gate, watching for his coming, her heart aglow with happiness. when marion and little hugh ran to tell the exciting news, she thought it a joke and refused to believe it. "come, dear, don't tease me; you know it's not true!" "i wish i may die if 'tain't so!" hugh solemnly declared. "he run gus away 'cause he scared aunt margaret so. they come and put handcuffs on him and took him to columbia. i tell you grandpa and grandma and aunt margaret are mad!" elsie called phil and begged him to see what had happened. when phil reported ben's arrest without a warrant, and the indignity to which he had been subjected on the amazing charge of resisting military authority, elsie hurried with marion and hugh to the hotel to express her indignation, and sent phil to columbia on the next train to fight for his release. by the use of a bribe phil discovered that a special inquisition had been hastily organized to procure perjured testimony against ben on the charge of complicity in the murder of a carpet-bag adventurer named ashburn, who had been killed at columbia in a row in a disreputable resort. this murder had occurred the week ben cameron was in nashville. the enormous reward of $ , had been offered for the conviction of any man who could be implicated in the killing. scores of venal wretches, eager for this blood money, were using every device of military tyranny to secure evidence on which to convict--no matter who the man might be. within six hours of his arrival they had pounced on ben. they arrested as a witness an old negro named john stapler, noted for his loyalty to the camerons. the doctor had saved his life once in a dangerous illness. they were going to put him to torture and force him to swear that ben cameron had tried to bribe him to kill ashburn. general howle, the commandant of the columbia district, was in charleston on a visit to headquarters. phil resorted to the ruse of pretending, as a yankee, the deepest sympathy for ashburn, and by the payment of a fee of twenty dollars to the captain, was admitted to the fort to witness the torture. they led the old man trembling into the presence of the captain, who sat on an improvised throne in full uniform. "have you ordered a barber to shave this man's head?" sternly asked the judge. "please, marster, fer de lawd's sake, i ain' done nuttin'--doan' shave my head. dat ha'r been wropped lak dat fur ten year! i die sho' ef i lose my ha'r." "bring the barber, and take him back until he comes," was the order. in an hour they led him again into the room blindfolded, and placed him in a chair. "have you let him see a preacher before putting him through?" the captain asked. "i have an order from the general in charleston to put him through to-day." "for gawd's sake, marster, doan' put me froo--i ain't done nuttin' en i doan' know nuttin'!" the old negro slipped to his knees, trembling from head to foot. the guards caught him by the shoulders and threw him back into the chair. the bandage was removed, and just in front of him stood a brass cannon pointed at his head, a soldier beside it holding the string ready to pull. john threw himself backward, yelling: "goddermighty!" when he scrambled to his feet and started to run, another cannon swung on him from the rear. he dropped to his knees and began to pray. "yas, lawd, i'se er comin'. i hain't ready--but, lawd, i got ter come! save me!" "shave him!" the captain ordered. while the old man sat moaning, they lathered his head with two scrubbing-brushes and shaved it clean. "now stand him up by the wall and measure him for his coffin," was the order. they snatched him from the chair, pushed him against the wall, and measured him. while they were taking his measure, the man next to him whispered: "now's the time to save your hide--tell all about ben cameron trying to hire you to kill ashburn." "give him a few minutes," said the captain, "and maybe we can hear what mr. cameron said about ashburn." "i doan' know nuttin', general," pleaded the old darkey. "i ain't heard nuttin'--i ain't seed marse ben fer two monts." "you needn't lie to us. the rebels have been posting you. but it's no use. we'll get it out of you." "'fo' gawd, marster, i'se telling de truf!" "put him in the dark cell and keep him there the balance of his life unless he tells," was the order. at the end of four days, phil was summoned again to witness the show. john was carried to another part of the fort and shown the sweat-box. "now tell all you know or in you go!" said his tormentor. the negro looked at the engine of torture in abject terror--a closet in the walls of the fort just big enough to admit the body, with an adjustable top to press down too low for the head to be held erect. the door closed tight against the breast of the victim. the only air admitted was through an auger-hole in the door. the old man's lips moved in prayer. "will you tell?" growled the captain. "i cain't tell ye nuttin' 'cept'n' a lie!" he moaned. they thrust him in, slammed the door, and in a loud voice the captain said: "keep him there for thirty days unless he tells." he was left in the agony of the sweat-box for thirty-three hours and taken out. his limbs were swollen and when he attempted to walk he tottered and fell. the guard jerked him to his feet, and the captain said: "i'm afraid we've taken him out too soon, but if he don't tell he can go back and finish the month out." the poor old negro dropped in a faint, and they carried him back to his cell. phil determined to spare no means, fair or foul, to secure ben's release from the clutches of these devils. he had as yet been unable to locate his place of confinement. he continued his ruse of friendly curiosity, kept in touch with the captain, and the captain in touch with his pocketbook. summoned to witness another interesting ceremony, he hurried to the fort. the officer winked at him confidentially, and took him out to a row of dungeons built of logs and ceiled inside with heavy boards. a single pane of glass about eight inches square admitted light ten feet from the ground. there was a commotion inside, curses, groans, and cries for mercy mingling in rapid succession. "what is it?" asked phil. "hell's goin' on in there!" laughed the officer. "evidently." a heavy crash, as though a ton weight had struck the floor, and then all was still. "by george, it's too bad we can't see it all!" exclaimed the officer. "what does it mean?" urged phil. again the captain laughed immoderately. "i've got a blue-blood in there taking the bluin' out of his system. he gave me some impudence. i'm teaching him who's running this country!" "what are you doing to him?" phil asked with a sudden suspicion. "oh, just having a little fun! i put two big white drunks in there with him--half-fighting drunks, you know--and told them to work on his teeth and manicure his face a little to initiate him into the ranks of the common people, so to speak!" again he laughed. phil, listening at the keyhole, held up his hand: "hush, they're talking----" he could hear ben cameron's voice in the softest drawl: "say it again." "please, marster!" "now both together, and a little louder!" "_please, marster_," came the united chorus. "now what kind of a dog did i say you are?" "the kind as comes when his marster calls." "both together--the under dog seems to have too much cover, like his mouth might be full of cotton." they repeated it louder. "a common--stump-tailed--cur-dog?" "yessir." "say it." "a common--stump-tailed--cur-dog--marster!" "a pair of them." "a pair of 'em." "no, the whole thing--all together--'we--are--a--pair!'" "yes--marster." they repeated it in chorus. "with apologies to the dogs----" "apologies to the dogs----" "and why does your master honour the kennel with his presence to-day?" "he hit a nigger on the head so hard that he strained the nigger's ankle, and he's restin' from his labours." "that's right, towser. if i had you and tige a few hours every day i could make good squirrel-dogs out of you." there was a pause. phil looked up and smiled. "what does it sound like?" asked the captain, with a shade of doubt in his voice. "sounds to me like a sunday-school teacher taking his class through a new catechism." the captain fumbled hurriedly for his keys. "there's something wrong in there." he opened the door and sprang in. ben cameron was sitting on top of the two toughs, knocking their heads together as they repeated each chorus. "walk in, gentlemen. the show is going on now--the animals are doing beautifully," said ben. the captain muttered an oath. phil suddenly grasped him by the throat, hurled him against the wall, and snatched the keys from his hand. "now open your mouth, you white-livered cur, and inside of twenty-four hours i'll have you behind the bars. i have all the evidence i need. i'm an ex-officer of the united states army, of the fighting corps--not the vulture division. this is my friend. accompany us to the street and strike your charges from the record." the coward did as he was ordered, and ben hurried back to piedmont with a friend toward whom he began to feel closer than a brother. when elsie heard the full story of the outrage, she bore herself toward ben with unusual tenderness, and yet he knew that the event had driven their lives farther apart. he felt instinctively the cold silent eye of her father, and his pride stiffened under it. the girl had never considered the possibility of a marriage without her father's blessing. ben cameron was too proud to ask it. he began to fear that the differences between her father and his people reached to the deepest sources of life. phil found himself a hero at the cameron house. margaret said little, but her bearing spoke in deeper language than words. he felt it would be mean to take advantage of her gratitude. but he was quick to respond to the motherly tenderness of mrs. cameron. in the groups of neighbours who gathered in the evenings to discuss with the doctor the hopes, fears, and sorrows of the people, phil was a charmed listener to the most brilliant conversations he had ever heard. it seemed the normal expression of their lives. he had never before seen people come together to talk to one another after this fashion. more and more the simplicity, dignity, patience, courtesy, and sympathy of these people in their bearing toward one another impressed him. more and more he grew to like them. marion went out of her way to express her open admiration for phil and tease him about margaret. the rev. hugh mcalpin was monopolizing her on the wednesday following his return from columbia and phil sought marion for sympathy. "what will you give me if i tease you about margaret right before her?" she asked. he blushed furiously. "don't you dare such a thing on peril of your life!" "you know you like to be teased about her," she cried, her blue eyes dancing with fun. "with such a pretty little friend to do the teasing all by ourselves, perhaps----" "you'll never get her unless you have more spunk." "then i'll find consolation with you." "no, i mean to marry young." "and your ideal of life?" "to fill the world with flowers, laughter, and music--especially my own home--and never do a thing i can make my husband do for me! how do you like it?" "i think it very sweet," phil answered soberly. at noon on the following friday, the piedmont _eagle_ appeared with an editorial signed by dr. cameron, denouncing in the fine language of the old school the arrest of ben as "despotism and the usurpation of authority." at three o'clock, captain gilbert, in command of the troops stationed in the village, marched a squad of soldiers to the newspaper office. one of them carried a sledge-hammer. in ten minutes he demolished the office, heaped the type and their splintered cases on top of the battered press in the middle of the street, and set fire to the pile. on the courthouse door he nailed this proclamation: _to the people of ulster county_: the censures of the press, directed against the servants of the people, may be endured; but the military force in command of this district are not the servants of the people of south carolina. we are your masters. the impertinence of newspaper comment on the military will not be brooked under any circumstances whatever. g. c. gilbert, captain in command. not content with this display of power, he determined to make an example of dr. cameron, as the leader of public opinion in the county. he ordered a squad of his negro troops to arrest him immediately and take him to columbia for obstructing the execution of the reconstruction acts. he placed the squad under command of gus, whom he promoted to be a corporal, with instructions to wait until the doctor was inside his house, boldly enter it and arrest him. when gus marched his black janizaries into the house, no one was in the office. margaret had gone for a ride with phil, and ben had strolled with elsie to lover's leap, unconscious of the excitement in town. dr. cameron himself had heard nothing of it, having just reached home from a visit to a country patient. gus stationed his men at each door, and with another trooper walked straight into mrs. cameron's bedroom, where the doctor was resting on a lounge. had an imp of perdition suddenly sprung through the floor, the master of the house of cameron would not have been more enraged or surprised. a sudden leap, as the spring of a panther, and he stood before his former slave, his slender frame erect, his face a livid spot in its snow-white hair, his brilliant eyes flashing with fury. gus suddenly lost control of his knees. his old master transfixed him with his eyes, and in a voice, whose tones gripped him by the throat, said: "how dare you?" the gun fell from the negro's hand, and he dropped to the floor on his face. his companion uttered a yell and sprang through the door, rallying the men as he went: "fall back! fall back! he's killed gus! shot him dead wid his eye. he's conjured him! git de whole army quick." they fled to the commandant. gilbert ordered the negroes to their tents and led his whole company of white regulars to the hotel, arrested dr. cameron, and rescued his fainting trooper, who had been revived and placed under a tree on the lawn. the little captain had a wicked look on his face. he refused to allow the doctor a moment's delay to leave instructions for his wife, who had gone to visit a neighbour. he was placed in the guard-house, and a detail of twenty soldiers stationed around it. the arrest was made so quickly, not a dozen people in town had heard of it. as fast as it was known, people poured into the house, one by one, to express their sympathy. but a greater surprise awaited them. within thirty minutes after he had been placed in prison, a lieutenant entered, accompanied by a soldier and a negro blacksmith who carried in his hand two big chains with shackles on each end. the doctor gazed at the intruders a moment with incredulity, and then, as the enormity of the outrage dawned on him, he flushed and drew himself erect, his face livid and rigid. he clutched his throat with his slender fingers, slowly recovered himself, glanced at the shackles in the black hands and then at the young lieutenant's face, and said slowly, with heaving breast: "my god! have you been sent to place these irons on me?" "such are my orders, sir," replied the officer, motioning to the negro smith to approach. he stepped forward, unlocked the padlock, and prepared the fetters to be placed on his arms and legs. these fetters were of enormous weight, made of iron rods three quarters of an inch thick and connected together by chains of like weight. "this is monstrous!" groaned the doctor, with choking agony, glancing helplessly about the bare cell for some weapon with which to defend himself. suddenly looking the lieutenant in the face, he said: "i demand, sir, to see your commanding officer. he cannot pretend that these shackles are needed to hold a weak unarmed man in prison, guarded by two hundred soldiers?" "it is useless. i have his orders direct." "but i must see him. no such outrage has ever been recorded in the history of the american people. i appeal to the magna charta rights of every man who speaks the english tongue--no man shall be arrested or imprisoned or deprived of his own household, or of his liberties, unless by the legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the land!" "the bayonet is your only law. my orders admit of no delay. for your own sake, i advise you to submit. as a soldier, dr. cameron, you know i must execute orders." "these are not the orders of a soldier!" shouted the prisoner, enraged beyond all control. "they are orders for a jailer, a hangman, a scullion--no soldier who wears the sword of a civilized nation can take such orders. the war is over; the south is conquered; i have no country save america. for the honour of the flag, for which i once poured out my blood on the heights of buena vista, i protest against this shame!" the lieutenant fell back a moment before the burst of his anger. "kill me! kill me!" he went on passionately, throwing his arms wide open and exposing his breast. "kill--i am in your power. i have no desire to live under such conditions. kill, but you must not inflict on me and on my people this insult worse than death!" "do your duty, blacksmith," said the officer, turning his back and walking toward the door. the negro advanced with the chains cautiously, and attempted to snap one of the shackles on the doctor's right arm. with sudden maniac frenzy, dr. cameron seized the negro by the throat, hurled him to the floor, and backed against the wall. the lieutenant approached and remonstrated: "why compel me to add the indignity of personal violence? you must submit." "i am your prisoner," fiercely retorted the doctor. "i have been a soldier in the armies of america, and i know how to die. kill me, and my last breath will be a blessing. but while i have life to resist, for myself and for my people, this thing shall not be done!" the lieutenant called a sergeant and a file of soldiers, and the sergeant stepped forward to seize the prisoner. dr. cameron sprang on him with the ferocity of a tiger, seized his musket, and attempted to wrench it from his grasp. the men closed in on him. a short passionate fight and the slender, proud, gray-haired man lay panting on the floor. four powerful assailants held his hands and feet, and the negro smith, with a grin, secured the rivet on the right ankle and turned the key in the padlock on the left. as he drove the rivet into the shackle on his left arm, a spurt of bruised blood from the old mexican war wound stained the iron. dr. cameron lay for a moment in a stupor. at length he slowly rose. the clank of the heavy chains seemed to choke him with horror. he sank on the floor, covering his face with his hands and groaned: "the shame! the shame! o god, that i might have died! my poor, poor wife!" captain gilbert entered and said with a sneer: "i will take you now to see your wife and friends if you would like to call before setting out for columbia." the doctor paid no attention to him. "will you follow me while i lead you through this town, to show them their chief has fallen, or will you force me to drag you?" receiving no answer, he roughly drew the doctor to his feet, held him by the arm, and led him thus in half-unconscious stupor through the principal street, followed by a drove of negroes. he ordered a squad of troops to meet him at the depot. not a white man appeared on the streets. when one saw the sight and heard the clank of those chains, there was a sudden tightening of the lip, a clinched fist, and an averted face. when they approached the hotel, mrs. cameron ran to meet him, her face white as death. in silence she kissed his lips, kissed each shackle on his wrists, took her handkerchief and wiped the bruised blood from the old wound on his arm the iron had opened afresh, and then with a look, beneath which the captain shrank, she said in low tones: "do your work quickly. you have but a few moments to get out of this town with your prisoner. i have sent a friend to hold my son. if he comes before you go, he will kill you on sight as he would a mad dog." with a sneer, the captain passed the hotel and led the doctor, still in half-unconscious stupor, toward the depot down past his old slave quarters. he had given his negroes who remained faithful each a cabin and a lot. they looked on in awed silence as the captain proclaimed: "fellow citizens, you are the equal of any white man who walks the ground. the white man's day is done. your turn has come." as he passed jake's cabin, the doctor's faithful man stepped suddenly in front of him, looking at the captain out of the corners of his eyes, and asked: "is i yo' equal?" "yes." "des lak any white man?" "exactly." the negro's fist suddenly shot into gilbert's nose with the crack of a sledge-hammer, laying him stunned on the pavement. "den take dat f'um yo' equal, d--n you!" he cried, bending over his prostrate figure. "i'll show you how to treat my ole marster, you low-down slue-footed devil!" the stirring little drama roused the doctor and he turned to his servant with his old-time courtesy, and said: "thank you, jake." "come in here, marse richard; i knock dem things off'n you in er minute, 'en i get you outen dis town in er jiffy." "no, jake, that is not my way; bring this gentleman some water, and then my horse and buggy. you can take me to the depot. this officer can follow with his men." and he did. chapter v forty acres and a mule when phil returned with margaret, he drove at mrs. cameron's request to find ben, brought him with all speed to the hotel, took him to his room, and locked the door before he told him the news. after an hour's blind rage, he agreed to obey his father's positive orders to keep away from the captain until his return, and to attempt no violence against the authorities. phil undertook to manage the case in columbia, and spent three days collecting his evidence before leaving. swifter feet had anticipated him. two days after the arrival of dr. cameron at the fort in colombia, a dust-stained, tired negro was ushered into the presence of general howle. he looked about timidly and laughed loudly. "well, my man, what's the trouble? you seem to have walked all the way, and laugh as if you were glad of it." "i 'spec' i is, sah," said jake, sidling up confidentially. "well?" said howle good-humouredly. jake's voice dropped to a whisper. "i hears you got my ole marster, dr. cameron, in dis place." "yes. what do you know against him?" "nuttin', sah. i des hurry 'long down ter take his place, so's you can sen' him back home. he's erbleeged ter go. dey's er pow'ful lot er sick folks up dar in de country cain't git 'long widout him, an er pow'ful lot er well ones gwiner be raisin' de debbel 'bout dis. you can hol' me, sah. des tell my ole marster when ter be yere, en he sho' come." jake paused and bowed low. "yessah, hit's des lak i tell you. fuddermo', i 'spec' i'se de man what done de damages. i 'spec' i bus' de capt'n's nose so 'tain gwine be no mo' good to 'im." howle questioned jake as to the whole affair, asked him a hundred questions about the condition of the county, the position of dr. cameron, and the possible effect of this event on the temper of the people. the affair had already given him a bad hour. the news of this shackling of one of the most prominent men in the state had spread like wildfire, and had caused the first deep growl of anger from the people. he saw that it was a senseless piece of stupidity. the election was rapidly approaching. he was master of the state, and the less friction the better. his mind was made up instantly. he released dr. cameron with an apology, and returned with him and jake for a personal inspection of the affairs of ulster county. in a thirty-minutes' interview with captain gilbert, howle gave him more pain than his broken nose. "and why did you nail up the doors of that presbyterian church?" he asked suavely. "because mcalpin, the young cub who preaches there, dared come to this camp and insult me about the arrest of old cameron." "i suppose you issued an order silencing him from the ministry?" "i did, and told him i'd shackle him if he opened his mouth again." "good. the throne of russia needn't worry about a worthy successor. any further ecclesiastical orders?" "none, except the oaths i've prescribed for them before they shall preach again." "fine! these scotch covenanters will feel at home with you." "well, i've made them bite the dust--and they know who's runnin' this town, and don't you forget it." "no doubt. yet we may have too much of even a good thing. the league is here to run this country. the business of the military is to keep still and back them when they need it." "we've the strongest council here to be found in any county in this section," said gilbert with pride. "just so. the league meets once a week. we have promised them the land of their masters and equal social and political rights. their members go armed to these meetings and drill on saturdays in the public square. the white man is afraid to interfere lest his house or barn take fire. a negro prisoner in the dock needs only to make the sign to be acquitted. not a negro will dare to vote against us. their women are formed into societies, sworn to leave their husbands and refuse to marry any man who dares our anger. the negro churches have pledged themselves to expel him from their membership. what more do you want?" "there's another side to it," protested the captain. "since the league has taken in the negroes, every union white man has dropped it like a hot iron, except the lone scallawag or carpet-bagger who expects an office. in the church, the social circle, in business or pleasure, these men are lepers. how can a human being stand it? i've tried to grind this hellish spirit in the dirt under my heel, and unless you can do it they'll beat you in the long run! you've got to have some southern white men or you're lost." "i'll risk it with a hundred thousand negro majority," said howle with a sneer. "the fun will just begin then. in the meantime, i'll have you ease up on this county's government. i've brought that man back who knocked you down. let him alone. i've pardoned him. the less said about this affair, the better." * * * * * as the day of the election under the new régime of reconstruction drew near, the negroes were excited by rumours of the coming great events. every man was to receive forty acres of land for his vote, and the enthusiastic speakers and teachers had made the dream a resistless one by declaring that the government would throw in a mule with the forty acres. some who had hesitated about the forty acres of land, remembering that it must be worked, couldn't resist the idea of owning a mule. the freedman's bureau reaped a harvest in $ marriage fees from negroes who were urged thus to make their children heirs of landed estates stocked with mules. every stranger who appeared in the village was regarded with awe as a possible surveyor sent from washington to run the lines of these forty-acre plots. and in due time the surveyors appeared. uncle aleck, who now devoted his entire time to organizing the league, and drinking whiskey which the dues he collected made easy, was walking back to piedmont from a league meeting in the country, dreaming of this promised land. he lifted his eyes from the dusty way and saw before him two surveyors with their arms full of line stakes painted red, white, and blue. they were well-dressed yankees--he could not be mistaken. not a doubt disturbed his mind. the kingdom of heaven was at hand! he bowed low and cried: "praise de lawd! de messengers is come! i'se waited long, but i sees 'em now wid my own eyes!" "you can bet your life on that, old pard," said the spokesman of the pair. "we go two and two, just as the apostles did in the olden times. we have only a few left. the boys are hurrying to get their homes. all you've got to do is to drive one of these red, white, and blue stakes down at each corner of the forty acres of land you want, and every rebel in the infernal regions can't pull it up." "hear dat now!" "just like i tell you. when this stake goes into the ground, it's like planting a thousand cannon at each corner." "en will the lawd's messengers come wid me right now to de bend er de creek whar i done pick out my forty acres?" "we will, if you have the needful for the ceremony. the fee for the surveyor is small--only two dollars for each stake. we have no time to linger with foolish virgins who have no oil in their lamps. the bridegroom has come. they who have no oil must remain in outer darkness." the speaker had evidently been a preacher in the north, and his sacred accent sealed his authority with the old negro, who had been an exhorter himself. aleck felt in his pocket the jingle of twenty gold dollars, the initiation fees of the week's harvest of the league. he drew them, counted out eight, and took his four stakes. the surveyors kindly showed him how to drive them down firmly to the first stripe of blue. when they had stepped off a square of about forty acres of the lenoir farm, including the richest piece of bottom land on the creek, which aleck's children under his wife's direction were working for mrs. lenoir, and the four stakes were planted, old aleck shouted: "glory ter god!" "now," said the foremost surveyor, "you want a deed--a deed in fee simple with the big seal of the government on it, and you're fixed for life. the deed you can take to the courthouse and make the clerk record it." the man drew from his pocket an official-looking paper, with a red circular seal pasted on its face. uncle aleck's eyes danced. "is dat de deed?" "it will be if i write your name on it and describe the land." "en what's de fee fer dat?" "only twelve dollars; you can take it now or wait until we come again. there's no particular hurry about this. the wise man, though, leaves nothing for to-morrow that he can carry with him to-day." "i takes de deed right now, gemmen," said aleck, eagerly counting out the remaining twelve dollars. "fix 'im up for me." the surveyor squatted in the field and carefully wrote the document. they went on their way rejoicing, and old aleck hurried into piedmont with the consciousness of lordship of the soil. he held himself so proudly that it seemed to straighten some of the crook out of his bow legs. he marched up to the hotel where margaret sat reading and marion was on the steps playing with a setter. "why, uncle aleck!" marion exclaimed, "i haven't seen you in a long time." aleck drew himself to his full height--at least, as full as his bow legs would permit, and said gruffly: "miss ma'ian, i axes you to stop callin' me 'uncle'; my name is mr. alexander lenoir----" "until aunt cindy gets after you," laughed the girl. "then it's much shorter than that, uncle aleck." he shuffled his feet and looked out at the square unconcernedly. "yaas'm, dat's what fetch me here now. i comes ter tell yer ma ter tell dat 'oman cindy ter take her chillun off my farm. i gwine 'low no mo' rent-payin' ter nobody off'n my lan'!" "your land, uncle aleck? when did you get it?" asked marion, placing her cheek against the setter. "de gubment gim it ter me to-day," he replied, fumbling in his pocket, and pulling out the document. "you kin read it all dar yo'sef." he handed marion the paper, and margaret hurried down and read it over her shoulder. both girls broke into screams of laughter. aleck looked up sharply. "do you know what's written on this paper, uncle aleck?" margaret asked. "cose i do. dat's de deed ter my farm er forty acres in de land er de creek, whar i done stuck off wid de red, white, an' blue sticks de gubment gimme." "i'll read it to you," said margaret. "wait a minute," interrupted marion. "i want aunt cindy to hear it--she's here to see mamma in the kitchen now." she ran for uncle aleck's spouse. aunt cindy walked around the house and stood by the steps, eying her erstwhile lord with contempt. "got yer deed, is yer, ter stop me payin' my missy her rent fum de lan' my chillun wucks? yu'se er smart boy, you is--let's hear de deed!" aleck edged away a little, and said with a bow: "dar's de paper wid de big mark er de gubment." aunt cindy sniffed the air contemptuously. "what is it, honey?" she asked of margaret. margaret read in mock solemnity the mystic writing on the deed: _to whom it may concern_: as moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness for the enlightenment of the people, even so have i lifted twenty shining plunks out of this benighted nigger! selah! as uncle aleck walked away with aunt cindy shouting in derision, "dar, now! dar, now!" the bow in his legs seemed to have sprung a sharper curve. chapter vi a whisper in the crowd the excitement which preceded the first reconstruction election in the south paralyzed the industries of the country. when demagogues poured down from the north and began their raving before crowds of ignorant negroes, the plow stopped in the furrow, the hoe was dropped, and the millennium was at hand. negro tenants, working under contracts issued by the freedman's bureau, stopped work, and rode their landlords' mules and horses around the county, following these orators. the loss to the cotton crop alone from the abandonment of the growing plant was estimated at over $ , , . the one thing that saved the situation from despair was the large grain and forage crops of the previous season which thrifty farmers had stored in their barns. so important was the barn and its precious contents that dr. cameron hired jake to sleep in his. this immense barn, which was situated at the foot of the hill some two hundred yards behind the house, had become a favourite haunt of marion and hugh. she had made a pet of the beautiful thoroughbred mare which had belonged to ben during the war. marion went every day to give her an apple or lump of sugar, or carry her a bunch of clover. the mare would follow her about like a cat. another attraction at the barn for them was becky sharpe, ben's setter. she came to marion one morning, wagging her tail, seized her dress and led her into an empty stall, where beneath the trough lay sleeping snugly ten little white-and-black spotted puppies. the girl had never seen such a sight before and went into ecstasies. becky wagged her tail with pride at her compliments. every morning she would pull her gently into the stall just to hear her talk and laugh and pet her babies. whatever election day meant to the men, to marion it was one of unalloyed happiness: she was to ride horseback alone and dance at her first ball. ben had taught her to ride, and told her she could take queen to lover's leap and back alone. trembling with joy, her beautiful face wreathed in smiles, she led the mare to the pond in the edge of the lot and watched her drink its pure spring water. when he helped her to mount in front of the hotel under her mother's gaze, and saw her ride out of the gate, with the exquisite lines of her little figure melting into the graceful lines of the mare's glistening form, he exclaimed: "i declare, i don't know which is the prettier, marion or queen!" "i know," was the mother's soft answer. "they are both thoroughbreds," said ben, watching them admiringly. "wait till you see her to-night in her first ball dress," whispered mrs. lenoir. at noon ben and phil strolled to the polling-place to watch the progress of the first election under negro rule. the square was jammed with shouting, jostling, perspiring negroes, men, women, and children. the day was warm, and the african odour was supreme even in the open air. a crowd of two hundred were packed around a peddler's box. there were two of them--one crying the wares, and the other wrapping and delivering the goods. they were selling a new patent poison for rats. "i've only a few more bottles left now, gentlemen," he shouted, "and the polls will close at sundown. a great day for our brother in black. two years of army rations from the freedman's bureau, with old army clothes thrown in, and now the ballot--the priceless glory of american citizenship. but better still the very land is to be taken from these proud aristocrats and given to the poor down-trodden black man. forty acres and a mule--think of it! provided, mind you--that you have a bottle of my wonder-worker to kill the rats and save your corn for the mule. no man can have the mule unless he has corn; and no man can have corn if he has rats--and only a few bottles left----" "gimme one," yelled a negro. "forty acres and a mule, your old masters to work your land and pay his rent in corn, while you sit back in the shade and see him sweat." "gimme er bottle and two er dem pictures!" bawled another candidate for a mule. the peddler handed him the bottle and the pictures and threw a handful of his labels among the crowd. these labels happened to be just the size of the ballots, having on them the picture of a dead rat lying on his back, and above, the emblem of death, the crossbones and skull. "forty acres and a mule for every black man--why was i ever born white? i never had no luck, nohow!" phil and ben passed on nearer the polling-place, around which stood a cordon of soldiers with a line of negro voters two hundred yards in length extending back into the crowd. the negro leagues came in armed battalions and voted in droves, carrying their muskets in their hands. less than a dozen white men were to be seen about the place. the negroes, under the drill of the league and the freedman's bureau, protected by the bayonet, were voting to enfranchise themselves, disfranchise their former masters, ratify a new constitution, and elect a legislature to do their will. old aleck was a candidate for the house, chief poll-holder, and seemed to be in charge of the movements of the voters outside the booth as well as inside. he appeared to be omnipresent, and his self-importance was a sight phil had never dreamed. he could not keep his eyes off him. "by george, cameron, he's a wonder!" he laughed. aleck had suppressed as far as possible the story of the painted stakes and the deed, after sending out warnings to the brethren to beware of two enticing strangers. the surveyors had reaped a rich harvest and passed on. aleck made up his mind to go to columbia, make the laws himself, and never again trust a white man from the north or south. the agent of the freedman's bureau at piedmont tried to choke him off the ticket. the league backed him to a man. he could neither read nor write, but before he took to whiskey he had made a specialty of revival exhortation, and his mouth was the most effective thing about him. in this campaign he was an orator of no mean powers. he knew what he wanted, and he knew what his people wanted, and he put the thing in words so plain that a wayfaring man, though a fool, couldn't make any mistake about it. as he bustled past, forming a battalion of his brethren in line to march to the polls, phil followed his every movement with amused interest. besides being so bow-legged that his walk was a moving joke he was so striking a negro in his personal appearance, he seemed to the young northerner almost a distinct type of man. his head was small and seemed mashed on the sides until it bulged into a double lobe behind. even his ears, which he had pierced and hung with red earbobs, seemed to have been crushed flat to the side of his head. his kinked hair was wrapped in little hard rolls close to the skull and bound tightly with dirty thread. his receding forehead was high and indicated a cunning intelligence. his nose was broad and crushed flat against his face. his jaws were strong and angular, mouth wide, and lips thick, curling back from rows of solid teeth set obliquely in their blue gums. the one perfect thing about him was the size and setting of his mouth--he was a born african orator, undoubtedly descended from a long line of savage spell-binders, whose eloquence in the palaver houses of the jungle had made them native leaders. his thin spindle-shanks supported an oblong, protruding stomach, resembling an elderly monkey's, which seemed so heavy it swayed his back to carry it. the animal vivacity of his small eyes and the flexibility of his eyebrows, which he worked up and down rapidly with every change of countenance, expressed his eager desires. he had laid aside his new shoes, which hurt him, and went barefooted to facilitate his movements on the great occasion. his heels projected and his foot was so flat that what should have been the hollow of it made a hole in the dirt where he left his track. he was already mellow with liquor, and was dressed in an old army uniform and cap, with two horse pistols buckled around his waist. on a strap hanging from his shoulder were strung a half-dozen tin canteens filled with whiskey. a disturbance in the line of voters caused the young men to move forward to see what it meant. two negro troopers had pulled jake out of the line, and were dragging him toward old aleck. the election judge straightened himself up with great dignity: "what wuz de rapscallion doin'?" "in de line, tryin' ter vote." "fetch 'im befo' de judgment bar," said aleck, taking a drink from one of his canteens. the troopers brought jake before the judge. "tryin' ter vote, is yer?" "'lowed i would." "you hear 'bout de great sassieties de gubment's fomentin' in dis country?" "yas, i hear erbout 'em." "is yer er member er de union league?" "na-sah. i'd rudder steal by myself. i doan' lak too many in de party!" "en yer ain't er no'f ca'liny gemmen, is yer--yer ain't er member er de 'red strings?'" "na-sah, i come when i'se called--dey doan' hatter put er string on me--ner er block, ner er collar, ner er chain, ner er muzzle----" "will yer 'splain ter dis cote----" railed aleck. "what cote? dat ole army cote?" jake laughed in loud peals that rang over the square. aleck recovered his dignity and demanded angrily: "does yer belong ter de heroes ob americky?" "na-sah. i ain't burnt nobody's house ner barn yet, ner hamstrung no stock, ner waylaid nobody atter night--honey, i ain't fit ter jine. heroes ob americky! is you er hero?" "ef yer doan' b'long ter no s'iety," said aleck with judicial deliberation, "what is you?" "des er ole-fashun all-wool-en-er-yard-wide nigger dat stan's by his ole marster 'cause he's his bes' frien', stays at home, en tends ter his own business." "en yer pay no 'tenshun ter de orders i sent yer ter jine de league?" "na-sah. i ain't er takin' orders f'um er skeer-crow." aleck ignored his insolence, secure in his power. "you doan b'long ter no s'iety, what yer git in dat line ter vote for?" "ain't i er nigger?" "but yer ain't de right kin' er nigger. 'res' dat man fer 'sturbin' de peace." they put jake in jail, persuaded his wife to leave him, and expelled him from the baptist church, all within the week. as the troopers led jake to prison, a young negro apparently about fifteen years old approached aleck, holding in his hand one of the peddler's rat labels, which had gotten well distributed among the crowd. a group of negro boys followed him with these rat labels in their hands, studying them intently. "look at dis ticket, uncle aleck," said the leader. "mr. alexander lenoir, sah--is i yo' uncle, nigger?" the youth walled his eyes angrily. "den doan' you call me er nigger!" "who' yer talkin to, sah? you kin fling yer sass at white folks, but, honey, yuse er projeckin' wid death now!" "i ain't er nigger--i'se er gemman, i is," was the sullen answer. "how ole is you?" asked aleck in milder tones. "me mudder say sixteen--but de buro man say i'se twenty-one yistiddy, de day 'fo' 'lection." "is you voted to-day?" "yessah; vote in all de boxes 'cept'n dis one. look at dat ticket. is dat de straight ticket?" aleck, who couldn't read the twelve-inch letters of his favourite bar-room sign, took the rat label and examined it critically. "what ail it?" he asked at length. the boy pointed at the picture of the rat. "what dat rat doin', lyin' dar on his back, wid his heels cocked up in de air--'pear ter me lak a rat otter be standin' on his feet!" aleck reëxamined it carefully, and then smiled benignly on the youth. "de ignance er dese folks. what ud yer do widout er man lak me enjued wid de sperit en de power ter splain tings?" "you sho' got de sperits," said the boy impudently, touching a canteen. aleck ignored the remark and looked at the rat label smilingly. "ain't we er votin', ter-day, on de constertooshun what's ter take de ballot away f'um de white folks en gib all de power ter de cullud gemmen--i axes yer dat?" the boy stuck his thumbs under his arms and walled his eyes. "yessah!" "den dat means de ratification ob de constertooshun!" phil laughed, followed, and watched them fold their tickets, get in line, and vote the rat labels. ben turned toward a white man with gray beard, who stood watching the crowd. he was a pious member of the presbyterian church but his face didn't have a pious expression to-day. he had been refused the right to vote because he had aided the confederacy by nursing one of his wounded boys. he touched his hat politely to ben. "what do you think of it, colonel cameron?" he asked with a touch of scorn. "what's your opinion, mr. mcallister?" "well, colonel, i've been a member of the church for over forty years. i'm not a cussin' man--but there's a sight i never expected to live to see. i've been a faithful citizen of this state for fifty years. i can't vote, and a nigger is to be elected to-day to represent me in the legislature. neither you, colonel, nor your father are good enough to vote. every nigger in this county sixteen years old and up voted to-day--i ain't a cussing man, and i don't say it as a cuss word, but all i've got to say is, if there be such a thing as a d--d shame--that's it!" "mr. mcallister, the recording angel wouldn't have made a mark had you said it without the 'if.'" "god knows what this country's coming to--i don't," said the old man bitterly. "i'm afraid to let my wife and daughter go out of the house, or stay in it, without somebody with them." ben leaned closer and whispered, as phil approached: "come to my office to-night at ten o'clock; i want to see you on some important business." the old man seized his hand eagerly. "shall i bring the boys?" ben smiled. "no. i've seen them some time ago." chapter vii by the light of a torch on the night of the election mrs. lenoir gave a ball at the hotel in honour of marion's entrance into society. she was only in her sixteenth year, yet older than her mother when mistress of her own household. the only ambition the mother cherished was that she might win the love of an honest man and build for herself a beautiful home on the site of the cottage covered with trailing roses. in this home dream for marion she found a great sustaining joy to which nothing in the life of man answers. the ball had its political significance which the military martinet who commanded the post understood. it was the way the people of piedmont expressed to him and the world their contempt for the farce of an election he had conducted, and their indifference as to the result he would celebrate with many guns before midnight. the young people of the town were out in force. marion was a universal favourite. the grace, charm, and tender beauty of the southern girl of sixteen were combined in her with a gentle and unselfish disposition. amid poverty that was pitiful, unconscious of its limitations, her thoughts were always of others, and she was the one human being everybody had agreed to love. in the village in which she lived wealth counted for naught. she belonged to the aristocracy of poetry, beauty, and intrinsic worth, and her people knew no other. as she stood in the long dining-room, dressed in her first ball costume of white organdy and lace, the little plump shoulders peeping through its meshes, she was the picture of happiness. a half-dozen boys hung on every word as the utterance of an oracle. she waved gently an old ivory fan with white down on its edges in a way the charm of which is the secret birthright of every southern girl. now and then she glanced at the door for some one who had not yet appeared. phil paid his tribute to her with genuine feeling, and marion repaid him by whispering: "margaret's dressed to kill--all in soft azure blue--her rosy cheeks, black hair, and eyes never shone as they do to-night. she doesn't dance on account of her sunday-school--it's all for you." phil blushed and smiled. "the preacher won't be here?" "our rector will." "he's a nice old gentleman. i'm fond of him. miss marion, your mother is a genius. i hope she can plan these little affairs oftener." it was half-past ten o'clock when ben cameron entered the room with elsie a little ruffled at his delay over imaginary business at his office. ben answered her criticisms with a strange elation. she had felt a secret between them and resented it. at mrs. lenoir's special request, he had put on his full uniform of a confederate colonel in honour of marion and the poem her father had written of one of his gallant charges. he had not worn it since he fell that day in phil's arms. no one in the room had ever seen him in this colonel's uniform. its yellow sash with the gold fringe and tassels was faded and there were two bullet holes in the coat. a murmur of applause from the boys, sighs and exclamations from the girls swept the room as he took marion's hand, bowed and kissed it. her blue eyes danced and smiled on him with frank admiration. "ben, you're the handsomest thing i've ever seen!" she said softly. "thanks. i thought you had a mirror. i'll send you one," he answered, slipping his arm around her and gliding away to the strains of a waltz. the girl's hand trembled as she placed it on his shoulder, her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes had a wistful dreamy look in their depths. when ben rejoined elsie and they strolled on the lawn, the military commandant suddenly confronted them with a squad of soldiers. "i'll trouble you for those buttons and shoulder straps," said the captain. elsie's amber eyes began to spit fire. ben stood still and smiled. "what do you mean?" she asked. "that i will not be insulted by the wearing of this uniform to-day." "i dare you to touch it, coward, poltroon!" cried the girl, her plump little figure bristling in front of her lover. ben laid his hand on her arm and gently drew her back to his side: "he has the power to do this. it is a technical violation of law to wear them. i have surrendered. i am a gentleman and i have been a soldier. he can have his tribute. i've promised my father to offer no violence to the military authority of the united states." he stepped forward, and the officer cut the buttons from his coat and ripped the straps from his shoulders. while the performance was going on, ben quietly said: "general grant at appomattox, with the instincts of a great soldier, gave our men his spare horses and ordered that confederate officers retain their side-arms. the general is evidently not in touch with this force." "no: i'm in command in this county," said the captain. "evidently." when he had gone, elsie's eyes were dim. they strolled under the shadow of the great oak and stood in silence, listening to the music within and the distant murmur of the falls. "why is it, sweetheart, that a girl will persist in admiring brass buttons?" ben asked softly. she raised her lips to his for a kiss and answered: "because a soldier's business is to die for his country." as ben led her back into the ballroom and surrendered her to a friend for a dance, the first gun pealed its note of victory from the square in the celebration of the triumph of the african slave over his white master. ben strolled out in the street to hear the news. the constitution had been ratified by an enormous majority, and a legislature elected composed of negroes and white men. silas lynch had been elected lieutenant-governor, a negro secretary of state, a negro treasurer, and a negro justice of the supreme court. when bizzel, the wizzen-faced agent of the freedman's bureau, made this announcement from the courthouse steps, pandemonium broke lose. an incessant rattle of musketry began in which ball cartridges were used, the missiles whistling over the town in every direction. yet within half an hour the square was deserted and a strange quiet followed the storm. old aleck staggered by the hotel, his drunkenness having reached the religious stage. "behold, a curiosity, gentlemen," cried ben to a group of boys who had gathered, "a voter is come among us--in fact, he is the people, the king, our representative elect, the honourable alexander lenoir, of the county of ulster!" "gemmens, de lawd's bin good ter me," said aleck, weeping copiously. "they say the rat labels were in a majority in this precinct--how was that?" asked ben. "yessah--dat what de scornful say--dem dat sets in de seat o' de scornful, but de lawd er hosts he fetch 'em low. mistah bissel de buro man count all dem rat votes right, sah--dey couldn't fool him--he know what dey mean--he count 'em all for me an' de ratification." "sure-pop!" said ben; "if you can't ratify with a rat, i'd like to know why?" "dat's what i tells 'em, sah." "of course," said ben good-humouredly. "the voice of the people is the voice of god--rats or no rats--if you know how to count." as old aleck staggered away, the sudden crash of a volley of musketry echoed in the distance. "what's that?" asked ben, listening intently. the sound was unmistakable to a soldier's ear--that volley from a hundred rifles at a single word of command. it was followed by a shot on a hill in the distance, and then by a faint echo, farther still. ben listened a few moments and turned into the lawn of the hotel. the music suddenly stopped, the tramp of feet echoed on the porch, a woman screamed, and from the rear of the house came the cry: "fire! fire!" almost at the same moment an immense sheet of flame shot skyward from the big barn. "my god!" groaned ben. "jake's in jail to-night, and they've set the barn on fire. it's worth more than the house." the crowd rushed down the hill to the blazing building, marion's fleet figure in its flying white dress leading the crowd. the lowing of the cows and the wild neighing of the horses rang above the roar of the flames. before ben could reach the spot marion had opened every stall. two cows leaped out to safety, but not a horse would move from its stall, and each moment wilder and more pitiful grew their death cries. marion rushed to ben, her eyes dilated, her face as white as the dress she wore. "oh, ben, queen won't come out! what shall i do?" "you can do nothing, child. a horse won't come out of a burning stable unless he's blindfolded. they'll all be burned to death." "oh! no!" the girl cried in agony. "they'd trample you to death if you tried to get them out. it can't be helped. it's too late." as ben looked back at the gathering crowd, marion suddenly snatched a horse blanket, lying at the door, ran with the speed of a deer to the pond, plunged in, sprang out, and sped back to the open door of queen's stall, through which her shrill cry could be heard above the others. as the girl ran toward the burning building, her thin white dress clinging close to her exquisite form, she looked like the marble figure of a sylph by the hand of some great master into which god had suddenly breathed the breath of life. as they saw her purpose, a cry of horror rose from the crowd, her mother's scream loud above the rest. ben rushed to catch her, shouting: "marion! marion! she'll trample you to death!" he was too late. she leaped into the stall. the crowd held their breath. there was a moment of awful suspense, and the mare sprang through the open door with the little white figure clinging to her mane and holding the blanket over her head. a cheer rang above the roar of the flames. the girl did not loose her hold until her beautiful pet was led to a place of safety, while she clung to her neck and laughed and cried for joy. first her mother, then margaret, mrs. cameron, and elsie took her in their arms. as ben approached the group, elsie whispered to him: "kiss her!" ben took her hand, his eyes full of unshed tears, and said: "the bravest deed a woman ever did--you're a heroine, marion!" before she knew it he stooped and kissed her. she was very still for a moment, smiled, trembled from head to foot, blushed scarlet, took her mother by the hand, and without a word hurried to the house. poor becky was whining among the excited crowd and sought in vain for marion. at last she got margaret's attention, caught her dress in her teeth and led her to a corner of the lot, where she had laid side by side her puppies, smothered to death. she stood and looked at them with her tail drooping, the picture of despair. margaret burst into tears and called ben. he bent and put his arm around the setter's neck and stroked her head with his hand. looking at up his sister, he said: "don't tell marion of this. she can't stand any more to-night." the crowd had all dispersed, and the flames had died down for want of fuel. the odour of roasting flesh, pungent and acrid, still lingered a sharp reminder of the tragedy. ben stood on the back porch, talking in low tones to his father. "will you join us now, sir? we need the name and influence of men of your standing." "my boy, two wrongs never made a right. it's better to endure awhile. the sober commonsense of the nation will yet save us. we must appeal to it." "eight more fires were seen from town to-night." "you only guess their origin." "i know their origin. it was done by the league at a signal as a celebration of the election and a threat of terror to the county. one of our men concealed a faithful negro under the floor of the school-house and heard the plot hatched. we expected it a month ago--but hoped they had given it up." "even so, my boy, a secret society such as you have planned means a conspiracy that may bring exile or death. i hate lawlessness and disorder. we have had enough of it. your clan means ultimately martial law. at least we will get rid of these soldiers by this election. they have done their worst to me, but we may save others by patience." "it's the only way, sir. the next step will be a black hand on a white woman's throat!" the doctor frowned. "let us hope for the best. your clan is the last act of desperation." "but if everything else fail, and this creeping horror becomes a fact--then what?" "my boy, we will pray that god may never let us live to see the day!" [illustration: the black masters of the south during reconstruction.] chapter viii the riot in the master's hall alarmed at the possible growth of the secret clan into which ben had urged him to enter, dr. cameron determined to press for relief from oppression by an open appeal to the conscience of the nation. he called a meeting of conservative leaders in a taxpayers' convention at columbia. his position as leader had been made supreme by the indignities he had suffered, and he felt sure of his ability to accomplish results. every county in the state was represented by its best men in this gathering at the capitol. the day he undertook to present his memorial to the legislature was one he never forgot. the streets were crowded with negroes who had come to town to hear lynch, the lieutenant-governor, speak in a mass-meeting. negro policemen swung their clubs in his face as he pressed through the insolent throng up the street to the stately marble capitol. at the door a black, greasy trooper stopped him to parley. every decently dressed white man was regarded a spy. as he passed inside the doors of the house of representatives the rush of foul air staggered him. the reek of vile cigars and stale whiskey, mingled with the odour of perspiring negroes, was overwhelming. he paused and gasped for breath. the space behind the seats of the members was strewn with corks, broken glass, stale crusts, greasy pieces of paper, and picked bones. the hall was packed with negroes, smoking, chewing, jabbering, pushing, perspiring. a carpet-bagger at his elbow was explaining to an old darkey from down east why his forty acres and a mule hadn't come. on the other side of him a big negro bawled: "dat's all right! de cullud man on top!" the doctor surveyed the hall in dismay. at first not a white member was visible. the galleries were packed with negroes. the speaker presiding was a negro, the clerk a negro, the doorkeepers negroes, the little pages all coal-black negroes, the chaplain a negro. the negro party consisted of one hundred and one--ninety-four blacks and seven scallawags, who claimed to be white. the remains of aryan civilization were represented by twenty-three white men from the scotch-irish hill counties. the doctor had served three terms as the member from ulster in this hall in the old days, and its appearance now was beyond any conceivable depth of degradation. the ninety-four africans, constituting almost its solid membership, were a motley crew. every negro type was there, from the genteel butler to the clodhopper from the cotton and rice fields. some had on second-hand seedy frock-coats their old master had given them before the war, glossy and threadbare. old stovepipe hats, of every style in vogue since noah came out of the ark, were placed conspicuously on the desks or cocked on the backs of the heads of the honourable members. some wore the coarse clothes of the field, stained with red mud. old aleck, he noted, had a red woollen comforter wound round his neck in place of a shirt or collar. he had tried to go barefooted, but the speaker had issued a rule that members should come shod. he was easing his feet by placing his brogans under the desk, wearing only his red socks. each member had his name painted in enormous gold letters on his desk, and had placed beside it a sixty-dollar french imported spittoon. even the congress of the united states, under the inspiration of oakes ames and speaker colfax, could only afford one of domestic make, which cost a dollar. the uproar was deafening. from four to six negroes were trying to speak at the same time. aleck's majestic mouth with blue gums and projecting teeth led the chorus as he ambled down the aisle, his bow-legs flying their red-sock ensigns. the speaker singled him out--his voice was something which simply could not be ignored--rapped and yelled: "de gemman from ulster set down!" aleck turned crestfallen and resumed his seat, throwing his big flat feet in their red woollens up on his desk and hiding his face behind their enormous spread. he had barely settled in his chair before a new idea flashed through his head and up he jumped again: "mistah speaker!" he bawled. "orda da!" yelled another. "knock 'im in de head!" "seddown, nigger!" the speaker pointed his gavel at aleck and threatened him laughingly: "ef de gemman from ulster doan set down i gwine call 'im ter orda!" uncle aleck greeted this threat with a wild guffaw, which the whole house about him joined in heartily. they laughed like so many hens cackling--when one started the others would follow. the most of them were munching peanuts, and the crush of hulls under heavy feet added a subnote to the confusion like the crackle of a prairie fire. the ambition of each negro seemed to be to speak at least a half-dozen times on each question, saying the same thing every time. no man was allowed to talk five minutes without an interruption which brought on another and another until the speaker was drowned in a storm of contending yells. their struggles to get the floor with bawlings, bellowings, and contortions, and the senseless rap of the speaker's gavel, were something appalling. on this scene, through fetid smoke and animal roar, looked down from the walls, in marble bas-relief, the still white faces of robert hayne and george mcduffie, through whose veins flowed the blood of scottish kings, while over it brooded in solemn wonder the face of john laurens, whose diplomatic genius at the court of france won millions of gold for our tottering cause, and sent a french fleet and army into the chesapeake to entrap cornwallis at yorktown. the little group of twenty-three white men, the descendants of these spirits, to whom dr. cameron had brought his memorial, presented a pathetic spectacle. most of them were old men, who sat in grim silence with nothing to do or say as they watched the rising black tide, their dignity, reserve, and decorum at once the wonder and the shame of the modern world. at least they knew that the minstrel farce being enacted on that floor was a tragedy as deep and dark as was ever woven of the blood and tears of a conquered people. beneath those loud guffaws they could hear the death rattle in the throat of their beloved state, barbarism strangling civilization by brute force. for all the stupid uproar, the black leaders of this mob knew what they wanted. one of them was speaking now, the leader of the house, the honourable napoleon whipper. dr. cameron had taken his seat in the little group of white members in one corner of the chamber, beside an old friend from an adjoining county whom he had known in better days. "now listen," said his friend. "when whipper talks he always says something." "mr. speaker, i move you, sir, in view of the arduous duties which our presiding officer has performed this week for the state, that he be allowed one thousand dollars extra pay." the motion was put without debate and carried. the speaker then called whipper to the chair and made the same motion, to give the leader of the house an extra thousand dollars for the performance of his heavy duties. it was carried. "what does that mean?" asked the doctor. "very simple; whipper and the speaker adjourned the house yesterday afternoon to attend a horse race. they lost a thousand dollars each betting on the wrong horse. they are recuperating after the strain. they are booked for judges of the supreme court when they finish this job. the negro mass-meeting to-night is to indorse their names for the supreme bench." "is it possible!" the doctor exclaimed. when whipper resumed his place at his desk, the introduction of bills began. one after another were sent to the speaker's desk, a measure to disarm the whites and equip with modern rifles a negro militia of , men; to make the uniform of confederate gray the garb of convicts in south carolina, with a sign of the rank to signify the degree of crime; to prevent any person calling another a "nigger"; to require men to remove their hats in the presence of all officers, civil or military, and all disfranchised men to remove their hats in the presence of voters; to force black and whites to attend the same schools and open the state university to negroes; to permit the intermarriage of whites and blacks; and to inforce social equality. whipper made a brief speech on the last measure: "before i am through, i mean that it shall be known that napoleon whipper is as good as any man in south carolina. don't tell me that i am not on an equality with any man god ever made." dr. cameron turned pale, and trembling with excitement, asked his friend: "can that man pass such measures, and the governor sign them?" "he can pass anything he wishes. the governor is his creature--a dirty little scallawag who tore the union flag from fort sumter, trampled it in the dust, and helped raise the flag of confederacy over it. now he is backed by the government at washington. he won his election by dancing at negro balls and the purchase of delegates. his salary as governor is $ , a year, and he spends over $ , . comment is unnecessary. this legislature has stolen millions of dollars, and already bankrupted the treasury. the day howle was elected to the senate of the united states every negro on the floor had his roll of bills and some of them counted it out on their desks. in your day the annual cost of the state government was $ , . this year it is $ , , . these thieves steal daily. they don't deny it. they simply dare you to prove it. the writing paper on the desks cost $ , . these clocks on the wall $ each, and every little radical newspaper in the state has been subsidized in sums varying from $ , to $ , . each member is allowed to draw for mileage, per diem, and 'sundries.' god only knows what the bill for 'sundries' will aggregate by the end of the session." "i couldn't conceive of this!" exclaimed the doctor. "i've only given you a hint. we are a conquered race. the iron hand of fate is on us. we can only wait for the shadows to deepen into night. president grant appears to be a babe in the woods. schuyler colfax, the vice-president, and belknap, the secretary of war, are in the saddle in washington. i hear things are happening there that are quite interesting. besides, congress now can give little relief. the real lawmaking power in america is the state legislature. the state lawmaker enters into the holy of holies of our daily life. once more we are a sovereign state--a sovereign negro state." "i fear my mission is futile," said the doctor. "it's ridiculous--i'll call for you to-night and take you to hear lynch, our lieutenant-governor. he is a remarkable man. our negro supreme court judge will preside--" uncle aleck, who had suddenly spied dr. cameron, broke in with a laughing welcome: "i 'clar ter goodness, dr. cammun, i didn't know you wuz here, sah. i sho' glad ter see you. i axes yer ter come across de street ter my room; i got sumfin' pow'ful pertickler ter say ter you." the doctor followed aleck out of the hall and across the street to his room in a little boarding-house. his door was locked, and the windows darkened by blinds. instead of opening the blinds he lighted a lamp. "ob cose, dr. cammun, you say nuffin 'bout what i gwine tell you?" "certainly not, aleck." the room was full of drygoods boxes. the space under the bed was packed, and they were piled to the ceiling around the walls. "why, what's all this, aleck?" the member from ulster chuckled: "dr. cammun, yu'se been er pow'ful frien' ter me--gimme medicine lots er times, en i hain't nebber paid you nuttin'. i'se sho' come inter de kingdom now, en i wants ter pay my respects ter you, sah. des look ober dat paper, en mark what you wants, en i hab 'em sont home fur you." the member from ulster handed his physician a printed list of more than five hundred articles of merchandise. the doctor read it over with amazement. "i don't understand it, aleck. do you own a store?" "na-sah, but we git all we wants fum mos' eny ob 'em. dem's 'sundries,' sah, dat de gubment gibs de members. we des orda what we needs. no trouble 'tall, sah. de men what got de goods come roun' en beg us ter take 'em." the doctor smiled in spite of the tragedy back of the joke. "let's see some of the goods, aleck--are they first class?" "yessah; de bes' goin'. i show you." he pulled out a number of boxes and bundles, exhibiting carpets, door mats, hassocks, dog collars, cow bells, oilcloths, velvets, mosquito nets, damask, irish linen, billiard outfits, towels, blankets, flannels, quilts, women's hoods, hats, ribbons, pins, needles, scissors, dumb bells, skates, crape skirt braids, tooth brushes, face powder, hooks and eyes, skirts, bustles, chignons, garters, artificial busts, chemises, parasols, watches, jewellery, diamond earrings, ivory-handled knives and forks, pistols and guns, and a webster's dictionary. "got lots mo' in dem boxes nailed up dar--yessah, hit's no use er lettin' good tings go by yer when you kin des put out yer han' en stop 'em! some er de members ordered horses en carriages, but i tuk er par er fine mules wid harness en two buggies an er wagin. dey 'roun at de libry stable, sah." the doctor thanked aleck for his friendly feeling, but told him it was, of course, impossible for him at this time, being only a taxpayer and neither a voter nor a member of the legislature, to share in his supply of "sundries." he went to the warehouse that night with his friend to hear lynch, wondering if his mind were capable of receiving another shock. this meeting had been called to indorse the candidacy, for justice of the supreme court, of napoleon whipper, the leader of the house, the notorious negro thief and gambler, and of william pitt moses, an ex-convict, his confederate in crime. they had been unanimously chosen for the positions by a secret caucus of the ninety-four negro members of the house. this addition to the court, with the negro already a member, would give a majority to the black man on the last tribunal of appeal. the few white men of the party who had any sense of decency were in open revolt at this atrocity. but their influence was on the wane. the carpet-bagger shaped the first convention and got the first plums of office. now the negro was in the saddle, and he meant to stay. there were not enough white men in the legislature to force a roll-call on a division of the house. this meeting was an open defiance of all pale-faces inside or outside party lines. every inch of space in the big cotton warehouse was jammed--a black living cloud, pungent and piercing. the distinguished lieutenant-governor, silas lynch, had not yet arrived, but the negro justice of the supreme court, pinchback, was in his seat as the presiding officer. dr. cameron watched the movements of the black judge, already notorious for the sale of his opinions, with a sense of sickening horror. this man was but yesterday a slave, his father a medicine man in an african jungle who decided the guilt or innocence of the accused by the test of administering poison. if the poison killed the man, he was guilty; if he survived, he was innocent. for four thousand years his land had stood a solid bulwark of unbroken barbarism. out of its darkness he had been thrust upon the seat of judgment of the laws of the proudest and highest type of man evolved in time. it seemed a hideous dream. his thoughts were interrupted by a shout. it came spontaneous and tremendous in its genuine feeling. the magnificent figure of lynch, their idol, appeared walking down the aisle escorted by the little scallawag who was the governor. he took his seat on the platform with the easy assurance of conscious power. his broad shoulders, superb head, and gleaming jungle eyes held every man in the audience before he had spoken a word. in the first masterful tones of his voice the doctor's keen intelligence caught the ring of his savage metal and felt the shock of his powerful personality--a personality which had thrown to the winds every mask, whose sole aim of life was sensual, whose only fears were of physical pain and death, who could worship a snake and sacrifice a human being. his playful introduction showed him a child of mystery, moved by voices and inspired by a fetish. his face was full of good humour, and his whole figure rippled with sleek animal vivacity. for the moment, life was a comedy and a masquerade teeming with whims, fancies, ecstasies and superstitions. he held the surging crowd in the hollow of his hand. they yelled, laughed, howled, or wept as he willed. now he painted in burning words the imaginary horrors of slavery until the tears rolled down his cheeks and he wept at the sound of his own voice. every dusky hearer burst into tears and moans. he stopped, suddenly brushed the tears from his eyes, sprang to the edge of the platform, threw both arms above his head and shouted: "hosannah to the lord god almighty for emancipation!" instantly five thousand negroes, as one man, were on their feet, shouting and screaming. their shouts rose in unison, swelled into a thunder peal, and died away as one voice. dead silence followed, and every eye was again riveted on lynch. for two hours the doctor sat transfixed, listening and watching him sway the vast audience with hypnotic power. there was not one note of hesitation or of doubt. it was the challenge of race against race to mortal combat. his closing words again swept every negro from his seat and melted every voice into a single frenzied shout: "within five years," he cried, "the intelligence and the wealth of this mighty state will be transferred to the negro race. lift up your heads. the world is yours. take it. here and now i serve notice on every white man who breathes that i am as good as he is. i demand, and i am going to have, the privilege of going to see him in his house or his hotel, eating with him and sleeping with him, and when i see fit, to take his daughter in marriage!" as the doctor emerged from the stifling crowd with his friend, he drew a deep breath of fresh air, took from his pocket his conservative memorial, picked it into little bits, and scattered them along the street as he walked in silence back to his hotel. chapter ix at lover's leap in spite of the pitiful collapse of old stoneman under his stroke of paralysis, his children still saw the unconquered soul shining in his colourless eyes. they had both been on the point of confessing their love affairs to him and joining in the inevitable struggle when he was stricken. they knew only too well that he would not consent to a dual alliance with the camerons under the conditions of fierce hatreds and violence into which the state had drifted. they were too high-minded to consider a violation of his wishes while thus helpless, with his strange eyes following them about in childlike eagerness. his weakness was mightier than his iron will. so, for eighteen months, while he slowly groped out of mental twilight, each had waited--elsie with a tender faith struggling with despair, and phil in a torture of uncertainty and fear. in the meantime, the young northerner had become as radical in his sympathies with the southern people as his father had ever been against them. this power of assimilation has always been a mark of southern genius. the sight of the black hand on their throats now roused his righteous indignation. the patience with which they endured was to him amazing. the southerner he had found to be the last man on earth to become a revolutionist. all his traits were against it. his genius for command, the deep sense of duty and honour, his hospitality, his deathless love of home, his supreme constancy and sense of civic unity, all combined to make him ultraconservative. he began now to see that it was reverence for authority as expressed in the constitution under which slavery was established which made secession inevitable. besides, the laziness and incapacity of the negro had been more than he could endure. with no ties of tradition or habits of life to bind him, he simply refused to tolerate them. in this feeling elsie had grown early to sympathize. she discharged aunt cindy for feeding her children from the kitchen, and brought a cook and house girl from the north, while phil would employ only white men in any capacity. in the desolation of negro rule the cameron farm had become worthless. the taxes had more than absorbed the income, and the place was only kept from execution by the indomitable energy of mrs. cameron, who made the hotel pay enough to carry the interest on a mortgage which was increasing from season to season. the doctor's practice was with him a divine calling. he never sent bills to his patients. they paid something if they had it. now they had nothing. ben's law practice was large for his age and experience, but his clients had no money. while the camerons were growing each day poorer, phil was becoming rich. his genius, skill, and enterprise had been quick to see the possibilities of the waterpower. the old eagle cotton mills had been burned during the war. phil organized the eagle & phoenix company, interested northern capitalists, bought the falls, and erected two great mills, the dim hum of whose spindles added a new note to the river's music. eager, swift, modest, his head full of ideas, his heart full of faith, he had pressed forward to success. as the old commoner's mind began to clear, and his recovery was sure, phil determined to press his suit for margaret's hand to an issue. ben had dropped a hint of an interview of the rev. hugh mcalpin with dr. cameron, which had thrown phil into a cold sweat. he hurried to the hotel to ask margaret to drive with him that afternoon. he would stop at lover's leap and settle the question. he met the preacher, just emerging from the door, calm, handsome, serious, and margaret by his side. the dark-haired beauty seemed strangely serene. what could it mean? his heart was in his throat. was he too late? wreathed in smiles when the preacher had gone, the girl's face was a riddle he could not solve. to his joy, she consented to go. as he left in his trim little buggy for the hotel, he stooped and kissed elsie, whispering: "make an offering on the altar of love for me, sis!" "you're too slow. the prayers of all the saints will not save you!" she replied with a laugh, throwing him a kiss as he disappeared in the dust. as they drove through the great forest on the cliffs overlooking the river, the southern world seemed lit with new splendours to-day for the northerner. his heart beat with a strange courage. the odour of the pines, their sighing music, the subtone of the falls below, the subtle life-giving perfume of the fullness of summer, the splendour of the sun gleaming through the deep foliage, and the sweet sensuous air, all seemed incarnate in the calm, lovely face and gracious figure beside him. they took their seat on the old rustic built against the beech, which was the last tree on the brink of the cliff. a hundred feet below flowed the river, rippling softly along a narrow strip of sand which its current had thrown against the rocks. the ledge of towering granite formed a cave eighty feet in depth at the water's edge. from this projecting wall, tradition said a young indian princess once leaped with her lover, fleeing from the wrath of a cruel father who had separated them. the cave below was inaccessible from above, being reached by a narrow footpath along the river's edge when entered a mile downstream. the view from the seat, under the beech, was one of marvellous beauty. for miles the broad river rolled in calm, shining glory seaward, its banks fringed with cane and trees, while fields of corn and cotton spread in waving green toward the distant hills and blue mountains of the west. every tree on this cliff was cut with the initials of generations of lovers from piedmont. they sat in silence for awhile, margaret idly playing with a flower she had picked by the pathway, and phil watching her devoutly. the southern sun had tinged her face the reddish warm hue of ripened fruit, doubly radiant by contrast with her wealth of dark-brown hair. the lustrous glance of her eyes, half veiled by their long lashes, and the graceful, careless pose of her stately figure held him enraptured. her dress of airy, azure blue, so becoming to her dark beauty, gave phil the impression of eiderdown feathers of some rare bird of the tropics. he felt that if he dared to touch her she might lift her wings and sail over the cliff into the sky and forget to light again at his side. "i am going to ask a very bold and impertinent question, miss margaret," phil said with resolution. "may i?" margaret smiled incredulously. "i'll risk your impertinence, and decide as to its boldness." "tell me, please, what that preacher said to you to-day." margaret looked away, unable to suppress the merriment that played about her eyes and mouth. "will you never breathe it to a soul if i do?" "never." "honest injun, here on the sacred altar of the princess?" "on my honour." "then i'll tell you," she said, biting her lips to keep back a laugh. "mr. mcalpin is very handsome and eloquent. i have always thought him the best preacher we have ever had in piedmont----" "yes, i know," phil interrupted with a frown. "he is very pious," she went on evenly, "and seeks divine guidance in prayer in everything he does. he called this morning to see me, and i was playing for him in the little music-room off the parlour, when he suddenly closed the door and said: "'miss margaret, i am going to take, this morning, the most important step of my life----' "of course i hadn't the remotest idea what he meant---- "'will you join me in a word of prayer?' he asked, and knelt right down. i was accustomed, of course, to kneel with him in family worship at his pastoral calls, and so from habit i slipped to one knee by the piano stool, wondering what on earth he was about. when he prayed with fervour for the lord to bless the great love with which he hoped to hallow my life--i giggled. it broke up the meeting. he rose and asked me to marry him. i told him the lord hadn't revealed it to me----" phil seized her hand and held it firmly. the smile died from the girl's face, her hand trembled, and the rose tint on her cheeks flamed to scarlet. "margaret, my own, i love you," he cried with joy. "you could have told that story only to the one man whom you love--is it not true?" "yes. i've loved you always," said the low, sweet voice. "always?" asked phil through a tear. "before i saw you, when they told me you were as ben's twin brother, my heart began to sing at the sound of your name----" "call it," he whispered. "phil, my sweetheart!" she said with a laugh. "how tender and homelike the music of your voice! the world has never seen the match of your gracious southern womanhood! snowbound in the north, i dreamed, as a child, of this world of eternal sunshine. and now every memory and dream i've found in you." "and you won't be disappointed in my simple ideal that finds its all within a home?" "no. i love the old-fashioned dream of the south. maybe you have enchanted me, but i love these green hills and mountains, these rivers musical with cascade and fall, these solemn forests--but for the black curse, the south would be to-day the garden of the world!" "and you will help our people lift this curse?" softly asked the girl, nestling closer to his side. "yes, dearest, thy people shall be mine! had i a thousand wrongs to cherish, i'd forgive them all for your sake. i'll help you build here a new south on all that's good and noble in the old, until its dead fields blossom again, its harbours bristle with ships, and the hum of a thousand industries make music in every valley. i'd sing to you in burning verse if i could, but it is not my way. i have been awkward and slow in love, perhaps--but i'll be swift in your service. i dream to make dead stones and wood live and breathe for you, of victories wrung from nature that are yours. my poems will be deeds, my flowers the hard-earned wealth that has a soul, which i shall lay at your feet." "who said my lover was dumb?" she sighed, with a twinkle in her shining eyes. "you must introduce me to your father soon. he must like me as my father does you, or our dream can never come true." a pain gripped phil's heart, but he answered bravely: "i will. he can't help loving you." they stood on the rustic seat to carve their initials within a circle, high on the old beechwood book of love. "may i write it out in full--margaret cameron--philip stoneman?" he asked. "no--only the initials now--the full names when you've seen my father and i've seen yours. jeannie campbell and henry lenoir were once written thus in full, and many a lover has looked at that circle and prayed for happiness like theirs. you can see there a new one cut over the old, the bark has filled, and written on the fresh page is 'marion lenoir' with the blank below for her lover's name." phil looked at the freshly cut circle and laughed: "i wonder if marion or her mother did that?" "her mother, of course." "i wonder whose will be the lucky name some day within it?" said phil musingly as he finished his own. chapter x a night hawk when the old commoner's private physician had gone and his mind had fully cleared, he would sit for hours in the sunshine of the vine-clad porch, asking elsie of the village, its life, and its people. he smiled good-naturedly at her eager sympathy for their sufferings as at the enthusiasm of a child who could not understand. he had come possessed by a great idea--events must submit to it. her assurance that the poverty and losses of the people were far in excess of the worst they had known during the war was too absurd even to secure his attention. he had refused to know any of the people, ignoring the existence of elsie's callers. but he had fallen in love with marion from the moment he had seen her. the cold eye of the old fox hunter kindled with the fire of his forgotten youth at the sight of this beautiful girl seated on the glistening back of the mare she had saved from death. as she rode through the village every boy lifted his hat as to passing royalty, and no one, old or young, could allow her to pass without a cry of admiration. her exquisite figure had developed into the full tropic splendour of southern girlhood. she had rejected three proposals from ardent lovers, on one of whom her mother had quite set her heart. a great fear had grown in mrs. lenoir's mind lest she were in love with ben cameron. she slipped her arm around her one day and timidly asked her. a faint flush tinged marion's face up to the roots of her delicate blonde hair, and she answered with a quick laugh: "mamma, how silly you are! you know i've always been in love with ben--since i can first remember. i know he is in love with elsie stoneman. i am too young, the world too beautiful, and life too sweet to grieve over my first baby love. i expect to dance with him at his wedding, then meet my fate and build my own nest." old stoneman begged that she come every day to see him. he never tired praising her to elsie. as she walked gracefully up to the house one afternoon, holding hugh by the hand, he said to elsie: "next to you, my dear, she is the most charming creature i ever saw. her tenderness for everything that needs help touches the heart of an old lame man in a very soft spot." "i've never seen any one who could resist her," elsie answered. "her gloves may be worn, her feet clad in old shoes, yet she is always neat, graceful, dainty, and serene. no wonder her mother worships her." sam ross, her simple friend, had stopped at the gate, and looked over into the lawn as if afraid to come in. when marion saw sam, she turned back to the gate to invite him in. the keeper of the poor, a vicious-looking negro, suddenly confronted him, and he shrank in terror close to the girl's side. "what you doin' here, sah?" the black keeper railed. "ain't i done tole you 'bout runnin' away?" "you let him alone," marion cried. the negro pushed her roughly from his side and knocked sam down. the girl screamed for help, and old stoneman hobbled down the steps, following elsie. when they reached the gate, marion was bending over the prostrate form. "oh, my, my, i believe he's killed him!" she wailed. "run for the doctor, sonny, quick," stoneman said to hugh. the boy darted away and brought dr. cameron. "how dare you strike that man, you devil?" thundered the old statesman. "'case i tole 'im ter stay home en do de wuk i put 'im at, en he all de time runnin' off here ter git somfin' ter eat. i gwine frail de life outen 'im, ef he doan min' me." "well, you make tracks back to the poorhouse. i'll attend to this man, and i'll have you arrested for this before night," said stoneman, with a scowl. the black keeper laughed as he left. "not 'less you'se er bigger man dan gubner silas lynch, you won't!" when dr. cameron had restored sam, and dressed the wound on his head where he had struck a stone in falling, stoneman insisted that the boy be put to bed. turning to dr. cameron, he asked: "why should they put a brute like this in charge of the poor?" "that's a large question, sir, at this time," said the doctor politely, "and now that you have asked it, i have some things i've been longing for an opportunity to say to you." "be seated, sir," the old commoner answered, "i shall be glad to hear them." elsie's heart leaped with joy over the possible outcome of this appeal, and she left the room with a smile for the doctor. "first, allow me," said the southerner pleasantly, "to express my sorrow at your long illness, and my pleasure at seeing you so well. your children have won the love of all our people and have had our deepest sympathy in your illness." stoneman muttered an inaudible reply, and the doctor went on: "your question brings up, at once, the problem of the misery and degradation into which our country has sunk under negro rule----" stoneman smiled coldly and interrupted: "of course, you understand my position in politics, doctor cameron--i am a radical republican." "so much the better," was the response. "i have been longing for months to get your ear. your word will be all the more powerful if raised in our behalf. the negro is the master of our state, county, city, and town governments. every school, college, hospital, asylum, and poorhouse is his prey. what you have seen is but a sample. negro insolence grows beyond endurance. their women are taught to insult their old mistresses and mock their poverty as they pass in their old, faded dresses. yesterday a black driver struck a white child of six with his whip, and when the mother protested, she was arrested by a negro policeman, taken before a negro magistrate, and fined $ for 'insulting a freedman.'" stoneman frowned: "such things must be very exceptional." "they are everyday occurrences and cease to excite comment. lynch, the lieutenant-governor, who has bought a summer home here, is urging this campaign of insult with deliberate purpose----" the old man shook his head. "i can't think the lieutenant-governor guilty of such petty villainy." "our school commissioner," the doctor continued, "is a negro who can neither read nor write. the black grand jury last week discharged a negro for stealing cattle and indicted the owner for false imprisonment. no such rate of taxation was ever imposed on a civilized people. a tithe of it cost great britain her colonies. there are , homes in this county-- , of them are advertised for sale by the sheriff to meet his tax bills. this house will be sold next court day----" stoneman looked up sharply. "sold for taxes?" "yes; with the farm which has always been mrs. lenoir's support. in part her loss came from the cotton tax. congress, in addition to the desolation of war, and the ruin of black rule, has wrung from the cotton farmers of the south a tax of $ , , . every dollar of this money bears the stain of the blood of starving people. they are ready to give up, or to spring some desperate scheme of resistance----" the old man lifted his massive head and his great jaws came together with a snap: "resistance to the authority of the national government?" "no; resistance to the travesty of government and the mockery of civilization under which we are being throttled! the bayonet is now in the hands of a brutal negro militia. the tyranny of military martinets was child's play to this. as i answered your call this morning i was stopped and turned back in the street by the drill of a company of negroes under the command of a vicious scoundrel named gus who was my former slave. he is the captain of this company. eighty thousand armed negro troops, answerable to no authority save the savage instincts of their officers, terrorize the state. every white company has been disarmed and disbanded by our scallawag governor. i tell you, sir, we are walking on the crust of a volcano----" old stoneman scowled as the doctor rose and walked nervously to the window and back. "an appeal from you to the conscience of the north might save us," he went on eagerly. "black hordes of former slaves, with the intelligence of children and the instincts of savages, armed with modern rifles, parade daily in front of their unarmed former masters. a white man has no right a negro need respect. the children of the breed of men who speak the tongue of burns and shakespeare, drake and raleigh, have been disarmed and made subject to the black spawn of an african jungle! can human flesh endure it? when goth and vandal barbarians overran rome, the negro was the slave of the roman empire. the savages of the north blew out the light of ancient civilization, but in all the dark ages which followed they never dreamed the leprous infamy of raising a black slave to rule over his former master! no people in the history of the world have ever before been so basely betrayed, so wantonly humiliated and degraded!" stoneman lifted his head in amazement at the burst of passionate intensity with which the southerner poured out his protest. "for a russian to rule a pole," he went on, "a turk to rule a greek, or an austrian to dominate an italian is hard enough, but for a thick-lipped, flat-nosed, spindle-shanked negro, exuding his nauseating animal odour, to shout in derision over the hearths and homes of white men and women is an atrocity too monstrous for belief. our people are yet dazed by its horror. my god! when they realize its meaning, whose arm will be strong enough to hold them?" "i should think the south was sufficiently amused with resistance to authority," interrupted stoneman. "even so. yet there is a moral force at the bottom of every living race of men. the sense of right, the feeling of racial destiny--these are unconquered and unconquerable forces. every man in south carolina to-day is glad that slavery is dead. the war was not too great a price for us to pay for the lifting of its curse. and now to ask a southerner to be the slave of a slave----" "and yet, doctor," said stoneman coolly, "manhood suffrage is the one eternal thing fixed in the nature of democracy. it is inevitable." "at the price of racial life? never!" said the southerner, with fiery emphasis. "this republic is great, not by reason of the amount of dirt we possess, the size of our census roll, or our voting register--we are great because of the genius of the race of pioneer white freemen who settled this continent, dared the might of kings, and made a wilderness the home of freedom. our future depends on the purity of this racial stock. the grant of the ballot to these millions of semi-savages and the riot of debauchery which has followed are crimes against human progress." "yet may we not train him?" asked stoneman. "to a point, yes, and then sink to his level if you walk as his equal in physical contact with him. his race is not an infant; it is a degenerate--older than yours in time. at last we are face to face with the man whom slavery concealed with its rags. suffrage is but the new paper cloak with which the demagogue has sought to hide the issue. can we assimilate the negro? the very question is pollution. in hayti no white man can own land. black dukes and marquises drive over them and swear at them for getting under their wheels. is civilization a patent cloak with which law-tinkers can wrap an animal and make him a king?" "but the negro must be protected by the ballot," protested the statesman. "the humblest man must have the opportunity to rise. the real issue is democracy." "the issue, sir, is civilization! not whether a negro shall be protected, but whether society is worth saving from barbarism." "the statesman can educate," put in the commoner. the doctor cleared his throat with a quick little nervous cough he was in the habit of giving when deeply moved. "education, sir, is the development of that which _is_. since the dawn of history the negro has owned the continent of africa--rich beyond the dream of poet's fancy, crunching acres of diamonds beneath his bare black feet. yet he never picked one up from the dust until a white man showed to him its glittering light. his land swarmed with powerful and docile animals, yet he never dreamed a harness, cart, or sled. a hunter by necessity, he never made an axe, spear, or arrowhead worth preserving beyond the moment of its use. he lived as an ox, content to graze for an hour. in a land of stone and timber he never sawed a foot of lumber, carved a block, or built a house save of broken sticks and mud. with league on league of ocean strand and miles of inland seas, for four thousand years he watched their surface ripple under the wind, heard the thunder of the surf on his beach, the howl of the storm over his head, gazed on the dim blue horizon calling him to worlds that lie beyond, and yet he never dreamed a sail! he lived as his fathers lived--stole his food, worked his wife, sold his children, ate his brother, content to drink, sing, dance, and sport as the ape! "and this creature, half child, half animal, the sport of impulse, whim, and conceit, 'pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw,' a being who, left to his will, roams at night and sleeps in the day, whose speech knows no word of love, whose passions, once aroused, are as the fury of the tiger--they have set this thing to rule over the southern people----" the doctor sprang to his feet, his face livid, his eyes blazing with emotion. "merciful god--it surpasses human belief!" he sank exhausted in his chair, and, extending his hand in an eloquent gesture, continued: "surely, surely, sir, the people of the north are not mad? we can yet appeal to the conscience and the brain of our brethren of a common race?" stoneman was silent as if stunned. deep down in his strange soul he was drunk with the joy of a triumphant vengeance he had carried locked in the depths of his being, yet the intensity of this man's suffering for a people's cause surprised and distressed him as all individual pain hurt him. dr. cameron rose, stung by his silence and the consciousness of the hostility with which stoneman had wrapped himself. "pardon my apparent rudeness, doctor," he said at length, extending his hand. "the violence of your feeling stunned me for the moment. i'm obliged to you for speaking. i like a plain-spoken man. i am sorry to learn of the stupidity of the former military commandant in this town----" "my personal wrongs, sir," the doctor broke in, "are nothing!" "i am sorry, too, about these individual cases of suffering. they are the necessary incidents of a great upheaval. but may it not all come out right in the end? after the dark ages, day broke at last. we have the printing press, railroad, and telegraph--a revolution in human affairs. we may do in years what it took ages to do in the past. may not the black man speedily emerge? who knows? an appeal to the north will be a waste of breath. this experiment is going to be made. it is written in the book of fate. but i like you. come to see me again." dr. cameron left with a heavy heart. he had grown a great hope in this long-wished-for appeal to stoneman. it had come to his ears that the old man, who had dwelt as one dead in their village, was a power. it was ten o'clock before the doctor walked slowly back to the hotel. as he passed the armoury of the black militia, they were still drilling under the command of gus. the windows were open, through which came the steady tramp of heavy feet and the cry of "hep! hep! hep!" from the captain's thick cracked lips. the full-dress officer's uniform, with its gold epaulets, yellow stripes, and glistening sword, only accentuated the coarse bestiality of gus. his huge jaws seemed to hide completely the gold braid on his collar. the doctor watched, with a shudder, his black bloated face covered with perspiration and the huge hand gripping his sword. they suddenly halted in double ranks and gus yelled: "odah, arms!" the butts of their rifles crashed to the floor with precision, and they were allowed to break ranks for a brief rest. they sang "john brown's body," and as its echoes died away a big negro swung his rifle in a circle over his head, shouting: "here's your regulator for white trash! en dey's nine hundred ob 'em in dis county!" "yas, lawd!" howled another. "we got 'em down now en we keep 'em dar, chile!" bawled another. the doctor passed on slowly to the hotel. the night was dark, the streets were without lights under their present rulers, and the stars were hidden with swift-flying clouds which threatened a storm. as he passed under the boughs of an oak in front of his house, a voice above him whispered: "a message for you, sir." had the wings of a spirit suddenly brushed his cheek, he would not have been more startled. "who are you?" he asked, with a slight tremor. "a night hawk of the invisible empire, with a message from the grand dragon of the realm," was the low answer, as he thrust a note in the doctor's hand. "i will wait for your answer." the doctor fumbled to his office on the corner of the lawn, struck a match, and read: "a great scotch-irish leader of the south from memphis is here to-night and wishes to see you. if you will meet general forrest, i will bring him to the hotel in fifteen minutes. burn this. ben." the doctor walked quickly back to the spot where he had heard the voice, and said: "i'll see him with pleasure." the invisible messenger wheeled his horse, and in a moment the echo of his muffled hoofs had died away in the distance. chapter xi the beat of a sparrow's wing dr. cameron's appeal had left the old commoner unshaken in his idea. there could be but one side to any question with such a man, and that was his side. he would stand by his own men, too. he believed in his own forces. the bayonet was essential to his revolutionary programme--hence the hand which held it could do no wrong. wrongs were accidents which might occur under any system. yet in no way did he display the strange contradictions of his character so plainly as in his inability to hate the individual who stood for the idea he was fighting with maniac fury. he liked dr. cameron instantly, though he had come to do a crime that would send him into beggared exile. individual suffering he could not endure. in this the doctor's appeal had startling results. he sent for mrs. lenoir and marion. "i understand, madam," he said gravely, "that your house and farm are to be sold for taxes." "yes, sir; we've given it up this time. nothing can be done," was the hopeless answer. "would you consider an offer of twenty dollars an acre?" "nobody would be fool enough to offer it. you can buy all the land in the county for a dollar an acre. it's not worth anything." "i disagree with you," said stoneman cheerfully. "i am looking far ahead. i would like to make an experiment here with pennsylvania methods on this land. i'll give you ten thousand dollars cash for your five hundred acres if you will take it." "you don't mean it?" mrs. lenoir gasped, choking back the tears. "certainly. you can at once return to your home. i'll take another house, and invest your money for you in good northern securities." the mother burst into sobs, unable to speak, while marion threw her arms impulsively around the old man's neck and kissed him. his cold eyes were warmed with the first tear they had shed in years. he moved the next day to the ross estate, which he rented, had sam brought back to the home of his childhood in charge of a good-natured white attendant, and installed in one of the little cottages on the lawn. he ordered lynch to arrest the keeper of the poor, and hold him on a charge of assault with intent to kill, awaiting the action of the grand jury. the lieutenant-governor received this order with sullen anger--yet he saw to its execution. he was not quite ready for a break with the man who had made him. astonished at his new humour, phil and elsie hastened to confess to him their love affairs and ask his approval of their choice. his reply was cautious, yet he did not refuse his consent. he advised them to wait a few months, allow him time to know the young people, and get his bearings on the conditions of southern society. his mood of tenderness was a startling revelation to them of the depth and intensity of his love. when mrs. lenoir returned with marion to her vine-clad home, she spent the first day of perfect joy since the death of her lover husband. the deed had not yet been made of the transfer of the farm, but it was only a question of legal formality. she was to receive the money in the form of interest-bearing securities and deliver the title on the following morning. arm in arm, mother and daughter visited again each hallowed spot, with the sweet sense of ownership. the place was in perfect order. its flowers were in gorgeous bloom, its walks clean and neat, the fences painted, and the gates swung on new hinges. they stood with their arms about one another, watching the sun sink behind the mountains, with tears of gratitude and hope stirring their souls. ben cameron strode through the gate, and they hurried to meet him with cries of joy. "just dropped in a minute to see if you are snug for the night," he said. "of course, snug and so happy we've been hugging one another for hours," said the mother. "oh, ben, the clouds have lifted at last!" "has aunt cindy come yet?" he asked. "no, but she'll be here in the morning to get breakfast. we don't want anything to eat," she answered. "then i'll come out when i'm through my business to-night, and sleep in the house to keep you company." "nonsense," said the mother, "we couldn't think of putting you to the trouble. we've spent many a night here alone." "but not in the past two years," he said with a frown. "we're not afraid," marion said with a smile. "besides, we'd keep you awake all night with our laughter and foolishness, rummaging through the house." "you'd better let me," ben protested. "no," said the mother, "we'll be happier to-night alone, with only god's eye to see how perfectly silly we can be. come and take supper with us to-morrow night. bring elsie and her guitar--i don't like the banjo--and we'll have a little love feast with music in the moonlight." "yes, do that," cried marion. "i know we owe this good luck to her. i want to tell her how much i love her for it." "well, if you insist on staying alone," said ben reluctantly, "i'll bring miss elsie to-morrow, but i don't like your being here without aunt cindy to-night." "oh, we're all right!" laughed marion, "but what i want to know is what you are doing out so late every night since you've come home, and where you were gone for the past week?" "important business," he answered soberly. "business--i expect!" she cried. "look here, ben cameron, have you another girl somewhere you're flirting with?" "yes," he answered slowly, coming closer and his voice dropping to a whisper, "and her name is death." "why, ben!" marion gasped, placing her trembling hand unconsciously on his arm, a faint flush mantling her cheek and leaving it white. "what do you mean?" asked the mother in low tones. "nothing that i can explain. i only wish to warn you both never to ask me such questions before any one." "forgive me," said marion, with a tremor. "i didn't think it serious." ben pressed the little warm hand, watching her mouth quiver with a smile that was half a sigh, as he answered: "you know i'd trust either of you with my life, but i can't be too careful." "we'll remember, sir knight," said the mother. "don't forget, then, to-morrow--and spend the evening with us. i wish i had one of marion's new dresses done. poor child, she has never had a decent dress in her life before. you know i never look at my pretty baby grown to such a beautiful womanhood without hearing henry say over and over again--'beauty is a sign of the soul--the body is the soul!'" "well, i've my doubts about your improving her with a fine dress," he replied thoughtfully. "i don't believe that more beautifully dressed women ever walked the earth than our girls of the south who came out of the war clad in the pathos of poverty, smiling bravely through the shadows, bearing themselves as queens though they wore the dress of the shepherdess." "i'm almost tempted to kiss you for that, as you once took advantage of me!" said marion, with enthusiasm. the moon had risen and a whippoorwill was chanting his weird song on the lawn as ben left them leaning on the gate. * * * * * it was past midnight before they finished the last touches in restoring their nest to its old homelike appearance and sat down happy and tired in the room in which marion was born, brooding and dreaming and talking over the future. the mother was hanging on the words of her daughter, all the baffled love of the dead poet husband, her griefs and poverty consumed in the glowing joy of new hopes. her love for this child was now a triumphant passion, which had melted her own being into the object of worship, until the soul of the daughter was superimposed on the mother's as the magnetized by the magnetizer. "and you'll never keep a secret from me, dear?" she asked marion. "never." "you'll tell me all your love affairs?" she asked softly, as she drew the shining blonde head down on her shoulder. "faithfully." "you know i've been afraid sometimes you were keeping something back from me, deep down in your heart--and i'm jealous. you didn't refuse henry grier because you loved ben cameron--now, did you?" the little head lay still before she answered: [illustration: mae marsh as the victim of reconstruction.] "how many times must i tell you, silly, that i've loved ben since i can remember, that i will always love him, and when i meet my fate, at last, i shall boast to my children of my sweet girl romance with the hero of piedmont, and they shall laugh and cry with me over----" "what's that?" whispered the mother, leaping to her feet. "i heard nothing," marion answered, listening. "i thought i heard footsteps on the porch." "maybe it's ben, who decided to come anyhow," said the girl. "but he'd knock!" whispered the mother. the door flew open with a crash, and four black brutes leaped into the room, gus in the lead, with a revolver in his hand, his yellow teeth grinning through his thick lips. "scream now, an' i blow yer brains out," he growled. blanched with horror, the mother sprang before marion with a shivering cry: "what do you want?" "not you," said gus, closing the blinds and handing a rope to another brute. "tie de ole one ter de bedpost." the mother screamed. a blow from a black fist in her mouth, and the rope was tied. with the strength of despair she tore at the cords, half rising to her feet, while with mortal anguish she gasped: "for god's sake, spare my baby! do as you will with me, and kill me--do not touch her!" again the huge fist swept her to the floor. marion staggered against the wall, her face white, her delicate lips trembling with the chill of a fear colder than death. "we have no money--the deed has not been delivered," she pleaded, a sudden glimmer of hope flashing in her blue eyes. gus stepped closer, with an ugly leer, his flat nose dilated, his sinister bead eyes wide apart, gleaming apelike, as he laughed: "we ain't atter money!" the girl uttered a cry, long, tremulous, heart-rending, piteous. a single tiger spring, and the black claws of the beast sank into the soft white throat and she was still. chapter xii at the dawn of day it was three o'clock before marion regained consciousness, crawled to her mother, and crouched in dumb convulsions in her arms. "what can we do, my darling?" the mother asked at last. "die--thank god, we have the strength left!" "yes, my love," was the faint answer. "no one must ever know. we will hide quickly every trace of crime. they will think we strolled to lover's leap and fell over the cliff, and my name will always be sweet and clean--you understand--come, we must hurry----" with swift hands, her blue eyes shining with a strange light, the girl removed the shreds of torn clothes, bathed, and put on the dress of spotless white she wore the night ben cameron kissed her and called her a heroine. the mother cleaned and swept the room, piled the torn clothes and cord in the fireplace and burned them, dressed herself as if for a walk, softly closed the doors, and hurried with her daughter along the old pathway through the moonlit woods. at the edge of the forest she stopped and looked back tenderly at the little home shining amid the roses, caught their faint perfume and faltered: "let's go back a minute--i want to see his room, and kiss henry's picture again." "no, we are going to him now--i hear him calling us in the mists above the cliff," said the girl--"come, we must hurry. we might go mad and fail!" down the dim cathedral aisles of the woods, hallowed by tender memories, through which the poet lover and father had taught them to walk with reverent feet and without fear, they fled to the old meeting-place of love. on the brink of the precipice, the mother trembled, paused, drew back, and gasped: "are you not afraid, my dear?" "no; death is sweet now," said the girl. "i fear only the pity of those we love." "is there no other way? we might go among strangers," pleaded the mother. "we could not escape ourselves! the thought of life is torture. only those who hate me could wish that i live. the grave will be soft and cool, the light of day a burning shame." "come back to the seat a moment--let me tell you my love again," urged the mother. "life still is dear while i hold your hand." as they sat in brooding anguish, floating up from the river valley came the music of a banjo in a negro cabin, mingled with vulgar shout and song and dance. a verse of the ribald senseless lay of the player echoed above the banjo's pert refrain: "chicken in de bread tray, pickin' up dough; granny, will your dog bite? no, chile, no!" the mother shivered and drew marion closer. "oh, dear! oh, dear! has it come to this--all my hopes of your beautiful life!" the girl lifted her head and kissed the quivering lips. "with what loving wonder we saw you grow," she sighed, "from a tottering babe on to the hour we watched the mystic light of maidenhood dawn in your blue eyes--and all to end in this hideous, leprous shame. no--no! i will not have it! it's only a horrible dream! god is not dead!" the young mother sank to her knees and buried her face in marion's lap in a hopeless paroxysm of grief. the girl bent, kissed the curling hair, and smoothed it with her soft hand. a sparrow chirped in the tree above, a wren twittered in a bush, and down on the river's bank a mocking-bird softly waked his mate with a note of thrilling sweetness. "the morning is coming, dearest; we must go," said marion. "this shame i can never forget, nor will the world forget. death is the only way." they walked to the brink, and the mother's arms stole round the girl. "oh, my baby, my beautiful darling, life of my life, heart of my heart, soul of my soul!" they stood for a moment, as if listening to the music of the falls, looking out over the valley faintly outlining itself in the dawn. the first far-away streaks of blue light on the mountain ranges, defining distance, slowly appeared. a fresh motionless day brooded over the world as the amorous stir of the spirit of morning rose from the moist earth of the fields below. a bright star still shone in the sky, and the face of the mother gazed on it intently. did the woman-spirit, the burning focus of the fiercest desire to live and will, catch in this supreme moment the star's divine speech before which all human passions sink into silence? perhaps, for she smiled. the daughter answered with a smile; and then, hand in hand, they stepped from the cliff into the mists and on through the opal gates of death. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- book iv--the ku klux klan chapter i the hunt for the animal aunt cindy came at seven o'clock to get breakfast, and finding the house closed and no one at home, supposed mrs. lenoir and marion had remained at the cameron house for the night. she sat down on the steps, waited grumblingly an hour, and then hurried to the hotel to scold her former mistress for keeping her out so long. accustomed to enter familiarly, she thrust her head into the dining-room, where the family were at breakfast with a solitary guest, muttering the speech she had been rehearsing on the way: "i lak ter know what sort er way dis--whar's miss jeannie?" ben leaped to his feet. "isn't she at home?" "been waitin' dar two hours." "great god!" he groaned, springing through the door and rushing to saddle the mare. as he left he called to his father: "let no one know till i return." at the house he could find no trace of the crime he had suspected. every room was in perfect order. he searched the yard carefully and under the cedar by the window he saw the barefoot tracks of a negro. the white man was never born who could make that track. the enormous heel projected backward, and in the hollow of the instep where the dirt would scarcely be touched by an aryan was the deep wide mark of the african's flat foot. he carefully measured it, brought from an outhouse a box, and fastened it over the spot. it might have been an ordinary chicken thief, of course. he could not tell, but it was a fact of big import. a sudden hope flashed through his mind that they might have risen with the sun and strolled to their favourite haunt at lover's leap. in two minutes he was there, gazing with hard-set eyes at marion's hat and handkerchief lying on the shelving rock. the mare bent her glistening neck, touched the hat with her nose, lifted her head, dilated her delicate nostrils, looked out over the cliff with her great soft half-human eyes and whinnied gently. ben leaped to the ground, picked up the handkerchief, and looked at the initials, "m. l.," worked in the corner. he knew what lay on the river's brink below as well as if he stood over the dead bodies. he kissed the letters of her name, crushed the handkerchief in his locked hands, and cried: "now, lord god, give me strength for the service of my people!" he hurriedly examined the ground, amazed to find no trace of a struggle or crime. could it be possible they had ventured too near the brink and fallen over? he hurried to report to his father his discoveries, instructed his mother and margaret to keep the servants quiet until the truth was known, and the two men returned along the river's brink to the foot of the cliff. they found the bodies close to the water's edge, marion had been killed instantly. her fair blonde head lay in a crimson circle sharply defined in the white sand. but the mother was still warm with life. she had scarcely ceased to breathe. in one last desperate throb of love the trembling soul had dragged the dying body to the girl's side, and she had died with her head resting on the fair round neck as though she had kissed her and fallen asleep. father and son clasped hands and stood for a moment with uncovered heads. the doctor said at length: "go to the coroner at once and see that he summons the jury _you_ select and hand to him. bring them immediately. i will examine the bodies before they arrive." ben took the negro coroner into his office alone, turned the key, told him of the discovery, and handed him the list of the jury. "i'll hatter see mr. lynch fust, sah," he answered. ben placed his hand on his hip pocket and said coldly: "put your cross-mark on those forms i've made out there for you, go with me immediately, and summon these men. if you dare put a negro on this jury, or open your mouth as to what has occurred in this room, i'll kill you." the negro tremblingly did as he was commanded. the coroner's jury reported that the mother and daughter had been killed by accidentally failing over the cliff. in all the throng of grief-stricken friends who came to the little cottage that day, but two men knew the hell-lit secret beneath the tragedy. when the bodies reached the home, doctor cameron placed mrs. cameron and margaret outside to receive visitors and prevent any one from disturbing him. he took ben into the room and locked the doors. "my boy, i wish you to witness an experiment." he drew from its case a powerful microscope of french make. "what on earth are you going to do, sir?" the doctor's brilliant eyes flashed with a mystic light as he replied: "find the fiend who did this crime--and then we will hang him on a gallows so high that all men from the rivers to ends of the earth shall see and feel and know the might of an unconquerable race of men." "but there's no trace of him here." "we shall see," said the doctor, adjusting his instrument. "i believe that a microscope of sufficient power will reveal on the retina of these dead eyes the image of this devil as if etched there by fire. the experiment has been made successfully in france. no word or deed of man is lost. a german scholar has a memory so wonderful he can repeat whole volumes of latin, german, and french without an error. a russian officer has been known to repeat the roll-call of any regiment by reading it twice. psychologists hold that nothing is lost from the memory of man. impressions remain in the brain like words written on paper in invisible ink. so i believe of images in the eye if we can trace them early enough. if no impression were made subsequently on the mother's eye by the light of day, i believe the fire-etched record of this crime can yet be traced." ben watched him with breathless interest. he first examined marion's eyes. but in the cold azure blue of their pure depths he could find nothing. "it's as i feared with the child," he said. "i can see nothing. it is on the mother i rely. in the splendour of life, at thirty-seven she was the full-blown perfection of womanhood, with every vital force at its highest tension----" he looked long and patiently into the dead mother's eye, rose and wiped the perspiration from his face. "what is it, sir?" asked ben. without reply, as if in a trance, he returned to the microscope and again rose with the little, quick, nervous cough he gave only in the greatest excitement, and whispered: "look now and tell me what you see." ben looked and said: "i can see nothing." "your powers of vision are not trained as mine," replied the doctor, resuming his place at the instrument. "what do you see?" asked the younger man, bending nervously. "the bestial figure of a negro--his huge black hand plainly defined--the upper part of the face is dim, as if obscured by a gray mist of dawn--but the massive jaws and lips are clear--merciful god--yes--it's gus!" the doctor leaped to his feet livid with excitement. ben bent again, looked long and eagerly, but could see nothing. "i'm afraid the image is in your eye, sir, not the mother's," said ben sadly. "that's possible, of course," said the doctor, "yet i don't believe it." "i've thought of the same scoundrel and tried blood hounds on that track, but for some reason they couldn't follow it. i suspected him from the first, and especially since learning that he left for columbia on the early morning train on pretended official business." "then i'm not mistaken," insisted the doctor, trembling with excitement. "now do as i tell you. find when he returns. capture him, bind, gag, and carry him to your meeting-place under the cliff, and let me know." on the afternoon of the funeral, two days later, ben received a cypher telegram from the conductor on the train telling him that gus was on the evening mail due at piedmont at nine o'clock. the papers had been filled with accounts of the accident, and an enormous crowd from the county and many admirers of the fiery lyrics of the poet father had come from distant parts to honour his name. all business was suspended, and the entire white population of the village followed the bodies to their last resting-place. as the crowds returned to their homes, no notice was taken of a dozen men on horseback who rode out of town by different ways about dusk. at eight o'clock they met in the woods near the first little flag-station located on mcallister's farm four miles from piedmont, where a buggy awaited them. two men of powerful build, who were strangers in the county, alighted from the buggy and walked along the track to board the train at the station three miles beyond and confer with the conductor. the men, who gathered in the woods, dismounted, removed their saddles, and from the folds of the blankets took a white disguise for horse and man. in a moment it was fitted on each horse, with buckles at the throat, breast, and tail, and the saddles replaced. the white robe for the man was made in the form of an ulster overcoat with cape, the skirt extending to the top of the shoes. from the red belt at the waist were swung two revolvers which had been concealed in their pockets. on each man's breast was a scarlet circle within which shone a white cross. the same scarlet circle and cross appeared on the horse's breast, while on his flanks flamed the three red mystic letters, k. k. k. each man wore a white cap, from the edges of which fell a piece of cloth extending to the shoulders. beneath the visor was an opening for the eyes and lower down one for the mouth. on the front of the caps of two of the men appeared the red wings of a hawk as the ensign of rank. from the top of each cap rose eighteen inches high a single spike held erect by a twisted wire. the disguises for man and horse were made of cheap unbleached domestic and weighed less than three pounds. they were easily folded within a blanket and kept under the saddle in a crowd without discovery. it required less than two minutes to remove the saddles, place the disguises, and remount. at the signal of a whistle, the men and horses arrayed in white and scarlet swung into double-file cavalry formation and stood awaiting orders. the moon was now shining brightly, and its light shimmering on the silent horses and men with their tall spiked caps made a picture such as the world had not seen since the knights of the middle ages rode on their holy crusades. as the train neared the flag-station, which was dark and unattended, the conductor approached gus, leaned over, and said: "i've just gotten a message from the sheriff telling me to warn you to get off at this station and slip into town. there's a crowd at the depot there waiting for you and they mean trouble." gus trembled and whispered: "den fur gawd's sake lemme off here." the two men who got on at the station below stepped out before the negro, and as he alighted from the car, seized, tripped, and threw him to the ground. the engineer blew a sharp signal, and the train pulled on. in a minute gus was bound and gagged. one of the men drew a whistle and blew twice. a single tremulous call like the cry of an owl answered. the swift beat of horses' feet followed, and four white-and-scarlet clansmen swept in a circle around the group. one of the strangers turned to the horseman with red-winged ensign on his cap, saluted, and said: "here's your man, night hawk." "thanks, gentlemen," was the answer. "let us know when we can be of service to your county." the strangers sprang into their buggy and disappeared toward the north carolina line. the clansmen blindfolded the negro, placed him on a horse, tied his legs securely, and his arms behind him to the ring in the saddle. the night hawk blew his whistle four sharp blasts, and his pickets galloped from their positions and joined him. again the signal rang, and his men wheeled with the precision of trained cavalrymen into column formation three abreast, and rode toward piedmont, the single black figure tied and gagged in the centre of the white-and-scarlet squadron. chapter ii the fiery cross the clansmen with their prisoner skirted the village and halted in the woods on the river bank. the night hawk signalled for single file, and in a few minutes they stood against the cliff under lover's leap and saluted their chief, who sat his horse, awaiting their arrival. pickets were placed in each direction on the narrow path by which the spot was approached, and one was sent to stand guard on the shelving rock above. through the narrow crooked entrance they led gus into the cave which had been the rendezvous of the piedmont den of the clan since its formation. the meeting-place was a grand hall eighty feet deep, fifty feet wide, and more than forty feet in height, which had been carved out of the stone by the swift current of the river in ages past when its waters stood at a higher level. to-night it was lighted by candles placed on the ledges of the walls. in the centre, on a fallen boulder, sat the grand cyclops of the den, the presiding officer of the township, his rank marked by scarlet stripes on the white-cloth spike of his cap. around him stood twenty or more clansmen in their uniform, completely disguised. one among them wore a yellow sash, trimmed in gold, about his waist, and on his breast two yellow circles with red crosses interlapping, denoting his rank to be the grand dragon of the realm, or commander-in-chief of the state. the cyclops rose from his seat: "let the grand turk remove his prisoner for a moment and place him in charge of the grand sentinel at the door, until summoned." the officer disappeared with gus, and the cyclops continued: "the chaplain will open our council with prayer." solemnly every white-shrouded figure knelt on the ground, and the voice of the rev. hugh mcalpin, trembling with feeling, echoed through the cave: "lord god of our fathers, as in times past thy children, fleeing from the oppressor, found refuge beneath the earth until once more the sun of righteousness rose, so are we met to-night. as we wrestle with the powers of darkness now strangling our life, give to our souls to endure as seeing the invisible, and to our right arms the strength of the martyred dead of our people. have mercy on the poor, the weak, the innocent and defenceless, and deliver us from the body of the black death. in a land of light and beauty and love our women are prisoners of danger and fear. while the heathen walks his native heath unharmed and unafraid, in this fair christian southland our sisters, wives, and daughters dare not stroll at twilight through the streets or step beyond the highway at noon. the terror of the twilight deepens with the darkness, and the stoutest heart grows sick with fear for the red message the morning bringeth. forgive our sins--they are many--but hide not thy face from us, o god, for thou art our refuge!" as the last echoes of the prayer lingered and died in the vaulted roof, the clansmen rose and stood a moment in silence. again the voice of the cyclops broke the stillness: "brethren, we are met to-night at the request of the grand dragon of the realm, who has honoured us with his presence, to constitute a high court for the trial of a case involving life. are the night hawks ready to submit their evidence?" "we are ready," came the answer. "then let the grand scribe read the objects of the order on which your authority rests." the scribe opened his book of record, "_the prescript of the order of the invisible empire_," and solemnly read: "to the lovers of law and order, peace and justice, and to the shades of the venerated dead, greeting: "this is an institution of chivalry, humanity, mercy, and patriotism: embodying in its genius and principles all that is chivalric in conduct, noble in sentiment, generous in manhood, and patriotic in purpose: its particular objects being, "first: to protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenceless from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal; to relieve the injured and the oppressed: to succour the suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and the orphans of confederate soldiers. "second: to protect and defend the constitution of the united states, and all the laws passed in conformity thereto, and to protect the states and the people thereof from all invasion from any source whatever. "third: to aid and assist in the execution of all constitutional laws, and to protect the people from unlawful seizure, and from trial except by their peers in conformity to the laws of the land." "the night hawks will produce their evidence," said the cyclops, "and the grand monk will conduct the case of the people against the negro augustus cæsar, the former slave of dr. richard cameron." dr. cameron advanced and removed his cap. his snow-white hair and beard, ruddy face and dark-brown brilliant eyes made a strange picture in its weird surroundings, like an ancient alchemist ready to conduct some daring experiment in the problem of life. "i am here, brethren," he said, "to accuse the black brute about to appear of the crime of assault on a daughter of the south----" a murmur of thrilling surprise and horror swept the crowd of white-and-scarlet figures as with one common impulse they moved closer. "his feet have been measured and they exactly tally with the negro tracks found under the window of the lenoir cottage. his flight to columbia and return on the publication of their deaths as an accident is a confirmation of our case. i will not relate to you the scientific experiment which first fixed my suspicion of this man's guilt. my witness could not confirm it, and it might not be to you credible. but this negro is peculiarly sensitive to hypnotic influence. i propose to put him under this power to-night before you, and, if he is guilty, i can make him tell his confederates, describe and rehearse the crime itself." the night hawks led gus before doctor cameron, untied his hands, removed the gag, and slipped the blindfold from his head. under the doctor's rigid gaze the negro's knees struck together, and he collapsed into complete hypnosis, merely lifting his huge paws lamely as if to ward a blow. they seated him on the boulder from which the cyclops rose, and gus stared about the cave and grinned as if in a dream seeing nothing. the doctor recalled to him the day of the crime, and he began to talk to his three confederates, describing his plot in detail, now and then pausing and breaking into a fiendish laugh. old mcallister, who had three lovely daughters at home, threw off his cap, sank to his knees, and buried his face in his hands, while a dozen of the white figures crowded closer, nervously gripping the revolvers which hung from their red belts. doctor cameron pushed them back and lifted his hand in warning. the negro began to live the crime with fearful realism--the journey past the hotel to make sure the victims had gone to their home; the visit to aunt cindy's cabin to find her there; lying in the field waiting for the last light of the village to go out; gloating with vulgar exultation over their plot, and planning other crimes to follow its success--how they crept along the shadows of the hedgerow of the lawn to avoid the moonlight, stood under the cedar, and through the open windows watched the mother and daughter laughing and talking within---- "min' what i tells you now--tie de ole one, when i gib you de rope," said gus in a whisper. "my god!" cried the agonized voice of the figure with the double cross--"that's what the piece of burnt rope in the fireplace meant!" doctor cameron again lifted his hand for silence. now they burst into the room, and with the light of hell in his beady, yellow-splotched eyes, gus gripped his imaginary revolver and growled: "scream, an' i blow yer brains out!" in spite of doctor cameron's warning, the white-robed figures jostled and pressed closer---- gus rose to his feet and started across the cave as if to spring on the shivering figure of the girl, the clansmen with muttered groans, sobs, and curses falling back as he advanced. he still wore his full captain's uniform, its heavy epaulets flashing their gold in the unearthly light, his beastly jaws half covering the gold braid on the collar. his thick lips were drawn upward in an ugly leer and his sinister bead eyes gleamed like a gorilla's. a single fierce leap and the black claws clutched the air slowly as if sinking into the soft white throat. strong men began to cry like children. "stop him! stop him!" screamed a clansman, springing on the negro and grinding his heel into his big thick neck. a dozen more were on him in a moment, kicking, stamping, cursing, and crying like madmen. doctor cameron leaped forward and beat them off: "men! men! you must not kill him in this condition!" some of the white figures had fallen prostrate on the ground, sobbing in a frenzy of uncontrollable emotion. some were leaning against the walls, their faces buried in their arms. again old mcallister was on his knees crying over and over again: "god have mercy on my people!" when at length quiet was restored, the negro was revived, and again bound, blindfolded, gagged, and thrown to the ground before the grand cyclops. a sudden inspiration flashed in doctor cameron's eyes. turning to the figure with yellow sash and double cross he said: "issue your orders and despatch your courier to-night with the old scottish rite of the fiery cross. it will send a thrill of inspiration to every clansman in the hills." "good--prepare it quickly!" was the answer. doctor cameron opened his medicine case, drew the silver drinking-cover from a flask, and passed out of the cave to the dark circle of blood still shining in the sand by the water's edge. he knelt and filled the cup half full of the crimson grains, and dipped it into the river. from a saddle he took the lightwood torch, returned within, and placed the cup on the boulder on which the grand cyclops had sat. he loosed the bundle of lightwood, took two pieces, tied them into the form of a cross, and laid it beside a lighted candle near the silver cup. the silent figures watched his every movement. he lifted the cup and said: "brethren, i hold in my hand the water of your river bearing the red stain of the life of a southern woman, a priceless sacrifice on the altar of outraged civilization. hear the message of your chief." the tall figure with the yellow sash and double cross stepped before the strange altar, while the white forms of the clansmen gathered about him in a circle. he lifted his cap, and laid it on the boulder, and his men gazed on the flushed face of ben cameron, the grand dragon of the realm. he stood for a moment silent, erect, a smouldering fierceness in his eyes, something cruel and yet magnetic in his alert bearing. he looked on the prostrate negro lying in his uniform at his feet, seized the cross, lighted the three upper ends and held it blazing in his hand, while, in a voice full of the fires of feeling, he said: "men of the south, the time for words has passed, the hour for action has struck. the grand turk will execute this negro to-night and fling his body on the lawn of the black lieutenant-governor of the state." the grand turk bowed. "i ask for the swiftest messenger of this den who can ride till dawn." the man whom doctor cameron had already chosen stepped forward: "carry my summons to the grand titan of the adjoining province in north carolina whom you will find at hambright. tell him the story of this crime and what you have seen and heard. ask him to report to me here the second night from this, at eleven o'clock, with six grand giants from his adjoining counties, each accompanied by two hundred picked men. in olden times when the chieftain of our people summoned the clan on an errand of life and death, the fiery cross, extinguished in sacrificial blood, was sent by swift courier from village to village. this call was never made in vain, nor will it be to-night, in the new world. here, on this spot made holy ground by the blood of those we hold dearer than life, i raise the ancient symbol of an unconquered race of men----" high above his head in the darkness of the cave he lifted the blazing emblem---- "the fiery cross of old scotland's hills! i quench its flames in the sweetest blood that ever stained the sands of time." he dipped its ends in the silver cup, extinguished the fire, and handed the charred symbol to the courier, who quickly disappeared. chapter iii the parting of the ways the discovery of the captain of the african guards lying in his full uniform in lynch's yard send a thrill of terror to the triumphant leagues. across the breast of the body was pinned a scrap of paper on which was written in red ink the letters k. k. k. it was the first actual evidence of the existence of this dreaded order in ulster county. the first lieutenant of the guards assumed command and held the full company in their armoury under arms day and night. beneath his door he had found a notice which was also nailed on the courthouse. it appeared in the piedmont _eagle_ and in rapid succession in every newspaper not under negro influence in the state. it read as follows: "headquarters of realm no . "dreadful era, black epoch, "hideous hour. "general order no. i. "the negro militia now organized in this state threatens the extinction of civilization. they have avowed their purpose to make war upon and exterminate the ku klux klan, an organization which is now the sole guardian of society. all negroes are hereby given forty-eight hours from the publication of this notice in their respective counties to surrender their arms at the courthouse door. those who refuse must take the consequences. "by order of the g. d. of realm no. . "by the grand scribe." the white people of piedmont read this notice with a thrill of exultant joy. men walked the streets with an erect bearing which said without words: "stand out of the way." for the first time since the dawn of black rule negroes began to yield to white men and women the right of way on the streets. on the day following, the old commoner sent for phil. "what is the latest news?" he asked. "the town is in a fever of excitement--not over the discovery in lynch's yard--but over the blacker rumour that marion and her mother committed suicide to conceal an assault by this fiend." "a trumped-up lie," said the old man emphatically. "it's true, sir. i'll take doctor cameron's word for it." "you have just come from the camerons?" "yes." "let it be your last visit. the camerons are on the road to the gallows, father and son. lynch informs me that the murder committed last night, and the insolent notice nailed on the courthouse door, could have come only from their brain. they are the hereditary leaders of these people. they alone would have the audacity to fling this crime into the teeth of the world and threaten worse. we are face to face with southern barbarism. every man now to his own standard! the house of stoneman can have no part with midnight assassins." "nor with black barbarians, father. it is a question of who possesses the right of life and death over the citizen, the organized virtue of the community, or its organized crime. you have mistaken for death the patience of a generous people. we call ourselves the champions of liberty. yet for less than they have suffered, kings have lost their heads and empires perished before the wrath of freemen." "my boy, this is not a question for argument between us," said the father with stern emphasis. "this conspiracy of terror and assassination threatens to shatter my work to atoms. the election on which turns the destiny of congress, and the success or failure of my life, is but a few weeks away. unless this foul conspiracy is crushed, i am ruined, and the nation falls again beneath the heel of a slaveholders' oligarchy." "your nightmare of a slaveholders' oligarchy does not disturb me." "at least you will have the decency to break your affair with margaret cameron pending the issue of my struggle of life and death with her father and brother?" "never." "then i will do it for you." "i warn you, sir," phil cried, with anger, "that if it comes to an issue of race against race, i am a white man. the ghastly tragedy of the condition of society here is something for which the people of the south are no longer responsible----" "i'll take the responsibility!" growled the old cynic. "don't ask me to share it," said the younger man emphatically. the father winced, his lips trembled, and he answered brokenly: "my boy, this is the bitterest hour of my life that has had little to make it sweet. to hear such words from you is more than i can bear. i am an old man now--my sands are nearly run. but two human beings love me, and i love but two. on you and your sister i have lavished all the treasures of a maimed and strangled soul--and it has come to this! read the notice which one of your friends thrust into the window of my bedroom last night." he handed phil a piece of paper on which was written: "the old club-footed beast who has sneaked into our town, pretending to search for health, in reality the leader of the infernal union league, will be given forty-eight hours to vacate the house and rid this community of his presence. "k. k. k." "are you an officer of the union league?" phil asked in surprise. "i am its soul." "how could a southerner discover this, if your own children didn't know it?" "by their spies who have joined the league." "and do the rank and file know the black pope at the head of the order?" "no, but high officials do." "does lynch?" "certainly." "then he is the scoundrel who placed that note in your room. it is a clumsy attempt to forge an order of the klan. the white man does not live in this town capable of that act. i know these people." "my boy, you are bewitched by the smiles of a woman to deny your own flesh and blood." "nonsense, father--you are possessed by an idea which has become an insane mania----" "will you respect my wishes?" the old man broke in angrily. "i will not," was the clear answer. phil turned and left the room, and the old man's massive head sank on his breast in helpless baffled rage and grief. he was more successful in his appeal to elsie. he convinced her of the genuineness of the threat against him. the brutal reference to his lameness roused the girl's soul. when the old man, crushed by phil's desertion, broke down the last reserve of his strange cold nature, tore his wounded heart open to her, cried in agony over his deformity, his lameness, and the anguish with which he saw the threatened ruin of his life-work, she threw her arms around his neck in a flood of tears and cried: "hush, father, i will not desert you. i will never leave you, or wed without your blessing. if i find that my lover was in any way responsible for this insult, i'll tear his image out of my heart and never speak his name again!" she wrote a note to ben, asking him to meet her at sundown on horseback at lover's leap. ben was elated at the unexpected request. he was hungry for an hour with his sweetheart, whom he had not seen save for a moment since the storm of excitement broke following the discovery of the crime. he hastened through his work of ordering the movement of the klan for the night, and determined to surprise elsie by meeting her in his uniform of a grand dragon. secure in her loyalty, he would deliberately thus put his life in her hands. using the water of a brook in the woods for a mirror, he adjusted his yellow sash and pushed the two revolvers back under the cape out of sight, saying to himself with a laugh: "betray me? well, if she does, life would not be worth the living!" when elsie had recovered from the first shock of surprise at the white horse and rider waiting for her under the shadows of the old beech, her surprise gave way to grief at the certainty of his guilt, and the greatness of his love in thus placing his life without a question in her hands. he tied the horses in the woods, and they sat down on the rustic. he removed his helmet cap, threw back the white cape showing the scarlet lining, and the two golden circles with their flaming crosses on his breast, with boyish pride. the costume was becoming to his slender graceful figure, and he knew it. "you see, sweetheart, i hold high rank in the empire," he whispered. from beneath his cape he drew a long bundle which he unrolled. it was a triangular flag of brilliant yellow edged in scarlet. in the centre of the yellow ground was the figure of a huge black dragon with fiery red eyes and tongue. around it was a latin motto worked in scarlet: "_quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus_"--what always, what everywhere, what by all has been held to be true. "the battle-flag of the klan," he said; "the standard of the grand dragon." elsie seized his hand and kissed it, unable to speak. "why so serious to-night?" "do you love me very much?" she answered. "greater love hath no man than this, that he lay his life at the feet of his beloved," he responded tenderly. "yes, yes; i know--and that is why you are breaking my heart. when first i met you--it seems now ages and ages ago--i was a vain, self-willed, pert little thing----" "it's not so. i took you for an angel--you were one. you are one to-night." "now," she went on slowly, "in what i have lived through you i have grown into an impassioned, serious, self-disciplined, bewildered woman. your perfect trust to-night is the sweetest revelation that can come to a woman's soul and yet it brings to me unspeakable pain----" "for what?" "you are guilty of murder." ben's figure stiffened. "the judge who pronounces sentence of death on a criminal outlawed by civilized society is not usually called a murderer, my dear." "and by whose authority are you a judge?" "by authority of the sovereign people who created the state of south carolina. the criminals who claim to be our officers are usurpers placed there by the subversion of law." "won't you give this all up for my sake?" she pleaded. "believe me, you are in great danger." "not so great as is the danger of my sister and mother and my sweetheart--it is a man's place to face danger," he gravely answered. "this violence can only lead to your ruin and shame----" "i am fighting the battle of a race on whose fate hangs the future of the south and the nation. my ruin and shame will be of small account if they are saved," was the even answer. "come, my dear," she pleaded tenderly, "you know that i have weighed the treasures of music and art and given them all for one clasp of your hand, one throb of your heart against mine. i should call you cruel did i not know you are infinitely tender. this is the only thing i have ever asked you to do for me----" "desert my people! you must not ask of me this infamy, if you love me," he cried. "but, listen; this is wrong--this wild vengeance is a crime you are doing, however great the provocation. we cannot continue to love one another if you do this. listen: i love you better than father, mother, life, or career--all my dreams i've lost in you. i've lived through eternity to-day with my father----" "you know me guiltless of the vulgar threat against him----" "yes, and yet you are the leader of desperate men who might have done it. as i fought this battle to-day, i've lost you, lost myself, and sunk down to the depths of despair, and at the end rang the one weak cry of a woman's heart for her lover! your frown can darken the brightest sky. for your sake i can give up all save the sense of right. i'll walk by your side in life--lead you gently and tenderly along the way of my dreams if i can, but if you go your way, it shall be mine; and i shall still be glad because you are there! see how humble i am--only you must not commit crime!" "come, sweetheart, you must not use that word," he protested, with a touch of wounded pride. "you are a conspirator----" "i am a revolutionist." "you are committing murder!" "i am waging war." elsie leaped to her feet in a sudden rush of anger and extended her hand: "good-bye. i shall not see you again. i do not know you. you are still a stranger to me." he held her hand firmly. "we must not part in anger," he said slowly. "i have grave work to do before the day dawns. we may not see each other again." she led her horse to the seat quickly and without waiting for his assistance sprang into the saddle. "do you not fear my betrayal of your secret?" she asked. he rode to her side, bent close, and whispered: "it's as safe as if locked in the heart of god." a little sob caught her voice, yet she said slowly in firm tones: "if another crime is committed in this county by your klan, we will never see each other again." he escorted her to the edge of the town without a word, pressed her hand in silence, wheeled his horse, and disappeared on the road to the north carolina line. chapter iv the banner of the dragon ben cameron rode rapidly to the rendezvous of the pickets who were to meet the coming squadrons. he returned home and ate a hearty meal. as he emerged from the dining-room, phil seized him by the arm and led him under the big oak on the lawn: "cameron, old boy, i'm in a lot of trouble. i've had a quarrel with my father, and your sister has broken me all up by returning my ring. i want a little excitement to ease my nerves. from elsie's incoherent talk i judge you are in danger. if there's going to be a fight, let me in." ben took his hand: "you're the kind of a man i'd like to have for a brother, and i'll help you in love--but as for war--it's not your fight. we don't need help." at ten o'clock ben met the local den at their rendezvous under the cliff, to prepare for the events of the night. the forty members present were drawn up before him in double rank of twenty each. "brethren," he said to them solemnly, "i have called you to-night to take a step from which there can be no retreat. we are going to make a daring experiment of the utmost importance. if there is a faint heart among you, now is the time to retire----" "we are with you!" cried the men. "there are laws of our race, old before this republic was born in the souls of white freemen. the fiat of fools has repealed on paper these laws. your fathers who created this nation were first conspirators, then revolutionists, now patriots and saints. i need to-night ten volunteers to lead the coming clansmen over this county and disarm every negro in it. the men from north carolina cannot be recognized. each of you must run this risk. your absence from home to-night will be doubly dangerous for what will be done here at this negro armoury under my command. i ask of these ten men to ride their horses until dawn, even unto death, to ride for their god, their native land, and the womanhood of the south! "to each man who accepts this dangerous mission i offer for your bed the earth, for your canopy the sky, for your bread stones; and when the flash of bayonets shall fling into your face from the square the challenge of martial law, the protection i promise you--is exile, imprisonment, and death! let the ten men who accept these terms step forward four paces." with a single impulse the whole double line of forty white-and-scarlet figures moved quickly forward four steps! the leader shook hands with each man, his voice throbbing with emotion as he said: "stand together like this, men, and armies will march and countermarch over the south in vain! we will save the life of our people." the ten guides selected by the grand dragon rode forward, and each led a division of one hundred men through the ten townships of the county and successfully disarmed every negro before day without the loss of a life. the remaining squadron of two hundred and fifty men from hambright, accompanied by the grand titan in command of the province of western hill counties, were led by ben cameron into piedmont as the waning moon rose between twelve and one o'clock. they marched past stoneman's place on the way to the negro armoury, which stood on the opposite side of the street a block below. the wild music of the beat of a thousand hoofs on the cobblestones of the street waked every sleeper. the old commoner hobbled to his window and watched them pass, his big hands fumbling nervously, and his soul stirred to its depths. the ghostlike shadowy columns moved slowly with the deliberate consciousness of power. the scarlet circles on their breasts could be easily seen when one turned toward the house, as could the big red letters k. k. k. on each horse's flank. in the centre of the line waved from a gold-tipped spear the battle-flag of the klan. as they passed the bright lights burning at his gate, old stoneman could see this standard plainly. the huge black dragon with flaming eyes and tongue seemed a living thing crawling over a scarlet-tipped yellow cloud. at the window above stood a little figure watching that banner of the dragon pass with aching heart. phil stood at another, smiling with admiration for their daring: "by george, it stirs the blood to see it! you can't crush men of that breed!" the watchers were not long in doubt as to what the raiders meant. they deployed quickly around the armoury. a whistle rang its shrill cry, and a volley of two hundred and fifty carbines and revolvers smashed every glass in the building. the sentinel had already given the alarm, and the drum was calling the startled negroes to their arms. they returned the volley twice, and for ten minutes were answered with the steady crack of two hundred and fifty guns. a white flag appeared at the door, and the firing ceased. the negroes laid down their arms and surrendered. all save three were allowed to go to their homes for the night and carry their wounded with them. the three confederates in the crime of their captain were bound and led away. in a few minutes the crash of a volley told their end. the little white figure rapped at phil's door and placed a trembling hand on his arm: "phil," she said softly, "please go to the hotel and stay until you know all that has happened--until you know the full list of those killed and wounded. i'll wait. you understand?" as he stooped and kissed her, he felt a hot tear roll down her cheek. "yes, little sis, i understand," he answered. chapter v the reign of the klan in quick succession every county followed the example of ulster, and the arms furnished the negroes by the state and national governments were in the hands of the klan. the league began to collapse in a panic of terror. a gale of chivalrous passion and high action, contagious and intoxicating, swept the white race. the moral, mental, and physical earthquake which followed the first assault on one of their daughters revealed the unity of the racial life of the people. within the span of a week they had lived a century. the spirit of the south "like lightning had at last leaped forth, half startled at itself, its feet upon the ashes and the rags," its hands tight-gripped on the throat of tyrant, thug, and thief. it was the resistless movement of a race, not of any man or leader of men. the secret weapon with which they struck was the most terrible and efficient in human history--these pale hosts of white-and-scarlet horsemen! they struck shrouded in a mantle of darkness and terror. they struck where the power of resistance was weakest and the blow least suspected. discovery or retaliation was impossible. not a single disguise was ever penetrated. all was planned and ordered as by destiny. the accused was tried by secret tribunal, sentenced without a hearing, executed in the dead of night without warning, mercy, or appeal. the movements of the klan were like clockwork, without a word, save the whistle of the night hawk, the crack of his revolver, and the hoofbeat of swift horses moving like figures in a dream, and vanishing in mists and shadows. the old club-footed puritan, in his mad scheme of vengeance and party power, had overlooked the covenanter, the backbone of the south. this man had just begun to fight! his race had defied the crown of great britain a hundred years from the caves and wilds of scotland and ireland, taught the english people how to slay a king and build a commonwealth, and, driven into exile into the wilderness of america, led our revolution, peopled the hills of the south, and conquered the west. as the young german patriots of had organized the great struggle for their liberties under the noses of the garrisons of napoleon, so ben cameron had met the leaders of his race in nashville, tennessee, within the picket lines of thirty-five thousand hostile troops, and in the ruins of an old homestead discussed and adopted the ritual of the invisible empire. within a few months this empire overspread a territory larger than modern europe. in the approaching election it was reaching out its daring white hands to tear the fruits of victory from twenty million victorious conquerors. the triumph at which they aimed was one of incredible grandeur. they had risen to snatch power out of defeat and death. under their clan leadership the southern people had suddenly developed the courage of the lion, the cunning of the fox, and the deathless faith of religious enthusiasts. society was fused in the white heat of one sublime thought and beat with the pulse of the single will of the grand wizard of the klan of memphis. women and children had eyes and saw not, ears and heard not. over four thousand disguises for men and horses were made by the women of the south, and not one secret ever passed their lips! with magnificent audacity, infinite patience, and remorseless zeal, a conquered people were struggling to turn his own weapon against their conqueror, and beat his brains out with the bludgeon he had placed in the hands of their former slaves. behind the tragedy of reconstruction stood the remarkable man whose iron will alone had driven these terrible measures through the chaos of passion, corruption, and bewilderment which followed the first assassination of an american president. as he leaned on his window in this village of the south and watched in speechless rage the struggle at that negro armoury, he felt for the first time the foundations sinking beneath his feet. as he saw the black cowards surrender in terror, noted the indifference and cool defiance with which those white horsemen rode and shot, he knew that he had collided with the ultimate force which his whole scheme had overlooked. he turned on his big club foot from the window, clinched his fist and muttered: "but i'll hang that man for this deed if it's the last act of my life!" the morning brought dismay to the negro, the carpet-bagger, and the scallawag of ulster. a peculiar freak of weather in the early morning added to their terror. the sun rose clear and bright except for a slight fog that floated from the river valley, increasing the roar of the falls. about nine o'clock a huge black shadow suddenly rushed over piedmont from the west, and in a moment the town was shrouded in twilight. the cries of birds were hushed and chickens went to roost as in a total eclipse of the sun. knots of people gathered on the streets and gazed uneasily at the threatening skies. hundreds of negroes began to sing and shout and pray, while sensible people feared a cyclone or cloud-burst. a furious downpour of rain was swiftly followed by sunshine, and the negroes rose from their knees, shouting with joy to find the end of the world had after all been postponed. but that the end of their brief reign in a white man's land had come, but few of them doubted. the events of the night were sufficiently eloquent. the movement of the clouds in sympathy was unnecessary. old stoneman sent for lynch, and found he had fled to columbia. he sent for the only lawyer in town whom the lieutenant-governor had told him could be trusted. the lawyer was polite, but his refusal to undertake the prosecution of any alleged member of the klan was emphatic. "i'm a sinful man, sir," he said with a smile. "besides, i prefer to live, on general principles." "i'll pay you well," urged the old man, "and if you secure the conviction of ben cameron, the man we believe to be the head of this klan, i'll give you ten thousand dollars." the lawyer was whittling on a piece of pine meditatively. "that's a big lot of money in these hard times. i'd like to own it, but i'm afraid it wouldn't be good at the bank on the other side. i prefer the green fields of south carolina to those of eden. my harp isn't in tune." stoneman snorted in disgust: "will you ask the mayor to call to see me at once?" "we ain't got none," was the laconic answer. "what do you mean?" "haven't you heard what happened to his honour last night?" "no." "the klan called to see him," went on the lawyer with a quizzical look "at a. m. rather early for a visit of state. they gave him forty-nine lashes on his bare back, and persuaded him that the climate of piedmont didn't agree with him. his honour, mayor bizzel, left this morning with his negro wife and brood of mulatto children for his home, the slums of cleveland, ohio. we are deprived of his illustrious example, and he may not be a wiser man than when he came, but he's a much sadder one." stoneman dismissed the even-tempered member of the bar, and wired lynch to return immediately to piedmont. he determined to conduct the prosecution of ben cameron in person. with the aid of the lieutenant-governor he succeeded in finding a man who would dare to swear out a warrant against him. as a preliminary skirmish he was charged with a violation of the statutory laws of the united states relating to reconstruction and arraigned before a commissioner. against elsie's agonizing protest, old stoneman appeared at the courthouse to conduct the prosecution. in the absence of the united states marshal, the warrant had been placed in the hands of the sheriff, returnable at ten o'clock on the morning fixed for the trial. the new sheriff of ulster was no less a personage than uncle aleck, who had resigned his seat in the house to accept the more profitable one of high sheriff of the county. there was a long delay in beginning the trial. at : not a single witness summoned had appeared, nor had the prisoner seen fit to honour the court with his presence. old stoneman sat fumbling his hands in nervous, sullen rage, while phil looked on with amusement. "send for the sheriff," he growled to the commissioner. in a moment aleck appeared bowing humbly and politely to every white man he passed. he bent halfway to the floor before the commissioner and said: "marse ben be here in er minute, sah. he's er eatin' his breakfus'. i run erlong erhead." stoneman's face was a thundercloud as he scrambled to his feet and glared at aleck: "_marse_ ben? did you say _marse_ ben? who's he?" aleck bowed low again. "de young colonel, sah--marse ben cameron." "and you the sheriff of this county trotted along in front to make the way smooth for your prisoner?" "yessah!" "is that the way you escort prisoners before a court?" "dem kin' er prisoners--yessah." "why didn't you walk beside him?" aleck grinned from ear to ear and bowed very low: "he say sumfin' to me, sah!" "and what did he say?" aleck shook his head and laughed: "i hates ter insinuate ter de cote, sah!" "what did he say to you?" thundered stoneman. "he say--he say--ef i walk 'longside er him--he knock hell outen me, sah!" "indeed." "yessah, en i 'spec' he would," said aleck insinuatingly. "la, he's a gemman, sah, he is! he tell me he come right on. he be here sho'." stoneman whispered to lynch, turned with a look of contempt to aleck, and said: "mr. sheriff, you interest me. will you be kind enough to explain to this court what has happened to you lately to so miraculously change your manners?" aleck glanced around the room nervously. "i seed sumfin'--a vision, sah!" "a vision? are you given to visions?" "na-sah. dis yere wuz er sho' 'nuff vision! i wuz er feelin' bad all day yistiddy. soon in de mawnin', ez i wuz gwine 'long de road, i see a big black bird er settin' on de fence. he flop his wings, look right at me en say, 'corpse! corpse! corpse!'"--aleck's voice dropped to a whisper--"'en las' night de ku kluxes come ter see me, sah!" stoneman lifted his beetling brows. "that's interesting. we are searching for information on that subject." "yessah! dey wuz sperits, ridin' white hosses wid flowin' white robes, en big blood-red eyes! de hosses wuz twenty feet high, en some er de sperits wuz higher dan dis cote-house! dey wuz all bal' headed, 'cept right on de top whar dere wuz er straight blaze er fire shot up in de air ten foot high!" "what did they say to you?" "dey say dat ef i didn't design de sheriff's office, go back ter farmin' en behave myself, dey had er job waitin' fer me in hell, sah. en shos' you born dey wuz right from dar!" "of course!" sneered the old commoner. "yessah! hit's des lak i tell yer. one ob 'em makes me fetch 'im er drink er water. i carry two bucketsful ter 'im 'fo' i git done, en i swar ter god he drink it all right dar 'fo' my eyes! he say hit wuz pow'ful dry down below, sah! en den i feel sumfin' bus' loose inside er me, en i disremember all dat come ter pass! i made er jump fer de ribber bank, en de next i knowed i wuz er pullin' fur de odder sho'. i'se er pow'ful good swimmer, sah, but i nebber git ercross er creek befo' ez quick ez i got ober de ribber las' night." "and you think of going back to farming?" "i done begin plowin' dis mornin', marster!" "_don't_ you call me marster!" yelled the old man. "are you the sheriff of this county?" aleck laughed loudly. "na-sah! dat's er joke! i ain't nuttin' but er plain nigger--i wants peace, judge." "evidently we need a new sheriff." "dat's what i tell 'em, sah, dis mornin'--en i des flings mysef on de ignance er de cote!" phil laughed aloud, and his father's colourless eyes began to spit cold poison. "about what time do you think your master, colonel cameron, will honour us with his presence?" he asked aleck. again the sheriff bowed. "he's er comin' right now, lak i tole yer--he's er gemman, sah." ben walked briskly into the room and confronted the commissioner. without apparently noticing his presence, stoneman said: "in the absence of witnesses we accept the discharge of this warrant, pending developments." ben turned on his heel, pressed phil's hand as he passed through the crowd, and disappeared. the old commoner drove to the telegraph office and sent a message of more than a thousand words to the white house, a copy of which the operator delivered to ben cameron within an hour. president grant next morning issued a proclamation declaring the nine scotch-irish hill counties of south carolina in a state of insurrection, ordered an army corps of five thousand men to report there for duty, pending the further necessity of martial law and the suspension of the writ of _habeas corpus_. chapter vi the counter stroke from the hour he had watched the capture of the armoury old stoneman felt in the air a current against him which was electric, as if the dead had heard the cry of the clansmen's greeting, risen and rallied to their pale ranks. the daring campaign these men were waging took his breath. they were going not only to defeat his delegation to congress, but send their own to take their seats, reinforced by the enormous power of a suppressed negro vote. the blow was so sublime in its audacity, he laughed in secret admiration while he raved and cursed. the army corps took possession of the hill counties, quartering from five to six hundred regulars at each courthouse; but the mischief was done. the state was on fire. the eighty thousand rifles with which the negroes had been armed were now in the hands of their foes. a white rifle-club was organized in every town, village, and hamlet. they attended the public meetings with their guns, drilled in front of the speakers' stands, yelled, hooted, hissed, cursed, and jeered at the orators who dared to champion or apologize for negro rule. at night the hoofbeat of squadrons of pale horsemen and the crack of their revolvers struck terror to the heart of every negro, carpet-bagger, and scallawag. there was a momentary lull in the excitement, which stoneman mistook for fear, at the appearance of the troops. he had the governor appoint a white sheriff, a young scallawag from the mountains who was a noted moonshiner and desperado. he arrested over a hundred leading men in the county, charged them with complicity in the killing of the three members of the african guard, and instructed the judge and clerk of the court to refuse bail and commit them to jail under military guard. to his amazement the prisoners came into piedmont armed and mounted. they paid no attention to the deputy sheriffs who were supposed to have them in charge. they deliberately formed in line under ben cameron's direction and he led them in a parade through the streets. the five hundred united states regulars who were camped on the river bank were westerners. ben led his squadron of armed prisoners in front of this camp and took them through the evolutions of cavalry with the precision of veterans. the soldiers dropped their games and gathered, laughing, to watch them. the drill ended with a double-rank charge at the river embankment. when they drew every horse on his haunches on the brink, firing a volley with a single crash, a wild cheer broke from the soldiers, and the officers rushed from their tents. ben wheeled his men, galloped in front of the camp, drew them up at dress parade, and saluted. a low word of command from a trooper, and the westerners quickly formed in ranks, returned the salute, and cheered. the officers rushed up, cursing, and drove the men back to their tents. the horsemen laughed, fired a volley in the air, cheered, and galloped back to the courthouse. the court was glad to get rid of them. there was no question raised over technicalities in making out bail-bonds. the clerk wrote the names of imaginary bondsmen as fast as his pen could fly, while the perspiration stood in beads on his red forehead. another telegram from old stoneman to the white house, and the writ of _habeas corpus_ was suspended and martial law proclaimed. enraged beyond measure at the salute from the troops, he had two companies of negro regulars sent from columbia, and they camped in the courthouse square. he determined to make a desperate effort to crush the fierce spirit before which his forces were being driven like chaff. he induced bizzel to return from cleveland with his negro wife and children. he was escorted to the city hall and reinstalled as mayor by the full force of seven hundred troops, and a negro guard placed around his house. stoneman had lynch run an excursion from the black belt, and brought a thousand negroes to attend a final rally at piedmont. he placarded the town with posters on which were printed the civil rights bill and the proclamation of the president declaring martial law. ben watched this day dawn with nervous dread. he had passed a sleepless night, riding in person to every den of the klan and issuing positive orders that no white man should come to piedmont. a clash with the authority of the united states he had avoided from the first as a matter of principle. it was essential to his success that his men should commit no act of desperation which would imperil his plans. above all, he wished to avoid a clash with old stoneman personally. the arrival of the big excursion was the signal for a revival of negro insolence which had been planned. the men brought from the eastern part of the state were selected for the purpose. they marched over the town yelling and singing. a crowd of them, half drunk, formed themselves three abreast and rushed the sidewalks, pushing every white man, woman, and child into the street. they met phil on his way to the hotel and pushed him into the gutter. he said nothing, crossed the street, bought a revolver, loaded it and put it in his pocket. he was not popular with the negroes, and he had been shot at twice on his way from the mills at night. the whole affair of this rally, over which his father meant to preside, filled him with disgust, and he was in an ugly mood. lynch's speech was bold, bitter, and incendiary, and at its close the drunken negro troopers from the local garrison began to slouch through the streets, two and two, looking for trouble. at the close of the speaking stoneman called the officer in command of these troops, and said: "major, i wish this rally to-day to be a proclamation of the supremacy of law, and the enforcement of the equality of every man under law. your troops are entitled to the rights of white men. i understand the hotel table has been free to-day to the soldiers from the camp on the river. they are returning the courtesy extended to the criminals who drilled before them. send two of your black troops down for dinner and see that it is served. i wish an example for the state." "it will be a dangerous performance, sir," the major protested. the old commoner furrowed his brow. "have you been instructed to act under my orders?" "i have, sir," said the officer, saluting. "then do as i tell you," snapped stoneman. ben cameron had kept indoors all day, and dined with fifty of the western troopers whom he had identified as leading in the friendly demonstration to his men. margaret, who had been busy with mrs. cameron entertaining these soldiers, was seated in the dining-room alone, eating her dinner, while phil waited impatiently in the parlour. the guests had all gone when two big negro troopers, fighting drunk, walked into the hotel. they went to the water-cooler and drank ostentatiously, thrusting their thick lips coated with filth far into the cocoanut dipper, while a dirty hand grasped its surface. they pushed the dining-room door open and suddenly flopped down beside margaret. she attempted to rise, and cried in rage: "how dare you, black brutes?" one of them threw his arm around her chair, thrust his face into hers, and said with a laugh: "don't hurry, my beauty; stay and take dinner wid us!" margaret again attempted to rise, and screamed, as phil rushed into the room with drawn revolver. one of the negroes fired at him, missed, and the next moment dropped dead with a bullet through his heart. the other leaped across the table and through the open window. margaret turned, confronting both phil and ben with revolvers in their hands, and fainted. ben hurried phil out the back door and persuaded him to fly. "man, you must go! we must not have a riot here to-day. there's no telling what will happen. a disturbance now, and my men will swarm into town to-night. for god's sake go, until things are quiet!" "but i tell you i'll face it. i'm not afraid," said phil quietly. "no, but i am," urged ben. "these two hundred negroes are armed and drunk. their officers may not be able to control them, and they may lay their hands on you--go--go!--go!--you must go! the train is due in fifteen minutes." he half lifted him on a horse tied behind the hotel, leaped on another, galloped to the flag-station two miles out of town, and put him on the north-bound train. "stay in charlotte until i wire for you," was ben's parting injunction. he turned his horse's head for mcallister's, sent the two boys with all speed to the cyclops of each of the ten township dens with positive orders to disregard all wild rumours from piedmont and keep every man out of town for two days. as he rode back he met a squad of mounted white regulars, who arrested him. the trooper's companion had sworn positively that he was the man who killed the negro. within thirty minutes he was tried by drum-head court-martial and sentenced to be shot. chapter vii the snare of the fowler sweet was the secret joy of old stoneman over the fate of ben cameron. his death sentence would strike terror to his party, and his prompt execution, on the morning of the election but two days off, would turn the tide, save the state, and rescue his daughter from a hated alliance. he determined to bar the last way of escape. he knew the klan would attempt a rescue, and stop at no means fair or foul short of civil war. afraid of the loyalty of the white battalions quartered in piedmont, he determined to leave immediately for spartanburg, order an exchange of garrisons, and, when the death warrant was returned from headquarters, place its execution in the hands of a stranger, to whom appeal would be vain. he knew such an officer in the spartanburg post, a man of fierce, vindictive nature, once court-martialed for cruelty, who hated every southern white man with mortal venom. he would put him in command of the death watch. he hired a fast team and drove across the county with all speed, doubly anxious to get out of town before elsie discovered the tragedy and appealed to him for mercy. her tears and agony would be more than he could endure. she would stay indoors on account of the crowds, and he would not be missed until evening, when safely beyond her reach. when phil arrived at charlotte he found an immense crowd at the bulletin board in front of the _observer_ office reading the account of the piedmont tragedy. to his horror he learned of the arrest, trial, and sentence of ben for the deed which he had done. he rushed to the office of the division superintendent of the piedmont air line railroad, revealed his identity, told him the true story of the tragedy, and begged for a special to carry him back. the superintendent, who was a clansman, not only agreed, but within an hour had the special ready and two cars filled with stern-looking men to accompany him. phil asked no questions. he knew what it meant. the train stopped at gastonia and king's mountain and took on a hundred more men. the special pulled into piedmont at dusk. phil ran to the commandant and asked for an interview with ben alone. "for what purpose, sir?" the officer asked. phil resorted to a ruse, knowing the commandant to be unaware of any difference of opinion between him and his father. "i hold a commission to obtain a confession from the prisoner which may save his life by destroying the ku klux klan." he was admitted at once and the guard ordered to withdraw until the interview ended. phil took ben cameron's place, exchanging hat and coat, and wrote a note to his father, telling in detail the truth, and asked for his immediate interference. "deliver that, and i'll be out of here in two hours," he said, as he placed the note in ben's hand. "i'll go straight to the house," was the quick reply. the exchange of the southerner's slouch hat and prince albert for phil's derby and short coat completely fooled the guard in the dim light. the men were as much alike as twins except the shade of difference in the colour of their hair. he passed the sentinel without a challenge, and walked rapidly toward stoneman's house. on the way he was astonished to meet five hundred soldiers just arrived on a special from spartanburg. amazed at the unexpected movement, he turned and followed them back to the jail. they halted in front of the building he had just vacated, and their commander handed an official document to the officer in charge. the guard was changed and a cordon of soldiers encircled the prison. the piedmont garrison had received notice by wire to move to spartanburg, and ben heard the beat of their drums already marching to board the special. he pressed forward and asked an interview with the captain in command. the answer came with a brutal oath: "i have been warned against all the tricks and lies this town can hatch. the commander of the death watch will permit no interview, receive no visitors, hear no appeal, and allow no communication with the prisoner until after the execution. you can announce this to whom it may concern." "but you've got the wrong man. you have no right to execute him," said ben excitedly. "i'll risk it," he answered, with a sneer. "great god!" ben cried beneath his breath. "the old fool has entrapped his son in the net he spread for me!" chapter viii a ride for a life when ben cameron failed to find either elsie or her father at home, he hurried to the hotel, walking under the shadows of the trees to avoid recognition, though his resemblance to phil would have enabled him to pass in his hat and coat unchallenged by any save the keenest observers. he found his mother's bedroom door ajar and saw elsie within, sobbing in her arms. he paused, watched, and listened. never had he seen his mother so beautiful--her face calm, intelligent, and vital, crowned with a halo of gray. she stood, flushed and dignified, softly smoothing the golden hair of the sobbing girl whom she had learned to love as her daughter. her whole being reflected the years of homage she had inspired in husband, children, and neighbours. what a woman! she had made war inevitable, fought it to the bitter end; and in the despair of a negro reign of terror, still the prophetess and high priestess of a people, serene, undismayed, and defiant, she had fitted the uniform of a grand dragon on her last son, and sewed in secret day and night to equip his men. and through it all she was without affectation, her sweet motherly ways, gentle manner and bearing always resistless to those who came within her influence. "if he dies," cried the tearful voice, "i shall never forgive myself for not surrendering without reserve and fighting his battles with him!" "he is not dead yet," was the mother's firm answer. "doctor cameron is on queen's back. your lover's men will be riding to-night--these young dare-devil knights of the south, with their life in their hands, a song on their lips, and the scorn of death in their souls!" "then i'll ride with them," cried the girl, suddenly lifting her head. ben stepped into the room, and with a cry of joy elsie sprang into his arms. the mother stood silent until their lips met in the long tender kiss of the last surrender of perfect love. "how did you escape so soon?" she asked quietly, while elsie's head still lay on his breast. "phil shot the brute, and i rushed him out of town. he heard the news, returned on the special, took my place, and sent me for his father. the guard has been changed and it's impossible to see him, or communicate with the new commandant----" elsie started and turned pale. "and father has hidden to avoid me--merciful god--if phil is executed----" "he isn't dead yet, either," said ben, slipping his arm around her. "but we must save him without a clash or a drop of bloodshed, if possible. the fate of our people may hang on this. a battle with united states troops now might mean ruin for the south----" "but you will save him?" elsie pleaded, looking into his face. "yes--or i'll go down with him," was the steady answer. "where is margaret?" he asked. "gone to mcallister's with a message from your father," mrs. cameron replied, "tell her when she returns to keep a steady nerve. i'll save phil. send her to find her father. tell him to hold five hundred men ready for action in the woods by the river and the rest in reserve two miles out of town----" "may i go with her?" elsie asked eagerly. "no. i may need you," he said. "i am going to find the old statesman now, if i have to drag the bottomless pit. wait here until i return." ben reached the telegraph office unobserved, called the operator at columbia, and got the grand giant of the county into the office. within an hour he learned that the death warrant had been received and approved. it would be returned by a messenger to piedmont on the morning train. he learned also that any appeal for a stay must be made through the honourable austin stoneman, the secret representative of the government clothed with this special power. the execution had been ordered the day of the election, to prevent the concentration of any large force bent on rescue. "the old fox!" ben muttered. from the grand giant at spartanburg he learned, after a delay of three hours, that stoneman had left with a boy in a buggy, which he had hired for three days, and refused to tell his destination. he promised to follow and locate him as quickly as possible. it was the afternoon on the day following, during the progress of the election, before ben received the message from spartanburg that stoneman had been found at the old red tavern where the roads crossed from piedmont to hambright. it was only twelve miles away, just over the line on the north carolina side. he walked with margaret to the block where queen stood saddled, watching with pride the quiet air of self-control with which she bore herself. "now, my sister, you know the way to the tavern. ride for your sweetheart's life. bring the old man here by five o'clock, and we'll save phil without a fight. keep your nerve. the commandant knows a regiment of mine is lying in the woods, and he's trying to slip out of town with his prisoner. i'll stand by my men ready for a battle at a moment's notice, but for god's sake get here in time to prevent it." she stooped from the saddle, pressed her brother's hand, kissed him, and galloped swiftly over the old way of romance she knew so well. on reaching the tavern, the landlord rudely denied that any such man was there, and left her standing dazed and struggling to keep back the tears. a boy of eight, with big wide friendly eyes, slipped into the room, looked up into her face tenderly, and said: "he's the biggest liar in north carolina. the old man's right upstairs in the room over your head. come on; i'll show you." margaret snatched the child in her arms and kissed him. she knocked in vain for ten minutes. at last she heard his voice within: "go away from that door!" "i'm from piedmont, sir," cried margaret, "with an important message from the commandant for you." "yes; i saw you come. i will not see you. i know everything, and i will hear no appeal." "but you cannot know of the exchange of men," pleaded the girl. "i tell you i know all about it. i will not interfere----" "but you could not be so cruel----" "the majesty of the law must be vindicated. the judge who consents to the execution of a murderer is not cruel. he is showing mercy to society. go, now; i will not hear you." in vain margaret knocked, begged, pleaded, and sobbed. at last, in a fit of desperation, as she saw the sun sinking lower and the precious minutes flying, she hurled her magnificent figure against the door and smashed the cheap lock which held it. the old man sat at the other side of the room, looking out of the window, with his massive jaws locked in rage. the girl staggered to his side, knelt by his chair, placed her trembling hand on his arm, and begged: "for the love of jesus, have mercy! come with me quickly!" with a growl of anger, he said: "no!" [illustration: miriam cooper as margaret cameron.] "it was a mad impulse, in my defence as well as his own." "impulse, yes! but back of it lay banked the fires of cruelty and race hatred! the nation cannot live with such barbarism rotting its heart out." "but this is war, sir--a war of races, and this an accident of war--besides, his life had been attempted by them twice before." "so i've heard, and yet the negro always happens to be the victim----" margaret leaped to her feet and glared at the old man for a moment in uncontrollable anger. "are you a fiend?" she fairly shrieked. old stoneman merely pursed his lips. the girl came a step closer, and extended her hand again in mute appeal. "no, i was foolish. you are not cruel. i have heard of a hundred acts of charity you have done among our poor. come, this is horrible! it is impossible! you cannot consent to the death of your son----" stoneman looked up sharply: "thank god, he hasn't married my daughter yet----" "your daughter!" gasped margaret. "i've told you it was phil who killed the negro! he took ben's place just before the guards were exchanged----" "phil!--phil?" shrieked the old man, staggering to his club foot and stumbling toward margaret with dilated eyes and whitening face; "my boy--phil?--why--why, are you crazy?--phil? did you say--_phil_?" "yes. ben persuaded him to go to charlotte until the excitement passed to avoid trouble. come, come, sir, we must be quick! we may be too late!" she seized and pulled him toward the door. "yes. yes, we must hurry," he said in a laboured whisper, looking around dazed. "you will show me the way, my child--you love him--yes, we will go quickly--quickly! my boy--my boy!" margaret called the landlord, and while they hitched queen to the buggy, the old man stood helplessly wringing and fumbling his big ugly hands, muttering incoherently, and tugging at his collar as though about to suffocate. as they dashed away, old stoneman laid a trembling hand on margaret's arm. "your horse is a good one, my child?" "yes; the one marion saved--the finest in the county." "and you know the way?" "every foot of it. phil and i have driven it often." "yes, yes--you love him," he sighed, pressing her hand. through the long reckless drive, as the mare flew over the rough hills, every nerve and muscle of her fine body at its utmost tension, the father sat silent. he braced his club foot against the iron bar of the dashboard and gripped the sides of the buggy to steady his feeble body. margaret leaned forward intently watching the road to avoid an accident. the old man's strange colourless eyes stared straight in front, wide open, and seeing nothing, as if the soul had already fled through them into eternity. chapter ix "vengeance is mine" it was dark long before margaret and stoneman reached piedmont. a mile out of town a horse neighed in the woods, and, tired as she was, queen threw her head high and answered the call. the old man did not notice it, but margaret knew a squadron of white-and-scarlet horsemen stood in those woods, and her heart gave a bound of joy. as they passed the presbyterian church, she saw through the open window her father standing at his elder's seat leading in prayer. they were holding a watch service, asking god for victory in the eventful struggle of the day. margaret attempted to drive straight to the jail, and a sentinel stopped them. "i am stoneman, sir--the real commander of these troops," said the old man, with authority. "orders is orders, and i don't take 'em from you," was the answer. "then tell your commander that mr. stoneman has just arrived from spartanburg and asks to see him at the hotel immediately." he hobbled into the parlour and waited in agony while margaret tied the mare. ben, her mother and father, and every servant were gone. in a few moments the second officer hurried to stoneman, saluted, and said: "we've pulled it off in good shape, sir. they've tried to fool us with a dozen tricks, and a whole regiment has been lying in wait for us all day. but at dark the captain outwitted them, took his prisoner with a squad of picked cavalry, and escaped their pickets. they've been gone an hour, and ought to be back with the body----" old stoneman sprang on him with the sudden fury of a madman, clutching at his throat. "if you've killed my son," he gasped--"go--go! follow them with a swift messenger and stop them! it's a mistake--you're killing the wrong man--you're killing my boy--quick--my god, quick--don't stand there staring at me!" the officer rushed to obey his order as margaret entered. the old man seized her arm, and said with laboured breath: "your father, my child, ask him to come to me quickly." margaret hurried to the church, and an usher called the doctor to the door. he read the question trembling on the girl's lips. "nothing has happened yet, my daughter. your brother has held a regiment of his men in readiness every moment of the day." "mr. stoneman is at the hotel and asks to see you immediately," she whispered. "god grant he may prevent bloodshed," said the father. "go inside and stay with your mother." when doctor cameron entered the parlour stoneman hobbled painfully to meet him, his face ashen, and his breath rattling in his throat as if his soul were being strangled. "you are my enemy, doctor," he said, taking his hand, "but you are a pious man. i have been called an infidel--i am only a wilful sinner--i have slain my own son, unless god almighty, who can raise the dead, shall save him! you are the man at whom i aimed the blow that has fallen on my head. i wish to confess to you and set myself right before god. he may hear my cry, and have mercy on me." he gasped for breath, sank into his seat, looked around, and said: "will you close the door?" the doctor complied with his request and returned. "we all wear masks, doctor," began the trembling voice. "beneath lie the secrets of love and hate from which actions move. my will alone forged the chains of negro rule. three forces moved me--party success, a vicious woman, and the quenchless desire for personal vengeance. when i first fell a victim to the wiles of the yellow vampire who kept my house, i dreamed of lifting her to my level. and when i felt myself sinking into the black abyss of animalism, i, whose soul had learned the pathway of the stars and held high converse with the great spirits of the ages----" he paused, looked up in terror, and whispered: "what's that noise? isn't it the distant beat of horses' hoofs?" "no," said the doctor, listening; "it's the roar of the falls we hear, from a sudden change of the wind." "i'm done now," stoneman went on, slowly fumbling his hands. "my life has been a failure. the dice of god are always loaded." his great head drooped lower, and he continued: "mightiest of all was my motive of revenge. fierce business and political feuds wrecked my iron mills. i shouldered their vast debts, and paid the last mortgage of a hundred thousand dollars the week before lee invaded my state. i stood on the hill in the darkness, cried, raved, cursed, while i watched the troops lay those mills in ashes. then and there i swore that i'd live until i ground the south beneath my heel! when i got back to my house they had buried a confederate soldier in the field. i dug his body up, carted it to the woods, and threw it into a ditch----" the hand of the white-haired southerner suddenly gripped old stoneman's throat--and then relaxed. his head sank on his breast, and he cried in anguish: "god be merciful to me a sinner! would i, too, seek revenge!" stoneman looked at the doctor, dazed by his sudden onslaught and collapse. "yes, he was somebody's boy down here," he went on, "who was loved perhaps even as i love--i don't blame you. see, in the inside pocket next to my heart i carry the pictures of phil and elsie taken from babyhood up, all set in a little book. they don't know this--nor does the world dream i've been so soft-hearted----" he drew a miniature album from his pocket and fumbled it aimlessly: "you know phil was my first-born----" his voice broke, and he looked at the doctor helplessly. the southerner slipped his arm around the old man's shoulders and began a tender and reverent prayer. the sudden thunder of a squad of cavalry with clanking sabres swept by the hotel toward the jail. stoneman scrambled to his feet, staggered, and caught a chair. "it's no use," he groaned, "--they've come with his body--i'm slipping down--the lights are going out--i haven't a friend! it's dark and cold--i'm alone, and lost--god--has--hidden--his--face--from--me!" voices were heard without, and the tramp of heavy feet on the steps. stoneman clutched the doctor's arm in agony: "stop them!--stop them! don't let them bring him in here!" he sank limp into the chair and stared at the door as it swung open and phil walked in, with ben and elsie by his side, in full clansman disguise. the old man leaped to his feet and gasped: "the klan!--the klan! no? yes! it's true--glory to god, they've saved my boy--phil--phil!" "how did you rescue him?" doctor cameron asked ben. "had a squadron lying in wait on every road that led from town. the captain thought a thousand men were on him, and surrendered without a shot." * * * * * at twelve o'clock ben stood at the gate with elsie. "your fate hangs in the balance of this election to-night," she said. "i'll share it with you, success or failure, life or death." "success, not failure," he answered firmly. "the grand dragons of six states have already wired victory. look at our lights on the mountains! they are ablaze--range on range our signals gleam until the fiery cross is lost among the stars!" "what does it mean?" she whispered. "that i am a successful revolutionist--that civilization has been saved, and the south redeemed from shame." the end dixie after the war [illustration: jefferson davis after his prison life copyright , by anderson] dixie after the war an exposition of social conditions existing in the south, during the twelve years succeeding the fall of richmond. by myrta lockett avary author of "a virginia girl in the civil war" with an introduction by general clement a. evans illustrated from old paintings, daguerreotypes and rare photographs new york doubleday, page & company copyright, , by doubleday, page & company published september, all rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the scandinavian to the memory of my brother, philip lockett, (_first lieutenant, company g, th virginia infantry, armistead's brigade, pickett's division, c. s. a._) _entering the confederate army, when hardly more than a lad, he followed general robert e. lee for four years, surrendering at appomattox. he was in pickett's immortal charge at gettysburg, and with armistead when armistead fell on cemetery hill._ the faces i see before me are those of young men. had you not been this i would not have appeared alone as the defender of my southland, but for love of her i break my silence and speak to you. before you lies the future--a future full of golden promise, full of recompense for noble endeavor, full of national glory before which the world will stand amazed. let me beseech you to lay aside all rancor, and all bitter sectional feeling, and take your place in the rank of those who will bring about a conciliation out of which will issue a reunited country.--_from an address by jefferson davis in his last years, to the young men of the south_ introduction this book may be called a revelation. it seems to me a body of discoveries that should not be kept from the public--discoveries which have origin in many sources but are here brought together in one book for the first time. no book hitherto published portrays so fully and graphically the social conditions existing in the south for the twelve years following the fall of richmond, none so vividly presents race problems. it is the kind of history a witness gives. the author received from observers and participants the larger part of the incidents and anecdotes which she employs. those who lived during reconstruction are passing away so rapidly that data, unless gathered now, can never be had thus at first hand; every year increases the difficulty. mrs. avary's experience as author, editor and journalist, her command of shorthand and her social connections have opened up opportunities not usually accessible to one person; added to this is the balance of sympathy which she is able to strike as a southern woman who has sojourned much at the north. in these pages she renders a public service. she aids the american to better understanding of his country's past and clearer concept of its present. in connection with the book's genesis, it may be said that the author grew up after the war on a large virginia plantation where her parents kept open house in the true southern fashion. two public roads which united at their gates, were thoroughfares linking county-towns in virginia and north carolina, and were much traveled by jurists, lawyers and politicians on their way to and from various court sittings; these gentlemen often found it both convenient and pleasant to stop for supper and over night at lombardy grove, particularly as a son of the house was of their guild. perhaps few of the company thus gathered realised what an earnest listener they had in the little girl, myrta, who sat intent at her father's or brother's knee, drinking in eagerly the discussions and stories. to impressions and information so acquired much was added through family correspondence with relatives and friends in petersburg, richmond, atlanta, the carolinas; also, in experiences related by these friends and relatives when hospitalities were exchanged; interesting and eventful diaries, too, were at the author's disposal. such was her unconscious preparation for the writing of this book. her conscious preparation was a tour of several southern states recently undertaken for the purpose of collecting fresh data and substantiating information already possessed. while engaged, for a season, in journalism in new york, she put out her first southern book, "a virginia girl in the civil war" ( ). this met with such warm welcome that she was promptly called upon for a second dealing with post-bellum life from a woman's viewpoint. the result was the southern journey mentioned, the accidental discovery and presentment ( ) of the war journal of mrs. james chestnut ("a diary from dixie"), and the writing of the present volume which, i think, exceeds her commission, inasmuch as it is not only what is known as a "woman's book" but is a "man's book" also, exhibiting a masculine grasp, explained by its origin, of political situations, and an intimate personal tone in dealing with the lighter social side of things, possible only to a woman's pen. it is a very unusual book. all readers may not accept the author's conclusions, but i think that all must be interested in what she says and impressed with her spirit of fairness and her painstaking effort to present a truthful picture of an extraordinary social and political period in our national life. her work stimulates interest in southern history. a safe prophecy is that this book will be the precursor of as many post-bellum memoirs of feminine authorship as was "a virginia girl" of memoirs of war-time. no successor can be more comprehensive, as a glance at the table of contents will show. the tragedy, pathos, corruption, humour, and absurdities of the military dictatorship and of reconstruction, the topsy-turvy conditions generally, domestic upheaval, negroes voting, black and tan conventions and legislatures, disorder on plantations, loyal leagues and freedmen's bureaus, ku klux and red shirts, are presented with a vividness akin to the camera's. a wide interest is appealed to in the earlier chapters narrating incidents connected with mr. lincoln's visit to richmond, mr. davis' journeyings, capture and imprisonment, the arrest of vice-president stephens and the effort to capture general toombs. those which deal with the federal occupation of columbia and richmond at once rivet attention. the most full and graphic description of the situation in the latter city just after the war, that has yet been produced, is given, and i think the interpretation of mr. davis' course in leaving richmond instead of remaining and trying to enter into peace negotiations, is a point not hitherto so clearly taken. as a bird's-eye view of the south after the war, the book is expositive of its title, every salient feature of the time and territory being brought under observation. the states upon which attention is chiefly focussed, however, are virginia and south carolina, two showing reconstruction at its best and worst. the reader does not need assurance that this volume cost the author years of well-directed labour; hasty effort could not have produced a work of such depth, breadth and variety. it will meet with prompt welcome, i am sure, and its value will not diminish with years. clement a. evans. _atlanta, ga._ contents page chapter i. the falling cross chapter ii. "when this cruel war is over" chapter iii. the army of the union: the children and the flag chapter iv. the coming of lincoln chapter v. the last capital of the confederacy chapter vi. the counsel of lee chapter vii. "the saddest good friday" chapter viii. the wrath of the north chapter ix. the chaining of jefferson davis chapter x. our friends, the enemy chapter xi. buttons, lovers, oaths, war lords, and prayers for presidents chapter xii. clubbed to his knees chapter xiii. new fashions: a little bonnet and an alpaca skirt chapter xiv. the general in the cornfield chapter xv. tournaments and starvation parties chapter xvi. the bondage of the free chapter xvii. back to voodooism chapter xviii. the freedmen's bureau chapter xix. the prisoner of fortress monroe chapter xx. reconstruction oratory chapter xxi. the prisoner free chapter xxii. a little plain history chapter xxiii. the black and tan convention: the "midnight constitution" chapter xxiv. secret societies: loyal league, white camelias, white brotherhood, pale faces, ku klux chapter xxv. the southern ballot-box chapter xxvi. the white child chapter xxvii. schoolmarms and other newcomers chapter xxviii. the carpet-bagger chapter xxix. the devil on the santee (a rice-planter's story) chapter xxx. battle for the state-house chapter xxxi. crime against womanhood chapter xxxii. race prejudice chapter xxxiii. memorial day and decoration day. confederate societies list of illustrations jefferson davis _frontispiece_ facing page the ruins of millwood mrs. jefferson davis the white house the governor's mansion, richmond st. paul's church the last capitol of the confederacy the old bank, washington, ga. general and mrs. john h. morgan the lee residence, richmond mrs. robert e. lee mrs. joseph e. johnston libby prison mrs. david l. yulee miss mary meade mrs. henry l. pope mrs. william howell mrs. andrew gray miss addie prescott mrs. david urquhart mrs. leonidas polk mrs. andrew pickens calhoun fortress monroe historical petit jury mrs. augusta evans wilson mme. octavia walton le vert mrs. david r. williams miss emily v. mason mrs. wade hampton radical members of the legislature of south carolina the southern cross mrs. rebecca calhoun pickens bacon mrs. roger a. pryor winnie davis, the daughter of the confederacy the falling cross chapter i the falling cross "the southern cross" and a cross that fell during the burning of columbia occur to my mind in unison. with the confederate army gone and richmond open to the federal army, her people remembered new orleans, atlanta, columbia. new orleans, where "beast butler" issued orders giving his soldiers license to treat ladies offending them as "women of the town." atlanta, whose citizens were ordered to leave; general hood had protested and mayor calhoun had plead the cause of the old and feeble, of women that were with child; and of them that turned out of their houses had nowhere to go, and without money, food, or shelter, must perish in woods and waysides. general sherman had replied: "i give full credit to your statements of the distress that will be occasioned, yet shall not revoke my orders, because they were not designed to meet the humanities of the case. you cannot qualify war in harsher terms than i will. war is cruelty, and you cannot refine it." "the order to depopulate atlanta was obeyed amid agonies and sorrows indescribable," colonel j. h. keatley, u. s. a., has affirmed. there are some who hold with general sherman that the most merciful way to conduct war is to make it as merciless and horrible as possible, and so end it the quicker. one objection to this is that it creates in a subjugated people such hatred and distrust of the conquering army and government that a generation or two must die out before this passes away; and therefore, in a very real sense, the method does not make quick end of conflict. richmond remembered how mayor goodwin went to meet general sherman and surrendered columbia, praying for it his pity and protection. general sherman had said: "go home and sleep in peace, mr. mayor. your city shall be safe." mayor goodwin returned, praising general sherman. by next morning, the city of gardens was almost swept from the face of the earth. the rabble ("my bummers," general sherman laughingly called his men set apart for such work), pouring into the town, had invaded and sacked homes, driving inmates--among these mothers with new-born babes--into the streets; they had demolished furniture, fired dwellings. houses of worship were not spared. the methodist church, at whose altar the sabbath before rev. william martin had administered the sacrament to over four hundred negroes, was burned. so was the ursuline convent. this institution was a branch of the order in ohio; it sheltered nuns and students of both sections; protestant and catholic alike were there in sanctuary. one northern sister had lost two brothers in the federal army. another was joyously hoping to find in sherman's ranks one or more of her five yankee brothers. the shock of that night killed her. a western girl was "hoping yet fearing" to see her kinsmen. guards, appointed for protection, aided in destruction. rooms were invaded, trunks rifled. drunken soldiers blew smoke in nuns' faces, saying: "holy! holy! o yes, we are holy as you!" and: "what do you think of god now? is not sherman greater?" because of the sacred character of the establishment, because general sherman was a catholic, and because he had sent assurances of protection to the mother superior, they had felt safe. but they had to go. "i marched in the procession through the blazing streets," wrote the western girl, "venerable father o'connell at the head holding high the crucifix, the black-robed mother superior and the _religieuses_ following with their charges, the white-faced, frightened girls and children, all in line and in perfect order. they sought the catholic church for safety, and the sisters put the little ones to sleep on the cushioned pews; then the children, driven out by roystering soldiers, ran stumbling and terror-stricken into the graveyard and crouched behind gravestones." one soldier said he was sorry for the women and children of south carolina, but the hotbed of secession must be destroyed. "but i am not a south carolinian," retorted the western girl, "i am from ohio. our mother superior was in the same convent in ohio with general sherman's sister and daughter." "the general ought to know that," he responded quickly. "if you are from ohio--that's my state--i'll help you." for answer, she pointed to the convent; the cross above it was falling. they recur to my mind in unison--that cross, sacred alike to north and south, falling above a burning city, and the falling southern cross, dixie's beautiful battle-flag. two nuns, conferring apart if it would not be well to take the children into the woods, heard a deep, sad voice saying: "your position distresses me greatly!" startled, they turned to perceive a federal officer beside a tombstone just behind them. "are you a catholic," they asked, "that you pity us?" "no; simply a man and a soldier." dawn came, and with it some irish soldiers to early mass. appalled, they cried: "o, this will never do! send for the general! the general would never permit it!" at reveille all arson, looting and violence had ceased as by magic, even as conflagration had started as by magic in the early hours of the night when four signal rockets went up from as many corners of the town. but the look of the desolated city in the glare of daylight was indescribable. around the church were broken and empty trunks and boxes; in the entrance stood a harp with broken strings. general sherman came riding by; the mother superior summoned him; calmly facing the attila of his day, she said in her clear, sweet voice: "general, this is how you keep your promise to me, a cloistered nun, and these my sacred charges." general sherman answered: "madame, it is all the fault of your negroes, who gave my soldiers liquor to drink." general sherman, in official report, charged the burning of columbia to general hampton, and in his "memoirs" gives his reason: "i confess that i did so to shake the faith of his people in him"; and asserts that his "right wing," "having utterly ruined columbia," passed on to winnsboro. living witnesses tell how that firing was done. a party of soldiers would enter a dwelling, search and rifle; and in departing throw wads of burning paper into closets, corners, under beds, into cellars. another party would repeat the process. family and servants would follow after, removing wads and extinguishing flames until ready to drop. devastation for secession, that was what was made plain in south carolina; if the hotbed of "heresy" had to be destroyed for her sins, what of the confederate capital, richmond, the long-desired, the "heart of the rebellion"? [illustration: the ruins of millwood millwood was the ancestral home of general hampton, and was burned by sherman's orders. the property is now owned by general hampton's sisters.] "when this cruel war is over" chapter ii "when this cruel war is over" "when this cruel war is over" was the name of one of our war songs. so many things we planned to do when the war should be over. with the fall of the southern capital the war was over, though we did not know it at once. again and again has the story been told of sunday, april , in richmond. the message brought into st. paul's church from lee to davis, saying richmond could no longer be defended; the quiet departure of the president; the noble bearing of the beloved rector, rev. dr. minnegerode; the self-control of the troubled people remaining; the solemn communion service; these are all a part now of american history of that sad time when brother strove with brother; a time whose memories should never be revived for the purpose of keeping rancor alive, but that should be unfalteringly remembered, and every phase of it diligently studied, that our common country may in no wise lose the lesson for which we of the north and south paid so tremendous a price. into dr. hoge's church a hurried messenger came. the pastor read the note handed up to him, bowed his head in silent prayer, and then said: "brethren, trying scenes are before us; general lee has suffered reverses. but remember that god is with us in the storm as well as in the calm. go quietly to your homes, and whatever may be in store for us, let us not forget that we are christian men and women. the blessing of the father, the son, and the holy ghost be with us all. amen." so other pastors commended their people. none who lived through that sabbath could forget it. our government, our soldiers, hurrying off; women saying goodbye to husband, lover, brother, or friend, and urging haste; everybody who could go, going, when means of transportation were insufficient for government uses, and "a kingdom for a horse" could not buy one--horses brought that day $ , apiece in gold; handsome houses full of beautiful furniture left open and deserted; people of all sexes, colors and classes running hither and yon; boxes and barrels dragged about the streets from open commissary stores; explosions as of earthquakes; houses aflame; the sick and dying brought out; streets running liquid fire where liquor had been emptied into gutters, that it might not be available for invading troops; bibulous wretches in the midst of the terror, brooding over such waste; drunken roughs and looters, white and black, abroad; the penitentiary disgorging striped hordes; the ribald songs, the anguish, the fears, the tumult; the noble calm of brave souls, the patient endurance of sweet women and gentle children--these are all a part of american history, making thereon a page blistered with tears for some; and for others, illumined with symbols of triumph and glory. and yet, we are of one blood, and the triumph and glory of one is the triumph and glory of the other; the anguish and tears of one the anguish and tears of the other; and the shame of one is the shame of both. the fire was largely due to accident. in obedience to law, confederate forces, in evacuating the city, fired tobacco warehouses, ordnance and other government stores, gunboats in the james and bridges spanning the river. a wind, it is said, carried sparks towards the town, igniting first one building and then another; incendiarism lent aid that pilfering might go on in greater security through public disorder and distress. [illustration: mrs. jefferson davis] during the night detonations of exploding gunboats could be heard for miles, the noise and shock and lurid lights adding to the wretchedness of those within the city, and the anxieties of those who beheld its burnings from afar; among these, the advancing enemy, who was not without uneasy speculations lest he find richmond, as napoleon found moscow, in ashes. general shepley, u. s. a., has described the scene witnessed from his position near petersburg, as a most beautiful and awful display of fireworks, the heavens at three o'clock being suddenly filled with bursting shells, red lights, roman candles, fiery serpents, golden fountains, falling stars. nearly all the young men were gone; the fire department, without a full force of operatives, without horses, without hose, was unable to cope with the situation. old men, women and children, and negro servants fought the flames as well as they could. friends and relatives who were living in richmond then have told me about their experiences until i seem to have shared them. one who appears in these pages as matoaca, gives me this little word-picture of the morning after the evacuation: "i went early to the war department, where i had been employed, to get letters out of my desk. the desk was open. everything was open. our president, our government, our soldiers were gone. the papers were found and i started homeward. we saw rolls of smoke ahead, and trod carefully the fiery streets. suddenly my companion caught my arm, crying: 'is not that the sound of cavalry?' we hurried, almost running. soon after we entered the house, some one exclaimed: "'god help us! the united states flag is flying over our capitol!' "i laid my head on uncle randolph's knee and shivered. he placed his hand lightly on my head and said: 'trust in god, my child. they can not be cruel to us. we are defenseless.' he had fought for that flag in mexico. he had stood by virginia, but he had always been a unionist. i thought of new orleans, atlanta, columbia." an impression obtained that to negro troops was assigned the honor of first entering richmond, hauling down the southern cross and hoisting in its place the stars and stripes. "harper's weekly" said: "it was fitting that the old flag should be restored by soldiers of the race to secure whose eternal degradation that flag had been pulled down." whether the assignment was made or not, i am unable to say; if it was, it was not very graceful or wise on the part of our conquerors, and had it been carried out, would have been prophetic of what came after--the subversion. white troops first entered richmond, and a white man ran up the flag of the union over our capitol. general shepley says that to his aide, lieutenant de peyster, he accorded the privilege as a reward for caring for his old flag that had floated over city hall in new orleans. on the other hand, it is asserted that major stevens performed the historic office, running up the two small guidons of the fourth massachusetts cavalry, which were presently displaced by the large flag lieutenant de peyster had been carrying in the holster at his saddle-bow for many a day, that it might be in readiness for the use to which he now put it. the army of the union chapter iii the army of the union: the children and the flag the army of the union entered richmond with almost the solemnity of a processional entering church. it was occasion for solemn procession, that entrance into our burning city where a stricken people, flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone, watched in terror for their coming. our broken-hearted people closed their windows and doors and shut out as far as they could all sights and sounds. yet through closed lattice there came that night to those living near military headquarters echoes of rejoicings. early that fateful morning, mayor mayo, judge meredith and judge lyons went out to meet the incoming foe and deliver up the keys of the city. their coach of state was a dilapidated equipage, the horses being but raw-boned shadows of better days when there were corn and oats in the land. they carried a piece of wallpaper, on the unflowered side of which articles of surrender were inscribed in dignified terms setting forth that "it is proper to formally surrender the city of richmond, hitherto capital of the confederate states of america." had the words been engraved on satin in letters of gold, judge lyons (who had once represented the united states at the court of st. james) could not have performed the honours of introduction between the municipal party and the federal officers with statelier grace, nor could the latter have received the instrument of submission with profounder courtesy. "we went out not knowing what we would encounter," mayor mayo reported, "and we met a group of chesterfields." major atherton h. stevens, of general weitzel's staff, was the immediate recipient of the wallpaper document. general weitzel and his associates were merciful to the stricken city; they aided her people in extinguishing the flames; restored order and gave protection. guards were posted wherever needed, with instructions to repress lawlessness, and they did it. to this day, richmond people rise up in the gates and praise that army of the occupation as columbia's people can never praise general sherman's. good effect on popular sentiment was immediate. among many similar incidents of the times is this, as related by a prominent physician: "when i returned from my rounds at chimborazo i found a yankee soldier sitting on my stoop with my little boy, walter, playing with the tassels and buttons on his uniform. he arose and saluted courteously, and told me he was there to guard my property. 'i am under orders,' he said, 'to comply with any wish you may express.'" dr. gildersleeve, in an address (june, ) before the association of medical officers of the army and navy, c. s. a., referred to chimborazo hospital as "the most noted and largest military hospital in the annals of history, ancient or modern." with its many white buildings and tents on chimborazo hill, it looked like a town and a military post, which latter it was, with dr. james b. mccaw for commandant. general weitzel and his staff visited the hospital promptly. dr. mccaw and his corps in full uniform received them. dr. mott, general weitzel's chief medical director, exclaimed: "ain't that old jim mccaw?" "yes," said "jim mccaw," "and don't you want a drink?" "invite the general, too," answered dr. mott. general weitzel issued passes to dr. mccaw and his corps, and gave verbal orders that chimborazo confederates should be taken care of under all circumstances. he proposed to take dr. mccaw and his corps into the federal service, thus arming him with power to make requisition for supplies, medicines, etc., which offer the doctor, as a loyal confederate, was unable to accept. others of our physicians and surgeons found friends in federal ranks. to how many poor boys in blue, longing for home and kindred, had not they and our women ministered! the orders of the confederate government were that the sick and wounded of both armies should be treated alike. true, nobody had the best of fare, for we had it not to give. we were without medicines; it was almost impossible to get morphia, quinine, and other remedies. quinine was $ an ounce, when it could be bought at all, even in the earlier years of the war. our women became experts in manufacturing substitutes out of native herbs and roots. we ran wofully short of dressings and bandages, and bundles of old rags became treasures priceless. but the most cruel shortage was in food. bitter words in northern papers and by northern speakers--after our defeat intensified, multiplied, and illustrated--about our treatment of prisoners exasperated us. "will they never learn," we asked, "that on such rations as we gave our prisoners, our men were fighting in the field? we had not food for ourselves; the north blockaded us so we could not bring food from outside, and refused to exchange prisoners with us. what could we do?" i wonder how many men now living remember certain loaves of wheaten bread which the women of richmond collected with difficulty in the last days of the war and sent to miss emily v. mason, our "florence nightingale," for our own boys. "boys," miss emily announced--sick soldiers, if graybeards, were "boys" to "cap'n," as they all called miss emily--"i have some flour-bread which the ladies of richmond have sent you." cheers, and other expressions of thankfulness. "the poor, sick yankees," miss emily went on falteringly--uneasy countenances in the ward--"_can't_ eat corn-bread--" "give the flour-bread to the poor, sick yankees, cap'n!" came in cheerful, if quavering chorus from the cots. "_we_ can eat corn-bread. gruel is good for us. we _like_ mush. oughtn't to have flour-bread nohow." "poor fellows!" "cap'n" said proudly of their self-denial, "they were tired to death of corn-bread in all forms, and it was not good for them, for nearly all had intestinal disorders." along with this corn-bread story, i recall how dr. minnegerode, protestant, and bishop magill, catholic, used to meet each other on the street, and the one would say: "doctor, lend me a dollar for a sick yankee." and the other: "bishop, i was about to ask _you_ for a dollar for a sick yankee." and how annie e. johns, of north carolina, said she had seen confederate soldiers take provisions from their own haversacks and give them to federal prisoners _en route_ to salisbury. as matron, she served in hospitals for the sick and wounded of both armies. she said: "when i was in a hospital for federals, i felt as if these men would defend me as promptly as our own." in spite of the pillage, vandalism and violence they suffered, southern women were not so biassed as to think that the gentle and brave could be found only among the wearers of the gray. even in sherman's army were the gentle and brave upon whom fell obloquy due the "bummers" only. i have heard many stories like that of the boyish guard who, tramping on his beat around a house he was detailed to protect, asked of a young mother: "why does your baby cry so?" she lifted her pale face, saying: "my baby is hungry. i have had no food--and so--i have no nourishment for him." tears sprang into his eyes, and he said: "i will be relieved soon; i will draw my rations and bring them to you." he brought her his hands full of all good things he could find--sugar, tea, and coffee. and like that of two young philadelphians who left grateful hearts behind them along the line of sherman's march because they made a business of seeing how many women and children they could relieve and protect. in columbia, during the burning, men in blue sought to stay ravages wrought by other men in blue. i hate to say hard things of men in blue, and i must say all the good things i can; because many were unworthy to wear the blue, many who were worthy have carried reproach. on that morning of the occupation, our women sat behind closed windows, unable to consider the new path stretching before them. the way seemed to end at a wall. could they have looked over and seen what lay ahead, they would have lost what little heart of hope they had; could vision have extended far enough, they might have won it back; they would have beheld some things unbelievable. for instance, they would have seen the little boy who played with the buttons and tassels, grown to manhood and wearing the uniform of an officer of the united states; they would have seen southern men walking the streets of richmond and other southern cities with "u. s. a." on their haversacks; and southern men and northern men fighting side by side in cuba and the philippines, and answering alike to the name, "yankees." on the day of the occupation, miss mason and mrs. rhett went out to meet general weitzel and stated that mrs. lee was an invalid, unable to walk, and that her house, like that of general chilton and others, was in danger of fire. "what!" he exclaimed, "mrs. lee in danger? general fitz lee's mother, who nursed me so tenderly when i was sick at west point! what can i do for her? command me!" "we mean mrs. robert e. lee," they said. "we want ambulances to move mrs. lee and other invalids and children to places of safety." using his knee as a writing-table, he wrote an order for five ambulances; and the ladies rode off. miss emily's driver became suddenly and mysteriously tipsy and she had to put an arm around him and back up the vehicle herself to general chilton's door, where his children, her nieces, were waiting, their dollies close clasped. "come along, virginia aristocracy!" hiccoughed the befuddled jehu. "i won't bite you! come along, virginia aristocracy!" a passing officer came to the rescue, and the party were soon safely housed in the beautiful rutherford home. the federals filled libby prison with confederates, many of whom were paroled prisoners found in the city. distressed women surrounded the prison, begging to know if loved ones were there; others plead to take food inside. some called, while watching windows: "let down your tin cup and i will put something in it." others cried: "is my husband in there? o, william, answer me if you are!" "is my son, johnny, here?" "o, please somebody tell me if my boy is in the prison!" miss emily passed quietly through the crowd, her hospital reputation securing admission to the prison; she was able to render much relief to those within, and to subdue the anxiety of those without. "heigho, johnny reb! in there now where we used to be!" yelled one yankee complacently. "been in there myself. d----d sorry for you, johnnies!" called up another. a serio-comic incident of the grim period reveals the small boy in an attitude different from that of him who was dandled on the federal knee. some tiny lads mounted guard on the steps of a house opposite military headquarters, and, being intensely "rebel" and having no other means of expressing defiance to invaders, made faces at the distinguished occupants of the establishment across the way. general patrick, provost-marshal general, sent a courteously worded note to their father, calling his attention to these juvenile demonstrations. he explained that while he was not personally disturbed by the exhibition, members of his staff were, and that the children might get into trouble. the proper guardians of the wee insurgents, acting upon this information, their first of the battery unlimbered on their door-step, saw that the artillery was retired in good order, and peace and normal countenances reigned over the scene of the late engagements. i open a desultory diary matoaca kept, and read: "if the united states flag were my flag--if i loved it--i would not try to make people pass under it who do not want to. i would not let them. it is natural that we should go out of our way to avoid walking under it, a banner that has brought us so much pain and woe and want--that has desolated our whole land. "some yankees stretched a flag on a cord from tree to tree across the way our children had to come into richmond. the children saw it and cried out; and the driver was instructed to go another way. a federal soldier standing near--a guard, sentinel or picket--ordered the driver to turn back and drive under that flag. he obeyed, and the children were weeping and wailing as the carriage rolled under it." in raymond, mississippi, negro troops strung a flag across the street and drove the white children under it. in atlanta, two society belles were arrested because they made a detour rather than walk under the flag. such desecration of the symbol of liberty and union was committed in many places by those in power. the union flag is my flag and i love it, and, therefore, i trust that no one may ever again pass under it weeping. those little children were not traitors. they were simply human. if in the sixties situations had been reversed, and the people of new york, boston and chicago had seen the union flag flying over guns that shelled these cities, their children would have passed under it weeping and wailing. perhaps, too, some would have sat on doorsteps and "unbeknownst" to their elders have made faces at commanding generals across the way; while others climbing upon the enemy's knees would have played with gold tassels and brass buttons. our newspapers, with the exception of the "whig" and the "sentinel," shared in the general wreckage. a northern gentleman brought out a tiny edition of the former in which appeared two military orders promulgating the policy general weitzel intended to pursue. one paragraph read: "the people of richmond are assured that we come to restore to them the blessings of peace and prosperity under the flag of the union." general shepley, military governor by weitzel's appointment, repeated this in substance, adding: "the soldiers of the command will abstain from any offensive or insulting words or gestures towards the citizens." with less tact and generosity, he proceeded: "the armies of the rebellion having abandoned their efforts to enslave the people of virginia, have endeavoured to destroy by fire their capital.... the first duty of the army of the union will be to save the city doomed to destruction by the armies of the rebellion." that fling at our devoted army would have served as a clarion call to us--had any been needed--to remember the absent. "it will be a blunder in us not to overlook that blunder of general shepley's," urged uncle randolph.[ ] "the important point is that the policy of conciliation is to be pursued." with the "whig" in his hand, uncle randolph told matoaca that the thursday before virginia seceded a procession of prominent virginians marched up franklin street, carrying the flag of the union and singing "columbia," and that he was with them. the family questioned if his mind were wandering, when he went on: "the breach can be healed--in spite of the bloodshed--if only the government will pursue the right course now. both sides are tired of hating and being hated, killing and being killed--this war between brothers--if weitzel's orders reflect the mind of lincoln and grant--and they must--all may be well--before so very long." these were the men of the union army who saved richmond: the first brigade, third division (deven's division), twenty-fourth army corps, army of the james, brevet-brigadier-general edward h. ripley commanding. this brigade was composed of the eleventh connecticut, thirteenth new hampshire, nineteenth wisconsin, eighty-first new york, ninety-eighth new york, one hundredth and thirty-ninth new york, convalescent detachment from the second and third divisions of sheridan's reinforcements. "this brigade led the column in the formal entry, and at the city hall halted while i reported to major-general weitzel," says general ripley. "general weitzel had taken up his position on the platform of the high steps at the east front of the confederate capitol, and there, looking down into a gigantic crater of fire, suffocated and blinded with the vast volumes of smoke and cinders which rolled up over and enveloped us, he assigned me and my brigade to the apparently hopeless task of stopping the conflagration, and suppressing the mob of stragglers, released criminals, and negroes, who had far advanced in pillaging the city. he had no suggestions to make, no orders to give, except to strain every nerve to save the city, crowded as it was with women and children, and the sick and wounded of the army of northern virginia. "after requesting major-general weitzel to have all the other troops marched out of the city, i took the hon. joseph mayo, then mayor of richmond, with me to the city hall, where i established my headquarters. with the help of the city officials, i distributed my regiment quickly in different sections. the danger to the troops engaged in this terrific fire-fighting was infinitely enhanced by the vast quantities of powder and shells stored in the section burning. into this sea of fire, with no less courage and self-devotion than as though fighting for their own firesides and families, stripped and plunged the brave men of the first brigade. "meanwhile, detachments scoured the city, warning every one from the streets to their houses.... every one carrying plunder was arrested.... the ladies of richmond thronged my headquarters, imploring protection. they were sent to their homes under the escort of guards, who were afterwards posted in the center house of each block, and made responsible for the safety of the neighborhood.... many painful cases of destitution were brought to light by the presence of these safeguards in private houses, and the soldiers divided rations with their temporary wards, in many cases, until a general system of relief was organised."[ ] the coming of lincoln chapter iv the coming of lincoln the south did not know that she had a friend in abraham lincoln, and the announcement of his presence in richmond was not calculated to give comfort or assurance. "abraham lincoln came unheralded. no bells rang, no guns boomed in salute. he held no levee. there was no formal jubilee. he must have been heartless as nero to have chosen that moment for a festival of triumph. he was not heartless." so a citizen of richmond, who was a boy at the time, and out doors and everywhere, seeing everything, remembers the coming of lincoln. one of the women who sat behind closed windows says: "if there was any kind of rejoicing, it must have been of a very somber kind; the sounds of it did not reach me." another who looked through her shutters, said: "i saw him in a carriage, the horses galloping through the streets at a break-neck speed, his escort clearing the way. the negroes had to be cleared out of the way, they impeded his progress so." he was in richmond april and , and visited the davis mansion, the capitol, libby prison, castle thunder and other places. his coming was as simple, business-like, and unpretentious as the man himself. anybody who happened to be in the neighbourhood on the afternoon of april , might have seen a boat manned by ten or twelve sailors pull ashore at a landing above rockett's, and a tall, lank man step forth, "leading a little boy." by resemblance to pictures that had been scattered broadcast, this man could have been easily recognized as abraham lincoln. the little boy was tad, his son. major penrose, who commanded the escort, says tad was not with the president; admiral porter, general shepley and others say he was. accompanied by admiral porter and several other officers and escorted by ten sailors, president lincoln, "holding tad's hand," walked through the city, which was in part a waste of ashes, and the smoke of whose burning buildings was still ascending. from remains of smouldering bridges, from wreckage of gunboats, from manchester on the other side of the james, and from the city's streets smoke rose as from a sacrifice to greet the president. a northern newspaper man (who related this story of himself) recognizing that it was his business to make news as well as dispense it, saw some negroes at work near the landing where an officer was having débris removed, and other negroes idling. he said to this one and to that: "do you know that man?" pointing to the tall, lank man who had just stepped ashore. "who _is_ dat man, marster?" "call no man marster. that man set you free. that is abraham lincoln. now is your time to shout. can't you sing, 'god bless you, father abraham!'" that started the ball rolling. the news spread like wild-fire. mercurial blacks, already excited to fever-heat, collected about mr. lincoln, impeding his progress, kneeling to him, hailing him as "saviour!" and "my jesus!" they sang, shouted, danced. one woman jumped up and down, shrieking: "i'm free! i'm free! i'm free till i'm fool!" some went into the regular voodoo ecstasy, leaping, whirling, stamping, until their clothes were half torn off. mr. lincoln made a speech, in which he said: "my poor friends, you are free--free as air. but you must try to deserve this priceless boon. let the world see that you merit it by your good works. don't let your joy carry you into excesses. obey god's commandments and thank him for giving you liberty, for to him you owe all things. there, now, let me pass on. i have little time here and much to do. i want to go to the capitol. let me pass on." henry j. raymond speaks of the president as taking his hat off and bowing to an old negro man who knelt and kissed his hand, and adds: "that bow upset the forms, laws and customs of centuries; it was a death-shock to chivalry, a mortal wound to caste. recognize a nigger? faugh!" which proves that mr. raymond did not know or wilfully misrepresented a people who could not make reply. northern visitors to the south may yet see refutation in old sections where new ways have not corrupted ancient courtesy, and where whites and blacks interchange cordial and respectful salutations, though they may be perfect strangers to each other, when passing on the road. if they are not strangers, greeting is usually more than respectful and cordial; it is full of neighbourly and affectionate interest in each other and each other's folks. the memories of the living, even of federal officers near president lincoln, bear varied versions of his visit. general shepley relates that he was greatly surprised when he saw the crowd in the middle of the street, president lincoln and little tad leading, and that mr. lincoln called out: "hullo, general! is that you? i'm walking around looking for military headquarters." general shepley conducted him to our white house, where president lincoln wearily sank into a chair, which happened to be that president davis was wont to occupy while writing his letters, a task suffering frequent interruption from some one or other of his children, who had a way of stealing in upon him at any and all times to claim a caress. upon mr. lincoln's arrival, or possibly in advance, when it was understood that he would come up from city point, there was discussion among our citizens as to how he should be received--that is, so far as our attitude toward him was concerned. there were several ways of looking at the problem. our armies were still in the field, and all sorts of rumors were afloat, some accrediting them with victories. a called meeting was held under the leadership of judge campbell and judge thomas, who, later, with general joseph anderson and others, waited on mr. lincoln, to whom they made peace propositions involving disbandment of our armies; withdrawal of our soldiers from the field, and reëstablishment of state governments under the union, virginia inaugurating this course by example and influence. mr. lincoln had said in proclamation, the southern states "can have peace any time by simply laying down their arms and submitting to the authority of the union." it was inconceivable to many how we could ever want to be in the union again. but wise ones said: "our position is to be that of conquered provinces voiceless in the administration of our own affairs, or of states with some power, at least, of self-government." then, there was the dread spectre of confiscation, proscription, the scaffold. judge campbell and judge thomas reported: "the movement for the restoration of the union is highly gratifying to mr. lincoln; he will give it full sympathy and coöperation." [illustration: the white house of the confederacy, richmond, va. presented to mr. davis, who refused it as a gift, but occupied it as the executive residence. now known as the confederate museum.] "you people will all come back now," mr. lincoln had said to judge thomas, "and we shall have old virginia home again." many had small faith in these professions of amity, and said so. "lincoln is the man who called out the troops and precipitated war," was bitterly objected, "and we do not forget hampton roads." a few built hopes on belief that mr. lincoln had long been eager to harmonize the sections. leader of these was judge john a. campbell, ex-associate justice of the supreme court of the united states, and ex-assistant secretary of war of the expiring confederacy. he had served with mr. hunter and mr. stephens on the hampton roads peace commission, knew mr. lincoln well, had high regard for him and faith in his earnest desire for genuine reconciliation between north and south. when the confederate government left the city, he remained, meaning to try to make peace, mr. davis, it is said, knowing his purpose and consenting, but having no hope of its success. only the christmas before, when peace sentiments that led to the hampton roads conference were in the air, striking illustrations in northern journals reflected northern sentiment. one big cartoon of a christmas dinner in the capitol at washington, revealed mr. lincoln holding wide the doors, and the seceded states returning to the family love feast. olive branches, the "prodigal's return," and nice little mottoes like "come home, our erring sisters, come!" were neatly displayed around the margin. fatted calves were not to be despised by a starving people; but the less said about the pious influences of the "prodigal's return" the better. that hampton roads conference (february, ) has always been a sore spot. in spite of the commissioners' statements that mr. lincoln's only terms were "unconditional surrender," many people blamed mr. davis for the failure of the peace movement; others said he was pusillanimous and a traitor for sanctioning overtures that had to be made, by lincoln's requirements, "informally," and, as it were, by stealth. "we must forget dead issues," our pacificators urged. "we have to face the present. the stand mr. lincoln has taken all along, that the union is indissoluble and that a state can not get out of it however much she tries, is as fortunate for us now as it was unlucky once." "in or out, what matters it if yankees rule over us!" others declared. "mr. lincoln is not in favor of outsiders holding official reins in the south," comforters responded. "he has committed himself on that point to governor hahn in louisiana. when judge thomas suggested that he establish governor pierpont here, mr. lincoln asked straightway, 'where is extra billy?' he struck the table with his fist, exclaiming, 'by jove! i want that old game-cock back here!'" when in - west virginia seceded from virginia and was received into the bosom of the union, a few "loyal" counties which did not go with her, elected francis h. pierpont governor of the old state. at the head of sixteen legislators, he posed at alexandria as virginia's executive, mr. lincoln and the federal congress recognizing him. our real governor was the doughty warrior, william smith, nick-named "extra billy" before the war, when he was always asking congress for extra appropriations for an ever-lengthening stage-coach and mail-route line, which was a great government enterprise under his fostering hand. governor smith had left with the confederate government, going towards lynchburg. he had been greatly concerned for his family, but his wife had said: "i may feel as a woman, but i can act like a man. attend to your public affairs and i will arrange our family matters." the mansion had barely escaped destruction by fire. the smith family had vacated it to the federals, had been invited to return and then ordered to vacate again for federal occupation. mr. lincoln said that the legislature that took virginia out of the union and governor letcher, who had been in office then, with governor smith, his successor, and governor smith's legislature, must be convened. "the government that took virginia out of the union is the government to bring her back. no other can effect it. they must come to the capitol yonder where they voted her out and vote her back." uncle randolph was one of those who had formally called upon mr. lincoln at the davis mansion. feeble as he was, he was so eager to do some good that he had gone out in spite of his niece to talk about the "policy" he thought would be best. "i did not say much," he reported wistfully. "there were a great many people waiting on him. things look strange at the capitol. federal soldiers all about, and campfires on the square. judge campbell introduced me. president lincoln turned from him to me, and said: 'you fought for the union in mexico.' i said, 'mr. lincoln, if the union will be fair to virginia, i will fight for the union again.' i forgot, you see, that i am too old and feeble to fight. then i said quickly, 'younger men than i, mr. president, will give you that pledge.' what did he say? he looked at me hard--and shook my hand--and there wasn't any need for him to say anything." mr. lincoln's attitude towards judge campbell was one of confidence and cordiality. he knew the judge's purity and singleness of purpose in seeking leniency for the conquered south, and genuine reunion between the sections. the federal commanders understood his devotion and integrity. the newspaper men, in their reports, paid respect to his venerable, dignified figure, stamped with feebleness, poverty, and a noble sorrow, waiting patiently in one of the rooms at the davis mansion for audience with mr. lincoln. none who saw mr. lincoln during that visit to richmond observed in him any trace of exultation. walking the streets with the negroes crowding about him, in the davis mansion with the federal officers paying him court and our citizens calling on him, in the carriage with general weitzel or general shepley, a motley horde following--he was the same, only, as those who watched him declared, paler and wearier-looking each time they saw him. uncle randolph reported: "there was something like misgiving in his eyes as he sat in the carriage with shepley, gazing upon smoking ruins on all sides, and a rabble of crazy negroes hailing him as 'saviour!' truly, i never saw a sadder or wearier face in all my life than lincoln's!" he had terrible problems ahead, and he knew it. his emancipation proclamation in was a war measure. his letter to greeley in , said: "if there be those who would not save the union unless they could at the same time save slavery, i do not agree with them. if i could preserve the union without freeing any slaves, i would do it; if i could preserve the union by freeing all the slaves, i would do it.... what i do about the coloured race, i do because i think it helps to save the union." [illustration: governor's mansion, richmond, va. erected - , to succeed a plain wooden structure called the "governor's palace."] to a committee of negroes waiting on him in the white house, august , , mr. lincoln named colonisation as the one remedy for the race trouble, proposing government aid out of an appropriation which congress had voted him. he said: "white men in this country are cutting each other's throats about you. but for your race among us, there would be no war, although many men on either side do not care for you one way or the other.... your race suffers from living among us, ours from your presence." he applied $ , to the venture, but it failed; new grenada objected to negro colonisation. two months before his visit to richmond, some official (colonel kaye, as i remember) was describing to him the extravagancies of south carolina negroes when sherman's army announced freedom to them, and mr. lincoln walked his floor, pale and distressed, saying: "it is a momentous thing--this liberation of the negro race." he left a paper in his own handwriting with judge campbell, setting forth the terms upon which any seceded state could be restored to the union; these were, unqualified submission, withdrawal of soldiers from the field, and acceptance of his position on the slavery question, as defined in his proclamations. the movement gained ground. a committee in petersburg, headed by anthony keiley, asked permits to come to richmond that they might coöperate with the committee there. "unconditional surrender," some commented. "mr. lincoln is not disposed to humiliate us unnecessarily," was the reassurance. "he promised judge campbell that irritating exactions and oaths against their consciences are not to be imposed upon our people; they are to be encouraged, not coerced, into taking vows of allegiance to the united states government; lincoln's idea is to make allegiance a coveted privilege; there are to be no confiscations; amnesty to include our officers, civil and military, is to be granted--that is, the power of pardon resting with the president, he pledges himself to liberal use of it. lincoln is long-headed and kind-hearted. he knows the best thing all around is a real peace. he wishes to restore confidence in and affection for the union. that is plain. he said: 'i would gladly pardon jeff davis himself if he would ask it.'" i have heard one very pretty story about mr. lincoln's visit to richmond. general pickett, of the famous charge at gettysburg, had been well known in early life to mr. lincoln when mr. lincoln and mr. johnson, general pickett's uncle, were law partners in illinois. mr. lincoln had taken warm interest in young george pickett as a cadet at west point, and had written him kindly, jovial letters of advice. during that hurried sojourn in richmond, abraham lincoln took time for looking up mr. johnson. his carriage and armed retinue drew up in front of the old pickett mansion. the general's beautiful young wife, trembling with alarm, heard a strange voice asking first for mr. johnson and then about general pickett, and finally: "is general pickett's wife here?" she came forward, her baby in her arms. "i am general pickett's wife." "madam, i am george's old friend, abraham lincoln." "the president of the united states!" "no," with a kindly, half-quizzical smile, "only abraham lincoln, george's old friend. and this is george's baby?" abraham lincoln bent his kindly, half-sad, half-smiling glance upon the child. baby george stretched out his hands; lincoln took him, and the little one, in the pretty fashion babies have, opened his mouth and kissed the president. "tell your father," said lincoln, "that i will grant him a special amnesty--if he wants it--for the sake of your mother's bright eyes and your good manners." a short while after that--when lincoln was dead--that mother was flying, terror-stricken, with her baby to canada, where general pickett, in fear of his life, had taken refuge. mr. lincoln left instructions for general weitzel to issue passes to the legislators and state officials who were to come to richmond for the purpose of restoring virginia to the union. the "whig" had sympathetic articles on "reconstruction," and announced in due order the meeting of citizens called "to consider president lincoln's proposition for reassembling the legislature to take virginia back into the union." it printed the formal call for reassembling, signed by the committee and many citizens, and countersigned by general weitzel; handbills so signed were printed for distribution. general shepley, whose cordial acquiescence in the conciliation plan had been pronounced, said in after years that he suffered serious misgivings. when general weitzel directed him to issue the passes for the returning legislators, he inquired: "have you the president's written order for this?" "no. why?" "for your own security you should have it, general. when the president reaches washington and the cabinet are informed of what has been done and what is contemplated, this order will be rescinded, and the cabinet will deny that it has ever been issued." "i have the president's commands. i am a soldier and obey orders." "right, general. command me and i obey." mr. lincoln's written order reiterating oral instructions came, however. admiral porter, according to his own account, took president lincoln to task for his concessions, and told him in so many words that he was acting outside of his rights; richmond, being under military rule, was subject to general grant's jurisdiction. the admiral has claimed the distinction of working a change in the president's mind and of recovering immediately the obnoxious order from weitzel, killing, or trying to kill, a horse or so in the undertaking. he characterised the efforts of judges campbell and thomas to serve their country and avert more bloodshed as "a clever dodge to soothe the wounded feelings of the people of the south." the admiral adds: "but what a howl it would have raised in the north!" admiral porter says the lectured president exclaimed: "well, i came near knocking all the fat in the fire, didn't i? let us go. i seem to be putting my foot into it here all the time. bless my soul! how seward would have preached if he had heard me give campbell permission to call the legislature! seward is an encyclopedia of international law, and laughs at my horse sense on which i pride myself. admiral, if i were you, i would not repeat that joke yet awhile. people might laugh at you for knowing so much more than the president." he was acting, he said, in conjunction with military authorities. general weitzel was acting under general grant's instructions. the conciliatory plan was being followed in petersburg, where general grant himself had led the formal entry. "general weitzel warmly approves the plan." "he and campbell are personal friends," the admiral remarked significantly. whatever became of those horses driven out by admiral porter's instructions to be killed, if need be, in the effort to recover that order, is a conundrum. according to admiral porter the order had been written and given to general weitzel while mr. lincoln was in the city. according to judge campbell and general shepley, and the original now on file in washington, it was written from city point. dated, "headquarters department of virginia, richmond, april , ," this appeared in the "whig" on the last afternoon of mr. lincoln's life: "permission for the reassembling of the gentlemen recently acting as the legislature is rescinded. should any of the gentlemen come to the city under the notice of reassembling already published, they will be furnished passports to return to their homes. any of the persons named in the call signed by j. a. campbell and others, who are found in the city twelve hours after the publication of this notice will be subject to arrest, unless they are residents. (signed) e. o. c. ord, general commanding the department." general weitzel was removed. upon him was thrown the blame of the president's "blunder." he was charged with the crime of pity and sympathy for "rebels" and "traitors." when lincoln was dead, a high official in washington said: "no man more than mr. lincoln condemned the course general weitzel and his officers pursued in richmond." in more ways than one general weitzel had done that which was not pleasing in the sight of mr. stanton. assistant secretary of war dana had let stanton know post-haste that general weitzel was distributing "victuals" to "rebels." stanton wired to know of general weitzel if he was "acting under authority in giving food supplies to the people of richmond, and if so, whose?" general weitzel answered, "major-general ord's orders approved by general grant." mr. dana wrote mr. stanton, "weitzel is to pay for rations by selling captured property." general weitzel apologised for magnanimity by explaining that the instructions of general ord, his superior, were "to sell all the tobacco i find here and feed those in distress. a great many persons, black and white, are on the point of starvation, and i have relieved the most pressing wants by the issue of a few abandoned rebel stores and some damaged stores of my own." "all receivers of rations must take the oath," mr. stanton wrote back. in northern magazines left by federal soldiers visiting negroes in matoaca's yard, black cato saw caricatures of southern ladies mixing in with negroes and white roughs and toughs, begging food at yankee bureaus. "miss mato'ca," he plead earnestly, "don' go whar dem folks is no mo'. it will disgrace de fam'ly." she had put pride and conscience in her pocket, drawn rations and brought home her pork and codfish. revocation of permission for the reassembling of the virginia legislature was one of mr. lincoln's last, if not his last, act in the war department. stanton gave him no peace till it was written; he handed the paper to mr. stanton, saying: "there! i think that will suit you!" "no," said the iron chancellor of the union. "it is not strong enough. it merely revokes your permission for the assembling of the rebel legislators. some of these men will come to richmond--are doubtless there now--in response to the call. you should prohibit the meeting." which was done. hence, the prohibitory order in the "whig." mr. lincoln wrote, april , to general van alen, of new york: "thank you for the assurance you give me that i shall be supported by conservative men like yourself in the efforts i may use to restore the union, so as to make it, to use your own language, a union of hearts as well as of hands." general van alen had warned him against exposing himself in the south as he had done by visiting richmond; and for this mr. lincoln thanked him briefly without admitting that there had been any peril. laconically, he had thanked stanton for concern expressed in a dispatch warning him to be careful about visiting petersburg, adding, "i have already been there." when serenaded the tuesday before his death, he said, in speaking of the bringing of the southern states into practical relations with the union: "i believe it is not only possible, but easier to do this, without deciding, or even considering, whether these states have ever been out of the union. finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad." his last joke--the story-tellers say it was his last--was about "dixie." general lee's surrender had been announced; washington was ablaze with excitement. delirious multitudes surged to the white house, calling the president out for a speech. it was a moment for easy betrayal into words that might widen the breach between sections. he said in his quaint way that he had no speech ready, and concluded humorously: "i have always thought 'dixie' one of the best tunes i ever heard. i insisted yesterday that we had fairly captured it. i presented the question to the attorney-general and he gave his opinion that it is our lawful prize. i ask the band to give us a good turn upon it." in that little speech, he claimed of the south by right of conquest a song--and nothing more. the last capital chapter v the last capital of the confederacy from richmond, mr. davis went to danville. major sutherlin, the commandant, met him at the station and carried him and members of his cabinet to the sutherlin mansion, which then became practically the southern capitol. the president was busy night and day, examining and improving defenses and fortifications and planning the junction of lee's and johnston's forces. men were seeking his presence at all hours; couriers coming and going; telegrams flying hither and thither. "in the midst of turmoil, and with such fearful cares and responsibilities upon him, he did not forget to be thoughtful and considerate of others," i have heard mrs. sutherlin say. "he was concerned for me. 'i cannot have you troubled with so many interruptions,' he said. 'we must seek other quarters.' but i would not have it so. 'all that you call a burden is my privilege,' i replied. 'i will not let you go.' he had other quarters secured for the departments, but he and members of his cabinet remained my guests." in that hospitable home the table was set all the time for the coming and the going. the board was spread with the best the bountiful host and hostess could supply. mrs. sutherlin brought out all her treasured reserves of pickles, sweetmeats and preserves. this might be her last opportunity for serving the confederacy and its chieftain. the sutherlins knew that the president's residence in their home was a perilous honour. in case the confederacy failed--and hope to the contrary could not run high--their dwelling would be a marked spot. major sutherlin had been a strong union man. mrs. sutherlin has told me how her husband voted against secession in the first convention to which he was a delegate, and for it in the second, with deep regret. "i saw in that convention," he told his wife, "strong, reserved men, men of years and dignity, sign the secession ordinance while tears coursed down their cheeks." it is just to rehearse such things of men who were called "traitors" and "rebels." it is just to remember how jefferson davis tried to prevent secession. his letters to new england societies, his speeches in new england and in congress, testified to his deep and fervent desire for the "preservation of the bond between the states," the "love of the union in our hearts," and "the landmarks of our fathers." but he believed in states' rights as fervently as in union of states; he believed absorption of state sovereignty into central sovereignty a violation of the constitution. long before secession ( ) he declined appointment of brigadier general of mississippi volunteers from president polk on the ground that the central government was not vested by the constitution with power to commission officers of state militia, the state having this authority.[ ] americans should not forget that this man entered the service of the union when a lad; that his father and uncles fought in the revolution, his brothers in the war of . west point holds trophies of his skill as a commander and of his superb gallantry on the fields of mexico. that splendid charge without bayonets through the streets of monterey almost to the plaza, and the charge at buena vista, are themes to make american blood tingle! their leader was not a man to believe in defeat as long as a ray of hope was left. [illustration: st. paul's church, richmond, va. it was to this church that the message was brought from lee to davis announcing the necessity of evacuating richmond.] as secretary of war of the united states, mr. davis strengthened the power that crushed the south; in every branch of the war department, his genius and faithful and untiring service wrought improvements. in the days of giants like webster, clay and calhoun, the brilliant mississippian drew upon himself many eyes and his course had been watched as that of a bright particular star of great promise. the candidacy of vice-president of the united states had been tendered him--he had been mentioned for the presidency, and it is no wild speculation that had he abjured his convictions on the states' rights' issue, he would have found himself some day in the seat lincoln occupied. he has been accused of overweening ambition. the charge is not well sustained. he did not desire the presidency of the confederacy. in , "harper's weekly" said: "personally, senator davis is the bayard of congress, _sans peur et sans reproche_; a high-minded gentleman; a devoted father; a true friend ... emphatically one of those born to command, and is doubtless destined to occupy a high position either in the southern confederacy or in the united states." he was "gloriously linked with the united states service in the field, the forum, and the cabinet." the southern confederacy failed, and he was "davis, the arch-traitor." "he wrote his last proclamation on this table," said mrs. sutherlin to me, her hand on the egyptian marble where the president's fingers had traversed that final paper of state which expressed a confidence he could not have felt, but that he must have believed it duty to affirm. he had tried to make peace and had failed. our armies were still in the field. a bold front on his part, if it could do no more, might enable our generals to secure better terms than unconditional surrender. at least, no worse could be tendered. that final message was the utterance of a brave soul, itself disheartened, trying to put heart into others. all along the way to danville, people had flocked to the railroad to hear him, and he had spoken as he wrote. he was an ill man, unutterably weary. he had borne the burden and heat of the day for four terrible years; he had been a target for the criticism even of his own people; all failures were laid at the door of this one man who was trying to run a government and conduct a war on an empty treasury. it must have cost him something to keep up an unwavering front. lieutenant wise, son of general henry a. wise, brought news that lee's surrender was imminent; on learning of it, he had taken to horse and run through the enemy's cavalry, to warn the president. starvation had brought lee's army to bay. men were living off grains of parched corn carried in their pockets. sheridan's cavalry had captured the wagon-trains of food supplies. also, the president was called from the dinner-table to see an old citizen, who repeated a story from some one who had seen general lee in general grant's tent. other information followed. scouts came to say that federal cavalry were advancing. there was danger that the president's way to the south might be cut off, danger that he might be captured. all were in haste to get him away; a special train was made up. the sutherlin carriage drove hurriedly to the mansion, the president and major sutherlin got out and entered the house. "i am to bid you goodbye," said he to mrs. sutherlin, "and to thank you for your kindness. i shall ever remember it." "o, but it is a privilege--an honour--something for me to remember!" as explanations were being made and preparations hastened, the president said: "speak low, lest we excite mr. memminger or distress his wife more than need be." mr. memminger, ex-secretary of the treasury, was upstairs, very ill; the physician had just left after giving him a hypodermic of morphine and ordering absolute quiet. friends decided that the sick man and his wife ran less risk in remaining than in following the president. but mrs. memminger, leaning over the balustrade, heard; and she and her husband came down and went after the president in a rude farm wagon, the only vehicle mrs. sutherlin could impress. "mr. davis kept up a cheerful countenance the whole time he was here," his hostess has borne witness, "but i was sure that deep down in his heart he was not cheerful--i felt it. he was brave, self-possessed. only once did he betray evidence of break-down. when he was leaving, i knew that he had no money in his pockets except confederate notes--and these would buy next to nothing. we had some gold, and i offered it to him, pressed it upon him. he shook his head. tears came into his eyes. 'no, no, my child,' he said, 'you and your husband are much younger than i am. you will need it. i will not.' mr. davis did not expect to live long. he was sure he would be killed." when general sherman was accused by stanton of treachery because he was not hotter on the scent of "jeff davis and his $ , , treasure-trains," he retorted indignantly that those "treasure-trains dwindled down to the contents of a hand-valise" found on mr. davis when captured. mrs. sutherlin pointed out to me the president's sleeping-room, an upper chamber overlooking the lawn with its noble trees, in whose branches mocking-birds lodge. at his first breakfast with her, mr. davis told mrs. sutherlin how the songs of the mocking-birds refreshed him. another thing that cheered him in danville was the enthusiasm of the school-girls of the southern female college; when these young ladies, in their best homespun gowns, went out on dress parade and beheld mr. davis riding by in major sutherlin's carriage, they drew themselves up in line, waved handkerchiefs and cheered to their hearts' content; he gave them his best bow and smile--that dignified, grave bow and smile his people knew so well. i have always been thankful for that bright bit in mr. davis' life during those supremely trying hours--for the songs of the mocking-birds and the cheers of the school-girls. some weeks after his departure, general wright, u. s. a., in formal possession of danville, pitched his tent opposite the sutherlin mansion. the next mrs. sutherlin knew, an orderly was bearing in a large pitcher, another a big bowl, and between them general wright's compliments and his hopes "that you may find this lemonade refreshing" and "be pleased to accept this white cut sugar, as the drink may not be sweet enough for your taste." another day, an orderly appeared with a large, juicy steak; every short while orderlies came making presentation. the sutherlins accepted and returned courtesies. "we had as well be polite," said major sutherlin. "there's no use quarrelling with them because they have whipped us." when they came to him for official information as to where confederate government ice-houses were, he responded: "it is not my business to give you this information. your commanders can find out for themselves. meanwhile, general wright and his staff are welcome to ice out of my own ice-houses." they found out for themselves with little delay. [illustration: last capitol of the confederacy the sutherlin mansion, danville, va., which, for a short time after the evacuation of richmond, was the headquarters of the confederate government. president davis and the members of his cabinet were guests of major sutherlin at that time. photograph by eutsler bros., danville, va.] on the verandah where the confederate president and his advisers had lately gathered, federal officers sat at ease, smoking sociably and conversing with the master of the house. if a meal-hour arrived, major sutherlin would say: "gentlemen, will you join us?" usually, invitation was accepted. social recognition was the one thing the northern soldier could not conquer in the south by main strength and awkwardness; he coveted and appreciated it. all were listening for tidings of johnston's surrender. at last the news came. around the sutherlin board one day sat six guests: three federal officers in fine cloth and gold lace, three confederate officers in shabby raiment. a noise as of a terrific explosion shook the house. "throw up the windows!" said the mistress to her servants, an ordinary command when shattering of glass by concussion was an every-day occurrence in artillery-ridden dixie. save for this sentence, there was complete silence at the table. the officers laid down their knives and forks and said not one word. they knew that those guns announced the surrender of johnston's army. i suppose it was the salute of --the same that had been ordered at every post as glorification of lee's surrender. some time after this, mayor walker came to major sutherlin with a telegram announcing that general meade and his staff would stop in danville over night. they had been or were going to south carolina on a mission of relief to whites who were in peril from blacks. at the mayor's request, major sutherlin met the officers at the train. "general," was his cordial greeting to general meade, a splendid-looking officer at that day, "i am here to claim you and your staff as my guests." general meade, accepting, said: "i will have my ambulance bring us up." "o, no, general! you come in my carriage, if you will do me that honour. it is waiting." at breakfast, general meade said to his hostess: "madam, southern hospitality has not been praised too highly. i trust some day to see you north that i may have opportunity to match your courtesy." another time: "madam, i trust that no misfortune will come to you because of the troubled state of our country. but if there should, i may be of service to you. you have only to command me, and i ask it as a favour that you will." a northern friend had warned her: "mrs. sutherlin, i fear your property may be confiscated because of the uses to which it has been put in the service of the confederate government. you should take advantage of general wright's good will and of the good will of other federal officers towards major sutherlin to make your title secure." did she ask general meade now to save her home to her? "general, hospitality is our privilege and you owe us no debt. but i beg you to extend the kindly feelings you express toward major sutherlin and myself to one who lately sat where you now sit, at my right hand. i would ask you to use your influence to secure more gracious hospitality to our president who is in prison." dead silence. one could have heard a pin fall. wholesale confiscation of greensboro was threatened because of mr. davis' stop there. major sutherlin strove with tact and diligence to prevent it. he lost no opportunity to cultivate kindly relations with northerners of influence, and to inaugurate a reign of good-will generally. receiving a telegram saying that colonel buford, a northern officer, and his party, would pass through danville, the major went to his wife and said: "i am going to invite those yankees here. i want you to get up the finest dinner you can for them." feeling was high and sore; she did not smile. the day of their arrival he appeared in trepidation. "i have another telegram," he said. "to my surprise, there are ladies in the party." this was too much for the honest "rebel" soul of her. men she could avoid seeing except at table; but with ladies for her guests, more olive branches must be exchanged than genuine feeling between late enemies could possibly warrant. but her guests found her a perfect hostess, grave, sincere, hospitable. there was a young married pair. when her faithful coloured man went up to their rooms to render service, they were afraid of him, were careful he should not enter, seemed to fear that of himself or as the instrument of his former owners he might do them injury. such queer, contradictory ideas yankees had of us and our black people. a northern girl visiting the niece of alexander h. stephens at a plantation where there were many negroes, asked: "where are the blood-hounds?" "the blood-hounds! we haven't any." "how do you manage the negroes without them? i thought all southerners kept blood-hounds--that only blood-hounds could keep negroes from running away." "i never saw a blood-hound in my life," miss stephens replied. "i don't know what one is like. none of our friends keep blood-hounds." but to the sutherlin mansion. the bride asked: "mrs. sutherlin, what room did mr. davis occupy?" "that in which you sleep." the bride was silent. then: "it is a pleasant room. the mocking-birds are singing when we wake in the morning. sometimes, i hear them in the night." a shadow fell on the hostess' face. the words recalled the thought of mr. davis, now shut out from the sight of the sky and the voice of the birds. it has been said of this or that place at which mr. davis, moving southward from danville, stopped, that it was the "last capital of the confederacy." he held a cabinet meeting in colonel wood's house in greensboro; was in charlotte several days; held a cabinet meeting or council of war in the armistead burt house, abbeville, s. c.; and in the old bank, washington, ga. he said in council at abbeville: "i will listen to no proposition for my safety. i appeal to you for our country." he stopped one night at salisbury, with the episcopal minister, whose little daughter ran in while all were at the breakfast-table, and standing between her father and mr. davis, cried out in childish terror and distress: "o, papa, old lincoln's coming and is going to kill us all!" president davis laid down his knife and fork, lifted her face, and said reassuringly: "no, no, my little lady! mr. lincoln is not such a bad man, and i am sure he would not harm a little girl like you." while the president was at charlotte, there was another memorable peace effort, sherman and johnston arranging terms. johnston's overture was dated april ; sherman's reply, "i am fully empowered to arrange with you any terms for the suspension of hostilities," april , the last day of lincoln's life. mr. davis wrote general johnston: "your course is approved." mr. stanton nearly branded sherman as a traitor. sherman gave johnston notice that he must renew hostilities. mr. davis left charlotte, thinking war still on. [illustration: the old bank building, washington, ga. the last meeting place of the confederate cabinet when that body was reduced to two or three members. photographed in ] in washington, ga., the first town in america named for the father of his country, the confederate government breathed its last. a quiet, picturesque, little place, out of track of the armies, it was suddenly shaken with excitement, when mr. davis, attended by his personal staff, several distinguished officers, besides a small cavalry escort, rode in. mrs. davis had left the day before. as long as her wagons and ambulances had stood in front of dr. ficklen's house, the people of washington were calling upon her; first among them, general toombs with cordial offers of aid and hospitality, though there had been sharp differences between him and mr. davis. here, it may be said, she held her last reception as the first lady of the confederacy. she had expected to meet her husband, and went away no doubt heavy of heart--herself, her baby, winnie, and her other little children, and her sister, maggie howell, again to be wanderers of woods and waysides. with them went a devoted little band of confederate soldiers, their volunteer escort, burton harrison, the president's secretary, and one or two negro servants whose devotion never faltered. on a lovely may morning, people sat on the bank piazza asking anxiously: "where can mr. davis be?" "is he already captured and killed?" dr. robertson, an officer of the bank, and his family lived in the building. with them was general elzey, on parole, his wife and son. kate joyner robertson and her brother, willie, sixteen years old and a confederate veteran, were on the piazza; also david faver, seventeen, and a confederate veteran; these boys were members of the georgia military institute battalion. a description of this battalion was recently given me by mr. faver: "there were as many negroes--body-servants--in our ranks as boys when we started out, spick and span. we saw actual service; guarded the powder magazines at augusta and savannah, fought the yankees at chattanooga, stood in front of sherman in south carolina. young scott todd lost his arm--dr. todd, of atlanta, carries around that empty sleeve today. i bore handsome tom hamilton off the field when he was shot. i was just fifteen when i went in; some were younger. henry cabaniss and julius brown were the smallest boys in the army. we were youngsters who ought to have been in knee pants, but the g. m. i. never quailed before guns or duty! i remember (laughing) when we met the cits in charleston. they were all spick and span--'citadel cadets' blazoned all over them and their belongings. we were all tattered and torn, nothing of the g. m. i. left about us! rags was the stamp of the regular, and we 'guyed' the cits. we had seen fighting and they had not." sixteen-year-old lint stephens, vice-president stephens' nephew, was of this juvenile warrior band. on the occasion of his sudden appearance at home to prepare for war, mr. stephens asked what he had quit school for. "to fight for the fair sex," he replied. and to this day some people think we fought to keep negroes in slavery! a "georgia cracker" rode in from the abbeville road, drew rein before the bank, and saluting, drawled: "is you'uns seen any soldiers roun' here?" there were confederate uniforms on the piazza. "what kind of soldiers?" he was asked, and general elzey said: "my friend, you have betrayed yourself by that military salute. you are no ignorant countryman, but a soldier yourself." the horseman spurred close to the piazza. "are there any yankees in town?" "none. tell us, do you know anything about president davis?" after a little more questioning, the horseman said: "president davis is not an hour's ride from here." the piazza was all excitement. "where should the president be entertained?" ordinarily, general toombs was municipal host. everybody is familiar with the reply he made to a committee consulting him about erecting a hotel in washington: "we have no need of one. when respectable people come here, they can stop at my house. if they are not respectable, we do not want them at all." everybody knew that all he had was at the president's command. but--there had been the unpleasantness. "bring the president here," mrs. robertson said promptly. dr. robertson added: "as a government building, this is the proper place." willie robertson, commissioned to convey the invitation, rode off with the courier, the envy of every other g. m. i. in town. the little "bats" were ready to go to war again. soon, the president dismounted in front of the bank. mrs. faver (kate joyner robertson that was) says: "he wore a full suit of confederate gray. he looked worn, sad, and troubled; said he was tired and went at once to his room. my mother sent a cup of tea to him. that afternoon, or next morning, all the people came to see him. he stood in the parlor door, they filed in, shook hands, and passed out." so, in washington, he held his last presidential reception. "to hear mr. davis," mr. faver reports, "you would have no idea that he considered the cause lost. he spoke hopefully of our yet unsurrendered forces. secretary reagan, general st. john and major raphael j. moses were general toombs' guests. that night after supper, they walked to the bank; my father's house was opposite general toombs'. i walked behind them. i think they held what has been called the last cabinet meeting that night." mr. trenholm, too ill to travel, had stopped at charlotte; secretary of state benjamin had left mr. davis that morning; at washington, secretary of the navy mallory went; secretary of war breckinridge, whom he was expecting, did not come on time. news reached him of johnston's surrender. general upton had passed almost through washington on his way to receive the surrender of augusta. the president perceived his escort's peril. to their commander, captain campbell, he said: "your company is too large to pass without observation, and not strong enough to fight. see if there are ten men in it who will volunteer to go with me without question wherever i choose?" captain campbell reported: "all volunteer to go with your excellency." he was deeply touched, but would not suffer them to take the risk. with ten men selected by captain campbell, and his personal staff, he rode out of washington, the people weeping as they watched him go. when he was mounting, rev. dr. tupper, the baptist minister, approached him, uttering words of comfort and encouragement. "'though he slay me, yet will i trust in him,'" the president responded gently. he had made disposition of most of his personal belongings, giving the china in his mess-chest to colonel weems, the chest to general mclaws; to mrs. robertson his ink-stand, table, dressing-case, some tea, coffee, and brandy, portions of which she still retained when last i heard; the dressing-case and ink-stand she had sent to the confederate museum at richmond. his last official order was written at the old bank; it appointed captain h. m. clarke acting treasurer of the confederacy. the last treasury department was an old appletree at general basil duke's camp a short distance from washington, under whose shade captain clarke sat while he paid out small amounts in coin to the soldiers. general duke's kentuckians, mr. davis' faithful last guard, were the remnant of john h. morgan's famous command. soon after his departure, the treasure-train, or a section of it, reached washington. boxes of bullion were stored in the bank; mrs. faver remembers that officers laughingly told her and her sisters if they would lift one of the boxes, they might have all the gold in it; and they tried, but o, how heavy it was! she recalls some movement on the part of her parents to convey the treasure to abbeville, but this was not practicable. "it was a fitting conclusion of the young government ... that it marked its last act of authority by a thoughtful loyalty to the comfort of its penniless and starved defenders," says avery's "history of georgia," commenting on the fact that under that act major raphael j. moses conveyed to augusta bullion exceeding $ , , delivering it to general molineux on the promise that it would be used to purchase food and other necessaries for needy confederate soldiers and our sick in hospitals. soon after the treasure-train left washington, some one galloped back and flung into general toombs' yard a bag containing $ , in gold. the general was in straits for money with which to flee the country, but swore with a great round oath he would use no penny of this mysterious gift, and turned it over to major moses, who committed it to captain abrahams, federal commissary, for use in relieving needy confederates home-returning. at greensboro, general joseph e. johnston had taken $ , for his soldiers. there have been many stories about this treasure-train.[ ] it carried no great fortune, and mr. davis was no beneficiary. he meant to use it in carrying on the war. the point has been made that mr. davis should have remained in richmond and made terms. since governments were governments, no ruler has followed the course that would have been. he thought it traitorous to surrender the whole confederacy because the capital was lost. even after lee's surrender the confederacy had armies in the field, and a vast domain farther south where commanders believed positions could be held. he believed it would be cowardly to fail them, and that it was his duty to move the seat of government from place to place through the confederacy as long as there was an army to sustain the government. to find precedent, one has but to turn to european history. in england, the rightful prince has been chased all over the country and even across the channel. mr. davis believed in the righteousness of his cause; and that it was his duty to stand for it to the death. his determination, on leaving washington, was to reach the armies of maury, forrest, and taylor in alabama and mississippi; if necessary, withdraw these across the mississippi, uniting with kirby-smith and magruder in texas, a section "rich in supplies and lacking in railroads and waterways." there the concentrated forces might hold their own until the enemy "should, in accordance with his repeated declaration, have agreed, on the basis of a return to the union, to acknowledge the constitutional rights of the states, and by a convention, or quasi-treaty, to guarantee security of person and property." what judge campbell thought could be secured by submission, mr. davis was confident could only be attained by keeping in the field a military force whose demands the north, weary of war, might respect. what he sought to do for his people in one way, judge campbell sought to do in another. both failed. [illustration: general and mrs. john h. morgan] while mr. davis was riding out of washington, generals taylor and maury, near meridian, mississippi, were arranging with general canby, u. s. a., for the surrender of all the confederate forces in alabama and mississippi. these generals were dining together and the bands were playing "hail columbia" and "dixie." the counsel of lee chapter vi the counsel of lee "a few days after the occupation, some drunken soldiers were heard talking in the back yard to our negroes, and it was gathered from what they said that the federals were afraid general lee had formed an ambuscade somewhere in the neighbourhood of the city, and that he might fall upon them at any time and deliver richmond out of their hands. how our people wished it might be so!" matoaca relates. "do not buoy yourself up with that hope, my dear," said her monitor. "there's no hope save in the mercy of our conquerors. general lee is a great soldier, an extraordinary tactician, but he cannot do the impossible. our army cannot go on fighting forever without money and without food." when our beloved general came home, the doctrine he taught by precept and example was that of peace. "the stainless sword of lee" had been laid down in good faith. we had fought a good fight, we had failed, we must accept the inevitable, we must not lose heart, we must work for our country's welfare in peace. the very first heard of him in his modest, unheralded home-returning, he was teaching this. young william mccaw, his courier for four years, rode in with him; and general lee, before going to his own home, delivered william, safe and sound, to his father. dr. mccaw came out when they stopped in front of his door, and general lee said: "here, doctor, is your boy. i've brought him home to you." william was standing beside traveller, his arm clasped around general lee's leg, and crying as if his heart would break. the general put his hand on william's head and said: "no more fighting--that's all over. you've been a good fighter, will--now i want to see you work for your country's welfare in peace. be a good boy. i expect a fine christian manhood of you. goodbye," and he rode away to his own home, where his invalid wife awaited him. it was good to have them home again, our men in gray; good though they came gaunt and footsore, ragged and empty-handed. and glad was the man in gray to cross his own threshold, though the wolf was at the door. our men were ready enough for peace when peace--or what they mistook for peace--came; that is, the mass of them were. they had fought and starved their fill. the cries of destitute women and children called them home. they had no time to pause and cavil over lost issues, or to forge new occasions for quarrel. all they asked now was a chance to make meat and bread and raiment for themselves and those dependent on them. yet some young spirits were restive, would have preferred death to surrender. the lesson of utter submission came hard. the freeborn american, fearless of shot and shell, and regarding free speech as his birthright, found the task of keeping close watch over his tongue difficult. general lee knew the mettle of the fiery young courier to whom he uttered the parting words that have been recorded. to many another youth just out of armor, he gave the same pacific counsel: "we have laid down the sword. work for a united country." [illustration: residence of robert e. lee. - , richmond, va. now the home of the virginia historical society.] one high-strung lad seeing a federal soldier treat a lady rudely on the street (a rare happening in richmond), knocked him down, and was arrested. the situation was serious. the young man's father went to general ord and said: "see here, general, that boy's hot from the battle-field. he doesn't know anything but to fight." general ord's response was: "i'll arrange this matter for you. and you get this boy out of the city tonight." there happened to be staying in the same house with some of our friends, a young confederate, captain wharton, who had come on sick leave to richmond before the evacuation, and who, after that event, was very imprudent in expressing his mind freely on the streets, a perilous thing to do in those days. his friends were concerned for his safety. suddenly he disappeared. nobody knew what had become of him. natural conclusion was that free speech had gotten him into trouble. at last a message came: "please send me something to eat. i am in prison." ladies came to know if matoaca would be one of a committee to wait on the provost-marshal general in his behalf. she agreed, and the committee set out for the old custom house where the federals held court. they were admitted at once to general patrick's presence. he was an elderly gentleman, polite, courteous. "i was surprised," says matoaca, "because i had expected to see something with hoof and horns." "general," she said, "we have come to see you about a young gentleman, our friend, captain wharton. he is in prison, and we suppose the cause of his arrest was imprudent speech. he has been ill for some time, and is too feeble to bear with safety the hardships and confinement of prison life. if we can secure his release, we will make ourselves responsible for his conduct." she finished her little speech breathless. she saw the glimmer of a smile way down in his eyes. "i know nothing about the case," he said kindly. "of course, i can not know personally of all that transpires. but i will inquire into this matter, and see what can be done for this young gentleman." soon after, captain wharton called on matoaca. she could hardly have left general patrick's presence before an orderly was dispatched for his release. friction resulted from efforts to ram the oath down everybody's throat at once. i recite this instance because of the part general lee took and duplicated in multitudes of cases. captain george wise was called before the provost to take the oath. "why must i take it?" asked he. "my parole covers the ground. i will not." "you fought under general lee, did you not?" "yes. and surrendered with him, and gave my parole. to require this oath of me is to put an indignity upon me and my general." "i will make a bargain with you, captain. consult general lee and abide by his decision." the captain went to the lee residence, where he was received by mrs. lee, who informed him that her husband was ill, but would see him. the general was lying on a lounge, pale, weary-looking, but fully dressed, in his gray uniform, the three stars on his collar; the three stars--to which any confederate colonel was entitled--was the only insignia of rank he ever wore. "they want me to take this thing, general," said the captain, extending a copy of the oath. "my parole covers it, and i do not think it should be required of me. what would you advise?" "i would advise you to take it," he said quietly. "it is absurd that it should be required of my soldiers, for, as you say, the parole practically covers it. nevertheless, take it, i should say." "general, i feel that this is submission to an indignity. if i must continue to swear the same thing over at every street corner, i will seek another country where i can at least preserve my self-respect." general lee was silent for a few minutes. then he said, quietly as before, a deep touch of sadness in his voice: "do not leave virginia. our country needs her young men now." when the captain told henry a. wise that he had taken the oath, the ex-governor said: "you have disgraced the family!" "general lee advised me to do it." "oh, that alters the case. whatever general lee says is all right, i don't care what it is." the north regarded general lee with greater respect and kindness than was extended to our other leaders. a friendly reporter interviewed him, and bold but temperate utterances in behalf of the south appeared in the "new york herald" as coming from general lee. some of the remarks were very characteristic, proving this newspaper man a faithful scribe. when questioned about the political situation, general lee had said: "i am no politician. i am a soldier--a paroled prisoner." urged to give his opinion and advised that it might have good effect, he responded: "the south has for a long time been anxious for peace. in my earnest belief, peace was practicable two years ago, and has been since that time whenever the general government should see fit to give any reasonable chance for the country to escape the consequences which the exasperated north seemed ready to visit upon it. they have been looking for some word or expression of compromise and conciliation from the north upon which they might base a return to the union, their own views being considered. the question of slavery did not lie in the way at all. the best men of the south have long desired to do away with the institution and were quite willing to see it abolished. but with them in relation to this subject, the question has ever been: 'what will you do with the freed people?' that is the serious question today. unless some humane course based upon wisdom and christian principles is adopted, you do them a great injustice in setting them free." he plead for moderation towards the south as the part of wisdom as well as mercy. oppression would keep the spirit of resistance alive. he did not think men of the south would engage in guerilla warfare as some professed to fear, but it was best not to drive men to desperation. "if a people see that they are to be crushed, they sell their lives as dearly as possible." he spoke of the tendency towards expatriation, deploring it as a misfortune to our common country at a time when one section needed building up so badly, and had, at the best, a terribly depleted force of young, strong men. throughout, he spoke of the north and south as "we," and expressed his own great willingness to contribute in every way in his power to the establishment of the communal peace and prosperity. a brave thing for a "rebel" officer to do, he spoke out for mr. davis. "what has mr. davis done more than any other southerner that he should be singled out for persecution? he did not originate secession, is not responsible for its beginning; he opposed it strenuously in speech and writing." [illustration: mrs. robert e. lee (mary randolph custis) great-granddaughter of martha washington] wherever he appeared in richmond, federal soldiers treated him with respect. as for our own people, to the day of his death richmond stood uncovered when general lee came there and walked the streets. if, as he passed along, he laid his hand on a child's head, the child never forgot it. his words with our young men were words of might, and the cause of peace owes to him a debt that the peace angel of the union will not forget. "the saddest good friday" chapter vii "the saddest good friday" in matoaca's little devotional note-book, i read: "good friday, . this is the saddest good friday i ever knew. i have spent the whole day praying for our stricken people, our crushed southland." "the saddest good friday i ever knew"; nearly every man and woman in the south might have said that with equal truth. her "journal" of secular events contains a long entry for april ; it is as if she had poured out all her woes on paper. for the most part it is a tale of feminine trivialities, of patching and mending. "unless i can get work and make some money," she writes, "we must stay indoors for decency's sake." her shoes have holes in them: "they are but shoes i cobbled out of bits of stout cloth." the soles are worn so thin her feet are almost on the ground. the family is suffering for food and for all necessaries. "o god, what can i do!" she cries, "i who have never been taught any work that seems to be needed now! who is there to pay me for the few things i know how to do? i envy our negroes who have been trained to occupations that bring money; they can hire out to the yankees, and i can't. our negroes are leaving us. we had to advise them to go. cato will not. 'me lef' mars ran?' he cried, 'i couldn' think uv it, miss mato'ca!'" woes of friends and neighbours press upon her heart. almost every home has, like her own, its empty chair, its hungry mouths, its bare larder, though some are accepting relief from the christian commission or from federal officers. of loved ones in prison, they hear no tidings; from kindred in other parts of the south, receive no sign. there are no railroads, no mail service. in the presence of the conquerors, they walk softly and speak with bated breath. the evening paper publishes threats of arrest for legislators who may come to town obedient to the call judge campbell issued with mr. lincoln's approval. good friday was a day of joy and gladness north. from newspapers opened eagerly in radiant family circles men read out such headlines as these: "war costs over. government orders curtailing further purchase of arms, ammunition and commissary stores." "drafting and recruiting stopped." "military restrictions on trade and commerce modified." selma, alabama, with its rich stores of confederate cotton, was captured. mr. lincoln's conciliatory policy was commented on as "a wise and sagacious move." thursday's stock market had been bullish. rachel weeping for her children was comforted because they had not died in vain. larders were not bare, clothes were not lacking. the fastings and prayers of the devout were full of praise and thanksgiving. for the undevout, good friday was a feast day and a day of jollification. in charleston, south carolina, gaping with scars of shot and shell of her long, long, siege, the roses and oleanders and palmettoes strove to cover with beauty the wounds of war, and in their fragrance to breathe nature's sympathy and faithfulness. her own desolate people kept within doors. the streets were thronged with a cheerful, well-clad crowd; the city was overflowing with northern men and women of distinction. in the bay lay dahlgren's fleet, gay flags all a-flying. on land and water bands played merrily. fort sumter's anniversary was to be celebrated. the union flag was to be raised over the ruined pile by general robert anderson, who had lost the fort in . in the company duly assembled were henry ward beecher, theodore tilton, william lloyd garrison, rev. dr. storrs. mr. beecher uttered words of kindly sentiment towards the south. he gave god thanks for preserving lincoln's life, accepting this as a token of divine favor to the nation. dr. storrs read: "'when the lord turned again the captivity of zion, we were like them that dream.'" the people: "'then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing.'" and so on through the th psalm. then: "'some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the lord our god.'" and: "'they are brought low and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright.'" "the star-spangled banner" was sung, and the guns of dahlgren's fleet thundered honours to the stars and stripes, which, rising slowly and gracefully, fluttered out in triumph against the southern sky. at sunset, guns boomed again, proud signal to the ending of the perfect day. the city, silent and sad as far as its own people were concerned, rang with the strangers' joyaunce. social festivities ruled the hour. general gillmore entertained at a great banquet. the bay was ablaze with fireworks; all forts were alight; the beautiful sea islands, whose owners roamed in destitute exile, gleamed in shining circle, the jewels of the sea. the th was a red-letter day in the national capital. everything spoke of victory and gladness. washington held the two idols of the north--lincoln and grant. it was mr. lincoln's perfect hour. he went about with a quiet smile on his face. the family breakfast at the white house was very happy; captain robert lincoln was visiting his parents. general grant was present at the cabinet meeting during the forenoon, mr. lincoln's last. these are some of the president's words: "i think it providential that this great rebellion is crushed just as congress has adjourned and there are none of the disturbing elements of that body to hinder and embarrass us. if we are wise and discreet we shall reanimate the states and get their governments in successful operation with order prevailing, and the union reëstablished before congress comes together in december. i hope there will be no persecution, no bloody work, after the war is over. no one need expect me to take any part in hanging or killing these men. enough lives have been sacrificed. we must extinguish resentment if we expect harmony and union. there is too great a disposition on the part of some of our very good friends to be masters, to interfere with and dictate to these states, to treat the people not as fellow-citizens; there is too little respect for their rights." he made it plain that he meant the words of his second inaugural address, hardly six weeks before, when he promised that his mission should be "to bind up the wounds of the nation." "very cheerful and very hopeful," mr. stanton reported, "spoke very kindly of general lee and others of the confederacy, and of the establishment of the government of virginia." also, he spoke of the state government in louisiana, and that which he had mapped out for north carolina. general grant was uneasy about sherman and johnston. the president said: "i have no doubt that favourable news will come. i had a dream last night, my usual dream which has preceded every important event of the war. i seemed to be on a singular and indescribable vessel, always the same, moving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore." [illustration: mrs. joseph e. johnston (lydia mclane, daughter of senator mclane, of delaware.)] he did not know that on that day sherman was writing johnston, "i am empowered to make terms of peace." but he knew he had so empowered sherman. i can imagine that through his heart the refrain was beating: "there will be no more bloodshed, no more devastation. there shall be no more humiliations for this southern people, and god will give it into my hands to reunite my country." he went for a long, quiet drive with his wife. "mary," he said, "we have had a hard time of it since we came to washington; but the war is over, and with god's blessing we may hope for four years of peace and happiness. then we will go back to illinois and pass the rest of our days in quiet." he longed for quiet. the sabbath before, while driving along the banks of the james, he said: "mary, when i die, i would like to lie in a quiet place like this," and related a dream which he felt to be presage of death. sailing on the james, he read aloud twice, and in a manner that impressed charles sumner, who was present, this passage from macbeth: "'duncan is in his grave; after life's fitful fever he sleeps well; treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison, malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, can touch him further.'" he was going, safe and whole, from the land of "rebels" to washington. "we have had a hard time in washington, mary." read sherman's "memoirs," and see what little liking great federal generals had for journeys to washington; how for peace and safety, they preferred their battle-fields to the place where politicians were wire-pulling and spreading nets. the conclusion to his perfect day was a box in ford's theatre, his wife and a pair of betrothed lovers for company; on the stage laura keene in "our american cousin." the tragic sequel is indelibly impressed on the brain of every american--the people leaning forward, absorbed in the play, the handsome, slender figure of young wilkes booth moving with easy, assured grace towards the president's box, the report of the pistol, the leap of booth to the stage, falling as the flag caught his foot, rising, brandishing his weapon and crying: "_sic semper tyrannis!_", his escape with a broken ankle through the confused crowds; the dying president borne out to the boarding-house on tenth street. seward's life was attempted the same evening by booth's confederate, lewis payne, who penetrated to the secretary's sick-room and wounded him and his son; payne escaped. general grant's death was a part of the plot; he and mrs. grant had declined invitation to share the president's box, and started west; mr. stanton's murder was also intended; but he escaped, scathless of body but bitterer of soul than ever, bitterer than mr. seward, who was wounded. in a letter which matoaca wrote years afterward, she said: "i well remember the horror that thrilled our little circle when the news came. 'now, may god have mercy on us!' uncle exclaimed. he sat silent for a while and then asked: 'can it be possible that any of our own people could do this thing? some misguided fanatic?' and then, after a silence: 'can some enemy of the south have done it? some enemy of the south who had a grudge against lincoln, too?' 'what sort of secret service could they have had in washington that this thing could happen? how was it that the crippled assassin was able to make his escape?' he said when full accounts appeared. the explanations given never explained to him. "i heard some speak who thought it no more than just retribution upon mr. lincoln for the havoc he had wrought in our country. but even the few who spoke thus were horrified when details came. we could not be expected to grieve, from any sense of personal affection, for mr. lincoln, whom we had seen only in the position of an implacable foe at the head of a power invading and devastating our land; but our reprobation of the crime of his taking off was none the less. besides, we did not know what would be done to us. already there had been talk of trying our officers for treason, of executing them, of exiling them, and in this talk andrew johnson had been loudest. "i remember how one poor woman took the news. she was half-crazed by her losses and troubles; one son had been killed in battle, another had died in prison, of another she could not hear if he were living or dead; her house had been burned; her young daughter, turned out with her in the night, had died of fright and exposure. she ran in, crying: 'lincoln has been killed! thank god!' next day she came, still and pale: 'i have prayed it all out of my heart,' she said, 'that is, i'm not glad. but, somehow, i _can't_ be sorry. i believe it was the vengeance of the lord.'" jefferson davis heard of lincoln's death in charlotte. a tablet in that beautiful and historic city marks the spot where he stood. he had just arrived from greensboro, was dismounting, citizens were welcoming him when the dispatch signed by secretary of war breckinridge was handed him by major john courtney. mrs. courtney, the major's widow, told me that her husband heard the president say: "oh, the pity of it!" he passed it to a gentleman with the remark, "here are sad tidings." the northern press reported that jefferson davis cheered when he heard of lincoln's death. mrs. davis, at the armistead burt house, abbeville, received a message from her husband announcing his arrival in charlotte and telling of the assassination. mrs. davis "burst into tears, which flowed from sorrow and a thorough realization of the inevitable results to the confederates,"--her own words. general johnston and general sherman were in mr. bennett's house near raleigh. just before starting to this meeting, general sherman received a dispatch announcing mr. lincoln's assassination. he placed it in his pocket, and, as soon as they were alone, handed it to general johnston, watching him narrowly. "he did not attempt to conceal his distress," general sherman relates. "the perspiration came out in large drops on his forehead." his horror and detestation of the deed broke forth; he earnestly hoped general sherman would not charge this crime to the confederacy. "i explained," states general sherman, "that i had not yet revealed the news to my own personal staff or to the army, and that i dreaded the effect when it was made known." he feared that "a worse fate than that of columbia would befall" raleigh, particularly if some "foolish man or woman should say or do something that would madden his men." he took pains when making the calamity known to assure his army that he did not consider the south responsible. mr. davis, under arrest, and on the way to macon, heard that andrew johnson had offered a reward of $ , for his arrest, charging him, clement c. clay and other prominent southerners with "inciting, concerting, procuring" the "atrocious murder" of president lincoln. between threatening soldiery, displaying the proclamation and shouting over his capture, mr. davis and his family rode and walked. at macon, general wilson received him with courtesy; when the proclamation was mentioned, mr. davis said one person at least in the united states knew the charge to be false, and that was the man who signed it, for andrew johnson knew that he preferred lincoln to himself. in augusta, colonel randall (author of "maryland, my maryland"), meeting clement c. clay on the street, informed him of the proclamation. the old ex-senator at once surrendered, asking trial.[ ] in southern cities citizens held meetings condemning the murder and expressing sorrow and regret at the president's death. ex-governor aiken, known as the largest slave-owner in south carolina, led the movement in charleston, heading a petition to general gillmore for use of the hibernian hall that the people might have a gathering-place in which to declare their sentiments. even the confederates in prison were heard from. the officers confined at fort warren signed with general ewell a letter to general grant, expressing to "a soldier who will understand" their detestation of booth's horrible crime. the commandant of the fort, major william appleton, added a note testifying to their deep sincerity. the wrath of the north chapter viii the wrath of the north the mad act of crazy wilkes booth set the whole country crazy. the south was aghast, natural recoil intensified by apprehension. the north, convulsed with anguish, was newly inflamed, and even when the cooler moment came and we were acquitted of any responsibility for booth's crazy act, the angry humour of a still sore heart was against us. we, of both sections, who suffered so lately as one people in the death of president mckinley, can comprehend the woe and unreason of the moment. indignation and memorial meetings simply flayed the south alive. at one in the new york custom house, when the grieving, exasperated people did not know whether to weep or to curse the more, or to end it by simply hanging us all, mr. chittenden rose and said: "peace, be still!" and declared the death of lincoln providential, god removing the man of mercy that due punishment might be meted out to rebels. before the pacific orator finished, people were yelling: "hang lee!" and "the rebels deserve damnation!" pulpits fulminated. easter sermons demanded the halter, exile, confiscation of property, for "rebels and traitors"; yet some voices rose benignly, as edward everett hale's, dr. huntington's, and rufus ellis', in words fitting the day. beecher urged moderation. the new president, andrew johnson, was breathing out threatenings and slaughter before lincoln's death. thousands had heard him shout from the southern portico of the patent office, "jeff davis ought to be hung twenty times as high as haman!" in nicolay and hay's life of lincoln, the following paragraph follows comment upon unanimity in southern and northern sentiment: "there was one exception to the general grief too remarkable to be passed over in silence. among the extreme radicals in congress, mr. lincoln's determined clemency and liberality towards the southern people had made an impression so unfavourable that, though they were shocked at his murder, they did not, among themselves, conceal their gratification that he was no longer in the way. in a political caucus held a few hours after the president's death, 'the thought was nearly universal,' to quote the language of one of their most representative members, 'that the accession of johnson to the presidency would prove a godsend to the country.'" the only people who could profit by lincoln's death were in the radical wing of the republican party. these extremists thought johnson their man. senator wade, heading a committee that waited on him, cried: "johnson, we have faith in you! by the gods, it will be no trouble now running the government!" "treason," said the new president, "is the highest crime in the calendar, and the full penalty for its commission should be visited upon the leaders of the rebellion. treason should be made odious." it is told as true "inside history" that the arrest and execution of general lee had been determined upon; general grant heard of it and went in the night to see president johnson and secretary stanton and said to them: "if general lee or any of the officers paroled by me are arrested while keeping the terms of their parole, i will resign my commission in the united states army." but on april , even general grant was of a divided mind, for he wired general ord: "arrest j. a. campbell, mayor mayo, and members of the old council who have not yet taken the oath of allegiance, and confine them in libby prison ... arrest all paroled officers and surgeons until they can be sent beyond our lines unless they have taken the oath of allegiance. extreme rigour will have to be observed whilst assassination is the order of the day with rebels." general ord replied: "the two citizens we have seen. they are old, nearly helpless, and, i think, incapable of harm. lee and staff are in town among the paroled prisoners. should i arrest them under the circumstances, i think the rebellion here would be reopened. i will risk my life that present paroles will be kept, if you will allow me to so trust the people here, who are ignorant of the assassination, done, i think, by some insane brutus with but few accomplices. judge campbell and mr. hunter pressed me earnestly yesterday to send them to washington to see the president. would they have done so if guilty?" general grant answered: "i leave my dispatch of this date in the light of a suggestion to be executed only as far as you may judge the good of the service demands." but the venerable peace-maker and his associates were not to escape vengeance. general halleck, from richmond, to general grant, may : "hunter is staying quietly at home, advises all who visit him to support the union cause. his hostility to davis did much to make davis unpopular in virginia. considering this, and the fact that president lincoln advised against arresting hunter, i would much prefer not to arrest him unless specially ordered to do so. all classes are taking the amnesty oath; it would be unfortunate to shake by unnecessary arrests this desire for general amnesty. lee's officers are taking the oath; even lee himself is considering the propriety of doing so and petitioning president johnson for pardon." may , halleck to stanton: "r. m. t. hunter has, in accordance with general grant's orders, been arrested, and is now on a gunboat in the james. judge campbell is still at his house. if necessary, he can be confined with mr. hunter. he voluntarily submits himself to such punishment as the government may see fit to impose. he is very destitute and much broken down, and his case excites much sympathy." fortress monroe, may , general halleck wires general ord, richmond: "the secretary of war directs that john a. campbell be placed in the libby or some other secure prison. do this at once." announcements of arrivals at fort pulaski in june would have made a fine page for any hotel desiring a brilliant register, thus: "ex-senator r. m. t. hunter, virginia; ex-assistant secretary of war judge j. a. campbell, alabama; ex-senator d. l. yulee, florida; ex-governor clark, mississippi; ex-secretary of the treasury g. a. trenholm, south carolina;" and so on. pulaski had rivals in other federal prisons. a reward of $ , for "extra billy" did not bring him in, but he delivered himself up to general patrick, was paroled, and went to his home in warrenton, fauquier, and set to work with a will, though he was, to quote general halleck, "seventy years old and quite feeble." the rightful governor of virginia, he advised her people to cheerful acceptance of pierpont. as soon as the aged governor of mississippi learned that general dick taylor would surrender, he convened the legislature; his message, recommending the repeal of the secession ordinance and deploring lincoln's murder, was not more than read, when general osband, under orders from washington, dissolved the legislature with threats of arrest. governor clark was arrested: "the old soldier straightened his mangled limbs as best he could, with great difficulty mounted his crutches, and with a look of defiance, said: 'general osband, i denounce before high heaven this unparalleled act of tyranny and usurpation. i am the duly and constitutionally elected governor of mississippi, and would resist, if in my power, to the last extremity the enforcement of your order.'" [illustration: libby prison, richmond, va. before this building was used as a warehouse, and in - was transported by a syndicate to chicago, and is now known as libby prison war museum.] governors, generals and statesmen were arrested in all directions. no exception was made for alexander h. stephens, the invalid, the peace-maker, the gentlest roman of them all. at liberty hall, mr. stephens and a young friend, robert w. hull, were playing casino, when tim, a negro, ran in, exclaiming: "marster, de town is full uh yankees! whole heaps uv 'em, gallopin' all about, carryin' guns." mr. stephens rose and said to his guest: "i have been expecting this. they have come for me. excuse me, please, while i pack." he went into his bedroom and began this task, when an officer called. mr. stephens met him in the parlor. the officer said, "are you alex stephens?" "that is my name." "i have an order for your arrest." "i would like to have your name and see your order." "i am captain saint, of the th iowa, acting under general upton's orders. here is the order." mr. stephens saw that himself and general toombs were to be brought before general upton in atlanta. "i have been anticipating arrest," he said quietly, "and have been careful not to be out of the way, remaining here at home. general upton need not have sent an armed force for me. a simple intimation from him that my presence was desired would have taken me to atlanta." his negroes were weeping when he was carried away; one, by special permission, accompanied him. he was left under guard in a shanty on the road; the troops went on to washington, "to be back in a little while with bob toombs." "where is general toombs?" asked mr. stephens, when they returned. "we don't know," was the rejoinder. "he flanked us." thus: general toombs, going to the basement doorway of his house in washington, exclaimed suddenly: "my god! the blue-coats!" turned and went rapidly through his house and out at the back door, saying to his wife: "detain them at the front as long as you can." their daughter, mrs. du bose, helped her. "bob toombs" was asked for. mrs. du bose went to bring "bob toombs"; she reappeared leading a lovely boy. "here is bob toombs," she said, "bob toombs du bose, named for my father, general toombs." mrs. toombs took them through the house, showing them into every room--keys of which were lost and had to be looked for. they would burn the building, they insisted, if general toombs was not produced. "burn," she said, "and burn me in it. if i knew my husband's hiding-place, i would not betray him." they told her to move her furniture out. she obeyed. they changed their minds about the burning and went off. general toombs escaped to the woods, where he remained hidden until nightfall. his friend, captain charles e. irvin, got some gold from mrs. toombs, and carried the money to him, together with his mare, gray alice. from nassau island he crossed to england, where the doughty "rebel" was mightily liked. mr. davis, mr. stephens, mr. clay, general wheeler, and general ralls met aboard the steamer at augusta, all prisoners. the president's arrest occurred the day before mr. stephens', near irwinsville. picture it. gray dawn in the georgia woods. a small encampment of tents, horses, and wagons. horses saddled and bridled, with pistols in holsters, picketed on the edge of the encampment. a negro watching and listening. suddenly, he hurries to one of the tents: "mars jeff!" his call wakes a man lying fully dressed on one of the cots. "what's the matter, jim?" "firin' 'cross de branch, suh. jes behin' our camp. marauders, i reckon." after leaving washington, mr. davis had heard that marauders were in pursuit of his wife's cortege, and turning out of his course, he rode hard across country, found his family, conveyed them beyond the present danger, as he thought, and was about to renew his journey south. horses for himself and staff were ready, when he heard that marauders were again near; he concluded to wait, and so lay down to rest. at jim's call, he went to the tent-door, then turned to where his wife bent over her sleeping baby, winnie. "they are not marauders," he said, "but regular troopers of the united states army." she begged him to leave her quickly. his horses and weapons were near the road down which the cavalry was coming. in the darkness of the tent, he caught up what he took to be his raglan, a sleeveless, waterproof garment. it was hers. she, poor soul, threw a shawl over his head. he went out of the tent, she keeping near. "halt!" cried a trooper, levelling a carbine at him. he dropped his wraps and hurried forward. the trooper, in the dark, might miss aim; a hand under his foot would unhorse him; when mr. davis would mount and away. mrs. davis saw the carbine, cast her arms about her husband, and lost him his one chance of escape. in one of her trunks, broken open by pilferers of the attacking party, a hoop-skirt was found. i shall refer to this historic hoop-skirt again. i left generals johnston and sherman discussing mr. lincoln's death and arranging terms of peace, based upon what sherman recognized as the object of the war--salvation of the union; and upon instructions received from mr. lincoln's own lips in their last interview when the president authorized him to "assure governor vance and the people of north carolina that, as soon as the rebel armies will lay down their arms, they will at once be guaranteed all their rights as citizens of a common country; and that, to avoid anarchy, the state governments now in existence will be recognized." "when peace does come, you may call upon me for anything. then, i will share with you the last crust and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter." thus sherman closed his reply to calhoun's protest against the depopulation of atlanta. now that war was over, he was for living up to this. in soldierly simplicity, he thought he had done an excellent thing in securing johnston's guarantee of disbandment of all confederate forces, and settling all fear of guerilla warfare by putting out of arms not only regular confederates, but any who might claim to be such. stanton disposed of the whole matter by ordering grant to "proceed to the headquarters of major-general sherman and direct operations against the enemy." this was, of course, the end to any terms for us. as is known, general johnston surrendered on the same conditions with lee. grant so ordered his course as not to do sherman injustice. general sherman wrote a spicy letter for mr. stanton's benefit: the settlement he had arranged for would be discussed, he said, in a different spirit "two or three years hence, after the government has experimented a little more in the machinery by which power reaches the scattered people of this vast country known as the south." he had made war "hell"; now, the people of "this unhappy country," as he pityingly designated the land he had devastated, were for peace; and he, than whom none had done more to bring them to that state of mind, was for giving them some of its fruits. "we should not drive a people to anarchy"; for protection to life and property, the south's civil courts and governments should be allowed to remain in operation. "the assassination has stampeded the civil authorities," "unnerved them," was the conclusion he drew when he went to washington when, just after the crime, the long roll had been beaten and the city put under martial law; public men were still in dread of assassination. at the grand review in washington, sherman, hero of the hour, shook hands with the president and other dignitaries on the stand, but pointedly failed to accept mr. stanton's. after mr. lincoln's death, leniency to "rebels" was accounted worse than a weakness. the heavy hand was applauded. it was the fashion to say hard things of us. it was accounted piety and patriotism to condemn "traitors and rebels." cartoonists, poets, and orators, were in clover; here was a subject on which they could "let themselves out." the chaining of jefferson davis chapter ix the chaining of jefferson davis strange and unreal seem those days. one president a fugitive, journeying slowly southward; the other dead, journeying slowly north and west. aye, the hand of god was heavy on both our peoples. the cup of defeat could not be made more bitter than it was; and into the cup of triumph were gall and wormwood poured. hunters pursuing one chieftain with hoarse cries of "rebel!" and "traitor!" for the other, bells tolling, guns booming requiem, great cities hung with black, streets lined with weeping thousands, the catafalque a victor's chariot before which children and maidens scattered flowers. nearly a month that funeral march lasted--from washington through baltimore, philadelphia, new york, albany, cleveland, columbus, indianapolis, chicago--it wound its stately way to springfield. wherever it passed, the public pulse beat hotter against the southern chieftain and his people. yet the dead and the hunted were men of one country, born in the same state. sharp contrasts in many ways, they were yet enough alike in personal appearance to have been brothers. both were pure men, brave, patriotic; both kindly and true. the dead had said of the living: "let jeff escape." johnson's proclamation threw the entire south into a white rage and an anguish unutterable, when it charged the assassination to mr. davis and other representative men of the south. swift on it came news that our president was captured, report being spread to cast ridicule upon him that, when caught, he was disguised in his wife's garments. caricatures, claiming to be truthful portraiture, displayed him in hoops and petticoats and a big poke bonnet, of such flaming contrasts as certainly could not have been found in mrs. davis' wardrobe. in , i saw at a _vaudeville_ entertainment in a new york department store, a stereopticon representation of the war of secession. the climax was mr. davis in a pink skirt, red bonnet, yellow bodice, and parti-coloured shawl, struggling with several federals, while other federals were rushing to the attack, all armed to the teeth and pointing warlike weapons at this one fantastic figure of a feeble old man. the theatre was full of children. the attraction had been running some time and thousands of young americans had doubtless accepted its travesties as history. the northern friend with me was as indignant as myself. when mr. davis' capture was announced in theatres and other places of amusement in the north, people went crazy with joy, clapping their hands and cheering, while bands played "yankee doodle" and "star-spangled banner." many were for having him hung at once. wendell phillips wanted him "left to the sting of his own conscience." presently, we heard that the "clyde" was bringing mr. davis, his family, general wheeler, governor vance, and others, to fortress monroe. and then--will i ever forget how the south felt about that?--that mr. davis was a prisoner in a damp, casemated cell, that lights were kept burning in his face all night until he was in danger of blindness; that human eyes were fixed on him night and day, following his every movement; that his jailer would come and look at him contemptuously and call him "jeff"; that sightseers would be brought to peer at him as if he were some strange wild beast; that his feeble limbs had been loaded with chains; that he was like to lose his life through hardships visited upon him! to us who knew the man personally, his sensitiveness, dignity, and refinement, the tale is harrowing as it could not be to those who knew him not thus. yet to all americans it must be a regrettable chapter in our history when it is remembered that this man was no common felon, but a prisoner of state, a distinguished indian-fighter, a mexican veteran, a man who had held a seat in congress, who had been secretary of war of the united states, and who for four years had stood at the head of the confederate states. when they came to put chains upon him, he protested, said it was an indignity to which as a soldier he would not submit, that the intention was to dishonour the south in him; stood with his back to the wall, bade them kill him at once, fought them off as long as he could--fought them until they held him down and the blacksmiths riveted the manacles upon his wasted limbs. captain titlow, who had the work in charge, did not like his cruel task, but he had no choice but to obey orders.[ ] and this was in fortress monroe, where of old the gates fell wide to welcome him when he came as secretary of war, where guns thundered greeting, soldiers presented arms, and the highest officer was proud to do him honour! with bated breath we speak of russian prisons. but how is this: "davis is in prison; he is not allowed to say a word to any one nor is any one allowed to say a word to him. he is literally in a living tomb. his position is not much better than that of the turkish sultan, bajazet, exposed by his captor, tamerlane, in a portable iron cage." ("new york herald," may , .) the dispatch seemed positively to gloat over that poor man's misery. a new fad in feminine attire came into vogue; women wore long, large, and heavy black chains as decorations. the military murder of mrs. surratt stirred us profoundly. too lowly, simple, and obscure in herself to rank with heroic figures, her execution lifts her to the plane where stand all who fell victims to the troubled times. suspicion of complicity in mr. lincoln's murder, because of her son's intimacy with wilkes booth, led to her death. they had her before a military tribunal in washington, her feet linked with chains. several men were executed. their prison-life and hers was another tale to give one the creeps. they were not allowed to speak to any one, nor was any one allowed to speak to them; they were compelled to wear masks of padded cloth over face and head, an opening at the mouth permitting space for breathing; pictures said to be drawn from life showed them in their cells where the only resting-places were not beds, but bare, rough benches; marched before judges with these same horrible hoods on, marched to the gallows with them on, hanging with them on. one of the executed, payne, had been guilty of the attack on mr. seward and his son; the others had been dominated and bribed by booth, but had failed to play the parts assigned them in the awful drama his morbid brain wrought out. our friends, the enemy chapter x our friends, the enemy there was small interchange of civilities between northern and southern ladies. the new-comers were in much evidence; southerners saw them riding and driving in rich attire and handsome equipages, and at the theatre in all the glory of fine toilettes. there was not so much trouble opening theatres as churches. a good many stage celebrities came to the richmond theatre, which was well patronised. decorated with united states flags, it was opened during the first week of the occupation with "don cæsar de bazan." the "whig" reported a brilliant audience. mrs. lincoln and mrs. grant, who had been driving over the city, were formally invited by general weitzel to attend the play, but did not appear. the band played every evening in the square, and our people, ladies especially, were invited to come out. the square and the capitol were at one time overrun with negroes. this was stopped. still, our ladies did not go. federal officers and their ladies had their music to themselves. "there was no intentional slight or rudeness on our part. we did not draw back our skirts in passing federal soldiers, as was charged in northern papers; if a few thoughtless girls or women did this, they were not representative. we tried not to give offense; we were heart-broken; we stayed to ourselves; and we were not hypocrites; that was all." so our women aver. in most southern cities efforts were made to induce the ladies to come out and hear the band play. the day governor pierpont arrived, windows of the spotswood and monumental were crowded with northern ladies waving handkerchiefs. "i only knew from the papers," matoaca tells, "that the mansion was decorated with flowers for his reception. our own windows, which had been as windows of a house of mourning, did not change their aspect for his coming. our rightful governor was a fugitive; governor pierpont was an alien. we were submissive, but we could not rejoice." this was the feminine and social side. on the political and masculine side, he was welcomed. delegations of prominent virginians from all counties brought him assurances of coöperation. the new governor tried to give a clean, patriotic administration. northerners held socials in each others' houses and in halls; there were receptions, unattended by southerners, at the governor's mansion and military headquarters. it might have been more politic had we gone out of our way to be socially agreeable, but it would not have been sincere. federal officers and their wives attended our churches. a northern methodist society was formed with a group of adherents, governor and mrs. pierpont, and, later, general and mrs. canby among them. "we of the northern colony were very dependent upon ourselves for social pleasures," an ex-member who now considers herself a southerner said to me recently. "there were some inter-marriages. i remember an elopement; a petersburg girl ran away with a federal officer, and the pair sought asylum at my father's, in richmond's northern colony. miss van lew entertained us liberally. she gave a notable reception to chief justice salmon p. chase and his beautiful daughter, kate." miss van lew, a resident, was suspected of being a spy during the war. our ladies went veiled on the street, the motive that caused them to close their windows impelling them to cover their faces with sorrow's shield. there was not much opportunity for young blue-coats to so much as behold our pretty girls, much less make eyes at them, had they been so minded. that veil as an accompaniment of a lissome figure and graceful carriage must have sometimes acted as a tantalising disguise. i heard of one very cute happening in which the wind and a veil played part. mary triplett, our famous blonde beauty, then in the rosy freshness of early youth, was walking along when the wind took off her veil and carried it to the feet of a young federal officer. he bent, uplifted the vagrant mask, and, with his cap held before his eyes, restored it. that was a very honest, self-denying yankee. perhaps he peeped around the corner of his cap. there was at that time in richmond a bevy of marvellously lovely buds, mattie ould, miss triplett's antithesis, among the number. the entire south seems to have been very rich then in buds of beauty and women of distinction. or, was it that the fires of adversity brought their charms and virtues into high relief? names flitting through my mind are legion. richmond's roll has been given often. junior members of the petersburg set were tabb bolling, general rooney lee's sweetheart (now his widow); molly bannister, general lee's pet, who was allowed to ride traveller; anne bannister, alice gregory, betty and jeannie osborne, betty cabaniss, betty and lucy page, sally hardy, nannie cocke, patty cowles, julia, mary and marion meade, and others who queened it over general lee's army and wrought their pretty fingers to the bone for our lads in the trenches. to go farther afield, georgia had her youthful "maid of athens," jule king, afterwards mrs. henry grady; in atlanta were the clayton sisters, and maggie poole, augusta hill, ella ezzard, eugenia goode, besides a brilliant married circle. in south carolina were mrs. james chesnut, her sister, mrs. david r. williams, and all the fair troop that figure in her "diary from dixie." louisiana's endless roster might begin with the slocomb family, to which general butler paid official tribute, recording that "mrs. slocomb equipped the crack military company of new orleans, the washington artillery, in which her son-in-law, captain david urquhart, is an officer." mrs. urquhart's daughter, cora (afterwards mrs. james brown potter), was, i think, a tiny maiden then. beloved for her social charm and her charities, mrs. ida b. richardson, mrs. urquhart's sister, still lives in the crescent city. there were the leacock sisters, mrs. andrew gray and mrs. will howell, the "madonna of new orleans." there was the king family, which produced grace king, author and historian. a louisiana beauty was addie prescott, whose face and presence gave warrant of the royal blood of spain flowing in her veins. in mississippi was "pearl rivers," afterwards mrs. nicholson, good genius of the "picayune"; and mary e. bryan, later the genius of the "sunny south." georgia and alabama claim mme. le vert, to whose intellect lamartine paid tribute, and augusta evans, whose "macaria" ran the blockade in manuscript and came out up north during the war; that delightful "belle of the fifties," mrs. clement c. clay, is alabama's own. besides the "rose of texas" (louise wigfall), the lone star state has many a winsome "southern girl" and woman to her credit. mrs. roger a. pryor is virginia's own. among florida's fair was the "madonna of the wickliffe sisters," mrs. yulee, senator yulee's wife and, presently, florida's vice-regent for the ladies' association of mt. vernon. mrs. sallie ward hunt and mrs. sallie ewing pope lead a long list in kentucky, where mary anderson, the actress, was in her tender teens, and bertha honoré (afterwards mrs. potter palmer) was in pinafores. to mississippi and missouri belongs theodosia worthington valliant; and to tennessee betty vance, whose beauty's fame was world-wide, and mary wright, later mrs. treadwell. at a ball given prince arthur when in this country, a wealthy belle was selected to lead with him. the prince thinking he was to choose his partner, fixed on mary wright, exquisite in poverty's simple white gown, and asked: "may i lead with her?" in north carolina were sophia portridge, women of the houses of devereaux, vance, mordecai--but i am not writing the south's "book of fair and noble women." i leave out of my list names brilliant as any in it. [illustration: mrs. david l. yulee (daughter of governor wickliffe, of kentucky) she was the wife of senator yulee, of florida, vice regent of the mount vernon association of florida, and was known as the "madonna of the wickliffe sisters."] of all the fair women i have ever seen, mary meade was fairest. no portrait can do justice to the picture memory holds of her as "bride" to d'arcy paul's "bridegroom" in the "mistletoe bough," which mrs. edwin morrison staged so handsomely that her amateurs were besought to "star" in the interest of good causes. our fair maids were no idle "lilies of loveliness." the meade sisters and others turned talents to account in mending fallen family fortunes. maids and matrons labored diligently to gather our soldier dead into safe resting-places. the "lyrical memorial," mrs. platt's enterprise, like the "mistletoe bough" (later produced), was called for far and wide. the day after presentation in louisville, the federal commandant sent mary meade, who had impersonated the south pleading sepulture for her sons, a basket of flowers with a live white dove in the center. slowly in richmond interchange of little human kindnesses between neighbors established links. general bartlett, occupying the haxall house, who had lost a leg in the war, was "the yankee who conquered my wife," a southerner bears witness. "i came home one day and found him sitting with her on my steps. he suffered greatly from his old wound, bore it patiently, and by his whole conduct appealed to her sweet womanliness. his staff was quiet and orderly." the beautiful daughter of one family and her feeble grandmother were the only occupants of the mansion into which general ord and his wife moved. the pair had no money and were unable to communicate with absent members of the household who had been cut off from home by the accidents of war while visiting in another city. the younger lady was ill with typhoid fever. the general and his wife were very thoughtful and generous in supplying ice, brandy, and other essentials and luxuries. "under heaven," the invalid bore grateful witness when recovering, "i owe my life to general and mrs. ord." her loveliness and helplessness were in themselves an argument to move a heart of stone to mercy; nevertheless, it was virtue and grace that mercy was shown. we made small appeal for sympathy or aid; were too much inclined to the reverse course, carrying poverty and other troubles with a stiff-neck, scantily-clad backs, long-suffering stomachs, and pride and conscience resolved. but--though some form of what we considered oppression was continually before our eyes--our conquerors, when in our midst, were more and more won to pity and then to sympathy. our commandants might be stern enough when first they came, but when they had lived among us a little while, they softened and saw things in a new light; and the negroes and the carpet-baggers complained of them every one, and the authorities at washington could not change them fast enough. southerners here and in other cities who had federal boarders were considered fortunate because of the money and protection secured. in such cases, there was usually mutual kindness and consideration, politeness keeping in the background topics on which differences were cruel and sharp; but the sectional dividing lines prevented free social intermingling. in places garrisoned by soldiers of coarser types and commanded by men less gentlemanly, women sometimes displayed more pronounced disapprobation. not always with just occasion, but, again, often with cause only too grave. at the best, it was not pleasant to have strange men sauntering, uninvited, into one's yard and through one's house, invading one's kitchen and entertaining housemaids and cooks. that these men wore blue uniforms was unfortunate for us and for the uniform. at that time, the very sight of "army blue" brought terror, anguish and resentment. our famous physicians, maguire and mccaw, were often called to the northern sick. dr. mccaw came once direct to uncle randolph from the dents, where he had been summoned to mrs. ulysses s. grant, and matoaca listened curiously to his and her uncle's cordial discussion of general grant, who had made friends at the south by his course at appomattox and his insistence on the cartel. a conversation occurring between another of our physicians and a feminine patient is not without significance. the lady and the doctor's wife had been friends before the war. "why has your wife not called upon me, doctor?" she asked. "has she forgotten me?" "no, ma'am," he answered gently, and then in a low, kindly voice: "but she cannot--yet--forget all that has happened since you were girls together." "but she should not treasure it against me individually." "she does not, ma'am. but she cannot forget--yet. you would understand if you had been in the beleagured land. if the good women of the north could only imagine themselves in the place of the women of the south during the last four years and in their place now!" she sighed. "i can see only too plainly that they have suffered unutterably many things that we have been spared. and that they suffer now. it's natural, too, that they should hate to have us here lording it over them." very different was the spirit of the wife of a federal officer stationed at augusta, georgia, whose declaration that she hoped to see the day when "black heels should stand on white necks" startled the state of georgia. many good ladies came south firm in the belief that all southerners were negro-beaters, slave-traders, and cut-throats; a folk sadly benighted and needing tutelage in the humanities; and they were not always politic in expressing these opinions. after war, the war spirit always lingers longest in non-combatants--in women and in men who stayed at home and cheered others on. "the soldiers," said general grant, "were in favor of a speedy reconstruction on terms least humiliating to the southern people." he wrote mrs. grant from raleigh, north carolina, in : "the suffering that must exist in the south ... will be beyond conception; people who speak of further retaliation and punishment do not conceive of the suffering endured already, or they are heartless and unfeeling." general halleck to general meade, april , : "the army of the potomac have shown the people of virginia how they would be treated as enemies. let them now prove that they know equally well how to treat the same people as friends." "the terrible sufferings of the south," our press commented, "have softened the hearts of the stern warriors of the armies of the potomac and the cumberland, and while they are calling for pity and justice for us, politicians and fanatics call for vengeance." general sherman said: "i do think some political power might be given to the young men who served in the rebel army, for they are a better class than the adventurers who have gone south purely for office." during an exciting epoch in reconstruction, i was sitting beside a wounded ex-confederate in an opera-box, listening to a southern statesman haranguing us on our wrongs, real and heavy enough, heaven knows, heavier than ever those of war had been. "rather than submit to continued and intensified humiliations," cried the orator, a magnetic man of the sort who was carrying northern audiences to opposite extremes, "we will buckle on our swords and go to war again!" "it might be observed," remarked my veteran drily, while i clapped my hands, "that if he should buckle on his sword and go to war, it would be what he did not do before." i held my hands quite still during the rest of that speech. "our women never were whipped!" i have heard grizzled confederates say that proudly. "there is a difference," remarked one hoary-headed hero, who, after wearing stars on his collar in confederate service represented his state in the federal congress, "between the political and the feminine war-spirit. the former is too often for personal gain. woman's is the aftermath of anguish. it has taken a long time to reconstruct southern women. some are not reconstructed yet. suffering was stamped too deep for effacement. the northern woman suffered with her southern sister the agony of anxiety and bereavement. but the southern had other woes, of which the northern could have no conception. the armies were upon us. there was devastation. the southern woman and her loved ones lacked food and raiment, the enemy appropriating what we had and blocking ways by which fresh supplies might come; her home was burned over her head. sometimes she suffered worse things than starvation, worse things than the destruction of her home. "and women could only sit still and endure, while we could fight back. women do not understand that war is a matter of business. i had many friends among the men i fought--splendid, brave fellows. personally, we were friends, and professionally, enemies. women never get that point of view." woman's war spirit is faithfulness and it is absolutely reckless of personal advantages, as the following incident may illustrate. general hunton and general turner knew each other pretty well, although in their own persons they had never met. they had commanded opposing forces and entertained a considerable respect for each other. general turner was the first federal officer that came to lynchburg, when general hunton's wife and youthful son were refugees; he sent dr. murray, a confederate surgeon, to call upon mrs. hunton with the message that she was to suffer for nothing he could supply. general hunton was in prison, she knew not where; was not sure if he were alive or dead. she had not the feelings her lord entertained for his distinguished antagonist, and her response was: "tell general turner i would not accept anything from him to save my life!" yet she must have been very hungry. she and her youthful son had been reduced to goober-peas. first, her supplies got down to one piece of beef-bone. she thought she would have a soup. for a moment, she left her son to watch the pot, but not to stir the soup. but he thought he would do well to stir it. so he stirred it, and turned the pot over. that day, she had nothing for dinner but goober-peas. "when i came home," said general hunton, when asked for this story's sequel, "and she told me about her message to general turner, i wrote him the nicest letter i knew how to write, thanking him for his kindness to the wife of a man whose only claim on him was that he had fought him the best he knew how. "i don't think we would ever have had the trouble we had down here," he continued, "if northern people had known how things really were. in fact, i know we would not. why, i never had any trouble with northern men in all my life except that i just fought them all i knew how. and i never had better friends than among my republican colleagues in congress after the war. they thought all the more of me because i stood up so stoutly for the old confederate cause." bonds coming about in the natural, inevitable order through interchange of the humanities were respected. but where they seemed the outcome of vanity, frivolity, or coquetry, that was another matter, a very serious one for the southern participant. the spirit of the times was morbid, yet a noble loyalty was behind it. anywhere in the land, a southern girl showing partiality for federal beaux came under the ban. if there were nothing else against it, such a course appeared neither true nor dignified; if it were not treason to our lost confederacy, it were treason to our own poor boys in gray to flutter over to prosperous conquerors. nothing could be more sharply defined in lights and shadows than the life of one beautiful and talented southern woman who matronised the entertainments of a famous federal general at a post in one of the cotton states, and thereby brought upon herself such condemnation as made her wines and roses cost her dear. yet perhaps such affiliations lessened the rigors of military government for her state. one of the loveliest of atlanta's gray-haired dames tells me: "i am unreconstructed yet--southern to the backbone." yet she speaks of sherman's godless cohorts as gently as if she were mother of them all. her close neighbour was a yankee encampment. the open ground around her was dotted with tents. there were "all sorts" among the soldiers. none gave insolence or violence. pilfering was the great trouble; the rank and file were "awfully thievish." her kitchen, as usual with southern kitchens of those days, was a separate building. if for a moment she left her pots and ovens to answer some not-to-be-ignored demand from the house, she found them empty on her return, her dinner gone--a most serious thing when it was as by the skin of her teeth that she got anything at all to cook and any fuel to cook with; and when, moreover, cooking was new and tremendously hard work. "we could not always identify the thief; when we could, we were afraid to incur the enmity of the men. better have our things stolen than worse happen us, as might if officers punished those men on our report. i kept a still tongue in my head." though a wife and mother, she was yet in girlhood's years, very soft and fair; had been "lapped in luxury," with a maid for herself, a nurse for her boy, a servant to do this, that, or the other thing, for her. she thus describes her first essay at the family wash. there was a fine well in her yard, and men came to get water. a big-hearted irishman caught the little lady struggling over soap-suds. it looked as if she would never get those clothes clean. for one thing, when she tried to wring them, they were streaked with blood from her arms and hands; she had peculiarly fine and tender skin. "faith an' be jabbers!" said pat, "an' what is it that you're thryin' to do?" "go away, and let me alone!" "faith, an' if ye don't lave off clanin' thim garmints, they'll be that doirty--" "go 'way!" "sure, me choild, an' if ye'll jis' step to the other soide of the tub without puttin' me to the inconvaniance--" he was about to pick her up in his mighty hands. she moved and dropped down, swallowing a sob. "sure, an' it's as good a washerwoman as ivver wore breeches i am," said pat. "an' that's what i've larned in the army." in short order, he had all the clothes hanging snow-white on the line; before he left, he cut enough wood for her ironing. "i'm your bridget ivery wash-day that comes 'roun'," he said as he swung himself off. he was good as his word. this brother-man did her wash every week. "sure, an' it's a shame it is," he would say, "the government fadin' the lazy nagurs an' god an' the divvil can't make 'em wur-r-k." through tony, her son, another link was formed 'twixt late enemies. it was hard for mothers busy at housework to keep track of young children; without fences for definement of yard-limits, and with all old landmarks wiped out, it was easy for children to wander beyond bearings. a lost child was no rarity. one day general and mrs. saxton drove up in their carriage, bringing tony. tony had lost himself; fright, confusion, lack of food, had made him ill; he had been brought to the attention of the general and his wife, who, instead of sending the child home by a subordinate, came with him themselves, the lady holding the pale little fellow in her arms, comforting and soothing him. thus began friendship between mrs. s. and mrs. saxton; not only small tony was now pressed to take airings with yankees, but his mother. the general did all he could to make life easier for her; had wood hauled and cut for her. the southern woman's reduction to poverty and menial tasks mortified him, as they mortified many another manly blue-coat, witness of the reduction. "it is pitiable and it is all wrong," said one officer to mrs. s. "our people up north simply don't know how things are down here." a lady friend of mrs. s.'s tells me that she knew a northern officer--(giving his name)--who resigned his commission because he found himself unable to witness the sufferings of southern women and children, and have a hand in imposing them. rulers who came under just condemnation as "military satraps" governing in a democracy in time of peace by the bayonet, when divorced from the exercise of their office, won praise as men. thus, general meade's rule in georgia is open to severest criticism, yet ellen meade clarke, who saw him as the man and not as the oppressor, says: "i had just married and gone to atlanta when sherman ordered the citizens out, which order i hastily obeyed, leaving everything in my peachtree cottage home. was among the first to return. knew all the generals in command; they were all neighbors; general meade, who was sent to see me by some one bearing our name, proved a good and faithful friend and, on his death-bed, left me his prayer-book." [illustration: miss mary meade, of petersburg, va. she was known far and wide for her loveliness of person and character, her intellectual gifts and social graces.] lovers and prayers chapter xi buttons, lovers, oaths, war lords, and prayers for presidents some military orders were very irritating. the "button order" prohibited our men from wearing confederate buttons. many possessed no others and had not money wherewith to buy. "buttons were scarce as hens' teeth." the confederacy had been reduced to all sorts of makeshifts for buttons. thorns from thornbushes had furnished country folks with such fastenings as pins usually supply, and served convenience on milady's toilette-table when she went to do up her hair. one clause in that monstrous order delighted feminine hearts! it provided as thoughtful concession to all too glaring poverty that: "when plain buttons cannot be procured, those formerly used can be covered with cloth." richmond ladies looked up all the bits of crape and bombazine they had, and next morning their men appeared on the streets with buttons in mourning! "i would never have gotten uncle out of the front door if he had realized what i was up to," matoaca relates. "not that he was not mournful enough, but he did not want to mourn that way." somehow, nobody thought about sam's button; he was a boy, only fifteen. he happened to go out near camp grant in his old gray jacket, the only coat he had; one of his brothers had given it to him months before. it was held together over his breast by a single button, his only button. a yankee sergeant cut it off with his sword. the jacket fell apart, exposing bepatched and thread-bare underwear. his mother and sisters could not help crying when the boy came in, holding his jacket together with his hand, his face suffused, his eyes full of tears of rage and mortification. the "button trouble" pervaded the entire south. the tennessee legislature, brownlow's machine, discussed a bill imposing a fine of $ to $ upon privates, and $ to $ upon officers for wearing the "rebel uniform." the gaunt, destitute creatures who were trudging, stumping, limping, through that state on their way from distant battlefields and northern prisons to their homes, had rarely so much as fifty cents in their pockets. had that bill become a law enforced, tennessee prisons must have overflowed with recaptured confederates, or roads and woods with men in undress. many a distinguished soldier, home-returning, ignorant that such an order existed, has been held up at the entrance to his native town by a saucy negro sergeant who would shear him of buttons with a sabre, or march him through the streets to the provost's office to answer for the crime of having buttons on his clothes. the provision about covering buttons has always struck me as the unkindest cut of all. how was a man who had no feminine relatives to obey the law? granted that as a soldier, he had acquired the art of being his own seamstress, how, when he was in the woods or the roads, could he get scraps of cloth and cover buttons? but of all commands ever issued, the "marriage order" was the most extraordinary! that order said people should not get married unless they took the oath of allegiance. if they did, they would be arrested. i have forgotten the exact wording, but if you will look up general order no. ,[ ] april , and signed by general halleck, you can satisfy any curiosity you may feel. it was a long ukase, saying what-all people should not do unless they took the oath (some felt like taking a good many daily!). naturally, young people were greatly upset. many had been engaged a weary while, to be married soon as the war should be over. among those affected was captain sloan, whose marriage to miss wortham was due the tuesday following. the paper containing the order, heavily ringed with black, darkened the roseate world upon which the bride-elect opened her lovely eyes saturday morning. the same hand that had put the order in mourning had scribbled on the margin: "if captain sloan is not ready to take that oath, i am." her maid informed her that mr. carrington, an elderly friend, fond of a joke, was awaiting her. descending to the drawing-room, she found it full of sympathising neighbours, her betrothed in the midst, all debating a way out of the difficulty. not even sharp-witted lawyers could see one. in times so out of joint law did not count. the situation was saved by the fact that general halleck had a namesake in captain sloan's family. the captain's "uncle jerry" (otherwise general jerry gilmer, of south carolina) had called a son "henry halleck" in honour of his one-time class-mate at west point. when the idea of the namesake as basis of appeal dawned on captain sloan, day was passing. miss wortham's father, who, before the federal government had interfered with his dominion as a parent, had been anxious that his very youthful daughter and her betrothed should defer their union, was now quite determined that the rights of the lovers should not be abrogated by uncle sam. as member of the confederate ambulance committee, he had been in close touch with colonel mulford, federal commissioner of exchange; judge ould, confederate commissioner, was his personal friend; in combination with these gentlemen, he arranged a meeting twixt lover and war lord. general halleck received hymen's ambassador with courtesy. the story of the namesake won his sympathetic ear. when told what consternation his order was causing--captain sloan plead other cases besides his own--the war lord laughed, scribbled something on a slip of official paper and handed it to captain sloan, saying: "let this be known and i suppose there will be a good many weddings before monday." the slip read like this: "order no. will not go into effect until monday morning. h. w. halleck, general commanding." alas! there were no sunday papers. the news was disseminated as widely as possible; and three weddings, at least, in high society, happened sunday in consequence. mrs. sloan, a prominent member of baltimore society, gave her own account of the whole matter in mrs. daniel's "confederate scrap-book," which any one may see at the confederate museum. "the gown i wore the day after my marriage," she relates, "was a buff calico with tiny dots in it, and as it was prettily and becomingly made, i looked as well, and i know i was as happy, as if it had been one of worth's or redfern's most bewildering conceits--and i am sure it was as expensive, as it cost $ a yard." general halleck's order was not unique. restrictions on marriage had been incorporated in the state constitution of missouri, , a section prescribing that "no person shall practice law, be competent as bishop, priest, deacon, minister, elder, or other clergyman of any religious persuasion, sect, or denomination, teach, preach, or solemnise marriage until such person shall have first taken the oath required as to voters." "under these provisions," commented senator vest, from whom i borrow, "the parent who had given a piece of bread or a cup of water to a son in the confederate service, or who had in any way expressed sympathy for such son, was prohibited from registering as voter, serving as juror, or holding any office or acting as trustee, or practicing law, or teaching in any school, or preaching the gospel, or solemnising the marriage rite."[ ] strictly construed, the test-oath imposed by congress in , like that of missouri, excluded from franchise and office, the parent who had given a piece of bread or a cup of water or his sympathy to a son in the confederate service; and the negro who had made wheat and corn for his master's family, as the applicant must swear that he had not "given aid or comfort to" confederates. the missouri test-oath was one that prominent union men, among them general francis p. blair, leader of the union party in his state, a man who had taken part in the siege of vicksburg and marched with sherman to the sea, were unable to take. americans beholding his statue in statuary hall, washington, as that of one of the two sons missouri most delights to honour, will find food for curious reflection in the fact that general blair, going in full federal uniform to register as a voter, was not allowed to do so. visitors to blair hall at the st. louis exposition may have been reminded of this little incident of reconstruction. in , father john a. cummings was arrested and tried for performing parochial duties without taking the oath. a bill forbidding women to marry until they took the oath was passed by tennessee's senate, but the house rejected it. this bill, like missouri's law, discriminated against ministers of the gospel; those who had sympathised with "rebels" or in any way aided them, were condemned to work on the public roads and other degrading forms of expiation. there was no appreciable reluctance on the part of the people to take the oath of allegiance. they could honestly swear for the future to sustain the government of the united states, but few, or no decent people, even unionists, living among confederates, could vow they had given no "aid or comfort" to one. the test-oath cultivated hypocrisy in natives and invited carpet-baggers. a native who would take it was eligible to office, while the honest man who would not lie, was denied a right to vote. in readiness to take the oath of allegiance, people rushed so promptly to tribunals of administration that the sincerity of the south was questioned at the north, where it could not be understood how sharp was our need to have formalities of submission over and done with, that we might get to work. one striking cartoon pictured columbia upon a throne gloomily regarding a procession that came bending, bowing, kneeling, creeping, crawling, to her feet, general lee leader and most abject, with howell cobb, wade hampton, and other distinguished southerners around him. beneath was this: "can i trust these men?" on the opposite page, a one-legged negro soldier held out his hand; beneath was: "franchise? and not this man?" [illustration: mrs. henry l. pope (sarah moore ewing) first kentucky state regent d. a. r. from a portrait by de franca, photographed by doerr. louisville, ky.] a few people had serious scruples of conscience against taking the oath. i know of two or three whose attitude, considering their personalities, was amusing and pathetic. there was one good lady, mrs. wellington, who walked all the way from petersburg to richmond, a distance of twenty miles, for fear the oath might be required if she boarded a car! i turn to matoaca's journal: "i have been visiting cousin mary in powhatan. of course they have military government there, too. soldiers ride up, enter without invitation, walk through the house, seat themselves at the piano and play; promenade to the rear, go into the kitchen, sit down and talk with the darkeys. "at church, i saw officers wearing side-arms. they come regularly to watch if we pray for the president of the united states. i hope they were edified; a number stood straight up during that prayer. among the most erect were the m. girls, who have very _retroussé_ noses. the yankees reported: 'not only do they stand up when the president is prayed for, but they turn up their noses.' they sent word back: 'a mightier power than the yankee army turned up our noses.' "i hear they have dealt severely with rev. mr. wingfield because he would not read that prayer for the president. when brought up for it, he told the examining officer he could not--it was a matter of conscience. they put a ball and chain on him and made him sweep the streets. and these people are the exponents of 'freedom,' and 'liberty of conscience.' they come from a land whose slogan is these words! they have no right to force us to pray according to their views. for myself, i kneel during the prayer, i try to pray it; i seek to feel it, since to pray without feeling is mockery. but i don't feel it. "uncle advised: 'my daughter, no man needs your prayers more than the president of the united states. he has great and grave responsibilities. we must desire that a higher power shall direct him. the president is surrounded by advisers bent on revenge, so bent on it that they seem to care nothing whatever for the union--the real union of the north and south.' so i bow my head, and i try--god knows i try! but thoughts of all the blood that has been shed, of the homes that have been burned, the suffering and starvation endured, will rush into my mind as i kneel. dear christ! did you know how hard a command you laid upon us when you said, 'pray for your enemies?'" an entry after mr. lincoln's death says: "how can i pray that prayer in the face of this?" below is pasted johnson's proclamation charging the assassination to mr. davis and other southern leaders. this follows: "how _can_ i pray for the president of the united states? that proclamation is an insult flung in the face of the whole south! and we have to take it." they had as much trouble at washington over our prayers as over our few buttons and clothes. the sunday after the evacuation--one week from the day on which the messenger came from general lee to mr. davis--the federals were represented in st. paul's by distinguished and respectful worshippers. nearly all women present were in black. when the moment came for the petition for "the president of the confederate states and all others in authority," you could have heard a pin fall. the congregation had kinsmen in armies still under the authority of the president of the confederacy; they were full of anxiety; their hearts were torn and troubled. were they here before god to abjure their own? were they to utter prayer that was mockery? to require them to pray for the president of the united states was like calling upon the martyrs of old to burn incense to strange gods. dr. minnegerode read the prayer, omitting the words "for the president of the confederate states," simply saying "for all in authority." generals weitzel, shepley and ripley had consented that it was to be thus. assistant secretary of war dana writes to secretary of war stanton: "on friday, i asked weitzel about what he was going to do in regard to opening the churches on sunday. he said ministers would be warned against treasonable utterances and be told they must put up loyal prayers." it seems that after this conversation the determination of the commandant and his staff to wrest piety and patriotism out of the rebels at one fell swoop, underwent modification, partly, perhaps, as a concession to the almighty, of whom it was fair to presume that he might not be altogether pleased with prayers offered on the point of a sword. scandalised at official laxity in getting just dues from heaven for the united states, dana continues: "it shakes my faith a good deal in weitzel." in subsequent letters he says it was shepley's or ripley's fault; weitzel really thought the people ought to be made to pray right; the crime was somehow fastened finally on judge campbell's back, and weitzel was informed that he must have no further oral communications with this dangerous and seditious person. thus mr. stanton rounded up weitzel: "if you have consented that services should be performed in the episcopal churches of richmond without the usual prayer said in loyal churches for the president, your action is strongly condemned by this department. i am not willing to believe that an officer of the united states commanding in richmond would consent to such an omission of respect for the president of the united states." weitzel: "do you desire that i should order this form of prayer in episcopal, hebrew, roman catholic, and other churches where they have a liturgy?" stanton: "no mark of respect must be omitted to president lincoln which was rendered to the rebel, jeff davis." weitzel: "dispatch received. order will be issued in accordance therewith." is it any wonder that grant and sherman between them finally said to president johnson: "mr. president, you should make some order that we of the army are not bound to obey the orders of mr. stanton as secretary of war." the episcopal clergy presented the case clearly to general weitzel and his staff, who, as reasonable men, appreciated the situation. "the church and state are not one in this country; we, as men, in all good faith take the oath of allegiance required of us. as priests, we are under ecclesiastical jurisdiction; we cannot add to the liturgy. a convention of the church must be called. meanwhile, we, of course, omit words held treasonable, reciting, 'for all in authority,' which surely includes the president. forcing public feeling will be unwise; members will absent themselves, or go to a church which, not using any ritual, is not under compulsion; the order is, in effect, discrimination against the episcopal church." our people, they said, "desire by quiet and inoffensive conduct to respond to the liberal policy of those in command; they deeply appreciate the conciliatory measures adopted, and all the more regret to appear as dissenters." they wrote to president johnson, asking opportunity for action by heads of the diocese; they said that when the south seceded, standing forms had obtained for months till change was so wrought. that letter went the rounds of the war, state, and executive departments, and was returned "disapproved," and the episcopal churches of richmond were actually closed by military order until they would say that prayer. even president lincoln was moved to write general weitzel, asking what it meant that he hadn't made people pray as they ought! "you told me not to insist upon little things," said weitzel. had we been let alone in the matter of praying for the president, we would all very soon have come to see the subject in the light in which uncle randolph presented it. as it was, conscientious prelates were in straitened positions, not wishing to lead their people in petitions which the latter would resent or regard at the best as empty formula. omission of the prayer altogether was recommended by bishop wilmer, of alabama, as the wisest course for the moment; general woods suspended the bishop and all clergy of his diocese; they were not to preach or to lead in church service; and, i believe, were not to marry the living, baptise the new-born, or bury the dead. president johnson set such orders aside as soon as he came to his senses after the shock of mr. lincoln's death. general mcpherson commanded pastors of vicksburg ( ) to read the prescribed prayer for the president at each and every service; pastors of churches without such prescribed form were instructed to invent one. the bishop of natchez, william henry elder, was banished because he would not read the prayer. some young ladies, of vicksburg, were banished because they rose and left the church, on christmas morning, when a minister read it. an order signed by general mcpherson, served on each, said she was "hereby banished and must leave the federal lines within forty-eight hours under penalty of imprisonment." no extension of time for getting "their things ready" was allowed. permission was given for the mother of one delinquent to chaperon the bevy, which, with due ceremony, was deported under flag of truce, hundreds of federal soldiers watching. one sunday in new orleans under butler's rule, major strong was at dr. goodrich's church; time came for prayer for the confederacy; there was silence. major strong rose and thundered: "stop, sir! i close this church in ten minutes!" rev. dr. leacock[ ] wrote butler a tender letter begging him not to force people to perjury in taking the oath through fear, prefacing: "no man more desires restoration of the union than i." helen gray, dr. leacock's granddaughter, tells me: "my grandfather was arrested in church and marched through the city in ecclesiastical robes to answer for not praying as butler bade; rev. dr. goodrich and rev. mr. fulton (now editor of the 'church standard') were also arrested. butler sent them north to be imprisoned in fort lafayette. the levee was thronged with people, many weeping to see them go. they were met at new york by influential citizens, among these samuel morse, the inventor, who offered them his purse, carriage and horses. they were paroled and entertained at the astor house. some people were bitter and small towards them; many were kind, among these, i think, was bishop potter. hon. reverdy johnson took up their case. grandfather served st. mark's, niagara, canada, in the rector's absence; the people presented him, through mrs. dr. marston, with a purse; he served at chamblee, where the people also presented him with a purse. mrs. greenleaf, henry w. longfellow's sister, sent him a purse of $ ; she had attended his church during ante-bellum visits to new orleans, and she loved him dearly. rev. f. e. chubbuck, the yankee chaplain appointed to succeed my grandfather, called on my grandmother, expressed regrets and sympathies, and offered to do anything he could for her. i tell the tale as it has come to me." government reports confirm this in essentials. [illustration: mrs. william howell (mary leacock) mrs. andrew gray (lina leacock) daughters of the rev. dr. leacock, of christ church, new orleans.] of course, denominations not using a liturgy, had an advantage, but they were not exempt. major b. k. davis, lexington, mo., april , , to major-general dodge: "on the th of april, from the well-known disloyalty of the churches of this place, i issued an order that pastors of all churches return thanks for our late victories. the pastor of the m. e. church declined to do so, and i took the keys of his church." in huntsville, alabama, , rev. f. a. ross, presbyterian minister, was arrested and sent north by general rousseau because, when commanded to pray for the yankees, he prayed: "we beseech thee, o lord, to bless our enemies and remove them from our midst as soon as seemeth good in thy sight!"[ ] "the confederate veteran" tells this of general lee. at communion in st. paul's soon after the occupation, the first person to walk up to the altar and kneel was a negro man. manner and moment made the act sinister, a challenge, not an expression of piety. the congregation sat, stunned and still, not knowing what to do. general lee rose, walked quietly up the aisle and knelt near the negro. the people followed and service proceeded as if no innovation had been attempted. the custom by which whites preceded negroes to the altar originated, not in contempt for negroes, but in ideas of what was right, orderly and proper. so far were whites from despising negroes in religious fellowship that it was not strange for both races to assemble in plantation chapels and join in worship conducted by the black preacher in the white preacher's absence. i sometimes think those old southerners knew the negro better than we ever can. but just after the war, they were not supposed to know anything of value on any subject. wherever there was a press, it was muzzled by policy if not by such direct commands as general sherman's in savannah, when he ordained that there should be no more than two newspapers, and forbade "any libelous publication, mischievous matter, premature acts, exaggerated statements, _or any comments whatever upon the acts of the constituted authorities_," on pain of heavy penalties to editors and proprietors. some people say we ought, even now, for the family honour, to hush up everything unpleasant and discreditable. not so! it is not well for men in power to think that their acts are not to be inquired into some day. clubbed to his knees chapter xii clubbed to his knees as illustrations of embarrassments we had to face, i have chiefly chosen incidents showing a kindly and forbearing spirit on the part of federal commanders, because i desire to pay tribute wherever i may to men in blue, remembering that southern boys are now wearing the blue and that all men wearing the blue are ours. i have chiefly chosen incidents in which the federal officers, being gentlemen and brave men--being decent and human--revolted against exercise of cruelty to a fallen foe. truth compels the shield's reverse. in richmond, one officer in position went to a prominent citizen and demanded $ of him, threatening to confiscate and sell his home if he did not give it. this citizen, a lawyer and man of business, knew the threat could not be executed, and refused to meet the demand. others not so wise paid such claims. in all parts of the south, many people, among them widows and orphans, were thus impoverished beyond the pinched condition in which war left them. some sold their remnants of furniture, the very beds they slept on, a part of their scanty raiment, and in one case on official record, "the coverlid off the baby's bed," to satisfy the spurious claims of men misusing authority. an instance illustrating our helplessness is that of captain bayard, who came out of the war with some make-shift crutches, a brave heart, and a love affair as the sum total of his capital in life. he made his first money by clerical work for sympathetic federal officials. this he invested in a new suit of clothes; "they are right nice-looking," he said with modest pride when conveying the pleasing intelligence to one interested; and he bought a pair of artificial feet. then he set out to see his sweetheart, feeling very proud. it was the first time he had tried his feet on the street, and he was not walking with any sense of security, but had safely traversed a square or two and was crossing a street, when a federal officer came galloping along and very nearly ran over him; he threw up his cane. the horse shied, the cavalryman jumped off and knocked him down. as fast as he struggled up, the cavalryman knocked him down again. a burly man ran to his assistance; the cavalryman struck this man such a blow that it made tears spring in his eyes; then mounted and galloped off. "he was obliged to see," said the captain, "that i was a cripple, and that i could not get out of his way or withstand his blows." the worst virginia had to bear was as nothing to what the carolinas suffered. there was that poor boy, who was hung in raleigh on lovejoy's tree--where the governor's mansion now stands. he had fired off a pistol; had hurt nobody--had not attempted to hurt anybody; it was just a boy's thoughtless, crazy deed. entering rosemont cemetery, newberry, s. c., one perceives on a tall marble shaft "the lone star of texas" and this: "calvin s. crozier, born at brandon, mississippi, august , murdered at newberry, s. c., september , ." at the close of the war, there were some , confederates in federal prisons, whose release, beginning in may, continued throughout the summer. among these was crozier, slender, boyish in appearance, brave, thin to emaciation, pitifully weak and homesick. it was a far cry to his home in sunny galveston, but he had traversed three states when he fell ill in north carolina. a good samaritan nursed him, and set him on his way again. at orangeburg, s. c., a gentleman placed two young ladies, journeying in the same direction, under his care. to crozier, the trust was sacred. at newberry, the train was derailed by obstructions placed on the track by negro soldiers of the d u. s. regiment, which, under command of colonel trowbridge, white, was on its way from anderson to columbia. crozier got out with others to see what was the matter. returning, he found the coach invaded by two half-drunk negro soldiers, cursing and using indecent language. he called upon them to desist, directing their attention to the presence of ladies. they replied that they "didn't care a d----!" one attempted gross familiarities with one of the ladies. crozier ejected him; the second negro interfered; there was a struggle in the dark; one negro fled unhurt; the other, with a slight cut, ran towards camp, yelling: "i'm cut by a d----d rebel!" black soldiers came in a mob. the narrative, as told on the monument, concludes: "the infuriated soldiers seized a citizen of newberry, upon whom they were about to execute savage revenge, when crozier came promptly forward and avowed his own responsibility. he was hurried in the night-time to the bivouac of the regiment to which the soldiers belonged, was kept under guard all night, was not allowed communication with any citizen, was condemned to die without even the form of a trial, and was shot to death about daylight the following morning, and his body mutilated." he had been ordered to dig his own grave, but refused. a hole had been dug, he was made to kneel on its brink, the column fired upon him, he tumbled into it, and then the black troops jumped on it, laughing, dancing, stamping. the only mercy shown him was by one humane negro, who, eager to save his life, besought him to deny his identity as the striker of the blow. white citizens watched their moment, removed his remains, and gave them christian burial. there was the burning of brenham, texas, september , . federal soldiers from the post attended a negro ball, and so outraged the decencies that negro men closed the festivities. the soldiers pursued the negro managers, one of whom fled for safety to a mansion, where a party of young white people were assembled. the pursuers abused him in profane and obscene terms. the gentlemen reminded them that ladies were in hearing; they said they "didn't care a d----!" and drew pistols on the whites. a difficulty ensued, two soldiers were wounded, their comrades carried them to camp, returned and fired the town. the incendiaries were never punished, their commander spiriting them away when investigation was begun.[ ] "numbers of our citizens were murdered by the soldiers of the united states, and in some instances deliberately shot down by them, in the presence of their wives and children," writes hon. charles stewart, of reconstruction times, early and late, in texas, and cites the diabolical midnight murder of w. a. burns and dallas, his son, giving the testimony of sarah, daughter of one, sister of the other, and witness of the horrible deed, from the performance of which the assassins walked away "laughing." "let no one suppose that the instances given were isolated cases of oppression that might occur under any government, however good," says mr. stewart. "they were of such frequent occurrence as to excite the alarm of good people." federal posts were a protection to the people, affording a sense of peace and security, or the reverse, according to the character of the commanders. to show how differently different men would determine the same issue, it may be cited that general wilde confiscated the home of mrs. robert toombs to the uses of the freedmen's bureau, ordering her to give possession and limiting the supplies she might remove to two weeks' provisions. general steedman humanely revoked this order, restoring her home to mrs. toombs. there was no rule by which to forecast the course a military potentate, ignorant of civil law, might pursue. the mood he was in, the dinner he had eaten, the course of a flirtation on hand, motives of personal spite, gain or favoritism, might determine a decision affecting seriously a whole community, who would be powerless to appeal against it, his caprice being law. in a previous chapter i have told a story showing general saxton in a most attractive light. in his "provisional governorship of south carolina," governor perry says: "the poor refugees (of the sea islands) were without fortune, money or the means of living! many had nothing to eat except bread and water, and were thankful if they could get bread. i appointed w. h. trescott to go to washington and represent them in trying to recover their lands. he procured an order for the restoration, but general saxton or some of his sub-agents thwarted in some way the design and purport of this order, and i believe the negroes are still in possession." so, in some places you will hear southerners say that, save for domestic and industrial upheavals resulting from emancipation and for the privations of acute poverty, they suffered no extreme trials while under the strictly martial regime--were victims of no act of tyranny from local federal authorities; in other places, you will hear words reflecting praise on such authorities; in others, evidence is plain that inhabitants endured worse things of military satraps than israel suffered of pharaoh. as the days went by, there were fresh occasions for the conclusion: "the officers who gave captain bayard work and the officer who knocked him down are types of two classes of our conquerors and rulers. one is ready to help the cripple to his feet, the other to knock him down again and again. congress will club the cripple with the negro ballot." "if that be true," said some, "the cripple will rise no more. let me go hence ere my eyes behold it. spilled blood and ruin wrought i can forgive, but not this thing!" new fashions chapter xiii new fashions: a little bonnet and an alpaca skirt the confessions of matoaca: "i will never forget how queer we thought the dress of the northern ladies. a great many came to richmond, and military headquarters was very gay. band answered band in the neighbourhood of clay and twelfth streets, and the sound of music and dancing feet reached us through our closed shutters. "some ladies wore on the streets white petticoats, braided with black, under their dresses, which were looped up over these. their gowns were short walking length, and their feet could be seen quite plainly. that style would be becoming to us, we said to ourselves, thinking of our small feet--at least i said so to myself. up to that time we had considered it immodest to show our feet, our long dresses and hoop-skirts concealing them. we had been wearing coal-scuttle bonnets of plaited straw, trimmed with corn-shuck rosettes. i made fifteen one spring, acquired a fine name as a milliner, and was paid for my work. "i recall one that was quite stunning. i got hold of a bit of much-worn white ribbon and dyed it an exquisite shade of green, with a tea made of coffee-berries. coffee-berries dye a lovely green; you might remember that if you are ever in a war and blockaded. our straw-and-shuck bonnets were pretty. how i wish i had kept mine as a souvenir--and other specimens of my home-made things! but we threw all our home-made things away--we were so tired of make-shifts!--and got new ones as soon as we could. how eager we were to see the fashions! we had had no fashions for a long time. "when the northern ladies appeared on the streets, they did not seem to have on any bonnets at all. they wore tiny, three-cornered affairs tied on with narrow strings, and all their hair showing in the back. we thought them the most absurd and trifling things! but we made haste to get some. how did we see the fashions when we kept our blinds closed? why, we could peep through the shutters, of course. remember, we had seen no fashions for a long time. then, too, after the earlier days, we did not keep our windows shut. "i began braiding me a skirt at once. the yankees couldn't teach me anything about braid! to the longest day i live, i will remember the reign of skirt-braid during the confederacy! there was quite a while when we had no other trimming, yet had that in abundance, a large lot having been run through the blockade; it came to the department. the department got to be a sort of woman's exchange. prices were absurd. i paid $ for a paper of pins and thought it high, but before the war was over, i was thankful to get a paper for $ . i bought, once, a cashmere dress for the price of a calico, $ a yard, because it was a little damaged in running the blockade. at the same time, mrs. jefferson davis bought a calico dress pattern for $ and a lawn for $ , ; one of my friends paid $ , for a silk, another, $ , for a black merino. mine was the best bargain. it lasted excellently. i made it over in the new fashion after the evacuation. one of the styles brought by the northern ladies was black alpaca skirts fringed. i got one as soon as i could. "the yankees introduced some new fashions in other things besides clothes that i remember vividly, one being canned fruit. i had never seen any canned fruit before the yankees came. perhaps we had had canned fruit, but i do not remember it. pleasant innovations in food were like to leave lasting impressions on one who had been living on next to nothing for an indefinite period." the mystery of her purchase of the alpaca skirt and the little bonnet is solved by her journal: "i am prospering with my needlework. i sew early and late. my friends who are better off give me work, paying me as generously as they can. mammy jane has sold some of my embroideries to northern ladies. many ladies, widows and orphans, are seeking employment as teachers. the great trouble is that so few people are able to engage them or to pay for help of any kind. still, we all manage to help each other somehow. "nannie, our young bride, is raising lettuce, radish, nasturtiums, in her back yard for sale. she is painting her house herself (with her husband's help). she is going to give the lettuce towards paying the church debt. she has nothing else to give. i think i will raise something to buy window-panes for this house. window-panes patched with paper are all the fashion in this town. "the weather is very hot now. after supper, we go up on gamble's hill, our fashionable cooling-off resort, to get a breath of fresh air; then come back and work till late in the night. o, for a glimpse of the mountains! a breath of mountain air! but i can only dream of the greenbrier white and the old sweet springs! "last night, on gamble's hill, we observed near us a party whom we recognized by accent and good clothes as northerners. one of the ladies, looking down on our city, said: 'behold the fruits of secession!' below us in the moonlight lay richmond on her noble river, beautiful in spite of her wounds. a gentleman spoke: 'massachusetts thought of seceding once. i am sorry for these people.' how i wanted to shout: 'behold the fruits of invasion!' but, of course, i did not. i thanked our advocate with my eyes." a few had a little store laid up previous to the evacuation. a short time before that, the confederate government was selling some silver coin at $ for $ in notes; at danville, it was sold for $ ; and thrifty ones who could, bought. women who had been social queens, who had had everything heart could wish, and a retinue of servants happy to obey their behests and needing nothing, now found themselves reduced to harder case than their negroes had ever known, and gratefully and gracefully availed themselves of the lowliest tasks by which they might earn enough to buy a dress for the baby, a pair of shoes for little bare feet, coffee or tea or other luxury for an invalid dear one, or a bit of any sort of food to replenish a nearly empty larder. the first greenbacks were brought to one family by a former dining-room servant. his mistress, unable to pay him wages, had advised him to seek employment elsewhere. at the end of a week, he returned, saying: "mistiss, here is five dollahs. i'm makin' twenty dollahs a month, an' rations, waitin' on one uh de yankee officers. i'll bring you my wages evvy week." "john," she said, "i don't know how to take it, for i don't see how i can ever pay it back." he knew she was in dire straits. "you took care uh me all my life, mistiss, an' learnt me how to work. i orter do whut i kin fuh you." seeing her still hesitate: "you got property, you kin raise money on presen'y. den you kin pay me back, but i'd be proud ef you wouldn' bother yo'se'f." could her son have done more? the old south had many negroes as good and true. was the system altogether wrong that developed such characters? some of our people had northern friends and relatives who contrived money to them. mrs. gracebridge was one of the fortunate; and everybody was glad. no one deserved better of fate or friends. she had entertained many refugees, was the most hospitable soul in the world. had her table been large enough to seat the world, the world would have been welcome. from her nephew, living in new york, an officer of the united states navy came with a message and money. she had a way of addressing everybody as "my dear friend." her household teasingly warned her that she was going to call this messenger "my dear friend." "never!" she exclaimed. "never in the world will i call a yankee, 'my dear friend!' never! how can you say such a thing to me! i am surprised, astonished, at the suggestion!" they listened, and before she and her guest had exchanged three sentences, heard her calling him "my dear friend," in spite of the insistent evidence of his gorgeous blue uniform, gold lace and brass buttons, that he was decidedly a yankee. it was a custom, rooted and grounded in her being, to offer refreshments to guests; when nothing else was left with which to show good feeling, she would bring in some lumps of white sugar, a rarity and a luxury, and pass this around. never will spying intimates forget the expression of that naval officer's countenance when, at her call, a little black hand-maid presented on an old-fashioned silver salver, in an exquisite saucer, a few lumps of white sugar! he looked hard at it; then grasped the situation and a lump, glancing first at her, then at the sugar, as if he did not know whether to laugh or to cry. she was a delightful woman. she and her two little darkeys afforded her friends no end of diversion. she had never managed her negroes in slavery-time. after the war, everybody's darkeys did as they pleased; hers did a little more so. at this pair, she constantly exclaimed, in great surprise: "they don't mind a word i say!" "my dear lady!" she was reminded, "you must expect that. they are free. they don't belong to you now." and she would ask: "if they don't belong to me, whose are they?" that was to her a hopeless enigma. they had to belong to somebody. it was out of decency and humanity that they should have nobody to belong to! they would stand behind her chair, giggling and bubbling over with merriment. the general in the cornfield chapter xiv the general in the cornfield we did anything and everything we could to make a living. prominent citizens became pie-sellers. colonel cary, of general magruder's staff, came home to find his family desperately poor, as were all respectable folks. he was a brave soldier, an able officer; before the war, principal of a male academy at hampton. now, he did not know to what he could turn his hand for the support of himself and family. he walked around his place, came in and said to his wife: "my dear, i have taken stock of our assets. you pride yourself on your apple-pies. we have an apple-tree, and a cow. i will gather the apples and milk the cow, and you will make the pies, and i will go around and sell them." armed with pies, he met his aforetime antagonists at camp grant and conquered them quite. the pies were delicious; the seller was a soldier, an officer of distinction, in hard luck; and the men at camp grant were soldiers, too. there was sharp demand and good price; only the elite--officers of rank--could afford to indulge in these confections. well it was that yankee mothers had cultivated in their sons an appetite for pies. one savannah lady made thirty dollars selling pies to sherman's soldiers; in georgia's aristocratic "city by the sea," high-bred dames stood at basement windows selling cakes and pies to whoever would buy. colonel cary had thrifty rivals throughout dixie. a once rich planter near columbia made a living by selling flowers; a charleston aristocrat peddled tea by the pound and molasses by the quart to his former slaves. general stephen elliott, sumter's gallant defender, sold fish and oysters which he caught with his own hands. his friend, captain stoney, did likewise. gentlemen of position and formerly of wealth did not pause to consider whether they would be discredited by pursuing occupations quite as humble. men of high attainments, without capital, without any basis upon which to make a new start in life except "grit," did whatever they could find to do and made merry over it. yet reporters going over our battle-swept, war-scarred land from whose fields our laboring class had been by one fell stroke diverted, judged us by evidences of inertia seen from windows of creepy little cars--(where we had any cars at all)--that stopped every few hours to take on wood or water or to repair something or other. for a long time, there was good reason why our creepy railroads should be a doubly sore subject. under the reconstruction governments every state paid thousands of dollars for railroads that were never built. all that southern white men did, according to some ready scribes, was to sit around cross-roads stores, expectorate tobacco-juice, swap jokes, and abuse yankees and niggers. in honesty, it must be confessed there was too much of this done, any being too much. every section has its corps of idlers, its crew of yarn-spinners and drinkers, even in ordinary times when war has not left upon men the inevitable demoralisation that follows in its train. had railway travellers gone into cotton and cornfields and tobacco lots, they would have found there much of the flower and chivalry of the old south "leading the row." sons of fathers who had been the wealthiest and most influential men in dixie came home from the war to swing the hoe and drive the plow as resolutely as ever they had manned a battery or charged the breastworks. but the young men of the south were not born tillers of the soil; not fitted by inheritance or education for manual toil. they were descendants of generations who had not labored with their hands but had occupied themselves as lawyers, doctors, politicians, gentlemen of leisure, and agriculturists commanding large working forces. our nation might have been gainer had the government devised measures by which talented men could have been at once bound to its interests and their gifts utilised for the common advantage. instead of which, they were threatened with trial for treason, with execution or exile, were disfranchised, disqualified, put under the ban. many who would have made brilliant and useful servants of the republic were driven abroad and found honourable service in mexico, brazil, egypt and europe. it is difficult for us at this day to realise what little promise life held for the young american of the south; difficult even for the south of the present to appreciate the irritations and humiliations that vexed and chafed him. many felt that they had no longer a country. mischief was inevitable as the result of repressed or distorted energies, thwarted or stifled ambition. some whose record for courage and steadiness on the field of battle reflects glory on our common country, failed utterly at adaptation. but as the patient effort of the great body politic changed the times and opened opportunity, middle-age and youth were ready to rush in with a will, occupying and improving fields of industry. but the old people of the south never reacted. many simply sat down and died, succumbing to bereavement, hardships and heartbreak. they felt that their country was dead. men of their own blood, their brothers, had set an alien race, an ignorant race, half-human, half-savage, above them; were insisting that they should send their children to school with children of this race, while their consciences cried out against the mere discussion of this thing as an evil to themselves and the negro, and against the thing itself as crime. intermarriage was discussed in legislative halls; bills sanctioning it were introduced; and the horrible black, social evil due to passions of the white man and the half-human, half-savage woman--the incubus, the nightmare, under which the whole section had groaned with groanings that cannot be uttered--was flung in their faces as more than fair reason. with reconstruction there was strengthening of the tendency towards expatriation. despair and disgust drove many away; and more would have gone had means been at hand. whole families left the south and made homes in europe; among these, a goodly proportion were proud old huguenots from south carolina. in some of the cotton states it looked as if more white men were to be lost thus than had been lost in battle. in december, , mr. charles nathan, of new orleans, announced through the press that he had contracted with the emperor of brazil to transport , yearly to that empire. many went into the enemy's country--went north. their reports to old neighbours were that they liked the enemy immensely at home; the enemy was serenely unconscious of the mischief his fad was working in other people's homes. he set down everything ill that happened south to the southern whites' "race prejudice"; and sipped his own soup and ate his own pie in peace. the immigrant learned that it was wise to hold his tongue when discussion of the negro came up. he was considered not to know anything worth hearing upon the subject. his most careful and rational utterances would be met with a pitying look which said as plainly as words lips polite withheld: "race prejudice hallucination!" general lee raised no uncertain voice against expatriation; from his prison cell, jefferson davis deplored it in the first letters he was allowed to write. lee set prompt example in doing what his hand found to do, and in choosing a task rather for public service than for private gain. i quote a letter written by mrs. lee to miss mason, dated derwent, virginia, december, : "the papers will have told you that general lee has decided to accept the position at lexington. i do not think he is very fond of teaching, but he is willing to do anything that will give him an honourable support. he starts tomorrow _en cheval_ for lexington. he prefers that way, and, besides, does not like to part even for a time from his beloved steed, the companion of many a hard-fought battle.... the kindness of the people of virginia to us has been truly great, and they seem never to tire. the settlement of palmore's surrounding us does not suffer us to want for anything their gardens or farms can furnish.... my heart sinks when i hear of the destitution and misery which abound further south--gentle and refined women reduced to abject poverty, and no hope of relief." far more lucrative positions had been offered him; salaries without work, for the mere use of his name. solicitations came from abroad, and brilliant opportunities invited across the ocean. he took the helm at washington college with this avowal: "i have a self-imposed task which i must accomplish. i have led the young men of the south in battle. i have seen many of them fall under my standard. i shall devote my life now to training young men to do their duty in life." urged in to run for office, he declined, believing that his candidacy might not contribute to sectional unification. as nearly perfect was this man as men are made. our national capitol is the poorer because his statue is not there. if it ever is, i should like to see on its pedestal grant's tribute: "there was no use to urge him to do anything against his ideas of what was right." when the crippled and impoverished general hood refused to receive money raised by subscription, the "albany evening journal" commented: "it is the first instance we have ever seen recorded of a 'southern gentleman' too proud or self-reliant to accept filthy lucre, come from what source it may." the "petersburg index-appeal" responded: "hood has only done what lee did a dozen times, what beauregard did, what magruder did, and what president davis did. the noble response of magruder to the people of texas, who contributed a handsome purse to procure him a fine plantation, was the impulse and utterance of the universal spirit of the southern soldier: 'no, gentlemen, when i espoused the cause of the south, i embraced poverty and willingly accepted it.'" near columbia, on the ruins of his handsome home which sherman burned, general wade hampton, clever at wood-work, built with his own hands and with the help of his faithful negroes, a lowly cottage to shelter himself and family. a section was added at a time, and, without any preconceived design on his part, the structure stood, when completed, a perfect cross. miss isabella martin, looking upon it one day, exclaimed: "general, you have here the southern cross!" so "southern cross" the place was called. here, mrs. wade hampton, who, as miss mcduffie, had been the richest heiress in south carolina, and as such and as hampton's wife, the guardian angel of many black folk, wrought and ruled with wisdom and with sweetness unsoured by reverses. south carolina offered hampton a home, as virginia and then washington college offered lee, but hampton, almost in want, refused. this is the plight in which general m. c. butler, hampton's aide, came out of the war: "twenty-nine years old, with one leg gone, a wife and three children to support, seventy slaves emancipated, a debt of $ , , and, in his pocket, $ . in cash." that was the situation of thousands. it took manhood to make something of it. for months after the surrender, confederates were passing through the country to their homes, and hospitality was free to every ragged and footsore soldier; the poor best the larder of every mansion afforded was at the command of the gray-jacket. how diffidently proud men would ask for bread, their empty pockets shaming them! when any man turned them off with cold words, it was not well for his neighbours to know, for so, he was like to have no more respectable guests. the soldiers were good company, bringing news from far and wide. most were cheerful, glad they were going home, undaunted by long tramps ahead. the soldier was used to hard marches. now that his course was set towards where loved ones watched for his coming, life had its rosy outlook that turned to gray for some who reached the spot where home had stood to find only a bank of ashes. reports of country through which they came were often summed up: "white folks in the fields, negroes flocking to towns. freedmen's bureau offices everywhere thronged with blacks." a man who belonged to the "crippled squad," not one of whom had a full complement of arms and legs, told this story: as four of them were limping along near lexington, they noticed a gray-headed white man in rough, mud-stained clothes turning furrows with a plow, and behind him a white girl dropping corn. taking him for a hired man, they hallooed: "hello, there!" the man raised his head. "say," they called, "can you tell us where we can get something to eat?" he waved them towards a house, where a lady who was on the porch, asked them to have a seat and wait while she had food cooked. they had an idea that she prepared with her own hands the dinner to which they presently sat down, of hot hoe-cakes, buttermilk, and a little meat so smothered in lettuce leaves that it looked a great deal. when they had cleared up the table, she said: "i am having more bread cooked if you can wait a few minutes. i am sorry we have not more meat and milk. i know this has been a very light repast for hungry men, but we have entertained others this morning, and we have not much left. we hate to send our soldiers hungry from the door; they ought to have the best of everything when they have fought so long and bravely and suffered so much." the way she spoke made them proud of the arms and legs they didn't have. now that hunger was somewhat appeased, they began to note surroundings. the dwelling was that of a military man and a man of piety and culture. a lad running in addressed the lady as "mrs. pendleton," and said something about "where general pendleton is plowing." they stumbled to their crutches! and in blushing confusion, made humble apologies, all the instincts of the soldier shocked at the liberties they had taken with an officer of such high grade, and at the ease of manner with which they had sat at his table to be served by his wife. they knew their host for william nelson pendleton, late brigadier-general, c. s. a., chief of artillery of the army of northern virginia, a fighting preacher. she smiled when they blundered out the excuse that they had mistaken him for a day-labourer. "the mistake has been made before," she said. "indeed, the general is a day-labourer in his own field, and it does not mortify him in the least now that all our people have to work. he is thankful his strength is sufficient, and for the help that the schoolboys and his daughters give him." she put bread into their haversacks and sent them on their way rejoicing. the day-labourer and his plow were close to the roadside, and as they passed, they drew themselves up in line and brought all the hands they had to their ragged caps in salute. dr. robert g. stephens, of atlanta, tells me of a confederate soldier who, returning armless to his georgia home, made his wife hitch him to a plow which she drove; and they made a crop. a northern missionary said in , to a philadelphia audience, that he had seen in north carolina, a white mother hitch herself to a plow which her eleven-year-old son drove, while another child dropped into the furrows seeds northern charity had given. i saw in virginia's black belt a white woman driving a plow to which her young daughters, one a nursing mother, were hitched; and near the same time and place an old negro driving a milch-cow to his cart. "uncle eph, aren't you ashamed," i asked, "to work your milch-cow?" "law, miss, milch-white-'oman wuk. huccom cow can't wuk?" tournaments and parties chapter xv tournaments and starvation parties it would seem that times were too hard and life too bitter for merry-making. not so. with less than half a chance to be glad, the southerner will laugh and dance and sing--and make love. at least, he used to. the southerner is no longer minstrel, lover, and cavalier. he is becoming a money-maker. with cannons at our gates and shells driving us into cellars, guitars were tinkling, pianos were not dumb, tripping feet were not stayed by fear and sorrow. when boys in gray came from camp, women felt it the part of love and patriotism to give them good cheer, wearing smiles while they were by, keeping tears for them when absent. with the war over and our boys coming home for good, ah, it was not hard to laugh, sing and dance, poor as we were! "soldiers coming up the road," "some soldiers here for tonight," the master of the house would say, and doors would fling wide. "nice fellows, i know," or "i knew this one's father, and that one's uncle is governor--and this one went to school with our frank; and these fought side by side with friends of ours," or "their names are so-and-so," or just, "they are gentlemen." maidens would make themselves fair; wardrobes held few or no changes, but one could dress one's hair another way, put a rose in one's tresses, draw forth the many-times-washed-over or thrice-dyed ribbon for adornment. after supper, there would be music in the parlor, and perhaps dancing. but not always! too often, the guest's feet were not shod for dancing. it might be that he was clothed from shirt to shoe in garments from the host's own store. many a soldier would decline entering the great house and beg off from presentations, feeling the barn a more fitting shelter for his rags, and the company of ladies a gift the gods must withhold. joy reigned in every household when its owner came home from the war, joy that defeat at arms could not kill. the war was over! it had not ended as we had prayed, but there was to be no crying over spilt milk if young people had their way. departure of old servants and installation of new and untried ones was attended with untold vexation, but none of this was allowed to interfere with the pleasure and happiness of young people when it was possible to prevent it. southern mistresses kept domestic difficulties in the background or made merry over them. on the surface, domestic machinery might seem to move without a hitch, when in reality it was in so severe a state of dislocation that the semblance of smooth operation was little short of a miracle. reserves of cotton and tobacco that had escaped the attention of the yankee army sold high. fortunate possessors were soon flush with greenbacks which were put in quick circulation. it was a case of a little new bonnet and an alpaca skirt with girls everywhere; women had done without clothes so long, they felt they just must have some now; our boys had gone in rags so long, they must have new clothes, too; everybody had lived so hard and been so sad, there must be joy now, love-making and dancing. the "starvation party" did not go out of fashion with war. festal boards were often thinly spread, but one danced not the less lightly for that. enough it was to wing the feet to know that the bronzed young soldier with his arm about your waist must leave you no more for the battle. [illustration: miss addie prescott (a louisiana belle) afterwards mrs. r. g. h. kean, of lynchburg, va.] to show how little one could be festive on, we will take a peep at a starvation party given on a plantation near lexington, north carolina, by mrs. page, soon after general kilpatrick's troops vacated the mansion. "we had all been so miserable," mrs. page tells, "that i was just bound to have some fun. so i gave a dining." she invited ten ladies, who all came wondering what on earth she could set before them. they walked; there was not a carriage in the neighbourhood. they were all cultured, refined women, wives and daughters of men of prominence, and accustomed to elegant entertainment. a few days before, one of them had sent to mrs. page for something to eat, saying she had not a mouthful in the house, and mrs. page had shared with her a small supply of western pork and hardtack which her faithful coloured man, frank, had gotten from the yankees. mrs. page had now no pork left. her garden had been destroyed. she had not a chair in the house, and but one cooking utensil, a large iron pot. and not a fork, spoon, cup, plate or other table appointment. with pomp and merriment, mrs. drane, a clergyman's widow, the company's dean and a great favourite with everybody, was installed at the head of the bare, mutilated table, where rude benches served as seats. mrs. marmaduke johnston, of petersburg, was accorded second place of honour. the _menu_ consisted of a pudding of corn-meal and dried whortle-berries sweetened with sorghum; and beer made of persimmons and honeyshucks, also sweetened with sorghum. the many-sided frank was butler. the pudding, filling the half of a large gourd, was placed in front of mrs. drane, and she, using hardtack as spoon, dipped it up, depositing it daintily on other hardtack which answered for plates and saucers. the beer was served from another gourd into cups made of newspapers folded into shape; the ladies drank quickly that the liquid might not soak through and be lost. they enjoyed the beverage and the pudding greatly and assured their hostess that they had rarely attended a more delightful feast. the pudding had been boiled in the large iron pot, and frank had transferred it to the gourd. in his kitchen and pantry, gourds of various sorts and sizes seemed to ask: "why were vessels of iron, pewter, and copper ever invented, and what need has the world of china-ware so long as we grow on the backyard fence?" how frank's mistress, a frail-looking, hospitable, resourceful little woman, provided for herself and family and helped her friends out of next to nothing; how her cheerfulness, industry, and enterprise never failed her or others; and how frank aided her, would in itself fill a book. but then it is a story of southern verve and inventiveness that could be duplicated over and over again. did not sir george campbell write in an english magazine of how much he enjoyed a dinner in a southern mansion, when all the feast was a dish of roasted apples and a plate of corn-bread? not a word of apology was uttered by his host or hostess; converse was so cultured and pleasing, welcome so sincere, that the poverty of the board was not to be weighed in the balance. this host who had so much and so little to give his guest was colonel washington ball, nearest living kinsman to general george washington. the fall of was, in virginia at least, a bountiful one. planters' sons had come home, gone into the fields, worked till the crop was all laid by; and then, there was no lack of gaiety. a favourite form of diversion was the tournament, which furnished fine sport for cavalry riders trained under stuart and fitz lee. one of the most brilliant took place in , at a famous plantation on the north anna river. the race-track had been beaten down smooth and hard beforehand by the daily training of knights. it was in a fair stretch of meadow-land beyond the lawns and orchards. the time was october, the weather ideal, the golden haze of indian summer mellowing every line of landscape. on the day appointed the grounds were crowded with carriages, wagonettes, buggies and vehicles of every sort, some very shabby, but borrowing brightness from the fair young faces within. the knights were about twenty-five. their steeds were not so richly caparisoned as scott's in "ivanhoe," but the riders bestrode them with perhaps greater ease and grace than heavy armor permitted mediæval predecessors. some wore plumed hats that had covered their heads in real cavalry charges, and more than one warrior's waist was girt with the red silk sash that had belted him when he rode at the head of his men as fitz lee's captain. a number were in full confederate uniform, carrying their gray jackets as jauntily as if no battle had ever been lost to them. one of these attracted peculiar attention. he was of very distinguished appearance; and from his arm floated a long streamer of crape. every one was guessing his name till the herald cried: "knight of liberty lost!" the mourning knight swept before the crowd, bearing off on the point of his spear the three rings which marked his victory for at least that run. for this sport, three gibbet-like structures stand equal distances apart on a straight race-track. from the arm of each, a hook depends and on each hook a ring is hung. each knight, with lance poised and aimed, rides full tilt down this track and takes off all the rings he can in a given number of rides. he who captures most rings is victor. it is his right to choose the queen of love and beauty, riding up to her on the field and offering a ring upon his spear. the knight winning the second highest number chooses the first maid of honour; and so on, until there is a royal quartette of queen and maids. the tournament was to the south what baseball is to the nation; it was intensely exciting and picturesque, and, by reason of the guerdon won, poetic, investing an ordinary mortal with such power as paris exercised when he gave the golden apple to venus. it had spice of peril to make it attractive, if "danger's self is lure alone." fine horsemanship, a steady hand, and sure eye were essentials. "liberty lost" won, and the mourning knight laid his laurels at the feet of a beautiful girl who has since reigned as a social queen in a northern home. the coronation took place in the mansion that evening. after a flowery address, each knight knelt and offered a crown to his fair one. the symbols of royalty were wreaths of artificial flowers, the queen's shaped like a coronet, with sprays forming points. her majesty wore a gown that had belonged to her great-grandmother; very rich silk in a bayadere pattern, that served as becoming sheath for her slim blonde loveliness. after the coronation, the knights led their fair ones out in the "royal set" which opened the ball. perhaps it is better to say that george walker, the negro fiddler, opened the ball. he was the most famous man of his craft in the piedmont region. there he was that night in all his glory at the head of his band of banjoists, violinists and violincellist; he was grandeur and gloss personified when he made preliminary bow and flourish, held his bow aloft, and set the ball in motion! "honour yo' pardners!" "and didn't we do as george told us to do!" matoaca says. "such dance-provoking melodies followed as almost bewitched one's feet. 'life on the ocean wave,' 'down-town girls won't you come out tonight and dance by the light of the moon!' 'fisher's horn-pipe' and 'ole zip coon' were some of them. not high-sounding to folks of today, but didn't they make feet twinkle! people did what was called 'taking steps' in those days. i can almost hear george's fiddle now, and hear him calling: 'ladies to the right! gents to the right! ladies to the center! gents to the center! hands all 'roun' an' promenade all!' who could yell 'do se do!' and 'sashay all!' with such a swing?" about one o'clock all marched in to supper, the queen and her knights and maidens leading. it was hard times in virginia, but the table groaned under such things as folks then thought ought to adorn a festal board. there was not lacking the mighty saddle-o'-mutton, roast pig with apple in his mouth, smithfield ham, roast turkey, and due accompaniments. the company marched back to the ball-room, and presently marched again to a second supper embracing sweets of all descriptions. commencements at schools and colleges, which the south began to restore and refill as quickly as she was able, brought the young people together and were strong features in our social life. so were sunday schools; and, in the country, protracted meetings or religious revivals. and barbecues. who that has gone out to a frolic in the southern woods and feasted on shote or mutton roasted over a pit and basted with vinegar and red pepper gravy, can forget what a barbecue is! summer resorts became again meeting-grounds for old friends, and new. social gatherings at the greenbrier white sulphur were notable. general lee was there with his daughter, and the first to lead in extending courtesies to northern guests attracted to the white by the reputation of that famous watering-place. again, our women were at their ancient haunts, wearing silks and laces as they were prospering under the new order or as their great-grandmothers' trunks, like that of love and beauty's queen, held reserves not yet exhausted. and under the silks and laces, hearts cried out for loved ones who would gather on the green lawns and dance in the great halls no more. but heroism presented a smiling face and took up life's measure again. in cities changes were not so acute as in the country, where people, without horses and vehicles, were unable to visit each other. the larger the planter, the more extreme his family's isolation was like to be, his land and his neighbours' lands stretching for miles between houses. i heard a planter's wife say, "yours is the first white woman's face i have seen for six months." her little daughter murmured mournfully: "and i haven't seen a little white girl to play with for longer than that." multitudes who had kept open house could no longer. to a people in whom the social instinct was so strong and hospitality second nature, abrupt ending of neighbourly intercourse was a hard blow. stay and bankrupt laws for the benefit of the debtor class and bearing much hardship on creditors, often orphan minors, were passed, and under these planters were sold out and moved to new places, their overseers often succeeding them and reigning in their stead. it was not an unknown thing for men to manage to get themselves sold out under these laws, thus evading payment of obligations and at the same time securing a certain quota for themselves, which the law allowed. it seemed to me that many who took it were better off than before. there were unfortunates who had to pay security debts for bankrupts. much hard feeling was engendered. [illustration: mrs. david urquhart, of new orleans a famous hostess, distinguished for her social graces and her good deeds.] some measure for relief of the debtor class was necessary. a man who had contracted debts on the basis of thousands of acres at fifteen to fifty dollars an acre, and owning a hundred or more negroes, worth a thousand dollars each, could not meet in full such engagements when his land would not bring two dollars an acre, when his negroes were set free, and hired labour, if he had wherewithal to hire, could not be relied on. some men took the bankrupt law for protection, then set themselves to work and paid obligations which could not be exacted by law. the bondage of the free chapter xvi the bondage of the free "had slavery lasted a few years longer," i have heard my mother say, "it would have killed julia, my head-woman, and me. our burden of work and responsibility was simply staggering." in the ante-bellum life of the mistress of a southern plantation there was no menial occupation, but administrative work was large and exacting. the giving out of rations, clothes, medicines, nursing of the sick, cutting out of garments, sewing, spinning, knitting, had to be directed. the everlasting teaching and training, the watch-care of sometimes several hundred semi-civilized, semi-savage people of all ages, dispositions and tempers, were on the white woman's hands. the kitchen was but one department of that big school of domestic science, the home on a southern plantation, where cooks, nurses, maids, butlers, seamstresses and laundresses had understudies or pupils; and the white mistress, to whom every student's progress was a matter of keen personal interest and usually of affectionate concern, was principal and director. the typical southern plantation was, in effect, a great social settlement for the uplift of africans. for a complete picture of plantation life, i beg my readers to turn to that chapter in the "life of leonidas polk" written by his son, dr. w. m. polk, which describes "leighton" in the sugar-lands on bayou la fourche. read of the industrial work and then of the sabbath, when the negroes assembled in the bishop's house where the chaplain conducted the service while the bishop sat at the head of his servants. worship over, women withdrew into another room, where mrs. polk or the family governess gave them instruction; the children into still another, where bishop polk's daughter taught them; the men remained with the chaplain for examination and admonition. the bishop made great efforts to preserve the sanctity of family life among his servants. he christened their babies; their weddings were celebrated in his own home, decorated and illuminated for them. the honour coveted by his children was to hold aloft the silver candlesticks while their father read the marriage service. if a couple misbehaved, they were compelled to marry, but without a wedding-feast. andrew p. calhoun, eldest son of john c. calhoun, was president of the south carolina agricultural college and owner of large lands in alabama and south carolina. he took pride in raising everything consumed on his plantations. in the new york home of his son, mr. patrick calhoun, three of his old servants live; his wife's maid says proudly: "i have counted thirty things on my miss' dinner-table that were grown on the place." cotton and wool were grown on the place and carded, spun, dyed, woven into cloth by negro women; in great rooms, well lighted, well aired, well equipped, negro cutters, fitters and seamstresses fashioned neat and comfortable garments for a contented, well-cared-for laboring force. mrs. calhoun devoted as much time to this department of plantation work, which included the industrial and moral education of negro women, as mr. calhoun devoted to the general management of his lands and the industrial and moral uplift of negro men. the polk and calhoun plantations were types of thousands; and their owners types of thousands of planters who applied the same principles, if sometimes on lesser scale, to farming operations. no institutional work can take the place of work of this kind. it is like play to the real thing. without decrying hampton, petersburg and tuskegee, it can be said with truth that these institutions and many more in combination would be unable to do for a savage race what the old planters and the old plantation system of the south did for africa's barbarians. employers of white labor might sit at the feet of those old planters and learn wisdom. professor morrison, of the chair of history and sociology at clemson college, tells me that the instruction of students in their duty to their servants constituted a recognised department in some southern colleges. [illustration: frances devereux polk (wife of general leonidas polk, the warrior bishop.) she was the spiritual and industrial educator of many negroes, and the mistress of a large sugar plantation.] mammy julia was my mother's assistant superintendent, so to speak. "i could trust almost anything to her," her mistress bore testimony, "for she appreciated responsibility and was faithfulness itself. i don't know a negro of the new order who can hold a candle to her." mammy julia and my mother had no rest night or day. black folks were coming with troubles, wants, quarrels, ailments, births, marriages and deaths, from morning till night and night till morning again. "i was glad and thankful--on my own account--when slavery ended and i ceased to belong, body and soul, to my negroes." as my mother, so said other southern mistresses. perhaps the southern matron's point of view may be somewhat surprising to those who have thought that under ante-bellum conditions, slavery was all on the negro's side and that all southern people were fiercely bent on keeping him in bonds. many did not believe in slavery and were trying to end it. mrs. robert e. lee's father and uncle freed some five hundred slaves, with general lee's approval, thus alienating from her over $ , worth of property. the hampton family, of south carolina, sent to liberia a great colony of freed slaves, who presently plead to be brought home. general preston, confederate, of kentucky, freed his negroes; he would not sell, and could not afford to keep, them; they were "over-running and ruining his plantation, and clearing up forests for firewood; slavery is the curse of the south." many families had arranged for a gradual emancipation, a fixed percentage of slaves being freed by each generation. by will and otherwise, they provided against division of families, an evil not peculiar to slavery, as immigrant ships of today, big foundling asylums, and train-loads of home-seeking children bear evidence. but freedom as it came, was inversion, revolution. whenever i pass "the house upside down" at a world's fair, i am reminded of the south after freedom. in "south carolina women in the confederacy,"[ ] mrs. harby tells how mrs. postell geddings was in the kitchen getting dr. geddings' supper, while her maid, in her best silk gown, sat in the parlour and entertained yankee officers. charleston ladies cooked, swept, scrubbed, split wood, fed horses, milked and watered the cattle; while filling their own places as feminine heads of the house, they were servants-of-all-work and man of the house. mrs. crittendon gives an anecdote matching mrs. geddings'. a columbia lady saw in sherman's motley train an old negress arrayed in her mistress' antiquated, ante-bellum finery, lolling on the cushions of her mistress' carriage, and fanning (in winter) with a huge ostrich-feather fan. "why, aunt sallie, where are you going?" she called out impulsively. "law, honey! i'se gwine right back intuh de union!" and on rode aunt sallie, feathers and flowers on her enormous poke-bonnet all a-flutter. mrs. jewett, of stony creek, saw her negro man walking behind the yankee army with her husband's suit of clothes done up in a red silk handkerchief and slung on a stick over his shoulder. her two mulatto nurse-girls laid down their charges, attired themselves in her best apparel and went; her seamstress stopped sewing, jumped on a horse behind a soldier who invited her, and away she rode. as victorious armies went through the country, they told the negroes, "you are free!" negroes accepted the tidings in different ways. old aunt hannah was not sure but that the assurance was an insult. "law, marster!" she said, "i ain' no free nigger! i is got a marster an' mistiss! dee right dar in de great house. ef you don' b'lieve me, you go dar an' see." "you're a d----d fool!" he cried and rode on. "sambo, you're free!" some negroes picked up the master's saddle, flung it on the master's horse, jumped on his back and rode away with the yankees. after every yankee army swarmed a great black crowd on foot, men, women, and children. they had to be fed and cared for; they wearied their deliverers. yankees told my father's negroes they were free, but they did not accept the statement until "ole marster" made it. i remember the night. they were called together in the back yard--a great green space with blossomy altheas and fruit-trees and tall oaks around, and the scent of honeysuckles and sweet betseys making the air fragrant. he stood on the porch beside a table with a candle on it. i, at his knee, looked up at him and out on the sea of uplifted black faces. some carried pine torches. he read from a paper, i do not know what, perhaps the emancipation proclamation. they listened silently. then he spoke, his voice trembling: "you do not belong to me any more. you are free. you have been like my own children. i have never felt that you were slaves. i have felt that you were charges put into my hands by god and that i had to render account to him of how i raised you, how i treated you. i want you all to do well. you will have to work, if not for me, for somebody else. heretofore, you have worked for me and i have supported you, fed you, clothed you, given you comfortable homes, paid your doctors' bills, bought your medicines, taken care of your babies before they could take care of themselves; when you were sick, your mistress and i have nursed you; we have laid your dead away. i don't think anybody else can have the same feeling for you that she and i have. i have been trying to think out a plan for paying wages or a part of the crop that would suit us all; but i haven't finished thinking it out. i want to know what you think. now, you can stay just as you have been staying and work just as you have been working, and we will plan together what is best. or, you can go. my crops must be worked, and i want to know what arrangements to make. ben! dick! moses! abram! line up, everybody out there. as you pass this porch, tell me if you mean to stay; you needn't promise for longer than this year, you know. if you want to go somewhere else, say so--and no hard thoughts!" the long line passed. one and all they said: "i gwi stay wid you, marster." a few put it in different words. uncle andrew, the dean of the body, with wool as white as snow, a widower who went sparking every sunday in my grandfather's coat and my grandfather's silk hat, said: "law, marster! i ain' got nowhar tuh go ef i was gwine!" some wiped their eyes, and my father had tears in his. next morning, old uncle eph, andrew's mate, was missing; his aged wife was in great distress. she came to my father reproachfully: "marster," she said, "i wish you wouldn' put all dat foolishness 'bout freedom in eph's hade. he so ole i dunno what gwi become uh him 'long de road. when i wake up dis mo'nin', he done tied all his close up in his hankercher and done lit out." in a few days he returned, the butt of the quarters for many a day. "i jes wanter see whut it feel lak tuh be free," he said, "an' i wanter to go back to ole marster's plantation whar i was born. it don' look de same dar, an' i done see nuff uh freedom." presently my father was making out contracts and explaining them over and over; he would sign his name, the negro would make his mark, the witnesses sign; and the bond for a year's work and wages or part of the crop, was complete. at first, contracts had to be ratified by a freedmen's bureau agent, who charged master and servant each fifty cents or more. after one of our neighbours told his negroes they were free, they all promised to stay, as had ours. next morning all but two were gone. in a few days all returned. the bureau agent had made them come back. many negroes leaving home fared worse than uncle eph. after the fall of richmond, mr. hill, who had been a high official of the confederacy, went back to his plantation, where he found but three negroes remaining, the rest having departed for washington, the negro heaven. one of these, a man of seventy, said he must go, too. his ex-master could not dissuade him. he was comfortably quartered and mr. hill told him he would be cared for the rest of his life. nothing would do but he must sell his chickens and his little crop of tobacco to one of the other negroes and go. mr. hill gave him provisions for ten days, had the wagon hitched up and sent him to culpeper, where he was to take the train. on culpeper's outskirts was the usual collection of negroes, snack-house, bad whiskey, gambling, and kindred evils. here uncle john stopped. he had started with $ cash. in less than a week his money was gone and he was thrown out on the common. mr. hill, summoned before the provost-marshal on the charge of having driven uncle john off, said: "the man sitting out there in my buggy can tell you whether i did that." the testimony of the black witness was conclusive, the provost dismissed the case. mr. hill went to the commons. lying in the sun, stone-blind, was uncle john. he raised his head and listened. "mistuh, fuh gawd's sake, please do suppin fuh me!" "old man, why are you here?" "lemme hear dat voice again!" "uncle john!" "bless de lawd, marster! you done come. marster, a 'oman robbed me uf all i had an' den th'owed me out. fuh gawd's sake, take me home!" "i will have you cared for tonight, and tomorrow i will come in the wagon for you." "lawd, marster, i sho is glad i gwine home! i kin res' easy in my min', now i _know_ i gwine home!" mr. hill returned to the provost: "i shall come or send for the old man tomorrow," he said. "meanwhile, he must be cared for." the provost was indifferent. this was one of many cases. "if you do not provide food and shelter for that negro," he was sharply assured, "i shall report you to the authorities at washington." the provost promised and sent two orderlies to attend to the matter. next morning the master was back. the old man was dead. he had been put in the scale-house, an open shed. there, instead of in his old home surrounded by friends who loved him, uncle john had breathed his last. from many other stories, companions in pathos, i choose mammy lisbeth's. her son went with the yankee army. she grieved for him till her mistress' heart ached. the mistress returned one day from a visit to find lisbeth much excited. "law, miss, i done hyerd f'om my chile!" "how, mammy?" "a yankee soldier come by an' i ax 'im is he seed my son whar he been goin' 'long? an' i tell 'im all 'bout how my chile look. an' he say he done been seen 'im. an' i say, 'law, mister, ain't my chile gwi come home?' an' he gimme de answer: 'he can't come ef he ain' got no money.' an' i answer, 'law, marster, i got a fi'-dollar gol' piece my ole miss dat's done dade gimme long time ago. does you know any safe passin'?' an' he answer, jes ez kin', how he gwine datter way hisse'f, an' he'll kyar it. i run in de house an' got dat fi'-dollar gol' piece an' gi' to 'im. an' now my chile's comin' home, miss! my chile's comin' home! he say, 'in 'bout two weeks, you go to de kyars evvy day an' look fuh im.'" her mistress had not the heart to tell her the man had robbed her. never before had a white man robbed her; it was second nature to trust the white face. "it is heart-breaking," her mistress wrote, "to see how she watches for him. she is at the depot every day, scanning the face of every coloured passenger getting off. i've been to the bureau making inquiries. the agent says if he could catch the rascal, the robber, he would string him up by the thumbs, but her description fits any strolling private. he says: 'any woman who would trust a stranger so with her money deserves to be fooled. i wouldn't trouble about it, madam!' yankees do not understand our coloured people and us. how can i help being troubled by anything that troubles mammy lisbeth?" here is another old letter: "cousin mine: i came home from school a few days ago. railroads all broken up and it took several days to make the journey in the carriage, stopping over-night along the route. at most houses, there was hardly anything to offer but shelter, but hospitality was perfect. only cornbread and sassafras tea at one place; no servants to render attention; silver gone; family portraits punctured with bayonets; furniture and mirrors broken. reaching home, found everything strange because of great change in domestic regime. our cook, who has reigned in our kitchen for thirty years, is in richmond, coining money out of a restaurant. most of our servants have gone to the city. our old butler and mammy abide. i think it would have killed me had mammy gone! "i cannot tell you how it oppressed me to miss the familiar black faces i have loved all my life, and to feel that our negroes cared so little for us, and left at the first invitation. i have something strange to tell you. mammy has been free since before i was born. i never knew till now. i was utterly wretched, and exclaimed: 'well, mammy, i reckon you'll go too!' she took it as a deadly insult; i had to humble myself. while she was mad, the secret burst out: 'ef i'd wanted to go, i could ha' gone long time ago. no yankees sot me free! my marster sot me free.' she showed me her manumission papers in grandfather's hand, which she has worn for i don't know how long, in a little oil-silk bag around her neck, never caring to use them. domestic cares are making me gray! but i get some fun trying to do things i never did before, while mammy scolds me for 'demeaning' myself." there was honour in the "gritty" way the southern housewife adapted herself to the situation, humour in the way spoiled maidens played the part of milkmaid or of bridget. "do you know how to make lightbread?" one of our friends inquired, and proceeded to brag of her new accomplishments, adding: "i had never gotten a meal in my life until the morning after the yankees passed, when i woke to find not a single servant on the place. there was a lone cow left. i essayed to milk her, but retired in dire confusion. i couldn't make the milk go in the pail to save my life! it squirted in my face and eyes and all over my hair. the cow switched her tail around and cut my countenance, made demonstrations with her hind feet, and i retired. one of my daughters sat on the milking-stool and milked away as if she had been born to it." "the first meal i got," another friend wrote, "my sons cooked. they learned how in the army. i thought the house was coming down while they were beating the biscuit! they drove me from the kitchen. 'we don't hate the yankees for thrashing us,' they said, 'but god knows we hate them for turning our women into hewers of wood and drawers of water.' now, i'm as good a cook as my boys. can do everything domestic except kill a chicken. i turn the chicken loose every time." "i write in a merry vein," was another recital, "because it is no good to write in any other. but i have the heart-break over things. i see this big plantation, once so beautifully kept up, going to rack and ruin. i see the negroes i trained so carefully deteriorating every day. we suffer from theft, are humiliated by impertinence; and cannot help ourselves. negroes call upon me daily for services that i, in christian duty, must render whether i am able or not. and i cannot call upon them for one thing but i must pay twice over--and i have nothing to pay with. this is the first rule in their lesson of freedom--to get all they can out of white folks and give as little as possible in return." letters teemed with experiences like this: "we went to sleep one night with a plantation full of negroes, and woke to find not one on the place--every servant gone to sherman in atlanta. negroes are camped out all around that city. we had thought there was a strong bond of affection on their side as well as ours! we have ministered to them in sickness, infancy, and age. but poor creatures! they don't know what freedom is, and they are crazy. they think it the opening of the door of heaven. some put me in mind of birds born and raised in a cage and suddenly turned loose and helpless; others, of hawks, minks and weasels, released to do mischief. "we heard that there was much suffering in the camps; presently our negroes were all back, some ill from exposure. maum lucindy sent word for us to send for her, she was sick. without a vehicle or team on the place, it looked like an impossible proposition, but my little boys patched up the relics of an old cart, borrowed the only steer in the neighbourhood, and got maum lucindy back. the raiders swept us clean of everything. we are unable to feed ourselves. how we shall feed and clothe the negroes when we cannot make them work, i do not know." my cousin, mrs. meredith, of brunswick, virginia, congratulated herself, when only one of her servants deserted his post to join sheridan's trail of camp-followers. a week after simeon's departure, she woke one morning to discover that six women had decamped, one leaving her two little children in her cabin from which came pitiful wails of "mammy!" "mammy!" simeon had come in the night, and related of black's and white's (now blackstone) where a garrison had been established, that calico dresses were as plentiful as leaves on trees and that coloured women were parading the streets with white soldiers for beaux. my cousin, mrs. white, said a whole wagon-load of negro women passed her house going to blackstone, and that one of them insisted upon presenting her with a four-year-old child, declaring it too much trouble. it was not an unknown thing for negro mothers to leave their children along the roadsides. blackstone drew recruits until there was just one woman-servant remaining with the merediths. why she stayed was a mystery, but as she was "the only pebble on the beach," everything was done to make home attractive. one day she asked permission (why, could not be imagined) to go visiting. she did not return. shortly, captain meredith was haled before the freedmen's bureau at black's and white's to answer the charge of thrashing viny. marched into court, he took a chair. "get up," said the bureau agent, "and give the lady a seat." he rose, and viny dropped into it. she was shamefaced and brazen by turns; finally, burst into tears and begged "mars tawm's" pardon, saying she had brought the charge because she had "no 'scuse for leavin'" and had to invent one; "nevver knowed mars tawm was gwi be brung in cote 'bout it." the early stirrings of the social equality problem were curious. adventurous aunt susan tried the experiment of "eatin' wid white folks." she was bursting to tell us about it, yet loath to reveal her degradation--"white folks dat'll eat wid me ain't fitten fuh me to eat wid," being the negro position. "but dese folks was rale quality, miss," susan said when murder was out. "i kinder skittish when dee fus' ax me to set down wid 'em. i couldn' eat na'er mouthful wid white folks a-lookin' at me an' a rale nice white gal handin' vittles. an' presen'ly, mum, ef i didn' see dat white gal settin' in de kitchen eatin' her vittles by herse'f. rale nice white gal! i say, 'huccum you didn' eat wid tur white folks?' she say, 'i de servant.'" mrs. betts, of halifax (va.), was in her kitchen, her cook, who was in her debt, having failed to put in an appearance. the cook's husband approached the verandah and requested a dollar. "where is jane?" he was asked. "why hasn't she been here to do her work?" "she are keepin' parlour." "what is that?" "settin' up in de house hol'in' her han's. de civilise bill done been fulfill an' niggers an' white folks jes alike now." coloured applicant for menial position would say to the door-opener: "tell dat white 'oman in dar a cullud lady out here want to hire." "de cullud lady" was capricious. my sister in atlanta engaged one for every day in one month, in fact, engaged more than that average, engaged every one applying, hoping if ten promised to come in time to get breakfast, one might appear. with two hundred black trial justices, south carolina had more than her share of funny happenings, as of tragic. a gentleman who had to appear before some tribunal, wrote us: "whom do you suppose i found in the seat of law? pete, my erstwhile stable-boy. he does not know a from z, had not the faintest idea of what was to be done. 'mars charles,' he said, 'you jes fix 'tup, please, suh. you jes write down whut you think orter be wroted, an' i'll put my mark anywhar you tell me.'" into a store in wilmington sauntered a sable alderman whom the merchant had known from boyhood as "sam." "what's the matter with sam?" the merchant asked as sam stalked out. soon, sam stalked back. "suh, you didn' treat me wid proper respecks." "how, sam?" "you called me 'sam,' which my name is mr. gary." "you're a d----d fool! there's the door!" gary had the merchant up in the mayor's court. "what's the trouble?" asked the mayor. "dis man consulted me." "you ought to feel flattered! what did he do to you?" "he called me 'sam,' suh." "ain't that your name?" "my name's mr. gary." "ain't it sam, too?" "yessuh, but--" "well, there ain't any law to compel a man to call another 'mister.' case dismissed." "dar gwi be a law 'bout dat," muttered sam. washington was the place of miracles. when uncle peter went there, some tricksters told him his wool could be made straight and his colour changed--"said dee could make it jes lak white folks' ha'r," he informed his mistress mournfully, when he had paid the price--nearly his entire capital--and returned home with flaming red wool. his wife did not know him, or pretended not to, and drove him out of the house. he appealed to his mistress and she made manda behave herself. "ole miss," asked my mother's little handmaiden, "now, i'se free, is i gwi tu'n white lak white folks?" "you must not be ashamed of the skin god gave you, patsy," said her mistress kindly. "your skin is all right." "but i druther be white, ole miss." and there was something pathetic in the aspiration. some of the older and more intelligent blacks held their children back from doffing with undignified haste old ways for new. but in most cases, the simian quality showed itself promptly ascendant. negroes did things they saw white people do, not because these things were right or seemly, but because white people did them, selecting for imitation trifles in conduct which they thought marked the social dividing line between white and black. as, for instance, they dropped the old sweet "daddy" and "mammy" for the dreadful "pa" and "ma," or the infantile "popper" and "mommer" which white people inflict upon parents. it would be laughable to hear a big buck negro addressing his sire as "popper." i have seen in a southern street-car all blacks sitting and all whites standing; have seen a big black woman enter a car and flounce herself down almost into the lap of a white man; have seen white ladies pushed off sidewalks by black men. the new manners of the blacks were painful, revolting, absurd. the freedman's misbehaviour was to be condoned only by pity that accepted his inferiority as excuse. southerners had taken great pains and pride in teaching their negroes good manners; they wanted them to be courtly and polished, and it must be said for the negroes, they took polish well. it was with keen regret that their old preceptors saw them throw all their fine schooling in etiquette to the winds. interest in and affection for negroes made these new manners the more obnoxious. here, in one woman's statement, is the point illustrated: "i considered mammy part of our family; my family pride would have been aggrieved, i would have tingled with mortification, to see her so far forget what was due herself as to push herself into places where she was not wanted. these are things she could not possibly do of herself, her own good taste, perfect breeding, and sturdy self-respect forbidding. but her husband and son quickly succumbed to the demoralisation of freedom and were vulgar and troublesome; we were in fear and trembling lest they should lead her into some situation in church, theatre, or car, where she would find herself conspicuous and from which she would not know how to withdraw until officially escorted out in the midst of trouble created by her men." many worthy negroes, the old, infirm and children, lost needed protection. negroes had not been permitted to get drunk--except around corn-shucking and christmas. there was no such restraint now. formerly, a negro, if so disposed, could not beat his child unmercifully. now, women and children might feel a heavy hand unknown before. white people might not interfere in family disputes as formerly, though they continued, at personal risk, to do what they could. a case in point was that of mr. r., a respected merchant of petersburg, who ejected his cook's drunken husband from the kitchen where the brute was cruelly maltreating her. the old gentleman was arrested and marched through the streets, as i have been told, by negro sergeants to trial before a negro magistrate. a characteristic common to uncultured motherhood is over-indulgence and over-severity by turns. when provoked, the negro mother would descend like a fury upon her offspring, beating it as a former master would never have suffered her to abuse his property. a word or suggestion from a white would bring fresh blows upon the luckless wight, the mother thinking thus to demonstrate independence and ownership. under freedom, negroes developed bodily ills from which they had seemed immune. a consumptive of the race was rarely heard of before freedom. after freedom, they began to die of pulmonary complaints. there were frequent epidemics of typhoid fever, quarters not being well kept. "the race is dying out," said prophets. negroes began to grow mad. an insane negro was rarely heard of during slavery. regular hours, regular work, chiefly out of doors, sobriety, freedom from care and responsibility, had kept the negro singularly exempt from insanity and various other afflictions that curse the white. big lunatic asylums established for negroes soon after the war and their continual enlargement tell their own story.[ ] freedom broke up families. under stress of temptation, the young and strong deserted the aged, the feeble, the children, leaving these to shift for themselves or to remain a burden upon a master or mistress themselves impoverished and, perhaps, old and infirm. in the face of so much distraction, demoralisation and disorder, the example of those negroes who were not affected by it shines out with greater clearness as witness for the best that is in the race. thousands stood steadfastly to their posts, superior to temptations which might have shaken white people, performing their duties faithfully, caring for their children, sick and aged, shirking no debt of love and gratitude to past owners. some negroes still live in families for which their ancestors worked, the bond of centuries never having been broken. when this is true, the tie between white and black is yet strong, sweet and tender, like the tie of blood. the venerable "uncles" and "aunties" with their courtly manners, their good warm hearts, their love for the whites, are swiftly passing away, and their like will not be seen again. they were america's black pearl; and america had as good reason to be proud of her faithful and efficient serving-class as of her anglo-saxons. they were needed; they filled an honourable and worthy place and filled it well. [illustration: mrs. andrew pickens calhoun daughter of general duff green, of georgia, and daughter-in-law of john c. calhoun, the statesman, of south carolina. this picture was taken when mrs. calhoun was years of age.] this is not to justify slavery. slavery was forced upon this country over colonial protests, particularly from southern sections fearing negroisation of territory; the slave-trade was profitable to the english crown; our forefathers, coming into independence, faced a problem of awful magnitude in the light of santo domingo horrors; new england's slave-ships and eli whitney's cotton-gin complicated it; it is curious to read in the proceedings of the sixth congress how mr. john brown, of rhode island, urged that this nation should not be deprived of a right, enjoyed by every civilised country, of bringing slaves from africa[ ]--particularly as transference to a christian land was a benefit to africans, a belief held by many who believed that the bible sanctioned slavery. through kindliness of temperament on both sides and the clan feeling fostered by the old plantation life of the south, the white man and the negro made the best they could of an evil thing. but the world has now well learned that a superior race cannot afford to take an inferior into such close company as slavery implies. for the service of the bond-slave the master ever pays to the uttermost in things precious as service, imparting refinements, ideals, standards, morals, manners, graces; in the end he pays that which he considers more precious than service; he pays his blood, and in more ways than one. back to voodooism chapter xvii back to voodooism the average master and mistress of the old south were missionaries without the name. religious instruction was a feature of the negro quarters on the southern plantation--the social settlements for africans in america. masters and mistresses, if themselves religious, usually held sabbath services and sunday schools for blacks. some delegated this task, employing preachers and teachers. charles cotesworth pinckney was the first rice planter to introduce systematic religious instruction among negroes on the santee, influenced thereto by bishop capers. he subscribed to the methodist episcopal mission for them, and a minister came every week to catechise the children and every sabbath to preach at the negro church which mr. pinckney, with the assistance of his neighbours, established for the blacks on his own and neighbouring plantations. soon fifty chapels on his model sprang up along the seaboard. in the methodist churchyard in columbia, a modest monument marks the grave of bishop capers, "founder of the mission to the slaves." nearby sleeps rev. william martin, who was a distinguished preacher to whites and a faithful missionary to blacks. in zion presbyterian church, charleston, built largely through the efforts of mr. robert adger, no less a preacher than rev. dr. girardeau ministered to negroes. the south entrusted the spiritual care of her negroes to her best and ablest, and what she did for them is interwoven with all her history. you will hear to-day how the great clock on top of the church on mr. plowden weston's plantation kept time for plantations up and down the waccamaw. in that chapel, rev. mr. glenrie and an english catechist diligently taught the blacks. after sherman's visit to columbia, trinity (episcopal) church had no communion service; the sacred vessels of precious metals belonging to the negro chapel on the hampton place were borrowed for trinity's white congregation. the rule where negroes were not so numerous as to require separate churches was for both races to worship in one building. slavery usages were modelled on manorial customs in england, where a section of church or chapel is set apart for the peasantry, another for gentry and nobility. the gallery, or some other section of our churches, was reserved for servants, who thus had the same religious teaching we had; there being more of them, they were often in larger evidence than whites at worship. after whites communed, they received the sacrament from the same hands at the same altar. their names were on our church rolls. our pastors often officiated at their funerals; sometimes an old "exhorter" of their own colour did this; sometimes our pastors married them, but this ceremony was not infrequently performed by their masters. the old african church, of richmond, was once that city's largest auditorium. in it great meetings were held by whites, and famous speakers and artists (adelina patti for one) were heard. one of mr. davis' last addresses as president was made there. the regular congregation was black and their pastor was rev. robert ryland, d. d., president of richmond college; "brother ryland," they called him. he taught them with utmost conscientiousness; they loved him and he them. when called upon for the marriage ceremony, he would go to the home of their owners, and marry them in the "white folks' house" or on the lawn before a company of whites and blacks. then, as fee, a large iced cake would be presented to him by a groomsman with great pomp. after the war, the old church was pulled down, and a new one erected by the negroes with assistance of whites north and south. then they wrote dr. ryland, who had gone to kentucky, asking him to return and dedicate it. he answered affectionately, saying he appreciated greatly this evidence of their regard and that nothing would give him greater pleasure, but he was too poor to come; he would be with them in spirit. they replied that the question of expense was none of his business; it was theirs. he wrote that they must apply the sum thus set aside to current expenses, to meet which it would be needed. they answered that they would be hurt if he did not come; they wanted no one else to dedicate their church. so he came, stopping at mr. maury's. he was greatly touched when he met his old friends, the congregation receiving him standing. so much feeling was displayed on their part, such deep emotion experienced on his, that he had to retire to the study before he could command himself sufficiently to preach. in religious life, after the war, the negro's and the white man's path parted quickly. negro galleries in white churches soon stood empty. negroes were being taught that they ought to sit cheek by jowl in the same pews with whites or stay away from white churches. with freedom, the negro, _en masse_, relapsed promptly into the voodooism of africa. emotional extravaganzas, which for the sake of his health and sanity, if for nothing else, had been held in check by his owners, were indulged without restraint. it was as if a force long repressed burst forth. "moans," "shouts" and "trance meetings" could be heard for miles. it was weird. i have sat many a night in the window of our house on the big plantation and listened to shouting, jumping, stamping, dancing, in a cabin over a mile distant; in the gray dawn, negroes would come creeping back, exhausted, and unfit for duty. in some localities, devil-dancing, as imported from africa centuries ago, still continues. i have heard of one place in south carolina where worshippers throw the trance-smitten into a creek, as the only measure sufficiently heroic to bring them out of coma. devil-worship was rife in louisiana just after the war. one of my negro friends tells me: "soon atter de war, dar wuz a trance-meetin' in dis neighbourhood dat lasted a week. de cook at marster's would git a answer jes befo' dinner dat ef he didn' bring a part uv evvything he cooked to de meetin', 'de lawd would snatch de breath outen his body.' he brung it. young gals dee'd be layin' 'roun' in trances. a gal would come to meetin' w'arin' a jacket a white lady gin 'er. one uh de gals in a trance would say: 'de lawd say if sich an' sich a one don' pull dat jacket off, he gwi snatch de breath out dar body.' one ole man broke dat meetin' up. two uv his gran'sons was lyin' out in a trance. he come down dar, wid a han'-full uh hickory switches an' laid de licks on dem gran'chillun. evvybody took out an' run. dat broke de meetin' up. "endurin' slavery, dar marsters wouldn' 'low niggers tuh do all dat foolishness. when freedom come, dee lis'n to bad advice an' lef' de white folks' chu'ches an' go to doin' all sorts uh nawnsense. now dee done learnt better again. dee goin' back sorter to de white folks' chu'ches. heap uh pristopals lak dar use tuh be. in furginny, bishop randolph come 'roun' an' confirm all our classes. an' de baptis'es dee talk 'bout takin' de cullud baptis'es under dar watch-keer. an' all our folks dee done learnt heap better an' all what i been tellin' you. i don' want you tuh put dat in no book lessen you say we-all done improved." southern men who stand at the head of educational movements for negroes, state that they have advanced greatly in a religious sense, their own educated ministry contributing to this end. among those old half-voodoo shouters and dreamers of dreams were negroes of exalted christian character and true piety, and, industrially, of far more worth to society than the average educated product. i have known sensible negroes who believed that they "travelled" to heaven and to hell.[ ] it has been urged that darkness would have been quickly turned to light had southern masters and mistresses performed their full duty in the spiritual instruction of their slaves. to change the fibre of a race is not a thing quickly done even where undivided and intense effort is bent in this direction. the negro, as he came here from africa, changed much more quickly for the better in every respect than under freedom he could have done. it has been charged that we had laws against teaching negroes to read. i never heard of them until after the war. all of us tried to teach darkeys to read, and nothing was ever done to anybody about it. if there were such laws, we paid no attention to them, and they were framed for the negroes' and our protection against fanatics.[ ] i have treated this subject to show the swing back to savagery the instant the master-hand was removed; one cause of demoralisation in field and kitchen; the superstitious, volatile, inflammable material upon which political sharpers played without scruple. the freedmen's bureau chapter xviii the freedmen's bureau federal authorities had a terrific problem to deal with in four millions of slaves suddenly let loose. military commanders found themselves between the devil and the deep sea. varied instructions were given to bring order out of chaos. "freedmen that will use any disrespectful language to their former masters will be severely punished," is part of a ukase issued by captain nunan, at milledgeville, in fervent if distracted effort for the general weal. by action if not by order, some others settled the matter this way: "former masters that will use any disrespectful language to their former slaves will be severely punished"; as witness the case where a venerable lady, bearing in her own and that of her husband two of the proudest names in her state, was marched through the streets to answer before a military tribunal the charge of having used offensive language to her cook. with hordes of negroes pilfering and pillaging, new rulers had an elephant on their hands. no vagrant laws enacted by southern legislatures in - surpassed in severity many of the early military mandates with penalties for infraction. the strongest argument in palliation of the reconstruction acts is found in these laws which were construed into an attempt to re-enslave the negro. the south had no vagrant class before the war and was provided with no laws to meet conditions of vagrancy which followed emancipation with overwhelming force. comparing these laws with new england's, we find that in many respects the former were modelled on the latter, from which the words "ball and chain," "master and mistress" and the apprentice system, which mr. blaine declared so heinous, might well have been borrowed, though new england never faced so grave a vagrancy problem as that which confronted the south. negroes flocked to cities, thick as blackbirds. federal commanders issued orders: "keep negroes from the cities." "the government is feeding too many idlers." "make them stay on the plantations." "impress upon them the necessity of making a crop, or famine is imminent throughout the south." "do not let the young and able-bodied desert their children, sick, and aged." as well call to order the wild things of the woods! in various places something like the old "patter-roller" system of slavery was adopted by the federals, wandering negroes being required to show passes from employers, saying why they were abroad. general schofield's code for the government of freedmen in north carolina (may, ) says: "former masters are constituted guardians of minors in the absence of parents or other near relatives capable of supporting them." the radicals made great capital out of a similar provision in southern vagrancy laws. accounts of confusion worse confounded wrung this from the "new york times" (may , ): "the horse-stealing, lemonade and cake-vending phase of freedom is destined to brief existence. the negro misunderstands the motives which made the most laborious, hard-working people on the face of the globe clamour for his emancipation. you are free, sambo, but you must work. be virtuous, too, o dinah! 'whew! gor almighty! bress my soul!'" the "chicago times" (july , ) gives a western view: "there is chance in this country for philanthropy, a good opening for abolitionists. it is to relieve twenty-eight millions of whites held in cruel bondage by four million blacks, a bondage which retards our growth, distracts our thoughts, absorbs our efforts, drives us to war, ruptures our government, disturbs our tranquillity, and threatens direfully our future. there never was such a race of slaves as we; there never was another people ground so completely in the dust as this nation. our negro masters crack their whips over our legislators and our religion." the freedmen's bureau was created march , , for the care and supervision of negroes in federal lines. branches were rapidly established throughout the south and invested with almost unlimited powers in matters concerning freedmen. an agency's efficiency depended upon the agent's personality. if he were discreet and self-respecting, its influence was wholesome; if he were the reverse, it was a curse. if he were inclined to peculate, the agency gave opportunity; if he were cruel--well, negroes who were hung up by the thumbs, or well annointed with molasses and tied out where flies could find them had opinions. i recall two stories which show how wide a divergence there might be between the operations of two stations. a planter went to the agent in his vicinity and said: "captain, i don't know what to do with the darkeys on my place. they will not work, and are committing depredations on myself and neighbours." the agent went out and addressed the negroes: "men, what makes you think you can live without work? the government is not going to support any people in idleness on account of their complexions. i shall not issue food to another of you. i have charged this planter to bring before me any case of stealing. if you stay on this plantation, you are to work for the owner." in a week, the planter reported that they still refused to labour or to leave; property was disappearing, wanton damage was being done; but it was impossible to spot thieves and vandals. the agent, a man of war, went up in a hurry, and his language made the air blue! "if i come again," was his parting salutation, "i'll bring my cannon, and if you don't hoe, plow, or do whatever is required, i'll blow you all to pieces!" they went to work. a gentleman of fauquier tells me: "when i got home from prison, july, , i found good feelings existing between whites and their former slaves; everything was going on as before the war except that negroes were free and received wages. after a while there came down a bureau agent who declared all contracts null and void and that no negro should work for a white except under contract written and approved by him. this demoralised the negroes and engendered distrust of whites." "if a large planter was making contracts," i heard mr. martin, of the tennessee legislature, relate, "the agent would intermeddle. i had to make all mine in the presence of one. these agents had to be bribed to do a white man justice. a negro would not readily get into trouble with a gentleman of means and position when he would make short work of shooting a poor white. yet the former had owned slaves and the latter had not." planters, making contracts, might have to journey from remote points (sometimes a distance of fifty miles over bad roads), wherever a bureau was located, whites and blacks suffering expense, and loss of time. both had to fee the agent. a contract binding on the white was not binding on the negro, who was irresponsible. if the bureau wrought much mischief, it also wrought good, for there were some whites ready to take advantage of the negro's ignorance in driving hard bargains with him; sorrowfully be it said, if able to tip the agent, they would usually be able to drive the hard bargain. after examination for the government into bureau operations, generals fullerton and steedman reported, may, : "negroes regard the bureau as an indication that people of the north look upon the whites here as their natural enemies, which is calculated to excite suspicion and bad feeling. only the worthless and idle ask interference, the industrious do not apply. the effect produced by a certain class of agents, is bitterness and antagonism between whites and freedmen, a growing prejudice on the part of planters to the government and expectations on the part of freedmen that can never be realised. where there has been no such interference or bad advice given, there is a growing feeling of kindness between races and good order and harmony prevail." they condemned the "arbitrary, unnecessary and offensive interference by the agents with the relations of the southern planters and their freedmen." general grant had reported (dec. , ) to president johnson, after a southern tour: "the belief widely spread among freedmen that the lands of former owners will, at least in part, be divided among them, has come through agents of this bureau. this belief is seriously interfering with the willingness of the freedmen to make contracts." whether agents originated or simply winked at the red, white and blue stick enterprise, i am unable to say. into a neighborhood would come strangers from the north, seeking private interviews with negroes possessing a little cash or having access to somebody else's cash; to these would be shown, with pledges of secrecy, packages of red, white and blue sticks, four to each package. "get up before light on such a date, plant a stick at the four corners of any piece of land not over a mile square, and the land is yours. be wary, or the rebels will get ahead of you." packages were five dollars each. one gentleman found a set for which he had lent part of the purchase money planted on his land. if a negro had not the whole sum, the seller would "trust" him for the balance till he "should come into possession of the land." generals fullerton and steedman advised discontinuance of the bureau in virginia; and some similar recommendation must have accompanied the report for florida and the carolinas which contained such revelations as this about the trent river settlement, where , blacks lived in "deplorable condition" under the superintendency of rev. mr. fitz, formerly u. s. a. chaplain. "four intelligent northern ladies," teaching school in the settlement, witnessed the harsh treatment of negroes by mr. fitz, such as suspension by the thumbs for hours; imprisonment of children for playing on the sabbath; making negroes pay for huts; taxing them; turning them out on the streets. interesting statements were given in regard to the "planting officials" who impressed negroes to work lands under such overseers as few southern masters (outside of "uncle tom's cabin") would have permitted to drive negroes they owned, the officials reaping profits. the bureau had ways of making whites know their place. one could gather a book of stories like this, told me recently by an aged lady, whose name i can give to any one entitled to ask: "captain b., of the freedmen's bureau, was a very hard man. he took up farms around and put negroes on them. we had a large place; he held that over a year and everything was destroyed. saturdays, captain b. would send many negroes out there--and it was pandemonium! my husband was in prison. my father was eighty; he would not complain, but i would. we went to the bureau repeatedly about the outrages. captain b. was obsequious, offered father wine; but he did not stop the outrages. once he asked: 'have you not had any remuneration for your place?' 'no,' i said, 'and we are not asking it. we only beg you to make the negroes you send out there behave decently.' he said he would do anything for us, but did nothing; at last, i went direct to general stoneman, and he helped us." not long after generals grant's, fullerton's, and steedman's reports, congress enlarged the powers of the bureau. coincident with this, the negro became a voter, the bureau a political machine, the agent a candidate. the bureau had been active in securing negro enfranchisement. it was natural that ambitious agents should send hair-raising stories north of the southerner's guile, cruelty and injustice, and touching ones of the negro's heavenly-mindedness in general and of his fitness to be an elector and law-maker in particular; all proving the propriety and necessity of his possession of the ballot for self-protection and defense. in signal instances, the bureau became the negro's protector in crime, as when its officials demanded at one time of governor throckmorton, of texas, pardon and release of two hundred and twenty-seven negroes from the penitentiary, some of whom had been confined for burglary, arson, rape, murder. the bureau did not in the end escape condemnation from those for whom it was created, and who, on acquisition of the ballot, became its "spoiled darlings." "de ossifers eat up all de niggers' rations, steal all dey money, w'ar all dey sunday clo'se," said hodges, of princess anne, in virginia's black and tan convention. the failure of the freedmen's savings bank was a scandal costing pain and humiliation to all honest northerners connected with the institution, and many a negro his little hoard and his disposition to accumulate. it is not fair to overlook benefits conferred by the bureau because it failed to perform the one great and fine task it might have accomplished, as the freedman's first monitor, in teaching him that freedom enlarges responsibility and brings no exemption from toil. if much harm, great good was also done in distribution of government rations, in which whites sometimes received share with blacks. in numbers of places, both races found the agent a sturdy friend and wise counsellor.[ ] no one who knows general o. o. howard, who was commissioner, can, i think, doubt the sincerity and purity of purpose which animated him and scores of his subordinates. from the start, the bureau must have been a difficult organization to handle; once the negro entered into count as a possible or actual political factor, the combined wisdom of solomon and moses could not have made its administration a success nor fulfilled the government's benign intention in creating it. prisoner of fortress monroe chapter xix the prisoner of fortress monroe an extract from a letter by mrs. robert e. lee to miss mason, from derwent, september , , may interest my readers: "i have just received, dear miss em, a long letter from mrs. davis in reply to one of mine. she was in augusta, ga.; says she is confined to that state. she has sent her children to kindred in canada. says she knows nothing whatever of her husband, except what she has seen in the papers. says any letter sent her under care of mr. schley will reach her safely. she writes very sadly, as she well may, for i know of no one so much to be pitied.... she represents a most uncomfortable state of affairs in augusta. no one, white or black, can be out after ten o'clock at night without a pass.... we must wait god's time to raise us up again. that will be the best time." in a later letter, mrs. lee said: "i cannot help feeling uneasy about mr. davis. may god protect him, and grant him deliverance!" the whole south was anxious about mr. davis. those who had come in close touch with him felt a peculiar sympathy for him inspired by a side of his character not generally recognized, as his manner often conveyed an impression of coldness and sternness. under his reserve, was an almost feminine tenderness revealed in many stories his close friends tell. thus: one night, judge minor, to see the president on business of state, sat with him in the room of the "white house" where the telegraph wire came in at the window (now, alabama room in the confederate museum), when in stumbles little joe, in night-gown, saying: "papa, i want to say my prayers." the president, caressing his child, despatched a message, answered judge minor's immediate question, and saying, "excuse me a moment," led his little one's devotions. he was of wide reading and wonderful memory, yet was ignorant of "mother goose" until he heard his children babbling the jingles. mrs. davis brought "babes in the wood" to his notice. he suffered from insomnia after visits to the hospitals; his wife would try to read him to sleep. one night she picked up the "babes" as the one thing at hand, and was astonished to find the poem unknown to him; at the children's desertion he rose, exclaiming: "was there no one to help those poor tender babies? the thought is agonizing!" a part of his childhood was spent in a kentucky monastery, where the good monks did not bethink themselves to teach him nursery rhymes. there was the story of the soldier's widow, to answer whose call the president left his breakfast unfinished. mrs. davis found him trying to comfort and to induce her to partake of a tray of delicacies sent in by his order. she was trying to find her husband's body, and feared that as he was a poor private due aid might not be given her; she had been certain that she would receive scant attention from the chief magistrate. but he was telling her that the country's strength and protection lay in her private soldier. "my father, madam, was a private in the revolution, and i am more proud of what he did for his country than if he had been an officer expecting the world's praise. tell your sorrows to my wife. she will take you in her carriage wherever you wish to go, and aid you all she can." dr. craven, mr. davis' federal physician at fortress monroe, testifies in his book to his patient's unusual depth and quickness of sympathy: "despite a certain exterior cynicism of manner, no patient ever crossed my path who, suffering so much himself, appeared to feel so warmly and tenderly for others." in confederate hospitals, he had not limited pity to wearers of the gray. a "white house" guest told me of his robbing his scant table more than once for a sick federal who had served with him in mexico. another laughingly remarked: "i don't see how he managed to rob his table of a delicacy. when i sat down to it, it had none to spare. yet certainly he might have kept a bountiful board, for government stores were accessible to government officials, and the president might have had first choice in purchasing blockade goods. but the simplicity of our white house regime was an object-lesson. i recall seeing mr. davis in home-spun, home-made clothes at state receptions. that required very positive patriotism if one could do better! 'do look at mr. davis!' mrs. davis whispered, 'he _will_ wear those clothes, and they look lop-sided!' their deficiencies were more noticeable because he was so polished and elegant." one of the faithful shows me in her scrap-book a dispatch, of may , , in the "philadelphia inquirer": "jeff does not pine in solitude. an officer and two soldiers remain continually in the cell with him." and then points to these words from the pen of hugh mcculloch, mr. davis' visitor from washington: "he had the bearing of a brave and high-born gentleman, who, knowing he would have been highly honoured if the southern states had achieved their independence, would not and could not demean himself as a criminal because they had not." she tells how men who had served under mr. davis in mexico were among his guards at fortress monroe and showed him respect and kindness; and how almost everybody there grew to like him, he was so kind and courteous, and to the common soldier as to the strapped and starred officer. our ladies sent articles for his comfort to mr. davis, but knew not if he received them. dr. minnegerode's efforts to see him were for a weary while without success. it seemed that his pastor, at least, might have had this privilege without question, especially such as dr. minnegerode, a man of signal peace and piety who had carried the consolations of religion and such comforts as he could collect in an almost famine-stricken city to federals in prison. his first endeavour, a letter of request to president johnson, met no response. finally, appeal was made through rev. dr. hall, mr. stanton's pastor; to the committee of ladies waiting on him, dr. hall said he did not wish to read the petition, wished to have nothing to do with the matter; they besought, he read, and secured privilege of intercourse between pastor and prisoner. for months, mr. davis was not allowed to correspond with his wife; was allowed no book but the bible; june , , stanton reproved general miles for permitting the prison chaplain to visit him. he was unprepared for his pastor's coming, when dr. minnegerode, conducted by general miles, entered his cell. in a sermon in st. paul's after mr. davis' death, dr. minnegerode described this meeting. mr. davis had been removed (on medical insistence) from the casemate, and was "in an end room on the second floor of carroll hall, with a passage and windows on each side of the room, and an anteroom in front, separated by an open grated door--a sentinel on each passage and before the grated door of the anteroom; six eyes always upon him, day and night." with these eyes looking on, the long-parted friends, the pastor and the prisoner, met. [illustration: a view of fortress monroe showing section of casemates overlooking the moat. in a casemate of this fort mr. davis was confined. photographed in ] when the question of holy communion was broached, mr. davis hesitated. "he was a pure and pious man, and felt the need and value of the means of grace. but could he take the sacrament in the proper spirit--in a forgiving mind? he was too upright and conscientious to eat and drink unworthily--that is, not at peace with god and man, as far as in him lay." in the afternoon, general miles took the pastor to the prisoner again. mr. davis was ready to pray, "father, forgive them!" "then came the communion. it was night. the fortress was so still that you could hear a pin fall. general miles, with his back to us, leaned against the fire-place in the anteroom, his head on his hands--not moving; sentinels stood like statues." of mr. davis' treatment, dr. minnegerode said: "the officers were polite and sympathetic; the common soldiers--not one adopted the practice of high dignitaries who spoke sneeringly of him as 'jeff.' not one but spoke of him in a subdued and kindly tone as 'mr. davis.' i went whenever i could," he adds, "to see my friend, and precious were the hours spent with that lowly, patient, god-fearing soul. it was in these private interviews that i learned to appreciate his noble, christian character--'pure in heart,' unselfish, without guile, and loyal unto death to his conscience and convictions." the prisoner's health failed fast. officers thought it would be wise and humane to allow him more liberty; they knew that he not only had no desire to escape, but could not be induced to do so. he was begging for trial. the pastor, encouraged by dr. hall, called on mr. stanton. he had hoped to find the man of iron softened by sorrow; mr. stanton had lost a son; his remaining child was on his knees. his greeting was like ice--a bow and nothing more. the pastor expressed thanks for permit to visit the prisoner, and respectfully broaching the subject of mr. davis' health, suggested that, as he neither would nor could escape, he be allowed the liberty of the fort. mr. stanton broke his silence: "it makes no difference what the state of jeff davis' health is. his trial will come on, no doubt. time enough till that settles it." "it settled it in my leaving the presence of that man," said the pastor. "i realise," dr. craven protested, "the painful responsibilities of my position. if mr. davis were to die in prison, without trial, subject to such indignities as have been visited upon his attenuated frame, the world would form unjust conclusions, but conclusions with enough colour to pass them into history." arguments breathing similar appreciation of the situation began to appear in the northern press, while men of prominence, advocating the application of the great principles of justice and humanity to his case, called for his release or trial; such lawyers as william b. reed, of philadelphia, and charles o'conor, of new york, tendered him free services. strong friends were gathering around his wife. the northern heart was waking. general grant was one of those who used his influence to mitigate the severity of mr. davis' imprisonment. again and again mrs. davis had implored permission to go to him. "i will take any parole--do anything, if you will only let me see him! for the love of god and his merciful son, do not refuse me!" was her cry to the war department, january, . no reply. then, this telegram to andrew johnson from montreal, april , : "i hear my husband's health is failing rapidly. can i come to see him? can you refuse me? varina davis." stanton acquiesced in johnson's consent. and the husband and wife were reunited. official reports to washington, changing their tone, referred to him as "state prisoner davis" instead of merely "jeff davis." the "national republican," a government organ, declared: "something ought in justice to be done about his case. by every principle of justice as guaranteed by the constitution, he ought to be released or brought to trial." it would have simplified matters had he asked pardon of the national government. but this he never did, though friends, grieving over his sufferings, urged him. he did not hold that the south had committed treason or that he, in being her chief magistrate, was arch-traitor. questions of difference between the states had been tried in the court of arms; the south had lost, had accepted conditions of defeat, would abide by them; that was all there was to it. northern men were coming to see the question in the same light. through indignities visited upon him who had been our chief magistrate was the south most deeply aggrieved and humiliated; through the action of horace greeley and other northern men coming to his rescue was the first real balm of healing laid upon the wound that gaped between the sections. that wound would have healed quickly, had not the most profound humiliation of all, the negro ballot and white disfranchisement, been forced upon us. among relics in the confederate museum is a mask which mr. davis wore at fortress monroe. his wife sent it to him when she heard that the everlasting light in his eyes and the everlasting eyes of guards upon him were robbing him of sleep and threatening his eyesight and his reason. over a mantel is jefferson davis' bond in a frame; under his name are those of his sureties, horace greeley's leading the signatures of cornelius vanderbilt, gerrit smith, benjamin wood, and augustus schell, all of new york; a. welsh and d. k. jackson, of philadelphia; and southern sureties, w. h. mcfarland, richard barton haxall, isaac davenport, abraham warwick, gustavus a. myers, w. crump, james lyons, john a. meredith, w. h. lyons, john minor botts, thomas w. boswell, james thomas. thousands of southerners would have rejoiced to sign that bond; but it must be pleasing now to visitors of both sections to see northern and southern names upon it. the mask and the bond tell the story. reconstruction oratory chapter xx reconstruction oratory northern visitors, drawn to richmond in the spring of , to the davis trial, came upon the heels of a riot if not squarely into the midst of one. friday, may , began with a mass-meeting at one of the old chimborazo buildings, where negroes of both sexes, various ages, and in all kinds of rags and raiment, congregated. nothing could exceed the cheerfulness with which their initiation fees and monthly dues were received by the white treasurer of the national political aid society, while their names were called by the white secretary--the one officer a carpet-bagger, the other a scalawag. initiation fee was a quarter, monthly dues a dime; the treasurer's table was piled with a hillock of small change. the secretary added names to a roll of , . a negro leader, asked by a northern reporter, "what's this money to be used for?" replied: "we gwi sen' speakers all 'roun' de country, boss; gwi open de eyes er de cullud folks, an' show 'em how dee gotter vote. some niggers out in de country don' know whe'er dee free er not--hoein' an' plowin' fuh white folks jes lak dee always been doin'. an' dee gwi vote lak white folks tell 'em ef dar ain' suppin' did. de country's gwi go tuh obstruction ef us whar knows don' molighten dem whar don' know. dat huccum you sees what you does see." when collection had been taken up, a young carpet-bagger led in speech-making: "dear friends: i rejoice to find myself in this noble company of patriots. i see before me men and women who are bulwarks of the nation; ready to give their money, to work, to die, if need be, for freedom. freedom, my friends, is another name for the great republican party. ("hise yo' mouf tellin' dat truf!" "dat's so!" "halleluia!" "glory be tuh gawd!") the republican party gave you freedom and will preserve it inviolate! (applause; whispers: "what dat he spoken 'bout?" "sho use big words!" "dat man got sense. he know what he talkin' 'bout ef we don't!") that party was unknown in this grand old state until a few months ago. it has been rotten-egged!--("now ain't dat a shame!") although its speakers have only advocated the teachings of the holy bible. ("glory halleluia!" "glory to de lamb!" "jesus, my marster!") the republican party is your friend that has led you out of the wilderness into the promised land!" glories and halleluias reached climax in which two sisters were carried out shouting. "disshere gitten' too much lak er 'ligious meetin' tuh suit me," a sinner observed. "you do not need for me to tell you never to vote for one of these white traitors and rebels who held you as slaves. ("dat we ain't!" "we'll see 'em in h---- fust!") we have fought for you on the field of battle. now you must organize and fight for yourselves. ("we gwi do it, too! dat we is! we gwi fight!") we have given you freedom. we intend to give you property. we, the republican party, propose to confiscate the land of these white rebels and traitors and give it to you, to whom it justly belongs--forty acres and a mule and $ to every one of you! (the chairman exhausted himself seeking to subdue enthusiasm.) the republican party cannot do this unless you give it your support. all that it asks is your vote and your influence. if the white men of the south carry the elections, they will put you back into slavery." a scalawag delivered the gem of the occasion: "ladies and gentlemen: i am happy to embrace this privilege of speaking to you. i desire to address first and very especially a few words to these ladies, for they wield an influence of which they are little aware. whether poor or rich, however humble they may be, women exert a powerful influence over the hearts of men. i have been gratified to see you bringing your mites to the cause of truth. emulate, my fair friends, the example of your ancestors who came over in the mayflower, emulate your ancestors, the patriotic women of ' . give your whole hearts, and all your influence to this noble work. and in benefits that will come to you, you shall be repaid an hundred-fold for every quarter and dime you here deposit!" the meeting closed with race-hatred stirred up to white heat in black breasts. later in the day, richmond firemen were entertaining visiting delaware firemen with water-throwing. a policeman requested a negro, standing within reserved space, to move; sambo would not budge; the officer pushed him back; sambo struck the officer; there was a hubbub. a white bystander was struck, and struck back; a barber on the corner jerked up his pole and ran, waving it and yelling: "come on, freedmen! now's de time to save yo' nation!" negroes of all sizes, sexes and ages, some half-clad, many drunk, poured into the street; brickbats flew; the officer was knocked down, his prisoner liberated. screams of "dem p'licemens shan't 'res' nobody, dat dee shan't!" "time done come fuh us tuh stan' up fuh our rights!" were heard on all sides. the police, under orders not to fire, tried to disperse or hold them at bay, exercising marvellous patience when blacks shook fists in their faces, saying: "i dar you tuh shoot! i jes dar you tuh shoot!" mayor mayo addressed the crowd: "i command you in the name of the commonwealth to go to your homes, every one, white and black; i give you my word every case shall be looked into and justice done." they moved a square, muttering: "give us our rights, now--de cullud man's rights!" an ambulance rumbled up. negroes broke into cheers. in it sat general schofield, federal commandant, and general brown, of the freedmen's bureau. "speech! speech!" they called. "i want you to go to your homes and remain there," said general schofield. they made no motion to obey, but called for a speech. "i did not come here to make a speech. i command you to disperse." they did not budge. the war lord was not there to trifle. in double-quick time, company h of the twenty-ninth was on the ground and sent the crowd about its business. that night six companies were marched in from camp grant and disposed about the city at mayor mayo's discretion. high carnival in the old african church wound up the day. an educated coloured man from boston presided, and carpet-bagger-philanthropist hayward (who, having had the cold shoulder turned on him in massachusetts, had come to virginia) held forth: "the papers have made conspicuous my remarks that the negro is better than the white man. why, i had no idea anybody was so stupid as to doubt it. when i contemplate such a noble race, and look upon you as you appear to me tonight, i could wish my own face were black!" "ne'm min', boss!" sang out a sympathetic auditor, "yo' heart's black! dat's good enough!" the speaker was nonplussed for a second. "when i go to massachusetts, shall i tell the people there that you are determined to ride in the same cars on which white men and women ride?" "yes! yes!" "shall i tell them you intend to go in and take your seats in any church where the gospel is preached?" "yes! yes! dat we is!" "shall i tell them you intend to occupy any boxes in the theatre you pay your money for?" "you sho kin, boss!" "yes, yes!" "shall i tell them you intend to enjoy, _in whatever manner you see fit_, any rights and privileges which the citizens of massachusetts enjoy?" "dat you kin!" "tell 'em we gwi have our rights!" "if you cannot get them for yourselves, the young men of the bay state will come down and help you. we have made you free. we will give you what you want." the coloured gentleman from boston had to employ all his parliamentary skill before applause could be subdued for the speaker to continue. "you are brave. i am astonished at evidences of your bravery. to any who might be reckless, i give warning. you would not endanger the life of the illustrious underwood, would you?" (judge underwood, boss of the black ring, was in town to try mr. davis.) "dat we wouldn'!" "_well, then, as soon as he leaves, you may have a high carnival in whatever way you please. it is not for me to advise you what to do, for great masses do generally what they have a mind to._" wrought up to frenzy, the negroes fairly shook the house; the chairman made sincere efforts to bring the meeting to order. the young white secretary of the national political aid society arose and said: "mr. speaker, you may tell the people of massachusetts that the coloured people of richmond are determined to go into any bar-room, theatre, hotel, or car they wish to enter." "yes, you tell 'em dat! we will! we will!" next morning, our war lord brought hayward up in short order. the meeting had come to his notice through cowardin's report in the "dispatch." the hearing was rich, a cluster of bright newspaper men being present, among them the "new york herald" reporter, who endorsed mr. cowardin's account, and declared hayward's speech inflammatory. it developed that negroes had been petitioning to washington for general schofield's removal, a compliment paid all his predecessors. the idle and excitable negroes must not be accepted as fully representative of their race. those not heard from were the worthy ones, remaining at the houses of their white employers or in their own homes, and performing faithfully their regular duties. they were in the minority, but i believe the race would prefer now that these humble toilers should be considered representative rather than the other class. lending neither aid nor encouragement to insurrectionary methods, they yet dared not openly oppose the incendiary spirit which, had it been carried far enough, might have swept them, too, off their feet as their kindred became involved. negroes stick together and conceal each other's defections; this does not proceed altogether from race loyalty; they fear each other; dread covert acts of vengeance and being "conjured." mysterious afflictions overtake the "conjured" or bewitched. the prisoner free chapter xxi the prisoner free on a beautiful may afternoon, two years after mr. davis' capture, the "john sylvester" swung to the wharf at rocketts and the prisoner walked forth, smiling quietly upon the people who, on the other side of the blue cordon of sentinels, watched the gangway, crying, "it is he! it is he!" always slender, he was shadowy now, worn and thin to emaciation. he did not carry himself like a martyr. only his attenuation, the sharpness of his features, the care-worn, haggard appearance of the face, the hair nearly all gray, the general indications of having aged ten years in two, made any appeal for sympathy. with him were his wife, judge ould, and mr. james lyons, dr. cooper, mr. burton harrison, and general burton, general miles' successor, whose prisoner he yet was, but whose attitude was more that of friend than custodian. a reserved and dignified city is the capital on the james, taking joys sedately; but that day she wore her heart on her sleeve; she cheered and wept. the green hills, streets, sidewalks, were alive with people; porches, windows, balconies, roofs, were thronged; main street was a lane of uncovered heads as two carriages rolled swiftly towards the spotswood, one holding mr. davis, general burton, dr. cooper and mr. harrison; the other, mrs. davis and mrs. lyons, mr. lyons and judge ould; an escort of federal cavalry bringing up the rear with clattering hoofs and clanging sabres. it was more like a victor's home-returning than the bringing of a prisoner to trial. yet through popular joy there throbbed the tragic note that marks the difference between the huzzas of a conquering people for their leader, and the welcoming "god bless you!" of a people subdued. this difference was noticeable at the spotswood, which famous hostelry entertained many northern guests. a double line of policemen, dividing the crowd, formed an avenue from sidewalk to ladies' entrance. this crowd, it seems, had its hat on. among our own people may have been some who thought it not wise in their own or the prisoner's interests to show him too much honour. but as the emaciated, careworn man with the lofty bearing, stepped from the carriage, a voice, quiet but distinct, broke the impressive stillness: "hats off, virginians!" instantly every man stood uncovered. monday he went to trial. the court room in the old custom house was packed. in the persons of representative men, north and south were there for his vindication of the charge of high treason. were he guilty, then were we all of the south, and should be sentenced with him. reporters for northern papers were present with their southern brethren of scratch-pad and pencil. the jury-box was a novelty to northerners. in it sat a motley crew of negroes and whites. for portrait in part of the presiding judge, i refer to the case of mcveigh vs. underwood, as reported in twenty-third grattan, decided in favour of mcveigh. when the federal army occupied alexandria, john c. underwood used his position as united states district judge to acquire the homestead, fully furnished, of dr. mcveigh, then in richmond. he confiscated it to the united states, denied mcveigh a hearing, sold it, bought it in his wife's name for $ , when it was worth not less than $ , , and had her deed it to himself. the first time thereafter that dr. mcveigh met the able jurist face to face on a street in richmond, the good doctor, one of the most amiable of men, before he knew what he was doing, slapped the able jurist over and went about his business; whereupon, the honourable the united states circuit court picked himself up and went about his, which was sitting in judgment on cases in equity. in , dr. mcveigh's home was restored to him by law, the united states supreme court pronouncing underwood's course "a blot upon our jurisprudence and civilisation." underwood was in possession when he presided at the trial of jefferson davis. [illustration: an historical petit jury this is the petit jury impaneled to try president jefferson davis, being the first mixed petit jury ever impaneled in the united states. judge underwood, not chief justice chase, presided.] his personal appearance has been described as "repellant; his head drooping; his hair long; his eyes shifty and unpleasing, and like a basilisk's; his clothes ill-fitting;" he "came into court, fawning, creeping, shuffling; ascended the bench in a manner awkward and ungainly; lifted his head like a turtle." "hear ye! hear ye! silence is commanded while the honourable the united states circuit court is in session!" calls the crier on this may morning. general burton, with soldierly simplicity, transfers the prisoner from the military to the civil power; underwood embarrasses the officer and shames every lawyer present by a fatuous response abasing the bench before the bayonet. erect, serene, undefiant, surrounded by mighty men of the northern and southern bar--o'conor, reed, shea, randolph tucker, ould--jefferson davis faces his judge, his own clear, fearless glance meeting squarely the "basilisk eye." the like of underwood's charge to the jury was never heard before in this land. it caused one long blush from maine to texas, massachusetts to california; and resembled the spanish war that came years after in that it gave americans a common grievance. this poor, political bigot thought to please his northern hearers by describing richmond as "comely and spacious as a goodly apple on a gilded sepulchre where bloody treason flourished its whips of scorpions" and a "place where licentiousness has ruled until a majority of the births are illegitimate," and "the pulpit prostituted by full-fed gay lotharios." but the thing is too loathsome to quote! northern reporters said it was not a charge, took no cognisance of the matter before the court, was a "vulgar, inflammatory stump speech." the "new york herald" pronounced it "the strangest mixture of drivel and nonsense that ever disgraced a bench," and "without a parallel, with its foul-mouthed abuse of richmond." "a disgrace to the american bench," declared the "new york world." "he has brought shame upon the entire bench of the country, for to the people of other countries he is a representative of american judges." there was no trial. motion was made and granted for a continuance of the case to november, and bail given in bond for $ , , which horace greeley signed first, the crowd cheering him as he went up to write his name, which was followed by signatures of other well-known men of both sections. "the marshal will discharge the prisoner!" a noble sentence in the judge's mouth at last! applause shakes the court room. men surge forward; mr. davis is surrounded; his friends, his lawyers, his sureties, crowd about him; the north and the south are shaking hands; a love-feast is on. human nature is at its best. the prisoner is free. when he appears on the portico the crowd grows wild with joy. somebody wrote north that they heard the old "rebel yell" once more, and that something or other unpleasant ought to be done to us because we would "holler" like that whenever we got excited. it looks as if his carriage will never get back to the spotswood, people press about him so, laughing, crying, congratulating, cheering. negroes climb upon the carriage steps, shaking his hand, kissing it, shouting: "god bless mars davis!" no man was ever more beloved by negroes he owned or knew. the south was unchained. the south was set free. no! that fall the first election at which negroes voted and whites--the majority disqualified by test-oath provision--did not vote, was held to send delegates to a convention presided over by john c. underwood. this convention--the black and tan--made a new constitution for the old dominion. "if black men will riot, i will fear that emancipation is a failure." so spoke the great abolitionist, gerrit smith, from the pulpit of the old african church tuesday night after the davis trial. "riots in richmond, charleston, and new orleans have made me sick at heart." on the platform with him were horace greeley, governor pierpont, colonel lewis and judge underwood. his audience consisted of negroes, prominent white citizens of richmond, federal officers and their wives. the negroes, as ready to be swayed by good advice as bad, listened attentively to the wisest, most conservative addresses they had heard from civilians of the north, or than they were again to hear for a long time. gerrit smith, who was pouring out his money like water for their education, told them: "i do not consider the white people of the south traitors. the south is not alone responsible for slavery. northern as well as southern ships brought negroes to this shore. when northern states passed laws abolishing slavery in their borders, northern people brought their negroes down here and sold them before those laws could take effect. i have been chased in the north by a pro-slavery mob--never in the south." referring to the south's impoverished condition, he said he wished the federal government would give the section six years' exemption from the federal tax to make rapid rehabilitation possible. he plead for harmony between races; urged whites to encourage blacks by selling lands to them cheap; urged blacks to frugality, industry, sobriety; plead with them not to drink. "why cannot you love the whites among whom you have been born and raised?" he asked. "we do! we do!" cried the poor darkeys who had yelled, "we will! we will!" when hayward was inciting them to mischief. horace greeley said: "i have heard in richmond that coloured people would not buy homes or lands because they are expecting these through confiscation. believe me, friends, you can much sooner earn a home. confiscation is a slow, legal process. (underwood had not found it so.) thaddeus stevens, the great man who leads the movement--and perhaps one of the greatest men who ever sat in congress--is the only advocate of such a course, among all our representatives and senators. if it has not taken place in the two years since the war, we may not hope for it now. famine, disaster, and deadly feuds would follow confiscation." his voice, too, was raised against calling southern whites "traitors." "this seems to me," he said, "to brand with the crime of treason--of felony--millions of our fellow-countrymen." it is to be said in reference to one part of gerrit smith's advice, that southerners were only too ready to sell their lands at any price or on any terms to whoever would buy. had the negroes applied the industrial education which they then possessed they might have become owners of half the territory of the south. politicians and theorists who diverted negroid energies into other channels were unconsciously serving nature's purpose, the preservation of the anglo-saxon race. upon every measure that might thwart that purpose, nature seems to smile serenely, turning it to reverse account. * * * * * a lively account of the seating of the first negro in the congress of the united states was contained in a letter of february, , from my friend, miss winfield, stopping in washington. "revels," she wrote, "occupies the seat of jefferson davis. the republicans made as much of the ceremony as possible. to me it was infinitely sad, and infinitely absurd. we run everything in the ground in america. here, away from the south, where the tragedy of it all is not so oppressively before me and where i see only the political clap-trap of the whole african business, i am prone to lose sight of the graver side and find things simply funny." a lively discussion preceded the seating. senator wilson said something very handsome about the "swan song of slavery" and god's hand in the present state of affairs; as he was soaring above the impious democrats, mr. casserly, one of the last-named sinners, bounced up and asked: "i would like to know when and where the senator from massachusetts obtained a commission to represent the almighty in the senate? i have not heard of such authorisation, and if such person has been selected for that office, it is only another illustration of the truism that the ways of providence are mysterious and past finding out." laughter put the "swan song" off key; casserly said something about senators being made now, not by the voice of god and the people, but by the power of the bayonet, when somebody flung back at him, "you use the shelalah in new york!" "but the ceremony!" miss winfield wrote. "nothing has so impressed me since the ball to prince arthur, nor has anything so amused me unless it be the pipe-stem pantaloons our gentlemen wear in imitation of his royal highness. senator wilson conducted revels to the speaker's desk with a fine air that said: 'massachusetts has done it all!' vice-president colfax administered the oath with such unction as you never saw, then shook hands with great warmth with revels--nobody ever before saw him greet a novitiate so cordially! but then, those others were only white men! with pomp and circumstance the sergeant-at-arms led the hero of the hour to his exalted position. 'some day,' said my companion, 'history will record this as showing how far the race-madness of a people can go under political spurs.' republican senators fell over each other to shake revels' hand and congratulate him. poor mississippi! and revels is not even a native. general ames, of maine, is her other senator. poor mississippi!" a little plain history chapter xxii a little plain history for clearness in what has gone before and what follows, i must write a little plain history. many who ought to have known mr. lincoln's mind, among these general sherman, with whom mr. lincoln had conversed freely, believed it his purpose to recognise existing state governments in the south upon their compliance with certain conditions. these governments were given no option; governors calling legislatures for the purpose of expressing submission, were clapped into prison. thus, these states were without civil state governments, and under martial law. some local governments and courts continued in operation subject to military power; military tribunals and freedmen's bureaus were established. beginning may , , with north carolina, president johnson reconstructed the south on the plan mr. lincoln had approved, appointing for each state a provisional governor empowered to call a convention to make a new state constitution or remodel the old to meet new conditions. his policy was to appoint a citizen known for anti-secession or union sentiments, yet holding the faith and respect of his state, as perry, of south carolina; sharkey, of mississippi; hamilton, of texas. the conventions abolished slavery, annulled the secession ordinance, repudiated the confederate debt, acknowledged the authority of the united states. an election was held for state officers and members of the legislature, voters qualifying as previous to , and by taking the amnesty oath of may . legislatures reënacted the convention's work of annulling secession, abolishing slavery, repudiating debt; and passed civil rights bills giving the negro status as a citizen, but without the franchise, though some leaders advised conferring it in a qualified form; they passed vagrancy laws which the north interpreted as an effort at reënslavement. congress met december, ; president johnson announced that all but two of the southern states had reorganised their governments under the conditions required. their representatives were in washington to take their seats. with bitter, angry, contemptuous words, congress refused to seat them. april , , president johnson proclaimed that in the south "the laws can be sustained by proper civil authority, state and federal; the people are well and loyally disposed;" military occupation, martial law, military tribunals and the suspension of the writ of _habeas corpus_ "are in time of peace, dangerous to public liberty," "incompatible with the rights of the citizen," etc., "and ought not to be sanctioned or allowed; ... people who have revolted and been overcome and subdued, must either be dealt with so as to induce them voluntarily to become friends or else they must be held by the absolute military power and devastated ... which last-named policy is abhorrent to humanity and freedom." march , , congress passed an act that "whereas, no legal state governments exist ... in the rebel states ... said rebel states shall be divided into five military districts." over each a federal general was appointed; existing local governments were subject to him; he could reverse their decisions, remove their officials and install substitutes; some commanders made radical use of power; others, wiser and kindlier, interfered with existing governments only as their position compelled. upon the commanders congress imposed the task of reconstructing these already once reconstructed states. delegates to another convention to frame another constitution were to be elected, the negroes voting. of voters the test-oath was required, a provision practically disfranchising southern whites and disqualifying them for office. thaddeus stevens, leader of the party forcing these measures, said of negro suffrage: "if it be a punishment to rebels, they deserve it." [illustration: augusta j. evans wilson octavia walton le vert the south's two most prominent literary women at the close of the war; one a novelist and the other a writer of translations and books of travel.] black and tan conventions met in long and costly sessions. that of mississippi sat over a month before beginning the task for which convened, having passed the time in fixing per diems, mileages, proposing a bonus for negroes dismissed by employers, imposing taxes on anything and everything to meet the expenses of the convention; and badgering general gillem, commander of the district. the black and tan conventions framed constitutions which, with tickets for state and national officers, were submitted to popular vote, negroes, dominated by a few corrupt whites, determining elections. with these constitutions and officials, "carpet-bag rule" came into full power and states were plundered. the sins of these governments have been specified by northern and southern authorities in figures of dollars and cents. at first, southern unionists and northern settlers joined issues with the republican party. oppressive taxation, spoliation, and other evils drove all respectable citizens into coalitions opposing this party; these coalitions broke up radical rule in the southern states, the last conquest being in louisiana and south carolina in . no words can present any adequate picture of the "mongrel" conventions and legislatures, but in the following chapter i try to give some idea of the absurdities of one, which may be taken as type of all.[ ] the black and tan convention chapter xxiii the black and tan convention: the "midnight constitution" the black and tan convention met december , , in our venerable and historic capitol to frame a new constitution for the old dominion. in this body were members from new york, pennsylvania, ohio, maine, vermont, connecticut, maryland, district of columbia, ireland, scotland, nova scotia, canada, england; scalawags, or turn-coats, by southerners most hated of all; twenty-four negroes; and in the total of , thirty-five white virginians, from counties of excess white population, who might be considered representative of the state's culture and intelligence. it was officered by foreigners and negroes; john c. underwood, of new york, being president. capitol square was garlanded with tables and stands; and the season was one of joy to black and yellow vendors of ginger-cakes, goobers, lemonade, and cheap whiskey. early ornaments of the capitol steps were ebony law-makers sporting tall silk hats, gold-headed canes, broadcloth suits, the coat always prince albert. throughout the south this was the uniform of sable dignitaries as soon as emoluments permitted. the funny sayings and doings of negroes, sitting for the first time in legislative halls, were rehearsed in conversation and reported in papers; visitors went to the capitol as to a monkey or minstrel show. most of these darkeys, fresh from tobacco lots and corn and cotton fields, were as innocent as babes of any knowledge of reading and writing. they were equally guileless in other directions. before the body was organised, an enthusiastic delegate bounced up to say something, but the chair nipped him untimely in the bud: "no motion is in order until roll is called. gentlemen will please remember parliamentary usage." the member sank limp into his seat, asking in awed whisper of his neighbour: "whut in de worl' is dat?" perplexity was great when a member rose to "make an inquiry." "whut's dat?" "whut dat he gwi make?" was whispered round, the question being settled summarily: "well, it don' make no diffunce. we ain' gwi let him do it nohow case he ain' no radicule." white constituents soon tried to muzzle black orators. word was passed that white "radicules" would talk and black members keep silent and vote as they were bid. "shew! she-ew!" "set down!" "shut the door!" were household words, the last ejaculation coming into request when scraps seemed imminent and members wanted the sergeant-at-arms to take each other, yet preferred that the public should not be witness to these little family jars. black, white, and yellow pages flew around, waiting on members; the blacker the dignitary, the whiter the page he summoned to bring pens, ink, paper, apples, ginger-cakes, goober-peas. and newspapers. no sooner did darkeys observe that whites sent out and got newspapers than they did likewise; and sat there reading them upside down. the gallery of coloured men and women come to see the show were almost as diverting as the law-makers. great were the flutterings over the seating of john morrissey, the "wild irishman," mistaken for his namesake, the new york pugilist. "dat ain't de man dat fit tom higher?" "i tell you it am!" "sho got muscle!" "he come tuh fit dem preservatives over dar." according to the happy darkey knack of saying the wrong thing in the right place, a significant version of "conservative" was thus applied to the little handful of representative white virginians. great, too, were the flutterings when governor "plowpint" (so darkeys pronounced pierpont) paid his visit of ceremony; and when general schofield and aide marched in in war-paint and feathers: the chair waved the gavel and the convention rose to its feet to receive the distinguished guests. the war lord was to pay another and less welcome visit. the piety of neither gallery nor convention could be questioned if the fervor and frequency of "amens!" interrupting the petitions of the chaplain (from illinois) were an indication; dr. bayne, of norfolk, so raised his voice above the rest that his colleagues became concerned lest that seaport were claiming for herself more than just proportion of religious zeal. curiosity was on tip-toe when motion was made that a stenographer be appointed. "'snographer?' what's dat?" "maybe it's de pusson whut takes down de speeches befo' dee's spoken," explains a wise one. the riddle was partly solved when a spruce, foreign individual of white complexion rose and walked to the desk, vacated in his favour by a gentleman of colour. "dar he! dat's him!" "war's good close, anyhow!" was pronounced of the new official; then the retired claimed sympathy: "whut he done?" "whut dee tu'n him out fuh?" "ain't dee gwi give niggers nothin'?" "muzzling" was not yet begun; this occasion for eloquence was not to be ignored by the honourable lewis lindsay, representing richmond: "mistah presidet, i hopes in dis late hour dat ole fuhginny am imperilated, dat no free-thinkin' man kin suppose fuh one minute dat we 'sires tuh misrippersint de idee dat we ain' qualify de sability uh de sternogphy uh dis convention. i hopes, suh, dat we kin den be able tuh superhen' de principles uh de supposition." lindsay would always rise to an occasion if his coat-tails were not pulled too hard. fortunately, his matchless oration on the mixed school question was not among gems lost to the world: "mistah presidet, de real flatform, suh. i'll sw'ar tuh high heaven. yes, i'll sw'ar higher dan dat. i'll go down an' de uth shall crumble intuh dus' befo' dee shall amalgamise my rights. 'bout dis question uh cyarpet-bags. ef you cyarpet-baggers does go back on us, woes be unto you! you better take yo' cyarpet-bags an' quit, an' de quicker you git up an' git de better. i do not abdicate de supperstition tuh dese strange frien's, lately so-called citizens uh fuhginny. ef dee don' gimme my rights, i'll suffer dis country tuh be lak sarah. i'll suffer desterlation fus! when i blows my horn dee'll hear it! when de big cannons was thund'in, an' de missions uh death was flyin' thu de a'r, dee hollered: 'come, mr. nigguh, come!' an' he done come! i'se here tuh qualify my constituents. i'll sing tuh rome an' tuh englan' an' tuh de uttermos' parts uh de uth--" "you must address yourself to the chair," said that functionary, ready to faint. "all right, suh. i'll not 'sire tuh maintain de house any longer." that clause against mixed schools was a rock upon which the radical party split, white members with children voting for separate education of races; most darkeys "didn' want no sech claw in de law"; yet one declared he didn't want his "chillun tuh soshate wid rebels an' traitors nohow"; they were "as high above rebels an' traitors ez heaven 'bove hell!" lindsay took occasion to wither white "radicules" with criticism on colour distribution in the gallery. "whar is de white radicule members' wives an' chillun?" he asked, waving his hand towards the white section. "when dee comes here dee mos'ly set dar se'ves on dat side de house, whilst i brings mine on dis side," waving towards the black, "irregardless uh how white she is!" hodges, of princess anne, was an interesting member; wore large, iron-rimmed spectacles and had a solemn, owl-like way of staring through them. one day, he gave the convention the creeps: "dar's a boy in dis house," he said with awful gravity, "whar better be outen do's. he's done seconded a motion." the house, following his accusing spectacles and finger, fixed its eye upon a shrivelling mulatto youth who had slipped into a member's chair. a coloured brother took the intruder's part. lindsay threw himself into the breach: "mistah presidet, i hears de correspondence dat have passed an' de gemmun obsarves it have been spoken." "i seen him open his mouf an' i seen de words come outen it!" cried hodges. the usurper, seizing the first instant hodges turned his head another way, fled for his life, while somebody was making motion "to bring him before the bar." the convention's thorn in the side was eustace gibson, white member from giles and pulaski, who had a knack for making the convention see how ridiculous it was. negroes were famous for rising to "pints of order"; they laughed at themselves one day when two eloquent members became entangled and fell down in a heap in the aisle and mr. gibson, gravely rising to a point of order, moved that it was "not parliamentary for two persons to occupy the floor at one time." when questions of per diem arose, sable eloquence flowed like a cataract and gibson's wit played like lightning over the torrents. muzzling was difficult. "mistah churman, ef i may be allowed tuh state de perquisition--" a member would begin and get no further before a persuasive hand on his coat-tails would reduce him to silence. dr. bayne's coat-tails resisted force and appeal. "i wants $ , i does," he said. "but den i ain' gwi be dissatisfied wid $ . . cose, i kin live widout dat half a dollar ef i choose tuh. but ef i don' choose tuh? anybody got anything tuh say 'gins dat? hey? here we is sleepin' 'way f'om home, leavin' our wives an' our expenses uh bode an' washin'. why, whut you gwi do wid de po' delegate dat ain' got no expenses uh bode an' washin'? tell me dat? why, you fo'ce 'em tuh steal, an' make dar constituen's look upon 'em as po' narrer-minded fellers." one member murmured plaintively: "i ain' had no money paid me sence 'lection--" "shew! she-ew! shew!" his coat-tails were almost jerked off. "you gwi tell suppin you ain' got no business!" "mr. churman, i adject. de line whar's his line, an' dat's de line i contain fuh--" "shew! she-ew! set down!" "what de bible say 'bout it?" demanded a pious brother. "de bible it say: 'pay de labour' de higher.' who gwi 'spute de book?" "this debate has already cost the state $ ," mr. gibson interposed wearily. they finally agreed to worry along upon $ a day--a lower per diem than was claimed, i believe, in any other state. when the per diem question bobbed up again, state funds were running low, but motion for adjournment died when it was learned that of the $ , in the treasury when the convention began to sit, $ , remained. retrenchment was in order, however, and the "snographer's" head fell. he was impeached for charging $ . a page for spider-legs, which he was not translating into english. mr. gibson showed that he had been drawing $ a day in advance for ten days; had drawn $ , for the month of february, yet had not submitted work for january. the convention began to negotiate a $ , loan on its own note to pay itself to sit longer, when our war lord came to the front and gave opinion that it had sat long enough to do what it had been called to do, and that after ten days per diems must cease. another hurrying process was said to be at work. reports were abroad that the ku klux, having reached conclusion that richmond had been neglected, was on the way. solid reason for adjournment was death of the per diem; but for which the convention might have been sitting yet. the morning of the last day, the sergeant-at-arms flung wide the door, announcing general schofield, who, entering with colonels campbell, wherry and mallory, of his staff, was escorted to the speaker's stand. he came to protest against constitutional clauses disqualifying white virginians. he said: "you cannot find in virginia a full number of men capable of filling office who can take the oath you have prescribed. county offices pay limited salary; even a common labourer could not afford to come from abroad for the purpose of filling them. i have no hesitation in saying that i do not believe it possible to inaugurate a government upon that basis." it was a business man's argument, an appeal to patriotism and common sense. it failed. when he went out, they called him "king schofield," and retained those clauses in the instrument which they ratified that night when the hands on the clocks of the capitol pointed to twelve and the midnight constitution came to birth. when general schofield left in to become secretary of war, the leading paper said: "general schofield has been the best of all the military commandants placed over the southern states. he has saved virginia from much humiliation and distress that other states have suffered." what he did for virginia, general gillem, general hancock and some other commanders tried to do for districts under their command. general stoneman, who succeeded general schofield, also fought the test-oath clauses. when our committee of nine went to washington to protest against those clauses, general schofield appeared with them before president-elect grant and one of general grant's first acts as president was to arrange with congress that virginia should have the privilege of voting upon those clauses and the constitution separately, and that other states should have like privileges in regard to similar clauses in their constitutions. every american should study the history in detail of each southern state during the period of which i write. he should acquaint himself at first hand with the attitude of the south when the war closed, and in this connection i particularly refer my reader to the address governor allen delivered to the people of louisiana before going to mexico, where he died in exile; and to the addresses of perry, of south carolina, and throckmorton, of texas.[ ] he should compare the character and costs of the first legislatures and conventions assembling and the character and costs of the mongrel bodies succeeding them. he will then take himself in hand and resolve never to follow blindly the leadership of any party, nor attempt to put in practice in another man's home the abstract theories of speculative humanitarians. secret societies chapter xxiv secret societies loyal league, white camelias, white brotherhood, pale faces, ku klux parent of all was the union or loyal league, whose history may be briefly summarised: organisation for dignified ends in philadelphia and new york in - ; extension into the south among white unionists; formation, , of negro leagues; admission of blacks into "mixed" leagues; rapid withdrawal of native whites and northern settlers until leagues were composed almost wholly of negroes dominated by a few white political leaders. churches, halls, schoolhouses, were headquarters where mystic initiation rites, inflammatory speeches, military drills, were in order. the league's professed object was the training of the negro to his duties as a citizen. it made him a terror and forced whites into the formation of counter secret societies for the protection of their firesides. "to defend and perpetuate freedom and the constitution, the supremacy of law and the inherent rights of civil and religious freedom, and to accomplish the objects of the organisation, i pledge my life, my fortune and my sacred honour." this was the oath in part. members were sworn to vote only for candidates endorsed by the league. the ritual appealed to the negro's superstition. the catechism inculcated opposition to the democratic party, fealty to the radical republican, condemnation of southern whites as traitors. candidates for membership were conducted to the council chamber; here, the marshal rapped the league alarm, the sentinel called, "who comes under our signal?" answer given, the door opens cautiously, countersign is demanded, and given in the "four ls"--the right hand pointing upward with the word, "liberty," sinking to shoulder level with "lincoln," dropping to the side with "loyal," folding to the breast with "league." the council receives the novitiates standing, as they march in arm in arm, singing, "john brown's body" and take positions around the altar before which the president stands in regalia. the altar is draped with the flag, on which lies an open bible, the declaration of independence, a sword, ballot-box, sickle, and anvil or other toy emblems of industry. at first the room may be in darkness with sounds of groans and clanking chains issuing from corners. the chaplain calls the league to prayer, invoking divine vengeance on traitors. from a censer (sometimes an old stove vase) upon the altar blue flames, "fires of liberty," leap upward. the council opens ranks to receive novitiates; joining hands, all circle round the altar, singing, "the star-spangled banner" or other patriotic air. novitiates lay hands upon the flag, kiss the bible and swear: "i will do all in my power to elect true and loyal men to all offices of trust and profit." instructions in pass-words, signals, etc., are given. secret business is transacted. negroes were drilled, armed and marched about. into league rooms social features were introduced, league literature was read aloud, feminine branches were formed. leagues furnished a secret service bureau. coloured servants told what happened in white houses. "my cook and i were children together," a friend tells me. "as we grew up, she made me read and write her letters. one day, after freedom, she said, 'miss, put 'tin dar fuh jeems tuh write me suppin funny nex' time he do write. we has to have all our letters read out in church an' when dere's anything funny, de folks laugh.' soon she ceased asking my services. through this plan of having letters read out in church leagues and bureaus collected information of happenings in private homes from far and wide. such gleanings might be useful in revealing political or self-protective movements among whites, in hunting a man down; or serving his political or social enemy, or would-be robber." in a south carolina mansion, mrs. vincent and her daughter lucy lived alone except for a few faithful ex-slaves. a cabin on the edge of the plantation was rented to wash, a negro member of the loyal league, whose organiser was captain johnson, commander of a small garrison in a nearby town. the captain was fond of imposing fines upon whites against whom negroes entered complaint. there seemed nice adjustment between fines and defendants' available cash. one day wash, pushing past lucy's maid into the vincent parlor, said to lucy's mother, "i'se come to cote miss lucy." "leave the house!" "i ain' gwi leave no such a thing! i'se gwi marry lucy an' live here wid you." lucy appeared. "i'se come to ax you to have me. i'se de ve'y man fuh you to hitch up wid. dis here place b'long to me. you b'long to me." she whipped out a pistol and covered him. "run! run for your life!" he ran. when he was out of pistol-shot, he turned and yelled: "you d----d white she-cat! i'll make you know!" she caught up a musket and fired. balls whistled past his head; he renewed his flight. next morning, as the ladies, pale and miserable, sat at breakfast, a squad of soldiers filed in, took seats, helped themselves and ordered the butler around. the ladies rose and were arrested. a wagon was at the door. "please, marsters," said black jerry humbly, "lemme hitch up de kerridge an' kyar mistiss an' miss lucy in it. 'taint fitten fuh 'em to ride in a waggin--an' wid strange mens." his request was refused. the ladies were arraigned before captain johnson on charge that they had used insulting language to mr. washington singleton pettigru; and that lucy, "in defiance of law and morals and actuated by the devil," had "without provocation" fired on him with intent to kill. a fine of $ , or six months in jail was imposed. "i have not so much money!" cried mrs. vincent. "jail may change your mind," said the captain. they were committed to a loathsome cell, their determination alone preventing separation. lawyers flocked to their defense; the captain would hear none. towards nightfall the town filled with white men wearing set faces. the captain sent for one of the lawyers. the lawyer said: "unless you release those ladies from the jail at once, no one can tell what may happen. but this i believe: you, nor a member of your garrison, will be alive tomorrow." they were released; fine remitted; the captain left in haste. an officer came from columbia to investigate "disorder in the district." he condemned johnson's course and tried to reassure the community. it came out that johnson had received information that mrs. vincent held a large, redeemable note; he had incited wash to "set up" to miss lucy, urging that by marrying her he would become the plantation's owner: "call in your best duds and ask her to marry you. if she refuses, we will find a way to punish her." wash, it was thought, had fled the country. the negro body-servant of lucy's dead brother had felt that the duty of avenger devolved upon him, and in his own way he had slain wash and covered up the deed. a white congregation was at worship in a little south carolina church when negro soldiers filed in and began to take seats beside the ladies. the pastor had just given out his text; he stretched forth his hands and said simply: "receive the benediction," and dismissed his people. a congregation in another country church was thrown into panic by balls crashing through boards and windows; a girl of fourteen was killed instantly. black troops swung by, singing. into a dwelling a squad of blacks marched, bound the owner, a prominent aged citizen, pillaged his house, and then before his eyes, bound his maiden daughter and proceeded to fight among themselves for her possession. "though," related my informant with sharp realism, "her neck and face had been slobbered over, she stood quietly watching the conflict. at last, the victor came to her, caught her in his arms and started into an adjoining room, when he wavered and fell, she with him; she had driven a knife, of which she had in some way possessed herself, into his heart. the others rushed in and beat her until she, too, was lifeless. there was no redress." in black belts, where such things happened and where negroes talked openly of killing out white men and taking white women for wives, the whites, few in number, poorly armed and without organisation, scattered over the country and leading themselves in no insignificant proportion the lives of the hunted, faced a desperate situation. many who chanced to give offense to the ruling faction or who by force of character were considered obstacles to its advancement, found themselves victims of false charges, and, chased by troops, had to leave their families and dwell in swamps or other hiding-places. compelled by necessity to labour in the field, white gentlemen going to their toil, let down gaps in surrounding fences so that they might fly at a moment's notice, and plowed with saddles on their horses' backs. northerners, and southerners who did not live in that day and in black belts, can form no conception of the conditions which gave rise to the white secret societies of which the most widely celebrated is the ku klux. larger in numbers and wider in distribution was the order of the knights of the white camelia, originating in louisiana; small protective bodies consolidating may , , in new orleans, took this title. extension over the united states was purposed. its first article of faith was preservation of the integrity of the white race, and, in government, white supremacy. at the door of the council chamber the blindfolded candidate for initiation vowed: "the cause of our race must triumph;" and "we must all be united as are the flowers that grow on one stem." he swore "never to marry any woman but of the white race." mongrel legislatures were enacting laws about co-education and intermarriage of races; the whites were a "bewildered people." in mississippi, the order of the knights of the white rose was modelled on the white camelias; in alabama, the white brotherhood and the white league; there were pale faces, union guards, and others, all of which, with the white camelias, may be included in the ku klux movement. the ku klux originated near pulaski, tennessee, , in something akin to a college boys' frolic. some young ex-confederates, of good families, finding time heavy on their hands after war's excitement, banded together in a fraternity, with initiation rites, signals, oaths of secrecy, and a name after the greek, kyklos, a circle, corrupted into kuklos, kuklux, and adding klan. their "den" was a deserted house near the town. they rode at night in queer disguises; at first, without other object than diversion. their fear and fame spread; branches were formed in other counties and states. in their pranks and negro superstition, whites found weapon for protection and defense. through troubled neighbourhoods, white horsemen riding in noiseless procession, restored peace by parade and sometimes by sterner measures. [illustration: mrs. david r. williams, of south carolina (daughter of governor miller) from a portrait by osgood, photographed by reckling & sons] notices left as warnings on doors or pinned to town-pumps or trees bore cross-bones and skull in red ink, and such inscriptions as: k k k the raven croaked and we are come to look on the moon. the lion tracks the jackal the bear the wolf our shrouds are bloody but the midnight is black. the serpent and scorpion are ready. some shall weep and some shall pray. meet at skull for feast of the wolf and dance of the muffled skeletons. the death watch is set the last hour cometh. the moon is full. burst your cerements asunder meet at the den of the glow-worm the guilty shall be punished. i have felt defrauded of my rights because i never saw a ku klux; my native virginia seems not to have had any. i have seen them abundantly, however, through the eyes of others. one of my cousins went, during k. k. days, to be bridesmaid to a georgia cousin. one night, as she and the bride-elect sat on the piazza, there appeared in the circular driveway a white apparition of unearthly height, on a charger in white trappings. behind came another and another, the horses moving without sound; they passed in silent review before the girls, each spectre saluting. with cold chills running down her spine, sue asked, "_what_ are they?" her companion laughed. "haven't you been saying you wanted to see the ku klux?" news enough next morning! a white man had been found tied to a tree, and over his head, pinned to the bark, a notice written in his blood, warning him to leave the county at once unless he desired to be carried out by a pathway to--a grave with headstone neatly drawn and showing epitaph with date of death, completed the sentence. he had been flogged and a scratch on his breast showed whence red ink had been drawn. as soon as untied, he left for parts unknown. neighbourhood darkeys had eyes big as saucers. many quarters had been visited. sable uncles and aunties shook their heads, muttering: "jedgment day 'bout tuh come. gab'el gwi blow his ho'n an' sinners better be a-moanin' an' a-prayin'. yes, my lawd!" and: "'tain't jes one death a-ridin' on a pale horse! it's tens uv thousan's uv 'em is ridin' now. sinner, you better go pray!" a few who had been making themselves seriously obnoxious observed terrified silence and improved demeanour. an expert chicken-thief had received a special notice in which skulls and cross-bones and chicken-heads and toes were tastefully intermixed. others were remembered in art designs of the "all-seeing eye," reminder that they were being watched. the white man was a receiver of stolen goods and instigator of barn-burnings; had been tried for some one of his offenses and committed to the penitentiary, only to be pardoned out by the state executive. in a north carolina case of which i heard, a negro firebug who could not be brought to justice through law, though the burning of two barns and a full stable were traced to him, disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him up after a night in which all the darkeys around smelled brimstone and saw fiery-eyed and long-tailed devils at large. people were hard put to it for protection against fire-fiends. in a south carolina newspaper a notice appeared from a man who gave warning that he would take vengeance into his own hands if incendiaries fired his property again. the ku klux ruled its members with iron rod. mr. m., of the order in tazewell, n. c., was building a cabin on his place for a negro who had come under ban because of evil influence over other negroes; word had been passed that he was to be crowded out. a message reached mr. m.: "do not let this negro come on your place. k. k. k.", with due skull and cross-bones accompaniment. to close friends of the order mr. m. said: "my rights shall not be abridged by the klan." the cabin was finished on saturday. sunday he asked a visitor: "let's take a stroll in the woods and a look at henry's cabin." when they came to where the cabin had stood, mr. m. exclaimed: "why, what does this mean? lo and behold, the cabin and everything is torn down and the logs scattered every which-a-way!" "and what's this?" his friend asked, pointing to three new-made graves with pine head-boards, inscribed respectively in epitaph to mr. m., henry, and henry's wife, mr. m.'s death dated the ensuing sabbath. on a tiny hillock was a small gallows with grapevine attachment. as one of the order, mr. m. knew enough to make him ill at ease. friends begged him to leave the country for a time, and he went. "this may look like tyranny," said my informant, "but mr. m. ought to have heeded the first message. the order could only do effective work through unfailing execution of sentence." between a young lady and the son of a house in which she was a guest, a tender passion arose. he had mysterious absences lasting half or all night, after which his horse would be found in the stables, lathered with foam. the family rallied him on his devotion to a fair demoiselle in an adjoining county. though under cold treatment from the guest, he gave no other explanation until one day he conducted her and his sister into his room, locked the door, swore them to secrecy, drew from its hiding-place up the chimney a ku klux outfit and asked them to make duplicates for a new klan he was forming. the lovers came to understanding; the girl reproached him: "why did you not tell me before?" "i did not know if you could keep a secret. i have a public duty to perform; the liberty of my men can be imperiled by a careless word." the widow of a ku klux captain tells me that one night, when her husband was absent on duty in a town where whites were in terror because the negroes were threatening to burn it, her own house was fired. she was in bed, her new-born baby at her side; stealthy steps were heard under her window. her old black mauma was afraid to go to the window and look out. there was a smell of fire; the mauma ran to the door and shrieked alarm. a shout answered from the cellar, where a faithful negro man-servant was putting out flames. he had let the incendiaries go away thinking their purpose fulfilled. the returning husband, sorely perplexed, said: "i do not see how i can do my duty by my family and the public. i must give up my klan." "no," she answered. "all have to take turns in leaving their own unprotected. i let you go into the army. some one must lead, and your men will not follow and obey any one else as they will you." he had been their captain in the confederate army. to a loyal league jury or magistrate a prisoner on trial had but to give the league signal to secure acquittal. a convicted and sentenced criminal would be pardoned by a loyal league governor. klans took administration of justice into their own hands because courts were ineffective. in a den, regularly established and conducted, a man would be tried by due process before judge and jury, with counsel appointed for defense; evidence would be taken, the case would be argued; the jury would render verdict; the judge would dismiss the case or pronounce sentence. the man on trial might or might not be present. a ku klux captain tells me that great effort was made to give fair trials; acquittals were more frequent than convictions. but when the court imposed sentence, sentence was carried out. in the hill country of south carolina, a one-armed ex-confederate, a "poor white," made a scanty living for his large family by hauling. once, on a lonely road when his load was whiskey, he was surrounded by negro soldiers, who killed him, took possession of the whiskey and drank it. ring-leaders were arrested and lodged in jail; some were spirited away to columbia and released; a plan was afoot to free the rest, among them the negro captain who had boasted of his crime, and flouted the whites with their powerlessness to punish him. the prison was surrounded one night by silent, black-robed horsemen on black-draped horses moving without sound; jailer and guards were overpowered; cells entered; prisoners tried--if proceedings interrupted by confessions and cries for mercy can be called trial. sentences were pronounced. the black-robed, black-masked circle chanted "dies iræ, dies illa." the town awoke from a night of seeming peace and silence to behold dead bodies swinging from the trees.[ ] the stevens mystery, of yanceyville, n. c., has never been unravelled; the $ , reward which president grant offered for answer to the question, "who killed stevens?" was never won, though skilled detectives tried for it. stevens was a scalawag. he achieved his sobriquet, "chicken stevens," through being chased out of his native county for stealing chickens. one of his adherents, when quite drunk, said before an audience of two thousand negroes: "stevens stole chickens; that elected him to the legislature; if he steals turkeys, it will elect him to congress." the pleasantry was cheered to the echo. stevens was charged with instigating riots and barn-burnings. he received a mystic warning to leave the country. he did not go. one day, while court was in full session, he was seen in the court room, in conversation with several people; was seen to leave in amicable company with a citizen who parted with him and went out by the street door, while stevens entered a county office where clerks were busy; several persons recalled seeing and speaking to him here, but nobody could remember seeing him alive afterwards. yet hall and offices were thronged with his adherents. he was soon missed by the negroes who set a guard around the building. next day he was found in the grand jury room, sitting bolt upright, dead, strangled or with his throat cut, i forget which. this room opened on the hall through which a stream of people, white and black, had been passing all day; a negro cabin commanded a view of the window; a negro janitor held the key. kirke's cut-throats, sent down by governor holden, arrested prominent citizens and carried them to raleigh. no evidence for conviction could ever be found, and they were liberated. stevens' death has been charged to ku klux; also, to his confederates, who, it is said, received instructions from headquarters to "kill off stevens," meaning politically, which they construed literally. i have been told that one of the slayers is living and that at his death, a true statement will be published showing who killed stevens and how. these stories are sufficient to show the good and the evil of ku klux; there is public peril in any secret order which attempts to administer justice. uniform and methods employed to justifiable or excusable ends by one set of people were employed to ends utterly indefensible by another. the radicals were quick to profit by ku klux methods; and much was done under the name and guise that the klan did not do. yet, in its own ranks were men reckless, heedless, and wicked, avengers of personal grudges. the invisible empire, as the klan was called in its organisation in under the leadership of grand wizard, general nathan bedford forrest, and with men like general dudley du bose, of georgia, for division commanders, had a code that might have served for arthur's round table. its first object was "to protect the weak, innocent and defenseless from the indignities, wrongs and outrages of the lawless, the violent and the brutal; to relieve the injured and oppressed, to succour the suffering and unfortunate, especially the widows and orphans of confederate soldiers." its second: "to protect and defend the constitution of the united states and all laws passed in conformity thereto." its third: "to aid and assist in the execution of all constitutional laws, and to protect the people from unlawful seizure and from trial except by their peers in conformity to the laws of the land." "unlawful seizure" was practiced in south carolina, arkansas, louisiana, mississippi and other states, where white men would be arrested on blank warrants or no warrant at all; carried long distances from home, held for weeks or months; and then, as happened in some famous cases, be released without ever having been brought to trial; in other instances, they were beaten; in others, committed to penitentiaries; in others, it was as if the earth had swallowed them up--they have never been heard from. some agency was surely needed to effect ends which the klan named as object of its existence; that the klan was effective of these ends in great degree no one conversant with facts will deny, nor will they deny that "tom-foolery" and not violence was its most frequent weapon. where ku klux rode around, negroes ceased to venture out after dark. some told tales of ghastly nocturnal visitors who plead for a drink of water, saying, "dee ain' had nay drap sence de yankees killed 'em at gettysburg. an' den, suh, when you han' 'em er gode-full, dee say: 'kin you let me have de bucket? i'se jes come f'om hell an' i'se scotchin' in my insides.' an' den, mun, dat ar hant des drink down dat whole bucket at a gulp, an' i hyern it sizzlin' down his gullet des same ez you done flung it on de coals! i ain' gwi fool longer nothin' lak dat! some folks say it's white folks tryin' tuh skeer we-all, but, suh, i b'lieve it's hants-er ole satan one!" terrible experience it was when "a hant--or suppin nur--wid er hade mighty nigh high ez er chimley ud meet a nigger in de road an' say: 'i come f'om torment (hell) tuh shake han's wid you!' an' de nigger--he didn' wanter do it, but he feared tuh 'fuse--he tooken shuck han's wid dat ar hant, an' dat ar han' what he shuck was a skelumton's--de bones fa'r rattle!" the regular ku klux costume was a white gown or sheet, and a tall, conical pasteboard hat; for the horse a white sheet and foot-mufflers. black gown, mask and trappings, and red ones, were also worn; bones, skulls of men and beasts, with foxfire for eyes, nose and mouth, were expedients. a rubber tube underneath robe or sheet, or a rubber or leather bag, provided for miraculous consumption of water. in negro tales of supernatural appearances, latitude must be allowed for imagination. a ku klux captain tells me that one night as he rose up out of a graveyard, one of his negroes passed with a purloined gobbler in possession; he touched the negro on the shoulder. the negro dropped the turkey and flew like mad, and the turkey flew, too. next morning, the darkey related the experience to his master (omitting the fowl). "how tall was that hant, george?" "des high ez a tree, marster! an' de han' it toch my shoulder wid burnt me lak fire. i got mutton-suet on de place." "i was about three feet taller than my natural self that night," says captain lea. george wore a plaster on his arm and for some time complained that it was "pa'lised." klans and union leagues came to an end conjointly when carpet-bag rule was expiring. the invisible empire was dissolved formally by order of the grand wizard, march, . it had never been a close organisation, and "dens" and counterfeit "dens" continued in existence here and there for awhile, working good and evil. ku klux investigations instituted by state authorities and the federal government were travesties of justice. rewards offered for evidence to convict caused innocent men to be hunted down, arrested, imprisoned, and on false accusation and suborned testimony, convicted and committed to state prisons or sent to sing sing. the jails of columbia, at one time, overflowed with the first gentlemen of the state, thrown into filthy cells, charged with all manner of crimes. the union league incited to murder and arson, whipped negroes and whites. but i never heard of union leaguers being tried for being union leaguers as ku klux were tried for being ku klux. there are no southerners to contend that the klan and its measures were justifiable or excusable except on the grounds that the conditions of the times called for them; informed northerners will concede that the evils of the day justified or excused the klan's existence. for my part, i believe that this country owes a heavy debt to its noiseless white horsemen, shades of its troubled past.[ ] the southern ballot-box chapter xxv the southern ballot-box free negroes could vote in north carolina until , when a constitutional convention, not without division of sentiment, abolished negroid franchise on the ground that it was an evil. thereafter, negroes first voted in the south in , when the "prince of carpet-baggers," henry c. warmouth, who had been dismissed from the federal army, conferred the privilege in a bogus election; he had a charity-box attachment to every ballot-box and a negro dropping a ballot into one had to drop fifty cents into the other, contributions paying warmouth's expenses as special delegate to washington, where congress refused to recognize him. he returned to louisiana and in two years was governor and in three was worth a quarter of a million dollars and a profitable autograph. "it cost me more," said w. s. scott, "to get his signature to a bill than to get the bill through the legislature"--a striking comparison, for to get a bill through this legislature of which warmouth said, "there is but one honest man in it," was costly process. warmouth said of himself, "i don't pretend to be honest, but only as honest as anybody in politics." between the attitude of the army and the politicians on the negro question, general sherman drew this comparison: "we all felt sympathy for the negroes, but of a different kind from that of mr. stanton, which was not of pure humanity but of politics.... i did not dream that the former slaves would be suddenly, without preparation, manufactured into voters.... i doubted the wisdom of at once clothing them with the elective franchise ... and realised the national loss in the death of mr. lincoln, who had long pondered over the difficult questions involved." april fool's day, , a crowd clustered around general grant in the white house; a stroke of his pen was to proclaim four millions of people, literate or illiterate, civilised or uncivilised, ready or unready, voters. when the soldier had signed the instrument politicians had prepared for him, the proclamation announcing that the fifteenth amendment had been added to the constitution of the united states by the ratification of twenty-nine, some one begged for the historic pen, and he silently handed it over. one who was present relates: "somebody exclaimed, 'now negroes can vote anywhere!', and a venerable old gentleman in the crowd cried out, 'well, gentlemen, you will all be d----d sorry for this!' the president's father-in-law, dent, sr., was said to be the speaker." in richmond, the dent family had seen a good deal of freedmen. negroes voted in , over two years prior to this, congress by arbitrary act vesting them with a right not conferred by federal or state constitutions. they voted for delegates to frame the new state constitutions; then on their own right to vote!--this right forming a plank in said constitutions. the southern ballot-box was the new toy of the ward of the nation; the vexation of housekeepers and farmers, the despair of statesmen, patriots, and honest men generally. elections were preceded by political meetings, often incendiary in character, which all one's servants must attend. with election day, every voting precinct became a picnic-ground, to say no worse. negroes went to precincts overnight and camped out. morning revealed reinforcements arriving. all sexes and ages came afoot, in carts, in wagons, as to a fair or circus. old women set up tables and spread out ginger-cakes and set forth buckets of lemonade. one famous campaign manager had all-night picnics in the woods, with bonfires, barrels of liquor, darkeys sitting around drinking, fiddling, playing the banjo, dancing. the instant polls opened they were marched up and voted. negroes almost always voted in companies. a leader, standing on a box, handed out tickets as they filed past. all were warned at loyal leagues to vote no ticket other than that given by the leader, usually a local coloured preacher who could no more read the ballots he distributed than could the recipients. fights were plentiful as ginger-cakes. the all-day picnic ended only with closing of polls, and not always then, darkeys hanging around and carrying scrapping and jollification into the night. how their white friends would talk and talk the day before election to butlers, coachmen, hoers and plowers, on the back porch or at the woodpile or the stables; and how darkeys would promise, "yessuh, i gwi vote lak you say." and how their old masters would return from the polls next day with heads hung down, and the young ex-masters would return mad, and saying, "this country is obliged to go to the devil!" there were a great many trying phases of the situation. as for example: conservatives were running general eppa hunton for congress. among the general's coloured friends was an old negro, julian, his ward of pity, who had no want that he did not bring to the general. election day, he sought the general at the polls, saying: "mars eppie, i want some shingles fuh my roof." "you voted for me, julian?" "naw, naw, mars eppie, i voted de straight publikin ticket, suh." he got the shingles. when "mars eppie" was elected, julian came smiling: "now, mars eppie, bein' how as you's goin' to congress, i 'lowed you mought have a leetle suppin tuh gimme." a party of young lawyers tried to persuade their negro servant to vote with them. "naw, naw," he said. "de debbul mought git me. dar ain't but two parties named in de bible--de publikins an' sinners. i gwi vote wid de publikins." in everything but politics, the negro still reposed trust in "ole marster;" his aches, pains, "mis'ries," family and business troubles, were all for "ole marster," not for the carpet-baggers. the latter feared he would take "ole marster's" advice when he went to the polls, so they wrought in him hatred and distrust. the negro is not to blame for his political blunders. it would never have occurred to him to ask for the ballot; as greatness upon some, so was the franchise untimely thrust upon him, and he has much to live down that would never have been charged against him else. "brownlow's armed cohorts, negroes principally," one of my father's friends wrote from tennessee in , "surround our polls. all the unlettered blacks go up, voting on questions of state interest which they do not in the least understand, while intelligent, tax-paying whites, who must carry the consequences of their acts, are not allowed to vote. i stayed on my plantation on election day and my negroes went to the polls. so it was all around me--white men at home, darkeys off running the government. negro women went, too; my wife was her own cook and chambermaid--and butler, for the butler went." educated, able, patriotic men, eager to heal the breaches of war, anxious to restore the war-wrecked fortunes of impoverished states, would have to stand idly by, themselves disfranchised, and see their old and faithful negroes marched up to the polls like sheep to the shambles and voted by, and for the personal advancement of, political sharpers who had no solid interest in the state or its people, white or black. it would be no less trying when, instead of this meek, good-natured line, they would find masses of insolent, armed blacks keeping whites from the polls, or receive tragic evidence that ambushed guards were commanding with winchesters all avenues to the ballot-box. not only "secesh" were turned back, but union men, respectable republicans, also; as in big creek, missouri, when a citizen who had lost four sons in the union army was denied right to vote. "kill him! kill him!" cried negroes when at hudson station, virginia, a negro cast a conservative ticket. "this county," says a southerner now occupying a prominent place in educational work for the negro, "had about , negro majority at the time the tissue ballot came into vogue. it was a war measure. the character and actions of the men who rode to power on the negro ballot compelled us to devise means of protection and defense. even the negroes wanting to vote with us dared not. one of my old servants, who sincerely desired to follow my advice and example in the casting of his ballot, came to me on the eve of election and sadly told me he could not. 'marster,' he said, 'i been tol' dat i'll be drummed outer de chu'ch ef i votes de conserv'tive ticket.' a negro preacher said: 'marse clay, dee'll take away my license tuh preach ef i votes de white folks' ticket.' i did not cease to reproach myself for inducing one negro to vote with me when i learned that on the death of his child soon afterwards, his people showed no sympathy, gave no help, and that he had to make the coffin and dig the grave himself. i would have gone to his relief had i known, but he was too terrorised to come to me. i did not seek to influence negro votes at the next election; i adopted other means to effect the issue desired." "if the whites succeed at the polls, they will put you back into slavery. if we succeed, we will have the lands of the whites confiscated and give every one of you forty acres and a mule." this scare and bribe was used in every southern state; used over and over; negroes only ceased to give credence when after cleveland's inauguration they found themselves still free. on announcement of cleveland's election, many negroes, prompt to choose masters, hurried to former owners. the butler of dr. j. l. m. curry (administrator of the peabody education fund), appeared in distress before dr. curry, pleading that, as he now must belong to some one, dr. curry would claim him. an old "mammy" in mayor ellyson's family, distracted lest she might be torn from her own white folks and assigned to strangers, put up piteous appeal to her ex-owners. from the political debauchery of the day, men of the old order shrank appalled. even when the test-oath qualification was no longer exacted and disabilities were removed, many southerners would not for a time touch the unclean thing; then they voted as with averted faces, not because they had faith in or respect for the process, but because younger men told them the country's salvation demanded thus much of them. if a respectable man was sent to the legislature or congress, he felt called upon to explain or apologise to a stranger who might not understand the circumstances. his relatives hastened to make excuse. "uncle ambrose is in the legislature, but he is honest," uncle ambrose's nieces and nephews hurried to tell before the suspicious "honourable" prefixed to his name brought judgment on a good old man who had intended no harm, but had got into the legislature by accident rather than by design--who was there, in fact, by reason of circumstances over which he had no control. the few representative men who got into these mixed assemblies had difficulty in making themselves felt. judge simonton, of the united states circuit court (once president of the charleston library association, chairman of the board of school commissioners, bearer of many civic dignities besides), was member of a reconstruction legislature. he has said: "to get a bill passed, i would have to persuade a negro to present it. it would receive no attention presented by me." negroes were carried by droves from one county to another, one state to another, and voted over and over wherever white plurality was feared. other tricks were to change polling-places suddenly, informing the negroes and not the whites; to scratch names from registration lists and substitute others. whites would walk miles to a registration place to find it closed; negroes, privately advised, would have registered and gone. when men had little time to give to politics, patriotism was robust if it could devote days to the siege of a registration board, trying to catch it in place in spite of itself. the southerner's loathing for politics, his despair, his inertia, increased evils. "let the yankees have all the niggers they want," he was prone to say. "let them fill congress with niggers. the only cure is a good dose!" but with absolute ruin staring him in the face, he woke with a mighty awakening. taxpayers' conventions issued "prayers" to the public, to state governments, to the central government; they raised out of the poverty of the people small sums to send committees to washington; and these committees were forestalled by radical state governments who, with open state treasuries to draw upon, sent committees ahead, prejudicing the executive ear and closing it to appeal. the most lasting wrong reconstruction inflicted upon the south was in the inevitable political demoralisation of the white man. no one could regard the ballot-box as the voice of the people, as a sacred thing. it was a plaything, a jack-in-the-box for the darkeys, a conjurer's trick that brought drinks, tips and picnics. it was the carpet-bagger's stepping-stone to power. the votes of a multitude were for sale. the votes of a multitude were to be had by trickery. it was a poor patriot who would not save his state by pay or play. taxation without representation, again; the tissue ballot--a tiny silken thing--was one of the instruments used for heaving tea--negro plurality--into the deep sea. "as for me," says a patriot of the period, "i bless the distinguished virginian who invented the tissue ballot. it was of more practical utility than his glorious sword. i am free to say i used many tissue ballots. my old pastor (he was eighty and as true and simple a soul as ever lived) voted i don't know how many at one time, didn't know he was doing it, just took the folded ballot i handed him and dropped it in, didn't want to vote at all." others besides this speaker assume that general mahone invented the tissue ballot, but general mahone's intimates say he did not, and that to ask who invented the tissue ballot is to ask who struck billy patterson. democrats waive the honour in favor of republicans, republicans in favor of democrats; nobody wants to wear it as a decoration. for my part, i think it did hard work and much good work, and quietly what else might have cost shedding of blood. "we had a trying time," one citizen relates, "when negroes gained possession of the polls and officered us. things got simply unendurable; we determined to take our town from under negro rule. one means to that end was the tissue ballot. dishonest? will you tell me what honesty there was, what reverence for the ballot-box, in standing idly by and seeing a horde of negroes who could not read the tickets they voted, cram our ballot-boxes with pieces of paper ruinous to us and them? we had to save ourselves by our wits. some funny things happened. i was down at the precinct on bolingbrook street when the count was announced, and heard an old darkey exclaim: 'i knows dat one hunderd an' ninety-seben niggers voted in dis distric', an' dar ain' but th'ee radicule ballots in de box! i dunno huccum dat. i reckon de radicule man gin out de wrong ones. i knows he gin me two an' i put bofe uv 'em in de box.'" tissue ballots were introduced into south carolina by a republican named butts, who used them against mackey, another republican, his rival for congressional honours; there was no democratic candidate. next election democrats said: "republicans are using tissue ballots; we must fight the devil with fire." a package arrived one night at a precinct whereof i know. the local democratic leader said: "i don't like this business." he was told: "the committee sent them up from the city; they say the other side will use them and that we've got to use them." according to election law, when ballots polled exceeded registration lists, a blindfolded elector would put his hand in the box and withdraw until ballots and lists tallied. many tissue ballots could be folded into one and voted as a single ballot; a little judicious agitation after they were in the box would shake them apart. a tissue ballot could be told by its feel; an elector would withdraw as sympathy or purchase ran. voting over at the precinct mentioned, the box was taken according to regulations into a closed room and opened. democrats and republicans had each a manager. the republican ran his hand into the box and gave it a stir; straightway it became so full it couldn't be shut, ballots falling apart and multiplying themselves. the republican laughed: "i have heard of self-raising flour. these are self-raising ballots! butts' own game!" that precinct went democratic. so went other precincts. republicans had failed on tissues. a congressional committee, composed of senators mcdonald of indiana, randolph of new jersey, and teller of colorado, came down to inquire into elections. republicans charged tissue ballots on democrats. but, alas! one of the printers put on the stand testified that the republicans had ordered many thousand tissue ballots of him, but he had failed to have them on time! there were other devices. witness, the story of the circus and the voter. "a circus saved us. each negro registering received a certificate to be presented at the polls. our people got a circus to come through and made a contract with the managers. the circus let it be known that registration certificates would be accepted instead of admission tickets, or entrance fees, we agreeing to redeem at admission price all certificates turned over to us. the arrangement made everybody happy--none more than the negroes, who got a better picnic than usual and saw a show besides. the circus had tremendous crowds and profited greatly. and one of the most villainous tickets ever foisted upon a people was killed quietly and effectually." an original scheme was resorted to in the black belt of mississippi in order to carry the day. an important local election was to be held, and the whites felt that they could not afford to lose. but how to keep out the black vote was a serious question. finally, a bright young fellow suggested a plan. for a week preceding election, he collected, by paying for it, negro hair from barbers serving negroes, and he got butchers to save waste blood from slaughter-pens. the night before the election, committees went out about a mile on every road and path leading to the town, and scattering wool and blood generously, "pawed up the ground" with foot-tracks and human body imprints. every evidence of furious scuffle was faithfully carried out. the day dawned beautiful and bright, but not a black vote was cast--not a negro was to be seen. hundreds had quit farm-work to come to vote, but stopped aghast at the appalling signs of such an awful battle, and fled to their homes in prompt and precipitate confusion. i heard a good man say, with humour and sadness, "i have bought many a negro vote, bought them three for a quarter. to buy was their terms. there was no other way. and we couldn't help ourselves." "there were federal guards here and they knew just what we were doing," another relates, "knew we were voting our way any and everybody who came up to vote, had seen the radicals at the same thing and knew just what strait we were in. i voted a dead man knowingly when some one came up and gave his name. i did the same thing unknowingly. i heard one man ask of a small funeral procession, 'who's dead?' 'hush!' said his companion, 'it's the man that's just voted!'" "i never voted a dead man," a second manager chimes in, "but i voted a man that was in europe. his father was right in front of the ballot-box, telling about a letter just received from his son, when up comes somebody in that son's name and votes. the old man was equal to the occasion. 'why, my dear boy!'--had never seen the other before--'so glad you got back in time to cast your vote!' and off they walked, arms around each other." "the way we saved our city," one says, "was by buying the radical manager of the election. we were standing right under the statue of george washington when we paid the $ he demanded. these things are all wrong, but there was no other way. some stood off and kept clean hands. but a thing had to be done, and we did it, not minding the theoretical dirt. the negroes were armed with ballots and bayonets, and the bayonets were at our breasts. our lands were taxed until we were letting our homes go because we could not pay the taxes, while corrupt officials were waxing fat. we had to take our country from under negro rule any way we could." it was not wounds of war that the southerner found it hard to forget and forgive, but the humiliation put upon him afterward, and his own enforced self-degradation. i do not wish to be understood as saying that the southerner re-won control of local government by only such methods as described; i emphasize the truth that, at times, he did use them and had to use them, because herein was his deep moral wound. he employed better methods as he could; for instance, when every white man would bind himself to persuade one negro to vote with him, to bring this negro to the polls, and protect him from radical punishment. also, he availed himself of weak spots in the enemy's armour. thus in hancock county, georgia, in , judge linton stephens challenged voters who had not paid poll-tax, and, when election managers would not heed, had them arrested and confined, while their places were supplied and the election proceeded. the state constitution, framed by the radicals themselves, called for this poll-tax--a dollar a head--and its application to "educational purposes." the extravagant radical regime, falling short of bribing money, remitted the poll-tax in lieu thereof. judge stephens caught them. governor bullock disapproved his action; united states marshal seaford haled him before united states commissioner swayze. the federal grand jury ignored the charge against him, and that was the end of it. the judge had, however, been put to expense, trouble, and loss of time. the white child chapter xxvi the white child upon the southern white child of due age for schooling the effects of war fell with cruel force. the ante-bellum planter kept a tutor or governess or both for his children; his neighbours' children sometimes attended the school which he maintained for his own. thus, were sons and daughters prepared for academy and college, university, finishing school. private schools were broken up quite generally by the war. it became quite the custom for the mother or an elder sister to fill the position of instructor in families on big plantations. such schooling as this was none too plentiful in rural dixie just after the war. sisters of age and capacity to teach did not stay in one family forever. sometimes they got married; though many a beautiful and brilliant girl sacrificed her future for little brothers and sisters dependent upon her for mental food. the great mass of southern women had, however, to drop books for broomsticks; to turn from pianos and guitars and make music with kettles and pans. children had to help. with labour entirely disorganised, in the direst poverty and the grasp of such political convulsions as no people before them had ever endured, the hour was strenuous beyond description, and it is no wonder if the claims of children to education were often overlooked, or, in cruel necessity, set aside. sometimes neighbours clubbed together and opened an "old field school," paying the teacher out of a common fund subscribed for the purpose; again, a man who could teach went around, drummed up pupils at so much a head, opened a school and took chances on collection of dues. many neighbourhoods were too poor for even such expedients; to get bread itself was a struggle to which children must lend labour. the seventies found few or no rural districts without a quota of half-grown lads and lassies unable to read and write. it was no strange thing to see little white boys driving a plow when they were so small they had to lift their hands high to grasp the handles; or little white girls minding cows, trotting to springs or wells with big buckets to fill, bending over wash-tubs, and working in the crops. the public school system was not put in operation at once, and if it had been, could not have met conditions of the hour. planters lived far apart; roads in some sections long unworked, in others lately plowed by cannons or wagon-trains, were often impassable for teams--if people were so fortunate as to have teams; and much more so for little feet; then, too, the reign of fear was on; highways and by-ways were infested by roving negroes; many were harmless; would, indeed, do a child a kindness; but some were dangerous; the negro, his own master now, was free to get drunk at other times than christmas and corn-shucking. an argument against the success of the public as of the "old field" school, lay in the strong spirit of caste animating the high-born southerner. it was against his grain to send his children--particularly his daughters--to school with tom, dick and harry; it did not please him for them to make close associates of children in a different walk of life--the children of the "poor white trash." this spirit of exclusiveness marks people of position today, wherever found. caste prejudice was almost inoperative, however, having small chance to pick and choose. gaunt poverty closed the doors of learning against the white child of the south, while northern munificence was flinging them wide to the black. soon as war ended, schools for negroes were organised in all directions with government funds or funds supplied by northern charity; and under northern tutelage--a tutelage contributing to prejudice between the races. these institutions had further the effect of aggravating the labour problem--a problem so desperate for the southern farmer that he could not turn from it to give his own child a chance for intellectual life. he was not pleasantly moved by touching stories that went north of class-rooms where middle-age, hoary-head and pickaninny sat on the same bench studying the same page, all consumed with ambition to master the alphabet. it did not enter into these accounts that the plows and hoes of a sacked country had been deserted for the a b c book. he resented the whole tendency of the time, which was to make the negro despise manual labour and elevate book-learning above its just position. along with these appealing stories did not go pictures of fields where white women and children in harness dragged plows through furrows; the artists did not portray white children in the field wistfully watching black children trooping by to school; had such pictures gone north in the sixties and seventies, some would have said, so bitter was the moment, "just retribution for the whites," but not the majority. the great-hearted men and women of the north would have come to the rescue. "there were two reasons for northern indifference to the education of the southern white child," an embittered educator says; "natural prejudice against the people with whom they had been at war, and the feeling that the negro had been persecuted--had been 'snatched from his happy home in africa' (they forgot they had done more than a full share of the snatching); brought over here and sold into slavery (they forgot they had done more than a full share of the selling), and thereby stripped of all his brilliant opportunities of life in africa and the advancement he might else have had; the southern white man, instead of sending him to college, had made him work in the fields; to even up matters now, the negro must go to college and the white man work in the fields. this was the will of providence and they its executors." the two reasons given--undue prejudice against the southern white and overweening pity for the negro--were the grand disposing cause of northern indifference to the white child and abnormal sensibility about everything concerning the black. but at the bottom was ignorance of actual conditions here. the one story was put before them, the other was not. it was not to the interests of freedmen's bureau agents to let the other be known; and, of course, the business of teachers and missionaries was to make out the strongest case possible in order to draw funds for negro education. the negro's ignorance, in a literary sense, could hardly be exaggerated, nor his poverty; but he was a laborer and an artisan and held recuperative power in his hands. it was not in the thought of the proud old planter to cry for help; it was his habit to give, not take; he and his wife and children made as little parade as possible of their extremities to their nearest neighbour; such evidences as would not down were laughed over with a humour inherent as their spirit of independence. in , mrs. sarah hughes said: "since leaving kentucky last december, i have travelled many thousand miles in the south; i have seen spreading out before me in sad panorama solitary chimneys, burned buildings, walls of once happy homes, grounds and gardens grown with weeds and briers; groups of sad human faces; gaunt women and children; old, helpless men; young men on crutches, and without arms, sick, sad, heart-broken. words cannot describe the destitute condition of the orphaned children. it excites my deepest commiseration. the children of the dead soldiers are wandering beggars, hand in hand with want. except in large cities, there are no schools or homes for the fatherless. an attractive academy has been built near atlanta by citizens of northern cities for the children of the freedmen; and it is in a flourishing condition," etc. an editorial in a newspaper of the day reads: "the white children of the south are growing up in pitiful neglect, and we are wrong to permit it." general pope, commanding georgia, alabama, mississippi and florida, wrote general grant, april , : "it may be safely said that the remarkable progress made in the education of these people (the negroes), aided by noble charitable institutions of northern societies and individuals, finds no parallel in the history of mankind. if the white people exhibit the same indisposition to be educated that they do now, five years will have transferred intelligence and education so far as the masses are concerned, to the coloured people of the district." does it not seem incredible that an anglo-saxon should regard with complacency a situation involving the supreme peril of his race, should consider it cause of congratulation? the state of affairs was urged as argument that the negro was or quickly would be qualified for exercise of the franchise with which he had been invested and his late master deprived. the sunday school acquired new interest and significance. i remember one that used to be held in summer under the trees near a blacksmith's shop, in which webster's spelling book divided attention with the new testament. the school was gotten up by a planter in kindly effort to do what he could for the poor children in the neighbourhood. there were grown girls in it who spelled out rather than read bible verses. on weekdays, the planter's daughter received and taught free of charge a class of poor whites. a georgia friend, who was a little boy at the close of the war, tells me: "the sunday schools made more impression upon me than any other institution of the period. there were, i suppose, sunday schools in plenty before and during the war, but somehow they seemed a new thing thereafter." this movement was at once an expression of a revival of religious sentiment (there was a strong revival movement at the time), the desire for social intercourse, and an effort to advance the educational interests of the young, who in countless instances were deprived of ordinary means of instruction. hon. henry g. turner wrote of the conditions of that day: "cities and great tracts of country were in ashes. colleges and schools were silent, teachers without pupils, pupils without teachers. even the great charities and asylums were unable to take care of lunatics, the deaf and the blind.... repudiation by states of bonds, treasury notes, and other obligations issued during the war reduced to penury thousands of widows and orphans, and many people too old to start life over again." congress demanded this repudiation at the point of the bayonet. the south was not unmindful of her orphans; there were early organised efforts such as the land was capable of making; the churches led in many of these. and there were efforts of a lighter order, such as the bazaar which the washington and lee association held in norfolk. the baltimore society for the liberal education of southern children was a notable agency. individual effort was not lacking. few did more according to their might than miss emily v. mason, who provided for many orphans gravitating towards her at a time when she was paying for her nieces' board with family silver, a spoon or a fork at a time. one of her most sympathetic aides was a miss chew, of the north, with whom during the entire war she had maintained an affectionate correspondence begun in times of peace. illustrative of a rather odd form of relief is this extract from a letter by mrs. lee to miss mason: "my dear miss em, did i ever write you about a benevolent lady at the north who is anxious to adopt two little 'rebel' children, five or six years old--of a confederate officer--and she writes general lee to recommend such a party to her. she wants them of gentle blood. i have no doubt there are a great many to whom such an offer would be acceptable. do you know of any?" in regard to baltimore's work, she says: "how can we ever repay our kind friends in baltimore for all they have done for us?" when the confederate general, john b. hood, died, he left a number of very young children in poor circumstances; one of their benefactors was the federal general mcclellan, i have heard. doubtless many hands were outstretched from the north in some such manner as is indicated in mrs. lee's letter. thousands would have extended help in every way had the truth been known. what the southern white child really needed, however, was the removal of an oppressive legislation which was throttling his every chance in life, and a more temperate view on the part of the dominant section of the negro question--a question that was pressing painfully at every point upon his present and future. he had a right to an equal chance in life with the negro. that quality in northern people which made them pour out money for the freedmen, would have stirred their sense of justice to the white child had the situation been clear to them. one of the earliest homes for orphans of confederate soldiers was established at macon by william h. appleton, of new york, at the suggestion of his friend, bishop beckwith, of georgia. vanderbilt and tulane universities, the seney benefactions to emory and wesleyan colleges, and other evidences of awakening interest in the south's white youth, will occur at once to my readers. chief of all was the peabody fund, in which white and black had share. dr. sears, of boston, first administrator, was sharply blamed by william lloyd garrison and others because he did not make mixed schools a condition of bestowal upon whites; his critics grew quiet when shown that, under the terms of the gift, such a course would divert the whole fund to white children. to illustrate white need: late as , i heard, through miss sergeant, principal of the girls' high school, atlanta, of a white school in the georgia mountains where one short shelf held all the books--one grammar, one arithmetic, one reader, one history, one geography, one spelling-book. starting at the end of the first bench, a book would pass from hand to hand, each child studying a paragraph. there are schools of scrimped resources now, where young mountaineers make all sorts of sacrifices and trudge barefoot seemingly impossible distances to secure a little learning. nobody in these communities dreams of calling for outside help and sympathy, and when help is tendered, it must be with the utmost circumspection and delicacy, or native pride is wounded and rejects. appalachia is a region holding big game for people hunting chances to do good. [illustration: miss emily v. mason photograph by vianelli, italy] the various constitutional conventions adopted public school systems for their commonwealths. in virginia, it was not to go into operation until , after which there was to be as rapid extension as possible and full introduction into all counties by . the convention made strenuous efforts, as did that of every other state, to force mixed schools, in which, had they succeeded, the white child's chance of an education would have suffered a new death. early text-books used in public schools grated on the southerner; they were put out by northern publishing houses and gave views of american history which he thought unjust and untrue. the "southern opinion" printed this, august , : "in a book circulating in the south as history, this occurs: 'while the people of the north were rejoicing because the war was at an end, president lincoln, one of the best men in the world, was cruelly murdered in washington by a young man hired by the confederates to do the wicked deed.' it calls lee 'a perjured traitor;' says 'sherman made a glorious march to the sea;' prints 'sheridan's ride' as a school recitation." to comprehension of the southern mind as it was then and is now in some who remember, it is essential that we get its view of the "ride" and the "march." "have you seen a piece of poetry," a representative southern woman wrote another in the fall of , "called 'sheridan's ride'? if you can get it, do send it to me. i want to see if there isn't some one smart enough to reply to it and give a true version of that descent of armed ruffians upon store-rooms, stables, hen-roosts and ladies' trunks--even tearing the jewelry from their persons--even robbing the poor darkies of their watches and clothing. not a single confederate soldier did they encounter. they ought to live in history! my vermont friend, lucy adams, says these things 'are not true, no one at the north believes them, they are impossible.' but we know they are true. i was very anxious to send you sherman's speech at cincinnati--perhaps you have seen it--in which he unblushingly sanctions all the outrages committed by his men. i really think some notice ought to be taken of it, but our papers, you see, are all ruined now; and in new york, only 'the news' dares publish anything true.... i have found a copy, but this says at 'lancaster, ohio'; perhaps he said the same thing twice; it was at the close of a grand speech: 'soldiers, when we marched through and conquered the country of the rebels, we became owners of all they had; and i don't want you to be troubled in your consciences for taking, while on our great march, the property of the conquered rebels--they had forfeited their right to it.'" "for several years since the nineties it has been my privilege to serve a large charitable institution here," a southern friend writes me from a northern city. "on the fourth of july i join with as much fervor as anybody in the flag salute, in singing 'america' and all the other patriotic songs, until they come to 'marching through georgia.' that takes the very heart out of me! sometimes it is all i can do to keep from bursting into tears! then again i feel as if i must stand up and shout: 'we should not teach any american child to sing that song!' you know the home of one of my dearest friends was in the way of that march; it was burned to the ground and she, a little girl, and her aged grandfather wandered homeless in the night. i wonder, o, i wonder, if our soldiers in the philippines, northern and southern boys, are giving grounds for any such songs as that! i'd rather we'd lose the fight!" a cause operating against education of both races remains to be cited. the carpet-bag, scalawag and negroid state governments made raids on educational funds. in north carolina, $ , in railroad stock belonging to the educational fund for the benefit of poor children were sold for $ , , to be applied in part payment of extended per diems of legislators. these legislators gave at state expense lavish entertainments, and kept a bar and house of prostitution in the capitol; took trips to new york and gambled away state funds by thousands; war had left a school fund, taxation increased it; but for two years no child, white or black, received benefits. there was money enough for the governor to raise and equip two regiments, one of negroes, for intimidation of whites, but none for education. of georgia's public school fund of $ , , there seems not to have been a penny left to the state when her million-dollar legislature adjourned in . louisiana's permanent school fund for parishes vanished with none to tell where it went. attention was called to its disappearance by w. e. brown, the negro state superintendent of education. when warmouth, was inaugurated ( ), the treasury held $ , , for free schools. "bonds representing this," states hon. b. f. sage, "the most sacred property of the state, were publicly auctioned june, , to pay warrants issued by warmouth." warmouth, like holden of north carolina, and scott and moses of south carolina, raised and maintained at state expense a black army. in , the radical governor of florida made desperate efforts to lay hands on the agricultural land scrip, property of the agricultural college of that state; to save it from his clutches c. t. chase, president of public instruction, asked president grant's intervention. a forger, embezzler and thief presided over mississippi's department of education. in every state it was the same story of public moneys wasted by nefarious tricksters who had ridden to power on the negro ballot; the widow and the orphan robbed, the gray-beard and the child; the black man and the white. schoolmarms and others chapter xxvii schoolmarms and other newcomers many good people came down to do good to us and the negroes; we were not always so nice to these as we ought to have been. but very good people can try other very good people sorely sometimes. besides, some who came in sheep's clothing were not sheep, and gave false ideas of the entire flock. terms of professional philanthropy were strange in the southerner's mouth. it never occurred to the men, women and maidens who visited all the poor, sick, old and feeble negroes in their reach, breaking their night's rest or their hours of recreation or toil without a sense of sacrifice--who gave medicines, food, clothing, any and everything asked for to the blacks and who ministered to them in neighbourly ways innumerable--that they were doing the work of a district or parish visitor. southerners have been doing these things as a matter of course ever since the negroes were brought to them direct from africa or by way of new england, making no account of it, never organizing into charitable associations and taking on corresponding tags, raising collections and getting pay for official services; the help a southerner gave a darkey he took out of his own pocket or larder or off his own back; and that ended the matter till next time. yet, here come salaried northerners with "educator," "missionary," or "philanthropist" marked on their brows, broidered on their sleeves; and as far as credit for work for darkeys goes, "taking the cake" from the southerner, who had no warm welcome for the avalanche of instructors pouring down upon him with the "i am holier than thou" expression, and bent as much upon teaching him what he ought to have been doing as upon teaching the negro to struggle indecorously for the semblance of a non-existent equality. newcomers were upon us like the plagues of egypt. deserters from the federal army, men dismissed for cause, followers in its wake, political gypsies, bums and toughs. everybody in new york remarked upon the thinning out of the bowery and its growing orderliness during enlistments for the spanish-american war; and everybody knew what became of vanishing trampdom; it joined the army. the federal army in the sixties was not without heavy percentage of similar element; and, when, after conquest, it returned north, it left behind much riff-raff. riff-raffs became politicians and intellectual and spiritual guides to the negroes. from these, and from early, unwise, sometimes vicious freedmen's bureau instructors, southerners got first ideas of yankee schoolmasters and schoolmarms. "yankee schoolmarms" overran the country. their spirit was often noble and high as far as the black man's elevation--or their idea of it--was concerned; but towards the white south, it was bitter, judicial, unrelenting. some were saints seeking martyrdom, and finding it; some were fools; some, incendiaries; some, all three rolled into one; some were straight-out business women seeking good-paying jobs; some were educational sharps. into the watkins neighbourhood came three teachers, a male preacher and two women teachers. they went in among the negroes, ate and slept with them, paraded the streets arm-in-arm with them. they were disturbed to perceive that, even among negroes, the familiarity that breeds contempt is not conducive to usefulness; and that they were at a disadvantage in the eyes of the negroes because white people failed to recognise them. mr. watkins, master of the manor, was a shining light to all who knew him. in summer his verandah, in winter his dining-room, was crowded sunday afternoons with negroes on his invitation: "i will be glad to have you come to sing and pray with me." he would read a chapter from the bible, lead the opening prayer, then call upon some sable saint to lead, himself responding with humble "amens." white and black would sing together. when the newcomers found how things were, they felt aggrieved that they had not his countenance. he had seen one of them walk up to his ex-hostler and lay her hand on his coat-collar, while she talked away archly to him. i hardly believe a gentleman of new york, boston or chicago would conclude that persons making intimates of his domestic force could desire association with his wife and daughters or expect social attentions from them; i hardly believe he would urge the ladies of his family to call upon these persons. mr. watkins did not send his women-kind to see the newcomers; at last, the newcomers took the initiative and came to see his family. his daughters did not appear, but mrs. watkins received them politely. they went straight to the point, lodging complaint against the community. "we had no reason to suppose," said she, quietly, "that you cared for the coöperation of our white people. you acted independently of us; you did not advise with us or show desire for affiliation. we would have been forcing ourselves upon you. i will be as frank as you have been. had you started this work in a proper spirit and manner, my husband for one would have responded to the limit of his power to any call you made upon him." they dragged in the social equality business and found her adamant. when they charged "race prejudice," she said promptly: "were i to visit relatives in boston, the nice people there would, i doubt not, show me pleasant attentions. were i to put myself on equal terms with their domestics, i could hardly expect it. the question is not altogether one of race prejudice, but of fitness of things." "but we are missionaries, not social visitors." "we do not feel that you benefit negroes by teaching them presumption and to despise and neglect work and to distrust and hate us." a garrulous negress was entertaining one of these women with hair-raising accounts of cruelties practiced upon her by whites when, as a slave, she cooked for them. the schoolmarm asked: "why didn't you black people poison all the whites and get your freedom that way? you're the most patient people on earth or you would have done so." a "mammy" who overheard administered a stinging rebuke: "dat would ha' been a sin even ef our white folks wuz ez mean ez sukey ann been tellin'. mine wuz good tuh me. sukey ann jes been tellin' you dem tales tuh see how she kin wuk you up." perhaps the school-teacher had not meant to be taken more literally than sukey ann deserved to be. until freedom, white and black children could hardly be kept apart. boys ran off fishing and rabbit-hunting together; girls played dolls in the garret of the great house or in a sunny corner of the woodpile. they rarely quarrelled. the black's adoration of the white, the white's desire to be allowed to play with the black, stood in the way of conflict. an early result of the social equality doctrine was war between children of the races. such strife was confined almost wholly to white and black schools in towns, where black and white children were soon ready to "rock" each other. a spirit of dislike and opposition to blacks, which their elders could hardly understand, having never experienced it, began to take possession of white children. the following story will give some idea of these dawning manifestations of race prejudice: negro and white schools were on opposite sides of the street in petersburg, the former a freedmen's bureau institution, the latter a private school taught by a very youthful ex-confederate, captain m., who, though he looked like a boy himself, had made, after a brilliant university course, a shining war record. the negro boys, stimulated by the example of their elders who were pushing whites off the sidewalks, and excited by ill-timed discourses by their imported white pedagogue, "sassed" the white boys, contended with them for territory, or aggravated them in some way. a battle ensued, in which the white children ran the black off the street and into their own schoolhouse, the windows of which were damaged by rocks, the only serious mischief resulting from exchange of projectiles. in short order six federal soldiers with bayonets fixed marched into the white schoolhouse, where the captain was presiding over his classes, brought by this time to a proper sense of penitence and due state of order, their preceptor being a military disciplinarian. the invading squad came to capture the children. the captain indignantly protested, saying he was responsible for his boys; it was sufficient to serve warrant on him, he would answer for them; it was best not to make a mountain out of a mole-hill and convulse the town with a children's quarrel. the sergeant paid him scant courtesy and arrested the children. the captain donned his old confederate overcoat, than which he had no other, and marched down the street with his boys to the provost's office. the provost, a soldier and a gentleman, after examining into the case and considering the small culprits, all ranged in a terrified row and not knowing but that they would be blown next moment into paradise or the other place, asked the captain if he would guarantee that his children would keep the peace. the captain assured him that he could and would if the teacher of the coloured boys would keep his charges in bounds, adding that he would have the windows repaired at his expense. the provost accepted this pledge, and with a withering look at the pedagogic complainant, said to the arresting officer: "sergeant, i am sorry it was necessary to send six armed men to arrest these little boys." this happened at ten o'clock in the morning. before ten that night the provost was removed by orders from washington. so promptly had complaint been entered against him that he was too lenient to whites, so quickly had it taken effect! yet his course was far more conservative of the public peace than would have been the court-martialing of the children of prominent citizens of the town, and the stirring-up of white and black parents against each other. "it's no harm for a hungry coloured man to make a raid on a chicken-coop or corn-pile," thus spoke carpet-bagger crockett in king william county, virginia, june, , in the walker-wells campaign, at a meeting opened with prayer by rev. mr. collins, northern missionary. like sentiment was pronounced in almost the same words by a carpet-bag officer of state, a loud advocate of negro education, from the steps of the state house in florida. like sentiment was taught in direct and indirect ways by no small number of preceptors in negro schoolhouses. a south carolina schoolmarm, after teaching her term out at a fat salary, made of her farewell a "celebration" with songs, recitations, etc.; the scholars passed in procession before the platform, she kissed each, and to each handed a photograph of herself for $ . she carried off a harvest. various other small ways of levying tribute were practiced by the thoughtless or the unscrupulous; and negroes pilfered to meet demands. schoolmarms and masters did not always teach for sweet charity's sake. with moving stories some drew heavily upon the purse of the generous north for contributions which were not exactly applied to the negro's relief or profit. in order to attract northern teachers to freedmen's schools in mississippi salaries were paid out of all proportion to their services or to the people's ability to pay. "examinations for teachers' licenses were not such as to ascertain the real fitness of applicants or conduce to a high standard of scholarship," says james wilford garner in "reconstruction in mississippi." "they were asked a few oral questions by the superintendent in his private office and the certificate granted as a matter of course." "while the average pay of the teachers in northern schools is less than $ a year, salaries here range from $ to $ , ," said governor alcorn to the mississippi legislature in . the old log schoolhouses were torn down by the reconstructionists, new and costly frame and brick ones built; and elegant desks and handsome chairs, "better suited to the academy than the common school," displaced equipments that had been good enough for many a great american's intellectual start in life. in monroe county, schoolhouses which citizens offered free of charge were rejected and new ones built; teachers' salaries ranged from $ to $ a month; schools were multiplied; heavy special taxes were levied. in lowndes, a special tax of $ , over and above the regular tax for education was levied. taxpayers protested in formal meetings. the ku klux whipped several male teachers, one an ex-confederate, and warned a schoolmarm or two to leave. expenses came down. what was true of one southern state was true of others where costly educational machinery and a peculative system covering "deals" and "jobs" in books, furniture, schoolhouse construction, etc., were imposed. whippings with which ku klux visited a few male teachers and school directors here and there, and warnings to leave served upon others of both sexes, were, in most cases, protests--and the only effective protests impoverished and tax-ridden communities could make--against waste of public funds, peculation, subordination of the teacher's office to that of political emissary, loyal league organizer, inculcator of social equality doctrines and race hatred. some whippings were richly deserved by those who got them, some were not; some which were richly deserved were never given. it was not always ku klux that gave the whippings, but their foes, footing up sins to their account. it became customary for white communities to assemble and condemn violence, begging their own people to have no part in it. i have known many instances where southern clergy maintained friendly relations with schoolmarms, aiding them, operating with them, lending them sympathy, thinking their methods often wrong, but accepting their earnestness and devotion and sacrifice at its full value. i have heard southerners speak of faculties of certain institutions thus: "those teachers came down here in the spirit that missionaries go to a foreign land, expecting persecution and ostracism, and prepared to bear it." i have deeply respected the lovely and exalted character of some schoolmarms i have personally known, who suffered keenly the isolation and loneliness of their position; to missionaries and teachers of this type, i have seen the southern attitude change as their quality was learned. i have seen municipal boards helping with appropriations northern workers among negroes, while these workers were ungraciously charging them with race prejudice. and i have seen the attitude of such workers gradually change towards their white neighbours as they understood our white and black people better. early experiments must have sometimes perplexed the workers. negroes had confused ideas of education. thus, a negress who did not know the english alphabet, went to a teacher in savannah and demanded to be taught french right off. others simply demanded "to know how to play de pianner." the mass were eager for "book-learnin'." southerners who had been trying to instruct indifferent little negroes beheld with curiosity this sudden and intense yearning when "education" was held up as a forbidden fruit of the past. it has been said that southern whites would not at first teach in the negro schools. "rebels" were not invited and would not have been allowed to teach in bureau schools. reconstructionists preferred naturally their own ilk. certainly all southerners were not opposed _per se_ to negro schools, for we find some so influential as the bishop of mississippi advising planters in to open schools for their negroes. leading journals and some teachers' conventions in advocated public schools for negroes, with southern whites as teachers. it has been said, too, that northern teachers who came to teach the negroes could not secure board in respectable white families, and, therefore, had no choice but to board in black. i think this may be wholly true. the southerner firmly believed that the education given the negro was not best for him or the country; and he was deeply prejudiced against the northern teacher and all his or her ways. the efforts of black and tan assemblies to force mixed schools upon the country was a ground of prejudice against teachers and the schools; so, too, the course of some teachers in trying to compel this. how could rational people, with the common welfare at heart, advocate mixed schools when such feelings were in evidence at outset as the captain and the pedagogue incident and many similar ones in many states proved existent? such feelings were not and are not limited to the south. only a year or two ago the mixed school question caused negroes to burn a schoolhouse near boston. many white and black educators at the north seem to agree that it is not best to mix the races there. prominent negroes are now asserting that it is not best for the negro child to put him in schools with whites; he is cowed as before a superior or he exhibits or excites antipathy. besides, he casts a reflection upon his own race in insisting upon this association. if white southerners at first objected to teaching negroes, this objection speedily vanished before the argument: "we should teach the negroes ourselves if we do not wish them influenced against us by yankees," and, "we should keep the money at home," and the all-compelling "i must make a living." as the carpet-bag governments went out of power, northern schoolteachers lost their jobs and southern ones got them. as negroes were prepared, southern whites appointed negroes to teach negroes, which was what the blacks themselves desired and believed just. school fights between the races ceased as southern whites or southern negroes came in charge of schools for blacks, and as northern people who came south to work in charitable enterprises understood conditions better. those who had unwittingly wrought ill in the first place had usually meant well. the missionary of the sixties and seventies was not as wise as the missionary of today, who knows that he must study a people before he undertakes to teach and reform them, and that it is all in the day's work for him not to run counter heedlessly to established social usages or to try to uproot instantly and with violence customs centuries old. a reckless reformer may tear up more good things in a few weeks than he can replant, or substitute with better, in a lifetime. the carpet-bagger chapter xxviii the carpet-bagger the test-oath was invitation to the carpet-bagger. the statements of generals schofield and stoneman show how difficult it was to find in the south men capable of filling office who could swear they had "never given aid or comfort" to a confederate. few or no decent people could do it. in the summer of , president johnson instructed provisional governors to fill federal offices of mail, revenue and customs service with men from other states, if proper resident citizens--that is, men who could take the test-oath--could not be found. office-seekers from afar swarmed as bees to a hive. the carpet-bagger was the all-important figure in dixie after the war; he was lord of our domain; he bred discord between races, kept up war between sections, created riots and published the tale of them, laying all blame on whites. neither he nor his running mate the scalawag or turn-coat southerner, was received socially. sentence fell harder upon the latter when old friends insulted him and the speaker on the hustings could say of him no word too bitter. his family suffered with him. the wife of the native radical governor of one southern state said when her punishment was over: "the saddest years of my life were spent in the executive mansion. in a city where i had been beloved, none of my old friends, none of the best people, called on me." in times of great poverty, temptations were great; men, after once starting in politics, were drawn further than they had dreamed possible. again, men with state welfare at heart, urged compromises as the only way to secure benefits to the state; on being irritated, urged unwisely; on being ostracized, out-heroded herod. our foreign office-holders were not all bad men or corrupt. we will not call these carpet-baggers. the carpet-bagger has been defined: "a yankee, in a linen duster and with a carpet-bag, appearing suddenly on a political platform in the south, and calling upon the negroes to vote him into office." i give portraits of two types. in the wake of sherman's army which passed through brunswick, virginia, toward washington, came and stopped two white men, lewis and mcgiffen. they were desperadoes and outlaws, carried winchester rifles and were fine shots; said they hailed from maine; to intimates, the leader, lewis, boasted that he had killed his step-father and escaped the hangman by playing crazy. they leased the farm of a "poor white," mrs. parrish. lewis opened a negro school and a bank, issuing script for sums from twenty-five cents to five dollars; he organized a loyal league, collecting the fees and dues therefrom. he armed and drilled negroes and marched them around to the alarm of the people. court house records show lawful efforts of whites at self-protection. august , , lewis was tried before william lett, j. p., for inciting negroes to insurrection, when, under pretense of preaching the gospel to them, he convened them at parrish's. he was sentenced to the penitentiary for seven years. the state was under military rule, and the decision of the civil court was set aside and lewis left at large. john drummond was a witness against lewis. lewis soon had the negroes well organised; he established a system of signal stations from the north carolina line to nottoway and dinwiddie. by the firing of signal guns, they would receive notice to congregate. suddenly, all hands on a man's plantation would stop work and say: "got orders, suh, tuh go tuh de cote house." and all at once roads would be lined with negroes from every direction bound for the court house. in a few hours the little town would fill with darkeys, a thousand or more on the streets. they would collect thus from time to time, and hold secret or public political meetings, lewis, mcgiffen and other speakers working them up to a state of great excitement. at one meeting, a riot occurred in which several men were killed or wounded. mr. freeman jones, later sheriff of the county, gave me a version of it. he said: "meade bernard (afterwards judge bernard) and sidney jones were set upon. negroes knocked the last-named gentleman senseless, continuing chastisement until he was rescued by the freedmen's bureau officer. when bernard was attacked, his old coloured nurse, aunt sally bland, rushed into the melée, crying: 'save my chile! save my chile!' sticks were raining blows on his head when she interfered, pleading with them to desist until they stopped. these white men had shown all their lives, only kindness to negroes. when set upon they were doing nothing to give offense, they were simply listening to the speeches. one negro, observing their presence, cried out: 'kill the d----d white scoundrels!' others took up the cry. "the whites, a little handful, retreated towards the village, followed by at least a thousand negroes, yelling intention to sack and fire the town. the road passed through a very narrow lane into main street. here they were blocked and confronted by mr. l. g. wall, carrier of the united states mail, who, as a government official, halted them, telling them he had right of way and that they were obstructing government service; he ordered them to move back and make room; they would not; he drew his pistol and fired five or six times. i believe every shot took effect. several negroes were desperately wounded. the mob retired and wall went on. in the suburbs the negroes held an angry meeting, but they had got enough of mob violence." which was fortunate. the normal white male population of the village did not exceed forty or fifty. white men went to the polls soon after not knowing what to expect, and found everything quiet. negroes had come, voted early and gone. they had learned a salutary lesson. lewis claimed to be an officer duly commissioned, and went about making arrests, selecting some prominent men. one of his victims was william lett, an old and wealthy citizen, and the justice before whom lewis had been brought to trial. a complaint by mr. lett's cook was the ostensible ground of lewis' call upon mr. lett; the real purpose was robbery. the outlaws had seduced into their service john parrish, an unlettered boy who liked to hunt with them, and who, boy-like, was pleased with their daredevil ways. he composed the third in the "team" that went around arresting people. he recently gave me the next chapter in the lewis story. "i was jes a little boy an' i done what i was ordered to. i was goin' out sqir'l huntin', an' i see dr. lewis, an' he had a paper in his han', an' he say: 'johnny, i want you to go with me this evenin'.' i says: 'i wants to go squir'l huntin'.' he says: 'i summons you to go wid me to serve a warrant on mr. lett.' an' i lef' my dawgs at my sister's an' i taken my little dollar-an'-a-half gun along. he says: 'johnny, people tell me this ole man is mighty hot-headed. if he comes out of his house an' i tell you to shoot, shoot.' dr. lewis called mr. lett out to de gate, an' read de warrant to him. an' mr. lett said he wouldn' be arrested by him, an' dr. lewis grabbed at his coat collar, an' mr. lett broke loose, an' hollered for somebody to han' him his gun outer de house. an' he went into de house an' got a gun an' shot lewis, an' lewis stepped behin' de gate-pos', an' he called to me: 'd---- him! where is he?' an' i said: 'jes behin' de winder.' an' i stepped behin' de corner, an' dr. lewis called me, an' i stepped out, an' i thought i see a gun or pistol pointin' my way f'om de winder, an' i thought i heard lewis say 'shoot!' an' i shot. it warn't nothin' but a little bitter dollar-an'-a-half bird gun. but dem shot went through de weather-bo'din'. i heard mr. lett's gun when it fell an' i heard him when he fell. lewis was standin' behin' de gate-pos'. the cook-woman hollered: 'here he is! here he is, going out at de back door!' and thar was a little chicken-house. an' lett shot lewis with bird-shot." mr. freeman jones summed it up simply thus: "when the gang came to capture mr. lett, the old man attempted a defense, ordering them off his place, and barricading himself behind the nearest thing at hand, which happened to be a chicken-coop. lewis shot and nearly killed him; the old man lingered some time between life and death." mr. lett, it seems, was shot by both. "they toted lewis away," concludes parrish, "to de house of a feller named carroll, an' he stayed thar. they sent for de military soldiers an' they came, an' i stated de case well as i could, an' they discharged me." lewis was tried in the civil court, sentenced to a term in the penitentiary, was carried by the sheriff to that institution and pardoned next day by governor wells, military appointee of general schofield; he got back to the county almost as soon as the sheriff. the people became more and more incensed at repeated outrages. dr. powell, whose assassination was attempted, tells me that the immediate cause of the final tragedies was that lewis ordered carroll to leave home. john b. drummond, volunteering, was appointed special constable to arrest lewis. he met lewis and his gang in a turn of the road and halted them, telling lewis he had a warrant for him. lewis fired, killing him instantly. the temper of the public was now such that lewis and mcgiffen fled the state, enticing parrish along. they sought asylum in north carolina and sent parrish back for some property. a reward was offered for them. in a little one-horse wagon which parrish brought with lewis' pony, they travelled by night to charleston, south carolina. here lewis opened a school and parrish hired himself out. they staid there two years. mcgiffen married again. he had taken his little child from his brunswick wife; now he concluded to carry it back to her. "i went with him," says parrish. "we come near a village an' we stopped at a man's house. he mistrusted something wrong." (naturally! dr. powell says he saw his guests moulding bullets, ordered them out, and they defied him, declaring they would spend the night.) "he sent out an' got two men an' they come in thar wid thar guns an' staid all night. when we got up in de little town nex' mornin', thar come out twenty men wid guns in thar han's, an' de mayor he was thar, an' mcgiffen tole 'em to stop; an' they stopped. he tole 'em thar couldn' but one or two come near. they suspicioned about our having the little chile along. you see, thar was trouble 'bout dat time 'bout children bein' kidnapped an' carried off to de dismal swamp. i see ten or thirteen men on de railroad, an' they comin' pretty close. mcgiffen hollered out for 'em to stop, or he would certainly shoot. an' they stopped. then somebody hollered 'close up!' "i had de little boy in my lap. to keep him f'om gittin' hurt, i set him down by de roadside. mcgiffen an' me had been ridin' one horse, takin' turns, de one ridin' carryin' de baby. a feller kep' comin' closer, an' i hollered, 'stop, sir, or i'm goin' to shoot you!' an' i shot him in de han'. he kep' hollerin' i had killed him, an' de other fellers sorter scattered, an' that give mcgiffen chance to git away. an' i got away. had to leave de baby settin' thar side de road. an' they follered me up an' got me, an' they got mcgiffen. after they captured us, they heard about thar bein' three strangers down whar we had come f'om, an' they suspicioned we was de men dat had been advertised for because of de trouble in brunswick. an' they sent after lewis. it was one night. he had unbuckled his pistols an' laid 'em on his bureau, an' some visitors come to see him; an' he was talkin' to them, an' eight or ten men stepped up behin' him an' that's how they got him. an' they had de three of us. an' governor walker sent bill knox, de detective, an' dr. powell he was sent to identify us. an' we were carried to richmond, an' then we were carried to greensville, an' we were tried. de little boy was sent back to his mother. i was sent to de penitentiary for eight years, but i got out sooner for good behaviour; an' i learned a good trade thar. but i don't think they ought to ha' sent me, because i was jes a boy an' i done what i was ordered to do when i shot mr. lett--that what's they sent me for. an' de military soldiers had said i warn't to blame. lewis he played off crazy like he done befo', an' they sent him to de asylum, an' he escaped like he done befo'. de superintendent was a member of de loyal league. an' mcgiffen was hung, an' i never thought he ought to ha' been hung." military rule was at an end and virginia was back in the union when the fugitives were captured. there was another flutter of the public pulse in this county when, perhaps, the one thing that saved the day was the confidence of the negroes in sheriff jones. court was in session when several people ran into the court room, shouting: "sheriff! sheriff! they are killing the negroes out here!" sheriff jones ran out and saw a crowd of five or six hundred negroes, some drunk, in the street, and in their midst two drunken white men. a few other whites were lined up against a fence, their hands on their pistols, not knowing what a moment would bring forth. people cried out: "don't go into that crowd, sheriff! you're sure to get shot!" "here, boys!" called the sheriff to some negroes he knew, "take me into that crowd." two negroes made a platform of their hands, and on this the officer was carried into the mob, his bearers shouting as they went: "lis'n to de sheriff! hear what de sheriff say!" he called on everybody to keep the peace, had no trouble in restoring quiet, and arrested everybody he thought ought to be arrested. "but our coloured people soon became orderly and well-behaved after the carpet-baggers left us," says sheriff jones. in several southern states at this period, such a termination to the last incident would have been almost impossible. here, the officer was a representative native white; he understood the people and all elements trusted him; the interest of the community was his own. with an outsider in position, the case must have been quite different; the situation more difficult and the sequel probably tragic, even conceding to the officer sincere desire to prevent trouble, a disposition carpet-baggers did not usually betray. riots in the south were breath of life to carpet-bag governments. july , , governor smith, republican, of alabama, said over his signature, of a politician who had criticised him for not calling out negro militia to intimidate whites: "my candid opinion is that sibley does not want the law executed, because that would put down crime, and crime is his life's blood. he would like very much to have a ku klux outrage every week, to assist him in keeping up strife between whites and blacks, that he might be more certain of the latter's votes. he would like to have a few coloured men killed weekly to furnish semblance of truth to senator spencer's libels against the state." in quiet country places where people did not live close enough for mutual sympathy and protection, the heavy hand was often most acutely felt. such neighbourhoods were shortened, too, of ways to make oppression known at headquarters; it cost time and money to send committees to washington, and influence to secure a hearing. when troubles accumulated, some hitherto peaceful neighbourhood, hamlet or town would suddenly find unenviable fame thrust upon it. there was, for instance, the colfax riot, grant parish, louisiana, where sixty-three lives were lost. two tickets had been announced elected. governor kellogg, after his manner of encouraging race wars, said, "heaven bless you, my children!" to both, commissioned the two sets of officers, and told them to "fight it out," which they did with the result given and the destruction of the court house by fire. negroes had been called in, drilled, armed and taught how to make cannon out of gas-pipe. and now for the portrait of a carpet-bagger of whom all who knew him said: "he is the most brilliant man i ever met." i can only give fictitious names. otherwise, innocent people might be wounded. a young lieutenant, discharged from the federal army, located in roxmere, a college town. his first move was to pose as a friend to whites, and to insinuate himself into nice families. when there was trouble--which he stirred up--between the races, he would assume the authority--none was given him by the government--to interfere and settle it. for instance, he would undertake to punish negroes for impertinence. he began to practise law. he married a young lady of the section, of means but not a daughter of the aristocracy; she had owned many negroes; he made out a list, which he kept, expecting the government to pay for them. he said his father was an english clergyman, and he spoke beautifully and feelingly of his early life. when it became apparent that the negro was to be made a voter, yankee landon (as roxmere called him), changed tactics; he organized union leagues, drilled negroes and made incendiary speeches. one day, judge mortimer, hurrying into the court house, said: "yankee landon is on the hustings making a damnable speech to the negroes!" landon's voice could be heard and the growls of his audience. the whites caught these words ringing clear and distinct: "we will depopulate this whole country of whites. we have got to do it with fire and sword!" some one else, much excited, came in, saying, "a movement's on foot to lynch landon." the old judge hastened up the street. he met some stern-faced men and stopped them. "we know what landon is saying," they told him, "and we intend to swing him." he tried to turn them from their purpose, but they declared: "there is no sense in waiting until that scoundrel has incited the negroes to massacre us." another cool-headed jurist sought to stay them. "do you realise what you are going to do?" he asked. "we are going to hang yankee landon." "that will not do!" "we've got to do it. the safety of our homes demands it." the combined efforts of conservative men stayed summary action. landon got wind of what was brewing, and for a time was more prudent of tongue; then, concluding that the people were afraid to molest him, broke forth anew. in the union league season, there was a tremendous negro crowd on the streets; whites had hardly room to walk; they got very sick of it all. roxmere's college men decided to take a hand and disposed themselves for action. "don't give way one inch to these old slavocrats!" landon was shouting from a goods-box, when they sent cobb preston out. cobb, in a dressing-gown trailing four feet, walked into the crowd. he placed a chip on his hat. "will some one step on my dressing-gown or knock this chip off?" he asked loudly and suavely. everybody gave him room to trail around in. nobody stepped near the tail of that dressing-gown! no hand approached within yards of that chip! any sudden turn he made was a signal for fresh scatterings which left wide swath for his processional. did he flirt around quickly, calling on somebody to step on his gown or knock off his chip, darkeys fell over each other getting out of his way. landon understood. he knew if the college boys succeeded in starting a row he would be killed. after that, whites could use sidewalks without being shoved off. landon was adept in pocketing insults. men cast fearful epithets in his teeth. "i have heard vance mcgregor call him a dog, a thief--and he would take it," says a lawyer who practised in the same courts with him. he and a negro "represented" the county in the black and tan convention. he came back a much richer man. nobody visited his family. one day, rev. dr. godfrey encountered on the street a little girl, who asked: "have you seen my papa?" "who is your papa, little one?" "yan-kee landon!" she piped. he led her to the corner and tenderly directed her way. rev. dr. godfrey did not hesitate to arraign landon from his pulpit. one sunday, when landon and his wife sat in the front pew, and the conversion of zaccheus happened to be his subject, the congregation was electrified to hear him draw comparisons between zaccheus and carpet-baggers, to the great disparagement of the latter. he spoke of the fine horses, wines and cigars of modern mr. zaccheus, and of mrs. zaccheus' silks and jewels. "zaccheus of old could say," he cried, "'if i have taken anything from any man, i restore him fourfold!' not so zaccheus of today," and he looked straight in landon's face. landon's contribution was equal to that of all the other people in the church put together. the landons gave up their pew, and attended worship elsewhere, but presently came back to dr. godfrey's, the "swell" church. he spared them not. but he went to see landon's wife and sent his wife to see her. "mrs. landon is a young mother, my dear," he said, "you should go." twice landon represented the district in the legislature, first in the house, then in the senate. while commonwealth's attorney, he made a startling record; he ran a gambling saloon, a thing it was his sworn duty to ferret out and prosecute. hazard, chuck-a-luck and other games of chance were played there. it was a new departure in a quiet, religious town; the college boys were drawn in. judge mortimer's little son trotted into it at the heels of a grown-up relative, and going home innocently told his father about "the funny little things they play with; when they win, they take the money; when mr. landon wins, he takes it." in modern parlance, the old judge "pulled" that saloon next evening, bagging thirty of the nicest young fellows in the community. they were indicted for gambling and landon for keeping a gambling saloon. landon prosecuted everybody but himself, convicting the last one; then resigned, and mcgregor conducted the case against him. his sentence was $ fine and four months in jail. while in jail he studied law and acquired more knowledge of it than in all the years of his freedom; he had known little about it, shrewdness and sharpness standing him in place of knowledge. a hog-drover was put in the cell with him one night and he won $ out of him at poker. the governor pardoned him out at three months. he ran for commonwealth's attorney and was elected; he made an able and efficient officer. he would prosecute unswervingly his closest friend. his political ally built the new jail, landon getting him the job. "i wonder who will be the first fool to get in here," he said to landon. he was; landon convicted him. men who despised his principles admired his intellect. in court-room repartee he could take the wind out of mcgregor's sails, and mcgregor was past master in the art. he was able, brilliant, unscrupulous, without a moral conscience, but with a keen intellectual one. he was no spendthrift in rascality, economised in employment of evil means, using them no farther than self-interest required. he could show kindness gracefully; ceased to stir up negroes when it ceased to pay. a neighbour who was civil when others snubbed him, went to washington when landon, at his zenith, was there in a high government position, and opened a law office. landon threw work his way. one day mcgregor, governor of his state, got a letter from landon; a great foreign dignitary, visiting this country, was to be entertained at landon's palace; would mcgregor lend the old state flag to be draped with the stars and stripes and the foreigner's flag over the end of the room where landon and the dignitary would stand while receiving? mcgregor sent it. in the little town in which he tricked and won his way, court was never paid to landon on account of his wealth and power, but people gradually came to treat him less coldly as he changed with the times. reconstruction tried men's souls and morals; a man who went to pieces under temptation sometimes came out a gentleman, or something like it, when temptation was over. landon won favors of all parties. cleveland gave him a position. a committee waited upon mr. mckinley, asking appointment for landon. mr. mckinley demurred: "i understand that in the south, mr. landon is not considered a gentleman." "we promised him this if he would render the party the service which he has rendered." the president had to yield. roosevelt, who came to the presidency without election, turned this man down with a firm hand. the devil on the santee chapter xxix the devil on the santee (a rice-planter's story) between the plantation where harmony and industry still prevailed and that in which was complete upheaval of the old order, were thousands showing its disintegration in intermediate grades. on the james river, in virginia, and on waterways in rice and cotton lands up which federal gunboats steamed, and on the sea islands, plantations innumerable furnished parallel cases to that set forth in the following narrative, which i had from captain thomas pinckney, of charleston, south carolina. when captain pinckney went down to el dorado, his plantation on the santee, in , he found things "in a shocking condition and the very devil to pay." the night before reaching his place he spent at the house of an english neighbour, who had had oversight of his property. he received this report: "your negroes sacked your house, stripped it of furniture, bric-a-brac, heirlooms, and divided these among themselves. they got it into their heads that the property of whites belongs to them; and went about taking possession with utmost determination and insolence. nearly all houses here have been served the same way. i sent for a united states officer and he made them restore furniture--the larger pieces, which are much damaged. small things--mementoes which you value as much or more--are gone for good. there was but one thing they did not remove--the mirror in the wall."[ ] "the negroes have been dancing shin-digs in your house," the englishman went on. "they have apportioned your land out among themselves." yet the captain was not fully prepared for the desolation that met his eyes when he went home next day. ever before, he had been met with glad greetings. now, instead of a merry crowd of darkeys rushing out with shouts of "howdy do, marster!" "howdy do, boss!", silence reigned and no soul bade him welcome as he made his way to his own door. within the house one faithful servant raised her voice in lonely and pathetic notes of joy. "where are the others?" he asked. "where are the men?" "don' know, marster." "tell any you can find to come here." she returned from search to say none could be found. dinner-hour passed. the men kept themselves invisible. he said to her: "i will be back tomorrow. tell the men i must see every one of them then." he returned armed. it was his known custom as a huntsman to carry a gun; hence he could carry one now without betraying distrust. "indeed, i felt no fear or distrust," he says; "these were my own servants, between whom and myself the kindest feelings had always existed. they had been carefully and conscientiously trained by my parents; i had grown up with some of them. they had been glad to see me from the time that, as a little boy, i accompanied my mother when she made saturday afternoon rounds of the quarters, carrying a bowl of sugar, and followed by her little handmaidens bearing other things coloured people liked. at every cabin that she found swept and cleaned, she left a present as an encouragement to tidiness. i could not realise a need of going protected among my own people, whom i could only remember as respectful, happy and affectionate." he bade the woman summon the men, and he waited under the trees. they came, sullen, reluctant, evincing no trace of old-time cordiality; addressed him as "you" or "cap'n"; were defiant; brought their guns. "men," he said, "i know you are free. i do not wish to interfere with your freedom. but i want my old hands to work my lands for me. i will pay you wages." they were silent. "i want you to put my place in order, and make it as fruitful as it used to be, when it supported us all in peace and plenty. i recognise your right to go elsewhere and work for some one else, but i want you to work for me and i will on my part do all i can for you." they made answer short and quick: "o yes, we gwi wuk! we gwi wuk all right. de union ginruls dee done tell us tuh come back f'om follin arter de army an' dig greenbacks outer de sod. we gwi wuk. we gwi wuk fuh ourse'ves. we ain' gwi wuk fuh no white man." "where will you go?" "we ain' gwine nowhar. we gwi wuk right here on de lan' whar we wuz bo'n an' whar belongs tuh us." some had not been born on the land, but had been purchased during the war by captain pinckney, in the kindness of his heart, to prevent family division in the settlement of an estate. one of this lot, returning from a yankee gunboat, swaggered to conference under the trees, in a fine uniform, carrying a handsome rifle, and declared he would work or not as he pleased, come and go as he pleased and consider the land his own. he went to his cabin, stood in the door, looked the captain in the eye, brought his gun down with a crash, and said: "yes, i gwi wuk right here. i'd like tuh see any man put me outer dis house!" captain pinckney, after waiting for the men to think over the situation, assembled them again. their attitude was more insolent and aggressive. he gave them ten days longer for decision; then all who would not work must go. his neighbours were having similar experiences. in a section where a few years before perfect confidence had existed between white and black, all white men went armed, weapons exposed to view. they were few, the blacks many. after consultation, they reported conditions to general devens at charleston, and suggested that he send down a representative. he sent a company under an officer whom the planters carried from plantation to plantation. negroes were called and addressed: "i have come to tell you people that these lands belong to these planters. the government has not given these lands to you; they do not belong to the government to give. you are free to hire out to whom you will, or to rent lands. but you must work. you can't live without work. i advise you to make contracts quickly. if crops are not made, you and your families will suffer." this federal visitation was not without wholesome effect. yet the negroes would not work till starvation drove them to it. the captain's head-plower came confessing: "cap'n, i 'clar' 'fo' gawd, suh, i ain' got no vittles fuh my wife an' chillun. i ain' got a day's rations in my cabin." "it's your own fault. you can go to work any minute you want to." "cap'n, i'se willin'. i been willin' fuh right smart while. i ain' nuvver seed dis way we been doin' wuz zackly right. i been 'fused in my min'. but de other niggers dee won' let me wuk. dee don' want me tuh wuk fuh you, suh. i'se feared." the captain was sorely tempted to give rations without conditions, but realised that he must stand his ground. in a day or two the head-plower reappeared. "cap'n, i come tuh ax you tuh lemme wuk fuh you, suh." "all right. there's your plow and mule ready. you can draw rations ahead." one by one all came back. they had suffered, and their ex-master had suffered with them. many planters had severer trials than the captain and his immediate neighbours. down on the coast, negroes demanded possession of plantations, barricaded them and shot at owners. they pulled up bridges so owners could not reach their homes, and in this and other ways kept the whites out of property. many planters never recovered their lands. when the time came that they might otherwise have done so, they were unable to pay accumulated taxes, and their homesteads passed forever out of their keeping. in making contracts, captain pinckney's negroes did not want money. "we don' trus' dat money. maybe it git lak confeddick money." in rice they saw a stable value. besides a share in the general crop, the captain gave each hand a little plot on which to grow rice for family consumption. when the general crop was divided into shares, they would say, after retaining a "sample": "keep my part, suh, an' sell it wid yo's." they knew he could do better for them than they could for themselves. in business and in the humanities, they looked to him as their truest friend. if any got sick, got out of food and clothes, got into a difficulty or trouble of any sort, they came or sent for him; sought his advice about family matters wherein they would trust no other man's counsel; trusted him in everything except politics, in regard to which they would rely upon the word of the most unprincipled stranger did he but appear under the title "republican," "radical," "union leaguer." carpet-baggers told them: "if the whites get into power, they will put you back in slavery, and will not let your wives wear hoop-skirts. if we win the election we will give you forty acres and a mule." "i know for a fact," captain pinckney assured me, "that at adam's run negroes came to the polls bringing halters for mules which they expected to carry home." the excitement of the election of , when native whites strained every nerve to win the negro vote, was fully felt on the santee. the morning news reached el dorado of hampton's election, the captain, according to custom, walked down to his wharf to give orders for the day. he found his wharf foreman sitting on an upturned canoe, his head hung down, the picture of dejection. "william," the captain said, "i have good news." "whut is it, suh?" "general hampton is elected." silence. presently the negro half lifted his face, and looking into the eyes of the white man with the saddest, most hopeless expression in his own, asked slowly: "well--cap'n--_whut you goin' tuh do wid we, now?_" the master's heart ached for him! remanded back to slavery--that was what negroes were taught to look for--to slavery not such as they had known, but in which all the follies and crimes to which they had been incited since freedom should be charged up to them. they did not, could not, realise how their old owners pitied, condoned, forgave. next election the struggle was renewed. after a hopeful barbecue, the captain's hands were threshing his rice crop. he called the foreman behind the stacks, and asked: "well, monday, what are you people going to do at the polls tomorrow?" "dee gwi vote de 'publican ticket, suh. ef dee tells you anything else, dee's lyin'. i gwi vote de 'publican ticket, suh. i got it tuh do. i b'lieve all what you white gent'muns been tellin' us at de barbecues. i knows myse'f dat dis way we niggers is a-doin' an' a-votin' ain' de bes' way fuh de country--anybody kin see dat. but den i got tuh vote de 'publican ticket, suh. we all has. las' 'lection i voted de democrack ticket an' dee killed my cow. abum, he vote de democrack ticket; dee killed his colt." monday counted off the negroes who had voted the "democrack" ticket, and every one had been punished. one had been bombarded in his cabin; another's rice crop had been taken--even the ground swept up and every grain carried off, leaving him utterly destitute. "i tell you, suh," said monday, "i got tuh do it on my 'count, an' on yo' 'count. you make me fo'man an' ef i didn' vote de 'publican ticket, i couldn' make dese niggers wuk. i couldn' do nothin' 'tall wid 'em." [illustration: mrs. wade hampton (daughter of governor mcduffie, of south carolina.) from a painting photographed by reckling & sons, columbia, s. c.] the night before an election the democratic club was in session at mcclellanville when mr. mcclellan came in and said there would be trouble next day. he had heard on the river that negroes were buying up ammunition and were coming armed to the polls. he had gone to stores and given orders that sale should be stopped. whites now tried to buy but found stock sold out. they collected available arms and ammunition in village and neighbourhood, and concealed these under a hay-wagon, which appeared next day near the polls, one of many of similar appearance. squads were detailed for duty near polls and wagon. blacks came armed, and, demurring, stacked muskets at the cross-roads which marked the hundred-yard limit prescribed by election ruling; all day they were in terrible humour. "i heard my own servants," captain pinckney tells, "between whom and myself the kindliest feelings had existed, say in threatening tones: 'we's here tuh stan' up fuh our rights. we ain' gwi leave dese polls. none our colour got tuh leave dese polls 'fo' dee close.'" whites preserved a front of unconcern they were far from feeling. seventy-five whites and blacks voted at this precinct. guns once in the hands of the blacks, and turned against this little handful of whites, god help all concerned! whites had begun to hope the day would end smoothly, when a trifling incident seemed to precipitate conflict. two drunken white men rode hallooing along the road. the negroes, taking this as a pretext for a fight, rushed for their muskets. an old trial justice, mr. leland, sprang on a box and called loudly: "come here! come here!" they looked back. "i am the peace officer!" he yelled. "come, listen to me!" threatening, curious, sullen, they came back some paces with an air of defiance, of determination suspended for the moment. "i don't like the looks of things," said the old trial justice, "and i am going to call on the most influential men in the community to act as my constabulary force and help me maintain order. pinckney!" the gunboat desperado stepped forward. "calhoun! de saussure! huger! horry! porcher! gaillard!" so the wily old justice went on, calling names famous in the annals of south carolina, and black men answered. "line up there! take the oath of office! hold up your hands and swear that, so help you god, you will help me maintain the laws and preserve the peace and dignity of the state of south carolina!" he happened to have in his pocket a dozen old badges of office, and swift as he swore the men in, he pinned badges on them. he made them a flighty, heroic little speech and the face of events was changed. he had picked off ring-leaders in mischief for justices of the peace. whites found it difficult to pocket smiles while beholding them strutting around, proud as peacocks, and reducing to meekness inoffensive negroes who would never have made any disturbance in the first place but for the prodding of these same new "limbs of the law." it was trying in a different way to see a peaceable, worthy negro knocked about incontinently by bullies "showing off." yet the matter in hand was to get the day over without bloodshed. and this end was achieved. avoidance of bloodshed was not attained at all public meetings, as students of reconstruction history know too well. "and all sorts of lies went north about us," says the captain, "the radicals and their paid allies sending them; and sometimes, good people writing about things they did not understand or knew by hearsay only. i stopped reading northern papers for a long time--they made me mad. the 'tribune's' false accounts of the ellenton riot exasperated me beyond endurance. it got its story from a yankee schoolmarm who got it from a negro woman. i was so aggravated that i sat down and wrote whitelaw reid my mind. i told him i had subscribed to the 'tribune' for years, but now it was so partisan it could not tell the truth; its reports were not to be trusted and i could not stand it any longer; and he would oblige me by never sending me another copy; he could give the balance of my subscription to some charity. i directed his attention to the account of the ellenton riot in the 'new york herald' and reminded him that the truth was as accessible to one paper as the other. reid did not answer my letter except through an editorial dealing with mine and similar epistles." he said in part, to the best of the captain's memory: "we have received indignant letters from the south in regard to recent articles in this paper. a prominent south carolinian writes: 'i can't stand the "tribune" any longer!' one party from texas says: 'stop that d----d paper!' now, all this for reasons which can be explained in a few words. when the 'tribune' is exposing republican rascalities, the southerners read it with pleasure. but when it exposes democratic rascalities, they write: 'stop that d----d paper!'" battle for the state house chapter xxx battle for the state-house south carolina's first governor under her second reconstruction was general r. k. scott, of ohio, ex-freedmen's bureau chief. his successor was franklin j. moses, jr., scalawag, licentiate and débauché, four years speaker of the house, the "robber governor." moses' successor was d. h. chamberlain, a cultivated new englander, who began his public career as governor scott's attorney general. a feature of the scott-moses administration was a black army , strong, enrollment and equipment alone costing over a half-million dollars, $ , of which, on moses' admission, went into his own pocket as commission on purchases. the state's few white companies were ordered to surrender arms and disband. the state house was refurnished on this scale: $ clocks were replaced by $ ones; $ looking-glasses by $ mirrors; $ window curtains by $ to $ , ones; $ benches by $ sofas; $ chairs by $ chairs; $ tables by $ tables; $ desks, $ desks; forty-cent spittoons, $ cuspidors, etc. chandeliers cost $ , to $ , each. each legislator was provided with webster's unabridged, a $ calendar ink-stand, $ gold pen; railroad passes and free use of the western union telegraph were perquisites. as "committee rooms," forty bed-rooms were furnished each session; legislators going home, carried the furniture. at restaurant and bar, open day and night in the state house, legislators refreshed themselves and friends at state expense with delicacies, wines, liquors, cigars, stuffing pockets with the last. orders for outside entertainments, given through bar and restaurant, were paid by the state. an incident of radical rule: "hell hole swamp," purchased by the benevolent land commission as site for homes for homeless negroes. another: moses lost $ , on a horse race; next day the house of representatives voted him $ , as "gratuity." the order on the treasurer, signed by moses as speaker, to pay this "gratuity" to moses is on file in columbia. bills made by officials and legislators and paid by the state, reveal a queer medley! costly liquors, wines, cigars, baskets of champagne, hams, oysters, rice, flour, lard, coffee, tea, sugar, suspenders, linen-bosom shirts, cravats, collars, gloves (masculine and feminine, by the box), perfumes, bustles, corsets, palpitators, embroidered flannel, ginghams, silks, velvets, stockings, chignons, chemises, gowns, garters, fans, gold watches and chains, diamond finger-rings and ear-rings, russia-leather work-boxes, hats, bonnets; in short, every article that can be worn by man, woman or infant; every article of furniture and house furnishing from a full parlour-set to a baby's swinging cradle; not omitting a $ metallic coffin. penitentiary bills display in abundant quantities fine liquors, wines, delicacies and plain provisions; yet convicts nearly starved; bills for the coloured orphan asylum, under coloured general senator beverly nash's direction, show silks, satins, corsets, kid gloves, all manners of delicacies and substantials for the table, yet it came out that orphans got at "breakfast, hominy, mackerel and bean coffee--no milk. at dinner, a little bacon or beef, cornbread and hominy, sometimes a little baker's bread; at supper, a slice of baker's bread and black molasses, each child dipping a slice into a saucer passed around." the state-paid gardener worked senator nash's garden; coal and wood bought "for the asylum" was delivered at senator nash's; ditto lumber and other supplies. the matron sold dry goods and groceries. i have mentioned trifles. for big "steals" and "hauls," railroads, bond and printing ring swindles, consult the fraud reports. [illustration: radical members of the legislature of south carolina. these are the photographs of sixty-three members of the "reconstructed" legislature of south carolina. fifty of them were negroes or mulattos; thirteen were white men. of the twenty-two among them who could read and write only eight used the vernacular grammatically. forty-one made their mark with the help of an amanuensis. nineteen were taxpayers to an aggregate of $ . . the other forty-four paid no taxes, and yet this body was empowered to levy on the white people of the state taxes amounting to $ , , .] the state university was negroised, adult white and black men matriculating for the express purpose; its scholastic standard was reduced below that of an academy. attempt to negroise the deaf and dumb asylum closed it. at the insane asylum the tact and humanity of dr. j. f. ensor, superintendent, made the situation possible to whites.[ ] south carolinians beheld franklin j. moses, jr., owner of the beautiful and historic hampton-preston home; at receptions and fêtes the carriages of a ring-streaked, striped and speckled host rolled up gaily to ancient gateways hitherto bars exclusive to all that was not aristocratic and refined. one-time serving-maids sat around little tables under the venerable trees and luxuriant vines and sipped wine in state. a columbian tells me she used to receive a condescending bow from her whilom maid driving by in a fine landau. another maid, driving in state past her ex-mistress's door, turned her head in shame and confusion. one maid visited her ex-mistress regularly, leaving her carriage a square or two off; was her old, respectful, affectionate self, and said these hours were her happiest. "i'se jes myse'f den." a citizen, wishing to aid his butler, secured letters of influence for him and sent him among rulers of the land. george returned: "marster, i have associated with gentlemen all my life. i can't keep comp'ny with these folks. i'd rather stay with you, i don' care how poor we are." one night when rev. william martin's family were asleep, there came a knocking at the door. miss isabella martin answered. maum letty stood outside weeping: "miss isabella, robert's (her son) been killed. he went to a party at general nash's an' dee all got to fightin'. i come to ax you to let me bring 'im here." permission was given. a stream of negroes flowed in and out of the basement rooms where the dead was laid. and it was, "the general says this," "the general says that." presently the general came. "good morning, beverly," said miss martin. "good morning, miss isabella;" he had been a butler and had nice manners. "this is a sad business, beverly." "yes, miss isabella. it happened at my house, but i am not responsible. there was a party there; all got to fighting--you know how coloured people will do--and this happened." it is law for the coroner to see a corpse, where death has occurred from violence, before any removal or change is made. the coroner did not see robert until noon. general nash had gotten the body out of his house quickly as possible. belles of columbia were misses rollins, mulattoes or quadroons. their drawing-room was called "republican headquarters." thick carpets covered floors; handsome cabinets held costly bric-a-brac; a $ , piano stood in a corner; legislative documents bound in morocco reposed with big albums on expensive tables. jewelers' and other shops poured treasures at misses rollins' feet. in their salon, mingling white and dusky statesmen wove the destinies of the old commonwealth. coloured courtezans swept into furniture emporiums, silk trains rustling in their wake, and gave orders for "committee rooms"; rode in fine carriages through the streets, stopped in front of this or that store; bareheaded white salesmen ran out to show goods or jewels. judge m. (who went over to the radicals for the loaves and fishes and ever afterward despised himself) was in washington with a black and tan committee, got drunk, and for a joke took a yellow demi-mondaine, a state official's wife, on his arm and carried her up to president and mrs. grant and introduced her at a presidential reception. black speaker elliott said ("cincinnati commercial," sept. , ): "if chamberlain is nominated, i shall vote for hampton." a member of the chamberlain legislature tells me this is how the chamberlain-elliot split began. mrs. chamberlain was a beautiful woman, a perfect type of high-born, high-bred, anglo-saxon loveliness, noble in bearing, lily-like in fairness. she brought a northern governor, his wife, and other guests to the state house. they were standing near my informant in the "white part" of the house, when elliott, black, thick-lipped, sprang down from the speaker's chair, came forward and asked a gentleman in attendance for introduction. this gentleman spoke to alice chamberlain. the lily-white lady lifted her eyes toward elliott, shivered slightly, and said: "no!" elliott did not forgive that. if the incident were not on good authority, i should doubt it. at chamberlain's receptions, the black and tan tide poured in and out of his doors; he entertained black legislators, and presumably elliott, at dinners and suppers. but all men knew chamberlain's rôle was repugnant to him and his exquisite wife. what she suffered during the hours of his political successes, who can tell? tradition says she was cut to the quick when a black minister was called in by her husband to perform the last rites of the church over her child. any white clergyman of the city would have responded on call. there were many to say chamberlain turned to political account even so sacred a thing. others to say that if white ministers had shown him scant attention he was right not to call upon them. and yet i cannot blame the white clergy for having stood aloof, courting no favours, of the foreigner who fraternised with and was one of the leaders of the state's spoilers, whether he was a spoiler himself or no. governor chamberlain was fitted for a better part than he had to play; he won sympathy and admiration of many good citizens. he was a gentleman; he desired to ally himself with gentlemen; and the connections into which ambition and the times forced him was one of the social tragedies of the period. he began his administration denouncing corruption within his own party and promising reforms. at first, he investigated and quieted race troubles, disbanding negro militia, and putting a stop to the drilling of negroes. he bestowed caustic criticisms on "negrophilists," which elliott brought against him later. he was at war with his legislature; when that body elected w. j. whipper, an ignorant negro gambler, and ex-governor moses to high judicial positions, he refused to commission them. of that election he wrote general grant: "it sends a thrill of horror through the state. it compels men of all parties who respect decency, virtue, or civilisation, to utter their loudest protests." he prophesied immediate "reorganization of the democratic party as the only means left, in the judgment of its members, for opposing solid and reliable front to this terrible _crevasse_ of misgovernment and public debauchery." there was then no democratic party within the state; democrats had been combining with better-class republicans in compromise tickets. to an invitation from the new england society of charleston, to address them on "forefathers' day," he said: "if there was ever an hour when the spirit of the puritans, the spirit of undying, unconquerable enmity and defiance to wrong ought to animate their sons, it is this hour, here, in south carolina. the civilisation of the puritan and the cavalier, the roundhead and the huguenot, is in peril." a new campaign was at hand. chamberlain's name was heard as leader of a new compromise ticket. he had performed services that seemed inspired by genuine regard for the old state and pride in her history. he was instrumental in having the washington light infantry, of charleston, at bunker hill centennial, and bringing the old guard, of new york, and the boston light infantry to fort moultrie's centennial, when he presented a flag to the washington light infantry and made a speech that pleased carolinians mightily. he and hampton spoke from the same platform and sat at the same banquet. he was alive to south carolina's interest at the centennial in philadelphia. the state began to honour him in invitations to make addresses at college commencements and on other public occasions. a democratic convention in may came near nominating him. another met in august. between these he shook confidence in his sincerity. yet men from the low country said: "let's nominate him. he has tried to give honest government." men from the up country: "he can not rule his party, his party may rule him." men from the low country: "we cannot elect a straight ticket." men from the up country: "we have voted compromise tickets the last time. we are not going to the polls unless we have a straight, clean white ticket." they sent for hampton and nominated him. his campaign reads like a tale of the old crusades. to his side came his men of war, general butler, general gary and colonel haskell. at his name the people lifted up their hearts in hope. governor chamberlain had denounced the rascalities of elliott, whipper's election in the list. he was nominated by the blacks and tans, on a ticket with r. h. cleaves, mulatto; f. l. cardoza, mulatto; attorney general r. b. elliott, black, etc. he walked into the convention arm in arm with elliott. soon he was calling for federal troops to control elections, charging all racial disorders to whites; ruling harsh judgments against red shirts and rifle clubs; classing the washington light infantry among disorderly bodies, though he had been worthily proud of this company when it held the place of honour in the bunker hill parade and, cheered to the echo, marched through boston, carrying the battle-flag of colonel william washington of the revolution. that was a picturesque campaign, when every county had its "hampton day," and the red shirts rode, and ladies and children raised arches of bloom and scattered flowers in front of the old cavalry captain's curvetting steed. barbecues were spread for coloured brethren, and engaging speakers tried to amuse, instruct and interest them. the red shirts, like the ku klux, sprang into existence almost as by accident. general hampton was to speak at anderson. the saturday before colonel r. w. simpson proposed to the pendleton club the adoption of a badge, suggesting a red shirt as cheap and conspicuous. pickens men caught up the idea. red store supplies ran out and another club donned white ones. the three clubs numbered a body of three hundred or more stalwart, fine-looking men of the hill-country, who had nearly all seen service on battlefields, and who rode like centaurs. preceded by the pendleton brass band, they made an imposing procession at the fair grounds on the day of the speaking, and were greeted with ringing cheers. the band-wagon was red; red flags floated from it and from the heads of four horses in red trappings; the musicians wore red garments; instruments were wrapped in red. the effect was electrical. in marching and countermarching military tactics were employed with the effect of magnifying numbers to the eyes of the negroes, who had had no idea that so many white men were alive. the red shirt uniform idea spread; a great red-shirted army sprang into existence and was on hand at public meetings to see that speakers of the white man's party had equal hearing with the black republicans. the red shirts rode openly by day and by night, and where they wound their scarlet ways women and children felt new sense of security. many under its protection were negroes. hampton strove hard to win the negro vote. he had been one of the first after the war to urge qualified suffrage for them. in public speeches he declared that, if elected, he would be "the governor of all the people of south carolina, white and black." he got a large black vote. years after, when he lay dying, friends bending to catch his last words, heard him murmur: "god bless my people, white and black!" mrs. henry martin tells me of some fearful days following the pleasant ones when her father, professor holmes, entertained the old guard in his garden among the roses and oleanders. "one night, my brother, after seeing a young lady home from a party, was returning along king street with mr. evaugh, when they encountered a crowd of negro rowdies and ran into a store and under a counter. the negroes threw cobble-stones--the street was in process of paving--on them. my brother was brought home in a wagon. when our mother removed his shirt, the skin came wholly from his back with it; he lived several years, but never fully recovered from his injuries. my father cautioned us to stoop and crawl in passing the window on the stairway to his room. in other houses, people were stooping and crawling as they passed windows; a shadow on a curtain was a target for a rock or a bullet. black women were in arms, carrying axes or hatchets in their hands hanging down at their sides, their aprons or dresses half-concealing the weapons." "there are , black men in the state who can use winchesters and , black women who can light a torch and use a knife," said "daddy cain," ex-congressman and candidate for reëlection, in his paper, "the missionary record," july, , and in addressing a large negro gathering, when rev. mr. adams said, "amen!" northern papers were full of the hamburg and ellenton riots, some blaming whites, some blacks, some distributing blame impartially. facts at cainhoy blazed out the truth about that place, at least. the whites, unarmed except for pistols which everybody carried then, were holding peaceable meeting when fired into from ambush by negroes with muskets, who chased them, continuing to fire. a youth of eighteen fell, with thirty-three buckshot in him; another, dying, wrote his mother that he had been giving no trouble. a carpenter and a shoemaker from massachusetts, and an aged crippled gentleman were victims. "kill them! kill them all! dis town is ours!" old charlestonians recall hearing a hoarse cry like this from negro throats (sept. , ), recall seeing mr. milton buckner killed while trying to protect negroes from negroes. they recall another night of unforgettable horror, when stillness was almost as awful as tumult; frightened blacks were in-doors, but how long would they remain so? rifle clubs were protecting a meeting of black democrats. not a footfall was heard on the streets; not a sound broke the stillness save the chiming of st. michael's bells. women and children and old men listened for the alarm that might ring out any moment that the negroes had risen _en masse_ for slaughter. they thanked god when presently a sound of careless footsteps, of talk and laughter, broke upon the night; the rifle club men were returning in peace to their firesides. general hunt, u. s. a., reported on the charleston riot, november, , when white men, going quietly to places of business, were molested by blacks, and young ellicott walker was killed. the morning after the election general hunt "walked through the city and saw numbers of negroes assembled at corners of meeting and broad streets," and was convinced there would be trouble, "though there was nothing in the manner of the whites gathered about the bulletin board to provoke it." surgeon de witt, u. s. a., told him "things looked bad on king and other streets where negroes insisted on pushing ladies off the sidewalks." when walker was killed, and the real trouble began, general hunt hurried to the station house; the marshal asked him for assistance; reports came in that negroes were tearing up trees and fences, assailing whites, and demanding arms of the police. general hunt found at the station house "a number of gentlemen, young and old," who offered aid. marshal wallace said, "but these are seditious rifle clubs." said general hunt, "they are gentlemen whom i can trust and i am glad to have them." pending arrival of his troops, he placed them at the marshal's disposal. the general relates: "they fell in with his forces; as i was giving instructions, he interposed, saying the matter was in his hands. he then started off. i heard that police were firing upon and bayonetting quiet white people. my troops arrived and additional white armed citizens. one of the civil authorities said it was essential the latter be sent home. i declined sending these armed men on the streets, and directed them to take position behind my troops and remain there, which direction they obeyed implicitly." with the mayor and other radical leaders general hunt held conference; the negro police was aggravating the trouble, he proposed that his troops patrol streets; the mayor objected. "why cannot the negroes be prevailed upon to go quietly home?" the general asked. "a negro has as much right to be on the streets armed as a white man." "but i am not here to discuss abstract rights. a bloody encounter is imminent. these negroes can be sent home without difficulty by you, their leaders." "you should be able to guarantee whites against the negroes, if you can guarantee negroes against the whites." "the cases are different. i have no control over the blacks through their reason or intelligence. they have been taught that a democratic victory will remand them to slavery. their excited fears, however unfounded, are beyond my control. you, their leaders, can quiet and send them home. the city's safety is at stake." the mayor said he must direct general hunt's troops; hunt said he was in command. the mayor wired chamberlain to disband the rifle clubs "which were causing all the mischief." hunt soon received orders to report at washington. "hampton is elected!" the people rejoiced. "chamberlain is elected!" the radicals cried, and disputed returns. the radical returning board threw out the democratic vote in laurens and edgefield and made the house radical. the state supreme court (republican) ordered the board to issue certificates to the democratic members from these counties. the board refused; the court threw the board in jail; the united states court released the board. the supreme court issued certificates to these members. november , , democrats organised in carolina hall, w. h. wallace, speaker; radicals in the state house, with e. w. mackey, speaker, and counting in eight radical members from laurens and edgefield. the democratic house sent a message to the radical senate in the state house that it was ready for business. senate took no notice. on chamberlain's call upon president grant, general ruger was in columbia with a federal regiment. [illustration: the southern cross general hampton, while governor, built this, his residence, with his own hands and with the assistance of his faithful negroes. the men in the picture, from left to right, are: hon. leroy f. youmans, general hampton, judge mciver, hon. joseph d. pope, general james mcgowan. photograph by reckling & sons, columbia, s. c.] november , the wallace house marched to the state house, members from edgefield and laurens in front. a closed door, guarded by united states troops, confronted them. j. c. sheppard, edgefield, began to read from the state house steps a protest, addressed to the crowd around the building and to the nation. the radicals, fearful of its effect, gave hurried consent to admission. each representative was asked for his pistol and handed it over. at the hall of representatives, another closed and guarded door confronted them. they saw that they had been tricked and quietly returned to carolina hall. the people were deeply incensed. general hampton was in town, doing his mightiest to keep popular indignation in bounds. he held public correspondence with general ruger, who did not relish the charge that he was excluding the state's representatives from the state house and promised that the wallace house should not be barred from the outer door, over which he had control. but its members knew they took their lives in their hands when they started for the hall. a committee or advance guard of seven passed ruger's guard at the outer door. col. w. s. simpson (now president of the board of directors of clemson college), who was one of the seven, tells me: "on the first floor was drawn up a regiment of united states troops with fixed bayonets; all outside doors were guarded by troops. upstairs in the large lobby was a crowd of negro roughs. committee-rooms were filled with chamberlain's state constables. general dennis, from new orleans, a character of unsavoury note, with a small army of assistants, was doorkeeper of the hall. within the hall, the mackey house, with one hundred or more sergeants-at-arms, was assembled, waiting mackey's arrival to go into session." the seven dashed upstairs and for the door of the hall. the doorkeepers, lolling in the lobby, rushed between them and the door and formed in line; committee presented certificates; doorkeepers refused to open the door. "come, men, let's get at it!" cried col. alex. haskell, seizing the doorkeeper in front of him. each man followed his example; a struggle began; the door parted in the middle; col. simpson, third to slip through, describes the mackey house, "negroes chiefly, every man on his feet, staring at us with eyes big as saucers, mouths open, and nearly scared to death." meanwhile, the door, lifted off its hinges, fell with a crash. the full democratic house marched in, headed by speaker wallace, who took possession of the speaker's chair. members of his house took seats on the right of the aisle, negroes giving way and taking seats on the left. speaker wallace raised the gavel and called the house to order. speaker mackey entered, marched up and ordered speaker wallace to vacate the chair. speaker wallace directed his sergeant-at-arms to escort mr. mackey to the floor where he belonged. speaker mackey directed his sergeant-at-arms to perform that office for general wallace. each sergeant-at-arms made feints. speaker mackey took another chair on the stand and called the house to order. there was bedlam, with two speakers, two clerks, two legislative bodies, trying to conduct business simultaneously! the "lockout" lasted four days and nights. democrats were practically prisoners, daring not go out, lest they might not get in. radicals stayed in with them, individual members coming and going as they listed, a few at a time. the first day, democrats had no dinner or supper; no fire on their side of the house, and the weather bitterly cold. through nights, negroes sang, danced and kept up wild junketings. the third night democrats received blankets through windows; meals came thus from friends outside; and fruit, of which they made pyramids on their desks. two negroes came over from the mackey side; converts were welcomed joyously, and apples, oranges and bananas divided. the opposition was enraged at defection; shouting, yelling and rowdyism broke out anew. both sides were armed. the house on the left and the house on the right were constantly springing to their feet, glaring at each other, hands on pistols. wallace sat in his place, calm and undismayed; mackey in his, brave enough to compel admiration; more than once he ran over to the speaker's stand, next to the democratic side, and held down his head to receive bullets he was sure were coming. yet between these armed camps, small human kindnesses and courtesies went on; and they joined in laughter at the comedy of their positions. between speakers, though, there was war to the knife, there was also common bond of misery. the third afternoon democrats learned that their massacre was planned for that night. negro roughs were congregating in the building; the hunkidory club, a noted gang of black desperadoes, were coming up from charleston. a body of assassins were to be introduced into the gallery overlooking the floor of the hall; here, even a small band could make short work its own way of any differences below. chamberlain informed mackey; mackey informed wallace. hampton learned of the conspiracy through ruger; he said: "if such a thing is carried out, i cannot insure the safety of your command, nor the life of a negro in the state." the city seethed with repressed anxiety and excitement. telegrams and runners were sent out; streets filled with newcomers, some in red shirts, some in old confederate uniforms with trousers stuffed in boots, canteens slung over shoulders. hampton's soldiers had come. twenty young men of columbia contrived, through general ruger, it is said, to get into the gallery, thirty into the hall, the former armed with sledge-hammers to break open doors at first intimation of collision. the hook and ladder company prepared to scale the walls. the train bringing the hunkidory club broke down in a swamp, aided possibly by some peace-loving agency. the crowding of red shirt and rifle clubs into the city took effect. the night passed in intense anxiety, but in safety. next day, speaker wallace read notification that at noon the democrats, by order of president grant, would be ejected by federal troops if, before that time, they had not vacated the state house; in obedience to the federal government, he and the other democratic members would go, protesting, however, against this federal usurpation of authority. he adjourned the house to meet immediately in carolina hall. blankets on their shoulders, they marched out. a tremendous crowd was waiting. far as the eye could reach, main street was a mass of men, quiet and apparently unarmed. i have heard one of hampton's old captains tell how things were outside the state house. "the young men of columbia were fully armed. clerks in our office had arms stowed away in desks and all around the rooms; we were ready to grab them and rush on the streets at a moment's notice. it was worse than war times. we had two cannon, loaded with chips of iron, concealed in buildings, and trained on the state house windows and to rake the street. we marched to the state house in a body. general hampton had gone inside. he had told us not to follow him. he and general butler, his aide, had been doing everything to keep us quiet. he knew we had come to columbia to fight if need be. 'i will tell you,' he said, 'when it is time to fight. you have made me your governor, and, by heaven, i will be your governor!' again and again he promised that. usually, we obeyed him like lambs. but we followed him to the state house. "federal troops were stationed at the door. what right had they there? it was our state house! why could roughs and toughs and the motley crowd of earth go in, on a pass from doorkeeper dennis, a northern rascal imported by way of new orleans, while we, the state's own sons and taxpayers, could not enter? we pressed forward. we were told not to. we did not heed. we were ready not to heed even the crossed bayonets of the guard. things are very serious when they reach that pass. the guard in blue used the utmost patience. federal soldiers were in sympathy with us. colonel bomford,[ ] their officer, ran up the state house steps, shouting: 'general hampton! general hampton! for god's sake come down and send your men back!' in an instant general hampton was on the steps, calmly waving back the multitude: 'all of you go back up the street. i told you not to come here. do not come into collision with the federal troops. i advise all, white and black, who care for the public welfare to go home quietly. you have elected me your governor, and by the eternal god, i will be your governor! trust me for that! now, go back!' we obeyed like children. on the other side of the state house a man ran frantically waving his hat and shouting: 'go back! go back! general hampton says go back!' this man was ex-governor scott, who a few years before had raised a black army for the intimidation and subjugation of south carolina!" the wallace house sat, until final adjournment, in south carolina hall, the mackey house in the state house. governor chamberlain, with the town full of rifle clubs supposed to be thirsting for his gore, rode back and forth in his open carriage to the state house and occupied the executive offices there, refusing to resign them to general hampton. he was inaugurated inside the "bayonet house"; general hampton in the open streets. general hampton conducted the business of the state in two office-rooms furnished with spartan simplicity. the wallace house said to the people: "pay to tax collectors appointed by governor hampton, ten per cent of the tax rate you have been paying governor chamberlain's tax collectors, and we will run your government on it." so the people paid their tax to hampton's collectors and to no others. without money, the chamberlain government fell to pieces. northern sentiment had undergone change. tourists had spread far and wide the fame of black and tan legislatures. mr. pike, of maine, had written "the prostrate state." in tableaux before a great mass-meeting and torchlight procession in new york, south carolina had appeared kneeling in chains before the goddess of liberty. the north was protesting against misuse of federal power in the south. general sherman said: "i have always tried to save our soldiers from the dirty work. i have always thought it wrong to bolster up weak state governments by our troops." "let the south alone!" was the cry. one of grant's last messages reflected this temper. president hayes was exhibiting a spirit the south had not counted on. he sent for hampton and chamberlain to confer with him in washington. the old hero's journey to the national capital and back was an ovation. soon after his return, chamberlain resigned the keys and offices of the state house. chamberlain was bitter and felt that the federal government had played him false. with governor nicholls established in louisiana and governor hampton in south carolina, the battle between the carpet-baggers and the native southerners for their state houses was over. the federal soldiers packed up joyfully, and the southerners cheered their departure. louisiana had been engaged in a struggle very similar to south carolina's. for three months she had two governors, two legislatures, two supreme courts. again and again was her capitol in a state of siege. once two republican parties faced each other in battle array for its possession--as two republican parties had faced each other in little rock contending for arkansas's capitol. one morning, louisianians woke to find the entrance commanded by united states artillery posted on the "midnight order" of a drunken united states district judge. once a thousand negroes, impressed as soldiers, lived within the walls, eating, drinking, sleeping, until the place became unspeakably filthy and small-pox broke out. more than once for its possession there was warfare on the levees, bloodshed in barricaded streets. once the citizens were marching joyfully to its occupation past the united states custom house, and the united states soldiers crowded the windows, waved their caps and cheered. once members were ejected by federal force; colonel de trobriand regretting that he had the work to do and the louisianans bearing him no grudge; it was, "pardon me, gentlemen, i must put you out." "pardon us, that we give you the trouble." these corrupt governments had glamours. officials had money to burn. new orleans was like another monte carlo for one while. gambling parlours stood open to women and minors. then was its twenty-five-year charter granted the louisiana state lottery. at a garden party in washington not long ago, a justice of the supreme court said in response to some question i put: "it would take the pen of a zola to describe reconstruction in louisiana! it is so dark a chapter in our national history, i do not like to think of it." a zola might base a great novel on that life and death struggle between politicians and races in the land of cotton and sugar plantations, the swamps and bayous and the mighty mississippi, where the carpet-bag governments had a standing army, of blacks chiefly, with cavalry, infantry, artillery, and navy of warships going up and down waterways; where prominent citizens were arrested on blank warrants, carried long distances, held for months; where women and children listened for the tramp, tramp, of black soldiers on piazzas, the crash of a musket on the door, the demand for the master or son of the house! dixie after the war is a mine for the romancer, historian, ethnologist. never before in any age or place did such conditions exist. the sudden investiture of the uncivilised slave with full-fledged citizenship wrought tragedy and comedy not ready to homer's, shakespeare's or cervantes's pen. the strange and curious race-madness of the american republic will be a study for centuries to come. that madness took a child-race out of a warm cradle, threw it into the ocean of politics--the stormiest and most treacherous we have known--and bade it swim for its own life and the life of the nation! crime against womanhood chapter xxxi crime against womanhood the rapist is a product of the reconstruction period. in the beginning he commanded observation north less by reason of what he did than by reason of what was done unto him. his chrysalis was a uniform; as a soldier he could force his way into private homes, bullying and insulting white women; he was often commissioned to tasks involving these things. he came into life in the abnormal atmosphere of a time rife with discussions of social equality theories, contentions for coeducation and intermarriage. general weitzel, resigning his command, wrote from la fourche and la teche to butler in new orleans: "i can not command these negro regiments. women and children are in terror. it is heartrending."[ ] general halleck wrote, april, , to general grant of a negro corps: "a number of cases of atrocious rape by these men have already occurred. their influence on the coloured people is reported bad. i hope you will remove it." similar reports were made by other federal officers. governor perry, of south carolina, says: "i continued remonstrances to secretary seward on the employment of negro troops, gave detail of their atrocious conduct. at newberry ... (crozier's story). at anderson, they protected and carried off a negro who had wantonly murdered his master. at greenville, they knocked down citizens in the streets without slightest provocation. at pocotaligo, they entered a gentleman's house, and after tying him, violated the ladies." mr. seward wrote that northern sentiment was sensitive about negro troops. when governor perry handed generals meade and gillmore the pocotaligo report, general meade said he was opposed to negro troops and was trying to rid the army of them, but had to exercise great caution not to offend northern sentiment. general gillmore had some offenders executed. federal commanders largely relieved the south of black troops, but carpet-bag officials restored them in the form of militia. i have told elsewhere crozier's story. let me contrast his slayers with a son of industry it was my honour to know, uncle dick, my father's coachman. during the war, when my father had occasion to send a large sum in gold coin through the country, uncle dick carried it belted around his body under his shirt. my father's ward was attending the southern female college in danville when the president and his cabinet, fleeing from richmond, reached that place. knowing that danville might become a fighting center, mr. williams t. davis, principal, wrote my father to send for sue. the way to reach danville was by private conveyance, seventy miles or more. uncle dick, mounted high on his carriage-box, a white-headed, black-faced knight-errant of chivalry, set forth. nobody knew where the armies were. he might have to cut his horses loose from his carriage, mount sue on one, himself take the other, and bring her through the forest. in due time the carriage rolled into our yard, uncle dick proud and happy on his box, sue inside wrapped in rugs, sound asleep, for it was midnight. that is the way we could trust our black men. the following account by an ex-confederate captain shows how general schofield handled a case of the crime which is now under discussion: "a young white girl on her way to sunday school was attacked by a negro; 'attempted' assault, the family said; it is usually put that way; 'consummated' nails the victim to a stake. our people were in a state of terror; they seemed paralysed; they were inured to dispossession and outrage. no one seemed to know what to do. i picked up several young men and trailed down the ruffian. then i sent a letter to general schofield (with whom i had some acquaintance, as we had met each other hunting), asking instructions. he sent two detectives and a file of soldiers, requesting that i call for further assistance if occasion demanded. i wrote full statement of facts, had the girl's testimony taken in private; evidence was laid before general schofield; the negro was sent to the penitentiary for eighteen years. the promptness of his action inspired people here with hope. we had no ku klux in virginia--one reason, i have always thought, was the swiftness with which punishment was meted out in that case." i have, as i believe, from judge lynch himself particulars of another case in which, the law being inactive, citizens took justice into their own hands: "two young girls, daughters of a worthy german settler, were out to bring up cows, when attacked by a negro tramp; they ran screaming, but were overtaken; he seized the older; the younger, about ten years old, continued to run. some passers on the nearest road, a private and lonely one, rushed to the relief of the older girl, who was making such outcry as she could. we found her prostrate, the negro having her pinioned with one knee on either arm. his jack-knife open, was held between his teeth, and he was stuffing his handkerchief in her mouth to stifle her cries. we rescued her, took him prisoner, carried him to the nearest magistrate, a carpet-bag politician, who committed him to jail to await the action of the grand jury. he made his escape a few days afterward, was recaptured and relodged in jail. ten days later a band was organised among respectable citizens in and around our town; a northern settler was a member. one detachment set out about dark for the rendezvous where they met a score more of resolute, armed men, some with masks, some without. they effected entrance into the jail, but their way was arrested when they found the prisoner in a casemated cell, which other negroes readily pointed out, one offering a lamp; a railroad section hand procured crow-bars with which the casemate was crushed in; the prisoner was taken in charge. he stood mute; seemed calm and unmoved; was put in a close carriage, the purpose being to drive him to the exact spot of his crime, but it coming on day, the company thought best to execute him at once. he was placed upon a mule; a rope attached to his neck was tied to the limb of a tree about ten feet above. the leader now learned of an intention to riddle his body with bullets when the drop occurred. each member had pledged obedience to orders; each had been pledged to take no liquor for hours before, or during this expedition--pledges so far rigidly observed. the leader addressed them: 'we are here to avenge outrage on a helpless child, and to let it be well known that such crime shall not go unpunished in this community. but mutilation of this fiend's remains will be a reflection upon ourselves and not a dispensation of justice.' "the negro, seeing his end surely at hand, broke down, pleading for mercy; confessed that he had appreciated in advance the great peril in which his crime might place him, but had argued that, as a stranger, he would not be liable to identification, and that as the country was thickly wooded, he was sure of escape. 'but, fo' gawd, gent'mun, ef a white man f'om de norf hadn't put't in my hade dat a white 'oman warn' none too good fuh--' "word was given, and he dropped into eternity. it was broad daylight when the party got back to town. they overtook several negro men going to work who knew full well what they had been about. but there was no sign of protest or demur. the commonwealth's attorney made efforts to ascertain the perpetrators of the deed, but as the company entered the town and jail so quietly and left it with so little disturbance that only one person in the village had knowledge of their coming and going, no one was discovered who could name a single member of the party or who had any idea of whence they came or whither they went. so of course no indictment could be found." this was in ; since then till now no similar crime has occurred in that community. within the circumscribed radius of its influence, lynching seems to eradicate the evil for which administered. the moderation marking this execution has not always accompanied lynching. reading accounts of unnecessary tortures inflicted, of very orgies of vengeance, people remote from the scenes, southerners no less than others, have shuddered with disgust, and trembled with concern for the dignity of their own race. only people on the spot, writhing under the agony of provocation, comprehended the fury of response to the crime of crimes. vigilants meant to make their awful vengeance effective deterrent to the crime's repetition. no other crime offers such problems to relatives and officers of justice and to the people among whom it occurs; it is so outside of civilisation that there seem no terms for dispassionate discussion, no fine adjustment of civil trial and legal penalty. listen to this out of the depths of one southern woman's experience: "i stood once with other friends, who were trying to nurse her back to life and reason, by the bedside of a girl--a beautiful, gentle, high-born creature--who had been outraged. we were using all the skill and tact and tenderness at our command. it seemed impossible for her to have one hour's peaceful sleep. she would start from slumber with a shriek, look at us with dilated eyes, then clutch us and beg for help. but the most unspeakable pity of it all was her loathing for her own body; her prayers that she might die and her body be burned to ashes. i heard her physician say to an officer who came to take her deposition: 'i would be signing that girl's death warrant if i let you in there to make her tell that horrible story over again.' when a grim group came with some negroes they wanted to bring before her for identification, her brothers and her lover said: 'only over our dead bodies.'" lynching is inexcusable, even for this crime, which is comparable to no other, and to which murder is a trifle. so we may coolly argue when the blow has not fallen upon ourselves or at our own door. when it has, we think there's a wolf abroad and we have lambs. those to whom the wrecked woman is dear are quiveringly alive to her irreparable wrong. the victim has rights, they argue; if, unhappily for herself, she survive the outrage, she is entitled to what poor remnants of reason may be left her; it is naturally their whole care to preserve her from memories that sear and craze, and from rehearsal before even the most private tribunal, of events that the merciful, even if not of her blood, must wish her to forget. under such strain, men see as the one thing imperative the prompt and informal removal from existence of the offender, whom they look upon, not as man, but beast or fiend. the "poor white" is the most frequent sufferer from assault; the wife of the small farmer attending household duties in her isolated home while her husband is in the fields or otherwise absent about his work; or the small farmer's daughter when she goes to the spring for water, or to the meadow for the cows, or trudges a lonely road or pathway to school; these are more convenient material than the lady of larger means and higher station, who is more rarely unattended. in cases on record the ravished and slain were children, five, six, eight years old; in others, mothers with babies at their breasts, and the babies were slain with the mothers. here is a case cited by judge m. l. dawson: a negro raped and slew a farmer's five-year-old child. arrested, tried, convicted, appealed, sentence reversed, reappealed (on insanity plea); people took him out and hung him. in full-volumed indignation over lynching, the usual course of the northern press was to almost lose sight of the crime provoking it. it was a minor fact that a woman was violated, that her skull was crushed or that she sustained other injuries from which she died or which made her a wreck for life--particulars too trivial to be noted by moulders of public opinion writing eloquent essays on "crime in the south." picking up a paper with this glaring headline, one would have a right to expect some outburst of indignation over the ravishment and butchering of womanhood. but there would be editorial after editorial rife with invectives against lynching and lynchers, righteous with indignation over "lawlessness in the south," and not one word of sympathy or pity for the white victim of negro lust! the fact that there was such a victim seemed lost sight of; the crime for which the negro was executed would often escape everything but bare mention, sometimes that. what deductions were negroes to draw from such distinctions, except that lynching was monstrous crime, rape an affair of little moment, and strenuous objection to it only one feature of damnable "race prejudice in the south"? "they do not care, the men and women of the north," i have heard a southern girl exclaim, "if we are raped. they do not care that we are prisoners of fear, that we fear to take a ramble in the woods alone, fear to go about the farms on necessary duties, fear to sit in our houses alone; fear, if we live in cities, to go alone on the streets at hours when a woman is safe anywhere in boston or new york." from the northern attitude as reflected in the press and in the pulpit, negroes drew their own conclusions. violation of a white woman was no harm; indeed, as a leveler of social distinctions, it might almost be construed into an act of grace. the way to become a hero in the eyes of the white north and to win the crown of martyrdom for oneself and new outbursts of sympathy for one's race was to assault a white woman of the south. this crime was a development of a period when the negro was dominated by political, religious and social advisers from the north and by the attitude of the northern press and pulpit. it was practically unknown in wartime, when negroes were left on plantations as protectors and guardians of white women and children. "there was only one case,[ ] as far as the writer can ascertain, of the negro's crime against womanhood during all the days of slavery," said professor stratton in the "north american review" a few years ago, "while his fidelity and simple discharge of duty during the civil war when the white men were away fighting against his liberty have challenged the admiration of the world; but since he has been made free, his increase in crime and immorality has gone side by side with his educational advancement--and even in greater ratio." the professor gave figures, as others have done, which proved his case, if figures can prove anything. considered with reference to the crime under discussion, it is difficult to see how purely intellectual training tends to its increase, if there is any truth in the doctrine that brain development effects a reduction of animal propensities. only in moral education, however, rests any real security for conduct. negroes educated and negroes uneducated, in a technical sense, have committed this crime.[ ] the rapist is not to be taken as literal index to race character; he is an excrescence of the times; his crime is a horror that must be wiped out for the honour of the land, the security of womanhood, the credit of our negro citizenhood. the weapon for its destruction is in the hands of afro-americans; overwhelming sentiment on their part would put an end to it; they should be the last to stand for the rapist's protection; rather should they say to him: "you are none of us!" they should be quick to aid in his arrest, identification and deliverance to the law. such attitude would be more effective than any other one force that can be brought to bear upon this crime and that of lynching. i chronicle here as worthy of record, that in june, , william stimson, rapist, was tried before a negro jury, convicted on negro evidence, and hung november . this happened in north carolina during negro rule. the negro guilty of this hideous offense has committed against his race a worse crime than lynching can ever be. by the brutish few the many are judged--particularly when the many in vociferous condemnation of the penalty visited upon the criminal seem to condone his awful iniquity against themselves. black men who have been and will be womanhood's protectors outnumber the beasts who wear like skins as many thousands to one; and it is not fair to themselves that they pursue any course, utter any sentiment, which causes them to be classed in any way whatever with these. black men are seeing this and are setting their faces towards stamping out the crime which causes lynching. utterances from some of their pulpits and resolutions passed by some of their religious bodies indicate this. the occurrence of rapes, lynchings and burnings in the north and west has had beneficial influence upon the question at large. it has led white people of other sections to understand in some degree the southern situation and to express condemnation of the crime that leads to lynching. the attitude of the northern press has undergone great change in recent years, change effective for reform, in that while lynching is as severely under the ban as ever--which it should be--the companion crime goes with it. southern sentiment is against lynching; i recall seven governors--aycock of north carolina, montague of virginia, heyward of south carolina, candler and terrell of georgia, jelks of alabama, vardaman of mississippi--who have so placed themselves conspicuously on record. all our newspapers have done so, i believe, from the "times-dispatch" of richmond, the charlotte "observer," the "constitution" and the "journal" of atlanta, the "state" of columbia, the charleston "news-courier," the savannah "news," to the "times-democrat" of new orleans, and "times-union" of jacksonville. one hope and promise of the new constitutions with which southern states lately replaced the black and tan instruments is the eradication of this method of procedure. soon after virginia adopted hers, three negro rapists in that state received legal trial and conviction and not over hasty execution. on motion of district attorney e. c. goode, reprieve was granted after conviction that a case in mecklenburg might be looked into more fully. such deliberation has not been exceeded--if, indeed, it has been equaled--north of mason & dixon's line. but as long as rapes are committed, so long will there be danger of lynchings, not only in the south, but anywhere else. in the presence of this worse than savage crime the white race suffers reversion to savagery. race prejudice chapter xxxii race prejudice as late as , senator ingalls said: "the use of the torch and dagger is advised. i deplore it, but as god is my judge, i say that no people on this earth have ever submitted to the wrongs and injustice which have been put upon the coloured men of the south without revolt and bloodshed." others spoke of the negro's use of torch and sword as his only way to right himself in the south. when prominent men in congressional and legislative halls and small stump speakers everywhere fulminated such sentiments, the marvel would have been if race prejudice had not come to birth and growth. good men, whose homes were safe, and who in heat of oratory or passion for place, forgot that other men's homes were not, had no realisation of the effect of their words upon southern households, where inmates lay down at night trembling lest they wake in flames or with black men shooting or knifing them. but for a rooted and grounded sympathy and affection between the races that fierce and newly awakened prejudice could not kill, the sepoy massacres of india would have been duplicated in the south in the sixties and seventies. under slavery, the black race held the heart of the white south in its hands. second only in authority to the white mother on a southern plantation, was the black mammy; hoary-headed white men and women, young men and maidens and little children, rendered her reverence and love. little negroes and little white children grew up together, playing together and forming ties of affection equal to almost any strain. the servant was dependent upon his master, the master upon his servant. neither could afford to disregard the well-being of the other. no class of labour on earth today is as well cared for as were the negroes of the old south. age was pensioned, infancy sheltered. there was a state of mutual trust and confidence between employer and employee that has been seen nowhere else and at no time since between capital and labour. had the negro remained a few centuries longer the white man's dependant, often an inmate of his home, and his close associate on terms not raising questions and conflicts, his development would have proceeded. through the processes of slavery, the negro was peaceably evolving, as agriculturist, shepherd, blacksmith, mechanic, master and mistress of domestic science, towards citizenship--inevitable when he should be ready for it; citizenship all the saner, because those who were training him were unconscious of what they were doing and contemplated making no political use of him. they were intent only on his industrial and moral education. his evolution was set back by emancipation. yet, if destruction of race identity is advancement, the negro will advance. the education which he began to receive with other greek gifts of freedom has taught him to despise his skin, to loath his race identity, to sacrifice all native dignity and nobility in crazy antics to become a white man. "social equality!" those words are to be his doom. it is a pity that the phrase was ever coined. it is not to say that one is better than the other when we say of larks and robins, doves and crows, eagles and sparrows, that they do not flock together. they are different rather than unequal. difference does not, of itself, imply inequality. to ignore a difference inherent in nature is a crime against nature and is punished accordingly by nature. the negro race in america is to be wiped out by the dual process of elimination and absorption. the negro will not be eliminated as was the indian--though the way a whole settlement of blacks was made to move on a few years ago in illinois, looks as if history might repeat itself in special instances. between lynchings and race riots in the north and west and those in the south there has usually been this difference: in the former, popular fury included entire settlements, punishing the innocent with the guilty; in the latter, it limited itself to the actual criminal. another difference between sectional race problems. i was in new york during subway construction when a strike was threatened, and overheard two gentlemen on the elevated road discussing the situation: "the company talks of bringing the blacks up here." "if they do, the tunnel will run blood! these whites will never suffer the blacks to take their work." i thought, "and negroes have had a monopoly of the south's industries and have scorned it!" i thought of jealous white toilers in the slime of the tunnel; and of dixie's greening and golden fields, of swinging hoes and shining scythes and the songs of her black peasantry. and i thought of her stalwart black peasants again when i walked through sweat-shops and saw bent, wizened, white slaves. the elimination of the negro will be in ratio to the reduction of his potentiality as an industrial factor. evolutionary processes reject whatever has served its use. history shows the white man as the exponent of evolution. there were once more indians here than there are now negroes. yet the indian has almost disappeared from the land that belonged to him when a little handful of palefaces came and found him in their way. had he been of use, convertible into a labourer, he would have been retained; he was not so convertible, and other disposition was made of him while we sent to africa for what was required. the climate of the north did not agree with the negro; he was not a profitable labourer; he disappeared. he was a satisfactory labourer south; he throve and multiplied. he is not now a satisfactory labourer in any locality. what is the conclusion if we judge the white man's future by his past? the white man does not need the negro as _littérateur_, statesman, ornament to society. of these he has enough and to spare, and seeks to reduce surplus. what he needs is agricultural labour. the red man would not till the soil, and the red man went; if the black man will not, perhaps the yellow man will. sporadic instances of exceptional negroid attainments may interest the white man--in circumscribed circle--for a time. but the deep claim, the strong claim, the commanding claim would be that the negro filled a want not otherwise supplied, that the negro could and would do for him that which he cannot well do for himself--for instance, work the rice and cotton lands where the negro thrives and the white man dies. the american negro is passing. the mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, strike the first notes in the octave of his evolution--or his decadence, or extinction, or whatever you may call it. the black negro is rare north and south. negroes go north, white northerners come south. in states sanctioning intermarriage, irregular connections obtain as elsewhere between white men and black women; and, in addition, between black men and white women of most degraded type or foreigners who are without the saving american race prejudice. recent exposure of the "white slave syndicate" in new york which kidnapped white girls for negro bagnios, is fresh in the public mind. under slavery many negroes learned to value and to practice virtue; many value and practice it now; but the freedwoman has been on the whole less chaste than the bond. with emancipation the race suffered relapse in this as in other respects. the south did not do her whole duty in teaching chastity to the savage, though making more patient, persistent and heroic struggle than accredited with. the charge that under slavery miscegenation was the result of compulsion on the part of the superior race finds answer in its continuance since. because he was white, the crying sin was the white man's, but it is just to remember that the heaviest part of the white racial burden was the african woman, of strong sex instincts and devoid of a sexual conscience, at the white man's door, in the white man's dwelling.[ ] in , negroes constituted . per cent. of the population of texas, the lowest rate for the southern states; in mississippi, . , the highest. in massachusetts, they were less than two per cent. questions of social intermingling can not be of such practical and poignant concern to massachusetts as to mississippi, where amalgamation would result in a population of mulatto degenerates. prohibitions are protective to both races. fortunately, miscegenation proceeds most slowly in the sections of negro concentration, the sugar and cotton lands of the lower south. in these, it is also said, there is lower percentage of negro crime of all kinds than where negroes are of lighter hue. thinkers of both races have declared amalgamation an improbable, undesirable conclusion of the race question; that it would be a propagation of the vices of both races and the virtues of neither. in a letter (march , ) to the louisville "courier-journal," recently reproduced in "the outlook," mr. beecher said: "i do not think it wise that whites and blacks should mix blood ... it is to be discouraged on grounds of humanity." senator ingalls said: "fred douglas once said to me: 'the races will blend, coalesce, and become homogeneous.' i do not agree with him. there is no affinity between the races; this solution is impossible.... there is no blood-poison so fatal as the adulteration of race." at the southern educational conference in columbia, , mr. abbott, in one of the clearest, frankest speeches yet heard from our northern brotherhood, declared the thinking north and south now one upon these points: the sections were equally responsible for slavery; the south fought, not to perpetuate slavery, but on an issue "that had its beginning before the adoption of the federal constitution;" racial integrity should be preserved. in one of the broadest, sanest discussions of the negro problem to which the american public has been treated, professor eliot, of harvard, has said recently: "northern and southern opinion are identical with regard to keeping the races pure--that is, without admixture of the one with the other ... inasmuch as the negroes hold the same view, this supposed danger of mutual racial impairment ought not to have much influence on practical measures. admixture of the two races, so far as it proceeds, will be, as it has been, chiefly the result of sexual vice on the part of white men; it will not be a wide-spread evil, and it will not be advocated as a policy or method by anybody worthy of consideration." "it will not be a wide-spread evil!" the truth stares us in the face. except in the lower south the black negro is now almost a curiosity. in any negro gathering the gamut of colour runs from ginger-cake to white rivaling the anglo-saxon's; and according as he is more white, the negro esteems himself more honourable than his blacker fellow; though these gradations in colour which link him with the white man, were he to judge himself by the white man's standard, would be, generally speaking, badges of bastardy and shame. in florida, a tourist remarked to an orange-woman: "they say southerners do not believe in intermingling of the races. but look at all these half-white coons!" "well, marster," she answered, "don't you give southern folks too much credit fuh dat. rich yankees in de winter-time; crap uh white nigger babies in de fall. fus' war we all had down here, mighty big crap uh yaller babies come up. arter de war 'bout cuba, 'nother big crap come 'long. nigger gal ain' nuvver gwi have a black chile ef she kin git a white one!" blanch, my negro hand-maiden, is comely, well-formed, black; the descendant of a series of honest marriages, yet feels herself at a disadvantage with quadroons and octoroons not nearly her equals in point of good looks or principle. "i'd give five hundred dollars ef i had it, ef my ha'r was straight," she tells me with pathetic earnestness; and "i wish i had been born white!" is her almost heart-broken moan.[ ] she would rather be a mulatto bastard than the black product of honest wedlock. the integrity of the races depends largely upon the virtue of white men and black women; also, it rests _on the negroid side upon the aspiration to become white_, acknowledgment in itself of inferiority and self-loathing. the average negress will accept, invite, with every wile she may, the purely animal attention of a "no-count white man" in preference to marriage with a black. the average mulatto of either sex considers union with a black degradation. the rainbow of promise spanning this gloomy vista is the claim that the noble minority of black women who value virtue is on the increase as the race, in self-elevation, recognises more and more the demands of civilisation upon character, and that dignity of racehood which will not be ashamed of its own skin or covet the skin of another. the virtuous black woman is the deborah and the miriam of her people. she is found least often in crowded cities, north and south; most often in southern rural districts. wherever found, she commands the white man's respect. hope should rest secure in the white man. if the faith of his fathers, the flag of his fathers, the union of his fathers, are worthy of preservation, is not the blood of his fathers a sacred trust also? besides, before womanhood, whatever its colour or condition, however ready to yield or appeal to his grosser senses, the white man should throw the ægis of his manhood and his brotherhood. the recent framing of state constitutions in the south to supersede the black and tan creations revived the charge of race prejudice because their suffrage restrictions would in great degree disfranchise the negro. as compared with discussion of any phase of the race issue some years ago, the spirit of comment was cool and fair. "the outlook" led in justifying the south for protecting the franchise with moderate property and educational qualifications applying to both races, criticising, however, the provision for deciding upon educational fitness--a provision which southerners admit needs amendment. one effect of these restrictions will be to stimulate the negro's efforts to acquire the necessary education or the necessary three hundred dollars' worth of property. another effect will be decrease of the white farmer's scant supply of negro labour; this scarcity, in attracting white immigrants, provides antidote for africanisation of the south. as to whether negro ownership of lands improves country or not, i will give a northern view. i met in at the jefferson hotel in richmond, a wealthy chicagoan and his wife (originally from massachusetts), who were looking for a holiday residence in tidewater virginia. they made various excursions with land agents, and one day reported discovery of their ideal in all respects but one. "the people around are ruining property by selling lands to negroes. a gentleman at whose house we stopped, a northerner, had just bought, as he told us, at much inconvenience, a plantation adjoining his own to make sure it would not be cut up and sold by degrees to negroes." i hear southern farmers in black belts say: "i had much rather have a quiet, orderly negro for neighbour than a troublesome white." but the fact remains that negro ownership of property reduces value of adjoining lands. besides the social reason, the average negro exhausts and does not improve lands. "why don't the negroes live up north?" one is asked; "they go up there and make a little money and come back and buy lands." "land is cheap here. it is almost beyond their reach there. the climate here appeals. then, this is home." thus i answered in , in southside, virginia. after further travel, i amend: negroes do not wish to work for white land-owners; they wish to remain in the south or to return to the south, as land-owners. they are acquiring considerable property. but, generally speaking, they are thinning out. one may journey miles along southern railroads and see but few in fields where once were thousands. in northern cities and pleasure resorts negroes increase. the race problem is broadening, changing territory. the daughter of an ohioan gave me a glimpse of this changing base. "columbus negroes--those born there or who came there long ago, are very different from southern negroes. they will have nothing to do with the negroes coming direct. the southern negroes have nice, deferential manners; the northern negroes hate them for it. columbus negroes--why, they will push white ladies off the streets!" in a new york store in , i observed two negresses in a crowd near a window where articles of baggage were on check. they pushed their way to the front and demanded belongings without the courteous "please" which any southerner, or which northern gentlefolks, would have used; the young white girl in charge--it was a hot day and she looked faint--was doing her cheerful best to meet the noon rush, but was not quick enough for the coloured persons; they hurried and reproved her; as she turned about within, confused by their descriptions and commands, they exclaimed: "that's it! right befo' you! don't you see that case right there? what a fool!" she never thought of resenting; came up humbly, loaded with their property, glad to have found it. their manners would have scandalised a black aristocrat of the old south. we cannot afford to wrong this race as we wronged the indian. we must aid the negro's advancement in the right direction. but we should not discriminate against the white race. educational doors are open to the negro throughout the land; the south is rich in noble institutions of learning for him; in black belts southerners are paying more to educate black children than white. in black belts, in white belts, in the mountains, white children are put into fields and factories when they ought to be going to school. educational odds are against the white children. in regard to schools of manual training, to limit the negro to these and these to the negro is to put a stigma on manual labor in the eyes of white youth and to continue the negro's monopoly of a field which he does not appreciate. we should do more educationally for the white child and not less for the negro. the negro pays small percentage of the southern educational tax and enjoys full benefits. the negro needs to realize that if the white man owes him a debt, he owes the white man one; and that he cannot safely despise the school of service in house and field which white people from europe and yellow people from the orient are eager to enter. i would close no door of opportunity to the negro. but i must say my affection is for the negro of the old order. i owe reverence to the memory of a black mammy and a debt to negroes generally for much kindness. the real negro i like, the poet of the veldt and jungle, the singer in field and forest, the tiller of the soil, the shepherd of the flocks, the herdsman of the cattle, the happy, soft-voiced, light-footed servitor. the negro who is a half-cut white man is not a negro, and it can be no offense to the race to say that he is unattractive when compared with the dear old darkey of dixie who was worth a million of him! at fort mill, s. c., hard by a monument to a forgotten people, the catawba indians, stands a monument to the "faithful slaves of the confederacy," type of a memorial many hearts yet hold. the new negro, in reaching out for higher and better things than the old attained, will be wise not to sacrifice those qualities which told in his ancestor in spite of all shortcomings. the one true plane of equalisation is that of mutual service, each race doing for the other all it can. the old negro and the white man stood more surely on this plane than do their descendants, yet not more surely than all must wish their descendants to stand. my regard for the negro, my pride in what he has really accomplished under the hammering of civilisation, call, in his behalf, for a race pride and reserve in him which shall match the anglo-saxon's. there are negroes who have it and who deplore efforts placing them in the position of postulants for a social intermingling which they do not consider essential to their dignity or happiness.[ ] between blacks and whites south we constantly see race pride maintained on one side as on the other while humanities are observed in manifold exchanges of kindness and courtesy that make a bond of brotherhood.[ ] whatever position the white southerner takes theoretically on manufactured race issues, he will usually fight rather than see his inoffensive black neighbour or employe maltreated; his black neighbour or employe will often do as much for him. this attitude is sometimes an expression of the clan habit surviving the destruction of clan-life (old plantation-life in which the white man was chief and his negroes his clansmen); also, it exists in the recognition of a common bond of humanity more than skin deep. upon this rock the future may be builded.[ ] as a useful, industrious, citizen, the negro is his own argument and advocate.[ ] memorial day daughters of all the south! sons of all the south! we, your own old soldiers, pause a moment this day in our march and facing to the front, touching eternity on our right, we stand erect before you as if on dress parade. we know that the day of our personal presence has passed its noon, but we would cast no shadow upon the land we leave to you and yours, nor raise one barrier to your full possession of local and national rights. we are but the living color guard of the great army of your southern fathers, and their history and honor are safely in your keeping. the war flag of precious memory waves peacefully above us, and we ask you for our sakes, and its own sake, to love it forever. the star-spangled banner of our country waves over all of us and over all our states and people, commanding the respect of every nation. let it never be dishonored. with the feeling of pride that we are confederate soldiers, we salute you, not by presenting arms, but with the salutations of our beating hearts. and now we will march on, march forward in column: and, as we go you will hear from us the echo of the angels' song--peace on earth, good will to men.--_from an address by general clement a. evans, commander of the georgia division, u. c. v., memorial day, , atlanta, ga._ chapter xxxiii memorial day and decoration day. confederate societies peculiar interest attaches to the inauguration of memorial day in richmond, in , when northerners, watching southerners cover the graves of their dead with flowers, went afterwards and did likewise, thus borrowing of us their "decoration day" and with it a custom we gladly share with them.[ ] in hollywood and oakwood slept some , southern soldiers, representing every confederate state. on april , oakwood memorial association "was founded by a little band in the old third presbyterian church, after prayer by rev. dr. proctor." the morning of may a crowd gathered in st. john's church,[ ] and after simple exercises led by dr. price and dr. norwood, "the procession, numbering five hundred people, walking two and two, their arms loaded with spring's sweetest flowers, walked out to oakwood" and strewed with these the confederate graves. may , the hollywood memorial association was formed, and may was its first memorial day. the day before, an extraordinary procession wended its way to the cemetery. the young men of richmond, the flower of the city, marched to hollywood, armed with picks and spades, and numbering in their long line, moving with the swing of regulars, remnants of famous companies, whose gallantry had made them shining marks on many a desperate battlefield. "it was a striking scene," wrote a witness, "as the long line filed by, not as in days of yore when attired in gray and bearing the glittering muskets, they were wont to step to the strains of martial music while the stars and bars of the young republic floated above them; but in citizens' garbs, bearing the peaceful implements of agriculture, performing a pilgrimage to the shrine of departed valour." it was symbolic. the south sought to honour her past in peaceful ways, and to repair by patient industry the ravages of war, wielding cheerfully weapons of progress to which her hands were as yet unaccustomed. as the soldier-citizens marched along, people old and young, by ones and twos and threes, or in organised bodies, fell into the ever-lengthening line. at the cemetery, the pick-and-spade bearers were divided into squads and companies, and under the direction of commanders, worked all day, raking off rubbish, rounding up graves, planting head-boards and otherwise bringing about order. old men and little boys helped. negroes faithful to the memory of dead friends and owners were there, busy as the whites in love's labour. several men in federal uniform lent brotherly hands. when the sun went down the place was transformed. that first fair memorial day looked as though it were both sabbath and saints' day. over or on doors of business houses was the legend, garlanded with flowers or framed in mourning drapery: "closed in honour of the confederate dead." federal soldiers walking the quiet streets would pause and study these symbols of grief and reverence. carloads of flowers poured into the city. every part of the south in touch with richmond by rail or wagon sent contribution. grace church was a floral depot; maids, matrons and children met there early to weave blossoms and greenery into stars, crosses, crowns and flags--their beloved southern cross. vehicles lent by express and hotel companies formed floral caravanseries moving towards the cemetery. [illustration: mrs. rebecca calhoun pickens bacon daughter of francis w. pickens, the "secession governor" of south carolina: organizer of the d. a. r. in her state.] then, another procession wound its way to hollywood, the military companies and the populace, flower-laden, and a long, long line of children, many orphans. there were few or no carriages. the people had none. old and young walked. the soldiers' section was soon like one great garden of roses white and red; of gleaming lilies and magnolias; of all things sweet-scented, gay and beautiful. scattered here and there like forget-me-nots over many a gallant sleeper was the blue badge in ribbon or blossom of the richmond blues. thousands visited the green hillside where general jeb stuart lay, a simple wooden board marking the spot; his grave was a mound of flowers. from an improvised niche of evergreens, valentine's life-like bust of the gay chevalier smiled upon old friends. no hero, great or lowly, was forgotten. what a tale of broken hearts and desolate homes far away the many graves told! here had the texas ranger ended his march; here had brave lads from the land of flowers and all the states intervening bivouacked for a long, long night, from whose slumbers no bugle might wake them. what women and children standing in lonely doorways, hands shading their eyes, watched for the coming of these marked "unknown"! little joe davis' lonely grave was a shrine on which children heaped offerings as they marched past in procession, each dropping a flower, until one must thrust flowers aside to read the inscriptions that make of that tiny tomb a mile-stone in american history--"joseph, son of our beloved president, jefferson davis," "erected by the little boys and girls of the southern capital." as blossoms fell, the hearts of the flower-strewers beat tenderly for little joe's father, then the prisoner of fortress monroe, and for his troubled mother and her living children. in freedom to honour the confederate dead by public parade, virginia was more fortunate than north carolina. in raleigh, the people were not allowed to march in procession to the cemetery for five long years. yet, even so, the old north state faithfully observed the custom of decorating her graves at fixed seasons, the people going out to the cemetery by twos and threes. indeed, the claim has been made that dixie's first memorial day was observed in raleigh rather than in richmond, and the story of it is too sad for telling. march , , mrs. mary williams wrote the "columbus times," of georgia, a letter, from which i quote: "the ladies are engaged in ornamenting and improving that portion of the city cemetery sacred to the memory of our gallant confederate dead.... we beg the assistance of the press and the ladies throughout the south to aid us in the effort to set apart a certain day to be observed, from the potomac to the rio grande, and to be handed down through time as a religious custom of the south, in wreathing the graves of our martyred dead with flowers." all our cities, towns and hamlets shared in the honour of originating memorial day, for, throughout the fair land of dixie, soon as flowers began to bloom, her people began to cover graves with them; and the north did likewise. in reading the recently published "history of the confederated memorial associations of the south," i am newly impressed with the devotion of southern women, their promptness, energy and resourcefulness in gathering from hillside and valley their scattered dead and providing marked and sheltered sepulture and monuments when there was so little money in their land. i am impressed, too, with the utter lack of sectional bitterness in this volume, which consists chiefly of unpretentious reports of work done. here and there is a word of grateful acknowledgment to former foes for aid rendered. the simple records throb with a deep human interest to which the heart of the world might make response. at a meeting of the atlanta memorial association, may , , mrs. clement a. evans offered a resolution providing for concert of action among state associations on questions relating to objects and purposes in common. before long, this movement was absorbed in a larger. one of the latest formed local associations was at fayetteville, arkansas, where war's end found "homes in ashes, farms waste places" and "every foot of soil, marked by contest, red with blood"; six long years of care and toil passed before the women found time for organised work. yet from this body, not large in numbers nor rich in treasury, sprang the measures--miss garside (afterwards mrs. welch) suggesting--which resulted in the organisation, may , , in the galt house, louisville, kentucky, of the confederated southern memorial associations with mrs. w. j. behan, of new orleans, president. in , mrs. behan, in the name of the order, thanked senator foraker of ohio for bringing before congress a bill for an appropriation for marking confederate graves in the north, a bill congress passed without delay. as ladies' memorial associations developed out of the war relief societies, so the united daughters of the confederacy grew out of memorial associations and ladies' auxiliaries to the united confederate veterans. immediate initiative came from "mother goodlett," of nashville, tennessee, seconded by mrs. l. h. raines, of savannah, the "nashville american" aiding the movement by giving it great publicity; the u. d. c. was organized at nashville in the fall of . of the united confederate veterans, a member of the association tells me: "the ku klux--not the counterfeit, but the real ku klux working under the code of forrest--was the confederate soldier protecting his home and fireside in the only way possible to him. general forrest disbanded the order; then, for purely memorial, historical, benevolent and social purposes, confederate veteran camps came into existence, springing up here and there without concert of action; presently they united," the federation being effected in new orleans, june , , by representatives of about fifty camps, general john b. gordon in command. there are now some , camps with , members. of about , confederates at the end of the war, this , is left--"the thin, gray line." when our veterans have gone north a-visiting, the north has been unsparing in honour and hospitality. our old gray-jackets give some illustrations like this. two, walking into a boston fruit store, handed the dealer a five-dollar bill to be changed in payment of purchases, and received it back with the words: "it cannot pass here." a veteran laid down silver. "that is no good." concerned lest all his money be counterfeit, the gray-jacket said to his comrade: "may be you have some good money." the comrade's wealth was refused; but in opening his purse, he revealed a confederate note. "now," said the smiling storekeeper, "if i could only change that into the same kind of money, it would pass. that's the only good money in boston today." the object and influence of these confederate orders are primarily "memorial and historical"; they occasionally transcend these--as when, for instance, a few years ago, u. c. v. camps passed resolutions condemning lynching. their tendency is the reverse of keeping bitter sectional feeling alive. it is their duty and office to see to it that new generations shall not look upon southern forefathers as "traitors," but as good men and true who fought valiantly for conscience's sake, even as did the good men and true of the north. while the daughters of the american revolution, a larger and richer body, are worthily engaged in rescuing revolutionary history from oblivion, it is the no less patriotic care of the confederate orders, whose members are active in revolutionary work also, to preserve to the future landmarks and truths about the war of secession. upon memorial hall, new orleans, the confederate relic rooms at columbia and charleston; the "white house," montgomery; the mortuary chapel, "old blandford," petersburg; the confederate museum, richmond; other relic rooms; and monuments and tablets scattered throughout the south; the work of the confederate memorial literary society; the battle abbey to be erected in richmond for reception of historic treasures;--upon these must american historians rely for records of facts and for object lessons in relics that would have been lost but for the patient and faithful endeavours of these orders. mrs. joseph thompson, in welcoming the daughters of the american revolution to atlanta during the exposition of , commended in the name of the south, the "broadening and nationalising influence" of the order. to no other one agency harmonising the sections does our country owe more than to patriotic societies. in , northern and southern women found their first bond of reunion in the mount vernon association, which began in , as a southern movement, when the home and tomb of washington were for sale and ann pamela cunningham, of south carolina, called upon america's women to save mount vernon, won edward everett to lecture for the cause, coaxed legislators, congressmen and john washington to terms, and rested not until mount vernon belonged to the nation; during the war it was the one spot where men of both armies met as brothers, stacking arms without the gates; miss cunningham held her regency, and mrs. eve, of georgia, mme. le vert and the other southern vice regents continued on the board with women of the north. in , when the tomb of washington's mother was advertised for sale, margaret hetzel, of virginia, appealed successfully through the "washington post" to her countrywomen to save it to the nation. the founders, in , of the daughters of the american revolution were eugenia washington of virginia, mary desha of kentucky, ellen hardin walworth of virginia and kentucky ancestry; a most active officer was mary virginia ellett cabell, of virginia. the first regent of the new york city chapter was a virginian, mrs. roger a. pryor. flora adams darling, widow of a confederate officer, had a large hand in originating the order and founded that of the daughters of the revolution and the daughters of the united states, . the daughter of the secession governor of south carolina, mrs. rebecca calhoun pickens bacon, started the d. a. r. in her state, delivering seven flourishing chapters to the national society. the daughter of general cook, c. s. a., mrs. lawson peel, of atlanta, is a power in d. a. r. work. the present national regent, mrs. donald mclean, is a marylander and, therefore, a southerner, as mrs. adlai e. stevenson, one of her predecessors, avowed herself to be in part if her kentucky and virginia ancestry counted. in no movement of patriotism, in no measures promoting good feeling, has the south been unrepresented. [illustration: mrs. roger a pryor] "mary, when i die, bury me in my confederate uniform. i want to rise a confederate." so said to his wife dr. hunter maguire, the great stonewall's surgeon-in-chief, a short time before his death. he was no less true to the living union because he was faithful to the dead confederacy. visitors used to love to see general lee at the finals of washington college in his full suit of confederate gray; it became him to wear it in the midst of the draped flags and stacked arms, for while he was teaching our young men to love our united country and to reverence the stars and stripes, he did not want them to fail in reverence to the past. none can want us so to fail. mrs. lizzie george henderson, president of the u. d. c., says in the "confederate veteran": "wherever there is a chapter north or west, our northern friends are so kind and help so much that it brings us closer together as one people." the thought of her who was "daughter of the confederacy" is inseparable from my text. one afternoon matoaca and i called on miss mason at her quaint old house in georgetown, d. c., a place of pilgrimage for patriotic southerners. we sat on the little back porch which is on a level with miss emily's flower-garden, and she gave us tea in little old-fashioned cups, pouring it out of a little old-fashioned silver tea-pot that sat on a little old-fashioned table. she and matoaca fell to talking about mr. davis. "i shall never forget him as i saw him first," said miss emily, "a young lieutenant in the united states army, straight as an arrow, handsome and elegant. it was at the governor's mansion in detroit; my young brother was governor of michigan, the state's first executive; lieutenant davis was our guest; the black hawk war, in which he had greatly distinguished himself, was just ended, and he was bringing black hawk through the country. i was much impressed with the young lieutenant. i watched his career with interest. i met him again when he was a member of president pierce's cabinet. he made a very able secretary of war. "strange how events turn, that it should have been mr. davis who sent general mcclellan (then colonel) and general lee (then colonel) to the crimea to study the art of war as practised by the russians. general mcclellan's son, now mayor of new york, has said that his father had ample opportunity to form unbiassed opinion of the secretary, as he spent much time in washington before and after his mission to russia and was in close touch with mr. davis. he quoted his father as saying: 'colonel davis was a man of extraordinary ability. as an executive officer, he was remarkable. he was the best secretary of war--and i use _best_ in its widest sense--i ever had anything to do with.'" "i like 'little mac' for saying that and his son for repeating it. 'little mac' fought us like a gentleman. when his son runs for the presidency perhaps i shall urge everybody to vote for him," said matoaca. "unless a southerner runs," i suggested. "alas! when will a southerner be president of the united states? i heard mr. davis make his famous speech bidding farewell to the senate when mississippi seceded. it was the most eloquent thing i ever listened to! all the women--and even men--were in tears. senators went up to him and embraced him. i saw mr. davis in richmond as president of the confederacy. i saw him in prison; his eminence, the cardinal, secured me permission. he was very thin and feeble, but he rose in his old graceful manner and offered me his seat, a little wooden box beside his bed, a small iron one. the eyes of the guard were on us all the time. general miles came and looked in. i asked mr. davis if i could do anything for him. he said he would like some reading matter. i had had some newspapers, but had not been permitted to bring them in. i was allowed to remain only a few moments. "i next saw him in paris. i am so glad to have that memory of him. so many southerners came abroad in those days. during reconstruction the procession seemed endless! while in rome i introduced so many southerners to pope pius ix. that his holiness used to call me '_l'ambassadrice du sud_.' mr. davis was much fêted in france, as he had been in england. while he was at mr. mann's in chantilly, judah p. benjamin came from london to see him. mr. benjamin was delightful company. i was at mr. charles carroll's when mr. davis was entertained there. i recall one dinner when the southern colony flocked around him in full force and played a game on him. you know of his wonderful memory and wide reading. we laid our heads together before he came in and studied up puzzling quotations to trip him. but the instant one of us would spring couplet, quatrain or epigram on him, he would answer with the author. he perceived our friendly conspiracy and entered merrily into the spirit of it. i alone tripped him--with something i had read in early childhood. i am glad to have this happy memory of mr. davis. otherwise i should always be seeing him as he looked in prison." mr. and mrs. davis came to paris for their young daughter, winnie, who was under miss emily's care. they had left her some years before at school in carlsruhe. knowing in the early part of that miss mason was travelling in germany, they wrote her to bring winnie to paris, where the girl was to abide until their arrival, studying music and acquiring parisian graces. when miss mason called at carlsruhe, winnie rushed into her arms joyously: "i am so glad," she cried, "to see someone from home!" she had many questions to ask; no sooner were they alone in their railway compartment than winnie turned to miss mason: "at last i see a southern woman! now i can learn all that happened to my parents just after the war, when i was a baby. miss em, what did papa do just after the war--just after richmond fell? what happened to my papa then?" miss emily caught her breath! "winnie, what your papa did not think best you should know, i must decline to tell you. you will soon see him in france." winnie took small interest in acquiring parisian graces. "miss em, what are papa's favourite songs?" miss mason sought faithfully to turn her attention to _chansons_ of the day and to operatic airs in vogue. "but i am only going to sing to papa. i am going to the plantation--to beauvoir. how shall i need to sing opera airs there? tell me, dear miss em, the songs my father loves!" "when i met her father," miss mason says, "i ventured to question him concerning winnie's ignorance of his prison life, expressing surprise that he had not claimed the sympathy of his child. 'i was unwilling to prejudice her,' he said, 'against the country to which she is now returning and which must be hers. i thought that but justice to the child. i want her to love her country.'" [illustration: the daughter of the confederacy winnie (varina anne), youngest child of jefferson davis; born in richmond, va., june , , and died at narragansett pier, r. i., september , . general john b. gordon gave her the above title by which she was known.] years later, in georgia, veterans gathered to hear her father speak, greeted winnie's appearance with ringing cheers. general john b. gordon, placing his hands on her shoulders as he drew her forward, said: "comrades! here is our daughter, the daughter of the confederacy!" she lived much in the north and died there. an escort from the grand army of the republic bore her remains from the hotel at narragansett pier to the railway station; in new york, a guard of honour from the confederate veterans and the southern society received her and brought her to richmond, and richmond took her own. north, south, east and west sent flowers to deck the bier of the daughter of the confederacy, and the north said: "let us be brothers today in grief as we were only yesterday brothers-in-arms at santiago." men in blue followed gordon, fitzhugh lee and joe wheeler to their graves; joe johnston and buckner were grant's pall-bearers. our dead bind us together. the voices of lee, our beloved, davis, our martyr, stephens, our peacemaker, grady, our orator, of hampton, gordon and all their noble fellowship, have spoken for true unionism; blending with theirs is the voice of grant, in his last hours at mcgregor, the voice of mckinley in atlanta, the voice of abraham lincoln, as, just before his martyrdom, he stood pityingly amid the ruins of richmond. when president mckinley declared that the confederate as well as the federal dead should be the nation's care, he said the right word to "fire the southern heart," albeit our women were not ready to yield to the government their holy office. the name of charles francis adams, of massachusetts, is a household word in the south because of his tributes to lee when virginia thought to place lee's statue in washington. the names of col. w. h. knauss, of columbus, and w. h. harrison, of cincinnati, and of others of the north should be, for the pious pains they have taken to honour our dead who rest in northern soil. in oakwoods cemetery, chicago, stands the first confederate monument erected in the north; the grand army of the republic, the illinois national guards, the city troop, the black hussars, took part with the confederate veterans in its dedication. after katie cabell currie, of texas, and her aides had consecrated the historic battery given by the government, the guards paid tribute by musket and bugle to americans who died prisoners at camp douglas. a sectional bond exists in the national park military commission, on which confederate veterans serve with grand army men; general s. d. lee, commander-in-chief of the u. c. v., is chairman of the vicksburg board of which general fred grant is a member. when judge wilson on behalf of bates' tennesseeans presented the confederate monument at shiloh to the commission, general basil duke accepted it in the name of the nation. when president roosevelt and congress sent dixie's captured battle-flags home, the southern heart was fired anew. in all our history no more impressive reception was given to a president than when on his recent visit to richmond, mr. roosevelt was conducted by a guard of confederate veterans in gray uniforms to our historic capitol square. in other southern cities he found similar escort. earlier, when he visited louisville, a confederate guard attended him, general basil w. duke, who followed mr. davis's fortunes so faithfully, being on conspicuous duty. true to her past, the south is not living in it. a wonderful future is before her. she is richer than was the whole united states at the beginning of the war of secession; in a quarter of a century her cotton production has doubled, her manufactures quadrupled. in one decade, her farm property increased in value twenty-six per cent, her manufacturing output forty-seven; her farm products nearly one hundred. her railroad and banking interests give as strong indications of her vigorous new life. immigrants from east and west and north and over seas are seeking homes within her borders. the south is no decadent land, but a land where "the trees are hung with gold," a land of new orchards and vineyards and market-gardens; of luscious berries and melons; of wheat and corn and tobacco and much cattle and poultry; of tea-gardens; and rice and sugar plantations and of fields white with cotton for the clothing of the nations. she is the land of balm and bloom, of bird-songs, of the warm hand and the open door. i prefaced this book with words uttered by jefferson davis; i close with words uttered by theodore roosevelt, in richmond, which read like their fulfilment: "great though the meed of praise which is due the south for the soldierly valor her sons displayed during the four years of war, i think that even greater praise is due for what her people have accomplished in the forty years of peace which have followed.... for forty years the south has made not merely a courageous but at times a desperate struggle. now, the teeming riches of mines and fields and factory attest the prosperity of those who are all the stronger because of the trials and struggles through which this prosperity has come. you stand loyally to your traditions and memories; you stand also loyally for our great common country of today and for our common flag." the end. index index. abbeville, s. c., , , , . abbott, ernest h., . abrahams, captain, . adam's run, . adams, charles francis, . adams, lucy, . adams, rev. mr., . adger, mr. robert, . africa, , , , . african church, old, richmond, , , . agricultural college of florida, . agricultural college, south carolina, . agricultural land scrip, - . aiken, ex-governor william, . alabama, , , , , , . alabama room, confederate museum, . albany, n. y., . "albany evening journal," . alcorn, gov. james lusk, . alexandria, va., . allen, gov. henry watkins, of la., . ames, senator adelbert, . anderson, s. c., , . anderson, general joseph, . anderson, mary (mrs. navarro), . anderson, general robert, . andrews, e. b., . appleton, maj. william, . appleton, william h., . appomattox, . arkansas, , , . "armies of the potomac and the cumberland," . armistead burt house, abbeville, s. c., , . arthur, prince, , . astor house, . athens (ga.), "maid of," . atlanta, ga., , , , , , , , . "atlanta constitution," the, . "atlanta journal," the, . atlanta memorial association, . atlantic monthly, , . augusta, ga., , , , , . aycock, governor charles b., n. c., . bacon, mrs. rebecca calhoun pickens, . ball, washington, . baltimore, md., . baltimore soc. for liberal education, etc., . bankrupt law, - . bannister, anne, . bannister, molly, . bartlett, general william francis, . bates' tennesseeans, . battle abbey, the, . battle for state-house, . bayard, captain, - , . bayne, dr., of norfolk, , . "bayonet house," the, . bayou la fourche, . beauregarde, general pierre g. t., . beckwith, bishop john watrus, ga., . beecher, henry ward, , . behan, mrs. w. j., . bellows, henry w., . benevolent land commission, . benjamin, judah p., , . bernard, meade, . betts, mrs., of halifax, . black, colonel, . black hawk, . black and tan assemblies, , , , , , , . black's and white's (blackstone), . blaine, jas. g., . blair, general francis p., , . bland, aunt sally, . bolling, tabb, . bomford, colonel, . booth, j. wilkes, , , . boston, , , , , , , , . boston light infantry, . boswell, thomas w., . botts, john minor, . bowery, the, . brazil, ; emperor of, . breckinridge, general john cabell, , . brown, general orlando, . brown, john, r. i., . brown, julius, . brown, w. e., . brown, william garrott, . brownlow's machine, tennessee legislature, , . brunswick, va., , . bryan, mary e., . buckner, milton, . buena vista, . bullock, gov. rufus b., ga., . bunker hill centennial, , . burgess, j. w., . burns, w. a., dallas, sarah, . burton, general, , . butler, general b. f., , , . butler, general m. c., , , . butts and tissue ballots, , . cabaniss, betty, . cabaniss, henry, . cabell, mary virginia ellett, . calhoun, andrew p., . calhoun, mrs. andrew p., . calhoun, john c., , . calhoun, patrick, . calhoun, mayor, of atlanta, , . campbell, captain given, . campbell, col. john allen, . campbell, judge john a., , , , , , , , , , , , , . campbell, sir george, . camp douglas, chicago, . camp grant, , . canada, , , , . canby, general edward r., ; and mrs. canby, . candler, gov. allen d., ga., . capers, bishop william, . capital, last of confederacy, . cardoza, f. l., . carolina hall, , , . carolinas, the, . carrington, mr., . carroll, mr. charles, . carroll, mr., , . cary, colonel, . casserly, senator eugene, , . castle thunder, . catawba indians, . centennial, the, philadelphia, . chamberlain, daniel h., , , , , , , . chamberlain, mrs. daniel h., . chamblee, canada, . charleston, s. c., , , , , , , , , , , . charleston "news-courier," . charlotte, n. c., , , , . charlotte "observer," . chase, c. t., . chase, salmon p., and his daughter, kate, . chattanooga, tenn., . chesnut, mrs. james, . chew, miss, . chicago, ills., , , , ; dedication confederate monument, ; black hussars, city troop, confederate veterans, illinois national guards, grand army of the republic, . "chicago times," . chilton, general, . chimborazo hospital, , , . chittenden, mr. l. e., . christian commission, the, . christmas, washington, . chubbuck, rev. f. e., . churches: in _alabama_, - ; _canada_, chamblee, ; niagara, st. mark's, ; _louisiana_, new orleans, christ church and other churches, - ; _mississippi_, vicksburg, ; _missouri_, lexington, ; _s. carolina_, charleston, st. michael's, ; zion presbyterian, ; columbia trinity, ; washington st. m. e., , ; hampton plantation chapel, ; plowden weston chapel, ; _virginia_, richmond, churches of, , ; grace, ; dr. hoge's, ; northern methodist society, ; old african church, ; st. john's, ; st. paul's, , , . cincinnati, , . "cincinnati commercial," the, . citadel cadets, charleston, . city point, va., , . clarke, gov. charles, of mississippi, , . clarke, ellen meade, . clarke, captain h. m., , . clay, clement c., , . clay, mrs. clement c., , , . clay, henry, . clayton sisters, the, . cleaves, r. h., . clemson college, , . cleveland's inauguration, president, . cleveland, o., . "clyde," the, . cobb, howell, . cocke, nannie, . colfax (schuyler), vice-president, . colfax riot, la., . colquhoun, a. r., . columbia, "the state," . columbia, s. c., - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . columbia university (n. y.) studies, . columbus, ohio, , , . "columbus times," ga., . confederacy, united daughters of the, - . confederate army, . confederate memorial literary society, . confederate museum, richmond, va., , , , . confederate relic rooms, . confederate scrap-book, mrs. lizzie cary daniel's, . "confederate veteran," the, . confederate veterans, the united, , . confederated memorial associations of the south, . cooper, dr. george e., . council, w. h., . courtney, major john, . cowardin, of "the dispatch," . cowles, patty, . craven, dr. john j., , . crittendon, mrs., . crockett, carpet-bagger, . crozier, calvin s., - , , . crump, w., . cuba, . culpeper, va., . cummings, father john a., . cunningham, ann pamela, . currie, katie cabell, . curry, dr. j. l. m., . "daddy cain," . dahlgren's fleet, , . dana, charles a., , , . daniel's confederate scrap-book, miss lizzie cary, . danville, va., , , , , , , . darling, flora adams, . daughters of the american revolution, , . daughters of the confederacy, . daughters of the revolution, . "daughter of the confederacy, the," winnie davis, , - . daughters of the united states, , . davenport, isaac, . davis, maj. b. k., . davis, jefferson, , - , , - , - , , - , - , - , - , , , , , - , , , , , , , - , . davis, mrs. jefferson, , , , , , , - , - , , , . davis, little joe, , - . davis, winnie, , . davis, williams t., . dawson, judge m. l., . deaf and dumb asylum, s. c., . decoration day, . delaware firemen, . dennis, general, , . dents, the, , . derwent, va., , . desha, mary, . devens, general charles, . devens' division, first brigade, , . devereaux, . de witt, surgeon, . dismal swamp, . "dixie" (the song), , . dodge, maj.-gen., . douglas, frederick, . drane, mrs., , . drummond, john, , . du bose, dudley, . du bose, mrs., . duke, general basil w., . duke's camp, general basil, . dunning, w. a., . educational fund, n. c., . education, mississippi's department of, . egypt, . elder, w. h., bishop, of natchez, miss., . el dorado, s. c., , . eliot, professor c. w., of harvard, . elliott, speaker, , , . elliott, general stephen, . ellis, rev. rufus, . ellyson, ex-mayor j. taylor, , . elzey, general, , . emory and wesleyan colleges, ga., . ensor, dr. j. f., . europe, . evans, mrs. clement a., . evans wilson, augusta, . evaugh, mr., . eve, mrs. philoclea, . everett, edward, . ewell, general, . expatriation, , . ezzard, ella, . farmville, va., . fauquier, va., . faver, david, , . fayetteville, ark., . federal prisons, confederates released from, . fifteenth amendment, grant signing, . fitz, rev. mr., . fleming, walter a., , , . florida, agricultural land scrip, - . florida, , , , . florida, state house of, . florida, "times-union," jacksonville, . foraker, senator, . ford's theatre, . "forefathers' day," . forrest, nathan bedford, , , . fort lafayette, . fort pulaski, . fortress monroe, , , , , . fort warren, . foss, rev. a., . freedmen's bureau, , , . freedmen's saving bank, . fullerton, general j. s., , , . fulton, rev. mr., . galt house, louisville, ky., . gamble's hill, richmond, . gambling parlours, . garner, james wilford, . garrison, william lloyd, , . garside, miss (mrs. welch), . gary, general, . geddings, dr., . geddings, mrs. postell, . georgia, , , , , , , , , , . georgia military institute battalion, . georgetown, d. c., . gettysburg, . gibson, eustace, , - . gildersleeve, dr. j. r., . gillem, general alvan cullem, , . gilmer, general jerry (jeremy francis), . gillmore, general quincy adams, , , . girardeau, rev. dr., . glenrie, rev. mr., . godfrey, rev. dr., . goode, e. c., . goode, eugenia, . "goodlett, mother" (mrs. m. c.), . goodrich, rev. dr., . goodwin, mayor of columbia, s. c., . gordon, general john b., , . grace church, richmond, . gracebridge, mrs., . grady, henry woodfin, . graham, john m., . grand army of the republic, , , . grant, general frederick dent, . grant, general ulysses s., , , , , - , , , - , , - , , , , , , , , , , , - , , , , , . grant, mrs. ulysses s., , , , , . gray, helen, . greeley, horace, , , , , , . greenbrier white sulphur (springs), the, , . greenleaf, mrs., . greensboro, n. c., , , , . greenville, s. c., . gregory, alice, . hahn, governor michael, . hale, edward everett, . hall, rev. dr. charles h., - . halleck, general henry w., , , , , , . hamilton, gov. a. j., texas, . hamilton, "handsome tom," . "hampton day," . hampton family freeing slaves, . hampton, wade, , , - , , , - , - , - , - , . hampton, mrs. wade, - . hampton, va., . hampton roads peace commission, . hancock, general winfield scott, . harby, mrs. lee, . hardy, sally, . "harper's weekly," , . harrison, burton, , . harrison, w. h., . haskell, col. alex. c., . haxall house, . haxall, richard barton, . hayes, president rutherford b., . hayward, , . "hell hole swamp," . henderson, mrs. lizzie george, . henry, patrick, . herbert, hilary, , . hetzel, margaret, . heyward, gov. duncan c., of s. c., . hill, augusta, . hill, mr., - . hodges, of princess anne, , . hoge, rev. dr. moses d., . holden, gov. william woods, n. c., , . hollywood, richmond, , , . hollywood memorial association, . holmes, professor, . honoré, bertha (mrs. potter palmer), . hood, general john b., , , . howard, general o. o., . howell, miss maggie, . hughes, mrs. sarah, . hull, robert w., . hunkidory club, the, . hunt, general, , . hunt, mrs. sallie ward, . hunter, general, . hunter, r. m. t., , , . huntington, dr. (bishop) f. e., . hunton, general eppa, , - . huntsville, ala., . illinois, , . illinois national guards, . indian, the, - , , . indianapolis, ind., . ingalls, senator john g., . iowa university studies, . irvin, charles e., . irwinsville, ga., . jackson, d. k., . james river, va., . jefferson hotel, richmond, . jelks, gov. w. d., . jewett, mrs., stony creek, . "john sylvester," the, . johns, annie e., . johns hopkins u. studies, . johnson, andrew, , - , , , , , , , , , , , . johnson, captain, , . johnson, reverdy, . johnston, joseph e., , , , , - , - , , , . johnston, mrs. marmaduke, . jones, freeman, , , . kaye, colonel, . keatley, colonel j. h., . keene, laura, . keiley, anthony m., . kellogg, gov. w. p., la., . kentucky, , , . kilpatrick's troops, general h. j., . king, grace, . king, jule (mrs. henry grady), . king st., charleston, . kirke's cut-throats, . knauss, colonel w. h., . knights of the white camelia, . knox, bill, . kohn, mr. august, . kohn, mrs. august, . ku klux, , , - , - , , , , . la fourche, . lancaster, ohio, . la têche, . laurens and edgefield, . lea, captain, . leacock, rev. dr., - . leacock sisters, the, . lee, general fitzhugh, , . lee's mother (anna maria mason), general fitzhugh, . lee, general robert e., , , , - , - , , - , , , , , , , , , , , - , . lee, mrs. robert e., , , , , , , , . lee's surrender, , , . lee, general sidney dill, . lee, general rooney (w. h. f.), his sweetheart, . lee, susan pendleton, . leland, j. p., mr., . "leslie's weekly," . letcher, gov. john, . lett, j. p., william, , , . le vert, mme. (octavia walton), , . lewis, colonel, . lewis, dr., , , , , . lexington, n. c., . lexington, va., , . libby prison, , , , . liberty hall, a. h. stephens' mansion, . lincoln, abraham, , - , , , , - , , , - , , , , , , , , , , . lincoln, mrs. abraham, , . lincoln, robert, . lincoln, "tad," , . lindsay, lewis, , . little rock, ark., . logan, general john a., . london, bishop of, . longfellow's sister, mrs. greenleaf, . louisiana, , , , , , , , , , , . louisiana state lottery, . louisville "courier-journal," . louisville, ky., , , . lowndes co., miss., . loyal or union league, - , , - , , . ls, the four, . lynchburg, va., . lyons, james, , . lyons, judge, . lyons, w. h., . mccaw, dr. james b., , , , . mccaw, william, - . mcclellan, general george b., , . mcclellan, george b., mayor of new york, . mcclellan, mr., . mcclellanville, s. c., . mcculloch, hugh, . mcdonald, senator joseph ewing, . mcfarland, w. h., . mcgiffen, , , , . mcgregor, vance, , , . mckinley, president william, , , . mclaws, general lafayette, . mclean, mrs. donald, . mcpherson, general james b., , . mcveigh, dr., , . mcveigh vs. underwood, . mackey, e. w., speaker, , , , . mackey, rep. candidate, . mackey house, . macon, ga., , . magill, bishop, . magruder, general j. b., , , . maguire, dr. hunter, , . mahone, general william, . mallory, colonel, . mallory, stephen russell, sec. navy, . manchester, va., . mann's, mr., in chantilly, france, . "marching through georgia," - . "marriage order," the, - , . marston, mrs. dr., . martin, mr., of tenn. leg., . martin, mrs. henry, . martin, rev. william, , , . martin, isabella d., , . mason, miss emily v., , , , , - . mason, gov. stevens thomson, of michigan, . massachusetts, , , , , , , - , . matoaca, , - , , - , , , , , , , , , . maury, general dabney herndon, , . maury, mr., . mayflower, the, . mayo, mayor joseph, , , , , . meade, general george g., , , , . meade, julia, mary and marion, . meade, mary, . means, celina e., . mecklenburg, va., . memminger, mr. and mrs. charles g., . "memorial associations of the south, history of the confederated," . memorial day, . memorial hall, new orleans, . meredith, captain, . meredith, john a., . meredith, judge, . meredith, mrs., of brunswick, . meridian, miss., . mexico, , , , , . michigan, . miles, general nelson a., , , . milledgeville, ga., . minnegerode, rev. dr. charles, , , , , . minor, judge, , . "missionary record," the, . mississippi, , , , , , , , , , , . mississippi, bishop of, . mississippi, . missouri, . missouri, , , , . molineux, general edward leslie, . money, facts and incidents about, - , - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , - , , , , , , , , - , - , , - , , , , , . monroe co., miss., . montague, gov. a. j., va., . monterey, mexico, . montgomery, ala., the "white house," . montreal, canada, . monumental, the, . mordecai, . morgan, john h. (his command), . morrisey, john, . morrison, mrs. edwin, . morrison, prof. w. s., . morse, samuel f. b., . mortimer, judge, , . moses, jr., franklin j., , , , , . moses, raphael, j., . mount vernon, . mount vernon association, , . murray, dr., . myers, gustavus a., . nash, beverly, , , . "nashville american," the, . nashville, tenn., . nassau island, . nathan, charles, . "nation," the, . national park military commission, . national political aid society, , . newberry, s. c., - , . new england, , , . new england society, . new grenada, central america, . new orleans, , , , - , , , , , , , , , , . newspapers, . new york, , , , , , , , , , , , . new york custom house, . "new york herald," the, , , , . new york "news," . new york, old guard of, , . new york "times," . new york "tribune," the, , , . "new york world," the, . niagara, canada, . nichols, gov. francis t., la., . north american review, , , . north anna river, . north carolina, , , , , , , , , , , , . norwood, rev. dr., . nunan, captain, . oakwood, richmond, . oakwood memorial association, . oakwoods, chicago, . oath of allegiance, the, - , - , - , - , . oath, the test, , , , , , . o'connell, father, . o'conor, charles, new york, , . ohio, . old bank, washington, ga., . "old blanford," petersburg, va., . old guard, of new york, . old sweet springs, va., . orangeburg, s. c., . ord, general e. o. c., , , , , ; and mrs. ord, . orphan asylum, colored, . osband, general, . osborne, betty and jeannie, . ould, judge, , , . ould, mattie, . "outlook," the, , . page, betty and lucy, . page, mrs., . pale faces, . palmore's, va., . paris, france, . parker, w. t., . parks, h. b., . parrish, john, , . patrick, general marsena r., , , . patti, adelina, . paul, d'arcy, . payne, lewis, , . peabody fund, , . peel, mrs. lawson, . pendleton, general and mrs., - . pendleton club, s. c., the, . penn, j. garland, . penrose, major, . perry, gov. benj. f., s. c., , , , , . petersburg, , , , , , , , . petersburg "index-appeal," . peyster, lieutenant de, . philadelphia, pa., , , , . "philadelphia inquirer," . philippines, , . phillips, wendell, . "picayune," the, . pickens county men, . pickett, gen. geo. e., . pierce's cabinet, president, . pierce, paul skeels, . pierpont, gov. f. h., , , , ; and mrs. pierpont, . pike, mr. j. s., of maine, . pinckney, captain thomas, , - , . pinckney, charles cotesworth (of the revolution), , . pius ix., pope, . "planting officials," the, . platt, mrs. william h., . pocotaligo, s. c., . polk, bishop leonidas and mrs., . polk, dr. w. m., . polk, president james k., . poole, maggie, . pope, general john, . pope, mrs. sallie ewing, . poppenheim, miss m. b., . porter, admiral david d., , , . portridge, sophia, . potter, bishop horatio, . potter, mrs. james brown, . powell, dr., , . powhatan, va., . prescott, addie, . preston, cobb, . preston, general william, . price, rev. dr., . prince arthur, , . proctor, rev. dr., . pryor, mrs. roger a., , . raines, mrs. l. h., . raleigh, n. c., , , , , . raleigh, mr. bennett's house near, . ralls, general, . randall, james r., . randolph, bishop alfred magill, . randolph, senator theodore f., . randolph, uncle, , , , , . raymond, henry j., . raymond, miss, . reagan, john h., . red shirts, the, , . reed, william b., , . reid, whitelaw, . revels, hiram r., , . rhett, mrs., . richardson, mrs. ida b., . richmond, va., , - , , - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , - . richmond blues, the, . richmond college, . richmond theatre, . richmond "times-dispatch," , . rifle clubs, the, , , , , . riots: brunswick, - ; cowboy, ; charleston, , ; colfax, ; ellenton, ; hamburg, ; little rock, - ; new orleans, , ; richmond, , , . ripley, general edward h., - , . robertson, dr. and mrs., , , ; kate joyner robertson (mrs. faver), , ; willie robertson, . rockett's, . rollins, misses, . rome, italy, . roosevelt, president theodore, , , . rosemont cemetery, newberry, s. c., . rousseau, general, . roxmere, . ruger, general thomas howard, , , . ryland, rev. dr. robert, - . sage, b. f., . saint, captain, th iowa, . st. john, general i. m., . st. michael's bells, . santo domingo, . salisbury, n. c., . santee river, the, . savannah, ga., , , , . savannah "news," the, . saxton, general and mrs. rufus, , ; general, . schell, augustus, . schley, mr., augusta, ga., . schofield's code for freedmen, . schofield, general j. m., , , , , , , , . scott, gov. r. k., s. c., , , , . seaford, u. s. marshal, . sea islands, the, , . sears, dr. barnas, . selma, ala., . seney (george ingraham), benefactions, . "sentinel," the, . sepoy massacres, . sergeant, miss, of atlanta, . sewanee review, . seward, william h., , . sharkey, gov. william l., miss., . shea, george, . shepley, general george f., , , , , , , , , , . sheppard, j. c., . "sheridan's ride," . sherman, general, - , , , , - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . shiloh, national park, . sibley, . simonton, judge c. h., . simpson, colonel r. w., . simpson, w. s., . sing sing, n. y., . sligo, lord, . sloan, captain, . slocomb, mrs., . slocomb family, . smith, gerrit, , , . smith, w. b. (author), . smith, gov. william h., ala., . smith, gov. william, , , . smythe, mrs. a. t., . south carolina, - , , , , , , - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . south carolina agricultural college, . south carolina, state university, . "south carolina women in the confederacy," . southern ballot-box, . "southern cross," hampton's cottage, . southern educational conference, , . "southern opinion," the, . southside virginia, . spanish-american war, . spencer, c. b., . spencer's libels, senator g. e., . spotswood, the, , . springfield, ills., . stanton, edwin m., - , , , , , , , , , , , , . "state," the columbia, . steedman, general james barrett, - . stephens, alexander h., , , , , , , . stephens, judge linton, - . stephens, lint, . stephens, dr. robert g., . stevens, atherton h., , . stevens mystery, yanceyville, n. c., . stevens, thaddeus, . stevenson, mrs. adlai e., . stewart, hon. charles, - . stimson, william, . stoneman, general george, , . stoney, captain, . storrs, rev. dr. richard s., . stratton, professor, . strong, major george c., . stuart, j. e. b., , . sumner, charles, . sumter's anniversary, . surratt, mrs., . sutherlin, major, , , , - . sutherlin mansion, , , , , . sutherlin, mrs., , , , , , - . "sun," the new york, . swayze, u. s. commissioner, . taylor, mrs. thomas, . taylor, general richard, , , . teller, senator henry moore, . tennessee, , . tennesseeans, bates', . terrell, gov. joseph m., of ga., . texas, , , , , , , , , . texas ranger, . thomas, james, . thomas, judge, , , , , . thomas, william hannibal, . thompson, mrs. joseph, . throckmorton, gov. j. w., , . tidewater virginia, . tillinghast, j. a., . tilton, theodore, . "times-democrat," the, new orleans, . tissue ballots, . titlow, captain, . todd, dr. scott, . toombs, general robert, , , , , . toombs, mrs. robert, , . tournaments, . traveller, , . trenholm, g. a., , . trent river settlement, . trescot, w. h., . triplett, mary, . trobriand, general philippe regis de, . trowbridge, colonel, . tucker, john randolph, . tulane university, . tupper, rev. dr., . turner, henry g., . tuskegee, ala., . "uncle tom's cabin," . underwood, judge john c., , , , , . upton, general, , . urquhart, captain david, . urquhart, mrs. david, . urquhart, cora (mrs. james brown potter), . ursuline convent, . valentine's, stuart, . valliant, theodosia worthington, . van alen, general, . vance, betty, . vance, gov. zebulon b., n. carolina, , . vanderbilt, cornelius, . vanderbilt university, . van lew, miss, . vardaman, gov., of miss., . vest, senator, . vicksburg, miss., ; pastors of, , , . vincent, mrs., and lucy, - . virginia, - , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , , , , , , , , . wade, senator benj. f., . walker, george, - . walker, gov. gilbert c., va., . walker-wells campaign, . walker, j. m., mayor, of danville, . wall, l. g., , . wallace house, the, , . wallace, marshal, . wallace. w. h., speaker, , , , . walworth, ellen hardin, . warmouth, henry c., , . warwick, abraham, . washington artillery, n. o., . washington, booker t., . washington, d. c., , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . washington, ga., , , , . washington (and lee) college, lexington, va., , , . washington and lee association, . washington, eugenia, . washington, george, ; statue of, ; tomb of, ; his mother's tomb, . washington, john, . washington, colonel william, . washington light infantry, charleston, . washington, miss, of s. carolina, . "washington post," the, . watkins, judge, . watkins neighbourhood, . watkins, mr. and mrs., . webster, daniel, . weems, colonel, . weitzel, godfrey, , , , - , , - , , - , . welch, mrs. (miss garside), . wellington, mrs. . wells, gov. henry h., . welsh, a., . west point, n. y., , , , . west virginia, . w. virginia university studies, , . wharton, captain, , . wheeler, general joe, - , , . wheeless, john f., . wherry, col. w. m., . "whig," the, , , , , . whipper, w. j., , . white, mrs., of brunswick, . white brotherhood, the, . white house, the, montgomery, ala., . white house, the davis mansion, richmond, , , , , , , . white house, the, washington, d. c., , , , . white league, . white rose, order of the, . whitney, eli, . wigfall, louise (mrs. wright), . wilde, general, . williams, mrs. david r., . williams, mrs. mary, . wilmer, bishop, of alabama, . wilmington, n. c., . wilson, general james h., . wilson, judge s. f., . wilson, senator henry, , . wilson, woodrow, . winfield, miss, , . wingfield, rev. j. h. l. (bishop), . winnsboro, s. c., . wise, captain george, , . wise, henry a., , . wise, lieutenant, . wood, benjamin, . wood's house in greensboro, col., . woods, general william b., . wortham, miss, . wright, general horatio d., , , . wright, mary (mrs. treadwell), . yulee, senator d. l., . yulee, mrs. d. l., . yankee landon, , , , , . zola, . footnotes: [ ] gentlemen of the old regime would say: "a woman's name should appear in print but twice--when she marries and when she dies"; the "society" page of to-day was unknown to them. they objected to newspaper notoriety for themselves, and were prone to sign pseudonyms to their newspaper articles. matoaca, loyal to her uncle's prejudices, requires that i print him only by the name she gives him and the title, one which was affectionately applied to him by many who were not his kin. to give his real name in full would be to give hers. [ ] general ripley, in "confederate column" of the "times-dispatch," richmond, virginia, may , . [ ] in , , - , - , northern states threatened to secede. of massachusetts' last movement mr. davis said in congress: "it is her right." nov. , dec. , feb. , - , the "new york tribune" said: "we insist on letting the cotton states go in peace ... the right to secede exists." [ ] for full statement, see captain h. m. clarke's paper in southern hist. society paper, vol. , pp. - , and paymaster john f. whieless' report, vol. , . [ ] the account which i had from colonel randall at the home of mr. john m. graham, atlanta, ga., in the spring of , does not quite coincide with that given by mrs. clay in "a belle of the fifties." in years elapsing since the war, some confusion of facts in memory is to be expected. [ ] fac-simile of the order under which mr. davis was chained appears in charles h. dana's "recollections of the civil war," p. . the hand that wrote it, when mr. davis died, paid generous tribute to him in the "sun," saying: "a majestic soul has passed." [ ] general halleck to general stanton (richmond, april , ): "i forward general orders no. .... you will perceive from paragraph v, that measures have been taken to prevent, as far as possible, the propagation of legitimate rebels." paragraph v: "no marriage license will be issued until the parties desiring to be married take the oath of allegiance to the united states; and no clergyman, magistrate, or other party authorized by state laws to perform the marriage ceremony will officiate in such capacity until himself and the parties contracting matrimony shall have taken the prescribed oath of allegiance," all under pains of imprisonment, etc. [ ] "why solid south," hilary herbert. to this book i owe a large debt for information, as does every other present-day writer on reconstruction. [ ] an englishman of queen's college; the bishop of london had sent him as chaplain to lord sligo, governor of jamaica, but at this time he was rector of christ church, new orleans. [ ] "civil war & reconstruction in alabama," w. l. fleming. [ ] see stewart on "texas" in "why solid south," by hilary herbert and others. [ ] a collection of records, sketches, etc., edited and published by mrs. taylor, mrs. smythe, mrs. kohn, miss poppenheim and miss washington, of that state. owner, august kohn, columbia, s. c. for confirmation of first chapter of this book, see same. [ ] syphilitic diseases, from which under slavery negroes were nearly exempt, combine with tuberculosis to undermine racial health. [ ] see susan pendleton lee's "history of virginia." [ ] among southerners assuring me that education is advancing negroes, i may mention ex-mayor ellyson, of richmond, and judge watkins, of farmville, who credit educated negro clergy with such moral improvement in the race. both gentlemen were deeply interested in the educational work at petersburg. said mayor ellyson: "we take equal care in selecting teachers for both races." [ ] such laws were adopted after in alabama, georgia and south carolina, when secret agents of the abolitionists were spreading incendiary literature. it is a fact, though not generally understood, that abolition extremists arrested several emancipation movements in the south; whites dared not release to the guidance of fanatics a mass of semi-savages in whose minds doctrines of insurrection had been sown. see recent articles on slavery in the "confederate veteran"; "the gospel to the slaves"; "an inquiry into the law of negro slavery in the united states; with an historical sketch of slavery," by thomas r. r. cobb; and southern histories of the southern states. [ ] see university of iowa studies, "freedmen's bureau," by paul skeels pierce. [ ] see "history of the last quarter century in the united states," by e. b. andrews; "reconstruction and the constitution," by j. w. burgess; "destruction and reconstruction," by richard taylor; "history of the american people; reunion and nationalism," by woodrow wilson; "a political crime," by a. m. gibson; "the lower south" and "history of the united states since the civil war," by w. g. brown; "essays on the civil war and reconstruction" and "reconstruction, political and economic," by w. a. dunning; articles in "atlantic monthly" during ; johns hopkins university studies and columbia university studies; walter l. fleming's "documents illustrative of the reconstruction period"; besides treating every phase of the subject, these "documents" give a full bibliography; "a new south view of reconstruction," trent, "sewanee review," jan., ; and other magazine articles. [ ] phelps' "louisiana," perry's "provisional governorship," "why solid south," hilary herbert. [ ] this case was used by celina e. means in "thirty-four years." the stevens case is misused by tourgee in "a fool's errand." [ ] see "documents illustrative of the reconstruction period," by walter l. fleming, professor of history, west virginia university; also articles in the "atlantic monthly." [ ] this mirror had been built into the wall when the house was erected by the captain's grandfather, general thomas pinckney, of the revolution, soon after his return from the court of st. james, where he served as united states minister by washington's appointment. it was charles cotesworth, brother of this thomas, who threw down the gage to france in the famous words: "the united states has millions for defense but not one cent for tribute!" [ ] see "reconstruction in south carolina," by john s. reynolds, in the columbia "state." [ ] i think this was general ruger or colonel black, but i let the name stand as my informant gave it. [ ] see sherman-halleck correspondence in sherman's "memoirs" on "the inevitable sambo." also, w. t. parker, u. s. a., on "the evolution of the negro soldier," n. amer. rev., . lincoln disbanded the troops organised by general hunter. [ ] in boston, . i suppose this is the case meant as it rests on court records. "the nation," , published letters showing four specific cases from slavery's beginning to ; that just cited, one mentioned in miss martineau's "society in america"; one reported in "leslie's weekly," ; one reported in a periodical not named. in the earliest days of slavery, laws enacted against negro rape (the penalty was burning) seem to show that the crime existed or that the colonists feared it would exist. the fact that during the war of secession, southern men left their families in negro protection is proof conclusive that this tendency, if inherent, had been civilised out of the race. [ ] for other reasons for rape than i have given see "the negro; the southerner's problem," by thomas nelson page, p. , and "the american negro," by william hannibal thomas (negro), pp. , - , . [ ] "the negro in africa and america," j. a. tillinghast. on miscegenation see "the color line," w. b. smith; also a. r. colquhoun, n. amer. rev., may, . [ ] fakirs, taking advantage of the general racial weakness, are selling "black skin removers," "hair straighteners," etc. [ ] see council, penn, and spencer, "voice of missions" (h. b. parks, ed.), sept., nov., dec., . see booker t. washington's "up from slavery," "character building," "future of the american negro." [ ] "'decoration day,' a legal holiday. the custom of 'memorial day,' as it is otherwise called, originated with the southern states and was copied scatteringly in northern states. on may , , general john a. logan, then commander-in-chief of the grand army of the republic, issued an order appointing may ."--encyclopedia americana. [ ] in this church, patrick henry said: "give me liberty or give me death!" transcriber's note: text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. the abolition crusade and its consequences four periods of american history by hilary a. herbert, ll.d. new york charles scribner's sons copyright, , by charles scribner's sons published april, to my grandchildren this little book is affectionately dedicated in the hope that its perusal will foster in them, as citizens of this great republic, a due regard for the constitution of their country as the supreme law of the land prefatory note by james ford rhodes "livy extolled pompey in such a panegyric that augustus called him pompeian, and yet this was no obstacle to their friendship." that we find in tacitus. we may therefore picture to ourselves augustus reading livy's "history of the civil wars" (in which the historian's republican sympathies were freely expressed), and learning therefrom that there were two sides to the strife which rent rome. as we are more than forty-six years distant from our own civil war, is it not incumbent on northerners to endeavor to see the southern side? we may be certain that the historian a hundred years hence, when he contemplates the lining-up of five and one-half million people against twenty-two millions, their equal in religion, morals, regard for law, and devotion to the common constitution, will, as matter of course, aver that the question over which they fought for four years had two sides; that all the right was not on one side and all the wrong on the other. the north should welcome, therefore, accounts of the conflict written by candid southern men. mr. herbert, reared and educated in the south, believing in the moral and economical right of slavery, served as a confederate soldier during the war, but after appomattox, when thirty-one years old, he told his father he had arrived at the conviction that slavery was wrong. twelve years later, when home-rule was completely restored to the south ( ), he went into public life as a member of congress, sitting in the house for sixteen years. at the end of his last term, in , he was appointed secretary of the navy by president cleveland, whom he faithfully served during his second administration. such an experience is an excellent training for the treatment of any aspect of the civil war. mr. herbert's devotion to the constitution, the union, and the flag now equals that of any soldier of the north who fought against him. we should expect therefore that his work would be pervaded by practical knowledge and candor. after a careful reading of the manuscript i have no hesitation in saying that the expectation is realized. naturally unable to agree entirely with his presentation of the subject, i believe that his work exhibits a side that entitles it to a large hearing. i hope that it will be placed before the younger generation, who, unaffected by any memory of the heat of the conflict, may truly say: tros tyriusve, mihi nullo discrimine agetur. james ford rhodes. boston, _november_, . preface in mr. l. e. chittenden, who had been united states treasurer under president lincoln, published an interesting account of $ , , united states bonds secretly sent to england, as he said, in , and he told all about what thereupon took place across the water. it was a reminiscence. general charles francis adams in his recent instructive volume, "studies military and diplomatic," takes up this narrative and, in a chapter entitled "an historical residuum," conclusively shows from contemporaneous evidence that the bonds were sent, not in , but in , but that, as for the rest of the story, the residuum of truth in it was about like the speck of moisture that is left when a soap bubble is pricked by a needle. general adams did not mean that mr. chittenden knew he was drawing on his imagination. he was only demonstrating that one who intends to write history cannot rely on his memory. the author, in the following pages, is undertaking to write a connected story of events that happened, most of them, in his lifetime, and as to many of the most important of which he has vivid recollections; but, save in one respect, he has not relied upon his own memory for any important fact. the picture he has drawn of the relations between the slave-holder and non-slave-holder in the south is, much of it, given as he recollects it. his opportunities for observation were somewhat extensive, and here he is willing to be considered in part as a witness. elsewhere he has relied almost entirely upon contemporaneous written evidence, memory, however, often indicating to him sources of information. nowhere are there so many valuable lessons for the student of american history as in the story of the great sectional movement of , and of its results, which have profoundly affected american conditions through generation after generation. an effort is here made to tell that story succinctly, tracing it, step after step, from cause to effect. the subject divides itself naturally into four historic periods: . the anti-slavery crusade, to . . secession and four years of war, to . . reconstruction under the lincoln-johnson plan, with the overthrow by congress of that plan and the rule of the negro and carpet-bagger, from to . . restoration of self-government in the south, and the results that have followed. the greater part of the book is devoted to the first period-- to , the period of causation. the sequences running through the three remaining periods are more briefly sketched. italics, throughout the book, it may be mentioned here, are the author's. now that the country is happily reunited in a union which all agree is indissoluble, the south wants the true history of the times here treated of spread before its children; so does the north. the mistakes that were committed on both sides during that lamentable and prolonged sectional quarrel (and they were many) should be known of all, in order that like mistakes may not be committed in the future. the writer has, with diffidence, attempted to lay the facts before his readers, and so to condense the story that it may be within the reach of the ordinary student. how far he has succeeded will be for his readers to say. the verdict he ventures to hope for is that he has made an honest effort to be fair. the author takes this occasion to thank that accomplished young teacher of history, mr. paul micou, for valuable suggestions, and his friend, mr. thomas h. clark, who with his varied attainments has aided him in many ways. hilary a. herbert. washington, d. c., _march_, . contents chapter page introduction i. secession and its doctrine ii. emancipation prior to iii. the new abolitionists iv. feeling in the south-- v. anti-abolition at the north vi. a crisis and a compromise vii. efforts for peace viii. incompatibility of slavery and freedom ix. four years of war x. reconstruction, lincoln-johnson plan and congressional xi. the south under self-government index the abolition crusade and its consequences introduction the constitution of the united states attempts to define and limit the power of our federal government. lord brougham somewhere said that such an instrument was not worth the parchment it was written on; people would pay no regard to self-imposed limitations on their own will. when our fathers by that written constitution established a government that was partly national and partly federal, and that had no precedent, they knew it was an experiment. to-day that government has been in existence one hundred and twenty-three years, and we proudly claim that the experiment of has been the success of the ages. happy should we be if we could boast that, during all this period, the constitution had never been violated in any respect! the first palpable infringement of its provisions occurred in the enactment of the alien and sedition laws of . the people at the polls indignantly condemned these enactments, and for years thereafter the government proceeded peacefully; the people were prosperous, and the union and the constitution grew in favor. later, there grew up a rancorous sectional controversy about slavery that lasted many years; that quarrel was followed by a bloody sectional war; after that war came the reconstruction of the southern states. during each of these three trying eras it did sometimes seem as if that old piece of "parchment," derided by lord brougham, had been utterly forgotten. nevertheless, and despite all these trying experiences, we have in the meantime advanced to the very front rank of nations, and our people have long since turned, not only to the union, but, we are happy to think, to the constitution as well, with more devotion than ever. it may be further said that, notwithstanding all the bitter animosities that for long divided our country into two hostile sections, that wonderful old constitution, handed down to us by our fathers, was always, and in all seasons, in the hearts of our people, and that never for a moment was it out of mind. even in our sectional war confederates and federals were both fighting for it--one side to maintain it over themselves as an independent nation; the other to maintain it over the whole of the old union. in the very madness of reconstruction the fundamental idea of the constitution, the equality of the states, ultimately prevailed--this idea it was that imperatively demanded the final restoration of the seceded states, with the right of self-government unimpaired. the future is now bright before us. the complex civilization of the present is, we do not forget, continually presenting new and complex problems of government, and we are mindful, too, that, for the people who must deal with these problems, a higher culture is required, but to all this our national and state governments seem to be fully alive. we are everywhere erecting memorials to our patriotic dead, we have our "flag day" and many ceremonies to stimulate patriotism, and, throughout our whole country, young americans are being taught more and more of american history and american traditions. the essence of these teachings presumably is that time has hallowed our constitution, and that experience has fully shown the wisdom of its provisions. in this land of ours, where there are so much property and so many voters who want it, and where the honor and emoluments of high place are so tempting to the demagogue, there can be no such security for either life, liberty, or property as those safeguards which our fathers devised in the constitution of the united states. our teachers of history must therefore expose fearlessly every violation in the past of our constitution, and point out the penalties that followed; and, above all, they cannot afford to condone, or to pass by in silence, the conduct of those who have heretofore advocated, or acted on, any law which to them was _higher than the american constitution_. one of the most serious troubles in the past, many think our greatest, was our terrible war among ourselves. perhaps, after the lapse of nearly fifty years, we can all now agree that if our people and our states had always, between and , faithfully observed the federal constitution we should have not had that war. however that may be, the crusade of the abolitionists, which began in , was the beginning of an agitation in the north against the existence of slavery in the south, which continued, in one form or another, until the outbreak of that war. the negro is now located, geographically, much as he was then. if another attempt shall be made to project his personal status into national politics, the voters of the country ought to know and consider the mistakes that occurred, north and south, during the unhappy era of that sectional warfare. this little book is a study of that period of our history. it concludes with a glance at the war between the north and south, and the reconstruction that followed. the story of cromwell and the great revolution it was impossible for any englishman to tell correctly for nearly or quite two centuries. the changes that had been wrought were too profound, too far-reaching; and english writers were too human. the changes--economic, political, and social--wrought in our country by the great controversy over slavery and state-rights, and by the war that ended it, have been quite as profound, and the revolution in men's ideas and ways of looking at their past history has been quite as complete as those which followed the downfall of the government founded by cromwell. but we are now in the twentieth century; history is becoming a science, and we ought to succeed better in writing our past than the englishmen did. the culture of this day is very exacting in its demands, and if one is writing about our own past the need of fairness is all the more imperative. and why not? the masses of the people, who clashed on the battlefields of a war in which one side fought for the supremacy of the union and the other for the sovereignty of the states, had honest convictions; they differed in their convictions; they had made honest mistakes about each other; now they would like their histories to tell just where those mistakes were; they do not wish these mistakes to be repeated hereafter. nor is there any reason why the whole history of that great controversy should not now be written with absolute fairness; the two sections of our country have come together in a most wonderful way. there has been reunion after reunion of the blue and the gray. the survivors of a new jersey regiment, forty-four years after the bloody battle of salem church, put up on its site a monument to their dead, on one side of which was a tablet to the memory of the "brave alabama boys," who were their opponents in that fight. one of those "alabama boys" wrote the story of that battle for the archives of his own state, and the state of new jersey has published it in her archives, as a fair account of the battle. the author has attempted to approach his subject in a spirit like this, and while he hopes to be absolutely fair, he is perfectly aware that he sees things from a southern view-point. for this, however, no apology is needed. truth is many-sided and must be seen from every direction. nearly all the school-books dealing with the period here treated of, and now considered as authority, have been written from a northern stand-point; and many of the extended histories that are most widely read seem to the writer to be more or less partisan, although the authors were apparently quite unconscious of it. attempts made here to point out some of the errors in these books are, as is conceived, in the interests of history. of course it is important that readers should know the stand-point of an author who writes at this day of events as recent as those here treated of. dr. albert bushnell hart, professor of history in harvard university, in the preface to his "slavery and abolition" (harper brothers, ), says of himself: "it is hard for a son and grandson of abolitionists to approach so explosive a question with impartiality." following this example, the writer must tell that he was born in the south, of slave-holding parents, three years after the abolition crusade began in . growing up in the south under the stress of that crusade, he maintained all through the war, in which he was a loyal confederate soldier, the belief in which he had been educated--that slavery was right, morally and economically. one day, not long after appomattox, he told his father he had reached the conclusion that slavery was wrong. the reply was, to the writer's surprise, that his mother in early life had been an avowed emancipationist; that she (who had lived until the writer was sixteen years old) had never felt at liberty to discuss slavery after the rise of the new abolitionists and the nat turner insurrection; and then followed the further information that when, in , the family removed from south carolina to alabama, greenville, ala., was chosen for a home because it was thought that the danger from slave insurrections would be less there than in one of the richer "black counties." what a creature of circumstances man is! the writer's belief about a great moral question, his home, his school-mates, and the companions of his youth, were all determined by a movement begun in boston, massachusetts, before he was born in the far south! with a vivid personal recollection of the closing years of the great anti-slavery crusade always in his mind, the writer has studied closely many of the histories dealing with that movement, and he has found quite a consensus of opinion among northern writers--a view that has even been sometimes accepted in the south--that it was not so much the fear of insurrections, created by abolition agitation, that shut off discussion in the south about the rightfulness of slavery as it was the invention of the cotton-gin, that made cotton growing and slavery profitable. the cotton-gin was invented in , and was in common use years before the writer's mother was born. a native of, she grew to maturity entirely in, the south, and in was an avowed emancipationist. the subject was then being freely discussed. the author has ventured to relate in the pages that follow this introduction two or three incidents that were more or less personal, in the hope that their significance may be his sufficient excuse. and now, having spoken of himself as a southerner, the author thinks it but fair, when invoking for the following pages fair consideration, to add that, since , he has never ceased to rejoice that slavery is no more, and that secession is now only an academic question; and, further, that he has, since appomattox, served the government of the united states for twenty years as loyally as he ever served the confederacy. he therefore respectfully submits that his experiences ought to render him quite as well qualified for an impartial consideration of the anti-slavery crusade and its consequences as are those who have never, either themselves or through the eyes of their ancestors, seen more than one side of those questions. certain he is, in his own mind, that this union has now no better friend than is he who submits this little study, conscious of its many shortcomings, claiming for it nothing except that it is the result of an honest effort to be fair in every statement of facts and in the conclusions reached. not much effort has been made in the direction of original research. facts deemed sufficient to illustrate salient points, which alone can be treated of in a short story, have been found in published documents, and other facts have been purposely taken, most of them, from northern writers; and the authorities have been duly cited. these facts have been compressed into a small compass, so that the book may be available to such students as have not time for a more extended examination. of the results of the crusade of the abolitionists, and the consequent sectional war, george ticknor curtis, one of new england's distinguished biographers, says in his "life of buchanan," vol. ii, p. : "it is cause for exultation that slavery no longer exists in the broad domain of this republic--that our theory of government and practice are now in complete accord. but it is no cause for national pride that we did not accomplish this result without the cost of a million of precious lives and untold millions of money." chapter i secession and its doctrine john fiske has said in his school history: "under the government of england before the revolution the thirteen commonwealths were independent of one another, and were held together juxtaposed, rather than united, only through their allegiance to the british crown. had that allegiance been maintained there is no telling how long they might have gone on thus disunited." they won their independence under a very imperfect union, a government improvised for the occasion. the "articles of confederation," the first formal constitution of the united states of america, were not ratified by maryland, the last to ratify, until in , shortly before yorktown. in the thirteen states, each claiming to be still sovereign, came together in convention at philadelphia and formed the present constitution, looking to "a more perfect union." the constitution that created this new government has been rightly said to be "the most wonderful work ever struck off, at a given time, by the brain and purpose of man."[ ] and so it was, but it left unsettled the great question whether a state, if it believed that its rights were denied to it by the general government, could peaceably withdraw from the union. [ ] gladstone, "kin beyond the sea." the federal government was given by the constitution only limited powers, powers that it could not transcend. nowhere on the face of that constitution was any right expressly conferred on the general government to decide exclusively and finally upon the extent of the powers granted to it. if any such right had been clearly given, it is certain that many of the states would not have entered into the union. as it was, the constitution was only adopted by eleven of the states after months of discussion. then the new government was inaugurated, with two of the states, rhode island and north carolina, still out of the union. they remained outside, one of them for eighteen months and the other for a year. the states were reluctant to adopt the constitution, because they were jealous of, and did not mean to give up, the right of self-government. the framers of the constitution knew that the question of the right of a state to secede was thus left unsettled. they knew, too, that this might give trouble in the future. their hope was that, as the advantages of the union became, in process of time, more and more apparent, the union would grow in favor and come to be regarded in the minds and hearts of the people as indissoluble. from the beginning of the government there were many, including statesmen of great influence, who continued to be jealous of the right of self-government, and insisted that no powers should be exercised by the federal government except such as were very clearly granted in the constitution. these soon became a party and called themselves republicans. some thirty years later they called themselves democrats. those, on the other hand, who believed in construing the grants of power in the constitution liberally or broadly, called themselves federalists. washington was a federalist, but such was his influence that the dispute between the republicans and the federalists about the meaning of the constitution did not, during his administration, assume a serious aspect; but when a new president, john adams, also a federalist, came in with a congress in harmony with him, the republicans made bitter war upon them. france, then at war with england, was even waging what has been denominated a "quasi war" upon us, to compel the united states, under the old treaty of the revolution, to take her part against england; and england was also threatening us. plots to force the government into the war as an ally of france were in the air. adams and his followers believed in a strong and spirited government. to strike a fatal blow at the plotters against the public peace, and to crush the republicans at the same time, congress now passed the famous alien and sedition laws. one of the alien laws, june , , gave the president, for two years from its passage, power to order out of the country, _at his own will, and without "trial by jury" or other "process of law," any alien he deemed dangerous_ to the peace and safety of the united states. the sedition law, july , , made criminal any unlawful conspiracy to oppose any measure of the government of the united states "which was directed by proper authority," as well as also any "false and scandalous accusations against the government, the president, or the congress." the opportunity of the republicans had come. they determined to call upon the country to condemn the alien and sedition laws, and at the presidential election in the federalists received their death-blow. the party as an organization survived that election only a few years, and in localities the very name, federalist, later became a reproach. the republicans began their campaign against the alien and sedition laws by a series of resolutions, which, drawn by jefferson, were passed by the kentucky legislature in november, . other quite similar resolutions, drawn by madison, passed the virginia assembly the next year; and these together became the celebrated kentucky and virginia resolutions of - .[ ] the alien and sedition laws were denounced in these resolutions for the exercise of powers not delegated to the general government. adverting to the sedition law, it was declared that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press had been given. on the contrary, it had been expressly provided by the constitution that "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, _or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press_." [ ] warfield, in his "kentucky resolutions of ," relates that john breckenridge introduced the kentucky and john taylor, of caroline, moved the virginia resolutions. in taylor made it known that madison was the author of the virginia resolves, but not till did jefferson admit his authorship of the kentucky resolutions. jefferson was vice-president when they were drawn, and it would have been thought unseemly for him to appear openly in a canvass against the president, but by correspondence with his friends he "gradually drew out a program of action" (warfield, p. ). the kentucky resolutions were sent by the governor to the legislatures of the other states, ten of which, being controlled by the federalists, are known to have declared against them (warfield, p. ). but of course the resolutions were canvassed by the public before the presidential election of . the first of the kentucky resolutions was as follows: "_resolved_, that the several states composing the united states of america, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government, _but that by compact_, under the style and title of a constitution for the united states, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for specific purposes, delegated to that government certain definite powers, _reserving, each state to itself_, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and _that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no effect_: that to this _compact each state acceded as a state_, and is an integral party, its co-states forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by _this compact, was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself_, since that would have made its direction, and not the constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, _as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each party has a right to judge for itself as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress._" undoubtedly it is from the famous resolutions of - that the secessionists of a later date drew their arguments. the authors of these celebrated resolutions were, both of them, devoted friends of the union they had helped to construct. why should they announce a theory of the constitution that was so full of dangerous possibilities? the answer is, they were announcing the theory upon which the states, or at least many of the states, had ten years before ratified the constitution. a crisis in the life of the new government had now come. congress had usurped powers not given; it had exercised powers that had been prohibited, and the government was enforcing the obnoxious statutes with a high hand. dissatisfaction was intense. jefferson and madison were undoubtedly republican partisans, jefferson especially; but it is equally certain that they were both friends of the union, and as such they concluded, with the lights before them, that the wise course would be to submit to the people, in ample time for full consideration, before the then coming presidential election, a full, clear, and comprehensive exposition of the constitution precisely as they, and as the people, then understood it. this they did in the resolutions of and , and the very same voters who had created the constitution of , now, with their sons to aid them, endorsed these resolutions in the election of , which had been laid before them by the legislatures of two republican states as a correct construction of that instrument. the republicans under jefferson came into power with an immense majority. the people were satisfied with the constitution as it had been construed in the election of , and the country under control of the republicans was happy and prosperous for three decades. then the party in power began to split into national republicans and democratic republicans. the national republicans favored a liberal construction of the constitution and became whigs; the democratic republicans dropped the name republican and became democrats. the foregoing sketch has been given with no intent to write a political history, but only to show with what emphasis the american people condemned all violations of the constitution up to the time when, in , our story of the abolitionists is to begin. the sketch has also served to explain the theory of state-rights, as it was held in early days, and later, by the southern people. whether the union of the states under the constitution as expounded by the kentucky and virginia resolutions would survive every trial that was to come, remained to be seen. the question was destined to perplex mr. jefferson himself, more than once. indeed, even while washington was president there had been disunion sentiment in congress. in the celebrated virginian, john taylor, of caroline, shortly after he had expressed an intention of publicly resigning from the united states senate, was approached in the privacy of a committee room by rufus king, senator from new york, and oliver ellsworth, a senator from massachusetts, both federalists, with a proposition for a dissolution of the union by mutual consent, the line of division to be somewhere from the potomac to the hudson. this was on the ground "that it was utterly impossible for the union to continue. that the southern and the eastern people thought quite differently," etc. taylor contended for the union, and nothing came of the conference, the story of which remained a secret for over a hundred years.[ ] [ ] taylor was so deeply impressed by the conference, which was protracted, that two days later, may , , he made an extended note of it which he sent to mr. madison. at the foot of his note taylor says, among other things: "he (t.) is thoroughly convinced that the design to break up the union is contemplated. the assurance, the manner, the earnestness, and the countenances with which the idea was uttered, all disclosed the most serious intention. it is also probable that k. (king) and e. (ellsworth) having heard that t. (taylor) was against the (adoption of) the constitution have hence imbibed a mistaken opinion that he was secretly an enemy of the union, and conceived that he was a fit instrument (as he was about retiring) to infuse notions into the anti-federal temper of virginia, consonant to their views."--"disunion sentiment in the congress in " (with fac-simile of taylor memorandum), by gaillard hunt, editor of writings of james madison. lowdermilk co., washington, d. c., . "in the winter of - , immediately after, and as a consequence of, the acquisition of louisiana, certain leaders of the federal party conceived the project of the dissolution of the union and the establishment of a northern confederacy, the justifying causes to those who entertained it, that the acquisition of louisiana to the union transcended the constitutional powers of the government of the united states; that it created, in fact, a new confederacy to which the states, united by the former compact, were not bound to adhere; that it was oppressive of the interests and destructive of the influence of the northern section of the confederacy, whose right and duty it was therefore to secede from the new body politic, and to constitute one of their own."[ ] [ ] c. f. robertson, "the louisiana purchase," etc. "papers of the american association," vol. i, pp. , . this project did not assume serious proportions. john fiske in his school history says: "john quincy adams, a supporter of the embargo act of , privately informed president jefferson (in february, ) that further attempts to enforce it in the new england states would be likely to drive them to secession. accordingly, the embargo was repealed, and the non-intercourse act substituted for it." the spirit of nationality was yet in its infancy, threats of secession were common, and they came then mostly from new england. these threats were in no wise connected with slavery; agitators had not then made slavery a national issue; the idea of separation was prompted by the fear that power in the councils of the union would pass into the hands of other sections. massachusetts was heard from again in , when the state of louisiana, the first to be carved from the louisiana purchase, asked to come into the union. in discussing the bill for her admission, josiah quincy said: "why, sir, i have already heard of six states, and some say there will be at no great distance of time more. i have also heard that the mouth of the ohio will be far to the east of the contemplated empire.... it is impossible that such a power could be granted. it was not for these men that our fathers fought. it was not for them this constitution was adopted. you have no authority to throw the rights and liberties and property of this people into hotchpot with the wild men on the missouri, or with the mixed, though more respectable, race of anglo-hispano-gallo-americans who bask in the sands in the mouth of the mississippi.... _i am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opinion that, if this bill passes, the bonds of the union are virtually dissolved; that the states which compose it are free from their moral obligations; and that, as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separation--amicably, if they can; violently, if they must._" june , , the massachusetts legislature endorsed the position taken in this speech.[ ] [ ] "american state documents and federal relations," p. . later, in , a convention of representative new england statesmen met at hartford, to consider of secession unless the non-intercourse act, which also bore hard on new england, should be repealed; but the war then pending was soon to close, and the danger from that quarter was over. but secession was not exclusively a new england doctrine. "when the constitution was adopted by the votes of states in popular conventions, it is safe to say there was not a man in the country, from washington and hamilton, on the one side, to george clinton and george mason, on the other, who regarded the new system as anything but an experiment, entered into by the states, and from which each and every state had the right to withdraw, a right which was very likely to be exercised."[ ] [ ] henry cabot lodge's "webster," p. . as late as the threat of secession was to come again from massachusetts. the great state of texas was applying for admission to the union. but texas was a slave state; abolitionists had now for thirteen years been arousing in the old bay state a spirit of hostility against the existence of slavery in her sister states of the south, and in the massachusetts legislature resolved that "the commonwealth of massachusetts, faithful to the _compact_ between the people of the united states, according to the plain meaning and intent in which it was understood by them, is sincerely anxious for its preservation; but that it is determined, as it _doubts not other states are, to submit to undelegated powers in no body of men on earth_," and that "the project of the annexation of texas, unless arrested at the threshold, may tend to drive _these states into a dissolution of the union_." this was _just seventeen years before the commonwealth of massachusetts began to arm her sons to put down secession in the south_! the southern reader must not, however, conclude from this startling about-face on the question of secession, that the people of massachusetts, and of the north, did not, _in _, honestly believe that under the constitution the union was indissoluble, or that the north went to war simply for the purpose of perpetuating its power over the south. such a conclusion would be grossly unjust. the spirit of nationality, veneration of the union, was a growth, and, after it had fairly begun, a rapid growth. it grew, as our country grew in prestige and power. the splendid triumphs of our ships at sea, in the war of , and our victory at new orleans over british regulars, added to it; the masterful decisions of our great chief justice john marshall, pointing out how beneficently our federal constitution was adapted to the preservation not only of local self-government but of the liberties of the citizen as well; peace with, and the respect of, foreign nations; free trade between the people of all sections, and abounding prosperity--all these things created a deep impression, and americans began to hark back to the words of washington in his farewell address: "the unity of our government, which now constitutes you one people, is also dear to you. it is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize." but far and away above every other single element contributing to the development of union sentiment was the wonderful speech of daniel webster, january , , in his debate in the united states senate with hayne, of south carolina. hayne was eloquently defending states' rights, and his argument was unanswerable if his premise was admitted, that, as had been theretofore conceded, the constitution was _a compact between the states_. webster saw this and he took new ground; the constitution was, he contended, not a compact, but the formation of a government. his arguments were like fruitful seed sown upon a soil prepared for their reception. no speech delivered in this country ever created so profound an impression. it was the foundation of a new school of political thought. it concluded with this eloquent peroration: "when my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may i not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious union; on states dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gracious ensign of the republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, not a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as 'what is all this worth?' nor those other words of delusion and folly, 'liberty first and union afterwards,' but everywhere, spread all over with living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every american heart--'liberty _and_ union, now and forever, one and inseparable.'" for many years every school-house in the land resounded with these words. by they had been imprinted on the minds and had sunk into the hearts of a whole generation. their effect was incalculable. it is perfectly true that the secession resolution of the massachusetts legislature of was passed fourteen years after webster's speech, but the garrisonians had then been agitating the slavery question within her borders for fourteen years, and the old state was now beside herself with excitement. there was another great factor in the rapid manufacture of union sentiment at the north that had practically no existence at the south. it was immigration. the new-comers from over the sea knew nothing, and cared less, about the history of the constitution or the dialectics of secession. they had sought a land of liberty that to them was one nation, with one flag flying over it, and in their eyes secession was rebellion. immigrants to america, practically all settling in northern states, were during the thirty years, - , , , ; and these must, with their natural increase, have numbered at least six millions in . in other words, far more than one-fourth of the people of the north in were not, themselves or their fathers, in the country in the early days when the doctrine of states' rights had been in the ascendant; and, as a rule, to these new people that old doctrine was folly. in the south the situation was reversed. slavery had kept immigrants away. the whites were nearly all of the old revolutionary stock, and had inherited the old ideas. still, love of and pride in the union had grown in them too. nor were the southerners all followers of jefferson. from the earliest days much of the wealth and intelligence of the country, north and south, had opposed the democracy, first as federalists and later as whigs. in the south the whigs have been described as "a fine upstanding old party, a party of blue broadcloth, silver buttons, and a coach and four." it was not until anti-slavery sentiment had begun to array the north, as a section, against the south, that southern whigs began to look for protection to the doctrine of states' rights. woodrow wilson says, in "division and reunion," p. , of daniel webster's great speech in : "the north was now beginning to insist upon a national government; the south was continuing to insist upon the original understanding of the constitution; that was all." and in those attitudes the two sections stood in - , one upon the modern theory of an indestructible union; the other upon the old idea that states had the right to secede from the union. in there occurred in ireland the "rebellion of the young irishmen." among the leaders of that rebellion were thomas f. meagher and john mitchel. both were banished to great britain's penal colony. both made their way, a few years later, to america. both were devotees of liberty, both men of brilliant intellect and high culture. meagher settled in the north, mitchel in the south. this was about . each from his new stand-point studied the history and the constitution of his adopted country. meagher, when the war between the north and south came on, became a general in the union army. mitchel entered the civil service of the confederacy and his son died a confederate soldier. the union or confederate partisan who has been taught that his side was "eternally right, and the other side eternally wrong," should consider the story of these two "young irishmen." how fortunate it is that the ugly question of secession has been settled, and will never again divide americans, or those who come to america! chapter ii emancipation prior to in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, dutch, french, portuguese, spanish, english, and american vessels brought many thousands of negroes from africa, and sold them as slaves in the british west indies and in the british-american colonies. william goodell, a distinguished abolitionist writer, tells us[ ] that "in the importation of slaves for the southern colonies the merchants of new england competed with those of new york and the south" (which never had much shipping). "they appear indeed to have outstripped them, and to have _almost monopolized_ at one time the profits of this detestable trade. boston, salem, and newburyport in massachusetts, and newport and bristol in rhode island, amassed, in the persons of a few of their citizens, vast sums of this rapidly acquired and ill-gotten wealth."[ ] [ ] "slavery and anti-slavery," d ed., . the slaves coming to america went chiefly to the southern colonies, because there only was slave labor profitable. the laws and conditions under which these negroes were sold in the american colonies were precisely the same as in the west indies, except that the whites in the islands, so far as is known, never objected, whereas the records show that earnest protests came from virginia[ ] and also from georgia[ ] and north carolina.[ ] the king of england was interested in the profits of the iniquitous trade and all protests were in vain. [ ] _am. archives_, th series, vol. i, p. . [ ] _ib._, p. . [ ] _ib._, p. . of the rightfulness, however, of slavery itself there was but little question in the minds of christian peoples until the closing years of the eighteenth century. then the cruelties practised by ship-masters in the middle passage attracted attention, and then came gradually a revolution in public opinion. this revolution, in which the churches took a prominent part, originated in england, but it soon swept over america also, both north and south. england abolished the slave trade in . the united states followed in ; the netherlands in ; france in ; spain in ; portugal in . the great wilberforce, buxton, and others, who had brought about the abolition of the slave trade in england, continued their exertions in favor of the slave until finally, in , parliament abolished slavery in the british west indies, appropriating twenty millions sterling ($ , , ) as compensation to owners--this because investments in slave property had been made under the sanction of existing law. "great britain, loaded with an unprecedented debt and with a grinding taxation, contracted a new debt of a hundred millions of dollars to give freedom, not to englishmen, but to the degraded african. this was not an act of policy, but the work of statesmen. parliament but registered the edict of the people. the english nation, with one heart and one voice, under a strong christian impulse and without distinction of rank, sex, party, or religious names, decreed freedom to the slave. i know not that history records a national act so disinterested, so sublime." so wrote dr. channing, the great new england pulpit orator, in his celebrated letter on texas annexation, to henry clay, in . while the rightfulness of slavery was being discussed in england, the american conscience had also been aroused, and emancipation was making progress on this side of the water. emancipation was an easy task in the northern states, where slaves were few, their labor never having been profitable, and by the last of these states had provided for the ultimate abolition of slavery within its borders. but the problem was more difficult in the southern states, where the climate was adapted to slave labor. there slaves were numerous, and slavery was interwoven, economically and socially, with the very fabric of existence. naturally, it occurred to thoughtful men that there ought to be some such solution as that which was subsequently adopted in england, and which, as we have seen, was so highly extolled by dr. channing--emancipation of the slaves with compensation to the owners by the general government. the difficulty in our country was that the federal constitution conferred upon the federal government no power over slavery in the states--no power to emancipate slaves or compensate owners; and that for the individual states where the negroes were numerous the problem seemed too big. free negroes and whites in great numbers, it was thought, could not live together. to get rid of the negroes, if they should be freed, was for the states a very serious, if not an unsurmountable task. on the seventeenth of january, , the following resolutions, proposed as a solution of the problem, were passed by the legislature of ohio:[ ] [ ] "state documents on federal relations," ames, pp. - . _resolved_, that the consideration of a system providing for the gradual emancipation of the people of color, held in servitude in the united states, be recommended to the legislatures of the several states of the american union, and to the congress of the united states. _resolved_, that, in the opinion of the general assembly, a system of foreign colonization, with correspondent measures, might be adopted that would in due time effect the entire emancipation of the slaves of our country without any violation of the national compact, or infringement of the rights of individuals; by the passage of a law by the general government (with the consent of the slave-holding states) which would provide that all children of persons now held in slavery, born after the passage of the law, should be free at the age of twenty-one years (being supported during their minority by the persons claiming the service of their parents), provided they then consent to be transported to the intended place of colonization. also: _resolved_, that it is expedient that such a system should be predicated upon the principle that the evil of slavery is a national one, and that the people and the states of the union ought mutually to participate in the duties and burthens of removing it. _resolved_, that his excellency the governor be requested to forward a copy of the foregoing resolutions to his excellency the governor of each of the united states, requesting him to lay the same before the legislature thereof; and that his excellency will also forward a like copy to each of our senators and representatives in congress, requesting their co-operation in all national measures having a tendency to effect the grave object embraced therein. by june of eight other northern states had endorsed the proposition, pennsylvania, vermont, new jersey, illinois, connecticut, massachusetts. six of the slave-holding states emphatically disapproved of the suggestion, _viz._, georgia, south carolina, missouri, mississippi, louisiana, and alabama.[ ] [ ] ames, p. . reasons which in great part influenced all the southern states thus rejecting the proposition may be gathered from the following words of governor wilson, of south carolina, in submitting the resolutions: "a firm determination to resist, at the threshold, every _invasion of our domestic tranquillity_, and to _preserve our sovereignty and independence as a state_, is earnestly recommended."[ ] [ ] _ib._, p. . the resolutions required of the southern states a complete surrender in this regard of their reserved rights; they feared what governor wilson called "the overwhelming powers of the general government," and were unwilling to make the admission required, that the slavery in the south was a question for the nation. another reason was that, although there was a quite common desire in the southern states to get rid of slavery, the majority sentiment doubtless was not yet ready for the step. basing this plan on the "consent of the slave-holding states," as the ohio legislature did, was an acknowledgment that the north had no power over the matter; while the proposition to share in the expense of transporting the negroes, after they were manumitted, seems to be a recognition of the joint responsibility of both sections for the existence of slavery in the south. however that may be, the generous concurrence of nine of the thirteen northern states indicates how kindly the temper of the north toward the south was before the rise of the "new abolitionism" in . had emancipation been, under the federal constitution, a national and not a local question, it is possible that slavery might have been abolished in america, as it was in the mother country, peacefully and with compensation to owners. the ohio idea of freeing and at the same time colonizing the slaves, was no doubt suggested by the scheme of the african colonization society. this colonization society grew out of a resolution passed by the general assembly of virginia, december , . its purpose was to rid the country of such free negroes and subsequently manumitted slaves as should be willing to go to liberia, where a home was secured for them, and a government set up that was to be eventually controlled by the negro from america. the plan was endorsed by georgia in , maryland in , tennessee in , and vermont in .[ ] [ ] ames, . the colonization society was composed of southern and northern philanthropists and statesmen of the most exalted character. among its presidents were, at times, president monroe and ex-president madison. chief justice marshall was one of its presidents. colonization, while relieving america, was also to give the negro an opportunity for self-government and self-development in his native country, aided at the outset by experienced white men, and abraham lincoln, when he was eulogizing the dead henry clay, one of the eloquent advocates of the scheme, seemed to be in love with the idea of restoring the poor african to that land from which he had been rudely snatched by the rapacious white man. the society, with much aid from philanthropists and some from the federal government, was making progress when, from to , the abolitionists halted it.[ ] they got the ears of the negro and persuaded him not to go to liberia. its friends thought the enterprise would stimulate emancipation by furnishing a home for such negroes as their owners were willing to manumit; but the new friends of the negro told him it was a trick of the slave-holder, and intended to perpetuate slavery--it was banishment. and dr. hart now, in his "abolition and slavery," calls it a move for the "expatriation of the negro." [ ] see garrison's "garrison." all together only a few thousand negroes went to liberia. the enterprise lagged, and finally failed, partly because of opposition, but chiefly because the negroes were slothful and incapable of self-government. the word came back that they were not prospering. for a time, while white men were helping them in their government, the outlook for liberia had more or less promise in it. when the whites, to give the negroes their opportunity for self-development withdrew their case was hopeless.[ ] [ ] see article in _independent_, , miss mahony. in , while emancipation was still being freely canvassed north and south, benjamin lundy, an abolition editor in charge of _the genius of emancipation_, then being published at baltimore, in a slave state, went to boston to "stir up" the northern people "to the work of abolishing slavery in the south." dr. channing, who has been previously quoted, wrote a letter to daniel webster on the th of may, , in which, after reciting the purpose of lundy, and saying that he was "aware how cautiously exertions are to be made for it in this part of the country," it being a local question, he said: "it seems to me that, before moving in this matter, we ought to say to them (our southern brethren) distinctly, 'we consider slavery _as your calamity, not your crime_, and _we will share with you the burden_ of putting an end to it. we will consent that the public lands shall be appropriated to this object; or that the general government shall be _clothed with the power to apply a portion of revenue to it_.' "i throw out these suggestions merely to illustrate my views. we must first let the southern states see that we are their _friends_ in this affair; that we sympathize with them and, from principles _of patriotism and philanthropy, are willing to share the toil and expense_ of abolishing slavery, or, i fear, our interference will avail nothing."[ ] mr. webster never gave out this letter until february , .[ ] [ ] "webster's works," vol. v, pp. - , . [ ] _ib._, ed. , vol. v, pp. - . in less than three years after that letter was written, lundy's friend, william lloyd garrison, started in boston a crusade against slavery in the south, on the ground that instead of being the "_calamity_," as dr. channing deemed it to be, it was the "_crime_" of the south. had no such exasperating sectional cry as this ever been raised, the story told in this little book would have been very different from that which is to follow. even spain, the laggard of nations, since that day has abolished slavery in her colonies. brazil long ago fell into line, and it is impossible for one not blinded by the sectional strife of the past, now to conceive that the southern states of this union, whose people in were among the foremost of the world in all the elements of christian civilization, would not long, long ago, if left to themselves, have found some means by which to rid themselves of an institution condemned by the public sentiment of the world and even then deplored by the southerners themselves. the crime, if crime it was, of slavery in the south in was one for which the two sections of the union were equally to blame. abraham lincoln said in his debate with douglas at peoria, illinois, october , : "when southern people tell us they are no more responsible for slavery than we are, i acknowledge the fact. when it is said that the institution exists, and that it is very difficult to get rid of it, in any satisfactory way, i can understand and appreciate the saying. i surely do not blame them for not doing what i would not know how to do myself."[ ] [ ] "the negro problem," pickett, . prior to the rise of the abolitionists in , emancipationists in the south had been free to grapple with conditions as they found them. what they and what the people of the north had accomplished we may gather from the united states census reports. the tables following are taken from "larned's history of ready reference," vol. v. the classifications are his. we have numbered three of his tables, for the sake of reference, and have added columns and , calculated from larned's figures, to show "excess of free blacks" and "increase of free blacks, south." let the reader assume as a fact, which will perhaps not be questioned, that "free blacks" in the census means freedmen and their increase, and these tables tell their own story, a story to which must be added the statement that slaves in the south had been freed only by voluntary sacrifices of owners. it will be noted that in the total "blacks" in the north was , , and, although emancipation in these states had begun some years before, the excess of "free blacks" in the south was over , . also that at every succeeding census, down to and including that of , the "excess of free blacks" increased with considerable regularity until , when that excess is , . +----------------------+----------+-------+---------+-------+-------+--------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | total |excess |increase| | | whites | free | slaves |blacks,|of free|in free | | | | blacks| | north |blacks,|blacks, | | | | | | | south | south | | | | | | | | | +----------------------+----------+-------+---------+-------+-------+--------+ | | | | | | | | | : north, states | , , | , | , | , | .... | .... | | south, states | , , | , | , | .... | , | .... | | | | | | | | | | : north, states| , , | , | , | , | .... | , | | south, states| , , | , | , | .... | , | , | | and d.c. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | : north, states| , , | , | , | , | .... | , | | south, states| , , | , | , , | .... | , | , | | and d. c. | | | | | | | | : north, states| , , | , | , | , | .... | , | | south, states| , , | , | , , | .... | , | , | | and d. c. | | | | | | | | : north, states| , , | , | , | , | .... | , | | south, states| , , | , | , , | .... | , | , | | d. c. and ter.| | | | | | | | : north, etc. | , , | , | , | , | .... | , | | south, etc. | , , | , | , , | .... | , | , | | | | | | | | | | : north, etc. | , , | , | | , | .... | , | | south, etc. | , , | , | , , | .... | , | , | | | | | | | | | | : north, etc. | , , | , | | , | .... | , | | south, etc. | , , | , | , , | .... | , | , | | | | | | | | | +----------------------+----------+-------+---------+-------+-------+--------+ there was always in the south, prior to , an active and freely expressed emancipation sentiment. but there was not enough of it to influence legislation. in all but three or four of these states, emancipation was made difficult by laws which, among other conditions, required that slaves after being freed should leave the state. emancipation in the north had not been completed in . professor ingram, president of the royal irish academy, says in his "history of slavery," london, , p. : "the northern states--beginning with vermont in and ending with new jersey in --either abolished slavery or adopted measures to effect its gradual abolition within their boundaries. but the principal operation of (at least) the latter change was to transfer northern slaves to southern markets." there had been in an angry discussion in congress about the admission of missouri--with or without slavery--which was finally settled by the missouri compromise. this dispute over the admission of missouri is often said to have been the beginning of the sectional quarrel that finally ended in secession; but the controversy over missouri and that begun by the "new abolitionists" in were entirely distinct. they were conducted on different plans. in the missouri controversy the only questions were as to the expediency and constitutionality of denying to a new state the right to enter the union, with or without slavery, as she might choose. the entire dispute was settled to the satisfaction of both sections by an agreement that states thereafter, south of ° ', might enter the union with or without slavery; _and nobody denied, during all that discussion about missouri, or at any time previous to_ , _that every citizen was bound to maintain the constitution and all laws passed in pursuance of it, including the fugitive slave law_. "the north submitted at that time ( ) to the obligations imposed upon it by the fugitive slave-catching clause of the constitution and the fugitive slave law of ."[ ] so say the biographers of william lloyd garrison for the purpose of establishing, as they afterwards do, their claim that garrison conducted a successful revolt against that provision of the constitution. what strengthens the statement that the north in submitted without protest to the "fugitive slave-catching clause of the constitution," is that the compromise act of contained a provision extending the fugitive slave law over the territory made free by the act, while it should continue to be territory, and until there should be formed from it states, to which the existing law would automatically apply. every subsequent _nullification of the fugitive slave laws_ of the united states, whether by governors or state legislatures, was therefore a palpable _violation of a provision that was of the essence of the missouri compromise_. [ ] garrison's "garrison," vol. i, p. . the south was content with the missouri compromise, and from that date, , until the rise of the "new abolitionists," slavery was in all that region an open question. judge temple says in his "covenanter, cavalier, and puritan," p. : "in , of the emancipation societies in the united states, were in the south." the questions for southern emancipationists were: how could the slaves be freed, and in what time? how about compensation to owners? where could the freed slaves be sent, and how? and, if deportation should prove impossible, what system could be devised whereby the two races could dwell together peacefully? these were indeed serious problems, and required time and grave consideration. "who can doubt," says mr. curtis, to quote once more his "life of buchanan," "that all such questions could have been satisfactorily answered, if the christianity of the south had been left to its own time and mode of answering them, and without any external force but the force of kindly, respectful consideration and forebearing christian fellowship?"[ ] [ ] george ticknor curtis's "life of buchanan," vol. ii, p. . but this was not to be. chapter iii the new abolitionists on the first day of january, , there came out in boston a new paper, _the liberator_, william lloyd garrison, editor. that was the beginning, historians now generally agree, of "new abolitionism." the editor of the new paper was the founder of the new sect. benjamin lundy was a predecessor of garrison, on much the same lines as those pursued by the latter. lundy had previously formed many abolition societies. _the philanthropist_ of march, , estimated the number of anti-slavery societies as "upwards of , and most of them in the slave states, and of lundy's formation, among the quakers."[ ] but garrison became the leader and lundy the disciple. [ ] garrison's "garrison," vol. i. garrison was a man of pleasing personal appearance, abstemious in habits, and of remarkable energy and will power. he was a vigorous and forceful writer. denunciation was his chief weapon, and he had "a genius for infuriating his antagonists." the following is a fair specimen of his style. speaking of himself and his fellow-workers as the "soldiers of god," he said: "their feet are shod with the preparation of the _gospel of peace_.... hence, when smitten on one cheek they turn the other also, being defamed they entreat, being reviled they bless," etc. and on that same page,[ ] and in the same prospectus, showing how he "blesses" those who, as he understands, are outside of the "kingdom of god," he says: "all without are dogs and sorcerers, and ... and murderers, and idolaters, and whatsoever loveth a lie." [ ] _ib._, vol. ii, p. . mr. garrison had no perspective, no sense of relation or proportion. in his eye the most humane slave-holder was a wicked monster. he had a genius for organization, and a year after the first issue of _the liberator_ he and his little body of brother fanatics had grown into the new england anti-slavery society. the new sect called themselves for a time the "new abolitionists," because their doctrines were new. the principles upon which this organization was to be based were not all formulated at once. the key-note was sounded in garrison's "address to the public" in the first number of _the liberator_: i shall strenuously contend for the immediate enfranchisement of our slave population. i shall be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice on this subject. _i do not wish to think or speak or write with moderation._ in an earlier issue, after denouncing slavery as a "damning crime," the editor said: "therefore my efforts shall be directed to _the exposure of those who practise it_." the substance of garrison's teachings was that slavery, anywhere in the united states, was the concern of all, and that it was to be put down by making not only slavery but also the slave-holder odious. and, further, it was the slave, not the slave-owner, who was entitled to compensation. thus the distinctive features of the new crusade were to be warfare upon the personal character of every slave-holder and the confiscation of his property. it was, too, the beginning of that sectional war by people of the north against the existence of slavery in the south, which, as we have seen, was deprecated by dr. channing in his letter three years before to mr. webster. the new sect began by assailing slavery in states other than their own, and very soon they were openly denouncing the constitution of their country because under it slavery in those sections was none of their business; and of course they repudiated the missouri compromise absolutely, the essence of that compromise being that slavery was the business of the states in which it existed. it was a part of their scheme to send circulars depicting the evils of slavery broadcast through the south; and they were sent especially to the free negroes of that section. "in ," says dr. hart in his "slavery and abolition," "at charleston (south carolina), denmark vesey, a free negro, made an elaborate plot to rise, massacre the white population, seize the shipping in the harbor, and, if hard pressed, to sail away to the west indies. one of the negroes gave evidence, vesey was seized, duly tried, and with thirty-four others was hanged."[ ] [ ] hart's "slavery and abolition," p. . this plot, so nearly successful, was fresh in the minds of southerners when the abolitionists began their programme, and naturally, the south at once took the alarm--an alarm that was increased by the massacre, in the nat turner insurrection, of sixty-one men, women, and children, which took place in virginia seven months after the first issue of _the liberator_. one of turner's lieutenants is stated to have been a free negro. this insurrection the south attributed to _the liberator_. professor hart says a free negro named walker had previously sent out to the south, from boston, a pamphlet, "the tone of which was unmistakable," and that "this pamphlet is known to have reached virginia, and may possibly have influenced the nat turner insurrection."[ ] [ ] _ib._, pp. - . if this surmise be correct, knowledge that walker, a free negro, had been responsible for the turner insurrection, would have lessened neither the guilt of the abolitionists nor the fears of the southerners. but in abolition agitation and the fears of insurrection had not as yet entirely stifled the discussion of slavery in the south. a debate on slavery took place that year in the virginia assembly, the immediate cause of which was no doubt the turner insurrection. the members of that body had not been elected on any issue of that character. the discussion thus precipitated shows, therefore, the state of public opinion in virginia on slavery. of this debate a distinguished northern writer says:[ ] [ ] "life of james buchanan," george ticknor curtis, vol. ii, pp. - . "in the year there was, nowhere in the world, a more enlightened sense of the wrong and evil of slavery than there was among the public men and people of virginia." in the assembly of that year mr. randolph brought forward a bill _to accomplish gradual emancipation_. mr. curtis continues: "no member of the house defended slavery.... there could be nothing said anywhere, there had been nothing said out of virginia, stronger and truer in deprecating the evils of slavery, than was said in that discussion, by virginia gentlemen, debating in their own legislature, a matter that concerned themselves and their people." the bill was not pressed to a vote, but the house, by a vote of to , declared "that they were profoundly sensible of the great evils arising from the condition of the colored population of the commonwealth and were induced by policy, as well as humanity, to attempt the immediate removal of the free negroes; but that further action for the _removal of the slaves should await a more definite development of public opinion_." mr. randolph, who was from the large slave-holding county of albemarle, was re-elected to the next assembly. but when the early summer of had come the fear of insurrection had created such wide-spread terror throughout the whole south that every emancipation society in that region had long since closed its doors; and now the abolitionists were sending south their circulars in numbers. many were sent to charleston, south carolina,[ ] where fifteen years before[ ] the free negro, denmark vesey, had laid the plot to massacre the whites, that had been discovered just in time to prevent its consummation. [ ] referred to in "life of andrew jackson," w. g. sumner, p. . [ ] hart, _supra._ the president, andrew jackson, in his next message to congress, december, , called their "attention to the painful excitement produced in the south by attempts to circulate through the mails _inflammatory appeals addressed to the passions of the slaves, in prints and in various sorts of publications calculated to stimulate them to insurrection and produce all the horrors of a servile war_." the good people of boston were now thoroughly aroused. they had from the first frowned on the abolition movement. garrison was complaining that in all the city his society could not "hire a hall or a meeting-house." the abolition idea had been for a time thought chimerical and therefore negligible. later, civic, business, social, and religious organizations had all of them in their several spheres been earnest and active in their opposition; now it seemed to be time for concerted action. in garrison's "garrison" (vol. i, p. ), we read that "the _social_, _political_, _religious and intellectual élite_ of boston filled faneuil hall on the afternoon of friday, august , , to frame an indictment against their fellow-citizens." this "indictment" the _boston transcript_ reported as follows: _resolved_, that the people of the united states by the constitution under which, by the divine blessing, they hold their most valuable political privileges, have solemnly agreed with each other to leave to their respective states the jurisdiction pertaining to the relation of master and slave within their boundaries, and that no man or body of men, except the people of the governments of those states, can of right do any act to dissolve or impair the obligations of that contract. _resolved_, that we hold in reprobation all attempts, in whatever guise they may appear, to coerce any of the united states to abolish slavery by _appeals to the terror of the master or the passions of the slave_. _resolved_, that we disapprove of all associations instituted in the non-slave-holding states with the intent to act, within the slave-holding states, on the subject of slavery in those states without their consent. for the purpose of securing freedom of individual thought they are needless--and they afford to those persons in the southern states, whose object is to effect a dissolution of the union (if any such there may be now or hereafter), a pretext for the furtherance of their schemes. _resolved_, that all measures adopted, _the natural and direct tendency of which is to excite the slaves of the south to revolt, or of spreading among them a spirit of insubordination_, are repugnant to the duties of the man and the citizen, and that where such measures become manifest by overt acts, which are recognizable by constitutional laws, we will aid by all means in our power in the support of those laws. _resolved_, that while we recommend to others the duty of sacrificing their opinions, passions and sympathies upon the altar of the laws, we are bound to show that a regard to the supremacy of those laws is the rule of our conduct--and consequently to deprecate all tumultuous assemblies, all riotous or violent proceedings, all outrages on person and property, and all illegal notions of the right or duty of executing summary and vindictive justice in any mode unsanctioned by law. the allusion in the last resolution is to a then recent lynching of negroes in mississippi charged with insurrection. in speaking to these resolutions, harrison gray otis, a great conservative leader, denounced the abolition agitators, accusing them of "wishing to 'scatter among our southern brethren _firebrands_, _arrows_, and _death_,' and of attempting to force abolition by appeals to the terror of the masters and the passions of the slaves," and decrying their "measures, the natural and direct tendency of which is to excite the slaves of the south to revolt," etc. another of the speakers, ex-senator peleg sprague, said (p. , garrison's "garrison") that "if their sentiments prevailed it would be all over with the union, which would give place to two hostile confederacies, with forts and standing armies." these resolutions and speeches, viewed in the light of what followed, read now like prophecy. it is a familiar rule of law that a contemporaneous exposition of a statute is to be given extraordinary weight by the courts, the reason being that the judge then sitting knows the surrounding circumstances. that boston meeting pronounced the deliberate judgment of the most intelligent men of boston on the situation, as they knew it to be that day; it was in their midst that _the liberator_ was being published; there the new sect had its head-quarters, and there it was doing its work. quite as strong as the evidence furnished by that great faneuil hall meeting is the testimony of the churches. the churches and religious bodies in america had heartily favored the general anti-slavery movement that was sweeping over all america between and , while it was proceeding in an orderly manner and with due regard to law. in the methodist general conference voted that no slave-holder could continue as a local elder. the presbyterian general assembly in unanimously resolved that "slavery was a gross violation of the most precious and moral rights of human nature," etc. these bodies represented both the north and the south, and this paragraph shows what was, and continued to be, the general attitude of american churches until after the abolitionists had begun their assault on both slavery in the south and the constitution of the united states, which protected it. then, in view of the awful social and political cataclysm that seemed to be threatened, there occurred a stupendous change. we learn from hart that garrison "soon found that neither minister _nor church anywhere in the lower south continued_ (as before) to protest against slavery; _that the cloth in the north was arrayed against him_; and that many northern divines vigorously opposed him." also that moses stuart, professor of hebrew in andover theological seminary; president lord, of dartmouth college, and hopkins, the episcopal bishop of vermont, now became defenders of slavery. "the positive opposition of churches soon followed." and then we have cited, condemnations of abolitionism by the methodist conference of , by the new york methodist conference of , by the american board of commissioners for foreign missions, by the american home missionary society, the american bible society, the protestant episcopal church, and the baptists. see for these statements, hart, pp. - . the import of all this is unmistakable; and this "about-face" of religious organizations on the question of the morality of slavery has no parallel in all the history of christian churches. its significance cannot be overstated. it took place north and south. it meant opposition to a movement that was outside the church _and with which religion could have no concern, except in so far as it was a vital assault upon the state, and the peace of the state_. to make their opposition effective the christians of that day did this remarkable thing. _they reversed their religious views on slavery, which the abolitionists were now assailing, and which they themselves had previously opposed._ they re-examined their bibles and found arguments that favored slavery. these arguments they used in an attempt to stem an agitation that, as they saw it, was arraying section against section and threatening the perpetuity of the union. united testimony from all these christian bodies is more conclusive contemporaneous evidence against the agitators and their methods than even the proceedings of all conservative boston at faneuil hall in august, . this new attitude of the church toward slavery meant perhaps also something further--it meant that slavery, as it actually existed, was not then as horrible to northerners, who could go across the line and see it, which many of them did, as it is now to those whose ideas of it come chiefly from "uncle tom's cabin." in view of this phenomenal movement of northern christians it is not strange that southern churches adhered, throughout the deadly struggle that was now on, to the position into which they had been driven--that slavery was sanctioned by the bible--nor is it matter of wonder that, as professor hart makes prominent on p. , "not a single southern man of large reputation and influence failed to stand by slavery." historians of to-day usually narrate without comment that nearly all the american churches and divines at first opposed the abolitionists. it illustrates the courage with which the abolitionists stood, as dr. hart delights to point out, "for a despised cause." they assuredly did stand by their guns. later, another change came about in the attitude of the churches. in the abolitionists were to achieve their first victory in the great religious world. the methodist church was then disrupted, "squarely on the question whether a bishop could own slaves, and all the southern members withdrew and organized the methodist episcopal church, south." professor hart, p. , says of this: "clearly, the impassioned agitation of the abolitionists had made it impossible for a great number of northern anti-slavery men _to remain on terms of friendship with their southern brethren_." that great faneuil hall meeting of august , , was followed some weeks later by a lamentable anti-garrison mob, which did not stand alone. in the years , , and a great wave of anti-abolition excitement swept over the north. in new york, philadelphia, cincinnati, alton (illinois), and many other places, there were anti-abolition riots, sometimes resulting in arson and bloodshed. the heart of the great, peace-loving, patriotic, and theretofore happy and contented north, was at that time stirred with the profoundest indignation against the abolitionists. northern opinion then was that the abolitionists, by their unpatriotic course and their nefarious methods, were driving the south to desperation and endangering the union. if the north at that time saw the situation as it really was, the historian of the present day should say so. if, on the other hand, the people of both the north and south were then laboring under delusions, as to the facts that were occurring among them, those of this generation, who are wiser than their ancestors, should give us the sources of their information. to know the lessons of history we must have the facts.[ ] [ ] the late professor william graham sumner, of yale, in his "life of andrew jackson," , treats of the excitement at charleston, south carolina, in , during jackson's administration, over abolition circulars, etc. dr. albert bushnell hart, professor of history at harvard, in his "abolition and slavery," , treats of the same subject. the following extracts from these books will show how these authors picture that exciting period, and our italics will emphasize the _sang-froid_ with which they touch off what so profoundly affected public sentiment, both north and south, _when the events were occurring_. professor sumner has this to say: "the abolition society adopted the policy of sending documents, papers, and pictures against slavery to the southern states. "_if the intention was_, as charged, to excite the slaves to revolt, _the device, as it seems to us now_, must have fallen short of its object, for the chance that anything could get into the hands of the black man must _have been poor indeed_. "these publications, however, caused _a panic_ and _a wild indignation_ in the south."--sumner's "jackson," p. . why should the southerners of that day go _wild_ over conduct for which the professor of this era has no word of condemnation? dr. hart follows professor sumner's treatment. these are his words: "the free negroes of the south, the abolitionists could not reach except by _mailing publications to them_, a process which _fearfully exasperated_ the south _without reaching the persons addressed_."--hart's "abolition and slavery," p. . why should southerners be "fearful" when they were intercepting all the dangerous circulars, etc., they could find? and why should they be exasperated at all? dr. hart's chair at harvard is within gunshot of faneuil hall, yet the great meeting there of august , , is not mentioned in either his or professor sumner's book, nor is there to be found in either of them _any explanation of the reasons underlying the general and emphatic condemnation throughout the north at that period of the abolitionists and their methods_. in , at framingham, massachusetts, the abolitionists celebrated the fourth of july thus: their leader, william lloyd garrison, held up and burned to ashes, before the applauding multitude, one after another, copies of st. the fugitive slave law. d. the decision of commissioner loring in the case of burns, a fugitive slave. d. the charge to the grand jury of judge benjamin r. curtis in reference to the effort of a mob to secure a fugitive slave. th. "then, holding up the united states constitution, he branded it as the source and parent of all other atrocities, 'a covenant with death and an agreement with hell,' and consumed it to ashes on the spot, exclaiming, 'so perish all compromises with tyranny! and let all the people say, amen!' a tremendous shout of 'amen!' went up to heaven in ratification of the deed, mingled with a few hisses and wrathful exclamations from some, who evidently were in a _rowdyish_ state of mind, but who were at once cowed by the popular feeling."[ ] [ ] garrison's "garrison," vol. iii, p. . the abolitionist movement was radical; it was revolutionary. when an accredited teacher of history, in one of the greatest of our universities, writes a volume on "abolition and slavery," why should he restrict himself in comment, as dr. hart thus does in his preface? the book is "intended to show that there was more than one side to the controversy, and that both the milder form of opposition called anti-slavery and _the extreme form called abolition_, were _confronted by practical difficulties_ which to many public men seemed insurmountable." why should not the historian, in addition to pointing out the "difficulties" encountered by these extremists, _show how and why the people of that day condemned their conduct_? condonation of the abolitionists, and a proper regard for the constitution of the united states, cannot be taught to the youth of america at one and the same time. the writer has been unable to find any of the incendiary pamphlets that had proved so inflammatory. he has, however, before him a little anonymous publication entitled "slavery illustrated in its effects upon woman," isaac knapp, boston, . it was for circulation in the north, being "affectionately inscribed to all the members of female anti-slavery societies," and it is only cited here as an illustration of the almost inconceivable venom with which the crusade was carried on to _embitter the north against the south_. it is a vicious attack upon the morality of southern men and women, and upon southern churches. none of its charges does it claim to authenticate, and it gives no names or dates. one incident, related as typical, is of two white women, all the time in full communion with their church, under pretence of a boarding-house, keeping a brothel, negro women being the inmates. in the chapter entitled "impurity of the christian churches" is this sentence: "at present the southern churches are only one vast consociation of hypocrites and sinners." the booklet was published anonymously, but at that time any prurient story about slavery in the south would circulate, no matter whether vouched for or not. chapter iv feeling in the south-- not stronger than the proceedings of a great non-partisan public meeting, or than the action of religious bodies, but going more into detail as to public opinion in the south and the effect upon it of abolition agitation, is the evidence of a quiet observer, professor e. a. andrews, who, in july, , had been sent out as the agent of "the boston union for the relief and improvement of the colored race." his reports from both northern and southern states, consisting of letters from various points, constitute a book, "slavery and the domestic slave trade," boston, . july , , from baltimore, professor andrews reports that a resident clergyman, who appears to have his entire confidence, says, among other things, "that a disposition to emancipate their slaves is very prevalent among the slave-holders of this state, could they see any way to do so consistently with the true interest of the slave, but that it is their universal belief that no means of doing this is now presented except that of colonizing them in africa." from the same city, july , , he writes, p. : "in this city there appears to be no strong attachment to slavery and no wish to perpetuate it." again, on p. : "there is but one sentiment amongst those with whom i have conversed in this city, respecting the possibility of the white and colored races living peaceably together in freedom, nor during my residence at the south and my subsequent intercourse with the southern people, _did i ever meet with one who believed it possible for the two races to continue together after emancipation_.... when the slaves of the south are liberated they form an integral part of the population of the country, and must influence its destiny for ages--perhaps forever." from fredericksburg, virginia, professor andrews writes: since i entered the slave-holding country i have seen but one man who did not deprecate wholly and absolutely the direct interference of northern abolitionists with the institutions of the south. "i was an abolitionist," has been the language of numbers of those with whom i have conversed; "i was an abolitionist, _and was laboring earnestly to bring about a prospective system of emancipation. i even saw, as i believed, the certain and complete success of the friends of the colored race at no distant period, when these northern abolitionists interfered, and by their extravagant and impracticable schemes frustrated all our hopes.... our people have become exasperated, the friends of the slaves alarmed_, etc....[ ] equally united are they in the opinion that the servitude of the slaves is far more rigorous now than it would have been had there been no interference with them. _in proportion to the danger of revolt and insurrection, have been_ the severity of the enactments for controlling them and the diligence with which the laws have been executed." [ ] "slavery and the domestic slave trade," andrews, pp. - . from a private letter, written at greenville, alabama, august , , by a distinguished lawyer, john w. womack, to his brother, we quote: the anti-slavery societies in the northern and middle states are doing all they can to destroy our domestic harmony by sending among us pamphlets, tracts, and newspapers--for the purpose of exciting dissatisfaction and insurrection among our slaves.... meetings have been held in mobile, in montgomery, in greensboro, and in tuscaloosa, and in different parts of all the southern states. at these meetings resolutions have been adopted, disclaiming (_sic_) and denying the right of the northern people to interfere in any manner in our internal domestic concerns.... it is my solemn opinion that this question (to wit, slavery) will ultimately bring about a dissolution of the union of the states. it should be remembered that in the massacre in santo domingo of all the whites by the blacks was fresh in mind. it had occurred in --after manumission--and had produced, especially in the minds of statesmen and of all observers of the many signs of antagonism between the two races, a profound and lasting impression. the fear that the races, both free, could not live together was in the mind of thomas jefferson, of henry clay, and of every other southern emancipationist. and deportation, its expense, and the want of a home to which to send the negro--here was a stumbling-block in the way of southern emancipation. indeed, the incompatibility of the races was an appalling thought in the minds of southerners for the whole thirty years of anti-slavery agitation. it was even with abraham lincoln, and weighed upon his mind when, at last, in , military necessity placed upon his shoulders the responsibility of emancipating the southern slaves. serious as was the responsibility, the question was not new to him. when mr. lincoln said, in his celebrated springfield speech in , "i believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free," and added that he did not expect the government to fail, he certainly expected that emancipation in the south was coming; and, of course, he thought over what the consequences might be. in that same debate with douglas, in his speech at charleston, illinois, mr. lincoln said: "there is a physical difference between the white and black races, which, i believe, will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality." in his memorial address on henry clay, in , he had said: "if, as the friends of colonization hope, the present and coming generations of our countrymen shall by some means succeed in freeing our land from the dangerous presence of slavery, and at the same time in restoring a captive people to their long lost father-land, ... it will, indeed, be a glorious consummation. and if to such a contribution the efforts of mr. clay shall have contributed ... none of his labors will have been more valuable to his country and his kind." in his famous emancipation proclamation he promised "that the effort to colonize persons of african descent upon this continent or elsewhere, with the consent of the government existing there, will be continued." it must have been with a heavy heart that the great president announced the failure of all his efforts to find a home outside of america for the freedmen, _when he informed congress in his december message, , that all in vain he had asked permission to send the negroes, when freed, to the british, the danish, and the french west indies; and that the spanish-american countries in central america had also refused his request_. he could find no places except hayti and liberia. he even made the futile experiment of sending a ship-load to a little island off hayti.[ ] hume, in "the abolitionists," tells us that mr. lincoln for a time _considered setting texas apart as a home for the negroes_--so much was he disturbed by this trouble. [ ] within perhaps a year mr. lincoln was compelled to bring these negroes home; they were starving. chapter v anti-abolition at the north southerners, save perhaps a few who were wise enough to foresee what the consequences might be, were deeply gratified when they read ( - ) of the violent opposition in the north to the desperate schemes of the abolitionists. surely these mobs fairly represented public opinion, and that public opinion certainly was a strong guaranty to the south of future peace and security. but the abolitionists themselves were not dismayed. they may have misread, indeed it is certain they did misunderstand, the signs of the times. garrison in his _liberator_ took the ground--as do his children in their life of him, written fifty years later--that the great faneuil hall meeting of august , , which they themselves declare represented "the intelligence, the wealth, the culture, and the religion of boston," was but an indication of the "pro-slavery" sentiment then existing. in reality it was just what it purported to be--an authoritative condemnation, not of the anti-slavery opinions, but of the avowed purposes and methods of the new sect. the mobbing of garrison and the sacking of his printing office in boston on september th, however, and the lawless violence to abolitionists that followed the denunciations of that despised sect by speakers, and by the public press, in new york, in philadelphia, in cincinnati, and elsewhere in the north, proved disastrous in the extreme. while that great wave of anti-abolition feeling was sweeping over that whole region from east to west, there were many good people who deluded themselves with the idea that this new sect with its visionary and impracticable ideas was being consigned to oblivion, but in what followed we have a lesson that unfortunately some of our people have not yet fully learned. mob law in any portion of our free country, where there is law with officers to enforce it, is a mistake, a mistake that is likely to be followed sooner or later by most disastrous results. the mobs that marked the beginning of our revolution in were legitimate; they meant revolt, revolt against constituted authorities. but where a mob does not mean the overthrow of government, where it only means to substitute its own blind will for the arm of the law, not good but evil--it may be long deferred, but evil eventually--is sure to follow. when mobs assailed abolitionists because they threatened the peace and tranquillity of the country, evil followed swiftly. violent and harsh treatment of these mischievous agitators almost everywhere in the north, and the heroism with which they endured ignominy and insult, brought about a revulsion of public sentiment. to understand the philosophy of this, read two extracts from the writings of that great, and universally admired, pulpit orator, dr. william e. channing of boston, the first written sometime prior to that august meeting: the adoption of the common system of agitation by the abolitionists has not been justified by success. from the beginning it has created alarm in the considerate, and strengthened the sympathies of the free states with the slave-holder. it has made converts of a few individuals, but alienated multitudes. _its influence at the south has been almost wholly evil. it has stirred up bitter passions, and a fierce fanaticism, which have shut every ear and every heart against its arguments and persuasions._ these efforts are more to be deplored, because the hope of freedom to the slave lies chiefly in the dispositions of his master. the abolitionist proposed indeed to convert the slave-holder; and for this end he _approached them with vituperation, and exhausted upon them the vocabulary of reproach_. and he has reaped as he sowed.... perhaps (though i am anxious to repel the thought) something has been lost to the cause of freedom and humanity.[ ] [ ] "channing's works," vol. ii, ed. , pp. - . these were dr. channing's opinions of the abolitionists prior to august, , and he seems to have kept silent for a time after the mobbing that followed that great faneuil hall meeting; but a year later, when many other things had happened along the same line, he spoke out in an open letter to james g. birney, an abolitionist editor who had been driven from cincinnati, and whose press, on which _the philanthropist_ was printed, had been broken up. in that letter, p. , _supra_, speaking of course not for himself alone, dr. channing says: i think it best ... to extend my remarks to the spirit of violence and persecution which has broken out against the abolitionists throughout the whole country. of their merits and demerits as abolitionists i have formerly spoken.... i have expressed my fervent attachment to the great end to which they are pledged and at the same time _my disapprobation, to a certain extent, of their spirit and measures_.... deliberate, systematic efforts have been made, _not here and there, but far and wide_, to wrest from its adherents that _liberty of speech and the press_, which our fathers asserted in blood, and which our national and state governments are pledged to protect as our most sacred right. its most conspicuous advocates have been hunted and stoned, its meetings scattered, its presses broken up, and nothing but the patience, constancy and intrepidity of its members has saved it from extinction.... they are _sufferers for the liberty of thought, speech and press; and in maintaining this liberty, amidst insult and violence, they deserve a place among its honorable defenders_. still admitting that "their writings have been blemished by a spirit of intolerance, sweeping censure, and rash, injurious judgment," this great man now threw all the weight of his influence on the side of the abolitionists, because they were _the champions of free speech_. their moral worth and steady adherence to their ideas of non-resistance he pointed to admiringly, and it must always be remembered to their credit that the private lives of garrison and his leading co-workers were irreproachable. indeed, the unselfish devotion of these agitators and their high moral character were in themselves a serious misfortune. they soon attracted a lot of zealots, male and female, who became as reckless as they were. and these out-and-out fanatics were not themselves office-seekers. what they feared, they said, was that a "lot of soulless scamps would jump on to their shoulders to ride into office";[ ] and there really was the great danger, as appeared later. [ ] garrison's "garrison," vol. iii, p. . in the results that followed the mobbing of abolitionists in the north, from to , is to be found another lesson for those voters of this day who can profit by the teachings of history. the violent assaults on the abolitionists by the friends of the constitution and the union constituted an epoch in the lives of these people. it gave them a footing and a hearing and many converts. we have already noted some wonderful and instructive changes in the tide of events set in motion by the radical teachings of the new abolitionists. the churches, as has been shown, to save the country, north and south, changed their attitude on slavery itself. dr. channing, who had opposed the methods of the abolitionists, became, as many others did with him, when mobs had assailed these people, their defender and eulogist, because they were martyrs for the sake of free speech; and now we are to see in john quincy adams another change, equally notable, a change that was to make mr. adams thenceforward the most momentous figure, at least during its earlier stages, in the tragic drama that is the subject of our story. elected to the house of representatives after the expiration of his term as president, mr. adams was not in sympathy with the methods of the abolitionists. indeed, prior to december , , he had shown as little interest in slavery as he did when on that day in presenting to the house fifteen petitions against slavery he "deprecated a discussion which would lead to ill-will, to heart-burning, to mutual hatred ... without accomplishing anything else."[ ] [ ] hart's "slavery and abolition," p. . the petitions presented by mr. adams were referred to a committee. the southerners had not then become so exasperated as to insist on congress refusing to receive abolition petitions. but multiplying these petitions was a ready means of provoking the slave-holders, and soon petitions poured in from many quarters, couched, most of them, in language, not disrespectful to congress but provoking to slave-holders. unfortunately, the lower house of congress on may , , which was while mobs in the north were still trying to put down the abolitionists, passed a resolution that all such petitions, etc., should thereafter be laid upon the table, _without further action_. adams voted against it as "a direct violation of the constitution of the united states." the constitution forbids any law "abridging the freedom of speech ... or the right ... to petition the government for a redress of grievances." the resolution to lay all anti-slavery petitions on the table without further action was passed, "with the hope that it might put a stop to the agitation that seemed to endanger the existence of the union." but it had the opposite effect. it soon became known as the "gag resolution," and was, for years, the centre of the most aggravating discussions that had, up to that time, ever occurred in congress. mr. adams in these debates became, without, it seems, ever having been in full sympathy with the agitators, thenceforward their champion in congress, and so continued until the day of his death in . the abolitionists were happy. they were succeeding in their programme--making the southern slave-holder odious by exasperating him into offending northern sentiment. chapter vi a crisis and a compromise in there were abolition societies, with a membership of over , . agitation had created all over the north a spirit of hostility to slavery as it existed in the south, and especially to the admission of new slave states into the union. in the struggle over the application of texas for admission into the union had already, for three years, been mooted. objections to the admission of the new state were many, such as: american adventurers had wrongfully wrested control of the new state from mexico; boundary lines were unsettled; war with mexico would follow, etc.; but chiefly, texas was a slave state, which was, in the south, a strong reason for annexation. there were, however, many sound and unanswerable arguments for the admission of the new state, just such as had influenced jefferson in purchasing the louisiana territory: texas was contiguous, her territory and resources immense. on the issue thus joined the first great gun had been fired by dr. channing, who, though still more moderate than some, might now be classed as an abolitionist. august , , he wrote a long open letter to henry clay against annexation, and in that letter he said: to me it seems not only the right but the duty of the free states, in case of the annexation of texas, to say to the slave-holding states, "we regard this act as the dissolution of the union; the essential conditions of the national compact are violated."[ ] [ ] "channing's works," vol. ii, ed. , p. . this was very like the pronunciamento already made by garrison--"no union with slavery." the underlying reasons that controlled southern statesmen in this contest over texas, and the motives that animated them in the fierce battles they fought later for new slave states, are thus stated by mr. george ticknor curtis, of new england.[ ] [ ] "life of buchanan," vol. ii, p. . it should in justice be remembered that the effort _at that period to enlarge the area of slavery was an effort on the part of the south, dictated by a desire to remain in the union, and not to accept the issue of an inherent incompatibility of a political union between slave-holding and non-slave-holding states_. in the first effort for the annexation of texas, by treaty, was defeated in the senate. if the southerners had been as ready to accept the doctrine of an inherent incompatibility between slave and free states as were dr. channing and those other abolitionists who were now declaring for "no union with slave-holders," they would at once have seceded and joined texas; but the south still loved the union, and strove, down to , persistently, and often passionately, for power that would enable it to remain safely in its folds. texas was finally admitted in , after annexation had been passed on by the people in the presidential election of . in that election clay was defeated by the abolitionists. because clay was not unreservedly against annexation the abolitionists drew from the whigs in new york state enough votes, casting them for birney, to defeat clay and elect polk; and now abolitionism was a factor in national politics. the two great national parties were the democrats and the whigs, the voters somewhat equally divided between them. for years both parties had regarded the abolitionists precisely as did the non-partisan meeting at faneuil hall, in august, --as a band of agitators, organized for the purpose of interfering with slavery where it was none of their business; and both parties had meted out to this new and, as they deemed it, pestilent sect, unstinted condemnation. but at last the voters of this despised cult had turned a presidential election and were making inroads in both parties. half a dozen northern states, in which in "no protest had been made against the fugitive slave law of ," had already passed "personal liberty laws" intended to obstruct and nullify that law. and now it was "slave-catchers" and not abolitionists who were being mobbed in the north. boston had reversed its attitude toward the abolitionists. on may , , the new england anti-slavery society was holding its annual convention in that very faneuil hall where, in , abolitionism had been so roundly condemned; and now wendell phillips, pointing to one of two fugitive slaves, who then sat triumphantly on the platform, said, "amid great applause, ... 'we say that they may make their little laws in washington, but that _faneuil hall repeals them_, in the name of the humanity of massachusetts.'"[ ] [ ] garrison's "garrison," vol. iii, p. . poets headed by whittier and longfellow, authors like emerson and lowell, and orators like theodore parker and wendell phillips, had joined the agitators, and all united in assaulting the fugitive slave law. the following, from james russell lowell's "biglow papers," no. , june, , is a specimen of the literature that was stirring up hostility against slavery and the "slave-catcher" in the breasts of many thousands, who were joining in an anti-slavery crusade while disdaining companionship with the abolitionists: "ain't it cute to see a yankee take such everlastin' pains all to get the devil's thankee helpin' on 'em weld their chains?" w'y it's jest es clear es figgers, clear es one and one makes two, chaps that makes black slaves of niggers want to make w'ite slaves o' you. in the meantime the people of the south, much excited, were resorting to repression, passing laws to prevent slaves from being taught to read, and laws, in some states, inhibiting assemblages of slaves above given numbers, unless some white person were present--all as safeguards against insurrection. thus, in , an indictment was found in tuscaloosa county, alabama, against one williams, who had never been in alabama, for circulating there an alleged incendiary document, and governor gayle made requisition on governor marcy, of new york, for the extradition of williams. governor marcy denied the request. the case was the same as that more recently decided by the supreme court of the united states, when it held that editors of new york and indiana papers could not be brought to the district of columbia for trial. the south, all the while clamoring to have the agitators put down, had by still other means than these contributed to the ever-increasing excitement in the north. southerners had mobbed abolitionists, and whipped and driven out of the country persons found in possession of _the liberator_ or suspected of circulating other incendiary literature. and violence in the south against the abolitionists had precisely the same effect on the northern mind as the violence against them in the north had from to , but there was this difference: the refugee from the distant south, whether he were an escaped slave or a fleeing abolitionist, could color and exaggerate the wrongs he had suffered and so parade himself as a martyr. while this was true, it was also quite often true that the outrage committed in the south against the suspect was real enough--a mob had whipped and expelled him without any trial. _and this is another of the lessons as to the evil effects of mob law that crop out all through the history of the anti-slavery crusade. no good can come from violating the law._ in another presidential election turned on the anti-slavery vote, this time again in new york state. anti-slavery democrats bolted the democratic ticket, thus electing general taylor, the whig candidate. in the canvass preceding this election originated, we are told, the catch-phrase applied to cass, the democratic candidate--"a northern man with southern principles." the phrase soon became quite common, south and north--"a southern man with northern principles," and _vice versa_. the invention and use of it in shows the progress that had been made in arraying one section of the union against the other. later, a telling piece of doggerel in southern canvasses, and it must also have been used north, was he wired in and wired out, leaving the people all in doubt, whether the snake that made the track was going north, or coming back. over the admission of california in there was another battle. california, miles long, with about , people (less than the usual number), and with a constitution improvised under military government, applied for admission as a state. southerners insisted on extending the line of the missouri compromise to the pacific, thereby making of the new territory two states. the south had been much embittered by the opposition to the admission of texas. texas was, nearly all of it, below the missouri compromise line, and the south thought it was equitably entitled to come in under that agreement. its case, too, differed from that of missouri, which already belonged to the united states when it applied for admission as a state. texas, with all its vast wealth, was asking to come in without price. another continuing and increasing cause of distraction had been the use made by abolitionists of the right of petition. as already shown, petitions to congress against slavery had been received without question till , when northern conservatives and southern members, hoping to abate this source of agitation, had combined to pass a resolution to lay them on the table, which meant that they were to be no further noticed. the abolitionists were so delighted over the indefensible position into which they had driven the conservatives--the "gag law"--that they continued, up to the crisis of , with unflagging zeal to hurry in monster petitions, one after another. the debates provoked by the presentation of these petitions, and the more and more heated discussions in congress of _slavery in the states_, which was properly _a local and not a national question_, now attracted still wider public attention. the abolitionists had almost succeeded in arraying the entire sections against each other, in making of the south and north two hostile nations. professor john w. burgess, dean of the faculty of political science in columbia university, says: "it would not be extravagant to say that the whole course of the internal history of the united states from to was more largely determined by the struggle in congress, over the _abolition petitions_ and the use of the mails for the abolition literature, than anything else."[ ] [ ] "the middle period," john w. burgess, p. . the south had its full share in the hot debates that took place over these matters in congress. its congressmen were quite as aggressive as those from the north, and they were accused of being imperious in manner, when demanding that a stop should be put to abolition petitions, and abolition literature going south in the mails. there was another cause of complaint from the south, and this was grave. by the "two underground railroads" that had been established, slaves, estimated at , annually, abducted or voluntarily escaping, were secretly escorted into or through the free states to canada. to show how all this was then regarded by those who sympathized with the abolitionists, and how it is still looked upon by some modern historians, the following is given from hart's "abolition and slavery": "the underground railroad was manned chiefly by orderly citizens, members of churches, and philanthropical citizens. _to law-abiding folk_ what could be more delightful than the sensation of aiding an oppressed slave, _exasperating_ a cruel master, and at the same time incurring the penalties of _defying an unrighteous law_?" southerners at that time thought that conductors on that line were practising, and readers of the above paragraph will probably think that dr. hart in his attractive rhetoric is now extolling in his history, "higher law doctrines." it is undoubtedly true that, in , a large majority of the northern people strongly disapproved of the abolitionists and their methods. modern historians carefully point out the difference between the great body of northern anti-slavery people and the abolitionists. nevertheless, here were majorities in eleven northern states voting for, and sustaining, the legislators who passed and kept upon the statute books laws which were intended to enable southern slaves to escape from their masters. the enactment and the support of these laws was an attack upon the constitutional rights of slave-holders; and southern people looked upon all the voters who sustained these laws, and all the anti-slavery lecturers, speakers, pulpit orators, and writers of the north, as engaged with the abolitionists in one common crusade against slavery. from the southern stand-point a difference between them could only be made by a hudibras: he was in logic a great critic profoundly skilled in analytic, he could distinguish and divide a hair 'twixt south and south west side. as to how much of the formidable anti-slavery sentiment of that day had been created by the abolitionists, we have this opinion of a distinguished english traveller and observer. mr. l. w. a. johnston was in washington, in , studying america. he says: "extreme men like garrison seldom have justice done to them. it is true they may be impracticable, both as to their measures and their men, but that unmixed evil is the result of their exertions, all history of opinion in every country, i think, contradicts. such ultra men are as necessary as the more moderate and reasonable advocates of any growing opinion; and, as _an impartial person_, who never happened to fall in with one of the party in the course of my tour, i must express my belief that the present wide diffusion of anti-slavery sentiment in the united states is, in no small degree, owing to their exertions."[ ] [ ] "notes on north america," london, , vol. ii, p. . and professor smith, of williams college, speaking of the anti-slavery feeling in the north in , says: "this sentiment of the free states regarding slavery was to a large degree the result of an agitation for its abolition which had been active for a score of years ( - ) without any positive results."[ ] [ ] "parties and slavery," smith, pp. , . but no matter what had produced it, the anti-slavery sentiment that pervaded the north in boded ill to slavery and to the constitution, and the south was bitterly complaining. congress met in december, , and was to sit until october, . lovers of the union, north and south, watched its proceedings with the deepest anxiety. the south was much excited. the continual torrent of abuse to which it was subjected, the refusal to allow slavery in states to be created from territory in the south-west that was below the parallel of the missouri compromise, and the complete nullification of the fugitive slave law, seemed to many to be no longer tolerable, and from sundry sources in that section came threats of secession. in - the south was demanding a division of california, an efficient fugitive slave law, and that the territories of new mexico and arizona should be organized with no restrictions as to slavery. other minor demands were unimportant. henry clay, daniel webster, stephen a. douglas, lewis cass, and other conservative leaders came forward and, after long and heated debates in congress, the compromise of was agreed on. to satisfy the north, california, as a whole, came in as a free state, and the slave trade was abolished in the district of columbia. to satisfy the south, a new and stringent fugitive slave law was agreed on, and the territories of new mexico and arizona were organized with no restrictions as to slavery. in bringing about this compromise, daniel webster was, next to clay, the most conspicuous figure. he was the favorite son of new england and the greatest statesman in all the north. on the th of march, , mr. webster made one of the greatest speeches of his life on the compromise measures. rising above the sectional prejudices of the hour, he spoke for the constitution and the union. the manner in which he and his reputation were treated by popular historians in the north, for half a century afterward, on account of this speech, is the most pathetic and, at the same time, the most instructive story in the whole history of the anti-slavery crusade. mr. webster was under the ban of northern public opinion for all this half a century, not because of inconsistency between that speech and his former avowals, an averment often made and never proven, but because he was consistent. he stood squarely upon his record, and the venom of the assaults that were afterward made upon him was just in proportion to the love and veneration which had been his before he offended. his offence was that he would not move with the anti-slavery movement.[ ] he did not stand with his section in a sectional dispute. [ ] mcmaster says: "the great statesman was behind the times."--"webster," p. . henry clay, old and feeble, had come back into the senate to render his last service to his country. he was the author of the compromise. daniel webster was everywhere known as the champion of the union. henry clay was known as the "old man eloquent," and he now spoke with all his old-time fire; but webster's great speech probably had more influence on the result. before taking up mr. webster's speech his previous attitude toward slavery must be noted. the purpose of the friends of the union was, of course, to effect a compromise that would, if possible, put an end to sectional strife. compromise means concession, and a compromise of political differences, made by statesmen, may involve some concession of view previously held by those who advocate as well as by those who accept it. webster thought his section of the union should now make concessions. fanaticism, however, concedes nothing; it never compromises, although statesmanship does. one of the most notable utterances of edmund burke was: "_all government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter._" great statesmen, on great occasions, speak not only to their countrymen and for the time being, but they speak to all mankind and for all time. so spoke burke in that famous sentence when advocating, in the british parliament in , "conciliation with america"; and so did daniel webster speak, in the senate of the united states, on the th of march, , for "the constitution and the union." if george iii and lord north had heeded burke, and if the british government and people, from that day forth, had followed the wise counsels given in that speech by their greatest statesman, all the english-speaking peoples of the world, now numbering over , , , might have been to-day under one government, that government commanding the peace of the world. and if all the people of the united states in and from that time on, had heeded the words of daniel webster, we should have been spared the bloodiest war in the book of time; every state of the union would have been left free to solve its own domestic problems, and it is not too much to say that these problems would have been solved in full accord with the advancing civilization of the age. the sole charge of inconsistency against webster that has in it a shadow of truth relates to the proposition he made in his speech as to the "wilmot proviso." that celebrated proviso was named for david wilmot, of pennsylvania, its author. it provided against slavery in all the territory acquired from mexico. the south had opposed the wilmot proviso because the territory in question, much of it, was south of the missouri compromise line extended. mr. webster had often voted for the wilmot proviso, as all knew. in his speech for the compromise, by which the south was urged to and did give up its contentions as to the admission of california, and its contentions as to the slave trade in the district of columbia, webster argued that _the north might forego_ the proviso as to new mexico and arizona for the reason that the proviso was, as to these territories, _immaterial_. those territories, he argued, would never come in as slave states, because the god of nature had so determined. climate and soil would forbid. time vindicated this argument. in charles francis adams said, in congress, that new mexico, open to slave-holders and their slaves for more than ten years, then had only twelve slaves domiciled on the surface of over , square miles of her extent.[ ] [ ] "vindication of webster," william c. wilkinson, p. . daniel webster's services to the cause of the union, the preservation of which had been the passion of his life, had been absolutely unparalleled. it is perhaps true that without him abraham lincoln and the armies of the union in - would have been impossible. the sole and, as he then stated and as time proved, immaterial concession this champion of the union now ( ) made for the sake of preserving the union was his proposition as to new mexico and arizona. henry clay spoke before webster. these words were the key-note of clay's great speech: "in my opinion the body politic cannot be preserved unless this agitation, this distraction, this exasperation, which is going on between the two sections of the country, shall cease." the country waited with anxiety to hear from webster. hundreds of suggestions and appeals went to him. both sides were hopeful.[ ] anti-slavery people knew his aversion to slavery. he had never countenanced anti-slavery agitation, but he had voted for the wilmot proviso. they knew, too, that he had long been ambitious to be president, and, carried away by their enthusiasm, they hoped that webster would swim along with the tide that was sweeping over the majority section of the union. in view of mr. webster's past record, however, it would be difficult to believe that abolitionists were really disappointed in him had we not many such proofs as the following stanza from whittier's ode, published after the speech: oh! dumb be passing, stormy rage when he who might have lighted up and led his age falls back in night! [ ] mcmaster's "webster." the conservatives also were hopeful. they knew that, though webster had always been, as an individual, opposed to slavery, he had at all times stood by the constitution, as well as the union. at no time had he ever qualified or retracted these words in his speech at niblo's garden in : "slavery, as it exists in the states, is beyond the reach of congress. it is a concern of the states themselves. they have never submitted it to congress, and congress has no rightful power over it. i shall concur therefore in _no act_, _no measure_, _no menace_, no indication of purpose which _shall interfere or threaten to interfere with the exclusive authority_ of the several states over the subject of slavery, as it exists within their respective limits. all this appears to me to be matter of plain imperative duty." nullifying the fugitive slave law was a plain "interference" with the rights of the slave states. mr. webster's intent, when he spoke on the compromise measures, is best explained by his own words, on june , while these measures were still pending: "sir, my object is peace. my object is reconciliation. my purpose is not to make up a case _for the north_ or a case _for the south_. my object is not to continue useless and irritating controversies. i am against agitators, north and south, and all narrow local contests. i am an american, and i know no locality but america." in his speech made on the th of march he dwelt at length on existing conditions, on the attitude of the north toward the fugitive slave law, and argued fully the questions involved in the "personal liberty" laws passed by northern states. referring to the complaints of the south about these, he said: "in that respect _the south, in my judgment, is right and the north is wrong_. every member of every northern legislature is bound by oath, like every other officer in the country, to support the constitution of the united states; and the article of the constitution which says to these states that they shall deliver up fugitives from service _is as binding in honor and conscience as any other article_. _no man fulfils his duty in any legislature who sets himself to find excuses, evasions, escapes, from this constitutional obligation._" and further on he said: "then, sir, there are the abolition societies, of which i am unwilling to speak, but in regard to which i have very clear notions and opinions. i do not think them useful. _i think their operations for the last twenty years have produced nothing good or valuable.... i cannot but see what mischief their interference with the south has produced._" in these statements is the substance of webster's offending. webster's speech was followed, on the th of march, by the speech of senator seward, of new york, in the same debate. quoting the fugitive slave provision of the federal constitution, mr. seward said: "this is from the constitution of the united states in , and the parties were the republican states of the union. the law of nations _disavows such compacts; the law of nature, written on the hearts and consciences of freemen, repudiates them_."[ ] the people of the north, instead of following webster, chose to follow seward, the apostle of a _law higher than the constitution_; and when, ten years later, it appeared to them that the whole north had given in its adhesion to the "higher law" doctrine, the people of eleven southern states seceded, and put over themselves in very substance the constitution that seward had flouted and webster had pleaded for in vain. [ ] _congressional globe_, st congress, st session, appendix, p. . anti-slavery enthusiasts in the north generally, and abolitionists especially, in their comments on webster's speech scouted the idea that the preservation of the union depended upon the faithful execution of the fugitive slave law or the cessation of anti-slavery agitation. "what," said theodore parker, "cast off the north! they set up for themselves! tush! tush! fear boys with bugs!... i think mr. webster knew there was no danger of a dissolution of the union."[ ] [ ] "vindication of webster," william c. wilkinson, p. . the immediate effect of the speech was wonderful; congratulations poured in upon mr. webster from conservative classes in every quarter, and he must have felt gratified to know that he had contributed greatly to the enactment of measures that, for a time, had some effect in allaying sectional strife. but the revilings of the abolitionists prevailed, and it turned out that daniel webster, great as he was, had undertaken a task that was too much even for him. his enemies struck out boldly at once: and years afterward, when the anti-slavery movement that webster's appeals could not arrest had culminated in secession, and when the union had been saved by arms, the triumphant hosts of the anti-slavery crusade all but succeeded in writing daniel webster down permanently in the history of his country as an apostate from principle for the sake of an office he did not get. here is their verdict, which mr. lodge, a biographer of webster, passes on into history: "the _popular verdict_ has been given against the th of march speech, _and that verdict has passed into history_. nothing can be said or done which will alter the fact that the people of this country, _who maintained and saved the union, have passed judgment on mr. webster_, and condemned what he said on the th of march as _wrong in principle and mistaken in policy_." here are specimens of the assaults that were made on webster after his speech. they are selected from among many given by one of his biographers.[ ] [ ] mcmaster's "webster," p. _et seq._ "'webster,' said horace mann, 'is a fallen star! lucifer descended from heaven.'... 'webster,' said sumner, 'has placed himself in the dark list of apostates.' when whittier named him ichabod, and mourned for him in verse as one dead, he did but express the feeling of half new england: 'let not the land once proud of him mourn for him now, nor brand with deeper shame his dim dishonored brow. * * * * * then pay the reverence of old days to his dead fame! walk backward with averted gaze and hide his shame.'" after much more to the same effect, professor mcmaster proceeds: "the attack by the press, the _expressions of horror_ that rose from new england, webster felt keenly, but the absolute isolation in which he was left by his new england colleagues cut him to the quick."[ ] [ ] professor mcmaster in the chapter preceding that containing these extracts, has collected much evidence to show that webster aspired to be president, and the biographer entitles the chapter, "longing for the presidency," apparently the author's clod on the grave of a buried reputation. on mr. webster's speech, its purpose and effect, we have this opinion from mr. lodge: "the speech, if exactly defined, is in reality a powerful effort, not for a compromise, or for the fugitive slave law, or for any other one thing, _but to arrest the whole anti-slavery movement_, and in that way _put an end to the danger which threatened the union and restore harmony to the jarring sections_." and then he adds: "_it was a mad project. mr. webster might as well have attempted to stay the incoming tide at marshfield with a rampart of sand, as to check the anti-slavery movement with a speech._" to undertake at this time to arrest the whole anti-slavery movement by holding up the constitution was indeed useless. seward, who had spoken for the "higher law," was riding on the tide of anti-slavery sentiment that was submerging "the sage of marshfield," who had stood for the constitution. seward's reputation, in the years following, went steadily up, while webster's was going down. webster died, in dejection, in . seward, at rochester, in , later on in the same crusade, made another famous declaration--there was an "irrepressible conflict between slavery and freedom." the conflict was "irrepressible," as seward well knew; and this was simply and solely because the anti-slavery crusade could not be suppressed. clay and webster, now both dead and gone, had tried it in vain. every one knew that if, in , or at any other time, the anti-slavery hosts had halted, and asked for, or consented to, peace, they could have had it at once. mr. lodge, in the following paragraph, seems to have almost made up his mind to defend webster. he says: "what most shocked the north were his utterances in regard to the fugitive slave law. there can be no doubt that, _under the constitution_, the south had a _perfect right_ to claim the extradition of fugitive slaves. the legal _argument to support that right was excellent_." this would seem to justify the speech in that regard. "but," mr. lodge adds, "the northern people could not feel that it was _necessary_ for _daniel webster_ to make it." they wanted him to be sectional or to hold his tongue. then mr. lodge goes on to say: "the fugitive slave law was in _absolute conflict with the awakened conscience and moral sentiment of the north_." the conscience of _the north_ at that time, mr. lodge means, was a _higher law_ than the _constitution_; and webster's "excellent argument," therefore, fell on deaf ears. no american historian stands higher as an authority than mr. rhodes. he says on page , vol. i, of his "history of the united states," published in : "_until the closing years of our century a dispassionate judgment could not be made of webster_; but we see now that in the war of secession his principles were mightier than those of garrison. it was not 'no union with slave-holders,' but _liberty and union_ that won." this tribute to services webster had rendered to the union in his great speech in , in which he advocated "liberty and union, now and forever," exactly as he was advocating it in , is just. how pathetic that the historian was impelled also to record the fact, in the same sentence, that for nearly half a century partisan prejudice had rendered it impossible to form a dispassionate judgment of him who had pleaded in vain for the union without war! after an able analysis of his " th of march speech," and a discussion of his record, in which he paralleled webster and edmund burke, mr. rhodes declares: "his dislike of slavery was strong, but his love of the union was stronger, and the more powerful motive outweighed the other, for he believed that _the crusade against slavery had arrived at a point where its further prosecution was hurtful to the union_. as has been said of burke, 'he changed his front but he never changed his ground.'"[ ] [ ] _ib._, p. . daniel webster's name and its place in history may be likened to a giant oak, a monarch of the forest, that, while towering high above all others, was stripped of its branches; for a time it stood, a rugged trunk, robbed of its glory by a cyclone; but its roots were deep down in the rich earth; the storm is passing away; the tree has put out buds again; now its branches are stretching out once more into the clear reaches of the upper air. mr. rhodes seems to be the first historian of note to do justice to daniel webster and the great speech which, mcmaster takes pains to inform us, historians have written down as his " th of march speech," in spite of the fact that mr. webster himself entitled it "the constitution and the union." other historians besides mr. rhodes have come to the rescue of webster's speech for "the constitution and the union." mr. john fiske says of it in a volume (posthumous) published in : "so far as mr. webster's moral attitude was concerned, although he was not prepared for the bitter hostility that his speech provoked in many quarters, he must nevertheless have known it was quite as likely to injure him at the north as to gain support for him in the south, and his resolute adoption of a policy that he regarded as national rather than sectional was really an instance of high moral courage."[ ] [ ] "daniel webster and the sentiment of union," john fiske, "essays historical and literary," pp. - . mr. william c. wilkinson has recently written an able "vindication of daniel webster," and, after a conclusive argument on that branch of his subject, he says: "webster's consistency stands like a rock on the shore after the fretful waves are tired with beating upon it in vain."[ ] [ ] "daniel webster: a vindication," p. . mr. e. p. wheeler, concluding a masterly sketch of daniel webster, setting forth his services as statesman and expounder of the constitution, and not deigning to notice the partisan charges against him, concludes with these words: "great men elevate and ennoble their countrymen. in the glory of webster we find the glory of our whole country." the story of daniel webster and his great speech in has been told at some length because it is instructive. the historians who had set themselves to the task of upholding the idea that it was the aggressiveness of the south, during the controversy over slavery, and not that of the north, that brought on secession and war, could not make good their contention while daniel webster and his speech for "the constitution and the union" stood in their way. they, therefore, wrote the great statesman "down and out," as they conceived. but webster and that speech still stand as beacon lights in the history of that crusade. the attack came from the north. the south, standing for its constitutional rights in the union, was the conservative party. southern leaders, it is true, were, during the controversy over slavery, often aggressive, but they were on the defensive-aggressive, just as lee was when he made his campaign into pennsylvania for the purpose of stopping the invasion of his own land; and the south lost in her political campaign just for the same reason that lee lost in his gettysburg campaign: numbers and resources were against her. "the stars in their courses fought against sisera." mr. webster in his great speech for "the constitution and the union," as became a great statesman pleading for conciliation, measured the terms in which he condemned "personal liberty" laws and abolitionism. but afterward, irritated by the attacks made upon him, he naturally spoke out more emphatically. mcmaster quotes several expressions from his speeches and letters replying to these assaults, and says: "his hatred of abolitionists and free-soilers grew stronger and stronger. to him these men were a 'band of sectionalists, narrow of mind, wanting in patriotism, without a spark of national feeling, and quite ready to see the union go to pieces if their own selfish ends were gained.'" such, if this is a fair summing up of his views, was webster's final opinion of those who were carrying on the great anti-slavery crusade.[ ] [ ] mcmaster's "webster," p. . chapter vii efforts for peace the desire for peace in was wide-spread. union loving people, north and south, hoped that the compromise would result in a cessation of the strife that had so long divided the section; and the election of franklin pierce, in , as president, on a platform strongly approving that compromise, was promising. but anti-slavery leaders, instead of being convinced by such arguments as those of webster, were deeply offended by the contention that legislators, in passing personal liberty laws, had violated their oaths to support the constitution. they were angered also by the presumptuous attempt to "arrest the whole anti-slavery movement." the new fugitive slave law was stringent; it did not give jury trial; it required bystanders to assist the officers in "slave-catching," etc. for these and other reasons the law was assailed as unconstitutional. all these contentions were overruled by the supreme court when a case eventually came before it. the court decided that the act was, in all its provisions, fully authorized by the constitution.[ ] but in their present mood, no law that was efficient would have been satisfactory to the multitudes of people, by no means all "abolitionists," who had already made up their minds against the "wicked" provision of the constitution that required the delivery of fugitive slaves. this deep-seated feeling of opposition to the return to their masters of escaping slaves was soon to be wrought up to a high pitch by a novel that went into nearly every household throughout the north--"uncle tom's cabin." on its appearance the poet whittier, who had so ferociously attacked webster in the verses quoted in the last chapter, "offered up thanks for the fugitive slave law, for it gave us 'uncle tom's cabin.'" [ ] ableman _v._ boothe, how., . rufus choate, a celebrated lawyer and whig leader, is reported to have said of "uncle tom's cabin": "that book will make two millions of abolitionists." drawing, as it did, a very dark picture of slavery, it aroused sympathy for the escaping slave and pictured in glowing colors the dear, sweet men and women who dared, for his sake, the perils of the road in the darkness of night and all the dangers of the law. mrs. stowe was _making heroes of law-breakers, preaching the higher law_. mrs. stowe declared she had not written the book for political effect; she certainly did not anticipate the marvellous results that followed it. that book made vast multitudes of its readers ready for the new sectional and anti-slavery party that was to be organized two years after its appearance. it was the most famous and successful novel ever written. it was translated into every language that has a literature, and has been more read by american people than any other book except the bible. as a picture of what was conceivable under the laws relating to slavery there was a basis for it. though there were laws limiting the master's power, cruelty was nevertheless possible. here, then, mrs. stowe's imagination had full scope. her book, however, has in it none of the strident harshness, none of the purblind ferocity of garrison, in whose eyes every slave-holder was a fiend. "uncle tom's cabin" assailed a system; it did not assault personally, as the arch-agitator did, every man and woman to whom slaves had come, whether by choice or chance. light and shadow and the play of human nature made mrs. stowe's picture as attractive in many of its pages as it was repulsive and unfair in others. mrs. shelby was a type of many a noble mistress, a christian woman, and when financial misfortunes compelled the sale of the shelby slaves and the separation of families, we have not only what might have been, but what sometimes was, one of the evils of slavery, which, by reason of the prevailing agitation, the humanity of the age could not remedy. but mrs. stowe's slave-master, legree, was impossible. the theory was inconceivable that it was cheaper to work to death in seven years a slave costing a thousand dollars, than to work him for forty years. millions of our people, however, have accepted "uncle tom" as a fact, and have wept over him; they have accepted also as a fact the monster legree. "uncle tom's cabin" lives to-day as a classic on book shelves and as a popular play. the present generation get most of their opinions about slavery as it was in the south from its pages, and not one in ten thousand of those who read it ever thinks of the inconsistency between the picture of slavery drawn there and that other picture, which all the world now knows of--the confederate soldier away in the army, his wife and children at home faithfully protected by slaves--not a case of violence, not even a single established case, during four years, although there were four millions of negroes in the south, of that crime against white women that, after the reconstruction had demoralized the freedmen, became so common in that section. the unwavering fidelity during the four years of war of so many slaves to the families of their absent masters, and the fact that those who, during that war, left their homes to seek their freedom invariably went without doing any vengeful act, is a phenomenon that speaks for itself. it tells of kindly relations between master and slave. it is not to be denied that where the law gave so much power to the master there were individual instances of cruelty, nor is it supposable that there were not many slaves who were revengeful; but at the same time there was, quite naturally, among slaves who were all in like case, a more clannish and all-pervading public opinion than could have been found elsewhere. it was that all-pervading and rigid standard of kindly feeling among the slaves to their masters that made the rule universal--fidelity toward the master's family, at least to the extent of inflicting no injury. what a surprise to many this conduct of the slave was may be gathered from a telling republican speech made by carl schurz during the campaign of .[ ] a devotee of liberty, recently a revolutionist in his native land, and, like other foreigners, disregarding all constitutional obstacles, mr. schurz had naturally espoused the cause of anti-slavery in this country. he had absorbed the views of his political associates and now contended that secession was an empty threat and that secession was impossible. "the mere anticipation of a negro insurrection," he said, "will paralyze the whole south." and, after ridiculing the alarm created by the john brown invasion, the orator said that in case of a war between the south and the north, "they will not have men enough to quiet their friends at home; what will they have to oppose to the enemy? every township will want its home regiment; every plantation its garrison; and what will be left for its field army?" [ ] fite, "presidential campaign of ," p. . slavery in the south eventually proved to be, instead of a weakness, an element of strength to the confederates, and mr. lincoln finally felt himself compelled to issue his proclamation of emancipation as a military necessity--the avowed purpose being to deprive the confederates of the slaves who were by their labor supporting their armies in the field. the faithfulness during the war of the slave to his master has been a lesson to the northerner, and it has been a lesson, too, to the southerner. it argues that the danger of bloody insurrections was perhaps not as great as had been apprehended where incendiary publications were sent among them. that danger, however, did exist, and if the fear of it was exaggerated, it was nevertheless real, and was traceable to the abolitionists. the rights of the south in the territories had now been discussed for years and stephen a. douglas, a democratic senator from illinois, had reached the conclusion that under the constitution southerner and northerner had exactly the same right to carry their property, whatever it might be, into the territories, which had been purchased with the common blood and treasure of both sections, a view afterward sustained by the supreme court of the united states in the dred scott case. douglas, "entirely of his own motion,"[ ] introduced, and congress passed, such a bill--the kansas-nebraska act. the new act replaced the missouri compromise. this the southerners considered had been a dead letter for years. every "personal liberty" law passed by a northern state was a violation of it. [ ] "parties and slavery," theodore clarke smith, professor of history in williams college, p. . ambition was now playing its part in the sectional controversy. douglas was a democrat looking to the presidency and had here made a bid for southern support. on the other hand was seward, an "old line whig," aspiring to the same office. the south had been the dominant element in national politics and the north was getting tired of it. seward's idea was to organize all the anti-slavery voters and to appeal at the same time to the pride and jealousy of the north as a section. the immediate effect of the kansas-nebraska act was to aggravate sectionalism. it opened up the territory of kansas, allowing it to come into the union with or without slavery, as it might choose. slave state and free state adventurers rushed into the new territory and struggled, and even fought, for supremacy. the southerners lost. their resources could not match the means of organized anti-slavery societies, and the result was an increase, north and south, of sectional animosity. the overwhelming defeat of the old whig party in presaged its dissolution. until that election, both the whig and democratic parties had been national, each endeavoring to hold and acquire strength, north and south, and each combating, as best it could, the spirit of sectionalism that had been steadily growing in the north, and south as well, ever since the rise of abolitionism. both these old parties had watched with anxiety the increase of anti-slavery sentiment in the north. both parties feared it. alliance with the anti-slavery north would deprive a party of support south and denationalize it. for years prior to the drift of northern voters who were opposed to slavery had been as to the two national parties toward the whigs, and the tendency of conservative northerners had been toward the democratic party. thus the great body of the whig voters in the north had become imbued with anti-slavery sentiments, and now, with no hope of victory as a national party and left in a hopeless minority, the majority of that old party in that section were ready to join a sectional party when it should be formed two years later. william h. seward was still a whig when he made in the united states senate his anti-slavery "higher law" speech of . the kansas-nebraska act was a political blunder. the south, on any dispassionate consideration, could not have expected to make kansas a slave state. the act was a blunder, too, because it gave the opponents of the democratic party a plausible pretext for the contention, which they put forth then and which has been persisted in till this day, that the new republican party, immediately thereafter organized, was called into existence by, and only by, the kansas-nebraska act. as far back as it was clear that a new party, based on the anti-slavery sentiment that had been created by twenty years of agitation, was inevitable. mr. rhodes, speaking of conditions then, says: "it was, moreover, obvious to an astute politician like seward, and probably to others, that a dissolution of parties was imminent; that to oppose the extension of slavery, _the different anti-slavery elements must be organized as a whole_; it might be called whig or some other name, but it would be based on the principle of the wilmot proviso"[ ]--the meaning of which was, no more slave states. [ ] "rhodes," vol. i, p. . between and the passage of the kansas-nebraska act in , new impulse had been given anti-slavery sentiment by fierce assaults on the new fugitive slave law and, as has been seen, by "uncle tom's cabin." the kansas-nebraska act did serve as a cry for the rallying of all anti-slavery voters. that was all. it was a drum-call, in answer to which soldiers already enlisted fell into ranks, under a new banner. any other drum-call--the application of another slave state for admission into the union--would have served quite as well. thus the republican party came into existence in . mr. rhodes sums up the reason for the existence of the new party and what it subsequently accomplished in the following pregnant sentence, "the moral agitation had accomplished its work, the cause (of anti-slavery) ... was to be consigned to a political party that brought to a successful conclusion the movement begun by the moral sentiment of the community,"[ ]--which successful conclusion was, of course, _the freeing of the slaves by a successful war_. [ ] vol. i, p. . for a time the new republican party had a powerful competitor in another new organization. this was the american or know-nothing party. this other aspirant for power made an honest effort to revitalize the old whig party under a new name and, by gathering in all the conservatives north and south, to put an end to sectionalism. its signal failure conveys an instructive lesson. after many and wide-spread rumors of its coming, the birth of the american party was formally announced in . it had been organized in secret and was bound together with oaths and passwords; its members delighted to mystify inquirers by refusing to answer questions, and soon they got the name of "know-nothings." the party had grown out of the "order of the star spangled banner," organized in to oppose the spread of catholicism and indiscriminate immigration--the two dangers that were said to threaten american institutions. the american party made its appeal: for the union and against sectionalism; for protestantism, the faith of the fathers, against catholicism that was being imported by foreigners; its shibboleth was "america for the americans." the americans or know-nothings everywhere put out in full tickets and showed at once surprising strength. in the fall elections of that year they polled over one-fourth of all the votes in new york, two-fifths in pennsylvania, and over two-thirds in massachusetts, where they made a clean sweep of the state and federal offices.[ ] [ ] smith, "parties and slavery," pp. - . they struck directly at sectionalism by exacting of their adherents the following oath: "you do further swear that you will not vote for any one ... whom you know or believe to be in favor of a dissolution of the union ... or who is endeavoring to produce that result." the effect of this oath at the south was almost magical. the whig party there was speedily absorbed by the americans, and southern democrats by thousands joined the new party that promised to save the union.[ ] but the attitude of the northern and southern members of the american party soon became fundamentally different. southerners saw their northern allies in vermont, maine, and massachusetts passing "personal liberty" laws.[ ] [ ] the writer's father, who had been a nullifier and a lifelong follower of calhoun, joined the know-nothings in the hope of saving the union, but withdrew when he found that in the north the party was not true to its union pledges. here was a typical case of southern unwillingness to resort to secession. [ ] _ib._, pp. - . the know-nothings were strong enough in the elections of to directly check the progress of the new republican party; but the american party, though it succeeded in electing a speaker of the national house of representatives in february, , soon afterward went down to defeat. even though led by such patriots as john bell, of tennessee, and edward everett, of massachusetts, it could not stand against the storm of passion that had been aroused by the crusade against slavery. there was a fierce and protracted struggle between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery men in kansas for possession of the territorial government. rival constitutions were submitted to congress, and the debates over these were extremely bitter. in their excitement the democrats again delighted their adversaries by committing what now seems to have been another blunder. they advocated the admission of kansas under the "lecompton constitution." a review of the conflicting evidence appears to show that the southerners were fairly outnumbered in kansas and that the lecompton constitution did not express the will of the people.[ ] [ ] theodore clarke smith, "parties and slavery." while "the war in kansas" was going on, charles sumner, an abolitionist from massachusetts, delivered in the senate a speech of which he wrote his friends beforehand: "i shall pronounce the most thorough philippic ever delivered in a legislative body." he was a classical scholar. _his purpose was to stir up in the north a greater fury against the south than demosthenes had aroused in athens against its enemies, the macedonians._ his speech occupied two days, may and , . at its conclusion, senator cass, of michigan, arose at once and pronounced it "the most un-american and unpatriotic that ever grated on the ears of this high body." the speech attacked, without any sufficient excuse, the personal character of an absent senator, butler of south carolina, a gentleman of high character and older than sumner. among other unfounded charges, it accused him of falsehood. preston brooks, a representative from south carolina, attacked sumner in the senate chamber during a recess of that body and beat him unmercifully with a cane. the provocation was bitter, indeed, but brooks's assault was unjustifiable. nevertheless, the exasperated south applauded it, while the north glorified sumner as a martyr for free speech. * * * * * in less than two years the new republican party had absorbed all the abolition voters, and in the election of was in the field with its candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency--fremont and dayton--upon a platform declaring it the duty of congress to abolish in the territories "those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery." excitement during that election was intense. rufus choate, the great massachusetts lawyer, theretofore a whig, voiced the sentiment of conservatives when he said it was the "duty of every one to prevent the madness of the times from working its maddest act--the permanent formation and the actual present triumph of a party which knows one-half of america only to hate it," etc. senator toombs, of georgia, said: "the object of fremont's friends is the conquest of the south. i am content that they shall own us when they conquer us." the democrats elected buchanan; democrats electoral votes; republicans , all northern; and the know-nothings, combined with a remnant of whigs, . the work of sectionalism was nearly completed. the extremes to which some of the southern people now resorted show the madness of the times. they encouraged filibustering expeditions to capture cuba and nicaragua. these wild ventures were absolutely indefensible. they had no official sanction and were only spontaneous movements, but they met with favor from the southern public, the outgrowth of a feeling that, if these countries should be captured and annexed as slave states, the south could the better, by their aid, defend its rights in the union. _the wanderer_ and one or two other vessels, contrary to the laws of the united states, imported slaves from africa, and when the participants were, some of them, indicted, southern juries absolutely refused to convict. "judgment had fled to brutish beasts, and men had lost their reason." when later the southern states had seceded and formed a government of their own their constitution absolutely prohibited the slave traffic. chapter viii incompatibility of slavery and freedom that it was possible for slave states and free states to coexist under our federal constitution was the belief of its framers and of most of our people down to . the first to announce the absolute impossibility of such coexistence seems to have been william lloyd garrison. in , at lynn, massachusetts, the essex county anti-slavery society adopted this resolution, offered by him: "that freedom and slavery are natural and irreconcilable enemies; that it is morally impossible for them to endure together in the same nation, and that the existence of the one can only be secured by the destruction of the other."[ ] [ ] garrison's "garrison." garrison's remedy was disunion. near that time his paper's motto was "no union with slave-holders." the next to announce the idea of the incompatibility of slave states and free states seems to have been one who did not dream of disunion. no such thought was in the mind of abraham lincoln when, in a speech at springfield, illinois, june , , he said: "_a house divided against itself cannot stand. i believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. i do not expect the union to be divided. it will become one thing or the other._ either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind will rest in the belief that _it is in the course of ultimate extinction_; or its advocates will push it forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the states--old as well as new--north as well as south." when the southerners read that statement they concluded that, as mr. lincoln knew very well that the south could not, if it would, force slavery on the north, he was announcing the intention of his party to place slavery "in course of ultimate extinction," constitution or no constitution. senator seward, at rochester, new york, some weeks later, reannounced the doctrine, declaring that the contest was "an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces; and it means that the united states _must and will_, sooner or later, become either an entirely slave-holding nation or entirely a free labor nation." the utterances of lincoln and seward were distinctly radical. the question was, would this radical idea ultimately dominate the republican party? less than eighteen months after the announcement in of the doctrine of the "irrepressible conflict," john brown raided virginia to incite insurrections. with a few followers and , stands of arms for the slaves who were to join him, he captured the united states arsenal at harper's ferry. only a few slaves came to him and, after a brief struggle, with some bloodshed, brown was captured, tried by a jury, and hanged. in the south the excitement was intense; the horror and indignation in that section it is impossible to describe. brown was already well known to the public. he was not a lunatic. not long before this, in kansas, "at the head of a small group of men, including two of his sons and a son-in-law, he went at night down pottowattamie creek, stopping at three houses. the men who lived in them were well known pro-slavery men; they seem to have been rough characters; their most specific offence (according to sanborn, brown's biographer and eulogist) was the driving from his home, by violent threats, of an inoffensive old man. john brown and his party went down the creek, called at one after the other of three houses, took five men away from their wives and children, and deliberately shot one and hacked the others to death with swords."[ ] [ ] "the negro and the nation," george spring merriam, p. . quite a number of people, some of them men of eminence in the north, aided brown in his enterprise. among the men of repute were gerrit smith, a former candidate for the presidency; and theodore parker, dr. howe, and thomas wentworth higginson, of boston, who were all members of a "secret committee to collect money and arms for the expedition." with them was f. s. sanborn, who has since the war vauntingly revealed the scheme in his "life of john brown."[ ] [ ] sanborn's "life of john brown," p. . sanborn intimates that henry wilson, subsequently vice-president, was more or less privy to the design.[ ] at various places in the north church bells were tolled on the day of john brown's execution; meetings were held and orators extolled him as a martyr. emerson, the greatest thinker in all that region, declared that if john brown was hanged he would glorify the gallows as jesus glorified the cross; and now many southern men who loved the union reluctantly concluded that separation was inevitable. john bell, of tennessee, union candidate for president in , is said to have cried like a child when he heard of brown's raid. [ ] _ib._, p. . the great body of the northern people condemned john brown's expedition without stint. edward everett, voicing the opinion of all who were really conservative, said of brown's raid, in a speech at faneuil hall, that its design was to "let loose the hell hounds of a servile insurrection, and to bring on a struggle which, for magnitude, atrocity, and horror, would have stood alone in the history of the world." but they who had been preaching the "irrepressible conflict," they whom public opinion might hold responsible, did not feel precisely as mr. everett did. they were concerned about political consequences, as appears from a letter written somewhat later during the state canvass in new york by horace greeley to schuyler colfax. horace greeley afterward proved himself in many ways a broad-minded, magnanimous man, but now he wrote: "do not be downhearted about the old john brown business. its present effect is bad and throws a heavy load on us in this state ... _but the ultimate effect is to be good.... it will drive the slave power to new outrages.... it presses on the irrepressible conflict_."[ ] [ ] "history of united states," rhodes, vol. i. the fact that such a man as horace greeley was taking comfort because that outrage would "drive the slave power to new outrages"[ ] throws a strong side-light on the tactics of the anti-slavery leaders. they were following garrison. garrison, the father of the abolitionists, had begun his campaign against slave-holders by "exhausting upon them the vocabulary of abuse," and he had shown "a genius for infuriating his antagonists."[ ] the new party--his successor and beneficiary, was now felicitating itself that ultimate good would come, even from the john brown raid. it would further their policy of "_driving the slave power to new outrages_." [ ] channing. [ ] hart. people at the north, conservatives and all, held their breath for a time after harper's ferry. then the crusade went on, in the press, on the rostrum, and from the pulpit, with as much virulence as ever. no assertion was too extravagant for belief, provided only its tendency was to disparage the southern white man or win sympathy for the negro. from the noted "brownlow and pryne's debate," philadelphia (_lippincott_), we take the following as a specimen of the abuse a portion of the northern press was then heaping on the southern people. brownlow quotes from the _new york independent_ of november, : "the mass of the population of the atlantic coast of the slave region of the south are descended from the transported convicts and outcasts of great britain.... oh, glorious chivalry and hereditary aristocracy of the south! peerless first families of virginia and carolina!... progeny of the highwaymen, and horse-thieves and sheep-stealers, and pick-pockets of old england!" the south was not to be outdone, and here was a retort from _de bow's review_, july, : "the basis, framework, and controlling influence of northern sentiment is puritanism--the old roundhead, rebel refuse of england, which ... has ever been an unruly sect of pharisees ... the worst bigots on earth and the meanest of tyrants when they have the power to exercise it."[ ] [ ] theodore clarke smith, "parties and slavery," p. . and the non-slave-holder of the south did not escape from the pitiless pelting of the storm. he was sustaining the slave-holder, and this was not only an offence but a puzzle. it became quite common in the north for anti-slavery writers to classify the non-slave-holding agricultural classes of the south as "poor whites," thus distinguishing them from the slave-holders; and the idea is current even now in that section that as a class the lordly slave-holder despised his poor white fellow-citizen. the average non-slave-holding southern agriculturist, whether farming for himself or for others, was a type of man that no one who knew him, least of all the southern slave-holder, his neighbor and political ally, could despise. educated and uneducated, these people were independent voters and honest jurors, the very backbone of southern state governments that always will be notable in history for efficiency, purity, and economy. this class of voters, however, came in for much abuse in the literature of the crusade. they were all lumped together as "poor whites," sometimes as "poor white trash," and the belief was inculcated that their imperious slave-holding neighbors applied that term to them. "poor white trash," on its face, is "nigger talk," caught up, doubtless, from southern negro barbers and bootblacks, and used by writers who, from information thus derived, pictured southern society. this is a sample of the numerous errors that crept into the literature of one section of our union about social conditions in the other during that memorable sectional controversy. it is on a par with the idea that prevailed, in some quarters in the south, that the yankee cared for nothing but money, and would not fight even for that. southerners were practically all of the old british stock. homogeneity, common memories of the wars of the revolution, of , and with mexico, and fourth of july celebrations, all tended to bind together strongly the southern slave-holder and non-slave-holder. there were, of course, many classes of non-slave-holders--the thrifty farmer, the unthrifty, and the laborer who worked for hire, but more frequently for "shares of the crop." then there were others--the inhabitants of the "sand-hills" and the mountain regions. these people were, as a rule, very shiftless; too lazy to work, they were still too proud to beg, as the very poor usually do in other countries. the mountaineers were hardier than the sand-hillers, and it was from the mountains of tennessee, alabama, etc., that the union armies gathered many recruits. this was not, as is often stated, because mountaineers love liberty better than others, but because these mountaineers never came into contact with either master or slave. the crusade against slavery, therefore, did not threaten to affect their personal status. there were very few public schools in the south, but in the cities and towns there were academies and high-schools, and the country was dotted with "old field schools," most of them not good, but sufficient to train those who became efficient leaders in social, religious, and political circles. the wonderful progress made by the southern white man during the last thirty-five years is by no means all due to the abolition of slavery. labor, it is true, is held in higher esteem. this is a great gain, but still more is due to improved transportation, to better prices for timber and cotton, to commercial fertilizers, and an awakening interest in education. the south is also developing its mineral resources and is now rapidly forging to the front. the white man is making more cotton than the negro. but the very strongest bond that bound together the southern slave-holder and non-slave-holder was the pride of caste. every white man was a freeman; he belonged to the superior, the dominant race. edmund burke, england's philosopher-statesman, in his speech on "conciliation with america" at the beginning of our revolution, complimented in high terms the spirit of liberty among the dissenting protestants of new england. then, alluding to the hopes indulged in by some gentlemen, that the southern colonies would be loyal to great britain because the church of england had there a large establishment, he said: "it is certainly true. there is, however, a circumstance attending these colonies which in my opinion fully counter-balances this difference, and makes the spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in those to the northward. it is, that in virginia and carolina they have a vast multitude of slaves. where this is the case, in any part of the world, _those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of their freedom_. freedom with them is not only an enjoyment, but a kind of _rank and privilege_." the privilege of belonging to the superior race and of being free was a bond that tied all southern whites together, and it was infinitely strengthened by a crusade that seemed, from a southern stand-point, to have for its purpose the levelling of all distinctions between the white man and the slave hard by. socially, there were classes in the south as there are everywhere. the controlling class consisted of professional men, lawyers, physicians, teachers, and high-class merchants (though the merchant prince was unknown), and slave-holders. slave-holders were, of course, divided into classes, chiefly two: those who had acquired culture and breeding from slave-holding ancestors, and those who had little culture or breeding, principally the newly rich. it was the former class that gave tone to southern society. the performance of duty always ennobles, and this is especially true of duty done by superiors to inferiors. the master and mistress of a slave establishment were responsible for the moral and material welfare of their dependents. when they appreciated and fulfilled their responsibilities, as the best families usually did, there was found what was called the southern aristocracy. the habit of command, assured position, and high ideals, coming down, as these often did, with family traditions, gave these favored people ease and grace, and they were social favorites, both in the north and europe. at home they dispensed a hospitality that made the south famous. they were exemplars, giving tone to society, and it was notable that breeding and culture, and not wealth, gave tone to southern society. there was perhaps in virginia and south carolina an aristocracy that was somewhat more exclusive than elsewhere. slavery was at its worst when masters were not equal to their responsibilities, for want of either culture or christian feeling, or both, as also when, as was now and then the case, a brutal overseer was in charge of a plantation far away from the eye of the owner. the influence of the slave-holder and his lavish hospitality did not make for thrift among his less fortunate brethren; it made perhaps for prodigality, but it also made for a high sense of honor among slave-holders and non-slave-holders as well. both slave-holders and non-slave-holders were extremely punctilious. money did not count where honor was concerned, and southerners do well to be proud of the record in this respect that has been made by their statesmen. among the more cultured classes in the period here treated of, the duel prevailed, a practice now very properly condemned. but it made for a high sense of honor. demagogues were not common when a false statement on "the stump" was apt to result in a mortal combat. among the less cultured classes insult was answered with a blow of the fist. fisticuffs, too, were quite common to ascertain who was the "best man" in a community or county. the rules were not according to the marquis of queensbury, but they always secured "fair play."[ ] [ ] for the humorous side of life in the south in the old day, see "simon suggs," j. j. hooper; "georgia scenes," judge longstreet; and "flush times of alabama and mississippi," by baldwin. this combative spirit of southerners was undoubtedly a result of the spirit of caste that came from slavery. sometimes it was unduly exhibited in congress during the controversy over slavery and state's rights, and excited southerners occasionally subjected themselves to the charge of arrogance. one of the great evils of slavery was that, as a rule, neither the slave-holder nor the non-slave-holder properly appreciated the dignity of labor. a witty student at a southern university said that his chief objection to college life was that he could not have a negro to learn his lessons for him. the slave-holder quite generally disdained manual labor, and the non-slave-holder was also inclined to deprecate the necessity that compelled him to work. the sudden abolition of slavery was the ruin of thousands of innocent families--a loss for which there was no recompense. but for the south at large, and especially to this generation, it is a blessing that all classes have come to see, that to labor and to be useful is not only a duty, but a privilege. political conditions, north and south, differed widely. the north was the majority section. its majority could protect its rights; recourse to the limitations of the federal constitution was seldom necessary. the south, a minority section, with a devotion that never failed, held high the "constitution of the fathers, the palladium" of its rights. to one section the constitution was the bond of a federal union that was the security for interstate commerce and national prosperity; to the other it was a guaranty of peace abroad and local self-government at home. in the one section the brightest minds were for the most part engaged in business or in literary pursuits; in the other, politics absorbed much of its talent. in the north the staple of political discussion was usually some business or moral question, while in the south the political arena was a great school in which the masses were not only educated in the history of the formation of the constitution, but taught an affectionate regard for that instrument as a revered "gift from the fathers" and the only safeguard of american liberty. joint political discussions, which were common between the ablest men of opposing parties, were always numerously attended, and the federal constitution was an unfailing topic. the result was, an amount of political information in the average confederate soldier that the average union soldier in his business training had never acquired, and a devotion of the southerner to the constitution of his country which even the ablest historians of to-day have failed to comprehend. it is often stated, as if it were an important fact in the consideration of the great anti-slavery crusade, that not many of the abolitionists were as radical as garrison, and that of the anti-slavery voters very few favored social equality between whites and blacks. southerners did not stop to make distinctions like these. they saw the abolitionists advocating mixed schools and favoring laws authorizing mixed marriages; saw them practising social equality; saw the general trend in that direction; and so from its very beginning the republican party, which had absorbed the abolitionists, was dubbed, north and south, the "black republican" party. the whites of the south believed that the triumph of the "black republican" party, as they called it, would be ultimately the triumph of its most radical elements. judge reagan, of texas, united states congressman in - , confederate postmaster-general, later united states senator, and always until an avowed friend of the union, in his farewell speech to the congress of the united states in january, , gave expression to this idea when he said: "and now you tender to us the inhuman alternative of unconditional submission to _republican rule on abolition principles, and ultimately to free negro equality, and a government of mongrels_, or a war of races on the one hand, and on the other, secession and a bloody and desolating civil war."[ ] [ ] "memoirs of john h. reagan," p. . judge reagan was expressing in congress the opinion that animated the confederate soldier in the war that was to follow secession, an opinion the ex-confederate did not see much reason to change when the era of reconstruction had been reached, and the ballot had been given to every negro, while the leading whites were disfranchised. in hinton rowan helper, of north carolina, wrote a notable book to show that slavery was a curse to the south, and especially to the non-slave-holders. it was an appeal to the latter to become abolitionists. his arguments availed nothing; back of his book was the republican party, now planting itself, as garrison had planted himself, on an extract from the first sentence of the declaration of independence, "all men are created equal." the republican contention was, in platforms and speeches, that the declaration of independence covered negroes as well as whites,[ ] and southern whites, nearly all of revolutionary stock, resented the idea. they rebelled at the suggestion that the signers, every one of whom, save possibly those from massachusetts, represented slave-holding constituents, intended to say that the negroes then in the colonies were the equals of the whites. if so, why were these negroes kept in slavery, and why were they not immediately given the right to vote, to sit on juries, to be educated, and to intermarry with the whites? [ ] mr. lincoln took that position in his great speech at chicago, in , when beginning his campaign for the senatorship. all this, the southerners said, as, indeed, did many northerners also, was to be the logical outcome of the republican doctrine, that negroes and whites were equals. it is passing strange that modern historians so often have failed to note that this thought was in the minds of all the opponents of the republican party from the day of its birth--north and south it was called the "black republican" party. douglas, in his debate with lincoln, gave it that name and stood by it. in his speech at jonesboro, illinois, september , , he charges the republicans with advocating "negro citizenship and negro equality, putting the white man and the negro on the same basis under the law."[ ] [ ] lincoln, "complete works," vol. iv, p. . john c. calhoun, in a memorial to the southern people in , signed by many other congressmen, had said that northern fanaticism would not stop at emancipation. "another step would be taken to raise them [the negroes] to a political and social equality with their former owners, by giving them the right of voting and holding public office under the federal government.... but when raised to an equality they would become the fast political associates of the north, acting and voting with them on all questions, and by this perfect union between them holding the south in complete subjection. _the blacks and the profligate whites that might unite with them_ would become the principal recipients of federal patronage, and would, in consequence, be raised above the whites of the south in the social and political scale. we would, in a word, change conditions with them, _a degradation greater than has as yet fallen to the lot of a free and enlightened people_."[ ] [ ] "calhoun's works," vol. vi, p. . in the light of reconstruction, this was prophecy. these words, once heard by a southern white man, of course sank into his heart. they could never have been forgotten. the argument of helper fell on deaf ears. if helper had come with the promise (and an assurance of its fulfilment) that the negroes, when emancipated, would be sent to liberia, or elsewhere _out of the country_, the south would have become republicanized at once. even if the slave-holder had been unwilling, the southern non-slave-holder, with his three, and often five, to one majority, would have seen to it. and it is not too much to say that if the negro had been, as the abolitionists and ultimately many republicans contended he was, the equal of the white man, liberia would have been a success. what a glorious consummation of the dreams of statesmen and philanthropists that would have been! abolitionists, unable to frustrate their scheme, and the american negro, profiting by the civilization here received from contact with the white man, building by his own energy happy homes for himself and his kinsmen, and enjoying the blessings of a great government of his own, in his own great continent! africa with its vast resources is a prize that all europe is now contending for. it is believed to be adapted even to white men. most assuredly, for the negro liberia offered far better opportunities than did the rocky coast of new england to the white men who settled it. liberia had been carefully selected as a desirable part of africa. it was an unequalled group of statesmen and philanthropists that had planted the colony; they provided for it and set it on its feet. but it failed; failed just for the same reason that prevented the aboriginal african from catching on to the civilization that began to develop thousands of years ago, close by his side on the borders of the mediterranean; failed for the same reason that hayti, now free for a century, has failed. the failure of the plan of the american colonization society to repatriate the american negro in africa was due _primarily to the incapacity of the negro_. a very complete and convincing story will be found in an article entitled "liberia, an example of negro self-government,"[ ] by miss agnes p. mahony, for five years a missionary in that country. the author of the article was a sympathizing friend. she says: "in the colony was considered healthy enough to stand alone.... so our flag was lowered on the african continent, and the protectors of the colony retired, leaving the people to govern the country in their own way." then she recites that in order to test their capacity for self-government their constitution ( ) provided that no white man should hold property in the country; and to this miss mahony traces the failure that followed. when she wrote, the liberian negroes, for fifty-nine years under the protectorship of the united states, had been troubled by no foreign enemy; yet their failure was complete--not a foot of railroad, no cable communication with foreign countries, no telegraphic communication with the interior, etc. still the devoted missionary thinks that liberia might prosper, if it could but have "_the encouraging example of and contact with the right kind of white men_." [ ] _independent_, . * * * * * the presidential campaign of was very exciting. there were four tickets in the field, douglas and johnson, democrats; breckenridge and lane, democrats; lincoln and hamlin, republicans, and bell and everett representing the "constitutional union" party. as the election approached it became apparent that the republicans were leading, and far-seeing men, like samuel j. tilden, of new york, became much alarmed for fear that the election of lincoln would bring about secession in the south. mr. tilden, in view of the danger that to him was apparent, wrote, shortly before the election, to william kent, of new york city, an open letter in which he earnestly urged a combination in new york state of the supporters of other candidates, in order to defeat abraham lincoln. the letter was so alarming that some of tilden's friends thought he had lost his balance; but now that letter is regarded as a remarkable proof of his sagacity. in the first volume of mr. tilden's "life and letters," by bigelow, appears an "appreciation" by james c. carter and an analysis of this letter. of this the following is a brief abstract: mr. tilden first argued that two strictly sectional parties, arrayed upon the question of destroying an institution which one of them, not unnaturally, regarded as essential to self-existence, would bring war. then mr. tilden further said that if the republican party should be successful in establishing its dominion over the south, the national government in the southern states would cease to be self-government and become a government of one people over a distinct people, a thing impossible with our race, except as a consequence of a successful war, and even then incompatible with our democratic institutions. he also said: "i assert that a controversy between powerful communities, organized into governments, of a nature like that which now divides the north and south, can be settled only by convention or by war." and again: "a condition of parties in which the federative government shall be carried on by a party, having no affiliations in the southern states, is impossible to continue. such a government would be out of all relations to those states. it would have neither the nerves of sensation, which convey intelligence to the intellect of the body politic, nor the ligaments and muscles, which hold its parts together and move them in harmony. it would be in substance the government of one people by another people. that system will not do for our race." mr. tilden, when he spoke of "two sectional parties arrayed upon the question of destroying an institution," _viz._, slavery, saw the situation exactly as the south did. to prove that the republican party was looking to the ultimate destruction of the institution, mr. tilden cited the leadership of chase and his speeches in which he was propounding the higher law theory; asserting that the conflict was "irrepressible"; suggesting the power of the north to amend the constitution, etc. the south noted this, and it regarded, not the platform, but the record of the republican party and of the statesmen the party was following. long before , that great american scholar, george ticknor, saw the dilemma in which the north was involving itself by its concern over slavery in the south, and he thus stated it, in a letter to his friend, william ellery channing, april , :[ ] [ ] life and letters and journals of george ticknor. "on the subject of our relations with the south and its slavery, we must--as i have always thought--do one of two things; either keep honestly the bargain of the constitution as it shall be interpreted by the authorities--of which the supreme court of the united states is the chief and safest--or declare honestly that we can no longer in our conscience consent to keep it, and break it." the north had failed to "keep honestly the bargain of the constitution" by faithfully delivering fugitive slaves and leaving the question of slavery to be dealt with by the states in which it existed, and was now, in , upon the other horn of the dilemma--repudiating and denouncing a decision of the supreme court, which, as mr. ticknor had said, was the "chief and safest authority." but during that campaign of very many, perhaps a majority of the republican voters, failed to realize what their party was standing for. indeed, down to this day the members of that organization, taught as they have been, indignantly deny that a vote for lincoln and hamlin in looked to an interference with slavery in the states. but now professor emerson david fite, of yale university, sees in what was the underlying hope, and consequently the ultimate aim, of the republican party in , exactly as the south saw it then. in a powerful summing up of more evidence than there is room to recite here, he says: "the testimony of the democracy and of the leaders of the republican party accords well with the evidence of daily events in _revealing republican aggression_. _the party hoped to destroy slavery, and this was something new in a large political organization._"[ ] [ ] "the presidential campaign of ," p. , fite, . that this party, when it should ultimately come into full power, would, to carry out the purpose which professor fite now sees, ignore the federal constitution was, in , evident to southerners from the following facts: in the governor of virginia demanded of the governor of new york the extradition of two men indicted in virginia for enticing away slaves from their masters. governor seward, of new york, refused the demand, on the ground that no such offence existed in new york. this case did not go to the courts, but in the governor of kentucky made a similar demand in a like case on the governor of ohio, who placed his refusal on the same grounds as had governor seward in the former case. the supreme court of the united states in this case decided that the governor of ohio, in refusing to deliver up the fugitive, was violating the constitution. the court further said: "if the governor of ohio refuses to _discharge this duty there is no power delegated to the general government_, either through the judicial department or any other department, to use any coercive means to compel him."[ ] [ ] "virginia's attitude on slavery and secession," mumford, pp. - . if these two governors had defied the federal constitution, so had eleven state legislatures. from to , inclusive, vermont, rhode island, connecticut, maine, massachusetts, michigan, wisconsin, kansas, ohio, and pennsylvania, had all passed new "personal liberty laws" to abrogate the new fugitive slave law of . of these laws professor alexander johnston said: "there is absolutely no excuse for the personal liberty laws. if the rendition of fugitive slaves was a federal obligation, the personal liberty laws were flat disobedience to the law; if the obligation was upon the states, they were a gross breach of good faith, for they were intended and operated to prevent rendition; and, in either case, they were in violation of the constitution."[ ] [ ] alexander johnston, "lalor's encyclopædia," vol. iii, p. . and now came the state of wisconsin. its supreme court intervened and took from the hands of the federal authorities an alleged fugitive slave. the supreme court of the united states reversed the case and ordered the slave back into the custody of the united states marshal;[ ] and thereupon the general assembly of wisconsin expressly repudiated the authority of the united states supreme court. the wisconsin assembly asserted its right to nullify the federal law, basing its action on the kentucky resolutions of --a recrudescence of a doctrine long since abandoned even in the south. [ ] ableman _v._ booth, how. in reality all this defiance of the constitution of the united states by state executives, state legislatures, and a state court, was on the ground that whatever was dictated by conscience to these officials was a "higher law than the constitution of the united states"; and modern historians recognize, as tilden did, the leadership of the statesman who in announced that startling doctrine. it is alexander johnston who says, "seward's speeches in the senate made him the leader of the republican party from its first organization."[ ] [ ] alexander johnston, "lalor's encyclopædia," vol. iii, p. . to the minds of southerners it seemed clear that _if the southern states desired to preserve for themselves the constitution of the fathers, they must secede and set it up over a government of their own_. this eleven of these states did. many of them were reluctant to take the step; all their people had loved the old union, but they passed their ordinances of secession, united as the confederate states of america, and their officials took an oath to maintain inviolate the old constitution, which, with unimportant changes in it, they had adopted. the new government sent delegates to ask that the separation should be peaceful. the application was denied and the war followed. attempts to secede were made in kentucky and missouri. in neither of these states did the seceders get full control. they were represented, however, in the confederate congress by senators and representatives elected by the troops from those states that were serving in the confederate army. chapter ix four years of war the bitter fruits of anti-slavery agitation were secession and four years of bloody war. the federal government waged war to coerce the seceding states to remain in the union. with the north it was a war for the union; the south was fighting for independence--denominated by northern writers as "the civil war." it was in reality a war between the eleven states which had seceded, as autonomous states, and were fighting for independence, as the confederate states of america, against the other twenty-two states, which, as the united states of america, fought against secession and for the union of all the states. it is true the states remaining in the union had with them the army and the navy and the old government, but that government could not, and did not, exercise its functions within the borders of the seceded states until by force of arms in the war that was now waged it had conquered a control. it was a war between the states for such control; for independence on the one hand, and for the union on the other. it was not, save in exceptional cases, a war between neighbor and neighbor; it was a war between states as entities, and therefore not properly a civil war. the result of the war did not change the principles upon which it was fought, though it did decide finally the issues that were involved, the right of secession primarily, and slavery incidentally. jefferson davis, afterward the much-loved president of the confederacy, in his farewell speech in the united states senate, march , , thus stated the case of the south: "then, senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together. we recur to the principles upon which this government was founded, and _when you deny them_, and when you deny to us the right to withdraw from a union which thus perverted _threatens to be destructive of our rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our independence and take the hazard_. this is done not in hostility to others, not to injure any section of our country, _not even for our own pecuniary benefit, but from the high and solemn motive of defending and protecting the rights we inherited and which it is our duty to transmit unshorn to our children_." southerners were, as mr. davis understood it, treading in the path of their fathers when they proclaimed their independence and fought for the right of self-government. professor fite, of yale, justifies secession on the following ground: "in the last analysis the one complete justification of secession was the necessity of saving the vast property of slavery from destruction; secession was a commercial necessity designed to make those billions secure from outside interference. viewed in this light, secession was right, for any people, prompted by the commonest motives of self-defence and with no moral scruples against slavery, would have followed the same course. the present generation of northerners, born and reared after the war, must shake off their inherited political passions and prejudices and pronounce the verdict of justification for the south. believing slavery to be right, it was the duty of the south to defend it. it is time that the words 'traitors,' 'conspirators,' 'rebels,' and 'rebellion' be discarded."[ ] [ ] "the presidential campaign of ," emerson david fite, , introductory chapter. these words of professor fite will waken a responsive echo in the hearts of southerners, but southerners place, and their fathers planted, themselves on higher ground than commercial considerations. the confederates were defending their inherited right of local self-government and the federal constitution that secured it. it was for these rights that, as mr. davis had said, they were willing to _follow the path their fathers trod_. the preservation of the union the north was fighting for, was a noble motive; it looked to the future greatness and glory of the republic; but devotion to the union had been a growth, the product largely of a single generation; the devotion of the south to the right of local self-government was an older and deeper conviction; it had been bred in the bone for three generations; it dated from bunker hill and valley forge and yorktown. close as the non-slave-holders of the south were to the slave-holders, of the same british stock, and with the same traditions, blood kinsmen as they were, they might not have been willing to dare all and do all for the protection of property in which they were not interested; but they were ready to, and they did, wage a death struggle to maintain against a hostile sectional majority, their inherited right to govern themselves in their own way. added to this was the ever-present conviction of southerners all, that they were battling not only for the supremacy of their race but for the preservation of their homes. there was a little ditty quite prevalent in the army of northern virginia, of which nothing is now remembered except the refrain, but that of itself speaks volumes. it ran: "do you belong to the rebel band fighting for your home?" northerners had, most of them, convinced themselves that the south would never dare to secede. the danger of servile insurrections, if nothing else, would prevent it.[ ] many southerners, on the other hand, could not see how, under the constitution, the north could venture on coercion. [ ] see fite, "campaign of ," passim, and especially speech of schurz, p. _et seq._ but to the south the greatest surprise furnished by the events of that era has been abraham lincoln--as he appears now in the light of history. what, in the minds of southerners, fixed his status personally, during the canvass of , was the statement he had made in his speech at chicago, preliminary to his great debate with douglas in , that the union could not "continue to exist half slave and half free." and he was now the candidate of the "black republican" party, a party that was denouncing a decision of the supreme court; that, in nearly every state in the north, had nullified the fugitive slave law, and that stood for "negro equality," as the south termed it. there were other statements by mr. lincoln in that debate with douglas that the south has had especial reason to take note of since the period of reconstruction. at springfield, illinois, september , , he said: "there is a physical difference between the white and black races which, i believe, will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality, and, _inasmuch as they can not so live, while they do live together there must be the position of superior and inferior; and i, as much as any other man, am in favor of having that position assigned to the white man_." the new confederacy took the constitution of the united states, so modified as to make it read plainly as jefferson had expounded it in the kentucky resolutions of . other changes were slight. the presidential term was extended to six years and the president was not to be re-eligible. the slave trade was prohibited and congress was authorized to forbid the introduction of slaves from the old union. abraham lincoln became president, with a fixed resolve to preserve the union but with no intent to abolish slavery. had the war for the union been as successful as he hoped it would be, slavery would not have been abolished by any act of his. it is clear that, when inaugurated, he had not changed his opinions expressed at springfield, nor those others, which, at peoria, illinois, on october , , he had stated thus: "when our southern brethren tell us they are no more responsible for slavery than we are, i acknowledge the fact. when it is said the institution exists and it is very difficult to get rid of it in any satisfactory way, i can understand and appreciate the saying. i will surely not blame them for not doing what i should not know how to do myself. if all earthly power were given me, i should not know what to do as to the institution. my first impulse would be to free all the slaves and send them to liberia, their native land." this, he said, it was impracticable to do, at least suddenly, and then proceeded: "to free them all and keep them among us as underlings--is it quite certain that this would better their condition?... what next? free them and make them politically and socially our equals?" this question he answered in the negative, and continued: "it does seem to me that systems of gradual emancipation might be adopted, but for their tardiness i will not undertake to judge our brethren of the south." in these extracts from his speeches we find a central thread that runs through the history of his whole administration. we see it again when, pressed by extremists, mr. lincoln said in an open letter to horace greeley, august , : "my paramount object in this struggle is to save the union, and it is not either to save or to destroy slavery. if i could save the union without freeing any slave i would do it; and if i could save it by freeing all the slaves i would do it; and if i could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, i would also do that." indeed, congress had, in , by joint resolution declared that the sole purpose of the war was the preservation of the union. in no other way, and for no other purpose, could the north at that time have been induced to wage war against the south. abraham lincoln, the president of the united states, and jefferson davis, the president of the confederate states, were both kentuckians by birth, both americans. in the purity of their lives, public and private, in patriotic devotion to the preservation of american institutions as understood by each of them, they were alike; but they represented different phases of american thought, and each was the creature more or less of his environment. both were men of commanding ability, but the destiny of each was shaped by agencies that now seem to have been directed by the hand of fate. mr. lincoln, by nature a political genius, was carried to illinois when a child, reared in the north-west among those to whom, with the mississippi river as their only outlet to the markets of the world, disunion, with its loss of their highway to the sea, was unthinkable. lincoln became a whig, with the union of the states the passion of his life, and finally, by forces he had not himself put in motion, he was placed at the head of the federal government at a time when sectionalism had decided that the question of the permanence of the union was to be tried out, once and forever. mr. davis went from kentucky further south. he was a democrat, and environment also moulded his opinions. during the long sectional controversy between the north and the south, "state-rights" became the passion of his life, and when the clash between the sections came, he found himself, without his seeking, at the head of the confederacy. he had been prominent among the southerners at washington, who had hoped that the south, by threats of secession, might obtain its rights in the union, as had been done in jefferson's days by new england. in the movement ( - ) that resulted in secession, the people at home had been ahead of their congressmen. william l. yancey, then in alabama, not jefferson davis at washington, was the actual leader of the secessionists. mr. davis feared a long and bloody war and, unlike yancey, he had doubts as to its result.[ ] [ ] mrs. chestnut, wife of the confederate general, james chestnut, writes in her "diary from dixie," under date of , at montgomery, alabama, then the confederate capital: "in mrs. davis's drawing-room last night, the president took a seat by me on the sofa where i sat. he talked for nearly an hour. he laughed at our faith in our own powers. we are like the british. we think every southerner equal to three yankees at least. we will have to be equivalent to a dozen now. after his experience of the fighting qualities of southerners in mexico, he believes that we will do all that can be done by pluck and muscle, endurance and dogged courage, dash, and red-hot patriotism. and yet his tone was not sanguine. _there was a sad refrain running through it all._ for one thing, either way, he thinks it will be a long war. that floored me at once. it has been too long for me already. then he said, before the end came we would have many bitter experiences. he said only fools doubted the courage of the yankees, or their willingness to fight when they saw fit. and now that we have stung their pride, we have roused them till they will fight like devils." mr. lincoln, standing for the union, succeeded in the war, but just as he was on the threshold of his great work of reconstruction he fell, the victim of a crazy assassin. martyrdom to his cause has naturally added some cubits to the just measure of his wonderful reputation. jefferson davis and his cause failed; and the triumphant forces that swept the confederacy out of existence have long (and quite naturally) sought to bury the cause of the south and its chosen leader in ignominy. but the days of hate and passion are past; reason is reasserting her sway; and history will do justice to both the confederacy and its great leader, whose ability, patriotism, and courage were conspicuous to the end. mr. davis was also a martyr--his long imprisonment, the manacles he wore, the sentinel gazing on him in the bright light that day and night disturbed his rest; the heroism with which he endured all this, and the quiet dignity of his after life--these have doubly endeared his memory to those for whose cause he suffered. mr. lincoln had remarkable political tact--he seemed to know how long to wait and when to act, and, if we may credit mr. welles,[ ] his inflexibly honest secretary of the navy, he was, with the members of his cabinet, wonderfully patient and even long-suffering. and although he was the subject of much abuse, especially at the hands of southerners who then totally misunderstood him, he was animated always by the philosophy of his own famous words, "with malice towards none, with charity for all." never for one moment did he forget, amidst even the bitterest of his trials, that the confederates, then in arms against him, were, as he regarded them, his misguided fellow-citizens; and the supreme purpose of his life was to bring them back into the union, not as conquered foes, but as happy and contented citizens of the great republic. [ ] "diary of gideon welles," vols., passim. the resources of the confederacy and the united states were very unequal. the confederacy had no army, no navy, no factories, save here and there a flour mill or cotton factory, and practically no machine shops that could furnish engines for its railroads. it had one cannon foundry. the tredegar iron works, at richmond, virginia, was a fully equipped cannon foundry. the confederacy's arms and munitions of war were not sufficient to supply the troops that volunteered during the first six months of military operations. its further supplies, except such as the tredegar works furnished, depended on importations through the blockade soon to be established and such as might be captured. the north had the army and navy, factories of every description, food in abundance, and free access to the ports of the world. the population of the north was , , . the population of the south was , , , of which , , were colored. the total white male population of the confederacy, of all ages, was , , . the reports of the adjutant-general of the united states, november , , show , , men mustered into the service of the united states in - . general marcus j. wright, of the united states war records office, in his latest estimate of confederate enlistments, places the outside number at , . the estimate of colonel henderson, of the staff of the british army, in his "life of stonewall jackson," is , . colonel thomas j. livermore, of boston, estimates the number of confederates at about , , , and insists that in the adjutant-general's reports of the union enlistments there are errors that would bring down the number of union soldiers to about , , . colonel livermore's estimates are earnestly combated by confederate writers. general charles francis adams has, in a recently published volume,[ ] cited figures given mostly by different confederate authorities, which aggregate , , confederate enlistments. what authority these confederate writers have relied on is not clear. the enlistments were for the most part directly in the confederate army and not through state officials. the captured confederate records should furnish the highest evidence. but it is earnestly insisted that these records are incomplete, and there is no purpose here to discuss a disputed point. [ ] "studies, military and diplomatic," p. _et seq._ these studies make a volume of rare historic value. the call to arms was answered enthusiastically in both sections, but the south was more united in its convictions, and practically all her young manhood fell into line, the rich and the poor, the cultured and uncultured serving in the ranks side by side. the devotion of the noble women of the north, and of its humanitarian associations, to the welfare of the federal soldiers was remarkable, but there was nothing in the situation in that section that could evoke such a wonderful exhibition of heroism and self-sacrifice as was exhibited by the devoted women of the south, who made willingly every possible sacrifice to the cause of the confederacy. both sides fought bravely. excluding from the union armies negroes, foreigners, and the descendants of recent immigrants, the confederates and the union soldiers were mainly of british stock. the confederates had some notable advantages. excepting a few union regiments from the west, the southerners were better shots and better horsemen, especially in the beginning of the war, than the northerners; and the southerners were fighting not only for the constitution of their fathers and the defence of their homes, but for the supremacy of their race. they had also another military advantage, that would probably have been decisive but for the united states navy: they had interior lines of communication which would have enabled them to readily concentrate their forces. but the united states navy, hovering around their coast-line, not only neutralized but turned this advantage into a weakness, thus compelling the confederates to scatter their armies. every port had to be guarded. in the west the federals were almost uniformly successful in the greater battles, the confederates winning in these but two decisive victories, chickamauga and sabine cross roads, in louisiana. estimating, according to the method of military experts, the percentage of losses of the victor only, chickamauga was the bloodiest battle of the world, from and including waterloo down to the present time. gettysburg and sharpsburg also rank as high in losses as any battle fought elsewhere in this long period, which takes in the franco-german and the russo-japanese wars. at sharpsburg or antietam the losses exceeded those in any other one day's battle.[ ] [ ] according to that standard work, e. p. alexander's "memoirs," pp. , , and , the confederates, who stood their ground at sharpsburg on the day of battle and the day after, lost in killed and wounded thirty-two per cent. the french army at waterloo entirely dissolved, with a loss in killed and wounded of only thirty-one per cent. (see figures in henderson's "stonewall jackson.") the confederates were successful, excepting antietam or sharpsburg and gettysburg, and perhaps seven pines or fair oaks, in all the great battles in the east, down to the time when the shattered remnant of lee's army was overwhelmed at petersburg and surrendered at appomattox. the _élan_ the southerners acquired in the many victories they won fighting for their homes is not to be overlooked. but the failure of the north with its overwhelming numbers and resources, to overcome the resistance of the half-famished confederates until nearly four years had elapsed, can only be fully accounted for, in fairness to the undoubted courage of the union armies, by the fact, on which foreign military critics are agreed, that the north had no such generals as lee and stonewall jackson. only by the superior generalship of their leaders could the confederates have won as many battles as they did against vastly superior numbers. but against the united states navy the brilliant generalship of the confederates and their marvellous courage were powerless. accepted histories of the war have been written largely by the army and its friends, and, strangely enough, the general historians have been so attracted by the gallantry displayed in great land battles, and the immediate results, that they have utterly failed to appreciate the services of the united states navy. the southerners accomplished remarkable results with torpedoes with the _merrimac_ or _virginia_ and their little fleet of commerce destroyers; but the united states navy, by its effective blockade, starved the confederacy to death. the southern government could not market its cotton, nor could it import or manufacture enough military supplies. among its extremest needs were rails and rolling stock to refit its lines of communication. for want of transportation it was unable to concentrate its armies, and for the same reason its troops were not half fed. in addition to its services on the blockade, which, in lord wolseley's opinion, decided the war, the navy, with general grant's help, cut the confederacy in twain by way of the mississippi. it penetrated every southern river, severing confederate communications and destroying depots of supplies. it assisted in the capture, early in the war, of forts henry and donelson, and it conducted union troops along the tennessee river into east tennessee and north alabama. it furnished objective points and supplies at savannah, charleston, and wilmington, to sherman on his march from atlanta; and finally grant, the great union general, who had failed to reach richmond by way of the wilderness, spottsylvania, and cold harbor, achieved success only when the navy was at his back, holding his base, while he laid a nine months' siege to petersburg. that distinguished author, charles francis adams, himself a union general in the army of the potomac, says that the united states navy was the deciding factor in the civil war. he even says that every single successful operation of the union forces "hinged and depended on naval supremacy." the following is from the preface to "the crisis of the confederacy," in which, published in , a foreign expert, captain cecil battine, of the king's hussars, condenses all that needs further to be said here about the purely military side of the civil war: the history of the american civil war still remains the most important theme for the student and the statesman because it was waged between adversaries of the highest intelligence and courage, who fought by land and sea over an enormous area with every device within the reach of human ingenuity, and who had to create every organization needed for the purpose after the struggle had begun. the admiration which the valor of the confederate soldiers, fighting against superior numbers and resources, excited in europe; the dazzling genius of some of the confederate generals, and in some measure jealousy at the power of the united states, have ranged the sympathies of the world during the war and ever since to a large degree on the side of the vanquished. justice has hardly been done to the armies which arose time and again from sanguinary repulses, and from disasters more demoralizing than any repulse in the field, because they were caused by political and military incapacity in high places, to redeem which the soldiers freely shed their blood as it seemed in vain. if the heroic endurance of the southern people and the fiery valor of the southern armies thrill us to-day with wonder and admiration, the stubborn tenacity and courage which succeeded in preserving intact the heritage of the american nation, and which triumphed over foes so formidable, are not less worthy of praise and imitation. the americans still hold the world's record for hard fighting. the great majority of the union soldiers enlisted for the preservation of the union and not for the abolition of slavery. but among these soldiers there was an abolition element, and very soon the tramp of federal regiments was keeping time to "john brown's body lies a mouldering in the ground, as we go marching on." early in the war generals frémont and butler issued orders declaring free the slaves within the union lines; these orders president lincoln rescinded. but abolition sentiment was growing in the army and at the north, and the pressure upon the president to strike at slavery was increasing. the union forces were suffering repeated defeats; slaves at home were growing food crops and caring for the families of confederates who were fighting at the front, and in september, , president lincoln issued his preliminary proclamation of emancipation, basing it on the ground of military necessity. it was to become effective january , . and here was the same lincoln who had declared in his opinion that whites and blacks could not live together as equals, socially and politically; and it was the very same lincoln who had repeatedly said he cherished no ill-will against his southern brethren. if the slaves were to be freed, they and the whites should not be left together. he therefore _sought diligently to find some home for the freedmen in a foreign country_. but unfortunately, as already seen, the american negro, a bone of contention at home, was now a pariah to other peoples. most nations welcome immigrants, but no country was willing to shelter the american freedman, save only liberia, long before a proven failure, and hayti, where, under the blacks, anarchy had already been chronic for half a century. hume tells us, in "the abolitionists," that for a time mr. lincoln even considered setting texas apart as a home for the negro. later the surrender of the confederate armies, together with the adoption of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution, consummated emancipation, foreseeing which president lincoln formulated his plan of reconstruction. suffrage in the reconstructed states under his plan was to be limited to those who were qualified to vote at the date of secession, which meant the whites. the sole exception he ever made to this rule was a suggestion to governor hahn, of louisiana, that it might be well for the whites (of louisiana) to give the ballot to a few of the most intelligent of the negroes and to such as had served in the army. the part the soldiers played, federal and confederate, in restoring the union, is a short story. the clash between them settled without reserve the only question that was really in issue--secession; slavery, that had been the origin of sectional dissensions, was eliminated because it obstructed the success of the union armies. by their gallantry in battle and conduct toward each other the men in blue and the men in gray restored between the north and the south the mutual respect that had been lost in the bitterness of sectional strife, and without which there could be no fraternal union. mr. gladstone, when the war was on, said that the north was endeavoring to "propagate free institutions at the point of the sword." the north was not seeking to propagate in the south any new institution whatever. mr. gladstone's paradox loses its point because both sections were fighting for the preservation of the same system of government. the time has now happily come when, to use the language of senator hoar, as americans, we can, north and south, discuss the causes that brought about our terrible war "in a friendly and quiet spirit, without recrimination and without heat, each understanding the other, each striving to help the other, as men who are bearing a common burden and looking forward with a common hope." the country, it is believed, has already reached the conclusions that the south was absolutely honest in maintaining the right of secession and absolutely unswerving in its devotion to its ideas of the constitution, and that the north was equally honest and patriotic in its fidelity to the union. we need to advance one step further. somebody was to blame for starting a quarrel between brethren who were dwelling together in amity. if americans can agree in fixing that blame, the knowledge thus acquired should help them to avoid such troubles hereafter. it seems to be a fair conclusion that the _initial cause of all our troubles was the formation by garrison of those abolition societies_ which the boston people in their resolutions of august , , "disapproved of" and described as "associations instituted in the non-slave-holding states, with the intent to act, within the slave-holding states, on the subject of slavery in those states, without their consent." and further, that it was the creation of these societies, the methods they resorted to, and their explicit defiance of the constitution that roused the fears and passions of the south and caused that section to take up the quarrel that, afterward became sectional; and that, after much hot dispute and many regrettable incidents, north and south, resulted in secession and war. in every dispute about slavery prior to , the constitution was always regarded by every disputant as supreme. _the quarrel that was fatal to the peace of the union began when the new abolitionists put in the new claim, that slavery in the south was the concern of the north, as well as of the south, and that there was a higher law than the constitution. if the conscience of the individual, instead of human law, is to prescribe rules of conduct, society is at the mercy of anarchists. czolgosz was conscientious when he murdered mckinley._ had all americans continued to agree, after , as they did before that time, that the constitution of the united states was the supreme law of the land, there would have been no fatal sectional quarrel, no secession, and no war between the north and south. * * * * * the immediate surrender everywhere of the confederates in obedience to the orders of their generals was an imposing spectacle. there was no guerilla warfare. the confederates accepted their defeat in good faith and have ever since been absolutely loyal to the united states government, but they have never changed their minds as to the justice of the cause they fought for. they fought for liberty regulated by law, and against the idea that there can be, under our system, any higher law than the constitution of our country. that the constitution should always be the supreme law of the land, they still believe, and the philosophic student of past and current history should be gratified to see the tenacity with which southern people still cling to that idea. it suggests that not only will the southerners be always ready to stand for our country against a foreign foe, but that whenever our institutions shall be assailed, as they will often be hereafter by visionaries who are impatient of restraints, the cause of liberty, regulated by law, will find staunch defenders in the southern section of our country. chapter x reconstruction, lincoln-johnson plan and congressional. president lincoln's theory was that acts of secession were void, and that when the seceded states came back into the union those who were entitled to vote, by the laws existing at the date of the attempted secession, and had been pardoned, should have, and should control, the right of suffrage. mr. lincoln had acted on this theory in tennessee, louisiana, and texas, and he further advised congress, in his message of december, , that this was his plan. congress, after a long debate, responded in july, , by an act claiming for itself power over reconstruction. the president answered by a pocket veto, and after that veto mr. lincoln was, in november, , re-elected on a platform extolling his "practical wisdom," etc. congress, during the session that began in december, , did not attempt to reassert its authority but adjourned, march , , in sight of the collapse of the confederacy, leaving the president an open field for his declared policy. but unhappily, on the th of april, , mr. lincoln was assassinated, and his death just at this time was the most appalling calamity that ever befell the american people. the blow fell chiefly upon the south, and it was the south the assassin had thought to benefit. had the great statesman lived he might, and it is fully believed he would, like washington, have achieved a double success. washington, successful in war, was successful in guiding his country through the first eight stormy years of its existence under a new constitution. lincoln had guided the country through four years of war, and the union was now safe. with lee's surrender the war was practically at an end. gideon welles says that on the th of april, , mr. lincoln, "while i was with him at the white house, was informed that his fellow-citizens would call to congratulate him on the fall of richmond and surrender of lee; but he requested their visit should be delayed that he might have time to put his thoughts on paper, for he desired that his utterances on such an occasion should be deliberate and not liable to misapprehension, misinterpretation, or misconstruction. he therefore addressed the people on the following evening, tuesday the th, in a carefully prepared speech intended to promote harmony and union. "in this remarkable speech, delivered three days before his assassination, he stated he had prepared a plan for the reinauguration of the sectional authority and reconstruction in , which would be acceptable to the executive government, and that every member of the cabinet fully approved the plan," etc.[ ] [ ] gideon welles in an essay, "lincoln and johnson," _the galaxy_, april, . in view of his death three days later, this, his last and deliberate public utterance, may be regarded as abraham lincoln's will, devising as a legacy to his countrymen his plan of reconstruction. that plan in the hands of his successor was defeated by a partisan and radical congress. that it was a wise plan the world now knows. senator john sherman, of ohio, was one of the most influential of those who succeeded in defeating it, and yet he lived to say, in his book published in ,[ ] andrew johnson "adopted substantially the plan proposed and acted on by mr. lincoln. after this long lapse of time i am convinced that mr. johnson's scheme of reorganization was wise and judicious. it was unfortunate that it had not the sanction of congress and that events soon brought the president and congress into hostility." [ ] "john sherman's recollections," vol. i, p. . and the present senator, shelby cullom, of illinois, who as a member of the house of representatives voted to overthrow the lincoln-johnson plan of reconstruction, has furnished us further testimony. he says in his book, published in :[ ] [ ] "fifty years of public service," cullom, p. . "to express it in a word, the motive of the opposition to the johnson plan of reconstruction was a firm conviction that its success would wreck the republican party and, by restoring the democracy to power, bring back southern supremacy and northern vassalage." the republican party, then dominant in congress, felt when confronting reconstruction that it was facing a crisis in its existence. the democratic party, unitedly opposed to negro suffrage, was still in northern states a power to be reckoned with. allied with the southern whites, that old party might again control the government unless, by giving the negro the ballot, the republicans could gain, as senator sumner said, the "allies it needed." but the masses at the north were opposed to negro suffrage, and only two or three state constitutions sanctioned it. indeed, it may be safely said that when congress convened in december, , a majority of the people of the north were ready to follow johnson and approve the lincoln plan of reconstruction. but the extremists in both branches of the congress had already determined to defeat the plan and to give the ballot to the ex-slave. to prepare the mind of the northern people for their programme, they had resolved to rekindle the passions of the war, which were now smouldering, and utilize all the machinery, military and civilian, that congress could make effective. andrew johnson,[ ] who as vice-president now succeeded to the presidency, though a man of ability, had little personal influence and none of lincoln's tact. johnson retained lincoln's cabinet, and mccullough, who was secretary of the treasury under both presidents, says in his "men and measures of half a century," p. : [ ] the final estimate of gideon welles, secretary of the navy under both lincoln and johnson, is this: "he (johnson) has been faithful to the constitution, although his administrative capabilities and management may not equal some of his predecessors. of measures he was a good judge but not always of men."--"diary of gideon welles," vol. iii, p. . "the very same instrument for restoring the national authority over north carolina and placing her where she stood before her secession, which had been approved by mr. lincoln, was, by mr. stanton, presented at the first cabinet which was held at the executive mansion after mr. lincoln's death, and, having been carefully considered at two or three meetings, was adopted as the reconstruction policy of the administration." johnson carried out this plan. all the eleven seceding states repealed their ordinances of secession. their voters, from which class many leaders had been excluded by the presidential proclamation, all took the oath of allegiance, and reconstructed their state governments. from most of the reconstructed states, senators and representatives were in washington asking to be seated when congress convened, december , . the presidential plan of reconstruction had been promptly accepted by the people of the prostrate states. almost without exception they had, when permitted, taken the oath and returned to their allegiance. the wretchedness of these people in the spring of was indescribable. the labor system on which they depended for most of their money-producing crops was destroyed. including the disabled, twenty per cent of the whites, who would now have been bread-winners, were gone. the credit system had been universal, and credit was gone. banks were bankrupt. confederate currency and bonds were worthless. provisions were scarce and money even scarcer. many landholders had not even plough stock with which to make a crop. there was some cotton, however, that had escaped the ravages of war, and a large part of this also escaped the rapacious united states agents, who were seizing it as confederate property. this cotton was a godsend. there was another supply of money that came from an unexpected source. the old anti-slavery controversy had made it seem perfectly clear to many moneyed men, north, that free labor was always superior to slave labor; and now, when cotton was bringing a good price, enterprising men carried their money, altogether some hundreds of thousands of dollars, into the several cotton states, to buy plantations and make cotton with free negro labor. free negro labor was not a success. those who had reckoned on it lost their money; but this money went into circulation and was helpful. above all else loomed the negro problem. five millions of whites and three and a half millions of blacks were to live together. thomas jefferson had said, "nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free; _nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government_. _nature, habit, opinion have drawn indelible lines between them._"[ ] and it may truly be said of jefferson that he was, as quite recently he was declared to be by dr. schurman, president of cornell university, the "apostle of reason, and reason alone." [ ] "jefferson's works," vol. i, p. . what system of laws could southern conventions and legislatures frame, that would enable them to accomplish what jefferson had declared was impossible? this was the question before these bodies when called together in - by johnson to rehabilitate their states. two dangers confronted them. one was, armed bands of negroes, headed by returning negro soldiers. mr. lincoln had feared this. early in april of that very year, , he said to general butler: "i can hardly believe that the south and north can live in peace unless we can get rid of the negroes, whom we have armed and disciplined, and who have fought with us, to the amount, i believe, of one hundred and fifty thousand." mississippi, and perhaps one other state, to guard against the danger from this source, enacted that negroes were only to bear arms when licensed. this law was to be fiercely attacked. the other chief danger was that idleness among the negroes would lead to crime. it soon became apparent that the negro idea was that freedom meant freedom from work. they would not work steadily, even for their northern friends, who were offering ready money for labor in their cotton fields, and multitudes were loitering in towns and around freedmen's bureau offices. nothing seemed better than the old-time remedies, apprenticeship and vagrancy laws, then found in every body of british or american statutes. these laws southern legislatures copied, with what appeared to be necessary modifications, and these laws were soon assailed as evidence of an intent to reduce the negro again to slavery. mr. james g. blaine, in his "twenty years," selected the alabama statutes for his attack. in the writer's book, "why the solid south," pp. - , the alabama statutes cited by mr. blaine are shown to be very similar to and largely copied from the statutes of vermont, massachusetts, and rhode island. had mr. lincoln been living he would have sympathized with these southern law-makers in their difficult task. but to the radicals in congress nothing could have been satisfactory that did not give mr. sumner's party the "allies it needed." the first important step of the congress that convened december , , was to refuse admission to the congressmen from the states reconstructed under the lincoln-johnson plan, and pass a joint resolution for the appointment of a committee of fifteen to inquire into conditions in those states. the temper of that congress may be gauged by the following extract from the speech of mr. shellabarger, of ohio, on the passage of the joint resolution: "they framed iniquity and universal murder into law.... their pirates burned your unarmed commerce on the sea. they carved the bones of your dead heroes into ornaments, and drank from goblets made out of their skulls. they poisoned your fountains; put mines under your soldiers' prisons; organized bands, whose leaders were concealed in your homes; and commissions ordered the torch and yellow fever to be carried to your cities and to your women and children. they planned one universal bonfire of the north from lake ontario to the missouri," etc. congress, while refusing admission to senators elected by the legislatures of the reconstructed states, was permitting these very bodies to pass on amendments to the federal constitution; and such votes were counted. congress now proposed the fourteenth amendment, section iii of which provided that no person should hold office under the united states who, having taken an oath, as a federal or state officer, to support the constitution, had subsequently engaged in the war against the union. the southerners would not vote for a provision that would disfranchise their leaders; they refused to ratify the fourteenth amendment, and this helped further to inflame the radicals of the north. after the committee of fifteen had been appointed, congress proceeded to put the reconstructed states under military control. in the debate on the measure, february , , james a. garfield, who was, at a later date, to become generous and conservative, said exultingly: "this bill sets out by laying its hands on the rebel governments and taking the very breath of life out of them; in the next place, it puts the bayonet at the breast of every rebel in the south; in the next place, it leaves in the hands of congress utterly and absolutely the work of reconstruction." and congress did its work. lincoln was in his grave, and johnson, even with his vetoes, was powerless. by the acts of march and march , , the reconstructed governments were swept away. universal suffrage was given to the negro and most of the prominent whites were disfranchised. the first suffrage bill was for the district of columbia, during the debate on which senator sumner said: "now, to my mind, nothing is clearer than the absolute necessity of suffrage for all colored persons in the disorganized states. it will not be enough, if you give it to those who can read and write; you will not in this way acquire the voting force you need there for the protection of unionists, whether white or black. you will not acquire the new allies who are essential to the national cause." in the forty-first congress, beginning march , , the twelve reconstructed states, including west virginia, were represented by twenty-two republicans and two democrats in the senate, and forty-eight republicans and twelve democrats in the house of representatives. mr. sumner's "new allies" were ready to answer to the roll-call. * * * * * when congress had convened in december, , its radical leaders were already bent on universal suffrage for the negro, but the northern mind was not yet prepared for so radical a measure. the "committee of fifteen" was the first step in the programme, which was to hold the southern states out of the union and make an appeal to the passions and prejudices of northern voters in the congressional elections of november, . valuable material for the coming campaign was already being furnished by the agents of the freedmen's bureau. these "adventurers, broken down preachers, and politicians," as senator fessenden, of maine, called them, were, and had been for some time, reporting "outrages," swearing negroes into midnight leagues, and selecting the offices they hoped to fill. but the chief source of the material relied upon in the congressional campaign of to exasperate the north, and prod voters to the point of sanctioning negro suffrage in the south, was the official information from the committee of fifteen. its subcommittee of three, to take testimony as to virginia, north and south carolina, georgia, alabama, mississippi, and arkansas, were _all republicans_. the doings of this subcommittee in alabama illustrate their methods. only five persons, who claimed to be citizens, were examined. these were all republican politicians. the testimony of each was bitterly partisan. "under the government of the state as it then existed, no one of these witnesses could hope for official preferment. when this reconstruction plan had been completed the first of these five witnesses became governor of his state; the second became a senator in congress; the third secured a life position in one of the departments in washington; the fourth became a circuit judge in alabama, and the fifth a judge of the supreme court of the district of columbia--all as republicans. there was no democrat in the subcommittee which examined these gentlemen, to cross-examine them; and not a citizen of alabama was called before that subcommittee to confute or explain their evidence."[ ] [ ] "why the solid south," p. . with the material gathered by these means and from these sources, the honest voters of the north were deluded into the election of a congress that went to washington, in december, , armed with authority to pass the reconstruction laws of march, . southern counsels were now much divided. many good men, like governor brown, of georgia; general longstreet and ex-senator albert gallatin brown, of mississippi, advised acquiescence and assistance, "not because we approve the policy of reconstruction, but because it is the best we can do." these advisers hoped that good men, well known to the negroes, might control them for the country's good; and zealous efforts were made along this line in every state, but they were futile. the blacks had already, before they got the suffrage, accepted the leadership of those claiming to be the "men who had freed them." these leaders were not only bureau agents but army camp-followers; and there was still another brood, who espied from afar a political eden in the prostrate states and forthwith journeyed to it. all these northern adventurers were called "carpet-baggers"--they carried their worldly goods in their hand-bags. the southerners who entered into a joint-stock business with them became "scalawags." these people mustered the negroes into leagues, and everywhere whispered it into their ears that the aim of the southern whites was to reënslave them. politics in the south in the days before the war had always been more or less intense, partly because there were so many who had leisure, and partly because the general rule was joint political discussions. the seams that had divided whigs and democrats, secessionists and union men, had not been entirely closed up, even by the melting fires of the civil war. old feuds for a time played their part in southern politics, even after march, . these old feuds made it difficult for southern whites to get together as a race; and, in fact, conservative men dreaded the idea. it tended toward an actual race war which, for many years, had been a nightmare; but in every reconstructed state the negro and his allies finally forced the race issue. the new rulers not only increased taxes and misappropriated the revenues of counties, cities, and states; they bartered away the credit of state after state. some of the states, after they were redeemed, scaled their debts by compromising with creditors; others have struggled along with their increased burdens. there were hundreds of negro policemen, constables, justices of the peace, and legislators who could not write their names. justice was in many localities a farce. ex-slaves became judges, representatives in congress, and united states senators. the eleven confederate states had been divided into military districts. many of the officers and men who were scattered over the country to uphold negro rule sympathized with the whites and evidenced their sympathy in various ways. others, either because they were radicals at heart, or to commend themselves to their superiors, who were some of them aspiring to political places, were super-serviceable; and it was not uncommon for a military officer, in a case where a negro was a party, to order a judge to leave the bench and himself take the place. in communities where negro majorities were overwhelming there were usually two factions, and when political campaigns were on agents for these clans often scoured the fields clear of laborers to recruit their marching bands. in cities these bands made night hideous with shouts and the noise of fifes and drums. the negro would tolerate no defection from his ranks to the whites, and negro women were more intolerant than the men. it sometimes happened that a bloody clash between the races was imminent when white men sought to protect a negro who had dared to speak in favor of the democratic and conservative party. in truth, the civilization of the south was being changed from white to negroid. the final triumph of good government in all the states was at last accomplished by accepting the race issue, as in alabama in . the first resolution in the platform of the "democratic and conservative party" in that state then was, "the radical and dominant faction of the republican party in this state persistently, and by fraudulent representations, have inflamed the passions and prejudices of the negroes, as a race, against the white people, and have thereby made it necessary for the white people to unite and act together in self-defence and for the preservation of white civilization." the people of north carolina recovered the right of self-government in . other states followed from time to time, the last two being louisiana and south carolina in . edwin l. godkin, who was for long at the head of the _nation_ and the _evening post_, of new york, is thought by some competent judges to have been the ablest editor this country has ever had. after the last of the negro governments set up in the south had passed away, looking back over the whole bad business, mr. godkin, in a letter to his friend charles eliot norton, written from sweet springs, west virginia, september , , said: "i do not see in short how the negro is ever to be worked into a system of government for which you and i could have much respect."[ ] [ ] ogden's "life and letters of edwin lawrence godkin," vol. ii, p. . garrison is dead. at the centenary of his birth, december , , an effort was made to arouse enthusiasm. there was only a feeble response; but we still have extremists. professor josiah royce, of harvard, in "race questions" ( ), speaking of race antipathies as "trained hatred," says, pp. - : "we can remember that they are childish phenomena in our lives, phenomena on a level with the dread of snakes or of mice, phenomena that we share with the cats and with the dogs, not noble phenomena, but caprices of our complex nature." chapter xi the south under self-government for now more than thirty years, whites and blacks, both free, have lived together in the reconstructed states. in some of them there have been local clashes, but in none of them has there been race war, predicted by jefferson and feared by lincoln; and there probably never will be such a war, unless it shall come through the intervention of such an outside force as produced in the south the conflict between the races at the polls in - . every state government set up under the plan of congress had wrought ruin, and the ruin was always more complete where the negroes were most numerous, as in south carolina and louisiana. the rule of the carpet-bagger and the negro was now superseded by governments based on abraham lincoln's idea, the idea he expressed in the debate with douglas in , when he said: "while they [the two races] do remain together _there must be the position of inferior and superior_, and i, as much as any other man, _am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white man_." conducted on this basis, the present governments in the reconstructed states have endured now for periods varying from thirty-six to forty-two years, and in every state, without any exception, the prosperity of both whites and blacks has been wonderful, and this in spite of the still existent abnormal animosities engendered by congressional reconstruction. in the present state governments the race problem seems to have reached, in its larger lines, its only practicable solution. there is still, however, much friction between whites and blacks. higher culture among the masses, especially of the dominant race, and wise leadership in both races, will in time minimize this, but it is not to be expected, nor is it ever to be desired, that racial antipathies should entirely cease to exist. the result of such cessation would be amalgamation, a solution that american whites will never tolerate. deportation, as a solution of the negro problem, is impracticable. mr. lincoln, much as he desired the separation of the races, could not accomplish it, even when he had all the war power of the government in his hands. he was, as we have seen, unable to find a country that would take the , , of blacks then in the seceded states. now, there are in the south, including delaware, according to the census of , , , , and, quite naturally, the american negro is more unwilling than ever to leave america. another solution sometimes suggested in the south is the repeal of the fifteenth amendment, which declares that the negro shall not be deprived of the ballot because of his race, but agitation for this would appear to be worse than useless. the negro vote in the reconstructed states is, and has for years been, quite small, not large enough to be considered a factor in any of them. one cause of this is that the whites enforce against the blacks rigidly the tests required by law, but the chief reason is, that the negro, who is qualified, does not often apply for registration. he finds work now more profitable than voting. he can not, he knows, control, nor can he, if disposed to do so, sell his ballot as he once did. one of the most signal and durable evils of congressional reconstruction was the utter debasement of the suffrage in eleven states where the ballot had formerly been notably pure. gideon welles saw clearly when he said in his diary, june , (p. , vol. iii): "under the pretence of elevating the negro the radicals are degrading the whites and debasing the elective franchise, bringing elections into contempt." during the rule of the negro and the alien, in every black county, where the negro majority was as two to one, there were, as a rule, two republican candidates for every fat office, and an election meant, for the negro, a golden harvest. rival candidates were mercilessly fleeced by their black constituencies, and the belief south is that as a rule the carpet-baggers, in their hegira, returned north as poor as when they came. in the reconstruction era the whites fought fraud with fraud; and even after recovering control they, the whites, felt justified in continuing to defraud the negro of his vote. to restore the purity of the ballot-box was the chief reason for the amendments to state constitutions, by means of which amendments, having in view the limitations of the federal constitution, as many negroes and as few whites as was practicable were excluded. this accounts in part for the smallness of the negro vote south. a more potent reason is that the democratic party, dominated by whites, selects its candidates in primaries; and the negro, seeing no chance to win, does not care to pay a poll tax or otherwise qualify for registration. southern whites have now for more than three decades been governing the blacks in their midst. it is the most difficult task that has ever been undertaken in all the history of popular government, but sad experience has demonstrated that legal restriction of the negro vote in the south there must be. party spirit tends always to blind the vision, and, as we have seen in this review of the past, it often stifles conscience; and this even where the masses of the people are approximately homogeneous. southern statesmen are now dealing not only with party spirit, but with perpetual race friction manifesting itself in various forms. failure there must be in minor matters and in certain localities; the progress that has been made can only be fairly estimated by considering general results. those who sympathize with the south think they see there among the whites a growing spirit of altruism, begotten of responsibility, and this promises much for the amelioration of race friction. since obtaining control of their state governments the whites in the southern states have as a rule increased appropriations for common schools by at least four hundred per cent, and though paying themselves by far the greater proportion of these taxes, they have continued to divide revenues pro rata between the white and colored schools. industrial results have been amazing. the following figures, taken from the annual blue book, edition, of the _manufacturers' record_, baltimore, maryland, include west virginia among the reconstructed states. the population of these states was, in , , , ; in , , , . manufacturing capital, , $ , , . in --twenty years--it was $ , , , . cotton crop, whole south, , , , bales. in it was about , , . of this cotton crop southern mills took, in , , bales, and in , , , bales. in the twelve reconstructed states cut, of lumber, board measure, , , , feet; and in , , , feet. their output of pig-iron was, in , , long tons; in , , , tons. the assessed value of taxable property was, in , $ , , , ; in , $ , , , . the negro, though the white man, with his superior energy and capacity, far outstrips him, has shared in this material prosperity. his property in these states has been estimated as high as $ , , . during the last decade, - , the white population of the south increased by . per cent, while the negro population in the same states increased only . per cent. there has been a very considerable gain of whites over blacks since , the result largely of a greater natural increase of whites over blacks, immigrants not counted. all this indicates that the negro problem is gradually being minimized. taken in the aggregate, the shortcomings of the negro are numerous and regrettable, but not greater than was to be expected. the general advance of an inferior race will never equal that of one which is superior by nature and already centuries ahead. the laggard and thriftless among the inferior people will naturally be more, and it is from these classes that prison houses are filled. there is a very considerable class of negroes who are improving mentally and morally, but improvidence is a characteristic of the race, and very many of them, even though they labor more or less steadily, will never accumulate. the third class, much larger than among the whites, is composed of those who are idle, dissipated, and criminal. taken altogether, however, what booker washington says is true: "there cannot be found, in the civilized or uncivilized world, a like number of negroes whose economic, educational, and religious life is so far advanced as that of the ten millions within this country."[ ] this advancement is one of the results of slavery. when the negroes come to recognize this, as some of their leaders already do,[ ] and come to appreciate the advantages for further improvement they have had since their emancipation, they will cease to repine over the bondage of their ancestors. there were undoubtedly evils in slavery, but, after all, there was some reason in the advice given by the good spanish bishop las casas to the king of spain--that it would be rightful to enslave and thus christianize and civilize the african savage. herbert spencer, "illustrations of universal progress" (p. ), says: "hateful though it is to us, and injurious as it would be now, slavery was once beneficial, was one of the _necessary phases of human progress_." [ ] pickett, pp. - . [ ] "the negro problem," pickett, , pp. - . sir harry johnston, african explorer and student of the negro race, in both the old and the new world, and perhaps the most eminent authority on a question he has, in a fashion, made his own, says: "intellectually, and perhaps physically, he (the negro) has attained the highest degree of advancement as yet in the united states."[ ] [ ] "the negro in the new world," sir harry johnston, p. . "in alabama (most of all) the american negro is seen at his best, as peasant, peasant proprietor, artisan, professional man, and member of society."[ ] [ ] _ib._, p. . race animosities are now abnormal, both south and north. the prime reasons for this are two: . the bitter conflict during reconstruction for race supremacy and the false hopes once held out to the negro of ultimate social equality with the whites. among the early measures of congressional reconstruction was a "civil rights" enactment which the negroes regarded as giving to them all the rights of the white man. their supreme court in alabama decided, in "burns vs. the state," that the "civil rights" laws conferred the right to intermarriage. negroes, north, no doubt also believed in this construction. but the supreme court of the united states later held that the states, and not congress, had jurisdiction over the marriage relation within the states. all the southern and a number of the northern states have since forbidden the intermarriage of whites and blacks, and so the negro's hopes of equal rights in this regard have vanished. this disappointment and his utter failure to secure the social equality that once seemed his, have tended to embitter the negro against the white man. . whites have been embittered against blacks by the frequency in later years of the crime of the negro against white women. this horrible offence began to be common in the south some thirty-two or three years since, or perhaps a little earlier, and somewhat later it appeared in the north, where it seems to have been as common, negro population considered, as in the south. the crime was almost invariably followed by lynching, which, however, was not always for the same crime. the following is the list of lynchings in the sections, as kept by the _chicago tribune_ since it began to compile them: the general decrease, while population is increasing, is encouraging; but lynching itself is a horrible crime; and lynching for one crime begets lynching for another. of the total number lynched last year, nine were whites; sixty-five were negroes, among them three women; and only twenty-two were for crimes of negroes against white women. the other crimes were murder, attempts to murder, robbery, arson, etc. census returns indicate that in the country at large the criminality of the negro, as compared with that of the white man, is nearly three times greater, and that the ratio of negro criminality is much higher north than south. such returns also indicate that so far education has not lessened negro criminality,[ ] but it is not known that any well-educated negro has been guilty of the crime against white women. [ ] "the negro problem," william pickett, pp. - . rare traits, etc., of the negro, statistician, prudential ins. co. of america, p. _et seq._ in the south the negro is excluded from many occupations for which the best of them are fitted, but in the north his industrial conditions are worse. fewer occupations are open to him and the wisest members of his race are counselling him to remain in the more favorable industrial atmosphere of the south. the dislike of negroes for whites has been increased south by the laws which separate them from whites in schools, public conveyances, etc. but it is to be remembered that these laws were intended to prevent intermarriage; they are in part the result of race antipathies. but the sound reason for them is that they tend to prevent intimacies which, at the points where the races are in closest touch with each other, might result in intermarriage. professor e. d. cope, of the university of pennsylvania, one of the very highest of american authorities on the race question, in a powerful article published in ,[ ] advocated the deportation of the negroes from the south, no matter at what cost. otherwise he predicted eventual amalgamation, which would be the destruction of a large portion of the finest race in the world. [ ] "two perils of the indo-european," _the open court_, january , , p. . * * * * * this little study now comes to a close. an effort has been made to sketch briefly in this chapter the difficulties the south has encountered in dealing with the negro problem, and to outline the measure of success it has achieved. however imperfectly the author may have performed his task, it must be clear to the reader that no such problem as the present was ever before presented to a self-governing people. never was there so much need of that culture from which alone can come a high sense of duty to others. the negro must be encouraged to be self-helpful and useful to the community. if he is to do all this and remain a separate race, he must have leadership among his own people. in the mississippi black belt there is now a town of some , negroes, mound bayou, completely organized and prospering. it may be that in the future negroes seeking among themselves the amenities of life may congregate into communities of their own, cultivating adjacent lands, as the french do in their agricultural villages. wherever they may be, they must practise the civic virtues, honesty, and obedience to law. w. h. councill, a negro teacher, of huntsville, alabama, said some years since in a magazine article: "when the gray-haired veterans who followed lee and jackson pass away, the negro will have lost his best friends." this is true, but it is hoped that time and culture, while not producing social equality, will allay race animosities and bring the negro other friends to take the place of the departing veterans. the white man, with his pride of race, must more and more be made to feel that _noblesse oblige_. his sense of duty to others must measure up to his responsibilities and opportunities. he must accord to the negro all his rights under the laws as they exist. the south is exerting itself to better its common schools, but it cannot compete in this regard with the north. northern philanthropists are quite properly contributing to education in the south. they should consider well the needs of both races. any attempt to give to the negroes advantages superior to those of the whites, who are now treating the negro fairly in this respect, might look like another attempt to put, in negro language, "the bottom rail on top." looking over the whole field covered by this sketch, it is wonderful to note how the chain of causation stretches back into the past. reconstruction was a result of the war; secession and war resulted from a movement in the north, in , against conditions then existing in the south. the negro, the cause of the old quarrel between the sections, is located now much as he was then. how full of lessons, for both the south and the north, is the history of the last eighty years! there is even a chord that connects the burning of a negro at coatesville, pennsylvania, by an excited mob on the th of august, , with the burning of the federal constitution at framingham, massachusetts, by that other excited mob of madmen, under garrison, on the fourth day of july, . one body of outlaws was defying the laws of pennsylvania; the other was defying the fundamental laws of the nation. index abolitionists, mobbed, ; burn u. s. constitution, ; private lives of leaders irreproachable, ; become factor in national politics; boston captured by; "slave-catchers" now mobbed; national election turns on vote, - ; anti-slavery in faneuil hall, ; election again turns on vote of, ; impartial observer on influence of, ; professor smith on, abolition petitions in congress, influence of, abolition societies, in , adams, john quincy, becomes champion of abolitionists, ; defends right of petition, alien and sedition laws, , ; nature of, americans, world's record for hard fighting, andrews, prof. e. a., slavery conditions south, anti-slavery people and abolitionists grouped, ; douglas charged "black republican" party with favoring "negro citizenship and negro equality," aristocracy in south, , , articles of confederation, author, antecedents, explanation of, - author's conclusions, - - biglow papers, - birney, james g., mobbed, boston meeting, dr. hart overlooks, boston resolutions, burke, edmund, on conciliation, ; spirit of liberty in slave-holding communities, calhoun, john c., prophecy of, - cause of sectional conflict, abolition societies and their methods, channing, dr. wm. e., encomium on great britain, ; letter to webster, ; opinion of abolitionists, ; his change, characters and careers, of abraham lincoln and jefferson davis, - churches, north and south, opposition to slavery; a stupendous change, ; "whole cloth arrayed against" garrison, ; southern churches still defend slavery; northern changed; methodist church disrupted, coatesville lynching, colonies, juxtaposed, not united, colonization society, origin of and purposes, ; its supporters, ; making progress; abolitionists halted it, compromise of ; excitement in congress, ; great leaders in; webster on th of march, ; clay's speech, ; new fugitive slave law gave offence, confederate states with old constitution--changes slight, constitution, alien and sedition laws first palpable infringement, ; powers conferred by discussed, ; as supreme law southerners still cling to, cope, prof. e. d., advocated deportation to prevent amalgamation, cotton gin, accepted theory as to denied, courage of, and losses in, both armies, criminality, of negroes greater than of whites, cromwell and the great revolution, analogy to, curtis, george ticknor, quotation from "life of buchanan," davis, jefferson, farewell speech, ; doubts about success--sadness, democrats, north, opposed negro suffrage, deportation, no country ready to take negro, disunion, project among federalist leaders, - , ; sentiment in congress, , emancipation, easy north; difficult south, ; federal government, no power over, ; status north in , emancipations, south, what accomplished in , ; census tables, embargo of , why repealed, emerson, ralph waldo, eulogizes john brown, everett, edward, denunciation of john brown expedition, extradition, refused, of abductors of slaves, supreme court powerless, federalists, construed constitution liberally, fite, professor at yale, declares republicans in hoped to destroy slavery, ; justification of secession, freedman's bureau, its composition, free speech, channing defends abolitionists as champions of, ; john quincy adams becomes advocate, fugitive slave law, north not opposing in , ; missouri compromise provided for, garrison, william lloyd, began _liberator_; personality and characteristics, ; key-note, slavery the concern of all; slave-holders to be made odious, godkin, e. l., on negro as factor in politics, greeley, horace, draws comfort from john brown's raid, hartford convention, helper, hinton rowan, his book, higher law idea, prompted abolition crusade--and czolgosz to murder mckinley, immigration and union sentiment; number of immigrants, ; few south, incendiary literature, sent south, ; north aroused; andrew jackson's message, ; boston resolutions, ; indictment in alabama; requisition on governor of new york, incompatibility of slavery and freedom; lincoln's springfield speech, ; garrison first to announce doctrine; abraham lincoln next; then seward, - insurrections, denmark vesey plot at charleston, ; nat turner in virginia; walker's pamphlet, irish patriots, mitchel and meagher, divide on secession, john brown's raid, ; his secret committee, johnson, andrew, succeeding lincoln, carried out plan, johnston, sir harry, on negro in south, highest degree of advancement, kansas, fierce struggles in; sumner's bitter speech, - kansas-nebraska act, douglas originated, ; aggravated sectionalism, kentucky resolutions, , ; jefferson the author, ; copy of first of, kentucky and virginia resolutions of - ; secessionists relied on, ; jefferson and madison's reasons for, know-nothing party, its origin; purposes; appeal for the union, - - las casas, bishop, advice to king of spain, liberia, sending negroes to, called "expatriation"; enterprise a failure, ; lincoln's hopes of, ; why it failed--miss mahoney's account, - - lincoln, south no more responsible for slavery than north, ; speech at charleston, ill., ; finds no country ready to take american negro, ; south in thought him radical; had favored white supremacy in , ; speech at peoria, ; assassination of, lodge, henry cabot, declares popular verdict against webster, ; he had undertaken the impossible, ; his argument good, he not man to make it, lundy, benjamin, attempts to stir up north against slavery south, lynchings, tables, ; comments on, mcmaster, affirms webster behind the times (note), missouri, controversy over slavery, ; distinct from that begun later by "new abolitionists," mobs, garrison mobbed; many anti-slavery riots north, ; violence toward abolitionists in north reacted, ; opponents became defenders, mound bayou, a negro town, nationality, spirit of; causes of, development of, ; grows, north; south on old lines, navy, u. s., deciding factor in war, - negro, the, located now much as in , ; lincoln could find no home abroad for, ; reasons for smallness of vote south, ; improvement; booker washington's opinion, ; benefited by slavery; attained south highest degree of advancement, ; best opportunities south, ; confederate veterans best friends there, ohio, resolutions looking to co-operative emancipation; responses of other states to, ; southern reason for, ; northern, kindly temper of, otis, harrison gray, on boston resolutions, pamphlets, venomous one cited, personal liberty laws, eleven states passed; alexander johnston says absolutely without excuse, petition, right of, in congress, ; "gag resolution," political conditions, north and south compared, - - "poor whites," discussion of, and of social conditions south, - - presidential campaign , excitement, press, northern slandering south, ; southern slandering north, race animosities, negro's aspirations to social equality; legal enactments, ; whites embittered by crime against white women, reagan, "republican rule on abolition principles," reconstruction, lincoln's theory; veto of resolution asserting power of congress over, ; last speech, adhering to plan, reconstruction by johnson under lincoln plan; wisdom of lincoln-johnson plan, john sherman; opposition to it partisan, senator cullom, ; south accepts plan; senators and representatives, ; negro problem and jefferson's prediction, ; apprenticeship and vagrancy laws, blaine's attack on, reconstruction, congressional, extremists bent on negro suffrage when congress convened in , ; preparations for; committee of fifteen; shellabarger's appeal to war passions, ; south denied representation; southerners reject fourteenth amendment; garfield denounces rebel government, ; johnson's reconstructed state governments swept away; universal suffrage for negro; south sends republicans to congress, ; witnesses before "committee of fifteen" rewarded; southern counsels divided, ; carpet-baggers and scalawags, ; intolerable political conditions; race issue forced upon whites, ; whites recover self-government, republican party, the modern; its origin; mr. rhodes on, - ; nominates frémont and dayton; denounces slavery; excitement; defeated, resources, war, north and south compared, - - salem church monument, santo domingo, memory of massacre in, seceded states, wretched conditions in , seceding states, desire to preserve constitution, secession, early threats of not connected with slavery, ; josiah quincy threatens, ; massachusetts legislature endorses him, ; in early days belief in general, ; massachusetts legislature threatens, , ; eleven states seceded, ; prof. fite justifies, his ground, ; motives for in - , self-government restored; local clashes, no race war; based on lincoln's idea, superiority of white man, ; constitutional amendments to restore purity of ballot, ; industrial results amazing, - ; negro vote small--reasons, seward, leader of republican party, situation in alabama in --letter of john w. womack, slavery, great britain abolishes, compensates owners, ; south's "calamity not crime," ; debate in virginia assembly, slaves, protect masters' families during war, - ; a surprise to north, - slave-trade, new england's part in, ; south protests against; sentiment against arises in england, sweeps over america, social conditions south, - south unwilling to accept idea of incompatibility of slave and free states, - ; bitterness in, ; on defensive-aggressive, ; excited; filibustering; importation of slaves, spencer, herbert, slavery once a necessary phase of human progress, sprague, peleg, on boston resolutions, suffrage, lincoln thought southerners themselves should control, sumner, charles, philippic against south; brooks's attack on, - ; negro suffrage to give "unionists" new allies, texas, application for admission, ; channing threatens secession if admitted, tilden, samuel j., letter to kent, secession inevitable if lincoln elected, - - underground railroads, professor hart's picture of, union, the, webster's great speech for in , ; effect of, union sentiment south; whigs, "uncle tom's cabin," influence on northern sentiment, - war, the, nature of, washington, a federalist, ; his appeal for union, webster, on th of march, ; his sole concession, ; condemns personal liberty laws and abolitionists, ; congratulated and denounced, ; "ichabod," ; rhodes's estimate of, ; his speech for "the constitution and the union"; wilkinson's estimate of, ; e. p. wheeler's estimate of, ; webster's opinion of abolitionists and free-soilers, welles, gideon, opinion in as to debasing elective franchise, whites, south, fought fraud with fraud during reconstruction, till constitution amended continued it, ; difficulties of their task, ; growing spirit of altruism; school taxes divided pro rata, wilmot proviso, wisconsin nullifies fugitive slave law, women, devotion of during war, north and south, * * * * * transcriber's note: page : 'prior to the rise of the abolitionists in , emancipationists in the south had been free to grapple with conditions as they found them.' the words "in the" have been supplied by the transcriber. hyphenation is inconsistent. obvious printer's errors have been corrected. index reference to johnston, sir harry: the transcriber has changed page to read . generously made available by internet archive (http://www.archive.org) note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h.zip) images of the original pages are available through internet archive. see http://www.archive.org/details/sinsoffatherroma dixo the sins of the father [illustration: "she blushed scarlet, took the rosebud from her bosom and pinned it on his coat." [page ]] the sins of the father a romance of the south by thomas dixon author of the leopard's spots, the clansman, comrades, the root of evil, etc. illustrated by john cassel grosset & dunlap publishers :: :: new york copyright, , by thomas dixon all rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the scandinavian. published march, . printed in the united states of america. to the memory of randolph shotwell of north carolina soldier, editor, clansman patriot to the reader _i wish it understood that i have not used in this novel the private life of captain randolph shotwell, to whom this book is dedicated. i have drawn the character of my central figure from the authentic personal history of major daniel norton himself, a distinguished citizen of the far south, with whom i was intimately acquainted for many years._ thomas dixon. new york march , contents book i--sin chapter page i. the woman in yellow ii. cleo enters iii. a beast awakes iv. the arrest v. the rescue vi. a traitor's ruse vii. the irony of fate viii. a new weapon ix. the words that cost x. man to man xi. the unbidden guest xii. the judgment bar xiii. an old story xiv. the fight for life xv. cleo's silence xvi. the larger vision xvii. the opal gates xviii. questions xix. cleo's cry xx. the blow falls xxi. the call of the blood book ii--atonement i. the new life purpose ii. a modern scalawag iii. his house in order iv. the man of the hour v. a woman scorned vi. an old comedy vii. trapped viii. behind the bars ix. andy's dilemma x. the best laid plans xi. a reconnoitre xii. the first whisper xiii. andy's proposal xiv. the folly of pity xv. a discovery xvi. the challenge xvii. a skirmish xviii. love laughs xix. "fight it out!" xx. andy fights xxi. the second blow xxii. the test of love xxiii. the parting xxiv. father and son xxv. the one chance xxvi. between two fires xxvii. a surprise xxviii. via dolorosa xxix. the dregs in the cup xxx. the mills of god xxxi. sin full grown xxxii. confession xxxiii. healing the sins of the father _book one--sin_ chapter i the woman in yellow the young editor of _the daily eagle and phoenix_ straightened his tall figure from the pile of papers that smothered his desk, glanced at his foreman who stood waiting, and spoke in the quiet drawl he always used when excited: "just a moment--'til i read this over----" the foreman nodded. he scanned the scrawled pencil manuscript twice and handed it up without changing a letter: "set the title in heavy black-faced caps--_black_--the blackest you've got." he read the title over again musingly, his strong mouth closing with a snap at its finish: the black league and the ku klux klan down with all secret societies the foreman took the manuscript with a laugh: "you've certainly got 'em guessing, major----" "who?" "everybody. we've all been thinking until these editorials began that you were a leader of the klan." a smile played about the corners of the deep-set brown eyes as he swung carelessly back to his desk and waved the printer to his task with a friendly sweep of his long arm: "let 'em think again!" a shout in the court house square across the narrow street caused him to lift his head with a frown: "salesday--of course--the first monday--doomsday for the conquered south--god, the horror of it all!" he laid his pencil down, walked to the window and looked out on the crowd of slouching loafers as they gathered around the auctioneer's block. the negroes outnumbered the whites two to one. a greasy, loud-mouthed negro, as black as ink, was the auctioneer. "well, gemmen an' feller citizens," he began pompously, "de fust piece er property i got ter sell hain't no property 'tall--hit's dese po' folks fum de county po' house. fetch 'em up agin de wall so de bidders can see 'em----" he paused and a black court attendant led out and placed in line against the weatherbeaten walls fifty or sixty inmates of the county poor house--all of them white men and women. most of them were over seventy years old, and one with the quickest step and brightest eye, a little man of eighty-four with snow-white hair and beard, was the son of a hero of the american revolution. the women were bareheaded and the blazing southern sun of august beat down piteously on their pinched faces. the young editor's fists slowly clinched and his breath came in a deep quivering draught. he watched as in a trance. he had seen four years' service in the bloodiest war in history--seen thousands swept into eternity from a single battlefield without a tear. he had witnessed the sufferings of the wounded and dying until it became the routine of a day's work. yet no event of all that fierce and terrible struggle had stirred his soul as the scene he was now witnessing--not even the tragic end of his father, the editor of the _daily eagle_--who had been burned to death in the building when sherman's army swept the land with fire and sword. the younger man had never referred to this except in a brief, hopeful editorial in the newly christened _eagle and phoenix_, which he literally built on the ashes of the old paper. he had no unkind word for general sherman or his army. it was war, and a soldier knew what that meant. he would have done the same thing under similar conditions. now he was brushing a tear from his cheek. a reporter at work in the adjoining room watched him curiously. he had never before thought him capable of such an emotion. a brilliant and powerful editor, he had made his paper the one authoritative organ of the white race. in the midst of riot, revolution and counter revolution his voice had the clear ring of a bugle call to battle. there was never a note of hesitation, of uncertainty or of compromise. in the fierce white heat of an unconquered spirit, he had fused the souls of his people as one. at this moment he was the one man hated and feared most by the negroid government in power, the one man most admired and trusted by the white race. and he was young--very young--yet he had lived a life so packed with tragic events no one ever guessed his real age, twenty-four. people took him to be more than thirty and the few threads of gray about his temples, added to the impression of age and dignity. he was not handsome in the conventional sense. his figure was too tall, his cheek bones too high, the nostrils too large and his eyebrows too heavy. his great height, six feet three, invariably made him appear gaunt and serious. though he had served the entire four years in the confederate army, entering a private in the ranks at eighteen, emerging a major in command of a shattered regiment at twenty-two, his figure did not convey the impression of military training. he walked easily, with the long, loose stride of the southener, his shoulders slightly stooped from the habit of incessant reading. he was lifting his broad shoulders now in an ominous way as he folded his clenched fists behind his back and listened to the negro auctioneer. "come now, gemmens," he went on; "what's de lowes' offer ye gwine ter start me fer dese folks? 'member, now, de lowes' bid gets 'em, not de highes'! 'fore de war de black man wuz put on de block an' sole ter de _highes'_ bidder! times is changed----" "yas, lawd!" shouted a negro woman. "times is changed, i tells ye!--now i gwine ter sell dese po' white folks ter de lowes' bidder. whosomever'll take de po' house and bode 'em fer de least money gits de whole bunch. an' you has de right ter make 'em all work de po' farm. dey kin work, too, an' don' ye fergit it. dese here ones i fotch out here ter show ye is all soun' in wind and limb. de bedridden ones ain't here. dey ain't but six er dem. what's de lowes' bid now, gemmens, yer gwine ter gimme ter bode 'em by de month? look 'em all over, gemmens, i warrants 'em ter be sound in wind an' limb. sound in wind an' limb." the auctioneer's sonorous voice lingered on this phrase and repeated it again and again. the watcher at the window turned away in disgust, walked back to his desk, sat down, fidgeted in his seat, rose and returned to the window in time to hear the cry: "an' sold to mister abum russ fer fo' dollars a month!" could it be possible that he heard aright? abe russ the keeper to the poor!--a drunkard, wife beater, and midnight prowler. his father before him, "devil tom russ," had been a notorious character, yet he had at least one redeeming quality that saved him from contempt--a keen sense of humor. he had made his living on a ten-acre red hill farm and never used a horse or an ox. he hitched himself to the plow and made abe seize the handles. this strange team worked the fields. no matter how hard the day's task the elder russ never quite lost his humorous view of life. when the boy, tired and thirsty, would stop and go to the spring for water, a favorite trick of his was to place a piece of paper or a chunk of wood in the furrow a few yards ahead. when the boy returned and they approached this object, the old man would stop, lift his head and snort, back and fill, frisk and caper, plunge and kick, and finally break and run, tearing over the fields like a maniac, dragging the plow after him with the breathless boy clinging to the handles. he would then quietly unhitch himself and thrash abe within an inch of his life for being so careless as to allow a horse to run away with him. but abe grew up without a trace of his father's sense of humor, picked out the strongest girl he could find for a wife and hitched her to the plow! and he permitted no pranks to enliven the tedium of work except the amusement he allowed himself of beating her at mealtimes after she had cooked his food. he had now turned politician, joined the loyal black league and was the successful bidder for keeper of the poor. it was incredible! the watcher was roused from his painful reverie by a reporter's voice: "i think there's a man waiting in the hall to see you, sir." "who is it?" the reporter smiled: "mr. bob peeler." "what on earth can that old scoundrel want with me? all right--show him in." the editor was busy writing when mr. peeler entered the room furtively. he was coarse, heavy and fifty years old. his red hair hung in tangled locks below his ears and a bloated double chin lapped his collar. his legs were slightly bowed from his favorite mode of travel on horseback astride a huge stallion trapped with tin and brass bespangled saddle. his supposed business was farming and the raising of blooded horses. as a matter of fact, the farm was in the hands of tenants and gambling was his real work. of late he had been displaying a hankering for negro politics. a few weeks before he had created a sensation by applying to the clerk of the court for a license to marry his mulatto housekeeper. it was common report that this woman was the mother of a beautiful octoroon daughter with hair exactly the color of old peeler's. few people had seen her. she had been away at school since her tenth year. the young editor suddenly wheeled in his chair and spoke with quick emphasis: "mr. peeler, i believe?" the visitor's face lighted with a maudlin attempt at politeness: "yes, sir; yes, sir!--and i'm shore glad to meet you, major norton!" he came forward briskly, extending his fat mottled hand. norton quietly ignored the offer by placing a chair beside his desk: "have a seat, mr. peeler." the heavy figure flopped into the chair: "i want to ask your advice, major, about a little secret matter"--he glanced toward the door leading into the reporters' room. the editor rose, closed the door and resumed his seat: "well, sir; how can i serve you?" the visitor fumbled in his coat pocket and drew out a crumpled piece of paper which he fingered gingerly: "i've been readin' your editorials agin' secret societies, major, and i like 'em--that's why i made up my mind to put my trust in you----" "why, i thought you were a member of the loyal black league, mr. peeler?" "no, sir--it's a mistake, sir," was the smooth lying answer. "i hain't got nothin' to do with no secret society. i hate 'em all--just run your eye over that, major." he extended the crumpled piece of paper on which was scrawled in boyish writing: "we hear you want to marry a nigger. our advice is to leave this country for the more congenial climate of africa. "by order of the grand cyclops, ku klux klan." the young editor studied the scrawl in surprise: "a silly prank of schoolboys!" he said at length. "you think that's all?" peeler asked dubiously. "certainly. the ku klux klan have more important tasks on hand just now. no man in their authority sent that to you. their orders are sealed in red ink with a crossbones and skull. i've seen several of them. pay no attention to this--it's a fake." "i don't think so, major--just wait a minute, i'll show you something worse than a red-ink crossbones and skull." old peeler tipped to the door leading into the hallway, opened it, peered out and waved his fat hand, beckoning someone to enter. the voice of a woman was heard outside protesting: "no--no--i'll stay here----" peeler caught her by the arm and drew her within: "this is lucy, my housekeeper, major." the editor looked in surprise at the slender, graceful figure of the mulatto. he had pictured her coarse and heavy. he saw instead a face of the clean-cut aryan type with scarcely a trace of negroid character. only the thick curling hair, shining black eyes and deep yellow skin betrayed the african mother. peeler's eyes were fixed in a tense stare on a small bundle she carried. his voice was a queer muffled tremor as he slowly said: "unwrap the thing and show it to him." the woman looked at the editor and smiled contemptuously, showing two rows of perfect teeth, as she slowly drew the brown wrapper from a strange object which she placed on the desk. the editor picked the thing up, looked at it and laughed. it was a tiny pine coffin about six inches long and two inches wide. a piece of glass was fitted into the upper half of the lid and beneath the glass was placed a single tube rose whose peculiar penetrating odor already filled the room. peeler mopped the perspiration from his brow. "now, what do you think of that?" he asked in an awed whisper. in spite of an effort at self-control, norton broke into a peal of laughter: "it does look serious, doesn't it?" "serious ain't no word for it, sir! it not only looks like death, but i'm damned if it don't smell like it--smell it!" "so it does," the editor agreed, lifting the box and breathing the perfume of the pale little flower. "and that ain't all," peeler whispered, "look inside of it." he opened the lid and drew out a tightly folded scrap of paper on which was written in pencil the words: "you lying, hypocritical, blaspheming old scoundrel--unless you leave the country within forty-eight hours, this coffin will be large enough to hold all we'll leave of you. k. k. k." the editor frowned and then smiled. "all a joke, peeler," he said reassuringly. but peeler was not convinced. he leaned close and his whiskey-laden breath seemed to fill the room as his fat finger rested on the word "blaspheming:" "i don't like that word, major; it sounds like a preacher had something to do with the writin' of it. you know i've been a tough customer in my day and i used to cuss the preachers in this county somethin' frightful. now, ye see, if they should be in this ku klux klan--i ain't er skeered er their hell hereafter, but they sho' might give me a taste in this world of what they think's comin' to me in the next. i tell you that thing makes the cold chills run down my back. now, major, i reckon you're about the level-headest and the most influential man in the county--the question is, what shall i do to be saved?" again norton laughed: "nothing. it's a joke, i tell you----" "but the ku klux klan ain't no joke!" persisted peeler. "more than a thousand of 'em--some say five thousand--paraded the county two weeks ago. a hundred of 'em passed my house. i saw their white shrouds glisten in the moonlight. i said my prayers that night! i says to myself, if it don't do no good, at least it can't do no harm. i tell you, the klan's no joke. if you think so, take a walk through that crowd in the square to-day and see how quiet they are. last court day every nigger that could holler was makin' a speech yellin' that old thad stevens was goin' to hang andy johnson, the president, from the white house porch, take every foot of land from the rebels and give it to the loyal black league. now, by gum, there's a strange peace in israel! i felt it this mornin' as i walked through them crowds--and comin' back to this coffin, major, the question is--what shall i do to be saved?" "go home and forget about it," was the smiling answer. "the klan didn't send that thing to you or write that message." "you think not?" "i know they didn't. it's a forgery. a trick of some devilish boys." peeler scratched his red head: "i'm glad you think so, major. i'm a thousand times obliged to you, sir. i'll sleep better to-night after this talk." "would you mind leaving this little gift with me, peeler?" norton asked, examining the neat workmanship of the coffin. "certainly--certainly, major, keep it. keep it and more than welcome! it's a gift i don't crave, sir. i'll feel better to know you've got it." the yellow woman waited beside the door until peeler had passed out, bowed her thanks, turned and followed her master at a respectful distance. the editor watched them cross the street with a look of loathing, muttering slowly beneath his breath: "oh, my country, what a problem--what a problem!" he turned again to his desk and forgot his burden in the joy of work. he loved this work. it called for the best that's in the strongest man. it was a man's work for men. when he struck a blow he saw the dent of his hammer on the iron, and heard it ring to the limits of the state. dimly aware that some one had entered his room unannounced, he looked up, sprang to his feet and extended his hand in hearty greeting to a stalwart farmer who stood smiling into his face: "hello, macarthur!" "hello, my captain! you know you weren't a major long enough for me to get used to it--and it sounds too old for you anyhow----" "and how's the best sergeant that ever walloped a recruit?" "bully," was the hearty answer. the young editor drew his old comrade in arms down into his chair and sat on the table facing him: "and how's the wife and kids, mac?" "bully," he repeated evenly and then looked up with a puzzled expression. "look here, bud," he began quietly, "you've got me up a tree. these editorials in _the eagle and phoenix_ cussin' the klan----" "you don't like them?" "not a little wee bit!" the editor smiled: "you've got scotch blood in you, mac--that's what's the matter with you----" "same to you, sir." "but my great-great-grandmother was a huguenot and the french, you know, had a saving sense of humor. the scotch are thick, mac!" "well, i'm too thick to know what you mean by lambastin' our only salvation. the ku klux klan have had just one parade--and there hasn't been a barn burnt in this county or a white woman scared since, and every nigger i've met to-day has taken off his hat----" "are you a member of the klan, mac?" the question was asked with his face turned away. the farmer hesitated, looked up at the ceiling and quietly answered: "none of your business--and that's neither here nor there--you know that every nigger is organized in that secret black league, grinning and whispering its signs and passwords--you know that they've already begun to grip the throats of our women. the klan's the only way to save this country from hell--what do you mean by jumpin' on it?" "the black league's a bad thing, mac, and the klan's a bad thing----" "all right--still you've got to fight the devil with fire----" "you don't say so?" the editor said, while a queer smile played around his serious mouth. "yes, by golly, i do say so," the farmer went on with increasing warmth, "and what i can't understand is how you're against 'em. you're a leader. you're a soldier--the bravest that ever led his men into the jaws of death--i know, for i've been with you--and i just come down here to-day to ask you the plain question, what do you mean?" "the klan _is_ a band of lawless night raiders, isn't it?" "oh, you make me tired! what are we to do without 'em, that's the question?" "scotch! that's the trouble with you"--the young editor answered carelessly. "have you a pin?" the rugged figure suddenly straightened as though a bolt of lightning had shot down his spine. "what's--what's that?" he gasped. "i merely asked, have you a pin?" was the even answer, as norton touched the right lapel of his coat with his right hand. the farmer hesitated a moment, and then slowly ran three trembling fingers of his left hand over the left lapel of his coat, replying: "i'm afraid not." he looked at norton a moment and turned pale. he had been given and had returned the signs of the klan. it might have been an accident. the rugged face was a study of eager intensity as he put his friend to the test that would tell. he slowly thrust the fingers of his right hand into the right pocket of his trousers, the thumb protruding. norton quietly answered in the same way with his left hand. the farmer looked into the smiling brown eyes of his commander for a moment and his own filled with tears. he sprang forward and grasped the outstretched hand: "dan norton! i said last night to my god that you couldn't be against us! and so i came to ask--oh, why--why've you been foolin' with me?" the editor tenderly slipped his arm around his old comrade and whispered: "the cunning of the fox and the courage of the lion now, mac! it was easy for our boys to die in battle while guns were thundering, fifes screaming, drums beating and the banners waving. you and i have something harder to do--we've got to live--our watchword, '_the cunning of the fox and the courage of the lion!_' i've some dangerous work to do pretty soon. the little scalawag governor is getting ready for us----" "i want that job!" macarthur cried eagerly. "i'll let you know when the time comes." the farmer smiled: "i _am_ a scotchman--ain't i?" "and a good one, too!" with his hand on the door, the rugged face aflame with patriotic fire, he slowly repeated: "the cunning of the fox and the courage of the lion!--and by the living god, we'll win this time, boy!" norton heard him laugh aloud as he hurried down the stairs. gazing again from his window at the black clouds of negroes floating across the square, he slowly muttered: "yes, we'll win this time!--but twenty years from now--i wonder!" he took up the little black coffin and smiled at the perfection of its workmanship: "i think i know the young gentleman who made that and he may give me trouble." he thrust the thing into a drawer, seized his hat, strolled down a side street and slowly passed the cabinet shop of the workman whom he suspected. it was closed. evidently the master had business outside. it was barely possible, of course, that he had gone to the galleries of the capitol to hear the long-expected message of the governor against the klan. the galleries had been packed for the past two sessions in anticipation of this threatened message. the capital city was only a town of five thousand white inhabitants and four thousand blacks. rumors of impending political movements flew from house to house with the swiftness of village gossip. he walked to the capitol building by a quiet street. as he passed through the echoing corridor the rotund figure of schlitz, the carpetbagger, leader of the house of representatives, emerged from the governor's office. the red face flushed a purple hue as his eye rested on his arch-enemy of the _eagle and phoenix_. he tried to smile and nodded to norton. his smile was answered by a cold stare and a quickened step. schlitz had been a teamster's scullion in the union army. he was not even an army cook, but a servant of servants. he was now the master of the legislature of a great southern state and controlled its black, ignorant members with a snap of his bloated fingers. there was but one man norton loathed with greater intensity and that was the shrewd little scalawag governor, the native traitor who had betrayed his people to win office. a conference of these two cronies was always an ill omen for the state. he hurried up the winding stairs, pushed his way into a corner of the crowded galleries from which he could see every face and searched in vain for his young workman. he stood for a moment, looked down on the floor of the house and watched a black parliament at work making laws to govern the children of the men who had created the republic--watched them through fetid smoke, the vapors of stale whiskey and the deafening roar of half-drunken brutes as they voted millions in taxes, their leaders had already stolen. the red blood rushed to his cheeks and the big veins on his slender swarthy neck stood out for a moment like drawn cords. he hurried down to the court house square, walked with long, leisurely stride through the thinning crowds, and paused before a vacant lot on the opposite side of the street. a dozen or more horses were still tied to the racks provided for the accommodation of countrymen. "funny," he muttered, "farmers start home before sundown, and it's dusk--i wonder if it's possible!" he crossed the street, strolled carelessly among the horses and noted that their saddles had not been removed and the still more significant fact that their saddle blankets were unusually thick. only an eye trained to observe this fact would have noticed it. he lifted the edge of one of the blankets and saw the white and scarlet edges of a klan costume. it was true. the young dare-devil who had sent that message to old peeler had planned an unauthorized raid. only a crowd of youngsters bent on a night's fun, he knew; and yet the act at this moment meant certain anarchy unless he nipped it in the bud. the klan was a dangerous institution. its only salvation lay in the absolute obedience of its members to the orders of an intelligent and patriotic chief. unless the word of that chief remained the sole law of its life, a reign of terror by irresponsible fools would follow at once. as commander of the klan in his county he must subdue this lawless element. it must be done with an iron hand and done immediately or it would be too late. his decision to act was instantaneous. he sent a message to his wife that he couldn't get home for supper, locked his door and in three hours finished his day's work. there was ample time to head these boys off before they reached old peeler's house. they couldn't start before eleven, yet he would take no chances. he determined to arrive an hour ahead of them. the night was gloriously beautiful--a clear star-gemmed sky in the full tide of a southern summer, the first week in august. he paused inside the gate of his home and drank for a moment the perfume of the roses on the lawn. the light from the window of his wife's room poured a mellow flood of welcome through the shadows beside the white, fluted columns. this home of his father's was all the wreck of war had left him and his heart gave a throb of joy to-night that it was his. behind the room where the delicate wife lay, a petted invalid, was the nursery. his baby boy was there, nestling in the arms of the black mammy who had nursed him twenty odd years ago. he could hear the soft crooning of her dear old voice singing the child to sleep. the heart of the young father swelled with pride. he loved his frail little wife with a deep, tender passion, but this big rosy-cheeked, laughing boy, which she had given him six months ago, he fairly worshipped. he stopped again under the nursery window and listened to the music of the cradle. the old lullaby had waked a mocking bird in a magnolia beside the porch and he was answering her plaintive wail with a thrilling love song. by the strange law of contrast, his memory flashed over the fields of death he had trodden in the long war. "what does it matter after all, these wars and revolutions, if god only brings with each new generation a nobler breed of men!" he tipped softly past the window lest his footfall disturb the loved ones above, hurried to the stable, saddled his horse and slowly rode through the quiet streets of the town. on clearing the last clump of negro cabins on the outskirts his pace quickened to a gallop. he stopped in the edge of the woods at the gate which opened from peeler's farm on the main road. the boys would have to enter here. he would stop them at this spot. the solemn beauty of the night stirred his soul to visions of the future, and the coming battle which his klan must fight for the mastery of the state. the chirp of crickets, the song of katydids and the flash of fireflies became the martial music and the flaming torches of triumphant hosts he saw marching to certain victory. but the klan he was leading was a wild horse that must be broken to the bit or both horse and rider would plunge to ruin. there would be at least twenty or thirty of these young marauders to-night. if they should unite in defying his authority it would be a serious and dangerous situation. somebody might be killed. and yet he waited without a fear of the outcome. he had faced odds before. he loved a battle when the enemy outnumbered him two to one. it stirred his blood. he had ridden with forrest one night at the head of four hundred daring, ragged veterans, surrounded a crack union regiment at two o'clock in the morning, and forced their commander to surrender men before he discovered the real strength of the attacking force. it stirred his blood to-night to know that general forrest was the commander-in-chief of his own daring clansmen. half an hour passed without a sign of the youngsters. he grew uneasy. could they have dared to ride so early that they had reached the house before his arrival? he must know at once. he opened the gate and galloped down the narrow track at a furious pace. a hundred yards from peeler's front gate he drew rein and listened. a horse neighed in the woods, and the piercing shriek of a woman left nothing to doubt. they were already in the midst of their dangerous comedy. he pressed cautiously toward the gate, riding in the shadows of the overhanging trees. they were dragging old peeler across the yard toward the roadway, followed by the pleading voice of a woman begging for his worthless life. realizing that the raid was now an accomplished fact, norton waited to see what the young fools were going to do. he was not long in doubt. they dragged their panting, perspiring victim into the edge of the woods, tied him to a sapling and bared his back. the leader stepped forward holding a lighted torch whose flickering flames made an unearthly picture of the distorted features and bulging eyes. "mr. peeler," began the solemn muffled voice behind the cloth mask, "for your many sins and blasphemies against god and man the preachers of this county have assembled to-night to call you to repentance----" the terror-stricken eyes bulged further and the fat neck twisted in an effort to see how many ghastly figures surrounded him, as he gasped: "oh, lord--oh, hell--are you all preachers?" "all!" was the solemn echo from each sepulchral figure. "then i'm a goner--that coffin's too big----" "yea, verily, there'll be nothing left when we get through--selah!" solemnly cried the leader. "but, say, look here, brethren," peeler pleaded between shattering teeth, "can't we compromise this thing? i'll repent and join the church. and how'll a contribution of fifty dollars each strike you? now what do you say to that?" the coward's voice had melted into a pious whine. the leader selected a switch from the bundle extended by a shrouded figure and without a word began to lay on. peeler's screams could be heard a mile. norton allowed them to give him a dozen lashes and spurred his horse into the crowd. there was a wild scramble to cover and most of the boys leaped to their saddles. three white figures resolutely stood their ground. "what's the meaning of this, sir?" norton sternly demanded of the man who still held the switch. "just a little fun, major," was the sheepish answer. "a dangerous piece of business." "for god's sake, save me, major norton!" peeler cried, suddenly waking from the spell of fear. "they've got me, sir--and it's just like i told you, they're all preachers--i'm a goner!" norton sprang from his horse and faced the three white figures. "who's in command of this crowd?" "i am, sir!" came the quick answer from a stalwart masquerader who suddenly stepped from the shadows. norton recognized the young cabinet-maker's voice, and spoke in low tense tones: "by whose authority are you using these disguises, to-night?" "it's none of your business!" the tall sinewy figure suddenly stiffened, stepped close and peered into the eyes of the speaker's mask: "does my word go here to-night or must i call out a division of the klan?" a moment's hesitation and the eyes behind the mask fell: "all right, sir--nothing but a boyish frolic," muttered the leader apologetically. "let this be the end of such nonsense," norton said with a quiet drawl. "if i catch you fellows on a raid like this again i'll hang your leader to the first limb i find--good night." a whistle blew and the beat of horses' hoofs along the narrow road told their hurried retreat. norton loosed the cords and led old peeler to his house. as the fat, wobbling legs mounted the steps the younger man paused at a sound from behind and before he could turn a girl sprang from the shadows into his arms, and slipped to her knees, sobbing hysterically: "save me!--they're going to beat me--they'll beat me to death--don't let them--please--please don't let them!" by the light from the window he saw that her hair was a deep rich red with the slightest tendency to curl and her wide dilated eyes a soft greenish grey. he was too astonished to speak for a moment and peeler hastened to say: "that's our little gal, cleo--that is--i--mean--of--course--it's lucy's gal! she's just home from school and she's scared to death and i don't blame her!" the girl clung to her rescuer with desperate grip, pressing her trembling form close with each convulsive sob. the man drew the soft arms down, held them a moment and looked into the dumb frightened face. he was surprised at her unusual beauty. her skin was a delicate creamy yellow, almost white, and her cheeks were tinged with the brownish red of ripe apple. as he looked in to her eyes he fancied that he saw a young leopardess from an african jungle looking at him through the lithe, graceful form of a southern woman. and then something happened in the shadows that stood out forever in his memory of that day as the turning point of his life. laughing at her fears, he suddenly lifted his hand and gently stroked the tangled red hair, smoothing it back from her forehead with a movement instinctive, and irresistible as he would have smoothed the fur of a yellow persian kitten. surprised at his act, he turned without a word and left the place. and all the way home, through the solemn starlit night, he brooded over the strange meeting with this extraordinary girl. he forgot his fight. one thing only stood out with increasing vividness--the curious and irresistible impulse that caused him to stroke her hair. personally he had always loathed the southern white man who stooped and crawled through the shadows to meet such women. she was a negress and he knew it, and yet the act was instinctive and irresistible. why? he asked himself the question a hundred times, and the longer he faced it the angrier he became at his stupid folly. for hours he lay awake, seeing in the darkness only the face of this girl. chapter ii cleo enters the conference of the carpetbagger with the little governor proved more ominous than even norton had feared. the blow struck was so daring, so swift and unexpected it stunned for a moment the entire white race. when the editor reached his office on the second morning after the raid, his desk was piled with telegrams from every quarter of the state. the governor had issued a proclamation disarming every white military company and by wire had demanded the immediate surrender of their rifles to the negro adjutant-general. the same proclamation had created an equal number of negro companies who were to receive these guns and equipments. the negroid state government would thus command an armed black guard of fifty thousand men and leave the white race without protection. evidently his excellency was a man of ambitions. it was rumored that he aspired to the vice-presidency and meant to win the honor by a campaign of such brilliance that the solid negro-ruled south would back him in the national convention. beyond a doubt, this act was the first step in a daring attempt inspired by the radical fanatics in congress to destroy the structure of white civilization in the south. and the governor's resources were apparently boundless. president johnson, though a native southerner, was a puppet now in the hands of his powerful enemies who dominated congress. these men boldly proclaimed their purpose to make the south negro territory by confiscating the property of the whites and giving it to the negroes. their bill to do this, house bill number twenty-nine, introduced by the government leader, thaddeus stevens, was already in the calendar and mr. stevens was pressing for its passage with all the skill of a trained politician inspired by the fiercest hate. the army had been sent back into the prostrate south to enforce the edicts of congress and the negro state government could command all the federal troops needed for any scheme concocted. but the little governor had a plan up his sleeve by which he proposed to startle even the black radical administration at washington. he was going to stamp out "rebellion" without the aid of federal troops, reserving his right to call them finally as a last resort. that they were ready at his nod gave him the moral support of their actual presence. that any man born of a southern mother and reared in the south under the conditions of refinement and culture, of the high ideals and the courage of the old régime, could fall so low as to use this proclamation, struck norton at first as impossible. he refused to believe it. there must be some misunderstanding. he sent a messenger to the capitol for a copy of the document before he was fully convinced. and then he laughed in sheer desperation at the farce-tragedy to which the life of a brave people had been reduced. it was his business as an editor to record the daily history of the times. for a moment in imagination he stood outside his office and looked at his work. "future generations simply can't be made to believe it!" he exclaimed. "it's too grotesque to be credible even to-day." it had never occurred to him that the war was unreasonable. its passions, its crushing cost, its bloodstained fields, its frightful cruelties were of the great movements of the race from a lower to a higher order of life. progress could only come through struggle. war was the struggle which had to be when two great moral forces clashed. one must die, the other live. a great issue had to be settled in the civil war, an issue raised by the creation of the constitution itself, an issue its creators had not dared to face. and each generation of compromisers and interpreters had put it off and put it off until at last the storm of thundering guns broke from a hundred hills at once. it had never been decided by the builders of the republic whether it should be a mighty unified nation or a loose aggregation of smaller sovereignties. slavery made it necessary to decide this fundamental question on which the progress of america and the future leadership of the world hung. he could see all this clearly now. he had felt it dimly true throughout every bloody scene of the war itself. and so he had closed the eyes of the lonely dying boy with a reverent smile. it was for his country. he had died for what he believed to be right and it was good. he had stood bareheaded in solemn court martials and sentenced deserters to death, led them out in the gray morning to be shot and ordered them dumped into shallow trenches without a doubt or a moment's hesitation. he had walked over battlefields at night and heard the groans of the wounded, the sighs of the dying, the curses of the living, beneath the silent stars and felt that in the end it must be good. it was war, and war, however cruel, was inevitable--the great high court of life and death for the nations of earth. but this base betrayal which had followed the honorable surrender of a brave, heroic army--this wanton humiliation of a ruined people by pot-house politicians--this war on the dead, the wounded, the dying, and their defenseless women--this enthronement of savagery, superstition, cowardice and brutality in high places where courage and honor and chivalry had ruled--these vandals and camp followers and vultures provoking violence and exciting crime, set to rule a brave people who had risked all for a principle and lost--this was a nightmare; it was the reduction of human society to an absurdity! for a moment he saw the world red. anger, fierce and cruel, possessed him. the desire to kill gripped and strangled until he could scarcely breathe. nor did it occur to this man for a moment that he could separate his individual life from the life of his people. his paper was gaining in circulation daily. it was paying a good dividend now and would give his loved ones the luxuries he had dreamed for them. the greater the turmoil the greater his profits would be. and yet this idea never once flashed through his mind. his people were of his heart's blood. he had no life apart from them. their joys were his, their sorrows his, their shame his. this proclamation of a traitor to his race struck him in the face as a direct personal insult. the hot shame of it found his soul. when the first shock of surprise and indignation had spent itself, he hurried to answer his telegrams. his hand wrote now with the eager, sure touch of a master who knew his business. to every one he sent in substance the same message: "submit and await orders." as he sat writing the fierce denunciation of this act of the chief executive of the state, he forgot his bitterness in the thrill of life that meant each day a new adventure. he was living in an age whose simple record must remain more incredible than the tales of the arabian nights. and the spell of its stirring call was now upon him. the drama had its comedy moments, too. he could but laugh at the sorry figures the little puppets cut who were strutting for a day in pomp and splendor. their end was as sure as the sweep of eternal law. water could not be made to run up hill by the proclamation of a governor. he had made up his mind within an hour to give the scalawag a return blow that would be more swift and surprising than his own. on the little man's reception of that counter stroke would hang the destiny of his administration and the history of the state for the next generation. on the day the white military companies surrendered their arms to their negro successors something happened that was not on the programme of the governor. the ku klux klan held its second grand parade. it was not merely a dress affair. a swift and silent army of drilled, desperate men, armed and disguised, moved with the precision of clockwork at the command of one mind. at a given hour the armory of every negro military company in the state was broken open and its guns recovered by the white and scarlet cavalry of the "invisible empire." within the next hour every individual negro in the state known to be in possession of a gun or pistol was disarmed. resistance was futile. the attack was so sudden and so unexpected, the attacking party so overwhelming at the moment, each black man surrendered without a blow and a successful revolution was accomplished in a night without a shot or the loss of a life. next morning the governor paced the floor of his office in the capitol with the rage of a maddened beast, and schlitz, the carpetbagger, was summoned for a second council of war. it proved to be a very important meeting in the history of his excellency. the editor sat at his desk that day smiling in quiet triumph as he read the facetious reports wired by his faithful lieutenants from every district of the klan. an endless stream of callers had poured through his modest little room and prevented any attempt at writing. he had turned the columns over to his assistants and the sun was just sinking in a smother of purple glory when he turned from his window and began to write his leader for the day. it was an easy task. a note of defiant power ran through a sarcastic warning to the governor that found the quick. the editorial flashed with wit and stung with bitter epigram. and there was in his consciousness of power a touch of cruelty that should have warned the scalawag against his next act of supreme folly. but his excellency had bad advisers, and the wheels of fate moved swiftly toward the appointed end. norton wrote this editorial with a joy that gave its crisp sentences the ring of inspired leadership. he knew that every paper in the state read by white men and women would copy it and he already felt in his heart the reflex thrill of its call to his people. he had just finished his revision of the last paragraph when a deep, laughing voice beside his chair slowly said: "may i come in?" he looked up with a start to find the tawny figure of the girl whose red hair he had stroked that night bowing and smiling. her white, perfect teeth gleamed in the gathering twilight and her smile displayed two pretty dimples in the brownish red cheeks. "i say, may i come in?" she repeated with a laugh. "it strikes me you are pretty well in," norton said good-humoredly. "yes, i didn't have any cards. so i came right up. it's getting dark and nobody saw me----" the editor frowned and moved uneasily "you're alone, aren't you?" she asked. "the others have all gone to supper, i believe." "yes, i waited 'til they left. i watched from the square 'til i saw them go." "why?" he asked sharply. "i don't know. i reckon i was afraid of 'em." "and you're not afraid of me?" he laughed. "no." "why not?" "because i know you." norton smiled: "you wish to see me?" "yes." "is there anything wrong at mr. peeler's?" "no, i just came to thank you for what you did and see if you wouldn't let me work for you?" "work? where--here?" "yes. i can keep the place clean. my mother said it was awful. and, honest, it's worse than i expected. it doesn't look like it's been cleaned in a year." "i don't believe it has," the editor admitted. "let me keep it decent for you." "thanks, no. it seems more home-like this way." "must it be so dirty?" she asked, looking about the room and picking up the scattered papers from the floor. norton, watching her with indulgent amusement at her impudence, saw that she moved her young form with a rhythmic grace that was perfect. the simple calico dress, with a dainty little check, fitted her perfectly. it was cut low and square at the neck and showed the fine lines of a beautiful throat. her arms were round and finely shaped and bare to an inch above the elbows. the body above the waistline was slender, and the sinuous free movement of her figure showed that she wore no corset. her step was as light as a cat's and her voice full of good humor and the bubbling spirits of a perfectly healthy female animal. his first impulse was to send her about her business with a word of dismissal. but when she laughed it was with such pleasant assurance and such faith in his friendliness it was impossible to be rude. she picked up the last crumpled paper and laid it on a table beside the wall, turned and said softly: "well, if you don't want me to clean up for you, anyhow, i brought you some flowers for your room--they're outside." she darted through the door and returned in a moment with an armful of roses. "my mother let me cut them from our yard, and she told me to thank you for coming that night. they'd have killed us if you hadn't come." "nonsense, they wouldn't have touched either you or your mother!" "yes, they would, too. goodness--haven't you anything to put the flowers in?" she tipped softly about the room, holding the roses up and arranging them gracefully. norton watched her with a lazy amused interest. he couldn't shake off the impression that she was a sleek young animal, playful and irresponsible, that had strayed from home and wandered into his office. and he loved animals. he never passed a stray dog or a cat without a friendly word of greeting. he had often laid on his lounge at home, when tired, and watched a kitten play an hour with unflagging interest. every movement of this girl's lithe young body suggested such a scene--especially the velvet tread of her light foot, and the delicate motions of her figure followed suddenly by a sinuous quick turn and a childish laugh or cry. the faint shadows of negro blood in her creamy skin and the purring gentleness of her voice seemed part of the gathering twilight. her eyes were apparently twice the size as when first he saw them, and the pupils, dilated in the dusk, flashed with unusual brilliance. she had wandered into the empty reporters' room without permission looking for a vase, came back and stood in the doorway laughing: "this is the dirtiest place i ever got into in my life. gracious! isn't there a thing to put the flowers in?" the editor, roused from his reveries, smiled and answered: "put them in the pitcher." "why, yes, of course, the pitcher!" she cried, rushing to the little washstand. "why, there isn't a drop of water in it--i'll go to the well and get some." she seized the pitcher, laid the flowers down in the bowl, darted out the door and flew across the street to the well in the court house square. the young editor walked carelessly to the window and watched her. she simply couldn't get into an ungraceful attitude. every movement was instinct with vitality. she was alive to her finger tips. her body swayed in perfect rhythmic unison with her round, bare arms as she turned the old-fashioned rope windlass, drew the bucket to the top and dropped it easily on the wet wooden lids that flapped back in place. she was singing now a crooning, half-savage melody her mother had taught her. the low vibrant notes of her voice, deep and tender and quivering with a strange intensity, floated across the street through the gathering shadows. the voice had none of the light girlish quality of her age of eighteen, but rather the full passionate power of a woman of twenty-five. the distance, the deepening shadows and the quiet of the town's lazy life, added to the dreamy effectiveness of the song. "beautiful!" the man exclaimed. "the negro race will give the world a great singer some day----" and then for the first time in his life the paradox of his personal attitude toward this girl and his attitude in politics toward the black race struck him as curious. he had just finished an editorial in which he had met the aggressions of the negro and his allies with the fury, the scorn, the defiance, the unyielding ferocity with which the anglo-saxon conqueror has always treated his inferiors. and yet he was listening to the soft tones of this girl's voice with a smile as he watched with good-natured indulgence the light gleam mischievously from her impudent big eyes while she moved about his room. yet this was not to be wondered at. the history of the south and the history of slavery made such a paradox inevitable. the long association with the individual negro in the intimacy of home life had broken down the barriers of personal race repugnance. he had grown up with negro boys and girls as playmates. he had romped and wrestled with them. every servant in every home he had ever known had been a negro. the first human face he remembered bending over his cradle was a negro woman's. he had fallen asleep in her arms times without number. he had found refuge there against his mother's stern commands and sobbed out on her breast the story of his fancied wrongs and always found consolation. "mammy's darlin'" was always right--the world cruel and wrong! he had loved this old nurse since he could remember. she was now nursing his own and he would defend her with his life without a moment's hesitation. and so it came about inevitably that while he had swung his white and scarlet legions of disguised clansmen in solid line against the governor and smashed his negro army without the loss of a single life, he was at the same moment proving himself defenseless against the silent and deadly purpose that had already shaped itself in the soul of this sleek, sensuous young animal. he was actually smiling with admiration at the beautiful picture he saw as she lifted the white pitcher, placed it on the crown of red hair, and crossed the street. she was still softly singing as she entered the room and arranged the flowers in pretty confusion. norton had lighted his lamp and seated himself at his desk again. she came close and looked over his shoulder at the piles of papers. "how on earth can you work in such a mess?" she asked with a laugh. "used to it," he answered without looking up from the final reading of his editorial. "what's that you've written?" the impudent greenish gray eyes bent closer. "oh, a little talk to the governor----" "i bet it's a hot one. peeler says you don't like the governor--read it to me!" the editor looked up at the mischievous young face and laughed aloud: "i'm afraid you wouldn't understand it." the girl joined in the laugh and the dimples in the reddish brown cheeks looked prettier than ever. "maybe i wouldn't," she agreed. he resumed his reading and she leaned over his chair until he felt the soft touch of her shoulder against his. she was staring at his paste-pot, extended her tapering, creamy finger and touched the paste. "what in the world's that?" she cried, giggling again. "paste." another peal of silly laughter echoed through the room. "lord, i thought it was mush and milk--i thought it was your supper!--don't you eat no supper?" "sometimes." the editor looked up with a slight frown and said: "run along now, child, i've got to work. and tell your mother i'm obliged for the flowers." "i'm not going back home----" "why not?" "i'm scared out there. i've come in town to live with my aunt." "well, tell her when you see her." "please let me clean this place up for you?" she pleaded. "not to-night." "to-morrow morning, then? i'll come early and every morning--please--let me--it's all i can do to thank you. i'll do it a month just to show you how pretty i can keep it and then you can pay me if you want me. it's a bargain, isn't it?" the editor smiled, hesitated, and said: "all right--every morning at seven." "thank you, major--good night!" she paused at the door and her white teeth gleamed in the shadows. she turned and tripped down the stairs, humming again the strangely appealing song she had sung at the well. chapter iii a beast awakes within a week norton bitterly regretted the arrangement he had made with cleo. not because she had failed to do her work properly, but precisely because she was doing it so well. she had apparently made it the sole object of her daily thought and the only task to which she devoted her time. he couldn't accustom his mind to the extraordinary neatness with which she kept the office. the clean floor, the careful arrangement of the chairs, the neat piles of exchanges laid on a table she had placed beside his desk, and the vase of fresh flowers he found each morning, were constant reminders of her personality which piqued his curiosity and disturbed his poise. he had told her to come at seven every morning. it was his habit to reach the office and begin reading the exchanges by eight-thirty and he had not expected to encounter her there. she had always managed, however, to linger over her morning tasks until his arrival, and never failed to greet him pleasantly and ask if there were anything else she could do. she also insisted on coming at noon to fill his pitcher and again just before supper to change the water in the vase of flowers. at this last call she always tried to engage him in a few words of small talk. at first this program made no impression on his busy brain except that she was trying to prove her value as a servant. gradually, however, he began to notice that her dresses were cut with remarkable neatness for a girl of her position and that she showed a rare talent in selecting materials becoming to her creamy yellow skin and curling red hair. he observed, too, that she had acquired the habit of hanging about his desk when finishing her tasks and had a queer way of looking at him and laughing. she began to make him decidedly uncomfortable and he treated her with indifference. no matter how sullen the scowl with which he greeted her, she was always smiling and humming snatches of strange songs. he sought for an excuse to discharge her and could find none. she had the instincts of a perfect servant--intelligent, careful and loyal. she never blundered over the papers on his desk. she seemed to know instinctively what was worthless and what was valuable, and never made a mistake in rearranging the chaotic piles of stuff he left in his wake. he thought once for just a moment of the possibility of her loyalty to the negro race. she might in that case prove a valuable spy to the governor and his allies. he dismissed the idea as preposterous. she never associated with negroes if she could help it and apparently was as innocent as a babe of the nature of the terrific struggle in which he was engaged with the negroid government of the state. and yet she disturbed him deeply and continuously, as deeply sometimes when absent as when present. why? he asked himself the question again and again. why should he dislike her? she did her work promptly and efficiently, and for the first time within his memory the building was really fit for human habitation. at last he guessed the truth and it precipitated the first battle of his life with the beast that slumbered within. feeling her physical nearness more acutely than usual at dusk and noting that she had paused in her task near his desk, he slowly lifted his eyes from the paper he was reading and, before she realized it, caught the look on her face when off guard. the girl was in love with him. it was as clear as day now that he had the key to her actions the past week. for this reason she had come and for this reason she was working with such patience and skill. his first impulse was one of rage. he had little of the vanity of the male animal that struts before the female. his pet aversion was the man of his class who lowered himself to vulgar association with such girls. the fact that, at this time in the history of the south, such intrigues were common made his determination all the more bitter as a leader of his race to stand for its purity. he suddenly swung in his chair, determined to dismiss her at once with as few words as possible. she leaped gracefully back with a girlish laugh, so soft, low and full of innocent surprise, the harsh words died on his lips. "lordy, major," she cried, "how you scared me! i thought you had a fit. did a pin stick you--or maybe a flea bit you?" she leaned against the mantel laughing, her white teeth gleaming. he hesitated a moment, his eyes lingered on the graceful pose of her young figure, his ear caught the soft note of friendly tenderness in her voice and he was silent. "what's the matter?" she asked, stepping closer. "nothing." "well, you made an awful fuss about it!" "just thought of something--suddenly----" "i thought you were going to bite my head off and then that something bit you!" again she laughed and walked slowly to the door, her greenish eyes watching him with studied carelessness, as a cat a mouse. every movement of her figure was music, her smile contagious, and, by a subtle mental telepathy, she knew that the man before her felt it, and her heart was singing a savage song of triumph. she could wait. she had everything to gain and nothing to lose. she belonged to the pariah world of the negro. her love was patient, joyous, insistent, unconquerable. it was unusually joyous to-night because she felt without words that the mad desires that burned a living fire in every nerve of her young body had scorched the man she had marked her own from the moment she had first laid eyes on his serious, aristocratic face--for back of every hysterical cry that came from her lips that night in the shadows beside old peeler's house lay the sinister purpose of a mad love that had leaped full grown from the deeps of her powerful animal nature. she paused in the doorway and softly said: "good night." the tone of her voice was a caress and the bold eyes laughed a daring challenge straight into his. he stared at her a moment, flushed, turned pale and answered in a strained voice: "good night, cleo." but it was not a good night for him. it was a night never to be forgotten. until after twelve he walked beneath the stars and fought the beast--the beast with a thousand heads and a thousand legs; the beast that had been bred in the bone and sinew of generations of ancestors, wilful, cruel, courageous conquerors of the world. before its ravenous demands the words of mother, teacher, priest and lawgiver were as chaff before the whirlwind--the beast demanded his own! peace came at last with the vision of a baby's laughing face peeping at him from the arms of a frail little mother. he made up his mind and hurried home. he would get rid of this girl to-morrow and never again permit her shadow to cross his pathway. with other men of more sluggish temperament, position, dignity, the responsibility of leadership, the restraints of home and religion might be the guarantee of safety under such temptations. he didn't propose to risk it. he understood now why he was so nervous and distracted in her presence. the mere physical proximity to such a creature, vital, magnetic, unmoral, beautiful and daring, could only mean one thing to a man of his age and inheritance--a temptation so fierce that yielding could only be a question of time and opportunity. and when he told her the next morning that she must not come again she was not surprised, but accepted his dismissal without a word of protest. with a look of tenderness she merely said: "i'm sorry." "yes," he went on curtly, "you annoy me; i can't write while you are puttering around, and i'm always afraid you'll disturb some of my papers." she laughed in his face, a joyous, impudent, good-natured, ridiculous laugh, that said more eloquently than words: "i understand your silly excuse. you're afraid of me. you're a big coward. don't worry, i can wait. you'll come to me. and if not, i'll find you--for i shall be near--and now that you know and fear, i shall be very near!" she moved shyly to the door and stood framed in its white woodwork, an appealing picture of dumb regret. she had anticipated this from the first. and from the moment she threw the challenge into his eyes the night before, saw him flush and pale beneath it, she knew it must come at once, and was prepared. there was no use to plead and beg or argue. it would be a waste of breath with him in this mood. besides, she had already found a better plan. so when he began to try to soften his harsh decision with kindly words she only smiled in the friendliest possible way, stepped back to his desk, extended her hand, and said: "please let me know if you need me. i'll do anything on earth for you, major. good-by." it was impossible to refuse the gracefully outstretched hand. the southern man had been bred from the cradle to the most intimate and friendly personal relations with the black folks who were servants in the house. yet the moment he touched her hand, felt its soft warm pressure and looked into the depths of her shining eyes he wished that he had sent her away with downright rudeness. but it was impossible to be rude with this beautiful young animal that purred at his side. he started to say something harsh, she laughed and he laughed. she held his hand clasped in hers for a moment and slowly said: "i haven't done anything wrong, have i, major?" "no." "you are not mad at me for anything?" "no, certainly not." "i wonder why you won't let me work here?" she looked about the room and back at him, speaking slowly, musingly, with an impudence that left little doubt in his mind that she suspected the real reason and was deliberately trying to tease him. he flushed, hurriedly withdrew his hand and replied carelessly: "you bother me--can't work when you're fooling around." "all right, good-bye." he turned to his work and she was gone. he was glad she was out of his sight and out of his life forever. he had been a fool to allow her in the building at all. he could concentrate his mind now on his fight with the governor. chapter iv the arrest the time had come in norton's fight when he was about to be put to a supreme test. the governor was preparing the most daring and sensational movement of his never-to-be-forgotten administration. the audacity and thoroughness with which the klan had disarmed and made ridiculous his army of fifty thousand negroes was at first a stunning blow. in vain schlitz stormed and pleaded for national aid. "you must ask for federal troops without a moment's delay," he urged desperately. the scalawag shook his head with quiet determination. "congress, under the iron rule of stevens, will send them, i grant you----" "then why hesitate?" "because their coming would mean that i have been defeated on my own soil, that my administration of the state is a failure." "well, isn't it?" "no; i'll make good my promises to the men in washington who have backed me. they are preparing to impeach the president, remove him from office and appoint a dictator in his stead. i'll show them that i can play my part in the big drama, too. i am going to deliver this state bound hand and foot into their hands, with a triumphant negro electorate in the saddle, or i'll go down in ignominious defeat." "you'll go down, all right--without those troops--mark my word," cried the carpetbagger. "all right, i'll go down flying my own flag." "you're a fool!" schlitz roared. "union troops are our only hope!" his excellency kept his temper. the little ferret eyes beneath their bushy brows were drawn to narrow lines as he slowly said: "on the other hand, my dear schlitz, i don't think i could depend on federal troops if they were here." "no?" was the indignant sneer. "frankly i do not," was the even answer. "federal officers have not shown themselves very keen about executing the orders of reconstruction governors. they have often pretended to execute them and in reality treated us with contempt. they hold, in brief, that they fought to preserve the union, not to make negroes rule over white men! the task before us is not to their liking. i don't trust them for a moment. i have a better plan----" "what?" "i propose to raise immediately an army of fifty thousand loyal white men, arm and drill them without delay----" "where'll you get them?" schlitz cried incredulously. "i'll find them if i have to drag the gutters for every poor white scamp in the state. they'll be a tough lot, maybe, but they'll make good soldiers. a soldier is a man who obeys orders, draws his pay, and asks no questions----" "and then what?" "and then, sir!----" the governor's leathery little face flushed as he sprang to his feet and paced the floor of his office in intense excitement. "i'll tell you what then!" schlitz cried with scorn. the pacing figure paused and eyed his tormentor, lifting his shaggy brows: "yes?" "and then," the carpetbagger answered, "the ku klux klan will rise in a night, jump on your mob of ragamuffins, take their guns and kick them back into the gutter." "perhaps," the governor said, musingly, "if i give them a chance! but i won't!" "you won't? how can you prevent it?" "very simply. i'll issue a proclamation suspending the _writ_ of _habeas corpus_----" "but you have no right," schlitz gasped. the ex-scullion had been studying law the past two years and aspired to the supreme court bench. "my right is doubtful, but it will go in times of revolution. i'll suspend the _writ_, arrest the leaders of the klan without warrant, put them in jail and hold them there without trial until the day after the election." schlitz's eyes danced as he sprang forward and extended his fat hand to the scalawag: "governor, you're a great man! only a great mind would dare such a plan. but do you think your life will be safe?" the little figure was drawn erect and the ferret eyes flashed: "the governor of a mighty commonwealth--they wouldn't dare lift their little finger against me." schlitz shook his head dubiously. "a pretty big job in times of peace--to suspend the civil law, order wholesale arrests without warrants by a ragged militia and hold your men without trial----" "i like the job!" was the quick answer. "i'm going to show the smart young man who edits the paper in this town that he isn't running the universe." again the adventurer seized the hand of his chief: "governor, you're a great man! i take my hat off to you, sir." his excellency smiled, lifted his sloping shoulders, moistened his thin lips and whispered: "not a word now to a living soul until i strike----" "i understand, sir, not a word," the carpetbagger replied in low tones as he nervously fumbled his hat and edged his way out of the room. the editor received the governor's first move in the game with contempt. it was exactly what he had expected--this organization of white renegades, thieves, loafers, cut-throats, and deserters. it was the last resort of desperation. every day, while these dirty ignorant recruits were being organized and drilled, he taunted the governor over the personnel of his "loyal" army. he began the publication of the history of its officers and men. these biographical stories were written with a droll humor that kept the whole state in a good-humored ripple of laughter and inspired the convention that nominated a complete white man's ticket to renewed enthusiasm. and then the bolt from the blue--the governor's act of supreme madness! as the editor sat at his desk writing an editorial congratulating the state on the brilliant ticket that the white race had nominated and predicting its triumphant election, in spite of negroes, thieves, cut-throats, scalawags and carpetbaggers, a sudden commotion on the sidewalk in front of his office stopped his pencil in the midst of an unfinished word. he walked to the window and looked out. by the flickering light of the street lamp he saw an excited crowd gathering in the street. a company of the governor's new guard had halted in front. an officer ripped off the palings from the picket fence beside the building and sent a squad of his men to the rear. the tramp of heavy feet on the stairs was heard and the dirty troopers crowded into the editor's room, muskets in hand, cocked, and their fingers on the triggers. norton quietly drew the pencil from his ear, smiled at the mottled group of excited men, and spoke in his slow drawl: "and why this excitement, gentlemen?" the captain stepped forward: "are you major daniel norton?" "i am, sir." "you're my prisoner." "show your warrant!" was the quick challenge. "i don't need one, sir." "indeed! and since when is this state under martial law?" "will you go peaceable?" the captain asked roughly. "when i know by whose authority you make this arrest." the editor walked close to the officer, drew himself erect, his hands clenched behind his back and held the man's eye for a moment with a cold stare. the captain hesitated and drew a document from his pocket. the editor scanned it hastily and suddenly turned pale: "a proclamation suspending the _writ_ of _habeas corpus_--impossible!" the captain lifted his dirty palms: "i reckon you can read!" "oh, yes, i can read it, captain--still it's impossible. you can't suspend the law of gravitation by saying so on a scrap of paper----" "you are ready to go?" the editor laughed: "certainly, certainly--with pleasure, i assure you." the captain lifted his hand and his men lowered their guns. the editor seized a number of blank writing pads, a box of pencils, put on his hat and called to his assistants: "i'm moving my office temporarily to the county jail, boys. it's quieter over there. i can do better work. send word to my home that i'm all right and tell my wife not to worry for a minute. every man to his post now and the liveliest paper ever issued! and on time to the minute." the printers had crowded into the room and a ringing cheer suddenly startled the troopers. the foreman held an ugly piece of steel in his hand and every man seemed to have hold of something. "give the word, chief!" the foreman cried. the editor smiled: "thanks, boys, i understand. go back to your work. you can help best that way." the men dropped their weapons and crowded to the door, jeering and howling in derision at the awkward squad as they stumbled down the stairs after their commander, who left the building holding tightly to the editor's arm, as if at any moment he expected an escape or a rescue. the procession wended its way to the jail behind the court house through a crowd of silent men who merely looked at the prisoner, smiled and nodded to him over the heads of his guard. an ominous quiet followed the day's work. the governor was amazed at the way his sensational coup was received. he had arrested and thrown into jail without warrant the leaders of the white party in every county in the state. he was absolutely sure that these men were the leaders of the ku klux klan, the one invisible but terrible foe he really feared. he had expected bluster, protests, mass meetings and fiery resolutions. instead his act was received with a silence that was uncanny. in vain his carpetbagger lieutenant congratulated him on the success of his napoleonic move. his little ferret eyes snapped with suppressed excitement. "but what the devil is the meaning of this silence, schlitz?" he asked with a tremor. "they're stunned, i tell you. it was a master stroke. they're a lot of cowards and sneaks, these night raiders, anyhow. it only took a bold act of authority to throw them into a panic." the scalawag shook his head thoughtfully: "doesn't look like a panic to me--i'm uneasy----" "the only possible mistake you've made was the arrest of norton." "yes, i know public sentiment in the north don't like an attempt to suppress free speech, but i simply had to do it. damn him, i've stood his abuse as long as i'm going to. besides his dirty sheet is at the bottom of all our trouble." when the governor scanned his copy of the next morning's _eagle and phoenix_ his feeling of uneasiness increased. instead of the personal abuse he had expected from the young firebrand, he read a long, carefully written editorial reviewing the history of the great _writ_ of _habeas corpus_ in the evolution of human freedom. the essay closed with the significant statement that no governor in the records of the state or the colony had ever dared to repeal or suspend this guarantee of anglo-saxon liberty--not even for a moment during the chaos of the civil war. but the most disquieting feature of this editorial was the suggestive fact that it was set between heavy mourning lines and at the bottom of it stood a brief paragraph enclosed in even heavier black bands: "we regret to announce that the state is at present without a chief executive. our late unlamented governor passed away in a fit of insanity at three o'clock yesterday." when the little scalawag read the sarcastic obituary he paled for a moment and the hand which held the paper trembled so violently he was compelled to lay it on the table to prevent his secretary from noting his excitement. for the first time in the history of the state an armed guard was stationed at the door of the governor's mansion that night. the strange calm continued. no move was made by the negroid government to bring the imprisoned men to trial and apparently no effort was being made by the men inside the jails to regain their liberty. save that his editorials were dated from the county jail, no change had occurred in the daily routine of the editor's life. he continued his series of articles on the history of the state each day, setting them in heavy black mourning lines. each of these editorials ended with an appeal to the patriotism of the reader. and the way in which he told the simple story of each step achieved in the blood-marked struggle for liberty had a punch in it that boded ill for the little man who had set himself the task of dictatorship for a free people. no reference was made in the _eagle and phoenix_ to the governor. he was dead. the paper ignored his existence. each day of this ominous peace among his enemies increased the terror which had gripped the little scalawag from the morning he had read his first obituary. the big black rules down the sides of those editorials seemed a foot wide now when he read them. twice he seated himself at his desk to order the editor's release and each time cringed and paused at the thought of the sneers with which his act would be greeted. he was now between the devil and the deep sea. he was afraid to retreat and dared not take the next step forward. if he could hold his ground for two weeks longer, and carry the election by the overwhelming majority he had planned, all would be well. such a victory, placing him in power for four years and giving him an obedient negro legislature once more to do his bidding, would strike terror to his foes and silence their assaults. the negro voters far outnumbered the whites, and victory was a certainty. and so he held his ground--until something happened! it began in a semi-tropical rain storm that swept the state. all day it poured in blinding torrents, the wind steadily rising in velocity until at noon it was scarcely possible to walk the streets. at eight o'clock the rain ceased to fall and by nine glimpses of the moon could be seen as the fast flying clouds parted for a moment. but for these occasional flashes of moonlight the night was pitch dark. the governor's company of nondescript soldiers in camp at the capitol, drenched with rain, had abandoned their water-soaked tents for the more congenial atmosphere of the low dives and saloons of the negro quarters. the minute the rain ceased to fall, norton's wife sent his supper--but to-night by a new messenger. cleo smiled at him across the little table as she skillfully laid the cloth, placed the dishes and set a tiny vase of roses in the center. "you see," she began, smiling, "your wife needed me and i'm working at your house now, major." "indeed!" "yes. mammy isn't well and i help with the baby. he's a darling. he loved me the minute i took him in my arms and hugged him." "no doubt." "his little mother likes me, too. i can pick her up in my arms and carry her across the room. you wouldn't think i'm so strong, would you?" "yes--i would," he answered slowly, studying her with a look of increasing wonder at her audacity. "you're not mad at me for being there, are you? you can't be--mammy wants me so"--she paused--"lordy, i forgot the letter!" she drew from her bosom a note from his wife. he looked curiously at a smudge where it was sealed and, glancing at the girl who was busy with the tray, opened and read: "i have just received a message from macarthur's daughter that your life is to be imperilled to-night by a dangerous raid. remember your helpless wife and baby. surely there are trusted men who can do such work. you have often told me that no wise general ever risks his precious life on the firing line. you are a soldier, and know this. please, dearest, do not go. baby and little mother both beg of you!" norton looked at cleo again curiously. he was sure that the seal of this note had been broken and its message read by her. "do you know what's in this note, cleo?" he asked sharply. "no, sir!" was the quick answer. he studied her again closely. she was on guard now. every nerve alert, every faculty under perfect control. he was morally sure she was lying and yet it could only be idle curiosity or jealous interest in his affairs that prompted the act. that she should be an emissary of the governor was absurd. "it's not bad news, i hope?" she asked with an eagerness that was just a little too eager. the man caught the false note and frowned. "no," he answered carelessly. "it's of no importance." he picked up a pad and wrote a hurried answer: "don't worry a moment, dear. i am not in the slightest danger. i know a soldier's duty and i'll not forget it. sleep soundly, little mother and baby mine!" he folded the sheet of paper and handed it to her without sealing it. she was watching him keenly. his deep, serious eyes no longer saw her. his body was there, but the soul was gone. the girl had never seen him in this mood. she was frightened. his life _was_ in danger. she knew it now by an unerring instinct. she would watch the jail and see what happened. she might do something to win his friendship, and then--the rest would be easy. her hand trembled as she took the note. "give this to mrs. norton at once," he said, "and tell her you found me well and happy in my work." "yes, sir," the soft voice answered mechanically as she picked up the tray and left the room watching him furtively. chapter v the rescue cleo hurried to the house, delivered the message, rocked the baby to sleep and quietly slipped through the lawn into the street and back to the jail. a single guard kept watch at the door. she saw him by a flash of moonlight and then passed so close she could have touched the long old-fashioned musket he carried loosely across his shoulder. the cat-like tread left no echo and she took her stand in the underbrush that had pushed its way closer and closer until its branches touched the rear walls of the jail. for two hours she stood amid the shadows, her keen young ears listening and her piercing eyes watching. again and again she counted the steps the sentinel made as he walked back and forth in front of the entrance to the jail. she knew from the sound that he passed the corner of the building for three steps in full view from her position, could she but see him through the darkness. twice she had caught a glimpse of his stupid face as the moon flashed a moment of light through a rift of clouds. "the lord help that idiot," she muttered, "if the major's men want to pass him to-night!" she turned with a sharp start. the bushes softly parted behind her and a stealthy step drew near. her heart stood still. she was afraid to breathe. they wouldn't hurt her if they only knew she was the major's friend. but if they found and recognized her as old peeler's half-breed daughter, they might kill her on the spot as a spy. she hadn't thought of this terrible possibility before. it was too late now to think. to run meant almost certain death. she flattened her figure against the wall of the jail and drew the underbrush close completely covering her form. she stood motionless and as near breathless as possible until the two men who were approaching a step at a time had passed. at the corner of the jail they stopped within three feet of her. she could hear every word of their conference. "now, mac, do as i tell you," a voice whispered. "jump on him from behind as he passes the corner and get him in the gills." "i understand." "choke him stiff until i get something in his mouth." "ah, it's too easy. i'd like a little excitement." "we'll get it before morning----" "sh! what's that?" "i didn't hear anything!" "something moved." a bush had slipped from cleo's hand. she gripped the others with desperation. ten minutes passed amid a death-like silence. a hundred times she imagined the hand of one of these men feeling for her throat. at last she drew a deep breath. the men began to move step by step toward the doomed sentinel. they were standing beside the front corner of the jail now waiting panther-like for their prey. they allowed him to pass twice. he stopped at the end of his beat, blew his nose and spoke to himself: "god, what a lonely night!" the girl heard him turn, his feet measure three steps on his return and stop with a dull thud. she couldn't see, but she could feel through the darkness the grip of those terrible fingers on his throat. the only sound made was the dull thud of his body on the wet ground. in two minutes they had carried him into the shadows of a big china tree in the rear and tied him to the trunk. she could hear their sharp order: "break those cords now or dare to open your mouth and, no matter what happens, we'll kill you first--just for luck." in ten minutes they had reported the success of their work to their comrades who were waiting and the men who had been picked for their dangerous task surrounded the jail and slowly took up their appointed places in the shadows. the attacking group stopped for their final instructions not five feet from the girl's position. a flash of moonlight and she saw them--six grim white and scarlet figures wearing spiked helmets from which fell a cloth mask to their shoulders. their big revolvers were buckled on the outside of their disguises and each man's hand rested on the handle. one of them quietly slipped his robe from his shoulders, removed his helmet, put on the sentinel's coat and cap, seized his musket and walked to the door of the jail. she heard him drop the butt of the gun on the flagstone at the steps and call: "hello, jailer!" some one stirred inside. it was not yet one o'clock and the jailer who had been to a drinking bout with the soldiers had not gone to bed. in his shirt sleeves he thrust his head out the door: "who is it?" "the guard, sir." "well, what the devil do you want?" "can't ye gimme a drink of somethin'? i'm soaked through and i've caught cold----" "all right, in a minute," was the gruff reply. the girl could hear the soft tread of the shrouded figures closing in on the front door. a moment more and it opened. the voice inside said: "here you are!" the words had scarcely passed his lips, and there was another dull crash. a dozen masked clansmen hurled themselves into the doorway and rushed over the prostrate form of the half-drunken jailer. he was too frightened to call for help. he lay with his face downward, begging for his life. it was the work of a minute to take the keys from his trembling fingers, bind and gag him, and release norton. the whole thing had been done so quietly not even a dog had barked at the disturbance. again they stopped within a few feet of the trembling figure against the wall. the editor had now put on his disguise and stood in the centre of the group giving his orders as quietly as though he were talking to his printers about the form of his paper. "quick now, mac," she heard him say, "we've not a moment to lose. i want two pieces of scantling strong enough for a hangman's beam. push one of them out of the center window of the north end of the capitol building, the other from the south end. we'll hang the little scalawag on the south side and the carpetbagger on the north. we'll give them this grim touch of poetry at the end. your ropes have ready swinging from these beams. keep your men on guard there until i come." "all right, sir!" came the quick response. "my hundred picked men are waiting?" "on the turnpike at the first branch----" "good! the governor is spending the night at schlitz's place, three miles out. he has been afraid to sleep at home of late, i hear. we'll give the little man and his pal a royal escort for once as they approach the capitol--expect us within an hour." a moment and they were gone. the girl staggered from her cramped position and flew to the house. she couldn't understand it all, but she realized that if the governor were killed it meant possible ruin for the man she had marked her own. a light was still burning in the mother's room. she had been nervous and restless and couldn't sleep. she heard the girl's swift, excited step on the stairway and rushed to the door: "what is it? what has happened?" cleo paused for breath and gasped: "they've broken the jail open and he's gone with the ku klux to kill the governor!" "to kill the governor?" "yessum. he's got a hundred men waiting out on the turnpike and they're going to hang the governor from one of the capitol windows!" the wife caught the girl by the shoulders and cried: "who told you this?" "nobody. i saw them. i was passing the jail, heard a noise and went close in the dark. i heard the major give the orders to the men." "oh, my god!" the little mother groaned. "and they are going straight to the governor's mansion?" "no--no--he said the governor's out at schlitz's place, spending the night. they're going to kill him, too----" "then there's time to stop them--quick--can you hitch a horse?" "yessum!" "run to the stable, hitch my horse to the buggy and take a note i'll write to my grandfather, old governor carteret--you know where his place is--the big red brick house at the edge of town?" "yessum----" "his street leads into the turnpike--quick now--the horse and buggy!" the strong young body sprang down the steps three and four rounds at a leap and in five minutes the crunch of swift wheels on the gravel walk was heard. she sprang up the stairs, took the note from the frail, trembling little hand and bounded out of the house again. the clouds had passed and the moon was shining now in silent splendor on the sparkling refreshed trees and shrubbery. the girl was an expert in handling a horse. old peeler had at least taught her that. in five more minutes from the time she had left the house she was knocking furiously at the old governor's door. he was eighty-four, but a man of extraordinary vigor for his age. he came to the door alone in his night-dress, candle in hand, scowling at the unseemly interruption of his rest. "what is it?" he cried with impatience. "a note from mrs. norton." at the mention of her name the fine old face softened and then his eyes flashed: "she is ill?" "no, sir--but she wants you to help her." he took the note, placed the candle on the old-fashioned mahogany table in his hall, returned to his room for his glasses, adjusted them with deliberation and read its startling message. he spoke without looking up: "you know the road to schlitz's house?" "yes, sir, every foot of it." "i'll be ready in ten minutes." "we've no time to lose--you'd better hurry," the girl said nervously. the old man lifted his eyebrows: "i will. but an ex-governor of the state can't rush to meet the present governor in his shirt-tail--now, can he?" cleo laughed: "no, sir." the thin, sprightly figure moved quickly in spite of the eighty-four years and in less than ten minutes he was seated beside the girl and they were flying over the turnpike toward the schlitz place. "how long since those men left the jail?" the old governor asked roughly. "about a half-hour, sir." "give your horse the rein--we'll be too late, i'm afraid." the lines slacked over the spirited animal's back and he sprang forward as though lashed by the insult to his high breeding. the sky was studded now with stars sparkling in the air cleared by the rain, and the moon flooded the white roadway with light. the buggy flew over the beaten track for a mile, and as they suddenly plunged down a hill the old man seized both sides of the canopy top to steady his body as the light rig swayed first one way and then the other. "you're going pretty fast," he grumbled. "yes, you said to give him the reins." "but i didn't say to throw them on the horse's head, did i?" "no, sir," the girl giggled. "pull him in!" he ordered sharply. the strong young arms drew the horse suddenly down on his haunches and the old man lurched forward. "i didn't say pull him into the buggy," he growled. the girl suppressed another laugh. he was certainly a funny old man for all his eighty odd winters. she thought that he must have been a young devil at eighteen. "stop a minute!" he cried sharply. "what's that roaring?" cleo listened: "the wind in the trees, i think." "nothing of the sort--isn't this buffalo creek?" "yes, sir." "that's water we hear. the creek's out of banks. the storm has made the ford impassable. they haven't crossed this place yet. we're in time." the horse lifted his head and neighed. another answered from the woods and in a moment a white-masked figure galloped up to the buggy and spoke sharply: "you can't cross this ford--turn back." "are you one of norton's men?" the old man asked angrily. "none of your damned business!" was the quick answer. "i think it is, sir! i'm governor carteret. my age and services to this state entitle me to a hearing to-night. tell major norton i must speak to him immediately--immediately, sir!" his voice rose to a high note of imperious command. the horseman hesitated and galloped into the shadows. a moment later a tall shrouded figure on horseback slowly approached. "cut your wheel," the old governor said to the girl. he stepped from the buggy without assistance. "now turn round and wait for me." cleo obeyed, and the venerable statesman with head erect, his white hair and beard shining in the moonlight calmly awaited the approach of the younger man. norton dismounted and led his horse, the rein hanging loosely over his arm. "well, governor carteret"--the drawling voice was low and quietly determined. the white-haired figure suddenly stiffened: "don't insult me, sir, by talking through a mask--take that thing off your head." the major bowed and removed his mask. when the old man spoke again, his voice trembled with emotion, he stepped close and seized norton's arm: "my boy, have you gone mad?" "i think not," was the even answer. the deep brown eyes were holding the older man's gaze with a cold, deadly look. "were you ever arrested, governor, by the henchmen of a peanut politician and thrown into a filthy jail without warrant and held without trial at the pleasure of a master?" "no--by the living god!" "and if you had been, sir?" "i'd have killed him as i would a dog--i'd have shot him on sight--but you--you can't do this now, my boy--you carry the life of the people in your hands to-night! you are their chosen leader. the peace and dignity of a great commonwealth are in your care----" "i am asserting its outraged dignity against a wretch who has basely betrayed it." "even so, this is not the way. think of the consequences to-morrow morning. the president will be forced against his wishes to declare the state in insurrection. the army will be marched back into our borders and martial law proclaimed." "the state is under martial law--the _writ_ has been suspended." "but not legally, my boy. i know your provocation has been great--yes, greater than i could have borne in my day. i'll be honest with you, but you've had better discipline, my son. i belong to the old régime and an iron will has been my only law. you must live in the new age under new conditions. you must adjust yourself to these conditions." "the man who calls himself governor has betrayed his high trust," norton broke in with solemn emphasis. "he has forfeited his life. the people whom he has basely sold into bondage will applaud his execution. the klan to-night is the high court of a sovereign state and his death has been ordered." "i insist there's a better way. your klan is a resistless weapon if properly used. you are a maniac to-night. you are pulling your own house down over your head. the election is but a few weeks off. use your men as an army to force this election. the ballot is force--physical force. apply that force. your men can master that rabble of negroes on election day. drive them from the polls. they'll run like frightened sheep. their enfranchisement is a crime against civilization. every sane man in the north knows this. no matter how violent your methods, an election that returns the intelligent and decent manhood of a state to power against a corrupt, ignorant and vicious mob will be backed at last by the moral sentiment of the world. there's a fiercer vengeance to be meted out to your scalawag governor----" "what do you mean?" the younger man asked. "swing the power of your klan in solid line against the ballot-box at this election, carry the state, elect your legislature, impeach the governor, remove him from office, deprive him of citizenship and send him to the grave with the brand of shame on his forehead!" the leader lifted his somber face, and the older man saw that he was hesitating: "that's possible--yes----" the white head moved closer: "the only rational thing to do, my boy--come, i love you and i love my granddaughter. you've a great career before you. don't throw your life away to-night in a single act of madness. listen to an old man whose sands are nearly run"--a trembling arm slipped around his waist. "i appreciate your coming here to-night, governor, of course." "but if i came in vain, why at all?" there were tears in his voice now. "you must do as i say, my son--send those men home! i'll see the governor to-morrow morning and i pledge you my word of honor that i'll make him revoke that proclamation within an hour and restore the civil rights of the people. none of those arrests are legal and every man must be released." "he won't do it." "when he learns from my lips that i saved his dog's life to-night, he'll do it and lick my feet in gratitude. won't you trust me, boy?" the pressure of the old man's arm tightened and his keen eyes searched norton's face. the strong features were convulsed with passion, he turned away and the firm mouth closed with decision: "all right. i'll take your advice." the old governor was very still for a moment and his voice quivered with tenderness as he touched norton's arm affectionately: "you're a good boy, dan! i knew you'd hear me. god! how i envy you the youth and strength that's yours to fight this battle!" the leader blew a whistle and his orderly galloped up: "tell my men to go home and meet me to-morrow at one o'clock in the court house square, in their everyday clothes, armed and ready for orders. i'll dismiss the guard i left at the capitol." the white horseman wheeled and galloped away. norton quietly removed his disguise, folded it neatly, took off his saddle, placed the robe between the folds of the blanket and mounted his horse. the old governor waved to him: "my love to the little mother and that boy, tom, that you've named for me!" "yes, governor--good night." the tall figure on horseback melted into the shadows and in a moment the buggy was spinning over the glistening, moonlit track of the turnpike. when they reached the first street lamps on the edge of town, the old man peered curiously at the girl by his side. "you drive well, young woman," he said slowly. "who taught you?" "old peeler." "you lived on his place?" he asked quickly. "yes, sir." "what's your mother's name?" "lucy." "hm! i thought so." "why, sir?" "oh, nothing," was the gruff answer. "did you--did you know any of my people, sir?" she asked. he looked her squarely in the face, smiled and pursed his withered lips: "yes. i happen to be personally acquainted with your grandfather and he was something of a man in his day." [illustration: "'you are a maniac to-night.'"] chapter vi a traitor's ruse the old governor had made a correct guess on the line of action his little scalawag successor in high office would take when confronted by the crisis of the morning. the clansmen had left the two beams projecting through the windows of the north and south wings of the capitol. a hangman's noose swung from each beam's end. when his excellency drove into town next morning and received the news of the startling events of the night, he ordered a double guard of troops for his office and another for his house. old governor carteret called at ten o'clock and was ushered immediately into the executive office. no more striking contrast could be imagined between two men of equal stature. their weight and height were almost the same, yet they seemed to belong to different races of men. the scalawag official hurried to meet his distinguished caller--a man whose administration thirty years ago was famous in the annals of the state. the acting governor seemed a pigmy beside his venerable predecessor. the only prominent feature of the scalawag's face was his nose. its size should have symbolized strength, yet it didn't. it seemed to project straight in front in a way that looked ridiculous--as if some one had caught it with a pair of tongs, tweaked and pulled it out to an unusual length. it was elongated but not impressive. his mouth was weak, his chin small and retreating and his watery ferret eyes never looked any one straight in the face. the front of his head was bald and sloped backward at an angle. his hair was worn in long, thin, straight locks which he combed often in a vain effort to look the typical long-haired southern gentleman of the old school. his black broadcloth suit with a velvet collar and cuffs fitted his slight figure to perfection and yet failed to be impressive. the failure was doubtless due to his curious way of walking about a room. sometimes sideways like a crab or a crawfish, and when he sought to be impressive, straight forward with an obvious jerk and an effort to appear dignified. he was the kind of a man an old-fashioned negro, born and bred in the homes of the aristocratic régime of slavery, would always laugh at. his attempt to be a gentleman was so obvious a fraud it could deceive no one. "i am honored, governor carteret, by your call this morning," he cried with forced politeness. "i need the advice of our wisest men. i appreciate your coming." the old governor studied the scalawag for a moment calmly and said: "thank you." when shown to his seat the older man walked with the unconscious dignity of a man born to rule, the lines of his patrician face seemed cut from a cameo in contrast with the rambling nondescript features of the person who walked with a shuffle beside him. it required no second glance at the clean ruffled shirt with its tiny gold studs, the black string tie, the polished boots and gold-headed cane to recognize the real gentleman of the old school. and no man ever looked a second time at his roman nose and massive chin and doubted for a moment that he saw a man of power, of iron will and fierce passions. "i have called this morning, governor," the older man began with sharp emphasis, "to advise you to revoke at once your proclamation suspending the _writ_ of _habeas corpus_. your act was a blunder--a colossal blunder! we are not living in the dark ages, sir--even if you were elected by a negro constituency! your act is four hundred years out of date in the english-speaking world." the scalawag began his answer by wringing his slippery hands: "i realize, governor carteret, the gravity of my act. yet grave dangers call for grave remedies. you see from the news this morning the condition of turmoil into which reckless men have plunged the state." the old man rose, crossed the room and confronted the scalawag, his eyes blazing, his uplifted hand trembling with passion: "the breed of men with whom you are fooling have not submitted to such an act of tyranny from their rulers for the past three hundred years. your effort to set the negro up as the ruler of the white race is the act of a madman. revoke your order to-day or the men who opened that jail last night will hang you----" the governor laughed lamely: "a cheap bluff, sir, a schoolboy's threat!" the older man drew closer: "a cheap bluff, eh? well, when you say your prayers to-night, don't forget to thank your maker for two things--that he sent a storm yesterday that made buffalo creek impassable and that i reached its banks in time!" the little scalawag paled and his voice was scarcely a whisper: "why--why, what do you mean?" "that i reached the ford in time to stop a hundred desperate men who were standing there in the dark waiting for its waters to fall that they might cross and hang you from that beam's end you call a cheap bluff! that i stood there in the moonlight with my arm around their leader for nearly an hour begging, praying, pleading for your damned worthless life! they gave it to me at last because i asked it. no other man could have saved you. your life is mine to-day! but for my solemn promise to those men that you would revoke that order your body would be swinging at this moment from the capitol window--will you make good my promise?" "i'll--i'll consider it," was the waning answer. "yes or no?" "i'll think it over, governor carteret--i'll think it over," the trembling voice repeated. "i must consult my friends----" "i won't take that answer!" the old man thundered in his face. "revoke that proclamation here and now, or, by the lord god, i'll send a message to those men that'll swing you from the gallows before the sun rises to-morrow morning!" "i've got my troops----" "a hell of a lot of troops they are! where were they last night--the loafing, drunken cowards? you can't get enough troops in this town to save you. revoke that proclamation or take your chances!" the old governor seized his hat and walked calmly toward the door. the scalawag trembled, and finally said: "i'll take your advice, sir--wait a moment until i write the order." the room was still for five minutes, save for the scratch of the governor's pen, as he wrote his second famous proclamation, restoring the civil rights of the people. he signed and sealed the document and handed it to his waiting guest: "is that satisfactory?" the old man adjusted his glasses, read each word carefully, and replied with dignity: "perfectly--good morning!" the white head erect, the visitor left the executive chamber without a glance at the man he despised. the governor had given his word, signed and sealed his solemn proclamation, but he proved himself a traitor to the last. with the advice of his confederates he made a last desperate effort to gain his end of holding the leaders of the opposition party in jail by a quick shift of method. he wired orders to every jailer to hold the men until warrants were issued for their arrest by one of his negro magistrates in each county and wired instructions to the clerk of the court to admit none of them to bail no matter what amount offered. the charges on which these warrants were issued were, in the main, preposterous perjuries by the hirelings of the governor. there was no expectation that they would be proven in court. but if they could hold these prisoners until the election was over the little scalawag believed the klan could be thus intimidated in each district and the negro ticket triumphantly elected. the governor was explicit in his instructions to the clerk of the court in the capital county that under no conceivable circumstances should he accept bail for the editor of the _eagle and phoenix_. the governor's proclamation was issued at noon and within an hour a deputy sheriff appeared at norton's office and served his warrant charging the preposterous crime of "treason and conspiracy" against the state government. norton's hundred picked men were already lounging in the court house square. when the deputy appeared with his prisoner they quietly closed in around him and entered the clerk's room in a body. the clerk was dumfounded at the sudden packing of his place with quiet, sullen looking, armed men. their revolvers were in front and the men were nervously fingering the handles. the clerk had been ordered by the governor under no circumstances to accept bail, and he had promised with alacrity to obey. but he changed his mind at the sight of those revolvers. not a word was spoken by the men and the silence was oppressive. the frightened official mopped his brow and tried to leave for a moment to communicate with the capitol. he found it impossible to move from his desk. the men were jammed around him in an impenetrable mass. he looked over the crowd in vain for a friendly face. even the deputy who had made the arrest had been jostled out of the room and couldn't get back. the editor looked at the clerk steadily for a moment and quietly asked: "what amount of bail do you require?" the officer smiled wanly: "oh, major, it's just a formality with you, sir; a mere nominal sum of $ will be all right." "make out your bond," the editor curtly ordered. "my friends here will sign it." "certainly, certainly, major," was the quick answer. "have a seat, sir, while i fill in the blank." "i'll stand, thank you," was the quick reply. the clerk's pen flew while he made out the forbidden bail which set at liberty the arch enemy of the governor. when it was signed and the daring young leader quietly walked out the door, a cheer from a hundred men rent the air. the shivering clerk cowered in his seat over his desk and pretended to be very busy. in reality he was breathing a prayer of thanks to god for sparing his life and registering a solemn vow to quit politics and go back to farming. the editor hurried to his office and sent a message to each district leader of the klan to secure bail for the accused men in the same quiet manner. chapter vii the irony of fate his political battle won, norton turned his face homeward for a struggle in which victory would not come so easily. he had made up his mind that cleo should not remain under his roof another day. how much she really knew or understood of the events of the night he could only guess. he was sure she had heard enough of the plans of his men to make a dangerous witness against him if she should see fit to betray the facts to his enemies. yet he was morally certain that he could trust her with this secret. what he could not and would not do was to imperil his own life and character by a daily intimate association with this willful, impudent, smiling young animal. his one fear was the wish of his wife to keep her. in her illness she had developed a tyranny of love that brooked no interference with her whims. he had petted and spoiled her until it was well-nigh impossible to change the situation. the fear of her death was the sword that forever hung over his head. [illustration: "sitting astride her back, laughing his loudest."] he hoped that the girl was lying when she said his wife liked her. yet it was not improbable. her mind was still a child's. she could not think evil of any one. she loved the young and she loved grace and beauty wherever she saw it. she loved a beautiful cat, a beautiful dog, and always had taken pride in a handsome servant. it would be just like her to take a fancy to cleo that no argument could shake. he dreaded to put the thing to an issue--but it had to be done. it was out of the question to tell her the real truth. his heart sank within him as he entered his wife's room. mammy had gone to bed suffering with a chill. the doctors had hinted that she was suffering from an incurable ailment and that her days were numbered. her death might occur at any time. cleo was lying flat on a rug, the baby was sitting astride of her back, laughing his loudest at the funny contortions of her lithe figure. she would stop every now and then, turn her own laughing eyes on him and he would scream with joy. the little mother was sitting on the floor like a child and laughing at the scene. in a flash he realized that cleo had made herself, in the first few days she had been in his house, its dominant spirit. he paused in the doorway sobered by the realization. the supple young form on the floor slowly writhed on her back without disturbing the baby's sturdy hold, his little legs clasping her body tight. she drew his laughing face to her shoulder, smothering his laughter with kisses, and suddenly sprang to her feet, the baby astride her neck, and began galloping around the room. "w'oa! january, w'oa, sir!" she cried, galloping slowly at first and then prancing like a playful horse. her cheeks were flushed, eyes sparkling and red hair flying in waves of fiery beauty over her exquisite shoulders, every change of attitude a new picture of graceful abandon, every movement of her body a throb of savage music from some strange seductive orchestra hidden in the deep woods! its notes slowly stole over the senses of the man with such alluring power, that in spite of his annoyance he began to smile. the girl stopped, placed the child on the floor, ran to the corner of the room, dropped on all fours and started slowly toward him, her voice imitating the deep growl of a bear. "now the bears are going to get him!--boo-oo-oo." the baby screamed with delight. the graceful young she-bear capered around her victim from side to side, smelling his hands and jumping back, approaching and retreating, growling and pawing the floor, while with each movement the child shouted a new note of joy. the man, watching, wondered if this marvelous creamy yellow animal could get into an ungraceful position. the keen eyes of the young she-bear saw the boy had worn himself out with laughter and slowly approached her victim, tumbled his happy flushed little form over on the rug and devoured him with kisses. "don't, cleo--that's enough now!" the little mother cried, through her tears of laughter. "yessum--yessum--i'm just eatin' him up now--i'm done--and he'll be asleep in two minutes." she sprang to her feet, crushing the little form tenderly against her warm, young bosom, and walked past the man smiling into his face a look of triumph. the sombre eyes answered with a smile in spite of himself. could any man with red blood in his veins fight successfully a force like that? he heard the growl of the beast within as he stood watching the scene. the sight of the frail little face of his invalid wife brought him up against the ugly fact with a sharp pain. yet the moment he tried to broach the subject of discharging cleo, he hesitated, stammered and was silent. at last he braced himself with determination for the task. it was disagreeable, but it had to be done. the sooner the better. "you like this girl, my dear?" he said softly. "she's the most wonderful nurse i ever saw--the baby's simply crazy about her!" "yes, i see," he said soberly. "it's a perfectly marvellous piece of luck that she came the day she did. mammy was ready to drop. she's been like a fairy in the nursery from the moment she entered. the kiddy has done nothing but laugh and shriek with delight." "and you like her personally?" "i've just fallen in love with her! she's so strong and young and beautiful. she picks me up, laughing like a child, and carries me into the bathroom, carries me back and tucks me in bed as easily as she does the baby." "i'm sorry, my dear," he interrupted with a firm, hard note in his voice. "sorry--for what?" the blue eyes opened with astonishment. "because i don't like her, and her presence here may be very dangerous just now----" "dangerous--what on earth can you mean?" "to begin with that she's a negress----" "so's mammy--so's the cook--the man--every servant we've ever had--or will have----" "i'm not so sure of the last," the husband broke in with a frown. "what's dangerous about the girl, i'd like to know?" his wife demanded. "i said, to begin with, she's a negress. that's perhaps the least objectionable thing about her as a servant. but she has bad blood in her on her father's side. old peeler's as contemptible a scoundrel as i know in the county----" "the girl don't like him--that's why she left home." "did she tell you that?" he asked quizzically. "yes, and i'm sorry for her. she wants a good home among decent white people and i'm not going to give her up. i don't care what you say." the husband ignored the finality of this decision and went on with his argument as though she had not spoken. "old peeler is not only a low white scoundrel who would marry this girl's mulatto mother if he dared, but he is trying to break into politics as a negro champion. he denies it, but he is a henchman of the governor. i'm in a fight with this man to the death. there's not room for us both in the state----" "and you think this laughing child cares anything about the governor or his dirty politics? such a thing has never entered her head." "i'm not sure of that." "you're crazy, dan." "but i'm not so crazy, my dear, that i can't see that this girl's presence in our house is dangerous. she already knows too much about my affairs--enough, in fact, to endanger my life if she should turn traitor." "but she won't tell, i tell you--she's loyal--i'd trust her with my life, or yours, or the baby's, without hesitation. she proved her loyalty to me and to you last night." "yes, and that's just why she's so dangerous." he spoke slowly, as if talking to himself. "you can't understand, dear, i am entering now the last phase of a desperate struggle with the little scalawag who sits in the governor's chair for the mastery of this state and its life. the next two weeks and this election will decide whether white civilization shall live or a permanent negroid mongrel government, after the pattern of haiti and san domingo, shall be established. if we submit, we are not worth saving. we ought to die and our civilization with us! we are not going to submit, we are not going to die, we are going to win. i want you to help me now by getting rid of this girl." "i won't give her up. there's no sense in it. a man who fought four years in the war is not afraid of a laughing girl who loves his baby and his wife! i can't risk a green, incompetent girl in the nursery now. i can't think of breaking in a new one. i like cleo. she's a breath of fresh air when she comes into my room; she's clean and neat; she sings beautifully; her voice is soft and low and deep; i love her touch when she dresses me; the baby worships her--is all this nothing to you?" "is my work nothing to you?" he answered soberly. "bah! it's a joke! your work has nothing to do with this girl. she knows nothing, cares nothing for politics--it's absurd!" "my dear, you must listen to me now----" "i won't listen. i'll have my way about my servants. it's none of your business. look after your politics and let the nursery alone!" "please be reasonable, my love. i assure you i'm in dead earnest. the danger is a real one, or i wouldn't ask this of you--please----" "no--no--no--no!" she fairly shrieked. his voice was very quiet when he spoke at last: "i'm sorry to cross you in this, but the girl must leave to-night." the tones of his voice and the firm snap of his strong jaw left further argument out of the question and the little woman played her trump card. she sprang to her feet, pale with rage, and gave way to a fit of hysteria. he attempted to soothe her, in grave alarm over the possible effects on her health of such a temper. with a piercing scream she threw herself across the bed and he bent over her tenderly: "please, don't act this way!" her only answer was another scream, her little fists opening and closing like a bird's talons gripping the white counterpane in her trembling fingers. the man stood in helpless misery and sickening fear, bent low and whispered: "please, please, darling--it's all right--she can stay. i won't say another word. don't make yourself ill. please don't!" the sobbing ceased for a moment, and he added: "i'll go into the nursery and send her here to put you to bed." he turned to the door and met cleo entering. "miss jean called me?" she asked with a curious smile playing about her greenish eyes. "yes. she wishes you to put her to bed." the girl threw him a look of triumphant tenderness and he knew that she had heard and understood. chapter viii a new weapon from the moment the jail doors opened the governor felt the chill of defeat. with his armed guard of fifty thousand "loyal" white men he hoped to stem the rising tide of anglo-saxon fury. but the hope was faint. there was no assurance in its warmth. every leader he had arrested without warrant and held without bail was now a firebrand in a powder magazine. mass meetings, barbecues and parades were scheduled for every day by his enemies in every county. the state was ablaze with wrath from the mountains to the sea. the orators of the white race spoke with tongues of flame. the record of negro misrule under an african legislature was told with brutal detail and maddening effects. the state treasury was empty, the school funds had been squandered, millions in bonds had been voted and stolen and the thieves had fled the state in terror. all this the governor knew from the first, but he also knew that an ignorant negro majority would ask no questions and believe no evil of their allies. the adventurers from the north had done their work of alienating the races with a thoroughness that was nothing short of a miracle. the one man on earth who had always been his best friend, every negro now held his bitterest foe. he would consult his old master about any subject under the sun and take his advice against the world except in politics. he would come to the back door, beg him for a suit of clothes, take it with joyous thanks, put it on and march straight to the polls and vote against the hand that gave it. he asked no questions as to his own ticket. it was all right if it was against the white man of the south. the few scalawags who trained with negroes to get office didn't count. the negro had always despised such trash. the governor knew his solid black constituency would vote like sheep, exactly as they were told by their new teachers. but the nightmare that disturbed him now, waking or dreaming, was the fear that this full negro vote could not be polled. the daring speeches by the enraged leaders of the white race were inflaming the minds of the people beyond the bounds of all reason. these leaders had sworn to carry the election and dared the governor to show one of his scurvy guards near a polling place on the day they should cast their ballots. the ku klux klan openly defied all authority. their men paraded the county roads nightly and ended their parades by lining their horsemen in cavalry formation, galloping through the towns and striking terror to every denizen of the crowded negro quarters. in vain the governor issued frantic appeals for the preservation of the sanctity of the ballot. his speeches in which he made this appeal were openly hissed. the ballot was no longer a sacred thing. the time was in american history when it was the badge of citizen kingship. at this moment the best men in the state were disfranchised and hundreds of thousands of negroes, with the instincts of the savage and the intelligence of the child, had been given the ballot. never in the history of civilization had the ballot fallen so low in any republic. the very atmosphere of a polling place was a stench in the nostrils of decent men. the determination of the leaders of the klan to clear the polls by force if need be was openly proclaimed before the day of election. the philosophy by which they justified this stand was simple, and unanswerable, for it was founded in the eternal verities. men are not made free by writing a constitution on a piece of paper. freedom is inside. a ballot is only a symbol. that symbol stands for physical force directed by the highest intelligence. the ballot, therefore, is force--physical force. back of every ballot is a bayonet and the red blood of the man who holds it. therefore, a minority submits to the verdict of a majority at the polls. if there is not an intelligent, powerful fighting unit back of the scrap of paper that falls into a box, there's nothing there and that man's ballot has no more meaning than if it had been deposited by a trained pig or a dog. on the day of this fated election the little scalawag governor sat in the capitol, the picture of nervous despair. since sunrise his office had been flooded with messages from every quarter of the state begging too late for troops. everywhere his henchmen were in a panic. from every quarter the stories were the same. hundreds of determined, silent white men had crowded the polls, taken their own time to vote and refused to give an inch of room to the long line of panic-stricken negroes who looked on helplessly. at five o'clock in the afternoon less than a hundred blacks had voted in the entire township in which the capital was located. norton was a candidate for the legislature on the white ticket, and the governor had bent every effort to bring about his defeat. the candidate against him was a young negro who had been a slave of his father, and now called himself andy norton. andy had been a house-servant, was exactly the major's age and they had been playmates before the war. he was endowed with a stentorian voice and a passion for oratory. he had acquired a reputation for smartness, was good-natured, loud-mouthed, could tell a story, play the banjo and amuse a crowd. he had been norton's body-servant the first year of the war. the governor relied on andy to swing a resistless tide of negro votes for the ticket and sweep the county. under ordinary conditions, he would have done it. but before the hurricane of fury that swept the white race on the day of the election, the voice of andy was as one crying in the wilderness. he had made three speeches to his crowd of helpless black voters who hadn't been able to vote. the governor sent him an urgent message to mass his men and force their way to the ballot box. the polling place was under a great oak that grew in the square beside the court house. a space had been roped off to guard the approach to the boxes. since sunrise this space had been packed solid with a living wall of white men. occasionally a well-known old negro of good character was allowed to pass through and vote and then the lines closed up in solid ranks. one by one a new white man was allowed to take his place in this wall and gradually he was moved up to the tables on which the boxes rested, voted, and slowly, like the movement of a glacier, the line crowded on in its endless circle. the outer part of this wall of defense which the white race had erected around the polling place was held throughout the day by the same men--twenty or thirty big, stolid, dogged countrymen, who said nothing, but every now and then winked at each other. when andy received the governor's message he decided to distinguish himself. it was late in the day, but not too late perhaps to win by a successful assault. he picked out twenty of his strongest buck negroes, moved them quietly to a good position near the polls, formed them into a flying wedge, and, leading the assault in person with a loud good-natured laugh, he hurled them against the outer line of whites. to andy's surprise the double line opened and yielded to his onset. he had forced a dozen negroes into the ranks when to his surprise the white walls suddenly closed on the blacks and held them as in a steel trap. and then, quick as a flash, something happened. it was a month before the negroes found out exactly what it was. they didn't see it, they couldn't hear it, but they knew it happened. they _felt_ it. and the silent swiftness with which it happened was appalling. every negro who had penetrated the white wall suddenly leaped into the air with a yell of terror. the white line opened quickly and to a man the negro wedge broke and ran for life, each black hand clasped in agony on the same spot. andy's voice rang full and clear above his men's: "goddermighty, what's dat!" "dey shot us, man!" screamed a negro. the thing was simple, almost childlike in its silliness, but it was tremendously effective. the white guard in the outer line had each been armed with a little piece of shining steel three inches long, fixed in a handle--a plain shoemaker's pegging awl. at a given signal they had wheeled and thrust these awls into the thick flesh of every negro's thigh. the attack was so sudden, so unexpected, and the pain so sharp, so terrible, for the moment every negro's soul was possessed with a single idea, how to save his particular skin and do it quickest. all _esprit de corps_ was gone. it was each for himself and the devil take the hindmost! some of them never stopped running until they cleared buffalo creek, three miles out of town. andy's ambitions were given a violent turn in a new direction. before the polls closed at sundown he appeared at the office of the _eagle and phoenix_ with a broad grin on his face and asked to see the major. he entered the editor's room bowing and scraping, his white teeth gleaming. norton laughed and quietly said: "well, andy?" "yassah, major, i des drap roun' ter kinder facilitate ye, sah, on de 'lection, sah." "it does look like the tide is turning, andy." "yassah, hit sho' is turnin', but hit's gotter be a purty quick tide dat kin turn afore i does, sah." "yes?" "yassah! and i drap in, major, ter 'splain ter you dat i'se gwine ter gently draw outen politics, yassah. i makes up my min' ter hitch up wid de white folks agin. brought up by de nortons, sah, i'se always bin a gemman, an' i can't afford to smut my hands wid de crowd dat i been 'sociating wid. i'se glad you winnin' dis 'lection, sah, an' i'se glad you gwine ter de legislature--anyhow de office gwine ter stay in de norton fambly--an' i'se satisfied, sah. i know you gwine ter treat us far an' squar----" "if i'm elected i'll try to represent all the people, andy," the major said gravely. "if you'se 'lected?" andy laughed. "lawd, man, you'se dar right now! i kin des see you settin' in one dem big chairs! i knowed it quick as i feel dat thing pop fro my backbone des now! yassah, i done resigned, an' i thought, major, maybe you get a job 'bout de office or 'bout de house fer er young likely nigger 'bout my size?" the editor smiled: "nothing just now, andy, but possibly i can find a place for you in a few days." "thankee, sah. i'll hold off den till you wants me. i'll des pick up er few odd jobs till you say de word--you won't fergit me?" "no. i'll remember." "an', major, ef you kin des advance me 'bout er dollar on my wages now, i kin cheer myself up ter-night wid er good dinner. dese here loafers done bust me. i hain't got er nickel lef!" the major laughed heartily and "advanced" his rival for legislative honors a dollar. andy bowed to the floor: "any time you'se ready, major, des lemme know, sah. you'll fin' me a handy man 'bout de house, sah." "all right, andy, i may need you soon." "yassah, de sooner de better, sah," he paused in the door. "dey gotter get up soon in de mornin', sah, ter get erhead er us nortons--yassah, dat dey is----" a message, the first news of the election, cut andy's gabble short. it spelled victory! one after another they came from every direction--north, south, east and west--each bringing the same magic word--victory! victory! a state redeemed from negroid corruption! a great state once more in the hands of the children of the men who created it! it had only been necessary to use force to hold the polls from hordes of ignorant negroes in the densest of the black counties. the white majorities would be unprecedented. the enthusiasm had reached the pitch of mania in these counties. they would all break records. a few daring men in the black centres of population, where negro rule was at its worst, had guarded the polls under his direction armed with the simple device of a shoemaker's awl, and in every case where it had been used the resulting terror had cleared the place of every negro. in not a single case where this novel weapon had been suddenly and mysteriously thrust into a black skin was there an attempt to return to the polls. a long-suffering people, driven at last to desperation, had met force with force and wrested a commonwealth from the clutches of the vandals who were looting and disgracing it. now he would call the little scalawag to the bar of justice. chapter ix the words that cost it was after midnight when norton closed his desk and left for home. bonfires were burning in the squares, bands were playing and hundreds of sober, gray-haired men were marching through the streets, hand in hand with shouting boys, cheering, cheering, forever cheering! he had made three speeches from the steps of the _eagle and phoenix_ building and the crowds still stood there yelling his name and cheering. broad-shouldered, bronzed men had rushed into his office one by one that night, hugged him and wrung his hands until they ached. he must have rest. the strain had been terrific and in the reaction he was pitifully tired. the lights were still burning in his wife's room. she was waiting with cleo for his return. he had sent her the bulletins as they had come and she knew the result of the election almost as soon as he. it was something very unusual that she should remain up so late. the doctor had positively forbidden it since her last attack. "cleo and i were watching the procession," she exclaimed. "i never saw so many crazy people since i was born." "they've had enough to drive them mad the past two years, god knows," he answered, as his eye rested on cleo, who was dressed in an old silk kimono belonging to his wife, which a friend of her grandfather had sent her from japan. she saw his look of surprise and said casually: "i gave it to cleo. i never liked the color. cleo's to stay in the house hereafter. i've moved her things from the servants' quarters to the little room in the hall. i want her near me at night. you stay so late sometimes." he made no answer, but the keen eyes of the girl saw the silent rage flashing from his eyes and caught the look of fierce determination as he squared his shoulders and gazed at her for a moment. she knew that he would put her out unless she could win his consent. she had made up her mind to fight and never for a moment did she accept the possibility of defeat. he muttered an incoherent answer to his wife, kissed her good night, and went to his room. he sat down in the moonlight beside the open window, lighted a cigar and gazed out on the beautiful lawn. his soul raged in fury over the blind folly of his wife. if the devil himself had ruled the world he could not have contrived more skillfully to throw this dangerous, sensuous young animal in his way. it was horrible! he felt himself suffocating with the thought of its possibilities! he rose and paced the floor and sat down again in helpless rage. the door softly opened and closed and the girl stood before him in the white moonlight, her rounded figure plainly showing against the shimmering kimono as the breeze through the window pressed the delicate silk against her flesh. he turned on her angrily: "how dare you?" [illustration: "'how dare you?'"] "why, i haven't done anything, major!" she answered softly. "i just came in to pick up that basket of trash i forgot this morning"--she spoke in low, lingering tones. he rose, walked in front of her, looked her in the eye and quietly said: "you're lying." "why, major----" "you know that you are lying. now get out of this room--and stay out of it, do you hear?" "yes, i hear," came the answer that was half a sob. "and make up your mind to leave this place to-morrow, or i'll put you out, if i have to throw you head foremost into the street." she took a step backward, shook her head and the mass of tangled red hair fell from its coil and dropped on her shoulders. her eyes were watching him now with dumb passionate yearning. "get out!" he ordered brutally. a moment's silence and a low laugh was her answer. "why do you hate me?" she asked the question with a note of triumph. "i don't," he replied with a sneer. "then you're afraid of me!" "afraid of you?" "yes." he took another step and towered above her, his fists clenched and his whole being trembled with anger: "i'd like to strangle you!" she flung back her rounded throat, shook the long waves of hair down her back and lifted her eyes to his: "do it! there's my throat! i want you to. i wouldn't mind dying that way!" he drew a deep breath and turned away. with a sob the straight figure suddenly crumpled on the floor, a scarlet heap in the moonlight. she buried her face in her hands, choked back the cries, fought for self-control, and then looked up at him through her eyes half blinded by tears: "oh, what's the use! i won't lie any more. i didn't come in here for the basket. i came to see you. i came to beg you to let me stay. i watched you to-night when she told you that i was to sleep in that room there, and i knew you were going to send me away. please don't! please let me stay! i can do you no harm, major! i'll be wise, humble, obedient. i'll live only to please you. i haven't a single friend in the world. i hate negroes. i loathe poor white trash. this is my place, here in your home, among the birds and flowers, with your baby in my arms. you know that i love him and that he loves me. i'll work for you as no one else on earth would. my hands will be quick and my feet swift. i'll be your slave, your dog--you can kick me, beat me, strangle me, kill me if you like, but don't send me away--i--i can't help loving you! please--please don't drive me away." the passionate, throbbing voice broke into a sob and she touched his foot with her hand. he could feel the warmth of the soft, young flesh. he stooped and drew her to her feet. "come, child," he said with a queer hitch in his voice, "you--you--mustn't stay here another moment. i'm sorry----" she clung to his hand with desperate pleading and pressed close to him: "but you won't send me away?" she could feel him trembling. he hesitated, and then against the warning of conscience, reason, judgment and every instinct of law and self-preservation, he spoke the words that cost so much: "no--i--i--won't send you away!" with a sob of gratitude her head sank, the hot lips touched his hand, a rustle of silk and she was gone. and through every hour of the long night, maddened by the consciousness of her physical nearness--he imagined at times he could hear her breathing in the next room--he lay awake and fought the beast for the mastery of life. chapter x man to man cleo made good her vow of perfect service. in the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable. her energy was exhaustless, her strength tireless. she not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers. the men did no more loafing. the grass was cut, the hedges trimmed, every dead limb from shrub and tree removed and the old place began to smile with new life. her work of housekeeper and maid-of-all-work was a marvel of efficiency. no orders were ever given to her. they were unnecessary. she knew by an unerring instinct what was needed and anticipated the need. and then a thing happened that fixed her place in the house on the firmest basis. the baby had taken a violent cold which quickly developed into pneumonia. the doctor looked at the little red fever-scorched face and parched lips with grave silence. he spoke at last with positive conviction: "his life depends on a nurse, norton. all i can do is to give orders. the nurse must save him." with a sob in her voice, cleo said: "let me--i'll save him. he can't die if it depends on that." the doctor turned to the mother. "can you trust her?" "absolutely. she's quick, strong, faithful, careful, and she loves him." "you agree, major?" "yes, we couldn't do better," he answered gravely, turning away. and so the precious life was given into her hands. norton spent the mornings in the nursery executing the doctor's orders with clock-like regularity, while cleo slept. at noon she quietly entered and took his place. her meals were served in the room and she never left it until he relieved her the next day. the tireless, greenish eyes watched the cradle with death-like stillness and her keen young ears bent low to catch every change in the rising and falling of the little breast. through the long watches of the night, the quick alert figure with the velvet tread hurried about the room filling every order with skill and patience. at the end of two weeks, the doctor smiled, patted her on the shoulder and said: "you're a great nurse, little girl. you've saved his life." her head was bending low over the cradle, the baby reached up his hand, caught one of her red curls and lisped faintly: "c-l-e-o!" her eyes were shining with tears as she rushed from the room and out on the lawn to have her cry alone. there could be no question after this of her position. when the new legislature met in the old capitol building four months later, it was in the atmosphere of the crisp clearness that follows the storm. the thieves and vultures had winged their way to more congenial climes. they dared not face the investigation of their saturnalia which the restored white race would make. the wisest among them fled northward on the night of the election. the governor couldn't run. his term of office had two years more to be filled. and shivering in his room alone, shunned as a pariah, he awaited the assault of his triumphant foes. and nothing succeeds like success. the brilliant young editor of the _eagle and phoenix_ was the man of the hour. when he entered the hall of the house of representatives on the day the assembly met, pandemonium broke loose. a shout rose from the floor that fairly shook the old granite pile. cheer after cheer rent the air, echoed and re-echoed through the vaulted arches of the hall. men overturned their desks and chairs as they rushed pellmell to seize his hand. they lifted him on their shoulders and carried him in procession around the assembly chamber, through the corridors and around the circle of the rotunda, cheering like madmen, and on through the senate chamber where every white senator joined the procession and returned to the other end of the capitol singing "dixie" and shouting themselves hoarse. he was elected speaker of the house by his party without a dissenting voice, and the first words that fell from his lips as he ascended the dais, gazed over the cheering house, and rapped sharply for order, sounded the death knell to the hopes of the governor for a compromise with his enemies. his voice rang clear and cold as the notes of a bugle: "the first business before this house, gentlemen, is the impeachment and removal from office of the alleged governor of this state!" again the long pent feelings of an outraged people passed all bounds. in vain the tall figure in the chair rapped for order. he had as well tried to call a cyclone to order by hammering at it with a gavel. shout after shout, cheer after cheer, shout and cheer in apparently unending succession! they had not only won a great victory and redeemed a state's honor, but they had found a leader who dared to lead in the work of cleansing and rebuilding the old commonwealth. it was ten minutes before order could be restored. and then with merciless precision the speaker put in motion the legal machine that was to crush the life out of the little scalawag who sat in his room below and listened to the roar of the storm over his head. on the day the historic trial opened before the high tribunal of the senate, sitting as judges, with the chief justice of the state as presiding officer, the governor looked in vain for a friendly face among his accusers. now that he was down, even the dogs in his own party whom he had reared and fed, men who had waxed fat on the spoils he had thrown them, were barking at his heels. they accused him of being the cause of the party's downfall. the governor had quickly made up his mind to ask no favors of these wretches. if the blow should fall, he knew to whom he would appeal that it might be tempered with mercy. the men of his discredited party were of his own type. his only chance lay in the generosity of a great foe. it would be a bitter thing to beg a favor at the hands of the editor who had hounded him with his merciless pen from the day he had entered office, but it would be easier than an appeal to the ungrateful hounds of his own kennel who had deserted him in his hour of need. the bill of impeachment which charged him with high crimes and misdemeanors against the people whose rights he had sworn to defend was drawn by the speaker of the house, and it was a terrible document. it would not only deprive him of his great office, but strip him of citizenship, and send him from the capitol a branded man for life. the defense proved weak and the terrific assaults of the impeachment managers under norton's leadership resistless. step by step the remorseless prosecutors closed in on the doomed culprit. each day he sat in his place beside his counsel in the thronged senate chamber and heard his judges vote with practical unanimity "guilty" on a new count in the bill of impeachment. the chief executive of a million people cowered in his seat while his accusers told and re-told the story of his crimes and the packed galleries cheered. but one clause of the bill remained to be adjudged--the brand his accusers proposed to put upon his forehead. his final penalty should be the loss of citizenship. it was more than the governor could bear. he begged an adjournment of the high court for a conference with his attorneys and it was granted. he immediately sought the speaker, who made no effort to conceal the contempt in which he held the trembling petitioner. "i've come to you, major norton," he began falteringly, "in the darkest hour of my life. i've come because i know that you are a brave and generous man. i appeal to your generosity. i've made mistakes in my administration. but i ask you to remember that few men in my place could have done better. i was set to make bricks without straw. i was told to make water run up hill and set at naught the law of gravitation. "i struck at you personally--yes--but remember my provocation. you made me the target of your merciless ridicule, wit and invective for two years. it was more than flesh and blood could bear without a return blow. put yourself in my place----" "i've tried, governor," norton interrupted in kindly tones. "and it's inconceivable to me that any man born and bred as you have been, among the best people of the south, a man whose fiery speeches in the secession convention helped to plunge this state into civil war--how you could basely betray your own flesh and blood in the hour of their sorest need--it's beyond me! i can't understand it. i've tried to put myself in your place and i can't." the little ferret eyes were dim as he edged toward the tall figure of his accuser: "i'm not asking of you mercy, major norton, on the main issue. i understand the bitterness in the hearts of these men who sit as my judges to-day. i make no fight to retain the office of governor, but--major"--his thin voice broke--"it's too hard to brand me a criminal by depriving me of my citizenship and the right to vote, and hurl me from the highest office within the gift of a great people a nameless thing, a man without a country! come, sir, even if all you say is true, justice may be tempered with mercy. great minds can understand this. you are the representative to-day of a brave and generous race of men. my life is in ruins--i am at your feet. i have pride. i had high ambitions----" his voice broke, he paused, and then continued in strained tones: "i have loved ones to whom this shame will come as a bolt from the clear sky. they know nothing of politics. they simply love me. this final ignominy you would heap on my head may be just from your point of view. but is it necessary? can it serve any good purpose? is it not mere wanton cruelty? "come now, man to man--our masks are off--my day is done. you are young. the world is yours. this last blow with which you would crush my spirit is too cruel! can you afford an act of such wanton cruelty in the hour of your triumph? a small man could, yes--but you? i appeal to the best that's in you, to the spark of god that's in every human soul----" norton was deeply touched, far more than he dreamed any word from the man he hated could ever stir him. the governor saw his hesitation and pressed his cause: "i might say many things honestly in justification of my course in politics; but the time has not come. when passions have cooled and we can look the stirring events of these years squarely in the face--there'll be two sides to this question, major, as there are two sides to all questions. i might say to you that when i saw the frightful blunder i had made in helping to plunge our country into a fatal war, i tried to make good my mistake and went to the other extreme. i was ambitious, yes, but we are confronted with millions of ignorant negroes. what can we do with them? slavery had an answer. democracy now must give the true answer or perish----" "that answer will never be to set these negroes up as rulers over white men!" norton raised his hand and spoke with bitter emphasis. "even so, in a democracy with equality as the one fundamental law of life, what are you going to do with them? i could plead with you that in every act of my ill-fated administration i was honestly, in the fear of god, trying to meet and solve this apparently insoluble problem. you are now in power. what are you going to do with these negroes?" "send them back to the plow first," was the quick answer. "all right; when they have bought those farms and their sons and daughters are rich and cultured--what then?" "we'll answer that question, governor, when the time comes." "remember, major, that you have no answer to it now, and in the pride of your heart to-day let me suggest that you deal charitably with one who honestly tried to find the answer when called to rule over both races. "i have failed, i grant you. i have made mistakes, i grant you. won't you accept my humility in this hour in part atonement for my mistakes? i stand alone before you, my bitterest and most powerful enemy, because i believe in the strength and nobility of your character. you are my only hope. i am before you, broken, crushed, humiliated, deserted, friendless--at your mercy!" the last appeal stirred the soul of the young editor to its depths. he was surprised and shocked to find the man he had so long ridiculed and hated so thoroughly, human and appealing in his hour of need. he spoke with a kindly deliberation he had never dreamed it possible to use with this man. "i'm sorry for you, governor. your appeal is to me a very eloquent one. it has opened a new view of your character. i can never again say bitter, merciless things about you in my paper. you have disarmed me. but as the leader of my race, in the crisis through which we are passing, i feel that a great responsibility has been placed on me. now that we have met, with bared souls in this solemn hour, let me say that i have learned to like you better than i ever thought it possible. but i am to-day a judge who must make his decision, remembering that the lives and liberties of all the people are in his keeping when he pronounces the sentence of law. a judge has no right to spare a man who has taken human life because he is sorry for the prisoner. i have no right, as a leader, to suspend this penalty on you. your act in destroying the civil law, arresting men without warrant and holding them by military force without bail or date of trial, was, in my judgment, a crime of the highest rank, not merely against me--one individual whom you happened to hate--but against every man, woman and child in the state. unless that crime is punished another man, as daring in high office, may repeat it in the future. i hold in my hands to-day not only the lives and liberties of the people you have wronged, but of generations yet unborn. now that i have heard you, personally i am sorry for you, but the law must take its course." "you will deprive me of my citizenship?" he asked pathetically. "it is my solemn duty. and when it is done no governor will ever again dare to repeat your crime." norton turned away and the governor laid his trembling hand on his arm: "your decision is absolutely final, major norton?" "absolutely," was the firm reply. the governor's shoulders drooped lower as he shuffled from the room and his eyes were fixed on space as he pushed his way through the hostile crowds that filled the corridors of the capitol. the court immediately reassembled and the speaker rose to make his motion for a vote on the last count in the bill depriving the chief executive of the state of his citizenship. the silence was intense. the crowds that packed the lobby, the galleries, and every inch of the floor of the senate chamber expected a fierce speech of impassioned eloquence from their idolized leader. every neck was craned and breath held for his first ringing words. to their surprise he began speaking in a low voice choking with emotion and merely demanded a vote of the senate on the final clause of the bill, and the brown eyes of the tall orator had a suspicious look of moisture in their depths as they rested on the forlorn figure of the little scalawag. the crowd caught the spirit of solemnity and of pathos from the speaker's voice and the vote was taken amid a silence that was painful. when the clerk announced the result and the chief justice of the state declared the office of governor vacant there was no demonstration. as the lieutenant-governor ascended the dais and took the oath of office, the scalawag rose and staggered through the crowd that opened with a look of awed pity as he passed from the chamber. norton stepped to the window behind the president of the senate and watched the pathetic figure shuffle down the steps of the capitol and slowly walk from the grounds. the sun was shining in the radiant splendor of early spring. the first flowers were blooming in the hedges by the walk and birds were chirping, chattering and singing from every tree and shrub. a squirrel started across the path in front of the drooping figure, stopped, cocked his little head to one side, looked up and ran to cover. but the man with drooping shoulders saw nothing. his dim eyes were peering into the shrouded future. norton was deeply moved. "the judgment of posterity may deal kindlier with his life!" he exclaimed. "who knows? a politician, a trimmer and a time-server--yes, so we all are down in our cowardly hearts--i'm sorry that it had to be!" he was thinking of a skeleton in his own closet that grinned at him sometimes now when he least expected it. chapter xi the unbidden guest the night was a memorable one in norton's life. the members of the legislature and the leaders of his party from every quarter of the state gave a banquet in his honor in the hall of the house of representatives. eight hundred guests, the flower and chivalry of the commonwealth, sat down at the eighty tables improvised for the occasion. fifty leading men were guests of honor and vied with one another in acclaiming the brilliant young speaker the coming statesman of the nation. his name was linked with hamilton, jefferson, webster, clay and calhoun. he was the youngest man who had ever been elected speaker of a legislative assembly in american history and a dazzling career was predicted. even the newly installed chief executive, a hold-over from the defeated party, asked to be given a seat and in a glowing tribute to norton hailed him as the next governor of the state. he had scarcely uttered the words when all the guests leaped to their feet by a common impulse, raised their glasses and shouted: "to our next governor, daniel norton!" the cheers which followed were not arranged, they were the spontaneous outburst of genuine admiration by men and women who knew the man and believed in his power and his worth. norton flushed and his eyes dropped. his daring mind had already leaped the years. the governor's chair meant the next step--a seat in the senate chamber of the united states. a quarter of a century and the south would once more come into her own. he would then be but forty-nine years old. he would have as good a chance for the presidency as any other man. his fathers had been of the stock that created the nation. his great-grandfather fought with washington and lafayette. his head was swimming with its visions, while the great hall rang with his name. while the tumult was still at its highest, he lifted his eyes for a moment over the heads of the throng at the tables below the platform on which the guests of honor were seated, and his heart suddenly stood still. cleo was standing in the door of the hall, a haunted look in her dilated eyes, watching her chance to beckon to him unseen by the crowd. he stared at her a moment in blank amazement and turned pale. something had happened at his home, and by the expression on her face the message she bore was one he would never forget. as he sat staring blankly, as at a sudden apparition, she disappeared in the crowd at the door. he looked in vain for her reappearance and was waiting an opportune moment to leave, when a waiter slipped through the mass of palms and flowers banked behind his chair by his admirers and thrust a crumpled note into his hand. "the girl said it was important, sir," he explained. norton opened the message and held it under the banquet table as he hurriedly read in cleo's hand: "it's found out--she's raving. the doctor is there. i must see you quick." * * * * * he whispered to the chairman that a message had just been received announcing the illness of his wife, but he hoped to be able to return in a few minutes. it was known that his wife was an invalid and had often been stricken with violent attacks of hysteria, and so the banquet proceeded without interruption. the band was asked to play a stirring piece and he slipped out as the opening strains burst over the chattering, gay crowd. as his tall figure rose from the seat of honor he gazed for an instant over the sparkling scene, and for the first time in his life knew the meaning of the word fear. a sickening horror swept his soul and the fire died from eyes that had a moment before blazed with visions of ambition. he felt the earth crumbling beneath his feet. he hoped for a way out, but from the moment he saw cleo beckoning him over the heads of his guests he knew that death had called him in the hour of his triumph. he felt his way blindly through the crowd and pushed roughly past a hundred hands extended to congratulate him. he walked by instinct. he couldn't see. the mists of eternity seemed suddenly to have swept him beyond the range of time and sense. in the hall he stumbled against cleo and looked at her in a dazed way. "get your hat," she whispered. he returned to the cloakroom, got his hat and hurried back in the same dull stupor. "come down stairs into the square," she said quickly. he followed her without a word, and when they reached the shadows of an oak below the windows of the hall, he suddenly roused himself, turned on her fiercely and demanded: "well, what's happened?" the girl was calm now, away from the crowd and guarded by the friendly night. her words were cool and touched with the least suggestion of bravado. she looked at him steadily: "i reckon you know----" "you mean----" he felt for the tree trunk as if dizzy. "yes. she has found out----" "what--how--when?" his words came in gasps of fear. "about us----" "how?" "it was mammy. she was wild with jealousy that i had taken her place and was allowed to sleep in the house. she got to slipping to the nursery at night and watching me. she must have seen me one night at your room door and told her to get rid of me." the man suddenly gripped the girl's shoulders, swung her face toward him and gazed into her shifting eyes, while his breath came in labored gasps: "you little yellow devil! mammy never told that to my wife and you know it; she would have told me and i would have sent you away. she knows that story would kill my baby's mother and she'd have cut the tongue out of her own head sooner than betray me. she has always loved me as her own child--she'd fight for me and die for me and stand for me against every man, woman and child on earth!" "well, she told her," the girl sullenly repeated. "told her what?" he asked. "that i was hanging around your room." she paused. "well, go on----" "miss jean asked me if it was true. i saw that we were caught and i just confessed the whole thing----" the man sprang at her throat, paused, and his hands fell limp by his side. he gazed at her a moment, and grasped her wrists with cruel force: "yes, that's it, you little fiend--you confessed! you were so afraid you might not be forced to confess that you went out of your way to tell it. two months ago i came to my senses and put you out of my life. you deliberately tried to commit murder to bring me back. you knew that confession would kill my wife as surely as if you had plunged a knife into her heart. you know that she has the mind of an innocent child--that she can think no evil of any one. you've tried to kill her on purpose, willfully, maliciously, deliberately--and if she dies----" norton's voice choked into an inarticulate groan and the girl smiled calmly. the band in the hall over their heads ended the music in a triumphant crash and he listened mechanically to the chairman while he announced the temporary absence of the guest of honor: "and while he is out of the hall for a few minutes, ladies and gentlemen," he added facetiously, "we can say a lot of fine things behind his back we would have blushed to tell him to his face----" another burst of applause and the hum and chatter and laughter came through the open window. with a cry of anguish, the man turned again on the girl: "why do you stand there grinning at me? why did you do this fiendish thing? what have you to say?" "nothing"--there was a ring of exultation in her voice--"i did it because i had to." norton leaned against the oak, placed his hands on his temples and groaned: "oh, my god! it's a nightmare----" suddenly he asked: "what did she do when you told her?" the girl answered with indifference: "screamed, called me a liar, jumped on me like a wild-cat, dug her nails in my neck and went into hysterics." "and you?" "i picked her up, carried her to bed and sent for the doctor. as quick as he came i ran here to tell you." the speaker upstairs was again announcing his name as the next governor and senator and the crowd were cheering. he felt the waves of death roll over and engulf him. his knees grew weak and in spite of all effort he sank to a stone that lay against the gnarled trunk of the tree. "she may be dead now," he said to himself in a dazed whisper. "i don't think so!" the soft voice purred with the slightest suggestion of a sneer. she bit her lips and actually laughed. it was more than he could bear. with a sudden leap his hands closed on her throat and forced her trembling form back into the shadows. "may--god--hurl--you--into--everlasting--hell--for--this!" he cried in anguish and his grip suddenly relaxed. the girl had not struggled. her own hand had simply been raised instinctively and grasped his. "what shall i do?" she asked. "get out of my sight before i kill you!" "i'm not afraid." the calm accents maddened him to uncontrollable fury: "and if you ever put your foot into my house again or cross my path, i'll not be responsible for what happens!" his face was livid and his fists closed with an unconscious strength that cut the blood from the palms of his hands. "i'm not afraid!" she repeated, her voice rising with clear assurance, a strange smile playing about her full lips. "go!" he said fiercely. the girl turned without a word and walked into the bright light that streamed from the windows of the banquet hall, paused and looked at him, the white rows of teeth shining with a smile: "but i'll see you again!" and then, with shouts of triumph mocking his soul, his shoulders drooped, drunk with the stupor and pain of shame, he walked blindly through the night to the judgment bar of life--a home where a sobbing wife waited for his coming. chapter xii the judgment bar he paused at the gate. his legs for the moment simply refused to go any further. a light was burning in his wife's room. its radiance streaming against the white fluted columns threw their shadows far out on the lawn. the fine old house seemed to slowly melt in the starlight into a solemn court of justice set on the highest hill of the world. its white boards were hewn slabs of gleaming marble, its quaint old colonial door the grand entrance to the judgment hall of life and death. and the judge who sat on the high dais was not the blind figure of tradition, but a blushing little bride he had led to god's altar four years ago. her blue eyes were burning into the depths of his trembling soul. his hand gripped the post and he tried to pull himself together, and look the ugly situation in the face. but it was too sudden. he had repented and was living a clean life, and the shock was so unexpected, its coming so unforeseen, the stroke at a moment when his spirits had climbed so high, the fall was too great. he lay a mangled heap at the foot of a precipice and could as yet only stretch out lame hands and feel in the dark. he could see nothing clearly. a curious thing flashed through his benumbed mind as his gaze fascinated by the light in her room. she had not yet sent for him. he might have passed a messenger on the other side of the street, or he may have gone to the capitol by another way, yet he was somehow morally sure that no word had as yet been sent. it could mean but one thing--that his wife had utterly refused to believe the girl's story. this would make the only sane thing to do almost impossible. if he could humbly confess the truth and beg for her forgiveness, the cloud might be lifted and her life saved. but if she blindly refused to admit the possibility of such a sin, the crisis was one that sickened him. he would either be compelled to risk her life with the shock of confession, or lie to her with a shameless passion that would convince her of his innocence. could he do this? it was doubtful. he had never been a good liar. he had taken many a whipping as a boy sooner than lie. he had always dared to tell the truth and had felt a cruel free joy somehow in its consequence. he had been reserved and silent in his youth when he had sowed his wild oats before his marriage. he had never been forced to lie about that. no questions had been asked. he had kept his own counsel and that side of his life was a sealed book even to his most intimate friends. he had never been under the influence of liquor and knew how to be a good fellow without being a fool. the first big lie of his life he was forced to act rather than speak when cleo had entered his life. this lie had not yet shaped itself into words. and he doubted his ability to carry it off successfully. to speak the truth simply and plainly had become an ingrained habit. he trembled at the possibility of being compelled to deliberately and continuously lie to his wife. if he could only tell her the truth--tell her the hours of anguish he had passed in struggling against the beast that at last had won the fight--if he could only make her feel to-night the pain, the shame, the loathing, the rage that filled his soul, she must forgive. but would she listen? had the child-mind that had never faced realities the power to adjust itself to such a tragedy and see life in its wider relations of sin and sorrow, of repentance and struggle to the achievement of character? there was but one answer: "no. it would kill her. she can't understand----" and then despair gripped him, his eyes grew dim and he couldn't think. he leaned heavily on the gate in a sickening stupor from which his mind slowly emerged and his fancy began to play pranks with an imagination suddenly quickened by suffering into extraordinary activity. a katydid was crying somewhere over his head and a whip-poor-will broke the stillness with his weird call that seemed to rise from the ground under his feet. he was a boy again roaming the fields where stalwart slaves were working his father's plantation. it was just such a day in early spring when he had persuaded andy to run away with him and go swimming in buffalo creek. he had caught cold and they both got a whipping that night. he remembered how andy had yelled so loud his father had stopped. and how he had set his little jaws together, refused to cry and received the worst whipping of his life. he could hear andy now as he slipped up to him afterward, grinning and chuckling and whispered: "lordy, man, why didn't ye holler? you don't know how ter take er whippin' nohow. he nebber hurt me no mo' dan a flea bitin'!" and then his mind leaped the years. cleo was in his arms that night at old peeler's and he was stroking her hair as he would have smoothed the fur of a frightened kitten. that strange impulse was the beginning--he could see it now--and it had grown with daily contact, until the contagious animal magnetism of her nearness became resistless. and now he stood a shivering coward in the dark, afraid to enter his own house and look his wife in the face. yes, he was a coward. he acknowledged it with a grim smile--a coward! this boastful, high-strung, self-poised leader of men! he drew his tall figure erect and a bitter laugh broke from his lips. he who had led men to death on battlefields with a smile and a shout! he who had cried in anguish the day lee surrendered! he who, in defeat, still indomitable and unconquered, had fired the souls of his ruined people and led them through riot and revolution again to victory!--he was a coward now and he knew it, as he stood there alone in the stillness of the southern night and looked himself squarely in the face. his heart gave a throb of pity as he recalled the scenes during the war, when deserters and cowards had been led out in the gray dawn and shot to death for something they couldn't help. it must be a dream. he couldn't realize the truth--grim, hideous and unthinkable. he had won every fight as the leader of his race against overwhelming odds. he had subdued the desperate and lawless among his own men until his word was law. he had rallied the shattered forces of a defeated people and inspired them with enthusiasm. he had overturned the negroid government in the state though backed by a million bayonets in the hands of veteran battle-tried soldiers. he had crushed the man who led these forces, impeached and removed him from office, and hurled him into merited oblivion, a man without a country. he had made himself the central figure of the commonwealth. in the dawn of manhood he had lived already a man's full life. a conquered world at his feet, and yet a little yellow, red-haired girl of the race he despised, in the supreme hour of triumph had laid his life in ruins. he had conquered all save the beast within and he must die for it--it was only a morbid fancy, yes--yet he felt the chill in his soul. how long he had stood there doubting, fearing, dreaming, he could form no idea. he was suddenly roused to the consciousness of his position by the doctor who was hurrying from the house. there was genuine surprise in his voice as he spoke slowly and in a very low tone. dr. williams had the habit of slow, quiet speech. he was a privileged character in the town and the state, with the record of a half century of practice. a man of wide reading and genuine culture, he concealed a big heart beneath a brutal way of expressing his thoughts. he said exactly what he meant with a distinctness that was all the more startling because of his curious habit of speaking harsh things in tones so softly modulated that his hearers frequently asked him to repeat his words. "i had just started to the banquet hall with a message for you," he said slowly. "yes--yes," norton answered vaguely. "but i see you've come--cleo told you?" "yes--she came to the hall----" the doctor's slender fingers touched his fine gray beard. "really! she entered that hall to-night? well, it's a funny world, this. we spend our time and energy fighting the negro race in front and leave our back doors open for their women and children to enter and master our life. i congratulate you as a politician on your victory----" norton lifted his hand as if to ward off a blow: "please! not to-night!" the doctor caught the look of agony in the haggard face and suddenly extended his hand: "i wasn't thinking of your personal history, my boy. i was--i was thinking for a moment of the folly of a people--forgive me--i know you need help to-night. you must pull yourself together before you go in there----" "yes, i know!" norton faltered. "you have seen my wife and talked with her--you can see things clearer than i--tell me what to do!" "there's but one thing you can do," was the gentle answer. "lie to her--lie--and stick to it. lie skillfully, carefully, deliberately, and with such sincerity and conviction she's got to believe you. she wants to believe you, of course. i know you are guilty----" "let me tell you, doctor----" "no, you needn't. it's an old story. the more powerful the man the easier his conquest when once the female animal of cleo's race has her chance. it's enough to make the devil laugh to hear your politicians howl against social and political equality while this cancer is eating the heart out of our society. it makes me sick! and she went to your banquet hall to-night! i'll laugh over it when i'm blue----" the doctor paused, laughed softly, and continued: "now listen, norton. your wife can't live unless she wills to live. i've told you this before. the moment she gives up, she dies. it's the iron will inside her frail body that holds the spirit. if she knows the truth, she can't face it. she is narrow, conventional, and can't readjust herself----" "but doctor, can't she be made to realize that this thing is here a living fact which the white woman of the south must face? these hundreds of thousands of a mixed race are not accidents. she must know that this racial degradation is not merely a thing of to-day, but the heritage of two hundred years of sin and sorrow!" "the older women know this--yes--but not our younger generation, who have been reared in the fierce defense of slavery we were forced to make before the war. these things were not to be talked about. no girl reared as your wife can conceive of the possibility of a decent man falling so low. i warn you. you can't let her know the truth--and so the only thing you can do is to lie and stick to it. it's queer advice for a doctor to give an honorable man, perhaps. but life is full of paradoxes. my advice is medicine. our best medicines are the most deadly poisons in nature. i've saved many a man's life by their use. this happens to be one of the cases where i prescribe a poison. put the responsibility on me if you like. my shoulders are broad. i live close to nature and the prattle of fools never disturbs me." "is she still hysterical?" norton asked. "no. that's the strange part of it--the thing that frightens me. that's why i haven't left her side since i was called. her outburst wasn't hysteria in the first place. it was rage--the blind unreasoning fury of the woman who sees her possible rival and wishes to kill her. you'll find her very quiet. there's a queer, still look in her eyes i don't like. it's the calm before the storm--a storm that may leave death in its trail----" "couldn't i deny it at first," norton interrupted, "and then make my plea to her in an appeal for mercy on an imaginary case? god only knows what i've gone through--the fight i made----" "yes, i know, my boy, with that young animal playing at your feet in physical touch with your soul and body in the intimacies of your home, you never had a chance. but you can't make your wife see this. an angel from heaven, with tongue of divine eloquence, can make no impression on her if she once believes you guilty. don't tell her--and may god have mercy on your soul to-night!" with a pressure on the younger man's arm, the straight white figure of the old doctor passed through the gate. norton walked quickly to the steps of the spacious, pillared porch, stopped and turned again into the lawn. he sat down on a rustic seat and tried desperately to work out what he would say, and always the gray mist of a fog of despair closed in. for the first time in his life he was confronted squarely with the fact that the whole structure of society is enfolded in a network of interminable lies. his wife had been reared from the cradle in the atmosphere of beauty and innocence. she believed in the innocence of her father, her brothers, and every man who moved in her circle. above all, she believed in the innocence of her husband. the fact that the negro race had for two hundred years been stirring the baser passions of her men--that this degradation of the higher race had been bred into the bone and sinew of succeeding generations--had never occurred to her childlike mind. how hopeless the task to tell her now when the tragic story must shatter her own ideals! the very thought brought a cry of agony to his lips: "god in heaven--what can i do?" he looked helplessly at the stream of light from her window and turned again toward the cool, friendly darkness. the night was one of marvellous stillness. the band was playing again in his banquet hall at the capitol. so still was the night he could hear distinctly the softer strains of the stringed instruments, faint, sweet and thrilling, as they floated over the sleepy old town. a mocking-bird above him wakened by the call of melody answered, tenderly at first, and then, with the crash of cornet and drum, his voice swelled into a flood of wonderful song. with a groan of pain, norton rose and walked rapidly into the house. his bird-dog lay on the mat outside the door and sprang forward with a joyous whine to meet him. he stooped and drew the shaggy setter's head against his hot cheek. "i need a friend, to-night, don, old boy!" he said tenderly. and don answered with an eloquent wag of his tail and a gentle nudge of his nose. "if you were only my judge!--bah, what's the use----" he drew his drooping shoulders erect and entered his wife's room. her eyes were shining with peculiar brightness, but otherwise she seemed unusually calm. she began speaking with quick nervous energy: "dr. williams told you?" "yes, and i came at once." he answered with an unusually firm and clear note of strength. his whole being was keyed now to a high tension of alert decision. he saw that the doctor's way was the only one. "i don't ask you, dan," she went on with increasing excitement and a touch of scorn in her voice--"i don't ask you to deny this lie. what i want to know is the motive the little devil had in saying such a thing to me. mammy, in her jealousy, merely told me she was hanging around your room too often. i asked her if it were true. she looked at me a moment and burst into her lying 'confession.' i could have killed her. i did try to tear her green eyes out. i knew that you hated her and tried to put her out of the house, and i thought she had taken this way to get even with you--but it doesn't seem possible. and then i thought the governor might have taken this way to strike you. he knows old peeler, the low miserable scoundrel, who is her father. do you think it possible?" "i--don't--know," he stammered, moistening his lips and turning away. "yet it's possible"--she insisted. he saw the chance to confirm this impression by a cheap lie--to invent a story of old peeler's intimacy with the governor, of his attempt to marry lucy, of his hatred of the policy of the paper, his fear of the klan and of his treacherous, cowardly nature--yet the lie seemed so cheap and contemptible his lips refused to move. if he were going to carry out the doctor's orders here was his chance. he struggled to speak and couldn't. the habit of a life and the fibre of character were too strong. so he did the fatal thing at the moment of crisis. "i don't think that possible," he said. "why not?" "well, you see, since i rescued old peeler that night from those boys, he has been so abjectly grateful i've had to put him out of my office once or twice, and i'm sure he voted for me for the legislature against his own party." "he voted for you?" she asked in surprise. "he told me so. he may have lied, of course, but i don't think he did." "then what could have been her motive?" his teeth were chattering in spite of a desperate effort to think clearly and speak intelligently. he stared at a picture on the wall and made no reply. "say something--answer my question!" his wife cried excitedly. "i have answered, my dear. i said i don't know. i'm stunned by the whole thing." "you are _stunned_?" "yes----" "stunned? you, a strong, innocent man, stunned by a weak contemptible lie like this from the lips of such a girl--what do you mean?" "why, that i was naturally shocked to be called out of a banquet at such a moment by such an accusation. she actually beckoned to me from the door over the heads of the guests----" the little blue eyes suddenly narrowed and the thin lips grew hard: "cleo called you from the door?" she asked. "yes." "you left the hall to see her there?" "no, i went down stairs." "into the capitol square?" "yes. i couldn't well talk to her before all those guests----" "why not?" the question came like the crack of a pistol. her voice was high, cold, metallic, ringing. he saw, when too late, that he had made a fatal mistake. he stammered, reddened and then turned pale: "why--why--naturally----" "if you are innocent--why not?" he made a desperate effort to find a place of safety: "i thought it wise to go down stairs where i could talk without interruption----" "you--were--afraid," she was speaking each word now with cold, deadly deliberation, "to take-a-message-from-your-servant-at-the-door-of-a-public banquet-hall----" her words quickened--"then you suspected her possible message! there _was_ something between you----" "my dear, i beg of you----" he turned his head away with a weary gesture. she sprang from the side of the bed, leaped to his side, seized him by both arms and fairly screamed in his face: "look at me, dan!" he turned quickly, his haggard eyes stared into hers, and she looked with slowly dawning horror. "oh, my god!" she shrieked. "it's true--it's true--it's true!" she sprang back with a shiver of loathing, covered her face with her hands and staggered to her bed, sobbing hysterically: "it's true--it's true--it's true! have mercy, lord!--it's true--it's true!" she fell face downward, her frail figure quivering like a leaf in a storm. he rushed to her side, crying in terror: "it's not true--it's not true, my dear! don't believe it. i swear it's a lie--it's a lie--i tell you!" she was crying in sobs of utter anguish. he bent low: "it's not true, dearest! it's not true, i tell you. you mustn't believe it. you can't believe it when i swear to you that it's a lie----" his head gently touched her slender shoulder. she flinched as if scorched by a flame, sprang to her feet, and faced him with blazing eyes: "don't--you--dare--touch--me----" "my dear," he pleaded. "don't speak to me again!" "please----" "get out of this room!" he stood rooted to the spot in helpless stupor and she threw her little body against his with sudden fury, pushing him toward the door. "get out, i say!" he staggered back helplessly and awkwardly amazed at her strength as she pushed him into the hall. she stood a moment towering in the white frame of the door, the picture of an avenging angel to his tormented soul. through teeth chattering with hysterical emotion she cried: "go, you leper! and don't you ever dare to cross this door-sill again--not even to look on my dead face!" "for god's sake, don't!" he gasped, staggering toward her. but the door slammed in his face and the bolt suddenly shot into its place. he knocked gently and received no answer. an ominous stillness reigned within. he called again and again without response. he waited patiently for half an hour and knocked once more. an agony of fear chilled him. she might be dead. he knelt, pressed his ear close to the keyhole and heard a long, low, pitiful sob from her bed. "thank god----" he rose with sudden determination. she couldn't be left like that. he would call the doctor back at once, and, what was better still, he would bring her mother, a wise gray-haired little saint, who rarely volunteered advice in her daughter's affairs. the door would fly open at her soft command. chapter xiii an old story the doctor's house lay beyond the capitol and in his haste norton forgot that a banquet was being held in his honor. he found himself suddenly face to face with the first of the departing guests as they began to pour through the gates of the square. he couldn't face these people, turned in his tracks, walked back to the next block and hurried into an obscure side street by which he could avoid them. the doctor had not retired. he was seated on his porch quietly smoking, as if he were expecting the call. "well, you've bungled it, i see," he said simply, as he rose and seized his hat. "yes, she guessed the truth----" "guessed?--hardly." the white head with its shining hair slowly wagged. "she read it in those haggard eyes. funny what poor liars your people have always been! if your father hadn't been fool enough to tell the truth with such habitual persistence, that office of his would never have been burned during the war. it's a funny world. it's the fun of it that keeps us alive, after all." "do the best you can for me, doctor," he interrupted. "i'm going for her mother." "all right," was the cheery answer, "bring her at once. she's a better doctor than i to-night." norton walked swiftly toward a vine-clad cottage that stood beside governor carteret's place. it sat far back on the lawn that was once a part of the original estate twenty odd years ago. the old governor during his last administration had built it for robert carteret, a handsome, wayward son, whom pretty jennie pryor had married. it had been a runaway love match. the old man had not opposed it because of any objection to the charming girl the boy had fallen in love with. he knew that robert was a wild, headstrong, young scapegrace unfit to be the husband of any woman. but apparently marriage settled him. for two years after jean's birth he lived a decent life and then slipped again into hopelessly dissolute habits. when jean was seven years old he was found dead one night under peculiar circumstances that were never made public. the sweet little woman who had braved the world's wrath to marry him had never complained, and she alone (with one other) knew the true secret of his death. she had always been supported by a generous allowance from the old governor and in his last will the vigorous octogenarian had made her his sole heir. norton had loved this quiet, patient little mother with a great tenderness since the day of his marriage to her daughter. he had never found her wanting in sympathy or helpfulness. she rarely left her cottage, but many a time he had gone to her with his troubles and came away with a light heart and a clearer insight into the duty that called. her love and faith in him was one of the big things in life. in every dream of achievement that had fired his imagination during the stirring days of the past months he had always seen her face smiling with pride and love. it was a bitter task to confess his shame to her--this tender, gracious, uncomplaining saint, to whom he had always been a hero. he paused a moment with his hand on the bell of the cottage, and finally rang. standing before her with bowed head he told in a few stammering words the story of his sin and the sorrow that had overwhelmed him. "i swear to you that for the past two months my life has been clean and god alone knows the anguish of remorse i have suffered. you'll help me, mother?" he asked pathetically. "yes, my son," she answered simply. "you don't hate me?"--the question ended with a catch in his voice that made it almost inaudible. she lifted her white hands to his cheeks, drew the tall form down gently and pressed his lips: "no, my son, i've lived too long. i leave judgment now to god. the unshed tears i see in your eyes are enough for me." "i must see her to-night, mother. make her see me. i can't endure this." "she will see you when i have talked with her," was the slow reply as if to herself. "i am going to tell her something that i hoped to carry to the grave. but the time has come and she must know." the doctor was strolling on the lawn when they arrived. "she didn't wish to see me, my boy," he said with a look of sympathy. "and i thought it best to humor her. send for me again if you wish, but i think the mother is best to-night." without further words he tipped his hat with a fine old-fashioned bow to mrs. carteret and hurried home. at the sound of the mother's voice the door was opened, two frail arms slipped around her neck and a baby was sobbing again on her breast. the white slender hands tenderly stroked the blonde hair, lips bent low and kissed the shining head and a cheek rested there while sob after sob shook the little body. the wise mother spoke no words save the sign language of love and tenderness, the slow pressure to her heart of the sobbing figure, kisses, kisses, kisses on her hair and the soothing touch of her hand. a long time without a word they thus clung to each other. the sobs ceased at last. "now tell me, darling, how can i help you?" the gentle voice said. "oh, mamma, i just want to go home to you again and die--that's all." "you'd be happier, you think, with me, dear?" "yes--it's clean and pure there. i can't live in this house--the very air i breathe is foul!" "but you can't leave dan, my child. your life and his are one in your babe. god has made this so." "he is nothing to me now. he doesn't exist. i don't come of his breed of men. my father's handsome face--my grandfather's record as the greatest governor of the state--are not merely memories to me. i'll return to my own. and i'll take my child with me. i'll go back where the air is clean, where men have always been men, not beasts----" the mother rose quietly and took from the mantel the dainty morocco-covered copy of the bible she had given her daughter the day she left home. she turned its first, pages, put her finger on the sixteenth chapter of the book of genesis, and turned down a leaf: "i want you to read this chapter of genesis which i have marked when you are yourself, and remember that the sympathy of the world has always been with the outcast hagar, and not with the foolish wife who brought a beautiful girl into her husband's house and then repented of her folly." "but a negress! oh, my god, the horror, the shame, the humiliation he has put on me! i've asked myself a hundred times why i lived a moment, why i didn't leap from that window and dash my brain out on the ground below--the beast--the beast!" "yes, dear, but when you are older you will know that all men are beasts." "mother!" "yes, all men who are worth while----" "how can you say that," the daughter cried with scorn, "and remember my father and grandfather? no man passes the old governor to-day without lifting his hat, and i've seen you sit for hours with my father's picture in your lap crying over it----" "yes, dear," was the sweet answer, "these hearts of ours play strange pranks with us sometimes. you must see dan to-night and forgive. he will crawl on his hands and knees to your feet and beg it." "i'll never see him or speak to him again!" "you must--dear." "never!" the mother sat down on the lounge and drew the quivering figure close. her face was hidden from the daughter's view when she began to speak and so the death-like pallor was not noticed. the voice was held even by a firm will: "i hoped god might let me go without my having to tell you what i must say now, dearest"--in spite of her effort there was a break and silence. the little hand sought the mother's: "you know you can tell me anything, mamma, dear." "your father, my child, was not a great man. he died in what should have been the glory of young manhood. he achieved nothing. he was just the spoiled child of a greater man, a child who inherited his father's brilliant mind, fiery temper and willful passions. i loved him from the moment we met and in spite of all i know that he loved me with the strongest, purest love he was capable of giving to any woman. and yet, dearest, i dare not tell you all i discovered of his wild, reckless life. the vilest trait of his character was transmitted straight from sire to son--he would never ask forgiveness of any human being for anything he had done--that is your grandfather's boast to-day. the old governor, my child, was the owner of more than a thousand slaves on his two great plantations. many of them he didn't know personally--unless they were beautiful girls----" "oh, mother, darling, have mercy on me!"--the little fingers tightened their grip. but the mother's even voice went on remorselessly: "cleo's mother was one of his slaves. you may depend upon it, your grandfather knows her history. you must remember what slavery meant, dear. it put into the hands of a master an awful power. it was not necessary for strong men to use this power. the humble daughters of slaves vied with one another to win his favor. your grandfather was a man of great intellect, of powerful physique, of fierce, ungovernable passions----" "but my father"--gasped the girl wife. "was a handsome, spoiled child, the kind of man for whom women have always died--but he never possessed the strength to keep himself within the bounds of decency as did the older man----" "what do you mean?" the daughter broke in desperately. "there has always been a secret about your father's death"--the mother paused and drew a deep breath. "i made the secret. i told the story to save him from shame in death. he died in the cabin of a mulatto girl he had played with as a boy--and--the thing that's hardest for me to tell you, dearest, is that i knew exactly where to find him when he had not returned at two o'clock that morning----" the white head sank lower and rested on the shoulder of the frail young wife, who slipped her arms about the form of her mother, and neither spoke for a long while. at last the mother began in quiet tones: "and this was one of the reasons, my child, why slavery was doomed. the war was a wicked and awful tragedy. the white motherhood of the south would have crushed slavery. before the war began we had six hundred thousand mulattoes--six hundred thousand reasons why slavery had to die!" the fire flashed in the gentle eyes for a moment while she paused, and drew her soul back from the sorrowful past to the tragedy of to-day: "and so, my darling, you must see your husband and forgive. he isn't bad. he carried in his blood the inheritance of hundreds of years of lawless passion. the noble thing about dan is that he has the strength of character to rise from this to a higher manhood. you must help him, dearest, to do this." the daughter bent and kissed the gentle lips: "ask him to come here, mother----" she found the restless husband pacing the floor of the pillared porch. it was past two o'clock and the waning moon had risen. his face was ghastly as his feet stopped their dreary beat at the rustle of her dress. his heart stood still for a moment until he saw the smiling face. "it's all right, dan," she called softly in the doorway. "she's waiting for you." he sprang to the door, stooped and kissed the silken gray hair and hurried up the stairs. tears were slowly stealing from the blue eyes as the little wife extended her frail arms. the man knelt and bowed his head in her lap, unable to speak at first. with an effort he mastered his voice: "say that you forgive me!" the blonde head sank until it touched the brown: "i forgive you--but, oh, dan, dear, i don't want to live any more now----" "don't say that!" he pleaded desperately. "and i've wanted to live so madly, so desperately--but now--i'm afraid i can't." "you can--you must! you have forgiven me. i'll prove my love to you by a life of such devotion i'll make you forget! all i ask is the chance to atone and make you happy. you must live because i ask it, dear! it's the only way you can give me a chance. and the boy--dearest--you must live to teach him." she nodded her head and choked back a sob. when the first faint light of the dawn of a glorious spring morning began to tinge the eastern sky he was still holding her hands and begging her to live. chapter xiv the fight for life the little wife made a brave fight. for a week there was no sign of a breakdown save an unnatural brightness of the eyes that told the story of struggle within. he gave himself to the effort to help her win. he spent but an hour at the capitol, left a speaker _pro tem_ in the chair, hurried to his office, gave his orders and by eleven o'clock he was at home, talking, laughing, and planning a day's work that would interest her and bring back the flush to her pale cheeks. she had responded to his increasing tenderness and devotion with pathetic eagerness. at the beginning of the second week doctor williams gave him hope: "it looks to me, my boy," he said thoughtfully, "that i'm seeing a miracle. i think she's not only going to survive the shock, but, what's more remarkable, she's going to recover her health again. the mind's the source of health and power. we give medicines, of course, but the thought that heals the soul will reach the body. bah!--the body is the soul anyhow, for all our fine-spun theories, and the mind is only one of the ways through which we reach it----" "you really think she may be well again?" norton asked with boyish eagerness. "yes, if you can reconcile her mind to this thing, she'll not only live, she will be born again into a more vigorous life. why not? the preachers have often called me a godless rationalist. but i go them one better when they preach the miracle of a second, or spiritual birth. i believe in the possibility of many births for the human soul and the readjustment of these bodies of ours to the new spirits thus born. if you can tide her over the next three weeks without a breakdown, she will get well." the husband's eyes flashed: "if it depends on her mental attitude, i'll make her live and grow strong. i'll give her my body and soul." "there are just two dangers----" "what?" "the first mental--a sudden collapse of the will with which she's making this fight under a reaction to the memories of our system of educated ignorance, which we call girlish innocence. this may come at a moment when the consciousness of these 'ideals' may overwhelm her imagination and cause a collapse----" "yes, i understand," he replied thoughtfully. "i'll guard that." "the other is the big physical enigma----" "you mean?" "the possible reopening of that curious abscess in her throat." "but the specialist assured us it would never reappear----" "yes, and he knows just as much about it as you or i. it is one of the few cases of its kind so far recorded in the science of medicine. when the baby was born, the drawing of the mother's neck in pain pressed a bone of the spinal column into the flesh beside the jugular vein. your specialist never dared to operate for a thorough removal of the trouble for fear he would sever the vein----" "and if the old wound reopens it will reach the jugular vein?" "yes." "well--it--won't happen!" he answered fiercely. "it can't happen now----" "i don't think it will myself, if you can keep at its highest tension the desire to live. that's the magic thing that works the miracle of life in such cases. it makes food digest, sends red blood to the tips of the slenderest finger and builds up the weak places. don't forget this, my boy. make her love life, desperately and passionately, until the will to live dominates both soul and body." "i'll do it," was the firm answer, as he grasped the doctor's outstretched hand in parting. he withdrew completely from his political work. a speaker _pro tem_ presided daily over the deliberations of the house, and an assistant editor took charge of the paper. the wife gently urged him to give part of his time to his work again. "no," he responded firmly and gayly. "the doctor says you have a chance to get well. i'd rather see the roses in your cheeks again than be the president of the united states." she drew his head down and clung to him with desperate tenderness. chapter xv cleo's silence for two weeks the wife held her own and the doctor grew more confident each day. when norton began to feel sure the big danger was past his mind became alert once more to the existence of cleo. he began to wonder why she had not made an effort to see or communicate with him. she had apparently vanished from the face of the earth. in spite of his effort to minimize the importance of this fact, her silence gradually grew in sinister significance. what did it mean? what was her active brain and vital personality up to? that it boded no good to his life and the life of those he loved he couldn't doubt for a moment. he sent a reporter on a secret mission to peeler's house to find if she were there. he returned in three hours and made his report. "she's at peeler's, sir," the young man said with a smile. "you allowed no one to learn the real reason of your visit, as i told you?" "they never dreamed it. i interviewed old peeler on the revolution in politics and its effects on the poor whites of the state----" "you saw her?" "she seemed to be all over the place at the same time, singing, laughing and perfectly happy." "run your interview to-morrow, and keep this visit a profound secret between us." "yes, sir." the reporter tipped his hat and was gone. why she was apparently happy and contented in surroundings she had grown to loathe was another puzzle. through every hour of the day, down in the subconscious part of his mind, he was at work on this surprising fact. the longer he thought of it the less he understood it. that she would ever content herself with the dreary existence of old peeler's farm after her experiences in the town and in his home was preposterous. that she was smiling and happy under such conditions was uncanny, and the picture of her shining teeth and the sound of her deep voice singing as she walked through the cheap, sordid surroundings of that drab farmhouse haunted his mind with strange fear. she was getting ready to strike him in the dark. just how the blow would fall he couldn't guess. the most obvious thing for her to do would be to carry her story to his political enemies and end his career at a stroke. yet somehow, for the life of him he couldn't picture her choosing that method of revenge. she had not left him in a temper. the rage and curses had all been his. she had never for a moment lost her self-control. the last picture that burned into his soul was the curious smile with which she had spoken her parting words: "but i'll see you again!" beyond a doubt some clean-cut plan of action was in her mind when she uttered that sentence. the one question now was--"what did she mean?" there was one thought that kept popping into his head, but it was too hideous for a moment's belief. he stamped on it as he would a snake and hurried on to other possibilities. there was but one thing he could do and that was to await with increasing dread her first move. chapter xvi the larger vision his mind had just settled into this attitude of alert watchfulness toward cleo when the first danger the doctor dreaded for his wife began to take shape. the feverish brightness in her eyes grew dimmer and her movements less vigorous. the dreaded reaction had come and the taut strings of weakened nerves could bear the strain no longer. with a cry of despair she threw herself into his arms: "oh, dan, dear, it's no use! i've tried--i've tried so hard--but i can't do it--i just don't want to live any more!" he put his hands over the trembling, thin lips: "hush, dearest, you mustn't say that--it's just a minute's reaction. you're blue this morning, that's all. it's the weather--a dreary foggy day. the sun will be shining again to-morrow. it's shining now behind the mists if we only remember it. the trees are bare, but their buds are swelling and these days of cold and fog and rain must come to make them burst in glory. come, let me put your shawl around you and i'll show you how the flowers have pushed up in the sheltered places the past week." he drew the hands, limp and cold, from his neck, picked up her shawl, tenderly placed it about her shoulders, lifted her in his strong arms, and carried her to the old rose garden behind the house. don sniffed his leg, and looked up into his face with surprise at the unexpected frolic. he leaped into the air, barked softly and ran in front to show the way. "you see, old don knows the sun is shining behind the clouds, dear!" she made no answer. the blonde head drooped limply against his breast. he found a seat on the south side of the greenhouse on an old rustic bench his father had built of cedar when he was a boy. "there," he said cheerfully, as he smoothed her dress and drew her close by his side. "you can feel the warmth of the sun here reflected from the glass. the violets are already blooming along the walks. the jonquils are all gone, and the rose bushes have begun to bud. you mustn't talk about giving up. we haven't lived yet." "but i'm tired, dan, tired----" "it's just for a moment, remember, my love. you'll feel differently to-morrow. the world is always beautiful if we only have eyes to see and ears to hear. watch that smoke curling straight up from the chimney! that means the clouds are already lifting and the sun will burst through them this afternoon. you mustn't brood, dearest. you must forget the misery that has darkened our world for a moment and remember that it's only the dawn of a new life for us both. we are just boy and girl yet. there's nothing impossible. i'm going to prove to you that my love is the deathless thing in me--the thing that links me to god." "you really love me so?" she asked softly. "give me a chance to prove it. that's all i ask. men sometimes wait until they're past forty before they begin to sow their wild oats. i am only twenty-five now. this tragic sin and shame has redeemed life. it's yours forever--you must believe me when i say this, dearest----" "i try," she broke in wearily. "i try, dan, but it's hard to believe anything now--oh, so hard----" "but can't you understand, my love, how i have been headstrong and selfish before the shock of my fall brought me to my senses? and that the terror of losing you has taught me how deep and eternal the roots of our love have struck and this knowledge led me into the consciousness of a larger and more wonderful life--can't--can't you understand this, dearest?" his voice sank to the lowest reverent whisper as he ceased to speak. she stroked his hand with a pathetic little gesture of tenderness. "yes, i believe you," she said with a far-away look in her eyes. "i know that i can trust you now implicitly, and what i can't understand is that--feeling this so clearly--still i have no interest in life. something has snapped inside of me. life doesn't seem worth the struggle any longer----" "but it is, dear! life is always good, always beautiful, and always worth the struggle. we've but to lift our eyes and see. sin is only our stumbling in the dark as we grope toward the light. i'm going to be a humbler and better man. i am no longer proud and vain. i've a larger and sweeter vision. i feel my kinship to the weak and the erring. alone in the night my soul has entered into the fellowship of the great brotherhood through the gates of suffering. you must know this, jean--you know that it's true as i thus lay my heart's last secret bare to you to-day. "yes, dan," she sighed wearily, "but i'm just tired. i don't seem to recognize anything i used to know. i look at the baby and he don't seem to be mine. i look at you and feel that you're a stranger. i look at my room, the lawn, the street, the garden--no matter where, and i'm dazed. i feel that i've lost my way. i don't know how to live any more." for an hour he held her hand and pleaded with all the eloquence of his love that she would let him teach her again, and all she could do was to come back forever in the narrow circle her mind had beaten. she was tired and life no longer seemed worth while! he kissed the drooping eyelids at last and laughed a willful, daring laugh as he gathered her in his arms and walked slowly back into the house. "you've got to live, my own! i'll show you how! i'll breathe my fierce desire into your soul and call you back even from the dead!" yet in spite of all she drooped and weakened daily, and at the end of a fortnight began to complain of a feeling of uneasiness in her throat. the old doctor said nothing when she made this announcement. he drew his beetling eyebrows low and walked out on the lawn. pale and haggard, norton followed him. "well, doctor?" he asked queerly. "there's only one thing to do. get her away from here at once, to the most beautiful spot you can find, high altitude with pure, stimulating air. the change may help her. that's all i can say"--he paused, laid his hand on the husband's arm and went on earnestly--"and if you haven't discussed that affair with her, you'd better try it. tear the old wound open, go to the bottom of it, find the thing that's festering there and root it out if you can--the thing that's caused this break." the end of another week found them in asheville, north carolina. the wonderful views of purple hills and turquoise sky stretching away into the infinite thrilled the heart of the little invalid. it was her first trip to the mountains. she never tired the first two days of sitting in the big sun-parlor beside the open fire logs and gazing over the valleys and watching the fleet clouds with their marvelous coloring. the air was too chill in these early days of spring for her to feel comfortable outside. but a great longing began to possess her to climb the mountains and feel their beauty at closer range. she sat by his side in her room and held his hand while they watched the glory of the first cloud-flecked mountain sunset. the river lay a crooked silver ribbon in the deepening shadows of the valley, while the sky stretched its dazzling scarlet canopy high in heaven above it. the scarlet slowly turned to gold, and then to deepening purple and with each change revealed new beauty to the enraptured eye. she caught her breath and cried at last: "oh, it is a beautiful world, dan, dear--and i wish i could live!" he laughed for joy: "then you shall, dearest! you shall, of course you shall!" "i want you to take me over every one of those wonderful purple hills!" "yes, dear, i will!" "i dream as i sit and look at them that god lives somewhere in one of those deep shadows behind a dazzling cloud, and that if we only drive along those ragged cliffs among them we'd come face to face with him some day----" he looked at her keenly. there was again that unnatural brightness in her eyes which he didn't like and yet he took courage. the day was a glorious one in the calendar. hope had dawned in her heart. "the first warm day we'll go, dear," he cried with the enthusiasm of a boy, "and take mammy and the kid with us, too, if you say so----" "no, i want just you, dan. the long ride might tire the baby, and i might wish to stay up there all night. i shall never grow tired of those hills." "it's sweet to hear you talk like that," he cried with a smile. he selected a gentle horse for their use and five days later, when the sun rose with unusual warmth, they took their first mountain drive. along the banks of crystal brooks that dashed their sparkling waters over the rocks, up and up winding, narrow roads until the town became a mottled white spot in the valley below, and higher still until the shining clouds they had seen from the valley rolled silently into their faces, melting into the gray mists of fog! in the midst of one of these clouds, the little wife leaned close and whispered: "we're in heaven now, dan--we're passing through the opal gates! i shouldn't be a bit surprised to see him at any moment up here----" a lump suddenly rose in his throat. her voice sounded unreal. he bent close and saw the strange bright light again in her eyes. and the awful thought slowly shaped itself that the light he saw was the shining image of the angel of death reflected there. he tried to laugh off his morbid fancy now that she had begun to find the world so beautiful, but the idea haunted him with increasing terror. he couldn't shake off the impression. an hour later he asked abruptly: "you have felt no return of the pain in your throat, dear?" "just a little last night, but not to-day--i've been happy to-day." he made up his mind to telegraph to new york at once for the specialist to examine her throat. the fine weather continued unbroken. every day for a week she sat by his side and drifted over sunlit valleys, lingered beside beautiful waters and climbed a new peak to bathe in sun-kissed clouds. on the top of one of these peaks they found a farmhouse where lodgers were allowed for the night. they stayed to see the sunrise next morning. mammy would not worry, they had told her they might spend the night on these mountain trips. the farmer called them in time--just as the first birds were waking in the trees by their window. it was a climb of only two hundred yards to reach the top of a great boulder that gave an entrancing view in four directions. to the west lay the still sleeping town of asheville half hidden among its hills and trees. eastward towered the giant peaks of the blue ridge, over whose ragged crests the sun was climbing. the young husband took the light form in his strong arms and carried her to the summit. he placed his coat on the rocky ledge, seated her on it, and slipped his arm around the slim waist. there in silence they watched the changing glory of the sky and saw the shadows wake and flee from the valleys at the kiss of the sun. he felt the moment had come that he might say some things he had waited with patience to speak: "you are sure, dear, that you have utterly forgiven the great wrong i did you?" "yes, dan," she answered simply, "why do you ask?" "i just want to be sure, my jean," he said tenderly, "that there's not a single dark corner of your heart in which the old shadows lurk. i want to drive them all out with my love just as we see the sun now lighting with glory every nook and corner of the world. you are sure?" the thin lips quivered uncertainly and her blue eyes wavered as he searched their depths. "there's one thing, dan, that i'll never quite face, i think"--she paused and turned away. "what, dear?" "how any man who had ever bent over a baby's cradle with the tenderness and love i've seen in your face for tom, could forget the mother who gave the life at his command!" "i didn't forget, dearest," he said sadly. "i fought as a wounded man, alone and unarmed, fights a beast in the jungle. with her sweet spiritual ideal of love a sheltered, innocent woman can't remember that man is still an animal, with tooth and claw and unbridled passions, that when put to the test his religion and his civilization often are only a thin veneer, that if he becomes a civilized human being in his relations to women it is not by inheritance, for he is yet in the zoölogical period of development--but that it is by the divine achievement of character through struggle. try, dearest, if you can, to imagine such a struggle. this primeval man, in the shadows with desires inflamed by hunger, meets this free primeval woman who is unafraid, who laughs at the laws of society because she has nothing to lose. both are for the moment animals pure and simple. the universal in him finds its counterpart in the universal in her. and whether she be fair or dark, her face, her form, her body, her desires are his--and, above all, she is near--and in that moment with a nearness that overwhelms by its enfolding animal magnetism all powers of the mind to think or reflect. two such beings are atoms tossed by a storm of forces beyond their control. a man of refinement wakes from such a crash of elemental powers dazed and humiliated. your lips can speak no word as vile, no curse as bitter as i have hurled against myself----" the voice broke and he was silent. a little hand pressed his, and her words were the merest tender whisper as she leaned close: "i've forgiven you, my love, and i'm going to let you teach me again to live. i'll be a very docile little scholar in your school. but you know i can't forget in a moment the greatest single hour that is given a woman to know--the hour she feels the breath of her first born on her breast. it's the memory of that hour that hurts. i won't try to deceive you. i'll get over it in the years to come if god sends them----" "he will send them--he will send them!" the man broke in with desperate emotion. both were silent for several minutes and a smile began to play about the blue eyes when she spoke at last: "you remember how angry you were that morning when you found a doctor and a nurse in charge of your home? and the great fear that gripped your heart at the first mad cry of pain i gave? i laughed at myself the next moment. and then how i found your hand and wouldn't let you go. the doctor stormed and ordered you out, and i just held on and shook my head, and you stayed. and when the doctor turned his back i whispered in your ear: "''you won't leave me, dan, darling, for a single moment--promise me--swear it!' "and you answered: "'yes, i swear it, honey--but you must be very brave--braver than i am, you know'---- "and you begged me to take an anesthetic and i wouldn't, like a little fool. i wanted to know all and feel all if it killed me. and the anguish of your face became so terrible, dear--i was sorrier for you than for myself. and when i saw your lips murmuring in an agony of prayer, i somehow didn't mind it then----" she paused, looked far out over the hills and continued: "what a funny cry he gave--that first one--not a real baby cry--just a funny little grunt like a good-natured pig! and how awfully disappointed you were at the shapeless bundle of red flesh that hardly looked human! but i could see the lines of your dear face in his, i knew that he would be even handsomer than his big, brave father and pressed him close and laughed for joy----" she stopped and sighed: "you see, dan, what i couldn't understand is how any man who has felt the pain and the glory of this, with his hand clasped in the hand of the woman he loves, their two souls mirrored in that first pair of mysterious little eyes god sent from eternity--how he could forget the tie that binds----" he made no effort to interrupt her until the last bitter thought that had been rankling in her heart was out. he was looking thoughtfully over the valley. an eagle poised above the field in the foreground, darted to the stubble with lightning swiftness and rose with a fluttering brown quail in his talons. his shrill cry of triumph rang pitilessly in the stillness of the heights. the little figure gave an unconscious shiver and she added in low tones: "i'm never going to speak of this nameless thing again, dan, but you asked me this morning and i've told you what was in my heart. i just couldn't understand how you could forget----" "only a beast could, dearest," he answered with a curl of the lip. "i'm something more than that now, taught by the bitterness of experience. you're just a sweet, innocent girl who has never looked the world as it is in the face. reared as you were, you can't understand that there's a difference as deep as the gulf between heaven and hell, in the divine love that binds my soul and body and life to you and the sudden passing of a storm of passion. won't you try to remember this?" "yes, dear, i will----" she looked into his eyes with a smile of tenderness: "a curious change is coming over you, dan. i can begin to see it. there used to be a line of cruelty sometimes about your mouth and a flash of it in your eyes. they're gone. there's something strong and tender, wise and sweet, in their place. if i were an artist i could paint it but i can't just tell you what it is. i used to think the cruel thing i saw in you was the memory of the war. your eyes saw so much of blood and death and pain and cruelty----" "perhaps it was," he said slowly. "war does make men cruel--unconsciously cruel. we lose all sense of the value of human life----" "no, it wasn't that," she protested, "it was the other thing--the--the--beast you've been talking about. it's not there any more, dan--and i'm going to be happy now. i know it, dear----" he bent and kissed the slender fingers. "if this old throat of mine just won't bother me again," she added. he looked at her and turned pale: "it's bothering you this morning?" she lifted the delicately shaped head and touched her neck: "not much pain, but a sense of fullness. i feel as if i'm going to choke sometimes." he rose abruptly, a great fear in his heart: "we'll go back to town at once. the doctor should arrive at three from new york." "let's not hurry," she cried smiling. "i'm happy now. you're my old sweetheart again and i'm on a new honeymoon----" he gazed at the white slender throat. she was looking unusually well. he wondered if this were a trick of the enemy to throw him off his guard. he wondered what was happening in those tiny cells behind the smooth round lines of the beautiful neck. it made him sick and faint to think of the possibility of another attack--just when the fight was over--just when she had begun to smile and find life sweet again! his soul rose in fierce rebellion. it was too horrible for belief. he simply wouldn't believe it! "all right!" he exclaimed with decision. "we'll stay here till two o'clock, anyhow. we can drive back in three hours. the train will be late--it always is." through the long hours of a wonderful spring morning they basked in the sun side by side on a bed of leaves he piled in a sheltered spot on the mountain side. they were boy and girl again. the shadows had lifted and the world was radiant with new glory. they talked of the future and the life of perfect mutual faith and love that should be theirs. and each moment closer came the soft footfall of an unseen angel. chapter xvii the opal gates the doctor was waiting at the hotel, his keen eyes very serious. he had guessed the sinister meaning of the summons. he was an unusually brusque man--almost rude in his words. he greeted norton with friendly sympathy and smiled at the radiant face of the wife. "well, little mother," he said with grave humor, "we have more trouble. but you're brave and patient. it's a joy to work for you." "and now," she responded gayly, "you've got to finish this thing, doctor. i don't want any more half-way operations. i'm going to get well this time. i'm happy and i'm going to be strong again." "good, we'll get at it right away. i knew you'd feel that way and so i brought with me a great surgeon, the most skillful man i know in new york. i've told him of your case, a very unusual one, and he is going to help me." the little mouth smiled bravely: "i'll be ready for the examination in half an hour----" when the doctors emerged from her room the sun had set behind the dark blue hills and norton was waiting on the balcony for their report. the specialist walked slowly to where he was standing. he couldn't move from his tracks. his throat was dry and he had somehow lost the power of speech. he looked into the face of the man of science, read the story of tragedy and a mist closed his eyes. the doctor took his arm gently: "i've bad news for you----" "yes, i know," was the low answer. "the truth is best----" "i want to know it." "she can't live!" the tall figure stiffened, there was a moment of silence and when he spoke his words fell slowly with measured intensity: "there's not a single chance, doctor?" "not worth your cherishing. you'd as well know this now and be prepared. we opened and drained the old wound, and both agreed that it is too late for an operation. the flesh that guards the wall of the great vein is a mere shred. she would die under the operation. i can't undertake it." "and it will not heal again?" the doctor was silent for a long while and his eyes wandered to the darkening sky where the stars were coming out one by one: "who knows but god? and who am i to set bounds to his power?" "then there may be a slender chance?" he asked eagerly. "to the eye of science--no--yet while life lingers we always hope. but i wouldn't advise you to leave her side for the next ten days. the end, if it comes, will be very sudden, and it will be too late for speech." a groan interrupted his words and norton leaned heavily against the balcony rail. the doctor's voice was full of feeling as he continued: "if you have anything to say to her you'd better say it quickly to be sure that it does not remain unsaid." "thank you----" "i have told her nothing more can be done now until the wound from this draining heals--that when it does she can come to new york for a final decision on the operation." "i understand." "we leave to-night on the midnight express----" "you can do nothing more?" "nothing." a warm pressure of the hand in the gathering twilight and he was gone. the dazed man looked toward the fading sky-line of the southwest at mt. pisgah's towering black form pushing his way into the track of the stars and a feeling of loneliness crushed his soul. he turned abruptly, braced himself for the ordeal and hurried to her room. she was unusually bright and cheerful. "why, it didn't hurt a bit, dear!" she exclaimed joyfully. "it was nothing. and when it heals you're to take me to new york for the operation----" he took her hot hand and kissed it through blinding tears which he tried in vain to fight back. "they didn't even have to pack that nasty old gauze in it again--were you very much scared waiting out there, dan?" "very much." she started at the queer note in his voice, caught her hand in his brown locks and pressed his head back in view: "why, you're crying--you big foolish boy! you mustn't do that. i'm all right now--i feel much better--there's not a trace of pain or uneasiness. don't be silly--it's all right, remember." he stroked the little hand: "yes, i'll remember, dearest." "it should all be healed in three weeks and then we'll go to new york. it'll just be fun! i've always been crazy to go. i won't mind the operation--you'll be with me every minute now till i'm well again." "yes, dear, every moment now until--you--are--well." the last words came slowly, but by a supreme effort of will the voice was held even. he found mammy, told her the solemn truth, and sent her to hire a nurse for the baby. "either you or i must be by her side every minute now, mammy--day and night." "yessir, i understand," the dear old voice answered. every morning early the nurse brought the baby in for a romp as soon as he waked and mammy came to relieve the tired watcher. ten days passed before the end came. many long, sweet hours he had with her hand in his as the great shadow deepened, while he talked to her of life and death, and immortality. a strange peace had slowly stolen into his heart. he had always hated and feared death before. now his fears had gone. and the face of the dim white messenger seemed to smile at him from the friendly shadows. the change came quietly one night as they sat in the moonlight of her window. "oh, what a beautiful world, dan!" she said softly, and then the little hand suddenly grasped her throat! she turned a blanched face on him and couldn't speak. he lifted her tenderly and laid her on the bed, rang for the doctor and sent mammy for the baby. she motioned for a piece of paper--and slowly wrote in a queer, trembling hand: "i understand, dearest, i am going--it's all right. i am happy--remember that i love you and have forgiven--rear our boy free from the curse--you know what i mean. i had rather a thousand times that he should die than this--my brooding spirit will watch and guard." the baby kissed her sweetly and lisped: "good night, mamma!" from the doorway he waved his chubby little arm and cried again: "night, night, mamma!" the sun was slowly climbing the eastern hills when the end came. its first rays streamed through the window and fell on his haggard face as he bent and pressed a kiss on the silent lips of the dead. chapter xviii questions the thing that crushed the spirit of the man was not the shock of death with its thousand and one unanswerable questions torturing the soul, but the possibility that his acts had been the cause of the tragedy. dr. williams had said to him over and over again: "make her will to live and she'll recover!" he had fought this grim battle and won. she had willed to live and was happy. the world had never seemed so beautiful as the day she died. if the cause of her death lay further back in the curious accident which happened at the birth of the child, his soul was clear of guilt. he held none of the morbid fancies of the super-sensitive mind that would make a father responsible for a fatal outcome in the birth of a babe. god made women to bear children. the only woman to be pitied was the one who could not know the pain, the joy and the danger of this divine hour. but the one persistent question to which his mind forever returned was whether the shock of his sin had weakened her vitality and caused the return of this old trouble. the moment he left the grave on the day of her burial, he turned to the old doctor with this grim question. he told him the whole story. he told him every word she had spoken since they left home. he recounted every hour of reaction and depression, the good and the bad, just as the recording angel might have written it. he ended his recital with the burning question: "tell me now, doctor, honestly before god, did i kill her?" "certainly not!" was the quick response. "don't try to shield me. i can stand the truth. i don't belong to a race of cowards. after this no pain can ever come but that my soul shall laugh!" "i'm honest with you, my boy. i've too much self-respect not to treat you as a man in such an hour. no, if she died as you say, you had nothing to do with it. the seed of death was hiding there behind that slender, graceful throat. i was always afraid of it. and i've always known that if the pain returned she'd die----" "you knew that before we left home?" "yes. i only hinted the truth. i thought the change might prolong her life, that's all." "you're not saying this to cheer me? this is not one of your lies you give for medicine sometimes?" "no"--the old doctor smiled gravely. "no, shake off this nightmare and go back to your work. your people are calling you." * * * * * he made a desperate effort to readjust himself to life, but somehow at the moment the task was hopeless. he had preached, with all the eloquence of the enthusiasm of youth, that life in itself is always beautiful and always good. he found it was easier to preach a thing than to live it. the old house seemed to be empty, and, strange to say, the baby's voice didn't fill it. he had said to himself that the patter of his little feet and the sound of his laughter would fill its halls, make it possible to live, and get used to the change. but it wasn't so. somehow the child's laughter made him faint. the sound of his voice made the memory of his mother an intolerable pain. his voice in the morning was the first thing he heard and it drove him from the house. at night when he knelt to lisp his prayers her name was a stab, and when he waved his little hands and said: "good night, papa!" he could remember nothing save the last picture that had burned itself into his soul. he tried to feed and care for a canary she had kept in her room, but when he cocked his little yellow head and gave the loving plaintive cry with which he used to greet her, the room became a blur and he staggered out unable to return for a day. the silent sympathy of his dog, as he thrust his nose between his hands and wagged his shaggy tail, was the only thing that seemed to count for anything. "i understand, don, old boy," he cried, lifting his paw into his lap and slipping his arm around the woolly neck, "you're telling me that you love me always, good or bad, right or wrong. i understand, and it's very sweet to know it. but i've somehow lost the way on life's field, old boy. the night is coming on and i can't find the road home. you remember that feeling when we were lost sometimes in strange countries hunting together, you and i?" don licked his hand and wagged his tail again. he rose and walked through the lawn, radiant now with the glory of spring. but the flowers had become the emblems of death not life and their odor was oppressive. a little black boy, in a ragged shirt and torn trousers, barefooted and bareheaded, stopped at the gate, climbed up and looked over with idle curiosity at his aimless wandering. he giggled and asked: "ye don't need no boy fer nothin, do ye?" the man's sombre eyes suddenly lighted with a look of hate that faded in a moment and he made no reply. what had this poor little ragamuffin, his face smeared with dirt and his eyes rolling with childish mirth, to do with tragic problems which his black skin symbolized! he was there because a greedy race of empire builders had need of his labor. he had remained to torment and puzzle and set at naught the wisdom of statesmen for the same reason. for the first time in his life he asked himself a startling question: "do i really need him?" before the shock that threw his life into ruins he would have answered as every southerner always answered at that time: "certainly i need him. his labor is indispensable to the south." but to-day, back of the fire that flashed in his eyes, there had been born a new thought. he was destined to forget it in the stress of the life of the future, but it was there growing from day to day. the thought shaped itself into questions: "isn't the price we pay too great? is his labor worth more than the purity of our racial stock? shall we improve the breed of men or degrade it? is any progress that degrades the breed of men progress at all? is it not retrogression? can we afford it?" he threw off his train of thought with a gesture of weariness and a great desire suddenly possessed his heart to get rid of such a burden by a complete break with every tie of life save one. "why not take the boy and go?" he exclaimed. the more he turned the idea over in his mind the more clearly it seemed to be the sensible thing to do. but the fighting instinct within him was too strong for immediate surrender. he went to his office determined to work and lose himself in a return to its old habits. he sat down at his desk, but his mind was a blank. there wasn't a question on earth that seemed worth writing an editorial about. nothing mattered. for two hours he sat hopelessly staring at his exchanges. the same world, which he had left a few weeks before when he had gone down into the valley of the shadows to fight for his life, still rolled on with its endless story of joy and sorrow, ambitions and struggle. it seemed now the record of the buzzing of a lot of insects. it was a waste of time to record such a struggle or to worry one way or another about it. and this effort of a daily newspaper to write the day's history of these insects! it might be worth the while of a philosopher to pause a moment to record the blow that would wipe them out of existence, but to get excited again over their little squabbles--it seemed funny now that he had ever been such a fool! he rose at last in disgust and seized his hat to go home when the chairman of the executive committee of his party suddenly walked into his office unannounced. his face was wreathed in smiles and his deep bass voice had a hearty, genuine ring: "i've big news for you, major!" the editor placed a chair beside his desk, motioned his visitor to be seated and quietly resumed his seat. "it's been settled for some time," he went on enthusiastically, "but we thought best not to make the announcement so soon after your wife's death. i reckon you can guess my secret?" "i give it up," was the listless answer. "the committee has voted unanimously to make you the next governor. your nomination with such backing is a mere formality. your election is a certainty----" the chairman sprang to his feet and extended his big hand: "i salute the governor of the commonwealth--the youngest man in the history of the state to hold such high office----" "you mean it?" norton asked in a stupor. "mean it? of course i mean it! why don't you give me your hand? what's the matter?" "you see, i've sort of lost my bearings in politics lately." the chairman's voice was lowered: "of course, major, i understand. well, this is the medicine you need now to brace you up. for the first time in my memory a name will go before our convention without a rival. there'll be just one ballot and that will be a single shout that'll raise the roof----" norton rose and walked to his window overlooking the square, as he was in the habit of doing often, turning his back for a moment on the enthusiastic politician. he was trying to think. the first big dream of his life had come true and it didn't interest him. he turned abruptly and faced his visitor: "tell your committee for me," he said with slow emphatic voice, "that i appreciate the high honor they would do me, but cannot accept----" "what!" "i cannot accept the responsibility." "you don't mean it?" "i was never more in earnest." the chairman slipped his arm around the editor with a movement of genuine sympathy: "come, my boy, this is nonsense. i'm a veteran politician. no man ever did such a thing as this in the history of the state! you can't decline such an honor. you're only twenty-five years old." "time is not measured by the tick of a clock," norton interrupted, "but by what we've lived." "yes, yes, we know you've had a great shock in the death of your wife, but you must remember that the people--a million people--are calling you to lead them. it's a solemn duty. don't say no now. take a little time and you'll see that it's the work sent to you at the moment you need it most. i won't take no for an answer----" he put on his hat and started to the door: "i'll just report to the committee that i notified you and that you have the matter under consideration." before norton could enter a protest the politician had gone. his decision was instantly made. this startling event revealed the hopelessness of life under its present conditions. he would leave the south. he would put a thousand miles between him and the scene of the events of the past year. he would leave his home with its torturing memories. above all, he would leave the negroid conditions that made his shame possible and rear his boy in clean air. chapter xix cleo's cry the decision once made was carried out without delay. he placed an editor permanently in charge of his paper, closed the tall green shutters of the stately old house, sold his horses, and bought tickets for himself and mammy for new york. he paused at the gate and looked back at the white pillars of which he had once been so proud. he hadn't a single regret at leaving. "a house doesn't make a home, after all!" he sighed with a lingering look. he took the boy to the cemetery for a last hour beside the mother's grave before he should turn his back on the scenes of his old life forever. the cemetery was the most beautiful spot in the county. at this period of the life of the south, it was the one spot where every home had its little plot. the war had killed the flower of southern manhood. the bravest and the noblest boys never surrendered. they died with a shout and a smile on their lips and southern women came daily now to keep their love watches on these solemn bivouacs of the dead. the girls got the habit of going there to plant flowers and to tend them and grew to love the shaded walks, the deep boxwood hedges, the quiet, sweetly perfumed air. sweethearts were always strolling among the flowers and from every nook and corner peeped a rustic seat that could tell its story of the first stammering words from lovers' lips. norton saw them everywhere this beautiful spring afternoon, the girls in their white, clean dresses, the boys bashful and self-conscious. a throb of pain gripped his heart and he hurried through the wilderness of flowers to the spot beneath a great oak where he had laid the tired body of the first and only woman he had ever loved. he placed the child on the grass and led him to the newly-made mound, put into his tiny hand the roses he had brought and guided him while he placed them on her grave. "this is where little mother sleeps, my boy," he said softly. "remember it now--it will be a long, long time before we shall see it again. you won't forget----" "no--dad-ee," he lisped sweetly. "i'll not fordet, the big tree----" the man rose and stood in silence seeing again the last beautiful day of their life together and forgot the swift moments. he stood as in a trance from which he was suddenly awakened by the child's voice calling him excitedly from another walkway into which he had wandered: "dad-ee!" he called again. "yes, baby," he answered. "oh, come quick! dad-ee--here's c-l-e-o!" norton turned and with angry steps measured the distance between them. he came upon them suddenly behind a boxwood hedge. the girl was kneeling with the child's arms around her neck, clinging to her with all the yearning of his hungry little heart, and she was muttering half articulate words of love and tenderness. she held him from her a moment, looked into his eyes and cried: "and you missed me, darling?" "oh--c-l-e-o!" he cried, "i thought 'oo'd _nev-er_ tum!" the angry words died in the man's lips as he watched the scene in silence. he stooped and drew the child away: "come, baby, we must go----" "tum on, c-l-e-o, we do now," he cried. the girl shook her head and turned away. "tum on, c-l-e-o!" he cried tenderly. she waved him a kiss, and the child said excitedly: "oh, dad-ee, wait!--wait for c-l-e-o!" "no, my baby, she can't come with us----" the little head sank to his shoulder, a sob rose from his heart and he burst into weeping. and through the storm of tears one word only came out clear and soft and plaintive: "c-l-e-o! c-l-e-o!" the girl watched them until they reached the gate and then, on a sudden impulse, ran swiftly up, caught the child's hand that hung limply down his father's back, covered it with kisses and cried in cheerful, half-laughing tones: "don't cry, darling! cleo will come again!" and in the long journey to the north the man brooded over the strange tones of joyous assurance with which the girl had spoken. chapter xx the blow falls for a time norton lost himself in the stunning immensity of the life of new york. he made no effort to adjust himself to it. he simply allowed its waves to roll over and engulf him. he stopped with mammy and the boy at a brown-stone boarding house on stuyvesant square kept by a southern woman to whom he had a letter of introduction. mrs. beam was not an ideal landlady, but her good-natured helplessness appealed to him. she was a large woman of ample hips and bust, and though very tall seemed always in her own way. she moved slowly and laughed with a final sort of surrender to fate when anything went wrong. and it was generally going wrong. she was still comparatively young--perhaps thirty-two--but was built on so large and unwieldy a pattern that it was not easy to guess her age, especially as she had a silly tendency to harmless kittenish ways at times. the poor thing was pitifully at sea in her new world and its work. she had been reared in a typically extravagant home of the old south where slaves had waited her call from childhood. she had not learned to sew, or cook or keep house--in fact, she had never learned to do anything useful or important. so naturally she took boarders. her husband, on whose shoulders she had placed every burden of life the day of her marriage, lay somewhere in an unmarked trench on a virginia battlefield. she couldn't conceive of any human being enduring a servant that wasn't black and so had turned her house over to a lazy and worthless crew of northern negro help. the house was never clean, the waste in her kitchen was appalling, but so long as she could find money to pay her rent and grocery bills, she was happy. her only child, a daughter of sixteen, never dreamed of lifting her hand to work, and it hadn't yet occurred to the mother to insult her with such a suggestion. norton was not comfortable but he was lonely, and mrs. beam's easy ways, genial smile and southern weaknesses somehow gave him a sense of being at home and he stayed. mammy complained bitterly of the insolence and low manners of the kitchen. but he only laughed and told her she'd get used to it. he was astonished to find that so many southern people had drifted to new york--exiles of all sorts, with one universal trait, poverty and politeness. and they quickly made friends. as he began to realize it, his heart went out to the great city with a throb of gratitude. when the novelty of the new world had gradually worn off a feeling of loneliness set in. he couldn't get used to the crowds on every street, these roaring rivers of strange faces rushing by like the waters of a swollen stream after a freshet, hurrying and swirling out of its banks. at first he had found himself trying to bow to every man he met and take off his hat to every woman. it took a long time to break himself of this southern instinct. the thing that cured him completely was when he tipped his hat unconsciously to a lady on fifth avenue. she blushed furiously, hurried to the corner and had him arrested. his apology was so abject, so evidently sincere, his grief so absurd over her mistake that when she caught his southern drawl, it was her turn to blush and ask his pardon. a feeling of utter depression and pitiful homesickness gradually crushed his spirit. his soul began to cry for the sunlit fields and the perfumed nights of the south. there didn't seem to be any moon or stars here, and the only birds he ever saw were the chattering drab little sparrows in the parks. the first day of autumn, as he walked through central park, a magnificent irish setter lifted his fine head and spied him. some subtle instinct told the dog that the man was a hunter and a lover of his kind. the setter wagged his tail and introduced himself. norton dropped to a seat, drew the shaggy face into his lap, and stroked his head. he was back home again. don, with his fine nose high in the air, was circling a field and andy was shouting: "he's got 'em! he's got 'em sho, marse dan!" he could see don's slim white and black figure stepping slowly through the high grass on velvet feet, glancing back to see if his master were coming--the muscles suddenly stiffened, his tail became rigid, and the whole covey of quail were under his nose! he was a boy again and felt the elemental thrill of man's first work as hunter and fisherman. he looked about him at the bald coldness of the artificial park and a desperate longing surged through his heart to be among his own people again, to live their life and feel their joys and sorrows as his own. and then the memory of the great tragedy slowly surged back, he pushed the dog aside, rose and hurried on in his search for a new world. he tried the theatres--saw booth in his own house on d street play "hamlet" and lawrence barrett "othello," listened with rapture to the new italian grand opera company in the academy of music--saw a burlesque in the tammany theatre on th street, lester wallack in "the school for scandal" at wallack's theatre on broadway at th street, and tony pastor in his variety show at his opera house on the bowery, and yet returned each night with a dull ache in his heart. other men who loved home less perhaps could adjust themselves to new surroundings, but somehow in him this home instinct, this feeling of personal friendliness for neighbor and people, this passion for house and lawn, flowers and trees and shrubs, for fields and rivers and hills, seemed of the very fibre of his inmost life. this vast rushing, roaring, impersonal world, driven by invisible titanic forces, somehow didn't appeal to him. it merely stunned and appalled and confused his mind. and then without warning the blow fell. he told himself afterwards that he must have been waiting for it, that some mysterious power of mental telepathy had wired its message without words across the thousand miles that separated him from the old life, and yet the surprise was complete and overwhelming. he had tried that morning to write. a story was shaping itself in his mind and he felt the impulse to express it. but he was too depressed. he threw his pencil down in disgust and walked to his window facing the little park. it was a bleak, miserable day in november--the first freezing weather had come during the night and turned a drizzling rain into sleet. the streets were covered with a thin, hard, glistening coat of ice. a coal wagon had stalled in front of the house, a magnificent draught horse had fallen and a brutal driver began to beat him unmercifully. henry berg's society had not yet been organized. norton rushed from the door and faced the astonished driver: "don't you dare to strike that horse again!" the workman turned his half-drunken face on the intruder with a vicious leer: "well, what t'ell----" "i mean it!" with an oath the driver lunged at him: "get out of my way!" the big fist shot at norton's head. he parried the attack and knocked the man down. the driver scrambled to his feet and plunged forward again. a second blow sent him flat on his back on the ice and his body slipped three feet and struck the curb. "have you got enough?" norton asked, towering over the sprawling figure. "yes." "well, get up now, and i'll help you with the horse." he helped the sullen fellow unhitch the fallen horse, lift him to his feet and readjust the harness. he put shoulder to the wheel and started the wagon again on its way. he returned to his room feeling better. it was the first fight he had started for months and it stirred his blood to healthy reaction. he watched the bare limbs swaying in the bitter wind in front of st. george's church and his eye rested on the steeples the architects said were unsafe and might fall some day with a crash, and his depression slowly returned. he had waked that morning with a vague sense of dread. "i guess it was that fight!" he muttered. "the scoundrel will be back in an hour with a warrant for my arrest and i'll spend a few days in jail----" the postman's whistle blew at the basement window. he knew that fellow by the way he started the first notes of his call--always low, swelling into a peculiar shrill crescendo and dying away in a weird cry of pain. the call this morning was one of startling effects. it was his high nerve tension, of course, that made the difference--perhaps, too, the bitter cold and swirling gusts of wind outside. but the shock was none the less vivid. the whistle began so low it seemed at first the moaning of the wind, the high note rang higher and higher, until it became the shout of a fiend, and died away with a wail of agony wrung from a lost soul. he shivered at the sound. he would not have been surprised to receive a letter from the dead after that. he heard some one coming slowly up stairs. it was mammy and the boy. the lazy maid had handed his mail to her, of course. his door was pushed open and the child ran in holding a letter in his red, chubby hand: "a letter, daddy!" he cried. he took it mechanically, staring at the inscription. he knew now the meaning of his horrible depression! she was writing that letter when it began yesterday. he recognized cleo's handwriting at a glance, though this was unusually blurred and crooked. the postmark was baltimore, another striking fact. he laid the letter down on his table unopened and turned to mammy: "take him to your room. i'm trying to do some writing." the old woman took the child's hand grumbling: "come on, mammy's darlin', nobody wants us!" he closed the door, locked it, glanced savagely at the unopened letter, drew his chair before the open fire and gazed into the glowing coals. he feared to break the seal--feared with a dull, sickening dread. he glanced at it again as though he were looking at a toad that had suddenly intruded into his room. six months had passed without a sign, and he had ceased to wonder at the strange calm with which she received her dismissal and his flight from the scene after his wife's death. he had begun to believe that her shadow would never again fall across his life. it had come at last. he picked the letter up, and tried to guess its meaning. she was going to make demands on him, of course. he had expected this months ago. but why should she be in baltimore? he thought of a hundred foolish reasons without once the faintest suspicion of the truth entering his mind. he broke the seal and read its contents. a look of vague incredulity overspread his face, followed by a sudden pallor. the one frightful thing he had dreaded and forgotten was true! he crushed the letter in his powerful hand with a savage groan: "god in heaven!" he spread it out again and read and re-read its message, until each word burned its way into his soul: "our baby was born here yesterday. i was on my way to new york to you, but was taken sick on the train at baltimore and had to stop. i'm alone and have no money, but i'm proud and happy. i know that you will help me. "cleo." for hours he sat in a stupor of pain, holding this crumpled letter in his hand, staring into the fire. chapter xxi the call of the blood it was all clear now, the mystery of cleo's assurance, of her happiness, of her acceptance of his going without protest. she had known the truth from the first and had reckoned on his strength and manliness to draw him to her in this hour. "i'll show her!" he said in fierce rebellion. "i'll give her the money she needs--yes--but her shadow shall never again darken my life. i won't permit this shame to smirch the soul of my boy--i'll die first!" he moved to the west side of town, permitted no one to learn his new address, sent her money from the general postoffice, and directed all his mail to a lock box he had secured. he destroyed thus every trace by which she might discover his residence if she dared to venture into new york. to his surprise it was more than three weeks before he received a reply from her. and the second letter made an appeal well-nigh resistless. the message was brief, but she had instinctively chosen the words that found him. how well she knew that side of his nature! he resented it with rage and tried to read all sorts of sinister guile into the lines. but as he scanned them a second time reason rejected all save the simplest and most obvious meaning the words implied. the letter was evidently written in a cramped position. she had missed the lines many times and some words were so scrawled they were scarcely legible. but he read them all at last: "i have been very sick since your letter came with the money. i tried to get up too soon. i have suffered awfully. you see, i didn't know how much i had gone through. please don't be angry with me for what neither you nor i can help now. i want to see you just once, and then i won't trouble you any more. i am very weak to-day, but i'll soon be strong again. "cleo." it made him furious, this subtle appeal to his keen sense of fatherhood. she knew how tenderly he loved his boy. she knew that while such obligations rest lightly on some men, the tie that bound him to his son was the biggest thing in his life. she had been near him long enough to learn the secret things of his inner life. she was using them now to break down the barriers of character and self-respect. he could see it plainly. he hated her for it and yet the appeal went straight to his heart. two things in this letter he couldn't get away from: "you see, i didn't know how much i had gone through." he kept reading this over. and the next line: "please don't be angry with me for what neither you nor i can help now." the appeal was so human, so simple, so obviously sincere, no man with a soul could ignore it. how could she help it now? she too had been swept into the tragic situation by the blind forces of nature. after all, had it not been inevitable? did not such a position of daily intimate physical contact--morning, noon and night--mean just this? could she have helped it? were they not both the victims, in a sense, of the follies of centuries? had he the right to be angry with her? his reason answered, no. and again came the deeper question--can any man ever escape the consequences of his deeds? deeds are of the infinite and eternal and the smallest one disturbs the universe. it slowly began to dawn on him that nothing he could ever do or say could change one elemental fact. she was a mother--a fact bigger than all the forms and ceremonies of the ages. it was just this thing in his history that made his sin against the wife so poignant, both to her and to his imagination. a child was a child, and he had no right to sneak and play a coward in such an hour. step by step the woman's simple cry forced its way into the soul and slowly but surely the rags were stripped from pride, until he began to see himself naked and without sham. the one thing that finally cut deepest was the single sentence: "you see, i didn't know how much i had gone through----" he read it again with a feeling of awe. no matter what the shade of her olive cheek or the length of her curly hair, she was a mother with all that big word means in the language of men. say what he might--of her art in leading him on, of her final offering herself in a hundred subtle ways in their daily life in his home--he was still responsible. he had accepted the challenge at last. and he knew what it meant to any woman under the best conditions, with a mother's face hovering near and the man she loved by her side. he saw again the scene of his boy's birth. and then another picture--a lonely girl in a strange city without a friend--a cot in the whitewashed ward of a city's hospital--a pair of startled eyes looking in vain for a loved, familiar face as her trembling feet stepped falteringly down into the valley that lies between life and death! a pitiful thing, this hour of suffering and of waiting for the unknown. his heart went out to her in sympathy, and he answered her letter with a promise to come. but on the day he was to start for baltimore mammy was stricken with a cold which developed into pneumonia. unaccustomed to the rigors of a northern climate, she had been careless and the result from the first was doubtful. to leave her was, of course, impossible. he sent for a doctor and two nurses and no care or expense was spared, but in spite of every effort she died. it was four weeks before he returned from the funeral in the south. he reached baltimore in a blinding snowstorm the week preceding christmas. cleo had left the hospital three weeks previous to his arrival, and for some unexplained reason had spent a week or ten days in norfolk and returned in time to meet him. he failed to find her at the address she had given him, but was directed to an obscure hotel in another quarter of the city. he was surprised and puzzled at the attitude assumed at this meeting. she was nervous, irritable, insolent and apparently anxious for a fight. "well, why do you stare at me like that?" she asked angrily. "was i staring?" he said with an effort at self-control. "after all i've been through the past weeks," she said bitterly, "i didn't care whether i lived or died." "i meant to have come at once as i wrote you. but mammy's illness and death made it impossible to get here sooner." "one excuse is as good as another," she retorted with a contemptuous toss of her head. norton looked at her in blank amazement. it was inconceivable that this was the same woman who wrote him the simple, sincere appeal a few weeks ago. it was possible, of course, that suffering had embittered her mind and reduced her temporarily to the nervous condition in which she appeared. "why do you keep staring at me?" she asked again, with insolent ill-temper. he was so enraged at her evident attempt to bully him into an attitude of abject sympathy, he shot her a look of rage, seized his hat and without a word started for the door. with a cry of despair she was by his side and grasped his arm: "please--please don't!" "change your tactics, then, if you have anything to say to me." she flushed, stammered, looked at him queerly and then smiled: "yes, i will, major--please don't be mad at me! you see, i'm just a little crazy. i've been through so much since i came here i didn't know what i was saying to you. i'm awfully sorry--let me take your hat----" she took his hat, laid it on the table and led him to a seat. "please sit down. i'm so glad you've come, and i thank you for coming. i'm just as humble and grateful as i can be. you must forget how foolish i've acted. i've been so miserable and scared and lonely, it's a wonder i haven't jumped into the bay. and i just thought at last that you were never coming." norton looked at her with new astonishment. not because there was anything strange in what she said--he had expected some such words on his arrival, but because they didn't ring true. she seemed to be lying. there was an expression of furtive cunning in her greenish eyes that was uncanny. he couldn't make her out. in spite of the effort to be friendly she was repulsive. "well, i'm here," he said calmly. "you have something to say--what is it?" "of course," she answered smilingly. "i have a lot to say. i want you to tell me what to do." "anything you like," he answered bluntly. "it's nothing to you?" "i'll give you an allowance." "is that all?" "what else do you expect?" "you don't want to see her?" "no." "i thought you were coming for that?" "i've changed my mind. and the less we see of each other the better. i'll go with you to-morrow and verify the records----" cleo laughed: "you don't think i'm joking about her birth?" "no. but i'm not going to take your word for it." "all right, i'll go with you to-morrow." he started again to the door. he felt that he must leave--that he was smothering. something about the girl's manner got on his nerves. not only was there no sort of sympathy or attraction between them but the longer he stayed in her presence the more he felt the desire to choke her. he began to look into her eyes with growing suspicion and hate, and behind their smiling plausibility he felt the power of a secret deadly hostility. "you don't want me to go back home with the child, do you?" cleo asked with a furtive glance. "no, i do not," he replied, emphatically. "i'm going back--but i'll give her up and let you educate her in a convent on one condition----" "what?" he asked sharply. "that you let me nurse the boy again and give me the protection and shelter of your home----" "never!" he cried. "please be reasonable. it will be best for you and best for me and best for her that her life shall never be blackened by the stain of my blood. i've thought it all out. it's the only way----" "no," he replied sternly. "i'll educate her in my own way, if placed in my hands without condition. but you shall never enter my house again----" "is it fair," she pleaded, "to take everything from me and turn me out in the world alone? i'll give your boy all the love of a hungry heart. he loves me." "he has forgotten your existence----" "you know that he hasn't!" "i know that he has," norton persisted with rising wrath. "it's a waste of breath for you to talk to me about this thing"--he turned on her fiercely: "why do you wish to go back there? to grin and hint the truth to your friends?" "you know that i'd cut my tongue out sooner than betray you. i'd like to scream it from every housetop--yes. but i won't. i won't, because you smile or frown means too much to me. i'm asking this that i may live and work for you and be your slave without money and without price----" "i understand," he broke in bitterly, "because you think that thus you can again drag me down--well, you can't do it! the power you once had is gone--gone forever--never to return----" "then why be afraid? no one there knows except my mother. you hate me. all right. i can do you no harm. i'll never hate you. i'll just be happy to serve you, to love your boy and help you rear him to be a fine man. let me go back with you and open the old house again----" he lifted his hand with a gesture of angry impatience: "enough of this now--you go your way in life and i go mine." "i'll not give her up except on my conditions----" "then you can keep her and go where you please. if you return home you'll not find me. i'll put the ocean between us if necessary----" he stepped quickly to the door and she knew it was needless to argue further. "come to my hotel to-morrow morning at ten o'clock and i'll make you a settlement through a lawyer." "i'll be there," she answered in a low tone, "but please, major, before you go let me ask you not to remember the foolish things i said and the way i acted when you came. i'm so sorry--forgive me. i made you terribly mad. i don't know what was the matter with me. remember i'm just a foolish girl here without a friend----" she stopped, her voice failing: "oh, my god, i'm so lonely, i don't want to live! you don't know what it means for me just to be near you--please let me go home with you!" there was something genuine in this last cry. it reached his heart in spite of anger. he hesitated and spoke in kindly tones: "good night--i'll see you in the morning." this plea of loneliness and homesickness found the weak spot in his armor. it was so clearly the echo of his own feelings. the old home, with its beautiful and sad memories, his people and his work had begun to pull resistlessly. her suggestion was a subtle and dangerous one, doubly seductive because it was so safe a solution of difficulties. there was not the shadow of a doubt that her deeper purpose was to ultimately dominate his personal life. he was sure of his strength, yet he knew that the wise thing to do was to refuse to listen. at ten o'clock next morning she came. he had called a lawyer and drawn up a settlement that only waited her signature. she had not said she would sign--she had not positively refused. she was looking at him with dumb pleading eyes. [illustration: "he had heard the call of his people."] without a moment's warning the boy pushed his way into the room. norton sprang before cleo and shouted angrily to the nurse: "i told you not to let him come into this room----" "but you see i des tum!" the boy answered with a laugh as he darted to the corner. the thing he dreaded had happened. in a moment the child saw cleo. there was just an instant's hesitation and the father smiled that he had forgotten her. but the hesitation was only the moment of dazed surprise. with a scream of joy he crossed the room and sprang into her arms: "oh, cleo--cleo--my cleo! you've tum--you've tum! look, daddy! she's tum--my cleo!" he hugged her, he kissed her, he patted her flushed cheeks, he ran his little fingers through her tangled hair, drew himself up and kissed her again. she snatched him to her heart and burst into uncontrollable sobs, raised her eyes streaming with tears to norton and said softly: "let me go home with you!" he looked at her, hesitated and then slowly tore the legal document to pieces, threw it in the fire and nodded his consent. but this time his act was not surrender. he had heard the call of his people and his country. it was the first step toward the execution of a new life purpose that had suddenly flamed in the depths of his darkened soul as he watched the picture of the olive cheek of the woman against the clear white of his child's. book two--atonement chapter i the new life purpose norton had been compelled to wait twenty years for the hour when he could strike the first decisive blow in the execution of his new life purpose. but the aim he had set was so high, so utterly unselfish, so visionary, so impossible by the standards of modern materialism, he felt the thrill of the religious fanatic as he daily girded himself to his task. he was far from being a religious enthusiast, although he had grown a religion of his own, inherited in part, dreamed in part from the depth of his own heart. the first article of this faith was a firm belief in the ever-brooding divine spirit and its guidance in the work of man if he but opened his mind to its illumination. he believed, as in his own existence, that god's spirit had revealed the vision he saw in the hour of his agony, twenty years before when he had watched his boy's tiny arms encircle the neck of cleo, the tawny young animal who had wrecked his life, but won the heart of his child. he had tried to desert his people of the south and awaked with a shock. his mind in prophetic gaze had leaped the years and seen the gradual wearing down of every barrier between the white and black races by the sheer force of daily contact under the new conditions which democracy had made inevitable. even under the iron laws of slavery it was impossible for an inferior and superior race to live side by side for centuries as master and slave without the breaking down of some of these barriers. but the moment the magic principle of equality in a democracy became the law of life they must all melt or democracy itself yield and die. he had squarely faced this big question and given his life to its solution. when he returned to his old home and installed cleo as his housekeeper and nurse she was the living incarnation before his eyes daily of the problem to be solved--the incarnation of its subtleties and its dangers. he studied her with the cold intellectual passion of a scientist. nor was there ever a moment's uncertainty or halting in the grim purpose that fired his soul. she had at first accepted his matter of fact treatment as the sign of ultimate surrender. and yet as the years passed she saw with increasing wonder and rage the gulf between them deepen and darken. she tried every art her mind could conceive and her effective body symbolize in vain. his eyes looked at her, but never saw the woman. they only saw the thing he hated--the mongrel breed of a degraded nation. he had begun his work at the beginning. he had tried to do the things that were possible. the minds of the people were not yet ready to accept the idea of a complete separation of the races. he planned for the slow process of an epic movement. his paper, in season and out of season, presented the daily life of the black and white races in such a way that the dullest mind must be struck by the fact that their relations presented an insoluble problem. every road of escape led at last through a blind alley against a blank wall. in this policy he antagonized no one, but expressed always the doubts and fears that lurked in the minds of thoughtful men and women. his paper had steadily grown in circulation and in solid power. he meant to use this power at the right moment. he had waited patiently and the hour at last had struck. the thunder of a torpedo under an american warship lying in havana harbor shook the nation and changed the alignment of political parties. the war with spain lasted but a few months, but it gave the south her chance. her sons leaped to the front and proved their loyalty to the flag. the "bloody shirt" could never again be waved. the negro ceased to be a ward of the nation and the union of states our fathers dreamed was at last an accomplished fact. there could never again be a "north" or a "south." norton's first brilliant editorial reviewing the results of this war drew the fire of his enemies from exactly the quarter he expected. a little college professor, who aspired to the leadership of southern thought under northern patronage, called at his office. the editor's lips curled with contempt as he read the engraved card: "professor alexander magraw" the man had long been one of his pet aversions. he occupied a chair in one of the state's leading colleges, and his effusions advocating peace at any price on the negro problem had grown so disgusting of late the _eagle and phoenix_ had refused to print them. magraw was nothing daunted. he devoted his energies to writing a book in fulsome eulogy of a notorious negro which had made him famous in the north. he wrote it to curry favor with the millionaires who were backing this african's work and succeeded in winning their boundless admiration. they hailed him the coming leader of "advanced thought." as a southern white man the little professor had boldly declared that this negro, who had never done anything except to demonstrate his skill as a beggar in raising a million dollars from northern sentimentalists, was the greatest human being ever born in america! outraged public opinion in the south had demanded his expulsion from the college for this idiotic effusion, but he was so entrenched behind the power of money he could not be disturbed. his loud protests for free speech following his acquittal had greatly increased the number of his henchmen. norton wondered at the meaning of his visit. it could only be a sinister one. in view of his many contemptuous references to the man, he was amazed at his audacity in venturing to invade his office. he scowled a long while at the card and finally said to the boy: "show him in." chapter ii a modern scalawag as the professor entered the office norton was surprised at his height and weight. he had never met him personally, but had unconsciously formed the idea that he was a scrub physically. he saw a man above the average height, weighing nearly two hundred, with cheeks flabby but inclined to fat. it was not until he spoke that he caught the unmistakable note of effeminacy in his voice and saw it clearly reflected in his features. he was dressed with immaculate neatness and wore a tie of an extraordinary shade of lavender which matched the silk hose that showed above his stylish low-cut shoes. "major norton, i believe?" he said with a smile. the editor bowed without rising: "at your service, professor magraw. have a seat, sir." "thank you! thank you!" the dainty voice murmured with so marked a resemblance to a woman's tones that norton was torn between two impulses--one to lift his eyebrows and sigh, "oh, splash!" and the other to kick him down the stairs. he was in no mood for the amenities of polite conversation, turned and asked bluntly: "may i inquire, professor, why you have honored me with this unexpected call--i confess i am very curious?" "no doubt, no doubt," he replied glibly. "you have certainly not minced matters in your personal references to me in the paper of late, major norton, but i have simply taken it good-naturedly as a part of your day's work. apparently we represent two irreconcilable ideals of southern society----" "there can be no doubt about that," norton interrupted grimly. "yet i have dared to hope that our differences are only apparent and that we might come to a better understanding." he paused, simpered and smiled. "about what?" the editor asked with a frown. "about the best policy for the leaders of public opinion to pursue to more rapidly advance the interests of the south----" "and by 'interests of the south' you mean?" "the best interest of all the people without regard to race or color!" norton smiled: "you forgot part of the pass-word of your order, professor! the whole clause used to read, 'race, color or previous condition of servitude'----" the sneer was lost on the professor. he was too intent on his mission. "i have called, major norton," he went on glibly, "to inform you that my distinguished associates in the great educational movement in the south view with increasing alarm the tendency of your paper to continue the agitation of the so-called negro problem." "and may i ask by whose authority your distinguished associates have been set up as the arbiters of the destiny of twenty millions of white citizens of the south?" the professor flushed with amazement at the audacity of such a question: "they have given millions to the cause of education, sir! these great funds represent to-day a power that is becoming more and more resistless----" norton sprang to his feet and faced magraw with eyes flashing: "that's why i haven't minced matters in my references to you, professor. that's why i'm getting ready to strike a blow in the cause of racial purity for which my paper stands." "but why continue to rouse the bitterness of racial feeling? the question will settle itself if let alone." "how?" "by the process of evolution----" "exactly!" norton thundered. "and by that you mean the gradual breaking down of racial barriers and the degradation of our people to a mongrel negroid level or you mean nothing! no miracle of evolution can gloss over the meaning of such a tragedy. the negro is the lowest of all human forms, four thousand years below the standard of the pioneer white aryan who discovered this continent and peopled it with a race of empire builders. the gradual mixture of our blood with his can only result in the extinction of national character--a calamity so appalling the mind of every patriot refuses to accept for a moment its possibility." "i am not advocating such a mixture!" the professor mildly protested. "in so many words, no," retorted norton; "yet you are setting in motion forces that make it inevitable, as certain as life, as remorseless as death. when you demand that the patriot of the south let the negro alone to work out his own destiny, you know that the mere physical contact of two such races is a constant menace to white civilization----" the professor raised the delicate, tapering hands: "the old nightmare of negro domination is only a thing with which to frighten children, major, the danger is a myth----" "indeed!" norton sneered. "when our people saw the menace of an emancipated slave suddenly clothed with the royal power of a ballot they met this threat against the foundations of law and order by a counter revolution and restored a government of the wealth, virtue and intelligence of the community. what they have not yet seen, is the more insidious danger that threatens the inner home life of a democratic nation from the physical contact of two such races." "and you propose to prevent that contact?" the piping voice asked. "yes." "and may i ask how?" "by an ultimate complete separation through a process covering perhaps two hundred years----" the professor laughed: "visionary--impossible!" "all right," norton slowly replied. "i see the invisible and set myself to do the impossible. because men have done such things the world moves forward not backward!" the lavender hose moved stealthily: "you will advocate this?" the professor asked. "in due time. the southern white man and woman still labor under the old delusion that the negro's lazy, slipshod ways are necessary and that we could not get along without him----" "and if you dare to antagonize that faith?" "when your work is done, professor, and the glorious results of evolution are shown to mean the giving in marriage of our sons and daughters, my task will be easy. in the mean time i'll do the work at hand. the negro is still a voter. the devices by which he is prevented from using the power to which his numbers entitle him are but temporary. the first real work before the statesmen of the south is the disfranchisement of the african, the repeal of the fifteenth amendment to our constitution and the restoration of american citizenship to its original dignity and meaning." "a large undertaking," the professor glibly observed. "and you will dare such a program?" "i'll at least strike a blow for it. the first great crime against the purity of our racial stock was the mixture of blood which the physical contact of slavery made inevitable. "but the second great crime, and by far the most tragic and disastrous, was the insane act of congress inspired by the passions of the reconstruction period by which a million ignorant black men, but yesterday from the jungles of africa, were clothed with the full powers of citizenship under the flag of democracy and given the right by the ballot to rule a superior race. "the act of emancipation was a war measure pure and simple. by that act lincoln sought to strike the south as a political power a mortal blow. he did not free four million negroes for sentimental reasons. he destroyed four billion dollars' worth of property invested in slaves as an act of war to save the union. nothing was further from his mind or heart than the mad idea that these africans could be assimilated into our national life. he intended to separate the races and give the negro a nation of his own. but the hand of a madman struck the great leader down in the hour of his supreme usefulness. "in the anarchy which followed the assassination of the president and the attempt of a daring coterie of fanatics in washington to impeach his successor and create a dictatorship, the great crime against democracy was committed. millions of black men, with the intelligence of children and the instincts of savages, were given full and equal citizenship with the breed of men who created the republic. "any plan to solve intelligently the problem of the races must first correct this blunder from which a stream of poison has been pouring into our life. "the first step in the work of separating the races, therefore, must be to deprive the negro of this enormous power over democratic society. it is not a solution of the problem, but as the great blunder was the giving of this symbol of american kingship, our first task is to take it from him and restore the ballot to its original sanctity." "your movement will encounter difficulties, i foresee!" observed the professor with a gracious smile. he was finding his task with norton easier than he anticipated. the editor's madness was evidently so hopeless he had only to deliver his ultimatum and close the interview. "the difficulties are great," norton went on with renewed emphasis, "but less than they have been for the past twenty years. until yesterday the negro was the ward of the nation. any movement by a southern state to remove his menace was immediately met by a call to arms to defend the union by northern demagogues who had never smelled powder when the union was in danger. "a foolish preacher in boston who enjoys a national reputation has been in the habit of rousing his hearers to a round of cheers by stamping his foot, lifting hands above his head and yelling: "'the only way to save the union now is for northern mothers to rear more children than southern mothers!' "and the sad part of it is that thousands of otherwise sane people in new england and other sections of the north and west believed this idiotic statement to be literally true. it is no longer possible to fool them with such chaff----" the professor rose and shook out his finely creased trousers until the lavender hose scarcely showed: "i am afraid, major norton, that it is useless for us to continue this discussion. you are quite determined to maintain the policy of your paper on this point?" "quite." "i am sorry. the _eagle and phoenix_ is a very powerful influence in this state. the distinguished associates whom i represent sent me in the vain hope that i might persuade you to drop the agitation of this subject and join with us in developing the material and educational needs of the south----" norton laughed aloud: "really, professor?" the visitor flushed at the marked sneer in his tones, and fumbled his lavender tie: "i can only deliver to you our ultimatum, therefore----" "you are clothed with sovereign powers, then?" the editor asked sarcastically. "if you choose to designate them so--yes. unless you agree to drop this dangerous and useless agitation of the negro question and give our people a hearing in the columns of your paper, i am authorized to begin at once the publication of a journal that will express the best sentiment of the south----" "so?" "and i have unlimited capital to back it." norton's eyes flashed as he squared himself before the professor: "i've not a doubt of your backing. start your paper to-morrow if you like. you'll find that it takes more than money to build a great organ of public opinion in the south. i've put my immortal soul into this plant. i'll watch your experiment with interest." "thank you! thank you," the thin voice piped. "and now that we understand each other," norton went on, "you've given me the chance to say a few things to you and your associates i've been wanting to express for a long time----" norton paused and fixed his visitor with an angry stare: "not only is the negro gaining in numbers, in wealth and in shallow 'culture,' and tightening his grip on the soil as the owner in fee simple of thousands of homes, churches, schools and farms, but a negroid party has once more developed into a powerful and sinister influence on the life of this state! you and your associates are loud in your claims to represent a new south. in reality you are the direct descendants of the reconstruction scalawag and carpetbagger. "the old scalawag was the judas iscariot who sold his people for thirty pieces of silver which he got by licking the feet of his conqueror and fawning on his negro allies. the carpetbagger was a northern adventurer who came south to prey on the misfortunes of a ruined people. a new and far more dangerous order of scalawags has arisen--the man who boldly preaches the omnipotence of the dollar and weighs every policy of state or society by one standard only, will it pay in dollars and cents? and so you frown on any discussion of the tragic problem the negro's continued pressure on southern society involves because it disturbs business. "the unparalleled growth of wealth in the north has created our enormous poor funds, organized by generous well-meaning men for the purpose of education in the south. as a matter of fact, this new educational movement had its origin in the same soil that established negro classical schools and attempted to turn the entire black race into preachers, lawyers, and doctors just after the war. your methods, however, are wiser, although your policies are inspired, if not directed, by the fertile brain of a notorious negro of doubtful moral character. "the directors of your poor funds profess to be the only true friends of the true white man of the south. by a 'true white man of the south' you mean a man who is willing to show his breadth of vision by fraternizing occasionally with negroes. "an army of lickspittles have begun to hang on the coat-tails of your dispensers of alms. their methods are always the same. they attempt to attract the notice of the northern distributors by denouncing men of my type who are earnestly, fearlessly and reverently trying to face and solve the darkest problem the centuries have presented to america. these little beggars have begun to vie with one another not only in denouncing the leaders of public opinion in the south, but in fulsome and disgusting fawning at the feet of the individual negro whose personal influence dominates these funds." again the lavender socks moved uneasily. "in which category you place the author of a certain book, i suppose?" inquired the professor. "i paused in the hope that you might not miss my meaning," norton replied, smiling. "the astounding power for the debasement of public opinion developing through these vast corruption funds is one of the most sinister influences which now threatens southern society. it is the most difficult of all to meet because its protestations are so plausible and philanthropic. "the carpetbagger has come back to the south. this time he is not a low adventurer seeking coin and public office. he is a philanthropist who carries hundreds of millions of dollars to be distributed to the 'right' men who will teach southern boys and girls the 'right' ideas. so far as these 'right' ideas touch the negro, they mean the ultimate complete acceptance of the black man as a social equal. "your chief spokesman of this new order of carpetbag, for example, has declared on many occasions that the one thing in his life of which he is most proud is the fact that he is the personal friend of the negro whose influence now dominates your dispensers of alms! this man positively grovels with joy when his distinguished black friend honors him by becoming his guest in new york. "with growing rage and wonder i have watched the development of this modern phenomenon. i have fought you with sullen and unyielding fury from the first, and you have proven the most dangerous and insidious force i have encountered. you profess the loftiest motives and the highest altruism while the effects of your work can only be the degradation of the white race to an ultimate negroid level, to say nothing of the appalling results if you really succeed in pauperizing the educational system of the south! "i expected to hear from your crowd when the movement for a white ballot was begun. through you the society of affiliated black league almoners of the south, under the direction of your inspired negro leader, have sounded the alarm. and now all the little pigs who are feeding on this swill, and all the hungry ones yet outside the fence and squealing to get in, will unite in a chorus that you hope can have but one result--the division of the white race on a vital issue affecting its purity, its integrity, and its future. "the possible division of my race in its attitude toward the negro is the one big danger that has always hung its ugly menace over the south. so long as her people stand united, our civilization can be protected against the pressure of the negro's growing millions. but the moment a serious division of these forces occurs the black man's opportunity will be at hand. the question is, can you divide the white race on this issue?" "we shall see, major, we shall see," piped the professor, fumbling his lavender tie and bowing himself out. the strong jaw closed with a snap as norton watched the silk hose disappear. chapter iii his house in order norton knew from the first that there could be no hope of success in such a campaign as he had planned except in the single iron will of a leader who would lead and whose voice lifted in impassioned appeal direct to the white race in every county of the state could rouse them to resistless enthusiasm. the man who undertook this work must burn the bridges behind him, ask nothing for himself and take his life daily in his hands. he knew the state from the sea to its farthest mountain peak and without the slightest vanity felt that god had called him to this task. there was no other man who could do it, no other man fitted for it. he had the training, bitter experience, and the confidence of the people. and he had no ambitions save a deathless desire to serve his country in the solution of its greatest and most insoluble problem. he edited the most powerful organ of public opinion in the south and he was an eloquent and forceful speaker. his paper had earned a comfortable fortune, he was independent, he had the training of a veteran soldier and physical fear was something he had long since ceased to know. and his house was in order for the event. he could leave for months in confidence that the work would run with the smoothness of a clock. he had sent tom to a northern university which had kept itself clean from the stain of negro associations. the boy had just graduated with honor, returned home and was at work in the office. he was a handsome, clean, manly, straight-limbed, wholesome boy, the pride of his father's heart, and had shown decided talent for newspaper work. andy had long since become his faithful henchman, butler and man of all work. aunt minerva, his fat, honest cook, was the best servant he had ever known, and cleo kept his house. the one point of doubt was cleo. during the past year she had given unmistakable signs of a determination to fight. if she should see fit to strike in the midst of this campaign, her blow would be a crushing one. it would not only destroy him personally, it would confuse and crush his party in hopeless defeat. he weighed this probability from every point of view and the longer he thought it over the less likely it appeared that she would take such a step. she would destroy herself and her child as well. she knew him too well now to believe that he would ever yield in such a struggle. helen was just graduating from a convent school in the northwest, a beautiful and accomplished girl, and the last thing on earth she could suspect was that a drop of negro blood flowed in her veins. he knew cleo too well, understood her hatred of negroes too well, to believe that she would deliberately push this child back into a negroid hell merely to wreak a useless revenge that would crush her own life as well. she was too wise, too cunning, too cautious. and yet her steadily growing desperation caused him to hesitate. the thing he dreaded most was the loss of his boy's respect, which a last desperate fight with this woman would involve. the one thing he had taught tom was racial cleanness. with a wisdom inspired and guided by the brooding spirit of his mother he had done this thoroughly. he had so instilled into this proud, sensitive boy's soul a hatred for all low association with women that it was inconceivable to him that any decent white man would stoop to an intrigue with a woman of negro blood. the withering scorn, the unmeasured contempt with which he had recently expressed himself to his father on this point had made the red blood slowly mount to the older man's face. he had rather die than look into this boy's clean, manly eyes and confess the shame that would blacken his life. the boy loved him with a deep, tender, reverent love. his keen eyes had long ago seen the big traits in his father's character. the boy's genuine admiration was the sweetest thing in his lonely life. he weighed every move with care and deliberately made up his mind to strike the blow and take the chances. no man had the right to weigh his personal career against the life of a people--certainly no man who dared to assume the leadership of a race. he rose from his desk, opened the door of the reporters' room and called tom. the manly young figure, in shirt sleeves, pad and pencil in hand, entered with quick, firm step. "you want me to interview you, governor?" he said with a laugh. "all right--now what do you think of that little scrimmage at the mouth of the harbor of santiago yesterday? how's that for a fourth of july celebration? i ask it of a veteran of the confederate army?" the father smiled proudly as the youngster pretended to be taking notes of his imaginary interview. "you heard, sir," he went on eagerly, "that your old general, joe wheeler, was there and in a moment of excitement forgot himself and shouted to his aid: "'there go the damned yankees!--charge and give 'em hell!'" a dreamy look came into the father's eyes as he interrupted: "i shouldn't be surprised if wheeler said it--anyhow, it's too good a joke to doubt"--he paused and the smile on his serious face slowly faded. "shut the door, tom," he said with a gesture toward the reporters' room. the boy rose, closed the door, and sat down near his father's chair: "well, dad, why so serious? am i to be fired without a chance? or is it just a cut in my wages? don't prolong the agony!" "i am going to put you in my chair in this office, my son," the father said in a slow drawl. the boy flushed scarlet and then turned pale. "you don't mean it--now?" he gasped. "to-morrow." "you think i can make good?" the question came through trembling lips and he was looking at his father through a pair of dark blue eyes blurred by tears of excitement. "you'll do better than i did at your age. you're better equipped." "you think so?" tom asked in quick boyish eagerness. "i know it." the boy sprang to his feet and grasped his father's hand: "your faith in me is glorious--it makes me feel like i can do anything----" "you can--if you try." "well, if i can, it's because i've got good blood in me. i owe it all to you. you're the biggest man i ever met, dad. i've wanted to say this to you for a long time, but i never somehow got up my courage to tell you what i thought of you." the father slipped his arm tenderly about the boy and looked out the window at the bright southern sky for a moment before he slowly answered: "i'd rather hear that from you, tom, than the shouts of the rest of the world." "i'm going to do my level best to prove myself worthy of the big faith you've shown in me--but why have you done it? what does it mean?" "simply this, my boy, that the time has come in the history of the south for a leader to strike the first blow in the battle for racial purity by establishing a clean american citizenship. i am going to disfranchise the negro in this state as the first step toward the ultimate complete separation of the races." the boy's eyes flashed: "it's a big undertaking, sir." "yes." "is it possible?" "many say not. that's why i'm going to do it. the real work must come after this first step. just now the campaign which i'm going to inaugurate to-morrow in a speech at the mass meeting celebrating our victory at santiago, is the thing in hand. this campaign will take me away from home for several months. i must have a man here whom i can trust implicitly." "i'll do my best, sir," the boy broke in. "in case anything happens to me before it ends----" tom bent close: "what do you mean?" "you never can tell what may happen in such a revolution----" "it will be a revolution?" "yes. that's what my enemies as yet do not understand. they will not be prepared for the weapons i shall use. and i'll win. i may lose my life, but i'll start a fire that can't be put out until it has swept the state--the south"--he paused--"and then the nation!" chapter iv the man of the hour the editor prepared to launch his campaign with the utmost care. he invited the executive committee of his party to meet in his office. the leaders were excited. they knew norton too well to doubt that he had something big to suggest. some of them came from distant sections of the state, three hundred miles away, to hear his plans. he faced the distinguished group of leaders calmly, but every man present felt the deep undercurrent of excitement beneath his words. "with your coöperation, gentlemen," he began, "we are going to sweep the state this time by an overwhelming majority----" "that's the way to talk!" the chairman shouted. "four years ago," he went on, "we were defeated for the first time since the overthrow of the negro government under the reconstruction régime. this defeat was brought about by a division of the whites under the socialistic program of the farmers' alliance. gradually the black man has forced himself into power under the new régime. our farmers only wished his votes to accomplish their plans and have no use for him as an officeholder. the rank and file of the white wing, therefore, of the allied party in power, are ripe for revolt if the negro is made an issue." the committee cheered. "i propose to make the negro the only issue of this campaign. there will be no half-way measures, no puling hesitation, no weakness, and it will be a fight to the death in the open. the day for secret organizations has gone in southern history. there is no black league to justify a reorganization of the klan. but the new black league has a far more powerful organization. its mask is now philanthropy, not patriotism. its weapon is the lure of gold, not the flash of federal bayonets. they will fight to divide the white race on this vital issue. "here is our danger. it is real. it is serious. but we must meet it. there is but one way, and that is to conduct a campaign of such enthusiasm, of such daring and revolutionary violence if need be, that the little henchmen and sycophants of the dispensers of the national poor funds will be awed into silence. "the leadership of such a campaign will be a dangerous one. i offer you my services without conditions. i ask nothing for myself. i will accept no honors. i offer you my time, my money, my paper, my life if need be!" the leaders rose as one man, grasped norton's hand, and placed him in command. no inkling of even the outlines of his radical program was allowed to leak out until the hour of the meeting of the party convention. the delegates were waiting anxiously for the voice of a leader who would sound the note of victory. and when the platform was read to the convention declaring in simple, bold words that the time had come for the south to undo the crime of the fifteenth amendment, disfranchise the negro and restore to the nation the basis of white civilization, a sudden cheer like a peal of thunder swept the crowd, followed by the roar of a storm. it died away at last in waves of excited comment, rose again and swelled and rose higher and higher until the old wooden building trembled. again and again such assemblies had declared in vague terms for "white supremacy." campaign after campaign which followed the blight of negro rule twenty years before had been fought and won on this issue. but no man or party had dared to whisper what "white supremacy" really meant. there was no fog about this platform. for the first time in the history of the party it said exactly what was meant in so many words. thoughtful men had long been weary of platitudes on this subject. the negro had grown enormously in wealth, in numbers and in social power in the past two decades. as a full-fledged citizen in a democracy he was a constant menace to society. here, for the first time, was the announcement of a definite program. it was revolutionary. it meant the revision of the constitution of the union and a challenge to the negro race, and all his sentimental allies in the republic for a fight to a finish. the effect of its bare reading was electric. the moment the chairman tried to lift his voice the cheers were renewed. the hearts of the people had been suddenly thrilled by a great ideal. no matter whether it meant success or failure, no matter whether it meant fame or oblivion for the man who proposed it, every intelligent delegate in that hall knew instinctively that a great mind had spoken a bold principle that must win in the end if the republic live. norton rose at last to advocate its adoption as the one issue of the campaign, and again pandemonium broke loose--now they knew that he had written it! they suspected it from the first. instantly his name was on a thousand lips in a shout that rent the air. he stood with his tall figure drawn to its full height, his face unearthly pale, wreathed in its heavy shock of iron-gray hair and waited, without recognizing the tumult, until the last shout had died away. his speech was one of passionate and fierce appeal--the voice of the revolutionist who had boldly thrown off the mask and called his followers to battle. yet through it all, the big unspoken thing behind his words was the magic that really swayed his hearers. they felt that what he said was great, but that he could say something greater if he would. as he had matured in years he had developed this reserved power. all who came in personal touch with the man felt it instinctively with his first word. an audience, with its simpler collective intelligence, felt it overwhelmingly. yet if he had dared reveal to this crowd the ideas seething in his brain behind the simple but bold political proposition, he could not have carried them with him. they were not ready for it. he knew that to merely take the ballot from the negro and allow him to remain in physical touch with the white race was no solution of the problem. but he was wise enough to know that but one step could be taken at a time in a great movement to separate millions of blacks from the entanglements of the life of two hundred years. his platform expressed what he believed could be accomplished, and the convention at the conclusion of his eloquent speech adopted it by acclamation amid a scene of wild enthusiasm. he refused all office, except the position of chairman of the executive committee without pay, and left the hall the complete master of the politics of his party. little did he dream in this hour of triumph the grim tragedy the day's work had prepared in his own life. chapter v a woman scorned as the time drew near for norton to take the field in the campaign whose fierce passions would mark a new era in the state's history, his uneasiness over the attitude of cleo increased. she had received the announcement of his approaching long absence with sullen anger. and as the purpose of the campaign gradually became clear she had watched him with growing suspicion and hate. he felt it in every glance she flashed from the depth of her greenish eyes. though she had never said it in so many words, he was sure that the last hope of a resumption of their old relations was fast dying in her heart, and that the moment she realized that he was lost to her would be the signal for a desperate attack. what form the attack would take he could only guess. he was sure it would be as deadly as her ingenuity could invent. yet in the wildest flight of his imagination he never dreamed the daring thing she had really decided to do. on the night before his departure he was working late in his room at the house. the office he had placed in tom's hands before the meeting of the convention. the boy's eager young face just in front of him when he made his speech that day had been an inspiration. it had beamed with pride and admiration, and when his father's name rang from every lip in the great shout that shook the building tom's eyes had filled with tears. norton was seated at his typewriter, which he had moved to his room, writing his final instructions. the last lines he put in caps: "under no conceivable circumstances annoy me with anything that happens at home, unless a matter of immediate life and death, anything else can wait until my return." he had just finished this important sentence when the sound of a footstep behind his chair caused him to turn suddenly. cleo had entered the room and stood glaring at him with a look of sullen defiance. by a curious coincidence or by design, she was dressed in a scarlet kimono of the same shade of filmy japanese stuff as the one she wore in his young manhood. his quick eye caught this fact in a flash and his mind took rapid note of the changes the years had wrought. their burdens had made slight impression on her exhaustless vitality. whatever might be her personality or her real character, she was alive from the crown of her red head to the tips of her slippered toes. her attitude of tense silence sparkled with this vital power more eloquently than when she spoke with quick energy in the deep voice that was her most remarkable possession. her figure was heavier by twenty pounds than when she had first entered his home, but she never produced the impression of stoutness. her form was too sinuous, pliant and nervous to take on flesh. she was no longer the graceful girl of eighteen whose beauty had drugged his senses, but she was beyond all doubt a woman of an extraordinary type, luxuriant, sensuous, dominant. there was not a wrinkle on her smooth creamy skin nor a trace of approaching age about the brilliant greenish eyes that were gazing into his now with such grim determination. he wheeled from his machine and faced her, his eyes taking in with a quick glance the evident care with which she had arranged her hair and the startling manner in which she was dressed. he spoke with sharp, incisive emphasis: "it was a condition of your return that you should never enter my room while i am in this house." "i have not forgotten," she answered firmly, her eyes holding his steadily. "why have you dared?" "you are still afraid of me?" she asked with a light laugh that was half a sneer. "have i given you any such evidence during the past twenty years?" there was no bitterness or taunt in the even, slow drawl with which he spoke, but the woman knew that he never used the slow tone with which he uttered those words except he was deeply moved. she flushed, was silent and then answered with a frown: "no, you haven't shown any fear for something more than twenty years--until a few days ago." the last clause she spoke very quickly as she took a step closer and paused. "a few days ago?" he repeated slowly. "yes. for the past week you _have_ been afraid of me--not in the sense i asked you just now perhaps"--her white teeth showed in two even perfect rows--"but you have been watching me out of the corners of your eyes--haven't you?" "perhaps." "i wonder why?" "and you haven't guessed?" "no, but i'm going to find out." "you haven't asked." "i'm going to." "be quick about it!" "i'm going to find out--that's why i came in here to-night in defiance of your orders." "all right--the quicker the better!" "thank you, i'm not in a hurry." "what do you want?" he demanded with anger. she smiled tauntingly: "it's no use to get mad about it! i'm here now, you see that i'm not afraid of you and i'm quite sure that you will not put me out until i'm ready to go----" he sprang to his feet and advanced on her: "i'm not so sure of that!" "well, i am," she cried, holding his gaze steadily. he threw up his hands with a gesture of disgust and resumed his seat: "what is it?" she crossed the room deliberately, carrying a chair in front of her, sat down, leaned her elbow on his table and studied him a moment, their eyes meeting in a gaze of deadly hostility. "what is the meaning of this long absence you have planned?" "i have charge of this campaign. i am going to speak in every county in the state." "why?" "because i'll win that way, by a direct appeal to the people." "why do you want to win?" "because i generally do what i undertake." "why do you want to do this thing?" he looked at her in amazement. her eyes had narrowed to the tiniest lines as she asked these questions with a steadily increasing intensity. "what are you up to?" he asked her abruptly. "i want to know why you began this campaign at all?" "i decline to discuss the question with you," he answered abruptly. "i insist on it!" "you wouldn't know what i was talking about," he replied with contempt. "i think i would." "bah!" he turned from her with a wave of angry dismissal, seized his papers and began to read again his instructions to tom. "i'm not such a fool as you think," she began menacingly. "i've read your platform with some care and i've been thinking it over at odd times since your speech was reported." "and you contemplate entering politics?" he interrupted with a smile. "who knows?" she watched him keenly while she slowly uttered these words and saw the flash of uneasiness cross his face, "but don't worry," she laughed. "i'll not!" "you may for all that!" she sneered, "but i'll not enter politics as you fear. that would be too cheap. i don't care what you do to negroes. i've a drop of their blood in me----" "one in eight, to be exact." "but i'm not one of them, except by your laws, and i hate the sight of a negro. you can herd them, colonize them, send them back to africa or to the devil for all i care. your program interests me for another reason"--she paused and watched him intently. "yes?" he said carelessly. "it interests me for one reason only--you wrote that platform, you made that speech, you carried that convention. your man friday is running for governor. you are going to take the stump, carry this election and take the ballot from the negro!" "well?" "i'm excited about it merely because it shows the inside of your mind." "indeed!" "yes. it shows either that you are afraid of me or that you're not----" "it couldn't well show both," he interrupted with a sneer. "it might," she answered. "if you are afraid of me and my presence is the cause of this outburst, all right. i'll still play the game with you and win or lose. i'll take my chances. but if you're not afraid of me, if you've really not been on your guard for twenty years, it means another thing. it means that you've learned your lesson, that the book of the past is closed, and that you have simply been waiting for the time to come to do this thing and save your people from a danger before which you once fell." "and which horn of the dilemma do you take?" he asked coldly. "i haven't decided--but i will to-night." "how interesting!" "yes, isn't it?" she leaned close. "with a patience that must have caused you wonder, with a waiting through years as god waits, i have endured your indifference, your coldness, your contempt. each year i have counted the last that you could resist the call of my body and soul, and at the end of each year i have seen you further and further away from me and the gulf between us deeper and darker. this absence you have planned in this campaign means the end one way or the other. i'm going to face life now as it is, not as i've hoped it might be." "i told you when you made your bargain to return to this house, that there could be nothing between us except a hate that is eternal----" "and i didn't believe it! now i'm going to face it if i must----" she paused, breathed deeply and her eyes were like glowing coals as she slowly went on: "i'm not the kind to give up without a fight. i've lived and learned the wisdom of caution and cunning. i'm not old and i've still a fool's confidence in my powers. i'm not quite thirty-nine, strong and sound in body and spirit, alive to my finger tips with the full blood of a grown woman--and so i warn you----" "you warn me"--he cried with a flush of anger. "yes. i warn you not to push me too far. i have negro blood in me, but i'm at least human, and i'm going to be treated as a human being." "and may i ask what you mean by that?" he asked sarcastically. "that i'm going to demand my rights." "demand?" "exactly." "your _rights_?" "the right to love----" norton broke into a bitter, angry laugh: "are you demanding that i marry you?" "i'm not quite that big a fool. no. your laws forbid it. all right--there are higher laws than yours. the law that drew you to me in this room twenty years ago, in spite of all your fears and your prejudices"--she paused and her eyes glowed in the shadows--"i gave you my soul and body then----" "gifts i never sought----" "yet you took them and i'm here a part of your life. what are you going to do with me? i'm not the negro race. i'm just a woman who loves you and asks that you treat her fairly." "treat you fairly! did i ever want you? or seek you? you came to me, thrust yourself into my office, and when i discharged you, pushed your way into my home. you won my boy's love and made my wife think you were indispensable to her comfort and happiness. i tried to avoid you. it was useless. you forced yourself into my presence at all hours of the day and night. what happened was your desire, not mine. and when i reproached myself with bitter curses you laughed for joy! and you talk to me to-day of fairness! you who dragged me from that banquet hall the night of my triumph to hurl me into despair! you who blighted my career and sent me blinded with grief and shame groping through life with the shadow of death on my soul! you who struck your bargain of a pound of flesh next to my heart, and fought your way back into my house again to hold me a prisoner for life, chained to the dead body of my shame--you talk to me about fairness--great god!" he stopped, strangled with passion, his tall figure towering above her, his face livid, his hands clutched in rage. she laughed hysterically: "why don't you strike! i'm not your equal in strength--i dare you to do it--i dare you to do it! i _dare_ you--do you hear?" with a sudden grip she tore the frail silk from its fastenings at her throat, pressed close and thrust her angry face into his in a desperate challenge to physical violence. his eyes held hers a moment and his hands relaxed: "i'd like to kill you. i could do it with joy!" "why don't you?" "you're not worth the price of such a crime!" "you'd just as well do it, as to wish it. don't be a coward!" her eyes burned with suppressed fire. he looked at her with cold anger and his lip twitched with a smile of contempt. the strain was more than her nerves could bear. with a sob she threw her arms around his neck. he seized them angrily, her form collapsed and she clung to him with blind hysterical strength. he waited a moment and spoke in quiet determined tones: [illustration: "'i _dare_ you--do you hear?'"] "enough of this now." she raised her eyes to his, pleading with desperation: "please be kind to me just this last hour before you go, and i'll be content if you give no more. i'll never intrude again." she relaxed her hold, dropped to a seat and covered her face with her hands: "oh, my god! are you made of stone--have you no pity? through all these years i've gone in and out of this house looking into your face for a sign that you thought me human, and you've given none. i've lived on the memories of the few hours when you were mine. i've sometimes told myself it was just a dream, that it never happened--until i've almost believed it. you've pretended that it wasn't true. you've strangled these memories and told yourself over and over again that it never happened. i've seen you doing this--seen it in your cold, deep eyes. well, it's a lie! you were mine! you shall not forget it--you can't forget it--i won't let you, i tell you!" the voice broke again into sobs. he stood with arms folded, watching her in silence. her desperate appeal to his memories and his physical passion had only stirred anger and contempt. he was seeing now as he had never noticed before the growing marks of her negroid character. the anger was for her, the contempt for himself. he noticed the growth of her lips with age, the heavy sensual thickness of the negroid type! it was inconceivable that in this room the sight of her had once stirred the beast in him to incontrollable madness. there was at least some consolation in the fact that he had made progress. he couldn't see this if he hadn't moved to a higher plane. he spoke at length in quiet tones: "i am waiting for you to go. i have work to do to-night." she rose with a quick, angry movement: "it's all over, then. there's not a chance that you'll change your mind?" "not if you were the last woman on earth and i the last man." he spoke without bitterness but with a firmness that was final. "all right. i know what to expect now and i'll plan my own life." "what do you mean?" "that there's going to be a change in my relations to your servants for one thing." "your relations to my servants?" he repeated incredulously. "yes." "in what respect?" "i'm not going to take any more insolence from minerva----" "keep out of the kitchen and let her alone. she's the best cook i ever had." "if i keep this house for you, i demand the full authority of my position. i'll hire the servants and discharge them when i choose." "you'll do nothing of the kind," he answered firmly. "then i demand that you discharge minerva and andy at once." "what's the matter with andy?" "i loathe him." "well, i like him, and he's going to stay. anything else?" "you'll pay no attention to my wishes?" "i'm master of this house." "and in your absence?" "my son will be here." "all right, i understand now." "if i haven't made it plain, i'll do so." "quite clear, thank you," she answered slowly. norton walked to the mantel, leaned his elbow on the shelf for a moment, returned and confronted her with his hands thrust into his pockets, his feet wide apart, his whole attitude one of cool defiance. "now i want to know what you're up to? these absurd demands are a blind. they haven't fooled me. there's something else in the back of your devilish mind. what is it? i want to know exactly what you mean?" cleo laughed a vicious little ripple of amusement: "yes, i know you do--but you won't!" "all right, as you please. a word from you and helen's life is blasted. a word from you and i withdraw from this campaign, and another will lead it. speak that word if you dare, and i'll throw you out of this house and your last hold on my life is broken." "i've thought of that, too," she said with a smile. "it will be worth the agony i'll endure," he cried, "to know that i'm free of you and breathe god's clean air at last!" he spoke the words with an earnestness, a deep and bitter sincerity, that was not lost on her keen ears. she started to reply, hesitated and was silent. he saw his advantage and pressed it: "i want you to understand fully that i know now and i have always known that i am at your mercy when you see fit to break the word you pledged. yet there has never been a moment during the past twenty years that i've been really afraid of you. when the hour comes for my supreme humiliation, i'll meet it. speak as soon as you like." she had walked calmly to the door, paused and looked back: "you needn't worry, major," she said smoothly, "i'm not quite such a fool as all that. i've been silent too many years. it's a habit i'll not easily break." her white teeth gleamed in a cold smile as she added: "good night." a hundred times he told himself that she wouldn't dare, but he left home next lay with a sickening fear slowly stealing into his heart. chapter vi an old comedy norton had scarcely passed his gate on the way to catch the train when cleo left the window, where her keen eyes had been watching, and made her way rapidly to the room he had just vacated. books and papers were scattered loosely over his table beside the typewriter which he had, with his usual carelessness, left open. with a quick decision she seated herself beside the machine and in two hours sufficiently mastered its use to write a letter by using a single finger and carefully touching the keys one by one. the light of a cunning purpose burned in her eyes as she held up the letter which she had written on a sheet paper with the embossed heading of his home address at the top. she re-read it, smiling over the certainty of the success of her plan. the letter was carefully and simply worded: "my dear miss helen: "as your guardian is still in europe, i feel it my duty, and a pleasant one, to give you a glimpse of the south before you go abroad. please come at once to my home for as long as you care to stay. if i am away in the campaign when you arrive, my son and housekeeper, cleo, will make you at home and i trust happy. "with kindest regards, and hoping to see you soon, "sincerely, "daniel norton." the signature she practiced with a pen for half an hour until her imitation was almost perfect and then signed it. satisfied with the message, she addressed an envelope to "miss helen winslow, convent of the sacred heart, racine, wisconsin," sealed and posted it with her own hand. the answer came six days later. cleo recognized the post mark at once, broke the seal and read it with dancing eyes: "my dear major norton: "i am wild with joy over your kind invitation. as my last examinations are over i will not wait for the commencement exercises. i am so excited over this trip i just can't wait. i am leaving day after to-morrow and hope to arrive almost as soon as this letter. "with a heart full of gratitude, "your lonely ward, "helen." two days later a hack rolled up the graveled walk to the white porch, a girl leaped out and bounded up the steps, her cheeks flushed, her wide open blue eyes dancing with excitement. she was evidently surprised to find that cleo was an octoroon, blushed and extended her hand with a timid hesitating look: "this--this--is cleo--the major's housekeeper?" she asked. the quick eye of the woman took in at a glance the charm of the shy personality and the loneliness of the young soul that looked out from her expressive eyes. "yes," she answered mechanically. "i'm so sorry that the major's away--the driver told me----" "oh, it's all right," cleo said with a smile, "he wrote us to make you feel at home. just walk right in, your room is all ready." "thank you so much," helen responded, drawing a deep breath and looking over the lawn with its green grass, its dense hedges and wonderful clusters of roses in full bloom. "how beautiful the south is--far more beautiful than i had dreamed! and the perfume of these roses--why, the air is just drowsy with their honey! we have gorgeous roses in the north, but i never smelled them in the open before"--she paused and breathed deeply again and again--"oh, it's fairyland--i'll never want to go!" "i hope you won't," cleo said earnestly. "the major asked me to stay as long as i wished. i have his letter here"--she drew the letter from her bag and opened it--"see what he says: 'please come at once to my home for as long as you can stay'--now wasn't that sweet of him?" "very," was the strained reply. the girl's sensitive ear caught the queer note in cleo's voice and looked at her with a start. "come, i must show you to your room," she added, hurriedly opening the door for helen to pass. the keen eyes of the woman were scanning the girl and estimating her character with increasing satisfaction. she walked with exquisite grace. her figure was almost the exact counterpart of her own at twenty--helen's a little fuller, the arms larger but more beautiful. the slender wrists and perfectly moulded hand would have made a painter beg for a sitting. her eyes were deep blue and her hair the richest chestnut brown, massive and slightly waving, her complexion the perfect white and red of the northern girl who had breathed the pure air of the fields and hills. the sure, swift, easy way in which she walked told of perfect health and exhaustless vitality. her voice was low and sweet and full of shy tenderness. a smile of triumph flashed from cleo's greenish eyes as she watched her swiftly cross the hall toward the stairs. "i'll win!" she exclaimed softly. helen turned sharply. "did you speak to me?" she asked blushing. "no. i was just thinking aloud." "excuse me, i thought you said something to me--" "it would have been something very nice if i had," cleo said with a friendly smile. "thank you--oh, i feel that i'm going to be so happy here!" "i hope so." "when do you think the major will come?" the woman's face clouded in spite of her effort at self-control: "it may be a month or more." "oh, i'm so anxious to see him! he has been acting for my old guardian, who is somewhere abroad, ever since i can remember. i've begged and begged him to come to see me, but he never came. it was so far away, i suppose. he never even sent me his picture, though i've asked him often. what sort of a man is he?" cleo smiled and hesitated, and then spoke with apparent carelessness: "a very striking looking man." "with a kind face?" "a very stern one, clean shaven, with deep set eyes, a firm mouth, a strong jaw that can be cruel when he wishes, a shock of thick iron gray hair, tall, very tall and well built. he weighs two hundred and fifteen now--he was very thin when young." "and his voice?" "gentle, but sometimes hard as steel when he wishes it to be." "oh, i'll be scared to death when i see him! i had pictured him just the opposite." "how?" "why, i hardly know--but i thought his voice would be always gentle like i imagine a southern father's who loved his children very much. and i thought his hair would be blonde, with a kind face and friendly laughing eyes--blue, like mine. his eyes aren't blue?" "dark brown." "i know i'll run when he comes." "we'll make you feel at home and you'll not be afraid. mr. tom will be here to lunch in a few minutes and i'll introduce you." "then i must dress at once!" "the first door at the head of the stairs--your trunk has already been taken up." cleo watched the swift, strong, young form mount the stairs. "it's absolutely certain!" she cried under her breath. "i'll win--i'll win!" she broke into a low laugh and hurried to set the table in a bower of the sweetest roses that were in bloom. their languorous odor filled the house. helen was waiting in the old-fashioned parlor when tom's step echoed on the stoop. cleo hurried to meet him on the porch. his face clouded with a scowl: "she's here?" "yes, mr. handsome boy," cleo answered cheerfully. "and lunch is ready--do rub that awful scowl off your face and look like you're glad." "well, i'm not--so what's the use? it'll be a mess to have a girl on my hands day and night and i've got no time for it. i wish dad was here. i know i'll hate the sight of her." cleo smiled: "better wait until you see her." "where is she?" "in the parlor." "all right--the quicker a disagreeable job's over the better." "shall i introduce you?" "no, i'll do it myself," he growled, bracing himself for the ordeal. as he entered the door he stopped short at the vision as helen sprang to her feet and came to meet him. she was dressed in the softest white filmy stuff, as light as a feather, bare arms and neck, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement, her smooth, fair cheeks scarlet with blushes. the boy's heart stopped beating in sheer surprise. he expected a frowzy little waif from an orphanage, blear-eyed, sad, soulful and tiresome. this shining, blushing, wonderful creature took his breath. he stared at first with open mouth, until cleo's laugh brought him to his senses just as he began to hear helen's low sweet voice: "and this is mr. tom, i suppose? i am helen winslow, your father's ward, from the west--at least he's all the guardian i've ever known." tom grasped the warm little hand extended in so friendly greeting and held it in dazed surprise until cleo's low laughter again roused him. "yes--i--i--am delighted to see you, miss helen, and i'm awfully sorry my father couldn't be here to welcome you. i--i'll do the best i can for you in his absence." "oh, thank you," she murmured. "you know you're not at all like i expected to find you," he said hesitatingly. "i hope i haven't disappointed you," she answered demurely. "no--no"--he protested--"just the opposite." he stopped and blushed for fear he'd said too much. "and you're just the opposite from what i'd pictured you since cleo told me how your father looks." "and what did you expect?" he asked eagerly. "a stern face, dark hair, dark eyes and a firm mouth." "and you find instead?" helen laughed: "i'm afraid you love flattery." tom hurried to protest: "really, i wasn't fishing for a compliment, but i'm so unlike my father, it's a joke. i get my blonde hair and blue eyes from my mother and my great-grandfather." before he knew what was happening tom was seated by her side talking and laughing as if they had known each other a lifetime. helen paused for breath, put her elbow on the old mahogany table, rested her dimpled chin in the palm of her pretty hand and looked at tom with a mischievous twinkle in her blue eyes. "what's the joke?" he asked. "do you know that you're the first boy i ever talked to in my life?" "no--really?" he answered incredulously. "don't you think i do pretty well?" "perfectly wonderful!" "you see, i've played this scene so many times in my day dreams----" "and it's like your dream?" "remarkably!" "how?" "you're just the kind of boy i always thought i'd meet first----" "how funny!" "yes, exactly," she cried excitedly and with a serious tone in her voice that was absolutely convincing. "you're so jolly and friendly and easy to talk to, i feel as if i've known you all my life." "and i feel the same--isn't it funny?" they both laughed immoderately. "come," the boy cried, "i want to show you my mother's and my grandfather's portraits in the library. you'll see where i get my silly blonde hair, my slightly pug nose and my very friendly ways." she rose with a laugh: "your nose isn't pug, it's just good-humored." "amount to the same thing." "and your hair is very distinguished looking for a boy. i'd envy it, if it were a girl's." tom led the way into the big, square library which opened on the pillared porch both on the rear and on the side of the house. before the fireplace he paused and pointed to his mother's portrait done in oil by a famous artist in new york. it was life-size and the canvas filled the entire space between the two fluted columns of the colonial mantel which reached to the ceiling. the woodwork of the mantelpiece was of dark mahogany and the background of the portrait the color of bright gold which seemed to melt into the lines of the massive smooth gilded frame. the effect was wonderfully vivid and life-like in the sombre coloring of the book-lined walls. the picture and frame seemed a living flame in its dark setting. the portrait was an idealized study of the little mother. the artist had put into his canvas the spirit of the tenderest brooding motherhood. the very curve of her arms holding the child to her breast seemed to breathe tenderness. the smile that played about her delicate lips and blue eyes was ethereal in its fleeting spirit beauty. the girl caught her breath in surprise: "what a wonderful picture--it's perfectly divine! i feel like kneeling before it." "it is an altar," the boy said reverently. "i've seen my father sit in that big chair brooding for hours while he looked at it. and ever since he put those two old gold candlesticks in front of it i can't get it out of my head that he slips in here, kneels in the twilight and prays before it." "he must have loved your mother very tenderly," she said softly. "i think he worships her still," the boy answered simply. "oh, i could die for a man like that!" she cried with sudden passion. tom pointed to his grandfather's portrait: "and there you see my distinguished features and my pug nose----" cleo appeared in the door smiling: "i've been waiting for you to come to lunch, mr. boy, for nearly an hour." "well, for heaven's sake, why didn't you let us know?" "i told you it was ready when you came." "forgot all about it." he was so serenely unconscious of anything unusual in his actions that he failed to notice the smile that continuously played about cleo's mouth or to notice andy's evident enjoyment of the little drama as he bowed and scraped and waited on the table with unusual ceremony. aunt minerva, hearing andy's report of the sudden affair that had developed in the major's absence, left the kitchen and stood in the door a moment, her huge figure completely filling the space while she watched the unconscious boy and girl devouring each other with sparkling eyes. she waved her fat hand over their heads to andy, laughed softly and left without their noticing her presence. the luncheon was the longest one that had been known within the memory of anyone present. minerva again wandered back to the door, fascinated by the picture they made, and whispered to andy as he passed: "well, fer de lawd's sake, is dey gwine ter set dar all day?" "nobum--'bout er nodder hour, an' he'll go back ter de office." tom suddenly looked at his watch: "heavens! i'm late. i'll run down to the office and cut the work out for the day in honor of your coming." helen rose blushing: "oh, i'm afraid i'll make trouble for you." "no trouble at all! i'll be back in ten minutes." "i'll be on the lawn in that wilderness of roses. the odor is maddening--it's so sweet." "all right--and then i'll show you the old rose garden the other side of the house." "it's awfully good of you, but i'm afraid i'm taking your time from work." "it's all right! i'll make the other fellows do it to-day." she blushed again and waved her bare arm high over her dark brown hair from the porch as he swung through the gate and disappeared. in a few minutes he had returned. through the long hours of a beautiful summer afternoon they walked through the enchanted paths of the old garden on velvet feet, the boy pouring out his dreams and high ambitions, the girl's lonely heart for the first time in life basking in the joyous light of a perfect day. andy made an excuse to go in the garden and putter about some flowers just to watch them, laugh and chuckle over the exhibition. he was just in time as he softly approached behind a trellis of climbing roses to hear tom say: "please give me that bud you're wearing?" "why?" she asked demurely. "just because i've taken a fancy to it." she blushed scarlet, took the rosebud from her bosom and pinned it on his coat: "all right--there!" andy suppressed a burst of laughter and hurried back to report to minerva. for four enchanted weeks the old comedy of life was thus played by the boy and girl in sweet and utter unconsciousness of its meaning. he worked only in the mornings and rushed home for lunch unusually early. the afternoon usually found them seated side by side slowly driving over the quiet country roads. two battlefields of the civil war, where his father had led a regiment of troops in the last desperate engagement with sherman's army two weeks after lee had surrendered at appomattox, kept them busy each afternoon for a week. at night they sat on the moonlit porch behind the big pillars and he talked to her of the great things of life with simple boyish enthusiasm. sometimes they walked side by side through the rose-scented lawn and paused to hear the love song of a mocking-bird whose mate was busy each morning teaching her babies to fly. the world had become a vast rose garden of light and beauty, filled with the odors of flowers and spices and dreamy strains of ravishing music. and behind it all, nearer crept the swift shadow whose tread was softer than the foot of a summer's cloud. chapter vii trapped norton's campaign during its first months was a continuous triumph. the opposition had been so completely stunned by the epoch-making declaration of principles on which he had chosen to conduct the fight that they had as yet been unable to rally their forces. even the rival newspaper, founded to combat the ideas for which the _eagle and phoenix_ stood, was compelled to support norton's ticket to save itself from ruin. the young editor found a source of endless amusement in taunting the professor on this painful fact. the leader had chosen to begin his tour of the state in the farthest mountain counties that had always been comparatively free from negro influence. these counties were counted as safe for the opposition before the startling program of the editor's party had been announced. yet from the first day's mass meeting which he had addressed an enthusiasm had been developed under the spell of norton's eloquence that had swept the crowds of mountaineers off their feet. they had never been slave owners, and they had no use for a negro as servant, laborer, voter, citizen, or in any other capacity. the idea of freeing the state forever from their baleful influence threw the entire white race into solid ranks supporting his ticket. the enthusiasm kindled in the mountains swept the foothills, gaining resistless force as it reached the more inflammable feelings of the people of the plains who were living in daily touch with the negro. yet amid all the scenes of cheering and enthusiasm through which he was passing daily the heart of the leader was heavy with dread. his mind was brooding over the last scene with cleo and its possible outcome. he began to worry with increasing anguish over the certainty that when she struck the blow would be a deadly one. the higher the tide of his triumph rose, the greater became the tension of his nerves. each day had its appointment to speak. some days were crowded with three or four engagements. these dates were made two weeks ahead and great expense had been incurred in each case to advertise them and secure record crowds. it was a point of honor with him to make good these dates even to the smallest appointment at a country crossroads. it was impossible to leave for a trip home. it would mean the loss of at least four days. yet his anxiety at last became so intense that he determined to rearrange his dates and swing his campaign into the territory near the capital at once. it was not a good policy. he would risk the loss of the cumulative power of his work now sweeping from county to county, a resistless force. but it would enable him to return home for a few hours between his appointments. there had been nothing in tom's reports to arouse his fears. the boy had faithfully carried out his instructions to give no information that might annoy him. his brief letters were bright, cheerful, and always closed with the statement: "everything all right at home, and i'm still jollying the professor about supporting the cause he hates." when he reached the county adjoining the capital his anxiety had reached a point beyond endurance. it would be three days before he could connect with a schedule of trains that would enable him to get home between the time of his hours to speak. he simply could not wait. he telegraphed to tom to send andy to the meeting next day with a bound volume of the paper for the year which contained some facts he wished to use in his speech in this district. andy's glib tongue would give him the information he needed. the train was late and the papers did not arrive in time. he was compelled to leave his hotel and go to the meeting without them. an enormous crowd had gathered. and for the first time on his tour he felt hostility in the glances that occasionally shot from groups of men as he passed. the county was noted for its gangs of toughs who lived on the edge of a swamp that had been the rendezvous of criminals for a century. the opposition had determined to make a disturbance at this meeting and if possible end it with a riot. they counted on the editor's fiery temper when aroused to make this a certainty. they had not figured on the cool audacity with which he would meet such a situation. when he reached the speaker's stand, the county chairman whispered: "they are going to make trouble here to-day." "yes?" "they've got a speaker who's going to demand a division of time." the editor smiled: "really?" "yes," the chairman said, nodding toward a tall, ministerial-looking individual who was already working his way through the crowd. "that's the fellow coming now." norton turned and confronted the chosen orator of the opposition, a backwoods preacher of a rude native eloquence whose name he had often heard. he saw at a glance that he was a man of force. his strong mouth was clean of mustache and the lower lip was shaved to the chin. a long beard covered the massive jaws and his hair reached the collar of his coat. he had been a deserter during the war, and a drunken member of the little scalawag governor's famous guard that had attempted to rule the state without the civil law. he had been converted in a baptist revival at a crossroads meeting place years before and became a preacher. his religious conversion, however, had not reached his politics or dimmed his memory of the events of reconstruction. he had hated norton with a deep and abiding fervor from the day he had escaped from his battalion in the civil war down to the present moment. norton hadn't the remotest idea that he was the young recruit who had taken to his heels on entering a battle and never stopped running until he reached home. "this is major norton?" the preacher asked. "yes," was the curt answer. "i demand a division of time with you in a joint discussion here, sir." norton's figure stiffened and he looked at the man with a flush of anger: "did you say demand?" "yes, sir, i did," the preacher answered, snapping his hard mouth firmly. "we believe in free speech in this county." norton placed his hands in his pockets, and looked him over from head to foot: "well, you've got the gall of the devil, i must say, even if you do wear the livery of heaven. you demand free speech at my expense! i like your cheek. it cost my committee two hundred dollars to advertise this meeting and make it a success, and you step up at the last moment and demand that i turn it over to your party. if you want free speech, hire your own hall and make it to your heart's content. you can't address this crowd from a speaker's stand built with my money." "you refuse?" norton looked at him steadily for a moment and took a step closer: "i am trying to convey that impression to your mind. must i use my foot to emphasize it?" the long-haired one paled slightly, turned and quickly pushed his way through the crowd to a group awaiting him on the edge of the brush arbor that had been built to shelter the people from the sun. the chairman whispered to norton: "there'll be trouble certain--they're a tough lot. more than half the men here are with him." "they won't be when i've finished," he answered with a smile. "you'd better divide with them----" "i'll see him in hell first!" norton stepped quickly on the rude pine platform that had been erected for the speaker and faced the crowd. for the first time on his trip the cheering was given with moderation. he saw the preacher walk back under the arbor and his men distribute themselves with apparent design in different parts of the crowd. he lifted his hand with a gesture to stop the applause and a sudden hush fell over the eager, serious faces. his eye wandered carelessly over the throng and singled out the men he had seen distribute themselves among them. he suddenly slipped his hand behind him and drew from beneath his long black frock coat a big revolver and laid it beside the pitcher of lemonade the chairman had provided. a slight stir swept the crowd and the stillness could be felt. the speaker lifted his broad shoulders and began his speech in an intense voice that found its way to the last man who hung on the edge of the crowd: "gentlemen," he began slowly, "if there's any one present who doesn't wish to hear what i have to say, now is the time to leave. this is my meeting, and i will not be interrupted. if, in spite of this announcement, there happens to be any one here who is looking for trouble"--he stopped and touched the shining thing that lay before him--"you'll find it here on the table--walk right up to the front." a cheer rent the air. he stilled it with a quick gesture and plunged into his speech. in the intense situation which had developed he had forgotten the fear that had been gnawing at his heart for the past weeks. at the height of his power over his audience his eye suddenly caught the black face of andy grinning in evident admiration of his master's eloquence. something in the symbolism of this negro grinning at him over the heads of the people hanging breathless on his words sent a wave of sickening fear to his heart. in vain he struggled to throw the feeling off in the midst of his impassioned appeal. it was impossible. for the remaining half hour he spoke as if in a trance. unconsciously his voice was lowered to a strange intense monotone that sent the chills down the spines of his hearers. he closed his speech in a silence that was strangling. the people were dazed and he was half-way down the steps of the rude platform before they sufficiently recovered to break into round after round of cheering. he had unconsciously made the most powerful speech of his life, and no man in all the crowd that he had hypnotized could have dreamed the grim secret which had been the source of his inspiration. without a moment's delay he found andy, examined the package he brought and hurried to his room. "everything all right at home, andy?" he asked with apparent carelessness. the negro was still lost in admiration of norton's triumph over his hostile audience. "yassah, you sho did set 'em afire wid dat speech, major!" he said with a laugh. "and i asked you if everything was all right at home?" "oh, yassah, yassah--everything's all right. of cose, sah, dey's a few little things always happenin'. dem pigs get in de garden las' week an' et everything up, an' dat ole cow er own got de hollow horn agin. but everything else all right, sah." "and how's aunt minerva?" "des es big an' fat ez ebber, sah, an' er gittin' mo' unruly every day--yassah--she's gittin' so sassy she try ter run de whole place an' me, too." "and cleo?" this question he asked bustling over his papers with an indifference so perfectly assumed that andy never guessed his interest to be more than casual, and yet he ceased to breathe until he caught the laughing answer: "oh, she's right dar holdin' her own wid miss minerva an' i tells her las' week she's lookin' better dan ebber--yassah--she's all right." norton felt a sense of grateful relief. his fears had been groundless. they were preposterous to start with. the idea that she might attempt to visit helen in his absence was, of course, absurd. his next question was asked with a good-natured, hearty tone: "and mr. tom?" andy laughed immoderately and norton watched him with increasing wonder. "right dar's whar my tale begins!" "why, what's the matter with him?" the father asked with a touch of anxiety in his voice. "lordy, dey ain't nuttin' de _matter_ wid him 'tall--hit's a fresh cut!" again andy laughed with unction. "what is it?" norton asked with impatience. "what's the matter with tom?" "nuttin' 'tall, sah--nuttin' 'tall--i nebber see 'im lookin' so well in my life. he gets up sooner den i ebber knowed him before. he comes home quicker an' stays dar longer an' he's de jolliest young gentleman i know anywhar in de state. mo' specially, sah, since dat handsome young lady from de north come down to see us----" the father's heart was in his throat as he stammered: "a handsome young lady from the north--i don't understand!" "why, miss helen, sah, de young lady you invite ter spen' de summer wid us." norton's eyes suddenly grew dim, he leaned on the table, stared at andy, and repeated blankly: "the young lady i asked to spend the summer with us?" "yassah, miss helen, sah, is her name--she cum 'bout er week atter you lef----" "and she's been there ever since?" he asked. "yassah, an' she sho is a powerful fine young lady, sah. i don't blame mister tom fer bein' crazy 'bout her!" there was a moment's dead silence. "so tom's crazy about her?" he said in a high, nervous voice, which andy took for a joke. "yassah, i'se had some sperience myself, sah, but i ain't nebber seen nuttin' like dis! he des trot long atter her day an' night like a fice. an' de funny thing, sah, is dat he doan' seem ter know dat he's doin' it. everybody 'bout de house laffin' fit ter kill dersef an' he don't pay no 'tention. he des sticks to her like a sick kitten to a hot brick! yassah, hit sho's funny! i des knowed you'd bust er laughin' when you sees 'em." norton had sunk to a seat too weak to stand. his face was pale and his breath came in short gasps as he turned to the negro, stared at him hopelessly for a moment and said: "andy, get me a good horse and buggy at the livery stable--we'll drive through the country to-night. i want to get home right away." andy's mouth opened and his eyes stared in blank amazement. "de lawd, major, hit's mos' sundown now an' hit's a hundred miles from here home--hit took me all day ter come on de train." "no, it's only forty miles straight across the country. we can make it to-night with a good horse. hurry, i'll have my valise packed in a few minutes." "do you know de way, sah?" andy asked, scratching his head. "do as i tell you--quick!" norton thundered. the negro darted from the room and returned in half an hour with a horse and buggy. through the long hours of the night they drove with but a single stop at midnight in a quiet street of a sleeping village. they halted at the well beside a store and watered the horse. a graveyard was passed a mile beyond the village, and andy glanced timidly over his shoulder at the white marble slabs glistening in the starlight. his master had not spoken for two hours save the sharp order to stop at the well. "dis sho is er lonesome lookin' place!" andy said with a shiver. but the man beside him gave no sign that he heard. his eyes were set in a strange stare at the stars that twinkled in the edge of the tree tops far ahead. andy grew so lonely and frightened finally at the ominous silence that he pretended to be lost at each crossroads to force norton to speak. "i wuz afraid you gone ter sleep, sah!" he said with an apologetic laugh. "an' i wuz erfered dat you'd fall out er de buggy gwine down er hill." in vain he tried to break the silence. there was no answer--no sign that he was in the same world, save the fact of his body's presence. the first streak of dawn was widening on the eastern horizon when norton's cramped legs limped into the gate of his home. he stopped to steady his nerves and looked blankly up at the window of his boy's room. he had given tom his mother's old room when he had reached the age of sixteen. somewhere behind those fluted pillars, white and ghost-like in the dawn, lay the girl who had suddenly risen from the dead to lead his faltering feet up life's calvary. he saw the cross slowly lifting its dark form from the hilltop with arms outstretched to embrace him, and the chill of death crept into his heart. the chirp of stirring birds, the dim noises of waking life, the whitening sky-line behind the house recalled another morning in his boyhood. he had waked at daylight to go to his traps set at the branch in the edge of the woods behind the barn. the plantation at that time had extended into the town. a fox had been killing his fancy chickens. he had vowed vengeance in his boyish wrath, bought half a dozen powerful steel-traps and set them in the fox's path. the prowler had been interrupted the night before and had not gotten his prey. he would return sure. he recalled now every emotion that had thrilled his young heart as he bounded along the dew-soaked path to his traps. before he could see the place he heard the struggles of his captive. "i've got him!" he shouted with a throb of savage joy. he leaped the fence and stood frozen to the spot. the fox was a magnificent specimen of his breed, tall and heavy as a setter dog, with beautiful appealing eyes. his fine gray fur was spotched with blood, his mouth torn and bleeding from the effort to break the cruel bars that held his foreleg in their death-like grip. with each desperate pull the blood spurted afresh and the steel cut deeper into bone and flesh. the strange cries of pain and terror from the trapped victim had struck him dumb. he had come with murder in his heart to take revenge on his enemy, but when he looked with blanched face on the blood and heard the pitiful cries he rushed to the spot, tore the steel arms apart, loosed the fox, pushed his quivering form from him and gasped: "go--go--i'm sorry i hurt you like that!" stirred by the memories of the dawn he lived this scene again in vivid anguish, and as he slowly mounted the steps of his home, felt the steel bars of an inexorable fate close on his own throat. chapter viii behind the bars when norton reached his room he locked the door and began to pace the floor, facing for the hundredth time the stunning situation which the presence of helen had created. to reveal to such a sensitive, cultured girl just as she was budding into womanhood the fact that her blood was tainted with a negro ancestor would be an act so pitifully cruel that every instinct of his nature revolted from the thought. he began to realize that her life was at stake as well as his boy's. that he loved this son with all the strength of his being and that he only knew the girl to fear her, made no difference in the fundamental facts. he acknowledged that she was his. he had accepted the fact and paid the penalty in the sacrifice of every ambition of a brilliant mind. he weighed carefully the things that were certain and the things that were merely probable. the one certainty that faced him from every angle was that cleo was in deadly earnest and that it meant a fight for the supremacy of every decent instinct of his life and character. apparently she had planned a tragic revenge by luring the girl to his home, figuring on his absence for three months, to precipitate a love affair before he could know the truth or move to interfere. a strange mental telepathy had warned him and he had broken in on the scene two months before he was expected. and yet he couldn't believe that cleo in the wildest flight of her insane rage could have deliberately meant that such an affair should end in marriage. she knew the character of both father and son too well to doubt that such an act could only end in tragedy. she was too cautious for such madness. what was her game? he asked himself that question again and again, always to come back to one conclusion. she had certainly brought the girl into the house to force from his reluctant lips her recognition and thus fix her own grip on his life. beyond a doubt the surest way to accomplish this, and the quickest, was by a love affair between the boy and girl. she knew that personally the father had rather die than lose the respect of his son by a confession of his shame. but she knew with deeper certainty that he must confess it if their wills once clashed over the choice of a wife. the boy had a mind of his own. his father knew it and respected and loved him all the more because of it. it was improbable as yet that tom had spoken a word of love or personally faced such an issue. of the girl he could only form the vaguest idea. it was clear now that he had been stricken by a panic and that the case was not so desperate as he had feared. one thing he saw with increasing clearness. he must move with the utmost caution. he must avoid helen at first and find the boy's attitude. he must at all hazards keep the use of every power of body, mind and soul in the crisis with which he was confronted. two hours later when andy cautiously approached his door and listened at the keyhole he was still pacing the floor with the nervous tread of a wounded lion suddenly torn from the forest and thrust behind the bars of an iron cage. chapter ix andy's dilemma andy left norton's door and rapped softly at tom's, tried the lock, found it unfastened, pushed his way quietly inside and called: "mister tom!" no answer came from the bed and andy moved closer: "mister tom--mister tom!" "ah--what's the matter with you--get out!" the sleeper growled. the negro touched the boy's shoulder with a friendly shake, whispering: "yo' pa's here!" tom sat up in bed rubbing his eyes: "what's that?" "yassah, i fotch him through the country and we rid all night----" "what's the matter?' "dat's what i wants ter see you 'bout, sah--an' ef you'll des slip on dem clothes an' meet me in de liberry, we'll hab a little confab an' er council er war----" the boy picked up a pillow and hurled it at andy: "well, get out, you old rascal, and i'll be down in a few minutes." andy dodged the pillow and at the door whispered: "yassah, an' don't disturb de major! i hopes ter god he sleep er month when he git started." "all right, i won't disturb him." tom dressed, wondering vaguely what had brought his father home at such an unearthly hour and by such a trip across the country. andy, arrayed in a suit of broadcloth which he had appropriated from norton's wardrobe in his absence, was waiting for tom with evident impatience. "now, what i want to know is," the boy began, "what the devil you mean by pulling me out of bed this time of day?" andy chuckled: "well, yer see, sah, de major git home kinder sudden like en' i wuz jest er little oneasy 'bout dis here new suit er close er mine----" "well, that's not the first suit of his clothes you've swiped--you needn't be scared." "scared--who me? man, i ain't er skeered er yo' pa." minerva banged the dining-room door and andy jumped and started to run. tom laughed and seized his arm: "oh, don't be a fool! there's no danger." "nasah--i knows dey's no danger--but"--he glanced over his shoulder to be sure that the master hadn't come down stairs--"but yer know de ole sayin' is dat indiscretion is de better part er value----" "i see!" tom smiled in perfect agreement. "an' i des has er little indiscretion----" "oh, you make me tired, how can i help a coward?" andy looked grieved: "lordy, mister tom--don't say dat, sah. i ain't no coward--i'se des cautious. ye know i wuz in dat fus' battle er bull's run wid de major. i git separated from him in a close place an' hatter move my headquarters. dey said i wuz er coward den 'cause i run. but twan't so, sah! twan't cause i wuz er coward. i knowed zactly what i wuz doin'. i run 'cause i didn't hab no wings! i done de very bes' i could wid what i had. an' fuddermo', sah, de fellers dat wuz whar i wuz en' didn't run--dey's all dar yit at bull's run! nasah, i ain't no coward. i des got de indiscretion----" another door slammed and andy dodged. "what's the matter with you anyhow, you old fool, are you having fits?" tom cried. andy looked around the room cautiously and took hold of the boy's coat: "you listen to me, mister tom. i'se gwine tell yer somfin' now----" "well?" "i ain't er skeered er de major--but he's dangous----" "bosh!" "dey's sumfin' de matter wid him!" "had a few mint juleps with a friend, no doubt." "mint juleps! huh! he kin swim in 'em--dive in 'em an' stay down er whole day an' never come up ter blow his bref--licker don't faze him!" "it's politics. he's leading this devilish campaign and he's worried over politics." "nasah!" andy protested with a laugh. "dem fool niggers des well give up--dey ain't gwine ter vote no mo'. de odder feller's doin' all de worryin'. he ain't worrin'----" "yes, he is, too," the boy replied. "he put a revolver in his pocket when he started on that trip." "yassah!" andy laughed. "i know, but yer don't understan'. dat pistol's his flatform!" "his platform?" "you ain' hear what he bin er doin' wid dat pistol?" "no--what?" "man erlive, yer des oughter see 'im yistiddy when i take 'im dem papers ter dat speakin', down in one er dem po' white counties full er radicals dat vote wid niggers. er kermittee comes up an' say dat de internal constertooshion er de nunited states give 'em free speech an' he gwine ter hear from 'em. de lordy, man, but his bristles riz! i 'lows ter myself, folks yer sho is thumpin' de wrong watermillion dis time!" "and what did he say to the committee?" "i nebber hear nary word. he des turn 'roun an' step up on dat flatform, kinder peart like, an' yer oughter see 'im open dat meetin'"--andy paused and broke into a loud laugh. "how did he open it?" tom asked with indulgent interest. andy scratched his woolly head: "well, sah, hit warn't opened wid prayer--i kin tell ye dat! de fust thing he done, he reach back in his britches, kinder kereless lak, an' pull dat big pistol an' lay hit down afore him on' de table beside his pitcher er lemonade. man, you oughter see de eyes er dat crowd er dirty-lookin' po' whites! dey fairly popped outen der heads! i hump myself an' move out towards de outskirts----" tom smiled: "i bet you did!" "oh, i didn't run!" andy protested. "of course not--far be it from you!" "nasah, i des tucken drawed out----" "i understand, just a little caution, so to speak!" "yassah--dat's hit! des tucken drawed out, whar i'd have elbow room in de mergency----" "in other words," the boy interrupted, "just used a little indiscretion!" andy chuckled: "yassah! dat's hit! well, sah, he pat dat pistol kinder familious like an' say: 'ef dey's any er you lowlife po' white scoundrels here ter-day that don't want ter hear my speech--git! but ef yer stay an' yer don't feel comfortable, i got six little lead pills here in a box dat'll ease yer pain. walk right up to de prescription counter!'" "and they walked right up?" "well, sah, dey didn't _crowd up!_--nasah!" andy paused and laughed immoderately. "an' wid dat he des folded his arms an' look at dat crowd er minute an' his eyes began to spit fire. when i see dat, i feels my very shoes commin' ontied. i sez ter myself, now folks he's gwine ter magnify----" tom laughed: "magnified, did he?" the negro's eyes rolled and he lifted his hands in a gesture of supreme admiration: "de lordy, man--ef he didn't! he lit inter dem po' white trash lak er thousand er brick----" "give 'em what paddy gave the drum, i suppose?" "now yer talkin', honey! ef he didn't give 'em particular hell!" "and what happened?" "nuttin' happened, chile--dat's what i'm tryin' ter tell ye. nary one of 'em nebber cheeped. dey des stood dar an' listened lak er passel er sheep-killin' dogs. lemme tell ye, honey, politics ain't er worryin' him. de odder fellers doin' all de worrin'. nasah, dey's sumfin else de matter wid de major----" "what?" andy looked around the room furtively and whispered: "dar's a quare look in his eye!" "ah, pooh!" "hit's des lak i tells ye, mister tom. i ain't seed dat quare look in his eye before since de night i see yo' ma's ghost come down outen dat big picture frame an' walk cross dis hall----" the boy smiled and looked at the shining yellow canvas that seemed a living thing gleaming in its dark setting: "i suppose, of course, andy, you really saw her do that?" "'fore god, es sho's i'm talkin' ter you now, she done dat thing--yassah! hit wus de las' year befo' you come back frum college. de moon wuz shinin' froo dem big windows right on her face, an' i seed her wid my own eyes, all of a sudden, step right down outen dat picture frame an' walk across dis room, huggin' her baby close up in her arms--an' you'se dat very baby, sah!" the boy was interested in the negro's weird recital in spite of his amusement. he shook his head and said laughingly: "andy, you've got the heat----" "hit's des lak i tells ye, sah," andy solemnly repeated. "i stood right dar by dat table froze in my tracks, till i seed her go froo dat do' widout openin' it----" "bah!" tom cried in disgust. "dat she did!--an' miss minerva she see her do dat same thing once before and tell me about it. but man erlive, when i see it, i let off one er dem yells dat wuz hark from de tomb----" "i bet you did!" "yassah, i went froo dat big window dar an' carry de whole sash wid me. de major he take out atter me when he hears de commotion, an' when he kotch me down dar in de fiel' i wuz still wearin' dat sash fer a necktie!" the boy laughed again: "and i suppose, of course, he believed all you told him?" the negro rolled his eyes solemnly to the ceiling and nodded his head: "dat he did, sah. when i fust told 'im dat i seed er ghost, he laft fit ter kill hissef----" the boy nodded: "i don't doubt it!" "but mind ye," andy solemnly continued, "when i tells him what kin' er ghost i seed, he nebber crack anudder smile. he nebber open his mouf ergin fer er whole day. an' dis here's what i come ter tell ye, honey----" he paused and glanced over his shoulder as if momentarily fearing the major's appearance. "i thought you'd been telling me?" "nasah, i ain't told ye nuttin' yit. when i say what _kine_ er ghost i see--dat quare look come in his eye--de same look dat come dar yistiddy when i tells 'im dat miss helen wuz here." the boy looked at andy with a sudden start: "ah, how could that sweet little girl upset him? he's her guardian's attorney and sent for her to come, of course----" "i don't know 'bout dat, sah--all i know is dat he went wil' es quick es i tells 'im, an' he bin wil' ever since. mister tom, i ain't skeered er de major--but he's dangous!" "ah, andy, you're the biggest fool in the county," the boy answered laughing. "you know my father wouldn't touch a hair of your kinky head." andy grinned. "'cose not, mister tom," he said with unction. "i knows dat. but all de same i gotter keep outen his way wid dis new suit er close till i see 'im smilin'----" "always bearing in mind that indiscretion is the better part of value!" "yassah--yassah--dat's hit--an' i wants you ter promise you'll stan' by me, sah, till de major's in a good humor." "all right; if you need me, give a yell." tom turned with a smile to go, and andy caught his sleeve and laughed again: "wait--wait er minute, mister tom--hold yer hosses. dey's anodder little thing i wants ye ter help me out erbout. i kin manage de major all right ef i kin des keep outen his sight ter-day wid dis suit er clothes. but de trouble is, i got ter wear 'em, sah--i got er 'pintment wid er lady!" the boy turned good-naturedly, threw his leg over the corner of the table and raised his eyebrows with a gleam of mischief: "oh, a lady! who is she? aunt minerva?" andy waved his hands in disgust. "dat's des de one hit ain't--nasah! i can't stan' her nohow, mr. tom. i des natchally can't stan' er fat 'oman! an' miss minerva weighs 'bout three hundred----" "oh, not so bad as that, andy!" "yassah, she's er whale! man, ef we wuz walkin' along tergedder, en she wuz ter slip an' fall she'd sqush de life outen me! i'd nebber know what hit me. an' what makes bad matters wus, i'se er strong suspicion dat she got her eyes sot on me here lately--i des feels it in my bones--she's atter me sho, sah." tom broke into a laugh: "well, she can't take you by force." "i don't know 'bout dat, sah. when any 'oman gits her min' sot she's dangous. but when a 'oman big an' black es she make up her min'!" "black!" tom cried, squaring himself and looking andy over: "aren't you just a little shady?" "who? me?--nasah! i ain't no black nigger!" "no?" "nasah! i'se what dey calls er tantalizin' brown!" "oh, i see!" "yassah, i'se er chocolate-colored gemman--an' i nebber could stan' dese here coal-black niggers. miss minerva's so black she kin spit ink!" "and she's 'atter' you?" "yassah, an' miss minerva's a widder 'oman, an' ye know de scripter says, 'beware of widders'----" "of course!" tom agreed. "i'se er gemman, yer know, mister tom. i can't insult er lady, an' dat's de particular reason dat i wants ter percipitate mysef wid my true love before dat big, black 'oman gits her hands on me. she's atter me sho, an' ef she gits me in er close place, what i gwine do, sah?" tom assumed a judicial attitude, folded his arms and asked: "well, who's the other one?--who's your true love?" andy put his hand over his mouth to suppress a snicker: "now dat's whar i kinder hesitates, sah. i bin er beatin' de debbil roun' de stump fur de pas' week tryin' ter screw up my courage ter ax ye ter help me. but mister tom, you gettin' so big an' dignified i kinder skeered. you got ter puttin' on more airs dan de major----" "ah, who is she?" the boy asked brusquely. andy glanced at him out of the corners of his rolling eyes: "yer ain't gwine laugh at me--is yer?" with an effort tom kept his face straight: "no, i may be just as big a fool some day myself--who is she?" andy stepped close and whispered: "miss cleo!" "cleo----" "yassah." "well, you are a fool!" the boy exclaimed indignantly. "yassah, i spec i is," andy answered, crestfallen, "but i des can't hep it, sah." "cleo, my nurse, my mammy--why, she wouldn't wipe her foot on you if you were a door-mat. she's almost as white as i am." "yassah, i know, an' dat's what make me want her so. she's mine ef i kin git her! hit des takes one drap er black blood to make er nigger, sah." "bah--she wouldn't look at you!" "i know she holds er high head, sah. she's been eddicated an' all dat--but you listen ter me, honey--she gwine look at me all de same, when i say de word." "yes, long enough to laugh." andy disregarded the shot, and prinked himself before the mirror: "don't yer think my complexion's gettin' little better, sah?" tom picked up a book with a smile: "you do look a little pale to-day, but i think that's your liver!" andy broke into a laugh: "nasah. dat ain't my liver!" "must be!" "nasah! i got er patent bleacher frum new york dat's gwine ter make me white ef i kin des buy enough of it." "how much have you used?" "hain't used but six bottles yit. hit costs three dollars a bottle"--he paused and rubbed his hands smoothingly over his head. "don't yer think my hair's gittin' straighter, sah?" tom turned another page of the book without looking up: "not so that you could notice it." "yassah, 'tis!" andy laughed, eyeing it sideways in the mirror and making a vain effort to see the back of his head. "i'se er usin' er concoction called 'not-a-kink.' hit costs five dollars a bottle--but man, hit sho is doin' de work! i kin des feel dem kinks slippin' right out." "there's nothing much the matter with your hair, andy," tom said, looking up with a smile, "that's the straightest thing about you. the trouble's inside." "what de matter wid me inside?" "you're crooked." "who--me?" andy cried. "ah, go long, mister tom, wid yer projectin'--yer des foolin' wid me"--he came close and busied himself brushing the boy's coat and continued with insinuating unction--"now ef yer des put in one little word fer me wid miss cleo----" "take my advice, andy," the boy said seriously, "keep away from her--she'll kill you." "not ef you help me out, sah," andy urged eagerly. "she'll do anything fer you, mister tom--she lubs de very ground you walks on--des put in one little word fer me, sah----" tom shook his head emphatically: "can't do it, andy!" "don't say dat, mister tom!" "can't do it." andy flicked imaginary lint from both sleeves of tom's coat: "now look here, mister tom----" the boy turned away protesting: "no, i can't do it." "lordy, mister tom," andy cried in grieved tones. "you ain't gwine back on me like dat des 'cose yer went ter college up dar in de norf an' git mixed up wid yankee notions! why, you an' me's always been good friends an' partners. what ye got agin me?" a gleam of mischief slipped into the boy's eyes again as he folded his arms with mock severity: "to begin with, you're the biggest old liar in the united states----" "lordy, mister tom, i nebber tell a lie in my life, sah!" "andy--andy!" the negro held his face straight for a moment and then broke into a laugh: "well, sah, i may has _pré-var-i-cated_ some times, but dat ain't lyin'--why, all gemmens do dat." "and look at this suit of clothes," tom said severely, "that you've just swiped from dad. you'd steal anything you can get your hands on!" andy turned away and spoke with deep grief "mister tom, you sho do hurt my feelin's, sah--i nebber steal nuttin' in my life." "i've known you to steal a palm-leaf fan in the dead of winter with snow on the ground." andy laughed uproariously: "why, man, dat ain't stealin! who gwine ter want er palm-leaf fan wid snow on de groun'?--dat's des findin' things. you know dey calls me hones' andy. when dey ketch me wid de goods i nebber try ter lie outen it lak some fool niggers. i des laugh, 'fess right up, an' hit's all right. dat's what make 'em call me hones' andy, cose i always knows dat honesty's de bes' policy--an' here you comes callin' me a thief--lordee, mister tom, yer sho do hurt my feelin's!" the boy shook his head again and frowned: "you're a hopeless old sinner----" "who, me, er sinner? why, man erlive, i'se er pillar in de church!" "god save the church!" "i mebbe backslide a little, sah, in de winter time," andy hastened to admit. "but i'se always de fus' man to de mourners' bench in de spring. i mos' generally leads de mourners, sah, an' when i comes froo an' gits religion over again, yer kin hear me shout er mile----" "and i bet when the chickens hear it they roost higher the next night!" andy ignored the thrust and went on enthusiastically: "nasah, de church folks don't call me no sinner. i always stands up fer religion. don't yer min' de time dat big yaller nigger cum down here from de norf er castin' circumflexions on our church? i wuz de man dat stood right up in de meetin' an' defends de cause er de lawd. i haul off an' biff 'im right in the jaw----" "and you're going to ask cleo to marry you?" "i sho' is, sah." "haven't you a wife living, andy?" the boy asked carelessly. the whites of the negro's eyes suddenly shone as he rolled them in the opposite direction. he scratched his head and turned back to his friendly tormentor with unction: "mr. tom, i'm gwine ter be hones'--cose honesty is de bes' policy. i did marry a lady, sah, but dat wuz er long time ergo. she run away an' lef me an' git married ergin an' i divorced her, sah. she don't pester me no mo' an' i don't pester her. hit warn't my fault, sah, an' i des put her away ez de bible sez. ain't dat all right, sah?" "well, it's hardly legal to-day, though it may have been a biblical custom." "yassah, but dat's nuttin' ter do wid niggers. de white folks make de laws an' dey hatter go by 'em. but niggers is niggers, yer know dat yosef, sah." tom broke into a laugh: "andy, you certainly are a bird!" the negro joined in the laugh with a joyous chuckle at its close: "yassah, yassah--one er dese here great big brown blackbirds! but, lordy, mister tom, yer des foolin' wid me--yer ain't got nuttin' 'gin yer ole partner, barrin' dem few little things?" "no, barring the few things i've mentioned, that you're a lazy, lying, impudent old rascal--barring these few little things--why--otherwise you're all right, andy, you're all right!" the negro chuckled joyfully: "yassah--yassah! i knowed yer warn't gwine back on me, mister tom." he edged close and dropped his voice to the oiliest whisper: "you'll say dat good word now to miss cleo right away, sah?" the boy shook his head: "the only thing i'll agree to do, andy, is to stand by and see you commit suicide. if it's any comfort to you, i'll tell you that she'll kill you." "nasah! don't yer believe it. ef i kin des escape dat fat 'oman wid my life before she gits me--now dat you'se on my side i kin read my titles clar----" "oh, you can get rid of minerva all right!" "for de lord sake, des tell me how!" tom bent toward him and spoke in low tones: "all you've got to do if minerva gets you in a tight place is to confess your real love and ask her to help you out as a friend." andy looked puzzled a moment and then a light broke over his dusky face: "dat's a fine plan, mister tom. you saved er nigger's life--i'll do dat sho!" "as for cleo, i can't do anything for you, but i won't do anything against you." "thankee, sah! thankee, sah!" when tom reached the door he paused and said: "i might consent to consult with the undertaker about the funeral and act as one of your pall-bearers." andy waved him away with a suppressed laugh: "g'way frum here, mister tom! g'way frum here!" the negro returned to the mirror, adjusted his suit and after much effort succeeded in fixing a new scarfpin of a horseshoe design in the centre of the bow of one of norton's old-fashioned black string ties. he dusted his shoes, smoothed as many of the kinks out of his hair as a vigorous rubbing could accomplish, and put the last touches on his elaborate preparations for a meeting with cleo that was destined to be a memorable one in her life. chapter x the best laid plans andy's plans for a speedy conquest of cleo were destined to an interruption. minerva had decided that he was the best man in sight for a husband, and made up her mind to claim her own. she had noticed of late a disposition on his part to dally with cleo, and determined to act immediately. breakfast was well under way and she had heard andy's unctous laugh in the library with tom. she put on her sweeping apron, took up a broom and entered under the pretense of cleaning the room. andy was still chuckling with joy over the brilliant plan of escape suggested by tom. he had just put the finishing touches on his necktie, and was trying on an old silk hat when minerva's voice caused him to suddenly collapse. "say, man, is dat a hat er a bee-gum?" she cried, with a laugh so jolly it would have been contagious but for andy's terror. he looked at her, dropped the hat, picked it up and stammered: "w-w-why--miss minerva, is dat you?" minerva beamed on him tenderly, placed her broom in the corner and advanced quickly to meet him: "i knowed ye wuz 'spectin me frum de way yer wuz gettin' ready." she laughed and chuckled with obvious coquetry, adding coyly: "i knows how yer feel----" andy looked for a way of escape. but minerva was too quick for him. she was a woman of enormous size, fat, jolly and extremely agile for her weight. she carried her two hundred and fifty pounds without apparent effort. she walked with a nervous, snappy energy and could waltz with the grace of a girl of sixteen. she had reached andy's side before his dull brain could think of an excuse for going. her shining coal-black face was aglow with tenderness and the determination to make things easy for him in the declaration of love she had planned that he should make. "i know how yer feels, brer andy," she repeated. the victim mopped his perspiring brow and stammered: "yassam--yassam." "yer needn't be so 'barrassed, mr. andy," minerva went on in the most insinuating tones. "yer kin say what's on yer mind." "yassam." "come right here and set down er minute." she seized his hand and drew him with a kittenish skip toward a settee, tripped on a bear rug and would have fallen had not andy grabbed her. "de lord save us!" he gasped. he was trying desperately in his new suit to play the gentleman under difficulties. minerva was in ecstasy over his gallantry: "yer sho wuz terrified less i git hurt, mr. andy," she laughed. "i thought dat bar had me sho." andy mopped his brow again and glanced longingly at the door: "yassam, i sho wuz terrified--i'm sorry m'am, you'll hatter 'scuse me. mister tom's out dar waitin' fer me, an' i hatter go----" minerva smilingly but firmly pulled him down on the seat beside her: "set right down, mr. andy, an' make yoself at home. we got er whole half hour yet 'fore de odder folks come down stairs. man, don't be so 'barrassed! i knows 'zactly how yer feels. i understand what's de matter wid yer"--she paused, glanced at him out of the corners of her eye, touched him slyly with her elbow, and whispered: "why don't yer say what's on yer mind?" andy cleared his throat and began to stammer. he had the habit of stammering under excitement, and tom's plan of escape had just popped into his benumbed brain. he saw the way out: "y-y-yas'm--cose, m'am. i got sumfin ter tell ye, miss m-m-minerva." minerva moved a little closer. "yas, honey, i knows what 'tis, but i'se jes' waitin' ter hear it." he cleared his throat and tried to begin his speech in a friendly business-like way: "yassam, i gwine tell yer sho----" he turned to face her and to his horror found her lips so close she had evidently placed them in position for the first kiss. he stopped appalled, fidgeted, looked the other way and stammered: "h-hit sho is powful warm ter-day, m'am!" "tain't so much de heat, brer andy," she responded tenderly, "as 'tis de humility dat's in de air!" andy turned, looked into her smiling face for a moment and they both broke into a loud laugh while he repeated: "yassam, de humility--dat's hit! de humility dat's in de air!" the expression had caught his fancy enormously. "yassir, de humility--dat's hit!" minerva murmured. when the laughter had slowly died down she moved a little closer and said reassuringly: "and now, brer andy, ez dey's des you an' me here tergedder--ef hits suits yo' circumstantial convenience, hab no reprehenshun, sah, des say what's on yo' min'." andy glanced at her quickly, bowed grandiloquently and catching the spirit of her high-flown language decided to spring his confession and ask her help to win cleo. "yassam, miss minerva, dat's so. an' ez i allays sez dat honesty is de bes' policy, i'se gwine ter ré-cede ter yo' invitation!" minerva laughed with joyous admiration: "des listen at dat nigger now! you sho is er talkin' man when yer gits started----" "yassam, i bin er tryin' ter tell ye fer de longest kind er time an' ax ye ter help me----" minerva moved her massive figure close against him: "cose i help you." andy edged as far away as possible, but the arm of the settee had caught him and he couldn't get far. he smiled wanly and tried to assume a purely platonic tone: "wuz yer ebber in love, miss minerva?" minerva nudged him slyly: "wuz i?" andy tried to ignore the hint, lifted his eyes to the ceiling and in far-away tones put the hypothetical case of the friend who needed help: "well, des 'spose m'am dat a po' man wuz ter fall in love wid er beautiful lady, fur above him, wid eyes dat shine lak de stars----" "oh, g'way frum here, man!" minerva cried entranced as she broke into a peal of joyous laughter, nudging him again. the insinuating touch of her elbow brought andy to a sharp realization that his plan had not only failed to work, but was about to compromise him beyond hope. he hurried to correct her mistake. "but listen, miss minerva--yer don't understand. would yer be his friend an' help him to win her?" with a cry of joy she threw her huge arms around his neck: "would i--lordy--man!" andy tried to dodge her strangle hold, but was too slow and she had him. he struggled and grasped her arms, but she laughed and held on. "b-b-but--yer--yer," he stammered. "yer needn't say annudder word----" "yassam, but wait des er minute," he pleaded, struggling to lower her arms. "hush, man," minerva said good-naturedly. "cose i knows yer bin er bad nigger--but ye needn't tell me 'bout it now----" "for gawd's sake!" andy gasped, wrenching her arms away at last, "will yer des lemme say one word?" "nasah!" she said generously. "i ain't gwine ter let ye say no harsh words ergin yoself. i sho do admire de indelicate way dat yer tells me of yo' love!" "b-but yer don't understand----" "cose i does, chile!" minerva exclaimed with a tender smile. andy made a gesture of despair: "b-b-but i tries ter 'splain----" "yer don't hatter 'splain nuttin' ter me, man--i ain't no spring chicken--i knowed what ye means befo' ye opens yer mouf. yer tells me dat ye lubs me an' i done say dat i lubs you--an' dat's all dey is to it." minerva enfolded him in her ample arms and he collapsed with feeble assent: "yassam--yassam." chapter xi a reconnoitre norton slept at last from sheer physical exhaustion and waked at eleven o'clock refreshed and alert, his faculties again strung for action. he wondered in the clear light of noon at the folly of his panic the night before. the fighting instinct in him had always been the dominant one. he smiled now at his silly collapse and his quick brain began to plan his line of defense. the girl was in his house, yes. but she had been here in spirit, a living, breathing threat over his life, every moment the past twenty years. no scene of pain or struggle could come but that he had already lived it a thousand times. there was a kind of relief in facing these phantoms for the first time in flesh and blood. they couldn't be more formidable than the ghosts he had fought. he shaved and dressed with deliberation--dressed with unusual care--his brain on fire now with the determination to fight and win. the instincts of the soldier were again in command. and the first thing a true soldier did when driven to desperation and surrounded by an overwhelming foe was to reconnoitre, find the strength of his enemy, and strike at their weakest spot. he must avoid cleo and find the exact situation of tom and helen. his safest way was again to cultivate andy's knowledge of the house in his absence. he rang for him and waited in vain for his appearance. he rang again and, getting no response, walked down stairs to the door and searched the lawn. he saw cleo beside a flower bed talking to helen. he caught a glimpse of the lovely young face as she lifted her eyes and saw him. he turned back quickly into the house to avoid her, and hurried to the library. andy had been watching carefully until norton went through the front door. sure that he had strolled out on the lawn to see helen, with a sigh of relief the negro hurried back to the mirror to take another admiring glance at his fine appearance in the new suit. norton's sudden entrance completely upset him. he tried to laugh and the effort froze on his lips. he saw that norton had recognized the stolen suit, but was too excited to see the amusement lurking behind his frown: "where were you a while ago, when i was calling?" "i been right here all mornin', sah," andy answered with forced surprise. "you didn't hear that bell?" "nasah, nebber hear a thing, sah." norton looked at him severely: "there's a bigger bell going to ring for you one of these days. you like to go to funerals, don't you?" andy laughed: "yassah--odder folk's funerals--but dey's one i ain't in no hurry to git to----" "that's the one--where were you when i rang just now?" the negro looked at his master, hesitated, and a broad grin overspread his black face. he bowed and chuckled and walked straight up to norton: "yassah, major, i gwine tell yer de honest truf now, cose honesty is de bes' policy. i wuz des embellishin' mysef wid dis here ole suit er close dat ye gimme, sah, an' i wants ter specify my 'preciation, sah, at de generosity wid which yer always treats me, sah. i had a mos' particular reason fer puttin' dis suit on dis mornin'----" norton examined the lapel of the coat, his lips twitching to suppress a smile: "my suit of broadcloth----" andy rubbed his hands over the coat in profound amazement: "is dis de broadcloth? de lawd er mussy!" norton shook his head: "you old black hound----" andy broke into a loud laugh: "yassah, yassah! dat's me. but, major, i couldn't find the vest!" "too bad--shall i get it for you?" "nasah--des tell me whar yer put it!" norton smiled: "did you look in my big cedar box?" "thankee, sah--thankee, sah. yer sho is good ter me, major, an' yer can always 'pend on me, sah." "yes, i'm going to send you to the penitentiary for this----" andy roared with laughter: "yassah--yassah--cose, sah! i kin see myse'f in dat suit er stripes now, but i sho is gwine ter blossom out in dat double-breasted vest fust!" when the laughter had died away norton asked in good-natured tones: "you say i can depend on you, andy?" "dat yer kin, sah--every day in the year--you'se de bes frien' i ebber had in de world, sah." "then i want to ask you a question." "yassah, i tells yer anything i know, sah." "i'm just a little worried about tom. he's too young to get married. do you think he's been really making love to miss helen?" norton watched the negro keenly. he knew that a boy would easily trust his secrets to such a servant, and that his sense of loyalty to the young would be strong. he was relieved at the quick reply which came without guile: "lawdy, major, he ain't got dat far, sah. i bin er watchin' 'em putty close. he des kinder skimmin' 'round de edges." "you think so?" "yassah!" was the confident reply. "he 'minds me er one er dese here minnows when ye go fishin'. he ain't swallowed de hook yit--he des nibblin'." norton smiled, lighted a cigar, and quietly said: "go down to the office and tell mr. tom that i'm up and wish to see him." "yassah--yassah--right away, sah." andy bowed and grinned and hurried from the house. norton seated himself in an armchair facing the portrait of the little mother. his memory lingered tenderly over the last beautiful days they had spent together. he recalled every smile with which she had looked her forgiveness and her love. he felt the presence of her spirit and took courage. he lifted his eyes to the sweet, tender face bending over her baby and breathed a prayer for guidance. he wondered if she could see and know in the dim world beyond. without trying to reason about it, he had grown to believe that she did, and that her soul was near in this hour of his trial. how like this mother the boy had grown the past year--just her age when he was born. the color of his blonde hair was almost an exact reproduction of hers. and this beautiful hair lent a peculiar distinction to the boy's fine face. he had developed, too, a lot of little ways strikingly like the mother's when a laughing school girl. he smiled in the same flashing way, like a sudden burst of sunlight from behind a cloud. his temper was quick like hers, and his voice more and more seemed to develop the peculiar tones he had loved. that this boy, around whose form every desire of life had centered, should be in peril was a thought that set his heart to beating with new energy. he heard his quick step in the hall, rose and laid down his cigar. with a rush tom was in the room grasping the outstretched hand: "glad to see you back, dad!" he cried, "but we had no idea you were coming so soon." "i got a little homesick," the father replied, "and decided to come in for a day or two." "i was awfully surprised at miss helen's popping in on us so unexpectedly--i suppose you forgot to tell me about it in the rush of getting away." "i really didn't expect her to come before my return," was the vague answer. "but you wrote her to come at once." "did i?" he replied carelessly. "why, yes, she showed me your letter. i didn't write you about her arrival because you told me under no circumstances, except of life or death, to tell you of anything here and i obeyed orders." "i'm glad you've made that a principle of your life--stick to it." "i'm sorry you're away in this dangerous campaign so much, dad," the boy said with feeling. "it may end your career." the father smiled and a far-away look stole into his eyes: "i have no career, my boy! i gave that up years ago and i had to lead this campaign." "why?" the look in the brown eyes deepened: "because i am the man to whom our danger has been revealed. i am the man to whom god has given a message--i who have been tried in the fires of hell and fought my way up and out of the pit--only the man who has no ambitions can tell the truth!" the boy nodded and smiled: "yes, i know your hobby----" "the big tragic truth, that the physical contact of the black race with the white is a menace to our life"--his voice had dropped to a passionate whisper as if he were talking to himself. a laugh from tom roused him to the consciousness of time and place: "but that isn't a speech you meant for me, dad!" the father caught his bantering tone with a light reply: "no." and then his tall form confronted the boy with a look of deep seriousness: "to-morrow i enter on the last phase of this campaign. at any moment a fool or a madman may blow my brains out." tom gave a start: "dad----" "over every mile of that long drive home last night, i was brooding and thinking of you----" "of me?" "wondering if i had done my level best to carry out the dying commands of your mother----" he paused, drew a deep breath, looked up tenderly and continued: "i wish you were settled in life." the boy turned slightly away and the father watched him keenly and furtively for a moment, and took a step toward him: "you have never been in love?" with a shrug and a laugh, tom dropped carelessly on the settee and crossed his legs: "love--hardly!" the father held his breath until the light answer brought relief and then smiled: "it will come some day, my boy, and when it hits you, i think it's going to hit hard." the handsome young head was poised on one side with a serious judicial expression: "yes, i think it will--but i guess my ideal's too high, though." the father spoke with deep emotion: "a man's ideal can't be too high, my boy!" tom didn't hear. his mind was busy with his ideal. "but if i ever find her," he went on dreamily, "do you know what i'll want?" "no." "the strength of samson!" "what for?" he shook his head with a smile: "to reach over in california, tear one of those big trees up by the roots, dip it in the crater of vesuvius and write her name in letters of fire across the sky!" he ended with a wide, sweeping gesture, showing just how he would inscribe it. "really!" the father laughed. "that's how i feel!" he cried, springing to his feet with an emphatic gesture, a smile playing about his firm mouth. the father slipped his arm around him: "well, if you should happen to do it, be sure to stand in the ocean, because otherwise, you know, if the grass should be dry you might set the world on fire." the boy broke into a hearty laugh, crossed to the table, and threw his leg carelessly over the corner, a habit he had gotten from his father. when the laugh had died away, he picked up a magazine and said carelessly: "i guess there's no danger, after all. i'm afraid that the big thing poets sing about is only a myth after all"--he paused, raised his eyes and they rested on his mother's portrait, and his voice became a reverent whisper--"except your love for my mother, dad--that was the real thing!" he was looking the other way and couldn't see the cloud of anguish that suddenly darkened his father's face. "you'll know its meaning some day, my son," was the even reply that came after a pause, "and i only demand of you one thing----" he laid his hand on the boy's shoulder: "that the woman you ask to be your wife bear a name without shadow. good blood is the noblest inheritance that any father or mother ever gave to a child." "i'm proud of mine, sir!" the boy said, drawing his form erect. the father's arm stole around the young shoulders and his voice was very low: "fools sometimes say, my son, that a man can sow his wild oats and be all the better for it. it's a lie. the smallest deed takes hold on eternity for it may start a train of events that even god can't stop----" he paused and fought back a cry from the depths of his soul. "i did something that hurt your mother once"--his voice dropped--"and for twenty years my soul in anguish has begged for forgiveness----" the boy looked at him in startled sympathy and his own arm instinctively slipped around his father's form as he lifted his face to the shining figure over the mantel: "but you believe that she sees and understands now?" norton turned his head away to hide the mists that clouded his eyes. his answer was uttered with the reverence of a prayer: "yes! i've seen her in dreams sometimes so vividly and heard her voice so plainly, i couldn't believe that i was asleep"--his voice stopped before it broke, his arm tightening its hold--"and i know that her spirit broods and watches over you----" and then he suddenly decided to do the most cruel thing to which his mind had ever given assent. but he believed it necessary and did not hesitate. only the vague intensity of his eyes showed his deep feeling as he said evenly: "ask miss helen to come here. you'll find her on the lawn with cleo." the boy left the room to summon helen, and norton seated himself with grim determination. chapter xii the first whisper when tom reached the lawn helen was nowhere to be seen. he searched every nook and corner which they had been accustomed to haunt, looked through the rose garden and finally knocked timidly on the door of her room. he was sure at first that he heard a sound within. he dared not open her door and so hurried down town to see if he could find her in one of the stores. helen shivering inside had held her breath until his his footsteps died away on the stairs. with heavy heart but swift hands she was packing her trunk. in spite of cleo's assurances she had been startled and frightened beyond measure by the certainty that norton had purposely avoided her. she had expected the most hearty welcome. her keen intuition had scented his hostility though not a word had been spoken. cleo, who had avoided tom, again rapped on her door: "just a minute, miss helen!" there was no answer and the woman strained her ear to hear what was happening inside. it couldn't be possible that the girl was really going to leave! such an act of madness would upset her plans just as they were coming out exactly as she had hoped. "she can't mean it!" cleo muttered under her breath. "it's only a fit of petulance!" she didn't dare to give helen a hint of her clouded birth. that might send her flying. yet if necessary she must excite her curiosity by a whisper about her parentage. she had already guessed from hints the girl had dropped that her one passionate desire was to know the names of her father and mother. she would be careful, but it was necessary to hold her at all hazards. she rapped again: "please, miss helen, may i come in just a minute?" her voice was full of pleading. a step was heard, a pause and the door opened. cleo quickly entered, turned the key and in earnest tones, her eyes dancing excitedly, asked: "you are really packing your trunk?" "it's already packed," was the firm answer. "but you can't mean this----" "i do." "i tell you, child, the major didn't see you----" "he did see me. i caught his eye in a straight, clear look. and he turned quickly to avoid me." "you have his letter of invitation. you can't think it a forgery?" she asked with impatience. the girl's color deepened: "he has evidently changed his mind for some reason." "nonsense!" "i was just ready to rush to meet him and thank him with the deepest gratitude for his invitation. the look on his face when he turned was like a blow." "it's only your imagination!" cleo urged eagerly. "he's worried over politics." "i'm not in politics. no, it's something else--i must go." cleo put her hand appealingly on helen's arm: "don't be foolish, child!" the girl drew away suddenly with instinctive aversion. the act was slight and quick, but not too slight or quick for the woman's sharp eye. she threw helen a look of resentment: "why do you draw away from me like that?" the girl flushed with embarrassment and stammered: "why--you see, i've lived up north all my life, shut up in a convent most of the time and i'm not used--to--colored people----" "well, i'm not a negro, please remember that. i'm a nurse and housekeeper, if you please, and there happens to be a trace of negro blood in my veins, but a white soul throbs beneath this yellow skin. i'd strip it off inch by inch if i could change its color"--her voice broke with assumed emotion--it was a pose for the moment, but its apparent genuineness deceived the girl and roused her sympathy. "i'm sorry if i hurt you," she said contritely. "oh, it's no matter." helen snapped the lid of her trunk: "i'm leaving on the first train." "oh, come now," cleo urged impatiently. "you'll do nothing of the kind--the major will be himself to-morrow." "i am going at once----" "you're not going!" the woman declared firmly, laying her hand again on the girl's arm. with a shudder helen drew quickly away. "please--please don't touch me again!" she cried with anger. "i'm sorry, but i can't help it." with an effort cleo suppressed her rage: "well, i won't. i understand--but you can't go like this. the major will be furious." "i'm going," the girl replied, picking up the odds and ends she had left and placing them in her travelling bag. cleo watched her furtively: "i--i--ought to tell you something that i know about your life--" helen dropped a brush from her hand and quickly crossed the room, a bright color rushing to her cheeks: "about my birth?" "you believe," cleo began cautiously, "that the major is the agent of your guardian who lives abroad. well, he's not the agent--he is your guardian." "why should he deceive me?" "he had reasons, no doubt," cleo replied with a smile. "you mean that he knows the truth? that he knows the full history of my birth and the names of my father and mother?" "yes." "he has assured me again and again that he does not--" "i know that he has deceived you." helen looked at her with a queer expression of angry repulsion that she should possess this secret of her unhappy life. "you know?" she asked faintly. "no," was the quick reply, "not about your birth; but i assure you the major does. demand that he tell you." "he'll refuse--" "ask him again, and stay until he does." "but i'm intruding!" helen cried, brushing a tear from her eyes. "no matter, you're here, you're of age, you have the right to know the truth--stay until you learn it. if he slights you, pay no attention to it--stay until you know." the girl's form suddenly stiffened and her eyes flashed: "yes, i will--i'll know at any cost." with a soft laugh which helen couldn't hear cleo hurried from the room. chapter xiii andy's proposal andy had been waiting patiently for cleo to leave helen's door. he had tried in vain during the entire morning to get an opportunity to see her alone, but since helen's appearance at breakfast she had scarcely left the girl's side for five minutes. he had slipped to the head of the back stairs, lifted the long flaps of the tail of his new coat and carefully seated himself on the last step to wait her appearance. he smiled with assurance. she couldn't get down without a word at least. "i'm gwine ter bring things to er head dis day, sho's yer born!" he muttered, wagging his head. he had been to norfolk the week before on an excursion to attend the annual convention of his african mutual insurance society, "the children of the king." while there he had met the old woman who had given him a startling piece of information about cleo which had set his brain in a whirl. he had long been desperately in love with her, but she had treated him with such scorn he had never summoned the courage to declare his affection. the advent of helen at first had made no impression on his slowly working mind, but when he returned from norfolk with the new clew to cleo's life he watched the girl with increasing suspicion. and when he saw the collapse of norton over the announcement of her presence he leaped to an important conclusion. no matter whether his guess was correct or not, he knew enough to give him a power over the proud housekeeper he proposed to exercise without a moment's delay. "we see now whether she turns up her nose at me ergin," he chuckled, as he heard the door open. he rose with a broad grin as he saw that at last she was alone. he adjusted his suit with a touch of pride and pulled down his vest with a little jerk he had seen his master use in dressing. he had found the heavy, black, double-breasted vest in the cedar box, but thought it rather sombre when contrasted with a red english hunting jacket the major had affected once in a fashionable fox hunt before the war. the rich scarlet took his fancy and he selected that one instead. he carried his ancient silk hat jauntily balanced in one hand, in the other hand a magnolia in full bloom. the petals of the flower were at least a half-foot long and the leaves longer. he bowed with an attempt at the easy manners of a gentleman in a gallant effort to attract her attention. she was about to pass him on the stairs without noticing his existence when andy cleared his throat: "ahem!" cleo paused with a frown: "what's the matter? have you caught cold!" andy generously ignored her tone, bowed and handed her the magnolia: "would you embellish yousef wid dis little posie, m'am?" the woman turned on him, drew her figure to its full height, her eyes blazing with wrath, snatched the flower from his hand and threw it in his face. andy dodged in time to save his nose and his offering went tumbling down the stairs. he shook his head threateningly when he caught his breath: "look a here, m'am, is dat de way yer gwine spessify my welcome?" "why, no, i was only thanking you for the compliment!" she answered with a sneer. "how dare you insult me?" "insult you, is i?" andy chuckled. "huh, if dat's de way ye talk i'm gwine ter say sumfin quick----" "you can't be too quick!" andy held her eye a moment and pointed his index finger in her face: "yassam! as de ole sayin' is--i'm gwine take my tex' from dat potion er de scripter whar de 'postle paul pint his 'pistle at de fenians!--i'se er comin' straight ter de pint." "well, come to it, you flat-nosed baboon!" she cried in rage. "what makes your nose so flat, anyhow?" andy grinned at her tantalizingly, and spoke with a note of deliberate insult: "i don't know, m'am, but i spec hit wuz made dat way ter keep hit outen odder folks' business!" "you impudent scoundrel, how dare you speak to me like this?" cleo hissed. a triumphant chuckle was his answer. he flicked a piece of imaginary dust from the rim of his hat, his eyes rolled to the ceiling and he slowly said with a smile: "well, yer see, m'am, circumstances alters cases an' dat always makes de altercations! i git holt er a little secret o' yourn dat gimme courage----" "a secret of mine?" cleo interrupted with the first flash of surprise. "yassam!" was the unctuous answer, as andy looked over his shoulder and bent to survey the hall below for any one who might possibly be passing. "yassam," he went on smoothly, "down ter norfork las' week, m'am----" "wait a minute!" cleo interrupted. "some one might be below. come to my room." "yassam, ob course, i wuz gwine ter say dat in de fust place, but ye didn't gimme time"--he bowed--"cose, m'am, de pleasure's all mine, as de sayin' is." he placed his silk hat jauntily on his head as they reached the door, and gallantly took hold of cleo's arm to assist her down the steps. she stopped abruptly: "wait here, i'll go ahead and you can come in a few minutes." "sholy, sholy, m'am, i understan' dat er lady allus likes ter make er little preparations ter meet er gemman. i understands. i des stroll out on de lawn er minute." "the backyard's better," she replied, quietly throwing him a look of scorn. "yassam, all right. i des take a little cursory view er de chickens." "as soon as i'm out of sight, you can come right up." andy nodded and cleo quickly crossed the fifty yards that separated the house from the neat square brick building that was still used as the servants' quarters. in a few minutes, with his silk hat set on the side of his head, andy tipped up the stairs and knocked on her door. he entered with a grandiloquent bow and surveyed the place curiously. her room was a sacred spot he had never been allowed to enter before. "have a seat," cleo said, placing a chair. andy bowed, placed his hat pompously on the table, pulled down his red vest with a jerk and seated himself deliberately. cleo glanced at him: "you were about to tell me something that you heard in norfolk?" andy looked at the door as an extra precaution and smiled blandly: "yassam, i happen ter hear down dar dat a long time ergo, mo'rn twenty years, afore i cum ter live here--dat is when i wuz er politicioner--dey wuz rumors 'bout you an' de major when you wuz mister tom's putty young nurse." "well?" "de major's wife fin' it out an' die. de major wuz heart-broke, drap everything an' go norf, an' while he wuz up dar, you claims ter be de mudder of a putty little gal. now min' ye, i ain't nebber seed her, but dat's what i hears you claims----" andy paused impressively and cleo held his eye in a steady, searching stare. she was trying to guess how much he really knew. she began to suspect that his story was more than half a bluff and made up her mind to fight. "claim? no, you fool!" she said with indifferent contempt, "i didn't claim it--i proved it. i proved it to his satisfaction. you may worry some one else with your secret. it doesn't interest me. but i'd advise you to have your life insured before you mention it to the major"--she paused, broke into a light laugh and added: "so that's your wonderful discovery?" andy looked at her with a puzzled expression and scratched his head: "yassam." "then i'll excuse you from wasting any more of your valuable time," cleo said, rising. andy rose and smiled: "yassam, but dat ain't all, m'am!" "no?" "nobum. i ain't 'sputin dat de little gal wuz born des lak you say, or des lak, mebbe, de major believes ter dis day"--he paused and leaned over until he could whisper in her ear--"but sposen she die?" the woman never moved a muscle for an instant. she spoke at last in a half-laughing, incredulous way: "suppose she died? why, what do you mean?" "now, mind ye," andy said, lifting his hands in a persuasive gesture, "i ain't sayin' dat she raly did die--i des say--sposen she die----" cleo lost her temper and turned on her tormentor in sudden fury: "but she didn't! who dares to tell such a lie? she's living to-day a beautiful, accomplished girl." andy solemnly raised his hand again: "mind ye, i don't say dat she ain't, i des say sposen--sposen she die, an' you git a little orphan baby ter put in her place, twenty years ergo, jis' ter keep yer grip on de major----" cleo peered steadily into his face: [illustration: "'yassam, but dat ain't all, m'am.'"] "did you guess that lie?" he cocked his head to one side and grinned: "i don't say dat i did, an' i don't say dat i didn't. i des say dat i mought, an' den ergin i moughn't!" "well, it's a lie!" she cried fiercely--"i tell you it's an infamous lie!" "yassam, dat may be so, but hit's a putty dangous lie fer you, m'am, ef----" he looked around the room in a friendly, cautious way and continued in a whisper: "especially ef de major wuz ter ever git pizened wid it!" cleo's voice dropped suddenly to pleading tones: "you're not going to suggest such an idea to him?" andy looked away coyly and glanced back at her with a smile: "not ef yer ax me----" "well, i do ask you," she said in tender tones. "a more infamous lie couldn't be told. but if such a suspicion were once roused it would be hard to protect myself against it." "oh, i des wants ter help ye, m'am," andy protested earnestly. "then i'm sure you'll never suggest such a thing to the major?--i'm sorry i've treated you so rudely, and spoke to you as i did just now." andy waved the apology aside with a generous gesture and spoke with large good nature: "oh, dat's all right, m'am! dat's all right! i'm gwine ter show you now dat i'se yer best friend----" "i may need one soon," she answered slowly. "things can't go on in this house much longer as they are." "yassam!" andy said reassuringly as he laid his hand on cleo's arm and bent low. "you kin 'pend on me. i'se always called hones' andy." she shuddered unconsciously at his touch, looked suddenly toward the house and said: "go--quick! mr. tom has come. i don't want him to see us together." andy bowed grandly, took up his hat and tipped down the stairs chuckling over his conquest, and cleo watched him cross the yard to the kitchen. "i'll manage him!" she murmured with a smile of contempt. chapter xiv the folly of pity norton sat in the library for more than an hour trying to nerve himself for the interview while waiting for helen. he had lighted and smoked two cigars in rapid succession and grown restless at her delay. he rose, strolled through the house and seeing nothing of either tom or helen, returned to the library and began pacing the floor with measured tread. he had made up his mind to do a cruel thing and told himself over and over again that cruel things are often best. the cruelty of surgery is the highest form of pity, pity expressed in terms of the highest intelligence. he was sure the boy had not made love to the girl. helen was no doubt equally innocent in her attitude toward him. it would only be necessary to tell her a part of the bitter truth and her desire to leave would be a resistless one. and yet, the longer he delayed and the longer he faced such an act, the more pitiless it seemed and the harder its execution became. at heart a deep tenderness was the big trait of his character. above all, he dreaded the first interview with helen. the idea of the responsibility of fatherhood had always been a solemn one. his love for tom was of the very beat of his heart. the day he first looked into his face was the most wonderful in all the calendar of life. he had simply refused to let this girl come into his heart. he had closed the door with a firm will. he had only seen her once when a little tot of two and he was laboring under such deep excitement and such abject fear lest a suspicion of the truth, or any part of the truth, reach the sisters to whom he was intrusting the child, that her personality had made no impression on him. he vaguely hoped that she might not be attractive. the idea of a girl of his own had always appealed to him with peculiar tenderness, and, unlike most fathers, he had desired that his first-born should be a girl. if helen were commonplace and unattractive his task would be comparatively easy. it was a mental impossibility for him as yet to accept the fact that she was his--he had seen so little of her, her birth was so unwelcome, her coming into his life fraught with such tragic consequences. the vague hope that she might prove weak and uninteresting had not been strengthened by the momentary sight of her face. the flash of joy that lighted her sensitive features, though it came across the lawn, had reached him with a very distinct impression of charm. he dreaded the effect at close range. however, there was no other way. he had to see her and he had to make her stay impossible. it would be a staggering blow for a girl to be told in the dawn of young womanhood that her birth was shadowed by disgrace. it would be a doubly cruel one to tell her that her blood was mixed with a race of black slaves. and yet a life built on a lie was set on shifting sand. it would not endure. it was best to build it squarely on the truth, and the sooner the true foundation was laid the better. there could be no place in our civilization for a woman of culture and refinement with negro blood in her veins. more and more the life of such people must become impossible. that she should remain in the south was unthinkable. that the conditions in the north were at bottom no better he knew from the experience of his stay in new york. he would tell her the simple, hideous truth, depend on her terror to keep the secret, and send her abroad. it was the only thing to do. he rose with a start at the sound of tom's voice calling her from the stairway. the answer came in low tones so charged with the quality of emotion that belongs to a sincere nature that his heart sank at the thought of his task. she had only said the most commonplace thing--"all right, i'll be down in a moment." yet the tones of her voice were so vibrant with feeling that its force reached him instantly, and he knew that his interview was going to be one of the most painful hours of his life. and still he was not prepared for the shock her appearance in the shadows of the tall doorway gave. he had formed no conception of the gracious and appealing personality. in spite of the anguish her presence had brought, in spite of preconceived ideas of the inheritance of the vicious nature of her mother, in spite of his ingrained repugnance to the negroid type, in spite of his horror of the ghost of his young manhood suddenly risen from the dead to call him to judgment, in spite of his determination to be cruel as the surgeon to the last--in spite of all, his heart suddenly went out to her in a wave of sympathy and tenderness! she was evidently so pitifully embarrassed and the suffering in her large, expressive eyes so keen and genuine, his first impulse was to rush to her side with words of comfort and assurance. the simple white dress, with tiny pink ribbons drawn through its edges, which she wore accentuated the impression of timidity and suffering. he was surprised to find not the slightest trace of negroid blood apparent, though he knew that a mixture of the sixteenth degree often left no trace until its sudden reversion to a black child. her hair was the deep brown of his own in young manhood, the eyes large and tender in their rich blue depths--the eyes of innocence, intelligence, sincerity. the lips were full and fluted, and the chin marked with an exquisite dimple that gave a childlike wistfulness to a face that without it might have suggested too much strength. her neck was slightly curved and set on full, strong shoulders with an unconscious grace. the bust was slight and girlish, the arms and figure rounded and beautiful in their graceful fullness. her walk, when she took the first few steps into the room and paused, he saw was the incarnation of rhythmic strength and perfect health. but her voice was the climax of her appeal--low, vibrant, quivering with feeling and full of a subtle quality that convinced the hearer from the first moment of the truth and purity of its owner. she smiled with evident embarrassment at his silence. he was stunned for the moment and simply couldn't speak. "so, i see you at last, major norton!" she said as the color slowly stole over her face. he recovered himself, walked quickly to meet her and extended his hand: "i must apologize for not seeing you earlier this morning," he said gravely. "i was up all night travelling through the country and slept very late." as her hand rested in his the girl forgot her restraint and wounded pride at the cold and doubtful reception he had given earlier. her heart suddenly beat with a desire to win this grave, strong man's love and respect. with a look of girlish tenderness she hastened to say: "i want to thank you with the deepest gratitude, major, for your kindness in inviting me here this summer----" "don't mention it, child," he interrupted frowning. "oh, if you only knew," she went on hurriedly, "how i love the south, how my soul glows under its skies, how i love its people, their old-fashioned ways, their kindness, their hospitality, their high ideals----" he lifted his hand and the gesture stopped her in the midst of a sentence. he was evidently struggling with an embarrassment that was painful and had determined to end it. "the time has come, helen," he began firmly--"you're of age--that i should tell you the important facts about your birth." "yes--yes----" the girl answered in an excited whisper as she sank into a chair and gazed at him fascinated with the terror of his possible revelation. "i wish i could tell you all," he said, pausing painfully. "you know--all?" "yes, i know." "my father--my mother--they are living?" in spite of his effort at self-control norton was pale and his voice strained. his answers to her pointed questions were given with his face turned from her searching gaze. "your mother is living," was the slow reply. "and my father?" his eyes were set in a fixed stare waiting for this question, as a prisoner in the dock for the sentence of a judge. his lips gave no answer for the moment and the girl went on eagerly: "through all the years that i've been alone, the one desperate yearning of my heart has been to know my father"--the lines of the full lips quivered--"i've always felt somehow that a mother who could give up her babe was hardly worth knowing. and so i've brooded over the idea of a father. i've hoped and dreamed and prayed that he might be living--that i might see and know him, win his love, and in its warmth and joy, its shelter and strength--never be lonely or afraid again----" her voice sank to a sob, and norton, struggling to master his feelings, said: "you have been lonely and afraid?" "utterly lonely! when other girls at school shouted for joy at the approach of vacation, the thought of home and loved ones, it brought to me only tears and heartache. many a night i've laid awake for hours and sobbed because a girl had asked me about my father and mother. lonely!--oh, dear lord! and always i've dried my eyes with the thought that some day i might know my father and sob out on his breast all i've felt and suffered"--she paused, and looked at norton through a mist of tears--"my father is not dead?" the stillness was painful. the man could hear the tick of the little french clock on the mantel. how tired his soul was of lies! he couldn't lie to her in answer to this question. and so without lifting his head he said very softly: "he is also alive." "thank god!" the girl breathed reverently. "oh, if i could only touch his hand and look into his face! i don't care who he is, how poor and humble his home, if it's a log cabin on a mountain side, or a poor white man's hovel in town, i'll love him and cling to him and make him love me!" the man winced. there was one depth her mind had not fathomed! how could he push this timid, lonely, haunted creature over such a precipice! he glanced at her furtively and saw that she was dreaming as in a trance. "but suppose," he said quietly, "you should hate this man when you had met?" "it's unthinkable," was the quick response. "my father is my father. i'd love him if he were a murderer!" again her mind had failed to sound the black depths into which he was about to hurl her. she might love a murderer, but there was one thing beyond all question, this beautiful, sensitive, cultured girl could not love the man who had thrust her into the hell of a negroid life in america! she might conceive of the love of a father who could take human life, but her mind could not conceive the possibility of facing the truth with which he must now crush the soul out of her body. why had he lied and deceived her at all? the instinctive desire to shield his own blood from a life of ignominy--yes. but was it worth the risk? no--he knew it when it was too late. the steel jaws with their cold teeth were tearing the flesh now at every turn and there was no way of escape. when he failed to respond, she rose, pressed close and pleaded eagerly: "tell me his name! oh, it's wonderful that you have seen him, heard his voice and held his hand! he may not be far away--tell me----" norton shook his head: "the one thing, child, i can never do." "you are a father--a father who loves his own--i've seen and know that. a nameless waif starving for a word of love begs it--just one word of deep, real love--think of it! my heart has never known it in all the years i've lived!" norton lifted his hand brusquely: "you ask the impossible. the conditions under which i am acting as your guardian seal my lips." the girl looked at him steadily: "then, you are my real guardian?" "yes." "and why have you not told me before?" the question was asked with a firm emphasis that startled him into a sense of renewed danger. "why?" she repeated. "to avoid questions i couldn't answer." "you will answer them now?" "with reservations." the girl drew herself up with a movement of quiet determination and spoke in even tones: "my parents are southern?" "yes----" "my father and mother were--were"--her voice failed, her head dropped and in an effort at self-control she walked to the table, took a book in her hand and tried to turn its leaves. the hideous question over which she had long brooded was too horrible to put into words. the answer he might give was too big with tragic possibilities. she tried to speak again and couldn't. he looked at her with a great pity in his heart and when at last she spoke her voice was scarcely a whisper: "my father and mother were married?" he knew it was coming and that he must answer, and yet hesitated. his reply was low, but it rang through her soul like the stroke of a great bell tolling for the dead: "no!" the book she held slipped from the trembling fingers and fell to the floor. norton walked to the window that he might not see the agony in her sensitive face. she stood very still and the tears began slowly to steal down her cheeks. "god pity me!" she sobbed, lifting her face and looking pathetically at norton. "why did you let them send me to school? why teach me to think and feel and know this?" the low, sweet tones of her wonderful voice found the inmost heart of the man. the misery and loneliness of the orphan years of which she had spoken were nothing to the anguish with which her being now shook. he crossed the room quickly and extended his hand in a movement of instinctive sympathy and tenderness: "come, come, child--you're young and life is all before you." "yes, a life of shame and humiliation!" "the world is wide to-day! a hundred careers are open to you. marriage is impossible--yes----" "and if i only wish for marriage?" the girl cried with passionate intensity. "if my ideal is simple and old-fashioned--if all i ask of god is the love of one man--a home--a baby----" a shadow of pain clouded norton's face and he lifted a hand in tender warning: "put marriage out of your mind once and for all time! it can only bring to you and your loved ones hopeless misery." helen turned with a start: "even if the man i love should know all?" "yes," was the firm answer. she gazed steadily into his eyes and asked with sharp rising emphasis: "why?" the question brought him squarely to the last blow he must give if he accomplish the thing he had begun. he must tell her that her mother is a negress. he looked at the quivering figure, the white, sensitive, young face with the deep, serious eyes, and his lips refused to move. he tried to speak and his throat was dry. it was too cruel. there must be an easier way. he couldn't strike the sweet uplifted head. he hesitated, stammered and said: "i--i'm sorry--i can't answer that question fully and frankly. it may be best, but----" "yes, yes--it's best!" she urged. "it may be best," he repeated, "but i simply can't do it"--he paused, turned away and suddenly wheeled confronting her: "i'll tell you all that you need to know to-day--you were born under the shadow of a hopeless disgrace----" the girl lifted her hand as if to ward a blow while she slowly repeated: "a hopeless--disgrace----" "beneath a shadow so deep, no lover's vow can ever lift it from your life. i should have told you this before, perhaps--well, somehow i couldn't"--he paused and his voice trembled--"i wanted you to grow in strength and character first----" the girl clenched her hands and sprang in front of him: "that my agony might be beyond endurance? now you _must_ tell me the whole truth!" again the appealing uplifted face had invited the blow, and again his heart failed. it was impossible to crush her. it was too horrible. he spoke with firm decision: "not another word!" he turned and walked rapidly to the door. the girl clung desperately to his arm: "i beg of you! i implore you!" he paused in the doorway, and gently took her hands: "forgive me, child, if i seem cruel. in reality i am merciful. i must leave it just there!" he passed quickly out. the girl caught the heavy curtains for support, turned with an effort, staggered back into the room, fell prostrate on the lounge with a cry of despair, and burst into uncontrollable sobs. chapter xv a discovery tom had grown restless waiting for helen to emerge from the interminable interview with his father. a half dozen times he had walked past the library door only to hear the low hum of their voices still talking. "what on earth is it all about, i wonder?" he muttered. "must be telling her the story of his whole life!" he had asked her to meet him in the old rose garden when she came out. for the dozenth time he strolled in and sat down on their favorite rustic. he could neither sit still nor content himself with wandering. "what the devil's the matter with me anyhow?" he said aloud. "the next thing i'll be thinking i'm in love--good joke--bah!" helen was not the ideal he had dreamed. she had simply brought a sweet companionship into his life--that was all. she was a good fellow. she could walk, ride, run and hold her own at any game he liked to play. he had walked with her over miles of hills and valleys stretching in every direction about town. he had never grown tired of these walks. he didn't have to entertain her. they were silent often for a long time. they sat down beside the roadway, laughed and talked like chums with never a thought of entertaining each other. in the long rides they had taken in the afternoons and sometimes late in the starlight or moonlight, she had never grown silly, sentimental or tiresome. a restful and home-like feeling always filled him when she was by his side. he hadn't thought her very beautiful at first, but the longer he knew her the more charming and irresistible her companionship became. "her figure's a little too full for the finest type of beauty!" he was saying to himself now. "her arms are splendid, but the least bit too big, and her face sometimes looks too strong for a girl's! it's a pity. still, by geeminy, when she smiles she is beautiful! her face seems to fairly blossom with funny little dimples--and that one on the chin is awfully pretty! she just misses by a hair being a stunningly beautiful girl!" he flicked a fly from his boot with a switch he was carrying and glanced anxiously toward the house. "and i must say," he acknowledged judicially, "that she has a bright mind, her tastes are fine, her ideals high. she isn't all the time worrying over balls and dresses and beaux like a lot of silly girls i know. she's got too much sense for that. the fact is, she has a brilliant mind." now that he came to think of it, she had a mind of rare brilliance. everything she said seemed to sparkle. he didn't stop to ask the reason why, he simply knew that it was so. if she spoke about the weather, her words never seemed trivial. he rose scowling and walked back to the house. "what on earth can they be talking about all this time?" he cried angrily. just then his father's tall figure stepped out on the porch, walked its length and entered the sitting-room by one of the french windows. he sprang up the steps, thrust his head into the hall, and softly whistled. he waited a moment, there was no response, and he repeated the call. still receiving no answer, he entered cautiously: "miss helen!" he tipped to the library door and called again: "miss helen!" surprised that she could have gone so quickly he rushed into the room, glanced hastily around, crossed to the window, looked out on the porch, heard the rustle of a skirt and turned in time to see her flying to escape. with a quick dash he headed her off. hiding her face she turned and ran the other way for the door through which he had entered. with a laugh and a swift leap tom caught her arms. "lord, you're a sprinter!" he cried breathlessly. "but i've got you now!" he laughed, holding her pinioned arms tightly. helen lifted her tear-stained face: "please----" tom drew her gently around and looked into her eyes: "why--what on earth--you're crying!" she tried to draw away but he held her hand firmly: "what is it? what's happened? what's the matter?" his questions were fired at her with lightning rapidity. the girl dropped forlornly on the lounge and turned her face away: "please go!" "i won't go--i won't!" he answered firmly as he bent closer. "please--please!" "tell me what it is?" helen held her face resolutely from him. "tell me," he urged tenderly. "i can't!" she threw herself prostrate and broke into sobs. the boy wrung his hands helplessly, started to put his arm around her, caught himself in time and drew back with a start. at last he burst out passionately: "don't--don't! for heaven's sake don't! it hurts me more than it does you--i don't know what it is but it hurts--it hurts inside and it hurts deep--please!" without lifting her head helen cried: "i don't want to live any more!" "oh, is that all?" tom laughed. "i see, you've stubbed your toe and don't want to live any more!" "i mean it!" she broke in desperately. "good joke!" he cried again, laughing. "you don't want to live any more! twenty years old and every line of your graceful, young form quivering with the joy of life--you--you don't want to live! that's great!" the girl lifted her dimmed eyes, looked at him a moment, and spoke the thought that had poisoned her soul--spoke it in hard, bitter accents with a touch of self-loathing: "i've just learned that my birth is shadowed by disgrace!" "well, what have you to do with that?" he asked quickly. "your whole being shines with truth and purity. what's an accident of birth? you couldn't choose your parents, could you? you're a nameless orphan and my father is the attorney of an old fool guardian who lives somewhere in europe. all right! the worst thing your worst enemy could say is that you're a child of love--a great love that leaped all bounds and defied the law--a love that was madness and staked all life on the issue! that means you're a child of the gods. some of the greatest men and women of the world were born like that. your own eyes are clear. there's no cloud on your beautiful soul----" tom paused and helen lifted her face in rapt attention. the boy suddenly leaped to his feet, turned away and spoke in ecstatic whispers: "good lord--listen at me--why--i'm making love--great scott--i'm in love! the big thing has happened--to me--to me! i feel the thrill of it--the thing that transforms the world--why--it's like getting religion!" he strode back and forth in a frenzy of absurd happiness. helen, smiling through her tears, asked: "what are you saying? what are you talking about?" with a cry of joy he was at her side, her hand tight gripped in his: "why, that i'm in love, my own--that i love you, my glorious little girl! i didn't realize it until i saw just now the tears in your eyes and felt the pain of it. every day these past weeks you've been stealing into my heart until now you're my very life! what hurts you hurts me--your joys are mine--your sorrows are mine!" laughing in spite of herself, helen cried: "you--don't realize what you're saying!" "no--but i'm beginning to!" he answered with a boyish smile. "and it goes to my head like wine--i'm mad with its joy! i tell you i love you--i love you! and you love me--you do love me?" the girl struggled, set her lips grimly and said fiercely: "no--and i never shall!" "you don't mean it?" "i do!" "you--you--don't love another?" "no--no!" "then you _do_ love me!" he cried triumphantly. "you've just _got_ to love me! i won't take any other answer! look into my eyes!" she turned resolutely away and he took both hands drawing her back until their eyes met. "your lips say no," he went on, "but your tears, your voice, the tremor of your hand and the tenderness of your eyes say yes!" helen shook her head: "no--no--no!" but the last "no" grew feebler than the first and he pressed her hand with cruel pleading: "yes--yes--yes--say it, dear--please--just once." helen looked at him and then with a cry of joy that was resistless said: "god forgive me! i can't help it--yes, yes, yes, i love you--i love you!" tom snatched her to his heart and held her in perfect surrender. she suddenly drew her arms from his neck, crying in dismay: "no--no--i don't love you!" the boy looked at her with a start and she went on quickly: "i didn't mean to say it--i meant to say--i hate you!" with a cry of pain she threw herself into his arms, clasping his neck and held him close. his hand gently stroked the brown hair while he laughed: "well, if that's the way you hate--keep it up!" with an effort she drew back: "but i mustn't----" "there!" he said, tenderly drawing her close again. "it's all right. it's no use to struggle. you're mine--mine, i tell you!" with a determined effort she freed herself: "it's no use, dear, our love is impossible." "nonsense!" "but you don't realize that my birth is shadowed by disgrace!" "i don't believe it--i wouldn't believe it if an angel said it. who dares to say such a thing?" "your father!" "my father?" he repeated in a whisper. "he has always known the truth and now that i am of age he has told me----" "told you what?" "just what i said, and warned me that marriage could only bring pain and sorrow to those i love." "he gave you no facts--only these vague warnings?" "yes, more--he told me----" she paused and moved behind the table: "that my father and mother were never married." "nothing more?" the boy asked eagerly. "that's enough." "not for me!" "suppose my father were a criminal?" "no matter--your soul's as white as snow" "suppose my mother----" "i don't care who she was--you're an angel!" helen faced him with strained eagerness: "you swear that no stain on my father or mother can ever make the least difference between us?" "i swear it!" he cried grasping her hand. "come, you're mine!" helen drew back: "oh, if i could only believe it----" "you do believe it--come!" he opened his arms and she smiled. "what shall i do!" "come!" slowly at first, and then with quick, passionate tenderness she threw herself into his arms: "i can't help it, dearest. it's too sweet and wonderful--god help me if i'm doing wrong!" "wrong!" he exclaimed indignantly. "how can it be wrong, this solemn pledge of life and love, of body and soul?" she lifted her face to his in wonder: "and you will dare to tell your father?" "in good time, yes. but it's our secret now. keep it until i say the time has come for him to know. i'll manage him--promise!" "yes! how sweet it is to hear you tell me what to do! i shall never be lonely or afraid again." the father's footstep on the porch warned of his approach. "go quickly!" the boy whispered. "i don't want him to see us together yet--it means too much now--it means life itself!" helen moved toward the door, looked back, laughed, flew again into his arms and quickly ran into the hall as norton entered from the porch. the boy caught the look of surprise on his father's face, realized that he must have heard the rustle of helen's dress, and decided instantly to accept the fact. he boldly walked to the door and gazed after her retreating figure, his back squarely on his father. norton paused and looked sharply at tom: "was--that--helen?" the boy turned, smiling, and nodded with slight embarrassment in spite of his determined effort at self-control: "yes." the father's keen eyes pierced the boy's: "why should she run?" tom's face sobered: "i don't think she wished to see you just now, sir." "evidently!" "she had been crying." "and told you why?" "yes." the father frowned: "she has been in the habit of making you her confidant?" "no. but i found her in tears and asked her the reason for them." norton was watching closely: "she told you what i had just said to her?" "vaguely," tom answered, and turning squarely on his father asked: "would you mind telling me the whole truth about it?" "why do you ask?" the question came from the father's lips with a sudden snap, so suddenly, so sharply the boy lost his composure, hung his head, and stammered with an attempt at a smile: "oh--naturally curious--i suppose it's a secret?" "yes--i wish i could tell you, but i can't"--he paused and spoke with sudden decision: "ask cleo to come here." chapter xvi the challenge norton was morally certain now that the boy was interested in helen. how far this interest had gone he could only guess. what stunned him was that tom had already taken sides with the girl. he had not said so in words. but his embarrassment and uneasiness could mean but one thing. he must move with caution, yet he must act at once and end the dangerous situation. a clandestine love affair was a hideous possibility. up to a moment ago he had held such a thing out of the question with the boy's high-strung sense of honor and his lack of experience with girls. he was afraid now of both the boy and girl. she had convinced him of her purity when the first words had fallen from her lips. yet wiser men had been deceived before. the thought of her sleek, tawny mother came with a shudder. no daughter could escape such an inheritance. there was but one thing to do and it must be done quickly. he would send helen abroad and if necessary tell her the whole hideous truth. he lifted his head at the sound of cleo's footsteps, rose and confronted her. as his deep-set eyes surveyed her he realized that the hour had come for a fight to the finish. she gazed at him steadily with a look of undisguised hate: "what is it?" he took a step closer, planted his long legs apart and met her greenish eyes with an answering flash of rage: "when i think of your damned impudence, using my typewriter and letterheads to send an invitation to that girl to spend the summer here with tom at home, and signing my name----" "i have the right to use your name with her," she broke in with a sneer. "it will be the last time i'll give you the chance." "we'll see," was the cool reply. norton slowly drew a chair to the table, seated himself and said: "i want the truth from you now." "you'll get it. i've never had to lie to you, at least----" "i've no time to bandy words--will you tell me exactly what's been going on between tom and helen during my absence in this campaign?" "i haven't seen anything!" was the light answer. his lips moved to say that she lied, but he smiled instead. what was the use? he dropped his voice to a careless, friendly tone: "they have seen each other every day?" "certainly." "how many hours have they usually spent together?" "i didn't count them." norton bit his lips to keep back an oath: "how often have they been riding?" "perhaps a dozen times." "they returned late occasionally?" "twice." "how late?" "it was quite dark----" "what time?--eight, nine, ten or eleven o'clock?" "as late as nine one night, half-past nine another--the moon was shining." she said it with a taunting smile. "were they alone?" "yes." "you took pains to leave them alone, i suppose?" "sometimes"--she paused and looked at him with a smile that was a sneer. "what are you afraid of?" he returned her gaze steadily: "anything is possible of your daughter--the thought of it strangles me!" cleo laughed lightly: "then all you've got to do is to speak--tell tom the truth." "i'll die first!" he fiercely replied. "at least i've taught him racial purity. i've been true to my promise to the dead in this. he shall never know the depths to which i once fell! you have robbed me of everything else in life, this boy's love and respect is all that you've left me"--he stopped, his breast heaving with suppressed passion. "why--why did you bring that girl into this house?" "i wished to see her--that's enough. for twenty years, i've lived here as a slave, always waiting and hoping for a sign from you that you were human----" "for a sign that i'd sink again to your level! well, i found out twenty years ago that beneath the skin of every man sleeps an ape and a tiger--i fought that battle and won----" "and i have lost?" "yes." "perhaps i haven't begun to fight yet." "i shouldn't advise you to try it. i know now that i made a tragic blunder when i brought you back into this house. i've cursed myself a thousand times that i didn't put the ocean between us. if my boy hadn't loved you, if he hadn't slipped his little arms around your neck and clung to you sobbing out the loneliness of his hungry heart--if i hadn't seen the tears in your own eyes and known that you had saved his life once--i wouldn't have made the mistake that i did. but i gave you my word, and i've lived up to it. i've reared and educated your child and given you the protection of my home----" "yes," she broke in, "that you might watch and guard me and know that your secret was safely kept while you've grown to hate me each day with deeper and fiercer hatred--god!--i've wondered sometimes that you haven't killed me!" norton's voice sank to a whisper: "i've wondered sometimes, too"--a look of anguish swept his face--"but i gave you my word, and i've kept it." "because you had to keep it!" he sprang to his feet: "had to keep it--you say that to me?" "i do." "this house is still mine----" "but your past is mine!" she cried with a look of triumph. "indeed! we'll see. helen leaves this house immediately." "she shall not!" "you refuse to obey my orders?" "and what's more," she cried with angry menace, "i refuse to allow you to put her out!" "to _allow_?" "i said it!" "so i am your servant? i must ask your permission?--god!----" he sprang angrily toward the bell and cleo stepped defiantly before him: "don't you touch that bell----" norton thrust her aside: "get out of my way!" "ring that bell if you dare!" she hissed. "dare?" the woman drew her form erect: "if you dare! and in five minutes i'll be in that newspaper office across the way from yours! the editor doesn't love you. to-morrow morning the story of your life and mine will blaze on that first page!" norton caught a chair for support, his face paled and he sank slowly to a seat. cleo leaned toward him, trembling with passion: "i'll give you fair warning. there are plenty of negroes to-day your equal in wealth and culture. do you think they have been listening to their great leader's call to battle for nothing--building fine houses, buying land, piling up money, sending their sons and daughters to college, to come at your beck and call? you're a fool if you do. they are only waiting their chance to demand social equality and get it. wealth and culture will give it in the end, ballot or no ballot. once rich, white men and women will come at their command. i've got my chance now to demand my rights of you and do a turn for the negro race. you've got to recognize helen before your son. i've brought her here for that purpose. with her by my side, i'll be the mistress of this house. now resign your leadership and get out of this campaign!" with a stamp of her foot she ended her mad speech in sharp, high tones, turned quickly and started to the door. between set teeth norton growled: "and you think that i'll submit?" the woman wheeled suddenly and rushed back to his side, her eyes flaming: "you've got to submit--you've got to submit--or begin with me a fight that can only end in your ruin! i've nothing to lose, and i tell you now that i'll fight to win, i'll fight to kill! i'll ask no quarter of you and i'll give none. i'll fight with every ounce of strength i've got, body and soul--and if i lose i'll still have strength enough left to pull you into hell with me!" her voice broke in a sob, she pulled herself together, straightened her figure and cried: "now what are you going to do? what are you going to do? accept my terms or fight?" norton's face was livid, his whole being convulsed as he leaped to his feet and confronted her: "i'll fight!" "all right! all right!" she said with hysterical passion, backing toward the door. "i've warned you now--i didn't want to fight--but i'll show you--i'll show you!" chapter xvii a skirmish norton's fighting blood was up, but he was too good a soldier and too good a commander to rush into battle without preparation. cleo's mask was off at last, and he knew her too well to doubt that she would try to make good her threat. the fire of hate that had flamed in her greenish eyes was not a sudden burst of anger, it had been smoldering there for years, eating its way into the fiber of her being. there were three courses open. he could accept her demand, acknowledge helen to his son, establish her in his home, throw his self-respect to the winds and sink to the woman's level. it was unthinkable! besides, the girl would never recover from the shock. she would disappear or take her own life. he felt it with instinctive certainty. but the thing which made such a course impossible was the fact that it meant his daily degradation before the boy. he would face death without a tremor sooner than this. he could defy cleo and pack helen off to europe on the next steamer, and risk a scandal that would shake the state, overwhelm the party he was leading, disgrace him not only before his son but before the world, and set back the cause he had at heart for a generation. it was true she might weaken when confronted with the crisis that would mean the death of her own hopes. yet the risk was too great to act on such a possibility. her defiance had in it all the elements of finality, and he had accepted it as final. the simpler alternative was a temporary solution which would give him time to think and get his bearings. he could return to the campaign immediately, take tom with him, keep him in the field every day until the election, ask helen to stay until his return, and after his victory had been achieved settle with the woman. it was the wisest course for many reasons, and among them not the least that it would completely puzzle cleo as to his ultimate decision. he rang for andy: "ask mr. tom to come here." andy bowed and norton resumed his seat. when tom entered, the father spoke with quick decision: "the situation in this campaign, my boy, is tense and dangerous. i want you to go with me to-morrow and stay to the finish." tom flushed and there was a moment's pause: "certainly, dad, if you wish it." "we'll start at eight o'clock in the morning and drive through the country to the next appointment. fix your business at the office this afternoon, place your men in charge and be ready to leave promptly at eight. i've some important writing to do. i'm going to lock myself in my room until it's done. see that i'm not disturbed except to send andy up with my supper. i'll not finish before midnight." "i'll see to it, sir," tom replied, turned and was gone. the father had watched the boy with keen scrutiny every moment and failed to catch the slightest trace of resentment or of hesitation. the pause he had made on receiving the request was only an instant of natural surprise. before leaving next morning he sent for helen who had not appeared at breakfast. she hastened to answer his summons and he found no trace of anger, resentment or rebellion in her gentle face. every vestige of the shadow he had thrown over her life seem to have lifted. a tender smile played about her lips as she entered the room. "you sent for me, major?" she asked with the slightest tremor of timidity in her voice. "yes," he answered gravely. "i wish you to remain here until tom and i return. we'll have a conference then about your future." "thank you," she responded simply. "i trust you will not find yourself unhappy or embarrassed in remaining here alone until we return?" "certainly not, major, if it is your wish," was the prompt response. he bowed and murmured: "i'll see you soon." tom waved his hand from the buggy when his father's back was turned and threw her an audacious kiss over his head as the tall figure bent to climb into the seat. the girl answered with another from her finger tips which he caught with a smile. norton's fears of tom were soon at rest at the sight of his overflowing boyish spirits. he had entered into the adventure of the campaign from the moment he found himself alone with his father, and apparently without reservation. through every one of his exciting speeches, when surrounded by hostile crowds, the father had watched tom's face with a subconscious smile. at the slightest noise, the shuffle of a foot, the mutter of a drunken word, or the movement of a careless listener, the keen eyes of the boy had flashed and his right arm instinctively moved toward his hip pocket. when the bitter struggle had ended, father and son had drawn closer than ever before in life. they had become chums and comrades. norton had planned his tour to keep him out of town until after the polls closed on the day of election. they had spent several nights within fifteen or twenty miles of the capital, but had avoided home. he had planned to arrive at the speaker's stand in the capitol square in time to get the first returns of the election. five thousand people were packed around the bulletin board when they arrived on a delayed train. the first returns indicated that the leader's daring platform had swept the state by a large majority. the negro race had been disfranchised and the ballot restored to its original dignity. and much more had been done. the act was purely political, but its effects on the relations, mental and moral and physical, of the two races, so evenly divided in the south, would be tremendous. the crowds of cheering men and women felt this instinctively, though it had not as yet found expression in words. a half-dozen stalwart men with a rush and a shout seized norton and lifted him, blushing and protesting, carried him on their shoulders through the yelling crowd and placed him on the platform. he had scarcely begun his speech when tom, watching his chance, slipped hurriedly through the throng and flew to the girl who was waiting with beating heart for the sound of his footstep. chapter xviii love laughs when helen had received a brief note from tom the night before the election that he would surely reach home the next day, she snatched his picture from the library table with a cry of joy and rushed to her room. she placed the little gold frame on her bureau, sat down before it and poured out her heart in silly speeches of love, pausing to laugh and kiss the glass that saved the miniature from ruin. the portrait was an exquisite work of art on ivory which the father had commisioned a painter in new york to do in celebration of tom's coming of age. the artist had caught the boy's spirit in the tender smile that played about his lips and lingered in the corners of his blue eyes, the same eyes and lips in line and color in the dainty little mother's portrait over the mantel. "oh, you big, handsome, brave, glorious boy!" she cried in ecstasy. "my sweetheart--so generous, so clean, so strong, so free in soul! i love you--i love you--i love you!" she fell asleep at last with the oval frame clasped tight in one hand thrust under her pillow. a sound sleep was impossible, the busy brain was too active. again and again she waked with a start, thinking she had heard his swift footfall on the stoop. at daybreak she leaped to her feet and found herself in the middle of the room laughing when she came to herself, the precious picture still clasped in her hand. "oh, foolish heart, wake up!" she cried with another laugh. "it's dawn, and my lover is coming! it's his day! no more sleep--it's too wonderful! i'm going to count every hour until i hear his step--every minute of every hour, foolish heart!" she looked out the window and it was raining. the overhanging boughs of the oaks were dripping on the tin roof of the bay window in which she was standing. she had dreamed of a wonderful sunrise this morning. but it didn't matter--the rain didn't matter. the slow, familiar dropping on the roof suggested the nearness of her lover. they would sit in some shadowy corner hand in hand and love all the more tenderly. the raindrops were the drum beat of a band playing the march that was bringing him nearer with each throb. the mocking-bird that had often waked her with his song was silent, hovering somewhere in a tree beneath the thick leaves. she had expected him to call her to-day with the sweetest lyric he had ever sung. somehow it didn't matter. her soul was singing the song that makes all other music dumb. "my love is coming!" she murmured joyfully. "my love is coming!" and then she stood for an hour in brooding, happy silence and watched the ghost-like trees come slowly out of the mists. to her shining eyes there were no mists. the gray film that hung over the waking world was a bridal veil hiding the blushing face of the earth from the sun-god lover who was on his way over the hills to clasp her in his burning arms! for the first time in her memory she was supremely happy. every throb of pain that belonged to the past was lost in the sea of joy on which her soul had set sail. in the glory of his love pain was only another name for joy. all she had suffered was but the preparation for this supreme good. it was all the more wonderful, this fairy world into which she had entered, because the shadows had been so deep in her lonely childhood. there really hadn't been any past! she couldn't remember the time she had not known and loved tom. love filled the universe, past, present and future. there was no task too hard for her hands, no danger she was not ready to meet. the hungry heart had found its own. through the long hours of the day she waited without impatience. each tick of the tiny clock on the mantel brought him nearer. the hands couldn't turn back! she watched them with a smile as she sat in the gathering twilight. she had placed the miniature back in its place and sat where her eye caught the smile from his lips when she lifted her head from the embroidery on her lap. the band was playing a stirring strain in the square. she could hear the tumult and the shouts of the crowds about the speaker's stand as they read the bulletins of the election. the darkness couldn't hold him many more minutes. she rose with a soft laugh and turned on the lights, walked to the window, looked out and listened to the roar of the cheering when norton made his appearance. the band struck up another stirring piece. yes, it was "hail to the chief!" he had come. she counted the minutes it would take for him to elude his father and reach the house. she pictured the smile on his face as he threaded his way through the throng and started to her on swift feet. she could see him coming with the long, quick stride he had inherited from his father. she turned back into the room exclaiming: "oh, foolish heart, be still!" she seated herself again and waited patiently, a smile about the corners of her lips and another playing hide and seek in the depths of her expressive eyes. tom had entered the house unobserved by any one and softly tipped into the library from the door directly behind her. he paused, removed his hat, dropped it silently into a chair and stood looking at the graceful, beautiful form bending over her work. the picture of this waiting figure he had seen in his day-dreams a thousand times and yet it was so sweet and wonderful he had to stop and drink in the glory of it for a moment. a joyous laugh was bubbling in his heart as he tipped softly over the thick yielding rug and slipped his hands over her eyes. his voice was the gentlest whisper: "guess?" the white figure slowly rose and her words came in little ripples of gasping laughter as she turned and lifted her arms: "it's--it's--tom!" with a smothered cry she was on his breast. he held her long and close without a word. his voice had a queer hitch in it as he murmured: "helen--my darling!" "oh, i thought you'd never come!" she sighed, looking up through her tears. tom held her off and gazed into her eyes: "it's been a century since i've seen you! i did my level best when we got into these nearby counties again, but i couldn't shake dad once this week. he watched me like a hawk and insisted on staying out of town till the very last hour of the election to-day. did old andy find out i slipped in last week?" "no!" she laughed. "did cleo find it out?" "no." "you're sure cleo didn't find out?" "sure--but aunt minerva did." "oh, i'm not afraid of her--kiss me!" with a glad cry their lips met. he held her off. "i'm not afraid of anything!" with an answering laugh, she kissed him again. "i'm not afraid of dad!" he said in tones of mock tragedy. "once more!" she gently disengaged herself, asking: "how did you get away from him so quickly?" "oh, he's making a speech to the crowd in the square proclaiming victory and so"--his voice fell to a whisper--"i flew to celebrate mine!" "won't he miss you?" "not while he's talking. dad enjoys an eloquent speech--especially one of his own----" he stopped abruptly, took a step toward her and cried: "say! do you know what the governor of north carolina said once upon a time to the governor of south carolina?" helen laughed: "what?" he opened his arms: "'it strikes me,' said he, 'that it's a long time between drinks!'" again her arms flashed around his neck. "did you miss me?" "dreadfully!" she sighed. "but i've been happy--happy in your love--oh, so happy, dearest!" "well, if dad wins this election to-night," he said with a boyish smile, "i'm going to tell him. now's the time--no more slipping and sliding!"--he paused, rushed to the window and looked out--"come, the clouds have lifted and the moon is rising. our old seat among the roses is waiting." with a look of utter happiness she slipped her arm in his and they strolled across the lawn. chapter xix "fight it out!" cleo had heard the shouts in the square with increasing dread. the hour was rapidly approaching when she must face norton. she had deeply regretted the last scene with him when she had completely lost her head. for the first time in her life she had dared to say things that could not be forgiven. they had lived an armed truce for twenty years. she had endured it in the hope of a change in his attitude, but she had driven him to uncontrollable fury now by her angry outburst and spoken words that could not be unsaid. she realized when too late that he would never forgive these insults. and she began to wonder nervously what form his revenge would take. that he had matured a definite plan of hostile action which he would put into force on his arrival, she did not doubt. why had she been so foolish? she asked herself the question a hundred times. and yet the clash was inevitable. she could not see helen packed off to europe and her hopes destroyed at a blow. she might have stopped him with something milder than a threat of exposure in his rival's paper. that was the mad thing she had done. what effect this threat had produced on his mind she could only guess. but she constantly came back to it with increasing fear. if he should accept her challenge, dare her to speak, and, weary of the constant strain of her presence in his house, put her out, it meant the end of the world. she had lived so long in dependence on his will, the thought of beginning life again under new conditions of humiliating service was unthinkable. she could only wait now until the blow fell, and adjust herself to the situation as best she could. that she had the power to lay his life in ruins and break tom's heart she had never doubted. yet this was the one thing she did not wish to do. it meant too much to her. she walked on the porch and listened again to the tumult in the square. she had seen tom enter the house on tip-toe and knew that the lovers were together and smiled in grim triumph. that much of her scheme had not failed! it only remained to be seen whether, with their love an accomplished fact, she could wring from norton's lips the confession she had demanded and save her own skin in the crash. andy had entered the gate and she heard him bustling in the pantry as tom and helen strolled on the lawn. the band in the square was playing their star piece of rag-time music, "a georgia campmeeting." the stirring refrain echoed over the sleepy old town with a weird appeal to-night. it had the ring of martial music--of hosts shouting their victory as they marched. they were playing it with unusual swinging power. she turned with a gesture of impatience into the house to find andy. he was carrying a tray of mint juleps into the library. cleo looked at him in amazement, suppressed an angry exclamation and asked: "what's that band playing for?" "white folks celebratin' de victory!" he replied enthusiastically, placing the tray on the table. "it's only seven o'clock. the election returns can't be in yet?" "yassam! hit's all over but de shoutin'!" cleo moved a step closer: "the major has won?" "yassam! yassam!" andy answered with loud good humor, as he began to polish a glass with a napkin. "yassam, i des come frum dar. de news done come in. dey hain't gwine ter 'low de niggers ter vote no mo', 'ceptin they kin read an' write--an' _den_ dey won't let 'em!" he held one of the shining glasses up to the light, examined it with judicial care and continued in tones of resignation: "don't make no diffrunce ter me, dough!--i hain't nebber got nuttin' fer my vote nohow, 'ceptin' once when er politicioner shoved er box er cigars at me"--he chuckled--"an' den, by golly, i had ter be a gemman, i couldn't grab er whole handful--i des tuck four!" cleo moved impatiently and glared at the tray: "what on earth did you bring all that stuff for? the whole mob are not coming here, are they?" "nobum--nobum! nobody but de major, but i 'low dat he gwine ter consume some! he's on er high hoss. dey's 'bout ten thousand folks up dar in de square. de boys carry de major on dere back to de flatform an' he make 'em a big speech. dey sho is er-raisin' er mighty humbug. dey gwine ter celebrate all night out dar, an' gwine ter serenade everybody in town. but de major comin' right home. dey try ter git him ter stay wid 'em, but he 'low dat he got some 'portant business here at de house." "important business here?" she asked anxiously. "yassam, i spec him any minute." cleo turned quickly toward the door and andy called: "miss cleo!" she continued to go without paying any attention and he repeated his call: "miss cleo!" she paused indifferently, while andy touched his lips smiling: "i got my mouf shet!" "does it pain you?" "nobum!" he laughed. "keep it shut!" she replied contemptuously as she again moved toward the door. "yassam--yassam--but ain't yer got nuttin' mo' dan dat ter say ter me?" he asked this question with a rising inflection that might mean a threat. the woman walked back to him: "prove your love by a year's silence----" "de lawd er mussy!" andy gasped. "a whole year?" "am i not worth waiting for?" she asked with a smile. "yassam--yassam," he replied slowly, "jacob he wait seben years an' den, by golly, de ole man cheat him outen his gal! but ef yer say so, i'se er-waitin', honey----" andy placated, her mind returned in a flash to the fear that haunted her: "he said important business here at once?" the gate closed with a vigorous slam and the echo of norton's step was heard on the gravel walk. "yassam, dar he is now." cleo trembled and hurried to the opposite door: "if the major asks for me, tell him i've gone to the meeting in the square." she passed quickly from the room in a panic of fear. she couldn't meet him in this condition. she must wait a better moment. andy, arranging his tray, began to mix three mint juleps, humming a favorite song: "dis time er-nudder year, oh, lawd, how long! in some lonesome graveyard-- woh, lawd, how long!" norton paused on the threshold with a smile and listened to the foolish melody. his whole being was quivering with the power that thrilled from a great act of will. he had just made a momentous decision. his work in hand was done. he had lived for years in an atmosphere poisoned by a yellow venomous presence. he had resolved to be free!--no matter what the cost. his mind flew to the boy he had grown to love with deeper tenderness the past weeks. the only thing he really dreaded was his humiliation before those blue eyes. but, if the worst came to worst, he must speak. there were things darker than death--the consciousness to a proud and sensitive man that he was the slave to an inferior was one of them. he had to be free--free at any cost. the thought was an inspiration. with brisk step he entered the library and glanced with surprise at the empty room. "tom not come?" he asked briskly. "nasah, i ain't seed 'im," andy replied. norton threw his linen coat on a chair, and a dreamy look came into his deep-set eyes: "well, andy, we've made a clean sweep to-day--the old state's white again!" the negro, bustling over his tray, replied with unction: "yassah, dat's what i done tole 'em, sah!" "all government rests on force, andy! the ballot is force--physical force. back of every ballot is a gun----" he paused, drew the revolver slowly from his pocket and held it in his hand. andy glanced up from his tray and jumped in alarm: "yassah, dat's so, sah--in dese parts sho, sah!" he ended his speech by a good-natured laugh at the expense of the country that allowed itself to be thus intimidated. norton lifted the gleaming piece of steel and looked at it thoughtfully: "back of every ballot a gun and the red blood of the man who holds it! no freeman ever yet voted away his right to a revolution----" "yassah--dat's what i tells dem niggers--you gwine ter giv 'em er dose er de revolution----" "well, it's done now and i've no more use for this thing--thank god!" he crossed to the writing desk, laid the revolver on its top and walked to the lounge his face set with a look of brooding intensity: "bah! the big battles are all fought inside, andy! there's where the brave die and cowards run--inside----" "yassah!--i got de stuff right here fer de _inside_, sah!" he held up the decanter with a grin. "from to-night my work outside is done," norton went on moodily. "and i'm going to be free--free! i'm no longer afraid of one of my servants----" he dropped into a seat and closed his fists with a gesture of intense emotion. andy looked at him in astonishment and asked incredulously: "who de debbil say you'se er scared of any nigger? show dat man ter me--who say dat?" "i say it!" was the bitter answer. he had been thinking aloud, but now that the negro had heard he didn't care. his soul was sick of subterfuge and lies. andy laughed apologetically: "yassah! cose, sah, ef you say dat hit's so, why i say hit's so--but all de same, 'twixt you an' me, i knows tain't so!" "but from to-night!" norton cried, ignoring andy as he sprang to his feet and looked sharply about the room: "tell cleo i wish to see her at once!" "she gone out in de squar ter hear de news, sah." "the moment she comes let me know!" he said with sharp emphasis and turned quickly to the door. "yassah," andy answered watching him go with amazement. "de lawdy, major, you ain't gwine off an' leave dese mint juleps lak dat, is ye?" norton retraced a step: "yes, from to-night i'm the master of my house and myself!" andy looked at the tray and then at norton: "well, sah, yer ain't got no objections to me pizinin' mysef, is ye?" the master surveyed the grinning servant, glanced at the tray, smiled and said: "no--you'll do it anyhow, so go as far as you like!" "yassah!" the negro laughed as norton turned again. "an' please, sah, won't yer gimme jes a little advice befo' you go?" norton turned a puzzled face on the grinning black one: "advice?" "yassah. what i wants ter know, major, is dis. sposen, sah, dat a gemman got ter take his choice twixt marryin' er lady dat's forcin' herself on 'im, er kill hissef?" "kill her!" andy broke into a loud laugh: "yassah! but she's er dangous 'oman, sah! she's a fighter from fightersville--an' fuddermo', sah, i'se engaged to annudder lady at the same time--an' i'se in lub wid dat one an' skeered er de fust one." "face it, then. confess your love and fight it out! fight it out and let them fight it out. you like to see a fight, don't you?" "yassah! oh, yassah," andy declared bravely. "i likes ter see a fight--i likes ter see de fur fly--but i don't care 'bout furnishin' none er de fur!" norton had reached the door when he suddenly turned, the momentary humor of his play with the negro gone from his sombre face, the tragedy of a life speaking in every tone as he slowly said: "fight it out! it's the only thing to do--fight it out!" andy stared at the retreating figure dazed by the violence of passion with which his master had answered, wondering vaguely what could be the meaning of the threat behind his last words. chapter xx andy fights when andy had recovered from his surprise at the violence of norton's parting advice his eye suddenly rested on the tray of untouched mint juleps. a broad smile broke over his black countenance: "fight it out! fight it out!" he exclaimed with a quick movement toward the table. "yassah, i'm gwine do it, too, i is!" he paused before the array of filled glasses of the iced beverage, saluted silently, and raised one high over his head to all imaginary friends who might be present. his eye rested on the portrait of general lee. he bowed and saluted again. further on hung stonewall jackson. he lifted his glass to him, and last to norton's grandfather in his blue and yellow colonial regimentals. he pressed the glass to his thirsty lips and waved the julep a jovial farewell with the palm of his left hand as he poured it gently but firmly down to the last drop. he smacked his lips, drew a long breath and sighed: "put ernuff er dat stuff inside er me, i kin fight er wil'cat! yassah, an' i gwine do it. i gwine ter be rough wid her, too! rough wid her, i is!" he seized another glass and drained half of it, drew himself up with determination, walked to the door leading to the hall toward the kitchen and called: "miss minerva!" receiving no answer, he returned quickly to the tray and took another drink: "rough wid her--dat's de way--rough wid her!" he pulled his vest down with a vicious jerk, bravely took one step, paused, reached back, picked up his glass again, drained it, and walked to the door. "miss minerva!" he called loudly and fiercely. from the kitchen came the answer in tender tones: "yas--honey!" andy retreated hastily to the table and took another drink before the huge but smiling figure appeared in the doorway. "did my true love call?" she asked softly. andy groaned, grasped a glass and quickly poured another drink of dutch courage down. "yassam, miss minerva, i thought i hear yer out dar----" minerva giggled as lightly as she could considering her two hundred and fifty pounds: "yas, honey, hit's little me!" andy had begun to feel the bracing effects of the two full glasses of mint juleps. he put his hands in his pockets, walked with springing strides to the other end of the room, returned and squared himself impressively before minerva. before he could speak his courage began to fail and he stuttered: "m-m-m-miss minerva!" the good-humored, shining black face was raised in sharp surprise: "what de matter wid you, man, er hoppin' roun' over de flo' lak er flea in er hot skillet?" andy saw that the time had come when he must speak unless he meant to again ignominiously surrender. he began boldly: "miss minerva! i got somethin' scandalous ter say ter you!" she glared at him, the whites of her eyes shining ominously, crossed the room quickly and confronted andy: "don't yer dar' say nuttin' scandalizin' ter me, sah!" his eyes fell and he moved as if to retreat. she nudged him gently: "g'long, man, what is it?" he took courage: "i got ter 'fess ter you, m'am, dat i'se tangled up wid annuder 'oman!" the black face suddenly flashed with wrath, and her figure was electric with battle. the very pores of her dusky skin seemed to radiate war. "who bin tryin' ter steal you?" she cried. "des sho' her ter me, an' we see who's who!" andy waved his hands in a conciliatory self-accusing gesture: "yassam--yassam! but i make er fool outen myse'f about her--hit's miss cleo!" "cleo!" minerva gasped, staggering back until her form collided with the table and rattled the glasses on the tray. at the sound of the tinkling glass, she turned, grasped a mint julep, and drank the whole of it at a single effort. andy, who had been working on a figure in the rug with the toe of his shoe during his confession, looked up, saw that she had captured his inspiration, and sprang back in alarm. minerva paused but a moment for breath and rushed for him: "dat yaller jezebel!--tryin' ter fling er spell over you--but i gwine ter save ye, honey!" andy retreated behind the lounge, his ample protector hot on his heels: "yassam!" he cried, "but i don't want ter be saved!" before he had finished the plea, she had pinned him in a corner and cut off retreat. "of course yer don't!" she answered generously. "no po' sinner ever does. but don't yer fret, honey, i'se gwine ter save ye in spite er yosef! yer needn't ter kick, yer needn't ter scramble, now's de time ye needs me, an i'se gwine ter stan' by ye. nuttin' kin shake me loose now!" she took a step toward him and he vainly tried to dodge. it was useless. she hurled her ample form straight on him and lifted her arms for a generous embrace: "lordy, man, dat make me lub yer er hundred times mo!" andy made up his mind in a sudden burst of courage to fight for his life. if she once got those arms about him he was gone. he grasped them roughly and stayed the onset: "yassam!" he answered warningly. "but i got ter 'fess up ter you now de whole truf. i bin er deceivin' you 'bout myself. i'se er bad nigger, miss minerva, an' i hain't worthy ter be you' husban'!" "g'long, chile, i done know dat all de time!" she laughed. andy walled his eyes at her uneasily, and she continued: "but i likes ter hear ye talk humble dat a way--hit's a good sign." he shook his head impatiently: "but ye don't know what i means!" "why, of cose, i does!" she replied genially. "i always knowed dat i wuz high above ye. i'se black, but i'se pure ez de drivellin' snow. i always knowed, honey, dat ye wern't my equal. but ye can't help dat. i'se er born 'ristocrat. my mudder was er african princess. my grandmudder wuz er queen--an' i'se er cook!" andy stamped his foot with angry impatience; "yassam--but ye git dat all wrong!" "cose, you' minerva understan's when ye comes along side er yo' true love dat ye feels humble----" "nobum! nobum!" he broke in emphatically--"ye got dat all wrong--all wrong!" he paused, drew a chair to the table and motioned her to a seat opposite. "des lemme tell ye now," he continued with determined kindness. "ye see i got ter 'fess de whole truf ter you. tain't right ter fool ye." minerva seated herself, complacently murmuring: "yassah, dat's so, brer andy." he leaned over the table and looked at her a moment solemnly: "i gotter 'fess ter you now, miss minerva, dat i'se always bin a bad nigger--what dey calls er pizen bad nigger--i'se er wife beater!" minerva's eyes walled in amazement: "no?" "yassam," he went on seriously. "when i wuz married afore i got de habit er beatin' my wife!" "beat her?" andy shook his head dolefully: "yassam. hit's des lak i tell ye. i hates ter 'fess hit ter you, m'am, but i formed de habit, same ez drinkin' licker--i beat her! i des couldn't keep my hands offen her. i beat her scandalous! i pay no tenshun to her hollerin!--huh!--de louder she holler, 'pears lak de harder i beat her!" "my, my, ain't dat terrible!" she gasped. "yassam----" "scandalous!" "dat it is----" "sinful!" "jes so!" he agreed sorrowfully. "but man!" she cried ecstatically, "dat's what i calls er husband!" "hey?" "dat's de man fer me!" he looked at her in dismay, snatched the decanter, poured himself a straight drink of whiskey, gulped it down, leaned over the table and returned to his task with renewed vigor: "but i kin see, m'am, dat yer don't know what i means! i didn't des switch 'er wid er cowhide er de buggy whip! i got in er regular habit er lammin' her wid anything i git hold of--wid er axe handle or wid er fire shovel----" "well, dat's all right," minerva interrupted admiringly. "she had de same chance ez you! i takes my chances. what i wants is er husban'--a husban' dat's got de sand in his gizzard! dat fust husban' er mine weren't no good 'tall--nebber hit me in his life but once--slap me in de face one day, lak dat!" she gave a contemptuous imitation of the trivial blow with the palms of her hands. "an' what'd you do, m'am?" andy asked with sudden suspicion. "nuttin' 'tall!" she said with a smile. "i des laf, haul off, kinder playful lak, an' knock 'im down wid de flatiron----" andy leaped to his feet and walked around the table toward the door: "wid de flatiron!" he repeated incredulously. "didn't hit 'im hard!" minerva laughed. "but he tumble on de flo' lak er ten-pin in er bowlin' alley. i stan' dar waitin' fer 'im ter git up an' come ergin, an' what ye reckon he done?" "i dunno, m'am," andy sighed, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. minerva laughed joyously at the memory of the scene: "he jump up an' run des lak er turkey! he run all de way down town, an' bless god ef he didn't buy me a new calico dress an' fotch hit home ter me. he warn't no man at all! i wuz dat sorry fer 'im an' dat ershamed er him i couldn't look 'im in de face ergin. i gits er divorce frum him----" she paused, rose, and looked at andy with tender admiration: "but, lordy, honey, you an' me's gwine ter have joyful times!" andy made a break for the door but she was too quick for him. with a swift swinging movement, astonishing in its rapidity for her size, she threw herself on him and her arms encircled his neck: "i'se yo' woman an' you'se my man!" she cried with a finality that left her victim without a ray of hope. he was muttering incoherent protests when helen's laughing voice came to his rescue: "oho!" she cried, with finger uplifted in a teasing gesture. minerva loosed her grip on andy overwhelmed with embarrassment, while he crouched behind her figure crying: "'twa'n't me, miss helen--'twa'n't me!" helen continued to laugh while andy grasped the tray and beat a hasty retreat. helen approached minerva teasingly: "why, aunt minerva!" the big, jovial black woman glanced at her: "g'way, chile--g'way frum here!" "aunt minerva, i wouldn't have thought such a thing of you!" helen said demurely. minerva broke into a jolly laugh and faced her tormentor: "yassum, honey, i spec hit wuz all my fault. love's such foolishness--yer knows how dat is yosef!" a look of rapture overspread helen's face: "such a sweet, wonderful foolishness, aunt minerva!"--she paused and her voice was trembling when she added--"it makes us all akin, doesn't it?" "yassam, an' i sho' is glad ter see you so happy!" "oh, i'm too happy, aunt minerva, it frightens me"--she stopped, glanced at the door, drew nearer and continued in low tones: "i've just left tom out there on the lawn, to ask you to do something for me." "yassam." "i want you to tell the major our secret to-night. he'll be proud and happy in his victory and i want him to know at once." the black woman shook her head dubiously: "tell him yosef, honey!" "but i'm afraid. the major frightens me. when i look into his deep eyes i feel that he has the power to crush the soul out of my body and that he will do it if i make him very angry." "dat's 'cause yer deceives him, child." "please tell him for us, aunt minerva! oh, you've been so good to me! for the past weeks i've been in heaven. it seems only a day instead of a month since he told me his love and then it seems i've lived through all eternity since i first felt his arms about me. sitting out there in the moonlight by his side i forget that i'm on earth, forget that there's a pain or a secret in it. i'm just in heaven. i have to pinch myself to see if it's real"--she smiled and pinched her arm--"i'm afraid i'll wake up and find it only a dream!" "well, yer better wake up just er minute an' tell de major--mister tom got ter have it out wid him." "yes, i know, and that's what scares me. won't you tell him for us right away? get him in a good humor, make him laugh, say a good word for us and then tell him. tell him how useless it will be to oppose us. he can't hold out long against tom, he loves him so." "mr. tom want me ter tell de major ter-night? he ax yer ter see me?" "no. he doesn't know what i came for. i just decided all of a sudden to come. i want to surprise him. he is going to tell his father himself to-night. but somehow i'm afraid, aunt minerva. i want you to help us. you will, won't you?" the black woman shook her head emphatically: "nasah, i ain't gwine ter git mixed up in dis thing!" "aunt minerva!" "nasah--i'se skeered!" "ah, please?" "nasah!" "please----" "na, na, na!" "aunt minerva----" "na------" the girl's pleading eyes were resistless and the black lips smiled: "cose i will, chile! cose i will--i'll see 'im right away. i'll tell him de minute i lays my eyes on 'im." she turned to go and ran squarely into norton as he strode into the room. she stopped and stammered: "why--why--wuz yer lookin' fer me, major?" norton gazed at her a moment and couldn't call his mind from its painful train of thought. he spoke finally with sharp accent: "no. i want to see cleo." helen slipped behind minerva: "stay and tell him now. i'll go." "no, better wait," was her low reply, as she watched norton furtively. "i don't like de way his eyes er spittin' fire." norton turned to minerva sharply: "find cleo and tell her i wish to see her immediately!" "yassah--yassah!" minerva answered, nervously, whispering to helen: "come on, honey--git outen here--come on!" helen followed mechanically, glancing timidly back over her shoulder at norton's drawn face. chapter xxi the second blow norton could scarcely control his eagerness to face the woman he loathed. every nerve of his body tingled with the agony of his desire to be free. he was ready for the end, no matter what she might do. the time had come in the strong man's life when compromise, conciliation, and delay were alike impossible. he cursed himself and his folly to-night that he had delayed so long. he had tried to be fair to the woman he hated. his sense of justice, personal honor, and loyalty to his pledged word, had given her the opportunity to strike him the blow she had delivered through the girl. he had been more than fair and he would settle it now for all time. that she was afraid to meet him was only too evident from her leaving the house on his return. he smiled grimly when he recalled the effrontery with which she had defied him at their last meeting. her voice, sharp and angry, rang out to andy at the back door. norton's strong jaw closed with a snap, and he felt his whole being quiver at the rasping sound of her familiar tones. she had evidently recovered her composure and was ready with her usual insolence. she walked quickly into the room, and threw her head up with defiance: "well?" "why have you avoided me to-night?" "have i?" "i think so." cleo laughed sneeringly: "you'll think again before i'm done with you!" she shook her head with the old bravado, but the keen eyes of the man watching saw that she was not sure of her ground. he folded his arms and quietly began: "for twenty years i have breathed the air poisoned by your presence. i have seen your insolence grow until you have announced yourself the mistress of my house. you knew that i was afraid of your tongue, and thought that a coward would submit in the end. well, it's over. i've held my hand for the past four weeks until my duty to the people was done. i've been a coward when i saw the tangled web of lies and shame in which i floundered. but the past is past. i face life to-night as it is"--his voice dropped--"and i'm going to take what comes. your rule in my house is at an end----" "indeed!" "helen leaves here to-morrow morning and _you_ go." "really?" "i've made a decent provision for your future--which is more than you deserve. pack your things!" the woman threw him a look of hate and her lips curved with scorn: "so--you have kindly allowed me to stay until your campaign was ended. well, i've understood you. i knew that you were getting ready for me. i'm ready for you." "and you think that i will allow you to remain in my house after what has passed between us?" "yes, you will," she answered smiling. "i'm not going to leave. you'll have to throw me into the street. and if you do, god may pity you, i'll not. there's one thing you fear more than a public scandal!" norton advanced and glared at her: "what?" "the hatred of the boy you idolize. i dare you to lay your hands on me to put me out of this house! and if you do, tom will hear from my lips the story of the affair that ended in the death of his mother. i'll tell him the truth, the whole truth, and then a great deal more than the truth----" "no doubt!" he interrupted. "but there'll be enough truth in all i say to convince him beyond a doubt. i promise you now"--she dropped her voice to a whisper--"to lie to him with a skill so sure, so cunning, so perfect, no denial you can ever make will shake his faith in my words. he loves me and i'll make him believe me. when i finish my story he ought to kill you. there's one thing you can depend on with his high-strung and sensitive nature and the training you have given him in racial purity--when he hears my story, he'll curse you to your face and turn from you as if you were a leper. i'll see that he does this if it's the last and only thing i do on this earth!" "and if you do----" "oh, i'm not afraid!" she sneered, holding his eye with the calm assurance of power. "i've thought it all over and i know exactly what to say." he leaned close: "now listen! i don't want to hurt you but you're going out of my life. every day while i've sheltered you in this house you have schemed and planned to drag me down again to your level. you have failed. i am not going to risk that girl's presence here another day--and _you_ go!" as he spoke the last words he turned from her with a gesture of final dismissal. she tossed her head in a light laugh and calmly said: "you're too late!" he stopped in his tracks, his heart chilled by the queer note of triumph in her voice. without turning or moving a muscle he asked: "what do you mean?" "tom is already in love with helen!" he wheeled and hurled himself at her: "what?" "and she is desperately in love with him"--she stopped and deliberately laughed again in his face--"and i have known it for weeks!" another step brought his trembling figure towering over her: "i don't believe you!" he hissed. cleo walked leisurely to the door and smiled: "ask the servants if you doubt my word." she finished with a sneer. "i begged you not to fight, major!" he stood rooted to the spot and watched her slowly walk backward into the hall. it was a lie, of course. and yet the calm certainty with which she spoke chilled his soul as he recalled his own suspicions. he must know now without a moment's delay and he must know the whole truth without reservation. before he approached either tom or helen there was one on whom he had always relied to tell the truth. her honest black face had been the one comfort of his life through the years of shadow and deceit. if minerva knew she would tell him. he rushed to the door that led to the kitchen and called: "minerva!" the answer came feebly: "yassah." "come here!" he had controlled his emotions sufficiently to speak his last command with some degree of dignity. he walked back to the table and waited for her coming. his brain was in a whirl of conflicting, stunning emotion. he simply couldn't face at once the appalling possibilities such a statement involved. his mind refused to accept it. as yet it was a lie of cleo's fertile invention, and still his reason told him that such a lie could serve no sane purpose in such a crisis. he felt that he was choking. his hand involuntarily went to his neck and fumbled at his collar. minerva's heavy footstep was heard and he turned sharply: "minerva!" "yassah"--she answered, glancing at him timidly. never had she seen his face so ghastly or the look in his eye so desperate. she saw that he was making an effort at self-control and knew instinctively that the happiness of the lovers was at stake. it was too solemn a moment for anything save the naked truth and her heart sank in pity and sympathy for the girl she had promised to help. "minerva," he began evenly, "you are the only servant in this house who has never lied to me"--he took a step closer. "are tom and miss helen lovers?" minerva fumbled her apron, glanced at his drawn face, looked down on the floor and stammered: "de lordy, major----" "yes or no!" he thundered. the black woman moistened her lips, hesitated, turned her honest face on his and said tremblingly: "yassah, dey is!" his eyes burned into hers: "and you, too, have known this for weeks?" "yassah. mister tom ax me not ter tell ye----" norton staggered to a seat and sank with a groan of despair, repeating over and over again in low gasps the exclamation that was a sob and a prayer: "great god!--great god!" minerva drew near with tender sympathy. her voice was full of simple, earnest pleading: "de lordy, major, what's de use? young folks is young folks, an' love's love. what ye want ter break 'em up fer--dey's so happy! yer know, sah, ye can't mend er butterfly's wing er put er egg back in de shell. miss helen's young, beautiful, sweet and good--won't ye let me plead fer 'em, sah?" with a groan of anguish norton sprang to his feet: "silence--silence!" "yassah!" "go--find miss helen--send her to me quickly. i don't want to see mr. tom. i want to see her alone first." minerva had backed out of his way and answered plaintively: "yassah." she paused and extended her hand pleadingly: "you'll be easy wid 'em, sah?" he hadn't heard. the tall figure slowly sank into the chair and his shoulders drooped in mortal weariness. minerva shook her head sadly and turned to do his bidding. norton's eyes were set in agony, his face white, his breast scarcely moving to breathe, as he waited helen's coming. the nerves suddenly snapped--he bowed his face in his hands and sobbed aloud: "oh, dear god, give me strength! i can't--i can't confess to my boy!" chapter xxii the test of love norton made a desperate effort to pull himself together for his appeal to helen. on its outcome hung the possibility of saving himself from the terror that haunted him. if he could tell the girl the truth and make her see that a marriage with tom was utterly out of the question because her blood was stained with that of a negro, it might be possible to save himself the humiliation of the full confession of their relationship and of his bitter shame. he had made a fearful mistake in not telling her this at their first interview, and a still more frightful mistake in rearing her in ignorance of the truth. no life built on a lie could endure. he was still trying desperately to hold his own on its shifting sands, but in his soul of souls he had begun to despair of the end. he was clutching at straws. in moments of sanity he realized it, but there was nothing else to do. the act was instinctive. the girl's sensitive mind was the key to a possible solution. he had felt instinctively on the day he told her the first fact about the disgrace of her birth, vague and shadowy as he had left it, that she could never adjust herself to the certainty that negro blood flowed in her veins. he had observed that her aversion to negroes was peculiarly acute. if her love for the boy were genuine, if it belonged to the big things of the soul, and were not the mere animal impulse she had inherited from her mother, he would have a ground of most powerful appeal. love seeks not its own. if she really loved she would sink her own life to save his. it was a big divine thing to demand of her and his heart sank at the thought of her possible inheritance from cleo. yet he knew by an instinct deeper and truer than reason, that the ruling power in this sensitive, lonely creature was in the spirit, not the flesh. he recalled in vivid flashes the moments he had felt this so keenly in their first pitiful meeting. if he could win her consent to an immediate flight and the sacrifice of her own desires to save the boy! it was only a hope--it was a desperate one--but he clung to it with painful eagerness. why didn't she come? the minutes seemed hours and there were minutes in which he lived a life. he rose nervously and walked toward the mantel, lifted his eyes and they rested on the portrait of his wife. "'my brooding spirit will watch and guard!'" he repeated the promise of her last scrawled message. he leaned heavily against the mantel, his eyes burning with an unusual brightness. "oh, jean, darling," he groaned, "if you see and hear and know, let me feel your presence! your dear eyes are softer and kinder than the world's to-night. help me, i'm alone, heartsick and broken!" he choked down a sob, walked back to the chair and sank in silence. his eyes were staring into space, his imagination on fire, passing in stern review the events of his life. how futile, childish and absurd it all seemed! what a vain and foolish thing its hope and struggles, its dreams and ambitions! what a failure for all its surface brilliance! he was standing again at the window behind the dais of the president of the senate, watching the little drooping figure of the governor staggering away into oblivion, and his heart went out to him in a great tenderness and pity. he longed to roll back the years that he might follow the impulse he had felt to hurry down the steps of the capitol, draw the broken man into a sheltered spot, slip his arms about him and say: "who am i to judge? you're my brother--i'm sorry! come, we'll try it again and help one another!" the dream ended in a sudden start. he had heard the rustle of a dress at the door and knew without lifting his head that she was in the room. only the slightest sound had come from her dry throat, a little muffled attempt to clear it of the tightening bands. it was scarcely audible, yet his keen ear had caught it instantly, not only caught the excitement under which she was struggling, but in it the painful consciousness of his hostility and her pathetic desire to be friends. he rose trembling and turned his dark eyes on her white uplifted face. a feeling of terror suddenly weakened her knees. he was evidently not angry as she had feared. there was something bigger and more terrible than anger behind the mask he was struggling to draw over his mobile features. "what has happened, major?" she asked in a subdued voice. [illustration: "only the slightest sound came from her dry throat."] "that is what i must know of you, child," he replied, watching her intently. she pressed closer with sudden desperate courage, her voice full of wistful friendliness: "oh, major, what have i done to offend you? i've tried so hard to win your love and respect. all my life i've been alone in a world of strangers, friendless and homesick----" he lifted his hand with a firm gesture: "come, child, to the point! i must know the truth now. tom has made love to you?" she blushed: "i--i--wish to see tom before i answer----" norton dropped his uplifted arm with a groan: "thank you," he murmured in tones scarcely audible. "i have your answer!"--he paused and looked at her curiously--"and you love him?" the girl hesitated for just an instant, her blue eyes flashed and she drew her strong, young figure erect: "yes! and i'm proud of it. his love has lifted me into the sunlight and made the world glorious--made me love everything in it--every tree and every flower and every living thing that moves and feels-----" she stopped abruptly and lifted her flushed face to his: "i've learned to love you, in spite of your harshness to me--i love you because you are his father!" he turned from her and then wheeled suddenly, his face drawn with pain: "now, i must be frank, i must be brutal. i must know the truth without reservation--how far has this thing gone?" "i--i--don't understand you!" "marriage is impossible! i told you that and you must have realized it." her head drooped: "you said so----" "impossible--utterly impossible! and you know it"--he drew a deep breath. "what--what are your real relations?" "my--real--relations?" she gasped. "answer me now, before god! i'll hold your secret sacred--your life and his may depend on it"--his voice dropped to a tense whisper. "your love is pure and unsullied?" the girl's eyes flashed with rage: "as pure and unsullied as his dead mother's for you!" "thank god!" he breathed. "i believe you--but i had to know, child! i had to know--there are big, terrible reasons why i had to know." a tear slowly stole down helen's flushed cheeks as she quietly asked: "why--why should you insult and shame me by asking that question?" "my knowledge of your birth." the girl smiled sadly: "yet you might have guessed that i had learned to cherish honor and purity before i knew i might not claim them as my birthright!" "forgive me, child," he said contritely, "if in my eagerness, my fear, my anguish, i hurt you. but i had to ask that question! i had to know. your answer gives me courage"--he paused and his voice quivered with deep intensity--"you really love tom?" "with a love beyond words!" "the big, wonderful love that comes to the human soul but once?" "yes!" his eyes were piercing to the depths now: "with the deep, unselfish yearning that asks nothing for itself and seeks only the highest good of its beloved?" "yes--yes," she answered mechanically and, pausing, looked again into his burning eyes; "but you frighten me--" she grasped a chair for support, recovered herself and went on rapidly--"you mustn't ask me to give him up--i won't give him up! poor and friendless, with a shadow over my life and everything against me, i have won him and he's mine! i have the right to his love--i didn't ask to be born. i must live my own life. i have as much right to happiness as you. why must i bear the sins of my father and mother? have i broken the law? haven't i a heart that can ache and break and cry for joy?" he allowed the first paroxysm of her emotion to spend itself before he replied, and then in quiet tones said: "you must give him up!" "i won't! i won't, i tell you!" she said through her set teeth as she suddenly swung her strong, young form before him. "i won't give him up! his love has made life worth living and i'm going to live it! i don't care what you say--he's mine--and you shall not take him from me!" norton was stunned by the fiery intensity with which her answer had been given. there was no mistaking the strength of her character. every vibrant note of her voice had rung with sincerity, purity, the justice of her cause, and the consciousness of power. he was dealing with no trembling schoolgirl's mind, filled with sentimental dreams. a woman, in the tragic strength of a great nature, stood before him. he felt this greatness instinctively and met it with reverence. it could only be met thus, and as he realized its strength, his heart took fresh courage. his own voice became tender, eager, persuasive: "but suppose, my dear, i show you that you will destroy the happiness and wreck the life of the man you love?" "impossible! he knows that i'm nameless and his love is all the deeper, truer and more manly because he realizes that i am defenseless." "but suppose i convince you?" "you can't!" "suppose," he said in a queer tone, "i tell you that the barrier between you is so real, so loathsome----" "loathsome?" she repeated with a start. "so loathsome," he went on evenly, "that when he knows the truth, whether he wishes it or not, he will instinctively turn from you with a shudder." "i won't believe it!" "suppose i prove to you that marriage would wreck both your life and his"--he gazed at her with trembling intensity--"would you give him up to save him?" she held his eye steadily: "yes--i'd die to save him!" a pitiful stillness followed. the man scarcely moved. his lips quivered and his eyes grew dim. he looked at her pathetically and motioned her to a seat. "and if i convince you," he went on tenderly, "you will submit yourself to my advice and leave america?" the blue eyes never flinched as she firmly replied: "yes. but i warn you that no such barrier can exist." "then i must prove to you that it does." he drew a deep breath and watched her. "you realize the fact that a man who marries a nameless girl bars himself from all careers of honor?" "the honor of fools, yes--of the noble and wise, no!" "you refuse to see that the shame which shadows a mother's life will smirch her children, and like a deadly gangrene at last eat the heart out of her husband's love?" "my faith in him is too big----" "you can conceive of no such barrier?" "no!" "in the first rush of love," he replied kindly, "you feel this. emotion obscures reason. but there are such barriers between men and women." "name one!" his brow clouded, his lips moved to speak and stopped. it was more difficult to frame in speech than he had thought. his jaw closed with firm decision at last and he began calmly: "i take an extreme case. suppose, for example, your father, a proud southern white man, of culture, refinement and high breeding, forgot for a moment that he was white and heard the call of the beast, and your mother were an octoroon--what then?" the girl flushed with anger: "such a barrier, yes! nothing could be more loathsome. but why ask me so disgusting a question? no such barrier could possibly exist between us!" norton's eyes were again burning into her soul as he asked in a low voice: "suppose it does?" the girl smiled with a puzzled look: "suppose it does? of course, you're only trying to prove that such an impossible barrier might exist! and for the sake of argument i agree that it would be real"--she paused and her breath came in a quick gasp. she sprang to her feet clutching at her throat, trembling from head to foot--"what do you mean by looking at me like that?" norton lowered his head and barely breathed the words: "that _is_ the barrier between you!" helen looked at him dazed. the meaning was too big and stupefying to be grasped at once. "why, of course, major," she faltered, "you just say that to crush me in the argument. but i've given up the point. i've granted that such a barrier may exist and would be real. but you haven't told me the one between us." the man steeled his heart, turned his face away and spoke in gentle tones: "i am telling you the pitiful, tragic truth--your mother is a negress----" with a smothered cry of horror the girl threw herself on him and covered his mouth with her hand, half gasping, half screaming her desperate appeal: "stop! don't--don't say it!--take it back! tell me that it's not true--tell me that you only said it to convince me and i'll believe you. if the hideous thing is true--for the love of god deny it now! if it's true--lie to me"--her voice broke and she clung to norton's arms with cruel grip--"lie to me! tell me that you didn't mean it, and i'll believe you--truth or lie, i'll never question it! i'll never cross your purpose again--i'll do anything you tell me, major"--she lifted her streaming eyes and began slowly to sink to her knees--"see how humble--how obedient i am! you don't hate me, do you? i'm just a poor, lonely girl, helpless and friendless now at your feet"--her head sank into her hands until the beautiful brown hair touched the floor--"have mercy! have mercy on me!" norton bent low and fumbled for the trembling hand. he couldn't see and for a moment words were impossible. he found her hand and pressed it gently: "i'm sorry, little girl! i'd lie to you if i could--but you know a lie don't last long in this world. i've lied about you before--i'd lie now to save you this anguish, but it's no use--we all have to face things in the end!" with a mad cry of pain, the girl sprang to her feet and staggered to the table: "oh, god, how could any man with a soul--any living creature, even a beast of the field--bring me into the world--teach me to think and feel, to laugh and cry, and thrust me into such a hell alone! my proud father--i could kill him!" norton extended his hands to her in a gesture of instinctive sympathy: "come, you'll see things in a calm light to-morrow, you are young and life is all before you!" "yes!" she cried fiercely, "a life of shame--a life of insult, of taunts, of humiliation, of horror! the one thing i've always loathed was the touch of a negro----" she stopped suddenly and lifted her hand, staring with wildly dilated eyes at the nails of her finely shaped fingers to find if the telltale marks of negro blood were there which she had seen on cleo's. finding none, the horror in her eyes slowly softened into a look of despairing tenderness as she went on: "the one passionate yearning of my soul has been to be a mother--to feel the breath of a babe on my heart, to hear it lisp my name and know a mother's love--the love i've starved for--and now, it can never be!" she had moved beyond the table in her last desperate cry and norton followed with a look of tenderness: "nonsense," he cried persuasively, "you're but a child yourself. you can go abroad where no such problem of white and black race exists. you can marry there and be happy in your home and little ones, if god shall give them!" she turned on him savagely: "well, god shall not give them! i'll see to that! i'm young, but i'm not a fool. i know something of the laws of life. i know that tom is not like you"--she turned and pointed to the portrait on the wall--"he is like his great-grandfather! mine may have been----" her voice choked with passion. she grasped a chair with one hand and tore at the collar of her dress with the other. she had started to say "mine may have been a black cannibal!" and the sheer horror of its possibility had strangled her. when she had sufficiently mastered her feelings to speak she said in a strange muffled tone: "i ask nothing of god now--if i could see him, i'd curse him to his face!" "come, come!" norton exclaimed, "this is but a passing ugly fancy--such things rarely happen----" "but they do happen!" she retorted slowly. "i've known one such tragedy, of a white mother's child coming into the world with the thick lips, kinky hair, flat nose and black skin of a cannibal ancestor! she killed herself when she was strong enough to leap out the window"--her voice dropped to a dreamy chant--"yes, blood will tell--there's but one thing for me to do! i wonder, with the yellow in me, if i'll have the courage." norton spoke with persuasive tenderness: "you mustn't think of such madness! i'll send you abroad at once and you can begin life over again----" helen suddenly snatched the chair to which she had been holding out of her way and faced norton with flaming eyes: "i don't want to be an exile! i've been alone all my miserable orphan life! i don't want to go abroad and die among strangers! i've just begun to live since i came here! i love the south--it's mine--i feel it--i know it! i love its blue skies and its fields--i love its people--they are mine! i think as you think, feel as you feel----" she paused and looked at him queerly: "i've learned to honor, respect and love you because i've grown to feel that you stand for what i hold highest, noblest and best in life"--the voice died in a sob and she was silent. the man turned away, crying in his soul: "o god, i'm paying the price now!" "what can i do!" she went on at last. "what is life worth since i know this leper's shame? there are millions like me, yes. if i could bend my back and be a slave there are men and women who need my services. and there are men i might know--yes--but i can't--i can't! i'm not a slave. i'm not bad. i can't stoop. there's but one thing!" norton's face was white with emotion: "i can't tell you, little girl, how sorry i am"--his voice broke. he turned, suddenly extended his hand and cried hoarsely: "tell me what i can do to help you--i'll do anything on this earth that's within reason!" the girl looked up surprised at his anguish, wondering vaguely if he could mean what he had said, and then threw herself at him in a burst of sudden, fierce rebellion, her voice, low and quivering at first, rising to the tragic power of a defiant soul in combat with overwhelming odds: "then give me back the man i love--he's mine! he's mine, i tell you, body and soul! god--gave--him--to--me! he's your son, but i love him! he's my mate! he's of age--he's no longer yours! his time has come to build his own home--he's mine--not yours! he's my life--and you're tearing the very heart out of my body!" the white, trembling figure slowly crumpled at his feet. he took both of her hands, and lifted her gently: "pull yourself together, child. it's hard, i know, but you begin to realize that you must bear it. you must look things calmly in the face now." the girl's mouth hardened and she answered with bitterness: "yes, of course--i'm nobody! we must consider you"--she staggered to a chair and dropped limply into it, her voice a whisper--"we must consider tom--yes--yes--we must, too--i know that----" norton pressed eagerly to her side and leaned over the drooping figure: "you can begin to see now that i was right," he pleaded. "you love tom--he's worth saving--you'll do as i ask and give him up?" the sensitive young face was convulsed with an agony words could not express and the silence was pitiful. the man bending over her could hear the throb of his own heart. a quartet of serenaders celebrating the victory of the election stopped at the gate and the soft strains of the music came through the open window. norton felt that he must scream in a moment if she did not answer. he bent low and softly repeated: "you'll do as i ask now, and give him up?" the tangled mass of brown hair sank lower and her answer was a sigh of despair: "yes!" the man couldn't speak at once. his eyes filled. when he had mastered his voice he said eagerly: "there's but one way, you know. you must leave at once without seeing him." she lifted her face with a pleading look: "just a moment--without letting him know what has passed between us--just one last look into his dear face?" he shook his head kindly: "it isn't wise----" "yes, i know," she sighed. "i'll go at once." he drew his watch and looked at it hurriedly: "the first train leaves in thirty minutes. get your hat, a coat and travelling bag and go just as you are. i'll send your things----" "yes--yes"--she murmured. "i'll join you in a few days in new york and arrange your future. leave the house immediately. tom mustn't see you. avoid him as you cross the lawn. i'll have a carriage at the gate in a few minutes." the little head sank again: "i understand." he looked uncertainly at the white drooping figure. the serenaders were repeating the chorus of the old song in low, sweet strains that floated over the lawn and stole through the house in weird ghost-like echoes. he returned to her chair and bent over her: "you won't stop to change your dress, you'll get your hat and coat and go just as you are--at once?" the brown head nodded slowly and he gazed at her tenderly: "you've been a brave little girl to-night"--he lifted his hand to place it on her shoulder in the first expression of love he had ever given. the hand paused, held by the struggle of the feelings of centuries of racial pride and the memories of his own bitter tragedy. but the pathos of her suffering and the heroism of her beautiful spirit won. the hand was gently lowered and pressed the soft, round shoulder. a sob broke from the lonely heart, and her head drooped until it lay prostrate on the table, the beautiful arms outstretched in helpless surrender. norton staggered blindly to the door, looked back, lifted his hand and in a quivering voice, said: "i can never forget this!" his long stride quickly measured the distance to the gate, and a loud cheer from the serenaders roused the girl from her stupor of pain. in a moment they began singing again, a love song, that tore her heart with cruel power. "oh, god, will they never stop?" she cried, closing her ears with her hands in sheer desperation. she rose, crossed slowly to the window and looked out on the beautiful moonlit lawn at the old rustic seat where her lover was waiting. she pressed her hand on her throbbing forehead, walked to the center of the room, looked about her in a helpless way and her eye rested on the miniature portrait of tom. she picked it up and gazed at it tenderly, pressed it to her heart, and with a low sob felt her way through the door and up the stairs to her room. chapter xxiii the parting tom had grown impatient, waiting in their sheltered seat on the lawn for helen to return. she had gone on a mysterious mission to see minerva, laughingly refused to tell him its purpose, but promised to return in a few minutes. when half an hour had passed without a sign he reconnoitered to find minerva, and to his surprise she, too, had disappeared. he returned to his trysting place and listened while the serenaders sang their first song. unable to endure the delay longer he started to the house just as his father hastily left by the front door, and quickly passing the men at the gate, hurried down town. the coast was clear and he moved cautiously to fathom, if possible, the mystery of helen's disappearance. finding no trace of her in minerva's room, he entered the house and, seeing nothing of her in the halls, thrust his head in the library and found it empty. he walked in, peeping around with a boyish smile expecting her to leap out and surprise him. he opened the french window and looked for her on the porch. he hurried back into the room with a look of surprised disappointment and started to the door opening on the hall of the stairway. he heard distinctly the rustle of a dress and the echo on the stairs of the footstep he knew so well. he gave a boyish laugh, tiptoed quickly to the old-fashioned settee, dropped behind its high back and waited her coming. helen had hastily packed a travelling bag and thrown a coat over her arm. she slowly entered the library to replace the portrait she had taken, kissed it and started with feet of lead and set, staring eyes to slip through the lawn and avoid tom as she had promised. as she approached the corner of the settee the boy leaped up with a laugh: "where have you been?" with a quick movement of surprise she threw the bag and coat behind her back. luckily he had leaped so close he could not see. "where've you been?" he repeated. "why, i've just come from my room," she replied with an attempt at composure. "what have you got your hat for?" she flushed the slightest bit: "why, i was going for a walk." "with a veil--at night--what have you got that veil for?" the boyish banter in his tones began to yield to a touch of wonder. helen hesitated: "why, the crowds of singing and shouting men on the streets. i didn't wish to be recognized, and i wanted to hear what the speakers said." "you were going to leave me and go alone to the speaker's stand?" "yes. your father is going to see you and i was nervous and frightened and wanted to pass the time until you were free again"--she paused, looked at him intently and spoke in a queer monotone--"the negroes who can't read and write have been disfranchised, haven't they?" "yes," he answered mechanically, "the ballot should never have been given them." "yet there's something pitiful about it after all, isn't there, tom?" she asked the question with a strained wistfulness that startled the boy. he answered automatically, but his keen, young eyes were studying with growing anxiety every movement of her face and form and every tone of her voice: "i don't see it," he said carelessly. she laid her left hand on his arm, the right hand still holding her bag and coat out of sight. "suppose," she whispered, "that you should wake up to-morrow morning and suddenly discover that a strain of negro blood poisoned your veins--what would you do?" tom frowned and watched her with a puzzled look: "never thought of such a thing!" she pressed his arm eagerly: "think--what would you do?" "what would i do?" he repeated in blank amazement. "yes." his eyes were holding hers now with a steady stare of alarm. the questions she asked didn't interest him. her glittering eyes and trembling hand did. studying her intently he said lightly: "to be perfectly honest, i'd blow my brains out." with a cry she staggered back and threw her hand instinctively up as if to ward a blow: "yes--yes, you would--wouldn't you?" he was staring at her now with blanched face and she was vainly trying to hide her bag and coat. he seized her arms: "why are you so excited? why do you tremble so?"--he drew the arm around that she was holding back--"what is it? what's the matter?" his eye rested on the bag, he turned deadly pale and she dropped it with a sigh. "what--what--does this mean?" he gasped. "you are trying to leave me without a word?" she staggered and fell limp into a seat: "oh, tom, the end has come, and i must go!" "go!" he cried indignantly, "then i go, too!" "but you can't, dear!" "and why not?" "your father has just told me the whole hideous secret of my birth--and it's hopeless!" "what sort of man do you think i am? what sort of love do you think i've given you? separate us after the solemn vows we've given to each other! neither man nor the devil can come between us now!" she looked at him wistfully: "it's sweet to hear such words--though i know you can't make them good." "i'll make them good," he broke in, "with every drop of blood in my veins--and no coward has ever borne my father's name--it's good blood!" "that's just it--and blood will tell. it's the law of life and i've given up." "well, i haven't given up," he protested, "remember that! try me with your secret--i laugh before i hear it!" with a gleam of hope in her deep blue eyes she rose trembling: "you really mean that? if i go an outcast you would go with me?" "yes--yes." "and if a curse is branded on my forehead you'll take its shame as yours?" "yes." she laid her hand on his arm, looked long and yearningly into his eyes, and said: "your father has just told me that i am a negress--my mother is an octoroon!" the boy flinched involuntarily, stared in silence an instant, and his form suddenly stiffened: "i don't believe a word of it! my father has been deceived. it's preposterous!" helen drew closer as if for shelter and clung to his hand wistfully: "it does seem a horrible joke, doesn't it? i can't realize it. but it's true. the major gave me his solemn word in tears of sympathy. he knew both my father and mother. i am a negress!" the boy's arm unconsciously shrank the slightest bit from her touch while he stared at her with wildly dilated eyes and spoke in a hoarse whisper: "it's impossible! it's impossible--i tell you!" he attempted to lift his hand to place it on his throbbing forehead. helen clung to him in frantic grief and terror: "please, please--don't shrink from me! have pity on me! if you feel that way, for god's sake don't let me see it--don't let me know it--i--i--can't endure it! i can't----" the tense figure collapsed in his arms and the brown head sank on his breast with a sob of despair. the boy pressed her to his heart and held her close. he felt her body shiver as he pushed the tangled ringlets back from her high, fair forehead and felt the cold beads of perspiration. the serenaders at the gate were singing again--a negro folk-song. the absurd childish words which he knew so well rang through the house, a chanting mockery. "there, there," he whispered tenderly, "i didn't shrink from you, dear. i couldn't shrink from you--you only imagined it. i was just stunned for a moment. the blow blinded me. but it's all right now, i see things clearly. i love you--that's all--and love is from god, or it's not love, it's a sham----" a low sob and she clung to him with desperate tenderness. he bent his head close until the blonde hair mingled with the rich brown: "hush, my own! if a single nerve of my body shrank from your little hand, find it and i'll tear it out!" she withdrew herself slowly from his embrace, and brushed the tears from her eyes with a little movement of quiet resignation: "it's all right. i'm calm again and it's all over. i won't mind now if you shrink a little. i'm really glad that you did. it needed just that to convince me that your father was right. our love would end in the ruin of your life. i see it clearly now. it would become to you at last a conscious degradation. _that_ i couldn't endure." "i have your solemn vow," he interrupted impatiently, "you're mine! i'll not give you up!" she looked at him sadly: "but i'm going, dear, in a few minutes. you can't hold me--now that i know it's for the best." "you can't mean this?" she clung to his hand and pressed it with cruel force: "don't think it isn't hard. all my life i've been a wistful beggar, eager and hungry for love. in your arms i had forgotten the long days of misery. i've been happy--perfectly, divinely happy! it will be hard, the darkness and the loneliness again. but i can't drag you down, my sweetheart, my hero! your life must be big and brilliant. i've dreamed it thus. you shall be a man among men, the world's great men--and so i am going out of your life!" "you shall not!" the boy cried fiercely. "i tell you i don't believe this hideous thing--it's a lie, i tell you--it's a lie, and i don't care who says it! nothing shall separate us now. i'll go with you to the ends of the earth and if you sink into hell, i'll follow you there, lift you in my arms and fight my way back through its flames!" she smiled at him tenderly: "it's beautiful to hear you say that, dearest, but our dream has ended!" she stooped, took up the bag and coat, paused and looked into his face with the hunger and longing of a life burning in her eyes: "but i shall keep the memory of every sweet and foolish word you have spoken, every tone of your voice, every line of your face, every smile and trick of your lips and eyes! i know them all. the old darkness will not be the same. i have loved and i have lived. a divine fire has been kindled in my soul. i can go into no world so far i shall not feel the warmth of your love, your kisses on my lips, your strong arms pressing me to your heart--the one true, manly heart that has loved me. i shall see your face forever though i see it through a mist of tears--good-by!" the last word was the merest whisper. the boy sprang toward her: "i won't say it--i won't--i won't!" "but you must!" he opened his arms and called in tones of compelling anguish: "helen!" the girl's lips trembled, her eyes grew dim, her fingers were locked in a cruel grip trying to hold the bag which slipped to the floor. and then with a cry she threw herself madly into his arms: "oh, i can't give you up, dearest! i can't--i've tried--but i can't!" he held her clasped without a word, stroking her hair, kissing it tenderly and murmuring little inarticulate cries of love. norton suddenly appeared in the door, his face blanched with horror. with a rush of his tall figure he was by their side and hurled them apart: "my god! do you know what you're doing?" he turned on tom, his face white with pain: "i forbid you to ever see or speak to this girl again!" tom sprang back and confronted his father: "forbid!" helen lifted her head: "he's right, tom." "yes," the father said with bated breath, "in the name of the law--by all that's pure and holy, by the memory of the mother who bore you and the angels who guard the sanctity of every home, i forbid you!" the boy squared himself and drew his figure to its full height: "you're my father! but i want you to remember that i'm of age. i'm twenty-two years old and i'm a man! forbid? how dare you use such words to me in the presence of the woman i love?" norton's voice dropped to pitiful tenderness: "you--you--don't understand, my boy. helen knows that--i'm right. we have talked it over. she has agreed to go at once. the carriage will be at the door in a moment. she can never see you again"--he paused and lifted his hand solemnly above tom's head--"and in the name of almighty god i warn you not to attempt to follow her----" he turned quickly, picked up the fallen bag and coat and added: "i'll explain all to you at last if i must." "well, i won't hear it!" tom cried in rage. "i'm a free agent! i won't take such orders from you or any other man!" the sound of the carriage wheels were heard on the graveled drive at the door. norton turned to helen and took her arm: "come, helen, the carriage is waiting." with a sudden leap tom was by his side, tore the bag and coat from his hand, hurled them to the floor and turned on his father with blazing eyes: "now, look here, dad, this thing's going too far! you can't bulldoze me. there's one right no american man ever yields without the loss of his self-respect--the right to choose the woman he loves. when helen leaves this house, i go with her! i'm running this thing now--your carriage needn't wait." with sudden decision he rushed to the porch and and called: "driver!" "yassah." "go back to your stable--you're not wanted." "yassah." "i'll send for you if i want you--wait a minute till i tell you." norton's head drooped and he blindly grasped a chair. helen watched him with growing pity, drew near and said softly: "i'm sorry, major, to have brought you this pain----" "you promised to go without seeing him!" he exclaimed bitterly. "i tried. i only gave up for a moment. i fought bravely. remember now in all you say to tom that i am going--that i know i must go----" "yes, i understand, child," he replied brokenly, "and my heart goes out to you. mine is heavy to-night with a burden greater than i can bear. you're a brave little girl. the fault isn't yours--it's mine. i've got to face it now"--he paused and looked at her tenderly. "you say that you've been lonely--well, remember that in all your orphan life you never saw an hour as lonely as the one my soul is passing through now! the loneliest road across this earth is the way of sin." helen watched him in amazement: "the way of sin--why----" tom's brusque entrance interrupted her. with quick, firm decision he took her arm and led her to the door opening on the hall: "wait for me in your room, dear," he said quietly. "i have something to say to my father." she looked at him timidly: "you won't forget that he is your father, and loves you better than his own life?" "i'll not forget." she started with sudden alarm and whispered: "you haven't got the pistol that you brought home to-day from the campaign, have you?" "surely, dear----" "give it to me!" she demanded. "no." "why?" she asked pleadingly. "i've too much self-respect." she looked into his clear eyes: "forgive me, dear, but i was so frightened just now. you were so violent. i never saw you like that before. i was afraid something might happen in a moment of blind passion, and i could never lift my head again----" "i'll not forget," he broke in, "if my father does. run now, dear, i'll join you in a few minutes." a pressure of the hand, a look of love, and she was gone. the boy closed the door, quickly turned and faced his father. chapter xxv father and son norton had ignored the scene between helen and tom and his stunned mind was making a desperate fight to prepare for the struggle that was inevitable. the thing that gave him fresh courage was the promise the girl had repeated that she would go. somehow he had grown to trust her implicitly. he hadn't time as yet to realize the pity and pathos of such a trust in such an hour. he simply believed that she would keep her word. he had to win his fight now with the boy without the surrender of his secret. could he do it? it was doubtful, but he was going to try. his back was to the wall. tom took another step into the room and the father turned, drew his tall figure erect in an instinctive movement of sorrowful dignity and reserve and walked to the table. all traces of anger had passed from the boy's handsome young face and a look of regret had taken its place. he began speaking very quietly and reverently: "now, dad, we must face this thing. it's a tragedy for you perhaps----" the father interrupted: "how big a tragedy, my son, i hope that you may never know----" "anyhow," tom went on frankly, "i am ashamed of the way i acted. but you're a manly man and you can understand." "yes." "i know that all you've done is because you love me----" "how deeply, you can never know." "i'm sorry if i forgot for a moment the respect i owe you, the reverence and love i hold for you--i've always been proud of you, dad--of your stainless name, of the birthright you have given me--you know this----" "yet it's good to hear you say it!" "and now that i've said this, you'd as well know first as last that any argument about helen is idle between us. i'm not going to give up the woman i love!" "ah, my boy----" tom lifted his hand emphatically: "it's no use! you needn't tell me that her blood is tainted--i don't believe it!" the father came closer: "you _do_ believe it! in the first mad riot of passion you're only trying to fool yourself." "it's unthinkable, i tell you! and i've made my decision"--he paused a moment and then demanded: "how do you know her blood is tainted?" the father answered firmly: "i have the word both of her mother and father." "well, i won't take their word. some natures are their own defense. on them no stain can rest, and i stake my life on helen's!" "my boy----" "oh, i know what you're going to say--as a theory it's quite correct. but it's one thing to accept a theory, another to meet the thing in your own heart before god alone with your life in your hands." "what do you mean by that?" the father asked savagely. "that for the past hour i've been doing some thinking on my own account." "that's just what you haven't been doing. you haven't thought at all. if you had, you'd know that you can't marry this girl. come, come, my boy, remember that you have reason and because you have this power that's bigger than all passion, all desire, all impulse, you're a man, not a brute----" "all right," the boy broke in excitedly, "submit it to reason! i'll stand the test--it's more than you can do. i love this girl--she's my mate. she loves me and i am hers. haven't i taken my stand squarely on nature and her highest law?" "no!" "what's higher? social fictions--prejudices?" the father lifted his head: "prejudices! you know as well as i that the white man's instinct of racial purity is not prejudice, but god's first law of life--the instinct of self-preservation! the lion does not mate with the jackal!" the boy flushed angrily: "the girl i love is as fair as you or i." "even so," was the quick reply, "we inherit ninety per cent. of character from our dead ancestors! born of a single black progenitor, she is still a negress. change every black skin in america to-morrow to the white of a lily and we'd yet have ten million negroes--ten million negroes whose blood relatives are living in africa the life of a savage." "granted that what you say it true--and i refuse to believe it--i still have the right to live my own life in my own way." "no man has the right to live life in his own way if by that way he imperil millions." "and whom would i imperil?" "the future american. no white man ever lived who desired to be a negro. every negro longs to be a white man. no black man has ever added an iota to the knowledge of the world of any value to humanity. in helen's body flows sixteen million tiny drops of blood--one million black--poisoned by the inheritance of thousands of years of savage cruelty, ignorance, slavery and superstition. the life of generations are bound up in you. in you are wrapt the onward years. man's place in nature is no longer a myth. you are bound by the laws of heredity--laws that demand a nobler not a baser race of men! shall we improve the breed of horses and degrade our men? you have no right to damn a child with such a legacy!" "but i tell you i'm not trying to--i refuse to see in her this stain!" the father strode angrily to the other side of the room in an effort to control his feelings: "because you refuse to think, my boy!" he cried in agony. "i tell you, you can't defy these laws! they are eternal--never new, never old--true a thousand years ago, to-day, to-morrow and on a million years, when this earth is thrown, a burnt cinder, into god's dust heap. i can't tell you what i feel--it strangles me!" "no, and i can't understand it. i feel one thing, the touch of the hand of the woman i love; hear one thing, the music of her voice----" "and in that voice, my boy, i hear the crooning of a savage mother! but yesterday our negroes were brought here from the west soudan, black, chattering savages, nearer the anthropoid ape than any other living creature. and you would dare give to a child such a mother? who is this dusky figure of the forest with whom you would cross your blood? in old andy there you see him to-day, a creature half child, half animal. for thousands of years beyond the seas he stole his food, worked his wife, sold his child, and ate his brother--great god, could any tragedy be more hideous than our degradation at last to his racial level!" "it can't happen! it's a myth!" "it's the most dangerous thing that threatens the future!" the father cried with desperate earnestness. "a pint of ink can make black gallons of water. the barriers once down, ten million negroes can poison the source of life and character for a hundred million whites. this nation is great for one reason only--because of the breed of men who created the republic! oh, my boy, when you look on these walls at your fathers, don't you see this, don't you feel this, don't you know this?" tom shook his head: "to-night i feel and know one thing. i love her! we don't choose whom we love----" "ah, but if we are more than animals, if we reason, we do choose whom we marry! marriage is not merely a question of personal whim, impulse or passion. it's the one divine law on which human society rests. there are always men who hear the call of the beast and fall below their ideals, who trail the divine standards of life in the dust as they slink under the cover of night----" "at least, i'm not trying to do that!" "no, worse! you would trample them under your feet at noon in defiance of the laws of man and god! you're insane for the moment. you're mad with passion. you're not really listening to me at all--i feel it!" "perhaps i'm not----" "yet you don't question the truth of what i've said. you can't question it. you just stand here blind and maddened by desire, while i beg and plead, saying in your heart: 'i want this woman and i'm going to have her.' you've never faced the question that she's a negress--you can't face it, and yet i tell you that i know it's true!" the boy turned on his father and studied him angrily for a moment, his blue eyes burning into his, his face flushed and his lips curled with the slightest touch of incredulity: "and do you really believe all you've been saying to me?" "as i believe in god!" with a quick, angry gesture he faced his father: "well, you've had a mighty poor way of showing it! if you really believed all you've been saying to me, you wouldn't stop to eat or sleep until every negro is removed from physical contact with the white race. and yet on the day that i was born you placed me in the arms of a negress! the first human face on which i looked was hers. i grew at her breast. you let her love me and teach me to love her. you keep only negro servants. i grow up with them, fall into their lazy ways, laugh at their antics and see life through their eyes, and now that my life touches theirs at a thousand points of contact, you tell me that we must live together and yet a gulf separates us! why haven't you realized this before? if what you say about helen is true, in god's name--i ask it out of a heart quivering with anguish--why haven't you realized it before? i demand an answer! i have the right to know!" norton's head was lowered while the boy poured out his passionate protest and he lifted it at the end with a look of despair: "you have the right to know, my boy. but the south has not a valid answer to your cry. the negro is not here by my act or will, and their continued presence is a constant threat against our civilization. equality is the law of life and we dare not grant it to the negro unless we are willing to descend to his racial level. we cannot lift him to ours. this truth forced me into a new life purpose twenty years ago. the campaign i have just fought and won is the first step in a larger movement to find an answer to your question in the complete separation of the races--and nothing is surer than that the south will maintain the purity of her home! it's as fixed as her faith in god!" the boy was quiet a moment and looked at the tall figure with a queer expression: "has she maintained it?" "yes." "is her home life clean?" "yes." "and these millions of children born in the shadows--these mulattoes?" the older man's lips trembled and his brow clouded: "the lawless have always defied the law, my son, north, south, east and west, but they have never defended their crimes. dare to do this thing that's in your heart and you make of crime a virtue and ask god's blessing on it. the difference between the two things is as deep and wide as the gulf between heaven and hell." "my marriage to helen will be the purest and most solemn act of my life----" "silence, sir!" the father thundered in a burst of uncontrollable passion, as he turned suddenly on him, his face blanched and his whole body trembling. "i tell you once for all that your marriage to this girl is a physical and moral impossibility! and i refuse to argue with you a question that's beyond all argument!" the two men glared at each other in a duel of wills in which steel cut steel without a tremor of yielding. and then with a sudden flash of anger, tom turned on his heel crying: "all right, then!" with swift, determined step he moved toward the door. the father grasped the corner of the table for support: "tom!" his hands were extended in pitiful appeal when the boy stopped as if in deep study, turned, looked at him, and walked deliberately back: "i'm going to ask you some personal questions!" in spite of his attempt at self-control, norton's face paled. he drew himself up with an attempt at dignified adjustment to the new situation, but his hands were trembling as he nervously repeated: "personal questions?" "yes. there's something very queer about your position. your creed forbids you to receive a negro as a social equal?" "yes." the boy suddenly lifted his head: "why did you bring helen into this house?" "i didn't bring her." "you didn't invite her?" "no." "she says that you did." "she thought so." "she got an invitation?" "yes." "signed with your name?" "yes, yes." "who dared to write such a letter without your knowledge?" "i can't tell you that." "i demand it!" norton struggled between anger and fear and finally answered in measured tones: "it was forged by an enemy who wished to embarrass me in this campaign." "you know who wrote it?" "i suspect." "you don't _know_?" "i said, i suspect," was the angry retort. "and you didn't kill him?" "in this campaign my hands were tied." the boy, watching furtively his father's increasing nervousness and anger, continued his questions in a slower, cooler tone: "when you returned and found her here, you could have put her out?" "yes," norton answered tremblingly, "and i ought to have done it!" "but you didn't?" "no." "why?" the father fumbled his watch chain, moved uneasily and finally said with firmness: "i am helen's guardian!" the boy lifted his brows: "you are supposed to be his attorney only. why did you, of all men on earth, accept such a position?" "i felt that i had to." "and the possibility of my meeting this girl never occurred to you? you, who have dinned into my ears from childhood that i should keep myself clean from the touch of such pollution--why did you take the risk?" "a sense of duty to one to whom i felt bound." "duty?" "yes." "it must have been deep--what duty?" norton lifted his hand in a movement of wounded pride: "my boy!" "come, come, dad, don't shuffle; this thing's a matter of life and death with me and you must be fair----" "i'm trying----" "i want to know why you are helen's guardian, exactly why. we must face each other to-day with souls bare--why are you her guardian?" "i--i--can't tell you." "you've got to tell me!" "you must trust me in this, my son!" "i won't do it!" the boy cried, trembling with passion that brought the tears blinding to his eyes. "we're not father and son now. we face each other man to man with two lives at stake--hers and mine! you can't ask me to trust you! i won't do it--i've got to know!" the father turned away: "i can't betray this secret even to you, my boy." "does any one else share it?" "why do you use that queer tone? what do you mean?" the father's last question was barely breathed. "nothing," the boy answered with a toss of his head. "does any one in this house suspect it?" "possibly." again tom paused, watching keenly: "on the day you returned and found helen here, you quarrelled with cleo?" norton wheeled with sudden violence: "we won't discuss this question further, sir!" "yes, we will," was the steady answer through set teeth. "haven't you been afraid of cleo?" the father's eyes were looking into his now with a steady stare: "i refuse to be cross-examined, sir!" tom ignored his answer: "hasn't cleo been blackmailing you?" "no--no." the boy held his father's gaze until it wavered, and then in cold tones said: "you are not telling me the truth!" norton flinched as if struck: "do you know what you are saying. have you lost your senses?" tom held his ground with dogged coolness: "_have_ you told me the truth?" "yes." "it's a lie!" the words were scarcely spoken when norton's clenched fist struck him a blow full in the face. a wild cry of surprise, inarticulate in fury, came from the boy's lips as he staggered against the table. he glared at his father, drew back a step, his lips twitching, his breath coming in gasps, and suddenly felt for the revolver in his pocket. with a start of horror the father cried: "my boy!" the hand dropped limp, he leaned against the table for support and sobbed: "o god! let me die!" norton rushed to his side, his voice choking with grief: "tom, listen!" "i won't listen!" he hissed. "i never want to hear the sound of your voice again!" "don't say that--you don't mean it!" the father pleaded. "i do mean it!" norton touched his arm tenderly: "you can't mean it, tom. you're all i've got in the world. you mustn't say that. forgive me--i was mad. i didn't know what i was doing. i didn't mean to strike you. i forgot for a moment that you're a man, proud and sensitive as i am----" the boy tore himself free from his touch and crossed the room with quick, angry stride and turned: "well, you'd better not forget it again"--he paused and drew himself erect. "you're my father, but i tell you to your face that i hate and loathe you----" the silver-gray head drooped: "that i should have lived to hear it!" "and i want you to understand one thing," tom went on fiercely, "if an angel from heaven told me that helen's blood was tainted, i'd demand proofs! you have shown none, and i'm not going to give up the woman i love!" norton supported himself by the table and felt his way along its edges as if blinded. his eyes were set with a half-mad stare as he gripped tom's shoulders: "i love you, my boy, with a love beyond your ken, a love that can be fierce and cruel when god calls, and sooner than see you marry this girl, i'll kill you with my own hands if i must!" the answer came slowly: "and you can't guess what's happened?" "guess--what's--happened!" the father repeated in a whisper. "what do you mean?" "that i'm married already!" with hands uplifted, his features convulsed, the father fell back, his voice a low piteous shriek: "merciful god!--no!" "married an hour before you dragged me away in that campaign!" he shouted in triumph. "i knew you'd never consent and so i took matters into my own hands!" with a leap norton grasped the boy again and shook him madly: "married already? it's not true, i tell you! it's not true. you're lying to me--lying to gain time--it's not true!" "you wish me to swear it?" "silence, sir!" the father cried in solemn tones. "you are my son--this is my house--i order you to be silent!" "before god, i swear it's true! helen is my lawful----" "don't say it! it's false--you lie, i tell you!" again the father shook him with cruel violence, his eyes staring with the glitter of a maniac. tom seized the trembling hands and threw them from his shoulders with a quick movement of anger: "if that's all you've got to say, sir, excuse me, i'll go to my wife!" he wheeled, slammed the door and was gone. the father stared a moment, stunned, looked around blankly, placed his hands over his ears and held them, crying: "god have mercy!" he rushed to a window and threw it open. the band was playing "for he's a jolly good fellow!" the mocking strains rolled over his prostrate soul. he leaned heavily against the casement and groaned: "my god!" he slammed the sash, staggered back into the room, lifted his eyes in a leaden stare at the portrait over the mantel, and then rushed toward it with uplifted arms and streaming eyes: "it's not true, dearest! don't believe it--it's not true, i tell you! it's not true!" the voice sank into inarticulate sobs, he reeled and fell, a limp, black heap on the floor. chapter xxv the one chance the dim light began to creep into the darkened brain at last. norton's eyes opened wider and the long arms felt their way on the floor until they touched a rug and then a chair. he tried to think what had happened and why he was lying there. it seemed a dream, half feverish, half restful. his head was aching and he was very tired. "what's the matter?" he murmured, unable to lift his head. he was whirling through space again and the room faded. once before in his life had he been knocked insensible. from the trenches before petersburg in the last days of the war he had led his little band of less than five hundred ragged, half-starved, tatterdemalions in a mad charge against the line in front. a bomb from a battery on a hilltop exploded directly before them. he had been thrown into the air and landed on a heap of dead bodies, bruised and stunned into insensibility. he had waked feeling the dead limbs and wondering if they were his own. he rubbed his hands now, first over his head, and then over each limb, to find if all were there. he felt his body to see if a bomb had torn part of it away. and then the light of memory suddenly flashed into the darkened mind and he drew himself to his knees and fumbled his way to a chair. "married? married already!" he gasped. "o, god, it can't be true! and he said, 'married an hour before you dragged me away in that campaign'"--it was too hideous! he laughed in sheer desperation and again his brain refused to work. he pressed his hands to his forehead and looked about the room, rose, staggered to the bell and rang for andy. when his black face appeared, he lifted his bloodshot eyes and said feebly: "whiskey----" the negro bowed: "yassah!" he pulled himself together and tried to walk. he could only reel from one piece of furniture to the next. his head was on fire. he leaned again against the mantel for support and dropped his head on his arm in utter weariness: "i must think! i must think!" slowly the power to reason returned. "what can i do? what can i do?" he kept repeating mechanically, until the only chance of escape crept slowly into his mind. he grasped it with feverish hope. if tom had married but an hour before leaving on that campaign, he hadn't returned until to-day. but had he? it was, of course, a physical possibility. from the nearby counties, he could have ridden a swift horse through the night, reached home and returned the next day without his knowing it. it was possible, but not probable. he wouldn't believe it until he had to. if he had married in haste the morning he had left town and had only rejoined helen to-night, it was no marriage. it was a ceremony that had no meaning. in law it was void and could be annulled immediately. but if he were really married in all that word means--his mind stopped short and refused to go on. he would cross that bridge when he came to it. but he must find out at once and he must know before he saw tom again. his brain responded with its old vigor under the pressure of the new crisis. one by one his powers returned and his mind was deep in its tragic problem when andy entered the room with a tray on which stood a decanter of whiskey, a glass of water and two small empty glasses. the negro extended the tray. norton was staring into space and paid no attention. andy took one of the empty glasses and clicked it against the other. there was still no sign of recognition until he pushed the tray against norton's arm and cleared his throat: "ahem! ahem!" the dazed man turned slowly and looked at the tray and then at the grinning negro: "what's this?" andy's face kindled with enthusiasm: "dat is moonshine, sah--de purest mountain dew--yassah!" "whiskey?" "yassah," was the astonished reply, "de whiskey you jis ring fer, sah!" "take it back!" andy could not believe his ears. the major was certainly in a queer mood. was he losing his mind? there was nothing to do but obey. he bowed and turned away: "yassah." norton watched him with a dazed look and cried suddenly: "where are you going?" "back!" "stop!" andy stopped with a sudden jerk: "yassah!" "put that tray down on the table!" the negro obeyed but watched his master out of the corners of his eye: "yassah!" again norton forgot andy's existence, his eyes fixed in space, his mind in a whirl of speculation in which he felt his soul and body sinking deeper. the negro was watching him with increasing suspicion and fear as he turned his head in the direction of the table. "what are you standing there for?" he asked sharply. "you say stop, sah." "well, get away--get out!" norton cried with sudden anger. andy backed rapidly: "yassah!" as he reached the doorway norton's command rang so sharply that the negro spun around on one foot: "wait!" "y--yas--sah!" the master took a step toward the trembling figure with an imperious gesture: "come here!" andy approached gingerly, glancing from side to side for the best way of retreat in case of emergency: "what's the matter with you?" norton demanded. andy laughed feebly: "i--i--i dunno, sah; i wuz des wonderin' what's de matter wid you, sah!" "tell me!" the negro's teeth were chattering as he glanced up: "yassah! i tell all i know, sah!" norton fixed him with a stern look: "has tom been back here during the past four weeks?" "nasah!" was the surprised answer, "he bin wid you, sah!" the voice softened to persuasive tones: "he hasn't slipped back here even for an hour since i've been gone?" "i nebber seed him!" "i didn't ask you," norton said threateningly, "whether you'd 'seed' him"--he paused and dropped each word with deliberate emphasis--"i asked you if you knew whether he'd been here?" andy mopped his brow and glanced at his inquisitor with terror: "nasah, i don't know nuttin', sah!" "haven't you lied to me?" "yassah! yassah," the negro replied in friendly conciliation. "i has pér-var-i-cated sometimes--but i sho is tellin' you de truf dis time, sah!" the master glared at him a moment and suddenly sprang at his throat, both hands clasping his neck with a strangling grip. andy dropped spluttering to his knees. "you're lying to me!" norton growled. "out with the truth now"--his grip tightened--"out with it, or i'll choke it out of you!" andy grasped the tightening fingers and drew them down: "fer gawd's sake, major, doan' do dat!" "has tom been back here during the past weeks to see miss helen?" andy struggled with the desperate fingers: "doan' do dat, major--doan' do dat! i ain't holdin' nuttin' back--i let it all out, sah!" the grip slackened: "then out with the whole truth!" "yassah. des tell me what ye wants me ter say, sah, an' i sho say hit!" "bah! you miserable liar!" norton cried in disgust, hurling him to the floor, and striding angrily from the room. "you're all in this thing, all of you! you're all in it--all in it!" andy scrambled to his feet and rushed to the window in time to see him hurry down the steps and disappear in the shadows of the lawn. he stood watching with open mouth and staring eyes: "well, 'fore de lawd, ef he ain't done gone plum crazy!" chapter xxvi between two fires so intent was andy's watch on the lawn, so rapt his wonder and terror at the sudden assault, he failed to hear cleo's step as she entered the room, walked to his side and laid her hand on his shoulder: "andy----" with a loud groan he dropped to his knees: "de lawd save me!" cleo drew back with amazement at the prostrate figure: "what on earth's the matter?" "oh--oh, lawd," he shivered, scrambling to his feet and mopping his brow. "lordy, i thought de major got me dat time sho!" "you thought the major had you?" cleo cried incredulously. andy ran back to the window and looked out again: "yassam--yassam! de major try ter kill me--he's er regular maniacker--gone wild----" "what about?" the black hands went to his throat: "bout my windpipes, 'pears like!" "what did he do?" "got me in de _gills_!" "why?" "dunno," was the whispered answer as he peered out the window. "he asked me if mr. tom been back here in de past fo' weeks----" "asked if tom had been back here?" "yassam!" "what a fool question, when he's had the boy with him every day! he must have gone crazy." "yassam!" andy agreed with unction as he turned back into the room and threw both hands high above his head in wild gestures. "he say we wuz all in it! dat what he say--we wuz all in it! _all_ in it!" "in what?" "gawd knows!" he cried, as his hands again went to his neck to feel if anything were broken, "gawd knows, but he sho wuz gittin' inside er me!" cleo spoke with stern appeal: "well, you're a man; you'll know how to defend yourself next time, won't you?" "yassam!--yas, m'am!" andy answered boldly. "oh, i fit 'im! don't you think i didn't fight him! i fit des lak er wild-cat--yassam!" the woman's eyes narrowed and her voice purred: "you're going to stand by me now?" "dat i is!" was the brave response. "you'll do anything for me?" "yassam!" "defend me with your life if the major attacks me to-night?" "dat i will!" cleo leaned close: "you'll die for me?" "yassam! yassam--i'll _die_ fer you--i'll die fer ye; of cose i'll _die_ for ye! b-b-but fer gawd's sake what ye want wid er dead nigger?" andy leaped back in terror as norton's tall figure suddenly appeared in the door, his rumpled iron-gray hair gleaming in the shadows, his eyes flashing with an unnatural light. he quickly crossed the room and lifted his index finger toward cleo: "just a word with you----" the woman's hands met nervously, and she glanced at andy: "very well, but i want a witness. andy can stay." norton merely glanced at the negro: "get out!" "yassah!" "stay where you are!" cleo commanded. "y--yassam"--andy stammered, halting. "get out!" norton growled. andy jumped into the doorway at a single bound: "done out, sah!" the major lifted his hand and the negro stopped: "tell minerva i want to see her." andy hastened toward the hall, the whites of his eyes shining: "yassah, but she ain't in de kitchen, sah!" "find her and bring her here!" norton thundered. his words rang like the sudden peal of a gun at close quarters: andy jumped: "yassah, yassah, i fetch her! i fetch her!" as he flew through the door he repeated humbly: "i fetch her, right away, sah--right away, sah!" cleo watched his cowardly desertion with lips curled in scorn. chapter xxvii a surprise for a while norton stood with folded arms gazing at cleo, his eyes smouldering fires of wonder and loathing. the woman was trembling beneath his fierce scrutiny, but he evidently had not noted the fact. his mind was busy with a bigger problem of character and the possible depths to which a human being might fall and still retain the human form. he was wondering how a man of his birth and breeding, the heir to centuries of culture and refinement, of high thinking and noble aspirations, could ever have sunk to the level of this yellow animal--this bundle of rags and coarse flesh! it was incredible! his loathing for her was surpassed by one thing only--his hatred of himself. he was free in this moment as never before. in the fearlessness of death soul and body stood erect and gazed calmly out on time and eternity. there was one thing about the woman he couldn't understand. that she was without moral scruple--that she was absolutely unmoral in her fundamental being--he could easily believe. in fact, he could believe nothing else. that she would not hesitate to defy every law of god or man to gain her end, he never doubted for a moment. but that a creature of her cunning and trained intelligence could deliberately destroy herself by such an act of mad revenge was unreasonable. he began dimly to suspect that her plans had gone awry. how completely she had been crushed by her own trap he could not yet guess. she was struggling frantically now to regain her composure but his sullen silence and his piercing eyes were telling on her nerves. she was on the verge of screaming in his face when he said in low, intense tones: "you did get even with me--didn't you?" "yes!" "i didn't think _you_ quite capable of this!" his words were easier to bear than silence. she felt an instant relief and pulled herself together with a touch of bravado: "and now that you see i am, what are you going to do about it?" "that's my secret," was the quiet reply. "there's just one thing that puzzles me!" "indeed!" "how you could willfully and deliberately do this beastly thing?" "for one reason only, i threw them together and brought about their love affair----" "revenge--yes," norton interrupted, "but the boy--you don't hate him--you can't. you've always loved him as if he were your own----" "well, what of it?" "i'm wondering----" "what?" his voice was low, vibrant but quiet: "why, if your mother instincts have always been so powerful and you've loved my boy with such devotion"--the tones quickened to sudden menace--"why you were so willing to give up your own child that day twenty years ago?" he held her gaze until her own fell: "i--i--don't understand you," she said falteringly. he seized her with violence and drew her squarely before him: "look at me!" he cried fiercely. "look me in the face!" he paused until she slowly lifted her eyes to his and finally glared at him with hate. "i want to see your soul now if you've got one. there's just one chance and i'm clutching at that as a drowning man a straw." "well?" she asked defiantly. norton's words were hurled at her, each one a solid shot: "would you have given up that child without a struggle--if she had really been your own?" "why--what--do you--mean?" cleo asked, her eyes shifting. "you know what i mean. if helen is really your child, why did you give her up so easily that day?" "why?" she repeated blankly. "answer my question!" with an effort she recovered her composure: "you know why! i was mad. i was a miserable fool. i did it because you asked it. i did it to please you, and i've cursed myself for it ever since." norton's grip slowly relaxed, and he turned thoughtfully away. the woman's hand went instinctively to the bruises he had left on her arms as she stepped back nearer the door and watched him furtively. "it's possible, yes!" he cried turning again to face her suddenly. "and yet if you are human how could you dare defy the laws of man and god to bring about this marriage?" "it's not a question of marriage yet," she sneered. "you've simply got to acknowledge her, that's all. that's why i brought her here. that's why i've helped their love affair. you're in my power now. you've got to tell tom that helen is my daughter, and yours--his half sister! now that they're in love with one another you've got to do it!" norton drew back in amazement: "you mean to tell me that you don't know that they are married?" with a cry of surprise and terror, the woman leaped to his side, her voice a whisper: "married? who says they are married?" "tom has just said so." "but they are not married!" she cried hysterically. "they can't marry!" norton fixed her with a keen look: "they _are_ married!" the woman wrung her hands nervously: "but you can separate them if you tell them the truth. that's all you've got to do. tell them now--tell them at once!" never losing the gaze with which he was piercing her soul norton said in slow menacing tones: "there's another way!" he turned from her suddenly and walked toward the desk. she followed a step, trembling. "another way"--she repeated. norton turned: "an old way brave men have always known--i'll take it if i must!" chilled with fear cleo glanced in a panic about the room and spoke feebly: "you--you--don't mean----" minerva and andy entered cautiously as norton answered: "no matter what i mean, it's enough for you to know that i'm free--free from you--i breathe clean air at last!" minerva shot cleo a look: "praise god!" cleo extended a hand in pleading: "major----" "that will do now!" he said sternly. "go!" cleo turned hurriedly to the door leading toward the stairs. "not that way!" norton called sharply. "tom has no further need of your advice. go to the servants' quarters and stay there. i am the master of this house to-night!" cleo slowly crossed the room and left through the door leading to the kitchen, watching norton with terror. minerva broke into a loud laugh and andy took refuge behind her ample form. chapter xxviii via dolorosa minerva was still laughing at the collapse of her enemy and andy sheltering himself behind her when a sharp call cut her laughter short: "minerva!" "yassah"--she answered soberly. "you have been a faithful servant to me," norton began, "you have never lied----" "an' i ain't gwine ter begin now, sah." he searched her black face keenly: "did tom slip back here to see miss helen while i was away on this last trip?" minerva looked at andy, fumbled with her apron, started to speak, hesitated and finally admitted feebly: "yassah!" andy's eyes fairly bulged: "de lordy, major, i didn't know dat, sah!" norton glanced at him: "shut up!" "you ain't gwine ter be hard on 'em, major?" minerva pleaded. he ignored her interruption and went on evenly: "how many times did he come?" "twice, sah." "he sho come in de night time den!" andy broke in. "i nebber seed 'im once!" norton bent close: "how long did he stay?" minerva fidgeted, hesitated again and finally said: "once he stay about er hour----" "and the other time?" she looked in vain for a way of escape, the perspiration standing in beads on her shining black face: "he stay all night, sah." a moment of stillness followed. norton's eyes closed, and his face became a white mask. he breathed deeply and then spoke quietly: "you--you knew they were married?" "yassah!" was the quick reply. "i seed 'em married. miss helen axed me, sah." andy lifted his hands in solemn surprise and walled his eyes at minerva: "well, 'fore gawd!" another moment of silence and andy's mouth was still open with wonder when a call like the crack of a revolver suddenly rang through the room: "andy!" the negro dropped to his knees and lifted his hands: "don't do nuttin' ter me, sah! 'fore de lawd, major, i 'clare i nebber knowed it! dey fool me, sah--i'd a tole you sho!" norton frowned: "shut your mouth and get up." "yassah!" andy cried. "hit's shet an' i'se up!" he scrambled to his feet and watched his master. "you and minerva go down that back stairway into the basement, fasten the windows and lock the doors." andy's eyes were two white moons in the shadows as he cried through chattering teeth: "g--g--odder mighty--what--what's de matter, major?" "do as i tell you, quick!" andy dodged and leaped toward the door: "r--right away, sah!" "pay no attention to anything mr. tom may say to you----" "nasah," andy gasped. "i pay no 'tension ter nobody, sah!" "when you've fastened everything below, do the same on this floor and come back here--i want you." "y-y-yas--sah! r-r-r-right a-way, sah!" andy backed out, beckoning frantically to minerva. she ignored him and watched norton as he turned toward a window and looked vaguely out. as andy continued his frantic calls she slipped to the doorway and whispered: "g'long! i be dar in er minute. you po' fool, you can't talk nohow. you're skeered er de major. i'm gwine do my duty now, i'm gwine ter tell him sumfin' quick----" norton wheeled on her with sudden fury: "do as i tell you! do as i tell you!" minerva dodged at each explosion, backing away. she paused and extended her hand pleadingly: "can't i put in des one little word, sah?" "not another word!" he thundered, advancing on her--"go!" "yassah!" "go! i tell you!" dodging again, she hurried below to join andy. norton turned back into the room and stood staring at something that gleamed with sinister brightness from the top of the little writing desk. an electric lamp with crimson shade seemed to focus every ray of light on the shining steel and a devil in the shadows pointed a single finger and laughed: "it's ready--just where you laid it!" he took a step toward the desk, stopped and gripped the back of the settee, steadied himself, and glared at the thing with fascination. he walked unsteadily to the chair in front of the desk and stared again. his hand moved to grasp the revolver and hesitated. and then, the last thought of pity strangled, he gripped the handle, lifted it with quick familiar touch, grasped the top clasp, loosed the barrel, threw the cylinder open and examined the shells, dropped them into his hand and saw that there were no blanks. one by one he slowly replaced them, snapped the cylinder in place and put the weapon in his pocket. he glanced about the room furtively, walked to each of the tall french windows, closed the shutters and carefully drew the heavy draperies. he turned the switch of the electric lights, extinguishing all in the room save the small red one burning on the desk. he would need that in a moment. he walked softly to the foot of the stairs and called: "tom!" waiting and receiving no answer he called again: "tom! tom!" a door opened above and the boy answered: "well?" "just a word, my son," the gentle voice called. "i've nothing to say, sir! we're packing our trunks to leave at once." "yes, yes, i understand," the father answered tenderly. "you're going, of course, and it can't be helped--but just a minute, my son; we must say good-by in a decent way, you know--and--i've something to show you before you go"--the voice broke--"you--won't try to leave without seeing me?" there was a short silence and the answer came in friendly tones: "i'll see you. i'll be down in a few minutes." the father murmured: "thank god!" he hurried back to the library, unlocked a tiny drawer in the desk, drew out a plain envelope from which he took the piece of paper on which was scrawled the last message from the boy's mother. his hand trembled as he read and slowly placed it in a small pigeon-hole. he took his pen and began to write rapidly on a pad of legal cap paper. while he was still busy with his writing, in obedience to his orders, andy and minerva returned. they stopped at the doorway and peeped in cautiously before entering. astonished and terrified to find the room so dimly lighted they held a whispered conference in the hall: "better not go in dar, chile!" andy warned. "ah, come on, you fool!" minerva insisted. "he ain't gwine ter hurt us!" "i tell ye he's wild--he's gone crazy, sho's yer born! i kin feel dem fingers playin' on my windpipe now!" "what's he doin' dar at dat desk?" minerva asked. "he's writin' good-by ter dis world, i'm tellin' ye, an' hit's time me an' you wuz makin' tracks!" "ah, come on!" the woman urged. andy hung back and shook his head: "nasah--i done bin in dar an' got my dose!" "you slip up behin' him an' see what he's writin'," minerva suggested. "na, you slip up!" "you're de littlest an' makes less fuss," she argued. "yes, but you'se de biggest an' you las' de longest in er scrimmage----" "ah, go on!" she commanded, getting behind andy and suddenly pushing him into the room. he rushed back into her arms, but she pushed him firmly on: "g'long, i tell ye, fool, an' see what he's doin'. i back ye up." andy balked and she pressed him another step: "g'long!" he motioned her to come closer, whispering: "ef yer gwine ter stan' by me, for de lawd's sake stan' by me--don't stan' by de do'!" seeing that retreat was cut off and he was in for it, the negro picked his way cautiously on tip-toe until he leaned over the chair and tried to read what his master was writing. norton looked up suddenly: "andy!" he jumped in terror: "i--i--didn't see nuttin', major! nasah! i nebber seed a thing, sah!" norton calmly lifted his head and looked into the black face that had been his companion so many years: "i want you to see it!" "oh!" andy cried with surprised relief, "you wants me to see hit"--he glanced at minerva and motioned her to come nearer. "well, dat's different, sah. yer know i wouldn't er tried ter steal er glimpse of it ef i'd knowed ye wuz gwine ter show it ter me. i allers is er gemman, sah!" norton handed him the paper: "i taught you to read and write, andy. you can do me a little service to-night--read that!" "yassah--yassah," he answered, pompously, adjusting his coat and vest. he held the paper up before him, struck it lightly with the back of his hand and cleared his throat: "me an' you has bin writin' fer de newspapers now 'bout fifteen years--yassah"--he paused and hurriedly read the document. "dis yo' will, sah? an' de lawd er mussy, 'tain't more'n ten lines. an' dey hain't nary one er dem whereases an' haremditaments aforesaids, like de lawyers puts in dem in de cote house--hit's des plain writin"--he paused again--"ye gives de house, an' ten thousand dollars ter miss helen an' all yer got ter de columnerzation society ter move de niggers ter er place er dey own!"--he paused again and walled his eyes at minerva. "what gwine come er mr. tom?" norton's head sank: "he'll be rich without this! sign your name here as a witness," he said shortly, picking up the pen. andy took the pen, rolled up his sleeve carefully, bent over the desk, paused and scratched his head: "don't yer think, major, dat's er terrible pile er money ter fling loose 'mongst er lot er niggers?" norton's eyes were dreaming again and andy went on insinuatingly: "now, wouldn't hit be better, sah, des ter pick out one good _reliable_ nigger dat yer knows pussonally--an' move him?" norton looked up impatiently: "sign it!" "yassah! cose, sah, you knows bes', sah, but 'pears ter me lak er powerful waste er good money des flingin' it broadcast!" norton lifted his finger warningly and andy hastened to sign his name with a flourish of the pen. he looked at it admiringly: "dar now! dey sho know dat's me! i practise on dat quereque two whole mont's----" norton folded the will, placed it in an envelope, addressed it and lifted his drawn face: "tell the clerk of the court that i executed this will to-night and placed it in this desk"--his voice became inaudible a moment and went on--"ask him to call for it to-morrow and record it for me." minerva, who had been listening and watching with the keenest interest, pressed forward and asked in a whisper: "yassah, but whar's you gwine ter be? you sho ain't gwine ter die ter-night?" norton quietly recovered himself and replied angrily: "do i look as if i were dying?" "nasah!--but ain't dey no way dat i kin help ye, major? de young folks is gwine ter leave, sah----" "they are not going until i'm ready!" was the grim answer. "nasah, but dey's gwine," the black woman replied tenderly. "ye can't stop 'em long. lemme plead fur 'em, sah! you wuz young an' wild once, major"--the silvery gray head sank low and the white lips quivered--"you take all yer money frum mister tom--what he care fer dat now wid love singin' in his heart? young folks is young folks----" norton lifted his head and stared as in a dream. "won't ye hear me, sah? can't i go upstairs an' speak de good word ter mister tom now an' tell him hit's all right?" a sudden idea flashed into norton's mind. the ruse would be the surest and quickest way to get tom into the room alone. "yes, yes," he answered, glancing at her. "you can say that to him now----" minerva laughed: "i kin go right up dar to his room now an' tell 'im dat you're er waitin' here wid yer arms open an' yer heart full er love an' fergiveness?" "yes, go at once"--he paused--"and keep miss helen there a few minutes. i want to see him first--you understand----" "yassah! yassah!" minerva cried, hastening to the door followed by andy. "i understands, i understands"--she turned on andy. "ye hear dat, you fool nigger? ain't i done tole you dat hit would all come out right ef i could des say de good word? gloree! we gwine ter hab dat weddin' all over agin! you des wait till yer seen dat cake i gwine ter bake----" with a quick turn she was about to pass through the door when andy caught her sleeve: "miss minerva!" "yas, honey!" "miss minerva," he repeated, nervously glancing at norton, "fer gawd's sake don't you leave me now! you'se de only restful pusson in dis house!" with a triumphant laugh minerva whispered: "i'll be right back in a minute, honey!" norton had watched with apparent carelessness until minerva had gone. he sprang quickly to his feet, crossed the room and spoke in an excited whisper: "andy!" "yassah!" "go down to that front gate and stay there. turn back anybody who tries to come in. don't you allow a soul to enter the lawn." "i'll do de best i kin, sah," he replied hastening toward the door. norton took an angry step toward him: "you do exactly as i tell you, sir!" andy jumped and replied quickly: "yassah, but ef dem serenaders come back here you know dey ain't gwine pay no 'tensun ter no nigger talkin' to 'em--dat's what dey er celebratin' erbout----" norton frowned and was silent a moment: "say that i ask them not to come in." "i'll tell 'em, sah, but i spec i'll hatter climb er tree 'fore i explains hit to 'em--but i tell 'em, sah--yassah." as andy slowly backed out, norton said sternly: "i'll call you when i want you. stay until i do!" "yassah," andy breathed softly as he disappeared trembling and wondering. chapter xxix the dregs in the cup norton walked quickly to the window, drew back the draperies, opened the casement and looked out to see if andy were eavesdropping. he watched the lazy figure cross the lawn, glancing back at the house. the full moon, at its zenith, was shining in a quiet glory, uncanny in its dazzling brilliance. he stood drinking in for the last time the perfumed sweetness and languor of the southern night. his senses seemed supernaturally acute. he could distinctly note the odors of the different flowers that were in bloom on the lawn. a gentle breeze was blowing from the path across the old rose garden. the faint, sweet odor of the little white carnations his mother had planted along the walks stole over his aching soul and he was a child again watching her delicate hands plant them, while grumbling slaves protested at the soiling of her fingers. she was looking up with a smile saying: "i love to plant them. i feel that they are my children then, and i'm making the world sweet and beautiful through them!" had he made the world sweeter and more beautiful? he asked himself the question sternly. "god knows i've tried for twenty years--and it has come to this!" the breeze softened, the odor of the pinks grew; fainter and the strange penetrating smell of the hedge of tuberoses swept in from the other direction with the chill of death in its breath. his heart rose in rebellion. it was too horrible, such an end of life! he was scarcely forty-nine years old. never had the blood pulsed through his veins with stronger throb and never had his vision of life seemed clearer and stronger than to-day when he had faced those thousands of cheering men and hinted for the first time his greater plans for uplifting the nation's life. the sense of utter loneliness overwhelmed his soul. the nearest being in the universe whose presence he could feel was the dead wife and mother. his eye rested on the portrait tenderly: "we're coming, dearest, to-night!" for the first time his spirit faced the mystery of eternity at close range. he had long speculated in theories of immortality and brooded over the problem of the world that lies but a moment beyond the senses. he had clasped hands with death now and stood face to face, calm and unafraid. his mind quickened with the thought of the strange world into which he would be ushered within an hour. would he know and understand? or would the waves of oblivion roll over the prostrate body without a sign? it couldn't be! the hunger of immortality was too keen for doubt. he would see and know! the cry rose triumphant within. he refused to perish with the moth and worm. the baser parts of his being might die--the nobler must live. there could be no other meaning to this sublimely cruel and mad decision to kill the body rather than see it dishonored. his eye caught the twinkle of a star through the branches of a tree-top. his feet would find the pathway among those shining worlds! there could be no other meaning to the big thing that throbbed and ached within and refused to be content to whelp and stable here as a beast of the field. pride, honor, aspiration, prayer, meant this or nothing! "i've made blunders here," he cried, "but i'm searching for the light and i'll find the face of god!" the distant shouts of cheering hosts still celebrating in the square brought his mind to earth with a sickening shock. he closed the windows, and drew the curtains. his hands clutched the velvet hangings in a moment of physical weakness and he steadied himself before turning to call tom. recovering his composure in a measure, his hand touched the revolver in his pocket, the tall figure instinctively straightened and he walked rapidly toward the hall. he had barely passed the centre of the room when the boy's voice distinctly echoed from the head of the stairs: "i'll be back in a minute, dear!" he heard the door of helen's room close softly and the firm step descend the stairs. the library door opened and closed quickly, and tom stood before him, his proud young head lifted and his shoulders squared. the dignity and reserve of conscious manhood shone in every line of his stalwart body and spoke in every movement of face and form. "well, sir," he said quietly. "it's done now and it can't be helped, you know." norton was stunned by the sudden appearance of the dear familiar form. his eyes were dim with unshed tears. it was too hideous, this awful thing he had to do! he stared at him piteously and with an effort walked to his side, speaking in faltering tones that choked between the words: "yes, it's done now--and it can't be helped"--he strangled and couldn't go on--"i--i--have realized that, my son--but i--i have an old letter from your mother--that i wanted to show you before you go--you'll find it on the desk there." he pointed to the desk on which burned the only light in the room. the boy hesitated, pained by the signs of deep anguish in his father's face, turned and rapidly crossed the room. the moment his back was turned, norton swiftly and silently locked the door, and with studied carelessness followed. the boy began to search for the letter: "i don't see it, sir." the father, watching him with feverish eyes, started at his voice, raised his hand to his forehead and walked quickly to his side: "yes, i--i--forgot--i put it away!" he dropped limply into the chair before the desk, fumbled among the papers and drew the letter from the pigeon-hole in which he had placed it. he held it in his hand, shaking now like a leaf, and read again the scrawl that he had blurred with tears and kisses. he placed his hand on the top of the desk, rose with difficulty and looked for tom. the boy had moved quietly toward the table. the act was painfully significant of their new relations. the sense of alienation cut the broken man to the quick. he could scarcely see as he felt his way to the boy's side and extended the open sheet of paper without a word. tom took the letter, turned his back on his father and read it in silence. "how queer her handwriting!" he said at length. norton spoke in strained muffled tones: "yes--she--she was dying when she scrawled that. the mists of the other world were gathering about her. i don't think she could see the paper"--the voice broke, he fought for self-control and then went on--"but every tiny slip of her pencil, each little weak hesitating mark etched itself in fire on my heart"--the voice stopped and then went on--"you can read them?" "yes." the father's long trembling finger traced slowly each word: "'remember that i love you and have forgiven----'" "forgiven what?" tom interrupted. norton turned deadly pale, recovered himself and began in a low voice: "you see, boy, i grew up under the old régime. like a lot of other fellows with whom i ran, i drank, gambled and played the devil--you know what that meant in those days----" "no, i don't," the boy interrupted. "that's just what i don't know. i belong to a new generation. and you've made a sort of exception of me even among the men of to-day. you taught me to keep away from women. i learned the lesson. i formed clean habits, and so i don't know just what you mean by that. tell me plainly." "it's hard to say it to you, my boy!" the older man faltered. "i want to know it." "i--i mean that twenty years ago it was more common than now for youngsters to get mixed up with girls of negroid blood----" the boy shrank back: "you!--great god!" "yes, she came into my life at last--a sensuous young animal with wide, bold eyes that knew everything and was not afraid. that sentence means the shame from which i've guarded you with such infinite care----" he paused and pointed again to the letter, tracing its words: "'rear our boy free from the curse!'--you--you--see why i have been so desperately in earnest?"--norton bent close with pleading eagerness: "and that next sentence, there, you can read it? 'i had rather a thousand times that he should die than this--my brooding spirit will watch and guard'"--he paused and repeated--"'that he should die'--you--you--see that?" the boy looked at his father's trembling hand and into his glittering eyes with a start: "yes, yes, but, of course, that was only a moment's despair--no mother could mean such a thing." norton's eyes fell, he moved uneasily, tried to speak again and was silent. when he began his words were scarcely audible: "we must part now in tenderness, my boy, as father and son--we--we--must do that you know. you--you forgive me for striking you to-night?" tom turned away, struggled and finally answered: "no." the father followed eagerly: "tell me that it's all right!" the boy's hand nervously fumbled at the cloth on the table: "i--i--am glad i didn't do something worse!" "say that you forgive me! why is it so hard?" tom turned his back: "i don't know, dad, i try, but--i--just can't!" the father's hand touched the boy's arm timidly: "you can never understand, my son, how my whole life has been bound up in you! for years i've lived, worked, and dreamed and planned for you alone. in your young manhood i've seen all i once hoped to be and have never been. in your love i've found the healing of a broken heart. many a night i've gone out there alone in that old cemetery, knelt beside your mother's grave and prayed her spirit to guide me that i might at least lead your little feet aright----" the boy moved slightly and the father's hand slipped limply from his, he staggered back with a cry of despair, and fell prostrate on the lounge: "i can endure anything on this earth but your hate, my boy! i can't endure that--i can't--even for a moment!" his form shook with incontrollable grief as he lay with his face buried in his outstretched arms. the boy struggled with conflicting pride and love, looked at the scrawled, tear-stained letter he still held in his hand and then at the bowed figure, hesitated a moment, and rushed to his father's side, knelt and slipped his arm around the trembling figure: "it's all right, dad! i'll not remember--a single tear from your eyes blots it all out!" the father's hand felt blindly for the boy's and grasped it desperately: "you won't remember a single harsh word that i've said?" "no--no--it's all right," was the soothing answer, as he returned the pressure. norton looked at him long and tenderly: "how you remind me of _her_ to-night! the deep blue of your eyes, the trembling of your lips when moved, your little tricks of speech, the tear that quivers on your lash and never falls and the soul that's mirrored there"--he paused and stroked the boy's head--"and her hair, the beaten gold of honeycomb!" his head sank and he was silent. the boy again pressed his hand tenderly and rose, drawing his father to his feet: "i'm sorry to have hurt you, dad. i'm sorry that we have to go--good-by!" he turned and slowly moved toward the door. norton slipped his right hand quickly to the revolver, hesitated, his fingers relaxed and the deadly thing dropped back into his pocket as he sank to his seat with a groan: "wait! wait, tom!" the boy stopped. "i--i've got to tell it to you now!" he went on hoarsely. "i--i tried to save you this horror--but i couldn't--the way was too hard and cruel." tom took a step and looked up in surprise: "the way--what way?" "i couldn't do it," the father cried. "i just couldn't--and so i have to tell you." the boy spoke with sharp eagerness: "tell me what?" "now that i know you are married in all that word means and i have failed to save you from it--i must give you the proofs that you demand. i must prove to you that helen _is_ a negress----" a sudden terror crept into the young eyes: "you--you have the proofs?" "yes!" the father nodded, placing his hand on his throat and fighting for breath. he took a step toward the boy, and whispered: "cleo--is--her mother!" tom flinched as if struck a blow. the red blood rushed to his head and he blanched with a death-like pallor: "and you have been afraid of cleo?" "yes." "why?" the father's head was slowly lowered and his hands moved in the slightest gesture of dumb confession. a half-articulate, maniac cry and the boy grasped him with trembling hands, screaming in his face: "god in heaven, let me keep my reason for just a moment!--so--you--are--helen's----" the bowed head sank lower. "father!" tom reeled, and fell into a chair with a groan: "lord have mercy on my lost soul!" norton solemnly lifted his eyes: "god's full vengeance has fallen at last! you have married your own----" the boy sprang to his feet covering his face: "don't! don't! helen doesn't know?" "no." "she mustn't!" he shivered, looking wildly at his father. "but why, why--oh, dear god, why didn't you kill me before i knew!" he sank back into the chair, his arms outstretched across the table, his face hidden in voiceless shame. the father slowly approached the prostrate figure, bent low and tenderly placed his cheek against the blonde head, soothing it with trembling touch. for a long while he remained thus, with no sound breaking the stillness save the sobs that came from the limp form. and then norton said brokenly: "i tried, my boy, to end it for us both without your knowing just now when your back was turned, but i couldn't. it seemed too cowardly and cruel! i just couldn't"--he paused, slowly drew the revolver from his pocket and laid it on the table. the boy felt the dull weight of the steel strike the velvet cover and knew what had been done without lifting his head. "now you know," the father added, "what we both must do." tom rose staring at the thing on the dark red cloth, and lifted his eyes to his father's. "yes, and hurry! helen may come at any moment." he had barely spoken when the knob of the door turned. a quick knock was heard at the same instant and helen's voice rang through the hall: "tom! tom!" norton grasped the pistol, thrust it under the table-cover and pressed the boy toward the door: "quick! open it, at once!" tom stared in a stupor, unable to move until his father shook his arm: "quick--open it--let her in a moment--it's best." he opened the door and helen sprang in breathlessly. chapter xxx the mills of god norton had dropped into a seat with apparent carelessness, while tom stood immovable, his face a mask. the girl looked quickly from one to the other, her breath coming in quick gasps. she turned to tom: "why did you lock the door--what does it mean?" norton hastened to answer, his tones reassuringly simple: "why, only that we wished to be alone for a few moments----" "yes, we understand each other now," tom added. helen's eyes flashed cautiously from one to the other: "i heard a strange noise"--she turned to the boy--"and, oh, tom, darling, i was so frightened! i thought i heard a struggle and then everything became so still. i was wild--i couldn't wait any longer!" "why, it was really nothing," tom answered her bravely smiling. "we--we did have a little scene, and lost our temper for a moment, but you can see for yourself it's all right now. we've thrashed the whole thing out and have come to a perfect understanding!" his words were convincing but not his manner. he hadn't dared to look her in the face. his eyes were on the rug and his foot moved nervously. "you are not deceiving me?" she asked trembling. the boy appealed to his father: "haven't we come to a perfect understanding, dad?" norton rose: "perfect, my son. it's all right, now, helen." "just wait for me five minutes, dear," tom pleaded. "can't i hear what you have to say?" "we prefer to be alone," the father said gravely. again her eyes flashed from one to the other and rested on tom. she rushed to him and laid her hand appealingly on his arm: "oh, tom, dear, am i not your wife?" the boy's head drooped--"must you have a secret from me now?" "just a few minutes," norton pleaded, "that's a good girl!" "only a few minutes, helen," tom urged. "please let me stay. why were you both so pale when i came in?" father and son glanced at each other over her head. norton hesitated and said: "you see we are perfectly calm now. all bitterness is gone from our hearts. we are father and son again." "why do you look so queerly at me? why do you look so strangely at each other?" "it's only your imagination, dear," tom said. "no, there's something wrong," helen declared desperately. "i feel it in the air of this room--in the strange silence between you. for god's sake tell me what it means! surely, i have the right to know"--she turned suddenly to norton--"you don't hate me now, do you, major?" the somber brown eyes rested on her in a moment of intense silence and he slowly said: "i have never hated you, my child!" "then what is it?" she cried in anguish, turning again to tom. "tell me what i can do to help you! i'll obey you, dearest, even if it's to lay my life down. don't send me away. don't keep this secret from me. i feel its chill in my heart. my place is by your side--tell me how i can help you!" tom looked at her intently: "you say that you will obey me?" "yes--you are my lord and master!" he seized her hand and led her to the door "then wait for me just five minutes." she lifted her head pleadingly: "you will let me come to you then?" "yes." "you won't lock the door again?" "not now." while tom stood immovable, with a lingering look of tenderness she turned and passed quickly from the room. he closed the door softly, steadied himself before loosing the knob and turned to his father in a burst of sudden rebellion: "oh, dad! it can't be true! it can't be true! i can't believe it. did you look at her closely again?" norton drew himself wearily to his feet and spoke with despairing certainty: "yes, yes, as i've looked at her a hundred times with growing wonder." "she's not like you----" "no more than you, my boy, and yet you're bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh--it can't be helped----" he paused and pointed to the revolver: "give it to me!" the boy started to lift the cloth and the father caught his arm: "but first--before you do," he faltered. "i want you to tell me now with your own lips that you forgive me for what i must do--and then i think, perhaps, i can--say it!" their eyes met in a long, tender, searching gaze: "i forgive you," he softly murmured. "now give it to me!" the father firmly said, stepping back and lifting his form erect. the boy felt for the table, fumbled at the cloth, caught the weapon and slowly lifted it toward his father's extended hand. he opened his eyes, caught the expression of agony in the drawn face, the fingers relaxed and the pistol fell to the floor. he threw himself blindly on his father, his arms about his neck: "oh, dad, it's too hard! wait--wait--just a moment!" the father held him close for a long while. his voice was very low when he spoke at last: "there's no appeal, my boy! the sin of your father is full grown and has brought forth death. yet i was not all to blame. we are caught to-night in the grip of the sins of centuries. i tried to give my life to the people to save the children of the future. my shame showed me the way as few men could have seen it, and i have set in motion forces that can never be stopped. others will complete the work that i have begun. but our time has come----" "yes, yes, i understand!" the father's arms pressed the son in a last long embrace: "what an end to all my hopes! oh, my boy, heart of my heart!" tom's hand slowly slipped down and caught his father's: "good-by, dad!" norton held the clasp with lingering tenderness as the boy slowly drew away, measured four steps and calmly folded his arms, his head erect, his broad young shoulders squared and thrown far back. cleo, who had crept into the hall, stood behind the curtains of the inner door watching the scene with blanched face. the father walked quickly to the revolver, picked it up, turned and lifted it above his head. with a smothered cry cleo sprang into the room--but she was too late. norton had quickly dropped the pistol to the level of the eye and fired. a tiny red spot flamed on the white skin of the boy's forehead, the straight figure swayed, and pitched forward face down on the rug. the woman staggered back, cowering in the shadows. the father knelt beside the quivering form, clasped his left hand in tom's, placed the revolver to his temple and fired. the silver-gray head sank slowly against the breast of the boy as a piercing scream from helen's lips rang through the silent hall. chapter xxxi sin full grown the sensitive soul of the girl had seen the tragedy before she rushed into the library. at the first shot she sprang to her feet, her heart in her throat. the report had sounded queerly through the closed doors and she was not sure. she had entered the hall, holding her breath, when the second shot rang out its message of death. she was not the woman who faints in an emergency. she paused just a moment in the door, saw the ghastly heap on the floor and rushed to the spot. she tore tom's collar open and placed her ear over his heart: "o god! he's alive--he's alive!" she turned and saw cleo leaning against the table with blanched face and chattering teeth. "call andy and aunt minerva--and go for the doctor--his heart's beating--quick--the doctor--he's alive--we may save him!" she knelt again on the floor, took tom's head in her lap, wiped the blood from the clean, white forehead, pressed her lips to his and sobbed: "come back, my own--it's i--helen, your little wife--i'm calling you--you can't die--you're too young and life's too dear. we've only begun to live, my sweetheart! you shall not die!" the tears were raining on his pale face and her cries had become little wordless prayers when andy and minerva entered the room. she nodded her head toward norton's motionless body: "lift him on the lounge!" they moved him tenderly: "see if his heart's still beating," she commanded. andy reverently lowered his dusky face against the white bosom of his master. when he lifted it the tears had blinded his eyes: "nobum," he said slowly, "he's done dead!" the tick of the little french clock on the mantel beneath the mother's portrait rang with painful clearness. helen raised her hand to minerva: "open the windows and let the smoke out. i'll hold him in my arms until the doctor comes." "yassum----" minerva drew the heavy curtains back from the tall windows, opened the casements and the perfumed air of the beautiful southern night swept into the room. a cannon boomed its final cry of victory from the square and a rocket, bursting above the tree-tops, flashed a ray of red light on the white face of the dead. chapter xxxii confession when dr. williams entered the room helen was still holding tom's head in her lap. he had stirred once with a low groan. "the major is dead, but tom's alive, doctor!" she cried through her tears. "he's going to live, too--i feel it--i know it--tell me that it's so!" the lips trembled pitifully with the last words. the doctor felt the pulse and was silent. "it's all right? he's going to live--isn't he?" she asked pathetically. "i can't tell yet, my child," was the calm answer. he examined the wound and ran his hand over the blonde hair. his fingers stopped suddenly and he felt the head carefully. he bent low, parted the hair and found a damp blood mark three inches above the line of the forehead. "see!" he cried, "the ball came out here. his head was thrown far back, the bullet struck the inner skull bone at an angle and glanced." "what does it mean?" she asked breathlessly. the doctor smiled: "that the brain is untouched. he is only stunned and in a swoon. he'll be well in two weeks." helen lifted her eyes and sobbed: "o god!" she tried to bend and kiss tom's lips, her body swayed and she fell backward in a dead faint. andy and minerva carried her to her room, left cleo to minister to her and returned to help the doctor. he examined norton's body to make sure that life was extinct and placed the body on an improvised bed on the floor until he should regain his senses. in half an hour tom looked into the doctor's face: "why, it's doctor williams?" "yes." "what--what's happened?" "it's only a scratch for you, my boy. you'll be well in a few days----" "well in a few days"--he repeated blankly. "i can't get well! i've got to die"--his head dropped and he caught his breath. the doctor waited for him to recover himself to ask the question that was on his lips. he had gotten as yet no explanation of the tragedy save cleo's statement that the major had shot tom and killed himself. he had guessed that the ugly secret in norton's life was in some way responsible. "why must you die, my boy?" he asked kindly. tom opened his eyes in a wild stare: "helen's my wife--we married secretly without my father knowing it. he has just told me that cleo is her mother and i have married my own----" his voice broke and his head sank. the doctor seized the boy's hand and spoke eagerly: "it's a lie, boy! it's a lie! take my word for it----" tom shook his head. "i'll stake my life on it that it's a lie"--the old man repeated--"and i'll prove it--i'll prove it from cleo's lips!" "you--you--can do it!" the boy said hopelessly, though his eyes flashed with a new light. "keep still until i return!" the doctor cried, "and i'll bring cleo with me." he placed the revolver in his pocket and hastily left the room, the boy's eyes following him with feverish excitement. he called cleo into the hall and closed helen's door. the old man seized her hand with a cruel grip: "do you dare tell me that this girl is your daughter?" she trembled and faltered: "yes!" "you're a liar!" he hissed. "you may have fooled norton for twenty years, but you can't fool me. i've seen too much of this sort of thing. i'll stake my immortal soul on it that no girl with helen's pure white skin and scarlet cheeks, clean-cut features and deep blue eyes can have in her body a drop of negro blood!" "she's mine all the same, and you know when she was born," the woman persisted. he could feel her body trembling, looked at her curiously and said: "come down stairs with me a minute." cleo drew back: "i don't want to go in that room again!" "you've got to come!" he seized her roughly and drew her down the stairs into the library. she gripped the door, panting in terror. he loosed her hands and pushed her inside before the lounge on which the body of norton lay, the cold wide-open eyes staring straight into her face. she looked a moment in abject horror, shivered and covered her eyes: "oh, my god, let me go!" the doctor tore her hands from her face and confronted her. his snow-white beard and hair, his tense figure and flaming anger seemed to the trembling woman the image of an avenging fate as he solemnly cried: "here, in the presence of death, with the all-seeing eye of god as your witness, and the life of the boy you once held in your arms hanging on your words, i ask if that girl is your daughter?" the greenish eyes wavered, but the answer came clear at last: "no----" "i knew it!" the doctor cried. "now the whole truth!" the color mounted tom's cheeks as he listened. "my own baby died," she began falteringly, "i was wild with grief and hunted for another. i found helen in norfolk at the house of an old woman whom i knew, and she gave her to me----" "or you stole her--no matter"--the doctor interrupted--"go on." helen had slipped down stairs, crept into the room unobserved and stood listening. "who was the child's mother?" the doctor demanded. cleo was gasping for breath: "the daughter of an old fool who had disowned her because she ran away and married a poor white boy--the husband died--the father never forgave her. when the baby was born the mother died, too, and i got the child from the old nurse--she's pure white--there's not a stain of any kind on her birth!" with a cry of joy helen knelt and drew tom into her arms: "oh, darling, did you hear it--oh, my sweetheart, did you hear it?" the boy's head sank on her breast and he breathed softly: "thank god!" chapter xxxiii healing the years brought their healing to wounded hearts. tom norton refused to leave his old home. he came of a breed of men who had never known how to quit. he faced the world and with grim determination took up the work for the republic which his father had begun. with tireless voice his paper pleads for the purity of the race. its circulation steadily increases and its influence deepens and widens. the patter of a baby's feet again echoes through the wide hall behind the white fluted columns. the young father and mother have taught his little hands to place flowers on the two green mounds beneath the oak in the cemetery. he is not old enough yet to understand, and so the last time they were there he opened his eyes wide at his mother's tears and lisped: "are 'oo hurt, mama?" "no, my dear, i'm happy now." "why do 'oo cry?" "for a great man i knew a little while, loved and lost, dearest--your grandfather for whom we named you." little dan's eyes grew very serious as he looked again at the flower-strewn graves and wondered what it all meant. but the thing which marks the norton home with peculiar distinction is that since the night of his father's death, tom has never allowed a negro to cross the threshold or enter its gates. the end * * * * * novels of southern life by thomas dixon, jr. may be had wherever books are sold. ask for grosset & dunlap's list _the leopard's spots_: a story of the white man's burden, - . with illustrations by c. d. williams. a tale of the south about the dramatic events of destruction. reconstruction and upbuilding. the work is able and eloquent and the verifiable events of history are followed closely in the development of a story full of struggle. _the clansman._ with illustrations by arthur i. keller. while not connected with it in any way, this is a companion volume to the author's "epoch-making" story _the leopard's spots_. it is a novel with a great deal to it, and which very properly is going to interest many thousands of readers. * * * it is, first of all, a forceful, dramatic, absorbing love story, with a sequence of events so surprising that one is prepared for the fact that much of it is founded on actual happenings; but mr. dixon has, as before, a deeper purpose--he has aimed to show that the original formers of the ku klux klan were modern knights errant taking the only means at hand to right intolerable wrongs. _the traitor._ a story of the fall of the invisible empire. illustrations by c. d. williams. the third and last book in this remarkable trilogy of novels relating to southern reconstruction. it is a thrilling story of love, adventure, treason, and the united states secret service dealing with the decline and fall of the ku klux klan. _comrades._ illustrations by c. d. williams. a novel dealing with the establishment of a socialistic colony upon a deserted island off the coast of california. the way of disillusionment is the course over which mr. dixon conducts the reader. _the one woman._ a story of modern utopia. a love story and character study of three strong men and two fascinating women. in swift, unified, and dramatic action, we see socialism a deadly force, in the hour of the eclipse of faith, destroying the home life and weakening the fiber of anglo saxon manhood. * * * * * stories of western life may be had wherever books are sold. ask for grosset & dunlap's list _riders of the purple sage_, by zane grey. illustrated by douglas duer. in this picturesque romance of utah of some forty years ago, we are permitted to see the unscrupulous methods employed by the invisible hand of the mormon church to break the will of those refusing to conform to its rule. _friar tuck_, by robert alexander wason. illustrated by stanley l. wood. happy hawkins tells us, in his humorous way, how friar tuck lived among the cowboys, how he adjusted their quarrels and love affairs and how he fought with them and for them when occasion required. _the sky pilot_, by ralph connor. illustrated by louis rhead. there is no novel, dealing with the rough existence of cowboys, so charming in the telling, abounding as it does with the freshest and the truest pathos. _the emigrant trail_, by geraldine bonner. colored frontispiece by john rae. the book relates the adventures of a party on its overland pilgrimage, and the birth and growth of the absorbing love of two strong men for a charming heroine. _the boss of wind river_, by a. m. chisholm. illustrated by frank tenney johnson. this is a strong, virile novel with the lumber industry for its central theme and a love story full of interest as a sort of subplot. _a prairie courtship_, by harold bindloss. a story of canadian prairies in which the hero is stirred, through the influence of his love for a woman, to settle down to the heroic business of pioneer farming. _joyce of the north woods_, by harriet t. comstock. illustrated by john cassel. a story of the deep woods that shows the power of love at work among its primitive dwellers. it is a tensely moving study of the human heart and its aspirations that unfolds itself through thrilling situations and dramatic developments. * * * * * john fox, jr's. stories of the kentucky mountains may be had wherever books are sold. ask for grosset and dunlap's list _the trail of the lonesome pine._ illustrated by f. c. yohn. [illustration] the "lonesome pine" from which the story takes its name was a tall tree that stood in solitary splendor on a mountain top. the fame of the pine lured a young engineer through kentucky to catch the trail, and when he finally climbed to its shelter he found not only the pine but the _footprints of a girl_. and the girl proved to be lovely, piquant, and the trail of these girlish footprints led the young engineer a madder chase than "the trail of the lonesome pine." _the little shepherd of kingdom come._ illustrated by f. c. yohn. this is a story of kentucky, in a settlement known as "kingdom come." it is a life rude, semi-barbarous; but natural and honest, from which often springs the flower of civilization. "chad" the "little shepherd" did not know who he was nor whence he came--he had just wandered from door to door since early childhood, seeking shelter with kindly mountaineers who gladly fathered and mothered this waif about whom there was such a mystery--a charming waif, by the way, who could play the banjo better that anyone else in the mountains. _a knight of the cumberland._ illustrated by f. c. yohn. the scenes are laid along the waters of the cumberland the lair of moonshiner and feudsman. the knight is a moonshiner's son, and the heroine a beautiful girl perversely christened "the blight." two impetuous young southerners' fall under the spell of "the blight's" charms and she learns what a large part jealousy and pistols have in the love making of the mountaineers. included in this volume is "hell fer-sartain" and other stories, some of mr. fox's most entertaining cumberland valley narratives. * * * * * myrtle reed's novels may be had wherever books are sold. ask for grosset & dunlap's list _lavender and old lace._ [illustration] a charming story of a quaint corner of new england where bygone romance finds a modern parallel. the story centers round the coming of love to the young people on the staff of a newspaper--and it is one of the prettiest, sweetest and quaintest of old fashioned love stories, * * * a rare book, exquisite in spirit and conception, full of delicate fancy, of tenderness, of delightful humor and spontaniety. _a spinner in the sun._ miss myrtle reed may always be depended upon to write a story in which poetry, charm, tenderness and humor are combined into a clever and entertaining book. her characters are delightful and she always displays a quaint humor of expression and a quiet feeling of pathos which give a touch of active realism to all her writings. in "a spinner in the sun" she tells an old-fashioned love story, of a veiled lady who lives in solitude and whose features her neighbors have never seen. there is a mystery at the heart of the book that throws over it the glamour of romance. _the master's violin,_ a love story in a musical atmosphere. a picturesque, old german virtuoso is the reverent possessor of a genuine "cremona." he consents to take for his pupil a handsome youth who proves to have an aptitude for technique, but not the soul of an artist. the youth has led the happy, careless life of a modern, well-to-do young american and he cannot, with his meagre past, express the love, the passion and the tragedies of life and all its happy phases as can the master who has lived life in all its fulness. but a girl comes into his life--a beautiful bit of human driftwood that his aunt had taken into her heart and home, and through his passionate love for her, he learns the lessons that life has to give--and his soul awakes. founded on a fact that all artists realize. * * * * * louis tracy's captivating and exhilarating romances may be had wherever books are sold. ask for grosset & dunlap's list _cynthia's chauffeur._ illustrated by howard chandler christy. a pretty american girl in london is touring in a car with a chauffeur whose identity puzzles her. an amusing mystery. _the stowaway girl._ illustrated by nesbitt benson. a shipwreck, a lovely girl stowaway, a rascally captain, a fascinating officer, and thrilling adventures in south seas. _the captain of the kansas._ love and the salt sea, a helpless ship whirled into the hands of cannibals, desperate fighting and a tender romance. _the message._ illustrated by joseph cummings chase. a bit of parchment found in the figurehead of an old vessel tells of a buried treasure. a thrilling mystery develops. _the pillar of light._ the pillar thus designated was a lighthouse, and the author tells with exciting detail the terrible dilemma of its cut off inhabitants. _the wheel o'fortune._ with illustrations by james montgomery flagg. the story deals with the finding of a papyrus containing the particulars of some of the treasures of the queen of sheba. _a son of the immortals._ illustrated by howard chandler christy. a young american is proclaimed king of a little balkan kingdom, and a pretty parisian art student is the power behind the throne. _the wings of the morning._ a sort of robinson crusoe _redivivus_ with modern settings and a very pretty love story added. the hero and heroine, are the only survivors of a wreck, and have many thrilling adventures on their desert island. * * * * * the novels of stewart edward white _the rules of the game._ illustrated by lajaren a. hiller. the romance of the son of "the riverman." the young college hero goes into the lumber camp, is antagonized by "graft" and comes into the romance of his life. _arizona nights._ illus. and cover inlay by n. c. wyeth. a series of spirited tales emphasizing some phases of the life of the ranch, plains and desert. a masterpiece. _the blazed trail._ with illustrations by thomas fogarty. a wholesome story with gleams of humor, telling of a young man who blazed his way to fortune through the heart of the michigan pines. _the claim jumpers._ a romance. the tenderfoot manager of a mine in a lonesome gulch of the black hills has a hard time of it, but "wins out" in more ways than one. _conjuror's house._ illustrated theatrical edition. dramatized under the title of "the call of the north." conjuror's house is a hudson bay trading post where the head factor is the absolute lord. a young fellow risked his life and won a bride on this forbidden land. _the magic forest._ a modern fairy tale. illustrated. the sympathetic way in which the children of the wild and their life is treated could only belong to one who is in love with the forest and open air. based on fact. _the riverman._ illus. by n. c. wyeth and c. underwood. the story of a man's fight against a river and of a struggle between honesty and grit on the one side, and dishonesty and shrewdness on the other. _the silent places._ illustrations by philip r. goodwin. the wonders of the northern forests, the heights of feminine devotion, and masculine power, the intelligence of the caucasian and the instinct of the indian, are all finely drawn in this story. _the westerners._ a story of the black hills that is justly placed among the best american novels. it portrays the life of the new west as no other book has done in recent years. _the mystery._ in collaboration with samuel hopkins adams. with illustrations by will crawford. the disappearance of three successive crews from the stout ship "laughing lass" in mid-pacific, is a mystery weird and inscrutable. in the solution, there is a story of the most exciting voyage that man ever undertook. * * * * * titles selected from grosset & dunlap's list may be had wherever books are sold. ask for grosset & dunlap's list _the siege of the seven suitors._ by meredith nicholson. illustrated by c. coles phillips and reginald birch. seven suitors vie with each other for the love of a beautiful girl, and she subjects them to a test that is full of mystery, magic and sheer amusement. _the magnet._ by henry c. rowland. illustrated by clarence f. underwood. the story of a remarkable courtship involving three pretty girls on a yacht, a poet-lover in pursuit, and a mix-up in the names of the girls. _the turn of the road._ by eugenia brooks frothingham. a beautiful young opera singer chooses professional success instead of love, but comes to a place in life where the call of the heart is stronger than worldly success. _scottie and his lady._ by margaret morse. illustrated by harold m. brett. a young girl whose affections have been blighted is presented with a scotch collie to divert her mind, and the roving adventures of her pet lead the young mistress into another romance. _sheila vedder._ by amelia e. barr. frontispiece by harrison fisher. a very beautiful romance of the shetland islands, with a handsome, strong willed hero and a lovely girl of gaelic blood as heroine. a sequel to "jan vedder's wife." _john ward, preacher._ by margaret deland. the first big success of this much loved american novelist. it is a powerful portrayal of a young clergyman's attempt to win his beautiful wife to his own narrow creed. _the trail of ninety-eight._ by robert w. service. illustrated by maynard dixon. one of the best stories of "vagabondia" ever written, and one of the most accurate and picturesque of the stampede of gold seekers to the yukon. the love story embedded in the narrative is strikingly original. _the second wife._ by thompson buchanan. illustrated by w. w. fawcett. harrison fisher wrapper printed in four colors and gold. an intensely interesting story of a marital complication in a wealthy new york family involving the happiness of a beautiful young girl. _tess of the storm country._ by grace miller white. illustrated by howard chandler christy. an amazingly vivid picture of low class life in a new york college town, with a heroine beautiful and noble, who makes a great sacrifice for love. _from the valley of the missing._ by grace miller white. frontispiece and wrapper in colors by penthyn stanlaws. another story of "the storm country." two beautiful children are kidnapped from a wealthy home and appear many years after showing the effects of a deep, malicious scheme behind their disappearance. _the lighted match._ by charles neville buck. illustrated by r. f. schabelitz. a lovely princess travels incognito through the states and falls in love with an american man. there are ties that bind her to someone in her own home, and the great plot revolves round her efforts to work her way out. _maud baxter._ by c. c. hotchkiss. illustrated by will grefe. a romance both daring and delightful, involving an american girl and a young man who had been impressed into english service during the revolution. _the highwayman._ by guy rawlence. illustrated by will grefe. a french beauty of mysterious antecedents wins the love of an englishman of title. developments of a startling character and a clever untangling of affairs hold the reader's interest. _the purple stockings._ by edward salisbury field. illustrated in colors; marginal illustrations. a young new york business man, his pretty sweetheart, his sentimental stenographer, and his fashionable sister are all mixed up in a misunderstanding that surpasses anything in the way of comedy in years. a story with a laugh on every page. _ask for complete free list of g. & d. popular copyrighted fiction_ grosset & dunlap, west th st., new york the broken sword a pictorial page in reconstruction. by d. worthington. [illustration: alice seymour] the broken sword: --or-- a pictorial page in reconstruction --by-- d. worthington. wilson, n. c.: p. d. gold & sons, . this work is respectfully inscribed to the daughters of the confederacy by the author, who followed, as their fathers did, the "southern cross." index. chap. page introductory. iii looking backward i our scotch-irish ii the assassins of the peace of the south iii types and shadows iv patriotic men deliberating v the mills are grinding vi a politician of the new school vii memorial day viii the broken cruse ix freedom in flower x the majesty of the law xi home again xii a knight of the white camelia xiii the oath of fealty xiv the black diplomat xv under the hammer xvi a house warming xvii the writ of ejectment xviii the coroner's inquest xix a daniel come to judgment xx an unseen hand upon the lever xxi an hour with dickens xxii the absent minded judge xxiii the dipping of the red stars xxiv the parting of the ways xxv illustrated by james dempsey bullock. list of illustrations. page alice seymour _frontispiece_ "ef yu wus to brake loose und drap, yu'd bust up ebery scalyhorg inde souf." "dare goes joshaway, now, wid ole glory strowed er roun' him, steppin lak a rare-hoss over de tater ridges." "kase de high shurruff he dun und seed what wuz ergwine ter cum arter de bellion fell, und he flopped ober ter de publikins"--"ole mars jon haint ergwine ter flop nowheys," replied clarissa "i'm ergwins back lak dat prodigle man dat et up dem corn cobs way out yander to de tuther eend o'de yearth." all rights reserved. introduction. "i have considered the oppressions that are done under the sun, and on the side of the oppressor there is power." in the enforcement of the policy of reconstruction in the south, the evidences were from day to day becoming so cumulative and decisive, that nothing but the discipline of an enraged party, coupled with the "spoils" principle, prevented the whole mass of the community from a universal expression of its desire to have it abandoned. reasoning men everywhere felt that it must continue to multiply its mischiefs. "but," said its authors, "treason must be made odious, and the late insurrectionary states must feel that there is a higher law than that promulgated by their ordinances of secession." the spanish inquisition, now the abhorrence of all enlightened minds, was long sustained in many centuries by the tyrants' plea of necessity. in the burning of a thousand heretics the religious zealot saw the hand of god; in the destruction of a thousand sorcerers, the fanatic discerned the commonweal of the people; so in the whipcords with which the people of the south were so mercilessly scourged, there was found an antiseptic for the gangrenous wounds inflicted by the civil war. all these cruelties were legalized, while bleeding humanity was sinking under the burden of oppression. in the collision of exasperated passions, it is the temper of aggression that always strikes the first blow. the government of the south by carpet-baggers was essentially oppressive and inquisitorial. it was, in its practical operation, a pure and unadulterated despotism, superseding the protection guaranteed by the federal constitution to each and every state. it was under the dominion of an organized anarchy, with legislatures and courts of justice, subordinated to a lawless assemblage of unprincipled men calling themselves the representatives and judges of the people. among its necessarily implied powers was that of confiscation; and numbered in its enumeration of brutalities, was a nameless crime that shocked the moral sense of mankind. reconstruction came upon the south with fearful impulse. perhaps the "hour is on the wing," when a worthier hand will write the history of the institutional age that was sandwiched between the slavery civilization ante-dating the sixties, and that which minimized the pernicious power of manhood suffrage at the close of the century; or perhaps when that remnant that still survives in the weakness of age to "weep o'er their wounds, o'er tales of sorrow done. shoulder their crutch and show how fields are won." shall have "passed over the river;" when the threnody of the "olden days" which to us is like the music of carrol along the hills of slimora, "pleasant, but mournful to the soul," shall be forgotten, some ambitious youth will uplift the veil; will take a glance of the whole horizon, and the south will unbosom her griefs that have been so long concealed. it will not do for a hand that drew the sword to guide the pen. by a law of our nature all passive impressions impair our moral sensibilities. contact with misery renders us callous to those experiences; a constant view of vice lessens its deformity. if any expression in this humble narrative shall appear ill-tempered, let me say in the language of themistocles at the battle of salamis, "strike, but hear me." the whole country has long since repudiated the dogma that "all men are born free and equal" and endowed with certain imprescriptible and inalienable rights. this heresy of course found its highest expression in the post-bellum amendments to the constitution, and the remedial statutes which made their efficiency complete. the war was the logical fulfillment of prophecies that had their forecast in the public councils before the nullification doctrine was forced upon the senate by mr. calhoun. it sprang without extraneous aid from uninterpretable expressions in the organic law, which were finally explained away in the effusion of blood. reconstruction, in the conception of men who provided the sinews of war, was the prolific aftermath; and in this harvest field, the gleaners plied their vocation with merciless activity, reinforced in their villainies by the freedmen, who, in an experimental way, were publicly evincing their unfitness for citizenship. the civil war gendered this brood that filled the south with horror, and their disorders and tumults precipitated a crisis that plunged the southland into a paroxysm from the potomac to the rio grande. there was no refuge from an evil that was all-pervasive. the great war with its pageants and sacrifices, its banners and generals, its storming soldiery and reservoirs of human blood was almost thrust out of the memory as the patriots of the sixties stood face to face to the all-encompassing perils of reconstruction. they saw the flag of the union--the almost lifeless emblem of the genius of their liberties--frown feebly at the promulgation of a law that disfranchised , american citizens. the old banner seemed to turn her eye to the eagle at her staff-head and ask him to lend her his wide-spreading pinions, that she might bend the wing and fly away from the polluted spot--from the embodied forms of evil and ruin. almost every utterance of the complaining tongue that was syllabled into speech, was to this effect: "will our country--our civilization--withstand the shock?" our southern characters had been enriched by an assemblage of all the treasures which refined intellect could accumulate; we had wisely built upon foundations of public virtue; our institutions had the permanency of age and respectability, and exhibited everywhere the fullest maturity of athletic vigor. the paroles of southern soldiers amnestied them from arrest for past military offences, but the clothing which their poverty obliged them to wear marked the target at which the lawless and vicious shot at their will. personal and state rights were abridged until nothing was left of the sovereignty of the barren commonwealths or the enthralled individual. there were no juries of the vicinage but negroes; and daily the broken-hearted people were unwittingly aggrandizing rapacious officials. to the most depraved of the negroes the carpet-baggers were constantly appealing with arguments that stirred their blood. this narrative will not in an historical sense deal with the subject of reconstruction; from its want of compactness and continuity it would prove inefficient as a lesson or a guide. we present, however, imperfect portraits of a few men and women who were unfortunately in the pathway of the storm that stripped the husbandman of the fruits of his labor, the southron of his liberty, stifled the cries of the distressed, and rendered the tenures of property unstable and insecure. in no conjuncture in which this paroxysm of politics placed the former masters of slaves, did they abate their care and zeal for their betterment. monuments of brass and sculptured stone are not sufficiently enduring to memorialize the virtues of the negroes of the old plantations of the south, who watched and waited for the avenging arm of providence to right the wrongs of old master. may god's mercy rest and abide upon this scattered remnant, that, like autumn's leaves in the forest, have been blown hither and thither by the wraith of the tempest. [illustration] the broken sword. chapter i. looking backward. i have surrendered at discretion to vagrant thoughts. just as the idle school-boy will pause beside the limpid stream to watch its eddying waters as they go on and on, "never hasting, never resting," so i sit to-night in the haze of the years that are dead, with the mind sadly reminiscent, and i watch the shadows as they seem to sketch upon the memory the familiar faces of our loved and lost, and i hear their laughter and songs--grateful echoes from the realm of the long ago. i am gazing again upon the sepulchre of the old south, after the plowshare of war and reconstruction had run the last furrow. in the garnering of the red harvest did our men and women of the sixties maintain themselves with a proper decorum? were they less patriotic, less self-sacrificing, less ready with heart and hand to divert the destructive revolution of principle than their fathers of ' , who in the upbuilding of republican institutions wavered not in their purpose; when the terror and ignominy of the scaffold were before them; when they knew their blood must cement the foundations of the structure they were rearing, and they themselves become the first sacrifice in the temple of liberty, which they were dedicating? in that epoch and since we have been making the grand experiment of self-government; not as rome made it, when liberty there was only a name for licentiousness; not as greece made it, when a demagogue swayed the deluded masses and lacked only a throne to make him a king; but with a constitution that should deserve the encomium of the people, for the unutterable blessings it should bestow; a constitution impervious to unjust exactions and unpatriotic suggestions, we hoped for a policy dictated in a spirit of compromise; but as i look back upon the eventful past, the first adventure of gil blas occurs to me. he had been furnished by his uncle with a sorry mule and thirty or forty pistoles, and sent forth to seek his fortune. he set out accordingly, but had not proceeded far from home, when, sitting on his beast counting his pistoles with much satisfaction, into his hat, the mule suddenly raised its head and pricked up its ears. gil blas looked around to see the cause of its alarm, and perceived an old hat upon the ground in the middle of the road, with a rosary of very large beads in it. at the same time he heard a voice addressing him in a very pathetic tone, "good traveler, in the name of the merciful god, and of all the saints, do drop a few pistoles in the hat." looking in the direction from which these words proceeded, he saw to his dismay the muzzle of a blunderbuss projecting through the hedge, and pointing directly at his head. gil blas, not much pleased with the looks of the pious mendicant, dropped a few pistoles in the hat and scampered away as fast as he could. this slight narrative presents to the mind of the writer the most perfect emblem of the pacific remedy of reconstruction in its beginning. to the contemplative mind there is a melancholy pleasure in looking backward; as shadows will enter unbidden into the camera obscura, though every portal appears securely guarded; so memories will flit fantastically into the imagination when every approach seems closed against intrusion. i am looking backward, as it were, through a smoked glass, for a great sunburst is within the radius of vision, a sunburst that cheered our tired eyes with its thousand scintillant gleams in the hot days of august a. d. nineteen hundred. looking backward upon a picturesque civilization--upon the old homesteads and plantations of the south, with their hallowed associations and ideals--with their impedimenta not of human chattels, but of compact masses of freed slaves, the underpinning of that civilization in its concrete form. i have asked the historian, the essayist, the chronicler, the clairvoyant, to aid me in the retrospection, but they answer dubiously. there is no trodden path that i may pursue. no friendly hand that i may clasp as i stride across fens and brakes, and morasses: even the echoes of receding footsteps, like the laughter of happy voices are hushed and dead "lang syne." there are faded letters however that i may read; broken swords and battered shields hanging upon decaying walls; moth eaten uniforms in garret and closet, that will guide me backward. the line of vision is traversed by unwieldy throngs of dilapidated men, in tattered gray clothes, without a federal head, without intelligent momentum, breaking up and dissolving like icebergs drifting southward; they are coming back home where there is neither grain for the sickle, nor hope for the husbandman: coming back to little cottages where lights in the windows kept burning for dear papa flickered and spumed, then died down into the rustic candlesticks, when the little watchful eyes so tired and weary, closed upon the moonlight that shimmered within the humble chamber. looking back over grave yards, where we reverently laid away our jewels to be placed by the great lapidary in his crown by and by, when we shall all rise from our sleep and shine in his emitted glory. looking backward over a strange realm, without boundaries or capitals, where there are no soldiers and no battle fields, and where every thing is so fragrant and ethereal. here we may fashion pictures and weave around them gossamer draperies as insubstantial as this golden twilight. hard-hitting, rough-riding moss-troopers rode over the subjugated domains of the bewildered south, with swords that flashed and turned every way like alaric's; rode hither to obliterate the past, its monuments, its shrines, its traditions; to scarify the old south with harrows and bayonets; its altars, its homes, its civilization, and to fetter with chains a great warlike people, with a purpose as fatuous as ever animated the swart maid of philistia. against this senseless vengeance, the south rebelled again with the same old defiance, the same old manhood. you may prod the wounded lion with pikes and sabres, but you cannot tread upon it with iron heels without hearing its roar and feeling its fangs. to these marauders, the old south was but a moor fowl to be plucked and eaten. to us she was dynastic, like hapsburg, plantagenet or hohenzollern. to them the south was a huge incubator, out of which was hatched "stratagems and treasons:" to us she was a queen, still wearing the purple, still grasping the sceptre, as in past evolutions and crises. she was our queen when a full century ago, and before there was a cabin upon her plantations she pleaded for the emancipation of slaves and was insultingly asked to withdraw her petition by the merchant marine of massachusetts. she was our queen when envenomed abolitionists were gathering the aftermath of the "higher law proclamation;" she was our queen when ossawattomie brown unleashed his bloodhounds upon a fresher trail at harper's ferry; she was our queen when sumpter ran up a flag that had never before fluttered in a gale, never before greeted a young nation with its maiden blushes, followed by the hopes, the prayers, the aspirations, faith and loyalty of ten million men, women and children; our queen when "old traveler" was stripped of his dust covered housings and led ever so weary back into old mars. bob's stables; our queen when the last cavalier wiped the blood from his sabre and scabbarded it forever. god grant she may always be our queen that we may be her liegemen, leal and right trusty in all catastrophes! hence we go back to think of her, to write of her, though a widow bereaved of her husband, and a mother who has buried her first born. there is no sword now to gleam like a flash of light over the plumes of charging squadrons: there is no guidon to mark the line of direction through defile and mountain pass: no call of the bugle "to saddle and away," no thanksgiving like that of jackson; "god crowned our arms with victory at mcdowell yesterday;" no smile like that of lee as the army of the potomac with trailing banners was double quicking back to washington. ah! no, but the old south through her blinding tears is smiling still; her dear old face re-lighted by a fresher inspiration. a trifling dash of time between and , but events have been packed away within that decade, that would overlap the four corners of any other century in the calendar. within those years were compounded somewhere in laboratories all the combustible elements of war and pillage; the casting the projectiles that would destroy a hemisphere. broken hearts--crushed hopes--desolated homes, an enslaved country, wrongs, indignities, outrages, oppressions, all, all wrought by the cruel instrumentalities of great masters of tragedy. here is an old mansion with turrets and esplanades and terraces long neglected and sadly out of repair. here are great oaks of a century's growth planted and pruned by hands that have long since forgotten their cunning. here are lapping waters singing in low sweet octaves as they did when poured out of the hollow of his hand. here is the old rookery out of which are ricochetting birds almost of every voice and plume. here are cattle, red and dappled, cropping the meadow grass. here are vast expanses clad in the refreshing drapery of nature, upheaving their grassy billows. here are the crumbling cabins of the old slaves, in silent platoons that flank the old mansion, the earmarks of a picturesque civilization abused and denounced. slaves, many of whom like the paintings of titian and murillo and correggio in the great mullioned halls have come down from former generations. in yonder clump of soughing pines stood the little meeting house of the "cullud folks" on "old marsa's plantation." here for decades they worshipped. in the little brook that glides along so cheerily singing as it goes, they had baptized adult "bredrin and sisterin." here many of them had felt the touch of the master upon the emancipated souls, and heard his voice in their spiritual uplifting, tenderly calling, and there when the gnarled and knotted hands had ceased their toil "ole marsa and ole misses" had laid them crosswise upon rigid, lifeless bosoms, that heaved not again with the pangs of suffering; and out yonder under the maples, hard by the little babbling brook, reverent and tender hands white and black had lowered the rude coffin and covered it up in "god's acre," and here around the little altar ole marster, and miss alice and mars harry worshipped with them. no master, no mistress, no slave in this consecrated ground; no black, no white, in the invisible presence; no hard times to come again; no tithing men, nor tax gatherers; no snarling, snapping wolf to snatch the gnawed bone from the hungry wife and her starving child. if the larder were empty the "great house" had an exhaustless supply. if clothes were rent there was "allus stuff in de loom;" if the clouds gathered for snow "ole marsa" would put on his great coat and knock at the doors and ask, "boys, have you got plenty of good wood for the storm'?" if joshua had the "rheumatics" or melinda the "shaking ager," or little jeff the hives, there were ointments and liquids, pills and lotions; and what physician was so kind; whose hands so soft and tender, whose voice so comforting and sympathetic as "ole missis's and young missis's?" there was the garden from which the negroes would market their vegetables; there was the little "water million" patch where little jeff and susan ann would run out at midday, and thump and thump and thump and would as often run back with their mouths wide-open like a rift in a black cloud, "mammy, oh! mammy, dat great big water million is mo'est ripe--be ripe by sunday sho," and their little black feet would knock off a jig on the bare floor; then there was the pig sty where sukey the "sassy poker," in its sleekness and fatness, would grunt and frisk and cavort all the day long. then there was "ole boatswain," the coon dog, lazily napping in the door--barking at the treed coon in his sleep; then there were the "tater ridges" and the pumpkins and the cotton patches; then there were the cackling hens and the pullets, the ducks and geese and guinea-fowls; the eggs that hannah and clarissa and melinda had counted a score of times, and knew to a four pence a' penny how much they would fetch in the town; and "dere was de wagin wid ole bob an' ole pete wid pinted yeares, chawin' de bit same as it were fodder, ready to dash off fore dey wus ready;" and there were the inventoried assets in trade, "free forfs hanna's and two forfs melinda's and seben forfs clarissy's," all tumbled in disorder, live stock and dead stock. and then "dere was melinda and judy a settin' a middle ships into de wagin, all agwine to de town." and when the heavy wheels would rattle with its human freight over the hard ground of ingleside, as the moon was dipping its nether horn below the line of vision, and clara bell and melinda "a singin' de ole ship of zion," "ole marster an' missis an' miss alice would run outen de great house jes to see if ned had fotched us all back safe an' sound. an' den when christmas would come, de ole turkey gobbler would be turnin' an' twistin' roun' and roun' fore de fire drappin' gravy in de dish, and de barbeku would be brownin' and de lasses a stewin out de taters in great big ubbens, fo de flambergasted cookin' stobes cum about to pester folkes. and den dere would be ole cæsar a shufflin' towards ole marser's room, and little jeff a sneakin' on tip-toe to ketch ole marser's christmas gift fore he seed em, an' mary an' polly creepin' like cats in miss alice's chamber, to get their stockins that santy claus had stuffed from top to toe; and den de clatter in de great dinin' room, when wid bowls of cream, and flagons of mellow ole rye, clarissa and melindv would be makin' egg-nog fur de fokeses, white and cullud, on de plantation." oh! this golden prime! there were no black soldiers in greasy uniforms a hep, hep, hepping about the plantation; no firing of guns by riotous negroes on the roadside; no drunken, revelling wretches to slash and deface portraits, walls and corridors; no lecherous villains to accost and abuse defenceless and inoffensive women; no vigils to keep for fear of murders, burglaries and conflagrations; no angry forces and energies to quicken and compound; no wife to say to her husband, "have you fotched any wittles back from the conwenshun? 'fore god de chillun haint had narry moufful o' nuffin to eat dis blessed day, nor me nuther." ah, no! the blessing that was vouchsafed unto israel, despite its rebellion, was all bountiful in this land. "i will give thee peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and there shall be none to make thee afraid." then war came with its unutterable horrors and tumults. the old tallow candles were snuffed out, and there were fears and alarms in the mansion and the cabin; the thoroughbred was brought out of the stable with yellow housings on, like the gelding of a knight errant, and the young soldier, dressed all in gray with buff revers, rushed out of the house and vaulted into the saddle. there were kisses and good byes--lost echoes now--as the cavalier, young and happy and handsome, rode away. yes, rode away in the descending shadows, over the hills, through the glades, to manassas and to death. yes, rode away to the death wrestle--to where the guns were spitting fire. "bress yo souls, fokeses," said uncle ned one day, as he leaned upon his staff like a sheik of the desert, "i looks back now und den, und peers lak i kin see ole missis way back yander in de war times, when de kannon was a plowin' froo de trees ober at manassy, same as a sho nuff harrykin, und killin' a million of our federick soldiers at wun time. i seed her und miss alice cum outen de grate house, a fairly toting mars harry dat rainy day he rid off to de war, und mars harry he looked same as a gineral in all dem stripes und fedders, und nelly she wuz jest a chompin' de bit und er pawin' de yurth lak she wuz moes afeerd de war want er gwine to hole out twell she und mars harry got dar; und den ole missis looked up in mars harry's face, und i seed her laf, do she wuz crying tu, und den i heerd hur say, 'my brave boy, how kin i ever giv yu up! will yer git er furlow und cum home arter de battle? und den mars harry he larfed too, und den i heerd him say, 'oh mother don't be childish, i'm jest er gwine off fer my helth. i'm gwine to bring yer a yankee sord when we whups em and drives um tuther side o' de pokomuc river.' und den ole missis she put her pendence in every word mars harry tole her, kase when he rid off i heerd her tell miss alice dat her boy want agwine to be gone long, and dat de yankeys was agwine to give up fore dey fit ary battle; but bimeby, when ole missus seed dat mars harry mout not git a furlow, she jest gin herself up to die. all de day long pore old missis would walk up und down de piazzy a peekin' froo de trees und axin' me ef i spishioned he was gwine to git kilt, und den when she heerd dat our fokeses had fit de battle of manassy, me und ole missis sot up all night long, jes a watchin' fer mars harry to ride back lak he rid off; but no mars harry neber didn't come back twell one rainy, grizzly night me und ole missis heerd a clatter down de road, und den we heerd somebody say, 'wo! und den a passel ov soldiers cum up to missis easy like, and axed her if mr. seymo' lived dere; und when ole missis heerd dat word und seed de kivered wagin, she jes drapped down into de road dead. pore ole missis! de soldiers took her up in dere arms und toted her into de 'grate house,' und dere was her and pore miss alice in hysteriks, and ole marser not a sayin' ary wurd but a chokin 'mos to def; und den de soldiers went back to de kivered wagin', and i heered 'em a draggin' outen it a great big box, and i seed dem totin it to de 'grate house' jes as easy and slow, wid dere milinterry hats offen dere heds in de rain, und den i node it was mars harry. when ole missis cum to, she made de soldiers take de led offen de coffin, und dere was mars harry a lyin' dere wid his eyes shot right tight, a smilin de butifullest all to hissef. ole missis sot dere all dat nite lak a grate big statu, a runnin her fingers fru his hair an' a talkin' to him jes de same as if mars harry had rid back frum de war lak he rid off. an' den ole marsa he cum in und looked at mars harry a smilin' to hissef, an' i could see ole marsa shake an' shake, but he didn't say narry a wurd, an' he tuck mars harry's sord out of de coffin; den bimeby i heerd him say he was agwine to venge his death. ole missis soon pined erway, cause mars harry was her eyeballs. i tells ye fokeses, dat was de most solemcholly site i ever seed in my born days. poor ole missis didn't stay long arter mars harry died; she dun gon home too, an' i specks mars harry dun tole ole missis all erbout de battle of manassy, an' how he fit an' how he got kilt; und erbout dat yankey sord he nebber didn't fotch back." to a paternal ancestor of colonel john walter seymour has been ascribed this prayer in battle, "oh lord, thou knowest how busy i must be this day. if i forget thee, do not thou forget me." then rising, he gave the command, "forward, march! on, my lads!" at eight o'clock on the morning of the rd of october, king charles was riding along the ridge of edgehill, and looking down into the valley of the red horse, a beautiful meadow, broken here and there by hedges and copses, he could see with his glasses the parliamentary army as they marched out of the town of kleinton and aligned their forces in battle array. "i never saw the rebels in a body before," said the king. "i will give them battle here." there were hot words around the royal standard. rupert, a dashing young general, who had seen the swift, fiery charges of the fierce troopers in the thirty years war, was backed up by patrick lord ruthven and sir walter seymour, among the many scots who had won renown under the great augustus adolphus and opposed fiercely by lord lindsey, an old comrade of the earl of essex, commander-in-chief of the rebel forces, who swore by all the saints in the calendar that he would not serve again in an army under a boy, referring to prince rupert, who was assigned by the king to command the army at edge hill that day. it was to this circumstance that the country was indebted for the prayer aforesaid. the brave soldier, unyielding in his loyalty to the king, resigned his command as a general to command his company, and in so doing gave affront to lord lindsay and the king; but subsequently, at scone, the king said to him, "you shall accompany me to london as a privy counsellor." it was from this doughty ancestor of blessed memory that john walter seymour lineally descended. i have seen the old corselets, shackbolts, shields and trefoils of that chivalric era that belonged to the old baronet. colonel seymour had interested himself greatly in the literature of that institutional era that had so close a connection with the pomp and power of the feudal system. he spoke learnedly too of the ideal purity of the social and moral code of the age. the colonel himself was no ignoble scion of so noble an ancestor. he had won his spurs and stars at malvern hill, and at the disbanding of the army he had covered the faded stars upon his collar with his pocket handkerchief until unobserved he could pluck them one by one and trample them underfoot. his haughty spirit could not brook the shame that overlaid him like a shroud when his sword passed out of his hands hilt foremost at appomattox. he had taken the beautiful alice glendower from a neighboring estate as his wife twenty-six years ago, and now in the year -, though a shadow darkening and deepening lay athwart heart and home, the old man was still muttering curses long, loud and deep. he had fully assimilated the indignant spirit of coriolanus. "i would they were barbarians (as they are though in rome littered), not romans as they are not though calved in the porch of the capitol." his only surviving child alice was now in her twenty-third year. harry, a princely fellow, a young lieutenant of cavalry, had fallen at the battle of manassas and ever since that day the mother had steadily declined until now the end had almost come. the likeness of the dead boy was photographed vividly upon her heart and every tender chord was ceaselessly vibrating from the presence of a grief, that recreated fancies and memories that brought back to her the vanished idol. god's peace had settled upon the old home and its hearth stones, one beautiful sabbath morning, as the colonel, his daughter and old clarissa had assembled in mrs. seymours's bed chamber. the light of the morning sun shimmered through open windows, and the shadows of the tree boughs like imprisoned fairies danced in cotilion upon the polished floor. "the birds are singing so sweetly to-day," observed the sick lady. "yes indeed, they are," replied her husband. "my dear," she said as she turned her face to him, "i have been greatly troubled by a horrid dream." "land sakes alive ole missis," interrupted clarissa, "don't yu pester yoursef to def erbout dreams these outlandish times. dey is bad enuff goodness nose widout dreaming dreams. ned he jumped clean outen de bed tother nite hollering for his ole muskit lak he was agwine to war--his eyes fairly a sot in his head lak a craw-fish and a tarryfying me to def and hollering 'fire! fire!' and a foaming at the mouf lak a mad dog, und duz yu know what i dun ole missis? when dat drotted nigger hollered fire! fire! i jes retched ober de table an' got de pale of water an' i put out dat fire fore ned skovered whay hit war. dat fool nigger walks perpendikler, now yu heers my racket." she laughed again and again as she continued: "and ned he wanted to fight; he was most drounded." there was little of sentiment and less of diplomacy in the character of colonel seymour; though he was exceedingly tolerant toward clarissa with her little vagaries and superstitions. what the dream of the good lady was has never been known--the narrative was rudely broken off by the interruption of clarissa. would you know sweet alice more intimately? i cannot portray her as she deserves; her heart was like so many little cells into which were unceasingly dropping the honey of blue thistle blossoms of charity. in every den of wretchedness; in every hovel where squalor and disease disputed all other dominions, she was a beam of sunshine, giving warmth and cheer and joy. the little star-eyed daisies in the meadow would turn up their tiny faces to greet her with smiles as she would pass them day after day with the little basket upon her arm; god had put her here among these poor people--among the deluded negroes as his missionary, and i am quite sure he was pleased with her work. i cannot describe her beauty and grace of person better than in the natural and characteristic language of clarissa "miss alice," she would say, "yu is the most butifullest white gal i ever seed in de wurrel; yer cheek is jes lak mellow wine-sop apples, und yer eyes is blu und bright lak agate marbles, und yer teeth as white as de dribben snow, und when yer laffs, pen pon it, even de birds in de trees stops to lisen; und yu is jes as suple und spry as de clown in de show." golden tresses like a nimbus of glory adorned her queenly head. eyes of blue graduated to the softest tint; cheeks that transfered the deep blush from tender spring blossoms. something in her there was that set you to thinking of those "strange back-grounds of raphael--that hectic and deep brief twilight in which southern suns fall asleep." with alice in her presence, clarissa felt no evil; when the storm came with blinding fire, its fierce thunders, her refuge was by her side. she was her inspiration, her providence. the gentle hand upon the hot brow and there came relief; an old fashioned lullaby from her sweet lips and the fevered pickaninny in the cradle would turn upon his side and fall into a grateful slumber. a prayer spoken out of a heart touched by pity or sorrow, and instantly another heart would be uplifted in thanksgiving. she exercised too a power over the freed slaves that made captive to her will almost all the stubborn and rebellious negroes. old ned would have plucked out his eyes for her and cast them at her feet; so would clarissa, so would clarabel; so would old caesar and hannah and joshua. only these rebelled against her influence, to wit: aleck, miles and ephraim. clarissa would say to her young mistress so inquisitively, "miss alice, why don't yu git married? peers like child yer is too sweet and pretty to live allus by yer lone, lorn self. yer aint allers gwine to be 'ticin an butiful like yer is now. by and by de crow's foot is agwine to cum into yer lubly face and dere is gwine to be kurlikus and frowns in yo eyes jes lak yo mammy's; she used to be pretty und lubly jes' lak you, and whar is she now? de boys aint gwine to brak their necks over you when yer gets ole an' ugly, nuther. now dey is lak a passel ov yallow jackets a swarmin' a-roun my house, and axin me dis ting an' tuther ting about dare sweetheart, and bress yo dear life i has to keep a patchin' up de fence whar dey climbs ober to keep de horgs an' cattle beastes out o de crap. dey is afraid to cum to de 'grate house;' skeert of yu an' ole marser. ole mars john aint gwine to be here allus, nuther; see how cranksided he is gettin' an' so ill an' contrawy that we das'nt projec' wid him no mo; an' whar wud yu be chile in dis grate, big house und dis grate big plantashun wid de cussed niggers a marchin' an' a beatin' drums an' a shootin' guns lak ole sherman's army, treadin' down de corn an' 'taters und a momickin' up de chickins und de sheepses und de cattle beastes? 'taint agwine to do nohow. dat it aint. i kin count fourteen portly yung 'uns dat wud jump clean akross de crick fer yer any hour god sends." alice could only silently hearken to the force of such plain, matter-of-fact reasoning, but poor girl, there was not a single niche in her heart into which she could lift an idol. within the shrine there were nothing but soulless effigies, so faded and old and lifeless that they recalled only battle-fields and sepulchres. "will her prince never come, into whose eyes she can see mirrored her own self, her soul in its beauty, love and happiness?" do you ask? there is a medallion that hangs by a golden chain across her fair bosom. "how long had she worn it there," think you? ever since "she was a child and he was a child, in his kingdom by the sea; when she loved with a love that was more than love, alice and arthur mcrae." chapter ii. our scotch-irish. a person on entering the library in an old-fashioned mansion, situated in the heart of a country that was very beautiful in the landscaping of nature, at eleven a. m. of the th of november, would have observed a venerable gentleman reclining upon an antique sofa, plainly upholstered in morocco. the gentleman was reading from a book entitled, "the life and speeches of daniel webster." the stranger might have further observed, that the right hand of the old gentleman would now and again move with some energy of expression, as if he were punctuating a particular paragraph by an emphatic dissent. if the reader had been asked for an opinion as to the character and ability of the illustrious commoner, whose views were so logically expressed in the memoir, he would have said without hesitation, that "he possessed the acumen of the wisest of statesmen, but that his opinions as a strict constructionist were extra hazardous, indeed out of harmony with the true theory of a republican form of government--a government of co-ordinate states that had entered voluntarily into a compact for a more perfect union. but (he may have continued) against the doctrine of nullification, indeed against the ordinances of secession, the irony of fate, through this great man, projected an argument whose logic was irrefutable in its last analysis. foreshadowed events put into the mouth of mr. webster a menace, whose uninterpretable meaning in was clearly understood when the baleful power of the storm swept from the high seas the last privateer with its letter of marque, disbanded the last armed scout south of the breakwater of the delaware, and broke the heart of the greatest warrior since charlemagne; a chieftain more honored in defeat than hannibal, or napoleon, or sobieski, or the great frederick. this master craftsman in the construction corps of the republic; whose resourceful intellect engrafted a principle as fixed and inviolable into the constitution as fate, propelled against the equity of 'peaceful separation' the weight of an overmastering influence. this menace to the south marked the tumultuous heart-beats of the commercial north, when it contemplated the separation of indestructible states. it made of the republic a huge camp of instruction, into which the nations of the earth were perpetually dumping their refuse populations; it girdled the south with a cincture of embattled mercenaries; it imparted to the constitution a disciplinary vigor; it gave to partisan legislation an inspiration; it gave to centralized power an omnipotent reserve that unnerved every arm, paralyzed every tongue, and rendered organized effort abortive in the crucial struggle for southern independence. but, sir, (and the eyes of the old man would gleam as with the light of an overpowering genius), a government created by the states, amendable by the states, preserved by the states, may be annihilated by the states." it was one of those leaky, bleak november days, when the weather, out of temper with itself, is continually making wry faces at the rain and the forest and the cattle, that a gentleman lately arrived from the auld town of edinboro, shook the glistening rain-drops from his shaggy talma in the great hall of ingleside, as he observed to the host with a smile, "thot it was a wee bit scrowie, but the weether wad be fayre in its ain gude time." it was indeed one of those leaden days that occasionally comes in the southland with the november chills, pinching the herds that are out upon the glades and meadows, when the winds sang in the tree boughs with a strange and melancholy rhythm. a sailor passing up the forward ladder from the forecastle to observe the weather would say, with a shudder, that it was a "greasy day," and that the sky and shrouds and storm-sails were leaky. col. seymour, upon ordinary occasions, was a gentleman of discrimination, and his judgment of character was fairly correct. like the true scotch southron, as he was, he had his own ideals, his own loves and his own idiosyncrasies. he loved scotland and her people, her memories, her history, her renown, her trossachs, her lakes, her mountains; they were his people, and scotland was the "ain love of his fayther and mither." he had not forgotten the language of her beautiful hills and vales, though he was a boy when, with his parents, he bade adieu to his bonny country to find a home across the water in the old north state, so prodigal and impartial in the distribution of honors and riches to all who came with clean hands and stout hearts. so when the neat and genteel scotchman gave his name as hugh mcaden, the old man's heart impulsively warmed towards his guest, for he knew of a verity that a mcaden everywhere was a man of honor--the name, an open sesame to the hearts and homes of scotch americans. "i will make you very comfortable to-day, sir," he observed, as he escorted mr. mcaden to his library. there were great hickory logs, half consumed, resting upon the antiquated brass andirons in the fire-place, giving warmth and cheer to the whole room. the stranger, rubbing his hands vigorously, for they were very cold and stiff, observed interrogatively, "you do not let the chill ond weet coom into the hoose?" "no indeed," replied the colonel with a broad smile, "these inflictions are for other folks, whose liberty is upon the highways and in the forests in such weather." "ah, for ither fauk; maybe the naygurs," laughingly suggested the scotchman. "yes, you can hear the guns in the woods, where they are hunting cattle not their own. you can see drunken squads marching upon the roads upon such a day." "ah!" he exclaimed, "ond do ye call this free america? may-be ye hae no goovernment as ye haed lang syne, ond no law ither." the colonel assured the gentleman that public affairs were at sixes and sevens, and the negroes now held the mastery over their former owners, and their discipline was not over indulgent. "ond do the naygurs make the laws for sic as you?" he enquired in a startled way. "oh yes," replied the colonel, quite seriously. "alack-a-day!" exclaimed the astonished man. "the deil take sic a goovernment, ond the deil tak sic a coontry, ond the deil tak the naygurs! coom to edinboro, mon, where there is not o'ermuch siller, but where ivery mon is his ain laird, ond his hoose is his ain hame. ye ken fine that i am a stranger hereaboot. ond will the naygurs harm a poor mishanalled mon like me?" he enquired in alarm. the colonel, with an effort to conceal his mirth, reassured his friend that no harm would come to him. "ond wad ye say," the scotchman interrupted, "that amang the naygurs ond sic a government, that a puir body wad hae the protection o' his ain queen?" he again asked, with his fears still unsubdued. the amiable host, shaking from an effort at self-control, again remarked that the carpet-bag government had made no attempt at personal violence upon strangers, and that he was as safe here as in his own city of edinboro; and the scotchman laughed away his fears. "sic an auld fule!" he exclaimed in great glee. "i am hardly masel in these lowlands," the scotchman continued, as the conversation changed into more agreeable channels. "ye hae na moontains ond bonnie hills hereaboot," he continued, as he looked from the window upon the low-lying fields and meadows. "but, my friend," replied the colonel, "if you will abide with me for awhile you will quite forget your mountains, for there is a charm and freshness in the landscape here when you become familiar with it." "i am sure of thot," quickly answered the guest; "but ye ken fine that a puir body must abide in his ain hame. what wad a man do in th' soothland wi' his beezeness in edinboro?" and the scotchman smiled as he asked the unanswerable question. "ah, well," the colonel replied with an assumed dignity, "you would do as we do." "ond what is thot?" asked the scotchman. "swear and vapor from early morn to dewy eve." "ah! thot wad na do, thot wad na do," he replied, horrified at such a suggestion, "the meenister in holy kirk wad discipline a puir body, ond the deil wad be to play. i guess i'll gang hame agen ond do as ilka fauk do in th' auld toon." the colonel had not been so happy in many a day as with the plain, matter-of-fact scotchman, in a sense, a type and representative of his own people, and a man who could speak so eloquently of the fadeless glory of old scotland. "hae ye nae gude wife ond bairns?" he enquired. "yes, an invalid wife and an only child, sir," said the colonel, as tears began to gather in his eyes. "my only son, sir, was slain in battle some years ago." "ond was it for sic a goovernment as ye hae noo, that ye gaed up your bonnie lad to dee?" he asked quite innocently. the old man bowed his head in silent grief. he could not answer, and he walked across the room and looked out upon the murky sky--a funereal coverlid, it appeared, laid over the grave of poor harry. "puir lad," uttered mr. mcaden, half aside, as he drew his handkerchief across his face and gazed abstractedly into the blazing fire. it was quite an interval before the colonel was able to subdue this paroxysm of grief that had quite overcome him, and, availing himself of the earliest opportunity to excuse himself, withdrew from the room. to mr. mcaden the moment was fraught with sincere sorrow. he had unwittingly opened the sluice-way at the veteran's heart, and great tides, crimsoned, as it seemed, with the blood of poor harry, were pouring into it. he could find no surcease only in the oft-repeated exclamation of reproach. "sic an auld fule! sic an auld fule! but i thocht the mon was o'er happy in the love of his gude wife ond the bairn. haed i thocht thot the lad had deed in battle, i wad na gaed him sic a sair thrust in his auld heart." the colonel retired to his own chamber to repair the injury that had been done to his feelings, and presently he returned with a smiling face, accompanied by his daughter, and he said, introducing her. "this sir, is my daughter, alice." "ah!" exclaimed mr. mcaden, rising with extended hand, "the lassie is like the sire, coonel. i can see the fayther in her een." "and the counterpart of her mither in all except the een," replied her father. "you ond the gude wife ond the lassie must coom to edinboro, coonel; ye ken fine thot her rooyal men ond weemen are i' th' groond noo, ond there are memorials here ond there in the auld kirk-yards where their puir bodies are laid, but our men ond weemen still are vera fayre ond gentle, ond we niver put our een upon a naygur. ond, now thot i can abide nae langer wi' ye, will ye nae tell me a wee bit o' the history o' our ain fauk in the soothland, for ye ken fine thot the auld anes wad be askin aboot this ane ond thot ane, in fine all aboot the scotch in your ain coontry, when i gae hame to edinboro." the subject referred to by the scotchman was full of a picturesque interest, and no man in the southland took a higher delight in imparting such information as he could command, than colonel seymour. turning his old arm-chair so that he could observe his guest more closely, he began: "the characteristics of these people are ineffaceably impressed upon our civilization. indeed they are as deeply grounded into the religious and social soil of north carolina, as though they had taken root like the rhododendron under the rocks and in the fissures of our hills and mountains. the scotch-irish american, with gigantic strides, has at last sat himself down upon the loftiest pinnacle of our th century civilization. he has never yielded to oppression; he has never compounded with evil. these brave people, bringing hither the virtues of their fathers as well as their own, have given north carolina its most luminous page. they made the earliest industry of the cape fear--the industry of colonization. it was an industry that sought to provide homes for the people, and to dignify labor and life in the midst of surroundings that taxed every resource of action, and the ultimate verge of human daring; an industry that employed the plainest instruments--the axe to hew down the forest, and the plow to turn the furrow. their primitive sires in these early settlements did not control those powerful auxiliaries that now multiply the skill of man; nor did they enjoy the aristocracy of the recognized power of wealth. they cared nothing for mammonism, that some philosophical crank has defined to be a physical force that makes men invertebrates. here was life with the struggle of pioneers; a struggle for place rather than for position; for homes rather than castles, that prepared the intellect for a higher development, and man for ultimate power. the victory of the axe and plow were the pre-ordained antecedents to the victory of the forum and pulpit, and the triumph over the crude obstructions of nature was the divine prophecy of undisciplined toil. out of the ruggedness of such an epoch came forth a condition of virtue and integrity; of honest and honorable convictions; of sincere patriotism; of a race of men who looked to themselves only, and originated within this scant domain the literature of economic life. it was here that the domestic sentiment displayed its captivating charm. nowhere on earth was there a more generous love for children, and whenever this attribute of the heart appears, the prophetic benediction of christ, as childhood lay in his hallowed arms, is fulfilled. here was social life, too, in its freedom, picturesqueness and animation, without demoralizing conditions. away northward and southward, bays and rivers stretched their wedded waves, hills holding in their dead grasp the secrets of centuries; the ancient miracles of fire and water where chaos had been transfixed in its primeval heavings; all these were here subject to the mighty mastery that men should eventually exert, and side by side with humble homes, arose schools and churches--emblems of the power and purity of the people. here the ambassadors of christ were persuasive with tongue, fervent in spirit; they felt that their religion was more ancient than government, higher than any influence; more sacred than any trust; a religion that was benevolence in its gentlest mood, courage in its boldest daring, affection in its intensest power; philanthropy in its widest reach; patriotism in its most impassioned vigor; reason in its broadest display; the mighty heart that throbbed through every artery; fed every muscle; sped the hidden springs of an electric current through every nerve. such were and are "oor ain fauk in th' soothland." "ah, i ken fine," replied the scotchman with enthusiasm, "that your forebears came from the hielands, and yoor knowledge of the gude fauk in yoor ain coontry quite surprises me. did ye not say that yoor fayther ond mither came from edinboro?" he inquired with animation. "yes," replied the colonel, "in the good old days; and they lie buried side by side in the little cemetery over the hill yonder, where i shall rest after a wee bit." "these are bonnie lands hereaboot, but there is mony a glade in auld scotland where a puir body may sleep as tranquilly," said the scotchman with feeling, "ond when i dee my sepulchre shall be near the auld hame where there are no naygurs ond no sic a goovernment, in th' shadow o' th' auld kirk o' my fayther ond mither." chapter iii. the assassins of the peace of the south. to the people of the south the infliction of the carpet-bag government was an outrage that "smelled to heaven." the changed character--the degradation of the south was a deplorable consequence--it was the inoculating of a virus into the circulation of the body politic that it will take a century to cleanse. the power of attainting and confiscating, forbidden by the law from a full knowledge of its lamentable use by the factious parliaments of great britain, was shamelessly exercised by local jurisdictions of the south until nothing was left to the most virtuous of patriots but their name, their character, and the fragrance of their great and illustrious actions, to go down to posterity. a stranger coming to any legislature would have taken it at one time for a disorderly club-room, where ignorant and vicious partisans, white and black, were assembled to lay plans for their own aggrandizement and the prostration of the country. at another time he would suppose it to be a hustings for the delivery of electioneering harangues; at another, an areopagus for the condemnation of all virtuous men; then a theatre, for the entertainment of a most diverted auditory; always a laboratory for the compounding of alarms, conspiracies and panics. in the deliberations of the members there was no check to the license of debate, or the prodigal expenditure of money; no voice to control their judgments of outlawry and sequestration. radamanthus himself, in some stage of his infernal process, would at least listen to his victim; "first he punisheth, then he listeneth, and lastly he compelleth to confess." the inventors of mythology could not conceive of a tartarus so regardless of the forms of justice as not to allow the souls of the condemned to speak for themselves; but reconstruction, trampling upon all laws, denied to the long-suffering people of the south the right to plead their innocence in the face of the concentrated accumulation of frightful accusations, all founded upon the "baseless fabric of a vision." centuries ago the last saurian died in the ooze of the bad lands in kansas, but by an unnatural law of reproduction the carpet bagger and scalawag, with the same destructive instincts, with the same malodorous presence, found its bed of slime in the heart of the south and disported with a devilish energy. monsters of malice, spawning evil gendering fanaticism, focussed their evil eye upon the millions of freedmen, whose destiny and happiness were closely interwoven with their old masters; with masters who had yielded their swords but not their honor; who were "discouraged, yet erect; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not conquered." the poor negro, under the seductive charms of these human serpents, languished, and languishing, did die. the carpet-baggers preached to the negroes an anti-slavery god, from the gospel of hate, of revenge. slavery was the tempest of their poor souls, and revenge must assuage the swollen floods. "the thronged cities--the marks of southern prosperity and the monuments of southern civilization," said they, "are yours, yours to enjoy, to alienate, to transmit to posterity. your empire is established indestructibly throughout the new south. this land shall not be permitted to remain as a lair for the wild beasts that have clutched at the throat of this republic to destroy it. we have heard the cries of our israel in bondage, and we have come to give you the land that flows with milk and honey." poor black souls! what a delusion! the day will surely come when the curtain shall be drawn and the deceivers, active and dormant, in this dark tragedy, shall be dragged before the footlights to receive the curse of an indignant reprobation. poor negro! he is starving for bread and they give him the elective franchise. he begs to be emancipated from hunger, and they decree that he shall be a freedman. who will dare assert that the pride, the patriotism, the spirit of the south was not alarmingly compromised by the issues of the civil war?--a war that was the exercise of both violence and discipline by sovereign authority. we are told that wars are an evil, come when they may; they are just or unjust, moral or immoral, civilized or savage, as the ingredients of violated rights--demand of reparation and refusal--shall be observed, neglected or abused. perhaps the prostrated south should have been advertent to this fact before she delivered the first blow. but whether right or wrong, when the armies were disbanded, when it yielded its organic being--its sovereignty--to overwhelming resources and numbers, the law of nations laid upon the paramount sovereignty obligations which have never been performed, either in letter or spirit. the government that re-instated its authority was bound by a circle of morals, including the obligations of justice and mercy, reciprocally acting and reacting. the emancipation of five million slaves was a supplemental act of war; a renewed declaration that the tramp of embattled armies should echo and re-echo from the potomac to the rio grande, until the foot of a slave should not press its "polluted" soil. their enfranchisement was neither an act of war or of exasperation, but an act of diplomacy, extra-hazardous as results have shown, with the effect of humiliating the conquered south. it introduced throughout the south a sacrilegious arm against the fairest superstructure of christian manhood the world has ever known; stamped the history of the nation with dishonor, and betrayed the proudest experiment in favor of the rights of man. it taught the freedmen, through the vicious counsel of intriguing, designing demagogues, that their liberty was still insecure; that to accomplish it in its ultimate triumph and blessing, the savage axe must be laid at the root of the social institutions; that they must lay violent hands upon the men, women and children who had made their emancipation an accomplished fact. hence a war whose horrors should be accentuated by the lighted torch was inaugurated, and an inglorious campaign of reprisals by placable tools, whose zeal to preserve what they now purposed in their blind fanaticism to destroy, was a few years before as ardent and persevering. poor, pitiable, deluded human beings, who as chattels real--impedimenta of southern plantations--had guarded the peace of the home, and many of whom were faithful unto death! reconstruction superimposed an artificial citizenship--a citizenship essentially lacking in every resource of intellectual strength--it was without ideals or examples for the government of the freedmen of the proud southern commonwealths. the allegiance of the negroes was as friable as a rope of sand; they were without a definite conception of the responsibilities of sovereignty--without a fixed principle to guide them in governmental policy--with impulses of brutish suggestion, and under masters more inexorable, more exacting than those they had deserted upon the abandoned plantations. how painful was such a crisis that split up the old south into disgraced and bleeding fragments! we come to speak for a moment of the microbes that ate their way into the hearts of the seceded commonwealths, while the ruins of southern homes were still smoking; and before the blood of chivalrous southrons had dried upon our battle-fields. i commend the chalice to the lips of those who will deny the truth of what is herein written and desire that such a man might realize a bare modicum of what was suffered and endured. the elective franchise was the panacea for every evil; an antispasmodic, when there were occasional exacerbations in the public mind; our fathers valued the elective franchise because in its patriotic expression was the covenant of freemen. when our hopes were feeblest, and our horizon darkest, the scalawag fled like a hound to the sheltering woods whence he sallied forth like an outlaw. the reddened disc of the sun that went down at appomattox gave him an inspiration for his hellish work, and he went out in the gloom of the starless night, declaring with a more vicious temper than did henry of agincourt "the fewer the men the greater the honor" or in its appropriate paraphrase "the deeper the pockets the greater the spoil." his philanthropy and selfish interests never clash. he claimed always to be rigidly righteous, and was seen in the camp-meeting and the church sanctified and demure to a proverb. he spoke of the poor negro in paroxysms of charity--a most rare benevolence which employed its means in theft and crime; a charity which performs its vows and gives its alms with money plundered from the freedmen. the scalawag like other unclassified vermin was without respectable antecedents; with an acute sense of smell like the "lap-heavy" scout of the andes, he sought his prey when there was no fear of the approach of man. as an irish barrister once wrote upon the door of a plebians' carriage, "why do you laugh?" so the humorist of the sixties could have written upon the shirt-front of the scalawag "why do people hold their noses?" he was never mentioned by naturalists, unless under some other name he was paired off with the vulture. in reconstruction days the transformation of this abortion of nature from vulture to serpent was made without the break of a feather or the splitting of a talon. with a seductive grimace he whispered into the open ear of the freedmen "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt not surely die." he was as much an augury of evil as the brood of ravens that once alighted upon vespasian's pillar. had he been seen plying his vocation in the first empire napoleon would have said to fouche, "shoot the accursed beast on the spot." the carpet bagger when not fighting the pestiferous vermin in the chickahominy swamps was pilfering. he went into the army conscripted like a gentleman; he came out of the army at night when the back of the sentry was turned and without a furlough, like a patriot. these twain were the autocrats of the new south, which had its christening in the blood of heroes; they were the furies that rode the red harlot around the circle, when her flanks were still wet with human slaughter, and her speed was increased by the jeering negroes. when sister charity in an occasional fit would fall unconsciously into the receptive bosom of her black lover in the prayer-meeting, with the wild exclamation "bress gord i sees de hosses und de charyut er cumin!" they would clap their hands in joy and shout, "persevere in the good cause my sister." when old deacon johnson upon some happy suggestion from the "sliding elder" would turn up the white of one eye, they would turn up the whites of the others; and when deacon thompson came around for alms for the heathen, they would slip under the pennies a brass-button and inwardly thank god they were not like the poor publican or the hypocritical pharisee. their first meeting with the freedmen was flattering and agreeable; it was an expression of frail vows of love, sweet but not permanent, which bore but the perfume and dalliance of a moment; it was the fusing of units of power for the purpose of spoil, and plunder. sambo had prayed ardently for this revelation, and it had come. the scalawag, carpet-bagger, and freedman were parties of the first part, second part and third part in the tripartite agreement, until the negro became the party of no part or the worst part, and he began to mutter to himself in vulgar doggerel: "ort is er ort und figger is er figger, all fur de white man und none fur de nigger." when sambo stole from the store to increase the joint stock-in-trade, the plunder was checked off in the invoice and sambo was checked off in the penitentiary; if the firm went into liquidation it was because its active and suffering partner went into jail. if the poor negro died with assets the carpet-bagger "sot upon de state" like a carrion-crow upon a putrid body. these human harpies were natural sons of the commune. * * * * * the dirty co-partners opened up business in the south, as soon as sherman's army had crossed the border, under the attractive firm name and style of "the devil broke loose in dixie." the iron-hoof of war had so cruelly scathed the bosom of the south that it was like an over-ripe carbuncle; it required a little scarifying and savage hands might squeeze and sponge at will. credit was prostrate; society was disorganized, treasuries empty; debt like a huge fragment of ice slipping away from the glacier upon the mountain, was gathering volume and momentum as it rolled on and on, and the poor old tottering, reeling country was still struggling on like a bewildered traveller, followed by wolves, and overshadowed by vultures. corruption and ignorance were the only passports to power. no modern instance of wrong and oppression can approach this fructidor of the sixties in the south. human ghouls not so black as these vomited out, the carbonari of italy, the free companions of france and the moss troopers of england. this condition of things, we dare assert, is without a parallel in the history of any people, in any civilization. even when rome was swayed by the keenest lust for conquest and dominion, their legions conquered the barbaric states, not to degrade or destroy, but to attach them to her invincible arms. savage vengeance never went so far as to place the slave above the master by way of retribution. this was the exciting cause that brought into fullest display the natural law of reprisals and retaliations upon the part of the southern people. the first prominent cause of public disturbance of which the carpet-baggers were the authors was a most thorough and secret organization of the negroes in all the counties into loyal leagues; in many instances armed and adopting all the formula of signs, pass-words and grips of an oath bound secret organization. when the negro is asked why he votes the republican ticket his simple answer always is, "why lor bress your soul marsa, we swo to do dat in de league." that simple answer by this new suffragist, this new automaton of the ballot, is a full explanation of the political solidity of the negro vote: with such an element to work upon, ignorant and degraded, the carpet-baggers, fierce and rapacious, have found themselves in mahomet's seventh heaven in the south. it is a subject of interest and maybe of admonition to the people north and south, how political institutions, in an age of the highest civilization and under the most explicit constitutional forms, may be changed or abolished by a process of partisan policy, when inaugurated in a spirit of hate, revenge or avarice. pseudo-philanthropists may talk never so eloquently about an "equality before the law" when equality is not found in the great natural law of race ordained by the creator. that cannot be changed by statute which has been irrevocably fixed by the fiat of the almighty. the result of this mongrel combination of carpet-bagger, scalawag and negro; this composition of vice and ignorance and rapacity, was plainly seen everywhere. robbery and public plunder were rampant in the state capital. the expenses of government were at once increased five hundred per cent. verily the pregnant suggestion of the carpet-bagger that the only way to bring down the white people of the south to the level of the negro was to tax them down, was carried out with a sweeping vengeance. these thieves and robbers, who had fastened themselves like vampires upon the public treasury, and unlike the leach, did not let go their hold when full, were still gorging themselves by new methods of plunder. no such rate of taxation upon the same basis of property valuation has ever occurred in the history of the world. a tithe of this rate of taxation lost to the crown of england her thirteen american colonies. all the county auditors, county treasurers, trial justices in the courts of record were utterly incompetent and utterly corrupt. the juries in the courts of records were mostly negroes, summoned by negro sheriffs, and the pardoning power in the hands of venal and truculent governors was shamefully prostituted. the most unblushing villainies and crimes were either officially condoned or remitted and forgiven. the people were taxed by millions; millions were paid out, and no vouchers were ever taken or found. in the face of such universal misrule, speculation and tyranny, there could be no greater misrepresentation of the truth than is contained in the oft-reiterated accusation, that the white people of the south are fierce, aggressive and defiant in their conduct towards those placed in authority over them by the federal or state law. aggressive and defiant! how vain and worse than useless would such conduct be against the overwhelming power of the tyrants who oppose them. it is against all the instincts of life, when despair has taken the place of hope. defiant? does the poor unresisting hare, when trembling with frenzied apprehension under the feet and wide open jaws of the hound exhibit much defiance, or much hope of victory in a death struggle with its cruel and merciless foe? it makes no resistance--no motion or attitude of battle for life except that involuntary and spasmodic action produced by pain and suffering. [illustration: "ef yu wus to brake loose und drap, yu'd bust up ebery scallyhorg in de souf."] chapter iv. types and shadows. the development of the negro, educationally, has been embarrassed by natural causes that he has been unable to overcome. in a great variety of instances he has failed to be actuated by an intellectual or benevolent reason. in the evolution of the negro from a savage to a slave, from a slave to a freedman, and from a freedman to a citizen, only in exceptional instances has he been able to originate a theory or experiment that has been profitable to himself or others. no high state of civilization has ever originated from them. history teaches us that a nation may pass through an ascending or descending career. it may, by long-continued discipline, exhibit a general, mental advance; or it may go through other demoralizing processes, until it descends to the very bottom of animal existence. man is distributed throughout the earth in various conditions: in temperate zones he presents the civilization of europe and america; in torrid zones the ignorance and nakedness of the african. it was out of the stew-pan of the equator that the negro was fished--with all the features and instincts of a barbarism, from which he is slowly emerging--by cruel and irresponsible traders. the religious ideals of the negro are vague and indeterminate. they are intensely superstitious, and believe, as their ancestors before them, in sorcery and witchcraft. although their powers of origination are inefficient, they readily imitate the manners, customs and idiosyncracies of their masters, and frequently exhibit a superficial polish. they are emotional rather than practical in their religion. they are not naturally revengeful or vindictive, and they have shown a sentiment of gratitude that greatly endeared them to their owners. when war was flagrant, and they felt that it was waged for their emancipation--that the institution of slavery was menaced by federal arms, in unnumbered instances they held in sacred trust millions of dollars worth of property and the lives of thousands of defenseless human beings, who held over them, without challenge, the rod of domestic government. under all exasperating causes up to and during the war, hundreds of slaves remained loyal to the interests and authority of their masters. conditions, however, highly inflammatory, developed passions that made them brutish, dishonest and cruel. their emotional religion and their prejudices acted concurrently. the carpet-bagger found these unlighted fagots distributed everywhere throughout the south; he had only to entice them by delusive promises; he had only to say to them, "will you be slaves, or freedmen?"--to put into their hands a new commission, and into their hearts a new faith, differentiated from the old in order to kindle the fires of hate and revenge. the freedman's bureau in the south was the nineteenth century apocalypse--a revelation truly to the poor negroes, who had devoutly longed for its coming. the event, they thought, would be distinguished by their sudden enrichment; its huge commissariat would leak from every pore with the oil of fatness; officials, patient and sympathetic, would stand at its portals to distribute pensions and subsistence, and the star-spangled banner waving from the masthead would bow its welcome to all who came. something for nothing was their great law of reciprocity. four million slaves fastened themselves like barnacles upon this odious institution, an extremely partisan agency, deadly and inimical--hostile to the peace of the south and the interests of her people. these slaves, maddened by their misery, looked back upon the ruined plantations, and laughed when they felt that the whirlwind of retribution had swept over the land. aleck, a former slave of colonel seymour, but whose rebellion to the slightest authority had latterly been shown by expressions cruel and insulting, and who affected a social equality with the carpet-baggers, halloed over the picket fence in the small hours of the night, to johua, who was now eighty years of age: "hay, dar, yu franksized woter! hez yu heerd de news, ur is yu pine plank ceasded? hay, dar, joshaway! de bero man is dun und riv wid de munny, und he lows dat he is ergwine ter penshun off de ole isshu niggers fust." "aye, aye!" exclaimed joshua, almost mechanically, as he aroused himself with an effort, and rubbed the sleep out of his dimmed eyes, "don't you heer dat, hanner?" he asked his old wife. "ergwine to penshun off de ole isshu niggers fust! grate jarryko! who dat er woicin' dat hebbenly pocklermashun outen dar in de shank o' de night? haint dat yu, brudder wiggins?" "yaw," aleck replied, "dis is me, sho. de bero man hez dun und sont me to norate dis pocklermashun to you und ned." "grate jarryko!" exclaimed joshua, again excitedly. "hanner," he continued, "ef yu ever seed a cricket hop spry 'pon de hath, jess watch dis heer ole isshu jump inter his gyarments." as the negro was groping about in the dark for his ragged clothes he said half parenthetically, "dat dare voice fetches to my membrunce de scriptur agen, whay hit says "fling yo bred into de warter und hit is ergwine to cum out a ho cake." yu is er shoutin', sliding-baccurd mefodis hanner und don't pin yo fafe to providence but to grace, und grace is ergwine to keep you perpendikkler in filadelfy meeting-house, but hit haint ergwine to fetch no horg meat nur taters nudder, dis side of de crick. hit wur providence dat fotched dat bero man into de souf-land wid de munny to de ole lams of de flock. don't yu see?" "i sez ole lams," snapped hannah; "ef day wuz de onliest wuns gwine to be penshunned off, yu'd be stark nekked as er buzzard, kase yu is dun un backslewed wusser dan a scaly horg." "grate jarryko!" ejaculated joshua, "how's a mishunnary ergwine to back slew, tell me dat? kase you jined filadelfy church, you haint got all de liggion in de world. dare's zion und dare's massedony und dare's de baptizin crick und den dares fafe und providence. don't you see hannah? i'm ergwine to ax yu enudder pint rite dare," continued joshua. "who dat way back yander in the dissart, dat de good lord fed wid ravens, when de rashuns gin out? pend upon it, dat woice out yander imitates de woice of the proffit heckerlijer, dat flung his leg outen jint, er tusselling wid de harkangel." "twant heckerlijer" answered hannah sharply, as she threw a splinter of lightwood upon the embers. "yu's allus a mysterfying de scriptures when yu's er spashiatin erbout dem proffets; yu haint never heerd no such a passage as dat from de circus rider, nur de slidin elder nudder; ef dat cum outer de scriptur, hits by und 'twixt de misshunaries, und day is fell frum grace same as yu." "now yu's acting scornful agen de misshunarys" replied joshua contemptuously, "ef you ever gits to hebben, let me pete dat ergin; i sez, ef you ever gets to hebben yu's ergwine to hole a argyment wid de possel joner, und den yu's ergwine to be flung outen de gate." "whay did yu get dat possell frum?" asked hannah with irritation. "whicherway is de sebben starrs joshua?" she asked as she changed the subject. "day is skew-west over yander," said joshua as he went to the door to look out into the night; "und bress de lord" he continued, "peers lak day is a nussing de bero man und de munny er standin' disserway purpundikkler, fo und aft?" "is yu ergwine to de town und hit pitch dark?" enquired hannah. "how in de name of gord is yu gwine to get to de tuther eend of de crick, und yu bline ez a sand mole flung outer de ground?" "now yu's er flingin' a damper on my ambishun ergin. how's i ergwine to fetch de munny back epseps i gits to the tuther eend?" asked joshua crustily. "duz yu speck me to slew frum wun eend to the tuther lak a skeeter hork? tell me dat." "lors a massy" he cried out in pain, as he danced around the room on one foot, "fur de hebbins sake fling dat ole free-legged cheer outer dis house into de mash. grate jarryko! de debble has sho got hisself tangled up wid de harrydatterments of dis house. yu mouter knowed dat pizened cussed impelment was ergwine to cum in contack wid sum of my jints." "yu jess nuss dat ole hoof of yourn in boff hands lak dat," said hannah provokingly "twell i strikes a lite und den i'm ergwine to clap fur yu to dance er misshunery reel." "don't tanterlize me no mo hanner wid dem reels und me in all dis rack und missury! grate jarryko! dis heer ole happy sack haint ergwine to hole all dat munny," observed joshua, after a moment and still groaning with pain. "den you mout take de bofat, und de blu chiss, und den dare's de wheel borrer und de steer kyart. fetch all yu kin joshaway, fur me und yu is ergwine to need hit every bit und grane. dat ole beaver of yourn wid de tip eend er flipperty-flopity disserway und datterway, same ez a kyte in de gale is jamby gin out, und den dares de lan, und de grate house, und de hosses und de kerrige, und de peanny forty, und de kalliker kote, und de snuff, und--und--" "don't fling no mo unds--unds--at me," interrupted joshua in disgust, "epsep yu aims fur me to drap rite back into de bed, whay i wur wen de proklermashun isshued." hannah made no answer to this effusion of temper, but going slyly to an old chest in the corner, she took from it a bottle containing a gill or more of ardent spirits and giving it to the old negro, said, "anint dat ole jint wid dis good truck, joshaway, hit will swage de missury." joshua looked up with a countenance beaming like the full moon coming out of a black cloud, and playfully said to his old wife, "honey i kin swage de missury mo better disser way;" drank it down and then exclaimed, "bress god, dat sarchin pain is dun und gon." "dont you forget honey," said joshua again, patronizingly as he was about stepping out of the door with his stick and haversack, "dat nex saddy, arter dis saddy cummin, dem dare high steppers dats gwine to cum home wid me dis arternoon is ergwine to raise a harry kane 'twixt dis house und de federick sammyterry whay old semo und dat secesh gubberner is ergwine to preach de funeral of ole ginurul bellion, lately ceasded, und when me und yu gits into de kerrige, great jarryko! i'm ergwine to hole dem rones disserway, und whern day gits 'twixt de flatform und ole glory, i'm ergwine to histe 'em up on dare hine legs, jess so, see!" old hannah clapped her hands with joy and laughed again and again "bress gord" she exclaimed with excitement; "yu is same ez a yurling colt yoself joshaway, i'm ergwine to give yu a moufful of fodder and shet yu up wid de steer, kase de way yu's a histing up yo rare legs und er chompin' de bit, yu's ergwine to eat up de gyarden sass same as de steer." joshua looked scornfully at his wife and observed with a fierce scowl, "day haint no passifyin' wun of dese backslewed mefodiss epseps yu's er totin every bit of de strane yoself, fo i gits back wid de kerrige und de hosses," he continued quite earnestly "yu mout move all de harry detaments outen de house, ready fur de grate house, und yu mont rent dis house to ole semo pervidin' he pays de rent, und you mout turn de munny over to de darters of de sammytary siety." "ugh! ugh! i heers yu; fetch dem nales und de snuff joshaway!" hannah halloed as joshua now in a good humor limped away in the darkness singing merily; "when i was ergrwine down de field, de blacksnake bit me on de heel; und ez i riz to fire my best i run ergin a yaller jacket's nest. "yaller jackets indeed" echoed hannah as she proudly tossed her aged head, "when joshua fetches dem rones und kerrige, dare haint ergwine to be no yaller jackets on me ur him udder." the village was thronged with the black wards of the government, when joshua arrived wearied and hungry. allured by expectations that had been most wantonly excited, the negroes flocked into the town with trunks, valises, travelling bags, some of them of the most primitive description, within which to put their pensions. flattering expressions came from truly loyal hearts, when the agent of the freedman's bureau ascended the court house steps to address the freedmen. his very presence was like the sunlight over the darkened land, but alas; he was the man who was to pass out to each and all of the misguided negroes the cup of disappointment and bitterness, and they in their nakedness and stupidity would drink its lees with the desperate resoluteness of fanatics. joshua stood with his old skinny hands clasped upon his bosom, looking up in an attitude of reverence. "grate jarryko!" he said to himself; "ef dis bellion hadn't upriz de ole isshu nigger mouter been way back yander a totin' de grubbin hoe fur jeff davis, de secesh, und de ole bull whup er natally cryin fur de po niggers meat. ef hanner seed dis site, she'd jine de mishunary's, kase she mouter node dat providence had sont dat bero man und hit is mo better dan grace." the old negro saw the diamonds glittering upon the enameled shirt bosom of the agent and he said again in rapture. "day is same ez de starrs in de hellyments." he saw a huge chain dangling from his neck, and he exclaimed. "grate jarryko! ef de ole ship of zion wur to git shipracked in galilee, yu mout grapple her wid dat dare chain und hit mout hole twell de harrykin swaged." the old negro was lost in wonder, and at last overpowered by fatigue, and the press of the throng, he dropped out of line and fell asleep upon an empty crate. how long he slept does not enter into the chronicle. there were mischievous boys then as there are now, and whilst he slept they collected from old bureau drawers one hundred dollars of brand new confederate treasury notes of the issue of , and placed them loosely in his beaver and covered it over with his red pocket handkerchief. upon awaking, joshua rubbed his eyes, and then his knees and his elbows; looked around dazedly, and exclaimed. "consound my buttons, ef de bero man haint dun und penshuned off de niggers, und gon; und dis heer nigger a drapped back to sleep, lak a idgeot, wid nary cent of de penshun. grate jarryko! i knows what hanner is ergwine to say; she's ergwine to ax me erbout de hosses, und den she's ergwine to aggravate me wid providence dis, und grace dat, und mishunary heer, und meferdis dare. ef yu'd pervided yoself wid sum of dat grace down at filadelfy meetin' house joshaway, she's ergwine to say, you mouter fotched de rones und de kerrige too. grate jarryko! hit peers lak provedense hez dun und flung de fat in de fire arter all." taking up his old hat, the confederate money went scurrying here and there; the old negro looked around him suspiciously, and exclaimed in an excited way. "grate jarryko! whicherway did all dis munny cum from? hit wur provedense dat time und no mistake; now yu sees hanner which wun of dem meeting houses is got de under holt; yu's dun und hilt to grace, und me runs wid fafe, und whicherwun is got de munny? tell me dat?" whilst joshua was sleeping, hannah was busy hammering and packing the scant furniture for its removal to the great house, and at high noon everything was out of doors. the squealing pig was fettered like a convict, and old boatswain, the coon dog, was tied and howling like a catamount. joshua placed the money into his haversack, with the nails and snuff, looked up at the setting sun, and said to himself. "i mout let hanner pick out dem hosses, und de kerrige, kase she mout not like de rones." the old negro struck a bee-line for home with the further observation. "grate jarryko! ef hit warnt fur ganderbilt, i specks dis ole nigger mout be de richest man on de top side of de yurth." he paused for a moment and said. "i dun und forgit; i'm mo'est sho hanner is ergwine to ax fer sperrets fur her griping missury." and he stepped into the nearest groggery and purchased a pint or more with the money an old friend had given him. "now den ole town, i bids yu farwell twell yu sees me und hanner in de kerrige." as joshua was going on toward home his mind became speculative. great schemes in a crude way were thought of, and he said to himself. "now dat de munny is dun un riv, ef i ketches hanner wun mo time wid a hoe in her hands, i'm ergwine to git a vorcement. she mout take lessons on de peanny-forty from dat white gal in de grate house und play de hopperatticks arternoons arter me und her hez driv over de plantushun und seed to de craps. when i gits home i'm ergwine to berry dis munny under de tater hill und i haint ergwine to let hanner spishun whay i keeps hit, kase she'll buy all de hosses in de newnited states und finely hit will all be gone. i'm ergwine to fling de whup und pull de ribbuns myself, und ole semo de secesh jess got to git outen de grate house. lemme see how dese sperrets tastes," he said. and he reached in his ole haversack, got the flask and put it to his mouth. "gurgle, gurgle, gurgle; umph," he said, smacking his lips, "dat is sho good truck. is yu got gumpshun nuff ter count dis munny, specks it oversizes your judgment, ole hoss," and he began to count upon his fingers, "five hundred, hundred fousand, hundred million. great king! what am i gwine ter do wid dis munny; ef ole mars linkun cud see joshaway now, wid his freedom und de grate house und de plantashun und de hosses, he wud larf und larf frum wun eend of his mouf to the tother. you see's now mr. bellyun what yu is dun und dun fur yosef crackin de whup ober de po nigger." a distance of two miles had been placed between the old negro and the village and he had two more miles to go. one mile ahead ran with a swift current the black waters of chowattuck, but there was a substantial foot log thrown across it, and it was ordinarily safe. joshua had gone but a little farther when he wanted to sample "dem dar sperrets agin," "pen upon it, i nattally feels dat ar truck er oozin outen my toe nails." the "tikler" was turned up again, and gurgle, gurgle, gurgle sang the fiery spirits. the money now had greatly multiplied; the trees upon the roadside were somersaulting, and the road itself, like a serpent, was twisting in and out about his tangled legs. joshua stopped in sight of the water with the observation. "hole on dar ole hoss, what is yu ergwine ter do, dis munny aint ergwine to tote yu ober dis crick; ole glory back yander aint gwine ter heer yu hollow, what is yer gwine to do?" he put his hands upon his old knees, and rubbed them down, brought his coat sleeves with a fierce swing across his cavernous mouth, fetched a grunt or two, then planted his feet upon the foot-log. "studdy yosef ole hoss, studdy yosef, ef yu draps inter dis heer crick und gits drounded, it's ergwine to bust up ebery scalyhorg in der souf." three times he tried to walk the log and as often fell off before reaching the water. "konsoun de crick," he muttered, "hit hadn't orter be heer no how, er pesterrin fokses er cummin und er gwine; pears lak now de bellion is dun und fell dere is a dratted crick at ebery crook in de rode; blame my hide ef i aint gwine ercross ef i has ter crawl lak a santypede; i kin straddle de dratted fing un i kin git ercross arter a fashun, but what is i gwine ter do wid de happy-sak und de munny? i is bleeged ter use bof hands ter hold on to de dratted log when i slips und slides, und i kaint tote de happy-sak in my mouf, kase i haint got but one ole snag in my hed, and hit is in de furder eend; consound it, whay it hadn't orter be no how. i kin tie de happy-sak to de kote keerts, und den ole hoss, yu und me kin land on de tother side of de crick lak a kildee. ef i was ergwine tother way dar wud be a passel ob kaarts cummin dis way; dey is allus gwine de rong way at de rong time." so argued joshua as he fastened the haversack to the only button on the back of his coat. "now den ole buttun, ef yu was ter brake loose, un drap yu wud werk bigger strucshun dan a yeth-shake, dat yu wud. provedense is ergwine to do hits part ef hanner is dun und dun hern." slipping and sliding, the old negro was approaching the other end of the foot log; his heavily weighted coat skirts thumping against his shanks, when he was sliding along under an overhanging cypress bush about midway of the deep channel, "kerchunk" some heavy object dropped into the water. "grate jarryko!" exclaimed the old negro alarmed, "what a tremenjous mockisun snake dat was a drapping off dat dar bush; i'm ergwine ter git erway frum dis crick, sho yo born." slipping and sliding he finally got to the end, and with the observation "peers lak i feels mity lightsum in de hine parts," he put his hand behind him to feel for his haversack, and found it gone. the loss of the treasure for the moment confused the old negro, then he began to cry and swear, until his grief at last found expression in the exclamation: "grate jarryko! dem passages o' scriptur erbout fafe und erbout grace und erbout proverdense got twisted und tangled togedder into a loblolly, und bress de lawd, dis heer happuning is de eend of it all." he then looked back upon the raging flood, utterly forlorn, and plaintively addressed himself to his situation: "now, whot's hanner gwine ter do erbout dem hosses und de kerrige und de grate house, und dey kivered up in dat sloshy graveyard--drownded to def in de turkle hole? dat ole button dun und broke loose und drapped in de werry wustest place on de top side o' de yeth. now hanner she's ergwine ter say hit wuz de sperrets. well, den, how did de sperrets git inter de button? dat's de pint. she mout say ergen dat ef dem sperrets hadn't got mixed up wid de ankle jints dat dis nigger mouter slewed ter disser eend und hilt on ter de munny. well, den, how cum de drotted crick in de middle o' de rode? dat's er nudder pint. dis heer missury dun und cum erbout twixt hanner und de debbil; dats de how. she er drapped back yander, er singin', 'hold de fort, fer i'm er coming' und er spectin' de hosses und de kerrige, und bress de lawd she dun und flung de fat in de fiar her own sef. how's i ergwine ter hole de fort wid de ammynishun in de dratted crick? i haint ergwine ter put de blame on de sperrits, kase hit hadn't orter go dare. she mout er node dat ole buttun warnt ergwine to tote dat strane, und dat hit wus ergwine ter brake loose und drap fust er las. how wus i er gwine ter git ter dis eend epseps i had fafe in de button? now she mout say ergin dat i hed orter slewed across fust und den slewed back und fotched de munny. bress de lawd, how wuz i ergwine ter know de munny wuz gwine to stay at de tuther eend und i at disser eend? tell me dat. twixt de scalyhorgs und dat mefodis meetin house, dare's ergwine ter cum a slycoon in dis lan' yit." as joshua approached his cabin he looked up and saw his old wife sitting in a dilapidated rocking chair, surrounded by the scant furniture, and singing: "tis grace hez fotched me safe dis fur. und grace gwine take me home." he stopped abruptly and began to groan and mutter. "grate jarryko!" he exclaimed, as he vigorously rubbed one foot against the other, "ef yu's spectin' dem rones to tote yu in de kerrige to filadelfy meetin' house, hits ergwine ter be by und twixt mo better grace dan yu's got, ur me udder." the old negro looked up again over the broken rim of his beaver, and he began to mutter again, "grate jarryko! ef dat fool nigger haint dun und gone und turned de house inside outtards! de debbil hez sho broke loose in de middle ships o' dis ole plantashun, und dem evil sperrets is in cohoot wid won ernudder." at this point hannah observed joshua zigzagging across the field without horses or carriage, and her wrath was exceeding fierce. "pend upon it," she exclaimed, "dat ar ole nigger fool de werry eyeballs outen yo hed. gwine ter fetch de rones und de kerrige! grate king! ef de good lawd spares me twell den, when de jedge cums er roun' ter de kote, i'm ergwine ter git me er vorcement. mont ez well go inter cohootnership wid a billy gote, widout ary moufful o' fodder ez dat ole black idgeot." when joshua came within hailing distance, hannah halloed to him; "whay hez yu been all dis nite joshaway? here i'se sot und sot ever sense daylite down, in de jam of de chimney und every now und den hit peeerd lak i heerd dem rones er plumputy plump down de rode, er cummin same ez a sho nuff harrykin, und bress gord heer yu cums ergin wid de drunken reels lak er ole hoss, wid de bline staggers, mommucked up wusser dan a kadnipper; look at dat ole bever hat, er layin' dare pine plank lak a turkle trap sot bottom uppards." joshua heaved one or more sighs as he blurted out in a drowsy way; "dem dare hosses yu heerd down de rode, er blickerty blick, dun und got drownded to def in de crick last nite." "grate king!" exclaimed hannah wrathfully; "ef de good lord spares me twell den, when de jedge gits to de kote, i'm gwine to git me a vorcement." "und me too;" ejaculated joshua as he stretched himself upon a plank for a nap. chapter v. patriotic men deliberating. at the hour of p. m., in the early autumn of --, several representative gentlemen met by previous agreement in the library of colonel seymour. this congress of southern leaders of the old school, after the interchange of the usual courtesies, resolved themselves into "a committee of the whole upon the state of the union," with judge bonham in the chair, and was addressed at length by governor ainsworth. this gentleman had honored his state as one of its senators in the federal congress; again as secretary of the navy, and had filled by successive elections the office of governor for three terms. he had reached that mellow age when the intellect becomes largely retrospective. the manner of this distinguished statesman was singularly individual. in early life strongly inclined to the contemplation of perplexing political questions, he possessed a graphic, nervous force--a kind of untamed vigor--a raciness of flavor in speech that belonged only to the individual who thought for himself. there were few men more richly endowed; his intellect was of the highest order--clear, rapid and comprehensive--combined with an extraordinary facility of expressing and illustrating his ideas, both in conversation and debate. he possessed a rich imagination, a rare and delicate taste, a gentle and sportive wit, and an uninterrupted flow of humor, that made him the delight of every circle. nor were his moral qualities less deserving of respect and admiration. he was generous, brave, patriotic and independent. he was the slave of no ambitious or selfish policy; the hunter of no factitious or delusive popularity; he spoke the language of truth, justice and wisdom. a "throb of gratitude beat in the hearts of the people," and the sentiment of an affectionate respect glowed in their bosoms for the "old man eloquent." his speeches, too, were essentially characteristic, abounding in keen satire, humor, and frequently in the most direct and idiomatic language. given to intense conviction rather than to subtle discernment, and devoting his unusual ability to studied effort, he could, whenever he felt so inclined, "strip the mask from the hypocrite, and the cowl from the bigot." this was the man toward whom the patriotic sentiment of the country was directed; the man who might, by possibility, lash the raging hellespont into submission. "but what avail," said he as he leaned heavily upon his staff, "are arguments and protests? can we charm the serpent into harmlessness by the feeble chirping of the wren? can we tranquilize the country by indignant declamation?" then with an effort he assumed a poise still more dignified and serious, as he continued: "gentlemen, when the seas are lashed into a rage, no matter who are the mad spirits of the storm, they cannot say to their tumultuous waters, 'thus far shalt thou go, and no farther, and here shalt thy proud waves be stayed.' there are other powers in motion beneath its surface, which they wist not of, and whose might they can neither direct or control. i have stood upon the shores of the mighty ocean, and observed the forerunners of the coming storm. i have heard the moan of its restless waters in the caverns of the great deep, and have seen the upheaving of the billows, which rose, and raged and tossed as foam from their bosoms, the wild spirits that gendered the tempest. i envy not the triumph of those who have troubled the waters; who have laid waste the south, who have beggared her proud people. i had rather stand with my countrymen powerless, but brave and unyielding, than to wield the thunderbolts of jove, if i must employ their power and resource in wrong and oppression. when the last spark of roman liberty was extinguished; when no voice but that of augustus was heard, and no power but that of augustus was felt, his venal flatterers vied with each other in deifying their god, and degrading those firm, defiant spirits who stood for their country and its tranquility. cæsar had subjugated the world, all but the dark unbending soul of cato. in a catastrophe, such as this, let that band of patriots to which it is my pride to belong, share in the spirit of the last of the romans; that spirit which scorns to bow before any earthly power, save that of their beleaguered country. the reconstruction government has purposely demoralized the economic conditions which contributed to the prosperity of the south. full well it knew that the wealth of the people depended upon their labor. there was a time when plunder was the great resource of the nations of the earth. the first kingdom was sustained by pillage and conquest, and great babylon, the glory of the chaldean empire, was adorned by the spoils of all asia; the assyrian was plundered by the persian, the persian by the macedonian, and it at last devoured by the roman power. the wolf which nursed its founder, gave a hunger for prey insatiable to the whole world. there was not a temple nor a shrine between the euphrates and the salted sea that was not pillaged by these marauders. the tide of ages, century after century, had rolled over the last fragment of roman power; the light of science had broken upon the world, before mankind seemed to realize that our creator, dead aeons ago had said: 'by the sweat of his brow man should eat his bread all the days of his life.' wealth is power, and the wealth of a nation is its labor, its abundant control of all the great agencies of nature employed in production. the products of human labor, its food and clothing, like the fruits of the earth are annual, and god in his wisdom has adjusted human wants to their power of production. like the bread from heaven the dews of every night produce the crops, and the labors of every day gather the harvest. what, but an almost boundless power of consumption and reproduction has given to the south its athletic vigor, and yet the enfranchisement of the negroes has been a fatal blow to every industrial interest. it has left our plows to rot in the furrow, and our plantations to grow up in briers and brambles. that liberty, which ranks in our organic law next to life, is subjected to the caprice of those who happen in the ever varying conditions of human affairs to be placed over us as masters. the south believed that the theory of the government derived its chiefest captivation from its regard to the equal rights of all its citizens and from its pledge to maintain and preserve those rights. it assumed to proclaim the happiness of the people to have been the object of its institution, and to guarantee to each and to all without limitation the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. it has been reserved for the power of oppression, in its active and diffused state, to give effect to the unhallowed innovation upon the rights of the south. reconstruction is the gethsemane of southern life. god's law is higher than man's law. man's feeble statutes cannot annul the immutable ordinances of the almighty. those whom god has put asunder, let no man join together. who could have foreseen that in the first century of our existence african freedmen would rule sovereign commonwealths, and become the judges of the rights and property of a race who had ruled the destinies of the world since governments--patriarchal, monarchical or constitutional--was known to man? the true, sincere and rational humanitarian looks with sorrow upon the future state of the misguided negroes; for when this institutional age shall have passed away, he sees the exodus or extirpation of this disturbing element in the social and political conditions of the more powerful sovereign race. the authors of the infamous policy have written their _hic jacet_ against our civilization. no where can there be found in the history of any country where the civil and military policy have been so basely prostituted, or where the safeguards of liberty, life and property were ever entrusted to freed slaves--human chattels; slaves who never for a moment have been in a state of pupilage. it is an epoch that marks the decadence of the manhood and civilization of a great nation--homogeneous, prosperous, enlightened and happy. the nearest approximation to this era of ruin--of social degradation--was when the slaves in rome were enfranchised by order of the emperor, and conditions there were totally dissimilar. whilst they enjoyed certain rights and prerogatives of manumission, they were still held to duties of obedience and gratitude. whatever were the fruits of their toil and industry, their patrons shared or inherited the third part, or even the whole of their acquisitions. in the decline of this great empire, the proud mistress of the world, we are told that hereditary distinctions were gradually abolished, and the reason or instinct of justinian completed the simple form of an absolute monarchy. in the eye of the law all romans were equal and all subjects were citizens. the inestimable character was degraded to an obsolete and empty name. the voice of a roman could no longer enact laws or create the annual ministers of his power. "it may take many generations perhaps, for moral changes are slow, to put out all our lights of knowledge that are now beaming from every cottage in the south; but one after another they will be extinguished, and with them the beacon torch of liberty. when the white men of the south shall come to see how things are, and to realize the downward tendency, physical, intellectual manhood will make a throe to regain the height it has lost, and if it fails, a storm will arise from the elements they are compounding, that will break somewhere and spend itself with desolating fury. they cannot degrade a people who have been enlightened and free, prosperous and happy, without igniting a mass which they can no more control, than they can the central fires of vesuvius. "up to the commencement of hostilities between the north and the south, there were in the south millions of people employed directly or indirectly in the honest and wholesome avocation of agriculture, and by its great encouraging system, sustained in a condition of existence, both moral and physical, equally as prosperous and independent as any other agricultural people in any other region of the earth. they were white men who piece by piece built up the whole superstructure, and thereby reinforced the country with so much labor and skill; furnished so much mutual employment for that skill and labor, aided as they were by so many instrumentalities of toil and agents of production. what a country it was--supplied by this system from the labor of our own hands and workshops, with all the machinery, fruits of the earth, and all the needful fabrics of human skill. this great system comprehended every class and every source of material wealth. under this system our people prospered. the white population of the south came by descent from a parent stock, that from the foundation of society had governed in wisdom and moderation the most enlightened countries of the world; who had written every constitution, fought every battle, endowed every charity, established every government, introduced every reform that has given to the world its christian development and progress. "when these extra-hazardous reconstruction acts were submitted to the legislature of the south, they refused to "chop logic" with the reconstruction party. it would have been contrary to the experience of mankind, and an exception to all the teachings of history, if in the high excitement then prevailing--the exasperation of the people--the outrages threatened and inflicted, the south had yielded one jot or tittle or swerved from its honest, patriotic convictions. the transition was from a state in which the integrity and intelligence of the white race, ennobled by centuries of meritorious service, had ruled; to a government by a black race that less than five generations before had been hunted like wild beasts in the jungles of the dark continent; who were handcuffed and decoyed into slave ships, and who had been slaves until the proclamation of president lincoln emancipated them in the territory protected by the u. s. army. the transition was to a condition of things in which white men to the number of three hundred thousand were disfranchised and deprived of the right to vote and to hold office, and the enfranchisement of more than a corresponding number of benighted negroes with the right to vote and hold office. the transition of the slave, was too sudden--too alarming--too degrading. no people who were proud of their traditions, their institutions, could have looked upon such a change with complacency; nor seen their local government pass into the hands of their slaves--irresponsible, illiterate, brutish, rapacious, without being goaded into violent resistance. "it has been remarked 'oh liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name.' if the gift of the elective franchise enabled the negro to protect himself in his rights of person and property, the denial of it to the white man took away from him that protection and that right. they went even to lower depths, and by the election and registration laws basely surrendered into the hands of the carpet-baggers all power. the judiciary, the last refuge of the unfortunate and oppressed is stricken down and stripped of both ermine and respectability. the ballot box--the sanctuary of freedom--the ballot box--the only secure refuge of liberty--the ballot box, the armory where freedom's weapons are wont to terrify tyrants, is made the charnel house in which the assassinated liberties of a defenceless, prostrated people are buried; is made the dice box in which are staked and played for by the freedmen of the south the revenues of plundered commonwealths. what wonder in this lust for power men should become strangers to the people they govern, outlaws to honesty and patriotism. "they know no law but that of force, and no god but mammon. they ply their theft upon every citizen, enthrall him with taxation, deny him the right to be seen or heard or felt at the ballot box or before the court. in the train of these outrages and indignities came a flood of unwholesome oppressive laws, creating new offices, increasing the salaries of incompetent and truculent officials, multiplying the cost and expenditures of government, and correspondingly increasing the burdens of taxation. then came martial law, militia campaigns, loyal leagues, murders, arsons, burglaries, rapes, and a reign of terror and intimidation to make the way for the easy perpetration of the most monstrous and unparallelled wrongs, frauds and outrages that ever cursed the earth. the south, like a beautiful captive, was turned over to be deflowered and defiled. she could only cry in her desperation--"i am within your brutal power, and gagged and pinioned must submit." "our elective judiciary has contributed immeasurably to the vicious, demoralizing spirit of the age." the intelligent and upright judge is the representative of the law in its simplicity, sufficiency and learning. he is the living exponent of its justice. whatever the law is will appear in him, and whatever it does will be done through him. the different departments of industrial activity center in him. the plowman in the field, the smith at his anvil, the miner in the earth, the operative in the factory, the banker at his desk, are all a vital part of his being. he is the foremost agent of providence in keeping up the natural distinction of race and position. his creed is that men are not to be antagonists, but friends. differ they must in usages and institutions, in habits and pursuits; but in his opinion they differ, not that they may be separated, but for a truer sympathy and a compacter union. mountains and seas insulate, language and religion differentiate men, but the law in its economical administration corrects these things into the elements of a genuine brotherhood. the fortunes of the world, so far as they are delegated to human care, are in his hands. the peaceful progress of society is blended with his personal integrity. commonwealths, corporations and individuals vest their wealth, their reputation, their security in him, and if any one man more than another is under the most sacred of earthly obligations to be an example of the highest integrity, the most exact justice, the noblest virtue of thought, word and action, it is the judge of our courts of record. no feudal baron--no courtly knight--ever had the power that may now be exercised by him. "our civilization pledges us to the sway of moral principles; its rule is imperative, because we have assumed the title of men, domesticated our hearts, and accepted the religion of jesus christ. judicial life, by the earnestness with which it has acted in the past crisis of our state and national history, by the patriotic devotion and interpretation of the constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof, by its conservative temper in resisting fanaticism, vice, corruption and fraud has shown itself a watchful guardian of the momentous trusts confided to its keeping. the honest, learned judge has pledged himself for the faith of contracts and treaties; he has jealously guarded the institutions of the country and bravely upheld them as the embodiment of our doctrines and our hopes. the traditions, laws and customs of the country have been committed to him, and with the ever active jealousy of encroachment, he has not disguised his fears of centralization or oppression. hitherto, irrespective of all party relations, the judicial system was slowly but surely working out the great problems of domestic prosperity. times have changed, however, and we have changed with them. our present elective judiciary is indeed the black vomit of reconstruction. "it may be seriously questioned whether under any circumstances the elective system is adequate for the purpose designed. all classes, high and low, sooner or later come before the tribunal of justice. its judgments and decrees affect the humblest, as well as the most powerful individual and control the strongest combinations of men. we know that it is utterly impossible to keep the nomination and election clear of mere political influences and those of the worst kind. it is said that revolutions never go backward; nevertheless in the teeth of the adage i confess that i can see no better way of selecting judges than the mode pointed out by the unamended constitutions and the laws and by the general good sense of mankind. i believe that this method is wise and conservative, in harmony with our institutions and sufficiently democratic to satisfy the people. all the rest is faction, demagogism and cabal. the judge should represent no interest, no party, only the law; he is an umpire between man and man, between the individual and the body social. "what is required in the judge is ability, learning, integrity. in public station it is as necessary to be thought honest as to be so, and the moment the popular mind once takes in the true position of the elective judge, the moment that it perceives the magistrate to be possessed of neither true power nor real dignity, and exposed perpetually to temptation, that moment the influence and usefulness of the judge will be destroyed. their judgments in such cases will be received without respect and obeyed only so far as they can be enforced, and if the people shall ever break down and trample under foot the defences of unpopular power; the judiciary will be scouted from their seats, their filthy and tattered ermine will be torn from their backs, and they will be driven out into hopeless ignominy as the meanest of sycophants, and the most truculent of demagogues.... a hundred and eighty years ago the english parliament, sick of the miseries resulting from a corrupt judiciary, changed the tenure of the office, abolished their dependence on the sovereign and made the tenure of their existence dependent on their good behavior alone. from that time to this the english judiciary has risen in character and influence. with us the system is elective. the judicial candidate, like a fish monger, goes with his wares into a market overt. he advertises his opinions--his promises, he makes his pledges, he puts a premium upon the ballot, he weighs to a nicety the purchasable value of negro electors. the rival candidate does the same, and hence the office is purchasable at the price of manhood, integrity, learning and capacity. thus the whole machinery of the courts is run with an eye single to making political capital for the radical party and intensifying their hatred toward the south. "and now gentlemen," the governor said in conclusion, "our meeting here to-day will be without its influence upon a power that can 'kill and make alive.'" at the conclusion of the speech of the governor, it was resolved that messengers should be sent to the president with full power to enter into any treaty or compact for the maintenance of peace and order, and that governor ainsworth and colonel seymour shall be charged with the execution of the mission. chapter vi. the mills are grinding. it was the hour of high noon that a gentleman and lady alighted from a carriage at the foot of the mansion of colonel seymour without previous announcement. the gentleman was a person of attractive presence and perhaps forty-five years of age. the lady was not attractive, a little patronizing in her manners, and perhaps thirty-five years of age. their _patois_ was that of english people; to an artistic ear, however, this may have appeared feigned. their manner in the presence of the host was unconstrained; indeed they expressed themselves with unusual freedom. the gentleman gave his name as mr. jamieson, and the lady as his niece, miss harcourt, both of them lately arrived from london. he had interested himself, he said, in scientific researches for the past few years, and was now pursuing an inquiry that he hoped would be of practical use to the south. the "london society," whose agent he was, was seeking from all available sources the most exhaustive information about the negro in his gradations from the savage to the citizen; and he took occasion to say that his principals had been greatly astonished because of the alarming strides the negro had made in a country that, less than a century ago, made the british power tremble in its very strong-holds. he would be pleased to ask if this sudden transition from slavery to freedom had not reversed the orderly procedure of the government in respect to its administration in the south. to this inquiry colonel seymour replied, quite epigrammatically, "that the world had no precedent for the revolutionary measures which were being enforced in the south." the stranger continuing, observed that he had desired this interview before exploiting a field untried and perhaps dangerous; and he would be greatly obliged if his host would be as frank and communicative as possible. in the course of this interview, the arguments employed by the stranger disarmed the old man's suspicions, and in a confidential way the colonel told mr. jamieson that he would communicate his knowledge of the matters as far as he could, but feared it would not be of much value, as he was under suspicion by the federal authorities; having fought under lee in the many battles of the south, he was still vehemently protesting against the invasion of his own country by the carpet bag government. "you were, then, a confederate soldier?" inquired the stranger. "yes, and was paroled at appomattox," sententiously rejoined the veteran. "now, my dear sir, you greatly interest me; may i inquire your rank in the confederate army?" "i was a colonel of cavalry, sir." "were you at gettysburg, sir?" "yes, and was wounded as we were falling back to the potomac." "gettysburg! ah, yes!" the stranger observed reflectively; "this battle was quite disastrous to the south, i believe, and was claimed by the north as a great victory." "and what upon the face of the earth have they not claimed?" excitedly replied the veteran. "ah yes, they are a boastful people," said mr. jamieson. "i doubt not they claimed victories they never won. you of course are still of the opinion that the south was right?" "no opinion about it. i know she was right. we never resorted to hostilities until our institutions were assailed." "i am sure your statement is correct, sir," said the englishman. "while our government, then in the control of a radical ministry, was officiously unfriendly to the south, your government had a great army of sympathizers in england who deplored its downfall; indeed, the president of our society was an active sympathizer with your country, and the bank in which he was a director, upon his private account emitted bills of credit that were used by the agents of the confederate government in the purchase of materials of war. i presume, sir," continued the englishman, "you would have no hesitation in going to war again if the same casus-belli existed?" "no indeed, sir." "and you are of opinion that it would not be treasonable to oppose the policy of the government in respect to its acts of reconstruction?" "if armed with adequate power, i should not hesitate in respect to my duty in the premises," replied the veteran with a show of temper. "i am very glad, sir, that you have been entirely frank with me," said the stranger, "and i fully appreciate your feelings. i suspect that you do not think that a strongly centralized government in any contingency is the least oppressive form of government?" "assuredly not, sir. nature has established a diversity of climates, interests and habits in the extensive territories embraced by the federal government. we cannot assimilate these differences by legislation. we cannot conquer nature. other differences have been introduced by human laws and adventitious circumstances, very difficult, if not impossible to be adjusted by federal legislation, hence the necessity of local legislatures with adequate powers, and a general government with its appropriate powers." "i presume, sir," said the stranger, "that you cannot conscientiously support the reconstruction measures of congress and the president?" "i cannot and will not, sir," responded colonel seymour with emphasis; "and if you were advertant to that point of time in the history of our late war when, from sheer exhaustion, the south laid down its arms, you would not ask the question. there were hundreds of thousands of patriotic men in the north, who, upon the question of the emancipation of the negro, concurred in its propriety, yea, its necessity, but who denounced those reactionary measures that were crystalized and enforced with cruelty against the south. in our judgment these measures were not only extra-hazardous, but inherently oppressive. it would have been a pernicious power in the hands of an intelligent, conservative, law-abiding people, but most deadly in the hands of ignorant, unscrupulous and truculent officials. you must remember that the south, in a metaphorical sense, was an immense area sown in grain ready to be harvested, with its hedges trampled under foot and destroyed, and inviting cattle and swine to enter and devour. the herds came greedily through every gap, and like the wild beasts upon our western prairies, depastured and consumed almost the whole." "how wonderfully recuperative have been the energies of your people sir," interrupted the stranger. "yes, but will you allow me to proceed?" replied the colonel; "we believed that when the war ended, the people of the south relying upon the pledges made by the union generals in the field before the armies were disbanded; on the negotiations preceding the surrender; on the proclamation of president lincoln; and the publications of the press; as well as upon the terms actually agreed on between grant and lee, and johnson and sherman, at the time of the capitulation of the confederate armies; that when resistence to federal authority ceased, and the supremacy of the constitution of the united states was acknowledged; and especially after the ordinances of secession were repealed, and an amendment to the constitution, abolishing slavery wherever it existed, was ratified by the legislatures of the insurrectionary states; that a full and complete restoration of the southern states to their former position of equal states would at once take place; and after the exhaustion of such a war they hailed the return of peace with satisfaction; they acknowledged defeat; accepted the situation, and went to work to rebuild their waste places and to cultivate their crops. the men who composed the union armies, found on their return home, a healthy, prosperous, peaceable and well organized society; while the government with a prodigal hand freely distributed pay, pensions, and bounties. it was not so in the south; society here was disorganized; the strain upon the people to supply the armies in the fields had exhausted their resources; labor was absolutely demoralized; the negroes being freed, in their ignorance and delusion were not slow to understand their changed condition, and became aggressive, riotous and lawless. under such circumstances it was impossible to restore harmony in the civil government without the utmost confusion; yet so earnestly did our people struggle to return to their allegiance and thus entitle them to the protection which had been promised, that from the day of the surrender of the confederate army, not a gun has been fired; no hostile hand has been uplifted against the authority of the united states, but before breathing time even was allowed, a set of harpies, many of whom had shirked the dangers of the battle field, pounced down upon our people to ravage, plunder, and destroy. all remonstrances, entreaties, resistances were stifled by the cry of treason and disloyalty and by the hollow pretence that the plunderers were persecuted because of their loyalty to the union. a system has grown up in the south with obstinacy, whereby great protected monopolies are fostered at the expense of its agricultural labor; then follow the series of offensive measures known as the reconstruction acts; but one further observation sir, and i have done. the english people had no just conception of the oppressions want only inflicted upon the south; of the insolence and rapacity of the carpet-baggers and freedmen who were made our masters." there was quite an interval before the stranger replied. "your address sir has been a revelation indeed; it is a lesson of great educational value and i sincerely hope i may hear you again. would you care to present your views in writing?" the colonel without any suggestion of evil said to the stranger. that possibly at some future day he might find the leisure to do so. "and now you must allow me to thank you, before leaving, for the courtesy you have shown. i shall take pleasure in reporting this interview." colonel seymour upon entering his wife's chamber remarked to her "i have found a friend in need; an englishman who was delightfully entertaining and who represents certain humanitarian interests. i expect to hear something very flattering to the south when he submits a report to his principal." mrs. seymour who had passed that period in life, when she could look hopefully upon anything, observed quite sadly. "i hope it is so, my dear husband; i hope the future has very much happiness in store for you; but i am suspicious of strangers who seem to have no other business with you, than to obtain your views upon the unhappy events that are girdling our home as it were with a zone of fire." "ah," exclaimed the husband, "you do not understand, perhaps your opinion will change in a few days." "i hope so" the sick lady replied feebly. we pretermit events more or less irritating to follow the urbane englishman. the reader has perhaps surmised that he was an agent of the secret service bureau. this was true, as colonel seymour learned to his sorrow, within forty eight hours after the man and the lady dropped out of the wide open arms of the old mansion. but how could a southern gentleman withhold knowledge when sought under such a disguise. he spoke as he felt; and if the weapons that he used to punctuate his expressions were boomerangs that impaled him on its points, he could not help it. anywhere, everywhere, he would have spoken his convictions without concealment, without equivocation. laflin came to ingleside; came to foreclose a poor man's liberty, without a day of redemption. the old man saw the offensive carpet-bagger approaching the mansion and met him sternly with the interrogatory. "what is your business?" "ah!" sneeringly answered the carpet-bagger, "that is a fine question to ask a gentleman. do you recognize that seal sir" he continued, handing the old man an official requisition bearing the broad seal of the department of justice upon it "you will perhaps conclude, sir, that it will be compatible with your safety to return with me; i promise you a safe conduct to washington." "i will go with you" replied the old man with all the suavity possible, "but you will allow me to prepare for the journey." "certainly sir," said laflin, "but i must see that you do not provide yourself with arms." "i do not want my house polluted by your presence," cried the old man in the vehemence of his feelings. "then you shall go as you are," gruffly replied the carpet-bagger. alice had but little to say to the man, knowing that entreaty or expostulation would be unavailing, and clarissa slunk away from him as if he were the forerunner of the plague. when the colonel arrived in the village he saw the white-haired governor with his overcoat upon his arms, and his valise and umbrella upon a chair beside him. he knew intuitively that their missions were the same, that their destination was washington. "what are you doing here governor?" asked colonel seymour. the dejected man replied deliberately, "i am going to washington sir. may i ask your destination as i observe you are traveling too?" "you see my guide, do you not," answered the colonel with a frigid smile. "yes and i am informed he is mine also; so we shall not get lost on the route shall we?" answered the governor lugubriously. "i presume we shall have a suite of rooms at the old capital," asked the colonel provokingly. "perhaps so, if the president doesn't invite us to the executive mansion. i hope he will do this as i have no bank account north, and but little currency in my pocket," replied the governor in irony. "by the way colonel," continued the governor, "did you have an elegant gentleman and his niece to call upon you a few days ago? quite an interesting man was he not? i hope we shall have a good report from him when he returns home." "and were you confidential toward this man?" asked colonel seymour. "why yes, quite so," replied the governor innocently. "i found him so agreeable and so intelligent withal, that i told him all that i knew and i am expecting great things when i hear from him." "do you think, governor," asked the colonel quizzically, "that the englishman has given us free transportation to washington to be examined and punished as suspects?" "why my dear sir" replied the old governor, "you alarm me. is it possible we are the dupes of a government spy so clever and intelligent?" "that is my opinion, sir," replied the colonel. "is it possible? my, my, my!" he ejaculated, and sank back in the upholstered seat, and after awhile fell asleep. these were men who had made the wager of battle for eleven proud commonwealths and lost; men coming now with their patriotism repudiated, to be told that their traditions were treasonable, their principles insurrectionary; to be badgered into compliance; to be scourged into submission; men who believed with a living faith that they had given american reasons for convictions that ought not to be challenged, coming now heroically to receive their doom. the governor, on entering the great judgment hall with colonel seymour, was surprised to see in the person of the chairman a highly honored colleague upon the committee of ways and means in the congress of . the recognition was mutual, and the distinguished chairman descending from the dais, demonstratively grasped the old governor's hand, exclaiming, "my dear sir, what has brought you here?" the excess of joy experienced by the governor quite overcame him, and for a moment he did not answer, but he replied after awhile as coherently as he could, that he had never been informed of the charge against him. "ah!" replied the chairman sympathetically, "that is indeed regretable, but the discipline of this court does not contain within itself the germ of an arbitrary prerogative. no man, however bitter may be his opinions shall be condemned unheard." the englishman, under the alias of mr. jamieson appeared as a witness in the person of jonathan hawkins. it is unnecessary to go through the trial that followed. "you are at liberty," said the chairman, at its conclusion, "to go wheresoever you will. you shall be safeguarded while you remain in the city, and we shall exert our utmost to protect you and your interests at home. mr. laflin," he continued, "you will procure passports for these gentlemen whom you have brought here without a pretext of reason." our old friends, taking up their hats and canes, returned their grateful thanks to the honorable commission, whose judicial fairness was so praise-worthy; and turned their faces homeward; the governor exclaiming through his clenched teeth, "the infamous, villainous englishman!" "why, bless my soul, governor," exclaimed the colonel in a startled tone, "what an opportune moment to have carried out the wishes of our meeting!" "what meeting do you refer to sir?" asked the governor in surprise. "why, my dear sir, had you forgotten that we were deputized to visit the authorities in washington at the meeting presided over by judge bonham?" "well, well, well!" ejaculated the governor, "i verily believe, sir, if peace is not speedily restored to the country that i will become a driveling idiot." the colonel adroitly changed the subject by observing, "it has occurred to me that if the practical operation of the reconstruction acts was directly in the control of the authorities in washington, we should see that they are our friends; i am sure that the sentiment of the northern people is in favor of the restoration of the south, and would counteract the vicious primary mischief resulting from a criminal abuse of power--i mean that power that is centralized in the southern states." "i am looking for conservative measures myself from the wise men who are in charge of the government," replied the governor. "the infernal spoils system in the south, if not checkmated, will destroy the country. this same spoils principle has been the cause of more wretchedness and guilt, individual and national, than any other in the history of human suffering. it is the incentive alike to the burglar who breaks and enters your house at night and the highwayman who waylays your path and takes your life; that, rising from individuals to multitudes, it is the impelling motive to all the plunderings and desolations of military conquests; it forces the gates of cities; plunders temples of religion; the great despoiler of private rights and national independence. it was the spoils system that united the barbarians of the north and finally overthrew the vast fabric of roman policy law and civilization; and it is this principle, worse than war, that has shaken to their foundation our free and happy institutions. perhaps we shall meet at the cemetery to-morrow, if there are no english spies around," suggested the governor. "yes, yes; and adieu until then," replied the colonel, as they alighted from the cars. [illustration: "dare goes joshaway, now, wid ole glory strowed er roun' him, steppin lak a rare-hoss over de tater ridges."] chapter vii. a politician of the new school. uncle joshua was the color guard in a volunteer company of negroes, whose muster roll, like a thermometer, ran up into the nineties. as he shook out the folds of the scarlet-veined banner of the free one morning in his cabin, he observed to his old wife, "hit peers lak dat dare wus ernudder wun o' dem possels, ef my membrunce sarves me rite, dat toted de flag fur ginrul farryo when he wus er heppin disserway und datterway froo de dessart; but i moest furgit dat gemman's name. twant absurdam, i'm moest sho, und hit twant jack-in-de-bed, nudder. duz yu reckermember dat possel, hanner? yu und de locus preacher is erquainted wid all dem aintshunts." "umph!" grunted hanna, "yu's gwine fur back fur sumbody to tote de flag. ef yu hez gin out why don't you fling hit over to efrum? ur is yu aiming ter immertate dat aintshunt?" "grate jarryko!" exclaimed joshua, irritated by such a question. "duz yu see dat fodder foot, und duz yu see dat shuck foot? well, den, when de leftenant sez 'hep, hep, hep, hep, hep--fodder foot, shuck foot!' i'm ergwine ter fling dem footsies out disserway--see? und i'm ergwine ter tote ole glory fo und aft, jess so, twell i gits ter be de ginrul, und den i'm ergwine ter fling dem identikle footses in de saddle, disserway, und uprare de rone on his hine shanks, jess lak dat." "umph!" grunted ole hannah, "to be sho yu's jess rivved out o' de babboon show! yu's er sho nuff limber jack--jest ez suple ez a yurling gote, ebery bit und grane!" "now, den," continued joshua, without heeding the ridiculous interruption, "i wuz studdin up dat possel, when you flung yo mouf inter de argyment." "wuz dat gemman a mefodis ur mishunary?" inquired hannah, provokingly. "grate jarryko! how's i ergwine to know dis fur back? kin i skiver er humans clean clar ercross de dissart, und retch back ter de eend o' de yeth, wid dese wun-eyed specks? ef he hilt on to grace, he wur a shoutin mefodis; und ef he run wid proverdense, he wur a mishunary; und ef he hilt on ter sumfin wusser, he wur a harrytick. dat's ez fur ez i'm gwine, doubt i node fur sartin. i'm moest sho, do, he wur a mishunary, kase he didn't drap back when he cum in contack wid de water." "grate king!" snapped hannah, as she kindled into a passion. "wuz yu dare? yu talks lak dare warnt no mefodis mixed up wid dem harryticks; gwine on wid yer warter in de bilin dissart! better git de zion bushup to larn yu de scriptur." "oh, my sole!" groaned joshua. "ef hit warnt fer de mishunarys in dis soufland, dare mout be a wusser war dan ole jeff davis de secesh's. i'm ergwine ter ax yer wun pint mo, und den me und ole glory is ergwine ter hit de grit fur de conwenshun. which wun o' dem slidin elders o' yourn hilt a confurence in dat dissart whey dare warnt no warter, und no chickens nudder, und whay de po parished up mishunary hed to furrige er roun fer dare dinner? now den!" there were shops and bazaars scattered here and there about the public streets of the shire town within the recesses of which sat colored women selling their merchandise; now and then accentuating some passing pageant by the clapping of hands and other noisy demonstrations. there were disorderly, ruffianly negroes, in greasy uniforms, neither brigaded or disciplined, patrolling the country, discharging their muskets at random; and about the premises of colonel seymour there was a squad, more or less menacing, marching and counter-marching in the carriage way near the mansion, and the old man in his desperation cried out "oh that i could gird the sword upon my thigh, like the man barak, and could smite these devils to the earth." "mars jon," interrupted clarissa, "yer mout as well let dese devilis niggers lone; de lord is agwine to slam dem to de yearth fore dey knows it; he is agwine to vour dem up lak hoppergrasses; day a ransakin all ober creashun fur franksized niggers to wote de yaller ticket in de convenshun; mout as well hab so many billy goats a wotin fur ole abrum laffin, de meanest, low downest scalyhorg in de wurrel. yander goes ole joshaway now, wid ole glory strode er roun him, steppin lak a rare-hoss ober de tater ridges agwine to de town." and she pointed to a group of four crossing the field from joshua's cabin, marching under the stars and stripes, that swung lifelessly over old joshua's right shoulder. we had just as well go with joshua and witness the proceedings. the first observation the old negro made as he came up was this, "how much is de boss agwine to gib fur wotin fur him to go to de legislatur?" "agwine to giv yer, yer axes," replied a partisan of laflin. "yer dun und got freedom, haint yer? yer dun und jined de milintary cumpny, haint yer? yer is de most selfishes nigger dat i ebber seed. is yer aimin to git de whole kommisary flung in? what mo dos yer speck?" continued the black partisan. freedom haint nebber made de pot bile at my house nary time, und it haint nebber fotched no sweetenin dar, und it haint put no sperrets in de jimmyjon, und it haint nebber sot out no taters nudder, und wid all dis lustration in de land, it haint agwine too, nudder. jess as well be a naked snow-bird wid nary whing as wun ob dese franksized niggers. too much freedom in de lan now, und not nuff horgs and catfishes. i'se been a wotin und a wotin eber since de belyun fell--a trapsing to de town bakkards und furruds, und i haint nebber got nuffin but freedom yit--not eben de rappins ob my little finger; und i has been hep, hep, hep, hep, heppin in de miluntary cumpny ober tater ridges und fru de brier patches und de skeeters, und de cap'in haint nebber said nary time, joshaway, i'm agwine to put yaller upperlips on yer jacket, und i'm agwine ter gib yer a sord wid a wheel. nary time hab de boss axed me how much meal i had in de gum, ur how much taters i hab in de hill; und i haint nebber had but wun little speck ob munny sense freedom cum in de lan, und den it wus federick munny. ef i dont git nuffin bettern dat i has got, und dat mity quick, dis po nigger is agwine to drap outer de ranks into de sametary. dis here war has turned loose a passel ob niggers all ober de kentry wid dere freedum und muskets, und bress gord dere aint nary turkle in de swamp, nur catfish nudder, yu mout say; und eben de sparrers when dey sees a nigger a cummin shakes his tail, und sais 'ugh, ugh; i'm agwine erway frum here.' ole mars jon had rudder de hoppergrasses wud kivver de hole lan, und de tarypin bugs too. eber time de boss gits lected he ups and sezs, sez he, 'josh, de nex time i runs i'm agwine to make yer er magistreet, so yer kin sot on white fokses, und bress de lord, dat time haint nebber cum yit.'" "shut dat big mouf ob yourn," sharply commanded laflin's constituent. "i haint agwine to do dat, nudder," saucily replied the old negro. "ef de boss don't gib me er dram, ur sumfing when i gits to town, i'm agwine to wote fur tuther man. de ole ooman tole me to ax de boss fur a kaliker kote; sed how dat she wus jam nigh as ragged as a skeer-crow. hanner is a gitten monstrus tired ob freedom, und dese franksized niggers--yer heers my racket. aye! aye," he exclaimed patriotically, "dars ole glory now a shinin froo de trees," and with that the bandy shanked negro cut a pigeon wing in the middle of the road; and sure enough, the banner of the free, displaying its broad stripes and bright stars was nodding its welcome to its african heroes, who had worked out their emancipation with ploughshares and scythe blades. "i knows," the negro continued in rapture, "when i sees dat butifullest flag er wavin und see-sawin dat dere is bound to be a stummic full ob good whittles sumwheres, but i's monstrous skeert hits agwine to gib out fore hit gits to me." and just now the faintest tintinnabulation of an asthmatic brass band broke upon old joshua's ear like the sound of a dinner horn, on a long, dry summer day. joshua braced up for the home stretch and began to take long slouchy strides, as if he were on the old parade ground again. calling out to his comrades "forrud, march to de town; hep, hep, hep, hep, hep, eyes to de front, charge, bagonets!" as he approached the rallying ground of the laflin hosts, a recruiting agent from laflin's opponent, took him by the arm and said patronizingly, "let me put a bug in your ear, ole man." joshua jerked away with the startled cry "no sar, no sar, don't do dat white man, kase i kaint heer good no how, und ef yer puts dat ar bug in my yeer, how in de name ob gord is i ebber agwine to git him outen dere eny more, and hit mout be a horned bug ur a stingin bug. i'll fite eny man dat puts a bug in my yeer, dat i will; stan back, white man; dont cum nigh me wid nun ob dem creeturs." "you don't understand me, my friend" replied the scalawag, "our side are home folks, bred and born right here, and we know what we can do for our colored friends when we get to the legislature, and we are going to buy plantations for our men, and we are going to make our old friends like you sheriffs." "dats a mity heep ob promisin, white man," replied the negro suspiciously, "how menny shurrufs is yer agwine to hab in dis county?" "forty seven," replied the scalawag. "how menny jail houses is yer agwine to hab," asked the negro. "we are going to do away with the jails," said he. "is?" exclaimed joshua in surprise. "ugh, ugh! forty-leven shurrufs in dis county und all clecting taxes at wun time, grate jarryko, dar wont be nary tater, nur nary horg, nur nary ole settin hin--nur nary nigger in sebenteen fousan miles ob dis place. saks a live, white man, dos yer aim to massercree fokes fo und aft? whar wus yer when dey fit de war enny how?" "oh, i was at home raising breadstuffs for the poor," he answered. "raisin which fur de po, boss?" enquired joshua. "breadstuffs," he replied. "und did de po git dey share?" asked joshua. "yes, indeed," the scalawag answered. "und wus yer in de pennytenshun when yer raised dat truck?" further enquired joshua. "no, indeed," he said. joshua gazed comically into the face of the politician as he said; "lemme look at yu rite good wid boff eyes, wid dese ole specks on, disserway; dare. haint i seed yu afore?" "perhaps so; i cant say" replied the scalawag furtively. "ugh! ugh!" exclaimed joshua. "haint i seed yu at zion's meeting house wun time, at de stracted meetin? dat time sister cloe drapped back into er concushun und yu wuz de yarb doctor dat fotched her too, und yu tuck yo pay outen de munny dat wuz gwine to de orfins?" "no, no, you are thinking of some one else i am sure." "und hit warnt yu nudder dat drunk up de sakryment de dekons stode away under de mussy seat?" "no, indeed! why do you ask such a question?" "kase," replied joshua quite saucily, "dem dare too eyes of yourn puts me in membrance of dat scalyhorg in de scriptur whay wuz drug outer de kote house ded, him und sofy mariah, too, kase day made er mis hit erbout dat lan." "oh jerusalem!" retorted the scalawag "lets get back to the subject." "jess so! jess so!" exclaimed joshua, laughing, "yu sees yu's dun und kotched, und yu aims to drap back in de convenshun agen." "we pay one dollar in gold and a jug of whisky to every laflin man that votes with us. do you hear?" observed the scalawag. "now yer is er a gettin down to de pint," exclaimed the negro smiling. "is yer man agwine to git lected?" "certainly, certainly, sir." "dats all right, den, when dos i git de munny und de sperrits, fore i wotes ur arterwurds?" asked joshua dubiously. "we don't pay in advance," replied the scalawag. "don't, hey?" exclaimed joshua. "well laflin, he do, und i mout wote fore i git de pay, und yer man mout not git lected, den my wote wud be flung away, und de munny und de sperrits too, dats de pint. yer see, boss," joshua continued argumentatively, "us franksized woters is bleeged to make er leetle kalkerlashun und den ef we gits disappinted its kase de white fokses obersizes de niggers. don't yer see how de cat is agwine to jump, boss?" he whispered confidentially, "yer mout put de spirits in de jimmyjon now, und i mout take a drap ur too fore i wotes und yer mout hold back de munny twelt yer man is lected; how dos dat do?" "all right," announced the scalawag. "you come with me." and old joshua in his "hop, step and go fetchit" way followed the politician until he brought up squarely against one of laflin's lieutenants, who took him savagely by the limp paper collar. "wher's yer agwine lak a struttin turkey gobbler, wid dat white man, yer fool nigger? don't yer know dat ar white trash will put yer back in slabery?" the rival candidates were running for the legislature. on one side of the court house square were aligned the adherents of laflin, the carpet-bagger; on the other side the adherents of hale the scalawag. each was haranguing the black sovereigns of the south--men who in other fields had toiled ever so hard for their country, but whose hands were unskilled, and whose minds were untutored in this the grandest of human endeavors--the building up of an immense superstructure that shall stand "four square to all the winds that blow." each candidate had his claquers, slipping into rough, horny hands the paper representative of manhood, intellectual, patriotic manhood--manhood compromised by no overt act of treason. every star and every stripe upon that magnificent banner just overhead accentuated the fact that in devious wanderings over blood stained battle fields, fire scathed villages, homes and plantations it had followed manhood suffrage as faithfully as it did the tithing agent throughout the south. suspended above the heads of the free men, across the street, was this blood-red warning "no man shall vote here who followed lee and jackson." vain delusion; as if there could be treason under that flag; or traitors lurking in its shadows like mad malays! stranger still, that the dust of jackson should re-animate hearts that had been broken in a catastrophe, too terrible to be uttered by patriots. strangest of all, that living heroes should gather at a banquet where toasts were spoken in frantic curses of the brave by fanatics! to the right were barrels of whiskey on tap; to the left were huge piles of yellow tickets with appropriate devices upon them; and to the front waved over a bloodless conquest the "star spangled banner," just as triumphantly as it did at the head of the charging battalions of lee and jackson in mexico, just as proudly as when the southern cross yielded its sovereignty upon the ill-starred field of appomattox. crimsoned to a deeper blush to-day methinks because it is made to dishonor lee and jackson, who shall live forever in the pantheon of history--as men worthy of emulation, as heroes whose fame is already written upon amaranthine tablets. "who sees them act but envies every deed-- who hears them groan and does not wish to bleed; great men struggling with the storms of state, and greatly fallen with a falling state." "welcome, my son, here lay him down, my friends, full in my sight, that i may view at leisure the bloody corse and count those glorious wounds. how beautiful is death when earned by virtue." about high noon joshua, with his old beaver caved in on both sides and one skirt of his blue coat torn away, was seen to oscillate, as it were, betwixt the whiskey barrel on the laflin side and the rum barrel on hales' side, and doubtless, so far as his vote was concerned, preserving a strict neutrality, that is to say, in the plantation language of the old negro, "bress de lawd, i was so flushtrated wid dat meextry o' rum und sperrits dat i flung in six wotes fur de cyarpet-sacker und er eben haf dozen fur de scalyhorg." the result officially declared, made the agreement between joshua and hales' manager about the payment of money "arter yo man is dun und lected" a nude pact. laflin was nominated, and in his address to his constituents flattered himself that the nomination came unsought and with practical unanimity. "our enemies," said he, "shall feel our power, and you will be asked to co-operate in such manner as will place you above them in this government. can i depend on you?" "dat yer kin!" came from a hundred throats. "hurrah for de boss! he is de ginrul fur dis kentry, und he will lick out de white trash! yes siree!" such were the exclamations that deafened the ear and horrified the sense. joshua was too drunk to be offensively partisan. he lay in the street waving his old beaver hat and hurrahing the best he could for laflin, as he held on to "de jimmyjon," and singing in a drunken, maudlin way-- "dis jug lak a ribber is er flowin, und i don't keer how fast it flows on boys, on; while de korn in de low groun is er growin, und dis mouf ketch de stuff as it runs." when joshua got home next morning the sun was blazing like a great ball of fire from the mid-heavens. both skirts of his old blue coat were gone. his old beaver was flopping and hung limp and crownless over his right eye, and his old wife paused in her work in her garden to observe the dilapidated negro as he approached his cabin. she could hear him muttering to himself, "talk erbout de niggers ergwine ter de conwenshun, und er runnin dis here kentry, und er gittin de eddykashun und er bossin de white fokeses, ef ennybody is er mint ter gin me wun dollar fer my pribileges, i'm ergwine ter sell out, und i mout tak pay in federic munny." "ergwine ter sell out, is yer!" exclaimed hannah with a grunt. joshua looked up startled, and pushing the broken brim of his old hat from his eyes, he saw it was hannah who had interrupted his soliloquy, and she continued in ridicule, "yu is too brash, joshaway; yer mout git ter be presydent, den yer cud git er cote wid two skurts to hit. yu keep er wotin und er wotin, und bimeby yu is ergwine ter be wun ob dem mishunary possels wid whings, same ez er blue herron." joshua saw that his wife was making him ridiculous, and he slunk away into the old cabin and fell asleep upon the rickety bed. chapter viii. memorial day. the patriotic men of the south who had so valorously insisted upon their rights throughout the deadly passage at arms, felt that now the war was over, that the country should settle down on the great common principle of the constitution--the principle that had triumphed in . they had an intuitive abhorrence to confiding extravagant power in the hands of the corrupt and ignorant. they could not understand how the union could be preserved by the annexation of eleven conquered provinces, and asked themselves the question, "will not the light of these eleven pale stars be totally obscured by a central sun blighting and destroying every germ of constitutional liberty?" the union, said they, was safe in the hands of president lincoln. rome was safe when cincinnatus was called from the plow, but she was torn asunder by the wars of scylla and marius, and history is more or less a repetition of itself. despite the catastrophe that overlaid the south because of the unhappy issue of the war; the gravity of which enemies, both domestic and foreign, have scandalized by calling it "rebellion," despite the fact that disbanded forces were still prosecuting their conquests, not against disciplined armies in the field, but against men, women and children, in the lawful pursuit of peace and happiness, with a vengeance hourly reinforced by new resources and fresh horrors, and with a terror that mastered our fettered souls; our people felt that there was at least one refuge from the blast of the tornado--still a sheltering rock to which they could flee from the cruel cloud-burst. in passing the eye rapidly over the outline of the circumstances in which persecution originated; in reviewing the cause that unsettled the deep foundations of social life, the southern people felt that there were hallowed spots of ground so strongly buttressed in the hearts of the people that the violence of the storm could not rustle a leaf or shake a twig; that these consecrated precincts they could lawfully appropriate, and as to this claim, the carpet-baggers with all their hosts of misrule had the honor, magnanimity and mercy to forget, forgive and forbear. here at least there could be no intrusion, because the baser passions were fenced upon the outside; and amid this sad continuity of graves the heart would be uplifted in gratitude to god, who in his great mercy had given to the nineteenth century and to the south, such undying examples of patriotism and valor. here lie the bones of men who dared to say, when the political system of the south was strangely inverted, that it was such a menace to southern institutions that it could not go unchallenged; a palpaple violation of the public faith. to what other convulsions and changes are we predestined? they asked. shall we leave our character, our civilization, our very being to the unresisted assault and prepare such an epitaph for our tombs? shall we declare ourselves outlawed from the community of nations? "nay, war rather to the cost of the last dollar, and slaughter of the last man." such was the sentiment of the men who sleep so peacefully in these graves. such was the sentiment of the men, women and children, who to-day stand over these graves to honor the brave, and to reproduce a fresh page in history, and lay it reverently by in our southern valhalla. col. seymour was the orator of the day. "stonewall jackson," his old commander, the subject, and his friends, judge bonham and the ex-governor honored auditors. the old governor, whitelocked and furrowed, in introducing the orator observed with a proper decorum. "for what stonewall jackson and his brave men did, we have no apologies to make here or elsewhere. i had rather wear here," said he, striking his aged breast, "a scar from the victorious field of manassas, than the jewelled star of st george, or the victorian cross." i can reproduce in a fragmentary way parts of the patriotic address which i herein give to the reader, to show that there was "life in the old land yet." "my comrades, ladies and gentlemen: "one year ago to-day, with the reverence of a pilgrim, i stood by the grave of stonewall jackson; and i remembered that every battle order he ever wrote, every victory he ever won, was a thank offering to the christian's god. "i thought, too, of the thousand highways that rayed out from citadels of oppression, barricaded with human bones. i thought of the seas of human slaughter, whose redundant tides flowed on and on as libations upon the altars of ambition. "i saw as it were the faded crowns and the crumbling thrones of dead despots, who once girdled the earth with a cincture of fire, and marked its boundaries with the sword, writing again their achievements where mankind might read and wonder. "i saw again the accusing throngs of pensioned widows from the moselle, the rhine, the danube, the nile, and wherever else the scarlet standards of fanaticism flaunted their challenge, hastening to record their anguish, where the tyrants had memorialized their deeds. "i saw everywhere the badges of speculative knavery, of incorrigible wrong; cossacks all, who knew no law but force, and no patriotism but greed. "i thought of the spaniard, riding to the stirrup-leather in the blood of babes in the netherlands; of the hun and his proclamation 'beauty and booty,' and i thought of the angel of god's mercy proclaiming an armistice; giving a refreshing peace to the saturated earth after these monsters were dead, and i bowed with a profounder reverence at this hallowed grave in the valley of virginia. "i thought then of alcibiades at abydos; of alexander at issus; of scipio at zama; of hannibal at cannae; of pompey at pharsalia; of cæsar at the rubicon; of napoleon at marengo; and i thought, as vattel thought, that warriors such as these failed to prosecute the rights of their countrymen by force. "i thought of the keen blade of the assassin that cut in twain the heart of alcibiades; of the dagger of brutus; of the murder of clitus; of the hemlock; of the suicide's sword at thrapsus; of the assassination at miletus; of the fifth paragraph in the will of napoleon; and then i thought of the bleeding earth these warriors had scarified and scourged, until they were drunken with excess of human slaughter; and then i looked back over the tide of centuries for a single example of disinterested patriotism, and i bowed my head once more to hear a protest from principalities in their orphanage, and commonwealths in their sorrow. "i thought again of jackson, as he knelt in prayer, when the great guns were signaling the issue of battle, as with hands uplifted to heaven he was supplicating his father to guide and guard his poor country in her sore hour of travail, and i thought if there were a pericles somewhere, who from the foot of our american acropolis would sound his fame, the 'bloody chasm' would be bridged by a single span. "a little more than three years ago, by the violation of a plain order, the tears of a nation, magnanimous and patriotic, rained down upon and extinguished almost the last camp fire of gen. robert e. lee. within that short period events, like chasing shadows, both clouded and glorified the perspective of history. within a like period of time this great country, by a vigorous discipline, has completely obliterated lines and boundaries that once circumscribed the ambition of men. a trifling order methinks of jackson, but it cancelled our charter of freedom, it rendered a nude pact our declaration of independence. it was only the nod of the head of an unlettered peasant at hougomont, but it sent somersaulting into the sunken road of ohain the steel clad cuirassiers of napoleon the great; dipped the imperial purple starred with bees, into the silt of the english channel, and paragraphed the capitulation of paris with the civil death of the great emperor. such are some of the pivots upon which great crises rotate. forty eight years after the scotch-greys pierced the uplifted visors of the old guard, there glided down the echoing corridors of time this sententious order; "shoot down without halting the man who dares to cross the lines to-night." the catastrophe that rode as a courier upon the flank of this order, hacked the sword, unnerved the arm that was carving out of a heart of fire a civilization whose altars and whose shrines were relumed by the torch of liberty; but the god of battles, amid the carnage, called a halt. it was a night of exasperation, of despair. ten million people watched, as watchers never watched before, the last flickering of a life that laid down its all, at the altar of love and duty. those ten million people kept their vigil like vestal virgins, and saw, alas, the frenzied spirit of hate and wrath snuff out the candle and heard the groans of the victim of his own blunder, as he cried out in his delirium, "let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." there has been now and again an illustrious personage, who appears to us to have been mirrored upon the foreground of events like some titanic silhouette. the irony of fate has dealt with such a man, as the creature of an hour, holding him in thrall in time of peace, to become the storm spirit in some great crisis. when he dies the face of history is saddened and obscured, and a twilight like that observed under southern skies, falls upon the world. such a person may be fitly called the courier of fate; or better still, the tragedian of revolution. he cannot be weighed or measured by the definitive judgment of contemporaries. when he dies the stride of conquest is checked; sword blades dripping with human blood are thrust back into scabbards. in war, he is its inspiration; its providence. i make no allusion just now to that splendid effigy that is yet discerned in the haze that lowers over vienna, berlin and moscow; that incomprehensible tutor of strategic science, who with sword and cannon cut a red swath through the capital cities of europe; and partitioned the world into two dominions, as if he were only dividing in twain an apple. i speak not of him, whom this man that "embarrassed god," found a waif, and made a giant, whose death hastened to its decline that splendid imperialism that the great napoleon erected on the ruins of the commune. the fall of stonewall jackson at chancellorsville thrust betwixt the confederacy and independence a pall so dense, that it could not be cut asunder with the sword. i can compare stonewall jackson with no hero, living or dead. he stood in the foreground an unique personality--a phenomenon. with the genius of war he appeared almost supernaturally mated. whether his unparalleled victories were the result of combinations essentially tactical, of methods logically conceived, or of an intuition that almost without arrangement forced its power upon vast evolutions, will perhaps never be known. the plain profile of this man reminds one of the hard-hitting, rough-riding roundhead. his dispatches smacked of the calvinism of ireton and cromwell. "god blessed our arms at mcdowell yesterday." wherever there was a downpour of leaden rain jackson and the "ironsides" would have been in accord. his was the spirit that resolved combinations in his favor. his masterly apprehension of issues diminished the carnage by plucking the fruit before it was fully ripe. in war as elsewhere he was absorbed by a fatalism, such as mohammedans sum up when they say "what is to be, will be." napoleon, like an astrologer, believed in a star; jackson, unlike an astrologer, believed in him who made the star and lighted it in the candelabra of night. a few years ago an american asked a halting, mutilated soldier of the old guard to tell him how napoleon died? "the great emperor dead! he will not die," was the sententious answer from the man who had fought under the shadow of his eagles at wagram and marengo. it was with something of this vague, indefinable superstition, of this heroic belief in "old stonewall" as their providence that one of the "old brigade" would hearken dubiously to such a challenge, "tell us how stonewall jackson died?" critics who have judged with more or less asperity have said that his capacity as a commander was limited to the manoeuvres of a corps. strange fatuity! a score of battle fields prove the opinion false. if such had been the case, the history of port republic, harper's ferry, groveton and winchester would have been written the other way. i saw this imperturbable man at cold harbor. again he reminded one of the "predestined" leader of the ironsides. "if the enemy stand at sunset, press them with the bayonet." all commands issuing from him found their climax in this supreme order. the hero of toulon never caressed the fire throated pounder more ardently than did jackson. he would have swept every obstruction from the field with a single battery, or failing in this would have "pressed" them with the bayonet. his camp fires are now extinguished. the old army of the shenandoah is an aggregation of phantoms. winchester, port royal, fredericksburg and chancellorsville appear as mirage reminiscences rather, that steal unbidden upon the soul when its depths are full of darkness and shadows. "we walk to-day listlessly over the great, rough, heroic life of stonewall jackson, but on either side of us are monuments and memorials to his renown ever brightening to a higher luster. it is a stern business, this going to war. reconciliation is problematical, more frequently impossible. the public pulse in was intensely excited. one boastingly said upon one side that all the blood that would be spilt, could be wiped up with a silk handkerchief. another on the other side with equal bravado answered that he would live to call the roll of his slaves from the foot of bunker hill, and thus there was boast and badinage until the "anaconda" turned his many-hued scales to the sun on the st of july, . the scene from the northern point of view was exceedingly dramatic--a magnificent host all in tinsel--a composite picture of carnival and war. a flash, as of gunpowder; a blazing up as of dry heath; a shout ever so frightful, and half infernal, and the whole universe seemed wrapt in flame and wild tumult. but the fire has died out; tumultuous passion is allayed; the old south with its mountains and glades, rivers and valleys, the stars above its sodden ground beneath, is still there. "jackson believed in the southern cause, as if it had been a revelation from god. cromwell said, 'let us obey god's will' while he whetted his sword blade to drink the slaughter of women, and nursing babes at drogheda. jackson said, 'let us obey god's will,' whilst bringing to the altar the offering of universal emancipation. "jackson believed that the war of invasion was a heartless crusade against mankind and womankind, and the civilization of the south, and the higher law proclamation was the aftermath of the pernicious broadcasting of seed sown by horace greely, gerritt smith, and joshua r. giddings. the old stubble required to be ploughed under, said they; unhappily in seeding the ground they scattered here and there dragons' teeth and forthwith there sprang up armed men. "jackson believed that the 'grand army' in holiday attire, with flaunting banners and careering squadrons, were an aggregation of iconoclasts, fierce destroyers of images, creeds, institutions, traditions, homes, country. so believed he when the 'anaconda' with panting sides drew back to strike. "man to man, bayonet to bayonet, cannon to cannon, bosom to bosom, here was challenged the asserted right of coercion, of frenzy against frenzy, patriotism, anger, vanity, hope, dispair; each facing and meeting the other like dark clashing whirlwinds." hither sped jackson with the swoop of the eagle, down the valley from gordonsville to fresher carnage, to a bloodier banquet. hither he came with as high a resolve as ever animated peter the hermit, to plant upon the sand dunes of palestine the fiery cross; whether right or wrong, cannot now be known. the formula by which he may be judged is yet undiscovered. eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock, and jackson with folded arms, occupies the plateau near the "henry house." just beyond is a dark confused death wrestle. forty thousand athletes against eighty thousand athletes; two hundred odd iron throats perpetually vomiting an emetic of death. hope within him burns like a freshly lighted fagot. there is a quiver in the hardened nerves; the old sun-scorched cap is in his hand; the lips are slightly parted; the order given, and the 'old stonewall brigade' is hurled like an immense projectile upon ranks of human flesh. there is a halt, a recoil; cannon spit out their fire, their hail, their death upon bosoms bared to the shock. 'there stands jackson like a stonewall.' under that name he was baptized with blood at manassas. everywhere that faded coat and tarnished stars were the oriflame of battle and the old brigade followed them as if they had been the white plume of navarre. this incomparable leader never failed in a single battle from the day when with men at kernstown he held in check , men and covered the retreat of the army from centreville to manassas, where he cut their communications and decoyed their columns into the iron jaws of longstreets reserves. such achievements were not accidental. no manoeuvre could mislead the clear judgment that presided serenely in that soul of fire. it is not too much to say that the conqueror of port republic was an overmatch in strategy and technique of war for his opponents. he's in the saddle, now fall in-- steady! the whole brigade! hill's at the ford cut off; he'll win his way out with ball and blade. what matter if our shoes are worn-- what matter if our feet are torn-- the foe had better ne'er been born that gets in stonewall's way. there were other attractions there, too; flower girls had brought hither, not the funereal cypress and willow, but bright and beautiful carnations and violets, and streaming about the heads of the throngs were battle flags, torn and tattered--almost shredded by shot and shell--cross-barred with blue, with pale white stars like enameled lilies peeping out of the azure ground. lifeless eyes and voiceless lips now, had cheered these flags with the same joy that once greeted the eagles of napoleon. withered skeleton hands now, had borne them at the head of charging squadrons and battalions, the guidons of victorious armies--the guerdon of a nation's trust and faith. if out of the cold, dead white stars could come again the old gleam of light as it lighted up the line of direction over the mountain passes of virginia and the valley of the shenandoah, what a halo of glory would encircle winchester and gordonsville and chantilly! how dramatic the narrative; how truthful the history; how inspiring the reminiscence; how fully and completely vindicated the old south--the lost cause! but there is no light in the stars, and the broad bands of blue upon the blood-red field are disfiguring scars upon the face of an incident long since closed, and closed forever, full of tragedy and patriotism. the old governor was exceedingly complimentary towards his old friend, colonel seymour, "for his patriotic address," and very cordially invited him to visit him at his home. alice had formed new acquaintances, and clarissa too had honored this most interesting occasion with her presence. she had carried a basketful of flowers that had been carefully plucked and assorted by her young mistress, and with very tender hands alice had placed them in a stone urn at the foot of a grave that seemed to have been more profusely decorated than the others. indeed, it was the grave of the soldier boy who had been the first to fall in the terrible holocaust of war. "miss alice," clarissa asked quite feelingly, "haint yu dun und fotched back to yo membrunce dis here po sojer boy dat fout in de battle of manassy, und was brung back home to pine away und die? me und yu seed him arter he got home, und hit made my flesh creep und crawl lak katterpillers when i seed how de yankeys had mommucked up dat po chile. dare wus wun arm all twisted kattykornered twell you couldn't tell pine-plank whedder it growed wid de fingers pinted disserway or datterway, und den dare wus er hole in de buzzum dat yu cud farely see de daylight on de tother side. grate king! de yankeys mouter shot dat po chile wid a steer kyart; he wus de wustest lookin' humans i eber seed in my born days, und he wus de onliest chile of his po mammy. dare's her grabe too. dare day lay side by side, und de lord in hebben only knows what day's dun und sed erbout dis here war up yander. i'm ergwine ter strow dese lillies o' de walley on boff on em. po fings, i hopes und prays day has dun und gon froo de purly gates whey dare aint no war, nur tribulation of sperrets nudder." and the old negro knelt reverently at the graves and placed the white flowers upon them. as she rose from the solemn service she said feelingly to her young mistress, "pend upon it, missis, sumbody's bleeged to suffer fer all dis gwines on epseps dare aint no troof in proverdense nur grace nudder. miss alice, bress yer life, gord aint ergwine ter suffer his people ter be mommucked up in no sich er fashion. now dar is dat po 'oman lying out dare; ef de yankeys hadn't kilt her onliest son, she would be right here ergwine erbout spreddin flowers on de grabes o' dese po sojers, und she'd er heerd ole marser a speechifying to all dese fokeses." alice was not in the humor to indulge clarissa in further observations. she was thinking of a grave over yonder in old virginia, and wondering if some fair hand was not arranging the flowers and tenderly placing them upon the grave of her boy lover. the setting sun was shooting little slivers of gold from its beautiful disc all around the cemetery, and the shadows from magnolias and weeping willows were deepening and darkening all the while, when the colonel, his daughter and clarissa drove home in the old barouche, tired out with the fatigue incident to the day and its burdens. chapter ix. the broken cruse. the lights were burning with a soft glow one night in the mansion when the announcement was made by clarissa that a gentleman stood without, desiring an audience with the old master. the gentleman introduced himself as mr. summers (half apologetically), a reconstructed rebel. there was a moment's pause in which, by the shimmer of the lighted lamps, colonel seymour saw that the visitor was quite an elderly man, without beard and with soft white hair. his address was easy and insinuating. he was neatly clad in black cloth, and impressed colonel seymour as being a man of affairs. together they entered the library, the colonel observing that he conducted all business transactions in that particular room just now. considering the unusual hour at which the visitor had arrived, in connection with the unpleasant incidents of a quite eventful day, there was nothing reassuring in the visit: the times were critical, to say the least, and his own situation so entirely defenceless, that he felt as if "vigilance was truly the price of liberty." so he addressed the stranger in a manner quite emphatic-- "may i enquire, sir, to what circumstance i am indebted for the honor of this visit?" "why, certainly, sir," replied the bland stranger. "but will you permit me first to ask after your health and that of your family? how are you, sir?" "my family--that is my wife--is quite unwell, sir. she has been an invalid for many weeks, and i fear there is no possible hope of her recovery," said the colonel. "ah, that distresses me greatly; perhaps her condition is not so bad as you fear. may i ask after your health, sir?" the colonel hesitated for a moment, and then observed, deliberately, "physically, i am quite well, sir." "did i not see you, sir, when we were re-crossing the potomac on our mad flight from gettysburg at the lower ford?" enquired the stranger. "mad flight!" echoed the veteran with ill-concealed wrath. "have you such a conception of the orderly retreat of our great army without the loss of a gun and without the capture of a man, as to characterize it as a mad flight? were you a confederate soldier, sir, and do you insult my intelligence, my loyalty, yea, my bravery, sir, by this challenged inquiry?" "my dear sir, if the statement pains you i will recall it instantly. pray excuse me. i was major of the th virginia cavalry, and as the army halted at the ford i saw an officer, a colonel, who was badly wounded and who with great difficulty sat his horse on that occasion. i now see that the officer whom i then saw is the gentleman i now address, and i heartily crave your pardon for the rash expression." "very well, then," replied the colonel. "we are confederate soldiers again, and will make our future assaults upon the enemy, if you please, and not upon lee's army, that whipped the enemy at gettysburg; yes, sir, whipped them and fell back, sir, because our base of supplies was menaced by the flooding of the potomac, sir," fairly hissed the old man in great excitement. "my dear sir, why this excessive warmth?" cried the stranger; "i am sure we understand each other; but, my dear sir, the war is over--why make imaginary assaults upon an imaginary enemy? we are entirely in accord. we entered the army because we then believed we were right, and--" "knew it, sir, knew it, and know it now, sir, know it now, sir," fiercely interrupted the colonel. "will you allow me to ask, my dear sir, do you recall those events with any degree of pleasure?" asked the stranger. "yes, and no. when i realize that then and now, the enemy with unbounded resources was eternally casting into the vat of pernicious fermentation every act, thought and suggestion that was doubtful in interpretation, and brewing a concoction as nauseous as the black vomit of the red harlot herself, and eructating it upon us--the recollection is painful; but when i remember that every sword thrust into their vitals was the act of a patriot, i delight to recall events that crowned the old south with undying glory." "allow me one other observation, if you please," asked the stranger in a tentative way. "admittedly the south was right, but, my dear sir, do you think it possible that men like yourself who gallantly fought for a cause they sincerely believed to be just may not impress their individuality upon an era that promises so much for the betterment of our condition as a people?" "barely possible, i imagine," replied the colonel. "are you inclined to favor a proposition that has in contemplation the election of negroes to office." "no sir; such a proposition, in my opinion, would be so abhorrent to our ideals of sovereignty that i should consider myself a traitor to the south and her people. should i endorse such a proposition, it would be an act of self degradation." "but, my dear sir," argued the stranger, "you will pardon me if i should say that every man must look out for his own safety. patriotism to a great extent, is a matter of sentiment, and a great man once said 'it is the last refuge of a scoundrel.' you of course will not yield to such an interpretation, nor would i ask you to do so, but, sir, we must let the dead past bury its dead. we must live in the present, and we must as skilled architects build for future generations a superstructure that shall challenge the admiration of men yet unborn." "that is to say, if i understand you," interrupted the colonel, "you propose to inoculate the south with the poison of your infamous reconstruction policy, to engraft upon our institutions a new and dangerous character, and besides other atrocious enormities to establish the spoils principle--its temptation to licentiousness--the watchword to animate your corrupt followers to a savage and unscrupulous warfare, sparing neither sex nor age, practicing every species of fraud and hypocrisy, confounding right and wrong, and robbing the innocent and virtuous of their only treasure, their manhood and womanhood. what is your proposition, sir," he exclaimed vehemently, "but a proclamation to the venal and depraved to rally to the standard of a chief, who, like the leader of an army of bandits, points to our god-forsaken country, and says to your plunderers, 'this shall be the reward of victory.' this is no exageration, sir; disguise it as you may, your proposition leads to brigandage and ruin." "but, my dear sir," replied the stranger, "you have so disarmed me by your arguments that i fear my mission to you will be without avail--will you allow me to proceed, sir? we deplore the fact, sir, that our most virtuous men are still braving the dangers they might, with a little circumspection avoid; still plunging headlong, as it were into great heated furnaces whose doors are open to receive them." "how would you advise, sir, that we can protect ourselves, so we will not be utterly consumed, but only roasted here and there" asked the colonel epigrammatically. "ah, you trifle with serious matters" replied the white haired stranger. "there is one way, sir, and one way only--adopt this, sir, and the country will honor you with its blandishments. take the tide at its flood, and co-operate patriotically with those who are enforcing manhood suffrage without respect to educational or property qualifications, and the suffrages of the adult freemen, white and black, will be cast for you for congress." "ah, a tempting bait," exclaimed the colonel, "but it has a rancid negroish scent, and the hook is too sharp--too sharp sir. do you intend to do this thing?" continued the colonel interrogatively. "assuredly, sir," the stranger replied, with might and main. "then sir," shouted the indignant man, "this interview ends now." "one more word," pleaded the stranger, "and i have done--please bear with me a moment. the central executive committee, of which i am a member, feeling their great need of your invaluable services have commissioned me to make known to you their earnest desire, that you will accept a nomination, from the party, for congress upon the reform platform." "you mean your ultra radical platform," suggested the colonel. "no, not exactly that," replied the stranger, "they desire further, if however you will not accept, that you will submit your views upon the perplexing subject of negro or manhood suffrage." "and you are sure your committee will act upon suggestions from me?" he asked. "i am quite sure they will," answered mr. summers. "then, sir, please ask your committee, as a special request from john w. seymour, to put the negroes to work upon the farms; and the carpet-baggers out of the state, and hang the scalawags by the neck until they are dead, dead, dead, sir." "tut, tut, tut," exclaimed the old man excitedly, "you are beside yourself. remember, my dear sir, that you are sowing the wind, and by and by strangers will reap the whirlwind. good night, colonel seymour, i hope you will think better of the matter. as the white haired stranger passed out of the door, clarissa, who was closing it after him, enquired of her old master, "mars jon, what nice farderly ole man was dat ole gemmen? he peared lak he wus mity sorrowful. iseed him put his handkercher to his face lak he mout be weepin; what did yer say to him, ole marser, dat upsot him so bad?" "without deigning a reply col. seymour enquired of clarissa what the shouting and halloing at her house last night meant?" "did yer heer dat racket mars jon? i spected yer wus asleep. twant nuffin epceps ned und joshaway er cuttin up der shines. dem niggers been to town und cum bak drunk as horgs in de mash tub und sed how dat dey had jined de milintery cumpny, und was agwine to clur up de po white trash in de kentry, fo und aft; when yer hurd dem dey wus er hollern to ellik how dat de boss sed dat dey mout go to de town und draw de lan und de mule und de penshun, dat dey wus agwine to git dern nex saddy. lans sake, ole marser, i specks we's agwine to have orful times in dis kentry--de niggers turned loose lak blaten sheepses er shullikin und a pilfern erbout ebery which a way. ole fokses used to say dat when de tip eend ob de moon wus rite red lak, dat yer mout look out fur wars und yurthshaks too, und i seed dat ur site las nite 'twixt midnite und day und it fotched what de ole fokses sed rite back to my member'nce. i'd hate powerful to see any udder bellion in dis lan, dat i would. not ef day is ergwine to shoot steerkyarts und wheel-barrers clean froo our federick sojers, lak dey dun de last time. grate king, mars jon, what sorter ammynishun did dem dare yankeys shoot outen dare kannons ennyhow? frum de way our po sojers wuz tore to pieces, dey put me in membrunce of ambylances, und powerful big wuns at dat; grate king! i natally heers dare po flesh er sizzing dis minnit. is you sho ole marser dat de good lord is ergwine to fetch all dem arms und legs und heds togedder, eend fur eend at de resurreckshun, so our sojers is ergwine to know pine plank which is dere'n, und dey drifted disserway und datterway in de cornfields of manassy und chuckkermorger und de bulls run? grate king!" contemporaneously with the coming of the troubles that were well nigh overwhelming the old veteran and his beautiful daughter, the death of the wife and mother came as it were the knell of doom--the giving away of the last arch in the compact fabric of human life, the snapping of the last filament in the web of destiny--the leaking of the last drop of oil from the broken cruse. with her, the heart could be nerved to extraordinary endeavor; with her, ever so many bright colors could be painted upon the angry horizon; with her, the sunset heavens would diffuse a glamour, all radiant and glorious, as if the angels were kissing its banners into crimson and with deft fingers were garnishing the leaky clouds with prismatic hues; with her, the little birds upon sportive pinions would syllable their songs into the dialect of love. but she was passing away--passing away like the shadowy vapor that clings for a moment to the mountain's crest, like the resplendent star that shimmers more beautifully as it is dipping its disc below the western verge, and bids us good night--like the breath of the crushed flower that exhales its aroma for a moment, and is gone. passing away from a home that is darkened by shadows, passing away from the hearts that are consumed into dead white ashes. what black stygian waters were rushing vehemently against the fretted casements of these poor souls. ties that are sundering here are binding into a glorious sheaf loves and affections up yonder, as imperishable as god's great throne. passing away from the frigid griefs that are soon to environ old ingleside, when the blood in its channels is to pause in its circulation, when a negro, vile and savage lacerates the dear, dear face of her beautiful daughter, and her precious blood follows the thorns. passing away before the proud head of her noble husband is bowed in ignominy, when the shackles of a felon encircle arms--enslave hands that never struck a blow, except for his bleeding country. passing away to plead in her own glorified person to a merciful father to speedily unite the three in the realm of joy, where there are no shadows and no griefs. poor alice knew as by revelation that the lifeless form before which she was kneeling and weeping was not her mother. oh, what a royal welcome, what a banqueting upon love there will be by and by, when the terrors of the horrid reconstruction shall so chill her young blood that it will cease to flow, by and by, beyond the sighing and the weeping. tenderly, yea reverently, the body was placed into the casket and removed to the parlor, just under the portrait of her dear soldier boy who went to heaven from the gory field of manassas. friends had gathered into the room and the man of god read from the blessed book, "i am the resurrection and the life." the solemn discourse was almost concluded when ruffianly booted feet were heard in the verandah, and a loud knock was heard at the door. armed, uniformed negroes had come--come like an arctic gale, chilling and freezing heart and soul--with a mandate to snatch the living from the dead. laflin himself would not have pursued the poor wretch within the barred precincts of the sepulchre. the infidel powers of the east would have paused when they saw this "truce of god." but there was no order of adjournment in the message which they brought. "forthwith" was the unequivocal command and "forthwith" was now. they had come to take the broken-hearted man, though he clung to the casket; come to prod him with bayonets if the rigid limbs did not respond quickly to the command, "quick time--march!" once or twice, through sheer faint, the poor old man fell out of line and against a black guard who violently pushed him into line with the imprecation-- "d--n yu, git back inter yer place, er i'll stick my bagonet clar froo yer." he was arraigned before three white men and four negroes, and in the presence of whom stood the white-haired stranger, mr. summers. the colonel did not clearly comprehend the character of the accusation against him. he had been informed by no one except in a general way. perhaps he would learn as he followed mr. summers in his address to this tribunal. "gentlemen," said mr. summers, continuing his speech, "whilst it was my plain duty to report upon the case of colonel seymour, i do so with the hope that he may be given a day to answer; indeed, gentlemen, i pray that you may not deal harshly with this old man, who is now in the sere and yellow leaf. you say that you will require him to turn his back upon the traditions of the past--upon the ancient landmarks; that he shall fraternize with our party, in fact become one of us, or his condition shall be made intolerable and his life burdensome. spare the rod, gentlemen, for his sake and for the sake of his only child." "what have you to say for yourself, sir," asked the chairman frigidly, addressing himself to colonel seymour. "sir, i am an old man. one more turn of your wheel--the tightening of the cord ever so slight--and a life worthless and burdensome will drop at your feet. the standard of truth, virtue and patriotism has bowed its once lofty crest, and is now prostrate in the dust. all that was beautiful and lovely in this land of our fathers is sinking, rotting, dying beneath the blight and mildew of your accursed lust of power. why should i survive? my life, sir, is behind me. you ask me to be your slave. sir, your bondage is inexorable--it is the life of an outlaw, a traitor, a felon. you ask me to be your friend, and i should consort with thieves; i should crucify every principle of a man. you ask me to be your candidate--my consent would be an act of stultification. sir, against your savage principles i swear an eternal hatred and wage an interminable war." the feeble old man sank back exhausted into his seat. "we intend," exclaimed the chairman with great deliberation, "to scarify the old wounds of the rebels until they bleed afresh. sixty days, sir, within which to prove your loyalty. you can retire sir." thus ran the order, marked with three blood-red stars. * * * [illustration: "kase de high shurruff he dun und seed what wuz ergwine ter cum arter de bellion fell, und he flopped ober ter de publikins"----"ole mars jon haint ergwine ter flop nowheys," replied clarissa.] chapter x. freedom in flower. ned, who was now in his seventy-third year, was drinking to intoxication from the cup the carpet-baggers had lifted to his lips. he sat in the shade of a mulberry tree near his cabin furbishing his musket for the next company inspection, and stopping now and then to observe the sportive pranks of a domesticated raccoon. he heard the irritable voice of his old master calling him from the verandah of the mansion, and observed with gravity to his wife-- "jes lissen at dat! golly! to be sho ole semo dun und furgit dat dis soufland is konkered und de niggers sot free. haint dat a purefied scandle? de werry fust munny i gits outen de bero, arter i pays fur de clay-banks und de lan und de grate-house, i'm ergwine to uprare er silum fer dat po stractified creetur way out in de big woods, twixt dis plantashun und de crick, whay he kin call 'ned, ned!' und nobody's ergwine ter ansur but de blue herrons. don't yu heer his gwines on, clarsy? jeemes' ribber! don't yu heer dat ofe he's dun und swore! sposin de surcus rider had er heerd dat cuss wurd he flung at me und yu? golly! he'd histe him upon de horns o' de haltar twell he riggled same ez er fettered wezul. dat makes me sez whot i duz erbout dese ole isshu white fokeses. when dare aint no grass in de crap und de smoke house am full o' meat, hits brudder dis und sister dat; but bimeby, when de ole isshu draps inter de trap sot by de scalyhorgs, jeemes' ribber! 'ligion hez dun und tuck er backsot. don't yu see? yu mout sot down whey dat ole man is wid yo teef clinched same ez er hasp in de lock, und he mout be gwine on wid his stractified nonsense, und ef yu didn't spishun nuffin, de fust fing you node hit mout be ole marser dis und ole marser dat, und bimeby yu'd clean clare furgit yosef, dat yu wud, und be totin de grubbin ho und er swettin ober de wire grass fur de secesh. don't yu see? me und yu's jes bleeged ter walk perpendikler ur we's gwine ter be kotched agen lak minks." "dat's de troof, hit sho is," interrupted clarissa with emphasis. "und den," ned continued, "me und yu mout be wusser niggers dan in slabery time." "pend upon it dat po ole white man has dun und gon plum strakted. i nebber seed sich shines as he is a cuttin up, by his lone lorn sef, in all my born days, nur yu nudder. dar he now trapesing furwards and baccards wid boff hans ahin his back und histin up his cote skeerts, und a callin, ned, ned! jes lac slabery times. ef de good lord puts off his wisitation much furder, und don't take him outen his misry, hes gwine to sassinate hissef fore de time kums. 'ned, ned; i ses ned ned,'" grunted the old freedman mockingly. "jes as well be callin wun of joshaway's catfishes outen de crick, ebery bit an grane. clarsy, don't it mak you sorter solumkolly to see how idjeotick ole mister semo is a gittin, sens de culled fokes is franksized?" "it sho do," replied clarissa with some force of expression. "pend erpon it woman, ef we culled genmen don't take holt of dis here plantashun, und de house, und de craps, us is all agwine to suck sorrer, shows you born." "dats de lords truff" exclaimed clarissa. "mr. semo, he don't look arter nuffin, dat he don't," ned continued, as he laid his musket on the ground to rub his back against the jamb of the chimney, "de hoppergrasses is avourin de craps, und de cotton is in de gras up to de tip ends, und de dratted, flop-yeared dorgs is jamby et up all de sheepses, und dere is dem hosses in de stable, a whinkering und a whinkering fur a moufful ob fodder, un de cattle beastes is er strayin erway inter de mash, und cum rane er shine, dare is ole mars jon asottin dare lak er ole settin turkey hen er callin ned, ned; lak dare want no freedum in de lan. twant fur miss alice dat ole man und all tother fokeses on dis here plantashun wud be lak a passel ob gizzard shads, plum run down to nuffin." "now yu is a woicin it ned," again exclaimed clarissa, as she stitched the last feather in ned's military cap. "dare aint but one way fur dat ole man to eber sucker hissef outen his misery und be spectable," said ned. "und hows he agwine tu du dat ned?" interrupted clarissa. "don't hit stan ter reson dat ef ole marse jon wud jine de publikins und go erbout de kentry baccards and furrards a speechifyin fur de franksized woters, dat he wud git a offis? i don't blame ole marser fur fitin arter mars harry got kilt. i'd fout tu, fur my onliest boy, but whar mars jon dun rong wus kase he didn't stop mars harry fore he rid off to manassy. kase mars harry he didn't no no better und ole marster did, don't you see de pint, clarsy?" "i sho duz," again exclaimed clarissa. "dere is de shuriff, he fit in de war, jess lak mars jon dun, and whars dat man now? de high shuriff! kase he seed what wus agwine tu kum when de bellum fell, und he flopped ober to de publikins, und de fust fing yu noes, dat man is ergwine tu be de pressiden ob de newnited states." "haint yu seed fo now" continued ned argumentatively, "wun of dem dare lorgerhed turkles drap back into de mud, ergwine furder und furder und er setlin down und downer twell he kivers hisself all epseps his two rad eyes, und bimeby heer cums erlong ole joshaway er probing wid de gig, und bimeby he gits his konfedence, und den he flings him on de back und tells him rite saft lak, 'please stay dar twell he cums back ergin;' well den de skalyhorgs day dun und got deyselves skotched in de offusses jes lak dat ar turkle, und de fust fing yu nose ef ole mars jon haint ergwine to flop ur nuffin heer cums erlong ole jeff davis, de secesh man, und ole mars jon er probin wid dare ole debbil fork, und bimeby day flings dem publekins on de back und tells dem to stay rite dar twell day cums back. don't yu see; und den de fat is dun und flung in de fire und de bellyun is dun un riz ergin." "ole mars jon ain't agwine to flop no whers, dat he aint," ejaculated clarissa. "den he aint agwine tu git no offis nudder," rejoined ned, quite seriously and relapsed into silence. "ned, whats yu agwine tu du wid yosef dis arternoon?" she asked. "me" asked ned, "ise agwine tu scotch mysef on dis here plank fur a nap, dats what." "whats yu gwine to do," he asked. "me," asked clarissa, "i'm agwine tu slabe fur er nocount free nigger, lak yu, jess lak i has ben doin fur forty yers, dats what." "no count free nigger hay! dats a sin to yu clarsy, who keeps dat ar pot bilin?" "bilin" she asked, in disgust, "sposin yu lift dat ar led often dat pot an see whats a bilin, taint nuffin yu fotched home, i tells yu dat." ned distrustfully advanced to the fire place and lifted the top from the pot and sank back with a groan, into an old bottomless chair. "what do ail you, ned?" asked clarissa, laughingly. "lors a massy, i wudn't a had yu projjeck wid me dat ar fashun fur a hundred dollars. i wus skert tu ax yu what yu had in dare, und i kep a studdin and a studdin, und i kep tryin to smel sum yerbs or udder ur snuffin an er snuffin an er snuffin, und i kep listenin fur yu to say 'ned, lift dat bilin pot offen de farr wid dem yurbs und horg meat; hit ar sho dun by dis time', und bress de lord, it haint nuffin ceptin er ole kalliker skeert; dat dar mistake is wurf a hundred dollars. jess as well flung a hundred dollars outen my pocket into de fire, as to gib me dat ar set back." "a hundred dollars," mockingly repeated clarissa, "how much money has yu had sence de belyun dun fell?" "me?" asked ned. "yes, you, dats who, how many cents yu had most fo yer sence freedum cum in de lan, und yu is as ragged as a settin pefowell." "nebber mind," said ned, "i'm ergwine to git forty akers ob dis here plantashun, und maby de grate house flung in, und i'm gwine to git de peertest mule on de hill, und when i flings de whoop und pulls de ribbuns, yu is ergwine to see a yerthshake." "ugh, ugh!" ejaculated clarissa, "i mout, und den agen i moutent. i sees yu a flinging de whoop now, but taint ober nary wun ob ole mars jon's mules, dat it taint. i seed a passel ob niggers tother day, jess lak yu, a flingin de whup und a pullin de ribbuns, but twas in de conwic camp jess whar yus agwine to be fo de hoppergrasses wours ole mar's jon's crap. dars yer a stretcht out on dat plank in de brilin sun, lak wun ob dem streked lizzards on de wurm ob de fense, wid nary a moufful ob wittles in de house, high nur lo. cum here an see who dat is agwine long yander ercross de medder in de hot brilin sun, wid her bonnit skeerts lak de wings ob a white hearon, a floppin backards an furards, haint dat miss alice?" ned raised his hand to shield his eyes from the hot glaring sun as he observed, "tain't nobody else. ef dat ar white gal don't hab de tarryfyin feber ur de brownskeeters, den i haint no doctor." "i wunder whar dat ar gal is ergwine to here at twel erclock in de day, und de july flies er farely deefnin de fokeses wid der racket?" asked clarissa. "lordy! lordy! clarsy," exclaimed ned, "ef we uns only hed sum ob dem gud wittles miss alice got in dat basket, i wudn't be in narry grane ob a hurry fur dem forty akers ob lan und de mule nudder, wud yu?" "mout hab had gud wittles all dis time ef yu hadn't ben sich er flambergastered fule. yu und joshaway er tarnally spasheating erbout hopperrattucks und pianny fortys und de freedmun's bero und de conwenshun und de miluntary, und bress de lord nary wun ob yu's seed a hunk o' meat ur a dust o' flour sense freedum cum in de lan, und boff ob yu luks dis werry minit lak perishin conwicks, ur de sutler's mules turned out to grass. neber herd dat yungun open her mouf agin enybody in my life, white er black. ef yu axes her fer enyfing, she is er smolin de butifulist smile all de bressed time, und ef de cullud fokeses' chillun is er hongry she feeds dem wid lasses and homny und gud truck twell dey is fitten ter pop open; und when dey is sick, she is jes lak er hark angel, und bress gord, dat ar gal is ergwine tu hab er golen krown, und er harp too, und gole slippers, when her hed is lade low; und ef she goes fust i'm ergwine ter keep her grabe kivered wid de butifulist flowers in ole missus' flower garden." and clarissa, overburdened with the tumult of her tender soul, began to sob and cry. "hit nachully tares my ole hart strings outen my body to sen her dat wurd; kase yu nose, ned, dat miss alice's hans is tu swete und tender tu cut de wud fur de kitchen und lif dem hebby pots in dis yer bilin sun. ef i had my chusin i wudn't gib wun stran ob her golen hare fur all de freedum in de lan, und ole lincum frowed in, dat i wudn't." clarissa could maintain her equilibrium whenever ned expatiated upon matters, persons and events unconnected with her young mistress, but every chord of feeling in her black bosom was instantly vibrant with emotion if anything in disparagement of her was spoken. dear, dear child! she was now oblivious to all that was passing in the little cabin. there she goes, singing a sweet lullaby, on her mission of love, moving along in the sunshine that encircles her as with a magic zone of glory. the little daisies lift up their heads to laugh as they whisper to each other, "there she goes, our little sweetheart!" and an old woman essaying to free herself from the fetters of the tyrant death at the other end of the line is whispering, "here she comes, my darling!" her great, sympathetic nature, whose capacity was enlarged to embrace all the poor, white and black, made the black cruel heart of aleck, even, unwittingly to relent after he had torn her fair face with the thorn bush in the meadow. when the paralytic, alexander maclaren, died twelve months ago, he bequeathed a redundance of squalor and misery to his widow, and now death in slouching strides was coming toward her little hut beyond the meadow; coming as if unwilling to take away the old friend of sweet alice; coming, not like the swift cruel messenger, but languidly, even dubiously; halting to ask if his commission would permit him to spare her yet a little while for alice's sake. there was a footfall upon the door block; there was the low voice from within, "come in, dearie," and alice and a flood of sunshine entered together. "my sweet bairn," the old lady exclaimed, in the language of the highlands, "how you do gladden my auld een! let me kiss you, my lassie, ond touch your bonnie hair with my auld stiffened fingers. i want to feel your presence ivery minute." alice bowed lovingly at the bedside of the poor widow and kissed the pallid cheek, and looking into the faded eyes asked, with heartfelt sympathy, if she knew who had kissed her? "ah, vera well lassie," she answered smilingly. "i ken nae ane in this puir auld world but you; and why should i dearie? do you think i shall ever cease to love you, allie, you are sae bright and trustful; your gentle spirit is like the little star that shines just yonner when the twilight deepens into the night, its light ond joy ond comfort are for some ither fauk, for some ither fauk," she repeated with earnestness. "oh, i do thank you, mrs. maclaren, for such kind, yet undeserved expressions, they are sweet dewdrops that are always leaking from a heart, kind and true," said alice, as she brought from her little basket such delicacies as she thought would tempt the sick lady. "now that you love me so dearly," continued alice, "will you not take a little nourishment, for my sake?" "for your sake, dearie," interrogated the old lady, "thot i will, and thank you with an auld ruck of a heart thot has but ane love--all for you, chiel, all for you. if i live it will be to bless you, ond if i dee i will whisper to the angels to love my sweet chiel as i have loved you, allie." the old head was very tired and the eyes that now mirrored another light than that which came through the natural senses were closing as alice sang so tenderly, so softly her favorite hymn; and it appeared to come fragrant, laden with the aroma of the heather, with the memories of the gude auld days from the glades and trossachs. "it's here we hae oor trials, ond it is here that he prepares a' his chosen for the raiment, which the ransomed sinner wears ond it is here that he would hear us, mid oor tribulations sing we'll trust oor god who reigneth in the palace of the king. "though his palace is up yonner, he has kingdoms here below; ond we are his ambassadors, wherever we may go; we've a message to deliver, ond we've lost anes hame to bring to be leal and loyal hearted, in the palace of the king. "its ivory halls are bonnie, upon which the rainbows shine, ond its eden bowers are trellised with a never fading vine; ond the pearly gates of heaven do a glorious radiance fling, on the starry floor that shimmers in the palace of the king. "noo nicht shall be in heaven ond nae desolating sea, ond nae tyrant's hoof shall trample in the city of the free; there is everlasting daylight ond a never-fading spring, where the lamb is all the glory in the palace of the king." the widow lay as though she were dead, so tranquil was the slumber that had kissed down her heavy eyelids, and her crossed hands were laid upon the light coverlid that rested upon her bosom. "oh," thought alice as she looked upon the scarcely animated human body, "if it were not a sin, and if you were not so wearied, how i would envy you, mrs. maclaren; you are soon to be so happy. your tired feet will soon press the 'starry floor that shimmers in the palace of the king' ond your tired een will soon 'behold the king in his beauty,' ond your tired heart will throb with a divine feeling when he bids you welcome in the 'palace of the king; ond he will gae you the title to your mansion with a smile, ond you ken fine it is your ain hoose, ond after sich sae travail you have coom hame to abide for aye.'" after a while the old lady awoke to find alice kneeling at her head, to wipe the damp from her brow with her handkerchief. alice was the first to speak and she said quite endearingly "how are you now, my dear mrs. maclaren? i hope you feel ever so much better." the old lady with some effort raised her eyes and responded feebly, "better chiel. ah my dearie," she said almost hopefully, "may be i'll nae go to my ain hame the day. just then i was so weary and i had almost forgotten that you were still with me. ond were you nae singing a wee bit ago dearie? or was i dreaming ond heard the angels singing, 'we'll trust our god who reigneth in the palace of the king?' it might have been the voice of my auld mither, i dinna ken, i dinna ken," she repeated emotionally. "if you are not tired, allie, will you not read a passage from the blessed book, just to make me think of the auld, auld story." alice took the bible from the little deal table and upon opening its pages a five dollar treasury note of the confederate government, of the issue of eighteen hundred and sixty two, fell upon the floor. it appeared to alice as a pictorial representation of war, its havoc, its chariot wheels, with great cruel tires and knives, and its heaps of slain. she turned it over and saw this writing, in a neat feminine hand on the back, "it was not for the like of this that my lad was slain at gettysburg, it was for honor. with the tidings of his death came this note from his hands. 'the lord gave and the lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the lord.'" alice placed the note back in the bible with the thought almost expressed by her tongue, "the liveliest emblems of heaven are his saints, who in the deep sense of anguish can uplift their hearts to him in simple child-like faith." the old lady again expressed herself as feeling so much better. poor woman, perhaps it was but a momentary reinforcement of the vital energy, that was preparing her for the last interview with death, when he should come again with shroud and coffin. "and the spirit and the bride say come," the sweet girl began to read, "and let him that heareth say come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely." "the water of life freely, and let him that is athirst say come," echoed the old lady feelingly. "ond all, all, dearie, we shall hae in ower aboondance in the palace of the king, bye and bye. ond wud you mind putting up a wee bit prayer for sich an auld rack of a body?" alice got down upon her knees and clasping the hands of the sick lady in her own she prayed fervently that the father of all mercies would watch over her charge who had been faithful through her life; deal lovingly with her, for she is thy child; be with her now and always to comfort her and give her that peace which the world cannot give or take away. alice rose from her supplications to kiss the old lady once more before taking her departure, when the invalid, pointing to a little box in beautiful mosaic upon the mantel, said to her, "you will find there a little siller that i have put by for my beerial chiel, for the gown ond the coffin ond the grave." as alice entered the old mansion at ingleside with her mind tranquilized by the experience through which she had just passed, she heard her father in quite a loud voice, call one of his old servants, "ned, ned, where is that black rascal ephraim?" "don't know, mars jon, came back the answer, specks he is dun gone to de baptising in de crick sar." "where is my saddle mare?" "don't know dat sar, nudder, specks she's dun gone wid ephraim tu sar." "where is my new hat and umbrella?" "don't know mars jon, specks dey is dun took demselves off en wid ephraim tu sar." "who is that banging on miss alice's piano?" "dey is dem culled ladies sar, miss maria und miss susan, er playin high opperattucks sar. i seed dem er gwine in dere und spishoned dey wur gwine rong, und i axed dem to play de high opperattucks some wheys else, kase dis grate house was too dimmycratuck fur dem, but dey lowed dat dere daddy had worked fur hit und dey wus hissen und den i didn't say no mo, kase i wus afeared. pend erpun hit, mars jon, de bottom rail has dun got on top now sho nuff." reconstruction had come with its mildew. black cavernous mouths were lapping up the virus and spitting it out everywhere. retribution in history had come too with the evolution of the negro. the old master like a besieged baron of mediaeval civilization, was still looking out upon his broad domains and his cattle upon a hundred hills, but there was rust upon the plow shares, tares in the wheat, cockles in the rye, and the high noon bell in its tower hung lifeless and tongueless. no summons thence to the tired hands and feet and backs upon the old plantation. labor was disorganized--discipline a dead precedent--the negroes, like the swallows and ravens in the old rookery, homeward and townward as they list, were pluming their flight. the many-gabled mansion lay fast asleep in the sabbath nooning. a bee-martin, as it leaped to wing from the neglected meadow, piped a shrill note or two and scurried away after the thieving crow; and the interlacing oaks and elms of a century's growth coquetted with the whispering winds. alice felt that she had sustained a mortal shock when she heard the sound of her mother's piano, every chord thrilling with strange dissonance; boisterous, vulgar singing and the shuffling of feet upon the richly carpeted floor. she started to enter the room when a rude black hand was placed with violence upon her arm, and she was thrust back into the hall, with the remark, "jess git outen here forthwid. us ladies is musin our selfs er makin dis ole fing farly howl. daddy ses how dat ef we cullud ladies notices white trash lak yu is eny mo he's ergwine ter whup us an' whup us good," and with this they courtesied toward each other and retired as if they had been princesses of some black realm. alice wept out her indignation in her mother's room. poor alice! sowing the wind! by and by what shall the harvest be? "ned," called colonel seymour, "tell aleck to come to me." ned came back in a few minutes concealing a grin with his open hand to his mouth. "boss," he said, "i seed ellick, und he tole me how dat i mout tell yu pintedly dat ef yu wants ter see him wusser dan he do yu, yu mout cum ter him er let hit erlone udder. dem wus his berry wurds." the old man turned away with the wish in his heart that the black vat of reconstruction might be heaped up to the brim with the freedmen who had turned their backs upon their only friends. as the evening sun was drawing a watery cloud before its face to shut out, if possible, the degradation of the white people of the south, ephraim rode up at break-neck speed upon the exhausted mare and as he alighted upon the foot-block he threw the bridle towards his old master with the insulting demand, "unsaddle dat beastis semo, widout yu wants her tu tote de saddle all her life." "you insolent scoundrel!" exclaimed the old man in white heat, "has it come to this?" "looker heer, po white man, dus yu no who's yu er sassin? ise er spectable cullud gemman, sar, er franksized woter, sar, und what's yu sar? po down white trash. take yer ole mar und yer ole umbrill, und yer ole hat, und go ter de debbil." thus was slipping away the eventide of the day that god, in his infinite condescension aeons ago, had hallowed and blessed. in the excitement of these almost tragical events alice had quite forgotten the sick woman across the meadow, and she was hurrying there as fast as she could, when she was intercepted in her journey by aleck, who commanded, "hole up dar, white 'oman! whar is yer agwine wid dat baskit und dem wittles?" the girl was greatly alarmed at the presence of the brutish negro in this solitary place and she spoke as complacently as possible and told him that she was carrying some food to poor mrs. maclaren. "will you not let me go on?" she said; "the poor woman is very ill, and i am sure that i am doing no one any harm." "yes yu is fer a fac, the negro replied with anger, pears lak yu an yer yo ole daddy is terminated tu gin de culled genmen all de tribulashun yu kin und we haint ergwine tu stan hit no longer. boff ob yu is jist got tu git outen de grate house und stop toting wittles tu de po white trash. when we takes holt ob dis plantashun dey haint ergwine ter be nary horg, nur chickin, nur pefowell on de lan und de culled genmen und ladies will be bleeged to look at tother wuns and suck dey fingers in misery." as the negro turned away from the affrighted girl he purposely threw against her fair face, with a deft hand a thorn switch, that tore the flesh and caused the cheek to bleed and then laughed with the gratification of an arch-fiend. she went on her way in silence but her outraged spirit could hardly contain itself, and this she said to herself with burning anger is reconstruction! a civilization that with whipcords and chains has suspended law and love and benevolence. when alice reached the little home of the widow she knew that the death angel had entered before her and was putting his icy finger upon the eye and the heart, and with an almost inaudible exclamation of "poor allie" she passed away. with tenderness and love alice arranged the coverlid over the body and locked the door and went in search of help to prepare the old woman for burial. she saw aunt charlotte gathering sticks for fuel for the pot that was boiling in her yard, for it was wash day, and told her that poor old mrs. maclaren was dead. "will you not go with me and give such assistance as you can?" "dat i wont," sharply replied the old negress "ise dun und got way by any sich drudgery as dat now a days. when wun ob our siety ceases we has grate blowin' ob horns und muskits shooting at de grabe und ebery body is as hapy as er rane frog in de willer tree. yu sees dem dere bilin cloes in de pot don't yu, and yu sees dat ar sun ergwine down as peert as er race hoss, well den ise got my orders from joe und i don't ame tu git a beatin when he cums home ef i kin hep it." alice went on and there were fantastic shadows here and there in the primitive landscaping of nature and timid rays of the setting sun were stealing softly through thorn and bush and bough. she found mary perkins and her younger sister gussie at home and she knew that poverty had not destroyed their kindly natures. she told them with sadness her mission and when the little assemblage gathered reverently in the little glebe the next day and the man of god uncovered his white locks and looked upon the forbidding pall and grave, there was a broken column of white flowers resting over the dead heart of poor mrs. maclaren. "earth to earth, ashes to ashes," is the universal requiem of nature--the proclamation an offended god uttered when he placed sentinel cherubim with flaming swords in paradise to guard its portals. it was the voice of the aged ambassador of christ this day, when there was no responsive sound to come forth from the dark chamber hidden under the clods of the valley. alice returned from the burial in a spirit of resignation, clad in a coat of mail figuratively speaking, strong and riveted in every joint. "what sore need for the upbuilding of character in this degenerate age; when evil is personified; when courage is so sadly needed," said the girl, "i will try ever so hard to be pure in heart." she joined her father in the verandah for a few moments, and she saw at a glance that the old man was battling with conflicting emotions. he said at last very disconsolately, as he stroked her golden tresses. "i had hoped my darling child to go to my grave in a green old age, but if it please god to take me and my child i should not murmur. god knows i am drinking the lees from a cup full of bitterness. the reconstructionists say that they are making treason odious and are scouring the land for distinguished examples." "let us not despair, dear father" said alice as she threw her arms around the old man's neck. "you still own dear old ingleside. let us sell what we have and flee ere the whirlwind shall overwhelm us with evil, i will work for you father and we may be happy again some day, somewhere. the good lord will stay the hands of our oppressors but let us not wait for that, let us go hence as quickly as we can." "you almost unnerve me my dear child with your eloquence and tears, but that will not do. i--i can clean the rust from my old sword and i am sure it will cut as red a swath now as it did in ' . our scotch-irish blood is thicker than water. never shall it be said by the craven hearted enemy that john seymour has ever defiled the proud lineage of his people. let us dismiss these unhappy thoughts and pray at least for our disenthralment." monday came and the shadows began to deepen. the patriarchal oaks and elms were still bowing gracefully each to its vis a vis. there was no cook in the old mansion, no stable boy to feed the horses, and old jupiter like the old sexton among the graves was groping hither and thither abstractedly, perhaps in quest of memories. clarissa the old standby had rebelled, rebelled against the sovereignty that had been too indulgent and too patriarchal perhaps; rebelled against a mistress and a master who condoned every failing of her nature; rebelled against a destiny made up of the comforts of life, without its sacrifices. you will come back home some fair day clarissa and there will be tears in your eyes, there will be sorrow in your old black heart, and penitence syllabled upon your tongue. you will come back to tell your dear young mistress something of the delusions that made you swerve from interest and duty and you will see the light of forgiveness in the pretty blue eyes of alice. the message came as it were wrapped up in cactus leaves. "tell miss alice dat she needn't speck culled ladies is ergwine to mommick up dey sevs no mo, cooking wittles fur de white trash. ned is ergwine tu git er organ und hosses und kerridge und she wus ergwine tu split de rode rate wide open er cummin und ergwine. he's dun und jined de milintery company und sakes er live dat genmen does hab de butifullist feathers and buttons und muskit tu be sho!" poor alice in her heart "felt like one who treads alone, some banquet hall deserted; whose lights had fled, whose garlands dead and all but her departed." chapter xi. the majesty of the law. another morning came and there was a cook perseveringly tasking herself with a round of slavish duties in the kitchen; but she did not come from ned's cabin. old jupiter, the pet hound, looked up into her fair face as if to say, "you will not forget me when breakfast is ready will you?" as quietly as possible she went about; there was no rattling of cups and plates, for the new cook said as she came softly out of her chamber "my dear father must not be disturbed this morning." she went resignedly to her toil. there was a blister or two upon her soft white hands, "but father will kiss the fire out of them when he comes to breakfast; and then we will give thanks to god for his bounty and in our home it may be that we shall be happy." as her father entered the room, alice ran to kiss him, observing that she would not ask for a compliment this morning, as it seemed that clarissa had communicated her mad spirit to all the appurtenances of the kitchen; the fire would not burn and the kettle had gone off upon a rampage, perhaps as clarissa's carriage would go when driven upon the corduroy roads of reconstruction; and then again she had prodded her hand unnecessarily with the sharp tines of a fork with which she was marking points in the biscuits. her father laughed at her little deficiencies as he relaxed his stern old face to kiss her and said to her approvingly "perhaps you will yet be a chef in this responsible department my daughter." together they sat down to their meal; together their hearts were uplifted unto him who had made for them such ample provision. "and now my daughter," said the colonel smilingly as he was leaving the room "what are your prognostications for to-day. shall we have peace and rest, or surprises and?" he had not concluded the enquiry when a rude knocking came from the hall door. a frown instantly shadowed the veteran's face. the hour for inquisitorial visits or interruptions was unseasonable, "what could it mean?" he queried. "is yo name semo?" asked a ruffianly negro in uniform, as the old soldier opened the door "it is," replied the colonel restraining his wrath. "yu is summuns to kote sar forthwid." "why such a requisition, will you please explain," demanded the colonel. "don't ax fool questions white man; cum rite erlong, dis heer rit bleeges me to tak yu ded er live." the colonel went to the stable to saddle nelly and she was gone, sweetheart was also gone, and so were the other horses. he came back with the information; the negro laughed savagely in his face, and told him "dat de milintery company was er drillin in de town und he seed his hosses ergwine to de drill-ground wid de sargent und de corprul und de flagman." the colonel looked into the face of the negro as he asked despairingly: "how am i to obey the order? i have no way of getting to your court." "you has got ter go ded er live, i'm er gwine to gib yu one hour to git ter kote und den i'm agwine ter fetch yu wid de possum common taters," and the negro gave his horse the whip and cantered away. sixty-five years had stiffened the joints of the old man; his muscles and sinews were relaxed and gouty, but the order must be obeyed; no temporizing with the policy of reconstruction, no annulling an order when issued from a court. the old gentleman halting from sheer weakness ascended the rickety stairway of the court room and he saw the power of the law, its learning, its dignity prostituted to ignoble purposes. he saw the power of reconstruction, its ignorance, its venality accentuated to a degree that provoked his abhorrence. he saw as he entered the house the american flag drooping in graceful folds over the bench, and he felt that judicial authority was reinforced by the strength and dominion that overpowered the south. a stupid negro as black as the hinges of midnight sat upon the judgment seat; sat there as a representative of the law that had for its substantial underpinning in all the bygone ages, honesty, capacity, promptitude, justice; sat there under a commission to checkmate evil. there were but two white men in this revolting presence, beside the veteran, whose face was now marked by fatigue and despair, and who dropped exhausted upon a rude bench. they were not there from choice but because the law of the bewildered land had brought them there. judge blackstock's black face looked out of a canopy as of carded wool; beetling eyebrows of snowy whiteness would rise and fall automatically like the crest of a kingfisher; the contour of his face was made ridiculously picturesque by great brass rimmed spectacles that sat reposefully below the bridge of his nose. a spring tide one day washed him out of a fisherman's hut into the office of a justice of the peace, where he was dipping out of his dutch nets a larger fry. the old negro was not vicious or malignant, only ignorant, fanatical and superstitious, with a religious vein that ran in eccentric curves and sharp lines through his stupid nature. laflin was his apotheosis, his providence, his inspiration. it was laflin he believed who had placed in the mid-heavens the great luminary of freedom; who had written upon amaranthine leaves the proclamation of emancipation; and who had erected within his reach the huge commissariat dripping all the while with fatness. it was to laflin that he carried his docket every morning to be paragraphed by stars and asterisks against the names of particular offenders; and it was to laflin that he read the judgments of the court whenever rebels were indicted. if "ilderim" the sheik could have seen the old negro with his mace of office presiding in his court he would have recognized his maternal uncle. the black judge retained his office rather by sufferance than popularity. he was guided by convictions that were illogical and foolish; slavery he believed to have been the whipcords of an offended god with which he smote his chosen people the negroes hip and thigh. this man was one of the judges who was caricaturing reconstruction; inditing as it were a pictorial commentary of the law of crimes and misdemeanors in misfitting cartoons. "make de pocklermashun, officer" he said to the negro constable as he placed in his right cheek a huge quid of tobacco. "oh yes," shouted the constable "dis kote is open fur de suppreshun ob jestis; walk light." the judge adjusting his spectacles with a judicial temper, read aloud a warrant. "de state agin edward sanders." "stand up dar prisner; is yu gilty ob dis high depredashun ob de law ur is yu not gilty?" "not guilty," replied mr. sanders. "what maks yu say dat white man?" asked his honor. "because i am not in the habit of lying," replied the offended man. "look a heer white man i aint agwine ter hab no bigity in dis kote," said the judge as he pointed his long bony finger with a savage frown at the prisoner, "yer 'nose dis heer kote is agwin ter mak itsef ojeous und a pine plank scandle und stinch to dem dat goes agin de law. don't dis heer warrant sezs how dat yu dun und dun dis heer depredashun und now yu ups und sez how dat yu didn't. the jedge ob dis kote aint agwine agin his own affidavy und yu is foun gilty upon de hipsy dixsy ob dis heer warrant." "but i beg that i may be allowed to introduce witnesses who would prove me innocent," exclaimed the prisoner. "how in de name ob god is dey gwine to prube yu innercent when de warrant hab dun und foun yu gilty? tell me dat" asked the judge argumentively. "do you mean to convict a man in your court who has not been judicially tried," asked mr. sanders. "say dat ober agin" commanded the judge as he leaned forward using his open hand as a ear trumpet; "dis kote don't comprehen de fassinashun ob de question," and the prisoner repeated the question with emphasis. "eggzackly so," exclaimed the judge, "i sees de pint; you is perseeding to put dis kote in contempt wid your obstropuous language; dis kote is gwine to rite its judgment so de boss can read it widout his specks. hit has heerd de state pro und con und hit has measured out its ekality in golden stillyurds, and upon de hole kase und de aggrawashuns dareof yu is foun one hundred dollars und recognized fur your good behavens fur a year und a day. officer," he continued addressing the negro, "size up dat white man's pile und tak out er hundred dollars fur de fine fore yu turns him loose." "next case" he exclaimed, "dare is dat betsy collins agin; er witness fur de state agin mr. thomson" he continued deprecatingly, "allus a gittin up a great flustration agin de po house; a runnin to dis kote wid arrant lies lak hit was agwine ter trude itsef on brudder thomson's feelins." "what is you doin heer betsy collins wid your rad eye a bunged up lak yu had been a salting a yellow jackets nest? i'm agwine to pospond dis kase twell brudder tompson arrivs in kote und terryegates de complaint." "de next case am a forsible stenshion kase i'm gwine ter let it go by too." "grate king" he exclaimed with an unjudicial gravity, as he bent his spectacled face to peruse a name upon his docket, "dat ar name retches from de rappydan to de jeemes rubber; willyum abender dolbery bowzer indian ginrul mackintosh. haint dat name dun und fling yo back outen jint? i'm ergwine to split hit rite wide open, und den i'm gwine to wide hit up agin. mouter node yu wur er wagrant ur a secesh nigger toting dat secesh name und all dem federick gyarments lak yu wuz de rare eend ob de bellion." "whose horg's dat yu bin gitting yo rashuns offer?" the judge asked with a fearful grin, and the negro prisoner was for a moment confused, reassuring himself however he pleaded "not guilty" to the warrant and asked that his case might be continued until his old master could be subponed. the judge looked toward the prisoner with a scowl as he observed, "what's dat white man's name?" "ole marser's named arter me," the prisoner humbly replied. "ugh! ugh!" said the judge "dats a sarcumstance agin you. i'm ergwine to put yu whey dere haint ergwine to be no mo sturbance betwixt yu and de horgs. dis heer jedgment is ergwine to run agin yu twell dat ar horg is fotched into de kote; und hit is ergwine to run in de name of de state." "grate jarryko!" exclaimed joshua excitedly from among the bystanders, "dat dere jedgment ez same ez er surcle in de warter, hit haint got no eend, grate king! dat secesh nigger hez dun und got hissef shot up forever und all dun and dun, by und twixt him und a piney woods rooter that is dun and woured up fo de bellion fell." "dis kote is gwine to rejourn till to morrow mornin. make de pocklemashun, officer." as the old negro judge by the aid of his staff was shuffling out of the court house the colonel was prompted to ask him why he had been rudely taken from his home and brought as a prisoner before him. the old negro looked at the colonel in a furtive way as he replied irritatingly. "de kote had to bate de trap wid one warmint ter catch anudder one." and thus the mountebanks and harlequins of these outrageous times were compounding dynamite in their laboratories that would ere long explode under their feet. chapter xii. home again. alice felt that in the afflictive dispensations that were from day to day scourging the poor south, that in her own personal trials there was an inscrutable providence enacting its ordinances, and by and by the "end would justify the means." great and simple was the faith of this beautiful child of the sunny south, great and simple her faith in the unfailing source of truth, love, and divine equity. great was her faith in the possibilities and recuperative power of a country that had been scathed so remorselessly by the great storms of war. she had thrown around her life a great bulkhead of faith, and she could suffer almost uncomplainingly, for there was solace in tears and prayers when her spiritual discernment brought her face to face with him who said, "i'll never leave thee nor forsake thee." after the arrest of her father she retired to her chamber for a short communion with her savior, to whom she had yielded without reserve a heart soon to be cast again into the heated furnace of affliction. she came out of her room to respond to a feeble knock at the back door, and she opened it to admit clarissa. alice saw instantly that something had gone wrong with the negro, for there were great tears standing in her liquid eyes and her speech was broken and emotional. "miss alice," she exclaimed, amid her sobs with her black face buried in her apron, "ole clarisy is so sorry, deed she is dat she trod on your feelins, but ned he suaded me clare outen my senses, deed he did missis, und i declares fore my maker in heaben, dat when dat fool nigger spaciated erbout dem hosses und kerriges, und horg und horminy pyannys he was agwine ter fetch home, und de silk umbrells und de whoop skeerts und sich lak, i jes drapped back into dat nigger busum und didn't see wun bressed fing but kerriges und hosses er cummin und ergwine; und bress yo sole, miss alice, all dat nite long ned was gwine on bout dem hosses und piany fortes und now und den he wud drap orf to sleep, und den i heerd him hollow to joshaway 'git outen de way wid de rones, dese heer clay banks is ergwine to tak dis rode, glang shurmans! glang laflin!' und fo de lord wun time dat stractified nigger pearched hissef pon de tip eend ob de bedsted und hilt on to de postes same ez a poll-parrot hollering 'wo! wo! wo!' und him plum fast asleep; und when de fust lite of day cum i heerd him er coaxin ole saltpeter, dats our ole steer, wid a moufful of fodder, und den he hollered to me to fetch de blue chiss to put de munny in und me und him got into de steer kyart und dat ole saltpeter jess turned hissef loose down dat rode same as mars jon's bay filly; but i haint neber seed no munny yet, nor de clay-banks nudder; und ned he lowed how dat de bero man dun an sed dat de man dat was fetchin' de hosses to de souf, hed done und tucked de rong rode, und mout not git heer in time to pitch de crap, but dat he was gwine to cum sho, und i axed ned ef he pinned his fafe to dat man und de hosses, und day er straying disserway und datterway twixt de norf and de souf und he lowed dat 'nobody cud hit de rite rode all de time kase de bellion hed dun und flung all de rodes outen jint.' den i ups and sezs,'i nose wun rode dat haint flung outen jint und dis heer foot passenger is agwine to take hit rite back to de grate house;' und heer i is miss alice; und den i got er studdin erbout ole marser und young missis und it peared lak i was stobbing dem to de hart wid a pitchfork, und i sez to mysef sez i 'clarisy is yu ergwine ter leave dem po critters in de grate house wid de cussed niggers er pirooting froo de land?' i dun cum back now miss alice to slave fur yu und ole marser twell i die; twell de ark angel stretches out his whings and taks me ter rest in his busum. i know i was a stracted fool when i drapped the kitchen key under de do, but bress your hart miss alice dar is sich a flustrashun all ober de land, de niggers lak ragged ruffins ergwine to de town und cummin back agin, er gallipin hosses und er blowin great big horns pine blank lak dam yaller mornin glories, dat i is so pestered dat i don't know de fo eend ob de grate house frum de hind eend." "is you been in de kitchen dis mornin miss alice?" "oh yes," replied alice, "and everything is tidy and clean." "is!" ejaculated clarissa. "well i'm ergwine in dar und cook ole marsa sum good wittles fur i knows he ergwine ter be most perished when he comes. po ole marsa; it do pear lak he is suckin sorrow all de bressed time; to be sho dis wurrull is turned rong side outards; ef er ark angel was ter pearch upon de tip eend ef de chimney und see de ruinashun of dis po souf he wud'nt flop his whings but wun time fo he wud be clean outen site, dat he wud'n't." the coming back of the truant servant was a bright page in the life history of alice. she had been so sad, so lonely, so forsaken. she had looked into the arching sky and saw nothing there but frowning clouds; she had introspected her poor heart and there was nothing there but the pictures of the dead; she thought of her friends and saw only grinning phantoms. still sowing the wind and sowing, sowing, came back the echo. she went into the parlor and seating herself at the piano thrummed its neglected chords, and was ever music or song so enrapturing. surely an invisible choir supplemented her sweet voice. she arose from the piano and knelt at the little altar to pray for her father, who was at that moment in the hands of these merciless people; who like huns and vandals were riding rough shod over the south arresting arbitrarily the aged men whose learning, experience and virtue had illustrated its civilization and given impulse and direction to its grandeur and glory. she was pleading with him who had permitted his chosen people to be scourged by the lashes of the egyptian task-masters; pleading not for her life but for another life, that like the wasted candle would flicker a little longer and go out. alice then went to the kitchen and found clarissa burnishing the tea service. "bress yor hart, young missis," clarissa said "you allus cums lak a streak o' sunshine. ef de clouds was a drapping rain all de time i cud see de bressed sun er shinin when yu'se erbout." "i thank you clarissa, but i don't deserve your compliments," alice replied. "i don't feel as if i could cheer any one or make one human heart light or happy. what will they do with father clarissa?" she continued. "de good lord in heaben only knows, missis. pears lak dey ez wouring dat po man up wid leetle moufuls at de time, and he so innosen too." "poor father," she said to herself. "i have been made very strong by a refreshing influence. if you could only place your burdens upon me until i became wearied like yourself, i would be so happy." at twilight the old man, foot sore and exhausted, tottered into the verandah very much in the spirit of cataline "nursing wrath and breathing mischief." "how uniform in all ages," he vehemently exclaimed, "are the workings of tyranny; how plausible its pretexts; how detestable its purposes! i have thought of death and felt no fear when i invited him to come and to come quickly; but i beseech the great god now that he will spare me to behold my people rising in their majesty, with a constitutional exercise of their power, to expel these barbarians from the country; to preserve our laws, our peace, our humanity; and to sustain the liberties of the people against the imminent perils to which they stand exposed." he knew that he was powerless against that oppression that lacked every resource of intellectual vigor; he knew that whatever indignities were offered to person or property were condoned or excused; he knew that the manhood of the south was suffering a social attaint. he told his daughter as best he could his humiliating experiences with interjections and volleys of wrath; how that when he was confronted by a black savage in the court he was told with fiendish laughter that the officer "had fotched the rong man," "dat de state had no charge agin him, but it mout hab fore he lef de town." scarcely had the clear sun begun to overlook the trees the next morning when the negro officer again presented himself at the door with a requisition for mr. seymour. "yu is ordered ter kote ergin," the negro demanded. "the jedge sed how dat he made er mistake yestiddy und sent de rong man ter jail." "let me see your warrant," colonel seymour sternly asked. "if yu fetches a witnis i'll read de warrant," the ignorant brute replied. clarissa who was dusting the furniture in the hall, overhearing an animated conversation between her old master and the negro officer, peeped out of the door when the negro saw her and commanded her to come to him. to go or to run, that was the question with clarissa, but she made a virtue of necessity and timidly obeyed the order. "hold up your right hand, yu po nigger trash," the negro exclaimed. "oh lordy, mr. jedge, what has i dun und dun?" cried clarissa; "ergwine to de jail house fur nuffin in dis wurrul, me und ole marsa; und what is ergwine ter cum ob miss alice?" "hole your old mouf, i haint ergwine ter hurt yu. stand rite dar as de witnis und den you is deescharged," and with that he took from his pocket a dirty yellow paper and began to spell out its contents. the officer patronizingly remarked to colonel seymour as he was seating himself in the buggy, "i can gib yu er ride to de kote ef yu will excep of my sability." the colonel thanked him, for his gouty joints were rebelling. by a cruel inexorable law of gravitation the old man was sinking from the level of a man to the condition of a slave. alighting at the court house he was mortified to see a white man and a negro handcuffed together walking in the court room, in the custody of another negro officer. as he walked toward the black judge, a score of brutish negroes cried out "yander is dat ole secesh, he'e ergwine to git jestis now." "fetch mr. seymour fore me, sar," commanded the judge; "whar is squire wiggins und his affidavy?" "mr. seymour, yu is scused of interruptin de squire heer in de joyment ob his social pribileges, and dis kote has found yu gilty. let dis prisner be found er hundred dollars und ef yu haint got dat much munny handy, de kote will change de jedgment und send yu ter jail." the colonel had no difficulty in finding a friend who advanced for him the amount of the fine and he sought the carpet bagger laflin to ask his protection against future indignities. the name laflin stank in the nostrils of an outraged people. this free rover of reconstruction was shameless and conscienceless; the marplot of every conservative sentiment conceived for the betterment of the people; a human ogre with but one eye that fixed its stare upon the dollar whether enveloped in a tattered rag or a silken purse. the colonel saw this man as he was coming out of a low groggery arm in arm with negroes. "can i speak to you sir?" he replied. laflin turned fiercely upon him with the interrogatory. "who are you sir, and what is your business?" "i am mr. seymour, and my business is to ask your protection." "ah indeed, you are the rebel who has been giving our people so much trouble." the brute replied. "i am sure you do not wish to annoy an old man who is trying to live peaceably at home." "yes. i do sir, and i will hear nothing more from an infamous villain like you." "my people white and black have my authority to do as they will; to insult and assault rebels and to make reprisals whenever they think proper." thus day by day the uncrowned satraps were collecting material for the coming carnival of vice and crime. chapter xiii. a knight of the white camelia. at early dawn in the language of the excited servant, "dere is sich a flustration agwine on outen old misses flower gyarden as i never seed in my born days." with this exclamation her young mistress was aroused from her slumber by the old negro as she knocked violently at the door of her bed chamber in a state of great perturbation. "fur de land sake! miss alice if yu wants to see a sho nuff harricane run outen here as peart as yer ken. de stracted niggers big und leetle has finely tuck de plantashun. oh my sole, de heabens and de yearth has cum togedder!" alice rushed to the window and was horrified at the sight before her. she heard a jargon of boisterous defiant noises graduated from inarticulate sounds to higher and varying keys with occasional snatches of a disgusting song in falsetto. "we de bosses is er gwine to be, kase ole lincum dun set us free, in de year of jubilo." she saw to her disgust and mortification a score or two of negro children romping like cattle through her sainted mother's flower garden. they were plucking the dahlias and roses and other varieties of flowers with ruthless hands, and blowing their petals hither and thither with their vile breath into the air. such desecration was never dreamed of by alice and she spoke angrily to the disgusting little vagrants and attempted to drive them from the premises. "yer jes shet yer ole mouf, dats what, ole po white trash. us yung uns haint eben er studdin you. is us maria?" "dat us aint," pertly responded maria. "yers ole po white trash, dats what my farder and my mudder ses you is, and us cullud ladies haint ergwine to mess wid you nary bit und grane. us is agwine to pull all dese ole flowers und fling em on de groun, und us aint er skert of nary ole skeer-crow lak yer is nudder." and with these sundry and divers exclamations, maria and susan joined hands and danced a break-down upon the flower beds, while the other negro children big and little clapped hands and sang in shrill piping notes another stanza of the song. "de bellion it is dun und fell, und ole marsa is gon to--well, in de year of jubilo." alice attempted again to drive them away with her father's cane, when they aligned themselves in positions of attack, and with brick-bats, fragments of slate and glass and other weapons of improvised battle challenged in angry volleys. "we's jes dars yu to put yer ole foot outen dat do und we'll mash yer hed wid er brick," and with that one of the missiles went crashing through the imported plate glass of the front door, when the wicked vermin scampered away with the warning cry. "dey is er cummin, dey is er cummin, looker dare, looker dare," and hid around chimney corners and among the brick underpinning. clarissa had viewed proceedings from the window of the kitchen with as much interest as though it were a battle of real blood and thunder, and running out of a door around a corner where she saw the kinky head of "sofy ann" peeping, she seized her by her hair and soused her over head and ears, in a hogshead filled with rain water that stood near the kitchen "fo gord!" she exclaimed, "i don't know whedder to drown yer outen out ur to baptize yer hed fomost. i'm gwine to wash offen yer sins ef i nebber duz no mo," and she kept ducking the little nigger until she was "moest drowned sho nuff." "dar, now, i'm agwine to turn yer loose dis time, yer imp of satun; jest let me ketch yer wun mo time in ole missis flower garden lak er hoss wid de blind staggers, und yer fokes will hab to sen fur de crowner. take yersef clean clear outen my site, yer pizened varmint." the little negro, blubbering, spitting, coughing and bellowing, sneaked away toward the office looking back with savage glances, with eyes that stood out like a lobster's. at this point of time the sound of wheels was heard down the roadway and going to the door alice saw a lady of uncertain age with a very keen aspect, smartly dressed, alighting from a road cart. as she was approaching the door alice at once recognized her as the lady who accompanied mr. jamieson, the englishman, to the mansion only a short time before and whom that gentleman had addressed as his niece. "will you give me the key to the office, miss?" she asked pertly addressing alice. "now, dearies," she called to the negro children who had gathered suspiciously around her, "just go to the schoolroom; i will be with you directly." "will you give me the key to the office miss?" she asked this time with much emphasis. "indeed, i have no control over the office, it is my father's, madam, and he has his books and papers in it and doesn't wish them disturbed." "my father is not in the house just now. perhaps you had better wait until he returns." "oh, indeed, miss, i carn't, i am a bit late just now, and i must be prompt, miss, or i shall lose my position. it doesn't matter about your father's books and papers, miss, that is a trifle; i guess i can find a place for the books and papers if you do not choose to remove them yourself. get a move on you, miss, if you please, as i remarked, i am a bit late this forenoon." "i do not wish to give you the key, madam," again replied the girl, "what is your business upon my father's premises unbidden?" "ah, indeed, what impudence! did i ever, i guess you will find out quickly, miss! will you give me the key miss, or shall i drive home again and report you to mr. laflin?" the name laflin was, figuratively speaking, the burglar's tool that unlocked every door in this populous county. with many wicked thoughts alice delivered the key to the school-mistress and with her arms around the necks of two negro girls she trooped off to the office; the door was opened and into the room the mistress and pupils entered. "oh, dear, dear, dear! exclaimed the school marm piteously. whatever shall i do with all this rubbish? come here, dear gyurls and boys, be a bit lively and remove these disgusting old things. take them to the lady of the house; i guess she will know what to do with them. we carn't have thes trifles in the school room; no indeed we carn't" and pell-mell, helter skelter, topsy turvey, books, periodicals and papers were thrust out of doors into boxes, barrels, anything, anywhere as if they were so many burglars "taken in the act." poor alice cried and sobbed; but a new regime was fast crowding out the memory of the olden days, it was the welding of an intermediate link between the waning and the waxing--the disappearing and the appearing civilizations. "now, dear gyurls and boys," said the mistress. "take your seats. i guess we will begin. charlie, come here, dear. you are a sweet little boy and i guess your mamma thinks so, too. how old are you, dear?" "seben, agwine in leben," answered the little black urchin quickly. "who made you, charlie?" "who made me?" repeated the little negro saucily. "yes, who made you?" "oh i dunno, dat dere boy dere sez ole satan made me und him too." "oh, the precious little heathen," exclaimed the school marm, discouragingly, "did you ever hear of god?" she asked again. "yes mum, i dun und seed him wun time, when me und jake wus a rabbit huntin." "oh dear, dear, dear! where did you see god? and what was he like?" she asked. "seed him down de crick," answered the negro smartly. "what was he like?" "what wus he lak?" echoed charlie, digging into his pockets with both hands and standing upon one barefoot. "lak a jacker lantern cum outen de groun." "what became of him?" asked the lady. "what cum of him?" asked charlie "he flewed clean erway," answered charlie as smartly as before. "oh my dear, dear, child, what is to become of you!" she exclaimed disparagingly. "susan, come here, my pretty gyurl," called the lady. "oh! how pretty are your sparkling jetty eyes," she exclaimed as she turned up the little negro's face to kiss her. "now dear, how old are you?" "me!" asked the girl, "i's furteen gwine in foteen." "and now tell me who made you?" "who made me!" echoed the child. "oh, i fort yu axed dat ar boy who made him," she answered with a broad smile. "so i did; now i wish to know who made you?" "i aint no kin to dat ar boy, kase his daddy aint got but wun eye und my daddy has got too eyes." "who made you, child?" "ho, i furgot," replied susan "gord made me." "that is correct," answered the teacher, "now what did god make you out of?" "outen?" again replied susan, "oh, outen lasses candy. my mudder says kase i's so sweet." "dear, dear, dear, shall i give entirely up?" exclaimed the discomfited lady. "shall i try again? yes, perhaps i shall find a little leaven directly." "come here willie; i can see from your bright face that you are a smart little boy. now tell me did you ever hear of the rebellion?" "belliun?" echoed willie as he thrust his fingers into his mouth and out again with a pop that made the children titter. "neber heerd ob nuffin else epseps de belliun." "what is a traitor, dear boy?" "tater?" "what sort er tater, sweet tator ur orish tater?" enquired willie. "perhaps i may teach the little heathen to understand," said the school marm, suggestively. "willie," she asked "what do you call that gentleman who lives in that fine house over the way?" "calls him!" again repeated willie, "i calls him po white trash; what dos yer call him?" "oh dear, dear, dear," screamed the teacher utterly bewildered. one more time she exclaimed "james, come here," and another little negro as black as tar with one eye closed by a great knot upon it came forward. "what is the matter, james, with your face?" "umph!" grunted james, "specks if yer seed whar i been you'd know 'dout axin. dat ar boy has been scrougin me lak i wus a trabball." "james, if you are a bad boy do you know where you will go when you die?" asked the lady. "umph," exclaimed james, "i haint eben a studdin erbout which erway i'm a gwine arter i die. i'm studdin which erway i'm ergwine arter i git outen dat ar do. see dat ar boy a shaking he hed?" "he sez how dat ef i cum by his mudders house agwine to my mudders house he's agwine to scrouge me sum mo, und i'm skeert to go tuther way." "one other question" (half aside), "james, if you live to be a man what are you going to do for a living?" "gwine to do?" said james, "i'm agwine to be a lyer, so i kin set in de kote house und sass de jedge." and thus the farce went on day after day under the shadow of ingleside. clarissa caught a depredating urchin trying to stand upon his head in a half-filled barrel of crushed sugar in the pantry and said to herself "you stays dar twell i get me er plank," and creeping like a cat back again, and taking a fresh purchase on the board, she came down upon "de middle ships of dat dar ar yungun lak er buzzum of struction; pend upon it, miss alice, dat ar niggar is er flying twill yit wid sweetnin nuff to last twell de july flies cum agin." "this nest of dirt-daubers," as colonel seymour fitly described the school, became a nuisance that must be abated by hook or crook. the law was nothing more than a great stalking shadow. "if i could only secure the services of jake flowers the regulator, thought the old man, "he and i shall be a law unto ourselves." this was the man whom colonel seymour desired as his file leader upon the drill ground when the stalking shadow of the law failed to keep time to the music, a law unto himself, whose forum should be "thar or tharabouts" on the ingleside plantation. jake flowers the regulator had violated a law of the sabbath by working out some devilish invention, which, he observed with satisfaction, to his wife, would keep the coroner sitting upon corpses until "the craps were smartly out of the grass." the regulator stood in the open door, looking out upon the great sheets of water that were falling from the clouds. as he stood in his muddy boots, with both hands deep down into his pockets, his carrotty hair in great shocks standing out of a crownless hat as if an electric current had just passed through it, he was picturesque in the extreme. "sally ann!" he exclaimed "i am thinking." "well, think agen," sally ann answered tartly, "that mout fetch back old nance and the biddies." sally ann had been pouting ever since jake went to jail for the loss of her setting hen and the chicks. "you haint got no call to go back on me, on the occasion of the old hen and the nigger," said jake seriously. "hit wus providence or hit wus the guvement, and twixt the two they has got a mighty prejudy agen a poor man; when hit comes ter shullikin and pilferen they is hard to hender. weuns haint no more than dandy-lions in the path of the harrycane; leastwise weuns kaint hit back. "nor hit haint providence; nor hit haint the guvement, nor hit haint prejudy," sally ann replied angrily "hit are pine blank cussedness. some folks is onnery jake, and it is like the swamp-ager, hit is powerful raging when the crap is knee-deep in the grass. i shouldn't wonder nary bit and grain if andy's crap aint in the yallers same as ourn." this was said very provokingly, and jake felt the sting of the reproof. "jeminy-cracky!" he exclaimed in a passion, "harkee sally, hit is tit fur tat; be ye a pinin fur another fellow?" "why i guess maybe--i reckon--i mout assist yu'uns, leastwise i haint a going to stand in yu'unsway." the regulator looked down as by accident into the cradle: there was the sleeping babe, the pledge of a love that had been hedged in all these days by privations, and his heart went out toward his wife with the old time affection. "naw sally ann" he exclaimed with a husky voice, "weuns kaint part when there is no one to come betwixt us; weuns kaint say good-bye twell yuuns is on yon side of the river." the roses had faded out of the cheek of his wife, but there was the old-fashioned sparkle in her eye; there was the old time love in her heart, crossed sometimes by the perverse nature of her lord and master. "haint you made your will jake?" asked sally-ann half seriously. "naw is you skeert honey?" "andy has done and made hissen and fetched it over here to read last sunday when you wus gone to the mash and hit read like scriptur." jake had been envious of andy vose for some time. when the need of the country for men good and true had been most urgent, vose had deserted to the ranks of the enemy, and now he counted his flocks and herds by the score. jake was also jealous of the attentions the scalawag was from time to time showing his young wife; these visits occurred most frequently in the absence of the regulator, and these intrusions as he felt they were, gave him alarm. after reflection, jake concealing his suspicions remarked with apparent unconcern, "read like scriptur, i'll be dorg gone!" "i haint got no call to make a will like andy, honey. de nigger officer levelled on old nance and the biddies, and the live stock has run plum out epsepting the babe and it is yourn any way honey." this man was a terror to the freedmen. they had a tradition among themselves that the very last seen of the regulator until after the war was over was his ascension in a cloud of fire and smoke into "de elements" holding fast to a dead negro. jake said that this was "pintedly" true, but that he came down again as his captain was going up who told him when he had fairly lit to "charge bagonets." in the language of the plains this jake flowers was an "eye opener." his personal attractions he said had been spoilt by the blamed war. i am not sure that the name of jake flowers appears upon the bloody roster of battles lost and won; but for his doings at the crater fight, so jake has observed, historians would have reversed the incidents of that bloody day. he claimed always to be the "survival of the fittest" and with the blind faith of the moslem he believed that there was a "providence that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may." his favorite posture whenever animated was as follows; he would sit with his right leg crossed over his left, gently swaying his foot, with his bearded chin resting reposefully in the palm of his hand, with the fore and middle finger forming the letter v and pressed to his lips; through which he would now and then expectorate; the man was also spavined in the right knee joint that caused him to walk like a sailor on his "sea legs." like other men he had his delusions and whether good or evil, they were the rule of action of his life. jake was the reinforcement vehemently demanded in this conjuncture. "with the regulator armed and equipped, the enemy will flee without taking order as to its line of march," thought the old man. "i am utterly bewildered; can you help me mr. flowers to drive these vermin from my home?" he asked the regulator. "wall, now," drawled the regulator, "i reckon i mout ef i am not pestered ur nuthing; which eend do yer expect me to take holt of?" jake gave an extra motion to his spavined leg and looked up quizzically into the rigid face of the old man. "clean them out sir, root and branch, if you will, sir!" exclaimed the colonel. "prezactly so," ejaculated the regulator, "prezactly so," he reiterated. "does yer mean it pine blank, mister?" he again asked. "yes, yes, emphatically i do," responded colonel seymour. "drat my buttons if the thing haint done and did!" the regulator answered with emphasis and taking his leave observed, "i'll see you later, mister." "if i kin regulate this kentry as it had orter to be did, there wont be a biggerty nigger twixt here and filadelfy," and he passed into a little copse of woods that skirted his own humble domain. the autumn days had come--nature was preparing a more elaborate toilet in her great boudoir--replenishing her exhausted stock of aromatics to besprinkle the fields and forests, the glades and the hills; painting the leaves with irridescent tints and even the sky with a mellow, refreshing beauty; and in this excess of toil. alice saw the handiwork of him who holds in the palm of his hand this great sphere. she looked upward to the twinkling stars and it seemed to her as if god had relumed the heavens with a brightly diffused glow of love. god the creator and man the creature--the sovereign and the rebel, brought into apposition with each other through the supernal harmonies of his universal realm. but the child was sad this beautiful october night. the birds were nodding quietly in the old rookery; there was no music in the air, for the winds under a coverlid of emerald and amber and carmine had gone fast to sleep in the trees, and the tintinnabulation of the little bells in the meadows had ceased altogether. "if i could whisper to the stars what i would like to have them know of my unhappy life they would sympathize and perhaps they would whisper back. "poor forlorn child! how we pity you!" "tomorrow," she said reflectively, "i shall be twenty-four years of age, and oh, how all encompassing has been the evil. every picture that glides athwart my heart is broken: every idol that i have fondly loved is nothing more than an effigy. delusions follow delusions; what is life but a burden? if we look forward there are demons: if we look backward there are coffins." the poor wearied girl, sad and without hope, fell asleep in her mother's chair as softly as if the angels were rocking the dear old chair and singing the old nursery lullabies; they must have kissed her heavy eyelids down; so profound, so tranquil was her slumber. when she awoke the little birds were singing as cheerily all around her in the magnolias and oaks as if their little tongues were touched with the spirit of her happy dreams. the cloud that overcast her face was gone and she went into the kitchen where clarissa was absorbed in her duties. clarissa exclaimed as she entered the kitchen, "miss alice, whar in de name ob commun sense has yer been all dis time? here i's been a cummun and ergwine, a ransackin dis house high and low fur yer. didn't yer heer me callin yer, missis? i spishuned yar wus in ole marser's room fast asleep." alice was obliged to confess, a little shamefacedly, that she had fallen asleep in the little alcove in the verandah and had slept so soundly that she heard no noises until awakened by the twittering of the birds in the over-arching bower. "sakes alive, missis," exclaimed clarissa "sum ob dese nites a grate big snake is ergwine to drap rate down into yer lap und sting yer moest to def. how dos yer feel missis arter dis toxication?" the negress asked solicitously. "quite well, i thank you, clarissa, my sleep was ever so refreshing," replied alice smilingly. "what does yer fink dem pizened yung warmints dud and dun yestiddy? yu knowed ole bob sal, dat ar ole fafeful mousin cat of ourn? whar yer fink i foun dat po ole cat, missis?" "i am sure i do not know, clarissa, i hope the negroes have not hurt him," answered alice. "deed they has too! drowned to def in de hogshead, wid a brick tied erround him. dey is de outdaciousest yunguns i ebber seed in my born days. dere haint no telling what dey has dun und gon und dun to dis heer plantashun, dat dey aint!" "i am sorry," exclaimed alice, "is the cat quite dead, clarissa?" she asked. "ded!" exclaimed clarissa, "sakes alive, ef yer wus to see him yer wud fink dat he had been ded all his life, dat yer wud. has yer seen ole jube?" clarissa continued. "yes, he is in the verandah," alice replied. "ugh, ugh! glad ob dat. fust fing jube knows he'll be hobblin er round on two legs ef he aint kilt rite ded. de outdacious niggers! i wushes dey wus run outen de lan." clarissa heard ole jube bark, and looking out of the kitchen window she saw the regulator shuffling along in his slip-shod way with an old haversack slung over his shoulder coming toward the front verandah and observed with some perturbation. "miss alice, dos yer know de truf. i'm pintedly skeered ob dat speckled face white man. he luks pine blank lak de kommisary ob de debbill hissef. he aint arter no good on dis heer plantashun. de fust fing enybody knows dere is ergwine to be de biggest flustrashun on dis lan yer ever heerd in yer born days und nobody is agwine to know de heds nur tails ov it. look at dat ar wun eye of his'n farely blazin lak a log-heep in de new ground in de nite time," and clarissa shuddered as if the clutch of the "kommisary" was already upon her. "i have heard very strange stories about the man" said alice very solemnly, as if humoring the ignorant old woman's apprehensions. "deed i has too," she replied, "und if dey is kerrect dat ar creetur haint no human no how," and clarissa shuddered again even more violently; "hit natally makes my flesh creep lak santipedes," she exclaimed with fear. "haint yu dun und heerd how dat koo-kluck mommucked up brudder joshaway, miss alice?" asked clarissa. "'grate king!' how in de name of de hebbens dat ole nigger ever retched dry lan eny mo wid all dat skeer 'pon him, i haint never skivered. he lowed how dat hit wur provedense, but den twixt me and yu miss alice und not to go no fudder, joshaway is allus ergwine wun way und provedense de tuther. yander he cums now lak wun of dem ole cranksided rare hosses, und i'm ergwine to fetch him sum wittles rite fo yo eyes und den yu mout ax him fur yosesef." joshua came up quite feebly, swathing his black face with his red handkerchief and bowed humbly to his former mistress. "now yu mout ax him, miss alice, arter he wours up dat last moufful, and i lay hit will fetch de creeps ober yu same as de mash ager." the old negro seemed very grateful for the appetizing food and in a heartfelt way thanked alice over and over again. "mout i sing er mishinary hime, yung missis?" he asked deferentially after he had eaten the last morsel. "yes, indeed," replied alice "i will be delighted to hear you." and he sang very plaintively: "oh kanyun, sweet kanyun when shall i see, when shall i git dere?" after he had concluded the song the young lady asked sympathetically, "i am told that you had quite an unhappy experience at the creek a few nights ago uncle joshua? can you tell me about it?" joshua groaned and then answered with a display of feeling. "twas wusser dan er sperience, yung missis," as he wiped the perspiration from his face, "twas een wusser dan er yuthshake. grate jarryko! 'twas een mo wusser dan de war." "ugh! ugh! i tole yu so!" ejaculated clarissa. "but den," continued the old negro "hit mouter been een wusser ef provedense hadn't pinted dese heer foots to de hilands." "grate king!" again exclaimed clarissa; "how cum yu flounderin erbout in dat dere cole warter dat time of nite, brudder joshaway?" "how come i dare?" he replied. "haint yu heerd ob dem evul sperrets in de scriptur dat de sliding elder calls de leepers? well den, dat's how cum i dare. how cum de koo kluck dare? how cum de drownded nigger dare? yu sees, missis, dis heer bellyun haint made mishunarys und possells outen evybody. dare's de mefferdises und de harryticks und de hardsides, und when dey's all flung togedder in a loblolly, wid dare grace und dare fafe und dare speriences, dat's de werry bestest time dese leepers has fur dare crismus, er probin disserway und datterway, kase dem dare leepers dey spishuns dat whay dare is sich a mixtry ob de lams ob de flock dare's bleeged ter be now und den er harrytick; dey sees sum ob de lams er runnin wid grace und tuther wuns er graplin onter provedense, und den ergin tuther wuns er seein wishuns in de day time, und dem leepers mout ez soon git tangled up wid er mishunary ez er harrytick er hardside; und dat's how i cum ter git kotched. don't you see missis?" "were you thrown into the water by some evil-designing person, uncle joshua?" asked alice with a natural inquisitiveness. joshua groaned again; "ugh-h-h-h!" he shuddered. "haint yu ergwine ter tell her de fust und last ob it' joshaway?" asked clarissa, impatiently. "ef i hed one leetle moufful o' backer hit mout tak de ambishun outen de tale, und den i mout tell hit mo strater. haint yu got narry crumb missis, dat i mout fling ergin dis ole akefied snag? dare now; dis backer is sho good! now den, sis clarsy, ef yu ceeses yo mirashuns i'm ergwine ter tell young missis how it all cum erbout frum de werry fust mencement ter de latter eend." "grate jarryko! hit puts dese here fousan-leg santypedes er rastlin under my westcote when i draps back to dat ar casuality. ugh-h-h-h!" he shuddered again. "now den, de tale goes disserway: dare cum erlong by my house in de shank of de nite dis yer furriger. i calls him a furriger, but i spishuns his rite name is koo-kluck (i'm monstrous skeert o' dat white man ennyhow)--" "ugh-h-h-h!" shuddered clarissa. "und he ups und sez, sez he, 'joshaway, a woice is ergwine ter cum arter erwhile to yo house, und don't yu go ergin it, und den i'd no whey de munny is.' dem wuz de werry wurds he spoke, missis, bress yo life. und den i ups und sez, sez i, how's i ergwine ter tell dat woice frum de tuther wuns? kase dare is de hoppergrasses und de cattle beastes er woicin simultaneous all de time eroun my house; und den he sez, sez he, 'hits er cummin frum de hellyments.' jes so. well den, sho nuff de woice did cum dat werry nite, pine plank jess lak he sed fur de wurrel, und hit wur er mity solumkolly woice, same ez de whinkering ob mars jon's wun-eyed mule down in de mash in de snow wen de fodder is all gin out. hit called 'joshaway! joshaway!' jess lak dat, und hanner she heerd it, (peers lak she's allus studdin erbout dem rone hosses und de munny, when her mind ain't er runnin on de sliden elder und de love feast down at filadelfy meetin house), und she ups und sez, sez she, 'joshaway, is yu gwine? yu mout git de munny und den ergin yu moutn't.' but i seed dat her mouts wuz mo stronger dan her moutn'ts, und i drug de ole happysack outen de bofat, und den i sez, sez i, yes, i'm ergwine. und bimeby i gits ter de crick. well, de moon hit wur rite over yander under de seben storrs und peered lake hit wur er larfin und er larfin ter itsef wid er mouf dat retched frum yur to yur und wun eye shot rite tite. "dare wuz de line tide ter de willer tree sho nuff, jess lak hit sed, und hit peered lak hit were er tusselin wid a mity ambishun wid de drownded happysack, er shassain disserway und den ergin datterway, lak yu seed wun o' dese cow-eetch wines fo now er raslin in a mill race; und i sez to mysef, sez i, joshaway, yu's got a sho nuff bite dis time, und hit haint er catfish nudder, nur hit aint er allynipper." "oh, my hebbens!" again vociferated clarissa. "und den i drug und drug und drug, und bimeby i seed dat fish's two eyes. ugh-h-h-h! und den i drapped back into de crick drownded to def. ugh-h-h-h!" "grate king," shouted clarissa. "wuz yu sho nuff drounded to def, brudder joshaway?" "und den when i seed dat niggers too eyes of hissen und--ugh-h-h-h!" "hung to de hook!" shrieked clarissa interrogatively. "to be sho, to be sho," replied joshua with irritation; "duz yu spishun hit wur hung to de gallus? und ez i drapped missis, ez i drapped," he continued, "i flung out dese too hands jess so missis, und kotched holt of er nudder nigger drounded to def by er sarcumstance dat haint neber been skivvered." "und den yer cum too ergin?" queried clarissa shaking with excitement. "naw chile," joshua answered with gravity, "i haint neber cum too no mo, dat i haint." jake had another delusion--that to do your work without makin mistakes "yer must obsarve the consequences." the old colonel after he had finished his toilet walked out into the verandah where he observed jake ambling toward the house and singing in a monotone an old army doggerel of questionable merit, "he who fights and runs away, will live to fight another day, but he who is in battle slain: will never live to fight again." the regulator walked up the stone steps into the verandah with a leer in his countenance, satan-like in its expression. old jube slunk away with a sidelong glance at the regulator as if he quite agreed with clarissa that "he wus not a humans, nohow," and coiled himself up for the nap that had been needlessly interrupted at the other end of the verandah. "now then sir, how do you propose to proceed in this business?" "i aint er going to proceed, the percession cums at the latter eend. now yer just hold yer breath, mister, twill i fix my curlecules, and then you can crack your whip and the percession will start to the cemetery with music by the band." the regulator filled a doubled barrel army canteen full of gunpowder, and attached to it a fuse that would burn half an hour before exploding. after doing this he said to the colonel, "when yer sees the yankee school-marm er coming just call off the cussed niggers, twill i can plant hit." colonel seymour drew from his pocket a dozen or more pennies as he caught sight of the school marm riding down the road in her dogcart. "here, ye varmints!" he cried, and he threw one piece of money at the time in the grass and the negroes scrambled for it like a flock of geese over scattered grains of corn. simultaneously with the stroke of the old-fashioned clock, came an explosion that recalled the crater with all its horrors to the regulator. clarissa ran out of the kitchen screaming, "murder! fire! the yankees is er comin. great king, mars jon, de ruf and de chimney on de offis is dun blowed clean erway. in de name of gord, what wus dat, ole marsa? grate jerusalam! which er way did dat harrykin cum from? de road is fairly er workin wid yung niggers widdout arms or legs ergwine er bellering every which erway. fo gord, de last time i seed dat er yankee wumun she wus er flying fru de medder lak er white herrun!" after the smoke of battle had cleared the regulator sneaked up to the colonel with a broad grin upon his face with the enquiry, "did i do that er job kerrect, mister?" [illustration: "i'm ergwine back lak dat prodigle man dat et up dem corn cobs way out yander to de tuther eend o' de yearth."] chapter xiv. the oath of fealty. since the death of mrs. seymour the negroes had been busily plying their offensive vocation filling to the very brim the vat of vicious fermentation. the air at night was laden with ribaldry and the sounds of guns. the old master's labors were greatly multiplied too, since the negroes were all the while in some exasperating way or other celebrating the "emancipation proclamation," the dawn of freedom. their presence had become a serious menace, an ever recurring cause of alarm. his resources, too, were almost gone--the cattle had been slaughtered in the range, the horses appropriated and returned when convenient, and he dared not ask why this spoliation of his property. ned would occasionally announce his arrival upon the plantation by furious blasts from a great cracked horn. he would be dressed from head to foot in a blue uniform with bright brass buttons and yellow cords upon the revers and sleeves of his jacket, and a coarse slouched hat with crossed swords in front, a huge yellow cord with tassels around the crown, and it surmounted by a peacock's feather. the old master saw with disgust the foolish negro from the verandah, marching up and down the carriage way with his bright musket, going through the manual of arms, "sport harms! horder arms! charge bagonets!" aleck and ephraim and henry were dressed in the same fashion and going through the same evolutions on another part of the plantation. now and then a discharge from the guns accompanied by demoniacal yells would frighten poor alice almost to death. in the dead hours of night these brutal negroes to terrify her and her father would drill in the front yard of ingleside with vulgar and boisterous commands, and before breaking ranks they would discharge their muskets with horrifying screams--"jess immitatin de brav sojer boys at fort piller," they said. ingleside was virtually a camp of military instruction! "clarissa," alice exclaimed, "we must go away from here. we will be murdered if we do not get away from these horrid negroes, i shall die with fright if i remain here any longer. they can come at any hour of the day or night and kill us. father is old and feeble and cannot protect me, and you know, clarissa, i cannot protect him. please go to him and tell him we must get away this very day." "bress yo deer life, miss alice, ef yu seed how dis po ole heart was a flip flappin, fust peert und den slow, lak a yaller hammer beatin ergen er dedded gum, fust on wun side und den on de tuther, yu'd say ter yosef, 'po clarsy!' fo de lawd, i'm skeert mo wusser dan yu is, und ef dis heer flustrashun is ergwine on much fudder de lawd is gwine ter rane down fire und brimstone on dese niggers lak he dun on dem mallyskites, und i specks er grate big hunk is ergwine to hit ned und joshaway too, rite slam twixt de eyeballs. dem dare niggers, jamby granddaddies of methuserlum, lookin lak hants in all dem fethers and brass buttons, er heppin all ober de taters und de korn und de cotton, und bress de lawd, ef i must tell de truf, dey is as perished up ez a mash hen er settin on turkle eggs. yu needn't larf lak dat, miss alice; de lawd is gwine ter show dese niggers whos er totin de biggest strane, und when he sez de wurd, dey's ergwine ter be dedder dan last yur's gode wines, und--" "perhaps, clarissa," interrupted alice, "these troublous times are but mercies in disguise?" "oh, my king!" ejaculated clarissa in alarm, "murder's gwine ter rise, yu sez? oh, my hebbens! is yu aiming fur dem kallamities tu cum immegiate, missis?" alice laughed away the old negress' fears and replied in explanation: "i said they were mercies--mercies in disguise." "dat is mo better, miss alice," observed clarissa, slightly mollified. "kase i knoed ef dat tuther fing wuz ergwine ter hap'n, me und yu und ole marser mout git kilt fo enybody but de niggers spishuned er resurreckshun. ole clarsy's skin is powerful black missis, und dis kinky hed is pided lak dat ole wether's in de medder, but i'm ergwine ter stan by yu und ole marser twell de eend, und when ole marser up yander sez de word, i'm ergwine ter ax yu ter berry clarsy at ole missis' feet; und den ef she heers de trumpet fust she'll call clarsy, und ef i heers it fust i'm ergwine ter call her, und den me und her will jine hans und fly erway ter glory." the pathos of this affectionate speech brought tears to the eyes of her young mistress, and the thought came out of her great sympathetic nature: "reconstruction so far has been a great smelting furnace--it has separated the pure from the impure, and with its refining heat has grappled with hooks of steel the hearts of mistress and servant. would that i could dictate a fitting eulogium for the faithful negroes; for those who are groping still amid the shadows of an epoch that seems obedient to no law but of caprice and change." if i get to heaven, clarissa will be at the portal with some such expression upon her tongue as this: "bress yer hart, missis, i've been waitin right here fur yer ever since i heard yer wus er cummin. come wid me, young missis, und let me show yer dis beautifullest city in de hole wurrel." "sixty days within which to prove your loyalty!" "sixty days" were coming upon tireless pinions. are the mills of the gods still grinding? is there yet water in the flume to run the heavy wheel? is there still grist to feed the stones? "to prove your loyalty" ran the judgment. what badinage to toss into the face of a man who had braved death upon a hundred battle-fields and all for "loyalty!" he had proved it by great scarifications that would have appalled every carpet-bagger in the south. loyalty is the counterpart of honor--the collaborator with duty, and the old soldier for sixty five years had maintained and performed his part in his particular sphere of life; yea out of the crucible of hell he had rescued his loyalty--his character as pure as the untrodden snow. another sunrise shoots its gleams into the cribbed heart of old ingleside, and clarissa has not returned to prepare breakfast; what can be the matter? "perhaps she is unwell. i am sure she cannot be faithless," argued alice with herself. "i will go and see." as she entered the door of the cabin she saw ned rolling and tossing upon the bed in wild delirium and she asked clarissa what was the matter with her husband. "don't know, miss alice," replied clarissa, "epseps he is tuck wurser wid wun ob dem bad spells agin; dey is cummin und agwine ebery now and den, und he gits rite foolish und komikell." alice drew her chair closely to the bedside and felt of the old negro's head and it was very hot; she felt his pulse and it was beating like a triphammer. he was groaning, too, as if in great pain, crying out in delirium occasionally "charge bagonet! sport harms! hep! hep! hep!" as if drilling and going through the manual of the soldier. alice saw that something must be done and very quickly, and she said to clarissa. "i will run for the doctor." "lor, missis, yer a gwine a trapesing away over yander fur de doctur by your lone lorn sef? i specks hits er mile ur too ef its ary step." within an hour the physician was at the bedside of the sick negro, diagnosing the case and prescribing medicine. "he is not in immediate danger," observed the physician to alice, "but he must be watched." "i want to put him under your care and whatever your charge may be i will pay it." "thank you, miss," replied the physician with a smile. "i will see that he does not suffer for the want of medical treatment. by the way, how is your father's health now, miss alice?" he asked. "i think i can see that he is failing, sir," the girl replied sadly. "i presume he, like every body else, is greatly annoyed by the freedmen." "yes, a few of them have given us trouble," she replied. "perhaps i shall see you again to-morrow. you will find that the negro will rest very well after his fever abates a little," and the doctor, shaking alice's hand cordially, bade her good morning. "now clarissa," alice said after the doctor had gone, "you run over home and prepare breakfast for father, and i will watch by uncle ned until you get back. "miss alice," exclaimed clarissa "sposin dat kommykle nigger gits outen bed what is yer agwine to do den?" the old negro's expression was so ludicrous that alice was obliged to laugh as she observed, "i will take care of him; never mind. if he gets out of the bed i will get him back again." "und him a plum stracted idjeot?" ejaculated clarissa as she passed out of the door. alice pursuing the directions of the physician, brought from the spring near by a bucket of very cold water and sat down again at the bedside and very gently, soothingly, bathed the old negro's face and brow. the fever was abating, still the deft fingers dripping with the water pressed the fevered face. once ned partially aroused exclaimed deliriously, "i'se a woting ebery time fur de boss, who's yer a woting fur, joshaway?" after quite awhile ned awoke, at first a little abstracted and asked. "is dat yer, clarsy, wid dem dar shiny eyes?" and again dropped into a restful slumber. this time there were no exacerbations, no delirium, but he slept as tranquilly as a little child. the fever had passed away. he awoke and saw the dear child whom he had so brutally wronged sitting like a guardian angel by the bed; her white hands cool and refreshing still pressing his forehead, and the old negro covered his wrinkled face with his skinny hands and wept. wept from a sense of shame, remorse. he remembered that when her need was sorest he had acted the brute--turned his back upon this poor child who with a full knowledge of his manifold acts of cruelty and injustice was nursing him back to life. "is dat yer, miss alice?" he asked through his blinding tears. "gord bress yer dear sweet life, young misses, i fort yer wus ur angel. i didn't fink dat my young misses dat i left ober yander in de grate house by her lone sef, to fend fur hersef und de ole marsa, wud do dis urren ob mussy fur a po' outcast nigger lak ole ned." and the old negro began to cry afresh. "don't cry, uncle ned, the good lord commands us to visit the sick and i am trying to do my duty toward him and toward you. you are so much better now; don't worry and cry over me. the lord is chastening us, but it is all for his glory, uncle ned." "when i woke fust time, missis, i didn't know whar i wus," he continued, wiping his eyes, "und den i drapped back to sleep agin und it peared lak de butifullest sperits huvered all erround de bed, and wun ob dem mo butifuller dan tother wuns crep rite easy lak und put her hand on my forhed und i heerd tother wuns call her 'alice,' und i spishuned it mouter been yer, i knowed it wus yer. does yer know why dis ole nigger cried jess now, missis?" "taint my fault dat i turned agin yer und ole marsa--de lord in hebben knows it aint. ef i had minded clarsy, yer und ole marsa wudn't faulted me no how. i wudn't hurt a har on yer hed for a wurrell ful of freedum--dat i wudn't. de dratted niggers tole me how dat i mout be biggety und play boss-lak, und den i wud git to be leftenant und den i mout be cappen ob de miluntary cump'ny, und wear grate big gold upperlips lak de boss, und ef i wus agwine to die dis minit i clares on my solemnkolly ofe dat dem dare biggity white fokses in de town is de meanest passel ob humans in de yurth. dey is worsern jack-lanterns 'ticin' de culled fokses furder und furder into misery. missis, ef yer und ole marser will oberlook dese here transgrashuns i'll nebber, nebber gin yer no mo sorrer, dat i won't." "uncle ned," replied alice with her beautiful eyes radiant through tears, "from the bottom of my heart i forgive you if you have ever given offense to my father or to me. i think i can see that great good is to come out of it all. don't you know how the children of israel suffered in egypt, and in their journeyings through the desert land, when the dry parched lands yielded no corn and the lord fed his people and led them safely into canaan?" "yes, marm, dat i duz, und he is ergwine ter leed us outen dese lowgrounds, too, missis, und ef he doan do dat i knows whut he is ergwine ter do--he is ergwine ter dribe dese filistin men outen dis kentry wid a storm ob yaller jackets lak he drib farro outen de lan ob de mallyskites." clarissa having performed her work in the great house came into the cabin at this moment and was greatly surprised to find ned in an animated conversation with her mistress: ned observing as her footfall arrested his attention: "dar now, clarsy, yer is dun und gone und fotched us down agin." "fotched yer whar, ned," exclaimed clarissa in wonderment. "frum de perly gates, dat's whar," replied ned. "me und miss alice has jes bin ergwine erbout all ober de new jerusalum, und yu fotched us rite back to de yurth agen--dat's er sin ter yer, clarsy." "fo de lawd, is yer er plum stracted idjet? what is yer er doin in de new jerusulum? is yer dun und washed erway yer sins? i don't see no whings in dis heer house--how did yer git up dar ned." alice laughed immoderately, and even ned obliged himself to confess "dat he was in de sperret in de new jerusulum." "miss alice," asked ned quite earnestly, "has yer got de good book wid yer?" "yes, ned, i have my mother's bible with me; wherever i go it is my companion always. shall i read a passage to you?" answered alice. "ef yer plese, mum. i aims ter cut ernudder notch in my ole walkin stick, und when i looks at dat i'm ergwine ter drap rite down und pray." alice opened the little thumb-worn book at the second chapter of john and began to read: "my little children, these things write i unto you, that ye sin not. and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father--jesus christ the righteous." "don't you see, uncle ned," alice said as she looked up into the old negro's black face, "how good the lord is to us? he puts it into the mouth of his apostle to call us little children, and he tells us that the saviour is pleading for us poor sinners. 'love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him.' when we are in distress or trouble," continued alice, "we must turn away from the beggarly elements of the world and cast our cares upon him, for he careth for us." "whot sort er elements did yer say, missis?" asked ned attentively. "beggarly elements," replied alice. "there is nothing that satisfieth in this life, uncle ned; and all the world can give us in comforts and riches are as husks--we must look to jesus and to him only for consolation--for salvation." "dat is de gospel truf," exclaimed clarissa, with emotion. "miss alice, will yer fault me fur axin yer wun mo questun? is dere eny defference in hebben twixt er cullud pussun und a white pussun?" "no indeed," replied alice; "we are his children if we are faithful--the work of his hands." "dat questiun, missis, has oversized me all dese days, und i was afeered dat we was de gotes dat de lawd drib ober on tother side, erway frum de lams, kase, missis, when i gits dar i wants ter live rite close ter ole marser's und young missis' 'great house,' whar i kin see yer und tend yer boff." "you will not need to do us that service, uncle ned. you will have a mansion of your own; there will be no great houses there. the good lord will know no difference between you and me, only as you or i shall excel here in doing his holy will. don't you want to serve him, old negro, so you shall have a crown of rejoicing by and by?" "dat i does, young missis. my ole bones is mity shackly, und it aint ergwine ter be long afore i goes outen dis cabin fer de las time; und ef its his will ter call me fust, i'm agwine ter pick out de butifulest great house in de city, und stay rite dere lak er watch-dorg twell yer und ole marser cums und taks perseshun. when i gits outen dis bed, missis, i'm gwine back home--gwine back to ole mars jon, lak dat prodigle man dat woured up dem korn cobs way out yander." alice, the true hearted christian, could not withhold her tears as the old negro so eloquently, yet so ignorantly, revealed his love and loyalty. she arose from her chair to bid him good bye: "one word mo, missis, und den i'm dun. i wants jes one little drap o' prayer, pleas'm." alice knelt reverently at the bed and tenderly prayed that the old negro might be accepted as a child of the king--a royal son of a royal father, whose kingdom was above all thrones and principalities, and from everlasting to everlasting. "und now, clarsy," said old ned, "yer stan rite dere, und miss alice yer stan whar yer is, und hear me swar dis ofe: 'i, ned semo, does swar und kiss dis little bible ob ole missusses' who's dun und gon to hebben, dat nebber mo' will i lif my mouf nur my han nur my hart in mischuf agen ole marser und young miss alice, so help me gawd!" let us believe that the recording angel in the heavenly court has engrossed this oath in a never-fading holograph in his journal, and that whenever the sacred tome is read as witnessing the good there is in the creature, the word "approve" shall appear upon the margin. chapter xv. the black diplomat. alice was persevering in those little attentions to the sick negro that were operating in a salutary way upon his heart. what power, however rebellious or unfriendly, could withstand the charm of that fragrant life?--a life so redundant in acts of charity and benevolence, that carried its dispensations into the cabins of the poor freedmen to whom the authorities under reconstruction made so many promises--promises to the ear to be broken to the hope. the old negro's sympathies now and then for his master and young mistress would die down into ashes, and then again, when he looked toward ingleside and thought of its defenceless inmates, his feelings would be grateful and kind. in all the years that were gone, his old master and mistress had been so kind to him, in sickness and health; they had clothed and fed him; without their assistance he would have been so helpless. indeed, ned had never felt the rigors or oppression of slavery in this household or upon this plantation. old master's government was patriarchal, and emancipation had come so inopportunely; somehow it never appealed to the affections, or the love of the old negroes, but it came upon them as other great crises have come--with arguments and reinforcements that shattered every principle of manhood and bestialized their natures. it came with proclamations against the universally denounced crime of slavery, and with an energetically centralized power; and the old negroes, unable to reason intelligently from premises so false and enticing, forgot their loyalty to their friends and looked to the carpet-bagger for a new revelation. the lovely girl was always happy when ministering to the sick, even in the huts of destitution and squalor. she was happy when she pressed uncle ned's wrinkled brow and felt that the consuming fever had been driven out of his system by medication and faithful nursing. when her own heart was burdened by sorrow, she sang out of its fullness and pathos to the negro, and the tears glided out of his eyes and ran down into the deep-cut furrows of his black face. the old negro discovered in the experience of the few eventful years that there was nothing hopeful or helpful in the pledges or proclamations of the reconstructionists. the very old negroes were not counted in the aggregation of their numerical power, or in the sum total of the freedmen. "old glory" never welcomed them with a dip of its proud crest as they passed in and out of the town in tatters and rags. it never bade them with its caress to pause within its grateful shadow in the dog days when they were over wearied with marching and counter-marching. the great commissariat persistently withheld its bounty when there was no election--no votes to be polled for laflin and his pampered minions. these dilapidated creatures were post-prandial guests in the banqueting halls of the bosses; hounds rather to gnaw the bones that were flung as offal upon the refuse heaps. they were not the artisans who were toiling upon the superstructure of the new south; not wanted in cabals, intrigues, conventions; not the journeymen who where revamping the political edifice; not mechanics who were furbishing the weapons of plunder; not trained to the harness as beasts of burden in dragging the car of reconstruction with its whetted knives over the prostrated country. hence it was that gaunt poverty with its steel tined fork was constantly prodding the old negroes who had turned their backs upon their masters and whose new masters were dull of hearing, hence it was that so many who had hungered for the flesh pots were going back to the leaks and garlic; hence it was that hunger had given such acuteness to old ned's sense of smell, that alice was greeted with an exclamation brimming over with gratitude. "i'm so skeert, young missis, dat i haint ergwine to git outen dis house in a hole munt." the exclamation provoked a smile from the sweet girl who came laden with good things for ned and she replied apologetically, "i am sorry, uncle ned, that i couldn't know just what you wanted." the sick negro shook his head, for his mouth was too full for verbal explanations, and then bowed his thanks, observing after a moment. "clarsy, when i heerd yung missis at de do i node it was santy clors, sho nuff." "bress you hart, missis, enny nigger dat wudn't fite twell def fur yu und ole marser had ort to be hung by de nek twell hes ded." ned would have extemporized upon the subject perhaps at greater length; but for the interruption of a dilapidated negro, dressed in a dingy threadbare blue uniform; whose white head was covered by a decayed beaver, from which a dirty red handkerchief hung over his left eye. the new comer was joshua; perhaps the first and most patriotic recruit in the army of the freedmen; among the first to cut asunder the ligature of slavery. as the huge commissariat advertised the fatness of reconstruction, so joshua advertised the leanness thereof. the black diplomat in a tentative way was preparing the colored people for an event of momentous consequence. his mission to ned's cabin was for this purpose. "mornin to yu boff," came the crusty greeting. "is dat yu, brudder joshaway?" clarissa enquired. "yes, dis is me." "cum in, den," said clarissa, and joshua, reeling from old age tottered in and took a seat with a groan. "is dat you, miss alice?" he asked looking up and shading his eyes with a palsied hand and seeing the young lady in the cabin. "scuse me, marm, i haint seed yu afore." "good morning, uncle joshua, i am very glad to see you. you are a stranger to us and the old home. i should think you would come to see us now and then, to know how we are getting on. have you entirely forgotten your old friends?" the old negro dropped his head embarrassingly as he replied with hesitation. "not eggzackly, mum, but fokeses has dun und got so kurous now a days dar haint no telling how menny scrapes yu is ergwine to git kotched in; i'm moest afeered to git outen hanner's wision, deed i is, mum." "you are not a soldier i hope, uncle joshua? do you belong to the army," asked alice as she observed the blue uniform that he wore. "no mum, not pintedly," the negro furtively answered. "dat is i don't tote no muskeet--und i got my deesharge from de leftenant--und i haint got no offis in pertickler, but de cappen lowed dat he mout pint me corpurul of de gyard at de kumissurry ef i cud hole out." "ef i cud hole out" sneeringly repeated clarissa. "ugh! nigh unto er hunded year ole er holin out; mouter say ef yu cud hole in; jess es ragged es er sedge hen." alice was very much amused at the coarse wit of clarissa, but it was important that she should return home and perhaps, too, her presence might embarrass the interview between the freed slaves, and taking uncle joshua's hand in her own she bade him good bye with the observation. "remember, old man, that father and i are still your friends; and when you are in trouble or distress come to us. may god bless you, uncle joshua." "good by, missis!" exclaimed joshua, as he wiped his eyes with his coat sleeve, "may de lord do de same to yu missis." after the young lady had retired, joshua, with some trepidation, observed: "brudder johnsing, hanner sont me ober heer to ax yu und sister to de weddin saddy nite und to tell sister johnsing how she mout bake er cake wid ice on de tip eend of hit, ur she moutent ef she didn't want to." "who dat want er cake?" exclaimed clarissa. "yu heerd whot i sed, didn't yu?" joshua petulantly replied. "who dat ergwine to git married joshua?" she asked. "efrum, dats who," replied joshua. "my king! dat biggerty nigger ergwine to git married sho nuff?" "deed he is, und he is ergwine to marry way up yander outen site too--ergwine to git er portly white gal wid de moest dimuns und watch chains und bunnets kivered wid hostrich fedders. when yu sees dat gal yu'll see er hole steer kaart full of dimuns er shinin ebery which er way; und yu has to keep yo eyes shot rite tite, don't yu ergwine to git struck plum bline, same as de possle peter dun when dat white man was ergwine up to jarriko; dat yu will! is you und sister jonsin ergwine to de weddin; und is yu ergwine to bake de cake? tell me dat fust." clarissa deliberately raised herself out of the rickety chair in which she was sitting, with a grunt, and walked over to joshua, and lifting the old beaver from his head, remarked in a provoking way: "i spishuned dat de boss had dun und crapped yo years wid swaller forks." "how much yu dun und got from ole laffin fur bein his nigger; yu und efrum; tell me dat?" "swaller forks!" indignantly replied joshua. "sich humans as yu is dun woured up de creeters dat toted de swaller-forks fo de belliun fell. swaller-forks!" he again repeated in disgust; and turned in his seat to look savagely at clarissa and held his peace. "you need nt shine dem ole holler eyes at me, joshaway; yuse ergwine erbout er hipperty hop from wun house to ernudder wid yo weddin inwites und i lay a fo pence yu haint got narry tater nur hocake nudder whar yu stays. i don't look fur nuffin else but er yurthshake to swaller up de pizened niggers big und little er keepin dis plantashun in er monstrus flustrashun ebery day und nite de lord sends. ergwine to marry er portly white gal! great king! und yu er noratin de news, lookin dis werry minit lak a po run down gizzard shad wid one foot in de grabe und tuther wun er slanting innards. ergwine to de weddin! when yu sees er biggerty nigger er jinin hissef to er white gal in dis lan, yu ergwine to see seben moons in de hellyments at wun time." "yu and efrum needn't spishun kase de soufland is dun und konkered wun time und flung upon hits back dat yu pizened niggers is gwine to git de underholt de nex time, ef boff her hands is tied, dares ole mars jon's sord a lyin agen de bofat er natally cryin fur a moufful of yore black meat same as a strayed gander er squorkin for his shipmates, und it aims to cut hit off whay hit aint ergwine to heal togedder no mo! und ef yu don't walk mity perpundikkler, de werry fust time yu cums to yo membrunce, dat ole crows' nest on de tip eend of yo ole hed is ergwine to be layin in wun jam of de fence und yo old karkuss in er nudder. ergwine to de weddin! grate jerusalem!" joshua for a moment was completely disarmed by the rapid volleys from clarissa's battery, but he was not without resources, even in this terrific encounter. he fixed his savage glance upon the old negress, as he asked with due gravity. "is yu ergwine to fight for the secesh ef de war do take a fresh rise?" "yu heerd what i sed, joshaway," replied clarissa with a significant gesture. "ef yu don't want mars jon's sord er gashing yu into leetle hunks of horg meat yu got to walk mity perpundikkler. "bress god!" exclaimed joshua as he wiped his face with his dirty handkerchief, "how kin a humans walk perpundikkler wid free crooks in de back und de rumatiz in boff shanks?" "dat ole sord is ergwine to tak dem dere crooks outen yore back same as a toof doctor jerkin out dat ole snag of yourn," answered clarissa. "to be sho yu haint ergwine agin yo own kuller?" suggested joshua. "is yu fur de nuniun ur de secesh, ef de belliun haint squelched ur nuffin?" there was a directness about the question that momentarily unnerved clarissa but she saw that she was tacitly reinforced by ned and she replied with the same exhibition of temper. "me und ned is boff ergwine to fight for ole marser, ef de war haint swaged und de time we gits froo wid yu, yu's ergwine to immytate dat ole gyarment, er layin dere in dat pail of poke juice." "grate jarryko!" exclaimed joshua with vehemence, "dat ar nigger dun und fotched on ernudder belliun widout ary shutin ion ur muskeet udder. don't do hit, chile," he continued patronizingly, "kase ef yu uprares ernudder insurreckshun fo dis heer wun is dun und ceasded in dis heer po souf, de dekins in de church is ergwine to fling yer into outer darkness. yu er sot back er sundys in de jam of de mussy seat wid eyes shot tite lak de slidin elder, er singin 'kanyun, sweet kanyun,' und bress gawd yu is batin de lams ob de flock wid leetle mouffuls o' hell farr." "ergwine tu de weddin! my lord!" this was the derisive answer that clarissa made to this fanfaronade of old joshua. ned laid upon the bed laughing to himself with his eyes fixed upon the crude masonry of a dirt-dauber that was preparing to go into winter quarters just above his head. "is yu dun wid speechifyin, sister johnsin?" asked uncle joshua as he again wiped his moist face with his handkerchief. "ef yu is, i has jes got wun reckymendashun fur sich ez yu. pend upon it, sister, ef yu wus hanner und hanner wus yu, i wud play hail-kerlumby-happy-lan on yo ole bones wid er palin fo brekfus und arter supper too, all de time. ole satan hes dun und stobbed boff yo yeares wid pitch-forks, und de lawd nose he is wusser dan de boss, und de pitch-forks is wusser dan de swaller-forks. ef dat white gal wants to jine hersef to dat cullud gemman, who's ergwine to hender? tell me dat? i haint ergwine to pester mysef wid no sich low down trash es yu is, und ef yu goes to de weddin dare haint ergwine to be no weddin gyarment fur yu, und when yu nocks at de do, brudder effrum is ergwine to fling yu out into tarnel darkness whar de whang doodlum hoops und hollers fur hits onliest chile." "my king," exclaimed clarissa "whot is dat ole nigger er spashiatin erbout ned?" ned could not restrain himself, but burst out into a great guffaw. joshua angered above measure gathered himself together and walked out of the cabin with the observation: "i wants to see wun mo whupping post in de lan fo i dies, und i wants hits uprared at dis do, und i wants to fling de whoop fur de high shuruff." upon the exit of joshua ned began seriously to think of the flagrant acts of injustice which had more or less warped his nature; and all in his heedless pursuit of freedom and sovereignty. he saw within his cabin a perpetual menace to the peace of old master and young mistress. upon every visit that alice made to his lowly home he saw that a grief too deep to be sounded, bayonetted afresh her poor heart. the armed soldier who slew her brother and sweetheart wore a blue jacket like the one that hung in the rack above his bed; how could he be true to his oath with these menaces flaunting in the face of his young mistress? so with a huge frown upon his face he said to his wife, "clarsy, dem ole blu gyarments und dat ole muskett is jess whot plade de devul twixt me und ole marser. mouter node dey wud set ole marser er fire; he er fitin dem yankys fur fo year in de war und got yung mars harry kilt, to cum back home und see dese heer niggers er marchin baccards und furrards all ober de plantashun wid dem dar blu jackets jess lak de yankys wo in de war, und er beatin drums dat sounds to ole marsa same as er berryin. yu jess take dem ole gyarments outen dis house und gib to ellik, und tell him to gib em to de boss leftenent, und tell him dat corpul jonsin has sined his persish in de milintery cumpny, und dat he aint ergwine to war no mo." "dats whot you orter dun und dun fo yu jined," answered clarissa deprecatingly; "jess gon und fotched all dis trubble on de lan fur nuffin. mouter node ole marser was ergwine to raise er harrykane when he seed de cussed niggers wid dere muskeets er marchin up und down de plantashun lak er passel of squorking gooses. i got wexed mysef und i haint fit in no war nudder. dars dat po gal er cryin her eyeballs out, und her po lovyer er lying ober yander under de cold clods of furginny. i don't specks nuffin else but dat ole laflin ergwine to get all de niggers in de new united states massacreed. needn't pin dere fafe to whippin de souf ef she is flung upon her back. "yander cums ellik now lak a lunytik wid fedders nuff on de tip eend of his hat to stuff a fedder bed, wid his neck as stiff es er poker und his eyes same es de sun in de clipse er sot in de sky." "halt! serlute!" came a self addressed command from the negro sergeant. "aha! missus jonsin, how is yo ladyship dis a. m.?" he asked in the stern voice of an officer. "i haint got no ladyship; dats whot i haint got, nur i haint ergwine to say amen to no sich dooins nudder," replied clarissa poutingly. "hi!" ejaculated the black sergeant; "why, missus jonsin," he continued "de las time i dun yu de onner to wisit yu, yu was spashiatin erbout de fousend doller peanny corpul jonsin was agwine to purchis fur yu, und how yu was ergwine to play de hopperattiks fur yo frens. "ugh!" grunted clarissa scornfully, "i plays de hopperattiks now ebery day, twell my fingurs is clean wo' out on de wash bode, er slavin fur er no count miluntary nigger jes lak yu." "nigger!" exclaimed the sergeant derisively, "dere is no niggers in dis 'lan ob de free und de home ob de brave.' we is sufferens und kings, und our wifes und dorters is queens; und yu holes de specter in yo hans ef yu node it." clarissa, greatly irritated at the saucy negro, placed her arms akimbo, and fixing her gaze upon him, exclaimed with wrath, "yu go erway frum here, ellik. i natally spises yu enny how, yu hateful creetur. i haint er puttin my mouf on yu, nigger, but fo' dis bressed year runs out, yu is ergwine ter be er spexter, und de buzzards is ergwine ter be er huvverin erroun yer ole bones; jess see ef day don't. ole mars jon aint ergwine ter stan no mo'. yu und efrum er trapesin backards und farrards ober dis plantashun wid a hep, hep, hep, same as captin grant ur ginurl linkum. pend upon it, nigger, dem white fokeses in de town fools yu to def yit." "yu sprises me, missus jonsin," responded the negro with assumed dignity. "i spishioned yu wus a patrot." "no i haint, nudder, und i haint ergine tu be no patrot; but i kin tell yu whot yu is ergwine ter be fo' dis year runs out--yu is ergwine ter be er pennytenshur conwick, er yu is ergwine ter be histed twixt de hebbens und de yurth on de gallus. ef yu takes my wice yu'll burn up dem ole sojer gyarments und tell ole mars jon yu is dun und cum back to stay. dat is de moest senserbulest fing you can doo; dats whot me und ned dun und dun und now ole mars jon is es happy es a cockerroche in er borrul of flour." the sergeant waltzed up to clarissa, and taking her with some violence by the arm sang in a harsh unmusical voice: "oh: say kin yu see by the dorhns early lite?" when a heavy back banded blow sent the sergeant bowling, as clarissa shouted in her anger. "yaas, i sees de dorn und yu sees de stors." "ah!" he exclaimed "i perseeves yu is not er patrot," and he commanded "attenshun! eyes to de front! forrard march!" and marched away as he whistled "de jay bird died wid de hooping coff, und de sparrer died wid de kollery." clarissa made one observation as the negro marched off, "yu will be ded, sted of de sparrer und de jay bird." what had become of the warning paragraph in the reconstruction calendar? the three blood red stars that punctuated the enigmatical judgment, "sixty days within which to prove your loyalty." powers that be, at whose shrine shall the persecuted man make the act of apotheosis? shall it be at the altar of laflin, the freedman's deity? shall it be in the presence of the cringing minions who will mock at his calamity and laugh when his fear cometh? an arctic night has dropped down upon the south; and in our dense blindness we know not in what direction lies the serbonian bog. we once erected upon this soil a mighty temple which wisdom and virtue consecrated to patriotism. we laid the edifice upon foundations of concession and compromise; and we were vain enough to believe that it would stand forever; but not so. so the dykes of holland; the mountains of switzerland, and the surrounding sea of venice were proclaimed as everlasting pledges for the preservation of patriotism, but intestine struggles engendered those revolutionary factions which invited the attack of a despotism and secured its victory. so reasoned with himself this veteran of the civil war, and the father of a loyal-hearted daughter, this slave of a power whose minions were drunken with its excess. chapter xvi. under the hammer. as colonel seymour was passing a group of negroes in the court-yard this irritating remark from one of them arrested his attention. "dat dar secesh's home is agwine to be sold at auction ter day under a margige, und de boss is ergwine ter buy hit;" and very soon thereafter a half-grown negro boy ringing a huge bell, and bearing aloft a placard as imperiously as a roman lictor bore the axe and fasces, halted before him, and displayed offensively the following advertisement. "by virtue of a certain deed of mortgage executed by john w. seymour and wife alice to james w. bowden, and duly recorded in the proper office of the ---- county, and value duly assigned to me, i shall sell for cash on saturday, the th day of november, -- the lands and premises described in said mortgage deed, and known and designated as ingleside, containing twenty-five hundred acres," abram laflin, assignee. thus ran the publication that may possibly furnish a key to the mystic meaning of the three blood-red stars under the written order. "sixty days in which to prove your loyalty." to-day, and the patrimonial estate of ingleside with all but its cherished memories, will pass by right of purchase into the hands of the carpet baggers and negroes; to-day, and the axe of the barbarian will be laid at the roots of the ancestral oaks; to-day, and the grained corridors will echo to ribaldry and wassail; to-day, and the war scathed veteran and his beautiful daughter, like the pariahs of hindoostan, shelterless vagrants, will beg their bread and home. "if an uninterpretable destiny; if an inscrutable providence so orders and decrees, that i shall surrender this home, yet as token of the love i bear this wretched country, i will abide by her; i will cherish her as my wife, my mother, my child; i will defend her with my sword, my speech, my life, and i will be to my oppressed countrymen, their friend, their champion and their brother. i abhor these natural sons of belial who are whetting the knife that will drink their blood;" so exclaimed the old soldier without a blemish upon his name. so thought the fire-tried christian who was appealing to the ultimate tribunal for right; so thought the man who was harrassed by every resource of vengeance, as he turned his rigid face from the jeering crowd, the assassins of his peace. the old man with fading memory tried in vain to recollect the transactions he had had with james w. bowden, to whom he once owed twenty-five thousand dollars, and to whom he had conveyed in trusts the valuable estate of ingleside. he asked appealingly of his daughter "have you no knowledge of these affairs that will aid me in this extremity." "my dear father," she answered reflectively, "i am sure the debt has been paid. indeed i heard you say that you paid it in gold." "but where are my papers?" he asked; "scattered to the winds by the school mistress and her negro pupils. shall i ever be able to exhibit any proof of its payment? can you not assist me? perhaps we may find somewhere the cancelled note." bowden was dead and a profligate son alone survived. there were a hundred negroes who thronged the negro auctioneer. "what is i bid fur dis plantashun?" "fifteen thousand dollars." "hold!" interrupted colonel seymour now advancing. "i forbid the sale of this land or any part of it, the debt is paid." "ha, ha. ha," jeered the negroes, "dat dar secesh's mind is a puryfied wanderin," shouted a chorus of voices. "cry de bid mr. auctioneer," shouted the negro wiggins. "ef dat ar white man mak eny mo sturbance, we's agwine ter slap him in de jail forthwid. i warrantees de title fer de boss." "twenty thousand----twenty-five thousand----once, twice, free, times dun und gone to mr. laflin." the whole affair seemed an illusion, an unnatural evaporation of land and houses--the ingleside plantation dissipated into thin vapor like the genii of the sealed casket in the arabian nights. "great god," exclaimed the broken hearted old man, "and laflin the wretch! laflin the monster standing there in dumb show, and nodding his head in savage and pantomimic gravity when the hammer fell." the old colonel and his daughter rode back to their home perhaps for the last time. one of the blood-red stars had been blotted out of the tyrants' calendar. two more like the painted dolphins in the circus at antioch remained to be taken down, one by one. the search for the missing document was renewed when they reached home, but unavailingly. alice however discovered in an old ash barrel in a neatly folded package, two papers signed by abram laflin to her father; one a note for five thousand dollars, the other a mortgage securing the payment of the note. no trace however, of the twenty-five thousand dollar mortgage. alice carried the laflin note to her father whose mind for a moment appeared a complete blank; he then remembered the transaction circumstantially. "yes, yes," he exclaimed reminiscently; "the note was executed to me as a fee, when he was indicted and acquitted for murder in . now he may let slip the dogs of war, and 'damned be he who first cries hold! enough!'" it was painful to observe that mr. seymour had become so injuriously affected by the exciting events transpiring from day to day, that his mind upon matters of business was almost inert. certainly his memory was fast failing; a giving away of the mental poise; and in consequence thereof, poor alice was picking up here and there great bits of trouble, with as much freedom as the washwoman gathers sticks for her fire. "tomorrow she exclaimed will be the sabbath. blessed day will it bring surcease from sorrow, a moment's respite from the maelstrom of trouble?" she asked, "i can only hope. i feel sometimes like crying aloud, 'what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue'!" when the morning broke tranquilly upon the old home, the little birds were caroling in the trees, and the poor girl felt that her care worn spirit should rest this holy sabbath day. after the morning meal, her father perturbed and dejected walked along the river's bank, and she retired to the parlor where she sang and played. in the evening old ned came to express again his sense of gratitude to his young mistress and his old master, and observed among other things, remorsefully, how foolish he had been to take up with the vagaries of the negroes, who were fomenting so much trouble. "and mars john," he continued, "i seed where i was agwine rong, und i knowed yu wud fetch me outen de miry clay. times is er gitten so mistrustful dat i cum ter ax yu und yung missis mouten me und clarissa stay wid yu in de grate house? whar we kin run on urrans fo yu nite und day." old ned like the hunted rabbit had been smoked out of his hollow. reconstruction with its insipid pageants had come: it had emptied its cornucopia in the old commissariat; not a dust of flour, nor a fluid dram of molasses, nor a pound of bacon had it put into the jug or sack of the aged and the poor; and the stars and stripes waved as proudly from its mast head as if there were no vacant stomachs, no hungry freedmen in all the south. colonel seymour was inexpressibly glad to see the change that had come over the spirit of the old slave. he had been employed in many situations and he was faithful in all. he had been his carriage driver; he had packed old missis trunks when she went to the seaside or the springs in the happy old days; and ned remembered how contented he was, when an imaginary line separated peace from discord, plenty from squalor. he had seen old missis put away in the ground, and with him were feelings that would not be stifled that were now recasting his nature, however sensual and hardened it had become by contact with vicious companions. when the clouds of war lowered angrily ned's faith in old missis grew stronger and stronger, and like a watch dog always on duty, so ned was always at his post; to obey every command, to anticipate every wish. it was ned who held ajar the old plantation gate, that day the young cavalier rode into the deepening shadows on his way to manassas, and with hat in hand bade him good-bye with the entreaty, "be shore und cum back nex saddy to yo po mammy. i'll be rite heer to open de gate." it was ned who reverently placed the spray of the little immortelle upon the grave of mars harry when the procession had turned their faces homeward. it was ned who carried "old missis" in his arms back to the carriage when she swooned at the grave, and now he had come back like the prodigal confessing his sins. "if gord spares me ter outlive ole marser, i'm agwine ter put him erway lak ole missis and yung mars harry, und strow his grave wid hiasents und lillys ob de valley. i haint agwine ter put no mo pendence in de carpet baggers, dey will gouge de eyeballs outen yo hed, und i'm agwine ter twist my eyes clean erround de tother side when i passes de ole kommissery. 'ole glory' is jess flirting up its skerts, und larfing when poor ole niggers is agwine erlong de rode, jess es scornful es er flop-eared mule when he pokes yu under de jaw wid his hind foot, widout ary warnin. i wishes dat de bosum of struction wud slam de ole kommissery clean clar to de yurth, dat i does." "you seem to be very thoroughly disgusted with the situation ned?" observed the colonel. "i is mars john, deed i is. ef a pusson fools yu won time, or maybe two times, er yu mout say free time, you mout try him agin, but ef he fools yu all de time ole marser, what is yu agwine to do den, mout as well be flinging de hook in de crick for joshaway's munny, as agwine to dat ole kommissery wid yo happysack speckin arry moufful ob wittles." "is that the experience of all the colored people?" the colonel inquired. "no sar, no sar," ned replied with feeling. "dem dat carries woters to de conwenshun, und drinks de bosses sperits dey gits a leetle now und den, but tother wuns sucks de fingers in misury all de time, specktin, un gittin disappinted." "by the way tell me something about ephraim, how is he getting on," asked the colonel. "why bress your soul mars john he is clean outen site; er totin great big yaller upper lips on his sholders, und er sword dat runs on a wheel on de groun, und fedders on his hat same as a pee-fowell. he is dun und growd outen my membrance. dey got norated eroun dat he is agwine ter marry a white gal in de town, und joshaway und hannah has dun and got er inwite to de weddin." "and aleck, what is he doing?" asked the colonel. "ugh, ugh," exclaimed ned, "now yu obersizes my kalkilashuns, mars john. he's wusser den efrum, er uprarin fine housen all ober dis plantashun." "the savage?" muttered the enraged man. "all laflin's doings i suppose. sixty days within which to prove your loyalty," he muttered. "the black flag of the buccaneers of reconstruction marked not with death's heads but by red stars!" a score of carpenters were plying their vocation on the plantation. a confusion of sounds, such as sawing and hammering, drowned the melody of the singing birds, and aleck like the boldest of pirates, was caracoling here and there giving orders; and fashionably dressed negro women strolled offensively and imperiously over the grounds. "mars jon," exclaimed ned, "i dun and tole yu so; now yu sees fo yosef." before the deed of purchase was recorded, the devilish freedmen were enforcing their claim to the plantation by visible, notorious and violent occupation. the colonel and alice were sitting in the verandah one beautiful starlit night; there was scarcely the rustle of a leaf and the full-orbed moon was shining with a radiant splendour. of course there was but one event to think about. was it not a grief that lay like a dead bulk upon the heart, all the day and all the night; and peopled their dreams with negroes and ogres too? "thank god," exclaimed alice "mother is out of it all. they were but heaping the fagots around the furnace when she so wearied went home to her eternal rest. now the fires are all consuming." "my daughter," said colonel seymour dejectedly after awhile, "i will go to my grave with the knowledge that the bowden debt has been paid; and not one cent do i owe upon it. it is possible i may err, but as god is my judge, this great loss has come upon me, through the devilish machinations of laflin, in the employment of the school-mistress, to occupy the office in which he knew my valuable papers were deposited. an ingeniously devised plot doubtlessly, but one distressingly successful." "mars jon," interrupted clarissa quite seriously, "haint yu neber foun dem papers yit, yu was er sarchin fur?" "no indeed, and i do not believe i shall ever find them." "grate king! ole marser i specks dem dere pizen niggers shoolickin eround de offis dun und stroyed em outen puryfied cussedness." "quite likely," rejoined the colonel. "lemme studdy er minit," said clarissa. "pears lak ned gin me sum papers to stow erway in my ole blue chiss. wud yu kno hit ef you wast to see hit mars jon? don't speck it is wurf nuffin do. ned he gin hit to me way back yander, i dismember how long ergo, und he tole me to put it in de blu chiss, twell he ax for hit. don't speck hit is ergwine to do mars jon no good do, but hit haint ergwine to pizen noboddy ef hit don't doo no good. i'm ergwine to fetch it rite now." the old gentleman paid but little attention to the negro until he saw her returning with uplifted hand like a stalking spectre. "now mars jon," she cried, out of breath, "yu read dat paper, und cide fo yoself." as soon as the old man took the paper in his hand, he forgot his gouty joints, and his white hairs; he forgot who he was or where he was and danced a succession of scottish reels with old clarissa, as an unwilling partner. "why father!" cried alice in great fright, "clarissa! clarissa! what is the matter with my dear father?" "oh! oh! oh! the mortgage and the note! the mortgage and the note!" wildly screamed her father. "thank god! thank god!" clarissa, rubbing her head with both hands where it had struck a pillar in the wild whirl of the dance, emotionally exclaimed, "bress de lord; mars jon has yu dun und gon plum crazy? i neber seed sich shines fo in all my born days; jambye busted dis ole hed wide open ergin dat postess." "clarissa," excitedly exclaimed the colonel, "you shall have forty acres and a mule too." "grate jurusulum! mars jon, whot i want wid dat lan? und i dun got wun mule, und de lord knose he tarrifies de life outen me." "alice," remarked her father, still excited, "i know all about the matter now. old mr. bowden was very ill when i paid the debt, but feebly raised himself in bed and marked upon the face of the note, 'paid in full.' here it is," said the colonel, "and he surrendered the note and mortgage in the presence of his worthless son, and promised that he would cancel the record; but the poor fellow died. his son witnessed the settlement. i had no doubt that this villainous son, knowing that his father had died before cancelling the mortgage, and believing that in the terrible condition of the country i could not prove the payment of the debt, did unlawfully, maliciously and feloniously conspire, combine and confederate with the wretch laflin to defraud me of my property. thank god the beasts have been hounded to their lair. i remember that upon coming out of the town my hands were filled with letters and papers, and in getting into my carriage this particular package dropped into the road and i ordered ned to pick it up, and i doubt not that while i was busy reading ned did not care to interrupt me, and put it into his pocket, and thinking it of no value, forgot to give it to me. i feel now like falling down upon my knees and thanking the great god of heaven and earth for this, his especial providence and mercy." it is said that in one of the beautiful isles in the southern pacific--the land of the mango and pineapple, where the air is perpetually perfumed by the aroma of flowers; where the birds of every plume and every voice, like animated pictures in gold and emerald and carmine, flit in and out of whispering branches; where pellucid waters ripple along, their voices keyed to song and laughter--that the people are bestial and barbaric. they distil from a gum that exudes from one of their umbrella-top trees an intoxicant that bestializes the man, woman and child who drinks it, and he or she will run a-muck, ferocious in temper, devilish in spirit, and betraying a morbid desire to destroy whoever or whatever they may encounter. here in these full grown years of nineteenth-century civilization, amid christian churches and ministers; amid ten thousand object lessons suggesting the vanity of human pursuits originating in wrong; the eternity of god's punishments; the certainty and swiftness of his retributions--the black, defiled, distorted genius of reconstruction was running a-muck, drinking from a brazen chalice the sweetened liquor. chapter xvii. a house warming. a skilled artisan in the employment of the local authorities had been for many days surveying and diagramming, until a certain area of the old plantation remote from the mansion was arranged in geometrical figures, scientifically corespondent to each other, and there were curves and angles artistically precise. if the reader will place before him a miniature flag of the turkish empire, the alignment of the tenements of the negroes will be seen, the concave line of the crescent indicating the position of the modest little houses of the freedmen, and the star the position of the stately mansion of mr. alexander wiggins, a former slave of colonel seymour. up to the time of this unblushing trespass upon the private domain of colonel seymour, and indeed afterwards, the negroes, like rodents, had burrowed in colonies in old dank cellars and where ever else they could find rest and shelter. this unhappy condition, post-dating the surrender at appomattox, had a demoralizing effect upon them. they became spiritless and languid, or else vicious and vindictive. they felt that freedom was an illusion, an ignis fatuus that they had been recklessly pursuing, that lured them further into an impenetrable morass. in the excited state of their ignorant minds they had been indulging feverish and extravagant projects; chimerical notions of wealth and aggrandizement, and again like inert bodies they would drop lifelessly into the very depths of despair. it is impossible just now for the most active imagination to conceive a condition of human society more wretched. the sympathies of the old masters were moved; their humanity shocked; their very hearts grieved at the injustice done under the direction of the freedman's bureau in this violent and forced state of things. "an outrage," exclaimed the colonel, "long matured, maliciously devised, and boldly perpetrated. fanatics! you have emancipated by fraud and violence the slaves you affect to pity; you have doomed them to beggary, outlawry, prostitution and crime! you have filled them with discontent and made them to feel a chain they never felt before, and turned against them the care and consideration of their own masters, while your red squadrons of fanaticism are careering wildly through our plantations, so lately scourged by the hurricane of war; you the minions of a power confessedly omnipotent. will you, too, destroy the doric edifice of our morals, the corinthian porticoes of our religion, stifle the denationalizing stream until it swells in great tides of blood? when the incendiary is lightning his torch, and the vultures are looking on with felon eyes, may the holy memories of the past give you pause." thus spoke the old man in the eloquence of high-wrought feeling, for his country; for the poor negroes who, like bats and owls, were peopling dens and holes of darkness in this "land of the free and home of the brave." on the night of the th of september the elegant mansion of mr. wiggins, the pampered slave of laflin, lay smiling and smirking in beautiful frescoes from turret to foundation stone; astral lamps hung in rich festoons, shimmered from dome and window and verandah, lighting up the broad pebbly avenues that rayed out from the central vestibule. it was a night of surprises, of merriment, of revelry, of rivalries; when the bat and owl came out of their hollow, the cat out of its lair, the negro out of his cabin, the ku-klux out of his skin. it was a night that punctuated reconstruction with a red-hot iron, and dropped its dead ashes upon a score of hearth-stones. it was a night that stealthily removed the fifth wheel from the chariot of the bosses and dropped its inert body into the road. ah! there were surprises! corporal ephraim gillum was to take unto himself a wife, and priscilla pinxly, a spinster, was to take unto herself husband. no doleful jeremiads in this carnival; no forbidding of banns; no scandal on religion; no trespass on the law. "ef dat ar white gal is a mine ter jine hersef ter dat cullud gemman, who's ergwine ter hender?" there were ferns and smilax, hollies and magnolias; there was an altar embellished with carnations, red and white; who shall say it was profaned by this ceremonial? there were heavily groined parlors reposing in velvety carpets, bric-a-brac and rugs. here were the minions of reconstruction in red, white and blue, the favorites of this institutional era; here were the animated beauties of the town bedizened, bejeweled and beflowered; here was the pompous celebrant in patent-leather slippers and dress coat, elder tuttle, paying court to the ladies. here was the bride, a very spare lady in the forties, with fishy eyes and gold spectacles. here was the groom, as black as an antarctic midnight, reposing uncomfortably in a celluloid collar that cut a transverse line through both cheeks, dressed in blue uniform with yellow epaulets upon his shoulders as large as sunflowers; here were the bats and owls, human earth burrowers, who were not wanted at the wedding supper, peeping slyly in the windows; here was mrs. parthenia wiggins in silks and satins, and her lord in satins and silks; here was joshua an octogenarian in regimentals, looking like a revolutionary drum major in masquerade, greeting the happy hostess with the exclamation:--"pend pon it, your ladyship, i smelt dat barbeku clean clar to my house fore it was kilt," pausing now and then in his circuit around the supper table, to cut "de pigon whing;" here was old hannah, in hoops and frills, "er following joshua, frustated lak, kase some gal or udder mout run erway wid him unbeknownist to her;" here was old ned "er settin in der chimney corner all by his lone lorn sef;" and then here was a skeleton at the feast, a spectre at the banquet, who greeted neither host, groom or bride----a living knight of the "white camelia." then there was a pause; then there was a proclamation by the host: "all hands eround fur de fust kertillien," and there was a voluntary shuffling of slippered, sandalled and booted feet. then the music struck up and all went merry as a marriage bell. castanets and cymbals, cornets and trombones, distributed huge chunks of melody, chopped off the "star spangled banner," "rally around the flag boys," "the girl i left behind me," and "brudder ephrum got de coon and gone on." as the dance went on and on in the great hall the kuklux slipped out of the shadows and into the parlor and concealed himself behind the embowered altar. ned, at his suggestion, stole into the dining room, and taking the cover off of the basted pig, brought it out and gave it to the hideous creature, and still the dance went on. with uplifted hand mr. wiggins cried "tention ladies und gemman's. all you who's inwited to the weddin follow me to the parlor," and the band struck up "johnny get your gun." "come parson, you shassay in fust," and the parson struck out in an irish reel, and the crowd followed like flotsam upon a current of water, tossing here and there, up and down, automatically, to the music. "now breddin und sistern," exclaimed the parson in a nasal sing-song, "range erlong side de haltar whilst i spaciate upon dis weddin. now den, fustly und foremustly, who gin dis bride away?" "i does" replied mr. wiggins, pompously stepping to the front. "well, den, i'll persede wid de sallymony. fustly und foremostly, i'm agwine in my sebenty seben year, please god i lives to see de harvest moon, und i has been a exhauster, und locus preacher, und surkus rider, und slidin elder fust und last, und i've jined black ones und yallow ones und yallow ones und black ones, und now i'm agwine ter jine a white und black one togedder in de yoke of bondage, und in the bonds of purgertory, ef i haint upset fore i gits froo by de kommisserys ob de debbil." "land sakes alive!" ejaculated joshua, as he brought his hollow jaws together with a resounding crash, "don't talk about de kommissery, parson; i'm hungry rite now." "now den, ef der is any pusson or debbil, here or here erbout, who is agwine to nullify dis weddin, i commands dem ter hold dere peace foreber mo." instantly a hooded figure of gigantic stature, clad in a gown of dragons' tongues, with small red lanterns burning in the socket of his eyes, arose behind the parson. the audience, first paralyzed with fear, now gave shriek after shriek which filled the house, as he gave an unearthly yell and with the basted pig cudgelled the black parson over the head as he leaped with a frantic cry into the bosom of the spectacled bride, and then through glass and shutter out of the window. "kuklux! kuklux!" shrieked the terrified negroes, as in desperation they fled out of the house. joshua, in his frantic efforts to escape, ran his head against a heated stove and red hot coals of fire were scattered over rug, carpet and floor. as the last society lady somersaulted out of the window, great tongues of fire were lapping up frieze and cornice, and facade, and the cresent and star disappeared in a ghastly cincture of fire. as jake the kuklux was passing near the cabin of joshua the next morning, on his way to the dark recesses of the swamp, he heard groans and incoherent exclamations that caused him to knock at the door and ask what was the matter. no answer came, but the groans were louder and more frequent. he opened the door and entered. joshua was lying on the bed swathed in red flannel and hannah, with a bandanna tied around her head, was tossing to and fro in an old rickety chair, holding her jaw in both hands. "hello!" exclaimed the kuklux, "what ails you folkses." "who dat a woicing dat lamentashun?" cried joshua. "go lang away wid yu white man, i aint agwine to be pestered," he continued. "hi there aunt hannah, what ails you?" "oh my lord!" exclaimed hannah, amid her groans. "go lang way frum heer i haint agwine to put mysef on ekality wid no low down white trash lak you is." and hannah kept sea-sawing in the rickety chair. jake took a slouching stride toward the fire-place and making the letter v with his fingers spat in the fire and accidentally overturned a stew pan in which two or three small catfish were cooking. "fo my king! white man," exclaimed hannah wrathfully, "what hes yu gon und dun now? i wishes yu would stay outen dis house. now whar is joshaway agwine to git his supper er me udder?" this lamentation caused joshua to unswathe the bandage about his eyes and he groaned louder and longer. "dem was de onliest mouffel ob wittles in dis house, und now me und hannah hes got ter suck de fingers twell de good lord send us mo," he exclaimed mournfully. "you lay dar spectin de lord to send you mo, und you will be stark naked as a picked ginny hen," said hannah. jake squinted his right eye as he drawled out: "you knows aunt hannah dat de lord does feed his lambs, don't you." "how cum joshaway enny of his lambs? mouter say he is de debbils old billy gote," answered hannah savagely. "kase i is one of his lambs," said joshua. "how cums i goes to filadelfy meeting-house ebery fourth sunday, und how cums i courages de moners, und how cums i goes to de baptizin und totes de passons gown? tell me dat." "ugh! ugh!" grunted hannah; "i nebber seed de lams cutting up sich shines in a grate house lak yu dun las nite; yu went to de weddin, didn't yu joshaway? und yu seed de kommissery ob de debbil; did yu see de lord's lambs dare? und yu set yo mouf for de barbeku, didn't yu, und yu seed a harrykane too, didn't yu?" "oh, yu go erlong way frum here," said joshua, "i natally spises dese heer biggity niggers dat is tarnally butting up agen de good lord's jedgements. you is fell frum grace, dat's what yu done," replied joshua deprecatingly. "is?" ejaculated hannah. "und yu fell frum something last nite. what was dat?" "now dat dere tantalizing nigger thinks i fell outen de window, but i clumb down de jice, dat is what i dun," angrily replied the old negro. "when you seed de bride und de passon und de tother lams lak yu, joshaway? tell me dat!" continued old hannah provokingly. "nuff sed hannah, yu dun und sot my po hed er akin wusser. you is de debbils own billy gote not me." reaching down into his greasy haversack the kuklux brought out a great chunk of barbecue, and flourished it around old joshua's head like a musician's baton. "dar now hannah, what i tole yu, you sees whar my fafe is, don't yu?" said joshua smiling. "don't de scriptur sez how dat ef yu hes fafe, ef yu hes fafe," he repeated with emphasis, "you can tote away mountains, tell me dat?" "it mout," answered hannah quizzically, "und den agin it mout'nt. do hit say anyfing erbout barbyku?" continued hannah, "tell me dat." "oh, go long, nigger," tartly answered joshua; "i haint ergwine ter argify de question no mo wid a debilish nigger dat actally mistrusts de bible; yu is dun und sot in yo ways, und all filadelfy church aint ergwine ter save yu, nudder." "not ef it is ergwine ter preach dat dar kind ob fafe. i wudn't put no pendence in de slidin elder ef he was to say pine plank dat dat dar barbyku is in de bible." "don't de scriptur say how dat a passel ob horgs broke er loose outen de gap und run down er hill und choked up de sea? tell me dat? und what does yu make barbeku outen? catfishes i spose!" asked joshua contemptuously. hannah turned her back upon the old negro with the observation, "you is er black satan kotin de scriptur." and all the time the musician's baton was marking curves around old joshua's head, and joshua's hollow eyes, as if under the spell of a mesmerist, were moving mechanically right and left, left and right, while his great mouth was yawning like a cavern in a red marl pit. "boss," he exclaimed, "ef yu eber specks tu giv me ary mouful ob dat ar barbyku, fur de lawd's sake drap hit rite inter dis heer mouf," and he brought his old jaws together with a resounding crash, like an alligator biting at a leaping frog. the ku-klux, without further teasing, gave the big chunk of meat to joshua, who devoured it like a starved dog. "haint yu ergwine ter give me nun?" asked hannah. joshua slowly replied between bites, "yu is got er gripin misery now, hanner, und ef yu wuz ter your dis peppery stuff und tuck wid a gripin pain, i'd neber hear de eend ob it. de nex time i'm ergwine ter give yu a grate big hunk, perwidin yu haint got no gripin misery ur nuffin," he continued as he gnawed the last piece of gristle from the bone. "boss," he observed, as he wiped his capacious mouth, "ef i hadn't bin ticed erway by dat nigger sea-sawin ober dar, i wudn't er bin in dis heer fixment. de women fokeses fotched de debil in dis heer wurld, und bress de lawd when dey is ceasded dey is ergwine ter take him erlong wid dem. does yer see how slak-sided i'se got? look at dese ole holler eyes; yu kin jamby play marbles in dem. i'm ergwine rite strate back ter ole marser, lak dat progigle man in de scriptur, und i'm ergwine ter tell him he mout hab my freedom. i'd ruther hab de tarrifyin fever dan be a franksized woter. i wishes ole laflin had er died fo' he wuz born, upsottin de niggers, und dey ergwine erbout lak ragged ruffins, wid nuffin ter do but beatin drums und wotin yaller tickets. dar aint narry grane o' rest nite nor day. peers lak hanner she gits sick de wery wustest time in de wurld, und when she aint ailin she's tarnally moufin erbout no meal in de gum und no catfish es in de stew-pan. de lawd knows dis ole stractified nigger hes sucked misery long ernuff. i haint neber node ole marser ter turn his back on nobody, und es fur miss alice, her purty white hans is wide open all de time, und she do say 'uncle joshaway' de hebenliest i eber seed." with these heartfelt expressions the old negro maintained a dead silence, and hannah, like the temanite of old, essayed to answer, "yu needn't blame it all on me, dat yu needn't. enybody er seein yu er wourin up dat grate big hunk o' meat mout hab node yu wuz er horgish nigger, und hit maks no diffunce who parishes so yo stumick is full. er lyin dar now er pickin yo ole snags und er hikkerpen es full es er dorg tick, und me er settin here er fairly rackin wid mizry." "hush hannah," interrupted joshua, "nuff is nuff, ef yu had er wourd dat barbyku und tuck defly sick, dar wudn't been no sleep in dis house dis nite. 'twant kase i hankered fo dat leetle grain ob fresh meat dat i didn't wide wid yu, twas kase i knowd it was gwine gin yo stummick." "bress god," answered hannah, "you's er powerful doctor, er puttin yo mouf on sick folkses dat is peert und harty," and hannah began sea-sawing again. chapter xviii. the writ of ejectment. shortly after the events narrated in the last chapter, the announcement was made by clarissa that a white man, "und dat biggety nigger ellic, was at de do to see ole marser." the interview occurred on the verandah. abram laflin, the carpet-bagger, introduced the subject as follows: "i observed" said he, "in passing the court house on yesterday, that you had advertised my home to be sold to pay a debt of five thousand dollars due you. will you be kind enough to make the calculation and inform me what is due you, principal and interest?" "certainly i will, with great pleasure," replied the colonel. "here is the account accurately computed." "make your calculations, mr. wiggins, and see if the gentleman is correct," he said to the negro. mr. wiggins adjusted his gold rimmed eyeglasses, fingered a moment the gold chain upon his immaculate shirt bosom, scratched his head a time or two with the point of his gold pencil and passed the statement to his lord and master. "ah, ha," exclaimed the carpet-bagger, "four thousand three hundred and fifty-seven dollars and thirty-three and one-third cents, and not five thousand dollars as you have it, mr. seymour." "ah, very well" replied mr. seymour "you may settle by my calculation if you wish, if not the sale shall go on." "give me the paper and pencil, mr. wiggins, i will make the calculation for myself," said the carpet-bagger. "the result as you have it sir, is correct. here is your money sir." "now, sir, i will show you the gate," replied the colonel with asperity. "good morning," and the two men locked arms and went away. as the enraged man was entering the verandah, he was greeted unexpectedly and obsequiously by joshua, with "compliments, ole marser. i have fotched you some long-necked gode seeds; spected yer would lak to hab dem, mars jon." "yes, yes, i am glad you remembered me joshua. i thought my old slave had quite forgotten me," replied the colonel. "you mout hab spected dat ole masser, but i knowed all de time you wus de onliest fren i had in de wurrell," answered the old negro. "i am surprised to see you looking so badly, joshua. why your hair is as white as cotton, and your clothes too are ragged and dirty, and there are great hollows in your cheeks; what have you done with yourself old man?" the old negro dashed a great big tear from each eye as he replied hesitatingly, "better ax tother fokeses dat ar questun, ole marsa; better ax de bosses at de kommissery; i'se been froo de froos sens i seed you sar, mommucked up monstrus, dat i is. dem dar pizen'd carpet-baggers tole us cullud fokses ef we didn't do jess lak dey sed, dat dey was agwine to put us bak in slavery, und dey skeert us jam ni to def, dat dey did. dey uprared a grate big sto in de town, und sakes alive! de moest lasses und horg meat und flower und backer, und sich lak yu nebber did see, mars jon, und likker, too; und wun ob de bosses he cum to de do und sez, sez he boys, fetch yer happysaks und jimmyjons ebery tuesday, und eberry saddy nite de lord sens und fill dem chok full. i clar marser, i felt jess lak i wus in paradise, wid de angels er harpin pon golden harps und soppin lasses; und i took dat white man at his word, und i'se been on de rode twixt my house und de sto fur seben weeks, backards und forrards, a totin my ole jimmyjon un happy-sak; i clar pon my marser in heben, i haint eben got de rappins ob my finger from dat sto yit. de boss wud laf und say de rashuns had gin out fore i got dere, und to cum agin nex tuesday sho; und mars jon, i'se jess nachully a tired to def, widdout a moufful ob wittels in my house fur me nur hanner nudder, und we bof a perishin to def. ole marsa, hain't yer got nary ole ash tater, nur a leetle piece ob meat skin yer kin gib dis ole darky jess to pacify his stummik, seems lak i jess hab to draw my galluses rale tite roun it to keep it frum creepin fru my mouf." the old soldier of fifty battles looked down upon the poor old negro in his squalor and emaciation and wretchedness, and the tears came into his eyes, too, as he said, "if there is anything in this house to eat, joshua, you shall have all you want. i pity you from my heart, old negro. these people are not your friends nor mine. the day will come when you will know them as they are--enemies of every one who will not wash their dirty linen." "eber yu spoke de truf, mars jon, you spoke it den--hit's de god's truf." "clarissa!" called the colonel, "clarissa!" "sar!" came clarissa's voice from the kitchen. "i'se er cummin, ole marsa, jes es fast es i ken." as she saw joshua she threw up her hands and impulsively exclaimed, "fur de lawd's sake, joshaway, whot do ail yer eny way? i faut yu wuz er gostis er settin outen here wid ole marser. po ole nigger! duz sis hanner luk lak yu duz? de grabeyard is er yornin fer yu rite now." and clarissa placed her hand feelingly upon the old negro's white head, saying the while, "po joshaway! po nigger!" while joshua covered his face with his knotty hands and his feeble body shook as with a spasm. in obedience to orders, clarissa placed before joshua a huge dish of boiled ham, cabbage, potatoes--irish and sweet--and the old negro in the joy of his heart sprang nimbly to his aged and aching feet and "cut de piggen whing jes ter sho ole marsa how spry und suple he wus." "bress gawd!" he gratefully exclaimed, "i'se been happy two times in my life--wun time when i jined de miluntary cumpny when de niggers wus playin 'de jay bird' on der tootin horns (den i wus er fule), und tother time wus dis here time." after devouring like a starved brute the bulk of the food before him, he considerately placed into his old beaver hat choice bits and fragments, layer upon layer, with the observation, "i wudn't er tasted a moufful o' dis good truck ef i hadn't er node hanner wuz ergwine ter git her shar. jes er watchin me now lak a sparrer hawk er settin on er lim! tank yer a fousun times, ole marser! tank yu, too, sis clarsy; tank eberybody in de whole wurld. ole marsa," he continued, "mout i hab jes wun wurd wid yer?" "why, certainly, joshua; what more can i do for you?" asked the old man. the old negro put his hand to his face as if he were shielding his eyes, and asked sheepishly, "mars jon, ef me und hanner wus ter turn niggers ergin, jes lak slabery times, wud yer tuck us home--yu und miss alice?" "i would not have you do that, joshua; but whenever you like, you and hannah can bring your belongings to the office and alice and i will always be your friends. you shall never suffer any more for something to eat or wear as long as we live." "tank yer, ole marser, tank yu, a fousand times!" joshua replied, as he brushed away great liquid beads that were chasing each other down his haggard cheeks. "now i mus be ergwine, mars jon," and the old stiffened joints bore homeward a filled body and a full heart, as he sang in an untuned but sweet voice, "oh de way's so delightful when i sarves de lord, oh de way's so delightful, journey on." as the sun was going down the old colonel looked across the field and saw joshua and hannah with great bundles upon their heads coming toward the mansion--coming back to the old home; coming back to be just as humble, just as faithful, just as watchful as in the happy old days; coming back to run errands if need be, with joints stiffened by hardships and old age, but with hearts so light and trustful; coming back like homing pigeons to roost under old master's wing in the dove cote. was there ever such a people before? the sweetest experience in the domesticity of the south will vanish forever when the last old white woolly head is laid low, when the ghostly smile is given to old mistress from the death bed, and the last good-bye is said to "ole marser und ole missis" as the death film overlays the eye. "tak keer ob yosefs, ole marser und ole missis, und meet me up yander." so thought the old master as with liquid eyes he looked upward to the vaulted sky. "seben weeks" the old negro weighted down by the ever accumulating burdens of life--its disappointments, its troubles--had with unsteady gait and frequent halts stepped off each rod and furlong twixt "my house und de sto, backards und forards, toting de jimmyjon und de happy-sak." "fur seben weeks" the torrid sun with its blistering heat had scorched the old negro's head, and crisped the old negro's black skin until it was spotted. for seven weeks a vacuum deep and broad lay between the inner coatings of the famished stomach immeasurable and unfathomable. for seven weeks "old glory" waved its welcome at one end of the commissariat, and stark, pallid want walked out without a ration and flaunted its rags at the other. poor old negro, but what worth is freedom without its pains and penalties; what worth is the huge commissariat without the freedmen, and what worth is the freedmen without the commissariat? oh how happy the old negro in "de offis of ole marser." by fits and starts old joshua would awake throughout the nights and call to hannah, "ole womun, duz yer kno whar yer is a roosting to night? aint agwine to de crick fur catfish in de mornin. i kno whar my wittles is er cummin frum, bress de lord. cum rain ur shine, i haint nebber agwine hongry agin, no mo. old marsa dun und said, ole nigger yer shall nebber want fur sumfing to eat und sumfing to ware no mo, und i nebber cotched ole mars jon in a lie yit. has yu, hanner?" "no, dat i haint, nur miss alice nudder," replied hannah. "i haint got no mo skeer erbout me, joshaway, dan a billy gote. i kno's when miss alice flings a dumplin in de pot for hersef, she is agwine to fling wun in dare fur me too." "pears lak, hanner, i kin heer my stummick ebery now und den nachully singing de ole ship ob zion, hit is so full ob ole marser's good wittles." bright and early the next morning the old negro was standing in the wide open door of the office, swinging his arms in exercise like a prize fighter, and occasionally "cuttin de piggen whing out of doors," as he said, "dat yung misses mout see how he could twist his foots erbout." as he was skipping about the yard he discovered as it were, a moccasin snake; a red, white, and blue stake about two feet long in the ground near the office, and he knew what it was and called in a fit of rage to hannah. "jess cum und see what dem dratted niggers has dun gon und dun. lord a massy! duz dem pizened willians fink dey kin oberride dis here plantashun wid me, und ned, und ole marsa, und yung misses, und yu und claissy a fendin for deselvs? i'se agwine to lode up my muskit dis bery nite, und de fust nigger dat cums pestering our white fokses on dis here lan, i'se agwine to shoot two pounds of hot led into his karkas. tak dis ole streked striped stick, hanner, und burn it up," and he jerked the peg out of the ground as if it had been an aching molar in his gum, and threw it violently into the fire-place. "who upon de yurth did fetch dese pizened stiks on dis lan? i'm ergwine er roun dis yer plantashun, und maybe i'll fine sum mo ob de ring-streeked-und-striped things, er painted jes like 'ole glory' out yander in de town, jes ter fool niggers und git dem sassinated lak er passel o' polecats." while joshua was making the "grand rounds" over the plantation a carriage with a pair of beautiful, high-stepping horses rolled up to the door, and two "gemmen of culler" alighted and walked with unnatural dignity to the door and rang the bell. clarissa, of course, obeyed the call, and in their presence was so bewildered that she asked them into the library. placing into her hands their cards _de visite_, upon which were written the names of the "hon. alexander wiggins" and the "hon. ephraim gillam," she carried them to colonel seymour. instantly the devil was aroused in the old man, and he told clarissa to tell them to get out of the house. clarissa, in executing the order, said, "ole marser says how dat yu niggers must go back out er doors. jes tak yosef outen dis house immegit." then upon recognizing one of the negroes, she enquired, "haint dat yer ellick, wid dem fine close und shoes, und gold specks, und bever hat, comin into dis house lak yer was a king, or a gineral, or sumfing i don't kno what? what is yer doing here in ole marser's house, anyhow? i specks yer is up to sum devilment rate now." "my name is not ellic, replied the negro, und i am not up to devilment. i am de prieter ob dis manshun house, und my stinguished friend, mr. ephrum gillum und me, hez cum to sarv a rit ob jectment upon mr. semo fortwid." "lord hab marcy upon my soul!" exclaimed clarissa in great excitement, "ef yer sarves dat dar fing on ole marsa, dares gwine to be a ressurreckshun in dis grate house fortwid, yer haint agwine to lib to git bak to town. you und dat udder nigger better tak yerselvs offen dis lan fore marser sees yer; he spises yer worse den eny mocksin snake in de crick, und yer nose it." "ah, well," the negro replied arrogantly, "yu jess gib him dis writ ob 'jectment und tell him dat mr. wiggins und his lady will return ter-morrer ebenin at ate o'clock und tak persesshun, und see dat yu prepars a bed in de best chamber in dis mansion fur him." "jes yer fling dat pizen fing on de flo. i aint ergwine ter mess my hans up wid no sich nasty trash, und yer tak yersefs offen here--don't i'm agwine ter set jube on yer, yer hateful creetur. ugh! ef yer gits anyfing pared on dis plantashun hit's ergwine ter be a ded-fall ter kill yu cussed niggers. dat's de bed yer is ergwine ter git ter morrer at ate o'clock, 'member dat! ugh! i specks when dat time cums yer will be ded und gon rite strait ter torment." clarissa seized the tongs and prodded the document upon the floor as if it had been a tarantula, then holding it at arm's length, muttering the while like a savage, brought it to colonel seymour with the observation, "mars jon, yer mout as well gib up dis grate house und de plantashun, too, to de stinkin, outdashus niggers, don't dey is ergwine ter tarrify de life outen yer, und me too." to this the old man deigned no reply, but unfolding the paper and reading it, he concluded there was but one thing to be done. for one-third of a century he had been a highly respected communicant in the episcopal church; orthodox and consistent in his views and observances, but upon reading the insulting document he swore like "our army in flanders." "clarissa," he exclaimed, "bring me my pistols. i will defend my own with my life, and"-- "mars jon," interrupted clarissa, "i'se skeert ob dem dar shootin iruns. what is yer ergwine ter do, ole marser? is yer ergwine ter hab a resurreckshun in de grate house? sposin yer und young missis gits kilt--whot in de name ob gawd is ergwine ter cum ob tother ones? sarve ellick rite ef he gits masskreed; but sposin yer und ned gits kilt, whot is ergwine ter cum ob me und miss alice? yer is too brash, ole marser." the old soldier was quiet for a moment, and then he called ned to him. "yes, mars jon, here i is, sar. whot yer want now, mars john?" ned asked humbly. "go and tell mr. jake flowers to come here at once." "sartinly, sar, mejitly, mars jon." and in a short time mr. flowers, accompanied by ned, saluted the colonel with, "what are your orders for to-day, sir?" now, thought the colonel, i shall marshal a force more terrible than an army with banners. i shall recruit my regiment from the "invincible empire," and i shall tear down and let them reconstruct if they can. "we will march to victory under the flag of the 'white camelia,' shall we not, mr. flowers?" asked the colonel. "well, when i wants to play demnation wid ther niggers, i don't fight under no other," was the sententious answer of the regulator. "come into my library a moment, sir." as the regulator was ambling along he put his two fingers to his mouth and accidentally(?) expectorated "ambeer" in the eye of old jupiter, the fox hound, which set up a prolonged howl and caused clarissa to exclaim with great warmth; "mars jon, did yer see dat ou'dashus white man a spettin dat dar backer juce in ole jube's tother eye? wun ob dem is outen now, und i specks dat fafefulest ole dorg will go plum blind. he is de fafefulest creetur on dis hole plantashun. po' ole jube! nebber mind, clarsy is ergwine ter set yer on dat speckled-face white man when he cums outen dat do, und is ergwine ter give yu sum mo wittles ef yer chaws him good. po' ole jube!" and clarissa walked back into the kitchen with jube following her, with the further observation, "twixt de niggers und de low-down white trash i haint got no chusen--hit's a half duzzen wun way und a half duzzen tother way, und de debbil tak de diffunce." the colonel drew a chair up to the table and asked the regulator to be seated. "tomorrow night at eight o'clock sharp i will take possession of ingleside, peaceably if i can, forcibly if i must." "when the prince of the thebaird sent this message to the queen of lower egypt, "tomorrow i will knock at the door of your palace with the hilt of my spear," she returned this warning, "and i will welcome you with bloody hands, and the crocodiles of the nile shall devour your carcass." "what shall be our message, mr. flowers?" the regulator thought a little dreamily for awhile, and then with the usual squint in the right eye replied drowsily, "wall, thar is two ways to kill a nigger unbeknownst to him. i kin ku-klux him, or i kin strike him with forked litenin; but i haint got ammunition enuff to kill a hole passul at wunce." the colonel unfolded and laid upon the table a large sheet of paper, such as engineers use in diagramming, and began in a perfunctory way to mark off lines, angles, eccentric and concentric figures, until he fixed the point of his pencil suspiciously at the upper abutment of a bridge that spanned a rivulet, with this remark, "just here, sir, must be the point of attack. this is the only defensible position upon the plantation. if the malicious negroes pass this bridge, all is lost. now, my friend," he continued, "heroic diseases must be healed with heroic remedies. you and i are old soldiers. up and down the chickahominy our army would have been tin soldiers but for our sappers and miners. now you may sap and mine to your heart's content," he said jocularly. "do you understand, mr. flowers?" "no, not eggzactly," replied flowers. "dos yer want ther cussed niggers drounded?" he asked. "no, only frightened so they will let me alone," replied the colonel. "frightened!" ejaculated the regulator. "wall, fokeses in gineral gits frightened before they gits drounded, don't they? if i don't mistrust you, kernel, you wants the bridge upsot, and then you wants the kerridge upsot, and then you wants the blamed niggers upsot, altogether in the crick." "if in your opinion my language bears that construction, you may proceed," said the colonel. "eggzactly so," replied the regulator. "i may percede with another percession and a funeral at the tail eend of it. eight o'clock, sharp!" reiterated the regulator, and waving his hand backwards at the old man in the verandah, cried back, "i will be thar or thar abouts," took his leave. clarissa tried to sick "ole jube" on the regulator as he passed through the gate, but the old dog looked sheepishly into clarissa's face and wagged his tail, as much as to say, "ef yer wants enybody sicked on dat white man, jes sick yersef." nero never planned the destruction of rome, nor titus the destruction of jerusalem with a more implacable spirit then did the regulator the destruction of the upper abutment of the wooden bridge on the ingleside plantation. as the bold man stood upon the bridge contemplating the work to be done, and then upon the cold full orbed moon bathing its face in light, cumulus clouds, and then on the cold waters, he said to himself; "a soldier boy that can climb the elements in the crater fight and butt his head agin the stars, aint pestered by little diffikilties when it comes to drownin niggers." he threw off his coat, took up the crowbar and went to work. the apron was then propped up upon skids too weak to bear the weight of a carriage, but so skillfully as to ward off suspicion in case the structure or any part of it should fall. at : sharp the work was done and completely done, the pitfall was laid, and well laid, and at : a black cavalcade, noisy and ruffianly, were galloping on the way to take by force actual possession of ingleside, against the emphatic protest of its owner and against the law of the land. they were marching with their trombones and their flags, flags striped and starred, just like the one that laughed in the faces of the starved negroes that marched in platoons, desperately hungry, out of the back doors of the commissariat. just like the one ruffian laflin wrapped about his beastly person when he said to poor oppressed seymour, "my freedmen may make reprisals whenever they please in this accursed country." just like the flag that waved from the stern sheets of the batteau, that cold sleety night, when washington was cutting the ice out of his way upon the delaware. just like the "old glory" that ethan allen wound around his head at ticonderoga. just like the flag that thrilled every heart, that philip barton key immortalized in the first battle hymn of the republic. "tis the star spangled banner long may it wave, over the land of the free and the home of the brave." "ah, no," the southern patriot would say "our hot sun has tarnished its bright stars, has made black and dingy the blue field, and see! it is blushing ever so red, as it is made to accentuate the horrors of reconstruction." but the flags were coming, so were the horses, and so were the negroes, and so were the trombones, and so was death, each in a vain attempt to bridge the chasm before o'clock sharp. ah, that crash, that shriek, that doom! the affrightened horses break from the descending carriage and scamper like zebras into the open fields of ingleside. the uniformed escort turn their horses heads and scamper toward the town, even the trombones have ceased to sound now, but there are echoing hoofs, and there are the wails of the dying, coming up from the darkened abyss, and the moon is still bathing its face in the watery clouds overhead. what! art thou a prophetess, clarissa, that thou shouldst have said "i specks when dat time cums yer will be ded and gone rate strait to torment?" chapter xix. the coroner's inquest. the revolutionary iconoclasts had fully established their sway in the worst and most irritating forms; their resources, directed by irresponsible and offensive authority--controlling the fortunes, hopes and fate of all classes--ramified and extended throughout the south. mountebanks sat in judgment upon the lives and liberties of a vanquished people; everywhere violating all the guaranties of freedom. the alarming vibrations of this unhallowed power were felt in every home. it was a matter of anxious and fearful thought, "what must be the result of collisions that are sure to come?" it were vain to threaten consequences badgered as the people were into passive submission by a power that ruled supreme--a power that was conducting its operations with unmeasured cruelty wherever the ill-starred confederacy had raised its hated crest. retaliation swift and sure pursued a few of the misguided negroes whose black hands were upraised to smite the south. now and then, under the shadow of the citadel that was garrisoned by the pensioned slaves, the victims of the murderous knife or deadly bullet would be found. hence the south was the harvest field for the functionaries who delighted in the sudden visitations of providence, and who looked for the vultures upon circling pinions above the river as couriers of cheering messages; in the language of the negroes, as the "sky sheruffs" who served due notice upon the oppressed taxpayers of this patronizing government of the freedmen. by a custom that obtained very generally in the south in the post-bellum days, there was a division of offices inequitably made, however, between the carpet-baggers and the negroes; and to the negroes was assigned among others of inconsiderable revenue, the office of county coroner. this office for many generations before the war was a sinecure, but a pictorial page now appears in the history of reconstruction, electrotyped in disgusting caricatures. the office of coroner was constructed out of a mediæval original; it was both ancient and honorable--a remnant of the feudal system that superseded other forms of government in europe before and since the crusade. so considerable were its revenues and dignity, that the lords chief justices of the king's bench of england coveted and enjoyed its emoluments and title; and to descend from an antiquity so dignified and remote, from bewigged and begowned lords justices to th amendment freedmen, was quite a sheer descent. but reconstruction came with fantastical ideals; with its own peculiar and irritating forms and institutions, and the political fabric was ludicrously inverted and the freedmen appeared to walk through the air on stilts. when post-mortem investigations were exceedingly rare in a county that boasted of its healthfulness and its obedience to law, the per diem of the coroner was fixed by legislative enactment to ten dollars, with certain enumerated charges, such as summoning, swearing and empanelling the jury of inquest. but now there was an epidemic of accidental deaths in this phenomenal era. among the negroes the most natural thing was to die--to die from exposure, from starvation, and sometimes from heroic doses of manhood suffrage. they died in the river, in the creek, in the lowgrounds. old uncle elijah thorpe, the coroner, would sit moodily by the hour on his dilapidated stoop, intently gazing into the firmament above him for the appearance of "de sky shurruff," and when the circling scavengers of the country would flap and dip their pinions below the fringe of the cypresses that bordered the river, his spirits would revive, and refreshing smiles would play hide and seek in the black caverns of his face. the old coroner like judge blackstock, appeared to be the "survival of the fittest." he had come out of the toils of slavery with his hair as white as the snow, and with lines in his black face as if a "new ground plow" had been running furrows into it. he was an old man when the great guns were celebrating the emancipation of four million slaves. he was an old man when the bosses placed into his horny, gouty hand the elective franchise. he was an old man when he looked out one night, when the stars were twinkling in the mid-heavens, and saw the luminary of freedom with its bewildering corruscations. he was the advanced guard of the freedmen who welcomed the agent of the bureau with waving of hats and clapping of resounding hands. he was the file leader of laflin's black reinforcements. when elijah began to grow rich out of the spoils of his office he observed in a confidential way to laflin, "ef de niggers keeps er gitten sassinated lak deys agwine on und de jurer don't gin out, dis heer soufland is agwine ter be a sametary from one eend to de tother; the buzzards is lak a passel ob rode hands er cummin und agwine," and then to disarm the carpet-bagger's cupidity he continued with a lugubrious cast of countenance, "by de time i gits de rashuns from de kommissery und de sperrits fur de jurer dars a mity leetle spec left ob de poreseeds. de pay boss haint ekal to de sponsuality of de offis." these post-mortem inquiries, like all other functions of the time, presented most ridiculous contrasts. while the circling carrion crows were looking for dead negroes in the river and swamps, the negro women in the cabins and kitchens were watching the movements of the coroner; and whenever the public became advised "dat de corps ob humans was to be sot upon" if the news came in the dead of the night, an outcry would go from cabin to cabin; dusky faces would appear at dirty windows and an inquiry in staccato from some sister would arouse her neighbour. "oh! sophia ann, has yu heerd de news, or is yu pine blank ded? de crowner has dun und put de saddle on ole 'sametary' und de saddle-bags und de jimmyjon too, und agwine ter set on er corps fortwid." "hush! sister becky," would come the answer; "aint you got anudder tack of hystericks;" and rayless jaundiced lights would appear in windows; then the screeching of fowls in the coops, then pots would simmer and boil; then little bill would be jerked out of bed with the angry exclamation, "fore de king, i believes dis heer yungun would sleep clar froo de jedgment day und wudn't heer nary trumpet. git outen heer yu bill und fetch dat ar steer und de kaart fore de door fortwid." and then bill, yawning and gaping and grunting, and twisting his arms over his black head, would stagger with tangled feet to the stable and command, "cum outen dis heer door ole linkum fore i whacks yu ober de hed wid dis heer palin." and then old linkum would toss his head and start towards bill with a boo--o-o and then back into his stall with another boo-oo, and then maria would shout from the kitchen, "yu bill has yu und ole linkum gone plum ter sleep? why don't yu fetch dat aggrawating steer outen dar?" and then she would turn to pack away the pies and chickens in the basket, and then ole linkum and bill and maria and "ladybird," the ugly fice dog, would be reinforced upon the road by a picturesque caravan. there would be women and children of all sizes, ages and conditions; then the hard cider carts, fakirs and pie women, then the old parson and the deacons and the singing sisters, then the man with a hand organ and a monkey, then a score of yelping hounds, curs and fices, then the coroner in battered beaver and green goggles, astride his flopped-eared, flee-bitten mule, "ole samitary," all with laughter, jest and song hurrying to the scene of the catastrophe; while the poor misguided subjects of the investigation would be staring with great lack-lustre eyes into the sky. upon this occasion the rising sun as he passed through the mist veiled his face from a spectacle terribly ghastly. four black corpses in silks and satins and tawdry lace, with upturned faces, lay rigid with a seasaw motion in the ooze and water; and a huge black object, like the back of a leviathan with striped banners in his nostrils, dammed up the stream that flowed with a sluggish current from the river. this then was the end of the carnival; the due return upon the writ of ejectment. what utopian dreams were whispered into ears into which the eddying waters were intoning a refrain! shall the mistress of ingleside descend into this cold, forbidding flood with the keys of her broad domain, and place them as a symbolical delivery of title into hands so rigid and nerveless, that never guarded its portals with one night's vigil? shall the officers of the law, under these broken arches, endorse a due return upon the writ of ejectment? when we see the star spangled banner down there, dyeing the waters as it seemed with blood, "with the union" down, does it bind us to an allegiance to the powers that sent these outlaws upon their mission of assassination. joshua was very wretched when he heard of the horrifying disaster that overreached the human beagles that were pursuing their quarry so heartlessly. old negroes like joshua and ned were fast becoming disillusioned; they had danced attendance to laflin and his pampered slaves when they were desperately hungry; they had marched and counter marched, when from sheer weakness they could scarcely keep step to the fife and drum; they had seen the hollow pageantry; had heard the discordant fanfares from brazen trumpets; the mockery of commands to "fall in" and to "fall out;" indeed they had been lashed to the treadmill of fatiguing servitude when there wasn't a bazaar or a sutler's shop into which they could enter and beg a morsel of bread; and when they "broke ranks" there wasn't a ration of meat or flour distributed to the old hulks that were to all intents and purposes out of commission. joshua felt that all the events and catastrophes of this mortal life were in some mysterious way the annotations of sacred writ, and hence as he clothed himself in the spic-span homespun garments that alice had given him, he said to his wife, "now eff i kin ever find my old bever, und my specks, i'm agwine to ax miss alice what de scriptur says erbout dis insurreckshun. cording to my membrance when de mallyskites flung ole farro outen de charryot into de sea, dat fillisten ginril was imitating ellick in his devilishness; haint dat scriptur, hannah?" hannah looked up from her wash-board with earnestness and with just a suggestion of temper as she observed: "whicherway in de scriptur duz yu find dat passage? cordin to my membrance dare want none of dem charryots in dem deys epsepting lijah's, und hit warn't hitched to no hosses." as joshua was going toward the mansion he said to himself, "dey is agwine to spishun ole marsa wid killing dem niggers, und den de werry ole harrykin is gwine to brake loose in dis plantashun. grate jarryko! ef it cums to de wursest me und ned und clarsy und hanna is agwine to stan twixt him und dem twell de eend." it appears to be exclusively the prerogative of women to be the burden bearers for others; assuredly this virtue was heroically exercised by the beautiful girl, whose heart was all sympathy for the misguided wretches. not one thought, not a care, for her poor, defenceless self; all for the negroes who were drunken upon the lees of reconstruction, the poor slaves of a power they dared not oppose. "uncle joshua," she asked in tears "have you heard the sad fate of aleck and ephraim?" "yes, marm, i dun und heerd de news dis mornin fo sun up, und i'm missurble fur yer und ole marsa, missis. dis werry sassinashun cum to my membrunce las nite twixt lebben 'clock und day, und when hit wuz fust norated er roun, i ses ter hanner, sez i, dar now! i spishuned dat werry axydent wuz ergwine ter happ'n. und hanner she ups und sez, sez she, 'how cum yer node mo dan tuther humans? is yer er possel ur a wangel?' und den i upped und tole her, und hit cum erbout in disser fashun, missis: a bitter sadness lay upon my piller las nite, yung missis, und way in de shank o' de nite i seed yo precious mammy, und she wur er weepin lak her po hart wud brake, und i sed to her, sez i, 'ole missis, haint dat yu?' und den she smoled one leetle smole, und den she sed, sez she, 'ole nigger, i'm so missurble, for my dear husbun und my preshus child are in danger; won't yu help em?' und den she pinted her lily finger down de appenu toards de crick, and den i heerd her say, sez she, 'rite dare is whar de niggers is ergwine ter kill my po dears;' und den she banished lak a sperret outen my site. fo gawd, yung missis, dem dar wurds sont a shower ob isickles all ober me." this simple, affecting narrative chilled the heart of poor alice, too, and her grief became as frigid as if smitten by polar frosts. oh, what would alice give for the reign of peace, of law in this idumea of the south! "why prepare these watery sepulchres for the freedmen whose hopes have been built upon their delusive pledges? why starve and drown them as if they were vermin, without aspirations and without souls? who can excel these authors of misrule in the fine art of assassination?" she asked. clarissa stood at the side of her young mistress, whilst joshua, as if by inspiration, was narrating the vision of the night. she was transfixed with terror, and shaking from head to foot she exclaimed: "bress gawd! dis is de eend ob hit all--fust cums de belliun, den de hosses und de charryot, den def!" "stop rite dar! stop rite dar, clarsy! nary nudder wurd," exclaimed joshua with emphasis. "don't de scriptur say how dat whot is ergwine ter cum is ergwine ter cum? und ef hit haint er gwine ter cum hit haint ergwine ter cum; why, in cose; ef me und ned hez ary grane ob spishun erbout miss alice und ole marser, me und him is ergwine to uprare a barrykade rite at de grate house, und dey will be drib back lak de mallyskites. yu jess hole yer gripe upon proverdense und grace, clarsy, und den we kin fling de charryots und de hosses in de creek agen, und ole marser und yung missis will be saved." "grate king!" replied clarissa, still greatly alarmed. "yu mout ez well uprare dat barrykade rite now; kase when dem niggers sees dese drounded corpses er see-sawin in de creek, day is ergwine ter cum down on dis hear grate house same ez de yaller flies on dem pided steers out yander in de mash." "yu is too brash, sister," replied joshua. "i haint ergwine ter hab dem debbils spishunin dat dar's a trap sot fo i gits hit sot. when de moon gits back yander hind de trees hit will be sot, und i aims fur yu ter pull de trigger." "oh, my king!" blurted out clarissa, as she wrung her hands, "und sposin hit don't go off ur nuffin; den whot? dis heer po nigger wud immytate wun ob dem sojers dat wuz dug outen de krater way ole mars jon got his def wound. ef dat ar trap is sot its bleeged ter be upsot by sumbody dat's got mo ambishun agen his kuller dan i is, yu heers my racket!" exclaimed clarissa in great excitement. joshua was the first to interview the dead bandits. i can see him squatted upon his haunches with palsied finger pointed at the fishy eyes exclaiming; "dar now square wiggins jess see what yu is fotched up agen at las. i dun und tole yu so; now haint yu dun und dun it er trying to skeer ole marser outen de grate house; mout heb node yu was ergwine to git obertook by sum jedgment ur udder. i don't spishun nuffin else dat fo dis devilish konstruckshun is dun wid, dare haint ergwine to be er live nigger in de nunited states; und de biggerty niggers like yu und efrum is ergwine to mak hit wusser fur tuther fokeses. yu dun und dun de wussest fing yu ebber dun in yo born days, when yu sot down in dat dare kerrige wid all dem flags er flying at de hine eend lak er sho nuff surkuss; und deres yo po innosen wife er follerin yu backards und furrards lak yu was ole farro kommandin de yurth, er lying down dare same as a drownded warmint in de crick, und her po leetle yunguns crying mammy! mammy! und all dun und dun kase yu started a hullyberlo erbout ole marser's plantashun; wurf mo den all de dratted niggers big und leetle on de top side of de yurth; und kase yu fotched ole shurmun's army wid dare muskits in de ded ob de nite to tak ole marser und yung missis ded er live. i nebber seed er nigger lak yu play biggerty dat de good lord didn't slam to de yurth wid his jedgments. pend 'pon it de lord is gwine to git de under holt ebery time." and all the time aleck lay with great lack-lustre eyes staring and grinning at joshua. "und yu is down dare too efrum wid dem yaller upperlips, pine plank lak de sun flowers in de jam of hanna's gyarden er bobbin up und down same as a kildee in de mash; und boff of yu er smokin in de tarnel hell farr. und all cum erbout kase dere's too much freedum in de lan. i nebber seed a drounded nigger fore de bellion fell in all my born days, and now yer kaint fro yer hook in de crick fur a catfish yer aint skeered yu mout git tangled up wid a drounded nigger." joshua paused to wipe the perspiration from his face with his ragged coat sleeve, and the great black crowd moved as by a common impulse to the brink of the stream and gazed with a contrariety of emotions upon the drowned negroes. the goggle eyed coroner with his beaver in his hand stepped a little to the front and commanded attention. "breddin," he said, "dars a time to live und dars a time to die, und ef i must spaciate upon def befo dis conjugation i mout say dat he cums in a heap aways und a heap er fashuns; den agin he cums when he hedn't ought ter cum. he cum dis time when he hedn't ought ter cum und he hes flung de hole goverment out of jint." "und i specks de boss will be bleeged ter mak a signment ob de assets of north caliny. fur de lans sake," exclaimed joshua, "let me git wun moufful ef she's agwine to bust." without noting the interruption, however, the coroner proceeded: "i'm agwine ter ax brudder skyles de slidin elder to lead us all in prayer, und ter bless de lord dat de crowner und jurer is rite heer to sympathize with our bereaved friends in the bonds of iniquity." aleck and his ill fated friends were still sea-sawing in the water and after the prayer the man with the hand organ and the monkey began to play in squeaky, stridulous tones "the girl i left behind me." joshua the octogenarian, was among the men who were chosen upon the jury. "now den what is yer gemman gwine ter side erbout dese drounded corpses?" asked the coroner. there was a long painful pause when a very venerable negro confronted the coroner with this enquiry; "i rises to a question ob pribilige sar. i wishes to quire, ef a crowbar mout be er witniss in his own beharf, sar?" "sartanly sar, sartanly," answered the coroner: "how is yer agwine to swar hit?" he continued. "now yer oversizes my siggassity sar; yer axes pine blank" said the coroner, raising his spectacles with great dignity, "'how dis jurer is agwine to swar a crowbar;' is dat hit?" "yas sar," replied the negro. "what sez yer gemman ob de jurer to dis qustun," asked the coroner. after laying their heads together, a juror pompously observed. "dat he hed seed a horg crost questuned in de kote, und he convicted de prisner." "were he a white man?" the jury asked. "no sar, dat time de prisoner was a cullud gemman sar." "aye, aye," they exclaimed in chorus. "und de nex time i seed a pare of galluses convict a prisner." "was he a cullud gemman?" again they asked. "no sar, he were a po white man." "jess so, jess so," they again exclaimed with infinite satisfaction. "fetch dat crowbar in heer und tell where yer git him," said the coroner. "i scovered him under de bridge," the negro answered. "whose name is dat, sar?' the coroner asked pointing to the letters j. w. s. chiseled into the iron handle. "haint dat semo's name?" he again asked. "it ar" answered a juror. "constable," the coroner stormed with wrath, "yer fech dat white man fo me, ded er live, und summuns de possy common ta ters to go wid yer sar. und bredden," he continued, "we'll pass de jimmyjon und tak a swipe while wee's erwaiting fur de prisner." clarissa looked out of the kitchen window and descried the negro constable and his posse advancing rapidly toward the mansion. with her hands just out of the kneaded flour she ran frantically to her young mistriss with the exclamation, "lord have mercy, miss alice, yander cums ole shermans army; de plantashun is black und blu wid niggers wid der muskits," "oh, my lord have mussy on us." alice though greatly alarmed, replied as calmly as possible, "dont you know clarissa, we have never harmed these people. do you think they will kill us in cold blood. where is father? come father, come clarissa, we will go into the verandah and meet them, kindly face to face. come, father, i know you are brave--and you are a christian. if they have come to murder us--there is but a pang and all will be over. in a moment we shall forget our griefs, our humiliations. let us clasp hands and die altogether." the negro constable observing the distress of the family and wishing for the time being to avoid excitement, halted his gang at the gate and advanced to the old man with his warrant. "mr. semo," said he, "yer is scused of ferociously homisiden de corpses in de crick und i'm sent to fetch yer to de crowner." "all right i will accompany you," the old man said with resignation. poor alice clung to her father's neck crying as if her heart would break, and spoke pleadingly to the negro. "may i not go with my father? may i not die with him? oh, my dear, dear father. i cannot bear the separation, the suspense. please, please mr. constable let my father remain here and let me suffer and die for him." "oh my daughter, my child," petulantly cried the old man, "this will not do." "dry your tears my dear child and be assured that the coroner cannot do me harm. if he shall find me guilty, i shall remain in jail only to-morrow. the court convenes on monday next when i shall be discharged and return home. give me a kiss now, and remember dear, that your father is safe: good-bye, god bless you." as joshua, a juror, saw the feeble old man with great effort advancing with the negro posse, he began to shed tears and covered his furrowed face with his old beaver: "po mars jon," he sobbed audibly, "has it cum to dis, scusing the bestest man in de kentry wid foroshus homosiden. marser, yu shall hab jestice. i'll stan twix yer und def. yu know'd nuffin about dis massacre, jess ez innerson ob dis scusation ez a baby--ebery bit und grane." "constable," asked the coroner, "fetch me dat crowbar und de prisner." "now den, dis heer crowbar is a witnis agin yer, mr. semo, what has yer got to say agin dis scusation sar?" the colonel replied with dignity, "i have not seen it before in twelve months, i am sure." "how cum dis heer crowbar under de bridge, how cum de bridge fell down und how cum dem fokses drounded, answer me dat?" sharply answered the coroner. "i cannot tell sir, i know nothing whatever about the matter, and----" "boss crowner," interrupted joshua, "does yer sposing dat ar crowbar was de cashun ob dat dar drounen? answer me dat fust. i aint agwine ter sot on no man dat aint gilty. diss heer bisniss is ticklish bisniss, i tell yer dat rite now, und we is all sworn ter find out whedder dat crowbar kilt dose fokses ur whedder dey kilt deyselves. now yer look er heer, when dis heer gang cum down dat rode a rasin und a hollering lak wild panters, dey want a noticing nuffin und dat ole bridge hez been shackly und cranksided for a mont, und der horses cummin a prancing und er gallupin wid all dem flags a flying mout er knowed sumfin was agwine to gib way, und ef i wotes ter hang eny body it is agwine to be de oberseer ob de rode, taint agwine to be ole marser. ef i wotes, i says ef i wotes, i am agwine ter clar ole marser ob dis heer terble scusashun und i am reddy ter wote rite now. i got a plenty ob munny und a plenty ob good wittles, too, und i haint agwine to grunt und root roun de kommissery lak a horg nudder, wid de ole flag a twisted ober de back lak de tail ob a chiken rooster. marser jon shall hab jestis ef i hab to go outen dese nunited states fur it. mout as well be sarchin fur fleas on a catfish ez fer jestis in dis kote. i move dis honerble kote to turn ole marser jon loose, und i call for de wote rite now." this speech of the old negro seemed, as it were, the gift of an oracle. it grappled with a great subject of principle. joshua was indeed an immune, having nothing to fear from the negroes, on account of his extreme old age and enjoying the trust of the colonel and his daughter. he looked up at the flag as he concluded, as it seemed to him just now to be overcast with the murky vapors of oppression, and pointing his bony finger toward its scarlet-veined folds, exclaimed with the pathos, the spirit of an orator of nature, "de grate lawd forbid dat yore stripes, 'ole glory,' shall be washed in de blood ob my ole marser. i welcomed yu in de souf when i seed yu chassayin in de wild storm; i bowed my ole hed to yu when yu flung yo storry crown toards de hebens; i've marched backards und farrards, tired unto def, when yu led de rigiment, und felt dere wuz power und pride und peace under yo stripes und under yo storrs; und when hongry und starving fur bread, i flung my ole bever in de air und cheered fur de flag ob de nunion. i lubs my ole marser ez i lubs yu, 'ole glory' und he mus not die--he shall not die; ef de blood of ellick und efrum wuz upon his hans und upon his soul ez thick ez de mud upon dare gyarments." suffice it to say that in the opinion of the jury john w. seymour had committed the murder alleged in the warrant and was committed to the common jail for the unbailable capital crime. chapter xx. "a daniel come to judgment." the reconstruction period in the south was offensively institutional. there was a fascination about the spoils principle, the "cohesive power of public plunder" that allured all conditions of men who put themselves in juxtaposition to the new order of things. there was not a negro who valued his manhood suffrage that did not yield implicit faith and obedience to all that was told him by the carpet-baggers, who came south as the "waves come when navies are stranded." the elective judiciary too was no mean accessory in the wholesale plunder of the people; in the sale, delay and denial of justice. the presence of the judge in the county town to hold the court was, an event that was commonly distinguished by farcical displays; exhibitions as it were of harlequins, bazaars, organ-grinders and negroes. from the four quarters of the county exhausted mules and oxen were brought into requisition and hitched to primitive vehicles; negroes who were the worthless heads of pauper families, astride the bare backs of horned cattle, arriving in the town before the break of day and thronging the public buildings, thoroughfares and court house. the leaders among the negroes would call upon the judge in his chamber with a disgusting obsequiousness that marked the depravity of their origin. punishments at times were the refinement of oppression and as often a mockery of the law. partisan judgments were not unusual or surprising. an untried judge had come to hold the assizes; he had come without the blast of a trumpet, but the compact assemblage awaited with every demonstration of joy his presence upon the bench. the judge was a young man, seemingly of great intellectual reserve, possessing a steel gray eye that shot its glances through the subject as if it were but marking a point through which his judgment of a man would enter. there were courage, self poise, wisdom, integrity apparent in the man who had arrived to administer the law. for the first time this judicial officer saw before him an indistinguishable mass of the freedmen of the south. he knew by intuition that they were ignorant, vicious and corruptible; he saw that the prosecuting attorney was a negro, the deputies of the sheriff were negroes, the foreman of the grand jury was a negro and doubtless he addressed to himself this interrogatory in the law latin _cui bono_? "there were indictments almost without number for frauds, embezzlements and forgeries; the travail of reconstruction." laflin had been perniciously active all the morning. before the judge had taken his seat upon the bench, he had interviewed many of the men who had been summoned upon the venire to try a veteran of the lost cause for murder and their pockets were filled with small bribes. he had checked off twelve names and given the list to the solicitor with the heartless remark "now we'll hang the old secesh higher than haman, and you and i mr. solicitor will divide between us his homestead." at this point of time an interruption came from one of the negro jurors to this effect, "boss dere's wun secesh nigger dat sez he's agwine to hang de jurer epseps yu gin him wun mo dollar." "blast the wretch!" came the curse of this man of baleful power, "where is he?" he enquired. "see dat man standin dere ergin dat postess, dats him." "here you fellow," said laflin, "how much money have you been paid to find the old secesh guilty?" the negro in an abstracted way felt in his pockets and told the wretch that one juror had been paid two dollars, while he had received only one dollar, "und he mout conwic de rong man, den yu see boss, de pay mout not be ekal to de sponuality. fling in wun mo dollar und de jurer gwine to hang dat secesh sho." this conclave of diabolical spirits was held in the office of the sheriff at the hour of a. m. back yonder in the common jail, behind the fretted bars, was the veteran in the cell with black felons. why should the catalogue of this poor man's misfortune be enlarged, by super-adding to the loss of domestic tranquility, that greatest of all calamities, the loss of his liberty, aggravated by the imputation of crime and its consequent ignominy. he feels that the storm without is fraught with lightning, that renders desolate the face of nature, his mind has lost its elasticity, its spring, its pride; and who is the prisoner, whom the black crowd follow with the gaping vacuity of vulgar ignorance, assaulting him now and again with obscene gibes, as he is led from the cell to the dock? he is gifted by the god of nature with rare endowments, whose unconquered spirit breaks forth in a sentiment such as this, "let the hangman lead these miscreants to the gibbet, and let the ravens of the air fatten upon their flesh until they pick each tainted carcass from the bones." there were indictments also for capital felonies, and in the dock sat three hardened black criminals, and one aged white man of distinguished presence, who was whispering now and then to a beautiful maiden in tears, a maiden so radiant in personal attractions that she might have sat approvingly for the portrait of beatrice cenci that looks down upon the upturned faces in the art gallery in florence. he was a veteran of the civil war; a hero at malvern hill; colonel commanding the regiment of cavalry that by an extra hazardous maneuver drove a federal brigade into the death trap. by his side sat as his attorney a white-haired gentleman, who like a stately man of war, just going out of commission, was sighting his guns upon the enemy for the last time. this spectacle was so full of the pathos of human life that it deserves to be perpetuated in the memory, after the dry rot shall have utterly honey-combed the odious system of reconstruction. the arraignment of the prisoner was proceeded with; the negro solicitor presuming upon the hearty co-operation of the judge ventilated his spleen upon the unfortunate prisoner. "stand up, prisoner at the bar," he commanded as he fairly spat his venom like a jungle serpent into the face of the poor man. "are you guilty or not guilty of the felony and murder with which you stand charged?" he cried. "not guilty," answered the prisoner with a quiet dignity. "by whom will you be tried," the officer inquired wrathfully. "by god and my country," was the answer of this veteran of a hundred battles; this wise counsellor of the law. were the twelve black jurors in the box his country? had they ever given direction to his impulses as a patriot? had they ever nerved his arm to strike down the foe, that scourged his home into barrenness and peopled the city of the dead with his kindred? had they like joshua and hur ever stayed the hand of the prisoner, when with drawn sword he guarded the portal of the temple? great god! shall these human chattels, without a single intellectual resource, without one ray of discernment, besotted and bedraggled by fanaticism, superstition and ignorance bring to this poor man in this extremity a safe deliverance? in conducting the prosecution, in the examination of the witnesses the same brutish treatment was observed by the solicitor for the state toward the aged prisoner, and with an offensive parade of authority he announced that the state had closed its case; thereupon the white-haired governor arose to ask for the discharge of the prisoner for want of sufficient evidence to convict. now came the first interruption upon the part of the judge, who up to this moment had observed a reticence quite noteworthy in a high judicial officer who was holding his first court where the negroes ruled. "it is unnecessary governor that i should hear you," he remarked with evident self-poise. turning to the solicitor he asked with deliberation, "can you tell me how the indictment against this old man found its way into this court?" "i can, sir," the solicitor impudently replied, "and i propose," he exclaimed vehemently, "to make good the charge by convicting this assassin before this conscientious jury." "ah, indeed!" rejoined the judge quite complacently. "are you quite sure of your premises?" "yes indeed!" replied the solicitor. "take your seat, sir," the judge commanded, with a frown upon his intelligent face. "i am informed," said he, addressing the negro solicitor, "that you have been perniciously active in the persecution of this feeble old man; that you have gone out of your way to harass and humiliate him in all possible situations; that you have advised and encouraged and rewarded placable agents and emissaries to render his life burdensome and his condition intolerable; that you have caused inquisitorial visits to be made to his home by ruffianly negroes in the dead hours of the night; that you have conspired and confederated with a loathsome being--a man, however, of controlling influence with the negroes--by the name of laflin, to inflict upon him and his daughter every indignity your evil imagination could suggest; that acting under your devilish advice and inventions, lawless, brutish negroes have set at defiance every dictate of humanity, every precept of religion, and every commandment of the law, and have turned his home into a hell; that when a superficial examination into this case would have shown you that this negro, whom you say was murdered by this unfortunate prisoner gathered around him a bestial mob of the most despicable, offensive negroes, armed with guns and swords to take his life by force of insurrectionary combinations, you dare to clutch the ermine of this court with your defiled fingers! you have disgraced the position you occupy; your right to prosecute the criminal docket in this court is suspended. you will take your seat in the prisoner's dock until i can have you tried and sentenced to the penitentiary. this man is in your custody, mr. sheriff. mr. clerk, you will at once issue a bench warrant for the arrest of abram laflin and the coroner, jackson thorp, and have them brought before me at once. colonel seymour," he continued, addressing the prisoner, and at the same time extending his hand, "you have my sympathy. i have observed with pain and indignation the alarming condition of affairs in your county. i am sitting upon this bench as a judge to discharge my duty in the fear of god. you are fully vindicated, sir, and may retire when you please." a stampede of negroes who had thronged the court room swept away every obstruction, and within one hour after the arrest of the carpet-bagger and the coroner, mules, oxen, negroes, dogs and organs and monkeys were in precipitate flight through the town. "grate jerusalem!" exclaimed an old negro who had fallen down the stairway in his flight, "de debbil has sho broke loose in dis hear town. dat ar jedge is wusser dan a harrykane." the scene that followed was intensely dramatic. men who had never been demonstrative before, at the hour of recess, thronged the judge to thank him for his honesty and courage in this hour of trial. the governor, colonel seymour and his beautiful daughter awaited the presence of the judge in the parlor of the public inn, and as the learned man entered the room greatly embarrassed, alice thought he was the manliest man she ever saw--faultlessly handsome, with the poise of a patrician. the judge took her extended hand, and blushing deeply, looked down into the lustrous blue eyes that were laughing through tears and said, almost audibly, to himself, "is it possible that this beauty will ever fade?" could we introspect the great man's heart, we should find even then a little weaver picking up here and there golden threads and cris-crossing them into entangling meshes; and perhaps a little archer was drawing back his bow to transfix two hearts and hold them up before him while he laughed and laughed again at his conquest. "miss seymour," the judge exclaimed, quite compassionately, "i regret that your father has been so greatly outraged. i hope he will soon forget it and that his life will be happy. i am grateful to you for the pleasure of this visit. may i hope to see you at your home in the country?" alice replied, both weeping and smiling, that she could never repay the debt of gratitude. "i feel that there is not now a cloud upon my little horizon--that your considerate judgment has dispelled the shadows that veiled in my life, and i shall live now for my father and his happiness." "ah, my dear miss!" replied the judge, somewhat confused, "do not thank me for doing my duty. you don't know how my heart yearned towards your helpless father in the hands of these barbarians." and all the while the little archer, now an imprisoned eaves-dropper, was peeping out of the curtains with his chubby hand to his tiny ear and whispering, "love at first sight." joshua was a unit in this compact mass of freedmen that squatted here and there upon rude benches and crowded the aisles in that great auditorium of negroes. there were snow-white dishevelled locks under primitive hats and bonnets; there were hollow cheeks and lack lustre eyes; there were hungry stomachs, limbs palsied and stiffened here in the very may day of reconstruction. the commissariat with its great reservoirs of fatness was ever so far away, and its approaches were guarded by armed freedmen who like bearded pards demanded money. "old glory" too, hung inert from the flag staff, blushing perhaps because the judge is sitting upon the bench to despatch business; because a daniel has come to judge laflin and to give him his pound of flesh without blood. as the colonel was assisting his daughter into the buggy, after the tumult was over, joshua ambled up to him with his battered beaver in his hand with fulsome congratulations. "i knowed all de time ole marser dat yu was agwine to get clar. i seed it in dat jedge's eyes when he heered dat ditement red. he got wexed dat ar minit, und shuck his hed und i knowed den dat de state had flung de fat in de farr, und i said to mysef, joshaway, yu und ole marser is agwine home wid wun anuder dis werry nite und it cum out lak i spishuned." "uncle joshua," interrupted alice feelingly, "father and i are very grateful for your kindness and you shall never suffer as long as we live. here is a dollar; buy aunt hannah what she needs, remember, you must not buy whiskey with it." "tank yu yung missis, tank yu a fousand times. i am gwine to lay dis out for hannah. i aint agwine to tech narry cent of it, und when dat nigger sees me coming home with all my bundles she is agwine to jump clean clar outen her skin. i don't care ef i nebber sees dat kommissary no mo," and in the transport of joy the old negro tossed his old beaver high into the air while he lustily cried out, "free cheers for miss alice und ole marser." there were many things that pre-occupied the minds of alice and her father as they were driving home. the old man in a sentimental spirit felt like exclaiming with the sacred writer "these, and such as these are spots in our feasts of charity; clouds they are without water, trees whose fruit withereth; raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame; wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." as they neared the old homestead, clarissa was standing in the gateway, jumping up and down automatically with arms tossing like the fans of a dutch windmill, shouting frantically, "glory, glory, the dead has cum to life agin, blessed lord de insurreckshun has done und riz agen. jurusulum my happy home" and she threw her arms around her young mistress and in the excess of feeling hugged even the old hound. "come in to de kitchen ole marser und miss alice fur de lans sake und see what a snipshus dinner i has got, barbecue, taters and chicken and homily und sich lak." joshua stood in the road to watch his ole marser fast disappearing in the distance; then taking the crisp note from the lining of his old hat, brandished it aloft as if it were 'old glory.' it was the first currency of the kind he had ever seen, for the coroner had refused to pay his per diem as a juror at the inquest, averring as an excuse therefor dat dat wote was agin de consecushon und hit jam nigh spiled de hole werdict. joshua steadied himself against an empty whisky barrel and began to calculate as to the purchasing capacity of the dollar note. "now lem me count on de tip eend of the fingers scusing de fumb dat don't count," said he. "hanner she wants a kote und a par of brogans, allus awanting mo dan de munny is agwine to fetch," he observed parenthetically, "und den dare is me, bleeged to have a weskote und gallusses, und dat will take every bit und grane; und how is i agwine to git eny bakker, und i'm bleeged to have a drap of sperrits. now lem me count over gin und git dis ole fumb outen de way; de kote is fifty cents und de shoes is seventy five cents, dat won't do," he said as he scratched his head, "i'm gwine to leabe off de kote; den dere is de shoes seventy-five cents, und de weskote seventy-five cents; dat won't do nudder. i'm agwine to leabe off de shoes; den dare is de gallusses twenty-five cents, und de weskote seventy-five cents; den whar is de bakker? i'm agwine to lebe off de weskote; den dare is de gallusses twenty-five cents, und de bakker twenty-five cents, und de sperrits fifty cents; de munny haint ergwine to hole out no udder way i can fix it; now den de sperrits fust, und de bakker nex und gallusses las," and when the old negro had solved the problem he struck a bee line to the nearest groggery, saying to himself, "ef miss alice had axed me not to buy no sperrits i'd a been kotched pine plank." "two years in the penitentiary," joshua heard some one exclaim as he was passing the court house. "who dat boss gwine to de penitenshur?" he stopped to enquire. "abram laflin," came the answer. "don't you heer dat!" exclaimed joshua, "fredum is sho gin out now. ellic dun und gon und got hissef drounded, und on de tip eend of dat de boss is dun und got hissef in de penitenshur. land sakes alive! niggers got to walk perpendickkler now," and with that the old negro dodged into the tippling shop. "say boss?" joshua said to the rum-seller, "fill me a tickler rite full er rum; don't put narry drap of whiskey in hit, kase ef yu dus my creddick is dun und gon fur ebber. now what dus i have to pay?" he asked as he put the bottle into his haversack. "seventy-five cents," sharply answered the salesman. "my king!" ejaculated joshua, "den what is i gwine to do about dem gallusses?" "come old negro," the clerk crustily replied, "get out and let that man come to the counter." as joshua was moving suspiciously out of the dram shop he glanced savagely at the man and said to himself, "dis heer low down white trash is a gwine to be de ruinashun ob dis kentry yit, agougging de werry eyeballs out ob yer hed, und yu are standin rite dare urseein dem do hit. i wishes dat dar jedge wud git holt ob dese speretual shops und squashes dem lak he dun dat ditement agin ole marser." in the small hours of the night joshua stumbled against the door of his cabin crying like a lunatic. "fer de lan sake hanner, run out here und kill dese heer snakes, und fetch my muskit along wid yu." and hannah in her night robes ran out frantically crying, "show me dem dar sarpents, whar is dey joshaway?" "dar dey go," said he, and seizing the musket he banged away at the earth exclaiming, "ef yu is sho naff snakes yu is in a bad fix und ef yu aint sho nuff snakes den i's in a wusser wun." "yu stracted fool," angrily shouted hannah, "yu is got de lerium tremenjous, dat's what ails yu." chapter xxi. an unseen hand upon the lever. the old master at ingleside had been so greatly exasperated by intrusive visitors that clarissa, who was now acting in the dual character of man and maid, had received express orders to admit no one into the mansion who could not give a good account of himself or herself; so when judge livingstone rang the door-bell, clarissa who was sweeping the dust from the hall dropped the broom with the tart observation, "i specks dat is ernudder dratted scalyhorg cum to tantylize ole mars jon," and she crept dubiously to the door to peep, and perceiving that there was a white man in the verandah without a gun or other weapon of offensive war, she halloed loudly through the keyhole. "whos yu?" to which no answer was returned. "don't yu heer me axes yu whos yu? if yu don't answer white man i'm agwine to sick ole jube on yu, und run yu outen dis plantashun. whos yu i sez?" repeated the old negro. "my name is mr. livingtone, a friend of your young mistress, to whom i would be pleased to speak," came the reply. "i kaint heer nary wurd yu sez, fur ole jube." "git outen de way dorg wid your whinin. you jes wait outen dar twell i axes miss alice mout yu cum in. what you sez your name is?" again cried the old negro. "i am judge liv----" "oh, my lord," interrupted clarissa with a scream, and she ran back like a maniac wringing her hands and shouting, "oh, my po yung missis, de man has dun und cum to preach de funral; de gallus is dun und uprared in dis grate house, und de jedge hez dun und cum to pull de trigger, und de werry fust one he axes fur is yu. good-bye, miss alice," she exclaimed, as she frantically clutched her dress and dropped upon her knees. "und ef i nebber sees yu no mo in dis wurell tak care of yerself und meet me in de starry hellyments whar dar aint gwine ter be no mo tribbylashun of sperets." it was a full minute before alice could calm her agitation, as tears from an excess of conflicting sensations ran down her cheeks. regaining self-possession she said with a show of authority, "you must not act in this way clarissa; what will the gentleman think of us if we do not render a proper excuse for your misconduct?" "miss alice," said clarissa, as she placed her arms akimbo, "ef yu had seed dat dar man's eyes when he sed he was de jedge yu'd er run too, und yu wudn't er stopt running twell yit. my king! dem eyes was wusser dan shuting stors," she exclaimed, as she wiped the great beads of sweat from her face with her apron. "you go to the door now, and very politely invite the gentleman into the parlor, be very careful clarissa that you do not offend him." as clarissa, now reassured, was moving stealthily toward the door, her mistress overheard her say to herself, "i aint agwine to fend him epcepts he fends me fust, den i'm agwine ter run agin, und i aint ergwine ter stop no mo twell i gits to de mashes." clarissa opened the door with a very polite bow, as she addressed the stranger patronizingly. "misses sed how dat you mout come in, being how dat it was yu. so cum erlong rite back of me. git outen de way jube, er scrapin quaintance wid dat stinguished white man, same as he was a low down nigger; fust ting you knose yu be shut up in de jail house widout ary moufful of wittles, er howlin same as er wildcat." it is proper just here to remark that clarissa had never been a correspondent or pupil of lord chesterfield. she had been emancipated from the slavvish drudgery of the corn-field, promoted as it were from the cabin to the mansion. her manners were direct, pungent, self-assertive, and her gibberish and volubility were immensely amusing to the high official who was now adapting himself to conditions and experiences as they prevailed in the southland; and from time to time interrogating the negro as he or she appeared without the superficialities of reconstruction. as clarissa saw judge livingstone safely in the parlor she went back to her mistress, and with emphasis of speech and gesture told her what had been said and done, and returned with the commands of her mistress to the distinguished guest. "you jes set rite whar yu is und mak yerself homelike, dar aint no foolishness erbout our white folks. me und miss alice has been aworrying ourselves jamby to def ober de smutty cook pots, und she says how dat yu must scuse her," and she wiped her black face again with her old apron. the judge failing to comprehend the meaning of the negro in the crude vernacular of the plantation, a speech that under all circumstances with malice prepense slew the idioms of the english language, arose to retire, regretting as he said, "that he could not see her young mistress;" when clarissa with great warmth expostulated. "hole on dar, mars jedge; miss alice is ergwine ter cum jes ez soon ez she washes de smut offen her face und slicks back her eyebrows. my king! duz yu speks er high quality lady lak my yung missis kin do eberyting in wun minit? she haint ergwine ter brake her neck kase a jedge cums heer a courtin her. my missis seed jedges fore ter-day; yu aint de onliest jedge she ever seed." and with this confusing declamation clarissa shuffled out of the parlor with the parting remark, "yu's stay rite whar yu is twell she cums." when the negro had gone the judge laughed immoderately. indeed, he was laughing with wide-open mouth as alice entered the parlor, and advanced to grasp her hand, confused and stammering. "ah, permit me," he said, "er, er, er, to felicitate myself that you have given me the pleasure of this interview." alice felt a suspicion that the old negress had been amusing the learned judge in her droll way, but she did not know to what extent she had been compromised by her oddities and ignorance, and to quiet her apprehensions as far as she could, she asked with seriousness: "how long have you been in our county?" "it is my first visit, and i have greatly enjoyed it," replied the judge, with an effort to conceal his mirth. "the south has been an object lesson of great educational value to me." "ah! and who are your teachers?" asked alice. "why, who can they be but the negroes?" replied the judge interrogatively. "i am quite surprised!" exclaimed the young lady. "not so much so as i have been, i am sure," the judge replied. "i am a northern man with a heart firmly set against what i believed to be the vagaries of southern people: absorbing the sentiments and convictions of my home folks; but since i have been in your country i have discovered that the south has been outraged and scandalized beyond the point of endurance. do you know," he continued argumentatively, "that i have never seen among my most intimate friends truer or nobler men, and i have never seen in the jails and penitentiaries of the north a criminal class more hardened and vicious than these wretches whom you call carpet-baggers." "yes, indeed," replied alice reflectively, "they have given us a great deal of trouble, and we are so glad that you have punished the infamous wretch laflin, who has incited the negroes to acts of violence and bloodshed." "yes," replied the judge, "i only regret that the law interposed a limit to the measure of punishment. i would have been glad to have sentenced the villain for life to the penitentiary at hard labor. "by the way, miss seymour, the governor bade me say to your father that he would join us here to-day. will you convey the message to him at your leisure?" "thank you, sir," said the girl. "pray excuse me for a moment. my father will be delighted to receive the information; the governor is an old and dear friend." the picture now presented to her distinguished guest, a man of clear discernment, as colonel seymour, leaning upon the arm of his lovely daughter--whose beautiful face was aglow with health--painfully walked into the parlor, was picturesque and pathetic; indeed, it was the deepening twilight and the blush of aurora. here were hard, rigid lines, corded and seamed by age, and here were the pencilings of the artist, whose handiwork is seen as well in the exquisite tintings of the morning iris. here were palsied limbs, snow-white hair, accentuated by intimate contact with marvellous beauty and litheness of figure, that impressed the intellectual, discriminating judge. advancing with extended hand, he met the old man upon the threshold of the room with an affectionate refinement of manner that bespoke the thoroughness of the gentleman; the colonel observing to his guest, as the latter conducted him to a chair, that the gout had made a cripple of him, but that in all other respects he was quite himself. it was all too evident to the far-sighted judge that an unseen hand had its grasp upon the lever and was running the home-stretch with accelerated momentum. "your coming," said the colonel, "has been like the bearing of a flag of truce; it has given us hope--life; it has ungeared the harrow that crushed us so remorselessly." "i thank you, my dear sir," most gratefully answered the judge with feeling. "i have endeavored to discharge my duty, and how could i do this, sir, in this country without using the scourge? you have a fine country and a magnanimous people--a people who love liberty and law--and it is a personal affliction to witness in how many ways you are insulted and oppressed." at this juncture clarissa knocked softly at the door to announce to her mistress "dat de guberment hez dun und riv," and alice, excusing herself, retired, concealing her laughter as much as possible, which was provoked by the ludicrous deficiencies of the corn-field negro. it was a metaphor which the negro had ignorantly employed. the governor was not the government, or any part thereof. had he been, ingleside would have been safeguarded by a sentinel utterly impervious to any sensation of fear, not so ignorant or cowardly as clarissa. the arrival of the governor was formally announced by alice and he was ushered into the parlor, and alice withdrew to give some directions to clarissa, whom she found sitting in her rickety chair in the kitchen humming "my ole kentucky home, fur away." "clarissa," the young lady asked as she approached her, "what do you suppose the judge thought of us this morning and of our maid of all work?" clarissa looked up into the face of her young mistress with a stare almost of vacuity, and after a moment's reflection said, with her accustomed pertness, "i kaint hep dat, miss alice, ole marser dun und gin me my orders, und i want agwine ter let nobody pass nur repass ef i knoed it. ole marser he noes his bizness, und ef he tells me ter keep de kyarpet-sackers outen dis grate house i'm ergwine ter do it ef de good lawd spares me. don't fault me, miss alice, wid ole marser's doins, fur de lan's sake. how cum dat dar jedge outen here any how? dar aint no kote ergwine on in dis heer grate house dat i noes of. specks dar is ergwine ter be wun do, und don't specks nuffin else but sumbodv is ergwine ter git conwicted und sont clean erway frum heer," and the old negro laughed boisterously. "dat dar jedge is er portly man, but my king! dem dar eyes, ugh-h-h! cuts froo yu same ez er razor." alice laughed again and again at the old negro, and after awhile coyishly remarked, "never mind, clarissa, never mind." clarissa turned her old head to one side as she replied with great earnestness. "taint wurf while to say neber mind clarsy, neber mind, i seed fo now what was agwine to be de upshot of dis bisniss. i knowed pine plank which er way de cat wuz er gwine to jump. ole missus allus sed dat yu was ergwine to marry er jedge er a lyar er a mefodis slidin elder er a sircus rider und i hopes und prays dat yu may, kase ef yu don't youse ergwine ter be er lone lorn orfin creetur arter ole marser's hed dun und layed low." the conversation of the distinguished gentleman naturally drifted into channels that had been cut very deep by the sharp edged tools of reconstruction; the judge deferentially yielding to his seniors who had witnessed the workmanship of unskilled hands, and what he ventured to say from time to time was in the way of suggestions or mild expostulations. the governor when discussing reconstruction was opinionated and emphatic. every paragraph was punctuated with a sneer, gesture or frown. "had the suggestions of president lincoln prevailed," he began, "the south would have been god's country; but wicked counsels predominated. there was not a statute enacted by a legislature, nor an order made by a general, nor a proclamation issued by a governor, nor a requisition made by the head of a department that did not whet the sword with which they were prodding into the bowels of the south, after the final capitulation. these atrocious policies were conceptions of men who swore in their wrath that not a blade of grass should spring where their hellish coursers planted hoof; that in the realigning of the federal union, strong black lines should be drawn with a savage vengeance over the face of the south. reconstruction was the act of self-destruction, and the suicides deserve to be buried without the shedding of a tear, without christian sepulture in outlawed graves. they made the thorn to spring up where the fir-tree had flourished, and the bramble instead of the myrtle tree. in these abominable acts there is death; death enough to satisfy the grave. before the ink was dry upon the parchment, before the funereal bake-meats were cold, they contract an unnatural covenant of marriage with four million slaves, disbanded outlaws from the army, and put upon them the mask of freedom to conceal the horrid front of tyranny. sirs, we rebel against the outrage. when the philistines are upon us shall we not rise and shake ourselves, or shall we lay our heads in the lap of delilah, to be shorn of our power; to be bound in chains, until we shall pray god to avenge our wrongs in the common destruction of ourselves and our enemies. no sirs, they shall find that when we are prostrated, that like antæus we shall rise with renewed vigor from our shame. why this glozing title "reconstruction?" who shall declare its generation? what holy font was polluted by its baptism? whence its bastard origin? plots, the vile brood of malice have been hatched under fanatical incubation and piloted southward, like flocks of harpies, that by their uncleanness they might defile our civilization. every blight of calumny from ultra partisan--press and pulpit, has been blown upon southern character. their speeches are filled with fields scourged down to barrenness, and negroes multiplied and worked up to the very tragedy of indiscriminate assassinations. we will not propitiate the black devils by heaping their altars with sacrifices; black fiends who, like the great dragon in the apocalypse, are sweeping after them into the abysm, filled with slaughter, one third of the stars in our political heaven. which of these stars are to be fixed, or which are to be planetary in this black firmament of eternal night; which primary, and which central, which wandering stars and which satellites, are matters for their savage taste. for my state may god in his infinite mercy decree that the laws of position and movement may be ascertained and established, before it, once so beautiful and bright, shall go down and down forever below a horizon of blood. they may like wrestlers in the arena bring us to our knees, but never sir, shall they lay us on our backs. let us alone, and the dews and the rains and the sunshine of heaven, (the only creatures of god left by them in friendship with us) shall give to our blood-stained fields moisture and fertility, and time and labor and god's blessing shall cover the land with verdure, with cottonfields and gardens, pastures and meadows. they promised us peace, and it came with the mutterings of a tornado. in our vain efforts to compromise the situation we turned our backs upon the past, hallowed as were its memories. we had ceased to remember the execrations of fanatics, even the 'league with the devil, and the covenant with hell.' "we did all this and more, after we had passed fire-scathed through an ordeal whose voice was storm and whose movement was earthquake, which swept from us every visible substance; so that in our last and extremest agony we were forced to cry aloud, like francis at pavia, "all is lost save honor." we gave the government our parole; we hammered our swords into plow-shares and pruning-hooks; we pitched our tents upon the fire-blasted lands where once had been our homes, and with axe and mattock and blade and plow began to cut away brambles and bushes and cultivate our fields; and when we believed that we were secure in the enjoyment of our rights of persons and property, the authors of reconstruction swept down upon the beleaguered south like hyder ali upon the carnatic, and left scarcely a vestige upon which to hope, or from which to rebuild, except our worn-out lands and our own splendid manhood and womanhood. states were despoiled of their resources, towns and cities were battered and burned; the angel of death had crossed every threshhold, and three hundred thousand of the flower and chivalry of the land were lying in soldiers' graves. our public institutions were languishing unto death; from centre to circumference there were outlawries, assassinations, conflagrations; and our people looked into the faces of each other and in their helplessness asked what other calamities are reserved for us and our children. they seized upon four million slaves and hurled them like immense projectiles against our civilization. and to conclude, sir, for i find i am getting excited, in this catastrophe our hopes were stayed upon the honest men of the north, like you, sir, and our noble, patriotic women, like you, my dear miss," bowing with boyish gallantry to alice. "the women of the sixties are more than heroines in the storm-swept crisis--they are a revelation in the flesh. what arria was to pætus, what natalia was to adrian, what gertrude was to rudolph, what helen, the jennie dean of the 'heart of midlothian,' was to tibbie, what prascovia was to the russian exile, our self-sacrificing women are to us. there has never been an occasion when the habit of instantaneous obedience to the voice of love and country has produced more affecting and constant instances of devotion and loyalty upon the part of the women, than in the gleaning of the aftermath by hands saturated with all the crimes of the calendar. "and now, gentlemen," (the governor bowed), "if i have given offence by any intemperate expression, will you please forgive me, for my wrath waxes warm when concentrated upon the subject of reconstruction. perhaps, sir," he continued, addressing his honor, "you are not in sympathy with the views i may have inconsiderately expressed?" "why, my dear sir," the judge replied, "i have never been in sympathy with a policy which you have so eloquently denounced, and which the patriotic people of the north sincerely deprecate, and i quite agree with you that reconstruction has unlocked a pandora box of evils whose fledgelings are hovering over this land." the sun was now setting with an iridescent aureole of gold and carmine and purple as the judge remarked apologetically, "i have been struggling with myself between inclination and duty; indeed i find it embarrassingly difficult to tear myself from so charming a circle. i have only a few minutes to catch the train, and you don't know how much i grieve to say good-bye. i shall be in your town again within the next month, and may i indulge the hope that i shall be once more welcomed at ingleside?" "we shall only be too glad to be similarly honored," replied colonel seymour with deference. clarissa, who was standing near the door with her arms folded and grinning like a blackamoor, gave the judge the parting bow, as he placed into her hand a dollar note, and putting her apron to her face, so she might whisper the better, with a negroish curtsy, said, "yu mus sho cum ergin mars jedge, our fokses laks yu mazing, und i'm ergwine ter tell yu de nex time what miss alice dun und sed erbout yu; i knose dats ergwine ter fotch yu back." the governor remained at ingleside throughout the night and like a gladiator in the arena was fighting, with the broad sword of invective, a duel in dialectics with the parliamentarians of reconstruction; the colonel the meanwhile reinforcing the athlete as a reserve. alice at a late hour retired with her head filled with fantastic notions, and clarissa too stretched her aching bones upon her bed wondering in her pragmatic way, "ef dat shiny eyed judge was agwine ter hold his sho nuff kote in de grate house, und ef she was agwine ter be de juror und miss alice de konwick." old joshua like an over-ripe sheaf of barley was now to lay his head in the dust. the swift horses were harnessed and cantering toward his door. "son of man behold i take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke, yet neither shalt thou mourn, neither shalt thy tears run down." four score and two years were the days of the years of his pilgrimage; many and evil had the days of his years been. would there be mourners at the burial? will 'old glory' hang its head again as it did at the assizes, when an outraged commonwealth was proceeding to judgment against laflin for enumerated transgressions? three score and ten years are the complement of life, within which the balance sheet is prepared; repenting against sinning; undoing against doing; dying against living; accounts and contra-accounts, all fairly computed, and the quotient announced by him who breathes into man's nostrils the breath of life. four score and two years! what changes in the theories and forms of governments; what contrarieties in the pursuits and ambitions of man. the messenger came without the rattling of wheels, without knocking at the door, came on unsandaled feet. "hannah, i'm agwine home, good-bye," was the hurried parting, as the messenger thrust him into his chariot. side by side he sat with the voiceless ambassador, while the stars were twinkling in the midnight sky; a fast disappearing type of the picturesque civilization of the sixties. his tracks around the old commissariat are now faded into nothingness, and old glory will wave on and on "froo de trees," just as proudly as that day when he stood at its staff and patriotically saluted the stars and stripes with uncovered head, proclaiming his loyalty in the grateful expression, "i node when i seed yu a sea-sawing in de air dat dar was a stummick full of good wittles some whays." in the true representative outlines of the old south there is a number dropped from the rolls, that is all. in its new birth of constitutional liberty, postponed until patriots shall have tired of a government inefficient and venal, the memory of joshua, laden with fragrance, will cling to hearts that now deplore his death. good bye, uncle joshua until we meet upon the golden strand! until we see you again without your staff, with your face radiant with a celestial gleam, in a fleecy robe, with golden sandals; until we hear you say so contentedly, "brederin, dere is kommissaries all erroun in dis butiful country, und yu kin buy widout munny und widout price." chapter xxii. an hour with dickens. alice felt that she could see a new light come into the window, into the old home, into her soul; that a peace had come visibly into the shadowed mansion, now that aleck and ephraim and the negro constable were dead in the mud of the river; now that the federal head had been removed by the battle-axe of the fearless judge. she began to hope again, perhaps to love again, who shall say? there was, it may be, a tiny sunbeam coquetting with the old shadows that had so long overlaid every approach to her young heart, and perhaps a little be-jewelled goldsmith was tinkering and hammering upon a tiny arrow pointed with a ruby, and feathered with tiny pinions of some diminutive bird, that nested among fragrant mangoes far away in the isles of the sea, with which he was to shoot down those unsightly idols that had long pre-empted her heart. the days were loitering, she thought, in their flight, and the little brownie who had been counting the numerals of time in their flight had fallen asleep, and the old clock in the great hall ticked languidly as if it were tired to death with its unvarying round of toil. in this awakening to the brighter possibilities whom should she clasp to her heart but her old friend, charles dickens? the dickens of dombey, of bleakhouse, of david copperfield. she remembered how this marvellous story-teller, so familiar to all young readers, who had so many children of his own, the offspring of an overflowing fancy, one bleak day had passed up and down westminster hall, clasping to his heart the magazine that contained his first effusions, with eyes dimmed with pride and joy, as he dropped stealthily, at twilight, a suspicious package into a dark letter box down a dark alley. how many times the narrative had woven golden filaments here and there through the warp of reconstruction! what a bright filagree into the shadows that were unceasingly coming and going! how many happy hours she had whiled away with mr. pickwick and his admiring friends! how delightfully she had been entertained by the wit of samuel weller, the eloquence of sergeant buzfuz, of captain bunsby! many a hypochondriac had laughed immoderately at the ludicrous exercises of crummles and the infant phenomenon! what a charming companion is dick swiveller, the inimitable! dear old dick; reeling now and then from excess of wine, but great hearted withal. who does not even now occasionally inhale the fragrant odors of the delicious punches compounded by that blighted being, mr. wilkins micawber, as he listens to sairy gamp and laughs at mrs. harriss? where is the tender-hearted christian who would shout for a policeman, while they are ducking shepherd, or pommelling squeers, or cudgelling pecksniff, or inflicting divers and deserved assaults upon uriah heep? with what a motley crowd of living characters dickens has peopled our literature? what children were ever like his children? what homes were ever like their homes? there is little pip and honest old joe gargery, who pauses for a moment at his anvil to observe with animation, "which i mean ter say, that if you come into my place bull baiting and badgering me, come out! which i mean ter say, as sech, if yu're a man, come on! which i mean to say that what i mean ter say, i mean to say and stand or fall by;" and mrs. joe over watchful and over masterful always, who in the alembic of nature had discovered no better way of bringing little pip up than "by hand." then there is little oliver twist, a poor little waif, always hungry, licking the platter and now and then, embarrassingly asking "for more;" and poor smikes is more terribly tragic, for he lived longer; and little nell the heart child of unnumbered thousands, tramping along the roads, footsore and ever so weary, a poor little wanderer without home, until the good lord looks down into her tearful eyes and says one day, "little nell your little hands and your little feet and your little heart are so tired, will you not come with me, child?" and little paul dombey lying wearily in the trundle bed, within sound of the manifold voices of the sea, turns languidly to his sister florence and asks with the natural inquisitiveness of a child, "what are the wild waves saying?" and joe all jones moves almost heedlessly on to death through more streets than those of london; and tom pinch, betsy trotwood and faithful old peggotty and ham, whose very oddities and deficiencies are turned into a crown of glory; and the sneering melodramatic villains and scape-graces, monck and quilp, and the blind man in barnaby rudge, and the jew fagan and murdstone and carker; and the high spirited steerforth and nickleby and creakle, and stiggins and chadband and sampson brass and snawley; and poor little idiotic barnaby, as on the way to the gallows he points to the stars, and says to hugh of the maypole, "i guess we shall know who made the stars now;" and last of all, but not least, pecksniff, the masterpiece of them all. from boot to hat he is all over and all under, pecksniff; drunk or sober he is pecksniff. he is the virtuous pecksniff all the time, and altogether. he hugs himself to his own heart as the embodiment of all the virtues of the decalogue and the beatitudes. no matter into what rascality he may be plunging, his serene self conscious virtue never forsakes him. the child wife, too, passes by us into the spirit land, and there is the beautiful, dreamy eyed agnes, who quite charms us with her love and trust, and the sad, calm face of florence looks timidly upon us; and mrs. jellyby tells us to look out for borioboola gha; and poor micawber informs us that nothing has turned up yet, and hinting darkly about laudanum and razors. what a marvellous characterization! will the world ever tire of this man and his children, that he has materialized out of ideals so unpromising; whom he has reared up in the slums of london, many of them upon garbage? the blessed sabbath day was passing uneventfully. there were no alarms from any source. old hannah in her gloom was moving in and out of the office and the "ole master" who had retired to his bed chamber was weakening as the days would come and go. alice, with the acumen of an experienced physician, was noting the changes from time to time, and realized that the final change would come some day and perhaps at an hour least expected. the sad life of little nell had wrought upon her womanly feelings and she began to think of herself, her situation, of her loneliness should her father be taken from her, and she thought of the crude inelegant suggestion of old clarissa. "de crowsfoot is ergwine to cum into yer lubly face, und kurlykus and frowns under yer eyes, und what wud you do in dis grate big grate house, und dis great big plantashun by yer lone lorn self." the contemplation of such a situation could only harrow her heart more and more, but there was the gallant arthur lying over in virginia, and she had plighted her troth to him that day, that she reviewed the cavalry parade, when he stood by her side so handsome, so happy, in his confederate uniform, with the nodding plumes in his hat, when he said to her, "sweet alice, will you be true to me until i return from the war?" and she promised him with a kiss that she would; "and if dear arthur you shall never return, alice will still be true to you." is there no limitation to such a contract; are not its conditions already performed? she asked herself. assuredly there are no marriages in heaven. she remembered that the saviour of the world had said to the sadducees, "ye do err not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of god. for in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of god in heaven." "arthur knew that i loved him--that i loved him from our childhood, and i am sure that our friends as they enter the gates, are greeted by our friends up there, and that they ask with so much interest and affection about their loved ones in this sad, lonely terrene. if arthur could speak to me now, and could know that ere long i shall be bereft of the last of my kindred, i am sure he would say to me with a smile, "sweet alice, your loving heart has been my own all these sad years, but we cannot marry here, though we may be sweethearts. you require a manly heart in which you may place your burdens, and a manly bosom upon which you may recline your tired, wearied head; strong arms that shall shield you from every peril. think of me at the nuptial hour and know that i shall give you away at the altar with my blessing and smile." thus ran the current of her meditation. thus in her fancy she was scattering over the flagstones, in the nave of the old church, a sheen as of pure gold. tired out with these thoughts she fell asleep in her chair, and her dreams were sweet and refreshing until she was awakened by a gentle rap upon the door which announced the presence of her father. ned had now been installed as the butler at ingleside. clarissa observing as he assumed his untried office, "dat ned was more spryer und cud fend fur hesef bettern oman fokses. what cud wun lone lorn oman do ef de carpet-sackers shud come back sho nuff. old marser ort to fort ob dis fo now." the valuable estate of burnbrae, an adjoining plantation, had fallen under the auctioneer's hammer for unpaid taxes and an overdue mortgage. the old owner had struggled with adverse fate to preserve it for his children, in the same plight it had descended to him from his ancestors; saving and excepting reasonable wear and tear and other unavoidable casualties. this large estate of more than two thousand acres had been purchased by judge bonham with its impedimenta of freed slaves that had been dumped into its cellars like offal by the freedman's bureau. this incident alone was a sad commentary upon the times. from affluence to penury the descent had been sheer and without the fault of mr. baring the owner. judge bonham said to him however that he should not want, and that he might remain where he was at least for the present. the purchasing of this property was the occasion of a visit from that distinguished proprietor to colonel seymour at ingleside. judge bonham had been a distinguished lawyer and jurist, and in the very best of times had highly dignified his profession by a seat upon the superior court bench. he was, however, confronted now by a condition and not a theory. he had interviewed from time to time the authors of his text books, digests and reports, but from their dead lips came no satisfactory response to the question, "what shall be done with these poor negroes?" thrust out of their home nests like unfledged eaglets, their very sustenance precarious and their condition the most pitiable and squalid. idlers and vagrants, watching like a shipwrecked crew hopelessly for succor, when there is none to come. it happened that the judge and the colonel were in confidential communication for more than an hour, and doubtless the subject was exhaustively examined and reviewed, as if it were under a microscope. the judge, had been a widower for a few years, was a man of quite dignified presence, and perhaps fifty-five years of age. he had seen alice but once before, at the memorial exercises at the cemetery, and to-day he contemplated the southern beauty as if he were looking upon the face of beatrice cenci as it smiles upon the throngs from the gallery at florence. her exquisite grace, her extraordinary beauty, rekindled instantly the fire that had burned down into dead ashes so many years ago. he asked himself the question, "can i be in love? have i been ensnared by the pretty fowler, enmeshed by the witcheries, the fascinations of this royal and unsophisticated beauty?" and all this done and accomplished without the movement of a finger upon her part. "you, livy bonham, almost in the sere leaf, a veteran of fifty-four years, striking the flag to a feebly manned battery of bewitching blue eyes before it has opened fire! impossible! impossible!" this exclamation was just loud enough for the colonel to overhear, who enquired of the judge, "what it was that was impossible?" "ah, i was thinking if i couldn't persuade the negroes to vacate my premises, that was all." "perhaps i may find it necessary to consult you further, say to morrow. you know i am living at burnbrae now, and the distance between us is very short, and i am sure we shall become very intimate." when the judge left the mansion the old man, accompanied by alice sought rest in the parlor upon one of the mahogany sofas. "and now my daughter you will please take up your book again and read to me. what are you reading," he continued. "i was reading just then my dear father," the girl replied, "about the death of little paul dombey. i never weary of sentiments so heart pervading that i find running like golden threads through all of dickens' works. you remember little paul, father?" "yes, oh yes," replied the old man, "read it all over again." and alice in her sweet, musical voice read so soothingly to her father that he sank to sleep. closing the door softly behind her she went out into the verandah and sang quite plaintively one or more old songs, it might have been for the little birds that were piping their notes too in the tree boughs above her. shall we slip away from alice for a moment to invade the privacy of the judge? if the judge had knowledge of our unbidden presence, would he not say in the law latin that we had committed a trespass, "_quare clausum fregit_?" oh, no, it would flatter him immensely to suspect that he was in love, and that with the beauty of ingleside. he was stupidly ignorant after propounding the question a score of times to himself, his answer, dubiously made, was always, "well, we shall see perhaps." chapter xxiii. the absent-minded judge. burnbrae, the home of the barings, with its productive acres fringed by vine-clad vales and hills, had by an irrevocable event passed irredeemably out of the possession of its embarrassed owner, and heart-broken the old man yielded his tenure to the new master. the mortgage debt and taxes, like omniverous caterpillars, began to eat away at its four corners at one and the same time. mr. baring could only await the inevitable hour with the saddest apprehensions. for himself it was a matter of little consequence, for like the sea-tossed sailor, he could discern within the length of a cable the ultimate haven, land-locked and tranquil; but for his two daughters who would survive him the stroke was almost heart-crushing. the forced sales of beautiful homesteads like burnbrae, in the days of reconstruction were not much of an incident; when there was no halting by that unbrigaded army that was laying waste field and plantation, and scourging the land into nakedness; when by the extra judicial processes of assimilation and absorption the spoils system was budding into a vigorous life and the spoilsmen were animated, remorseless and persevering. around this home there were memories dear and tender, trellissed in the affections of the barings; incense came forth from chambers and bowers, and out yonder where the smooth white stones glisten in the moonlight like platoons of white-gowned maidens, the baring generations lay in unbroken files. it is a sad thing to see a home, like a worthless chattel, under the hammer of a callous-hearted auctioneer; to hear him cry going, going, going, with as much delight as if he were parting company with a pestilence; but alas! with the owner it is like a judgment of outlawry to pass the keys, the symbolical title, to the purchaser, who is animated by no kind sentiment; who sees no tears and hears no sighs. "going, going, going!" there slips out of the master's control the nursery where infancy was cradled, swathed in the manifolding of love and tenderness. i see in retrospection a beautiful young mother, with a redundance of soft black hair as velvety as the wing of a raven, with her foot upon the rocker smiling so sweetly upon the sleepy-eyed child, who arouses her little tired self only long enough to whisper dreamily, "sing please, again, mama; sing dix--" and falls asleep. and then there is the old conservatory just under mother's window, aromatic with memories. mother called it her "flowery kingdom," because every morning and every evening she entered her throne-room there with its dais of japonicas and camelias; and there were her little maids of honor in russet and gold and carmine glistening in dewy diamonds and pearls; and they would thrust back their silky night-caps and their little eyes would be bright, as they peeped out of tiny hoods of blue and purple, red and white. ah, this was a royal realm of the queen mother, and those little star rayed princesses were so loyal in their beauty and fragrance. and this, too, like a beautiful pantomime, was passing away, leaving only shadows that, like some horrid dream, were darkening the soul. oh, the charm, the aroma of the vine-clad conservatory, dear mother's "flowery kingdom" and her little royal maids? and there is the old drawing-room with a bountiful bouquet of memories. this hallowed chamber was so often refreshed in the golden twilight by mother's presence, by mother's devotions, by mother's voice as it blended softly with the harmonies of the old harpsichord; and it seems as if there were sweet chimes out of doors in the stilly air, and perhaps the stars were re-enforcing the old songs with whispering symphonies. then there was the chamber just next to mother's, embowered in columbine and the trailing arbutus where there are treasured still old letters, books and shoes and articles of vertu that belonged to walter; just where he placed them before he enlisted in the confederate cavalry; before he died and was rudely buried without a winding sheet, under the clods of the shenandoah valley, that day that stonewall jackson unfurled the star barred banner in the streets of winchester; to rest, aye, to rest until the bugler of the skies shall pipe the reveille. going, going, going. it is the knell of happy days; the dirge of hearts crushed by sacrifices, sorrows; it is the thud of the cold clay upon the coffin of hope; the shroud that a remorseless destiny has flung around our idols as they fall one by one from their pedestals. "going, going, going," the echo is thrust back upon the bruised heart from the white cold stones out yonder under the mulberry. perhaps mr. baring's daughters, who planted about these sacred mounds the star eyed daisies and the lily white violets, never thought of the dance that should go on and on to the fascination of lute and harp in the resounding halls, when the stranger should occupy in his right dear old burnbrae. so bewildering are the changes in this life. it seems to them but yesterday that their lovely sister, a maiden of sixteen years, was laid away by the side of their mother, to arise one day transfigured and glorified; and now they were going to tell the old home with its cherished memorials good-bye; and the old graveyard and mother's vine clad "flowery kingdom" too. ah, every footfall is like an echo from some deserted shrine; and there is no kind voice to bid them "come again." the little twittering birds are piping the refrain of the sad, sad song of the auctioneer. others enter now with the keys of a lawful dominion; they unlock the dead chambers, but the fragrance of happy lives is gone like the breath exhaled from the nostril. the stranger never heard the old harpsichord with its responsive chords, as they were swept by mother's lily white hands and almost syllabled her angel voice. they were never charmed by that sweet sunny voice that in so many twilights has been singing vespers in heaven; they know naught of the dead white ashes that lay in the unlighted furnaces of the poor souls, who are saying now so tenderly, so tearfully, to their old home and its memorials, its idols, "good-bye, good-bye!" judge bonham, the purchaser, had been highly distinguished in the civic and military employments of the country. like his old friend, colonel seymour, he was with lee at spottsylvania, gettysburg and appommattox, and like his colleague in the humiliations of the hour he had declined to "bend the pregnant hinges of the knee that thrift may follow fawning." to say that under all circumstances he maintained a perpendicular, from which there was no swerving backwards or forwards or to the right, or the left would be a falsification of biography. he, like all other mortals upon this terrene had his passions, when his temper, despite curbs and restraints, almost overmastered him. judicial experiences had affected his manners, so that he appeared austere and unfriendly; but he had a kind heart, open-handed to a fault, true to his convictions, his friends, his god. there were curves and lines in the physical man here and there that appeared misplaced and misshapen. his long stringy hair or what there was left of it, was of a carrotty color, his nose was aquiline with unnatural projections, and his mouth though a little rigid in outline displayed, when animated, a beautiful set of teeth. he was a very scholarly man; a religious man too, and entertained throughout his life strong calvinistic convictions. it was strange indeed that a gentleman so exemplary in life, should sometimes run the hazard of being suspected as a rogue by those who were ignorant of the infirmity that harassed him all of his years. when meditating upon this playfulness of nature he would observe confidentially, that in any community where he was not known he would be oftener in the state's prison than without it. "better a bedouin in the trackless desert than a man who is forever running the gauntlet at such a risk," he said embarrassingly. there was the gossip of the town in which he lived as biting as the hoar frost, revamped and magnified to his hurt. when the gossipping spinsters heard that the judge was reinforcing his natural attractiveness by the glossiest and finest of raiment, coming out of the wardrobe like the butterfly out of the chrysalis, they hurried to and fro among the neighbors, like magpies chattering and twittering, and they laid the poor fellow under the power of an anodyne upon the cold marble slab, and with scalpels scarified him horribly, as some women only can do. "did you ever! did you ever!" came a refrain from puckered lips. "who would have believed it!" exclaimed miss jerusha timpkins, as she rolled up her dancing eyes and clasped her bony hands as if in expostulation. "the idea! the idea!" ejaculated miss narcissa scoggins. "that man going to marry!" they all exclaimed in chorus. "my, my, my!" "and pray who told you so?" asked miss jemima livesay with a biting expression. "why, where have you been, jemima, all these months, you ain't heard it? it is the town talk. why, amarylla hedgepeth she heard it straight from the knitting society. squire jiggetts told old deacon bobbett that the judge had spoken to him to marry him to the beautiful alice seymour, and deacon bobbett told his wife, and mrs. bobbett told sarah marlow, and sarah marlow told polly ann midgett, and polly ann ups and tells martha gallop, and that's how the news gets to us strait." "well sir!" exclaimed miss serepta hightower, forgetting she was speaking to old maids who had a loathing for any expression that suggested a man or the name or the memory of a man, except the man they were prodding and scarifying. "i wouldn't believe it if the news came pine blank from the clouds; that i wouldn't!" and she gave emphasis to the utterance by the malicious and vehement stroking of one skinny fist against the other. "why, that man?" she exclaimed with horror, "why, he would forget his marriage vows before he ever made them. why when he led malindy hartsease a blushing bride to the altar thirty years ago; why, don't you all remember that he sauntered out of the church by his lone lorn self, and the preacher had to go to his house in the dead of night in the rain and tell him that he had left his bride in the church crying her very eyeballs out?" "the monster! the monster!" all exclaimed and skinny hands and skinny arms and skinny necks were tossing and swaying automatically. "of course i warnt there myself (nor i either, came interruptions from all the spinsters) but i heard my mother, poor soul, say that she was right there and that she never felt so sorry for a poor human being in all her life as she did for poor malindy; but she has gone to her rest now, thank the lord!" and a dozen handkerchiefs instantly gravitated toward a dozen hysterical faces. "i pity any poor soul that ties herself to such a man as that from the bottom of my heart," said miss anastasia perkins in great sympathy. "why she won't know whether she is married or not, neither will he; just as likely as not he will go courting somebody else with his poor wife a sitting back in the chimney corner in the ashes." "and there is another pint i haint ever said anything about, but i think it ought to be known here betwixt ourselves and not to go any further" said, miss martha gallop "but the way he treated his poor wife malindy was a purified scandal. now i aint a telling you this as coming from me, for the good lord knows when that thing happened, i was a little teensy weensy tot, (with a coquettish toss of her antique head) but old aunt mehetibel parsley knows all about it, and i've heard her say over and over again that when judge bonham and malindy would be riding in their carriage to meeting that he would forget where he was going and would fetch up right against the poor house three miles or more in the other direction, and that poor mournful woman would be a sitting back in the carriage with eyes as red as a gander's, and a looking pine plank like she was coming from a funeral." "oh the cruel, cruel monster!" came another refrain, and skinny fists would double up and strike against ancient knees like resounding boards, and the spinsters would all heave great, tumultuous sighs, and corkscrew curls, like spiral springs, would dance up and down mechanically upon their well oiled pivots. judge bonham was quite nervously gravitating toward a situation that required great force of character; a situation always extra hazardous and demanding the exercise of every resource. this phlegmatic man was running the biblical parallel, dreaming dreams and seeing visions; not the distorted creations of the night-mare, but beautiful little crayons of love, swinging like tiny acrobats from blue ribbons on the walls, and descending like vagrant sunbeams upon the vermillion carpet; composite faces, too, with bright golden hair and brighter blue eyes. the old gentleman sat back in his easy chair, thinking of the captivating beauty over at ingleside, and there were ecstatic little chimes ringing in his ears, and their chorus always was this, "i don't care what the gossips say, i shall marry some fair day." "but am i really in love?" asked he. it was a perplexing question to a mind unusually acute and active in the powers of analysis and synthesis; to a mind that could grasp, multiply and divide remainders, particular estates and reversions in all their infiniteness. and the old man began to ponder seriously upon the situation. something quite unusual and quite unnatural was tinkering upon the frayed out heart strings of the old judge, until the learned man quite bewildered found himself addressing his reflected image in the mirror. "quite handsome, upon my honor, mr. livy bonham," he exclaimed, "and she will say so, too, when she sees her beautiful image in my soft blue eyes; for they will speak to her in love and she will understand." he turned from the mirror singing sweetly, "and bright blue was her ee, and for bonnie annie laurie i'll lay me doon and dee." as he passed out of the door with his brand new beaver hat canted to the right side of his head and twirling his gold-headed cane in his hand, he said to his old cook, "remember, harriet, to come to me when i return, as i shall have orders for a general cleaning of the house by and by, and tell lije to put the carriage in apple-pie order." "i wonder what mars judge do mean?" asked the simple negro as she turned away, "hit pears lak his mind is a purified a wonderin; noboddy haint rid in dat kerrige since ole missis died, und it do seem lak a skandle to rub ole missis' tracks out dis late day. ef mars livy is agwine to get married he orter dun und dun it soon arter old missis died, den dere wudn't ben no skandle in de lan lak dere is agwine to be now. folkses high und low is ergwine to look skornful, wid dere fingers pinted at de gal, und ax deyselves how cum she jined herself to ole marser, wid wun foot in de grave, jes to suck sorrer arter he is dun und gon." the man of fifty-five years was met at the door of ingleside by the faithful old butler, who bowed almost to the floor as he greeted the judge, who, placing his hat into ned's hands asked suspiciously if his young mistress were at home? "deed she is, mars jedge," exclaimed ned obsequiously. "miss alice is always at home to er yung gemman lak you is sar. und she is diked monstrous, mars jedge, in lilacks und princess fedders und jonquils, jes lak she cum outen de observatory, und she is speckin cumpany dis werry minit, und i spek yu knose who dat is sar," said the old negro as he dropped his voice almost to a whisper, laughing and smirking the while. "angelic creature!" exclaimed the old man aside, as he began to feel a creepiness up and down his back like great caterpillars upon the march. "what infinite comprehension!" he exclaimed again as he seemed to jerk spasmodically; "what an affectionate appreciation! doubtless expecting me as if my arrival had been telegraphed from burnbrae." "mars jedge," asked ned "dus you ame dis wisit for yung missis or ole marser?" "undoubtedly, ned, this visit is for your mistress," said the judge as he rubbed his hands with energy. "when my plans are arranged i will interview your marster--perhaps in the very near future." "eggzackly, yung marser," replied ned as he twirled the judge's new beaver in his hand. "mout i mak jes wun kurreckshun, sar, fore yu gits too fur?" asked ned. "why, certainly; what is it ned?" the old negro placed his hands to his lips as if to keep back the sound of his own voice and asked in a whisper, while a smile played around the corners of his mouth, "is you sho yus all rite, boss?" "why certainly," the judge replied with a degree of impatience "do you suppose i have come out of the low grounds?" "lans saks, yung marser, dis ole nigger don't ames to inturrup a gemman of your sability. but boss yu dun und flung yo oberkote on de rack, duz yu ame to go into the parlor whar yung missis is wid all her hallibooloos ur dout ary weskote ur koller udder?" and the old negro turned away his head and tittered, while the judge with the embarrassment of a suspected felon was looking and feeling for the missing garments; and he turned his ashen face with a hard grimace to the old negro as if he had been the cause of this particular act of absent-mindedness and said angrily. "ned if you ever mention this matter to man or beast your life shall pay the forfeit." "deed i won't, mars jedge, dat i won't, kase dat mout fling de fat in de farr." "what shall i do, ned?" asked the judge confidentially. "hit pears lak dat de onliess fing yu can do now is to slip outen dis do rite easy fore ole jube sees yu und wait out in de piazzy twell i fetch wun of mars jon's weskotes und collars, und den yu kin march in sar as biggerty as when yu was de jedge in de kote." "no, i will go back home; and shall i come again ned?" "sartainly mars jedge, sartainly sar," said ned, bowing and scraping. "ef you seed all dat finery miss alice has got strowed around her neck und all dem white und pink und yellow jonquills und sweetbetsies und snowballs und princess fedders on top of her bed, und all dun und dun for yu mars jedge, dere wudn't be but seben tater ridges twixt dis grate house und yourn; yu'd be pearter dan any rabbit in de mashes agwine und a cummin." the foolish widower passed out of the door and out of the gate singing to himself, "her brow is like the snowdrift, her throat is like the swan." his feelings toward the peerless beauty were stoutly reinforced by the observation of the negro "und all dun und dun for yu mars jedge." clarissa ever and always upon the lookout in these suspicious times, hearing only snatches of the conversation in the hall between the judge and her husband called out imperiously, "ned cum to de do er minit," ned in his slouchy way, giggling like an idiot, advanced toward clarissa. "whot ailed dat white man in dem fine cloes und stove-pipe hat agwine outen de gate?" and ned only giggled the more. "don't yu heer me axing you ned?" stormed clarissa. ned still giggling with both hands to his black mouth replied distrustfully. "i gin mars jedge my solum wurd dat i wudn't woice dat diffikilt twixt me und him to man nur cattle beastis nudder." "woice what diffikilt ned?" asked clarissa in her provoking way. "you knows i haint no man nur cattle beastis nudder; whot maks yu so tantilizin? ef you haint agwine to tell me i'm agwine rite strate to miss alice; i knows she will mak yu tell her." ned buried his face in both hands and then peeping through his fingers sheepishly observed, "now clarsy you knows you is monstrous handy noratin ebery blessed fing you heers to tuther fokses; now ef i ups und tells yu, und it gits to mars jedge's ears, whose agwine to stand twixt me und him? tell me dat." "i'm agwine to stan betwixt yu und de jedge, dats who," replied clarissa consequentially. "oh lordy! yu ergwine to stan twixt me und him," interrogated old ned contemptuously "jes as well have ole jube er stanin twixt me und de jedge ebery bit und grane." clarissa thought for a moment and replied with infinite satisfaction. "miss alice is ergwine ter stan twixt yu und de jedge, dats who." "dat mout do," said ned, "und ef de jedge axes me about it i'm agwine to send him rite strate to miss alice, und let dem two fite it out twixt dey selves," and ned with great circumstantiality placed clarissa in possession of the facts in the case. "fo de king!" exclaimed clarissa after ned had concluded. "i'm ergwine rite strate und tell miss alice." "und den dars is gwine to be a rumpus in dis grate house," said ned with disgust as clarissa shuffled down the hall to her young mistress's chamber. nothing baffled by his misadventure, and realizing that faint heart ne'er won fair lady, the judge reappeared at the hall door of ingleside with his beaver hat canted on the other side of his head, and rang the door bell quite tentatively, as he felt that ned would watch for his coming, and would admit him without knocking. "now ned," the judge remarked, as he passed his beaver to the old negro, "examine me from head to foot and tell me if i'm all right." ned did as he was commanded in great detail of inspection and observed, "yes sar, dat yu is, mars jedge, i neber seed such a portly yung man in all my days sar. pend upon it boss, miss alice is ergwine to bite at the hook fore yu flings out de bate. ef i mout tell yu de truf you looks lak yu was a stepping into de marrage sallymony dis werry minit und i don't speck nofin else but dem yallow und white snowballs und sweet betsies is ergwine to drap rite down und perish on yung misses hed when yu put your little foot in dat dar parlor;" and the vain old man now fully reassured, followed the old butler into the parlor, the latter remarking in a highly patronizing way. "now, mars jedge, i'm ergwine to set yu down in de bridegroom's cheer, kase i knows hit is ergwine to be yourn fore dis yeer is dun und gon, und den i'm ergwine to be yourn too," he laughingly continued. "kase i belongs to yung missis und yung missis belongs to de jedge. ha, ha, ha!" after ned had retired to the hall the vain old man, after looking all around him, stealthily arose from his seat and surveyed his person in an elaborate mirror over the mantle piece, arranging his hair, beard, and eyebrows in every detail of evenness and position, and was thus assaulted by the bewitching beauty of ingleside without a picket or skirmish line, and with his back to the conqueror of hearts. the dilemma was excessively embarrassing and as he turned to speak to the queenly beauty he began to stammer and quite unconsciously to make apologies. "i called this morning, madam," he began, "er, er, er, to inquire after the health of your father. you don't know er, er, er, how solicitous i have been about him of late. how is he this morning?" "he is very much better, i thank you, sir," replied alice with an effort at self control, "and if you will excuse me i will inform him that you are here." "i beg you will er, er, er"--stammered the judge with an uncontrollable energy. "oh, i am sure it will do him so much good to see you," interrupted alice, as she gracefully bowed herself out of the room, leaving the bewildered lover to destroy with huge battering rams the beautiful castle which his ardent fancy and old ned's sycophancy had erected. "in olden times," soliloquized the judge, as he brought his clenched hand with force upon his knee, "kings alone had their fools; and here i am playing the miserable fool in the presence of an unsophisticated maid. father indeed! why did i ask about her father, blasted idiot that i am?" the old judge was still scourging himself with the thongs of emphatic rebuke, when to his surprise another judge entered the parlor with the beautiful alice upon his arm. colonel seymour and the two judges had met before in the court room, and were now enjoying themselves in an old-fashioned way in the elaborate parlor of the old mansion. judge bonham was very delicate and refined in his compliments of his friend judge livingstone, who in the niceties of the law "could divide a hair 'twixt the north and north-west side." he was the judge who had extracted the poison sacs from the fangs of reconstruction; the judge who had stampeded the vile and vicious hordes that thronged and polluted the temple of justice. as judge bonham looked at the man, he felt that the entreaty of the south had been answered by the power that rules in heaven and earth. "god give us men; a time like this demands great minds, strong hearts, true faith and willing hands; men whom the lust of office cannot buy, men who have honor and will not lie." these gentlemen had scarcely begun to sap the foundations of the superstructure of reconstruction, when dinner was announced by the beautiful hostess, who stood in the door, as judge bonham declared, encircled in a cincture of angelic grace. it was a bountiful meal; there were cheer and laughter and polite jest at the board, and as these distinguished gentlemen were bowing themselves out of the dining room, judge bonham was observed by clarissa to take a napkin ring from his plate and put it in his pocket; with rolled up eyes and wide open mouth, clarissa looked like a black idol in a chinese temple. the guests again assembled in the library and alice busied herself in arranging the table for tea. "what sorter man is dat tother jedge miss alice?" asked clarissa in an authoritative kind of a way. "i don't mean dat shiny-eyed jedge, but dat man dat has got dem grate big warts on his nose. ef dat ar jedge cum to dis grate house many mo times ole missis silver is agwine to be all gone. she tole me to look arter her plunder. i don't ame to sass dat ar jedge miss alice, but de fust time i ketches him to hissef i'm ergwine to ax him please turn dem dere pockets rong side outtards und lemme see what he has got stowed erway in dere. dem kote skeerts haint er bulgin out datterway fur nuffin. twixt dat secesh man und de scalyhorgs, wun is jamby ez big er fellum ez de tuther; he ergwine erbout punishin tuther fokses for gwine rong, und he, yu mout say, is er conwick hissef. i nebber seed wot yu mout call a high quality white pusson steal yo fings rite fore yo eyes in de broad open daylight lak dat." "you must not talk that way about judge bonham, clarissa," rejoined alice with irritation. "i am ashamed of you! what would father say if he were to hear you accuse his guest of stealing!" alice continued rebukingly. "well, miss alice," said clarissa apologetically, "it mout be dat i spoke too brash; seems lak do ef he was a sho nuff jedge he orter have mo manners dan agwine erbout shoolikin und pilferin lak dat; speks ef dat white man was sarched yu mout find udder wallybles belonging to dis grate house in his hine pockets dis werry minit; yu dun und heerd me say dem dar kote skeerts aint a bulging out dat dar way fur nuffin." clarissa with malice prepense was arraigning the judge upon a cruel indictment, a prejudiced prosecution and a predetermined verdict evidently. there was but one plea that could avail the judge if clarissa were polled as the jury, and that would require the immediate restitution of the stolen property, and an unconditional withdrawal from old marser's great house; or to punctuate the verdict in clarissa's emphatic way, "don't yu never set yo foot in dis heer grate house no mo, epseps yu want ole jube to wour yu up with wun moufful, ef dem is all de manners yu got." "permit me to ask you sir," observed judge bonham to judge livingstone, "if the conditions prevailing in the south are not entirely unlike those that obtain in the north?" "yes, indeed," replied judge livingstone. "it would be difficult to realize that we live under the same federal government. society in this country seems to be thoroughly disorganized. i can imagine that some great upheaval of nature has widely separated the south from the north." "i presume," said judge bonham, "that you have seen southern character in all of its transformations in your courts?" "yes sir, and very frequently in its most abhorrent and disgusting forms. there is such a variety of indictable frauds and many of them growing out of the rudimentary education of the negroes, that this fact, in my opinion, is the most cogent argument against their education." "i am very decidedly of that opinion," replied judge bonham with emphasis. "i believe if it were not for the criminal class of young negroes there would be very few indictments in the courts; but as the matter stands they are congested to that extent that our jails are always over crowded and so are our dockets." "do you know, sir," replied judge livingstone, "that there is a side to this ever-shifting panorama that challenges my profoundest sympathy? to give you an illustration: a few days ago, in this county of f., i saw in the dock a decayed old negro, who staggered into the bar from sheer exhaustion. he was dying piece-meal from starvation. he was indicted for the larceny of a peck of sweet potatoes. the prosecuting witness was a white man of about forty years of age, and was what is provincially known as a scalawag. i do not exaggerate very grossly when i say that a blacksmith would have hammered a plowshare out of his hard face. the old negro was convicted; he had no substantial defence. i said to him, 'i want you to tell me why you took the potatoes.' the poor old negro leaned heavily with both hands upon his staff, his unshorn white locks giving him the appearance of a 'sheik of the desert,' and raising his harrowed face, that was wet with tears, tremblingly addressed the court as he grasped the railing for support, 'mars jedge, i hab neber nied dis scusashun, und i tole de boss man ef he wudn't sen me to de jail i wud wurk hit out ef hit tuck seben yurs. i libs erway ober yander cross de mash. dar is my ole marser a settin dar. he noes i'm er tellin yu de naked truf, und god in hebben noes i wudn't tell yu nary lie. dar is foteen moufs in my fambly er cryin fer wittles ebery day de good lawd sends; und malindy, dat's my dorter, haint struck a lick o' wurk fur mo dan er hole yur; und dar's my growed-up son, dat's joe, he got drounded in de crick nigh unto er month ago; und dar's my po wife, dat's mimy, she tuck sick und died when she heerd dat joe had drounded hissef, und nobody in de wurrel ter git ary moufful o' wittles epsep me; und i was so hongry, und de chillun wuz er cryin twell i wuz moest stracted; und i had a grate big bone fellyun on dis heer han'--dar tis, rite dar--so i cudn't wurk, und i went to de boss man, standin rite dar fo yo eyes, und axed him fer two er free little stringy taters; und he cussed me und driv me er way, und called me er ole free issu dimmycrat nigger; und my ole marser libed so fur erway i cudn't git nary wurd to him; und den, ez i wuz ergwine outen de plantashun, i seed two er free little stringy taters, mout be fo taters, er lyin on de tip eend o' de ridge in de brilin sun arter de taters had bin dug outen de patch, und i didn't fink it wuz no harm to nobody, und i tuck um und toted um home in my pocket ter de po little parishin yunguns, und--' "here the old negro broke down and cried as if his heart would break, and then wiping his eyes with his ragged coat sleeve, he continued, "und den dey tuck me und put me in de jale; und i axed de high shurriff ter please git wurd ter ole marser whar i wuz karserated, und he neber sont no wurd ter ole marser. marser jedge, i'm ergwine on eighty-free yurs ole, und ef i libs ter see nex juvember, ef i don't make no mistake i'll be gwine in er hundred. i aint neber been kotched in no scrapes befo in my born days, has i ole marser?' then turning to a white-haired man on the jury, 'nary body, white er cullud, hab eber crooked de finger at enyfing i eber dun rong, und i'm too ole und crazyfied to be sont to de penitenshury, und fur de lawd's sake, mars jedge, please don't sen me dar, ef yu duz my po little yunguns will parish ter def, und i axes all yu white gemmen on dat jurrer ter pray fur me, und de jedge too.' "the court and jury were in tears when this eloquent plea was concluded, and the poor old negro, shaking from head to foot, sank back into his seat, bowed his white head upon his staff and covered his black face with his old hat. there was a painful pause in the court room; handkerchiefs were freely displayed here and there, and ominous sounds, as if there was weeping, was heard in the great press of people." "what is your name?" asked the judge, addressing the white-haired juror in the box to whom the old negro had appealed as his master. "grissom," modestly replied the man. "do you know the character of this old negro?" asked the judge. "very good, very good sir," the juror excitedly repeated, "trustworthy and truthful under all circumstances sir." after a moment's reflection the judge said to the old negro, "stand up old man." the negro reeling from weakness raised his bowed, palsied frame, and repeated after the judge the formula used in recognizances as follows substantially. "i duz hereby nowledg dat i is debted to de state of norf caliny in de sum ob ten millun dollars to be leveled pun my goods und cattle, lans turnements und harry dettyments to be woid on kondishun dat i maks my pussonel pearance fo de jedge of dis kote next christmas und bide by de jedgement of dis kote." "now old negro," said the judge sympathetically, "you can go home." "tank yer mars jedge," he exclaimed as he advanced to grasp the judge's hand. "may the good lord in heaben allus be rite by your side when yu gibs jedgement." taking up his old hat he bowed to the gentlemen of the jury with the observation, "may nun of you white gemman ever git kotched in such a scrape as dis, epseps yu has dis heer jedge to stand twixt yu und de gallus." he turned again to the judge with a smile that played like sheet lightning over his haggard face and inquired humbly. "mars jedge, duz yu specks me to pay dat passel of munny to de state nex krismas too?" at the conclusion of this narrative our mutual friend judge bonham arose to take his leave, remarking as he did so "that his visit should be long remembered, that his distinguished friends were so agreeable;" and grasping the hand of the judge he congratulated him and the country that "a daniel had come to judgment." when the absent-minded gentleman arrived home, his servant lije discovered that the judge's head down to his ears was immersed in a light derby hat, and he ventured to ask, "mars jedge, what you agwine to do wid dat dar hat? to be sho you didn't swop your brand new slick beaver off for dat dar camp kittle?" the judge in his chagrin saw that he had carried away judge livingstone's derby hat and had left his beaver in its place. and he said sharply to lije, "go through all of my pockets and see if i have stolen any of the property of colonel seymour. i dare not trust myself to visit a neighbor that i am not liable to be sent to the penitentiary." the negro lije exploiting all suspected places exhibited to the judge a table ring and napkin, that by some inexplicable means had been transferred to his pocket. "gracious heavens!" the humiliated man exclaimed, "larceny both grand and petit by the eternal! felony without benefit of clergy! return those stolen articles at once, you black scamp, where they belong, and present my compliments to colonel seymour, and tell him they got into the possession of judge bonham without his knowledge and against his consent and bring back my beaver and cane. stop! stop!" he exclaimed excitedly, "what is this?" drawing from his vest pocket a small miniature of alice that he had seen upon the parlor mantel. "great jerusalem!" he fairly shrieked, "condemned beyond the hope of pardon." chapter xxiv. the dipping of the red stars. "will you oblige me at the piano, miss seymour?" judge livingstone asked, as they were seated in the parlor at ingleside after the retirement of judge bonham. with a show of embarrassment alice consented as the judge escorted her to the instrument. "shall i play your favorite?" she asked a little coquettishly. "ah no; not mine, but yours, i beg, and please accompany the chords with your own sweet voice, will you not?" alice, thrumming the piano in a perfunctory way, lifted her eyes to her guest as she replied smilingly, "i have no favorite, sir, indeed i have not. shall i play yours?" "well, yes; you may if you will not laugh at my old-fashioned fancy. i do not mind telling you that one of my favorites is, 'then you'll remember me.' i suspect that there are selections from beethoven, mozart and chopin that are inexpressibly grand, but for soulful melody there is nothing like the sweet, dear old song." alice threw her spirit into the old song, and with eyes glistening through her tears, remarked sadly, "this old melody is very dear to me, very, very dear." "i should imagine so," replied the judge, "and i know if it could syllable its love it would tell you of its passion for you. i think it has taken possession of your whole heart, miss seymour," continued the high official with animation. to this tentative kind of inquiry alice did not reply, but looked blushingly into the judge's earnest face and sweetly laughed, like the artless girl she was. the golden hours were fast slipping away, and the little goldsmith was hammering, too, at the tiny arrows. "i fear i have afflicted you very cruelly, my sweet friend," the judge observed after a pause, as he noted that the hour hand of the ivory time piece upon the mantel had run its circuit eight times in succession. "i doubt not that i have wearied you by the unreasonable length of my visit; but like a bound captive, i have been held in thrall with silken chains for forty-eight hours." "and have you really enjoyed the time?" she asked, quite artlessly. "why, my dear alice," he now ventured to address her, "i am in love--enmeshed in the delightful toils of the most beautiful woman in the wide, wide world. will you permit me to declare my passion--my love--for my queen, my beauty? to tell you that i have been captivated by the only girl that can under all circumstances make me happy? and can you, my sweet alice, reciprocate the feeling?" there was no response from the girl, but her soul was thrilled by an experience new and exciting, and she buried her face in her hands for the moment. perhaps there is very little to interest a third party in the initial chapters of a love story; there are to be sure the old fancies that are animated, then its incidents become melodramatic, and then we laugh, and then possibly forget. as alice raised her eyes to the portrait just above the piano, her face radiant as it were with an indescribable beauty, the enamored judge looked into the lustrous blue eyes and felt that he read within their azure depths, the passion of a beautiful woman's love; and with much confusion he observed, "perhaps alice, i have originated a surprise for you; please do not be alarmed if my feelings have overmastered my discretion." the embarrassed girl essayed quite tactfully to withdraw the attention of her suitor from the subject he was nervously pressing, and pointing to the portrait of a gentleman wearing the stars of a colonel in the confederate army, she asked him if he recognized her father in the painting. "do you know," she remarked without awaiting an answer "that i feel inexpressibly sad when i think of our poor boys who wore the gray in the bloody battles of the south?" and a tiny tear quivered in her soft eye. "i doubt not," replied the judge in sympathy with her feelings, that the retrospection is extremely painful. "i am sure that i have reason to deplore a catastrophe, that over laid our beloved country as with a shroud." "you were not a soldier in the union army?" she suggested interrogatively. "and could you respect me if i were?" he asked. "oh yes," alice replied without hesitation, "you have been so true to the south in the character of judge i can and do honor you, and i am quite sure if you were a yankee soldier you believed you were performing your duty." "my sweet alice," he exclaimed. "don't let us have yankee soldiers in this beautiful southern home; you don't know how opprobriously the term yankee sounds to me. i was a union soldier and fought under the stars and stripes, through the bloody battle of manassas, and can my rebel sweetheart forgive me?" he asked, as he timidly took her soft hand in his own. "assuredly sir," she replied "if you will give me your word upon honor, that you never shot our poor boys in the battle; now did you?" she feelingly asked as she looked into his face, aglow with the holy passion of love. "no," he replied emphatically, "but if i had carried a musket instead of a sword i would have done my duty." "do you know sweet alice that whilst there were frowning clouds upon the horizon, there were rainbows with bright hues that bridged them over; that whilst there were incidents excitingly tragical, there were experiences that provoked laughter in camps and prisons? let me give you a single illustration that occurs to me just this moment, if you will pardon me, and let me say that i am convinced that it was patriotism that kept the confederate soldiers in the army, where they preferred the thick of the battle, and sought death itself as the highest reward of the brave. it would illustrate our pride as a nation to put the gallant soldiers of the south in an attitude of glory equal to our own. "i was assistant provost marshal at the military prison at point lookout in the years and , and i recall an amusing character who was brought into the prison with a large number of other prisoners who had been captured at chancellorsville. i think his name was patrick sullivan, a red-haired freckled faced irishman, clad in butternut homespun; and every available square inch of coat, vest, pants and hat was decorated by military buttons of all kinds and sizes. i asked the prisoner why this superfluity of decorations? and he answered with a drawl as he squinted his left eye; "wall mister, i reckin ye haint hearn tell how thrivin the cussed yankees used to be down south twell we un's got to thinnin em out sorter; they come down thar pine blank in gangs, like skeeters in the savanny mashes, twell weun's run afoul of em like a passel of turkeys chasing hopper grasses in the clover patches; and bless your soul honey the captain lowed that every dead yankee would fetch a gold dollar at pay day, arter we had licked old lincum; and i've got just nineteen hundred and seventy-six ginerals and kurnels and captains and privates in the rear rank to my credic at settlin day. that thar button up thar in the tip end of my hat was a major, that was skeddadlin to the rare arter weun's was plumb licked at bull run; and that thar button on the tother end of the hat was the fust giniral i kilt at seben pines; and bless your soul honey, killing ginerals and majors after that won't no more than shooting bull-bats down in georgy; and as to captains and leftenants, i just flung them in with the foot cavalry sorter pomiscuous." "sad to say," the judge continued, "the poor fellow died in prison. we buried him with all his generals and foot cavalry where the potomac sings its threnody by night and by day." the narrative with the amusing grimaces of the judge interested alice, and she laughed until tears came into her eyes. she became serious again however, and asked her guest if he really participated in the battle of manassas. "yes indeed," he rejoined, "and my experience in that battle was inexpressibly sad. i cannot think of manassas," he resumed, "that i do not recall an incident full of pathos and glory. without the mechanism of a regular army; with a currency as erratic as the proclamation money of the colonists, without experience or discipline, they had the courage of spartans; and the proud eminence they assumed in every engagement made them heroes in the forlorn struggle. there is not a single instance upon record where the swords or guns of the southern armies were tarnished by ignoble flight or inglorious surrender; and whenever their flag was struck, it was because the elements of resistance were exhausted. sad indeed that the drama should have begun and closed with such heart-rending tragedies. could i so order and direct the policy of the government, i would make the glory of our american arms as imperishable as the republicanism of our government. i would make gettysburg and chancellorsville to gleam through the haze of centuries like marathon and plataea and upon each return of the glorious anniversaries, i would find a pericles to proclaim from our american acropolis the fadeless glory of the men who wore the gray as well as the men who wore the blue." the impassioned eloquence of the distinguished guest enthused alice with a strange experience, and in her discriminating judgment she discovered a lover whose exalted spirit of patriotism, whose fervid oratory, challenged her admiration. she could only bow her thanks to her honored friend whose role upon the tragic stage must have been highly dramatic. "i was a lieutenant in the twenty-sixth pennsylvania cavalry," he continued, "and at the head of a squadron rode a dashing young confederate officer who, at the time i saw him, was in the act of cleaving the head of one of our captains with his sabre, when a shot from one of our men arrested the sabre in mid air, and he fell mortally wounded from the saddle. i instantly dismounted and raised the young officer in my arms who could only say, "take the ring on my finger to my darling al----" and died. i have worn the ring ever since, vainly prosecuting the search for the true claimant. i presume that the owner will never be found. you will observe from its facets and artistic workmanship that the diamond must be very costly; and if you will take it into your hand you will read within the circlet your name and mine, "alice to arthur"." the girl taking the ring into her hands uttered a scream that pierced the judge's soul, and she fell heavily upon the floor in a swoon. "merciful father in heaven," exclaimed the affrighted man in a paroxysm of agony. "what have i done! what have i done!" clasping the unconscious girl to his bosom, he cried loudly for help, and clarissa ran in great agitation into the room shrieking out in a delirium of fear. "mars jedge has yu dun und sassinated my yung missis in cold blood in dis heer great house? if yu has yu'l sho be swung on de gallus. oh my lands sakes alive! jerrusulum my king!" and the old negro ran frantically about the parlor, hither and thither, over turning tables and chairs and throwing info the face of her young mistress great clusters of flowers and water and rugs which had the happy effect of resuscitating the poor girl; and on regaining her senses she looked dazedly up and saw clarissa coming with a teapot of boiling water, with which the old negro in her transport was about to parboil her young mistress. she motioned clarissa away, and as soon as she could control her voice she said to the judge; "oh, how i must have alarmed you sir!" "ugh! my king!" interrupted clarissa in her grave earnestness "yu knows yu skeert us jamby to def; yu fokses aint fittin to stay in dis heer parlor by yoselves, ef dem is de shines yu is agwine to cut up; a little mo und yu mout been dead as a mackrel und den dat dar jedge mout be hung on de gallus;" and with this unparliamentary speech the old negro, decidedly out of temper with the situation of persons and things, strode out of the room muttering to herself as she closed the door, "i aint satisfied in my mind pine plank whedder miss alice had a sho nuff fit, or whedder she drapped down dat dar way jest to be kotched up by the jedge fo she hit de flo. dese heer white gals is monstrous sateful dat day is." "you don't understand our maid," alice observed to her guest apologetically as clarissa walked out of the room. "we have to make allowances for her." the judge could not speak for a while, for clarissa's oddities had thrown him into a fit of laughter. after recovering himself he said argumentatively. "i think i can see that the civilization of the south will have lost much of its fragrance when the old negroes are dead. the history of your country has been refreshed by the charm they have brought to it; and i doubt not that despite their strong individuality, their crudities, they will be sadly missed one of these days." "now that i have survived those ridiculous sensations that quite overpowered me," alice blushingly remarked "will you accompany me for a moment?" and the judge quietly assenting gave alice his arm not knowing whither she was leading him. she paused before an exquisite painting partially veiled by drapery, and bade him look upon it. the judge obeying her command, saw upon the wall the faithful portraiture of the handsome young officer who was slain under his own eye at manassas; and from whose hand he had taken the ring that had thrown alice into the swoon. "ah!" he exclaimed emotionally "it is he, it is he, your lover, alice, your brave soldier boy who died for his darling, ever so far away." "you will pardon my tears will you not?" she asked entreatingly, "if i tell you that he was so true, so good, so brave, that i loved him so dearly?" "yes, i can freely pardon, since you confide your grief, your love to me. take the ring alice," he pleaded so eloquently, "take it from arthur livingstone, who loves you with his whole heart; who has come to ingleside, to your own sweet bower, to your own dear self, to proffer his life, his honor; to relight the candle upon the same altar, upon which your brave soldier boy first lighted it, when he proffered to you his life, his homage, his all. he who returns the ring to you that you gave arthur macrae, would take his place in your heart and guard its portal with his life, until the very stars shall pale their fires in the heavens above. god in heaven will ratify the compact, and 'neither powers, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor life, nor death shall separate us from one another.'" a smile of unutterable joy was the only answer she gave him. "now my darling," the judge pleaded passionately, "in the presence of the angels and of your own arthur, let us plight our holy troth to one another." the girl sweetly looking into the radiant face lovingly answered, "and arthur has promised to give me away at the altar, and to put the ring that i gave him with my love; this ring upon my finger." "thank god," he exclaimed, in an ecstacy of feeling, "the cup of my joy overflows," and pressing her soft hand to his lips he kissed it over and over again, and looking only as a lover can look into her upturned face, beaming with happiness, he said, "after all to what can i compare the love of a true, beautiful woman?" "may i guess?" she asked still laughing. "yes, oh yes," he rejoined. "to the love of a true, manly man." the scattered sun rays were coalescing and forming a nimbus of beauty around every facade and chamber, except one in ingleside. upon this threshold, shadows were by turns advancing and receding. the undiplomatic ambassador with his commission of power to slay, without being outlawed by any judicial tribunal, was inditing his judgment. it ran in the name of commonwealths and states universal. this plenipotentiary had been into this mansion before, but he came without terrors, without equipages, without liveried slaves. he came softly and sweetly. there were no harsh commands that he uttered, no rattling of wheels over cobble stones, no exhibition of a despotic will. "my daughter," he whispered "you are wearied, come with me i will give you rest." will he come with this fascination again? here lies an old man broken like a wheel by the force of cataracts and torrents, that have been increasing their momentum for all these years, as they have heaved and billowed over his poor soul. pending the treaty of love in the parlor, old ned and clarissa were holding a whispered conversation in the kitchen. "ned," clarissa asked in alarm, "did dat dar jedge ax yu ary question about miss alice when he cum in de do?" "no, not pintedly," ned answered. clarissa hung her head for a moment, and with her old checked apron to her liquid eyes, she continued sobbingly, "dar is gwine to cum a breaking up in dis heer fambly ned, sho as yu born. i seed it de fust time dat furrinner sot his foot in dis heer grate house. miss alice aint neber had her hart toched befo, but when he cum, her eyes looked bright lak de stars, und a smile smole all over her beautiful face, und she has been singing love himes ever since, and dat dar jedge when he gets whay miss alice is, is jes as happy as a mole in a tater hill." it was ned's turn now to dash away a tear from his leaky eyes, and with arms bent over his bowed bosom, and with drooping head and a seesaw motion he said, "clarsy, i been a studdin erbout dis heer situashun, und ef dat dar furriner tices yung missis from dis heer plantashun, in de name ob gord what is agwine to come ob ole marser?" "yu better ax wot is agwine ter cum ob me und yu. ole marser is agwine away fust, yu heer my racket. i dun heerd deth er calling him. ole marser walks rite cranked-sided now, wid dat wheezin in his chiss, und twixt dese franksized niggers, und dis outlandish konstrucshun, und ole missis dun und gon, ole marser is er pinin lak a dedded gum in de low ground." "eggzackly so, eggzackly so," ejaculated ned, "wot is agwine ter cum of me und yu." "dares where yu interests me ned; what is agwine ter cum of me und yu sho nuff? deres ole joshaway nigh erbout one hundred years ole, ded und gon now, jes lived on de rode trapezing baccards und furrards to de ole kommissary, wid his happysack und jimmyjon as emty as my tub dere wid nary botom, twell ole mars fotched him back home; und pend pon it, ned, ef miss alice don't make some perwishun fur me und yu, we's agwine to suck sorrow as sho as yer born." "dat's de gospil troof," replied ned. "uncle ned," came the voice of alice from the parlor, "will you please bring judge livingstone's hat to him?" "sartainly, yung missis," quickly the negro replied, and he ran as fast as his stiff joints would permit, and bowing very humbly, placed the hat in the judge's hand. "and will you not give me a kiss now in the presence of your old servant?" asked the judge. and the beautiful girl, half yielding, allowed her lover to print one or more upon her rosy lips. "adieu my love, until i come again in october to claim my own." alice returned to the parlor and threw her soul into the old, old song, the judge's favorite, "then you'll remember me." ned shuffled back to clarissa with his old bandana to his eyes with the observation "taint wuff while to pester yosef er sobbing und er sighing no mo clarsy, i dun und seed de margige sealed und livered. i heerd the nupshall wows sploding same as er passel of poppercrackers." "oh my heavens," screamed clarissa, as she jerked her old apron to her eyes. the three blood red stars were now blotted out of the reconstruction calendar; like the painted dolphins in the circus at antioch, they had been taken down one by one. the old colonel had been running flank and flank with the athletes of reconstruction, but within the last stadium he had lost, and the old man, like the fire scathed oak, was yielding his life after all; dying like a gladiator with his wounds upon his breast; dying, yet holding fast to the traditions of his fathers, with no blemish upon their name or his; with no bar sinister upon the family shield; with no stain upon his sword. dying a seymour, a soldier, a southron of the bluest blood; dying with the prophecy upon his lips, "the old south, by the help of god, shall be crowned with all the blessings of civilization, with the last and highest attainments in the manhood and womanhood of her people," dying with another prophecy upon his lips, scarcely audible, "my daughter, you will live to see the old south, now reeling and tottering like a bewildered traveller, come to her own again; like a magnanimous queen, reigning in love and tranquility; her soil yielding its harvest in bounty, and her people blessed in basket and store." chapter xxv. the parting of the ways. afflictive dispensations had so often heaped up against the horizon of alice's affections, frowning, angry clouds; the memory of bier and pall had so cruelly overlaid her young life with its gloom that but for the solace of religion, there would be no refuge from the bitterness of her grief; from the shadows of the grave. but in her mother's chamber, with her mother's precious bible in her hands, she felt that there was a fountain opened up before her, yes in the very house of david. "blessed book! what is life without thee?" she exclaimed. "is it not a faithful transcript of the last will of our redeemer? is it not the key that unlocks the door of heaven? yea the guide that elaborates its beauties? 'eye hath not seen; ear hath not heard; neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive of those things which he hath prepared for them that love him.'" she felt that in the world's tragedy of sin it was indeed a savor of life unto life; that it erects in the human soul, where there is sin, sorrow and despair, a sanitarium; rendering good for evil, giving back pardon for injury; preferring pity to vengeance; kneeling always upon the heights of virtue to uplift the broken-hearted. whether its blessed truths be spoken in prophecy or narrative; whether whispered from the sepulchre or the crypt; whether thundered from sinai or mars hill; they tenderly lead poor, fallen human nature into the portals of immortality, into the very gate of heaven. "has not religion," she asked, "given to humanity an uplifted brow? has it not admonished man to put away from him every mercenary calculation and to realize that the scourges of sin are rotting whip cords? ah yes, wherever there is a tear, there is love, wherever anguish there is consolation, whenever the night is dark and starless and there are deep shadows, an angel stands with bowed head and welcoming arms. what a balm for the scarified, bleeding heart! a precious pearl of great price in a casket of exceeding beauty; a sword of ethereal temper that divides unto the sundering of bone and marrow; but there are diamonds upon the hilt and golden tracery upon the scabbard. ah, the resurrection, who gives this promise, this faith, this hope? in all the dead aeons of dead centuries, science, nature, man, have asked in vain 'if a man die shall he live again?'--but just as in scaling a beautiful mountain, it needs no chemistry to analyze the air, to tell us that it is free from miasma, as every breath which paints a ruddier glow upon the cheek and sends a tonic tide through the body, will tell of its invigorating touch; so it needs no analysis, no reasoning, to persuade a spiritual mind that the air of heaven, the breath of god is in this book; and just as on tabor's brow, when from christ his own glory pierced its callous, unfeeling sides, it needed no refracting prism to tell us that it was the sunburst of more than earthly radiance the pilgrims were gazing upon. so when a bible chapter is transfigured, when the holy spirit transmutes into it his grace and glory, it will require neither a paley or shenstone to prove that the power and wisdom of god are there; but radiant with emitted splendor, in god's own light we will see it to be god's own book, and know it to be his blessed revelation. 'i know that my redeemer liveth and that in my flesh i shall see god.' the light of faith in the afflicted man of god was burning feebly, but he begins to feel now the strength, the virtue, which lies in innocency, as if god were beginning to reveal himself within him. he heeds no longer the hyper-calvinist when he tells him, 'thou has taken a pledge from thy brother for naught, and stripped the naked of their clothing; thou has not given water to the weary, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.' he raises his finger as if he would command attention and exclaims, not in irony, but in tranquil self-possession, 'god forbid that i should justify you; till i die, i will not remove my integrity from me. my righteousness i will not let go. my heart shall not reproach me so long as i live.' "pictorial scriptures, truly, comprehending all manners, all conditions, all countries. egypt with the nile and the pyramids, the nomad arabs, the bewildered caravans, the heat of the tropics, the ice of the north, are there; all save the frozen heart of jewish traditions and ceremonials. how divinely transfigured every page of the precious book, wherein is life eternal!" in the great voiceless halls and chambers there was no sound but her poor, tumultuous heart beating wildly against a bosom sore with weeping. alas, for ties that are so fragile, for pleasures that are so transitory! old clarissa would steal tip-toe to her chamber, but she dared not enter, and would return as softly to the kitchen. "po miss alice, she do suffer mazin. pears lak ebery now und den when her eyes gits bright und her face is sunny und sweet, und her lafter is lak de ripplin ob de little brook in de medder, dat de good lord draps anudder drug in de cup und maks her drink ebery drap. dere aint a gwine to be no mo sorrer for miss alice now; yung mars harry is gon, und missis is gon, und ole marser is gon, und bimeby her eyes is agwine to git bright agin, und her purty solemcholly face is er gwine to be full of smiles, und de little birds is ergwine to hang dere heads und drap to sleep when she sings dem lubly ole fashined himes agin." the poor girl finally fell asleep. it was the only anodyne that nature had in her laboratory for a broken heart; and she slept as tranquilly as a little child. she awoke refreshed by dreams, peopled by friends of her early childhood, many of whom were living and happy. she went into the kitchen, to give directions to clarissa, whom she found at her accustomed labor. crushed and spiritless as she was, there was comfort for her in the broken, incoherent utterances of the old negro. "don't cry no mo," said clarissa quite sympathetically. "i used to heer ole missis say when she was ailin monstrous bad, dat ebery cloud had a silver linin, und i beliebs it pine plank. i beliebs dat when de good lord sends trouble on dis here lan he's ergwine ter sen grace too. dat's my belief, yung misses, und i'm ergwine to lib by it und i'm ergwine to die by it. when i looked down into ole marser's grave and seed all dem lilies ob de walley kivered up in de dirt, i node de good lord was not ergwine to mommuck up ole marser's soul fur nuthin. i node dere wuz ergwine to be a transplantin in his hebenly garden of all de beautifullest flowers dat withers and parishes here in dese low grouns oh sorror, und i sez to mysef, dat i specks ole missis is er runnin ter meet ole marser dis bery minit, wid boff hans chock full ob white roses und jonquils und lilies ob de walley. duz yer kno what i beliebs, miss alice?" she continued, as she wiped her eyes in her old checked apron. "when i sees a little white flower er droopin und er dying in ole missis' garden, i nose dat she hez cum down fru de purly gates to pull it und tak it back in her busum to yung mars harry; und when i sees a little teensy baby a droopin und er dyin jest lak dat little flower, i nose de good lawd is er takin it home in his busum too. wun ob dese days yu und me is agwine ter see fur oursefs. bress de lawd!" the days were passing now so languidly, and wretchedness was still brooding in the heart of alice. to one event, however, she looked forward with intense yearnings. there was somewhere in the wide, wide world a great sympathetic heart perpetually telegraphing its love, and she was feeling the electric current in its pulsations every moment in the day. he had promised to come again in the mellow, fragrant month of october, before the flowers fade and die; when the artist of nature is painting the foliage upon the trees green, purple and golden, and with a richer iris the twilight sky, and dappling the fleecy clouds. yes, he is coming, not as the judge of the assizes, but as a prisoner of hope. her affections hitherto were divided--now he yearns for the whole heart. coming to endow her with a treasure selfishly coveted above rubies and diamonds, above principalities and thrones; coming to plight his troth at god's altar, that in sickness and in health they would cling to one another till death doth part them. how would alice appear in her funereal robes before him, before the altar? perhaps clarissa can reassure her in this dilemma. "miss alice," she exclaimed as she clapped her hands approvingly, "if yer is as butiful when the jedge cums as yer is now, dat er po man is ergwine stracted wid hissef. i clare fore my blessed marster up yander if i had er node how butiful yer is agwine ter look in dat black mourning, i wuld er swaded yer to dun und dun it fore ole marsa died." and what is going to become of clarissa and ned? the mildew of age is upon them both. for years past their old heads have been whitening with the hoar frost. "now ole marsa is dun und gon, de fambly is ergwine to break up und de grate house is agwine to be the home of de owls, und de swallers und de bull-bats." so thought clarissa as in the quiet gloaming she stood in the verandah, and listened to the melancholy winds and the more melancholy bleating of the cattle. ned had been doing little chores about the house all the day, and after he had eaten his supper, he and clarissa had by permission assembled in the dining-room where they found their young mistress engaged in some light needle work. she of course welcomed the negroes heartily. they were her friends and had been through many sore trials. clarissa was the first to break the silence, as she enquired of her young mistress the day of the month. "it is the th day of september replied alice." "ugh! ugh! i tole yer so ned. aint nex mont october?" she asked again. "yes, why do you ask?" replied alice. "kase ned sed the jedge warnt agwine to cum no mo twell juvember. ned is flustrated monstrus, miss alice. so skeered de jedge is ergwine to tak yer away frum me und him." "and if he does, i am sure you will both be very glad," alice replied. "dat mout be so, yung mistress ef me und clarsy wus peerter und cud fend fur deyselves. but bofe uv us is mity cranksided now er days, und de lord in heaben only nose whar we'se agwine to git ary moufful ob wittles when yu is dun und gon to de tother eend ov de yearth. me und clarsy slaved fur ole marsa fore de bellyun fell, und we aint got no ole marsa to look bak to now, und we puts our pendence in yu yung mistress." "if i go away, uncle ned," replied alice, "you and clarissa shall never suffer as long as i live." "ugh! ugh! now yer got de wurd," exclaimed clarissa in tears. "i haint er mistrusting yu miss alice," ned answered, quite dejectedly, as he raised his old coat sleeve to his face, "but when yer is dun und gon clean away how is yer eber agwine to git to us, ef me er clarissy mout need ye? dar is de pint right dar, misses. ef i hes er bad miserry in my head, und calls fur miss alice she cums lak er butterfly und lays her soft hands on my po head und de missery stops rite short; und ef i hankers arter er chiken it is de same fing. ef yer duz go erway, misses, old ned will follow yer with his shaky jints twill yer gits clean, clar outen site, und pray ebery day de lord sens, dat yer mout be ez happy as de angels." it was alice's turn as a matter of conceit to ask the old negro what he thought of judge livingstone? "dat is a pinted questun," ned answered hesitatingly. "you mout ax me ef he was er suple man und dat wudn't be a pinted questun, but yung missis i'm bleeged to mistrust dese furreners dat cums down here und spreads deyselves all ober de lan, und fetches freedum und de horg colery, und plays ruination wid our white fokses, und den runs clean clar away wid our white gals, upsotting de whole creashun wid dey flamborgasted fixments. you mout be happy way off yander to de tuther eend ob de yearth, den agin you mouten. yer can't tell misses how fur de bull-frog is ergwine ter jump by lookin at his mouf." to the foregoing argument clarissa was assenting by repeated nods of the head, ejaculating occasionally "ugh! ugh! dats de gospel trufe." "but uncle ned," enquired alice, "would you have me as your friend, a poor lonely girl to remain at ingleside without protection? why don't you know i would be miserable?" "yer mout be miserabler dan yer is, misses. heep er times our white gals finks dey is er upsotting de yearth by gittin jined to de furreners when dey is er flinging de fat in de fire. look at dat white gal ober de medder. she run away wid wun ob dese carpet-sackers, und she wus dat proud dat she wud hold her nose ef de po white trash breshed up agin her cote skeerts. und where is she now?" "ugh! ugh!" ejaculated clarissa. "wid de furrener in de penitenshur, und she ergwine to de ole kommissary fur her rashuns. don't yer see?" exclaimed clarissa. "now misses i aint er sensing yer wid nun ob dis bad luck, und i aint er putting de jedge on er ekality wid de furrener in de penitenshur, but yer don't know misses what is ergwine to happen when de rope is er roun yer neck, und de furrener has got hold ob de tuther eend." "dat yer don't," exclaimed clarissa, rocking to and fro. "und yer don't know missis whar me und clarissa is ergwine when dat ar jedge gits to be de boss ob dis heer plantashun." "oh my lord," shouted clarissa as she burst into tears. "dats maks me ses wat i dos, yung missis, dat yu axes me a pinted questun. dats de truf. it sho is." old ned groaned as the gravity of the argument seemed to affect him and brushed a tear from his eye with the sleeve of his coat. the matter was of momentous consequence to these old landmarks of a decayed civilization, and they felt it acutely. old master as long as he lived had held out the lighted candle to light up the dreary, tortuous paths into which reconstruction was driving the old negroes; but the flame had died down into cold ashes, and the hand that held it aloft was nerveless and dead. there came as it were to their old hearts a sad, sad refrain--"breaking up! breaking up!" it came from the winds that moaned in and out of broken window shutters. it came from the feathered songsters, prima donnas of the air, who were sending forth their advance agents to secure homes in southern climes. "breaking up! breaking up!" between such as these and their former masters were there not higher and holier feelings and relations than those of master and servant? without them the south would have been the mere appurtenance of the commercial north, dragging after it the weary chain of colonial dependence. what a wilderness of wealth they brought to our firesides, what a teeming aggregation of populous and powerful states! let us at least give these old slaves one look of kindness in the desolate twilight of their lingering days. the old negroes bade their young mistress a hearty good night. "may de angels shelter yer dis nite und all tuther nites wid dere whings, missis," exclaimed ned as he followed clarissa out of the door. it was the saddest of all anticipations. they loved alice as if she were the apple of the eye--the heart's core. their sufferings and privations, their joys and happiness in common, had touched as it were the two extremes of the varied horizon of life. and now they were advancing toward the parting of the ways. ned and clarissa, with unsteady, faltering footsteps toward the sunset, the gloaming, the end of life; the young mistress toward the sunrise, never so resplendent as now. * * * * * judge livingstone, with his clerical friend from the north, arrived at the appointed time at ingleside; he a bachelor of thirty-five, to wed this beautiful heiress, the exquisite flower that had budded and bloomed like a rose for twenty-six seasons. arrived to lacerate the old slavish hearts, that clung so helplessly to the young mistress, like morning glories around the fair flower. arrived to snatch from ingleside so rudely its life, its hope, its promise--the all in all to poor clarissa and old ned. "eben ole jube knows dat sumfing solemkolly is ergwine to happin," observed clarissa to her young mistress, as she assisted the bride in her adornments for the nuptial hour. "jess look at dat ole fafeful dorg a lyin dare jess a strugglin wid his moshuns, lak he was a humans sho nuff." the minister stood at the little altar in the parlor. the ring that alice had given to "arthur" was slipped upon her finger, and in the presence of the angels, judge livingstone and alice were made man and wife. as ned and clarissa passed out of the little verandah, ned observed with streaming eyes, "now clarsy, dere is no mo music fur us but de crickets upon de hath. miss alice has dun und sung her las hime und we kaint foller miss alice whar she is ergwine no mo. ef we uns is tuk sick we kaint holler fur miss alice no mo. i feels lak i haint got no frend now. miss alice dun jined hersef to dat furriner." "dat is gords truf ned," exclaimed clarissa as she drew her old checked apron across her eyes, "hit pears lak dere is nuffin in dis wurrel epseps tribulashun of sperits. but bress her dear heart," the old negro continued, "i hope she may be jes es happy es de larks down in de medder, und dat when she arrivs way ober yander whar she is er gwine she will send her membrunces to me und yu fortwid." it was necessary that ingleside should be placed in first class order. above all things else it was necessary that ample provision should be made for clarissa and ned. these arrangements in minutest detail were satisfactorily made, as the judge observed to his bride one morning after the wedding, "do you not grieve to part from your old friends, my dear?" tears came into the sweet girl's eyes as she replied so tenderly, "yes, yes, they cling so helplessly to me, but dear arthur, you will not forget them, will you?" [the end.] errata. in the th line, page , for "permit" read "pretermit." in line , page , the word "first" should read "fifth." in line , page , for "preservingly" read "perseveringly." transcriber's note: added list of illustrations. the errata noted at the end of the text have been corrected in this version. here are several articles by frederick douglass, whose larger work was presented in book form as a january, project gutenberg etext to commemorate martin luther king jr. day last year. we hope people will continue to contribute works such as this to commemorate this and other holidays. my escape from slavery reconstruction douglass, frederick. "my escape from slavery." the century illustrated magazine , n.s. (nov. ): - . my escape from slavery in the first narrative of my experience in slavery, written nearly forty years ago, and in various writings since, i have given the public what i considered very good reasons for withholding the manner of my escape. in substance these reasons were, first, that such publication at any time during the existence of slavery might be used by the master against the slave, and prevent the future escape of any who might adopt the same means that i did. the second reason was, if possible, still more binding to silence: the publication of details would certainly have put in peril the persons and property of those who assisted. murder itself was not more sternly and certainly punished in the state of maryland than that of aiding and abetting the escape of a slave. many colored men, for no other crime than that of giving aid to a fugitive slave, have, like charles t. torrey, perished in prison. the abolition of slavery in my native state and throughout the country, and the lapse of time, render the caution hitherto observed no longer necessary. but even since the abolition of slavery, i have sometimes thought it well enough to baffle curiosity by saying that while slavery existed there were good reasons for not telling the manner of my escape, and since slavery had ceased to exist, there was no reason for telling it. i shall now, however, cease to avail myself of this formula, and, as far as i can, endeavor to satisfy this very natural curiosity. i should, perhaps, have yielded to that feeling sooner, had there been anything very heroic or thrilling in the incidents connected with my escape, for i am sorry to say i have nothing of that sort to tell; and yet the courage that could risk betrayal and the bravery which was ready to encounter death, if need be, in pursuit of freedom, were essential features in the undertaking. my success was due to address rather than courage, to good luck rather than bravery. my means of escape were provided for me by the very men who were making laws to hold and bind me more securely in slavery. it was the custom in the state of maryland to require the free colored people to have what were called free papers. these instruments they were required to renew very often, and by charging a fee for this writing, considerable sums from time to time were collected by the state. in these papers the name, age, color, height, and form of the freeman were described, together with any scars or other marks upon his person which could assist in his identification. this device in some measure defeated itself--since more than one man could be found to answer the same general description. hence many slaves could escape by personating the owner of one set of papers; and this was often done as follows: a slave, nearly or sufficiently answering the description set forth in the papers, would borrow or hire them till by means of them he could escape to a free state, and then, by mail or otherwise, would return them to the owner. the operation was a hazardous one for the lender as well as for the borrower. a failure on the part of the fugitive to send back the papers would imperil his benefactor, and the discovery of the papers in possession of the wrong man would imperil both the fugitive and his friend. it was, therefore, an act of supreme trust on the part of a freeman of color thus to put in jeopardy his own liberty that another might be free. it was, however, not unfrequently bravely done, and was seldom discovered. i was not so fortunate as to resemble any of my free acquaintances sufficiently to answer the description of their papers. but i had a friend--a sailor--who owned a sailor's protection, which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers--describing his person, and certifying to the fact that he was a free american sailor. the instrument had at its head the american eagle, which gave it the appearance at once of an authorized document. this protection, when in my hands, did not describe its bearer very accurately. indeed, it called for a man much darker than myself, and close examination of it would have caused my arrest at the start. in order to avoid this fatal scrutiny on the part of railroad officials, i arranged with isaac rolls, a baltimore hackman, to bring my baggage to the philadelphia train just on the moment of starting, and jumped upon the car myself when the train was in motion. had i gone into the station and offered to purchase a ticket, i should have been instantly and carefully examined, and undoubtedly arrested. in choosing this plan i considered the jostle of the train, and the natural haste of the conductor, in a train crowded with passengers, and relied upon my skill and address in playing the sailor, as described in my protection, to do the rest. one element in my favor was the kind feeling which prevailed in baltimore and other sea-ports at the time, toward "those who go down to the sea in ships." "free trade and sailors' rights" just then expressed the sentiment of the country. in my clothing i was rigged out in sailor style. i had on a red shirt and a tarpaulin hat, and a black cravat tied in sailor fashion carelessly and loosely about my neck. my knowledge of ships and sailor's talk came much to my assistance, for i knew a ship from stem to stern, and from keelson to cross-trees, and could talk sailor like an "old salt." i was well on the way to havre de grace before the conductor came into the negro car to collect tickets and examine the papers of his black passengers. this was a critical moment in the drama. my whole future depended upon the decision of this conductor. agitated though i was while this ceremony was proceeding, still, externally, at least, i was apparently calm and self-possessed. he went on with his duty--examining several colored passengers before reaching me. he was somewhat harsh in tome and peremptory in manner until he reached me, when, strange enough, and to my surprise and relief, his whole manner changed. seeing that i did not readily produce my free papers, as the other colored persons in the car had done, he said to me, in friendly contrast with his bearing toward the others: "i suppose you have your free papers?" to which i answered: "no sir; i never carry my free papers to sea with me." "but you have something to show that you are a freeman, haven't you?" "yes, sir," i answered; "i have a paper with the american eagle on it, and that will carry me around the world." with this i drew from my deep sailor's pocket my seaman's protection, as before described. the merest glance at the paper satisfied him, and he took my fare and went on about his business. this moment of time was one of the most anxious i ever experienced. had the conductor looked closely at the paper, he could not have failed to discover that it called for a very different-looking person from myself, and in that case it would have been his duty to arrest me on the instant, and send me back to baltimore from the first station. when he left me with the assurance that i was all right, though much relieved, i realized that i was still in great danger: i was still in maryland, and subject to arrest at any moment. i saw on the train several persons who would have known me in any other clothes, and i feared they might recognize me, even in my sailor "rig," and report me to the conductor, who would then subject me to a closer examination, which i knew well would be fatal to me. though i was not a murderer fleeing from justice, i felt perhaps quite as miserable as such a criminal. the train was moving at a very high rate of speed for that epoch of railroad travel, but to my anxious mind it was moving far too slowly. minutes were hours, and hours were days during this part of my flight. after maryland, i was to pass through delaware--another slave state, where slave-catchers generally awaited their prey, for it was not in the interior of the state, but on its borders, that these human hounds were most vigilant and active. the border lines between slavery and freedom were the dangerous ones for the fugitives. the heart of no fox or deer, with hungry hounds on his trail in full chase, could have beaten more anxiously or noisily than did mine from the time i left baltimore till i reached philadelphia. the passage of the susquehanna river at havre de grace was at that time made by ferry-boat, on board of which i met a young colored man by the name of nichols, who came very near betraying me. he was a "hand" on the boat, but, instead of minding his business, he insisted upon knowing me, and asking me dangerous questions as to where i was going, when i was coming back, etc. i got away from my old and inconvenient acquaintance as soon as i could decently do so, and went to another part of the boat. once across the river, i encountered a new danger. only a few days before, i had been at work on a revenue cutter, in mr. price's ship-yard in baltimore, under the care of captain mcgowan. on the meeting at this point of the two trains, the one going south stopped on the track just opposite to the one going north, and it so happened that this captain mcgowan sat at a window where he could see me very distinctly, and would certainly have recognized me had he looked at me but for a second. fortunately, in the hurry of the moment, he did not see me; and the trains soon passed each other on their respective ways. but this was not my only hair-breadth escape. a german blacksmith whom i knew well was on the train with me, and looked at me very intently, as if he thought he had seen me somewhere before in his travels. i really believe he knew me, but had no heart to betray me. at any rate, he saw me escaping and held his peace. the last point of imminent danger, and the one i dreaded most, was wilmington. here we left the train and took the steam-boat for philadelphia. in making the change here i again apprehended arrest, but no one disturbed me, and i was soon on the broad and beautiful delaware, speeding away to the quaker city. on reaching philadelphia in the afternoon, i inquired of a colored man how i could get on to new york. he directed me to the william-street depot, and thither i went, taking the train that night. i reached new york tuesday morning, having completed the journey in less than twenty-four hours. my free life began on the third of september, . on the morning of the fourth of that month, after an anxious and most perilous but safe journey, i found myself in the big city of new york, a free man--one more added to the mighty throng which, like the confused waves of the troubled sea, surged to and fro between the lofty walls of broadway. though dazzled with the wonders which met me on every hand, my thoughts could not be much withdrawn from my strange situation. for the moment, the dreams of my youth and the hopes of my manhood were completely fulfilled. the bonds that had held me to "old master" were broken. no man now had a right to call me his slave or assert mastery over me. i was in the rough and tumble of an outdoor world, to take my chance with the rest of its busy number. i have often been asked how i felt when first i found myself on free soil. there is scarcely anything in my experience about which i could not give a more satisfactory answer. a new world had opened upon me. if life is more than breath and the "quick round of blood," i lived more in that one day than in a year of my slave life. it was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe. in a letter written to a friend soon after reaching new york, i said: "i felt as one might feel upon escape from a den of hungry lions." anguish and grief, like darkness and rain, may be depicted; but gladness and joy, like the rainbow, defy the skill of pen or pencil. during ten or fifteen years i had been, as it were, dragging a heavy chain which no strength of mine could break; i was not only a slave, but a slave for life. i might become a husband, a father, an aged man, but through all, from birth to death, from the cradle to the grave, i had felt myself doomed. all efforts i had previously made to secure my freedom had not only failed, but had seemed only to rivet my fetters the more firmly, and to render my escape more difficult. baffled, entangled, and discouraged, i had at times asked myself the question, may not my condition after all be god's work, and ordered for a wise purpose, and if so, is not submission my duty? a contest had in fact been going on in my mind for a long time, between the clear consciousness of right and the plausible make-shifts of theology and superstition. the one held me an abject slave--a prisoner for life, punished for some transgression in which i had no lot nor part; and the other counseled me to manly endeavor to secure my freedom. this contest was now ended; my chains were broken, and the victory brought me unspeakable joy. but my gladness was short-lived, for i was not yet out of the reach and power of the slave-holders. i soon found that new york was not quite so free or so safe a refuge as i had supposed, and a sense of loneliness and insecurity again oppressed me most sadly. i chanced to meet on the street, a few hours after my landing, a fugitive slave whom i had once known well in slavery. the information received from him alarmed me. the fugitive in question was known in baltimore as "allender's jake," but in new york he wore the more respectable name of "william dixon." jake, in law, was the property of doctor allender, and tolly allender, the son of the doctor, had once made an effort to recapture mr. dixon, but had failed for want of evidence to support his claim. jake told me the circumstances of this attempt, and how narrowly he escaped being sent back to slavery and torture. he told me that new york was then full of southerners returning from the northern watering-places; that the colored people of new york were not to be trusted; that there were hired men of my own color who would betray me for a few dollars; that there were hired men ever on the lookout for fugitives; that i must trust no man with my secret; that i must not think of going either upon the wharves or into any colored boarding-house, for all such places were closely watched; that he was himself unable to help me; and, in fact, he seemed while speaking to me to fear lest i myself might be a spy and a betrayer. under this apprehension, as i suppose, he showed signs of wishing to be rid of me, and with whitewash brush in hand, in search of work, he soon disappeared. this picture, given by poor "jake," of new york, was a damper to my enthusiasm. my little store of money would soon be exhausted, and since it would be unsafe for me to go on the wharves for work, and i had no introductions elsewhere, the prospect for me was far from cheerful. i saw the wisdom of keeping away from the ship-yards, for, if pursued, as i felt certain i should be, mr. auld, my "master," would naturally seek me there among the calkers. every door seemed closed against me. i was in the midst of an ocean of my fellow-men, and yet a perfect stranger to every one. i was without home, without acquaintance, without money, without credit, without work, and without any definite knowledge as to what course to take, or where to look for succor. in such an extremity, a man had something besides his new-born freedom to think of. while wandering about the streets of new york, and lodging at least one night among the barrels on one of the wharves, i was indeed free--from slavery, but free from food and shelter as well. i kept my secret to myself as long as i could, but i was compelled at last to seek some one who would befriend me without taking advantage of my destitution to betray me. such a person i found in a sailor named stuart, a warm-hearted and generous fellow, who, from his humble home on centre street, saw me standing on the opposite sidewalk, near the tombs prison. as he approached me, i ventured a remark to him which at once enlisted his interest in me. he took me to his home to spend the night, and in the morning went with me to mr. david ruggles, the secretary of the new york vigilance committee, a co-worker with isaac t. hopper, lewis and arthur tappan, theodore s. wright, samuel cornish, thomas downing, philip a. bell, and other true men of their time. all these (save mr. bell, who still lives, and is editor and publisher of a paper called the "elevator," in san francisco) have finished their work on earth. once in the hands of these brave and wise men, i felt comparatively safe. with mr. ruggles, on the corner of lispenard and church streets, i was hidden several days, during which time my intended wife came on from baltimore at my call, to share the burdens of life with me. she was a free woman, and came at once on getting the good news of my safety. we were married by rev. j. w. c. pennington, then a well-known and respected presbyterian minister. i had no money with which to pay the marriage fee, but he seemed well pleased with our thanks. mr. ruggles was the first officer on the "underground railroad" whom i met after coming north, and was, indeed, the only one with whom i had anything to do till i became such an officer myself. learning that my trade was that of a calker, he promptly decided that the best place for me was in new bedford, mass. he told me that many ships for whaling voyages were fitted out there, and that i might there find work at my trade and make a good living. so, on the day of the marriage ceremony, we took our little luggage to the steamer john w. richmond, which, at that time, was one of the line running between new york and newport, r. i. forty-three years ago colored travelers were not permitted in the cabin, nor allowed abaft the paddle-wheels of a steam vessel. they were compelled, whatever the weather might be,--whether cold or hot, wet or dry,--to spend the night on deck. unjust as this regulation was, it did not trouble us much; we had fared much harder before. we arrived at newport the next morning, and soon after an old fashioned stage-coach, with "new bedford" in large yellow letters on its sides, came down to the wharf. i had not money enough to pay our fare, and stood hesitating what to do. fortunately for us, there were two quaker gentlemen who were about to take passage on the stage,--friends william c. taber and joseph ricketson,--who at once discerned our true situation, and, in a peculiarly quiet way, addressing me, mr. taber said: "thee get in." i never obeyed an order with more alacrity, and we were soon on our way to our new home. when we reached "stone bridge" the passengers alighted for breakfast, and paid their fares to the driver. we took no breakfast, and, when asked for our fares, i told the driver i would make it right with him when we reached new bedford. i expected some objection to this on his part, but he made none. when, however, we reached new bedford, he took our baggage, including three music-books,--two of them collections by dyer, and one by shaw,--and held them until i was able to redeem them by paying to him the amount due for our rides. this was soon done, for mr. nathan johnson not only received me kindly and hospitably, but, on being informed about our baggage, at once loaned me the two dollars with which to square accounts with the stage-driver. mr. and mrs. nathan johnson reached a good old age, and now rest from their labors. i am under many grateful obligations to them. they not only "took me in when a stranger" and "fed me when hungry," but taught me how to make an honest living. thus, in a fortnight after my flight from maryland, i was safe in new bedford, a citizen of the grand old commonwealth of massachusetts. once initiated into my new life of freedom and assured by mr. johnson that i need not fear recapture in that city, a comparatively unimportant question arose as to the name by which i should be known thereafter in my new relation as a free man. the name given me by my dear mother was no less pretentious and long than frederick augustus washington bailey. i had, however, while living in maryland, dispensed with the augustus washington, and retained only frederick bailey. between baltimore and new bedford, the better to conceal myself from the slave-hunters, i had parted with bailey and called myself johnson; but in new bedford i found that the johnson family was already so numerous as to cause some confusion in distinguishing them, hence a change in this name seemed desirable. nathan johnson, mine host, placed great emphasis upon this necessity, and wished me to allow him to select a name for me. i consented, and he called me by my present name--the one by which i have been known for three and forty years--frederick douglass. mr. johnson had just been reading the "lady of the lake," and so pleased was he with its great character that he wished me to bear his name. since reading that charming poem myself, i have often thought that, considering the noble hospitality and manly character of nathan johnson--black man though he was--he, far more than i, illustrated the virtues of the douglas of scotland. sure am i that, if any slave-catcher had entered his domicile with a view to my recapture, johnson would have shown himself like him of the "stalwart hand." the reader may be surprised at the impressions i had in some way conceived of the social and material condition of the people at the north. i had no proper idea of the wealth, refinement, enterprise, and high civilization of this section of the country. my "columbian orator," almost my only book, had done nothing to enlighten me concerning northern society. i had been taught that slavery was the bottom fact of all wealth. with this foundation idea, i came naturally to the conclusion that poverty must be the general condition of the people of the free states. in the country from which i came, a white man holding no slaves was usually an ignorant and poverty-stricken man, and men of this class were contemptuously called "poor white trash." hence i supposed that, since the non-slave-holders at the south were ignorant, poor, and degraded as a class, the non-slave-holders at the north must be in a similar condition. i could have landed in no part of the united states where i should have found a more striking and gratifying contrast, not only to life generally in the south, but in the condition of the colored people there, than in new bedford. i was amazed when mr. johnson told me that there was nothing in the laws or constitution of massachusetts that would prevent a colored man from being governor of the state, if the people should see fit to elect him. there, too, the black man's children attended the public schools with the white man's children, and apparently without objection from any quarter. to impress me with my security from recapture and return to slavery, mr. johnson assured me that no slave-holder could take a slave out of new bedford; that there were men there who would lay down their lives to save me from such a fate. the fifth day after my arrival, i put on the clothes of a common laborer, and went upon the wharves in search of work. on my way down union street i saw a large pile of coal in front of the house of rev. ephraim peabody, the unitarian minister. i went to the kitchen door and asked the privilege of bringing in and putting away this coal. "what will you charge?" said the lady. "i will leave that to you, madam." "you may put it away," she said. i was not long in accomplishing the job, when the dear lady put into my hand two silver half-dollars. to understand the emotion which swelled my heart as i clasped this money, realizing that i had no master who could take it from me,--that it was mine--that my hands were my own, and could earn more of the precious coin,--one must have been in some sense himself a slave. my next job was stowing a sloop at uncle gid. howland's wharf with a cargo of oil for new york. i was not only a freeman, but a free working-man, and no "master" stood ready at the end of the week to seize my hard earnings. the season was growing late and work was plenty. ships were being fitted out for whaling, and much wood was used in storing them. the sawing this wood was considered a good job. with the help of old friend johnson (blessings on his memory) i got a saw and "buck," and went at it. when i went into a store to buy a cord with which to brace up my saw in the frame, i asked for a "fip's" worth of cord. the man behind the counter looked rather sharply at me, and said with equal sharpness, "you don't belong about here." i was alarmed, and thought i had betrayed myself. a fip in maryland was six and a quarter cents, called fourpence in massachusetts. but no harm came from the "fi'penny-bit" blunder, and i confidently and cheerfully went to work with my saw and buck. it was new business to me, but i never did better work, or more of it, in the same space of time on the plantation for covey, the negro-breaker, than i did for myself in these earliest years of my freedom. notwithstanding the just and humane sentiment of new bedford three and forty years ago, the place was not entirely free from race and color prejudice. the good influence of the roaches, rodmans, arnolds, grinnells, and robesons did not pervade all classes of its people. the test of the real civilization of the community came when i applied for work at my trade, and then my repulse was emphatic and decisive. it so happened that mr. rodney french, a wealthy and enterprising citizen, distinguished as an anti-slavery man, was fitting out a vessel for a whaling voyage, upon which there was a heavy job of calking and coppering to be done. i had some skill in both branches, and applied to mr. french for work. he, generous man that he was, told me he would employ me, and i might go at once to the vessel. i obeyed him, but upon reaching the float-stage, where others [sic] calkers were at work, i was told that every white man would leave the ship, in her unfinished condition, if i struck a blow at my trade upon her. this uncivil, inhuman, and selfish treatment was not so shocking and scandalous in my eyes at the time as it now appears to me. slavery had inured me to hardships that made ordinary trouble sit lightly upon me. could i have worked at my trade i could have earned two dollars a day, but as a common laborer i received but one dollar. the difference was of great importance to me, but if i could not get two dollars, i was glad to get one; and so i went to work for mr. french as a common laborer. the consciousness that i was free--no longer a slave--kept me cheerful under this, and many similar proscriptions, which i was destined to meet in new bedford and elsewhere on the free soil of massachusetts. for instance, though colored children attended the schools, and were treated kindly by their teachers, the new bedford lyceum refused, till several years after my residence in that city, to allow any colored person to attend the lectures delivered in its hall. not until such men as charles sumner, theodore parker, ralph waldo emerson, and horace mann refused to lecture in their course while there was such a restriction, was it abandoned. becoming satisfied that i could not rely on my trade in new bedford to give me a living, i prepared myself to do any kind of work that came to hand. i sawed wood, shoveled coal, dug cellars, moved rubbish from back yards, worked on the wharves, loaded and unloaded vessels, and scoured their cabins. i afterward got steady work at the brass-foundry owned by mr. richmond. my duty here was to blow the bellows, swing the crane, and empty the flasks in which castings were made; and at times this was hot and heavy work. the articles produced here were mostly for ship work, and in the busy season the foundry was in operation night and day. i have often worked two nights and every working day of the week. my foreman, mr. cobb, was a good man, and more than once protected me from abuse that one or more of the hands was disposed to throw upon me. while in this situation i had little time for mental improvement. hard work, night and day, over a furnace hot enough to keep the metal running like water, was more favorable to action than thought; yet here i often nailed a newspaper to the post near my bellows, and read while i was performing the up and down motion of the heavy beam by which the bellows was inflated and discharged. it was the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, and i look back to it now, after so many years, with some complacency and a little wonder that i could have been so earnest and persevering in any pursuit other than for my daily bread. i certainly saw nothing in the conduct of those around to inspire me with such interest: they were all devoted exclusively to what their hands found to do. i am glad to be able to say that, during my engagement in this foundry, no complaint was ever made against me that i did not do my work, and do it well. the bellows which i worked by main strength was, after i left, moved by a steam-engine. douglass, frederick. "reconstruction." atlantic monthly ( ): - . reconstruction the assembling of the second session of the thirty-ninth congress may very properly be made the occasion of a few earnest words on the already much-worn topic of reconstruction. seldom has any legislative body been the subject of a solicitude more intense, or of aspirations more sincere and ardent. there are the best of reasons for this profound interest. questions of vast moment, left undecided by the last session of congress, must be manfully grappled with by this. no political skirmishing will avail. the occasion demands statesmanship. whether the tremendous war so heroically fought and so victoriously ended shall pass into history a miserable failure, barren of permanent results,--a scandalous and shocking waste of blood and treasure,--a strife for empire, as earl russell characterized it, of no value to liberty or civilization,--an attempt to re-establish a union by force, which must be the merest mockery of a union,--an effort to bring under federal authority states into which no loyal man from the north may safely enter, and to bring men into the national councils who deliberate with daggers and vote with revolvers, and who do not even conceal their deadly hate of the country that conquered them; or whether, on the other hand, we shall, as the rightful reward of victory over treason, have a solid nation, entirely delivered from all contradictions and social antagonisms, based upon loyalty, liberty, and equality, must be determined one way or the other by the present session of congress. the last session really did nothing which can be considered final as to these questions. the civil rights bill and the freedmen's bureau bill and the proposed constitutional amendments, with the amendment already adopted and recognized as the law of the land, do not reach the difficulty, and cannot, unless the whole structure of the government is changed from a government by states to something like a despotic central government, with power to control even the municipal regulations of states, and to make them conform to its own despotic will. while there remains such an idea as the right of each state to control its own local affairs,--an idea, by the way, more deeply rooted in the minds of men of all sections of the country than perhaps any one other political idea,--no general assertion of human rights can be of any practical value. to change the character of the government at this point is neither possible nor desirable. all that is necessary to be done is to make the government consistent with itself, and render the rights of the states compatible with the sacred rights of human nature. the arm of the federal government is long, but it is far too short to protect the rights of individuals in the interior of distant states. they must have the power to protect themselves, or they will go unprotected, spite of all the laws the federal government can put upon the national statute-book. slavery, like all other great systems of wrong, founded in the depths of human selfishness, and existing for ages, has not neglected its own conservation. it has steadily exerted an influence upon all around it favorable to its own continuance. and to-day it is so strong that it could exist, not only without law, but even against law. custom, manners, morals, religion, are all on its side everywhere in the south; and when you add the ignorance and servility of the ex-slave to the intelligence and accustomed authority of the master, you have the conditions, not out of which slavery will again grow, but under which it is impossible for the federal government to wholly destroy it, unless the federal government be armed with despotic power, to blot out state authority, and to station a federal officer at every cross-road. this, of course, cannot be done, and ought not even if it could. the true way and the easiest way is to make our government entirely consistent with itself, and give to every loyal citizen the elective franchise,--a right and power which will be ever present, and will form a wall of fire for his protection. one of the invaluable compensations of the late rebellion is the highly instructive disclosure it made of the true source of danger to republican government. whatever may be tolerated in monarchical and despotic governments, no republic is safe that tolerates a privileged class, or denies to any of its citizens equal rights and equal means to maintain them. what was theory before the war has been made fact by the war. there is cause to be thankful even for rebellion. it is an impressive teacher, though a stern and terrible one. in both characters it has come to us, and it was perhaps needed in both. it is an instructor never a day before its time, for it comes only when all other means of progress and enlightenment have failed. whether the oppressed and despairing bondman, no longer able to repress his deep yearnings for manhood, or the tyrant, in his pride and impatience, takes the initiative, and strikes the blow for a firmer hold and a longer lease of oppression, the result is the same,--society is instructed, or may be. such are the limitations of the common mind, and so thoroughly engrossing are the cares of common life, that only the few among men can discern through the glitter and dazzle of present prosperity the dark outlines of approaching disasters, even though they may have come up to our very gates, and are already within striking distance. the yawning seam and corroded bolt conceal their defects from the mariner until the storm calls all hands to the pumps. prophets, indeed, were abundant before the war; but who cares for prophets while their predictions remain unfulfilled, and the calamities of which they tell are masked behind a blinding blaze of national prosperity? it is asked, said henry clay, on a memorable occasion, will slavery never come to an end? that question, said he, was asked fifty years ago, and it has been answered by fifty years of unprecedented prosperity. spite of the eloquence of the earnest abolitionists,--poured out against slavery during thirty years,--even they must confess, that, in all the probabilities of the case, that system of barbarism would have continued its horrors far beyond the limits of the nineteenth century but for the rebellion, and perhaps only have disappeared at last in a fiery conflict, even more fierce and bloody than that which has now been suppressed. it is no disparagement to truth, that it can only prevail where reason prevails. war begins where reason ends. the thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion. what that thing is, we have been taught to our cost. it remains now to be seen whether we have the needed courage to have that cause entirely removed from the republic. at any rate, to this grand work of national regeneration and entire purification congress must now address itself, with full purpose that the work shall this time be thoroughly done. the deadly upas, root and branch, leaf and fibre, body and sap, must be utterly destroyed. the country is evidently not in a condition to listen patiently to pleas for postponement, however plausible, nor will it permit the responsibility to be shifted to other shoulders. authority and power are here commensurate with the duty imposed. there are no cloud-flung shadows to obscure the way. truth shines with brighter light and intenser heat at every moment, and a country torn and rent and bleeding implores relief from its distress and agony. if time was at first needed, congress has now had time. all the requisite materials from which to form an intelligent judgment are now before it. whether its members look at the origin, the progress, the termination of the war, or at the mockery of a peace now existing, they will find only one unbroken chain of argument in favor of a radical policy of reconstruction. for the omissions of the last session, some excuses may be allowed. a treacherous president stood in the way; and it can be easily seen how reluctant good men might be to admit an apostasy which involved so much of baseness and ingratitude. it was natural that they should seek to save him by bending to him even when he leaned to the side of error. but all is changed now. congress knows now that it must go on without his aid, and even against his machinations. the advantage of the present session over the last is immense. where that investigated, this has the facts. where that walked by faith, this may walk by sight. where that halted, this must go forward, and where that failed, this must succeed, giving the country whole measures where that gave us half-measures, merely as a means of saving the elections in a few doubtful districts. that congress saw what was right, but distrusted the enlightenment of the loyal masses; but what was forborne in distrust of the people must now be done with a full knowledge that the people expect and require it. the members go to washington fresh from the inspiring presence of the people. in every considerable public meeting, and in almost every conceivable way, whether at court-house, school-house, or cross-roads, in doors and out, the subject has been discussed, and the people have emphatically pronounced in favor of a radical policy. listening to the doctrines of expediency and compromise with pity, impatience, and disgust, they have everywhere broken into demonstrations of the wildest enthusiasm when a brave word has been spoken in favor of equal rights and impartial suffrage. radicalism, so far from being odious, is not the popular passport to power. the men most bitterly charged with it go to congress with the largest majorities, while the timid and doubtful are sent by lean majorities, or else left at home. the strange controversy between the president and the congress, at one time so threatening, is disposed of by the people. the high reconstructive powers which he so confidently, ostentatiously, and haughtily claimed, have been disallowed, denounced, and utterly repudiated; while those claimed by congress have been confirmed. of the spirit and magnitude of the canvass nothing need be said. the appeal was to the people, and the verdict was worthy of the tribunal. upon an occasion of his own selection, with the advice and approval of his astute secretary, soon after the members of the congress had returned to their constituents, the president quitted the executive mansion, sandwiched himself between two recognized heroes,--men whom the whole country delighted to honor,--and, with all the advantage which such company could give him, stumped the country from the atlantic to the mississippi, advocating everywhere his policy as against that of congress. it was a strange sight, and perhaps the most disgraceful exhibition ever made by any president; but, as no evil is entirely unmixed, good has come of this, as from many others. ambitious, unscrupulous, energetic, indefatigable, voluble, and plausible,--a political gladiator, ready for a "set-to" in any crowd,--he is beaten in his own chosen field, and stands to-day before the country as a convicted usurper, a political criminal, guilty of a bold and persistent attempt to possess himself of the legislative powers solemnly secured to congress by the constitution. no vindication could be more complete, no condemnation could be more absolute and humiliating. unless reopened by the sword, as recklessly threatened in some circles, this question is now closed for all time. without attempting to settle here the metaphysical and somewhat theological question (about which so much has already been said and written), whether once in the union means always in the union,--agreeably to the formula, once in grace always in grace,--it is obvious to common sense that the rebellious states stand to-day, in point of law, precisely where they stood when, exhausted, beaten, conquered, they fell powerless at the feet of federal authority. their state governments were overthrown, and the lives and property of the leaders of the rebellion were forfeited. in reconstructing the institutions of these shattered and overthrown states, congress should begin with a clean slate, and make clean work of it. let there be no hesitation. it would be a cowardly deference to a defeated and treacherous president, if any account were made of the illegitimate, one-sided, sham governments hurried into existence for a malign purpose in the absence of congress. these pretended governments, which were never submitted to the people, and from participation in which four millions of the loyal people were excluded by presidential order, should now be treated according to their true character, as shams and impositions, and supplanted by true and legitimate governments, in the formation of which loyal men, black and white, shall participate. it is not, however, within the scope of this paper to point out the precise steps to be taken, and the means to be employed. the people are less concerned about these than the grand end to be attained. they demand such a reconstruction as shall put an end to the present anarchical state of things in the late rebellious states,--where frightful murders and wholesale massacres are perpetrated in the very presence of federal soldiers. this horrible business they require shall cease. they want a reconstruction such as will protect loyal men, black and white, in their persons and property; such a one as will cause northern industry, northern capital, and northern civilization to flow into the south, and make a man from new england as much at home in carolina as elsewhere in the republic. no chinese wall can now be tolerated. the south must be opened to the light of law and liberty, and this session of congress is relied upon to accomplish this important work. the plain, common-sense way of doing this work, as intimated at the beginning, is simply to establish in the south one law, one government, one administration of justice, one condition to the exercise of the elective franchise, for men of all races and colors alike. this great measure is sought as earnestly by loyal white men as by loyal blacks, and is needed alike by both. let sound political prescience but take the place of an unreasoning prejudice, and this will be done. men denounce the negro for his prominence in this discussion; but it is no fault of his that in peace as in war, that in conquering rebel armies as in reconstructing the rebellious states, the right of the negro is the true solution of our national troubles. the stern logic of events, which goes directly to the point, disdaining all concern for the color or features of men, has determined the interests of the country as identical with and inseparable from those of the negro. the policy that emancipated and armed the negro--now seen to have been wise and proper by the dullest--was not certainly more sternly demanded than is now the policy of enfranchisement. if with the negro was success in war, and without him failure, so in peace it will be found that the nation must fall or flourish with the negro. fortunately, the constitution of the united states knows no distinction between citizens on account of color. neither does it know any difference between a citizen of a state and a citizen of the united states. citizenship evidently includes all the rights of citizens, whether state or national. if the constitution knows none, it is clearly no part of the duty of a republican congress now to institute one. the mistake of the last session was the attempt to do this very thing, by a renunciation of its power to secure political rights to any class of citizens, with the obvious purpose to allow the rebellious states to disfranchise, if they should see fit, their colored citizens. this unfortunate blunder must now be retrieved, and the emasculated citizenship given to the negro supplanted by that contemplated in the constitution of the united states, which declares that the citizens of each state shall enjoy all the rights and immunities of citizens of the several states,--so that a legal voter in any state shall be a legal voter in all the states. produced from images generously made available by the internet archive.) the reconstruction of georgia studies in history, economics and public law edited by the faculty of political science of columbia university volume xiii] [number the reconstruction of georgia by edwin c. woolley, ph.d. new york the columbia university press the macmillan company, agents london: p. s. king & son table of contents page chapter i presidential reconstruction chapter ii the johnson government chapter iii congress and the johnson governments--the reconstruction acts of chapter iv the administrations of pope and meade chapter v the supposed restoration of chapter vi the expulsion of the negroes from the legislature and the uses to which this event was applied chapter vii congressional action regarding georgia from december, , to december, chapter viii the execution of the act of december , , and the final restoration chapter ix reconstruction and the state government chapter x conclusion bibliography list of abbreviations a. a. c. = american annual cyclopaedia. b. a. = address of bullock to the people of georgia, a pamphlet dated . b. l. = letter from bullock to the chairman of the ku klux committee, published in atlanta in . c. g. = congressional globe. c. r. = report of the state comptroller. e. d. = united states executive documents. e. m. = executive minutes (of georgia). g. o. d. s. = general orders issued in the department of the south. g. o. h. = general orders issued from the headquarters of the army. g. o. m. d. g. = general orders issued in the military district of georgia. g. o. t. m. d. = general orders issued in the third military district. h. j. = journal of the georgia house of representatives. h. m. d. = united states house miscellaneous documents. j. c., = journal of the georgia constitutional convention of . j. c., - = journal of the georgia constitutional convention of - . k. k. r. = ku klux report (report of the joint committee of congress on the conditions in the late insurrectionary states, submitted at the d session of the d congress, ). m. c. u. = milledgeville _confederate union_. m. f. u. = milledgeville _federal union_. r. c. = reports of committees of the united states house of representatives. r. s. w. = report of the secretary of war. s. d. = united states senate documents. s. j. = journal of the georgia senate. s. l. = session laws of georgia. s. r. = united states senate reports. s. o. m. d. g. = special orders issued in the military district of georgia. s. o. t. m. d. = special orders issued in the third military district. u. s. l. = united states statutes at large. chapter i presidential reconstruction the question, what political disposition should be made of the confederate states after the destruction of their military power, began to be prominent in public discussion in december, . it was then that president lincoln announced his policy upon the subject, which was to restore each state to its former position in the union as soon as one-tenth of its population had taken the oath of allegiance prescribed in his amnesty proclamation and had organized a state government pledged to abolish slavery. this policy lincoln applied to those states which were subdued by the federal forces during his administration, viz., tennessee, arkansas and louisiana. when the remaining states of the confederacy surrendered in , president johnson applied the same policy, with some modifications, to each of them (except virginia, where he simply recognized the pierpont government). before this policy was put into operation, however, an effort was made by some of the leaders of the confederacy to secure the restoration of those states to the union without the reconstruction and the pledge required by the president. after the surrender of lee's army (april , ), general j. e. johnston, acting under the authority of jefferson davis and with the advice of breckenridge, the confederate secretary of war, and reagan, the confederate postmaster general, proposed to general sherman the surrender of all the confederate armies then in existence on certain conditions. among these was the condition that the executive of the united states should recognize the lately hostile state governments upon the renewal by their officers of their oath of allegiance to the federal constitution, and that the people of the states so recognized should be guaranteed, so far as this lay in the power of the executive, their political rights as defined by the federal constitution. sherman signed a convention with johnston agreeing to these terms, on april . that he intended by the agreement to commit the federal government to any permanent policy is doubtful. but when the convention was communicated for ratification to his superiors at headquarters, they showed the most decided opposition to granting the terms proposed even temporarily. the convention was emphatically disavowed, and on april sherman had to content himself with the surrender of johnston's army only, agreed to on purely military terms.[ ] georgia formed a part of the district under the command of general johnston. as soon, therefore, as the news of the surrender could reach that state, hostilities there ceased. on may , governor brown issued a summons for a meeting of the state legislature to take place on may , in order that measures might be taken "to prevent anarchy, restore and preserve order, and save what [could be saved] of liberty and civilization."[ ] at a time of general consternation, when military operations had displaced local government and closed the courts in many places, when the whole population was in want[ ] through the devastation of the war or through the collapse of the confederate currency which followed the collapse of the confederate army,[ ] the need of such measures was apparent. the calling of the legislature incurred the disapproval of the federal authorities for two reasons. first, they regarded it as an attempt to prepare for further hostilities, and they accordingly arrested brown, carried him to washington, and put him in prison.[ ] second, in any case, as the disavowal of the convention of april had shown, they did not intend to allow the state governments of the south to resume their regular activities at once, and accordingly the commander of the department of the south issued orders on may , declaring void the proclamation of joseph e. brown, "styling himself governor of georgia," and forbidding obedience thereto.[ ] the federal army now took control of the entire state government. detachments were stationed in all the principal towns and county seats, and the commanders sometimes removed the civil officers and appointed others, sometimes allowed them to remain, subject to their direction. military orders were issued regarding a wide range of civil affairs, such as school administration, sanitary provisions, the regulation of trade, the fixing of prices at which commodities should be sold, etc.[ ] the provost marshal's courts were further useful, to some extent, as substitutes for the state courts, whose operations were largely interrupted.[ ] directions to the officers of the department admonished them that "the military authority should sustain, not assume the functions of, civil authority," except when the latter course was necessary to preserve the peace.[ ] this admonition from headquarters, issued after the president's plan for reinstating georgia in the union had been put into operation, reflects his desire for a quick restoration of normal government. president johnson announced his policy toward the seceded states in his proclamation of may , , regarding north carolina. by it a provisional governor was appointed for that state, with the duty of making the necessary arrangements for the meeting of a constitutional convention, to be composed of and elected by men who had taken the oath of allegiance prescribed by, the president's amnesty proclamation of the same date, and who were qualified voters according to the laws of the state in force before the war. the proclamation did not state what the president would require of the convention, but we may mention by way of anticipation that his requirements were the revocation of the ordinance of secession, the construction of a new state government in place of the rebel government, the repudiation of the rebel debt, and the abolition of slavery within the state. the provisional governor was further authorized to do whatever was "necessary and proper to enable [the] loyal people of the state of north carolina to restore said state to its constitutional relations to the federal government."[ ] for each of the states subdued in , except virginia, a provisional governor was appointed by a similar proclamation. on june , james johnson, a citizen of georgia, was appointed to the position in that state.[ ] on july th, he issued a proclamation providing for the election of the convention. delegates were distributed on the basis of the legislature of ; the first wednesday in october was set for the election, and the fourth wednesday in the same month for the meeting of the convention.[ ] next, the provisional governor undertook the task of securing popular support to the programme of restoration. to encourage subscription to the amnesty oath (a prerequisite to voting for delegates to the convention) he removed the disagreeable necessity of taking it before the military authorities by directing the ordinary and the clerk of the superior court of each county to administer it.[ ] he made many speeches throughout the state urging the citizens to take the amnesty oath, to enter earnestly into the election of the convention, and to submit quietly to the conditions imposed by the president. his efforts were very successful. this was partly due to the place he held in public estimation. he was a lawyer widely known and universally respected. it was also partly due to the attitude of governor brown. brown, after a confinement of several weeks in prison at washington, secured an interview with president johnson, and satisfied the president that his object in calling the legislature was simply public relief, that he had no intention to prolong the war, but calmly submitted to the fact that his side was defeated.[ ] this explanation and the spirit displayed were so satisfactory to johnson that brown was released, and permitted to return to georgia. his return, remarked johnson, "can be turned to good account. he will at once go to work and do all he can in restoring the state."[ ] this prediction proved correct. the war governor of georgia became the type of those secessionists who practised and counseled quiet acceptance of the terms imposed by the conqueror, as the most sensible and advantageous course. on june th he issued an address to the people of georgia, resigning the governorship, and advising acquiescence in the abolition of slavery and active participation in the reorganization of the state government according to the president's wishes.[ ] the assumption of this attitude by brown grieved and offended some of his fellow secessionists. but the majority shared his opinion. the provisional governor was welcomed, and his speeches approved on all sides.[ ] the result was that the convention which met on october th was a body distinguished for the reputation and ability of its members. the convention was called to order by the provisional governor, and chose as permanent chairman herschel v. johnson.[ ] then a message from the provisional governor was read, suggesting certain measures of finance and other state business requiring immediate action, suggesting also certain alterations in the state judiciary, but especially pointing out the chief objects of the convention, viz., the passage of those acts requisite for the restoration of the state.[ ] these measures the convention quickly proceeded to pass. on october th it repealed the ordinance of secession and the ordinance ratifying the confederate constitution;[ ] by paragraph of article i. of the new constitution it abolished slavery in the state; and on november th, the last day of the session, it declared the state debt contracted to aid the confederacy void.[ ] the convention provided for a general state election on the following november th, and to expedite complete restoration, anticipated the regular work of the legislature by creating congressional districts, in order that georgia's representatives might be chosen at that election.[ ] one thing now remained to be done before the president would withdraw federal power and leave the state to its own government, viz., ratification of the thirteenth amendment. the legislature elected on november th assembled on december th.[ ] the provisional governor, according to the president's directions,[ ] laid the thirteenth amendment before it. the amendment was ratified on december th.[ ] after this the provisional governor was relieved, the governor elect was inaugurated (december th), and the president sent a courteous message of recognition to the latter.[ ] thus the president, having reconstructed the state government, had restored georgia to statehood so far as its internal government was concerned. there remained only the admission of its representatives to congress to complete the restoration. chapter ii the johnson government from the conduct of the state governments formed in georgia and the other southern states under the direction of president johnson, the public opinion of the north drew conclusions regarding three things; the disposition of the people represented by those governments toward the emancipated slaves, their attitude toward the cause for which they had fought, and their feeling toward the power which had subdued them. this chapter treats the johnson government of georgia from the same points of view. whatever may have been the prevailing disposition of the white people toward the slaves while slavery flourished, shortly before the close of the war that disposition was characterized by benevolence and gratitude. in spite of the opportunities of escape, and of plunder and other violence, offered by the times, the slaves had acted with singular faithfulness and devotion.[ ] the gratitude of their masters even went so far as to propose plans for the general education of the negroes.[ ] the close of the war and the advent of emancipation produced a change in the conduct of the negroes, which in time produced a change in the attitude of the white people. the negroes, from the talk which they heard and did not understand, and from their ignorant imaginations, conceived strange ideas of emancipation. they supposed it meant governmental bounty, idleness, and wealth. they abandoned their work, wandered about the country, collected in towns--in short, manifested a general restlessness and demoralization. this caused alarm and apprehension among the white people. there were other causes of friction between the two races. many negroes, on discovering that they were free, assumed what are known as "airs;" and then as now, among things intolerable to a southern white man a "sassy nigger" held a curious pre-eminence. the airs of the negro and the wrath of the white man were both augmented by officious members of the freedmen's bureau. moreover, because the negroes had gained by the humiliation of the south, they received a share of the venom of defeat. another element of discord was furnished by a particular part of the white population, the so-called poor whites. these saw in the new _protégés_ of the united states not only a rival laboring class, but a menace to their social position, and hence assumed an attitude of jealousy and hatred. such were the conditions favorable to social disturbance which followed emancipation. in the latter part of they had already begun to produce their natural result. violent encounters between negroes and white men (in which the latter were almost always the aggressors) were noticeably frequent.[ ] to this social demoralization was added economic distress and perplexity. the devastation of the war had fallen with especial severity upon georgia. worse still, the people seemed unable to repair the damage or to return to productive activity. planters seemed unable to adapt themselves to the new economic conditions. slavery, the system which they understood, was gone; they used the new system with little success, all the less because of the restlessness of the negroes. such were the conditions and dangers with which the johnson government had to deal as it best could. it was believed by northern statesmen that the situation would be mastered by enfranchising the negroes and investing them with a citizenship exactly equal to that of white persons.[ ] the georgia constitution of made it clear that the georgia law-makers were not disciples of that school. that constitution confined the electoral franchise to "free white male citizens."[ ] it ordered the legislature at its first session "to provide by law for the government of free persons of color," for "guarding them and the state against any evil that may arise from their sudden emancipation," and "for the regulation of their transactions with citizens;" also "to create county courts with jurisdiction in criminal cases excepted from the exclusive jurisdiction of the superior [county] court, and in civil cases whereto free persons of color may be parties," and to make rules "prescribing in what cases their testimony shall be admitted in the courts."[ ] the legislation enacted in in the interest of the public peace and order consisted of-- . an apprentice law. by this it was made the duty of the judges of the county courts to bind out minors whose parents were dead or unable to support them as apprentices until the age of twenty-one. a master receiving an apprentice under this law was to teach him a trade, furnish him food, clothes, and medicine, teach him habits of industry, honesty, and morality, teach him to read the english language, and govern him with humanity. on default of any of these requirements a master was to be fined. the judge having charge of this law might, on application from an apprentice or an apprentice's friend, dissolve the contract on account of cruelty on the part of the master. an apprentice at the end of his term was entitled to an allowance from the master "with which to begin life." the amount was left to the master's generosity, but if he offered less than $ the apprentice might complain to the court, which should then fix the amount.[ ] . a vagrancy law. vagrancy was defined in the usual language of our criminal codes. the penalty was heavier than these usually provide, because the need of suppressing the vice was more urgent than usual. a vagrant might be fined or imprisoned at the discretion of the court, or sentenced to labor on the public works for not more than one year; or he might, at the discretion of the court "be bound out to some person for a time not more than one year, upon such valuable consideration as the court may prescribe."[ ] . alterations in the penal laws. these alterations were of two contrasting kinds. the penalty for burglary in the night, arson, horse stealing and rape was changed from long imprisonment[ ] to death,[ ] which, however, might be in every case commuted to life imprisonment.[ ] on the other hand, several hundred crimes, including all the species of larceny except that mentioned above, were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors, and the penalties from imprisonment in the penitentiary to fine, imprisonment in the county jail, or whipping, at the discretion of the court.[ ] this mitigation of punishment was made in consideration of the negroes' ignorance of the nature of their offences, due to the fact that these had before been punished by their masters and not by the law. probably the capacity of the penitentiary was also considered. to facilitate the transition from the old labor system to the new by remedying in some degree the instability of the labor supply, the legislature made it a crime to employ any servant during the term for which he had contracted to work for another, or to induce a servant to quit the service of an employer before the close of the period contracted for.[ ] regarding the civil rights and relations of the negroes the following legislation was passed: . a law in these words: that persons of color shall have the right to make and enforce contracts; to sue, be sued; to be parties and give evidence; to inherit; to purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property; and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and estate; and shall not be subject to any other or different punishment, pain or penalty for the commission of any act or offence than such as are prescribed for white persons committing like acts or offences.[ ] . a provision, implied in the law above quoted, that negroes were to be held competent witnesses in all courts in cases, civil or criminal, whereto persons of color should be parties.[ ] . certain provisions for establishing among the negroes the regular relations between husband and wife, parent and child, in place of the irregular relations which had prevailed under slavery.[ ] . the prohibition of marriage between negroes and white persons.[ ] this last provision, and also the exclusion of the testimony of negroes from cases whereto a colored person was not party, are of social rather than legal importance, since their effect was to separate the two races, but not to deprive the negroes of the equal protection and benefit of the law. they were like the school law, which provided that only "free white inhabitants of the state" were entitled to instruction in the public schools.[ ] the johnson government thus assigned to the negroes a position of political incapacity, social inferiority, but equality of civil rights. this plan was very remote from that in favor in the north, but it is not thereby condemned. as to the measures of the johnson government for remedying industrial distress and guarding against social dangers, we search them in vain for the inhuman harshness to the negroes which they were reputed to embody. this legislation of georgia was more favorable to the negroes than that of the other johnson governments. but the north looked at the conquered south as a whole, and if the difference of the laws of georgia from those of other states was noticed, it was quickly forgotten. to northern public opinion the scheme for the treatment of the negroes embodied in the georgia laws, even if its mildness had been recognized, would have been a cause of indignation. this was the consummate hour of a humanitarian enthusiasm sprung from forty years of anti-slavery agitation, and now intensified by the passions of the war. in such an hour a plan which frankly denied to the negroes political and social equality was looked upon as an offence against justice and humanity. the georgia law-makers had sought for a plan to meet immediate necessities, not a plan for the elevation of the black race. to demand that georgia, stricken and menaced as she was, should pass by the needs of the present and enter upon a vague scheme of philanthropy, was unreasonable. it was just as unreasonable to conclude from the course which georgia took, that the black race in georgia would be forever held down, or that positive encouragement would be withheld as time went on. nevertheless the public opinion of the north made this demand and drew these conclusions. having stated the attitude of the johnson government to the emancipated slave, we next come to its attitude toward the fallen confederacy and toward the federal government. and with reference to this subject the following facts are to be noticed: . almost the first act of the constitutional convention was to vote a memorial to the president in behalf of jefferson davis.[ ] . the convention, instead of declaring that the ordinance of secession was an act of illegality and error, and was null and void, laconically declared it "repealed."[ ] . the convention anticipated the function of the legislature in order to provide pensions for the wounded confederate soldiers and for widows of the dead.[ ] through the legislature georgia showed herself equally frank in expressing affection and regret for the lost cause, and equally wanting in an attitude of humility to the federal government--or at least to the dominant party in congress. on the recommendation of the governor she rejected the fourteenth amendment by an almost unanimous vote, largely because of the disabilities it imposed on the leaders of the confederacy.[ ] instead of remaining a humbly silent spectator of the controversy between the president and congress, she boldly thanked the president for his "regard for the constitutional rights of states," and for "the determined will that says to a still hostile faction of her recent foes, 'thus far shalt thou go and no farther. peace, be still.'"[ ] she continued to provide for the unfortunate champions of the confederacy, characterizing this action as "a holy and patriotic duty."[ ] she extended expressions of "sincerest condolence and warmest sympathy" to the illustrious state prisoner, jefferson davis, declaring that her "warmest affections cluster[ed] around the fallen chief of a once dear but now abandoned cause."[ ] these acts and resolutions expressed through the government the spirit which was found among the people by direct observers--a spirit of submission to irresistible force, in some cases sullen, in most cases unrepentant.[ ] at that time the absence of that spirit would have been extraordinary. but the public opinion of the north regarded it not as the aftermath of war, which would soon pass, but as a spirit which, if left undisciplined, would break out in another war. this belief, and the belief that the negroes were destined by the southern governments to suffer injustice and debasement, and that the ballot was their only salvation, gave rise to two corresponding purposes--to chasten the rebellious spirit of the south, and to invest the negroes with the voting franchise by force. to destroy the state governments of the south and rebuild them on a basis of negro suffrage would accomplish both these purposes. this plan was also supported for the sake of a third purpose, viz., to secure for the republican party the votes of the negroes. there were thus three classes of men bent on abolishing the johnson government. we may call them the disciplinarians, the humanitarians, and the republican politicians. chapter iii congressional deliberations and actions concerning the johnson governments, ending in the reconstruction acts of when congress met on december , , president johnson informed it of the measures he had taken for restoring the southern states and of the conditions he had required as necessary to restoration. he emphasized the requirement that the thirteenth amendment be ratified (which, as stated in chapter i, was complied with in georgia five days later). it is not too much to ask [he said], in the name of the whole people, that, on the one side, the plan of restoration shall proceed in conformity with a willingness to cast the disorders of the past into oblivion; and that, on the other, the evidence of sincerity in the future maintenance of the union shall be put beyond any doubt by the ratification of the proposed amendment.... the amendment to the constitution being adopted, it would remain for the states ... to resume their places in the two branches of the national legislature.[ ] that congress was not entirely pleased with the president's course; that it did not agree with him considering the adoption of the thirteenth amendment, the most that could be asked of the southern states, and that it did not intend to give effect to his last suggestion, soon became apparent. in the senate, on the day on which the president's message was read, sumner offered resolutions to the effect that before the southern states should be admitted to representation in congress they must enfranchise "all citizens," establish systems of education open to negroes equally with white people, and choose loyal persons for state and national offices.[ ] the resolutions concluded: "that the states cannot be precipitated back to political power and independence, but they must wait until these conditions are in all respects fulfilled."[ ] the house of representatives, after organizing, immediately proposed to the senate a joint committee to "inquire into the condition of the states which formed the so-called confederate states of america, and report whether they, or any of them, are entitled to be represented in either house of congress." the senate accepted the proposal, and on december the committee was formed.[ ] five months passed before the committee reported. during that interval congress took no action determining the question at issue. a vast number of bills and resolutions was introduced proposing various modes of treatment for the southern states and various theories regarding their status, which are interesting to the historian, but all of which fell by the way. the freedmen's bureau bill, if it had become law during this period, would have implied that in the opinion of congress the late confederate states were simply territory of the united states and not states in the union.[ ] but this bill failed to be repassed over the president's veto.[ ] the civil rights bill, which became law on april , , made it a crime to discriminate against any person on account of his race or color under the alleged authority of any state law or custom, gave the federal judicial authorities power to arrest and punish any person guilty of this offense, and also gave the federal courts jurisdiction over any case before a state court in which such discrimination was attempted.[ ] this law created entirely new relations between federal and state authority, but since it was passed as an act to enforce the thirteenth amendment,[ ] and applied to all states alike, it committed congress to no declaration regarding the status of the southern states. the joint committee made its long-expected report on april , .[ ] a great number of witnesses had been examined regarding conditions in the south, whose testimony fills a large volume and purports to be the basis of the committee's report. the committee thought that since the johnson governments had been set up under the military authority of the president and were merely instruments through which he had exercised that power in governing conquered territory, they were not regular state governments. this belief was confirmed by the fact that the existing state constitutions had been framed by conventions acting under the constant direction of the president, and also by the fact that they had not been submitted to the people for adoption. the johnson governments then were not state governments at all, and so could not send representatives to congress. the committee appealed less to this constitutional argument than to arguments of policy. it was willing to grant the "profitless abstraction" that the southern states still remained states. the people of those states had waged war on the united states. though subdued, they were defiant, disloyal, and abusive. they showed no disposition to abate their hatred for the union or their affection for the confederacy. to accord to such a people entire independence, taking no measures for security from future danger; to admit their representatives to congress; to allow conquered enemies "to participate in making laws for their conquerors;" to turn over to the custody of recent enemies the treasury, the army, the whole administration--this would be madness unexampled. for these reasons the committee recommended a joint resolution and two bills. the resolution proposed an amendment to the constitution forbidding any state to abridge the civil rights of citizens of the united states, or to deny to any person the equal protection of the laws, providing that a state which withheld the electoral franchise from negroes should suffer a deduction from its congressional representation, and providing that until all adherents to the confederacy should be excluded from voting for members of congress and for presidential electors. the first of the two bills was to enact "that whenever the above recited amendment [should] have become a part of the constitution of the united states, and any state lately in insurrection [should] have ratified the same, and [should] have modified its constitution and laws in accordance therewith," then its representatives might be admitted to congress. the second bill was to make ineligible to office under the united states men who had been prominent in the service of the confederacy. a minority of the committee took issue with the majority on both its legal and its political views. the states under consideration, said the minority, had never gone out of the union; therefore, being states of the union, congress could not lawfully deprive them of their rights as states. that the johnson governments were only the machinery of military occupation, set up by the conquering general, was denied. we know [said the minority report] that [the southern states] have governments completely organized, with legislative, executive, and judicial functions. we know that they are now in successful operation; no one within their limits questions their legality, or is denied their protection. how they were formed, under what auspices they were formed, are inquiries with which congress has no concern. a state is under no restriction as to the mode of altering its constitution; if it chooses to receive assistance from the president, or any one else, the validity of the amended constitution is not affected. to the statement of the majority regarding the disposition of the southern people, the minority opposed the high authority of general grant. in an official report he had said: i am satisfied that the mass of thinking men of the south accept the present situation of affairs in good faith.... [they] are in earnest in wishing to do what they think is required by the government ... and if such a course was pointed out they would pursue it in good faith. the right way in which to deal with the southern people was, then, to conciliate them, as the president had tried to do, not to perpetuate their hostility. if congress adopted the program recommended by the majority, said the minority, it would repudiate its own solemn declaration made in , that this war is not waged upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those states, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the constitution, and to preserve the union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several states unimpaired.[ ] the proposed provisions regarding ineligibility would dishonor the government by annulling the pardons granted by the president. further, the program contradicted itself, since it proposed to treat the southern communities as states, in submitting a constitutional amendment to them, while at the same time imposing on them conditions to which a state could not lawfully be subjected. after a debate of which these two opposing reports are a convenient summary, congress adopted the program of the committee. the joint resolution, changed into a form embodying the present fourteenth amendment, was passed on june , .[ ] the two bills proposed were taken up, but congress adjourned without bringing them to a final vote, leaving the south to be regulated during the recess by the civil rights act, and by an act, passed over the president's veto on july , embodying in a less drastic form the provisions of the freedmen's bureau bill which had failed in february.[ ] when congress met in december, , the same voluminous mass of reconstruction proposals and declaratory resolutions appeared in both houses as at the last session. but the denunciation of the president and of the johnson governments was more emphatic in these bills and resolutions, as well as in the debates. sumner proposed a resolution to this effect: that all proceedings with a view to reconstruction originating in executive power are in the nature of usurpation; that this usurpation becomes especially offensive when it sets aside the fundamental truths of our institutions; that it is shocking to common sense when it undertakes to derive new governments from the hostile populations which have just been engaged in armed rebellion, and that all governments having such origin are necessarily illegal and void.[ ] another resolution proposed that the committee of the house on territories be instructed to take steps for organizing the districts known as virginia, north carolina, etc., into states. cullom said in a speech: during the last session of this congress we sent to the country a proposed amendment to the constitution.... the people of the rebel states by their pretended legislatures are treating it with scorn and contempt.... it is time, sir, that the people of the states were informed in language not to be misunderstood that the people who saved this country are going to reconstruct it in their own way, the opposition of rebels to the contrary notwithstanding.[ ] another fact which appeared prominently in the speeches and resolutions of this session was the growing fear, real or assumed, that freedmen and loyal persons in the south were in mortal danger. bills for their protection were introduced by the dozen. shall we shut our eyes [said a speaker] to the abuse and murders of loyal men in the south, and the continued destruction of their property by wicked men, and give them no means of protection?[ ] stevens exclaimed that the united states would be disgraced unless congress proceed[ed] at once to do something to protect these people from the barbarians who [were] daily murdering them; who [were] murdering the loyal whites daily, and daily putting into secret graves not only hundreds but thousands of the colored people.[ ] at first the lower house resumed its consideration of the bills recommended at the last session by the joint committee. but early in february, , these were dropped in favor of a new bill. this was the reconstruction bill which became law on march . it provided that the south should be divided into five districts, each to comprise the territory of one or more of the southern states. the president should assign to each district a military officer not below the rank of brigadier-general, and should detail for his use a sufficient military force. the duties of these officers should be "to protect all persons in their rights of person and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder and violence, and to punish, or cause to be punished, disturbers of the public peace and criminals." to this end they might either allow local courts to exercise their usual jurisdiction or organize special military courts, for the procedure of which a few general regulations were provided in the bill. until the states should be by law restored to the union, the governments existing in them were declared "provisional only, and in all respects subject to the paramount authority of the united states, at any time to abolish, modify, control or suspend the same." in section of this bill were stated the conditions upon which the southern states might regain their places in the union. in each of them a constitutional convention should be elected. for members of this convention all male "citizens" of the voting age should vote, except those excluded from office by the pending fourteenth amendment. these were forbidden to sit in the convention or to vote for delegates. the convention thus formed should frame a new constitution, which should give the franchise to all persons qualified to vote for delegates by the present bill. the constitution should be submitted to the people of the state for ratification, and to congress for approval. when these should have been received, and when the legislature elected under the new constitution should have ratified the fourteenth amendment, then congress should pass an act admitting the reconstructed state to congressional representation, and the present law should cease to operate in that state.[ ] the principle of this bill was the same as that of the reconstruction measures first undertaken at the suggestion of the joint committee, namely the punishment of an enemy. the debate in the house was opened by a felicitous quotation from vattel on the public law applicable to the case of a conquered enemy.[ ] the punishment here provided was, however, more severe than that first proposed. the former program was designed to offer to the states the alternative of adopting the fourteenth amendment or remaining out of the union and under the freedman's bureau--which was, indeed, regarded as a very obnoxious alternative. but the present bill required them not only to ratify the amendment, but to adopt new constitutions, elect new governments, enfranchise the negroes, and disfranchise their most prominent and respected citizens; and meanwhile imposed upon them not simply a bureau, to interfere in individual cases, but the virtually absolute rule of a military governor. this bill was passed over johnson's veto on march , . on march a supplementary act was passed, providing means for executing section of the preceding act. the initiative in calling the constitutional conventions, instead of being left to the states, to be exercised or not, as they chose, was now assigned to the military governor. he, with the assistance of such boards of registry as he might create, was directed to register all persons qualified to vote for delegates. he should then fix the number of delegates and arrange the plan of representation, set the day for election and summon the convention.[ ] a third reconstruction act was passed on july , . it is unnecessary to discuss it, since it was only explanatory of the acts of march and , and added nothing which needs mention here to their provisions.[ ] * * * * * were the reconstruction acts constitutional? since the supreme court has failed, either voluntarily or otherwise, to decide every case brought before it depending upon this question,[ ] reasoning is not rendered idle by authority. the supreme court has indeed expressed a definite opinion on the subject, but has given no decision. the opinion referred to was expressed in the case of texas _versus_ white.[ ] the court said: these new relations [namely, those created by the civil war] imposed new duties upon the united states. the first was that of suppressing the rebellion. the next was that of re-establishing the broken relations of the states with the union. the authority for the performance of the first had been found in the power to suppress insurrection and to carry on war; for the performance of the second, authority was derived from the obligation of the united states to guarantee to every state a republican form of government. this the court considered good authority for the passage of the reconstruction acts. most of the advocates of the acts based them upon this theory. now, upon that clause of article iv., section , of the constitution which says: "the united states shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government," the _federalist_ remarks: it may possibly be asked whether [this clause] may not become a pretext for alterations in the state governments without the concurrence of the states themselves.... but the authority extends no further than to a _guarantee_ [the _federalist's_ italics] of a republican form of government, which supposes a pre-existing government of the form which is to be guaranteed.[ ] the intention of the clause, says the _federalist_ in the same paper, is simply to guard "against aristocratic or monarchic innovations." to one not interested in establishing the constitutionality of the reconstruction acts, it seems indisputable that the clause is rightly interpreted by the _federalist_. story accepts this interpretation as a matter of course.[ ] cooley groups the clause with that which forbids the states to grant titles of nobility.[ ] if this interpretation is correct, then the guarantee clause gives no authority for destroying a state government of a republican form and substituting another. there is, however, a constitutional basis for the reconstruction acts. it is the war power of congress. if a section of the people of a stale rebel against the government, the resulting contest is not a war, in the sense of international law. but as it may assume the physical character of a war, so it may call into existence the rights and customs incident to war. upon this principle the federal government acquired the rights of war in the contest of - .[ ] now the rights of war do not end with military operations; one of these rights is the right of the victorious party, after an unconditional surrender, to occupy the territory of the defeated party, to govern or punish the people as it sees fit. if the united states government acquired the rights of war, this right was included. the close of a war is not simultaneous with the cessation of fighting. the surrender of the southern armies was an important incident in the civil war; it was not the end. if the federal government had the rights of war before this incident, it had them after. the united states government might therefore say to the persons composing the military power which it had subdued: as the terms of war, you are to be governed by military government. if the persons against whom this sentence is assumed to have been pronounced formed the majority of the population of a state, one result of the sentence would be to suspend independent state government. the united states government might choose another punishment. it might say to the lately hostile persons: we forbid you to participate in the federal government. if the persons so sentenced form the majority of the population of a state, that state can send no representatives to congress while the sentence remains. these sentences might be imposed permanently or only until such time as the people sentenced should fulfil certain demands--hold certain conventions, pass certain laws, adopt certain resolutions in certain ways. the federal government can thus effect through its war powers what it cannot effect through any power to interfere directly with a state government. it had no right to reconstruct the government of maine in , because maine had no body of people over whom the federal government could exercise war powers. it had the right to reconstruct the government of georgia, because nine-tenths of the people of georgia were lawfully at its mercy as a conqueror. even if it be admitted, however, that the federal government had the power described, it may still be argued that the reconstruction acts are not legally justified. a conqueror has a right to govern a conquered people as he pleases and as long as he pleases; he also has a right to alter his mode of treatment and substitute another mode. but after he has imposed certain terms as final, after the requirements of these terms have been complied with, after he has restored the conquered people to their normal position and rights and has unmistakably terminated the relation of conqueror to conquered--then his rights of war are at an end. it may be argued that this was the case when the reconstruction acts were passed. it may be argued that in december, , the federal government had, through the president, terminated its capacity as a conqueror, and could regain that capacity only by another war; that after that termination it had no more power to reconstruct georgia than to reconstruct maine. this argument is irrefutable if we assume that the president had full power to act for the federal government in the disposition of the defeated secessionists, and that therefore his acts of were the acts of the federal government. in case of an international war, which is closed by a treaty, the president may (if supported by the senate) act finally for the federal government, and estop that government (so far as international law is concerned) from further action. but at the close of a civil war he cannot exercise his diplomatic power. the disposition of the defeated people in this case falls to the legislative branch of the government. if the president had pardoned a great majority of the secessionists, that fact perhaps might have legally estopped congress from passing the reconstruction acts. these acts were a war punishment, and a pardon cuts off further punishment.[ ] but the total number of persons who received amnesty under the proclamation of may , , was , ,[ ] which was of course only a small fraction of the secessionist population. the passage of the reconstruction acts may thus be regarded, from a legal point of view, as simply the substitution of one method of treating the defeated enemy for another. the change was from mildness to harshness. it was doubly bitter to the defeated enemy, after he had been led to believe that his punishment was over, to be subjected to a worse one. but these are not legal considerations. that the reconstruction acts required communities not states to ratify a constitutional amendment did not affect their legality. that an amendment depended for its validity on such ratification might make the amendment void (though even from this result there is a means of escape in the theory of relation, to be mentioned later), but that would not affect the act requiring the ratification. that this requirement was not made with the exclusive purpose of obtaining votes for the passage of the amendment is shown by a resolution introduced into the house of representatives on july , , which reads: _resolved_, that in ratifying amendments to the constitution of the united states ... the said several states ... are wholly incapable either of accepting or rejecting any such amendment so as to bind the loyal states of the union, ... and that when any amendment ... shall be adopted by three-fourths of the states recognized by the congress as lawfully entitled to do so, ... the same shall become thereby a part of the constitution.[ ] what virtues the reconstruction acts had besides legal regularity will be discussed later. chapter iv the administrations of pope and meade in the third military district, of which georgia was a part, the reconstruction acts were administered from april , , to january , , by general pope, and from january to july , , by general meade.[ ] the present chapter will describe, first, the manner in which these men conducted the political rebuilding of georgia, and second, the manner in which they governed during this process. on april pope issued his first orders regarding the registration of voters. the three officers commanding respectively in the sub-districts of georgia, florida and alabama were directed to divide the territory under them into registration districts, and for each of these to appoint a board of registry consisting as far as possible of civilians.[ ] on may the scheme of districts for georgia was published. the state was divided into forty-four districts of three counties each, and three districts of a city each. for each district the names of two white registrars were announced, and each of these pairs was ordered to complete the board by selecting a negro colleague. the compensation of registrars was to be from fifteen cents to forty cents for every name registered, varying according to the density or sparseness of the population. it was made the duty of registrars to explain to those unused to the enjoyment of suffrage the nature of this function. after the lists were complete they were to be published for ten days.[ ] the unsettled condition of the negro population suggested to pope the possibility that many negroes would lose their right to vote by change of residence. he therefore ordered on august that persons removing from the district where they were registered should be furnished by the board of registry with a certificate of registration, which should entitle them to vote anywhere in the state.[ ] the election for deciding whether a constitutional convention should be held, and for choosing delegates in case the affirmative vote prevailed, was ordered to begin on october and to continue three days. registrars were ordered to revise their lists during the fortnight preceding the election, to erase names wrongly registered, and to add the names of persons entitled to be registered. the boards of registry were to act as judges of election, but registrars who were candidates for election were forbidden to serve in the districts where they sought election.[ ] the election was to occupy the last three days of october. on october pope extended the time to the night of november , in order to give the negroes ample opportunity to vote, which in their inexperience they might otherwise fail to do.[ ] after the election the following figures were announced:[ ] number of registered voters in georgia , of these the negroes numbered , " the white men[ ] , number of votes polled , " " for a convention , " " against a convention , the delegates elected were ordered to meet in convention on december th.[ ] on that day the convention met in atlanta. its business was not completed until the middle of march in the following year. the constitution which it framed more than met the demands of the reconstruction acts. a single citizenship was established for all residents of the state, in language borrowed from the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution.[ ] legislation on the subject of social status of citizens was forever prohibited.[ ] the electoral right was given to all male persons born or naturalized in the united states who should have resided six months in georgia.[ ] electors were privileged from arrest (except for treason, felony or breach of the peace) for five days before, during, and for two days after, elections, and the legislature was ordered to provide such other means for the protection of electors as might be necessary.[ ] other provisions presumably acceptable to northern sentiment were the prohibition of whipping as a penalty for crime,[ ] and the command that the legislature should create a system of public schools free to all children of the state.[ ] by an ordinance of the convention, made valid by being embodied in military orders, april , , was appointed for the submission of the new constitution to popular vote, and also for the election of members of congress and officers of the new state government.[ ] this election resulted in the adoption of the constitution by a majority of , votes, and in the election of a governor (rufus b. bullock by name), a legislature, and a full delegation to the lower house of congress.[ ] the remaining requirement of the reconstruction acts was that the new legislature convene and ratify the fourteenth amendment. this transaction will be reserved for the next chapter. * * * * * general pope was inspired by the ideas and emotions from which reconstruction had sprung. he was an ardent friend of the reconstruction measures. he was convinced of the importance of suppressing the old political leaders in his district. he held with enthusiasm the optimistic views prevalent in the north regarding the negroes. their recent progress in "education and knowledge," he said, was "marvellous," and if continued, in five years the intelligence of the community would shift to the colored portion.[ ] the purport of his orders, the didactic style in which they are couched, the declarations of his principles which frequently accompany these orders, indicate the spirit in which he administered the office of military governor. most of the official acts of pope concerned either the enforcement of obedience and the suppression of disobedience to the letter and spirit of the reconstruction acts, or the protection and promotion of the present interests of the freedmen. in assuming command he announced that in the absence of special orders all persons holding office under the state government would be permitted to retain their positions until the expiration of their terms. their successors, however, were to be appointed by pope alone; no elections should be held in the state except those required by congress. the general expressed the hope that no necessity for interference in the regular operation of the state government would arise. it could arise, he said, only from the failure of state tribunals to do equal justice to all persons.[ ] a few weeks later he announced that this necessity would also arise if any state officer interfered with or opposed the reconstruction measures; such an officer, it was "distinctly announced," would be deposed.[ ] governor jenkins, on april , had issued a letter to the public, advising them to abstain from registering and voting under the reconstruction acts. pope had excused him with a lecture, and then issued the order referred to, to make clear that no more advice of that sort from state officers would be permitted.[ ] opposition to reconstruction by state officers was declared to include also the awarding of state printing to newspapers which opposed reconstruction, and it was ordered that thereafter the state's patronage should be given only to loyal papers.[ ] another measure to the same end was the order that no state court should entertain any action against any person for any acts done under the military authority.[ ] but while opposition by state officers was thus dealt with, freedom of public opinion was emphatically declared. the declaration accompanied a public reprimand administered to the post commander at mobile for interference with a newspaper.[ ] the careful consideration for the needs of the freedmen shown in the general's method of forming the boards of registry, in his instructions to the registrars, in his provision of certificates of registration to migrating citizens, and in his extension of the time of election, has been pointed out. of a similar character was the warning to employers that any attempt to prevent laborers from voting, or to influence their votes by docking wages, threats, or any other means, would be severely dealt with.[ ] in his first general orders, as we have said, pope warned the judiciary against racial prejudice. it was probably disregard of this warning which caused the removal of about a dozen judges, justices of the peace, and sheriffs.[ ] in the interest of equal justice, pope also ordered that grand and petit jurors should be selected impartially from the lists of voters registered under the reconstruction acts.[ ] besides this general protection, individual relief was given by release from arrest, mitigation of the conditions of confinement, reduction of fines, and other special dispensations.[ ] the method of securing justice mentioned in the act of march , , namely by ordering the trial of cases by military commissions, was employed by pope only once.[ ] such was the administration of pope. its influence on the _personnel_ of the state government was large, but was exercised only slightly through removal, chiefly through appointment to fill vacancies. pope removed about fifteen state officers (almost all of whom were the judicial officers mentioned in the preceding paragraph). he filled about two hundred vacancies.[ ] it is significant that a great number of these were caused by resignation. his acts of interference with the action of state officers were few, and with all his zeal for the success of reconstruction, he favored freedom of speech. nevertheless, his opinions and his personal character, combined with such interference as he did practice, served to gain for him the dislike of the people and the rather unjust reputation of a petty tyrant. though meade lacked pope's zealous enthusiasm for reconstruction, yet he held much the same opinion as his predecessor regarding the duties with which he was charged. like pope, he forbade the bestowal of public patronage on anti-reconstruction newspapers.[ ] like pope, he thought it his duty to depose state officers who opposed the execution of the reconstruction acts. when he assumed command he found the convention at loggerheads with the governor and the state treasurer. the convention had levied a tax to pay its expenses, and pending the collection of it had directed the treasurer to advance forty thousand dollars.[ ] the treasurer (jones by name) declined to do this except on a warrant from the governor, according to the regular practice. meade requested jenkins to issue the warrant. jenkins refused, on the ground that the act would violate the state constitution under which he held office, and that even if it were authorized by the reconstruction acts (which he denied), that was an authorization contrary to the constitution of the united states, upon which he would not act.[ ] thereupon, on january , , meade issued an order by which the governor (designated as the "provisional governor") and the treasurer (also designated as "provisional") were removed and brigadier-general ruger and captain rockwell "detailed" to act as governor and treasurer respectively.[ ] for this act the convention rewarded meade with a resolution of gratitude.[ ] before the end of the same month the state comptroller and the secretary of state were also removed for obstructing reconstruction,[ ] and later the mayor and the entire board of aldermen of columbus shared the same fate.[ ] toward the freedmen general meade assumed the attitude of his predecessor. he made similar rules to protect them, in voting, from coercion by employers.[ ] on the other hand, observing that too frequent enticement of negroes to political meetings was disturbing industry, he announced that interference of this sort with the rights of employers by political agitators would meet with the same punishment as interference with the rights of freedmen.[ ] besides following the two policies of suppressing resistance and protecting freedmen, meade used his power to a great extent simply in the interest of the general welfare. public peace and order seemed threatened on the eve of the april election. orders issued on april expressed the belief that there existed a concerted plan, extending widely through the third district and apparently emanating from a secret organization, to overawe the population and affect elections. both military and civil officers were ordered to arrest publishers of incendiary articles and to organize special patrols.[ ] troops were distributed so as to command the parts chiefly in danger,[ ] and the frequent resignation of office by sheriffs occasioned the order that no more resignations would be permitted, but that the sheriffs must retain their offices and execute the law.[ ] by way of benevolent despotism, meade, at the request of the convention, suspended the operation of the bail process and of the writ of _capias satisfaciendum_, and promulgated the provisions of the new constitution for the relief of debtors until the constitution should become law.[ ] likewise he gave special orders in eight or ten cases suspending trails, releasing prisoners, and otherwise preventing hardship or failure of justice. whereas pope had convened one military court, meade convened six,[ ] and before these thirty two cases were tried. meade appointed about seventy state officers and removed about twenty. these facts show that the two administrations we are considering were alike in policy, and that in action meade's was the more vigorous. nevertheless, while pope was disliked, meade, thanks to a more attractive character, enjoyed a certain popularity. * * * * * such was the process by which the disciplinarians, the humanitarians, and the republican politicians hoped to gain their respective purposes. what were the results of the process by the end of the administration of meade? for the disciplinarians they were not encouraging. military government was received not as discipline but as bullying. the spirit which reconstruction was designed to quell was only embittered; for to those who entertained it reconstruction was not the chastening of the nation, but the domineering of a political party, which it was hoped and believed would soon lose its ascendency.[ ] for the humanitarians reconstruction had produced written laws regarding equality of civil and political rights, which were deemed a subject of congratulation. outside the laws they would have found less encouragement. the kindness of the white people toward the negroes had been changed to apprehension by the events of . when the advent of negro suffrage brought the carpet-baggers to the south to marshal the negro voters for their own benefit, and when these men began to disturb the negroes by organizing them into mysterious union leagues and giving them indigestible ideas of their rights, apprehension became alarm. negroes seized property of all kinds--including even plantations--by violence, supposing this to be one of their new rights. already they had raised a new terror by crimes against white women, hitherto unknown. some thoughtful men believed that the best defence against the dangers apprehended from the disturbed black population was kindness and friendly influence.[ ] that opinion was not heard after the arrival of the carpet-baggers; its methods were then seen to be inadequate. secret organizations were formed by white men for protection against the negroes. these organizations, which sowed the seed of a subsequent harvest of crime, at first included men of the best character and of the highest standing.[ ] thus reconstruction, together with its written laws, had produced conditions which made the net humanitarian results doubtful, at least for the moment. for the republican politicians reconstruction did not produce in georgia all that was to be desired. when the enterprise was first launched some of the white men, though offended, favored accepting the inevitable and endeavoring to elect good men to the constitutional convention and to the new state government.[ ] others, carried further by their anger, determined to take no part in elevating the negroes and debasing their heroes. prominent among these, as we have said, was governor jenkins. these men stayed at home on october , , contemptuously ignoring the "bogus concern called an election," which occurred on that day.[ ] many of these latter, by the time the "motley crew assembled at atlanta" had finished its labors, decided to follow the example of the former. a convention met at macon on december , , formed a party, the georgia conservatives, named a ticket, with john b. gordon at the head, and began a powerful campaign for the defeat of negroes and adventurers at the april election.[ ] to make an active fight was recognized as a better course than to stand in ineffectual scorn.[ ] as a result the sweeping victory expected by the republican politicians did not occur in georgia. a republican governor was elected; but in the state senate the seats were equally divided between the republicans and the conservatives, in the state house of representatives the conservatives obtained a large majority, and of the seven congressmen elected three were conservatives.[ ] chapter v the supposed restoration of the passage of the reconstruction acts of determined the course of reconstruction, but did not stop discussion. when congress met in december, , the acts passed continued to be attacked and defended and new bills to be introduced and dropped. but the plan as adopted remained untouched, with one exception. one of the reasons given by the joint committee on reconstruction for abolishing the johnson governments was that the johnson constitutions had not been ratified by popular vote, and therefore did not rest upon the consent of a majority of the people. to avoid a like defect in the new governments the act of march had provided that the new constitutions should be regarded as adopted only if a majority of the registered voters took part in the vote on the question of adoption. at its next session congress repented of this provision; it was now seen to involve the risk that the opponents of reconstruction in the southern states would defeat the new constitutions by the plan of inaction. this risk should be avoided, since the adoption of a state constitution probably meant the election of a republican state government, and hence of republican senators, as well as republican congressional representatives and republican presidential electors in november, . these advantages would be lost if the new constitutions were defeated. therefore, by an act which became law on march , , the reconstruction legislation was amended so as to provide that elections held under that legislation should be decided by a majority of the votes cast. this act also adopted as part of the general scheme two expedients already employed by pope in the third district. that is to say, it provided that any registered voter might vote in any election district in his state, provided he had lived there ten days, and that the elections should be "continued from day to day."[ ] aside from these alterations, congress allowed reconstruction to complete its course according to the first plan. within the first six months of north carolina, south carolina, louisiana and florida, besides georgia, had adopted new constitutions. according to the act of march , , two more steps would complete the process for these states; namely, the ratification by their legislatures of the fourteenth amendment, and the declaration "by law" (provided congress approved the constitutions) that they were entitled to representation in congress.[ ] congress now decided, instead of waiting for the ratification of the amendment, to pass the declaratory law at once, which should operate as soon as the ratification should have occurred. by this method one act would suffice for all the states which had adopted constitutions. the bill for this purpose was called the omnibus bill. it provided that north carolina, south carolina, georgia, florida, louisiana, and also alabama,[ ] should be admitted to representation in congress as soon as their legislatures elected under the new constitution should have ratified the fourteenth amendment, on condition that the provisions of that amendment regarding eligibility to office should at once go into operation in those states, and on condition that the constitution of none of them should ever be amended so as to deprive of the right to vote any citizens entitled to that right as the constitutions then stood. a special condition was imposed on georgia; namely, that article v., section , §§ and of her constitution be declared void by the legislature. a precedent for such a requirement was found in the act of , admitting missouri to statehood.[ ] the bill gave the governors-elect in the states concerned authority to call the legislatures immediately to fulfill the required conditions.[ ] the omnibus bill became law on june , . on the same day rufus b. bullock, the governor-elect of georgia, issued a proclamation in accordance with the act, summoning the legislature to meet on july th.[ ] now, the reconstruction act of july th, , had provided as follows: all persons hereafter elected or appointed to office in said military districts, under any so-called state or municipal authority, or by detail or appointment of the district commanders, shall be required to take ... the oath of office prescribed by law for officers of the united states.[ ] on april th meade had announced that in accordance with this provision the members of the legislature to be elected on april th would be required to subscribe to the test oath. but he was later advised from headquarters, and by certain prominent members of congress, that the persons contemplated by the act of july , , were those elected under the johnson government, not under the new government; and that therefore the men elected on april th were not "officers elected under any so-called state authority" in the sense of the act of july th. the eligibility of these men, he was told, was to be determined by the provisions of the new constitution and by the fourteenth amendment, and they were not required to take the test oath.[ ] meade therefore did not enforce his order. but though the new government was exempt from this one requirement of the reconstruction acts, it was subject to the provision which said: ... until the people of said rebel states shall be by law admitted to representation in the congress of the united states, any civil government which may exist therein shall be deemed provisional only, and in all respects subject to the paramount authority of the united states. over the new state government, as over the old, meade would exercise the powers of a district commander until the legislature by complying with the requirements of the omnibus act, should have made that act operative. on june meade relieved general ruger of the office of governor and appointed in his place the governor-elect, bullock, whom he directed to organize the legislature on july .[ ] when the legislature met on that day, therefore, bullock called each house to order in turn, and under his direction as chairman the members were sworn in (by the official oath prescribed in the state constitution), and the presiding officers elected. on july the legislature informed the governor that it was organized and ready to proceed to business. bullock, instead of replying, wrote to meade, stating that it was alleged that a number of men seated in the legislature were ineligible to office according to the proposed fourteenth amendment, and hence were disqualified from holding their seats by the omnibus act.[ ] meade replied on july that the allegation was serious, and that he would not recognize as valid any act of the legislature until satisfactory evidence should be presented that the legislature contained no member who would be disqualified from office by the fourteenth amendment.[ ] bullock sent meade's letter to the legislature, and both houses appointed committees to investigate the eligibility of every member. these committees reported on july . the senate committee reported that no senators were ineligible. a minority of the committee found, on evidence detailed in its report, that four were ineligible. after much debate the majority report was adopted.[ ] the house committee reported that two representatives were ineligible. a minority report found three ineligible. a second minority report found that none were ineligible. the last was adopted.[ ] the conclusions of the two houses may be regarded, in view of these proceedings, with some just suspicion. bullock in informing meade of them expressed the opinion that the legislature had failed to furnish the "satisfactory evidence" upon which meade had conditioned his recognition.[ ] if meade had desired to know the exact truth, he might well have accepted bullock's advice and ignored the reports, investigated the records of the legislators himself, and excluded those whom he found ineligible. but meade desired only to see that the acts of congress were complied with. "satisfactory evidence" was evidence not logically, but formally satisfactory. meade followed the established principle that legislative bodies are the final judges of the eligibility of their members. he considered the statement of the legislature that its members were all eligible formally satisfactory evidence that the acts of congress were obeyed. having this evidence, he refused to interfere further. his decision was influenced partly by reluctance to interfere more than was necessary, and partly by aversion to aiding bullock to gain a party advantage, which he alleged to be the governor's chief motive in urging the rejection of the reports.[ ] he acted with the approval of the general of the army.[ ] he notified the governor that the legislature was legally organized from the date of the adoption of the reports (july ).[ ] bullock transmitted this message to the legislature on july . on that day both houses ratified the fourteenth amendment and declared void the sections of the constitution required to be so declared by the omnibus act.[ ] as soon as the legislature had performed these acts georgia was, presumably, according to the acts of congress, a state of the union. on july meade directed all state officers holding by military appointment to turn over their offices to those elected or appointed under the new government.[ ] on july orders issued from the headquarters of the army stating that the general commanding in the third military district had ceased to exercise authority under the reconstruction acts, and that georgia, florida and alabama no longer constituted a military district, but should henceforth constitute an ordinary military circumscription--the department of the south.[ ] on july bullock, who had up to that time been governor by military appointment, was inaugurated in the regular manner and became governor under the state constitution.[ ] on july , the seven congressmen-elect from georgia were seated in the house of representatives.[ ] the georgia senators would doubtless have been seated at this time if they had arrived before the close of the session; but they were elected by the legislature on july ,[ ] two days after congress adjourned.[ ] in view of georgia's compliance with the reconstruction acts and the omnibus act, and in view of the various official recognitions that that compliance was complete, there could now be no doubt that her reconstruction was accomplished and her statehood regained. chapter vi the expulsion of the negroes from the legislature and the uses to which this event was applied when the georgia republicans, or radicals, as they were locally called, found that instead of a sweeping victory they had won only a governorship hemmed in by a hostile legislature, an effort was made, as we have said, to improve their position through the interference of meade. meade refused to aid them. when, a short time afterwards, federal power, on which they had hitherto relied, was completely withdrawn, they seemed left to make the best of an uncomfortable position without any assistance. at this point a god appeared from the machine. in the state senate there were three negroes, in the lower house twenty-five.[ ] their presence was an offense. it was an offense not merely to the conservative members. some of the republicans entertained conservative sentiments and principles, but supported reconstruction simply in order to hasten the liberation of the state from congressional interference.[ ] to them as well as to the conservatives "negro rule" was obnoxious. negro rule, so far as it consisted in negro suffrage, was established by the constitution. but negro office-holding was not so established expressly. as early as july , , the question, whether negroes were eligible to the legislature, was raised in the state senate.[ ] legally considered, the question had two sides, each supported by eminent lawyers. for the negroes it was argued that irwin's code, which was made part of the law of the state by the constitution,[ ] enumerated among the rights of citizens the right to hold office.[ ] negroes were made citizens of equal rights with all other citizens by the new constitution.[ ] therefore they had the right to hold office. it was true that the constitution did not grant the right to hold office to the negroes expressly, as it granted the right to vote; but in view of the fact that the convention which made the constitution was elected by , white and , colored men, and that that constitution was adopted by , white and , colored men, it would be absurd to suppose that the intent of that instrument was to withhold office from the negroes.[ ] on the other side, it was argued that the right to hold office did not belong to every citizen, but only to such citizens as the law specially designated, or to such as possessed it by common law or custom. irwin's code could not be cited to prove that negroes had the right, because that law had been enacted before the negroes had been made citizens, and the word _citizens_ in it referred to those who were citizens at that time. as the negro had no right to hold office because he was a citizen, and as he could not claim the right from common law or custom, he could obtain it only by specific grant of law. there was no such grant. the argument for the negro was made by the supreme court of the state in , the opposing argument by one of the justices of that court in a dissenting opinion.[ ] such were the legal aspects of the question, which were of course less important than the political and the emotional aspects. the legislature passed upon the issue in the early part of september, , by declaring all the colored members ineligible, and admitting to the vacated seats the candidates who had received respectively the next highest number of votes.[ ] if there was some legal ground for unseating the negroes, there was none for seating the minority candidates. it was done on the authority of the clause in irwin's code which said: if at any popular election to fill any office the person elected is ineligible, ... the person having the next highest number of votes, who is eligible, whenever a plurality elects, shall be declared elected.[ ] but this clause is found under the title "of the executive department," and under the sub-head "regulations as to all executive offices and officers." under the next title "of the legislative department," there is no such provision. for a legislature to unseat some of the elected members because on not untenable legal grounds it finds them ineligible, is not unusual. but the act of the georgia legislature could not, under the circumstances, be regarded in the ordinary way. it showed strong racial prejudice. it was a startling breach of the system which reconstruction had been designed to institute, committed the very moment after the federal government withdrew its hand. it fixed on georgia at once the earnest and unfavorable attention of northern public opinion. this fact enabled the georgia republicans to bring the federal government again to their assistance. their leader, governor bullock, at the next session of congress (december, ), presented a letter to the senate, saying that georgia had not yet been admitted to the union. she had not been admitted by the omnibus act, for that act provided that she should be admitted when certain things had been done, and those things had not been done. by the reconstruction act of july , , all persons elected in georgia were required to take the test oath. the members of the present legislature had never taken it. therefore the action which that body had taken on july st, regarding the fourteenth amendment, was not a ratification by a legislature formed according to the reconstruction acts; it was simply a ratification by a body which called itself the legislature. hence the omnibus act had not yet gone into effect as to georgia, and georgia was not yet entitled to representation in congress.[ ] if this argument was valid in the winter of , it must also have been valid in the preceding summer. yet in july bullock had made no objection to being inaugurated as governor of georgia, on the ground that georgia had not become a state. he had not refused on that ground to issue on september th a commission to joshua hill, reciting that he had been regularly elected to the senate of the united states by the legislature of the state, and signed "rufus b. bullock, governor."[ ] the argument was an afterthought, not advanced until the expulsion of the negroes created a favorable opportunity for a hearing. it conflicted with the declarations and acts of the military authorities, and of the house of representatives, but the sentiment aroused by the expulsion of the negroes was considered strong enough to sustain a repudiation of those declarations and acts. direct appeal to this sentiment was the auxiliary to the above argument. bullock's letter to the senate was accompanied by a memorial from a convention of colored men held at macon in october. it said that there existed in georgia a spirit of hatred toward the negroes and their friends, which resulted in the persecution, political repression, terrorizing, outrage and murder of the negroes, in the burning of their schools, and in the slander, ostracism and abuse of their teachers and political friends. of this the act of the legislature was an instance and an evidence. the aid of the federal government was implored.[ ] similar charges had been made, it will be remembered, in the debates of and . now, however, they began to be urged with an earnestness and persistence altogether new. so conspicuous is this fact in the debates in congress that a southern writer ironically remarks: "from this time forth the entire white race of the south devoted itself to the killing of negroes."[ ] the rest of this chapter will be devoted to considering how much truth there was in the reported abuse of negroes and "loyal" persons. we stated in chapter ii. that after the war a bitter jealousy and animosity toward the negroes arose among the lower class of the white population, and in chapter iv. that the restless conduct of the negroes under the influences of reconstruction filled the upper class with such alarm that they formed secret organizations in self-defence. this practice, at first supported and led by good men of the higher class, simply for defence, soon fell into the hands of the poor white class, the criminal class, and the turbulent and discontented young men of all classes, and became an instrument of revenge, crime and oppression. the change, however, was not a complete transformation. a great deal of the whipping inflicted upon negroes was _bona fide_ chastisement for actual misdemeanors. this mode of punishment was the natural product of the transition from the old social conditions, when the negroes were disciplined by their masters, to the new conditions.[ ] but besides these acts of correction many outrages were committed upon negroes, and also upon white men, simply from malice or vengeance, or other private motive.[ ] these outrages included some homicides.[ ] the testimony of credible contemporaries belonging to both political parties agrees that the ku klux klan and similar organizations were used only to a very small extent for political purposes.[ ] how many of these corrective or purely vicious acts were perpetrated upon negroes? democrats of that time commonly said that the number was insignificant, that the peace was as well kept in georgia as in any northern state, and that statements to the contrary were invented for political purposes.[ ] the number was, indeed, greatly exaggerated by republicans, as some of the republicans themselves admitted.[ ] making allowance for the warping of the truth in both directions, and considering the statements of the moderate republicans,[ ] and the admissions of some of the democrats,[ ] remembering also the recent disbandment of the army and the disturbed conditions of society, we must conclude that the attacks on negroes, made by disguised bands and otherwise, were very numerous. the friends of the negroes also fared badly. philanthropic women who came from the north to teach in the negro schools were almost invariably treated with contempt and avoided by the white people.[ ] this was due partly to the lingering bitterness of the war and partly to the connection of the negro schools with the freedmen's bureau. this institution, the office of which was to set up strangers, from a recently hostile country, to instruct the southern people in their private affairs, was in itself odious. it was rendered more odious by the want of intelligence and tact, and even of honesty, which is said to have frequently characterized its officers. that the hatred thus aroused should be visited upon true philanthropists who were connected with the bureau was unfortunate, but inevitable. as for the political friends of the negroes, the "loyal" men, or in other words the white men who supported reconstruction, they were habitually treated by the conservative press and by conservative speakers with violent invective. conservative editors and orators neither engaged in nor recommended the slaughter or outrage of radicals, but by continually voicing furious sentiments, they furnished encouragement to action of that sort by men of less intelligence and self-control.[ ] the accounts of lawlessness and persecution in georgia, though exaggerated, undoubtedly had a substantial foundation. whether this fact was a good argument for renewed interference in the state government by congress is another question. chapter vii congressional action regarding georgia from december, , to december, on december , , the credentials of joshua hill, one of the senators elected by the georgia legislature in the previous july, were presented in the united states senate. immediately the letter of governor bullock and the memorial of the negro convention were also presented. these documents, seconded by a speech from a senator dwelling on the fact that georgia was under "rebel control," secured the reference of hill's credentials to the committee on the judiciary.[ ] this committee on january , , recommended that hill be not admitted to the senate.[ ] the reason for this recommendation, said the committee's report, was that georgia had failed to comply with the requirements of the omnibus act, and so was not yet entitled to representation in congress. the failure here referred to was not that alleged by bullock--that the members of the legislature had not taken the test oath--but the failure of the two houses to exclude persons disqualified by the fourteenth amendment. the omnibus act had provided that georgia should be entitled to representation in congress when her legislature had "_duly_" ratified the fourteenth amendment. the word _duly_ meant _in a certain manner_--namely, the manner required by the rest of the act. the failure to exclude the disqualified members was a departure from this manner. we saw in chapter v. that each of the committees appointed by the georgia legislature in july to investigate the eligibility of members was divided, that both houses voted that all were eligible in the face of detailed evidence to the contrary, that the decision of the lower house contradicted the majority of its committee, and that meade accepted the decision rather for the sake of convenience and finality than because it was indisputably correct. on these facts and on some independent investigation the senate judiciary committee based its belief that the legislature had failed to obey the omnibus act in this respect. trumbull, of this committee, submitted a minority report. he admitted that the decision of the legislature may have been incorrect. but he protested that if the united states government intended to regard the presence of half a dozen ineligible members in a body of two hundred and nineteen as entirely vitiating the action of the legislature, it should have taken this stand at first. if at first it had, through its representative, meade, overlooked the irregularity as a trifle, it seemed only just to continue to overlook it, and not to make it now the occasion for augmenting the turmoil in the state by fresh interference. but the majority rejoined that there were very good reasons for not overlooking the irregularity. it was not a mere trifling departure from the letter of the act of congress, it was a violation of the spirit of that act. "the obvious design" of the omnibus act "was to prevent the new organization from falling under the control of enemies of the united states." the expulsion of the negroes showed that that design had been frustrated and that the government was under "rebel control;" it showed a "common purpose to ... resist the authority of the united states." moreover, the "disorganized condition of society" in the state made it necessary for the federal government to intervene again in georgia, not only to vindicate its law, but to preserve order. the protest of trumbull is significant as an early sign of the growth within the republican party of an opposition to the prolongation of congressional interference with the southern state governments. the report of the judiciary committee was not acted upon, and thus the senate avoided a categorical decision. but hill was not admitted. a number of bills relating to georgia were introduced; a bill "to carry out the reconstruction acts in georgia" by sumner,[ ] a bill to repeal the act of june , , in so far as it admitted georgia, and to provide for a provisional government in that state, by edmunds,[ ] and others. all of these soon lapsed. meanwhile, in the house of representatives the committee on reconstruction had been instructed to examine the public affairs of georgia and to inquire what measures ought to be taken regarding the representatives of georgia in the house.[ ] many citizens of georgia, black and white, testified before the committee.[ ] among them governor bullock was conspicuous, advocating the enforcement of the test oath qualification--a fact which aroused great indignation in the state. the doubtful position in which georgia now hung raised the question, what should be done with her electoral votes in february, ? congress had passed a joint resolution on july , , to the effect that none of the states affected by the omnibus act should be entitled to vote in the electoral college in unless at the time for choosing electors it had become entitled to representation in congress.[ ] as february , the day for counting the votes, approached, it was considered desirable, in order that the ceremony might pass off smoothly, that the senate and the house should agree by a special rule what should be done with georgia's votes. now, the senate could not agree to a rule declaring that the votes should be counted, for that would imply that the state had become entitled to representation in congress, and the senate had refused to admit hill. but the house could not concur in declaring that the votes should not be counted; for that would imply that the state had not become entitled to representation in congress, and the house had admitted seven representatives from the state. it was therefore agreed by a concurrent resolution passed february , that at the count of the electoral votes, in case the georgia votes should be found not to affect the result essentially (which it was well known would be the case), then the presiding officer should make the following announcement: were the votes presented as of the state of georgia to be counted, the result would be for ---- for president of the united states, -- votes; if not counted, for ----, for president of the united states, -- votes; but in either case ---- is elected president of the united states; and a similar announcement of the votes for vice-president.[ ] accordingly, on february , amid the wildest uproar, caused by the blunders of a perplexed chairman and the violent protest of a group of representatives, led by butler, against the execution of the special rule, which had been rushed through the house without their knowledge, it was announced that the electoral vote was as follows: for grant and colfax including georgia's votes excluding georgia's votes for seymour and blair including georgia's votes excluding georgia's votes and that in either case grant and colfax were elected.[ ] on march , the first day of the forty-first congress, the house of representatives was able to get rid of the georgia representatives on a technicality. the same delegation which had represented georgia since july, , appeared again to finish its supposed term. their credentials failed to state to what congress they had been elected, but authorized them to take seats in the house of representatives according to the ordinance of the georgia constitutional convention passed march , . now, this ordinance provided that all the public officers who should be elected on april should enter on their duties as soon as authorized by congress or by the general commanding the military district, but should continue in the same as long as they would if elected in the november following.[ ] these congressmen, then, were elected to serve as if elected in november, , that is, they were elected members of the forty-first congress. but they had already served several months in the fortieth. if they should serve through the forty-first they would exceed the constitutional term. the convention of georgia could make the first term of all state officers longer than the regular term subsequently to obtain; it could not so lengthen the term of members of the congress of the united states. the credentials were referred to the committee of elections, and the house was thus relieved of the presence of the georgia representatives, which would have been an embarrassment in the subsequent proceedings.[ ] several bills relating to georgia were then introduced, which, though they were not advanced very far, are worth noticing.[ ] their titles indicate the purpose "to enforce the fourteenth amendment." now, the fourteenth amendment consists principally of prohibitions on states; it could not be enforced in georgia unless georgia was a state. georgia had (it was assumed) admitted to her legislature men subject to the disqualifications of the fourteenth amendment, and had excluded men from the legislature on the ground of color, thus denying the equal protection of the laws to citizens. the latter act had been done after the fourteenth amendment went into effect (july , [ ]), the former before, but its effect continued. if georgia was a state, then, she had violated the amendment, and congress might correct these two acts by virtue of its power to enforce the amendment. if georgia was not a state, she had not violated the fourteenth amendment, but her acts were subject to correction by congress, because her government was "provisional only." if, therefore, congress proposed to enforce the fourteenth amendment in georgia, it acknowledged that georgia was a state, and so debarred itself from any interference not necessary to enforce that amendment. if it proposed to interfere simply as with a provisional government, there was no such limitation. the bills of the first session of the forty-first congress proposed to enforce the fourteenth amendment. to secure the enforcement of the disqualification clause they provided that each member of the legislature should be required to take an oath saying that he was not disqualified by the amendment, and that those who did not so swear should be excluded. to secure equal rights to the colored legislators they provided that all persons elected to the legislature (according to general meade's announcement of the result of the election of ) who should take the test oath required should be admitted, and that the expulsion of the negroes should be declared void. the federal military authority was to assist in executing these measures if requested by the governor. these measures, it will be observed, were only such as might legally be taken regarding massachusetts if it violated the fourteenth amendment. at the next session of congress, beginning in december, , the policy of enforcing the fourteenth amendment was abandoned for the alternative policy of legislating for a provisional government. the reason for the change was an emergency in which the republican politicians found themselves. in the previous february congress had passed the joint resolution proposing the fifteenth amendment. by december it seemed certain that the number of ratifying states would fall short of the required three-fourths by just one, unless congress could prevent it.[ ] georgia furnished the means of preventing it. in march her legislature had rejected the proposed amendment.[ ] it could now be forced to ratify and thus complete the necessary majority. georgia must then be treated not as a state which had violated the fourteenth amendment, but as a provisional organization subject to the uncontrolled will of congress. a bill was accordingly prepared containing the same provisions as the bills of the preceding session, but adding this clause: "that the legislature shall ratify the fifteenth amendment before senators and representatives from georgia are admitted to seats in congress." in accordance with its different legal basis the bill was entitled: "an act to promote the reconstruction of the state of georgia." little need be said of the manner in which this bill was passed. the usual partisan abuse prevailed on both sides. the democrats made a remarkable opposition, led by beck of kentucky.[ ] the republicans were aided by a message from president grant urging the intervention of congress,[ ] by the report of the reconstruction committee on affairs in georgia,[ ] and by a report from general terry, who was stationed in the department of the south, alleging that disorder was rampant in georgia and the need of further military government by federal authority imperative.[ ] terry's superior officer, general halleck, added a postscript to terry's report to the effect that terry was mistaken, that the disorder in georgia was much less than was commonly believed, and that federal interference was highly inadvisable.[ ] aided by the report and undeterred by the postscript, the republicans discoursed of "rebel control" and "murder" with unprecedented effect. butler said that congress must act instantly; if action on the bill is postponed, he said, "the rest of the republican majority of that state may be murdered, even during christmas week, when the son of god came on earth to bring peace and good will to man."[ ] the bill became law on december , .[ ] congress thus decided at last to adopt the opinion of the senate judiciary committee, that georgia had not become a state through the omnibus act. general meade, in declaring the contrary, had been mistaken. bullock, in calling himself governor, had been mistaken. the house of representatives, in admitting members sent from georgia, had been mistaken; they were _de facto_ members, but had no legal right there.[ ] the legal basis of the act of december was then the same as that of the original reconstruction acts. the question which had been raised in the debates on these acts--what legal effect could the action of a body not the legislature of a state have on the adoption of an amendment to the constitution?--was raised again here. some of the republicans argued that such action could have no effect and should not be required.[ ] under these circumstances there was a more earnest effort than any heretofore made to defend such a requirement. it was answered: true, the body which will ratify the amendment in georgia will not be a state legislature at the time; but it will later become a state legislature, and then by relation the ratification will be imputed to the state legislature and will thus have legal effect. relation, an operation known to private law, had been applied to constitutional law in several previous cases, in order to give to acts done by the legislatures of territories the same effect as if they had been done after statehood was obtained.[ ] the ratification by georgia would be valid by relation.[ ] chapter viii the execution of the act of december , , and the final restoration before relating the manner in which the act of december , (which we shall call the reorganization act), was executed, we must mention its provisions in more detail than we did in the last chapter. it first "authorized and directed" the governor by proclamation to summon "forthwith" all persons elected to the legislature in april, , according to meade's announcement of the result of the election then held,[ ] to meet in special session "on some day certain." the act continued: and thereupon the said general assembly shall proceed to perfect its organization in conformity with the constitution and laws of the united states, according to the provisions of this act. when the legislature was assembled, every person claiming to be a member should take a test oath prescribed in the act, to the effect that he had never been a member of congress or of a state legislature, nor held any civil office created by law for the administration of any general law of a state, or for the administration of justice in any state, or under the laws of the united states, nor served in the military or naval forces of the united states as an officer, and thereafter engaged in or supported hostilities against the united states; each person should take this oath or else an oath (also prescribed _verbatim_) that he had been relieved from disability by congress according to section of the fourteenth amendment. the exclusion on the ground of color of any person elected and otherwise qualified, the act declared "would be illegal and revolutionary," and was "prohibited." the act directed the president to use force in executing the act upon application from the governor. the process ordered by the act seems simple and obvious, but the general of the army deduced much from it not apparent on its face. this act, he reasoned, implies that the georgia government is provisional, and has never ceased to be so since march , . and in that case the act of march , , has never ceased to operate as to georgia, since by its own terms it is to remain in force in each "rebel state" until each respectively has been "by law admitted to representation in the congress of the united states." georgia has not been so admitted, since she did not comply with the omnibus act. therefore the reconstruction acts are still in force in georgia, and the general orders of july , , declaring the third military district abolished were a mistake. accordingly those orders were countermanded by the general of the army on january , , and general terry, a prominent advocate, as we have seen, of the revival of military government in georgia, was placed in command of the remnant of the third military district.[ ] the war department's deduction from the reorganization act of authority to institute again the system of the reconstruction acts came a month or two later under the consideration of the senate judiciary committee, and was pronounced a gratuitous perversion of the act last passed. that act implied, to be sure, that the georgia government was provisional; but it was plainly intended not to revive but to supersede the former regulations regarding that government. the purpose of the reorganization act was simply that the legislature should reorganize itself and ratify the fifteenth amendment. to this purpose military government had no relation. the reconstruction acts had not expired according to their own provisions as to georgia, it was true, but they had been repealed by the reorganization act. this was further proved by the latter's provision that military force should be used "upon the application of the governor." the reorganization act, said the committee, "invokes military action in what it provides shall be done, and no more."[ ] unfortunately this opinion was delivered some time after the theory which it demolished had been in practical operation. terry, having received the _rôle_ of military governor, played it as the true heir to the power of his great predecessors. he removed from office three sheriffs and a county ordinary and appointed successors.[ ] he intervened in eight private controversies and composed them with a strong hand.[ ] in two cases before the state courts he substituted his command for the regular process.[ ] still more apparent was the official character which he had assumed, in his conduct toward the legislature. possessing the power wielded by pope and meade, he could issue any orders he pleased to that body. for this reason, and because he was in sympathy with them, the georgia republicans ardently embraced and tenaciously clung to the theory that he was not a mere assistant in executing the reorganization act, but a military governor under the reconstruction acts. on december , , governor bullock issued his proclamation (which he signed "rufus b. bullock, provisional governor"), summoning the men elected to the legislature in to meet in atlanta on january following.[ ] this duty, besides that of calling on the president for aid if he saw fit, was the only one expressly entrusted to bullock by the reorganization act. another one, however, was deduced by the following process of reasoning: the legislature can do nothing before its members are qualified according to the act. since it can do nothing, it cannot even organize itself. but it is the purpose of the act that the legislature be organized. therefore some one else must be intended to organize it. this duty naturally belongs to the governor, since the cognate duty of convening the body is imposed on him. in accordance with this reasoning, bullock appointed a temporary clerk for each house, who should call the house to order and preside until all the members should be qualified or declared disqualified, by taking or failing to take one of the test oaths of the reorganization act.[ ] this appointment of bullock rested not only upon the reasoning stated above, but upon the approval of terry, who, whether the reasoning was correct or not, could do, or order to be done, to the legislature anything he chose.[ ] when the legislature convened on january , each house was called to order by its temporary clerk, who proceeded to call the roll of names announced by meade after the election of , for the administration to each person of one of the required test oaths. on the same day the upper house completed the roll call and the swearing in of members, and effected a permanent organization. a republican (conley) was elected president by a large majority. on assuming the chair he delivered an oration, the spirit of which may be perceived from the following sentence: "the government has determined that in this republic, which is not, never was, and never can be, a democracy--that in this republic republicans shall rule."[ ] far different was the course of events in the lower house. when that house assembled it found one harris in the chair. forgetting that his appointment had been indorsed by terry and that he was, therefore, the virtual agent of a military governor who had the power to do anything he chose to the legislature, the conservatives raised objection to his presiding and attempted to elect a temporary chairman in the usual way. this attempt precipitated a violent scene in the house, but was unsuccessful. harris kept his seat and ordered the roll call for the swearing in of members to proceed. the names of seventy-eight persons were called and as many of these as were present were sworn in. at this point, the journal records, "the clerk _pro tem._ announced that the house would take a recess" until the next day. this the house did.[ ] on january and , the same proceedings occurred, the swearing in continuing until it was suspended and the house adjourned by the "clerk _pro tem._"[ ] without the theory that the reconstruction acts were still in force these proceedings in the lower house would have constituted the plainest illegality. but if terry was a military governor and harris his agent, they were legal. though the senate judiciary committee later declared this a false interpretation of the law, yet it was the official interpretation of the war department, as we saw by the order appointing terry.[ ] the war department had a right to decide what the reorganization act, which it was to aid in executing, meant. its decision, whatever its character, was never officially overruled. therefore the proceedings in the legislature were officially regular. before the legislature met, the conservative papers had published an article by a state judge on the meaning of the first test oath of the reorganization act. it concerned especially the phrase: "any civil office created by law for the administration of any general law of a state." it was argued that there were many state offices not included in this phrase--among them those of mayor, alderman and state librarian. since these offices were not "for the administration of any general law," but only for that of special or local law, former occupants of them who had supported the confederacy could take the present test oath.[ ] this construction would give an advantage to the conservatives. to counteract it, bullock applied to the attorney general for an official interpretation. that officer (farrow by name) responded with a very reasonable opinion. he admitted that officers with merely local functions were not included in the phrase in question, but pointed out that many municipal officers had the powers of a justice of the peace. in such cases they were charged with the administration of general law and were included in the phrase. the state librarian, said farrow, executed general law and was included.[ ] after the swearing in of members had gone on in the house of representatives, as we have said, it was believed by the radicals that some conservatives were acting upon the judge's interpretation and disregarding the attorney general's, and that others had sworn or intended to swear falsely who were debarred even by the former. ordinarily, if a man intends to swear falsely to a test oath there is no way of preventing him. in the existing state of public opinion, prosecution for perjury after the oath of office was taken was impossible. but georgia had a military governor. by issuing orders he could prevent men whom he believed ineligible from swearing and could unseat those whom he believed to have sworn falsely. this terry decided to do. on january he detailed a board of soldiers to investigate the cases of twenty-one members elect whose eligibility was questioned.[ ] this board sat for two weeks, and found five men ineligible[ ] and eleven eligible.[ ] terry accordingly forbade the five, and ordered the eleven, to be sworn in. the remaining five of the twenty-one, together with nineteen others, confessed ineligibility by filing with bullock application for the removal of their disabilities by congress. these also terry forbade to be sworn in.[ ] the actions and the decision of the board of inquiry were pronounced fair and honorable even by the conservatives.[ ] the nineteen applications for congressional grace were said to have been procured by the radicals through intimidation and fraud.[ ] if the applicants were in fact ineligible but intended nevertheless to take the oath, then we must admire the cleverness of the radicals in dissuading them, by whatever means they did it. if they used intimidation and fraud, their means were no worse than the end sought by their victims--the frustration of a law by perjury. on the other hand, if nineteen conservatives who were eligible were induced by radicals to petition for the removal of ineligibility, the fact may excite disapproval of the radicals, but hardly pity for the conservatives. on january , when the board of inquiry was appointed, the "clerk _pro tem._" of the lower house, by order of bullock countersigned by terry, had declared the house adjourned till january , to await the decision of the board.[ ] on the th the house met and listened to the reading of two orders from bullock indorsed by terry; the one directing the state treasurer to issue fifty dollars to each member of the house, the other ordering the house to adjourn till january .[ ] on the th the house met, and after one man had been sworn in was adjourned in the same manner till the th.[ ] on the th it met and after two men had been sworn in was again adjourned by order of the governor.[ ] on the morning of the th it met and was adjourned till afternoon. in the afternoon it was adjourned as soon as it had met till the next day. to the countersignature of terry in this case was added the promise that this was the last adjournment of the series, since the board had now rendered so much of its decision as related to members of the lower house. the house was therefore ordered to swear in, on the next day, all the remaining members elect except those found or confessed ineligible, and to elect its permanent officers.[ ] on january this order was complied with; the radical candidate for chairman was elected by a large majority, and the redoubtable "clerk _pro tem._," having presided for the last time, retired.[ ] the reorganized legislature on february complied with the remaining requirements of the reorganization act by ratifying the fifteenth amendment. on the advice of bullock it also repassed the resolutions of july, , required by the omnibus act. this was not necessary to re-admission. it is true, the requirements of the omnibus act had, by the hypothesis of the reorganization act, never been "duly" fulfilled. but the omnibus act had been superseded by other legislation, which made new requirements and did not renew the old. the renewal of the unfulfilled requirements had been discussed in congress and rejected.[ ] nevertheless, the resolutions were passed gratuitously.[ ] the omnibus act had definitely said that georgia should be "entitled and admitted to representation in congress as a state of the union when the legislature" had complied with the conditions mentioned in the act. the reorganization act was not so definite. it said; "the legislature shall ratify the fifteenth amendment ... before senators and representatives from georgia are admitted to seats in congress." this might be construed as granting title to representation as a state as soon as the fifteenth amendment should be ratified, or as merely requiring the ratification and making no definite provision as to restoration but leaving that subject to be provided for by another act. the latter construction was adopted by the georgia radicals, since it prolonged the tenure of their military governor. it followed from this construction that the state government was still "provisional" and could not proceed with its business like a regular state government. so after electing united states senators (the election of july, , being regarded as invalid,[ ] and the present election probably being designed to become valid by relation), the legislature adjourned until april , to await congressional action.[ ] in april congress had taken no action, and the legislature, after sitting a fortnight, took another recess of two months.[ ] meantime the theory of military government had been faithfully observed. though the legislature was only provisional, it could legislate with terry's permission. it passed a stay law on february , and asked terry to enforce it.[ ] on may it passed revenue and appropriation acts,[ ] but not before terry had informed it through the governor that he would allow those acts to have the validity of regularly issued military orders.[ ] * * * * * whatever may have been the merits of the construction of the reorganization act adopted by the war department, it is certain that the proceedings taken under it greatly astonished those who had passed the act. on january the house of representatives adopted a resolution requesting the general of the army to inform it by what authority three united states soldiers were acting as a committee in the legislature of georgia.[ ] on february the senate asked for official information regarding the proceedings had under the reorganization act.[ ] the facts disclosed in response to this request created such surprise that the senate directed the judiciary committee to inquire and report whether the act had been complied with.[ ] the answer of the committee, as we saw in the early part of the chapter, was that the act had been misconstrued and violated. the appointment of presiding officers by the governor, the acts of those officers, the revival of the military governorship, and in particular the interference of terry in the organization of the legislature--these, said the committee, were wholly unlawful. but though unlawful they had resulted in no substantial injustice, since all the men debarred by terry were undoubtedly ineligible. and in any case a general state election was approaching, so that if any injustice had been done it would soon be righted. for these reasons the committee recommended that congress undertake no more legislation for georgia, but admit her representatives to each house as soon as possible.[ ] the committee believed that the reorganization act was to be construed as a law entitling georgia to representation in congress as soon as she had ratified the fifteenth amendment. this opinion was held by many republicans, who had followed trumbull's example and who appeared from this time on as opponents of further congressional interference in the south. the radical republicans, however, led by butler--those republicans characterized by a republican paper of the time as "the screeching wing" of the party[ ]--insisted that georgia must be admitted, as the first reconstruction act had said, "by law," and that no law to that effect had been passed. the reason why this argument was urged was that the passage of a new act for restoring the state would give an opportunity to annex other provisions besides the declaration of restoration. the particular provisions designed to be annexed were for the purpose of prolonging the term of the present state government. on february butler introduced the bill to admit georgia.[ ] one of its sections was as follows: that the power granted by the constitution of georgia to the general assembly to change the time of holding elections ... shall not be so exercised as to postpone the election for members of the next general assembly beyond the tuesday after the first monday in november in the year . the power here referred to was that conferred by article iii., section , of the state constitution; the election for members of the general assembly shall begin on tuesday after the first monday in november of every second year ... but the general assembly may by law change the time of election, and members shall hold until their successors are elected and qualified. the constitutional term of the present legislature (except of one-half of the senators, who held four years) would expire in november, . but this section of the constitution, butler pointed out, would enable the legislature to postpone the election and perpetuate its power. this grave danger he proposed to remove by the clause of his bill above quoted. in order to prevent the legislature from prolonging its tenure forever, he proposed, not to forbid prolongation, but to allow it for two years. i also propose [he said] by this [clause] to give to the present state officers of georgia a two years' term of office in that state as a state in this union. that congress should pose as the defender of the people of georgia against a usurping legislature, and at the same time by the guaranty of its approval encourage that legislature to double its constitutional term--this was a conception of political genius which, independently of its realization, should make butler immortal. the moderate republicans of the house of representatives were willing, for the sake of settling doubt, to pass a bill declaring georgia restored, but were decidedly opposed the scheme to use the bill as a means of prolonging the tenure of the georgia radicals. an amendment to butler's bill, known as the bingham amendment, was offered, to the following effect: ... neither shall this act be construed to extend the official tenure of any officer of said state beyond the term limited by the constitution thereof, dating from the election or appointment of such officer.[ ] the bill with this amendment passed the house by a large majority on march .[ ] in the senate the necessity of any bill and the propriety of the bingham amendment were warmly debated for some weeks. then the so-called drake amendment was offered. it provided that whenever the legislature or governor of any state should inform the president of the existence within that state of associations organized for the purpose of obstructing the law and doing violence to persons, then the president should send troops to that state, declare martial law, suspend the privileges of the writ of _habeas corpus_, and take such other military measures as he saw fit, and should levy the cost of the expedition on the people of the state.[ ] the propriety of grafting this general measure on a special bill like the present should not be discussed, it was said, in view of the pressing necessity of passing it in some way, no matter how.[ ] the debate thus complicated continued until april , when the bill went to the committee of the whole. there, the night being far spent, two entirely new amendments were suddenly offered. one commanded georgia to hold a general election in the present year; the other declared that the existing government of georgia was still "provisional" and provided that the reconstruction acts of should continue to be enforced there. these amendments were adopted by the committee. the drake amendment was also adopted. finally, the entire bill as it came from the house was stricken out.[ ] thus transformed so that, as a senator said, "it would not be recognized by the oldest inhabitant," the bill was passed by the senate.[ ] the house of representatives did not take up the bill again until june . on june it decided to insist on the passage of the bill substantially as before passed.[ ] as a result of the conference following, the senate yielded to the house. the bill became law on july , . it said: ... it is hereby declared that the state of georgia is entitled to representation in the congress of the united states. but nothing in this act contained shall be construed to deprive the people of georgia of the right to an election for members of the general assembly of said state, as provided for in the constitution thereof.[ ] one would suppose that this act of july should close the chapter; that it recognized georgia as a state, and that henceforth all peculiar relations between georgia and the federal government were at an end. the georgia radicals were able to avoid this conclusion. in a message to the legislature on july the governor said that according to the act of march , , the federal military power was to remain until the state was not only entitled to representation but actually represented in congress. section of that act contained this language: when ... any one of said rebel states shall have [fulfilled all requirements], said state shall be declared entitled to representation in congress, and senators and representatives shall be admitted therefrom ... and then and thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be inoperative in said state. hence, the military authority, said bullock, would continue in georgia until the following december. but he informed the legislature that it might proceed with legislation, since terry had informed him that he would allow it.[ ] the radicals in the legislature took advantage of the theory announced by the governor to make one last attempt at prolongation of power. on july a resolution was offered in the upper house to this effect: that the authority of the united states was still paramount in georgia; that no offence ought to be offered to congress by an apparent denial of this fact; that therefore no election should be held in the state until congress had fully recognized its statehood by receiving its representatives.[ ] on july the senate adopted a resolution similar to this, but the lower house rejected it by a few votes.[ ] with the failure of this attempt, the reconstruction acts ceased to operate in georgia, either in fact or in any one's theory. at the next session of congress a delegation from georgia composed of men elected in december, , was seated in the house of representatives.[ ] in the senate, farrow and whitely, elected by the legislature in february, , presented credentials. they were referred to the judiciary committee, which reported adversely. it recommended that hill, elected in , be seated, and reported that miller, elected with hill, would be entitled to a seat except that he was unable to take the test oath required of members of congress by the act of july , .[ ] since this committee had decided in january, , that the georgia legislature was not legally organized in , and in march, , that its organization in january of that year was also illegal, and since therefore the election of hill and miller and that of farrow and whitely were both illegal, the committee had to decide the question: to which of these illegal elections ought we to give _de facto_ validity? it decided in favor of the earlier one on grounds of equity. the senate adopted the committee's opinion. the test oath act was suspended in favor of miller by a special act of congress, and he and hill were sworn in, in february, .[ ] thus, after federal intervention had been imposed in and apparently withdrawn in the same year, again imposed in and again apparently withdrawn in , and yet again imposed in , it was now withdrawn for the last time, and georgia was completely restored to statehood. chapter ix reconstruction and the state government in the preceding chapters we have mentioned the immediate effect of reconstruction upon social conditions. to its immediate effects upon political conditions, in other words to the character and conduct of the new state government, which have been mentioned only incidentally, we shall now give a more direct and consecutive consideration. with reference to the political reforms of reconstruction the white men of georgia formed three distinct parties. there were those who favored them, either on their ethical and political merits or (more often) as a means of attaining political power otherwise unattainable. they were called scalawags, carpet-baggers and radicals, of which terms we shall adopt the last. there were those unalterably opposed to them, called rebels by their critics and conservatives by themselves. there were, thirdly, those who supported them not upon their merits, which they doubted, but because they saw the state at the mercy of a conqueror and believed that, bad as the measures were, it was better to accept them quickly than to make a vain resistance, which could only prolong the social and commercial disturbances in the state, and which might occasion the administration of a still worse dose. this group embraced many of the commercial class, which was especially large in georgia, and one of the men prominent in former politics, namely governor brown. they were classed by the conservatives with the basest of radicals, but we shall call them the moderate republicans. the admixture of this group with the radical party had important consequences. differing from their party in principle and allying themselves with it to bring peace to the state, when the peace of the state seemed secure, they sometimes adhered to their principles rather than to their party. it is true, many of them became so interested in the great game of politics then going on that they played it for its own sake, but some party splits of importance occurred. the first fruit of the policy of negro enfranchisement and rebel disenfranchisement was the constitutional convention of - . it was stated in the latter part of chapter iv. that in the election for members of this convention many conservatives declined to take part. for this reason the radicals obtained a predominance in the convention which they did not retain in the state government after the conservatives decided to fight. the convention, in fact, was extremely radical. the constitution which it framed shows the thoroughness with which it entered into the humanitarian reforms. the speeches and resolutions show that a close sympathy with the republican party and a bitter antagonism to the conservatives were entertained by most of the members. the temporary chairman, foster blodgett, in his opening speech, mentioned the suspicious, hostile and contemptuous attitude of the conservatives toward the convention. he said: they may stand and rail at us and strive to distract us from our patriotic labors; but we are engaged in a great work ... we are building up the walls of a great state.[ ] parrot, the permanent chairman, said: many of us come here from amongst a people who have spurned us and spit upon us ... the enemies of the convention are watching with envious eyes to see whether we shall be able to meet public expectation.... we should form a state government for an unwilling people based upon the soundest principles ... and in governing them rescue human liberty from the grave, and prevent them from trampling us under foot. on the other side, he said: the republican party of the nation is waiting with intense anxiety the movements of this body. our friends will soon be able to determine whether we shall be a burden upon them ... or aid them in the great work of restoring our state.[ ] when governor jenkins brought suit against stanton on behalf of the state, the convention declared the action unauthorized and in the name of the people of georgia demanded that the suit be dismissed.[ ] on december , , a resolution was passed, asking pope to appoint, in lieu of governor jenkins, a provisional governor, and asking that the person appointed be rufus b. bullock.[ ] unsuccessful here, the convention tried again on january . it requested congress to allow it to vacate the governorship and all other offices now filled by men unfriendly to reconstruction and to fill them with new appointees.[ ] these two last named resolutions suggest not only radical sentiment, but also radical organization in the convention. the attitude of the convention toward the military authorities was most cordial. on december , a reception was given to pope. the general made a speech and received an ovation.[ ] resolutions of friendship and gratitude were voted him on his departure.[ ] meade, on his arrival, received resolutions of welcome,[ ] and resolutions of friendly import on various other occasions.[ ] meade did not entirely reciprocate this cordiality. toward congress the convention was not only cordial; it was almost filial. not only was the united states government eloquently thanked for its magnanimity,[ ] but it was appealed to by the convention as a kind parent by a child confident of favor. it was petitioned to appropriate thirty million dollars to be loaned on mortgage to southern planters;[ ] to loan a hundred thousand dollars to the south georgia and florida railroad,[ ] and "to make a liberal appropriation" for building the proposed air line railroad.[ ] the constitutional convention of had met on october , and adjourned on november , thus completing its work in fourteen days. this dispatch, as well as the style of its resolutions and of the speeches of its members,[ ] had marked it as a body where good taste, decorum and public spirit prevailed. the reconstruction convention met on december , , and continued in session (excepting a recess from december to january ), until march , . the first article of the new constitution on which the convention took action was reported on january .[ ] before that time many resolutions and ordinances were introduced. most of them related to "relief" (such as suspension of tax collections, homestead exemption, stay of execution for debt, etc.), or to the pay and mileage of delegates, and only rarely was anything said about the constitution. on december the more conscientious members secured the appointment of a committee to inquire whether the convention had power to do any business besides frame a constitution.[ ] this committee did not discuss the law of the question, but recommended on moral grounds a resolution to this effect: that all ordinances or other matter ... already introduced and pending are hereby indefinitely postponed; and in future no ordinance or other matter ... not necessarily connected with the fundamental law shall be entertained by this convention [except relief legislation]. this report met with vigorous opposition. it was saved from the table by two votes. but it was adopted.[ ] the contemporary conservative press describes the convention as very infamous and very disgusting.[ ] it contained thirty-three negroes, and the transactions recorded in the official journal show that it was composed largely of men of low character. hence, to many of the delegates, framing the constitution was only a minor incident of the convention, and the main part of that work was left to a small number of men. their work shows intelligence and ability. moreover, in the records of the convention there are not wanting traces of that undoubted public spirit which animated many of the supporters of reconstruction--the honest desire to repair and develop the material welfare of the state. this spirit is evident in the speeches we have cited, and in some of the resolutions. we have stated how the campaign of resulted in giving the governorship to the republicans and a majority of twenty-nine in the legislature to the conservatives; how governor bullock tried to reduce that majority through meade, and how meade refused his aid; and how the majority was more than doubled by the expulsion of the negroes and the seating of the minority candidates. from that time to the reorganization of the legislature in , the most remarkable fact in the state politics was the hostility between the governor and the legislature. after the expulsion of the negroes, the lower house asked the governor to send it the names of the candidates who at the election had received the next highest vote to the persons expelled. the governor sent the names and with them a long protest against the expulsion of the negroes.[ ] the house, on hearing the message, adopted a tart resolution, reminding the governor that the members of each house were "the keepers of their own consciences, and not his excellency."[ ] a similar message to the upper house in response to a similar request provoked a similar resolution, which was defeated by two votes.[ ] it will be remembered that in december, , and january, , the governor urged upon congress, through his letter presented in the senate and through his testimony before the reconstruction committee, the theory that georgia had not yet been restored. on january , , he urged the same view upon the legislature. he advised it to reorganize itself by summoning all men elected members in , requiring each to take the test oath, excluding only those who should not take it, and thus constituted to repass the resolutions required by the omnibus act. if the legislature did not do this, it must submit to congressional interference.[ ] this message apparently caused the legislature some apprehension. it adopted a joint resolution to the effect that it desired the question of the eligibility of negroes to office to be determined by the supreme court of the state. the governor sent this resolution back with one of his admirably keen and powerful messages. he said that congress had two grievances against the present legislature; that it had admitted members disqualified by the fourteenth amendment, contrary to the omnibus act, and that it had expelled twenty-eight negroes. the present resolution, intended to appease congress, ignored the first grievance and proposed no remedy for the second; therefore it was meaningless and absurd.[ ] on january , , the state treasurer, angier, in response to an inquiry from the house of representatives regarding the affairs of his department, intimated that the governor had drawn money from the treasury under suspicious circumstances.[ ] thus began the feud between the governor and the treasurer which continued during the rest of bullock's term. angier's report was referred to the committee on finance. the majority of the committee reported that the governor's acts had been irregular but in good faith. the minority reported that his acts were culpable and his explanations inadequate, and concluded: "the facts herein set forth develop the necessity for further legislation for the security of the treasury."[ ] this report the house adopted by a large majority.[ ] another index of the relations between the governor and the legislature is furnished by the governor's message submitting the proposed fifteenth amendment. it opened thus: it is especially gratifying to learn, as i do from the published proceedings of your honorable body, that senators and representatives who have heretofore acted with a political organization which adopted as one of its principles a denunciation of the acts of a republican congress ... should now give expression to their anxious desire to lose no time in embracing this opportunity of ratifying one of the fundamental principles of the republican party ... and i very much regret that the preparation necessary for a proper presentation of this subject to your honorable body has necessarily caused a short delay, and thereby prolonged the suspense of those who are so anxious to concur.[ ] the radicals probably desired the rejection of the amendment, since it would furnish another strong argument to congress in favor of reorganizing the legislature. hence, the radical governor, as his message shows, did not do his best to induce the legislature to ratify, and probably some radical members for the same reason voted against the amendment or refrained from voting for it. it was defeated in the lower house on march ,[ ] and in the upper on march .[ ] in the last chapter we saw that terry excluded five men from the legislature because the board of inquiry had found them ineligible, and excluded nineteen others because they had failed to take the required oath, and had applied to congress for removal of disabilities. it is safe to assume that all of these twenty-four men were conservatives. nineteen of them had been elected to the lower house, five to the senate.[ ] immediately after organization, on advice of bullock and with the sanction of terry, the senate gave the five vacated seats to the minority candidates,[ ] and the house gave fourteen of its vacated seats to the minority candidates.[ ] the result was that the republicans secured a majority in each house.[ ] the republican control thus secured remained uninterrupted for the remainder of . perfect accord now existed between the governor and legislature, and in the quarrel between bullock and angier, which went on with increased acerbity in the press and before a congressional committee,[ ] the legislature proceeded to transfer its support to the governor.[ ] but republican supremacy was in danger. it was threatened by the moderate republicans. j. e. bryant, a republican, prominent in the state politics since the beginning of the new _régime_, in testifying before the reconstruction committee in january, , had advocated reorganization of the legislature, but had opposed any other interference, especially the restoration of military government.[ ] he and other republicans who shared his opinion were disgusted with the proceedings of bullock and terry. as early as january , , there were reports that the radicals were apprehensive of a combination between the moderate republicans and the conservatives.[ ] probably the strenuous efforts of the radicals to take and make every possible advantage for themselves in the reorganization is partly accounted for by this apprehension. on february , bryant caused to be entered on the journal of the house of representatives a protest denouncing the reorganization proceedings as illegal.[ ] shortly afterwards he published a statement of his position. he said that he was a republican, but was opposed to the corrupt ring which controlled the party in georgia.[ ] from this time on the papers frequently referred to the alliance between the followers of bryant and the conservatives as the salvation of the state.[ ] the radical majority was not quite strong enough to pass a resolution declaring that there should be no election in , as was attempted in august of that year.[ ] but it was strong enough to pass an election law very favorable to the radical party. it changed the date of the election from the regular time in november to december , and following the example set by general pope in , provided that it should continue three days. it established a board of five election managers for each county, three to be appointed by the governor and senate, and two by the county ordinary. it provided that the board should have "no power to refuse the ballot of any male person of apparent full age, a resident of the county, who [had] not previously voted at the said election." also it said: "they [the managers] shall not permit any person to challenge any vote."[ ] another act was passed, calculated to prevent the loss of republican votes through disqualification of negroes for non-payment of taxes. it declared the poll tax levied in , and illegal.[ ] at the election thus provided for were to be chosen a new legislature (except half of the senators, who held four years) and congressmen. to what extent the republicans availed themselves of the advantages offered by the election law we do not know. at any rate, the conservatives obtained two-thirds of the seats in the legislature, and five of the seven seats in congress.[ ] this result meant trouble for the governor, whose term ran to november, . his efforts to secure congressional interference, his conduct in january, , and the accusations of extravagance, corruption, and other crimes continually made by an intemperate press, had raised public indignation to a high point. it was certain that when the new legislature met it would investigate the charges, and it was hoped that the governor would be impeached.[ ] the time of reckoning had been postponed, however, by the prudence of the outgoing legislature, which had provided that the next session of the legislature should begin, instead of in january, the regular time set by the constitution,[ ] on the first wednesday in november, .[ ] the first wednesday in november, , was november . on october , the governor recorded in the executive minutes that he resigned his office, for "good and sufficient reasons," the resignation to take effect on october .[ ] he then quietly left the state. the fact that he had resigned was kept secret until october .[ ] in case of a vacancy in the office of governor, the constitution directed the president of the senate to fill the office.[ ] on october , therefore, conley, the president of the senate at its last session, hastened to be sworn in as governor.[ ] by resigning just before the meeting of the incoming conservative legislature, bullock had thus cleverly prolonged republican power, while at the same time resigning. the question whether under the constitution the governor's office should not be filled by the president of the newly-organized senate, was raised by the papers.[ ] but conley was by common consent left in possession of the office. though, as he said in his first message to the legislature,[ ] "a staunch republican," he was not personally unpopular.[ ] moreover, the legislature intended to furnish a successor very soon. on november , a bill was passed ordering a special election for governor for the remainder of the unexpired term, to be held on the third tuesday in december.[ ] the authority for this act was found in the following provision of the constitution: "the general assembly shall have power to provide by law for filling unexpired terms by a special election."[ ] conley vetoed the bill, on the ground that the section of the constitution quoted empowered the legislature to make general provisions for filling unexpired terms, not to make special provision for single cases.[ ] the bill was passed over his veto. although republican power was now doomed in a few weeks, and although resistance to a legislature which could easily override his vetoes was futile, yet conley stubbornly continued to offer obstructions to the legislature at every possible point up to the very day when his successor was inaugurated.[ ] he exhibited a courage and a political efficiency worthy of his predecessor, but accomplished nothing. he was able, however, to help his friends by means of the pardoning power. several prominent republicans were indicted at this time for various acts of public malfeasance. on the ground that in the existing state of public excitement these men could not obtain a fair trial, conley ordered proceedings against several of these to be discontinued.[ ] on january , , the returns from the special election were sent to the legislature by conley, under protest,[ ] and james m. smith was declared elected. on january , smith was inaugurated. conley assisted at this ceremony, thus yielding the last inch of republican ground.[ ] reviewing the events recorded from the beginning of this chapter, we observe that the period of reconstruction in georgia was not a period when a swarm of harpies took possession of the state government and preyed at will upon a helpless people. the constitutional convention of - forebodes such a period, but when the conservatives rouse themselves, from that time on the stage presents an internecine war between two very well matched enemies. this struggle is usually represented as between a wicked assailant and a righteous assailed. that it was a struggle between republicans and democrats is much more characteristic. in such a contest mutual vilifying of course abounded, and it is not to be supposed _a priori_ that the vilifying of one party was more truthful than that of the other. it is often vaguely said that reconstruction resulted in government by carpet-baggers. john b. gordon, the conservative candidate for governor who was defeated by bullock, expressed before a congressional committee in the belief that there were not more than a dozen men holding offices in georgia who had recently been non-residents. he further said that the judges appointed by the republican governor were entirely satisfactory.[ ] the reconstruction government is charged with having imposed such heavy taxes that as a result the people were impoverished, industry was checked, and many plantations went to waste. during the decade before the war the law provided that a tax should be annually levied at such a rate as to produce $ , , provided the rate should not exceed one-twelfth of one per cent.[ ] the revenue law of provided that a tax should be levied at such a rate as to produce $ , .[ ] owing to the vast destruction of property during the war, this necessitated a higher rate than that before the war. the law of ordered a levy at such a rate as to raise $ , .[ ] this law, made by the johnson government, before reconstruction began, was continued by the legislature in the four following years.[ ] in the rate of assessment was two-fifths of one per cent.[ ] this rate was much higher than the one prevailing before the war, but this misfortune cannot be charged to reconstruction, since the reconstruction government merely followed the example of the johnson government. that the reconstruction _régime_ did not do the economic harm often attributed to it is shown by the fact that during that _régime_ the value of land and of all property in the state steadily increased, as appears from the following table: assessed valuation. land. town and total city property. property. [ ] $ , , $ , , $ , , [ ] , , , , , , [ ] , , , , , , [ ] , , , , , , nevertheless, the reconstruction government spent the public money extravagantly. this fact is shown by a comparison of the expenditures of the state under bullock's administration and under that of his predecessor. such a comparison, it is true, has been employed to prove the contrary. governor bullock was wont to rebut charges of extravagance by showing that the state spent more under jenkins' administration than under his, in proportion to the time occupied by each.[ ] this was true, as the following figures show:[ ] gross expenditures in and $ , , . average annual expenditure during these years , , . gross expenditures from august , , to jan. , , , . gross expenditures in , , . gross expenditures in , , . average annual expenditure during this period , , . a comparison of gross expenditures, however, is of no significance unless the sums contrasted represent payments for the same purposes. under the earlier administration the government undertook large expenditures for the relief of destitute persons, especially of wounded soldiers and the relicts of soldiers.[ ] this accounts for the remarkable size of the amounts credited to "special appropriations" in the report for and . under bullock's administration the government spent nothing for these purposes. for a fair comparison of the economy of the johnson government and the reconstruction government, it is necessary to compare the amounts which they spent respectively for the same objects. their payments for the more important administrative purposes are shown in the following table:[ ] +----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ | | . | . | . | . | +----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ |civil establishment |$ , . |$ , . |$ , . |$ , . | |contingent fund | , . | , . | , . | , . | |printing fund | , . | , . | , . | , . | |special appropriations| , . | , . | , . | , . | +----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ +----------+----------+ | . | . | +----------+----------+ |$ , . |$ , . | | , . | , . | | , . | , . | | , . | , . | +----------+----------+ these figures show that almost all the annual expenditures of bullock's administration, aside from "special appropriations," were well above those of the preceding administration, and that the payments from the printing fund, especially in , and from the contingent fund in , were so large as to convict the administration of great extravagance. the reconstruction legislature was reproached because of its large _per diem_--nine dollars. this _per diem_ was established by the johnson government,[ ] and is, therefore, not a charge against reconstruction. but the other expenses of the legislature fully corroborate the charges of extravagance made against it. this is shown by the following table:[ ] +-----+---------------------+-------------+-------------------+ | | length of session. | total |average expenditure| | | |expenditure. | per month. | +-----+---------------------+-------------+-------------------+ | | dec. to dec. . | | | | | jan. to march .| | | | and | nov. to dec. . | $ , . | $ , . | | .| ------------------- | | | | | - / months.| | | +-----+---------------------+-------------+-------------------+ | .| no session. | | | +-----+---------------------+-------------+-------------------+ | | july to oct. . | | | | and | jan. to march .| $ , . | $ , . | | .| ------------------- | | | | | - / months.| | | +-----+---------------------+-------------+-------------------+ | | jan. to feb. . | | | | | apr. to may . | | | | .| july to oct. . | $ , . | $ , . | | | ------------------- | | | | | - / months. | | | +-----+---------------------+-------------+-------------------+ the state debt created by the reconstruction government was of two kinds; direct and contingent. when the reconstruction government went into operation the state debt was $ , , .[ ] the reconstruction government incurred a bonded debt of $ , , .[ ] this includes bonds to the amount of $ , , which were issued to a railroad in exchange for its bonds to a greater amount and bearing interest at the same rate. this amount, therefore, was not a burden on the state, provided the railroad remained solvent; though in form a direct, it was virtually a contingent liability. further, $ , of the money borrowed was used to pay the principal of the old debt. deducting these two sums, we find that the burden of direct debt was increased by $ , , . contingent debt was incurred by the indorsement of railroad bonds. in the state offered aid of this kind to three railroad companies,[ ] in to four,[ ] and in to thirty.[ ] the state offered to indorse the bonds of each of these companies to the amount, usually, of from $ , to $ , per mile, sometimes more and sometimes less. if all the roads had accepted the full amount of aid offered, the state would have become contingently liable for about $ , , .[ ] but only six roads accepted, and the contingent liability thus created was $ , , .[ ] the laws offering the aid involved little risk to the state; they made substantial progress in construction and substantial evidence of soundness conditions precedent to indorsement, and secured to the state a lien on all the property of each road in case it defaulted. the indorsement of railroad bonds is not a reproach to the reconstruction government. the great policy of that government, when it was sufficiently free from partisan labors to have a policy, was to repair the prosperity of the state, and the construction of railroads was an important means to this end.[ ] the worst stain on the reconstruction government is its management of the state railroad. the western and atlantic railroad, owned and operated by the state until , was placed under the superintendence of foster blodgett by the governor in january, .[ ] thenceforth hundreds of employees were discharged to make room for republican favorites; important positions were filled by strangers to the business; the receipts were stolen,[ ] or squandered in purchases made from other republicans at monstrous prices; and the road suffered great dilapidation.[ ] the preferred object of the conservative abuse in the reconstruction government was governor bullock. we have seen that he was remarkably powerful as well as remarkably active in promoting the interests of his party. he was abused for that. for the extravagance of the state government the governor was held largely responsible. he was abused for that. but he was further accused of fraud in financial matters. although this charge has never been established, the public had some excuse for believing it at the time. as a result of the quarrel between the governor and the treasurer, the governor ordered the bankers who were the financial agents of the state to hold no further communication with the treasurer after june , , but to communicate only with the governor.[ ] the effect upon the public was an impression of great confusion and irregularity in the finances. the treasurer's reports could not give a complete account of state moneys, and the governor was not careful to inform the public of the condition of that part of the finances over which he had assumed control. moreover, the governor and the treasurer kept up a constant interchange of accusation and insinuation in the newspapers. in another way the governor put himself in an unfortunate light. in his letter to the ku klux committee his statements regarding his bond transactions were so vague as to give the impression (rightly or wrongly) of a desire to conceal something.[ ] the same laxity of statement appears in conley's statement of the use to which the bonds issued by bullock had been put.[ ] his sudden resignation and departure on the eve of a threatened investigation seemed to confirm the evidence of his guilt. but though he did not keep the public informed, it has never been established that his accounts were wrong. he spent money freely, and in some cases without authority;[ ] but none of his accusers has ever proved that he spent any without regular and correct record by the comptroller. and though he issued bonds perhaps in excess, he issued none without proper registration in the comptroller's records.[ ] his apparent efforts to conceal facts do not prove fraud; a sufficient motive would be furnished by desire to conceal the extravagance of his administration. furthermore, he has been positively acquitted of the charge of fraud. in he returned to georgia, and the courts proceeded to give him "a speedy and public trial." of his many alleged crimes, indictments were secured for three. one indictment was quashed.[ ] upon the other two the verdict was "not guilty."[ ] his resignation was explained in a letter to his "political friends," published on october , .[ ] he said that he had obtained evidence of a concerted design among certain prominent members of the incoming legislature to impeach him (as they could easily do, with the immense conservative majority), and instal as governor the conservative who would be elected president of the senate. to resign and put the governorship in the hands of a republican who could not be impeached was the only way to defeat this "nefarious scheme." this explanation was of course ignored by bullock's enemies when it was made; but in view of the lack of evidence that he was guilty of any fraud, and in view of the positive evidence to the contrary, there is now no reason to doubt it. the governor made extraordinary use of the pardoning power. according to a statement sanctioned by him, he pardoned four hundred and ninety-eight criminals, forty-one of whom were convicted or accused of murder, fifty-two of burglary, five of arson, and eight of robbery.[ ] the leader of the conservative party at that time, b. h. hill, emphatically declared in a public statement that the governor had no worse motive than "kindness of heart."[ ] to sum up the case against the reconstruction government, we have seen that it was extravagant, that it mismanaged the state railroad, and that it pardoned a great many criminals. it was not guilty of the enormities often associated with reconstruction; but it was a government composed of men who obtained political position only through the interference of an outside power--it was the product of a system conceived partly in vengeance, partly in folly, and partly in political strategy, and imposed by force. it was hated partly for what it did, but more for what it was. chapter x conclusion a confederate veteran recently remarked amid great applause at an assembly in atlanta that there never was a conqueror so magnanimous as the north, for within six years from the surrender of the southern armies she had allowed the south to take part in her national councils. nevertheless, within those six years the congressional disciplinarians gave the south a discipline which she will never forget. it did not result in permanent estrangement between the north and the south, for sectional bitterness seems extinct. but whether there was any profit in it--whether, in case the south never again attempts to secede, that happy omission will be due to reconstruction--may be doubted. was there a clearer gain from the humanitarian point of view? we have seen that at the close of the war a spirit of gratitude and philanthropy prevailed among the most influential of the southern white people as regards the negroes. instead of allowing this spirit to develop and in the course of time to produce its natural results, the north, believing that suffrage was essential to the negro's welfare and progress, forced the south to enfranchise him, by reconstruction. this caused the negro untold immediate harm (since reconstruction was a contributary cause of kukluxism), and delayed his ultimate advance by giving the friendly spirit of the white people a check in its development from which it has not yet recovered. from the point of view of the republican politicians, reconstruction at first succeeded, but later proved a mistaken policy. by it they lost the support of the southern white men who had been opposed to secession. these formed a large party in georgia. the victory of the federal arms had the nature of a party victory for them. they would have added their strength to the republican party. reconstruction, with its threat of negro domination, drove them into the democratic party, where they still remain. for a time this loss was made good by negro votes, but not long. without reconstruction there would have been no fifteenth amendment. but the good will and philanthropy of the people among whom the negro lives, which reconstruction took away, would have brought him more benefit than the fifteenth amendment. without reconstruction there would have been no fourteenth amendment. but a long line of decisions of the supreme court has determined that the fourteenth amendment did not achieve the nationalization of civil rights--an end which might justify reconstruction as a means. in short, reconstruction seems to have produced bad government, political rancor, and social violence and disorder, without compensating good. bibliography. public records and documents. _of the united states government._ congressional globe. public documents. statutes at large. supreme court reports. military orders in the archives of the department of war. correspondence in the same archives. correspondence in the archives of the department of state. unpublished records in the same archives. _of the government of georgia._ journal of the constitutional convention of . journal of the constitutional convention of - . journals of the legislature. reports of the four committees appointed by the legislature in december, to investigate respectively-- the management of the state railroad. the lease of the same road. the official conduct of governor bullock. the transactions of governor bullock's administration relating to the issue of state bonds and the indorsement of railroad bonds. these reports were published in atlanta in . session laws. supreme court reports. reports of the state comptroller. executive minutes in the archives of the state in atlanta. minutes of the fulton county superior court in the office of that court in atlanta. newspapers. atlanta _new era_. atlanta _constitution_. milledgeville _federal union_ (during the war called the _confederate union_). savannah _news_. savannah _republican_. contemporary pamphlets. a letter from rufus b. bullock to the chairman of the ku klux committee, atlanta, . address of the same to the people of georgia, dated october, . letter from the same "to the republican senators and representatives who support the reconstruction acts," washington, may , . historical works and compendia. _american annual cyclopædia_. new york. avery, i. w., _history of georgia_. new york, . bancroft, f. a., _the negro in politics_. new york, . clews, henry, _twenty-eight years in wall street_. london, . cox, s. s., _three decades of federal legislation_. providence, . dunning, w. a., _the civil war and reconstruction_. new york, . fielder, h., _the life and times of joseph e. brown_. springfield, mass., . hill, b. h., jr., _the life, speeches and writings of benjamin h. hill_. atlanta, . lalor, j. j., _cyclopædia of political science_. new york, . articles on reconstruction, georgia, and ku klux. poor, h. v., _manual of the railroads of the united states_. new york, published yearly. sherman, w. t., _memoirs_. new york, . stephens, alex., _the war between the states_. philadelphia, - . taylor, richard, _destruction and reconstruction_. new york, . _tribune almanac_. new york. wilson, henry, _history of the reconstruction measures_. hartford, . footnotes: [ ] alex. stephens, _the war between the states_, vol. ii, p. ; w. t. sherman, _memoirs_, vol. ii, pp. - . [ ] m. c. u., may , . [ ] see the account of the gigantic relief operations of the federal army, a. a. c., , p. . [ ] m. c. u., may , . [ ] letter from joseph e. brown to andrew johnson, dated may , , in the department of war, washington. brown was arrested on may . on may , upon surrendering the state troops to the federal general wilson, he had been paroled. (the parole paper is in the above mentioned archives.) hence the arrest was a violation of his parole. when wilson entered into the parole engagement he had not been informed how his superiors would regard the summoning of the legislature. immediately afterward he probably received orders from the central authorities to arrest brown. he preferred obeying orders to observing his engagement. [ ] g. o. d. s., , no. . [ ] see g. o. d. s., , _passim_. also savannah _republican_, may , , , etc., . [ ] savannah _republican_, july , . see also james johnson's proclamation of july , , m. f. u. of same date. [ ] m. f. u., july , . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , . the provisional governorship, it may be remarked, was characterized by the secretary of war as "ancillary to the withdrawal of military force, the disbandment of armies, and the reduction of military expenditure by provisional [civil organizations] to take the place of armed force." the salaries of the provisional governors were paid from the army contingencies fund. see s. d., th congress, st session, no. . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , p. . [ ] m. f. u., july , ; a. a. c., , p. . [ ] m. f. u., august , ; a. a. c., _loc. cit._ [ ] letter from brown to johnson, dated may , , archives of the department of war, washington. [ ] letter from johnson to stanton dated june , , in same archives. [ ] m. f. u., july , . [ ] m. f. u., july . savannah _republican_, july and . [ ] j. c., , p. . [ ] j. c., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, pp. , . [ ] _ibid._, p. . the ordinance to this effect was passed only after a hard fight, and after a telegraphic warning from the president that if it failed the state would fail of restoration. see s. d., th congress, st session, no. , p. . [ ] j. c., , pp. and . [ ] s. j., - , p. . [ ] s. d., th congress, st session, no. , p. . [ ] s. l., , p. . [ ] m. f. u., december and , . [ ] see jenkins' message to the legislature, m. f. u., december , . [ ] k. k. r., vol. , p. (testimony of john b. gordon). [ ] report of carl schurz on conditions in the south, made in december, . s. d., th congress, d session, no. . [ ] report of carl schurz on conditions in the south, made in december, . s. d., th congress, d session, no. . [ ] art. v, sect. , § . [ ] art. ii, sec. , § . [ ] s. l., - , p. . [ ] s. l., - , p. . [ ] before, the maximum penalty for rape, arson, and burglary in the night had been imprisonment for years, and for horse stealing imprisonment for years. [ ] s. l., - , p. ; , p. . [ ] _ibid._, , p. . [ ] _ibid._, - , p. . [ ] s. l., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, - , p. . [ ] _ibid._ [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, . [ ] s. l., , p. . [ ] j. c., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, . [ ] s. l., , p. . for the governor's message and the report of the committee to which the amendment was referred, see a. a. c., , p. . for a further expression of public opinion, see atlanta _new era_, october , . [ ] s. l., - , p. . [ ] s. l., - , p. , and s. l., , p. . [ ] s. l., , p. . [ ] report of carl schurz above cited. [ ] c. g., th congress, st session. appendix, p. . [ ] one of the senators elect from georgia had been vice-president of the defunct confederacy. [ ] c. g., th congress, st session, p. . [ ] r. c., th congress, st session, vol. ii, p. iii. [ ] c. g., th congress, st session, appendix, p. . [ ] c. g., th congress, st session, p. . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , p. . [ ] trumbull's speech, c. g., th congress, st session, p. . [ ] r. c., th congress, st session, vol. ii. [ ] senate resolution (by andrew johnson), c. g., th congress, st session, pp. , ; house resolution (by crittenden), _ibid._, pp. , . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] u. s. senate journal, th congress, d session, p. . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] _ibid._ [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , p. . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] mississippi _versus_ johnson, wallace, ; georgia _versus_ stanton, wallace, ; _ex parte_ mccardle, wallace, , and wallace, . [ ] wallace, . [ ] the _federalist_, no. . [ ] story on the constitution, chap. ( th edition). [ ] cooley on the constitution, p. ( th edition). [ ] prize cases, black, . [ ] _ex parte_ garland, wallace, . [ ] archives of the department of state, washington. [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. . for other expressions of the same doctrine, see cullom's speech, _ibid._, p. ; sumner's resolutions, c. g., th congress, st session, p. ; sumner's resolutions, c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] g. o. h., , no. and ; , no. ; g. o. t. m. d., , no. ; , no. and . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . also see pope's report, in r. s. w., th congress, d session, vol. i, p. . [ ] there is a slight inaccuracy in the official figures. [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] georgia constitution of , art. i, sec. i. [ ] _ibid._, art. i, sect. xi. [ ] _ibid._, art. ii, sect. ii. [ ] _ibid._, art. ii, sect. vii, § . [ ] _ibid._, art. i, sect. xxii. [ ] _ibid._, art. vi, sect. i. [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. and . [ ] _ibid._, no. , and . also, e. d., th congress d session, no. . [ ] pope's report in r. s. w., th congress, d session, vol. i, p. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] for the correspondence between jenkins and pope see a. a. c., , p. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] s. o. t. m. d., , _passim_. [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] s. o. t. m. d., , no. , , . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] these figures are compiled from the special orders of the third military district. [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] ordinance of dec. , , j. c., - , p. . [ ] avery, _history of georgia_, p. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . meade acted with the greatest courtesy, and the relations between him and the officers remained friendly. see meade's letter to jenkins, a. a. c., , p. . the removal of the treasurer was a formality to preserve the appearance of due discipline; jones was allowed to retain the money then in the treasury, and to use it in paying the state debt and other expenses of the state government. see his report to the legislature, sept. , ; h. j., , p. . [ ] j. c., - , p. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. and . [ ] s. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. and . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. . [ ] _ibid._, , no. and . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. , , , , , and . [ ] m. f. u., oct. , . [ ] atlanta _new era_, nov. , ; march , ; march , . [ ] testimony of john b. gordon, k. k. r., vol. , p. . [ ] atlanta _new era_, march , and , . [ ] m. f. u., oct. and nov. , . [ ] a. a. c., , p. . [ ] testimony before the reconstruction committee, h. m. d., th congress, d session, no. , p. . see also m. f. u., march and , . [ ] tribune almanac for , p. . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , public laws, p. . [ ] see sects. and . [ ] the vote in alabama on the adoption of the constitution resulted in favor of adoption; but less than half of the registered voters voted, and the vote was taken before the passage of the act of march , , above mentioned. excuse was found by the republican leaders for waiving this irregularity. c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. (trumbull's speech). [ ] u. s. l., vol. , public acts, p. . [ ] s. j., . p. . [ ] the iron clad or test oath, to the effect that the person swearing had never borne arms against the united states, or in any way served the confederacy. u. s. l., vol. , p. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] s. r., th congress, d session, no. , p. . see also c. g., st congress, st session, p. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] s. r., th congress, d session, no. , p. . [ ] _ibid._ see also h. j., , p. . [ ] s. j., , p. . [ ] h. j., , pp. , . [ ] s. r., th congress, d session, no. , p. . [ ] s. r., th congress, d session, no. , p. . [ ] _ibid._ [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] g. o. h., , no. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, pp. , , . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] a. a. c., , p. . [ ] the most prominent of these was ex-governor brown. he went as a delegate to the republican national convention in , but in a speech there declared his opposition to the granting of political power to the negro. avery, _history of georgia_, p. . [ ] s. j., , p. . [ ] constitution of , art. xi, § . [ ] irwin's code, , § . [ ] art. i, sec. . [ ] this ingenious argument of intent was made by bullock. h. j., , p. . [ ] white _versus_ clements, georgia reports, vol. , p. . [ ] h. j., , pp. , . s. j., , pp. , . [ ] irwin's code, , § . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] richard taylor, _destruction and reconstruction_. [ ] k. k. r., vol. , p. (testimony of augustus r. wright); p. (testimony of ambrose r. wright); p. (testimony of j. h. christy); p. (testimony of j. e. brown). [ ] _ibid._, vol. , pp. , (testimony of j. e. brown); p. (testimony of b. h. hill). [ ] _ibid._, vol. , pp. (testimony of c. d. forsythe), (testimony of aug. r. wright); vol , pp. (testimony of linton stephens), . [ ] _ibid._, vol. , pp. , (testimony of j. h. caldwell), (testimony of aug. r. wright); vol. , p. (testimony of j. e. brown). [ ] _ibid._, vol. , p. (testimony of j. b. gordon). [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. (trumbull's remarks). [ ] report of committee on reconstruction, h. m. d., th congress, d session, no. , pp. (testimony of akerman), (testimony of j. e. bryant). [ ] k. k. r., vol. , p. (testimony of aug. r. wright). [ ] k. k. r., vol. , p. (testimony of c. w. howard). [ ] this statement is corroborated by the testimony of b. h. hill, k. k. r., vol. , p. . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] s. r., th congress, d session, no. . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, pp. and . [ ] h. m. d., th congress, d session, no. . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , public laws, p. . [ ] c. g., th congress, d session, pp. , . a precedent for this rule was found in the similar treatment of missouri's electoral vote in . [ ] c. c. th congress, d session, pp. , ff. [ ] g. c., - , p. . [ ] c. g., st congress, st session, pp. , . the committee of elections reported on jan. , , that the georgia representatives were not entitled to seats in the st congress, having sat in the th. r. c., st congress, d session, no. . [ ] c. g., st congress, st session, pp. , , . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , appendix, p. xii. [ ] w. a. dunning, _the civil war and reconstruction_, pp. - , . [ ] s. j., , p. ; h. j., p. . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] h. m. d., th congress, d session, no. . [ ] s. d., st congress, d session, no. . [ ] _ibid._ halleck's annual report of nov. , , speaks to the same effect. r. s. w., , abridged edition, p. . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , pub. laws, p. . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. (lawrence's speech). [ ] _ibid._, pp. (carpenter's speech) and (conkling's speech). [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. (lawrence's speech). [ ] g. o. t. m. d., , no. . [ ] g. o. ii., , no. . this and other documents relating to terry's administration are published in e. d., st congress, d session, no. . [ ] s. r., first congress, d session, no. . [ ] g. o. m. d. g., , no. , , , . [ ] s. o. m. d. g., no. , , , , , , , . [ ] _ibid._, no. and . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] s. j., , p. ; h. j., p. . [ ] h. j., p. . [ ] s. j., ., p. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, pp. and . [ ] see also a letter from sherman to terry, published in k. k. r., vol. i, p. . [ ] judge cabaniss in atlanta _constitution_, jan. , . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] g. o. m. d. g., , no. and . [ ] _ibid._, no. and . [ ] _ibid._, no. . [ ] _ibid._, no. and . [ ] atlanta _constitution_, jan. , . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. (trumbull's speech). [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] g. o. m. d. g., , no. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. . [ ] s. j., , p. ; h. j., p. . [ ] see bullock's message, h. j., , p. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, pp. , . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. . for sherman's reply see e. d., st congress, d session, no. . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] s. r., st congress, d session, no. . [ ] chicago _tribune_, dec. , . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, pp. , . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. . [ ] _ibid._ [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, p. . [ ] _ibid._, pp. , ff. [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] u. s. l., vol. , public laws, p. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] s. j., , vol. ii, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. ; h. j., p. . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, pp. , , , , . [ ] s. r., st congress, d session, no. . [ ] c. g., st congress, d session, pp. , . [ ] j. c., p. . [ ] j. c., pp. , . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, pp. , . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, pp. , . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] j. c., p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] see j. c., , p. (speech of h. v. johnson). [ ] j. c., - , p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] m. f. u., dec. , , jan. , jan. , . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] s. j., , p. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] h. j., p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, , p. . [ ] s. j., p. . [ ] g. o. m. d. g., , no. and . [ ] s. j., , p. . [ ] h. j., pp. , , , . [ ] the complexion of the legislature when composed of the men elected in april, , was as follows: senate. lower house. +-------------+-------+------------+ | republicans | | | |conservatives| | | +-------------+-------+------------+ after the colored members were expelled and their seats given to the minority candidates, it was as follows: senate. lower house. +-------------+-------+------------+ | republicans | | | |conservatives| | | +-------------+-------+------------+ after the reorganization of it was as follows: senate. lower house. +-------------+-------+------------+ | republicans | | | |conservatives| | | +-------------+-------+------------+ the figures in the second and third tables are based upon the changes produced only by the official transactions referred to. perhaps some slight corrections might be made on account of accidental circumstances, such as the non-attendance or death of a few members. [ ] see k. k. r., vol. , p. ; vol. , p. . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] h. m. d., th congress, d session, no. , p. . [ ] savannah _news_, jan. , . [ ] h. j., p. . [ ] m. f. u., feb. , [ ] m. f. u., jan. , . [ ] h. j., p. . [ ] s. l., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] tribune almanac, , p. . [ ] m. f. u., march , ; atlanta _constitution_, oct. and , . [ ] art. iii, sect. i, § . [ ] s. l., , p. . [ ] e. m., - , p. . [ ] see entry of the secretary of state, _ibid._ [ ] art. iv, sect. i,§ . [ ] e. m., - , p. . [ ] atlanta _constitution_, nov. , . [ ] s. j., , p. . [ ] atlanta _constitution_, nov. , . [ ] s. l., , p. . [ ] art. iv, sect. i, § . [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] for vetoed bills see s. l., and , pp. , , , , , . see also _ibid._, p. , and h. j., , p. . [ ] e. m., - , p. (pardon of v. a. gaskill); minutes of fulton county superior court, vol. j, p. (pardon of f. blodgett). [ ] h. j., , p. . [ ] _ibid._, p. . [ ] k. k. r., vol. , p. . [ ] digest of tax laws, , p. . [ ] s. l., - , p. . [ ] _ibid._, , p. . [ ] _ibid._, , p. ; , p. . [ ] b. l., p. . [ ] c. r., (printed in s. j., , part ii, p. ). [ ] c. r., . [ ] c. r., april, . [ ] c. r., april, . [ ] b. l., p. ; b. a., p. . [ ] report of state treasurer jones, published in h. j., , p. ; r. c., ; r. c., april, ; r. c., april, . [ ] s. l., - , pp. and ; _ibid._, , pp. , , . [ ] compiled from the financial documents above cited. [ ] s. l., - , p. . [ ] compiled from the financial reports above cited. the enemies of reconstruction were fond of placing the state expenses of bullock's administration in juxtaposition with those before the war. contrasts truly horrible could thus be produced. but it was not a fair comparison, for the expenses in such circumstances as prevailed after the war and after the social revolution would naturally be larger than before. the expenses of many states besides those which enjoyed reconstruction increased largely after the war. _e.g._ the records of pennsylvania show that "expenses of government" were-- in $ , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . pennsylvania executive documents, auditor's reports, for the years named. in massachusetts the "ordinary expenses" were-- in $ , , . , , . , . , , . , , . , , . , , . massachusetts public documents for the years named. [ ] c. r., . [ ] c. r., april, , p. ; c. r., april, , p. ; b. l., p. ; conley's message to the legislature, jan. , (quoted in b. a., p. , and in k. k. r., vol. i, p. ). of these bonds , , representing a debt of $ , , , were issued under a law of sept. , (s. l., , p. ), authorizing the governor to issue bonds for various purposes without specified limit as to amount. the rest were issued under an act of oct. , (omitted from the session laws, see conley's message just cited), authorizing the governor to issue to the brunswick and albany railroad state bonds to the amount of $ , , in exchange for bonds of the railroad to the amount of $ , , . in addition to the bonds already mentioned, bonds to the amount of $ , were issued under acts of (s. l., , pp. and .) these were not sold and were returned to the possession of the state during bullock's administration (angier's statement, k. k. r., vol. , p. ). also, before the issue of $ , , mentioned, bonds to the amount of $ , , were issued (conley's message cited). these were hypothecated with several bankers in new york. some of them, amounting to $ , , were returned and cancelled during bullock's administration (conley's message). the rest, amounting to $ , , , remained in the hands of the bankers. conley stated, in january, (message cited), that these bonds had been replaced by bonds of a later issue and canceled during bullock's administration, and had therefore ceased to be a claim against the state. this statement conflicts with three facts. . the bankers who held these bonds refused to return them after their alleged cancellation. . one of these bankers sold the bonds which he held after their alleged cancellation (henry clews, _twenty-eight years in wall street_, p. ). . the legislature of georgia repudiated these bonds in , which would have been unnecessary if they had been cancelled. it seems probable, therefore, though not certain, that this $ , , should be added to the debt incurred by the reconstruction government. [ ] s. l., , title xvii. [ ] _ibid._, , title xv. [ ] _ibid._, , title xi, division vii. [ ] angier's statement, k. k. r., vol. i, p. . [ ] conley's message above cited. [ ] it is to be remarked, however, that four of the roads whose bonds the state had guaranteed became bankrupt before . see poor's railroad manual for - , pp. and ; and for - , p. . [ ] e. m., - , p. . [ ] see the case of hoyt, minutes of fulton county superior court, vol. i, pp. , . [ ] report of the investigating committee of the legislature appointed in dec., . its report was printed in atlanta in . it is bitterly partisan, but a minority report made by a republican admits, with humorous resignation, that the charges are true. [ ] a. a. c., , p. . [ ] see k. k. r., vol. i, pp. and . the statements are on pp. and of the letter as published in atlanta in . [ ] see conley's message cited. [ ] in the latter part of and in the governor paid to a certain h. i. kimball $ , from the treasury. he paid this to be used in furnishing a building which was at that time occupied as the state capital. (bullock's statement, b. a., p. .) there was no law authorizing this payment, nor was the state under any obligation to make it. the state bought the building in by an act of the legislature which provided that the $ , should be counted as part of the price. thus bullock's advance was ratified by the state. (s. l., , p. .) this, however, does not change the character of the act. [ ] see c. r., april, , and april, . bullock was accused of indorsing the bonds of three railroads contrary to law. in the case of two of these (the cartersville and van wert, or cherokee railroad, and the bainbridge, cuthbert and columbus railroad) he refuted the charge beyond contradiction in his address to the public of . in the case of the third (the brunswick and albany railroad) he admitted that he had indorsed bonds before the road had complied with the conditions required by law, but said that he did it for the public good. (b. a., pp. - .) [ ] atlanta _constitution_, jan. , ; minutes of the fulton county superior court, vol. n, p. . [ ] _ibid._, pp. , . [ ] atlanta _new era_, oct. , . printed as an appendix to b. a. [ ] appendix to b. l. (printed in k. k. r., vol. , p. ). 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[_ready in july._] the set of thirteen volumes (except that vol. ii can be supplied only in unbound nos. and ) is offered bound for $ . for further information apply to prof. edwin r. a. seligman, columbia university, or to the macmillan company, new york, london: p. s. king & son, orchard house, westminster. transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. footnote appears on page , but there is no corresponding marker on the page. punctuation has been corrected without note. the following misprints have been corrected: "consitutional" corrected to "constitutional" (page ) "conventton" corrected to "convention" (page ) "repudiaation" corrected to "repudiation" (page ) "and and" corrected to "and" (page ) "attitnde" corrected to "attitude" (page ) "acording" corrected to "according" (page ) "admendment" corrected to "amendment" (page ) "we we" corrected to "we" (page ) "reconstructien" corrected to "reconstruction" (page ) "circumsances" corrected to "circumstances" (page ) "expeditures" corrected to "expenditures" (page ) "iuterchange" corrected to "interchange" (page ) "hfs" corrected to "his" (page ) "polictical" corrected to "political" (page ) other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original. _the american history series_ reconstruction and the constitution - by john w. burgess, ph.d., ll.d. professor of political science and constitutional law, and dean of the faculty of political science, in columbia university new york charles scribner's sons copyright, , by charles scribner's sons trow directory printing and bookbinding company new york to the memory of richmond mayo-smith, pupil, colleague, and life-long friend, with grief too deep for words at his loss, this volume is affectionately inscribed by the author. preface in my preface to "the middle period" i wrote that the re-establishment of a real national brotherhood between the north and the south could be attained only on the basis of a sincere and genuine acknowledgment by the south that secession was an error as well as a failure. i come now to supplement this contention with the proposition that a corresponding acknowledgment on the part of the north in regard to reconstruction between and is equally necessary. in making this demand, i must not be understood as questioning in the slightest degree the sincerity of the north in the main purpose of the reconstruction policy of that period. on the other hand, i maintain that that purpose was entirely praiseworthy. it was simply to secure the civil rights of the newly emancipated race, and to re-establish loyal commonwealths in the south. but there is now little question that erroneous means were chosen. two ways were open for the attainment of the end sought. one was that which was followed, namely, placing the political power in the hands of the newly emancipated; and the other was the nationalization of civil liberty by placing it under the protection of the constitution and the national judiciary, and holding the districts of the south under territorial civil government until the white race in those districts should have sufficiently recovered from its temporary disloyalty to the union to be intrusted again with the powers of commonwealth local government. there is no doubt in my own mind that the latter was the proper and correct course. and i have just as little doubt that it would have been found to be the truly practicable course. the people in the loyal commonwealths were ready in to place civil liberty as a whole under national protection; and not half of the whites of the south entertained, at that moment, disloyal purposes or feelings. even the solid democratic south was yet to be made; and i doubt most seriously if it would ever have been made, except for the great mistakes of the republican party in its choice of means and measures in reconstruction. i will not, however, enter upon the argument in reference to this question at this point. that belongs to the body of the book. i will only add that, in my opinion, the north has already yielded assent to this proposition, and has already made the required acknowledgment. the policy of mr. hayes's administration, and of all the administrations since his, can be explained and justified only upon this assumption. and now that the united states has embarked in imperial enterprises, under the direction of the republican party, the great northern party, the north is learning every day by valuable experiences that there are vast differences in political capacity between the races, and that it is the white man's mission, his duty and his right, to hold the reins of political power in his own hands for the civilization of the world and the welfare of mankind. let the south be equally ready, sincere, and manly in the consciousness and the acknowledgment of its share in past errors, and the reconciliation will be complete and permanent! i have again to express my thanks to my friend and colleague, dr. cushing, for his aid in bringing this volume through the press. i desire also to acknowledge the courtesy of the new york _independent_ for allowing parts of my article on the geneva award, published some years ago in that esteemed journal, to be incorporated in the last chapter of this book. john w. burgess. west th st., new york city, january d, . contents page chapter i the theory of reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter ii president lincoln's views and acts in regard to reconstruction . chapter iii president johnson's plan of reconstruction and his proceedings in realization of it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter iv the congressional plan of reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter v the congressional plan (_continued_) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter vi the congressional plan (_continued_) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter vii the congressional plan (_completed_) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter viii the execution of the reconstruction acts . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter ix the attempt to remove the president . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter x reconstruction resumed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter xi president grant and reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter xii "carpet-bag" and negro domination in the southern states between and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chapter xiii the presidential election of and its consequences . . . . . chapter xiv international relations of the united states between and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . reconstruction and the constitution { } reconstruction chapter i the theory of reconstruction the conception of a "state" in a system of federal government--the different kinds of local government provided for in the constitution of the united states--local government under the constitution of the united states--"state" destructibility in the federal system of government--the effect on "state" existence of the renunciation of allegiance to the union--the idea of "state" perdurance--the constitutional results of attempted secession. [sidenote: the conception of a "state" in a system of federal government.] the key to the solution of the question of reconstruction is the proper conception of what a "state" is in a system of federal government. this is a conception which is not easy to acquire, and which, when acquired, is not easy to hold. the difficulty lies, chiefly, in the tendency to confound the idea of a "state" in such a system with a state pure and simple. until the distinction between the two is clearly seen and firmly applied, no real progress can be made in the theory and practice of the federal system of government. now the fundamental principle of a state pure and simple is sovereignty, the original, innate, and legally unlimited power to command and enforce obedience by the infliction of penalties for disobedience. on the other hand, the nature of a "state" in a system of federal { } government is a very different thing. such a "state" is a local self-government, under the supremacy of the general constitution, and possessed of residuary powers. in the federal system of the united states, it is a local self-government, under the supremacy of the constitution of the united states, and of the laws and treaties of the central government made in accordance with that constitution, republican as to form, and possessed of residuary powers--that is, of all powers not vested by the constitution of the united states exclusively in the central government, or not denied by that constitution to the "state." [sidenote: the different kinds of local government provided for in the constitution of the united states.] it must be kept in mind that this is not the only kind of local government known in the constitutional law and practice of the united states. there is, and always has been, since the establishment of the federal system in , for the larger part of the population which declared united independence of great britain in , another kind of local government for a part of the united states, a local government which is not self-government, a local government which is but an agency of the central government. in fact, there have been at times three kinds of local government in the political system of the united states, viz., local government by the executive department of the central government--that is, local government by executive discretion, martial law--local government as an agency of the legislative department of the central government--that is, territorial government--and "state" government. that is to say, since the whole of the united states, territorially, has never been under the federal system of government, but has _always_ been partly under federal government and partly under the exclusive government of congress, and has _sometimes_ been partly under federal government, { } partly under the exclusive government of congress, and partly under the exclusive government of the president. [sidenote: local government under the constitution of the united states.] the constitution of the united states recognizes and provides for all three of these species of local government, and vests in congress the power of advancing the population of a district, the confines of which district shall be determined by congress itself, from the lower to the higher forms of local government. while the constitution does not expressly impose upon congress the duty of making or permitting the change from one kind of local government to another, it impliedly indicates that congress shall determine the kind of local government which the population of any particular district shall enjoy in accordance with the conditions prevailing, at any given moment, among them. if the maintenance of law and order requires the immediate exercise of military power, congress may, and should, permit the continuance of the president's discretionary government. if, on the other hand, this is not necessary, congress may, and should, confer civil government, under the territorial form, and when the population of a territory shall have become ripe for local self-government and capable of maintaining it, congress may, and should, allow the territory to become a "state" of the union, a commonwealth. [sidenote: "state" destructibility in the system of federal government.] [sidenote: the effect on "state" existence of the renunciation of allegiance to the union.] such being the nature of a "state" of the union and such the method of its creation, what reason is there for speaking of the "states" in a system of federal government as indestructible? as they emerge from the status of territories under the exclusive power of congress, upon having attained certain conditions, why may they not revert to the status of territories upon having lost these conditions of "state" existence; nay, why may { } they not revert to the status of martial law by having lost all of the conditions of civil government? the dictum "once a state always a state" in a system of federal government has no sound reason in it. under the constitution of the united states, every "state" of the union may through the process of amendment be made a province subject to the exclusive government of the central authorities; and when those who wield the powers of a "state" renounce the "state's" allegiance to the united states, renounce the supremacy of the constitution of the united states and of the laws of the central government made in accordance therewith, then from the point of view of political science it will become a state pure and simple, a sovereignty, if and when it permanently maintains, by its own power or by the assent of the united states, this attitude against the united states, but from the point of view of the constitutional law of the united states it simply destroys one of the fundamental conditions of local self-government, and gives, thus, warrant to the central government to resume exclusive government in the district, and over the population which has become disorganized by refusing obedience to the supreme law of the land, as fixed by the constitution of the united states. whether the central government has the physical power, at a given moment, to do this or not, is another question. it certainly has, at the outset, the legal right. the "state" is no longer a "state" of the union, nor has it become a state out of the union. it is simply nowhere. the land is there and the people are there, but the form of local government over it and them has been changed from local _self_-government to a congressional or a presidential agency, as the case may be. [sidenote: the idea of "state" perdurance.] [sidenote: the acceptance of this idea by the government of the united states.] neither is there any reason for holding that the old { } "state" organization perdures as an abstract something under the forms of congressional or presidential rule, and will emerge of itself when these are withdrawn. if the "state" form of local government should be established again over that same district and over the population inhabiting it, it would be an entirely new creation, even though it should recognize the forms and laws and obligations of the old "state." it must be, however, remembered that both the executive and judicial departments of the united states government committed themselves fully to this theory of "state" perdurance as an abstract something unaffected by the loss of the conditions of the "state" form of local government through the rebellion of the "state" organization against the supremacy of the constitution and laws of the united states, and that congress did the same thing, at first, in some degree. it was this error which caused all of the confusion in the ideas and processes of reconstruction, and we ought, therefore, to rid ourselves of it at the start, at the same time that we recognize its influence over the minds of those who engaged in the difficult work of the years between and . [sidenote: the constitutional results of attempted secession.] from the view which we take of the nature of a "state" in a system of federal government, and its possible destructibility, there is not much difficulty in determining the constitutional results of an attempt upon the part of such a "state" to break away from its connections in that system. what it does, stripped of all misconception and verbiage, is simply this: it forcibly resists the execution of the whole supreme law of the land, and destroys the prime condition of its own existence by making it necessary for the central government to { } assert exclusive power in the district where this happens. naturally the executive department of the central government must act first, and subdue by force the force which has been offered against the supremacy of the constitution and laws of the united states. after that shall have been accomplished, the question as to how the population in the rebellious district shall be civilly organized anew, is one for the legislative department of the central government exclusively. congress may fashion the boundaries of the district at its own pleasure, and may establish therein such a territorial organization of civil local government as it may see fit, and is limited in what it may do in this respect only by the constitutional immunities of the individual subject or citizen under every form of civil government provided or allowed by the constitution of the united states. congress may also enable the existing population of such a district, or such part of that population as it may designate, to organize the "state" form of local government, and may grant it participation in the powers of the central government upon an equality with the other "states" in the federal system. these things are matters in which the president, as the executive power, cannot interfere. as participant in legislation, however, he may, at his own discretion, use his powers of recommendation and veto. if rebellion against the supremacy of the constitution and laws of the united states should not be committed by an existing "state" organization, but by a new organization claiming to be the "state" organization within the district concerned, the existing organization remaining loyal, but requiring the aid of the central government to maintain its authority, then the withdrawal of that aid by the president after the accomplishment of its purpose would, of course, leave the old { } "state" organization with restored authority, and congress would have no function to perform in the re-establishment of civil government in such a district, or in the readmission of its population to participation in the central government. this was the course followed in missouri and kentucky, and it was the course, which, at first, was attempted in the case of virginia. in the first two cases it was entirely correct. in the last it had to be abandoned, for reasons, and on account of conditions, which will be explained later. what we have, therefore, in the theory and history of reconstruction is the case of existing "state" organizations forcibly resisting the execution of the supreme law of the land, and stricken down by the executive power of the central government in the attempt, that power being exercised at its own motion and in its own way. { } chapter ii president lincoln's views and acts in regard to reconstruction did mr. lincoln have any theory of reconstruction?--mr. lincoln's plan--mr. lincoln's oath of allegiance, and the loyal class to be created by the taking of this oath--the proviso in this plan--seward's idea of reconstruction and the views of congress and the judiciary--ten per centum "state" governments--reconstruction in louisiana under mr. lincoln's plan--the new orleans convention--the election of a governor--the constitutional convention of april, , and the constitution framed by it and adopted by the voters--reconstruction in arkansas--the beginning of resistance in congress to the president's plans--the wade-davis bill--analysis of this measure--the president's attitude toward the bill--the president's proclamation of july th, --the wade-davis protest against the president's proclamation--the president's message of december th, --the threatened schism in the republican party and the presidential election of --the refusal of congress to count the electoral vote from any "state" which had passed the secession ordinance--reconstruction in tennessee--the twenty-second joint rule--reconstruction in tennessee continued--civil government re-established in tennessee--the thirteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states--the proposition of amendment as it came from the judiciary committee of the senate--the passage of the proposition by the senate--the house draft--rejection of the senate's draft in the house--reconsideration of the senate's measure in the house, and its final passage. [sidenote: did mr. lincoln have any theory of reconstruction?] some of the ardent admirers of mr. lincoln are disposed to dispute the proposition that he had any theory { } of reconstruction. it seems, however, that they are unconsciously influenced in this by their desire to escape the conviction that mr. lincoln held an erroneous theory of reconstruction. it does not seem that one can read impartially mr. lincoln's proclamation of december , , without coming to the conclusion that mr. lincoln had a very decided notion on the subject. it is true that he said that it must not be understood that no other possible mode of reconstruction than that proclaimed by him would be acceptable, but he laid down a very distinct mode, and he said it was the best he could suggest under existing impressions. [sidenote: mr. lincoln's plan.] this plan recognized, in the first place, the continued existence of the "states" in rebellion as "states" of, and in, the union. more exactly, it regarded the rebellion against the united states within these "states" as the act of combinations of disloyal persons, and not as the act of the "states" at all. these combinations had subverted the loyal governments within these "states," but the "states" themselves were not disloyal, because they could not be. they were impersonal entities, incapable of committing treason or any other wrong. according to this view the work of reconstruction consisted simply in placing the loyal element in a "state" in possession of the government of the "state." in the second place, therefore, mr. lincoln's plan contained the principle that the work of reconstruction was an executive problem. it was the work of the executive, through the power of pardon, to create a loyal class in a "state" which had been the scene of rebellion, and it was the work of the executive to support that class by the military power in taking possession of, organizing, and operating, the "state" government. { } [sidenote: mr. lincoln's oath of allegiance, and the loyal class to be created by the taking of this oath.] and so, mr. lincoln undertook to create such a class by constructing an oath of future loyalty and allegiance to the united states of the following tenor: "i, ---- ----, do solemnly swear, in the presence of almighty god, that i will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the constitution of the united states and the union of the states thereunder; and that i will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all acts of congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void, by congress or by decision of the supreme court; and that i will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the president during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified by the supreme court. so help me god;" and by ordaining that all persons who would voluntarily take this oath, unless they had been civil or diplomatic officers of the "so-called confederate government," or military officers thereof above the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the navy, or had left seats in the united states congress or judicial office under the united states, or had resigned commissions in the army or navy of the united states, in order to aid in the rebellion, or had been engaged in treating colored persons found in the united states service in any capacity, or white persons in charge of them, in any other manner than as prisoners of war, would be regarded as having re-established their loyalty and allegiance to the united states. and he then undertook to put this class in possession of the functions and powers of the "loyal state governments" subverted by the rebellion, by proclaiming and declaring, "that whenever in any of the states of { } arkansas, texas, louisiana, mississippi, tennessee, alabama, georgia, florida, south carolina, and north carolina, a number of persons, not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such state at the presidential election of the year a.d. , each having taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of the state existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall re-establish a state government which shall be republican and nowise contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the true government of the state, and the state shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision which declares that 'the united states shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them against invasion, and, on application of the legislature, or the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.'" [sidenote: the proviso in this plan.] it is true that mr. lincoln was careful to say in this proclamation that "whether members sent to congress from any state shall be admitted to seats, constitutionally rests exclusively with the respective houses, and not to any extent with the executive," but it is plain that he did not think the houses could constitutionally use their power of judging of the qualifications and elections of their members to keep members from "states" reconstructed upon his plan from taking their seats on the ground that these "states" had not been properly reconstructed. and it is also true that there occurs in the proclamation another paragraph which appears to militate against the theory of the perdurance of a "state" through the period of its rebellion against the united states. it reads: "and it is suggested as not improper that in { } constructing a loyal state government in any state the name of the state, the boundary, the subdivisions, the constitution and the general code of laws as before the rebellion be maintained, subject only to the modifications made necessary by the conditions hereinbefore stated, and such others, if any, not contravening such conditions which may be deemed expedient by those framing the new state government." it certainly may appear from this language that while mr. lincoln regarded it as convenient and desirable that the new "state" should be considered a continuation of the old "state," yet that he did not look upon it as absolutely necessary. still, it seems more probable that this was only his cautious habit of leaving open a way of escape out of any position when necessity or prudence might require its abandonment than that he doubted the correctness of his idea of the indestructibility of the "states" in spite of the rebellion of a part of their population, or even of the whole of their population. [sidenote: seward's idea of reconstruction, and the views of congress and the court.] mr. lincoln was not alone in this view of the nature of the "states" of the union and the problem of reconstruction. his able secretary of state certainly agreed with him; the resolutions and acts of congress down to that time may be better explained upon this theory than upon any other; and so far as the supreme court had dealt with the question, its dicta, if not its exact decisions, had indicated the same trend of opinion. the president felt, therefore, no hesitation in applying his plan in the specific cases that were in a condition for its realization. [sidenote: virginia not in need of reconstruction according to president lincoln's view.] before treating of his reconstruction of louisiana and arkansas under this plan, however, there are two points of the proclamation which should be briefly noticed. { } the first is the omission of virginia from the names of the "states" to which the proclamation should apply. the reason for this is simple, and easily understood. the president had always recognized what was called the pierpont government at alexandria as the true government of virginia. virginia, therefore, according to his view needed no reconstruction. it belonged in the class with kentucky and missouri. [sidenote: ten per centum "state" governments.] the other point is the proposition to found "state" government upon ten per centum of the population of the "state." now we know that "state" government in the federal system of the united states is local self-government. but local self-government cannot really exist where the part of the population holding the legal authority does not really possess the sinews of power; and where the conditions of the society are democratic, or anything like democratic, one-tenth of the population cannot really possess the sinews of power. the actual power to make their government valid, to enable their government to govern would have to come from the outside. while this may happen under certain temporary exigencies without destroying local self-government on the whole, yet it cannot be permitted as a principle upon which to build a local self-government, a "state" in a federal system. provincial governments, territorial governments may be sustained in that way, but the distinguishing principle of "state" government forbids it. it is simply not "state" government when holding in this way the power to govern, as the principle of its life, no matter what name we may give it. upon this point, then, mr. lincoln's reasoning was crude and erroneous, and when applied was destined to result in mischievous error. { } [sidenote: reconstruction in louisiana under mr. lincoln's plan.] [sidenote: the election of members of congress.] as far back as the first week in december of general shepley, then military governor of louisiana, had, by permission from the president, ordered an election for members of congress, in the districts over which his jurisdiction extended. the president had cautioned him against any choice of northern men at the point of the bayonet, and had declared to him that such a procedure would be "disgraceful and outrageous." the general heeded the warning, and two old citizens of louisiana, messrs. hahn and flanders, were chosen, and were admitted by the house of representatives to their seats. this happened in february of , and it was certainly good evidence that the house of representatives was, at that moment, resting on the theory of the perdurance of the "state" of louisiana throughout the rebellion within its limits against the united states. [sidenote: the new orleans convention.] [sidenote: the election of a governor.] [sidenote: the constitutional convention of april, , and the constitution framed by it and adopted by the voters.] things went no further than this, however, during the year , the military situation requiring the whole thought and activity of the government. on the th of january, , however, a convention was held at new orleans for the purpose of advancing the work of reconstruction. this convention requested general banks to appoint an election for officers of the "state" government. the general complied, naming the d day of february following for the election, and the th of march for the installation of the officers so chosen. mr. hahn was elected and duly installed governor, and was soon after declared by the president to be "invested, until further orders, with the powers hitherto exercised by the military governor of louisiana." the next step was for the new governor to order an election of delegates to a constitutional convention and the assembly of { } the same in convention, for the purpose of so amending and revising the constitution as to make it fit the new conditions created by the war. this was done in march and april of , and an anti-slavery constitution was established for louisiana. the instrument drafted and proposed by the convention was adopted by the voters. eight thousand four hundred and two votes were cast upon the question of adoption, about sixteen per centum of the vote cast at the presidential election of . this brought the action of the voters within the president's ten per centum rule. the vote was almost five to one in favor of adoption. the president's scheme was now put to the practical test, both in louisiana and arkansas, during the spring of . [sidenote: the beginning of resistance in congress to the president's plan.] [sidenote: the wade-davis bill.] congress was, however, by this time becoming convinced that reconstruction was a legislative problem, that is, a problem to be solved by congressional acts and constitutional amendment. this is evidenced not only by the fact that neither house would admit representatives from arkansas elected under the new "state" organization to seats, but by the more pronounced attitude expressed in what is known as the wade-davis measure upon the direct question at issue. these gentlemen, mr. benjamin f. wade and mr. henry winter davis, the former the chairman of the "committee on the rebellious states" in the senate, and the latter the chairman of a committee having the same name and functions in the house, originated a bill and carried it through both houses of congress, which, for the first time, embodied the views of congress on the subject of reconstruction. this bill was finally passed on july , , and it contained provisions of the following tenor: the eleven "states" which had passed { } secession ordinances were all treated as rebellious communities, and the president was authorized to appoint a provisional governor for each. this governor should exercise all the powers of civil government in the community to which he might be appointed until "state" government should be recognized by congress as restored therein. an oath of future allegiance to the constitution of the united states was then prescribed, and the provisional governor in each "state" was ordered, whenever rebellion in his "state" should be suppressed, to direct the united states marshal to enroll all the white male citizens of the united states, resident within the "state," in the respective counties of the "state," and give them the opportunity to take the oath of allegiance to the united states. the bill then directed that when a majority of such citizens should take this oath, they might be permitted to elect delegates to a convention, which convention might take action for the establishment of "state" government. the bill disqualified all persons who had held any office, civil or military, "state" or confederate, in rebellion against the united states, or who had voluntarily borne arms against the united states, from voting for delegates, or from being elected as delegates, to the convention. the bill then provided that the convention thus elected and assembled might form a "state" constitution, but must insert in it clauses abolishing slavery, repudiating all debts, "state" or confederate, created by, or under the sanction of, the usurping power, and disqualifying all persons who had held office civil or military, "state" or confederate, under the usurping power, except civil offices merely ministerial, and military offices below the rank of colonel, from voting or being elected governor or members of the legislature. the bill then provided for the submission of the constitution so formed to the voters, { } and if ratified by a majority thereof, required the provisional governor to certify the same to the president. it then provided that the president, after obtaining the consent of congress thereto, should proclaim the new "state" government as established, and as the constitutional government of the "state," after which representatives and senators in congress, and electors of the president, might be chosen in said "state." finally, the bill abolished slavery at once in all the rebellious "states" and imposed penalties upon all persons attempting thereafter to hold anyone in involuntary servitude; and declared all persons who should thereafter hold office civil or military, "state" or confederate, in the rebel service, except an office purely ministerial or under the grade of colonel, not to be citizens of the united states. [sidenote: analysis of this measure.] a brief analysis of this bill will show that congress was nearer to some doctrine on the subject of reconstruction than was the president. in the first place, congress claimed reconstruction as a legislative problem. this was undoubtedly the true theory upon that point. in the second place, congress required the loyalty to the united states of at least a majority of the white adult males as the basis of "state" government, local self-government. that also was undoubtedly true political theory as has been already explained. in the third place, congress asserted the power to abolish slavery within the limits of those "states" whose legislatures or conventions had passed the ordinances of secession. that is, congress dealt with these districts not as "states" of the union, but as territories or districts subject to the exclusive authority of the central government. congress was here beginning, at least, to act upon the idea that the districts in rebellion did not perdure, as "states," { } throughout the rebellion, but had lost thereby the forms, powers and functions of "state" governments, and were neither out of the union nor in the union as "states," but were under the central government of the union as territory inhabited by a population disorganized as to local government. this was also sound political science, and the president ought to have heeded its teachings. [sidenote: the president's attitude toward the bill.] [sidenote: the president's proclamation of july , .] but he did not. he did not, it is true, veto the bill. he simply allowed the session to expire without signing it. this having happened in less than ten days from the time it was submitted to him, the bill failed, as provided in such cases by the constitution. he, however, issued on the th of july a proclamation in regard to the subject, in which he objected to the setting aside of the "free state constitutions and governments already adopted and installed in arkansas and louisiana;" doubted the competency of congress to abolish slavery within the "states;" expressed the hope and expectation that this might be done for the whole country by constitutional amendment; declared his willingness to have the loyal people in any of the rebellious "states" reconstruct their governments upon the congressional plan, if they should choose to do so; but declared also his unwillingness to commit himself inflexibly to any single plan of restoration; and virtually asked the voters to make the difference between himself and congress upon the subject an issue in the coming presidential election. [sidenote: the wade-davis protest against the president's proclamation.] this was one of the boldest acts of mr. lincoln's career as president, and it is little wonder that men of so much intelligence, courage and tenacity as messrs. wade and davis did not allow the proclamation to go unanswered. congress had adjourned, as we have seen, before the appearance of the proclamation. there was, { } therefore, no way for congress as a whole to make immediate answer. messrs. wade and davis believed that the public interests would suffer if the answer should be postponed until the next meeting of congress. they, therefore, issued a protest against the proclamation over their own names. the protest was printed in the new york _tribune_ of august , . it was an intemperate arraignment of the president. it declared, among other things, that "a more studied outrage on the legislative authority of the people had never been perpetrated;" that the president had "greatly presumed on the forbearance which the supporters of his administration" had "so long practised, in view of the arduous conflict in which" they were "engaged and the reckless ferocity of" their "political opponents;" that he must understand that their support was not of a man but of a cause; and that he must confine himself to his executive duties, and leave political reorganization to congress. such denunciations of the president's purposes could have but one effect, viz., the strengthening of his hands by the support of the people, who so generally trusted him, in the election of . it injured mr. davis so much that he failed of even a renomination for his seat in congress. [sidenote: the president's message of december , .] the president, on the other hand, used his triumph with great tact and moderation. he made no reference, in his message of december , , either to his proclamation or to the protest which had been so fiercely hurled against it. he simply informed congress that important movements had occurred during the year "to the effect of molding society for durability in the union;" and that " , citizens in each of the states of arkansas and louisiana" had "organized loyal state { } governments, with free constitutions, and" were "earnestly struggling to maintain and administer them." he also spoke of the gratifying situation and movements in maryland, kentucky, missouri and tennessee. [sidenote: the threatened schism in the republican party, and the presidential election of .] it may be that mr. lincoln did not interpret his great victory at the polls in november preceding as a specific approval of his reconstruction policy. in the spring and early summer of , the republican party was threatened with schism largely upon the subject of reconstruction. eight days before the meeting of the regular nominating convention of the party, that is on the st of may, some three hundred and fifty men, representing, or professing to represent, the more radical element of the party, met in convention at cleveland, ohio. general john cochrane of new york was made chairman of the body, and general john c. frémont and general john cochrane were nominated by it for the presidency and vice-presidency of the united states. the twelfth section of the platform provided, "that the reconstruction of the rebel states belongs to the people, through their representatives in congress, and not to the executive." the regular convention met june th at baltimore, and adopted a platform which took no sides in regard to reconstruction, but simply sought to rally all union men around the president for the purpose of saving the union and putting an end to the rebellion. many war democrats took part in it who favored lincoln's ideas of reconstruction, and many republicans who did not. the democratic convention met at chicago august th and adopted a platform which virtually proclaimed the war a failure, and demanded a cessation of hostilities preparatory to a compromise with the confederates. their nominee, general mcclellan, with whom was { } associated on the ticket mr. george h. pendleton of ohio, repudiated the platform but accepted the nomination and made the race. under the condition of schism in the republican ranks, his chances seemed at first fair. but on september st, generals frémont and cochrane, the nominees of the radical republicans, withdrew from the contest, and the reunion of the republican party on the baltimore platform was effected. it was thus a question whether the overwhelming electoral vote for lincoln and johnson, two hundred and twelve to twenty-one for mcclellan and pendleton, meant the approval of lincoln's views and acts in reconstruction, and it certainly behooved the president to exercise some caution in so interpreting it, especially as there was no such wide difference in the popular vote, the mcclellan electors having received , , votes to , , for the lincoln electors. there is no question, however, that the president still believed in the correctness of his method and was determined to pursue the course upon which he had entered. [sidenote: no change in the views of congress caused by the presidential election.] [sidenote: the refusal of congress to count the electoral vote from any "state" which had passed the secession ordinance.] neither was there any sign manifested that congress would desist from pressing its views of its own powers in the matter. both houses had refused to admit members from the reconstructed "states," and now they passed a joint resolution, on february th, , which prohibited the counting of any electoral votes for president and vice-president in the election of , from "states" which had passed the secession ordinance. elections had been held in louisiana and also in tennessee, and this resolution was intended to prevent the counting of the votes which the persons chosen electors for louisiana and tennessee should send in. the resolution was sent to the president for his signature. he { } hesitated for several days, but approved it at last on the day that congress counted the electoral votes, february th. in doing so, however, he addressed a message to congress informing the two houses that he had signed it out of deference to their views, and saying that "in his own view, however, the two houses of congress, convened under the twelfth article of the constitution, have complete power to exclude from counting all electoral votes deemed by them to be illegal; and it is not competent for the executive to defeat or obstruct that power by a veto, as would be the case if his action were at all essential in the matter. he disclaims all rights of the executive to interfere in any way in the matter of canvassing or counting electoral votes, and he also disclaims that, by signing said resolution, he has expressed any opinion on the recitals of the preamble or any judgment of his own upon the subject of the resolution." the recitals of the preamble referred to read thus: "whereas, the inhabitants and local authorities of the states of virginia, north carolina, south carolina, georgia, florida, alabama, mississippi, louisiana, texas, arkansas and tennessee rebelled against the government of the united states, and were in such condition on the th day of november, , that no valid election for electors of president and vice-president of the united states, according to the constitution and laws thereof, was held therein on said day, etc." [sidenote: reconstruction in tennessee.] louisiana, which had fulfilled the president's conditions of reconstruction, was thus included in this list, and also tennessee, where by order of governor andrew johnson, the candidate for vice-president on the lincoln ticket, an election of electors had been held. tennessee had not, at the time of the counting of the { } electoral vote, completed any process of reconstruction. the convention, called at governor johnson's instigation to meet at nashville for the purpose of nominating candidates for presidential electors, had called a constitutional convention to meet in nashville on december th, following the presidential election, for the purpose of undertaking the work of reconstruction. hood's advance upon nashville delayed its meeting, however, until january d. this convention took the old constitution of tennessee as its starting-point and subjected it to a pretty thorough revision in the direction of a "free state government." it also prescribed a rather stiff test oath for all persons offering to vote upon the adoption of the amendments, an oath which not only promised future loyalty to the constitution of the united states, such as lincoln had prescribed, but which also required the taker of it to swear that he was an active friend of the government of the united states, and an enemy of the so-called confederate states. the amended constitution had not, however, been submitted to the voters at the date when congress counted the electoral vote, that is, before the th of february, , and of course no "state" government had been elected under the amended constitution. the vote upon the constitution occurred on the d of february, and the election of the governor and the members of the legislature under it occurred on march th. the case of tennessee did not from this point of view appear as strong as that of louisiana. but it is difficult to see how the republicans could have consistently rejected the vote of tennessee after having nominated and elected a citizen of tennessee as vice-president of the united states. it is certainly implied in the constitution of the united states that no man is { } eligible to the office of vice-president unless he be at the time of his election a citizen of a "state" of the union. the constitution implies that the vice-president shall have the same qualifications as the president; and it distinctly says that in giving their vote, the electors in each "state" shall vote for two persons, "of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves." if an inhabitant of tennessee could be lawfully vice-president of the united states, it does certainly seem implied that tennessee was, at the time, a "state" of the union in regular standing. however this may have been, the president was certainly correct in saying that congress was vested with full power over the count of the electoral vote, and that the executive had no control over it whatsoever. it was a bit of harmless good humor that he signed the resolution as a perfunctory matter, and it was calculated to improve the temper of the somewhat irritated members of congress. [sidenote: the twenty-second joint rule.] congress was not, however, formally notified of the fact that he had signed the measure until after the counting of the vote had been finished, and the two houses met the exigency by the enactment of what was known as "the twenty-second joint rule," according to which the consent of both houses was required to count the electoral vote from any "state" or any body or place professing to be a "state." as a matter of fact, the vice-president, mr. hamlin, declared that he had in his possession returns from the "states" of louisiana and tennessee, but held it to be his duty not to present them, and he did not present them. he knew that the president had signed the joint resolution, although congress had not been officially notified of it, and he acted under the { } resolution as law. the joint rule would have required the presentation of these votes to the joint meeting of the two houses, and would have required the concurrence of the two houses, acting separately, to have included them in the count. the joint rule was, therefore, not applied to the case for which it was enacted, but it remained unrepealed for more than ten years, and then showed itself a sort of nemesis to its creators. [sidenote: reconstruction in tennessee continued.] tennessee pursued, however, the course of reconstruction upon which she had set out. her test oath, as we have seen, required virtually that the basis of her reorganization should be the men who had _remained_ loyal throughout the rebellion. it differed thus from mr. lincoln's oath, which rehabilitated those who would promise future loyalty. the vote in favor of the new constitution, which was the old constitution of the "state" amended by articles abolishing slavery, nullifying secession, and repudiating the debt created in aid of the rebellion, was more than twenty-five thousand, nearly twenty per centum of the vote for presidential electors in . this certainly much more than fulfilled all of mr. lincoln's conditions. [sidenote: civil government re-established in tennessee.] governor johnson issued his proclamation on february th, , declaring the adoption of the new constitution, and ordering the election of the governor and legislative members under it for march th. w. g. brownlow was chosen governor. the newly elected legislature did not meet, however, until april d, and mr. brownlow was not inaugurated as civil governor until april th. as mr. johnson was inaugurated vice-president on march th, he had been obliged to lay down the military governorship on that date, in fact, a few days before, and mr. brownlow had been appointed { } in his stead. upon brownlow's inauguration as civil governor, the military régime in tennessee was formally ended. lincoln acquiesced certainly in this change. it remained now for congress to show its attitude, when the senators and representatives from tennessee should present themselves for admission to seats in the two houses. as this could not happen until the following december, the history of this point must be deferred until the events between march th and december th are related. [sidenote: the thirteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states.] the experiences of the year with the slavery problem had convinced the president and the leaders of the republican party in congress that abolition must be effected by a constitutional amendment. the military acts of the president in this direction were, as all the purely military measures of the executive, temporary, and with the re-establishment of peace would cease to have force; and it was by this time pretty clear that but few of the "states" would abolish slavery by their own act. already on january , , had the proposition for a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery throughout the length and breadth of the united states been presented in the senate by mr. john b. henderson of missouri, and referred to the judiciary committee of that body for consideration and report. the language of the first article of mr. henderson's proposition read: "slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, shall not exist in the united states." when it came back from the judiciary committee, as reported by mr. trumbull, it was called article xiii., and read: "sec. . neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall { } exist in the united states or any place subject to their jurisdiction. sec. . congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." [sidenote: the proposition of amendment as it came from the judiciary committee of the senate.] it will be advantageous in our further consideration of this article to recall briefly the reasons for these divergencies. the language used by the judiciary committee corresponds almost exactly with the wording of the ordinance of the northwest territory of ; and it is entirely evident that the judiciary committee had that act in mind when it reported the article. mr. henderson's proposition was that slavery or involuntary servitude should not exist in the _united states_. he well understood that it did not require a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery from those parts of the country where "states" had not been formed. he knew that congress could do that. the judiciary committee, however, did not think it wise or necessary to "make two bites of a cherry." they preferred to make their prohibition apply to the whole country. they knew that the phrase _united states_ was capable of being interpreted to mean only that part of the country where "states" existed, and they preferred and intended to make their prohibition of slavery extend to the whole country. from abundant caution they used the words united states, with the additional words "any place subject to their jurisdiction," in order to cover all territory over which the flag of the union should fly in sovereign power. the second section, giving to congress special power to enforce this article, seems, at first, unnecessary, because according to the last paragraph of section , article i., of the constitution, congress is vested with the authority to make all laws necessary and proper to carry into execution all the powers vested by the { } constitution in any department or officer of the government. this abolition of slavery was, however, a restriction on the "states." it laid a new limitation upon their powers, and hence it was thought that section of article i. might not apply in the execution of such a provision against the "states." but if we regard the provision from the point of view of the rights of an individual to his freedom against any "state" law to the contrary, then we must see that the amendment does invest the united states courts with the power to impose the restriction in behalf of the individual seeking deliverance from the attempt of a "state" to enslave him or to continue his enslavement. and once the power vested in the courts to do this the general provision of article i., section , will certainly apply. the resolution offered by the judiciary committee passed the senate by the requisite majority on the th of april, . [sidenote: the house draft.] during this same period, mr. william windom, of minnesota, offered in the house of representatives a resolution upon the subject in the identical words of the senate's resolution. it was referred to the judiciary committee of the house, february , . while it lay in the room of the committee, mr. stevens offered a substitute for it, which read: "slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, is forever prohibited in the united states and all its territories." this is another bit of evidence for the proposition that what was meant by the words "or any place subject to their jurisdiction" in mr. trumbull's resolution was all parts of the country not enjoying "state" government in local matters. [sidenote: rejection of the senate's draft in the house.] the senate resolution was sent into the house on the { } st of may, and was there lost on june th, having received a large majority, indeed, in its favor, but not a two-thirds majority. [sidenote: reconsideration of the senate's measure in the house, and its final passage.] foreseeing the failure of the resolution at that juncture, mr. j. m. ashley, of ohio, voted against the measure, although a stanch friend of it. his purpose was of course to be able to move, at some future and more propitious time, a reconsideration of the subject. he did not, however, feel that that time had arrived until after the election and the military victories of the autumn of had manifested the temper of the voters on the question of abolition and demonstrated the power of the union to carry such a measure into execution. on the st of january, , mr. ashley moved a reconsideration of the senate resolution lost in the house on the th of the preceding june. reconsideration was immediately voted, and the senate resolution was then carried by the requisite two-thirds majority. the proposed amendment was then sent to the president, who signed it, february st, . whereupon the senate immediately passed another resolution, declaring that it was through an inadvertency that the measure had been sent to the president for his signature, that asking the president of the united states to sign a proposed constitutional amendment was an error, was without precedent in the practice of the government, and that the president's approval should not be communicated to the house. a concurrent resolution was then passed by the two houses authorizing the president to submit the proposed article of amendment to the "states" for ratification. the secretary of state immediately sent it to the legislatures of all the "states" which could be reached by him, and during the summer and autumn to the legislatures of all the "states;" { } and the new legislature of tennessee ratified it on the th of april, , that is, more than a week before lincoln's death. such was the condition of things when the assassin's bullet ended the life of the great and good president and brought the vice-president, mr. johnson, into the office. { } chapter iii president johnson's plan of reconstruction and his proceedings in realization of it the character of mr. johnson--the radical nature of johnson's first views on reconstruction--the retention of lincoln's cabinet by mr. johnson and the modification of johnson's views by mr. seward's arguments--johnson's amnesty proclamation of may th, --the excepted classes--the effect of these exceptions--the president's plan--the realization of it--the administering of the oath--reconstruction in north carolina--the identity of johnson's plan with that of lincoln--reconstruction in mississippi--reconstruction in georgia--reconstruction in alabama, south carolina and florida--reconstruction in virginia--reconstruction in louisiana, arkansas and tennessee--the constitutional conventions of --the form of the work done in these conventions, and its substance--the erection of "state" governments and the election of members of congress--the orders of the president putting the civil government of the united states into operation everywhere--the president's first annual message. [sidenote: the character of mr. johnson.] mr. johnson was a man who rose from very low estate through his own efforts. he was a man of considerable intellectual power and of great will power. he was somewhat vain of his success and somewhat piqued by the social neglect which he had suffered at the hands of the "old families." he was intensely loyal to the union, and could regard secession and rebellion only as treason. having suffered so much for his loyalty, he was somewhat moved by considerations of revenge. he was profoundly stirred by { } the assassination of lincoln, and apparently believed it to have been planned by those high in authority in the confederacy; and he was possessed with an intense desire to re-establish the union on an enduring foundation. [sidenote: the radical nature of johnson's first views on reconstruction.] with such a history behind him, and such a disposition impelling him, it is not to be wondered at that his policy in regard to reconstruction should have been more stringent than that of mr. lincoln. in fact it was feared, even by the more radical republicans, such, for instance, as mr. wade, that he would be bloody minded in the treatment of the rebel chiefs. he had, before his accession to the presidency, declared so often, and so vehemently, that "traitors should be arrested, tried, convicted and hanged," that most men were expecting the strict application of the criminal law to the confederate leaders. [sidenote: the retention of lincoln's cabinet by mr. johnson, and the modification of johnson's views by mr. seward's arguments.] mr. johnson retained lincoln's cabinet, and among them the conciliatory and persuasive seward, who, in about six weeks from the night of the assassination, at which time he himself was seriously wounded, returned to his work in the state department. there is no doubt that it was the influence of seward which modified the views and purposes of mr. johnson. the compliant spirit manifested at this time by the confederate chiefs helped strongly in the same direction. by the st of june, seward had won johnson completely for his plan of a rapid and forgiving reconstruction by the executive. congress was not in session, and the president was not inclined to call an extra session. the late rebel chieftains were pressing for the political rehabilitation of their section, and the president now fully believed that he had the power to proceed with the problem of reconstruction, and was inclined to do so. { } [sidenote: johnson's amnesty proclamation of may , .] on the th of may, he issued his proclamation of amnesty and pardon to all persons who, having engaged in rebellion, had failed to take the benefits of mr. lincoln's proclamations of december , , and march , . to all such persons mr. johnson offered his pardon upon their taking an oath of the following tenor: "i ---- do solemnly swear (or affirm) in the presence of almighty god, that i will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the constitution of the united states and the union of the states thereunder, and that i will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves. so help me god." [sidenote: the excepted classes.] he, however, excepted the following classes of persons from the benefits of the offer: st. those who held or had held, under the pretended confederate government, civil or diplomatic office or agency, or military office above the rank of colonel in the army and lieutenant in the navy, or military or naval office of any grade, if educated by the united states government in the military academy at west point or the united states naval academy; and all those who held, or had held, the pretended office of governor of a "state" in insurrection against the united states; d. those who had left seats in the congress of the united states or judicial stations under the united states to aid in the rebellion against the united states, and those who had resigned or tendered resignations of their commissions in the army or navy of the united states to evade duty in resisting the rebellion; d. those who had, in any way, treated persons found in the service of the united states, in any capacity, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war; { } th. those who had been engaged in destroying the commerce of the united states on the high seas, or upon the lakes and rivers separating the british provinces from the united states, or in making raids from canada into the united states; th. those who were, or had been, absent from the united states, or had left their homes within the jurisdiction of the united states, and passed beyond the military lines of the united states into the pretended confederate states, for the purpose of aiding the rebellion; th. those who, at the time they might seek to obtain the benefits of the proclamation by taking the oath, were prisoners of war, or under civil or criminal arrest, and those who had taken the oath of allegiance to the united states since december , , and had failed to keep it; and, finally, those who had voluntarily participated in any way in the rebellion and were the owners of taxable property to the value of more than twenty thousand dollars. [sidenote: the effect of these exceptions.] these exceptions would have shut out almost all of the leading men of most of the "states" that passed secession ordinances from the benefits of the proclamation, except for the subsequent provision in the proclamation, which ordained that special application might be made to the president for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes, and held out the promise that such clemency would be as liberally extended as might be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the united states. [sidenote: the president's plan in a sentence.] briefly, the president proposed to pardon the rebel leaders, upon special personal application, as an act of high executive grace, and to amnesty every one else in a body; and upon the basis of { } their re-established loyalty to use the old electorate of the south in reconstruction. how he succeeded we will now proceed to relate. [sidenote: the realization of it.] [sidenote: the administering of the oath.] in the first place, the machinery for administering the cleansing oath was made very simple and accessible. any commissioned officer, civil, military or naval, of the united states, and any officer, civil or military, of a loyal "state" qualified by the laws of the "state" to administer oaths, was declared by the president, through his secretary of state, to be competent to administer this oath of loyalty, a copy of which should be given to the person taking it as his certificate of restored citizenship, and another copy sent to the state department at washington to be there deposited and kept in the archives of the government. [sidenote: reconstruction in north carolina.] in the second place, and by a second proclamation, issued on the same day, may th, the president appointed a provisional governor for north carolina, and authorized and commanded him to cause the election of delegates to, and their assembly in, a constitutional convention of the "state" for the reconstruction of the "state," and its restoration to its constitutional relations to the united states. the electorate to be employed by the provisional governor should be those persons who were qualified to vote by the laws of north carolina in force immediately before the th of may, , and had taken the oath prescribed in the first proclamation. this second proclamation also commanded the heads of the departments of the united states government to put the laws of the united states into operation in north carolina, the united states judges to open the united states courts and proceed to business, and the military officers in the district to aid the provisional { } governor in carrying the duties assigned to him into effect, and to abstain from hindering, impeding, or discouraging, in any manner, the organization of a "state" government as authorized by the proclamation. [sidenote: the identity of johnson's plan with that of lincoln.] it will thus be seen that mr. johnson's plan of reconstruction was in substance the same as that of mr. lincoln. it rested upon the theory of the indestructibility of the "states," their perdurance as "states" throughout the period of rebellion, the commission of treason and rebellion by combinations of private persons, the right of the executive to withdraw his military powers and put his civil powers in operation, whenever, in his judgment, the circumstances would warrant him in so doing, and his authority to recognize the old electorates of the "states" in which rebellion had existed as the respective constituent bodies of the "states," upon such terms and under such limitations as he might prescribe. he did not lay down any rule as to the numerical proportion which the modified electorates should bear to the old, in order to make their acts legitimate, as mr. lincoln did; and he did declare in his second proclamation that the north carolina convention, when convened, or the legislature that might be thereafter assembled, should prescribe the qualification of electors, and the eligibility of persons to hold office under the constitution and laws of the "state," which mr. lincoln did not do in his proclamation. but there is no doubt that mr. lincoln would have indorsed this proposition. he could not have avoided it, while holding the theory that north carolina was a "state" simply engaged in amending its constitution, the theory which his own proclamation apparently set up. in a word johnson's policy and acts in reconstructing the "states" in which secession ordinances had been passed, and rebellion committed, were { } but a continuation of those of mr. lincoln. if lincoln was right so was johnson, and _vice versa_. [sidenote: reconstruction in mississippi, georgia, alabama, south carolina and florida.] on the th of june, the president issued a proclamation of like tenor and containing similar orders for putting the laws of the united states into operation, and for putting similar machinery in motion for reconstruction, in mississippi. he appointed william l. sharkey provisional governor therein. on the th of june, similar steps were taken for the reconstruction of georgia, with james johnson as the provisional governor; on the st of june for the reconstruction of alabama, with lewis e. parsons as provisional governor; on the th of june for the reconstruction of south carolina, with benjamin f. perry as provisional governor; and on the th of july for the reconstruction of florida, with william marvin as provisional governor. [sidenote: reconstruction in virginia.] already on may th, twenty days before the issue of his proclamation of amnesty, the president had issued an executive order putting the laws of the united states in operation in virginia, and guaranteeing the support of the united states government to governor francis h. pierpont in all lawful measures for the extension and administration of the "state" government throughout the geographical limits of virginia. this meant, of course, that the united states government recognized the shadowy loyal "state" government, which had kept up at least a show of existence throughout the rebellion, as the true "state" government of virginia, and that virginia did not need reconstruction, but only the extension of the authority of this government throughout her territorial limits. this was, also, a simple continuation of mr. lincoln's policy, as we well know. { } [sidenote: reconstruction in louisiana, arkansas and tennessee.] of course mr. johnson recognized the reconstruction of louisiana, arkansas and tennessee as effected by mr. lincoln; so that by mid-summer of the reconstruction of all the "states" which had passed secession ordinances, except only texas, had been completed, or had been put in course of completion. [sidenote: the constitutional conventions of .] during the summer, autumn and early winter of , the provisional governors of mississippi, alabama, south carolina, north carolina, georgia, and florida ordered elections for the choosing of delegates to constitutional conventions, upon the basis of the old suffrage laws of the respective "states" once answering to these names, modified by the requirements of the presidential pardon, received after taking the oath of allegiance; and these elections were held and these conventions assembled. [sidenote: the form of the work done in these conventions, and its substance.] these bodies chose to do their work in the form of amendments to the old constitutions of the "states," whose constituent powers they assumed to hold, rather than in the form of new constitutions. before the meeting of congress on the first monday of december, they had all passed ordinances, either repealing the secession ordinances of their respective "states," or pronouncing them null and void; had all voted amendments to the constitutions of their respective "states" abolishing slavery; and all, except mississippi and south carolina, had passed ordinances repudiating the debt incurred by their respective "states" in aid of rebellion against the united states. [sidenote: the erection of "state" governments and the election of members of congress.] before the meeting of congress also, elections of the members of the respective "state" legislatures and of "state" officers, and of the members of the house of representatives in congress, had been held by the { } provisional governors, under the direction of the respective conventions. and, finally, before the assembly of congress, these legislatures had, with the exception of that of florida, met, organized, and elected united states senators, and, with the exception of those of florida and mississippi, had adopted the thirteenth amendment to the constitution. the legislature of florida, not having met and organized, had not at that date been able to consider the amendment. it met on december th and elected united states senators, and adopted the thirteenth amendment on the th. the legislature of mississippi, on the other hand, rejected the thirteenth amendment on the th of november. [sidenote: the orders of the president putting the civil government of the united states into operation everywhere.] during the same period, the president had by his several proclamations and orders declared the cessation of armed resistance, the restoration of intercourse throughout the country, and the raising of the blockade and the opening of the ports, and had put the different branches of the civil government of the united states into operation in all the "states" which had been the scene of the recent rebellion. he had not, however, restored the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in these regions or in the district of columbia, and he reserved the right to have recourse to military control therein in case of necessity. the governors of south carolina, georgia, mississippi and florida under the confederacy had, in the spring of , assumed to summon the legislatures, chosen by these "states" while members, or pretended members, of the confederacy, to meet together for reconstruction purposes. the president had, through his military officials, ignored and prevented all such movements. no farther resistance to his plan of reconstruction had been attempted, but he saw { } plainly that, without the united states military power to sustain the new "state" governments, there might be. [sidenote: the president's first annual message.] this was the situation when congress met on the first monday of december, and received president johnson's first annual message. this document contained a disquisition upon the political system of the united states, as "an indissoluble union of indestructible states," with the natural conclusion that by attempting secession, the "states" impaired, but did not extinguish, their vitality, suspended, but did not destroy, their functions. it then proceeded with a narration of the facts above stated, in which the president sought to establish, upon the basis of his power to pardon and withdraw military rule, and to guarantee a republican form of government to every "state," his authority to reconstruct "state" government, or at any rate to permit the pardoned citizens to do so under his direction. finally, this paper contained the official notice to congress that the president had admitted the reconstructed "states"--and that would mean all that had passed the secession ordinance, except perhaps texas, whose convention did not assemble until march of --to participate in amending the constitution of the united states. the president concluded his narration and argumentation upon this all-important subject in these words: "the amendment to the constitution being adopted, it will remain for the states whose powers have been so long in abeyance to resume their places in the two branches of the national legislature, and thereby complete the work of restoration. here it is for you, fellow citizens of the senate, and for you, fellow citizens of the house of representatives, to judge, each of you for yourselves, of the elections, returns and qualifications of your own members." { } it is entirely evident from all this that the president denied the power of the houses of congress, either separately or jointly, to prevent the senators and representatives from the reconstructed "states" from taking their seats upon any other grounds than defects in the election and return, or in the personal qualifications, of the particular persons under consideration. { } chapter iv the congressional plan of reconstruction the stevens resolution--legislation of the reconstructed "states" concerning the status of the freedmen, and the freedmen's bureau--vagrancy, apprenticeship, and civil rights in the reconstructed "states"--the view taken of this legislation by the republicans--the ratification of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution--the demand of the senators- and representatives-elect from the reconstructed "states" to be admitted to seats in congress--the joint committee of the two houses of congress on reconstruction--thaddeus stevens's ideas on reconstruction--mr. shellabarger's theory of reconstruction--mr. sumner's theory of reconstruction. [sidenote: the stevens resolution.] so soon as the house of representatives had elected its speaker, mr. colfax, and other officers, and before the reception of the president's message, mr. thaddeus stevens presented a resolution which proposed the selection of a joint committee of the house and senate to inquire into the condition of the "states," which formed the so-called confederate states, and to report by bill or otherwise, whether, in the judgment of the committee, these "states," or any of them, were entitled to be represented in either house of congress, and which provided that "until such report shall have been made and finally acted upon by congress, no member shall be received into either house from any of the so-called confederate { } states." the house passed this resolution by an overwhelming majority; and then adjourned without allowing a motion by mr. niblack of indiana, to the effect that "pending the question as to the admission of persons claiming to have been elected representatives to the present congress from the states lately in rebellion, such persons be entitled to the privileges of the floor of the house," the usual privilege accorded contestants, to come to a vote. [sidenote: the view of the house that reconstruction could not be effected by the executive.] the view of the house was thus manifest from the start. it was that reconstruction could not be effected by the executive department of the government, but was a problem for congress, and that this was a matter entirely separate from the power of each house to judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its members, a matter to be decided by the whole congress prior to the consideration of the question of the elections, returns, and qualifications of the members of each house. in a word, it was the question of the admission, or the readmission, of "states" into the union, or more correctly the question of the establishment or re-establishment of the "state" system of local government upon territory of the united states under the exclusive power of the central government. [sidenote: passage of the stevens resolution as a concurrent resolution.] there is no question that in sound political science the house was entirely correct in its theory, and that the objection of the senate to that part of the stevens resolution which provided that no member should be received into either house from any of the so-called confederate states until the report of the committee on reconstruction should have been finally acted on by congress, as trenching upon the exclusive power of the senate to judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its members, rested upon a confounding of the { } function of congress to admit "states" into the union with the power of each house to judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of those claiming to represent "states" or constituencies in "states" about whose position in the union there was no question. the senate finally swung into line, however, by passing this part of the house resolution as a concurrent resolution instead of as a joint resolution. [sidenote: legislation of the reconstructed "states" concerning the status of the freedmen, and the freedmen's bureau.] there were two other considerations which moved the republicans in congress to assume this attitude in regard to reconstruction. one was the legislation of the "states" reconstructed by the president concerning the status and the rights of the freedmen. on the d of march preceding, congress had passed an act organizing a bureau in the war department for the care of refugees and freedmen in the districts in rebellion or in the territory embraced in the operations of the army. this bureau was officered by a chief commissioner and assistant commissioners for each of the "states" declared to be in insurrection. these officers were authorized to take possession of the abandoned lands within these "states," and other lands belonging to the united states, and parcel them out to the loyal male refugees and freedmen, not more than forty acres to each, and protect them in the use and enjoyment of the same for the term of three years. they were also authorized to issue under the direction of the secretary of war provisions, clothing and fuel to such loyal refugees and freedmen as were destitute. [sidenote: the administration of the freedmen's bureau.] there is no question that this was a most humane measure. it would have been a moral outrage for the government of the united states to have taken the slaves away from the support and protection accorded { } them by their masters, and to have thrown them upon their own resources without any means of sustenance during the transition into the new status. but there is also no question that this measure was so administered as to do the race for whose benefit it was intended almost as much harm as good. when the government began to furnish them with food, clothes, fuel and shelter gratis, they, like the children that they were, conceived of this, to them, very agreeable state of things as something that was to last forever, as the new jerusalem. they gathered about the depots of the freedmen's bureau and could not be induced to go away in search of work or livelihood. the belief became quite general that the government intended to give every man forty acres of land and a mule, and otherwise to support him permanently. the danger was that the newly emancipated would quit work altogether and throw themselves entirely upon the charity of the united states government. many did do so, and formed thus a sort of privileged class throughout the whole south under the special protection of the government of the united states. [sidenote: vagrancy, apprenticeship and civil rights in the reconstructed "states."] when, now, the newly reorganized "states" came to assume jurisdiction over matters concerning the freedmen, they found themselves driven to some legislation to prevent the whole negro race from becoming paupers and criminals. it was in the face of such a situation that the legislatures of these "states" passed laws concerning apprenticeship, vagrancy and civil rights, which were looked upon at the north as attempts to re-enslave the newly emancipated, and served to bring the new "state" governments at the south into deep reproach. [sidenote: examination of these vagrancy acts, etc.] it must be remembered, however, that at the time of the passage of the stevens resolution by the house of { } representatives, only two of mr. johnson's reconstructed "states" had passed any laws upon these subjects. these two were mississippi and south carolina; and a close examination of the text of these enactments will hardly justify the interpretations placed upon them by the radical republicans. the south carolina preliminary act came first in the order of time. it provided that "all free negroes, mulattoes, and mestizos, all freedwomen, and all descendants through either sex of any of these persons, shall be known as _persons of color_, except that every such descendant, who may have of caucasian blood seven-eighths, or more, shall be deemed a white person; that the statutes and regulations concerning slaves are now inapplicable to persons of color; and although such persons are not entitled to social or political equality with white persons, they shall have the right to acquire, own, and dispose of property, to make contracts, to enjoy the fruits of their labor, to sue and be sued, and to receive protection under the law in their persons and property"; and "that all rights and remedies respecting persons or property, and all duties and liabilities under laws civil and criminal, which apply to white persons, are extended to persons of color, subject to the modifications made by this act and the other acts hereinbefore mentioned." the acts to which this one was preliminary were not passed until the latter half of december, and could not have served, except by prevision, as grounds for the stevens resolution. moreover there was little in this act which was really calculated to arouse any pronounced hostility at the north. it evidently recognized the emancipation of the former slaves, and the prohibition of future slavery, as fixed facts, and provided for substantial equality in civil rights between persons of color { } and white persons. the discriminations which it referred to, rather than made, were those of a social and political nature, matters which to that time had been controlled, if controlled at all, wholly by the "states," except of course in those parts of the country in which "states" had not been erected. [sidenote: the mississippi acts.] the mississippi acts were all passed in november. they were the acts which were before the view of congress and the country in the beginning of december, , and, with the exception of the south carolina preliminary act just commented on, the only ones. they require, therefore, a somewhat fuller treatment. they consist of "an act to regulate the relation of master and apprentice relative to freedmen, free negroes, and mulattoes, passed november , "; the "vagrant act of november , "; an "act to confer civil rights on freedmen and for other purposes," passed november , ; a supplementary act to this, passed november , ; and another supplementary act, passed december , . the first act provided that freedmen, free negroes, and mulattoes under the age of eighteen years, being orphans, or the children of parents who could not, or would not, support them, should be apprenticed by the clerk of the probate court in the county where found to competent and suitable persons, and on such terms as the court should direct; under the restrictions, that the former owner of the minor should be selected by the court as the master or mistress if, in the judgment of the court, he or she were competent and suitable; that the terms fixed by the court should have the interest of the minor particularly in view; and that the apprentice should be bound by indenture, to run, in the case of males, until the completion of the twenty-first year, { } and, in the case of females, until the completion of the eighteenth year. this act further provided that in the management and control of apprentices, the master or mistress should "have power to inflict such moderate corporal chastisement as a father or guardian is allowed to inflict on his or her child or ward at common law," but that in no case should "cruel or inhuman punishment be inflicted." it furthermore provided, that in case of desertion by the apprentice, he might be apprehended and brought before a justice of the peace, who might remand him to his master or mistress, and might, on the refusal of the apprentice to return, commit him to jail, on failure to give bond, until the next term of the county court, which court should inquire into the matter, and determine whether the apprentice had left the service to which he was bound without good cause or not, and should, in the one case, compel the return to service by ordering the infliction of the necessary penalties, and in the other, should order the discharge of the apprentice, and enter "judgment against the master or mistress for not more than one hundred dollars, for the use and benefit of the apprentice." the second act provided, that "all free negroes and freedmen in the state, over the age of eighteen years, found on the second monday in january, , or thereafter, with no lawful employment or business, or found unlawfully assembling themselves together, either in the day or night time, and all white persons so assembling with freedmen, free negroes, or mulattoes, or usually associating with freedmen, free negroes, or mulattoes on terms of equality, or living in adultery or fornication with a freedwoman, free negro or mulatto, shall be deemed vagrants, and on conviction thereof, shall be { } fined in the sum of not exceeding, in the case of a freedman, free negro or mulatto, fifty dollars, and in the case of a white man, two hundred dollars, and imprisoned, at the discretion of the court, the free negro not exceeding ten days, and the white man not exceeding six months." it further provided, that in case the freedman, free negro or mulatto should not pay the fine within five days from the time of its infliction, the sheriff of the proper county should hire him or her out to any person who would for the shortest period of service pay the fine and all costs, giving the preference, however, to the employer of the freedman, negro or mulatto, if there should be any, and, if no person would hire the same, should hold him or her to be dealt with as a pauper. it also provided that the freedman, free negro, or mulatto refusing or failing to pay a tax should be dealt with by the sheriff in the same manner. and it provided, finally, that the same duties and liabilities existing among white persons in the "state" to support indigent whites should attach to freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes in regard to the support of colored paupers, and that in order to carry out the same a poll tax, not exceeding one dollar a head, should be levied on every freedman, free negro, and mulatto, between the ages of eighteen and sixty years, and should be collected and paid into the hands of the treasurers of the counties to be used in the support of colored paupers. the third act provided, that freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes might acquire, hold, and dispose of, personal property in the same manner and to the same extent as white persons, and might sue and be sued in all the courts of the "state" as white persons, but that they should not rent or lease lands or tenements except in { } incorporated towns or cities, and under the control of the corporate authorities. it provided, further, for the intermarriage of freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes, and for the legalization of all previous and existing cohabitations between them, and the legitimation of the issue therefrom; but it forbade intermarriage between them and white persons, under penalty of life imprisonment, and it defined freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes as comprehending all of pure negro blood, and all descended from negroes to the third generation inclusive, although one parent in each generation should have been white. it provided, further, that freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes should be competent as witnesses in all civil cases, in which they themselves or other freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes were parties or a party to the suit, and in criminal cases where the crime charged was alleged to have been committed by a white person or persons upon or against the person or property of a freedman, free negro, or mulatto. it provided, further, that every freedman, free negro and mulatto should have a lawful home and employment, and should have written evidence thereof in the form of a license from the police authorities to do irregular or job work, or in the form of a written contract for labor. it required that all contracts made with freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes for labor for a longer period than one month should be in writing, a copy of which should be furnished to each party, and that if the laborer should quit the service of the employer before the expiration of the term fixed in the contract, he should forfeit his wages for that year up to the time of quitting. it provided, further, for the arrest of any freedman, free negro, or mulatto quitting the service of an employer, and for the determination of the question whether { } the quitting was for good cause or not, and for the disposition to be made of the deserter. it provided, further, that enticing or persuading freedmen, free negroes or mulattoes to desert from their legal employment, or employing deserters from contract labor knowingly, or giving or selling them food, raiment or other thing knowingly, should be a misdemeanor punishable by fine, or by imprisonment in case the fine should not be paid. it provided, further, that no freedman, free negro or mulatto, unless in the military service of the united states, or licensed thereto by the police authorities, should keep or carry arms, ammunition or murderous weapons, and that every civil and military officer should arrest any such person found in possession of such articles, and commit him for trial. it provided, further, that "any freedman, free negro, or mulatto committing riots, affrays, trespasses, malicious mischief and cruel treatment to animals, seditious speeches, insulting gestures, language or acts, or assaults on any person, disturbance of the peace, or exercising the functions of a minister of the gospel without a license from some regularly organized church, or selling spirituous or intoxicating liquors, or committing any other misdemeanor," should be fined or imprisoned, and, upon failure to pay the fine in five days' time after conviction, should be publicly hired out to the person who would pay the fine and costs for the shortest term of labor from the convict. and it provided, finally, that "all the penal and criminal laws now in force in this state, defining offences, and prescribing the mode of punishment for crimes and misdemeanors committed by slaves, free negroes or mulattoes, be and the same are hereby re-enacted, and declared to be in full force and effect, against { } freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes, except so far as the mode and manner of trial and punishment have been changed or altered by law." [sidenote: the mississippi legislation a fair sample of the subsequent legislation in other "states."] this is a fair sample of the legislation subsequently passed by all the "states" reconstructed under president johnson's plan. in fact, in the legislatures of several of them, bills containing substantially these provisions were under consideration when congress met, and it was fair to suppose that they would be enacted. congress had thus in the first week of december, , substantially before it what the reconstructed "states" proposed to do in reference to the status and rights of the former slaves, and in reference to the relations between the negro and the white man in the future. as yet, we must remember, the thirteenth amendment had not been proclaimed as adopted, in fact had not been adopted, on the basis of the calculations of mr. seward, the secretary of state, the officer who alone could proclaim adoption; and the abolition of slavery rested upon the military power of the president, and on the acts of the "states" themselves, the first of which is temporary as to its effects, and the second of which might be reversed by the "states" at pleasure. [sidenote: the view taken of this legislation by the republicans.] [sidenote: this legislation from the point of view of natural justice.] the northern republicans professed to see in this new legislation at the south the virtual re-enslavement of the negroes. this was an extreme view of it, although it certainly did not give the negro equal civil right with the white man, or anything approaching that, to say nothing of failing to offer him any prospects of ever participating in political functions. of course it would be an abstract assumption to say that the negro ought, at the moment of his emancipation, to have had equal civil right with the white man. civilized man can be safely { } intrusted with a much larger civil liberty than the barbarian or the semi-barbarian. there is no question also that much severer penalties for the commission of the same crime are necessary among a barbarous race or class than among a civilized race or class. from these points of view this mississippi legislation does not appear as far from what was natural and even necessary as mr. stevens and his followers made it out. the law of apprenticeship was not severe, and, if justly and sincerely executed, it would probably have been beneficial to the young negroes, deprived of the care given them up to that time by master or mistress, and now thrown upon themselves without a cent of money or a particle of property, most of them knowing no parent except a mother as poor as themselves, and entirely unacquainted with the new conditions of life now confronting them. the law of vagrancy was severer. but it is easy to see that a reasonable execution of that law had as much help as harm in it for the former slave. it would have preserved him against idleness, drunkenness, and thievery, although it did curtail largely his liberty of action. it was, undeniably, the third act, which came so near to the re-enactment of the old slave code in regard to crimes and misdemeanors committed by negroes, that gave the greatest offence. almost every act, word, or gesture of the negro, not consonant with good taste and good manners, as well as good morals, was made a crime or misdemeanor, for which he could first be fined by the magistrates, and then consigned to a condition almost of slavery for an indefinite time, if he could not pay the fine. there is no question that the "states" of the union had at that moment the power under the constitution of the united states to do these things. at that time the determination of the criminal law, both { } as to the definition of crime, the fixing of penalties, and the fashioning of procedure, was almost entirely a function of the "states," and there was no provision in the constitution of the united states which required the "states" to treat their own inhabitants with equality in regard to their civil rights and obligations. under these circumstances it is not at all surprising that the republicans of the north strongly felt that the freedom of the negro had not yet been sufficiently guaranteed to render the acknowledgment of the resumption of "state"-powers by the communities so lately in rebellion against the united states for the upholding of negro slavery safe and wise. [sidenote: correctness of the republican position.] it was certainly natural, and it was just and right, that the party in power in congress should have considered it their duty to so amend the constitution of the united states, before according "state"-powers to the communities lately in rebellion, as to reap the just fruits of their triumph over secession and slavery. it was certainly their duty to the country to secure the adoption of the thirteenth amendment, and any further amendment, necessary to accomplish this result, before putting the recently rebellious communities in a position to defeat the same. and it is certainly not strange that the republicans should have feared that the democrats of the north in congress would soon be found fraternizing with the senators and representatives from the reconstructed "states," and that it was their duty to secure "perpetual ascendancy to the party of the union," before admitting the senators and representatives from these "states" to participation in public power. properly interpreted this only meant that loyal men must govern the country. but it did not follow that only republicans were loyal men, and that the loyal democrats of the north would follow { } the recently disloyal democrats of the south in legislating upon the issues of the war. republicans were likely to commit this fallacy in their reasoning. many of them did commit it. and the result of it was to intensify partisanship at the expense of statesmanship. [sidenote: the ratification of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution.] just two weeks after the passage of the stevens resolution by the house of representatives, mr. seward announced the adoption of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states. in making this announcement, he declared that there were thirty-six "states" in the union, and that the legislatures of twenty-seven "states," just three-fourths, the necessary number, had voted its adoption; and among those voting to adopt, he counted the legislatures of virginia, louisiana, arkansas, tennessee, north carolina, south carolina, georgia and alabama. it is to be remarked, however, that had he counted none of the "states" that had passed secession ordinances, either in the whole number, or in the three-quarters necessary to adopt, the amendment would in that case also have been adopted. there would have been, in that case, twenty-five "states" in the union, and of these nineteen had adopted the amendment. and if any controversy had arisen over the use of fractions in making nineteen three-fourths of twenty-five, this would have been quickly overcome by the fact that the legislatures of four more of the loyal "states" adopted the amendment soon after mr. seward's declaration, making twenty-three out of twenty-five. it will not, of course, be disputed that, if the "states" that passed secession ordinances should have been counted in arriving at the whole number of "states" in the union, those of them adopting the amendment should also have been counted in making out the three-fourths majority { } necessary to adoption, and that if, on the other hand, they should have been excluded in arriving at the whole number, they should also have been excluded in making up the three-fourths majority. in other words, it does not matter from which point of view we regard the subject, the amendment was regularly and lawfully adopted. it must be admitted, however, that mr. seward followed in this most solemn procedure, the amending of the constitution, the presidential plan of reconstruction, and gave great encouragement to the senators- and representatives-elect from these reconstructed "states" to expect that they would have the aid and influence both of the democrats in congress, and of the administration, in securing their seats. [sidenote: the demand of the senators- and representatives-elect from the reconstructed "states" to be admitted to seats in congress.] they had gone to washington and, bearing themselves confidently from the first, they now became defiant in demanding their rights. many of them were men who, less than twelve months before, had been in arms against the united states, and one of them was the person who was the vice-president of the confederacy at the moment of its downfall, mr. alexander h. stephens. such an attitude on his part and their part roused again great bitterness of feeling among the republicans, many of whom conscientiously thought that the real deserts of such persons were the penalties of treason. moreover, the legislatures of some of the other "states" reconstructed under the president's plan enacted, during december, january and february, measures concerning the status and rights of the emancipated slaves similar to those passed by the legislature of mississippi, and in some respects even more illiberal than those passed by that body; and it was evident that all of them would finally stand upon the same general ground in regard to this subject. { } this was the situation in the last week of february, , when the senate passed a resolution, concurrent with the stevens resolution in the house, denying seats to any of the claimants from the "states" lately in insurrection until the report of the joint committee on reconstruction should be made and finally acted upon. four of the republican senators, messrs. cowan, doolittle, dixon and norton went against their party associates in this question, but there was still a two-thirds majority in both houses resolute and resolved to combat the presidential plan of reconstruction and to construct and enforce a congressional plan. [sidenote: the joint committee of the two houses of congress on reconstruction.] as we have already seen, the senate had concurred with the house in regard to that part of the stevens resolution which provided for the appointment of a joint committee on reconstruction, at the time it was passed by the house. the members of the committee were chosen soon after the passage of this part of the stevens resolution by the senate. they were, from the senate, messrs. fessenden, grimes, harris, howard, johnson and williams, all republicans except mr. reverdy johnson of maryland, and from the house, messrs. bingham, blow, boutwell, conkling, grider, morrill, rogers, stevens and washburne, all republicans except grider of kentucky and rogers of new jersey. the republicans had given themselves a larger representation on the committee than their numerical relation to the democrats warranted, but there is no reason to think that the report of the majority would have been in any respect different, if that relation had been more strictly observed. [sidenote: the activity of congress in the interim between the appointment of the committee on reconstruction and the report of the committee.] this committee sat for about six months before making its final report. during this period, however, several propositions issued from it, and two great { } measures of statute law were passed by congress, all of which must be more nearly considered in order to keep the thread of the narrative of reconstruction. moreover the debate upon the subject of reconstruction was at the same time in progress and the view of the subject held by the leading republicans was becoming more clear and fixed. [sidenote: thaddeus stevens's ideas on reconstruction.] mr. stevens opened this debate in the house on the th of december ( ). in a powerful speech, he developed anew his doctrine that the territory once covered by the "states," which had seceded from the union, was nothing now but a conquered district, whose future condition depended upon the will of the conqueror. if "states" should ever be erected there again, it must be accomplished, he contended, by virtue of that provision in the constitution which declares that "new states may be admitted by congress into this union." this theory involved the admission that secession had been temporarily successful. this mr. stevens frankly acknowledged. he said: "unless the law of nations is a dead letter, the late war between the two acknowledged belligerents severed their original contracts, and broke all the ties that bound them together." [sidenote: contradiction between stevens's view and the view of the administration.] this was the extreme doctrine on the one side. it was in blunt contradiction to the doctrine upon which the administration was acting, the doctrine that the attempt at secession was entirely abortive, and that the "states" where it was attempted were still in the union _as "states,"_ and had never been anywhere else or anything else, in fact could not be; that the rebellion was the work of private individuals combined as truly against the real "states" in which it existed as against the { } united states; and that, therefore, the overthrow of these combinations and the cessation of the military rule of the president must be followed by the resumption on the part of the "states" concerned of all their rights and powers of local self-government and of participation in the united states government, as guaranteed by the constitution of the united states, unimpaired, and without any action whatever on the part of congress. mr. raymond represented this view on the floor of the house of representatives. he was a republican of the seward school, and sympathized entirely with his patron upon this subject. it was a great embarrassment to him that the democrats immediately gave in their adherence to this view. it helped to prevent him from gaining any following at all for it among the republicans. but while the republicans of the house repudiated entirely mr. raymond's principles, the great mass of them were not able to accept mr. stevens's view of the temporary validity of secession, and the temporary existence of the southern confederacy as a foreign power. their feelings and instincts required a principle of reconstruction which, at the same time that it did not recognize secession as having any validity for the shortest moment, yet regarded the "states" in which it was attempted, as having thereby become something other than "states" of the union, and as requiring the assent of congress to the rightful resumption of that status. [sidenote: mr. shellabarger's theory of reconstruction.] it was mr. shellabarger, of ohio, who did more than anybody else to give the proper logical interpretation to these feelings and invent the theory of reconstruction on which the republicans could plant themselves. briefly stated that theory was that, while secession was a nullity legally from the beginning, and could not take the territory { } occupied by the "states" attempting it, or the people inhabiting that territory, out of the union, or from under the rightful jurisdiction of the united states government and constitution for one instant, yet it worked the loss of the "state" status in the union, and from a legal point of view left this territory and the inhabitants of it subject exclusively to the jurisdiction of the united states government, a status from which they could be relieved only by the erection of "states" anew upon such territory, an operation which could be effected, under the constitution of the united states, only by the co-operation of congress with the loyal inhabitants of such territory. [sidenote: mr. sumner's theory of reconstruction.] [sidenote: the republicans in congress almost unanimously in favor of the shellabarger-sumner plan.] this was sound political science and correct constitutional law. it could not fail to command the assent of the great majority of the republicans in the house and in the country. this same doctrine was, at the same time, developed in the senate by mr. sumner, mr. fessenden and mr. wilson, and it was easy to see that it had become the theory of the republican party in congress long before the final report of the committee on reconstruction promulgated it. even stevens and his radical followers were in line with it in so far as practical results were concerned. that is, the republicans all stood together on the principle that reconstruction could only be effected by congressional acts, since it was tantamount to a conferring, or reconferring, of the "state" status upon a population at the moment subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the government of the united states. this meant that the entire republican party in congress, with the exception of the four members of the senate already named, and of mr. raymond and one other in the house (and this constituted a majority of two-thirds in each house) would antagonize the plan of executive reconstruction { } devised by lincoln and seward and persisted in by johnson and, to that moment, by his cabinet. how far the republicans in congress would go in the attempt to set aside executive reconstruction depended chiefly upon the moderation of the president, and the sincerity of the people in the south. it depended also in some degree, to say the least, upon what would be necessary to keep the republican party, which conceived itself to be the only really loyal party to the union, in power. there is no doubt that the sumner-shellabarger theory of reconstruction was correct. the only question was how exacting congress would be in realizing it. under such a situation it behooved the president to act with great caution and moderation, and to do nothing to provoke a conflict in which he was certain to be worsted. and it also behooved the people of the south to make no opposition to the bestowal of a large measure of civil liberty upon the freedmen, nor to such an adjustment of the basis of political representation as would not necessitate negro suffrage, and not to insist upon sending to congress, at the outset, the men who had made themselves particularly obnoxious to loyal feeling. how both the president and the persons in authority at the south disregarded these considerations of prudence, and how the position assumed by them upon these subjects drove congress into more and more radical lines, is the further subject of the next three chapters. { } chapter v the congressional plan (_continued_) the freedmen codes in the south--the reports of grant and schurz in regard to the status in the south--the freedmen's bureau bill of --the president's d of february speech--the civil rights bill--the veto of the bill--the veto overridden--the fourteenth amendment--the discussion of the propositions in congress--the president's attitude toward the proposed amendment--mr. seward's acts in regard to ratification--the requirement that the ratification of the proposed amendment should be the condition of the admission of the senators- and representatives-elect to seats in congress--the tennessee precedent. [sidenote: the freedmen codes in the south.] we have reviewed the acts of the new legislature of mississippi concerning the civil status of the freedmen. it is sufficient to say that during the winter of - , the other reconstructed legislatures followed the example of the legislature of mississippi. these movements forced upon the republican party in congress the conviction that the civil rights of the freedmen must be secured by national law. as yet there existed only the thirteenth amendment to the constitution upon which to base congressional statutes, and this, as we know, simply abolished and prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude, and empowered congress to pass appropriate laws for the execution of the amendment. by virtue of the war powers still exercised by the administration several of the union generals, as we shall see, had set aside this legislation in { } some of these reconstructed "states." but, of course, it was well understood that this was only a temporary remedy. during the month of january, , the republicans in congress became convinced that the newly organized "states," with the exception of tennessee, were consciously developing freedmen's codes which would not differ greatly from their old slave codes. [sidenote: the reports of grant and schurz in regard to the status in the south.] the president had sent general grant and general carl schurz on tours of inspection and inquiry through the south, during the late summer and autumn of ; and congress now asked the president to impart to it the information thus gathered. the two reports were quite contradictory. general grant said that he drew the conclusion from his observations that "the mass of thinking men of the south accept the present situation of affairs in good faith." he also indicated that the officers of the freedmen's bureau were a useless set of men, dangerous to the peace and prosperity of the south, and recommended that the military officers in the different districts should be put in charge of the bureau. mr. schurz, on the other hand, reported that his conclusions from his observations were that there was no loyalty among the leaders and the mass of the people in the south, except such as consisted in submission to necessity; that they were consciously attempting in their new legislation to establish a new form of slavery, distinct only from the old chattel slavery; and that this could be prevented only by national law and national control, at least for many years to come. general grant's visit had been a flying one, and his inquiries upon the subject were secondary only to his other business. on the other hand, general schurz had journeyed deliberately, and his inquiries were the chief, if not the sole, purpose of his visit. moreover, { } general schurz was a keener observer in regard to such matters than general grant, and a much better reasoner. [sidenote: the attitude of congress toward the reports.] despite, therefore, the great popularity and influence of general grant, congress was inclined to place more credence in the report of general schurz. while its committee on reconstruction was deliberating, it, therefore, most naturally set itself about doing what it could, under the thirteenth amendment, and also under its still existing war powers, in behalf of the civil rights of the freedmen. [sidenote: the freedmen's bureau bill of .] the first measure it attempted was one to enlarge the powers of the freedmen's bureau. this supplementary project originated with the judiciary committee of the senate, and was presented in the senate on the th of january, . the new bill proposed to increase the personnel of the bureau and expand the powers vested in it as provided in the law of march d, , in the following most important respects: first, while the law of march d, , provided for the appointment of a commissioner and ten assistants as the entire personnel of the bureau, the new bill authorized the appointment of a commissioner, twelve assistant commissioners, and the appointment or detail of an agent for each county or parish throughout the section where the bureau might operate. second, while in the law of march d, , the bureau rather appeared to be under the civil administration of the president, the new bill placed it distinctly under the military administration of the president, and authorized the president to extend "military jurisdiction and protection over all of the officers, agents, and employees of the bureau." third, while the law of march d, , confined the powers of the bureau to the giving of aid to { } refugees and freedmen and the distribution of abandoned and confiscated lands among them, the new bill proposed, in addition to this, to vest in the bureau the power to build school houses and asylums for the freedmen, and the most wide-reaching jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases where equality in civil rights and status, and in the application of penalties, was denied, or the denial thereof attempted, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; and it authorized military protection in all such cases to be extended to the suffering party. in a single sentence, this bill provided a sort of palatine jurisdiction over the freedmen in the section lately the scene of rebellion. [sidenote: the passage of the bill.] it was a stiff measure even for the transition period from war to peace. it cannot be justified constitutionally as anything but a war measure. it is true that the thirteenth amendment, just adopted, could be interpreted as giving congress the power to prohibit inequalities in civil rights and in criminal punishments, as the incidents of slavery or involuntary servitude, and to extend the ordinary jurisdiction of the constitutional courts of the united states over all cases where the attempt to apply such inequalities should be made. but it certainly did not give congress the power, under any ordinary circumstances, to create a new system of courts, subject to the executive, officered by military men, and armed directly with military power to enforce decisions. it was, as has been said, a war measure, and nothing else. the question was reduced simply to this: ought the congress of the united states to enact a new war measure, after armed resistance had ceased everywhere, except perhaps in some parts of texas? was it sound policy, was it good morals, to do so, when the people in the sections lately in rebellion were settling down into the pursuits of peace, even though congress might { } legally have the right to do so? the bill was debated long and carefully in the senate by all of the leading members, and the opinion finally prevailed among them that it was a measure necessary to preserve and protect the freedom of the newly enfranchised. it passed the senate by a vote of to , and the house by a vote of to . [sidenote: the veto upon it.] on the th of february ( ) it was sent to the president for his signature. in a message, dated the th of february, the president put his veto upon this bill. the document was a strong and sound presentation of reasons for his dissent. he said he could not approve of a war measure, with an indefinite term, when the authority of the united states was not disputed in any part of the country, when the rebellion was at an end, and when the country had returned, or was returning, to the pursuits of peace. he referred to the fact that the law of march d, , was still in operation, and claimed that it furnished him with all the extraordinary powers necessary to protect the freedmen. he called attention to the army of officials which this proposed law would create, and to the enormous expense which it would entail. and he denied the constitutional power of the government of the united states to assume functions for negroes which it had never been authorized to assume for white men. there is little question now that the president was correct about this matter, and that the congress was both reckless and aggressive, not to say vindictive. but it is questionable whether the president did not himself lessen unnecessarily his influence with his party in congress, by his unqualified opposition to any strengthening of the measure of . he might have returned the bill with the suggestion that it should have a definite limit as to the time it should run, and have { } expressed his willingness to sign a bill which should be so limited. johnson was blunt in his honesty. but seward was his adviser, and seward was, above everything, politic. it would seem that he either failed to advise with his usual sagacity in this case, or that his advice was unheeded. [sidenote: the veto effective.] for this once the president's arguments convinced enough of the senators to deprive the bill of the support of the necessary majority to carry it over his veto, even so stanch a republican as ex-governor morgan of new york voting against the bill after its return. the republican majority was deeply chagrined, not to say discouraged, and the president was injuriously encouraged to enter upon the struggle with congress over the question of reconstruction. [sidenote: the president's d of february speech.] on the evening of the d of february, three days after his successful veto, the president made a most important speech from the steps of the white house to a large popular meeting assembled to congratulate him upon his victory. he was betrayed by his elation and warmth into an abusive denunciation of his enemies, once, and only a few months before, his best friends. he went so far as to declare that stevens and sumner and phillips and others like them were, in his opinion, laboring as assiduously to destroy the fundamental principles of the government as were the leaders of the rebellion. after such an open challenge, the contest was nearly unavoidable. it was not avoided, whatever might have been the possibilities of re-establishing harmony. and it cannot be denied that, from this moment, personal rancor against the president filled the heart of stevens, at least, if not of the others. the president's utterances were, indeed, highly exasperating, and it would have required a very large measure of public virtue to have ignored them. { } [sidenote: the civil rights bill.] as a part of the same plan for securing the civil rights of the freedmen against the hostile legislation of the president's reconstructed "states," the judiciary committee of the senate reported a civil rights bill to the senate one day before it reported the freedmen's bureau bill, that is, on the th of january. the right of way, so to speak, was, however, given to the latter bill, and congress was nearly two months longer in perfecting the former than the latter. this civil rights bill certainly avoided many of the most serious objections which could be truthfully made against the freedmen's bureau bill. it was not a war measure in a time of peace. it did not provide a privileged jurisdiction for any class, and it did not create an army of new officials to drain the treasury and increase the patronage of the president. the purpose of it was simply to establish equality in the enjoyment of civil rights for all citizens of the country and to make all persons born in the country and not subject to any foreign power citizens. the substantial part of the bill, as perfected, read: "all persons born in the united states and not subject to any foreign power, excluding indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the united states; and such citizens of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same right, in every state and territory in the united states, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains and penalties, and to { } none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding." this is simply equality for all before the law. it conferred no political privilege and no social equality. it was fairly within the power of congress to pass such a measure, by interpreting broadly the thirteenth amendment, without having any recourse to the idea of war powers. slavery was nothing but extreme inequality in civil rights between master and servant. the prohibition of slavery and involuntary servitude could, therefore, most certainly be held to be the prohibition of all of these incidents. the remaining provisions of the bill did nothing more than fix penalties for violating, or attempting to violate, civil equality as thus defined, designate the officers charged with the duty of prosecuting the offenders, and establish the jurisdiction for the trial of such cases. the penalties were somewhat grave. they might be as severe as a fine of one thousand dollars, or imprisonment for a year, or both, in the discretion of the courts. but they were not cruel or unusual, and were, therefore, within the power of congress to prescribe. the officers authorized and required to institute proceedings against violators of the law were the district attorneys, marshals and deputy marshals of the united states courts, the commissioners appointed by the circuit and territorial courts of the united states, the officers and agents of the freedmen's bureau, and every other officer whom the president might see fit to empower thereto. and the jurisdiction established for the trial of such cases was that of the united states courts, upon which was conferred original and exclusive jurisdiction in any case under the law, and to which any case touching these subjects commenced in a "state" court could { } be removed on motion of the defendant. but all these things were authorized by a liberal construction of the thirteenth amendment, which expressly vests in congress the power to make all laws necessary and proper to enforce the prohibition of slavery throughout the whole country. [sidenote: the measure sound from the points of view of modern jurisprudence and modern political science.] it was, indeed, a great change in the system of the jurisprudence of the united states that the central government should define and protect civil equality within the states. but it was a change which history had forced upon the country, and the sovereign power of the nation had deliberately legalized it. there is no question now that it was sound political science, too, and that it was required by public morality. real civil liberty is always national. its concepts and principles spring out of the national consciousness of rights and wrongs. and civil equality is the first principle of modern justice, the most pressing behest of the public morality of the age. moreover, this measure did not militate against the president's plan of reconstruction. he could have accepted it without compromising that plan in the slightest, and it was a monumental blunder on his part that he did not do so. [sidenote: the veto of the bill.] on the th of march, he sent his veto of the bill into the senate. it was a weak argument throughout. he objected to making the freedmen citizens by an act of congress, while eleven of the thirty-six "states" were unrepresented in congress, and made out that it was a discrimination in favor of the ignorant negro against the intelligent foreigner not yet naturalized. he objected to the extension of the powers of the central government in behalf of civil equality within the "states" as destructive of the federal system of government, and as degrading to the { } legislators and officials of the "states." he did not deny that the proposed measure might be sustained as constitutional under the thirteenth amendment, but maintained that it was unnecessary for the execution of the provisions of the amendment. he objected, further, to the number of officers and agents authorized to institute proceedings under the measure, to the fee which they should receive, and to the power of the president to order the courts of the united states to migrate from one place to another when necessary for the prompt administration of justice. and he objected, finally, to the power vested in the president to use the land and naval forces and the militia to prevent the violation, and enforce the due execution, of the measure. now all this was easily answered from the point of view which congress and the north had now firmly taken, viz.: that the eleven former "states" in which rebellion had for so long prevailed were not "states," although the territory formerly occupied by them, and the population formerly inhabiting them, were within the united states and were subject to the jurisdiction of the central government; that the rebellion had demonstrated that the central government must be intrusted with a large increase of powers in protecting civil equality and civil liberty; and that the sovereign nation had willed this in the enactment and adoption of the thirteenth amendment to the constitution. [sidenote: criticism of the bill.] really there was but one thing in the bill susceptible of successful criticism, and that could be explained so as to avoid it. it was the ninth section, which authorized the president to use military power in execution of the law. the language would permit the president to use the military before bringing the matter before the courts and securing a decision. it would permit the president to use the military as the { } primal, instead of the final, agency for executing the law. it appeared to be in this respect a real force bill, that is a bill in which the executive is empowered to use the military, not for the enforcement of judicial decision in aid of the marshals, deputies, constables, and their posses, which is the customary order in time of peace, but for the execution of the law in the first instance, before decision rendered or trial had. but it was entirely clear that what was meant in this section of the bill was that, when combinations too powerful to be dealt with by the courts and their officers should undertake to prevent the execution of the law, the president might use the military to overcome them. under such an interpretation, this provision was justifiable and proper, certainly so in a transition period from a condition of general rebellion against the laws of the united states to that of gradual, and only gradual, acquiescence in their enforcement. [sidenote: the president's blunder.] [sidenote: the veto overridden.] the president most decidedly lost his chance of rehabilitating himself with his party, and leading it in the work of reconstruction, by not signing this bill. he sinned against the southerners themselves in not doing so. his veto of it made them believe that they could count upon the administration, the administration republicans, and the whole democratic party of the north, in denying equal civil rights to the freedmen, and that such a combination must eventually triumph. they, therefore, persisted in their course of exceptional legislation against the freedmen in the south, and in their arrogant demands for the immediate admission to seats in congress of the very men who had led the rebellion for four years against the sovereignty and government of the united states. it is amazing that they did not see that the large republican majority in congress would { } be driven to the alternative of seeing the work of four years of terrible sacrifice undone or of securing its permanence by making such changes in the organic law as would effect it, while yet they had the power. on the th of april, the senate overrode the president's veto of the civil rights bill, and on the th the house did likewise. [sidenote: the fourteenth amendment.] while, as we have seen, the president did not exactly deny the constitutionality of the bill, the democrats in congress, and the southerners seeking seats in congress, did. there was, therefore, but one course left open to the republican majority, and that was to make what they considered to be the incidents of the thirteenth amendment express provisions of the constitution. there were also several other things which had become clear in the course of the debates in the civil rights bill and the freedmen's bureau bill. in the first place, it was seen that the emancipation of the slaves would increase the representation in congress and in the presidential electoral college from the old slave "states" by two-fifths whenever the southern communities should be recognized as "states" again, and that too without the admission of the emancipated persons to the exercise of political suffrage. it was certainly to be apprehended that, with such increased representation, the southern members and the northern democrats would constitute a majority in congress and in the electoral college, and might proceed not only to repeal the civil rights act, and all acts in behalf of the freedmen, but also to throw the confederate debt or a part of it upon the united states, or establish pensions for confederate soldiers, or even repudiate the debt of the union made in defence of its own life. while the danger of these things was, probably, somewhat { } exaggerated, still it would not have been becoming for men of prudence and patriotism to have failed to provide against them. really there was but one thing to do, and that was to enact, and secure the adoption of, another amendment to the constitution covering these points, while the power to do so still existed. [sidenote: the political provision in the proposed fourteenth amendment.] it would be an agreeable thing to the writer of this period of american history, were he able to record that the principal matter which occupied the thought and attention of the committee on reconstruction was how to secure the necessary civil rights of the freedmen. but in the interest of exact truth he is compelled to forego this pleasure. the first thing which that committee considered and recommended to the houses of congress was the political matter of a redistribution of the representation in the house of representatives and in the presidential electoral college. on the d of january ( ) the committee reported to the two houses the following proposition as an amendment to the constitution of the united states: "representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state--excluding indians not taxed--provided, that whenever the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged in any state on account of race or color, all persons of such race or color shall be excluded from the basis of representation." for nearly six weeks both the committee and congress were occupied in the discussion of this proposition. in a slightly modified form it was adopted in the house, but, at last, on the th of march, it came to vote in the senate, and not having received the necessary two-thirds majority, it was abandoned as a separate measure, and { } merged into the general article containing the regulations of all the points to which reference was made above. it was monday, april th, before the committee was ready to report the entire article, which took the name of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution. the article as presented to the houses of congress by the joint committee on that day read as follows: "sect. . no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. "sect. . representatives shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians not taxed. but whenever in any state the elective franchise shall be denied to any portion of its male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation in such state shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens not less than twenty-one years of age. "sect. . until the th day of july in the year , all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right to vote for representatives in congress and for electors for president and vice-president of the united states. "sect. . neither the united states nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation already incurred, or which may hereafter be incurred, in aid of { } insurrection or war against the united states, or any claim for compensation for loss of involuntary service or labor. "sect. . the congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." [sidenote: defects in the first draft of the amendment.] the chief difficulties with these provisions were, first, that they did not define who were the citizens of the united states; second, that while they disfranchised for two or three years all who had voluntarily taken part in the rebellion, they did not disqualify anybody from holding office or legislative mandate on account of such conduct; and third, that while they forbade the payment of any debt or obligation incurred in aid of rebellion, they did not guarantee those incurred in the suppression of such rebellion. [sidenote: the discussion of the propositions in congress.] the discussion in congress upon these provisions lasted through the month of may and well into june. at last in the second week of june, the two houses arrived at an agreement upon the modifications which seemed proper and necessary, and the article as thus perfected was adopted by the necessary two-thirds vote in each branch. [sidenote: the final draft agreed upon.] the first section had been modified by the incorporation into it of a sentence which defined citizenship of the united states. it reads: "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside." this cleared up all difficulties in determining who the persons were, whose privileges and immunities were to be protected against "state" action. it also settled the question, forever, as to whether citizenship of the united states or citizenship of the "state" is primary. there is no doubt that in that clause of the original { } constitution which declares that the constitution of the united states, and the laws of congress made in accordance therewith, and the treaties made under the authority thereof, are the supreme law of the land, no matter what may be found in "state" constitutions or laws to the contrary, primary allegiance of all citizens and persons to the united states was established and required, but the advocates of "state" sovereignty always contended that, because there was no express clause in the constitution defining citizenship, and declaring the citizenship of the united states primary, citizenship was primarily of the "state," and, hence, allegiance was due primarily to the "state" by all its inhabitants. it was very proper and very desirable that this contention should be set at rest. the language of the second section had been revised so as to make its meaning more clear, but it had not been changed at all as to its meaning. it reads in its perfected form: "representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians not taxed. but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the united states, representatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, _and citizens of the united states_, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state." for section third, denying suffrage until to all { } persons who had given aid voluntarily to the rebellion, congress had substituted an entirely new resolution, which rendered the confederate chieftains ineligible to office instead of disqualifying the rank and file for suffrage. it reads as follows: "no person shall be a senator or representative in congress, or elector of president and vice-president, or hold any office, civil or military, under the united states, or under any state, who having previously taken an oath, as a member of congress, or as an officer of the united states, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the constitution of the united states, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. but congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability." this was certainly a wise change. it certainly could not be contended that disqualifications for holding office and legislative mandate violated any so-called natural right. it was better that whatever punishments of a political nature might fall upon the confederates should strike the leaders, rather than the followers. and it was not a severe punishment which required that, for a time at least, the people inhabiting the communities lately in rebellion should choose as their representatives to the national legislature and to the presidential electoral college, and as their "state" officers, men not identified with the rebellion so closely as to have been among its leaders. it is difficult to see how the confederate leaders could have been required to suffer less, and have been rebuked at all for their acts. finally, section four was supplemented by a sentence which declared that "the validity of the public debt of the united states, authorized by law, including debts { } incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned." the last words of the section were also somewhat modified in the direction of greater emphasis, but the meaning remained the same. as thus perfected, the section declared the validity of all the existing obligations of the united states, and repudiated all obligations whatsoever assumed in aid of rebellion, and all claims for the loss or emancipation of any slave. this covered the ground completely in regard to the security of the public obligations of the united states both from the positive and negative side, and it prevented both congress and the "states" from ever recognizing, in the future, the claim for any relief from the natural consequences of unsuccessful rebellion, and the right to any compensation for deprivation of property in man. as congress passed these propositions by the necessary two-thirds majority they were not submitted to the president at all, it being considered that his disapproval, if given, would avail nothing against such a majority. this has been the custom from the first in congressional propositions of amendment, and it is now too late to dispute its regularity. but it is easy to see that the president might support a veto of such propositions by such reasoning as to make it at least possible that sufficient votes might be changed from affirmative to negative upon them, to finally defeat them; and it is certainly true that the constitution requires that every bill, order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the senate and house of representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the president and is subject to his approval or veto, no matter by what majority it may have been passed. { } [sidenote: the president's attitude toward the proposed amendment.] however, president johnson had no opportunity to express himself officially or make himself officially felt in regard to this amendment. it was pretty well understood that he did not view it with favor while it was pending, and it soon became manifest that he was advising its rejection by the "states." [sidenote: mr. seward's acts in regard to ratification.] mr. seward issued his notification of the passage of the amendment by congress to the "state" legislatures for their ratificatory action on the th of june. he sent the same to the legislatures of all the "states," that is, to the legislatures of those bodies claiming to be "states" under the president's plan of reconstruction, as well as to the legislatures of those "states" which had never pretended to secede from the union. this was, again, certainly a recognition of all these bodies as "states" of the union by the executive branch of the government, at least. [sidenote: the requirement that the ratification of the proposed amendment should be the condition of the admission of the senators- and representatives-elect to seats in congress.] on the other hand, the reconstruction committee of congress had reported a bill along with the article of amendment, which virtually proposed to make the ratification of the proposed amendment by the respective legislatures of the reconstructed southern communities the condition of the admission of the senators- and representatives-elect from them to seats in congress. that is, it was proposed that congress should make its recognition of the reconstructed bodies as "states" conditional upon their ratification of the article of amendment. or perhaps some of those supporting this proposition would have preferred the statement that it was proposed that congress should make its recognition of the reconstructed governments of the "states" in which secession had { } been attempted conditional upon the ratification of the amendment by the legislative departments of these reconstructed governments respectively. [sidenote: the absurdity of the condition.] no matter how it might have been stated, it was an absurdity. the true theory on this point was that held by mr. stevens, viz., to consider only those "states" which had never attempted secession, those "states" which had never been members of the southern confederacy, as constituting the "states" of the union at that moment, and all other territory and people subject to the jurisdiction of the united states as being under the exclusive government of the central government; to amend the constitution by a three-fourths majority of these loyal "states"; and then to admit these reconstructed communities as new "states" into the union with its amended constitution. the amended constitution would then have the same power over them as if the amendment had been ratified by them. in fact, their petition for admission or recognition as "states" of the union with the amended constitution would imply their assent to the amendment as well as to every other part of the constitution. the more moderate republicans feared that the southern communities would not feel obligated by a constitution amended in this way. it is difficult to see why they should not. the southern statesmen knew that congress had no power under the constitution to require of new "states" obedience to anything as a condition of their admission to the union, but the constitution as it was at the moment of their admission. looked at from the point of view of the present, it would certainly appear that the exaction of such an unlawful promise, imposing such a degrading discrimination, would have been far more exasperating than anything else which could have been invented or imagined. { } enough of them saw this to prevent congress from enacting the bill proposed by the reconstruction committee into a law, and when the proposed amendment went to the legislatures of the "states," there was no requirement attending it which appeared to deprive any legislature, or body claiming to be a legislature, of its discretion in dealing with the subject. [sidenote: the precedent set by tennessee.] as a matter of fact, however, the legislature of tennessee ratified the proposed amendment within about a month after receiving the article from secretary seward, and congress thereupon passed the following joint resolution and sent it to the president for his signature: "whereas in the year the government of the state of tennessee was seized upon and taken possession of by persons in hostility to the united states, and the inhabitants of said state, in pursuance of an act of congress, were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the united states; and whereas said state government can only be restored to its former political relations in the union by consent of the lawmaking power of the united states; and whereas the people of said state did, on the d of february, , by a large popular vote, adopt and ratify a constitution of government whereby slavery was abolished and all ordinances and laws of secession and debts contracted under the same were declared void; and whereas a state government has been organized under said constitution which has ratified the amendment to the constitution abolishing slavery, also the amendment proposed by the thirty-ninth congress" (the fourteenth amendment) "and has done other acts proclaiming and denoting loyalty: therefore, _be it resolved by the senate and house of representatives in congress assembled_, that the state of tennessee is hereby restored to her former practical relations to the { } union, and is again entitled to be represented by senators and representatives in congress." [sidenote: the tennessee precedent.] these proceedings made it certain that, while congress had failed to pass any formal act making the acceptance of the proposed fourteenth amendment a condition precedent to the readmission of the other "states" which had been in rebellion, congress would not readmit any of them which did not do this. tennessee, it was thought, had sinned the least of all, and, therefore, should be readmitted on lightest terms. more might be righteously required of the others, but not less. [sidenote: the president's message in regard to the rehabilitation of tennessee.] the president signed the resolution, but accompanied the same with a short message in which he made a rather telling criticism upon the procedure of submitting proposed constitutional amendments to bodies not already "states" in the union, and warned congress against construing his approval as committing him to all of the statements of fact contained in the preamble to the resolution, or to the doctrine that congress had any right "to pass laws preliminary to the admission of duly qualified representatives from any of the states." these latter words manifest the fact that the president was still holding on to the idea that the whole function of congress in reconstruction consisted in the power of each house to judge of the election and qualifications of its members. { } chapter vi the congressional plan (_continued_) the reports of the committee on reconstruction--the idea of a new electorate as the basis and condition of reconstruction--the freedmen's bureau act of july th, --the disaffection in the cabinet--the new orleans riot--the issue of reconstruction in the campaign of --the congressional election of --the president's final proclamation declaring the civil war ended--the october elections--the president's message of december d, --rejection of the proposed fourteenth amendment by the legislatures of the reconstructed "states." [sidenote: the reports of the committee on reconstruction.] two days after the transmission of the fourteenth amendment to the "state" legislatures, the joint committee of congress on reconstruction made its final report, or rather reports, since there were two of them, one being signed by all the republican members of the committee, and the other by all the democratic members. [sidenote: the majority report.] the majority report was an able defence of the view, that by rebellion and attempted secession the eleven "states" in which these things happened had lost their "statehood" and had become disorganized communities, but that while they could and had destroyed "state" government, and placed themselves outside of the union so far as exercising the powers and privileges of "state" local government was concerned, they could not, and had not, escaped the obligations of the constitution and the authority of the { } central government. the exact language of the report on this point was: "the constitution, it will be observed, does not act upon states, as such, but upon the people; while, therefore, the people cannot escape its authority, the states may, through the act of their people, cease to exist in an organized form, and thus dissolve their political relations with the united states." the doctrine is here more clearly expressed than in other places, but even here there is a confusing modification contained in the words "in an organized form." it would have been much clearer if they had been entirely omitted. the framers of the report were evidently haunted by that spectre of an abstract, unorganized "state," which has played such havoc with good sense in some of the subsequent decisions of the supreme court, and which is nothing more than a platonic idea. based upon this doctrine, the majority report naturally vindicated the exclusive right of congress in the work of reconstruction, which work was virtually the admission of new "states" into the union. it, furthermore, demonstrated that the situation in these disorganized sections was one largely of exhausted disloyalty only, and that all that the inhabitants of them had done under the president's reconstruction policy was directed toward putting the same men in power who had led in the rebellion and toward denying civil, to say nothing of political, rights to the freedmen. and its final conclusion was, "that congress would not be justified in admitting such communities to a participation in the government of the country without first providing such constitutional or other guarantees as would tend to secure the civil rights of all citizens of the republic; a just equality of representation; protection against claims founded in rebellion and crime; a temporary restoration of the right of suffrage to those { } who have not actively participated in the efforts to destroy the union and overthrow the government; and the exclusion from positions of public trust of at least a portion of those whose crimes have proved them to be the enemies of the union, and unworthy of public confidence." as we have seen, the proposed fourteenth article of amendment had provided for all of these things, except the direct conferring of suffrage on anybody. with this exception, it had gone even further, in its provision declaratory of citizenship, and in its protection of the public debt of the union. [sidenote: the minority report.] the report of the minority, that is of the three democrats, was written by mr. reverdy johnson, of maryland. it was, as a lawyer's brief, an able presentation of the view that a "state" of the union can never become anything else than a "state," no matter what may be the character, deeds, attempts or disposition of the people who inhabit it, and is at all times entitled to the same powers, rights and privileges, under the constitution of the united states. it was, however, the veriest dry bones of legal reasoning, the veriest sophistry of juristic abstraction. there was no political science in it, no common sense in it, and it ended with an unfortunate and irritating defence of president johnson's personal loyalty, which had not been in the slightest degree impugned by the majority. [sidenote: the idea of a new electorate as the basis and condition of reconstruction.] the majority report indicated, at least, that congress might require something more than adoption of the fourteenth amendment by the communities lately in rebellion before they would be recognized as having been restored to their proper relations in the union as "states," and entitled to representation in congress. at the moment, however, it is probable that a prompt adoption of { } the proposed amendment by any of the reconstructed legislatures would have been followed by a joint resolution on the part of congress similar to that enacted in the case of tennessee. there is no doubt that many of the more radical members of congress had been long considering the question of creating an entirely new electorate in the south as the only proper basis for reconstruction, and that some of the conservatives, from being opponents of this idea at the beginning of the year, had, by the middle of it, begun, at least, to waver. to those who could read the signs of the times correctly, it was manifest that a rejection of the proposed fourteenth amendment by these communities would lead congress forward upon that line. the president ought to have understood this, when mr. raymond voted for the proposed amendment in the house. he ought to have done all in his power to influence the reconstructed communities to adopt the proposed amendment, no matter whether the submission of it to them by the secretary of state of the united states logically involved their recognition as "states" of the union by the administration at washington, or not. they were not in a position to exact the precise conclusion of a logical process in their favor, especially as it was based on a fallacious premise, and the president did both himself and them a great wrong in not discouraging them from so doing. [sidenote: the freedmen's bureau act of july th, .] a few weeks later congress scored another victory over the president, one which did much toward wiping out the defeats of february th and st. it passed another freedmen's bureau bill, and then repassed it july th, over the president's veto. this bill was framed with the purpose in view of avoiding those features of the bill, successfully vetoed by the president on february th preceding, { } which had influenced certain republicans to sustain the president's veto. the differences between the two measures consisted in the following points. the first bill had no definite time limit; the second would expire in two years from the date of its passage. the first bill vested jurisdiction in the freedmen's bureau over the civil rights of freedmen and refugees in all parts of the united states. the second vested the bureau with jurisdiction over loyal refugees and freedmen without mention of place. the first vested a most sweeping power in the bureau to give all kinds of aid and support to the destitute refugees and freedmen. the second contained only the more moderate provision of the original law of march d, , on that subject. finally the first gave the bureau jurisdiction over the civil rights of freedmen and refugees, not only when the deprivation of them was the consequence of rebellion, but when it was effected by _any local law_, ordinance, police regulation or other regulation. the second, on the contrary, limited the jurisdiction of the bureau to those cases where the deprivation was the consequence of rebellion. [sidenote: the veto of the measure.] the president could not, however, see much difference between them. he claimed that his objections to the first bill were valid against the second. the second measure, he contended, was only a war measure for a definite period, in a time of peace. it was the prolongation for a definite time of military jurisdiction over civil matters, when the civil courts both "state" and union were open and in the unhindered discharge of their business. and he held the ground that congress had no more constitutional power to create, or perpetuate, military jurisdiction over civil matters for a definite period in time of peace than for an indefinite period. he referred to the fact that the civil rights measure, just passed over his veto, met all { } the points provided for in the freedmen's bureau bill, and affirmed that all of the provisions of that law would be executed by him through ordinary civil means, in so far as they should not be repealed by congress or declared unconstitutional by the courts. [sidenote: correctness of the president's views.] from the point of view of to-day it is difficult to see why the president was not right. there is no doubt that the freedmen's bureau with its powers, jurisdiction and charities, was a far greater source of irritation in the south than was the presence of the united states army. while its superior officers were generally men of ability and character, a large number of the subalterns were canting hypocrites and outright thieves. they kept the negroes in a state of idleness, beggary and unrest, and made them a constant danger to the life and property of the whites; and their veritable tyranny over the white population did more to destroy union sentiment among the whites and make them regard the united states government in a hostile light than anything which had happened during the whole course of the rebellion. it was an institution which ought to have been dispensed with the instant that the necessity which called it into existence passed away. the law of march d, , had still about eight months to run, and congress would be in session again four months before it would expire. there was ample opportunity for prolonging the law, and that law, it was to be presumed, was less needed in than in . it took all of the party discipline of the republicans to prevent sufficient disaffection in their ranks to sustain the president's veto. on the merits of the question alone they could not have done it. they were in error, and many of them knew it, but they were now in to fight the president and they must stand together. { } [sidenote: the veto overridden.] the veto of the bill was dated july th, and the two houses repassed it over the veto on the same day. the new law was to be executed through the war department, as the original measure had been, and the secretary of war had begun to manifest that indecent hostility to the president which disgraced the last years of the administration. the president was largely cut off from even the knowledge of what was taking place in the operations of the freedmen's bureau, and mr. stanton now managed it in such a manner, whether intentional or not, as to cause the greatest possible friction between the government and the whites of the south, and thus to retard the process of reconstruction and to destroy what had been already accomplished in that direction. [sidenote: disaffection in the cabinet.] [sidenote: stanton's attitude toward the president.] besides stanton, three other members of the cabinet had showed their disaffection toward the president's policy. they were mr. speed, the attorney-general, mr. dennison, the postmaster-general, and mr. harlan, the secretary of the interior. during the course of the month (july) these three gentlemen resigned their offices, and were replaced by mr. stanbery, mr. a. w. randall, and mr. o. h. browning. their sense of propriety would not permit them to retain high office under the president while differing with him so widely in regard to the fundamental question of reconstruction. mr. stanton, however, took a different view of his duty. he seemed to feel that he was under obligations to his country to remain in the president's cabinet, at the head of the most important branch of the administration at that moment, and protect the country against the purposes of the president. he was sustained in this view by the republican majority in congress, which soon entered upon its course of depriving { } the president of his military control even, by transferring his functions to the secretary of war and the general of the army. to the men of the present day, mr. stanton's conduct appears, at least, lacking in a proper sense of delicacy. it may be regarded in an even more serious light. it may be looked upon as a conspiracy with the republican majority in congress to rob the president of his constitutional prerogatives, to change the form of government from the presidential system to the parliamentary system of administration. it is difficult to find any sufficient defence for mr. stanton's course. it is impossible to clear him of the appearance of great egotism or of great greed of office, in not resigning along with his dissatisfied colleagues. the president knew of this difference of feeling between himself and his war secretary at the time of his reorganization of the cabinet in july, and would undoubtedly have been glad to receive his resignation, but he did not ask for it. the newspapers which sustained the administration did, however, and predicted that it would be forthcoming. the republican leaders, on the other hand, encouraged stanton to hold on to the office, and represented to him that the welfare of his country demanded the sacrifice of his personal feelings in the matter. [sidenote: the opinion and feeling in the north concerning the condition of things in the south.] it was now generally proclaimed throughout the north that the rebel chieftains had repossessed themselves of the reconstructed "state" governments and were making use of "state" powers to re-enslave the freedmen. it was also proclaimed that the life and property of union men, of whatever race, at the south were utterly insecure, and that at least a thousand men had been murdered in that section within a year's time, without any considerable number of the { } murderers having been brought to justice. and it was asserted that the president of the united states had deserted the party of the union, the party which had elevated him to the chief magistracy of the land, and was now conspiring with his old party friends, the democrats, in both the north and the south, to drive the republican party from power and restore the régime of the democracy of . [sidenote: the new orleans riot.] at this moment a horrible tragedy was enacted in new orleans which seemed to give verification to some, if not all, of these statements. it seems that the late confederate leaders resident in louisiana, having received pardon from the president of the united states upon fulfilling the conditions of the president's amnesty proclamation, had got possession in of the reconstructed "state" government of louisiana, with the exception of the governorship and some of the judicial offices. the constitution of , made by sincere union men, did not exactly suit them, and the legislature in the spring of took into consideration a bill for calling another convention together for the purpose of framing a new constitution, but the administration at washington frowned upon the movement and the legislature abandoned it. in like manner, the men who formed and established the constitution of were displeased with the fact that the "state" government under it had been captured at the polls by the old electorate of louisiana, reinstated through the president's amnesty. they also wanted to change the constitution, to so change it as to create an electorate which would bring them back into power again. this meant negro suffrage. just before the convention of adjourned, it passed a resolution vesting in the presiding officer of the convention the power, and imposing on him the duty, of reconvoking the { } convention in case the constitution framed by it should not be ratified at the polls, or for any other necessary reason, for the purpose of taking such measures as might be needful for forming civil government in louisiana. of course, when the constitution framed by the convention was adopted by popular vote and a "state" government was set up under it, common sense and common honesty would hold that the convention had been finally dissolved, no matter how the wording of the resolution might be forced in the opposite direction. the men of "' " saw in this wording their only chance, however, to rescue the "state" government from the hands of the amnestied electorate, and in their desperation they were determined to attempt to make use of it. a number of the members of the old convention got together informally on the th of june. the president of the old convention did not call them together, and he would not preside at the informal meeting. he made some trivial excuse; but there cannot be much doubt in regard to his real reason. this informal meeting then proceeded to elect a _pro tempore_ president, judge howell, an office-holder under the constitution of . it was this man who issued the proclamation of july th, reconvoking the old convention of . the time appointed by him was the th of july at noon, and the place designated by him was the mechanics' institute building at new orleans. the men called together were the members of the old convention, but to provide for any vacancies that might have happened or might happen in the former membership of this old body, judge howell called on the governor, mr. wells, to issue writs of election. the governor did so, and ordered an election of such delegates to be held september d. he thus manifested his approval of the movement. { } naturally the party of the amnestied viewed this scheme for depriving them of the "state" government by means of a new constitution, framed by a defunct convention, and certain to contain a provision for negro suffrage, with the most intense hostility. they were not placated either by being referred to the consideration that the constitution framed by this convention must be submitted to the suffrages of the existing electorate, and must be ratified by a majority of the same, before it could be put into operation. they had a suspicion that the whole thing was instigated by the wicked republicans at the north, and that the voting upon such a proposed constitution would be controlled by them through the military of the united states government. they, therefore, resolved to nip the plan in the bud by preventing the assembly of the convention, or forcing it to disperse if it did assemble. the mayor of the city, mr. monroe, the same who was mayor when the union army entered the city in , applied to the general in command of the united states troops in louisiana, general absalom baird, to know what attitude the military authorities would take toward the convention, and informed general baird that he intended to disperse the convention if it should attempt to assemble without having the approval of these authorities. general baird was acting for general sheridan, who was absent from his post, and he replied with much more caution than he would probably have done had he been alone responsible. he told mayor monroe that he thought the governor of the "state," rather than the mayor of the city, was the man to interfere with the assembly of a body professing to be a "state" convention, if there was to be any interference at all, and he gave the mayor to understand that his proposed course might be perilous. this was the { } th of july. two days later the mayor went again to the general, this time accompanied by the lieutenant-governor, who was of the party of the amnestied. he now told general baird that the police would not undertake to prevent the assembly of the convention, or disperse its members when assembled, but that its members would be indicted by the grand jury and arrested by the sheriff. the general seemed to think that the convention could lawfully assemble, but agreed with the mayor and lieutenant-governor that both he and they would request instructions from washington. the general applied to the secretary of war, and the mayor applied to the president. the general informed the secretary of the movement to assemble a convention; that it had the approval of the governor; that the lieutenant-governor and the municipal authorities considered it unlawful and proposed to prevent it by arresting the delegates; that he had declared to them that he would not permit them to do this, unless the president should so instruct him; and he asked for orders, in the premises, by telegraph. the lieutenant-governor and the attorney-general of the "state" informed the president of the movement to assemble the old convention; informed him that negroes were assembling, incendiary speeches were being made calling them to arm themselves, and the president was being denounced; that the governor was in sympathy with the movement; that the matter was before the grand jury; and that it was contemplated to have the members of the convention arrested by criminal process; and they asked the president to inform them whether the military authorities would interfere to prevent the execution of the processes of the criminal court. secretary stanton did not reply to general baird's application at all. he did not even communicate the { } general's application to the president. he afterward explained that he did not consider that baird's telegram required any reply. baird had said in his despatch that he had informed the lieutenant-governor and the city authorities that he would not allow them to arrest the delegates and break up the convention unless instructed to do so by the president. the secretary did not propose to send the general any such orders, or to allow any such to be transmitted to him from the president through the war department, and so the secretary thought it best to let the matter rest where the general had placed it. he did not know that the president had been applied to by the other side, and the president did not inform the secretary of the despatch which he had received. the confidence between the two men had been already so largely destroyed as to prevent even consultation upon these grave subjects. the president, on the other hand, answered the application made to him. he telegraphed to the lieutenant-governor that the military would be expected to sustain, and not to obstruct, or interfere with, the proceedings of the criminal court. he did not send any orders to general baird, however. whether the lieutenant-governor showed his telegram from the president to general baird or not is not positively known, so far as the writer of these pages has been able to discover, but it is probable that he did. it was certainly then the understanding on all sides, at least, that the "state" and municipal authorities would deal with the delegates to the convention, if they interfered with them at all, through the grand jury and the officers of the criminal court, and not through the police. this did not mean, of course, that the police should not be present in the neighborhood of the convention for the purpose of keeping the { } public peace. they were ordered to assemble at the stations on the morning of the th (july) and to bring their arms. according to general sheridan's report to the president, the riot was occasioned by the marching of a procession of negroes, about one hundred strong and partly armed, through several of the streets to the locality of the convention. it occurred about an hour after the members of the convention had assembled. naturally a number of people, mostly of the lower orders, gathered on the sidewalks of the streets through which the procession passed. hooting and jeering followed. then a shot was fired, probably by a negro in the procession. then other shots followed and the crowd rushed after the procession, which soon arrived in front of the building in which the convention sat. brickbats now flew from each side and the riot was in full progress when the police appeared on the scene. the procession rushed into the building, leaving a few of its members outside. one of these and a policeman came to blows, when another shot was fired, upon which the policemen began firing through the windows of the building. after a few moments a white flag was displayed from one of the windows, whereupon the firing ceased and the policemen rushed into the building. once in the building they fired their revolvers upon the persons present indiscriminately and with terrible effect. the persons who succeeded in escaping from the building were also fired on by the police and by citizens, and many were killed or wounded. nearly two hundred persons were killed or injured, mostly negroes, but some whites, and among them some members of the proposed convention. there were no united states troops in the city at the hour of the riot, their barracks being outside. general baird had ordered four companies to take position near the place of the { } convention, but owing to the fact that he had got the impression that the convention would assemble at p.m., he had ordered them to repair to the assigned position at p.m. they, consequently, did not arrive until the riot was over and the convention was dispersed. each party considered the other the aggressor. the republicans of the north viewed the massacre as a new rebellion, while the amnestied southerners considered the riot the result of a justified resistance to an attempt to force negro suffrage and then negro rule upon them. it is very nearly certain that the first shot was fired by a negro, but this would not justify the wholesale massacre executed by the police. it could, therefore, be held by the republicans with a great show of truth that the public authorities of the reconstructed "state" government of louisiana not only would not extend the equal protection of the laws to all persons, but would themselves deprive persons even of life without due process of law. [sidenote: the issue of reconstruction in the campaign of .] the issue of the campaign of was thus made up. it was simply whether congress should reconstruct the president's reconstructed "states," or rather should pronounce the president's reconstruction, and the reconstruction effected by the amnestied southerners, null and void, and proceed to do the work _de novo_, with the purpose of creating adequate guarantee for life and property and for the equal protection of the laws to all. although it was not a presidential year, the election of the members of the house of representatives with such a problem to deal with, and the election of "state" legislatures which would consider the question of adopting the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution, made the canvass of a truly national { } one. four national conventions were held during the summer and early autumn, two of each party. [sidenote: the national conventions of the summer of .] the administration party led off with their great meeting in philadelphia on the th of august. there were a few prominent republicans among the delegates, such as montgomery blair, raymond, dix, cowan, doolittle and browning, but the vast majority of them were democrats. all of the southern delegates were such. the larger number of the northern democrats were conservative men of the stamp and style of r. c. winthrop, w. b. lawrence, s. j. tilden, j. p. stockton, j. e. english and reverdy johnson, but there were also present men of more radical anti-national creed, like fernando wood, j. g. sinclair, and james campbell. even clement l. vallandigham, presented himself as a delegate. there were many, however, who objected to his presence and he withdrew. the doctrines put forward at this meeting were simply those of the president's reconstruction policy, the doctrines that the "states" in our federal system are indestructible and immaculate, and under submission to national authority always possessed of the rights of local self-government and of representation in the national government. these doctrines were developed into such extreme forms of statement, and such extreme results were boldly accepted as their logical consequences, that the cause of the administration was damaged rather than helped at the north by the work and experiences of the convention. inasmuch as there had been a great display of harmony between the leading men of the south and the northern delegates in the convention of the th of august, making it appear that the democrats were the party of peace and reunion, while the republicans were { } in favor of a continuation of the hostile status, the southern republicans, or as they called themselves the loyal union men of the south, assembled in considerable numbers in philadelphia on the d of september, for the purpose of conferring with the leading republicans of the north in regard to the condition of things in the south. such men as john minor botts, william g. brownlow, george w. paschal, thomas j. durant, m. j. safford, thomas h. benton, lewis m. kenzie, g. w. ashburn, and many more of almost equal reputation came to counsel with the leaders of the republican party. many of the most important of these were there, trumbull, greeley, morton, chandler, schenck, schurz, matthews, curtin, cameron, gerry, speed, the ex-attorney-general, and creswell. these are only a few names of the eminent men who were present. the delegates separated into two bodies, one body comprehending the representatives from the south, and the other those from the north. this was done in order to leave the southerners free from undue northern influence. mr. speed presided over the southern assembly, and in his opening words declared the purpose of the convention to be to determine and proclaim whether the assertion of the late confederates that their constitutional rights were being denied them in not admitting their representatives- and senators-elect to seats in congress was true, or whether, on the other hand, the claim of the emancipated that their civil and natural rights were being denied them was true. he soon left no doubt upon the minds of his hearers as to his own view and belief, and he denounced the president's reconstruction work, both in principle and results, most roundly. on account of the intimate relation in which he had stood to the president as his legal adviser, and on { } account of the fact that he was a citizen of one of the old slave-holding "states," his words had tremendous effect in steeling the purpose of the republicans of the north. under the inspiration of mr. speed's speech, the southern convention framed and fulminated an address which arraigned the president as almost a traitor to his party and the union, and as a friend of rebels and of sympathizers with rebels, described the results of his reconstruction policy and acts as most deplorable, and urged the speedy adoption of the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution as the only possible cure for the evils which were afflicting the country. this address made up the issues of the campaign. the dividing line of the parties now separated those who favored the adoption of the proposed fourteenth amendment from those who did not. the issue was simple, and the vote upon it was decisive, as we shall see. the administration party now attempted to divide the late soldiers, as it had attempted to divide the republicans, with but little better effect. they got together a convention of the veterans at cleveland, ohio, on the th of september, and had the venerable general wool preside over it. there were many good men and true present, among them gordon granger, rousseau, custer, mcclernand, and thomas ewing; and they accused the republicans of attempting to stir up another civil war over the question of negro suffrage, and urged their old comrades to insist that the status of peace, and all the consequences thereof, existed and must be preserved. this movement was met on the other side by the assembly of a republican soldier convention at pittsburg on the th and th of september, for the purpose of upholding congress in its fight with the administration over the question of reconstruction. the convention { } was presided over by general j. d. cox, and a host of the most capable officers of the armies of the union, lately disbanded, participated in its deliberations and resolves. they denounced the president's reconstruction policy, pronounced their adherence to congress, and declared for the adoption of the proposed fourteenth amendment as the indispensable measure for the re-establishment of peace, justice and union. [sidenote: the canvass of .] during the summer and autumn the orators and politicians of both parties pursued the canvass upon the basis of the doctrines put forth by the conventions. a very large number, an unusually large number, of the leading men of the country, took part in the great debate. even the president of the united states took part in it. [sidenote: the "swing around the circle."] on the th of august he started from washington to go to chicago to be present at the laying of the corner-stone of the douglas monument. he took with him general grant, admiral farragut, three of his cabinet officers, seward, randall and welles, and a large number of lesser lights. crowds gathered at all the principal stopping-places, and the president spoke to them in defence of his policy of reconstruction and of his acts in the execution of it. he denounced his enemies and opponents bitterly, and descended to undignified and even vulgar altercation with individuals in the crowds. in his speech at st. louis, on september th, his hot temper betrayed him into an attempt to throw upon congress, the radical congress, as he called it, the blame for the new orleans riot, and he went to the imprudent extreme of almost making an excuse or a quasi-excuse for the riot. the whole performance of the president upon the journey was termed "swinging around the circle," and it both degraded the great office and its { } incumbent, and injured the prospects of the administration party in the campaign. [sidenote: the president's final proclamation declaring the civil war ended.] [sidenote: the october elections.] [sidenote: the republican triumph in the elections of .] the president had on the th day of august, a week before setting out upon his tour, finally proclaimed the insurrection and civil war at an end in every part of the country. he had, on the d day of april preceding, declared the insurrection at an end everywhere except in texas, and the proclamation of august th gave official witness to its cessation in texas. it is certainly a prerogative of the president to proclaim the cessation of opposition to his execution of the laws of the union, and then to execute the same thereafter through civil, instead of military, officers. if the president had meant no more than this by his proclamations of the termination of the insurrection, the position would have been unassailable. but he evidently intended his proclamations as furnishing a basis for his reconstruction work, or at any rate as furnishing a great reason for the general recognition of the validity of that work. this we can easily gather from the speeches he made as he "swung around the circle" in the campaign of . he felt that he had solid ground under his feet, and did not appreciate the fact that he was resting one of his doctrines upon another, the latter being no more self-evident than the former. he felt quite sure of victory, until what were called the "october states," at that time, pennsylvania, ohio, indiana and iowa, held their elections. the two "september states," vermont and maine, had largely increased their republican majorities, which the president had probably expected and allowed for, but when the four "october states" gave only twelve seats in the house of representatives to the democrats and nearly fifty to the republicans, it was pretty clearly revealed { } that the administration was on the eve of a terrible defeat. it was as overwhelming as these figures indicated. the final results showed that the republicans had elected one hundred and forty-three of their candidates to seats in the house of representatives, while the democrats had succeeded in securing only forty-nine seats. with the exception of delaware, maryland and kentucky, all the "states" represented in congress had given the republican party strong majorities. the strength of the democratic party was again in the south, where the democratic candidates for any kind of office had almost universally succeeded. in the senate the republicans constituted more than a two-thirds majority of the members, and with their almost three-fourths majority in the house, there could be no question that, in a contest between the president and congress, the former would be obliged to yield. [sidenote: the president's message of december d, .] notwithstanding all this, however, the president, in his message to congress of december d, returned to the contest. he reargued his case from every point of view, and with both moderation and great force. he restated what had been done toward reconstruction, declaring that peace had been restored everywhere, that all the laws of the united states and all the machinery of the united states government were in unimpeded operation everywhere throughout the length and breadth of the land, and that loyal "state" governments had been restored everywhere, and lacked but one thing of completion, viz., the admission of representatives and senators from ten of the eleven "states" in which secession ordinances had been passed to seats in congress. he contended that all the departments of the united states government had proceeded upon the view that the "states" were indestructible--the congress, in the { } declaration, at the outset, that the war was not to be waged in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of the "states" which were the scene of rebellion, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof, and to preserve the union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several states unimpaired, and in many other acts and resolutions; the judiciary, in all proceedings affecting the reconstruction communities as "states"; and the executive, in the entire plan of reconstruction created by mr. lincoln and followed out by himself. he further contended that in recognizing these "states" as restored to their former relations, congress was not running any risk of having disloyal men thrust into the legislative chambers of the nation, because each house of congress could reject members-elect on account of disloyalty, and could continue to reject until the constituencies should send up such persons as the house could approve, and could expel any member whose conduct should reveal disloyalty. he therefore urged congress to acknowledge the reconstruction of the "states" lately in rebellion, in principle, and to apply the powers of the two houses in regard to the elections, returns and qualifications of their respective members to the individual persons elected to seats. [sidenote: ineffectiveness of the president's argument.] [sidenote: rejection of the proposed fourteenth amendment by the legislatures of the reconstructed "states."] [sidenote: the effect of this on the temper of the north.] the president's argument fell, however, upon deaf ears. this was, it is true, the second session of the thirty-ninth congress, and was not, therefore, composed of the persons just elected; but the influence of the recent elections over its members had been to cow the conservatives, strengthen the radicals, and cause the wavering to incline to the side of the extremists. they took the { } verdict of the people to be that congress should ignore the president's work in reconstruction, develop a plan of its own, put it into operation, and base it upon a newly constructed electorate in the south, in which the lately emancipated should participate. the attitude of the legislatures of the president's reconstructed "states" in regard to the proposed fourteenth amendment also strengthened them greatly in this view and purpose. before the first day of january, , all of these except three had rejected it by overwhelming votes, and these three followed the same course a little later. it was said and believed in washington that they had rejected the proposed amendment contemptuously, and under the advice of the president of the united states. it was the angry rejection of the proposed amendment which did more than anything and everything else to convince the people of the north that reconstruction must be now undertaken by congress, and must proceed upon the basis of a new electorate at the south which congress should create. { } chapter vii the congressional plan (_completed_) negro suffrage in the district of columbia--the first attempts at impeachment--stories of outrages at the south--the reconstruction bill--passage of the bill by the house--the bill as finally agreed upon--the condition that the fourteenth amendment must be ratified by a sufficient number of "states" to make it a part of the constitution--the tenure-of-office bill--the supplementary reconstruction bill--the assignment of the commanding generals to the military districts created by the reconstruction acts--the re-establishment of martial law in the south--the president's instructions to the generals in interpretation of the reconstruction acts--the congressional interpretation of the reconstruction acts--the president's veto of the bill interpreting the reconstruction acts--the veto overridden--the suspension of stanton from office. [sidenote: negro suffrage in the district of columbia.] the congress had but just put itself in working order, when a bill was introduced and passed extending the suffrage to negroes in the district of columbia. the republicans reasoned that they could not with good grace force negro suffrage on the south before establishing it in the district, and that the district was the best place in the country to try the experiment first. the bill went to the president on the th of december, six days after the adjournment of congress for the christmas vacation, although it had passed the houses on the th and th. the president held it until january th, , and then returned it to the senate with his veto. { } [sidenote: the president's veto of the bill establishing negro suffrage in the district of columbia.] the message was a strong paper, and to an impartial mind at this day it is a convincing paper. there is no question that congress had the constitutional power to establish negro suffrage in the district. the president did not dispute that. he simply argued that in legislating for the district, congress stood in a relation to the inhabitants of the district analogous to that which the legislature of a "state" bore to the inhabitants of the "state," and that as the legislature of a "state" would not act in opposition to the expressed will of a large majority of the voters in the "state," so congress in legislating for the district of columbia ought not to disregard the expressed will of a large majority of the voters in the district. he then referred to the vote of the district upon this very subject, taken in december of , only one year before, when out of a poll of , , one of the largest votes ever cast in the capital city, only thirty-five ballots were cast for negro suffrage, and in georgetown out of a poll of only one ballot was cast for negro suffrage. he further argued that congress ought not to make the district a place for trying political experiments of so grave a character as conferring suffrage, the highest privilege of american citizenship, upon a race of men just emerging from the ignorance and vice attendant on a condition of slavery. and he finally asked the congress to reconsider an act which appeared to him to be the degradation and possibly the destruction of american suffrage. there is no gainsaying that this was good reasoning, but congress was in no frame of mind to give ear to the counsel of the president. it took the ground that in legislating for the district it was acting for the whole united states and not simply for the inhabitants of the district, and that there was no place in the entire { } country where political experiments could be more safely tried than in the district, since congress had plenary legislative power in the district and could discover and correct mistakes and defects in its legislation more easily and promptly there than anywhere else. [sidenote: the first attempts at impeachment.] both houses repassed the bill over the president's veto by the necessary two-thirds majority, the senate on the th of january and the house on the th, and negro suffrage was established in the district of columbia. the president's veto so angered some of the extremists that resolutions of impeachment were introduced into the house, and a resolution for the appointment of a committee to inquire whether there were reasons for impeachment was actually carried, and a committee was appointed. the committee sought everywhere and in every way for grounds upon which to arraign the president at the bar of the senate, but for the moment it failed. [sidenote: stories of outrages at the south.] at the same time the halls of congress were ringing with the most extravagant tales of outrages against the negroes and loyal men of the south at the hands of the late rebels, and of the collusion of the newly established "state" governments with the same. in addition to this, the other three of the ten newly constructed "state" legislatures rejected the proposed fourteenth amendment, two of them by unanimous vote, and the other by every vote but one. [sidenote: the fourteenth amendment as the condition of recognizing the revival of statehood.] while, as we have seen, the congress did not pass the proposition to make the acceptance of the proposed fourteenth amendment by the newly reconstructed "states" the condition of recognizing them as "states" of the union, and admitting the senators- and representatives-elect from them to seats in congress, yet the popular mind had so conceived the matter, and the { } order of events in the case of tennessee had given this conception the force of precedent. the republicans in congress and the north could now fairly claim that they had offered to recognize the president's reconstructed "states," although these bodies were without constitutional warrant, upon the most moderate terms which consideration for the necessary consequences of the civil war and the victory of the union would allow, and that their offer had been rejected in every case, except, of course, that of tennessee--rejected by such majorities and in such a manner as to make the rejection amount to defiance. it was true that logically and constitutionally congress had no power to make the acceptance of something not at the time a part of the constitution a condition for the admission of the new "states," or the readmission of old "states," into the union; and congress had not done this formally. it is also true, both in good logic and in sound constitutional law, that the proposed fourteenth amendment should not have been submitted at all to bodies that were not conventions of the people in, or legislatures of, "states" in the union. logically and constitutionally the whole thing was irregular. but it was as it was, and all understood that the way to cut the knot was for the legislatures of the reconstructed "states" to adopt the proposed fourteenth amendment, as tennessee had done. when they refused to do so, it was natural and it was necessary that congress should at last overturn all of the president's proceedings in reconstruction, and all of the proceedings made under his guidance, and begin _de novo_, and upon the true constitutional principle of the exclusive power of congress to admit new "states" into the union, or, more scientifically expressed, to create new states or control their creation on territory { } of the union in which loyal civil government did not exist. [sidenote: the correctness of the republican view.] there can be no question in the mind of any sound political scientist and constitutional lawyer that congress was in the right, logically, morally, and legally, in insisting upon brushing aside the results of executive reconstruction in the winter of , and beginning the work itself from the bottom up. it ought to have done so in . it ought to have created, so soon as armed resistance to the execution of the laws of the united states ceased, regular territorial civil governments throughout the country which had been in insurrection, and then have admitted these territories as "states" whenever the conditions warranting the same should have been attained. the phantom of the "indestructible state" had too strong an influence over the minds of all at that moment to admit of such a solution of the question. but after the experiences of and , and the discussions in the last session of the thirty-ninth congress, the minds of the republicans at least, both in and out of congress, were prepared to break away from the influence of this idea and to view the process of reconstruction as nothing but the admission of new "states" into the union, new "states" founded on territory and including inhabitants that had indeed once formed "states," but had renounced statehood in the union through disloyalty to the union, and had been brought back to the position of territories, civilly unorganized in local instance, but subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the central government. from such a point of view, the method of procedure was plain. while it is strange that the congress did not follow this course in , it is simply astounding that it made such a mess of it in . { } [sidenote: the reconstruction bill.] the reconstruction bill was presented from the committee of fifteen on reconstruction to the house of representatives on the th of february by mr. stevens. it was a thoroughly drastic measure. instead of creating territorial civil government in the usual manner, with an electorate designated by congress, and with powers under the control of congress, and sustained, if necessary, by the military of the united states, which would have been amply sufficient to meet all the real or proper exigencies of the case, the bill began by declaring that the pretended "state" governments of the so-called confederate states did not protect adequately life or property, but countenanced and encouraged lawlessness and crime; and that it was necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in the so-called confederate states until loyal "state" governments could be legally established therein; and then went on to enact that the said so-called confederate states should be divided into five military divisions and made subject to the military authority of the united states, virginia to constitute the first division, north carolina and south carolina the second, georgia, alabama, and florida the third, mississippi and arkansas the fourth, and louisiana and texas the fifth; that the general of the army should assign an army officer of not less rank than a brigadier-general to the command of each of these divisions, and detail sufficient military forces, and place them under the command of each of said generals, to enable him to enforce his authority in the district over which he should be placed; that these commanders might use civil tribunals in the enforcement of the laws if they should see fit, but that, if these were not effective they might institute and govern through military commissions; that no sentence of these commissions should be executed until approved { } by the commanding officer of the district; and finally, that the united states courts and judges should issue no writs of habeas corpus against the proceedings and judgments of these commissions. [sidenote: the bill indefensible from the constitutional point of view.] there was hardly a line in the entire bill which would stand the test of the constitution. in the first place, the congress of the united states, or any other part of the government of the united states, can establish martial law in any part of the territory of the united states only when and where there is armed resistance to the execution of the laws of the united states, or of some "state" or territory whose jurisdiction is being defended by the government of the united states. such was not the condition anywhere in the south. the executive had proclaimed that such resistance had ceased everywhere several months before; that he had appointed civil officers throughout the south for the execution of the laws of the united states, in many cases with the advice and consent of the senate; that these laws were in operation everywhere; and that the united states courts were open everywhere and in the unhindered discharge of their functions and duties. it was not pretended, of course, that there was armed resistance to the execution of the laws of the reconstructed "states," and that the military of the united states was to act simply in support of "state" authority. there were here and there, it is true, some of the remains of the military authority of the united states, exercised during the period of the insurrection, but they were a very poor basis upon which to found a resumption of the reign of martial law throughout the length and breadth of the south. no sane and just mind can consider for a moment such a ground as sufficient in policy, morals or constitutional law. while the people of these districts { } which had attempted to secede from the union had forfeited their rights to the "state" form of local government, they still had, after they had ceased from armed resistance to the government of the united states, the rights guaranteed to the criminal by the constitution of the united states--the right to be presented by a grand jury and tried by a petit jury in the civil tribunals of the united states, under the ordinary forms and guarantees of the common law, even though the crime charged should be treason itself. [sidenote: the bill in its attempt to rob the president of his office of commander-in-chief.] in the second place, the bill undertook to rob the president of his constitutional prerogative of commandership-in-chief over the army, and vest the same in the general of the army. this was so evident that no one could fail to see that it was a bill directed as much against the powers of the president of the united states as against the late confederates of the south. and in the third place, the bill assumed to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, substantially, while the constitution forbids this to be done by any part of the government of the united states, except in time of war or public danger. there was no war, and to say that there was public danger of the character meant by the constitutional exception was to exaggerate the condition of things entirely beyond all fact or reason. [sidenote: the brutality of the measure.] the bill was the most brutal proposition ever introduced into the congress of the united states by a responsible committee, and it would never have been tolerated except at such a time of partisan excitement and exaggerated suspicions. even under such conditions congress would not pass it as introduced, but incorporated into it many modifying provisions, most of which, however, while reflecting the honest sentiments of the lawmakers, give little { } evidence of good political science or sound constitutional law. [sidenote: the opposition of conservative republicans to the bill.] [sidenote: mr. blaine's proposed changes in the bill.] the two points in the bill which the conservative republicans were unable to accept were, first, the establishment of martial law for an indefinite period and without any provision tor a way of future escape from its rigors; and, second, the usurpation of the president's constitutional prerogative of commandership-in-chief of the army. it soon became manifest that the bill could not pass without the introduction of a clause covering the first point and without a change of the provision in regard to the second. a number of the conservative republicans had indicated these things, when mr. blaine squarely asked mr. stevens to incorporate an amendment in the bill which should provide a way of escape from the martial rule which the bill proposed to establish. mr. blaine's amendment held out the promise of the admission of each of the ten communities now to be thrown into military divisions to its proper position as a "state" of the union when it should adopt the proposed fourteenth amendment and conform its constitution and laws thereto, should provide by its constitution for universal male suffrage without regard to race, color or previous condition of servitude, and should adopt a constitution with such a provision in it by popular vote, and when congress should approve of the said constitution. [sidenote: criticism of mr. blaine's propositions.] there is no doubt that all this, while reflecting the good moral feeling of mr. blaine, was bad political science and was the very contradictory of sound constitutional law. as has been pointed out several times already, it would have been good constitutional law had the united states congress simply delayed the admission or readmission { } of these communities as "states" of the union until after the proposed fourteenth amendment, and any other desirable amendment, should have been framed and adopted. their admission then would have been into the _same_ union with all the other states. but to demand of them, as the condition of admission, their acceptance of things not yet in the constitution of the united states, things not obligatory on the "states" already in the union, was tantamount to the creation of a new sort of union with another kind of constitution by an act of congress. this question had been thoroughly talked out, fought out, and decided in , and for nearly fifty years it had been the settled principle of constitutional law that congress has no such power. it has been also pointed out that a sound political science of the federal system of government teaches the same principle. [sidenote: mr. stevens's refusal to accept mr. blaine's amendment.] [sidenote: passage of the bill by the house.] mr. stevens acted correctly, from the point of view of political science and constitutional interpretation, when he declined to accept mr. blaine's amendment, or to allow a vote to be taken on it, and the house of representatives also acted correctly from the same point of view when it voted down a proposition from mr. blaine to send his amendment along with the bill to the judiciary committee of the house with instruction to report it back with the bill. but it is not to be inferred from the debates that either mr. stevens or the house was actuated in this course of conduct by the above mentioned considerations. the expansion of the powers of government inevitably consequent upon a long period of war seemed to have made them all very nearly forget that there was anything but government in our political system. the chief thought was that one congress could not bind another with any such promises as those held { } out in the blaine amendment, and that each congress must at all times be left to its own discretion in the determination of every question. the house passed the bill as it came from the committee on reconstruction without change or amendment, and on the th of february it appeared in the senate. [sidenote: the bill in the senate.] this more conservative and deliberate body regarded the bill as too radical, and after considerable debate upon a proposed amendment, offered first by senator williams of oregon, and then by senator reverdy johnson, which was in substance the blaine proposition, laid it aside by general consent and allowed senator sherman to offer a substitute for it. [sidenote: the sherman substitute.] this substitute contained the gist of the blaine amendment, and also changed the provision which proposed to deprive the president of his constitutional prerogative of commandership-in-chief of the army. while the bill was thus made a less brutal measure, and in one respect a less unconstitutional measure, it still rested upon a very shaky foundation so far as constitutional law was concerned, and it was opposed by all the democratic senators. it was passed, however, by a large majority, every republican who voted voting in favor of it. [sidenote: the substitute in the house.] [sidenote: the senate substitute rejected by the house.] [sidenote: the bill as finally agreed upon.] when it was returned to the house of representatives for concurrence, the radical republicans developed a most hostile opposition to the changes which had been made by the senate. they claimed that the senate bill proposed to bind future congresses by pledges which the existing congress had no right to make and no power to execute, and that it also proposed to use the rebel element of the population of the south in the work of reconstructing loyal "state" { } governments. after a long and acrid debate, the house rejected the senate's substitute by a union of democratic votes with the votes of the radical republicans. this result and the manner of its attainment so frightened the republicans, however, that they quickly came to an understanding among themselves in the house, and with their party colleagues in the senate, and passed the senate's substitute, so amended as to prevent disloyal men, as designated in the proposed fourteenth amendment, from voting for delegates to a reconstruction convention, or being delegates therein, or being officers in any so-called "state" government before the admission of the senators and representatives from that "state" into congress, and so amended further as to pronounce all professed civil governments existing in any of the late so-called confederate states, except of course tennessee, provisional only, until senators and representatives from the same should be admitted to seats in congress, and subject, as provisional governments, to the paramount authority of the united states which should control them, and might supersede or abolish them at any time. the senate also accepted these amendments, and on the th of february the bill was placed in the hands of the president. [sidenote: the contents of the bill as passed.] it contained the following declarations and provisions. first, the preamble designated the ten communities reconstructed under the president's direction as "the rebel states of virginia, north carolina, south carolina, georgia," and so on. this was certainly an untruth. if they were "states" at all, they certainly were not rebel "states." they might with some appearance of correctness and sincerity have been termed the late rebel "states," but to be called simply rebel "states" was, to say the very least, one of the { } grossest exaggerations to be found in the wording of the statutes of congress. it was simply a play on words whereby to justify a dubious procedure. it was at the very best, a confounding of the supposed sentiments of the population of these regions with actual political status. second, the preamble declared that no legal "state" governments or adequate protection for life or property existed in these "rebel states." as a legal proposition the first part of this declaration was true, and as a matter of fact the second part was substantially true. it would have been an unprecedented thing if anything like an adequate protection of life and property had been re-established, in the short period of two years, in communities which had been disturbed, demoralized and destroyed by four years of civil war, especially when the outcome of the conflict was total defeat and the utter destruction of the basis of the old social, political, and economic systems. it was, however, a serious question whether such a situation required drastic measures rather than mild and soothing measures. the republican congress decided, after much deliberation, that the former were necessary to the maintenance of peace and good order, and, therefore, enacted that the "said rebel states" should be divided into five military districts, as previously described in the original bill; that the president should assign to the command of each of these an army officer of not lower rank than brigadier-general, and place under his command a sufficient force to enable him to perform his duties and execute his authority in his district; that these commanders should have the power to govern these districts by martial law in so far as, in their judgment, the reign of order and the preservation of the public peace might demand, under the limitations simply that "all persons put under military arrest { } by virtue of this act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted, and no sentence of any military commission or tribunal hereby authorized affecting the life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until it is approved by the officer in command of the district--and no sentence of death under the provisions of this act shall be carried into effect without the approval of the president." then came the provision which offered the terms of escape from this new military régime. they were, first, the exercise of universal manhood suffrage, that is the suffrage of all male citizens, twenty-one years of age, without regard to race, color or previous condition of servitude, who were not disfranchised for participation in rebellion or for felony at common law, and who had resided for one year in the so-called "rebel state," in the election of delegates to a constitutional convention in the so-called "rebel state"; second, the framing of a "state" constitution by a convention composed of delegates so elected, and not disqualified by participation in rebellion or by the commission of felony, which constitution should conform in all respects to the constitution of the united states and which should contain, as a permanent principle, the same law of suffrage as that prescribed by this act for the election of the delegates to the convention; third, the ratification of this constitution by a majority of the voters, as designated by the law of suffrage for the choice of delegates to the convention, voting upon the question of ratification; fourth, the approval by congress of this constitution; and fifth, and last, the adoption of the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states by the legislature created by such adopted and approved "state" constitution, and by a sufficient number of the legislatures { } of other "states" to make it a part of the constitution of the united states. the measure contained, in the last place, a sort of saving clause in regard to the existing civil governments which had been established in all these communities under the direction of the president, and which were now to be displaced. it had been already provided, in section third, that the military commander of a district might use the existing civil courts, if he saw fit to do so, so long as the reign of law and order might be so preserved, and the final section provided that any civil government which might exist in these districts should be regarded as provisional, and should be in all respects subject to the paramount authority of the united states, which should control, and might abolish, modify, or supersede the same, and that the voters for the election of the officers of such provisional governments should be required to have only the qualifications prescribed in this act for voters for the delegates to the said "state" convention, and persons elected to place and office in such provisional governments must not have the disqualifications prescribed in the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states. it had evidently occurred to the republican leaders that they might have to make use of some of the machinery of the existing civil governments established under the direction of the president in these regions in executing their own plan of reconstruction. [sidenote: the condition that the proposed fourteenth amendment be ratified by a sufficient number of "states" to make it a part of the constitution.] all of the points of the measure have been commented on, except the provision in the fifth section, which makes the adoption of the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states by a number of "states" sufficient to ratify it a condition precedent to the admission of any one of these so-called "rebel states" to representation in congress. the { } adoption of the proposed amendment by the particular "rebel state" seeking representation was not sufficient. it must be ratified by at least three-fourths of all the "states." no matter how speedily and sincerely the legislature of virginia might ratify the proposed amendment, and fulfil all the other conditions required by the act, virginia must remain under military despotism until a very large number of the northern "state" legislatures had pleased to ratify the proposed amendment. this was certainly a pretty hard condition, and it was not a very fair way of forcing the legislatures of the northern states to adopt the proposed amendment. it was, however, an efficient weapon, and congress had the legal power to use it. it was unconscionable, though it was one of the things about this measure which was constitutional. [sidenote: the tenure-of-office bill.] hand in hand with this bill went another measure, the purpose of which was to limit the customary power of the president, if not his constitutional power, over the civil official system, the so-called tenure-of-office bill. on the first day of the session, december d, , mr. williams of oregon introduced this bill in the senate, while at the same moment a bill was introduced and passed in the house repealing that section of the confiscation act of july th, , which authorized the president to extend pardon and amnesty by proclamation to persons participating in the rebellion. the senate passed the latter bill or resolution on the th of january, , and the president, not considering that the congress could either give or take away his power to pardon secured to him by the constitution, simply pocketed the resolution, and it became a law on and from the st of january, having been presented to the president on the th. { } the propositions contained in the tenure-of-office bill were, however, of a very different significance. there was no clause in the constitution which by express literal grant vested the power to dismiss from office in the president, but the clause which made the president solely responsible for the execution of the laws was interpreted by the first congress as doing so. madison took the ground that the president must have this power in order to secure the necessary obedience in his subordinates, and declared that the convention which framed the constitution so understood it and so intended it. this is certainly sound political science and correct constitutional interpretation. it had also been the practice of the government from the beginning. the whigs had undertaken to reverse it in their contest with jackson, and webster had given his opinion that good political science required that dismissal from office should be treated as an incident of appointment, and should be effected in the same manner as appointment, i.e., with the concurrence of the senate, and that the decision of on this subject was, in his opinion, erroneous from the point of view of a proper interpretation of the constitution as well. but the whigs did not succeed, as we have seen, in their attempt to break down presidential prerogative and introduce parliamentary government, and the practice of the government on this subject remained, after, as before, the fourth decade of the century, the same. [sidenote: the reasons for the tenure-of-office bill.] during the experiences of the years and the republicans feared that the president would use this great power of dismissal from office in order to make the entire official system solid with himself on the subject of reconstruction, and toward the end of they suspected and asserted that he was dismissing officers { } from their positions simply on the ground of a difference of opinion with himself on this subject, and they professed to believe that he would make a clean sweep of all such as soon as congress should adjourn. there is little doubt that excessive partisan feeling made them exaggerate greatly what the president had done and what he intended to do. the president was guided by mr. seward in all public matters except his imprudent speeches, and seward's conservative and diplomatic disposition and methods were all against any such radical and reckless procedure. besides, it was the constitutional right of the president to require obedience in their official acts from his subordinates, and to dismiss them when in his opinion their views of policy interfered with the discharge of their official duties as he required them to be discharged. the thirty-ninth congress, however, resolved to disregard the precedents set by all of its predecessors and to dispute the president's prerogative of control over the tenure of his subordinates. [sidenote: the contents of the bill.] the bill drafted for this purpose made the removal of all officers, appointed by and with the consent of the senate, except only members of the president's cabinet, subject to the consent of the senate. this consent might be given in the form of a ratification of the nomination of a successor to any officer. it allowed the president, during a recess of the senate, the power of suspension for misconduct in office, crime, legal disqualification or incapacity, and of making appointment of a suitable person to discharge temporarily the duties of such suspended officer, but it required of the president a report of all such suspensions to the senate within the first twenty days of the next meeting of the senate, with the reasons therefor, and reinstated the suspended officer in case the senate { } should not concur in the suspension. if the senate should concur, the president must remove the officer, and appoint, with the advice and consent of the senate, another person in his place. [sidenote: discussion of the bill.] from the point of view of the present this would seem, in all conscience, to have been a sufficient usurpation of the president's constitutional powers to have satisfied the most radical and reckless interpretation of the organic law. but the bill had hardly come under discussion when senator howe moved to strike out the clause excepting the cabinet officers from its operation, and although the senate refused to pass this amendment, the house of representatives did so when the bill came before it. the senate, however, refused to concur on the ground, of course, that the intimate and confidential relations which should exist between the president and the members of his cabinet made it necessary that the president should have only the men of his own choice in these positions. the strenuous insistence of the house, however, forced the senate to a compromise upon the subject, and the bill was finally made to provide that the members of the cabinet should "hold their offices, respectively, for and during the term of the president by whom they have been appointed, and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with the consent of the senate." that is, that a cabinet officer might hold his position against the will of the president who appointed him during the entire term of the president and for one month of the term of his successor unless the senate should agree to such officer's removal either directly or by ratification of the nomination of a successor. [sidenote: the provisions for enforcing the measure.] the bill as finally enacted contained, moreover, the most stringent provisions for its enforcement. it made { } the acceptance or exercise of any office or the attempt to exercise any office contrary to the act a high misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum fine of ten thousand dollars or a maximum imprisonment of five years, or both in the discretion of the court; and it made the removal, appointment, or employment of any officer contrary to the provisions of the act, or the preparation, signing, sealing, countersigning or issuing of any commission of office or letter of authority in respect to any such appointment or employment high misdemeanors, punishable with the same extreme penalties. lastly, it forbade the officers of the treasury and all officers of the united states to pay any money, salary or compensation to any person claiming to hold any office or employment contrary to the provisions of this act, and made the violation of this order a high misdemeanor, punishable with the same extreme penalties as in the other cases. [sidenote: the president's vetoes of these bills.] this monstrous measure went to the president on the same day with the reconstruction bill, the th of february. it is not to be wondered at that he felt that the republican chiefs were offering him intentional personal insult, as well as that the legislative department of the government was attempting an unwarranted encroachment upon the constitutional prerogatives of the executive. it is rather to be wondered at that, in his message to congress on these subjects, he succeeded so well in ignoring the personal affronts intended by congress, and in confining himself so closely to a discussion of the public questions and considerations involved in the measures. the vetoes of these bills were sent to congress on the same day, march d. to the publicist and historian of this day they are masterpieces of political logic, constitutional interpretation, and official style. if not { } written by mr. seward, they must have been edited and revised by him. these documents showed most convincingly, both from constitutional provisions, opinions of contemporaries, statutes of congress, judicial decisions, and the uniform practices of the government, that congress had no power to establish or re-establish martial law anywhere in the country, except when and where war or armed rebellion existed as a fact, a condition which did not then exist anywhere in the length and breadth of the land; and that congress had no power to force the president to retain agents and subordinates in office against his judgment and will. no good political scientist and no sound constitutional lawyer will, at this day, disagree with the contention of the president upon these two points, and it is very difficult to understand how the great leaders of the republican party could, at that day, have differed with him. [sidenote: republican motives in reconstruction.] undoubtedly, in some of the baser minds among them, the determination to create republican party "states" in the south was a very weighty consideration, but just as undoubtedly the consideration with the majority of them was the conviction that the work of the four years of war might have to be done all over again unless a new political people, a new body of suffrage holders, should be created at the south, whose members had never been disloyal. but even from this point of view again, it is difficult to understand how they could have failed to see that the constitution required that this should be done through the forms of territorial civil government, instead of through the forms of martial law. put the best light upon their conduct that is possible, there is still left the conviction that the fanaticism of extreme partisanship had an undue influence over them all. { } the contest with the president had blinded their perceptions as to the morality, legality and propriety of the means they were willing to employ in securing the victory over him. [sidenote: congressional encroachment on the president's military prerogatives.] as this contest developed it dwarfed, to say the least, all other considerations. even as late as when the reconstruction bill was passed, the majority of the republicans refused to vote to take the president's military prerogatives from him. in less than a fortnight from this time, however, they voted, in a section of the army appropriation bill, "that the head-quarters of the general of the army of the united states shall be at the city of washington, and all orders and instructions relating to military operations issued by the president or secretary of war shall be issued through the general of the army, and, in case of his inability, through the next in rank. the general of the army shall not be removed, suspended, or relieved from command, or assigned to duty elsewhere than at said head-quarters, except at his own request, without the previous approval of the senate; and any orders or instructions relating to military operations issued contrary to the requirements of this section shall be null and void; and any officer who shall issue orders or instructions contrary to the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor in office; and any officer of the army who shall transmit, convey, or obey any orders or instructions so issued contrary to the provisions of this section, knowing that such orders were so issued, shall be liable to imprisonment for not less than two nor more than twenty years, upon conviction in any court of competent jurisdiction." to the mind of any unprejudiced constitutional lawyer, at the present day, this act must appear as a gross { } usurpation by congress of the president's military powers conferred upon him by the constitution. the constitution makes the president the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and gives congress no power whatsoever over the methods or channels by, and through, which he may issue his military commands. neither does the constitution give congress any power to assign any of the officers or troops of the army to any particular position. these are all functions of the commandership-in-chief, and, unless expressly granted by the constitution to some other department of the government, belong to the president. it was not only a usurpation by congress to pass such an act, but it was a mean thing to do it as a section of an appropriation bill; and there is no escaping the suspicion that it had a sinister purpose, namely, to entrap the president in the commission of what congress had made a high misdemeanor, and open the way for his impeachment and expulsion from office. the president signed this bill, however, in order to save the appropriations for the support of the army, although he protested strongly against the seizure of his constitutional powers by the congress. [sidenote: the supplementary reconstruction bill.] on the same day that the vetoes of the reconstruction bill and the tenure-of-office bill were sent to congress, this body passed a bill supplementary to the first measure. it was in the nature of an administrative measure for the purpose of carrying out the new plan of reconstruction. it ordered the commanding generals of the respective districts to cause a registration to be made before september st next following of all male citizens of the united states, twenty-one years of age and over, resident in each county or parish in the "state" or "states" included in their respective districts, who were qualified as { } prescribed by the reconstruction act to vote for delegates to a constitutional convention, and who had taken an oath asserting citizenship and residence, and freedom from disfranchisement on account of participation in rebellion or the commission of felony, and had sworn that they had never engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the united states, or given aid and comfort to the enemies of the united states after having been members of congress or of a "state" legislature, or officers of the united states or of a "state" of the union, and that they would henceforth faithfully support the constitution and obey the laws of the united states and encourage others to do so. it next made it the duty of the commanding generals to order elections, at such times after the completion of the registrations and at such places as they might choose, for delegates to constitutional conventions in the "states" comprised in their respective districts. it required them to give thirty days' notice of the elections, and it fixed the number of delegates to each convention at the number of members in the lower house of the legislature of the "state" concerned in the year , except in the case of virginia, where, on account of the separation of west virginia from the old commonwealth, the number of deputies to the virginia convention was made to correspond with the number of members in the lower house of the legislature of , representing the territory not included in west virginia. the bill further directed the commanding generals to distribute the representation in the conventions among the districts, counties and parishes of the "states" in accordance with the number of registered voters in each. the bill then provided that at the elections for delegates, the voters should vote on the question as to { } whether there should be a constitutional convention or not, and that such convention should be held only when a majority of the inscribed electors voted upon this question, and a majority of those voting voted in the affirmative. it then ordered the commanding generals, in case the voters did so decide for conventions and elect delegates thereto, to call such within sixty days from the date of the elections, and to notify the delegates to assemble at a given time and place, and frame constitutions according to the provisions of the bill and of the former act to which it was supplementary, and, when framed, to submit the same to the registered voters for ratification with a notice of thirty days. the bill then further provided, that if, at such elections, a majority of the registered voters voted upon the question of ratification, and a majority of those voting voted in favor of ratification, the presidents of the respective conventions should transmit copies of the respective constitutions to the president of the united states, who should transmit them to congress, and that congress should declare the respective "states," whose conventions had framed these constitutions and whose voters had adopted them, entitled to representation in congress, provided congress was satisfied that there had been perfectly free elections, and that no force, fraud or intimidation had been perpetrated at them, and that the constitutions presented met the approval of a majority of the qualified electors and were in conformity with the requirements of the reconstruction act. finally, the bill put into the hands of the commanding generals the appointment of the officers of the elections, and the control of the machinery of the elections, only requiring them to hold the elections by { } ballot, and to proclaim the results of the elections in accordance with the returns made to them by their boards of registration. [sidenote: congress in permanence.] congress had passed a resolution ordering the assembly of the fortieth congress so soon as the thirty-ninth expired, and in accordance therewith the newly elected congress opened its session on the th of march, , instead of on the first monday of the following december. the congress was, therefore, in position to deal at once with a veto of the supplemental bill to the reconstruction act, in case one should be sent in. [sidenote: the veto of the supplemental reconstruction bill.] on the d of march the veto appeared. the president argued that the oath required by the bill from every person before his name could be admitted to registration, viz., "that he had not been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war against the united states," was so entirely uncertain in its meaning that it would prove a most terrible means of oppression in the hands of the military officers and their appointed agents, and declared he could never approve of an election law whose plain and manifest purpose was to disfranchise the great body of respectable white people, and create a new electorate on the basis of universal negro suffrage. he contended that the existing constitutions of the ten "states" to be re-reconstructed conformed to the long-established standards of loyalty and republicanism, and that the new test of these qualities now set up by congress, viz., universal negro suffrage, was a gross exaggeration, and would make many of the northern "states" themselves unrepublican. the president did not expressly say that this bill was unconstitutional, but he quite distinctly implied it. in this, however, he was wrong, unless his doctrine that the rebellious { } communities remained "states" of the union throughout the rebellion, or had been reconstructed by his plan, was true, that is, unless these communities were "states" of the union at the time congress passed this bill. [sidenote: criticism of the veto.] on the other hand, from the point of view of the correct legal principle in regard to this subject, the principle which holds that the result of general rebellion within a "state" against the constitution and laws of the united states is the loss of the "state" form of local government, and brings the territory and population of the former "state" under the exclusive jurisdiction of the central government, congress certainly had, and has, the power to create the electorate in such territory at its own discretion, congress was referred, and is referred, in such a case, only to its own sense of right and policy. [sidenote: criticism of the reconstruction acts.] but there is no question, now, that congress did a monstrous thing, and committed a great political error, if not a sin, in the creation of this new electorate. it was a great wrong to civilization to put the white race of the south under the domination of the negro race. the claim that there is nothing in the color of the skin from the point of view of political ethics is a great sophism. a black skin means membership in a race of men which has never of itself succeeded in subjecting passion to reason, has never, therefore, created any civilization of any kind. to put such a race of men in possession of a "state" government in a system of federal government is to trust them with the development of political and legal civilization upon the most important subjects of human life, and to do this in communities with a large white population is simply to establish barbarism in power over civilization. the supposed disloyalty, or even the actual disloyalty, of { } the white population will not justify this. it will justify the indefinite withholding of the "state" form of local government. it will justify the throwing of a "state" of the union back under the form of a territory of the union. it will even justify the establishment of martial law. but it is not to be cured, nor is the welfare of the whole land, or any part of it, to be promoted, by the subjection of the white race to the black race in politics and government. it was a great wrong to the negroes themselves. it made the white men among whom they must live their most bitter enemies, when they most needed them for friends, and it made the negroes trifling and corrupt politicians, when they should have been devoting themselves exclusively to the acquirement of property and education. it was argued, as will be well remembered, that they could not acquire property and education without the ballot. but this is another sophism. the mainstay of property is the courts; and under a territorial form of local government congress could have established a system of free schools. it was not at all necessary to have recourse to negro suffrage and negro "state" governments in order to secure the negroes in their personal liberty, and the possession of property, and to aid them in the acquirement of education. there was another alternative, and a better one. in fact, there were two other conceivable ways of doing these things, either of which would have been better than the one chosen. the one was, as has been already suggested, to establish territorial civil governments in the late rebellious region and maintain them there until the civil relations between the two races became settled and fixed. the other was to so amend the constitution of the united states, before the readmission of the "states" which had renounced the "state" form of local { } government under the union, as to give congress and the national judiciary the power to define and defend the fundamental principles of civil liberty. neither of these methods would have demanded martial law or universal negro suffrage. it is entirely surprising, from the point of view of to-day, that one or the other of these methods or a combination of both was not resorted to, instead of the monstrous plan that was carried out. there is no way to explain this sufficiently, except upon the reflection that the passions of the men of that day had become so inflamed and so completely dominating that they obscured reason, drowned the voice of prudence, and even dulled the sense of decency. there were a few who favored universal negro suffrage from an exalted and exaggerated humanitarianism, but the mass of the republicans sustained it as a punishment to the late rebellious whites, and as a means of establishing republican party "state" governments in the south. many claimed, indeed, that it was the only alternative to long-continued martial law rule, but they were either very ignorant or very insincere. [sidenote: the assignment of the commanding generals to the military districts created by the reconstruction acts.] in prompt obedience to the requirements of the two reconstruction acts, the president issued his general order through the adjutant-general's office, on march th, assigning general schofield to the command of the first military district, as created by these acts, with his head-quarters at richmond, virginia; general sickles to that of the second, with his head-quarters at columbia, south carolina; general thomas to that of the third, with his head-quarters at montgomery, alabama; general ord to that of the fourth, with his head-quarters at vicksburg, mississippi; and general sheridan to that of the fifth, with his head-quarters at new { } orleans, louisiana. on the th this order was so modified as to change the assignment of general thomas from the command of the third district to that of the department of the cumberland, and to substitute general pope for him in the command of the third district. [sidenote: the re-establishment of martial law in the south.] these officers betook themselves at once, with the forces attached to their several commands, to their respective stations, and assumed the government of their respective districts by martial law. no opposition whatever was made to any of them by the populations thus made subject to their despotic rule. [sidenote: the president's instructions to the generals in interpretation of the reconstruction acts.] very soon, however, the generals found great difficulty in interpreting the reconstruction acts, especially in respect to the oath required for enfranchisement, both as to the persons who might take it and as to its consequences, and in respect to the powers of the boards appointed to superintend the elections. they applied to the president for information upon these points. the president submitted their application to his attorney-general and to his cabinet, and with the full concurrence of all the members thereof, except only mr. stanton, issued through the adjutant-general's office in the war department, on the th of june, the following instructions: first: that the oath prescribed in the second act defined all the qualifications required for suffrage, and that any person who could take that oath should have his name entered on the list of voters; that the boards of registration provided in that act could not require any other, or any additional, oath from the person applying for registration, nor "administer an oath to any other person touching the qualification of the applicant or { } the falsity of the oath taken by him," but that the person taking the oath must be registered as a voter, and if it could be afterward proved that he had sworn falsely, he could be punished for perjury. second: that an unnaturalized alien could not take the oath, but a naturalized alien could, and that no other proof of naturalization could be required of him. third: that "actual participation in rebellion or the actual commission of a felony" did not amount to disfranchisement, but there must be a law made by competent authority declaring disfranchisement, or a judicial sentence inflicting it, and that no law of the united states had declared the penalty of disfranchisement for participating in rebellion alone. fourth: that a person who had engaged in rebellion, but had not theretofore held an office under a "state" or the united states, or not been a member of a "state" legislature or of congress, and not taken, as such, an oath to support the constitution of the united states, was not disfranchised or disqualified from voting. fifth: that persons who were militia officers in any "state" prior to the rebellion were not disfranchised by participating in the rebellion. sixth: that "an act to fix upon the person the offence of engaging in rebellion under this law must be an overt and voluntary act, done with the intent of aiding or furthering the common unlawful purpose," and that "a person forced into the rebel service by conscription or under a paramount authority which he could not safely disobey, and who would not have entered such service if left to the free exercise of his own will," was not disfranchised or disqualified from voting. and lastly: that disloyal sentiments, opinions or sympathies, or anything said or written which fell short { } of an incitement to others to engage in rebellion, did not disfranchise or disqualify from voting. some other instructions were given which were concurred in by the entire cabinet, mr. stanton included, but the recital of them is not essential to this narrative. it must be added, however, that the president's view of the relation of the military commanders to the "state" governments created under his direction and with his aid was one which gave these governments a more independent and permanent character than the language of the reconstruction acts seemed to warrant. [sidenote: the congressional interpretation of the reconstruction acts.] when, then, the instructions of june th to the generals became known, another bill was introduced into congress and passed which put the congressional interpretation upon the reconstruction acts. it declared that the true intent and meaning of these acts was that the civil governments then existing in the "rebel states" of virginia, north carolina, etc., were not legal "state governments," and that, if thereafter they should be allowed to continue to exist at all, they must be subject in all respects to the will of the military commanders of the respective districts, and to the paramount authority of congress; and it provided that the generals in command of the respective districts might suspend or remove any person from any office under these illegal and pretended governments, and detail or appoint some other person to discharge the duties and exercise the powers said to pertain to such office. the acts of the district commanders in regard to these things were made subject to the disapproval of the general of the army, but not to that of the president, and stood until so disapproved. the same powers in regard to these matters were vested, by this bill, in the general of the army as in the district commanders, { } but were not accorded by it to the president; and it was made the duty of the general of the army and the district commanders to remove from such pretended offices "all persons who were disloyal to the united states, or who used their official influence in any manner to hinder, delay, prevent, or obstruct the due and proper administration of the reconstruction acts." the bill, furthermore, provided that the boards of registration should have the power, and that it should be their duty, to ascertain the fact as to whether a person applying for registration as a voter was entitled to registration under the reconstruction acts, and to refuse registration, if in their judgment he was not, and that the fact that he was willing to take the oath prescribed in the reconstruction acts, or had taken it, was not conclusive upon the registration boards in making their inquiries and forming their decisions. and it, finally, declared that the true intent and meaning of the oath prescribed in the reconstruction acts for persons who had held office under a "state" government or membership in a "state" legislature, before the rebellion, was that whether such persons were holding such positions at the time of the commencement of the rebellion or at some time prior to the same, and whether they had taken an oath to support the constitution of the united states or not, they were disqualified from registration and were disfranchised, if, after holding such positions, they had "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the united states, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof"; and it gave to the commanders of the districts the power to extend, in their discretion, the time for completing the original registration of the voters, as provided for in the reconstruction acts, to october st following, and to the boards of registration the power, and imposed upon them the { } duty, to revise, during the first five of the last fourteen days before any election under the reconstruction acts, the registration lists and to strike off any name from said lists which, in their judgment, ought not to be there, and to add any name, which, in their judgment, ought to be there, and required them to disregard any executive pardon or amnesty as relieving the disability of any person for registration, if such person had committed any act which without such pardon or amnesty would disqualify him. this bill, it will be readily seen, was a wholesale repudiation of all the instructions given by the president to the generals in command of the districts from which, in the cabinet council, mr. stanton had dissented. the president immediately realized this, of course, and it increased his distrust of stanton immensely. from that moment forward he regarded him as the spy of congress upon all his official acts, and he was resolved to remove him upon the first opportunity, that is, so soon as congress should adjourn. [sidenote: the president's veto of the bill interpreting the reconstruction acts.] the bill passed the houses on the th of july, was presented to the president for his signature on the th, and on the th he returned it with a veto message to the house of representatives. the president contended in his argument that this new measure was not simply an interpretation of the existing reconstruction acts, but was in many respects a large advance upon them. the existing acts, he contended, made the reconstructed "state" governments at the south subject to absolute military authority in many important respects, but not in all respects, while the new measure proposed to extend the despotism of the military commanders over everything. against such a measure, in time of peace, he protested as being in violation of every guaranty of { } individual liberty contained in the constitution. he dwelt upon the unfitness of military officers to discharge the duties and exercise the powers pertaining naturally to civil office, and he pointed out the inconsistency, as he thought, of the declaration of congress that the ten "state" governments at the south were illegal with the attempt of congress to carry on these _illegal_ "state" governments by "federal agency," when congress had no power to carry on a _legal_ "state" government through "federal agency"; and he stopped, as he thought, the way of escape from this argument by pointing out that the entire legislation of congress down to the passage of the reconstruction acts distinctly involved the recognition of the ten communities now to be put under absolute military rule in all respects as "states" of the union. but the most vigorous and unanswerable part of the message was the protest against the robbery of the constitutional powers of the executive by the attempt of congress, in this measure, to confer some of those powers upon other persons. the president expressed himself so warmly upon this point, that the republicans began to whisper around their suspicions of sinister purposes on his part, just as if such a declaration to congress itself was not proof to the contrary. he said: "whilst i hold the chief executive authority of the united states, whilst the obligation rests upon me to see that all the laws are faithfully executed, i can never willingly surrender that trust or the powers given for its execution. i can never give my assent to be made responsible for the faithful execution of laws, and at the same time surrender that trust and the powers which accompany it to any other executive officer, high or low, or to any number of executive officers. if this executive trust, vested by the constitution in the president, is to be taken from him { } and vested in a subordinate officer, the responsibility will be with congress in clothing the subordinate with unconstitutional power and with the officer who assumes its exercise." [sidenote: ideas and suspicions about the meaning of the message.] the radical republicans interpreted this language, at once, as meaning that the president proposed to so interfere with the execution of the reconstruction acts as to avoid their intent and destroy their effect. and the talk about impeachment was again revived. the president, however, meant nothing of the kind, and but for exaggerated suspicion and party hatred the language of the message would have been held to mean only an appeal to congress to desist from its unlawful attempt to rob the executive of his constitutional powers, and to the people to elect men to congress who would obey the principles of the constitution in their legislative acts. [sidenote: the veto overridden.] the houses passed the bill over the president's veto immediately, by an overwhelming majority, and almost in a spirit of derision. the next day, july th, congress adjourned to the st of the following november. [sidenote: the suspension of stanton from office.] the unfortunate relations of mr. stanton with the president, and with the other members of the cabinet were the thing which was destined to produce the catastrophe. he had become unbearable to the president, and to the most of his colleagues. he ought in all decency to have resigned his portfolio as speed and harlan and dennison had done the year before. the president asked him to resign in a note of the th of august. stanton, feeling sure of the support of the large majority in congress, contemptuously refused. the president could now in the recess of congress suspend him without violating the provisions of the tenure-of-office act, or raising the { } question of its constitutionality. the president at last resolved to take the matter into his own hands and rid himself of stanton's presence in his confidential counsels. on the th of august he sent an executive order to stanton suspending him from the office of secretary of war, and another to general grant authorizing and empowering him to act as secretary of war _ad interim_. stanton yielded to this order under protest. he wrote the president that he could not legally suspend him from office and declared that he submitted only to superior physical force. grant accepted the appointment, although he had, four days before, advised the president against disturbing stanton. grant entered upon the duties of the office at once, and stanton went off to new england to recuperate health, spirits and courage for his battle with the president which was bound to come unless the president should yield and take him back again, so soon as congress should assemble. [sidenote: changes among the commanders of the military districts.] by a series of orders issued during the same month (august) general hancock was substituted for general sheridan in the command of the fifth military district and general canby for general sickles in the command of the second district. both of the generals thus relieved were great favorites at the north, especially sheridan. the president felt that they were too much imbued with the military spirit to make good administrators of civil affairs. but the people of the north saw in these changes only the purpose of the president to place his political friends among the army officers in command of the military districts, and through them to modify the intent of the reconstruction acts in the course of their execution. { } chapter viii the execution of the reconstruction acts the attempt to prevent the execution of the reconstruction acts in mississippi and georgia--the case of mississippi vs. johnson--the case of georgia vs. stanton--the operations of the commanders--the registration--the numbers registered--the change in the electorate in the south--the elections--efforts of the commanders to get the vote out--the result of the elections--the character of the convention delegates chosen--the work of the conventions--the vote upon ratification--fraudulent voting and unlawful voting--the recall of pope and the appointment of meade in his stead--rejection of the constitution in alabama--the statute of congress changing the proportion of votes to registration in the ratification of a constitution--criticism of the statute--ratification in arkansas--ratification in north carolina, south carolina, georgia, florida and louisiana--second attempt in georgia to obstruct reconstruction--rejection of the constitution in mississippi. [sidenote: the attempt to prevent the execution of the reconstruction acts in mississippi and georgia.] [sidenote: the case of mississippi vs. johnson.] although the supreme court of the united states had said, in the case of kendall vs. the united states, in , that so far as the president's power is derived from the constitution he is beyond the reach of any other department, except in the mode prescribed by the constitution, through the impeaching power, and had also indicated, in the cases of the cherokee nation vs. the state of georgia, in , and luther vs. borden, in , that it had no jurisdiction over political questions, there still prevailed in many minds the idea that the court was the ultimate { } interpreter of the constitution in all cases of whatever nature, and that no person was exempted from its jurisdiction on account of official station. under the influence of this idea, w. l. sharkey, the ex-provisional governor of mississippi, appointed by president johnson in , undertook to obtain from the supreme court of the united states an injunction restraining the president of the united states from carrying the reconstruction acts of march, , into effect. he was aided in this attempt by the hon. robert j. walker, and their client in the case, as set up by them, was the "state of mississippi." in a powerful argument, noted for both clearness and frankness, mr. johnson's attorney-general, mr. stanbery, demonstrated that the president of the united states cannot be made subject to the jurisdiction of any court, while in office, except only the senate of the united states, as the constitutional court of impeachment. the plea of mr. stanbery is also notable for another thing, viz.: the frank way in which he notified the southerners that the president's opposition to these laws ceased with their successful passage over his vetoes, and that the president intended to execute them in spirit and letter, as it was his sworn duty to do. the court decided, in , in the case of mississippi vs. johnson, that "a bill praying an injunction against the execution of an act of congress by the incumbent of the presidential office cannot be received, whether it describes him as president or as a citizen of a state." [sidenote: the case of georgia vs. stanton.] under the delusion that this decision was based entirely upon the official exemption from jurisdiction of the person sought to be made defendant, hon. charles j. jenkins, governor of georgia, under the reconstructed constitution of , undertook, as representing the "state of georgia," to obtain an injunction against { } stanton as secretary of war, grant as general of the army and pope as commander of the third military district, restraining them from putting the reconstruction acts of march, , into operation. mr. stanbery again came forward, in the case of the state of georgia vs. stanton, with a most able argument against the jurisdiction of the court over the question involved, it being, as he contended, a political question pure and simple, and the court again sustained him, deciding that it possessed no jurisdiction over the subject-matter presented in the bill for relief. [sidenote: the operations of the commanders.] [sidenote: the registration.] the generals now had free hand to go ahead according, pretty much, to their own discretion. the law gave them, first until september, and then until october, to complete the registration, and they themselves appointed and extended the times of registration at will. they constituted the boards of registry chiefly of army officers, freedmen's bureau officers, discharged union soldiers, and negroes. where white residents could be found who could take the iron-clad oath, the oath prescribed by congress july d, , they were also used in constituting these boards. the registration was quite successful in bringing out most of those qualified to register. the reason for this was not ready acquiescence on the part of the whites in the reconstruction acts, but it was the calculation that by registering and not voting on the question of holding a convention, or on the question of constitutional ratification, one or both of these propositions might be defeated, since the act of march d provided, as we have seen, that a majority of the registered voters must vote in order to carry them in the affirmative. [sidenote: the numbers registered.] in alabama the registration reached the number of , , of whom , were negroes or colored. in { } arkansas it reached the number of , , of whom less than half were known to be colored, although no exact account of the proportion was reported. in florida it reached the number of , , of whom , were colored. in georgia it reached the number of , , of whom , were colored. in louisiana it reached the number of , , of whom , were colored. in mississippi it reached the number of , , of whom, it was well known, a large majority were colored, although no exact figures giving the proportions were reported. in north carolina it reached the number of , , of whom , were colored. in south carolina it reached the number of , , of whom , were colored. in texas it reached the number of , , of whom , were colored. in virginia it reached the number of , , of whom , were colored. [sidenote: the change in the electorate in the south.] it will thus be seen that of the ten "states" to be reconstructed five were to be recreated through an electorate in which the majority would be negroes and mulattoes, about all of whom had been, three years before, slaves; while in the other five the majority of the constructing electorate would be whites by a comparatively small number. this was a tremendous _bouleversement_ of the political society of these sections. a large majority of the old leaders were disfranchised completely and a goodly number of the old unionists were deterred by social considerations from taking any part in the work, while negroes, "poor white trash," "carpet-baggers" and a few self-denying respectables formed the new electorate for recreating "state" governments. there is no doubt that congress had the constitutional power to do this thing, on the theory, of course, that these communities were not "states" of the union; { } but it was a reckless thing, and a monstrous thing. anybody of common sense and common honesty could, at the time, have foreseen some of the horrible results which were sure to follow. [sidenote: the elections.] [sidenote: efforts of the commanders to get the vote out.] so soon as the registration was completed, the commanders ordered elections to be held and the vote to be taken, first, upon the question of convention or no convention, and, at the same time, for the choice of delegates to the conventions. the commanders did their best to get out the vote. they met every device for keeping the negroes away from the polls and foiled it by means of their arbitrary powers, and they kept the polls open for two and three days, and in the case of georgia, for five days. there is no doubt that there was repeating, although the military authorities exerted themselves most sincerely to prevent it. their purpose was not, in any case, to permit fraud, but to give every opportunity to the freedmen to vote. their efforts were aided by the fact that the elections in the northern "states" during the autumn showed, in most quarters, large democratic gains, and by the fact that in one of the great northern "states," ohio, the proposition to enfranchise negroes by an amendment to the "state" constitution was rejected by a large popular majority. the effect of these facts was to encourage the whites in the south, who had registered with the intention of defeating the proposed reconstruction by abstention from voting, to vote with the hope of securing a majority of the delegates to the proposed conventions. [sidenote: the result of the elections.] the result was that in all the communities to be reconstructed as "states" a majority of the registered voters voted on the question of convention or no convention, and a large majority of those voting voted in { } every case for the holding of the convention. the figures were as follows: in alabama, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question of convention or no convention, and , voted for holding the convention. in arkansas, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question, and , of these voted in favor of holding the convention. in florida, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question, and of these , voted in favor of holding the convention. in georgia, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question, and of these , voted in favor of holding the convention. in louisiana, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question, and of these , voted in favor of holding the convention. in mississippi, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question, and of these , voted in favor of holding the convention. in north carolina, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question of convention or no convention, and of these , voted for holding the convention. in south carolina, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question, and of these , voted for holding the convention. in texas, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question, and of these , voted for holding the convention. and in virginia, of the , registered voters, , voted on the question, and of these , voted for holding the convention. [sidenote: the character of the convention delegates chosen.] the great mass of those who registered and refrained from voting were the whites who were opposed to the congressional acts for reconstruction, and hence the persons voting were chiefly the newly enfranchised. this was likewise true in the voting for the delegates to the conventions, with the result that radical men were, for the most part, { } chosen. they were new men to the political society of the south. there were a few of the old whigs among them, who had remained true to the union in their sentiments during the rebellion, but the most of them were "carpet-baggers," that is adventurers or new settlers from the north, "poor white trash" and negroes. in the south carolina convention there were negro delegates to white. no such hideous bodies of men had ever been assembled before upon the soil of the united states for the purpose of participation in the creation of a "state" of the union, and but for the control exercised over them by the military commanders, and the co-operation between the commanders and the small conservative white element in these bodies, the result of their work would have been the most ghastly travesty of justice, common-sense, and common honesty which the republic had ever been called upon to witness. [sidenote: the work of the conventions.] during the winter and spring of - the work of these conventions went on under the greatest extravagance and incompetence of every kind. the constitutions which came from them provided for complete equality in civil rights and, in some cases, in advantages of a social character, such as equal privileges in public conveyances, etc. they also not only established negro suffrage, as in fact was required by the reconstruction acts, but they, in most cases, disfranchised those whites whom the proposed fourteenth amendment would disqualify from holding office. in alabama, arkansas and louisiana they went even further than this and disfranchised also, in the case of the first two, all who "had violated the rules of civilized warfare," and in the case of the last, all who had voted for secession, or had advocated treason against the united states in the press or the pulpit. it is true { } that in most cases ways were provided for removing these disabilities, but they were generally connected with such self-stultifying requirements as to make them worthless. the restrictions upon eligibility to hold office or mandate were in general the same as those imposed on the exercise of the suffrage, and in some cases they went even further, as in the cases of the mississippi and virginia instruments, by both of which anybody who had voluntarily participated in the rebellion, or had voluntarily given aid or comfort to those who had, was disqualified. [sidenote: the vote upon ratification.] [sidenote: fraudulent voting and unlawful voting.] [sidenote: the recall of pope and the appointment of meade in his stead.] the next step in the procedure was the submission of these constitutions to the voters. the registration was effected in the same manner as for the vote on the question of holding the conventions, and the election of the delegates; and the elections were held, as before, under the direction and control of the military commanders. the voting upon the question of ratification came off first in alabama. general pope had issued orders that the votes of persons registered in one precinct might be received in another, and that "state" officers and legislative members should be elected at the same election with the vote on ratification, and by the same voters. there is no doubt that the general only desired to secure the freedmen, who were then moving about restlessly, in their right of suffrage under the reconstruction acts, and to expedite the process of reconstruction so far as possible. but he undoubtedly opened the door to fraudulent voting by offering unrivalled opportunities for repeating, and he also violated the law and practice under the constitution of the united states in regard to the qualified electors of "state" officers and legislators. such officers and legislators could have been constitutionally elected only by the electors { } designated in the constitution submitted for adoption. the qualifications of the electors who vote upon the question of the adoption of the first "state" constitution are necessarily fixed by congress, but congress has no constitutional power to fix the qualifications of the electors of "state" officers and legislators. neither has the constitutional convention, which frames the first "state" constitution any such power, for the constitution which it frames is only a proposition, and ratification by the electors designated by congress is necessary to its validity. furthermore, any resolution which it might pass ordering the election of "state" officers or legislators by the electors designated by the congressional statute is only a proposition to those electors, which must be accepted by them by a preliminary vote before they can proceed to the election of such officers and legislators. the general certainly did not understand these niceties of constitutional law and practice, and his desire to hurry up the re-establishment of civil government was rather laudable than otherwise. the president, however, who had in his attorney-general one of the ablest lawyers of the country, understood well the constitutional limitations upon the general's powers and duties. he recalled the reckless commander and sent the more conservative meade to take his place, december th, . [sidenote: rejection of the constitution in alabama.] before the election came off, however, a bill was introduced into congress, and passed the house of representatives, and was making its way, a little more slowly, but surely, through the senate, which authorized the election of "state" officers and legislators in the communities suffering reconstruction at the same time that the vote should be taken upon the ratification of the new constitutions and by the same electors. congress had not a whit more power to { } do this than the commanders, and the president knew this well enough, but he gave no instructions to meade, and so the commander permitted the voting for "state" officers and legislators at the same election that the vote was taken upon the question of the ratification of the constitution and by the same electors. but the registered voters refrained from voting upon the question of ratification in sufficient numbers to reduce the vote to several thousand less than half the registration. the proposed constitution was thus rejected under the provision of the reconstruction acts which required a vote exceeding the half of the registration, as well as a majority of that vote, for ratification. the "state" government chosen at this same election was thus in the air. [sidenote: the statute of congress changing the proportion of votes to registration in the ratification of a constitution.] the senate now passed the house bill providing that the approval of a majority of those voting, no matter what the proportion of the vote to the registration might be, should be regarded as a sufficient ratification of the proposed "state" constitutions for the communities suffering reconstruction; and although this act was passed more than a month after the vote on the constitution was taken in alabama, and although, furthermore, general meade reported that a majority of the registered voters had not voted on the question of ratification, and that he interpreted this to mean that a majority of the registered voters did not want the constitution, yet congress, as we shall see later, applied this new law of march th to the alabama election which had taken place in the first days of the preceding february. [sidenote: criticism of the statute.] in the original requirement that the vote to be effective must exceed half of the registration, congress was still upon the ground of correct principle. when it left this ground it virtually accepted the principle that republican "state" governments may be { } legitimately created by a minority of the lawful voters against the will of a majority of the lawful voters, and that, too, not by allowing that minority to demonstrate its political superiority to the majority by greater intelligence, or shrewder management, or even by brute force, _but by the aid of power coming from without_. now this is not, in correct political science, "state" government in a federal system, autonomous local government, at all. it is provincial government in local affairs, more or less complete as the necessity for the outside aid is more or less continuous. the republicans had denounced the johnson "state" governments upon the ground, among other grounds, that they were minority governments, minority governments in the vague and uncertain sense that not a majority of the adult males had been enfranchised, and not in the clear and distinct and unmistakable sense that a minority of the enfranchised, supported by the military power of the united states, might impose its will upon a majority of the enfranchised. there was nothing disloyal in the registered voters of alabama giving congress to understand that a majority of them preferred the continuance of the military régime, or the creation of a territorial government for them by congress, to the "state" constitution offered them. but it was utter self-stultification for congress to take the ground that the johnson "state" governments were unrepublican because they did not enfranchise all adult males of whatever race, color, or condition of mind or estate and overthrow them on that ground, and then proceed to create new "state" governments in their places upon the basis of a minority of the already duly qualified and registered voters. no impartial student, at this day, can view this terrible inconsistency in any other light than that of a high political crime. { } [sidenote: ratification in arkansas.] while the senate was proceeding with the bill, another of the southern communities was rapidly approaching the date fixed for voting upon the proposed "state" constitution, viz., arkansas. the bill was passed by congress the day before the voting began in arkansas, but it was not known in arkansas that it had been passed until near the close of the second day of the election. it could, however, be claimed that it was applicable to the case, and it certainly made all figures unnecessary except in regard to the actual voting. the "state" officers and legislators under the constitution to be adopted were chosen at the same time, by the congressional electorate in arkansas, and not by the "state" electorate, created by the new constitution. [sidenote: ratification in north carolina, south carolina, georgia, florida and louisiana.] in the course of the next two months, april and may, voting upon the question of ratifying the new "state" constitutions took place in north and south carolina, georgia, florida and louisiana. as the congressional act of march th was in full force at this time, the result was affirmative in all cases. [sidenote: second attempt in georgia to obstruct reconstruction.] during the reconstruction proceedings in georgia governor jenkins had refused to issue an order to the "state" treasurer to pay a sum of forty thousand dollars, on the ground that the "state" legislature (johnson government) had not made any such appropriation. for this refusal meade removed him and the "state" treasurer and controller general, and appointed military men in their places. these new officers seized the "state" buildings, but jenkins succeeded in getting away with the money in the treasury. he went to washington and undertook to institute a proceeding in the supreme court of the united states against generals grant and { } meade to restrain the officers appointed by meade from levying taxes upon the people of georgia, and from collecting the same and the other income of the "state," as well as from exercising other functions. the court gave its permission to the filing of the bill, but put off the hearing of the argument until the next term, and before this arrived, the new constitution had been ratified, and new "state" officers elected along with the ratification. in the other communities mentioned no opposition to the reconstruction process was offered. [sidenote: rejection of the constitution in mississippi.] on the other hand, the opponents of the proposed "state" constitution in mississippi went into a most earnest and energetic campaign against its ratification and succeeded, at the election on june d, in rejecting the same by between seven and eight thousand majority. many of the better class of negroes voted with their old masters, that is with such of these as were allowed by the congressional acts to register and vote, against ratification. those in favor of ratification claimed that fraud was practised by their opponents, in the face of the fact that they had the elections in their own hands, and they petitioned the military authorities to put the proposed constitution, notwithstanding its rejection at the polls, into operation. this these authorities refused to do. { } chapter ix the attempt to remove the president grant in the war office--the president's message of december d, --the president's special message concerning the suspension of stanton--the senate resolution in regard to the suspension of stanton--grant's disobedience toward the president--the unbearable situation in which the president now found himself--the dismissal of stanton from office--general thomas appointed secretary of war _ad interim_--stanton's resistance--thomas and the president--the attitude of the senate toward the dismissal of stanton--the movements in the house of representatives--the arrest of general thomas--thomas's second attempt to take possession of the war office--the house resolution to impeach the president--the withdrawal of stanton's complaint against thomas--the fear of the republicans to test the tenure-of-office act before the courts--the managers of impeachment--the charges against the president--the president's answer to the complaint--the withdrawal of mr. black from the president's counsel--the contents of the president's answer--the replication of the house to the president's answer--the trial--conduct of the managers--the evidence in the case--the argument--the law in the case--mr. stanton's violation of law--the nomination of general schofield to be secretary of war--the vote upon impeachment--the truth of the matter--the abdication of stanton--schofield's confirmation as secretary of war and his acceptance of the office. during this same period, another act in the drama of reconstruction was being played, a fit companion piece to what was occurring in the unhappy communities of the south. it was the attempt to dispose of the president, and the presidency, by the impeachment of the president. { } [sidenote: grant in the war office.] the history of the president's relations to mr. stanton, his secretary of war, has already been given down to the suspension of mr. stanton in august of , and the designation of general grant to succeed him _ad interim_. grant immediately assumed the duties of the office, and mr. stanton then regarded general grant as a friend of the president in the controversy between himself and the president. [sidenote: the president's message of december d, .] in his annual message to congress, the fortieth congress, of december d, , the president said nothing directly in regard to his suspension of mr. stanton from office. he put forward a strong argument, couched in moderate and respectful language, against the policy and constitutionality of the reconstruction acts, as measures establishing martial law in times of peace, and as doing it for the purpose of establishing negro rule over the southern communities, and he urged the repeal of these acts, and the immediate admission of the representatives and senators from these communities, or "states" as he considered them, to their seats in congress. what he said upon these subjects is, for the most part, entirely convincing to the impartial mind, at this day, and all of it was apparently animated with true patriotism and earnest desire to promote the common weal. at the close of the argument, however, the president introduced into his message some ambiguous expressions which were unfortunate, to say the least, and which roused to a high degree the suspicions and the hatred already entertained against him by the radical republicans. he wrote as follows: "how far the duty of the president 'to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution' requires him to go in opposing an unconstitutional act of congress is a very serious and important { } question, on which i have deliberated much and felt extremely anxious to reach a proper conclusion. where an act has been passed according to the forms of the constitution by the supreme legislative authority, and is regularly enrolled among the public statutes of the country, executive resistance to it, especially in times of high party excitement, would be likely to produce violent collision between the respective adherents of the two branches of the government. this would be simply civil war, and civil war must be resorted to only as the last remedy for the worst of evils. whatever might tend to provoke it should be most carefully avoided. a faithful and conscientious magistrate will concede very much to honest error, and something even to perverse malice, before he will endanger the public peace; and he will not adopt forcible measures, or such as might lead to force, as long as those which are peaceable remain open to him or to his constituents. it is true that cases may occur in which the executive would be compelled to stand on its rights, and maintain them regardless of all consequences. if congress should pass an act which is not only in palpable conflict with the constitution, but will certainly, if carried out, produce immediate and irreparable injury to the organic structure of the government, and if there be neither judicial remedy for the wrongs it inflicts nor power in the people to protect themselves without the official aid of their elected defender--if, for instance, the legislative department should pass an act even through all the forms of law to abolish a co-ordinate department of the government--in such a case the president must take the high responsibilities of his office and save the life of the nation at all hazards. the so-called reconstruction acts, though as plainly unconstitutional as any that can be imagined, were not believed to be within the class last mentioned. { } the people were not wholly disarmed of the power of self-defence. in all the northern 'states' they still held in their hands the sacred right of the ballot, and it was safe to believe that in due time they would come to the rescue of their own institutions. it gives me pleasure to add that the appeal to our common constituents was not taken in vain, and that my confidence in their wisdom and virtue seems not to have been misplaced." these last words referred undoubtedly to the recent rejection, by popular vote, in a number of the most important northern "states," of proposed amendments to "state" constitutions conferring suffrage upon negroes. [sidenote: the interpretation placed by the republicans on the president's message.] most of the republicans in congress interpreted this whole paragraph in the message as a threat to violate the reconstruction acts, although this was disavowed, rather indistinctly it is true, and to violate also the tenure-of-office act. it is very difficult to say what the president was aiming at in giving such a warning to a body already excited against him to a high degree. it was certainly a _faux pas_ of the worst kind, to say the least about it. [sidenote: the president's special message concerning the suspension of stanton.] just nine days later the president sent his special message to the senate in regard to his suspension of mr. stanton. the gist of it was that mutual confidence between himself and mr. stanton no longer existed, and that when he asked mr. stanton to resign mr. stanton had declined to do so and had strongly intimated that his reason for declining was his own lack of confidence in the president's patriotism and integrity. the president claimed that such an attitude, on the part of a subordinate toward his superior, was unendurable, was in fact official misconduct of a grave order, and he also referred to stanton's withholding baird's telegram from { } him just before the new orleans riot. the president furthermore discussed mr. stanton's letter in reply to his order to him suspending him from office and commanding him to turn over the records and property of the office to general grant. this letter contained a declaration by mr. stanton denying the right of the president, under the constitution and laws, to suspend him from office, without the advice and consent of the senate, and without legal cause, and affirming that he yielded, under protest, to the superior force wielded by the general of the army who had been designated to succeed him. this contention of mr. stanton that the president could not suspend him under the constitution and laws of the united states gave the president the opportunity of saying that mr. stanton must be claiming the protection of the tenure-of-office act of march d, , and of revealing to the senate mr. stanton's most decided condemnation of that act when it was a bill before the president. the president asserted that mr. stanton, as every other member of his cabinet, advised him that the bill was unconstitutional, in that it was a dangerous encroachment upon the president's constitutional prerogatives, and urged him to veto it. he also said that all the members of his cabinet who had been appointed by mr. lincoln--and stanton was one of these--appeared to be of the opinion that their tenures were not fixed or affected by the provisions of the bill. the conclusion arrived at by the president evidently was that the tenure-of-office act did not cover mr. stanton's case, but left it under the law and practice existing before the passage of that measure, and that if it did cover it, the act was unconstitutional, and was so considered by mr. stanton himself, and every other member of the cabinet. { } it is hardly credible that the president intended to recognize the validity of the act by sending this message to the senate. it is true that the second section of the act provided that the president might suspend an officer during a recess of the senate, and designate an _ad interim_ successor, and must, within the first twenty days of the next meeting of the senate, report the suspension to the senate, and it does appear, from a casual view, that the president was acting under the authority of this provision, or rather under the duty imposed by it, in suspending instead of removing mr. stanton and in making this report of mr. stanton's suspension to the senate. but the president could claim that he was proceeding under his general constitutional power and duty of suspending from office, as a power included in the power of removal, and of sending such communications as he saw fit to congress or to either house thereof. and the fact that he disputed the constitutionality of the act in the message itself is good internal evidence that he did not consider that he was in any way acting under the authority granted to him by it, or in any way estopping himself, so to speak, from making future declarations against the constitutionality of the act, or even from disobeying its requirements. [sidenote: the senate resolution in regard to the suspension of stanton.] the senate, however, conceived at once that the president was acting under the tenure-of-office act, and after considerable discussion, passed a resolution, on the th day of january, , which provided that, "having considered the evidence and reasons given by the president in his report of december th, , for the suspension of edwin m. stanton from the office of secretary of war, the senate does not concur in such suspension." the body then instructed its secretary to send copies of this resolution to the president, general { } grant and mr. stanton. it is also evident that general grant supposed the president was acting under the tenure-of-office act both in suspending stanton, in appointing himself _ad interim_, and in making report of these proceedings to the senate; for upon receiving his copy of the senate's resolution from the secretary of the senate, he immediately left the room of the secretary of war, locking the door after him and giving the key to the adjutant-general, and repaired to the official head-quarters of the general of the army. stanton manifestly regarded the matter in the same way, for upon receiving his copy of the notice of the senate's action, he went to the room of the secretary of war, and resumed the duties of secretary of war without further ceremony. he did not even go to see grant, but sent word over to the head-quarters of the general of the army summoning grant to wait upon him in the secretary's room. [sidenote: criticism of the senate resolution.] there is no question now in any calm and impartial mind that the senate acted most inconsiderately, not to say wrongfully, in passing that resolution. the situation was a perfectly plain one. the president and stanton could not work together, since they had lost all confidence in each other. common-sense and common decency required in such a case the retirement of the subordinate. the senate itself had committed itself to this view in the discussion and votes upon the tenure-of-office bill, in its original form and in its final form. general grant, the man who stood first in the confidence of the whole people, was in possession of the war office. he had held it already nearly six months, and had in that short time improved the administration of it very greatly. at the end of the six months, at farthest, the president was held by the law of , a law whose constitutionality { } he did not dispute, to make a nomination to the senate of a permanent incumbent. the senate would then be able to prevent the appointment of any person to the office who did not have the confidence of the senate and the country. no possible harm could thus have come to the country from acquiescing in stanton's suspension, and it is hard to see that anything but harm did come to it in not doing so. no perfectly fair and unprejudiced mind could have failed to see that then; but the radical republicans--and most of the republicans in congress at that moment were radical, or at least intensely partisan--were bent upon attacking and destroying the president in any way they could. they were ready to lay traps for him, and then to so excite him by encroachments upon the prerogatives and the dignity of his office as to make him fall into them. they were determined to sustain stanton against the president, the subordinate against his lawful superior, simply because they despised the president. they claimed that the welfare of the country demanded it, and most of them probably thought so, but everybody can see the fallacy of that now, and anybody fit to be a senator of the united states ought to have been able to see it then. [sidenote: criticism of general grant's act.] it is also a question whether general grant did not act hastily, and inconsiderately, not to say wrongfully, in yielding the post without dispute to mr. stanton. the president certainly understood general grant to promise him to hold on to the office in case the senate should not approve of stanton's suspension, and thereby compel stanton to have recourse to the courts to regain possession, and thus secure a judicial determination of the constitutionality of the tenure-of-office act, or to give the office back to the president before the senate reached its { } determination, so that he might have opportunity to put it into the hands of a man who would be willing to incur this responsibility; and the president was able to back this understanding by the testimony of five members of his cabinet. on the other hand, general grant was just as sincere in his view that his remarks to the president on the subject did not amount to a promise, and if they did, he had fulfilled it when on the th of january, two days before the senate acted, he indicated to the president his unwillingness to involve himself in a lawsuit to test the constitutionality of the tenure-of-office act. it is true that when he spoke with the president, on the th, he did not offer to resign the office, and that it was understood that he would see the president again on the subject, and that he did not see the president, nor attempt to see him, before the senate acted. but he explained this apparent failure to keep faith by saying that he was extremely busy during the two days between the th and the th, and that the senate had acted much more hastily than he expected it would. there is little doubt that general grant thought the senate would acquiesce in stanton's suspension, and was taken by surprise when it did not do so, and that until the action of the senate on the th, he had never seriously considered that any opportunity or necessity for a judicial proceeding would arise. when, then, the alternative was suddenly presented to him of obeying the tenure-of-office act, or disputing its constitutionality by forcibly holding possession of the war office, he decided that it would be wrong for the general of the army to assume the attitude of defiance to congress, whatever a civilian might consider his duty to be. he thought that such an act on his part would look like a contest between the civil and military powers of the government, and he was unwilling to provoke it. { } [sidenote: the president's blunder in his attitude toward grant.] the president blundered very seriously when he did not accept the explanation from general grant and drop the matter. the general was friendly in his feelings toward the president, and when stanton repossessed himself of the war office in his cavalier way, without seeking any understanding with grant, and sent the general a rude summons to wait upon him, the general was very naturally and properly indignant with stanton. the way was here open for the president to make a close friend of general grant, by simply appreciating grant's point of view in surrendering the war office, and saying nothing more about it. but the president was not a prudent man when crossed in his purposes. he generally thought that the motives of all men who differed with him were bad. he showed in this trait his common origin and his vulgar breeding. he thought that grant had deceived him and made a scapegoat of him, and he resolved to have it out with him. he did not seem to understand at all that in an issue of veracity between general grant and himself, the country would believe grant, no matter who told the truth, and who the lie. the utter impossibility of coming out winner in a contest with a national hero, no matter what the merits of the case might be, does not seem to have occurred to him at all. and so he plunged into that unfortunate controversy with general grant in the public prints, which made grant his enemy for life, at a time when he needed most his friendship, and might have had it by the exercise of a little common prudence. [sidenote: the result of the controversy between the president and general grant.] the outcome of this whole course of crimination and recrimination was that the country came to the belief that the president first tried to force the responsibility of a violation of the tenure-of-office act upon the popular general of the army, and then, when the { } general foiled him in his purpose, undertook to impugn his honor and his integrity, and destroy his character before the public. an impartial study of the facts and the correspondence will not sustain any such view now, but in the state of feeling then prevailing, no such impartial study was possible. the president ought to have known this, and to have controlled his indignation until a more propitious time. [sidenote: grant's disobedience toward the president.] general grant's letter closing the controversy is dated february th. in the interval between his quitting the war office and this latter date, the president instructed the general not to obey any orders from stanton until he knew they came from the president. this instruction was given, first, verbally on january th. grant demanded, on january th, a written order from the president on the subject, and repeated this request on the th. the president replied on the th that "general grant is instructed, in writing, not to obey any order from the war department, assumed to be issued by the direction of the president, unless such order is known by the general commanding the armies of the united states to have been authorized by the executive." grant responded, on january th, that he had been informed by the secretary of war that he (the secretary) had not received from the executive any order or instructions limiting or impairing his authority to issue orders to the army as had theretofore been his practice under the law and the customs of the department, and that while this authority to the war department was not countermanded it would be satisfactory evidence to him (the general) that any orders issued from the war department by the formal direction of the president were authorized by the executive. this was coming very nearly up to the { } line between obedience and disobedience on the part of the general of the army toward the constitutional commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the united states. the general must have himself felt that he was on rather shaky ground, for in the closing paragraph of his letter of february th he disclaimed any intention of disobeying "any legal order of the president distinctly communicated." but this was still an ambiguous situation. who was to determine whether an order of the president to the general was legal or not? if the president, then there was no need of qualifying the word "order" by the word "legal." the language used, therefore, indicates that the general considered it within _his_ power to decide this question. but if the subordinate can determine upon the legality of the orders of his superior, and disobey them in case he considers them illegal, then farewell to all discipline in civil or military service. it is very clear from these expressions of the general that stanton's successful insubordination was already exercising its demoralizing influence, and was confusing the minds of those high in command in regard to the interpretation of their duties and responsibilities. [sidenote: the unbearable situation in which the president now found himself.] the situation was utterly unbearable for the president. here was the constitutional executive of the united states, the commander-in-chief of the army and the navy, virtually excluded by one of his own subordinates from any relation to the business of one of the most important departments of the government for which he alone was responsible, and his subordinate sustained in this attitude by the legislative branch of the government. [sidenote: the dismissal of stanton from office.] matters were now rapidly approaching a crisis which could be avoided only by the resignation of the { } president or by the retreat of the senate from its indefensible position. if both stood firm the clash must follow, and that too very quickly. on the st (february) it came. the president addressed an order of that date to mr. stanton dismissing him from the office of secretary of war, and another order of the same date to general lorenzo thomas, adjutant-general of the army, commanding him to take possession of the war office and administer its affairs _ad interim_. he, on the same date, informed the senate of his action, and transmitted to that body a copy of the orders to stanton and thomas. [sidenote: general thomas appointed secretary of war _ad interim_.] upon receiving the order, general thomas repaired immediately to the secretary's room in the war office, and handed to mr. stanton both of the documents, they having been put into his hands by the president's private secretary. upon reading the one addressed to himself, mr. stanton immediately asked general thomas whether he wished him to vacate at once or would give him time to remove his private property. thomas replied, "act as you please." stanton then read the order addressed to thomas designating him secretary _ad interim_, and asked thomas for a copy of it. [sidenote: stanton's resistance.] thomas then left the secretary's room and went into his old room, the adjutant-general's room, to have a copy of the order made. he returned at once with it, and when he handed it to mr. stanton, the latter said: "i do not know whether i will obey your instructions, or whether i will resist them." general thomas had certified the correctness of the copy, and had signed himself secretary of war _ad interim_. the two then went into general schriver's room just across the hallway, and there stanton declared outright that thomas should not issue orders as { } secretary of war, and that if he did he (stanton) would countermand them, and he then and there directed general schriver and general townsend, both of whom were present, to disobey any orders coming from general thomas as secretary of war. mr. stanton then caused general townsend to prepare a written order to thomas, signed by mr. stanton as secretary of war, which was as follows: "sir: i am informed that you presume to issue orders as secretary of war _ad interim_. such conduct and orders are illegal, and you are hereby commanded to abstain from issuing any orders other than in your capacity as adjutant-general of the army." [sidenote: thomas and the president.] general thomas then went over to the white house to see the president about the matter. he told the president of his conversation with mr. stanton, and repeated to him stanton's replies verbatim. the president simply said to him: "very well; go and take charge of the office and perform the duties." thomas did not, however, return to the secretary's room in the war office that day, and did not see mr. stanton again on that day. [sidenote: the attitude of the senate toward the dismissal of stanton.] while these things were occurring in the executive offices matters were seething at the other end of the avenue. the senate was deliberating, if we may call such a stormy procedure as took place a deliberation, upon the president's communication. it very quickly passed the following resolution: "whereas, the senate have received and considered the communication of the president stating that he had removed edwin m. stanton, secretary of war, and had designated the adjutant-general of the army to act as secretary of war _ad interim_: therefore, resolved by the senate of the united states, that under the constitution and laws of the united states the president has no power to remove { } the secretary of war and designate any other officer to perform the duties of that office _ad interim_." a copy of this resolution was sent to the president, another copy to mr. stanton, and another to general thomas. [sidenote: the movements in the house of representatives.] the excitement in the other house was still more intense and irrational. the senate resolution had hardly passed when the radical mr. covode presented a motion to the effect that "andrew johnson, president of the united states, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors." this resolution was referred to the committee of the house on reconstruction, which was, as we have seen, composed of members nearly all of whom were radical republicans. [sidenote: the arrest of general thomas.] encouraged and strengthened by these movements in the legislature, and hearing that thomas had threatened to force his way into the office, mr. stanton resolved to forestall all possible movements of general thomas for gaining possession of the office of secretary of war. he procured a warrant of arrest for the general, and on the next morning, the morning of the d, the warrant was served on general thomas just after he had risen from his bed, and before he had taken his morning meal. the officers who arrested him, the marshal of the district, and his assistant, and a constable, took the general at once before judge cartter, the chief justice of the district of columbia. on the way from the general's residence to the court-room, the general asked the officers to allow him to see the president, and inform the latter of his arrest. the marshal went with the general to the white house, and was present at the interview between the general and the president. it lasted but a moment. the general told the president that he was under arrest. the president replied that he was { } satisfied to have the case go into the courts, that he wanted it judicially determined. he then directed the general to go to the attorney-general, mr. stanbery. the marshal permitted him to call at mr. stanbery's apartment in his hotel, and inform the attorney-general of his arrest. he then took him before judge cartter. nobody was with the general before the judge, except the officers who had arrested him. the judge held him to bail in the sum of five thousand dollars to appear on the following wednesday morning, the th. after about an hour friends of the general came in and signed his bail bond, and the general was released, the judge informing him that he was not suspended from any of his official functions. the general then went back to the white house and informed the president of his release under bail, and the president again replied that he wanted the case in the courts. [sidenote: thomas's second attempt to take possession of the war office.] finally, the general went over to the rooms of the secretary of war. there he found some six or eight members of congress with mr. stanton, evidently awaiting the _dénouement_. he demanded the office. stanton ordered him to his room as adjutant-general. he refused to obey. he demanded the office of the secretary of war a second and a third time, and a second and a third time stanton refused to yield it to him and ordered him to his room as adjutant-general. the general then left the room of the secretary of war, and went across the hall into general schriver's room. stanton followed him and asked him if he insisted on acting as secretary of war. the general replied that he did, and would demand the mails of the war office. the two then fell into a friendly chat, general thomas saying that he had had nothing to eat or drink that day and requesting mr. stanton the next time he might have him arrested not to do it before { } breakfast, and stanton appealing to schriver to bring out his whiskey, which schriver did, and the two men, thomas and stanton, drank a little together on stanton's invitation. with this thomas's attempt to get possession of the war office seems to have ended. on the same day the president sent to the senate for confirmation as secretary of war the name of thomas ewing, sr. mr. ewing was a man of undoubted ability and of the purest loyalty. he had been one of lincoln's best friends and supporters and was the father-in-law of general sherman; but the senate denied that the president had any power to send in a nomination, that is, denied that there was a vacancy. [sidenote: the house resolution to impeach the president.] on the same day, also, the d, the reconstruction committee of the house, to whom the resolution for impeaching the president had been referred, reported it back with the recommendation that it be passed, and the chairman, mr. thaddeus stevens, urged that it might pass without debate. but the members began at once to debate it hotly, and continued to do so through the day and deep into the night. the following day was sunday, the d. the house had, therefore, one day of recess in which to cool down. but on monday the angry determination of the republican leaders was even more manifest than on the preceding saturday. all day long the war of words went on. the reproach and the odium heaped upon the president were simply immeasurable. read from the point of view of to-day, and at this distance from the event, most of it appears highly extravagant, and some of it ridiculous and even puerile. late in the afternoon the vote was reached, by application of the previous question rule. the house resolved to impeach the president before the senate by a vote of to . all those voting in the affirmative were { } republicans, and all those voting in the negative were democrats. [sidenote: the committee of the house on impeachment.] by another strict party vote the house authorized the speaker to appoint a committee to acquaint the senate with its resolution to impeach the president before that body, and another committee to draw up the articles of impeachment. the speaker, mr. colfax, appointed mr. stevens and mr. bingham to constitute the first committee, and mr. boutwell, mr. stevens, mr. bingham, mr. wilson, mr. logan, mr. julian and mr. ward to constitute the second. this committee immediately set about its work, and on the th was ready to report. [sidenote: the withdrawal of stanton's complaint against thomas.] meanwhile the day for general thomas to appear in court, february th, arrived. by this time the general had taken legal advice, and the plan of his counsel was to refuse to give further bail, allow him thus to be committed to jail, then sue out a writ of habeas corpus from a united states judge, and bring in this way the question of the constitutionality of the tenure-of-office act to judicial determination. but judge cartter foiled this plan, according to the word of judge luke p. poland of vermont, who drew the complaint against thomas, by declining to make any further order requiring bail, and on the same day mr. stanton withdrew the complaint, and the case was thus prevented from reaching the united states courts at all. [sidenote: the fear of the republicans to test the tenure-of-office act before the courts.] there is little doubt that the republicans were afraid to have the tenure-of-office act tested judicially. they preferred recourse to the court of impeachment to settle the matter so far as president johnson was concerned. it is true that stanton alleged that he brought the case against thomas in order to test judicially the right of { } thomas to the office of secretary of war, and that he withdrew the complaint as superfluous after the house of representatives had resolved to impeach the president, but that may have been a mere legal form of excuse. [sidenote: the managers of impeachment.] three days after this, as we have seen, the committee charged with preparing the articles of impeachment reported to the house. they were debated until march d, when they were adopted by a strict party vote, and the managers to conduct the prosecution were elected. they were messrs. bingham, boutwell, wilson, butler, williams, logan and stevens. [sidenote: the charges against the president.] disregarding the legal order and form of the eleven articles of impeachment, we may say briefly that the charges against the president were: first, that he violated the tenure-of-office act in issuing an order deposing stanton from the office of secretary of war, and another order appointing thomas to the office of secretary of war _ad interim_. second, that he violated the anti-conspiracy act of july , , in conspiring with thomas to expel stanton by force from the war office, and to seize upon the property and papers of the united states in the war office, and to unlawfully disburse the money appropriated for the military service and the department of war. third, that he violated the act of march , , which, among other things, directed that the military orders and instructions of the president and secretary of war should be issued through the general of the army, by attempting to induce general emory, the commander of the troops around washington, to disregard this law and take his orders immediately from the president. and fourthly, that he committed high misdemeanors { } in his speeches denouncing the thirty-ninth congress, and declaring it to be a congress of only a part of the "states." [sidenote: the charges presented to the senate.] [sidenote: the president's appearance entered by his counsel.] these charges were presented by the managers of the impeachment to the senate on march th, the day upon which the senate organized itself as a court of impeachment, by assembling under the presidency of the chief justice of the united states, who administered the oath to the senators as members of the court. the court directed its sergeant-at-arms to serve its summons upon the president to appear before its bar and answer to the charges preferred against him, and then adjourned to the th of the month. on the th the court reassembled. the chief clerk read the return of the sergeant-at-arms to the writ of summons, to the effect that he had served the writ upon the president at seven o'clock p.m. of saturday, the th day of the month; and the president entered his appearance by his counsel, henry stanbery, benjamin r. curtis, jeremiah s. black, william m. evarts and thomas a. r. nelson, and asked for forty days for the preparation of his answer to the charges. the first four of these men were the most noted constitutional lawyers of the country, and the fifth was one of mr. johnson's loyal tennessee friends and his chief ally in the union cause in tennessee during the years of sorest trial. mr. stanbery had resigned the office of attorney-general of the united states in order to take the leading part in the defence of the president. [sidenote: the president's answer to the complaint.] the managers on the part of the house very ungenerously objected to giving the president any time at all for the preparation of his answer further than what he had had since the service of the summons upon him, but the senate { } resolved to give him ten days, that is until march d. upon the latter day the senate resumed its sitting as a court of impeachment, and the president's counsel appeared with his answer to the charges made against him. [sidenote: the withdrawal of mr. black from the president's counsel.] an incident occurred at this point in the history of the procedure, which should be related, although it interrupts somewhat the thread of the narrative. it was the disappearance of mr. black from among the counsel for the president, and the appearance of mr. groesbeck in his place. it was the gossip among the enemies of the president, and this gossip was sedulously spread abroad throughout the whole country by them, that black on examining the case had become convinced of the president's guilt and had retired from the case for this reason, and for the further reason that he had become disgusted with the president's conduct. it did not become known until later that during this time judge black was counsel for a firm composed of one patterson and one marguiendo, which firm claimed a guano island in the west indies, called alta vela, and that one of judge black's colleagues in the prosecution of the patterson-marguiendo claim, one j. w. shaffer, procured a letter of the date of the th of march, , that is one week after the house of representatives had resolved to impeach the president, signed by general benjamin f. butler and approved by john a. logan, j. a. garfield, w. h. koontz, j. k. moorhead, thaddeus stevens, j. g. blaine and john a. bingham, some of them the most bitter among the president's enemies, which contained the statement that these gentlemen were clearly of the opinion that the citizens of the united states had the exclusive right to the guano beds of alta vela island, and an expression of their { } surprise that the president had not upheld this right by force against the claims of the dominican government to the island, and caused this letter to be placed in the hands of the president on the th day of march, and that on the th or th of march judge black had an interview with the president and urged him to send an armed vessel of the united states to alta vela to take possession of the island, and that the president, viewing this approach to him at this time as an attempt to take advantage of his situation, refused, and that on the next day, the th of march, judge black declined to appear further as the president's counsel in the impeachment trial. it must have taken a good deal of self-control on the part of the president, in possession of all these facts, to keep them quietly to himself for more than a month from the time of judge black's retirement from his case, while his enemies were pointing the finger of a supposed triumphant scorn at him as being unworthy to have so honest a man as judge black among his counsel, and then to allow them to be given out only under provocation from the managers of the impeachment, taunting him with his treatment of judge black, and with judge black's withdrawal from his case. [sidenote: the contents of the president's answer.] but to return to the president's answer to the charges against him. disregarding again legal verbiage and order, the president answered substantially that stanton's case was not affected by the tenure-of-office act, and that he held his office, according to the constitution and laws of the united states, and the wording of his commission, at the pleasure of the president; that even if stanton's case were covered by the act, the president was within his right and was not thereby committing any crime or misdemeanor at all, to so act as to make up an issue { } before the supreme court of the united states, whereby the constitutionality of the act might be tested; that the authority given to general thomas to act as secretary of war _ad interim_ was not an appointment nor an attempt to make an appointment, but was only a designation of a person to act temporarily until an appointment could be made by and with the consent of the senate, a thing which the president was empowered to do by the act of february th, , still in force; that he had not entered into any conspiracy with thomas or anybody else to force stanton out of the war office, or to seize the property and papers of the united states in the war office, that he could not in fact do so, since stanton was not lawfully in the war office, and since the president of the united states was the ultimate lawful custodian of the property and papers of the united states in the war office, but that his communications with thomas were orders from the president to a subordinate officer, to whom the president gave no authority to use force for their execution, and who did not use any force in his attempts to execute them, the intention of the president only being, if his authority should be resisted by mr. stanton, to create an issue before the supreme court of the united states, and secure thereby a judicial determination of the rights and powers of the parties concerned, and not to do anything unlawful; that he had never undertaken to induce general emory to take his orders immediately from himself in violation of the act of march d, , which provided that all of the military orders and instructions issuing from the president and the secretary of war should pass through the hands of the general of the army, but that he had only expressed to general emory, as he had to congress, his conviction that the act was in violation of the constitution, which latter { } conferred upon the president the commandership-in-chief of the army and the navy; and finally, that his speeches were simply the expression of his opinions as a free citizen of the republic, which right was guaranteed to him and to every other citizen by the constitution of the country, and could not be made out in any way to have any of the qualities of a crime or a misdemeanor, and that his declaration that the thirty-ninth congress was a congress of only a part of the "states" was intended by him in no other sense than that of an assertion that ten "states" of the union were not represented in it, all of which ought to be so represented when they should send loyal men to take seats therein, and that he had never intended by this declaration to deny the validity of the acts of the congress or its power to originate and adopt an amendment to the constitution of the united states. after the filing of this answer, the counsel of the president asked the court of impeachment for thirty days' time after the replication of the house of representatives to this answer should be filed for the preparation of the president's case. but the managers on the part of the house again very ungenerously opposed giving them any time at all for this purpose. the debate over this point lasted until after the replication of the house was filed on the following day, that is on the th of march. the court of impeachment then decided to give them until march th, and ordered the trial to proceed on that day. [sidenote: the replication of the house to the president's answer.] the replication filed by the house of representatives, on the th, was an exception to the answer of the president as insufficient, a denial of all the averments of the answer, a declaration of the guilt of the president of the high crimes and misdemeanors charged, and an offer to prove the same. { } [sidenote: the trial.] [sidenote: conduct of the managers.] on the th, the trial opened with the fierce, not to say brutal, attack of mr. butler on the president. during the entire course of the trial, from the th of march until the th of may, the managers followed a line of conduct which no impartial student of this day can fail to condemn, and which, even in that time of hostile passion against the president, lost to them a large measure of popular favor. they tried to prevail upon the court of impeachment to regard itself as a political body instead of a court, to renounce all limitations upon its powers, and to accept common rumors against the president as good evidence of his guilt. on the other hand, they objected to the introduction of evidence by the president to prove the purpose of his acts, and to show the advice upon which he had proceeded in their commission. they succeeded in inducing the court of impeachment to refuse to hear the president's evidence upon these points, although the chief justice had ruled in favor of its reception. there is no doubt that their cause was greatly weakened in the public esteem by this manifestation of partisanship on the part of the court. [sidenote: the evidence in the case.] the evidence in the case showed no conspiracy with thomas to do anything, and no orders to him to use any force in what he was authorized to do, and no attempt to induce general emory to violate any law or any orders received from or through the general of the army or any other legal authority. the case, thus, rested chiefly upon the question as to whether the president had violated the tenure-of-office act; and the transactions of the president in regard to this subject were matters of record. [sidenote: the argument.] when one, at this lapse of time from the events, peruses the calm, dignified, convincing and masterful arguments of the president's counsel, and compares { } them with the passionate, partisan harangues of the managers, it is very difficult to understand how the latter could have made any serious impression at all. there was only a single point upon the law seemingly involved in the case in regard to which they held the better reason. that was the claim on their part that the president had no right to violate an act of congress for the purpose of testing its validity before the united states courts, or for any other purpose. they argued with much force that to allow the president the power to violate an act of congress, or to omit to execute an act of congress, in order to make up an issue before the courts upon the question of its constitutionality, would be virtually to attribute to the president the once hated royal power of suspending the law at the pleasure of the executive. they contended that the veto power was placed in the hands of the president for the purpose of allowing him to be heard at the proper time, and to act at the proper time, in regard to the passage of any law, and that no other power was given him in relation to the subject; that after he had exhausted this power, he was bound to execute the legislation of congress, and could not suspend it or violate it for any purpose whatsoever; and that the constitutionality of any of the acts of congress could be raised before the courts only by persons not charged with the execution of the law and having such interests affected by the act in question as would warrant a judicial procedure. judge curtis was so influenced by the consideration that to claim such a power for the president would give him a double veto upon all of the acts of congress, a veto when acting as a part of the legislature in the enactment of law, and then a purely executive veto which could be overcome only by an adverse judicial decision, that he expressed his contention on the subject in very { } cautious language. he declared that the president claimed no such general power as that, but he said "when a question arises whether a particular law has cut off a power confided to him by the people through the constitution, and he alone can raise that question, and he alone can cause a judicial decision to come between the two branches of the government to say which of them is right, and after due deliberation, with the advice of those who are his proper advisers, he settles down firmly upon the opinion that such is the character of the law, it remains to be decided by you, senators, whether there is any violation of his duty when he takes the needful steps to raise that question and have it peacefully decided." the great lawyer refused thus to commit himself upon this fundamental question of constitutional law. and well he might, for to recognize any such power in the president would be to enable him to rule with such arbitrariness as to upset the principles and practices of all free government. the president can constitutionally defend his prerogatives with the veto power, a power which nothing short of a two-thirds majority of both houses of congress can overcome, and he has no other power of defence confided to him by the constitution. he must execute the laws passed over his veto upon matters which in his opinion touch his executive prerogatives, just the same as upon all other matters, and if persons not connected with the administration of the laws do not call such measures in question before the courts, the remedies provided by the constitution for the people of the united states are either the election of members of congress who will repeal the enactments, or else the amendment of the constitution so as to repeal them. it was, however, a question whether, in showing the sole purpose of making an issue before the courts, the { } president would not clear himself of any criminal intent. happily his case did not require this, as was demonstrated by his counsel and by senators trumbull and fessenden in their opinions. [sidenote: the law in the case.] the law governing the president's case was perfectly clear to anyone who could divest himself of political prejudice and of personal hostility. it was briefly this. by an act of the first congress, of the date of august th, , congress interpreted the constitution as giving the president the power to remove any officer of the united states, except judges of the united states courts, at his discretion, as an incident of his sole executive responsibility, and in an especial sense recognized this constitutional power as belonging to the president in the case of the heads of the governmental departments, the members of the cabinet, as they afterwards came to be called, since these persons stood, and must stand, in a peculiarly confidential relation to the president, as his official advisers. this interpretation of the constitution as to the president's power of removal and the practice built upon it remained untouched by the congress until the d of march, , when, as we have seen, congress enacted, "that every person holding any civil office to which he has been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the senate, and every person who shall be hereafter appointed to any such office, and shall become duly qualified to act therein, is and shall be entitled to hold such office until a successor shall have been in like manner appointed and duly qualified, except as herein otherwise provided: provided, that the secretaries of state, of the treasury, of war, of the navy, and of the interior, the postmaster-general, and the attorney-general, shall hold their offices respectively for and during the term of the president by whom they may have been { } appointed, and one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with the advice and consent of the senate." it will be remembered that in the tenure-of-office bill as it originated in the senate the members of the cabinet were entirely excepted from its operation; that the house in passing the bill included them; that the senate would not agree to their inclusion; that the bill was then sent to a conference committee; that this committee invented the compromise contained in the proviso; that this proviso was understood to give to each president the power to choose his own cabinet officers once during his term, and therefore to remove any cabinet officer not originally appointed by him, but holding under a commission from a former president, and remaining in office only by the sufferance of the existing president; that this was especially the true meaning of the proviso in regard to those cabinet officers then in office, but who had been appointed and commissioned by mr. lincoln during his first term to hold during the pleasure of the president; and that it was upon this explanation of the meaning of the proviso that the senate voted the resolution of the conference committee. from all this it is entirely clear that the president had the legal power to remove mr. stanton, no matter whether the tenure-of-office act was constitutional or not, simply because his case was excepted by the proviso in the first article in the act from the operation of the act, and was left to the operation of the laws in existence at the time the act was passed. there is little question now that that act was not in accordance with a fair interpretation of the constitution, but it was not at all necessary to hold that view in order to clear the president of the accusation of having violated the constitution and the laws of the land. { } the law in reference to the _ad interim_ appointment, or designation, of general thomas was equally plain to the impartial eye. the constitution provides only for vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate, and empowers the president to fill all such by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of its next session. by an act of may th, , congress empowered the president, in case of the death, sickness, or absence from the seat of government, of the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, or the secretary of war, whether these events should occur during a session, or a recess, of the senate, "to authorize any person or persons, at his discretion, to perform the duties of the said respective offices until a successor be appointed, or until such absence or inability by sickness should cease." another act of congress of february th, , empowered the president, in case of vacancy from any cause in the offices of secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, or secretary of war, happening either during a recess or a session of the senate, "to authorize any person or persons, at his discretion, to perform the duties of the said respective offices until a successor be appointed or such vacancy be filled," provided, however, that no one vacancy should be supplied in that manner for a longer time than six months. it will be seen that neither of these statutes provided for the temporary filling of vacancies in any of the departments, except those of state, the treasury, and war. in practice, however, the presidents have followed the analogies of the law of , when it became necessary, in their opinion, to make a temporary designation in the other departments. on the d of september, , president lincoln appointed j. b. l. skinner postmaster-general _ad interim_. it was mr. lincoln himself { } who called the attention of congress to the fact that he had no literal legal authority for this, and who on january d, , asked congress to extend the act of may th, , so as to cover the cases of the other departments, and empower the president to make _ad interim_ appointments to fill vacancies in these departments happening on account of death, sickness, or absence from the seat of government. why the president did not ask for the extension of the act of february th, , which covered all vacancies happening from whatever cause, instead of the act of , which covered those only which might happen from death, sickness, or absence from the seat of government, we do not know. we only know that in january, , both the president and congress were greatly pressed by the exigencies of the war, and did things generally in haste and without much consideration. in answer to the president's suggestion, congress passed the act of february th, , extending the act of so as to cover all the executive departments in the cases of vacancy provided for in that act, viz., by cause of death, sickness, or absence from the seat of government--adding resignation--and limiting the president, however, in these appointments to persons already officers in one or the other of the departments, and providing that no one vacancy should be so supplied for a longer period than six months. the vacancies which might happen from expiration of term or by removal were not at all provided for by the act of ; and as the act of did not expressly repeal the act of , but only declared that "all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed," the act of remained in force as to all vacancies caused by expiration of term or by removal, whether happening during a recess or a session of the senate. { } neither did the tenure-of-office act of repeal the act of in regard to first vacancies happening among the secretaries of departments by other causes than those provided for in the act of , either expressly or by implication, since these first vacancies were expressly excepted from the operation of the act of , by the proviso attached to the first article. and even if it should be held that the act of did repeal that of entirely, yet, in that it did not forbid the president to make _ad interim_ appointments in the cases where a secretary's term expired, or a secretary was lawfully removed by him, the president's designation of thomas could not be considered as a violation of law but only as an act without warrant of law, the very kind of an act committed by mr. lincoln in his appointment of skinner as postmaster-general _ad interim_ in , and committed by other presidents in other cases. the managers made much of the argument that the president had recognized the validity of the tenure-of-office act in suspending stanton the preceding august, and reporting his suspension to the senate, and in notifying the secretary of the treasury of the suspension, as provided in the act, and asserted that he was therefore estopped from denying its constitutionality. but while it can be easily shown that these acts of the president did not at all militate against his claim that other parts of the statute were unconstitutional, still this was not at all necessary to the president's defence, under the view here advanced of the relations between the acts of , , and . it made no difference, under this view, whether the act of was, or was not, constitutional and valid. in either case the president had violated no law, either constitutional or statutory. { } [sidenote: mr. stanton's violation of law.] the fact is that mr. stanton and those who abetted him were the violators of law. every official act which he committed after receiving the notification from the president of his removal, on the st of february, was a usurpation of governmental powers by a private citizen, and the gathering of armed men about him with the purpose of sustaining him in holding on to the war office after his dismissal by the president was treason. it is a question whether his official acts after the th of january and down to february st were not also usurpations. that depends upon whether the tenure-of-office act was, or was not, constitutional, and whether, if it were, the right of a member of the cabinet, suspended from office, to resume the functions of the office, after disapproval of the suspension by the senate, was made, by the act, to apply to such members of the cabinet as were excepted from the operation of the first article of the act by the proviso to that article. the best republican lawyers in the senate, trumbull, fessenden, grimes and doolittle, took the view of the law in the president's case as here explained. they, with one other republican, van winkle of west virginia, filed, after the vote on impeachment, opinions in the case expressing substantially this view. [sidenote: the nomination of general schofield to be secretary of war.] it is now known that during the trial some of these men expressed to one of the president's counsel the belief that mr. johnson could not be convicted upon the law and evidence in the case, and that should the senate vote to remove him, "it would be done wholly from supposed party necessity," and from fear of what the president might do in case he were acquitted, and that they suggested to this member of the president's counsel the wisdom of the president's sending to the senate, at that { } juncture, a nomination for the secretaryship of war, which would allay all reasonable apprehension that the president would, if acquitted, use the war department for the accomplishment of any arbitrary purposes, and that they mentioned general schofield as a man who would be satisfactory. these communications were made about the th of april. the president was immediately informed of them, as was general schofield, and, on april th, the president nominated general schofield to the senate to be secretary of war. whether this move on the part of the president influenced any senator to vote for acquittal is unknown. it certainly served to allay popular apprehension, if the testimony of the newspapers of the day may be taken on that point. [sidenote: the vote upon impeachment.] fifty-four senators from the twenty-seven "states" represented constituted the membership of the court of impeachment under the presidency of the chief justice. the president must, therefore, have nineteen votes in order to escape conviction. of these fifty-four, only eight were democrats. it was practically certain that all of these would vote for acquittal. he needed, therefore, at least eleven republican votes in his favor. the closing of the case by the prosecution occurred on the th of may, and, on the th, the court passed the resolution to take the vote of its members upon the articles of impeachment on the th. on that day mr. chandler of michigan informed the court that his colleague, mr. howard, was too ill to appear, and asked the court to adjourn to the th, in order to give mr. howard the opportunity to be present. the court agreed to this request. on the th, with all the members present, the voting began. the last article, the eleventh, was, by an order of the court, taken first, and the chief justice { } put the question to each senator: "mr. senator--how say you? is the respondent andrew johnson, president of the united states, guilty or not guilty of a high misdemeanor, as charged in this article?" thirty-five votes were cast in the affirmative, and nineteen in the negative. so soon as it was known that the president had been acquitted upon this article, a motion was made by mr. williams of oregon to adjourn the court to the th. after the announcement of the vote by the chief justice, this motion was carried and the court adjourned to the th. on that day it reassembled and proceeded to vote upon the second article and then on the third, with the same result as upon the eleventh. whereupon mr. williams moved that the senate sitting as a court of impeachment adjourn _sine die_, and the motion was carried by a vote of to , not voting. the republicans who voted "not guilty" were messrs. dixon of connecticut, doolittle of wisconsin, fessenden of maine, fowler of tennessee, grimes of iowa, henderson of missouri, norton of minnesota, patterson of tennessee, ross of kansas, trumbull of illinois, and van winkle of west virginia. the country and the republican party itself were placed under the deepest obligation to these men for their courage and independent action. they saved the country from the direst results of the great political scandal of the age, and they saved the republican party from the commission of a deed which would have destroyed its hold upon the people. [sidenote: the truth of the matter.] the truth of the whole matter is that, while mr. johnson was an unfit person to be president of the united states--which may be also affirmed of some others who have occupied the high place--he was utterly and entirely guiltless of the commission of any crime or misdemeanor. he was { } low-born and low-bred, violent in temper, obstinate, coarse, vindictive, and lacking in the sense of propriety, but he was not behind any of his accusers in patriotism and loyalty to the country, and in his willingness to sacrifice every personal advantage for the maintenance of the union and the preservation of the government. in fact, most of them were pygmies in these qualities beside him. it is true that he differed with them somewhat in his conception of what measures were for the welfare of the country and what not, but the sequel has shown that he was nearer right than they in this respect. [sidenote: the abdication of stanton.] so soon as the court of impeachment pronounced its acquittal of the president, mr. stanton addressed to the president a letter announcing his relinquishment of the war department, and his delivery of the papers and properties thereof to general townsend, subject to the president's directions. [sidenote: schofield's confirmation as secretary of war and his acceptance of the office.] the senate now confirmed the nomination of general schofield to be secretary of war. the general at once accepted the appointment and entered upon the duties of his office, and administered these duties to the end of his term, according to his own testimony, in perfect harmony with the president. some of stanton's friends have tried to make out that but for stanton's resistance and the impeachment, and its nearness to success, johnson would have appointed a tool of his own to the war office and have rode rough-shod over the laws of the land, and that he was frightened out of this purpose, and frightened into an implied agreement with certain senators and general schofield that the reconstruction laws should be executed as stanton understood them, and not as the president understood them. there is little ground for { } any such assumptions. there is certainly none in the character of the men whom the president asked to take the war office, grant, sherman and ewing; and it must be remembered that through mr. stanbery, in the case of mississippi vs. johnson, he had long before announced to the southerners that his opposition to the reconstruction acts ceased with his unsuccessful veto of them, and that he should execute them both in letter and in spirit. it was republican senators who suggested to the president's counsel the nomination of general schofield, a man entirely friendly with the president and acceptable to him. neither the president nor the president's counsel approached any senator with the proposition. it was the republican senators who were frightened, rather than the president or his counsel. these senators knew that the law and the evidence were with the president, and that the republican party was on trial, as much so as the president; and they knew that, if the republican senate should, upon the showing made by the president's counsel of the law and the evidence in the case, convict the president and remove him from office, the party would stand arraigned before the people for having destroyed the constitutional balance between the executive and the legislature in order to gain a partisan end. they recognized the dilemma into which the hot-headed leaders of the party in the house of representatives had, by their hasty impeachment procedure, brought the party, and they were very much relieved to secure any understanding with the president's counsel whereby the chance of averting the catastrophe to the party, as well as to the country, might be increased. the suspicion that mr. stanton was playing his part for the purpose of securing the republican nomination for the presidency in , rather than from any motives of disinterested { } patriotism, has about as little foundation as has the theory of salutary terror, produced by the impeachment, controlling the president's subsequent actions against his own preconceived plans and purposes. both of these speculations are no valid parts of the history of this great transaction. what we have as certain facts are that the judgment was an acquittal, that it was rendered in accordance with law and evidence, and that it preserved the constitutional balance between the executive and the legislature in the governmental system of the country; and that for this the judgment of history coincides with the judgment of the court. { } chapter x reconstruction resumed the mccardle case--the congressional acts admitting the senators- and representatives-elect from the reconstructed "states" to seats in congress--the veto of these bills by the president--the vetoes overridden--ratification of the fourteenth amendment and the president's proclamations declaring reconstruction completed--seward's proclamation declaring the ratification of the fourteenth amendment by the required number of "states"--the questions suggested by mr. seward's first proclamation--the concurrent resolution of congress upon these questions--the correct procedure--the national conventions of --platform and nominees of the republican party--democratic platform and nominees--the election and the electoral vote--the conduct of the president during the campaign--congress and the president--the president's last annual message--the president's amnesty proclamation of december th, --the president's veto of the bill in regard to the colored schools in the district of columbia--the fifteenth amendment--criticism of the republican view--johnson's retirement from the presidency--the president and the republican party. [sidenote: the mccardle case.] during the period of the impeachment trial, a case was in progress before the supreme court of the united states, which in its final settlement was destined to deprive the president of any hope that a judicial decision in regard to the constitutionality of the reconstruction acts could ever be attained. we have seen that in the cases of mississippi vs. johnson and of georgia vs. stanton the president had resisted the jurisdiction of the court when { } aimed directly at the executive and his immediate agents. this was his duty, and he performed it sincerely and successfully. but it is not to be inferred from this that he would not have welcomed a judicial decision from the supreme court of the united states pronouncing these acts null and void, if it could have been reached through the forms of a proper case, one not involving the executive authority at all. such a case had appeared in this court in the winter term of - , and the argument as to the jurisdiction of the court, and the decision of this point in the affirmative, had both been made before the impeachment trial began. one william h. mccardle, arrested and held by the military authorities in mississippi for trial before a military commission on charge of having published in a newspaper, of which he was editor, libellous and incendiary articles, petitioned the circuit court of the united states for a writ of habeas corpus. the writ was issued, and return was made by the military commander, general a. c. gillem, admitting the arrest and detention of mccardle, but contending that these acts were lawful. the circuit court, on the th of november, , remanded mccardle, who had been held in custody between the time of the return to the writ and this date by the united states marshal, to the custody of general gillem. mccardle then appealed from this judgment of the circuit court to the supreme court of the united states. upon a motion to dismiss the appeal, made by the counsel of the military authorities, this court decided that under the statute of february th, , the supreme court of the united states could hear the appeal, and denied the motion to dismiss it. the question was now before the supreme court upon its merits, and it involved the constitutionality { } of the reconstruction acts. it was argued very ably, and the part of the reconstruction acts putting the districts of the south under martial law two years after the civil war had ended, and when the civil authority of the united states was everywhere recognized and enforced, was pretty clearly shown to have been a very serious stretching of its powers by congress, if not a distinct usurpation. the republicans in congress were greatly frightened, and while the case was under advisement in the court, they hastened to repeal the act of february th, , and to make the repeal apply to appeals already taken under that act, as well as to such as might be attempted in the future. the repealing bill was vetoed by the president on the th of march, but it was immediately repassed by the majority necessary to override the veto, repassed without the slightest regard to the president's very sound and convincing objections. this act of the th of march was intended to prevent any decision upon the constitutionality of the reconstruction acts, and did do so most effectively, but it was an abominable subterfuge on the part of congress and a shameful abuse of its powers. as will be remembered, seven of the ten southern communities, viz., north carolina, south carolina, georgia, alabama, florida, louisiana, and arkansas, had already before the close of the impeachment trial ratified the "state" constitutions framed for them by the "carpet-bag, scalawag, negro conventions" held in each for them, had elected "state" officers and legislators, and the legislature of one of them, arkansas, had ratified the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states, as the legislature of each of them was required to do before it could be admitted to representation in congress. { } [sidenote: the congressional acts admitting the senators- and representatives-elect from the reconstructed "states" to seats in congress.] congress now looked upon the work of its hands and pronounced it good, and proceeded to pass the acts, necessary in its conceit, to admit these communities to representation in the legislative houses of the nation. first came the act in reference to arkansas, of the d of june, , since, as has been just said, the new legislature of arkansas had already ratified the proposed fourteenth amendment. it provided "that the state of arkansas is entitled and admitted to representation in congress, as one of the states of the union, on the following fundamental condition: that the constitution of arkansas shall never be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen, or class of citizens, of the united states of the right to vote who are entitled to vote by the constitution herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted under laws equally applicable to all the inhabitants of said state: provided that any alteration of said constitution prospective in its effect may be made in regard to the time and place of residence of voters." three days later, that is on the th, congress provided in a single act for the admission of the senators and representatives from the other six reconstructed "states" to the national legislature in the following language: "_be it enacted, &c._, that each of the states of north carolina, south carolina, louisiana, georgia, alabama, and florida, shall be entitled and admitted to representation in congress as a state of the union when the legislature of such state shall have duly ratified the amendment to the constitution of the united states proposed by the thirty-ninth congress, and known as article xiv., upon the following fundamental { } conditions: that the constitution of neither of said states shall ever be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen, or class of citizens, of the united states of the right to vote in said state who are entitled to vote by the constitution thereof, herein recognized, except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law, whereof they shall have been duly convicted under laws equally applicable to all the inhabitants of said state: _provided_, that any alteration of said constitutions may be made with regard to the time and place of residence of voters." it was also further provided that the legislature of georgia should, by solemn public act, declare its assent to the fundamental condition that the article of the new constitution of georgia prohibiting the courts within the "state" from entertaining any suit against any resident of the "state" for any debt existing prior to june st, , and prohibiting the judicial and ministerial officers of the "state" from executing any process in reference to such debts, should be considered and treated as null and void. [sidenote: the veto of these bills by the president.] the president had placed his veto on both of these bills. the veto of the arkansas bill bears the date of june th, and that of the other bill bears the date of june th. there are parts of the president's argument which are entirely convincing to any candid mind at the present day. he pointed out that the fundamental condition imposed by congress, in all these cases, upon the admission of senators and representatives to congress, viz., that no change should ever be made in the suffrage qualifications provided in these "state" constitutions whereby any citizen or class of citizens of the united states having the right to vote under these constitutions should be deprived of such right, was an assumption of power by congress to regulate a subject, within the "states," which by the { } existing constitution of the united states belonged exclusively to the "states," to each "state" for itself. there can be no question that the president was entirely correct in this contention. the fifteenth amendment was as yet no part of the constitution. it had not even been proposed by congress to the "states." it is very questionable whether a majority in congress could have been found, at that time, in favor of making such a proposition, much less the required extraordinary majority of two-thirds. and until the fifteenth amendment had been ratified as a part of the constitution of the united states, congress had no power to exact such a concession, or anything like it, from any "state" as the price of the admission of representatives from it to the houses of the national legislature. and even since the fifteenth amendment has become a part of the constitution, the government of the united states cannot prohibit such changes in a "state" constitution, unless the deprivation of suffrage is made on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. the president also called attention to the fact that no way was provided in the bills whereby the "states" should signify their acceptance of this "fundamental condition" of admission to representation in congress, and that no penalty was prescribed for a violation of the condition. did congress mean that, in case of any violation of its "fundamental condition," it would throw the "state" back under martial law, and proceed to reconstruct anew? that was a question which might well be asked in view of what congress had already done; and it was a question which was not calculated to allay uneasiness in the minds of the people in the southern communities. { } finally, in the veto of the arkansas bill, the president expressed his very serious doubts whether the new "state" constitution had been ratified by the electorate created by the acts of congress for that purpose, since a section in that constitution prescribed that no person would be allowed to vote upon the ratification of the constitution who had not previously taken an oath to the effect "that he accepted the doctrine of the civil and political equality of all men, and agreed not to attempt to deprive any person or persons, on account of race, color, or previous condition, of any political or civil right, privilege or immunity enjoyed by any other class of men," thus adding a new qualification for registration and voting to those prescribed in the reconstruction acts of congress. there is no question that the president was right about this, too. and there is no question that this new qualification was entirely null and void, in so far as it applied to voting upon, and registering to vote upon, the ratification of the constitution itself, unless we ascribe constituent power to the convention which framed the constitution, instead of the power of initiation only. we know that no constitutional convention has, or then had, any such powers in our system. it was nothing more or less than a palpable usurpation of constituent power when the convention in arkansas presumed to add this qualification to those prescribed by congress for voting upon the ratification of the constitution itself. of course it would have been lawful and regular for the "state" constitution to make this additional requirement for voting in all future elections, after the constitution prescribing it should have been adopted by the electorate created by the congressional acts, although the requirement itself would have been unreasonable and oppressive. but for the convention, a mere proposing { } body, to ordain this new qualification for voting on the question of the adoption of the constitution itself was a political outrage of the first order. [sidenote: the vetoes overridden.] congress was not, however, in a state of mind to listen to any suggestions from the president, no matter how correct and important they might be. both houses promptly, almost mockingly, passed the two bills over the president's vetoes. [sidenote: ratification of the fourteenth amendment and the president's proclamations declaring reconstruction completed.] such of the legislatures created under the new "state" constitutions as were not already in session were quickly summoned to assemble, and by july st all of them had ratified the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states, and the legislature of georgia had also pledged by solemn act that the repudiation article of the new constitution should never be enforced. by july th the president had issued his several proclamations, as required by the act of june th, announcing the ratification of the proposed fourteenth amendment by these legislatures, and consequently the admission of these "states" to representation in congress; and so far as the seven "states" of arkansas, north carolina, south carolina, georgia, alabama, florida and louisiana were concerned the work of reconstruction was now completed. virginia, mississippi and texas still remained under martial law. [sidenote: seward's proclamation declaring the ratification of the fourteenth amendment by the required number of "states."] on the th day of july, mr. seward, the secretary of state, issued his proclamation, declaring the ratification of the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states by the legislatures of thirty states of the union, and its consequent validity as a part of the constitution of the united states. { } [sidenote: the questions suggested by mr. seward's first proclamation.] eight days before this proclamation, that is on the th, mr. seward had issued a proclamation declaring that the legislatures of twenty-three states, viz., of connecticut, new hampshire, tennessee, new jersey, oregon, vermont, new york, ohio, illinois, west virginia, kansas, maine, nevada, missouri, indiana, minnesota, rhode island, wisconsin, pennsylvania, michigan, massachusetts, nebraska and iowa, had ratified the proposed fourteenth amendment, and that six "newly-constituted and newly-established bodies avowing themselves to be, and acting as, the legislatures, respectively, of the states of arkansas, florida, north carolina, louisiana, south carolina, and alabama" had also ratified it; that the legislatures of ohio and new jersey had subsequently passed resolutions withdrawing their ratification of the amendment; and that, if these latter resolutions of the legislatures of ohio and new jersey should be disregarded, the proposed fourteenth amendment had been adopted by the legislatures of twenty-nine of the thirty-seven "states" of the union and had thus become a valid part of the constitution of the united states. besides the question expressed in this proclamation, mr. seward indicates by his language a further question, viz., whether the six "newly-constituted and newly-established bodies, avowing themselves to be, and acting as, the legislatures, respectively, of the states of arkansas, florida, north carolina, louisiana, south carolina, and alabama" were genuine "state" legislatures. they were the legislatures established under the reconstruction acts of congress, but as congress had refused to recognize the "states" for whom these bodies acted as entitled to representation in congress, that is as "states" having the rights of "states" of the union, until { } after these bodies had ratified the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states, it was no wonder that so good a constitutional lawyer and so logical a thinker as mr. seward had his doubts as to whether these bodies were genuine "state" legislatures. [sidenote: the concurrent resolution of congress upon these questions.] in order to quiet these doubts, if possible, the two houses of congress passed on the following day, july st, the following concurrent resolution: "whereas the legislatures of the states of connecticut, tennessee, _new jersey_, oregon, vermont, west virginia, kansas, missouri, indiana, _ohio_, illinois, minnesota, new york, wisconsin, pennsylvania, rhode island, michigan, nevada, new hampshire, massachusetts, nebraska, maine, iowa, _arkansas_, _florida_, _north carolina_, _alabama_, _south carolina_ and _louisiana_, being three-fourths and more of the several states of the union, have ratified the fourteenth article of amendment to the constitution of the united states, duly proposed by two-thirds of each house of the thirty-ninth congress; therefore, resolved by the senate (the house of representatives concurring), that said fourteenth article is hereby declared to be a part of the constitution of the united states, and it shall be duly promulgated as such by the secretary of state." upon the basis of this resolution, which decided, in so far as congress can decide, that the consent of the legislature of a "state" to a proposed amendment to the constitution of the united states cannot be withdrawn when once given, and that the "newly-constituted and newly-established bodies, avowing themselves to be, and acting as, the legislatures, respectively, of the states of arkansas, florida, north carolina, louisiana, south carolina, and alabama" were genuine "state" legislatures qualified to { } vote upon the ratification of a proposed amendment to the constitution of the united states, mr. seward issued his proclamation of the th of july, above recited. as the georgia legislature ratified the proposed amendment on the st inst. and also gave its pledge not to allow the repudiation article in its constitution to be enforced, mr. seward included georgia in this last proclamation. it will be seen that both mr. seward and congress counted all of the southern communities which had ever been "states" as being "states," making the whole number of "states" thirty-seven, and the number necessary for ratification of the amendment twenty-eight. upon this basis of calculation two more than the necessary number had ratified at the date of mr. seward's final proclamation. it will also be seen that both mr. seward and congress, that is that both the legislative and executive departments of the government, ignored the attempt of ohio and new jersey to withdraw their consent to the amendment, and fixed the precedent in the constitutional practice of the united states that a "state" legislature cannot reconsider its ratification of an amendment to the constitution of the united states at any time. this means, when scientifically appreciated, that the ratification of an amendment to the constitution of the united states is not an agreement between the "states," and therefore becomes valid as to each only after three-fourths of the "states," the constitutional number necessary to make the proposed amendment a valid part of the constitution, shall have ratified it, but that ratification by a "state" legislature, and _a fortiori_ by a convention of the people within a "state," is only an indirect vote of a part of the people of the united states upon a question submitted to the suffrages of the whole people of the united states. when, { } therefore, this affirmative vote has been once officially announced by the proper authorities within the "state" to the proper authorities of the united states there is no further control over it by the authorities within the "state." [sidenote: the correct procedure.] if, however, the votes of ohio and new jersey had not been counted in the affirmative, there was still a three-fourths majority of thirty-seven "states" in favor of ratification. and if the ten southern communities had been left out of the computation altogether, which would have made the union to consist, so far as that part of it erected into "states" was concerned, of twenty-seven "states," there would still have been more than a three-fourths majority in favor of ratification, with or without ohio and new jersey. the correct procedure, from a scientific point of view, would undoubtedly have been to have computed the necessary majority upon the basis of twenty-seven "states," to have included ohio and new jersey among the "states" whose legislatures voted for ratification, and then to have admitted the ten southern communities as "states" under the constitution of the united states, _with the fourteenth amendment as an already established part of it_, concerning which they had no more to say than they had in regard to any other part of the constitution. but, however that may be, no objection can be made to the validity of the fourteenth amendment on the ground of the majority by which it was ratified. in whatever way we may compute the whole number of "states" and the majority voting in the affirmative, the amendment was lawfully ratified. [sidenote: the national conventions of .] during these movements in execution of the reconstruction acts, the national party conventions for the nomination of candidates for the presidency and for the formation of platforms were held. that of the { } republican party assembled first, on the twenty-first day of may in chicago, at the moment when its radical elements were filled with rage and chagrin at the failure of the impeachment of the president. [sidenote: platform and nominees of the republican party.] it made general joseph r. hawley, of connecticut, its presiding officer; adopted a platform, a large part of which was devoted to denunciation of the president, to the promise of bountiful pensions, and to a twist of the british lion's tail on the subject of expatriation; the main principles of which, however, were good faith in the payment of the public debt with sound money, and equal suffrage by congressional law in the southern communities; and nominated grant and colfax for the presidency and the vice-presidency. in pronouncing for the guaranty of negro suffrage at the south by congressional law, the platform attempted to steer clear of the prejudices against negro suffrage at the north by a sort of proviso, which read, "while the question of suffrage in all the loyal states properly belongs to the people of those states." this was certainly inconsistent, not to say hypocritical. negro suffrage at the north would have been a comparatively harmless thing on account of the fewness of the negroes as compared with the whites in that section, and on account of the superior average intelligence of the negroes of the north when compared with that of those of the south. there was no sound principle in this article of the platform. it was a mean, shuffling bit of partisan politics. the party itself felt it to be so in the course of the campaign, and came out finally for the settlement of the whole question of negro suffrage upon the same basis for the whole country and by means of a constitutional amendment. { } the nominees immediately accepted their nominations in characteristic letters, that of general grant being short, crisp, modest and ending with the now famous sentence: "let us have peace," and that of colfax being more lengthy and wordy and containing a rhetorical defence of some of the more questionable parts of the platform. [sidenote: democratic platform and nominees.] the democratic convention assembled in new york on the th day of july. it was confronted at the start with the greenback heresy, and the candidacy of the greenback champion for the presidency, mr. george h. pendleton of ohio. this heresy was in a sentence the doctrine that all the public debt of the united states not made expressly payable in coin should be paid in united states paper, which congress might order to be stamped, issued, and made legal tender, to any amount it might please. the shibboleth was, "the same currency for the bondholder and the plough-holder." it had taken firm hold in ohio, and was rapidly spreading through the valley of the mississippi. the eastern democrats, however, looked upon it with disfavor, and were determined to defeat the nomination of mr. pendleton. they were obliged, however, to accept the platform, in so far as it related to this subject, as dictated by their western compatriots. the third plank in the platform read, "... and where the obligations of the government do not expressly state upon their face, or the law under which they were issued does not provide, that they shall be paid in coin, they ought in right and in justice to be paid in the lawful money of the united states." the fifth plank also read, "one currency for the government and the people, the laborer and the officeholder, the pensioner and the soldier, the producer and the bondholder." it is true that the { } platform did not expressly pronounce in favor of an unlimited issue of paper money with which to pay the bonds, but it was generally understood that this was what was meant. the questions then of sound money and of the faithful discharge of the public obligations were thus put in issue. the democrats also met squarely the republican doctrine of reconstruction. they demanded the "immediate restoration of all the states to their rights in the union under the constitution, and of civil government to the american people," with "amnesty for all past political offences, and the regulation of the election franchise in the states by their citizens." and they denounced the radical party, as they termed the republicans, "for its disregard of right, and the unparalleled oppression and tyranny which have marked its career," declared the reconstruction acts to be unconstitutional, revolutionary and void, and lauded president johnson for his unflinching resistance to "the aggressions of congress upon the constitutional rights of the states and the people." [sidenote: weakness of the platform.] there is no question that the platform of the democrats, with its paper money doctrine, and its hostility to reconstruction and universal suffrage, was a shaky foundation for any party to attempt to stand upon at that juncture. not much conscience and not much sentiment could be aroused with such tenets. conscience and sentiment were much more amenable to the appeals of the republican platform upon these points. moreover, the tremendous popularity of the republican candidates had to be reckoned with. where could the democrats find a candidate who would both match grant in the popular affection and overbalance also the weakness of the platform? the new yorkers in the convention, led by seymour, tilden, schell and kernan, { } had their man for this emergency, but they dared not reveal at the outset their plan. they were resolved to nominate chief justice chase. they thought that chase's well-known devotion to the principles of universal suffrage and his career as secretary of the treasury would satisfy the eastern men in regard to the platform, and that his attachment to the principles of civil government versus militarism would, in some degree at least, neutralize the popularity of the military hero. the delegates from ohio, mr. chase's own "state," suspected the purpose of the new yorkers, and were determined to foil it. if they could not get pendleton, they were determined not to have chase. after the first six ballots without result, pendleton, however, leading, the new yorkers brought forward hendricks of indiana, in order to break down pendleton's vote. having succeeded in this after some six more ballots, the name of chase was brought before the convention by a half vote from california. the purpose was probably to feel of the convention. it was highly successful. the announcement of the half vote was received with enthusiastic applause. masking themselves behind hancock, who was at that juncture in the lead, and hendricks, the new yorkers now prepared to present chase; but the ohioans were too quick for them. they succeeded in withdrawing pendleton and presenting seymour himself as their candidate, before the new yorkers knew what they were about. seymour, who was occupying the presidency of the convention, declared from his seat that he could not accept, but the ohioans stuck to their nomination, and the new yorkers had to assent. they were fairly caught in their own net. [sidenote: the nominees.] seymour finally yielded, and the convention addressed itself to the nomination of its candidate for the vice-presidency. the ex-confederate general william preston of { } kentucky presented the name of the noted union general francis p. blair of missouri for the place. the nomination was seconded by the ex-confederate general wade hampton of south carolina, and was made by acclamation. while general blair was a noted union soldier of high ability and undoubted loyalty, he was a fierce enemy of the reconstruction acts of congress, and was for this reason very popular with the ex-confederates. in an open letter to colonel j. o. brodhead of st. louis, written five days before the assembly of the democratic convention, he not only denounced the reconstruction acts as unconstitutional, but advanced a method for getting rid of them and their effects in case a democratic president should be elected. he proposed that the new president should "declare these acts null and void, compel the army to undo its usurpations at the south, disperse the carpet-bag state governments, allow the white people to reorganize their own governments, and elect senators and representatives." he said, further, that the house of representatives would contain a majority of democrats from the north, who would admit the members elected to that body from the south to seats, and that the house with the president would exert such a pressure on the senate as to cause the doors of that body to be opened to the members from the southern "states." when general blair wrote this letter he was being spoken of as a candidate for the presidency, and this letter was taken as the declaration of what he would do if elected to the position of chief magistrate of the nation. after his nomination for the vice-presidency, in his speech and letter of acceptance, he announced the chief issue in the contest to be the relief of the south from martial law and negro domination. the ex-confederates represented it the same way at the south, and threw themselves into { } the campaign with great enthusiasm for seymour and blair. on the other hand, the bland, politic and persuasive seymour pursued a much more moderate and conciliatory course, and when it became evident that general blair's violent expressions and revolutionary purposes were ruining the democratic prospects at the north, he went into the campaign personally, and by his diplomatic manners and fine oratory succeeded in stemming the tide which, running against the democrats from the moment when their platform was proclaimed, had been driven on to a flood by general blair's indiscretions, to put it very mildly, in speech and conduct. but while some lost ground was regained, it was evident that the hopes of the democrats had been blasted. [sidenote: the election and the electoral vote.] the electoral votes of thirty-four "states" were counted, virginia, mississippi and texas being still regarded by congress as unreconstructed. of these thirty-four, eight cast their votes for seymour and blair. these were new york, new jersey, delaware, maryland, kentucky, oregon, georgia and louisiana. the rest went for grant and colfax. the electoral vote stood eighty for seymour and blair and two hundred and fourteen for grant and colfax. the popular vote stood two millions seven hundred and three thousand two hundred and forty-nine for seymour and blair, and three millions and twelve thousand eight hundred and thirty-three for grant and colfax. the exclusion of virginia, mississippi and texas from the vote and the inclusion of the suffrages of the "carpet-baggers" and the negroes, under the protection of the military, in the reconstructed "states," had saved the day for grant and colfax. if the electorate of the south had been as in , or probably as it was in the years of the johnson governments, seymour and blair { } would have triumphed. as it was, but for the greenback plank in the democratic platform and the indiscretions of general blair, they might have triumphed. that is to say, if the reconstruction policy of congress had been the sole issue, it is quite possible that the republicans would have lost the election, even with the most popular man in the north as their standard bearer. [sidenote: the conduct of the president during the campaign.] meanwhile the president had continued to ply the congress with his vetoes and messages and to address the country with his proclamations. he had thought that he ought to be vindicated by being nominated by the democrats for the presidency, and had actually received sixty-five votes on the first ballot. his failure before the convention ought to have taught him that he was no longer a factor to be reckoned with in the domain of politics, and that his proper course was to execute quietly the functions of his office to the end of his term, and then retire to private life. but he seemed to think that his political opinions were still of great value, and in a very few days after the adjournment of the democratic convention he addressed a message to congress advising a most radical change in the structure of the government by means of constitutional amendment. he therein recommended that congress should propose to the "states" so to amend the constitution as to provide for the election of the president and vice-president by a direct vote of the people, for the ineligibility of these officers for a second term, for the designation of the members of the cabinet in a certain order, beginning with the secretary of state, as the persons to discharge the duties of the president in case of a vacancy in the presidential office by the death, resignation or removal of both the president and the vice-president, for the election of the senators by the direct vote of the people, { } and for the limitation of the terms of the united states judges to a period of years. there was sound reason for the third of these suggestions, the designation by the constitution of the cabinet officers in a certain order as the successors to the powers and duties of the president, when the country might be without both a president and a vice-president, and it has since then been made law under the form of a statute of congress. [sidenote: congress and the president.] but the congress was not then in a mood to hear anything from mr. johnson. two days later, july th, the president vetoed the joint resolution passed by the two houses, excluding from the electoral college in the coming presidential election the votes of "states" lately in rebellion which should not have been reorganized under the reconstruction acts of congress. in this veto he went over his whole argument once more against the constitutionality of these acts and in favor of his own method of reconstruction. but the congress treated the message with contempt and promptly repassed the resolution. [sidenote: the president's last annual message.] on the th of december president johnson sent his last annual message to congress. it was a grave, dignified and statesmanlike document both in form and content. in it he told congress plainly and respectfully that its reconstruction policy had arrayed the races against each other at the south, had impaired, if not destroyed, the kindly relations that had previously existed between them, and had given mortal offence to the civilized race by placing the uncivilized race in domination over it; and he urged that legislation which had produced such baleful consequences ought to be abrogated. he also told congress that it had seriously impaired the power of the president to exact the necessary accountability of the public officers by its tenure-of-office act, and had embarrassed { } the executive in the exercise of his constitutional military functions by the act of march d, ; and he urged the repeal of both of these measures. he also gave a most serious and startling account of the condition of the public finances, and of the consumption of the wealth of the nation by the bondholders, officials and pensioners. he pointed out that the public debt, which in was , , dollars, had become , , , dollars; that the annual expenditure, which was, in , , , dollars, had become , , dollars and more, and that the expenditure per capita, which was two dollars in , had become nearly ten dollars. and he suggested the ways in which this threatening condition might be relieved, viz., by a refunding of the bonds at a lower interest, by a speedy resumption of specie payment, by a reduction of the army and of the horde of reconstruction officials in the south, and by a strict accountability of the revenue officials to their superiors and of these latter to the president. from the point of view of sound political science, good public policy and true patriotism all of these suggestions were at least worth consideration, but congress took no more notice of them than it did of the distant murmurs of the waters of the potomac. [sidenote: the president's amnesty proclamation of december th, .] only once again did the congress break over its apparent resolve to ignore the president, and that was upon the occasion of his issue of his universal and unconditional pardon and amnesty to all persons who had participated, either directly or indirectly, in the rebellion, with the restoration of all their rights, privileges and immunities under the constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof. the date of this document was december th, . on the th of january, , the senate called him to account for this by a { } resolution calling upon him "to transmit to the senate a copy of any proclamation of amnesty made by him since the last adjournment of congress, and also to communicate to the senate by what authority of law the same was made." the president replied on the th, sending a copy of his proclamation of december th, , and declaring that he issued it by authority of the second section of article second of the constitution, which vested in the president the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the united states, except in cases of impeachment, and in accordance with precedents established by his predecessors in office, washington, adams, madison and lincoln. the senate did not say that he had no right to claim any constitutional prerogative, and that he was not worthy to act under precedents set by washington, adams, madison, and lincoln, but most of the senators evidently so thought. the proclamation had no effect upon the qualifications for suffrage in the face of the reconstruction acts and the "state" constitutions framed and established in accordance with them. it was little more than the bull against the comet. [sidenote: the president's veto of the bill in regard to the colored schools in the district of columbia.] as a sort of final stroke the president vetoed the bill concerning the transfer of the control of the colored schools in the district of columbia, and the bill for raising the duties on imported copper and copper ores. he gave excellent reasons for both of these vetoes, but congress had long ceased to be guided by reason in matters which related to the president. [sidenote: the fifteenth amendment.] on its side it was busy with a project which, though not intended as a blow at him particularly, was not in accordance with his view that the regulation of the suffrage within the "states" was, and should be, left to the "states" respectively, and exclusively, viz., { } the proposed fifteenth amendment to the constitution. reference has already been made to the inconsistent doctrine, we might almost say the timorous subterfuge, of the republican platform on the matter of negro suffrage, and to the growing conviction on the part of the republicans during the campaign that this question must be settled for the entire country alike, and by a constitutional amendment. at the opening of congress in december, and during the first days of the session, the proposition was presented which finally took on the form given it by the conference committee of the two houses in the words: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. the congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." it was passed by both houses with the requisite two-thirds majority on the th of february and sent to the legislatures of the "states" for ratification. the republicans had at last come to the view that the emancipation of the freedmen involved their civil equality with the whites, and that such equality could not be maintained unless they possessed the elective franchise, and that it was cowardly for the "states" of the north to force negro suffrage on the south without accepting it for themselves. [sidenote: criticism of the republican view.] it is certainly true that full freedom implies civil liberty and civil equality, but there was another way, and a better way, to have secured these than by the immediate and universal suffrage of the newly emancipated in all their ignorance, immorality and poverty, and that was by the nationalization of civil liberty, and its protection and enforcement by the united states courts. most of the { } republicans believed, at that moment, that that had been secured by the fourteenth amendment; and there can be little question that a very important consideration with such was the fear that after reconstruction should be accomplished, the southern "states" might amend negro suffrage out of their "state" constitutions, and thus destroy the republican party in these "states," unless the constitution of the united states should be so amended as to prevent it. the most radical among them were no doubt moved chiefly by the extravagant humanitarianism of the period, which had developed in their minds to the point of justifying not only the political equality of the races, but the political superiority, at least in loyalty to the union, the constitution and republican government, of the uncivilized negroes over the whites of the south; but that this conviction was not very strong among the masses of them can be readily concluded from the fact that that party is to-day the party which is following the european idea of the duty of civilized races to impose their political sovereignty upon uncivilized, or half civilized, or not fully civilized, races anywhere and everywhere in the world. no party can, in so short a time, so completely change its fundamental principle of political ethics when it is really and conscientiously believed in by the masses of the party. [sidenote: johnson's retirement from the presidency.] this proposed fifteenth amendment was not sent to the president for his approval, but went, according to custom, to the secretary of state, to be submitted to the "state" legislatures. the president was now within a very few days of the end of his term. his sun had fairly set, and the disrespect felt for him by the members of the dominant party in congress and out of congress was expressed in the rude and quite unprecedented refusal of general grant to sit in the same carriage with him in the { } procession from the white house to the capitol, on the th of march, for the ceremonies of the inauguration of the new president. discredited, despised, and scoffed at, as a traitor to his party, to his political creed, and to his country, mr. johnson stepped down from the high office which he had occupied during one of the two most critical periods in american history since the establishment of the present constitution. [sidenote: the president and the republican party.] and yet it is certainly true that the republican party had left him rather than that he had left the party. this party began simply as a union party and an anti-slavery extension party. mr. johnson, an original democrat, joined with the republicans upon this basis, and he never left it. on the other hand, when the necessities of the war for the union made it evident that the slaves within the southern communities which had declared secession, and were engaged in rebellion, must be proclaimed free, mr. johnson still went with the republicans in the justification of this measure. and when, finally, the war was ended and the union was preserved, and the republicans decided that the legitimate outcome of the victory was the prohibition of slavery everywhere within the united states by an amendment to the constitution, mr. johnson still marched with them, at the head of the column. it was only when they became more and more radical in their policy, and insisted upon transforming rather than restoring the "states" of the south, by placing civil rights under national protection instead of "state" protection, disfranchising the whites of the south, and enfranchising the negroes, and upon overcoming the executive's objections to these movements not simply by overriding the veto, but by generally subordinating the executive to congress--it was only then that he { } separated from them and fell back naturally on such support as he could get, which was chiefly from the democratic party. no fair mind can claim that the republicans in their quarrel with the president had not departed from their solemn declaration made in congress assembled in those dark july days of , just after the first great defeat of the union arms, "that this war is not waged upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of the southern states, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the constitution, and to preserve the union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several states unimpaired." and it was upon the basis of this understanding that the democrats in congress, mr. johnson among them, stood with the republicans in the prosecution of the war. it is indeed a serious question of political casuistry as to how far declarations of policy are binding upon a political party. they are certainly not like agreements entered into between sovereign states, and the law of development rather than the law of contract must be the constructive force in party creed. but this, at least, must be held, viz., that a man originally not of a given political party, but acting with it upon the basis of a given creed, cannot be accused of being an apostate from that party if he does not continue with it when it adopts a new creed in many respects the very opposite of that given creed, except in the most groveling sense of machine politics; and that when he and it do part company, more by its own departures from the given creed than by his, he is certainly not on that account to be necessarily considered as a traitor to his country. the truth is, that while all men who occupy high station are { } peculiarly subject to wanton, as well as ignorant, assaults upon their purposes and their conduct, few men that have occupied so high a station have ever been so unreasonably slandered and vilified as andrew johnson. his own unfortunate and irritating manners and methods will account for a good deal of the misunderstanding of his character, but the violence of the times was the occasion of a great deal more of it. the true union men of tennessee will, however, never forget the hope, and encouragement, and support which he gave to them, when they were left in the lurch by their own natural leader, john bell; and the nation should for this, if nothing else, write his name in the book of its heroes. { } chapter xi president grant and reconstruction the situation at the moment of grant's accession to power--the georgia question--the attitude of the new president toward reconstruction--the virginia case--grant's message to congress of april th, , and his proclamation of may th--ratification of the virginia constitution and election of "state" officers under it--the restoration of virginia to her federal relations--ratification of the mississippi constitution and election of "state" officers and legislative members under it--the restoration of mississippi to her federal relations--ratification of the texas constitution and election of "state" officers and legislative members under it--restoration of texas to her federal relations--grant and the tenure-of-office act--congress and the tenure-of-office act after grant's accession to the presidency--the modification of the tenure-of-office act--the president's dissatisfaction with the measure--the facts in the georgia case--new conditions imposed on georgia--the final restoration of georgia to her federal relations--negro rule in the south from the point of view of political science and ethnical principle. [sidenote: the situation at the moment of grant's accession to power.] at the moment of grant's accession to power, four of the southern communities were still denied recognition as "states" upon the floor of congress. three of the four had not yet adopted "state" constitutions, viz.: virginia, mississippi and texas; and the fourth, georgia, the representatives from which to the lower house of congress had been admitted in december of , was still unrepresented in the senate, for the reason that the legislature of georgia, after electing united states senators, { } had rejected the negro members-elect of that body on the ground that negroes were not eligible to legislative seats in georgia. [sidenote: the georgia question.] when the news of this procedure reached washington, the senate held back from admitting the senators-elect from georgia to seats and did not admit them during the last session of the fortieth congress; and at the opening of the forty-first congress, on march th, , the day of grant's inauguration, one of the first acts of the respective houses was to refuse admittance to the representatives from georgia to _either house_, and to refer their credentials to the committee of each house on elections. [sidenote: the attitude of the new president toward reconstruction.] in his inaugural address the new president made no reference to these questions, but he had hardly been one month in the presidential office before he recognized the difficulties with which his predecessor had been beset, and asked and almost demanded of congress relief from them. on the th day of april he addressed a message to congress requesting that body to provide for submitting to the voters of virginia the "state" constitution drafted and adopted by a constitutional convention at richmond nearly a year before, and recommending that "a separate vote be taken upon such parts as might be thought expedient," and that the constitution, "_or such parts thereof as shall have been adopted by the people,_" should be submitted to congress on the first monday of the following december, and that the officers provided for under the said constitution should be chosen at the same election. the president also suggested that the constitution framed by the convention in mississippi and rejected by the voters might be resubmitted in the same way. the events in mississippi culminating in the rejection { } of the proposed state constitution by the voters in june of have been already related. [sidenote: the virginia case.] the case of virginia, on the other hand, which differed in several material respects from that of any of the others, has not been as yet sufficiently stated for a clear understanding of the president's meaning in his recommendations to congress of april th. it will be remembered that a loyal government of virginia, with its seat first at wheeling and then at alexandria, existed during the entire period of the civil war, and that from to virginia, under this government, had been represented in congress, and that it was this government which consented to the partition of virginia recognized by congress. on the d day of may, , this government transferred itself from alexandria to richmond, having been recognized by president johnson on may th as the true government of virginia. the legislative department of it met in session on the th of june following. the governor, mr. pierpont, recommended, in his message to that body, that a constitutional amendment should be drafted, and proposed by it to the voters for ratification, which would enfranchise, and qualify for office, a much larger proportion of the people than was the case under the revised constitution of virginia of , adopted by the loyal convention at alexandria. the legislature followed the governor's advice and proposed an amendment to the voters which granted suffrage and eligibility substantially to the old ante-bellum electorate and eligibles on the condition of future loyalty to the united states. this proposition was voted on at the elections held on the th of october for the choice of members of the legislature and of the lower house of congress, and was ratified by a large majority. the election was held in every county and the result was fairly { } representative of the people. there was lacking but one thing more for the complete restoration of the "state" to its federal relations, viz., the admission of the senators and representatives from it to seats in congress. they presented themselves at the opening of the congressional session on the first monday of december following, and were excluded, along with the senators and representatives from the other "johnson states," by the stevens resolution. [sidenote: the vagrant act.] [sidenote: general terry's order setting aside the vagrant act.] for more than a year, however, this government continued to act as the "state" government of virginia, under the limitations placed upon it by the presence of the military of the united states, and the interference of the commanding general in behalf of the freedmen. on january th, , the legislature chosen at the october elections of the preceding year passed the vagrant act, which defined as vagrants "all persons who, not having wherewith to maintain themselves and their families, live idly and without employment, and refuse to work for the usual and common wages given to the laborers in the like work in the place where they are," and which authorized the condemned vagrant to be hired out, and his wages applied to his own use or the use of his family, and, in case of his running away from the hirer, to be apprehended on the warrant of a justice and returned to the hirer, who should have one month of service extra, and without wages, for the interruption of the service contracted for, and other trouble and expense, and should also have the right, by permission of the justice, to work the returned vagrant with ball and chain, in order to prevent a repetition of his flight. on the th, just nine days after the passage of the act, general terry, the military commander at richmond, issued an order setting aside this measure as to the freedmen. he based his order on the { } tendency of the statute to influence employers to combine for the purpose of lowering the wages of the freedmen to a point that would pauperize them and drive them into vagrancy, and create thus the very situation which, under the operation of the measure, would lead to a species of servitude worse than the old domestic slavery. he had no reliable facts of experience upon which to base his theory. it was a bit of political and economic prophecy on his part. it was sufficient, however, to call down maledictions from the congress at washington and the people of the north upon the legislature at richmond and the people of virginia and of the south generally. [sidenote: virginia made a military district.] congress, however, gave this legislature one more opportunity to redeem itself. the proposed fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states was submitted to it for ratification in june of . after long deliberation upon it, the legislature rejected it on the th of january, . this act sealed the fate of that legislature. virginia was brought, with the other southern communities which had rejected or not adopted the proposed amendment, under the reconstruction acts of march, , and became the first military district under those acts, with general schofield as commander. schofield ordered the election for delegates to a constitutional convention, by the voters designated in the reconstruction acts, to be held in november of , and ordered the delegates so elected to assemble in richmond on the d of the following december. these orders were successfully executed under the supervision and control of the military. schofield himself appeared in the convention, and urged the delegates to be moderate in the propositions for the disfranchisement and disqualification of those who had participated in rebellion. but the delegates { } elected under the reconstruction acts, and by the electorate created through them, were not only radical, but bent upon retaliation. they would not listen to the wise counsel of schofield, but drafted and adopted such provisions in regard to suffrage qualifications and eligibility to office and mandate as would have put the "state" government, based on such a constitution, in the hands of negroes, "scalawags" and "carpet-bag" adventurers. the opposition to these provisions on the part of the commander and the administration at washington was, however, sufficiently effective to delay indefinitely the submission of the constitution to the voters. near the end of the year , a conference of prominent virginians assembled at richmond and appointed a committee, and sent its members to washington to petition congress to allow the disfranchising and disqualifying clauses, and the clauses in reference to county organization, to be voted on separately from the other parts of the proposed constitution. this committee proceeded to washington in january of , and argued their case before committees of both of the houses of congress, and also presented the same to the new president-elect, general grant. [sidenote: grant's message to congress of april th, , and his proclamation of may th.] it was in consequence of such representations and prayers, that president grant sent his message of april th to congress, requesting authority to accede to the petition of the virginians, and that congress immediately conferred the authority upon him. armed with this authority, the president issued a proclamation on the th day of may, , commanding the "state" constitution framed for virginia by the convention which assembled on december d, , at richmond, to be submitted to the voters, on july th, , for ratification or rejection, and also commanding that those { } provisions disqualifying persons from voting and holding office who had in any way aided the rebellion against the united states should be separately submitted. [sidenote: ratification of the virginia constitution.] at the election ordered by the president, the constitution without these clauses was ratified, and the conservative republican candidates for office and legislative membership were elected. [sidenote: the restoration of virginia to her federal relations.] at the next session of congress, in december of , the senators and representatives presented themselves for admission. their claims were sustained by the president, who reported to congress that virginia had fulfilled all of the conditions required of her for readmission to her full privileges as a member of the union, having among other things ratified by legislative acts both the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution of the united states, and urged the admission of the senators and representatives from the "state" to congress. after a good deal of discussion and some wrangling, the bill for the accomplishment of this object was passed, and, in the last days of january of , virginia was restored to her proper federal relations, on the conditions that the constitution of the "state" should never be so amended as to deprive any person enfranchised therein of the suffrage, or any citizen or class of citizens of the united states of the educational rights and privileges provided therein, or any citizen of the united states of the equal right to hold office, on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude, or of the school rights provided in the constitution of the "state." the congressional act also undertook to purge the new "state" legislature by requiring that every member must take an oath that he was not disqualified by the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states, or that, if he had been, he had also been { } relieved by the congressional act authorized for the case in the amendment. [sidenote: ratification of the mississippi constitution.] the act of congress of april th empowered the president to deal with the question of reconstruction in mississippi in the same manner as in virginia. by virtue of this power, the president issued a proclamation, on the th of july, , commanding the resubmission to the voters of the constitution adopted by the mississippi convention, on the th of may, , and rejected by the voters as stated on a previous page, and designating the th day of november, , as the date of the election. as in the case of virginia, the president ordered a separate vote to be taken upon the disfranchising and disqualifying clauses of the constitution which prohibited any person from voting or holding office who had given any aid or comfort to persons in rebellion. [sidenote: the restoration of mississippi to her federal relations.] the result of the vote on the constitution was the same as in virginia. the constitution was ratified without these clauses; and on the d of february, , the bill for the restoration of mississippi and the admission of the senators and representatives from the "state" to congress, on the same conditions as those exacted of virginia, became law. [sidenote: ratification of the texas constitution.] [sidenote: restoration of texas to her federal relations.] the act of april th, , also invested the president with the power of ordering the submission of the constitution framed and adopted by the convention at austin, texas, in june of , to the voters for ratification. by virtue of this authority, the president ordered a vote to be taken upon this instrument on the th day of november, . this proposed constitution did not contain any such disfranchising and disqualifying clauses as those which rendered the virginia and mississippi instruments { } obnoxious to the intelligence of these communities, and the vote was, therefore, ordered to be taken upon the entire constitution at once. the result was ratification; and on the th of march, , the congressional measure for the complete restoration of texas to her proper federal relations, upon the same fundamental conditions as those required of virginia and mississippi, became law. thus while the new president did not, as his predecessor had done, dispute the power of congress to direct and control the reconstruction of the disrupted southern communities as "states" of the union, he appealed to congress for the authority to relieve some of them still suffering under military rule from the hard alternative of negro domination, and when congress gave him the power requested, he used it for the amelioration of the situation. this was true statesmanship. if president johnson had done this instead of insisting upon his constitutional power to reconstruct, independently of congress, these communities, and repeating continually his unsound, though specious, arguments in support of his view, it is quite possible that he might have maintained his influence, in some degree at least, with the republican majority, and at the same time, and in consequence thereof, might have accomplished something in the interest of a true conservatism in reconstruction. this is not, however, certain. johnson had none of grant's vast popularity with the people of the north whereby to overawe congress, and there is no doubt, deny it as we may to conscious reflection, that down below consciousness there was a sort of distrust of a southern union man on the part of a large portion of the people of the north. mr. johnson had to suffer under the influence of this feeling, like all others of his class, and whenever he suggested any moderate { } course in the treatment of former rebels, he fell under the suspicion of masking sympathy with their sentiments under a pretence of unionism. he was, thus, rather an object of congressional distrust from the first, and could probably never have done so much as grant succeeded in doing for conservatism in virginia and mississippi, even though he had recognized the power of congress in the work of reconstruction, and had preferred respectful requests, instead of asserting presidential prerogatives. [sidenote: grant and the tenure-of-office act.] likewise the new president found, as soon as he began the work of administration, that the tenure-of-office act was an unendurable hindrance to the efficient discharge of his duties. none of mr. johnson's secretaries, it is true, gave him any trouble by attempting to hold on to office for the one month allowed them after the expiration of mr. johnson's term. the men nominated by president grant for his cabinet of chiefs and advisers were immediately confirmed, and, with one exception, inducted into office. these men were e. b. washburne, of illinois, as secretary of state; a. t. stewart, of new york, as secretary of the treasury; a. e. borie, of pennsylvania, as secretary of the navy; j. d. cox, of ohio, as secretary of the interior; e. r. hoar, of massachusetts, as attorney-general; and j. a. j. creswell, of maryland, as postmaster-general. no immediate nomination was made for the secretaryship of war, and general schofield remained for a few days at the head of the department. the president soon found that mr. stewart, being a large importer of foreign goods, was disqualified by statute from holding the office of secretary of the treasury. he first suggested to the senate the removal of the disability by a joint resolution of congress, and, on objection being made to the introduction of a { } bill repealing the disqualifying statute, he withdrew the suggestion. mr. stewart then relieved the situation by sending in his declination, and the president nominated mr. g. s. boutwell of massachusetts for the office, which nomination was immediately confirmed, and mr. boutwell took immediate charge of the department. mr. washburne, the secretary of state, resigned the office within a few days, and mr. hamilton fish, of new york, was nominated and appointed to succeed him. general schofield next resigned the war office, and was succeeded by general john a. rawlins of illinois. finally, mr. borie resigned in june the secretaryship of the navy, and was succeeded by mr. g. m. robeson of new jersey. the senate put nothing in the way of these changes. but president grant made up his mind in a very few days after his inauguration not to have his hands tied in regard to any of the officers for whose acts he was responsible. he gave the republican leaders in congress to understand that he would allow the existing incumbents of the offices to remain in office, unless they should commit some such offence as would call for their suspension, so long as the tenure-of-office act should remain on the statute book. the republicans were hungry for a new distribution of the spoils. they called it a righteous desire for the "cleaning of the augean stables." whatever it was, they were thrown into a great state of trepidation by this covert threat of the president not to clear the way for their friends. [sidenote: congress and the tenure-of-office act after grant's accession to the presidency.] on the th day of march, less than a week after the accession of the new president to power, a bill was introduced into the house of representatives providing for the immediate repeal of the tenure-of-office act, and was passed, immediately and without debate, by a vote of to . these were naturally republicans. { } the democrats voted for the repeal on principle. when the bill reached the senate it was sent to the judiciary committee. this committee quickly reported to the senate a substitute for the bill of the house. this substitute provided that the tenure-of-office act should be suspended from operation until the next session of congress. no more shameless piece of partisanship was ever advanced on the floor of the senate than this. it simply meant, suspend the act when the republicans wanted to get the offices, and keep it in force when they might be in danger of being put out. the senate itself could not be brought to vote this proposition of its judiciary committee. it was withdrawn by the committee, and mr. trumbull proposed to supersede the existing law with a measure which would allow the president to suspend from office without assigning any cause for the same to the senate, or even reporting the suspension to the senate, and to nominate to the senate a person to fill the vacancy, and in case of rejection by the senate to nominate another person; and only when the session of the senate should come to a close without a ratification should the suspended officer be restored. [sidenote: the modification of the tenure-of-office act.] it was pretty clear that the president would not find any trouble with such a measure as this, but it seemed to the house that the senate was trying to cling to a certain control over the executive, and the house refused concurrence in the bill. the matter was finally referred to a conference committee, and this committee speedily matured and reported a measure, which allowed the president, during a recess of the senate, to suspend any civil officer appointed by and with the consent of the senate, except judges of the united states courts, until the end of the next session of the senate, and to designate some other person { } to discharge the duties of the vacant office in the meantime, and made it the duty of the president simply to nominate to the senate, within thirty days from the beginning of its next session, some one to succeed to the office permanently, and in case the senate should refuse to ratify the nomination, to nominate another person. both houses accepted the recommendation of the committee and the bill agreed upon by its members became law april , . [sidenote: the president's dissatisfaction with the measure.] still the president was not satisfied with it. he thought that any control whatever of the senate over dismissal from office was not warranted by the constitution, and he regarded the attempt of the senate to cling to any shadow of such a power as a personal affront to himself. in his first annual message, that of december th, , he earnestly recommended the total repeal of the tenure-of-office acts, and declared them both unconstitutional, and inconsistent with "a faithful and efficient administration of the government." his recommendation was probably an effective warning to congress against any attempt to hamper him by claiming any power under them to control his dismissals and suspensions, but they still remained on the statute book for nearly two decades longer. the glaring inconsistency of a bare and bald repeal of the acts was too great even for the partisan congress. it was willing to make them practically null and void, but it wanted a shadow with which to cover its nakedness. at any rate, the position taken by president grant toward them was a complete vindication of president johnson's views concerning them, and, in no small degree, of his deeds also. at the date of this message all of the southern communities had completed the acts required by congress { } for their restoration as "states" of the union, but the result of the elections held in mississippi were not known in washington. the president simply expressed the hope that the constitutions submitted in these communities to the voters would be ratified, and "thus close the work of reconstruction." as we have seen, the elections resulted as the president hoped, and these communities were restored, on the basis of the "state" constitutions adopted, to their proper federal relations. [sidenote: the facts in the georgia case.] the case of georgia still remained, however, unsettled, and the president suggested that congress should enact a law authorizing the governor of georgia, mr. bullock, "to convene the members originally elected to the legislature, requiring each member to take the oath prescribed by the reconstruction acts, and none to be admitted who were ineligible under the third clause of the fourteenth amendment." the situation was briefly as follows: the senators and representatives from georgia had been refused admission to seats in congress at the first session of the forty-first congress which convened the th of march, , because the legislature of georgia had expelled the colored men elected to that body as ineligible, and had rejected the proposed fifteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states. it is true that the senators from georgia had been elected by the legislature before the colored members were expelled, and that the representatives had been admitted to seats in the house during the last session of the fortieth congress, and that the ostensible reason for not admitting the members to the lower house of the forty-first congress was that they had not been elected to the forty-first congress. however, georgia had no representation in either house of congress at the date of president grant's first annual message in december of . { } her "state" government seems, therefore, to have been considered by congress as being still only provisional, despite the fact that by the act of june th, , she had been declared entitled to admission to representation in congress upon conditions which she had subsequently fulfilled. a bill had been introduced into congress soon after the opening of the session beginning march th, , dealing with the subject. it was claimed in the preamble of this bill that the georgia legislature had not purged itself of disloyal members as required by the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states, that it had violated the constitution of georgia and the constitution of the united states and the fundamental principles of the reconstruction acts by expelling the negro members for ineligibility, and that the civil authorities in the "state" could not, or did not, protect the loyal citizens in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties or even in their persons. the bill proposed to meet these difficulties by providing that the governor of georgia should reconvene the originally elected members of the legislature, reseat the expelled negro members, and expel such members as could not swear that they were not disqualified by the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states. it may be remarked here in passing that the fourteenth amendment does not disqualify anybody, in express language, from being a member of a "state" legislature. it disqualifies all persons who have engaged in rebellion after having taken an oath, as a member of congress or of a "state" legislature, or as a united states or a "state" officer, to support the constitution of the united states, from holding a seat in congress or from being an officer of the united states or of a "state," _but not from holding a seat in a "state" legislature_. the word officer in the public { } jurisprudence of this country does not include membership in a legislative body. but to return to the bill. it provided finally for making united states troops in georgia subject to the governor's call for assistance. this bill was so seriously opposed by the democrats and the conservative republicans that it did not pass, and during this session congress did nothing further for the restoration of georgia. [sidenote: the case of white and clements.] on the other hand, the conservatives in georgia undertook to do something for themselves. they got up a test case in the supreme court of the "state" to determine the rights of negroes to hold office. the case was that of white and clements, and the office involved was a county court clerkship. of course the decision was not binding upon the legislative houses in judging of the eligibility of their members, but it was thought that it would have an influence upon their views. the court decided that under the new constitution of georgia and the code of georgia negroes could hold office, since the constitution of declared that all persons born or naturalized in the united states and residents in georgia were citizens of georgia, and the code declared that among the rights of citizens was the right to hold office. of course the legislature could abolish or amend the code. after the rendering of this decision the conservative members of the legislature requested the governor, mr. bullock, who was a radical republican, and a new yorker by birth, to reconvene the legislature for the purpose of reseating the expelled negro members. the governor refused, apparently not desiring to anticipate the action of congress in the case. the attempt of the conservatives to help themselves thus came to naught, and the unhappy community drifted on toward anarchy and violence, according to the report now made by { } general terry to the president, who declared it to be his opinion that the united states government must intervene anew in order to preserve it against that fate. [sidenote: new conditions imposed on georgia.] it was then with a good deal of irritation that congress came to consider the subject of reconstruction in georgia again in the session of - , and the determination soon became manifest to impose additional and harder conditions upon this community than upon the others. moreover, as matters appeared at that juncture, the ratification of the fifteenth amendment by the legislature of georgia would be necessary to make out the required three-fourths majority. it was in this temper, and under the pressure of this supposed necessity, that congress, acting promptly upon the general suggestion in the president's message, passed a bill which provided that the governor of georgia should forthwith summon the persons declared by the proclamation of general meade, of the date of june th, , to be members-elect of the legislature, to assemble at atlanta; that every such person should take an oath or affirmation that he had never, after having been a member of congress or of a "state" legislature, or an officer of the united states or of a "state" "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the united states, or given any aid or comfort to its enemies, or rendered, except in consequence of direct physical compulsion, any support or aid to any insurrection, or rebellion against the united states, or held any office under, or given any support to, any government of any kind acting in hostility to the united states, or levying war against the united states," or should make oath or affirmation that, if he had so acted, he had been relieved by congress from any disability attaching to such act in the manner provided in { } the fourteenth amendment to the constitution; that in case any person claiming to be a member of the legislature should fail to make such an oath or affirmation he should be excluded from a seat in the body; that no member-elect should be excluded on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude; that, on application of the governor, the president should employ the military power of the united states to enforce the provisions of the act; and that the legislature of georgia should ratify the proposed fifteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states before senators and representatives from georgia should be admitted to seats in congress. this bill was approved by the president on the d of december, . [sidenote: resumption of military government in georgia.] so great was the opposition to reconstruction, under these hard conditions, on the part of the white people in georgia, that the governor was obliged to call for the military of the united states to aid him, and finally to step aside for general terry, who by an order from the president, dated january th, , was authorized to resume the powers in georgia of the commander of a military district, as provided under the reconstruction act of march d, . the general found a number of members in the legislature recognized by general meade's proclamation who could not take either of the oaths or affirmations prescribed. these he caused to be removed from their seats in very arbitrary ways. this procedure put the republicans in the legislature in majority, and they filled these vacancies by admitting persons who had received the next highest number of votes to those cast for the expelled members in the election, and who could take one or the other of the oaths or affirmations prescribed in the act of the d of december, . { } [sidenote: ratification of the fifteenth amendment by the georgia legislature.] the legislature as thus reconstructed was approved by the military authorities, and it now proceeded to fulfil the final condition required of georgia, viz., the ratification of the proposed fifteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states. it also ratified the fourteenth amendment. this was, from a legal point of view, entirely superfluous, since the fourteenth amendment was, at the moment, already a part of the constitution, as much so as any other article, and in resuming the status of a "state" in the union, georgia was, of course, subject to all parts of the constitution alike. the legislature might, with equal reason, have ratified specially any other part of the constitution. the idea seems to have been to correct any possible defects in the ratification of this amendment which the georgia legislature had voted on july st, . [sidenote: further delay in the admission of representatives from georgia.] this purified legislature now elected united states senators, both of them republicans, of course. all these things were done in the latter part of january and the early part of february of , and as the congress was in session, there was reason to expect that georgia would be, at once, fully restored as a "state" of the union. a bill was reported in the house of representatives on the th of february from the committee on reconstruction for this purpose. it was nearly identical in its provisions and language with the virginia and mississippi bills, but it dragged along through nearly five months of debate and partisan wrangling before it became law. the reason of this delay was that, on march th, general butler proposed an amendment to the bill which provided: "that the power granted by the constitution of georgia to the general assembly to change the time of holding elections, and prescribe the { } day of meeting of the general assembly, shall not be so exercised as to postpone the election of the next general assembly beyond the tuesday after the first monday in november in the year , nor shall such power ever be by any future legislature so exercised as to extend the term of any office beyond the regular period named in said constitution; and the said general assembly shall by joint resolution consent to this condition before this act shall take effect." this language was at once taken to mean that congress would undertake to empower the legislature of georgia to extend the terms of the members of the georgia legislature and of the governor, elected in april of , by two years, on the ground that the "state" government of georgia was still provisional, and would so remain until the passage of this act, and that these terms would, therefore, not really begin until the passage of this act. the conservative republicans as well as the democrats repudiated this interpretation of the powers of congress to extend, or to authorize the "state" legislature to extend, the terms of the members of the legislature and of "state" officers as an unprecedented usurpation. some of them repudiated the idea that there could be a provisional "state" government, and declared that any further legislation in regard to the reconstruction of georgia was unnecessary, since the act of june th, , had restored georgia to her position as a "state" of the union, along with north carolina, south carolina, louisiana, alabama, and florida, upon certain conditions, all of which georgia had fulfilled, just as the others had done, and since all the others had been admitted to the enjoyment of all of their rights and privileges as "states" of the union without any further legislation than the act of june th, . { } there is no doubt that the butler amendment meant, and was intended by its author to mean, just what was charged by the conservatives. general butler at last acknowledged and avowed it, and attempted to justify it. but he was unable to rally a majority to sustain it, and he withdrew it in the face of an amendment offered by mr. bingham on the th, which provided that nothing contained in the bill should be construed either to vacate any of the "state" offices in georgia, or to extend the terms of the present holders of them beyond the time provided in the "state" constitution, or deprive the people of georgia of the right under their "state" constitution of electing members of their legislature in the year . this amendment was passed on the th of march, and the bill as thus amended was passed by the house of representatives, and sent to the senate on the same day. it was immediately referred to the judiciary committee of that body and on the next day, the th, it was reported back to the senate by this committee, without amendment. the senate now considered it in committee of the whole from this time to april th, and when it was reported to the senate it had been changed to a bill which declared the existing government of georgia to be provisional and subject to the provisions of the reconstruction acts of ; ordered an election in georgia on the th day of november, , for members of the "state" legislature as provided for in the "state" constitution of ; ordered the assembly of this legislature on the th of december, , and its organization preparatory to the admission of the "state" to representation in congress; declared that the powers and functions of the members of the existing legislature should cease on the th day of december, ; and made it the duty of the { } president of the united states, in case of domestic violence in any municipality in the "state," reported to him by the legislature or governor of the state, to suppress by military power such domestic violence, and "to exercise all such powers and inflict such punishments as may by the laws, or the rules and articles of war be exercised or inflicted in case of insurrection or invasion." the senate concurred in the recommendations of the committee of the whole, and added a provision repealing that part of the act of march d, , which prohibited the organizing of any militia force in georgia. [sidenote: the final restoration of georgia to her federal relations.] in this form and with this content the bill was returned to the house. here it was again debated, off and on, until june th, when it was finally agreed upon with the following contents: "that the state of georgia having complied with the reconstruction acts, and the fourteenth and fifteenth articles of amendment to the constitution of the united states having been ratified in good faith by a legal legislature of said state, it is hereby declared that the state of georgia is entitled to representation in the congress of the united states. but nothing in this act contained shall be construed to deprive the people of georgia of the right to an election for members of the general assembly of said state, as provided for in the constitution thereof," and "that so much of the act of march d, , as prohibits the organization, arming, or calling into service of the militia forces in the states of georgia, mississippi, texas and virginia be, and the same is, hereby repealed." the senate disagreed to the bill in this form and with these contents, and asked for a conference committee. the house agreed and appointed members. the conference committee agreed upon the bill as { } perfected by the house with the addition to the second section of these words: "and nothing in this or any other act of congress shall be construed to affect the term to which any officer has been appointed or any member of the general assembly elected, as prescribed by the constitution of the state of georgia." both the senate and the house accepted and concurred in the recommendations of the committee, and the bill, as thus perfected, became law on the th day of july, . this bill terminated the era of reconstruction legislation by congress, and at the next session of congress, the session of - , the senators and representatives from georgia were admitted to their seats, the senate admitting those chosen to that body in july of , messrs. hill and miller. the attempt of governor bullock to prolong the terms of the members of the legislature and of the officers of the "state" government was decidedly disapproved of by president grant's administration, and an election was held for members and county officers and for representatives in congress in december of . the white residents of the "state" stood well together, and carried the election by a large majority against the republicans. so soon as the result was known governor bullock, whose term had still two more years to run, abandoned his office and left the "state," and georgia was thus early rescued from negro domination, or rather "carpet-bag" domination through negro suffrage. her harder experiences during the years from to had worked out to her advantage, in that it brought the respectable and capable portion of her white citizens together earlier than was the case in the other reconstructed commonwealths similarly situated. [sidenote: negro rule in the south from the point of view of political science and ethnical principle.] from the point of view of a sound political science the imposition of universal negro suffrage upon the { } southern communities, in some of which the negroes were in large majority, was one of the "blunder-crimes" of the century. there is something natural in the subordination of an inferior race to a superior race, even to the point of the enslavement of the inferior race, but there is nothing natural in the opposite. it is entirely unnatural, ruinous, and utterly demoralizing and barbarizing to both races. it is difficult to believe that the creation of such a relation between the blacks and whites of the south was at all within the intentions of the framers of the reconstruction acts. they were irritated because these communities would not accord civil equality to the freedmen, would not accept the proposed fourteenth amendment, and had passed acts which created a new species of slavery or quasi-slavery of the blacks. they thought they were placed between the alternative of continuing military government in the south indefinitely, or giving the negro the political power with which to maintain his civil rights. opposition to military government in time of peace was an ingrained principle of the american people, and there was a large part of people of the north, nearly all adhering to the republican party, who believed that manhood suffrage was the true principle of a sound political science. and it was thought that the only way of creating "states" in the south which would sustain the republican party was by giving the negro the suffrage. it is not surprising, then, that they adopted the course which they did. there was a third alternative, as has already been pointed out, viz., the placing of these communities under territorial civil government and keeping them there until the spirit of loyalty to the nation was established and the principle and practice of civil equality among all citizens was made thoroughly secure. { } but, as has been said, the idea that these communities were "states" of the union, notwithstanding their rebellion against the united states and their attempted secession from the union, seemed to prohibit the following of this course, the only true and sound course. and so these unhappy communities were given over, as sham "states" of the union, to the rule of the ignorant and vicious part of their population, to be sustained therein by the military power of the nation, under the excuse that that part alone was loyal. a period of darkness now settled down upon these unhappy communities blacker and more hopeless than the worst experiences of the war. the conduct of the men who now appeared upon the scene as the creators of the new south was so tyrannic, corrupt, mean and vulgar as to repel the historian from attempting any detailed account of their doings, and incline him to the vaguest outline. moreover it is most difficult to fix upon reliable facts in this period of confusion and political night, illuminated only by the lurid gleams of passion and hatred. it is best for the north, best for the south, best for the whole country, and best for the world that this terrible mistake of the north and this terrible degradation of the south should be dealt with briefly and impersonally, and that lessons of warning should be drawn from these experiences, instead of multiplying criminations and recriminations in regard to them. { } chapter xii "carpet-bag" and negro domination in the southern states between and escape of virginia, georgia and texas from negro rule--north carolina's rapid recovery from negro rule--the loyal league--origin of the k. k. k.'s--methods of the ku-klux--periods in the history of negro rule--the act for the enforcement of the new amendments--the corruption in the new "state" governments--the supplemental enforcement act--the president's proclamation of march d, --the ku-klux act of april th, --interference of the united states military power in the affairs of south carolina--the president's proclamation of may d, --the president's proclamation to the people of south carolina--the ku-klux trials--corruption in the "state" governments of the south--the revolt in the republican party--the liberal republican convention of --acceptance of the liberal republican candidates by the democrats--division in the democratic party--the republican platform and nominees--the republican triumph--events in alabama--events in louisiana--the downward course between and --the elections of --the change in alabama, arkansas and texas--the status in south carolina in --the day of complete deliverance--the status in mississippi in --fiat money and the resumption of specie payments--the inflation bill of and the veto of it by the president. [sidenote: escape of virginia, georgia and texas from negro rule.] virginia, texas and georgia had been in no great hurry, as we have seen, to exchange military government exercised by the white officers of the united states army for "state" government under the electorate proposed in the reconstruction acts. in this they were wise. the army officers did not, as a rule, sympathize with the radical { } movements of the republicans in congress, and they so executed the duties imposed upon them as to cause the least suffering and inconvenience. their rule, though exercised under a repellent title, was in fact far milder than, and far preferable to, the civil government of the adventurer and the negro. they mingled socially with the old families, and, in many cases, married their fair daughters. the common soldiers from the northern "states" also fraternized with their race relatives in the south. they did not fancy the black soldiers either of the regular army or the "state" militia, and many were the cases in which they intervened between the defenceless ex-confederates and the brutal blacks in blue. it is even said by men who have every opportunity to know that many of them doffed their uniforms on election day, went to the polls, and voted the democratic ticket. in spite of the threats of congress, and the ever-increasing conditions imposed by that body upon the permission to resume the "state" status, these three communities held out under military rule until so many of their leading citizens had been amnestied by congress and made again eligible to office and mandate, and until so much better provisions concerning the enfranchisement of the ex-confederates had been secured, as to put them in a far better position to resume "state" government than was the case two years before. moreover, these communities had larger white than black populations. after their full restoration, consequently, virginia and georgia escaped largely the suffering experienced by most of the others, and texas also managed to pull through the years from to with only about a four-fold increase of taxation, and the creation of a debt of only about , , of dollars, when she reached the period of union of almost all her best citizens in the { } democratic party, which, in the election of richard coke as governor in , and of a majority of the legislative members, permanently triumphed in texas. mississippi also had held back in and , as we have seen, in order to secure better terms for the ex-confederates in the enfranchising and disfranchising provisions of the "state" constitution, and by doing so had accomplished this result. but mississippi was one of the three southern communities in which the negro population far outnumbered the white. mississippi was not, for this reason chiefly, so fortunate as virginia, texas and georgia. she was obliged, with south carolina and louisiana, to pass through the fiery furnace in order to fuse the respectable white elements in her population into a single political party with a well-understood and a well-determined purpose. [sidenote: north carolina's rapid recovery from negro rule.] of all the "states" included in the congressional act of june th, , only north carolina had been fortunate enough to rid herself, before , of the rule of the adventurers and their ignorant negro support. this happened because matters were driven to a crisis sooner here than elsewhere. the legislature of had proceeded promptly to authorize the issue of $ , , of bonds, when the whole taxable property of the "state" was not over $ , , . from the first moment the people were threatened with confiscation, and when to this was added the legislative act, known as the schaffner law, authorizing the governor to suspend civil government, and institute martial law in any part of the "state," and when he actually undertook to do so in three counties of the "state," the whites came together in the election of , captured the legislature and redeemed the "state" from the hideous tyranny with which it was threatened. { } [sidenote: the loyal league.] already before the reconstruction acts were passed, the political adventurers in the south had begun organizing the negroes into secret bodies, known later as the union or loyal league. the members of these bodies were sworn to obey the decisions of the organization and to execute them. the original idea seems to have been a combination for protection against bands of lawless white people, and for mutual aid and assistance in the hard struggle for existence to which the freedmen were now exposed. the league soon took on, however, a political character, and became a sort of republican party organization in the south. [sidenote: origin of the k. k. k.'s.] it is difficult to determine whether the ku-klux organization preceded that of the loyal league and provoked it or not. so far as we know, both of them were first heard of in the year . it is probable that the ku-klux had its origin a little farther north than the loyal league. it is said by those who profess to know most about it, that the first appearance of this body was in one of the southern counties of tennessee, giles county; that it was first organized by a lot of young loafers, probably ex-confederate soldiers, who lived in the town of pulaski, the county town of that county; and that their first purpose was the playing of practical jokes upon the ignorant and superstitious negroes of the neighborhood. they operated in the night-time, went disguised, travelled on horseback, their horses being also disguised, and were oath-bound to execute the decisions of the organization, and to protect each other. whatever may have been its origin, this body also soon found its political usefulness. it soon proved to be a powerful means for intimidating and terrorizing the negroes, and also white men acting with the negroes. { } [sidenote: methods of the ku-klux.] after the reconstruction acts were passed and put into operation, and especially after the southern communities were reorganized as "states" under them, and the military governments gave way to the "state" governments, this organization spread all over the south, and contributed much by its violent and unlawful methods toward wringing finally the new "state" governments of the south from the hands of the negroes and the "carpet-baggers." as it extended, its methods became more lawless and violent. its members whipped, plundered, burned, abducted, imprisoned, tortured and murdered, for the prime purpose of keeping the negroes from exercising suffrage and holding office. they were protected by many respectable people who would not have participated personally in their nefarious work. and they had confederates everywhere, who, upon the witness stand and in the jury box, would perjure themselves to prevent their conviction and punishment. it was even said that there were many cases where members of these klans were able to have themselves subpoenaed as witnesses, or summoned as jurors, in the trials of their comrades, and that they were sworn to perjure themselves, if necessary, to clear each other. the respectable people of the south tried to make it appear that these lawless bands were simply freebooters, such as generally infest a country for a time after a period of war, and had no political meaning or purpose whatsoever; and it is probably true that the klans never went beyond county organization, any wider bond than the county organization, or klan, being rather the moral bond of a common purpose; but it cannot be well questioned now that they had one purpose at least in common, and that that was a chief purpose with them all, viz., to terrorize the negro out of the exercise of his { } newly-granted privileges of suffrage and office-holding, and keep him in his place as a menial. [sidenote: the naturalness of these organizations.] the appearance of both the loyal leagues and the ku-klux klans in the manner in which they appeared, and at the time when they appeared, ought not to cause any surprise to the student of history. under the reconstruction of the southern communities as pursued before march of it seemed as if the freedmen were to be left to the tender mercies of their former masters, irritated against them by the act of the north in emancipating them, and by failure in war to prevent it. it was entirely natural, not to say praiseworthy, for them to combine for the defence of their newly found rights, and for mutual assistance in the hard battle against want which they were now obliged to wage. and it was no less natural that they should look for the intellectual power necessary for forming such combinations to the white men from the north who had helped them out of their bondage, and had given them food and clothes in their hunger and nakedness. and, again, when by the reconstruction acts and the restoration of martial law in the south under them, congress turned the tables upon the southern white people, and placed the ignorant barbarians in political control of them, and made every open attempt to resist this control a penal offence, it was also rather natural, though not praiseworthy, that men should have bound themselves together by secret oaths to do anything and everything in their power to defeat this blunder-crime against civilization. whether natural or not, it always happens when such attempts are made, and it is always to be expected. [sidenote: the opportunity for political adventurers.] but to return to the order of the narrative. the formation of the union leagues in and enabled { } the negroes to vote in these years for delegates to the constitutional conventions required under the reconstruction acts, and to vote upon the ratification of the constitutions framed by them, and to participate in the election for the "state" officers and legislative members under those constitutions, with the help and under the direction of these organizations, and to operate the newly established "state" governments under the same direction. this opened the way for the "carpet-bag" governments in the southern "states," whose deeds may be now briefly narrated. [sidenote: periods in the history of negro rule.] the landing places in this story may be placed at the years , , and . the year is the date of the national revolt against the policy of the washington government in the affairs of the reconstructed "states." the year is the date when some of the reconstructed "states" succeeded in overthrowing carpet-bag and negro rule, and the democrats succeeded in electing a majority of members in the lower house of congress. and the year is the date of the complete overthrow of that rule and the complete establishment of the "solid south" under white democratic government. [sidenote: the act for the enforcement of the new amendments.] before all of the southern communities had been admitted to representation in congress, and before any of them except tennessee had gotten fairly under way with their new "state" governments, a bill was presented in congress to provide for the enforcement of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution of the united states. it will be remembered that these amendments authorized the exercise of power by the united states government against "state" action only. they read: "no _state_ shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of a citizen of { } the united states; nor shall any _state_ deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"; and "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any _state_ on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude." it is entirely clear from this language that, in the enforcement of these new provisions of the constitution, the united states government must direct its powers against the action of the "states," respectively, through their legislators and officials, and against that only. but in this bill which became law on the st of may, , congress enacted penalties not only against "state" officers and agents for the violation of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, but severe penalties against any _person_ within the "states," as well as the territories, who should undertake to deprive by unlawful means any other person of his right to qualify and vote at any election, and against any _person_ who under color of any law, statute or ordinance, regulation or custom, should undertake to deprive any other person of his civil rights and civil equality. congress also, in this act, vested the jurisdiction over such cases in the united states courts and authorized the president of the united states to enforce their decisions by the aid of the united states army and navy if necessary. now, while it may probably be rightly claimed that the _thirteenth_ amendment to the constitution, which reads: "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the united states, or in any place subject to their jurisdiction," empowers congress to make laws protecting the civil rights and civil equality of persons { } within the "states" against infringement by other _persons_, and to invest the officers of the united states, both judicial and executive, with the power to enforce these laws, since in this amendment the prohibition of slavery or involuntary servitude is not directed against "state" action solely, but against any attempt made by anybody to create an involuntary servitude, it cannot on the other hand be claimed, with any show of correct interpretation, that the _fourteenth_ amendment warrants the exercise of any such power by the united states government, and it is entirely out of the question to claim that the fifteenth amendment protects the right of a person, within a state, to vote against the attempt of another person or of other persons to infringe the same, or even against the "state" itself to do so, except it be on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. [sidenote: criticism of the act.] there is not the slightest doubt in the mind of any good constitutional lawyer, at the present time, that congress overstepped its constitutional powers in that part of the enforcement act of may st, , which related to the exercise of the suffrage, and trenched upon the reserved powers of the "states." the excuse for it was that lawless bands of white men, the ku-klux klans and the like, were intimidating the blacks, and in the approaching elections of the autumn of would prevent them from voting. but that was a matter for the "state" governments to look out for, and the "state" governments in the south were, at the time of the passage of this act, with the exception of tennessee, in the hands of the republicans. [sidenote: the corruption in the new "state" governments.] meanwhile the new "state" governments had well begun their career of corruption, shame and vulgarity. they were plundering the treasury, increasing the taxes, selling franchises, issuing bonds, and celebrating { } high carnival everywhere and all the time. the gentlemen and political leaders of the old school, and the old political class, of the south looked on aghast, with mingled feelings of bitter degradation and anger, and the hotspurs and desperadoes were stirred to deeds of intimidation and violence. there is little doubt that some negroes were terrified out of exercising the suffrage in the election of . not yet, however, had enough of the disqualified whites been amnestied, or enough intimidation been exercised, or sufficient unity among the whites been attained, to work the overthrow of "carpet-bag," negro rule. enough, however, was threatened to influence the republican congress to proceed to more complete, if not more extreme, measures for the protection of the negro in his civil and political rights, and to move the president to garrison the principal points in the southern "states" with united states soldiers. [sidenote: the supplemental enforcement act.] the congress passed the act of the th of february, , which so supplemented the act of may st, , as to place the whole control of the registrations and elections when and where representatives to congress should be chosen, in the hands of united states officers, the supervisors, and the deputy marshals, commissioners and judges of the united states courts. it may be claimed that congress, under the power to regulate the manner of holding congressional elections vested in it by article i., section , of the constitution, was authorized to pass this law, provided it confined the action of it to the congressional registration and election. but since the "state" elections were held at the same time and place, and under the same control and direction as the congressional, it was inevitable that the control of the united states officers would be exercised, either directly { } or indirectly, over those also. and this was unquestionably the chief purpose of the act, so far as its execution in the southern "states" was concerned. [sidenote: the president's message of march d, .] but this was not yet enough in the views of the administration. in the two years of his incumbency of the presidential office, general grant had fallen into the arms of the radical republicans, who appeared to be in large majority, and the usual manoeuvering had begun for the second term. upon the basis of information, which turned out to be very insufficient and unreliable, the president, on the d of march, , addressed a message to congress, in which he affirmed that life and property were insecure in some of the "states," and the carrying of the mails and the collection of the revenue dangerous; that the power to correct these evils was not possessed by the "state" governments; and that it was doubtful if the executive of the united states, under existing laws, had the power to meet these exigencies; and asked congress to pass such laws as would enable him to cope with the situation. [sidenote: the ku-klux act of april th, .] congress answered this appeal with the noted, not to say notorious, ku-klux act of april th, , in which congress simply threw to the winds the constitutional distribution of powers between the "states" and the united states government in respect to civil liberty, crime and punishment, and assumed to legislate freely and without limitation for the preservation of civil and political rights within the "states," and for the punishment of the infraction of the same by individual persons conspiring together for that end, and for the punishment of the conspiracy alone, whether the infraction or the conspiracy was executed upon, or directed against, officers of the government or merely private persons; and { } in which the act of a combination of private individuals defying successfully the constituted authorities of the united states in a given "state," or those of the "state" concerned, was declared to be rebellion against the united states, upon the happening, and during the continuance, of which the president might suspend the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus within such districts as he, by proclamation, might designate. [sidenote: the unconstitutionality of the act.] the first part of this act was, unquestionably, an unconstitutional encroachment upon the powers of the "states," in so far as it is related to the protection of political rights against infraction, or against conspiracy for the purpose of infraction, by private persons. the second part was probably within the powers of congress, but it was a most extreme use of its powers. the "state" governments in the south were in the hands of the republican "carpet-baggers" and republican negroes, and there is no question that the governors and legislatures of these "states" were quick enough to call in the aid of united states troops long before it was necessary to do so. moreover, the militia of these "states" was composed almost entirely of negroes, and the whites were forbidden to keep arms. under such circumstances this act of congress empowering the president to establish martial law upon his own motion in time of peace within a "state" when combinations of private persons had successfully defied, in any instance, the laws of the "state" was a very stiff measure, and unwarranted by the facts of the situation. [sidenote: interference of the united states military power in the affairs of south carolina.] as a matter of fact, the governor of south carolina had asked the president to give him united states soldiers for the protection of the "state" and its citizens against domestic violence, and the president had, on the th of march just preceding the passage of this act, issued his proclamation commanding the persons { } composing the unlawful combinations to disperse and retire to their abodes within twenty days. this was the method prescribed by the constitution for bringing the military power of the united states to the assistance of a "state" government whenever the "state" government might not be able to maintain itself against domestic violence. there is no doubt that general scott of ohio, whilom officer in the union army and in the freedmen's bureau, the "carpet-bag," radical republican governor of south carolina, attributed the most traitorous character possible to these combinations, exaggerated the strength and extent of them to the highest possible degree, and called for united states troops to suppress them at the earliest possible moment. the most trustworthy men in south carolina affirmed then, and have continued to affirm to this day, that those combinations had no traitorous intent whatsoever, but were simply defensive in their nature; that the wholesale pardoning of criminals by the governor and the vagrancy of the negroes had filled the country with desperadoes who made life, property, and female honor insecure; and that, as the militia was composed of the friends of these fiends, and the "state" government itself would not protect the white citizens, it was absolutely necessary for the white people to create some means of united action in self-defence and take the law into their own hands. statements to this effect were made by one judge carpenter, a republican "state" official of south carolina, before the investigating committee of congress in . [sidenote: the president's proclamation of may d, .] on the d day of may following the passage of the ku-klux act, the president issued his general proclamation warning the people that the law applied to the whole country, but particularly exhorting the people { } in the newly reconstructed "states" to suppress all unlawful combinations by their own voluntary efforts, and declaring, that while he was reluctant to make use of the extraordinary powers conferred on him by the act, he would nevertheless do so if it should be found necessary for securing all the citizens of the united states in "the peaceful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed to them by the constitution and the laws." [sidenote: the president's proclamation to the people of south carolina.] on the th of the following october, the president directed his proclamation to the people of south carolina alone, declaring that hostile combinations of persons making armed resistance to the civil authorities of the "state" and the united states, in their attempt to secure the people in their rights guaranteed by the constitution of the united states and the congressional act of april th, , too strong to be overcome by these authorities, existed in the counties of york, marion, chester, laurens, newberry, fairfield, lancaster and chesterfield, and commanding the members of these combinations to deliver their arms and accoutrements into the hands of the united states officers in those districts, and disperse to their abodes within five days. [sidenote: suspension of the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus by the president in certain counties of south carolina.] at the end of the five days of grace, the president issued a third proclamation, declaring that the members of these unlawful combinations in the places mentioned in his former proclamation had not dispersed and had not delivered up their arms and accoutrements as ordered, and suspending the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus in the counties of south carolina above designated. on the d day of the following november a fourth proclamation was published, in which the president { } acknowledged his error in including the county of marion in the list of counties in which the privileges of the writ were suspended, but declared that the situation in union county was such as to warrant the suspension of those privileges in that county also, and warned the insurgents in that county to deliver up their arms and accoutrements and disperse to their abodes within five days. this warning not having been obeyed, according to the views of the president, a final proclamation was issued by him on the th day of november suspending the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus in union county. [sidenote: the ku-klux trials.] in execution of the act of april th, and in pursuance of these proclamations, the president now sent a strong force of united states troops into the district composed of the nine counties mentioned, the commanders of which arrested some five or six hundred persons, kept them in confinement so long as they pleased, and procured the arraignment of some of them before the united states courts, where a number of them were convicted and sentenced to fine or imprisonment or to both. whether there was any necessity for the exercise of such harshness as this is a grave question. it was felt at the south to be an abominable outrage, and the democrats of the north held the same opinion. more ominous than all this, however, was the fact that many leading republicans raised their voices in disapproval of it, and of the law which authorized it. [sidenote: corruption in the "state" governments of the south.] [sidenote: in south carolina.] during the year , in addition to all this, there came to the knowledge of congress and of the people of the north the frightful and scandalous corruption of the "state" governments in the south. it is very difficult to get at distinct and reliable facts upon a subject which officials undertake to cover up and keep shrouded in darkness. { } but the record of these doings in south carolina was something as follows. the house of representatives, the majority of the members of which were negroes, and the presiding officer of which was the notorious f. j. moses, spent ninety-five thousand dollars to refurnish its assembly hall, where the aristocrats of south carolina had never spent over five thousand. clocks costing six hundred dollars each, sofas two hundred dollars each, chairs at sixty dollars each, desks at a hundred and twenty-five dollars each, mirrors at six hundred dollars each, cuspidors at eight dollars each--such were the items of the bill. in the four years from to , two hundred thousand dollars were expended for furniture for the legislative chambers alone. then came the bills of supplies, sundries and incidentals, amounting in one session to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one hundred and twenty-five thousand of it for a free restaurant, lunch counter and bar, at which the members and their friends fared most royally, eating, drinking and smoking, and paying not a penny therefor directly, nor indirectly, since many, if not most, of the members of that legislature paid no stiver of the taxes. then came the printing bills, averaging more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year where ten thousand dollars would have been more than enough to pay every legitimate expense of that kind. then came the sale of franchises of all kinds, and the pledging of the credit of the "state" in the form of bonds to aid all sorts of enterprises pretended to be set on foot, or promoted as is now said, by combinations of legislators or officials or their friends. in the "state" debt was about five millions of dollars, with almost enough assets to pay it. in the assets had disappeared and the debt was more than eighteen { } millions, and nothing worth mentioning to show for it. and all this when the "state" taxes had been raised from less than a half million of dollars a year on a valuation of over four hundred millions to two millions of dollars a year on a valuation of less than two hundred millions of property. [sidenote: in louisiana.] in louisiana, under the leadership of the brilliant young adventurer, henry c. warmoth of illinois, the financial history of the "state" was even more scandalous. during the four years of warmoth's governorship, from to , the average annual expenditure of the "state" government was about six millions of dollars, when, measured by the previous experiences of the "state," six hundred thousand dollars would have been ample to defray all legitimate expenses. at the beginning of warmoth's administration the debt of the "state" was between six and seven millions of dollars, with more than enough assets to extinguish it. at the end of the four years of his power, in , the debt was nearly fifty millions of dollars, the assets had all disappeared, and there was nothing worth mentioning to show for the one or the other. in the counties and municipalities of both "states" the corruption was equally rampant, shameless, and vulgar. it is impossible to obtain exact figures in regard to it, or to estimate with any degree of exactness, or even probability, the amounts stolen and made away with. in the other reconstructed "states" where the adventurers and the negroes held sway, the "state" governments worked along the same lines, though not to the same appalling extent. it was the most soul-sickening spectacle that americans had ever been called upon to behold. every principle of the old american polity was here reversed. in place of government by the most intelligent and { } virtuous part of the people for the benefit of the governed, here was government by the most ignorant and vicious part of the population for the benefit, the vulgar, materialistic, brutal benefit of the governing set. [sidenote: the revolt in the republican party.] it is no subject of surprise or wonder that, confronted with these frightful results of radical republican policy and administration in the south, such republicans as horace greeley, charles francis adams, lyman trumbull, david davis, carl schurz, gratz brown, stanley matthews, george hoadly, j. r. spaulding, george w. julian, horace white, david a. wells, and the like, turned with disgust from the nauseating transactions and resolved to do what was in their power to put an end to it all. even the radical, but honest, sumner gave his adherence to the movement for a change of the administration, as the only way to check the terrible corruption which was creeping over the land. sumner, it is true, had been made to feel personally the heavy hand of the administration. he had been dropped, the preceding year, from the chairmanship of the committee on foreign relations at the requirement of the administration, because he had so strongly and successfully opposed the santo domingo policy of the president and his "aide-de-camp." but he had opposed that because he saw in it corruption, robbery and bloodshed. [sidenote: the liberal republican convention of .] the liberal republicans were bolters, of course, from the regular organization, and there was no sufficient opportunity for them to construct a party organization for themselves in time for the presidential election of . a general call for the leaders among them to meet in mass convention was issued from a "state" convention of liberal { } republicans in missouri, and the meeting took place at cincinnati on the st day of may, . [sidenote: their platform.] the platform which it presented to the people demanded the removal, at once, of all political disabilities from the white men of the south, the maintenance of impartial suffrage and of equal civil rights, the cessation of military rule in the south and the supremacy of civil over military power, the reform of the civil service, and a speedy return to specie payments. many of the liberal republicans were inclined toward a much more moderate tariff policy, but out of respect for the opinions of those among them who were strong protectionists, they abandoned their attempt to insert any doctrine on this subject in the platform. the protectionists were equally considerate, and so the new party went to the country uncommitted upon this very important question. [sidenote: their nominees.] it was at first supposed that the choice of the convention for the presidency would lay between judge david davis of illinois, charles francis adams of massachusetts and senator lyman trumbull of illinois. but an unexpected hostility of a very bitter nature soon developed between the supporters of davis and adams, and rendered the nomination of either of them impossible. this was evident on the first ballot, on which mr. greeley, senator trumbull and gratz brown each received more votes than judge davis, and together more votes than mr. adams. it was thus manifest that the western men would not take mr. adams and the eastern men would not take judge davis. the compromise was quickly made upon greeley, and gratz brown was put with him upon the ticket. it was an unfortunate selection. the country did not want any brilliant experiments at the moment. it wanted to settle down to business. and it was to be { } foreseen that it would not be willing to make a newspaper man president at such a juncture. [sidenote: acceptance of the liberal republican candidates by the democrats.] but stranger than the fact that the prince of protectionists was now running for the presidency on a platform which ignored protection, was the fact that the democratic party, strengthened again by its southern wing, now accepted the platform of the liberal republicans, and in convention at baltimore, in july following the cincinnati meeting, nominated the liberal republican candidates for the presidency and the vice-presidency as its own candidates. the action of the democrats, both as to the platform and the candidates, was almost unanimous, and it would be ungracious to express any suspicion of its sincerity. the change of profession on the part of the southern democrats was very great indeed, so great as to be surprising, but they had evidently come to the conclusion that it was useless to contend with the north any longer against the civil and political rights of the freedmen, and that it was best for all concerned to accept the inevitable, and try to put themselves in the most advantageous position possible for adjusting the relations of their section to it. [sidenote: mr. greeley and the democrats.] mr. greeley was, indeed, in strange company, but the company had come to him. he had not gone to them. he welcomed their support, and became contaminated by it in the eyes of a vast majority of the people of the north. his own great ambition to be president also caused him to say and to do some imprudent and undignified things. more than all, the time had not yet come for the great change. the country was fast approaching a financial crisis, and any shock would bring it on with such sudden violence as to make it widespread and disastrous. { } [sidenote: division in the democratic party.] as the last move, the "straight-out" democrats bolted the ticket in september, and at a convention held in louisville, kentucky, nominated charles o'conor of new york for president, and john quincy adams of massachusetts for vice-president. [sidenote: the republican platform and nominees.] the september and october elections in vermont, maine, pennsylvania, ohio, and indiana demonstrated the hopelessness of the opposition to the radical republicans. they had held their convention in philadelphia in the early part of june, had issued a platform which simply asserted the righteousness of what they had done and the determination to persist in the course heretofore followed, and had nominated general grant for re-election to the presidency with senator henry wilson, of massachusetts, for his running mate. [sidenote: the republican triumph.] in the election, they swept all of the northern "states" by heavy popular majorities, and with their election machinery in the southern "states" they captured a majority of these also. in those southern "states" which were free from carpet-bag negro rule the greeley electors were chosen, that is in maryland, kentucky, missouri, tennessee, georgia and texas. in the north, a very large number of democrats had failed to go to the polls. they could hardly have elected greeley, however, had they all voted for him. they were pretty sure of this, and they took the opportunity of administering a rebuke to their chiefs for not nominating candidates who were members of their own party. [sidenote: the effect of the triumph of the republicans.] while there is no doubt that the re-election of general grant, and the election of a strong republican majority in congress, quieted the mind of the north, there is also no doubt that they caused great { } discouragement among the white people of the south, since they operated as an encouragement to the adventurers and the negroes to persevere in their corrupt and conscienceless management of the "state" governments. in several of the reconstructed "states" the democrats had made strong efforts to secure control of the "state" governments. the amnesty act of may d, , had removed the disqualifications of the fourteenth amendment from all the southern leaders, except such as had been members of the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh congresses, or had held judicial, military, naval, or diplomatic office under the united states, or had been heads of departments in ministerial office. a large number of these leaders had thus been placed in a position to participate as candidates for office and legislative position in the election, and to aid greatly in the work of rescuing their "states" from negro republican rule. in alabama and louisiana they had very nearly succeeded. in alabama they had elected the governor and a majority of the members to the lower house of the legislature in the autumn of , and in they claimed to have elected a majority of the members to both houses. [sidenote: events in alabama.] in alabama, the democratic members-elect of the legislature convened in the capitol, and the republican members-elect in the court-house. the democratic governor, lindsay, recognized the democratic legislature, and the democratic legislature then canvassed the votes for governor and declared the republican candidate, d. p. lewis, elected. lewis then recognized the republican legislature, and telegraphed to opelika for united states soldiers to come to montgomery. they arrived by the next train, and, backed by these, the governor and his friends, in and { } out of the legislature, succeeded in constituting a legislature with a small republican majority in both houses; and the whites fell back again under black rule, discouraged and exhausted by the exertions and the failure to escape from it. [sidenote: events in louisiana.] in louisiana the events were far more extraordinary and violent. warmoth's rule was approaching its end, and his republican enemies, what was known as the custom house faction, the united states officials, were fairly panting to get at him. to foil them, he went over to the democrats and promised to give them a fair chance to elect their candidate for governor and their candidates for the legislature. for this he expected protection from them against the custom house gang, to whom he had denied what they had conceived to be their proper share of the public plunder, and who, if in possession of the "state" government, would make him answer for it. warmoth supposed he was able with his election machinery to give the "state" to the democrats whether the voters should do so or not. the election took place at the same time as the presidential election, november th, . the returns were sent by the supervisors and commissioners of elections to warmoth, and he delivered them to his returning board, consisting of himself, the secretary of state, f. j. herron, and one john lynch; the other two members of the board as constituted by the legislature, by the act of , viz., lieutenant-governor pinchback and one anderson, being disqualified from serving, since both of them were candidates for office at this election. the governor had his suspicions aroused about the loyalty of both herron and lynch to him before the count took place, and having the legal power to remove herron, he did so at once and appointed one john wharton, a friend upon whom he could rely, in { } herron's place. lynch now refused to act with them, and herron denied the power of the governor to dismiss him from the secretaryship of state, and from his _ex officio_ membership in the returning board. warmoth and wharton proceeded, however, to supply the place of lynch, as they might do under the law, and herron and lynch proceeded to supply the place of warmoth. the warmoth board had the returns, and it was also generally felt that the democratic candidate for governor, john mcenery, had been chosen by the voters. moreover, the right of herron to retain the office of secretary of state was immediately brought before the supreme court of the "state," and the court gave its decision against herron's contention. it seemed now certain that the warmoth returning board would declare mcenery to have been elected governor. but the republican candidate, w. p. kellogg, then a senator from louisiana in congress, was watchful and resourceful. he secured from united states district judge durell an injunction which forbade the warmoth board to do anything except in the presence of the lynch board, and forbade mcenery from claiming his election under the returns which might be given out by the warmoth board. [sidenote: warmoth and durell.] warmoth met this by a move which was equally a _coup de surprise_. the legislature had at its last session passed a law vesting the power to select the members of the returning board in the senate. the governor had not signed this bill, and probably never intended to sign it, since it proposed to take the control of the board out of his hands, but it now seemed to furnish him a way of escape from durell's order. he hastily signed the bill and promulgated it as law, and as the senate was not in session, proceeded to appoint the members of the new board himself, under the power of the governor to make temporary appointments { } to office when the senate was not in session. he appointed one dr. feriet chairman of the board, and put the election returns in his hands. this board declared that mcenery had been elected governor and that the greeley electors had been chosen. the governor published these decisions officially on the th day of december, and the affair seemed to have been closed. but to the surprise of everyone concerned, and of the whole country, in the middle of the night following, judge durell issued an order to the united states marshal, s. b. packard, to take possession of the capitol and hold it at the pleasure of the judge against all unlawful bodies attempting to convene therein. the judge claimed that warmoth had committed a contempt against his court in the returning board proceeding, and he declared that the lynch board was the legal body. his order furthermore required the commander of the united states troops to furnish a detachment of soldiers to sustain the united states marshal in taking possession of the capitol, and in enforcing the lynch board's canvass and decision. a more palpable outrage upon the lawful powers of a "state" could hardly have been conceived. the judge had not a scintilla of authority upon which to rest his proceeding. it is claimed that he was drunk when he made the order. but this can hardly have been true, that is he could not have been any more than ordinarily drunk, since the order was not withdrawn when he became ostensibly sober again, but was made the basis of a proceeding which lasted through many days, and the results of which were the counting in of kellogg and of a republican legislature by the lynch board, the immediate instalment of the lynch board legislature, the almost immediate impeachment of warmoth by it and his removal from the governorship, the installation of the { } lieutenant-governor, the negro pinchback, in his seat, the recognition of the lynch board legislature and of pinchback by the president of the united states as the lawful legislature and executive of louisiana, and the inauguration of kellogg as governor at the end of the warmoth-pinchback term. if this was all the work of a drunken spree, it must have been a very long one, and there must have been many participants in it besides the judge. the warmoth board governor and legislature undertook to set up government also, sustained as they undoubtedly were both by the law, and by public opinion in louisiana and probably throughout the country, and partially organized a militia force. it was the fighting between this militia and the metropolitan police in the streets of new orleans which occasioned the suppression of the mcenery government at last by united states soldiers. [sidenote: the downward course between and .] [sidenote: the elections of .] for two years more now the government of the adventurers, based on negro support, continued in the "states" south of the tennessee line, except georgia. property was decreasing in amount and value; taxes were being doubled; and new bond issues were being made, and the bonds sold at a great reduction upon their face value, or stolen outright. but the day of deliverance was coming. the conscience of the nation had been aroused, and in the elections of the voters throughout the country delivered a stunning rebuke to the party responsible for the hideous situation in the south. it is true that other issues were influential in producing the _bouleversement_ of , especially the financial panic of and the corruption in the circles of the federal administration itself, the whiskey ring frauds, and the indian agent peculations. we must also { } remember that at this very election several of the southern "states" relieved themselves of republican rule and sent solid, or almost solid, democratic delegations to congress. but with all proper allowance for the effect of these things, there still remained, as the chief cause of the change of view in the north, the revolt of the popular conscience against being any longer dragooned into the support of the policy of the republican party in the southern "states," and the popular disgust at the everlasting "waving of the bloody shirt" whenever the dominance of that party seemed anywhere threatened. at any rate, it was a clean sweep, and from a majority of two-thirds in the forty-third congress, the republicans found themselves in possession of only about one-third of the seats in the lower house of the forty-fourth congress. [sidenote: the change in alabama, arkansas and texas.] moreover, three more of the southern "states" freed themselves, at this time, from "black republican" rule. in alabama, the respectable whites had now about all gone into the democratic ranks, and with the election of george s. houston as governor, and a legislature in large majority democratic, the "state" won at last its self-government. likewise by a similar fusion of all the respectable whites into the democratic party, a. h. garland was elected governor of arkansas and a legislature with a large democratic majority was chosen, and from that time forward the "state" government has been in the hands of its own citizens. the same result was reached in texas, where the union of the respectables of all parties upon the democratic candidates elected richard coke governor and a legislature of reputable white men. [sidenote: the status in south carolina in .] [sidenote: governor chamberlain.] even south carolina very nearly escaped her thraldom, and came near to electing a white democrat governor. as it was, she got a moderate republican for { } governor, mr. d. h. chamberlain, a northerner indeed, but a man of great ability and undoubted honesty, who did everything in his power to redeem the "state" from the miserable condition into which the errors and crimes of his predecessors had brought it. he naturally soon found himself in conflict with some of the leaders of his own party in the "state" and at washington, and was greatly impeded by them in carrying out his own purposes. at last, in , the break between him and the members of his party in the legislature was completed by the act of the legislature in electing the notorious f. j. moses, jr., and the negro, w. j. whipper, "state" judges. the governor was so incensed at this act of downright depravity that he refused to commission the two judges-elect to the judicial offices to which they had been chosen. whipper threatened to use force to gain possession of the office, and the governor issued his proclamation threatening to arrest every person who should give whipper any aid or support in this attempt as disturbers of the public peace. the governor triumphed and protected the "state" against the terrible degradation which impended over it, but his brave attitude ruined him with the radical and base elements of his party. [sidenote: the day of complete deliverance.] [sidenote: the status in mississippi in .] the day of complete deliverance was now, however, rapidly approaching. the election of in mississippi showed that the domination of the "black republicans" in the southern "state" governments could last no longer. here was a "state" in which the negro population exceeded the white very largely, but in the election of the whites finally got together and what they could not accomplish in one way they did in another. the whites organized themselves into rifle clubs, attended the republican { } meetings and insisted upon a division of the time between their own speakers and the republican speakers at these meetings. a great deal of fraud and intimidation was practised, and some violence was exercised, but always in such a manner as not to provoke the calling of united states troops to the scene. the immediate occasion of these desperate movements on the part of the whites was the treatment accorded the petition made by the taxpayers' convention of the "state" to the legislature for relief from the intolerable burdens under which the taxpayers were suffering. this petition of the th of january, , recited that between the years and the rate of "state" taxation had been raised from ten cents on the hundred dollars of assessed value of lands to one dollar and forty cents, and that in many cases the increase in the rate of the county levies had been even greater, so that the whole product of the soil was hardly sufficient to pay the taxes. the negro legislature laughed at these representations, and did not deign to consider them, much less to do anything to satisfy the frightful grievances complained of. it was now a choice between complete destruction and the employment of any means necessary to escape from it. there was no use in talking about observing the letter of the law at such a moment. the law was iniquitous and it was rapidly destroying all that was left of prosperity, civilization, morality and decency. if it would not yield, it had to be broken. the movement was successful. it was really a revolution. it resulted in the election of a democratic legislature in november of , the disruption of the republican party in the "state," the framing of an impeachment against the republican governor, ames, his resignation and departure from the "state," and the accession of the { } democrat, john m. stone, to the gubernatorial office. it was thus that the eventful year was introduced, and it was an earnest of the relief which was now to come to the remaining "states" of the south suffering under the rule of the adventurers and their negro allies. [sidenote: fiat money and the resumption of specie payments.] while the republican party had step by step, and almost unconsciously, involved itself in the support of dishonest and oppressive government at the south, it was, on the other hand, fighting the battle for financial honesty in the nation at large against the fiat money heresy and the schemes of repudiation invented and supported by the national democracy. its congressional majority had passed the refunding acts of july th, , and january th, , for refunding the debt of the united states in coin bonds bearing five, four and one-half and four per centum interest. these acts authorized the issue of eighteen hundred millions of dollars in these new bonds, five hundred millions payable after ten years, and bearing five per centum interest, three hundred millions payable after fifteen years and bearing four and one-half per centum interest, and one thousand millions payable after thirty years and bearing four per centum interest. by the act of march th, , the republican congress had declared that all of the obligations of the united states should be paid in coin or its equivalent, unless otherwise specifically stipulated in the law authorizing the obligation. this act was made applicable to past, as well as future, obligations. it rested on the principle that debts must be paid in the best money of the country unless otherwise agreed to in the contract. this is, of course, the sound principle both of morals and finance, and no act of congress pronouncing { } it would have been considered necessary, except for the great fact that the democratic party, in its campaign of , had espoused the opposite doctrine and had fought the campaign largely under that issue. the act, however, might of course be repealed, and in that case the question as to whether the principal sum of the greater part of the national indebtedness should be paid in coin would be again opened, since the laws authorizing the incurring of these obligations provided only for the payment of the interest upon them in coin. it was in order to forestall the possibility of a repeal of the act of march th, , as well as in order to make a large saving in the interest charge, that these refunding acts were passed. after the panic of had resulted in such a depression of business and depreciation of values throughout the country as to create greater discontent with the existing political management, and this discontent had manifested itself so distinctly in the elections of , announcing to the republican party that after march th, , a democratic majority would prevail in the house of representatives, it was manifest to the republican leaders, in congress and out of congress, that if anything was to be done in regard to the resumption of specie payment, anything for bringing the paper currency of the united states up to a coin value, it must be done speedily, and on the st of december, , mr. sherman reported a bill from the finance committee to the senate for this purpose, which became a law on the th day of january following, and which provided for the redemption of the fractional currency with silver coins of the value of ten, twenty-five and fifty cents, so rapidly as these coins could be minted; abolished the charge of one-fifth of one per centum on the coinage of gold, making the coinage of gold at the mints of the { } united states free; repealed the law limiting the aggregate amount of the circulating notes of the national banking associations, and the law for the withdrawal of national-bank currency from, and its redistribution among, the several "states" and territories; ordered the secretary of the treasury in issuing new circulating notes to the national banking associations to retire united states legal tender notes to the amount of eighty per centum of such issues, until the united states legal tender notes should be reduced to three hundred millions of dollars, and after january st, , to redeem these legal tender notes in coin on their presentation at the office of the assistant treasurer of the united states in the city of new york, in sums of not less than fifty dollars; and, to enable the secretary of the treasury to do this, authorized him to use any unappropriated surplus revenue which might be, from time to time, in the treasury, and to sell bonds of the description mentioned in the act of july th, , in such amounts as he should find necessary to accomplish the purpose. [sidenote: the inflation bill of and the veto of it by the president.] it is true that the republican majority in congress had not taken this high ground concerning the public credit and sound money without some wavering. the president himself had become frightened by the panic of the autumn of , and in his annual message of december st following had made recommendations that might be regarded as favorable to an inflation of the existing body of paper money. his party friends in congress very soon produced a bill which, among other things, provided for the increase of the united states notes and the national bank notes to the extent of about one hundred millions of dollars, and passed it. but the president had either thought the question out more fully, or had been in receipt of some very sound { } advice, after he wrote the message of december st, . on the d of april, , he sent a special message to congress vetoing the bill. this stand of the president recalled the republicans in congress from their economic aberrations, and set them again upon the course which led to the act of the th of january, . while at the moment this law for the resumption of specie payments in the short period of four years, or rather less, from the time of its enactment seemed a rather hazardous, not to say desperate, move on the part of the republicans, it soon became manifest that they could have done nothing so calculated to strengthen the hold of the party upon the solid and conservative men of the country as just this very thing. many of these men who had usually voted with the republicans disapproved of the southern policy of the party, and were on the point of turning against it. with the resumption act the financial policy of the republican party, and of the country, was dragged to the front, and the southern policy was forced backward, and made to constitute a less prominent issue in the campaign of . this was not only wise party management, but it was also a fortunate thing for the entire country. the country was not yet in a position to endure a democratic administration, and, on the other hand, it was surfeited with reconstruction republican administrations. it wanted a sound money republican administration, which would devote itself to the development of the economic interests of the whole people, and would let the "state" governments in the south have a chance to work out their own salvation. and this was just what it got in the election of , and in the administration of president rutherford b. hayes. { } chapter xiii the presidential election of and its consequences the republican national convention of --the platform--the nominees--the national democratic convention of --the platform--the nominees--the campaign and the election--the count and the twenty-second joint rule--views in regard to the power to count the electoral vote--the republicans in advantage in the count of the vote--the electoral commission bill--the passage of the bill--the members of the commission--the fifth justice--justice david davis--the counting of the electoral vote by congress--the double returns from south carolina, florida, louisiana and oregon--the counsel before the commission--the republican position--the democratic position--the decisions of the commission--mr. hayes declared president--the truth in regard to the election--mr. hayes's southern policy--the result of his policy--reconciliation between the north and the south. [sidenote: the republican national convention of .] [sidenote: the platform.] when the managers of the republican party met in national nominating convention at cincinnati, on the th of june, , they rightly divined the policy which alone could lead them to victory in the elections of the following autumn. they constructed their platform in such a way as to place the financial issue in the foreground, with the pledges of the party to uphold the public credit, and to place the currency of the country on a coin basis. they also declared the pacification of the south to be a sacred duty, and pledged the { } party to a thoroughgoing reform of the civil service. connected therewith were, of course, the usual platitudes about the civil and political liberty and equality of every american citizen and of everybody else. [sidenote: the nominees.] while there was no name before the convention commanding universal popular assent, as had been the case at the second nomination of lincoln and the two nominations of grant, still there was one which, in so far as its possessor was known, inspired strong, if not enthusiastic, confidence. it was not pronounced in the first balloting so loudly as that of the brilliant blaine, or the stolid morton, or the arrogant conkling, but, as the voting continued, more and more of the ballots contained it, and at last on the seventh round, it received a majority of the votes. the choice was a wise one. mr. hayes had been a good soldier, a valuable member of the national legislature, and an excellent governor of his native "state," in which office he was serving for a third term at the time of his nomination for the presidency. he was a man of sound sense, unimpeachable character, generous feeling, pleasing manners, and resolute will. there was a tendency at first on the part of the friends of some of the disappointed aspirants to belittle his qualities, and to represent him as a weak man, and his conciliatory methods were often mistaken for weakness by those who were not his rivals or his enemies, or the friends of his rivals or his enemies; but as history sets his character and his work in their proper perspective they both stand out more and more strongly, and make his administration appear to be one of the most important in american annals. especially does it honor him for his earnest, faithful and successful battle for sound money and the maintenance of the public faith, and for his determination to put an end to the support by federal { } bayonets of the "carpet-bag," negro "state" governments of the south. [sidenote: the national democratic convention of .] [sidenote: the platform.] a fortnight after the nomination by the republican convention of rutherford b. hayes for president and william a. wheeler for vice-president, the democratic leaders met at st. louis for the purpose of issuing the campaign creed of their party and choosing its candidate for the chief magistracy of the nation. the platform put forward by them was remarkable for its length, its language of fierce vituperation, and its loud calls for reform. its specific propositions were the reduction of the duties on foreign imports to a revenue basis, and the repeal of the resumption act of , on the strange ground that it obstructed the return to specie payments. [sidenote: the nominees.] their candidate had virtually been determined on before they met. it could be nobody else than the popular governor of new york, samuel j. tilden, shrewd in business, rich, the most successful political manager new york had produced since van buren, greatly heralded as the very archpriest of reform, the hope of the young men in politics; but not a statesman in the highest sense of the word, nor a demagogue in the lowest sense of that word--a genuine american politician of the first order. he was nominated on the second ballot, and by a unanimous vote. with him was placed as candidate for the second place the popular mr. hendricks of indiana. it was a strong ticket, and it was generally believed that it would win. mr. tilden himself felt sure of the electoral votes of all the southern "states" and of new york, indiana, new jersey and connecticut. [sidenote: the campaign and the election.] mr. tilden quietly managed his own campaign, while mr. hayes left his political interests in the hands of the { } very astute chairman of the national committee of the republican party, senator chandler of michigan. there was not much doubt on the morning following the election, the morning of the th november, that the democrats had triumphed. almost all of the republican newspapers conceded it. but the republican managers knew that they could do what they pleased with the electoral votes of south carolina, florida and louisiana, through their canvassing boards in these "states," with the power in these boards to throw out the returns from any place where, in their opinion, there had been any violence, intimidation, fraud or bribery exercised or attempted; and when the managers found that they were pretty sure of the electoral votes of all of the northern commonwealths, except connecticut, new york, new jersey and indiana, they simply added to the one hundred and sixty-six electoral votes of which they were practically sure the nineteen votes of louisiana, florida and south carolina, of which they were absolutely sure, if needed, and sent out from their head-quarters the positive announcement that hayes and wheeler had been elected by a majority of one electoral vote. [sidenote: the count and the twenty-second joint rule.] but the final count of the electoral vote must be in the presence of the two houses of congress assembled in one place, and the democrats were in majority in one of the houses, and the twenty-second joint rule, as it was called, which had been applied since the count of the electoral vote of for the ascertainment of the result of the returns to congress, ordained that the electoral vote of any "state" might be thrown out by either house. if this rule should be considered as still in force, and be applied in the impending count, the democratic house of representatives could reject the returns of the { } republican authorities in south carolina, florida and louisiana, and thus secure the election of mr. tilden. this rule, however, was not necessarily binding upon this congress, as it had not been re-enacted by the houses composing it. that is, either house could lawfully refuse to acquiesce in its further application. the republicans now repudiated it, although it was their predecessors who had created it. [sidenote: views in regard to the power to count the electoral vote.] some of the republicans now claimed that the constitution vested the vice-president, or rather the president of the senate, with the power to count the electoral votes. the language of the constitution was, and still is, "the president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted." no president of the senate had, however, ever ventured to determine whether a disputed return, in case any such had been received by him, was to be counted, and mr. ferry, the president of the senate, gave his republican friends to understand that he did not feel like assuming any such responsibility. [sidenote: the republicans in advantage in the count of the vote.] nevertheless, the republicans were in decided advantage. they had the president of the united states to execute by force whatever they might resolve upon, and they had the president of the senate, whose scruples the democrats had not discovered, and, of course, they had one house of the congress, the senate. [sidenote: the electoral commission bill.] the democrats felt that they must make an effort to change the situation. they, therefore, quickly seized upon a suggestion made by a republican member of the judiciary committee of the house of representatives, mr. g. w. mccrary, and voted a measure in the house for the appointment of { } members to a joint committee of the two houses, which committee should immediately report a proposition for counting the electoral votes. this was the th of december, . the senate agreed to this measure on the next day. three republicans and four democrats were appointed by the house, and four republicans and three democrats by the senate, and the committee so constituted reported, on the th of january, , the famous electoral commission bill. [sidenote: the passage of the bill.] the essential provisions of the bill were, first, the creation of a commission composed of five members of the house of representatives, five members of the senate, and five justices of the supreme court of the united states, the members from the house to be chosen by the house, the members from the senate to be chosen by the senate, while the justices of the supreme court from the first, third, eighth and ninth circuits were designated in the bill, and they were authorized to select a fifth from among the other members of the court; second, the fixing of the rule that the electoral vote of any "state" from which only a single return had been received should be counted unless _both_ houses should decide otherwise, and of the other rule that when more than one return had been received from any "state," the commission should forthwith decide which return should be counted, and this return should be counted unless _both_ houses should reject the decision, or order otherwise; and third, the reservation of any right existing under the constitution and laws to question before the courts of the united states the titles of the persons who should be declared elected president and vice-president to these respective offices. the bill was subjected to a most thorough discussion in _both_ houses. it passed the senate on the th of january by a vote of forty-seven to seventeen. twenty-one { } republicans and twenty-six democrats voted in favor of it, and sixteen republicans and one democrat voted against it. it passed the house on the th by a vote of one hundred and ninety-one to eighty-six. thirty-three republicans and one hundred and fifty-eight democrats voted for it, and sixty-eight republicans and eighteen democrats voted against it. it is certainly fair, therefore, to call it a democratic measure. the president signed the bill, nevertheless, on the th. [sidenote: the members of the commission.] the senate immediately chose messrs. edmunds, frelinghuysen and morton, republicans, and messrs. bayard and thurman, democrats, to represent it upon the commission, and the house chose messrs. garfield and hoar, republicans, and messrs. abbott, hunton and payne, democrats. the justices of the supreme court designated by the bill as members of the commission were messrs. clifford, strong, miller and field. strong and miller were understood to be republicans, and clifford and field democrats. upon these four the duty was imposed to select the fifth justice. [sidenote: the fifth justice.] since without the fifth justice the commission would consist of seven republicans and seven democrats, it was evident that this justice would be the umpire in every question of disputed returns which the two houses could not themselves settle by concurrent agreement. the responsibility which this justice would have to bear would be one of the most onerous and solemn duties ever imposed upon any mortal. it could be no less than the making of a president, and it might be the determination of the question whether there should be another civil war. it was not a responsibility to be courted, but no man upon whom it might fall could, with honor, refuse to accept it. it was the general feeling throughout the { } discussion of the bill that the man who would be chosen was judge david davis. he had been a republican and a close personal friend of lincoln, but had latterly inclined toward the democracy, and, it was thought, had favored the election of mr. tilden. he was regarded as the man of least political prejudice among a set of men of very little political prejudice. the democrats, however, were entirely willing to risk their cause in his hands, because they believed it was strong enough on its merits to convince any unprejudiced mind, and there is little question that the republicans were afraid to risk their cause in his hands, because they knew that they must win on every point or lose altogether, and they hesitated to take such desperate chances unless whatever political prejudice might exist in the mind of the umpire should be on their side. [sidenote: justice david davis.] but to the apparent surprise of everybody and to the consternation of the democrats, justice davis was chosen by the illinois legislature, on the th of january, the day after the bill passed the senate, and the day before it passed the house, united states senator, and a few days after the bill passed the house, he accepted the position, which act involved his resignation at an early day of his judicial office; and as he was now to leave the bench and go into the political branch of the government, as a democratic senator, elected by the democrats of the illinois legislature, there appeared to him an evident impropriety in his acting on the commission as a representative of the unpolitical branch of the government, and especially as that member upon whom the weightiest responsibility would fall, and who would, therefore, be expected to act with greatest political impartiality, and with an eye single to public justice. whether justice davis sought this election to the senatorship at this juncture or not, { } in order to escape the great responsibility that was about to fall upon him, we do not know. he was not a particularly brave man. he was a big, fat man, a good liver, and loved his ease. ordinarily men will not exchange the high and life-long office of a justice of the supreme court of the united states for a seat in the senate. unless he had his eye upon the presidency of the united states, it would be very hard to explain his action in exchanging his high judicial position for the senatorship on any other ground than his desire to escape the terrible responsibility of deciding whether tilden or hayes should be president. it is even more difficult to account for the action of the democrats in the legislature of illinois. they certainly did not intend to harm the chances of mr. tilden by this act. the republicans might have invented such a scheme for disposing of the justice, but for democrats to have been concerned in any such movement is incredible. it is probable that it was simply a blunder on their part. they did not appreciate the incompatibility between the position of a democratic senator-elect and membership on the electoral commission as a judicial representative. they thought that as the justice would not take his seat in the senate until after the th of march he would remain a member of the supreme court until then, and as such would be fully qualified for the place on the commission. the legislature at springfield had no such delicate and discriminating sense of official proprieties as obtained in washington, and throughout the more fastidious east. the democrats in the house of representatives learned of the election of justice davis to the senate on the morning of the day they were to vote on the passage of the electoral commission bill. even they did not fully realize that it meant that the justice { } would not serve on the commission. moreover, they had gone to such lengths with the bill that it was too late to turn back. so far as is known the justice did not inform them or anybody else of his intention to accept the senatorship, or of his scruples about being a member of the commission, until after the bill became law. when he did do so, the correctness of his position was so clear that the four justices named in the act immediately selected justice joseph p. bradley as the fifth judicial member of the commission. bradley was a republican, as were the other three members of the court, waite, hunt and swayne. that is, after justice davis was disposed of there remained only republicans to choose from, and bradley being regarded as the least partisan, and the most learned in the law, was selected. he fully realized the vast responsibility which had been thus unexpectedly thrust upon him, but he accepted it bravely and without flinching, and discharged it with honor and success. [sidenote: the counting of the electoral vote by congress.] the houses of congress, and also the electoral commission, met on the st day of february to count the electoral vote. the democrats still felt sure of success, since they would win the election, if successful upon a single point, while the republicans, to be successful, must win upon every point. on the other hand, the hopes of the republicans had been raised by gaining the majority of the commission. [sidenote: the double returns from south carolina, florida, louisiana and oregon.] when the returns were opened by the president of the senate two sets of returns were found from each of the four "states," florida, louisiana, south carolina, and oregon. in the case of florida the electors voting for hayes and wheeler sent with their votes the certification of the "state" canvassing board and of the governor to their election. the case of south carolina was the same. { } in the case of louisiana the electors voting for hayes and wheeler sent with their votes the certification of governor kellogg and of the "state" canvassing board acting with him to their election, and the electors voting for tilden and hendricks sent the certification of john mcenery, claiming to be governor, and the canvassing board acting with him, to their election. the oregon case was more complicated. the three republican electors received the highest number of votes, as reported by the secretary of state, who by the laws of oregon was the "state" canvassing officer, to the governor. but one of them, watts, held the office of postmaster in a small place at the time of his election, and the constitution of the united states provides that "no senator or representative, or person holding any office of trust or profit under the united states, shall be appointed an elector." the democratic governor of oregon decided in his own mind that watts was not eligible, and made out his certification to include, beside the two republican electors who were eligible, one cronin, the democrat receiving the highest number of votes for elector, although the number received by him was a minority of all the votes cast for the electoral tickets. this certificate was attested by the secretary of state, and was given to cronin. when the day for the meeting of the electors came around cronin presented himself holding the governor's certificate, the only certificate which had been issued to the electors by governor grover. but in spite of the fact that he had this technical advantage, the two republican electors, whose names were included in the governor's certificate, refused to act with him, and he refused to let them have the certificate to attach to their return of the electoral vote to the president of the senate of the united states unless they should so act. both parties persisted { } in their refusals. whereupon cronin selected one j. n. y. miller and one john parker to fill up the electoral college of oregon and these three cast two electoral votes for hayes and wheeler and one for tilden and hendricks, and, after attaching the governor's certification to the record of their vote in due form, sent this return to the president of the senate of the united states, as required by the constitution. at the same time the two republican electors, odell and cartwright, met to cast the electoral vote of the commonwealth. watts was also present. he had resigned his office of postmaster, and now he resigned his position as elector. the other two accepted his resignation, and immediately chose him an elector. the three then cast the electoral vote of the commonwealth for hayes and wheeler. as we have seen, they did not have the certification of their election by the governor to attach to their votes, as required by the law of the united states, but they procured from the secretary of state a certified copy of the canvass of the votes for the electors, which showed the election of the three republican candidates, and sent this, and also a copy of their proceedings in accepting the resignation of watts, and then electing him an elector, along with their report of the vote of the electors for president and vice-president, to the president of the senate. [sidenote: the counsel before the commission.] both the republicans and the democrats were represented by most able counsel before the electoral commission. william m. evarts, stanley matthews, e. w. stoughton, and samuel shellabarger were pitted against a formidable array both as to ability and numbers on the other side, judge j. s. black, matthew h. carpenter, charles o'conor, j. a. campbell, lyman trumbull, ashbel green, montgomery blair, george hoadly, william c. whitney, r. t. merrick and a. p. morse. { } [sidenote: the republican position.] the republicans took their stand at the outset upon the principle that congress could not go behind the returns of the "state" canvassing board or officer, in counting the electoral vote from any "state." they contended that in the election of the president and vice-president, the constitution had separated the procedure into two distinct parts, and had assigned the first part to the control of the several "states" exclusively, and the second part to the control of congress exclusively; that up to the completion of the election of the electors the exclusive control of the "states" respectively extended, but that all control after that point had been reached was in congress, and that congress had no power whatever, under the constitution, to revise, interfere with, or examine into, that part assigned by the constitution to the "states" respectively, and, on the other hand, that congress was bound to disregard any act of the "states," or of any of the officers or agents of the "states," in that part assigned exclusively by the constitution to its own control. there is no question that this was all sound constitutional law and that the democrats would have to abandon entirely their old "states'" rights doctrine and go over to the most extreme nationalism in order to combat it. [sidenote: the democratic position.] it did not appear to them necessary to do this in order to win their case. one single electoral vote from any one of the four "states," from which double returns had been received, would elect tilden and hendricks. it did not seem to them that the line between the powers of the "states" and those of congress over the election of the president and vice-president could under the existing facts be drawn anywhere without giving them at least this one vote. if the returns as certified to by the governors and the "state" canvassing officer, officers, or boards, of these four { } "states" should be received and counted they would have this one vote from oregon. if, on the other hand, the popular vote for the electors as it came into the hands of the "state" canvassing officers or boards was to be received and counted, then they would have the electoral votes of at least louisiana, florida, or south carolina, and perhaps of all of them. but the republicans contended that the line between "state" control and congressional control was to be drawn between the governor's certification and the report of the "state" canvassing officer, officers, or board to the governor of the result of the vote for the electors. the certification issued by the governor, they held, was ordered by congressional law and was under congressional control, even when the "state" canvassing officer, officers, or board should join with the governor in the certification of the persons chosen electors. the report of the vote for the electors by the "state" canvassing officer, officers, or board to the governor was thus the final act under "state" control, was the final act in the election of the electors. this was unquestionably sound constitutional law. but it would give all the electoral votes from all four of the "states," from which double returns had been received, to hayes and wheeler, and would elect them by one vote. [sidenote: the decisions of the commission.] the view of the counsel for the republican candidates prevailed with a majority of the commission. by a majority of a single vote the commission gave all the electoral votes of the four "states" from which double returns had been received to hayes and wheeler, and since the decisions of the commission were final unless negatived by both houses of congress, and the republican senate, of course, sustained the decisions of the commission, there was nothing for the democrats to do but submit or have recourse to violence. threats were freely expressed of having { } mr. tilden take the oath of office, and then conducting him, under the support of a large armed body, to the white house and installing him there. but it was observed that the southern democrats did not participate in these menacing declarations, and it was soon learned that mr. tilden himself would not lend himself to any such desperate movement. moreover, the existing president had, with his usual promptness and decision, prepared himself to meet all exigencies, and had let it be known that he would uphold the decisions to which congress and its commission might come by any power necessary to accomplish the result. [sidenote: mr. hayes declared president.] in the early morning of march d, the count was completed, and hayes and wheeler were proclaimed by the presiding officer of the senate, mr. ferry, elected president and vice-president of the united states by a majority of one electoral vote. the popular vote for the electors was about eight millions three hundred thousand. of this vast number the tilden electors had received the majority by about two hundred and fifty thousand, according to the republican count, and by about three hundred thousand, according to the democratic count. it must be remembered, however, that it is quite possible for the candidate of one party to receive a popular majority throughout the whole country, and the candidate of the other to receive a majority of the electoral votes, simply because the popular vote is counted, in electing the electors, by "states" and not in the aggregate. [sidenote: the truth in regard to the election.] the truth in regard to the whole transaction of the election probably is that the democrats did in some places in the south intimidate voters; that the republican "state" canvassing officers, making this a justification, or an excuse, did throw out votes that ought to have been counted; and that the existing law of { } elections, administered by republicans, was capable of being so interpreted as to give legal warrant to all that was done by them. a perfectly fair election in the "states" of louisiana, florida, and south carolina, with the law of suffrage then obtaining, would probably have resulted in a popular majority for the republican candidates for electors. accepting the law of suffrage as then existing for the basis of our reasoning, it will have to be conceded that the republicans were in the right both morally and legally, and that the title of hayes and wheeler to the offices of president and vice-president was entirely sound and unimpeachable. they were inaugurated on the th day of march, , without any attempt at resistance or disturbance from any quarter. [sidenote: mr. hayes's southern policy.] during the counting of the electoral vote it was suspected that the friends of mr. hayes were giving some assurances to the southerners in congress in regard to what the policy of his administration would be concerning the "state" governments in the south. the unwillingness of the southern democrats to join with their party associates of the north in any revolutionary projects was attributed partly to this. while there is no evidence that mr. hayes ever pledged himself to the southerners in regard to anything, still it is probably true that his views concerning the unwisdom of the employment of the military power of the united states in upholding the negro-republican "state" governments in the south were imparted to them by his friends. at any rate, he announced in his inaugural address that he considered the re-establishment of local self-government in these "states" to be one of the prime objects of his administration, and he speedily withdrew the support of the military power of the united states from the three { } negro-republican "state" governments, and left them to their own resources. [sidenote: the result of his policy.] the result was that, although the republican candidates for governor and for the members of the legislature in these three "states" received about the same vote as the republican presidential electors, and in january of actually assumed power, the democratic candidates ousted them from the offices, and in sufficient number from the legislative seats, and established at last democratic white rule in all the "states" of the south. in florida the republican, m. l. stearns, gave way to the democrat, george f. drew, in the gubernatorial office; in south carolina d. h. chamberlain gave way to wade hampton, and in louisiana, s. b. packard gave way to francis t. nicholls. order and peace were quickly established everywhere, and the plundered and impoverished south could at last take hope and feel courage to make a new effort to recover some degree of prosperity and some measure of domestic content. for ten years the dark night of domination by the negro and adventurer had rested upon the unhappy section, until it had been reduced to the very abomination of desolation. broken in health and fortune, sick at heart, conscious of the terrible degradation which had been imposed upon them, and politically ostracized, the better part of the white population of the south had staggered and groped through the hideous experiences of this period, and such of them as had not perished during the awful passage had now at last been relieved of the frightful scourge, and half dazed, as if just recovering from a terrible nightmare, found themselves again in the places of power and responsibility. but they brought with them, as their dominant passion, undying hatred of the republican party as the author of all their woes, and as their { } dominant policy, the stern and unbending resolve to stand together as one man against every movement which had even the slightest tendency toward a restoration of the hated conditions from which they had escaped. no sane mind can wonder at "the solid south," or at the democratic south. life, property, happiness, honor, civilization, everything which makes existence endurable demanded that the decent white men of the south should stand shoulder to shoulder in defending their families, their homes and their communities from any return of the vile plague under which they had suffered so long and so cruelly; and human instinct determined that this should be done in connection with that party which was hostile to the republican party. the differences which lead to a fair fight and the wounds which are received in it are easily healed, but indignities heaped upon a fallen foe create a bitterness of heart that lasts so long as life endures. [sidenote: reconciliation between the north and the south.] slavery was a great wrong, and secession was an error and a terrible blunder, but reconstruction was a punishment so far in excess of the crime that it extinguished every sense of culpability upon the part of those whom it was sought to convict and convert. more than a quarter of a century has now passed since the blunder-crime of reconstruction played its baleful part in alienating the two sections of the country. until four years ago little progress had been made in reconciling them. it is said now that the recent war with spain, in which men from the north and men from the south marched under the same banner to battle and to victory, has buried the hatchet forever between them. but they had done this many times before, and yet it did not prevent the attempt to destroy the union. it cannot be in this alone that the south feels increased security against the doctrines and the { } policies and interferences of the republican party with regard to the negro question, the great question which has made and kept the south solidly democratic. it is something far more significant and substantial than this. it is to some the pleasing, though to others startling, fact, that the republican party, in its work of imposing the sovereignty of the united states upon eight millions of asiatics, has changed its views in regard to the political relation of races and has at last virtually accepted the ideas of the south upon that subject. the white men of the south need now have no further fear that the republican party, or republican administrations, will ever again give themselves over to the vain imagination of the political equality of man. it is this change of mind and heart on the part of the north in regard to this vital question of southern "state" polity which has caused the now much-talked-of reconciliation. { } chapter xiv international relations of the united states between and the purchase of alaska--the contention of the house of representatives in regard to its power over treaties--the senate's position and the compromise--irritation of the american people against great britain--the johnson-clarendon treaty--president grant's statements in his first annual message and in his second annual address--sir john rose's mission to the united states--the joint high commission--the treaty of washington--the alabama claims and the geneva convention--triumph of the diplomacy of the united states--organization of the tribunal and filing of the cases--the controversy between mr. fish and lord granville--the filing of the counter cases and the argument--obstacles--decision of the tribunal in regard to national and indirect damages--the decision of the tribunal in the case of the _florida_--the decision in the case of the _alabama_--the decision in the case of the _shenandoah_, and other vessels--international principles settled by the geneva tribunal--the northwest boundary question--the fisheries question--the halifax commission and award--the burlingame treaty with china--the attempt to annex the dominican republic to the united states--the treaty--the treaty before the senate--its rejection--the president's attempt to renew negotiations--the committee of inquiry--the report of the committee--the abandonment of the scheme. the two chief products of american diplomacy in the decade between and were the purchase of alaska, and the treaty of washington with great britain. [sidenote: the purchase of alaska.] the purchase of alaska, the northwest corner of the north american continent, together with the islands { } adjacent thereto, a vast region of some five hundred thousand square miles in extent, inhabited chiefly by a few savage tribes, was effected by a treaty, negotiated by mr. seward and the russian diplomatist, baron stoeckl, and ratified by the senate of the united states on the th of march, . [sidenote: the reasons for and against the purchase.] the proposition came from the side of russia, and it appeared that russia was more eager to sell than the united states was to buy. the price agreed on was seven millions two hundred thousand dollars in gold, and most people in the united states thought, at the time, that this great sum was being paid for nothing but a barren area of snow and ice. the country was declared to be utterly worthless by some of the best informed men in congress, and a man of no less ability and influence than mr. shellabarger opposed the purchase on the ground that it involved an extension of territory dangerous to the existence of the republic. on the other hand, such men as general banks and mr. stevens contended that from the point of view of a business transaction alone it was worth the money; and mr. higby, of california, told his colleagues that they were mistaken in regard to the climate of the region. the consideration, however, which seems to have had most weight was gratitude toward russia, whose government had manifested the most friendly feeling for the union in the struggle against the giant rebellion, and had even threatened interference in behalf of the union against interference in behalf of the confederacy by any other european state. that acute observer of political opinion, mr. blaine, affirmed that a like offer from any other european government would most probably have been declined. { } [sidenote: a real political reason for the purchase.] it is, however, almost certain that mr. seward had another very profound reason for making the purchase, one which he could not very well proclaim from the housetops, especially as the feeling on his part, and on the part of the government and of the people of the north, was most kindly toward russia. it was this: the united states would in this way and at a comparatively small cost rid herself forever of any danger of russian colonization on the north american continent, and of the danger of any complications between russia and great britain upon this continent. this was a most important political consideration, one which much overbalanced the price paid for the territory and the cost of its administration. [sidenote: the contention of the house of representatives in regard to its power over treaties involving the payment of money by the united states.] when the bill for making the appropriation to pay for alaska came before the house of representatives, that body raised the question of the power of the house over treaties involving the payment of money by the united states, by asserting in the preamble of the bill that its consent was necessary to the validity of such treaties. it did so on the ground that as an independent legislative body it could refuse any appropriation at its own discretion, and that as all foreign countries were bound to know this from the wording of the constitution, no foreign country could consider a treaty with the united states, involving financial obligations by the united states, as completed until the house of representatives should have voted the appropriation of the amount stipulated in the agreement. [sidenote: the senate's position and the compromise.] the senate, on the other hand, repudiated this doctrine, and rejected the bill with the preamble containing it as it came from the house of representatives. { } the bill then went to a conference committee of the two houses, and this committee invented a preamble which read: "whereas the president has entered into a treaty with the emperor of russia, and the senate thereafter gave its advice and consent to said treaty, and whereas said stipulations cannot be carried into full force and effect, except by legislation to which the consent of both houses of congress is necessary; therefore be it resolved," etc. both houses adopted the bill in this form and it became law july th, . the contention of the house was good political science, but it is still doubtful whether it is the constitutional law of the united states or not. the more recent constitutions of even the european states, such as those of germany and france, make the consent of both houses of the legislature necessary to the validity of all treaties involving the appropriation of money, or the assumption of any financial obligation. this is as it should be; and the constitution of the united states ought to be so amended as to establish clearly the same principle. [sidenote: irritation of the american people against great britain.] [sidenote: change of ministry and parliamentary majority in .] we have, in the preceding volume of this series, followed the history of the relations of the united states with great britain down to the close of the rebellion, and have referred to the general irritation on the part of the loyal people of the united states against the british government for its attitude in regard to the acts of its subjects in furnishing warships and munitions to the confederates. there were many who favored turning the great military power with which the united states emerged from the civil war against great britain, and forcing a settlement of those difficulties by the trial of arms; but seward remained in the direction of the foreign affairs of the union, and he had had enough of war. moreover, he { } foresaw a change of government in great britain, and with it he hoped for a change of sentiment on the part of the new government on the international question. this event happened in consequence of the parliamentary election of . the minister of foreign affairs in mr. gladstone's cabinet was first lord stanley, and then the earl of clarendon, both of them very different in character from lord john russell. from the outset each of them manifested a sincere desire to reach an amicable settlement of all differences with the united states. the trouble at this juncture seems to have been the extravagance of the claims of the united states. mr. adams, whose patience had become much worn, talked about private damages, national damages and an apology. the british ministers thought this too preposterous to be seriously meant. [sidenote: the johnson-clarendon treaty.] before, however, the discussion had fairly begun mr. adams returned to the united states, and mr. reverdy johnson was sent out to the british court. mr. johnson yielded much of the ground assumed by mr. adams in reference to claims for national injury, and in january of concluded an agreement with the earl of clarendon for submitting to arbitration the claims for direct damage to property rights. [sidenote: president grant's statement in his first annual message.] the senate of the united states promptly rejected the treaty with much feeling, because it did not contain proper provision, in its view, for the reparation of wrongs to the nation. the feeling among the people of both countries ran so high that the governments deemed it wise to cease, for a time, negotiations upon the subject. the new president, grant, in his message of december th, , described the situation in the following language: { } "toward the close of the last administration a convention was signed in london for the settlement of all outstanding claims between great britain and the united states, which failed to receive the advice and consent of the senate to its ratification. the time and the circumstances attending the negotiation of that treaty were unfavorable to its acceptance by the people of the united states, and its provisions were wholly inadequate for the settlement of the grave wrongs that had been sustained by this government, as well as by its citizens. the injuries resulting to the united states by reason of the course adopted by great britain during our late civil war in the increased rates of insurance, in the diminution of exports and imports and other obstructions to domestic industry and production, in its effect upon the foreign commerce of the country, in the decrease and transfer to great britain of our commercial marine, in the prolongation of the war and the increased cost, both in treasure and lives, of its suppression, could not be adjusted and satisfied as ordinary commercial claims which continually arise among commercial nations; and yet the convention treated them as such ordinary claims, from which they differ more widely in the gravity of their character than in the magnitude of their amount, great even as is that difference. not a word was found in the treaty, and not an inference could be drawn from it, to remove the sense of the unfriendliness of the course of great britain in our struggle for existence, which had so deeply and universally impressed itself upon the people of this country. believing that a convention thus misconceived in its scope and inadequate in its provisions would not have produced the hearty, cordial settlement of pending questions, which alone is consistent with the relations which i desire to have firmly established { } between the united states and great britain, i regarded the action of the senate in rejecting the treaty to have been wisely taken in the interests of peace and as a necessary step in the direction of a perfect and cordial friendship between the two countries. a sensitive people, conscious of their power, are more at ease under a great wrong wholly unatoned than under the restraint of a settlement which satisfies neither their ideas of justice nor their grave sense of the grievance they have sustained. the rejection of the treaty was followed by a state of public feeling on both sides which i thought not favorable to an immediate attempt at renewed negotiations. i accordingly so instructed the minister of the united states to great britain, and found that my views in this regard were shared by her majesty's ministers. i hope that the time may soon arrive when the two governments can approach the solution of this momentous question with an appreciation of what is due to the rights, dignity and honor of each, and with the determination not only to remove the causes of complaint in the past, but to lay the foundation of a broad principle of public law which will prevent future differences and tend to firm and continued peace and friendship." [sidenote: the president's statement in his second annual message.] for another year things drifted, and the views of the two governments seemed to be getting wider apart, when president grant wrote in his message of december th, : "i regret to say that no conclusion has been reached for the adjustment of the claims against great britain growing out of the course adopted by that government during the rebellion. the cabinet of london, so far as its views have been expressed, does not appear to be willing to concede that her majesty's government was guilty of any negligence, or did or permitted any act during the war { } by which the united states has just cause of complaint. our firm and unalterable convictions are directly the reverse. i therefore recommend to congress to authorize the appointment of a commission to take proof of the amount and the ownership of these several claims, on notice to the representative of her majesty at washington, and that authority be given for the settlement of these claims by the united states, so that the government shall have the ownership of the private claims, as well as the responsible control of all the demands against great britain. it cannot be necessary to add that whenever her majesty's government shall entertain a desire for a full and friendly adjustment of these claims the united states will enter upon their consideration with an earnest desire for a conclusion consistent with the honor and dignity of both nations." this was what is now called "a twist of the lion's tail." it was something of a twist, although it was accompanied with the offer of the olive branch, instead of the sword. it was effective, even more effective for the conciliatory tone of the final paragraph. moreover, with the german armies encamped around paris and throughout france, the affairs of continental europe were too unsettled and precarious for great britain to run the risk of any serious complications with the united states. [sidenote: sir john rose's mission to the united states.] [sidenote: the joint high commission.] accepting the president's message as an invitation to renew negotiations, the british government, at the beginning of the next year ( ), sent sir john rose to washington to sound the president in regard to the matter. the president greeted his advances with great cordiality, and on the th of the month (january), sir edward thornton, the british minister to the united states, formally proposed to the hon. hamilton fish, the secretary of state, the appointment of a joint high { } commission, to consist of five persons representing each government, to sit at washington, for the purpose of settling the questions between the two governments relative to great britain's north american possessions. mr. fish immediately expressed the willingness of his government to enter upon the negotiation, provided the differences growing out of the events of the civil war should be included among the subjects to be considered. the british government accepted mr. fish's proviso, and the respective governments proceeded to appoint the members of the commission. president grant designated hamilton fish, ebenezer r. hoar, justice samuel nelson, robert c. schenck and george h. williams. her majesty selected earl de grey and ripon, sir john macdonald, sir stafford northcote, sir edward thornton and professor mountague bernard. these eminent gentlemen proceeded immediately upon their momentous undertaking, and on the th of may ( ) concluded the treaty between the two governments, known as the treaty of washington, which was duly ratified, and on the th of july proclaimed to the world. [sidenote: the treaty of washington.] the first eleven articles of this agreement relate to the claims for damages arising from the incidents of the civil war, known as the alabama claims. this was the subject of transcendent importance in the treaty; this was the subject which was, by these articles, referred to the court of arbitration to sit at geneva. they contain, in the first place, an expression of regret for the escape of the confederate vessels from british ports and for the depredations committed by them. they provide, secondly, for a tribunal of arbitration, composed of five members, one of whom should be { } named by the president of the united states, one by her britannic majesty, one by the king of italy, one by the president of the swiss confederation, and one by the emperor of brazil; and, in case either of these last three mentioned should fail to name an arbitrator, they provide that one should be named by the king of sweden and norway; and finally, that one agent should be named by each of the high contracting parties to represent it generally in all matters connected with the arbitration. [sidenote: the alabama claims and the geneva convention.] they provide, in the third place, that "the arbitrators shall meet at geneva, in switzerland, at the earliest convenient day after they shall have been named, and shall proceed impartially carefully to examine and decide all questions that shall be laid before them on the part of the governments of the united states and her britannic majesty respectively," and that "all questions considered by the tribunal, including the final award, shall be decided by a majority of all the arbitrators." they provide, in the fourth place, that each of the two high contracting parties should deliver his written or printed case, together with all the evidence in support of it, to each of the arbitrators and to the agent of the other party, as soon as possible after the organization of the tribunal, and within a period not exceeding six months from the th of june, ; that within four months after the delivery on both sides of the case, each party might put in a counter case, with additional evidence, in reply to the case of the other party; that the arbitrators might extend the time, under certain circumstances, for delivering the counter case; that "within two months after the expiration of the time limited for the delivery of the counter case on both sides," the agent of each party should deliver to each of { } the arbitrators "and to the agent of the other party a written or printed argument showing the points and referring to the evidence upon which his government relies"; and that the arbitrators might require further argument by counsel, giving to each party an equal chance to be heard. they provide, in the fifth place, that the tribunal should consider the case of each vessel separately; that it might, however, award a gross sum, or that in case it did not award a sum in gross, the high contracting parties should appoint two members of a board of assessors, and request the italian minister at washington to appoint a third, which board should determine the amounts due in the cases in which the arbitrators had pronounced responsibility. they provide, in the sixth place, that in deciding the matters submitted the arbitrators should be governed by the following rules: "a neutral government is bound, first, to use diligence to prevent the fitting out, arming, or equipping, within its jurisdiction, of any vessel which it has reasonable ground to believe is intended to cruise or to carry on war against a power with which it is at peace; and also to use like diligence to prevent the departure from its jurisdiction of any vessel intended to cruise or carry on war as above, such vessel having been specially adapted, in whole or in part, within such jurisdiction, to warlike use. secondly, not to permit or suffer either belligerent to make use of its ports or waters as the base of naval operations against the other, or for the purpose of the renewal or augmentation of military supplies or arms, or the recruitment of men. thirdly, to exercise due diligence in its own ports and waters, and, as to all persons within its jurisdiction, to prevent any violation of the foregoing obligations and duties." { } they provide, in the seventh place, that the high contracting parties would "agree to observe these rules as between themselves in the future, and to bring them to the knowledge of other maritime powers, and to invite them to accede to them." and they provide, finally, that the result of the proceedings of the tribunal and the board of assessors, in case such board should be appointed, should be accepted as a final settlement of all the claims known as the alabama claims, and should be a bar to any further proceedings in regard to them. [sidenote: triumph of the diplomacy of the united states.] it will be seen that the government of the united states had in this treaty substantially won all of the points for which it had contended. the queen's government had apologized. it had agreed that the general principles of international law in regard to the duties of neutrals toward belligerents should take precedence over municipal statutes, and should not be limited by municipal statutes. and it had agreed that the tribunal of arbitration should decide _all questions_ laid before it by the governments of the united states and of her britannic majesty respectively. it is true that her majesty's government qualified its acceptance of the rules to be applied in determining its responsibility by inserting an explanation in the treaty of the following tenor: "her britannic majesty has commanded her high commissioners and plenipotentiaries to declare that her majesty's government cannot assent to the foregoing rules as a statement of principles of international law which were in force at the time when the claims mentioned in article i. arose, but that her majesty's government, in order to evince its desire of strengthening the friendly relations between the two countries and of making satisfactory provision for the { } future, agrees that, in deciding the questions between the two countries arising out of those claims, the arbitrators should assume that her majesty's government had undertaken to act upon the principles set forth in these rules." and it is also true that, while, according to the letter of the treaty, the united states government was left unfettered as to the character of the claims which it might lay before the arbitrators, her majesty's government had been led to expect more moderation in this respect than the popular sentiment in the united states seemed to indicate. [sidenote: the arbitrators, agents and counsel.] the two governments and the high personages invited by them proceeded in due time to appoint the arbitrators. the president of the united states appointed mr. charles francis adams; her majesty named chief justice alexander cockburn; the italian king designated count frederic sclopis; the president of the swiss confederation designated mr. jacob staempfli, and the emperor of brazil named the baron d'itajubá. the president of the united states also appointed mr. j. c. bancroft davis as the agent of the united states before the tribunal, and mr. caleb cushing, mr. william m. evarts and mr. morrison r. waite as counsel. her majesty's government also appointed lord tenterden as the agent of great britain before the tribunal, and sir roundell palmer as chief counsel. [sidenote: organization of the tribunal and filing of the cases.] on the th of december, , the arbitrators organized the tribunal at geneva with count frederic sclopis in the chair as presiding officer, and with mr. alexander favrot as secretary. the printed case of each of the high contracting parties was filed immediately by the agent of each, and the tribunal ordered the counter cases to be filed { } on or before the th day of the following april. the tribunal then adjourned to june th following, unless sooner called together by the secretary. [sidenote: the controversy between mr. fish and lord granville.] the contents of the case of the united states became immediately known to the british ministers, but not for some weeks to the british people. the ministers were not apparently disturbed in mind about it, although they discovered at once that it contained claims for national damages and indirect damages as well as for direct damages to individuals; but as soon as the newspapers got hold of this fact, they raised a tremendous hue and cry, and accused those who had prepared the case of taking an unfair advantage of the wording of the treaty. the minister of the united states in london, general schenck, informed mr. fish by cable of the agitation in london over the subject and of the demand of the newspapers that the claim for national and indirect damages should be withdrawn. mr. fish replied firmly that "there must be no withdrawal of any part of the claim presented." at this moment the session of parliament opened and the queen's speech contained a criticism of the extravagance of the claims of the united states in the case submitted to the tribunal. the matter was warmly debated in parliament, and on february d the british foreign minister, lord granville, opened a diplomatic discussion with mr. fish upon the subject. mr. fish, however, held his ground with great courage and ability, insisting that the claims of every character should be disposed of by the tribunal in order to remove them from the domain of further controversy and in order to establish perfect harmony in the relations of the two countries. [sidenote: the filing of the counter cases and the argument.] before this discussion terminated the day arrived for the filing of the counter cases. they were both { } promptly filed with a reservation of all rights by each of the high contracting parties. the diplomatic discussion culminated in an attempt to make a supplemental treaty, which should provide that the government of the united states should withdraw its claims for national losses and indirect losses, on the condition that no such losses should be claimed by either government in the future. but the day arrived for the filing of the arguments before anything was effected. the agent of the united states filed his argument on the day fixed, the th of june, but the british agent only filed a statement setting forth the differences between the two governments in the interpretation of the treaty in respect to claims for national and indirect damages, and the late negotiations and discussions between the two governments concerning these differences. the british agent also expressed the hope that, if time were given, these negotiations would prove fruitful, and asked the arbitrators to adjourn for eight months. [sidenote: obstacles.] [sidenote: decision of the tribunal in regard to national and indirect damages.] it looked as if the work of the commissioners, who had framed the treaty, and of the arbitrators, who had now given six months of their time to its execution, would go for naught, and that the governments and the people of the two countries would be thrown back into the relations existing during the years and , with intensified feelings of hostility. the arbitrators realized the seriousness of the situation and did not yield to the request of the british agent. they adjourned to the th of the month, that is for four days only, in order to deliberate upon the proposition. when they reassembled on the th the president of the tribunal announced that the arbitrators had decided to inform the two high contracting parties, at that { } juncture, that the arbitrators did not consider the claims for national and indirect damages to be a good foundation in international law "for an award of compensation or computation of damages between nations;" but were unanimously of the opinion that such claims should "be wholly excluded from the consideration of the tribunal in making its award, even if there were no disagreement between the two governments as to the competency of the tribunal to decide them." the president said further, that the arbitrators made this announcement in order that the government of the united states might consider if it would adopt some course in reference to these claims, which would relieve the tribunal from deciding upon the request of the british agent for an adjournment. the president of the united states was duly informed of this announcement by the tribunal, and, upon the advice of the learned counsel for the united states, he instructed the agent of the united states to make the following reply to the tribunal: "the declaration made by the tribunal, individually and collectively, respecting the claims presented by the united states for the award of the tribunal for, first, the losses in the transfer of the american commercial marine to the british flag, second, the enhanced payment of insurance, and, third, the prolongation of the war and the addition of a large sum to the cost of the war and the suppression of the rebellion, is accepted by the president of the united states as determinative of their judgment upon the important question of public law involved." this reply was read to the tribunal on the th of june, and on the th the british agent, under instructions from his government, withdrew his request for an adjournment and filed his argument. { } it was supposed by the americans that the whole case on both sides was now in, and that, unless the arbitrators should require further argument or statement in reference to specific points, the tribunal would now proceed to make its decisions. but the british counsel and the british agent immediately petitioned the tribunal to be allowed to prepare and present another argument, and to have six weeks' time in which to do it, and even the member of the tribunal appointed by the british government exerted himself to secure this delay and this new opportunity for the british agent and his counsel. the tribunal felt, however, that it was in possession of the evidence and the argument necessary for determining the question before it, and refused the request. the tribunal now adjourned to the th of july, in order to give its members time and opportunity to study the cases. on the th, the arbitrators reassembled and invited the agent and counsel of each of the high contracting parties to sit with them in their conferences. to all others, however, the doors were closed. they spent some two days discussing the order of the procedure which they should follow, and finally adopted the order proposed by mr. staempfli, and also indicated in the treaty itself, which was to take up the case of each vessel separately, and allow each arbitrator to express a provisional opinion upon it, which opinion, however, should not be conclusive even on the arbitrator himself who gave it. [sidenote: the decision of the tribunal in the case of the _florida_.] on the th of the month (july), the tribunal proceeded to take up the case of the _florida_ and to hear the opinions of the arbitrators upon it. four of the five arbitrators were of the opinion that the british government had failed to exercise due diligence in the discharge of its neutral duties toward the united states in this case. sir alexander { } cockburn alone disagreed with this view. the four also held that the tenders of the _florida_ should follow the lot of their principal. the reading of the opinion in the case of the _florida_ was finished on the d, and the tribunal adjourned to the th. upon the reassembly of the arbitrators, baron d'itajubá called on the british counsel for a statement or an argument on the questions of due diligence, and of the effect of commissions held by confederate war vessels which had entered british ports, and of the legitimacy of coal supplies to confederate vessels in british ports. of course the counsel of the united states would be permitted to reply. [sidenote: the decision in the case of the _alabama_.] the tribunal approved the proposition, and then proceeded to the case of the _alabama_. the arbitrators agreed unanimously in their views of this case, holding the government of great britain guilty of a lack of due diligence. the case of the tender to the _alabama_ was viewed in the same light. [sidenote: the decision in the case of the _shenandoah_, and other vessels.] the tribunal then took up the case of the _shenandoah_. the arbitrators were unanimously of the opinion in this case that the british government had not failed in due diligence anterior to the time when the vessel entered the port of melbourne. on the other hand, three of the arbitrators, count sclopis, mr. adams and mr. staempfli, held that the british government was responsible for all the acts of this vessel committed after leaving melbourne. in regard to all the other vessels mentioned in the case of the united states, excepting only the _retribution_, the arbitrators were unanimous in the opinion that the british government had not failed in due diligence in the discharge of its duties as a neutral, and in regard { } to the _retribution_ three of the five arbitrators held the like opinion. after hearing the additional arguments called for, the tribunal closed the doors on the th of august, and, without the presence even of agents or counsel, deliberated upon the momentous questions submitted to it. on the th of september the decision was adopted. the tribunal then adjourned to the th, upon which day the decision was to be proclaimed to the world. the public session of the tribunal on the th was a solemn and an imposing affair with nothing to mar the satisfaction of those who participated in it, except the discourtesy of sir alexander cockburn, who not only kept the assembly waiting for his appearance long past the appointed hour, but departed with unseemly haste at the close of the valedictory pronounced by the president, count sclopis. the award followed the line of the opinions already recited. it convicted the british government of a lack of due diligence in the discharge of its neutral duties in the cases of the _alabama_ and the _florida_ and their respective tenders, and also in the case of the _shenandoah_ from the time she left the port of melbourne, but exonerated it in all other cases. the award also repeated the decision announced by count sclopis, on the th of june, excluding the claims for national and indirect damages, and then fixed the amount due to the united states from great britain in the gross sum of "fifteen millions five hundred thousand dollars in gold, as the indemnity to be paid by great britain to the united states for the satisfaction of all the claims referred to the consideration of the tribunal." sir alexander cockburn refused to sign the award, and filed a statement of his reasons for his dissent. the other four members of the tribunal signed { } it, and as the majority rule had been provided for in the treaty, both of the high contracting parties were duly bound, and so regarded themselves. [sidenote: international principles settled by the geneva tribunal.] as to principles decided by the entire procedure of the commissioners and of their governments in the formation of the treaty, and of the arbitrators in making the award, we may say, first, that all questions of damages resulting from the lack of due diligence on the part of a neutral in the fulfilment of the duties of neutrality were regarded as proper subjects for arbitration, and that the determination of the question whether the claims presented, or any of them, are a good foundation for an award of compensation was also regarded as a proper question for arbitration; second, that due diligence to be exercised by neutral governments is diligence "in exact proportion to the risks to which either of the belligerents may be exposed from a failure to fulfil the obligations of neutrality on their part"; third, that the fact that a commission was only subsequently given by a belligerent to a vessel constructed, equipped or armed for the belligerent in the port of the neutral does not heal the violation of the duties of neutrality by the neutral in not using due diligence to prevent such construction, equipment or armament in its ports; fourth, that the privilege of ex-territoriality accorded to vessels of war can never be appealed to for the protection of acts done in violation of neutrality; fifth, that no neutral can excuse itself from the due discharge of the duties of neutrality on account of imperfections in its own laws and government; and sixth, that the cost to the belligerent of pursuing vessels, which have been enabled to operate against the belligerent on account of the dereliction of the neutral, and all indirect loss resulting therefrom, do not constitute a "good foundation for an { } award of compensation or computation of damages between nations." [sidenote: the northwest boundary question.] two other questions of great importance were placed in course of solution by the treaty of washington. one was the contention between the two high contracting parties concerning the boundary line between the united states and british columbia from the point where the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude intersects the middle of the channel which separates the continent from vancouver's island to the pacific ocean. the contention on the part of great britain was that this line should run, according to the stipulations of the treaty of june th, , through the rosario straits, and on the part of the united states that it should run through the canal de haro. the high contracting parties agreed, in the thirty-fourth article of the treaty of washington, to submit this question to the arbitration and award of his majesty the german emperor, whose decision thereon should be final and without appeal. the german emperor, william i., accepted this duty; and on the st of october, , announced his award, upholding the contention of the united states. [sidenote: the fisheries question.] the other question was that which related to the common rights of fishing to be enjoyed by the citizens and subjects of the two high contracting parties along the atlantic coast. the eighteenth article of the treaty provided that the inhabitants of the united states should have for the term of twelve years, in common with the subjects of her britannic majesty, the right to take sea fish "of every kind, except shell-fish, on the sea-coasts and shores, and in the bays, harbors, and creeks, of the provinces of quebec, nova scotia, and new brunswick, and the colony of prince edward's island, and of the several islands { } thereunto adjacent, without being restricted to any distance from the shore, with permission to land upon the said coasts and shores and islands, and also upon the magdalen islands, for the purpose of drying their nets and curing their fish." by article nineteenth the same right was accorded to british subjects, in common with the citizens of the united states, along "the eastern sea-coasts and shores of the united states north of the thirty-ninth parallel of north latitude, and on the shores of the several islands adjacent thereunto, and in the bays, harbors and creeks of the said sea-coasts and shores of the united states and of the said islands." finally, by article twenty-first free trade between canada and prince edward's island and the united states in the produce of their respective sea-fisheries was established. [sidenote: the halifax commission and award.] the contention on the part of great britain in regard to this subject was that the rights and privileges accorded to the citizens of the united states by these articles were more valuable than those conceded to the subjects of great britain by the united states, and that a sum of money should be paid to great britain by the united states in offset thereof. the united states denied the british assumption, and the two high contracting parties agreed, in the twenty-third article of the treaty, to leave this matter to the arbitration and award of three commissioners, one to be appointed by the president of the united states, one by her britannic majesty, and a third by the president and the queen conjointly, provided they could agree upon a person within three months from the date when the treaty should take effect and, if not, then by the austro-hungarian ambassador at the court of st. james. the president named, as the representative of the united states, the hon. ensign h. kellogg. the queen { } appointed, as her representative, sir alexander t. galt. and the two high contracting parties not being able to agree upon the third member of the commission, the austro-hungarian ambassador to the queen named maurice delfosse, the belgian minister plenipotentiary to the united states. delfosse had been proposed by the british government to the government of the united states as the third commissioner, and the president had objected to him as being the representative of a country whose interests were too nearly allied with those of great britain. it was naturally understood by the president that this had disposed of delfosse, and the government at washington was taken by surprise when the austro-hungarian ambassador at london, count beust, made it manifest that he should name mr. delfosse. mr. fish, the secretary of state, with true diplomatic instinct, immediately accommodated himself, however, to the situation, and congratulated delfosse upon his appointment. count beust announced the choice of delfosse on the d of march, , nearly six years after the washington treaty was negotiated and signed, during which period the fisheries of newfoundland were brought under the same agreements as those of canada, prince edward's island, and the united states above the thirty-ninth parallel. the commission finally met at halifax in the latter half of the year and on november d, , made its award, sustaining by a vote of two to one the contention of great britain, and adjudging that the united states government should pay the government of great britain the sum of five millions five hundred thousand dollars in gold. the representative of the united states, mr. kellogg, dissented from the decision; and it was felt in the united states that the government had been overreached in the matter. considerable delay in the { } payment of the amount thus resulted, and some controversy over it with great britain occurred. but finally, on november st, , the draft for the amount was delivered to the british government by mr. welsh, the minister of the united states at the court of st. james. two other events of an international character happened within the decade between and to which brief reference should be made, viz., the chinese treaty of , and the strong and persistent attempt of president grant to bring santo domingo under the sovereignty of the united states. [sidenote: the burlingame treaty with china.] in anson burlingame, a citizen of the united states and a resident of massachusetts, was sent as minister of the united states to china. he was a diplomatist of much skill, and he succeeded in making such a deep impression upon the emperor of china that the latter, on his resignation as minister of the united states to china in , made him envoy extraordinary from china to the united states and the european states for the purpose of securing treaties of amity and commerce between china and the states of the civilized world. he came immediately to the united states and negotiated with mr. seward, the secretary of state of the united states, the treaty of july th, , whereby freedom of emigration and immigration between china and the united states was established, upon the principle of the "inherent and inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance" expressly subscribed to by the united states and china in the treaty; the residence of chinese consuls in the ports of the united states, with the same privileges and immunities as the british and russian consuls enjoyed in said ports, was agreed to; and freedom of religion for citizens of { } the united states in china, and chinese converts to the christian religion in china, and for chinese subjects in the united states, was mutually pledged. this treaty was heralded at the time as being an immense advance in bringing china into close sympathy with modern civilization. but very soon the "labor element," as it assumes to call itself, in the united states, began to find fault with the liberal provisions upon the subject of emigration and immigration, and has succeeded in forcing the government of the united states back from its ideal position to the old ground of national exclusiveness. the example set by the united states has been accepted by the chinese government as a justification of its old methods, and as an excuse for dropping back into them in great measure. [sidenote: the attempt to annex the dominican republic to the united states.] at the moment of general grant's accession to the presidency there was civil commotion in the dominican republic. buenaventura baez was the legal president of the republic, but he had lost the support of a very large proportion of the population, who were following a leader named cabral. cabral and his party were so strong that baez feared the overthrow of his government, and sought to avert it by proposing annexation to the united states. [sidenote: the treaty.] in july of , president grant sent general orville e. babcock to santo domingo with written instructions from the secretary of state, mr. fish, to inquire into the political situation there and into the value and resources of the country. babcock, terming himself aide-de-camp to the president of the united states, succeeded somehow or other in so impressing his importance and authority upon the willing baez and his confederates as to move them to sign a treaty for the annexation of the dominican republic to the united states. it appears that he pledged the { } president of the united states to use privately all his influence with the members of congress for the ratification of the treaty. [sidenote: the treaty before the senate.] on the th of january, , president grant sent this proposed treaty to the senate for ratification. he must have thought that there would be no difficulty in securing for it the approval of that body, for his message was only three lines in length and contained no argument. it was referred to the committee on foreign affairs, and it soon became manifest that a serious opposition to ratification was developing itself. the president now procured from the dominican representative at washington an agreement to an extension of the time for ratification, and in communicating this to the senate on may st he went into an argument in support of the proposed treaty. he said, among other things, that the acquisition of this country would cut off one hundred millions of dollars' worth of the imports of the united states and largely increase its exports, and would thus enable the united states to extinguish its large debt abroad; that it would give the united states military command of the entrance to the caribbean sea and "the isthmus transit of commerce"; and that it was necessary in order to maintain the monroe doctrine. he declared that the inhabitants of santo domingo yearned "for the protection of our free institutions and laws, and our progress and civilization." and he affirmed that he had information that a european power was standing ready to offer two millions of dollars for the possession of samana bay alone. it would be difficult to find another message of a president of the united states which contained an equal amount of such extravagant nonsense. [sidenote: its rejection.] the committee on foreign affairs thoroughly sifted the subject, and recommended that the proposed treaty { } be not ratified, and the senate, despite the influence of the administration, sustained the committee. this action of the senate occurred on the th of june. the president was surprised, mortified and indignant. he was especially angry with the chairman of the committee on foreign affairs, senator sumner, and was from that moment determined to oust sumner from that position. [sidenote: the president's attempt to renew negotiations.] in his next annual message, that of december th, , he took up the matter again, went over all of his old arguments expressed in even more extravagant language than before, and added the prophecy that if the united states did not take santo domingo, european nations would acquire the bay of samana and create there a great commercial city to which the united states would become tributary without receiving corresponding benefits, and that then the folly of the rejection of so great a prize by the united states would be recognized. he then asked congress to authorize him to appoint a commission to negotiate a treaty with the authorities of santo domingo for its annexation to the united states, and suggested that the treaty so negotiated might be ratified by a joint resolution of the two houses of congress, instead of by the senate alone. [sidenote: the committee of inquiry.] these recommendations and suggestions and the language in which they were expressed were felt to be most exasperating by those senators and representatives who opposed the president's scheme, and the president's supporters saw quickly that congress would not sanction any such measure as he proposed. in place of it, senator morton, of indiana, offered in the senate a resolution to empower the president to appoint a commission, composed of three persons, to go to santo domingo and inquire into the { } political situation and the resources of the country. this resolution finally passed under strong opposition, and the house of representatives concurred in it with the proviso, which the senate accepted, that the resolution should not be construed as committing congress in any manner or degree to the policy of annexing santo domingo to the united states. [sidenote: the report of the commissioners.] the president appointed as commissioners benjamin f. wade, andrew d. white and samuel g. howe. these gentlemen proceeded to santo domingo, made their inquiries, and furnished the president with a report sustaining his views and recommendations. [sidenote: the abandonment of the scheme.] on the th of april, , the president submitted this report to congress, accompanied by a message which contained a justification of his own conduct in the whole matter, and an attack upon those who opposed his policy of annexation, especially upon senator sumner. it was a very undignified, not to say puerile, document, and ought never to have been written, much less sent. it revealed, however, the fact that the president understood at last that he must abandon his pet scheme. he did it, however, with a very bad grace, and in his last annual message he repeated for the third time his old arguments in favor of his miserable project, "not," he said, "as a recommendation for a renewal of the subject of annexation," but in vindication of his conduct in regard to it. it is needless to add that none of his fearful predictions about european occupation of santo domingo, in case the united states should fail to seize it, and the destruction of the monroe doctrine, have come to pass. on the other hand, the monroe doctrine has attained an almost monstrous growth which at times appears as likely to threaten as to preserve the peace of the two { } americas, and the poor little dominican republic, which was incapable of self-government, still exists and seems to be bettering its condition by its own efforts, while the great european city in the bay of samana, to which the united states was to become tributary, has not even the substance of a mirage in the waters upon which the vast marines of the world were to ride in approaching its docks and landings. such has been the fulfilment of the prophecy upon which was based the supposed necessity of expansion beyond the seas! { } { } index abbott, josiah g., on electoral commission, adams, charles francis, joins liberal republicans, ; candidate for presidential nomination, ; returns from england, ; at geneva arbitration, , adams, john q., nominated for vice-presidency, alabama, in lincoln's proclamation, ; electoral vote of rejected, ; reconstruction in, ; convention and election in, ; vote on thirteenth amendment, ; in the reconstruction bill, ; registration in, ; election in, ; disfranchisements in, ; voting on constitution, , , ; act on admission of members from, ; reconstruction declared complete, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; republicans get control in, , ; change in character of government, _alabama_, the, case of, , _alabama_ claims, , , , alaska, purchase of, - alexandria, va., pierpont government at, , alta vela, matter of claim to, , ames, adelbert, resigns as governor of mississippi, anderson, t. c., in louisiana politics, arkansas, in lincoln's proclamation, ; lincoln's acts toward, ; presidential reconstruction in, ; congressmen refused seats, ; in lincoln's message, ; electoral vote of rejected, ; attitude of johnson to, ; vote on thirteenth amendment, ; in the reconstruction bill, ; registration in, ; election in, ; disfranchisements in, ; ratifies constitution, , ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, ; act of june, , as to, , , ; reconstruction declared complete, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; change in character of government, ashburn, george w., in convention of , ashley, james m., action on thirteenth amendment, austin, tex., convention at, babcock, orville e., mission to santo domingo, baez, buenaventura, in dominican politics, baird, absalom, new orleans riot, - baltimore, md., republican convention at, ; democratic convention at, banks, nathaniel p., appoints election in louisiana, ; views on purchase of alaska, bayard, thomas f., on electoral commission, bell, john, desertion of the union cause, benton, thomas h., in convention of , bernard, mountague, on joint high commission, beust, count, names delfosse for halifax commission, bingham, john a., on joint committee on reconstruction, ; on impeachment committee, ; impeachment manager, ; approves letter on alta vela claims, ; offers amendment as to georgia, black, jeremiah s., counsel for johnson, ; his withdrawal, , ; counsel before electoral commission, blaine, james g., proposes amendment to reconstruction bill, , ; approves letter on alta vela claims, ; in convention of , ; views on purchase of alaska, blair, francis p., nominated for vice-presidency, ; conduct in the campaign, , blair, montgomery, in convention of , ; counsel before electoral commission, blow, henry t., on joint committee on reconstruction, borie, adolph e., becomes secretary of the navy, ; resigns, botts, john minor, in convention of , boutwell, george s., on joint committee on reconstruction, ; on impeachment committee, ; impeachment manager, ; becomes secretary of the treasury, bradley, joseph p., on electoral commission, brodhead, james o., letter from f. p. blair, brown, b. gratz, joins liberal republicans, ; nominated for vice-presidency, browning, orville h., enters cabinet, ; in convention of , brownlow, william g., elected governor of tennessee, ; in convention of , bullock, rufus b., share in reconstruction of georgia, - , , burlingame, anson, treaty with china, butler, benjamin f., impeachment manager, ; signs letter on alta vela claim, ; attack on johnson, ; proposes bill as to georgia, ; withdraws his amendment, cabral, in dominican politics, cameron, simon, in convention of , campbell, james, in convention of , campbell, john a., counsel before electoral commission, canada, the fisheries question, - canby, edward r. s., supersedes sickles, carpenter, matthew h., counsel before electoral commission, carpenter, testimony as to ku-klux, cartter, david k., action in case against thomas, , , cartwright, j. c., oregon elector of , chamberlain, daniel h., as governor of south carolina, ; retires from the office, chandler, zachariah, in convention of , ; manages campaign for hayes, chase, salmon p., presides at impeachment of johnson, ; rulings, ; puts final question, ; candidate for presidential nomination, cherokee nation vs. georgia ( peters ), chicago, ill., democratic convention at, ; republican convention of , china, the burlingame treaty, cincinnati, o., liberal republican convention at, ; republican convention of , civil rights, state legislation on, - , ; bill on, in congress, - ; the bill criticised, ; bill passed over veto, clarendon, earl of, treaty negotiated with johnson, clements, white vs., cleveland, o., radical republican convention at, ; soldier convention at, clifford, nathan, on electoral commission, cochrane, john, nominated for vice-presidency, ; withdraws, cockburn, alexander, at geneva arbitration, , , coke, richard, elected governor of texas, , colfax, schuyler, elected speaker, ; appoints committee on impeachment, ; nominated for vice-presidency, ; character of acceptance, columbia, s. c., made head-quarters of second military district, committee of the house on elections, georgia case referred to, committee of the house on impeachment, appointed, ; proceedings, _et seq._ committee of the house on reconstruction, reports bill, ; bill passed, ; covode resolution referred to, ; reports impeachment resolution, ; reports bill as to georgia, committee of the house on the judiciary, action as to thirteenth amendment, ; blaine moves reference to, committee of the house on the rebellious states, committee of the senate on elections, georgia case referred to, committee of the senate on finance, bill reported from, committee of the senate on foreign relations, sumner loses chairmanship of, ; opposes dominican treaty, , committee of the senate on the judiciary, action as to thirteenth amendment, - ; proposes freedmen's bureau bill, ; reports a civil rights bill, ; action on bill repealing tenure-of-office act, committee of the senate on the rebellious states, congress of the united states, power vested in, ; action on state perdurance, ; power over territories, ; relation of its acts to reconstruction, ; legislation on reconstruction, ; action as to electoral vote of , , ; twenty-second joint rule, , ; attitude to tennessee, ; meeting of december, , ; johnson's views of powers of, ; demand of southerners for seats, ; joint committee on reconstruction, , ; passes freedmen's bureau bill, ; passes civil rights bill, , ; the fourteenth amendment, - ; proposal of committee on reconstruction, ; reports to, on reconstruction, - ; passage of freedmen's bureau bill, - ; relation to campaign of , ; attacked by johnson, ; effect of election of , ; effect of johnson's message on, ; passes bill for negro suffrage in district of columbia, , ; bill vetoed, , ; bill passed over veto, ; vetoes sent to, ; encroachment on president's power, ; passes supplemental reconstruction bill, ; opening of fortieth congress, ; passes bill interpreting reconstruction acts, ; passes bill over veto, ; as to powers of, ; attitude of southern whites to acts of, ; additional bill as to reconstructed states, , ; comment on the act, ; message to, of december, , - ; admission of southern members, , ; action on proclamation of fourteenth amendment, ; friction with johnson, ; annual message to, ; action on fifteenth amendment, ; question as to southern members, , ; admits members from virginia, ; passes modification of tenure-of-office act, ; readmission of georgia, - ; attitude to the south, ; bill to enforce the amendments, - ; control of elections to, ; statute on the ku-klux, , ; legislation on finance, - ; electoral count of , , ; bill for electoral commission, , ; action as to santo domingo, . _see_ house of representatives; senate; statutes of the united states conkling, roscoe, on joint committee on reconstruction, ; in convention of , connecticut ratifies fourteenth amendment, , constitution of the united states, government provided by the, - ; relation of state government to, , ; powers of congress over elections, ; eligibility to vice-presidency, , ; adoption of the thirteenth amendment, - , ; the fourteenth amendment, - , , ; fourteenth amendment in the campaign of , ; fourteenth amendment rejected in south, , ; fourteenth amendment with reference to revival of state functions, ; tests of, applied to reconstruction bill, ; in reconstruction bill, , ; interpreted by the supreme court, ; fourteenth amendment ratified in arkansas, ; ratification of fourteenth amendment completed, - ; action on fifteenth amendment, ; fifteenth amendment ratified by georgia, ; provision for enforcement of amendments, - covode, john, resolutions on johnson, cowan, edgar, action on the stevens resolution, ; in convention of , cox, jacob d., in pittsburg convention, ; becomes secretary of the interior, creswell, john a. j., in convention of , ; becomes postmaster-general, cronin, e. a., oregon elector in , , curtin, a. g., in convention of , curtis, benjamin r., counsel for johnson, ; argument, , cushing, caleb, at geneva arbitration, custer, george a., in cleveland convention, davis, david, joins liberal republicans, ; candidate for presidential nomination, ; elected senator, ; relation to electoral commission, davis, henry winter, bill on reconstruction, - ; protest against lincoln's proclamation, davis, j. c. bancroft, at geneva arbitration, delaware, in election of , ; votes for seymour, delfosse, maurice, on halifax commission, dennison, william, resignation, , district of columbia, bill for negro suffrage in, ; bill vetoed, ; bill passed over veto, ; bill on colored schools in, dix, john a., in convention of , dixon, james, action on the stevens resolution, ; vote on impeachment, doolittle, james r., action on the stevens resolution, ; in convention of , ; view of the stanton case, ; vote on impeachment, drew, george f., becomes governor of florida, durant, thomas j., in convention of , durell, e. h., in louisiana politics, , edmunds, george f., on electoral commission, electoral commission, creation, , ; membership, - ; proceedings, - emory, w. h., relations with johnson, , , english, james e., in convention of , evarts, william m., counsel for johnson, ; counsel before electoral commission, ; at geneva arbitration, ewing, thomas, in cleveland convention, ; nominated as secretary of war, farragut, david d., accompanies johnson to the west, favrot, alexander, at geneva arbitration, federal government, system of, , ferry, thomas w., announces result of election, fessenden, william p., on joint committee on reconstruction, ; theory of reconstruction, ; opinion on impeachment, ; view of the stanton case, ; vote on impeachment, field, stephen j., on electoral commission, fish, hamilton, becomes secretary of state, ; negotiations with great britain, , ; controversy with granville, ; congratulates delfosse, fisheries question, the, - flanders, benjamin f., elected to house of representatives, florida, in lincoln's proclamation, ; electoral vote of rejected, ; reconstruction in, ; convention in, ; adopts thirteenth amendment, ; in the reconstruction bill, ; registration in, ; election in, ; ratifies constitution, , ; act on admission of members from, ; reconstruction declared complete, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; contest as to election returns of , , ; change of administration, _florida_, the, case of, - fowler, joseph s., vote on impeachment, freedmen's bureau, created, , ; grant's opinion of its officers, ; bill of , - ; bill passed over veto, - . _see_ statutes of the united states frelinghuysen, frederick t., on electoral commission, frémont, john c., nominated for presidency, ; withdraws, galt, alexander t., on halifax commission, garfield, james a., approves letter on alta vela claims, ; on electoral commission, garland, augustus h., elected governor of arkansas, geneva arbitration, , , - georgia, in lincoln's proclamation, ; electoral vote of rejected, ; reconstruction in, ; convention and election in, ; vote on thirteenth amendment, ; in the reconstruction bill, ; case of georgia vs. stanton, , ; registration in, ; election in, ; election in, ; ratifies constitution, , ; controversy in, ; act on admission of members from, , ; reconstruction declared complete, ; ratification of fourteenth amendment, ; votes for seymour, ; question in congress as to representation of, ; question of representation of, - ; military government in, , ; fifteenth amendment ratified, ; admission delayed, , ; finally restored to federal relations, , ; escape from negro rule, , ; election of in, gerry, elbridge, in convention of , gillem, a. c., arrest of mccardle, granger, gordon, in cleveland convention, grant, ulysses s., report on conditions at the south, ; accompanies johnson to the west, ; acting secretary of war, , ; injunction against sought, ; appointed acting secretary of war, ; his action thereon, , ; relations with johnson, - ; nominated for presidency, ; character of acceptance, ; attitude to reconstruction, ; proclamation as to virginia, ; orders as to mississippi and texas, , ; policy characterized, , ; attitude to tenure-of-office act, - ; first annual message, ; suggestion as to georgia, ; message of march, , ; proclamation of march, , ; proclamation of may, , , ; proclamations of april and november, , , ; relations with sumner, ; nominated for second term, ; elected, ; veto of inflation bill, ; messages on relations with great britain, - ; policy as to santo domingo, - granville, lord, controversy with fish, great britain, change in ministry, ; grant's messages on relations with, - ; the geneva arbitration, - ; the british columbia boundary, ; the fisheries question, - greeley, horace, in convention of , ; joins liberal republicans, ; nominated for presidency, , ; defeated, green, ashbel, counsel before electoral commission, grey and ripon, earl de, on joint high commission, grider, henry, on joint committee on reconstruction, grimes, james w., on joint committee on reconstruction, ; view of the stanton case, ; vote on impeachment, groesbeck, william s., counsel for johnson, habeas corpus, writ of, privileges suspended in district of columbia, hahn, michael, elected to house of representatives, ; elected governor of louisiana, halifax, n. s., fisheries commission at, , hamlin, hannibal, count of electoral votes, hampton, wade, in convention of , ; becomes governor of south carolina, hancock, winfield scott, supersedes sheridan, ; in convention of , harlan, james, resignation, , harris, ira, on joint committee on reconstruction, hawley, joseph r., in republican convention of , hayes, rutherford b., significance of his election, ; nominated for presidency, , ; the campaign, _et seq._; election formally declared, ; policy toward the south, , henderson, john b., introduces amendment abolishing slavery, , ; vote on impeachment, hendricks, thomas a., candidate for presidential nomination, ; nominated for vice-presidency, herron, francis j., in louisiana politics, , higby, william, views on purchase of alaska, hill, benjamin h., enters senate from georgia, hoadly, george, joins liberal republicans, ; counsel before electoral commission, hoar, ebenezer r., becomes attorney-general, ; on joint high commission, hoar, george f., on electoral commission, hood, john b., near nashville, house of representatives of the united states, admits members from louisiana, ; refuses seats to members from arkansas, ; action on thirteenth amendment, - ; elects colfax speaker, ; the stevens resolution, - ; speech by stevens, ; passes freedmen's bureau bill, ; passes civil rights bill, ; representation in, ; election of , ; effect of election of , ; attempt to impeach johnson, ; bill on reconstruction before the, - ; resolution on confiscation act, ; tenure-of-office bill in, ; bill on reconstructed states, ; action on dismissal of stanton, ; proceedings of impeachment against johnson, _et seq._; passes bill repealing tenure-of-office act, , ; democrats secure control of, , ; jurisdiction over treaties, , . _see_ congress of the united states; statutes of the united states houston, george s., elected governor of alabama, howard, jacob m., on joint committee on reconstruction, ; illness delays vote on impeachment, howe, samuel g., commissioner to santo domingo, hunt, ward, hunton, eppa, on electoral commission, illinois, ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; davis elected senator from, indiana, election of in, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; election of in, iowa, election of in, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , d'itajubá, baron, at geneva arbitration, , jenkins, charles j., institutes suit against stanton, ; removed by meade, johnson, andrew, elected vice-president, ; calls tennessee convention, ; proclamation of feb. , , ; becomes president, ; plan and acts as to reconstruction, - ; proclamation of may , , , ; identity of his plan with lincoln's, ; proclaims federal law in force in virginia, ; proclamations as to civil government, ; message of dec., , ; relation to congressional views of reconstruction, ; sends grant and schurz through the south, ; veto of freedmen's bureau bill, , ; speech of feb. , , ; veto of civil rights bill, , ; effect of it, ; veto overridden, ; as to fourteenth amendment, ; message as to tennessee, ; veto of freedmen's bureau bill overridden, - ; relations with stanton, , ; changes in cabinet, ; relation to new orleans riot, , ; endorsed by convention of , ; criticized by conventions of , , ; takes part in campaign of , ; proclamation declaring war ended, ; message of dec., , , ; vetoes bill as to negro suffrage in district of columbia, , ; bill passed over his veto, ; first attempt at impeachment, ; vetoes resolution on confiscation act, ; influence of seward on, ; vetoes reconstruction bill and tenure-of-office bill, ; encroachment on his power, ; veto of supplemental reconstruction bill, , ; orders under the statutes, , , ; vetoes bill interpreting reconstruction acts, , ; distrust of stanton, ; veto overridden, ; suspends stanton, , ; mississippi vs. johnson, , ; supersedes pope with meade, ; the attempt to impeach, - ; message on suspension of stanton, - ; relations with grant, - ; supersedes stanton with thomas, , ; covode resolution, ; action of house on impeachment, _et seq._; vetoes overridden, , , ; proclaims reconstruction completed, ; conduct in campaign of , ; last annual message, ; proclamation of dec., , ; veto of colored school bill, ; retirement, , ; relations with republicans, - ; policy compared with grant's, johnson, james, appointed governor of georgia, johnson, reverdy, on joint committee on reconstruction, ; report on reconstruction, ; in convention of , ; offers bill on reconstruction, ; negotiates treaty with clarendon, joint committee on reconstruction, , ; recommendation on representation, ; proposes bill, ; its bill rejected, ; final report of, - joint high commission, julian, george w., on impeachment committee, ; joins liberal republicans, kansas ratifies fourteenth amendment, , kellogg, ensign h., on halifax commission, , kellogg, william p., in louisiana politics, - ; certificate in election, kendall vs. united states ( peters ), kentucky, reconstruction in, , ; in lincoln's message, ; in election of , ; votes for seymour, ; election of in, kenzie, lewis m., in convention of , kernan, francis, in convention of , koontz, william h., approves letter on alta vela claims, ku-klux, the, - , ; act of april, , , ; trials, lawrence, william b., in convention of , lewis, d. p., elected governor of alabama, liberal republicans, convention of , , ; in campaign of , lincoln, abraham, views and acts as to reconstruction, - ; his proposed oath of allegiance, ; attitude to the pierpont government, ; course toward louisiana, , ; proclamation of july , , , ; message of dec. , , , ; renominated, ; re-elected, ; message of feb. , , ; views of powers of congress, ; attitude to brownlow's administration, ; nature of acts as to abolition, ; signs resolution on thirteenth amendment, ; assassinated, ; his cabinet retained by johnson, ; identity of plan of reconstruction with johnson's, lindsay, robert b., course as governor of alabama, logan, john a., on impeachment committee, ; impeachment manager, ; approves letter on alta vela claim, louisiana, in lincoln's proclamation, ; lincoln's acts toward, ; presidential reconstruction in, , ; in lincoln's message, ; electoral vote of rejected, , ; attitude of johnson to, ; vote on thirteenth amendment, ; contest for control of state government, - ; in the reconstruction bill, ; registration in, ; election in, ; disfranchisements in, ; ratifies constitution, , ; act on admission of members from, ; reconstruction declared complete, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; votes for seymour, ; corruption in, ; contest for political control in, - ; contested electoral vote of , , , ; change of administration, louisville, ky., democratic convention at, loyal league, the, , luther vs. borden, ( howard ), lynch, john, in louisiana politics, - macdonald, john, on joint high commission, mccardle, william h., case of, , mcclellan, george b., nominated for presidency, ; electoral votes, mcclernand, john a., in cleveland convention, mccrary, george w., suggests electoral commission, mcenery, john, in louisiana politics, - ; certificate in election, maine, election of in, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; election of in, marvin, william, appointed governor of florida, maryland, in lincoln's message, ; in election of , ; votes for seymour, ; election of in, massachusetts ratifies fourteenth amendment, , matthews, stanley, in convention of , ; joins liberal republicans, ; counsel before electoral commission, meade, george g., supersedes pope, ; report on alabama election, ; removes jenkins, ; proclamation of june, , , merrick, richard t., counsel before electoral commission, michigan ratifies fourteenth amendment, , miller, j. n. y., oregon elector of , miller, samuel f., on electoral commission, miller enters senate from georgia, minnesota ratifies fourteenth amendment, , mississippi, in lincoln's proclamation, ; electoral vote of rejected, ; reconstruction in, ; convention in, ; rejects thirteenth amendment, ; law on vagrancy, etc., - , ; opinion of this legislation, ; in the reconstruction bill, ; mississippi vs. johnson, ; registration in, ; election in, ; disfranchisements in, ; constitution rejected in, ; arrest of mccardle in, ; martial law in, ; no share in election of , ; ratification of constitution, ; restored to federal relations, ; negro rule in, ; political conditions in , , mississippi vs. johnson ( wallace ), , , missouri, reconstruction in, , ; in lincoln's message, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; liberal republicans in, ; election of in, monroe, john t., as mayor of new orleans, montgomery, ala., made head-quarters of third military district, moorhead, james k., approves letter on alta vela claims, morgan, edwin d., vote on freedmen's bureau bill, morrill, justin s., on joint committee on reconstruction, morse, alexander p., counsel before electoral commission, morton, oliver p., in convention of , ; in convention of , ; on electoral commission, ; resolution on santo domingo, moses, f. j., connection with south carolina corruption, moses, f. j., jr., judge-elect of south carolina, nashville, tenn., convention at, national nominating conventions, radical republican of , ; democratic of , ; republican of , ; of , - ; republican of , ; democratic of , ; liberal republican of , , ; democratic of , ; republican of , ; republican of , , ; democratic of , nebraska ratifies fourteenth amendment, , nelson, samuel, on joint high commission, nelson, thomas a. r., counsel for johnson, nevada ratifies fourteenth amendment, , new hampshire ratifies fourteenth amendment, , new jersey, ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; withdrawal of ratification, , , ; votes for seymour, new orleans, la., convention at, ; riot at, - ; head-quarters of fifth military district, new york, ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; votes for seymour, new york, n. y., democratic convention of at, new york _tribune_ prints protest of wade and davis, niblack, william e., motion in house, nicholls, francis t., becomes governor of louisiana, north carolina, in lincoln's proclamation, ; electoral vote of rejected, ; reconstruction in, ; convention in, ; vote on thirteenth amendment, ; in the reconstruction bill, ; registration in, ; election in, ; ratifies constitution, , ; act on admission of members from, ; reconstruction declared complete, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; recovery from negro rule, northcote, stafford, on joint high commission, northwest ordinance, norton, daniel s., action on the stevens resolution, ; vote on impeachment, o'conor, charles, nominated for presidency, ; counsel before electoral commission, odell, w. h., oregon elector of , ohio, election of in, ; vote on negro suffrage in, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; withdrawal of ratification, , , ; election of in, ord, edward o. c., in fourth military district, oregon, ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; votes for seymour, ; contested electoral returns of , - packard, s. b., takes possession of louisiana capitol, ; retires from office of governor, palmer, roundell, at geneva arbitration, parker, john, oregon elector of , parsons, lewis e., appointed governor of alabama, paschal, george w., in convention of , patterson, david t., vote on impeachment, payne, henry b., on electoral commission, pendleton, george h., nominated for vice-presidency, ; candidate for presidential nomination, pennsylvania, election of in, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; election of in, perry, benjamin f., appointed governor of south carolina, philadelphia, penn., conventions of at, , ; republican convention of at, phillips, wendell, characterized by johnson, pierpont, francis h., attitude of lincoln to, ; supported by johnson, , pinchback, p. b. s., in louisiana politics, , pittsburg, penn., soldier convention at, poland, luke p., connection with thomas case, pope, john, in third military district, ; injunction sought against, ; election orders, ; recalled, preston, william, in convention of , pulaski, tenn., place of origin of ku-klux, randall, alexander w., appointed postmaster-general, ; accompanies johnson to the west, rawlins, john a., becomes secretary of war, raymond, henry j., views on reconstruction, ; vote on fourteenth amendment, ; in convention of , reconstruction, theory of, - ; lincoln's views and acts as to, - ; seward's view of, ; in louisiana, ; the wade-davis bill, - ; relation of party conventions to, ; in tennessee, , ; johnson's plan as to, - ; in north carolina, ; in the several states, , ; views of house on, ; attitude of republicans, ; joint committee on, ; views of stevens, ; views of raymond and shellabarger, ; theory of sumner, ; reports of congressional committee, - ; as an issue in the campaign of , ; johnson's defence of his policy as to, ; bill in the house, - ; the blaine amendment, , ; the sherman bill, ; the bill as finally passed, - ; vetoed by johnson, ; republican motives in, ; supplemental bill on, - ; vetoed, ; acts on, criticised, , ; application of acts on, - ; congressional interpretation of acts on, ; bill interpreting the statutes on, ; application of statutes on, _et seq._; process of, declared completed, ; attitude of grant toward, ; end of legislation on, ; reconstruction characterized, . _see_ statutes republican party, schism threatened in, ; attitude to reconstruction, ; attitude to southern legislation, , ; feeling toward southern congressmen, ; attitude to views of stevens, raymond and shellabarger, ; attitude to presidential reconstruction, , ; position on civil rights, ; attitude to freedmen's bureau bill, ; attitude to stanton, , ; in campaign of , , ; convention of , ; in election of , ; views on reconstruction, , ; motives in reconstruction, ; interpretation of johnson's message, ; action in vote on impeachment, ; effect of mccardle case on, ; convention of , ; criticism of views of, ; relations with johnson, - ; control of grant, ; revolt in the party, , ; convention of , ; get control of alabama legislature, , ; lose control in congress, ; financial policy, ; convention of , , ; campaign of , _et seq._; views as to powers of congress, _retribution_, the, case of, rhode island ratifies fourteenth amendment, , richmond, va., made head-quarters of first military district, ; convention at, , robeson, george m., becomes secretary of the navy, rogers, andrew j., on joint committee on reconstruction, rose, john, mission of, ross, edmund g., vote on impeachment, rousseau, lovell h., in cleveland convention, russia, purchase of alaska from, - safford, m. j., in convention of , st. louis, mo., johnson's speech at, samana bay, , santo domingo, sumner's position as to, ; attempt to annex to united states, - schaffner law, the, schell, augustus, in convention of , schenck, robert c., in convention of , ; on joint high commission, ; at london, schofield, john m., assigned to first military district, , ; nominated as secretary of war, ; confirmed, ; retained by grant, ; resigns, schriver, general, in stanton-thomas incident, , , , schurz, carl, report on conditions at the south, ; in convention of , ; joins liberal republicans, sclopis, frederic, at geneva arbitration, , , scott, r. k., views of ku-klux, etc., senate of the united states, refuses seats to members from arkansas, ; adopts thirteenth amendment, - ; the stevens resolution, , , ; passes freedmen's bureau bill, ; passes civil rights bill, , ; effect of election of , ; passes reconstruction bill, ; tenure-of-office bill in, , ; passes resolution on confiscation act, ; bill on reconstructed states, ; action on suspension of stanton, , ; action on dismissal of stanton, ; acts as court of impeachment, _et seq._; vote on impeachment, , ; confirms schofield, ; resolution on the amnesty proclamation, , ; confirms grant's nominees, ; admits members from georgia, ; currency bill in, ; ratifies treaty with russia, ; rejects johnson-clarendon treaty, ; rejects dominican treaty, , . _see_ congress of the united states; statutes of the united states seward, william h., views on reconstruction, ; sends thirteenth amendment to states, ; retained by johnson, ; calculation as to thirteenth amendment, , , ; announces adoption of thirteenth amendment, ; action on fourteenth amendment, ; accompanies johnson to the west, ; influence on johnson, ; proclaims ratification of fourteenth amendment, ; procedure as to the proclamation, - ; negotiates purchase of alaska, - ; negotiates treaty with china, ; instructions to babcock, seymour, horatio, nominated for presidency, ; defeated, shaffer, j. w., secures letter on alta vela claims, sharkey, william l., appointed governor of mississippi, ; institutes suit against johnson, shellabarger, samuel, theory of reconstruction, - ; counsel before electoral commission, ; opinion of purchase of alaska, _shenandoah_, the, case of, , shepley, george f., military governor of louisiana, sheridan, philip h., new orleans riot, , ; in fifth military district, ; superseded by hancock, sherman, john, offers bill on reconstruction, ; father-in-law of ewing, ; reports currency bill, sickles, daniel e., in second military district, ; superseded by canby, sinclair, john g., in convention of , skinner, j. b. l., postmaster-general _ad interim_, , slavery, adoption of the thirteenth amendment, - south carolina, in lincoln's proclamation, ; electoral vote of rejected, ; reconstruction in, ; convention and election in, ; law on vagrancy, ; vote on thirteenth amendment, ; in the reconstruction bill, ; registration in, ; election in, ; character of convention in, ; ratifies constitution, , ; act on admission of members from, ; reconstruction declared complete, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; request of governor for troops, ; proclamations of president as to, , ; corruption in, ; conditions in , ; contested electoral returns of , , ; change of administration, spaulding, j. r., joins liberal republicans, speed, james, resignation, , ; in convention of , , staempfli, jacob, at geneva arbitration, , , stanbery, henry, appointed attorney-general, ; in case of mississippi vs. johnson, ; in case of georgia vs. stanton, ; arrest of thomas, ; counsel for johnson, stanley, lord, secretary for foreign affairs, stanton, edwin m., attitude to johnson, , ; as to the new orleans riot, , ; dissents from instructions on reconstruction, ; distrusted by johnson, ; suspended, , , ; case of georgia vs. stanton, , ; message on suspension of, - ; action of senate as to, , ; superseded by thomas, - ; removal discussed before senate, , ; power to remove, ; his violations of law, ; abdication, statutes of the united states, of aug. , , ; of may , , , ; of feb. , , , , ; of july , , ; of feb. , , , ; of mar. , , , , , ; of april , , - ; of july , , - ; of feb. , , ; of mar. , (on reconstruction), - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - ; of mar. , (on tenure-of-office), - , - , , , , , , , , , , , - ; of mar. , , ; of mar. , , - , , , , , , , , , - ; of june , , ; of june , , , , ; of june , , ; of july , , ; of mar. , , , ; of april , , ; of dec. , , ; of may , , , ; of july , , , ; of july , , ; of jan. , , ; of feb. , , ; of april , , , , ; of may , , ; of jan. , , , stearns, m. l., retires as governor of florida, stephens, alexander h., seeks seat in congress, stevens, thaddeus, proposes substitute thirteenth amendment, ; resolution on representation, - , ; view of mississippi legislation, ; on committee on reconstruction, ; views of reconstruction, ; characterized by johnson, ; view as to effect of secession, ; introduces bill on reconstruction, ; refuses to accept the blaine amendment, , ; on impeachment committee, ; impeachment manager, ; approves letter on alta vela claims, ; views on purchase of alaska, stewart, alexander t., nominated for secretary of treasury, ; declines, stockton, john p., in convention of , stoeckl, baron, negotiates treaty for sale of alaska, stone, john m., elected governor of mississippi, stoughton, e. w., counsel before electoral commission, strong, william, on electoral commission, sumner, charles, theory of reconstruction, , ; characterized by johnson, ; joins liberal republicans, ; relations with grant, , supreme court of the united states, relation of dicta to reconstruction, ; decisions, - , , , swayne, noah h., tennessee, in lincoln's proclamation, ; in lincoln's message, ; electoral vote of rejected, , ; reconstruction in, , ; civil government established in, ; ratifies thirteenth amendment, ; attitude of johnson to, ; vote on thirteenth amendment, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; election of in, tenterden, lord, at geneva arbitration, tenure-of-office bill, the, introduced, , ; contents, , ; vetoed, ; case of stanton, _et seq._ _see_ statutes terry, alfred h., modifies virginia vagrant act, , ; resumes military control in georgia, texas, in lincoln's proclamation, ; electoral vote of rejected, ; war declared ended in, ; in the reconstruction bill, ; registration in, ; election in, ; martial law in, ; no share in election of , ; restored to federal relations, , ; escape from negro rule, - ; election of in, ; change in character of government, thomas, george h., in third military district, ; transferred, thomas, lorenzo, appointed to supersede stanton, - ; his position discussed before senate, , ; law as to appointment of, thornton, edward, negotiations at washington, , thurman, allen g., on electoral commission, tilden, samuel j., in convention of , ; in convention of , ; nominated for presidency, ; the campaign, _et seq._ townsend, e. d., orders from stanton, ; in temporary charge of war department, trumbull, lyman, reports thirteenth amendment, ; in convention of , ; opinion on impeachment, ; view of the stanton case, ; vote on impeachment, ; proposal as to tenure-of-office act, ; joins liberal republicans, ; candidate for presidential nomination, ; counsel before electoral commission, twenty-second joint rule of congress, , union leagues, formation of, , vallandigham, clement l., in convention of , van winkle, peter g., view of the stanton case, ; vote on impeachment, vermont, election of in, ; ratifies fourteenth amendment, , ; election of in, vicksburg, miss., made head-quarters of fourth military district, virginia, reconstruction in, ; omission from lincoln's proclamation, ; electoral vote of rejected, ; reconstruction in, ; vote on thirteenth amendment, ; in the reconstruction bill, , ; registration in, ; election in, ; disfranchisements in, ; martial law in, ; no share in election of , ; question in congress as to representation, ; partition of, ; the vagrant act, , ; a military district, , ; restored to federal relations, ; escape from negro rule, , wade, benjamin f., bill on reconstruction, - ; protest against lincoln's proclamation, ; opinion of johnson, ; commissioner to santo domingo, waite, morrison r., ; at geneva arbitration, walker, robert j., in case of mississippi vs. johnson, war department, freedmen's bureau organized in, ward, hamilton, on impeachment committee, warmoth, henry c., connection with louisiana corruption, ; contest for control in louisiana, - washburne, elihu b., on joint committee on reconstruction, ; becomes secretary of state, ; resigns, washington, treaty of, , - , watts, john w., oregon elector in , , welles, gideon, accompanies johnson to the west, wells, david a., joins liberal republicans, wells, j. madison, in contest for control of louisiana, welsh pays halifax award, west virginia ratifies fourteenth amendment, , wharton, john, in louisiana politics, , wheeler, william a., nominated for vice-presidency, ; election formally declared, wheeling, w. va., government at, whipper, w. j., judge-elect of south carolina, whiskey ring, white, andrew d., commissioner to santo domingo, white, horace, joins liberal republicans, white vs. clements, whitney, william c., counsel before electoral commission, william i., emperor, award as to northwest boundary, williams, george h., offers bill on reconstruction, ; introduces tenure-of-office bill, ; impeachment manager, ; motions, ; on joint high commission, wilson, henry, theory of reconstruction, ; on impeachment committee, ; impeachment manager, ; elected vice-president, windom, william, introduces thirteenth amendment in house, winthrop, robert c., in convention of , wisconsin ratifies fourteenth amendment, , wood, fernando, in convention of , wool, john e., in cleveland convention, the american history series _seven volumes, mo, with maps and plans. price per volume, $ . , net._ the colonial era.--by rev. george p. fisher, d.d., ll.d., professor of ecclesiastical history in yale university. the french war and the revolution.--by william m. sloane, ph.d., professor of history in columbia university. the making of the nation.--by general francis a. walker, ll.d., late president of the massachusetts institute of technology. the middle period.--by john w. burgess, ph.d., ll.d., professor of political science and constitutional law in columbia university. the civil war and the constitution.--by john w. burgess, ph.d., ll.d., professor of political science and constitutional law in columbia university. vols. reconstruction and the constitution.--by john w. burgess, ph.d., ll.d., professor of political science and constitutional law in columbia university. generously made available by the internet archive/canadian libraries.) civil war and reconstruction in alabama civil war and reconstruction in alabama by walter l. fleming, ph.d. professor of history in west virginia university [illustration] new york the columbia university press the macmillan company, agents london: macmillan & co., ltd. _all rights reserved_ copyright, , by the macmillan company. set up and electrotyped. published october, . norwood press j. s. cushing & co.--berwick & smith co. norwood, mass., u.s.a. to my wife mary boyd fleming preface this work was begun some five years ago as a study of reconstruction in alabama. as the field opened it seemed to me that an account of ante-bellum conditions, social, economic, and political, and of the effect of the civil war upon ante-bellum institutions would be indispensable to any just and comprehensive treatment of the later period. consequently i have endeavored to describe briefly the society and the institutions that went down during civil war and reconstruction. internal conditions in alabama during the war period are discussed at length; they are important, because they influenced seriously the course of reconstruction. throughout the work i have sought to emphasize the social and economic problems in the general situation, and accordingly in addition to a sketch of the politics i have dwelt at some length upon the educational, religious, and industrial aspects of the period. one point in particular has been stressed throughout the whole work, viz. the fact of the segregation of the races within the state--the blacks mainly in the central counties, and the whites in the northern and the southern counties. this division of the state into "white" counties and "black" counties has almost from the beginning exercised the strongest influence upon the history of its people. the problems of white and black in the black belt are not always the problems of the whites and blacks of the white counties. it is hoped that the maps inserted in the text will assist in making clear this point. perhaps it may be thought that undue space is devoted to the history of the negro during war and reconstruction, but after all the negro, whether passive or active, was the central figure of the period. believing that the political problems of war and reconstruction are of less permanent importance than the forces which have shaped and are shaping the social and industrial life of the people, i have confined the discussion of politics to certain chapters chronologically arranged, while for the remainder of the book the topical method of presentation has been adopted. in describing the political events of reconstruction i have in most cases endeavored to show the relation between national affairs and local conditions within the state. to such an extent has this been done that in some parts it may perhaps be called a general history with especial reference to local conditions in alabama. never before and never since reconstruction have there been closer practical relations between the united states and the state, between washington and montgomery. as to the authorities examined in the preparation of the work it may be stated that practically all material now available--whether in print or in manuscript--has been used. in working with newspapers an effort was made to check up in two or more newspapers each fact used. most of the references to newspapers--practically all of those to the less reputable papers--are to signed articles. i have had to reject much material as unreliable, and it is not possible that i have been able to sift out all the errors. whatever remain will prove to be, as i hope and believe, of only minor consequence. thanks for assistance given are due to friends too numerous to mention all of them by name. for special favors i am indebted to professor l. d. miller, jacksonville, alabama; mr. w. o. scroggs of harvard university; professor g. w. duncan, auburn, alabama; major w. w. screws of the _montgomery advertiser_; colonel john w. dubose, montgomery, alabama; mrs. j. l. dean, opelika, alabama; major s. a. cunningham of the _confederate veteran_, nashville, tennessee; and major james r. crowe, of sheffield, alabama. i am indebted to mr. l. s. boyd, washington, d.c., for numerous favors, among them, for calling my attention to the scrap-book collection of edward mcpherson, then shelved in the library of congress along with fiction. on many points where documents were lacking, i was materially assisted by the written reminiscences of people familiar with conditions of the time, among them my mother and father, the late professor o. d. smith of auburn, alabama, and the late ryland randolph, esq., of birmingham. many old negroes have related their experiences to me. hon. junius m. riggs of the alabama supreme court library, by the loan of documents, assisted me materially in working up the financial history of the reconstruction; dr. david y. thomas of the university of florida read and criticised the entire manuscript; dr. thomas m. owen, director of the alabama department of archives and history, has given me valuable assistance from the beginning to the close of the work by reading the manuscript, by making available to me not only the public archives, but also his large private collection, and by securing illustrations. but above all i have been aided by professor william a. dunning of columbia university, at whose instance the work was begun, who gave me many helpful suggestions, read the manuscript, and saved me from numerous pitfalls, and by my wife, who read and criticised both manuscript and proof, and made the maps and the index and prepared some of the illustrations. walter l. fleming. new york city, august, . contents part i _introduction_ chapter i period of sectional controversy page composition of the population of alabama the indians and nullification slavery controversy and political divisions emancipation sentiment in north alabama early party divisions william lowndes yancey growth of secession sentiment "unionists" successful in - yancey-pryor debate, the charleston convention of the election of separation of the churches, - senator clay's farewell speech in the senate chapter ii secession from the union secession convention called parties in the convention reports on secession debate on secession political theories of members ordinance of secession passed confederate states formed self-denying ordinance african slave trade commissioners to other states legislation by the convention north alabama in the convention incidents of the session part ii _war times in alabama_ chapter iii military and political events military operations the war in north alabama the streight raid rousseau's raid the war in south alabama wilson's raid and the end of the war destruction by the armies military organization alabama soldiers: number and character negro troops union troops from alabama militia system conscription and exemption confederate enrolment laws policy of the state in regard to conscription effect of the enrolment laws exemption from service tories and deserters conditions in north alabama unionists, tories, and mossbacks growth of disaffection outrages by tories and deserters disaffection in south alabama prominent tories and deserters numbers of the disaffected party politics and the peace movement political conditions, - the peace society reconstruction sentiment chapter iv economic and social conditions industrial development during the war military industries manufacture of arms nitre making private manufacturing enterprises salt making confederate finance in alabama banks and banking issues of bonds and notes by the state special appropriations and salaries taxation impressment debts, stay laws, sequestration trade, barter, prices blockade-running and trade through the lines scarcity and destitution, - the negro during the war military uses of negroes negroes on the farms fidelity to masters schools and colleges confederate text-books newspapers publishing houses the churches during the war attitude on public questions the churches and the negroes federal army and the southern churches domestic life society in life on the farm home industries; makeshifts and substitutes clothes and fashions drugs and medicines social life during the war negro life woman's work for the soldiers part iii _the aftermath of war_ chapter v social and economic disorder loss of life in war destruction of property the wreck of the railways the interregnum: lawlessness and disorder the negro testing his freedom how to prove freedom suffering among the negroes relations between whites and blacks destitution and want, - chapter vi confiscation and the cotton tax confiscation frauds restrictions on trade in federal claims to confederate property cotton frauds and stealing cotton agents prosecuted statistics of the frauds the cotton tax chapter vii the temper of the people after the surrender "condition of affairs in the south" general grant's report carl schurz's report truman's report report of the joint committee on reconstruction the "loyalists" treatment of northern men immigration to alabama troubles of the episcopal church part iv _presidential restoration_ chapter viii first provisional administration theories of reconstruction presidential plan in operation early attempts at "restoration" amnesty proclamation "proscribing proscription" the "restoration" convention personnel and parties debates on secession and slavery "a white man's government" legislation by the convention "restoration" completed chapter ix second provisional administration status of the provisional government legislation about freedmen the negro under the provisional government movement toward negro suffrage new conditions of congress and increasing irritation fourteenth amendment rejected political conditions, - ; formation of parties chapter x military government, - the military occupation the army and the colored population administration of justice by the army the army and the white people chapter xi the wards of the nation the freedmen's bureau department of negro affairs organization of the bureau the bureau and the civil authorities the bureau supported by confiscations the labor problem freedmen's bureau courts care of the sick issue of rations demoralization caused by bureau the freedmen's savings-bank the freedmen's bureau and negro education the failure of the bureau system part v _congressional reconstruction_ chapter xii military government under the reconstruction acts administration of general john pope military reconstruction acts pope's control of the civil government pope and the newspapers trials by military commissions registration and disfranchisement elections and the convention removal of pope and swayne administration of general george g. meade registration and elections administration of civil affairs trials by military commissions the soldiers and the citizens from martial law to carpet-bag rule chapter xiii the campaign of attitude of the whites organization of the radical party in alabama conservative opposition aroused the negro's first vote chapter xiv the "reconstruction" convention character of the convention the race question debates on disfranchisement of whites legislation by the convention chapter xv the "reconstruction" completed "convention" candidates campaign on the constitution vote on the constitution the constitution fails of adoption the alabama question in congress alabama readmitted to the union chapter xvi the union league of america origin of the union league its extension to the south ceremonies of the league organization and methods part vi _carpet-bag and negro rule_ chapter xvii taxation and the public debt taxation during reconstruction administrative expenses effect on property values the public bonded debt the financial settlement chapter xviii railroad legislation and frauds federal and state aid to railroads before the war general legislation in aid of railroads the alabama and chattanooga railroad other indorsed railroads county and town aid to railroads chapter xix reconstruction in the schools school system before reconstruction school system of reconstruction reconstruction of the state university trouble in the mobile schools irregularities in school administration objections to the reconstruction education negro education failure of the educational system chapter xx reconstruction in the churches "disintegration and absorption" policy the methodists the baptists the presbyterians the churches and the negro during reconstruction the baptists and the negroes the presbyterians and the negroes the roman catholics the episcopalians the methodists and the negroes chapter xxi the ku klux revolution causes of the ku klux movement secret societies of regulators before ku klux klan origin and growth of ku klux klan the knights of the white camelia the work of the secret orders ku klux orders and warnings ku klux "outrages" success of the ku klux movement spurious ku klux organizations attempts to suppress the ku klux movement state legislation enforcement acts ku klux investigation later ku klux organizations chapter xxii reorganization of the industrial system break-up of the ante-bellum system the freedmen's bureau system northern and foreign immigration attempts to organize a new system development of the share and credit systems superiority of white farmers decadence of the black belt chapter xxiii political and social conditions during reconstruction politics and political methods the first reconstruction administration reconstruction judiciary campaign of the administration of governor lindsay the administration of governor lewis election of spencer to the united states senate social conditions during reconstruction statistics of crime social relations of negroes carpet-baggers and scalawags social effects of reconstruction on the whites economic conditions chapter xxiv the overthrow of reconstruction the republican party in whites desert the party the demand of the negro for social rights disputes among radical editors demand of negroes for office factions within the party negroes in promises made to them negro social and political clubs negro democrats the democratic and conservative party in attitude of the whites toward the blacks the color line drawn "independent" candidates the campaign of platforms and candidates "political bacon" "hays-hawley letter" intimidation by federal authorities intimidation by democrats the election of the eufaula riot results of the election later phases of state politics whites make secure their control the "lily whites" and the "black and tans" the failure of the populist movement the primary election system the negroes disfranchised successes and failures of reconstruction appendices: cotton production in alabama, - registration of voters under the new constitution index list of illustrations page alabama money _facing_ buckley, rev. c. w. " "bully for alabama" " callis, john b. " clanton, general james h. " clemens, jere " confederate capitol, montgomery " confederate monument, montgomery " confederate postage stamps " crowe, major james r. " curry, dr. j. l. m. " davis, jefferson " davis, inauguration of " davis, residence of, montgomery " gaineswood, a plantation home " hays, charles " "hon. mr. carraway" " houston, governor george s. " john brown extra " johnson, president andrew " ku klux costumes ku klux hanging pictures ku klux warning lewis, governor d. p. _facing_ lindsay, governor r. b. " meade, general george g. " moore, governor andrew b. " negro members of the convention of " "nigger, scalawag, carpetbagger" " parsons, governor l. e. " patton, governor r. m. " pope, general john " prescript (original) of ku klux klan, facsimile of page of " prescript (revised and amended) of ku klux klan, facsimile of page of private money _facing_ rapier, j. t. " ritual of the knights of the white camelia, facsimile of page of " shorter, governor john gill " smith, governor william h. " smith, william r. " spencer, senator george e. " stephens, alexander h. " stevens, thaddeus " sumner, charles " swayne, general wager " "the speaker cried out, 'order!'" " thomas, general george h. " union league constitution, facsimile of page of " walker, general l. p. " warner, senator willard " watts, governor thomas h. " wilmer, bishop r. h. " yancey, william lowndes " list of maps page . population in . nativity and distribution of public men . election for president, . parties in the secession convention . disaffection toward the confederacy, - . industrial development, - . devastation by invading armies . parties in the convention of . registration of voters under the reconstruction acts . election for president, . election of . election of . election of . election of . election of . election of . election of under new constitution part i introduction civil war and reconstruction in alabama chapter i the period of sectional controversy when alabama seceded in , it had been in existence as a political organization less than half a century, but in many respects its institutions and customs were as old as european america. the white population was almost purely anglo-american. the early settlements had been made on the coast near mobile, and from thence had extended up the alabama, tombigbee, and warrior rivers. in the northern part the tennessee valley was early settled, and later, in the eastern part, the coosa valley. after the river valleys, the prairie lands in central alabama were peopled, and finally the poorer lands of the southeast and the hills south of the tennessee valley. the bulk of the population before was of georgian birth or descent, the settlers having come from middle georgia, which had been peopled from the hills of virginia. georgians came into the tennessee valley early in the nineteenth century. the creek reservation prevented immigration into eastern alabama before the thirties, but the georgians went around and settled southeast alabama along the line of the old "federal road." when the creek indians consented to migrate, it was found that the georgians were already in possession of the country,--more than , strong, and a government was at once erected over the indian counties. people from georgia also came down the coosa valley to central alabama. the virginians went to the western black belt, to the tennessee valley, and to central alabama. north carolina sent thousands of her citizens down through the tennessee valley and thence across country to the tombigbee valley and western alabama; others came through georgia and followed the routes of georgia migration. south carolinians swarmed into the southern, central, and western counties, and a goodly number settled in the tennessee valley. tennessee furnished a large proportion of the settlers to the tennessee valley, to the hill counties south of the tennessee, and to the valleys in central and western alabama. among the immigrants from virginia, north and south carolina, and tennessee was a large scotch-irish element, and with the tennesseeans came a sprinkling of kentuckians. in western alabama were a few thousand mississippians, and into southeast alabama a few hundred settlers came from florida. from the northern states came several thousand, principally new england business men. the foreign element was insignificant--the irish being most numerous, with a few hundred each of germans, english, french, and scotch. in mobile and marengo counties there was a slight admixture of french blood in the population.[ ] [illustration: population in .] in regard to the character of the settlers it has been said that the virginians were the least practical and the georgians the most so, while the north carolinians were a happy medium. the georgians were noted for their stubborn persistence, and they usually succeeded in whatever they undertook. the virginians liked a leisurely planter's life with abundant social pleasures. the tennesseeans and kentuckians were hardly distinguishable from the virginians and carolinians, to whom they were closely related. the northern professional and business men exercised an influence more than commensurate with their numbers, being, in a way, picked men. neither the georgians nor the virginians were assertive office-seekers, but the carolinians liked to hold office, and the politics of the state were moulded by the south carolinians and georgians. all were naturally inclined to favor a weak federal administration and a strong state government with much liberty of the individual. the theories of patrick henry, jefferson, and calhoun, not those of washington and john marshall, formed the political creed of the alabamians. [illustration: nativity of public men each figure represents some person who became prominent before , and indicates his native state. the location of the figure on the map indicates his place of residence. note the segregation along the rivers and the black belt.] the wealthy people were found in the tennessee valley, in the black belt extending across the centre of the state, and in mobile, the one large town. they were (except a few of the mobilians) all slaveholders. the poorer white people went to the less fertile districts of north and southeast alabama, where land was cheap, preferring to work their own poor farms rather than to work for some one else on better land. but nearly every slave county had its colony of poorer whites, who were invariably settled on the least fertile soils. among these settlers there was a certain dislike of slavery, because they believed that, were it not for the negro, the whites might themselves live on the fertile lands. yet they were not in favor of emancipation in any form, unless the negro could be gotten entirely out of the way--a free negro being to them an abomination. if the negro must stay, then they preferred slavery to continue. over the greater part of alabama there were no class distinctions before ; the state was too young. in the wilderness classes had fused and the successful men were often those never heard of in the older states. a candidate of "the plain people" was always elected, because all were frontier people. this does not mean that in huntsville, montgomery, greensboro, and mobile there were not the beginnings of an aristocracy based on education, wealth, and family descent. but these were very small spots on the map of alabama, and there were no heartburnings over social inequalities.[ ] such was the composition of the white population of alabama before . no matter what might be their political affiliations, in practice nearly all were democrats of the jeffersonian school, believing in the largest possible liberty for the individual and in local management of all local affairs, and to the frontier democrat nearly all questions that concerned him were local. the political leaders excepted, the majority of the population knew little and cared less about the federal government except when it endeavored to restrain or check them in their course of conquest and expansion in the wilderness. the relations of the people of alabama with the federal government were such as to confirm and strengthen them in their local attachments and sectional politics. the controversies that arose in regard to the removal of the indians, and over the public lands, nullification, slavery, and western expansion, prevented the growth of attachment to the federal government, and tended to develop a southern rather than a "continental" nationality. the state came into the union when the sections were engaged in angry debate over the missouri compromise measures, and its attitude in federal politics was determined from the beginning. the next most serious controversy with the federal government and with the north was in regard to the removal of the indians from the southern states. the southwestern frontiersmen, like all other anglo-americans, had no place in their economy for the indian, and they were determined that he should not stand in their way. indians and nullification for half a century, throughout the gulf states, the struggle with the indian tribes for the possession of the fertile lands continued, and in this struggle the federal government was always against the settlers. before the removal of the indians, in , the settlers of alabama were in almost continual dispute with the washington administration on this subject.[ ] the trouble began in georgia, and thousands of georgians brought to alabama a spirit of jealousy and hostility to the united states government, and a growing dislike of new england and the north on account of their stand in regard to the indians. for when troubles, legal and otherwise, arose with the indians, their advisers were found to be missionaries and land agents from new england. the united states wanted the indians to remain as states within states; the georgia and alabama settlers felt that the indians must go. the attitude of the federal government drove the settlers into extreme assertions of state rights. in georgia it came almost to war between the state and united states troops during the administration of john quincy adams, a new englander, who was disliked by the settlers for his support of the indian cause; and the whole south was made jealous by the decisions of the supreme court in the indian cases. had adams been elected to a second term, there would probably have been armed resistance to the policy of the united states. jackson, a southern and western man, had the feeling of a frontiersman toward the indians; and his attitude gained him the support of the frontier southern states in the trouble with south carolina over nullification. [illustration: gaineswood. a marengo county plantation home. abandoned since the war.] immediately after the nullification troubles, the general government attempted to remove the white settlers from the indian lands in east alabama. the lands had been ceded by the indians in , and the legislature of alabama at once extended the state administration over the territory. settlers rushed in; some were already there. but by the treaty the indians were entitled to remain on their land until they chose to move; and now the united states marshals, supported by the army, were ordered to remove the , whites who had settled in the nine indian counties. governor gayle, who had been elected as an opponent of nullification, informed the secretary of war that the proposed action of the central government meant nothing less than the destruction of the state administration, and declared that he would, at all costs, sustain the jurisdiction of the state government. the troops killed a citizen who resisted removal, and the federal authorities refused to allow the slayers to be tried by state courts. there was great excitement in the state, and public meetings were everywhere held to organize resistance. the legislature authorized the governor to persist in maintaining the state administration in the nine indian counties. a collision with the united states troops was expected, and offers of volunteers were made to the governor,--even from new york. finally the united states government yielded, the whites remained on the indian lands, the state authority was upheld in the indian counties, the soldiers were tried before state courts, and the indians were removed to the west. the governor proclaimed a victory for the state, and the , angry alabamians rejoiced over what they considered the defeat of the unjust federal government.[ ] thus in alabama nullification of federal law was successfully carried out. and it was done by a state administration and a people that a year before had refused to approve the course of south carolina. but south carolina was regarded in alabama, as in the rest of the south, somewhat as an erratic member that ought to be disciplined once in a while. a strong and able minority in alabama accepted the basis of the nullification doctrine, _i.e._ the sovereignty of the states, and after this time this political element was usually known as the state rights party. they had no separate organization, but voted with whigs or democrats, as best served their purpose. secession was little talked of, for affairs might yet go well, they thought, within the union. a majority of the democrats, for several years after , were probably opposed in theory to nullification and secession when south carolina was an actor, but in practice they acted as they had done in the indian disputes which concerned them more closely. the slavery controversy and political divisions it was at the height of the irritation of the indian controversy that the agitation by the abolitionists of the north began. the question which more than any other alienated the southern people from the union was that concerning negro slavery. from to the majority of the white people of alabama were not friendly to slavery as an institution. this was not from any special liking for the negro or belief that slavery was bad for him, but because it was believed that the presence of the negro, slave or free, was not good for the white race. to most of the people slavery was merely a device for making the best of a bad state of affairs. the constitution of was liberal in its slavery provisions, and the legislature soon enacted ( ) a law prohibiting the importation, for sale, hire, or barter, of slaves from other states. for a decade there was strong influence at each session of the state legislature in favor of gradual emancipation; agents of the quakers worked in the state, buying and paying a higher price for cotton that was not produced by slave labor; and in north alabama, during the twenties and early thirties, there was a number of emancipation societies.[ ] an emancipation newspaper, _the huntsville democrat_, was published in huntsville, and edited by james g. birney, afterwards a noted abolitionist. the northern section of the state, embracing the strong democratic white counties, was distinctly unfriendly to slavery, or rather to the negro, and controlled the politics of the state.[ ] the effect of the abolition movement in the north was the destruction of the emancipation organizations in the south, and both friends and foes of the institution united on the defensive. the non-slaveholders were not deluded followers of the slave owners. after the slavery question became an issue in politics, the non-slaveholders in alabama were rather more aggressive, and were even more firmly determined to maintain negro slavery than were the slaveholders. to the rich hereditary slaveholders, who were relatively few in number, it was more or less a question of property, and that was enough to fight about at any time. but to the average white man who owned no negroes and who worked for his living at manual labor, the question was a vital social one. the negro slave was bad enough; but he thought that the negro freed by outside interference and turned loose on society was much more to be feared.[ ] the large majorities for extreme measures came from the white counties; the secession vote in was largely a white county vote. but when secession came, the whiggish black belt which had been opposed to secession was astonished not to receive, in the war that followed, the hearty support of the democratic white counties. before the nullification troubles in there was no distinct political division among the people of alabama; all were democrats. those of the white counties were of the jacksonian type, those of the black counties were rather of the jeffersonian faith; but all were strict constructionists, especially on questions concerning the tariff, the indians, the central government, and slavery. the question of nullification caused a division in the ranks of the democratic party--one wing supporting jackson, the other accepting calhoun as leader. for several years later, however, the democratic candidates had no opposition in the elections, though within the party there were contests between the jacksonians and the growing state rights (calhoun) wing. but with the settling of the country, the growth of the power of the black belt, and the differentiation of interests within the state, there appeared a second party, the whigs. its strength lay among the large planters and slaveholders of the central black belt, though it often took its leaders from the black counties of the tennessee valley. this party was able to elect a governor but once, and then only because of a division in the democratic ranks. after it secured one-third of the representation in congress and the same proportion in the legislature. it was the "broadcloth" party, of the wealthier and more cultivated people. it did not appeal to the "plain people" with much success; but it was always a respectable party, and there was no jealousy of it then, and now "there are no bitter memories against it."[ ] numerically, the whigs were about as strong as the anti-nullification wing of the democratic party, so that the balance of power was held by the constantly increasing state rights (calhoun) element. when van buren became leader of the national democracy, the state rights people in alabama united with the regular democrats and voted with them for about ten years. the state rights men were devoted followers of calhoun, but in political theories they soon went beyond him. for a while they were believers in nullification as a constitutional right, but soon began to talk of secession as a sovereign right. they were in favor of no compromise where the rights of the south were concerned. they were logical, extreme, doctrinaire; they demanded absolute right, and viewed every action of the central government with suspicion. a single idea firmly held through many years gave to them a power not justified by their numerical strength. the whigs did not stand still on political questions; as the democrats and the state rights men abandoned one position for another more advanced, the whigs moved up to the one abandoned. thus they were always only about one election behind. it was the constant agitation of the slavery question that drove the whigs along in the wake of the more advanced party. both parties were in favor of expansion in the southwest. they were indignant at the new england position on the texas question, and talked much of disunion if such a policy of obstruction was persisted in. again, after the mexican war all parties were furious at the opposition shown to the annexation of the territory from mexico. it was now the spirit of expansion, the lust for territory, that rose in opposition to the obstructive policy of northern leaders; and a new element was added when an attempt was made to shut out southerners from the territory won mainly by the south by forbidding the entrance of slavery. the number of those in favor of resisting at every point the growing desire of the north to restrict slavery was increasing steadily. the leader of the state rights men was william l. yancey. he opposed all compromises, for, as he said, compromise meant that the system was evil and was an acknowledgment of wrong, and no right, however abstract, must be denied to the south. he was a firm believer in slavery as the only method of solving the race question, and saw clearly the dangers that would result from the abolition programme if the north and south remained united. so to prevent worse calamities he was in favor of disunion. he was the greatest orator ever heard in the south. he was in no sense a demagogue; he had none of the arts of the popular politician. sent to congress in the heat of the fight between the sections, he resigned because he thought the battle was to be fought elsewhere. for twenty years he stood before the people of alabama, telling them that slavery could not be preserved within the union; that before any effective settlement of controversies could be made, alabama and the other southern states must withdraw and make terms from the outside, or stay out of the union and have done with agitation and interference. secession was self-preservation, he told a people who believed that the destruction of slavery meant the destruction of society. for twenty years he and his followers, heralds of the storm, were ostracized by all political parties, which accepted his theories, but denied the necessity for putting them into practice. when at last the people came to follow him, he told them that they had probably waited too late, and that they were seceding on a weaker cause than any of those he had presented for twenty years. yancey was a leader of state rights men but never a leader in the democratic party. once, in , when all were angry on account of the opposition on the mexican question, yancey was called to the front in the democratic state convention. he offered resolutions, which were adopted,[ ] to the effect ( ) that the people of a territory could not prevent the holding of slaves before the formation of a state constitution, and that congress had no power whatever to restrict slavery in the territories; ( ) that those who held the opposite opinion were not democrats, and that the democratic party of alabama would not support for president any candidate who held such views. the delegates to the national democratic convention at baltimore were instructed to withdraw if the alabama resolutions were rejected. by a vote of two hundred and sixteen to thirty-six they were rejected; yet none of the delegates except yancey withdrew. refusing to support cass for the presidency because he believed in "squatter sovereignty," yancey was again ostracized by the democratic leaders.[ ] now the state rights men became more aggressive, for they said this was the time to settle the slavery question, before it was too late. the north, it was thought, would not be averse to separation from the south. the whigs began to advance non-intervention theories, and but for the death of president taylor, who adhered to the free-soil whigs, political parties in alabama would probably have broken up in and fused into one on the slavery question. growth of secession sentiment the compromise measures of pleased few people in alabama, and there was talk of resistance and of assisting texas by force, if necessary, against the appropriation of her territory by the central government. the moderates condemned the compromise and said they would not yield again. the more advanced demanded a repeal of the compromise or immediate secession. yancey said there was no hope of a settlement and that it was time to set the house in order. in - there was a widespread movement toward a rejection of the compromise and a secession of the lower south, but the political leaders were disposed to give the compromise a trial. to the nashville convention, held in june, , to discuss measures to secure redress of grievances, the alabama legislature at an unofficial meeting chose the following delegates: benjamin fitzpatrick, william cooper, john a. campbell, thomas j. judge, john a. winston, leroy p. walker, william m. murphy, nicholas davis, r. c. shorter, thomas a. walker, reuben chapman, james abercrombie, and william m. byrd--all whigs or conservative democrats. the resolutions passed by the convention were cautious and prudent, and were generally supported by the whigs and opposed by the democrats. in montgomery, upon the return of the alabama delegation, a public meeting, held to ratify the action of the nashville convention, condemned it instead, and approved the programme of yancey who again declared that it was "time to set the house in order." the contest in alabama was simply between the compromise, with maintenance of the union, and rejection of the compromise to be followed by secession. it was not a campaign between whig and democrat, but between union and secession. the old party lines were not drawn. associations were formed all over the state to oppose the compromise and to advocate secession. the unionists drew together, but less heartily. the compact state rights element lost influence on account of a division that now showed in its ranks. one section, led by william l. yancey, was for separate and unconditional secession; another, led by j. j. seibels, favored coöperation of the southern states within the union and united deliberation before secession.[ ] the state rights convention met in montgomery, february , , and recommended a southern congress to decide the questions at issue and declared that if any other state would secede, alabama should go also.[ ] the action of the convention pleased few and was repudiated by the "separate secessionist" element. the candidates of the state rights--now called the "southern rights"--party were supported by a majority of the democrats. they demanded the repeal of the compromise, and resistance to future encroachments; they demanded southern ministers and southern churches, southern books and papers, and southern pleasure resorts. the "union" leaders were judge benajah s. bibb, james abercrombie, thomas j. judge, henry w. hilliard, thomas h. watts, senator william r. king,--nearly all virginians or north carolinians by birth or descent. at the state "union" convention held in montgomery, january , , among the more prominent delegates were: thomas b. cooper, r. m. patton, w. m. byrd, b. s. bibb, j. m. tarleton, w. b. moss, james h. clanton, l. e. parsons, robert j. jamison, henry w. hilliard, r. w. walker, thomas h. watts, nicholas davis, jr., and c. m. wilcox,--all were whigs, and were virginians, north carolinians, and men of northern birth. this meeting denied the "constitutional" right of secession. the union candidates for congress were c. c. langdon, james abercrombie, judge mudd, william r. smith, w. r. w. cobb, george s. houston, and alexander white,--each of whom denied the "constitutional" right of secession, but said nothing about it as a "sovereign" right. the "unionists"--the old whigs and the jacksonian democrats--were successful in the elections, but by accepting, though disapproving, the compromise measures, and by repudiating the doctrine of secession as a "constitutional" right,[ ] they had advanced beyond the position held by yancey in . after the success of the "union" party in - , the southern rights associations resolved to suspend for a time the debate on secession. thereupon the "union" democrats resumed their old party allegiance and the "union" party was left to consist of old whigs alone. the whigs wished to continue the "union" organization, for they no longer found it possible to act with the northern whigs, and in several of their prominent leaders in alabama refused to support the whig presidential ticket. on the other hand, the extreme "southern rights" men broke away from the democrats in and declared for immediate secession. they supported troup and quitman, who polled, however, only votes in the state; but the whigs and the democrats each lost about , , who refused to vote. and now came the break-up of old parties. the slavery question was always before the people and was becoming more and more irritating. compromises had failed to quiet the controversy. the position of the "union" whigs in the black counties became intolerable. they had to combat secession at home, and they had to guard against trouble among their slaves caused by the abolitionist propaganda. by almost all the alabama whigs had become "americans," at the same time searching for a new issue and repudiating the principles upon which the "american" party was founded. again they were left alone by the antislavery stand taken by the northern wing of this party. yet in spite of every possible discouragement they held together and controlled the black counties. when the kansas question arose all the parties in alabama were united in reference to it. the doctrine of squatter sovereignty was not accepted, but there was an opportunity, both parties thought, to win kansas peaceably and stay the threatened separation, but the northern methods of settling kansas by organized antislavery emigration from new england paralyzed the efforts of the moderate "union" southerners. similar methods were attempted by the south, and several colonies of emigrants were sent from alabama;[ ] but by it was known that kansas was lost. the great debate between william l. yancey and roger a. pryor in the southern commercial convention held in montgomery in may, , showed that the people of alabama were then in advance of their political leaders and were coming to the position long held by yancey and the secessionists. pryor's position in favor of compromise and delay had the support of nearly all the party leaders of alabama; yancey, always in disfavor with party leaders, captured the convention with his policy of secession in case of failure of redress of grievances. secession was no longer a doctrine to be condemned unless on the ground of expediency. whig leaders were now becoming southern rights democrats. many democrats thought it was time to force an issue and come to a settlement; this yancey proposed to do by demanding a repeal of all the laws against the slave trade because they expressed a disapproval of slavery. if slavery were not wrong, then the slave trade should not be denounced as piracy. yancey had not the slightest desire to reopen the slave trade, and knew that the north would not consent to a repeal of the laws against it, yet he said the demand should be made. he believed the demand to be legitimate, though sure to be rejected. the national democratic party would thus be divided and the issue forced.[ ] for any purpose of opposing the yancey programme the alabama "union" men were rendered helpless by the turn politics were taking in the north. the formation out of the wreck of the old whig party of the distinctly sectional and radical republican party, the attitude of the leaders of that party, the talk about the "irrepressible conflict" and the "union cannot endure half slave and half free," the indorsement of the "impending crisis" with its incendiary teachings, the effect of "uncle tom's cabin" on thousands who before had cared nothing about slavery, and finally the raid of john brown into virginia,[ ]--these were influences more powerful toward uniting the people to resistance than all the speeches of state rights leaders on abstract constitutional questions. after the people were in advance of their leaders. on january , , the democratic state convention unanimously adopted resolutions favoring the dred scott decision as a settlement of the slavery question. the delegation to the national nominating convention at charleston was instructed to withdraw in case these resolutions were not accepted in substance as a part of the platform. at charleston the majority report of the committee on the platform sustained the alabama position. when the report was laid before the convention, a proposition was made to set it aside for the minority report, which vaguely said nothing. yancey in a great speech delivered the ultimatum of the south, the adoption of the majority report. the vote was taken and the south defeated. l. pope walker[ ] announced the withdrawal of the alabama delegation and the delegations from the other southern states followed.[ ] both sections of the convention then adjourned to meet in baltimore. influences for and against compromise were working, and it is probable that a majority of the seceders would have harmonized had not the douglas organization declared the seats of the seceders vacant and admitted delegates irregularly elected by douglas conventions in the south. after the damage was done, yancey was pressed to take the vice-presidency on the douglas ticket.[ ] douglas was known to be in bad health and yancey was told that he might expect to be president within a few months, if he accepted. but it was too late for further compromise, and yancey toured the north, speaking for breckenridge. a state rights convention in alabama indorsed the candidates of the seceded convention; a convention of douglas democrats in montgomery declared for douglas; the "constitutional union" party (the old whigs and "americans" or "know-nothings"), for bell and everett and old-fashioned conservative respectability. during the campaign douglas visited the state and was well received, but aroused no enthusiasm, while yancey was tumultuously welcomed. [illustration: a john brown extra.] as far back as february , , the legislature had passed almost unanimously a resolution concurring with south carolina in regard to the right and necessity of secession, and declaring that alabama would not submit to the domination of a "foul sectional party." in case of the election of a "black" republican president a convention was to be called, and $ , was appropriated for its use.[ ] a committee was appointed to reorganize the militia system of the state, and so important was the work deemed that the committee was excused from all other duties. the senate declared that it was expedient to establish an arsenal, a firearms factory, and a powder mill. a bill was passed to encourage the manufacture of firearms in alabama.[ ] at this session seventy-four military companies were incorporated and provision made for military schools.[ ] [illustration: election for president, .] elections returns were anxiously awaited.[ ] it was certain that the election of lincoln and hamlin would result in secession.[ ] when the news came the old "union" leaders declared for secession and by noon of the next day the "union" party had gone to pieces. the leaders who had opposed secession to the last--watts, clanton, goldthwaite, judge, and hilliard--now took their stand by the side of yancey and declared that alabama must withdraw from the union. governor moore, a very moderate man, in a public speech said that no course was left but for the state to secede, and with the other southern states form a confederacy. public meetings were held in every town and village to declare that alabama would not submit to the rule of the "black republican." a typical meeting held in mobile, november , , arraigned the republican party because: ( ) it had declared for the abolition of slavery in all territories and federal districts and for the abolition of the interstate slave trade; ( ) it had denied the extradition of murderers, marauders, and other felons; ( ) it had concealed and shielded the murderers of masters who had sought to recover fugitive slaves; ( ) it advocated negro equality and made it the basis of legislation hostile to the south; ( ) it opposed protection of slave property on the high seas and had justified piracy in the case of the _creole_; ( ) it had invaded virginia and shed the blood of her citizens on her own soil; and ( ) had announced a policy of total abolition.[ ] in december, , the federal grand jury at montgomery declared the federal government "worthless, impotent, and a nuisance," as it had failed to protect the interests of the people of alabama. the presentment was signed by c. c. gunter, foreman, and nineteen others.[ ] had the governor been willing to call a convention at once, secession would have been almost unanimous; but delay caused the more cautious and timid to reflect and gave the so-called "coöperationists" time to put forth a platform. the leaders of the party of delay representing north alabama, the stronghold of radical democracy, were william r. smith, m. j. bulger, nicholas davis, jere clemens, and robert j. jemison, all strong men, but none of them possessing the ability of the secessionist leaders or of the former "union" leaders who had joined the secession party. but secession was certain,--it was only a question as to how and when. by law the governor was to call a convention in case the "black republican" candidates were elected, and december , , was fixed as the time for election of delegates, and january , , the time for assembly. separation of the churches before the political division in the religious division had already occurred in the larger and in several of the smaller denominations. at the close of every religious body represented in the south, except the roman catholic church,[ ] had been divided into northern and southern branches. the political rather than the moral aspects of slavery had finally led to strife in the churches. the southern churches protested against the action of the northern religious bodies in going into politics on the slavery question and thus causing endless strife between the sections as represented in the churches. the response of the northern societies to such protests resulted in the gradual alienation of the southern members and finally in separation. the first division in alabama came in , when the associate reformed presbyterian church excluded slaveholders from communion and thereby lost its southern members.[ ] next came the separation of the two strongest protestant denominations, the baptists and the methodists. the southern baptists were, as slaveholders, excluded from appointment as missionaries, agents, or officers of the board of foreign missions, although they contributed their full share to missions. the alabama baptist convention in led the way to separation with a protest against this discrimination. the board stated in reply that under no circumstances would a slaveholder be appointed by them to any position. the board of the home mission society made a similar declaration. the formal withdrawal of the southern state conventions followed in , and in the southern baptist convention was formed.[ ] in the methodist episcopal church the conflict over slavery had long been smouldering, and in it broke out in regard to the ownership of slaves by the wife of bishop andrew of alabama. the hostile sections agreed to separate into a northern and a southern church, and a plan of separation was adopted. this was disregarded by the northern body and the question of the division of property went to the courts. the united states supreme court finally decided in favor of the southern church. from these troubles angry feelings on both sides resulted. the southern church took the name of the methodist episcopal church south; the northern church retained the old name.[ ] in , the northern conferences of the methodist protestant church, having failed to change the constitution of the church in regard to slavery, withdrew, and uniting with a number of wesleyan methodists, formed the methodist church.[ ] the southern aid society was formed in new york in for mission work in the south because it was generally believed that the american home mission society was allied with the abolitionists, and because the latter society refused to aid any minister or missionary who was a slaveholder. in alabama the southern aid society worked principally among the presbyterians of north alabama.[ ] the presbyterians (n.s.) separated in "on account of politics," and the southern branch formed the united synod south.[ ] the east alabama presbytery (o.s.) in supported the presbytery of memphis in a protest against the action of the general assembly of the church in entering politics. the presbytery of south alabama (o.s.) met at selma in july, , severed its connection with the general assembly, and recommended a meeting of a confederate states assembly. this assembly was held at augusta and formed the presbyterian church in the confederate states of america. a long address was published, setting forth the causes of the separation, the future policy of the church, and its attitude towards slavery. it declared that the northern section of the church with its radical policy was playing into the hands of both slaveholders and abolitionists and thus weakening its influence with both. "we," the address stated, "in our ecclesiastical capacity are neither the friends nor foes of slavery." as long as they were connected with the radical northern church the southern presbyterians felt that they would be excluded from useful work among the slaves by the suspicions of the southern people concerning their real intentions.[ ] the christian church was divided in . during the war the southern synods of the evangelical lutherans withdrew and formed the general synod south. there were few members of these churches in alabama.[ ] the cumberland presbyterians, though separated by the war, seem not to have formally established an independent organization in the confederate states. a convention was called to meet at selma in , but nothing resulted.[ ] in may, , the protestant episcopal convention of alabama declared null and void that part of the constitution of the diocese relating to its connection with the church in the united states. instead of the president of the united states, the governor of alabama, and later, the president of the confederate states, was prayed for in the formal prayer. bishop cobbs, a strong opponent of secession, died one hour before the secession of the state was announced. rev. r. h. wilmer, a confederate sympathizer, was elected to succeed him.[ ] in july the bishops of the southern states met in montgomery to draft a new constitution and canons. a resolution was passed stating that the secession of the southern states from the union and the formation of a new government rendered it expedient that the dioceses within those states should form an independent organization. the new constitution was adopted in november, , by a general convention, and the protestant episcopal church in the confederate states was formed.[ ] and thus the religious ties were broken. * * * * * business had also become sectionalized by . the southern states felt keenly their dependence upon the states of the north for manufactures, water transportation, etc. for two decades before the war the southern newspapers agitated the question and advocated measures that would tend to secure economic independence of the north. as an instance of the feeling, many of the educators of the state were in favor of using only those text-books written by southern men and printed in the south. professor a. p. barnard[ ] of the university of alabama was strenuously in favor of such action. he declared that nothing ought to be bought from the north. from to , fifteen "commercial conventions" were held in the south, largely attended by the most prominent business men and politicians. the object of these conventions was to discuss means of attaining economic independence. when alabama withdrew from the union in , no bonds were broken. practically the only bond of union for most of the people had been in the churches; to the washington government and to the north they had never become attached. the feelings of the great majority of the people of the state are expressed in the last speech of senator c. c. clay of north alabama in the united states senate. it had been forty-two years, he said, since alabama had entered the union amidst scenes of excitement and violence caused by the hostility of the north against the institution of slavery in the south (referring to the conflict over missouri). in the churches, southern christians were denied communion because of what the north styled the "leprosy of slavery." in violation of constitution and laws southern people were refused permission to pass through the north with their property. the south was refused a share in the lands acquired mainly by her diplomacy, blood, and treasure. the south was robbed of her property and restoration was refused. criminals who fled north were protected, and southern men who sought to recover their slaves were murdered. southern homes were burned and southern families murdered. this had been endured for years, and there was no hope of better. the republican platform was a declaration of war against the south. it was hostile to domestic peace, reproached the south as unchristian and heathenish, and imputed sin and crime to that section. it was a strong incitement to insurrection, arson, and murder among the negroes. the southern whites were denied equality with northern whites or even with free negroes, and were branded as an inferior race. the man nominated for president disregarded the judgment of courts, the obligations of the constitution, and of his oath by declaring his approval of any measure to prohibit slavery in the territories of the united states. the people of the north branded the people of the south as outlaws, insulted them, consigned them to the execration of posterity and to ultimate destruction. "is it to be expected that we will or can exercise that godlike virtue that beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things; which tells us to love our enemies, and bless them that curse us? are we expected to be denied the sensibilities, the sentiments, the passions, the reason, the instincts of men?" have we no pride, no honor, no sense of shame, no reverence for ancestors and care for posterity, no love of home, of family, of friends? are we to confess baseness, discredit the fame of our sires, dishonor ourselves and degrade posterity, abandon our homes and flee the country--all--all--for the sake of the union? shall we live under a government administered by those who deny us justice and brand us as inferiors? whose avowed principles and policy must destroy domestic tranquillity, imperil the lives of our wives and children, and ultimately destroy the state? the freemen of alabama have proclaimed to the world that they will not.[ ] chapter ii secession from the union on november , , a committee of prominent citizens, appointed by a convention of the people of several counties, asked the governor whether he intended to call the state convention immediately after the choice of presidential electors or to wait until the electors should have chosen the president. they also asked to be informed of the time he intended to order an election of delegates to the convention.[ ] governor moore replied that a candidate for the presidency was not elected until the electors cast their votes, and until that time he would not call a convention. the electors would vote on december , and as he had no doubt that lincoln would be elected, he would then order an election for december , and the convention would assemble in montgomery on january , . the date, he said, was placed far ahead in order that the people might have time to consider the subject. he summed up the situation as follows: lincoln was the head of a sectional party pledged to the destruction of slavery; the non-slaveholding states had repeatedly resisted the execution of the fugitive slave law, even nullifying the statutes of the united states by their laws intended to prevent the execution of the fugitive slave law; virginia had been invaded by abolitionists and her citizens murdered; emissaries had burned towns in texas; and in some instances poison had been given to slaves with which to destroy the whites. with lincoln as president the abolitionists would soon control the supreme court and then slavery would be abolished in the federal district and in the territories. there would soon be a majority of free states large enough to alter the constitution and to destroy slavery in the states. the state of society, with four million negroes turned loose, would be too horrible to contemplate, and the only safety for alabama lay in secession, which was within her right as a sovereign state. the federal government was established for the protection and not the destruction of rights; it had only the powers delegated by the states and hence had not the power of coercion. alabama was devoted to the union, but could not consent to become a degraded member of it. the state in seceding ought to consult the other southern states; but first she must decide for herself, and coöperate afterwards. the convention, the governor said, would not be a place for the timid or the rash. men of wisdom and experience were needed, men who could determine what the honor of the state and the security of the people demanded, and who had the moral courage to carry out the dictates of their honest judgment. the proclamation, ordering an election on christmas eve and the assembly of the convention at montgomery, on january , , was issued on december , the day after the choice of lincoln by the electors. on january , every one of the one hundred delegates was present. it was a splendid body of men, the best the people could send. there were the "secessionists," who wanted immediate and separate secession of the state without regard to the action of the other southern states; the "coöperationists," who were divided among themselves, some wanting the coöperation of the southern states within the union in order to force their rights from the central government, and others wanting the southern states to come to an agreement within the union and then secede and form a confederacy, while a third class wanted a clear understanding among the cotton states before secession. it was said that there were a few "submissionists," but the votes and speeches fail to show any. at first both parties claimed a majority, but before the convention opened it was known that the larger number were secessionists. a test vote on the election of a presiding officer showed the relative strength of the parties. william m. brooks of perry was elected over robert jemison of tuscaloosa by a vote of to , north alabama voting for jemison, central and south alabama for brooks. and thus the parties voted throughout the convention. it is probable that the majority of the delegates were formerly whigs, and a majority of them was still hostile to yancey, who was the only prominent agitator elected. his colleague, from montgomery county, was thomas h. watts, formerly a whig. other prominent secessionists were j. t. dowdell, john t. morgan, thomas h. herndon, e. s. dargan, william m. brooks, and franklin k. beck. the opposition leaders were william r. smith, robert jemison, m. j. bulger, nicholas davis, jeremiah clemens, thomas j. mcclellan, and david p. lewis. yancey, morgan, and watts excepted, the opposition had the more able speakers and debaters and the more political experience. the advantage of representation was with the white counties, which sent of the delegates. [illustration: parties in secession convention] when the convention settled down to work, the grievances of the south had no important place in the discussions. the little that was said on the subject came from the coöperationists and that only incidentally. there was a genuine fear of social revolution brought about by the republican programme, but the secessionists had been stating their grievances for twenty years and were now silent.[ ] all seemed to agree that the present state of affairs was unbearable, and that secession was the only remedy. the only question was, how to secede? to decide that question the leaders of each party were placed on the committee on secession. a majority of the convention was in favor of immediate, separate secession. they held the logical state sovereignty view that the state, while a member of the union, should not combine with another against the government or the party controlling it. such a course would be contrary to the constitution and would be equivalent to breaking up the union while planning to save it. as a sovereign state, alabama could withdraw from the union, and hence immediate, separate secession was the proper method. then would follow consultation and coöperation with the other seceded southern states in forming a southern confederacy. from the first it was known that the secessionists were strong enough to pass at once a simple ordinance of withdrawal. they said but little because their position was already well understood. the people were now more united than they would be after long debates and outside influence. yet, for policy's sake, and in deference to the feelings of the minority, the latter were allowed to debate for four days before the question at issue was brought to a vote. in that time they had about argued themselves over to the other side. with the exception of yancey, the secessionists were silent until the ordinance was passed. the first resolution declared that the people of alabama would not submit to the administration of lincoln and hamlin. both parties voted unanimously for this resolution.[ ] the coöperationists were determined to resist republican rule, but did not consider delay dangerous. some doubtless thought that in some way lincoln could be held in check and the union still be preserved, and a number of them were doubtless willing to wait and make another trial. it was known that an ordinance of secession would be passed as soon as the secessionists cared to bring the question to a vote, but for four days the committee on secession considered the matter while the coöperationists made speeches.[ ] on january the committees made two reports. the majority report, presented by yancey, simply provided for the immediate withdrawal of the state from the union. the minority report, presented by clemens, was in substance as follows: we are unable to see in separate state secession the most effectual mode of guarding our honor and securing our rights. this great object can best be attained by concurrent and concentrated action of all the states interested, and such an effort should be made before deciding finally upon our own policy. all the southern states should be requested to meet in convention at nashville, february , , to consider wrongs and appropriate remedies. as a basis of settlement such a convention should consider: ( ) the faithful execution of the fugitive slave law and the repeal of all state laws nullifying it; ( ) more stringent and explicit provisions for the surrender of criminals escaping into another state; ( ) guarantees that slavery should not be abolished in the federal district or in any other place under the exclusive jurisdiction of congress; ( ) non-interference with the interstate slave trade; ( ) protection of slavery in the territories which, when admitted as states, should decide for themselves the question of slavery; ( ) right of transit through free states with slave property; ( ) the foregoing to be irrepealable amendments to the constitution. this basis of settlement was not to be regarded as absolute, but simply as the opinion of the alabama convention, to which its delegates to the proposed convention were expected to conform as nearly as possible. secession should not be attempted except after the most thorough investigation and discussion.[ ] the secessionists were of one mind in regard to secession and did not debate the subject; the coöperationists--all from north alabama--were careful to explain their views at length in their speeches of opposition. bulger (c.)[ ] of tallapoosa thought that separate secession was unwise and impolitic, but that an effort should be made to secure the coöperation of the other southern states before seceding. to this end he proposed a convention of the southern states to consider the grievances of the south and to determine the mode of relief for the present and security for the future, and, should its demands not be complied with, to determine upon a remedy. clark (c.) of lawrence denied the right of separate secession, which would not be a remedy for existing evils. the slavery question would not be settled but would still be a vital and ever present issue. separate secession would revolutionize the government but not the northern feeling, would not hush the pulpits, nor calm the northern mind, nor purify black republicanism. the states would be in a worse condition politically than the colonies were before the constitution was adopted. the border states would sell their slaves south and become free states; separate secession would be the decree of universal emancipation. a large majority of the people were opposed to separate secession, and besides, the state alone would be weak and at the mercy of foreign powers. the proper policy for alabama was to remain in a southern union, at least, with the border states for allies. would secession repeal "personal liberty" laws, return a single fugitive slave, prevent abolition in the federal district and territories, or the suppression of interstate slave trade? by secession alabama would relinquish her interest in the union and leave it in the control of black republicans. it would be almost impossible to unite the southern states after separate secession--as difficult as it was to form the original union. the only hope for peaceable secession was in a united south, and now was the time for it, for southern sentiment, though opposed to separate secession, was ripe for southern union. the "united south" would possess all the requirements of a great nation--territory, resources, wealth, population, and community of interests. separate secession would result in the deplorable disasters of civil war. he hoped that even yet some policy of reconciliation might succeed, but if the contrary happened, there should be no scruples about state sovereignty; the united south would assert the god-given right of every community to freedom and happiness. jones (c.) of lauderdale declared that it was a great mistake to call his constituents submissionists, since time after time they had declared that they would not submit to black republican rule. they differed as to the time and manner of secession, believing that hasty secession was not a proper remedy, that it was unwise, impolitic, and discourteous to the border states. smith of tuscaloosa, the leader of the coöperationists,[ ] read the platform upon which he was elected to the convention; which, in substance, was to use all honorable exertions to secure rights in the union, and failing, to maintain them out of the union. allegiance, he went on to say, was due first to the state, and support was due her in any course she might adopt. if an ordinance of secession should be passed, it would be the supreme law of the land. kimball (c.) of tallapoosa said that his constituents were opposed to secession, but were more opposed to black republicanism. before taking action he desired a solid or united south. he agreed with general scott that with a certain unanimity of the southern states it would be impolitic and improper to attempt coercion. to secure the coöperation of the southern states and to justify themselves to the world a southern convention should be called. however, rights should be maintained even if alabama had to withdraw from the union. watkins (c.) of franklin stated that he would vote against the ordinance of secession in obedience to the will of the people he represented. he believed that separate secession was wrong. edwards (c.) of blount said that secession was unwise on the part of alabama, while beard (c.) of marshall thought the best, safest, and wisest course would be to consult and coöperate with the other slave states. he favored resistance to black republican rule, and his constituents, though desiring coöperation, would abide by the action of the state. bulger (c.) of tallapoosa stated that he had voted against every proposition leading to immediate and separate secession. yet he would give to the state, when the ordinance was passed, his whole allegiance; and, if any attempt were made to coerce the state, would join the army.[ ] winston (c.) of de kalb stated that his constituents were opposed to immediate secession, yet they would, no doubt, acquiesce. he had written to his son, a cadet at west point, to resign and come home. a convention of the slave states should be called to make an attempt to settle difficulties. davis (c.) of madison, who had stoutly opposed separate secession, now declared that since the meeting of the convention serious changes had occurred. several states had already seceded and others would follow. consequently alabama would not be alone. clemens (cs.) of madison said he would vote for secession, but would not do so if the result depended upon his vote. he strongly preferred the plan proposed by the minority of the committee on secession. during the debates there was not a single strong appeal for the union. there was simply no union feeling, but an intense dislike for the north as represented by the republican party. the coöperationists contemplated ultimate secession. they wished to make an attempt at compromise, but they felt sure that it would fail. their plan of effecting a united south within the union was clearly unconstitutional and could only be regarded as a proposition to break up the old union and reconstruct a new one.[ ] political theories of the members the secessionists held clear, logical views on the question before them. they clearly distinguished the "state" or "people" from "government." no secessionist ever claimed that the right of secession was one derived from or preserved by the constitution; it was a sovereign right. granted the sovereignty of the state, the right to secede in any way at any time was, of course, not to be questioned. consequently, they said but little on that point. the coöperationists were vague-minded. most of them were stanch believers in state sovereignty and opposed secession merely on the ground of expediency. a few held a confused theory that while the state was sovereign it had no right to secede unless with the whole south. this view was most strongly advocated by clark of lawrence. separate secession was not a right, he said, though he admitted the sovereignty of the state. to secede alone would be rebellion; not so, if in company with other southern states. earnest (c.) of jefferson said that the state was sovereign, and that after secession any acts of the state or of its citizens to protect their rights would not be treason. but unless the state acted in its sovereign capacity, it could not withdraw from the union, and her citizens would be subject to the penalties of treason.[ ] sheffield (c.) of marshall believed in the right of "secession or revolution." clemens of madison, elected as a coöperationist, said that in voting for secession he did it with the full knowledge that in secession they were all about to commit treason, and, if not successful, would suffer the pains and penalties pronounced against the highest political crime. acting "upon the convictions of a lifetime" he "calmly and deliberately walked into revolution."[ ] the coöperationists were generally disposed to deny the sovereignty of the convention. most of them were former whigs, who had never worked out a theory of government. davis (c.) of madison repeatedly denied that the convention had sovereign powers; sovereignty, he said, was held by the people. clark (c.) of lawrence complained that the convention was encroaching upon the rights of the people whom it should protect, and asserted it did not possess unlimited power, but that its power was conferred by act of the legislature, which created only a general agency for a special purpose; that the convention had no power to do more than pass the ordinance of secession and acts necessary thereto. smith (c.) said that the convention was the creature of the legislature, not of the people, and that the southern congress was the creature of the convention. buford (s.) of barbour[ ] doubted whether the convention possessed legislative powers. according to his views, political or sovereign power was vested in the people; the convention was not above the constitution which created the legislature. watts (s.) of montgomery believed that the power of the convention to interfere with the constitution was confined to such changes as were necessary to the perfect accomplishment of secession. yelverton (s.) of coffee summed up the theory of the majority: the convention had full power and control over the legislative, executive, and judiciary; the people were present in convention in the persons of their representatives and in them was the sovereignty, the power, and the will of the state. this was the theory upon which the convention acted. passage of the ordinance of secession on january , , yancey spoke at length, closing the debate on the question of secession. referring to the spirit of fraternity that prevailed, he stated that irritation and suspicion had, in great degree, subsided. the majority had yielded to the minority all the time wanted for deliberation, and every one had been given an opportunity to record his sentiments. the question had not been pressed to a vote before all were ready. though preferring a simple ordinance of secession, the majority had, for the sake of harmony and fraternal feeling, yielded to amendment by the minority. all, he said, were for resistance to republican rule, and differed only as to the manner of resistance. some believed in secession, others in revolution. the ordinance might mean disunion, secession, or revolution, as the members preferred. the mode was organized coöperation, not of states, but of the people of alabama, in resistance to wrong. yet the ordinance provided for coöperation with other states upon the basis of the federal constitution. every effort, he said, had been made to find common ground upon which the advocates of resistance might meet, and all parties had been satisfied. this was not a movement of the politicians, but a great popular movement, based upon the widespread, deep-seated conviction that the government had fallen into the hands of a sectional majority who were determined to use it for the destruction of the rights of the south. all were driven by an irresistible tide; the minority had been unable to repress the movement, the majority had not been able to add one particle to its momentum; in northern, not in southern, hands was held the rod that smote the rock from which flowed this flood. some, he said, concluded that by dissolving the union the rich inheritance bequeathed by the fathers was hazarded. but liberties were one thing, the power of government delegated to secure them was another. liberties were inalienable, and the state governments were formed to secure them; the federal government was the common agent, and its powers should be withdrawn when it abused them to destroy the rights of the people. this movement was not hostile to liberty nor to the federal constitution, but was merely a dismissal of an unfaithful agent. the state now resumed the duties formerly delegated to that agent. the ordinance of secession was a declaration of this fact and also a proposition to form a new government similar to the old. all were urged to sign the ordinance, not to express approval, but to give notice to their enemies that the people were not divided. "i now ask that the vote may be taken," he said. [illustration: civil war leaders. alexander hamilton stephens. william lowndes yancey. general l. p. walker, first confederate secretary of war. president of convention of . william r. smith, leader of coöperationists in . jere clemens.] the ordinance was called up. it was styled "an ordinance to dissolve the union between alabama and other states united under the compact styled 'the constitution of the united states of america.'" the preamble stated that the election of lincoln and hamlin by a sectional party avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions, peace, and security of alabama, preceded by many dangerous infractions of the constitution by the states and people of the north, was a political wrong of so insulting and menacing a character as to justify the people of alabama in the adoption of prompt and decided measures for their future peace and security. the ordinance simply stated that alabama withdrew from the union and that her people resumed the powers delegated by the constitution to the federal government. a coöperationist amendment expressed the desire of the people to form with the other southern states a permanent government, and invited a convention of the states to meet in montgomery on february , , for consultation in regard to the common safety. the ordinance was passed by a vote of to , every delegate voting. fifteen coöperationists voted for secession and signed the ordinance. in the convention opinions varied as to whether peace or war would follow secession. the great majority of the members, and of the people also, believed that peaceful relations would continue. all truly wished for peace. a number of the coöperationists expressed themselves as fearing war, but this was when opposing secession, and they probably said more than they really believed. yet in nearly all the speeches made in the convention there seemed to be distinguishable a feeling of fear and dread lest war should follow. however, had war been a certainty, secession would not have been delayed or checked. there was warm discussion on the question of submitting the ordinance to the people for ratification or rejection. the coöperationists, both before and after the passage of the ordinance, favored its reference to the people in the hope that the measure would be delayed or defeated. no one expected that it would be referred to the people, but this was a good question for obstructive purposes. the minority report on secession declared that, in a matter of such vital importance, involving the lives and liberties of a whole people, the ordinance should be submitted to them for their discussion, and that secession should be attempted only after ratification by a direct vote of the people on that single issue. posey (c.) of lauderdale said that his constituents expected the question of secession to be referred to the people, and that they would submit more willingly to a decision made by popular vote; that the ordinance was objectionable to them unless they were allowed to vote on it. he further stated that when the convention had refused to submit the ordinance to the popular vote, the first impulse of some of the coöperationists had been to "bolt the convention." however, not being responsible, they preferred to remain and aid in providing for the emergencies of the future. kimbal (c.) of tallapoosa said that the people were the interested parties, that sovereignty was in the people, and that they ought to decide the question. edwards (c.) of blount said that his constituents expected the ordinance to be referred to them and had instructed him to use his best exertions to secure reference to the people. bulger (c.) of tallapoosa voted against all propositions looking toward secession without reference to the people. davis (c.) of madison denied the sovereignty of the convention. he said that the vote of the people might be one way and that of the convention another. he believed that the majority in convention represented a minority of the people. in closing the debate on this subject, yancey (s.) of montgomery said that, as a measure of policy, to submit the ordinance to a vote of the people was wrong. the convention was clothed with all the powers of the people; it was the people acting in their sovereign capacity; the government was not a pure democracy, but a government of the people, though not by the people. historically the convention was the supreme power in american political theory, and submission to the people was a new doctrine. if the ordinance should be submitted to the people, the friends of secession would triumph, but irritation and prejudice would be aroused. yancey's views prevailed. establishing the confederacy a number of the coöperationists professed to believe that secession would result in disintegration and anarchy in the south. the secessionists were accused of desiring to tear down, not to build up. these assertions were, in fact, unfounded, since, during the entire debate, those favoring immediate secession stated plainly that they expected to reunite with the other southern states after secession. williamson (s.) of lowndes said that to declare to the world that they were not ready to unite with the other slave states in a permanent government would be to act in bad faith and subject themselves to contempt and scorn; united action was necessary; financial and commercial affairs were in a deplorable condition; confidence was lost, and in the business world all was gloom and despair--this could be remedied only by a permanent government. whatley (s.) of calhoun was unwilling for it to be said by posterity that they tore down the old government and failed to reconstruct a new; the cotton states should establish a government modelled on the federal union. in accordance with these views the ordinance of secession proposed a convention of southern states, and a few days later a resolution was passed approving the suggestion of south carolina to form a provisional government upon the plan of the old union and to prepare for a permanent government. each state was to send as many delegates to the convention on february as it had had senators and representatives in congress. the alabama convention (january ) elected one deputy from each congressional district and two from the state at large, most of them being coöperationists or moderate secessionists. yancey, on january , read a unanimous report from the committee on secession in favor of forming a provisional confederate government at once. the report also stated that the people of alabama had never been dissatisfied with the constitution of the united states; that their dissatisfaction had been with the conduct of the northern people in violating the constitution and in dangerous misinterpretation of it, causing the belief that, while acting through the forms of government, they intended to destroy the rights of the south. the federal constitution, the report declared, represented a complete scheme of government, capable of being put into speedy operation, and was so familiar to the people that when properly interpreted they would feel safe under it. a speedy confederation of the seceded states was desirable, and there was no better basis than the united states constitution. the report recommended the formation, first, of a provisional, and later, of a permanent, government. the secessionists warmly advocated the speedy formation of a new confederacy. the coöperationists renewed their policy of obstruction. jemison (c.) of tuscaloosa proposed to strike out the part of the resolution relating to the formation of a permanent government. another coöperationist wanted delay in order that the border states might have time to take part in forming the proposed government. others wanted the people to elect a new convention to act on the question. yancey replied that delay was dangerous, if coercion was intended by the north; that the issue had been before the people and that they had invested their delegates with full power; that the convention then in session had ample authority to settle all questions concerning a provisional or a permanent government; that another election would only cause irritation; that delay, waiting for the secession of the border states, would be suicidal. the proposition for a new convention was lost by a vote of to . the convention decided to continue the work until the end. after choosing delegates (january ) to the southern convention, which was to meet in montgomery on february , the state convention adjourned until the confederate provisional government was planned and the permanent constitution written. then the state convention met again on march to ratify them. the coöperationists now proposed that the new plan of government be submitted to the people. it was right and expedient, they said, to let the people decide. morgan[ ] (s.) of dallas said that the proposition for ratification by direct vote of the people was absurd. the people would never ratify, for too many unrelated questions would be brought in. dargan (s.) of mobile said that the people had conferred upon the convention full powers to act, and that a new election would harass the candidates with new issues such as the slave trade, reconstruction, etc., introduced by the opponents of secession. stone (s.) of pickens thought that a new election would cause angry and bitter discussions, wrangling, distrust, and division among the people; that the proposed constitution was very like the united states constitution, to which the people were so devoted that they had given up the union rather than the constitution; that lincoln's inaugural address was a declaration of war, and a permanent government was necessary to raise money for armies and fleets. still the coöperationists obstructed, saying that not to refer to the people was unfair and illiberal; that the convention was usurping the powers of the people, who desired to be heard in the matter; that government by a few was like a house built on the sand; that there was no danger in waiting, for the people would be sure to ratify and then would be better satisfied, etc. finally most of the coöperationists agreed that it would be better not to refer the question to the people and the permanent confederate constitution was ratified on march by the vote of to .[ ] for the first time yancey stood at the head of the people of the state. they were ready to give him any office. but the coöperationists and a few secessionist politicians in the convention were jealous of his rising strength and desired to stay his progress. so earnest (c.) of jefferson introduced a self-denying resolution making ineligible to election to congress the members of the state legislature and of the convention. it was a direct attack by the dissatisfied politicians upon the prominent men in the convention, and especially upon yancey. the measure was supported by jemison (c.) who said that it was a practice never to elect a member of a legislative body to an office created by the legislature. clemens (cs.) thought such a measure unnecessary, as the majority necessary to pass it could defeat any undesirable candidate. stone (s.) said that such a resolution would cost the state the services of some of her best men when most needed; that the best men were in the convention; and that the southern confederacy should be intrusted to the friends, not to the enemies, of secession. morgan (s.) of dallas thought that, as a matter of policy, the congressmen would be chosen from outside of the convention. bragg (s.) of mobile wanted the best men regardless of place; this was no ordinary work and the best men were needed; the people had already made a choice of the members once and would approve them again. yancey said that in principle he was opposed to such a measure. he declared that he would not be a candidate. but he believed that the people had a right to a choice from their entire number, and that the convention had no right to violate the equality of citizenship by disfranchising the members of the convention and the legislature. yelverton (s.) of coffee at first favored the resolution, but upon discovering that it was aimed at a few leaders and especially at yancey, he opposed it. he did not wish the leaders of secession to be proscribed. the resolution was lost by a vote of to , but the delegates sent to the provisional congress were, with one exception, taken from outside the convention. a few politicians among the secessionists united with the coöperationists and, passing by the most experienced and able leaders, chose an inexperienced whiggish delegation.[ ] the african slave trade the committee on foreign relations reported that the power of regulating the slave trade would properly be conferred upon the confederate government, but, meanwhile, believing that the slave trade should be prohibited until the confederacy was formed, the committee reported an ordinance forbidding it. morgan (s.) of dallas opposed the ordinance because it was silent as to the cause of the prohibition. he was opposed to the slave trade on the ground of public policy. if at liberty to carry out christian convictions, he would have africans brought over to be made christian slaves, the highest condition attainable by the negro. in holding slaves, the south was charged with sin and crime, but the southern people were unable to perceive the wrong and unwilling to cease to do what the north considered evil. the present movement rested, in great measure, upon their assertion of the right to hold the african in slavery. the laws of congress denouncing the slave trade as piracy had been a shelter to those who assailed the south, and had affected the standing of the south among nations. if the slave trade were wrong, then it was much worse to bring christian and enlightened negroes from virginia to alabama than a heathen savage from africa to alabama. slavery was the only force which had ever been able to elevate the negro. he believed that on grounds of public policy the traffic should be condemned, but it was a question better left to the confederate government, because the various states would not make uniform laws. there were slaves enough for twenty years and, when needed, more could be had. reopening of the african slave trade should be forbidden by the confederate government expressly for reasons of public policy. smith (c.) of tuscaloosa said that the question of morality did not arise; the slave trade was not wrong. the heathen african was greatly benefited by the change to christian alabama. but no more negroes were needed; they were already increasing too fast and there was no territory for extension. crowded together, the white and black might degenerate like the spaniards and natives in mexico. he supported the ordinance as a measure to disarm foes who charged that one of the reasons for secession was a desire to reopen the african slave trade, which should be denied to the world. the slave trade would lead to war, and "if cotton is king, his throne is peace," war would destroy him. jones (c.) of lauderdale did not want another negro on the soil of alabama. the people of the border states were afraid that the cotton states would reopen the slave trade, but for the sake of uniformity the question should be left to the confederate government. posey (c.) of lauderdale also thought the border states should be reassured, and said that on the grounds of expediency alone he would vote against the slave trade. there were already too many negroes; already more land was needed, and that for whites. the slave trade should be prohibited as a great evil to the south. potter (c.) of cherokee was astonished that the slave trade and slavery were treated as if identical in point of morality. it was a duty to support and perpetuate slavery; the slave trade was immoral in its tendency and effects; the question, however, should be settled on the grounds of policy alone. yelverton (s.) of coffee[ ] said that the slave trade should not now be reopened nor forever closed, but that the regulation of it should be left to the legislature. it was said that the world was against the south on the slavery question; then the south should either own all the slaves, or set them all free in deference to unholy prejudice. as the southern people were not ready to surrender the negroes, they should be at liberty to buy them in any market, subject simply to the laws of trade. slavery was the cause of secession and should not be left in doubt. a slave in alabama cost eight times as much as one imported from africa. if the border states entered the confederacy, they could furnish slaves; if they remained in the union and thus became foreign country, the south should not be forced to buy from them alone. slavery was a social, moral, and political blessing. the bible sanctioned it, and had nothing to say in favor of it in one country and against it in another. to restrict the slave market to the united states would be a blow at states rights and free trade, and with slavery stricken, king cotton would become a petty tyrant. slavery had built up the yankees, socially, politically, and commercially. the english were a calculating people and would not hesitate, on account of slavery, to recognize southern independence, and other nations would do likewise. expansion of territory would come and would cause an increased demand for slaves. the arguments against the slave trade, he said, were that fanaticism might be angered, that there were too many negroes already, and that those who had slaves to sell might suffer from reduced prices. but the larger part of the people would prefer to purchase in a cheaper market, and non-slaveholders, as they grew wealthier, could become slave owners. the argument against the slave trade, he added, was usually the one of dollars and cents. the great moral effect was lost sight of, and it seemed from some arguments that christianity did not require the bible to be taught to the poor slave unless profit followed. the time was not far distant when the reopening of the slave trade would be considered essential to the industrial prosperity of the cotton states. stone (s.) of pickens said that he would not hesitate, from moral reasons, to purchase a slave anywhere. slavery was sanctioned by the divine law; it was a blessing to the negro. but on grounds of policy he would insist upon the prohibition of the slave trade. too many slaves would make too much cotton; prices would then fall and weaken the institution. keep the prices high, and the institution would be strengthened; reduce the value of the slaves, and the interest of the owners in the institution would be reduced, and the border states would listen to plans for general emancipation. there was no territory in which slavery could expand. yancey (s.) explained his course in the southern commercial conventions in preceding years when he had advocated the repeal of the laws against the slave trade. he thought that the laws of congress defining the slave trade as piracy placed a stigma on the institution, condemned it from the point of view of the government, and thus violated the spirit of the constitution by discriminating against the south. he did not then advocate the reopening of the slave trade, nor would he do so at this time. for two reasons he insisted that the confederate congress should prohibit the slave trade: ( ) already there were as many slaves as were needed; ( ) to induce the border states to enter the confederacy. dowdell (s.) of chambers proposed an amendment to the ordinance of prohibition, declaring that slavery was a moral, social, and political blessing, and that any attempt to hinder its expansion should be opposed. he opposed reopening the slave trade, though he considered that there was no moral distinction between slavery and the slave trade. the border states, he said, need not be encouraged by declarations of policy; they would join the confederacy anyway. slavery might be regulated by congress, but should not be prohibited by organic law. he expressed a wish that he might never see the day when white immigration would drive out slave labor and take its place, nor did he want social or political inequality among white people whom he believed should be kept free, independent, and equal, recognizing no subordinate except those made as such by god. the legislature, he thought, should be left to deal with the evil of white immigration from the north, so that the southern people might be kept a slaveholding people. but, he asked, can that be done with slaves at $ a head? and must the hands of the people be tied because a fantastical outside world says that slavery and the slave trade are morally wrong? watts (s.) of montgomery proposed that the confederacy be given power to prohibit the importation of slaves from any place. smith (c.) of tuscaloosa said that the proposal of watts was a threat against the border states, which would lose their slave market unless they joined the confederacy; that the border states must be kept friendly, a bulwark against the north. a resolution was finally passed to the effect that the people of alabama were opposed, for reasons of public policy, to reopening the slave trade, and the state's delegates in congress were instructed to insist on the prohibition. the debates show clearly the feeling of the delegates that, on the slavery question, the rest of the world was against them, and hence, as a measure of expediency, they were in favor of prohibiting the trade. some wished to have all the whites finally become slaveholders; others believed that the negroes were the economic and social enemies of the whites, and they wanted no more of them. but all agreed that slavery was a good thing for the negro. * * * * * yancey (s.) introduced a resolution favoring the free navigation of the mississippi. the north, he said, was uncertain as to the policy of the south and must be assured that the south wished no restrictions upon trade. "free trade" was its motto. dowdell (s.) proposed that the navigation should be free only to those states and territories lying on the river and its tributaries, while smith (c.) thought that all navigation should remain as unrestricted and open to all as before secession. yancey thought that absolutely unrestricted navigation would tend to undermine secession, for it would tend to reconstruct the late political union into a commercial union. such a policy would discriminate against european friends in favor of new england enemies. as passed, the resolution expressed the sense of the convention that the navigation of the mississippi should be free to all the people of those states and territories which were situated on that river or its tributaries. commissioners to other states as soon as the governor issued writs of election for a convention, fearing that the legislatures of other states then in session might adjourn before calling conventions, he sent a commissioner to each southern state to consult and advise with the governor and legislature in regard to the question of secession and later confederation. these commissioners made frequent reports to the governor and convention and did much to secure the prompt organization of a permanent government.[ ] after the ordinance of secession was passed a resolution was adopted to the effect that alabama, being no longer a member of the union, was not entitled to representation at washington and that her representatives there should be instructed to withdraw. a second resolution, authorizing the governor to send two commissioners to washington to treat with that government, caused some debate. clemens (cs.) said that there was no need of sending commissioners to washington, because they would not be received. let washington send commissioners to alabama; south carolina was differently situated; alabama held her own forts, south carolina did not. smith (c.) proposed that only one commissioner be sent. one would do more efficient work and the expense would be less. watts (s.) said that alabama as a former member of the union should inform the old government of her withdrawal and of her policy for the future; that there were many grave and delicate matters to be settled between the two governments; and that commissioners should be sent to propose terms of adjustment and to demand a recognition of the new order. webb (s.) of greene said that alabama stood in the same attitude toward the united states as toward france. and the fact that the commissioners of south carolina had been treated with contempt should not influence alabama. if one was to be in the wrong, let it be the washington government. to send commissioners would not detract from the dignity of the state, but would show a desire for amicable relations. whatley (s.) took the same ground, and added that, having seized the forts to prevent their being used against alabama, the state, as retiring partner, would hold them as assets until a final settlement, especially as its share had not been received. some members urged that only one commissioner be sent in order to save expenses. all were getting to be very economical. and practically all agreed that it was the duty of the state to show her desire for amicable relations by making advances. yancey thought the matter should be left to the provisional congress; the united states had made agreements with south carolina about the military status of the forts and had violated the agreement; the other states also had claims of public property, and negotiations should be carried on by the common agent. separate action by the state would only complicate matters. finally, it was decided to send one commissioner, and the governor appointed thomas j. judge, who proceeded to washington, with authority to negotiate regarding the forts, arsenals, and custom-houses in the state, the state's share of the united states debt, and the future relations between the united states and alabama, and through c. c. clay, late united states senator from alabama, applied for an interview with the president. buchanan refused to receive him in his official capacity, but wrote that he would be glad to see him as a private gentleman. judge declined to be received except in his official capacity, and said that future negotiations must begin at washington. * * * * * foreseeing war, watts (s.) proposed that the general assembly be given power to confiscate the property of alien enemies, and also to suspend the collection of debts due to alien enemies. shortridge (s.) thought that the measure was not sufficiently emphatic, since war had practically been declared. he said the courts should be closed against the collection of debts due persons in the northern states which had passed personal liberty laws. he stated that alabama owed new york several million dollars, and that to pay this debt would drain from the country the currency, which should be held to relieve the strain. jones (c.) was opposed to every description of robbery. the course proposed, he said, would be a flagrant outrage upon just creditors, as the greater wrong would be done the friends of the south, for nineteen-twentieths of the debt was due to political friends--merchants who had always defended the rights of the south. those debts should be paid and honor sustained. the legislature, he added, would pass a stay-law, which he regretted, and that would suffice. smith (c.) said that confiscation was an act of war, and would provoke retaliation. every action should look toward the preservation of peace. clarke (s.) of marengo saw nothing wrong in the measure. there was no wish or intention of evading payment of the debt; payment would only be suspended or delayed. it was a peace measure. lewis (cs.) said that only the war-making power would have authority to pass such a measure, and that this power would be lodged in the confederate congress. meanwhile, he proposed to give the power temporarily to the legislature. early in the session the secessionists introduced a resolution pledging the state to resist any attempt by the united states to coerce any of the seceded states. alabama could not stand aside, they said, and see the seceded states coerced by the united states government, which had no authority to use force. all southern states recognized secession as the essence and test of state sovereignty, and would support each other. earnest (c.) of jefferson was of the opinion that this resolution was intended to cover acts of hostility already committed by individuals, such as governor moore and other officials, before the state seceded, and to vote for the resolution subjected the voter to the penalties of treason. when a state acted in its sovereign capacity and withdrew from the union, then those individuals were relieved. but to vote for such a measure before secession was treason. morgan (s.) of dallas said that, whether alabama were in or out of the union, she could see no state coerced; the question was not debatable. to attack south carolina was to attack alabama. "we are one united people and can never be dissevered." the north was pledging men and money to coerce the southern states, and its action must be answered. jemison (c.) thought the war alarms were false and that there was no necessity for immediate action, while smith (c.), his colleague, heartily indorsed the measure. jones (c.) declared that before the state seceded he would not break the laws of the united states; that he had sworn to support the constitution, and only the state could absolve him from that oath; that such a measure was not lawful while the state was in the union. after secession the resolution was again called up, and all speakers agreed that aid should be extended to seceded states in case of coercion. some wanted to promise aid to any one of the united states which might take a stand against the other states in behalf of the south. events moved so rapidly that the measure did not come to a vote before the organization of the provisional congress. legislation by the convention not only was the old political structure to be torn down, but a new one had to be erected. in organizing the new order the convention performed many duties pertaining usually to the legislature. this was done in order to save time and to prevent confusion in the administration. citizenship was defined to include free whites only, except such as were citizens of the united states before january , . a person born in a northern state or in a foreign country before january , , must take the oath of allegiance to the state of alabama, and the oath of abjuration, renouncing allegiance to all other sovereignties. the state constitution was amended by omitting all references to the united states; the state officers were absolved from their oath to support the united states constitution; jurisdiction of the united states over waste and unappropriated lands and navigable waters was rescinded; and navigation was opened to all citizens of alabama and other states that "may unite with alabama in a southern slaveholding confederacy." a registration of lands was ordered to be made; the united states land system was adopted, a homestead law was provided for, and a new land office was established at greenville, in butler county. the governor was authorized to revoke contracts made under united states laws with commissioners appointed to locate swamps and overflowed lands. the general assembly was authorized to cede to the confederacy exclusive jurisdiction over a district ten miles square for a seat of government for the confederate states of america. provision was made for the military defence of alabama, and the united states army regulations were adopted almost in their entirety. the militia was reorganized; all commissions were vacated, and new elections ordered. the governor was placed in charge of all measures for defence. he was authorized to purchase supplies for the use of the state army, to borrow money for the same, and to issue bonds to cover expenses. later, the convention decreed that all arms and munitions of war taken from the united states should be turned over to the confederacy; only the small arms belonging to the state were retained. the governor was authorized to transfer to the confederate states, upon terms to be agreed upon between the governor and the president, all troops raised for state defence. thus all volunteer companies could be transferred to the confederate service if the men were willing, otherwise they were discharged. a number of ordinances were passed organizing the state military system, and coöperating with the confederate government. jurisdiction over forts, arsenals, and navy yards was conferred upon the confederate states. this ordinance could only be revoked by a convention of the people. the port of mobile was resumed by the state. the collector of the port and his assistants were continued in office as state officials who were to act in the name of the state of alabama. with a view to future settlement the collector was ordered to retain all funds in his hands belonging to the united states, and the state of alabama guaranteed his safety, as to oath, bond, etc. as far as possible, the united states customs and port regulations were adopted. vessels built anywhere, provided that one-third was owned by citizens of the southern states and commanded by southern captains, were entitled to registry as vessels of alabama. the collector was authorized to take possession in the name of the state of all government custom-houses, lighthouses, etc., and to reappoint the officers in charge if they would accept office from the state. the weights and measures of the united states were adopted as the standard; discriminating duties imposed by the united states, and regulations on foreign vessels and merchandise were abolished; selma and mobile were continued as ports of entry, and all ordinances relating to mobile were extended to selma. thaddeus sanford, the collector of mobile, reported to the convention that the united states treasury department had drawn on him for $ , on january , , and asked for instructions in regard to paying it. the committee on imports reported that the draft was dated before secession and before the ordinance directing the collector to retain all united states funds, that it was drawn to pay parties for services rendered while alabama was a member of the union. so it was ordered to be paid. after the confederacy was formed, the convention ordered that the custom-houses, marine hospital, lighthouses, buoys, and the revenue cutter, _lewis cass_, be turned over to the confederate authorities; and the collector was directed to transfer all money collected by him to the confederate authorities, who were to account for all moneys and settle with the united states authorities. the collector was then released from his bond to the state. postal contracts and regulations in force prior to january , , were permitted to remain for the present. the general assembly was empowered to make postal arrangements until the confederate government should be established. meanwhile, the old arrangements with the united states were unchanged.[ ] other ordinances adopted the laws of the united states relating to the value of foreign coins, and directed the division of the state into nine congressional districts. the judicial powers were resumed by the state and were henceforth to be exercised by the state courts. the circuit and chancery courts and the city court of mobile were given original jurisdiction in cases formerly arising within the jurisdiction of the federal courts. jurisdiction over admiralty cases was vested in the circuit courts and the city court of mobile. the chancery courts had jurisdiction in all cases of equity. the state supreme court was given original and exclusive jurisdiction over cases concerning ambassadors and public ministers. all admiralty cases, except where the united states was plaintiff, pending in the federal courts in alabama were transferred with all records to the state circuit courts; cases in equity in like manner to the state chancery courts; the united states laws relating to admiralty and maritime cases, and to the postal service were adopted temporarily; the forms of proceedings in state courts were to be the same as in former federal courts; the clerks of the circuit courts were given the custody of all records transferred from federal courts and were empowered to issue process running into any part of the state and to be executed by any sheriff; united states marshals in whose hands processes were running were ordered to execute them and to make returns to the state courts under penalty of being prosecuted as if defaulting sheriffs; the right was asserted to prosecute marshals who were guilty of misconduct before secession. the united states laws of may , , and march , , prescribing the method of authentication of public acts, records, or judicial proceedings for use in other courts, were adopted for alabama. in cases appealed to the united states supreme court from the alabama supreme court, the latter was to act as if no appeal had been taken and execute judgment; cases appealed from inferior federal courts to the united states supreme court, were to be considered as appealed to the state supreme court which was to proceed as if the cases had been appealed to it from its own lower courts. the united states were not to be allowed to be a party to any suit in the state courts against a citizen of alabama unless ordered by the convention or by the general assembly. federal jurisdiction in general was to be resumed by state courts until the confederate government should act in the matter. no law of alabama in force january , , consistent with the constitution and not inconsistent with the ordinances of the convention, was to be affected by secession; no official of the state was to be affected by secession; no offence against the state, and no penalty, no obligation, and no duty to or of state, no process or proceeding in court, no right, title, privilege, or obligation under the state or united states constitution and laws, was to be affected by the ordinance of secession unless inconsistent with it. no change made by the convention in the constitution of alabama should have the effect to divest of any right, title, or legal trust existing at the time of making the change. all changes were to have a prospective, not a retrospective, effect unless expressly declared in the change itself. the general assembly was to have no power to repeal, alter, or amend any ordinance of the convention incorporated in the revised constitution. other ordinances were to be considered as ordinary legislation and might be amended or repealed by the legislature.[ ] north alabama in the convention all the counties of north alabama sent coöperation delegates to the convention, and these spoke continually of a peculiar state of feeling on the part of their constituents which required conciliation by the convention. the people of that section, in regard to their grievances, thought as the people of central and south alabama, but they were not so ready to act in resistance. moreover, it would seem that they desired all the important measures framed by the convention to be referred to them for approval or disapproval. the coöperationists made much of this state of feeling for purposes of obstruction. there was, and had always been, a slight lack of sympathy between the people of the two sections; but on the present question they were very nearly agreed, though still opposing from habit. had the coöperationists been in the majority, secession would have been hardly delayed. of course, among the mountains and sand-hills of north alabama was a small element of the population not concerned in any way with the questions before the people, and who would oppose any measure supported by southern alabama. sheets of winston was probably the only representative of this class in the convention. the members of the convention referred to the fact of the local nature of the dissatisfaction. yancey, angered at the obstructive tactics of the coöperationists, who had no definite policy and nothing to gain by obstruction, made a speech in which he said it was useless to disguise the fact that in some parts of the state there was dissatisfaction in regard to the action of the convention, and warned the members from north alabama, whom he probably considered responsible for the dissatisfaction, that as soon as passed the ordinance of secession became the supreme law of the land, and it was the duty of all citizens to yield obedience. those who refused, he said, were traitors and public enemies, and the sovereign state would deal with them as such. opposition after secession was unlawful and to even speak of it was wrong, and he predicted that the name "tory" would be revived and applied to such people. jemison of tuscaloosa, a leading coöperationist, made an angry reply, and said that yancey would inaugurate a second reign of terror and hang people by families, by towns, counties, and districts. davis (c.) of madison declared that the people of north alabama would stand by the expressed will of the people of the state, and intimated that the action of the convention did not represent the will of the people. if, he added, resistance to revolution gave the name of "tories," it was possible that the people of north alabama might yet bear the designation; that any invasion of their rights or any attempt to force them to obedience would result in armed resistance; that the invader would be met at the foot of the mountains, and in armed conflict the question of the sovereignty of the people would be settled. clark (c.) of lawrence said that north alabama was more closely connected with tennessee, and that many of the citizens were talking of secession from alabama and annexation to tennessee. he begged for some concession to north alabama, but did not seem to know exactly what he wanted. he intimated that there would be civil war in north alabama. jones (c.) of lauderdale said that his people were not "submissionists" and would share every toil and danger in support of the state to which was their supreme allegiance. edwards (c.) of blount was not prepared to say whether his people would acquiesce or not. he promised to do nothing to excite them to rebellion! davis of madison, who a few days before was ready to rebel, now said that he, and perhaps all north alabama, would cheerfully stand by the state in the coming conflict. [illustration: jefferson davis.] a majority of the coöperationists voted against the ordinance of secession, at the same time stating that they intended to support it when it became law. the ordinance was lithographed, and the delegates were given an opportunity to sign their names to the official copy. thirty-three of the delegates from north alabama, two of whom had voted for the ordinance, refused to sign, because, as they said, it might appear as if they approved all that had been done by the secessionists. their opposition to the policy of the majority was based on the following principles: ( ) the fundamental principle that representative bodies should submit their acts for approval to the people; ( ) the interests of all demanded that all the southern states be consulted in regard to a plan for united action. the members who refused to sign repeatedly acknowledged the binding force of the ordinance and promised a cheerful obedience, but, at the same time, published far and wide an address to the people, justifying their opposition and refusal to sign, causing the impression that they considered the action of the convention illegal. there was no reason whatever why these men should pursue the policy of obstruction to the very last, yet it was done. nine of the thirty-three finally signed the ordinance, but twenty-four never signed it, though they promised to support it. * * * * * the majority of the members and of the people contemplated secession as a finality; reconstruction was not to be considered. a few of the coöperationists, however, were in favor of secession as a means of bringing the north to terms. messrs. pugh and clay (members of congress) in a letter to the convention suggested that the border states considered the secession of the cotton states as an indispensable basis for a reconstruction of the union. smith of tuscaloosa, the leading coöperationist, stated his belief that the revolution would teach the north her dependence upon the south, how much she owed that section, bring her to a sense of her duty, and cause her to yield to the sensible demands of the south. he looked forward with fondest hopes to the near future when there would be a reconstruction of the union with redress of grievances, indemnity for the past, complete and unequivocal guarantees for the future. incidents of the session the proceedings were dignified, solemn, and at times even sad. during the whole session, good feeling prevailed to a remarkable degree among the individual members, and toward the last the utmost harmony existed between the parties.[ ] for this the credit is due the secessionists. at times the coöperationists were suspicious, and pursued a policy of obstruction when nothing was to be gained; but they were given every privilege and shown every courtesy. during the early part of the session an enthusiastic crowd filled the halls and galleries and manifested approval of the course of the secessionist leaders by frequent applause. in order to secure perfect freedom of debate to the minority, it was ordered that no applause be permitted; and this order failing to keep the spectators silent, the galleries were cleared, and thereafter secret sessions were the rule. affecting and exciting scenes followed the passage of the ordinance of secession. one by one the strong members of the minority arose and, for the sake of unity at home, surrendered the opinions of a lifetime and forgot the prejudices of years. this was done with no feeling of humiliation. to the last, they were treated with distinguished consideration by their opponents. there was really no difference in the principles of the two parties; the only differences were on local, personal, sectional, and social questions. on the common ground of resistance to a common enemy they were united. on january , , after seven days' debate, it became known that the vote on secession would be taken, and an eager multitude crowded capitol hill to hear the announcement of the result. the senate chamber, opposite the convention hall, was crowded with the waiting people, who were addressed by distinguished orators on the topics of the day. as many women as men were present, and, if possible, were more eager for secession. their minds had long ago been made up. "with them," says the grave historian of the convention, "the love songs of yesterday had swelled into the political hosannas of to-day." the momentous vote was taken, the doors were flung open, the result announced, and in a moment the tumultuous crowd filled the galleries, lobbies, and aisles of the convention hall. the ladies of montgomery had made a large state flag, and when the doors were opened this flag was unfurled in the hall so that its folds extended almost across the chamber. members jumped on desks, chairs, and tables to shake out the floating folds and display the design. there was a perfect frenzy of enthusiasm. yancey, the secessionist leader and splendid orator, in behalf of the ladies presented the flag to the convention. smith, the leader of the coöperationists, replied in a speech of acceptance, paying an affecting tribute to the flag that they were leaving--"the star-spangled banner, sacred to memory, baptized in the nation's best blood, consecrated in song and history, and the herald of liberty's grandest victories on land and on sea." in memory of the illustrious men who brought fame to the flag, he said, "let him who has tears prepare to shed them now as we lower this glorious ensign of our once vaunted victories." alpheus baker of barbour in glowing words expressed to the ladies the thanks of the convention. amidst wild enthusiasm in hall and street the convention adjourned. one hundred and one cannon shots announced the result. the flag of the republic of alabama floated from windows, steeples, and towers. party lines were forgotten, and until late in the night every man who would speak was surrounded by eager listeners. the people were united in common sentiment in the face of common danger. one hour before the signal cannon shot announced that the fateful step had been taken and that alabama was no longer one of the united states, there died, within sight of the capitol, bishop cobb of the episcopal church, the one man of character and influence who in all alabama had opposed secession in any way, at any time, or for any reason.[ ] part ii war times in alabama chapter iii military and political events sec. i. military operations on january , , the alabama troops, ordered by governor andrew b. moore, seized the forts which commanded the entrance to the harbor at mobile, and also the united states arsenal at mount vernon, thirty miles distant. a few days later the governor, in a communication addressed to president buchanan, explained the reason for this step. he was convinced, he said, that the convention would withdraw the state from the union, and he deemed it his duty to take every precaution to render the secession peaceable. information had been received which led him to believe that the united states government would attempt to maintain its authority in alabama by force, even to bloodshed. the president must surely see, the governor wrote, that coercion could not be effectual until capacity for resistance had been exhausted, and it would have been unwise to have permitted the united states government to make preparations which would be resisted to the uttermost by the people. the purpose in taking possession of the forts and arsenal was to avoid, not to provoke, hostilities. amicable relations with the united states were ardently desired by alabama; and every patriotic man in the state was praying for peaceful secession. he had ordered an inventory to be taken of public property in the forts and arsenal, which were held subject to the control of the convention.[ ] a month later, governor moore, in a communication addressed to the virginia commissioners for mediation, stated that alabama, in seceding, had no hostile intentions against the united states; that the sole object was to protect her rights, interests, and honor, without disturbing peaceful relations. this would continue to be the policy of the state unless the federal government authorized hostile acts. yet any attempt at coercion would be resisted. in conclusion, he stated that he had no power to appoint delegates to the proposed convention, but promised to refer the matter to the legislature. however, he did not believe that there was the least hope that concessions would be made affording such guarantees as the seceding states could accept.[ ] the war in north alabama for a year alabama soil was free from invasion, though the coast was blockaded in the summer of . in february, , fort henry, on the tennessee river, fell, and on the same day commodore phelps with four gunboats sailed up the river to florence. several steamboats with supplies for johnston's army were destroyed to prevent capture by the federals. phelps destroyed a partly finished gunboat, burned the confederate supplies in florence, and then returned to fort henry.[ ] the fall of fort donelson (february ) and the retreat of johnston to corinth left the tennessee valley open to the federals. a few days after the battle of shiloh, general o. m. mitchell entered huntsville (april , ) and captured nearly all the rolling stock belonging to the railroads running into huntsville. decatur, athens, tuscumbia, and the other towns of the tennessee valley were occupied within a few days. to oppose this invasion the confederates had small bodies of troops widely scattered across north alabama. the fighting was almost entirely in the nature of skirmishes and was continual. philip d. roddy, later known as the "defender of north alabama," first appears during this summer as commander of a small body of irregular troops, which served as the nucleus of a regiment and later a brigade. hostilities in north alabama at an early date assumed the worst aspects of guerilla warfare. the federals were never opposed by large commands of confederates, and were disposed to regard the detachments who fought them as guerillas and to treat them accordingly. in spite of the strenuous efforts of general buell to have his subordinates wage war in civilized manner,[ ] they were guilty of infamous conduct. general mitchell was charged by the people with brutal conduct toward non-combatants and with being interested in the stealing of cotton and shipping it north. he was finally removed by buell.[ ] one of mitchell's subordinates--john basil turchin, the russian colonel of the nineteenth illinois regiment--was too brutal even for mitchell, and the latter tried to keep him within bounds. his worst offence was at athens, in limestone county, in may, . athens was a wealthy place, intensely southern in feeling, and on that account was most heartily disliked by the federals. here, for two hours, turchin retired to his tent and gave over the town to the soldiers to be sacked after the old european custom. revolting outrages were committed. robberies were common where turchin commanded. his russian ideas of the rules of war were probably responsible for his conduct. buell characterized it as "a case of undisputed atrocity." for this athens affair turchin was court-martialled and sentenced to be dismissed from the service. the facts were notorious and well known at washington, but the day before buell ordered his discharge, turchin was made a brigadier-general.[ ] general mitchell himself reported (may, ) that "the most terrible outrages--robberies, rapes, arson, and plundering--are being committed by lawless brigands and vagabonds connected with the army." he asked for authority to hang them and wrote, "i hear the most deplorable accounts of excesses committed by soldiers."[ ] about fifty of the citizens of athens, at the suggestion of mitchell, filed claims for damages. thereupon mitchell informed them that they were laboring under a very serious misapprehension if they expected pay from the united states government unless they had proper vouchers.[ ] buell condemned his action in this matter also. mitchell asked the war department for permission to send prominent confederate sympathizers at huntsville to northern prisons. he said that general clemens and judge lane advised such a measure. he reported that he held under arrest a few active rebels "who refused to condemn the guerilla warfare." the war department seems to have been annoyed by the request, but after mitchell had repeated it, permission was given to send them to the fort in boston harbor.[ ] mitchell was charged at washington with having failed in his duty of repressing plundering and pillaging. he replied that he had no great sympathy with the citizens of athens who hated the union soldiers so intensely.[ ] as the war continued the character of the warfare grew steadily worse. ex-governor chapman's family were turned out of their home to make room for a negro regiment. a four-year-old child of the family wandered back to the house and was cursed and abused by the soldiers. the house was finally burned and the property laid waste. governor chapman was imprisoned and at last expelled from the country. mrs. robert patton they threatened to strip in search of money and actually began to do so in the presence of her husband, but she saved herself by giving up the money.[ ] such experiences were common. the provost marshal at huntsville--colonel harmer--selected a number of men to answer certain political questions, who, if their answers were not satisfactory, were to be expelled from the country. among these were, george w. hustoun, luke pryor, and ---- malone of athens, dr. fearn of huntsville, and two ministers--ross and banister. general stanley condemned the policy, but general granger wanted the preachers expelled anyway, although stanley said they had never taken part in politics.[ ] the harsh treatment of non-combatants and confederate soldiers by federal soldiers and by the tories resulted in the retaliation of the former when opportunity occurred. toward the end of the war prisoners were seldom taken by either side. when a man was caught, he was often strung up to a limb of the nearest tree, his captors waiting a few minutes for their halters, and then passing on. the confederate irregular cavalry became a terror even to the loyal southern people. stealing, robbery, and murder were common in the debatable land of north alabama.[ ] naturally the "tory" element of the population suffered much from the same class of confederate troops. the union element, it was said, suffered more from the operation of the impressment law. the confederate and state governments strictly repressed the tendency of confederate troops to pillage the "union" communities in north alabama.[ ] general mitchell and his subordinates were accustomed to hold the people of a community responsible for damages in their vicinity to bridges, trestles, and trains caused by the confederate forces. in august, , general j. d. morgan, in command at tuscumbia, reported that he "sent out fifty wagons this afternoon to the plantations near where the track was torn up yesterday, for cotton. i want it to pay damages."[ ] when turchin had to abandon athens, on the advance of bragg into tennessee, he set fire to and burned much of the town, but his conduct was denounced by his fellow-officers.[ ] near gunterville ( ) a federal force was fired upon by scouts, and the federals, in retaliation, shelled the town. this was done a second time during the war, and finally the town was burned. in jackson county four citizens were arrested ( ) because the pickets at woodville, several miles away, had been fired upon.[ ] in a skirmish in north alabama, general r. l. mccook was shot by captain gurley of russell's fourth alabama cavalry. the federals spread the report among the soldiers that he had been murdered, and as the federal commander reported, "many of the soldiers spread themselves over the country and burned all the property of the rebels in the vicinity, and shot a rebel lieutenant who was on furlough." even the house of the family who had ministered to general mccook in his last moments was burned to the ground. the old men and boys for miles around were arrested. the officer who was shot was at home on furlough and sick. general dodge's command committed many depredations in retaliation for the death of mccook. a year later captain gurley was captured and sentenced to be hanged. the confederate authorities threatened retaliation, and he was then treated as a prisoner of war. after the close of the war he was again arrested and kept in jail and in irons for many months at nashville and huntsville. at last he was liberated.[ ] later in the war ( ), general m. l. smith ordered the arrest of "five of the best rebels" in the vicinity of a confederate attack on one of his companies, and again five were arrested near the place where a union man had been attacked.[ ] these are examples of what often happened. it became a rule to hold a community responsible for all attacks made by the confederate soldiers. the people suffered fearfully. many of them had to leave the country in order to live. john e. moore wrote to the confederate secretary of war from florence, in december, , that the people of north alabama "have been ground into the dust by the tyrants and thieves."[ ] the citizens of florence (january, ) petitioned the secretary of war for protection. they said that they had been greatly oppressed by the federal army in . property had been destroyed most wantonly and vindictively, the privacy of the homes invaded, citizens carried off and ill treated, and slaves carried off and refused the liberty of returning when they desired to do so. the harshness of the federals had made many people submissive for fear of worse things. no men, except the aged and infirm, were left in the country; the population was composed chiefly of women and children.[ ] it was in response to this appeal that roddy's command was raised to a brigade. but the retreat of bragg left north alabama to the federals until the close of the war, except for a short period during hood's invasion of tennessee. the streight raid april , , colonel a. d. streight of the federal army, with picked troops, disembarked at eastport and started on a daring raid through the mountain region of north alabama. the object of the raid was to cut the railroads from chattanooga to atlanta and to knoxville, which supplied bragg and to destroy the confederate stores at rome. to cover streight's movements general dodge was making demonstrations in the tennessee valley and forrest was sent to meet him. hearing by accident of streight's movements, forrest left a small force under roddy to hold dodge in check and set out after the raider. the chase began on april . streight had sixteen miles the start with a force reduced to men, mounted on mules. as his mounts were worn out, he seized fresh horses on the route. the chase led through the counties of morgan, blount, st. clair, de kalb, and cherokee--counties in which there was a strong tory element, and the federals were guided by two companies of union cavalry raised in north alabama. streight had asked for permission to dress some of his men "after the promiscuous southern style," but, fortunately for them, was not allowed to do so.[ ] on may occurred the famous crossing of black creek, where miss emma sansom guided the confederates across in the face of a heavy fire. forrest now had less than men, the others having been left behind exhausted or with broken-down horses. the best men and horses were kept in front, and streight was not allowed a moment's rest. at last, tired out, the federals halted on the morning of may . soon the men were asleep on their arms, and when forrest appeared, some of them could not be awakened. men were asleep in line of battle, under fire. forrest placed his small force so as to magnify his numbers, and streight was persuaded by his officers to surrender-- men to less than . the running fight had lasted four days, over a distance of miles, through rough and broken country filled with unfriendly natives. forrest could not get fresh mounts, the federals could; the federals had been preparing for the raid a month; forrest had a few hours to prepare for the pursuit, and his whole force with roddy's did not equal half of the entire federal force of .[ ] during the summer and fall there were many small fights between the cavalry scouts of roddy and wheeler and the federal foraging parties. in october general s. d. lee from mississippi entered the northwestern part of the state, and for two or three weeks fought the federals and tore up the memphis and charleston railroad. the first alabama union cavalry started on a raid for selma, but was routed by the second alabama cavalry. the tennessee valley was the highway along which passed and repassed the federal armies during the remainder of the war. during the months of january, february, march, and april, , scouting, skirmishing, and fighting in north alabama by forrest, roddy, wheeler, johnson, patterson, and mead were almost continuous; and federal raids were frequent. the federals called all confederate soldiers in north alabama "guerillas," and treated prisoners as such. the tennessee valley had been stripped of troops to send to johnston's army. in may, , the federal general blair marched through northeast alabama to rome, georgia, with , men. federal gunboats patrolled the river, landing companies for short raids and shelling the towns. in august there were many raids and skirmishes in the tennessee valley. on september , forrest with men, on a raid to pulaski, persuaded the federal commander at athens that he had , men, and the latter surrendered, though in a strong fort with a thousand men. rousseau's raid july , , general rousseau started from decatur, morgan county, with men on a raid toward southeast alabama to destroy the montgomery and west point railway below opelika, and thus cut off the supplies coming from the black belt for johnston's army. general clanton, who opposed him with a small force, was defeated at the crossing of the coosa on july ; the iron works in calhoun county were burned, and the confederate stores at talladega were destroyed. the railroad was reached near loachapoka in what is now lee county, and miles of the track there and above opelika were destroyed, and the depots at opelika, auburn, loachapoka, and notasulga, all with quantities of supplies, were burned. this was the first time that central alabama had suffered from invasion.[ ] in october general hood marched _via_ cedartown, georgia, into alabama to gadsden, thence to somerville and decatur, crossing the river near tuscumbia on his way to the fatal fields of franklin and nashville. "most of the fields they passed were covered with briers and weeds, the fences burned or broken down. the chimneys in every direction stood like quiet sentinels and marked the site of once prosperous and happy homes, long since reduced to heaps of ashes. no cattle, hogs, horses, mules, or domestic fowls were in sight. only the birds seemed unconscious of the ruin and desolation which reigned supreme. no wonder that hood pointed to the devastation wrought by the invader to nerve his heroes for one more desperate struggle against immense odds for southern independence."[ ] a few weeks later the wreck of hood's army was straggling back into north alabama, which now swarmed with federals. bushwhackers, guerillas, tories, deserters, "mossbacks," harried the defenceless people of north alabama until the end of the war and even after. a few scattered bands of confederates made a weak resistance. the war in south alabama to return to south alabama. during the years and the defences of mobile were made almost impregnable. they were commanded in turn by generals withers, bragg, forney, buckner, and maury. the port was blockaded in , but no attacks were made on the defences until august, , when , men were landed to besiege fort gaines. eighteen war vessels under farragut passed the forts into the bay and there fought the fiercest naval battle of the war. admiral buchanan commanded the confederate fleet of four vessels--the _morgan_, the _selma_, the _gaines_, and the _tennessee_.[ ] the _tecumseh_ was sunk by a torpedo in the bay, and farragut had left vessels, guns, and men against the confederates' guns and men. the three smaller confederate vessels, after desperate fighting, were riddled with shot; one was captured, one beached, and one withdrew to the shelter of the forts. the _tennessee_ was left, against , guns against . after four hours' cannonade from nearly guns, her smoke-stack and steering gear shot away, her commander (admiral buchanan) wounded, one hour after her last gun had been disabled, the _tennessee_ surrendered. the federals lost killed, and wounded, besides lost on the _tecumseh_. the _tennessee_ lost only killed and wounded, the _selma_ killed and wounded, the _gaines_ about the same.[ ] the fleet now turned its attention to the forts. fort gaines surrendered at once; fort morgan held out. a siege train of guns was placed in position and on august these and the guns of the fleet opened fire. the fort was unable to return the fire of the fleet, and the sharpshooters of the enemy soon prevented the use of guns against the shore batteries of the federals. the firing was furious; every shell seemed to take effect; fire broke out, and the garrison threw , pounds of powder into cisterns to prevent explosion; the defending force was decimated; the interior of the fort was a mass of smouldering ruins; there was not a place five feet square not struck by shells; many of the guns were dismounted. for twenty-four hours the bombardment continued, the garrison not being able to return the fire of the besiegers, yet the enemy reported that the garrison was not "moved by any weak fears." on the morning of august , , the fort was surrendered.[ ] though the outer defences had fallen, the city could not be taken. the inner defences were strengthened, and were manned with "reserves,"--boys and old men, fourteen to sixteen, and forty-five to sixty years of age. in march, , general steele advanced from pensacola to pollard with , men, while general canby with , moved up the east side of mobile bay and invested spanish fort. he sent , men to steele, who began the siege of blakely on april . spanish fort was defended by men, later reduced to , against canby's , . the confederate lines were two miles long. after a twelve days' siege a part of the confederate works was captured, and during the next night (april ), the greater part of the garrison escaped in boats or by wading through the marshes. blakely was defended by men against steele's , . after a siege of eight days the federal works were pushed near the confederate lines, and a charge along the whole three miles of line captured the works with the garrison (april ). three days later batteries huger and tracy, defending the river entrance, were evacuated, and on april the city surrendered.[ ] the state was then overrun from all sides.[ ] wilson's raid and the end of the war during the winter of - , general j. h. wilson gathered a picked force of , cavalry, at gravelly springs in northwestern alabama, in preparation for a raid through central alabama, the purpose of which was to destroy the confederate stores, the factories, mines, and iron works in that section, and also to create a diversion in favor of canby at mobile.[ ] on march he left for the south. there was not a confederate soldier within miles; the country was stripped of its defenders. the federal army under wilson foraged for provisions in north alabama when they themselves reported people to be starving.[ ] to confuse the confederates, wilson moved his corps in three divisions along different routes. on march , near elyton, the divisions united, and general croxton was again detached and sent to burn the university and public buildings at tuscaloosa. driving roddy before him, wilson, on march , burned five iron works near elyton. forrest collected a motley force to oppose wilson. the latter sent a brigade which decoyed one of forrest's brigades away into the country toward mississippi,[ ] so that this force was not present to assist in the defence when, on april , wilson arrived before selma with men. this place, with works three miles long, was defended by forrest with men, half of whom were reserves who had never been under fire. they made a gallant fight, but the federals rushed over the thinly defended works. forrest and two or three hundred men escaped; the remainder surrendered. when the federals entered the city, night had fallen, and the soldiers plundered without restraint until morning. forrest had ordered that all the government whiskey in the city be destroyed, but after the barrels were rolled into the street the confederates had no time to knock in the heads before the city was captured. the federals were soon drunk. all the houses in the city were entered and plundered. a newspaper correspondent who was with wilson's army said that selma was the worst-sacked town of the war. one woman saved her house from the plunderers by pulling out all the drawers, tearing up the beds, throwing clothes all over the floor along with dishes and overturned tables, chairs, and other things. when the soldiers came to the house, they concluded that others had been there before them and departed. the outrages, robberies, and murders committed by wilson's men, notwithstanding his stringent order against plundering,[ ] are almost incredible. the half cannot be told. the destruction was fearful. the city was wholly given up to the soldiers, the houses sacked, the women robbed of their watches, earrings, rings, and other jewellery.[ ] the negroes were pressed into the work of destruction, and when they refused to burn and destroy, they were threatened with death by the soldiers. every one was robbed who had anything worth taking about his person. even negro men on the streets and negro women in the houses were searched and their little money and trinkets taken.[ ] the next day the public buildings and storehouses with three-fourths of the business part of the town and residences were burned. three rolling mills, a large naval foundry, and the navy yard,--where the _tennessee_ had been built,--the best arsenal in the confederacy, powder works, magazines, army stores, , bales of cotton, a large number of cars, and the railroad bridges were destroyed. before leaving, wilson sent men about the town to kill all the horses and mules in selma, and had of his own worn-out horses shot. the carcasses were left lying in the roads, streets, and dooryards where they were shot. in a few days the stench was fearful, and the citizens had to send to all the country around for teams to drag away the dead animals, which were strewn along the roads for miles.[ ] nearly every man of wilson's command had a canteen filled with jewellery gathered on the long raid through the richest section of the state. the valuables of the rich cane brake and black belt country had been deposited in selma for safe-keeping, and from selma the soldiers took everything valuable and profitable. pianos were made into feeding troughs for horses. the officers were supplied with silver plate stolen while on the raid. in russell county a general officer stopped at a house for dinner, and had the table set with a splendid service of silver plate taken from selma. his escort broke open the smoke-house and, taking hams, cut a small piece from each of them and threw the remainder away. everything that could be was destroyed. soft soap and syrup were poured together in the cellars. they took everything they could carry and destroyed the rest. on april wilson's command started for montgomery. a negro regiment of men[ ] was organized at selma and accompanied the army, subsisting on the country. before reaching georgia there were several such regiments. on april montgomery was surrendered by the mayor. the confederates had burned , [ ] bales of cotton to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. the captors burned five steamboats, two rolling mills, a small-arms factory, two magazines of stores, all the rolling stock of the railways, and the nitre works, the fire spreading also to the business part of the town.[ ] here, as at selma, horses, mules, and valuables were taken by the raiders. the force was then divided into two columns, one destined for west point and the other for columbus. the last fights on alabama soil occurred near west point on april , and at girard, opposite columbus, on the same day. at the latter place immense quantities of stores, that had been carried across the river from alabama, were destroyed.[ ] croxton's force reached tuscaloosa april , and burned the university buildings, the nitre works, a foundry, a shoe factory, and the sipsey cotton mills. after burning these he moved eastward across the state, destroying iron works, nitre factories, depots, and cotton factories. before he reached georgia, croxton had destroyed nearly all the iron works and cotton factories that had been missed by rousseau and wilson.[ ] destruction by the armies for three years north alabama was traversed by the contending armies. each burned and destroyed from military necessity and from malice. general wilson said that after two years of warfare the valley of the tennessee was absolutely destitute.[ ] from the spring of to the close of the war the federals marched to and fro in the valley. there were few confederate troops for its defence, and the federals held each community responsible for all attacks made within its vicinity. it became the custom to destroy property as a punishment of the people. much of the destruction was unnecessary from a military point of view.[ ] athens and smaller towns were sacked and burned, guntersville was shelled and burned; but the worst destruction was in the country, by raiding parties of federals and "tories," or "bushwhackers" dressed as union soldiers. huntsville, florence, decatur, athens, guntersville, and courtland, all suffered depredation, robbery, murder, arson, and rapine.[ ] the tories destroyed the railways, telegraph lines, and bridges, and as long as the confederates were in north alabama they had to guard all of these.[ ] along the tennessee river the gunboats landed parties to ravage the country in retaliation for confederate attacks. in the counties of lauderdale, franklin, morgan, lawrence, limestone, madison, and jackson nearly all property was destroyed.[ ] in , a member of congress from north alabama tried to get arms from bragg for the old men to defend the county against federal raiders, but failed, and wrote to davis that all civilized usages were being disregarded, women and children turned out and the houses burned, grain and provisions destroyed, women insulted and outraged, their money, jewellery, and clothing being stolen. in december, , general sherman ordered that all the forage and provisions in the country around bridgeport and bellefont "be collected and stored, and no compensation be allowed rebel owners." in april, , general clanton wrote to governor watts that the "yankees spared neither age, sex, nor condition." tories and deserters from the hills made frequent raids on the defenceless population. general dodge reported, may, , that his army had destroyed or carried off in one raid near town creek, "fifteen million bushels of corn, five hundred thousand pounds of bacon, quantities of wheat, rye, oats, and fodder, one thousand horses and mules, and an equal number of cattle, sheep, and hogs, besides thousands that the army consumed in three weeks; we also brought out fifteen hundred negroes, destroyed five tanyards and six flouring mills, and we left the country in such a devastated condition that no crop can be raised during the year;" and nothing was left that would in the least aid the confederates. on the night of his retreat dodge lit up the tennessee valley from town creek to tuscumbia with the flames of burning dwellings, granaries, stables, and fences. in june colonel cornyn reports that in a raid from corinth to florence he had destroyed cotton factories, tanyards, all the corn-cribs in sight, searched every house in florence, burned several residences, and carried off mules and horses.[ ] a few days later general stanley raided from tennessee to huntsville and carried off cattle and supplies, but did not lay waste the country. general buell did all that he could to restrain his subordinates, but often to no avail. after sherman took charge affairs grew steadily worse. in a remarkable letter giving his views in the matter he says: "the government of the united states has in north alabama any and all rights which they choose to enforce in war, to take their lives, their houses, their lands, their everything, because they cannot deny that war exists there, and war is simply power unrestrained by constitution or compact. if they want eternal warfare, well and good. we will accept the issue and dispossess them and put our friends in possession. to those who submit to the rightful law and authority all gentleness and forbearance, but to the petulant and persistent secessionists, why, death is mercy and the quicker he or she is disposed of the better. satan and the rebellious saint of heaven were allowed a continuance of existence in hell merely to swell their just punishment." he referred to the fact that in europe, whence the principles of war were derived, wars were between the armies, the people remaining practically neutral, so that their property remained unmolested. however, this present war was, he said, between peoples, and the invading army was entitled to all it could get from the people. he cited as a like instance the dispossessing of the people of north ireland during the reign of william and mary.[ ] after this no restraint on the plundering and persecution of confederate non-combatants was even attempted, and hundreds of families from north alabama "refugeed" to south alabama. general sherman wrote to one of his generals, "you may send notice to florence that if forrest invades tennessee from that direction, the town will be burned; and if it occurs, you will remove the inhabitants north of the ohio river and burn the town and tuscumbia also."[ ] all through this section fences were gone, fields grew up in bushes, and weeds, residences were destroyed, farm stock had disappeared. people who lived in the black belt report that wilson's raiders ate up all the cooked provisions wherever they went, taking all the meat, meal, and flour to their next camping-place, where they would often throw away wagon loads of provisions. frequently the meal and flour that could not be taken was strewn along the road. the mills were burned, and some families for three months after the close of the war lived on corn cracked in a mortar. all the horses and mules were taken; and only a few oxen were left to work the crops. governor parsons said that wilson's men were a week in destroying the property around selma. three weeks after, as parsons himself was a witness, it was with difficulty that one could travel from planterville to selma on account of the dead horses and mules. the night marches of the enemy in the black belt were lighted by the flames of burning houses. until this raid only the counties of north alabama had suffered.[ ] wilson had destroyed during this raid gunboats; , small arms and much artillery; iron works; foundries; machine shops; rolling mills; the university buildings; many county court-houses and public buildings; arsenals; a naval foundry and navy yard; steamboats; a powder magazine and mills; locomotives and cars; large railroad bridges and many smaller ones; , bales of cotton; much private property along the line of march, many magazines of stores; and had subsisted his army on the country.[ ] trowbridge, who passed through alabama in the fall of , said that wilson's route could be traced by burnt gin-houses dotting the way.[ ] three other armies marched through the state in , burning and destroying. the federals took horses and mules, cattle and hogs, corn and meat, gold and silver plate, jewellery, and other valuables. aged citizens were tortured by "bummers" to force them to tell of hidden treasure. some were swung up by the neck until nearly dead. straggling bands of federals committed depredations over the country. houses were searched, mattresses were cut to pieces, trunks, bureaus, wardrobes, and chests were broken open and their contents turned out. much furniture was broken and ruined. families of women and children were left without a meal, and many homes were burned. cattle and stock were wantonly killed. what could not be carried away was burned and destroyed.[ ] though two-thirds of the state was untouched by the enemy two months before the close of hostilities, yet when the surrender came. alabama was as thoroughly destroyed as georgia or south carolina in sherman's track. sec. . military organization alabama soldiers: numbers and character the exact number of confederate soldiers enlisted in alabama cannot be ascertained. the original records were lost or destroyed, and duplicates were never completed. there were on the rolls infantry regiments numbered from to , but the d and th were never organized. of the cavalry regiments, numbered from to , two organizations were numbered . there was one battalion of artillery, afterwards transferred to the regular service, and batteries. in alabama, as in the other southern states, local pride has placed the number of troops furnished at a very high figure. colonel w. h. fowler, superintendent of army records, who worked mainly in the army of northern virginia, estimated the total number of men from alabama at about , . governor parsons, in his inaugural proclamation, evidently following fowler's statistics, placed the number at , ,[ ] while colonel m. v. moore placed the number at , to , .[ ] general samuel cooper, adjutant and inspector-general of the confederate states army, estimated that not more than , men in the confederacy actually bore arms.[ ] this estimate would make the share of alabama even less than colonel moore estimated. the highest estimates have placed the number at , and , , but the correct figures are evidently somewhere between these extremes.[ ] the superintendent of the confederate bureau of conscription estimated that according to the census of there were in alabama, from to , , men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and of these, more than had been regularly exempted during the year , all former exemptions having been revoked by act of congress, february , .[ ] livermore's estimate,[ ] based on the census of , was: there were in alabama ( ) between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, , men, and in the entire confederacy there were , between the ages of thirteen and sixteen. of the latter, a rough estimate would place alabama's proportion about one-tenth of the whole, that is, about , . those men over forty-five who later became liable to military duty he estimates at , , that is, about in alabama. thus there were in alabama, in , not allowing for deaths, , persons who would become subject to military service unless exempted. livermore places the number of boys from ten to twelve years of age and of men from forty-seven to fifty, in the confederacy in , at , , or about , in alabama. these would become liable to service in the state militia before .[ ] in the governor stated that by october there had been , enlistments in the various organizations. several of these commands were enrolled for short terms of three months, six months, or one year. before november, , there had been , enlistments. included in this number were several thousand reënlistments and transfers. at the end of , when enlistment and reorganization had practically ceased, there had been , enlistments of all kinds from alabama.[ ] for two years troops were organized in alabama much faster than they could be supplied with arms. for months some of the new regiments waited for equipment. four thousand men at huntsville were in service several months before arms could be procured, and several infantry regiments were drilled as artillery for a year before muskets were to be had.[ ] before the close of , alabama had placed in the confederate service about all the men that could be sent. the organization of new regiments by original enlistment practically ceased with the fall of . in , only three regiments were thus organized, and two of these were composed of conscripts and men attracted by the special privileges offered.[ ] the other regiments, formed after the summer of , were made by consolidating smaller commands that were already in service. the few small regiments of reserves called out in and and given regular designations saw little or no service. those few who were made liable to service by the conscript law and who entered the army at all, as a rule went as volunteers and avoided the conscript camps. the strength of the alabama regiments came from central and south alabama, for the full military strength of north alabama could not be utilized on account of invasion by the enemy. at first there were many small commands--companies and battalions--which were raised in a short time and sent at once to the front before a regimental organization could be effected. later these were united to form regiments. nearly all the higher numbered infantry regiments and more than half of the cavalry regiments were formed in this way. the first regiments raised and the strongest in numbers were sent to virginia. to these went also the largest number of the recruits secured by the recruiting officers sent out by the regiments. on an average, about recruits or transfers were secured by each alabama regiment in virginia, though some had almost none. there were numbers of persons who obtained authority to raise new commands for service near their homes, and in order to fill the ranks of their regiments and companies they would offer special inducements of furloughs and home stations. the cavalry and artillery branches of the service were popular and secured many men needed in the infantry regiments.[ ] each commander of a separate company or battalion desired to raise his force to a regiment, and it was to the interest of the state to have as many organizations as possible in the field as its quota. a better show was thus made on paper. such conditions prevented the recruitment of old regiments, especially those in the armies that surrendered under johnston and taylor. consequently the regiments in the western army were, as a rule, much smaller than the ones in the army of northern virginia, to which recruits were sent instead of new regiments. in each infantry and cavalry regiment there were ten companies.[ ] the original strength of each company was from to . later the number was fixed at to the company for infantry, for cavalry, and in the artillery. after the formation of new commands had practically ceased, the number for each company of infantry was raised to men, in the artillery, and in the cavalry.[ ] the original strength of each infantry regiment was, therefore, from to , not including officers; of cavalry, to . a battery of artillery seems to have had any number from to , though usually the smaller number. the size of the regiments varied greatly. colonel fowler reported that to february , , , men had joined the alabama regiments in virginia, an average of men to the regiment. brewer gives the total enrolment of regiments in the army of northern virginia as , , an average of to the regiment.[ ] four of these regiments had an enrolment of less than ;[ ] so it is evident that the other , not given by brewer, must have averaged about to the regiment.[ ] these numbers include transfers, details, and reënlistments, the exact number of which it is impossible to ascertain. brewer lists the transfers and discharges from regiments at , an average of each, of which about one-third seem to have been transfers.[ ] there were also many reënlistments from disbanded organizations.[ ] both brewer and fowler count each enlistment as a different man and arrive at about the same results.[ ] the enrolment of alabama regiments in johnston's army, as given by brewer, amounted to , an average to the regiment of .[ ] it was the practice, in and , to unite two or more weaker regiments into one. no alabama regiments in virginia were so united, and of the in the western army, whose enrolment is given by brewer, only was afterward united with another.[ ] it would then seem that the enrolment of the strongest regiments is known.[ ] the total number of enlistments in the alabama commands in virginia was, according to fowler, about , , and these were in infantry regiments, and a few smaller commands. in the armies surrendered by johnston and taylor there were alabama infantry regiments, and of these had been consolidated on account of their small numbers. eight of them which remained separate and which must have been stronger than the ones united had enrolled an average of (according to brewer). thirty-eight regiments of this strength (which is probably too large an estimate) would give a total enrolment of , . this number, added to fowler's estimate of , in the army of northern virginia, will give , enlistments of all kinds, for the infantry arm of the service. add to this for the regiments of reserves called out in ,[ ] and the total is , enlistments in the infantry. there were cavalry regiments, of which, and possibly more, were formed by the consolidation of smaller commands already in service. the cavalry regiments did not enter the service as early as the infantry, only regiment being organized in . the original strength of each regiment, as has been said, was from to . all these regiments served in the commands surrendered by johnston and taylor, where recruits were scarce, so to the regiment is a very large estimate of total enrolment. however, this would give , in the cavalry regiments. of artillery, there were batteries and battalion of batteries, making batteries in all, with an enrolment ranging from to in each. a total enrolment of , or to each battery, would be a large estimate. fowler reported about enlistments in the various smaller commands from alabama in the army of northern virginia.[ ] an additional would more than account for all similar scattering commands in the other armies.[ ] the total enrolment may then be estimated:-- army of northern virginia (fowler report) , army of northern virginia, scattering (fowler report) , armies of the west--infantry (estimate) , armies of the west--cavalry , scattering , artillery , ------ , this total includes many transfers and reënlistments, which can be only roughly estimated. in the army of northern virginia resigned, were retired, were discharged, were transferred to other commands, and deserted or were unaccounted for. those who resigned--as a rule to accept higher positions--reëntered the service. almost all of those who retired or were discharged had to enter the reserves, and many of them again became liable to service. numbers of soldiers were accustomed to leave one command and go to another without any formality of transfer. deserters who were driven back to the army nearly always chose to enter other regiments than their own. there were numbers of transfers from the cavalry to the infantry, for each cavalryman had to furnish his own horse, and, should it be killed or die and the soldier be unable to secure another, he was sent to an infantry regiment. there were also smaller infantry organizations, which were mounted and merged into the cavalry regiments. half of the enlistments in the artillery came from the infantry. one regiment[ ] at one time lost men in this way, and it has been estimated that one-fifth of the alabama soldiers served in more than one command.[ ] counting each name on the rolls as one man, as brewer and fowler do,[ ] it is difficult to see how more than , enlistments can be counted, and from this total must be deducted several thousand for transfers and reënlistments. miller's estimate of a deduction of one-fifth for names counted twice would make the total number of different men about , , which is probably about the correct number. not only were the same names counted twice, and even oftener in different commands, but sometimes in the same companies and regiments they were counted more than once. it was to the interest of local and state authorities to have each enlistment counted as a different man, and this was invariably done.[ ] five of the early regiments were reorganized and reënlisted, and thus at least were added to the total enrolment without securing a single recruit. the three-year regiments reënlisted in ,[ ] and here again were extra thousands of enlistments to be added to the former total. there were also infantry regiments[ ] which were formed by the reorganization of former commands that had already been counted, and upon reënlistment for the war they were again counted. in this same way regiments at least of cavalry were formed.[ ] this way it is possible to count up a total enlistment from alabama of about , .[ ] there is no method which will even approximate correctness by which the total number of enlistments may be reduced to enlistments for a certain term, as three years or four years. the history of every enlistment must first be known. there were three lieutenant-generals who entered the service in command of alabama troops--john b. gordon, joseph wheeler,[ ] james longstreet[ ]; seven major-generals--h. d. clayton, jones m. withers,[ ] e. m. law, c. m. wilcox, john h. forney,[ ] w. w. allen, r. e. rodes[ ]; and thirty-six brigadier generals--tennent lomax,[ ] p. d. bowles,[ ] s. a. m. wood, e. a. o'neal, william h. forney, j. c. c. sanders,[ , ] i. w. garrott,[ ] archibald gracie,[ , ] b. d. fry, james cantey, j. t. holtzclaw, e. d. tracy,[ ] e. w. pettus, z. c. deas, g. d. johnston, c. m. shelly, y. m. moody, wm. f. perry, john t. morgan, m. h. hannon, alpheus baker, j. h. clanton, james hagan, p. d. roddy, john gregg,[ ] l. p. walker, d. leadbetter,[ , ] j. h. kelley,[ , ] j. gorgas, c. a. battle, john w. frazer, alex. w. campbell, thomas m. jones, m. j. bulger, john c. reid, james deshler.[ ] other alabamians exercised commands in the troops of other states, and several were staff officers of general rank. the naval commanders were semmes, randolph, and glassell, and a few subordinate officers.[ ] during the early months of a movement was started to enroll negroes as confederate soldiers, and a number of officers, among whom was john t. morgan, received permission to raise negro troops. the conference of governors at augusta in recommended the arming of slaves, but governor watts asked the alabama legislature to disapprove such a movement.[ ] an enthusiastic meeting of citizens, held in mobile, february , , declared that the war must be prosecuted "to victory or death," and that , negroes should be placed in the field.[ ] it was too late, however, for success. wilson, on his raid, picked up the confederate negro troops at selma, and took them with him.[ ] in , the "creoles" of mobile applied for permission to enlist in a body. they were mulattoes, but were free by the treaties with france in and with spain in , were property holders, often owning slaves, and were an orderly, respectable class, true to the south and anxious to fight for the confederacy. the secretary of war was not friendly to the proposal, but in november, , the legislature of alabama authorized their enlistment for the defence of mobile. a year later, at the urgent request of general maury, they were received into the confederate service as heavy artillery.[ ] the alabama troops in the confederate service made a notably good record. the flower of the alabama army served with lee in virginia, but nearly as good were the alabama troops in the western armies. brewer says they moved "high and haughty in the face of death." the regiments of reserves raised late in the war and stationed within the state were not very good. yet there were instances of regiments, with bad reputation when stationed near home, making splendid records when sent to the front. the spirit of the troops at the front was high to the last. in an alabama regiment reënlisted for the war, with the oath that they would "live on bread and go barefoot before they would leave the flag under which they had fought for three years."[ ] on the morning of april , , the sixtieth alabama (hilliard's legion), then about strong, captured a federal battery.[ ] fowler, in his report in , asserts that alabama sent more troops into the service than any other state; also that she sent more troops in proportion to her population than any other state. "i am certain too," he says, "that when general lee surrendered his army, the representation from alabama on the field that day was inferior to no other southern state in numbers, and surely not in gallantry."[ ] union troops from alabama to the union army alabama furnished about regular enlistments. of these were white men. it is not likely that there were many more, since in there were in alabama only persons, northerners, negroes, and all, drawing pensions, and some of these on account of the indian and mexican wars.[ ] the white union troops served in the first alabama union cavalry, in the first alabama and tennessee cavalry (the first vedette), kennamer's scouts (cavalry), and in northern regiments--principally those from indiana. the report of the secretary of war for - says that no white regiments were regularly enlisted in alabama for the union army. but this is evidently not correct, since the report for says that there were enlistments in alabama for various periods of service.[ ] of negro regiments in the union army, there were the first alabama volunteers, afterward known as the fifth united states colored infantry, the second alabama volunteers (negroes), and the first alabama colored artillery, afterward known as the sixth united states heavy artillery, which served at fort pillow. late in general lorenzo thomas reported that he had recently organized three regiments of colored infantry in alabama, and wilson organized several other negro regiments in the state in . many negroes from north alabama went into various negro organizations, and were credited to the northern states, the official records showing only negro enlistments credited directly to alabama. a conservative estimate would be from to whites and , negroes enlisted in alabama, not counting those who were enrolled in the spring of .[ ] the white union soldiers from alabama were mostly poor men from the mountain counties of north alabama. the union troops from alabama received no bounty.[ ] the militia system the militia system of alabama in existed only in the statute books, and in the persons of a few brigadiers and a major-general, whose entire duty had consisted in wearing uniforms at the inauguration of a governor and ever thereafter bearing military titles. a series of arabic numbers, something more than a hundred, was assigned to the militia regiments that were unorganized, but which, under favorable circumstances, might be enrolled and called out. the county was the unit. to each county was assigned one regiment or more according to the white population. several counties formed a militia district under a brigadier-general, and over all was a major-general. bodies of trained volunteers were not connected with the militia system at all, but these went at once, on the outbreak of war, into the state army, which was soon merged into the confederate army. in theory the militia consisted of all the male citizens of alabama of military age. the enlistments for war service soon reduced the material from which militia regiments could be formed, and the system broke down before it was tried. a few regiments may have been enrolled in and , but if so, they at once entered the confederate service. the forty-eighth alabama militia regiment was ordered out to defend mobile in , and $ was appropriated to provide pikes and knives with which to arm them, as it was impossible to get firearms. on march , , governor shorter appealed to the people to give their shotguns, rifles, bowie-knives, pikes, powder, and lead to state agents, probate judges, sheriffs, and other state officials for the use of the state militia.[ ] a few days later he ordered out, for the defence of mobile and the coast, the militia from the river counties and the southwestern counties--eighteen counties in all. but the militia failed to appear. it seems that the governor expected a hearty response from the people. he asked for too much, and got nothing. on march , , he again ordered out the militia, this time specifying the regiments by number.[ ] but again the militia failed to respond. the fact was, there was no longer any militia; the officers and men had gone, or were preparing to go, into the confederate service. many of the militia regiments could not have mustered a dozen men, and it is doubtful if there was a muster-roll of a militia regiment in all alabama.[ ] in may, , the governor, recognizing that the militia system was worthless as a means of raising troops for home defence, issued a proclamation asking the people to form volunteer organizations. the response, as he said, "was not prompt." the legislature of that year, not seeing the necessity, refused to reorganize the militia so as to give the governor any effective control. the people seem not to have been worried by any fear of invasion, and many thought that organization into militia companies was merely preliminary to entering the confederate service. some did not wish to go until they had to do so, others preferred to go at once to the confederate army. it appears that all persons, for various reasons, disliked militia service. december , , the governor issued a proclamation, in which, after mentioning the tardy response to his may proclamation and the failure of the legislature to reorganize the system, he again asked the people to volunteer in companies for home defence.[ ] he begged the people to drive those who were shirking service to their duty by the force of public scorn. he requested that business houses be closed early in order to give time for drill. the response to this was the same as to his previous proclamation. there was no longer any material for a militia organization. early in , and in some sections even before, the need began to be felt for a militia force to execute the laws. under the direction of the governor, small commands were organized here and there of those who were not likely to become subject to service in the confederate army. these were state and confederate officials, young boys, and sometimes old men. these organizations were later a source of constant conflict between the state authorities and the confederate enrolling officers, who wanted to take such commands bodily into the confederate service, and who usually did so with the full consent of most of the men and to the great indignation of the governor.[ ] in august, , the legislature finally passed a law to reorganize the militia system, or rather to establish a new system. by the law an official in each county, appointed by the governor, was to enroll as first-class militia all males under seventeen and over forty-five years of age, including all state and confederate civil officials, and those physically disqualified for service in the confederate army. the second class was to consist of those not in the first class, that is, of men between seventeen and forty-five years of age. but men of the second class were subject to enrolment by confederate conscript officers, and consisted of the few thousand who were specially exempted by the confederate authorities. those of the first class who wished to do so might enroll in the second class. the governor was given the usual power over the militia, but it was ordered that the first-class militia was not to go beyond the limits of the county to which it belonged.[ ] presumably the second class might be ordered beyond the county limits, but there were so few in their class that they were not organized. the first-class militia in each county was under a commandant of reserves, militia now being called reserves. he had the power to call it out to repel invasion and execute the laws. jealousy of confederate authority had caused the legislature to take legal means of making the militia worthless to the confederacy, and useful only for local defence and for executing the state laws in particular localities.[ ] still, the system seems to have been practically useless, and the governor continued to organize small irregular commands to execute the laws and to furnish military escorts to civil officials. as has been stated, such commands were highly approved of by the confederate enrolling officers, who eagerly persuaded them to join the confederate army, and thus called forth strong remonstrances from governor watts. the war department reasoned that a state could keep troops of war which were not subject to absorption in the confederate service, but that the militia were subject to the superior claims of the confederacy.[ ] february , , governor watts, in an address to the people, declared that a raid into the state was threatened and called upon young and old to volunteer for the defence of the state.[ ] the reserve system was now worthless. few of the regiments had more than fifty men, many had none, and the governor was powerless to use them beyond the limits of their respective counties. the state was at the mercy of any invading force, and rousseau's raid, through the heart of the state, showed the woful condition of affairs. on october , , the legislature passed an act which prohibited confederate army officers from commanding the reserves. it was again ordered that the first-class reserves should not serve beyond the limits of the county to which they belonged. at the same time, permission was granted to the harassed citizens of dale and henry counties to organize themselves to protect their homes, provided they did so under the direction of the commandant of the first-class militia. perhaps the legislature was afraid that, if left to themselves, they might cross the county line, or choose a confederate officer to lead them. in december, , when north alabama was almost entirely overrun by tories, deserters, and federals, the citizens of marion county were authorized to organize into squads and protect themselves.[ ] still the legislature refused to make an effective reorganization of the militia. when the spring campaign in began, governor watts appealed to the people to do what the legislature had failed to do. the first-class militia could not, he said, be ordered beyond the limits of their counties, and in three congressional districts in north alabama it had not been and, by law, could not be, organized. he estimated that , men were enrolled in the first-class militia, of whom were boys, and to the latter he made the appeal to defend the state. evidently the remaining , men were, in his estimation, not worth much as soldiers. however, he called upon all first-class militia to volunteer as second class.[ ] a few hundred responded to this appeal, and all of them who saw active service were with forrest in front of wilson. the various organizations mentioned in the war records, the junior reserves, senior reserves, mobile regiment, home guards, local defence corps,[ ] and others, were, except the reserves, volunteer organizations for local defence, and all that saw active service before , except the home guards, were absorbed into the confederate organization.[ ] the stupid conduct of the legislature during the last two years of the war in failing to provide for the defence of the state cannot be too strongly condemned. the final result would have been the same, but a strong force of militia would have enabled governor watts to execute the laws in all parts of the state, and to protect the families of loyal citizens from outrage by tories and deserters. sec. . conscription and exemption confederate enrolment laws in the spring of , the confederate congress passed the enrolment act, by which all white men between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five were made liable to military service at the call of the president, and those already in service were retained. the president was authorized to employ state officials to enroll the men made subject to duty, provided the governor of the state gave his consent; otherwise he was to employ confederate officials. the conscripts thus secured were to be assigned to the state commands already in the field until these organizations were recruited to their full strength. substitutes were allowed under such regulations as the secretary of war might prescribe.[ ] five days later, a law was passed exempting certain classes of persons from the operations of the enrolment act. these were: confederate and state officials, mail-carriers, ferrymen on post-office routes, pilots, telegraph operators, miners, printers, ministers, college professors, teachers with twenty pupils or more, teachers of the deaf, dumb, and blind, hospital attendants, one druggist to each drug store, and superintendents and operatives in cotton and wool factories.[ ] in the fall of , the enrolment law was extended to include all white men from thirty-five to forty-five years of age and all who lacked a few months of being eighteen years of age. they were to be enrolled for three years, the oldest, if not needed, being left until the last.[ ] at this time was begun the practice, which virtually amounted to exemption, of making special details from the army to perform certain kinds of skilled labor. the first details thus made were to manufacture shoes for the army.[ ] the list of those who might claim exemption, in addition to those named in the act of april , , was extended to include the following: state militia officers, state and confederate clerks in the civil service, railway employees who were not common laborers, steamboat employees, one editor and the necessary printers for each newspaper, those morally opposed to war, provided they furnished a substitute or paid $ into the treasury, physicians, professors, and teachers who had been engaged in the profession for two years or more, government artisans, mechanics, and other employees, contractors and their employees furnishing arms and supplies to the state or to the confederacy, factory owners, shoemakers, tanners, blacksmiths, wagon makers, millers, and engineers. the artisans and manufacturers were granted exemption from military service provided the products of their labor were sold at not more than seventy-five per cent profit above the cost of production. on every plantation where there were twenty or more negroes one white man was entitled to exemption as overseer.[ ] in the spring of mail contractors and drivers of post-coaches were exempted;[ ] and it was ordered that those exempted under the so-called "twenty-negro" law should pay $ into the confederate treasury; also, that such state officials as were exempted by the governor might be also exempted by the confederate authorities. the law permitting the hiring of substitutes by men liable to service was repealed on december , , and a few days later even those who had furnished substitutes were made subject to military duty.[ ] a law of february , ,[ ] provided that all soldiers between the ages of eighteen and forty-five should be retained in service during the war. those between the ages of seventeen and eighteen, and forty-five and fifty were called into service as a reserve force for the defence of the state. all exemptions were repealed except the following: ( ) the members of congress and of the state legislature, and such confederate and state officers as the president or the governors might certify to be necessary for the proper administration of government; ( ) ministers regularly employed, superintendents, attendants, and physicians of asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind, insane, and other public hospitals, one editor for each newspaper, public printers, one druggist for each drug store which had been two years in existence, all physicians who had practised seven years, teachers in colleges of at least two years' standing and in schools which had twenty pupils to each teacher; ( ) one overseer or agriculturist to each farm upon which were fifteen or more negroes, in case there was no other exempt on the plantation. the object was to leave one white man, and no more, on each plantation, and the owner or overseer was preferred. in return for such exemption, the exempt was bound by bond to deliver to the confederate authorities, for each slave on the plantation between the ages of sixteen and fifty, one hundred pounds of bacon or its equivalent in produce, which was paid for by the government at prices fixed by the impressment commissioners. in addition, the exempt was to sell his surplus produce at prices fixed by the commissioners. the secretary of war was authorized to make special details, under the above conditions, of overseers, farmers, or planters, if the public good demanded it; also ( ) to exempt the higher officials of railroads and not more than one employee for each mile of road; and ( ) mail carriers and drivers. the president was authorized to make details of old men for special service.[ ] by an act passed the same day free negroes from eighteen to fifty years of age were made liable to service with the army as teamsters. these acts of february , , were the last confederate legislation of importance in regard to conscription and exemption. during the year the confederate authorities devoted their energies to construing away all exemptions possible, and to absorbing the state reserve forces into the confederate army. policy of the state in regard to conscription to return to . the state legislature, when providing for the state army, authorized the governor to exempt from militia duty all railway, express, steamboat, and telegraph employees, but even the fire companies had to serve as militia.[ ] the operation of the enrolment law stripped the land of men of militia age, and on november , , the legislature ordered to duty on the public roads men from sixteen to eighteen years of age, and forty-five to fifty-five, and later all from sixteen to fifty as well as all male slaves and free negroes from fourteen to sixty years of age.[ ] militia officers between the ages of eighteen and forty-five were declared subject to the enrolment acts of congress,[ ] as were also justices of the peace, notaries public, and constables.[ ] yet, instead of making an effective organization of the militia, the legislature in proceeded to frame a law of exemptions patterned after that of the confederacy. it released from militia duty all persons over forty-five years of age, county treasurers, physicians of seven years' practice or who were in the public service, ministers, teachers of three years' standing, one blacksmith in each beat, the city police and fire companies, penitentiary guards, general administrators who had been in service five years, confederate agents, millers, railroad employees, steamboat officials, overseers, managers of foundries, salt makers who made as much as ten bushels a day and who sold it for not more than $ per bushel. besides, the governor could make special exemptions.[ ] in millers who charged not more than one-eighth for toll were exempted.[ ] it will be seen that in some respects the state laws go farther in exemption than the confederate laws, and thus were in conflict with them. but it must be remembered that the confederacy had already stripped the country of nearly all the able-bodied men who did not evade duty. to this time, however, there was no conflict between the state and confederate authorities in regard to conscription. an act was also passed providing for the reorganization of the penitentiary guards, and only those not subject to conscription were retained.[ ] a joint resolution of august , , called upon congress to decrease the list of exemptions, as many clerks and laborers were doing work that could be done by negroes. at the end of the year the legislature asked that the conscript law be strictly enforced by congress.[ ] on the part of the state rights people, there was much opposition to the enrolment or conscription laws on the ground that they were unconstitutional. several cases were brought before the state supreme court, and all were decided in favor of the constitutionality of the laws; furthermore, it was decided that the courts and judicial officers of the state had no jurisdiction on _habeas corpus_ to discharge from the custody of a confederate enrolling officer persons who had been conscripted under the law of congress.[ ] a test case was carried to the state supreme court, which decided that a person who had conscientious scruples against bearing arms might pay for a substitute in the state militia and claim exemption from state service, but if conscripted he was not exempted from the confederate service unless he belonged to the religious denominations specially exempted by the act of congress.[ ] the court also declared constitutional the confederate law which provided that when a substitute became subject to military duty his principal was thereby rendered liable to service.[ ] in the supreme court held that the state had a right to subject to militia service persons exempted by the confederate authorities as bonded agriculturists under the acts of february , , and that only those overseers were granted exemption from militia service under the act of congress in who at the time were not subject to militia duty, and not those exempted from confederate service by the later laws,[ ] and that the clause in the act of congress passed february , , repealing and revoking all exemptions, was constitutional.[ ] in other cases the court held that a person regularly enrolled and sworn into the confederate service could not raise any question, on _habeas corpus_, of his assignment to any particular command or duty,[ ] but that the state courts could discharge on _habeas corpus_ from confederate enrolling officers persons held as conscripts, who were exempted under confederate laws;[ ] that the confederacy might reassert its rights to the military service of a citizen who was enrolled as a conscript and, after producing a discharge for physical disability, had enlisted in the state militia service;[ ] and finally, that the right of the confederacy to the military service of a citizen was paramount to the right of the state.[ ] [illustration: the first confederate capitol. the state capitol, montgomery.] [illustration: montgomery residence of president davis.] [illustration: confederate monument, montgomery.] [illustration: the inauguration of jefferson davis. (from an old negative.)] during the year governor watts had much trouble with the confederate enrolling officers who insisted upon conscripting his volunteer and militia organizations, whether they were subject to duty under the laws or not. the authorities at richmond held that while a state might keep "troops of war" over which the confederacy could have no control, yet the state militia was subject to all the laws of congress. "troops of war," as the secretary of war explained, would be troops in active and permanent service,[ ] and hence virtually confederate troops. a state with troops of that description would be very willing to give them up to the confederacy to save expense. thus we find the legislature of alabama asking the president to receive and pay certain irregular organizations which had been used to support the conscript bureau.[ ] the legislature, now somewhat disaffected, showed its interest in the operations of the enrolling officers by an act providing that conscript officials who forced exempts into the confederate service should be liable to indictment and punishment by a fine of $ to $ and imprisonment of from six months to two years.[ ] it went a step further and nullified the laws of congress by declaring that state officials, civil and military, were not subject to conscription by the confederate authorities.[ ] effect of the enrolment laws few good soldiers were obtained by conscription,[ ] and the system, as it was organized in alabama,[ ] did more harm than good to the confederacy. the passage of the first law, however, had one good effect. during the winter of - , there had been a reaction from the enthusiastic war feeling of the previous summer. those who thought it would be only a matter of weeks to overrun the north now saw their mistake.[ ] many of the people still had no doubt that the north would be glad to make peace and end the war if the government at richmond were willing. numbers, therefore, saw no need of more fighting, and hence did not volunteer. thousands left the army and went home. a measure like the enrolment act was necessary to make the people realize the actual situation. upon the passage of the law all the loyal population liable to service made preparations to go to the front before being conscripted, which was deemed a disgrace, and the close of the year saw practically all of them in the army. those who entered after were boys and old men.[ ] many not subject to service volunteered, so that when the age limit was extended but few more were secured. great dissatisfaction was expressed among the people at the enrolment law. some thought that it was an attack upon the rights of the states, and the irritating manner in which it was enforced aroused, in some localities, intense popular indignation. conscription being considered disgraceful, many who would have been glad for various good reasons to remain at home a few months longer went at once into service to escape conscription. yet some loyal and honest citizens found it disastrous to leave their homes and business without definite arrangements for the safety and support of their families. such men suffered much annoyance from the enrolling officers, in spite of the fact that the law was intended for their protection. the conscript officials, often men of bad character, persecuted those who were easy to find, while neglecting the disloyal and refractory who might make trouble for them. in some sections such weak conduct came near resulting in local insurrections; this was especially the case in randolph county in .[ ] the effect of the law was rather to stop volunteering in the state organizations and reporting to camps of instructions, since all who did either were classed as conscripts. not wishing to bear the odium of being conscripted, many thousands in and went directly into the regular service.[ ] while the conscript law secured few, if any, good soldiers who would not have joined the army without it, it certainly served as a reminder to the people that all were needed, and as a stimulus to volunteering. three classes of people suffered from its operations: ( ) those rightfully exempted, who were constantly annoyed by the enrolling officers; ( ) those soon to become liable to service, who were not allowed to volunteer in organizations of their own choice; and ( ) "deadheads" and malcontents who did not intend to fight at all if they could keep from it. it was this last class that made nearly all the complaints about conscription, and it was they whom the enrolling officers left alone because they were so troublesome. the defects in the working of conscription are well set forth in a letter from a correspondent of president davis in december, . in this letter it was asserted that the conscript law had proven a failure in mississippi and alabama, since it had stopped the volunteering. governor shorter was reported to have said that the enforcement of it had been "a humbug and a farce." the writer declared that the enrolling officers chosen were frequently of bad character; that inefficient men were making attempts to secure "bomb-proof" offices in order to avoid service in the army; and that the exemption of slave owners by the "twenty-negro law" had a bad influence upon the poorer classes. he also declared that the system of substitutes was bad, for many men were on the hunt for substitutes, and others liable to duty were working to secure exemptions in order to serve as substitutes, while large numbers of men connected with the army managed in this way to keep away from the fighting. he was sure, he said, that there were too many hangers-on about the officers of high rank, and that it was believed that social position, wealth, and influence served to get young men good staff positions.[ ] another evil complained of was that "paroled" men scattered to their homes and never heard of their exchange. to a conscript officer whose duty it was to look after them they said that they were "paroled," and he passed them by. the officers were said to be entirely too lenient with the worthless people and too rigorous with the better classes.[ ] exemption from service after the passage of the enrolment laws, every man with excessive regard for the integrity of his person and for his comfort began to secure exemption from service. in north alabama men of little courage and patriotism lost confidence after the invasions of the federals, and resorted to every expedient to escape conscription. strange and terrible diseases were developed, and in all sections of the state health began to break down.[ ] it was the day of certificates,--for old age, rheumatism, fits, blindness, and various physical disabilities.[ ] various other pretexts were given for staying away from the army, while some men hid out in the woods. the governor asked the people to drive such persons to their duty.[ ] there was never so much skilled labor in the south as now. harness making, shoe making, charcoal burning, carpentering--all these and numerous other occupations supposed to be in support of the cause secured exemption. running a tanyard was a favorite way of escaping service. a pit was dug in the corner of the back yard, a few hides secured, carefully preserved, and never finished,--for more hides might not be available; then the tanner would be no longer exempt. there were purchasing agents, sub-purchasing agents, and sub-sub-agents, cattle drivers, tithe gatherers, agents of the nitre bureau, agents to examine political prisoners,[ ] and many other confederate and state agents of various kinds.[ ] the class left at home for the enrolling officers to contend with, especially after , was a source of weakness, not of strength, to the confederate cause. the best men had gone to the army, and these people formed the public. their opinion was public opinion, and with few exceptions the home stayers were a sorry lot. from them came the complaint about the favoritism toward the rich. the talk of a "rich man's war and a poor man's fight" originated with them, as well as the criticism of the "twenty-negro law." in the minds of the soldiers at the front there was no doubt that the slaveholder and the rich man were doing their full share.[ ] very few of the slaveholders and wealthy men tried to escape service; but when one did, he attracted more attention and called forth sterner denunciation than ten poor men in similar cases would have done. in fact, few able-bodied men tried to secure exemption under the "twenty-negro law." it would have been better for the confederacy if more planters had stayed at home to direct the production of supplies, and the fact was recognized in ,[ ] when a "fifteen-negro law" was passed by the congress, and other exemptions of planters and overseers were encouraged.[ ] there is no doubt that those who desired to remain quietly at home--to be neutral, so to speak--found it hard to evade the conscript officers. one of these declared that the enrolling officers "burned the woods and sifted the ashes for conscripts." another who had been caught in the sifting process deserted to the enemy at huntsville. he was asked, "do they conscript close over the river?" "hell, stranger, i should think they do; they take every man who has not been dead more than two days."[ ] but the "hill-billy" and "sand-mountain" conscripts were of no service when captured; there were not enough soldiers in the state to keep them in their regiments. the third alabama regiment of reserves ran away almost in a body. there were fifteen or twenty old men in each county as a supporting force to the conscript bureau, and they had old guns, some of which would not shoot, and ammunition that did not fit.[ ] thus the best men went into the army, many of them never to return, and a class of people the country could well have spared survived to assist a second time in the ruin of their country in the darker days of reconstruction. often the "fire-eating, die-in-the-last-ditch" radical of who remained at home "to take care of the ladies" became an exempt, a "bomb-proof" or a conscript officer, and later a "scalawag." some escaped war service by joining the various small independent and irregular commands formed for frontier service by those officers who found field duty too irksome. though these irregular bodies were, as we have seen, gradually absorbed by the regular organizations, yet during their day of strength they were most unpleasant defenders. the men sometimes joined in order to have more opportunity for license and plunder, and such were hated alike by friend and foe. another kind of irregular organization caused some trouble in another way. before the extension of the age limits to seventeen and fifty, the governor raised small commands of young boys to assist in the execution of the state laws, no other forces being available. later, when the confederate congress extended its laws to include these, the conscript officers tried to enroll them, but the governor objected. the officers complained that, in order to escape the odium of conscription, the young boys who were subject by law to duty in the reserves evaded that law by going at once into the army, or by joining some command for special duty. they were of the opinion that these boys should be sent to camps of instruction. the governor had ten companies of young men under eighteen years of age raised near talladega, and really mustered into the confederate service as irregular troops, before the law of february , , was passed. after the passage of the law, the enrolling officers wished to disband these companies and send the men to the reserves. watts was angered and sharply criticised the whole policy of conscription. he said that much harm was done by the method of the conscript officers; that it was nonsense to take men from the fields and put them in camps of instruction when there were no arms for them, and no active service was intended; they had better stay at home, drill once a week with volunteer organizations, and work the rest of the time; to assemble the farmers in camps for useless drill while the crops were being destroyed was "most egregious folly." the governor also attacked the policy of the bureau in refusing to allow the enrolment in the same companies of boys under eighteen and men over forty-five.[ ] in regard to the attempts to disband his small force of militia in active service, the governor used strong language. to seddon, the secretary of war, he wrote in may, : "it must not be forgotten that the states have some rights left, and that the right to troops in the time of war is guaranteed by the constitution. these rights, on the part of alabama, i am determined shall be respected. unless you order the commandant of conscripts to stop interfering with [certain volunteer companies] there will be a conflict between the confederate general [withers] and the state authorities."[ ] watts carried the day and the confederate authorities yielded. the enrolment law provided that state officials should be exempt from enrolment upon presenting a certificate from the governor stating that they were necessary to the proper administration of the government. in november, , governor watts complained to general withers, who commanded the confederate reserve forces in alabama, that the conscript officers had been enrolling by force state officials who held certificates from the governor and also from the commandant of conscripts, and, he added: "this state of things cannot long last without a conflict between the confederate and state authorities. i shall be compelled to protect my state officers with all the forces of the state at my command." the enrolling officers referred him to a decision of the secretary of war in the case of a state official in lowndes county,--that by the act of february , , all men between the ages of seventeen and fifty were taken at once into the confederate service, and that state officials elected later could not claim exemption. governor watts then wrote to seddon, "unless you interfere, there will be a conflict between the confederate and the state authorities." he denied the right of confederate officers to conscript state officials elected after february , : "i deny such right, and will resist it with all the forces of the state."[ ] the secretary of war replied by commending the confederate officers for the way in which they had done their duty, insisting that it was not a political nor a constitutional question, but one involving private rights, and that it should be left to the courts. this was receding from the confident ruling made in the case of the lowndes county man. there was no more dispute and it is to be presumed that the governor retained his officials.[ ] no wonder that colonel preston, the chief of the bureau of conscription, wrote to the secretary of war that, "from one end of the confederacy to the other every constituted authority, every officer, every man, and woman was engaged in opposing the enrolling officer in the execution of his duties."[ ] but these officers had only themselves to blame. they pursued a short-sighted, nagging policy, worrying those who were exempt--the state officials and the militia--because they were easy to reach, and neglecting the real conscript material.[ ] the work was known to be useless, and the whole system was irritating to the last degree to all who came in contact with it. it was useless because there was little good material for conscription, except in the frontier country where no authority could be exerted. during and practically nothing was done by the bureau in alabama, and at the end of the latter year, colonel e. d. blake, the superintendent of special registration, reported that there were , men in the state between the ages of seventeen and forty-five, and of these he estimated were under eighteen years of age, and hence, at that time, beyond the reach of the enrolling officers. more than [ ] were exempt under laws and orders. this left, he said, subject to enrolment. nowhere, in any of the estimates, are found allowances for those physically and mentally disqualified. the number then exempted in alabama by medical boards is unknown. in other states this number was sometimes more and sometimes less than the number exempted by law and by order. a year later, after all exemptions had been revoked, the number disqualified for physical disability by the examining boards amounted to . besides these there were the lame, the halt, the blind, and the insane, who were so clearly unfit for service that no enrolling officer ever brought them before the medical board. the between the ages of seventeen and eighteen, and also the between sixteen and seventeen, came under the enrolment law of february , , as also several thousand who were over forty-five. but it is certain that many of these, especially the younger ones, were already in the general service as volunteers. it is also certain that many hundreds of all ages who were liable to service escaped conscription, especially in north alabama. in a way, their places in the ranks were filled by those who did not become liable to enrolment until , or even not at all, but who volunteered nevertheless. from april, , to february, , there had been enrolled at the camps in alabama , men who had been classed in the reports as conscripts. this included all men who volunteered at the camps, all of military age that the officers could find or catch before they went into the volunteer service, details made as soon as enrolled, irregular commands formed before the men were liable to duty, and a few hundred genuine conscripts who had to be guarded to keep them from running away. it was reported that for two years not a recruit was sent by the bureau from alabama to the army of tennessee or to the army of northern virginia, but that the men were enrolled in the organizations of the state. this means that much of the enrolment of , was only nominal, and that this number included the regiments sent to the front from alabama in , after the passage of the enrolment act in april. eighteen regiments were organized in alabama after that date, in violation of the enrolment act, many of the men evading conscription, as the bureau reported, by going at once into the general service. the number who left in these regiments was estimated at more than , .[ ] there was not a single conscript regiment. it is possible to ascertain the number exempted by law and by order before . a report by colonel preston, dated april, , gives the number of exempts in alabama as to january, .[ ] a month later, all exemptions were revoked.[ ] in february, , a complete report places the total number exempted by law and order in alabama at , , of whom were exempted by medical boards. the state officials exempted numbered ,[ ] and confederate officials, ; ministers, ; editors, , and their employees, ; public printers, ; druggists, ; physicians, ; teachers, ; overseers and agriculturists, ; railway officials and employees, ; mail carriers and contractors, ; foreigners, ; agriculture details, ; pilots, telegraphers, shoemakers, tanners, and blacksmiths, ; government contractors, ; details of artisans and mechanics, ; details for government service (not specified), . there were men incapable of field service who were assigned to duty in the above details, chiefly in the conscript bureau, quartermaster's department, and commissariat.[ ] it is certain that many others were exempted by being detailed from service in the army. the list of those pardoned in and by president johnson shows many occupations not mentioned above. it is interesting to notice the fate of the conscript officers when captured by the federals. bradford hambrick was tried by a military commission in nashville, tennessee, in january, , charged with being a confederate conscript officer and with forcing "peaceable citizens of the united states" in madison county, alabama, to enter the confederate army. he was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor for one year, and to pay a fine of $ or serve an additional imprisonment of days.[ ] to sum up: the early enrolment laws served to stimulate enlistment; the later ones probably had no effect at all except to give the bureau something to do, and the law officers something on which to exercise their wits. the conscript service also served as an exemption board. it secured few, if any, enlistments that the state could not have secured, and certainly lost more than it gained by harassing the people. the laws were constantly violated by the state; this is proved by the enlistment of eighteen new regiments contrary to the law. it finally drove the state authorities into an attitude of nullification by its construction of the enrolment laws. neither the state nor the confederate government had an efficient machinery for securing enlistments. if there ever were laws regarded only in the breaking, the enrolment acts were such laws. the conscripts and exempts, like the deserters, tories, and peace society men, are important, not only because they so weakened the confederacy, but also because they formed the party that would have carried out, or at least begun, reconstruction according to the plans of lincoln and johnson as first proclaimed. many of these people became "scalawags" later, probably influenced to some extent by the scorn of their neighbors. sec. . tories and deserters in alabama opposition to the confederate government took two forms. one was the rebellious opposition of the so-called "unionists" or "tories," who later joined with the deserters from the army; the other was the legal or constitutional opposition of the old coöperation or anti-secession party, which maintained an unfriendly attitude toward the confederate administration, though the great majority of its members were loyal to the southern cause. from this second class arose a so-called "peace party," which desired to end the war on terms favorable to the south; and from this, in turn, when later it was known that such terms could not be secured, sprang the semi-treasonable secret order--the "peace society." in , the "tories" and the peace society began to work together. peculiar social and political conditions will in part account for the strength and growth of the opposition in two sections of the state far removed from each other--in north alabama and in southeast alabama. conditions in north alabama to the convention of forty-four members from north alabama were elected as coöperationists, that is, in favor of a union of the southern states, within the old union, for the purpose of securing their rights under the constitution or of securing safe secession. they professed to be afraid of separate state secession as likely to lead to disintegration and war. thirty-one of these coöperationists voted against the ordinance of secession, and twenty-four of them (mostly members from the northern hill counties) refused to sign the ordinance, though all expressed the intention to submit to the will of the majority, and to give the state their heartiest support. when war came all espoused the confederate cause.[ ] the coöperationist party as a whole supported the confederacy faithfully, though nearly always in a more or less disapproving spirit toward the administration, both state and confederate. north alabama differed from other portions of the state in many ways. there was no railroad connecting the country north of the mountains with the southern part of the state, and from the northern counties it was a journey of several days to reach the towns in central and south alabama. hence there was little intercourse between the people of the two sections, though the seat of government was in the central part of the state; even to-day the intimacy is not close. for years it had been a favorite scheme of alabama statesmen to build railroads and highways to connect more closely the two sections.[ ] geographically, this northern section of the state belonged to tennessee. the people were felt to be slightly different in character and sympathies from those of central and south alabama, and whatever one section favored in public matters was usually opposed by the other. even in the northern section the population was more or less divided. the people of the valley more closely resembled the west tennesseeans, the great majority of them being planters, having little in common with the small farmers of the hill and mountain country, who were like the east tennesseeans. of the latter the extreme element was the class commonly known as "mountain whites" or "sand-mountain" people. these were the people who gave so much trouble during the war, as "tories," and from whom the loyal southerners of north alabama suffered greatly when the country was stripped of its men for the armies. yet it can hardly be said that they exercised much influence on politics before the war. their only representative in the convention of was charles christopher sheets, who did not speak on the floor of the convention during the entire session. [illustration: disaffection, - ] on the part of all in the northern counties there was a strong desire for delay in secession, and they were angered at the action of the convention in not submitting the ordinance to a popular vote for ratification or rejection. many thought the course taken indicated a suspicion of them or fear of their action, and this they resented. their leaders in the convention expressed the belief that the ordinance would have easily obtained a majority if submitted to the popular vote.[ ] much of the opposition to the ordinance of secession was due to the vague sectional dislike between the two parts of the state. it was felt that the ordinance was a south alabama measure, and this was sufficient reason for opposition by the northern section. throughout the entire session a local sectional spirit dictated their course of obstruction.[ ] in january and february of , there was some talk among the discontented people of seceding from secession, of withdrawing the northern counties of alabama and uniting with the counties of east tennessee to form a new state, which should be called nick-a-jack, an indian name common in east tennessee.[ ] geographically, this proceeding would have been correct, since these two parts of the country are closely connected, the people were alike in character and sentiment, and the means of intercourse were better. the people of the valley and many others, however, had no sympathy with this scheme. lacking the support of the politicians and no leaders appearing, the plan was abandoned after the proclamation of lincoln, april , . had the war been deferred a few months, it is almost certain that the discontented element of the population would have taken positive steps to embarrass the administration; many believed that reconstruction would take place. only after four years of war was there after this any appreciable number of the people willing to listen again to such a proposition. in february, , jeremiah clemens wrote that yancey had been burned in effigy in limestone county (something that might have happened at any time between and ); that some discontent still existed among the people, but that this was daily growing weaker, and unless something were done to excite it afresh, it would soon die out.[ ] mr. john w. dubose, a keen observer from the cotton belt, travelled on horseback through the northern hill counties during the winter of and as a confederate recruiting officer. thus he came into close contact with all classes of people, eating at their tables, sleeping in their beds, and in conversation learning their opinions and sentiments on public matters. he saw no man, he says, who was not devoted to the confederacy. several of the first and best volunteer regiments came from this section of the state, and in these regiments there were whole companies of men none of whom owned a slave. in order to preserve this spirit of loyalty in those who had been opposed to the policy of secession, yancey and others, after the outbreak of the war, recommended a prompt invasion of the north.[ ] unionists, tories, and mossbacks before secession, the term "unionist" was applied to those who were opposed to secession and who wished to give the union a longer trial. they were mostly the old whigs, but many democrats were among them. then again the coöperationists, who wanted delay and coöperation among the states before secession, were called "unionists." in short, the term was applied to any one opposed to immediate secession. this fact deceived the people of the north, who believed that the opposition party in the south was unconditionally for the union, and that it would remain in allegiance to the union if secession were attempted. but after secession this "union" party disappeared. the "tories" were those who rebelled against the authority of the confederate states. some of them were true "unionists" or "loyalists," as they were called at the north. most of them were not. the "mossback," who according to popular belief hid himself in the woods until moss grew on his back, might or might not be a "tory." if he were hostile to the confederacy, he was a "tory"; if he was simply keeping out of the way of the enrolling officers, he was not a "tory," but a plain "mossback" or "conscript." when too closely pressed he would either become a "tory" or enter the confederate army, though he did not usually remain in it. the "deserter" was such from various reasons, and often became a "tory" as well; that is, he became hostile to the confederacy. often he was not hostile to the government, but was only hiding from service, and doing no other harm. the true "unionists" always claimed great numbers, even after the end of the war. the north listened to them and believed that old whigs, know-nothings, anti-secessionists, douglas democrats, bell and everett men, coöperationists--all were at heart "union" men. it was also claimed that the only real disunion element was the breckenridge democracy. such, however, was not the case. probably fewer of the old whig party than of any other were disloyal to the confederacy. so far as the "tory" or "loyalist" had any politics, he was probably a democrat, and the more prominent of them had been douglas democrats. the others were douglas and breckenridge democrats from the democratic stronghold--north alabama.[ ] very few, if any, bell and everett men were among them. the small lower class had no party affiliations worth mentioning. during the war, the terms "unionist" and "tories" were very elastic and covered a multitude of sins against the union, against the confederate states, and against local communities. with the exception of those who entered the federal army the "tories" were, in a way, traitors to both sides. north alabama was not so strongly opposed to secession as was east tennessee,[ ] nor were the alabama "unionists" or "loyalists," as they called themselves, "tories" as other people called them, of as good character as the "loyalists" of tennessee. the alabama tory was, as a rule, of the lowest class of the population, chiefly the "mountain whites" and the "sand-mountain" people, who were shut off from the world, a century behind the times, and who knew scarcely anything of the union or of the questions at issue. there was a certain social antipathy felt by them toward the lowland and valley people, whether in south or in north alabama, and a blind antagonism to the "nigger lord," as they called the slaveholder, wherever he was found. in this feeling the women were more bitter than the men. secluded and ignorant, they did not feel it their duty to support a cause in which they were not directly concerned, and most of them would have preferred to remain neutral during the entire war, as there was little for them to gain either way. as long as they did not have to leave their hills, they were quiet, but when the enrolling officers went after them, they became dangerous. to-day those people are represented by the makers of "moonshine" whiskey and those who shoot revenue officers. they were "moonshiners" then. colonel s. a. m. wood, who caught a band of thirty of these "tories," reported to general bragg, "they are the most miserable, ignorant, poor, ragged devils i ever saw."[ ] many of the "tories" became bushwhackers, preying impartially on friend and foe, and especially on the people of the rich tennessee valley.[ ] growth of disaffection the invasion of the tennessee valley had discouraging effects on the weaker element of the population, and caused many to take a rather degrading position in order to secure federal protection for themselves and their property. to call the tories and those who submitted and took the oath "unionists" would be honoring them too highly. little true "union" sentiment or true devotion to the united states existed except on the part of those who enlisted in the federal armies. in october, , c. c. clay, jr., wrote to the secretary of war at richmond that the federal invasion had resulted in open defiance of confederate authority on the part of some who believed that the confederacy was too weak to protect or punish. even loyal southerners were afraid to be active for fear of a return of the union troops. some had sold cotton to the federals during their occupation, bought it for them, acted as agents, spies, and informers; and now these men openly declared for the union and signed calls for union meetings. huntsville, mr. clay stated, was the centre of disaffection.[ ] but in april, , a northern cotton speculator reported that there were but few "true union men" at huntsville or in the vicinity.[ ] though not fully in sympathy with the secession movement, the majority of the people in the northern counties acquiesced in the action of the state, and many volunteers entered the army. until late in the war this district sent as many men in proportion to population as any other section, and the men made good soldiers. but with the opening of the tennessee and the passage of the conscription laws the mountaineers and the hill people became troublesome. to avoid conscription they hid themselves. their families, with their slender resources, were soon in want of the necessaries of life, which they began to obtain by raids on their more fortunate neighbors in the river valleys. a few entered the federal army. in july, , small parties came to decatur, in morgan county, from the mountains and joined the federal forces under the command of colonel streight. they told him of others who wished to enlist, so streight made an expedition to davis gap, in the mountains south of decatur, and secured recruits. these formed the nucleus of the first alabama union cavalry, of which george e. spencer of ohio, afterward notorious in alabama politics, was colonel. at this time c. c. sheets, who said that he had been in hiding, appeared and made a speech encouraging all to enlist. streight said that the "unionists" were poor people, often destitute. there were, he reported, about three "unionists" to one "secessionist" in parts of morgan, blount, st. clair, winston, walker, marion, taylor, and jefferson counties, and he thought two full regiments could be raised near decatur. though so few in numbers, the "secessionists" seem to have made it lively for the "unionists," for streight reported that the "unionists" were much persecuted by them and often had to hide themselves.[ ] the confederate commander at newberne, in greene county, reported (january, ) that in an adjoining county the "union" men were secretly organizing, that had met, elected officers, and gone into camp.[ ] a month later, lieutenant-commander phelps of the united states navy, after his river raid to florence ( ), reported that along the tennessee the "union" sentiment was strong, and that men, women, and children in crowds welcomed the boats. however, he adds that they were very guarded in their conversation. it may be that he mistook curiosity for "union" sentiment. another naval officer reported that the fall of fort donelson was beneficial to the union cause in north alabama. neither of these observers landed, and their observations were limited to the river banks.[ ] in june, , governor shorter said that much dissatisfaction existed in several of the northern counties,[ ] and in december, , that randolph county was defying the enforcement of the conscript law, and armed forces were releasing deserters from jail. colonel hannon was at length sent with a regiment and suppressed for a time the disloyal element.[ ] september , , general pillow reported to seddon that there were to , deserters and tory conscripts in the mountains of north alabama, as "vicious as copperheads."[ ] in april, , a civilian of influence and position wrote to general beauregard that the counties of north alabama were full of tories. during , he stated, a convention had been held in the corner of winston, fayette, and marion counties, in which the people had resolved to remain neutral. he believed that this meant that when the enemy appeared the so-called neutrals would join them, for they openly carried united states flags.[ ] a similar convention was held in north alabama (apparently in winston county) in the spring of . a staff officer reported to general beauregard (may, ) that in the counties of lawrence, blount, and winston, federal recruiting agents for mounted regiments carried on open correspondence with the disaffected citizens,[ ] apparently with little success, for although disaffection and hostility to the confederacy among the people of north alabama had continued for three years, and there was every opportunity for entering the federal army, yet the official statistics give the total number of enlistments and reënlistments of whites from alabama at .[ ] in deserters from the army began to gather in the more remote districts of the state. many of them had been enrolled under the conscript law, and had become dissatisfied. as the war went on the number of these deserters increased, until their presence in the state became a menace to government. after the confederate reverses in the summer of , great numbers of deserters and stragglers from all of the confederate armies east of the mississippi river and from the union armies collected among the hills, mountains, and ravines of north alabama. a large portion of them became outlaws of the worst character. in august, , the general assembly passed a law directing the state officials and the militia officers to assist the confederate enrolling officers in enforcing the conscript law, and in returning deserters to their commands. the state and county jails were offered as places to confine the deserters until they could be sent back to the army. to give food and shelter to deserters was declared a felony, and civilians were authorized to arrest them.[ ] the deserters and stragglers of north alabama were well armed and somewhat organized, and kept the people in terror. general pillow thought that the temporary suspension of the conscript law had made them bolder. eleven counties were infested with them. no man was safe in travelling along the roads, for murders, robberies, and burnings were common, and peaceable citizens were shot while at work in the fields. it was estimated that in july, , there were to , tories and deserters in the mountains of north alabama, and these banded themselves together to kill the officers sent to arrest them. it was impossible to keep a certain class of men in the army when they were encamped near their homes.[ ] even good soldiers, when so stationed, sometimes deserted. had these same men been in the army of northern virginia, they would have done their duty well. but here, near their home, many influences led them to desert. there was little fighting, and they could see no reason why they should be kept away from their suffering families. general pillow, in the fall of , forced several thousand deserters and stragglers from alabama, mississippi, and texas, who were in hiding in north alabama, to return to their commands. the legislature commended his work and asked that his jurisdiction be extended over a larger area, even over the whole confederacy.[ ] in april, , the ninth texas cavalry was sent against the "unionists" in marion county. the colonel reported that the number of tories had been greatly exaggerated, though the woods seemed to be swarming with deserters, and he learned that they had a secret organization.[ ] the deserters always infested the wildest and most remote parts of the country, and were found wherever disaffection toward the confederacy had appeared. the texans, who had no local attachments to interfere with their duty, drove back into the army several thousand "stragglers," as the better class of deserters were called.[ ] general polk reported (april, ) that in north alabama formidable bands were being organized for resistance to the government, and that hostility to the confederacy was openly proclaimed by them. he sent out detachments which forced more than a thousand men to leave the woods and hills and return to the army.[ ] when alabama soldiers were captured or deserted to the enemy, it was the custom of the federals to send them north of the ohio river, and to offer to enlist as many as possible in regiments to fight the indians in the west. some took advantage of the offer and thus avoided prison life. such men were called "galvanized yankees" and were hated by the loyal soldiers. early in , j. j. giers, a prominent tory, wrote general grant that if alabama deserters were permitted to remain near home their numbers would increase.[ ] outrages by tories and deserters the tory and the deserter often led squads of federal soldiers on expeditions of destruction and pillage. when possible, they would burn the county court-houses, jails, and other public buildings, with the books and records of the counties. sometimes disguised as union troops, they committed the worst outrages. on one occasion four men, dressed as soldiers, went to the house of an old man named wilson, three miles from florence, and searched it for money supposed to be hidden there. as the old man would tell them nothing, they stripped him to the waist, tied him face downward upon a table, tore leaves from a large bible, and, piling them on him, burned him to death. his nephew, unable to tell about the money, was shot and killed. a grandson was shot and wounded, and left for dead. the overseer, coming up, was shot and killed in spite of the appeals of his wife. senator r. m. patton had the wounded boy taken to florence, where the same band came the next night and demanded him. upon being refused, they fired repeatedly into the house until they were driven away. they then went to the house of a druggist, and, failing to find money, burned him as they had wilson. though fearfully burned, he survived. two of the band, natives of florence, were captured, court-martialled by the federal authorities, and hanged.[ ] twenty federals, or disguised tories, led by a tory from madison county, killed an old man, his son, a nephew and his son, and wounded a fifth person, who was then thrown into the tennessee river. when he caught the bush on the bank, he was beaten and shot until he turned loose. an enrolling officer was made to wade out into the river, and then was shot from the bank. an overseer who had hidden some stock was hanged. a confederate officer was robbed of several thousand dollars and driven from the country.[ ] the tories, who were often deserters from the armies, gathered in the hill country and watched for an opportunity to descend into the valley to rob, burn, and murder. one family had the following experience with federal troops or "unionists": on the first raid six mules, five horses, a wagon, and fifty-two negroes were taken; on the second, the remainder of the mules, a cart, the milch cows, some meat, and the cooking utensils. on the third the wagons were loaded with the last of the meat, and all of the sugar, coffee, molasses, flour, meal, and potatoes. the mother of the family told the officer in charge that they were taking away their only means of subsistence, and that the family would starve. "starve and be d--d," was the reply. then the buggy and the carriage harness and cushions were taken, and the carriage cut to pieces. the house was searched for money. closets and trunks were broken open, the offer of keys being refused. clothing and bedding, dishes, knives and forks were taken, and whatever could not be carried was broken. the "destroying angels," as they called themselves, then burned the gin-house and cotton press with one hundred and twenty-five bales of cotton, seven cribs of corn, stables, and stacks of fodder, a wagon, four negro cabins, the lumber room, $ worth of thread, axes, hoes, scythe-blades, and other plantation implements. they started to burn the dwelling house, but the woman pleaded that it was the only shelter for her children and herself. "you may thank your good fortune, madam, that we have left you and your d--d brats with your heads to be sheltered," answered one of the "destroying angels." then an officer galloped up, claimed to be much astonished, and ordered away the men.[ ] the tories or "unionists" of the mountains, instead of joining the federal army, formed bands of "destroying angels," "prowling brigades," etc., to prey upon their lowland neighbors. all the able-bodied loyal men were in the army, and there were no defenders. during the federal occupation these marauders harassed the country. when the confederates temporarily occupied the country, they tried to drive out the brigands, whence arose the "persecution of unionists" that we read about. thousands of confederate sympathizers were driven from their homes during the federal occupation in . when the union army retreated in , attempts at retaliation were made by those who had suffered, but this was strictly suppressed by the state and confederate authorities. an officer was dismissed for cruelty to "unionists," and the state troops destroyed a band of deserters and guerillas who were preying upon the "union" people in the mountain districts. marion, walker, and winston counties were especially infested with tories.[ ] in , when there were few confederate troops in north alabama, the tories were very troublesome in de kalb, marshall, marion, winston, walker, lawrence, and fayette counties, and the poor people were largely under their control. among the hills were deserters from both armies, and these, banded with the tory element, reduced the helpless poor whites to submission. these men were few in comparison with the total population, but most of the able-bodied loyal men were in the army, and the tories and deserters were almost unchecked.[ ] sometimes the confederate soldiers from north alabama would get furloughs, come home, and clear the country of tories, who had been terrorizing the people. short work was made of them when the soldiers found them. some were shot, others were hanged, and the remainder driven out of the country for a time.[ ] after their occupation of north alabama, the federal commanders were embarrassed by the violent clamorings of the "unionists" for revenge, and for superior privileges over the non-unionist population. material advantage and personal dislikes were too often the basic principles of their unionism. they were extremely vindictive, demanding that all confederate sympathizers be driven from the country. thus they made themselves a nuisance to the federal officers, and especially was this true of the small lowland tory element. subjugation, banishment, hanging, confiscation,--was the programme planned by the "loyalists." they wanted the country "pacified" and then turned over to themselves. though they claimed to be numerous, no instance is found where they proposed to do anything for themselves; they seemed to think that the sole duty of the united states army in alabama was to look after their interests. the northerners who had dealings with the "loyalist" did not like him, as he was a most unpleasant person, with a grievance which could not be righted to his satisfaction without giving rise to numerous other grievances. some qualifications of loyalty seem to have been: a certain mild disapproval of secession, a refusal to enlist in the confederate army or desertion after enlisting, hiding in the woods to avoid conscript officers. these qualifications, or any of them, the "loyalist" thought entitled him to the everlasting gratitude and protection of the united states. but a newspaper correspondent, who was on a sharp lookout for all signs of weakness in the confederacy, said: "you can tell the southern loyalists as far as you can see them. they all have black or yellow skins and kinky hair." sometimes, he added, there was a white "unionist," but this was rare, and the exceptions in any town in north alabama could be counted on the fingers of one hand.[ ] as long as the war lasted the lawless element fared well, and when peace should come they hoped for a division of the spoils.[ ] disaffection in south alabama so much for toryism in the northern part of the state. there were also manifestations of a disloyal spirit in the extreme inaccessible corner of the state next to florida and georgia, where the population of the sparsely settled country was almost entirely non-slave-holding. though most of the people were democrats, they were somewhat opposed to secession. delegates were elected, however, to the convention of , who voted for secession, and after the war began nearly or quite all of those who had opposed secession heartily supported the confederacy. if there were any "union" men, they kept very quiet, and for two years there was no trouble.[ ] but during the winter of - , numerous outrages were committed by outlaws who were called, indiscriminately, tories and deserters. much trouble was given by an organization called the first florida union cavalry, which for two years committed various outrages while on bushwhacking expeditions under the leadership of one joseph sanders. after being soundly beaten one night by the citizens of newton, in dale county, these marauders were less troublesome.[ ] the country near the gulf coast was infested with tories, deserters, and runaway slaves, concealed in caves, "tight-eyes,"[ ] canebrakes, swamps, and the thick woods of the sparsely settled country. in january, , governor shorter wrote to president davis that nearly all the loyal population of southeast alabama was in the army, and that the country was suffering from the outrages of tories and deserters. about the same time, colonel price "suppressed unionism and treason in henry county," though only one prisoner was reported as being taken.[ ] in august of the same year ( ) conditions had grown worse. general howell cobb reported that there was a disloyal feeling in southeast alabama, but that there was no way to reach the offenders, as they were guilty of no overt act, and therefore the military courts could not try them. to turn them over to the civil authorities in that district would secure only a farcical trial, and the justices of the peace, though assuming the highest jurisdiction, were ignorant, and there was little chance of conviction. at this time, governor shorter said that affairs in lower henry county were in bad condition; that the deserter element was strong and threatened the security of loyal people; and that the soldiers were afraid to leave their families.[ ] a judge could not hold court unless he had a military escort. during the next year matters grew worse in this section as well as in north alabama. some of the best soldiers felt compelled to go home, even without permission, to protect or to support their families; and in october, , the legislature recognized this condition of affairs, and asked the alabama soldiers, then absent without leave, to return to their duty under promise of lenient treatment.[ ] the worst depredations were committed during the winter of - , in the counties of dale, henry, and coffee. the loyal people in the thinly settled country were terrorized. the legislature, unable to protect them, authorized them to band themselves together in military form for protection against the outlaws. these bands of self-constituted "home guards," composed of boys and old men, captured numbers of the outlaws and straightway hanged them. desertions from the regiments raised in the white counties were often caused by denying to recruits or conscripts the privilege of choosing the command in which they should serve. others deserted because their families were exposed to tory depredations and federal raids, or were in want of the necessaries of life. these would have returned to the army after providing for their families had they been permitted to join other organizations and not subjected to punishment. assigned arbitrarily to commands in need of recruits, some became dissatisfied, and deserted. a deserter was an outlaw and found it impossible to remain neutral. hence many joined the bands of outlaws to pillage, and burn, and steal horses and cattle. others of better character joined the federals or became tories, that is, allied themselves with the original tories in order to work against the confederacy. numbers of these disaffected people had once been secessionists.[ ] prominent tories and deserters in view of the fact that the "unionists" were to play an important part in reconstruction, it will be of interest to examine the records of the most prominent tories and deserters. a few prominent men joined the federals during the course of the war, though none did so before the union army occupied the tennessee valley. only one of these tried to assume any leadership over the so-called unionists. this was william h. smith, who had come within a few votes of being elected to the confederate congress, and was later the first reconstruction governor. he went over to the enemy in , and did much toward securing the enlistment of the union soldiers from alabama. at the same time, a more important character, general jeremiah clemens,[ ] who had been in command of the militia of alabama with the rank of major-general, became disgruntled and went over to the enemy. in the secession convention, clemens had declared that he "walked deliberately into rebellion" and was prepared for all its consequences.[ ] he first opposed, then voted for, the ordinance of secession, and afterwards accepted the office of commander of the militia under the "republic of alabama." for a year clemens was loyal to the "rebellion," but in he had seen the light and wished to go to washington as the representative of north alabama to learn from president lincoln in what way the controversy might be ended. the washington administration, by that time, had little faith in any following he might have, and when clemens with john bell started to washington, stanton advised them to stay at home and use their influence for the union.[ ] george w. lane, also of madison county, was a prominent man who cast his lot with the federals. lane never recognized secession, and was an outspoken unionist from the beginning. he was appointed federal judge by lincoln and died in .[ ] in april, , clemens wrote to the confederate secretary of war that the acceptance of a united states judgeship by lane was treason, and that the "north alabama men would gladly hang him."[ ] general o. m. mitchell seemed to think that the negroes were the only "truly loyal," but he recommended in may, , that, when a military government should be established in alabama, george w. lane, the united states district judge appointed by lincoln, be appointed military governor. lane's faded united states flag still flew from the staff to which he had nailed it at the beginning of the war, and his appointment as governor, mitchell thought, would give the greatest satisfaction to huntsville and to all north alabama.[ ] two members of the convention of , besides clemens, deserted to the federals. these were c. c. sheets and d. p. lewis. like clemens, they were elected as coöperationists and opposed immediate secession, though all three voted for the resolution declaring that alabama would not submit to the rule of lincoln. sheets voted against secession and would not sign the ordinance. for a while he remained quietly at home and refused to enter the confederate army. at length he reappeared from his place of hiding and assisted in recruiting soldiers for the first alabama union cavalry. he was elected to the state legislature, but in was expelled for disloyalty. after some time in hiding, he was arrested, and imprisoned for treason. general thomas retaliated by arresting and holding as a hostage general mcdowell. sheets remained in prison until the end of the war.[ ] david p. lewis of madison county voted against secession but signed the ordinance, and was elected to the provisional congress by the convention, and in was appointed circuit judge by the governor. this position he held for a few months, and then deserted to the federals. during the remainder of the war he lived quietly at nashville.[ ] another prominent citizen of madison county, judge d. c. humphreys, joined the federals late in the war. humphreys had been in the confederate army and had resigned. he was arrested by general roddy on the charge of disloyalty. it is not known that he was ever tried or put into prison, but in january, , hon. c. c. clay, sr., and other prominent citizens of huntsville, of southern sympathies, all old men, were arrested and carried to prison in nashville as hostages for the safety of humphreys, who had been released by order of the confederate war department as soon as the rumor of his arrest reached richmond.[ ] in april, , general clanton, commanding in north alabama, sent governor watts a nashville paper in which jeremiah clemens, "the arch traitor," and that "crazy man," humphreys, figured as advisers to their fellow-citizens of alabama in recommending submission.[ ] there are indications that several such addresses were issued by clemens, humphreys, lane, and others from the safety of the federal lines, but the text of none of them has been found except those written and published when the war was nearly ended. of the men of position and influence who were found in the ranks of opposition to the confederate government after , judge lane is the only one whose course can command respect. he was faithful to the union from first to last, while the others were erratic persons who changed sides because of personal spites and disappointments. they had little or no influence over, and nothing in common with, the dissatisfied mountain people and the tories and deserters.[ ] numbers of the disaffected at the surrender the deserters came in in large numbers to be paroled. the reports of the federal generals who received the surrender of the confederate armies in the southwest show a surprisingly large number of confederates paroled. a large proportion of them were deserters, "mossbacks," and tories, who, hated by the confederate soldiers and fearing that the latter would seek revenge for their misdeeds during the war, felt that it would be some protection to take the oath, be paroled, and secure the certificate. then, they thought, the united states government would see to their safety. at the surrender of a confederate command in their vicinity, they flocked in from their retreats and were paroled as confederate soldiers. to show how large this element in mississippi and alabama was, when general dick taylor surrendered, may , , at meridian, mississippi, he had not more than real soldiers, or men under arms. it is possible, though not probable, that many were absent with leave. yet of the , soldiers paroled in the armies of the southwest[ ] about , of them were at meridian. many of these had never been in the army; some had served in both armies; none had been in either for a long time. for weeks they kept coming in at all points where a united states officer was stationed in order to be paroled. the soldiers were furious. the statistics show[ ] that strong confederate armies were surrendered in this section of the country, when, as a matter of fact, the governor of alabama had for two years been unable to secure sufficient military support to enforce the laws over more than half of the state.[ ] it is difficult to estimate the number of disaffected persons within the limits of the state. probably in southeast alabama there were in all, of tories and deserters, who at times were actively hostile to the confederate authorities, and who committed depredations on the loyal people, and or more would include the "mossbacks" and obstructionists, who were without the courage to do more than keep out of the army and talk sedition. in addition to the enlistments in the federal army credited to alabama, it is probable that several hundred more were enlisted in northern regiments. some of these were the confederate prisoners captured late in the war and enlisted as "galvanized yankees" in the united states regiments sent west to fight the indians. of deserters, tories, and "mossbacks" there could not have been less than or , in north alabama. of these, at least half were in active depredation all over the section. there were several thousand deserters from the alabama troops, most of them from north alabama and from commands stationed near their homes. at the beginning of the war there were probably no more than men who were wholly disaffected,[ ] and these only to the extent of desiring neutrality for themselves. on november , , the confederate "deserter book" showed that since april, , alabama soldiers had deserted or been absent without leave from the armies of the west and of northern virginia. of these were again in the ranks, leaving still to be accounted for men. there were many deserters in the hills of alabama from the commands from other states. after the fall of atlanta, the number of stragglers and deserters greatly increased, and late in it was estimated that of them were in the state, some in every county; there being no longer a force to drive them back to the army. for a year or more the force for this purpose had been very weak.[ ] much of the toryism and of the trouble resulting from it was due to the weak policy of the confederate authorities in dealing with discontent and in protecting the loyal people in exposed districts. many a man had to desert in order to protect his family from outlaws, and was then easily driven into toryism. there was a mild annoyance of the more peaceable tories by the confederate officials in the spasmodic attempts to enforce the conscription laws, but it amounted to very little. the loyal southern people suffered more from the depredations of the disaffected "union" people of north and southeast alabama than the latter suffered from all causes combined. the state and confederate authorities were very lenient--too much so--in their treatment of these people. there was no great need of a strong confederate force in north alabama, since only raids, not invasions in force, were to be feared; yet the governments--both state and confederate--were guilty of neglect in leaving so many of the people at the mercy of the outlaws when, as shown in several instances, two or three thousand good soldiers could march through the country and scatter the bands that infested it. assuming that the state had a right to demand obedience and support from its citizens, it was weak and reprehensible conduct on the part of the authorities to allow three or four thousand malcontents and outlaws to demoralize a third of the state. often the families of tories and "mossbacks" were supplied from the state and county stores for the destitute families of soldiers, while the men of such families were in the federal service or were hiding in the woods, caves, and ravines, or were plundering the families of loyal soldiers. not enough arrests were made, and too many were released. the majority of the troublesome class was of the kind who preferred to take no stand that incurred the fulfilment of obligations. in an emergency they would incline toward the stronger side. prompt and rigorous measures, similar to the policy of the united states in the middle west, stringently maintained, would have converted this source of weakness into a source of strength, or at least would have rendered it harmless. the military resources of that section of the state could then have been better developed, the helpless people protected, outlaws crushed, and there would have been peace after the war was ended.[ ] as it was, the animosities then aroused smouldered on until they flamed again in one phase of the ku klux movement.[ ] sec. . party politics and the peace movement political conditions, - when, by the passage of the ordinance of january , , the advocates of immediate secession had gained their end, the strong men of the victorious party, for the sake of harmony, stood aside, and intrusted much of the important work of organizing the new government to the defeated coöperationist party, who, to say the least, disapproved of the whole policy of the victors. the delegates chosen to the provisional congress were: r. h. walker of huntsville, a union whig, who had supported bell and everett and opposed secession; robert h. smith, a pronounced whig, who had supported bell and everett and opposed secession; colin j. mcrae of mobile, a commission merchant, a whig; john gill shorter of eufaula, who had held judicial office for nine years; william p. chilton of montgomery, for several years chief justice and before that an active whig; stephen f. hale of eutaw, a whig who supported bell and everett; david p. lewis of lawrence, an "unconditional unionist" who had opposed secession in the convention of , and who, in , deserted to the federals; dr. thomas fearn of huntsville, an old man, a union whig; and j. l. m. curry of talladega, the only consistent democrat of the delegation, the only one who had voted for breckenridge, and the only one with practical experience in public affairs. the delegation was strong in character, but weak in political ability and not energetic.[ ] the delegation elected to the first regular congress was more representative and more able. [illustration: civil war leaders. governor thomas h. watts. governor john gill shorter. governor andrew b. moore. bishop r. h. wilmer.] in august, , john gill shorter, a state rights democrat, was elected governor by a vote of , to , over thomas hill watts, also a state rights democrat, who had voted for secession, but who had formerly been a whig. watts was not a regular candidate since he had forbidden the use of his name in the canvass.[ ] for a time the people enthusiastically supported the administration. governor shorter's message of october , , to the legislature closed with the words: "we may well congratulate ourselves and return thanks that a timely action on our part has saved our liberties, preserved our independence, and given us, it is hoped, a perpetual separation from such a government. may we in all coming time stand separate from it, as if a wall of fire intervened."[ ] the legislature in declared that it was the imperative duty as well as the patriotic privilege of every citizen, forgetting past differences, to support the policy adopted and to maintain the independence assumed. to this cause the members of the general assembly pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.[ ] a year later the same body declared that mobile, then threatened by the enemy, must never be desecrated by the polluting tread of the abolitionist foe. it must never be surrendered, but must be defended from street to street, from house to house, and at last burned to the ground rather than surrendered.[ ] the same legislature, elected in when the war feeling was strong, stated in august, , that the war was unprovoked and unjust on the part of the united states government, which was conducting it in utter disregard of the principles which should control and regulate civilized warfare. they renewed the pledge never to submit to abolitionist rule. the people were urged not to be discouraged by the late reverses, nor to attribute their defeats to any want of courage or heroic self-sacrifice on the part of the armies. all the resources of the state were pledged to the cause of independence and perpetual separation from the united states. it was the paramount duty, the assembly declared, of every citizen to sustain and make effective the armies by encouraging enlistments, by furnishing supplies at low prices to the families of soldiers, and by upholding the credit of the confederate government. to enfeeble the springs of action by disheartening the people and the soldiers was to strike the most fatal blow at the very life of the confederacy.[ ] this resolution was called forth partly by the constant criticism that the "cross-roads" politicians and a few individuals of more importance were directing against the civil and military policy of the administration. the doughty warriors of the office and counter were sure that the "yankees" should have been whipped in ninety days. that the war was still going on was proof to them that those at the head of affairs were incompetent. these people had never before had so good an opportunity to talk and to be listened to. those to whom the people had been accustomed to look for guidance were no longer present to advise. they had marched away with the armies, and there were left at home as voters the old men, the exempts, the lame, the halt, and the blind, teachers, preachers, officials, "bomb-proofs," "feather beds"[ ]--all, in short, who were most unlikely to favor a vigorous war policy and who, if subject to service, wanted to keep out of the army. consequently, among the voting population at home, the war spirit was not as high in as it had been before so many of the best men enlisted in the army.[ ] the occupation of north alabama by the enemy, short crops in , and reverses in the field such as vicksburg and gettysburg, had a chilling effect on the spirit of those who had suffered or were likely to suffer. the conscription law was unpopular among those forced into the service; it was much more disliked by those who succeeded for a time in escaping conscription. these lived in constant fear that the time would come when they would be forced to their duty.[ ] further, the official class and the lawmakers were not up to the old standard of force and ability. the men who had the success of the cause most at heart usually felt it to be their duty to fight for it, if possible, leaving lawmaking and administration to others of more peaceable disposition. some of the latter were able men, but few were filled with the spirit that animated the soldier class. many of these unwarlike statesmen in the legislature and in congress thought it to be their especial duty to guard the liberties of the people against the encroachments of the military power. they would talk by the hour about state rights, but would allow a few thousand of the sovereign state's disloyal citizens to demoralize a dozen counties rather than consent to infringe the liberties of the people by making the militia system more effective to repress disorder. they succeeded in weakening the efforts of both state and confederate governments, and their well-meant arguments drawn from the works of jefferson were never remembered to their credit. one of the best of these men--judge dargan, a member of congress from mobile--seems to have had a very unhappy disposition, and he spent much of his time writing to the governor and to the president in regard to the critical state of the country and suggesting numberless plans for its salvation. among many things that were visionary he advanced some original schemes. in he proposed a plan for the gradual emancipation of slaves, later a plan for arming them, and suggested that blockade running be prohibited, as it was ruining the country.[ ] even while the tide of war feeling was at the flood there occurred instances of friction between the state and the confederate governments. in december, , the legislature complained of the continued use of the railroads by the confederate government, to the exclusion of private transportation. the railroads were built, it was stated, for free intercourse between the states, and, since the blockade had become effective, were more important than ever in the transportation of the necessaries of life.[ ] the legislature complained about the conduct of the confederate officers in the state, about impressment, taxation, and redemption of state bonds, the state's quota of troops for the confederate service, about arms and supplies purchased by the state, and about trade through the lines. suits were brought again and again in the state courts by the strict constructionists to test the constitutionality of the conscript laws and the law forbidding the hiring of substitutes. but the courts declared both laws constitutional.[ ] the lawmakers of the state were much more afraid of militarism than of the federal invasion or domestic disorder, and refused to organize the militia effectively.[ ] the military reverses in the summer of darkened the hopes of the people and chilled their waning enthusiasm, and the effect was shown in the elections of august. thomas h. watts, who had been defeated in , was elected governor by a vote of , to over john g. shorter, who had been governor for two years. watts had a strong personal following, which partly accounted for the large majority; but several thousand, at least, were dissatisfied in some way with the state or the confederate administration. jemison, a former coöperationist, took yancey's place in the confederate senate. j. l. m. curry was defeated for congress because he had strongly supported the administration. the delegation elected to the second congress was of a decidedly different temper from the delegation to the first congress. a large number of hitherto unknown men were elected to the legislature.[ ] at the close of the term of governor shorter, the new legislature passed resolutions indorsing his policy in regard to the conduct of the war and commending his wise and energetic administration.[ ] other resolutions were passed which would seem to indicate that the war feeling ran as high and strong as ever. in fact, it was only the voice of the majority, not of all, as before. there was a strong minority of malcontents who pursued a policy of obstruction and opposition to the measures of the administration and thereby weakened the power of the government. it was believed by many that watts, who had been a whig and a bell and everett elector, would be more conservative in regard to the prosecution of the war than was his predecessor. there were numbers of people in the state who believed or professed to believe that it was possible to end the war whenever president davis might choose to make peace with the enemy. others, who saw that peace with independence was impossible, were in favor of reconstruction, that is, of ending the war at once and returning to the old union, with no questions asked. they believed that the north would be ready to make peace and welcome the southern states back into the union on the old terms. these constituted only a small part of the population, but they had some influence in an obstructive way and were great talkers. any one who voted for watts from the belief that he would try to bring about peace was much mistaken in the man. it was reported that he was in favor of reconstruction. this he emphatically denied in a message to the legislature: "he who is now ... in favor of reconstruction with the states under lincoln's dominion, is a traitor in his heart to the state ... and deserves a traitor's doom.... rather than unite with such a people i would see the confederate states desolated with fire and sword.... let us prefer death to a life of cowardly shame."[ ] though watts was elected somewhat as a protest against the war party, he was in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war. however, at times, he had trouble with the confederate government, and we find him writing about "the tyranny of confederate officials," that "the state had some rights left," that "there will be a conflict between the confederate and state authorities unless the conscript officials cease to interfere with state volunteers and state officials."[ ] the governor was in favor of supporting the war, and recommended the repeal of some of the state laws obstructing confederate enlistments; he was willing for any state troops that were available to go to the aid of another state, and he desired to aid in returning deserters to the army; but he opposed the manner of execution of laws by the confederate government. he demanded for the state the right to engage in the blockade trade in order to secure necessaries. he also protested against the proposed policy of arming the slaves.[ ] during the year the legislature protested against the action of confederate conscript officers who insisted on enrolling certain state officials. it was ordered that the reserves, when called out for service, should not be put under the command of a confederate officer. the first-class reserves were not to leave their own counties. an act was passed to protect the people from "oppression by the illegal execution of the confederate impressment laws."[ ] confederate enrolling officers who forced exempt men into the army were made liable to punishment by heavy fine.[ ] an alabama newspaper, in the fall of , advocated a convention of the states in order to settle the questions at issue, to bring about peace, and to restore the union. such a proposition found supporters in the legislature. a resolution was introduced favoring reconstruction on the basis of the recent platform of the democratic party and mcclellan's letter of acceptance.[ ] the resolution was to this effect: if the democratic party is successful in , we are willing to open negotiations for peace on the basis indicated in the platform adopted by the convention; provided that our sister states of the confederacy are willing. a lengthy and heated discussion followed. the governor sent in a message asking "who would desire a political union with those who have murdered our sons, outraged our women, with demoniac malice wantonly destroyed our property, and now seek to make slaves of us!" it would cause civil war, he said, if the people at home attempted such a course. after the reading of the message and some further debate, both houses united in a declaration that extermination was preferable to reconstruction according to the _lincoln_ plan. the proposed resolution, the extended debate, the governor's message, all clearly indicate a strong desire on the part of some to end the war and return to the union.[ ] with the opening of conditions in alabama were not favorable to the war party: the old coöperationists, with other malcontents, were charging the davis administration with every political crime; the state administration was disorganized in half the counties; deserters and stragglers were scattered throughout the state; and many of the state and county officials were disaffected. those who were in favor of war were in the armies. had the war continued until the august election, there is no doubt that an administration would have been elected which would have refused further support to the confederacy. had it not been for fear of the soldier element, the malcontents at home could have controlled affairs in the fall of . for a year there had been indications that the discontented were thinking of a _coup d'état_ and an immediate close of the war. the formation of secret societies pledged to bring about peace was a sign of formidable discontent. the peace society it was after the reverses of that the enthusiasm of the people for the war very perceptibly declined. for the first time, many felt that perhaps after all their cause would not win, and that the horrors of war might be brought home to them by hostile invasion of their country. public opinion was more or less despondent. there was a searching for scapegoats and a more pronounced hostility to the administration. the "cross-roads" statesmen were sure that a different policy under another leader would have been crowned with success, though what this policy should have been, perhaps no two would have agreed. this feeling was largely confined to the less well informed, but it was also found in a number of the old-time conservatives who would never believe that extreme measures were justifiable in any event, and who could never get over a feeling of horror at all that the democrats might do. if left alone, they thought, time would have brought all things right in the end. it was as painful to them to think that lincoln was marching armies over the fragments of the united states constitution, as that the davis administration was strangling state sovereignty in the confederate states. their minds never rose above the narrow legalism of their books. but they were few in numbers as compared with the more ignorant people (who were conscious only of dissatisfaction and suffering) who had willingly plunged into the war "to whip the yankees in ninety days," and who now thought that all that had to be done to bring peace was to signify to the north a willingness to stop fighting. this course, many thought, need not result in a loss of their independence. later they were minded to come back into the union on the old terms, and later still they were ready to make peace without conditions and return to the union. it seems never to have occurred to them that northern opinion had changed since , and that severe terms of readmission would be exacted. the hardest condition likely to be imposed, they thought, would be the gradual emancipation of the slaves. as a rule, they owned few slaves, but such a condition would probably have been considered harder by them than by the larger slaveholders who felt that slavery had come to an end, no matter how the struggle might result. this dissatisfaction culminated in the formation of numerous secret or semi-secret political organizations which sprang up over the state, and which together became generally known as the "peace society," though there were other designations. often these organizations were formed for purposes bordering on treason; often not so, but only for constitutional opposition to the administration. the extremes grew farther apart as the war progressed, until the constitutional wing withdrew or ceased to exist, and the other became, from the point of view of the government, wholly treasonable in its purposes. these organizations had several thousand members, at least half the active males left in the state. the work of the peace party was first felt in the august elections of . the governor, though a true and loyal man, was elected with the help of a disaffected party, and a disaffected element was elected to the legislature and to congress. six members of congress from alabama were said to be "unionists," that is, in favor of ending the war at once and returning to the union.[ ] a confederate official who had wide opportunities for observation reported that the district (talladega) in which he was stationed had been carried by the peace party under circumstances that indicated treasonable influence. unknown men were elected to the legislature and to other offices by a secret order which, he stated, had for its object the encouragement of desertion, the protection of deserters, and resistance to the conscription laws. some men of influence and position belonged to it, and the leaders were believed to be in communication with the enemy. the entire organization was not disloyal, but he feared that the controlling element was faithless. the election had been determined largely by the votes of stragglers and deserters and of paroled vicksburg soldiers who, it was found later, had been "contaminated" by contact with the western soldiers of grant's army.[ ] by this he evidently meant that the soldiers had been initiated into the "peace society." a few months later the "peace society" appeared among the soldiers of general clanton's brigade stationed at pollard, in conecuh county. some of the soldiers had served in the army of tennessee, and had there been initiated into this secret society. clanton, who was strongly disliked by general bragg and not loved by general polk, had much trouble with them because he asserted that the order appeared first in bragg's army and spread from thence. later developments showed that he was correct.[ ] it was in december, , that the operations of the order among the soldiers were exposed. a number of soldiers at pollard determined to lay down their arms on christmas day, as the only means of ending the war. these troops, for the most part, were lately recruited from the poorer classes of southwest alabama by a popular leader and had never seen active service. they were stationed near their homes and were exposed to home influences. upon them and their families the pressure of the war had been heavy.[ ] many of them were exempt from service but had joined because of clanton's personal popularity, because they feared that later they might become liable to service, and because they were promised special privileges in the way of furloughs and stations near their homes. to this unpromising material had been added conscripts and substitutes in whom the fires of patriotism burned low, and who entered the service very reluctantly. with them were a few veteran soldiers, and in command were veteran officers. a secret society was formed among the discontented, with all the usual accompaniment of signs, passwords, grips, oaths, and obligations. some bound themselves by solemn oaths never to fight the enemy, to desert, and to encourage desertion--all this in order to break down the confederacy. general maury, in command at mobile, concluded after investigation that the society had originated with the enemy and had entered the southern army at cumberland gap.[ ] in regard to the discontent among the soldiers, colonel swanson of the fifty-ninth and sixty-first alabama[ ] regiments (consolidated) stated that there was a general disposition on the part of the poorer classes, substitutes, and foreigners to accept terms and stop the war. they had nothing anyway, so there was nothing to fight for, they said. there was no general matured plan, and no leader, colonel swanson thought.[ ] major cunningham of the fifty-seventh alabama regiment[ ] reported that there had been considerable manifestation of revolutionary spirit on account of the tax-in-kind law and the impressment system, and that there was much reckless talk, even among good men, of protecting their families from the injustice of the government, even if they had to lay down their arms and go home.[ ] general clanton said that the society had existed in hilliard's legion and gracie's brigade, and that few men, he was sure, joined it for treasonable purposes.[ ] before the appointed time--christmas day--sixty or seventy members of the order mutinied and the whole design was exposed. seventy members were arrested and sent to mobile for trial by court-martial.[ ] there is no record of the action of the court. the purged regiments were then ordered to the front and obeyed without a single desertion. bolling hall's battalion, which was sent to the western army for having in it such a society, made a splendid record at chickamauga and in other battles, and came out of the chickamauga fight with eighty-two bullet-holes in its colors.[ ] during the summer and fall of and in the confederate officials in north alabama often reported that they had found certain traces of secret organizations which were hostile to the confederate government. the provost-marshal's department in obtained information of the existence of a secret society between the lines in alabama and tennessee, the object of which was to encourage desertion. confederate soldiers at home on furlough joined the organization and made known its object to the confederate authorities. the members were pledged not to assist the confederacy in any way, to encourage desertion of the north alabama soldiers, and to work for a revolution in the state government. stringent oaths were taken by the members, a code of signals, and passwords was used, and a well-organized society was formed. the bulk of the membership consisted of tories and deserters, with a few discontented confederates. their society gave information to the federals in north alabama and tennessee and had agents far within the confederate lines, organizing discontent. general clanton early in endeavored to break up the organization in north alabama and made a number of arrests, but failed to crush the order. in middle alabama, about the same time (the spring of ), the workings of a treasonable secret society were brought to light. colonel jefferson falkner of the eighth confederate infantry overheard a conversation between two malcontents and began to investigate. he found that in the central counties a secret society was working to break down the confederate government and bring about peace. the plans were not perfected, but some were in favor of returning to the union on the arkansas or sebastian platform,[ ] others wanted to send to washington and make terms, and still others were in favor of unconditional submission. as to methods, the malcontents meant to secure control of the state administration, either by revolution or by elections in the summer of , then they would negotiate with the united states and end the war. the society had agents in both the western army and the army of northern virginia, tampering with the soldiers and endeavoring to carry the organization into the federal army. the leaders in the movement hoped to organize into one party all who were discontented with the administration. if successful in this, they would be strong enough either to overthrow the state government, which was supported only by home guards, or by obstruction to force the state government to make peace. the oaths, passwords, and signals of this society were similar to those of the north alabama organization, with which it was in communication. conscript officers, county officials, medical boards, and members of the legislature were members of the order. if a deserter were arrested, some member released him; the members claimed that the society caused the loss of the battle of missionary ridge and the surrender at vicksburg. the strength of the so-called peace society lay in alabama, georgia, tennessee, and north carolina. the organizers were called eminents. they gave the "degree" to (that is, initiated) those whom they considered proper persons. no records were kept; the members did not know one another except by recognition through signals. they received directions from the eminents, who accommodated their instructions to the person initiated. an ignorant but loyal person was told that the object of the order was to secure a change of administration; the disloyal were told that the purpose was to encourage desertion and mutiny in the army, to injure loyal citizens, and to overthrow the state and confederate governments. owing to the non-intercourse between members there were many in the order who never knew the real objects of the leaders or eminents, who intended to use the organization to further their designs in . the swift collapse of the confederacy in the spring of anticipated the work of the secret societies. the anti-confederate element was, however, left somewhat organized through the work of the order.[ ] reconstruction sentiment besides the open obstruction of politicians, officials, and legislature, and the secret opposition of the peace societies, there was a third movement for reconstruction. this movement took place in that part of alabama held by the federal armies, and the reconstruction meetings were encouraged by the union army officers. the leaders were d. c. humphreys and jeremiah clemens, whose defection has been noted before. a more substantial element than the tories and deserters supported this movement--the dissatisfied property holders who were afraid of confiscation. several confederate officers were drawn into the movement later.[ ] early in , humphreys[ ] issued an elaborate address renouncing his errors. there was no hope, he told his fellow-citizens, that foreign powers would intervene. slavery as a permanent institution must be given up. law and order must be enforced and constitutional authority reëstablished. slavery was the cause of revolution, and as an institution was at an end. with slavery abolished, there was, therefore, no reason why the war should not end. the right to regulate the labor question would be secured to the state by the united states government. at present labor was destroyed, and in order to regulate labor, there must be peace. the address was printed and distributed throughout the state with the assistance of the federal officials. a number of the packages of these addresses was seized by some women and thrown into the tennessee river.[ ] jeremiah clemens, who had deserted in , issued an address to the people of the south advocating the election of lincoln as president.[ ] march , , a reconstruction meeting, thinly attended, was held in huntsville under the protection of the union troops. clemens presided. resolutions were passed denying the legality of secession because the ordinance had not been submitted to the people for their ratification or rejection. professions of devotion and loyalty to the united states were made by clemens, the late major-general of alabama militia and secessionist of .[ ] a week later the same party met again. no young men were present, for they were in the army. all were men over forty-five, concerned for their property. clemens spoke, denouncing the "twenty-negro" law. the gilchrist story was here originated by clemens and told for the first time. the story was that j. g. gilchrist of montgomery county went to the secretary of war, mr. walker, and urged him to begin hostilities by firing on fort sumter, saying, "you must sprinkle blood in the face of the people of alabama or the state will be back into the union within ten days." in closing, clemens said, "thank god, there is now no prospect of the confederacy succeeding." d. c. humphreys then proposed his plan: slavery was dead, but by submitting to federal authority gradual emancipation could be secured, and also such guarantees as to the future status of the negro as would relieve the people from social, economic, and political dangers. he expressed entire confidence in the conservatism of the northern people, and asserted that if only the ordinance of secession were revoked, the southern people would have as long a time as they pleased to get rid of the institution of slavery. in case of return to the union the people would have political coöperation to enable them to secure control of negro labor. "there is really no difference, in my opinion," he said, "whether we hold them as slaves or obtain their labor by some other method. of course, we prefer the old method. but that is not the question." he announced the defection from the confederacy of vice-president stephens, and bitterly denounced ben butler, davis, and slidell, to whose intrigues he attributed the present troubles. resolutions were proposed by him and adopted, acknowledging the hopelessness of secession and advising a return to the union. longer war, it was declared, would be dangerous to the liberties of the people, and the restoration of civil government was necessary. the governor was asked to call a convention for the purpose of reuniting alabama to the union. it was not expected, it was stated, that the governor would do this; but his refusal would be an excuse for the independent action of north alabama and a movement toward setting up a new state government. busteed could then come down and hold a "bloody assize, trying traitors and bushwhackers."[ ] in the early winter of - , the northern newspaper correspondents in the south[ ] began to write of the organization of a strong peace party called the "state rights party," in georgia, alabama, and mississippi. the leaders were in communication with the washington authorities. they claimed that each state had the right to negotiate for itself terms of reconstruction. the plan was to secure control of the state administration and then apply for readmission to the union. the destruction of hood's army removed the fear of the soldier element. several thousand of hood's suffering and dispirited soldiers took the oath of allegiance to the united states, or dispersed to their homes. early in peace meetings were held in georgia, alabama, and mississippi, within the confederate lines; commissioners were sent to washington; and the tories and deserters organized. a delegation waited on governor watts to ask him to negotiate for the return of the state to the union, but did not get, nor did they expect, a favorable answer from him. the peace party expected to gain the august elections and elect as governor j. c. bradley of huntsville, or m. j. bulger of tallapoosa.[ ] the plan, then, was not to wait for the inauguration in november, but to have the newly elected administration take charge at once. it was continually reported that general p. d. roddy was to head the movement.[ ] there is no doubt that during the winter of - some kind of negotiation was going on with the federal authorities. j. j. giers, who was a brother-in-law of state senator patton,[ ] was in constant communication with general grant. in one of his reports to grant he stated that roddy and another confederate general had sent major mcgaughey, roddy's brother-in-law, to meet giers near moulton, in lawrence county, to learn what terms could be obtained for the readmission of alabama. major mcgaughey said that the people considered that affairs were hopeless and wanted peace. if the terms were favorable, steps would be taken to induce governor watts to accept them. if watts should refuse, a civil and military movement would be begun to organize a state government for alabama which would include three-fourths of the state. the plan, it was stated, was indorsed by the leading public men. the peace leaders wanted grant, or the washington administration, to announce at once a policy of gradual emancipation in order to reassure those afraid of outright abolition, and to "disintegrate the rebel soldiery" of north alabama, which they said was never strongly devoted to the confederacy. it was asserted that all the counties north of the cotton belt and those in the southeast were ready for a movement toward reconstruction. giers stated that approaches were then being made to governor watts. andrew johnson, the newly elected vice-president, vouched for the good character of giers.[ ] ten days later giers wrote grant that on account of the rumors of the submission of various confederate generals he had caused to be published a contradiction of the report of the agreement with the confederate leaders. he further stated that one of roddy's officers, lieutenant w. alexander, had released a number of federal prisoners without parole or exchange, according to agreement.[ ] in several instances, in the spring of , subordinate confederate commanders proposed a truce, and after lee's surrender and wilson's raid this was a general practice. during the months of april and may, there was a combined movement of citizens and soldiers in a number of counties in north alabama to reorganize civil government according to a plan furnished by general thomas, giers being the intermediary.[ ] on may general steele of the second army of invasion was informed at montgomery by j. j. seibels, l. e. parsons, and j. c. bradley--all well-known obstructionists--that two-thirds of the people of alabama would take up arms to put down the "rebels."[ ] colonel seibels alone of that gallant company had ever taken up arms for any cause. the other two and their kind may have been, and doubtless often were, warlike in their conversation, but they never drew steel to support their convictions. it is quite likely that the strength of the disaffection, especially in north and east alabama, was exaggerated by the reports of both union and confederate authorities. there never had been during the war much loyalty, in the proper sense of the word, to the united states. there was much pure indifference on the part of some people who desired the strongest side to win as soon as possible and leave them in safety. there was much discontent on the part of others who had supported the confederacy for a while, but who, for various reasons, had fallen away from the cause and now wanted peace and reunion. there was a very large element of outright lawlessness in the opposition to the confederate government. the lowest class of men on both sides or of no side united to plunder that defenceless land between the two armies. this class wanted no peace, for on disorder they thrived. for years after the war ended they gave trouble to federal and state authorities. the discontent was actively manifested by civilians, deserters, "mossbacks," "bomb-proofs," and "feather beds." these had never strongly supported the confederacy. it was largely a timid, stay-at-home crowd, with a few able but erratic leaders. the soldiers may have been dissatisfied,--many of them were,--and many of them left the army in the spring of to go home and plant crops for the relief of their suffering families. many of them in the dark days after nashville and franklin took the oath of allegiance and went home, sure that the war was ended and the cause was lost. yet these were not the ones found in such organizations as the peace society. that was largely made up of people whom the true soldier despised as worthless. there were few soldiers in the peace movement and these only at the last. the peace party, however, was strong in one way. all were voters and, being at home, could vote. the soldiers in the army had no voice in the elections. the malcontents, had they possessed courage and good leaders, could have controlled the state after the summer of . the able men in the movement were not those who inspired confidence in their followers. there were no troops in the state to keep them down, and the only check seems to have been their fear of the soldiers, who were fighting at the front, in the armies of lee and johnston, of wheeler and hood and taylor. they were certainly afraid of the vengeance of these soldiers.[ ] it was much better that the war resulted in the complete destruction of the southern cause, leaving no questions for future controversy, such as would have arisen had the peace party succeeded in its plans. chapter iv economic and social conditions sec. . industrial development during the war early in the war the blockade of the southern ports became so effective that the southern states were shut off from their usual sources of supply by sea. trade through the lines between the united states and the confederate states was forbidden, and alabama, owing to its central location, suffered more from the blockade than any other state. for three years the federal lines touched the northern part of the state only, and, as no railroads connected north and south alabama, contraband trade was difficult in that direction. mobile, the only port of the state, was closely blockaded by a strong federal fleet. the railroad communications with other states were poor, and the confederate government usually kept the railroads busy in the public service. consequently, the people of alabama were forced to develop certain industries in order to secure the necessaries of life. but outside these the industrial development was naturally in the direction of the production of materials of war. military industries during the first two years of the war volunteers were much more plentiful than equipment. the arms seized at mount vernon and other arsenals in alabama were old flint-locks altered for the use of percussion caps and were almost worthless, being valued at $ apiece. these were afterwards transferred to the confederate states, which returned but few of them to arm the alabama troops.[ ] late in a few thousand old muskets were purchased by the state from the arsenal at baton rouge, louisiana, for $ . each. a few mississippi rifles were also secured, and with these the second alabama infantry was armed. these rifles, however, required a special kind of ammunition, and this made them almost worthless. other arms were found to be useless for the same reason. both cavalry and infantry regiments went to the front armed with single and double barrelled shot-guns, squirrel rifles, muskets, flint-locks, and old pistols. no ammunition could be supplied for such a miscellaneous collection. many regiments had to wait for months before arms could be obtained. before october, , several thousand men had left alabama unarmed, and several thousand more, also unarmed, were left waiting in the state camps.[ ] in the state legislature bought a thousand pikes and a hundred bowie-knives to arm the forty-eighth militia regiment, which was defending mobile. the sum of $ , was appropriated to lend to those who would manufacture firearms for the government.[ ] in the confederate congress authorized the enlistment of companies armed with pikes who should take the places of men armed with firearms when the latter were dead or absent.[ ] private arms--muskets, rifles, pistols, shot-guns, carbines--were called for and purchased from the owners when not donated.[ ] an offer was made to advance fifty per cent of the amount necessary to set up machinery for the manufacture of small arms.[ ] old spanish flint-lock muskets were brought in from cuba through the blockade, altered, and placed in the hands of the troops.[ ] [illustration: industrial development - ] in a small-arms factory was established at tallassee which employed men and turned out about carbines a week. at the end of it had produced only .[ ] at montgomery the alabama arms manufacturing company had the best machinery in the confederacy for making enfield rifles. at selma were the state and confederate arsenals, a navy-yard, and naval foundry with machinery of english make, of the newest and most complete pattern. it had been brought through the blockade from europe and set up at selma because that seemed to be a place safe from invasion and from the raids of the enemy. here the vessels for the defence of mobile were built, heavy ordnance was cast, with shot and shell, and plating for men-of-war. the armored ram _tennessee_, famous in the fight in mobile bay, the gunboats _morgan_, _selma_, and _gaines_ were all built at the selma navy-yard--guns, armor, and everything being manufactured on the spot. when the _tennessee_ surrendered, after a terrible battle, its armor had not been penetrated by a single shot or shell. the best cannon in america were cast at the works in selma. the naval foundry employed men, the other works as many more. half the cannon and two-thirds of the fixed ammunition used during the last two years of the war were made at these foundries and factories. the foundry destroyed by wilson was pronounced by experts to be the best in existence. it could turn out at short notice a fifteen-inch brooks or a mountain howitzer. swords, rifles, muskets, pistols, caps, were manufactured in great quantities. there were more than a hundred buildings, which covered fifty acres; and after wilson's destructive work, truman, the war correspondent, said that they presented the greatest mass of ruins he had ever seen.[ ] there was a navy-yard on the tombigbee, in clarke county, near the sunflower bend. several small vessels had been completed and several war vessels, probably gunboats, were in process of construction here when the war ended; both vessels and machinery were destroyed by order of the confederate authorities.[ ] gunpowder was scarce throughout the war, and nitre or saltpetre, its principal ingredient, was not to be purchased from abroad. a powder mill was established at cahaba,[ ] but the ingredients were lacking. charcoal for gunpowder was made from willow, dogwood, and similar woods. the nitre on hand was soon exhausted, and it was sought for in the caves of the limestone region of alabama and tennessee. in north alabama there were many of these large caves. the earth in them was dug up and put in hoppers and water poured over it to leach out the nitre. the lye was caught (just as for making soft soap from lye ashes), boiled down, and then dried in the sunshine.[ ] the earth in cellars and under old houses was scraped up and leached for the nitre in it. in a corps of officers under the title of the nitre and mining bureau[ ] was organized by the war department to work the nitre caves of north alabama which lay in the doubtful region between the union and the confederate lines, and which were often raided by the enemy. the men were subjected to military discipline and were under the absolute command of the superintendent, who often called them out to repulse federal raiders. as much as possible in this department, as in the others, exempts and negroes were used for laborers. for clerical work those disabled for active service were appointed, and instructions were issued that employment should be given to needy refugee women.[ ] these important nitre works were repeatedly destroyed by the federals, who killed or captured many of the employees.[ ] in the district of upper alabama, under the command of captain william gabbitt, whose headquarters were at blue mountain (now anniston), most of the work was done in the limestone caves of the mountain region.[ ] several hundred men--whites and negroes--were employed in extracting the nitre from the cave earth. to the end of september, , this district had produced , pounds of nitre at a cost of $ , . , war prices.[ ] the supply from the caves proved insufficient, and artificial nitre beds or nitraries were prepared in the cities of south and central alabama. it was necessary to have them near large towns, in order to obtain a plentiful supply of animal matter and potash, and the necessary labor. efforts were also made to induce planters in marl or limestone counties to work plantation earth.[ ] under the supervision of professor w. h. c. price, nitraries were established at selma, mobile, talladega, tuscaloosa, and montgomery. negro labor was used almost entirely, each negro having charge of one small nitre bed. to october, , the nitraries of south alabama produced , pounds at a cost of $ , . , which was somewhat cheaper than the nitre from the caves. from these nitraries better results were obtained than from the french, swedish, and russian nitraries which served as models. the confederate nitre beds were from sixteen to twenty-seven months old in october, , and hence not at their best producing stage. yet, allowing for the difference in age, they gave better results, as they produced from . to . ounces of nitre per cubic foot, while the average european nitraries at four years of age gave ounces per cubic foot. earth from under old houses and from cellars produced from to ounces to the cubic foot. nitre caves produced from to ounces per cubic foot. most of the nitre thus obtained was made into powder at the mills in selma. there were some private manufacturers of nitre, and to encourage these the confederate congress authorized the advance to makers of fifty per cent of the cost of the necessary machinery.[ ] the state legislature appropriated $ , to encourage the manufacture and preparation of powder, saltpetre (nitre), sulphur, and lead. little of the last article was found in alabama.[ ] some of the powder works were in operation as early as , and in that year the war department gave dr. ullman of tallapoosa a contract to supply to pounds of sulphur a day.[ ] the confederate nitre and mining bureau had charge of the production of iron in alabama for the use of the confederacy. the mines were principally in the hilly region south of the tennessee river, where several furnaces and iron works were already established before the war. two or three new companies, with capital of $ , , each, had bought mineral lands and had commenced operations when the war broke out. the confederate government bought the property or gave the companies financial assistance. the iron district was often raided by the federals, who blew up the furnaces and wrecked the iron works.[ ] the irondale works, near elyton, were begun in , and made much iron, but they also were destroyed in by the federals.[ ] other large iron furnaces, with their forges, foundries, and rolling-mills, were destroyed by rousseau's raid in . the government employed several hundred conscripts and several thousand negroes in the mines and rolling-mills. it also offered fifty per cent of the cost of equipment to encourage the opening of new mines by private owners.[ ] there is record of only about , tons of alabama iron being mined by the confederacy, but probably there was much more.[ ] the iron was sent to selma, montgomery, and other places for manufacture. the ordnance cast in selma was of alabama iron; and after the war, when the united states sold the ruins of the arsenal, the big guns were cut up and sent to philadelphia. here the fine quality of the iron attracted the attention of experts and led to the development by northern capital of the iron industry in north alabama. the confederate government encouraged the building and extension of railroads, and paid large sums to them for the transportation of troops, munitions of war, and military supplies.[ ] several lines of road within the state were made military roads, and the government extended their lines, built bridges and cars, and kept the lines in repair.[ ] in $ , was advanced to the alabama and mississippi railway company, to complete the line between selma and meridian,[ ] and the duty on iron needed for the road was remitted.[ ] on june of this year this road was seized by the military authorities in order to finish it,[ ] and because of the lack of iron d. h. kenny was directed (july , ) to impress the iron and rolling stock belonging to the alabama and florida railway, the gainesville branch of the mobile and ohio, the cahaba, marion, and greensborough railroad, and the uniontown and newberne railroad. the alabama and mississippi road was a very important line, since it tapped the supply districts of mississippi and the black belt of alabama. there were many difficulties in the way of the builders. in the locomotives were wearing out and no iron was to be obtained. in the fall of the same year the planters withdrew their negroes who were working on the road, and left the bridges half finished. but finally, in december, , the road was completed.[ ] in the fall of a road between blue mountain, alabama, and rome, georgia, was planned, and $ , , . was appropriated by the confederate congress, a mortgage being taken as security.[ ] this road was graded and some bridges built and iron laid, but was not in running order before the end of the war. telegraph lines, which had been few before the war, were now placed along each railroad, and several cross-country lines were put up. the first important new line was along the mobile and ohio railroad, from mobile to meridian.[ ] private manufacturing enterprises both the state and the confederate government encouraged manufactures by favorable legislation. the confederate government was always ready to advance half of the cost of the machinery and to take goods in payment. a law of alabama in secured the rights of inventors and authors. all patents under the united states laws prior to january , , were to hold good under the state laws, and the united states patent and copyright laws were adopted for alabama.[ ] later, jurisdiction over patents, inventions, and copyrights was transferred to the confederate government. a bonus of five and ten cents apiece on all cotton and wool cards made in alabama was offered by the legislature in december, .[ ] all employees in iron mills, in foundries, and in factories supplying the state or confederate governments with arms, clothing, cloth, and the like were declared by the state exempt from military duty. factories were soon in operation all over the state, especially in central alabama. in all places where there were government factories there also were found factories conducted by private individuals. in there were factories at tallassee, autaugaville, and prattville, with , spindles and employees, which could make yards of good tent cloth a day.[ ] and other cotton mills were established in north alabama as early as .[ ] the federals burned these buildings and destroyed the machinery in and . there was the most "unsparing hostility displayed by the northern armies to this branch of industry. they destroyed instantly every cotton factory within their reach."[ ] at tuscaloosa were cotton and shoe factories, tanneries, and an iron foundry. a large cotton factory was established in bibb county, and at gainesville there were workshops and machine-shops. in addition to the government works, selma had machine-shops, car shops, iron mills, and foundries, cotton, wool, and harness factories, conducted by private individuals. there were cotton and woollen factories at prattville and autaugaville, and at montgomery were car shops, harness shops, iron mills, foundries, and machine-shops. the best tent cloth and uniform cloth was made at the factories of tallassee. the state itself began the manufacture of shoes, salt, clothing, whiskey, alcohol, army supplies, and supplies for the destitute.[ ] extensive manufacturing establishments of various kinds in madison, lauderdale, tuscumbia, bibb, autauga, coosa, and tallapoosa counties were destroyed during the war by the federals. there were iron works in bibb, shelby, calhoun, and jefferson counties, and in there were a dozen large furnaces with rolling-mills and foundries in the state.[ ] however, in that year the governor complained that though alabama had immense quantities of iron ore, even the planters in the iron country were unable to get sufficient iron to make and mend agricultural implements, since all iron that was mined was used for purposes of the confederacy.[ ] the best and strongest cast iron used by the confederacy was made at selma and at briarfield. the cotton factories and tanneries in the tennessee valley were destroyed in by the federal troops.[ ] salt making salt was one of the first necessaries of life which became scarce on account of the blockade. the adjutant and inspector-general of alabama stated, march , , that the confederacy needed , , bushels of salt, and that only an enormous price would force the people to make it. in montgomery salt was then very scarce, bringing $ per sack, and speculators were using every trick and fraud in order to control the supply.[ ] the poor people especially soon felt the want of it, and in november, , the legislature passed an act to encourage the manufacture of salt at the state reservation in clarke county.[ ] the state government even began to make salt at these salt springs. at the upper works, near old st. stephens, men and teams were employed at furnaces, which were kept going all the time, the production amounting to bushels a day. these works were in operation from to . the lower works, near sunflower bend on the tombigbee river, for four years employed men with teams at furnaces. the production here was about bushels a day. the central works, near salt mountain, were under private management, and, it is said, were much more successful than the works under state management.[ ] the price of salt at the works ranged from $ . to $ a bushel in gold, or from $ to $ in currency. from to , , bushels of good salt were produced each year. to obtain the salt water, wells were bored to depths ranging from to feet,--one well, however, was feet deep,--while in the bottom or swamp lands brine was sometimes found at a depth of feet. the water at first rose to the surface and overflowed about gallons a minute in some wells, but as more wells were sunk the brine ceased to flow out and had to be pumped about feet by steam or horse power. it was boiled in large iron kettles like those then used in syrup making and which are still seen in remote districts in the south. seven or eight kettles of water would make one kettle of salt. this was about the same percentage that was obtained at the onondaga (new york) salt springs. about the same boiling was required as in making syrup from sugar-cane juice. the wells were scattered for miles over the country and thousands of men were employed. for three years more than men, white and black, were employed at the salt works of clarke county, from to working at the upper works alone. all were not at work at the furnaces, but hundreds were engaged in cutting and hauling wood for fuel, and in sacking and barrelling salt. it is said that in the woods the blows of no single axe nor the sound of any single falling tree could be distinguished; the sound was simply continuous. nine or ten square miles of pine timber were cleared for fuel. the salt was sent down the tombigbee to mobile or conveyed in wagons into the interior of alabama, mississippi, and georgia. these wagons were so numerous that for miles from the various works it was difficult to cross the road. the whole place had the appearance of a manufacturing city. these works had been in operation to some extent since . the wells were exhausted from to , when they began flowing again. besides the smaller works and large private works there were hundreds of smaller establishments. when salt was needed on a plantation in the black belt, the overseer would take hands, with pots and kettles, and go to the salt wells, camp out for several weeks, and make enough salt for the year's supply. all private makers had to give a certain amount to the state.[ ] people from the interior of the state and from southeast alabama went to the florida coast and made salt by boiling the sea water. the state had salt works at saltville, virginia, but found it difficult to get transportation for the product. salt was given to the poor people by the state, or sold to them at a moderate price. the legislature authorized the governor to take possession of all salt when necessary for public use, paying the owners a just compensation; $ , was appropriated for this purpose in , and in it was made a penal offence to send salt out of the state.[ ] a salt commission was appointed to look after the salt works owned by the state in louisiana. a private salt maker in clarke county made a contract to deliver two-fifths of his product to the state at the cost of manufacture, and the state purchased some salt from the louisiana saltbeds.[ ] as salt became scarcer the people took the brine in old pork and beef barrels and boiled it down. the soil under old smoke-houses was dug up, put in hoppers, and bleached like ashes, and the brine boiled down and dried in the sunshine.[ ] at bon secour bay, near mobile, there were salt works consisting of fifteen houses, capable of making seventy-five bushels per day from the sea-water. in these were burned by the federals, who often destroyed the salt works along the florida coast.[ ] at saltmarsh, ten miles west of selma, there were works which furnished much of the salt used in mississippi, central alabama, and east georgia during the years , , and . wells were dug to the depth of twelve or fifteen feet, when salt water was struck. the wells were then curbed, furnaces of lime rock were built, and upon them large kettles were placed. the water was pumped from the wells and run into the kettles through troughs, then boiled down, and the moisture evaporated by the sun. the fires were kept up day and night. a large number of blacks and whites were employed at these wells, and, as salt makers were exempt from military duty, the work was quite popular.[ ] besides the industries above mentioned there were many minor enterprises. household manufactures were universal. the more important companies were chartered by the legislature. the acts of the war period show that in there were incorporated six insurance companies and the charters of others were amended to suit the changed conditions; three railroad companies were incorporated, and aid was granted to others for building purposes. roads carrying troops and munitions free were exempted from taxation. two mining and manufacturing companies were incorporated, four iron and coal companies, one ore foundry, an express company,[ ] a salt manufacturing company, a chemical manufacturing company, a coal and leather company, and a wine and fruit company. in the legislature incorporated four iron and foundry companies, a railroad company, the southern express company, a gas-light company, six coal and iron companies, a rolling-mill, and an oil company, and amended the charters of four railroad companies and two insurance companies. in two railroad companies were given permission to manufacture alcohol and lubricating oil, and the citronelle wine, fruit, and nursery company was incorporated. various other manufacturing companies--of drugs, barrels, and pottery--were established. besides salt the state made alcohol and whiskey for the poor. every man who had a more than usual regard for his comfort and wanted to keep out of the army had a tannery in his back yard, and made a few shoes or some harness for the confederacy, thus securing exemption. governor moore, in his message to the legislature on october , , said: "mechanical arts and industrial pursuits, hitherto practically unknown to our people, are already in operation. the clink of the hammer and the busy hum of the workshop are beginning to be heard throughout our land. our manufactories are rapidly increasing and the inconvenience which would result from the continuance of the war and the closing of our ports for years would be more than compensated by forcing us to the development of our abundant resources, and the tone and the temper it would give to our national character. under such circumstances the return of peace would find us a self-reliant and truly independent people."[ ] and had the war ended early in , the state would have been well provided with manufactures. the raids through the state in and destroyed most of the manufacturing establishments. the rest, whether owned by the government or private persons, were seized by the federal troops at the surrender and were dismantled.[ ] sec. . confederate finance in alabama banks and banking in a circular letter dated december , , and addressed to the banks, governor moore announced that should the state secede from the union, as seemed probable, $ , , in specie, or its equivalent, would be needed by the administration. the state bonds could not be sold in the north nor in europe, except at a ruinous discount, and a tax on the people at this time would be inexpedient. therefore he recommended that the banks hold their specie. otherwise there would be a run on the banks, and should an extra session of the legislature be called to authorize the banks to suspend specie payments, such action would produce a run and thus defeat the object. he requested the banks to suspend specie payments, trusting to the convention to legalize this action.[ ] the governor then issued an address to the people stating his reasons for such a step. it was done, he said, at the request and by the advice of many citizens whose opinions were entitled to respect and consideration. such a course, they thought, would relieve the banks from a run during the cotton season, would enable them to aid the state, would do away with the expense of a special session of the legislature, would prevent the sale of state bonds at a great sacrifice, and would prevent extra taxation of the people in time of financial crisis.[ ] three banks--the central, eastern, and commercial--suspended at the governor's request and made a loan to the state of $ , in coin. their suspension was legalized later by an ordinance of the convention. the bank of mobile, the northern bank, and the southern bank refused to suspend, though they announced that the state should have their full support. the legislature passed an act in february, , authorizing the suspension on condition that the banks subscribe for ten year state bonds at their par value. the bonds were to stand as capital, and the bills issued by the banks upon these bonds were to be receivable in payment of taxes. the amount which each bank was to pay into the treasury for the bonds was fixed, and no interest was to be paid by the state on these bonds until specie payments were resumed. all the banks suspended under these acts, and thus the government secured most of the coin in the state.[ ] in october, , before all the banks had suspended, state bonds at par to the amount of $ , . had been sold--all but $ , to the banks. by early acts specie payments were to be resumed in may, , but in december, , the suspension was continued until one year after the conclusion of peace with the united states. by this law the banks were to receive at par the confederate treasury notes in payment of debts, their notes being good for public dues. the banks were further required to make a loan to the state of $ , to pay its quota of the confederate war tax of august , . so the privilege of suspension was worth paying for.[ ] the banking law was revised by the convention so that a bank might deposit with the state comptroller stocks of the confederate states or of alabama, receiving in return notes countersigned by the comptroller amounting to twice the market value of the bonds deposited. if a bank had in deposit with the comptroller under the old law any stocks of the united states, they could be withdrawn upon the deposit of an equal amount of confederate stocks or bonds of the state. the same ordinance provided that none except citizens of alabama and members of state corporations might engage in the banking business under this law. but no rights under the old law were to be affected. it was further provided that subsequent legislation might require any "free" bank to reduce its circulation to an amount not exceeding the market value of the bonds deposited with the comptroller. the notes thus retired were to be cancelled by the comptroller.[ ] the suspension of specie payments was followed by an increase of banking business; note issues were enlarged; eleven new banks were chartered,[ ] and none wound up affairs. they paid dividends regularly of from to per cent in coin, in confederate notes, or in both. speculation in government funds was quite profitable to the banks. issues of bonds and notes the convention authorized the general assembly of the state to issue bonds to such amounts and in such sums as seemed best, thus giving the assembly practically unlimited discretion. but it was provided that money must not be borrowed except for purposes of military defence, unless by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to each house; and the faith and credit of the state was pledged for the punctual payment of the principal and interest.[ ] the legislature hastened to avail itself of this permission. in a bond issue of $ , , for defence, and not liable to taxation, was authorized at one time; at another, $ , for defence, besides an issue of $ , , in treasury notes receivable for taxes. of the first issue authorized, only $ , , were ever issued. opposition to taxation caused the state to take up the war tax of $ , , (august , ), and for this purpose $ , , in bonds was issued, the banks supplying the remainder. there was a relaxation in taxation during the war; paper money was easily printed, and the people were opposed to heavy taxes.[ ] in bonds to the amount of $ , , were issued for the benefit of the indigent. the governor was given unlimited authority to issue bonds and notes, receivable for taxes, to "repair the treasury," and $ , , in bonds were issued under this permit. these bonds drew interest at per cent, ran for twenty years, and sold at a premium of from per cent to per cent. bonds were used both for civil and for military purposes, but chiefly for the support of the destitute. treasury notes to the amount of $ , , were issued, drawing interest at per cent, and receivable for taxes. the confederate congress came to the aid of alabama with a grant of $ , , for the defence of mobile.[ ] in notes and bonds for $ , , were issued for the benefit of indigent families of soldiers, and $ , , for defence; $ , in bonds was paid for the steamer _florida_, which was later turned over to the confederate government.[ ] in $ , , was appropriated for the support of indigent families of soldiers, and an unlimited issue of bonds and notes was authorized.[ ] in the alabama legislature proposed that each state should guarantee the debt of the confederate states in proportion to its representation in congress. this measure was opposed by the other states and failed.[ ] a year later a resolution of the legislature declared that the people of alabama would cheerfully submit to any tax, not too oppressive in amount or unequal in operation, laid by the confederate government for the purpose of reducing the volume of currency and appreciating its value. the assembly also signified its disapproval of the scheme put forth at the bankers' meeting at augusta, georgia--to issue confederate bonds with interest payable in coin and to levy a heavy tax of $ , , to be paid in coin or in coupons of the proposed new issue.[ ] the alabama treasury had many confederate notes received for taxes. before april , (when such notes were to be taxed one-third of their face value), these could be exchanged at par for twenty-year, per cent confederate bonds. after that date the confederate notes were fundable at - / per cent of their face value only.[ ] after june , , the state treasury could exchange confederate notes for per cent non-taxable confederate bonds, or one-half for per cent bonds and one-half for new notes. the alabama legislature of arranged for funding the notes according to the latter method.[ ] the alabama legislature of had made it lawful for debts contracted after that year to be payable in confederate notes.[ ] later a meeting of the citizens of mobile proposed to ostracize those who refused to accept confederate notes. cheap money caused a clamor for more, and the heads of the people were filled with _fiat_ money notions. the rise in prices stimulated more issues of notes. on february , , $ , , in state treasury notes was issued, and in there was a similar issue of $ , , more. these state notes were at a premium in confederate notes, which were discredited by the confederate funding act of february , . confederate notes were eagerly offered for state notes, but the state stopped the exchange.[ ] december , , a law was passed providing for an unlimited issue of state notes redeemable in confederate notes and receivable for taxes. private individuals often issued notes on their own account, and an enormous number was put into circulation. the legislature, by a law of december , , prohibited the issue of "shinplaster" or other private money under penalty of $ to $ fine, and any person circulating such money was to be deemed the maker. it was not successful, however, in reducing the flood of private tokens; the credit of individuals was better than the credit of the government. executors, administrators, guardians, and trustees were authorized to make loans to the confederacy and to purchase and receive for debts due them bonds and treasury notes of the confederacy and of alabama and the interest coupons of the same. one-tenth of the confederate $ , , loan of february , , was subscribed in alabama.[ ] in december, , the legislature laid a tax of - / per cent on bonds of the state and of the confederacy unless the bonds had been bought directly from the confederate government or from the state.[ ] this was to punish speculators. after october , , the state treasury was directed to refuse confederate notes issued before february , (the date of the funding act) in payment of taxes except at a discount of - / per cent. later, confederate notes were taken for taxes at their full market value.[ ] gold was shipped through the blockade at mobile to pay the interest on the state bonded debt held in london. it has been charged that this money was borrowed from the central, commercial, and eastern banks and was never repaid, recovery being denied on the ground that the state could not be sued.[ ] but the banks received state and confederate bonds under the new banking law in return for their coin. the exchange was willingly made, for otherwise the banks would have had to continue specie payments or forfeit their charters. and to continue specie payments meant immediate bankruptcy.[ ] after the war, the state was forbidden to pay any debt incurred in aid of the war, nor could the bonds issued in aid of the war be redeemed. the banks suffered just as all others suffered, and it is difficult to see why the state should make good the losses of the banks in confederate bonds and not make good the losses of private individuals. to do either would be contrary to the fourteenth amendment. the last statement of the condition of the alabama treasury was as follows:-- balance in treasury, september , $ , , receipts, september , , to may , , , ---------- total $ , , disbursements, september , , to may , , , ---------- balance in treasury, september , , to may , $ , the balance was in funds as follows:-- checks on bank of mobile, payable in confederate notes $ , certificate of deposit, bank of mobile, payable in confederate notes , confederate and state notes in treasury , state notes, change bills (legal shinplasters) , notes of state banks and branches bank-notes silver gold on hand gold on deposit in northern banks -------- balance $ , to dispose of nearly $ , , in small notes must have kept the treasury very busy during the last seven months of its existence. it is interesting to note that the treasury kept at work until may , , six weeks after the surrender of general lee. special appropriations and salaries besides the regular appropriations for the usual expenses of the government, there were many extraordinary appropriations. these, of course, were for the war expenses which were far greater than the ordinary expenses. the chief item of these extraordinary appropriations was for the support of the indigent families of soldiers, and for this purpose about $ , , was provided. for the military defence of the state several million dollars were appropriated, much of this being spent for arms and clothing for the alabama troops, both in the confederate and the state service. money was granted to the university of alabama and other military schools on condition that they furnish drill-masters for the state troops without charge. hospitals were furnished in virginia and in alabama for the alabama soldiers. the gunboat _florida_ was bought for the defence of mobile, and $ , was appropriated for an iron-clad ram for the same purpose. loans were made to commanders of regiments to buy clothing for their soldiers, and the state began to furnish clothing, $ , being appropriated at one time for clothing for the alabama soldiers in northern prisons. by march , , alabama had contributed $ , to the support of the army of northern virginia.[ ] much was expended in the manufacture of salt in alabama and in virginia, which was sold at cost or given away to the poor; in the purchase of salt from louisiana to be sold at a low price, and in bounties paid to salt makers in the state who sold salt at reasonable prices. the state also paid for medical attendance for the indigent families of soldiers. when the records and rolls of the alabama troops in the confederate service were lost, money was appropriated to have new ones made. frequent grants were made to the various benevolent societies of the state whose object was to care for the maimed and sick soldiers, the widows and the orphans. cotton and wool cards and agricultural implements were purchased and distributed among the poor. slaves and supplies were taken for the public service and the owners compensated. the appropriations for the usual expenses of the government were light, seldom more than twice the appropriations in times of peace, notwithstanding the depreciated currency. the salaries of public officers who received stated amounts ranged from $ to $ a year in state money. in the salaries of the professors in the state university were doubled on account of the depreciated currency, the president receiving $ and each professor $ .[ ] the members of the general assembly were more fortunate. in they received $ a day for the time in session, and the clerks of the legislature, who were disabled soldiers or exempt from service, or were women, were paid the same amount. the salt commissioners drew salaries of $ a year in and , though this amount was not sufficient to pay their board for more than six months. salaries were never increased in proportion to expenses. the compensation, in december, , for capturing a runaway slave was $ , worth probably cents in coin. for the inaugural expenses of governor watts, $ in paper was appropriated.[ ] many laws were passed, regulating and changing the fees and salaries of public officials. in october, , for example, the salaries of the state officials, tax assessors and collectors, and judges were increased per cent. besides the general depreciation of the currency, the variations of values in the different sections of the state rendered such changes necessary. in the central part, which was safe for a long time from federal raids, the currency was to the last worth more, and the prices of the necessaries of life were lower than in the more exposed regions. this fact was taken into consideration by the legislature when fixing the fees of the state and county officers in the various sections of the state. taxation as a result of the policy adopted at the outset of meeting the extraordinary expenses by bond issues,[ ] the people continued to pay the light taxes levied before the war, and paid them in paper money. though falling heavily on the salaried and wage-earning classes, it was never a burden upon the agricultural classes except in the poorest white counties. the poll tax brought in little revenue. soldiers were exempt from its payment and from taxation on property to the amount of $ . the widows and orphans of soldiers had similar privileges. a special tax of per cent on the former rate was imposed on all taxable property in november, , and a year later, by acts of december , , a far-reaching scheme of taxation was introduced. under this poll taxes were levied as follows:-- white men, to years $ . free negro men, to years . free negro women, to years . slaves (children to laborers in prime) . to . more valuable slaves . and up and other taxes as follows:-- crop liens - / % hoarded money % jewellery, plate, furniture / % goods sold at auction % imports % insurance premiums (companies not chartered by state) % playing cards, per pack $ . gold watches, each . gold chains, silver watches, clocks . articles raffled off % legacies, profits and sales, incomes % profits of confederate contractors % wages of confederate officials % race tracks % billiard tables, each $ . bagatelle . tenpin alleys, each . readings and lectures, each . pedler . spirit rapper, per day . saloon-keeper $ . to . daguerreotypist . to . slave trader, for each slave offered for sale . in a tax of - / per cent was laid on confederate and state bonds not in the hands of the original purchaser;[ ] - / per cent was levied on profits of banking, railroad companies, and on evidence of debt; per cent on other profits not included in the act of the year before. the tax on gold and silver was to be paid in gold and silver; on bank-notes, in notes; on bonds, in coupons.[ ] in december, , the taxes levied by the laws of and were increased by - / per cent. taxes on gold and silver were to be paid in kind or in currency at its market value.[ ] this was the last tax levied by the state under confederate rule. from these taxes the state government was largely supplied. a number of special laws were passed to enable the county authorities to levy taxes-in-kind or to levy a certain amount in addition to the state tax, for the use of the county. the taxes levied by the state did not bear heavily upon the majority of the people, as nearly all, except the well-to-do and especially the slave owners, were exempt. the constant depreciation of the currency acted, of course, as a tax on the wage-earners and salaried classes and on those whose income was derived from government securities. while the state taxes were felt chiefly by the wealthier agricultural classes and the slave owners, this was not the case with the confederate taxes. the loans and gifts from the state, the war tax of august , , the $ , , loan, the produce loan, and the proceeds of sequestration--all had not availed to secure sufficient supplies. the produce loan of was subscribed to largely in alabama, the secretary of the treasury issuing stocks and bonds in return for supplies,[ ] and $ , , of the $ , , loan was raised in the state. still the confederate government was in desperate need. the farmers would not willingly sell their produce for currency which was constantly decreasing in value, and, when selling at all, they were forced to charge exorbitant prices because of the high prices charged them for everything by the speculators.[ ] the speculator also ran up the prices of supplies beyond the reach of the government purchasing agents who had to buy according to the list of prices issued by impressment commissioners. so in the spring of all other expedients were cast aside and the confederate government levied a genuine "morton's fork" tax. no more loans of paper money from the state, no more assumption of war taxes by the state governments because the people were opposed to any form of direct taxation, no more holding back of supplies by producers and speculators who refused to sell to the confederate government except for coin; the new law stopped all that.[ ] first there was a tax of per cent on all agricultural products in hand on july , , on salt, wine, and liquors, and per cent on all moneys and credits. second, an occupation tax ranging from $ to $ and from - / per cent to per cent of their gross sales was levied on bankers, auctioneers, brokers, druggists, butchers, fakirs, liquor dealers, merchants, pawnbrokers, lawyers, physicians, photographers, brewers, and distillers; hotels paid from $ to $ , and theatres, $ . third, there was an income tax of per cent on salaries from $ to $ and per cent on all over $ . fourth, per cent on all trade in flour, bacon, corn, oats, and dry goods during . fifth, a tax-in-kind, by which each farmer, after reserving bushels of sweet and bushels of irish potatoes, bushels of peas or beans, bushels of corn or bushels of wheat out of his crop of , had to deliver (at a depot within miles) out of the remainder of his produce for that year, per cent of all wheat, corn, oats, rye, buckwheat, rice, sweet and irish potatoes, hay, fodder, sugar, molasses, cotton, wool, tobacco, peas, beans, and peanuts; per cent of all meat killed between april , , and march , .[ ] by this act $ , , in currency was raised in alabama. alabama, with georgia and north carolina, furnished two-thirds of the tax-in-kind. though at first there was some objection to the tax-in-kind because it bore entirely on the agricultural classes, yet it was a just tax so far as the large planters were concerned, since the depreciated money had acted as a tax on the wage-earners and salaried classes, who had also some state tax to pay. the tax-in-kind fell heavily upon the families of small farmers in the white counties, who had no negro labor and who produced no more than the barest necessaries of life. to collect the tax-in-kind required an army of tithe gatherers and afforded fine opportunities of escape from military service. the state was divided into districts for the collection of all confederate taxes, with a state collector at the head. the collection districts were usually counties, following the state division into taxing districts. in the tobacco tithe was collected by treasury agents and not by the quartermaster's department, which had formerly collected it.[ ] the tax of april , , was renewed on february , , and some additional taxes laid as follows:-- real estate and personal property % gold and silver ware, jewellery % coin % credits % profits on liquors, produce, groceries, and dry goods % on june , , an additional tax of per cent of the tax for was laid, payable only in confederate treasury notes of the new issue. four days later an additional tax[ ] was levied as follows:-- real estate and personal property and coin % gold and silver ware % profits on liquors, produce, groceries, and dry goods % treasury notes of old issue (after january, ) % the taxes during the war, state and confederate, were in all five to ten times those levied before the war. never were taxes paid more willingly by most of the people,[ ] though at first there was opposition to them. it is probable that the authorities did not, in and , give sufficient consideration to the fact that conditions were much changed, and that in view of the war the people would willingly have paid taxes that they would have rebelled against in times of peace. of the tax-in-kind for , $ , was collected in pickens county alone, one of the poorest counties in the state. the produce was sent in too freely to be taken care of by the government quartermasters, and, as there was enough on hand for a year or two, much of it was ruined for lack of storage room.[ ] an english traveller in east alabama, in , reported that there was abundance. the tax-in-kind was working well, and enough provisions had already been collected for the western armies of the confederacy to last until the harvest of .[ ] there were few railroads in the state and the rolling stock on these was scarce and soon worn out. so the supplies gathered by the tax-in-kind law could not be moved. hundreds of thousands of pounds of beef and bacon and bushels of corn were piled up in the government warehouses and at the depots, while starvation threatened the armies and the people also in districts remote from the railroads or rivers. at the supply centres of alabama and along the railroads in the black belt there were immense stores of provisions. when the war ended, notwithstanding the destruction by raids, great quantities of corn and bacon were seized or destroyed by the federal troops.[ ] impressment the state quite early began to secure supplies by impressment. salt was probably the first article to which the state laid claim. later the officials were authorized to impress and pay for supplies necessary for the public service. in the governor was authorized to impress shoes, leather, and other shoemakers' materials for the use of the army. the legislature appropriated $ , to pay for impressments under this law.[ ] in case of a refusal to comply with an order of impressment the sheriff was authorized to summon a _posse comitatus_ of not less than men and seize double the quantity first impressed. in such cases no compensation was given.[ ] the people resisted the impressment of their property. by a law of october , , the governor was empowered to impress slaves, and tools and teams for them to work with, in the public service against the enemy, and $ , , was appropriated to pay the owners.[ ] slaves were regularly impressed by the confederate officials acting in coöperation with the state authorities, for work on fortifications and for other public service. several thousand were at work at mobile at various times. they were secured usually by requisition on the state government, which then impressed them. in december, , alabama was asked for negroes for the confederate service.[ ] the people were morbidly sensitive about their slave property, and there was much discontent at the impressment of slaves, even though they were paid for. as the war drew to a close, the people were less and less willing to have their servants impressed. in the spring of , the confederate congress authorized the impressment of private property for public use.[ ] the president and the governor each appointed an agent, and these together fixed the prices to be paid for the property taken.[ ] every two months they published schedules of prices, which were always below the market prices.[ ] evidently impressment had been going on for some time, for, in november, , judge dargan, member of congress from alabama, wrote to the president that the people from the country were afraid to bring produce to mobile for fear of seizure by the government. in november, , the secretary of war issued an order that no supplies should be impressed when held by a person for his own consumption or that of his employees or slaves, or while being carried to market for sale, except in urgent cases and by order of a commanding general. consequently the land was filled with agents buying a year's supply for railroad companies, individuals, manufactories, and corporations, relief associations, towns, and counties--all these to be protected from impressment. most speculators always had their goods on the way to market for sale. the great demand caused prices to rise suddenly, and the government, which had to buy by scheduled prices, could not compete with private purchasers; yet it could not legally impress. there was much abuse of the impressment law, especially by unauthorized persons. it was the source of much lawless conduct on the part of many who claimed to be confederate officials, with authority to impress.[ ] the legislature frequently protested against the manner of execution of the law. in a state law was passed which indicates that the people had been suffering from the depredations of thieves who pretended to be confederate officials in order to get supplies. it was made a penal offence in and again in , with from one to five years' imprisonment and $ to $ fine, to falsely represent one's self as a confederate agent, contractor, or official.[ ] the merchants of mobile protested against the impressment of sugar and molasses, as it would cause prices to double, they said.[ ] there was much complaint from sufferers who were never paid by the confederate authorities for the supplies impressed. quartermasters of an army would sometimes seize the necessary supplies and would leave with the army before settling accounts with the citizens of the community, the latter often being left without any proof of their claim. in north alabama, especially, where the armies never tarried long at a place, the complaint was greatest. to do away with this abuse resulting from carelessness, the secretary of war appointed agents in each congressional district to receive proof of claims for forage and supplies impressed.[ ] the state wanted a confederate law passed to authorize receipts for supplies to be given as part of the tax-in-kind.[ ] the unequal operation of the impressment system may be seen in the case of clarke and monroe counties. in the former, from persons, property amounting to $ was impressed. in monroe, from persons $ , worth was taken. the delay in payment was so long that the money was practically worthless when received.[ ] debts, stay laws, sequestration in the secession convention the question of indebtedness to northern creditors came up, and watts of montgomery proposed confiscation, in case of war, of the property of alien enemies and of debts due northern creditors. the proposal was supported by several members, who declared that the threat of confiscation would do much to promote peace. but the majority of the convention were opposed to any measure looking toward confiscation, and the matter was carried over for the confederate government to settle.[ ] stay laws were enacted in alabama on february , , and on december , . the confederate provisional congress enacted a law (may , ) that debtors to persons in the north (except in delaware, maryland, missouri, and the district of columbia) be prohibited from paying their debts during the war.[ ] they should pay the amount of the debt into the confederate treasury and receive a certificate relieving them from their debts, transferring it to the confederate treasury. a confederate law of november , , provided that when payment of the interest on a debt was proffered in confederate treasury notes and refused, it should be unlawful for the plaintiff to secure more than / of per cent interest. on august , , congress, in retaliation for the confiscation and destruction of the property of confederate citizens, passed the sequestration act, which held all property of alien enemies (except citizens of the border states) as indemnity for such destruction and devastation.[ ] under the sequestration act receivers were appointed in each county to take possession of all property belonging to alien enemies. they were empowered to interrogate all lawyers, bank officials, officials of corporations engaged in foreign trade, and all persons and agents engaged for persons engaged in foreign trade, for the purpose of discovering such property. the proceeds were to be held for the indemnity of loyal citizens suffering under the confiscation laws of the united states.[ ] later the property thus seized was sold and the money paid into the confederate treasury.[ ] in the last days of the war (february , ), the sequestration act was extended to include the property of disloyal citizens who had gone within the federal lines to escape military service, or who had entered the union service to fight against the confederacy.[ ] in december, , a law was passed by the legislature which provided that no suit by or for an alien enemy for debt or money should be prosecuted in any court in alabama. no execution was to be issued to an alien enemy, and suits already brought could be dismissed on the motion of the defendant.[ ] in alabama much of the time of the confederate district courts was taken up by sequestration cases. in fact, they did little else. however, but little money was ever turned into the confederate treasury from this source.[ ] just as the state sent nearly all its coin through the blockade to pay the interest of its london debt, so the mobile, montgomery, or selma merchant cancelled his indebtedness and sent money, as he was able, during the early years of the war, to his northern and european creditors. most debts due to northerners were concealed from the government. the stringent laws passed against it were of no avail. as a source of revenue the sequestration of the property of alien enemies hardly paid expenses. after all, however, the northern creditor probably lost nearly all his accounts in the south in the general wreck of property in . trade, barter, prices after the outbreak of war, business was soon almost at a standstill. the government monopolized all means of transportation for military purposes. there were few good railroads in the state and few good wagon roads. in one section there would be plenty, while seventy-five or a hundred miles away there would be great suffering from want. depreciated currency and the impressment laws made the producer wary of going to market at all. he preferred to keep what he had and live upon it, effecting changes in the old way of barter. cows, hogs, chickens, mules, farm implements, cotton, corn, peas--all were exchanged and reëxchanged for one another. the farmer tended more and more to become independent of the merchant and of money. consequently the townspeople suffered. confederate money, at first received at par, soon began to depreciate, though the most patriotic people considered it their duty to accept it at its par value.[ ] [illustration: alabama money.] [illustration: confederate postage stamps.] [illustration: private money. printed in large sheets on one side only and never used. the other side is a state bill similar to the one above. paper was scarce, and the state money was printed so that when cut apart the private money was destroyed.] at the end of , confederate money was worth as much[ ] as federal, but it had depreciated. often private credit was better than public, and individuals in need of a more stable circulating medium issued notes or promises to pay which in the immediate neighborhood passed current at their face value. great quantities of this "card money" or shinplasters were issued, and in some communities it almost supplanted the legal money as a more reliable medium of exchange. the alabama legislature passed severe laws against the practice of issuing "card money," but with little effect. the effect of depreciation of paper money was the same as a tax so far as the people were concerned. forced into circulation, it supported the government, but it gradually depreciated and each holder lost a little. finally, when almost worthless, it was practically repudiated by the state and by the confederacy, and funding laws were passed, providing for the redemption of old notes at a low rate in new issues. depreciation of the currency caused extravagance and other more evil results. a person who handled much money felt that he must at once get rid of all that came into his possession in order to avoid loss by depreciation. consequently there was speculation, reckless spending, and extravagance. money would be spent for anything offered for sale. if useful things were not to be had, then luxuries would be bought, such as silks, fancy articles, liquors, etc., from blockade-runners. this was especially the case in selma, mobile, and montgomery, and in northern alabama. persons formerly of good character frequently drifted into extravagant and dissipated habits, because they tried to spend their money and there were not enough legitimate ways in which to do so. depreciation, speculation, and scarcity caused prices to rise, especially the prices of the necessaries of life. these varied in the different sections of the state. in mobile, in , prices were as follows:-- shoes, per pair $ . boots, per pair . overcoats, each . hats, each . flour, per barrel $ . to . corn, per bushel . butter, per pound . bacon, per pound . soap, per pound (cheap) . candles, per pound . sugar, per pound $ . to . coffee, per pound . to . tea, per pound . to . cotton and wool cards, per pair . board per week at the battle house, in $ . ; in , . [ ] in may, , at huntsville, then in the hands of the federals, some prices were, in federal currency:-- green tea (poor quality), per pound $ . common rough trousers, per pair . boots, per pair . shoes, per pair $ . to . [ ] in , in south alabama, in confederate currency:-- meat, per pound $ . lard, per pound . salt, per sack at the works $ . to . wheat, per bushel . corn, per bushel . a cow (worth $ in ) . [ ] in march, , prices in selma were as follows:-- salt, per bushel $ . calico, per yard . women's common shoes, per pair . men's rough boots, per pair . cotton cards (worth $ . in connecticut) . [ ] in august, , the prices in mobile were:-- flour, per barrel $ . to $ . bacon, per pound . to . cotton thread, per spool . to . calico, per yard . to . common shoes, per pair . to . boots, per pair . to . nails, per pound . cotton shirts (each worth to c. in massachusetts) . to . [ ] in november, , colonel dabney paid the following prices in montgomery:-- bacon, per pound $ . beef, per pound $ . to . potatoes, per bushel . wood, per cord . board, per day . [ ] in russell county and east alabama the following prices were paid in - :-- a calico dress ( yards) $ . a plain straw hat . half a quire of note paper . morocco shoes . coffee, per pound $ . to . corn, per bushel . to . wax candles, each . wages, per day . soldier's pay, per month (which he seldom received) . [ ] in southwest alabama, in december, , prices were:-- a mule (worth before the war $ . to $ . ) $ . to $ . a horse (worth before the war $ . to $ . ) . to . a wagon and team cost . beef cattle, each . [ ] at the close of , in mobile, alabama, $ in gold was worth $ in state currency, and prices were as follows:-- wheat, per bushel $ . to $ . corn, per bushel . coffee, per pound . fresh beef, per pound . bacon, per pound . domestics, per yard . calico, per yard . a horse $ . to . salt, per sack . to . quinine, per ounce . [ ] the war department published, on september , , the following prices[ ] as agreed upon by the commissioners of february , , for the states east of the mississippi:-- bacon, per pound $ . fresh beef, per pound . flour, per barrel . meal, per bushel . rice, per pound . peas, per bushel . sugar, per pound . coffee, per pound . candles, per pound . soap, per pound . vinegar, per gallon . molasses, per gallon . salt, per pound . the commissioners' prices were always lower than the prevailing market price. a little property or labor would pay a large debt. merchants did not want to be paid in money, and were sorry to see a debtor come in with great rolls of almost worthless currency. barter was increasingly resorted to. there were so many different series and issues of money and so many regulations concerning it that no one could know them all, and this operated to discredit the currency. besides, it was known that much of it was counterfeited at the north and quantities sent south. prices advanced rapidly in ; state money was worth more than confederate money, though it was much depreciated. board was worth $ a month; meals, $ to $ each; a boiled egg, $ ; a cup of imitation coffee, $ . after the news of lee's surrender, few would accept the paper money, though for two or three months longer, in remote districts, state money remained in circulation. when wilson's army was marching into montgomery, a young man asked an old negro woman who stood gazing at the soldiers if she could give him a piece of paper to light his pipe. she fumbled in her pocket and handed him a one-dollar state bill. "why, auntie, that is money!" remarked the young man. "haw, haw!" the old crone chuckled, "light it, massa; don't you see de state done gone up?"[ ] sec. . blockade-running and trade through the lines blockade-running for several months after the secession of the state, its one important seaport--mobile--was open, and export and import trade went on as usual. the proclamation of lincoln, april , , practically declared a blockade of the ports of the southern states. a vessel attempting to enter or to leave was to be warned, and if a second attempt was made, the vessel was to be seized as a prize.[ ] by proclamations of april and august , , the blockade was extended and made more stringent. all vessels and cargoes belonging to citizens of the southern states found at sea or in a port of the united states were to be confiscated.[ ] as the summer advanced, the blockade was made more and more effective, until finally, at the end of , the port of mobile was closed to all but the professional blockade-runners.[ ] the fact that the legislature in the fall of was fostering various new industries and purchasing certain articles of common use shows that the effects of the blockade were beginning to be felt.[ ] at first the general confidence in the power of king cotton made most southern people desire to let the blockade assist the work of war, and, by creating a scarcity of cotton abroad, cause foreign governments to recognize the confederate government and raise the blockade.[ ] the pinch of want soon made many forget their faith in the power of cotton; there was a general desire to get supplies through the blockade and to send cotton in exchange. the state administration was distinctly in favor of blockade-running and foreign trade.[ ] in the legislature incorporated two "direct trading companies," giving them permission to own and sail ships between the ports of the state and the ports of foreign countries for the purpose of carrying on trade.[ ] the general regulation of foreign commerce, however, fell to the confederate government, which was distinctly opposed to all blockade-running not under its immediate control and supervision. the state authorities complained that the course of the confederate administration was harsh and unnecessary. the state was willing to prohibit blockade-running on private account, but insisted that its public vessels be allowed to import supplies needed by the state. the complaint about restrictions on trade was general throughout the southern states and, in october, , the southern governors, in a meeting in augusta, georgia, governor watts of alabama taking a leading part, declared that each state had the right to export its productions and import such supplies as might be necessary for state use or for the use of the state troops in the army, state vessels being used for this purpose. the governors united in a request to congress to remove the restrictions on such trade.[ ] but the confederate administration to the last retained control of foreign trade. agents were sent abroad by the treasury and war departments[ ] who were instructed to send on vessels attempting to run the blockade, first, arms and ammunition; second, clothing, boots, shoes, and hats; third, drugs and chemicals that were most needed, such as quinine, chloroform, ether, opium, morphine, and rhubarb. these agents were instructed to see that all vessels leaving for southern ports were laden with the articles named. such part of the cargoes as was not taken by the government was sold at auction to the highest bidder. these blockade auction sales were attended by merchants from the inland towns, whose shelves were almost bare of goods during three years of the war.[ ] for two years military and naval supplies were the most important articles brought into the southern ports. the alabama troops were in great need of all kinds of war equipment, and the state administration made every effort to obtain military supplies from abroad. shipments of arms from europe were made to the west indies, generally to cuba, and thence smuggled into mobile and other gulf ports. the shipments were always long delayed while waiting for a favorable opportunity to attempt a run. a large proportion of the blockade-runners making for mobile were captured by the united states vessels.[ ] dark nights, and rainy, stormy weather furnished the opportunity to the runners to slip into or out of a port. once at sea, nothing could catch them, since they were built for fast sailing rather than for capacity to carry freight.[ ] most of the arms secured by alabama came by way of cuba, as did nearly all the supplies that entered the port of mobile or were smuggled in on boats along the coast. havanna was miles from mobile, and between these ports most of the blockade trade of the gulf coast was carried on. one shipment, welcomed by the state authorities, was a lot of condemned spanish flint-lock muskets, which were remodelled and repaired and placed in the hands of the state troops. machinery for the naval foundry and arsenal at selma and for the navy-yard on the tombigbee was brought through the blockade from england _via_ the west indies. the confederate government, besides taking its own half of each cargo, had the first choice of all other goods brought through the blockade and usually chose shoes, clothing, and medicine. the state could only make contracts for the importation of supplies; it could not import them on its own vessels. the confederate government paid high prices for goods, but, on the whole, paid much less than did the private individual for the remainder of the cargo when sold at auction. the merchants made large profits on the few articles of merchandise secured by them. speculators bought up lots of merchandise at mobile and carried them far inland, to the small towns and villages of the black belt and farther north, and secured fabulous prices in confederate money for ordinary calico, shoes, women's apparel, etc. the central part of the state was more completely shut from the outside world than any other section of the south. the federal lines touched the northern part of the state, but the traffic carried on through the lines seldom reached the central counties. consequently, the arrival of a merchant in the black belt village with a small lot of blockade calicoes, shoes, hats, scented soap, etc., was a great event, and people came from far and near to gaze upon the fine things exhibited in the usually empty show windows. few had sufficient confederate money to buy the commonest articles, but some one could always be found to purchase the latest useless trifle that came from abroad.[ ] in exchange for goods thus imported, the blockade-runners carried out cargoes of cotton. as has been stated, the confederate administration was in charge of cotton exportation. the confederate treasury department purchased in alabama , bales of cotton for $ , , . --that is, $ . a bale. this cotton was to be sold abroad for the benefit of the confederate government. nearly all the cotton purchased by the government was in the great producing states of alabama, mississippi, and louisiana. alabama furnished more than any other state. in bales of cotton were shipped from mobile by the treasury department, and the proceeds applied to the support of the erlanger loan. to avoid competition between the departments of the government, it was agreed, june , , that all stores for shipment should be turned over to the treasury, transported to the vessels by the war department, and consigned to treasury agents in the west indies or in europe. it was to be sold finally by the treasury agent at liverpool and the proceeds placed to the credit of the treasury. the export business was under the direction of the produce loan office, which had charge of all government cotton and tobacco. contracts were usually made with companies, to whom the government turned over the cotton for shipment. in november, , there were , bales of government cotton in alabama, , bales having been sold. it is hardly possible that it was all exported; some of it was sold through the lines.[ ] it was found very difficult to secure bagging and ties sufficient to bale the cotton for shipping. the state lost much as well as gained by trade through the blockade. the risks were great and the exporters had to have a large share of the profit; but arms, medicine, and blankets were valuable and very necessary. in spite of regulations, the blockade-runners brought in more luxuries than necessaries, causing much extravagance, and there were people who objected to the practice altogether. in march, , the mobile committee of safety reported that there were several vessels then in the harbor fitting out to carry cotton to cuba. they were of the opinion that the government ought not to allow them to depart, since the country could not afford to lose the vessels with their machinery, which could not be replaced. governor shorter agreed with them, and a protest was made to the richmond authorities; but the vessels went out.[ ] judge dargan, whom many things troubled, wrote to the richmond authorities that the blockade-runners were ruining the country by supplying the enemy with cotton and bringing in return useless gewgaws.[ ] from march , , to the end of the war, the confederate government succeeded better in regulating the imports by blockade-runners. but after august, when farragut captured the forts defending the harbor entrance, the port of mobile received little from the outside world. before the stringent regulations of the confederacy went into force, blockade-running was demoralizing. the importers refused to accept paper money for their goods, and thus discredited currency while draining specie from the country. high prices and extortion followed. cotton, instead of being exchanged for british gold, brought in trinkets, silks, satins, laces, broadcloths, brandy, rum, whiskey, fancy slippers, and ladies' goods generally. curiously enough, there was great demand for these, in spite of the wants of the necessaries of life, medicine, and munitions of war. delicate women, old persons, and children suffered most from the effects of the blockade. as spears says, there were many tiny graves made in the south because the blockade kept out necessary medicines.[ ] the blockade reduced the confederacy; the union navy rather than the union army was the prime factor in crushing the south; it made possible the victories of the army. as it was, the blockade-runners probably postponed the end for a year or more.[ ] though the number of blockade-runners increased in the latter part of and in , alabama profited but little; her one good seaport was closed in august, , by farragut's fleet, and with the fleet came the last regular blockade-runner. as the warships were moving up to engage the forts, a blockade-runner passed in with them unnoticed.[ ] small boats still brought in supplies. trade through the lines the early policy of the confederate administration was to bring the north to terms by shutting off the cotton supply and by ceasing to purchase supplies which had heretofore been a source of great profit to northern merchants, and was, on the whole, consistently adhered to during the war. the state administration held the same theory until one-fourth of its people were destitute; then it was ready to relax restrictions on trade.[ ] individuals who had plenty of cotton and little to eat and wear soon came to the conclusion that traffic with the north would do no harm, but much good. the united states wanted the products of the south, and made stronger efforts to get them than the blockaded south made to get supplies by the exchange. until the very last, the north was more active in commercial intercourse than the south, notwithstanding the fearful want all over the southern country. the policy of the north was to have all trade in southern products pass through the hands of its own treasury agents, who were to strip such products of all extraordinary profits for the benefit of the united states treasury, and to see that the confederacy profited as little as possible.[ ] the confederate states government, when forced to allow some kind of trade through the lines, sought to sell only government cotton or to force traders to traffic under its license. the state administration, at times, worked in its agents under confederate license in order to get supplies for the destitute in the counties near the lines of the enemy. few regulations of commercial intercourse were made by the confederate states, but many were made by the united states. the confederate states had the problem almost under control; the united states did not, and had to try to regulate what it could not prohibit. trade along the tennessee and mississippi frontier was subject to the following regulations on the side of the united states: trade was carried on under the control of the treasury department; all trade had to be licensed; there were numerous officials to regulate the trade and the army was directed to assist traders; no coin, no foreign money, and no supplies were to be allowed to get to the confederates; the trader must not go within confederate territory; until the southern seller, whither confederate or union, when he went beyond the lines could get only per cent of the new york value of his produce; from to he could get per cent of the value if the cotton were not produced by slave labor; in all cases the seller had to take the oath of allegiance to the united states. these regulations were gradually repealed during the latter part of and early in .[ ] the legislation of the confederate states was not so full, but the policy was about the same and more consistently enforced. in the confederate congress made it unlawful to sell in any part of the confederate states in the possession of the enemy any cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar, molasses, or naval stores.[ ] licenses, however, for the sale of certain merchandise could be obtained from the secretary of war. trade through the lines was not under the supervision of treasury officials but was looked after by the generals commanding the frontier. in a law of congress prohibited the export of military and naval stores, and agricultural production, such as cotton and tobacco, except under regulations prescribed by the president.[ ] but the restrictions were not strictly enforced. it was not possible to do so; commerce would find a way in spite of the war. the people of alabama were, on the whole, disposed to approve the policy of the confederate authorities, but, when want and destitution came, the owners of cotton proceeded to find a way to sell a few bales. early in north alabama was occupied by the federals, and trade began along the line of the tennessee river. later, there were trade lines to the northwest through mississippi, and to the northeast through georgia and tennessee.[ ] after the capture of new orleans, cotton was sent through mississippi to new orleans, or to the banks of the mississippi river, and always found purchasers. there was a thriving trade between mobile and new orleans during the butler régime in the latter city. by the trade through the lines, the people of alabama secured more of the scarcer commodities than by the blockade-running. much of the trade was carried on by firms in mobile that had agents or branch houses in new orleans. three pounds of cotton were exchanged for one of bacon; army supplies, clothing, blankets, and medical stores were secured in exchange for cotton; salt was also a commodity much in demand. for three years, from to , trade was quite brisk between the two cities, some of it under license by the confederate secretary of war, and some of it purely contraband. as long as butler controlled new orleans there was no trouble.[ ] when general canby went to new orleans, he reported that english houses in mobile were making contracts to export , bales of cotton _via_ new orleans, and expected to realize $ , , net profits. canby was of the opinion that the cotton trade aided the confederates. the character of the treasury agents in charge of the cotton trade was bad; they were likely to do anything for gain. he stated on the authority of a new orleans banker, who was the agent of a cotton speculator, that confederate agents would come to new orleans with united states legal tender notes and invest in sterling with him, drawing against cotton which was ostensibly purchased from "loyal" or foreign citizens.[ ] the speculators would give information to the confederates with regard to the movements of the federals, in order that the confederates might preserve cotton that would in an emergency be destroyed. the speculators would buy the cotton later. in a new york manufacturer testified that he had made contracts with firms in selma, montgomery, and mobile to take pay for debts due him in cotton delivered through the lines at new orleans. the price was $ . to $ . a pound in new york. treasury agents made similar contracts for alabama cotton to be delivered through new orleans, pensacola, or through the lines in mississippi, tennessee, and georgia. one agent, h. a. risley, made contracts with half a dozen persons for more than , bales of cotton, the bulk of which was to come from alabama. most of this, it is needless to say, was not delivered.[ ] the confederate officials tried to manage that only government cotton went out under the licenses from the war department and that only necessary supplies were imported in exchange. but there was much abuse of the privilege and much private smuggling of cotton in , through the mississippi to new orleans and the river; and on september , , general dick taylor (at selma) annulled all cotton export contracts in the department of alabama, mississippi, and east louisiana. however, he said, the confederate authorities would purchase necessaries imported and would pay for them in cotton at cents a pound. this cotton could then be carried beyond the lines. no luxuries were to be imported, under penalty of confiscation.[ ] surgeon potts, of the confederate army, stationed at montgomery, secured medical supplies from the federal lines in louisiana and mississippi, both by water and by land, sending cotton in exchange. one of the last reports made to president davis was by lieutenant-colonel brand, of miles's louisiana legion, who stated (april , , at danville, virginia) that on march , , a mr. mcknight of the alabama reserves had presented a permit to general hodges in louisiana for indorsement and orders for a grant to escort , , - / pounds of cotton (about bales) through southwestern mississippi and eastern louisiana to exchange for medical supplies for surgeon potts. brand was of the opinion that this was merely a scheme to sell cotton and not to get medicines, as he had known of only one wagon-load of medical supplies that had gone through his territory to dr. potts. mcknight had no government cotton to carry, for there was none in that section of the country, but he expected to buy it as a speculation. this practice, brand stated, was common. even government cotton would be sold for coffee, soap, flour, etc., under the name of medical supplies, and these would be sold by the speculators.[ ] in north alabama a brisk trade was carried on for three years with the connivance of the federal officers, many of whom were interested in the fleecy staple in spite of orders forbidding such conduct.[ ] negroes were given "free papers" in order that they might go in and out of the lines of the armies on contraband trade. the confederate officials on the border were also often implicated in the traffic or connived at it through a desire to see poor people get supplies.[ ] one of the mildest charges against the federal general o. m. mitchel was that he had profited by speculation in the contraband trade in cotton while he was in command in north alabama. it was alleged that he used united states transportation to haul cotton when the transportation was needed for other purposes. mitchel claimed that personally he had received no profit from his trade; it appeared, however, that he had used his official position to advance the interests of his brother-in-law and his son-in-law. the discussion over his case brought out the fact that the northern cotton speculator or agent would go into the confederate lines and buy cotton at ten and eleven cents a pound, confederate currency, and take the cotton north and realize immense profits.[ ] mitchel and other federal officers, it was shown, approved and assisted the trade beyond the lines.[ ] individual permits were sometimes given by president lincoln, authorizing the bearers to go within the confederacy, without restriction, and get cotton and other southern produce. sometimes, after bringing it out, these people lost their cotton to united states treasury agents, because the permission given by the president was not in accordance with the treasury regulations. in north alabama several agents got into trouble in this way. lincoln, it seems, understood that the laws gave him authority to issue permits to trade within the confederate lines.[ ] in , when cotton was selling at forty to fifty cents a pound in coin, numbers of federal officers resigned in order to speculate in cotton. a former beef contractor who had grown rich in the cotton trade was said to have controlled almost the whole of huntsville. both hotels, the waterworks, and the gas works belonged to him, and there was complaint of his extortions.[ ] small packages, especially of quinine, were sent south through the adams express company, which would guarantee to deliver them within the confederacy.[ ] this caused speculation, and it was finally stopped. women passed through the lines and brought back quinine and other medicines concealed in their clothing. a druggist in middle alabama determined to carry on a contraband trade in cotton and drugs. the south had prohibited private trade in cotton; the north forbade the sale of medical supplies to the confederates. but following the example of many others, he went into north mississippi, loaded a wagon with cotton, and carried it to memphis, then held by the federals, and sold it for a high price in united states money. he then exchanged his wagon for an ambulance with a white canvas cover, on which was painted the word "smallpox" in large letters, and over which fluttered a yellow flag. he loaded the ambulance with quinine, ether, morphine, and other valuable drugs, and other articles of merchandise scarce in alabama. the yellow flag and the magic word "smallpox" kept people away, and, after many adventures, he finally reached home.[ ] only by such methods could the beleaguered people obtain the precious medicines. one of the last contracts on record in respect to trade through the lines was a deal made on january , , by samuel noble and george w. quintard, his agent, both of alabama, to deliver several thousand bales of cotton to an agent of the united states treasury.[ ] there is evidence that some of the cotton was delivered. the illicit trade in cotton by private parties became so flagrant that in the winter of - , a fresh confederate regiment, which had not yet been touched by the fever of speculation, was sent from the interior of georgia to guard part of the frontier in alabama and mississippi. one of the first persons captured smuggling a cotton train through the lines was the wife of the confederate commanding general, who, of course, released her.[ ] much of the trade was carried on by poor people who had a few bales of cotton and who were obliged to sell it or suffer from want. this fact caused the confederate officers to be lax in the enforcement of the regulations.[ ] the extraordinary prices of cotton in the outside world brought little gain to the blockaded confederacy. before the cotton could be brought into the union lines or beyond the blockade, all the profits had been absorbed by the confederate speculator, or, most often, by the union speculators and treasury agents. theoretically, the regulations of the united states should have brought much profit to the federal government. in fact, as secretary chase reported, the united states did not realize a great deal from confederate staples brought into the union lines. these frauds and the demoralizing effects of the system were evidenced by many reports from officers from the army and navy.[ ] but in spite of the demoralizing effects of the contraband trade within the confederacy and in spite of the extremely low prices obtained for confederate staples, much-needed supplies were sent in in such quantities as to enable the contest to be maintained much longer than otherwise it would have lasted. owing to its interior location, it is probable that alabama profited less by this trade than the other states. sec. . scarcity and destitution when the men went away to the army, many poor families began to suffer for the necessaries of life. the suffering was greater in the white counties, where slaves were relatively few, many families feeling the touch of want as soon as the breadwinners left. the black belt had plenty, such as it was, until the end of the war. the first legislature, after the secession of the state, levied a special tax of per cent of the regular tax for the next year to provide for the destitute families of absent volunteers.[ ] a month later a law was passed permitting counties to assume the tax and to pay the amount into the state treasury, and thus secure exemption from the state tax.[ ] the county commissioners were directed to appropriate money from the county treasury for the support of the indigent families of soldiers.[ ] this was to secure immediate relief, which was imperatively necessary, since the special tax for their benefit would not be collected until the next year. early in portions of north alabama were so devastated by the federals that many people, to escape starvation, had to "refugee" to other parts of the country, usually to middle alabama, there to be supported by the state. at this time all crops were short, owing to a drought, and the poorer people suffered greatly.[ ] speculators had advanced the prices on food, and wage-earners were unable to buy. impressment by the government made farmers afraid to bring produce to town.[ ] the county commissioners were authorized in to levy for the next year a tax equal to the regular state tax and to use it for the benefit of the destitute.[ ] the state also made an appropriation of $ , , for the same purpose. this appropriation was to be distributed by the county commissioners in the form of supplies or money. the families of substitutes were not made beneficiaries of this fund.[ ] the sum of $ , was appropriated for cotton and wool spinning cards, which were to be purchased abroad and distributed among the counties in proportion to the white population. they were sold at cost to those able to buy,[ ] and several distributions were made to the needy families of soldiers.[ ] salt was the scarcest of all the necessaries of life. the state took entire charge of the whole supply that was for sale and sold it at a moderate price, sometimes at cost, and to those in great need it was furnished free.[ ] the county commissioners were authorized to hire and rehire slaves and take in return provisions, which were distributed among the poor families of soldiers.[ ] the commissioners of sumter and walker counties were permitted to borrow $ , in each county for the poor, and to levy a tax of per cent of the state tax with which to repay the borrowed money.[ ] judge dargan, member of congress, wrote to president davis in the winter of that many people of mobile were destitute.[ ] mobile was farther away from country supplies, and the people suffered greatly. in the spring of there was suffering in the southern white counties. a party of women, the wives and daughters of soldiers, raided a provision shop in mobile, when there were instances of dire distress in the families of soldiers.[ ] the richer citizens of the city gave $ , to support a free market, where for a while needy persons were furnished daily. another contribution of $ , was raised to clothe a thousand destitute families.[ ] in the non-combatants of north alabama suffered more than in the previous year. houses had been burned, grain and provisions destroyed, and many were homeless and destitute. numbers were driven from the country by the persecutions of the federals and tories. the confederate war tax and the state tax were suspended in districts invaded by the enemy,[ ] and in august, , the legislature appropriated $ , , for the support of the destitute families of soldiers during the next three months. twenty-five pounds of salt were also given to each member of a soldier's family as a year's supply.[ ] probate judges impressed provisions and paid for them out of this million-dollar fund. in november, , an appropriation of $ , , was made for the support of soldiers' families during the coming year. in counties held by the enemy where there were no commissioners' courts, the probate judges paid to soldiers' families their share of the appropriation. the county commissioners were authorized to impress provisions for the poor if they were unable to buy them.[ ] washington county was permitted to borrow $ , for the relief of soldiers' families.[ ] the policy of giving a county permission to raise money for its own poor was much opposed on the ground that the counties which had furnished most soldiers and where the destitution was greatest were the least able to pay. the legislature declared then that the poor soldiers' families should be the charge of the state.[ ] the sum of $ , was appropriated for the destitute of north alabama, who had lost everything from the seizure and destruction by the enemy. disloyal persons and their families were not entitled to aid.[ ] macon county was authorized to levy a tax-in-kind for the poor, and pike county a tax-in-kind and a property and income tax, practically a duplicate of the confederate tax.[ ] the legislature of appropriated $ , , for soldiers' families,[ ] and made a special appropriation of $ , for the poor in the counties of cherokee, de kalb, morgan, st. clair, marshall, and blount, which were overrun by the enemy.[ ] the probate judge of cherokee county was authorized to act for de kalb because the probate judge of that county had been carried off by the federals.[ ] in lawrence county the federals raided the probate judge's office, and took $ belonging to the destitute, and the agent was robbed of $ . while trying to carry it to moulton. both losses were made good by the state.[ ] statutes were repeatedly passed, prohibiting the distilling of grain for the purpose of making alcoholic liquors. the state placed this industry under the supervision of the governor, and alcohol and whiskey were distributed among the counties where most needed, to be sold at a moderate price for medicinal purposes, and the profit given to the poor, or to be given away upon physicians' prescriptions. later the prohibition was extended to include potatoes, peas, and even molasses and sugar. this prohibition was not a temperance measure, but was designed to preserve as foodstuffs the grain, molasses, peas, and potatoes.[ ] the county commissioners usually had charge of the destitute, and looked after the collection of the special taxes which were levied for the benefit of the poor. they also distributed the supplies, purchased or collected by the tax-in-kind, among the needy people after investigating the merits of each case. in those portions of the state overrun by the enemy or liable to repeated invasion, the probate judge of the county was authorized to take charge of all matters relating to the relief of the destitute. many thousand dollars' worth of supplies were furnished the northern counties when they were within the federal lines or between the hostile lines. many of the supplies sent there fell into the hands of tories or federals, and many undeserving persons obtained assistance. confederate sympathizers within the federal lines had a struggle to live, and numbers, completely ruined by the ravages of the federals and tories, had to flee to the central and southern counties. the quartermaster-general of the state had charge of the state distribution among the counties, and among the confederate soldiers. there was an agent of the state whose business it was to look after claims for pay and bounty due the families of deceased soldiers. it is safe to say that little was ever collected on this account.[ ] the confederate soldiers, as plentiful as paper money was, were rarely paid. much of their supplies came from home. the confederate government could not supply them even with blankets and shoes. this the state undertook to do and with some degree of success. and at one time, however ( ), after impressing all the leather and shoes in the state, only one thousand pairs could be secured.[ ] agents were sent with the armies going north into kentucky and maryland to buy supplies of blankets, shoes, woollen clothing, and salt, for the state. blankets could not be obtained except by capture, running the blockade, or purchase through the lines, as there was not a blanket factory in the confederacy in . in the following year the carpets in the state capitol were torn up and sent to the alabama soldiers to be used as blankets.[ ] in the legislature asked congress to exempt from payment of the tax-in-kind the people of that part of north alabama which was subject to the invasions of the enemy. this was done. congress was also asked to exempt from the payment of this tax those families of soldiers whose support was derived from white labor.[ ] as a result of economic conditions the taxation fell upon the slave owners of central and south alabama. but the suffering was much greater among the people whose supplies came from white labor. these were the people assisted by the state and county appropriations. yet when they were able to pay the tax-in-kind, they, at times, almost rebelled against it. it has been estimated that from the latter part of to the close of the war at least one-fourth of the white population of the state was supported by the state and counties. this estimate does not include the soldiers.[ ] a letter written in april, , to the governor, from talladega county discloses the following facts in regard to that county: with a white population of , , it had furnished up to april, , companies of volunteers, not counting those who volunteered in other regiments or who furnished substitutes or were enrolled in the reserves or militia. the citizens of the county pledged the soldiers that they would raise $ , annually, if necessary, for the support of the soldiers' families. in may, , persons received aid from the county; in april, , . in , the county received about $ , from the state for the poor, and pounds of salt for each member of needy families of soldiers. in addition to this the people of the county raised in that year, for the poor, $ in cash, bushels of corn, bushels of wheat, and sacks of salt. the county bought , bushels of corn at $ a bushel, and sold it at cents a bushel to the poor; bushels of wheat at $ a bushel and sold it at $ a bushel; sacks of salt at $ per sack, and sold it at $ per sack. the destitute families were those of laborers who had joined the army. they lived mostly in the hill country, where they suffered much from the tories. many were refugees from north alabama.[ ] in may, , soldiers' families in randolph county were supported by the state and county. many thousand bushels of corn brought from middle alabama had to be hauled miles from the railway. eight thousand people, or one-third of the population, were destitute. the same condition existed in other white counties.[ ] colonel gibson, probate judge of lawrence county, relates an experience of his in caring for the destitute. he went in person to gadsden for sacks of salt. he found the sacks in a very bad condition, and repaired the whole lot with his own hands so as to preserve the precious contents. this judge, with his own money, bought cotton cards for the poor people of his county as well as salt, which at that time cost $ a barrel.[ ] the people who had supplies gave to those who had none, and thus supplemented the work of the state. they felt it a duty to divide to the last with the deserving families of the poorer soldiers.[ ] early in the war, in order to provide against famine, the authorities, state and confederate, began to urge the people to plant food crops only. they were asked to plant no cotton, except for home needs. corn, wheat, beans, peas, potatoes, and other farm produce and live stock were essential.[ ] during the winter of - there was much distress among the poor people in the cities and towns, and the next spring the senators and representatives of alabama united in an address to the people, asking them to stop raising cotton and raise more foodstuffs and live stock. governor shorter begged the people to raise food crops to keep the soldiers from starving. the planters were asked as a patriotic duty to raise the largest possible quantities of supplies. the confederate congress also urged the people to raise provision crops instead of cotton.[ ] though hard to convince that cotton was not king, the people in and turned their attention more to food crops, and had transportation facilities been good in and , there need not have been any suffering in the state, and the armies could have been fed better.[ ] because of the few railways, and the bad roads, often people in one section of the state would be starving when there was an abundance a hundred miles away. in the upper counties, when the soldiers' families failed to make a crop, and when supplies were hard to get, the probate judges would give the women certificates, and send them down into the lower country for corn. women whose husbands were at home hiding to escape the conscript officer or the squad searching for deserters, young girls, and old women came in droves into the central counties both by railway and by boat, for free passage was given them, getting off at every landing and station. with large sacks, these "corn women," as they were called, scoured the country for corn and other provisions. something was always given them, and these supplies were sent to the station or landing for them. money was sometimes given to them, and a crowd of "corn women" on their way home would have several hundred dollars and quantities of provisions. these women were usually opposed to the war, and hated the army and every one in it; the negro they especially disliked. the "corn women" became a nuisance to the overseers and planters' wives on the plantations.[ ] when there was plenty in the country, the towns and the armies were often in want. speculators controlled the prices on whatever found its way to the market. in governor moore issued a proclamation condemning the extortion of tradesmen, who were buying up the necessaries of life for the purposes of speculation. such, he declared, was unpatriotic and wicked.[ ] the legislature made such an action a penal offence, and to buy up provisions and clothing on the false pretence of being a confederate agent was "felony."[ ] in some officers of the quartermaster's department were found guilty of speculation in food supplies.[ ] to prevent extortion the legislature afterwards enacted that on all goods for sale or speculation, except medicine and drugs, a profit of per cent only could be made. all over that amount was to be paid into the state treasury.[ ] millers were not to take more than one-eighth for toll.[ ] at times it was unlawful to buy corn or other grain for shipment and sale in another part of the state or in other states. the military authorities in charge of the railroads sometimes prohibited the shipment of grain or supplies away from the regions where the armies were likely to camp or to march. in december, , it was enacted that no one except the producer or miller should sell corn without a license from the judge of probate, which license limited the sale to one county for one year at a profit of not more than per cent.[ ] however, in the legislature authorized t. b. bethea of montgomery to sell corn bought in marengo county in any market in the state.[ ] distress was produced in south alabama by general pemberton's order prohibiting shipment by private individuals from mississippi to alabama on the railways.[ ] in each state and later in each congressional district there were price commissioners appointed, whose duty it was to fix schedules of prices at which the articles of common use and necessity were to be sold by the owners or paid for by the government when impressed. these prices were fixed for the whole state, were usually for a term of three months, and were often below the real market value. consequently this had no effect except to make the people hide their supplies from the government.[ ] prices necessarily varied greatly in the different sections of the state, and what was a reasonable value in central alabama was unreasonably low in north alabama or at mobile. in a confederate quartermaster in north alabama insisted that the price commissioners must raise their prices or he would be unable to buy for the army. he wrote that wool and woollen and leather goods sold at mobile in december, , for from three to five times as much as the scheduled prices of november , . prices in north alabama, he added, must be made higher than in south alabama because there was barely enough in that section for the people themselves to live on.[ ] for months after the end of the war the inhabitants of the hill and mountain districts of north alabama and of the pine barrens of south alabama were on the verge of starvation, and a number of deaths actually occurred. the black belt fared better, and recovered more quickly from the devastation of the armies. sec. . the negro during the war military uses of negroes the large non-combatant negro population was not wholly a source of military and economic weakness to the state. in many respects it was a source of strength to the military authorities, who employed negroes in various capacities, thus relieving whites for military service. they were employed as teamsters, cooks, nurses, and attendants in the hospitals, laborers on the fortifications at mobile, montgomery, and selma, around the ordnance factories at selma, in the salt works of clarke county, and at the nitre works of central and southern alabama. half as many whites could be released for war as there were negroes employed in military industries. the negroes employed by the authorities were usually chosen because trustworthy, and they were as devoted confederates as the whites, all in all, perhaps, more so. they were efficient and faithful, and rarely deserted to the enemy or allowed themselves to be captured, though many opportunities were offered in north alabama.[ ] after the secession of the state and before the formation of the confederacy numerous offers of the services of negro men were made by their masters. the legislature passed an act to regulate the use of men so proffered.[ ] where the negroes were employed in great numbers by the government they worked under the supervision, not of a government overseer, but of one appointed by the master who supported the negroes, and who was paid or promised pay for their work. in the early part of the war the white soldiers wanted to fight, but not to dig trenches, cook, drive teams, or play in the band. congress authorized, in , the employment of negroes as musicians in the army, and the enlistment of four cooks, who might be colored, for each company.[ ] in the same year the state legislature authorized the governor to impress negroes to work on the fortifications.[ ] the state government impressed numbers of negroes as laborers in the various state industries, such as nitre and salt working, building railroads, and hauling the tax-in-kind. the legislature, in august, , declared that negroes ought to be placed in all possible positions in the workshops and as laborers, and the white men thus released should be sent to the army.[ ] most of the impressment of blacks was done by the confederate government. the confederate impressment act of march , , provided that no farm slave should be impressed before december . on february , , free negroes were made liable to service in the army as laborers and teamsters. before the passage of this act free negroes had often been hired as substitutes, and sent to the army as soldiers in place of those who preferred the comforts of home.[ ] bishop-general polk made a general impressment of negroes in north alabama to work on the defences in his department, and many protests were made by the owners. a public meeting was held in april, , in talladega county to protest against further impressment of negroes. this county, in december, , sent negroes to the fortifications; in january, , more were sent; in february, , ; in march, , ; and so on. talladega was one of the counties that had to furnish supplies to the destitute mountain counties, and the loss of labor was severely felt. randolph and other north alabama counties made similar protests. from north alabama negroes were taken at one time to work on the fortifications in the tennessee valley; this frequently occurred. central and south alabama and southeast mississippi furnished many negroes to work on the fortifications at selma, montgomery, and mobile. after farragut passed the forts at mobile, negroes were at once set to throwing up earthworks and soon had the city in safety.[ ] the lines of earthworks then made by the negroes still stretch for miles around the city, through the pine woods, almost as well defined as when thrown up. when the crack regiments of young men from the black counties went to virginia, early in , nearly every soldier had with him a negro servant who faithfully took care of his "young master" and performed the rough tasks that fell to the soldier--splitting wood, digging ditches about the camp, hauling, and building. the third alabama regiment of infantry, one of the best, left alabama a thousand strong in rank and file and several hundred strong in negro servants. two years later there were no negro servants; they had been sent home when their masters were killed, or because they were needed at home, or they had been sold and "eaten up" by the youngsters, who now had to do their own work.[ ] only the officers kept body-servants after the first year or two. these servants were always faithful, even unto death. the old confederate soldiers have pleasant recollections of the devotion of the faithful black who "fought, bled, and died" with him for four years in dreary camp and on bloody battle-field. the old soldier-servants who survive tell with pride of the times when with "young master" and "mass bob lee" they "fowt the yankees in virginny" or at "ilun ." many a bullet was sent into the northern lines by the slaves secretly using the white soldiers' guns. when capture was imminent, the negro servant would take watches, papers, and other valuables of the master, and, making his way through the enemy's lines, return to the old home with messages and directions from his master, then in prison. in battle the slave was close at hand to aid his master when wounded or exhausted. with a pine torch at night he searched among the wounded and dead for his master. finding him wounded, he cared for him faithfully, bore him to hospital or friendly house, or carried him a long journey home. finding him dead, the devoted slave performed the last duties and alone often buried his master, and then went sadly home to break the news. sometimes he managed to carry home his master's body, that it might lie among kindred in the family burying-ground. if he could not do that, he carried to his mistress his master's sword, horse, trinkets, and often his last message.[ ] the negroes were more willing to serve as soldiers than the whites were for them to serve. the slave owner did not like the idea of having the negro fight, because it was felt that fundamentally the black was the cause of strife. others were sensitive about using slave property to fight the quarrels of free men. as the years went on opinion was more and more favorable to negro enlistment, but it was too late before the confederate government took up the matter.[ ] the average white person and the private soldiers generally were opposed to the enlistment of the negroes. the white soldier thought it was a white man's duty and privilege to serve as a soldier and that the fight was a white man's fight. to make a negro a soldier was to grant him military equality at least. to enlist negroes meant to abolish slavery, sooner or later: negro soldiers would be emancipated at once; the rest would be freed gradually. the non-slaveholders were more opposed to such a scheme than the slaveholders. the negro would have made a good soldier under his master, but he was worth almost as much to the confederacy to raise supplies and perform labor.[ ] the free negro population, though less than in number, were devoted supporters of the confederacy, and nearly all free black men were engaged in some way in the confederate service. some entered the service as substitutes, others as cooks, teamsters, and musicians. in mobile they asked to be enlisted as soldiers under white officers. the skilful artisans usually stayed at home at the urgent request of the whites, who needed their work, but, nevertheless, they contributed. all accounts agree that they never avoided payment of the tax-in-kind, and other contributions. one of the best-known of the free negroes was horace godwin (or king)[ ] of russell county. he was a constant and liberal contributor to the support of the confederacy. he also furnished clothes and money to the sons of his former master who were in the army, and erected a monument over the grave of their father. negroes on the farms during the war the greater part of the farm labor in the white counties was done by old men, women, and children, and in the black belt by the negroes. usually the owner, who was perhaps entitled to exemption under the "twenty-negro" law, went to war and left his family and plantation to the care of the blacks. in no known instance was the trust misplaced. there was no insubordination among the negroes, no threat of violence. the negroes worked contentedly, though they were soon aware that if the war went against their masters their freedom would result.[ ] under the direction of the mistress, advised once in a while by letter from the master in the army, the black overseer controlled his fellow-slaves, planted, gathered, and sold the crops, paid the tax-in-kind (under protest), and cared for the white family.[ ] in a day's ride in the black belt no able-bodied white man was to be found.[ ] when raiders came, the negroes saved the family valuables and concealed the farm cattle in the swamps, and though often mistreated by the plundering soldiers because they had hidden the property, they were faithful. women and children felt safer then, when nearly all the white men were away, than they have ever felt since among free negroes.[ ] the black belt could never again send out one-half as many whites to war, in proportion, as in - . fidelity to masters the negroes had every opportunity to desert to the federals, except in the interior of the state, but desertions were infrequent until near the close of the war. in the tennessee valley many were captured and carried off to work in the federal camps. numbers of these captives escaped and gladly returned home. as the federal armies invaded the neighboring states, negroes from georgia, tennessee, florida, and mississippi were sent into the state to escape capture. in many instances the refugee slaves were in charge of one of their own number--the overseer or driver. the invading armies in found numbers of negro refugees doing their best to keep out of the way of the federals. as a rule only the negroes of bad character or young boys deserted to the enemy or gave information to their armies. the young negroes who followed the federal raiders did not meet with the treatment expected, and were glad enough to get back home. most of the negroes disliked and feared the invaders until they came as intensely as the whites did.[ ] the devotion and faithfulness of the house-servants and of many of the field hands where they came in contact with the white people at "the big house" cannot be questioned.[ ] on the part of these there was a desire to acquit themselves faithfully of the trust imposed in them.[ ] it is one of the beautiful aspects of slavery. yet this will not account for the good behavior of the blacks on the large plantations where a white person was seldom seen. they were as faithful almost as the house-servants. it was the faithfulness of trained obedience rather than of love or gratitude, for these were fleeting emotions in the soul of the average african.[ ] on the other hand, the negro did not harbor malice or hatred. constitutionally good-natured, the negroes were as faithful to a harsh and strict master as to one who treated them as men and brothers. where one would expect a desire and an effort for revenge, there was nothing of the sort. not so much love and fidelity, but training and discipline, made insurrection impossible among the blacks. moreover, the negro lacked the capacity for organization under his own leaders. had there been strong leaders and agitators, especially white ones, it is likely that there would have been insurrection, and a negro rising in marengo county would have disbanded the alabama troops. but the system of discipline prevented that. the good church people maintain that one of the strongest influences to hold the negro to his duty was his religion. he had often been carefully instructed by preachers, black and white, and by his white master, and his religion was a real and living thing to him. invariably the influence of the sturdy old black plantation preacher was exerted for good. this influence was strongly felt on the large plantations, where the negroes seldom held converse with white men.[ ] the negroes were frightened, during the last months of the war, at possible capture by the federals and forced enlistment or deportation to freedom and work in camps. they had somewhat the small white child's idea of a "yankee" as some kind of a thing with horns. when the end was at hand and the bonds of the social order were loosening, the negro heard more of the freedom beyond the blue armies, and some of them hoped for and welcomed the invaders. when the armies came at last, most of the negroes helped, as before, to save all that could be saved from the plunderers. at the worst, the negro celebrated freedom by quitting work and following the armies. much stealing was done by them with the encouragement of their deliverers, but the behavior of the blacks was always better than that of the invaders. many rode off the plantation stock in order to be able to follow the army to freedom and no work. some burned buildings, etc., because the army did. most of the former house-servants remained faithful to the whites until it was no longer safe for a black man to be the friend of a native white. on the whole the behavior of the slaves during the war, whatever may be the causes, was most excellent. to the last day of bondage the great majority were true against all temptations. with their white people they wept for the confederate slain, were sad at defeat, and rejoiced in victory.[ ] sec. . schools and colleges; newspapers and publishing houses schools and colleges during the first year of the war the higher institutions of learning kept their doors open and the common schools went on as usual. the strongest educational institution was the university of alabama, which was supported by state appropriations. in a military department was established at the university under captain caleb huse, u.s.a., who afterwards became a confederate purchasing agent in europe. this step was not taken in anticipation of future trouble with the united states, but had been contemplated for years. the student body had been rather turbulent and hard to control, and for the sake of order they were put under a strict military discipline similar to the west point system. many students resigned early in and went into the confederate service. others, proficient in drill, were ordered by the governor to the state camps of instruction to drill the new regiments. there were no commencement exercises in ; but the trustees met and conferred degrees upon a graduating class of fifty-two, the most of whom were in the army. the fall session of opened with a slight increase of students, but they were younger than usual,--from fourteen to seventeen years, and not as well prepared as before the war. parents sent young boys to school to keep them out of the army; many went to get the military training in order that they might become officers later; the state needed officers and encouraged military education. the university was required to furnish drill-masters to the instruction camps without expense to the state. as soon as the boys were well drilled they usually deserted school and entered the confederate service. this custom threatened to break up the school, and in all students were required to enlist as cadets for twelve months, and were not permitted to resign. yet they still deserted in squads of two, three, and four, and went to the army. recruiting officers would offer them positions as officers, and they would accept and leave the university. the students refused to study seriously anything except military science and tactics. numbers refused to take the examinations in order that they might be suspended or expelled, and thus be free to enlist. in - , students were enrolled,--more than ever before,--but mostly boys of fourteen and fifteen. the majority of them were badly prepared in their studies, and it was necessary to establish a preparatory department for them. in - there were boys enrolled--younger than ever. at the end of this session the first commencement since was held, and degrees were conferred on a few who had enlisted and on one or two who had not. the enrolment during the session of - was between and --all young boys of twelve to fifteen. the cadets were called out several times during this session to check federal raids. little studying was done; all were spoiling for a fight. when croxton came, one night in , the long roll was beaten, and every cadet responded. under the command of the president and the commandant they marched against croxton, whose force outnumbered theirs six to one. there was a sharp fight, in which a number of cadets were wounded, and then the president withdrew the corps to marion in perry county, where it was disbanded a few days later. it was now the end of the war. croxton had imperative orders to burn the university buildings, and they were destroyed. there was a fine library, and the librarian, a frenchman, begged in vain that it might be spared. the officers who fired the library saved one volume--the koran--as a souvenir of the occasion.[ ] the hospital for the deaf and dumb at talladega and the insane asylum were continued throughout the war by means of state aid, and after the collapse of the confederacy were not destroyed by the federals.[ ] la grange college, a methodist institution at florence, in north alabama, lost its endowment during the war, and after the occupation of that section by the federals was closed. after the war it was given to the state, and is now one of the state normal colleges. in , howard college, the baptist institution at marion, sent three professors and more than forty students to the army. soon there was only one professor left to look after the buildings; the rest of the faculty and all of the students had joined the army. the endowments and equipment of the college were totally destroyed. nothing was left except the buildings. the southern university at greensboro kept its doors open for three years, but had to close in for want of students and faculty. most of its endowment was lost in confederate securities. after two years of war the east alabama college at auburn suspended exercises. the buildings were then used as a confederate hospital. the endowment was totally lost in confederate bonds, and after the war the property was given to the state for the agricultural and mechanical college, now the alabama polytechnic institute. the catholic college at spring hill near mobile, the judson institute at marion, a well-known baptist college for women, and the methodist woman's college at tuskegee managed to keep going during the war.[ ] the student body at both male and female colleges was composed of younger and younger students each successive year. in only children were found in any of them. in there were many private schools throughout the state. every town and village had its high school or academy. for several years before the war military schools had been springing up over the state. state aid was often given these in the form of supplies of arms. several were incorporated in and . private academies were incorporated in in coffee, randolph, and russell counties, with the usual provision that intoxicating liquors should not be sold within a mile of the school. charters of several schools were amended to suit the changed conditions. these schools were all destroyed, with the exception of professor tutwiler's green springs school, which survived the war, though all its property was lost,[ ] and two schools in tuscaloosa. one of these, known as "the home school," was conducted by mrs. tuomey, wife of the well-known geologist, and the other by professor saunders in the building later known as the "athenæum."[ ] the only independent city public school system was that of mobile, organized in , after northern models. the boys' high school in this city was kept open during the war, though seriously thinned in numbers. the lower departments and the girls' schools were always full.[ ] the state system of schools was organized in on the basis of the mobile system. it was not in full operation before the war came, though much had been done. during the first part of the war public and private schools went on as usual, though there was a constantly lessening number of boys who attended. some went to war, while others, especially in the white counties, had to stop school to look after farm affairs as soon as the older men enlisted. teachers of schools having over twenty pupils were exempt,[ ] but as a matter of fact the teachers who were physically able enlisted in the army along with their older pupils. the teaching was left to old men and women, to the preachers and disabled soldiers; most of the pupils were small girls and smaller boys. the older girls, as the war went on, remained at home to weave and spin or to work in the fields. in sparsely settled communities it became dangerous, on account of deserters and outlaws, for the children to make long journeys through the woods, and the schools were suspended. the schools in baldwin county were suspended as early as .[ ] legislation for the schools went on much as usual. after the first year few new schools were established, public or private. appropriations were made by the legislature and distributed by the county superintendents. when the federals occupied north alabama, the legislature ordered that school money should be paid to the county superintendents in that section on the basis of the estimates for .[ ] the sixteenth section lands were sold when it was possible and the proceeds devoted to school purposes.[ ] a confederate military academy was established in mobile and conducted by army officers. the purpose of this institute was to give practical training to future officers and to young and inexperienced officers. few, if any, of the schools were entirely supported by public money. the small state appropriation was eked out by contributions from the patrons in the form of tuition fees. these fees were paid sometimes in confederate money, but oftener in meat, meal, corn, cloth, yarn, salt, and other necessaries of life. the school terms were shortened to two or three months in the summer and as many in the winter. the stronger pupils did not attend school when there was work for them on the farm; consequently the summer session was the more fully attended. the school system as thus conducted did not break down, except in north alabama, until the surrender, though many schools were discontinued in particular localities for want of teachers or pupils. the quality of the instruction given was not of the best; only those taught who could do little else. the girls are said to have been much better scholars than the boys, whose minds ran rather upon military matters. often their play was military drill, and listening to war stories their chief intellectual exercise.[ ] some rare and marvellous text-books again saw the light during the war. old books that had been stored away for two generations were brought out for use. webster's "blue back" speller was the chief reliance, and when the old copies wore out, a revised southern edition of the book was issued. smith's grammar was expurgated of its new englandism and made a patriotic impression by its exercises. davies's old arithmetics were used, and several new mathematical works appeared. very large editions of confederate text-books were published in mobile, and especially in richmond; south carolina, north carolina, and georgia also furnished confederate text-books to alabama. mobile furnished mississippi.[ ] i have seen a small geography which had crude maps of all the countries, including the confederate states, but omitting the united states. a few lines of text recognized the existence of the latter country. another geography was evidently intended to teach patriotism and pugnacity, to judge from its contents. here are some extracts from w. b. moore's primary geography: "in a few years the northern states, finding their climate too cold for the negroes to be profitable, sold them to the people living farther south. then the northern states passed laws to forbid any person owning slaves in their borders. then the northern people began to preach, to lecture, and to write about the sin of slavery. the money for which they had sold their slaves was now partly spent in trying to persuade the southern states to send their slaves back to africa.... the people [of the north] are ingenious and enterprising, and are noted for their tact in 'driving a bargain.' they are refined and intelligent on all subjects but that of negro slavery; on this they are mad.... this [the confederacy] is a great country! the yankees thought to starve us out when they sent their ships to guard our seaport towns. but we have learned to make many things; to do without others. "q. has the confederacy any commerce? "a. a fine inland commerce, and bids fair, sometime, to have a grand commerce on the high seas. "q. what is the present drawback to our trade? "a. an unlawful blockade by the miserable and hellish yankee nation."[ ] in some families the children were taught at home by a governess or by some member of the family. this was the case especially in the black belt, where there were not enough white children to make up a school. many mistresses of plantations were, however, too busy to look after the education of their children, and the latter, when old enough, would be sent to a friend or relative who lived in town, in order to attend school.[ ] sometimes a planter had a school on his plantation for the benefit of his own children. to this school would be admitted the children of all the whites on the plantation, and of the neighbors who were near enough to come.[ ] newspapers in there were ninety-six periodicals of various kinds published in alabama. about twenty-five of these suspended publication during the war and were not revived afterwards. numbers of others suspended for a short time when paper could not be secured or when being moved from the enemy. the monthly publications--usually agricultural--all suspended. the so-called "unionist" newspapers of went to the wall early in the war or were sold to editors of different political principles.[ ] in spite of the existence of war, the circulation decreased. most of the reading men were in the army; the people at home became less and less able to pay for a newspaper as the war progressed, and many persons read a single copy, which was handed around the community. people who could not read would subscribe for newspapers and get some one to read for them. an eager crowd surrounded the reader. papers left for a short time in the post-office were read by the post-office loiterers as a right. few war papers are now in existence, there were so many uses for them after they were read. it is said that the newspaper men did more service in the field in proportion to numbers than any other class. at the first sound of war many of them left the office and did not return until the struggle was ended. often every man connected with a paper would volunteer, and the paper would then cease to be issued. there were instances when both father and son left the newspaper office, and one or both were killed in the war. colonel e. c. bullock of the alabama troops was a fine type of the alabama editor. the law exempted from service one editor and the necessary printers for each paper. but little advantage was taken of this; few able-bodied newspaper men failed to do service in the field.[ ] sometimes in north alabama publication had to cease because of the occupation of the country by the federal forces, which confiscated or destroyed the printing outfits. it was difficult to get supplies of paper, ink, and other newspaper necessaries. no new lots of type were to be had at all during the whole war. some papers were printed for weeks at a time on blue, brown, or yellow wrapping-paper. the regular printing-paper was often of bad quality and the ink was also bad, so that to-day it is almost impossible to read some of the papers. others are as white and clean as if printed a year ago. a bound volume presents a variegated appearance--some issues clear and white and strong, others stained and greasy from the bad ink. the type was often so worn as to be almost illegible. in some instances, when the sense could be made out, letters were omitted from words, and even words were omitted, in order to save the type for use elsewhere. the reading matter in the papers was not as a rule very exciting. brief summaries were given of military operations, in which the confederates were usually victorious, and of political events, north and south. one of the latest war papers that i have seen chronicles the defeat of grant by lee about april , . letters were printed from the editor in the field; former employees also wrote letters for the paper, and items of interest from the soldiers' letters were published. new legislation, state and confederate, was summarized. the governor's proclamations were made public through the medium of the county newspapers. it was about the only way in which the governor could reach his people. the orders and advertisements of the army commissaries and quartermasters and conscript officers were printed each week; there were advertisements for substitutes, a few for runaway negroes, and a very few trade advertisements. if a merchant had a stock of goods, he was sure to be found without giving notice. notices of land sales were frequent, but very few negroes were offered for sale. the price of slaves was high to the last, a sentimental price. many papers devoted columns and pages to the printing of directions for making at home various articles of food and clothing that formerly had been purchased from the north--how to make soap, salt, stockings, boxes without nails, coarse and fine cloth, substitutes for tea, coffee, drugs, etc. mobile, montgomery, selma, and tuscaloosa were the headquarters of the strongest newspapers. the _mobile tribune_ and the _register and advertiser_ were suppressed when the city fell; the material of the latter was confiscated. both had been strong war papers. in april, , the _montgomery advertiser_ sent its material to columbus, georgia, to escape destruction by the raiders, but wilson's men burned it there. in montgomery the newspaper files were piled in the street by wilson and burned; and when steele came, with the second army of invasion, the _advertiser_, which was coming out on a makeshift press, was suppressed, and not until july was it permitted to appear again. the _montgomery mail_, edited by colonel j. j. seibels, who had leanings toward peace, began early in to prepare the people for the inevitable. its attitude was bitterly condemned by the _advertiser_ and by many people, but it was saved from destruction by this course.[ ] publishing houses most of the people of alabama had but little time for reading, and those who had the time and inclination were usually obliged to content themselves with old books. the family bible was in a great number of homes almost the only book read. most of the new books read were published in atlanta, richmond, or charleston, though during the last two years of the war mobile publishers sent out many thousand volumes. w. g. clark and co., of mobile, confined their attention principally to text-books, but s. h. goetzel was more ambitious. his list includes text-books, works on military science and tactics, fiction, translations, music, etc. the best-selling southern novel published during the war was "macaria," by augusta j. evans of mobile. it was printed by goetzel, who also published mrs. ford's "exploits of morgan and his men," which was pirated or reprinted by richardson of new york. evans and cogswell of charleston published miss evans's "beulah." both "macaria" and "beulah" were reprinted in the north. goetzel bound his books in rotten pasteboard and in wall-paper. goetzel was also an enterprising publisher of translations. in he published (on wrapping-paper) a four-volume translation, by adelaide de v. chaudron, of muhlbach's "joseph ii and his court." he published other translations of miss muhlbach's historical novels,--her first american publisher. owen meredith's poem, "tanhauser," was first printed in america in mobile. an opera of the same name was also published. hardee's "rifle and infantry tactics," in two volumes, and wheeler's "cavalry tactics" were printed in large editions by goetzel for the use of alabama troops. lieutenant-colonel freemantle's book, "three months in the southern states," was published in mobile in , and in the same year the works of dickens and george eliot were reprinted by goetzel. an interesting book published by clark of mobile was entitled "the confederate states almanac and repository of useful knowledge." it appeared annually to in mobile and augusta, and resembled the annual cyclopædias and year-books of to-day. small devotional books and tracts were printed in nearly every town that had a printing-press. it is said that the church societies published no doctrinal or controversial tracts. hundreds of different tracts, such as cromwell's "soldier's pocket bible," were printed for distribution among the soldiers. but not enough bibles and testaments could be made. the northern bible societies "with one exception" refused to supply the confederate sinners. the american bible society of new york gave hundreds of thousands of bibles, testaments, etc., principally for the confederate troops. at one time , were given, at another , , and the work was continued after the war. in the british and foreign bible society gave , bibles, etc., for the soldiers, and gave unlimited credit to the confederate bible society.[ ] after the surrender the material of the newspapers and publishing houses was confiscated or destroyed. sec. . the churches during the war attitude of the churches toward public questions the religious organizations represented in the state strongly supported the confederacy, and even before the beginning of hostilities several of them had placed themselves on record in regard to political questions. as a rule, there was no political preaching, but at conferences and conventions the sentiment of the clergy would be publicly declared. the alabama baptist convention, in , declared, in a series of resolutions on the state of the country, that though standing aloof for the most part from political parties and contests, yet their retired position did not exclude the profound conviction, based on unquestioned facts, that the union had failed in important particulars to answer the purpose for which it was created. from the federal government the southern people could no longer hope for justice, protection, or safety, especially with reference to their peculiar property, recognized by the constitution. they thought themselves entitled to equality of rights as citizens of the republic, and they meant to maintain their rights, even at the risk of life and all things held dear. they felt constrained "to declare to our brethren and fellow-citizens, before mankind and before our god, that we hold ourselves subject to the call of proper authority in defence of the sovereignty and independence of the state of alabama and of her sacred right as a sovereignty to withdraw from this union, and to make any arrangement which her people in constituent assemblies may deem best for securing their rights. and in this declaration we are heartily, deliberately, unanimously, and solemnly united."[ ] bravely did they stand by this declaration in the stormy years that followed. a year later ( ) the southern baptist convention adopted resolutions sustaining the principles for which the south was fighting, condemning the course of the north, and pledging hearty support to the confederate government.[ ] like action was taken by the southern methodist church, but little can now be found on the subject. one authority states that in the politicians were anxious that the alabama conference should declare its sentiment in regard to the state of the country. this was strongly opposed and frustrated by bishops soule and andrew, who wanted to keep the church out of politics.[ ] from another account we learn that in december, , a meeting of methodist ministers in montgomery declared in favor of secession from the union.[ ] in a committee report to the east liberty baptist association urged "one consideration upon the minds of our membership: the present civil war which has been inaugurated by our enemies must be regarded as a providential visitation upon us on account of our sins." this called forth warm discussion and was at once modified by the insertion of the words, "though entirely just on our part."[ ] in the alabama ministers--baptist, methodist episcopal south, methodist protestant, united synod south, episcopal, and presbyterian--united with the clergy of the other southern states in "the address of the confederate clergy to christians throughout the world." the address declared that the war was being waged to achieve that which it was impossible to accomplish by violence, viz. to restore the union. it protested against the action of the north in forcing the war upon the south and condemned the abolitionist policy of lincoln as indicated in the emancipation proclamation. it made a lengthy defence of the principles for which the south was fighting.[ ] by law ministers were exempt from military service.[ ] but nearly all of the able-bodied ministers went to the war as chaplains, or as officers, leading the men of their congregations. it was considered rather disgraceful for a man in good physical condition to take up the profession of preaching or teaching after the war began. young men "called to preach" after received scant respect from their neighbors, and the government refused to recognize the validity of these "calls to preach." the preachers at home were nearly all old or physically disabled men. gray-haired old men made up the conferences, associations, conventions, councils, synods, and presbyteries. but to the last their spirit was high, and all the churches faithfully supported the confederate cause. they cheered and kept up the spirits of the people, held society together against the demoralizing influences of civil strife, and were a strong support to the state when it had exhausted itself in the struggle. they gave thanks for victory, consolation for defeat; they cared for the needy families of the soldiers and the widows and orphans made by war. the church societies incorporated during the last year of the war show that the state relief administration had broken down. some of them were, "the methodist orphans' home of east alabama," "the orphans' home of the synod of alabama," "the samaritan society of the methodist protestant church," "the preachers' aid society of the montgomery conference of the methodist episcopal church south." the episcopal church was incorporated in order that it might make provision for the widows and orphans of soldiers.[ ] in the presbyterian, cumberland presbyterian, episcopal, and methodist churches in huntsville sent their bells to holly springs, mississippi, and had them cast into cannon for a battery to be called the "bell battery of huntsville." before they were used the cannon were captured by the federals when they invaded north alabama in .[ ] each command of volunteers attended church in a body before departing for the front. on such occasions there were special services in which divine favor was invoked upon the confederate cause and its defenders. religion exercised a strong influence over the southern people. the strongest denominations were the methodists and the baptists. nearly all the soldiers belonged to some church, the great majority to the two just named. the good influence of the chaplains over the undisciplined men of the southern armies was incalculable. to the religious training of the men is largely due the fact that the great majority of the soldiers returned but little demoralized by the four years of war.[ ] not only was the southern soldier not demoralized by his army life, but many passed through the baptism of fire and came out better men in all respects. the "poor whites," so-called, arrived at true manhood, they fought their way into the front of affairs, and learned their true worth. the reckless, slashing temper of the young bloods disappeared. all were steadied and sobered and imbued with greater self-respect and respect for others. and the work of the church at home and in the army aided this tendency; its democratic influences were strong. the white congregations at home were composed of women, old men, cripples, and children. among the women the religious spirit was strongest; it accounts in some degree for their marvellous courage and constancy during the war. they were often called to church to sanctify a fast. the favorite readings in the bible were the first and second chapters of joel. they worked and fasted and prayed for protection and for victory.[ ] the bible was the most commonly read book in the entire land. the people, naturally religious before the war, became intensely so during the struggle.[ ] the churches and the negroes after the separation of the southern churches from the northern organizations the religious instruction of the negroes was conducted under less difficulties, and greater progress was made. there was no longer danger of interference by hostile mission boards controlled by antislavery officials.[ ] the mission work among the negroes was prospering in , and while the white congregations were often without pastors during the war, the negro missions were always supplied.[ ] many negro congregations were united to white ones and were thus served by the same preacher; others were served by regular circuit riders. some of the best ministers were preachers to the blacks, and were most devoted pastors. one winter a preacher in the tennessee valley, when the federals had burned the bridges, swam the river in order to reach his negro charge. the faithful blacks were waiting for him and built him a fire of pine knots. he preached and dried his clothes at the same time.[ ] the fidelity of the slave during these trying times called forth expressions of gratitude from the churches, and all of them did what they could to better his social and religious condition.[ ] often when there was no white preacher, the old negro plantation preacher took his place in the pulpit and preached to the white and black congregation.[ ] the good conduct of the slaves during the war was due in large degree to the religious training given them by white and black preachers and by the families of the slaveholders. the old black plantation preacher was a tower of strength to the whites of the black belt.[ ] the missions were destroyed by the victorious unionists, and the negro members of the southern churches were encouraged to separate themselves from the "rebel" churches; and never since have the southern religious organizations been able to enter successfully upon work among the blacks. the federal armies and the southern churches with the advance of the federal armies came the northern churches. territory gained by northern arms was considered territory gained for the northern churches. ministers came, or were sent down, to take the place of southern ministers, who were prohibited from preaching. the military authorities were especially hostile to the methodist episcopal church south,[ ] and to the protestant episcopal church, annoying the ministers and congregations of these bodies in every way. they were told that upon them lay the blame for the war; they had done so much to bring it on. there were very few "loyal" ministers and no "loyal" bishops, but the secretary of war at washington, in an order dated november , , placed at the disposal of bishop ames of the northern methodist church, all houses of worship belonging to the southern methodist church in which a "loyal" minister, appointed by a "loyal" bishop, was not officiating. it was a matter of the greatest importance to the government, the order stated, that christian ministers should by example and precept support and foster the "loyal" sentiment of the people. bishop ames, the order recited, enjoyed the entire confidence of the war department, and no doubt was entertained by the government but that the ministers appointed by him would be "loyal." the military authorities were directed to support bishop ames in the execution of his important mission.[ ] a second order, dated january , , directed the military authorities to turn over to the american baptist home mission society all churches belonging to the southern baptists. confidence was expressed in the "loyalty" of this society and its ministers.[ ] other orders placed the board of home missions of the united presbyterian church in charge of the churches of the associate reformed church, and authorized the northern branches of the (o. s. and n. s.) presbyterians to appoint "loyal" ministers for the churches of these denominations in the south. lincoln seems to have been displeased with the action taken by the war department, but nothing more was done than to modify the orders so as to concern only the "churches in the rebellious states."[ ] under these orders churches in north alabama were seized and turned over to the northern branches of the same denomination. in some of the mountain districts this was not opposed by the so-called "union" element of the population. but in most places bitter feelings were aroused, and controversies began which lasted for several years after the war ended. the northern churches in some cases attempted to hold permanently the property turned over to them during the war. in central and south alabama, where the federal forces did not appear until , these orders were not enforced. in the section of the country occupied by the enemy, the military authorities attempted to regulate the services in the various churches. prayer had to be offered for the president of the united states and for the federal government. it was a criminal offence to pray for the confederate leaders. preachers who refused to pray "loyal" prayers and preach "loyal" sermons were forbidden to hold services. in huntsville, in , the rev. frederick a. ross, a celebrated presbyterian clergyman, was arrested by general rousseau, and sent north for praying a "disloyal" prayer in which he said, "we pray thee, o lord, to bless our enemies and to remove them from our midst as soon as seemeth good in thy sight." he seems to have been released, for in february, , general r. s. stanley wrote to general thomas's adjutant-general protesting against the policy of the provost-marshal in huntsville, who had selected a number of prominent men to answer certain test questions as to "loyalty." if not answered to his satisfaction, the person catechized was to be sent beyond the lines. among other prominent citizens two ministers--ross and bannister--were selected for expulsion. these, general stanley said, had never taken part in politics, and he thought it was a bad policy. however, he stated that general granger wanted the preachers expelled.[ ] throughout the war there was a disposition on the part of some army officers to compel ministers of southern sympathies to conduct "loyal" services--that is, to preach and pray for the success of the federal government. it was especially easy to annoy the episcopal clergy, on account of the formal prayer used, but other denominations also suffered. in one instance, a methodist minister was told that he must take the oath (this was soon after the surrender) and pray for the president of the united states, or he must stop preaching. for a time he refused, but finally he took the oath, and, as he said, "i prayed for the president; that the lord would take out of him and his allies the hearts of beasts and put into them the hearts of men, or remove the cusses from office. the little captain never asked me any more to pray for the president and the united states."[ ] in the churches the situation at the close of the war was not promising for peace. some congregations were divided; church property was held by aliens supported by the army; "loyal" services were still demanded; the northern churches were sending agents to occupy the southern field; the negroes were being forcibly separated from southern supervision; the policy of "disintegration and absorption" was beginning. consequently the church question during reconstruction was one of the most irritating.[ ] sec. . domestic life society in during the early months of society was at its brightest and best. for several years social life had been characterized by a vague feeling of unrest. political questions became social questions, society and politics went hand in hand, and the social leaders were the political leaders. the women were well informed on all questions of the day and especially on the burning sectional issues that affected them so closely. after the john brown episode at harper's ferry, the women felt that for them there could be no safety until the question was settled. they were strongly in favor of secession after that event if not before; they were even more unanimous than the men, feeling that they were more directly concerned in questions of interference with social institutions in the south. there was to them a great danger in social changes made, as all expected, by john brown methods.[ ] brilliant social events celebrated the great political actions of the day. the secession of alabama, the sessions of the convention, the meeting of the legislature, the meeting of the provisional congress, the inauguration of president davis--all were occasions for splendid gatherings of beauty and talent and strength. there were balls, receptions, and other social events in country and in town. there was no city life, and country and town were socially one. enthusiasm for the new government of the southern nation was at fever heat for months. at heart many feared and dreaded that war might follow, but had war been certain, the knowledge would have turned no one from his course. when war was seen to be imminent, enthusiasm rose higher. fear and dread were in the hearts of the women, but no one hesitated. from social gayety they turned to the task of making ready for war their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sweethearts. they hurriedly made the first gray uniforms and prepared supplies for the campaign. when the companies were fitted out and ready to depart, there were farewell balls and sermons, and presentations of colors by young women. these ceremonies took place in the churches, town halls, and court-houses. speeches of presentation were made by young women, and of acceptance by the officers. the men always spoke well. the women showed a thorough acquaintance with the questions at issue, but most of their addresses were charges to the soldiers, encouragement to duty. "go, my sons, and return victorious or fall in the cause of the south," or a similar paraphrase, was often heard. one lady said, "we confide [to you] this emblem of our zeal for liberty, trusting that it will nerve your hearts and strengthen your hands in the hour of trial, and that its presence will forbid the thought of seeking any other retreat than in death." another maiden told her soldiers that "we who present this banner expect it to be returned brightened by your chivalry or to become the shroud of the slain." "the terrors of war are far less to be feared than the degradation of ignoble submission," the soldiers were assured by another bright-eyed girl. the legends embroidered or woven into the colors were such as these: "to the brave," "victory or death," "never surrender."[ ] there were dress parades, exhibition drills, picnics, barbecues; and then the soldiers marched away. after a short season of feverish social gayety, the seriousness of war was brought home to the people, and those left behind settled down to watch and wait and work and pray for the loved ones and for the cause. it was soon a very quiet life, industrious, strained with waiting and listening for news. for a long time the interior country was not disturbed by fear of invasion. life was monotonous; sorrow came afresh daily; and it was a blessing to the women that they had to work so hard during the war, as constant employment was their greatest comfort. life on the farm the great majority of the people of alabama lived in the country on farms and plantations. they had been dependent upon the north for all the finer and many of the commoner manufactured articles. the staple crop was cotton, which was sold in exchange for many of the ordinary necessaries of life. now all was changed. the blockade shut off supplies from abroad, and the plantations had to raise all that was needed for feeding and clothing the people at home and the soldiers in the field. this necessitated a change in plantation economy. after the first year of war less and less cotton was planted, and food crops became the staple agricultural productions. the state and confederate authorities encouraged this tendency by advice and by law. the farms produced many things which were seldom planted before the war, when cotton was the staple crop. cereals were cultivated in the northern counties and to some extent in central alabama, though wheat was never successful in central and south alabama. rice, oats, corn, peas, pumpkins, ground-peas, and chufas were grown more and more as the war went on. ground-peas (called also peanuts, goobers, or pindars, according to locality) and chufas were raised to feed hogs and poultry. the common field pea, or "speckled jack," was one of the mainstays of the confederacy. it is said that general lee called it "the confederacy's best friend." at "laying by" the farmers planted peas between the hills of corn, and the vines grew and the crop matured with little further trouble. sweet potatoes were everywhere raised, and became a staple article of food. rice was stripped of its husk by being beaten with a wooden pestle in a mortar cut out of a section of a tree. the threshing of the wheat was a cause of much trouble. rude home-made flails were used, for there were no regular threshers. no one raised much of it, for it was a great task to clean it. one poor woman who had a small patch of wheat threshed it by beating the sheaves over a barrel, while bed quilts and sheets were spread around to catch the scattering grains. another placed the sheaves in a large wooden trough, then she and her small children beat the sheaves with wooden clubs. after being threshed in some such manner, the chaff was fanned out by pouring the grain from a measure in a breeze and catching it on a sheet. field labor was performed in the black belt by the negroes, but in the white counties the burden fell heavily upon the women, children, and old men. in the black belt the mistress of the plantation managed affairs with the assistance of the trusty negroes. she superintended the planting of the proper crops, the cultivation and gathering of the same, and sent to the government stores the large share called for by the tax-in-kind. the old men of the community, if near enough, assisted the women managers by advice and direction. often one old gentleman would have half a dozen feminine planters as his wards. life was very busy in the black belt, but there was never the suffering in this rich section that prevailed in the less fertile white counties from which the white laborers had gone to war. in the latter section the mistress of slaves managed much as did her black belt sister, but there were fewer slaves and life was harder for all, and hardest of all for the poor white people who owned no slaves. when few slaves were owned by a family, the young white boys worked in the field with them, while the girls of the family did the light tasks about the house, though at times they too went to the field. where there were no slaves, the old men, cripples, women, and children worked on the little farms. all over the country the young boys worked like heroes. all had been taught that labor was honorable, and all knew how work should be done. so when war made it necessary, all went to work only the harder; there was no holding of hands in idleness. the mistress of the plantation was already accustomed to the management of large affairs, and war brought additional duties rather than new and strange problems; but the wife of the poor farmer or renter, left alone with small children, had a hard time making both ends meet. home industries; makeshifts and substitutes many articles in common use had now to be made at home, and the plantation developed many small industries. there was much joy when a substitute was found, because it made the people independent of the outside world. farm implements were made and repaired. ropes were made at home of various materials, such as bear-grass, sunflower stalks, and cotton; baskets, of willow branches and of oak splints; rough earthenware, of clay and then glazed; cooking soda from seaweed and from corn-cob ashes; ink from nut-galls or ink balls, from the skin of blue fig, from green persimmons, pokeberries, rusty nails, pomegranate rind, and indigo. cement was made from wild potatoes and flour; starch from nearly ripe corn, sweet potatoes, and flour. bottles or gourds, with small rolls of cotton for wicks, served as lamps, and in place of oil, cotton-seed oil, ground-pea or peanut oil, and lard were used. candles made of wax or tallow were used, while in the "piney woods" pine knots furnished all the necessary illumination. mattresses were stuffed with moss, leaves, and "cat-tails." no paper could be wasted for envelopes. the sheet was written on except just enough for the address when folded. in other instances wall-paper and sheets of paper with pictures on one side and the other side blank were folded and used for envelopes. mucilage for the envelopes was made from peach-tree gum. corn-cob pipes with a joint of reed or fig twig for a stem were fashionable. the leaves of the china tree kept insects away from dried fruit; the china berries were made into whiskey and were used as a basis for "poor man's" soap. wax myrtle and rosin were also used in making soap. beer was made from corn, persimmons, potatoes, and sassafras; "lemonade" from may-pops and pomegranates. dogwood and willow bark were mixed with smoking tobacco "to make it go a long way." shoes had to be made for white and black, and backyard tanneries were established. the hides were first soaked in a barrel filled with a solution of lye until the hair would come off, when they were placed in a pit between alternate layers of red oak bark and water poured in. in this "ooze" they soaked for several months and were then ready for use. the hides of horses, dogs, mules, hogs, cows, and goats were utilized, and shoes, harness, and saddles were made on the farm. all the domestic animals were now raised in larger numbers, especially beef cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs. sheep were raised principally for their wool. the work of all was directed toward supplying the army, and the best of everything was sent to the soldiers. home life was very quiet, busy, and monotonous, with its daily routine of duty in which all had a part. there were few even of the wealthiest who did not work with their hands if physically able. life was hard, but people soon became accustomed to makeshifts and privation, and most of them had plenty to eat, though the food was usually coarse. corn bread was nearly always to be had; in some places often nothing else. after the first year few people ever had flour to cook; especially was this the case in the southern counties. when a family was so fortunate as to obtain a sack or barrel of flour, all the neighbors were invited in to get biscuits, though sometimes all of it was kept to make starch. bolted meal was used as a substitute for flour in cakes and bread. most of the meat produced was sent to the army, and the average family could afford it only once a day, many only once a week. when an epidemic of cholera killed the hogs, the people became vegetarians and lived on corn bread, milk, and syrup; many had only the first.[ ] tea and coffee were very scarce in the interior of alabama, and small supplies of the genuine were saved for emergencies. for tea there were various substitutes, among them holly leaves, rose leaves, blackberry and raspberry leaves; while for coffee, rye, okra seed, corn, bran, meal, hominy, peanuts, and bits of parched or roasted sweet potatoes were used. syrup was made from the juice of the watermelon, and preserves from its rind. the juice of corn-stalks was also made into syrup. in south alabama sugar-cane and in north alabama sorghum furnished "long sweetening." the sorghum was boiled in old iron kettles, and often made the teeth black. in south alabama syrup was used instead of sugar in cooking. in grinding sugar-cane and sorghum, wooden rollers often had to be made, as iron ones were scarce. however, when they could be obtained, they were passed from family to family around the community. clothes and fashions before the war most articles of clothing were purchased in the north or imported from abroad. now that the blockade shut alabama off from all sources of supply, the people had to make their cloth and clothing at home. the factories in the south could not even supply the needs of the army, and there was a universal return to primitive and frontier conditions. old wheels and looms were brought out, and others were made like them. the state government bought large quantities of cotton and wool cards for the use of poor people. the women worked incessantly. every household was a small factory, and in an incredibly short time the women mastered the intricacies of looms, spinning-wheels, warping frames, swifts, etc. negro women sometimes learned to spin and weave. the whites, however, did most of it; weaving was too difficult for the average negro to learn. the area devoted to the cultivation of cotton was restricted by law, but more than enough was raised to supply the few factories then operating, principally for the government, and to supply the spinning-wheels and hand looms of the people. as a rule, each member of the family had a regularly allotted task for each day in spinning or weaving. the young girls could not weave, but could spin;[ ] while the women became expert at weaving and spinning and made beautiful cloth. all kinds of cotton goods were woven, coarse osnaburgs, sheetings, coverlets, counterpanes, a kind of muslin, and various kinds of light cloth for women's dresses. wool was grown on a large scale as the war went on, and the women wove flannels, plaids, balmorals, blankets, and carpets.[ ] gray jeans was woven to make clothing for the soldiers, who had almost no clothes except those sent them by their home people. a soldier's pay would not buy a shirt, even when he was paid, which was seldom the case. nearly every one wove homespun, dyed with home-made dyes, and it was often very pretty. the women took more pride in their neat homespun dresses than they did before the war in the possession of silks and satins. and there was friendly rivalry between them in spinning and weaving the prettiest homespun as there was in making the whitest sugar, the cleanest rice, and the best wheat and corn. but they could not make enough cloth to supply both army and people, and old clothes stored away were brought out and used to the last scrap. when worn out the rags were unravelled and the short threads spun together and woven again into coarse goods. pillow-cases and sheets were cut up for clothes and were replaced by homespun substitutes, and window curtains were made into women's clothes. carpets were made into blankets. there were no blanket factories, and the legislature appropriated the carpets in the capitol for blankets for the soldiers.[ ] some people went to the tanyards and got hair from horse and cow hides and mixed it with cotton to make heavy cloth for winter use, which is said to have made a good-looking garment. once in a long while the father or brother in the army would send home a bolt of calico, or even just enough to make one dress. then there would be a very proud woman in the land. scraps of these rare dresses and also of the homespun dresses are found in the old scrap-books of the time. the homespun is the better-looking. no one saw a fashion plate, and each one set the style. hoop-skirts were made from the remains of old ones found in the garrets and plunder rooms. it is said that the southern women affected dresses that were slightly longer in front than behind, and held them aside in their hands. sometimes fortunate persons succeeded in buying for a few hundred dollars some dress material that had been brought through the blockade. a calico dress cost in central alabama from $ to $ , other material in proportion. sewing thread was made by the home spinners with infinite trouble, but it was never satisfactory. buttons were made of pasteboard, pine bark, cloth, thread, persimmon seed, gourds, and wood covered with cloth. pasteboard, for buttons and other uses, was made by pasting several layers of old papers together with flour paste.[ ] sewing societies were formed for pleasure and to aid soldiers and the poor. at stated intervals great quantities of clothing and supplies were sent to the soldiers in the field and to the hospitals. all women became expert in crocheting and knitting--the occupations for leisure moments. even when resting, one was expected to be doing something. many formed the habit of knitting in those days and keep it up until to-day, as it became second nature to have something in the hands to work with. many women who learned then can now knit a pair of socks from beginning to end without looking at them. after dark, when one could not see to sew, spin, or weave, was usually the time devoted to knitting and crocheting, which sometimes lasted until midnight. capes, sacks, vandykes, gloves, socks and stockings, shawls, underclothes, and men's suspenders were knitted. the makers ornamented them in various ways, and the ornamentation served a useful purpose, as the thread was usually coarse and uneven, and the ornamentation concealed the irregularities that would have shown in plain work. the smoothest thread that could be made was used for knitting. to make this thread the finest bolls of cotton were picked before rain had fallen on them and stained the fibre. the homespun cloth had to be dyed to make it look well, and, as the ordinary dye materials could not be obtained, substitutes were made at home from barks, leaves, roots, and berries. much experimentation proved the following results: maple and sweet gum bark with copperas produced purple; maple and red oak bark with copperas, a dove color; maple and red walnut bark with copperas, brown; sweet gum with copperas, a nearly black color; peach leaves with alum, yellow; sassafras root with copperas, drab; smooth sumac root, bark, and berries, black; black oak bark with alum, yellow; artichoke and black oak, yellow; black oak bark with oxide of tin, pale yellow to bright orange; black oak bark with oxide of iron, drab; black oak balls in a solution of vitriol, purple to black; alder with alum, yellow; hickory bark with copperas, olive; hickory bark with alum, green; white oak bark with alum, brown; walnut roots, leaves, and hulls, black. copperas was used to "set" the dye, but when copperas was not to be had blacksmith's dust was used instead. pine tree roots and tops, and dogwood, willow bark, and indigo were also used in dyes.[ ] shoes for women and children were made of cloth or knitted uppers or of the skins of squirrels or other small animals, fastened to leather or wooden soles. a girl considered herself very fortunate if she could get a pair of "sunday" shoes of calf or goat skin. there were shoemakers in each community, all old men or cripples, who helped the people with their makeshifts. shoes for men were made of horse and cow hides, and often the soles were of wood. a wooden shoe was one of the first things patented at richmond. carriage curtains, buggy tops, and saddle skirts furnished leather for uppers, and metal protections were placed on leather soles. little children went barefooted and stayed indoors in winter; many grown people went barefooted except in winter. shoe blacking was made from soot mixed with lard or oil of ground-peas or of cotton-seed. this was applied to the shoe and over it a paste of flour or starch gave a good polish. old bonnets and hats were turned, trimmed, and worn again. pretty hats were made of cloth or woven from dyed straw, bulrushes, corn-shucks, palmetto, oat and wheat straw, bean-grass, jeans, and bonnet squash, and sometimes of feathers. the rushes, shucks, palmetto, and bean-grass were bleached by boiling and sunning. bits of old finery served to trim hats as well as feathers from turkeys, ducks, and peafowls, with occasional wheat heads for plumes. fans were made of the palmetto and of the wing feathers and wing tips of turkeys and geese. old parasols and umbrellas were re-covered, but the majority of the people could not afford cloth for such a purpose. hair-oil was made from roses and lard. thin-haired unfortunates made braids and switches from prepared bark. the ingenious makeshifts and substitutes of the women were innumerable. they were more original than the men in making use of what material lay ready to hand or in discovering new uses for various things. the few men at home, however, were not always of the class that make discoveries or do original things. in an account of life on the farms and plantations in the south during the war, the white men may almost be left out of the story. drugs and medicines after the blockade became effective, drugs became very scarce and home-made preparations were substituted. all doctors became botanical practitioners. the druggist made his preparations from herbs, roots, and barks gathered in the woods and fields. manufacturing laboratories were early established at mobile and montgomery to make medical preparations which were formerly procured abroad. much attention was given to the manufacture of native preparations, which were administered by practitioners in the place of foreign drugs with favorable results. surgeon richard potts, of montgomery, alabama, had exclusive charge of the exchange of cotton for medical supplies, and when allowed by the government to make the exchange, it was very easy for him to get drugs through the lines into alabama and mississippi. but this permission was too seldom given.[ ] quinine was probably the scarcest drug. instead of this were used dogwood berries, cotton-seed tea, chestnut and chinquapin roots and bark, willow bark, spanish oak bark, and poplar bark. red oak bark in cold water was used as a disinfectant and astringent for wounds. boneset tea, butterfly or pleurisy root tea, mandrake tea, white ash or prickly ash root, and sampson's snakeroot were used in fever cases. local applications of mustard seed or leaves, hickory leaves, and pepper were used in cases of pneumonia and pleurisy, while sumac, poke root and berry, sassafras, alder, and prickly ash were remedies for rheumatism, neuralgia, and scrofula. black haw root and partridge berry were used for hemorrhage; peach leaves and sampson's snakeroot for dyspepsia and sassafras tea in the spring and fall served as a blood medicine. the balsam cucumber was used for a tonic, as also was dogwood, poplar, and rolled cherry bark in whiskey. turpentine was useful as an adjunct in many cases. hops were used for laudanum; may-apple root or peach tree leaf tea for senna; dandelion, pleurisy root, and butterfly weed for calomel. corks were made from black gum roots, corn-cobs, and old life preservers. barks were gathered when the sap was running, the roots after the leaves were dead, and medicinal plants when they were in bloom.[ ] opium was made from the poppy, cordials from the blackberry, huckleberry, and persimmon, brandy from watermelons and fruits, and wine from the elderberry.[ ] whiskey made in the hills of north alabama, in gum log stills, formed the basis of nearly all medicinal preparations. the state had agents who looked after the proper distribution of the whiskey among the counties. the castor beans raised in the garden were crushed and boiled and the oil skimmed off.[ ] social life during the war life in the towns was not so monotonous as in the country. in the larger ones, especially in mobile, there was a forced gayety throughout the war. many marriages took place, and each wedding was usually the occasion of social festivities. in the country "homespun" weddings were the fashion--all parties at the wedding being clad in homespun. colonel thomas dabney dined in montgomery in november, , with mr. woodleaf, a refugee from new orleans. "they gave me," he said, "a fine dinner, good for any time, and some extra fine music afterwards, according to the italian, spanish, and french books, for we had some of each sort done up in true opera fashion, i suppose. it was a _leetle_ too foreign for my ear, but that was my fault, and not the fault of the music."[ ] the people were too busy for much amusement, yet on the surface life was not gloomy. work was made as pleasant as possible, though it could never be made play. the women were never idle, and they often met together to work. there were sewing societies which met once a week for work and exchange of news. "quiltings" were held at irregular intervals, to which every woman came armed with needle and thimble. at other times there would be spinning "bees," to which the women would come from long distances and stay all day, bringing with them in wagons their wheels, cards, and cotton. when a soldier came home on furlough or sick leave, every woman in the community went to see him, carrying her work with her, and knitted, sewed, or spun while listening to news from the army. the holiday soldier, the "bomb-proof," and the "feather bed" received little mercy from the women; a thorough contempt was the portion of such people. "furlough" wounds came to receive slight sympathy.[ ] the soldiers always brought messages from their comrades to their relatives in the community, which was often the only way of hearing from those in the army. letters were uncertain, the postal system never being good in the country districts. postage was ten to twenty cents on a letter, and one to five cents on small newspapers. letters from the army gave news of the men of the settlement who were in the writer's company or regiment, and when received were read to the neighbors or sent around the community. often when a young man came home on furlough or passed through the country, there would be many social gatherings or "parties" in his honor, and here the young people gathered. there were parties for the older men, too, and dinners and suppers. here the soldier met again his neighbors, or rather the feminine half of them, anxious to hear his experiences and to inquire about friends and relatives in the army. the young people also met at night at "corn shuckings" and "candy pullings," from which they managed to extract a good deal of pleasure. at the social gatherings, especially of the older people, some kind of work was always going on. parching pindars to eat and making peanut candy were amusements for children after supper. the intense devotion of the women to the confederate cause was most irritating to a certain class of federal officers in the army that invaded north alabama. they seemed to think that they had conquered entrance into society, but the women were determined to show their colors on all occasions and often had trouble when boorish officers were in command. a society woman would lose her social position if seen in the company of federal officers. when passing them, the women averted their faces and swept aside their skirts to prevent any contact with the hated yankee. they played and sang confederate airs on all occasions, and when ordered by the military authorities to discontinue, it usually took a guard of soldiers to enforce the order. the federal officers who acted in a gentlemanly manner toward the non-combatants were accused by their rude fellows and by ruder newspaper correspondents of being "wound round the fingers of the rebel women," who had some object to gain. when the people of a community were especially contemptuous of the federals, they were sometimes punished by having a negro regiment stationed as a garrison. athens, in limestone county, one of the most intensely southern towns, was garrisoned by a regiment of negroes recruited in the immediate vicinity.[ ] * * * * * for the negroes in the black belt life went on much as before the war. more responsibility was placed upon the trusty ones, and they proved themselves worthy of the trust. they were acquainted with the questions at issue and knew that their freedom would probably follow victory by the north. yet the black overseer and the black preacher, with their fellow-slaves, went on with their work. the master's family lived on the large plantation with no other whites within miles and never felt fear of harm from their black guardians. the negroes had their dances and, 'possum hunts on saturday nights after the week's work was done. there was preaching and singing on sunday, the whites often attending the negro services and _vice versa_. negro weddings took place in the "big house." the young mistresses would adorn the bride, and the ceremony would be performed by the old white clergyman, after which the wedding supper would be served in the family dining room or out under the trees. these were great occasions for the negroes and for the young people of the master's family. the sound of fiddle and banjo, songs, and laughter were always heard in the "quarters" after work was done, though saturday night was the great time for merrymaking. in july and august, after the crops were "laid by," the negroes had barbecues and picnics. to these the whites were invited and they always attended. the materials for these feasts were furnished by the mistress and by the negroes themselves, who had garden patches, pigs, and poultry. the slaves were, on the whole, happy and content. the clothes for the slaves were made under the superintendence of the mistress, who, after the war began, often cut out the clothes for every negro on the place, and sometimes assisted in making them. some of the negro women had spinning-wheels and looms, and clothed their own families, while others spun, wove, and made their clothes under the direction of the mistress. but most of them could not be trusted with the materials, because they were so unskilful. it took a month or two twice a year to get the negroes into their new outfits. the rule was that each negro should have two suits of heavy material for winter wear and two of light goods for summer. to clothe the negroes during the war time was a heavy burden upon the mistress. to those negroes who did their own cooking rations were issued on saturday afternoon. bacon and corn meal formed the basis of the ration, besides which there would be some kind of "sweetening" and a substitute for coffee.[ ] special goodies were issued for sunday. the negroes in the black belt fared better during the war than either the whites or the negroes in the white counties. when there were few slaves or in the time of great scarcity, the cooking for whites and blacks was often done in the house kitchen by the same cooks. this was done in order to leave more time for the negroes to work and to prevent waste. where there were many slaves, there was often some arrangement made by which cooking was done in common, though there were numbers of families that did their own cooking at home all the time. when meat was scarce, it was given to the negro laborers who needed the strength, while the white family and the negro women and children denied themselves. as the confederate government did not provide well for the soldiers, their wives and mothers had to supply them. the sewing societies undertook to clothe the soldiers who went from their respective neighborhoods. once a week or once a month, a box was sent from each society. one box sent to the grove hill guards contained sixty pairs of socks, twenty-five blankets, thirteen pairs of gloves, fourteen flannel shirts, sixteen towels, two handkerchiefs, five pairs of trousers, and one bushel of dried apples. other boxes contained about the same. hams and any other edibles that would keep were frequently sent and also simple medicine chests. when blankets could not be had, quilts were sent, or heavy curtains and pieces of carpet. with the progress of the war, there was much suffering among the soldiers and their destitute families that the state could do but little to relieve, and the women took up the task. besides the various church aid societies, we hear of the "grove hill military aid society" and the "suggsville soldiers' aid society," both of clarke county; the "aid society of mobile"; the "montgomery home society" and the "soldiers' wayside home," in montgomery; the "wayside hospital" and the "ladies' military aid society" of selma; the "talladega hospital"; the "ladies' humane society" of huntsville,[ ] and many others. the legislature gave financial aid to some of them. societies were formed in every town, village, and country settlement to send clothing, medicines, and provisions to the soldiers in the army and to the hospitals. the members went to hospitals and parole camps for sick and wounded soldiers, took them to their homes, and nursed them back to health. "wayside homes" were established in the towns for the accommodation of soldiers travelling to and from the army. soldiers on sick leave and furlough who were cut off from their homes beyond the mississippi came to the homes of their comrades, sure of a warm welcome and kind attentions. poor soldiers sick at home were looked after and supplies sent to their needy families. the last year of the war a bushel of corn cost $ , while a soldier's pay was $ a month, paid once in a while. so the poor people became destitute. but the state furnished meal and salt to all[ ] and the more fortunate people gave liberally of their supplies. many of the poorer white women did work for others--weaving, sewing, and spinning--for which they were well paid, frequently in provisions, which they were in great need of. some made hats, bonnets, and baskets for sale. the cotton counties supported many refugees from the northern counties, and numerous poor people from that section imposed upon the generosity of the planting section. the overseers, white or black, had a dislike for those to whom supplies were given; they also objected to the regular payment of the tax-in-kind, and to impressment which took their corn, meat, horses, cows, mules, and negroes, and crippled their operations. the mistresses had to interfere and see that the poor and the government had their share. in the cities the women engaged in various patriotic occupations,--sewing for the soldiers, nursing, raising money for hospitals, etc. the women of tuskegee raised money to be spent on a gunboat for the defence of mobile bay. they wanted it called _the women's gunboat_.[ ] "a niece of james madison" wrote to a mobile paper, proposing that , women in the south sell their hair in europe to raise funds for the confederacy. the movement failed because of the blockade.[ ] there were other similar propositions, but they could not be carried out, and year after year the legislatures of the state thanked the women for their patriotic devotion, their labors, sacrifices, constancy, and courage. the music and songs that were popular during the war show the changing temper of the people. at first were heard joyous airs, later contemptuous and defiant as war came on; then jolly war songs and strong hymns of encouragement. but as sorrow followed sorrow until all were stricken; as wounds, sickness, imprisonment, and death of friends and relatives cast shadow over the spirits of the people; as hopes were dashed by defeat, and the consciousness came that perhaps after all the cause was losing,--the iron entered into the souls of the people. the songs were sadder now. the church hymns heard were the soul-comforting ones and the militant songs of the older churchmen. the first year were heard "farewell to brother jonathan," "we conquer or we die;" then "riding a raid," "stonewall jackson's way," "all quiet along the potomac," "lorena," "beechen brook," "somebody's darling," "when the cruel war is o'er," "guide me, o thou great jehovah." "dixie" was sung and played during the entire time, whites and blacks singing it with equal pleasure. the older hymns were sung and the doctrines of faith and good works earnestly preached. the promises were, perhaps, more emphasized. a deeply religious feeling prevailed among the home workers for the cause. the women had the harder task. the men were in the field in active service, their families were safe at home, there was no fear for themselves. the women lived in constant dread of news from the front; they had to sit still and wait, and their greatest comfort was the hard work they had to do. it gave them some relief from the burden of sorrow that weighed down the souls of all. to the very last the women hoped and prayed for success, and failure, to many of them, was more bitter than death. the loss of their cause hurt them more deeply than it did the men who had the satisfaction of fighting out the quarrel, even though the other side was victorious.[ ] part iii the aftermath of war chapter v social and economic disorder sec. . loss of life and property the loss of life the surviving soldiers came straggling home, worn out, broken in health, crippled, in rags, half starved, little better off, they thought, than the comrades they had left under the sod of the battle-fields on the border. in the election of about , votes were cast, nearly the entire voting population, and about this number of alabama men enlisted in the confederate and union armies. various estimates were made of alabama's losses during the war, most of which are doubtless too large. among these governor parsons, in his inaugural address, gives the number as , killed or died of wounds and disease, and as many more disabled.[ ] colonel w. h. fowler, for two years the state agent for settling the claims of deceased soldiers and also superintendent of army records, states that he had the names of nearly , dead on his lists and believed this to be only about half of the entire number; that the alabama troops lost more heavily than any other troops. he asserted that of the , alabama troops in the army of northern virginia over had died in service, and of those who were retired, discharged, or who resigned, about one-half were either dead or permanently disabled.[ ] these estimates are evidently too large, and they probably form the basis of the statements of governors parsons and patton. governor patton estimated that , had died in service, while , were disabled for life, and that there were , widows and , orphans.[ ] a _times_ correspondent places the loss in war at , .[ ] the strongest regiments were worn out by . at appomattox, when three times as many men surrendered as were in a condition to bear arms, the alabama commands paroled hardly enough men in each regiment to form a good company. though the average enlistment had been to the regiment, one of the best regiments--the third alabama infantry--paroled: from company b, men; from company d, men; company g, ; company e, ; while the fifth alabama paroled: from company a, ; b, ; c, ; e, ; f, ; k, . the twelfth alabama: company a, ; c, ; d, ; e, ; g, ; i, ; m, . sixth alabama (over enlistments): d, ; f, ; i, ; m, . sixty-first alabama: b, ; c, ; e, ; g, ; i, ; k, . fifteenth alabama: c, . forty-eighth alabama: c, ; k, . ninth alabama: men in all--an average of to a company. thirteenth alabama: men in all. forty-first alabama: men in all. forty-first, forty-third, fifty-ninth, sixtieth, and twenty-third: men in all. some companies were entirely annihilated, having neither officer nor private at the surrender. a company from demopolis is said to have lost all except men, that is, by death in the service.[ ] the census of contains the names of soldiers killed in battle, , who died of disease or wounds, and disabled for life.[ ] these are the only facts obtainable on which to base calculations, yet the census was very imperfect, as hundreds of families were broken up, thousands of men forgotten, and there was no one to give information regarding them to the census taker. the white population decreased from to , according to the census of the latter year. but for the war, according to rate of increase from to , there should have been an increase of , . in the census showed a further decrease of , due, perhaps, to the great mortality just after the war. in other words, the white population was about , less in than it would have been under normal conditions, without immigration. contemporary accounts state that the negro suffered much more than the whites in the two years immediately following the war, from starvation, exposure, and pestilence, and the census of showed a decrease of , in the colored population, when there should have been an increase of nearly , according to the rate of to , besides the , that it has been estimated were sent into the interior of the state from other states to escape capture by the raiding federals. the census of was not accurate, for the negroes at that time were in a very unsettled condition, wandering from place to place. however, in , the number of negroes had increased , over the numbers for , while the number of whites had decreased several thousand, which would seem to indicate that the census of was defective. but there is no doubt that the negroes suffered terribly during this time.[ ] destruction of property governor patton, in a communication to congress dated may , , gives the property losses in alabama as $ , , ,[ ] which sum doubtless includes the value of the slaves, estimated in at $ , , , or about $ each.[ ] the value of other property in has been estimated at $ , , , the assessed value, $ , , , being per cent of the real value.[ ] a comparison of the census statistics of and of after five years of reconstruction will be suggestive:-- value of farms $ , , $ , , value of live stock , , , , value of farm implements , , , , number of horses , , number of mules , , number of oxen , , number of cows , , number of other cattle , , number of sheep , , number of swine , , , improved land in farms, acres , , , , corn crop, bushels , , , , ( , , in ) cotton crop, bales , , ( , , in ) not until was the acreage of improved lands as great as in .[ ] live stock, valued at $ , , in , is still to-day $ , , behind. farm implements and machinery in were worth $ , , more than in , having doubled in value in the last ten years.[ ] land improvements and buildings, worth $ , , in , were in still more than $ , , below that mark. the total value of farm property in was $ , , ; in , $ , , ;[ ] and in , $ , , . though the population has increased twofold since [ ] and the white counties have developed and the industries have become more varied, agriculture has not yet reached the standard of , the black belt farmer is much less prosperous, and the agricultural system of the old cotton belt has never recovered from the effects of the war. from the theoretical point of view the abolition of slavery should have resulted in loss only during the readjustment of industrial conditions. yet $ , , capital had been lost; and, as a matter of fact, the statistics of agriculture show that, while in the white counties in there was a greater yield of the staple crops,--cotton and corn,--in the black counties the free negroes of double the number do not yet produce as much as the slaves of .[ ] the manufacturing establishments that had existed before the war or were developed during that time were destroyed by federal raids, or were seized, sold, and dismantled after the surrender because they had furnished supplies to the confederacy. the public buildings used by the confederate authorities in all the towns and all over the country were burned or were turned over to the freedmen's bureau. the state and county public buildings in the track of the raiders were destroyed. the stocks of goods in the stores were exhausted long before the close of the war. all banking capital, and all securities, railroad bonds and stocks, state and confederate bonds, and currency were worth nothing. all the accumulated capital of the state was swept away; only the soil and some buildings remained. people owning hundreds of acres of land often were as destitute as the poorest negro. the majority of people who had money to invest had bought confederate securities as a patriotic duty, and all the coin had been drawn from the country. the most of the bonded debt was held in mobile, and that city lost all its capital when the debt was declared null and void.[ ] this city suffered severely, also, from a terrible explosion soon after the surrender. twenty squares in the business part were destroyed.[ ] [illustration: devastation by invading armies - .] thousands of private residences were destroyed, especially in north alabama, where the country was even more thoroughly devastated than in the path of sherman through georgia. the third year of the war had seen the destruction of everything destructible in north alabama outside of the large towns, where the devastation was usually not so great. in decatur, however, nearly all the buildings were burned; only three of the principal ones were left standing.[ ] tuscumbia was practically destroyed, and many houses were condemned for army use.[ ] the beautiful buildings of the black belt were out of repair and fast going to ruin. many of the fine houses in the cities--especially in mobile--had fallen into the hands of the jews. one place, which was bought for $ , before the war, was sold with difficulty in for $ , . before the war there were sixteen french business houses in mobile; none survived the war. the port of mobile never again reached its former importance. in , , bales of cotton had been shipped from the port; in - , , bales; in - , , bales; in , , bales. there was no disposition on the part of the washington administration to remove the obstructions in mobile harbor. they were left for years and furnished an excuse to the reconstructionists for the expenditure of state money.[ ] nearly all the grist-mills and cotton-gins had been destroyed, mill-dams cut, and ponds drained. the raiders never spared a cotton-gin. the cotton, in which the government was interested, was either burned or seized and sold, and private cotton, when found, fared in the same way. cotton had been the cause of much trouble to the commanders on both sides during the war; it was considered the mainstay of the south before the war and the root of all evil. so of all property it received the least consideration from the federal troops, and was very easily turned into cash. all farm animals near the track of the armies had been carried away or killed by the soldiers (as at selma), or seized after the occupation by the troops. horses, mules, cows, and other domestic animals had almost disappeared except in the secluded districts. many a farmer had to plough with oxen. farm and plantation buildings had been dismantled or burned, houses ruined, fences destroyed, corn, meat, and syrup taken. the plantations in the tennessee valley were in a ruined condition. the gin-houses were burned, the bridges ruined, mills and factories gone, and the roads impassable.[ ] in the homes that were left, carpets and curtains were gone, for they had been used as blankets and clothes, window glass was out, furniture injured or destroyed, and crockery broken. in the larger towns, where something had been saved from the wreck of war, the looting by the federal soldiers was shameful. pianos, furniture, pictures, curtains, sofas, and other household goods were shipped north by the federal officers during the early days of the occupation. gold and silver plate and jewellery were confiscated by the bummers who were with every command. abuses of this kind became so flagrant that the northern papers condemned the conduct of the soldiers, and several ministers, among them henry ward beecher, rebuked the practice from the pulpit.[ ] land was almost worthless, because the owners had no capital, no farm animals, no farm implements, in many cases not even seed. labor was disorganized, and the product of labor was most likely to be stolen by roving negroes and other marauders. seldom was more than one-third of a plantation under cultivation, the remainder growing up in broom sedge because laborers could not be gotten. when the federal armies passed, many negroes followed them and never returned. numbers of them died in the camps. when the war ended, many others left their old homes, some of whom several years later came straggling back.[ ] land that would produce a bale of cotton to the acre, worth $ , and selling in for $ per acre at the lowest, was now selling for from $ to $ per acre. among the negroes, especially after the occupation, there was a general belief, which was carefully fostered by a certain class of federal officials and by some leaders in congress, that the lands would be confiscated and divided among the "unionists" and the negroes. when the state seceded, it took charge of the public lands within its boundaries and opened them to settlement. after the fall of the confederacy those who had purchased lands were required to rebuy them from the united states or to give up their claims. some lands were abandoned, as the owners were able neither to cultivate nor to sell them, for there was no capital. in cumberland, a village, at one time there were ninety advertisements of sales posted in the hotel. the planters often found themselves amid a wilderness of land, without laborers, and often rented land free to some white man or to a negro who would pay the taxes.[ ] many hundreds of the people could see no hope whatever for the future of the state, and certainly the north was not acting so as to encourage them. hence there was heavy emigration to brazil, cuba, mexico, the northern and western states, and much property was offered at a tenth of its value and even less. the heaviest losses fell upon the old wealthy families, who, by the loss of wealth and by political proscription, were ruined. in middle life and in old age they were unable to begin again, and for a generation their names disappear from sight. losses, debts, taxes, and proscriptions bore down many, and few rose to take their places.[ ] the poorer people, though they had but little to lose, lost all, and suffered extreme poverty during the latter years of the war and the early years of reconstruction. no wonder they were in despair and seemed for a while a menace to public order. to the power and influence of the leaders succeeded in part a second-rate class--the rank and file of --upon whom the losses of the war fell with less weight, and who were thrown to the front by the war which ruined those above and those below them. they were the sound, hard-working men--the lawyers, farmers, merchants, who had formerly been content to allow brilliant statesmen to direct the public affairs. now those leaders were dead or proscribed, for poverty, war, reconstruction, and political persecution rapidly destroyed the old ruling element, and deaths among them after the war were very common. the men who rescued the state in were the men of lesser ability of , farmer subordinates in the political ranks.[ ] the wreck of the railways the steamboats on the rivers were destroyed. at that time the steamers probably carried as much freight and as many passengers as did the railroads, and served to connect the railway systems. the railroads also were in a ruined condition; depots had been burned, bridges and trestles destroyed, tracks torn up, cross-ties burned or were rotten, rails worn out or ruined by burning, cars and locomotives worn out or destroyed or captured. the boards of directors and the presidents of the roads, because of the aid they had given the confederacy, were not considered safe persons to trust with the reorganization of the system, and, in august, , stanton, the secretary of war, directed that each southern railway be reorganized with a "loyal" board of directors. in there were about miles of railways in alabama. nearly all of the roads were unfinished in , and, except on the most important military roads, little progress was made in their construction during the war--only about or miles being completed. during this time all roads were practically under the control of the confederate government, which operated them through their own boards of directors and other officials. the various roads suffered in different degrees. at the close of the war, the tennessee and alabama railroad had only two or three cars that could be used, the rails also were worn out, the locomotives out of order and useless, nearly all the depots, bridges, and trestles destroyed, as well as all of its shops, water tanks, machinery, books, and papers. the memphis and charleston, extending across the entire northern part of the state, fell into the hands of the federals in , who captured at huntsville nearly all of the rolling stock and destroyed the shops and the papers. the rolling stock had been collected at huntsville, ready to be shipped to a place of less danger; but because of the treachery of a telegraph operator who kept the knowledge of the approaching raid from the officials, all was lost, for to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy much more was destroyed than was captured. when the federals were driven from a section of the road, they destroyed it in order to prevent the confederates from using it. the length of this road in the state was miles, and miles of the track were torn up, the rails heated in the middle over fires of burning cross-ties, and the iron then twisted around trees and stumps so as to make it absolutely useless. in very little machinery of any kind was left. besides this the company lost heavily in confederate securities, and the other losses (funds, etc.) amounted to $ , , . . the mobile and ohio lost in confederate currency $ , , . . thirty-seven miles of rails were worn out, miles were burned and twisted, miles of road cleared of bridges, trestles, and stations, the cross-ties burned, and the shops near mobile destroyed. there were of locomotives in working order, of passenger cars, of baggage cars, of freight cars. the selma and meridian lost its shops and depots in selma and meridian, and its bridges over the cahaba and valley creeks. it sustained a heavy loss in confederate bonds and currency. the alabama and tennessee rivers railroad lost a million dollars in confederate funds, its shops, tools, and machinery at selma, bridges, its trestles, some track and many depots, its locomotives and cars. the wills valley road suffered but little from destruction or from loss in confederate securities. the mobile and great northern escaped with a loss of only $ , . in confederate money, and $ , by destruction, besides the wear and tear on its track and rolling stock in the four years without repairs. the alabama and florida road lost in confederate currency $ , , . it had at the end of the war only locomotives and cars of all descriptions. the people were so poor that in the summer of this road, on a trip from mobile to montgomery and return, a distance of miles, collected in fares only $ . the montgomery and west point, miles in length, and one of the best roads in the state, probably suffered the heaviest loss from raids. it lost in currency $ , , , besides all of its rolling stock that was in running order; much of the track was torn up and rails twisted, all bridges and tanks and depots were destroyed. both rousseau and wilson tore up the track and destroyed the shops and rolling stock at montgomery and along the road to west point and also the rolling stock that had been sent to columbus, georgia. after the surrender an old locomotive that had been thrown aside at opelika and condemned cars were patched up, and for a while this old engine and a couple of flat cars were run up and down the road as a passenger train. the worn strap rails used in repairing gave much trouble. the fare was cents a mile in coin or cents in greenbacks.[ ] every road in the south lost rolling stock on the border. the few cars and locomotives left to any road were often scattered over several states, and some of them were never returned. as the federal armies occupied the country, they took charge of the railways, which were then run either under the direction of the war department or the railroad division of the army. after the war they were returned to the stockholders as soon as "loyal" boards of directors were appointed or the "disloyal" ones made "loyal" by the pardon of the president. contractors who undertook to reopen the roads in the summer of were unable to do so because the negroes refused to work. the companies were bankrupt, for all money due them was confederate currency, and all they had in their possession was confederate currency. many debts that had been paid by the roads during the war to the states and counties now had to be paid again. all of the nine roads in the state attempted reorganization, but only three were able to accomplish it, and these then absorbed the others. none, it appears, were abandoned.[ ] sec. . the interregnum; lawlessness and disorder immediately after the surrender of the armies a general demand arose from the people throughout the lower south that the governors convene the state legislatures for the purpose of calling conventions which, by repealing the ordinance of secession and abolishing slavery, could prepare the way for reunion. this, it was thought, was all that the north wanted, and it seemed to be in harmony with lincoln's plan of restoration. general richard taylor, when he surrendered at meridian, mississippi, advised the governors of tennessee, alabama, and mississippi to take steps to carry out such measures; and general canby, to whom taylor surrendered the department, indorsed the plan, as did also the various general officers of the armies of occupation. but these generals were not in touch with politics at washington. the federal government outlawed the existing southern state governments, leaving them with no government at all. governor watts and ex-governors shorter and moore were arrested and sent to northern prisons. a number of prominent leaders, among them john gayle of selma and ex-senators clay and fitzpatrick, were also arrested. the state government went to pieces. general canby was instructed by president johnson to arrest any member of the alabama legislature who might attempt to hold a meeting of the general assembly. consequently, from the first of may until the last of the summer the state of alabama was without any state government;[ ] and it was only after several months of service as provisional governor that parsons was able to reorganize the state administration. for six months after the surrender there was practically no government of any kind in alabama except in the immediate vicinity of the military posts, where the commander exercised a certain authority over the people of the community. a good commander could do little more than let affairs take their course, for the great mass of the people only wanted to be left alone for a while. they were tired of war and strife and wanted rest and an opportunity to work their crops and make bread for their suffering families. the strongest influence of the respectable people was exerted in favor of peace and order. while much lawlessness appeared in the state, it was not as much as might have been expected under the existing circumstances at the close of the great civil war. much of the disorder was caused by the presence of the troops, some of whom were even more troublesome than the robbers and outlaws from whom they were supposed to protect the people. the best soldiers of the federal army had demanded their discharge as soon as fighting was over, and had gone home. those who remained in the service in the state were, with few exceptions, very disorderly, and kept the people in terror by their robberies and outrages. especially troublesome among the negro population, and a constant cause of irritation to the whites, were the negro troops, who were sent into the state, the people believed, in order to humiliate the whites. they were commanded by officers who had been insulted and threatened all during the war because of their connection with these troops, and this treatment had embittered them against the southern people. the negro troops were stationed in towns where confederate spirit had been very strong, as a discipline to the people. for months and even years after the surrender the federal troops in small detachments were accustomed to march through the country, searching for cotton and other public property and arresting citizens on charges preferred by the tories or by the negroes, many of whom spent their time confessing the sins of their white neighbors. the garrison towns suffered from the unruly behavior of the soldiers. the officers, who were only waiting to be mustered out of service, devoted themselves to drinking, women, and gambling. the men followed their example. the traffic in whiskey was enormous, and most of the sales were to the soldiers, to the lowest class of whites, and to the negroes. the streets of the towns and cities such as montgomery, mobile, selma, huntsville, athens, and tuscaloosa, were crowded with drunken and violent soldiers. lewd women had followed the army and had established disreputable houses near every military post, which were the centre and cause of many lawless outbreaks. quarrels were frequent, and at a disorderly ball in montgomery, in the fall of , a federal officer was killed. the peaceable citizens were plundered by the camp followers, discharged soldiers, and the deserters who now crawled out of their retreats. sometimes these marauders dressed in the federal uniforms when on their expeditions, in order to cast suspicion on the soldiers, who were often wrongfully charged with these crimes.[ ] as one instance of the many outrages committed at this time the following may be cited: in the summer of , when all was in disorder and no government existed in the state, a certain "major" perry, as his followers called him, went on a private raid through the country to get a part of anything that might be left. he was one of the many who thought that they deserved some share of the spoils and who were afraid that the time of their harvest would be short. so it was necessary to make the best of the disordered condition of affairs. perry was followed by a few white soldiers, or men who dressed as soldiers, and by a crowd of negroes. at his saddle-bow was tied a bag containing his most valuable plunder. from house to house in dallas and adjoining counties he and his men went, demanding valuables, pulling open trunks and bureau and wardrobe drawers, scattering their contents, and choosing what they wanted, tearing pictures in pieces, and scattering the contents of boxes of papers and books in a spirit of pure destructiveness. at one house they found some old shirts which the mistress had carefully mended for her husband, who had not yet returned from the army. one of the marauders suggested that they be added to their collection. "major" perry looked at them carefully, but, as he was rather choice in his tastes, rejected them as "damned patched things," spat tobacco on them, and trampled them with his muddy boots. incidents similar to this were not infrequent, nor were they calculated to soften the feelings of the women toward the victorious enemy. their cordial hatred of federal officers was strongly resented by the latter, who were often able to retaliate in unpleasant ways.[ ] in southeast alabama deserters from both armies and members of the so-called first florida union cavalry continued for a year after the close of the war their practice of plundering all classes of people and sometimes committing other acts of violence. some persons were robbed of nearly all that they possessed.[ ] joseph saunders, a millwright of dale county, served as a confederate lieutenant in the first part of the war. later he resigned, and being worried by the conscript officers, allied himself with a band of deserters near the florida line, who drew their supplies from the federal troops on the coast. saunders was made leader of the band and made frequent forays into dale county, where on one occasion a company of militia on parade was captured. the band raided the town of newton, but was defeated. after the war, saunders with his gang returned and continued horse-stealing. finally he killed a man and went to georgia, where, in , he himself was killed.[ ] he was a type of the native white outlaw. the burning of cotton was common. some was probably burned because the united states cotton agents had seized it, but the heaviest loss fell on private owners. a large quantity of private cotton worth about $ , , , that had escaped confiscation and had been collected near montgomery, was destroyed by the cotton burners.[ ] horse and cattle thieves infested the whole state, especially the western part. washington and choctaw counties especially suffered from their depredations.[ ] the rivers were infested with cotton thieves, who floated down the streams in flats, landed near cotton fields, established videttes, went into the fields, stole the cotton, and carried it down the river to market.[ ] a band of outlaws took passage on a steamboat on the alabama river, overcame the crew and the honest passengers, and took possession of the boat.[ ] a secret incendiary organization composed of negroes and some discharged federal soldiers plotted to burn selma. the members of the band wore red ribbon badges. one of the negroes informed the authorities of the plot and of the place of meeting, and forty of the band were arrested. the others were informed and escaped. the military authorities released the prisoners, who denied the charge, though some of their society testified against them.[ ] there were incendiary fires in every town in the state, it is said, and several were almost destroyed. the bitter feeling between the tories and the confederates of north alabama resulted in some places in guerilla warfare. the confederate soldiers, whose families had suffered from the depredations of the tories during the war, wanted to punish the outlaws for their misdeeds, and in many cases attempted to do so. the tories wanted revenge for having been driven from the country or into hiding by the confederate authorities, so they raided the confederate soldiers as they had raided their families during the war. some of the tories were caught and hanged. in revenge, the confederates were shot down in their houses, and in the fields while at work, or while travelling along the roads. the convention called by governor parsons declared that lawlessness existed in many counties of the state and authorized parsons to call out the militia in each county to repress the disorder. they also asked the president to withdraw the federal troops, which were only a source of disorder,[ ] and gave to the mayors of florence, athens, and huntsville special police powers within their respective counties in order to check the lawless element, which was especially strong in lauderdale, limestone, and madison counties.[ ] these counties lay north of the tennessee river, along the tennessee border. there was a disposition on the part of the civil and military authorities in alabama to attribute the lawlessness in north and northwest alabama to bands of desperadoes from tennessee and mississippi, but north alabama had numbers of marauders of her own, and it is probable that tennessee and mississippi had little to do with it. half a dozen men, where there was no authority to check them, could make a whole county uncomfortable for the peaceable citizens.[ ] the federal infantry commands scattered throughout the country were of little service in capturing the marauders. general swayne repeatedly asked for cavalry, for, as he said, the infantry was the source of as much disorder as it suppressed. the worst outrages, he added, were committed by small bands of lawless men organized under various names, and whose chief object was robbery and plunder.[ ] after the establishment of the provisional government an attempt was made to bring to trial some of the outlaws who had infested the country during and after the war, and who richly deserved hanging. they were of no party, being deserters from both armies, or tories who had managed to keep out of either army. however, when arrested they raised a strong cry of being "unionists" and appealed to the military authorities for protection from "rebel" persecution, though the officials of the johnson government in alabama were never charged by any one else with an excess of zeal in the confederate cause. the federal officials released all prisoners who claimed to be "unionists." sheriff snodgrass of jackson county arrested fifteen bushwhackers charged with murder. they claimed to be "loyalists," and general kryzyanowski, commanding the district of north alabama, ordered the court to stop proceedings and to discharge the prisoners. this was not done, and kryzyanowski sent a body of negro soldiers who closed the court, released the prisoners, and sent the sheriff to jail at nashville.[ ] the military authorities allowed no one who asserted that he was a "unionist" to be tried for offences committed during the war, and any effort to bring the outlaws to trial resulted in an outcry against the "persecution of loyalists." in august, , sheriff john m. daniel of cherokee county arrested and imprisoned a band of marauders dressed in the federal uniform, though they had no connection with the army. a short time afterwards the citizens asked him to raise a _posse_ and arrest a similar band which was engaged in robbing the people, plundering houses, assaulting respectable citizens, and threatening to kill them. and as such occurrences were frequent, sheriff daniel, after consulting with the citizens, summoned a _posse comitatus_ and went in pursuit of the marauders. one squad was encountered which surrendered without resistance. a second, belonging to the same band, approached, and, refusing to surrender, opened fire on the sheriff's party. in the fight the sheriff killed one man. upon learning that his prisoners were soldiers and were on detail duty, he desisted from further pursuit, released the citizens who were held as prisoners by the soldiers, and turned his prisoners over to the military authorities. this was on august . daniel was at once arrested by the military authorities and confined in prison at talladega in irons. six months later he had had no trial, and the general assembly petitioned the president for his release, claiming that he had acted in the faithful discharge of his duty.[ ] the memorial asserts that such outrages were of frequent occurrence. another petition to the president asked for the withdrawal of the troops, whose presence caused disorder, and who at various times provoked unpleasant collisions. many of the troops, remote from the line of transportation, subsisted their stock upon the country. this was a hardship to the people, who had barely enough to support life.[ ] for several years the arbitrary conduct of some of the soldiers was a cause of bad feeling on the part of the citizens.[ ] but the soldiers were very often blamed for deeds done by outlaws disguised as federal troops. in northern alabama a party of northern men bought property, and complained to governor parsons of the depredations of the federal troops stationed near and asked for protection. parsons could only refer their request to general davis at montgomery, and in the meantime the troops complained of drove out of the community the signers of the request for protection. one of them, an ex-captain in the united states army, was ordered to leave within three hours or he would be shot.[ ] the soldiers, except at the important posts, were under slack discipline, and their officers had little control over them. at bladen springs some negro troops shot a mr. bass while he was in bed and beat his wife and children with ramrods. they drove the wife and daughters of a mr. rhodes from home and set fire to the house. the citizens fled from their homes, which were pillaged by the negro soldiers in order to get the clothing, furniture, books, etc. the trouble originated in the refusal of the white people to associate with the white officers of the colored troops.[ ] these negroes had little respect for their officers and threatened to shoot their commanding officers.[ ] at decatur the negro troops plundered and shot into the houses of the whites. in greensboro a white youth struck a negro who had insulted him, and was in turn slapped in the face by a federal officer, whom he at once shot and then made his escape. the negro population, led by negro soldiers, went into every house in the town, seized all the arms, and secured as a hostage the brother of the man who had escaped. a gallows was erected and the boy was about to be hanged when his relatives received an intimation that money would secure his release. with difficulty about $ , was secured from the people of the town and sent to the officer in command of the district. no one knows what he did with the money, but the young man was released.[ ] before the close of , the commanding officers were reducing the troops to much better discipline and many were withdrawn. the provisional government also grew stronger, and there was considerably less disorder among the whites, though the blacks were still demoralized. sec. . the negro testing his freedom the conduct of the negro during the war and after gaining his freedom seemed to convince those who had feared that insurrection would follow emancipation that no danger was to be feared from this source. most of the former slaveholders, who were better acquainted with the negro character and who knew that the old masters could easily control them, at no time feared a revolt of the blacks unless under exceptional circumstances. it was only when the wretched characters who followed the northern armies gained control of the negro by playing upon his fears and exciting his worst passions that the fear of the negro was felt by many who had never felt it before, and who have never since been entirely free from this fear. when the federal armies passed through the state, the negroes along the line of march followed them in numbers, though many returned to the old home after a day or two. yet all were restless and expectant, as was natural. during the war they had understood the questions at issue so far as they themselves were concerned, and now that the struggle was decided against their masters they looked for stranger and more wonderful things, not so much at first, however, as later when the negro soldiers and the white emissaries had filled their minds with false impressions of the new and glorious condition that was before them. for several weeks before the master came home from the army the negroes knew that, as a result of the war, they were free. they, however, worked on, somewhat restless, of course, until he arrived and called them up and informed them that they were free. this was the usual way in which the negro was informed of his freedom. the great majority of the blacks, except in the track of the armies, waited to hear from their masters the confirmation of the reports of freedom. and the first thing the returning slaveholder did was to assemble his negroes and make known to them their condition with its privileges and responsibilities. it did not enter the minds of the masters that any laws or constitutional amendments were necessary to abolish slavery. they were quite sure that the war had decided the question. some of the legal-minded men, those who were not in the army and who read their law books, were disposed to cling to their claims until the law settled the question. but they were few in number.[ ] how to prove freedom the negro believed, when he became free, that he had entered paradise, that he never again would be cold or hungry, that he never would have to work unless he chose to, and that he never would have to obey a master, but would live the remainder of his life under the tender care of the government that had freed him. it was necessary, he thought, to test this wonderful freedom. as booker washington says, there were two things which all the negroes in the south agreed must be done before they were really free: they must change their names and leave the old plantation for a few days or weeks. many of them returned to the old homes and made contracts with their masters for work, but at the same time they felt that it was not proper to retain their old master's name, and accordingly took new ones.[ ] upon leaving their homes the blacks collected in gangs at the cross-roads, in the villages and towns, and especially near the military posts. to the negro these ordinary men in blue were beings from another sphere who had brought him freedom, which was something that he did not exactly understand, but which he was assured was a delightful state. the towns were filled with crowds of blacks who left their homes with absolutely nothing, thinking that the government would care for them, or, more probably, not thinking at all. later, after some experience, they were disposed to bring with them their household goods and the teams and wagons of their former masters. this was the effect that freedom had upon thousands; yet, after all, most of the negroes either stayed at their old homes, or, that they might feel really free, moved to some place near by. but among the quietest of them there was much restlessness and neglect of work. hunting and fishing and frolics were the duties of the day. every man acquired in some way a dog and a gun as badges of freedom. it was quite natural that the negroes should want a prolonged holiday to enjoy their new-found freedom; and it is rather strange that any of them worked, for there was a universal impression, vague of course in the remote districts--the result of the teachings of the negro soldiers and of the freedmen's bureau officials--that the government would support them. still some communities were almost undisturbed. the advice of the old plantation preachers held many to their work, and these did not suffer as did their brothers who flocked to the cities. many negro men seized the opportunity to desert their wives and children and get new wives. it was considered a relic of slavery to remain tied to an ugly old wife, married in slavery. much suffering resulted from the desertion, though, as a rule, the negro mother alone supported the children much better than did the father who stayed.[ ] in many districts the negro steadily refused to work, but persisted in supporting himself at the expense of the would-be employer. thousands of hogs and cattle that had escaped the raiding armies or the confederate tithe gatherer went to feed the hungry african whom the bureau did not supply. the bureau issued rations only three times a week, and as the homeless negro had nowhere to keep provisions for two or three days, there would be a season of plenty and then a season of fasting. the bureau reached only a small proportion of the negroes; and, of those it could reach, many, in spite of the regulations, neglected to apply for relief. by causing the negroes to crowd into the towns and cities the bureau brought on much of the want that it did not relieve. the complaint was made that in the worst period of distress the soldiers in charge of the issue of supplies made no effort to see that the negroes were cared for. it was easier also for the average negro to pick up pigs and chickens than to make trips to the bureau. during the summer the roving negro lived upon green corn from the nearest fields and blackberries from the fence corners and pine orchards. with the approach of winter suffering was sure to come to those who were now doing well in a vagrant way, but winter was to them too far in the future to trouble them. the negroes soon found that freedom was not all they had been led to expect. a meeting of blacks held near mobile decided by a vote of to to return to their former masters and go to work to make a living, since their northern deliverers had failed to provide for them in any way.[ ] the negro preacher, especially those lately called to preach, and the northern missionaries had, during the summer and fall, a flourishing time and a rich harvest. a favorite dissipation among the negroes was going to church services as often as possible, especially to camp-meetings where he or she could shout. it was another mark of freedom to change one's church, or to secede from the white churches. all through the summer of the revival meetings went on, conducted by new self-"called" colored preachers and the missionaries. the old plantation preachers, to their credit be it remembered, frowned upon this religious frenzy. the people living near the places of meetings complained of the disappearance of poultry and pigs, fruit and vegetables after the late sessions of the african congregations. the various missionaries filled the late slave's head with false notions of many things besides religion, and gathered thousands into their folds from the southern religious organizations. baptizings were as popular as the opera among the whites to-day. that ceremony took place at the river or creek side. thousands were sometimes assembled, and the air was electric with emotion. the negro was then as near paradise as he ever came in his life. the baptist ceremony of immersion was preferred, because, as one of them remarked, "it looks more like business." shouting they went into the water and shouting they came out. one old negro woman was immersed in the river and came out screaming: "freed from slavery! freed from sin! bless god and general grant!"[ ] suffering among the negroes the negroes massed in the towns lived in deserted and ruined houses, in huts built by themselves of refuse lumber, under sheds and under bridges over creeks, ravines, and gutters, and in caves in the banks of rivers and ravines. many a one had only the sky for a roof and the ground in a fence corner for a bed. they were very scantily clothed. food was obtained by begging, stealing, or from the bureau. taking from the whites was not considered stealing, but was "spilin de gypshuns." the food supply was insufficient, and was badly cooked when cooked at all. it was not possible for the army and the freedmen's bureau, which came later, to do half enough by issuing rations to relieve the suffering they caused by attracting the negroes to the cities. while in slavery the negro had been forced to keep regular hours, and to take care of himself; he had plenty to eat and to wear, and, for reasons of dollars and cents, if for no other, his health was looked after by his master. now all was changed. the negroes were like young children left to care for themselves, and even those who remained at home suffered from personal neglect, since they no longer could be governed in such matters by the directions of the whites. among the negroes in the cities and in the "contraband" camps the sanitary conditions were very bad. to make matters infinitely worse disease in its most loathsome forms broke out in these crowded quarters. smallpox, peculiarly fatal to negroes, raged among them for two years and carried off great numbers. the freedmen's bureau had established hospitals for the negroes, but it could not or would not care for the smallpox patients as carefully as for other sickness. in selma, for instance, the city authorities had been sending the negroes who were ill to one of the city hospitals. but the military authorities interfered, took the negroes away, and informed the city authorities that the negroes were the especial wards of the government, which would care for them at all times. when smallpox broke out, the military authorities in charge of the bureau refused to have anything to do with the sick negroes, and left them to the care of the town.[ ] consumption and venereal diseases now made their appearance. the relations of the soldiers of the invading army and the negro women were the cause of social demoralization and physical deterioration. an eminent authority states that from various causes the efficient negro population was reduced by one-fourth.[ ] though this estimate must be too large, still the negro population decreased between and , as the census of the latter year shows,[ ] in spite of the fact that thousands of negroes[ ] were sent into alabama during the war from georgia, mississippi, tennessee, and florida to escape capture by the federal armies. the greatest mortality was among the negroes in the outskirts of the cities and towns. some of the loss of population must be ascribed to the enrolment of negroes as soldiers and to the capture of slaves by the federal armies.[ ] for several years after the war young negro children were scarce in certain districts. they had died by hundreds and thousands through neglect.[ ] relations between whites and blacks for a year or two the relations between the blacks and whites were, on the whole, friendly, in spite of the constant effort of individual northerners and negro soldiers to foment trouble between the races. as a result of the work of outsiders, there was a growing tendency to insolent conduct on the part of the younger negro men, who were convinced that civil behavior and freedom were incompatible. on the part of some there was a disposition not to submit to the direction of the white men in their work, and the negro's advisers warned him against the efforts of the white man to enslave him. consequently he refused to make contracts that called for any responsibility on his part, and if he made a contract the bureau must ratify it, and, as he had no knowledge of the obligation of contracts, he was likely to break it. in an address of the white ministers of selma to the negroes, they said that papers had been circulated among the negroes telling them that they were hated and detested by the whites, and that such papers caused bad feeling, which was unfortunate, as the races must live together, and the better the feeling, the better it would be for both. at first, the address added, there was some bad feeling when certain negroes, in order to test their freedom, became impudent and insulting, but on the part of the white man this feeling was soon changed. later the negroes were poisoned against their former masters by listening to lying whites, and then they refused to work. the ministers warned the negroes against their continual idleness and their immoral lives, and told them that those of them who pretended to work were not making one bushel of corn where they might make ten, and that the whites wanted workers. the self-respecting negroes were asked to use their influence for the bettering of the worthless members of their race.[ ] when the negroes became convinced that the government would not support them entirely, they then took up the notion that the lands of the whites were to be divided among them. in the fall of there was a general belief that at christmas or new year's day a division of property would be made, and that each negro would get his share--"forty acres of land and an old gray mule" or the equivalent in other property. the soldiers and the officials of the freedmen's bureau were responsible for putting these notions into the heads of the negroes, though general swayne endeavored to correct such impressions. the effect of the belief in the division of property was to prevent steady work or the making of contracts. many ceased work altogether, waiting for the division. in many cases northern speculators and sharpers deceived the negroes about the division of land, and, in this way, secured what little money the latter had. the trust that the negro placed in every man who came from the north was absolute. they manifested a great desire to work for those who bought or leased plantations in the south, and nearly all observers coming from the north in spoke of the alacrity with which the blacks entered into agreements to work for northern men. at the same time there was no ill feeling toward the southern whites; only, for the moment, they were eclipsed by these brighter beings who had brought freedom with them. two years' experience at the most resulted in a thorough mutual distrust. the northern man could make no allowances for the difference between white and negro labor, he expected too much; the negro would not work for so hard a taskmaster. the northern newspaper correspondents who travelled through the south in agreed that the old masters were treating the negroes well, and that the relations between the races were much more friendly than they had expected to find. when cotton was worth fifty cents a pound, it was to the interest of the planter to treat the negro well, especially as the negro would leave and go to another employer on the slightest provocation or offer of better wages. the demand for labor was much greater than the supply. the lower class of whites, the "mean" or "poor whites," as the northern man called them, were hostile to the negro and disposed to hold him responsible for the state of affairs, and, in some cases, mistreated him. the negro, in turn, made many complaints against the vicious whites, and against the policemen in the towns, who were not of the highest type, and who made it hard for sambo when he desired to hang around town and sleep on the sidewalks. one correspondent said that the irish were especially cruel to the negroes. the negro freedman undoubtedly suffered much more from mistreatment by low characters than the negro slave had suffered. in slavery times his master saw that he was protected. now he had no one to look to for protection. the strongest influence of the great majority of the whites was used against any mistreatment of the negro, and the meaner element of the whites was suppressed as much as it was possible to do when there was no authority except public opinion. all in all the negro had less ill treatment than was to be expected, and suffered much more from his own ignorance and the mistaken kindness of his friends.[ ] sec. . destitution and want in and when the war ended, there was little good money in the state, and industry was paralyzed. the gold and silver that remained was carefully hoarded, and for months there was none in circulation except in the towns. a confederate officer relates that on his way home, in , he gave $ in confederate currency to a federal soldier for a silver dime, and that this was the only money he saw for several weeks. the people had no faith in paper money of any kind, and thought that greenbacks would become worthless in the same way as confederate currency. all sense of values had been lost, which may account for the fabulous and fictitious prices in the south for several years after the war, and the liberality of appropriations of the first legislature after the surrender, which in small matters was severely economical. the legislators had been accustomed to making appropriations of thousands and even millions of dollars, with no question as to where the money was to come from, for the state had three public printers to print money. now it was hard to realize that business must be brought to a cash basis. here and there could be found a person who had a bale or two of cotton which he had succeeded in hiding from the raiders and the treasury agents. this was sold for a good price and relieved the wants of the owner; but those who had cotton to sell often spent the money foolishly for gewgaws and fancy articles to eat and wear, such as they had not seen for several years. there was an almost maddening desire for the things which they had once been accustomed to, and which the traders and speculators now placed in tempting array in the long-empty store windows. but the majority of the people had no cotton to sell, and in many cases a pig or a cow was driven ten or fifteen miles to sell for a little money to buy necessaries, or frequently trinkets. in certain parts of the state the crops planted by the negroes were in good condition in april, , but after the invasions they were neglected, and in thousands of cases the negroes went away and left them. in the white counties conditions were as bad as it was possible to be. half of the people in them had been supported by state and county aid which now failed. nearly all the men were injured or killed, and there were no negroes to work the farms. the women and the children did everything they could to plant their little crops in the spring of , but often not even seed corn was to be had. all over the state, where it was possible, the returning soldiers planted late crops of corn, and in the black belt they were able to save some of the crops planted by the negroes. but in the white counties, especially in the northern part of the state, nothing could be done. often the breadwinner had been killed in the war, and the widow and orphans were left to provide for themselves. the late crops were almost total failures because of the drought, not one-tenth of the crop of being made. in this section everything that would support life had been stripped from the country by the contending armies and the raiding bands of desperadoes. a double warfare had devastated the country, "tories" raiding their neighbors and _vice versa_; and the bitter state of feeling prevented neighbor from relieving neighbor. but the "unionists," who were sure that their turn had come, wanted the destitute cared for, even if some were fed "who curse us as traitors." this part of the country had been supported by the central black belt counties, but in the supply was exhausted. in the cotton counties there was enough to support life, and had the negroes remained at home and worked, they would not have suffered. as it was, those who left the plantation were decimated by disease and want. soon after the occupation, the army officers distributed the supplies captured from the confederates among the needy whites and blacks who applied for aid. but many out of reach of aid starved, and especially did this happen among the aged and helpless who made no appeal for aid, but who died in silence from want of shelter and food. after several months the freedmen's bureau, under the charge of general swayne, who was a man of discretion and common sense, and who understood the real state of affairs, extended its assistance to the destitute whites. among the negroes the bureau created much of the misery it relieved, for in the cotton belt there was enough to support life; and had the negroes not flocked to the bureau, they would have lived in plenty. besides, the aged and infirm negroes were not assisted by the bureau, but remained with their master's people, who took care of them. but the generous assistance extended by that much-abused institution saved many a poor white from starvation. in the fall of , , destitute whites were reported to the provisional government. they were mostly in the mountain counties of north and northeast alabama, though in southeast alabama there was also much want. and in governor parsons's last message to the legislature (december, ), he stated that those in need of food numbered , .[ ] a state commissioner for the destitute was appointed to coöperate with general swayne and the freedmen's bureau. the legislature appropriated $ , in bonds to buy supplies for the poor, but the attitude of congress toward the johnson state governments prevented the sale of state securities. however, the governor went to the west and succeeded in getting some supplies. in december, , it was believed that there were , people who needed assistance in some degree. the failure of the crops in left affairs in even a worse condition than before. small farmers could not subsist while making a new crop, and many widows and children were in great need. some of the latter walked thirty or forty miles for food for themselves and for those at home.[ ] in january, , the state commissioner, m. h. cruikshank, reported to governor patton that , whites were entirely destitute. these were mostly in the counties of bibb, shelby, jefferson, talladega, st. clair, cherokee, blount, jackson, marshall, all white counties; nine other counties had not been heard from.[ ] during the same month, a freedmen's bureau official who travelled through the counties of talladega, bibb, shelby, jefferson, and calhoun reported that the suffering among the whites was appalling, especially in talladega county. the freedmen's bureau had neglected the poor whites, though there was little suffering in the richer sections where the negroes lived. he stated that near talladega many white families were living in the woods with no shelter except the pine boughs, and this in the middle of winter.[ ] in randolph county, in january, , the probate judge said that persons were in need of aid. most of these had been opposed to the confederacy. the "unionists" complained that the confederate foragers had discriminated against them, which, while very likely true, was more than offset by the depredations of the tories and federals on the confederate sympathizers. all accounts agree that the confederate sympathizers were in the worse condition; many of them had not tasted meat for months. but charges were brought that the probate judges of the provisional government, who certainly were not strong confederates, did not fairly distribute provisions among the "damned tories," as the latter complained that they were called.[ ] the state commissioner could relieve only about one-tenth of the destitute whites. in january, , he gave assistance in the form of meal, corn (and sometimes a little meat) to whites and blacks; in february, to , whites and to blacks; and in march, to , whites and to blacks, most of whom were women and children, the men receiving assistance being old, infirm, or crippled. general swayne of the freedmen's bureau helped cruikshank in every way he could, and took charge of some of the negroes. but owing to the failure of the crops in , the situation was growing worse, and there was no hope for any relief until the summer of when vegetables and corn would ripen.[ ] in may, , governor patton said that of , widows and , orphans, three-fourths were in need of the necessaries of life, that they had been able to do very little for themselves, even those who had land being unable to work it to any advantage, and that their corn crop of the previous year had failed.[ ] there is little doubt that many died from lack of food and shelter during and , but in the disordered times incomplete records were kept. many cases of starvation were reported, especially in north alabama, but few names can now be obtained. near guntersville there were three cases of starvation, while hundreds were in an almost perishing condition. from marshall county, where, it was said, there were helpless and destitute persons and who were able to work, but could get nothing to do, it was reported that not more than twenty people had more than enough to supply their own needs. the people of cherokee county, when on the verge of starvation, appealed to south alabama for aid. they asked for corn, and said that if they could not get it they must leave the country. hundreds, they said, had not tasted meat for months, and farm stock was in a wretched condition. nashville sent $ , and montgomery $ , to buy provisions for them.[ ] from coosa county much distress was reported among the old people, widows, children, refugees, and the families whose heads had returned from the army too late to make a crop. however, the negroes in this section who had remained on their farms had made good crops and were doing well.[ ] in the valley of the coosa, in northeast alabama, several cases of starvation were reported. one woman went seventeen miles for a peck of meal, but died before she could reach home with it. another, after fasting three days, walked sixteen miles to obtain supplies, and failing, died. one family lived on boiled greens, with no salt nor pepper, no meat nor bread. an old woman, living eighteen miles from guntersville, walked to that village to get meal for her grandchildren. it has been estimated that there were , people in the five counties south of the tennessee river--franklin, lawrence, morgan, marshall, de kalb--in a state of want bordering on starvation.[ ] the majority of the destitute whites never appealed for aid, but managed, though half starved, to live until better times. numbers left the land of famine and went where there was plenty, and where they could get work. others who could not emigrate and those broken in spirit received assistance. from january to september, , , to , whites, and to , negroes were aided each month by the freedmen's bureau and by the state. most of these were women and children, the rule being not to assist able-bodied whites except in extreme cases. in the state succeeded in selling some of its bonds, and raised money in other ways. much was spent for supplies for the poor, for in the crops almost failed again. from november, , to september, , the freedmen's bureau and the state commissioner issued, to black and white, , , rations. there were also large donations from the west and from tennessee and kentucky. after this the freedmen's bureau gave less, though during the year from september, , to september, , it issued , rations to whites and , to blacks. to the whites, and partly to the blacks, the issue of provisions was made under the general supervision of general swayne, and through state agents in each county who were acceptable to swayne.[ ] in november, , the freedmen's bureau reported that there were , whites and , blacks without means of support, and , rations per month were asked for. it would have been much better to have put an end to relief work, since by this time the officials of the freedmen's bureau were very active in politics and showed a disposition to report their political henchmen as destitute and in need of support. and in another way there was much abuse of the charity of the government, for some broken-down, spiritless people would never work for themselves as long as they could draw rations for nothing. the negroes, especially, were demoralized by the issue of rations. fear of the contempt of their neighbors would drive all but the meaner class of whites back to work, but the negro came to believe that he would be supported the rest of his life by the government. as late as october, , it was reported that there was great want in middle and south alabama, and soup houses were established by the state and the bureau in mobile, huntsville, selma, montgomery, and other central alabama towns.[ ] the location of the soup kitchens, and the date, lead one to suspect that politics, perhaps, had something to do with the matter. these towns were the very places where there was less want than anywhere else in the state, but grant was to be elected, and there were many negro votes. for more than two years after the war in all the small towns were seen emaciated persons who had come long distances to get food. general swayne thought the condition of the poor white much worse than that of the negro. the latter, he said, was hindered by no wounds nor by a helpless family, for his aged and helpless kin were cared for at the old master's. the "refugees," as the poor whites were called who had but little and lost all by the war, lived in a different part of the country,--in the mountains and in the pine woods,--beyond the reach of work or help, clinging to the old home places in utter hopeless desolation. for the negro, swayne thought, there was hope, but for the "refugee" there was none; he existed only.[ ] it was years before a large number of the people again attained a comfortable standard of living. some gave up altogether. many died in the struggle. numbers left the country; others, in reach of assistance, became trifling and worthless from too much aid. in later years the opening of mines and the building of railroads in north alabama, the lumber industry and the rapid development of south alabama, saved the "refugee" from the fate that general swayne thought was in store for him. chapter vi confiscation and the cotton tax sec. . confiscation frauds restrictions on trade in at the time of the collapse of the confederacy trade within the state of alabama was subject to the following regulations: gold and silver was in no case to be paid for southern produce; all trade was to be done through officers appointed by the united states treasury department;[ ] the state was divided into districts and sub-districts called agencies, under the superintendence of these treasury agents, whose business it was to regulate trade, and collect captured, abandoned, and confiscable property; in making purchases of cotton, and other produce the agents were to pay only three-fourths of the value, or to purchase the produce at three-fourths its value, and then at once resell it to the former owner at full value, with permission to export or ship to the north; in order to get permission to sell, the owner must take the lincoln amnesty oath of december , ; there was, besides, an internal revenue tax of two cents a pound, and a shipping fee of four cents a pound.[ ] so for a month after the surrender the person who owned cotton near any port or place of sale had to sell to united states treasury agents, or pretended agents, and have twenty-five per cent to fifty per cent of the value of his cotton deducted before it could be sent north. on may , , a regulation provided that "all cotton not produced by persons _with their own labor_ or with the labor of _freedmen_ or others employed and _paid_ by them, must, before shipment to any port or place in a loyal state, be sold to and resold by an officer of the government ... and before allowing any cotton or other product to be shipped ... the proper officer must require a certificate from the purchasing agent or the internal revenue officer that the cotton proposed to be shipped had been resold by him or that per cent of the value thereof has been paid to such purchasing agent in money."[ ] this was in accord with the general policy of johnson, at first, viz. to punish the slaveholding class and to favor the non-slaveholders. cotton was then worth $ or more a bale, and cotton raised by slave labor had to pay the per cent tax--$ to $ . however, the regulations ordered that no other fees were to be exacted after the fourth was taken. nearly all the cotton not yet destroyed was in the black belt, and was raised by slave labor. the few people who had cotton raised by their own labor might sell it after paying the tax of three cents a pound, or $ to $ a bale. may , , the proclamation of the president removed restrictions on commercial intercourse except as to the right of the united states to property purchased by agents in southern states, and except as to the per cent tax on purchases of cotton. no exceptions were made to the per cent tax. the ports were to be opened to foreign commerce after july , .[ ] after june , , restrictions as to trade were removed except as to arms, gray cloth, etc.[ ] and after august , , even contraband goods might be admitted on license.[ ] federal claims to confederate property the confiscation laws relating to private property under which the army and treasury agents were acting in alabama in were: ( ) the act of july , , which authorized the confiscation and sale of property as a punishment for "rebels"; ( ) the act of march , , which authorized treasury agents to collect and sell "captured and abandoned" property,--but a "loyal" owner might within two years after the close of the war prove his claim, and "that he has never given any aid or comfort" to the confederacy, and then receive the proceeds of the sales, less expenses; ( ) the act of july , , authorizing treasury agents to lease or work abandoned property by employing refugee negroes. "abandoned" property was defined by the treasury department as property the owner of which was engaged in war or otherwise against the united states, or was voluntarily absent. according to this ruling all the property of confederate soldiers was "abandoned" and might be seized by treasury agents. north alabama suffered from the operation of these laws from their passage until late in , the rest of alabama only in . the blockade prevented the people from disposing of most of the cotton raised during the war; there were heavy crops in , , , and small ones in and . the number of bales produced in was , ; in , about the same; and less in and . comparatively little cotton was sent out on blockade-runners, and not very much was sent through the lines from the cotton belt proper, so that at the close of the war there were many thousands of bales of cotton in the central counties of the state. cotton was selling for high prices-- cents to $ . a pound, or $ to $ a bale. it was almost the sole dependence of the people to prevent the severest suffering. the state and confederate governments had some kind of a claim on much of the cotton early in . no one knew how much nor exactly where all of the confederate cotton was stored, and it bore no marks that would distinguish it from private cotton. but the records surrendered by general taylor and others showed who had subscribed to the cotton or produce loan. many thousand bales had been destroyed by the raiders in and , and many thousand more had been burned by confederate authorities to prevent its falling into the hands of the federals.[ ] on october , , a report was made to secretary of the treasury[ ] trenholm which showed the amount of confederate cotton in the southern states. by far the greater part that was still on hand was in alabama. in this state the confederacy had received as subscriptions to the produce loan, , bales, at an average cost of $ . , in all, $ , , . . other sales or subscriptions on other products to this produce or cotton loan raised the amount in alabama to $ , , . alabama, as one of the producing states, and the one least affected by the ravages of war, furnished to all of these loans more produce than any other state.[ ] the people, unable to sell their cotton abroad, exchanged some of it for confederate bonds. several thousand bales ( in ) were gathered by the cotton tithe. after shipping several thousand bales through the blockade, and smuggling some through the lines, and after some destruction by the enemy, or to prevent seizure by the enemy, there remained in the state, in the fall of , , bales of confederate cotton. nearly all of this was destroyed in , before the surrender, by federals and confederates, and very little remained which the federal government could rightfully claim as confederate property. this claim was based on the theory that cotton subscribed to the produce loan was devoted to the aid of the confederacy, in intention at least, and therefore was forfeited to the united states, even though the owner had never delivered the cotton or other produce, and though the united states held that the confederacy could not legally acquire property.[ ] there were three classes of property claimed by the united states: ( ) "captured" property or anything seized by the army and navy; ( ) "abandoned" property, the owner being in the confederate service, no matter whether his family were present or not; ( ) "confiscable" property, or that liable to seizure and sale under the confiscation act of july , . until , all sorts of property were seized and used by the federal forces, or, if portable, sent north for sale. live stock, planting implements and machinery, wagons, etc., were in some cases sent north and sold;[ ] but most was used on the spot. after the surrender the secretary of treasury ordered household furniture, family relics, books, etc., to be restored to all "loyal" owners or to those who had taken the amnesty oath.[ ] in no case had a person who could not prove his or her "loyalty" any remedy against seizure of property. until the surrender the people of north alabama were despoiled of all property that could be moved, and after the surrender the same policy was pursued all over the state, especially in regard to cotton. no right of property in cotton was there recognized, but by a previous law a "loyal" owner had until two years after the war to prove his claim and his "loyalty."[ ] the attorney-general delivered an opinion, july , , that cotton and other property seized by the agents or the army was _de facto_ and _de jure_, _captured_ property, and that neither the president nor the secretary of the treasury had the power to restore such property to the former owners. they must go through the courts, and under the laws only "loyal" claimants had any basis for claims, and "loyalty" must first be determined by the courts.[ ] after the opinion of the attorney-general, secretary mcculloch followed it so far as captures by the army were concerned, but still continued to "revise the mistakes" of the cotton agents who "frequently seized the property of private individuals." proof of "loyalty" was, however, required in all cases before restoration, and the fourteen classes excepted by the amnesty proclamation of may , , could get no restoration. in all cases the expenses charged against the property had to be paid before the owner could get it. after april , , by request of the joint sub-committee on retrenchment, no further releases of any kind were made.[ ] on march , , a joint resolution of congress covered into the treasury all money received from sales of property in the south. after this only an act of congress could restore the proceeds to the owner.[ ] the result was in the long run that the "disloyal" owners never received restoration of their property seized by the army, and by the treasury agents during and after the war, but claim agents and perjurers have pursued a thriving business in proving "loyal" claims against the treasury. "disloyal" persons, whose property was liable to confiscation, and who could not recover in the court of claims, were, as decided by that body: those who served in the military, naval, or civil service of the state or the confederacy; those who voted for secession or for secession candidates; those who furnished supplies to the confederacy, engaged in business that aided the confederacy, subscribed to its loans, resided or removed voluntarily within the confederate lines, or sold produce to the confederacy. women who had sons or husbands in the confederate army, or who belonged to "sewing societies," or made flags and clothing for, or furnished delicacies to, confederate soldiers were "disloyal" and could not recover property. "loyalty" had to be proven, not only for the original owner, but also for the heirs and claimants. the claims of deserters were allowed. in order to test the "loyalty" of claimants, they were asked to answer in writing lists of questions (numbering at various times , , , and questions) regarding their conduct during the war. the questions covered several hundred points, and embraced every possible activity from to . no man and few women who lived within the state until could, without perjury, pass the examination and prove a claim. yet numbers have proved claims.[ ] cotton frauds and stealing the minority report of the ku klux committee in asserted that, of the , , bales of cotton in the south at the close of the war, , , had been seized by united states treasury agents or pretended agents.[ ] the gulf states, and especially alabama, were for a year or more filled with agents and "cotton spies," seeking confederate cotton and other property. they were paid a percentage of what they seized-- to per cent. native scoundrels united with these, and all reaped a rich harvest.[ ] on much of the cotton subscribed to the confederate produce loan the government had advanced a small amount to the owner and allowed him to keep it. in many cases no payment had been made. the farmer considered that the cotton still belonged to him, but that the confederacy had a claim on a part of it. the records kept were imperfect, and few persons knew just what was confederate cotton and what was not. much of the cotton subscribed had been destroyed or sent to government warehouses in selma, mobile, montgomery, and columbus, where it was burned in april and may, . of course each man considered that the cotton destroyed was confederate cotton, and that all left was private cotton. in most cases the claim of the government was very shadowy. where cotton was still in the hands of the planter, private and government cotton could not be distinguished. the records did not show whether a man had kept or delivered the cotton he had subscribed to the produce loan. the agents proceeded upon the assumption that he had kept it, and that all he had kept was government cotton.[ ] no proof to the contrary would convince the average agent. secretary mcculloch said, "i am sure i sent some honest cotton agents south; but it sometimes seems very doubtful whether any of them remained honest very long."[ ] it was said that secretary chase had foreseen the trouble that would result if the cotton were confiscated, and had proposed to leave all cotton in the hands of the former owners who then held it. when the records were certain, the cotton might be confiscated; but in most cases there were no correct records. such a policy would have been generous and magnanimous, and would have had a good effect.[ ] the plan of chase was not accepted, and a carnival of corruption followed. in august, , president johnson wrote to general thomas, "i have been advised that innumerable frauds are being practised by persons assuming to be treasury agents, in various portions of alabama, in the collection of cotton pretended to belong to the confederate states government."[ ] the thefts of the treasury agents and the worst characters of the army did much to arouse bitter feelings among the people who lost their only possession that could be turned into ready money. it was assumed, as a general rule, that all cotton belonged to the government until the real owner could prove his claim and his "loyalty," and of course he could seldom do this to the satisfaction of the agent or of the army officer who was bent on supplementing his pay. cotton had been all along an object of the special hostility of federals. the old southern belief that cotton was king and the hopes that confederates had founded on this belief were well known. "cotton is the root of all evil" was a common declaration of the invading army and of the cotton agents. when no other private property was taken or destroyed, cotton was sure to be. every cotton-gin and press in reach of the armies was burned from to . there seemed to be an intense desire to destroy the royal power of king cotton. as opportunity offered, officers in the army, contrary to orders, began to interest themselves in speculations in cotton--captured, purchased, or stolen. the small garrisons were not officered by the best men of the army, and many who would never have touched money from any other kind of plunder thought it perfectly legitimate to fill their pockets by the seizure and sale of cotton. they did not consider it defrauding the government, for the latter, they knew, had no more title to it than they had.[ ] the disposition of the cotton collectors to regard the people as without rights resulted in the growth of a feeling on the part of the latter that it was perfectly legitimate to keep the government and its rascally agents from profiting by the use of confederate property. in every way people began to hinder the agents and the army in its work of collecting cotton. colonel hunter brooke stated, in , that most of the people who had subscribed cotton to the confederate government or on whose cotton the confederates had some claim utterly refused to recognize the title of the united states to that property and refused to give any assistance to the authorities in tracing the cotton. at times the citizens rose in rebellion against the invasion of treasury agents and the military escorts sent with them. a cotton spy was sent into choctaw county to collect information about cotton stealing. he had an escort of twenty soldiers, but the people drove them out. a battalion of cavalry was then sent. steamers sent up the rivers to get the cotton seized by the agents were sometimes fired upon.[ ] not only cotton but stores collected on private plantations for the army, no matter whether private property or not, were seized. horses and mules used in the confederate service were taken, notwithstanding the terms of surrender and the fact that the confederate soldiers owned the cavalry horses.[ ] the counties of cherokee, franklin, jackson, jefferson, lauderdale, limestone, madison, morgan, st. clair, walker, and winston--all white counties--lost principally corn, fodder, provisions, harness, mules, horses, and wagons.[ ] as to cotton, much pure stealing was done by the followers of the army and thieving soldiers and some natives, but sooner or later the officials became implicated in it, since only by their permission could the commodity be shipped. a thieving southerner would find where a lot of cotton was stored and inform a soldier, usually an officer, who would make arrangements to ship the cotton, and the two would divide the profits. planters who were afraid that their cotton would be seized by treasury agents went into partnership with federal officers and shipped their cotton to new orleans or to new york. no one outside the ring could ship cotton until five or ten dollars a bale was paid the military officers who controlled affairs. along the line of the mobile and ohio railway , bales of cotton were said to have been stolen from the owners and sold in mobile and new orleans. the thieves often paid $ a bale to have the cotton passed through to new orleans.[ ] but all petty thievery went unnoticed when the treasury agents began operations. they harried the land worse than an army of bummers. there was no protection against one; he claimed all cotton, and, unless bribed, seized it. thousands of bales were taken to which the government had not a shadow of claim. in november, , the _times_ correspondent (truman) stated that nearly all the treasury agents in alabama had been filling their pockets with cotton money, and that $ , , were unaccounted for. one agent took bales on a vessel and went to france. their method of proceeding was to find a lot of cotton, confederate or otherwise, and give some man $ a bale to swear the cotton belonged to him, and that it had never been turned over to the confederate states. then the agent shipped the cotton and cleared $ a bale.[ ] secretary mcculloch said that the most troublesome and disagreeable duty that he was called upon to perform was the execution of the law in regard to confederate property. the cotton agents, being paid by a commission on the property collected, were disposed to seize private property also. there was no authority at hand to check them. and people were disposed, he thought, to lay claim to confederate cotton and "spirited away" much of it, while on the other hand much private property was taken by the agents.[ ] five years later the testimony taken in alabama at the instance of the minority members of the ku klux committee exposed the methods of the cotton agents.[ ] the country swarmed with agents or pretended agents and their spies or informers; the commission given was from one-fourth to one-half of all cotton collected; everybody's cotton was seized, but for fear of future trouble a proposition from the owner to divide was usually listened to and a peaceable settlement made; when private or public cotton was shipped it was consigned by bales and not by pounds; the various agents through whose hands it passed were in the habit of "tolling" or "plucking" it, often two or three times, about one-fifth at a time; in this way a bale weighing pounds would be reduced to or pounds; even after the private cotton arrived at mobile or new orleans, paying "toll" all the way, it was liable to seizure by order of some treasury agent; as a rule, terms could be arranged by which a planter might keep one-fourth to three-fourths of his cotton, whether confederate or not; it was safer for the agent to take a part of the cotton with the consent and silence of the owner than to steal both from the owner and from the government for which he pretended to work, and in this way the owners saved some for themselves; much private cotton was seized on the plantations near the rivers before the owners came home from the war; cotton seized in the black belt was shipped to simeon draper, united states cotton agent, new york, while that from north alabama was sent to william p. mellen, cincinnati;[ ] complaint was made by those few owners who succeeded in tracing their cotton that, after being reduced by "tolling" or "plucking,"[ ] it was sold by the agent in the north, by samples which were much inferior to the cotton in the bales, and in this way the purchaser, who was in partnership with the agents, would pay ten or fifteen cents a pound for a lot of cotton certainly not worth more than that if the samples were honest, but which was really good cotton, worth cents to $ . a pound in new york. so in case the secretary of the treasury could be brought to "revise the mistakes" of his agents, the owner would get only the small sum paid in for inferior cotton, and even this was reduced by excessive charges and fees.[ ] there was also complaint that when a lot of private cotton was seized and traced to draper, the latter would inform the owners that only a small proportion of what had been seized was received,[ ] and that had been sold at a low price. it was afterwards shown that draper never gave receipts for cotton received. there was nothing businesslike about the cotton administration. cotton was consigned to draper or mellen by the bale and not by the pound. a bale might weigh or pounds. as soon as cotton was seized the bagging was stripped off, and it was then repacked in order to prevent identification.[ ] many persons who knew nothing of the law and who saw that their property was unsafe were induced by the treasury agents to surrender their cotton to the united states government, even though there might be no claim against it, the agents promising that the united states would pay to the owners the proceeds upon application to the treasury department. when the secretary of the treasury discovered this, and when the agent would certify that such was the case, his "mistake was revised" and the money received from the sale of cotton was refunded.[ ] the owner had no remedy if the agent declined to certify, and he usually declined, since the cotton had probably never been turned over to the united states by him. the experience of hon. f. s. lyon[ ] is typical of many in the black belt. he stated[ ] that after the surrender of taylor, general canby issued an order that all who had sold cotton to the confederate government must now surrender it to united states authorities under penalty of confiscation of other property to make good the failure to deliver confederate cotton. under this order some cotton was seized to replace confederate cotton that had disappeared. united states army wagons, guarded by soldiers, went over the country day and night, gathering cotton for persons who pretended to be treasury agents. lyon had bales of confederate cotton which were claimed by general dustin, a cotton agent (later a carpet-bag politician), and lyon agreed to haul it to the railroad, under an "agreement" with dustin. but one night a train of army wagons, guarded by soldiers, came and carried off bales, and the next day, bales. (they had asked the manager "if he would accept $ and sleep soundly all night.") the wagons were traced to uniontown, and the commanding officer there was induced to hold the cotton until the question was settled. general hubbard, commanding the district, arrested one ruter, who, with the soldiers, had taken the cotton. ruter claimed to be acting under the authority of a cotton agent in mississippi, but could show no evidence of his authority, and his name was not on the list of authorized agents. however, general hubbard was ordered by superior authority to regard ruter as a cotton agent and to discharge him. the bales were lost. the mobile agent, dustin,[ ] would not make a decision in disputed cases because he was afraid of appeal to washington. a proposition to divide the profits, however, would always secure from him a declaration that the cotton had no claims against it. lyon reported that not one-tenth of the cotton seized was consigned to government agents, but that the agents usually sold it on the spot to cotton buyers. the planter was held responsible for cotton sold or subscribed to confederate government. cotton stolen from the agent had to be made good by the person from whom the agent had seized it. seed cotton was often hauled away at night by pretended agents. in every part of the cotton belt the looting of cotton went on. there were frequent changes of agents. as soon as a man became rich his place would be taken by another. the chief cotton agents sold for high prices appointments as collecting agents. the new agents often seized the cotton that through bribery had escaped former agents; and in this way the same lot would be seized two or three times. one cotton agent, a mere youth, at demopolis received as his commission for one month bales of cotton which netted him $ , . the treasury department made a regulation allowing one-fourth to a person who had kept the confederate cotton and delivered it safely to the united states authorities, but the agents did not make known the regulation, and the one-fourth went to them.[ ] there were complaints of the seizure of cotton grown after the war. the planters' factory of mobile lost bales of cotton grown in . this company was made up of "union" and northern men who were able to obtain an order for the release of the cotton. there was of course no way to tell what cotton was seized, and bales of "dog tail," worth six cents a pound, were turned over to the factory instead of the good cotton, worth sixty cents, a pound.[ ] dishonest agents prosecuted the federal grand jury reported that at the end of the war there were , bales of cotton in alabama to which the government had clear title;[ ] the records showed the history and location of each bale, and these records were placed in the hands of the cotton agents; the papers of two agents, in south alabama, dexter and tomeny, showed that while a large part of this cotton had been shipped but little of it had been consigned to the government, the bulk of it having become a source of private profit to the agents; the , bales turned over to the government by these agents had been much reduced in weight, in some cases as much as one-third, and exorbitant expenses had been charged against them; large quantities of cotton had been fraudulently released to parties who presented fictitious claims; cotton belonging to private individuals had often been seized, and release refused unless the owner sold at a ruinous sacrifice to s. e. ogden and company, who seemed to be on the inside at new york; cotton thus seized was not released except through the influence of ogden and company, and it was said that tomeny openly advised some parties to make arrangements with ogden and company, who paid less than half-price for cotton under such circumstances.[ ] the grand jury declared that in alabama , bales had been stolen by agents. tomeny, who seems to have secured a much smaller share of the spoils than dexter, stated that when he began business in november, , nearly all cotton had been collected or stolen, and that not a hundred bales had been received by himself except from other agents who had collected it. he consigned all his cotton to simeon draper, in new york city. none was released to ogden and company, and they bought only one lot of cotton that had been seized-- bales seized from ellis and alley, themselves cotton agents under the first agency. this lot, tomeny claimed, was bought by ogden and company without his knowledge or consent.[ ] two cotton agents, t. c. a. dexter and t. j. carver, were finally arraigned, in the fall and winter of , in the federal courts, and judge busteed proceeded to try them; but they denied the jurisdiction of the court, and the army interfered and stopped the proceedings, whereupon busteed closed the court. then a military commission was convened, and before it the cases were tried. lieutenant-colonel hunter brooke presided over the commission. the culprits denied the legality of this trial by a military commission in time of peace and ultimately were pardoned on this account. carver was convicted of fraud in the collection of cotton, and was fined $ , and sentenced to imprisonment for one year and until the fine should be paid. carver had paid dexter $ , for his commission as cotton agent. so it seems the office must have carried with it certain opportunities. dexter was convicted of fraud in the cotton business and for selling the appointment to carver. only bales of government cotton could be traced directly to his stealing.[ ] he was fined $ , and imprisoned for one year and until the fine should be paid.[ ] statistics of the frauds the minority report of the ku klux committee asserted, as has been said, that in there were , , bales of cotton in the south, and that the agents seized , , bales for themselves and for the government;[ ] dr. curry said that there were about , bales of confederate cotton;[ ] another expert estimate placed the total number of bales of confederate cotton at , on april , ; after april , many thousand bales were destroyed in alabama, where most of the confederate cotton was gathered; the report of a. roane, in , showed , bales in alabama. it is not probable, after all the burnings which later took place in alabama, that there was much government cotton left in alabama, , bales at the most. secretary mcculloch, on march , , reported that the total receipts from captured and abandoned property amounted to $ , , . , netting $ , , . .[ ] the cotton sold for $ , , . .[ ] the records show that only , bales were turned over to the united states, and of these draper received , - / bales which he sold for about $ , , when cotton was worth cents to $ . a pound, and a bale weighed to pounds. this cotton was worth in new york $ , , .[ ] the records of the agencies were badly kept or not kept at all, and many agents made no reports. the government never knew how many bales had been collected in its name. the first special agency reported that in alabama it had seized cotton (after june , ) in the counties of greene, marengo, perry, dallas, pickens, montgomery, sumter, and tuscaloosa, during october, november, and december, , and january, . this agency had, before june , ,[ ] shipped bales to the government agent in new york, who sold them for $ , . , and had made charges of $ , . for freight, fees, etc., $ a bale. the ninth agency, under the notorious t. c. a. dexter and j. m. tomeny, gathered cotton from the counties of dallas, marengo, sumter, montgomery, wilcox, lowndes, barbour, butler, tuscaloosa, macon, and mobile. this agency had thirty-six collecting agents, and turned over to the government only , bales, which sold for $ , , . , with fees and charges amounting to $ , . .[ ] most of the government cotton was consigned to new york agents and sold there.[ ] the army quartermasters at mobile received , bales of cotton, of which were delivered to dexter and were, it was claimed, destroyed by the great explosion. dexter turned over to the government only bales and tomeny , other agents accounted for enough to bring the total up to about , bales. dexter sold $ , worth of other property.[ ] the freedmen's bureau in alabama was supported for two years by the sale of confiscated property, of which no accounts were kept. the army also sold cotton and other confiscated property and used the proceeds. "abandoned" cotton netted to the treasury $ , , . . after june , according to treasury records, , bales (worth $ , , . , but netting only $ , , ) were illegally seized. it is this money which is still held because the former owners once subscribed to the confederate produce loan. "loyal" claimants, , in number in , were asking damages, to the amount of $ , , . . when congress, on march , , called into the treasury all proceeds of captured and abandoned property, it was found that jay cooke and company had $ , , , which they had been using in their business for years. the cotton agents and others interested lobbied persistently in washington against legislation in behalf of claimants, fearing investigation and exposure. the statistics given in the public documents are often those for the whole south, but usually only for alabama, mississippi, and louisiana. seldom can the figures for alabama be separated from the others. alabama lost more from the invasion of treasury agents than any other state, since in she had more cotton and other property, and many more agents visited her soil. the united states treasury received only a small fraction of the confiscated property, and most of the proceeds of that have been released to people who were willing to commit perjury in order to get it.[ ] under the act of march , , "loyal" owners had until two years after the war to file claims, and by february, , $ , , . had been paid out to satisfy these people. since , $ , . has been paid out. under the act of may , , providing for return of proceeds of cotton seized illegally after june , , claims were filed, of which were from alabama. these alabama claims called for , bales. only a very small amount ($ , . ) was returned to the claimants, because the records showed that most of them had once sold cotton to the confederate government. therefore, they now say, all cotton seized after june , , was confederate cotton, and the proceeds will be held. only about four and a half millions now ( ) remain in the treasury, as the proceeds of all the cotton seized. this is the amount for which the cotton seized after june , , was sold. all other proceeds have either been returned to "loyal" claimants or have been absorbed by expenses. very few, if any, claimants not able to prove "loyalty" have been able to secure restoration, since "loyalty" was in most cases a prerequisite to consideration.[ ] the confiscation policy, it may be concluded, profited the government nothing; the treasury agents and pretended agents were enriched by their stealings and but few were punished; nearly all private cotton was lost; the people were reduced to more desperate want and exasperated against the government which, it seemed, had acted upon the assumption that the ex-confederates had no rights whatever. sec. . the cotton tax another heavy burden imposed on the prostrate south was the tax levied by the united states government on each pound of cotton raised. an act of july, , imposed a tax of one-half cent a pound on cotton, but this tax could be collected only on that part of the crop that was brought through the lines by speculators. january , , the tax was increased to two cents a pound, collectible on all cotton coming from the confederate states. this was raised to two and a half cents a pound on march , , and to three cents a pound, or $ a bale, on july , .[ ] after the war the tax bore with crushing weight on the impoverished farmers.[ ] on march , , in anticipation of reconstruction, the tax was reduced to two and a half cents a pound, or $ . a bale, to take effect after september , . a year later, partly because of the decided objections of those carpet-baggers, scalawags, and negroes who had small farms and whose remonstrances had more influence than those of the planters, the tax was discontinued on all cotton raised after the crop of . the tax was a lien on the cotton from the time it was baled until the tax was paid, and was often collected in the states to which the cotton was shipped. the collections in the south amounted to the following sums:-- for the year ending june , $ , . for the year ending june , , , . for the year ending june , , , . for the year ending june , , , . for the year ending june , , , . for the year ending june , , , . -------------- total, $ , , . [ ] of this tax alabama paid within her borders $ , , . ,[ ] and since she was one of the three great cotton states, her share of the tax paid in northern ports must have been several million dollars more. of the other cotton states,--georgia, louisiana, mississippi, texas, tennessee, and arkansas,--all except georgia, which paid about a million dollars more than alabama, suffered in less degree. from april , , to february , , alabama paid in other taxes, into the united states treasury, $ , , . , of which $ , , . was internal revenue, and from september , , to january , , $ , , internal revenue.[ ] the former sum was much more than the federal government spent in alabama during that year for the relief of the destitute, both black and white. the cotton spirited away by thieves and confiscated by the government would have paid several times over all the expenses of the army and the freedmen's bureau during the entire time of the occupation. many times as much money was taken from the negro tenant in the form of this cotton tax as was spent in aiding him. the most crushing weight of the tax came in and , and it was much heavier than the taxation imposed by the confederate and state governments even in the darkest days of the war. had the price of cotton remained high, the tax would not have borne so heavily on the people; but with the decline of the price the tax finally amounted to a third of the net value of the cotton, while the amount raised in these years was about one-fifth of the value of the farming lands.[ ] the tax absorbed all the profits of cotton planting and left the farmer nothing. a letter from the secretary of the treasury in reference to the propriety of refunding the money received from the cotton tax stated some of the arguments of the opponents of the tax. it was claimed ( ) that the tax was unconstitutional because it was not uniform and because it was virtually a tax upon exports; ( ) that the tax was unequal and oppressive in its operations because it fell entirely upon cotton producers; ( ) that it was levied without the consent of the people and when they were not represented in congress; and ( ) that in addition to the cotton tax the producers of the cotton were subject to all taxes paid by citizens of other states.[ ] these objections were answered by the secretary, who said that the tax was added to the price of cotton and was borne by the consumer, not the producer, and that it was the fault of the cotton states that they were not represented. he asserted that the tax on cotton was an excise like that on tobacco and whiskey.[ ] in an effort was made in congress to raise the tax to five cents a pound. such a tax, they said, would raise $ , , , or, at the least, $ , , a year, of which alabama's share would be about $ , , to $ , , . the committee on the revenue reported that such a tax "will not prove detrimental to any national interest." the testimony of experts was quoted to prove that the tax would fall upon the consumer, though most of the experts, who were manufacturers from new england, said that on account of the great demand and excessive prices of cotton goods the tax would fall upon the manufacturer for the present time. nevertheless, they were all in favor of the proposed tax, except one manufacturer and one planter from georgia, who objected on the ground that the producer would have the burden to bear.[ ] the business men of new york and other northern cities opposed the tax and defeated the extra levy. the new york chamber of commerce, when the measure to raise the cotton tax to five cents a pound was proposed, memorialized congress against the injustice of the tax. the memorial stated that the north and the west must not take advantage of the south in the days of her weakness; that the cultivation of cotton should not be thus discouraged. it was shown that the manufacturer would be protected by the drawback of five cents a pound allowed on cotton goods exported, while the cotton farmer would pay a five-cent tax. by the operation of such a tax, they stated, the rich would be made richer, and the poor made poorer. that in the proposed law "there is a want of impartiality which is calculated to provoke hostility at the south, and to excite in all honest minds at the north the hope that such a purpose will not prevail."[ ] by the people who had to pay the tax it was considered an unjust and purely vindictive measure, which was the more exasperating because they had no voice in the matter and because no attention was paid to their remonstrances. they complained that it was levied as a penalty, that it was confiscation under color of law. they felt that it was a blow of revenge aimed at them when there was no fear of resistance or hope of protection, as no other part of the country had its exports taxed.[ ] the fact that the tax was removed because of the objections of the carpet-baggers, scalawags, and negroes, instead of pleasing the whites, was a source of irritation to them. the respectable people had asked for justice and it was refused them, but was granted to those who were of opposing politics. those who paid the tax never believed that the mass of the people at the north were in favor of such a measure, and they hoped that favorable elections would reverse the policy of congress, which, then recognizing the unconstitutionality of the tax, would refund it, if not to individuals, at least to the states in proportion to the amount raised in each, or, that congress would give it to the states as a long-time loan.[ ] for years there was a belief among the farmers that the unjust tax would be refunded, and the cotton tax receipts were carefully preserved against a day of reimbursement, but, like the negroes' "forty acres and a mule," the money never came.[ ] chapter vii the temper of the people, - after the surrender the paroled confederate soldier returned to his ruined farm and went to work to keep his family from extreme want. for him the war had decided two questions, the abolition of slavery, and the destruction of state sovereignty. further than that he did not expect the effects of the war to extend, while punishment, as such, for the part he had taken in the war[ ] was not thought of. he knew that there would be a temporary delay in restoring former relations with the central government, but political proscription and humiliation were not expected. that after a fair fight, which had resulted in their defeat, they should be struck when down, was something that did not occur to the soldiers at all. no one thought of further opposition to the united states; the results of the war were accepted in good faith, and the people meant to abide by the decision of arms. naturally, there were no profuse expressions of love for the united states,--which was the north,--but there was an earnest desire to leave the past behind them and to take their place and do their duty as citizens of the new union.[ ] the women and the children, who heard with a shock of the surrender, felt a terrible fear of the incoming armies. the raids of the latter part of the war had made them fear the northern soldiers, from whom they expected harsh treatment. the women had been enthusiastic for the confederate cause; their sacrifices for it had been incalculable, and to many the disappointment and sorrow were more bitter than death. the soldier had the satisfaction of having fought in the field for his opinions, and it was easier for him to accept the results of war. a certain class of people who had served during the war at duties which kept them at home professed to be afraid of hanging, of confiscation, of negro suffrage and negro equality, and many other horrible things; they were loud in their denunciation of the surrender; they would have "fought and died in the last ditch," they declared. it is hard to see how they could so flatter themselves as to think the conqueror would hold them responsible for anything, unless for their violent talk on political questions before and during the war. such was the state of feeling in the first stage, before there was any general understanding of the nature of the questions to be solved or of the conflicting policies. news from the outside world came in slowly; each country community was completely cut off from the world; the whole state lay prostrate, breathless, exhausted, resting. little interest was shown in public questions; the long strain had been removed, and the people were dazed about the future. there was no information from abroad except through the army officials, who reported the news to suit themselves. the railroads and steamboats were not running; for months there was no post-office system, and for years the service was poor. the people settled down into a lethargy, seemingly indifferent to what was going on, and exhibiting little interest in the government and in politics. some persons dumbly awaited the worst, but the soldiers feared nothing; at present they took no interest in politics; they were working, when they were able, to provide for their families. with many people there was a disposition to see in the defeat the work of god. there was a belief that fate, destiny, or providence had been against the south, and this state of mind made them the more ready to accept as final the results of war. the fear expressed by northern politicians that in case of foreign war the south would side with the enemy was without cause. the south had had enough and too much of war. it disliked england and france more than it hated the north, because they had withheld their aid after seeming to promise it. from the general gloom and seeming despair the young people soon recovered to some degree, and among them there was much social gayety of a quiet sort. for four years the young men and young women had seen little of each other, and there had been comparatively few marriages. now they were glad to be together again, and all the surviving young men proceeded to get married at once. this revival of spirits did not extend to the older people. nearly all were grieving over the loss of sons, brothers, husbands, or relatives. much that made life worth living was lost to them forever, and unable to adapt themselves to changed conditions or to recover from the shock of grief and the strain of war, they died one after the other, until soon but few were left.[ ] one of the first things to awaken the people of alabama from the blank lethargy into which they had fallen was the question of what was to be done by the united states government with the confederate leaders who had been arrested. president davis and vice-president stephens, senator clay, the war governors,--moore, shorter, and watts,--admiral semmes, several judicial officers of the state, and many minor officials were arrested and imprisoned in the north. davis, moore, and clay were known to be in feeble health, and from them came accounts of harsh treatment. the arrests of lesser personages were purely arbitrary, and in most cases were probably done by the military without any higher authority. it was announced unofficially that all who had held office before the war and who had supported the confederacy, even those who had never taken an oath to support the constitution and laws of the united states, would be arrested and tried for treason.[ ] during the spring and summer of rumor was busy. thus, fear of arrest and imprisonment, the sympathy of the people for their leaders who were being made to suffer as scapegoats, the irritating methods of the freedmen's bureau, the work of various political and religious emissaries among the negroes, and the confiscation of property served progressively to awaken the people from the stupor into which they had fallen, and they began to take an interest in affairs of such vital importance to them. the newspapers began to discuss the problems of reconstruction and to condemn the treatment of the political prisoners from the south. this renewed interest was characterized by a section of the northern press and by prominent politicians as "disloyalty,"--a proof of a "rebellious" spirit which ought to be chastised. "the condition of affairs in the south" the president, who began with a vindictive policy, gradually modified it until it was as fair as the south could expect from him. to support his policy, he sent agents to the south to ascertain the state of feeling here and the exact condition of affairs. these agents were general grant, the head of the army, carl schurz, a sentimental foreign revolutionist and politician with an implicit belief in the rights of man, and benjamin c. truman, a well-known and able journalist. general grant reported: "i am satisfied that the thinking men of the south accept the present condition of affairs in good faith. the questions that have heretofore divided the sentiment of the people of the two sections, slavery and state rights, or the right of a state to secede from the union, they regard as having been settled by the highest tribunal--arms--that man can resort to." he believed that acquiescence in the authority of the general government was universal, but that the demoralization following four years of civil war made it necessary to post small garrisons throughout the south until civil authority was fully established.[ ] the report of carl schurz was distinctly unfavorable to the southerners. he made a classification of the people into four divisions: ( ) the business and professional men and men of wealth who were forced into secession. these, though prejudiced, were open to conviction, and accepted the results of the war. however, as a class, they were neither bold nor energetic. ( ) the professional politicians who supported the policy of the president and wanted the state readmitted at once, as they hoped then to be able to arrange things to suit themselves. ( ) a strong lawless element, idlers and loiterers, who persecuted negroes and "union" men, and in politics would support the second class. they appealed to the passions and prejudices of the masses and commanded the admiration of the women. ( ) the mass of the people, who were of weak intellect, with no definite ideas about anything; who were ruled by those who appealed to their impulses and prejudices. he stated, however, that all were agreed that further resistance to the government was useless and that all submitted to its authority. the people, he said, were hostile toward the soldiers, northern men, unionists, and negroes; their loyalty was only submission to necessity; and they still honored their old political leaders.[ ] b. c. truman, the journalist, after a long stay in the south, of which about two months were spent in alabama, reported to the president that the southerners were loyal to the government and were cheerfully submissive and obedient to the law. the fates were against them, the people thought, and it was the will of god that they should lose; the dream of independence was over, and secession would never be thought of again; the war had decided this question, and the decision was accepted. the confederate soldier, the backbone and sinew of the south, who must be the real basis of reconstruction and worthy citizenship, was exerting his influence for peace and reconciliation; there were few more potent influences at work in promoting real and lasting reconciliation and reconstruction than that of the confederate soldier. the fear that in case of foreign war the south would fight against the united states he knew to be unfounded; the soldiers hated england, and would fight for the united states; this, hardee, mclaws, and forrest had told him; but, he added, the soldiers preferred to have no war at all, they had had all that they wanted. at the collapse of the confederacy, there had been a general feeling of despair. the people at home, especially, had expected the worst; and the reaction was wrongly called "disloyal." the people were gradually returning to old attachments, but that they would repudiate their old leaders was not to be expected; neither would they acknowledge any wrong in their former belief in slavery and the right of secession, though ready to grant that those no longer existed. they were better friends to the negro than the northern men who came south; and the courts, magistrates, and lawyers would see that justice was done the negro.[ ] in order to produce a report which would justify the action of congress in opposing the president's plan,[ ] a committee of congress for several months held an inquest at washington and examined selected witnesses who gave the desired testimony relative to the condition of affairs in the south. the committee consisted of six senators and nine representatives. only three democrats were on this committee, and not one of them was on the sub-committee that took testimony relating to affairs in alabama.[ ] all sessions of the subcommittees were held in washington, far removed from the state under inquisition. care was exercised in calling as witnesses only republicans, and these usually were not citizens of the state. no citizens of alabama testified except two deserters,[ ] one tory,[ ] and one man who, during the war, had been an agent of the confederate government "to examine political prisoners,"[ ] but who told the committee that during the war he had been a "union" man. a witness from ohio claimed to be a citizen of alabama.[ ] another witness was a cotton speculator from massachusetts, and still another, a land office man from the north. three hailed from illinois, three from iowa, one each from california and minnesota, and the remainder were from the north, with the exception of general george h. thomas, who had been a virginian and who had not been allowed to remain in ignorance of what the virginians called his "treasonable" conduct toward his native state. three were connected with the freedmen's bureau, already fiercely criticised in all sections of the country, and twelve were, or had been, connected with the army, and for short periods had served in some part of alabama.[ ] of the five men who resided in the state, each was bitter in denunciation of existing conditions and tendencies in alabama. the course they had taken during the war made it impossible for them to attain to any position of honor or profit so long as the confederate sympathizers were not proscribed. existing institutions must be overthrown before they could hope for political preferment.[ ] the conflicting stories of most of the witnesses neutralized one another, and the remainder corroborated the testimony of general wager swayne, the head in alabama of that much-hated institution, the freedmen's bureau. general swayne stated that he had been agreeably disappointed in the temper of the people. in most of his conclusions he agreed with truman. he said that he had observed a gradual cessation of disorder, the opening of courts to the negro, and favorable legislation for him; but a marked increase of political animosity. he thought the northerner was well treated except socially. he thought the people were determined to make it honorable to have been engaged in "rebellion" and dishonorable to have been a "unionist" among them during the war.[ ] the statements of general swayne were probably as near to the truth as the average human being could attain to.[ ] his account was from the northern standpoint, but was as impartial as any one could make at that time.[ ] a few weeks later he said that the bluster of a few irreconcilables should not be exaggerated into the threatening voice of a whole people.[ ] this he repeatedly asserted. ex-governor andrew b. moore spoke for the people when he said: "slavery and the right of secession are settled forever. the people will stand by it." rev. thomas o. summers, who lived in the heart of the black belt, said, "i have not found a planter who does not think the abolition of slavery a great misfortune to both races; but all recognize abolition to be an accomplished fact."[ ] the people had little faith in the free negro as a laborer, but were disposed to make the best of a bad situation and to give the negro a fair chance. the old soldiers took a hopeful view, and the great wrong of reconstruction was not so much in the enfranchising of the ignorant slave as in the proscription and humiliation of the better whites with the alienated negro as an instrument. there was no indication at this time that the people could ever be united into one political party. before the war party lines had sharply divided the people, and the divisions were deep and political prejudices strong, though not based to any great extent on differences of principles. the war had served to unite the people only temporarily, and the last years of the struggle showed that this temporary union would fall to pieces when the pressure from without was removed. when normal conditions should be restored, local political strife was sure to be warm and probably bitter, and parties would separate along the old whig and democratic lines. at this time there was a disposition on the part of whig and democrat, secessionist and coöperationist, each to charge the responsibility for present evils upon the other, and by the "bomb-proof" people there was much talk of the "twenty-nigger law," of "the rich man's war and the poor man's fight," etc., in order to discredit the former leaders.[ ] the "loyalists" an unpleasant and violent part of the population was the union "loyal" or tory party, consisting of a few thousand persons who had now returned from the north or had crept out of their hiding-places and were demanding the punishment of the "traitors" who had carried the state into war. hanging, imprisonment, disfranchisement, confiscation, banishment, was the programme demanded by them. from the johnson régime in the state they could hope only for toleration, never for official preferment, nor even for respect. they demanded the assistance of the federal government to place them in power and maintain them there.[ ] about this time it became difficult to distinguish the various species of "loyal" men or "loyalists." there were: ( ) those who had taken the side of the united states in the war. these numbered two or three thousand and they were "truly loyal," as they were called. ( ) those who had escaped service in the confederate army by hiding out or by desertion, or who engaged in secret movements intended to overthrow the confederate government. these claimed and were accorded the title of "loyalists" or "union" men. ( ) all who during the war became in any way disaffected toward the confederate or state government and gave but weak support to the cause asked to be called "loyalists" or "unionists." ( ) all negroes were, in the minds of the northern radical politician, "loyalists" by virtue of their color, and had all the time been "devoted to the union"; the fact, of course, was that the negroes had been about as faithful as their masters to the confederate cause. ( ) all who took the oath in or were pardoned by the president and who promised to support the government thereby acquired the designation of "loyal" men. these included practically all the population except negroes and the first class. ( ) a small number included in the fifth class who were conservative people, and who now used their influence to bring about peace and reconstruction. this was the best class of the citizens, and the majority of them were old soldiers,--men like clanton, longstreet, gordon, and hardee. ( ) later, only those who approved the policy of congress were "loyal," while those who disapproved were "disloyal." the first and second classes coalesced at once, and finally they admitted the right of the third class to bear the designation "loyal." they, for a long time, would not admit the claims of the negro to "loyalty," but at last political necessity drove them to it; they denied always that the sixth class had any right to share the rewards of "loyalty." these various definitions of loyalty were made by the men themselves, by the various political parties, and by the party newspapers. every man in the south was some kind of a "loyalist," and most of them were also "disloyal," according to the various points of view. treatment of northern men there was no question more irritating to both sides than that of social relations between the southern people and the northerners. after the first weeks of occupation the relations between the enlisted men of the union army and the native whites became somewhat friendly and in most cases remained so, while, with few exceptions, the regular officers and the people maintained friendly relations, in public matters, at least. the volunteers, however, were much more disagreeable, especially the volunteer officers, who lacked the social training of the regulars. too often the northerners seemed to feel that they had conquered in war the right to enter the most exclusive southern society, and individuals made themselves disliked more than ever by striving to obtain social recognition where they were not known and were not desired. they had a newspaper knowledge of social conditions before the war, and, while professing to scorn the pretensions of the "southern chivalry and beauty," yet were very desirous of closer acquaintance with both, and especially the latter. soon after the armies of occupation came, matters were pretty bad for the southern people. the less refined subordinate volunteer officers almost demanded entrance, and even welcome, into southern social circles. they found that while the southern men would meet them courteously in business relations and in public places, they were never invited to the homes. on all occasions the women avoided meeting the northern men; this was their own wish, as well as that of their male relatives. they felt the losses of war more keenly than did the men because they had lost more. all of them had lost some loved one in the war, and quite naturally had no desire to meet in social relations the men who had overcome their country and possibly killed their fathers, brothers, husbands, lovers. they must have time to bury their dead, and it was long before the sight of a federal soldier caused other than bitter feelings of sorrow and loss. yet most of the northerners overlooked this fact. the southern women reigned supreme over society; the death in the war of so large a number of young men had only strengthened the influence of the women; as a rule, they were better educated than the men, especially the young men, whose education had been interrupted by the war.[ ] when the families of the northern people came south, the doors of the southern homes were not opened to them. the northerners resented this ostracism by the southerners, and the coldness of society toward them caused many a sarcastic and sneering letter to be written home or to the newspapers.[ ] there was constant interference in semi-social relations: the mistress of the house was told how she must treat her colored cook; the employer was warned that his conduct must be more respectful toward the negroes in his employ; ex-confederates were forbidden to wear their uniforms, or even to use their buttons; nor could southern airs be sung or played.[ ] the soldiers would crowd a woman off the sidewalk in order to make her look at them. women would go far out of the way to avoid meeting a federal officer, and when forced to pass one, would sweep their skirts aside as if to avoid contagion. forthwith the man insulted indited an epistle in which such incidents were related and the size of the ladies' feet and ankles and the poverty-stricken appearance of their dress commented upon. this naturally found its way into the newspapers, as home letters from soldiers usually do. soldiers, white and black, would sit on the back fence and jeer at the former mistress of slaves as she worked at the family washing. united states flags were hung over the sidewalks to force the women to walk under them, and in some instances, when they refused to do so and went out into the street, efforts were made to force them to pass under the flag. for refusal and for exceedingly "disloyal" remarks made under the excitement of such treatment, several were arrested and lectured by coarse officials. drunken soldiers terrorized women in the garrison towns. a lot of drunken officers in a launch in mobile bay habitually terrified pleasure parties of women who were on the bay in small boats. the officers invited the women to balls and entertainments, but the latter paid no attention to what they considered impertinence. this angered the officers. the northern newspapers of , , and have many letters from correspondents in the south complaining of social neglect or ostracism. letters were written about the coarseness, unlovely tempers, and character of the southern men and women who, it was insisted, were of the best families.[ ] these letters the violent southern press afterward made a practice of copying for political reasons.[ ] the more incorrigible officers were accustomed to express their most offensive sentiments in regard to negro inequality, the position of the negro, the slavery question, and the treatment of the negro by the whites. the bureau officials were cordially disliked for their tendency to such conduct. though only a small portion of the northerners and federal officials were guilty of offensive actions, the relations in many places being kindly and the conduct of most of the officers considerate and courteous, yet the insolent behavior of some caused all to be blamed.[ ] the question of the social standing of the tory element may be summed up in a few words. they were mercilessly ostracized and thoroughly despised by the confederate element of the population at that time, and the same feeling of social contempt had descended to their children's children. it is rather a feeling of indifference now, but the result is even more deadly. the true unionist was disliked but respected. all the witnesses called before the sub-committee at washington complained of the dislike exhibited toward "unionists" and northerners. it was a burning question and had much influence on the later course of reconstruction.[ ] immigration to alabama as soon as the war was ended, there was an influx of northern men and northern capital into alabama. cotton was selling at a fabulous price,-- to cents a pound, $ to $ a bale,--and the newcomers expected to make fortunes in a few years. they were welcomed by the planters who wanted to sell or to lease their plantations, which, for want of funds, they were unable to cultivate. general swayne said that in there were northern men[ ] in alabama engaged in trading and planting. they were sought for as partners or as overseers by those who hoped that northern men could control free negro labor. lands were sold or leased at low prices, and many soldiers, especially officers, decided to buy land and raise cotton. numbers of large plantations in the black belt were bought or leased by officers of the army, all of whom had lofty ideas as to what they were going to do. the soil was fertile, cotton was selling for high prices, and the free blacks, they were sure, would work for them out of gratitude and trust. they wanted to help reconstruct southern industry, and to show what could be done toward developing the great natural resources of the state. they embarked in large enterprises, and as long as their money lasted bought everything that was offered for sale. their success or failure was dependent largely upon the negro laborer, who was to make the cotton, and the new planters made extraordinarily liberal terms with him. they dealt with the negro as if he were a new englander with a black skin, and they purchased expensive machinery for him to use. they would not listen to southern advice, but went as far as possible to the opposite extreme from southern methods of farming. all suggestions were met with the assurance that the southern man was used only to slaves, and could not know how free men would work. reports, generally false and made mainly for political purposes, were continually published by the northern press in regard to the ill treatment of northern men who wished to make their homes in the south.[ ] but not a single authenticated case of violence to such persons can be found to have taken place in alabama. in some localities, on account of bands of outlaws, for several months after the war it was not safe for any stranger to settle. the ignorant whites had no liking for the northern men (and may not have to this day). the better class of people was in favor of much immigration from the north, and governor parsons made a tour through the north to induce northern men and capital to come to alabama.[ ] the people had no capital, and wanted to induce those who possessed it to come and live in the state. the testimony of travellers was that the accounts of cruelty and intolerance toward northerners were almost entirely false; that they were welcomed if they did not attempt to stir up trouble between the races.[ ] the refusal of congress to recognize the state government and the rejection of the members elected to congress caused a fresh outburst of bitter feeling against the north; but general swayne, who had the best opportunities for observation, said that rudeness and insult and the occasional attentions of a horse-thief were the worst things that had happened to the northern settlers.[ ] these northern men meant well but, as a rule, were incompetent as farmers and business men. consequently they failed, and most of them never quite understood the reasons for their failure. they knew next to nothing of plantation economy, and the negroes were their only teachers. most of them were from the west, and had never seen cotton growing before. it was almost pathetic to see these northerners risking all they possessed upon their faith in the negro, and losing. the northern merchant gave the negro unlimited credit and lost; the planter gave his tenant all he asked for, whenever it pleased him to ask. the farm stock was driven to camp-meetings and frolics while the grass was killing the cotton. mills and factories were built and negro laborers employed, but the negroes, because of a lack of quickness and sensitiveness of touch, proved to be unfit for factory work. besides, the noise of the machinery made them sleepy, and it was beyond their power to report for work at a regular hour each morning. at first, the negroes showed great confidence in the northern man and were glad to work for him, but too much was required of them, and after a year or two the disgust was mutual. the revulsion of feeling following failure and disappointment and ostracism injured the south by creating hostile opinion in the north. nearly all the northern men went home, but the less desirable ones remained to assist in the political reconstruction of the state, when many of them became state officials.[ ] troubles in the church at the close of the war, the churches were in a disturbed condition, owing to the attitude of the washington government. most of the southern churches held by the northern organizations were restored to their former owners. the northern methodist church caused irritation by retaining southern church property that had been placed under its control by the military authorities. but the most aggravated ill feeling was aroused in the protestant episcopal church. after the collapse of the confederate government, bishop wilmer of alabama directed the episcopal clergy to omit that portion of the prayer mentioning the president of the confederate states. further, he ordered that when civil authority should be restored, the prayer for the president of the united states should be used.[ ] bishop wilmer, consecrated in , had never made a declaration of conformity to the constitution and canons of the church in the united states, and, consequently, even by the northern episcopal church, was not considered amenable to its constitution.[ ] for several months his directions were not noticed by the federal authorities, and services were held in conformity to the bishop's orders. in september, "parson" william g. brownlow of tennessee, it is said, brought the matter of the wilmer pastoral letters to the attention of general george h. thomas, who commanded the military division of the tennessee, to which belonged the department of alabama. thomas, like wilmer, was a virginian, and was regarded by the latter and other southerners as a traitor to his native state. thomas was peculiarly sensitive to such a charge, and disliked wilmer, who had expressed his opinion in regard to the matter. so it was easy to secure his interference. general woods, at mobile, was directed to investigate the matter. an officer was sent to ask wilmer when he intended to order the clergy to pray for the president of the united states. the bishop refused to direct its use at the dictation of the military authority, or while the state was under military domination, since no one desired "length of life," nor the least prosperity to such a government.[ ] the result was the argumentative order which follows:[ ]-- headquarters department of alabama, mobile, ala., sept. , . _general order no. _: the protestant episcopal church of the united states has established a form of prayer to be used for "the president of the united states and all in civil authority." during the continuance of the late wicked and groundless rebellion the prayer was changed to one for the president of the confederate states, and so altered, was used in the protestant episcopal churches of the diocese of alabama. since the "lapse" of the confederate government, and the restoration of the authority of the united states over the late rebellious states, the prayer for the president has been altogether omitted in the episcopal churches of alabama. this omission was recommended by the rt. rev. richard wilmer, bishop of alabama, in a letter to the clergy and laity, dated june , . the only reason given by bishop wilmer for the omission of a prayer, which, to use his own language, "was established by the highest ecclesiastical authorities, and has for many years constituted a part of the liturgy of the church," is stated by him in the following words:-- "now the church in this country has established a form of prayer for the president and all in civil authority. the language of the prayer was selected with careful reference to the subject of the prayer--all in civil authority--and she desires for that authority prosperity and long continuance. no one can reasonably be expected to desire a long continuance of military rule. therefore, the prayer is altogether inappropriate and inapplicable to the present condition of things, when no civil authority exists in the exercise of its functions. hence, as i remarked in the circular, we may yield a true allegiance to, and sincerely pray for grace, wisdom, and understanding in behalf of a government founded on force, while at the same time we could not in good conscience ask for its continuance, prosperity, etc." it will be observed from this extract, first, that the bishop, because he cannot pray for the continuance of "military rule," therefore declines to pray for those in authority; second, he declares the prayer inappropriate and inapplicable, because no civil authority exists in the exercise of its functions. on the th of june, the date of his letter, there was a president of the united states, a cabinet, judges of the supreme court, and thousands of other civil officers of the united states, all in the exercise of their functions. it was for them specially that this form of prayer was established; yet the bishop cannot, among all these, find any subject worthy of his prayers. since the publication of this letter a civil governor has been appointed for the state of alabama, and in every county judges and sheriffs have been appointed, and all these are, and for weeks have been, in the exercise of their functions; yet the prayer has not been restored. the prayer which the bishop advised to be omitted is not a prayer for the continuance of military rule, or the continuance of any particular form of government or any particular person in power. it is simply a prayer for the temporal and spiritual weal of the persons in whose behalf it is offered--it is a prayer to the high and mighty ruler of the universe that he would with his power behold and bless his servant, the president of the united states, and all others in authority; that he would replenish them with grace of his holy spirit that they might always incline to his will and walk in his ways; that he would endow them plenteously with heavenly gifts, grant them in health and prosperity long to live, and finally, after this life, to attain everlasting joy and felicity. it is a prayer at once applicable and appropriate, and which any heart not filled with hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, could conscientiously offer. the advice of the bishop to omit this prayer, and its omission by the clergy, is not only a violation of the canons of the church, but shows a factious and disloyal spirit, and is a marked insult to every loyal citizen within the department. such men are unsafe public teachers, and not to be trusted in places of power and influence over public opinion. it is therefore ordered, pursuant to the directions of major-general thomas, commanding the military division of tennessee, that said richard wilmer, bishop of the protestant episcopal church of the diocese of alabama, and the protestant episcopal clergy of said diocese be, and they are hereby suspended from their functions, and forbidden to preach, or perform divine service; and that their places of worship be closed until such time as said bishop and clergy show a sincere return to their allegiance to the government of the united states, and give evidence of a loyal and patriotic spirit by offering to resume the use of the prayer for the president of the united states and all in civil authority, and by taking the amnesty oath prescribed by the president. this prohibition shall continue in each individual case until special application is made through the military channels to these headquarters for permission to preach and perform divine service, and until such application is approved at these or superior headquarters. district commanders are required to see that this order is carried into effect. by order of major-general charles r. woods, frederick h. wilson, a. a.-g. wilmer denied the right of civil or military officials to interfere in such matters. prayer, he said, was religious, not political, and was not to be prescribed by secular authority.[ ] woods threatened to use force, and had the churches closed by soldiers. st. john's church in montgomery having been closed by the military authorities, the congregation attempted to meet in hamner hall, a school building, but was dispersed by soldiers at the point of the bayonet. much to the indignation of generals woods and thomas, services were held in private houses.[ ] the house of bishops of the northern church protested against this edict to the president. wilmer appealed to governor parsons and found that the "civil governor" of g. o. no. was only a subordinate military official with no power. president johnson at first refused to interfere, but was finally induced to direct thomas to revoke the suspension of the clergy. this was done in the following remarkable order:[ ]-- headquarters military division of the tennessee, nashville, tenn., dec. , . _general orders no. _: armed resistance to the authority of the united states having been put down, the president, on the th of may last, issued his proclamation of amnesty, declaring that armed resistance having ceased in all quarters, he invited those lately in rebellion to reconstruct and restore civil authority, thus proclaiming the magnanimity of our government towards all, no matter how criminal or how deserving of punishment. alarmed at this imminent and impending peril to the cause in which he had embarked with all his heart and mind, and desiring to check, if possible, the spread of popular approbation and grateful appreciation of the magnanimous policy of the president in his efforts to bring the people of the united states back to their former friendly and national relations one with another, an individual, styling himself bishop of alabama, forgetting his mission to preach peace on earth and good will towards man, and being animated with the same spirit which through temptation beguiled the mother of men to the commission of the first sin--thereby entailing eternal toil and trouble on earth--issued, from behind the shield of his office, his manifesto of the th of june last to the clergy of the episcopal church of alabama, directing them to omit the usual and customary prayer for the president of the united states and all others in authority, until the troops of the united states had been removed from the limits of alabama; cunningly justifying this treasonable course, by plausibly presenting to the minds of the people that, civil authority not yet having been restored in alabama, there was no occasion for the use of said prayer, as such prayer was intended for the civil authority alone, and as the military was the only authority in alabama it was manifestly improper to pray for the continuance of military rule. this man in his position of a teacher of religion, charity, and good fellowship with his brothers, whose paramount duty as such should have been characterized by frankness and freedom from all cunning, thus took advantage of the sanctity of his position to mislead the minds of those who naturally regarded him as a teacher in whom they could trust, and attempted to lead them back into the labyrinths of treason. for this covert and cunning act he was deprived of the privileges of citizenship, in so far as the right to officiate as a minister of the gospel, because it was evident he could not be trusted to officiate and confine his teachings to matters of religion alone--in fact, that religious matters were but a secondary consideration in his mind, he having taken an early opportunity to subvert the church to the justification and dissemination of his treasonable sentiments. as it is, however, manifest that so far from entertaining the same political views as bishop wilmer, the people of alabama are honestly endeavoring to restore the civil authority in that state in conformity with the requirements of the constitution of the united states, and to repudiate their acts of hostility during the past four years, and have accepted with a loyal and becoming spirit the magnanimous terms offered them by the president; therefore, the restrictions heretofore imposed upon the episcopal clergy of alabama are removed, and bishop wilmer is left to that remorse of conscience consequent to the exposure and failure of the diabolical schemes of designing and corrupt minds. by command of major-general thomas. william d. whipple, _assistant adjutant-general_. wilmer had won, and three days after the order was promulgated in alabama he directed the use of the prayer for the president of the united states. two months earlier, the general council of the confederate states had provided for such a prayer, but this provision was not to have the force of law in any diocese until approved by the bishop. this was to enable wilmer to win the fight and then to resume the use of the prayer.[ ] the general council of the confederate church, in november, , decided that each diocese should decide for itself whether to remain in union with the general council (of the confederate states) or to withdraw and unite with the general convention (of the united states). a small party in the northern church wanted "to keep the southern churchman out for a while in the cold," and "to put the rebels upon stools of repentance," but better feeling and better policy prevailed. the southern church was met halfway by the northern church, and the only important reunion of churches separated by sectional strife was accomplished. the diocese of alabama was the last to join, bishop wilmer making the declaration of conformity january , .[ ] part iv presidential restoration chapter viii first provisional administration sec. . theories of reconstruction owing to the important bearing upon the problem of reconstruction of the disputes between the president and congress in regard to the status of the seceded states, it will be of interest to examine the various plans and theories for restoring the union. from the beginning of the war the question of the status of the seceded states was discussed both in congress and out, and with the close of the war it became of the gravest importance. there was nothing in the constitution to guide the president or congress, though each sought to base a policy on that ancient instrument. many questions confronted them. were the states in the union or out? if in the union, what rights had they? if out of the union, were they conquered territories subject to no law but the will of the united states government, or were they united states territory with rights under the constitution? must they be reconstructed or restored, and who was to begin the movement--the people of the states, congress, or the president? were the states in their corporate capacity, or the people as individuals, responsible for secession? what punishment was to be inflicted, and on whom or what must it fall--the people or the states? who or what decides who are the political people of the state? exactly what was a state? was the union the old union of washington, or a new one? congress and the president could never agree in their answers to these questions.[ ] conservative theories as to the status of the seceded states and the proper method of reconstruction, all interested persons had theories, but the only one which was logical and consistent with regard to the "constitution as it was" was the so-called southern theory. this theory was that secession having failed, state sovereignty was at an end; the doctrine was worthless; secession was a nullity, and therefore the states were not out of the union; the state was indestructible. the war was prosecuted against individuals and not against states, and the consequences must fall upon individuals; the states had all the rights they ever possessed, but, being out of their proper relation to the union, its officers must take the oath of allegiance to the united states government, representatives must be sent to congress, and the people must submit to the authority of the government. then the union would be restored as it was.[ ] at the fall of the confederacy the general belief was that restoration would proceed along these lines. many of the higher officials of the united states army were of the same opinion, and on this theory the celebrated johnston-sherman convention was drawn up by general sherman, which promised amnesty to the people and recognition of the state governments as soon as the officials should have taken the oath of allegiance.[ ] likewise, in the southwest, general dick taylor, with the approval of general canby, advised the governors of the states in his department to take steps toward restoring their states to their former relations to the union. general thomas, and perhaps general grant, had likewise advised the people of north alabama, and the subordinate federal commanders in the southwest favored such reconstruction and were inclined to help along the movement. but orders from washington put an end to any such course by directing the arrest of all state officials who endeavored to act. among those who had taken steps to restore the former relations with the union were the governors of alabama, mississippi, and florida.[ ] the presidential and democratic theories, like the southern theory, were based on the doctrine of the indestructibility of the state. in the beginning the democratic theory would have recognized the state governments of the seceded states and thus practically coincided with the later southern theory. the presidential theory, as formulated later, would not have recognized the state governments, and to this view the democrats came after the war. the union was indestructible and was composed of indestructible states. to assert that the states as states were not in the union was to admit the success of secession and the dissolution of the union. but the people as insurgents were incapable of political recognition by the united states government. so the state after the war was in a condition of suspended animation: the so-called state governments were not governments in a constitutional sense; the president could have the citizens tried for treason and punished, or he could pardon them and thus restore to them all their former rights, which, of course, included the right to reëstablish their governments and to resume their former relations with the union. congress had no power to interfere or to disfranchise any man, nor to regulate the suffrage in any way. its only part in reconstruction was to admit to congress the representatives of the states as soon as constitutional government was restored by the people with the assistance of the president.[ ] the earliest legislative declaration touching this subject was in the crittenden resolutions passed by the house of representatives on july , .[ ] two days later practically the same resolutions were introduced in the senate by andrew johnson of tennessee and passed with only five dissenting voices.[ ] they declared that "war is not waged upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of these states, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the constitution with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several states unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease."[ ] to this declaration of principles the democratic party adhered throughout the war and after. the union as it was must be restored and maintained, one and indivisible.[ ] president lincoln had no such regard for the "sacred rights of a state" as had the democrats and his successor, andrew johnson. in his inaugural address he asserted that the union existed before the states and was perpetual; that no state could withdraw from the union; that secession was null and void; and that the union was unbroken.[ ] in the formation of the provisional governments by the aid of the military authorities in tennessee, arkansas, and louisiana, lincoln showed that he expected the political institutions of to be restored. in december, , he brought forth this plan for restoration: when one-tenth of the voting population of a state in should take an oath to support the constitution and should establish a government on the basis of the state constitution and laws in , such a government would be recognized as the government of the state.[ ] in july, , he announced by proclamation that he was unwilling to commit himself formally to any fixed plan of restoration. this was in answer to the wade-davis bill passed by congress, which, if approved, would set aside the governments he had erected in louisiana, tennessee, and arkansas, and it showed that he considered it the prerogative of the executive to bring about and recognize the restored government.[ ] these restored states he expected to take their places in the union on the old terms,[ ] for as soon as the people submitted and civil governments were established, constitutional relations would be resumed, and congress would be obliged to admit their representatives.[ ] early in the war, he said nothing about abolition, but rather to the contrary. later he advocated gradual and compensated emancipation by state action. at the close of the war, after the practical, if not the theoretical, abolition of slavery, he suggested that the newly established governments might, as a measure of expediency, confer the privilege of voting upon the best negroes.[ ] he considered the matter of the suffrage beyond the control of the central government. the enfranchisement of the negro as a measure of revenge, and as a means of keeping the southern whites down and the republican party in power, never entered his thoughts. president johnson succeeded to the policy of lincoln, or, at least, to lincoln's belief that restoration was a matter for the executive attention, not for the legislative. he asserted that secession was null and void from the beginning; that a state could not commit treason; that by the attempted revolution the vitality of the state was impaired and its functions suspended but not destroyed; that it was the duty of the executive to breathe into the inanimate state the life-giving breath of the constitution. he recognized no power in congress to pass laws preliminary to or restricting the admission of duly qualified representatives of the states.[ ] [illustration: reconstruction leaders. andrew johnson. charles sumner. thaddeus stevens.] the plan of lincoln was, in theory and at first in practice, objectionable. it would recognize as the political people of a state the loyal minority, which would be an oligarchy, and the principle of the rule of majorities would thus be repudiated. those who claimed to be loyal were not promising material for a new political people, and the " per cent" governments were treated with just contempt. but the plan was based, not on any narrow principle of legality, but on the broader grounds of justice and expediency, and was capable of expansion into a very different plan from what it was in the beginning. as applied to louisiana and arkansas, it was severely, and in theory justly, criticised on the ground that the president was assuming absolute authority in dealing with the seceded states, and that by this plan the entire political power would be given to a small class not capable of using it. as later modified, his plan would have admitted to participation in reconstruction nearly or quite all the citizens of the southern states. president johnson, a war democrat, gave promise of being more harsh than lincoln in the work of restoration. lincoln's policy was based on expediency; johnson's, on the narrow legal principles of a state rights democrat. he had a strong regard for the "sacred rights of a state." he proposed to reëstablish the state governments by means of a political people of the lower classes, and the old political leaders were to be disfranchised. lincoln imposed certain conditions on individuals as a prerequisite to participation in reconstruction. having created by the pardoning power a political people, he expected the initiative to come from them. the executive then retired into the background and waited the impulse of the people. he shrank from interfering with the states, not from any great respect for their rights, but from motives of policy. as johnson applied his theory, there was little initiative left to the people. the executive authority as the source of power set the machinery of restoration in motion, and the people were obliged to do as he ordered, many of them being at first excluded from participation. the whole programme was prescribed by him, and he watched every step of the progress made. for a firm believer in the rights of states he took strange liberties with them while restoring their suspended animation. lincoln advised a limited suffrage for the blacks; but negroes could have no part in the johnson scheme. like lincoln, however, johnson so modified his plan that practically all the white people were to take part in the reëstablishment of the government. the conservative theories contemplated restoration, not reconstruction. radical theories the republican majority in congress soon advanced from the position taken in the crittenden-johnson resolutions. most of the republican party had no fixed opinions in regard to reconstruction, but formed a kind of a centre or swamp between the democrats and the president on the one extreme, and the radicals on the other. the plan of lincoln, as first announced and applied, was offensive to all parties, and some leaders never seem to have recognized that the president had, to any appreciable degree, modified his policy. the extreme radicals were not sorry to have the matter of reconstruction fall from the hands of the wise and kind lincoln into those of the narrow and vindictive johnson. but the seeming defection of the latter soon disappointed those who were in favor of harsh measures in dealing with the defeated southerners. the best-known of the radical theories advanced in opposition to the presidential policy were ( ) the state suicide theory of charles sumner, ( ) the conquered province theory of thaddeus stevens, and ( ) the forfeited rights theory, practically the same as the conquered province theory, but expressed in less definite language for the benefit of the more timid members of the republican party. charles sumner, the radical leader of the senate, set forth the suicide theory in a series of resolutions to the effect that the ordinances of secession were void, and, when sustained by force, amounted to abdication by the state of all constitutional rights; that the treason involved worked instant destruction of the body politic, and the state became territory under the exclusive control of congress. consequently, there were no state governments in the south, and all peculiar institutions had ceased to exist--among them slavery. sumner constantly asserted that congress now had exclusive jurisdiction over the southern territory.[ ] he made strong objection to the despotic power of the president as applied in dealing with the seceded states, and declared that the executive was encroaching upon the sphere of congress, which was the proper authority to organize the new governments. the seceded states, he affirmed, by breaking the constitutional compact had committed suicide, and no longer had corporate existence, and that the "loyalists," who were few in number, should not have the power formerly possessed by all. the whole south was a "tabular rasa," "a clean slate," upon which congress might write the laws.[ ] the existence of slavery was declared to be incompatible with a republican form of government, which it was the duty of congress to establish. for it is necessary to such a form of government that there be absolute equality before the law, suffrage for all, education for all, the choice of "loyal" citizens for office, and the exclusion of "rebels." the negro must take part in reconstruction, for his vote would be needed to support the cause of human rights and "the party of the union"--meaning, of course, the republican party.[ ] sumner cared little for the constitution except for the clause about guaranteeing a republican form of government to the states, and on this he based the power of congress to act. the declaration of independence was to him the supreme law and above the constitution, and to make the government conform to that document was his aim. he wearied his colleagues with his continual harping on the declaration of independence as the fundamental law, upon which footing the seceded states must return. that, he declared, would destroy slavery and all inequality of rights, political and civil.[ ] the conquered province theory was originated by thaddeus stevens, the radical leader of the house of representatives, who, however, refused to call it a theory. he made no attempt to harmonize his plan with the constitution, and frankly expressed his opinion that there was nothing in the constitution providing for such an emergency; that the laws of war alone should govern the action of congress, allowing no constitutions to interfere.[ ] it was impossible to execute the constitution in the seceded states, he said, which the victors must treat "as conquered provinces and settle them with new men and exterminate or drive out the present rebels as exiles from this country."[ ] every inch of the soil of the southern states should be held for the costs of the war, to pay damages to the "loyal" citizens and pensions to soldiers and their families, and slavery should be abolished.[ ] secession, according to stevens, was so far successful that the southern states were out of the union and the people had no constitutional rights.[ ] all ties were broken by the war. the states in their corporate capacities made war, and were out of the union so far as the conqueror might choose to consider them, and must come back into the union as new states or remain as conquered provinces with no rights except such as the conqueror might choose to grant. perpetual ascendency of the north must be secured by giving the ballot to the negro, by confiscation, and by banishment. the constitution, in his opinion, had been torn to atoms; it was now a "bit of worthless parchment," and there could be no reconstruction on the basis of that instrument. congress had absolute jurisdiction over the whole question.[ ] stripped of its violence, stevens's theory was probably the correct one from the point of view of public law. it was more in accord with historical facts. it recognized the great changes wrought by war in the structure of the government. it was frank, explicit, and practical. unfortunately, the statesmanship necessary to carry to success such a plan was entirely lacking in its supporters. sumner would limit the authority of congress only by the provisions of the declaration of independence; stevens would have congress unchecked by any law. by martial law and the law of nations, he meant no law at all, as his utterances show; nothing must stand in the way of the absolute powers of congress. both theories agreed in reducing the states to a territorial status. sumner would leave the people of these states the rights of people in the united states territories. stevens would deny that they had any such rights whatever under any law, but that they were to be considered conquered foes, with their lives, liberty, and property at the mercy of the conqueror.[ ] the forfeited rights theory, patched up to suit the more timid radicals who would not concede that the states had succeeded in getting outside of the union or that they could be destroyed, was, in effect, the stevens theory, though recognizing some kind of a survival of the states. the names and boundaries of the states alone survived; the political institutions were entirely destroyed, and must be reconstructed by congress. it is a waste of time to try to find a basis in the old constitution for any of the theories advanced. if a legal basis must be had, it will have to be found in the constitution as revolutionized by seventy-five years of development and four years of war. the main purposes of the congressional plans were to reduce the late dictatorial powers of the president, to remove forever from political power the political leaders of the south, to give the ballot to the negro as a measure of revenge and to assure the continuation in power of the republican party.[ ] owing to the fact that congress was not in session for several months after the downfall of the confederacy, the president had a good opportunity to put into operation the executive plan for restoring the southern states to their proper standing in the union. sec. . presidential plan in operation early attempts at restoration in the early spring of , governor watts, in a speech calling upon the people to make renewed exertions against the invader, said: "we hold more territory than a year ago, more of texas, louisiana, and arkansas, georgia is overrun but is ready to rise. our financial condition is better than four years ago. arms, commissary and quartermaster's stores are more abundant now."[ ] but there were no more men. a month later lee had started on the march to appomattox; two months later dick taylor was surrendering the last confederate armies east of the mississippi; three months later the war governors of alabama were in northern prisons, and not a vestige of the confederate or state governments remained. there was no government. even before the collapse of the confederacy there were indications of an approaching revolution in the state government, to be carried out by the union of all discontented factions. the object was to gain control of the state government or to organize a new one and return to the union. this movement was strongest in north alabama and was supported and encouraged by the federal military authorities. one of the disaffected clique testified before the subcommittee on reconstruction that in the last years of the war a "reconstruction" or "union" party was organized in alabama, which, at the time of the surrender, had a majority in the lower house of the legislature.[ ] but the senate, elected in , held over and prevented any action by the house. during the year the "union" party hoped to secure both the governorship and the senate in the first elections which were to occur under the new constitution, and thus secure control of the state. but the invasion and surrender stopped the movement.[ ] there were indications during the winter and spring of that reconstruction movements were going on in the northern half of the state. after the invasion of the state in april many people more influential than the ordinary peace party men began to think of reconstruction. general thomas authorized the citizens of morgan, marshall, lawrence, and the neighboring counties to organize a civil government based on the alabama laws of . j. j. giers, a brother-in-law of state senator patton (later governor), was sent by the military leaders to "reorganize civil law." thomas invited the people of the other northern counties to do likewise and thus show that they were "forced into rebellion." colonel patterson of the fifth alabama cavalry accepted the terms for his forces, and giers stated that roddy's men were so pleased with thomas's letter that they released their prisoners and stopped fighting. a reconstruction meeting was held at somerville, morgan county, and was largely attended by soldiers. this was early in april.[ ] in the central and southern portions of the state the movement did not begin until the federal forces traversed the country. general steele with the second army of invasion reported from montgomery, may , , that j. j. seibels, l. e. parsons, and j. c. bradley[ ] had approached him and had told him that two-thirds of the people of the state would take up arms to "put down the rebels."[ ] a meeting was held at selma, in dallas county, on may , and called upon the governor to convene the legislature and take the state back into the union. judge byrd,[ ] one of the speakers, said that the war had decided two things--slavery and the right of secession--and both against the south. he counselled a spirit of conciliation and moderation, and in this he expressed the general sentiment of the people.[ ] a more important meeting was held the next day in montgomery. a number of the more prominent politicians met to take steps to place the state in the way of readmission to the union.[ ] george reese[ ] of chambers county presided over the meeting and albert roberts was secretary. seibels introduced resolutions, which were adopted, pledging to the united states government earnest and zealous coöperation in the work of restoring the state of alabama to its proper relation with the union at the earliest possible moment. the murder of lincoln and the attempt on the life of seward were condemned as "acts of infamous diabolism revolting to every upright heart." the bad effect the crime would have on political matters was deplored. the desire was expressed that all guilty of participation in the attempt might be brought to speedy and condign punishment, and "we shall hold as enemies all who sympathize with the perpetrators of the foul deed." the majority reported a memorial to the president asking him to permit the governor of alabama to convene the legislature, which would call a convention in order to restore the state to her political relations to the united states. this they believed was the most speedy method. but if this were not permitted, then the president was requested to appoint a military governor from among the most prominent and influential "loyal" men of the state and invest him with the power to call a convention. they were encouraged to ask this, the memorial stated, by the recent statement of the president of the principle that the states which attempted to secede were still states, and not being able to secede would not be lost in territorial or other division. "to forever put an end to the doctrine of secession; to restore our state to her former relations to the union under the constitution and the laws thereof; to enable her to resume the respiration of her life's breath in the union,--is a work in which we in good faith pledge you our earnest and zealous coöperation, and we hazard nothing in the assurance that the people of alabama will concur with us with a majority approaching almost unanimity." colonel j. c. bradley presented a memorial from the minority of the committee. it was the same as the other memorial, except that the part relating to the appointment of a military governor was omitted. such an official was not desired nor needed, he stated. after some discussion both memorials were adopted and each person present signed the one he preferred. the chairman appointed a committee to bear the memorials to the president. the general sentiment of the meeting and of the people seemed to be that, since they had failed to maintain their independence, there was nothing left to do but to accept as a working basis the theory that a state could not secede, and to get straight into the union by having the president restore the suspended animation of the constitution. the best and shortest way, they thought, was for governor watts to convene the legislature, which should begin the work, and a convention of the people would complete it. governor watts and the supreme court (stone and phelan) approved the action of the meeting, though they took no part in it.[ ] another meeting on the same day (may ), at guntersville, in marshall county, in the heart of the devastated section of the state, proposed to submit cheerfully to the decision of war and return to the union. two soldiers, major a. c. baird and colonel j. l. sheffield,[ ] were the leaders in the meeting.[ ] two mass-meetings were held in covington county (one at andalusia on may ) and passed resolutions favoring a restoration of the union. the union general asboth said that these people had returned to their allegiance early in april and had organized and armed to resist the "rebels." the resolutions were signed by and persons respectively. asboth reported great excitement on account of the action taken by the meeting.[ ] on may there was a meeting of citizens in franklin county. james w. ligon was president, h. c. tompkins, vice-president, and r. b. lindsey (governor in - ) addressed the meeting. this meeting seems to have been behind the times, for it accepted the overtures of thomas made april , and promised to assist cheerfully in restoring law and order. they were anxious to resume former friendly relations to the united states and wanted a state convention called to settle matters.[ ] about this time the president, general grant, and stanton, by repeated orders, managed to reach the generals who were encouraging the movement toward reconstruction, and put an end to their plans by ordering them not to recognize the state government in alabama and to prevent the assembly of the legislature.[ ] thereupon, on may , a memorial was signed by prominent citizens of mobile, asking the president to take steps to enable alabama to be restored to the union. robert h. smith[ ] and percy walker[ ] were sent as a committee to general granger, who commanded in the city, to ask him to transmit the memorial to the president. general granger did so with the indorsement that no impediment existed to immediate restoration, that the signers were influential men and represented the sentiment of the people of the state.[ ] at athens, in limestone county, the citizens met and adopted resolutions declaring that all must be restored to the union; that the state officials should be recognized, but that a new election should be held under the laws of alabama as they were before secession; that a convention was not necessary and in the present unsettled condition of the county it would be dangerous to hold one; that the constitution of , changed by amendment, should be used. the murder of lincoln was deplored.[ ] similar meetings were held all over the state, especially in north alabama.[ ] the "loyal" element held a meeting in north alabama about the first of june.[ ] resolutions were introduced by k. b. seawell to the effect that the government of alabama had been illegally set aside in by a combination of persons regardless of the best interests of the state, that secession was not the act of the people, and that the confederacy was a usurpation. it was decided that alabama must go back to the union, and the authority of the united states was invoked to enable "loyal" citizens to form a state government.[ ] the sentiments of the more violent "unionists" or tories may be understood from a letter of d. h. bingham,[ ] then at west point, new york. he said that reconstruction must not be committed to the hands of the "rebels"; that parsons, who was spoken of for provisional governor, was not one of the "union" men of alabama and would use his influence to secure control to the old slave dynasty; that his appointment would be unfair to the "union" men; that the masses were coerced and deluded into fighting the battles of slavery; "i, george w. lane,[ ] and j. h. larcombe," he said, "never gave way to secession." the non-slaveholding whites in slaveholding districts were trained to obey, he wrote, and the official class used its influence to keep the non-slaveholders in ignorance. hence the small number of slaveholders (of whom most were owners of few slaves and hence were union men) controlled the "union" population of over , , . he said that the alabama delegates, then in washington,[ ] were not inactive in producing these results, though they claimed to be "unionists." they were once "union" men, but went over. now they alleged that they were carried into rebellion by a great wave of public feeling. such men should not be trusted until they had passed through a probationary state.[ ] the southerners who wanted immediate restoration of constitutional rights and privileges on the basis of the crittenden resolution of ,[ ] soon found that this plan would not work; so, to make the best of a bad situation, all accepted the johnson plan and declared that the state, since it had not had the right to secede, must still be in the union. the press and the prominent men, even those who would be disfranchised by the president's plan, gave it a hearty support in order to give peace to the land and restore civil government.[ ] at this time the johnson plan promised to be one of merciless proscription of the prominent men. as johnson himself expressed it: "the american people must be made to understand the nature of the crime, the length, the breadth, the depth, and height of treason. for the thousands who were driven into the infernal rebellion there should be amnesty, conciliation, clemency, and mercy. for the leaders, justice--the penalty and the forfeit should be paid. the people must understand that treason is the blackest of crimes and must be punished."[ ] the leaders were not afraid of such threats and meant not to stand in the way. the people intended to make the best they could out of a bad state of affairs. they believed then and always that their cause was right, secession justifiable and necessary; that the provocation was great, and that they were the aggrieved party; that the abolitionists and fanatics forced secession and civil war. but since they were beaten in war, after they had done all that men could do, they meant to accept the result and abide by the decision of the sword. there was a general purpose to stand by the government--certainly no dream of opposition to it. the people meant (which was neither treasonable nor unreasonable) to ally themselves to the more conservative political party in the north in order to secure as many advantages as possible to the south. their aim was to preserve as much of their old constitution as they could, all the while recognizing that state sovereignty and slavery ended with the war. their course in ceasing at once all useless opposition and proceeding to secure reinstatement on the old terms was, _the nation_ declared, "a display of consummate political ability." southerners like to think that had lincoln lived his plan would have succeeded, and that the most shameful chapter of american history would not have to be written.[ ] johnson helped to ruin his own cause and his supporters along with it. the people never seem to have taken seriously the proposed merciless plans of johnson, and the opposition of moderate advisers and the pleasure of pardoning southern "aristocrats" (and later radical criticism) caused a distinct modification of his policy in the direction of mildness until the proscriptive part was almost lost sight of.[ ] the southern leaders[ ] saw clearly that there was no hope for their party unless the president could win the fight against the radicals in congress, and they attempted to disarm northern hostility outside congress until the radical party, aided by the rash conduct of the president, educated the people of the north to the proper point for approving drastic measures.[ ] the president begins restoration on may the president began his attempt at restoration by proclaiming amnesty to all, except certain specified classes of persons. they were pardoned and therefore restored to all rights of property, except in slaves, on condition that the following oath be taken:-- "i ________________ do solemnly swear (or affirm) in the presence of almighty god, that i will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the constitution of the united states, and the union of the states thereunder; and that i will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion, with reference to the emancipation of slaves: so help me god."[ ] fourteen classes of people were excluded from the benefits of this proclamation; of these twelve were affected in alabama:-- ( ) the civil or diplomatic officers, or domestic or foreign agents of the confederacy; ( ) those who left judicial positions under the united states to aid the confederacy; ( ) all above the rank of colonel in the army and lieutenant in the navy; ( ) those who left seats in the united states congress and aided the confederacy; ( ) those who resigned commissions in the united states army and navy to escape service against the confederacy; ( ) persons who went abroad to aid the confederacy in a private capacity; ( ) graduates of the naval and military academies who were in the confederate service; ( ) the war governors of confederate states; ( ) those who left the united states to aid the confederacy; ( ) confederate sailors (considered as pirates); ( ) all in confinement as prisoners of war or for other offences; ( ) those who supported the confederacy and whose taxable property was over $ , . the classes excluded embraced practically all confederate and state officials, for the latter had acted as confederate agents, all the old political leaders of the state, many of the ablest citizens who had not been in politics but had attained high position under the confederate government or in the army, the whole of the navy,--officers and men,--several thousand prisoners of war, a number of political prisoners, and every person in the state whose property in was assessed at $ , or more. according to the proclamation the assessment was to be in , but it was made on the basis of , at which time slaves were included and a slaveholder of very moderate estate would be assessed at $ , . in there were very few people worth $ , . it was provided that persons belonging to these excepted classes might make special application to the president for pardon, and the proclamation promised that pardon should be freely granted.[ ] the oath could be taken before any united states officer, civil, military, or naval, or any state or territorial civil or military officer, qualified to administer oaths.[ ] in alabama army officers were sent into all the counties to administer the amnesty oath. these officers were strict in barring out "all improper persons" and subscription went on slowly until the military commander issued orders that all who were eligible must take the oath. less than , persons took the oath; , had voted in . there was a fight for appointment to the provisional governorship. william h. smith of randolph and d. c. humphreys of madison, both of whom had opposed secession, then entered the confederate service, and later deserted; d. h. bingham of limestone, who had been a tory during the war; and l. e. parsons of talladega, who had aided the confederacy materially and damned it spiritually--all wanted to oversee the restoration of the state.[ ] june , , the president, acting as commander-in-chief of the army and under the clause in the constitution requiring the united states to guarantee to each state a republican form of government and protect each state against invasion and domestic violence,[ ] proceeded to breathe the breath of life into the prostrate state by appointing lewis e. parsons provisional governor.[ ] it was made the duty of parsons to call a convention of delegates chosen by the "loyal"[ ] people of the state. this convention was to amend or alter the state constitution to suit the changed state of affairs, to exercise all the powers necessary to enable the people to restore the state to its constitutional relations with the central authority, and to set up a republican form of government. all voters and delegates must have taken the oath of amnesty, and must have the qualifications for voters prescribed by the alabama constitution and laws prior to the secession of the state. this excluded the fourteen proscribed classes and said nothing of the negroes. the convention, when assembled, was to prescribe qualifications for voters and for office holders. the military and naval officers of the united states were directed to assist the provisional officials and to refrain from hindering and discouraging them in any way. the secretary of state was directed to put in force in the state of alabama all laws of the united states, the administration of which belonged to the state department. the secretary of the treasury was directed to nominate assessors, collectors, and other treasury officials, and to put into execution in alabama the revenue laws of the united states. the postmaster-general was ordered to establish post-offices and post routes and to enforce the postal laws. the attorney-general and the federal judges were directed to open the united states courts in the state. the secretary of the navy and the secretary of the interior were ordered to put in execution the regulations of their respective departments, so far as related to alabama.[ ] in making appointments to office in the southern states, the departments were to give preference to "loyal"[ ] persons of the district or state where they were to serve. if no "loyal" persons could be found in the state or district, such persons might be imported from other states or districts. in this measure the difference appears between the lincoln and the johnson plan of restoration. lincoln believed that the executive should only make things easy for the people to erect a government for themselves. he kept as much as possible in the background and let it appear that the movement originated with the people. several times he merely suggested that negroes with certain qualifications should be granted the suffrage. johnson, on the other hand, made it clear that he was the source of all authority in the movement. he himself made stringent regulations of the suffrage, thus creating a body of citizens, and set up a government of his own for the purpose of creating a new state government. the people were to do as he bade them. he did not suggest negro suffrage in any form and was, like most southern unionists, opposed to it. the johnson provisional government was a military government with the president as the source of authority. parsons was a military governor appointed by the commander-in-chief and paid by the war department.[ ] lincoln's provisional government would have been popular government based on election by the people. the appointment of parsons gave general satisfaction to all parties except the more violent tory element in the northern part of the state, who wanted men like d. h. bingham or william h. smith. a correspondent of _the nation_ who travelled among them in august, , when this element of the people seemed likely to form a strong portion of the new ruling class of the south, before the president modified his plans, said of them: they are ignorant and vindictive, live in poor huts, drink much, and all use tobacco and snuff; they want to organize and receive recognition by the united states government in order to get revenge--really want to be bushwhackers supported by the federal government; they "wish to have the power to hang, shoot, and destroy in retaliation for the wrongs they have endured"; they hate the "big nigger holders," whom they accuse of bringing on the war and who, they are afraid, would get into power again; they are the "refugee," poor white element of low character, shiftless, with no ambition.[ ] to proscribe the mass of leading citizens, the experienced men in public affairs, as johnson's plan at first promised to do, would have had serious results, but his later, more liberal, policy restored the rights of all except the more prominent. but the old leaders were never again leaders, thinking it more politic to put forward less well-known men. at first johnson had the mountaineer's dislike of the "slave aristocracy," as he called it, and his plan was devised to humiliate and ruin this class.[ ] a month after his appointment governor parsons issued (july ) a proclamation to the people, drawn largely from the census of , showing how prosperous the state was at that time and inviting attention to the present condition of affairs. the question of slavery and secession, he said, had been decided against the south, but every political and property right, except slavery, still remained. he thus repudiated any former belief he may have had in the right of secession. a funny comparison was made in exuberant language and with many mixed metaphors, likening the union to a steamship and the state of alabama to a man swimming around in the water, trying to get on board. the following officers of the confederate state government who were in office on the d of may,[ ] , were reappointed to serve during the continuance of the provisional government: justices of the peace, constables, members of common councils, judges of courts, except probate, county treasurers, tax collectors and assessors, coroners, and municipal officers. judges of probate and sheriffs who were in office on may were directed to take the amnesty oath and serve until others were appointed. all officers reappointed were to take the amnesty oath and give new bond. the right was reserved to remove any officer for disloyalty or for misconduct in office. thus there was a continuity between the confederate administration and the "restoration" administration. the civil and criminal laws of the state as they stood on january , , except as to slavery, were declared in full force, and an election of delegates to a constitutional convention was ordered for august , and the convention was to meet on september .[ ] no one could vote in the election or be a candidate for election to the convention who was not a legal voter according to the law on january , , and all voters and candidates must first take the amnesty oath or must have been pardoned by the president. instructions were given as to how a person who was excluded from the benefits of the amnesty proclamation might proceed in order to secure a pardon. a list of questions was appended by which "an improper person" might test his case and see how bad it was. they ran like this:-- ( ) are you under arrest? why? ( ) did you order, advise, or aid in the taking of fort morgan and mount vernon? ( ) have you served on any "vigilance" committee for the purpose of trying cases of disloyalty to the confederate states? ( ) did you order any persons to be shot or hung for disloyalty to the confederate states? ( ) did you shoot or hang such a person? ( ) did you hunt such a person with dogs? ( ) were you in favor of the so-called ordinance of secession? ( ) you are not bound to answer any except the first of these questions. ( ) will you be peaceable and loyal in the future? ( ) have proceedings been instituted against you under the confiscation act? ( ) have you in your possession any property of the united states?[ ] parsons appointed to assist him a full staff of secretaries as follows: wm. garrett, secretary of state; m. a. chisholm, comptroller of accounts; l. p. saxton, treasurer; ---- collins, adjutant-general; m. h. cruikshank, commissioner for the destitute; john b. taylor, superintendent of education. a report on the condition of the treasury on september , , shows that of $ , in the treasury on may , , only $ was in silver and $ in gold. the rest was in state and confederate money, now worthless. the financial status of the provisional treasury was uncertain. receipts from july to september , , were $ and disbursements had been $ . the bonded debt of the state, held in london, was $ , , , in new york, $ , , , a total of $ , , .[ ] parsons could hardly do otherwise than reappoint the old state officials as temporary officers, but it created some dissatisfaction in the state and much in the north; and in truth the confederate state officers in were not, in general, very efficient, being old men, cripples, incapables, "bomb-proofs," "feather beds," and deadheads. they were not much liked by any party unless perhaps by the few who put them in office. the _huntsville advocate_ may have been voicing the objections of either "tory" or "rebel" when it condemned governor parsons's reappointment of the _de facto_ state officers--"they are not the proper persons to rekindle the fires of patriotism in the hearts of the people."[ ] the provisional governor was obliged to rely upon inferior material in restoring the state government. though the president's plan soon was shorn of its worst proscriptive features, the work of restoration had begun by excluding the natural leaders from a share in the upbuilding of the state, and they were thus rendered somewhat indifferent to the process. the class to whom the task fell was good, but it was not the best. the best men went into the southern army or otherwise committed themselves strongly to the cause of the confederacy. the strong men of the state who sulked in their tents during the war were few in numbers, and they were usually disgruntled and cranky, and now, without influence, were much disliked by the people. the so-called "union" men who stayed at home in "bomb-proof" offices, or as teachers, overseers, ministers, etc., were not the kind of men to reconstruct the shattered government. the few who had openly espoused the union cause had not the character, experience, and training necessary to fit them to rule a state. though the administration began on a basis of very inferior material, yet the modification of the plan of the president gradually admitted the second-rate leaders to political privileges, and, had the experiment continued, they would have gradually resumed control of the politics of the state. it was in some degree the hope of this that made them willing to submit to proscription and exclusion for a while and support the reconstruction measures of the president. they hoped for better times.[ ] parsons revised the official lists thoroughly, and many of the old officers were discharged and new ones appointed. however, they had little to do; the army and the freedmen's bureau usurped their functions. a proclamation of august , , directed the probate judge, sheriff, and clerk in each county to destroy, after august , old jury lists and make new ones from the list of names of "loyal" citizens who had taken the amnesty oath and registered. circuit court judges were directed to hold special sessions of court for the trial of state cases and to have their grand juries inquire particularly into the cases of cotton and horse stealing, now common crimes.[ ] "proscribing proscription" one of the principal occupations of the provisional government was securing pardons for those who were excluded from the general amnesty of may , . governor parsons was for reconciliation, and those who hoped to profit by the disfranchisement of the leaders complained of the lenient treatment of the latter. parsons's policy of "proscribing proscription" was greatly disliked by those who would profit by disfranchisement. if it were continued, they saw there would be no spoils for them. one of the aggrieved parties related a case which might well have been his own: a prominent "union" man went to the president to get his pardon, stating that he had been as much a union man as possible for the last four years. "i am delighted to hear that," the president said. directly the "union" man said that he had been forced to become somewhat implicated in the rebellion, that he had been obliged to raise money by selling cotton to the confederates, and, as he was worth over $ , , it was necessary to get a pardon. "well, sir," the president answered, "it seems that you were a union man who was willing to let the union slide. now i will let you slide." on the other hand, judge cochran of alabama told the president that he had been a rabid, bitter, uncompromising rebel; that he had done all he could to cause secession, and had fought in the ranks as a private; that he regretted very much that the war had resulted as it had; that he was sorry they had not been able to hold out longer. but he now accepted the results. the president asked: "upon what ground do you base your application for pardon? i do not see anything in your statement to justify you in making such an application." judge cochran replied, "mr. president, i read that where sin abounds, mercy and grace doth much more abound, and it is upon that principle that i ask for pardon." the pardon was granted.[ ] the president in the end granted pardons to nearly all persons who applied for them, but not a great number applied. the total number pardoned in alabama from april , , to december , , was less than , and of these most were those who had been worth over $ , in and had aided the confederacy with their substance. for this offence (for offence it was in johnson's eyes) people (of whom were women) were pardoned before the general amnesty in .[ ] how many of this class of excepted persons did not ask for pardon is not known. it is certain that all who possessed that amount of wealth assisted the confederacy. half at least of the $ , must have been slave property.[ ] few of the state and confederate officials applied for pardon. many worth over $ , in did not apply. most of those who were wealthy in lost all they had in the war. to december , , the president had pardoned in alabama only generals, viz. battle, baker, f. m. cockerill, clayton, deas, duff c. green, holtzclaw, morgan, moody, pettus, roddy, and wood; members of the confederate congress had been pardoned, former united states judge, former member united states congress, west point graduate; naval officers, and governors. these were the only prominent political leaders who applied for pardon.[ ] sec. . the "restoration" convention personnel and parties the election for delegates was held august , and the convention met in montgomery september and adjourned on september . the total vote cast for delegates was about , ,[ ] a very large vote when all things are considered. this being a representative body of the men who were to carry out the johnson plan of restoration, it will be of interest to examine closely the personnel of the convention. there were delegates, of whom only were under forty years of age, the majority being over fifty; it was a body of old rather than middle-aged men; were natives of alabama; were born in georgia; virginia, north carolina, and south carolina furnished ; maryland, kentucky, and tennessee, ; were from northern states, and from ireland. there were methodists; baptists; presbyterians (the most able members), and episcopalians; belonged to no church (not a mark of respectability at that time). there were lawyers and farmers and planters; physicians, merchants, teachers, and ministers. the proportion of ministers and non-church-members is remarkable. as to politics, were old whigs and had voted for bell and everett electors in , voted for breckenridge, and for douglas; had been in favor of immediate secession and a few of these were now called "precipitators"; had been in the convention of , and had then voted for secession. only one member of the convention of from the southern and central parts of the state was returned to the convention of . all the others had by their course in the war made themselves ineligible. fifty-two had had no previous experiences in public life. there were two ex-governors, two former members of congress, and one who had been minister to belgium.[ ] [illustration: parties in the convention of .] there were several extreme "union" men, a few "precipitators," who, however, made no factious opposition, and a large majority of conservative men. the votes on test questions showed a wide difference between the extremists from north alabama and the other members. the proportion was about conservatives to north alabama anti-confederates. it was the old sectional division. the minority was made up about equally of rampant "union" men and old conservative whigs; the majority, of the more liberal whigs and conservative democrats. neither party was as united as the parties had been in . there were almost as many minor divisions as there were members, but the most of them acted together in order to transact business, and none were allowed to obstruct. as a body the convention was much inferior in ability to that of and lacked experience. nearly all were men of ordinary ability, while those of were the best from both sections of the state. yet this was quite a respectable conservative body.[ ] the secessionists and former democrats were the ablest members, and were more inclined to accept the results of war in a philosophical spirit, and, making the best of things, to go to work to bring order out of political chaos. the _herald_ correspondent said that john a. elmore was the strongest man in the convention. he had been an ardent secessionist of the yancey school, yet in the convention he did more than any other man to bring the weaker men around to correct views and harmony of action.[ ] ex-senator and ex-governor fitzpatrick was chosen to preside, and governor parsons administered the amnesty oath. the convention at once notified president johnson of the desire and intention of the people to be and to remain loyal citizens of the united states. it indorsed his administration and policy and asked him to pardon all who were not included in the amnesty proclamation of may , .[ ] debates on secession and slavery the debate on the action to be taken as to the ordinance of secession was warm and extended over the entire session. the dispute was concerning the form of words to be used in repealing or otherwise getting rid of the ordinance of secession. one delegate proposed that it be declared "unconstitutional and therefore illegal and void"; another wanted it declared "null and void"; another, "the so-called ordinance of secession, null and void"; others, "unconstitutional, null and void"; "unauthorized, null and void"; or "unauthorized and void from the beginning." the minority proposition to declare it "unauthorized, null and void," was laid on the table by a vote of to , the minority being from north alabama. a proposition to declare it "unconstitutional, null and void" was lost by the same vote. and all similar propositions fared about the same.[ ] however, a proposition to say that "it is and was unconstitutional" secured votes against . clark of lawrence, who had been in the convention of , wanted this convention to declare the ordinance of secession "unauthorized, null and void," because, he said, in , the majority of the people voted for "union and coöperation," and that, as the convention refused to submit its work to the people, the people were misrepresented and the ordinance of secession was unauthorized. yet he would not say that it was unconstitutional and void from the beginning. other members said that the convention of had full authority. from the act of the legislature of which provided for the calling of the convention, the people understood that it had full authority and they also knew that it would use its authority to secede. "unauthorized" would mean that there was no cause for calling the convention of , and would even deny the right to secede as a revolutionary right. it would mean consent to the doctrine of passive obedience, and also that the convention of and those who supported it had usurped authority, and "we thereby impliedly should leave the memory of our dead who died for their country to be branded as traitors and rebels and turn over the survivors, so far as we are concerned, to the gibbet."[ ] the ordinance favored by the majority of the convention declared that the ordinance of secession "is null and void," and was adopted by a unanimous vote.[ ] all other ordinances, resolutions, and proceedings of the convention of , and such provisions of the constitution of as were in conflict with the constitution of the united states, were declared null and void.[ ] the state bonded debt in aid of the war was $ , , , which was held principally in mobile. there were other indirect war debts, but no one knew the amount. on a test vote early in the session the convention was divided, to , against repudiating the war debt.[ ] later, by a vote of to , all debts created by the state of alabama, directly or indirectly in aid of the war, were declared void, and the legislature was forbidden to pay any part of it, or of any debts contracted directly or indirectly by the confederacy or its agents or by its authority.[ ] in the debate in regard to the abolition of slavery, mr. coleman of choctaw[ ] desired to know by what authority the people of alabama had been deprived of their constitutional right to property in slaves.[ ] he urged the convention not to pass an ordinance to abolish slavery, but to leave the president's proclamations and the acts of congress to be tested by the supreme court; that there was no such thing as secession; a state could not be guilty of treason, and alabama had committed no crime; individuals had done so; others were loyal and were entitled to their rights. not only those who had always been loyal but also those who had taken the amnesty oath were entitled to their property;[ ] those pardoned by the president were entitled to the same rights, and congress had no authority to seize property except during the lifetime of the criminal. the federal government had no right to nullify the constitution. the abolition of slavery should be accepted as an act of war, not as the free and voluntary act of the people of alabama which latter course would prevent the "loyalists" of alabama, from receiving compensation for slaves. he denied that slavery was non-existent; lincoln's proclamation did not destroy slavery; it was a question for the supreme court to decide, and to admit that lincoln's proclamation destroyed slavery was to admit the power of the president and congress to nullify every law of the state. for all these reasons it was inexpedient for the convention to declare the abolition of slavery. judge foster of calhoun answered that the war had settled the question of slavery and secession; that the question of slavery was beyond the power of the courts to decide, and, besides, a decision of the supreme court would not be respected. the question had to be decided by war, and having been so decided, there was no appeal from the decision. the institution of slavery had been destroyed by secession. the question was not open for discussion. slavery, he said, does not exist, is utterly and forever destroyed,--by whom, when, where, is no matter. the power of arms is greater than all courts. citizens should begin to make contracts with their former slaves. should the supreme court declare the proclamations of the presidents and the acts of congress unconstitutional, slavery would not be restored. whether destroyed legally or illegally, it was destroyed, and the people had better accept the situation and restore federal relations.[ ] mr. white of talladega[ ] proposed to abide by the proclamations of the president and the acts of congress until the supreme court should decide the question of slavery. white said that he had opposed secession as long as he could; that the states were not out of the union, but had all their rights as formerly.[ ] mr. lane of butler wanted an ordinance to the effect that since the institution of slavery had been destroyed in the state of alabama by act of the federal government, therefore slavery no longer exists. this was lost by a vote of to .[ ] on september , , an ordinance was adopted by a vote of to which declared that the institution of slavery having been destroyed, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should thereafter exist in the state, except as a punishment for crime. all provisions in the constitution regarding slavery were struck out, and it was made the duty of the next legislature to pass laws to protect the freedmen in the full employment of all their rights of person and property and to guard them and the state against any evils that might arise from their sudden emancipation.[ ] mr. taliafero towles of chambers, a "loyalist," proposed an ordinance to make all "free negroes"[ ] who were not inhabitants of the state before leave the state. mr. langdon of mobile regretted this proposition, and thought it would do harm. mr. towles explained that he lived near the georgia line and that he was much annoyed by the negroes who came into alabama from georgia. mr. patton[ ] of lauderdale opposed such a policy. it was unwise, he said; let people go where they pleased; he would invite people from all parts of the union to alabama. mr. mudd of jefferson thought that such a measure would be extremely unwise. mr. hunter of dallas said that it was very unwise, that it would do no good, and at such a time would be harmful. passions must be allayed. towles withdrew the resolution.[ ] mr. saunders of macon introduced a memorial to the president to release president davis. it was referred to a committee and was not heard from.[ ] general swayne of the freedmen's bureau sent to the convention a memorial from a negro mass-meeting in mobile praying for the extension of suffrage to them. it was unanimously laid on the table.[ ] "a white man's government" general swayne had made an arrangement with the governor by which the state officials were required to act as agents of the freedmen's bureau. the convention now passed an ordinance requiring these officers to continue to discharge the duties of agents of the bureau "until the adjournment of the next general assembly." seventeen north alabama men opposed the passage of this ordinance.[ ] mr. patton of lauderdale proposed an ordinance in regard to the basis of representation in the general assembly. it was not correctly understood in north alabama, which section, thinking it called for representation based on population, rose in wrath. the _huntsville advocate_ said: "this is a white man's government and a white man's state. we are opposed to any changes in the convention except such as are necessary to get the state into the union again."[ ] mr. patton explained that the purpose of his measure was to base representation on the white population. he cheerfully indorsed north alabama doctrine, "this is a white man's government and we must keep it a white man's government."[ ] the ordinance as passed provided for a census in , and the apportionment of senators and representatives according to white population as ascertained by the census. the delegates from the white counties of north alabama and southeast alabama voted for the ordinance, and thirty delegates from the black belt voted against it.[ ] this measure destroyed at a blow the political power of the black belt, and had the johnson government survived, the state would have been ruled by the white counties instead of by the black counties. this was partly the result of antagonism between the white and black counties. early in the session mr. sheets of winston, "loyalist," demanded that all amendments to the constitution adopted by the convention should be referred to the people for ratification or rejection, except such as related to slavery.[ ] mr. webb of greene, chairman of the committee on the constitution, reported that, on account of the state of the times, it was not expedient to refer the amendments to the people. mr. clark of lawrence[ ] wanted the people to have an opportunity to show whether they favored the work of the convention. he said that, in , had the ordinance of secession been referred to the people, it would have been defeated. the members who were in favor of not sending the amendments to the people said that there was not time, and that there were too many other elections; that the people had confidence in the convention or they would not have elected the delegates who were there. but the north alabama delegates insisted that their constituents not only expected to have the amendments submitted to them, but that they (the delegates) had pledged that they would have the amendments sent before the people.[ ] the north alabama party could not consistently do anything but object to the adoption of the constitution by proclamation. some had never recognized the supreme authority of a constitutional convention; others were opposed to the expediency of adoption by proclamation. by a vote of to the constitution was proclaimed in force without reference to the people.[ ] legislation the convention did some important legislative work necessary to put the business of administration in running order again. all the laws enacted during the war not in conflict with the united states constitution, and not relating to the issue of money and bonds nor to appropriations, were ratified and declared in full force since their dates.[ ] all officials acts of the state and county officials, all judgments, orders, and decrees of the courts, all acts and sales of trustees, executors, administrators, and guardians, not in conflict with united states constitution were ratified and confirmed. deeds, bonds, mortgages, and contracts made during the war were declared valid and binding. but in cases where payments were to be made in confederate money the courts were to decide what the true value of the consideration was at the time.[ ] divorces granted during the war by the chancery court were declared valid.[ ] marriages between negroes, whether during slavery or since emancipation, were declared valid; and in cases where no ceremony had been performed, but the parties recognized each other as man and wife, such relationship was declared valid marriage. the children of all such marriages were declared legitimate. fathers of bastard negro children were required to provide for them. the freedmen were placed under the same laws of marriage as the whites, except that they were not required to give bond.[ ] the legislature was commanded to pass laws prohibiting the intermarriage of whites with negroes or with persons of mixed blood.[ ] in view of the lawlessness prevailing in some of the counties, the provisional governor was authorized to call out the militia in each county, and the mayors of huntsville, athens, and florence were given police jurisdiction over their respective counties until the legislature should act. the ante-bellum militia code was declared in force, and all other laws in regard to the militia were repealed.[ ] the governor was ordered to pay the interest on the bonded debt of the state that was made before , and the convention pledged the faith of the people that the old debt should be paid in full with interest.[ ] the state was divided into six congressional districts. the negro was no longer counted in the "federal number," and the representation of the state in congress was thus reduced. elections were ordered for various offices in november and december, , and march and may, . the provisional governor was authorized to act as governor until another was elected and inaugurated. it was ordered that in the future no convention be held unless first the question of convention or no convention be submitted to the people and approved by a majority of those voting.[ ] finally, the convention asked that the president withdraw the troops from the state, the people and the convention having complied with all the conditions and requirements necessary to restore the state to its constitutional relations to the federal government.[ ] the convention adjourned on september , having been in session ten days in all. the constitution went into effect gradually, parsons enforcing some of it; patton and the newly elected legislature organized the government under it from december, , to may, . but it never became more than a provisional constitution, which was set aside by the president at pleasure. sec. . "restoration" completed by convention ordinance and by constitutional amendment the civil rights of the freedmen were made secure, family relations legalized, property rights secured; the courts of law were open to them, and in all cases affecting themselves, their evidence was admissible. the admission of negro testimony was generally approved by the bar and the magistracy, but disliked by the ignorant classes of whites. all magistrates and judicial officers who refused to admit negro testimony or to act as bureau agents were removed from office by the governor. one mayor (of mobile) and one judge were removed. affairs were going on well, though the civil government was weakened and lost prestige by being subordinated to the military authorities.[ ] the convention having authorized parsons to organize the militia to aid in restoring order, several companies were organized and instructed to act solely in aid of the civil authorities and in subordination to them. they were to act alone only when there was no civil officer present.[ ] among the whites there was a vague but widespread fear of negro insurrections, and toward christmas this fear increased. the negroes were disappointed because of the delayed division of lands, and their temper was not improved by the reports of adventurers, black and white, who came among them as missionaries and sharpers. there was a general and natural desire among the freedmen to get possession of firearms, and all through the summer and fall they were acquiring shotguns, muskets, and pistols in great quantities. most of the guns were worthless army muskets, but new arms of the latest pattern were supplied by their ardent sympathizers in the belief that the negroes were only seeking means of protection. a sharper who claimed to be connected with the government travelled through some of the black counties, telling the negroes that they were mistreated and must arm themselves for protection. he sold them certificates for $ . each which he said would entitle the bearers to muskets if presented at the arsenals at selma, vicksburg, etc.[ ] hence arose the fears of the whites who were poorly armed. in several instances where there was fear of negro insurrection the civil authorities, backed by the militia, searched negro houses for concealed weapons, and sometimes found supplies of arms, which were confiscated. there was a general desire to disarm the freedmen until after christmas, when the expected insurrection failed to materialize; but no order for disarming was issued by the governor, and a bill for that purpose was defeated in the legislature. some of the militia companies undertook to patrol the country to scare the negroes with a show of force,[ ] and in some places disguised patrols rode through the negro settlements to keep them in order. there were several instances of unauthorized disarming and lawless plunder under the pretence of disarming the blacks, by marauders who took advantage of the state of public feeling and followed the example of the disguised patrol bands. general swayne himself was afraid of negro insurrection, and before christmas did not interfere with the attempts of the whites to control the blacks. after christmas the negroes quieted down, and most of them made some pretence of working. the next case of disarming that occurred brought the interference of general swayne, who ordered that neither the civil nor the military authorities should again interfere with the negroes under any pretext, unless by permission from himself. he threatened to send a negro garrison into any community where the blacks might be interfered with. after that, he says, the people were "more busy in making a living," and the militia organizations disbanded. two classes of the population were now beyond the reach of the civil government, the "loyalists" and the negroes, and the civil authorities maintained that these were the source of most disorder.[ ] an act of congress, july , , prescribed that every person elected or appointed to any office under the united states government should, before entering upon the duties of the office, subscribe to the "iron-clad" test oath,[ ] which obliged one to swear that he had never aided in any way the confederate cause. outside of the few genuine union men of north alabama, there were not half a dozen respectable white men in the state who could take such an oath. those who had been opposed to secession had nearly all aided in the prosecution of the war or had held office under the confederate government. the thousands who had fallen away from the confederates in the last year of the war could not take the oath. the women could not take it, and few even of the negroes could. those who could take the oath were detested by all, and the unfitness of such persons for holding office was clearly recognized by the administration. by law, certain federal offices had to be filled by men who lived in the county or state. the federal service did not exist in alabama at the end of the war, and the president and cabinet, agreeing that the requirement of the oath could not be enforced, made temporary appointments in the treasury and postal service of men who could not take the oath. in alabama the men appointed were the old conservatives, those who had opposed secession. the officers appointed were marshals and deputy marshals, collectors and assessors of internal revenue, customs officers, and postmasters. objection was made in congress to the payment of these officers, and secretary mcculloch of the treasury made a report on the subject. he stated that it was difficult to find competent persons who could take the oath, and that it was better for the public service and for the people that their own citizens should perform the unpleasant duty of collecting taxes from an exhausted people. there was no civil government whatever, and it was necessary that the federal service be established. in regard to future appointments, he said, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find competent men in the south who could take the oath, that very few persons of character and intelligence had failed to connect themselves in some way with the insurgent cause. the persons who could present clean records for loyalty would have been able to present equally fair records to the confederate government had it succeeded, or else they lacked the proper qualifications. northern men of requisite qualifications would not go south for the compensation offered. for the government to collect taxes in the southern states by the hands of strangers was not advisable. better for the country politically and financially to suspend the collection of internal revenue taxes in the south for months or years than to collect them by men not identified with the taxpayers in sympathy or interest. it would be a calamity to the nation and to the cause of civil liberty everywhere if, instead of a policy of conciliation, the action of the government should tend to intensify sectional feeling. to make tax-gatherers at the south of men who were strangers to the people would be a most unfortunate course for the government to pursue, and fatal consequences, he thought, would follow such a policy. he asked that the oath be modified so that the men in office could take it.[ ] the postmaster-general made similar recommendations.[ ] for years after the war the test oath obstructed administration and justice in the south. the alabama lawyers could not take the oath, and united states courts could not be held because there were no lawyers to practise before them. there were many cases of property libelled which should have come before the united states courts, but it was not possible.[ ] as men of character could not be found to fill the offices, the post-office department tried to get women to take the post-offices, but they could not take the test oath. many post-offices remained closed, and mail matter was sent by express. letters were thrown out at a station or given to a negro to carry to the proper person. juries in the federal courts had to take practically the same oath as the "iron-clad," and the jury oath was in existence long after the others were modified. so for years a fair jury trial was in many localities impossible.[ ] the effect of the proscription by the test oaths of the only men who were fit for office was distinctly bad. it drove the old whig-coöperationist-unionist men into affiliation with the secessionists and democrats. the division of the whites into different parties was made less likely. the senate regularly rejected nominations made by the president of men who could not take the oath,[ ] and the military authorities were inclined to enforce the taking of the test oath by the state and local officials of the provisional government.[ ] the convention ordered an election, on november , for governor, state and county officials, and legislature. there were three candidates for governor, all respectable, conservative men, old-line whigs, from north alabama, the stronghold of those who had opposed secession. they were r. m. patton of lauderdale, m. j. bulger of tallapoosa, and w. r. smith of tuscaloosa.[ ] the section of alabama where the spirit of secession had been strongest refrained from putting forward any candidate. the radical "loyalists" had no candidate. the few prominent men of that faction saw that it would be political suicide for them to commit themselves to the johnson plan after he had begun the pardoning process, and were now working to overthrow the present political institutions. only in case the plan of the radicals in congress should succeed would the "loyalists" get any share in the spoils. the conservative candidates were in sympathy with the north alabama desire for "a white man's government." mr. patton in the late convention had secured the revision of the constitution so as to base representation on the white population. during the war general m. j. bulger, the second candidate, made a speech at selma in which he said he had opposed secession and had refused to sign the ordinance, but had deemed it his duty to fight when the time came and had served throughout the war. there could be, he said, no negro suffrage, no negro equality.[ ] w. r. smith had been the leader of the coöperationists in the convention of . the election resulted in the choice of r. m. patton of lauderdale over bulger and smith by a good majority.[ ] the new legislature met on november , but patton was not inaugurated until a month later, owing to the refusal of the washington administration to allow parsons to resign the government into the hands of what the administration intended should be the permanent, "restored" state government. the object in the delay was the desire of the president to have the thirteenth amendment ratified before he relinquished the state government. it was a queer mixture of a government--an elected constitutional legislature and a governor and state administration appointed by the commander-in-chief of the army.[ ] the legislature was recognized, but the governor elected at the same time was not. several acts of legislation were done by this military-constitutional government during the thirty days of its existence, the most important being the ratification of the thirteenth amendment by the legislature. this was done with the understanding, the resolution stated, that it did not confer upon congress the power to legislate upon the political status of the freedmen in alabama.[ ] the amendment was ratified december , , and on the th, secretary seward telegraphed to parsons that the time had arrived when in the judgment of the president the care and conduct of the proper affairs of the state of alabama might be remitted to the constitutional authorities chosen by the people. parsons was relieved, the instructions stated, from the trust imposed in him as provisional governor. when the governor-elect should be qualified, parsons was to transfer papers and property to him and retire.[ ] on the strength of these instructions governor patton was inaugurated december , . in his inaugural address the new governor said that the extinction of slavery was one of the inevitable results of the war. "we shall not only extend to the freedmen all their legitimate rights," he stated, "but shall throw around them such effectual safeguards as will secure them in their full and complete enjoyment. at the same time it must be understood that politically and socially ours is a white man's government. in the future, as has been the case in the past, the state affairs of alabama must be guided and controlled by the superior intelligence of the white man. the negro must be made to realize that freedom does not mean idleness and vagrancy. emancipation has not left him where he can live without work."[ ] though patton was inaugurated on december , the washington authorities did not authorize the formal transfer of the government until december , and the charge was made on december , . the legislature at once elected ex-governor parsons and george s. houston to the united states senate. the people had already elected six congressmen of moderate politics.[ ] so far as concerned the state of alabama, the presidential plan of restoration was complete, if congress would recognize the work. a proclamation of the president on december , revoking and annulling the suspension of the writ of _habeas corpus_, expressly excepted all the southern states and the southern border states. it was not until april , , that the president declared the rebellion at an end.[ ] he had little faith in his restored governments, or else he liked to interfere, and he still retained the power to do so. chapter ix the second provisional administration status of the provisional government it was generally understood in the state that while congress was opposed to the presidential plan of restoration and repudiated it as soon as it convened, yet if the state conventions should abolish slavery, and the state legislatures should ratify the thirteenth amendment, their representatives would be admitted to congress. this was the meaning, it seemed, of a resolution offered in the senate december , , by charles sumner, one of the most radical of the radical leaders.[ ] on the same day, in the house of representatives, thaddeus stevens, the radical leader of the lower house, introduced a resolution, which was adopted, to appoint a joint committee of the senate and house to inquire into conditions in the southern states. until the committee should make a report, no representatives from the southern states should be admitted to congress.[ ] under this resolution, the committee of fifteen on reconstruction was appointed. in order to support a report in favor of the congressional plan of reconstruction and to justify the overturning of the southern state governments, the committee took testimony at washington which was carefully calculated to serve as a campaign document. such radicals as stevens professed to believe that the arbitrary rule of the president was hateful to the southern people. stevens said: "that they would disregard and scorn their present constitutions forced upon them in the midst of martial law, would be most natural and just. no one who has any regard for freedom of elections can look upon these governments, forced upon them in duress, with any favor."[ ] just exactly how much of this he meant may be inferred from his later course as leader of the radicals of the house, in the movement which forced the negro-carpet-bag government upon the southern states. now stevens proposed to "take no account of the aggregation of whitewashed rebels who, without any legal authority, have assembled in the capitals of the late rebel states and simulated legislative bodies."[ ] the republican caucus instructed edward mcpherson, clerk of the house, to omit from the roll the names of the members-elect from the south as certified by the secretary of state. this was done, and the southern congressmen were not even allowed the usual privileges of contestants.[ ] as soon as the leaders in congress felt that they were strong enough to carry through their plan to destroy the governments erected under the president's plan, they agreed that no senator or representative from any southern state should be admitted to either branch of congress until both houses should have declared such state entitled to representation.[ ] the state governments were recognized as provisional only, and for a year or more congress was occupied in the fight with the president over reconstruction. the consequence was that patton became provisional governor of a territory and not the constitutional governor of a state. the state suffered from much government at this time. first, came the military authorities with military commissions; then, the freedmen's bureau with its courts supported by the military; the bureau also acted independently of the army and with civilian officers; it was also a part of the parsons provisional government, and later of the patton government, and so controlled the minor officials of the state administration. to complicate matters further, the president constantly interfered by order or direction with all the various administrations, for all were subject to his supervision. the many governments were bound up with one another, and by interfering with the action of one another increased the general confusion. the people lost respect for authority, and only public opinion served to regulate the conduct of individuals. legislation about freedmen for several months the industrial system was entirely disorganized, especially in the neighborhood of the cities, and many people realized the absolute necessity of laws to regulate negro labor. the negro insisted on taking a living from the country without working for it. there were also fears of insurrection by the idle negroes who were waiting for the division of spoils, and general swayne of the bureau felt a touch of the apprehension.[ ] when the legislature met, a few of the demagogues who had told their constituents that they would soon regulate all troubles introduced many bills to regulate labor, and thousands of copies were printed for distribution. on december it was agreed to print ten thousand copies of all bills relating to freedmen.[ ] this was done, and though the governor had not approved them, the country members went home with pockets full of bills introduced by themselves, to show to their constituents and to scare the negroes into work. the regulations proposed made special provision for the freedmen, and under different circumstances it would have been well for the negro if they had been passed into law and enforced; but it was not good policy at this time to propose such regulations, in view of the fact that the radicals were watching for such action and hoping for it. however, it is probable that nothing that the southern whites could have done would have met with the approval of the radicals. governor patton asked general swayne for advice in regard to the pending bills relating to freedmen, and swayne informed him of the probable bad effect on public opinion in the north. after christmas the senate passed some obnoxious bills, and these the governor vetoed. the other bills that came up from the lower house failed to pass in the senate. similar bills, modified in many details, but which would have been of much use could they have been enforced as law, were passed by both houses only to be vetoed by the governor. the negroes were now showing a disposition to work, and the legislature did not attempt to pass the bills over the governor's veto. next, a law relating to contracts between whites and blacks was attempted. general swayne was known to favor such a law, but governor patton vetoed it. he declared that such a law would cause much trouble; he had information that everywhere freedmen were going to work on terms satisfactory to both parties and that they were disposed to discharge their obligations, and there should not be, he said, one law for whites and another for blacks; special laws for regulating contracts between whites and freedmen would do no good and might cause harm; the common law gave sufficient remedy for violations of contracts, viz. damages. general swayne had been strongly of the opinion that contracts regularly made and carefully inspected on behalf of the negro were necessary. later he came to the conclusion that the negro needed no protection by contract or by special law; that he had a much better protection in the demand for his labor, and would only be injured by artificial safeguards; contracts would cause litigation, and it was best for both parties to be able to break an engagement at pleasure. he was of the opinion that the whites preferred contracts, while the negro disliked to bind himself to anything. hunger and cold, he declared, were the best incentives to labor. swayne further reported that all objectionable bills relating to freedom had been vetoed.[ ] a bill passed both houses to extend to freedmen the old criminal laws of the state formerly applicable to free persons of color. governor patton vetoed the bill on the ground that a system of laws enacted during slavery was not applicable to present conditions. he showed how the proposed laws would act, and the legislature not only accepted the veto, but repealed all such laws then in the code and on the statute books.[ ] at the close of the session there were two laws on the statute books which made a distinction before the law between negroes and whites. the first made it a misdemeanor, with a penalty of $ fine and ten days' imprisonment, to purchase or receive from a "free person of color" any stolen goods, knowing the same to have been stolen.[ ] the second act gave the freedmen the right to sue and be sued, to plead and be imprisoned, in the state courts to the same extent as whites. they were competent to testify only in open court, and in cases in which freedmen were concerned directly or indirectly. neither interest in the suit nor marriage should disqualify any black witness.[ ] this law, if restrictive at all, was never in force in the lower courts where minor magistrates and judicial officers presided; for, by the order of the convention and later of the legislature, the state officials were _ex officio_ agents of the freedmen's bureau, and sworn to make no distinction between white and black.[ ] two laws were passed for the purpose of regulating labor, in theory applicable equally to white and black. they had the approval of general swayne, who was always present when labor legislation was discussed.[ ] the first law made it a misdemeanor to interfere with, to hire, entice away, or induce to leave the service of another any laborer or servant who had made a contract in writing, as long as the contract was in force, unless by consent of the employer given in writing or verbally "in the presence of some reputable white person." the penalty for inducing a laborer to break a contract was a fine of $ to $ ,--in no case less than double the amount of the injury sustained by the employer; and half the fine was to go to the injured party.[ ] the compilers of the penal code refused to incorporate this statute into the code on the ground that it was inconsistent with other provisions of the code as adopted by the legislature. the penal code had an old ante-bellum provision which made it a penal offence to entice, decoy, or persuade a servant or apprentice to leave the service of his master. the penalty was a fine of $ to $ , and imprisonment for not more than three months might also be allowed.[ ] the second labor law defined the relations of master and apprentice. the war had made orphans of many thousand children, white and black, and there were few people who could look after them. under slavery no regulation of such things had been necessary for negro children. now the children were running wild, in want, neglected, becoming criminals and vagabonds. negro fathers ran off when freedom came, left their wives and children, and took unto themselves other and younger wives. the negro mother, left alone, often incapable and without judgment, could not support her children; and many negro children were found both of whose parents had died, or who had deserted them. as a result of the war, there were many white orphan children and many widowed mothers who were unable to care for their children. for years ( - ) there was much suffering among the children of the poorer whites and the negroes. the apprentice law was an extension of an old statute, and was designed to make it possible to care for these dependent children. it was made the duty of county officials to report to the probate courts all minors under the age of eighteen who were destitute orphans, or whose parents refused or were unable to support them; and the court was to apprentice them to suitable persons. in case the minor were the child of a freedman, the former owner should have the preference when he or she should be proven a suitable person. in such cases the probate judge was to keep a record of all the proceedings. the master to whom the minor was apprenticed was obliged to give bond that he would furnish the apprentice sufficient food and clothing, treat him humanely, furnish medical attention in case of sickness, and teach or have him taught to read and write, whether white or black, if under the age of fifteen. power was given to inflict such punishment as a father or guardian might inflict on a child or ward, but in no case should the punishment be cruel. in case the apprentice should leave the employment of the master without the consent of the latter, he might be arrested by the master and carried before a justice of the peace, whose duty it was to remand the apprentice to the service of his master. if the apprentice refused to return, he was to be committed to jail until the next session of the probate court, which would investigate the case, and, if convinced that the apprentice had not good cause for leaving his master, would punish the apprentice under the vagrancy laws. if the court should decide that the apprentice had good cause to leave his master, he was to be released from the indenture and the master fined not more than $ , which was to be given to the apprentice. apprenticeship was to end at the age of twenty-one for men and eighteen for women. parents could bind out minor children under the regulations of this act.[ ] it was a penal offence to sell or give intoxicating liquors to apprentices or to gamble with them.[ ] the definition of vagrancy was extended to include stubborn and refractory servants, laborers, and servants who loitered away their time or refused, without cause, to comply with a contract for service. a vagrant might be fined $ and costs, and hired out until the fine was paid, but could not be hired for a longer time than six months. the proceeds of fines and hiring in all cases were to go to the county treasury for the benefit of the poor.[ ] these statutes form the so-called "slave code" or "black code" of the state which was so harshly criticised by the radicals as being designed to reënslave the negroes.[ ] there is no doubt that if enforced they would have affected the blacks more than the whites, though they were meant to apply to both.[ ] something of the kind was felt to be a necessity. there were hundreds of negroes wandering about the country, living by petty theft, and some rascally whites made it a business to purchase stolen property, especially cotton, from them. white vagrants were numerous. the refuse of both armies and numbers of the most worthless whites, who had lost all they had in the war, travelled about the country as tramps, their sole occupation being to victimize the ignorant by some scheme. stringent laws, strictly enforced, would have done much to restore order.[ ] the negro under the provisional government the lawlessness prevalent in the state consequent upon civil war and emancipation had resulted in filling the jails with all sorts and conditions of criminals--mostly negroes--who were charged with minor offences, such as stealing, fighting, burning, which were committed during the jubilee after the coming of the federal troops. they were clearly guilty of the crimes alleged, since they were imprisoned by consent of the freedmen's bureau, which allowed no negro to be arrested without its permission. there were some whites confined for similar small offences, and there were many "union" men, or "rebels," according to locality, who were under arrest for crimes committed during the war. most of the crimes were not serious or were committed under the abnormal conditions of war. the governor, after consultation with general swayne, "with entire singleness of purpose" (swayne), issued a proclamation of amnesty and pardon[ ] for all offences, except murder and rape, committed between april , , and july , .[ ] many hundred prisoners were thus liberated, among them eight hundred freedmen[ ] confined for penitentiary offences. no bad results followed.[ ] by state law and military order the negro was now freed from slavery and given all the civil rights possessed by the whites, unless in certain cases of law between whites in the higher courts where the negro was not permitted to testify. in all cases concerning his own race, directly or indirectly, his standing before the court was the same as that of a white or better. the races were forbidden to intermarry. the apprentice and vagrancy laws, which were meant to regulate the economic relations between the races, could not be enforced because of technical and practical difficulties, and because the officials who were to enforce them were _ex officio_ agents of the bureau and therefore forbidden to enforce such laws. the bureau upheld the negro in all his rights and much beyond. there was the most urgent demand for his labor, and to secure his wages there was a lien on the employer's crop. the negro was free to come and go when he pleased, and his pleasure led him to do this so often that written contracts fell into immediate disfavor on account of the useless litigation and disputes that ensued. many of the more thrifty blacks began to acquire small bits of property. the travellers who visited the south in the fall of and in agreed (except schurz) that there was no thought of reënslavement of the negro by the white; that the white was more afraid of the negro than the negro of the white; that there was no need of protection, for the demand for his labor would protect him. there were more colored artisans than white, and all were sure of employment. at first the strong conviction that they were not free unless they were careering around the country in idleness resulted in a general wandering. in the fall and winter a large majority returned to their old homes. "once being assured of their liberty to go and come at will, they generally returned to the service of the southerner."[ ] the courts gave substantial justice, it was reported; the judge and jury would prefer the case of a black to that of a mean white man; negro testimony in lawsuits was more and more favored, and the standing of the negro in the courts became more and more secure. conditions as to the treatment of the negroes were steadily improving.[ ] an unfriendly critic who travelled through the gulf states said that the negro was fairly well paid and fairly well treated.[ ] a charge to the grand jury of pike county by judge henry d. clayton, on september , , will serve to show the sentiments of the judicial officers and members of the bar as well as juries. it was reprinted at the north as a campaign document. the following is a summary:-- a certain class of our population is clothed with civil rights and privileges that it did not possess until recently, and in dealing with them some embarrassment will be felt. one of the results of the war was the freedom of the black race. we deplore the result as injurious to the country and fatal to the negroes, but we are in honor bound to observe the laws which acknowledge their freedom. "when i took off my sword in surrender, i determined to observe the terms of that surrender with the same earnestness and fidelity with which i first shouldered my musket." we may cherish the glorious memories of that past, in the history of which there is nothing of which we need be ashamed, but now we have to reëstablish society and rebuild our ruined homes. those unwilling to submit to this condition of things may seek homes abroad.[ ] we are bound to this soil for better or for worse. what is our duty? let us deal with the facts as they are. the negro has been made free, though he did not seek freedom. nominally free, he is beyond expression helpless by his want of self-reliance, of experience, of ability to understand and appreciate his condition. for promoting his welfare and adapting him to this new relation to society, all agencies from abroad will prove inadequate. the task is for us who understand him. to remedy the evil growing out of abolition two things are necessary: ( ) we must recognize the freedom of the race as a fact, enact just and humane laws, and willingly enforce them; ( ) we must in all our relations with the negro treat him with perfect fairness. we shall thus convince the world of our good faith, get rid of the system of espionage [the freedmen's bureau] by removing the pretext for its necessity, and secure the services of the negroes, teach them their place, and convince them that we are their friends. we need the labor of the negro and it is worth the effort to secure it. we owe the negro no grudge; he has done nothing to provoke our hostility; freedom was forced upon him. "he may have been the companion of your boyhood; he may be older than you, and perhaps carried you in his arms when an infant. you may be bound to him by a thousand ties which only a southern man knows, and which he alone can feel in all their force. it may be that when, only a few years ago, you girded on your cartridge box and shouldered your trusty rifle to go to meet the invaders of your country, you committed to his care your home and your loved ones; and when you were far away upon the weary march, upon the dreadful battle-field, in the trenches, and on the picket line, many and many a time you thought of that faithful old negro, and your heart warmed toward him."[ ] movement toward negro suffrage the freedmen's bureau and the provisional government had set aside, repealed, or suspended laws which treated the negro as a separate class. it was soon seen that the civil government had little real authority, being frequently overruled by the officials of the army and bureau and by the president. the civil officials became accustomed to considering swayne or woods, the commander of the troops in alabama, rather than the state government, as the source of authority. it was known that the radicals were bent on giving the ballot to the negro and on disfranchising southern political and military leaders. some politicians began to consider the question of giving the ballot to the negro under certain restrictions. this was not done from any faith in the political intelligence of the negro, or belief that he was fitted for or needed the exercise of the franchise; for it was and is an article of the political faith of the southern people that the exercise of suffrage is a high privilege, an historical and inherited right, not the natural and absolute right of all men. the reasons were very different, and were based entirely on expediency and necessity: ( ) such action would forestall the radical programme and disarm, to some extent, the hostile party at the north. ( ) it would enable the native leaders, by conferring the privilege on the negro, to gain his confidence, control his vote, and thereby make it harmless. it was certain, it seemed, that two widely separated white political parties would arise as soon as outside pressure should be removed, and each hoped to get control of most of the negro vote. ( ) such a measure would increase the representation of the state in the congress, thus giving them needed strength at a critical period. ( ) the black belt hoped in this way to regain its former political influence. the new constitution, by making the white population the basis of representation, had transferred political supremacy to the white counties. as early as october, , truman remarked that some leaders were thinking of giving the ballot to the negroes. he thought that suffrage for the negroes would harm them and would inflame the lower classes of whites against them. but if left to the leaders and politicians, they, for the sake of increased representation in congress, would bring the people around, and by the negro would be voting.[ ] about the same time a correspondent of _the nation_ observed that there was no great objection to giving the negro the ballot because the white leaders thought that they could control it. it would not be opposed by the planters of the south, but by the middle and poorer classes,--the merchants, mechanics, and laborers.[ ] early in representative brooks[ ] of lowndes, a black county, introduced a bill in the lower house providing for a qualified negro suffrage based on education and property. it was laid on the table, but not before a calm and dispassionate discussion. the bill proposed by brooks was opposed more because it disfranchised a large number of whites than because it gave suffrage to the negro. the debates showed that later the legislature would do something along that line if assured that such a course would result in readmission into the union. in the discussion the idea was urged that something must be done to prevent the radicals from taking the question of suffrage to the central government. this, it was held, would be dangerous to the south, with its peculiar population, to which general federal legislation would not well apply, and hence it would be dangerous for the suffrage question to become one of national instead of state concern. then, too, the people were intensely weary of provisional rule, and wanted to resume their proper position in the union.[ ] the people of the north alabama white counties, the hilly section of the state, were opposed to any form of negro suffrage, though some of their leaders who understood the state of affairs were willing to think of it as a last resort to defeat the intentions of the radicals. the black belt people, who had less prejudice against the negro and who were sure that they could control him and gain in political power, were more favorably inclined. left alone, the various interests would have united to carry through the project in time. suffrage so conferred upon the blacks would have been strictly limited,--a premium offered, not a right acknowledged,--under the control of the native white leaders and supporting their interests, just exactly the situation of the lower-class voters everywhere else, and the reverse of the southern situation since . one of the north alabama leaders, l. pope walker,[ ] after consulting with other prominent men, went to montgomery and conferred with general swayne in regard to the state of affairs. swayne gave assurance that a qualified negro suffrage would be favorably received at the north, would create a good impression, and assist, perhaps, in an early restoration of the state to the union. he knew that suffrage for the negro brought about in this way would result in gaining the black vote for the southern and probably for the democratic party. though a believer in the rights of all men to vote and a strong republican, swayne was not then committed to the radical programme and was ready to encourage the movement. an opportunity for the entering wedge was now at hand. many of the minor magistrates and the sheriffs were also administering the affairs of the freedmen's bureau, and consequently were more or less under the direction of swayne, who was the assistant commissioner in alabama. his instructions to agents, before the convention, directed that all laws be administered without regard to color. governor parsons approved these directions and required all provisional officers to take oath accordingly. the convention sanctioned this arrangement, and ordered it to continue until the close of the next general assembly. this general assembly had practically continued the arrangements already made. in consequence, the state officials, whether willingly or not, were still, at the time when the movement for negro suffrage began, obliged to obey the directions of swayne. the bulk of the people being opposed to the movement, it was proposed to make an experiment on the responsibility of the freedmen's bureau and to use that much-disliked institution as an instrument, for the people would not be much surprised at anything it would do. so the sheriff of madison county, in the winter of - , when some local election was at hand, wrote to general swayne, asking if the election laws also were to be carried out regardless of color. he announced his willingness to carry out instructions. here was an opportunity to begin the experiment, but public feeling became so irritated by the radical measures in congress that nothing was done, the election was not held, and the reconstruction acts, coming soon after, prejudiced the people more strongly than ever against anything of the kind.[ ] about december , , a bill was introduced into the state legislature "to amend the constitution of the state according to impartial suffrage, and then ask representation, leaving the amnesty question in the hand of congress." reporting this action to chief justice chase, swayne added: "this i am told is popular, and the member is sustained by his constituents."[ ] the legislature, at the same time, intended to reject the fourteenth amendment. it has been stated that in february, , an effort was made, with the indorsement of the president, to induce the southern legislatures which had rejected the fourteenth amendment to adopt a qualified negro suffrage. this was tried in alabama and north carolina, and probably hastened congressional reconstruction.[ ] with the passage of the reconstruction acts and other congressional action in regard to the negroes, affairs changed complexion rapidly. the alienation of the races began. it was seen that the negro vote would now be controlled by worthless outsiders and native whites. the expected division of the whites into two well-defined parties did not occur; there was an almost united white party. a few whites, indeed, there were who were ready to try negro suffrage, not those, however, who had been thinking of it during the past two years. the result of the war had intensified party spirit. the old "union" men were intensely bitter against the secessionists or "precipitators," and in the present crisis some otherwise good citizens were so blinded by party passion as to put revenge above the welfare of their country, and were ready to accept the aid of their former slaves in their fight against the men whom they considered responsible for the present condition of affairs. others who now took up negro suffrage were mere politicians, content to take office at any price to the country, and who could never hope for office until existing institutions were destroyed.[ ] new conditions of congress and increasing irritation the first general assembly under the provisional government ratified the thirteenth amendment, "with the understanding that it does not confer upon congress the power to legislate upon the political status of freedmen in this state."[ ] the same legislature requested the president to order the withdrawal of the federal troops on duty in alabama, for their presence was a source of much disorder and there was no need of them.[ ] the president was asked to release hon. c. c. clay, jr., who was still in prison.[ ] at the end of the session a resolution was adopted approving the policy of president johnson and pledging coöperation with his "wise, firm, and just" work; asserting that the results of the late contest were conclusive, and that there was no desire to renew discussion on settled questions; denouncing the misrepresentations and criminal assaults on the character and interest of the southern people; declaring that it was a misfortune of the present political conditions that there were persons among them whose interests were promoted by false representations; confidence was expressed in the power of the administration to protect the state from malign influences; slavery was abolished and should not be reëstablished; the negro race should be treated with humanity, justice, and good faith, and every means be used to make them useful and intelligent members of society; but "alabama will not voluntarily consent to change the adjustment of political power as fixed by the constitution of the united states, and to constrain her to do so in her present prostrate and helpless condition, with no voice in the councils of the nation, would be an unjustifiable breach of faith."[ ] during the year there was a growing spirit of independence in the alabama politics. at no time had there been a subservient spirit, but for a time the people, fully accepting the results of the war, were disposed to do nothing more than conform to any reasonable conditions which might be imposed, feeling sure that the north would impose none that were dishonorable. to them at first the president represented the feeling of the people of the north, perhaps worse. the theory of state sovereignty having been destroyed by the war, the state rights theories of lincoln and johnson were easily accepted by the southerners, who were content, after johnson had modified his policy, to leave affairs in his hands. when the serious differences between the executive and congress appeared, and the latter showed a desire to impose degrading terms on the south, the people believed that their only hope was in johnson. they believed the course of congress to be inspired by a desire for revenge. heretofore the people had taken little interest in public affairs. enough voters went to the polls and voted to establish and keep in operation the provisional government. the general belief was that the political questions would settle themselves or be settled in a manner fairly satisfactory to the south. now a different spirit arose. the southerners thought that they had complied with all the conditions ever asked that could be complied with without loss of self-respect. the new conditions of congress exhausted their patience and irritated their pride. self-respecting men could not tamely submit to such treatment.[ ] during the latter part of and in , ex-governor parsons travelled over the north, speaking in the chief cities in support of the policy of the president. he asked the northern people to rebuke at the polls the political fanatics who were inflaming the minds of the people north and south. he demanded the withdrawal of the military. there had been, he said, no sign of hostility since the surrender; the people were opposed to any legislation which would give the negro the right to vote; and it was the duty of the president, not of congress, to enforce the laws.[ ] much angry discussion was caused by the passage of the freedmen's bureau bill in . the bureau officials had caused themselves to be hated by the whites. they were a nuisance, when no worse, and useless,--a plague to the people. though there were comparatively few in the state, they were the cause of disorder and ill-feeling between the races. though there was now even less need of the institution than a year before, the new measure was much more offensive in its provisions.[ ] there was great rejoicing when the president vetoed the bill, which the _mobile times_ called "an infamous disorganization scheme of radicalism." the bureau had become a political machine for work among white and black. the passage of the bill over the veto was felt to be a blow at the prostrate south.[ ] the civil rights bill of was also a cause of irritation. there was a disposition among the officials of the freedmen's bureau to enforce all such measures before they became law. orders were issued directing the application of the principles of measures then before congress. the united states commissioner in mobile decided that under the "civil rights bill"[ ] negroes could ride on the cars set apart for the whites. horton, the radical military mayor of mobile, banished to new orleans an idiotic negro boy who had been hired to follow him and torment him by offensive questions. horton was indicted under the "civil rights bill" and convicted. the people of mobile were much pleased when a "yankee official was the first to be caught in the trap set for southerners."[ ] another citizen of mobile, a magistrate, was haled before a federal court, charged with having sentenced a negro to be whipped, contrary to the provisions of the "civil rights bill." the magistrate explained that there was nothing at all offensive about the whipping. he had not acted in his magisterial capacity, but had himself whipped the negro boy for lying, stealing, and neglect of duty while in his employ.[ ] the agent of the bureau at selma notified the mayor that the "chain gang system of working convicts on the streets had to be discontinued or he would be prosecuted for violation of the 'civil rights bill.'"[ ] judge hardy of selma decided in a case brought before him that the "civil rights bill" was unconstitutional. he declared it to be an attack on the independence of the judiciary.[ ] rejection of the fourteenth amendment in the fall of the proposed fourteenth amendment was submitted to the legislature. there was no longer any belief that further yielding would do any good; the more the people gave the more was asked. state senator e. a. powell wrote to john w. forney that the people would do nothing about the fourteenth amendment because they were convinced that any action would be useless. condition after condition had been imposed and had been absolved; slavery had been abolished, secession acknowledged a failure, and the war debt repudiated by the convention; the legislature had ratified the thirteenth amendment, had secured the negro in all the rights of property and person; and after all the state was no nearer to restoration.[ ] this was the view of nearly all the newspapers of the state, and in this they represented popular opinion. they were intensely irritated by the fact that, although they had made so many concessions, still they were excluded from representation in congress, and were heavily and unjustly taxed.[ ] moreover, they were opposed to the amendment because it branded their best men as traitors.[ ] one newspaper, alone, advocated adoption of the amendment as the least of evils.[ ] john forsyth, in the _mobile register_, said: "it is one thing to be oppressed, wronged, and outraged by overwhelming force. it is quite another to submit to voluntary abasement" by adopting the fourteenth amendment. it should be rejected, he said, because it would disfranchise the very best of the respectable whites, the beloved leaders of the people. judge busteed, in a charge to the federal grand jury, delivered a political harangue advocating the adoption of the amendment. many ultra "union" men in north alabama opposed the amendment for three reasons: ( ) though it would disfranchise the leaders, the great mass of the white people would still be allowed to vote, especially those who had not held civil office during the war; ( ) some of these "union" men had been ardent secessionists at the beginning and had thus compromised themselves, or had been elected to the legislature or to some "bomb-proof" office during the war--as "obstructionists," they claimed--and the proposed amendment would disfranchise them along with the confederate leaders; ( ) this class as a rule disliked the negro and never wanted negro suffrage if it were possible to secure the overthrow of existing institutions without it. two planters of the black belt were ready for negro suffrage to one "buckra."[ ] those men who considered themselves "unionists" wanted no negro suffrage, nor anything so weak as the fourteenth amendment; but desired some kind of a military régime in which the united states government should place them in permanent possession of the state administration and exclude all who were not like themselves. the test should be a political one, they said. it seems to be a fact that a few hundred such men with, at the most, five thousand followers expected to have the whole state administration under their direction for years. yet it would have required a special law of exemption for each of them in order to protect them from the proscription which was to be visited upon the ex-confederates. for these "unionists" had often betrayed both sides during the war. their most patriotic duty had been "obstruction." by most persons the question of negro political rights was considered to belong to the state and was not a matter for the federal government to regulate. "loyalists" as well as "rebels" were afraid to leave negro affairs to the regulation of congress. in his annual message to the legislature, in november, , governor patton advised the legislature not to ratify the fourteenth amendment, on the ground that it could do no good and might do harm. it involved a creation of a penalty after the act. on this point, he said that it was an _ex post facto_ law, and contrary to the whole spirit of modern civilization; that such a mode of dealing with citizens charged with offences against government belonged only to despotic tyrants; that it might accomplish revengeful purposes, but that was not the proper mode of administering justice; that adoption would vacate merely all offices in most of the unrepresented states--governors, judges, legislators, sheriffs, justices of peace, constables--and the state governments would be completely broken up and reduced to utter and hopeless anarchy; that the disabilities imposed by the test oath were seriously detrimental to the interests of the government; that ratification of the amendment could not accomplish any good to the country and might bring upon it irretrievable disaster.[ ] under the circumstances, the legislature refused to consider the amendment. but the governor during the next few weeks was induced by various considerations to recommend the ratification, and on december , , he sent a special message stating that there was a purpose on the part of those who controlled the national legislation to enforce their own terms of restoration at all hazards; and that their measures would immeasurably augment the distress already existing and inaugurate endless confusion. the cardinal principle of restoration seemed to be, he said, favorable action on the fourteenth amendment. upon principle he was opposed to it. yet necessity must rule. so now he recommended reconsideration. if they should ratify and restoration should follow, they might trust to time and their representatives to mitigate its harshness. if they should ratify and admission should be delayed, it would serve as a warning to other states and thus prevent the necessary number for ratification.[ ] the message created excitement in the legislature and the chances were favorable for ratification; but ex-governor parsons, who was in the north, advised against it. he thought the northern people would support the president in the matter. the legislature refused to ratify by a vote of to in the senate, and to in the house.[ ] potter of cherokee gave notice that on january he would move to reconsider the vote. governor patton, moreover, was convinced that congress meant to carry out its plan of reconstruction, and that opposition might make matters worse. general swayne kept a strong pressure upon him, assuring him that congress would have its own way. during the christmas holidays the governor made speeches in north alabama in favor of ratifying the amendment. congress would require it, he said. on principle he opposed the measure, but it must come at last. "look the situation squarely in the face," he said; only or men (himself included) would be deprived of office, and to oppose congress was to ruin the state, to territorialize it. there were men in washington, he said, who were already working in order to be made provisional governor under the new régime.[ ] after the recess patton sent a second message recommending that the amendment be adopted, since it was the evident purpose of congress to enforce their own terms.[ ] for a day or two it was considered, general swayne and the governor using their influence with the members, and it seemed almost sure to be ratified. but parsons, then in montgomery, telegraphed (january , ) to the president that the legislature was reconsidering the amendment. johnson replied saying that no possible good could come of such action; that he did not believe the people of the country would sustain "any set of individuals" in attempts to change the whole character of the government, but that they would uphold those who stood by the constitution; and that there should be no faltering on the part of those who were determined to sustain the coördinate departments of the government in accordance with its original design. for the third time the amendment failed to pass.[ ] one of the last resolutions passed by the provisional legislature before it was abolished by the reconstruction acts was on february , , in regard to memorializing congress to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy. relief was needed, they stated, "yet the promptings of self-respect forbid the propriety of further intruding our appeals upon a congress which refuses to recognize the state of alabama for any purpose other than that of taxation. it is a source of regret that congress has assumed an attitude toward the state of alabama totally incompatible with the mutual obligations of allegiance and protection."[ ] political conditions, - ; formation of parties in the convention of two well-defined parties had appeared, though generally, at that time, for the sake of harmony they acted together. these parties grew farther and farther apart. one of them, consisting of most of the people, especially of the central and southern section of the state, supported the policy of the president. the other party was a motley opposition. in it were the few original "union" men, the tories, and many more self-styled "union" men, who saw an opportunity for advancement for themselves if the present government were overthrown. there were others who thought that the old ruling class should now retire absolutely from public life and allow their former followers to take their places. there was a fair sprinkling of respectable men who were bitterly opposed to any party or policy that suited the former democrats, and believing that congress would not be too severe, they were willing to see three or four thousand of the leaders disfranchised in order to get the state back into the union. they were willing also to become leaders themselves in the place of those disfranchised. during the year these parties were organized to some degree, held meetings, and made bids for northern support. the opposition worked into the hands of the radical party at the north, though many of them did not favor the full radical programme, especially as regarded negro suffrage. the other party took the name of the "conservative" or "democratic and conservative." it was composed of former democrats, whigs, know-nothings, anti-know-nothings, bell and everett men,--nearly all of the respectable voting people. these allied with the "conservative" party in other southern states and with the democrats in the north and formed the "national union party." its platform was essentially the presidential plan of reconstruction.[ ] the campaign of was made on many issues,--the civil rights bill, freedmen's bureau bill, fourteenth amendment, the plans of reconstruction. ex-governor parsons and other prominent alabamians spoke in the cities of the north in support of the policy of the president. ex-governor shorter, in a public letter, said that he had been a "rebel" until the close of the war, and understood the feeling of the people of alabama. there had not been since the surrender and there was not now, he said, any antagonism to the united states government, and reconstruction based on the assumption of this would be harmful and hopeless. the people had given their allegiance to the government and had remodelled their state organizations in good faith.[ ] "southern outrages" now began afresh. the radical press and radical politicians began to manufacture tales of outrage and cruelty on the part of the southern whites against negroes. there had been all along a disposition to look for "outrages" in the south, and the reports of schurz and the joint committee on reconstruction seemed to put the seal of truth on the tissue of falsehoods, and for campaign purposes "outrages" were increased. for several years, judging from some accounts, the entire white population--men, women, and children--must have given much of their time to persecuting, beating, and killing negroes and northern men. the radical papers seized upon the silly things said or done by the idlers of bar-rooms and street corners or printed in the small newspapers and magnified them into the "threatening voice of a whole people." against this mistake general swayne repeatedly protested. he had no special liking for the southern people, but he scorned to misrepresent the true state of affairs for political capital. during his stay in the state (more than two years) the tenor of his reports was: there was no trouble from the southern whites; northern men were welcomed in a business way; disorder and lawlessness existed in sections of the state, but this was a natural result of long war and civil strife among the people. in his reports, swayne repeatedly stated that as time went on the condition of affairs was gradually improving. newspaper correspondents sent to write up conditions in the south went among the most worthless part of the population, in bar-rooms, hotel lobbies, on street corners, in country groceries, and wrote up the doings and sayings of these people as representative of all. even e. l. godkin was not above doing such a thing at times.[ ] these writers carefully recorded the idle talk about the negro and the north and dressed it up for radical information. a favorite plan was to find some woman, coarse and vulgar and cruel-minded, and describe her and her speeches as representative of southern women. the southern newspapers republished such correspondence as specimens of radical methods. the whites were more and more irritated. this aggravating correspondence and the more aggravating editorials continued in some papers long after the reconstruction period.[ ] on the other hand, northern men received little or no social welcome in the south. most of them would not have been sought after in any section; few representatives of northern culture came south. the indiscretions of some caused the ostracism of all. but that was not the sole reason. general swayne seemed surprised at "social exclusion" and mentioned it before the reconstruction sub-committee. but, said an alabama correspondent, what else can he expect? why is he surprised? can the sister, the mother, and the father who have lost their loved ones care to meet those who did the deeds? they meet with respectful treatment; let them not ask too much.[ ] what the people needed and wanted was a settled and certain policy. the mixed administrations of the provisional authorities and the president, of the freedmen's bureau and the army, did not result in respect for the laws. the talk of confiscation and disfranchisement kept the people irritated. they thought that they had already complied with the conditions imposed precedent to admission to the union and now believed that congress was acting in bad faith. many were willing to affiliate even with conservative republicans in order to overthrow the radicals. much was hoped for in the way of good results from the "national union" movement. few or none of the northern business men in the state thought that the radical plan was necessary. they did not expect or desire its success.[ ] there was a convention of the conservative party at selma in july, . delegates were elected to the national union convention at philadelphia.[ ] the selma convention indorsed the policy of johnson and condemned the radical party as the great obstacle to peace. the most prominent men of the state were present, representing both of the old parties--whigs and democrats.[ ] the national platform adopted in philadelphia stated the principles to which the southerners had now committed themselves, viz.: the war had decided the national character of the constitution; but the restrictions imposed by it upon the general government were unchanged and the rights and authority of the states were unimpaired; representation in congress and in the electoral college was a right guaranteed by the constitution to every state, and congress had no power to deny such right; congress had no power to regulate the suffrage; there is no right of withdrawal from the union; amendments to the constitution must be made as provided for by the constitution, and all states had the right to a vote on an amendment; negroes should receive protection in all rights of person and property; the national debt was declared inviolable, the confederate debt utterly invalid; and andrew johnson's administration was indorsed.[ ] ex-governor parsons and others from alabama spoke in new york, new jersey, maine, and pennsylvania, at national union meetings. parsons told the north that the conservative people of alabama were in charge of the administration, and would not send extreme men to congress; the representatives chosen had opposed secession. the "union" party,--a large one in the state,--he said, had hoped that after the war each individual would have to answer for himself, but instead all were suffering in common.[ ] the opposition party was weak in numbers and especially weak in leaders. the tory and deserter element, with a few from the obstructionists of the war time and malcontents of the present who wanted office, made up the native portion of the party. northern adventurers, principally agents of the freedmen's bureau, teachers and missionaries, and men who had failed to succeed in some southern speculation, with a number of those who follow in the path of armies to secure the spoils, composed the alien wing of the opposition party.[ ] the fundamental principle upon which the existence of the party was based required the destruction of present institutions and the creation of a new political people who should be kept in power by federal authority. the northern soldiers of fortune saw at once that it would be necessary to give the ballot to the negro. the native radicals disliked the idea of negro suffrage and seemed to think that the central government should proscribe all others, place them in power and hold them there by armed force until they could create a party. such a party could secure a northern alliance only with the extreme radical wing of the republican party. a convention of "southern unionists" was held in washington, in july, , which issued an address to the "loyalists" of the south, declaring that the reconstruction of the southern state governments must be based on constitutional principles, and the present despotism under an atrocious leadership must not be permitted to remain; the rights of the citizens must not be left to the protection of the states, but congress must take charge of the matter and make protection coextensive with citizenship; under the present state governments, with "rebels" controlling, there would be no safety for loyalists,--they must rely on congress for protection. a meeting of "southern loyalists" was called to be held in september, in independence hall in philadelphia.[ ] the alabama delegates to this convention were george reese, d. h. bingham, m. j. saffold, and j. h. larcombe. this philadelphia convention condemned the "rebellion as unparalleled for its causelessness, its cruelty, and its criminality." "the unhappy policy" of the president was "unjust, oppressive, and intolerable." the policy of congress was indorsed, but regret was expressed that it did not provide by law for the greater security of the "loyal" people in the southern states. demand was made for "the establishment of influences of patriotism and justice" in each of the southern states. washington, lincoln, the declaration of independence, philadelphia, and independence hall--all were brought in. the question of negro suffrage was discussed, and most of the delegates favored it. of the five delegates from alabama, two announced themselves against it.[ ] at a radical convention in philadelphia about the same time the delegates from alabama were albert griffin, an adventurer from ohio; d. h. bingham, a bitter tory, almost demented with hate; and m. j. saffold, who had been an obstructionist during the war. here was the beginning of the alliance of carpet-bagger and scalawag that was destined to ruin the state in six years of peace worse than four years of war had done. the convention indulged in unstinted abuse of johnson and demanded "no mercy" for davis. bingham was one of the committee that presented the hysterical report demanding the destruction of the provisional governments in the south. saffold opposed the negro suffrage plank. he had no prejudice himself, he explained, but thought it was not expedient. he was hissed and evidently brought to the correct opinion.[ ] after the report of the joint committee on reconstruction in it was believed by the radicals that congress would be victorious over the president, and the party in alabama that expected to control the government under the new régime began to hold meetings and organize preparatory to dividing the offices. january - , , a thinly attended "unconditional union mass-meeting" was held at moulton, in lawrence county. eleven of the counties of north alabama were represented, the hill and mountain people predominating. nicholas davis, who presided, said that none but "loyal" men must control the states, lately in rebellion.[ ] the action of congress was commended by the convention; the proposed fourteenth amendment was indorsed; and congress was asked to distinguish between the "precipitators" and those "coerced or otherwise led by the usurpers."[ ] they asked for $ a year bounty for all union soldiers from north alabama, and for the compensation of unionists for property lost during the war. the leaders here present were freedmen's bureau agents, confederate deserters, and former obstructionists.[ ] a "union" convention was held in huntsville, march , . seventeen north alabama counties were represented by much the same crowd that attended the moulton convention.[ ] general swayne was there, carried along by the current, and, it was said, hoping for high office under the new régime.[ ] the convention declared that a large portion of the people of the south had been opposed to secession, but rather than have civil war at home had acquiesced in the revolution; that the true position of these "unionists" now was with the party that would protect them against future rebellion; it was necessary that the federal government be strengthened; the "union" men of each county were asked to hold meetings and send delegates to a state convention to be held during the summer.[ ] the spring of saw the white radical party stronger than it ever was again. the few native whites who were to take part in the reconstruction had chosen their side. after this time the party gradually lost all its respectable members. the carpet-baggers and bureau agents had not yet shown their strength. the scalawags did not foresee that to the carpet-baggers would fall the lion's share of the plunder, owing to their control over the negro vote. the president's plan failed, not because of any inherent defect in itself, but because of the bungling manner in which it was administered. if president johnson had been content to place confidence in any one of the agencies to which were intrusted the government of the south, it would have been better. had the governments set up by him been endowed with vigor, it is probable that congress would not have fallen wholly under the control of the radicals. the penalty for the indiscretions of the president was visited upon the south. to-day the southern people like to believe that, had lincoln lived, his policy would have succeeded, and the horrors of reconstruction would have been mitigated or prevented. johnson's policy was that of lincoln, except that he reserved to himself a much larger part in setting up and running the provisional governments. he established state governments, pronounced them constitutional, completed, perfected, and asked congress to recognize them before he had proclaimed the rebellion at an end or restored the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_.[ ] he interfered himself, and allowed or ordered the army to interfere, in the smallest details of local administration. the military rule in alabama was on the whole as well administered as it could be, which is seldom well. there were too few soldiers and the posts were too widely separated for the exercise of any firm or consistent authority. but the people were sorry to see even the worst of this give place to the reign of carpet-bagger, scalawag, and negro. the interference of the army and the president discredited the civil government in the minds of the people. the absolute rule of the president over the whole of ten states, though never used for bad purposes, was, nevertheless, not to be viewed with equanimity by those who were afraid of the almost absolute power that the executive had assumed during the war. that the power had not been used for bad purposes was no guarantee against future misuse. there was some excuse for the pretended fright of the radical leaders, like sumner and stevens, and the real anxiety of more moderate men, at the dictatorial course of johnson. but it must be said that a desire for a share in political appointments was a cause of much of this "real anxiety." from to , and even later, there was, for all practical purposes, over the greater part of the people of alabama, no government at all. there was little disorder; the people were busy with their own affairs. public opinion ruled the respectable people. until the close of reconstruction, the military and civil government touched the people mainly to annoy. from to government and respect for government were weakened to a degree from which it has not yet recovered. the people governed themselves extra-legally and have not recovered from the practice. by taking cases from the civil authorities for trial before military commission, by dictating the course of the civil government, by nullifying the actions of the highest executive officers, the acts of the legislature, and the decisions of the highest courts, the army was mainly responsible for the lack of confidence in the civil administration. chapter x military government, - in the account of the affairs thus far we have seen many evidences of the active participation of the military power of the united states in the conduct of government in alabama. it will be useful at this point to examine with some care the form and scope of the authority concerned during the period of the provisional state government's existence. the military division of the tennessee ( ), under general grant, included the department of the cumberland, under the command of general george h. thomas. several counties of north alabama in the possession of the federals formed a part of this department and for three years were governed entirely by the army, except for two short intervals, when the federal forces were flanked and forced to retire. anarchy then reigned, for the civil government had been almost entirely destroyed in ten of the northern counties. june , , the military division of the tennessee was reorganized under general thomas, and included in it was the department of alabama, commanded by general c. r. woods, with headquarters at mobile. in october, , georgia and alabama were united into a military province called the department of the gulf, under general woods. this department was still in the military division of the tennessee, commanded by general thomas. june , , alabama and georgia were formed into the department of the south and were still in thomas's military division of the tennessee. general woods commanded, with headquarters at macon, georgia. alabama was ruled by general swayne from montgomery. august , , the military division of the tennessee was discontinued and was made a department, general thomas retaining the command. in this department georgia and alabama formed the district of the chattahoochee, with headquarters at macon, commanded by general woods. the sub-district of alabama was commanded by general swayne, who was also in charge of the freedmen's bureau at montgomery. this organization lasted until the third military district, under the reconstruction acts of march , , was formed of alabama, florida, and georgia, and general thomas (immediately superseded by general pope) was put in command.[ ] the military occupation within a month after the surrender of lee, alabama was occupied by federal armies, and garrisons were being stationed at one or more points in all the more populous counties. everywhere, the state and county government was broken up by the military authorities, who were forbidden to recognize any civil authority in the state. into each of the counties soldiers were sent to administer the oath of allegiance to the united states to any one who wished to take it. most people were indifferent about it.[ ] for several months there was no civil government at all, and no government of any kind except in the immediate vicinity of the army posts and the towns where military officers and freedmen's bureau agents regulated the conduct of the negroes, and incidentally of the whites, well or badly, according to their abilities and prejudices. some of the officers, especially those of higher rank, endeavored to pacify the land, gave good advice to the negroes, and were considerate in their relations with the whites; others incited the blacks to all sorts of deviltry and were a terror to the whites.[ ] each official in his little district ruled as supreme as the czar of all the russias. he was the first and last authority on most of the affairs of the community. early in the summer each city and its surrounding territory was formed into a military district under the command of a general officer, who was subject to the orders of general woods at mobile. there were the districts of mobile, montgomery, talladega, and huntsville--each with a dozen or more counties attached. then there were isolated posts in each. the district was governed by the rules applying to a "separate brigade" in the army.[ ] the different posts, districts, and departments were formed, discontinued, reorganized, with lightning rapidity. hardly a single day passed without some change necessitated by the resignation or muster out of officers or troops. commanding officers stayed a few days or a few weeks at a post, and were relieved or discharged. some of the officers spent much of their time pulling wires to keep from being mustered out. others resigned as soon as their resignations would be accepted. few or none had any adequate knowledge of conditions in their own districts, nor was it possible for them to acquire a knowledge of affairs in the short time they remained at any one post. after the establishment of the provisional government, the army was supposed to retire into the background, leaving ordinary matters of administration to the civil government. this it did not do, but constantly interfered in all affairs of government. the army officers cannot be blamed for their meddling with the civil administration, for the president did the same and seemed to have little confidence in the governments he had erected, though he gave good accounts of them to congress. the struggle at washington between the president and congress over reconstruction confused the military authorities as to the proper policy to pursue. the instructions from the president and from general grant were sometimes in conflict. in august, , the military commander published the president's amnesty proclamation of may , , and sent officers to each county to administer the oath.[ ] instructions were given that "no improper persons are to be permitted to take the oath." the oath was to be signed in triplicate, one copy for the department of state, one for military headquarters, and one for the party taking the oath. regulations were prescribed for making special applications for pardon by those excepted under the amnesty proclamation. there were stations in the state where officials administered the oath of amnesty.[ ] the military authorities gave the term "improper persons" a broad construction and excluded many who applied to take the oath. the various officers differed greatly in their enforcement of the regulations. special applications for pardon had to go through military channels, and that meant delays of weeks or months; so, after civil officials were appointed in alabama, "improper persons" took the oath before them, and then their papers were sent at once to washington for the attention of the president. there was some scandal about the provisional secretary of state accepting reward for pushing certain applications for pardon. but there was no need to use influence, for the president pardoned all who applied. soon after parsons was appointed provisional governor, an order stated that the united states forces would be used to assist in the restoration of order and civil law throughout the state and would act in support of the civil authorities as soon as the latter were appointed and qualified. the military authorities were instructed to avoid as far as possible any assumption or exercise of the functions of civil tribunals. no arrest or imprisonment for debt was to be made or allowed, and depredations by united states troops upon private property were to be repressed.[ ] the army and the colored population as acting agents of the freedmen's bureau, the army officers had to do with all that concerned the negroes; but sometimes, in a different capacity, they issued regulations concerning the colored race. it is difficult to distinguish between their actions as bureau agents and as army officers. on the whole, it seems that each officer of the army considered himself _ex officio_ an acting agent of the bureau. soon after the occupation of montgomery, an order was issued prohibiting negroes from occupying houses in the city without the consent of the owner. they had to vacate unless they could get permission. negroes in rightful possession had to show certificates to that effect from the owner. all unemployed negroes were advised to go to work, as the united states would not support them in idleness.[ ] this order was intended to discourage the tendency of the negro population to flock to the garrison towns. the first troops to arrive were almost smothered by the welcoming blacks, who were disposed to depend upon the army for maintenance. the officers were at first alarmed at the great crowds of blacks who swarmed around them, and tried hard for a time to induce them to go back home to work. their efforts were successful in some instances. in view of the fact that the posts and garrisons were the gathering places of great numbers of unemployed blacks, an order, issued in august, , instructed the commanders of posts and garrisons to prohibit the loitering of negroes around the posts and to discourage the indolence of the blacks.[ ] in mobile some kind of civil government must have been set up under the direction of the military authorities, for we hear of an order issued by general andrews that in all courts and judicial proceedings in the district of mobile the negro should have the same standing as the whites.[ ] these may have been bureau courts. it was represented to the military commander that the negroes of alabama had aided the federals in april and may, , by bringing into the lines, or by destroying, stock, provisions, and property that would aid the confederacy, and that they were now being arrested by the officers of the provisional government for larceny and arson. so he ordered that the civil authorities be prohibited from arresting, trying, or imprisoning any negro for any offence committed before the surrender of taylor (on may , ), except by permission of military headquarters or of the assistant commissioner of the freedmen's bureau.[ ] when the federal armies passed through the state in april and may, , thousands of negroes had seized the farm stock and followed the army, for a few days at least. there was more of this seizure of property by negroes after garrisons were stationed in the towns. the order was so construed that practically no negro could be arrested for stealing when he was setting out for town and the bureau. a few weeks before the order was issued, woods stated, "i do not interfere with civil affairs at all unless called upon by the governor of the state to assist the civil authorities."[ ] terrible stories of cruel treatment of the negroes were brought to woods by the bureau officials, and he sent detachments of soldiers to investigate the reports. nothing was done except to march through the country and frighten the timid by a display of armed force, which was evidently all the agents wanted. one detachment scoured the counties of clarke, marengo, washington, and choctaw, investigating the reports of the agents.[ ] the commanding officers at some posts authorized militia officers of the provisional government to disarm the freedmen when outbreaks were threatened. but after christmas general swayne ordered that no authority be delegated by officers to civilians for dealing with freedmen, but that such cases be referred to himself as the assistant commissioner of the freedmen's bureau.[ ] there had been great fear among some classes of people that the negroes would engage in plots to massacre the whites and secure possession of the property, which they were assured by negro soldiers and bureau agents the governor meant them to have. about christmas, , the fear was greatest. for six months the blacks had been eagerly striving to get possession of firearms. the soldiers and speculators made it easy for them to obtain them. in russell county $ worth of new spencer rifles were found hidden in negro cabins.[ ] there were few firearms among the whites, for all had been used in war and were therefore seized by the united states government. some feared that the negroes were preparing for an uprising, but it is more probable that they merely wanted guns as a mark of freedom. the purchase of firearms by whites was discouraged by the army. the sale of arms and ammunition into the interior was forbidden, but speculators managed to sell both. general smith, at mobile, had one of them--dieterich--arrested and confined in the military prison at mobile.[ ] the _mobile daily register_ was warned that it must not print articles about impending negro insurrections,[ ] a very good regulation; but the violent negro sheet in mobile was not noticed, though it was a cause of excitement among the blacks. in the fall of it was reported to the secretary of state, mr. seward, that negroes were being induced to go to peru on promise of higher wages. seward induced howard, the commissioner of the freedmen's bureau, to have the bureau annul or disapprove all contracts of freedmen to go beyond the limits of the united states. general swayne, who was now both assistant commissioner and military commander, was directed to enforce howard's order in alabama.[ ] administration of justice by the army from april to december, , all trade and commerce had to go on under the regulations prescribed by the army. the restrictions placed on trade caused demoralization both in the army and among the treasury agents, who worked under the protection of the military.[ ] it was ordered that civilians guilty of stealing government cotton should be punished, after trial and conviction by military commission, according to the statutes of alabama in force before the war. later all cases of theft of government property were tried by military commission.[ ] when the cotton agents were tried by military commission[ ] there arose a conflict of authority between the military authorities and the federal judge. one agent, t. c. a. dexter, was arrested and sued out a writ of _habeas corpus_ before busteed, the federal judge. the writ was served on general woods and colonel hunter brooke, who presided over the military commission. the officers declined to obey, saying that a military commission had been convened to try dexter, and that no interference of the civil authorities would be permitted. busteed ordered dexter to be discharged, and woods to appear before him and show why he should not be prosecuted for contempt of court. woods paid no attention to this order, and busteed sent the united states marshal to arrest him. the marshal reported that he was unable to get into the presence of woods, because the military guard was instructed not to allow him to pass. woods sent a message to busteed that the writ had not been restored in alabama. busteed made a protest to the president and asserted that the trial could not lawfully proceed except in the civil courts. president johnson sustained the course of general woods, and thereby gave a blow to his provisional government, for busteed at once adjourned his court--the only federal court in the state. the sentiment of the people was with busteed in spite of his own notorious character and that of the defendant. all wanted the civil government to take charge of affairs.[ ] of the cases of civilians tried by summary courts in the summer of , there is no official record; of the cases tried by military commission during and , only incomplete records are to be found. a partial list of the cases, with charges and sentences, is here given:-- wilson h. gordon,[ ] civilian, murder of negro, may , . convicted. samuel smiley,[ ] civilian, murder of negro, . acquitted. t. j. carver,[ ] cotton agent, stealing cotton. fined $ , and one year's imprisonment. t. c. a. dexter,[ ] cotton agent, stealing cotton ( bales) and selling appointment of cotton agent to carver for $ , . fined $ , and imprisonment for one year. william ludlow,[ ] civilian, stealing united states stock. four years' imprisonment. l. j. britton,[ ] civilian, guerilla warfare and robbery. fined $ and imprisonment for ten years. (fine remitted by reviewing officer.) george m. cunningham,[ ] late second lieutenant th ill. vol. inf., stealing government stores. fined $ . john c. richardson,[ ] civilian, guerilla warfare and robbery. imprisonment for ten years. owen mclarney,[ ] civilian, assault on soldier. acquitted. william b. rowls,[ ] civilian, guerilla warfare and robbery. imprisonment for ten years. samuel beckham,[ ] civilian, receiving stolen property. imprisonment for three years. john johnson,[ ] civilian, robbery and pretending to be united states officer. fined $ , "to be appropriated to the use of the freedmen's bureau." abraham harper,[ ] civilian, robbery and pretending to be united states officer. fined $ "to be appropriated to the use of the freedmen's bureau." most of the civilians tried by the military commissions were camp followers and discharged soldiers of the united states army. those charged with guerilla warfare were regularly enlisted confederate soldiers and were accused by the tory element, who were guilty of most of the guerilla warfare.[ ] it was impossible to punish outlaws for any depredations committed during the war, and for several months after the surrender, if they claimed to be "loyalists," which they usually did. the civil authorities were forbidden to arrest, try, and imprison discharged soldiers of the united states army for acts committed while in service.[ ] a similar order withdrew all "loyal" persons from the jurisdiction of the civil courts so far as concerned actions during or growing out of the war.[ ] the negroes had already been withdrawn from the authority of the civil courts so far as similar offences were concerned.[ ] upon the complaint of united states officials collecting taxes and revenues of the refusal of individuals to pay, the military commanders over the state were ordered to arrest and try by military commission persons who refused or neglected "to pay these just dues."[ ] numerous complaints of arbitrary arrests and of the unwarranted seizure of private property called forth an order from general thomas, directing that the persons and property of all citizens must be respected. there was to be no interference with or arrests of citizens unless upon proper authority from the district commander, and then only after well-supported complaint.[ ] the local military authorities were directed to arrest persons who had been or might be charged with offences against officers, agents, citizens, and inhabitants of the united states, in cases where the civil authorities had failed, neglected, or been unable to bring the offending parties to trial. persons so arrested were to be confined by the military until a proper tribunal might be ready and willing to try them.[ ] this was another one of many blows at the civil government permitted by the president, who allowed the army to judge for itself as to when it should interfere. these are the more important orders issued by the military authority relating to public affairs in alabama during the existence of the two provisional or "johnson" state governments. it will be seen from the scope of the orders that the local military officials had the power of constant interference with the civil government. a large part of the population was withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the civil administration. the officials of the latter had no real power, for they were subject to frequent reproof and their proceedings to frequent revision by the army officers. both governor parsons and governor patton wanted the army removed, confident that the civil government could do better than both together. parsons appealed to johnson to remove the army or prohibit its interference.[ ] he complained that the military officials had caused and were still causing much injustice by deciding grave questions of law and equity upon _ex parte_ statements. personal rights were subject to captious and uncertain regulations. the tenure of property was uncertain, and citizens felt insecure when the army decided complicated cases of title to land and questions of public morals. a military commission at huntsville, acting under direction of general thomas, had assumed to decide questions of title to property, and in one case, a widow was alleged to have been turned out of her home.[ ] the citizens of montgomery were indignant because the military authorities had issued licenses for the sale of liquor, and had permitted prostitution by licensing houses of ill repute. circular no. , district of montgomery, september , , required that all public women must register at the office of the provost marshal; that each head of a disorderly house must pay a license tax of $ a week in addition to $ a week for each inmate, and that medical inspection should be provided for by military authority. in case of violation of these regulations a fine of $ would be imposed for each offence, and ten to thirty days' imprisonment. the bishop and all the clergy of the episcopal church were suspended and the churches closed for several months because the bishop refused to order a prayer for the president.[ ] the restaurant of joiner and company, at stevenson, was closed by order of the post commander because two negro soldiers were refused the privilege of dining at the regular table.[ ] admiral semmes, after being pardoned, was elected mayor of mobile, but the president interfered and refused to allow him to serve. many arrests and many more investigations were made at the instigation of the tory or "union" element, and on charges made by negroes.[ ] relation between the army and the people the unsatisfactory character of the military rule was due in a large measure to the fact that the white volunteers were early mustered out, leaving only a few regulars and several regiments of negro troops to garrison the country.[ ] these negro troops were a source of disorder among the blacks, and were under slack discipline. outrages and robberies by them were of frequent occurrence. there was ill feeling between the white and the black troops. even when the freedmen utterly refused to go to work, they behaved well, as a rule, except where negro troops were stationed. there is no reason to believe that it was not more the fault of the white officers than of the black soldiers, for black soldiers were amenable to discipline when they had respectable officers. truman reported to the president that the negro troops should be removed, because "to a great extent they incite the freedmen to deeds of violence and encourage them in idleness."[ ] the white troops, most of them regulars, behaved better, so far as their relations with the white citizens were concerned. the general officers were as a rule gentlemen, generous and considerate. so much so, that some rabid newspaper correspondents complained because the west pointers treated the southerners with too much consideration.[ ] in the larger posts discipline was fairly good, but at small, detached posts in remote districts the soldiers, usually, but not always, the black ones, were a scourge to the state. they ravaged the country almost as completely as during the war.[ ] the numerous reports of general swayne show that there was no necessity for garrisons in the state. he wanted, he said, a small body of cavalry to catch fugitives from justice, not a force to overcome opposition. the presence of the larger forces of infantry created a great deal of disorder. the soldiers were not amenable to civil law, the refining restraints of home were lacking, and discipline was relaxed.[ ] of the subordinate officers some were good and some were not, and the latter, when away from the control of their superior officers and in command of lawless men, ravaged the back country and acted like brigands. for ten years after the war the general orders of the various military districts, departments, and divisions are filled with orders publishing the results of court-martial proceedings, which show the demoralization of the class of soldiers who remained in the army after the war. the best men clamored for their discharge when the war ended and went home. the more disorderly men, for whom life in garrison in time of peace was too tame, remained, and all sorts of disorder resulted. finally "benzine" boards, as they were called, had to take hold of the matter, and numbers of men who had done good service during the war were discharged because they were unable to submit to discipline in time of peace. the rule of the army might have been better, especially in , had there not been so many changes of local and district commanders and headquarters. some counties remained in the same military jurisdiction a month or two, others a week or two, several for two or three days only. the people did not know how to proceed in order to get military justice. orders were issued that business must proceed through military channels. this cut off the citizen from personal appeal to headquarters, unless he was a man of much influence. often it was difficult to ascertain just what military channels were. headquarters and commanders often changed before an application or a petition reached its destination.[ ] the president merited failure with his plan of restoration because he showed so little confidence in the governments he had established. he was constantly interfering on the slightest pretexts. he asked congress to admit the states into the union, and said that order was restored and the state governments in good running order, while at the same time he had not restored the writ of _habeas corpus_, had not proclaimed the "rebellion" at an end, and was in the habit of allowing and directing the interference of the army in the gravest questions that confronted the civil government. in this way he discredited his own work, even in the eyes of those who wished it to succeed. his intentions were good, but his judgment was certainly at fault. the army authorities went on in their accustomed way until swayne was placed in command, june , , when a more sensible policy was inaugurated, and there was less friction. swayne aspired to control the governor and legislature by advice and demands rather than to rule through the army. there were few soldiers in the state after the summer of . order was good, except for the disturbing influence of negro troops and individual bureau agents. there were in remote districts outbreaks of lawlessness which neither the army nor the state government could suppress. the infantry could not chase outlaws; the state government was too weak to enforce its orders or to command respect as long as the army should stay. at their best the army and the civil administration neutralized the efforts and paralyzed the energies of each other. there were two governments side by side, the authority of each overlapping that of the other, while the freedmen's bureau, a third government, supported by the army, was much inclined to use its powers. the result was that most of the people went without government. on the th of march, , the policy of johnson came to its logical end in failure. general grant then issued the order which overturned the civil government established by the president. in alabama, which was to form a part of the third military district, all elections for state and county officials were disallowed until the arrival of the commander of the district. all persons elected to office during the month of march (after the passage of the reconstruction acts) were ordered to report to military headquarters for the action of the new military governor.[ ] military government then entered on a new phase. chapter xi the wards of the nation sec. . the freedmen's bureau department of negro affairs any account of the causes of disturbed conditions in the south during the two years succeeding the war must include an examination of the workings of the freedmen's bureau, the administration of which was uniformly hostile to the president's policy and in favor of the radical plans. as soon as the federal armies reached the black belt, it became a serious problem to care for the negroes who stopped work and flocked to the camps. some of the generals sent them back to their masters, others put them to work as laborers in the camps and on the fortifications. officers--usually chaplains--were temporarily detailed to look after the blacks who swarmed about the army, and thus the so-called "department of negro affairs" was established extra-legally, and continued until the passage of the freedmen's bureau act in . the "department" was supported by captured and confiscated property, and was under the direction of the war department.[ ] for a year after north alabama was overrun by the federal troops, no attempt was made to segregate the blacks; but in a camp for refugees and captured negroes was established on the estate of ex-governor chapman, near huntsville in madison county, and chaplain stokes of the eighteenth wisconsin infantry was placed in charge. it was not intended that the negroes should remain there permanently, but they were to be sent later to the larger concentration camps at nashville. no records were kept, but the report of the inspector states that several hundred negroes were received before august, , of whom only a small proportion was sent to nashville. those who remained were employed in cultivating the land,--planting corn, cotton, sorghum, and vegetables,--and in building log barracks and other similar houses. schools were established for the children. the war department issued three-fourths rations to the negroes, and the aid societies also helped them, although this colony was nearer self-sustaining than any other.[ ] in the treasury department assumed partial charge of negro refugees and captive slaves. regulations provided that captured and abandoned property should be rented and the proceeds devoted to the purchase of supplies for the blacks, who, when possible, were to be employed as laborers. in each special agency there was to be a "freedmen's home colony" under a "superintendent of freedmen," whose duty it was to care for the blacks in the colony, to obtain agricultural implements and supplies, and to keep a record of the negroes who passed through the colony. a classification of laborers was made and a minimum schedule of wages fixed as follows:-- no. hands, males, to years of age, minimum wage, $ per month; no. hands, males, to , to years of age, minimum wage, $ per month; no. hands, males, to years of age, minimum wage, $ per month; corresponding classes of women, $ , $ , $ , respectively. it was the duty of the superintendent to see that all who were physically able secured work at the specified rates. he acted as an employment agent, and the planters had to hire their labor through him. he exercised a general supervision over the affairs of all freedmen in the district. beside paying the high wages fixed by the schedule, the planter was obliged to take care of the young children of the family hired by him; to furnish without charge a separate house for each family with an acre of ground for garden, medical attendance for the family, and schooling for the children; to sell food and clothing to the negroes at actual cost; and to pay for full time unless the laborer was sick or refused to work. half the wages was paid at the end of the month, and the remainder at the end of the contract. wages due constituted a first lien on the crop, which could not be moved until the superintendent certified that the wages had been paid or arranged for. not more than ten hours a day labor was to be required. cases of dispute were to be settled by civil courts (union), where established,--otherwise the superintendent was vested with the power to decide such cases. provision was made for accepting the assistance of the aid societies, especially in the matter of schools.[ ] under such regulations it was hardly possible for the farmer to hire laborers, and we find that only negroes were disposed of by the colony near huntsville. if the wages could have been paid in confederate currency, they would have been reasonable; but united states currency was required, and most people had none of it. in the fall of the army again took charge of negro affairs and administered them along the lines indicated in the treasury regulations. wherever the army went its officers constituted themselves into freedmen's courts, aid societies, etc., and exercised absolute control over all relations between the two races and among the blacks. the freedmen's bureau established the law of march , , created a bureau in the war department to which was given control of all matters relating to freedmen, refugees, and abandoned lands. all officials were required to take the iron-clad test oath.[ ] no appropriation was made for the purpose of carrying out this law, and for the first year the bureau was maintained by taxes on salaries and on cotton, by fines, donations, rents of buildings and lands, and by the sales of crops and confiscated property.[ ] on july , , a second bureau bill, amplifying the law of march , , and extending it to july , , was passed over the president's veto. in the bureau was continued for one year, and on january , , it was discontinued, except in educational work.[ ] there is no indication that the provisions of the laws had much effect on the administration of the bureau. from the beginning it had entire control of all that concerned freedmen, who thus formed a special class not subject to the ordinary laws. in alabama there were nearly , negroes thus set apart, of whom , were children and , were aged and infirm.[ ] it was several months before the organization of the bureau was completed in alabama. meanwhile army officers acted as _ex officio_ agents of the bureau, and regulated negro affairs. they were disposed to persuade the negroes to go home and work, and not congregate around the military posts. they issued some rations to the negroes in the towns who were most in want, but discouraged the tendency to look to the united states for support. only a small proportion of the race was affected by the operations of the bureau during the months of april, may, and june, . in north and south alabama, above and below the black belt, the negroes were more under control of the bureau than in the black belt itself. the assistant commissioner for tennessee had jurisdiction over the negroes in north alabama, who had been under nominal northern control since . the bureau was established at mobile in april and may, under the control of the army, and was an offshoot of the louisiana bureau, t. w. conway, assistant commissioner for louisiana, being for a short while in charge of negro affairs in alabama. at the same time there was at mobile one t. w. osborn, who was called the assistant commissioner for alabama. later he was transferred to florida, and in july, , general wager swayne succeeded conway in alabama.[ ] there were but few regular agents in alabama before the arrival of general swayne. a few stray missionaries and preachers, representing the aid societies, came in, and were placed in charge of the camps of freedmen near the towns. conway appointed agents at mobile, demopolis, selma, and montgomery, who were officers in the negro regiments.[ ] for several months the army officers were almost the only agents, and, as has been stated, the higher officials, and some of the subordinates pursued a sensible course, giving the negroes sensible advice, and laboring to convince them that they could not expect to live without work. others encouraged them in idleness and violence and advised them to stop work and congregate in the towns and around the military posts. the black troops and their commanders were a source of disorder and cause of irritation between the races. the officers of these troops, and others also, were probably often sincere in their convictions that the southern white, especially the former slave owner, could not be trusted in anything where negroes were concerned, that he was the natural enemy of the black and must be guarded against.[ ] it was on june , , that general swayne was appointed assistant commissioner for alabama, and on july , t. w. conway directed all officials of the bureau in the state (except those in north alabama who were under the control of the assistant commissioner of tennessee) to report to swayne on his arrival.[ ] on july the latter assumed charge and appointed charles a. miller as his assistant adjutant-general, later another saviour of his country in reconstruction days. general swayne stated that on his arrival he was kindly received by most of the people, and that he was "agreeably disappointed" in the temper of the people and their attitude toward him. howard's instructions made it the duty of the assistant commissioner or his agents to adjudicate all differences among negroes and between negroes and whites. exclusive and final jurisdiction was vested in him.[ ] the bureau in alabama was organized in five departments: ( ) the department of abandoned and confiscated lands; ( ) the department of records (labor, schools, and supplies); ( ) the department of finance; ( ) the medical department; ( ) the bounty department. before the end of august, , the organization was completed, on paper, and the state had been divided into five districts, each controlled by a superintendent. these districts were: ( ) mobile, with seven counties; ( ) selma, with ten counties; ( ) montgomery, with nine counties; ( ) troy, with six counties: ( ) demopolis, with eight counties; later, ( ) north alabama, consisting of twelve counties, was withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the assistant commissioner of tennessee, general fiske, and became the sixth division in alabama. the officials of the freedmen's bureau, except the state officials and subordinate employees, numbered, in , twenty-seven army officers, and two civilians.[ ] by november the bureau was well organized, and as many offices as possible were established to examine into labor contracts. each superintendent had charge of the issue of rations in the county where he was stationed, and in each of the other counties of his district he had an assistant superintendent. it was the duty of these seventy-five or more officers to investigate complaints against county or state officials, who had been made _ex officio_ freedmen's bureau agents; and when a negro made a complaint, swayne forced parsons to appoint a new officer. later, when complaint was made, swayne would replace a civil agent by a regular bureau agent. thus the bureau gradually passed out of the hands of the state officials. the superintendents and the assistant superintendents had the power to arrest outlaws and evil-doers. they could also delegate the charge of contracts to responsible persons. depots were established from which supplies were issued to the counties, each county furnishing transportation and distributing the supplies under the observation of the superintendent.[ ] general swayne was succeeded, january , , by brevet brigadier-general julius hayden, who in turn was succeeded, march , , by brevet brigadier-general o. l. shepherd, colonel of the fifteenth infantry, and he was relieved on august , , by brevet lieutenant-colonel edwin beecher, who wound up the affairs of the bureau in the state, except the educational and bounty divisions.[ ] the sub-districts were continued during the existence of the bureau. these consisted of four to six counties each, and were sometimes under the charge of regular army officers, sometimes under civilians.[ ] the _tribune_ correspondent had doubts of the benefits of the freedmen's bureau where army officers, especially west pointers, were in charge. the west pointers were strict with the negroes, there was no idleness; the negro had to work; and the officers always took the side of the white.[ ] pressure from the northern radicals was brought to bear on swayne, as time went on, to force him to do away more and more with army officers and civil officials of the state, and to substitute civilians from the north, who had a different plan for helping the negro. the alien agents were opposed to swayne's plan of appointing native whites as agents, and told him tales of outrage that had been committed, but he paid no attention to them. the bureau officers told much more horrible tales than any of the army officers.[ ] _the nation's_ correspondent seemed disappointed because the freedmen's bureau and the people and the negro were getting along fairly well.[ ] the freedmen's bureau and the civil authorities there was, according to the state laws of , no provision for the negro in the courts, and swayne asked governor parsons to issue a proclamation opening the courts to them and giving them full civil rights. he reminded parsons that he (parsons) was merely a military official, and that the law administered by him was martial law, which had its limits only in the discretion of the commander. parsons and his advisers thought that the people would oppose such action and so refused to issue the proclamation.[ ] thereupon swayne himself issued a proclamation, stating that exclusive control of all matters relating to the negroes belonged to him. he was unwilling, however, he said, to establish tribunals in alabama conducted by persons foreign to her citizenship and strangers to her laws. consequently, all judicial officers, magistrates, and sheriffs of the provisional government were made bureau agents for the administration of justice to the negroes. the laws of the state were to be applied so far as no distinction was made on account of color. processes were to run in the name of the provisional government and according to the forms provided by state law. the military authorities were to support the civil officials of the bureau in the administration of justice. each officer was to signify his acceptance of this appointment, and failure to accept or refusal to administer the laws without regard to color would result in the substitution of martial law in that community.[ ] this order was remarkable for several reasons. in the first place, it was rather an arrogant seizure of the provisional administration and subordination of it to the bureau. all officials were forced to accept by the threat of martial law in case of refusal to serve. again, swayne was not in command of the military forces of the state, though the army was directed to support the bureau. this law gave to swayne unlimited discretion, so that by a short order he practically placed himself at the head of the whole administration,--civil and military,--and throughout his term of service in alabama he never allowed anything to stand in his way.[ ] again, the act of march , , provided that all officials of the bureau must take the "iron-clad," and it is doubtful if a single state official could have taken it. swayne did not require it. as soon as swayne's proclamation was made known, the majority of the judges and magistrates applied to governor parsons for instructions in the matter. parsons, who disliked the bureau, but who was a timid and prudent man, issued a proclamation requiring compliance, and even enforced compliance by removing those who refused and appointing in their places nominees of swayne. the entire body of state and county officials finally signified their acceptance, and the negro was then given exactly the same civil rights as possessed by the whites.[ ] had all the state officials refused to serve, there would have ensued an interesting state of affairs; an official of the freedmen's bureau would have overturned the state government set up by the president. it was, however, done with a good purpose, and for a while worked well by not working at all. swayne was a man of common sense, a soldier, and a gentleman, and honestly desired to do what was best for all--the negro first. he did not profess much regard for the native white, and he made it plain that his main purpose was to secure the rights which he thought the negro ought to have. incidentally, he pursued a wise and conciliatory policy, as he understood it, toward the whites, for he saw that this was the best way to aid the negro. the work of the bureau under his charge was probably the least harmful of all in the south, and for most of the harm done he was not responsible. general swayne attributed what he termed his success with the freedmen's bureau to the fact that he used at first the native state and county officials as his agents, and thus dispensed to some, extent with alien civilians and army officials, who were obnoxious to the mass of the people. the requisite number of army officials of proper character could not have been secured, and they would not have understood the conditions. the same was true of alien civilians. even the best ones would have inclined toward the blacks in all things, and thus would have incensed the whites, or they would have been "seduced by social amenities" to become the instruments of the whites, or they would have become merchantable. in any case the negro would suffer. general swayne said that he thoroughly understood that he was expected by the radicals to pursue no such policy, and that he half expected to be forced from the service for so doing. influence was brought to bear to cause him to change and with some success. later some few officials were removed, the most notable case being that of major h. h. slough and the police of mobile.[ ] it was reported to swayne that slough was not enforcing the laws without regard to color. a staff officer was sent at once to mobile to demand instant acceptance or rejection of swayne's proclamation. the mayor rejected it, and swayne then informed parsons that mobile had to have either a new mayor, or martial law and a garrison of negro troops.[ ] parsons yielded, and made all the changes that swayne demanded. two commissions were made out,--one appointed john forsyth as mayor, and the other, f. c. bromberg, a "union" man. swayne was to deliver the commission he wished. he went to mobile and decided to try forsyth, who at that time was down the bay at a pleasure resort. swayne went after him in a tug, and met a tug with forsyth on board coming up the bay. he hailed it and asked it to stop, but the tug only went the faster. he chased it for several miles,[ ] and at length the pursued boat was overtaken. swayne called for forsyth, and all thought that he was to be arrested. but to the great relief of the party the appointment as mayor was offered to him, and forsyth soon decided to accept the office. as swayne said, he was a "hot confederate," a democrat, and would fight, and no one would dare criticise him. he soon had the confidence of both white and black.[ ] the order admitting the testimony of and conferring civil rights upon the negro was favored by most of the lawyers of the state. the "testimony" was the fulcrum to move other things. the tendency of the law of evidence is to receive all testimony and let the jury decide. so there was no trouble from the lawyers, and their opinion greatly influenced the people. none of the respectable people of alabama were opposed to allowing the negro to testify. they were not afraid of such testimony, for no jury would ever convict a reputable man on negro testimony alone. this was one objection to it--its unreliability and consequent possible injustice. bureau supported by confiscations landlords were prevented from evicting negroes who had taken possession of houses or lands until complete provision had been made for them elsewhere. thus the negroes would do nothing and kept others from coming in their places.[ ] "loyal" refugees and freedmen were made secure in the possession of land which they were cultivating until the crops were gathered or until they were paid proper compensation.[ ] little captured, abandoned, or confiscated private property remained in the hands of the bureau officials after the wholesale pardoning by the president. as soon as pardoned, the former owner regained rights of property except in slaves, though the personal property had been sold and the proceeds used for various purposes.[ ] there was, however, a great deal of confederate property and state and county property that had been devoted to the use of the confederacy. in every small town of the state there was some such property--barns, storehouses, hospital buildings, foundries, iron works, cotton, supplies, steamboats, blockade-runners. an order from the president, dated november , , directed the army, navy, and treasury officials to turn over to the freedmen's bureau all real estate, buildings, and other property in alabama that had been used by the confederacy. the sale of this property furnished sufficient revenue for one year, and, until withdrawn several years later, the educational department was sustained by the proceeds of similar sales.[ ] the failure of congress to appropriate funds made it almost necessary to use state officials as agents, as there was no money to pay other agents. the confederate iron works at briarfield were sold for $ , , three blockade-runners in the tombigbee river for $ , , and some hospital buildings for $ . there was besides a large amount of confederate property in selma, montgomery, demopolis, and mobile. of private property, at the close of , the bureau was still holding acres of land and thirteen pieces of town property.[ ] a year later all of this property, except seven pieces of town property, had been restored to the owners.[ ] in a blockade-runner was sold for $ and a war vessel in the tombigbee for $ , . . the expenses of the bureau in , so far as accounts were kept, amounted to $ , . .[ ] this sum was obtained from sales of confederate property. there was, also, a tax on contracts of from cents to $ . , and a fee on licenses for bureau marriages. but the money thus obtained seems to have been appropriated by the agents, who kept no record. rations were issued by the army to the bureau agents and there was no further accountability. no accounts were kept of the proceeds from the sales of abandoned and confiscated property, a neglect which led to grave abuses. all records were confused, loosely kept, and unbusinesslike. there were, also, funds from private sources at the disposal of the authorities, besides the appropriations of and , those in the former year being estimated at $ , . there was little or no supervision over and no check on the operations of the agents. it has been stated that the salaries proper of the bureau agents in alabama amounted to about $ , annually.[ ] state officials acting as agents received no salaries. it is impossible to ascertain the amount expended in alabama, though the entire expenditure accounted for in the south was nearly twenty million dollars; much was not accounted for. during the two decades preceding the war many individual planters had erected chapels and churches for the use of the negroes in the towns and on the plantations. some few such buildings belonged to the negroes and were held in trust by the whites for them, but most of them were the property of the planters or of church organizations that had built them. general swayne ordered that all such property should be secured to the negroes.[ ] these buildings were used for schools and churches by the missionary teachers and religious carpet-baggers who were instructing the negro in the proper attitude of hostility toward all things southern. the bureau issued a retroactive order, requiring negroes to take out licenses for marriages, and all former marriages had to be again solemnized at the bureau. licenses cost fifty cents, which was considered an extortion and was supposed to be for buckley's benefit.[ ] the labor problem the bureau inherited the policy of the "superintendents" in regard to the regulation of negro labor, and the first regulations by the bureau were evidently modelled on the treasury regulations of july , . the monthly wage was lowered, but there was the same absurd classification of labor with fixed wages. the first of these regulations, promulgated in mobile in may, , was to this effect:-- laborers were to be encouraged to make contracts with their former masters or with any one else. the contracts were to be submitted to the "superintendent of freedmen" and, if fair and honest, would be approved and registered. a register of unemployed persons was to be kept at the freedmen's bureau, and any person by applying there could obtain laborers of both sexes at the following rates: first class, $ per month; second class, $ per month; third class, $ per month; boys under years of age, $ per month; girls under years of age, $ per month. colored persons skilled in trade were also divided into three classes at the following rates: men and women receiving the same, first class, $ . per day; second class, $ per day; third class, $ . per day. mechanics were also to receive not less than $ per month in addition to first-class rates. wages were to be paid quarterly, on july and october , and the final payment on or before the expiration of the contract, which was to be made for not less than three months, and not longer than to the end of . in addition to his wages, the contracts must secure to the laborer just treatment, wholesome food, comfortable clothing, quarters, fuel, and medical attendance. no contract was binding nor a person considered employed unless the contract was signed by both parties and registered at the bureau office, in which case a certificate of employment was to be furnished. laborers were warned that it was for their own interest to work faithfully, and that the government, while protecting them against ill treatment, would not countenance idleness and vagrancy, nor support those capable of earning an honest living by industry. the laborers must fulfil their contracts, and would not be allowed to leave their employer except when permitted by the superintendent of freedmen. for leaving without cause or permission, the laborers were to forfeit all wages and be otherwise punished. wages would be deducted in cases of sickness, and wages and rations withheld when sickness was feigned for purposes of idleness, the proof being furnished by the medical officer in attendance. upon feigning sickness or refusing to work, a laborer was to be put at forced labor on the public works without pay. a reasonable time having been given for voluntary contracts to be made, any negro found without employment would be furnished work by the superintendent, who was to supply the army with all that were required for labor, and gather the aged, infirm, and helpless into "home colonies," and put them on plantations. employers and their agents were to be held responsible for their conduct toward laborers, and cruelty or neglect of duty would be summarily punished.[ ] the ignorance of conditions shown by these seemingly fair regulations is equalled in other regulations issued by the bureau agents during the summer and fall of . it is no wonder that the negroes could not find work in mobile when they wanted it. instructions from howard directed that agreements to labor must be approved by bureau officers. overseers were not to be tolerated. all agents were to be classed as officers, whether they were enlisted men or civilians. wages were to be secured by a lien on the crops or the land, the rate of pay being fixed at the wages paid for an able-bodied negro before the war, and a minimum rate was to be published. all contracts were to be written and approved by the agent of the bureau, who was to keep a copy of the documents.[ ] at huntsville, in north alabama, orders were issued that freedmen must go to work or be arrested and forced to work by the military authorities. contracts had to be witnessed by a friend of the freedmen, and were subject to examination by the military authorities. breach of contract by either party might be tried by the provost marshal or by a military commission, and the property of the employer was liable to seizure for wages.[ ] at first the planters thought that they saw in the contract system a means of holding the negro to his work, and they vigorously demanded contracts.[ ] this suited swayne, and he issued the following regulations, which superseded former rules:-- . all contracts with freedmen for labor for a month or more had to be in writing, and approved by an agent of the freedmen's bureau, who might require security. . for plantation labor: (_a_) contracts could be made with the heads of families to embrace the labor of all members who were able to work; (_b_) the employer must provide good and sufficient food, quarters, and medical attendance, and such further compensation as might be agreed upon; (_c_) such contracts would be a lien upon the crops, of which not more than half could be moved until full payment had been made, and the contract released by the freedmen's bureau agent or by a justice of the peace in case an agent was not at hand. . the remedies for violation of contracts were forfeiture of wages and damages secured by lien. . in case an employer should make an oath before a justice of the peace, acting as an agent of the bureau, that one of his laborers had been absent more than three days in a month, the justice of the peace could proceed against the negro as a vagrant and hand him over to the civil authorities. . vagrants when convicted might be put to work on the roads or streets or at other labor by the county, or municipal authorities, who must provide for their support; or they might be given into the charge of an agent of the freedmen's bureau. this was usually done and the agent released them. besides this, he often interfered, and took charge of the negro vagrants convicted in the community. . all contracts must expire on or before january , .[ ] the lien upon the crop was to be enforced by attachment, which must be issued by any magistrate when any part of the crop was about to be moved without the consent of the laborer. the plaintiff (negro) was not obliged to give bond.[ ] these regulations had no effect in reorganizing labor, and were only a cause of confusion. a committee of citizens of talladega, appointed to make suggestions in regard to enforcing the regulations of the freedmen's bureau concerning contracts, reported that: ( ) contracts for a month or more between whites and blacks should be reduced to writing and witnessed; ( ) civil officers should enforce these contracts according to law and the regulations of the freedmen's bureau; ( ) the law of apprenticeship should be applied to freedmen where minors were found without means of support; ( ) civil officers should take duties heretofore devolving upon the freedmen's bureau in matters of contract between whites and blacks. this practically asked for the discontinuance of the freedmen's bureau as being superfluous.[ ] when enforced, the contract regulations caused trouble. the lien on the crop for the negro's wages prevented the farmer from moving a bale of cotton if the negro objected. no matter whether the negro had been paid or not, if he made complaint, the farmer's whole crop could be locked up until the case was settled by a magistrate or agent; and the negro was not backward in making claims for wages unpaid or for violation of contract. the average southern farmer had to move a great part of his crop before he could get money to satisfy labor and other debts, and when the negro saw the first bale being moved, he often became uneasy and made trouble.[ ] the contract system resulted in much litigation, of which the negro was very fond; he did not feel that he was really free until he had had a lawsuit with some one. it gave him no trouble and much entertainment, but was a source of annoyance to his employer. the bureau agents were particular that no negro should work except under a written contract, as a fee of from fifty cents to a dollar and a half was charged for each contract. if a negro was found working under a verbal agreement, he and his employer were summoned before the agent, fined, and forced into a written contract. when the negroes refused to work, the planters could sometimes hire the bureau officials to use their influence. the whites charged that it was a common practice for the agents to induce a strike, and then make the employers pay for an order to send the blacks back to work.[ ] this was the case only under alien bureau agents, for where the magistrates were agents, all went smoothly with no contracts. the end of and the spring of found the whites, who at first had insisted on written contracts, weary of the system and disposed to make only verbal agreements, and the negro had usually become afraid of a written contract because it might be enforced. the legislature passed laws to regulate contracts, which governor patton vetoed on the ground that no special legislation was necessary; the laws of supply and demand should be allowed to operate, he said. swayne also said that contracts were not necessary, as hunger and cold on the part of one, and demand for labor on the part of the other, would protect both negro and white.[ ] some planters, having no faith in free negro labor, refused to give the negro employment requiring any outlay of money. and "freedmen were not uncommon who believed that work was no part of freedom." there was a disposition, swayne reported, to preserve as much as possible the old patriarchal system, and the general belief was that the negro would not work; and he did refuse to work regularly until after christmas.[ ] some planters thought that the government would advance supplies to them,[ ] and they asked howard to bind out negroes to them. howard visited mobile and irritated the whites by his views on the race question.[ ] freedmen's bureau courts in alabama, the state courts were made freedmen's courts,--to test, as howard said, the disposition of the judges; swayne says that it was done from reasons of policy, and because at first there were not enough aliens to hold bureau courts. the reports were favorable except from north alabama, where the "unionists" were supposed to abound.[ ] in all cases where the blacks were concerned the assistant commissioner was authorized to exercise jurisdiction, and the state laws relating to apprenticeship and vagrancy were extended by his order to include freedmen. the bureau officials were made the guardians of negro orphans, but each city and county had to take care of its own paupers.[ ] freedmen's bureau courts were created, each composed of three members appointed by the assistant commissioner, one of whom was an official of the freedmen's bureau, and two were citizens of the county. their jurisdiction extended to cases relating to the compensation of freedmen to the amount of $ , and all other cases between whites and blacks, and criminal cases by or against negroes where the sentence might be a fine of $ and one month's imprisonment. in his report for , swayne states that "martial law administered concurrently" by provisional and military authorities was in force throughout the state; that the coöperation of the provisional government and the freedmen's bureau had secured to the freedmen the same rights and privileges enjoyed by the other non-voting inhabitants; in some cases, he said, on account of prejudice, the laws were not executed, but this was not to be remedied by any number of troops, since no good result could be obtained by force.[ ] during and general swayne repeatedly spoke of the friendly relations between the freedmen's bureau and the state officials--governors parsons and patton and commissioner cruikshank, who was in charge of relief of the poor. by means of the bureau courts the negro was completely removed from trial by the civil government or by any of its officers, except when the latter were acting as bureau agents, which, as time went on, was less and less often the case, and the negro passed entirely under the control of the alien administration, and an army officer and two or three carpet-baggers administered what they called justice in cases where the negroes were concerned. the negroes frequently broke their contracts, telling the provost marshal that they had been lashed, and this caused the employer to be arrested and often to be convicted unjustly. the white planter was much annoyed by the disposition on the part of the blacks to transfer their failings to him in their tales to the "office," as the negro called the bureau and its agents. "the phrase flashed like lightning through the region of the late confederacy that at freedmen's bureau agencies 'the bottom rail was on top.' the conditions which this expression implied exasperated the whites in like ratio as the negroes were delighted."[ ] in the ku klux testimony, the whites related their grievances against the bureau courts conducted by the aliens: the bureau men always took a negro's word as being worth more than a white's; the worst class of blacks were continually haling their employers into court; the simple assertion of a negro that he had not been properly paid for his work was enough to prevent the sale of a crop or to cause the arrest of the master, who was frequently brought ten or fifteen miles to answer a trivial charge involving perhaps fifty cents;[ ] the negroes were taken from work and sent to places of refuge--"home colonies"[ ]--where hundreds died of disease caused by neglect, want, and unsanitary conditions; the bureau courts encouraged complaints by the negroes; the trials of cases were made occasions for lectures on slavery, rebellion, political rights of negroes, social equality, etc., and the negro was by official advice taught to distrust the whites and to look to the bureau for protection.[ ] the bureau perhaps did some good work in regulating matters among the negroes themselves, but when the question was between negro and white, the justice administered was rather one-sided.[ ] genuine cases of violence and mistreatment of negroes were usually not tried by the bureau courts, but by military commission. the following humorous advertisement shows the result of a legitimate interference of the bureau:-- "do you like the freedmen's court? if so, come up to burnsville and i will rent or sell you three nice, healthy plantations with _freedmen_. come soon and get a bargain. i am ahead of any farmer in this section, except on one place, which said court 'busteed' to-day because some of the freedmen got flogged.--john f. burns."[ ] the bureau courts, after the aliens came into control, proceeded upon the general principle that the negro was as good as or better than the southern white, and that he had always been mistreated by the latter, who wished to still continue him in slavery or to cheat him out of the proceeds of his labor, and who, on the slightest provocation, would beat, mutilate, or murder the inoffensive black. the greatest problem was to protect the negroes from the hostile whites, the agents thought. the aliens did not understand the relations of slave and master, and assumed that there had always been hostility between them, and that for the protection of the negro this hostility ought to continue. a system of espionage was established that was intensely galling. men who had held high offices in the state, who had led armies or had represented their country at foreign courts,--men like hardee, clanton, fitzpatrick, etc.,--were called before these tribunals at the instance of some ward of the nation, and before a gaping crowd of their former slaves were lectured by army sutlers and chaplains of negro regiments.[ ] care of the sick the medical department of the freedmen's bureau gave free attendance to the refugees and freedmen. in there were in the state hospitals, capable of caring for patients, with a staff of physicians and male and female attendants. in the hospitals in were physicians and male and female attendants.[ ] in there were hospitals, which number was increased in to , with a staff of physicians and male and female attendants. in - there were only three hospitals. in no refugees were treated, but there were negro patients, of whom , or per cent, died. to august , , refugees had been treated, of whom died, and negroes, of whom died. from september , , to june , , refugees were treated and died; negroes, and died; to october , , freedmen, of whom died, and refugees, of whom died. after july, , freedmen were treated.[ ] these statistics show the relative insignificance of the relief work. smallpox was the most fatal disease among the negroes in the towns, and several smallpox hospitals were established. in selma the complaint was raised that the assistant superintendent encouraged the negroes to stay in town, and insisted on caring for all their sick, but when an epidemic of smallpox broke out, he notified the city that he could not care for these cases. the bureau sent supplies for distribution by the county authorities to the destitute poor and to the smallpox patients. but the relief work for the sick amounted to but little.[ ] the issue of rations the department of records had charge of the issue of supplies to the destitute refugees and blacks. among the whites of all classes in the northern counties there was much want and suffering. the term "refugee" was interpreted to include all needy whites,[ ] though at first it meant only one who had been forced to leave home on account of his disloyalty to the confederacy. the best work of the bureau was done in relieving needy whites in the devastated districts; and for this the upholders of the institution have never claimed credit. the negro had not suffered from want before the end of the war, but now great crowds hastened to the towns and congregated around the bureau offices and military posts. they thought that it was the duty of the government to support them, and that there was to be no more work. before june, , rations were issued by the army officers. from june, , to september, , the freedmen's bureau issued , , rations to refugees (whites) and , , to freedmen. the following table shows the number of people fed each month in alabama by the freedmen's bureau before october, :-- ============================================ white || ------------------------------------------|| months| men | women| boys |girls | total || ------|------|------|------|------|-------|| .| | | | | || nov. | | | | | , || dec. | | | , | , | , || .| | | | | || jan. | | , | , | , | , || feb. | , | , | , | , | , || march | , | , | , | , | , || april | , | , | , | , | , || may | , | , | , | , | , || june | , | , | , | , | , || july | , | , | , | , | , || aug. | , | , | , | , | , || sept. | , | , | , | , | , || ------|------|------|------|------|-------|| totals| , | , | , | , | , || ============================================ ================================== black ---------------------------------- men | women| boys | girls| total ------|------|------|------|------ | | | | | | | | , | | | | , | | | | | , | | , | , | , | | , | , | , | , | , | , , | , | , | , | , , | , | , | , | , , | , | , | , | , , | , | , | , | , , | , | , | , | , , | , | , | , | , ------|------|------|------|------ , | , | , | , | , ================================== men, , ; women, , ; children, , ; aggregate, , ; rations issued, , , ; value, $ , . . during the month of september, , , rations were issued to refugees, and , rations to freedmen; in october, , refugees and freedmen drew , rations. from september , to september , , , rations were issued to refugees and , to freedmen. from september , , to september , , refugees drew only rations, and freedmen , . fewer and fewer whites and more and more freedmen were fed by the bureau.[ ] in and , the crops were poor, and in there were at least , destitute whites and destitute blacks in the state. the bureau asked for , rations per month, but did not receive them. the agents were now ( ) beginning to use the issue of rations to control the negroes, and to organize them into political clubs or "loyal leagues." during this time ( - ), however, the state gave much assistance, and coöperated with the freedmen's bureau. some of the agents of the bureau sold the supplies that should have gone to the starving.[ ] the bureau furnished transportation to refugees and to freedmen who wished to return to their homes, and to a number of northern school teachers. these transactions were not attended by abuses.[ ] demoralization caused by the freedmen's bureau after the federal occupation, when the negroes had congregated in the towns, the higher and more responsible officers of the army used their influence to make the blacks go home and work. if left to these officers, the labor question would have been somewhat satisfactorily settled; they would have forced the negroes to work for some one, and to keep away from the towns. but the subordinate officers, especially the officers of the negro regiments, encouraged the freedmen to collect in the towns. few supplies were issued to them by the army, and there was every prospect that in a few weeks the negroes would be forced by hunger to go back to work. the establishment of the freedmen's bureau, however, changed conditions. it assumed control of the negroes in all relations, and upset all that had been done toward settling the question by gathering many of the freedmen into great camps or colonies near the towns. one large colony was established in north alabama, and many temporary ones throughout the state,[ ] into which thousands who set out to test their new-found freedom were gathered. on one plantation, in montgomery county, in july, , negroes were placed. there was another large colony near mobile.[ ] a year later the montgomery colony had invalids. perhaps more misery was caused by the bureau in this way than was relieved by it. the want and sickness arising from the crowded conditions in the towns was only in slight degree relieved by the food distributed, and the hospitals opened. there were , old and infirm negroes in the state, and thousands died of disease. not one-tenth did the bureau reach. the helpless old negroes were supported by their former masters, who now in poverty should have been relieved of their care. those who were fed were the able-bodied who could come to town and stay around the office. the colonies in the negro districts became hospitals, orphan asylums, and temporary stopping places for the negroes; and the issue of rations was longest and surest at these places.[ ] several hundred white refugees also remained worthless hangers-on of the bureau. the regular issue of rations to the negroes broke up the labor system that had been partially established and prevented a settlement of the labor problem. the government would now support them, the blacks thought, and they would not have to work. around the towns conditions became very bad. want and disease were fast thinning their numbers. they refused to make contracts, though the highest wages were offered by those planters and farmers who could afford to hire them, and the agents encouraged them in their idleness by telling them not to work, as it was the duty of their former masters to support them, and that wages were due them, at least since january , .[ ] they told them, also, to come to the towns and live until the matter was settled.[ ] domestic animals near the negro camps were nearly all stolen by the blacks who were able but unwilling to work. these marauders were frequently shot at or were thrashed, which gave rise to the stories of outrage common at that time. doctor nott of mobile wrote that in or near mobile no labor could be hired; that it was impossible to get a cook or a washerwoman, while hundreds were dying in idleness from disease and starvation, deceived by the false hopes aroused, and false promises of support by the government, made by wicked and designing men who wished to create prejudice against the whites, and to prevent the negroes from working by telling them that to go back to work was to go back to slavery. the negro women were told that women should not work, and they announced that they never intended to go to the field or do other work again, but "live like white ladies."[ ] wherever it was active the bureau demoralized labor by arousing false hopes and by unnecessary intermeddling. it has been claimed for the bureau that it was a vast labor clearing-house, and that a part of its work was the establishment of a system of free labor.[ ] in other states such may have been the case; in alabama it certainly was not. the labor system partially established all over the black belt in was deranged wherever the bureau had influence. the system proposed by the bureau was simply that of old slave wages paid for work done under a written contract. the excessive wages and the interference of the agents in the making of contracts made it impossible for the system to work, and swayne acquiesced in the nullification of the bureau rules by black and white, saying that natural forces would bring about a proper state of affairs. wherever the bureau had the least influence, there industry was least demoralized. so far from acting as a labor agency, its influence was distinctly in the opposite direction wherever it undertook to regulate labor. the free labor system, such as it was, was already in existence when the bureau reached the black belt, and, in spite of that institution, worked itself out.[ ] a general belief grew up among the freedmen that at christmas, , there would be a confiscation and division of all land in the south. the soldiers,--black and white,--the preachers, and especially the bureau agents and the school-teachers, were responsible for this belief. swayne reported that an impression, well-nigh universal, prevailed that the confiscation, of which they had heard for months, would take place at christmas, and led them to refuse any engagement extending beyond the holidays, or to work steadily in the meantime.[ ] christmas or new year's the negro thought would be the millennium. each would have a farm, plenty to eat and drink, and nothing to do,--"forty acres of land and a mule." there is no doubt that the "forty acres and a mule" idea was partly caused by the distribution among the negroes of the lands on the south atlantic coast by general sherman and others, and by the provisions of the early bureau acts. "forty acres and a mule" was the expectation, and to this day some old negroes are awaiting the fulfilment of this promise.[ ] many went so far, in , as to choose the land that would be theirs on new year's day; others merely took charge at once of small animals, such as pigs, turkeys, chickens, cows, etc., that came within their reach.[ ] on account of this belief in the coming confiscation of property and their implicit confidence in all who made promises, the negroes were deceived and cheated in many ways. sharpers sold painted sticks to the ex-slaves, declaring that if set up on land belonging to the whites, they gave titles to the blacks who set them up. a document purporting to be a deed was given with one set of painted sticks. in part it read as follows: "know all men by these presents, that a naught is a naught, and a figure is a figure; all for the white man, and none for the nigure. and whereas moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also have i lifted this d--d old nigger out of four dollars and six bits. amen. selah!" in the campaign of this was circulated far and wide by the democrats as a campaign document. there is record of the sale of painted sticks in clarke, marengo, sumter, barbour, montgomery, calhoun, macon, tallapoosa, and greene counties, and in the tennessee valley. the practice must have been general. in sumter county, - , the seller of sticks was an ex-cotton agent. he had secured the striped pegs in washington, he said, and his charge was a dollar a peg. he instructed the buyer how to "step off" the forty acres, and told them not to encroach upon one another and to take half in cleared land and half in woodland.[ ] in clarke county, as late as , the sticks were sold for three dollars each if the negro possessed so large a sum; but if he had only a dollar, the agent would let a stick go for that. some of the negroes actually took possession of land, and went to work.[ ] in tallapoosa county the painted pegs were sold as late as .[ ] in a man was arrested in south alabama for collecting money from negroes in this way. it was said that one cause of the survival of this practice was the course of wendell phillips, who, in the _antislavery standard_, advocated the distribution of land among the negroes, eighty acres to each, or forty acres and a furnished cottage. the speeches of thaddeus stevens on confiscation were widely distributed among the negroes. his confiscation bill of march, , caused expectations among the negroes, who soon heard of such propositions.[ ] general wilson, on his raid, had taken all the stock from montgomery and had left with the planters his broken-down mules and horses. the military authorities of the sixteenth army corps had declared that these animals belonged to the planters, who had already used them a year. but the rev. c. w. buckley, a bureau chaplain, promised them to the negroes, who began to take possession of them.[ ] the subordinate agents of the bureau frequently were broken-down men who had made failures at everything they had undertaken;[ ] some were preachers with strong prejudices, and others were the dregs of a mustered-out army,--all opposed to any settlement of the negro question which would leave them without an office. such men sowed the seeds of discord between the races and taught the negro that he must fear and hate his former master, who desired above all things to reënslave him.[ ] in this way they were ably abetted by the northern teachers and missionaries. there were some favorable reports from the bureau in alabama, principally from districts where the native whites were agents. but in the summer of generals steedman and fullerton, accompanied by a correspondent, made a trip through the south inspecting the institution. they reported that in alabama it was better conducted than elsewhere in the south; that all of the good of the system and not all of the bad was here most apparent. over the greater part of the state, they said, it interfered but little with the negro, and consequently the affairs of both races were in better condition. general patton thought that swayne was the best man to be at the head of the bureau, yet he was sure that the institution was unnecessary, its only use being to feed the needy, which could be done by the state with less demoralization. the negro, he said, should be left to the protection of the law, since there was no discrimination against him. as long as free rations were issued, the blacks would make no contracts and would not work. swayne, patton declared, was doing his best, but he could not prevent demoralization, and the very presence of the bureau was an irritation to the whites, thus operating against the good of the negro. he stated that in clarke and marengo counties, where there were no agents, the relations between the races were more friendly than in any other black counties, and there the negro was better satisfied. the southern people knew the negro and his needs, steedman and fullerton reported, and he should be left to them; the bureau served as a spy upon the planters; it was the general testimony that where there was no northern agent, there the negro worked better, and there was less disorder among the blacks and less friction between the races. the fact was clearly demonstrated in west alabama, where there was little interference on the part of the bureau, and where the negro did well.[ ] an account of conditions in one county where the agents were army officers and were somewhat under the influence of the native whites will be of interest. when the army and the bureau came to marengo county, the white people, who were few in number, determined to win their good will. there were "stag" dinners and feasts, and the eternal friendship of the officers, with few exceptions, was won. the exceptions were those who had political ambitions. the population, being composed largely of negroes, was under the control of the "office," which here did not heed the tales of "rebel outrages." the negro received few supplies and did well, though afterwards, in places doubtful politically, supplies were issued for political purposes. one planter in marengo gave an order to the negroes on his plantation to do a certain piece of work. they refused and sent their head man to report at the "office." he brought back a sealed envelope containing a peremptory order to cease work. the negroes were ignorant of the contents, so the planter read the letter, called the negroes up, and ordered them back to the same work. they went cheerfully, evidently thinking it was the order of the bureau. at any time the bureau could interfere and say that certain work should or should not be done. another planter lived twelve miles from demopolis. one day ten or twelve of the negro laborers went to demopolis to complain to the "office" about one of his orders. the planter went to demopolis by another road, and was sitting in the bureau office when the negroes arrived. they were confused and at first could say nothing. the planter was silent. finally they told their tale, and the officer called for a sergeant and four mounted men. "sergeant," he said, "take these people back to mr. dubose's on the _run_! you understand; on the _run_!" they ran the negroes the whole twelve miles, though they had already travelled the twelve miles. upon their arrival at home the sergeant tied them to trees with their hands above their heads, and left them with their tongues hanging out. it was the most terrible punishment the negroes had ever received, and they never again had any complaints to pour into the ear of the "office."[ ] the white soldiers usually cared little for the negroes, it is said. from the first the bureau was unnecessary in alabama. the negro had felt no want before the beginning of the war, and the efforts of the general officers of the army, besides hunger and cold, would have soon forced him to work. he was not mistreated except in rare cases which did not become rarer under the bureau. cotton was worth fifty cents to a dollar a pound, and the extraordinary demand for labor thus created guaranteed good treatment. much more suffering was caused by the congregation of the black population in the towns than would have been the case had there been no relief. not a one did it really help to get work, because no man who wanted work could escape a job unless it prevented, and with its red tape it was a hindrance to those who were industrious. its interference in behalf of the negro was bad, as it led him to believe that the government would always back him and that it was his right to be supported. thus industry was paralyzed. yet as first organized by swayne, the bureau would have been endurable, though it would have been a disturbing element, and the negro would have been the greater sufferer from the disorder caused by it; but, as time went on, general swayne was gradually forced by northern opinion to change his policy, and to put into office more and more northern men as subordinate agents. these men, of character already described, had to live by fleecing the negroes, by fees, and by stealing supplies.[ ] then, recognizing the trend of affairs and seeing their great opportunity, they began to organize the negro for political purposes; they themselves were to become statesmen. the bureau was then manipulated as a political machine for the nomination and election of state and federal officers, and the public money and property were used for that purpose. the howard investigation refused to enter that field, but the testimony shows that the bureau agents, teachers, the savings-bank, and missionaries industriously carried on political operations.[ ] in the bureau was intrusted with the payment of bounties to the negro soldiers who had been discharged or mustered out. there were several thousand of these in alabama. gross frauds are said to have been perpetrated by the officials in charge of the distribution. the worst scandals were in north alabama, where most of the negro soldiers lived.[ ] sec. . the freedmen's savings-bank the freedmen's savings and trust company was an institution closely connected with the freedmen's bureau, and had the sanction and support of the government, especially of the bureau officials. many of the trustees of the bank were or had been connected with the bureau,[ ] and it was generally understood by the negroes that it was a part of the bureau. it possessed the confidence of the blacks to a remarkable degree and gave promise of becoming a very valuable institution by teaching them habits of thrift and economy.[ ] the central office was in washington, and several branch banks were established in every southern state. the alabama branch banks were established at huntsville, in december, , and at montgomery and mobile early in . the cashiers at the respective branches, when the bank failed, in , were lafayette robinson, who seems to have been an honest man though he could not keep books, edwin beecher,[ ] and c. r. woodward, both of whom seem to have had some picturesque ideas as to their rights over the money deposited. a bank-book was issued to each negro depositor, and in the book were printed the regulations to be observed by him. on one cover there was a statement to the effect that the bank was wholly a benevolent institution, and that all profits were to be divided among the depositors or devoted to charitable enterprises for the benefit of freedmen. it was further stated that the "martyr" president lincoln had approved the purpose of the bank, and that one of his last acts was to sign the bill to establish it. on the cover of the book was the printed legend:[ ]-- "i consider the freedmen's savings and trust company to be greatly needed by the colored people and have welcomed it as an auxiliary to the freedmen's bureau."--major-general o. o. howard. to the negro this was sufficient recommendation. there was also printed on the cover a very attractive table, showing how much a man might save by laying aside ten cents a day and placing it in the bank at per cent interest. the first year the man would save, in this way, $ . , the tenth year would find $ . to his credit. and all this by saving ten cents a day--something easily done when labor was in such demand. this unique bank-book had on the back cover some verses for the education of the freedmen. the author of these verses is not known, but the negroes thought that general howard wrote them. "'tis little by little the bee fills her cell; and little by little a man sinks a well; 'tis little by little a bird builds her nest; by littles a forest in verdure is drest; 'tis little by little great volumes are made; by littles a mountain or levels are made; 'tis little by little an ocean is filled; and little by little a city we build; 'tis little by little an ant gets her store; every little we add to a little makes more; step by step we walk miles, and we sew stitch by stitch; word by word we read books, cent by cent we grow rich." the verses were popular, the whole book was educative, and it was not above the comprehension of the negro. if all the teaching of the negro had been as sensible as this little book, much trouble would have been avoided. it was a proud negro who owned one of these wonderful bank-books, and he had a right to be proud. many at once began to make use of the savings-banks, and small sums poured in. only the negroes in and near the three cities--huntsville, montgomery, and mobile--where the banks were located seem to have made deposits, for those of the other towns and of the country knew little of the institution. during the month of january, , deposits to the amount of $ were made in the mobile branch. this was all in small sums and was deposited at a time of the year when money was scarcest among laborers.[ ] in the interest paid on long-time deposits to depositors at huntsville was $ . ; at mobile, $ . . on may , , the deposits at huntsville amounted to $ , . ; at mobile, $ , . . the following statements of the two principal banks will show how the scheme worked among the negroes:-- ====================================================================== |huntsville branch|mobile branch -------------------------------------|-----------------|-------------- total deposits to march , | $ , . | $ , . total number of depositors | | , average amount deposited by each | $ . | $ . drawn out to march , | , . | , . balance to march , | , . | , . average balance due to each depositor| . | . spent for land (known) | , . | , . dwelling houses | . | ---- seeds, teams, agricultural implements| , . | , . education, books, etc. | , . | ---- ====================================================================== statement of the business done during august, ====================================================================== | huntsville | mobile | montgomery ----------------------|-------------|---------------|----------------- deposits for the month| $ , . | $ , . | $ , . drafts for the month | , . | , . | , . total deposits | , . | , , . | , . total drafts | , . | , . | , . total due depositors | , . | , . | , . [ ] ====================================================================== these branch banks exercised a good influence over the negro population, even over those who did not become depositors. the negroes became more economical, spent less for whiskey, gewgaws, and finery, and when wages were good and work was plentiful, they saved money to carry them through the winter and other periods of lesser prosperity. some of those who had no bank accounts would save in order to have one, or, at least, save enough money to help them through hard times. much of the money drawn from the banks was invested in property of some kind. excessive interest in politics prevented a proper increase in the number of depositors and in the amount of deposits. in , after the bank failed through dishonest and inefficient management, the liabilities to southern negro depositors amounted to $ , , .[ ] a total business of $ , , had been done. the following table, compiled by hoffman, will show the total business of the bank, to .[ ] ================================================================== year| total deposits | deposits each | due depositors | gain each | | year | | year ----|----------------|----------------|----------------|---------- | $ , | $ , | $ , | $ , | , , | , , | , | , | , , | , , | , | , | , , | , , | , , | , | , , | , , | , , | , | , , | , , | , , | , | , , | , , | , , | , , | ---- | ---- | , , | ---- | , , | ---- | , , | ---- ================================================================== in alabama the depositors lost, for the time at least, $ , at huntsville; $ , at montgomery; $ , at mobile. after years of delay dividends were paid; but few of the depositors profited by the late payment.[ ] the philanthropic incorporators took care to desert the failing enterprise in time, and frederick douglass, a well-known negro, was placed in charge to serve as a scapegoat. no one was punished for the crooked proceedings of the institution. several of the incorporators were dead; the survivors pleaded good intentions, ignorance, etc., and finally placed the blame on their dead associates. their sympathy for the negro did not go the length of assuming money responsibility for the operations of the bank, and thus saving the negro depositors. there were several of the incorporators who could have assumed all the liabilities and not felt the burden severely. agents and lawyers got most of the later proceeds, and the good work was all undone, for the negro felt that the united states government and the freedmen's bureau had cheated him. it is said to have affected his faith in banks to this day.[ ] sec. . the freedmen's bureau and negro education as the federal armies occupied southern territory and numbers of negroes were thrown upon the care of the government which gathered them into colonies on confiscated plantations, there arose a demand from the friends of the negro at the north that his education should begin at once. an educated negro, it was thought, was even more obnoxious to the slaveholding southerner than a free negro; hence educated negroes should be multiplied. no doubt was entertained by his northern friends but that the negro was the equal of the white man in capacity to profit by education. to educate the negro was to carry on war against the south just as much as to invade with armed troops, and various aid societies demanded that, as the negro came under the control of the united states troops, schools be established and the colored children be taught. the treasury agents, who were in charge of the plantations and colonies where the negroes were gathered, were instructed by the secretary to establish schools in each "home" and "labor" colony for the instruction of the children under twelve years of age. teachers, supplied by the superintendent of the colony, who was usually the chaplain of a negro regiment, or by benevolent associations, were allowed to take charge of the education of the blacks in any colony they decided to enter.[ ] before the end of the war only three or four such schools were established in alabama. one was on the plantation of ex-governor chapman, in madison county, another at huntsville, and one at florence. the law of march , , creating the freedmen's bureau, gave to its officials general authority over all matters concerning freedmen. nothing was said about education or schools, but it was understood that educational work was to be carried on and extended, and after the organization of the bureau in the state of alabama its "department of records" had control of the education of the negro. for the support of negro education the second freedmen's bureau act, july , , authorized the use of or the sale of all buildings and lands and other property formerly belonging to the confederate states or used for the support of the confederacy. it directed the authorities of the bureau to coöperate at all times with the aid societies, and to furnish buildings for schools where these societies sent teachers, and also to furnish protection to these teachers and schools.[ ] the southern churches had never ceased their work among the negroes during the war,[ ] and immediately after the emancipation of the slaves all denominations declared that the freedmen must be educated so as to fit them for their changed condition of life.[ ] the churches spoke for the controlling element of the people, who saw that some kind of training was an absolute necessity to the continuation of the friendly relations then existing between the two races. the church congregations, associations, and conferences, and mass meetings of citizens pledged themselves to aid in this movement. dr. j. l. m. curry first appeared as a friend of negro education when, in the summer of , he presided over a mass meeting at marion, which made provision for schools for the negroes. on the part of the whites whose opinion was worth anything, there was no objection worth mentioning to negro schools in and .[ ] in the latter year, before the objectionable features of the bureau schools appeared, general swayne commented upon the fact that the various churches had not only declared in favor of the education of the negro, but had aided the work of the bureau schools and kept down opposition to them. he was, however, inclined to attribute this attitude somewhat to policy. he wrote with special approval of the assistance and encouragement given by the methodist episcopal church south, through rev. h. n. mctyeire (later bishop), who was always in favor of schools for negroes. he reported, also, that there was a growing feeling of kindliness on the part of the people toward the schools. where there was prejudice the school often dispelled it, and the movement had the good will of governors parsons and patton.[ ] just after the military occupation of the state there was the greatest desire on the part of the negroes, young and old, for book learning. washington speaks of the universal desire for education.[ ] the whole race wanted to go to school; none were too old, few too young. old people wanted to learn to read the bible before they died, and wanted their children to be educated. this seeming thirst for education was not rightly understood in the north; it was, in fact, more a desire to imitate the white master and obtain formerly forbidden privileges than any real desire due to an understanding of the value of education; the negro had not the slightest idea of what "education" was, but the northern people gave them credit for an appreciation not yet true even of whites. there were day schools, night schools, and sunday-schools, and the "blue-back speller" was the standard beginner's text. yet, as washington says, it was years before the parents wanted their children to make any use of education except to be preachers, teachers, congressmen, and politicians. rascals were ahead of the missionaries, and a number of pay schools were established in by unprincipled men who took advantage of this desire for learning and fleeced the negro of his few dollars. one school, established in montgomery by a pedagogue who came in the wake of the armies, enrolled over two hundred pupils of all ages, at two dollars per month in advance. the school lasted one month, and the teacher left, but not without collecting the fees for the second month.[ ] when general swayne arrived, he assumed control of negro education, and a "superintendent of schools for freedmen" was appointed. the rev. c. m. buckley, chaplain of a colored regiment and official of the freedmen's bureau, was the first holder of this office. in , after he went to congress, the position was held by rev. r. d. harper, a northern methodist preacher, who was superseded in by colonel edwin beecher, formerly a paymaster of the bureau and cashier of the freedmen's savings bank in montgomery. there also appeared a person named h. m. bush as "superintendent of education," a title the bureau officials were fond of assuming and which often caused them to be confused with the state officials of like title.[ ] the sale of confederate property at selma, briarfield, and other places, small tuition fees, and gifts furnished support to the teachers. general swayne was deeply interested in the education of the blacks, and thought that northern teachers could do better work for the colored race than southern teachers. most of the aid societies had spent their funds before reaching alabama, but swayne secured some assistance from the american missionary association. the teachers were paid partly by the association, but mostly by the bureau. the pittsburg freedmen's aid commission established schools in north alabama, at huntsville, stevenson, tuscumbia, and athens, and also had a school at selma. the cleveland freedmen's union commission worked in montgomery and talladega by means of sunday-schools. a great many of the schools with large enrolments were sunday-schools. the american missionary association, besides furnishing teachers to the bureau, had schools of its own in selma, talladega, and mobile. the american freedmen's union commission (presbyterian branch) also had schools in the state. the freedmen's aid society of the methodist episcopal church (north) did some work in the way of education, but was engaged chiefly in inducing the negroes to flee from the wrath to come by leaving the southern churches. at stevenson and athens schools were established by aid from england.[ ] in the northwestern aid society had a school at mobile.[ ] at the end of , the bureau had charge of eleven schools at huntsville, athens, and stevenson, one in montgomery with teachers and pupils, and one in mobile with teachers and pupils.[ ] some ill feeling was aroused by the action of the bureau in seizing the medical college and museum at mobile and using it as a schoolhouse. even the confederate authorities had not demanded the use of it. before the war it was said that the museum was one of the finest in america. many of the most costly models were now taken away, and a negro shoemaker was installed in the chemical department.[ ] the attitude of the southern religious bodies enabled the bureau to extend its school system in , and to secure native white teachers. schools taught by native whites, most of whom were of good character, were established at tuskegee, auburn, opelika, salem, greenville, demopolis, evergreen, mount meigs, tuscaloosa, gainesville, marion, arbahatchee, prattville, haynesville, and king's station,--in all twenty schools. there were negro teachers in the schools at troy, wetumpka, home colony (near montgomery), and tuscaloosa. the native whites taught at places where no troops were stationed, and general swayne stated that they were especially willing to do this work after the churches had declared their intention to favor the education of the negro. it was of such schools that he said their presence dispelled prejudice.[ ] the history of one of these schools is typical: in russell county a school was established by the bureau, and buckley, the superintendent of schools, who had no available northern teacher, allowed the white people to name a native white teacher. several prominent men agreed that a methodist minister of the community was a suitable person. the neighbors assured him that his family should not suffer socially on account of his connection with the school, and that they wanted no northern teacher in the community. the minister accepted the offer, was appointed by the bureau, and the school was held in his dooryard, out buildings, and verandas, his family assisting him. the negroes were pleased, and big and little came to school. the relations between the whites and blacks were pleasant, and all went well for more than two years, until politics alienated the races, and the negroes demanded a northern teacher or one of their own color.[ ] the schools at huntsville, mobile, montgomery, selma, tuscumbia, stevenson, and athens, where troops were stationed, were reserved for the northern teachers who were sent by the various aid societies. the disturbing influence of the teachers was thus openly acknowledged. the bureau coöperated by furnishing buildings, paying rent, and making repairs, and, in some instances, by giving money or supplies.[ ] the statistics of the bureau schools are confused and incomplete. in one report states that there were schools with teachers and pupils under the control of the bureau. general swayne's list includes the schools at the various places named above, and reports schools in of the counties, with teachers and a maximum enrolment of pupils--the average being much less.[ ] buckley's report for march , , gives the number of negro schools of all kinds as day schools and night schools. the total enrolment for the winter months had been ; the average attendance, . at this time the bureau was supporting day schools, night schools, and paying teachers. benevolent societies under supervision of the bureau were conducting day schools, night schools, with teachers and a total enrolment of pupils. besides these there were private schools with pupils. in all the schools, there were white and negro teachers. there were more than , negro children of school age in the state who were not reached by these schools. the following table, compiled from the semiannual reports on bureau schools in alabama, will show the slight extent of the educational work of the bureau. the list includes all the schools in charge of the bureau, or which received aid from the bureau. ======================================================================== | july , | july , | jan. , | july , | july , | | | | | --------------------|---------|----------|---------|---------|---------- day schools | | | | | night schools | | | | | private schools | | | | | (negro teachers) | | | | | -- semi-private | | | | | teachers transported| | | | | by bureau | | | | | -- school buildings | | | | | owned by negroes | | | | | school buildings | | | | | owned by bureau | | | | | -- white teachers | | | | ?| -- negro teachers | | | | ?| -- white pupils | | | | | (refugees) | | -- | -- | -- | -- black pupils | , | , | , | , | , tuition paid | | | | | by negroes |$ , . | $ , . |$ , . |$ , . | $ , . bureau paid | | | | | for tuition | , . | , . | , . | , . | , . bureau paid for | | | | | school expenses | , . | ------ | ------ | ------ | ------ total expenditures | , . | , . | , . | , . | , . ======================================================================== these statistics showing expenditures are not complete, but they are given as they are in the reports, which are carelessly made from carelessly kept and defective records. there was a disposition on the part of the bureau to claim all the schools possible in order to show large numbers. many of these so-called schools were in reality only sunday-schools,--that is, they were in session only on sundays,--(and the missionary sunday-schools were counted), and were not as good as the sunday-schools which for years before the war had been conducted among the negroes by the different churches. the bureau did not consider of importance the private plantation and mission schools supported by the native whites, nor the state schools, which largely outnumbered the bureau schools, but only those aided in some way by itself. the schools entirely under the control of the bureau had small enrolment. assistance was given to all the schools taught by northern missionaries, to some taught by native whites, and to some taught by negroes. it was given in the form of buildings, repairs, supplies, and small appropriations of money for salaries. rent was paid by the bureau for school buildings not owned by the schools or by the bureau. accounts were carelessly kept, and after general swayne left, if not before, abuses crept in. at least one of the aid societies received money from the bureau, and its representatives established a reputation for crookedness that was retained after the bureau was a thing of the past. this society,--the american missionary association,--along with other work among the negroes, carried on a crusade against the catholic church which was endeavoring to work in the same field. church work and educational work were not separated. a building in mobile, valued at $ , , was given by the bureau to the association as a training school for negro teachers. the society charged the bureau rent on this building, and there were other similar cases where the bureau paid rent on its own buildings which were used by the aid societies.[ ] as already stated, for two years there was little or no opposition by the whites to the education of the negro, and to some extent they even favored and aided it. the story of southern opposition to the schools originated with the lower class of agents, missionaries, and teachers. of course, to a person who had taken the abolitionist programme in good faith, it was incomprehensible that the southern whites could entertain any kindly or liberal feelings toward the blacks. but buckley reported, as late as march , , that the native whites favored the undertaking, and that no difficulty was experienced in getting southern whites to teach negro schools. some of these teachers were graduates of the state university, some had been county superintendents of education. crippled confederate soldiers and the widows of soldiers sought for positions in the schools.[ ] there were also some northern whites of common sense and good character engaged in teaching these bureau schools. but too many of the latter considered themselves missionaries whose duty it was to show the southern people the error of their sinful ways, and who taught the negro the wildest of the social, political, and religious doctrines held at that time by the more sentimental friends of the ex-slaves. the temper and manner and the beliefs in which the northern educator went about the business of educating the negro are shown in the reports and addresses in the proceedings of the national teachers' association from to . the crusade of the teachers in the south was directed by the people represented in this association, and its members went out as teachers. some of the sentiments expressed were as follows: education and reconstruction were to go hand in hand, for the war had been one of "education and patriotism against ignorance and barbarism."[ ] "the old slave states [were] to be a missionary ground for the national schoolmaster,"[ ] and knowledge and intellectual culture were to be spread over this region that lay hid in darkness.[ ] there was a demand for a national school system to force a proper state of affairs upon the south, for free schools were necessary, they declared, to a republican form of government, and the free school system should be a part of reconstruction. the education of the whites as well as the blacks should be in the future a matter of national concern, because the "old rebels" had been sadly miseducated, and they had been able to rule only because others were ignorant and had been purposely kept in ignorance. much commiseration was expressed for "the poor white trash" of the south. the "rebels" were still disloyal, and, as one speaker said, must be treated as a farmer does stumps, that is, they must be "worked around and left to rot out." the old "slave lords" must be driven out by the education of the people, and no distinction in regard to color should be allowed in the schools. the work of education must be directed by the north, for only the north had correct ideas in regard to education. nothing good was found in the old southern life; it was bad and must give way to the correct northern civilization. the work of "the christian hero" was praised, and it was declared that it ought to inspire an epic even greater than the immortal epic of homer.[ ] the missionary teachers who came south were supported by this sentiment in the north, and they could not look with friendly eyes upon anything done by the southern whites for the negroes. altogether there were not many of these heralds of light, and it was a year before the character of their teaching became generally known to the whites or its results were plainly seen. their dislike for all things southern was heartily reciprocated by the native whites, who soon acquired a dislike for the northern teacher which became second nature. the negro was taught by the missionary educators that he must distrust the whites and give up all habits and customs that would remind him of his former condition; he must not say master and mistress nor take off his hat when speaking to a white person. in teaching him not to be servile, they taught him to be insolent. the missionary teachers regarded themselves as the advance guard of a new army of invasion against the terrible south. in recent years a hampton institute teacher has expressed the situation as follows: "when the combat was over and the yankee schoolma'ams followed in the train of the northern armies, the business of educating the negroes was a continuation of hostilities against the vanquished, and was so regarded to a considerable extent on both sides." the north in a few years became disappointed and indifferent, especially after the negro began to turn again to the southern whites.[ ] the negro schools felt the influence of the politics of the day, besides suffering from the results of the teachings of the northern pedagogues. buckley made a report early in , stating that conditions were favorable. on july , , rev. r. d. harper, "superintendent of education," reported that there was a reaction against negro schools; that the whites were now hostile to the negro schools on account of their teachers, who, the whites claimed, upheld the doctrines of social and political equality; the negroes were too much interested in politics in and , and spent their money in the campaigns; the teachers of the negro schools were intimidated, ostracized from society, and could not find board with the white people. because of this, he said, some schools had been broken up. the civil authorities, he declared, winked at the intimidation of the teachers.[ ] beecher, the assistant commissioner and "superintendent of education," reported that the schools had been supported on confiscated confederate property until , and that this source of supply being exhausted, the teachers were returning to the north. he reported that , children had never been inside a schoolhouse. the night schools were not successful because the negroes were unable to keep awake. a year later, beecher reported that the schools were recovering from unfavorable conditions, and that some of the teachers who had proven to be immoral and incompetent had been discharged. the last reports ( ) stated that there was less opposition by the whites to the bureau schools.[ ] this can be partly accounted for by the fact that the majority of the obnoxious northern teachers had returned to the north or had been discharged. the best ones, who had come with high hopes for the negroes, sure that the blacks needed only education to make them the equal of the whites, were bitterly disappointed, and in the majority of cases they gave up the work and left. not all of them were of good character and a number were discharged for incompetency or immorality; others were coarse and rude. the respectable southern whites resigned as soon as the results of the teaching of the outsiders began to be realized, and those who remained were beyond the pale of society. the white people came to believe, and too often with good reason, that the alien teachers stood for and taught social and political equality, intermarriage of the races, hatred and distrust of the southern whites, and love and respect for the northern deliverer only. social ostracism forced the white teachers to be content with negro society. naturally they became more bitter and incendiary in their utterances and teachings. some negroes were only too quick to learn such sentiments, and the generally insolent behavior of the negro educated under such conditions was one of the causes of reaction against negro education. the hostility against negro schools was especially strong among the more ignorant whites, and during the ku klux movement these people burned a number of schoolhouses and drove the teachers from the country where a few years before they had been welcomed by some and tolerated by all. the results of the attempts by the bureau and the missionary societies to educate the negro were almost wholly bad. dubois makes the astonishing statement that the bureau established the free public school system in the south.[ ] it is true that some of the schools then established have survived, but there would have been many more schools to-day had these never existed. for the whites the public school system of alabama existed before the war; the example of the bureau in no way encouraged its extension for the blacks; reconstructive educational ideals caused a reaction against general public education. in to the thinking people of the state, such men as dr. j. l. m. curry and bishop mctyeire, were heartily in favor of the education of the negro, and all the churches were also in favor of giving it a trial. as conditions were at that time, even the best plan for the education of the negro by alien agencies would have failed. general swayne hoped to use both northern and southern teachers, but it was not possible that the temper of either party would permit coöperation in the work. buckley seems to have had glimmerings of this fact, when he tried to get southern teachers for the schools. but the damage was already done. the logical and intentional result of the teachings of the missionaries was to alienate the races. if the negro accepted the doctrine of the equality of all men and the belief in the utter sinfulness of slavery and slaveholders, he at once found that the southern whites were his natural enemies. unwise efforts were made to teach the adult blacks, and they were encouraged to believe that all knowledge was in their reach; that without education they would be helpless, and with it they would be the white man's equal. some of the negroes almost worshipped education, it was to do so much for them. the schools in the cities were crowded with grown negroes who could never learn their letters. all attempts to teach these older ones failed, and the failure caused grievous disappointment to many. the exercise of common sense by the teachers might have spared them this. but the average new england teacher began to work as if the negroes were mayflower descendants. no attention was paid to the actual condition of the negroes and their station in life. false ideas about manual labor were put into their heads, and the training given them had no practical bearing on the needs of life.[ ] from the table given above it will be seen that the bureau schools reached only a very small proportion of the negro children. the missionary schools not connected with the bureau were few. it is likely that for five years there were not more than two hundred northern teachers in the state, yet the effect of their work was, in connection with the operations of the political and religious missionaries, to make a majority perhaps of the white people hostile to the education of the negro. the crusading spirit of the invaders touched the most sensitive feelings of the southerners, and the insolence and rascality of the educated negroes were taken as natural results of education. the good was obscured by the bad. the innocent missionary suffered for the sins of the violent and incendiary. the educated black rascal was pointed out as a fair example of negro education. the damage was done, not so much by what was actually taught in the relatively few schools, as by the ideas caught by the entire negro population that came in contact with the missionaries. naturally the blacks were more likely to accept the radical teachers. a most unfortunate result was the withdrawal of the southern church organizations and of all white southerners from the work of training the negro. the profession had been discredited. one of the hardest tasks of the negro educators of to-day--like washington or councill--is to undo the work of the aliens who wrought in passion and hate a generation before they began. the evil of the bureau system did not die with that institution, but when the reconstructionists undertook to mould anew the institutions of the south, the educational methods of the bureau and its teachers were transferred into the new state system which they helped to discredit.[ ] why the bureau system failed there have been many apologies for the freedmen's bureau, many assertions of the necessity for such an institution to protect the blacks from the whites. it was necessary, the friends of the institution claimed, to prevent reënslavement of the negro, to secure equality before the law, to establish a system of free labor, to relieve want, to force a beginning of education for the negro, to make it safe for northern missionaries and teachers to work among the blacks. it was, of course, not to be expected that the victorious north would leave the negroes entirely alone after the war, and in theory there were only two objections to such an institution well conducted,--( ) it was not really needed, and ( ) it was, as an institution, based on an idea insulting to southern white people. it meant that they were unfit to be trusted in the slightest matter that concerned the blacks. it was based on the theory that there was general hostility between the southern white and the southern black, and that the government must uphold the weaker by establishing a system of espionage over the stronger. the low characters of the officials made the worst of what would have been under the best agents a bad state of affairs. in it was necessary for the good of the negro that social and economic laws cease to operate for a while and allow the feelings of sentiment, duty, and gratitude of the southern whites to work in behalf of the black and enable the latter to make a place for himself in the new order. after the surrender there was, on the part of the whites, a strong feeling of gratitude to the negroes, that was practically universal, for their faithful conduct during the war. the people were ready, because of this and many other reasons, to go to any reasonable lengths to reward the blacks. the bureau made it impossible for this feeling to find expression in acts. the negro was taken from his master's care and in alien schools and churches taught that in all relations of life the southern white man was his enemy. the whites came to believe that negro education was worse than a failure. the southern churches lost all opportunity to work among the negroes. friendly relations gave way to hostility between the races. the better elements in southern society that were working for the good of the black were paralyzed and the worst element remained active. the friendship of the native whites was of more value to the blacks than any amount of theoretical protection against inequalities in legislation and justice. finally, the claim that the bureau was essential in establishing a system of free labor is ridiculous. the reports of the bureau officials themselves show clearly, though not consciously, that the new labor system was being worked out according to the fundamental economic laws of supply and demand, and largely in spite of the opposition of the bureau with its red tape-measures. the bureau labor policy finally gave way everywhere before the unauthorized but natural system that was evolved.[ ] part v congressional reconstruction chapter xii military government under the reconstruction acts sec. i. the administration of general pope the military reconstruction bills the radicals in congress triumphed over the moderate republicans, the democrats, and the president, when, on march , , they succeeded in passing over the veto the first of the reconstruction acts. this act reduced the southern states to the status of military provinces and established the rule of martial law. after asserting in the preamble that no legal governments or adequate protection for life and property existed in alabama and other southern states, the act divided the south into five military districts, subject to the absolute control of the central government, that is, of congress.[ ] alabama, with georgia and florida, constituted the third military district. the military commander, a general officer, appointed by the president, was to carry on the government in his province. no state interference was to be allowed, though the provisional civil administration might be made use of if the commander saw fit. offenders might be tried by the local courts or by military commissions, and except in cases involving the death penalty, there was no appeal beyond the military governor. this rule of martial law was to continue until the people[ ] should adopt a constitution providing for enfranchisement of the negro and for the disfranchisement of such whites as would be excluded by the proposed fourteenth amendment to the united states constitution. as soon as this constitution should be ratified by the new electorate (a majority voting in the election) and the constitution approved by congress, and the legislature elected under the new constitution should ratify the proposed fourteenth amendment, then representatives from the state were to be admitted to congress upon taking the "iron-clad" test oath of july , .[ ] and until so reconstructed the present civil government of the state was provisional only and might be altered, controlled, or abolished, and in all elections under it the negro must vote and those who would be excluded by the proposed fourteenth amendment must be disfranchised.[ ] the president at once (march , ) appointed general george h. thomas to the command of the third military district, with headquarters at montgomery, but the work was not to general thomas's liking, and at his request he was relieved, and on march general pope was appointed in his place.[ ] pope was in favor of extreme measures in dealing with the southern people and stated that he understood the design of the reconstruction acts to be "to free the southern people from the baleful influence of old political leaders."[ ] the act of march did not provide for forcing reconstruction upon the people. if they wanted it, they might initiate it through the provisional governments, or if they preferred, they might remain under martial law. while all people were anxious to have the state restored to the union, most of the whites saw that to continue under martial law, even when administered by pope, was preferable to reconstruction under the proposed terms. consequently the movement toward reconstruction was made by a very small minority of the people and had no chance whatever of making any headway. therefore, in order to hasten the restoration of the states and to insure the proper political complexion of the new régime, congress assumed control of the administration of the law of march , by the supplementary act of march , . "to facilitate restoration" the commander of the district was to cause a registration of all men over twenty-one not disfranchised by the act of march , who could take the prescribed oath[ ] before the registering officers. the commander was then to order an election for the choice of delegates to a convention. he was to apportion the delegates according to the registered voting population. if a majority voted against holding the convention, it should not be held. the boards of registration, appointed by the commanding general, were to consist of three loyal persons. they were to have entire control of the registration of voters, and the elections and returns which were to be made to the military governor. they were required to take the "iron-clad" test oath, and the penalties of perjury were to be visited upon official or voter who should take the oath falsely. after the convention should frame a constitution, the military commander should submit it to the people for ratification or rejection. the same board of registration was to hold the election. if the constitution should be ratified by a majority of the votes cast in the election where a majority of the registered voters voted, and the other conditions of the act of march having been complied with, the state should be admitted to representation in congress.[ ] pope assumes command on april , , general pope arrived in montgomery and assumed command of the third military district. general swayne was continued in command of alabama as a sub-district. pope announced that the officials of the provisional government would be allowed to serve out their terms of office, provided the laws were impartially administered by them. failure to protect the people without distinction in their rights of person and property would result in the interference of the military authorities. civil officials were forbidden to use their influence against congressional reconstruction. no elections were to be held unless negroes were allowed to vote and the whites disfranchised as provided for in the act of march . however, all vacancies then existing or which might occur before registration was completed would be filled by military appointment. the state militia was ordered to disband.[ ] general swayne proclaimed that he, having been intrusted with the "administration of the military reconstruction bill" in alabama, would exact a literal compliance with the requirements of the civil rights bill. all payments for services rendered the state during the war were peremptorily forbidden.[ ] the _herald_ correspondent reported that pope's early orders were favorably received by the conservative press of alabama, and that there was no opposition of any kind manifested. the people did not seem to realize what was in store for them. the army thought necessary to crush the "rebellious" state was increased by a few small companies only, and now consisted of fourteen companies detached from the fifteenth and the thirty-third infantry and the fifth cavalry, amounting in all to men, of whom eight companies were in garrison in the arsenal at mount vernon and the forts at mobile.[ ] the rest were stationed at montgomery, selma, and huntsville. writing to grant on april , pope stated that the civil officials were all active secessionists and would oppose reconstruction. but the people were ready for reconstruction, which he predicted would be speedy in alabama. five days later he wrote that there would be no trouble in alabama; that governor patton and nearly all the civil officials and most of the prominent men of the state were in favor of the congressional reconstruction and were canvassing the state in favor of it.[ ] he was evidently of changeable opinions. however, he was so impressed with the goodness of alabama and the badness of georgia, that, in order to be near the most difficult work, he asked grant to have headquarters removed to atlanta, which was done on april .[ ] [illustration: federal commanders, who ruled the state, - . general george h. thomas, in command of the district including alabama, - . general wager swayne, assistant commissioner of freedmen's bureau. general john pope, first commander of third military district. general george g. meade (in field uniform), commander of third military district.] the georgia people were evidently so bad that they caused a change in his former favorable opinion of the people in general, or rather of the whites, for in a letter to grant, july , , we find a frank expression of his sentiments in regard to reconstruction. he thought the disfranchising clauses were among the wisest provisions of the reconstruction acts; that the leading rebels should have been forced to leave the country and stay away; that all the old official class was opposed to reconstruction and was sure to prevail unless kept disfranchised; that it was better to have incompetent loyal men in office than rebels of ability,--in fact, the greater the ability the greater the danger; that in order to retain the fruits of reconstruction the old leaders must be put beyond the power of returning to influence. he had by this time evidently become somewhat disgusted with the reconstructionists, for he intimated that none of the whites were fit for self-government, and was strongly of the opinion that, in a few years, intelligence and education would be transferred from the whites to the negroes. he predicted ten thousand majority for reconstruction in alabama, but thought that in case reconstruction succeeded in the elections, some measures would have to be taken to free the country of the turbulent and disloyal leaders of the reactionary party, or there would be no peace.[ ] control of the civil government pope instructed the post commanders in alabama to report to headquarters any failures of civil tribunals to administer the laws in accordance with the civil rights bill or the recent acts of congress. they were, above all, to watch for discrimination on account of color, race, or political opinion. while not interfering with the functions of civil officers, they were instructed to give particular attention to the manner in which such functions were discharged.[ ] civil officials were warned that the prohibition against their using influence against reconstruction would be stringently enforced. they were not to give verbal or written advice to individuals, committees, or the public unless in favor of reconstruction. officials who violated this prohibition were to be removed from office and held accountable as the case demanded.[ ] district and post commanders were ordered to report to pope all state, county, or municipal officials who were "disloyal" to the government of the united states, or who used their influence to "hinder, delay, prevent, or obstruct the due and proper administration of the acts of congress."[ ] later, grant and pope decided that the paroles of soldiers were still in force and that any attempt to "prevent the settlement of the southern question would be a violation of parole."[ ] in may, pope issued orders informing the officials of alabama of their proper status. there was no legal government in alabama, they were told, and congress had declared that no adequate protection for life and property existed. the military authorities were warned that upon them rested the final responsibility for peace and security. consequently when necessary they were to supersede the civil officials. in towns, the mayor and chief of police were required to be present at every public meeting, with sufficient force to render disturbance impossible. it would be no excuse not to know of a meeting or not to apprehend trouble. outside of towns, the sheriff or one of his deputies was to be present at such gatherings, and in case of trouble was to summon a posse from the crowd, but must not summon officers of the meeting or the speakers. it was declared the duty of civil officials to preserve peace, and assure rights and privileges to all persons who desired to hold public meetings. in case of disturbance, if it could not be shown that the civil officials did their full duty, they would be deposed and held responsible by the military authorities. when the civil authorities asked for it, the commanders of troops were to furnish detachments to be present at political meetings and prevent disturbance. the commanding officers were to keep themselves informed in regard to political meetings and hold themselves ready for immediate action.[ ] from the beginning, pope, supported and advised by general swayne, pursued extreme measures. there were soon many complaints of his arbitrary conduct. in his correspondence with general grant he complained of the attitude of the washington administration toward his acts, and largely to support pope (and sheridan in the fifth district), congress passed the act of july , , which was the last of the reconstruction acts, so far as alabama was concerned. this law declared that the civil governments were not legal state governments and were, if continued, to be subject absolutely to the military commanders and to the paramount authority of congress. the commander of the district was declared to have full power, subject only to the disapproval of general grant, to remove or suspend officers of the civil government and appoint others in their places. general grant was vested with full power of removal, suspension, and appointment. it was made the duty of the commander to remove from office all who opposed reconstruction.[ ] pope had already been making use of the most extreme powers, and the only effect of the act was to approve his course. pope gave the laws a very broad interpretation, believing that reconstruction should be thoroughly done in order to leave no room for future trouble and embarrassment. grant, on august , wrote to him[ ] approving his sentiments, and went on to say: "it is certainly the duty of the district commander to study what the framers of the reconstruction laws wanted to express, as much as what they do express, and to execute the law according to that interpretation."[ ] this was certainly a unique method of interpretation and would justify any possible assumption of power. there had been several instances of prosecution by state authorities of soldiers and officials for acts which they claimed were done under military authority. pope disposed of this question by ordering the civil courts to entertain no action against any person for acts performed in accordance with military orders or by sanction of the military authority. suits then pending were dismissed. the military authorities were to enforce the order strictly and report all officials who might disobey.[ ] a few weeks later a decree went forth that all jurors should be chosen from the lists of voters registered under the acts of congress. they must be chosen without discrimination in regard to color, and each juror must take an oath that he was a registered voter. those who could not take the oath were to be replaced by those who could.[ ] so much for the general regulation and supervision of the civil authorities by the army. there were but a few hundred troops intrusted with the execution of these regulations, which were, of course, enforced only spasmodically. the more prominent officials were closely watched, but the only effect in country districts was to destroy all government. many judges, while willing to have their jurors drawn from the voting lists, refused to accept ignorant negroes on them, or to order the selection of mixed juries, and many courts were closed by military authority. judge wood, of the city court of selma, had a jury drawn of whites. a military commission, sitting in selma, refused to allow cases to be tried unless negroes were on the jury. pope's order was construed as requiring negroes on each jury, and he so meant it.[ ] later, he published an order requiring jurors to take the "test oath," which would practically exclude all the whites.[ ] prisoners confined in jail under sentence by jurors drawn under the old laws were liberated by the army officers or by freedmen's bureau officials. twice in the month of december, , there were jail deliveries by military authorities in greene county.[ ] within the first month pope began to remove civil officials and appoint others. mayor joseph h. sloss of tuscumbia was the first to go. pope alleged that the election had not been conducted in accordance with the acts of congress and forthwith appointed a new mayor. no complaint had been made, the removal being caused by outside influence.[ ] at this election, negroes for the first time in alabama had voted under the reconstruction acts. sloss had received two-thirds of all votes cast. evidently the blacks had been controlled by the whites, which was contrary to the spirit of the reconstruction. immediately after a riot in mobile[ ] following an incendiary speech by "pig iron" kelly of pennsylvania, one of the visiting orators, colonel shepherd of the fifteenth infantry assumed command of the city. the police were suspended. breach of the peace was punished by the military authorities. out-of-door congregations after nightfall were prohibited. notice of public meetings had to be given to the acting mayor in time to have a force on hand to preserve the peace. the publication of incendiary articles in the newspapers was forbidden. the provost guard was directed to seize all large firearms in the possession of improper persons and to search suspected persons for small arms. the special police, when appointed, were ordered to restrict their duties to enforcing the city ordinances. all offences against military ordinances would be attended to by the military authorities. a later order prohibited the carrying of large firearms without special permission. deposits of such arms were seized.[ ] pope declared all offices vacant in mobile and filled them anew,[ ] in the face of a report by swayne that reasonable precautions had been taken to prevent disorder. the blame for this action of pope's fell upon swayne, who had to carry out the orders. the officers appointed by pope refused to accept office, and then he seems to have offered to reappoint the old officials, and they declined. thereupon he lost his temper and directed swayne to fill the vacancies in the city government of mobile "from that large class of citizens who have heretofore been denied the right of suffrage and participation in municipal affairs and whose patriotism will prevent them from following this disloyal example." he was referring to the refusal of the former members of the city government to accept reappointment after suspension, and meant that negroes should now be appointed. swayne offered positions to some of the most respected and influential negroes, who declined, saying that they preferred white officials. negro policemen were appointed.[ ] in october a case came up in mobile which caused much irritation. the negro policemen were troublesome and insolent, and one day a little child ran out into the street in front of a team driven by a negro, who paid no attention to the mother's call to him to stop his horses. some one snatched the baby from under the heels of the horses, and the scared and angry mother relieved her feelings by calling the driver a "black rascal." the negro policemen came to her house, arrested her, and with great brutality dragged her from the house and along the street. another woman asked the negroes if they had a warrant for the arrest of the first woman. she was answered by the polite query, "what the hell is it your business?" mayor horton, pope's appointee, fined the woman ten dollars[ ]--for violation of the civil rights bill, it is to be presumed, since that was considered to cover most things pertaining to negroes. this mayor horton had a high opinion of his prerogatives as military mayor of mobile. the _mobile tribune_ had been publishing criticisms on his administration and also of mr. bromberg, one of his political brethren. archie johnson, a crippled, half-witted negro newsboy, was, it is said, hired to follow the mayor about, selling his _tribune_ papers, much to the annoyance of mayor horton. on one occasion archie cried, "here's yer _mobile tribune_, wid all about mayor horton and his bromberg rats." this was too much for the military mayor, and, considering the offence as one against the civil rights bill, he sentenced the negro to banishment to new orleans. archie soon returned and was again exiled by the mayor. here was an opportunity for the people to get even with horton, and suit was brought in the federal court before busteed, who was now somewhat out with his party. horton was fined for violation of the civil rights bill.[ ] many officials were removed and many appointments made by pope. his removals and appointments included mayors, chiefs of police, tax assessors and collectors, school trustees, county commissioners, justices of the peace, sheriffs, judges, clerks of courts, bailiffs, constables, city clerks, solicitors, superintendents of schools, aldermen, common councils, and all the officials of jones and colbert counties.[ ] pope was roundly abused by the newspapers and by the people for making so many changes. i have been unable to find, however, the names of more than thirty-four officials of any consequence who were removed by pope. he made appointments to such offices, besides minor ones. a clean sweep of all officials from mayor to policemen was made in mobile and again in selma. most vacancies were caused by expiration of term of office or by forced resignation.[ ] as there was need of money to pay the expense of the convention soon to assemble, and as the taxpayers were beginning to understand for what purposes their money was to be used and were in many instances refusing to pay, pope issued an order to the post and detachment commanders directing them to furnish military aid to state tax-collectors.[ ] the bitterest reconstructionists were heartily in favor of aid to the tax-collecting branch of the "rebel" administration. they needed money to carry out their plans. when the terms of the tax-collectors expired, they were ordered to continue in office until their successors were duly elected and qualified,[ ] which, of course, meant to continue the present administration until the reconstructed government should take charge. pope was very careful not to allow the civil government to spend any of the money coming in from taxes. he said that he thought it proper to prohibit the state treasurer from paying out money for the support of families of deceased confederate soldiers, for wooden legs for confederate soldiers, etc., since the convention soon to meet would probably not approve expenditure for such purposes.[ ] later the treasurer was ordered to pay the _per diem_ of the delegates and the expenses of the convention, though pope expressed doubt, for once, of his authority in the matter.[ ] general swayne, at montgomery, who had long been at the head of the freedmen's bureau in the state and also military commander of the district of alabama since june , , found himself relegated to a somewhat subordinate position after pope assumed command in the third district. the latter took charge of everything. if a negro policeman were to be appointed in mobile, pope made the appointment and issued the order. nor did he always send his orders to swayne to be republished. in consequence, swayne dropped out of the records somewhat, but he had to bear much of the blame that should have fallen on pope, though he was in full sympathy with the views of the latter. he was, however, a man of much more ability than pope, of sounder judgment, and had had legal training. consequently, pope relied much upon him for advice in the many knotty questions that came up, often coming from atlanta to montgomery to see swayne, and as a rule none of his well-known proclamations were ever issued when under the latter's influence. the orders written for him or outlined by swayne were stringent, of course, but clear, short, and to the point. pope's own masterpieces were long, rhetorical, and blustering. his favorite valedictory at the end of an order was a threat of martial law and military commissions. general swayne was still at the head of the freedmen's bureau, and in this capacity he made his authority felt. in april, , he ordered probate judges to revise former actions in apprenticing minors to former owners and to revoke all indentures made since the war if the minors were able to support themselves. though the vagrancy law had never been enforced and had been repealed by the legislature, he declared its suspension. the chain-gang system was abolished, except in connection with the penitentiary.[ ] in the fall, in order to secure pay for negro laborers, he ordered a lien on the crops grown on the farm where they were employed. this lien was to attach from date of order and to have preference over former liens.[ ] pope and the newspapers when pope first assumed command, it was reported that the conservative papers were, at the worst, not hostile to him;[ ] but within a few weeks he had aroused their hostility and the battle was joined. pope believed that the papers had much to do with inciting hostility against the visiting orators from the north, resulting in such disturbances as the kelly riot in mobile. consequently, instructions were issued prohibiting the publication of articles tending to incite to riot. this order was aimed at the conservative press. no one except the negroes paid much attention to the radical press. however, after the mobile trouble the military commander was somewhat nervous and wanted to prevent future troubles. the negroes, now much excited by the campaign, were supposed to be much influenced by the violent articles appearing in the radical paper of mobile,--the _national_. on may an article was printed in that paper instructing the freedmen when, where, and how to use firearms. it went on to state: "do not, on future occasions [like the kelly riot], waste a single shot until you see your enemy, be sure he is your enemy, never waste ammunition, don't shoot until necessary, and then be sure to shoot your enemy. don't fire into the air." fearing the effect upon the negroes of such advice, the commanding officer at mobile suppressed the edition of may , and prohibited future publication unless the proof should first be submitted to the commandant according to the regulations of may , issued by pope. instead of approving the action of the mobile officer, pope strongly disapproved of and revoked his orders. the mobile commander was informed that it was the duty of the military authorities, not to restrict, but to secure, the utmost freedom of speech. no officers or soldiers should interfere with newspapers or speakers on any pretext whatever. "no satisfactory execution of the late acts of congress is practicable unless this freedom is secured and its exercise protected," pope said. however, "treasonable utterances" were not to be regarded as the legitimate exercise of the freedom of discussion.[ ] the conservative papers managed to keep within bounds, and pope was unable to harm them. finally he decided to strike at them through the official patronage. by the famous general order no. ,[ ] he stated that he was convinced that the civil officials were obeying former instructions[ ] only so far as their personal conversation was concerned, and were using their official patronage to encourage newspapers which opposed reconstruction and embarrassed civil officials appointed by military authority by denunciations and threats of future punishment. such use of patronage was pronounced an evasion of former orders and an employment of the machinery of the state government to defeat the execution of the reconstruction acts. therefore it was ordered that official advertising and official printing be given to those newspapers which had not opposed and did not then oppose reconstruction or embarrass officials by threats of violence and of prosecution as soon as the troops were withdrawn.[ ] this order affected nearly every newspaper in the state. there were sixty-two counties, and each had public printing and advertising. on an average, at least one paper for each county was touched in the exchequer, and as pope reported, "a hideous outcry" arose from the press of the state.[ ] there were only five or six reconstruction papers in the state, and a modification of the order in practice was absolutely necessary. pope was so roundly abused by the newspapers, north and south, and especially in alabama and georgia, that he seems to have been affected by it. he endeavored to explain away the order by saying that it related only to military officials and not to civil officials. he did not say that in the order, though he may have meant it, and was now using the remarkable method of interpretation suggested to him by grant in regard to the reconstruction acts. several accounts of newspapers for public advertisements were held up and payments disallowed. the best-known of these papers were the _selma times_ and the _eutaw whig and observer_.[ ] the order was strictly enforced until general meade assumed command of the third military district. trials by military commissions the newspapers state that many arrests of citizens were made by military authorities, and in the spring of they generally remarked that the jails were filled with prisoners thus arrested who were still awaiting trial. most of these were probably arrested under the pope régime, since meade, his successor, was not so extreme. however, pope, in spite of his threats, had but few persons tried by military commissions. d. c. ballard was convicted of pretending to be a united states detective and of stealing ninety-five bales of cotton, and was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.[ ] one david j. files was arrested for inciting the kelly riot at mobile. pope said that he was the chief offender and had him imprisoned at fort morgan until he could be tried by a military commission. he was fined $ .[ ] william a. castleberry was convicted by a military commission, fined $ , and imprisoned for one year for purchasing stolen property and for assisting a deserter to escape. jesse hays, a justice of the peace in monroe county, was sentenced to five months' imprisonment and fined $ for prescribing a punishment for a negro that could not be prescribed for a white, that is, fifty lashes. matthew anderson and john middleton, who were tried for carrying out the sentence imposed on the negro, were acquitted.[ ] these are all the cases that i have been able to find of trial of civilians by military commission under pope. in one case there was a direct interference by pope with the administration of justice. daniel and james cash had been indicted in macon county for murder and had made bond. they were later indicted and arrested in bullock county. pope ordered that they be released and that all civil officials let them alone.[ ] registration and disfranchisement but the prime object of pope's administration was not merely to carry on the government in his military province, but to see that the reconstruction was rushed through in the shortest possible time and in the most thorough manner, according to the intentions of the congressional leaders as he understood them. as already stated, he had very clear ideas of what should be done, and from the first was hampered by no few doubts as to the limits of his power. the reconstruction laws were given the broadest interpretation. in the liberal interpretation of his powers pope was equalled only by sheridan in the fifth district. a week after his arrival in montgomery pope directed swayne to divide the state into registration districts. army officers were to be used as registrars only when no civilians could be obtained. general supervisors were to look after the working of the registration, and there was to be a general inspector at headquarters. violence or threats of violence against registration officials would be punished by military commission.[ ] may , , the state was divided into forty-two (later forty-four) registration districts, so arranged as to make the most effective use of the black vote.[ ] a board of registration for each district was appointed, each board consisting of two whites and one negro. since each had to take the "iron-clad" test oath, practically all native whites were excluded, those who were on the lists being men of doubtful character and no ability. there were numbers of northerners. for most of the districts the white registrars had to be imported. it is not saying much for the negro members to say that they were much the more respectable part of the boards of registration.[ ] again it was stated that in order to secure full registration, the compensation would be fixed at so much for each voter--fifteen to forty cents, the price varying according to density of population. five to ten cents mileage was paid in order to enable the registrars to hunt up voters. they were directed to inform the negroes what their political rights were and how necessary it was for them to exercise those rights. voters were to be registered in each precinct, and later, in order to register those missed the first time, the board was to sit, after due notice, for three days at each county seat. any kind of interference with registration, by threats or by contracts depriving laborers of pay, was to be punished by military commission. the right of every voter under the acts of congress to register and to vote was guaranteed by the military. in case of disturbance the registrars were to call upon the civil officials or upon the nearest military authorities. if the former refused or failed to protect the registration, they were to be punished by a military commission.[ ] may , colonel james f. meline was appointed inspector of registration for the third military district,[ ] and william h. smith was appointed general supervisor for alabama.[ ] boards of registration were authorized to report cases of civil officials using their influence against reconstruction.[ ] when a voter wished to remove from his precinct after registration, he was to be given a certificate which would enable him to vote anywhere in the state. if he should lose this certificate, his own affidavit before any civil or military official would suffice to obtain a new certificate.[ ] on june , pope issued pamphlets containing instructions to registrars which were especially definite as to those former state officials who should be excluded from registration. the list of those who were to be disfranchised included every one who had ever been a state, county, or town official and later aided the confederacy;[ ] former members of the united states congress, former united states officials, civil and military, members of state legislatures and of the convention of ; all officials of state, counties, and towns during the war; and finally judicial or administrative officials not named elsewhere.[ ] the records fail to show that any officials were not excluded from registration except the keepers of poorhouses, coroners, and health officers. instructions issued later practically repeated the first instructions and added former officials of the confederate states to the list of disfranchised. the registrars were reminded to enforce the disfranchising clauses of the acts both as to voters and candidates.[ ] the stringent regulations of pope caused much bitter comment, and the washington administration was besought to revoke them. complaints were coming in from other districts, and on june , , at a cabinet meeting, the questions in controversy were brought up point by point, and the cabinet passed its opinion on them. a strict interpretation of the reconstruction acts was arrived at, which was much more favorable toward the southern people. stanton alone voted against all interpretation favorable to the south. the interpretation of the acts thus obtained was issued as a circular, the opinion of the attorney-general, through the war department and sent to the district commanders on june .[ ] as soon as pope received a copy of the opinion of the attorney-general he wrote to grant protesting against the enforcement of the opinion as an order, so far as it related to registration. if enforced, his instructions to registrars would have to be revoked. according to all rules of military obedience, it was his duty to consider the instructions sent him through the adjutant-general's office as binding, though in this case the instructions were not in the technical form of an order, but he expressed doubt if they were to be considered as an order to him. grant telegraphed to him to enforce his own construction of the acts until ordered to do otherwise.[ ] in order to remove all doubt in the matter, congress, in the act of july , , sustained pope's interpretation of the acts and made it law. the construction placed upon the laws by the cabinet was repudiated, and officers acting under the reconstruction acts were not to consider themselves bound by the opinion of any civil officer of the united states.[ ] this was aimed at the attorney-general and the cabinet. the law also gave the registrars full judicial powers to investigate the records of those who applied for registration. witnesses might be examined touching the qualifications of voters. the boards were empowered to revise the lists of voters and to add to or strike from it such names as they thought ought to be added or removed. no pardon or amnesty by the president was to avail to remove disability.[ ] the elections and the convention after the passage of this law it was smooth sailing for pope. registration went on with such success that on august he was induced to order an election to be held on october to , for the choice of delegates to a convention, and an apportionment of delegates among the various districts was made at the same time. in the distribution the black counties were favored at the expense of the white counties.[ ] the work of the registrars was thoroughly done. the negro enrolment was enormous; the white enrolment was small. the registration of voters before the elections was: whites, , ; blacks, , ; total, , .[ ] for the convention and for delegates , votes were cast. of these , were those of whites, and , were negro votes. against holding a convention, white votes were cast, and , registered voters failed to vote-- , whites and , blacks.[ ] the names of the delegates chosen were published in general orders, and the convention was ordered to meet in montgomery on november .[ ] during the session of the convention pope took a rest from his labors and spent some time in montgomery. he was a great favorite with the reconstructionists and was accorded special honors by the convention. but he did not think as highly of reconstructionists as when he first assumed command, and the antics of the "black crook" convention made him nervous. after a month's session he was glad to see it disband.[ ] one of the last important acts of pope's administration was to order an election for february and , , when the constitution should be submitted for ratification or rejection, and when by his advice candidates for all offices were to be voted for. two weeks beforehand the registrars were to revise their lists, adding or striking off such names as they saw fit. polls were to be opened at such places as the board saw fit. any voter might vote in any place to which he had removed by making affidavit before the board that he was registered and had not voted before.[ ] removal of pope and swayne both pope and swayne had been charged with being desirous of representing the states of the third military district in the united states senate. pope had made himself obnoxious to the president, and the white people of alabama and georgia were demanding his removal. so, on december , , an order was issued by the president, relieving pope and placing general meade in command of the third military district. general swayne was at the same time ordered to rejoin his regiment,[ ] and a few days later his place was taken by general julius hayden.[ ] the whites were greatly relieved and much pleased by the removal of both pope and swayne. the former had become obnoxious on account of the extreme measures he had taken in carrying out the reconstruction acts, on account of his irritating proclamations, his attitude toward the press, etc. general swayne had long enjoyed the confidence of the best men. his influence over the negroes was supreme, and had been used to promote friendly relations between the races. but as soon as the reconstruction was taken charge of by congress and party lines were drawn, all his influence, personal and official, was given to building up a radical party in the state and to securing the negroes for that party. he was high in the councils of the union league and controlled the conventions of the party. the change of rulers is said to have had a tranquillizing effect on disturbed conditions in alabama.[ ] but the people of alabama would have been pleased with no human being as military governor invested with absolute power. sec. . the administration of general meade registration and elections on january , , general meade arrived in atlanta and assumed command of the third military district.[ ] his first and most important duty was to complete the military registration of voters, and hold the election for ratification of the constitution and for the choice of officials under it. registration had been going on regularly since the summer of , and after the convention had adjourned there was a rush of whites to register in order to defeat the constitution by refraining from voting on it. as the time for the election drew near the friends of the reconstruction, much alarmed at the tactics of the conservative party, brought pressure to bear upon grant, who suggested to meade that an extension of time be made. consequently, the time for the election was extended from two to five days in order to enable the remotest negro to be found and brought to the polls. at the same time the number of voting places was limited to three in each county,[ ] in order to lessen the influence of the whites over the blacks. general meade was opposed to holding the election for state officials at the same time with that on ratification of the constitution. he thought it would be difficult to secure the adoption of the constitution on account of the proscriptive clauses in it, but in his opinion the candidates[ ] nominated by the convention were even more obnoxious to the people than the constitution, and many would refrain from voting on that account. swayne, who seems to have still been in montgomery, admitted the force of the objection, but grant objected to any change until too late to make other arrangements.[ ] [illustration: registration of voters under reconstruction acts, .] the election took place on february to , and passed off without any disorder. meade reported that the charges of fraud made by the radicals were groundless, and that the constitution had been defeated on its merits, or rather demerits. both the constitution and the candidates were obnoxious to a large number of the friends of reconstruction. he reported that the constitution failed of ratification by , votes, and advised that the convention assemble again, revise the constitution of its proscriptive features, and again submit to it the people.[ ] administration of civil affairs pending the decision of the alabama question by congress, meade carried on the military government as usual. he thoroughly understood that his power was unlimited. no more than pope did he allow the civil government to stand in the way. there was, however, a vast difference in the administrations of the two men. meade was less given to issuing proclamations, but was firmer and more strict, and less arbitrary. he was not under the influence of the radical politicians in the slightest degree, and was abused by both sides, especially by the radical adventurers. it was a thankless task, for which he had no liking, but his duty was done in a soldierly manner, and his administration was probably the best that was possible. he made it clear to the civil authorities that he was the source of all power, and that they were responsible to him and must obey all orders coming from him. if they refused, he promised trial by a military commission, fine, and imprisonment. they must under no circumstances interfere, under color of state authority, with the military administration. he had no admiration for the "loyal" element; and when a bill was before congress providing that the officials of the civil government be required to take the "iron-clad" test oath or vacate their offices, he made a strong protest and declared that he could not fill half the offices with men who could take the test oath.[ ] after the february elections political influence was brought to bear to force meade to vacate the offices of the civil government and to appoint certain individuals of the proper political beliefs. the persons voted for in the elections were clamorous for their places. grant suggested that when appointments were made, the men recently voted for be put in. meade resisted the pressure and made few changes, and these only after investigation. removals were made for neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, refusing to obey orders, and "obstructing reconstruction." many appointments were made on account of the deaths or resignations of the civil officials.[ ] few of the officials appointed by him could take the test oath, and he was much abused by the radicals for saying that it would be impossible to fill half the offices with men who could take the oath. he was constantly besought to supersede the civil authority altogether and rule only through the army. in this connection, he reported that he was greatly embarrassed by the want of judgment and of knowledge on the part of his subordinates, and by the great desire of those who expected to profit from military intervention. so he issued an order informing the civil officials that as long as they performed their duties they would not be interfered with. the army officials were informed that they should in no case interfere with the civil administration before obtaining the consent of meade; that the military was to act in subordination to and in aid of the civil authority;[ ] and that no soldiers or other persons were to be tried in court for acts done by military authority or for having charge of abandoned land or other property.[ ] there was much disorder by thieves and roughs on the river boats during the spring of . to facilitate trials of these lawbreakers, meade directed that they be arrested and tried in any county in the state where found, before any tribunal having jurisdiction of such offences.[ ] the courts were not interfered with as under pope's rule. the judges continued to have white jurors chosen, and the army officers, as a rule, approved. in one case, however, in calhoun county, there was trouble. one lieutenant charles t. johnson, fifteenth infantry, attended the court presided over by judge b. t. pope. he found that no negroes were on the jury, and demanded that the judge order a mixed jury to be chosen. the judge declined to comply, and johnson at once arrested him. johnson found that the clerk of the court did not agree with him, and he arrested the clerk also. pope was placed in jail until released by meade.[ ] the conduct of johnson was condemned in the strongest terms by meade, who ordered him to be court-martialed. a general order was published reciting the facts of the case and expressing the severest censure of the conduct of johnson. meade informed the public generally that even had judge pope violated previous orders, johnson had nothing to do in the case except to report to headquarters. moreover, johnson was wrong in holding that all juries had to be composed partly of blacks. this order stopped interference with the courts in alabama.[ ] meade did not approve of pope's policy toward newspapers, and on february , , he issued an order modifying general order no. on the ground that it had in its operations proved embarrassing. in the future, public printing was to be denied to such papers only as might attempt to intimidate civil officials by threats of violence or prosecution, as soon as the troops were withdrawn, for acts performed in their official capacity. however, if there was but one paper in the county, then it was to have the county printing regardless of its editorial opinions. "opposition to reconstruction, when conducted in a legitimate manner, is," the order stated, "not to be considered an offence." violent and incendiary articles, however, were to be considered illegal,[ ] and newspapers were warned to keep within the bounds of legitimate discussion. the ku klux movement, especially after it was seen that congress was going to admit the state, notwithstanding the defeat of the constitution, gave meade some trouble. its notices were published in various papers, and meade issued an order prohibiting this custom. the army officers were ordered to arrest and try offenders. only one editor came to grief. ryland randolph, the editor of the _independent monitor_, of tuscaloosa, was arrested by general shepherd and his paper suppressed for a short time.[ ] general meade was no negrophile, and hence under him there were no more long oration orders on the rights of "that large class of citizens heretofore excluded from the suffrage." he set himself resolutely against all attempts to stir up strife between the races, and quietly reported at the time, and again a year later, that the stories of violence and intimidation, which congress accepted without question, were without foundation. he ordered that in the state institutions for the deaf, dumb, blind, and insane, the blacks should have the same privileges as the whites. the law of the state allowed to the sheriffs for subsistence of prisoners, fifty cents a day for white and forty cents a day for negro prisoners. meade ordered that the fees be the same for both races, and that the same fare and accommodations be given to both. swayne had abolished the chain-gang system the year before, because it chiefly affected negro offenders. meade gave the civil authorities permission to restore it.[ ] the convention had passed ordinances which amounted to stay laws for the relief of debtors. in order to secure support for the constitution, it was provided that these ordinances were to go into effect with the constitution. complaint was made that creditors were oppressing their debtors in order to secure payment before the stay laws should go into effect. though opposed in principle to such laws, meade considered that under the circumstances some relief was needed. the price of cotton was low, and the forced sales were ruinous to the debtors and of little benefit to the creditors. therefore, in january, he declared the ordinances in force to continue, unless the constitution should be adopted. a later order, in may, declared that the ordinances would be considered in force until revoked by himself.[ ] trials by military commissions when the ghostly night riders of the ku klux klan began to frighten the carpet-baggers and the negroes, meade directed all officials, civil and military, to organize patrols to break up the secret organizations. civil officials neglecting to do so were held to be guilty of disobedience of orders. where army officers raised _posses_ to aid in maintaining the peace, the expenses were charged to the counties or towns where the disturbances occurred.[ ] nearly all prisoners arrested by the military authorities were turned over to the civil courts for trial. military commissions were frequently in session to try cases when it was believed the civil authorities would be influenced by local considerations. the following list of such trials is complete: h. k. quillan of lee county and langdon ellis, justice of the peace of chambers county, were tried for "obstructing reconstruction" and were acquitted; richard hall of hale county, tried for assault, was acquitted;[ ] joseph b. f. hill, william pettigrew, t. w. roberts, and james steele of greene county were sentenced to hard labor for five years, for "whipping a hog thief, and threatening to ride him on a rail";[ ] samuel w. dunlap, william pierce, charles coleman, and john kelley, implicated in the same case, were fined $ each, and sentenced to one year's imprisonment; frank h. munday, hugh l. white, john cullen, and samuel strayhorn, charged with the same offence, were each fined $ , and sentenced to hard labor for two years;[ ] ryland randolph, editor of the _monitor_, was tried for "obstructing reconstruction" in his paper and for nearly killing a negro, and was acquitted. during the trial busteed granted a writ of _habeas corpus_, and meade and grant both were prepared to submit to the decision of the court, but randolph wanted the military trial to go on.[ ] meade was much irritated by the careless conduct of officers in reporting cases for trial by military courts which were unable to stand the test of examination. after frequent failures to substantiate charges in cases sent up for trial, orders were issued that subordinate officials must exercise the greatest caution and care in preferring charges, and in all cases must state the reasons why the civil authorities could not act. sworn statements of witnesses must accompany the charges, and the accused must be given an opportunity to forward evidence in his favor.[ ] the soldiers and the citizens the troops in the state during and , though sadly demoralized as to discipline, gave the people little trouble except in the vicinity of the military posts. the records of the courts-martial show that the negroes were the greatest sufferers from the outrages of the common soldiers. the whites were irritated chiefly by the arrogant conduct of a few of the post commanders and their subordinates. at mount vernon, frederick b. shepard, an old man, was arrested and carried before captain morris schoff, who shot the unarmed prisoner as soon as he appeared. for this murder schoff was court-martialed and imprisoned for ten years.[ ] johnson, the officer who arrested judge pope, was cordially hated in middle alabama. he arrested a negro who refused to vote for the constitution; in a quarrel he took the crutch of a cripple and struck him over the head with it; hung two large united states flags over the sidewalk of the main street in tuscaloosa, and when the schoolgirls avoided walking under them, it being well understood that johnson had placed them there to annoy the women, he stationed soldiers with bayonets to force the girls to pass under the flags. for his various misdeeds he was court-martialed by meade.[ ] most of the soldiers had no love for the negroes, carpet-baggers, and scalawags, and at a radical meeting in montgomery, the soldiers on duty at the capitol gave three groans for grant, and three cheers for mcclellan and johnson. for this conduct they were strongly censured by major hartz and general shepherd, their commanders.[ ] the soldiers sent to hale county knocked a carpet-bag bureau agent on the head, ducked a white teacher of a negro school in the creek, and cuffed the negroes about generally.[ ] from martial law to carpet-bag rule the act providing for the admission of alabama in spite of the defeat of the constitution was passed june , .[ ] three days later grant ordered meade to appoint as provisional governor and lieutenant-governor those voted for[ ] in the february elections, and to remove the present incumbents.[ ] so smith and applegate were appointed as governor and lieutenant-governor, their appointments to take effect on july , , on which date the legislature said to have been elected in february was ordered to meet.[ ] until the state should comply with the requirements of the reconstruction acts all government and all officials were to be considered as provisional only. the governor was ordered to organize both houses of the legislature, and before proceeding to business beyond organization each house was required to purge itself of any members who were disqualified by the fourteenth amendment.[ ] a few days later, congress having admitted the state to representation, meade ordered all civil officials holding under the provisional civil government to yield to their duly elected successors. the military commander in alabama was directed to transfer all property and papers pertaining to the government of the state to the proper civil authorities and for the future to abstain from any interference or control over civil affairs. prisoners held for offences against the civil law were ordered to be delivered to state officials.[ ] this was, in theory, the end of military government in alabama, though, in fact, the army retired into the background, to remain for six years longer the support and mainstay of the so-called civil government.[ ] the rule of the army had been intensely galling to the people, but it was infinitely preferable to the régime which followed, and there was general regret when the army gave way to the carpet-bag government. in january, , a day of fasting and prayer was observed for the deliverance of the state from the rule of the negro and the alien. chapter xiii the campaign of attitude of the whites in the preceding chapter the part of the army in executing the reconstruction acts has been set forth. in the three succeeding chapters i shall sketch the political conditions in the state during the same period. the people of alabama had, for several months before march, , foreseen the failure of the president's attempt at reconstruction. the "military reconstruction bill" was no worse than was expected; if liberally construed, it was even better than was expected. and there was a possibility that reconstruction under these acts might be delayed and finally defeated. though president johnson was said to be hopeful of better times, the people of alabama were decided that no good would come from longer resistance. a northern observer stated that they were so fearfully impoverished, so completely demoralized, by the break-up of society after the war, that they hardly comprehended what was left to them, what was required of them, or what would become of them. still, they had a clear conviction that johnson could do no more for them. every one, except the negroes, was too much absorbed in the struggle for existence to pay much attention to politics. the whites seemed generally willing to do what was required of them, or rather to let affairs take their own course and trust that all would go well. they had given up hope of an early restoration of the union, but the radicals, they thought, could not rule forever.[ ] on march , , governor patton published an address advising acquiescence in the plan of congress. he had all along been opposed to radical reconstruction, but he now saw that it could not be avoided and wished to make the best of it. he said that a few thousand good men would be disfranchised, but that there were other good men and from these a wise and patriotic convention could be chosen. he advised that negro suffrage be accepted as a settled fact, with no ill feeling against the freedmen; that antagonism between the races should be discouraged, and that no effort be made to control the votes of the blacks.[ ] more consideration, patton thought, should have been given to congress as the controlling power; antagonism to congress had caused infinite mischief. it was folly, he added, to expect more favorable terms, and further opposition might cause harsher conditions to be imposed.[ ] other prominent men advised the people to accept the plan of congress and to participate in the reconstruction. nearly all the leading papers of the state, in order to make the best of a bad situation, now supported congressional reconstruction. consequently, when general pope arrived in april, the people were ready to accept the situation in good faith, and desired that he should make a speedy registration of the voters and end the agitation.[ ] even at this late date the southern people seem not to have foreseen the inevitable results of this revolution in government.[ ] the organization of the radical party while a large number of the influential men of the state were ready to accept the situation, "not because we approve the policy of the reconstruction laws, but because it is the best we can do," and while a larger number were more or less indifferent, there were many who were opposed to reconstruction on any such terms, preferring a continuance of the military government until passions were calmer and a more liberal policy proposed. there was, however, no organized opposition to reconstruction for two months or more, and even then it was rendered possible only by the arbitrary conduct of general pope and the violent agitation carried on among the negroes by the radical faction. for several months, in the white counties of north alabama the so-called "loyal" people, reënforced by numbers of the old "peace society" men, had been holding meetings looking toward organization in order to secure the fruits of reconstruction. these meetings were continued, and by them it was declared that the people of alabama were in favor of reconstruction by the sherman bill, to which only the original secession leaders were opposed, and the sherman plan, negro suffrage and all, was indorsed as a proper punishment for the planters.[ ] after the beginning of congressional reconstruction, however, the centre of gravity in the radical party shifted to the black belt, and no one any longer paid serious attention to the few thousand "loyal" whites in north alabama. the first negro meetings held were in the larger towns, selma leading with a large convention of colored "unionists," who, under the guidance of a few white officers of the freedmen's bureau, declared in favor of military reconstruction.[ ] the montgomery reconstructionists held a meeting in the capitol "in which whites and blacks fraternized." the meeting was addressed by several "rebel" officers: a. c. felder, ---- doster, and h. c. semple, and by general swayne and john c. keffer from the north. general swayne and governor patton served as vice-presidents. the blacks were eulogized and declared capable of political equality; and it was urged that only those men in favor of military reconstruction should be supported for office.[ ] in mobile, a meeting held on april resolved that "everlasting thanks" were due to congress for its wisdom in passing the reconstruction acts. both whites and negroes spoke in favor of the rights of the negro to hold office, sit on juries, and ride in the same cars and eat at the same tables with whites. the prejudices of the whites, they declared, must give way. at a meeting of negroes only the next day one of the speakers made a distinction between political and social rights. he said that the latter would come in time but that the former must be had at once; they were defined as the right to ride in street cars with the whites, in first-class cars on the railroad, to have the best staterooms on the boats, to sit at public tables with whites, and to go to the hotel tables "when the first bell rang." what social rights were he did not explain. negroes attended these meetings armed with clubs, pistols, muskets, and shotguns, most of which, of course, would not shoot; but several hundred shots were fired, much to the alarm of the near-by dwellers.[ ] to counteract the effect of these meetings, the "moderate" reconstructionists held a meeting in mobile, april , presided over by general withers, the mayor of the city. several influential citizens and also a number of colored men were vice-presidents. judge busteed, a "moderate" radical, spoke, urging all to take part in the reconstruction and not leave it to the ignorant and vicious. resolutions were passed to the effect that the blacks would be accorded every legal right and privilege. the "moderate" spirit of pope was commended, and coöperation was promised him. all were urged to register and vote for delegates to the convention.[ ] a state convention of negroes was called by white radical politicians to meet in mobile on may , and in all of the large towns of the state meetings to elect delegates were held under the guidance of the union league. the delegates came straggling in, and on may and the convention was held. it at once declared itself "radical," and condemned the efforts of their oppressors who would use unfair and foul means to prevent their consolidation with the radical party. swayne and pope were indorsed, a standing army was asked for to protect negroes in their political rights, and demand was made for schools, to be supported by a property tax. violations of the civil rights bill should be tried by military commission, and the union league was established in every county. finally, the convention resolved that it was the undeniable right of the negro to hold office, sit on juries, ride in any public conveyances, sit at public tables, and visit places of public amusement.[ ] the alabama grand council of the union league, the machine of the radicals in alabama,[ ] met in april and formulated the principles upon which the campaign was to be conducted. congress was thanked for putting the reorganization of the state into the hands of "union" men; the return to the principle that "all men are created equal" and its application to a "faithful and patriotic class of our fellow-men" was hailed with joy; any settlement which denied the ballot to the negro could not stand, they asserted; and "while we believe that rebellion is the highest crime known to the law, and that those guilty of it hold their continued existence solely by the clemency of an outraged but merciful government, we are nevertheless willing to imitate that government in forgiveness of the past, and to reclaim to the republican union party all who, forsaking entirely the principles on which the rebellion was founded, will sincerely and earnestly unite with us in establishing and maintaining for the future a government of equal rights and unconditional loyalty;" "we consider willingness to elevate to power the men who preserved unswerving adherence to the government during the war as the best test of sincerity in professions for the future;" and "if the pacification now proposed by congress be not accepted in good faith by those who staked and forfeited their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, in rebellion, then it will be the duty of congress to enforce that forfeiture, by the confiscation of the lands at least of such a stiff-necked and rebellious people;" "the assertion that there are not enough intelligent and loyal men in alabama to administer the government is false in fact, and mainly promulgated by those who aim to keep treason respectable by retaining power in the hands of its friends and votaries."[ ] this was a declaration of principles to which self-respecting whites could hardly be expected to subscribe. that was the very reason for its proclamation. the radical leaders in control of the machinery of the union league began to discourage the accession of whites to the party. the negro vote was to be their support, and not too many whites were desired at the division of spoils.[ ] other causes conspired to drive the respectable people from the ranks of the reconstructionists. prominent politicians were sent into the state to tell the negro that, having received his freedom from the republican party, to it his vote was due. senator henry wilson of massachusetts made a bitter speech against the southern whites at the capitol in montgomery. the negroes were informed that the republican party was entitled to their votes, and the whites were asked to join them, as subordinates perhaps.[ ] this speech was delivered on may , and from this date may be traced the organized opposition to reconstruction. general james h. clanton[ ] replied to wilson, maintaining that the southern white was the real friend of the negro and declaring in favor of full political and educational rights for the negro, while asserting that wilson's plan would result in a black man's party, controlled by aliens.[ ] this speech of clanton's had the effect of rousing the people to organized resistance against the plans of the radicals. on may , judge "pig iron" kelly of pennsylvania spoke in mobile to an audience of one hundred respectable whites and two thousand negroes, the latter armed. his language toward the whites was violent and insulting, an invitation for trouble, which inflamed both races. a riot ensued for which he was almost solely to blame.[ ] several whites were killed or wounded and one negro. from the guarded report of general swayne it was evident that the blame lay upon kelly for exciting the negroes. it was a most unfortunate affair at a critical period, and the people began to understand the kind of control that would be exercised over the blacks by alien politicians.[ ] in may the _alabama sentinel_, a short-lived reconstructionist newspaper in montgomery, assisted by a negro mass-meeting, nominated grant for the presidency and busteed for vice-president. the platform demanded that the negro have his rights at once or upon his oppressors must fall the consequences. the republican party was indorsed as the negro party, the only party that had done anything for the negro.[ ] when the registrars were appointed it was necessary, in order to get competent men, to import both blacks and whites into some districts. the whites were brought from north alabama or sent out from the bureau contingents in the towns. they were members of the union league, and it was a part of their duty to spread that organization among the negroes of the black belt, thus carrying out that part of their instructions which directed them to instruct the negroes in their rights and privileges.[ ] the radical organization steadily progressed, but even thus early two tendencies or lines of policy appeared which were to weaken the radicals and later to render possible their overthrow. the native white reconstructionists, living mostly in the white counties, wanted a reconstruction in which they (the native "unionists") should be the controlling element. they were in favor of negro suffrage as a necessary part of the scheme and because it would not directly interfere with them, as the negro was supposed to be content with voting. these white "scalawags" were thus to gather the fruits of reconstruction. but the "carpet-baggers," or the alien-bureau-missionary element, having worked among the negroes and learned their power over them, intended to use the negroes to secure office and power for themselves. they were less prejudiced against the negroes than were the "scalawags" and were willing to associate with them more intimately and to give them small offices when there were not enough carpet-baggers to take them. it was soon discovered that the native white "unionist" and the black "unionist," like oil and water, would not mingle. however, all united temporarily to gain the victory for reconstruction, each faction hoping to be the greater gainer. on june , , a "union republican convention" met in montgomery, and at the same time the union league held its convention. the union league was merely a select portion of the union republican convention and met at night to slate matters for the use of the convention next day. f. w. sykes of lawrence county[ ] was chairman _pro tem._, and william h. smith of randolph county was permanent chairman.[ ] the delegates to the convention consisted of a large number of office-seekers, "union" men, deserters, "scalawags," ex-union army officers, and employees of the freedmen's bureau, and negroes.[ ] there were one hundred negroes and fifty whites. the negroes sat on one side of the house and the whites on the other, but the committees were divided equally by color. the committee on permanent organization consisted of "three yankees," four "palefaces," and six negroes, who nominated several negroes and bureau men for officials.[ ] the _mail_ said that the negroes presented a better appearance than the whites, that they were cleaner and better dressed. general swayne took a prominent part in the proceedings, and with smith and the negroes voted out busteed.[ ] griffin (of ohio) from mobile offered a resolution dictated by swayne, declaring that the recent opinions of the attorney-general upon the registration of votes were dangerous to the restoration of the union according to the plan of congress.[ ] the proceedings were turbulent, there was much angry discussion, and the meeting ended in a fight after having indorsed the radical programme and declaring against the united states cotton tax and the state poll tax,[ ] and agreeing to support only "union" or "loyal" men for office.[ ] conservative opposition aroused though the leaders complained of the "appalling apathy of the whites in political matters,"[ ] a change was coming. the teachings of the radicals were beginning to have effect on the negroes, some of whom were becoming hostile to the whites and were resisting the white officers of the civil government. their old belief in "forty acres of land and a mule" was revived by the speeches of thaddeus stevens, which were widely circulated by the agents of the union league, who were sent through the country to distribute the speeches and to organize the movement resulting from it. many of the whites now began to believe that at last confiscation would be enforced and that the negroes and low whites of the union league would become the landowners.[ ] clanton had been at work for two months, and on july , as chairman of the state committee of the conservative party, called a convention of that party to meet in montgomery on september .[ ] meetings of the conservative party were held in the larger towns. a slight hope was entertained that the whites might be able, by uniting, to obtain some representation in the convention. at a meeting in montgomery, in august, joseph hodgson[ ] urged the people to take action and save the state from "brownlowism,"[ ] as the worst results were to be feared from inaction; the enemies of the conservatives were making every effort to control the constitutional convention; the conservatives were in favor of conceding every legitimate result of the war and were willing to grant suffrage to the negro by state action--the only legitimate way; at the same time the negro must assist in guaranteeing universal amnesty. the negroes were asked by the speaker to reflect and to learn for what purpose the radical leaders were using them. the best people of the state, he said, and not the worst, ought to reconstruct the state under the sherman law.[ ] although strenuous efforts were made to secure a large attendance at the conservative convention in september, there were only thirteen of the sixty-two counties represented. general m. j. bulger was chosen to preside. resolutions were adopted asserting the old constitutional view of the federal government and declaring that the present state of affairs was destructive of federal government, in which each state had the absolute right to regulate the suffrage. an appeal was made to the negroes not to follow the counsels of bad men and designing strangers. the convention favored the education of the negro so as to fit him for his moral and political responsibilities.[ ] about the time of the meeting of the conservative convention an event occurred which showed the results of the teachings of the radical leaders. a plan was formed by the more violent blacks to prevent the meeting of the conservatives. some of the more sensible negroes used their influence as a "special committee on the situation" to prevent the attempt to break up the convention, and l. j. williams, a prominent negro politician, was the chairman of the committee. the white radicals did nothing to prevent violence. later a negro conservative speaker was mobbed by the negroes and was rescued only by the aid of general clanton. other negroes who sided with the whites were expelled from their churches.[ ] the registrars continued to instruct "that part of the population which has heretofore been denied the right of suffrage" in the mysteries of citizenship or membership in the union league. by the time of the election they were so effectively instructed that they were sure to vote as they were told by the league leaders. nearly all of the respectable white members of the league in the black belt had fallen away, and but few remained in the white counties. governor patton yielded to radical pressure, wrote reconstruction letters, appeared at reconstruction meetings, and deferred much to pope and swayne. he was harshly criticised by the conservatives for pursuing such a course. the elections; the negro's first vote the elections, early in october, were the most remarkable in the history of the state. for the first time the late slaves were to vote, while many of their former masters could not. of the counties in alabama, had negro majorities (according to the registration) and had delegates of the total, and in nearly all of the others the negro minority held the balance of power.[ ] to control the negro vote the radicals devoted all the machinery of registration and election, of the union league, and of the freedmen's bureau. the chiefs of the league sent agents to the plantation negroes, who were showing some indifference to politics, with strict orders to go and vote. they were told that if they did not vote they would be reënslaved and their wives made to work the roads and quit wearing hoopskirts.[ ] in montgomery county, the day before election, the radical agents went through the county, summoning the blacks to come and vote, saying that swayne had ordered it and would punish them if they did not obey. the negroes came into the city by thousands in regularly organized bodies, under arms and led by the league politicians, and camped about the city waiting for the time to vote. the danger of outbreak was so great that the soldiers disarmed them. they did not know, most of them, what voting was. for what or for whom they were voting they knew not,--they were simply obeying the orders of their bureau chiefs.[ ] likewise, at clayton, the negroes were driven to town and camped the day before the election began. there was firing of guns all night. early the next morning the local leaders formed the negroes into companies and regiments and marched them, armed with shotguns, muskets, pistols, and knives, to the court-house, where the only polling place for the county was situated. the first day there were about three thousand of them, of all ages from fifteen to eighty years of age, and no whites were allowed to approach the sacred voting place. when drawn up in line, each man was given a ticket by the league representatives, and no negro was allowed to break ranks until all were safely corralled in the court-house square. many of the negroes had changed their names since they were registered, and their new ones were not on the books, but none lost a vote on that account.[ ] in marengo county the bureau and loyal league officers lined up the negroes early in the morning and saw that each man was supplied with the proper ticket. then the command, "forward, march!" was given, the line filed past the polling place, and each negro deposited his ballot. about twelve o'clock a bugle blew as a signal to repeat the operation, and all the negroes present, including most of those who had voted in the morning, lined up, received tickets, and voted again. late in the afternoon the farce was gone through the third time. any one voted who pleased and as often as he pleased.[ ] in dallas county the negroes were told that if they failed to vote they would be fined $ . the negroes at the polls were lined up and given tickets, which they were told to let no one see. however, in some cases the conservatives had also given tickets to negroes, and a careful inspection was made in order to prevent the casting of such ballots. the average negro is said to have voted once for himself and once "for jim who couldn't come." the registration lists were not referred to except when a white man offered to vote. most of the negroes had strange ideas of what voting meant. it meant freedom, for one thing, if they voted the radical ticket, and slavery if they did not. one negro at selma held up a blue (conservative) ticket and cried out, "no land! no mules! no votes! slavery again!" then holding up a red (radical) ticket he shouted, "forty acres of land! a mule! freedom! votes! equal of white man!" of course he voted the red ticket. numbers of them brought halters for their mules or sacks "to put it in." some country negroes were given red tickets and told that they must not be persuaded to part with them, as each ticket was good for a piece of land. the poor negroes did not understand this figurative language and put the precious red tickets in their pockets and hurried home to locate the land. another darky was given a ticket and told to vote--to put the ballot in the box. "is dat votin'?" "yes." "nuttin' more, master?" "no." "i thought votin' was gittin' sumfin." he went home in disgust. the legend of "lands and mules" was revived during the fall and winter of - , and many negroes were expecting a division of property. by this time they were beginning to feel that it was the fault of their leaders that the division did not take place, and there were threats against those who had made promises. however, the sellers of painted sticks again thrived--perhaps they had never ceased to thrive.[ ] general swayne reported about this time that the giving of the ballot to the negro had greatly improved his condition.[ ] the election went overwhelmingly for the convention and for the radical candidates. the revision of the voting lists before election struck off the names of many "improper" whites and placed none on the list; with the negroes the reverse was true. the whites had no hope of carrying the elections in most of the counties, and as the negroes were intensely excited, and as trouble was sure to follow in case the whites endeavored to vote or to control the negro vote, most of the conservatives refrained from voting. even at this time a large number of people were unable to believe seriously that the negro voting had come to stay. to them it seemed something absurd and almost ridiculous except for the ill feelings aroused among the negroes. such a state of affairs could not last long, they thought. two conservative delegates and ninety-eight radical delegates were elected to the convention.[ ] chapter xiv the "reconstruction" convention character of the convention the delegates elected to the convention were a motley crew--white, yellow, and black--of northern men, bureau officers, "loyalists," "rebels," who had aided the confederacy and now perjured themselves by taking the oath, confederate deserters, and negroes.[ ] the freedmen's bureau furnished eighteen or more of the one hundred members. there were eighteen blacks.[ ] thirteen more of the members had certified, as registrars, to their own election and with six other members had certified to the election of thirty-one, nineteen of whom were on the board of registration. no pretence of residence was made by the northern men in the counties from which they were elected. several had never seen the counties they represented, a slate being made up in montgomery and sent to remote districts to be voted for. of these northern men, or foreigners, there were thirty-seven or thirty-eight, from maine, massachusetts, connecticut, vermont, new york, pennsylvania, ohio, iowa, new jersey, illinois, ireland, canada, and scotland.[ ] the native whites were for the most part utterly unknown and had but little share in the proceedings of the convention.[ ] of the negro members two could write well and were fairly well educated, half could not write a word, and the others had been taught to sign their names and that was all. there were many negroes who could read and write, but they were not sent to the convention. perhaps the carpet-baggers feared trouble from them and wanted only those whom they could easily control.[ ] griffin of ohio was appointed temporary chairman, and on the motion of keffer of pennsylvania, robert barbour of new york was made temporary secretary and later permanent secretary. keffer nominated peck, a new yorker who had resided for some years in alabama, for president of the convention, and he was unanimously elected.[ ] there were several negro clerks in the convention. the disgusted conservatives designated the aggregation by various epithets, such as "the unconstitutional convention," "pope's convention," "swayne's world-renowned menagerie," "the circus," "black and tan," "black crook," etc. the last, which was probably given by the new york _herald_ correspondent, seems to have been the favorite name. the white people still persisted in looking upon the whole affair as a more or less irritating joke. the carpet-baggers intended that the convention should be purged of "improper" persons, and one of them proposed that the test oath be taken. this aroused opposition on the part of the ex-"rebels," who did not care to perjure themselves more than was necessary. coon of iowa then proposed a simple oath to support the constitution, which after some wrangling was taken.[ ] caraway, a negro, wanted no chaplain to officiate in the convention who had not remained loyal to the united states. skinner of franklin said: "let none offer prayer who are rebels and who have not fought under the stars and stripes." this was to prevent such reverend members of the convention as deal of dale from officiating. finally, the president was empowered to appoint the chaplain daily. a colored chaplain was called upon once in a while, and one of them invoked the blessings of god on "unioners and cusses on rebels."[ ] another way of showing the loyalty of the body was by directing a committee to bring in an ordinance changing the names of the counties "named in honor of rebellion and in glorification of traitors." keffer of pennsylvania was the author of this resolution. steed of cleburne wanted the name of his county changed to lincoln, and simmons of colbert wanted his county to be named brownlow. the test votes on such questions were about to in favor of changing. baine, colbert, and jones counties, established by the "johnson" government, were abolished.[ ] the president was directed to drape his chair with two "federal" flags. generals pope and swayne, and governor patton, as friends of reconstruction, were invited to seats in the convention and were asked to speak before the body. pope was becoming somewhat nervous at the conduct of the supreme rulers of the state and in his speech counselled moderation and fairness. he also commended them for the "firmness and fearlessness with which you have conducted the late campaigns," and congratulated them upon "the success which has thus far crowned your efforts in the pacification of this state and its restoration to the union."[ ] the most radical members of the convention were bringing pressure to bear to force pope to declare vacant at once all the offices of the provisional government and fill them with reconstructionists. in this they were aided by northern influence. pope, however, refused to make the change, and thus displeased the radicals, who wanted offices at once.[ ] the first ordinance of the convention reconstructed jones county, named for a confederate colonel, out of existence, and the second, third, and fourth arranged for the pay of the convention. the president received $ a day and the members $ each; the clerks from $ to $ , and the pages $ .[ ] the president and members received cents as mileage for each mile travelled. to cover these expenses an additional tax of per cent on taxes already assessed was levied. the comptroller refused to pay the members until ordered by pope. the latter hesitated to give the order, as he doubted if he had the authority. however, he finally said that he would order payment provided the compensation be fixed at reasonable rates, and that the payments be not made before the convention completed its work. he further added that the convention must be moderate in action; "i speak not more for the interests of alabama than for the interests of the political party upon whose retention of power for several years to come the success of reconstruction depends." when pope urged moderation, it is likely that something serious was the matter. a proposition to reduce the pay of the members from $ to $ per day was lost by a vote of to . a few days before the close of the convention, pope ordered the payment of the _per diem_ to the hungry delegates, many of whom refused to accept the state obligations called "patton money." they were told that it was receivable for taxes, and one answered for all: "oh, damn the taxes! we haven't got any to pay."[ ] the race question the colored delegates brought up the negro question in several forms. first, rapier of canada wanted a declaration that negroes were entitled to all the privileges and rights of citizenship in alabama.[ ] then strother of dallas demanded that the negroes be empowered to collect pay from those who held them in slavery, at the rate of $ a month for services rendered from january , , the date of the emancipation proclamation, to may , . an ordinance to this effect was actually adopted by a vote of to .[ ] the scalawags, as a rule, wished to prohibit intermarriage of the races, and semple of montgomery reported an ordinance to that effect. he would prohibit intermarriage to the fourth generation. the negroes and carpet-baggers united to vote this down, which was done by a vote of to . caraway (negro) of mobile wanted life imprisonment for any white man marrying or living with a black woman, but he said it was against the civil rights bill to prohibit intermarriage. this seems to have irritated the scalawags. gregory (negro) of mobile wanted all regulations, laws, and customs wherein distinctions were made on account of color or race to be abolished, and thus allow intermarriages. the convention refused to adopt the report providing against amalgamation.[ ] the mobile negroes alone seem to have been opposed to the prohibition of intermarriage. the convention of had recognized the validity of all slave marriages and had ordered that they be considered legal. during and the fickle negroes, male and female, made various experiments with new partners, and the result was that in thousands of negroes had forsaken the husband or wife of slavery times and "taken up" with others. all sorts of prosecutions were hanging over them, and an ordinance was passed for the relief of such people. it directed that marriages were to date from november , , and not from or earlier. all who were living together in were to be considered man and wife, and all prosecutions for former misconduct were forbidden.[ ] caraway (negro) of mobile succeeded in having an ordinance passed directing that church property used during slavery for colored congregations be turned over to the latter.[ ] some of this property was paid for by negro slaves and held in trust for them by white trustees. most of it, however, belonged to the planters, who erected churches for the use of their slaves. not much was said about separate or mixed schools for the races. there was a disposition on the part of the leaders to keep such questions in the background for a time in order to prevent irritating discussions. a proposition for separate schools was voted down on the ground that it was better for the children of both races to go to school together and wear off their prejudices. this was the carpet-baggers' view, but most of the blacks finally voted against a measure providing for mixed schools, because, they said, they did not want to send their children to school with white children. the matter was hushed up and left unsettled.[ ] in spite of efforts to keep the question in the background, the social equality of the negro race was demanded by one or two irrepressible mobile mulattoes, and a discussion was precipitated. the scalawags with few exceptions were opposed to admitting negroes to the same privileges as whites,--in theatres, churches, on railroads and boats, and at hotels,--though they were willing to require equal but separate accommodations for both races. semple reported from his committee an ordinance requiring equal and separate accommodations, but declared that equality of civil rights was not affected by such a measure. by a vote of to this measure failed to pass.[ ] griffin[ ] (white) of ohio briefly attacked semple for proposing such an iniquitous measure. mcleod (negro) said he did not exactly want social equality, and added "suppose one of you white gentlemen want a negro in the same car with you. the conductor would not allow it. this should be changed." caraway (negro) objected to having his wife travel in the coach with low and obscene white men. jim green (negro) said it was a "common thing to put cullud folks in de same cyar wid drunk and low white folks. we want nebber be subjic to no sich disgrace," but wanted to be allowed to go among decent white people. gregory (negro) made some scathing observations at the expense of semple and his associates, who were hoping to make political use of the negro, yet did not want to ride in the same car with him. how could the delegates, he said, go home to their constituents, nineteen-twentieths of whom were negroes, after voting against their enjoying the same rights as the whites? did semple feel polluted by sitting by finley, his colored colleague? why then should he object to sitting in the same car with him? he (gregory) was as good a man as napoleon on his throne, and could not be honored by sitting by a white man, but "in de ole worl de cullud folks ride wid de whites" and so it should be here. rapier (negro) of canada said that the manner in which colored gentlemen and ladies were treated in america was beyond his comprehension. he (rapier) had dined with lords in his lifetime, and though he did not feel flattered by sitting by a white man, yet he would vote for social equality. some of the negroes feebly opposed the agitation of the question on the ground that the civil and political rights of the negro were not yet safe and should not be endangered by the agitation of the social question. griffin of ohio and keffer of pennsylvania supported the negroes in all their demands. the carpet-baggers in general were in favor of social equality, but most of them thought it much more important that the spoils be secured first. the negroes were placated with numerous promises and by a special resolution opening the galleries to "their ladies" and inviting the latter to be present[ ] at the sessions of the convention. debates on disfranchisement the debates on the question of suffrage were the most extended and showed the most violent spirit on the part of most of the members. dustan of iowa proposed that the new constitution should in no degree be proscriptive, but his resolution was voted down by a vote of to . some of the negroes voted for it.[ ] rapier (negro) proposed that the convention memorialize congress to remove the political disabilities of those who might aid in reconstruction according to the plan of congress. this was adopted and griffin, the most radical member of the committee, was made chairman to make merciful recommendations. gardner of massachusetts, representing butler county, said that there were persons in the state who should have been tried and convicted of felony and would thus have been disfranchised, but owing to fault of courts and juries they were not convicted. he wanted a special commission to disfranchise such persons. the majority report on the franchise[ ] called for the disfranchisement of those who had mistreated union prisoners, those who were disfranchised by the reconstruction acts, and those who had registered under the acts and had later refrained from voting. such persons were not to be allowed to vote, register, or hold office. an oath was to be taken repudiating belief in the doctrine of secession, accepting the civil and political equality of all men, and agreeing never to attempt to limit the suffrage. "the only question is," they reported, "whether we have not been too liberal." it was necessary that all who registered be forced to vote in the election on pain of being disfranchised, in order to get a sufficient number of voters to the polls, though the report stated that congress was not bound by the law of march to reject the constitution if a majority did not vote; the convention had the right to say that men must vote or be disfranchised; as to the oath, any one who would refuse to take it had no faith in american principles and was hostile to the constitution and laws of the united states.[ ] the minority report[ ] objected to going beyond the acts of congress in disfranchising whites. lee (negro) said that such a course would endanger the ratification of the constitution and if the negroes did not get their rights now, they would never get them. he wanted his rights at the court-house and at the polls and nothing more. charity and moderation would be better than proscription.[ ] speed said that the measure would disfranchise from , to , men beyond the acts of congress.[ ] griffin of ohio, speaking in favor of the majority report, said that "the infernal rebels had acted like devils turned loose from hell," and that his party could not stand against them in a fair political field; and therefore proscription was necessary. another advocate of sweeping disfranchisement wanted all the leading whites disfranchised until , in order to prevent them from regaining control of the government.[ ] numerous amendments were offered to the majority report. haughey of scotland wanted to disfranchise all confederates above the rank of captain, and all who had held any civil office anywhere, or who had voted for secession. a stringent test oath was to discover the disabilities of would-be electors. again, he wanted every elector to prove that on november , , he was a friend of the reconstruction acts. he would have voters and office-holders swear to accept the civil and political equality of all men, and to resist any change, and also swear that they had never held office, aided the confederacy, nor given aid or comfort to confederates.[ ] nearly all the amendments included a provision forcing the voter or office-holder to accept the political and civil equality of all men, and to swear never to change. springfield of st. clair thought that all who were opposed to reconstruction should be disfranchised, and russell of barbour, with applegate of wisconsin, held that all confederates should be disfranchised who had voluntarily aided the confederacy.[ ] d. h. bingham of new york thought that voters should swear that on march , , they preferred the united states government to the confederacy, and would have abandoned the latter had they had the opportunity.[ ] applegate thought that no citizen, officer, or editor who opposed congressional reconstruction ought to be permitted to vote before .[ ] silsby of iowa would also exclude from the suffrage those who had killed negroes during the last two years, who opposed reconstruction, or dissuaded others from attending the election.[ ] garrison of blount wanted to disfranchise those who were in the convention of and voted for secession, confederate members of congress who voted for the conscription law, those disfranchised by the reconstruction acts, confederates above the rank of captain, and state and confederate officials of every kind above justice of the peace and bailiff.[ ] skinner of franklin wanted to disfranchise enough rebels to hold the balance of power. "we have the rod over their heads and intend to keep it there."[ ] the most liberal amendments were proposed by peters of lawrence, who would continue the disfranchisement made by congress unless the would-be voter would swear that he was in favor of congressional reconstruction. rapier (negro) would have all disabilities removed by the state as soon as they were removed by congress.[ ] the price of pardon in all ordinary cases was support of congressional reconstruction. the debate lasted for four days, and it was all that swayne could do to prevent a division in the radical party. an agent was sent to washington for instructions. the violent character of the proceedings of the convention made the northern friends of reconstruction nervous, and horace greeley persuaded senator wilson to exert his influence to prevent the adoption of extreme measures by the convention. wilson wrote to swayne that the convention and especially such men as d. h. bingham were doing much harm to reconstruction and to the republican party. the northern republican press generally seemed afraid of the action of the convention, and suggested more liberal measures. so we find pope and swayne advocating moderation.[ ] peck, the president of the convention, still spoke out for the test oath and disfranchisement. it was necessary to secure the fruits of reconstruction, and the test oath would keep out many; but, he said, if the old leaders, who were honorable men, should take the oath, they would abide by it,[ ] and reconstruction would then be safe. the oath finally adopted, which had to be taken by all who would vote or hold office, was the usual oath to support the constitution and laws with the following additions: "i accept the civil and political equality of all men; and agree not to attempt to deprive any person or persons, on account of race, color or previous condition, of any political or civil right, privilege or immunity, enjoyed by any other class of men; and furthermore, that i will not in any way injure or countenance in others any attempt to injure any person or persons on account of past or present support of the government of the united states, the laws of the united states, or the principles of the political and civil equality of all men, or for affiliation with any political party."[ ] it was finally settled that in addition to those disfranchised by the reconstruction acts others should be excluded for violation of the rules of war.[ ] they could neither register, vote, nor hold office until relieved by the vote of the general assembly for aiding in reconstruction, and until they had accepted the political equality of all men.[ ] it was estimated that the suffrage clause would disfranchise from voting or holding office , white men. the oath was likely to exclude still more. bingham thought the oath as adopted was a back-down, and demanded the iron-clad oath. the committee on the franchise wanted to prohibit the legislature from enfranchising any person unless he had aided in reconstruction.[ ] legislation by the convention the convention organized a new militia system, giving most of the companies to the black counties. all officers were to be loyal to the united states, that is, they were to be reconstructionists. no one who was disfranchised could enlist. the proceeds of the sale of contraband and captured property taken by the militia were to be used in its support.[ ] stay laws were enacted to go into force with the adoption of the constitution, also exemption laws which exempted from sale for debt more property than nineteen-twentieths of the people possessed.[ ] the war debt of alabama was again declared void, and the ordinance of secession stigmatized as "unconstitutional, null and void."[ ] contracts made during the war, when the consideration was confederate money, were declared null and void at the option of either party, as were also notes payable in confederate money and debts made for slaves. bingham forced through an ordinance providing for a new settlement in united states currency of trust estates settled during the war in confederate securities.[ ] judicial decisions in aid of the war were declared void. defendants in civil cases against whom judgment was rendered during the war were entitled to a revision or to a new trial.[ ] the negroes were complaining about the cotton tax, and a memorial was addressed to congress, asking for its repeal on the ground that when the tax was imposed the state had no voice in the government; that it was oppressive, amounting to per cent of the gross value of the cotton crop, and fell heavily on the negroes, who were the principal producers; that for two years the tax had made cotton cultivation unprofitable, and had driven away capital.[ ] a memorial to congress was adopted by a vote of to , asking that the part of the reconstruction law which required a majority of the registered voters to vote in the election for the adoption of the constitution be repealed. it was now seen that the conservatives would endeavor to defeat the constitution by refraining from voting.[ ] an ordinance was passed to protect the newly enfranchised negro voters. the penalty for using "improper influence" and thereby deceiving or misleading an elector was to be not less than one nor more, than ten years' imprisonment or fine of not more than $ . the election was ordered for february , , to be held under direction of the military commander. in order to bring out a large number of voters, elections were ordered for the same time for all state and county officers, and for members of congress--several thousand in all. the officers thus elected were to enter at once upon their duties, and hold office for the proper term of years, dating from the legal date for the next general election after the admission of the state.[ ] among the scalawag members of the convention, who saw that the carpet-baggers would rule the land by controlling the negro vote, there was much dissatisfaction and at length open revolt. nine members signed a formal protest against the proposed constitution, stating that a government framed upon its provisions would entail upon the state greater evils than any that then threatened.[ ] another member protested against the test oath, against the extension of proscription, and against the absence of express provision for separate schools.[ ] the constitution was adopted by a vote of to , not voting. a few days after the adjournment, or scalawag members united in an address to the people of alabama, protesting against the proposed constitution because it was more proscriptive than the acts of congress, because of the test oath, because the course of the convention had shown that the government would be in the hands of a few adventurers under the control of the blacks, to whom they had promised mixed schools and laws protecting the negro in his rights of voting, eating, travelling, etc., with whites. for these reasons they urged that the constitution be rejected.[ ] just before the convention adjourned, caraway (negro) offered a resolution, which was adopted, stating that the constitution was founded on justice, honesty, and civilization, and that the enemies of law and order, freedom and justice, were pledged to prevent its adoption. but he asserted that god would strengthen and assist those who did right; therefore he advised that a day be set apart "whereby the good and loyal people of alabama can offer up their adorations to almighty god, and invoke his aid and assistance to the loyal people of the state, while passing through the bitter strife that seems to await them."[ ] a study of the votes and debates leads to the following general conclusion: the majority of the scalawags were ready to revolt after finding that the carpet-bag element had control of the negro vote; the negroes with a few exceptions made no unreasonable and violent demands unless urged by the carpet-baggers; the carpet-baggers with a few extreme scalawags were disposed to resort to extreme measures of proscription in order to get rid of white leaders and white majorities, and to agitate the question of social equality in order to secure the negroes, and to drive off the scalawags so that there would be fewer with whom to share the spoils.[ ] chapter xv the "reconstruction" completed "convention" candidates the debates in the convention over mixed schools, proscription, militia, and representation had seemingly resulted in a division between the carpet-baggers, who controlled the negroes, and the more moderate scalawags. the carpet-baggers and extreme scalawags of the convention resolved themselves into a body for the nomination of candidates for office. this body formed the state union league convention. of the delegates to the convention, or had signed the constitution, and of these at least were candidates for office under it. full tickets were nominated by the convention and by the local councils of the union league. in the black counties only members of the league were nominated, and it was practically the same in the white counties, where the league then had but few members. nearly all the election officials were candidates. men represented one county in the convention, and were candidates in others for office.[ ] "convention" candidates ====================================================================== name | nativity | candidate for -------------------|------------------------------|------------------- ben alexander |negro |legislature a. j. applegate |ohio and wisconsin |lieutenant governor w. a. austin |negro |state senate arthur bingham |new york |state treasurer w. h. black |ohio |probate judge w. t. blackford |illinois |probate judge samuel blandon |negro |legislature mark brainard |new york |clerk circuit court alfred e. buck |maine |clerk circuit court c. w. buckley |new york, mass., and illinois |congress w. m. buckley* |new york and massachusetts |state senator j. h. burdick |iowa |probate judge john caraway |negro |legislature pierce burton |massachusetts |legislature j. collins |north |state senate datus e. coon |iowa |state senate tom diggs |negro |legislature charles w. dustan |iowa |major-general militia s. s. gardner |massachusetts |legislature george ely |new york, conn., and mass. |probate judge peyton finley |negro |legislature jim green |negro |legislature ovide gregory |negro |legislature thomas haughey |scotland |congress g. horton |massachusetts |probate judge benjamin inge |negro |legislature a. w. jones* |alabama |probate judge columbus jones |negro |legislature john c. keffer |pennsylvania |supt. of industrial | | resources s. f. kennemer |alabama |legislature tom lee |negro |legislature david lore |negro (?) |legislature j. j. martin |georgia |probate judge b. o. masterson |unknown |legislature c. a. miller |massachusetts and maine |secretary of state stephen moore* |alabama (?) |senate a. l. morgan |indiana |clerk circuit court j. f. morton* |unknown |senate b. w. norris |maine |congress e. w. peck |new york |chief justice thomas m. peters |tennessee |supreme court g. p. plowman |alabama |probate judge r. m. reynolds |iowa |auditor benjamin rolfe |new york |tax collector b. f. royal |negro |senate b. f. saffold |alabama |supreme court j. silsby* |massachusetts |clerk circuit court c. p. simmons |tennessee |commissioner william p. skinner |alabama |chancellor l. r. smith* |massachusetts |circuit judge h. j. springfield* |alabama |legislature n. d. stanwood* |maine and massachusetts |legislature j. p. stow |connecticut |senate littleberry strange|georgia |circuit judge james r. walker* |georgia |sheriff b. l. whelan |georgia, ireland, and mich. |circuit judge c. o. whitney |north |senate j. a. yordy |north |senate[ ] ====================================================================== the state of politics in the average black belt county was like that in perry or montgomery. in perry, the radical nominees for probate judge, state senator, sheriff, and tax assessor were from wisconsin; for representative, two negroes and one white from ohio, and for tax collector, a northern man.[ ] in montgomery, for the legislature, one white from ohio and one from austria, and three negroes; for probate judge, clerk of circuit court, sheriff, and tax assessor, men from new york and other northern states.[ ] one or two negroes ran independently in each black belt county. in the white counties the extreme scalawags had a better chance for office, and most of the moderate reconstructionists fell away at once, leaving the spoils to the radicals. it is doubtful if there were enough white men in the state who could read and write and who supported the new constitution, to fill the offices created by that instrument. hence the assignment of candidates to far-off counties, and the admission of negro candidates.[ ] the state ticket was headed by an alabama tory, william h. smith, and the other candidates for state offices were from ohio, pennsylvania, maine, and new york, five of them being officers of the freedmen's bureau.[ ] the candidates for congress were from massachusetts, ohio, michigan, new york, maine, and nebraska. in several instances the candidate hailed from two or more different states.[ ] campaign on the constitution the campaign in behalf of the constitution did not differ in character from that in behalf of the convention. the radical candidates for office, working through the union league, drilled the negroes in the proper political faith. nearly all the whites having gone over to the conservatives, or withdrawn from politics, little or no attention was paid to the white voters. all efforts were directed toward securing the negro vote. agents were sent over the state by the league to organize the negroes, who were again told the old story: if the constitution is not ratified, you will be reënslaved and your wives will be beaten and your children sold; if you do not get your rights now you will never get them. a subsidized press[ ] distributed campaign stories among those negroes who could read, and they spread the news. in this way the remotest darky heard that he was sure to return to slavery if the constitution failed of ratification.[ ] the union league assessed its members, especially those who happened to be holding office under the military government, for money for campaign purposes.[ ] the radicals were forced by the general denunciation of the constitution, both in the north and in the south, to make some statement in regard to the matter. so on january , , the radical campaign committee issued an address stating that there had been general and severe criticism of some features of the constitution, and that congress would expect a revision, though the state would be admitted promptly even before revision. the existence of political disabilities need not fetter the party, the address stated, in the choice of a candidate. a republican nomination was a proof that the candidate was a "proper" person, and his disabilities would be at once removed. this was a way to mitigate the proscription.[ ] from the first the conservatives[ ] had no hope of carrying the election against the reconstructionists, who had control of the machinery of election and were supported by the army and the government. there was little organized opposition to the convention election, because the people were indifferent and because the leaders feared that a contest at the polls would result in riots with the negroes. to the conservatives the convention at first was a joke; the disposition was rather to stand off and keep quiet, and let the radicals try their hands for a while; they could not stay in power forever. later, the violent opinions and extreme measures of the convention excited the alarm of many of the whites; the moderate reconstructionists deserted their party; a large minority of the convention refused to sign the constitution; and a number made formal protests. the nomination of candidates by the union league membership of the convention and the character of the nominees showed that rule by alien and negro was threatened. the conservative party, now embracing nearly all the whites except the radical candidates, determined to oppose the ratification of the constitution. many of the whites,[ ] now thoroughly discouraged, left the state forever--going to the north and west, to texas especially, and to south america and mexico.[ ] on december a number of the delegates to the convention, some of whom had signed the constitution, united in an address to the people advising against its adoption. all of them were native whites and former reconstructionists. they declared that under the proposed government designing knaves and political adventurers, who had a jealous hatred of the native whites, would use the blacks for their own selfish purposes; that this was clearly shown in the convention when the black delegation, with one honorable exception, moved like slaves at the command of their masters.[ ] several hundred citizens sent a petition to the president, setting forth that some of the delegates to the convention were not residents of the state, that others did not, and had not, resided in the counties which they pretended to represent, and that others belonged to the army or were officials of the freedmen's bureau, and were thus not legally qualified to sit in the convention. the petitioners asked for an investigation.[ ] one of the delegates, graves of perry county, took the stump against the constitution framed by "strangers, deserters, bushwhackers, and perjured men," who were characterized by "a fiendish desire to disqualify all southern men from voting or holding office who are unwilling to perjure themselves with a test oath."[ ] the so-called "white man's movement" in alabama is said to have been originated in , by alexander white and ex-governor l. e. parsons.[ ] at a conservative meeting in dallas county, in january, , the former offered a series of resolutions declaring that american institutions were the product of the wisdom of white men and were designed to preserve the ascendency of the white race in political affairs; that the united states government was a white man's government, and that white men should rule america; that the negro was not fit to take part in the government, as he had never achieved civilization nor shown himself capable of directing the affairs of a nation; that the right of suffrage was the fountain of all political power, therefore the negro should not be invested with the right. parsons proposed the same resolutions at a conservative conference in montgomery in january, .[ ] the conservative executive committee decided to advise the whites to refrain from voting, and thus defeat the constitution by taking advantage of the law requiring a majority of the registered voters to vote on the question of ratification before the constitution could be ratified. no nominations for office were made for fear that some whites might thus vote on the constitution, and also for fear of conflicts between the races in case of contest at the polls. all were advised to register and to remain away from the polls on election day. it was thought that less irritation would be caused in congress and elsewhere if the constitution failed in this way than if it were voted down directly. the whites could be more easily persuaded to remain away than to go to the polls, and fewer negroes would vote if the whites did not vote. the people were urged to form organizations to carry out this non-participating programme.[ ] in every county in the state the conservatives held meetings, opposing the constitution and pledging all the whites to stay away from the polls. the conservative press from day to day made known new objections to the constitution: it exempted from sale for debt $ worth of property,--whereas the old constitution exempted $ ,--and this would exempt every radical in the state from paying his debts; the power of taxation was in the hands of the non-taxpayers; the distribution of representation was unequal, favoring the black counties;[ ] mixed schools and amalgamation of the races were not forbidden, but were encouraged by the reconstructionists; a large number of whites were disfranchised from voting or holding office,[ ] while all the blacks were enfranchised; the test oath required all voters to swear that they would accept the political equality of the negro and never change their opinions; the board of education was given legislative power, and could pass measures over the governor's veto; an ordinance, which was kept secret, required the governor to organize at once companies of militia, to be assigned almost entirely to the black counties, and under such regulations that it was certain that few whites could serve; this militia, when in service, was to be paid like the regular army, and was to get the proceeds from all property captured or confiscated by it; the government, under this constitution, would cost from one and a half to two million dollars a year.[ ] under the proposed constitution it was certain that for a while the government would be in the hands of the extremest radical clique. the machinery, of the radical party, of the registration and elections and the candidates nominated by the league were of this faction. the continued rule of the military was preferred by the whites to the rule of the carpet-baggers and the negro. another reason why the conservatives wished to keep the state out of the union still longer was to prevent its electoral vote from being cast for grant in the fall of . during and grant's moderate opinions had won the regard of many of the people, but his course during the last year had caused him to be intensely disliked. though many meetings were held in opposition to the constitution, the campaign on the conservative side was quiet and unexciting. the thirtieth day of january was set apart as a day of fasting and prayer to deliver the people of alabama "from the horrors of negro domination."[ ] vote on the constitution the registration before the election of delegates to the convention was , ,[ ] of whom , were whites and , were blacks. registration continued, and all the eligible whites registered. it is probable that more whites than negroes registered during december and january. and the revision demanded by all honest people evidently had the effect of striking off thousands of negro names; for at the end of the year the registration stood: whites, , ; blacks, , ; total, , .[ ] by february , , the registration amounted to about , ,[ ] of whom about , were whites and , were blacks. therefore, more than , registered voters must participate in the election, or, according to the law, the constitution would fail of adoption.[ ] the registrars were those who had been appointed by pope in . more than half of them were candidates for election to office. meade was not favorably impressed with the character of the candidates nominated by the constitutional convention and by the local councils of the union league, and he advised against holding the election for officers at the same time that the vote was taken on the constitution. he thought that the nominees were not such men as the friends of reconstruction would choose if they had a free choice. he believed that the ratification would be seriously affected if these candidates were to be voted for at the same time. swayne admitted the force of the objection, but was afraid that a revocation of the permission to elect officers at the same time would be disastrous to reconstruction. later he agreed that the two elections should not be held at the same time. but grant objected to making the change, and the election went on.[ ] general hayden, swayne's successor, removed a dozen or more of the registrars who were candidates for important offices,[ ] and in consequence was abused by the radicals, who accused him of "hobnobbing with the rebels." he was "utterly loathed by loyal men," and they at once began to work for his removal.[ ] every election official was obliged to take the iron-clad test oath, and as one-third of them were negroes, it was not likely that any of them were hostile to reconstruction, as was afterwards claimed. the elections were to begin on february and last for two days. at the suggestion of general grant the time was extended to four days, and a storm coming on the first day, instructions were sent out to keep the polls open until the close of the th of february. but in the remote counties no notice of the extension of time was received. there were three voting places in each county and a person might vote at any one of them (or at all of them if he chose). late instructions ordered election officials to receive the vote of any person who had registered anywhere in the state. of the counties, voted four days; , two days; , five days; and in there were no elections.[ ] besides being told the old stories of returning to slavery, of forty acres and a mule, of social rights, etc., various new promises were made to the negroes. one was promised a divorce if he would vote for reynolds as auditor, and it was said that reynolds kept his promise, and saw that the negro afterward secured it. numerous negro politicians were, according to promise, relieved from "the pains of bigamy" by the first reconstruction legislation. the discipline of the league was brought to bear on indifferent black citizens, and by threats of violence or of proscription many were driven to the polls. on february the negroes began to flock to the voting places, each with a gun, a stick, a dog, and a bag of rations, as directed by their white leaders. it was again necessary for them to vote "early and often." the radical candidates were desperately afraid that the constitution would fail of ratification, and every means was taken to swell the number of votes cast. many negroes voted rolls of tickets given them by the candidates. they voted one day in one precinct, and the next day in another, or several times in the same place. little attention was paid to the registration lists, but every negro over sixteen who presented himself was allowed to vote. hundreds of negro boys voted; it was said that none were ever turned away. where the whites had men at the polls to challenge voters, it was found almost impossible to follow the lists because so many of the negroes had changed their names since registration. the sick at their homes sent their proxies by their friends or relatives. in one case the radicals voted negroes under the names of white men who were staying away. the voters migrated from one county to another during the elections and voted in each. this was especially the case in mobile, marengo, montgomery, macon, lee, russell, greene, dallas, hale, and barbour counties.[ ] the _mobile register_ claimed that negro women were dressed in men's clothes and voted. the radical chairman of the board of registration in perry county stated that one-third of the votes polled in that county were illegal.[ ] in mobile, when a negro man appeared whose name was not on the voting list and was challenged by the conservatives, he was directed by a "pirate"[ ] to go to one d. g. johnson, a registrar, who would give him, not a certificate of registration, but a ballot, indorsed with the voter's name and johnson's signature. this ballot was to serve as a certificate and was also to be voted.[ ] the constitution fails of adoption the result of the voting was: for the constitution, , votes; against it, . the , white votes for the convention had dwindled down to for the constitution. for ratification, , more votes were necessary, and the ratification had failed. so general meade reported. the reasons for the falling off of the white vote have already been indicated. the black vote fell off also. one cause of this was the chilling of the negro's faith in his political leaders, who had made so many promises about farms, etc., and had broken them all. many of the old aristocratic negroes would have nothing to do with such leaders as the carpet-baggers and scalawags, and this class and many others also were influenced by the whites to stay away from the polls. the general absence of respectable whites at the elections made it easier to convince the old conservative negroes.[ ] in two white counties--dale and henry--no elections were held because there were not enough reconstructionists to act as election officials.[ ] some whites, probably not many, were kept away by threats of social and business ostracism. most of the reconstructionists cared nothing for such threats, as they could not be injured.[ ] the radicals explained the result of the election by asserting that many whites were registered illegally, foreigners, minors, etc., that the voters were intimidated by threats of violence, social ostracism, and discharge from employment; that the voting places were too few and the time too short in many of the counties; that there was a great storm and the rivers were flooded, preventing access to the polls in some places;[ ] that the conservatives interfered with the votes, and tore off that part of the ballot that contained the vote on the constitution; that many election officials were hostile to reconstruction, and had turned off , voters because of slight defects in the registration; that there were not , voters in the state but only , , as several thousand had removed from the state; that in spite of all obstructions the vote for the constitution, if properly counted, was , instead of , , and that there were , "loyal" voters in the state; that the ballot-boxes in lowndes county were stolen, and that the returns from baine, colbert, and jones counties had been fraudulently thrown out;[ ] that general hayden had especially desired the defeat of reconstruction, and that he had managed the election in such a way as to enable the "rebels" to gain an apparent victory; and that practically all the army officers were opposed to the radical programme, which was now true; and finally, that the attendance of conservatives as challengers at the polls in some places was "a means of preventing the full and free expression of opinion by the ballot."[ ] after a thorough investigation general meade reported that the election had been quiet, and that there had been no disorder of any kind; that there had been no frauds in mutilating negroes' tickets by tearing off the vote for the constitution, and that the other charges of fraud would prove as illusive; that the vote for the governor and other officials was less than that for the constitution; and that a more liberal constitution would have commanded a majority of votes. he said, "i am satisfied that the constitution was lost on its merits;" that the constitution was fairly rejected by the people, under the law requiring a majority of the registered voters to cast their ballots for or against, and that this rejection was based on the merits of the constitution itself was proved by the fact that out of , white voters for the convention, there were only for the constitution; it might also be partially explained by the fact that the constitutional convention had made nominations to all the state offices, which ticket was "not acceptable in all respects to the party favoring reconstruction."[ ] he recommended that congress reassemble the convention, which should revise the constitution, eliminating the objectionable features, and again submit it to the people. however, as he afterwards stated, "my advice was not followed." the tone of meade's report showed that he did not expect congress to refuse to admit the state. indeed, at times the staid general seemed almost to approach something like disrespect toward that highly honorable body. when the radicals began to make an outcry about fraud, meade complained that they were not specific in their charges, and told the leaders to get their proofs ready. the state radical executive committee issued instructions for all radicals to collect affidavits concerning high water, storms, obstruction, fraud, violence, intimidation, and discharge, and send them to the radical agents at washington, who were urging the admission of the state, notwithstanding the rejection of the constitution. they refused to send these reports to meade, who was not in sympathy with the radical programme. many of what purported to be affidavits of men discharged from employment for voting were printed for the use of congress. most of them were signed by marks and gave no particulars. the usual statement was "for the reason of voting at recent election."[ ] the _nationalist_ gave fifteen flippant reasons why the constitution had failed, and then asserted that the state was sure to be admitted in spite of the failure of ratification. agents were sent to washington to urge the acceptance by congress of the constitution and radical ticket. at first all, however, were not hopeful. there was a general exodus of the less influential carpet-baggers from the state, such a marked movement that the negroes afterwards complained of it. some returned north; others went to assist in the reconstruction of other states.[ ] c. c. sheets, a native radical, speaking of the failure of the ratification, declared that a year earlier the state might have been reconstructed according to the plan of congress, but a horde of army officers sent south, followed by a train of office-seekers, went into politics, and these "with the help of a class here at home even less fit and less honest," if possible, had disgusted every one.[ ] while waiting for congress to act, the so-called legislature met, february , , at the office of the _sentinel_ in montgomery. applegate, the candidate for lieutenant-governor, called the "senate" to order, and harangued them as follows: congress would recognize whatever they might do; it was absolutely necessary for the assembly to act before congress, as the life of the nation was in danger and there was a pressing "necessity for two senators from alabama to sit upon the trial of that renegade and traitor, andrew johnson"; he stated that general meade was in consultation with them and would sustain them;[ ] if protection were necessary, major-general dustan[ ] could, at short notice, surround them with several regiments of loyal militia.[ ] they attempted to transact some business, but the unfriendly attitude of meade and hayden discouraged them; and they disbanded, to await the action of congress. the alabama question in congress february , , a few days after the election, bingham of ohio introduced a joint resolution in the house to admit alabama with its new constitution.[ ] the radicals of alabama assumed that it was only a question of a short time before they would be in power. on march , stevens, from the committee on reconstruction, reported a bill for the admission of alabama. during the lengthy debate which followed, the radical leaders undertook to show that when congress passed the law of march , it did not know what it was doing, and that therefore the law could not now be considered binding. the carpet-bag stories about frauds in the election, icy rivers, etc., were again told. during the debates it developed that beck of kentucky and brooks of new york, the minority members of the committee on reconstruction, had not been notified of the meeting of the committee, which was called to meet at the house of stevens, and hence knew nothing of the report until it was printed. they made strong speeches against the bill and introduced the protests of the delegates to the convention, the reports of meade, and the petition of the whites of the state against the proposed measure, and on march introduced the minority report, which had to be read as part of a speech in order to get it printed. it was a summary of the conservative objections to the constitution. for the moment thaddeus stevens seemed to be convinced that it was not desirable to admit alabama. "after a full examination," he said, "of the final returns from alabama, which we had not got when this bill was drawn, i am satisfied, for one, that to force a vote on this bill and admit the state against our own law, when there is a majority of twenty odd thousand against the constitution, would not be doing such justice in legislation as will be expected by the people." so the measure was withdrawn.[ ] but the next day farnsworth of illinois reported a new bill providing for the admission of alabama. he argued that whites had voted for the constitution, and that , whites belonged to the union leagues in the state,[ ] and that only by fraud had the constitution been defeated. kelly of pennsylvania, of "mobile riot" fame, said that "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." he was convinced that typographical and clerical errors in the voting lists had turned thousands away.[ ] spalding of ohio proposed a substitute, which was adopted, making the new constitution the fundamental law for a provisional government, and placing in office the candidates who were voted for. the legislature was to be convened to adopt amendments to the constitution and resubmit the latter to the people. the bill passed the house, but was not taken up in the senate.[ ] in the debates on this bill paine of wisconsin said: "these men [the whites] during the war were traitors. they have no right to vote or to hold office, and for the present this dangerous power is most rightfully withheld." williams, a republican of pennsylvania, objected to accepting a negro minority government. stevens closed the debate, saying that congress had passed an act "authorizing alabama and other waste territories of the united states to form constitutions so as, if possible, to make them fit to associate with civilized communities"; the house had foreseen difficulties about requiring a majority to vote, and had passed an act to remedy it, but the senate had let it lie for two months; he knew that he was outside the constitution, which did not provide for such a case; he wanted to shackle the whites in order to protect the blacks.[ ] the effect of establishing a new provisional government on the basis of the constitution just rejected would be to require a new registration and disfranchisement according to that instrument. the proposal pleased the local radicals very much. this plan was probably preferred by all the would-be officers except those who had been candidates for congress and who could not sit until the state was admitted. the _nationalist_[ ] said: "if we can get the offices, we, and not a 'military saphead' [meade], can conduct the next election; we can by the spalding bill get the government, rule the state as long as we please provisionally, and, when satisfied we can hold our own against the rebels, submit the constitution to a vote. we must wait until sure of a republican majority if we have to wait five years."[ ] the carpet-baggers were in high hope. a girl applied to one of the managers of the montgomery "soup house" for a ticket for ten days, saying that she would not need it longer, as her father by the end of that time would be a judge.[ ] the whites began to close ranks, to leave no room in their midst for the white man of the north, the ruler and ally of the black. social and business ostracism was declared against all who should take office under the reconstruction acts. they were turned away from respectable hotels.[ ] the _independent monitor_, now the head and front of opposition to reconstruction, gave the following advice to the white people, who, however, did not need it: "we reiterate the advice hitherto offered to those of our southern people who are not ashamed to honor the service of the 'lost cause' and the memory of their kith and kin whose lives were nobly laid down to save the survivors from a subjection incomparably more tolerable in contemplation than in realization. that advice is not to touch a loyal leaguer's hand; taste not of a loyal leaguer's hospitality; handle not a loyal leaguer's goods. oust him socially; break him pecuniarily; ignore him politically; kick him contagiously; hang him legally; or lynch him clandestinely--provided he becomes a nuisance as claus or wilson."[ ] the conservative executive committee addressed a memorial to congress against the proposed measures. in conclusion the address stated: "we are beset by secret oath-bound political societies, our character and conduct are systematically misrepresented to you and in the newspapers of the north; the intelligent and impartial administration of just laws is obstructed; industry and enterprise are paralyzed by the fears of the white men and the expectation of the black that alabama will soon be delivered over to the rule of the latter; and many of our people are, for these reasons, leaving the homes they love for other and stranger lands. continue over us, if you will, your own rule by the sword. send down among us honorable and upright men of your own people, of the race to which you and we belong, and, ungracious, contrary to wise policy and the institutions of the country, and tyrannous as it will be, no hand will be raised among us to resist by force their authority. but do not, we implore you, abdicate your rule over us, by transferring us to the blighting brutality and unnatural dominion of an alien and inferior race."[ ] alabama readmitted to the union the proposition to establish a radical provisional government for alabama was forgotten in the senate during the progress of the impeachment trial, and on may stevens introduced a bill providing for the admission of georgia, louisiana, north and south carolina, and alabama.[ ] a motion by woodbridge of vermont to strike alabama from the bill was lost by a vote of to . farnsworth said it was nonsense to make any distinction between alabama and the other states. the bill passed the house on may , by a vote of to , and went to the senate. on june trumbull from the judiciary committee reported the bill with alabama struck out because the constitution had not been ratified according to law. wilson of massachusetts moved to insert alabama in the bill. alabama, he said, was the strongest of all the states for the policy of congress, and it would be unjust to leave her out. sherman repeated the old charges of fraud in the elections, which had been contradicted by general meade, from whose report sherman quoted garbled extracts. it was absolutely necessary, he said, to admit alabama in order to settle the fourteenth amendment before the presidential election. hendricks of indiana objected because of proscriptive clauses in the constitution, which would disfranchise from , to , men. pomeroy of kansas said it would be "a cruel thing" to admit the other states and leave out alabama. morton of indiana was of the opinion that the bill with alabama in it would pass over the president's veto as well as without it, and said that congress must waive the condition and admit alabama.[ ] the radicals of alabama kept the wires hot sending telegrams to their agents in washington and to wilson and sumner, urging the inclusion of alabama in the bill. on june the senate in committee of the whole amended the bill as reported from the committee on the judiciary by inserting alabama. on this the vote stood to . the next day senator trumbull moved to strike out alabama, but the motion was lost by a vote of to . so the report of the judiciary committee was revised by the insertion of alabama, and the bill passed by a vote of to , not voting.[ ] the house committee on reconstruction recommended concurrence in certain amendments that the senate had made, which was done by a vote of to , not voting. the bill was then signed by the speaker and the president _pro tem._ of the senate and sent to the president.[ ] the president returned the bill with his veto on june . "in the case of alabama," he said, "it violates the plighted faith of congress by forcing upon that state a constitution which was rejected by the people, according to the express terms of an act of congress requiring that a majority of the registered electors should vote upon the question of its ratification."[ ] the bill was at once passed by both houses over the president's veto, in the senate by a vote of to , not voting, and in the house by a vote of to , not voting.[ ] the bill as passed declared that alabama with the other southern states had adopted by large majorities the constitutions recently framed, and that as soon as each state by its legislature should ratify the fourteenth amendment it should be admitted to representation upon the fundamental condition "that the constitution of neither of said states shall ever be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the united states of the right to vote in said state who are entitled to vote by the constitution thereof herein recognized" except as a punishment for crime.[ ] as soon as the new legislature should meet and ratify the fourteenth amendment, the officers of the state were to be inaugurated. no one was to hold office who was disqualified by the proposed fourteenth amendment.[ ] june , grant wrote to meade that to avoid question he should remove the present provisional governor and install the governor and lieutenant-governor elect, this to take effect at the date of convening the legislature. so in july, by general order, governor patton was removed and smith and applegate installed. after the ratification of the fourteenth amendment by the legislature, meade directed all provisional officials to yield to their duly elected successors. the military commanders transferred state property, papers, and prisoners to the state authorities.[ ] and for six years the carpet-bagger, scalawag, and negro, with the aid of the army, misruled the state. the members of congress returned from their migrations[ ] and presented themselves with their credentials to congress.[ ] brooks of new york objected to the admission of these men on the ground that they were there in violation of the act of congress in force at the time of the election. but on july all were admitted by a vote of to , not voting. after taking the iron-clad test oath, they took their seats among the nation's lawmakers. spencer and warner were admitted to the senate on july , and also took the iron-clad oath.[ ] [illustration: some radical members of congress. senator george e. spencer. senator willard warner. c. w. buckley. john b. callis. j. t. rapier. charles hays.] chapter xvi the union league of america origin of the union league in order to understand the absolute control exercised over the blacks by the alien adventurers, as shown in the elections of - , it will be necessary to examine the workings of the secret oath-bound society popularly known as the "loyal league." the iron discipline of this order wielded by a few able and unscrupulous whites held together the ignorant negro masses for several years and prevented any control by the conservative whites. the union league movement began in the north in , when the outlook for the northern cause was gloomy. the moderate policy of the washington government had alienated the extremists; the confederate successes in the field and democratic successes in the elections, the active opposition of the "copperheads" to the war policy of the administration, the rise of the secret order of the knights of the golden circle in the west opposed to further continuance of the war, the strong southern sympathies of the higher classes of society, the formation of societies for the dissemination of democratic and southern literature, the low ebb of loyalty to the government in the north, especially in the cities--all these causes resulted in the formation of union leagues throughout the north.[ ] this movement began among those associated in the work of the united states sanitary commission. these people were important neither as politicians nor as warriors, and they had sufficient leisure to observe the threatening state of society about them. "loyalty must be organized, consolidated, and made effective," they declared. the movement, first organized in ohio, took effective form in philadelphia in the fall of , and in december of that year the union league of philadelphia was organized. the members were pledged to uncompromising and unconditional loyalty to the union, the complete subordination of political ideas thereto, and the repudiation of any belief in states' rights. the new york union league club followed the example of the philadelphia league early in , and adopted, word for word, its declaration of principles.[ ] boston, brooklyn, chicago, baltimore, and other cities followed suit, and soon leagues modelled after the philadelphia plan and connected by a loose bond of federation were formed in every part of the north. these leagues were social as well as political in their aims. the "loyal national league" of new york, an independent organization with thirty branches, was absorbed by the union league, and the "loyal publication society" of new york, which also came under its control, was used to disseminate the proper kind of political literature. as the federal armies went south, the union league spread among the disaffected element of the southern people.[ ] much interest was taken in the negro, and negro troops were enlisted through its efforts. teachers were sent south in the wake of the armies to teach the negroes, and to use their influence in securing negro enlistments. in this and in similar work the league acted in coöperation with the freedmen's aid societies, the department of negro affairs, and later with the freedmen's bureau. with the close of the war it did not cease to take an active interest in things political. it was one of the earliest bodies to declare for negro suffrage and white disfranchisement,[ ] and this declaration was made repeatedly during the three years following the war, when it was continued as a kind of radical bureau in the republican party to control the negro vote in the south. its agents were always in the lobbies of congress, clamoring for extreme measures; the reconstruction policy of congress was heartily indorsed and the president condemned. its headquarters were in new york, and it was represented in each state by "state members." john keffer of pennsylvania was "state member" for alabama. part of the work of the league was to distribute campaign literature, and most of the violent pamphlets on reconstruction questions will be found to have the union league imprint. the new york league alone circulated about , publications,[ ] while the philadelphia union league far surpassed this record, circulating , , political pamphlets[ ] within eight years. the literature printed consisted largely of accounts of "southern atrocities." the conclusions of carl schurz's report on the condition of the south justified, the league historian claims, the publication and dissemination of such choice stories as these: a preacher in bladon (springs), alabama, said that the woods in choctaw county stunk with dead negroes. some were hanged to trees and left to rot; others were burned alive. it is quite likely that such leagues as those in new york and philadelphia, after the first year or two of reconstruction, grew away from the strictly political "union league of america" and became more and more social clubs. the spiritual relationship was close, however, and in political belief they were one. the eminently respectable members of the union leagues of philadelphia and new york had little in common with the southern leagues except radicalism. southern "unionists" who went north were entertained by the union league and their expenses paid. in the philadelphia convention of southern "unionists" was taken in hand by the league, carried to new york, and entertained at the expense of the latter. in several of the leagues sent delegates to virginia to reconcile the two warring factions of radicals. the formation of the union league among the southern "unionists" was extended throughout the south within a few months of the close of the war, but a "discreet secrecy" was maintained. in alabama it was easy for the disaffected whites, especially those who had been connected with the peace society, to join the order, which soon included peace society men, "loyalists," deserters, and many anti-administration confederates. the most respectable element consisted of a few old whigs who had an intense hatred of the democrats, and who wanted to crush them by any means. in this stage the league was strongest in the white counties of the hill and mountain country.[ ] extension to the south even before the end of the war the federal officials had established the organization in huntsville, athens, florence, and other places in north alabama. it was understood to be a very respectable order in the north, and general burke, and later general crawford, with other federal officers and a few of the so-called "union" men of north alabama, formed lodges of what was called indiscriminately the union or loyal league. at first but few native whites were members, as the native "unionist" was not exactly the kind of person the federal officers cared to associate with more than was necessary. but with the close of hostilities and the establishment of army posts over the state, the league grew rapidly. the civilians who followed the army, the bureau agents, the missionaries, and the northern school-teachers were gradually admitted. the native "unionists" came in as the bars were lowered, and with them that element of the population which, during the war, especially in the white counties, had become hostile to the confederate administration. the disaffected politicians saw in the organization an instrument which might be used against the politicians of the central counties, who seemed likely to remain in control of affairs. at this time there were no negro members, but it has been estimated that in , per cent of the white voting population in north alabama joined the order, and that for a year or more there was an average of half a dozen "lodges" in each county north of the black belt. later, the local chapters were called "councils." there was a state grand council with headquarters at montgomery, and a grand national council with headquarters in new york. the union league of america was the proper designation for the entire organization. the white members were few in the black belt counties and even in the white counties of south alabama, where one would expect to find them. in south alabama it was disgraceful for a person to have any connection with the union league; and if a man was a member, he kept it secret. to this day no one will admit that he belonged to that organization. so far as the native members were concerned, they cared little about the original purposes of the order, but hoped to make it the nucleus of a political organization; and the northern civilian membership, the bureau agents, preachers, and teachers, and other adventurers, soon began to see other possibilities in the organization.[ ] from the very beginning the preachers, teachers, and bureau agents had been accustomed to hold regular meetings of the negroes and to make speeches to them. not a few of these whites expected confiscation, or some such procedure, and wanted a share in the division of the spoils. some began to talk of political power for the negro. for various purposes, good and bad, the negroes were, by the spring of , widely organized by their would-be leaders, who, as controllers of rations, religion, and schools, had great influence over them. it was but a slight change to convert these informal gatherings into lodges, or councils, of the union league. after the refusal of congress to recognize the restoration as effected by the president, the guardians of the negro in the state began to lay their plans for the future. negro councils were organized, and negroes were even admitted to some of the white councils which were under control of the northerners. the bureau gathering of colonel john b. callis of huntsville was transformed into a league. such men as the rev. a. s. lakin, colonel callis, d. h. bingham, norris, keffer, and strobach, all aliens of questionable character from the north, went about organizing the negroes during and . nearly all of them were elected to office by the support of the league. the bureau agents were the directors of the work, and in the immediate vicinity of the bureau offices they themselves organized the councils. to distant plantations and to country districts agents were sent to gather in the embryo citizens.[ ] in every community in the state where there was a sufficient number of negroes the league was organized, sooner or later.[ ] in north alabama the work was done before the spring of ; in the black belt and in south alabama it was not until the end of that the last negroes were gathered into the fold. the effect upon the white membership of the admission of negroes was remarkable. with the beginning of the manipulation of the negro by his northern friends, the native whites began to desert the order, and when negroes were admitted for the avowed purpose of agitating for political rights and for political organization afterwards, the native whites left in crowds. where there were many blacks, as in talladega, nearly all of the whites dropped out. where the blacks were not numerous and had not been organized, more of the whites remained, but in the hill counties there was a general exodus.[ ] professor miller estimates that five per cent of the white voters in talladega county, where there were many negroes, and per cent of those in cleburne county, where there were few negroes, remained in the order for several years. the same proportion would be nearly correct for the other counties of north alabama. where there were few or no negroes, as in winston and walker counties, the white membership held out better, for in those counties there was no fear of negro domination, and if the negro voted, no matter what were his politics, he would be controlled by the native whites. what the negro would do in the black counties, the whites in the hill counties cared but little. the sprinkling of white members served to furnish leaders for the ignorant blacks, but the character of these men was extremely questionable. the native element has been called "lowdown, trifling white men," and the alien element "itinerant, irresponsible, worthless white men from the north." such was the opinion of the respectable white people, and the later history of the leaguers has not improved their reputation.[ ] in the black counties there were practically no white members in the rank and file. the alien element, probably more able than the scalawag, had gained the confidence of the negroes, and soon had complete control over them. the bureau agents saw that the freedmen's bureau could not survive much longer, and they were especially active in looking out for places for the future. with the assistance of the negro they had hoped to pass into offices in the state and county governments. the ceremonies of the league one thing about the league that attracted the negro was the mysterious secrecy of the meetings, the weird initiation ceremony that made him feel fearfully good from his head to his heels, the imposing ritual and the songs. the ritual, it is said, was not used in the north; it was probably adopted for the particular benefit of the african. the would-be leaguer was told in the beginning of the initiation that the emblems of the order were the altar, the bible, the declaration of independence, the constitution of the united states, the flag of the union, censer, sword, gavel, ballot-box, sickle, shuttle, anvil, and other emblems of industry. he was told that the objects of the order were to preserve liberty, to perpetuate the union, to maintain the laws and the constitution, to secure the ascendency of american institutions, to protect, defend, and strengthen all loyal men and members of the union league of america in all rights of person and property,[ ] to demand the elevation of labor, to aid in the education of laboring men, and to teach the duties of american citizenship. this sounded well and was impressive, and at this point the negro was always willing to take an oath of secrecy, after which he was asked to swear with a solemn oath to support the principles of the declaration of independence, to pledge himself to resist all attempts to overthrow the united states, to strive for the maintenance of liberty, elevation of labor, education of all people in the duties of citizenship, to practise friendship and charity to all of the order, and to support for election or appointment to office only such men as were supporters of these principles and measures.[ ] the council then sang "hail columbia" and "the star-spangled banner," after which an official harangued the candidate, saying that, though the designs of traitors had been thwarted, there were yet to be secured legislative triumphs with complete ascendency of the true principles of popular government, equal liberty, elevation and education, and the overthrow at the ballot-box of the old oligarchy of political leaders. after prayer by the chaplain, the room was darkened, the "fire of liberty"[ ] lighted, the members joined hands in a circle around the candidate, who was made to place one hand on the flag and, with the other raised, swore again to support the government, to elect true union men to office, etc. then placing his hand on a bible, for the third time he swore to keep his oath, and repeated after the president "the freedman's pledge": "to defend and perpetuate freedom and union, i pledge my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor. so help me god!" another song was sung, the president charged the members in a long speech concerning the principles of the order, and the marshal instructed the members in the signs. to pass one's self as a leaguer, the "four l's" were given: ( ) with right hand raised to heaven, thumb and third finger touching ends over palm, pronounce "liberty"; ( ) bring the hand down over the shoulder and say "lincoln"; ( ) drop the hand open at the side and say "loyal"; ( ) catch the thumb in the vest or in the waistband and pronounce "league."[ ] this ceremony of initiation was a most effective means of impressing the negro, and of controlling him through his love and fear of the secret, mysterious, and midnight mummery. an oath taken in daylight would be forgotten before the next day; not so an oath taken in the dead of night under such impressive circumstances. after passing through the ordeal, the negro usually remained faithful. organization and methods in each populous precinct there was at first one council of the league. in each town or city there were two councils, one for the whites, and another, with white officers, for the blacks.[ ] the council met once a week, sometimes oftener, and nearly always at night, in the negro churches or schoolhouses.[ ] guards, armed with rifles and shotguns, were stationed about the place of meeting in order to keep away intruders, and to prevent unauthorized persons from coming within forty yards. members of some councils made it a practice to attend the meetings armed as if for battle. in these meetings the negroes met to hear speeches by the would-be statesmen of the new régime. much inflammatory advice was given them by the white speakers; they were drilled into the belief that their interests and those of the southern whites could not be the same, and passion, strife, and prejudice were excited in order to solidify the negro race against the white, thus preventing political control by the latter. many of the negroes still had hopes of confiscation and division of property, and in this they were encouraged by the white leaders. professor miller was told[ ] by respectable white men, who joined the order before the negroes were admitted and who left when they became members, that the negroes were taught in these meetings that the only way to have peace and plenty, to get "the forty acres and a mule," would be to kill some of the leading whites in each community as a warning to others. the council in tuscumbia received advice from memphis to use the torch, that the blacks were at war with the white race. the advice was taken. three men went in front of the council as an advance guard, three followed with coal-oil and fire, and others guarded the rear. the plan was to burn the whole town, but first one negro and then another insisted on having some white man's house spared because "he is a good man." the result was that no residences were burned, and they compromised by burning the female academy. three of the leaders were lynched.[ ] the general belief of the whites was that the objects of the order were to secure political power, to bring about on a large scale the confiscation of the property of confederates,[ ] and while waiting for this to appropriate all kinds of portable property. chicken-houses, pig-pens, vegetable gardens, and orchards were invariably visited by members when returning from the midnight conclaves. this evil became so serious and so general that many believed it to be one of the principles of the order. everything of value had to be locked up for safe-keeping. as soon as possible after the war each negro had supplied himself with a gun and a dog as badges of freedom. as a usual thing, he carried them to the league meetings, and nothing was more natural than that the negroes should begin drilling at night. armed squads would march in military formation to the place of assemblage, there be drilled, and after the close of the meeting, would march along the roads shouting, firing their guns, making great boasts and threats against persons whom they disliked. if the home of such a person happened to be on the roadside, the negroes usually made a practice of stopping in front of the house and treating the inmates to unlimited abuse, firing off their guns in order to waken them. later military parades in the daytime were much favored. several hundred negroes would march up and down the roads and streets, and amuse themselves by boasts, threats, and abuse of whites, and by shoving whites off the sidewalks or out of the road. but, on the whole, there was very little actual violence done the whites,--much less than might have been expected. that such was the case was due, not to any sensible teachings of the leaders, but to the fundamental good nature of the blacks, who were generally content with being impudent.[ ] the relations between the races, with exceptional cases, continued to be somewhat friendly until - . in the communities where the league and the bureau were established, the relations were soonest strained. for a while in some localities, before the advent of the league, and in others where the bureau was conducted by native magistrates, the negroes looked to their old masters for guidance and advice, and the latter, for the good of both races, were most eager to retain a moral control over the blacks. barbecues and picnics were arranged by the whites for the blacks, speeches were made, good advice given, and all promised to go well. sometimes the negroes themselves would arrange the festival and invite prominent whites to be present, for whom a separate table attended by the best waiters would be reserved; and after dinner there would be speaking by both whites and blacks. with the organization of the league, the negroes grew more reserved, and finally unfriendly to the whites. the league alone, however, was not responsible for the change. the league and the bureau had to some extent the same personnel, and it is impossible to distinguish clearly between the work of the league and that of the bureau. in many ways the league was simply the political side of the bureau. the preaching and teaching missionaries were also at work. on the other hand, among the lower classes of whites, a hostile feeling quickly sprang to oppose the feeling of the blacks. when the campaign grew exciting, the discipline of the order was used to prevent the negroes from attending democratic meetings or hearing democratic speakers. the league leaders even went farther and forbade the attendance of the blacks at radical political meetings where the speakers were not indorsed by the league. almost invariably the scalawag disliked the leaguer, black or white, and often the league proscribed the former as political teachers. judge humphreys was threatened with political death unless he joined the league. this he refused to do, as did most whites where there were many negroes. all republicans in good standing had to join the league. judge (later governor) d. p. lewis was a member for a short while, but he soon became disgusted and published a denunciation of the league. nicholas davis and j. c. bradley, both scalawags, were forbidden by the league to speak in the court-house at huntsville because they were not members of the order. at a republican mass-meeting a white republican wanted to make a speech. the negroes voted that he should not be allowed to speak because he was "opposed to the loyal league." he was treated to abuse and threats of violence. he then went to another place to speak, but was followed by the crowd, which refused to allow him to say anything. the league was the machine of the radical party, and all candidates had to be governed by its edicts. nominations to office were usually made in its meetings.[ ] every negro was _ex colore_ a member or under the control of the league. in the opinion of the league, white democrats were bad enough, but black democrats were not to be tolerated. the first rule was that all blacks must support the radical programme. it was possible in some cases for a negro to refrain from taking an active part in political affairs. he might even fail to vote. but it was martyrdom for a black to be a democrat; that is, try to follow his old master in politics. the whites, in many cases, were forced to advise their faithful black friends to vote the radical ticket that they might escape mistreatment. there were numbers of negroes, as late as , who were inclined to vote with the whites, and to bring them into line all the forces of the league were brought to bear. they were proscribed in negro society, and expelled from negro churches, nor would the women "proshay" (appreciate) a black democrat. the negro man who had democratic inclinations was sure to find that influence was being brought to bear upon his dusky sweetheart or wife to cause him to see the error of his ways, and persistent adherence to the white party would result in the loss of her. the women were converted to radicalism long before the men, and almost invariably used their influence strongly for the purpose of the league. if moral suasion failed to cause the delinquent to see the light, other methods were used. threats were common from the first and often sufficed, and fines were levied by the league on recalcitrant members. in case of the more stubborn, a sound beating was usually effective to bring about a change of heart. the offending darky was "bucked and gagged," and the thrashing administered, the sufferer being afraid to complain of the way he was treated. there were many cases of aggravated assault, and a few instances of murder. by such methods the organization succeeded in keeping under its control almost the entire negro population.[ ] the discipline over the active members was stringent. they were sworn to obey the orders of the officials. a negro near clayton disobeyed the "cap'en" of the league and was tied up by the thumbs; and another for a similar offence was "bucked" and whipped. a candidate having been nominated by the league, it was made the duty of every member to support him actively. failure to do so resulted in a fine or other more severe punishment, and members that had been expelled were still under the control of the officials.[ ] the effects of the teachings of the league orators were soon seen in the increasing insolence and defiant attitude of some of the blacks, in the greater number of stealings, small and large, in the boasts, demands, and threats made by the more violent members of the order. most of them, however, behaved remarkably well under the circumstances, but the few unbearable ones were so much more in evidence that the suffering whites were disposed to class all blacks together as unbearable. some of the methods of the loyal league were similar to those of the later ku klux klan. anonymous warnings were sent to the obnoxious individuals, houses were burned, notices were posted at night in public places and on the doors of persons who had incurred the hostility of the league.[ ] in order to destroy the influence of the whites where kindly relations still existed, an "exodus order" was issued through the league, directing all members to leave their old homes and obtain work elsewhere. this was very effective in preventing control by the better class of whites. some of the blacks were loath to leave their old homes, but to remonstrances from the whites the usual reply was: "de word done sont to de league. we got to go."[ ] in bullock county, near perote, a council of the league was organized under the direction of a negro emissary, who proceeded to assume the government of the community. a list of crimes and punishments was adopted, a court with various officials established, and during the night all negroes who opposed them were arrested. but the black sheriff and his deputy were arrested by the civil authorities. the negroes then organized for resistance, flocked into union springs, the county seat, and threatened to exterminate the whites and take possession of the county. their agents visited the plantations and forced the laborers to join them by showing orders purporting to be from general swayne, giving them the authority to kill all who resisted them. swayne sent out detachments of troops and arrested fifteen of the ringleaders, and the perote government collapsed.[ ] when first organized in the black belt, and before native whites were excluded from membership, numbers of whites joined the league upon invitation in order to ascertain its objects, to see if mischief were intended toward the whites, and to control, if possible, the negroes in the organization. most of these became disgusted and withdrew, or were expelled on account of their politics. in marengo county several white democrats joined the league at mckinley in order to keep down the excitement aroused by other councils, to counteract the evil influences of alien emissaries, and to protect the women of the community, in which but few men were left after the war. these men succeeded in controlling the negroes and in preventing the discussion of politics in the meetings. the league was made simply a club where the negroes met to receive advice, which was to the effect that they should attend strictly to their own affairs and vote without reference to any secret organization. finally, they were advised to withdraw from the order.[ ] [illustration: facsimile of page from union league constitution.] for two years, - , the league was the machine in the radical party, and its leaders formed the "ring" that controlled party action. nominations for office were regularly made by the local and state councils. it is said that there were stormy times in the councils when there were more carpet-baggers than offices to be filled. the defeated candidate was apt to run as an independent, and in order to be elected would sell himself to the whites. this practice resulted in a weakening of the influence of the machine, as the members were sworn to support the regular nominee, and the negroes believed that the terrible penalties would be inflicted upon the political traitor. the officers would go among the negroes and show their commissions, which they pretended were orders from general swayne or general grant for the negroes to vote for them.[ ] a political catechism of questions and answers meant to teach loyalty to the radical party was prepared in washington and sent out among the councils, to be used in the instruction of negro voters.[ ] after it was seen that existing political institutions were to be overturned, the white councils and, to a certain extent, the negro councils became simply associations for those training for leadership in the new party soon to be formed in the state by act of congress. the few whites who were in control did not care to admit more white members, as there might be too many to share in the division of the spoils. hence we find that terms of admission were made more stringent, and, especially after the passage of the reconstruction acts, in march, , many applicants were rejected. the alien element was in control of the league. the result was that where the blacks were numerous the largest plums fell to the carpet-baggers. the negro leaders,--politicians, preachers, and teachers,--trained in the league, acted as subordinates to the white leaders in controlling the black population, and they were sent out to drum up the country negroes when elections drew near. they were also given minor positions when offices were more plentiful than carpet-baggers. all together they received but few offices, which fact was later a cause of serious complaint. the largest white membership of the league was in - , and after that date it constantly decreased. the largest negro membership was in and . only the councils in the towns remained active after the election of , for after the discipline of and it was not necessary to look so closely after the plantation negro, and he became a kind of visiting member of the council in the town.[ ] the league as an organization gradually died out by , except in the largest towns. many of them were transformed into political clubs, loosely organized under local political leaders. the ku klux klan undoubtedly had much to do with breaking up the league as an organization. the league as the ally and successor of the freedmen's bureau was one of the causes of the ku klux movement, because it helped to create the conditions which made such a movement inevitable.[ ] in the radical leaders missed the support formerly given by the league, and an urgent appeal was sent out all over the state from headquarters in new york by john keffer and others advocating the reëstablishment of the union leagues to assist in carrying the elections of .[ ] however, before its dissolution, the league had served its purpose. it made it possible for a few outsiders to control the negro by alienating the races politically, as the bureau had done socially. it enabled the negroes to vote as radicals for several years, when without it they either would not have voted at all or they would have voted as democrats along with their former masters. the order was necessary to the existence of the radical party in alabama. no ordinary political organization could have welded the blacks into a solid party. the freedmen's bureau, which had much influence over the negroes for demoralization, was too weak in numbers to control the negroes in politics. the league finally absorbed the personnel of the bureau and inherited its prestige.[ ] part vi carpet-bag and negro rule chapter xvii taxation and the public debt taxation during reconstruction after the war it was certain that taxation would be higher and expenditure greater, both on account of the ruin caused by the war that now had to be repaired, and because several hundred thousand negroes had been added to the civic population. before the war the negro was no expense to the state and county treasuries; his misdemeanors were punished by his master. yet neither the ruined court-houses, jails, bridges, roads, etc., nor the criminal negroes can account for the taxation and expenditure under the carpet-bag régime. during the three and a half years after the war, under the provisional governments, most of the burned bridges, court-houses, and other public buildings had been replaced; and there were relatively few negroes who were an expense to the carpet-bag government. after the overthrow of reconstruction, governor houston stated that the total value of all property in alabama in was $ , , , and that in it was $ , , .[ ] in the assessed valuation was $ , , ;[ ] in it was $ , , ,[ ] and in , after ten years of reconstruction, it was $ , , .[ ] before the war the taxes were paid on real estate and slaves. in the taxes were paid upon slave property assessed at $ , , , and upon real estate assessed at $ , , .[ ] although there was some property left in , the owners could barely pay taxes on it. the bank capital was gone, and no one had money that was receivable for taxes. consequently, it was impossible to collect general taxes, and the state government was obliged to place temporary loans and levy license taxes. no regular taxes were collected during and . the first regular tax was levied in , and was collected in time to be spent by the reconstruction convention.[ ] for four years after the surrender the crops were bad, and when called good they were hardly more than half of the crops of .[ ] however, if no state taxes were paid by the impoverished farmers, there still remained the heavy federal tax of $ . to $ per bale on all cotton produced. the rate of taxation before the war on real estate and on slaves was one-fifth of one per cent. after the war the taxes were raised by the provisional government to one-fourth of one per cent, and license taxes were added. the reconstructed government at once raised the rate to three-fourths of one per cent on property of all descriptions,[ ] and added new license taxes, more than quadrupling the former rate. under lindsay, the democratic governor in - , the rate was lowered to one-half of one per cent. the assessment of property under reconstruction was much more stringent than before. there were only five other states that paid a tax rate as high as three-fourths of one per cent, and four of these were southern states.[ ] before the war the county tax was usually per cent of the state tax, never more. the city and town tax was insignificant. after the war the town and city taxes were greatly increased, the county tax was invariably as much as the state tax, and many laws were passed authorizing the counties to levy additional taxes and to issue bonds. the heaviest burdens were from local taxation, not from state taxes.[ ] in montgomery county, the county taxes before the war had never been more than $ , , and had been paid by slaveholders and owners of real estate. during reconstruction the taxes were never less than $ , , and every one except the negroes had to pay on everything that was property. in fact, the taxes in this county were about quadrupled.[ ] in marengo county the taxes before the war were $ , ; after they were $ , to $ , , notwithstanding the fact that property had depreciated two-thirds in value since the war. land worth formerly $ to $ an acre now sold for $ to $ .[ ] in madison county, the state taxes in were $ , . (gross); in , $ , . (net). the state land tax in in the same county was $ , . ; in , $ , . . madison county taxes were:-- ====================================================== | state tax | county tax | total -----------|--------------|--------------|------------ in | $ , . | $ , . | $ , . in | , . | , . | , . ====================================================== the general testimony was that the exemption laws relieved from taxation nearly all the negroes, except those who paid taxes before the war.[ ] the following table will show the taxation for and :-- ============================================================ | census valuation | state tax | county tax | town tax -----|-------------------|-----------|------------|--------- | $ , , [ ]| $ , | $ , | $ , | , , | , , | , , | , ============================================================ administrative expenses table of receipts and expenditures of the state government ============================================ year| receipts | expenditures ----|-------------------|------------------- | ---- | $ , . |$ , , . [ ]| , , . [ ] | , . [ ]| , . [ ] | , . | , . [ ] | , . [ ]| , , . [ ] | , , . [ ]| , , . [ ] | , . [ ]| , , . | , , . | , , . | , , . [ ]| , , . [ ] | ---- | ---- | , , . | , , . [ ] | ---- | ---- | , . | , . [ ] | , . | , . | , . | , . ============================================ the average yearly cost of state, county, and town administration from to was $ , ; from to , the average cost of the state administration alone was $ , , , the cost of state, county, and town government being at least $ , , .[ ] the provisional state government disbursed in the year - , $ , . , of which only $ , . was spent for state expenses; the remainder was used for schools.[ ] the greater expenditure of the reconstruction government can, in small part, be explained by the greater number of officials and by the higher salaries paid.[ ] salaries ====================================================================== | before the | during | war | reconstruction -----------------------|-----------------|---------------------------- governor | $ , . | $ , . governor's clerk | . | , . , two secretary of state | , . | , . , fees and charges treasurer | , . | , . departmental clerks | , . each | , . supreme court judge | , . | , . circuit judges | , . | , . chancellors | , . three | , . member of legislature, | | _per diem_ | . | . stationery executive | | departments | , . | , . [ ] ====================================================================== the administration of lindsay to a great extent had to pay the debts of the former administration. expenses were curtailed when possible, and notwithstanding the fact that the indorsed railroads defaulted in , the business of the state was conducted much more economically, and there were fewer and smaller issues of bonds and obligations.[ ] the senate, however, had but one democrat in it, and the house was only doubtfully democratic, as the democratic members were young and inexperienced men or else discontented scalawags.[ ] consequently, the tide of corruption and extravagance was merely checked, not stopped. the capitol expenses of smith and of lindsay for a year make an instructive comparison:-- ========================================================== | governor smith | governor lindsay | - | - -----------------------|----------------|----------------- contingent expenses | $ , . | $ , . stationery, fuel, etc. | , . | , . clerical services | , . | , . public printing | , . | , . ========================================================== other expenses, in so far as they were under the control of lindsay, formed a like contrast.[ ] the cost of holding sessions of the legislature under the provisional government was $ , . in - , and $ , in - . under smith it was about $ , per session, and there were three regular sessions the first year. one session ( - ) under lindsay cost $ , . , and two under lewis, - , cost $ , . and $ , . respectively.[ ] the cost of keeping state prisoners for trial was about $ , a year. the reconstruction legislature cut down expenses by passing a law to liberate criminals of a grade below that of felon, upon their own recognizance.[ ] the democrats complained of the way the reconstructionists spent the contingent fund of the state. this abuse was never so bad as in other southern states at the time, but still there was continual stealing on a small scale. some examples[ ] may be given: governor lewis spent $ on a short visit to new york and florida;[ ] the governor's private secretary received $ , for services rendered in distributing the "political" bacon in ;[ ] the treasurer drew $ to pay his expenses to mobile and new york, though he had no business to attend to in either place, and travelled on roads over which he had passes; ex-governor w. h. smith, when attorney for the alabama and chattanooga railroad, was paid $ by the state for services rendered in connection with his own road, and the committee was unable to discover the nature of these services; the secretary of state charged $ for signing his name to bonds, though it was his constitutional duty to do so without charge; a bill of stationery from benedict of new york cost $ . , when the bid of joel white of montgomery on the same order was $ . ; $ was allowed to john a. bingham (presumably a relative of the treasurer) for signing enough bonds to purchase a farm for the penitentiary. such purchases as these were common: one refrigerator, $ ; one looking-glass, $ ; one clothes-brush, $ . . very few of the small accounts against the contingent fund were itemized. in no case were any of them accounted for by proper vouchers. the private secretary of the governor was in the habit of approving and allowing accounts against the contingent fund, even going so far as to approve the governor's own accounts. the investigating committee said that the private secretary seemed to be the acting governor.[ ] the florida commissioners, j. l. pennington, c. a. miller, and a. j. walker, who were appointed to negotiate for the cession to alabama of west florida, spent $ , , of which walker, the democratic member, spent $ , and miller and pennington spent the remainder, "according to the best judgment and discretion" of themselves. they claimed that part of it was used to entertain the florida commissioners, and part to influence the elections in west florida.[ ] the governor was accused of transferring appropriations. in one case, he drew out of the treasury $ , . , ostensibly to pay the interest on the public debt, and used it for other purposes. a committee appointed to investigate was able to trace all of it except $ , . , which sum could not be accounted for. the accounts were carelessly kept. the auditor, treasurer, and governor never seemed to know within a million or two of dollars what the public debt was. the reports for the period from to do not show the actual condition of the finances, and the debt commission in was unable to get accurate information from the state records, but had to advertise for information from the creditors and debtors of the state.[ ] effect on property values the misrule of the radicals in alabama resulted in a general shrinkage in values after , especially in the black belt, where financial and economic chaos reigned supreme, and where the carpet-bagger flourished supported by the negro votes. recuperation was impossible until the rule of the alien was overthrown. this was done in some of the white counties in . at that date land values were still per cent below those of , and the numbers of live stock per cent below. this was due largely to the condition of the black belt counties under the control of the radicals.[ ] thousands of landowners were unable to pay the taxes assessed, and their farms were sold by the state. the _independent monitor_, on march , , advertised the sale of different lots of land (none less than forty acres) in tuscaloosa county, and the next week more were advertised for sale, all to pay taxes. often, it was complained, the tax assessor failed to notify the people to "give in" their taxes, and thus caused them trouble. in some cases, where costs and fines were added to the original taxes, it amounted to confiscation. in , f. s. lyon exhibited before the ku klux committee a copy of the _southern republican_ containing twenty-one and a half columns of advertised sales of land lying in the rich counties of marengo, greene, perry, and choctaw.[ ] one radical declared that he wanted the taxes raised so high that the large landholders would be compelled to sell their lands, so that he, and others like him, could buy.[ ] property sold for taxes could be redeemed only by paying double the amount of the taxes plus the costs. a tax sale deed was conclusive evidence of legal sale, and was not a subject for the decision of a court.[ ] there were hundreds of mortgage sales in every county of the state during the reconstruction period. at these sales everything from land to household furniture was sold. the court-house squares on sale days were favorite gathering places for the negroes, who came to look on, and a traveller, in , states that in the immense crowds of negroes at the sales there were some who had come a distance of sixty miles.[ ] each winter, from to , there was an exodus of people to texas and to south america, driven from their homes by mortgages, taxes, the condition of labor, and corrupt government. landowners sold their lands for what they would bring and went to the west, where there were no negroes, no scalawags, and no carpet-baggers.[ ] most of the farmers and tenants of that period were unable to send their children to school and pay tuition. the reconstructed school system failed almost at the beginning. consequently, tens of thousands of children grew up ignorant of schools, most of them the children of parents who had had some education. hence the special provision for them in the constitution of . the first democratic legislature restricted taxation to three-fifths of one per cent and local taxation to one-half of one per cent. the rates were lowered gradually, until in the early nineties the rate was only two-fifths of one per cent. since that time, the rate has again increased until in the state tax was again three-fourths of one per cent, the increase being used for confederate pensions and for schools. but in addition to the expenditure of the sums raised by extraordinary taxation, the reconstruction administration greatly increased the bonded debt of the state and by mortgaging the future left a heavy burden upon the people that has as yet been but slightly lessened. the public bonded debt after it is impossible to ascertain what the public debt of the state was at any given time until , when the first democratic legislature began to investigate the condition of the finances. in the total debt--state bonds and trust funds--was $ , , . (and the bonded debt was $ , , ), most of which was due to the failure of the state bank. the payment of the war debt, which amounted to $ , , . , was forbidden by the fourteenth amendment. in the total bonded debt with three years' unpaid interest was $ , , , while the trust funds amounted to $ , , . governor patton reissued the bonds to the amount of $ , , , and the sixteenth section and the university trust funds with unpaid interest raised the total debt, in , to $ , , . in july, , when the state went into the hands of the reconstructionists, the total debt was $ , , . the provisional government had been increasing the debt because no taxes were collected during and . taxes were collected in , but before the end of the debt amounted to $ , , . , and after that date no one knew, nor did the officials seem to care, exactly how large it was.[ ] state and county and town bonds were issued in reckless haste by the plunderers, but the reports do not show the amounts issued; no correct records were kept. the acts of the legislature authorized the governor to issue about $ , , state bonds, besides the direct bonds issued to railroads, which amounted to about $ , , not including interest. the counties, besides being authorized to levy heavy additional taxes, were permitted to issue bonds for various purposes.[ ] a number of acts gave the counties general permission to issue bonds, but there are no records accessible of the amounts raised. there were issues of town and county bonds without legislative authorization. this practice is said to have been common, but in the chaotic conditions of the time little attention was paid to such things and no records were kept. to dispose of its bonds the state had a large number of financial agents in the north and abroad. some of these made no reports at all; others reported as they pleased. certain bonds were sold in by one of the financial agents, and two years later the proceeds had not reached the treasury or been accounted for. in like manner some bond sales were conducted in and in .[ ] not only was no record kept of the issues of direct and indorsed bonds, but no records were kept of the payment of interest and of the domestic debts of the state. some of the financial agents exercised the authority of auditor and treasurer and settled any claim that might be presented to them. some agents, who paid interest on bonds, returned the cancelled coupons; others did not. in governor lewis's office $ , in coupons were found with nothing to show that they had been cancelled. one lot of bonds was received with every coupon attached, yet the interest on these had been paid regularly in new york.[ ] provision was made for the retirement of all "state money"; but if the treasury was empty when it came in, it was apt to be reissued without any authority of law. a large sum was returned, but no record was made of it, and it was not destroyed. later it was discovered among a mass of waste paper, where any thief might have taken it and put it again into circulation. one transaction may be cited as an illustration of the management of the finances: in the state owed henry clews & company $ , . . governor lewis gave his notes (twelve in number) as governor, for the amount, and at the same time deposited with clews as collateral security $ , in state bonds. clews, when he failed, turned over the governor's notes to the fourth national bank of new york, to which he was indebted. he had already disposed of, so the state claimed, the $ , in bonds which he held as collateral security; and a year later, according to the debt commission, he still made a claim against the state for $ , . as a balance due him. thus a debt of $ , . had grown in the hands of one of the state agents to $ , , . , besides interest.[ ] in it was estimated that the general liabilities of the state, counties, and towns amounted to $ , , .[ ] the country was flooded with temporary obligations receivable for public dues, and the tax collectors substituted these for any coin that might come into their hands. there was much speculation in the depreciated currency by the state and county officials. during lewis's first year ( ), the state bonds were quoted at per cent, but on november , , he reported, "this department has been unable to sell for money any of the state bonds during the present administration." he raised money for immediate needs by hypothecation of the state securities. thus came about the remarkable transaction with clews. the state money went down to per cent, then to per cent before the elections of , and at one time state bonds sold for cash at and cents on the dollar.[ ] the financial settlement after the overthrow of the radicals in taxation was limited, expenditures were curtailed, and the administration undertook to make some arrangement in regard to the public debt. for two years the state had been bankrupt; for nearly four years the railroads aided by the state had been bankrupt; the debt was enormous, but how large no one knew. a commission, consisting of governor houston, levi w. lawler, and t. b. bethea, was appointed to ascertain and adjust the public debt.[ ] after advertising in the united states and abroad, the commission found a debt amounting in round numbers to $ , , . some claims were not ascertained; many creditors or claimants not being heard from and many fraudulent bonds not being presented. the debt was divided into four classes: ( ) the _recognized_ direct debt, consisting of state bonds (exclusive of bonds issued to railroads), state obligations, state certificates or "patton money," unpaid interest and other direct debts of the state,--in all, amounting to $ , , ; ( ) the state bonds issued to railroads under the law providing for the substitution of $ state bonds per mile instead of $ , per mile in indorsed bonds, which in all amounted to $ , , ; ( ) a class of claims of doubtful character, among them that of henry clews & company, amounting in all to $ , , ; ( ) the indorsed bonds of the state-aided railroads, amounting to $ , , (several millions having been retired), and state bonds loaned to railroads,--which debt, with the unpaid interest on the same, amounting to $ , , , was in all $ , , . summary of debt class one $ , , class two , , [ ] class three , , class four , , ----------- total $ , , [ ] the interest on this debt at the legal rate of per cent would be over $ , , , more than twice the total yearly income of the state. the commission and the legislature declared that in the present condition of the finances the state could not pay the interest, that it would be several years before the state could pay any interest at all. moreover, it could not recognize as valid many items in the great debt. after conference with the representatives of the more innocent creditors, the debt was thus adjusted:-- i. (_a_) the state proposed for the next few years to confine its attention to paying domestic claims and to retiring state obligations. (_b_) new bonds were issued to the amount of $ , , , to be exchanged for outstanding state bonds sold by the state to _bona fide_ purchasers. these bonds, known as class a, were to draw interest for five years at per cent, for the next five years at per cent, at per cent for the next ten years, and thereafter at per cent. these bonds were issued to the most innocent creditors and constituted the least questionable part of the debt. ii. on the $ , , railroad debt of class two the state accepted a clear loss of one-half, and issued $ , in bonds, known as class b, to be exchanged at the rate of one for two. these bonds drew interest at per cent. iii. class three was the worst of all, and none of the items were at the time recognized, though the commissioners were authorized to take $ , of class a bonds and distribute the amount among the innocent holders of the $ , bonds sold by henry clews when held by him as collateral. the other clews claims were emphatically repudiated as fraudulent. iv. class four was more complicated. (_a_) the state gave $ , , in bonds, class c, drawing interest at per cent for five years and at per cent thereafter, to the holders of the alabama and chattanooga first mortgage indorsed bonds. the state was then relieved of further responsibility. (_b_) to the holders of the $ , , state bonds issued to the alabama and chattanooga road, and which the commissioners were inclined to consider fraudulent, the state transferred its lien on the property of the alabama and chattanooga road, provided the bonds be returned to the governor. the claims of the holders of the indorsed bonds of five other railroads were left for future settlement. they were declared fraudulent, and the state finally declined to recognize them. the montgomery and eufaula road had a loan of $ , in state bonds and an indorsement of $ , . the road was sold for $ , , , and the state was secured against further loss.[ ] this act of settlement caused the issue of $ , , in bonds. there were besides several millions more in bonds, state obligations, claims, etc. the commission reported that the innocent holders of the bonds were very reasonable in their demands.[ ] henry clews declined to give the commission any information in regard to his agency for the state, but the commission declared that he had in his possession, or had transferred improperly, coupons on which interest had been paid, and which he had not surrendered to the state. they recommended a fresh repudiation of any claim founded on clews' securities.[ ] the commission also discovered that josiah morris & company of montgomery had possession of $ , in state bonds which they refused to release without legal proceedings.[ ] there is not available sufficient evidence on which to base an account of the history of town and county debts. some towns, unable to pay, gave up their charters; others still pay interest on the carpet-bag debt. for years in several counties the income was not large enough to pay the interest on its reconstruction debt. after the arrangement of state obligations, the state debt soon rose to par and above. the democratic administration was economical even to stinginess. salaries were everywhere reduced per cent, the pay of the members of the legislature from $ to $ per day, and mileage from cents to cents.[ ] the people of the state even complained of too much economy. it was said that a "deadhead" could not borrow a sheet of writing paper in the capitol, nor in a county court-house. there was not an honest white person who lived in the state during reconstruction, nor a man, woman, or child, descended from such a person, who did not then suffer or does not still suffer from the direct results of the carpet-bag financiering. homes were sold or mortgaged; schools were closed, and children grew up in ignorance; the taxes for nearly twenty years were used to pay interest on the debt then piled up. not until was there a one-mill school tax (until then the interest paid on the reconstruction debt was larger than the school fund), and not until was the state able to care for the disabled confederate soldiers. the debt has been slightly decreased by the retirement of state obligations, but the bonded debt remains the same. in it was $ , , , on which an annual interest of $ , was paid,[ ] about one-fourth of the total income of the state. the corrupt financiering in itself was not, by any means, the worst part of reconstruction. it was only a phase of the general misgovernment. though the whites were conservative and economical during the period of the provisional government and did not spend money or pledge credit recklessly, yet when the carpet-baggers began to loot the treasury, the people were not at first alarmed. many were in sympathy with any honest scheme to aid internal improvements. their confederate experience made them accustomed to the appropriations of large sums--in paper. though from the first there were several newspapers that denounced the financial measures of the reconstructionists and warned purchasers against buying the bonds issued under doubtful authority, still it was only the thinking men who understood from the beginning the danger of financial wreck. when the railroads became bankrupt, the people began to understand, and when the state failed two years later to meet its obligations, they had learned thoroughly the condition of affairs. extraordinary taxation had helped to teach them. chapter xviii railroad legislation and frauds federal and state aid to railroads before the war for forty years before the civil war there was a feeling on the part of many thoughtful citizens that the state should extend aid to any enterprise for connecting north and south alabama. it was an issue in political campaigns; candidates inveighed against the political evils resulting from the unnatural union of the two sections. south alabama was afraid that the northern section wanted connections with charleston and the atlantic seaboard, and not with mobile and the gulf; the planters of the black belt wanted the mineral region made accessible; the merchants of mobile wanted all the trade from north alabama; the whig counties of south and central alabama wanted closer connections with the white counties for the purpose of enlightening them and preventing the continual democratic majorities against the black belt at elections. at first it was proposed to build plank roads and turnpikes between the sections and thus bring about the desired unity. these failed, and then there was a demand for railroads. there were also other reasons for internal improvements. not only ought the two antagonistic sections to be consolidated, but emigration to the west must be prevented, for thousands of the citizens of the state had gone to texas during the two decades before the war. there was a general feeling that the state only needed railroads to make it immensely wealthy, and a large "western" element demanded that the state or the federal government assist in thus developing the resources of the state and in uniting its people. during the session of - , though the governor vetoed thirty-three bills passed in aid of railroads, still the legislature voted $ , to two roads. however, conservative sentiment, strict constructionist theories, sectional jealousies, and the knowledge of the sad experience of the state in other public enterprises[ ] operated against state aid to internal improvements, and before the $ , bonds were issued the act appropriating them was repealed, thus putting an end to the last attempt at direct state aid before the war.[ ] in senator douglas of illinois began the policy of federal aid to railroads by securing the passage of a bill in aid of the illinois central railroad. the alabama delegation was then opposed to such a measure, but douglas visited alabama, conferred with the directors of the mobile railroad, and promised to include that road in his bill in return for the support of the representatives and senators from alabama and mississippi. the directors then brought influence to bear, and the two state legislatures instructed their congressmen to support the measure, which was passed. thus began the federal policy of granting alternate sections of public land along a road to the state for the corporation. later, the grants were made directly to the corporation. before , land to the extent of , acres had been granted to alabama railroads,[ ] and liberal aid had also been given for improving the river system of the state.[ ] by the act of admission to the union in , alabama was entitled to per cent of the proceeds from the sales of public lands, to be used for internal improvements. three per cent was to be expended by the legislature, and per cent by congress. in congress relinquished the "two per cent fund" to the state to aid railroads and other public enterprises from "east to west" and from "north to south." the state bank failed and the "three per cent fund" was lost, but the legislature assumed it as a debt and issued state bonds to the railroads to the amount of $ , . the "two per cent fund" was loaned before the war as follows:-- to east and west roads $ , . to north and south roads , . balance , . ----------- total $ , . [ ] in there were two railroads in the state with a total of . miles of track, which cost $ , , . in , there were eleven roads, miles long, costing $ , , .[ ] during the civil war the roads received much aid from the state and confederate governments, though during this time only a few miles of track were built and some grading done. at the end of the war all were completely worn out or had been destroyed. the want of railroad communication with the armies and between the various sections of the state caused much suffering among soldiers and civilians, and after the war the people were more than ever anxious to have roads built. for two years the railway companies were busy repairing the old roads, but by popular opinion demanded new roads. general legislation in aid of railroads the provisional legislature, on february , , passed an act which served as a basis for all later legislation. the governor was authorized to indorse its first mortgage bonds to the extent of $ , per mile, when miles of a new road should have been completed, and to continue the indorsement at that rate as the road was built. no indorsed bonds were to be sold by the road for less than cents on the dollar, and the proceeds were to be used only for construction and equipment. the state was to have two directors, appointed by the governor, on the board of each road receiving state aid.[ ] the reconstruction acts of congress were passed a few days later, however, and there was no opportunity for this law to go into effect. the first reconstruction legislature[ ] increased the endowment to $ , a mile, authorized the indorsement of bonds in five-mile blocks instead of twenty-mile blocks, as before, and to the roads that proposed to extend outside of the state it promised aid for miles beyond the boundaries of the state.[ ] the next session governor smith, in a message to the legislature, stated that the indorsement law was defective; that he was in favor of lending the credit of the state, but objected to a general statute requiring indorsement of any road; that there was danger that the roads would depend entirely upon indorsement and would have no paid-up capital; moreover, taking advantage of the railroad fever, roads would be built where they were not needed; that aid should be given only to those capitalists whose enterprises promised success. finally, he advised that the law be repealed and aid be given only in specific cases.[ ] the legislature responded to the governor's message by another general law, practically reënacting the former laws. by its provisions proof was required that the five-mile block had been built and that the road-bed, rails, bridges, and cross-ties were in good order, before the first issue of the bonds was made. the company was to show what use was made of the bonds. the indorsement was to constitute a first lien in favor of the state, and in case of default of interest by the road, the governor was to seize and sell the road if necessary.[ ] a few days later a sweeping measure was passed, declaring that all acts and "things done in the state" for railroad purposes were ratified and made legal.[ ] this was the last general legislation enacted while the railroad boom continued. governor lindsay and the pseudo-democratic lower house stood out against railroad legislation, and the indorsed roads were in bad condition when the next scalawag governor was elected. under governor lewis, in , an act was passed to relieve the state of some of its obligations. roads entitled to an indorsement might take instead a loan of $ , per mile in state bonds, and roads already indorsed might exchange indorsed bonds for state bonds at the rate of four for one. but no state bonds were to be given for fraudulent issues of indorsed bonds, and when exchanges were made the road was released from all obligations to the state.[ ] had the roads accepted this offer, the state would have suffered only a loss of $ , in interest each year. however, from this time on the state authorities were busy trying to extricate the state from the bankruptcy caused by indorsing the railroad bonds. the alabama and chattanooga railroad the alabama and chattanooga railroad was the first of the roads to apply for aid under the indorsement law, and was in the worst condition. the story of this road is the story of all, only of greater length and more disgraceful. the alabama and chattanooga railroad company was made up of two older corporations, which, passing into the hands of boston financiers, united in order to secure the spoils from the state. before the union the officials had secured special legislation for one of the old roads, the wills valley. the sharpers who were engineering the scheme had agents at montgomery when the reconstruction legislature met, and these were instrumental in having the indorsement raised from $ , to $ , a mile. the second corporation was the northeast and southwest alabama railroad.[ ] the proposed road would be miles long, and when completed would be entitled to $ , , from the state in indorsed bonds. the law was explicit in regard to indorsation, but governor smith, notwithstanding his opposition to the principle of the law, was criminally careless, if no worse, in the way he administered it. the first miles were not built as required by law, but were purchased from the old northeast and southwest alabama railroad. moreover, the road was never properly equipped, and the miles from chattanooga, on which indorsement amounting to $ , was secured, were only rented from another corporation (which was already indorsed to the amount of $ per mile by the state of georgia), and the rent was paid from the proceeds of the indorsed bonds, which by law should have been applied only to construction and equipment. nor was the rented road equipped.[ ] the indorsed bonds of the road to november , , amounted to $ , , ,[ ] and auditor reynolds reported in that the indorsement to september , , was $ , , on miles.[ ] these figures should have been correct, but they were not. in fact, miles had been roughly finished, but the indorsement was far above the legal limit. on december , , a few days before he retired from office, smith reported to the legislature that he had indorsed the alabama and chattanooga road for $ , , for miles.[ ] the facts, as afterwards disclosed, were that only miles were completed, and of these only were in alabama. yet he had issued bonds to the amount of $ , , , covering not only the whole miles of the proposed road, but also including $ , in excess of what the law allowed to the completed road, which with equipment was worth only $ , , . so here were $ , , in bonds which were clearly fraudulent. there was no further indorsement of this road.[ ] as if the enormous issue of indorsed bonds was not enough for the stantons of boston, who were in control of the corporation, a second descent of railroad promoters was made on the legislature in - , and $ , , in direct state bonds were obtained for the alabama and chattanooga railroad. indorsement was not enough for them. the act stated that the bonds were to be issued from time to time as needed for use in construction within the state, and in return the railroad lands were to be mortgaged to the state.[ ] in order to secure the passage of this act, the most shameful bribery was resorted to by the agents of the railroad and of the new york capitalists who were financing the stantons. one of the stantons came to montgomery, also an agent from the banking house of henry clews & company, and agents from other houses interested in the stanton scheme. the stantons themselves had no money except what they received from the state. on february , , the bill failed in the house; but on february a reconsideration was moved and the bill was referred back to the committee with directions "to report within fifteen minutes." the report was favorable, and the members having seen the light, the bill was passed by a vote of to .[ ] from the first, specific charges of bribery had been made against those who, within three days, had changed from active opposition to support of the measure.[ ] a year later the house had a majority of young and inexperienced democrats, and they ordered an investigation. the senate, with one solitary exception, was still radical. the investigation brought to light many unpleasant facts relating to the methods employed in securing the passage of the $ , , appropriation and other railroad bills. jerre haralson, a negro member, told his experience. jerre was opposing the grant and posing as a democrat because he had not been sufficiently remembered on previous occasions when the spoils were divided. hearing that something was to be divided, he went to stanton's room, where, he said, there were many members. caraway, the negro member from mobile, told haralson that he (caraway) would not vote for the grant for less than $ . stanton had four rooms at the exchange hotel, to which, at his invitation, all the purchasable members went. stanton would take the members, one at a time, into the hall, after which that member would leave. haralson, to his sorrow, was not called into the hall, but the next day he heard from the other negro members that money was to be had, so he called again. stanton then accused haralson of being a democrat, but haralson replied that he had left that party, and after receiving a "loan" of $ , he went home.[ ] george b. holmes, of the firm of holmes & goldthwaite, bankers, testified that gilmer, president of the south and north alabama railroad (stanton had all the roads in need of "boodle" working with him), asked him for $ , to be used at the capitol. gilmer told holmes that the banker of the road had refused it, as had also the farley bank. finally, farley and holmes each agreed to furnish $ , to gilmer. john hardy, the chairman of the committee, had asked for $ , to oil the bearings of the political machine, and for that amount had agreed to have the bill passed. at the last moment hardy demanded $ , more, which holmes obtained from josiah morris. the committee was thus gotten into condition "to report within fifteen minutes," and the legislature made ready to accept the report.[ ] two years later, governor lindsay stated in his message that the alabama and chattanooga $ , , bill had not passed the legislature by the two-thirds vote as required by law.[ ] the law provided for the issue of the state bonds for $ , , from time to time as the road was completed. instead, however, they were issued in reckless haste, within a month, and hurried away to europe for sale. the proceeds were used to build a hotel and an opera house in chattanooga, where stanton was accused of trying to imitate fiske and gould of erie.[ ] when governor lindsay went into office, he could not find the "scratch of a pen" relating to railroad indorsement. governor smith, as later developments showed, had become careless with his bond indorsement and kept no records, or else destroyed them or carried them away. auditor reynolds reported in that his office had official knowledge only of the indorsement of the mobile and montgomery road.[ ] in his message of january , , lindsay said, "to what extent bonds under the various statutes have been indorsed and issued by the state it is impossible to inform you. no record can be found in any department of the action of the executive in this regard." none of the securities required by law could be found. lindsay was unable to ascertain even the form of the indorsed bonds, except those of the mobile and montgomery and the montgomery and eufaula roads. lindsay telegraphed to smith's secretary, who replied that there was no record of the bond issues except the certificates of the railroad presidents. lindsay found some of these, which were plain certificates: "this is to certify that five more miles of the (----) railroad has been finished." on each five-mile certificate, like the one above, the road drew $ , . yet the law was strict in requiring proof of completion, of good rails, bridges, road-bed, and equipment. at this time or miles of the alabama and chattanooga road had not been completed, and miles more had only a temporary track hastily thrown together in order to get the indorsement. governor lindsay believed that the road as planned promised great success, and was of the opinion that had the bonds been issued according to law the road would have been completed. he had to correspond with the railroad officials in order to ascertain the amount of the bonds.[ ] a few days before smith went out of office he reported $ , , indorsement on miles of the alabama and chattanooga road. lindsay found no record of this. almost immediately (january, ) the alabama and chattanooga road defaulted in payment of interest, and lindsay was authorized by the legislature to go to new york and provide for the payment of interest on bonds legally issued and held by innocent purchasers.[ ] statements were constantly appearing in the state press that fraudulent issues had been made, and the democratic papers were warning purchasers against them, declaring that when the people of alabama again came into power, they had no intention of paying them. the carpet-bag régime had numerous financial agents in new york, philadelphia, boston, london, germany, and elsewhere. most of the agents in new york gave lindsay assistance in his investigations. souter & company stated they had sold first mortgage alabama and chattanooga bonds (all that were legal), and state bonds for the alabama and chattanooga company, all for more than cents on the dollar. erlanger et cie., of paris, had purchased the state bonds at cents in gold. lindsay soon discovered that alabama and chattanooga bonds in excess had been issued, in excess of what the road would be entitled to when completed. braunfels of erlanger et cie. testified that he had loaned $ , on bonds numbered between and . the trustees under the first deed of trust held bonds to and had refused to sell them, knowing them to be fraudulent; bonds of the fraudulent excess had been partly sold and partly hypothecated to drexel & company of philadelphia; thirty had been hypothecated to a firm in boston for locomotives. lindsay saw some of these fraudulent bonds, which were signed by governor smith and sealed with the seal of the state.[ ] lindsay, through the state agents, duncan, sherman, & company, recognized as legal the first of these indorsed bonds and the state bonds and ordered interest to be paid on them. all the others were rejected as fraudulent.[ ] the acts of february and march , ,[ ] authorized the governor to pay interest on the alabama and chattanooga bonds which were in the hands of innocent purchasers on january , . at that date at least of the fraudulent issue had not been sold. the other or bonds numbered above were declared fraudulent by lindsay on the ground that the part of road which called for the extra bonds simply did not exist. at this time he paid interest on the railroad bonds, amounting to $ , ,[ ] and later to $ , . no interest was paid on bonds held by the road or hypothecated by its officials. the governor was authorized to proceed against the road, and, in july , colonel john h. gindrat, the governor's secretary, was ordered to seize the road and act as receiver. the road had ceased running two weeks before. stanton claimed that the default had been caused by the threats of repudiation, and when gindrat went to take charge every possible obstacle and embarrassment were imposed by the company. besides, at the mississippi end of the line the employees had seized the road in order to secure their pay. gindrat pacified them, and went slowly along the road toward georgia, where he was stopped at the state line. not only had alabama indorsed that part of the road within georgia and tennessee, for $ , a mile, but georgia had also indorsed it for $ a mile, and the part within her boundaries she seized. the governor was forced to employ a large number of attorneys and institute legal proceedings, not only in alabama, but also in georgia, tennessee, mississippi, and in the federal courts. bullock, the carpet-bag governor of georgia, would not run the road in georgia in connection with the alabama section, and not until there was a new governor (conley) could connections be made over the whole line.[ ] for his action in repudiating the fraudulent bonds and in seizing the road, lindsay was much abused by all the railroad interests, by the hungry promoters who wanted more money from the state, and by a section of his own party which was influenced by prominent democrats who were officers of the road,[ ] and especially by influential democratic lawyers. this fact was important in weakening the democratic cause in . there were some who opposed the seizure of the road because they believed that in the then unsettled condition of affairs the state would not be able to manage the road successfully; there were others who believed that the state should not acknowledge the legality of the indorsement by seizure of the road. the debt commission in reported that, although the laws were strict, yet they had been violated in letter and in spirit before indorsement. but though many (including the debt commission) believed the issues illegal, yet by the seizure of the road the state acknowledged the obligations.[ ] the history of the road while in the hands of the state authorities was not pleasant to democrat or radical. the state had first seized the section of the road that was in alabama, and had gone into the state courts to get the remainder. the litigation promised to be endless, and the case was taken to the federal courts. finally the road was sold at a bankrupt sale, and lindsay purchased it for the state, paying $ , . the circuit court reversed this action, and there was a new case in which busteed, district judge, adjudged the company bankrupt. in may, , the federal court placed the road in the hands of receivers for the first mortgage bondholders, who were to issue $ , , in certificates to run the road,--this to be a _lien prior to the claim of the state_. august , , the same court placed the road in the hands of the trustees of the first mortgage bondholders. the road, while in the hands of the state receiver, was either badly managed or was unsuccessful because of the obstruction by the other roads and by capitalists. several attempts were made, by governors lindsay, lewis, and houston, to sell the road, but with no success. finally, in , the debt commission arranged with the holders of the first mortgage bonds to turn over to them the whole claim of the state to the road, the state paying $ , , , besides the interest, to be out of the business.[ ] governor lindsay had paid $ , interest on the alabama and chattanooga bonds, and in there were arrears amounting to $ , , .[ ] congress had made a grant of land, six sections per mile, amounting to , , acres, for all the roads within the boundaries of alabama, and the state held a mortgage on this land. much of it was sold fraudulently by the railroad company, and titles were given where there had been no sales. one railroad agent pocketed $ , . received from fraudulent sales of this land. the state never received a cent.[ ] other indorsed railroads the story of the other roads that applied for aid is similar, though shorter and of a meaner nature. the savannah and memphis road was the only one that failed to default.[ ] it was indorsed for $ , , but when the house committee was investigating, in , as there was no record of any indorsement, the president refused to appear or to give any information.[ ] later it was ascertained that at the time that the road was worth only $ , it had been indorsed to the extent of $ , .[ ] the south and north alabama railroad was a persistent applicant for legislative favors. on december , , the available portion of the "two and three per cent fund," amounting to $ , . , was turned over to the south and north road.[ ] the road secured indorsement at the rate of $ , a mile along with other roads, but this was not enough, and, on march , , the legislature increased its indorsement to $ , a mile.[ ] governor smith knew so little of what he did in regard to railroads that in his last message he stated that the south and north road was indorsed for $ , , , that is, for ninety miles at $ , a mile,[ ] while he raised the indorsement of the selma and gulf to $ , a mile, thus confusing the two roads. the house railroad committee declared that by means of bribery the road had secured one hundred miles of indorsement, amounting to $ , , .[ ] when lindsay was asked to indorse more bonds for this road, he made an investigation which convinced him that too many bonds had already been issued, and he refused to sign any more. under the law the road was entitled to one-thousand-dollar indorsed bonds, but had received ,[ ] an indorsement of $ , , , while the road equipped was valued at only $ , , .[ ] when it became known that fraudulent issues had been made, the investigating committee called before them the ex-treasurer of the state, arthur bingham, of ohio. he claimed and was allowed the constitutional privilege of refusing to testify on the ground that his testimony would tend to incriminate himself.[ ] in it was estimated that including the "three per cent" fund the road had received from the state $ , , more than the cost of building it.[ ] governor lewis, in , reported that the south and north road was indorsed for $ , , , including $ , , that was not recorded on the books of the state.[ ] [illustration: some reconstructionists. governor l. e. parsons. governor william h. smith. governor d. p. lewis. negro members of convention of are on the left. the white man in the back row is sam. rice.] the east alabama and cincinnati corporation consisted of governor w. h. smith, three senators (two of whom were j. j. hinds and j. l. pennington), and two members of the lower house. stanton of the alabama and chattanooga was also connected with it; in fact, he was connected in some way with nearly all the schemes to secure state aid. the road was mortgaged to henry clews & company for $ , . it had no money of its own, but secured state indorsement for $ , and a bond issue of $ , from the town of opelika. this indorsement by governor smith was not discovered until , when lindsay was accused of issuing the bonds. this he flatly denied, and he was correct. the tennessee and coosa rivers road had $ , . , if no more, of the "two per cent fund." on march , , that road was released from its indebtedness to the state (part of the "two and three per cent funds") on condition that it apply for no further aid. but now, in order to get the indorsement, a part of this road was transferred to the east alabama and cincinnati road, to pass as a new road. with an indorsement of $ , besides the $ , opelika bonds, the road equipped was valued at only $ , .[ ] the selma and gulf was another road without resources of its own, and, so far as it was completed, was built with state aid. governor smith, in clear violation of the law, the committee reported, indorsed the road for $ , . some one, probably smith, though lindsay was accused of it, raised this amount to $ , , $ , of which was not recorded. at this time the road was valued at $ , , and the company threatened to default unless further aid was extended. smith thought that the road was indorsed for $ , a mile and reported $ , indorsement.[ ] the mobile and alabama grand trunk road, valued at $ , , was indorsed by the state for $ , . the city of mobile also issued $ , , in bonds for this road.[ ] there was no record of an application for aid from the new orleans and selma railroad. neither smith nor lindsay reported it, yet its financial agent had secretly secured an indorsement of $ , , contrary to law. the road was valued at $ , . it had no resources except $ , in dallas county bonds, and its president, colonel william m. byrd, resigned rather than be a party to the stealing.[ ] the promoters of the selma, marion, and memphis road placed general n. b. forrest at the head of the enterprise, and for three years he worked hard to make the road a success. governor smith indorsed the road for $ , , or $ , a mile, when only forty miles were completed. in the road was valued at $ , . when the company failed, as was intended from the first, general forrest gave up every dollar he could raise in order to pay debts due on contracts, and he himself was left a poor man.[ ] the montgomery and eufaula road obtained something over $ , of the "three per cent fund" from the state, and in the governor was authorized by the legislature to indorse the road, notwithstanding this debt to the state, which was considered simply as an indorsement.[ ] under this act the road was indorsed for $ , , , and in addition state direct bonds to the amount of $ , were issued to the company in . for this loan there was no security. lewis owen, a former president, refused to answer when it was charged that bribery had been used to secure the passage of the bill. at this time the road was valued at $ , . in capitalists offered to lease the road for enough to pay the interest on its bonds, provided the state would release the road from all claims and give to it the $ , already loaned. this was done. later it was seized by the state and eventually sold for sufficient money to cover losses caused by the indorsement.[ ] the mobile and montgomery road secured $ , , by special act of the legislature.[ ] the road was valued at $ , , [ ] and was already built, hence the indorsement was safe. the total indorsement was about $ , , . value of all railroads in the state (from the auditor's reports) , miles $ , , . , miles , , . , miles , , . , ---- miles , , . , ---- miles , , . , (returns from railroad officials) , , . summary ======================================================== name of road |length| value |indorsement| value | | | per | per | of | | | mile | mile | road | --------------|------|-------|-----------|-------------| alabama and | | | | | chattanooga | |$ , | $ , |$ , , . | | | | | | | | | | | e. alabama and| | | | | cincinnati | | , | , | , . | | | | | | mobile and | | | | | alabama g.t. | | , | , | , . | | | | | | montgomery | | | | | and eufaula | | , | , | , , . | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | mobile and | | | | | montgomery | | , | , | , , . | | | | | | savannah and | | | | | memphis | | , | , | , . | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | selma and gulf| | , | , | , . | | | | | | | | | | | selma, marion,| | | | | and memphis | | , | , | , . | | | | | | new orleans | | | | | and selma | | , | , | , . | | | | | | | | | | | south and | | | | | north alabama| | | | | | | , | , | , , . | ======================================================== ======================================= indorsement | present | remarks of | road | road | | ----------------|----------|----------- |ala. great|seized by $ , , [ ]| southern | state. | |completed. | | | |never , | ---- | completed. | | |mobile and| , [ ]| birm'gh'm| ---- | | |central of|seized and , , [ ]| georgia | leased by | | the state. | | |l'sville | | and | , , [ ]| nashville| ---- | | | |did not , | ---- | default; | | never | | completed. | | , [ ]| ---- |never | | completed. | | | |never , [ ]| ---- | completed. | | |b'ham, |never , | selma & | completed. | n.o. | | | |l'sville | | and | , , [ ]| nashville| ---- ======================================= county and town aid to railroads an act of december , , authorized the counties, towns, and cities to subscribe to railroad stock. the road corporation was to be voted on by the people. if "no subscription" was voted, a new election might be ordered within twelve months, and if again voted down, the matter was to be considered as settled. if a subscription was voted, an extra tax was to be levied to pay the interest on the bonds; the taxpayer was to be presented with a tax receipt which was good for its face value in the county or city railroad stock.[ ] several of the counties and towns issued bonds and incurred heavy debts which have burdened them for years. no one seems to have profited by the issues except the promoters.[ ] the counties that suffered worst from reconstruction bond issues were randolph, chambers, lee, tallapoosa, and pickens. these were hopelessly burdened with debt and became known as the "strangulated" counties. there was, after the democrats came into power, much legislation for their relief. the state gave them the state taxes to assist in paying off the debt and also loaned money to them. several cities and towns, notably mobile, selma, and opelika, were so deeply in debt that they were unable to pay interest on their debts. they lost their charters, ceased to be cities, and became districts under the direct control of the governor. there are still several such districts in the state. the constitution of forbade state, counties, or towns to engage in works of internal improvement, or to lend money or credit to such, or to any private or corporate enterprise. it is impossible to secure complete statistics of the railroad bond issues of counties and towns. some issues were made in ignorance, without authority of law, others were made under the provisions of a general law. naturally, the counties that suffered most were those of the black belt under carpet-bag control. the following is a summary of the issues made under special acts:-- ================================================================= county | | | | | or town |date| amount | road aided |authority| vote ----------|----|---------|---------------|---------|------------- barbour |----| ---- |vicksburg and |act, dec.| ---- | | | brunswick | , | chambers |----| $ , |east alabama |act, dec.| | | | and cincinnati| , | ---- dallas |----| , |new orleans and|act, dec.| | | | selma | , | ---- greene | | , |selma, marion, |act, mar.| | | | and memphis | , | to hale | | , |selma, marion, |act, mar.| | | | and memphis | , | to lee |----| , |east alabama |act, dec.| | | | and cincinnati| , | ---- madison | | , |memphis and |act, mar.| | | | charleston | , | also earlier pickens | | , |selma, marion, |act, mar.| | | | and memphis | , | to randolph |----| , | ---- |act, dec.| | | | | , | ---- tallapoosa|----| , | ---- | ---- | ---- eutaw | | , |selma, marion, |act, mar.| | | | and memphis | , | to greensboro| | , |selma, marion, |act, mar.| | | | and memphis | , | to mobile | | , , |mobile and |act, mar.| | | | northwestern | , | ---- mobile | | , | ---- |act, mar.| | | | | , | ---- opelika |----| , |east alabama | | | | | and cincinnati| ---- | ---- prattville| | , |south and north|act, jan.| | | | alabama | , | ---- troy | | , |mobile and |act, oct.| | | | girard | , | ---- ================================================================= chapter xix reconstruction in the schools school system before reconstruction the public school system of the state of alabama was organized in , and was an expansion of the mobile system, which was partly native and partly modelled on the new york-new england systems.[ ] by it was in good working order. the school fund for was $ , . ; for , $ , . , and the number of children in attendance was , , which was about one-fourth of the white population. for the fund amounted to $ , . ; for , $ , . , with an attendance of , children.[ ] the schools were not wholly free, since those parents who were able to do so paid part of the tuition.[ ] in there were also academies, with an enrolment of , pupils, and in the state colleges there were students. in spite of the war the system managed to exist until , and some schools were still open in , at the time of surrender. few of the private schools and colleges survived until that time, and the majority of the school buildings of all kinds were either destroyed during the war, or after its close were placed in the hands of the freedmen's bureau or of the army. the state medical college was used for a negro primary school for three years, and was not given up until the reconstructionists came into power. an attempt in was made to reopen the university, although the buildings had been burned by the federals in . the trustees met, elected a president and two professors, but on the day appointed for the opening (in october) only one student appeared.[ ] during the summer and fall of and during the next year the various religious denominations of the state and mass-meetings of citizens declared that the changed civil relations of the races made negro education a necessity. the freedmen's bureau was established and anticipated much of the work planned by the churches and by southern leaders, but the methods employed by the alien teachers caused many whites to become prejudiced against negro education.[ ] the provisional government adopted the ante-bellum public school system and put it into operation. the schools were open to both races, from six to twenty years of age, separate schools being provided for the blacks. the greater part of the expenditure of the provisional government was for schools. relatively few negroes attended the state schools proper, as every influence was brought to bear to make them attend the bureau and missionary schools, and the state negro schools soon fell into the hands of the bureau educators, who drew the state appropriation. the colleges at marion, greensboro, auburn, florence, and other places were reopened in - . the legislature loaned $ , to the university, besides paying the interest on the university fund. for three years the university was being rebuilt, and so well were its finances managed that in , when the carpet-baggers came into power, the buildings were completed and the institution out of debt, although it had used only half of the loan from the state.[ ] the reconstruction convention of was much more interested in politics than in education. the negro members demanded free schools and special advantages for the negro, and a few carpet-baggers had much to say about the malign influence of the old régime in keeping so many thousands in the darkness of ignorance. the scalawags demanded separate schools for the races, but pressure was brought to bear and most of them gave way. sixteen of the native whites refused to sign the constitution and united in a protest against the action of the convention in refusing to provide separate schools.[ ] the school system of reconstruction the new constitution placed all public instruction under the control of a board of education consisting of the superintendent of public instruction and two members from each congressional district,[ ] the latter to serve for four years, half of them being elected by the people every two years. full legislative powers in regard to education were given to the board. its acts were to have the force of law, and the governor's veto could be overridden by a two-thirds vote. the legislature might repeal a school law, but otherwise it had no authority over the board.[ ] this body also acted as a board of regents for the state university. one school, at least, was to be established in every township in the state, though some townships did not have half a dozen children in them. the school income was fixed by the constitution at one-fifth of all state revenue, in addition to the income from school lands, poll tax, and taxes on railroads, navigation, banks, and insurance.[ ] the legislature added another source of income by chartering several lotteries and exempted them from taxation provided they paid a certain amount to the school fund. on october , , the mutual aid association was chartered "to distribute books, paintings, works of art, scientific instruments and apparatus, lands, etc., stock and currency, awards, and prizes." for this privilege it was to give $ a year to the school fund.[ ] two months later the mobile charitable association was formed, which paid $ a year to the school fund,[ ] and a number of other lotteries were chartered soon after. the school system, as a whole, did not differ greatly from the old, except that it was top-heavy with officials, and in that all private assistance was discouraged by a regulation forbidding the use of the public money to supplement private payments. the first board of education probably contained a collection of as worthless men as could be found in the state.[ ] the elections had gone by default, and since only the most incompetent men had offered themselves for educational offices, the work suffered. dr. n. b. cloud, an incapable of ante-bellum days, was chosen superintendent of public instruction. he was a man without character, without education, and entirely without administrative ability. before the war he was known as a cruel master to his few slaves. in august, , he proceeded to put the system into operation by appointing sixty-four county superintendents, of radical politics, each of whom in turn appointed three trustees in each township. the stream rose no higher than its source, and the school officials were a forlorn lot. one of them signed for his salary by an x mark. another, j. e. summerford, the superintendent of lee county, was a man of bad morals, and so incompetent that, when attempting to examine teachers for licenses, he in turn was contemptuously questioned by them on elementary subjects. in revenge for this expression of contempt, he revoked the license of every teacher in the county. one county superintendent was a preacher who had been expelled from his church for misappropriating charity funds. but cloud paid no attention to charges made against the integrity of his school officials. cloud proceeded with much haste to open the schools. a year later he made a report which is an interesting document. there was little progress to be noted, but much space was devoted to an appreciation of that "glorious document," the constitution of , the crowning glory of which--the article on education--should "entitle the members to the rare merit of statemen and sages." this provision for education, he said, was the first blow struck in the south, and especially in alabama, to clear out the last vestige of ignorance with all its attendant evils; and now, in spite of the burdens imposed by the unwise legislation of the past forty years, the bosoms of the citizens expanded with a noble pride in the present system of schools. after this he proceeds to business. he reports that in every county and in almost every township in the state his officials met with opposition, not, he confesses, on account of opposition to schools, but on account of the objectionable government and its agents. the reports from the white counties, especially, indicate opposition to the establishment of negro schools, while in the black belt this opposition was not so strong. everywhere, he states, the opposition died out, more or less, in time.[ ] before the new system went into operation, a meeting of the board was held in montgomery to clear away the remains of the old system. they voted to themselves a secretary, sergeant-at-arms, pages, etc., like the house of representatives; all school offices were declared vacated and all school contracts void; separate schools were provided for the races where the parents were unwilling to send to mixed schools; eleven normal schools were provided for, with no distinction of color; and a bill was introduced by g. l. putnam and passed into a law, the object of which was to merge the mobile schools into the state system and also to make an office for putnam. a sum of money had been appropriated by the previous legislatures to pay the teachers in the state schools, and now the board declared that any association, society, or teacher in a school open to the public should have a claim for part of this money.[ ] the country superintendents were made elective after ; coöperation with the freedmen's bureau was declared desirable, and the bureau was asked to furnish or to rent houses, or to assist in building, while the aid societies were asked to send teachers who would be paid by the state, and who would be subject to the same regulations as native teachers. the "superintendent of education" of the bureau was to have supervision over the bureau schools, but he, in turn, would be under the supervision of cloud.[ ] reconstruction of the state university the board then tried to reconstruct the university. after the appearance of the lone student in , the efforts of the trustees had been directed only towards completing the buildings. in , after the constitution of had failed of adoption, the old trustees met, elected a president and faculty, and ordered the university to be opened in october, . a few weeks later congress imposed the constitution on the state, and the board of education as regents took charge of the university. their first act was to declare null and void all acts of any pretended body of trustees since the secession of the state. this was done in order to repudiate a debt made by the university with a new york firm in . no suitable candidate for the presidency was presented, and the regents chose for that position mr. wyman, the acting president.[ ] he declined, and the position was then sought for and obtained by the rev. a. s. lakin, a northern methodist preacher, who had been sent to alabama in by bishop clark of ohio, to gather the negroes of the southern methodist church into the northern fold.[ ] lakin, accompanied by cloud, went to the university to take charge. wyman, who was then in charge, refused to surrender the keys, and a tuscaloosa mob, or ku klux klan, serenaded lakin and threatened to lynch him if he remained in town. it is said that he was saved from the mob by wyman, who hid him under a bed. the next morning lakin decided that he did not like the place and left.[ ] he did not resign, however, and three years later still had a claim pending for a full year's salary. on this he collected $ from the board of regents.[ ] [illustration: [from the independent monitor, tuscaloosa, alabama, september , .] a prospective scene in the city of oaks, th of march, . "hang, curs, hang! * * * * * their complexion is perfect gallows. stand fast, good fate, to _their_ hanging! * * * * * if they be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable." the above cut represents the fate in store for those great pests of southern society--the carpet-bagger and scalawag--if found in dixie's land after the break of day on the th of march next. the _genus_ carpet-bagger is a man with a lank head of dry hair, a lank stomach, and long legs, club knees, and splay feet, dried legs, and lank jaws, with eyes like a fish and mouth like a shark. add to this a habit of sneaking and dodging about in unknown places, habiting with negroes in dark dens and back streets, a look like a hound, and the smell of a polecat. words are wanting to do full justice to the _genus_ scalawag. he is a cur with a contracted head, downward look, slinking and uneasy gait; sleeps in the woods, like old crossland, at the bare idea of a ku-klux raid. our scalawag is the local leper of the community. unlike the carpet-bagger, he is native, which is so much the worse. once he was respected in his circle, his head was level, and he would look his neighbor in the face. now, possessed of the itch of office and the salt rheum of radicalism, he is a mangy dog, slinking through the alleys, hunting the governor's office, defiling with tobacco juice the steps of the capitol, stretching his lazy carcass in the sun on the square or the benches of the mayor's court. he waiteth for the troubling of the political waters, to the end that he may step in and be healed of the itch by the ointment of office. for office he "bums," as a toper "bums" for the satisfying dram. for office, yet in prospective, he hath bartered respectability; hath abandoned business and ceased to labor with his hands, but employs his feet kicking out boot-heels against lamp-post and corner-curb while discussing the question of office. it requires no seer to foretell the inevitable events that are to result from the coming fall election throughout the southern states. the unprecedented reaction is moving onward with the swiftness of a velocipede, with the violence of a tornado, and with the crash of an avalanche, sweeping negroism from the face of the earth. woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of alabama who have recently become squatter-] it was in connection with lakin's short visit that the _independent monitor_ published the famous hanging picture of the carpet-bagger (lakin) and the scalawag (cloud).[ ] the next offer of the presidency was made to r. d. harper, a northern methodist bureau minister, who at one time was the bureau "superintendent of education" for the state, and who organized the bureau schools and the northern methodist churches in north alabama. he, after some consideration, declined the position, which, to an alien, was one of more danger than honor.[ ] difficulty was also experienced in securing a faculty. some of the faculty elected by the old board of trustees were reëlected. geary of ohio was given the chair of mathematics, and goodfellow of chicago, who had previously been a clerk of the lower house of the legislature, was elected commandant and professor of military science. the latter said that he did not know anything about his work, but that he guessed he could learn. general john h. forney, a confederate and native, was also elected to a chair, the board, it is said, voting for him under a misapprehension. the native contingent refused to serve under the regents, and the vacancies had again to be filled.[ ] loomis of illinois was elected professor of ancient languages; j. de f. richards of vermont, professor of natural philosophy and astronomy, etc. w. j. collins, who was elected professor of oratory and rhetoric, wrote, "i except the situation." the _monitor_ said, "we predict an uncomfortable time for the aggregation."[ ] that paper chronicled all the weaknesses, peculiarities, and failings of the faculty. if one of them drank a little too much and staggered on the street, the _monitor_ informed the public.[ ] upon the arrival of an heir in the collins family, randolph promptly demanded that he be named for him,--ryland randolph collins,--and the name stuck. finally, as it seemed impossible to secure a president, the regents determined to open the university with richards as acting president.[ ] on april , , the university opened with thirty students, twenty-eight of whom were beneficiaries.[ ] the _monitor_ said that the members of the faculty were known as shanghai, cockeye, tanglefoot, old dicks, etc. another woodcut appeared in the _monitor_--of richards, this time.[ ] thirty was the highest enrolment reached under the reconstruction faculty. the number gradually dwindled away until at the end of the session there were only ten. the next session ended with only three. in october, , there were ten students, four of whom were sons of professors. william r. smith[ ] was elected president during this session, but he reported that there was no prospect of success under the present conditions and resigned. by the end of the session not one student remained. the scientific apparatus was scattered and lost, as were also the museum specimens and library books, and the $ object-glass of the telescope had disappeared.[ ] the people of alabama did not favor the continuance of the university under the reconstructed faculty, and were glad when the doors were closed. the ku klux klan took part in the work of breaking down the venture. notices were posted on the doors, directed to the students, advising them to leave. one sent to the son of governor smith read as follows:-- david smith: you have received one notice from us, and this shall be our last. you nor no other d--d son of a d--d radical traitor shall stay at our university. leave here in less than ten days, for in that time we will visit the place and it will not be well for you to be found out there. the state is ours and so shall our university be. written by the secretary by order of the klan. charles muncel, son of joel muncel, the publisher, of albany, new york,[ ] received the following notice:-- charles muncel. you had better get back where you came from. we don't want any d--d yank at our colleges. in less than ten days we will come to see if you obey our warning. if not, look out for hell, for d--n you, we will show you that you shall not stay, you nor no one else, in that college. this is your first notice; let it be your last. the klan by the secretary. the next warning was sent to a lone democrat:-- horton: they say you are of good democratic family. if you are, leave the university and that quick. we don't intend that the concern shall run any longer. this is the second notice you have received; you will get no other. in less than ten days we intend to clear out the concern. we will have good southern men there or none. by order of the k. k. k.[ ] before the summer of the reconstructed faculty had absolutely failed; there never had been any chance for them to succeed. the regents were unfitted to manage educational affairs, and they chose men to the faculty who would have been objectionable anywhere.[ ] the professors and their families were socially ostracized. even southern men who accepted places in the radical faculty were made to feel that they were scorned; no one would sit by them at public gatherings or in church. the men might have survived this treatment, but not so the women. in the superintendent of public instruction and two members of the board of regents were democrats. the faculty was reorganized for the eighth time since , and a faculty of natives was elected. the effect upon the attendance was marked. in april, , there were three students and in june none, while during the session of - , students were enrolled. in and the radicals again had control, but they did not attempt to reconstruct the university.[ ] when the land grant college, provided for in the morrill act of , was established in , there was no attempt made to appoint a reconstructed faculty or board of trustees. but there was sharp competition among the towns of the state to secure the college. the legislature was to choose the location, and many of the members let it be known that their votes were to be had only in return for material considerations. it was finally located at auburn, in lee county. one auburn lobbyist went out on the floor of one of the houses and there paid a negro solon $ to talk no more against auburn. the next day the same negro was again speaking against the location at auburn. his purchaser went to him and remonstrated. the negro acknowledged that he had accepted the $ not to speak against auburn, but said, "dat was yistiddy, boss." another auburn man promised a cooking stove to a negro of more domestic inclinations, and amidst the excitement forgot all about it; but after the vote the negro came up and demanded his stove. he received it. another was given a sewing-machine.[ ] there was no attempt to force the entrance of negroes into the state university. some reformers wanted the test made, but too many scalawags were bitterly opposed to such a step, to say nothing of the ku klux klan. in december, , the board of education asked the legislature to provide a university for the negroes,[ ] and several colored normal schools were established. in , peyton finley, the negro member of the board of education,[ ] introduced a series of resolutions declaring that the negro had no desire to push any claim to enter the state university, but that they wanted one of their own, and congress was urged to grant land for that purpose.[ ] but not until december, , was lincoln school at marion, perry county, designated as the colored university and normal school, where a liberal education was to be given the negro.[ ] trouble in the mobile schools for more than a year cloud had trouble in the schools of mobile. the mobile schools (always independent of the state system) were under the control of a school board appointed by the military authorities in . when all offices and contracts were vacated, g. l. putnam, a member of the board of education, and also connected with the emerson institute, which was conducted at mobile by the american missionary association, had secured the enactment, because he wanted the position, of a school law providing for a superintendent of education for mobile county. in august, , cloud gave him the office. the old school commissioners refused to recognize the authority of putnam, who was unable to displace them, because he himself could not make bond. but, in order to give him some kind of office, cloud went to mobile and proposed a compromise, which was to appoint one of the old commissioners superintendent of education and putnam superintendent of negro schools under the supervision of the other superintendent and the board of commissioners, which was still to exist. this was an arrangement cloud had no lawful authority to make. as part of the compromise the principal and teachers of the american missionary association were to be retained and paid by the state. the emerson institute (or "blue college," as the negroes called it) was to remain in possession of the american missionary association, but the school board and county superintendent were to have control over the schools in it. putnam, as superintendent of the "blue college" school, refused to allow the control of the board. he wanted them to pay his teachers, but would have no supervision. the general field agent of the american missionary association, edward p. smith, offered the "schools and teachers" to the school commissioners to be paid but not controlled. "we ought now in some way," he said, "to have our teachers recognized and paid for, from the public fund, an amount equal to that paid for similar grades to other teachers in mobile." at the same time the state was paying $ per month for the use of the building over which the association and putnam would allow no supervision. the county superintendent and the commissioners, unable to secure any control over the putnam schools, refused to recognize them as a part of the mobile system. cloud declared all the offices vacant, but the commissioners refused to vacate. the case was carried into court and the commissioners were put in jail. the supreme court ordered them released. the board of education then met and abolished the mobile system and merged the special and independent schools of that county into the general state system. this was done on november , .[ ] the judiciary committee of the legislature, consisting of three radicals and one democrat, was directed to investigate the conduct of cloud in the mobile troubles. it was reported ( ) that cloud had appointed two superintendents in mobile county, contrary to law; ( ) that on january , , g. l. putnam, who was not an official of the state and who, according to the compromise, should have been under the control of the county superintendent, drew from the state treasury with the connivance of cloud between $ and $ , with which he paid the teachers of "blue college," who were in the employ of the american missionary association and not of the state of alabama; ( ) that in july, , cloud again appointed putnam superintendent of education for mobile county, and sixty days afterwards he made a bond which was declared worthless by the grand jury, and after that cloud gave putnam a warrant for $ , which he was prevented from collecting only by an injunction; ( ) that while the injunction was in force as concerned both putnam and cloud, the latter drew from the treasury $ or more of the mobile school funds to pay lawyers' fees; ( ) that while the injunction was still in force cloud drew $ from the treasury for putnam, the greater part or all of which was illegally used; ( ) that cloud again drew a warrant for $ , which the auditor, discovering that putnam was interested, refused to allow, and it was destroyed; ( ) the committee further stated that very large salaries were paid to the teachers in "blue college," or emerson institute,--that one of them (squires) received $ a year. the committee went beyond the limit of the resolution and reported that county superintendents were paid too much, and recommended the abolition of the board of education by constitutional amendment, the reduction of the pay of all school officials who acted as a sponge to absorb all the school funds, and, finally, that no person should hold more than one school office at the same time.[ ] later investigation showed that putnam had made out pay-rolls for the teachers of the emerson institute for the last quarter of and presented them to a. h. ryland, the county superintendent of mobile, for his approval. this ryland refused to give, as the compromise in regard to the institute dated only from january , . putnam then went to his own american missionary association negro institute board, had the pay-rolls approved, and then, as "county superintendent of education," drew $ . , cloud certifying to the correctness of his accounts.[ ] putnam padded the pay-rolls and, in order to draw principal's wages for each teacher, divided the institute into ten schools. as there were only ten teachers besides the principal, there were now eleven principals.[ ] kelsey, the principal, stated that no matter how much putnam obtained for "blue college," the teachers received none of it, but were paid only their regular salaries by the association. kelsey himself was paid only $ a quarter. the teachers were under contract with the association to teach for $ a month and board. some of them testified that they had received no more. however, a part of the appropriation was turned into the treasury of the association, and we may well ask what became of the remainder of it.[ ] irregularities in school administration superintendent cloud was handicapped, not only by his own incapacity, but also by the bad character of his subordinates, whom he appointed in great haste from the unpromising material that supported the reconstruction régime. many of the receipts for the salaries were signed by the teachers with marks, some being unable to write their own names. from the school officials he received inaccurate reports, and on these he based his apportionments, which were defective, many of the teachers not receiving their money. the county superintendents had absolute authority over the school fund belonging to their counties, and could draw it from the treasury and use it for private purposes nearly a year before the salaries of the teachers were due.[ ] complaint was made that the black counties received more than their proper share of the school fund. in pickens county the superintendent neglected to draw anything but his own salary, and a north alabama superintendent ran away with the money for his county. other superintendents were accused of scaling down the pay of the teachers from to per cent, and it was estimated that in some counties two-thirds of the school money never reached the teachers. there was no check on the county superintendent, who could expend money practically at his own discretion.[ ] three trustees were appointed in each township by the county superintendent; these trustees, who were not paid, appointed for themselves a clerk who was paid, and these clerks met in a county convention and fixed the salary of the county superintendent.[ ] the bookkeeping in the office of state superintendent cloud was irregular. some of the accounts were kept in pencil, and for a whole year the books were not posted. of $ , paid to the county superintendents only $ , was accounted for by them. in , $ , or more was still in the hands of the ex-superintendents, and the state and the teachers were taking legal proceedings against some of them.[ ] both sons of cloud embezzled school money and fled from the state.[ ] cloud receipted for one sum of $ in payment for sixteenth-section lands. this he forgot to pay to the treasurer. he issued patents for acres of school land and turned into the treasury only $ . a township in marengo county rented its sixteenth-section land; nevertheless, cloud paid to this county its sixteenth-section funds. in an investigation of cloud's accounts showed that a large number of his vouchers were fraudulent, hundreds being in the same handwriting. he signed the name of j. h. fitts & company, financial agents of the university, to a receipt by which he drew from the treasury several hundred dollars to advance to a needy professor. he said, when questioned about it, that he thought he could "draw on" messrs. fitts & company. it afterwards developed that he did not know the difference between a receipt and a draft. his accounts were so confused that he often paid the same bill twice. in , when he went out of office, the sum unaccounted for by vouchers amounted to $ , . . after two years he succeeded in getting vouchers for all but $ , . .[ ] in the black counties the school finances became confused, especially as the negro and carpet-bag officials tolled the funds that passed through their hands. at the end of the school funds of selma were $ , short. it was found practically impossible to collect a poll tax from the negroes, the radical collectors being afraid to insist on the negroes' paying taxes. in dallas county the collector refused to allow the planters to pay taxes for their negro hands on the ground that it would be a relic of slavery. if the negroes refused to pay, nothing more was said about it.[ ] in there were , polls and only $ , poll tax was collected, which meant that only , men had paid the tax.[ ] in somers states that the insurance tax was $ , , and the number of polls was , . yet from both sources less than $ , was obtained.[ ] the board of education, according to the constitution, was to classify by lot before the election of . but in , when the matter was brought up, they refused to classify. several vacancies occurred, and these were filled by special election. consequently the democrats in did not get a fair representation on the board.[ ] objections to the reconstruction education the board of education had the power to adopt a uniform series of text-books for the public schools; superintendent cloud, however, assumed this authority and chose texts which were objectionable to the majority of the whites. this was especially the case with the history books, which the whites complained were insulting in their accounts of southern leaders and southern questions. cloud was not the man to allow the southern view of controversial questions to be taught in schools under his control. about he secured a donation of several thousand copies of history books which gave the northern views of american history, and these he distributed among the teachers and the schools. but most of the literature that the whites considered objectionable did not come from cloud's department, but from the bureau and aid society teachers, and was used in the schools for blacks. there were several series of "freedmen's readers" and "freedmen's histories" prepared for use in negro schools. but the fact remains that for ten or fifteen years northern histories were taught in white schools and had a decided influence on the readers. it resulted in the combination often seen in the late southern writer, of northern views of history with southern prejudices; the fable of the "luxury of the aristocrats" and the numbers and wretchedness of the "mean whites" was now accepted by numerous young southerners; on such questions as slavery the northern view of the institution was accepted, but on the other hand the _tu quoque_ answer was made to the north. consequently, the task of the historian was not to explain the southern civilization, but to accept it as rather bad and to prove that the north was partly responsible and equally guilty--a fruitless work.[ ] cloud, in his first report, admitted that the opposition to schools was rather on account of the officials than because the people disliked free schools. he further stated that the opposition had ceased to a great extent. there were many whites in the black belt who disliked the idea of free or "pauper" schools, and to this day some of them have not overcome this feeling. they believed in education, but not in education that was given away,--at least not for the whites. each person must make an effort to get an education. however, they, and especially the old slaveholders, were not opposed to the education of the negro, believing it to be necessary for the good of society. in the white counties of north and southeast alabama there was less opposition to the public schools for whites. but in the same sections schools for the negroes were bitterly opposed by the uneducated whites who were in close competition with them, for they knew that the whites paid for the negro schools, and also that, having a different standard of living, it would be easier for the negroes to send their children to school than for them to send theirs. in the black belt there were a few of these people, who disliked to see three or four negro schools to one white school, for here the number of the negroes naturally secured for them better advantages. the whites were so few in numbers that not half of them were within easy reach of a school. whenever the numbers of one or both races were small, it was (and has been ever since) a burden on a community to build two schoolhouses and to support two separate schools, especially where the funds provided are barely sufficient for one.[ ] the question of negro education before the negro question in all its phases was brought directly into politics, and before the radicals, carpet-baggers, and scalawags had caused irritation between the races, there was a determination on the part of the best whites in public and private life, as a measure of self-defence as well as a duty and as justice, to do all that lay in their power to fit the negro for citizenship. most of the newspapers were in favor of education to fit the negro for his changed condition. now that he had to stand alone, education was necessary to keep him from stealing, from idleness, and from a return to barbarism; in some parts of the black belt there was a tendency to return to african customs. it was necessary to substitute the discipline of education for the discipline of slavery.[ ] the democratic party leaders were in favor of negro education, and general clanton, who for years was the chairman of the executive committee, repeatedly made speeches in favor of it, and attended the sessions and examinations at the negro schools, often examining the classes himself. he and general john b. gordon spoke in montgomery at a public meeting and declared that it was the duty of the whites to educate the negro, whose good behavior during the war entitled him to it. their remarks were cheered by the whites.[ ] colonel jefferson falkner, at a baptist association in pike county, advised that the negro be educated by southern men and women. pike was a white county, and while no objection was raised to falkner's speech, several persons told him that if he thought southern women ought to teach negroes, he had better have his own daughters do it. falkner replied that he was willing when their services were needed.[ ] white people made destitute by the war or crippled soldiers were ready to engage in the instruction of negroes; and the _montgomery advertiser_ and other papers took the ground that they should be employed, especially the disabled soldiers.[ ] general clanton stated that many confederate soldiers and the widows of confederate soldiers were teaching negro schools, that he had assisted them in securing positions. such work, he said, was indorsed by most of the prominent people.[ ] the blacks in selma signed an appeal to the city council for their own white people to teach them, and the churches made preparations to give instruction to the freedmen.[ ] the monroe county agricultural association declared it to be the duty of the whites to teach the negro, and a committee was appointed to formulate a plan for negro schools.[ ] conecuh and wilcox counties followed with similar declarations. a public meeting in perry county, of such men as ex-governor a. b. moore and j. l. m. curry, declared that sound policy and moral obligation required that prompt efforts be made to fit the negro for his changed political condition. his education must be encouraged. the teachers, white and black, were to be chosen with a careful regard to fitness. a committee was appointed to coöperate with the negroes in building schoolhouses and in procuring teachers, whom they assured of support.[ ] besides the purely unselfish reasons, there were other reasons why the leading whites wanted the negro educated by southern teachers. it would be a step towards securing control over the negro race by the best native whites, who have always believed and will always believe that the negro should be controlled by them. the northern school-teachers did not have an influence for good upon the relations between the races, and thus caused the southern whites to be opposed to any education of the negro by strangers, as it was felt that to allow the negro to be educated by these people and their successors would have a permanent influence for evil.[ ] the whites generally aided the negroes in their community to build schoolhouses or schoolhouses and churches combined. schoolhouses were in the majority of cases built by the patrons of the schools; if rented, the rent was deducted from the school money; the state made no appropriation for building. in dallas county forty negro schoolhouses were built with the assistance of the whites. this was usually done in the black belt, but was less general in the white counties. in montgomery the prominent citizens gave money to help build a negro "college"; some paid the tuition of negro children at schools where charges were made. white men were often members of the board of colored schools. all this was before the negro was seen to be hopelessly in the clutches of the northerners.[ ] [illustration: jabez lamar monroe curry.] in spite of the fact that for several years there were southern whites who taught negroes, the schools were judged by the results of the teaching of the northerners. the freedmen's bureau brought discredit on negro education.[ ] the work of the various aid societies was little better. the personnel of both, to a great extent, passed to the new system, bureau and association teachers becoming state teachers; and in the transfer the teachers tried to secure a better standing for themselves than the native teachers had. many of the northern teachers were undoubtedly good people, but all were touched with fanaticism and considered the white people hopelessly bad and by nature and training brutal and unjust to negroes. the negro teachers who were trained by them, both in the north and in the south, and who occupied most of the subordinate positions in the schools, had caught the spirit of the teaching. the native negro teacher, however, never quite equalled his white instructor in wrong-headedness. he persisted in seeing the actual state of affairs quite often. but the results of some of the educational work done during reconstruction for the negro was to make many white people, especially the less friendly and the careless observers, believe that education in itself was a bad thing for the negroes. it became a proverb that "schooling ruins a negro," and among the ignorant and more prejudiced whites this opinion is still firmly held. not all of the northern teachers were of good character, and the others suffered for the sins of these. almost from the first the doors of the southern whites were closed against the northern teacher, not only on account of the character of some and the objectionable teachings of many, but because they generally insisted on being personally unpleasant; and, had all of them been above reproach in character and training, their opinions in regard to social questions, which they expressed on every occasion, would have resulted in total exclusion from white society. they really cared little, perhaps, but they had a great deal to say on the subject, and made much trouble on account of it.[ ] at first, when they wished it, some northern teachers were able to secure board with white families. after a few weeks such was not the case, and, except in the cities where the teachers could live together, they were obliged to live with the negroes. this could produce only bad results. it at once caused them to be excluded from all white society, and gained for them the contempt of their white neighbors, at the same time losing them the support and even the respect of the negroes. for the negro always insists that a white person to be respected must live up to a certain standard; otherwise, he may like, or fear, or despise, but never respect. again, some of the doubtful characters caused scandal by their manner of life among the negroes, and in several instances male teachers were visited by the ku klux klan because of their irregular conduct with negro women. one in calhoun county was killed. negro men who lived with white women teachers were killed, and in some cases the women were thrashed. others were driven away.[ ] but on the whole there was little violence, the forces of social proscription at length sufficing to drive out the obnoxious teachers.[ ] much was said during reconstruction days about the burning of negro schoolhouses by the whites. there were several such cases, but not as many as is supposed. in the records only one instance can be found of a school building being burned simply from opposition to negro schools. as a rule the schoolhouses (and churches also) were burned because they were the headquarters of the union league and the general meeting places for radical politicians, or because of the character of the teacher and the results of his or her teachings. regular instruction of the negro had been going on for two years or more before the ku klux klan began burning schoolhouses. when one was burned, the radical leaders used the fact with much effect among the negroes; and in several instances it was practically certain that the radical leaders, when the negroes were wavering, fired a church or a schoolhouse in order to incense them against the whites, who were charged with the deed. when a schoolhouse was burned, the negroes were invariably assisted to rebuild by the respectable whites. the burnings were condemned by all respectable persons, and also by the party leaders on account of the bad effect on political questions.[ ] some teachers of negro schools fleeced their black pupils and their parents unmercifully. teachers of private schools collected tuition in advance and then left. in montgomery, a teacher in the swayne school notified his pupils that they must bring him fifty cents each by a certain day, and that he, in return, would give to each a photograph of himself.[ ] in eutaw, greene county, the rev. j. b. f. hill, a northern methodist preacher who had been expelled from the southern methodist church, taught a negro school and taxed his forty little scholars twenty-five cents each to purchase a forty-cent water bucket.[ ] in the cities where there were several negro schools, it was found difficult at first to keep the small negro in attendance in the same school. a little negro would attend a school until he discovered that he did not like the teacher or the school, and then he would go to another. a rule was made against such impromptu transfers, and then the small boy changed his name when he decided to try another school. finally, the teacher was required to ask the other children the newcomer's name before he was admitted.[ ] the negro children were poorly supplied with books, and what few they did have they promptly lost or tore up to get the pictures. the attendance was very irregular. for a few days there would be a great many scholars and perhaps after that almost none, for the parents were willing to send their children when there was no work for them to do, but as soon as cotton needed chopping or picking they would stop them and put them to work.[ ] if the negroes suspected that the trustees, who were (later) democrats, had appointed a democratic teacher, they would not send their children to school to him, and in this they were upheld by their new leaders.[ ] when the public funds were exhausted, the majority of the white schools continued as pay schools, but the negro schools closed at once, for after the interest of the negro in education was no longer strong enough to induce him to pay for it. the education given the negro during this period was little suited to prepare him for the practical duties of life. the new england system was transplanted to the south, and the young negroes were forced even more than the white children. as soon as a little progress was made, the pupils were promoted into the culture studies of the whites. those who learned anything at all had, in turn, to teach what they had learned; their education would help them very little in everyday life.[ ] negro education did not result in better relations between the races. the northern teacher believed in the utter sinfulness of slavery and in all the stories told of the cruelties then practised. the _advertiser_ gave as one reason why the southern whites should teach negro schools, that northern teachers caused trouble by using books and tracts with illustrations of slavery and stories about the persecution and cruelties of the whites against the blacks.[ ] general clanton stated that in the school in which he had often attended the exercises and examined the classes, and where he had paid the tuition of negro children, the teachers ceased to ask him to make visits; that the school-books had "radical pictures" of the persecuted slaves and the freedman; that radical speeches were made by the scholars, reciting the wrongs done the negro race; finally, that the school was a political nursery of race prejudice, and that where the negroes were greatly in excess of the whites, it was a serious matter.[ ] he also said that the teachers from the north were responsible for the prejudice of the whites against negro schools. the native whites soon refused to teach, and if they had wished to do so, they probably could have gotten no pupils. the primary education of the negro was left to the northern teachers and to incompetent negroes; higher education was altogether under the control of the alien. it was most unfortunate in every way, he added, that the southern white had had no part in the education of the negro.[ ] the higher education of the negroes in the state continued to be directed by northerners. washington and councill have done much toward changing the nature of the education given the negro; they have also educated many whites from opposition to friendliness to negro schools. the failure of the educational system in cloud was a candidate for reëlection, but was defeated by colonel joseph hodgson, the democratic candidate.[ ] when hodgson appeared as president of the board, cloud refused to yield on the ground that hodgson was not eligible to the office, having once challenged a man to a duel. the board, however, refused to recognize cloud, and he was obliged to retire.[ ] the first year of the reform administration was a successful one in spite of the fact that the state was bankrupt and the treasury ceased to make cash payments to county superintendents early in .[ ] the second year was a fair one, although the treasury could not pay the teachers, for the radical senate refused to make the appropriations for which their own constitution provided. however, the attendance of both whites and blacks increased, notwithstanding the fact that the united states commissioner of education reported that alabama had retrograded in educational matters.[ ] the school officials elected in were much superior to their predecessors in every way. a state teachers' association was organized, and institutes were frequently held. four normal schools were established for black teachers and four for whites. private assistance for public schools was now sought and obtained, and hundreds of the schools continued after the public money was exhausted.[ ] hodgson did valuable service to his party and to the state in exposing the corrupt and irregular practices of the preceding administration. his own administration was much more economical than that of his predecessor, as the following figures will show:-- ================================================================= | | | decrease ------------------------|-----------|-----------|---------------- salaries of county | | | superintendents |$ , . |$ , . |$ , . expenses of county | | | superintendents | , . | , . | , . expenses of disbursement| , . | , . | , . clerical expenses | | | (at montgomery) | , . | , . | , . cost of administration | , . | , . | , . [ ] ================================================================= in the fall of , owing to the operation of the enforcement acts, the elections went against the democrats. the radicals filled all the offices, and joseph h. speed was elected superintendent of public instruction.[ ] speed was not wholly unfitted for the position, and did the best he could under the circumstances. but nowhere in the radical administration did he find any sympathy with his department, not even a disposition to comply with the direct provisions of the constitution in regard to school funds. so low had the credit of the state fallen that the administration could no longer sell the state bonds to raise money. the taxes were the only resources, and the office-holding adventurers, feeling that never again could they have an opportunity at the spoils, could spare none of the money for schools. practically all of the negro schools and many of the white ones were forced to close, and the teachers, when paid at all by the state, were paid in depreciated state obligations. the constitution required that one-fifth of all state revenue in addition to certain other funds be appropriated for the use of schools. yet year by year an increasing amount was diverted to other uses. the poll tax and the insurance tax were used for other purposes. at the end of , $ , . , which should have been appropriated for schools, had been diverted. in , $ , . was lost to the schools by failure to appropriate, and in , $ , . was lost in the same way. by the end of the shortage was $ , , . , and a year later it was nearly two million dollars. during and schools were taught only where there were local funds to support them. the carpet-bag system had failed completely.[ ] the new constitution made by the democrats in abolished the board of education, and returned to the ante-bellum system. separate schools were ordered; the administrative expenses could not amount to more than per cent of the school fund;[ ] no money was to be paid to any denominational or private school;[ ] the constitutional provision of one-fifth of the state revenue for school use was abolished;[ ] and the legislature was ordered to appropriate to schools at least $ , a year besides the poll taxes, license taxes, and the income from trust funds. the schools began to improve at once, and the net income was never again as small as under the carpet-bag régime. neither of the reconstruction superintendents, cloud or speed, furnished full statistics of the schools. it appears that the average enrolment of students under cloud was, in , , whites and , blacks; under his democratic successor the average enrolment, in spite of lack of appropriations, was , whites and , blacks in , and , whites and , blacks in . speed evidently kept no records of attendance. in , after the democrats came into power, the attendance was , whites and , blacks. the average number of days taught in a year under cloud was days in white schools and the same in black; under hodgson the average length of term was . days and . days respectively. theoretically the salaries of teachers under cloud should have been about $ per month, but they received increasingly less each year as the legislature refused to appropriate the school money. the following table will show what the school funds should have been, as provided for by the constitution; the sums actually received were smaller each successive year. in no case was the appropriation as great as in the year , nor was the attendance of black and white together much larger in any year than the attendance of whites alone in or . school fund, - $ , . [ ] , . [ ] , . [ ] , . [ ] , . [ ] , . [ ] . . [ ] chapter xx reconstruction in the churches sec. . the "disintegration and absorption" policy and its failure the close of the war found the southern church organizations in a more or less demoralized condition. their property was destroyed, their buildings were burned or badly in need of repair, and the church treasuries were empty. it was doubtful whether some of them could survive the terrible exhaustion that followed the war. the northern churches, "coming down to divide the spoils," acted upon the principle that the question of separate churches had been settled by the war along with that of state sovereignty, and that it was now the right and the duty of the northern churches to reconstruct the churches in the south. so preparations were made to "disintegrate and absorb" the "schismatical" southern religious bodies.[ ] the methodists in the northern methodist church declared the south a proper field for mission work, and made preparations to enter it. none were to be admitted to membership in the church who were slaveholders or who were "tainted with treason."[ ] in the bishops of the northern organization resolved that "we will occupy so far as practicable those fields in the southern states which may be open to us ... for black and white alike."[ ] the general missionary committee of the northern church divided the south into departments for missionary work, and alabama was in the middle department. bishop clark of ohio was sent ( ) to take charge of the georgia and alabama mission district. the declared purpose of this mission work was to "disintegrate and absorb" the southern church, the organization of which was generally believed to have been destroyed by the war.[ ] in august, , three southern methodist bishops met at columbus, georgia, to repair the shattered organization of the church and to infuse new life into it. they stated that the questions of were not settled by the war; that, "a large portion of the northern methodists has become incurably radical.... they have incorporated social dogmas and political tests into their church creeds." they condemned the northern church for its action during the war in taking possession of southern church property against the wishes of the people and retaining it as their own after the war, and for its more recent attempts to destroy the southern church.[ ] in the confusion following the war, before the church administration was again in working order, the protestant episcopal church, especially the northern section, attempted to secure the southern methodists. some methodists wanted to go over in a body to the episcopalians. the great majority, however, were strongly opposed to such action, and the attempt only caused more ill feeling against the north.[ ] at the time there was a belief among the northern methodists that in thousands of members had been carried against their will into the southern church, and that they would now gladly seize the opportunity to join the northern body, which claimed to be the only methodist episcopal church. those thousands proved to be as disappointing as the "southern loyalists" had been, both in character and in numbers. the greatest gains were among the negroes, and to the negroes the few whites secured were intensely hostile. in , a. s. lakin was sent to alabama to organize the northern methodist church.[ ] after two years' work the alabama conference was organized, with members, black and white.[ ] in , lakin reported , members, black and white.[ ] the whites were from the "loyal" element of the population. there was great opposition by the white people to the establishment of the northern church. lakin and his associates excited the negroes against the whites and kept both races in a continual state of irritation. governor lindsay stated before the ku klux committee that in his opinion the people bore with lakin and his church with a remarkable degree of patience; that lakin encouraged the negroes to force themselves into congregations where they did not belong and to obstruct the services; and that they also made attempts to get control of church property belonging to the southern churches.[ ] no progress was made among the whites, except in the white counties among the hills of north alabama and in the pine barrens of the southeast. the congregations were small and were served by missionaries. lakin and his assistants had a political as well as a religious mission--general clanton said that they were "emissaries of christ and of the radical party." they claimed, nevertheless, that they never talked politics in the pulpit. lakin once preached in blountsville, and when he opened the doors of the church to new members, he said that there was no northern church, no southern church, there was only the methodist episcopal church.[ ] but every member of this church, he added, must be loyal, and therefore no secessionist could join. he said that he had been ordered by his conference not to receive "disloyal" men into the church.[ ] the political activity of these missionaries resulted in visits from the ku klux klan. some of the most violent ones were whipped or were warned to moderate their sermons. political camp-meetings were sometimes broken up, and two or three church buildings used as radical headquarters were burned.[ ] every northern methodist was a republican; and to-day in some sections of the state the northern methodists are known as "republican" methodists, as distinguished from "democratic" or southern methodists. the baptists the organization of the baptist church into separate congregations saved it from much of the annoyance suffered by such churches as the methodist and the episcopal, with their more elaborate systems of government. yet in north alabama, there was trouble when the negro members were encouraged by political and ecclesiastical emissaries to assert their rights under the democratic form of government by taking part in all church affairs, in the election of pastors and other officers. often there were more negro members than white, and under the guidance of a missionary from the north these could elect their own candidate for pastor, regardless of the wishes of the whites and of the character of the would-be pastor. this danger, however, was soon avoided by the organization of separate negro congregations.[ ] the southern baptist convention, organized in , continued its separate existence. the northern baptists demanded, as a prerequisite to coöperation and fellowship, a profession of loyalty to the government. during the southern associations expressed themselves in favor of continuing the former separate societies, and severely censured the northern baptists for their action in obtaining authority from the federal government to take possession of southern church property against the wishes of the owners and trustees, and for trying to organize independent churches within the bounds of southern associations. they were not in favor of fraternal relations with the northern baptist societies.[ ] the presbyterians in may, , the presbyterian general assembly (new school) voted to place on probation the southern ministers of the united synod south who had supported the confederacy.[ ] few, if any, offered themselves for probation, while as a body the united synod joined the southern presbyterians (old school). the general assembly (o. s.) of the northern church in stigmatized "secession as a crime and the withdrawal of the southern churches as a schism." the south, the assembly decided, was to be treated as a missionary field, and loyal ministers to be employed without presbyterial recommendation. southern ministers and members were offered restoration if they would apply for it, and submit to certain tests, namely, proof of loyalty or a profession of repentance for disloyalty to the government, and a repudiation of former opinions concerning slavery.[ ] naturally this policy was not very successful in reconstructing their organization in the south. the general assembly (o. s.) of the presbyterian church in the south met in the fall of at macon, georgia, and warned the churches against the efforts of the northern presbyterians to sow seeds of dissension and strife in their congregations.[ ] a union was formed with the united synod south (n. s.), and the "presbyterian church in the united states," popularly known as the southern presbyterian church, was formed. to this acceded in the associate reformed church of alabama.[ ] the episcopal church in the united states during the war had held consistently to the same theory in regard to the withdrawal of the southern dioceses that the washington administration held in regard to the secession of the southern states. there was no recognition of a withdrawal, nor of a southern organization. the confederate church was called a schismatic body, and its actions considered as illegal. the roll in the general convention was called as usual, beginning with alabama.[ ] but after the war a generous policy of conciliation was pursued; the southern churchmen were asked to come back; no tests or conditions were imposed; the house of bishops of the northern church upheld wilmer in his trouble with the military authorities. the acts of the southern church during the war were recognized and accepted as valid by the northern church. such a policy easily resulted in reunion. the attempt at reconstruction in the churches had practically failed. only the episcopal church, one of the weakest in numbers, had reunited.[ ] the others seemed farther apart than ever. the other denominations had recognized the legal division of their churches before the war. now they acted on the principle that territory conquered for the united states was also conquered for the northern churches. southern ministers and members were asked to submit to degrading conditions in order to be restored to good standing. they must repudiate their former opinions, and renouncing their sins, ask for pardon and restoration. naturally no reunion resulted. sec. . the churches and the negro during reconstruction at the end of the war nearly every congregation had black members as well as white, the blacks often being the more numerous. with the changed conditions, the various denominations felt it necessary to make declarations of policy in regard to the former slaves. general swayne, assistant commissioner of the freedmen's bureau in alabama, in his report for , stated that at an early date the several denominations expressed themselves as being strongly in favor of the education of the negro. "the principal argument," he said, "was an appeal to sectional and sectarian prejudice, lest, the work being inevitable, the influence which must come from it be realized by others; but it is believed that this was the shield and weapon which men of unselfish principle found necessary at first."[ ] the baptists and the negroes the alabama baptist convention, in , passed the following resolution in regard to the relations between the white and black members:-- "_resolved_, that the changed civil status of our late slaves does not necessitate any change in their relations to our churches; and while we recognize their right to withdraw from our churches and form organizations of their own, we nevertheless believe that their highest good will be subserved by their retaining their present relation to those who know them, who love them, and who will labor for the promotion of their welfare." the convention also ordered renewed exertions in the work among the negroes by means of lectures, private instruction, and sunday-schools.[ ] in the north alabama baptist association directed that provision be made for the religious welfare of the negroes and for their education in the common schools. the negroes were to be allowed to choose their own pastors and teachers from among the whites.[ ] but soon the results of the work of the northern missionaries and political emissaries were seen in the separation of the two races in religious matters. the negroes were taught that the whites were their enemies, and that they must have their own separate churches. they were encouraged to assert their rights by obstructing in all the affairs of the churches, and in the north alabama baptist churches, where they were in the majority, there was danger that they would take advantage of the democratic system of the church government and, prompted by emissaries from the north, control the administration. they were, therefore, assisted by the whites to form separate congregations and associations.[ ] the principal work of the northern baptists in central and south alabama was to separate the blacks into independent churches, and the second colored baptist convention in the united states was organized in alabama in . the free form of government of this church attracted both ministers and members. in bethel association (white) reported that a large number of the negroes desired no religious instruction from the whites, although they were in great need of it, and that this opposition was caused by ignorance and prejudice. but, the report stated, there should be no relaxation in the effort to impart to them a knowledge of the gospel; that the first duty of the church was to instruct the ignorant and superstitious at home before sending missionaries to the far-off heathen; that all self-constituted negro preachers who claimed personal interviews with god and personal instruction from him should be discouraged, and only the best men selected as pastors. advice and assistance were now given to the negro congregations, which were organized into associations as soon as possible. in three negro churches with a white pastor applied for admission to bethel association. but it was thought best to maintain separate associations.[ ] for years the white baptists of alabama exercised a watchful care over the colored baptists, whom they assisted in the work of organizing congregations and associations, and in the erection of schoolhouses and churches. church and school buildings destroyed by the ku klux klan were rebuilt by the whites, even when the colored congregation was only moderately well behaved. the whites in montgomery contributed to build the first negro baptist church in that city, and a white minister preached the sermon when the church was dedicated and turned over to the blacks. a number of white ladies were present at the services.[ ] for fifteen years dr. i. t. tichenor was pastor of the first baptist church in montgomery. during that time he baptized over negroes into its fellowship. at the end of the war there were white and negro members. dr. tichenor tells the story of the separation as follows: "when a separation of the two bodies was deemed desirable, it was done by the colored brethren, in conference assembled, passing a resolution, couched in the kindliest terms, suggesting the wisdom of the division, and asking the concurrence of the white church in such action. the white church cordially approved the movement, and the two bodies united in erecting a suitable house of worship for the colored brethren. until it was finished they continued to occupy jointly with the white brethren their house of worship, as they had done previous to this action. the new house was paid for in large measure by the white members of the church and individuals in the community. as soon as it was completed the colored church moved into it with its organization all perfected, their pastor, board of deacons, committees of all sorts; and the whole machinery of church life went into action without a jar. similar things occurred in all the states of the south."[ ] the old plantation preachers were ordained and others called and regularly ordained to the ministry by the whites. but good negro preachers were overwhelmed by an influx of "self-called" pastors who were often incompetent and often immoral. at last the whites seem to have given up as hopeless their work for the negroes. in an urgent appeal from the colored baptist convention for advice and assistance met with no response from the white convention. politics and prejudice, imprudent and immoral leaders, had completed the work of separation. still something was done by the home mission board towards instructing negro preachers and deacons, and in this board and the home mission board of the northern baptists agreed to coöperate and aid such negro conventions as might desire it. but the alabama negro convention has not yet asked for assistance.[ ] the presbyterians and the negroes in , encouraged by the white members, the negro members of the cumberland presbyterian church in tennessee and north alabama asked for and received separate organization and were henceforth known as the african cumberland presbyterian church.[ ] it is this division of the cumberland presbyterians that is now ( ) hindering somewhat the union of the cumberland presbyterian with the northern presbyterian organization. the blacks demanded the separation of the races; the whites now demand that it be continued. various branches of the northern presbyterian organizations worked in alabama among the negroes. the principal result of their work was the separation of the blacks into independent churches. the southern presbyterian church (presbyterian church in the united states) made earnest efforts for the negro after the war, and with some success. the institute at tuscaloosa for the education of colored presbyterian ministers is now the only school in the south for negroes which is conducted entirely by southern white teachers.[ ] the work of the presbyterians among the negroes has continued to the present day, though in a movement was started to separate the blacks of the southern presbyterian church into an independent church. this movement was not successful, as not a majority of the negro preachers desired separation. but the number of colored presbyterians has always been small.[ ] the roman catholics the roman catholic church did much work among the negroes in the cities and at first with a fair degree of success. it was strongly opposed by all protestant denominations, both northern and southern, and especially by the northern methodist church. it seemed to be dreadful news to the methodists when it was reported that the catholic church was about to open fifteen schools in alabama for the negro, where free board and tuition would be given.[ ] the american missionary association, supported in alabama mainly by money from the freedmen's bureau, used its influence among the negroes against the catholic church, which, the association stated in a report, "was making extraordinary efforts to enshroud forever this class of the unfortunate race in popish superstition and darkness."[ ] but the catholic church had no place for the negro preacher of little education and less character who desired to hold a high position in the negro church. there was better prospect for promotion in the baptist and methodist churches, and to those churches went the would-be negro preacher and, through his influence, the majority of his people.[ ] the episcopalians the protestant episcopal church did nearly all of its work among the negroes in the cities and among the negroes on the large plantations of the black belt. this church offered little more hope of advancement to the average negro preacher than the roman catholic, and the hostility of the military authorities to this church in and and the efforts of the missionaries and politicians caused a loss of most of the negro members that it had. in the laity of the state convention seemed rather unenthusiastic in regard to work among the negroes, and left it to be managed by the bishop and clergy. the general convention established the "freedmen's commission" to assist in the work, which was not to be under the jurisdiction of the bishop. bishop wilmer stated that he was unwilling to accept this "schism-breeding proposition," but would be glad of assistance which would be under his direction as bishop. no such aid was forthcoming. in only two congregations of negroes were left, one in mobile and one in marengo county. a few solitary blacks were to be found in the white congregations, and during reconstruction these suffered real martyrdom on account of their loyalty to their old churches. they were ostracized by the other negroes, were called heathen and traitors, and were left alone in sickness and death. under such treatment, the majority of the negro members were forced to withdraw from the episcopal churches.[ ] the methodists and the negroes in the methodist episcopal church south had more than , colored members and , children under instruction. one year after the surrender of lee only , remained.[ ] the montgomery conference, in november, , decided that there was no necessity for a change in the church relations of white and black; that in the church there should be no distinction on account of color and race; and that the negro had special claims on the whites. presiding elders and preachers were directed to do all that lay in their power for the colored congregations, and establish sunday-schools and day schools for them when practicable.[ ] the methodist protestants announced a similar policy.[ ] general swayne of the freedmen's bureau reported that he received much assistance toward negro education from the southern methodist church, and especially from reverend h. n. mctyeire (afterwards bishop).[ ] the southern methodist congregations lost their negro members from the same causes that brought about the separation of the races in other churches. the negroes were told by their new leaders that for their safety they must consider the southerners as their natural enemies;[ ] they were convinced that there was spiritual safety only in the northern or in independent churches. all the forces of social ostracism were employed against those who chose to remain in the old churches. the southern planter was not able to support the missionary who formerly preached to his slaves, the negroes would not pay; and the church treasury was empty.[ ] in the general conference directed that the colored members be organized as separate charges when they so desired; that colored preachers and presiding elders be appointed by the bishop, annual conferences organized when necessary, and especial attention be directed towards sunday-schools for the negroes.[ ] against all efforts of the southern methodists to work among the negroes, the northern methodists struggled with a persistence worthy of a better cause. missionaries were sent south, narrow and prejudiced, though sincere, men and women, who were possessed with the fixed conviction that no good could come to the negro except from the north; in this conviction schools were established and churches organized. the injudicious and violent methods of these persons and their bitter prejudices caused their exclusion from all desirable society, and naturally they became more violent and prejudiced than ever. their letters written to their homes showed that they believed the native white to be possessed by an inhuman hatred of the blacks, and that on the slightest provocation the whites would slaughter the entire negro population.[ ] they favored at least a partial confiscation in behalf of the negro. through the freedmen's aid society the northern church entered upon work among the whites also, opposing the southern church on the ground that it was sectional and condemning all its efforts among the blacks as useless and harmful. for years there was not a word of recognition of the work done by the southern churches among the slaves.[ ] the missionaries were afraid of "the old feudal forces" which were still working, they thought, under various disguises such as "historical societies, memorial days, and monuments to the confederate dead."[ ] their work was thoroughly done. two negro methodist churches, organized in the north, secured the greater part of the negroes.[ ] some joined the northern methodist church, "which also came down to divide the spoils."[ ] after the colored congregations still adhering to the southern methodists had been divided into circuits, districts, and conferences. by political differences and the efforts of other churches had so alienated the races that it was thought best to set up an independent organization for the negroes, for their own protection. this was done in by the general conference. two negro bishops were ordained, and all church property that had ever been used for negro congregations was turned over to the new organization, which was called the colored methodist episcopal church. a few negroes refused to leave the white church, and in there were still colored members on its rolls.[ ] until recently there has been strong opposition on the part of the other african churches to the colored methodist episcopal church because of its relations to the southern methodist church. the latter has continued to aid and direct its protégé, and the opposition is gradually subsiding.[ ] after thirty years' experience, most people who have knowledge of the subject agree that the religious interests of the negro have suffered from the separation of the races in the churches and from the enforced withdrawal of the native whites from religious work among the blacks. the influence of the master's family is no longer felt, and instead of the white minister came the negro preacher, with "ninety-five superstitions to five eternal truths,"--superstitions, many of them reminiscences from africa.[ ] there have been too many negro churches; every one who could read and write wanted to preach,[ ] and many of them claimed direct communication with the supreme being; every one who applied was admitted to the churches; morality and religion were only remotely connected; leaders of the _demi-monde_ were stout pillars of the church. a presbyterian minister in charge of negro interests has stated that in his church the personnel of the independent negro congregations is inferior in character and morality to the congregations under the supervision of the whites. in the colored baptist associations it is reported that frequent and radical changes have been the custom. discontented churches secede and form new associations, which exist for a short while, and are then absorbed by other associations. the boundaries of the associations also change frequently; the church government seems to be in a kind of fluid state. thoughtful religious leaders now believe that the southern white, for the good of both races, should again take part in the religious training of the negro.[ ] but the difficulties in the way of such a course are almost insurmountable and date back to forced separation of the races in the churches. * * * * * an editorial in the _nation_ in expressed the situation from one point of view very clearly and forcibly: the northern churches claim that the south is determined to make the religious division permanent, though "slavery no longer furnishes a pretext for separation." too much pains are taken to bring about an ecclesiastical reunion, and irritating offers of reconciliation are made by the northern churches, all based on the assumption that the south has not only sinned, but sinned knowingly, in slavery and in war. we expect them to be penitent and to gladly accept our offers of forgiveness. but the southern people look upon a "loyal" missionary as a political emissary, and "loyal" men do not at present possess the necessary qualifications for evangelizing the southerners or softening their hearts, and are sure not to succeed in doing so. we look upon their defeat as retribution and expect them to do the same. it will do no good if we tell the southerners that "we will forgive them if they will confess that they are criminals, offer to pray with them, preach with them, and labor with them over their hideous sins."[ ] "reconstruction" in the church was closely related to "reconstruction" in the state, and was so considered at the time by the reconstructionists of both.[ ] the same mistaken, intolerant policy was followed, on the theory that the southern whites were as incapable of good action in church as in state. irritating and impossible tests and conditions of readmission were proposed before reconciliation. later the efforts to weaken and destroy the southern churches after attempts at reunion had failed completed the alienation, which in several organizations seems to be permanent. there was a solid south in church as well as in politics. chapter xxi the ku klux revolution the ku klux movement was an understanding among southern whites, brought about by the chaotic condition of social and political institutions between and . it resulted in a partial destruction of the reconstruction and a return, as near as might be, to ante-bellum conditions. this understanding or state of mind took many forms and was called by many names. the purpose was everywhere and always the same: to recover for the white race control of society, and destroy the baleful influence of the alien among the blacks.[ ] causes of the ku klux movement when the surviving soldiers of the confederate army returned home in the spring and summer of , they found a land in which political institutions had been destroyed and in which a radical social revolution was taking place--an old order, the growth of hundreds of years, seemed to be breaking up, and the new one had not yet taken shape; all was confusion and disorder. at this time began a movement which under different forms has lasted until the present day--an effort on the part of the defeated population to restore affairs to a state which could be endurable, to reconstruct southern society. this movement, a few years later, was in one of its phases known as the ku klux movement. for the peculiar aspects of this secret revolutionary movement many causes are suggested. for several months before the close of the war the state government was powerless except in the vicinity of the larger towns, the country districts being practically without government. after the surrender there was an interval of four months during which there was no pretence of government except in the immediate vicinity of the points garrisoned by the federal army. the people were forbidden to take steps toward setting up any kind of government.[ ] from one end of the state to the other the land was infested by a vicious element left by the war,--federal and confederate deserters, and bushwhackers and outlaws of every description. these were especially troublesome in the counties north of the black belt. the old tory class in the mountain counties was troublesome.[ ] of the little property surviving the wreck of war, none was safe from thievery. the worst class of the negroes--not numerous at this time--were insolent and violent in their new-found freedom. murders were frequent, and outrages upon women were beginning to be heard of.[ ] the whites, especially the more ignorant ones, were afraid of the effects of preaching of the doctrines of equality, amalgamation, etc., to the blacks. there were soon signs to show that some negroes would endeavor to put the theories they had heard of into practice.[ ] there was much talk of confiscation of property and division of land among the blacks. the negroes believed that they were going to be rewarded at the expense of the whites, and many of the latter began to fear that such might be the case. the freedmen's bureau early began its most successful career in alienating the races, by teaching the black that the southern white was naturally unfriendly to him. in this work it was ably assisted by the preaching and teaching missionaries sent out from the north, who taught the negro to beware of the southern white in church and in school. the bureau broke up the labor system that had been patched up in the summer and fall of , and people in the black belt felt that labor must be regulated in some way.[ ] in the white counties the poorer whites, who had been the strongest supporters of the secession movement, not because they liked slavery, but because they were afraid of the competition of free negroes, began to show signs of a desire to drive the negro tenants from the rich lands which they wanted for themselves.[ ] for years after the war it was almost impossible for the farmer or planter to raise cows, hogs, poultry, etc., on account of the thieving propensities of the negroes.[ ] houses, mills, gins, cotton pens, and corn-cribs were frequently burned.[ ] the union league was believed by many to be an organization for the purpose of plundering the whites and for the division of property when the confiscation should take place.[ ] it was also an active political machine. nearly all the witnesses before the ku klux committee who stated the causes of the rise of ku klux said that the league was the principal one. the whites soon came to believe that they were persecuted by the washington government. the cotton frauds in ; the cotton tax, - ; the refusal to admit the southern states to representation in congress, though they were heavily taxed; the passage of the reconstruction acts, by which the governments in the south were overturned, the negroes enfranchised, and all the prominent whites disfranchised,--all combined to make the white people believe that the north was seeking to humiliate them, to punish them when they were weak. they did not contemplate such treatment when they laid down their arms. as one soldier expressed it: the treatment received was in violation of the terms of surrender as expressed in their paroles; the southern soldiers could have carried on a guerilla warfare for years; the united states had made terms with men who had arms in their hands; they had laid them down, and the united states had violated these terms and punished individuals for alleged crime without trial; yet their paroles stated that they were not to be disturbed as long as they were law-abiding; the whole reconstruction was a violation of the terms of surrender as the southern soldiers understood it; it was punishment of a whole people by legislative enactment, and contrary to the spirit of american institutions. it was not a matter of law, but of common honesty.[ ] general clanton complained that the southern people passed out of the hands of warriors into the hands of squaws.[ ] the government imposed upon alabama after the voters had fairly rejected it according to act of congress was administered by the most worthless and incompetent of whites--alien and native--and negroes. heavy taxes were laid; the public debt was rapidly increased; the treasury was looted; public office was treated as private property. the government was weak and vicious; it gave no protection to person or property; it was powerless, or perhaps unwilling, to repress disorder; and was held in general contempt. the officials were notoriously corrupt and unjust in administration. there were many disorders which the people believed the state and federal governments could not or would not regulate.[ ] there was a general feeling of insecurity, in some sections a reign of terror. innumerable humiliations were inflicted on the former political people of the state by carpet-bagger and scalawag, using the former slave as an instrument. negro policemen stood on the street corners annoying the whites, making a great parade of all arrests, sometimes even of white women. the elections were corrupt, and the law was deliberately framed to protect ballot-box frauds.[ ] the highest officers of the judiciary, federal and state, took an active interest in politics, contrary to judicial traditions. justice, so called, was bought and sold. the most thoroughly political people of the world, the proudest people of the english race, were the political inferiors of their former slaves, and the newcomers from the north never failed to make this fact as irritating as possible, by speech and print and action.[ ] in short, there was anarchy, social and political and economic. as the negro said, "the bottom rail is on top." the strenuous editor randolph said, "the origin of ku klux klan is in the galling despotism that broods like a nightmare over these southern states,--a fungus growth of military tyranny superinduced by the fostering of loyal leagues, the abrogation of our civil laws, the habitual violation of our national constitution, and a persistent prostitution of all government, all resources, and all powers, to degrade the white man by the establishment of negro supremacy."[ ] secret societies of regulators, before ku klux klan on account of the disordered condition of the state in , some kind of a police power was necessary, the federal garrisons being but few and weak. the minds of all men turned at once to the old ante-bellum neighborhood police patrol.[ ] this patrol had consisted of men usually selected by the justice of the peace to patrol the entire community once a week or once a month, usually at night. the duty was compulsory, and every able-bodied white was subject to it, though there was sometimes commutation of service. the principal need for this patrol was to keep the black population in order, and to this end the patrollers were invested with the authority to inflict corporal punishment in summary fashion. there were about two companies, of six men and a captain each, to every township where there was a dense negro population. the attentions of the patrol were not confined to negroes alone, but now and then a white man was thrashed for some misdemeanor.[ ] in this respect the patrol was a body for the regulation of society, so far as petty misdemeanors were concerned, and every respectable white man was by virtue of his color a member of this police guard. he had the right, whether in active patrol or not, to question any strange negro found abroad, or any negro travelling without a pass, or any white man found tampering with the negroes. it was to some extent a military organization of society. much of this was simply custom, the development of hundreds of years, not a statute regulation, for that was a recent thing in the history of slavery. it was the old english neighborhood police system become a part of the customary law of slavery. after the war some regulation was necessary; the whites were accustomed to settling such matters outside of law or court; it was bred into their nature, and they returned perhaps unconsciously to the old system.[ ] but now, under the régime of the freedmen's bureau backed by the army, the old way of dealing with refractory blacks was illegal. as a matter of fact there was no legal way to control them. the result was natural--the movement to regulate society became a secret one. the white men of each community had a general understanding that they would assist one another to protect women, children, and property. they had a system of signals for communication, but no disguises, and the organization was not kept secret except from the negroes. in one locality the young men alone were united into a committee for the regulation of the conduct of negroes. they requested the women who lived alone on the plantations, the old men, and others who were likely to be unable to control the negroes, to inform the committee of instances of misconduct on the part of the blacks. when such information came, it was immediately acted upon, and the next day there were sadder and better negroes on some one's plantation.[ ] as a rule one thrashing in a community lasted a long time. in hale county a vigilance committee was formed to protect the women and children in a section of the black country where there were few white men, most having been killed in the war. they had a system of signals by means of plantation bells. there were no disguises, and there was a public place of meeting.[ ] in the same county, in the fall of , the whites near newberne asked general hardee, then living on his plantation, to take command of their patrol. his answer was: "no, gentlemen, i want you to enroll my name for service, but put a younger man in command. i have served my day as commander. i will be ready to respond when called upon for active duty. i want to advise you to get ready for what may come. we are standing over a sleeping volcano."[ ] in limestone county a similar organization was composed of peaceable citizens united to disperse or crush out bands of thieves.[ ] this was in a white county in the northern section of the state, where the people had suffered during the war, and were still suffering, from the depredations of the tories. in winston and walker counties the returning confederate soldiers banded together and drove many of the tories from the country, hanging several of the worst characters.[ ] in central and southern alabama the citizens resolved themselves into vigilance committees and hanged horse thieves and other outlaws who were raiding the country, some of them disguised in the uniforms of federal soldiers.[ ] in marengo county while negro insurrection was feared a secret organization was formed for the protection of the whites. the members were initiated in a masonic hall. regular meetings were held, and each member reported on the conduct of the negroes in his community. there were no whippings necessary in this section, and after a few night rides the society dissolved. the bureau and union league were never successful in getting absolute control over the "cane brake" region, and therefore the negroes were better behaved and there was less disorder.[ ] before christmas, , when there seemed to be danger of outbreaks of that part of the negro population who were disappointed in regard to the division of property, there was a disposition among the whites in some counties, especially in the eastern black belt, to form militia companies, though this was forbidden by the washington authorities. some of these companies regularly patrolled their neighborhoods. others undertook to disarm the freedmen, who were purchasing arms of every description, and in order to do this searched the negro houses at night. general swayne, recognizing the dangerous situation of the whites, forbore to interfere with these militia companies until after christmas, when, the negroes remaining peaceable, he issued an order forbidding further interference;[ ] but the militia organizations persisted in some shape until the reconstruction acts were passed. in the eastern counties of the state there was in and an organization, preceding the ku klux, called the "black cavalry." it was a secret, oath-bound, night-riding order. its greatest strength was in tallapoosa county, where it was said to have to members. it was not only a band to regulate the conduct of the negroes, but there was a large element in it of the poorer whites, who wanted to drive the negro from the rich lands upon which slavery had settled them, in order to get them for themselves. this was generally true of all secret orders of regulators in the white counties from to , and exactly the opposite was the case in the black belt, where the planters preferred the negro labor, and never drove out the blacks. the "black cavalry," it is said, drove more negroes from east alabama than the ku klux did.[ ] there were local bands of regulators policing nearly every district in alabama. few of them had formal organizations or rose to the dignity of having officers or names, but there were the "men of justice," in north alabama, principally in limestone county, and the "order of peace," partially organized in huntsville early in ,[ ] and many other local orders. the origin and growth of ku klux klan the local bands of regulators in existence immediately after the war were a necessary outcome of the disordered conditions prevailing at the time, and would have disappeared, with a return to normal conditions under a strong government which had the respect of the people. but during the excitement over the action of the reconstruction convention in the fall of and the elections of february, , a new secret order became prominent in alabama; and when, after the people had defeated the constitution, congress showed a disposition to disregard the popular will as expressed in the result of the election, this order--ku klux klan--sprang into activity in widely separated localities. the campaign of the previous six months had made the people desperate when they contemplated what was in store for them under the rule of carpet-bagger, scalawag, and negro. the counter-revolution was beginning. the ku klux klan originated in pulaski, tennessee, in the fall of .[ ] the founders were james r. crowe, richard r. reed, calvin jones, john c. lester, frank o. mccord, and john kennedy. some were alabamians and some tennesseeans. lester and crowe lived later in sheffield, alabama. crowe and kennedy are the only survivors. it was a club of young men who had served in the confederate army, who united for purposes of fun and mischief, pretty much as college boys in secret fraternities or country boys as "snipe hunters." the name was an accidental corruption of the greek word _kuklos_, a circle, and had no meaning.[ ] the officers had outlandish titles, and fancy disguises were adopted. the regalia or uniform consisted of a tall cardboard hat covered with cloth, on which were pasted red spangles and stars; there was a face covering, with openings for nose, mouth, and ears; and a long robe coming nearly to the heels, made of any kind of cloth--white, black, or red--often fancy colored calico. a whistle was used as a signal.[ ] this scheme for amusement was successful, and there were plenty of applications for admission. members went away to other towns, and under the direction of the pulaski club, or "den" as it was called, other dens were formed. the pulaski den was in the habit of parading in full uniform at social gatherings of the whites at night, much to the delight of the small boys and girls. pulaski was near the alabama line, and many alabama young men saw these parades or heard of them, and dens were organized over north alabama in the towns. nothing but horse-play and tomfoolery took place in the meetings. in and the order appeared in parade in the north alabama towns and "cut up curious gyrations" on the public squares.[ ] the klan had not long been in existence and was still in this first stage, and was rapidly speeding, when a pretty general discovery of its power over the negro was made. the weird night riders in ghostly disguises frightened the superstitious negroes, who were told that the spirits of dead confederates were abroad.[ ] there was a general belief outside the order that there was a purpose behind all the ceremonial and frolic of the dens; many joined the order convinced that its object was serious; others saw the possibilities in it and joined in order to make use of it. after discovering the power of the klan over the negroes, there was a general tendency, owing to the disordered conditions of the time, to go into the business of a police patrol and hold in check the thieving negroes, the union league, and the "loyalists." from being a series of social clubs the dens swiftly became bands of regulators, adding many fantastic qualities to their original outfit. all this time the pulaski organization exercised a loose control over a federation of dens. there was danger, as the dens became more and more police bodies, of some of the more ardent spirits going to excess, and in several instances dens went far in the direction of violence and outrage. attempts were made by the parent den to regulate the conduct of the dens, but owing to the loose organization, they met with little success. some of the dens lost all connection with the original order. early in the grand cyclops of the pulaski den sent requests to the various dens in the southern states to send delegates to a convention in nashville. this convention met in may, . delegates from all of the gulf states and from several others were present, and the order of ku klux klan was reorganized. there were at this time dens in all the southern states, and even in illinois and pennsylvania.[ ] a constitution called the "prescript" was here adopted for the entire order. the administration was centralized, and the entire south was placed under the jurisdiction of its officials. the former slave states except delaware constituted the empire, which was ruled by the grand wizard[ ] with a staff of ten genii; each state was a realm under a grand dragon and eight hydras; the next subdivision was the dominion, consisting of several counties,[ ] ruled by a grand titan and six furies; the county as a province was governed by a grand giant[ ] and four goblins; the unit was the den or community organization. there might be several in each county, each under a grand cyclops and two night hawks. the genii, hydras, furies, goblins, and night hawks were staff officers. each of the above divisions was called a grand *. the order had no name, and at first was designated by two **, later by three ***. the private members were called ghouls. the grand magi and the grand monk were the second and third officers of the den, and had the authority of the grand cyclops when the latter was absent. the grand sentinel was in charge of the guard of the den, and the grand ensign carried its banner on the night rides.[ ] every division had a grand exchequer, whose duty it was to look after the revenue,[ ] and a grand scribe, or secretary, who called the roll, made reports, and kept lists of members (without anything to show what the list meant), usually in arabic figures, , , , etc. the grand turk was the adjutant of the grand cyclops, and gave notice of meetings, executed orders, received candidates, and administered the preliminary oaths. the officers of the den were elected semiannually by the ghouls; the highest officers of the other divisions were elected biannually by the officers of the next lower rank. the first grand wizard was to serve three years from may, .[ ] each superior officer could appoint special deputies to assist him and to extend the order. every division made quarterly reports to the next higher headquarters. in case a question of paramount importance should arise, the grand wizard was invested with absolute authority.[ ] the tribunal of justice consisted of a grand council of yahoos for the trial of all elected officers, and was composed of those of equal rank with the accused, presided over by one of the next higher rank; and for the trial of ghouls and non-elective officers, the grand council of centaurs, which consisted of six ghouls appointed by the grand cyclops, who presided.[ ] a person was admitted to the den after nomination by a member and strict investigation by a committee. no one under eighteen was admitted. the oath taken was one of obedience and secrecy. the dens governed themselves by the ordinary rules of deliberative bodies. the penalty for betrayal of secret was "the extreme penalty of the law."[ ] none of the secrets was to be written. there was a register of alarming adjectives used in dating the wonderful ku klux orders.[ ] in the original prescript no mention was made of the peculiar objects of the order. the creed acknowledged the supremacy of the divine being, and the preamble the supremacy of the laws of the united states.[ ] the revised and amended prescript sets forth the character and objects of the order: ( ) to protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenceless from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal;[ ] to relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor the suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and orphans of confederate soldiers. ( ) to protect and defend the constitution of the united states and all laws passed in conformity thereto, and to protect the states and people thereof from all invasion from any source whatever. ( ) to aid and assist in the execution of all "constitutional" laws, and to protect the people from unlawful arrest, and from trial except by their peers according to the laws of the land.[ ] [illustration: facsimile of page of the revised and amended prescript of ku klux klan.] the questions asked of the candidate constituted a test sufficient to exclude all except the most friendly whites. the applicant for admission was asked if he belonged to the federal army or the radical party, union league, or grand army of the republic, and if he was opposed to the principles of those organizations. he was asked if he was opposed to negro equality, political and social, and was in favor of a white man's government, of constitutional liberty and equitable laws. he was asked if he was in favor of reënfranchisement and emancipation of the southern whites, and the restoration to the southern people of their rights,--property, civil, and political,--and of maintaining the constitutional rights of the south, and if he believed in the inalienable right of self-preservation of the people against the exercise of arbitrary and unlicensed power. the revised and amended prescript, made in , was an attempt to give more power of control to the central authorities in order to enable them to regulate the obstreperous dens. the purposes of the order, omitted in the first prescript, was clearly declared in the revision. little change was made in the administration of the order.[ ] the order continued to spread after the reorganization in . there were scattered dens over north alabama and as far south as tuscaloosa, selma, and montgomery. it came first to the towns and then spread into the country. it was less and less an obscure organization, and more and more a band of regulators, using mystery, disguise, and secrecy to terrify the blacks into good behavior. it was in many ways a military organization, the shadowy ghost of the confederate armies.[ ] the whites were all well-trained military men; they looked to their military chieftains to lead them. the best men were members,[ ] though the prominent politicians as a rule did not belong to the order. they fought the fight against the radicals on the other side of the field.[ ] after the elections in february, , the ku klux came into greater prominence in alabama, especially in the northern and western portions, while south alabama was still quiet.[ ] the counties of north alabama infested were lauderdale, limestone, madison, jackson, morgan, lawrence, franklin, madison, winston, walker, fayette, and blount. in central alabama, montgomery, greene, pickens, tuscaloosa, calhoun, talladega, randolph, chambers, coosa, and tallapoosa.[ ] there were bands in most of the other counties, and in the counties of the black belt. the order seldom extended to the lower edge of the black belt. in the black belt it met the knights of the white camelia, the white brotherhood, and later the white league, and in a way absorbed them all.[ ] the actual number of the men in regular organized dens cannot be ascertained. it was estimated that there were in madison county, and , in the state.[ ] others said that it included all confederate soldiers.[ ] the actual number regularly enrolled was much less than the number who acted as ku klux when they considered it necessary. in one sense practically all able-bodied native white men belonged to the order, and if social and business ostracism be considered as a manifestation of the ku klux spirit, then the women and children also were ku klux. it is the nature and vice of secret societies of regulators to degenerate, and the ku klux klan was no exception to the rule. by the order had fallen largely under control of a low class of men who used it to further their own personal aims, to wreak revenge on their enemies and gratify personal animosities. outrages became frequent, and the order was dangerous even to those who founded it.[ ] it had done its work. the negroes had been in a measure controlled, and society had been held together during the revolution of - . the people were still harassed by many irritations and persecutions, but while almost unbearable, they were mostly of a nature to disappear in time as the carpet-bag governments collapsed. the most material evil at present was the misgovernment of the radicals, and this could not last always. but though the organized ku klux klan was disbanded, the spirit of resistance was higher than ever; and as each community had problems to deal with they were met in the old manner--a sporadic uprising of a local klan. as long as a carpet-bagger was in power, the principles of the klan were asserted. the knights of the white camelia the order known as the knights of the white camelia originated in louisiana in ,[ ] and spread from thence through the gulf states. in alabama it was well organized in the southwestern counties, and to some extent throughout the lower black belt. it probably did not exist in the southeastern white counties.[ ] the former local vigilance committees, neighborhood patrol parties, and disbanded militia were absorbed into the order, which gave them a uniform organization and a certain loose union, and left them pretty much as independent as before. there was a closer sympathy between southwest alabama and louisiana than between the two sections of alabama, which perhaps will account for the failure of ku klux klan to organize in the southern counties. the white camelia came to alabama from new orleans _via_ mobile, and also through southern mississippi to southwestern alabama. later the white league came the same way. in june a convention of the knights of the white camelia was held in new orleans, and a constitution was adopted for the order.[ ] the preamble stated that radical legislation was subversive of the principles of government adopted by the fathers, and in order to secure safety and prosperity the order was founded for the preservation of those principles. the order consisted of a supreme council of the united states, and of grand, central, and subordinate councils. the supreme council with headquarters in new orleans consisted of five delegates from each grand council. it was the general legislative body of the order, and maintained communication within the order by means of passwords and cipher correspondence. communication between and with the lowest organizations was verbal only. all officers were designated by initials.[ ] in each state the grand council[ ] was the highest body, and held its sessions at the state capital. the membership consisted of delegates from the central councils--one delegate for one thousand members. the grand council had the power of legislation for the state, subject to the constitution of the order and the laws of the supreme council. in each county or parish there was a central council of delegates from subordinate councils.[ ] it was charged with the duty of collecting the revenue and extending the order within its limits. the lowest organization was the council (or subordinate council) in a community. this body had sole authority to initiate members. in each county the subordinate councils were designated by numbers. each was composed of several circles (each under a grand chief); each circle of five groups (each under a chief); and each group of ten brothers. officials of the order were elected by indirect methods. an ex-member states that "during the three years of its existence here [perry county] i believe its organization and discipline were as perfect as human ingenuity could have made it."[ ] the constitution prohibited the order as a body from nominating or supporting any candidate or set of candidates for public office. each subordinate rank had the right of local legislation. quarterly reports were made by each division. the officers of the higher councils were known only to their immediate subordinates. when a question came up that could not be settled it was referred to the next higher council. [illustration: facsimile of page of the original prescript of ku klux klan.] [illustration: facsimile of page from ritual of the knights of the white camelia.] only whites[ ] over eighteen were admitted to membership, after election by the order in which no adverse vote was cast. each council acted as a court when charges were brought against its members. punishment was by removal or suspension from office; there was no expulsion from the order; punishment was simply a reducing to ranks. the candidate for membership into the order was required first to take the oath of secrecy, which was administered by a subordinate official, who then announced him to the next higher official.[ ] by the latter the candidate was presented to the commander of the council, and in answer to his interrogations made solemn declaration that he had not married and would never marry a woman not of the white race, and that he believed in the superiority of the white race. he promised never to vote for any except a white man, and never to refrain from voting at any election in which a negro candidate should oppose a white. he further declared that he would devote his intelligence, energy, and influence to prevent political affairs from falling into the hands of the african race, and that he would protect persons of the white race in their lives, rights, and property against encroachments from any inferior race, especially the african. after the candidate had made the proper declarations the final oath was administered,[ ] after which he was pronounced a "knight of the ----." the commander next instructed the new members in the principles of the order, which he declared was destined to regenerate the unfortunate country, and to relieve the white race from its humiliating condition. its fundamental object was the "maintenance of the supremacy of the white race."[ ] history and physiology were called upon to show that the caucasian race had always been superior to, and had always exercised dominion over, inferior races. no human laws could permanently change the great laws of nature. the white race alone had achieved enduring civilization, and of all subordinate races, the most imperfect was the african. the government of the republic was established by white men for white men. it was never intended by its founders that it should fall into the hands of an inferior race. consequently, any attempt to transfer the government to the blacks was an invasion of the sacred rights guaranteed by the constitution, as well as a violation of the laws established by god himself, and no member of the white race could submit, without humiliation and shame, to the subversion of the established institutions of the republic. it was the duty of white men to resist attempts against their natural and legal rights in order to maintain the supremacy of the caucasian race and restrain the "african race to that condition of social and political inferiority for which god has destined it." there was to be no infringement of laws, no violations of right, no force employed, except for purposes of legitimate and necessary defence. as an essential condition of success, the order proscribed absolutely any social equality between the races. if any degree of social equality should be granted, there would be no end to it; political equality was necessarily involved. social equality meant finally intermarriage and a degraded and ignoble population. the white blood must be kept pure to preserve the natural superiority of the race. the obligation was therefore taken "to observe a marked distinction between the two races,"[ ] in public and in private life. one of the most important duties of the members was to respect the rights of the negroes, and in every instance give them their lawful dues. it was only simple justice to deny them none of their legitimate privileges. there was no better way to show the inherent superiority of the white race, than by dealing with the blacks in that spirit of firmness, liberality, and impartiality which characterizes all superior organizations. it would be ungenerous to restrict them in the exercise of certain privileges, without conceding to them at the same time the fullest measure of their legitimate rights. a fair construction of the white man's duty to the black would be, not only to respect and observe their acknowledged rights, but also to see that they were respected and observed by others. these declarations give a good idea of what was in the minds of the southern whites in and , and later.[ ] like the ku klux klan, the knights of the white camelia disbanded when the objects of the order were accomplished, or were in a fair way toward accomplishment. in some counties it lived a year or two longer than in others. in certain counties, by order of its authorities, it was never organized. it did not extend north of the black belt, though it existed in close proximity to the more southerly of the klans. as the oldest of the large secret orders, the name of ku klux klan was more widely known than the others, and hence the name was applied indiscriminately to all. a local body would assume the name of a large one when there was no direct connection. the other organizations similar to ku klux in objects and methods[ ] did not have a strong membership in alabama. the work of the secret orders the task before the secret orders was to regulate the conduct of the blacks and their leaders, in order that honor, life, and property might be made secure. they planned to do this by playing upon the fears, superstitions, and cowardice of the black race; by creating a white terror to offset the black one. to this end they made use of strange and horrible disguises, mysterious and fearful conversation, midnight rides and drills, and silent parades. the costume varied with the locality, often with the individual.[ ] the tennessee regalia was too fine for the backwoods ku klux to duplicate. the cardboard hat was generally worn. it was funnel-shaped, eighteen inches to two feet high, covered with white cloth, and often ornamented with stars of gold, or by pictures of animals. the mask over the face was sometimes white, with holes cut for eyes, mouth, and nose. these holes were bound around with red braid so as to give a horrible appearance. other eyes, nose, and mouth were painted higher up on the hat. black cloth with white or red braid was also used for the mask. sometimes simply a woman's veil was worn over the head and held down by an ordinary woollen hat. the "hill billy" ku kluxes did not adorn themselves very much. to the sides of the cardboard hats horns were sometimes attached, and to the mask a fringe of quills, which looked like enormous teeth and made a peculiar noise. the mask and the robe were usually of different colors. sometimes a black sack was drawn over the head, and eyes, mouth, and nose holes cut in it. false or painted beards were often worn. the robe consisted of a white or colored gown, reaching nearly to the heels, and held by a belt around the waist; it was usually made of fancy calico; white gowns were sometimes striped with red or black. as long as the negro went into spasms of fear at the sight of a ku klux, the usual costume seems to have been white; but after the negro became somewhat accustomed to the ku klux, and learned that there were human beings behind the robes, the regalia became only a disguise, and less attention was devoted to making fearful costumes. as a rule the ordinary clothes worn were underneath, but in madison county the ghouls sported fancy red flannel trousers with white stripes, while the west alabama spirits were content with wearing ordinary dark trousers, and shirts slashed with red. the white robe was often a bed sheet held on by a belt. after a night ride the disguise could be taken off and stowed about the person. the horses were covered with sheets or white cloth, held on by the saddle and by belts. there was, at times, a disguise which fitted the horse's head, and the horses were sometimes painted. skeleton sheep's heads or cows' heads, or even human skulls, were frequently carried on the saddle-bows. a framework was sometimes made to fit the shoulders of a ghoul and caused him to appear twelve feet high. a skeleton wooden hand at the end of a stick served to greet negroes at midnight. every man had a small whistle. the costume was completed by a brace of pistols worn under the robe.[ ] [illustration: ku klux costumes. worn in western alabama.] the trembling negro who ran into the ku klux on his return from the love-feasts at the loyal league meetings was informed that the white-robed figures he saw were the spirits of the confederate dead, killed at chickamauga or shiloh, and that they were unable to rest in their graves because of the conduct of the negroes. he was told in a sepulchral voice of the necessity for his remaining at home more and taking a less active part in various predatory excursions. in the middle of the night the sleeping negro would wake to find his house surrounded by the ghostly company, or find several standing by his bedside, ready, as soon as he woke, to inform him that they were the ghosts of men whom he had formerly known, killed at shiloh. they had scratched through from hell to warn the negroes of the consequences of their misconduct. hell was a dry and thirsty land; they asked him for water. buckets of water went sizzling into a sack of leather, rawhide, or rubber, concealed within the flowing robe. at other times, hell froze over to give passage to the spirits who were returning to earth. it was seldom necessary at this early stage to use violence. the black population was in an ecstacy of fear. a silent host of white-sheeted horsemen parading the country roads at night was sufficient to reduce the black to good behavior for weeks or months. one silent ghoul, posted near a league meeting place, would be the cause of the dissolution of that club. cow bones in a sack were rattled. a horrible being, fifteen feet tall, walking through the night toward a place of congregation, was pretty apt to find that every one vacated the place before he arrived. a few figures, wrapped in bed sheets and sitting on tombstones in a graveyard near which negroes passed, would serve to keep the immediate community quiet for weeks, and give it a reputation for "hants" which lasts perhaps until to-day. at times the klan paraded the streets of the towns, men and horses perfectly disguised. the parades were always silent, and so conducted as to give the impression of very large numbers. regular drills were held in town and country, and the men showed that they had not forgotten their training in the confederate army. there were no commands unless in a very low tone or in a mysterious language; usually they drilled by signs or by whistle signals.[ ] for a year or more,--until the spring of ,--the klan was successful so far as the negro was concerned, through its mysterious methods. the carpet-bagger and the scalawag were harder problems. they understood the nature of the secret order and knew its objects. as long as the order did not use violence they were not to be moved to any great extent. then, too, the negro lost some of his fear of the supernatural beings. different methods were now used. in march and april, , there was an outbreak of ku kluxism over a large part of the state.[ ] for the first time the newspapers were filled with ku klux orders and warnings. the warnings were found posted on the premises of obnoxious negroes or white radicals. the newspapers sometimes published them for the benefit of all who might be interested. one warning was supposed to be sufficient to cause the erring to mend their ways.[ ] if still obstinate in their evil courses, a writ from the klan followed and punishment was inflicted. warnings were sent to all whom the klan thought should be regulated--white or black. the warnings were written in disguised handwriting and sometimes purposely misspelled. the following warning was sent to i. d. sibley, a carpet-bagger in huntsville:-- mr. selblys you had better leave here. you are a thief and you know it. if you don't leave in ten days, we will cut your throat. we aint after the negroes; but we intend for you damn carpet bag men to go back to your homes. you are stealing everything you can find. we mean what we say. _mind your eye._ james howsyn. william whereatnehr. [rude drawing of coffin.] john mixemuhh. soliman wilson. p. j. solon. get away! we ant no cu-cluxes but if you dont go we will make you.[ ] [illustration: ku klux warning. "dam your soul. the horrible _sepulchre_ and bloody moon has at last arrived. some live to-day to-morrow "die." we the undersigned understand through our grand "cyclops" that you have recommended a big black nigger for male agent on our nu rode; wel, sir, jest you understand in time if he gets on the rode you can make up your mind to pull roape. if you have any thing to say in regard to the matter, meet the grand cyclops and conclave at den no. at o'clock midnight, oct. st, . "when you are in calera we warn you to hold your tounge and not speak so much with your mouth or otherwise you will be taken on supprise and led out by the klan and learnt to stretch hemp. beware. beware. beware. beware. (signed) "phillip isenbaum, "_grand cyclops_. "john bankstown. "esau daves. "marcus thomas. "bloody bones. "you know who. and all others of the klan."] the published orders of the klan served a double purpose--to notify the members of contemplated movements, and to frighten the radicals, white or black, who had made themselves offensive. the newspapers usually published these orders with the remark that the order had been found or had been sent to them with a request for publication.[ ] each cyclops composed his own orders, but there was a marked resemblance between the various decrees. the most interesting and lively orders were concocted by the cyclops editor of the _tuscaloosa independent monitor_.[ ] some specimens are given below. a black belt warning was in this shape:-- _k. k. k._ friday, april rd, warning--for one who understands. / / no. -- recorded th / / --b. _k. k. k._ the following order was posted in tuscaloosa:-- ku klux. hell-a-bulloo hole--den of skulls. bloody bones, headquarters of the great ku klux klan, no. windy month--new moon. cloudy night--thirteenth hour. _general orders, no. ._ the great chief simulacre summons you! be ready! crawl slowly! strike hard! fire around the pot! sweltered venom, sleeping got boil thou first i' the charmed pot! like a hell broth boil and bubble! the great high priest cyclops! c. j. f. y. grim death calls for one, two, three! varnish, tar, and turpentine! the fifth ghost sounds his trumpet! the mighty genii wants two black wethers! make them, make them, make them! presto! the great giantess must have a white barrow. make him, make him, make him! presto! meet at once--the den of shakes--the giant's jungles--the hole of hell! the second hobgoblin will be there, a mighty ghost of valor. his eyes of fire, his voice of thunder! clean the streets--clean the serpents' dens. red hot pincers! bastinado!! cut clean!!! no more to be born. fire and brimstone. leave us, leave us, leave us! one, two, and three to-night! others soon! hell freezes! on with skates--glide on. twenty from atlanta. call the roll. _bene dicte!_ the great ogre orders it! by order of the great blufustin. g. s. k. k. k. a true copy, peterloo. p. s. k. k. k. the following was circulated around montgomery in april, :-- k. k. k. clan of vega. hdqr's k. k. k. hospitallers. _vega clan_, new moon. rd month, anno k. k. k. . _order no. k. k._ clansmen--meet at the trysting spot when orion kisses the zenith. the doom of treason is death. _dies iræ._ the wolf is on his walk--the serpent coils to strike. action! action!! action!!! by midnight and the tomb; by sword and torch and the sacred oath at forrester's altar, i bid you come! the clansmen of glen iran and alpine will greet you at the new-made grave. _remember the ides of april._ by command of the grand d. i. h. cheg. v. the military authorities forbade the newspapers to publish ku klux orders,[ ] and the klan had to trust to messengers. verbal orders and warnings became the rule. the den met and discussed the condition of affairs in the community. the cases of violent whites and negroes were brought up, one by one, and the den decided what was to be done. except in the meeting the authority of the cyclops was absolute. c. c. sheets, a prominent scalawag, had been making speeches to the negroes against the whites. the klan visited him at his hotel at florence, caught him as he was trying to escape over the roof, brought him back, and severely lectured him in regard to his conduct. they explained to him that the klan was a conservative organization to hold society together. a promise was required of sheets to be more guarded in his language for the future. he saw the light and became a changed man.[ ] when a carpet-bagger became unbearable, he would be notified that he must go home, and he usually went. if an official, he resigned or sold his office; the people of the community would purchase a $ lot from him for $ in order to pay for the office. the office was not always paid for; a particularly bad man was lucky to get off safe and sound.[ ] objectionable candidates were forced to withdraw, or to take a conservation bondsman, who conducted the office.[ ] before the close of the mysterious element in the power of ku klux klan ceased to be so effective. the negroes were learning. most of the mummery now was dropped. the klan became purely a body of regulators, wearing disguises. it was said that in order to have time to work for themselves, and in order not to frighten away negro laborers, the klan became accustomed to making its rounds in the summer after the crops were laid by, and in the winter after they were gathered.[ ] the activities of the klan were all-embracing. from regulating bad negroes and their leaders they undertook a general supervision of the morals of the community. houses of ill-fame were visited, the inmates, white or black, warned and sometimes whipped. men who frequented such places were thrashed. a white man living with a negro woman was whipped, and a negro man living with a white woman would be killed.[ ] a negro who aired his opinion in regard to social equality was sure to be punished. one negro in north alabama served in the union army and, returning to alabama, boasted that he had a white wife up north and expected to see the custom of mixed marriages grow down south. he was whipped and allowed a short time in which to return north.[ ] white men who were too lazy to support their families, or who drank too much whiskey, or were cruel to their families, were visited and disciplined. such men were not always radicals--not by any means.[ ] special attention was paid to the insolent and dangerous negro soldiers who were mustered out in the state. as a rule they had imbibed too many notions of liberty, equality, and fraternity ever to become peaceable citizens. they brought their arms back with them, made much display of them, talked largely, drilled squads of blacks, fired their hearts with tales of the north, and headed much of the deviltry. the klan visited such characters, warned them, thrashed them, and disarmed them. over north alabama there was a general disarming of negroes.[ ] the tories or "unionists," who had never ceased to commit depredations on their confederate neighbors, were taken in hand by the klan. in parts of the white counties where there were neither negroes nor carpet-baggers the klan's excuse for existence was to hold in check the white outlaws. for years after the war the lives and property of ex-confederates were not safe. a smouldering civil war existed for several years, and the klan was only the ex-confederate side of it. during the administration of governor smith there was no organized militia. the militia laws favored the black counties at the expense of the white ones, and smith was afraid to organize negro militia; he shared the dislike of his class for negroes. there were not enough white reconstructionists to organize into militia companies. the governor was afraid to accept organizations of conservatives; they might overthrow his administration. so he relied entirely upon the small force of the federal troops stationed in the state to assist the state officials in preserving order. the conservative companies, after their services were rejected, sometimes proceeded to drill without authority, and became a kind of extra-legal militia. in this they were not secret. but the drills had a quieting effect on marauders of all kinds, and the extra-legal militia of the daytime easily became the illegal night riders of the klan.[ ] the operations of the klan, especially in the white counties which had large negro populations, were sometimes directed against negro churches and schoolhouses, and a number of these were burned.[ ] this hostility may be explained in several ways: the element of poor whites in the klan did not approve of negro education; all negro churches and schoolhouses were used as meeting places for union leagues, political gatherings, etc.; they were the political headquarters of the radical party;[ ] again, the bad character of some of the white teachers of negro schools or the incendiary teachings of others was excuse for burning the schoolhouses. the burning of school and church buildings took place almost exclusively in the white counties of northern and eastern alabama. the school and church buildings of the whites were also burned.[ ] the negroes were invariably assisted by the whites in rebuilding the houses. most of the burnings were probably done by the so-called spurious ku klux. the teachers of negro schools who taught revolutionary doctrines or who became too intimate with the negroes with whom they had to board were disciplined, and the negroes also with whom they offended.[ ] it was likewise the case with the northern missionaries, especially the northern methodist preachers who were seeking to disrupt the southern methodist church. parson lakin when elected president of the state university was chased away by the ku klux, and life was made miserable for the radical faculty.[ ] thieves, black and white, and those peculiar clandestine night traders who purchased corn and cotton from the negroes after dark were punished.[ ] the quietest and most effective work was done in the black belt principally by the knights of the white camelia. nothing was attempted beyond restraining the negroes and driving out the carpet-baggers when they became unbearable. there were few cases of violence, fewer still of riots or operations on a large scale.[ ] in northern and western alabama were the most disordered conditions.[ ] the question was complicated in these latter regions by the presence of poor whites and planters, negroes, radicals and democrats, confederates and unionists. tuscaloosa county, the location of the state university, is said to have suffered worst of all. a strong organization of ku klux cleared it out. in the northern and western sections of the state politics were more likely to enter into the quarrels. the radicals--white and black--were more apt to be disciplined because of politics than in the black belt. negroes and offensive whites were warned not to vote the radical ticket. there was a disposition to suppress, not to control, the negro vote as the black belt wanted to do. there were more frequent collisions, more instances of violence. the most famous parade and riot of the ku klux klan occurred in huntsville, in , before the presidential election. a band of ku klux[ ] rode into the city and paraded the streets. both men and horses were covered with sheets and masks. the drill was silent; the evolutions were executed with a skill that called forth praise from some united states army officers who were looking on. the negroes were in a frenzy of fear, and one of them fired a shot. immediately a riot was on. the negroes fired indiscriminately at themselves and at the undisguised whites who were standing around. the latter returned the fire; the ku klux fired no shots, but formed a line and looked on. several negroes were wounded, and judge thurlow, a scalawag, of limestone county, was accidentally killed by a chance shot from a negro's gun. the whites who took part received only slight wounds. some of the ghouls were arrested by the military authorities, but were released.[ ] this was, in the annals of the radical party, a great ku klux outrage. another widely heralded ku klux outrage was the patona or cross plains affair, in calhoun county, in . it seems that at cross plains a negro boy was hired to hold a horse for a white man. he turned the horse loose, and was slapped by the white fellow. then the negro hit the white on the head with a brick. other whites came up and cuffed the negro, who went to patona, a negro railway village a mile away, and told his story. william luke, a white canadian, who was teaching a negro school at patona, advised the negroes to arm themselves and go burn cross plains in revenge and for protection. thirty or forty went, under the leadership of luke, and made night hideous with threats of violence and burning, but finally went away without harming any one. the next night luke and his negroes returned, and fired into a congregation of whites just dismissed from church. none were injured, but luke and several negroes were arrested. there were signs of premeditated delay on the part of some of the civil authorities, so the ku klux came and took the canadian and four negroes from the officers, carried them to a lonely spot, and hanged some and shot the rest.[ ] in greene county the county solicitor, alexander boyd, an ex-convict, claimed to have evidence against members of the ku klux organization. he boasted about his plans, and the ku klux, hearing of it, went to his hotel in eutaw and shot him to death.[ ] another famous outrage was the eutaw riot, in . both democrats and radicals had advertised political meetings for the same time and place. the radicals, who seem to have been the latest comers, asked the democrats for a division of time. the latter answered that the issues as to men or measures were not debatable. so the democrats and radicals held their meetings on opposite sides of the court-house. the democrats' meeting ended first, and they stood at the edge of the crowd to hear the radical speakers. some of the hot bloods came near the stand and made sarcastic remarks. one man who was to speak, charles hays, was so obnoxious to the whites that even the radicals were unwilling for him to speak. he persisted, and some one, presumably a conservative, pulled his feet out from under him, and he fell off the table from which he was speaking. the negroes, seeing his fall, rushed forward with knives and pistols to protect him. a shot was fired, which struck major pierce, a democrat, in the pocket. then the whites began firing, principally into the air. the negroes tore down the fence in their haste to get away. after the whites had chased the negroes out of town the military came leisurely in and quelled the riot.[ ] the campaign report of casualties was five killed and fifty-four wounded. as a matter of fact only one wounded negro was ever found, and no dead ones.[ ] a common kind of outrage was that on james alston, the negro representative in the legislature from macon county in . alston was shot by negro political rivals just after a league meeting in tuskegee. they were arrested, and alston asked the whites to protect him. the democratic white citizens of tuskegee guarded him. the carpet-bag postmaster in tuskegee saw the possibilities of the situation and sent word to the country negroes to come in armed, that alston had been shot. they swarmed into tuskegee, and, thinking the whites had shot alston, were about to burn the town. the white women and children were sent to montgomery for safety. about the same time the negroes murdered three white men. the excitement reached montgomery, and a negro militia company was hastily organized to go to the aid of the tuskegee negroes. general clanton got hold of the sheriff, and they succeeded in turning back the negro volunteer company. the affair passed off without further bloodshed, and alston was notified to leave tuskegee.[ ] there were no collisions between the united states soldiers and the night riders. at first they were on pretty good terms with one another. the soldiers admired their drills and parades and the way they scared the negroes. one impudent cyclops rode his band into athens, and told the commanding officer that they were there to assist in preserving order, and, if he needed them, would come if he scratched on the ground with a stick.[ ] while there was not much dependence upon central authority,[ ] there was a loose bond of federation between the dens. they coöperated in their work; a den from pickens county would operate in tuscaloosa or greene and _vice versa_. alabama ku kluxes went into mississippi and tennessee, and those states returned such favors. when the spurious organizations began to commit outrages, each state claimed that the other one furnished the men.[ ] the oath taken by the ku klux demanded supreme allegiance to the order so far as related to the problems before the south. members of the order sat on juries and refused to convict; were summoned as witnesses and denied all knowledge of the order; were members of the legislature, lawyers, etc. it is claimed that no genuine members of the order were ever caught and convicted.[ ] though the klan was almost wholly a democratic organization,[ ] it took little share in the ordinary activities of politics, more perhaps in the northern counties than elsewhere. in fayette county, in , the klan went on a raid, and when returning stopped in the court-house, took off disguises, resolved themselves into a convention, and nominated a county ticket.[ ] nothing of the kind was done in south alabama; indeed, the constitution of the white camelias forbade interference in politics.[ ] the union league meetings were broken up only when they were sources of disorder, thievery, etc. when cases of outrage were investigated, it was almost invariably found that they had no political significance. governor lindsay sent an agent into every community where an outrage was reported, and in not a single instance was a case of outrage by ku klux discovered. it is probably true that few, if any, of the leading democratic politicians were members of the klan or of any similar organization. under certain conditions they might be driven by force of circumstances to join in local uprisings against the rule of the radicals. but as a rule they knew little of the secret orders. there were various reasons for this. the conservative leaders saw the danger in such an organization, though recognizing the value of its services. it was sure to degenerate. it might become too powerful. it would have a bad influence on politics and would furnish too much campaign literature for the radicals. it would result in harsh legislation against the south. the testimony of general clanton[ ] and governor lindsay[ ] shows just what the party leaders knew of the order and what they thought of it. the ku klux leaders were not the political leaders.[ ] the newspapers of importance opposed the order. the opposition of the political leaders to the klan in its early stages was not because of any wrong done by it to the radicals, but because of fear of its acting as a boomerang and injuring the white party. it was the middle classes, so to speak, and later the lower classes, who felt more severely the tyranny of the carpet-bag rule, who formed and led the klan. the political leaders thought that in a few years political victories would give relief; the people who suffered were unable to wait, and threw off the revolutionary government by revolutionary means.[ ] the work of the secret orders was successful. it kept the negroes quiet and freed them to some extent from the baleful influence of alien leaders; the burning of houses, gins, mills, and stores ceased; property was more secure; people slept safely at night; women and children were again somewhat safe when walking abroad,--they had faith in the honor and protection of the klan; the incendiary agents who had worked among the negroes left the country, and agitators, political, educational, and religious, became more moderate; "bad niggers" ceased to be bad; labor was less disorganized; the carpet-baggers and scalawags ceased to batten on the southern communities, and the worst ones were driven from the country.[ ] it was not so much a revolution as a conquest of revolution.[ ] society was bent back into the old historic grooves from which war and reconstruction had jarred it. spurious ku klux organizations after an existence of two or three years the ku klux klan was disbanded in march, , by order of the grand wizard. it was at that time illegal to print ku klux notices and orders in the newspapers. it is probable, therefore, that the order to disband never reached many dens. however, one or two papers in north alabama did publish the order of dissolution, and in this way the news obtained a wider circulation.[ ] many dens disbanded simply because their work was done. otherwise the order of the grand wizard would have had no effect. numbers of dens had fallen into the hands of lawless men who used the name and disguise for lawless purposes. private quarrels were fought out between armed bands of disguised men. negroes made use of ku klux methods and disguises when punishing their democratic colored brethren and when on marauding expeditions.[ ] this, however, was not usual except where the negroes were led by whites. horse thieves in northern and western alabama, and thieves of every kind everywhere, began to wear disguises and to announce themselves as ku klux. all their proceedings were heralded abroad as ku klux outrages.[ ] in morgan county a neighborhood feud was resolved into two parties calling themselves ku klux and anti ku klux, and frequently fights resulted. in blount and morgan counties ( ) former members of the ku klux organized the anti ku klux along the lines of the ku klux, held regular meetings, and continued their midnight deviltry as before. it was composed largely of union men who had been federal soldiers.[ ] in fayette county the anti ku klux order was styled, by themselves and others, "mossy backs" or "moss backs," in allusion to their war record. they were regularly organized and had several collisions with another organization which they called the ku klux. the radical sheriff summoned the "moss backs" as a _posse_ to assist in the arrest of the ku klux, as they called the ex-confederates.[ ] as long as the federal troops were in the state it was the practice of bands of thieves to dress in the army uniform and go on raids. the radicals took care that all lawlessness was charged to the account of ku klux. it was to their interest that the outrages continue and furnish political capital. governor smith accused senator spencer and hinds and sibley, of huntsville, of fostering ku klux outrages for political purposes.[ ] the disordered condition of the country during and after the war led to a general habit among the whites of carrying arms. this fact and the drinking of bad whiskey accounts for much of the shooting in quarrels during the decade following the war. few of these quarrels had any connection with politics until they were catalogued in the ku klux report as democratic outrages. as a matter of fact, nearly all the whites killed by whites or by blacks were democrats. the white radicals were too few in number to furnish many martyrs.[ ] the anti-negro feeling of the poorer whites found expression after the war in movements against the blacks, called ku klux outrages. in winston county, a republican stronghold, the white mountaineers met and passed resolutions that no negro be allowed in the county. general clanton stated that he found a similar prejudice in all the hill counties.[ ] in the tennessee valley the planters found difficulty in securing negro labor because of the operations of the spurious ku klux. in limestone, madison, and lauderdale counties the tory element hated the negroes, who lived on the best land, and attempts were made to drive them off. the tories were incensed against the planters because they preferred negro labor.[ ] judge w. s. mudd of jefferson county testified that the anti-negro outrages in walker and fayette counties were committed by the poorer whites, who did not like negroes and wanted a purely white population there. in the white counties generally the negro held no political power and hence the outrages were not political, but because of racial prejudice. in the north alabama mountain counties the majority of the whites were in favor of deportation and colonization of the blacks. but in nearly every county there was also the large landholder, formerly a slaveholder, who wanted the negro to stay and work, and who treated the ex-slave kindly. the poorer whites who had never owned slaves nor much property wanted the negro out of the way.[ ] as a general rule, where the population was exclusively white, the people disliked the negro and wanted no contact with the black race. they wanted a white society, and all lands for the whites. in one precinct in jefferson county, where all the whites were republican, an organization of boys and young men was formed to drive out the negroes and keep the precinct white. in the black counties exactly the opposite was true. the secret orders merely wanted to control negro labor and keep it, regulate society, and protect property. general forney stated that in calhoun the small mountain farmers, non-slaveholding, poorer whites, were intensely afraid of social equality and hated the negroes, who called them "poor white trash." the feeling was cordially returned by the negroes.[ ] from tallapoosa county and from eastern alabama generally, where the black cavalry and its successors flourished, there was a general exodus of negroes who had lived on the richer lands of the larger farms and plantations. the white renters and small farmers were afraid, after slavery was abolished and the negroes were free, that the latter would drag all others down to negro level. the planters preferred negro labor. therefore the poorer whites united to drive out the negro. this was called ku kluxism. the whites wanted higher pay.[ ] wage-earners felt that they could not compete with the negro, who could work for lower wages. general crawford, who commanded the united states troops in alabama, stated that the planter bore no antagonism toward the negro at all, but he wanted his labor; that at present he saw the uselessness of interfering with the negro's politics and was indifferent about whether the negro voted or not; he looked forward to the time when the black voters would fall away from their alien leaders and would vote according to the advice of their old masters; on the other hand, the poorer whites, many of them from the hill country, were hostile to the negroes; they disliked to see them at work building the new railroads, and on all the rich lands, and possessed of political privileges. if rid of the negro, they could be more prosperous and divide the political spoils now shared by the adventurers who controlled the black vote. in north alabama the negro was more generally kept away from the polls.[ ] this feeling on the part of the poor whites was not new, but had survived from slavery days, and its manifestations were now called ku kluxism. the negro was no longer under the protection of a master, and the former master was no longer able to protect the negro. however, there was a general movement among the ex-slaves, under the pressure, to return to their old masters. attempts to suppress the ku klux movement in march and april, , the operations of the ku klux klan came to the notice of general meade, who was then in command of the third military district. by his direction general shepherd issued an order from montgomery, requiring sheriffs, mayors, police, constables, magistrates, marshals, etc., under penalty of being held responsible, to suppress the "iniquitous" organization and apprehend its members. the expenses of _posses_ were to be charged against the county. if the code of alabama was silent on the subject of the offence, the prisoners were to be turned over to the military authorities for trial by military commission. the state officers were reminded that the code of alabama derived its vitality from the commanding general of the third military district, and in case of a conflict between the code and military orders, the latter were paramount. the posting of placards and the printing in newspapers of orders, warnings, and notices of ku klux klans was forbidden. in no case would ignorance be considered as an excuse. citizens who were not officers would not be held guiltless in case of outrage in their community.[ ] this was a revival of the method of holding a community responsible for the misdeeds of individuals. troops were shifted about over northern and central alabama in an endeavor to suppress ku klux. several arrests were made, but there were no trials. there was much parade and night riding, but as yet little violence. the soldiers could do nothing. when the carpet-bag government was installed, the military forces of the united states remained to support it. every one called upon the military commands for aid--governor, sheriffs, judges, members of congress, justices of the peace, and prominent politicians. no request from official sources was ever refused, and they were frequent. from october , , to october , , there were fifteen different shiftings of bodies of troops for the purpose of checking the ku klux movement. this does not include the movements made in individual cases, but only changes of headquarters. these were principally in northern and western alabama--at huntsville, livingston, guntersville, lebanon, edwardsville, alpine, summerfield, decatur, marysville, vienna, and tuscaloosa.[ ] after a few months' experience of the carpet-bag government, the bands of ku klux were excited to renewed activity. the legislature which met in september, , memorialized the president to send an armed force to alabama to execute the laws, and to preserve order, etc., during the approaching presidential election. governor smith with two members of the senate and three of the lower house were appointed to bear the application to the president.[ ] in december an act was passed authorizing any justice of the peace to issue warrants running in any part of the state, and authorizing any sheriff or constable to go into any county to execute such process.[ ] this enabled a sheriff of proper politics to enter counties where the officials were not of the proper faith, and arrest prisoners. one of the members of the general assembly, m. t. crossland, was killed by the klan, it was alleged. the legislature offered a reward of $ for his slayers, and authorized the appointment of a committee to investigate the recent alleged outrages and to report by bill.[ ] the committee,[ ] after pretence of an examination of about a dozen witnesses, all radicals, some by affidavit only, reported that there was in many portions of alabama a secret organization, purely political, known as ku klux klan, and that union men and republicans were the sole objects of its abuse, none of the opposite politics being interfered with. it worked by means of threatening letters, warnings, and beatings; by intimidation and threats negroes were driven from the polls; negro schoolhouses were burned; teachers were threatened, ostracized, and driven from employment; officers of the law were obstructed in the discharge of their duty and driven away. in some parts of the state, the report declared, it was impossible for the civil authorities to maintain order. the governor was authorized and advised to declare martial law in the counties of madison, lauderdale, butler, tuscaloosa, and pickens.[ ] the committee reported a bill, which was passed, with a preamble of twenty-two lines reciting the terrible condition of the state. to appear away from home in mask or disguise was made a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of $ and imprisonment from six months to one year. for a disguised person to commit an assault was made a felony, and punishment was fixed at a fine of $ , and imprisonment from five to twenty years. any one might kill a person in disguise. the penalty for destruction of property by disguised persons--burning a schoolhouse or church--was imprisonment from ten to twenty years. a warrant might be issued by any magistrate directed to any lawful officer of the state to arrest disguised offenders, and in case of refusal or neglect to perform his duty, the official was to forfeit his office and be fined $ .[ ] two days later it was enacted that in case a person were killed by an outlaw, or by a mob, or by disguised persons, or for political opinion, the widow or next of kin should be entitled to recover of the county in which the killing occurred the sum of $ . the claimants should bring action in the circuit court, and in case judgment were rendered in favor of the claimants, the county commissioners should assess an additional tax sufficient to pay damages and costs. failure of any official to perform his duty in such cases was punishable by a fine of $ or imprisonment for twelve months for every thirty days of neglect or failure. in case of whipping the amount of damages collectible from the county was $ . but if the offenders were arrested and punished, there could be no claim for damages. and if the offenders were arrested during the pendency of the suit for damages, the presiding judge might suspend proceedings in the damage suit until the result of the trial of the offenders was known. it was made the duty of the solicitor to prosecute the claim for the relatives, and his fee was fixed at per cent of the amount recovered; and if the relatives failed to sue within twelve months, the solicitor was to prosecute in the name of the state, and the damages were to go to the asylums for the insane, deaf, dumb, and blind.[ ] a number of arrests were made under these acts, but only one or two convictions were secured. it resulted that most of the arrests were of ignorant and penniless negroes, who were unable to pay any fine whatever. governor lindsay defended several such cases. the laws were so severe that the officials were unwilling to prosecute under them, but always prosecuted under the ordinary laws. after there was no further anti-ku-klux legislation by the state government, but in - some of the southern states, alabama among them, began to show signs of going democratic. virginia, georgia, mississippi, and texas had been forced to ratify the fifteenth amendment in order to secure the requisite number for its adoption.[ ] president grant then sent in a message announcing the ratification as "the most important event that has occurred since the nation came into life."[ ] congress responded to the hint in the message by passing the first of the enforcement acts, which had been hanging fire for nearly two years. the excuse for its passage was that the ku klux organizations would prevent the blacks from voting in the fall elections of .[ ] the act, as approved on may , , declared that all citizens were entitled to vote in all elections without regard to color or race and provided that officials should be held personally responsible that all citizens should have equal opportunity to perform all tests or prerequisites to registration or voting; election officials were held responsible for fair elections; any person who hindered another in voting might be fined $ , to go to the party aggrieved, and persons in disguise might be fined $ or imprisoned for ten years, or both, and should be disfranchised besides. federal courts were to have exclusive jurisdiction over cases arising under this law, and federal officials were to see to its execution; the penalty for obstructing an official or assisting an escape might be $ fine and six months' imprisonment; the president was given authority to use the army and navy to enforce the law; the district attorneys of the united states were to proceed by _quo warranto_ against disfranchised persons who were holding office, and such persons might be fined $ and imprisonment for one year,--such cases were to have precedence on the docket; the same penalties were visited upon those who under color of any law deprived a citizen of any right under this law; the civil rights bill of , april , was reënacted;[ ] fraud, bribery, intimidation, or undue influence or violation of any election law at congressional elections might be punished by a fine of $ and imprisonment for three years; registrations--congressional, state, county, school, or town--came under the same regulation, and officials of all degrees who failed in their duty were liable to the same penalties; a defeated candidate might contest the election in the federal courts when there were cases of the negro having been hindered from voting.[ ] this act marked the arrival of the most ruthless period of reconstruction. endowing the negro with full political rights had not sufficed to overcome the white political people. disappointed in that, an attempt was now to be made so to regulate southern elections as to put the mass of the white population permanently under the control of the negroes and their white leaders, and to secure the permanent control of those states to the republican party. tennessee had already escaped from the radical rule, and stringent measures were necessary to prevent like action in the other states. notwithstanding the enforcement act, alabama, in the election of , went partially democratic, which was to the radical leaders _prima facie_ evidence of the grossest frauds in elections. other states were in a similarly bad condition. the supplementary enforcement act of february , , provided for the appointment of two supervisors to each precinct by the federal circuit judge upon the application of two persons; the federal courts were to be in session during elections for business arising under this act; the supervisors were to have full authority around the polls, and were to certify and send in the returns, and report irregularities, which were to be investigated by the chief supervisor, who was to keep all records; the supervisors were to be assisted in each precinct by two special deputy marshals appointed by the united states marshal for that district. these deputies and also the supervisors had full power to arrest any person and to summon a _posse_ if necessary. offenders were haled at once before the federal court. any election offence was punishable by a fine of $ and imprisonment of two years, with costs. to refuse to give information in an investigation subjected the person to a fine of $ and thirty days' imprisonment and costs. state courts were forbidden to try cases coming under the act, and proceedings after warning, by state officials, resulted in imprisonment and fine amounting to one year and $ to $ , plus costs.[ ] it was feared that these acts might prove insufficient to carry the southern states for the republican party in . grant was becoming more and more radical as the republican nominating convention and the elections drew nearer. under the influence of the radical leaders, he sent, on march , , a message[ ] to congress, declaring that in some of the states a condition of affairs existed rendering life and property insecure, and the carrying of mails and collection of revenue dangerous; the state governments were unable to control these evils; and it was doubtful if the president had the authority to interfere. he therefore asked for legislation to secure life, property, and the enforcement of law.[ ] congress came to the rescue with the ku klux act of april , , "in which congress simply threw to the winds the constitutional distribution of powers between the states and the united states government in respect to civil liberty, crime, and punishment, and assumed to legislate freely and without limitation for the preservation of civil and political rights within the state."[ ] it gave the president authority to declare the southern states in rebellion and to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_--after a proclamation against insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combinations, and conspiracies. such a state of affairs was declared a rebellion, and the president was authorized to use the army and navy to suppress it. heavy penalties were denounced ($ to $ fine, and six months' to six years' imprisonment) against persons who conspired to overthrow or destroy the united states government or to levy war against the united states; or who hindered the execution of the laws of the united states, seized its property, prevented any one from accepting or holding office or discharging official duties, drove away or injured, in person or property, any official or any witness in court, went in disguise on highway or on the premises of others, and hindered voting or office-holding. any person injured in person, property, or privilege had the right to sue the conspirators for damages under the civil rights bill. in federal courts the jurors had to take oath that they were not in any way connected with such conspiracies, and the judges were empowered to exclude suspected persons from the jury. persons not connected with such conspiracies, yet having knowledge of such things, were liable to the injured party for all damages.[ ] on may , , grant issued a proclamation calling attention to the fact that the law was one of "extraordinary public importance" and, while of general application, was directed at the southern states, and stating that when necessary he would not hesitate to exhaust the powers vested by the act in the executive. the failure of local communities to protect all citizens would make it necessary for the national government to interfere.[ ] ku klux investigation in order to justify the passage of the enforcement acts and to obtain material for campaign use the next year, congress appointed a committee, which was organized on the day the ku klux act was approved, to investigate the condition of affairs in the southern states.[ ] from june to august, , the committee took testimony in washington. in the fall subcommittees visited the various southern states selected for the inquisition. about one-fourth of the alabama testimony was taken in washington, the rest was taken by the subcommittee in alabama. the members of the subcommittee that took testimony in alabama were senators pratt and rice, and messrs. blair, beck, and buckley of the house. blair and beck, the democratic members, were never present together. so the subcommittee consisted of three republicans and one democrat. c. w. buckley was a radical representative from alabama, a former bureau reverend, who worked hard to convict the white people of the state of general wickedness. the subcommittee held sessions in huntsville, october - ; montgomery, october - ; demopolis, october - ; livingston, october to november ; and in columbus, mississippi, for west alabama, november . all these places were in black counties. sessions were held only at easily accessible places, and where scalawag, carpet-bag, and negro witnesses could easily be secured. testimony was also taken by the committee in washington from june to august, . it is generally believed that the examination of witnesses by the ku klux committees of congress was a very one-sided affair, and that the testimony is practically without value for the historian, on account of the immense proportion of hearsay reports and manufactured tales embraced in it. of course there is much that is worthless because untrue, and much that may be true but cannot be regarded because of the character of the witnesses, whose statements are unsupported. but, nevertheless, the pages of testimony taken in alabama furnish a mine of information concerning the social, religious, educational, political, legal, administrative, agricultural, and financial conditions in alabama from to . the report itself, of pages, contains much that is not in the testimony, especially as regards railroad and cotton frauds, taxation, and the public debt, and much of this information can be secured nowhere else. the minority members of the subcommittee which took testimony in alabama, general frank p. blair and later mr. beck of new york, caused to be summoned before the committee at washington, and before the subcommittee in alabama, the most prominent men of the state--men who, on account of their positions, were intimately acquainted with the condition of affairs. they took care that the examination covered everything that had occurred since the war. the republican members often protested against the evidence that blair proposed to introduce, and ruled it out. he took exceptions, and sometimes the committee at washington admitted it; sometimes he smuggled it in by means of cross-questioning, or else he incorporated it into the minority report. on the other hand, the republican members of the subcommittee seem to have felt that the object of the investigation was only to get campaign material for the use of the radical party in the coming elections. they summoned a poor class of witnesses, a large proportion of whom were ignorant negroes who could only tell what they had heard or had feared. the more respectable of the radicals were not summoned, unless by the democrats. in several instances the democrats caused to be summoned the prominent scalawags and carpet-baggers, who usually gave testimony damaging to the radical cause. an examination of the testimony shows that sixty-four democrats and conservatives were called before the committee and subcommittee. of these, fifty-seven were southern men, five were northern men residing in the state, and two were negroes. the democrats testified at great length, often twenty to fifty pages. blair and beck tried to bring out everything concerning the character of carpet-bag rule.[ ] thirty-four scalawags, fifteen carpet-baggers, and forty-one negro radicals came before the committee and subcommittee. some of these were summoned by blair or beck, and a number of them disappointed the republican members of the committee by giving democratic testimony.[ ] the radicals could only repeat, with variations, the story of the eutaw riot, the patona affair, the huntsville parade, etc. of the prominent carpet-baggers and scalawags whose testimony was anti-democratic, most were men of clouded character.[ ] the testimony of the higher federal officials was mostly in favor of the democratic contention.[ ] the negro testimony, however worthless it may appear at first sight, becomes clear to any one who, knowing the negro mind, remembers the influences then operating upon it. from this class of testimony one gets valuable hints and suggestions. the character of the white scalawag and carpet-bag testimony is more complex, but if one has the history of the witness, the testimony usually becomes intelligible. in many instances the testimony gives a short history of the witness. the material collected by the ku klux committee, and other committees that investigated affairs in the south after the war, can be used with profit only by one who will go to the biographical books and learn the social and political history of each person who testified. when the personal history of an important witness is known, many obscure things become plain. unless this is known, one cannot safely accept or reject any specific testimony. to one who works in alabama reconstruction, brewer's "alabama," garrett's "reminiscences," the "memorial record," old newspaper files, and the memories of old citizens are indispensable. there is in the first volume of the alabama testimony a delightfully partisan index of seventy-five pages. in it the summary of democratic testimony shows up almost as radical as the most partisan on the other side. it is meant only to bring out the violence in the testimony. according to it, one would think all those killed or mistreated were radicals. the same man frequently figures in three situations, as "shot," "outraged," and "killed." general clanton's testimony of thirty pages gets a summary of four inches, which tells nothing; that of wager, a bureau agent, gets as much for twelve pages, which tells something; and that of minnis, a scalawag, twice as much. there is very little to be found in the testimony that relates directly to the ku klux klan and similar organizations. had the sessions of the subcommittee been held in the white counties of north and southwest alabama, where the klans had flourished, probably they might have found out something about the organization. but the minority members were determined to expose the actual condition of affairs in the state from to . no matter how much the radicals might discover concerning unlawful organizations, the democrats stood ready with an immense deal of facts concerning radical misgovernment to show cause why such organizations should arise. consequently the three volumes of testimony relating to alabama are by no means pro-radical, except in the attitude of the majority of the examiners.[ ] below is given a table of alleged ku klux outrages, compiled from the testimony taken. the ku klux report classifies all violence under the four heads: killing, shooting, outrage, whipping. the same case frequently figures in two or more classes. practically every case of violence, whether political or not, is brought into the testimony. the period covered is from to . radical outrages as well as democratic are listed in the report as ku klux outrages. in a number of cases radical outrages are made to appear as democratic. many of the cases are simply hearsay. it is not likely that many instances of outrage escaped notice, for every case of actual outrage was proven by many witnesses. every violent death of man, woman, or child, white or black, democratic or radical, occurring between and , appears in the list as a ku klux outrage. evidently careful search had been made, and certain witnesses had informed themselves about every actual deed of violence. there were then sixty-four counties in the state, and in only twenty-nine of them were there alleged instances of ku klux outrage. table of alleged outrages compiled from the ku klux testimony ========================================================== county |killings|outrages|shootings|whippings|total --------------|--------|--------|---------|---------|----- autauga | -- | | -- | -- | blount (k) | | | -- | | calhoun | | | | | chambers (k) | | -- | | -- | cherokee (k) | -- | | -- | | choctaw (x) | | | | -- | coosa | -- | -- | | | colbert (k) | | | -- | | dallas (x) | | | -- | -- | fayette (k) | | -- | -- | | greene (x) | | | | | hale (x) | | | | | jackson | | | | | lauderdale | -- | -- | -- | | lawrence (k) | | -- | -- | -- | limestone (k) | | | -- | | macon (x) | | | | | madison (x) | | | | | marshall (k) | | -- | | | marengo (x) | | | -- | | montgomery (x)| -- | | -- | -- | morgan (k) | | | | | perry (x) | | -- | | | pickens (x) | -- | -- | -- | | sumter (x) | | | | | st. clair | | | | -- | tallapoosa (k)| -- | -- | -- | | tuscaloosa (k)| | -- | -- | -- | walker (k) | -- | -- | -- | | | | | | +----- total | | | | ========================================================== (x) = black counties, and (k) = white counties, where ku klux klan operated. the ku klux committee reported a bill[ ] providing for the execution of the ku klux act until the close of the next session of congress. it passed the senate may , , and failed in the house on june .[ ] the act of february , , was amended by extending the federal supervision of elections from towns to all election districts on application of ten persons. other unimportant amendments were made.[ ] the passage of these laws had no effect on the ku klux klan proper, which had died out in - . nor did they have any effect in decreasing violence. it is quite likely that there was more violence toward the negro in and than in - . but the laws did affect the elections. the entire machinery of elections was again under radical control, and in the state again sank back into radicalism. but it was the last republican majority the state ever cast. the execution of these laws did much to hasten the union of the whites against negro rule. few cases were tried under the enforcement acts, though district attorney minnis and united states marshal healy were very active.[ ] busteed, in , testified that at huntsville he had tried several persons for an outrage upon a negro, and that there were still untried two indictments under the act of . he stated that his jurors and witnesses were never interfered with. one of his grand juries, in , encouraged by the attitude of congress, reported that while there was no organized conspiracy throughout the middle district, there was such a thing in macon, coosa, and tallapoosa. two of the jurors--benjamin f. noble and ex-governor william h. smith--objected to the report, and busteed, the federal judge, condemned it as unwarranted by the facts.[ ] nearly all of the carpet-bag and scalawag witnesses who testified on the radical side before the ku klux committee complained that the courts would not punish ku klux when they were arrested, and that juries would not indict them.[ ] in a gang of men in eastern alabama, the home of the black cavalry and the spurious ku klux klan, burned a negro meeting-house where political meetings were held. they were arrested and tried under the ku klux act. four of them, r. g. young, s. d. young, r. s. gray, and neil hawkins, were fined $ each and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in the penitentiary at albany, new york. ringold young was fined $ and sent to prison for seven years. ---- blanks and ---- howard were each fined $ and imprisoned for five years. the prisoners were taken from state officers by force, and during the trial there was much parade by a guard of united states troops. there was complaint that the evidence was insufficient, and the punishment disproportionate to the offence even if proven.[ ] in the elections of and there were numerous arrests of democrats by the deputy marshals, who often made their arrests before election day and paraded the prisoners about the country for the information of the voters. i have been unable to find record of any convictions.[ ] later organizations while the ku klux klan was disbanded by order in , it is not likely that the order of the white camelia disbanded except when there was no longer any necessity for it. in one county it might disband; in another it might survive several years longer. it is said that its operations were by order suspended in counties when conditions improved. the white brotherhood was a later organization, but had only a limited extension over south alabama. the most widely spread of the later organizations was the white league, which in some form seems to have spread over the entire state from to . the close connection between southwestern alabama and louisiana accounts for the introduction of both the white camelia and the white league. in arthur bingham, the ex-carpet-bag-treasurer of the state, stated that he had secured a copy of the constitution of the white league and had published it in the _state journal_. its members were sworn not to regard obligations taken in courts, and to clear one another by all means.[ ] the white league in barbour and mobile, in , declared that no employment should be given to negro radicals and no business done with white radicals, and in sumter county they were said to have gone on raids like the ku klux of former days. military organizations of whites were enrolled and applications made to the radical governor lewis for arms. he rejected the services of these companies, but they remained in organization and drilled. the confederate gray uniforms were worn. in tuskegee arms were purchased for the company by private subscription. by the white people of the state had become thoroughly united in the white man's party. there had been no compromises. the color and race line had been sharply drawn by the white counties, and the black counties later fell into line. the campaign of was the most serious of all. the whites intended to live no longer under radical rule, and the whole state was practically a great klan. there was but little violence, but there was a stern determination to defeat the radicals at any cost; and if necessary, violence would have been used. at the inauguration of governor houston, in , several of the gray-coated white league companies appeared from different parts of the state.[ ] in several later elections the old ku klux methods were used, and there was much mysterious talk of "dark rainy nights and bloody moons." the "barbour county fever" was prevalent for many years: young men and boys would serenade the radicals of the community and mortify them in every possible way, and their families would refuse to recognize socially the families of carpet-baggers and scalawags. they would not sit by them in church. the children at school imitated their elders.[ ] the ku klux method of regulating society was nothing new; it was as old as history; it had often been used before; it may be used again; when a people find themselves persecuted by aliens or by the law, they will find some means outside the law for protecting themselves; it is certain also that such experiences will result in a great weakening of respect for law and in a return to more primitive methods of justice. chapter xxii reorganization of the industrial system break-up of the ante-bellum system the cotton planter of the south, the master of many negro slaves, organized a very efficient slave labor system. each plantation was an industrial community almost independent of the outside world; the division of labor was minute, each servant being assigned a task suited to his or her strength and training. nothing but the most skilful management could save a planter from ruin, for, though the labor was efficient, it was very costly. the value of an overseer was judged by the general condition, health, appearance, and manners of the slaves; the amount of work done with the least punishment; the condition of stock, buildings, and plantation; and the size of the crops. all supplies were raised on the plantation,--corn, bacon, beef, and other food-stuffs; farm implements and harness were made and repaired by the skilled negroes in rainy weather when no outdoor work could be done; clothes were cut out in the "big house" and made by the negro women under the direction of the mistress. the skilled laborers were blacks. work was usually done by tasks, and industrious negroes were able to complete their daily allotment and have three or four hours a day to work in their own gardens and "patches." they often earned money at odd jobs, and the church records show that they contributed regularly. negro children were trained in the arts of industry and in sobriety by elderly negroes of good judgment and firm character, usually women.[ ] children too young to work were cared for by a competent mammy in the plantation nursery while their parents were in the fields. in the black belt there was little hiring of extra labor and less renting of land. except on the borders, nearly all whites were of the planting class. their greater wealth had enabled them to outbid the average farmer and secure the rich lands of the black prairies, cane-brakes, and river bottoms. the small farmer who secured a foothold in the black belt would find himself in a situation not altogether pleasant, and, selling out to the nearest planter, would go to poorer and cheaper land in the hills and pine woods, where most of the people were white. in the black belt cotton was largely a surplus money crop, and once the labor was paid for, the planter was a very rich man.[ ] in the white counties of the cotton states about the same crops were raised as in the black belt, but the land was less fertile and the methods of cultivation less skilful. in the richer parts of these white counties there was something of the plantation system with some negro labor. but slavery gradually drove white labor to the hill and mountain country, the sand and pine barrens. no matter how poor a white man was, he was excessively independent in spirit and wanted to work only his own farm. this will account for the lack of renters and hired white laborers in black or in white districts, and also for the fact that the less fertile land was taken up by the whites who desired to be their own employers. land was cheap, and any man could purchase it. there was some renting of land in the white counties, and the form it took was that now known as "third and fourth."[ ] it was then called "shares." there was little or no tenancy "on halves" or "standing rent." but the average farmer worked his own land, often with the help of from three to ten slaves. on the borders of the black belt in alabama dwelt a peculiar class called "squatters." they settled down with or without permission on lots of poor and waste land, built cabins, cleared "patches," and made a precarious living by their little crops, by working as carpenters, blacksmiths, etc. some bought small lots of land on long-time payments and never paid for them, but simply stayed where they were. in the edge of the black belt in the busy season were found numbers of white hired men working alongside of negro slaves,[ ] for there was no prejudice against manual labor, that is, no more than anywhere else in the world.[ ] as soon as the war was over the first concern of the returning soldiers was to obtain food to relieve present wants and to secure supplies to last until a crop could be made. in the white counties of the state the situation was much worse than in the black belt. the soil of the white counties was less fertile; the people were not wealthy before the war, and during the war they had suffered from the depredations of the enemy and from the operation of the tax-in-kind, which bore heavily upon them when they had nothing to spare. the white men went to the war and there were only women, children, and old men to work the fields. the heaviest losses among the alabama confederate troops were from the ranks of the white county soldiers. in these districts there was destitution after the first year of the war, and after from one-fourth to one-half of the soldiers' families received aid from the state. the bountiful black belt furnished enough for all, but transportation facilities were lacking. at the close of hostilities the condition of the people in the poorer regions was pitiable. stock, fences, barns, and in many cases dwellings had disappeared; the fields were grown up in weeds; and no supplies were available. how the people managed to live was a mystery. some walked twenty miles to get food, and there were cases of starvation. no seeds and no farm implements were to be had. the best work of the freedmen's bureau was done in relieving these people from want until they could make a crop. the black belt was the richest as well as the least exposed section of the state and fared well until the end of the war. the laborers were negroes, and these worked as well in war time as in peace. immense food crops were made in and , and there was no suffering among whites or blacks. until there was no loss from federal invasion, but with the spring of misfortune came. four large armies marched through the central portions of the state, burning, destroying, and confiscating. in june, , the black belt was in almost as bad condition as the white counties. all buildings in the track of the armies had disappeared; the stores of provisions were confiscated; gin-houses and mills were burned; cattle and horses and mules were carried away; and nothing much was left except the negroes and the fertile land. the returning planter, like the farmer, found his agricultural implements worn out and broken, and in all the land there was no money to purchase the necessaries of life. but in the portions of the black counties untouched by the armies there were supplies sufficient to last the people for a few months. a few fortunate individuals had cotton, which was now bringing fabulous prices, and it was the high price received for the few bales not confiscated by the government that saved the black belt from suffering as did the other counties. neither master nor slave knew exactly how to begin anew, and for a while things simply drifted. now that the question of slavery was settled, many of the former masters felt a great relief from responsibility, though for their former slaves they felt a profound pity. the majority of them had no faith in free negro labor, yet all were willing to give it a trial, and a few of the more strenuous ones said that the energy and strength of the white man that had made the savage negro an efficient laborer could make the free negro work fairly well; and if the free negro would work, they were willing to admit that the change might be beneficial to both races. during the spring and summer and fall the masters came straggling home, and were met by friendly servants who gave them cordial welcome. each one called up his servants and told them that they were free; and that they might stay with him and work for wages, or find other homes. except in the vicinity of the towns and army posts the negroes usually chose to stay and work; and in the remote districts of the black belt affairs were little changed for several weeks after the surrender, which there hardly caused a ripple on the surface of society. life and work went on as before. the staid negro coachmen sat upon their boxes on sunday as of old; the field hands went regularly about their appointed tasks. labor was cheerful, and the negroes went singing to the fields. "the negro knew no appomattox. the revolution sat lightly,--save in the presence of vacant seats at home and silent graves in the churchyard, in the memorials of destructive raids, in the wonder on the faces of a people once free, now ruled, where ruled at all, by a bureau agent." here it was that the master race believed that after all freedom of the negro might be well.[ ] in other sections, where the negro was more exposed to outside influences, people were not hopeful. the common opinion was that with free negro labor cotton could not be cultivated with success. the northerner often thought that it was a crop made by forced labor and that no freeman would willingly perform such labor; the southerner believed that the negro would neglect the crop too much when not under strict supervision. yet later years have shown that free white labor is most successful in the cultivation of cotton because of the care the whites expend upon their farms; while cotton is the only crop that the free negro has cultivated with any degree of success, because some kind of a crop can be made by the most careless cultivation. at first no one knew just how to work the free negro; innumerable plans were formed and many were tried. the old patriarchal relations were preserved as far as possible. truman,[ ] who made a long stay in alabama, reported that in most cases there was a genuine attachment between masters and negroes; that the masters were the best friends the negroes had; and that, though they regarded the blacks with much commiseration, they were inclined to encourage them to collect around the big house on the old slavery terms, giving food, clothes, quarters, medical attendance, and a little pay.[ ] at that time no one could understand the freedom of the negro.[ ] as one old master expressed it, he saw no "free negroes"[ ] until the fall of , when the bureau began to influence the blacks. but with the extension of the bureau and the spread of army posts, the negroes became idle, neglected the crops that had been planted in the spring, moved from their old homes and went to town to the bureau, or went wandering about the country. the house servants and the artisans, who were the best and most intelligent of the negroes, also began to go to the towns. negro women desiring to be as white ladies, refused to work in the fields, to cook, to wash, or to perform other menial duties. it was years before this "freedom" prejudice of the negro women against domestic service died out.[ ] the negro would work one or two days in the week, go to town two days, and wander about the rest of the time. under such conditions there was no hope of continuing the old patriarchal system, and new plans, modelled on what they had heard of free labor, were tried by the planters. in the white counties the ex-soldiers went to work as before the war, but they had come home from the army too late to plant full crops, and few had supplies enough to last until the crops should be gathered. in most of the white counties the negroes were so few as to escape the serious attention of the bureau, and consequently they worked fairly well at what they could get to do.[ ] the first work of the bureau was to break up the labor system that had been partially constructed, and to endeavor to establish a new system based on the northern free labor system and the old slave-hiring system with the addition of a good deal of pure theory. the bureau was to act as a labor clearing-house; it was to have entire control of labor; contracts must be written in accordance with the minute regulations of the bureau, and must be registered by the agent, who charged large fees.[ ] the result of these regulations was to destroy industry where an alien bureau agent was stationed, for the planters could not afford to have their land worked on such terms. in some of the counties, where the native magistrates served as bureau agents, no attention was paid to the rules of the bureau, and the people floundered along, trying to develop a workable basis of existence. in the districts infested by the bureau agents the negroes had fantastic notions of what freedom meant. on one plantation they demanded that the plantation bell be no longer rung to summon the hands to and from work, because it was too much like slavery.[ ] in various places they refused to work and congregated about the bureau offices, awaiting the expected division of property, when they would get the "forty acres and one old gray mule." when wages were paid they believed that each should receive the same amount, whether his labor had been good or bad, whether the laborer was present or absent, sick or well. in one instance a planter was paying his men in corn according to the time each had worked. the negroes objected and got an order from the bureau agent that the division should be made equally. the planter read the order (which the negroes could not read), and at once directed the division as before. the negroes, thinking that the bureau had so ordered, were satisfied. in the cane-brake region the agents were afraid of the great planters and did not interfere with the negroes except to organize them into union leagues; but elsewhere in the black belt the planter could not afford to hire negroes on the terms fixed by the bureau.[ ] northern and foreign immigration with the break-up of the slave system the planter found himself with much more land than he knew what to do with. he could get no reliable labor, he had no cash capital, so in many cases he offered his best lands for sale at low prices. the planters wanted to attract northern and foreign immigration and capital into the country; the cotton planter sought for a northern partner who could furnish the capital. owing to the almost religious regard of the negro for his northern deliverers, many white landlords thought that northern men, especially former soldiers, might be better able than southern men to control negro labor. general swayne, the head of the bureau, said that the negroes had more confidence in a "bluecoat" than in a native, and that among the larger planters northern men as partners or overseers were in great demand.[ ] for a short time after the close of the war northern men in considerable numbers planned to go into the business of cotton raising. debow[ ] gives a description of the would-be cotton planters who came from the north to show the southern people how to raise cotton with free negro labor. they had note-books and guide-books full of close and exact tables of costs and profits, and from them figured out vast returns. they acknowledged that the negro might not work for the southern man, but they were sure that he would work for them. they were very self-confident, and would listen to no advice from experienced planters, whom they laughed at as old fogies, but from their note-books and tables they gave one another much information about the new machinery useful in cotton culture, about rules for cultivation, how to control labor, etc. they estimated that each laborer's family would make $ clear gain each year. debow would not say they were wrong, but he said that he thought that they should hasten a little more slowly. northern energy and capitol flowed in; plantations were bought, and the various industries of plantation life started; and mills and factories were established. because of the paralyzed condition of industry the southern people welcomed these enterprises, but they were very sceptical of their final success. the northern settler had confidence in the negro and gave him unlimited credit or supplies; consequently, in a few years the former was financially ruined and had to turn his attention to politics, and to exploiting the negro in that field in order to make a living.[ ] both as employer and as manager the northern men failed to control negro labor. they expected the negro to be the equal of the yankee white. the negroes themselves were disgusted with northern employers. truman reported, after an experience of one season, that "it is the almost universal testimony of the negroes themselves, who have been under the supervision of both classes,--and i have talked with many with a view to this point,--that they prefer to labor for a southern employer."[ ] northern capital came in after the war, but northern labor did not, though the planters offered every inducement. land was offered to white purchasers at ridiculously low rates, but the northern white laborer did not come. he was afraid of the south with its planters and negroes. the poorer classes of native whites, however, profited by the low prices and secured a foothold on the better lands. so general was the unbelief in the value of the free negro as a laborer, especially in the bureau districts, and so signally had all inducements failed to bring native white laborers from the north, that determined efforts were made to obtain white labor from abroad. immigration societies were formed with officers in the state and headquarters in the northern cities. these societies undertook to send to the south laboring people, principally german, in families at so much per head. the planter turned with hope to white labor, of the superiority of which he had so long been hearing, and he wished very much to give it a trial. the advertisements in the newspapers read much like the old slave advertisements: so many head of healthy, industrious germans of good character delivered f.o.b. new york, at so much per head. one of the white labor agencies in alabama undertook to furnish "immigrants of any nativity and in any quantity" to take the place of negroes. children were priced at the rate of $ a year; women, $ ; men, $ ,--they themselves providing board and clothes. one of every six germans was warranted to speak english.[ ] most of these agencies were frauds and only wanted an advance payment on a car load of germans who did not exist. in a few instances some laborers were actually shipped in; but they at once demanded an advance of pay, and then deserted. like the bounty jumpers, they played the game time and time again. the influence of the radical press of the north was also used to discourage emigration to the south;[ ] consequently white immigration into the state did not amount to anything,[ ] and the black belt received no help from the north or from abroad, and had to fall back upon the free negro. in the white counties there had been little hope or desire for alien immigration. the people and the country were so desperately poor that the stranger would never think of settling there. many of the whites in moderate circumstances, living near the black belt, took advantage of the low price of rich lands, and acquired small farms in the prairies, but there was no influx of white labor to the black belt from the white counties.[ ] nearly every man, woman, and child in the white districts had to go to work to earn a living. many persons--lawyers, public men, teachers, ministers, physicians, merchants, overseers, managers, and even women--who had never before worked in the fields or at manual occupations, were now forced to do so because of losses of property, or because they could not live by their former occupations.[ ] while the number of white laborers had increased somewhat, negro labor had decreased. several thousand negro men had gone with the armies; for various reasons thousands had drifted to the towns, where large numbers died in - . the rural negro had a promising outlook, for at any time he could get more work than he could do; the city negro found work scarce even when he wanted it.[ ] attempts to organize a new system several attempts were made by the negroes in and to work farms and plantations on the coöperative system, that is, to club work, but with no success. they were not accustomed to independent labor, their faculty for organization had not been sufficiently developed, and the dishonesty of their leading men sometimes caused failures of the schemes.[ ] in the summer of the monroe county agricultural association was formed to regulate labor, and to protect the interests of both employer and laborer. it was the duty of the executive committee to look after the welfare of the freedmen, to see that contracts were carried out and the freedmen protected in them, and, in cases of dispute, to act as arbitrator. the members of the association pledged themselves to see that the freedman received his wages, and to aid him in case his employer refused to pay. they were also to see that the freedman fulfilled his contract, unless there was good reason why he should not. homes and the necessaries of life were to be provided by the association for the aged and helpless negroes, of whom there were several on every plantation. the planters declared themselves in favor of schools for the negro children, and a committee was appointed to devise a plan for their education. every planter in monroe county belonged to the association.[ ] an organization in conecuh county adopted, word for word, the constitution of the monroe county association. in clarke and wilcox counties similar organizations were formed, and in all counties where negro labor was the main dependence some such plans were devised.[ ] but it is noticeable that in those counties where the planters first undertook to reorganize the labor system, there were no regular agents of the freedmen's bureau and no garrisons. the average negro quite naturally had little or no sense of the obligation of contracts. he would leave a growing crop at the most critical period, and move into another county, or, working his own crop "on shares," would leave it in the grass and go to work for some one else in order to get small "change" for tobacco, snuff, and whiskey. after three years of experience of such conduct, a meeting of citizens at summerfield, dallas county, decided that laborers ought to be impressed with the necessity of complying with contracts. they agreed that no laborers discharged for failure to keep contracts would be hired again by other employers. they declared it to be the duty of the whites to act in perfect good faith in their relations with freedmen, to respect and uphold their rights, and to promote good feeling.[ ] development of the share system at first the planters had demanded a system of contracts, thinking that by law they might hold the negro to his agreements. but the bureau contracts were one-sided, and the planters could not afford to enter into them. general swayne early reported[ ] a general breakdown of the contract system, though he told the planters that in case of dispute, where no contract was signed, he would exact payment for the negro at the highest rates. the "share" system was discouraged, but where there were no bureau agents it was developing. and so bad was the wage system, that even in the bureau districts, share hiring was done. the object of "share" renting was to cause the laborer to take an interest in his crop and to relieve the planter of disputes about loss of time, etc. some of the negroes also decided that the share system was the proper one. on the plantations near selma the negroes demanded "shares," threatening to leave in case of refusal. general hardee, who was living near, proposed a plan for a verbal contract; wages should be one-fourth of all crops, meat and bread to be furnished to the laborer, and his share of crop to be paid to him in kind, or the net proceeds in cash; the planter to furnish land, teams, wagons, implements, and seed to the laborer, who, in addition, had all the slavery privileges of free wood, water, and pasturage, garden lot and truck patch, teams to use on sundays and for going to town. the absolute right of management was reserved to the planter, it being understood that this was no copartnership, but that the negro was hired for a share of the crop; consequently he had no right to interfere in the management.[ ] on another plantation, where a share system similar to hardee's was in operation, the planter divided the workers into squads of four men each. to each squad he assigned a hundred acres of cotton and corn, in the proportion of five acres of cotton to three of corn, and forty acres of cotton for the women and children of the four families. the squads were united to hoe and plough and to pick the cotton, because they worked better in gangs. wage laborers were kept to look after fences and ditches, and to perform odd jobs. a frequent source of trouble was the custom of allowing the negro, as part of his pay, several acres of "outside crop," to be worked on certain days of the week, as fridays and saturdays. the planter was supposed to settle disputes among the negroes, give them advice on every subject except politics and religion, on which they had other advisers, pay their fines and get them out of jail when arrested, and sometimes to thrash the recalcitrant.[ ] several kinds of share systems were finally evolved from the industrial chaos. they were much the same in black or white districts, and the usual designations were "on halves," "third and fourth," and "standing rent." the tenant "on halves" received one-half the crop, did all the work, and furnished his own provisions. the planter furnished land, houses to live in, seed, ploughs, hoes, teams, wagons, ginned the cotton, paid for half the fertilizer, and "went security" for the negro for a year's credit at the supply store in town, or he furnished the supplies himself, and charged them against the negro's share of the crop. the "third and fourth" plan varied according to locality and time, and depended upon what the tenant furnished. sometimes the planter furnished everything, while the negro gave only his labor and received one-fourth of the crop; again, the planter furnished all except provisions and labor, and gave the negro one-third of the crop. in such cases "third and fourth" was a lower grade of tenancy than "on halves." later it developed to a higher grade: the tenant furnished teams and farming implements, and the planter the rest, in which case the planter received a third of the cotton, and a fourth of the corn raised. "standing rent" was the highest form of tenancy, and only responsible persons, white or black, could rent under that system. it called for a fixed or "standing" rent for each acre or farm, to be paid in money or in cotton. the unit of value in cotton was a -pound bale of middling grade on october st. tenants who had farm stock, farming implements, and supplies or good credit would nearly always cultivate for "standing rent." the planter exercised a controlling direction over the labor and cultivation of a crop worked "on halves"; he exercised less direction over "third and fourth" tenants, and was supposed to exercise no control over tenants who paid "standing rent." in all cases the planter furnished a dwelling-house free, wood and water (paid for digging wells), and pasture for the pigs and cows of the tenants. in all cases the renter had a plot of ground of from one to three acres, rent free, for a vegetable garden and "truck patch." here could be raised watermelons, sugar-cane, potatoes, sorghum, cabbage, and other vegetables. every tenant could keep a few pigs and a cow, chickens, turkeys, and guineas, and especially dogs, and could hunt in all the woods around and fish in all the waters. "on halves" was considered the safest form of tenancy for both planter and tenant, for the latter was only an average man, and this method allowed the superior direction of the planter.[ ] many negroes worked for wages; the less intelligent and the unreliable could find no other way to work; and some of the best of them preferred to work for wages paid at the end of each week or month. wage laborers worked under the immediate oversight of the farmer or tenant who hired them. they received $ to $ a month and were "found," that is, furnished with rations. in the white counties the negro hired man was often fed in the farmer's kitchen. the laborer, if hired by the year, had a house, vegetable garden, truck patch, chickens, a pig perhaps, always a dog, and he could hunt and fish anywhere in the vicinity. sometimes he was "found"; sometimes he "found" himself. when he was "found," the allowance for a week was three and a half pounds of bacon, a peck of meal, half a gallon of syrup, and a plug of tobacco; his garden and truck patch furnished vegetables. this allowance could be varied and commuted. the system was worked out in the few years immediately following the war, and has lasted almost without change. where the negroes are found, the larger plantations have not been broken up into small farms, the census statistics to the contrary notwithstanding.[ ] the negro tenant or laborer had too many privileges for his own good and for the good of the planter. the negro should have been paid more money or given a larger proportion of the crop, and fewer privileges. he needed more control and supervision, and the result of giving him a vegetable garden, a truck patch, a pasture, and the right of hunting and fishing, was that the negro took less interest in the crop; the privileges were about all he wanted. agricultural industry was never brought to a real business basis.[ ] an essential part of the share system was the custom of advancing supplies to the tenant with the future crop as security. the universal lack of capital after the war forced an extension of the old ante-bellum credit or supply system. the merchant, who was also a cotton buyer, advanced money or supplies until the crop was gathered. before the war his security was crop, land, and slaves; after the war the crop was the principal security, for land was a drug in the market. consequently, the crop was more important to the creditor. cotton was the only good cash staple, and the high prices encouraged all to raise it. it was to the interest of the merchant, even when prices were low, to insist that his debtors raise cotton to the exclusion of food crops, since much of his money was made by selling food supplies to them. before the war the planter alone had much credit, and a successful one did not make use of the system; but after the war all classes of cotton raisers had to have advances of supplies. the credit or crop lien system was good to put an ambitious farmer on the way to independence, but it was no incentive to the shiftless. cotton became the universal crop under the credit system, and even when the farmer became independent, he seldom planted less of his staple crop, or raised more supplies at home. negro farmers and white farmers at the end of the war everything was in favor of the negro cotton raiser; and everything except the high price of cotton was against the white farmer in the poorer counties. the soil had been used most destructively in the white districts, and it had to be improved before cotton could be raised successfully.[ ] the high price of cotton caused the white farmer, who had formerly had only small cotton patches, to plant large fields, and for several years the negro was not a serious competitor. the building of railroads through the mineral regions afforded transportation to the white farmer for crops and fertilizers,--an advantage that before this time had been enjoyed only by the black belt,--and improved methods gradually supplanted the wasteful frontier system of cultivation. the gradual increase[ ] of the cotton production after was due entirely to white labor in the white counties, the black counties never again reaching their former production, though the population of those counties has doubled. governor lindsay said, in , that the white people of north alabama, where but little had been produced before the war, were becoming prosperous by raising cotton, and at the same time raising supplies that the planter on the rich lands with negro labor had to buy from the west. this prosperity, he thought, had done more than anything else to put an end to ku klux disturbances. somers reported, as early as , that the bulk of the cotton crop in the tennessee valley was made by white labor, not by black.[ ] as long as there was plenty of cheap, thin land to be had, the poor but independent white would not work the fertile land belonging to some one else; and before and long after the war there was plenty of practically free land.[ ] therefore the tendency of the whites was to remain on the less fertile land. dr. e. a. smith, in the alabama geological survey of - , and in the report on cotton production in alabama ( ), shows the relation between race and cotton production, and race location, with respect to fertility of soil: ( ) on the most fertile lands the laboring population was black; the farmers were shiftless, and no fertilizers were used; there the credit evil was worse, and the yield per acre was less than on the poorest soils cultivated by whites. ( ) where the races were about equal the best system was found; the soils were medium, the farms were small but well cultivated, and fertilizers were used. ( ) on the poorest soils only whites were found. these by industry and use of fertilizers could produce about as much as the blacks on the rich soils. the average product per acre of the fertile black belt is lower than the lowest in the poorest white counties. only the best of soil, as in clarke, monroe, and wilcox counties, is able to overcome the bad labor system, and produce an average equal to that made by the whites in winston, the least fertile county in the state. in white counties, where the average product per acre falls below the average for the surrounding region, the fact is always explained by the presence of blacks, segregated on the best soils, keeping down the average product. for example, madison county in had a majority of blacks, and the average product per acre was . bale, as compared with . bale for the tennessee valley, of which madison was the richest county; in talladega, the most fertile county of the coosa valley, the average production per acre was . , as compared with . for the rest of the valley; in autauga, where the blacks outnumbered the whites two to one, the average fell below that of the country around, though the autauga soil was the best in the region. the average product of the rich prairie region cultivated by the blacks was . bale per acre; the average product in the poor mineral region cultivated by the whites was . to . ; in the short-leaf pine region the whites outnumber the blacks two to one, and the average production is . bale, while in the gravelly hill region, where the blacks are twice as numerous as the whites, the production is . , the soil in the two sections being about equal. in general, the fertility of the soil being equal, the production varies inversely as the proportion of colored population to white. density of colored population is a sure sign of fertile soil; predominance of white a sign of medium or poor soil. outside of the black belt, white owners cultivate small farms, looking closely after them. the negro seldom owns the land he cultivates, and is more efficient when working under direction on the small farm in the white county. in the black belt, nearly all land is fertile and capable of cultivation, but in the white counties a large percentage is rocky, in hills, forests, mountains, etc. many soils in southeast and in north alabama, formerly considered unproductive, have been brought into cultivation by the use of fertilizers, hauled in wagons, in many cases, from twenty to a hundred miles. fertilizers have not yet come into general use in the black belt. in the negro districts are still found horse-power gins and old wooden cotton presses; in the white counties, steam and water power and the latest machinery. in the white counties it has always been a general custom to raise a part of the supplies on the farm; in the black belt this has not been done since the war.[ ] though many of the white farmers remained under the crop lien bondage, there was a steady gain toward independence on the part of the more industrious and economical. but not until toward the close of the century did emancipation come for many of the struggling whites. in other directions the whites did better. they opened the mines of north alabama, cut the timber of south alabama, built the railroads and factories, and to some extent engaged in commerce.[ ] market gardening became a common occupation. negro labor in factories failed. it was the negro rather than slavery that prevented and still prevents the establishment of manufactures.[ ] the development of manufactures in recent years has benefited principally the poor people of the white counties. "for this mill people is not drawn from foreign immigrants, nor from distant states, but it is drawn from the native-born white population, the poor whites, that belated hill-folk from the ridges and hollows and coves of the silent hills."[ ] the negro artisan is giving way to the white; even in the towns of the black belt, the occupations once securely held by the negro are passing into the hands of the whites. in the white counties, during reconstruction, the relations between the races became more strained than in the black belt. one of the manifestations of the ku klux movement in the white counties was the driving away of negro tenants from the more fertile districts by the poorer classes of whites who wanted these lands. for years immigration was discouraged by the northern press. foreigners were afraid to come to the "benighted and savage south."[ ] but in the ' 's the railroad companies began to induce germans to settle on their lands in the poorest of the white counties. later there has been a slow movement from the northwest. as a rule, where the northerners and the germans settle the wilderness blossoms, and the negro leaves. after ploughing their hilltops until the soil was exhausted, the whites, even before the war, decided that only by clearing the swamps in the poorer districts could they get land worth cultivating. this required much labor and money. after the war, with the increase of transportation facilities, fertilizers came into use, the swamps were deserted, and the farmers went back to the uplands. "by the use of commercial fertilizers, vast regions once considered barren have been brought into profitable cultivation, and really afford a more reliable and constant crop than the rich alluvial lands of the old slave plantations. in nearly every agricultural county in the south there is to be observed, on the one hand, this section of fertile soils, once the heart of the old civilization, now largely abandoned by the whites, held in tenantry by a dense negro population, full of dilapidation and ruin; while on the other hand, there is the region of light, thin soils, occupied by the small white freeholder, filled with schools, churches, and good roads, and all the elements of a happy, enlightened country life."[ ] the decadence of the black belt the patriarchal system failed in the black belt, the bureau system of contracts and prescribed wages failed, the planter's own wage system failed,[ ] and finally all settled down to the share system. in this there was some encouragement to effort on the part of the laborer, and in case of failure of the crop he bore a share of the loss. after a few years' experience, the negroes were ready to go back to the wage system, and labor conventions were held demanding a return to that system.[ ] but whatever system was adopted, the work of the negro was unsatisfactory. the skilled laborer left the plantation, and the new generation knew nothing of the arts of industry. labor became migratory, and the negro farmer wanted to change his location every year.[ ] regular work was a thing of the past. in two or three days each week a negro could work enough to live, and the remainder of the time he rested from his labors, often leaving much cotton in the fields to rot.[ ] he went to the field when it suited him to go, gazed frequently at the sun to see if it was time to stop for meals, went often to the spring for water, and spent much time adjusting his plough or knocking the soil and pebbles from his shoes. the negro women refused to work in the fields, and yet did nothing to better the home life; the style of living was "from hand to mouth." extra money went for whiskey, snuff, tobacco, and finery, while the standard of living was not raised.[ ] the laborer would always stop to go to a circus, election, political meeting, revival, or camp-meeting. a great desolation seemed to rest upon the black belt country.[ ] in the interior of the state, the negroes worked better during and after reconstruction than where they were exposed to the ministrations of the various kinds of carpet-baggers.[ ] in the tennessee valley, where the negroes had taken a prominent part in politics, and had not only seen much of the war, but many of them had enlisted in the federal army, cotton raising almost ceased for several years. the only crops made were made by whites.[ ] in sumter county, where the black population was dense, it was, in , almost impossible to secure labor; those negroes who wished to work went to the railways.[ ] a description of a "model negro farm" in was as follows: the farmer purchased an old mule on credit and rented land on shares, or for so many bales of cotton; any old tools were used; corn, bacon, and other supplies were bought on credit, and a lien given on the crop; a month later, corn and cotton were planted on soil not well broken up; the negro "would not pay for no guano," to put on other people's land; by turns the farmer planted and fished, ploughed and hunted, hoed and frolicked, or went to "meeting." at the end of the year he sold his cotton, paid part of his rent, and some of his debt, returned the mule to its owner, and sang:-- "nigger work hard all de year, white man tote de money."[ ] if the negro made anything, his fellows were likely to steal it. somers said, "there can be no doubt that the negroes first steal one another's share of the crop, and next the planter's, by way of general redress."[ ] crop stealing was usually done at night. stolen cotton, corn, pork, etc., was carried to the doggeries kept on the outskirts of the plantation by low white men, and there exchanged for bad whiskey, tobacco, and cheap stuff of various kinds. these doggeries were called "deadfalls," and their proprietors often became rich.[ ] so serious did the theft of crops become, that the legislature passed a "sunset" law, making it a penal offence to purchase farm produce after nightfall. poultry, hogs, corn, mules, and horses were stolen when left in the open. emancipation destroyed the agricultural supremacy of the black belt. the uncertain returns from the plantations caused an exodus of planters and their families to the cities, and formerly well-kept plantations were divided into one-and two-house farms for negro tenants, who allowed everything to go to ruin. the negro tenant system was much more ruinous than the worst of the slavery system, and none of the plantations ever again reached their former state of productiveness. ditches choked up, fences down, large stretches of fertile fields growing up in weeds and bushes, cabins tumbling in and negro quarters deserted, corn choked by grass and weeds, cotton not half as good as under slavery,--these were the reports from travellers in the black belt, towards the close of reconstruction.[ ] other plantations were leased to managers, who also kept plantation stores whence the negroes were furnished with supplies. the money lenders came into possession of many plantations. by the crop lien and blanket mortgage, the negro became an industrial serf. the "big house" fell into decay. for these and other reasons, the former masters, who were the most useful friends of the negro, left the black belt, and the black steadily declined.[ ] the unaided negro has steadily grown worse; but tuskegee, normal, calhoun, and similar bodies are endeavoring to assist the negro of the black counties to become an efficient member of society. in the success of such efforts lies the only hope of the negro, and also of the white of the black belt, if the negro is to continue to exclude white immigration.[ ] chapter xxiii political and social conditions during reconstruction sec. . politics and political methods during the war the administration of the state government gradually fell into the hands of officials elected by people more or less disaffected toward the confederacy. provisional governor parsons, who had been secretly disloyal to the confederacy, retained in office many of the old confederate local officials, and appointed to other offices men who had not strongly supported the confederacy. in the fall of and the spring of elections under the provisional government placed in office a more energetic class of second and third rate men who had had little experience and who were not strong confederates. men who had opposed secession and who had done little to support the war were, as a rule, sent to congress and placed in the higher offices of state. the ablest men were not available, being disfranchised by the president's plan. in , with the establishment of the reconstructed government, an entirely new class of officials secured control. less than white voters, of more than , of voting age, supported the radical programme, and, as more than officials were to be chosen, the field for choice was limited. the elections having gone by default, the radicals met with no opposition, except in three counties. in all the other counties the entire radical ticket was declared elected, even though in several of them no formal elections had been held. william h. smith, who was made governor under the reconstruction acts, was a native of georgia, a lawyer, formerly a douglas democrat, and had opposed secession, but was a candidate for the confederate congress. defeated, he consoled himself by going over to the federals in . smith was a man of no executive ability, careless of the duties of his office, and in few respects a fit person to be governor. he disliked the confederate element and also the carpet-baggers, but as long as the latter would not ask for high offices, he was at peace with them. it was his plan to carry on the state government with the or "unionists" and the united states troops. he did not like the negroes, but could endure them as long as they lived in a different part of the state and voted for him. in personal and private matters he was thoroughly honest, but his course in regard to the issue of bonds showed that in public affairs he could be influenced to doubtful conduct. it is certain that he never profited by any of the stealing that was carried on; he merely made it easy for others to steal; the dishonest ones were his friends, and his enemies paid the taxes. as governor he had the respect of neither party. he went too far to please the democrats, and not far enough to please the radicals. he exercised no sort of control over his local officials and shut his eyes to the plundering of the black belt. he was emphatically governor of his small following of whites, not of all the people, not even of the blacks. during his administration the whites complained that he was very active in protecting radicals from outrage, but paid no attention to the troubles of his political enemies. his government did not give adequate protection to life and property. his lieutenant-governor, a. j. applegate of ohio and wisconsin, was an illiterate federal soldier left stranded in alabama by the surrender. during the war he was taken ill in mississippi and was cared for by mrs. thompson, wife of a former secretary of the treasury. upon leaving the thompson house he carried some valuable papers with him, which, after the war, he tried to sell to mrs. thompson for $ , . lowe, walker, & company, a firm of lawyers in alabama, gave applegate $ , made him sign a statement as to how he obtained the papers, and then published all the correspondence.[ ] the charge of thievery did not injure his candidacy. before election he had been an _attaché_ of the freedmen's bureau. after the constitution had been rejected in , applegate went north, so far that he could not get back in time for the first session of the legislature. a special act, however, authorized him to draw his pay as having been present. in a letter written for the associated press, which was secured by the democrats, there were thirty-nine mistakes in spelling. as a presiding officer over the senate, he was vulgar and undignified. his speeches were ludicrous. when the conduct of the radical senators pleased him, he made known his pleasure by shouting, "bully for alabama!" the secretary of state, charles a. miller, was a bureau agent from maine; bingham, the treasurer, was from new york; reynolds, the auditor, from wisconsin; keffer, the superintendent of industrial resources, from pennsylvania. two natives of indifferent reputation--morse and cloud--were, respectively, attorney-general and superintendent of public instruction. morse was under indictment for murder and had to be relieved by special act of the legislature. the chief justice, peck, was from new york; saffold and peters were southern men; the senators and all of the representatives in congress were carpet-baggers. there were six candidates for the short-term senatorship--all of them carpet-baggers. willard warner of ohio, who was elected, was probably the most respectable of all the carpet-baggers, and was soon discarded by the party. he had served in the federal army and after the war was elected to the ohio senate. his term expired in january, ; in july, , he was elected to the united states senate from alabama. george e. spencer was elected to the united states senate for the long term. he was from massachusetts, ohio, iowa, and nebraska. in iowa he had been clerk of the senate, and in nebraska, secretary to the governor. he entered the army as sutler of the first nebraska infantry. later he assisted in raising the first union alabama cavalry and was made its colonel. spencer was shrewd, coarse, and unscrupulous, and soon secured control of federal patronage for alabama. he attacked his colleague, warner, as being lukewarm. the representatives and their records were as follows: f. w. kellogg of massachusetts and michigan represented the latter state in congress from to , when he was appointed collector of internal revenue at mobile. c. w. buckley of new york and illinois was a presbyterian preacher who had come to alabama as chaplain of a negro regiment. for two years he was a bureau official and an active agitator. he was a leading member in the convention of . b. w. norris of skowhegan, maine, was an oil-cloth maker and a land agent for maine, a commissary, contractor, cemetery commissioner, and paymaster during the war. after the war he came south with c. a. miller, his brother-in-law, and both became bureau agents. c. w. pierce of massachusetts and illinois was a bureau official. nothing more is known of him. john b. callis of wisconsin had served in the federal army and later in the veteran reserve corps. after the war he became a bureau agent in alabama, and when elected he was not a citizen of the state, but was an army officer stationed in mississippi. thomas haughey of scotland was a confederate recruiting officer in - and later a surgeon in the union army. he was killed in by collins, a member of the radical board of education. it was said that he was without race prejudice and consorted with negroes, but he was the only one of the alabama delegation whom governor smith liked. the latter wrote that "our whole set of representatives in congress, with the exception of haughey, are ... unprincipled scoundrels having no regard for the state of the people."[ ] in the first reconstruction legislature, which lasted for three years, there were in the senate radicals and democrat. in the house there were radicals (only served) and democrats. the lone democrat in the senate was worthy of pike, and to prevent him from engaging in debate, applegate often retired from his seat and called upon him to preside; the democrats in the house were hubbard of pike, howard of crenshaw, and reeves of cherokee.[ ] in the senate there was only negro; in the house there were , several of whom could not sign their names. in the apportionment of representatives there was a difference of per cent in favor of the black counties. hundreds of negroes swarmed in to see the legislature begin, filling the galleries, the windows, and the vacant seats, and crowding the aisles. they were invited by resolution to fill the galleries and from that place they took part in the affairs of the house, voting on every measure with loud shouts. a scalawag from north alabama wanted the negroes to sit on one side of the house and the whites on the other, but he was not listened to. the doorkeepers, sergeant-at-arms, and other employees were usually negroes. the negro members watched their white leaders and voted _aye_ or _no_ as they voted. when tired they went to sleep and often had to be wakened to vote. both houses were usually opened with prayer by northern methodist ministers or by negro ministers. none but "loyal" ministers were asked to officiate. strobach, the austrian member, wearied of much political prayer, moved that the chaplain cut short his devotions. [illustration: scenes in the first reconstructed legislature. (cartoons from "the loil legislature," by captain b. h. screws.)] the whites in the legislature were for the most part carpet-baggers or unknown native whites. the entire taxes paid by the members of the legislature were, it is said, less than $ . applegate, the lieutenant-governor, did not own a dollar's worth of property in the state. most of the carpet-bag members lived in montgomery; the rest of them lived in mobile, selma, and huntsville. few of them saw the districts they represented after election; some did not see them before or after the election. the representative from jackson county lived in chattanooga, tennessee. the state constitution prohibited united states officials from holding state offices, but nearly all federal officers in the state also held state offices. this was particularly the case in the southwestern counties, which were represented by revenue and custom-house officials from mobile. some of them were absent most of the time, but all drew pay; one of the negro members, instead of attending, went regularly to school after the roll was called. no less than twenty members had been indicted or convicted, or were indicted during the session, of various crimes, from adultery and stealing to murder. the legislature passed special acts to relieve members from the penalties for stealing, adultery, bigamy, arson, riot, illegal voting, assault, bribery, and murder.[ ] bribery was common in the legislature. by custom a room in the capitol was set apart for the accommodation of those who wished to "interview" negro members.[ ] there the agents of railroad companies distributed conscience money in the form of loans which were never to be paid back. harrington, the speaker, boasted that he received $ for engineering a bill through the house. a lottery promoter said that it cost him only $ to get his charter through the legislature, and that no radical, except one negro, refused the small bribe he offered. senator sibley held his vote on railroad measures at $ ; pennington, at $ ; w. b. jones, at $ . hardy of dallas received $ , to ease the passage of a railroad bond issue, and kept most of it for himself; another received enough to start a bank; still another was given acres of land, a steam mill, and a side track on a railroad near his mill. negro members, as a rule, sold out very cheaply, and probably most often to democrats who wanted some minor measures passed to which the radical leaders would pay no attention. it was found best not to pay the larger sums until the governor had signed the bill. a member accepted a gift as a matter of course, and no attention was paid to charges of bribery.[ ] the election of february and , , at which the constitution was rejected on account of the whites' refraining from voting, was in many counties a farce. the legislature, in order to remedy any defects in the credentials of the radical candidates, passed a number of general and special acts legalizing the "informal" elections of february and , and declaring the radical candidates elected. in seven counties no votes had been counted, but this made no difference.[ ] the presiding officers addressed the members as "captain, john, mr. jones," etc. quarrels and fights were frequent. one member chased another to the secretary's desk, trying to kill him, but was prevented by the secretary. in the cloak-rooms and halls were fruit and peanut stands, whiskey shops, and lunch counters. legislative action did not avail to clear out the sovereign negroes and keep the halls clean. political meetings were held in the capitol, much to the damage of the furniture.[ ] the only measures that excited general interest among the members were the bond-issue bills. other legislation was generally purely perfunctory, except in case an election law or a ku klux law was to be passed. there was much special legislation on account of individual members, such as granting divorces, ordering release from jail, relieving from the "pains" of marriage with more than one woman, trick legislation, vacating offices, etc. when, as in mobile, the democrats controlled too many minor offices, the legislature remedied the wrong by declaring the offices vacant and giving the governor authority to make appointments to the vacancies. the mobile offices were vacated three times in this way. in connection with the mobile bill it was found that fraudulent interpolations were sometimes made in a bill after its passage. it would be taken from the clerk's desk, changed, and then returned for printing.[ ] some of the laws passed failed of their object because of mistakes in spelling. a committee was finally appointed to correct mistakes in orthography. the house and senate constantly returned engrossed bills to one another for correction. a joint committee to investigate the education of the clerks reported that they were unable to ascertain which of the clerks was illiterate, though they discharged one of them. the minority report declared that the fault was not with the clerks, but with the members, many of whom could not write. finally a spelling clerk was employed to rewrite the bills submitted by the members.[ ] for making fun of the ignorance of the radical members, ryland randolph, a democratic member, elected in a by-election, was expelled from the house. in the radicals, fearing the result of the presidential election and afraid of the ku klux movement which was beginning to be felt, passed a bill giving to itself the power to choose presidential electors. the negroes were aroused by the radical leaders who were not in the legislature, and sufficient pressure was brought to bear on the governor to induce him to veto the measure.[ ] according to the constitution, the senate was to classify at once after organization, so that half should serve two years and half four years. no one was willing to take the short term and lose the $ _per diem_ and other privileges. so in the senate refused to classify. again in it refused to classify. the radicals permitted the usurpation because it was known that the democrats would carry the white counties in case the classification were made and elections held. then, too, it was feared that in the democrats would have a majority in the lower house; hence a radical senate would be necessary to prevent the repudiation of the railroad indorsation. so all senators held over until , and by shrewd manipulation and the use of federal troops the senate kept a radical majority until .[ ] county and other local officials were incompetent and corrupt. the policy of the whites in abstaining from voting on the constitution ( ) gave nearly every office in the state to incompetent men. in the white counties it was as bad as in the black, because the radicals there despaired of carrying the elections and put up no regular candidates. however, in every county some freaks offered themselves as candidates, and at "informal" elections received, or said they received, a few votes. after the state was admitted in spite of the rejection of the constitution, these people were put in office by the legislature. had the white people taken part in the elections instead of relying upon the law of congress in regard to ratification and not refrained from voting, they could have secured nearly all the local offices in the white counties. no other state had such an experience; no other state had such a low class of officials in the beginning of reconstruction. but the very incapacity of them worked in favor of better government, for they had to be gotten rid of and others appointed. not a single bureau agent whose name is on record failed to get some kind of an office. in perry county most of the officials were soldiers of a wisconsin regiment discharged in the south; the circuit clerk was under indictment for horse stealing. in greene county a superintendent of education had to be imported under contract from massachusetts, there being no competent radical. in sumter county one price, who had a negro wife, was registrar, superintendent of education, postmaster, and circuit clerk. a carpet-bagger, elected probate judge, went home to ohio, after the supposed rejection of the constitution, and never returned. the sheriff and the solicitor were negroes who could not read. another radical was at once circuit clerk, register in chancery, notary public, justice of the peace, keeper of the county poorhouse, and guardian _ad litem_. in elmore county the probate judge was under indictment for murder. in montgomery, brainard, the circuit clerk, killed his brother-in-law and tried to kill widmer, the collector of internal revenue. the radical chancellor and marshal were scalawags--one a former slave trader, the other a former divine-right slave owner. the sheriff of madison could not write. in dallas the illiterate negro commissioners voted for a higher rate of taxation, though their names were not on the tax books; their scalawag associates voted for the lower rate. thus it was all over alabama. in july, , the reconstruction legislature continued in force the code of alabama, which provided for heavy official bonds. but the adventurers could not make bond. so a special law was passed authorizing the supreme court, chancellors, and circuit judges to "fix and prescribe" the bonds of all "judicial and county officials." later the suspended code went into effect, and the democrats succeeded in turning out many newly elected radicals who could not make bond. almost at the beginning the democrats began the plan of refusing to make bond for radicals, and thus made it almost impossible for the latter to hold office until the legislature again came to their relief. there were many vacancies and few white radicals to fill them; the scalawags thought that the negro ought to be content with voting. smith had many vacancies to fill by appointment. most of the paying ones were given to radicals, and many of the others were given to democrats, whom he preferred to negroes. in the black counties the property owners and the ku klux began to make the most obnoxious officials sell out and leave, and governor smith would, by agreement, appoint some democrat to such vacancies. this custom became frequent, and, in spite of himself, smith's "lily white" sentiments were undermining the rule of his party.[ ] an argument used by the more liberal of the radicals in favor of removal of disabilities was that in some counties the local offices could not be filled on account of the operation of the disfranchising laws.[ ] the federal judiciary was represented by richard busteed, an irishman, who was made federal judge in . he came south in with bloodthirsty threats and at once began prosecutions for treason. more than cases were brought before him. there were no convictions, but a rich harvest of costs. he was ignorant of law, and in the court room was arbitrary and tyrannical to lawyers, witnesses, and prisoners. it was charged that he was in partnership with the district attorney. bribery was proven against him. the leading lawyers, both radical and democratic, asked congress to impeach him, but to no effect. it was his custom to solicit men to bring causes before him. a selma editor was brought before him and severely lectured for writing a disrespectful article about busteed's grand jury. there was one democratic lawyer whom busteed feared--general james h. clanton. clanton paid no attention to busteed's vagaries, but sat on the bench with him, advised him and made him take his advice, won all his cases, and bullied busteed unrebuked. the latter was afraid he would be killed if he angered clanton, and clanton played upon his fears. at first a great negrophile, busteed became more and more obnoxious to the radical party, and was soon accused of being a democrat and removed. another federal officer, wells, the united states district attorney, had been discharged from the union army on the ground of insanity.[ ] the new constitution made all judgeships elective and also provided for the election of a solicitor in each county. the result was seen in the number of incapable judges and illiterate solicitors. the probate judge of madison was "a common jack-plane carpenter from oregon," and his sheriff could not write. many of the judges had never studied law and had never practised. public meetings were held to protest against incompetent judges and to demand their resignations. governor smith usually appointed better men, and not always those of his own party, to the places vacated by resignation, sale, or otherwise. before the war the state judiciary had stood high in the estimation of the people, and judicial officers were forbidden by public opinion to take part in party politics. under the reconstruction government the judicial officials took an active part in political campaigns, every one of them, from busteed and the supreme court to a county judge, making political speeches and holding office in the party organization. from a party point of view the scarcity of white radicals made this necessary. notaries public, who also had the powers of justices of the peace, were appointed by the governor. their powers were great and indefinite, and in consequence they almost drove the justices out of activity. some of them issued warrants running into all parts of the state, causing men to be brought forty to fifty miles to appear before them on trifling charges. the reconstruction judiciary generally held that a jury without a negro on it was not legal. in the white counties such juries were hard to form. northern newspaper correspondents wrote of the ludicrous appearance of busteed's half negro jury struggling with intricate points of maritime law, insurance, constitutional questions, exchange, and the relative value of a prussian guilder to a pound sterling. when they were bored they went to sleep. the negro jurors recognized their own incompetence and usually agreed to any verdict decided upon by the white jurors. had the latter been respectable men, no harm would have been done, but usually they were not. a negro jury would not convict a member of the union league--he had only to give the sign--nor a negro prosecuted by a white man or indicted by a jury; but many negroes prosecuted by their own race were convicted by black juries. for many years it was impossible to secure a respectable federal jury on account of the test oath required, which excluded nearly all confederates of ability. as an example of the working of a local court, the criminal court of dallas may be taken. the jurisdiction extended to capital offences. corbin, the judge, was an old virginian who had never read law. he refused to allow one roderick thomas, colored, to be tried by a mixed jury, demanding a full negro jury. the prosecution was then dropped because all twelve negroes drawn were of bad character. corbin then entered on the record that thomas was "acquitted." thomas had stolen cotton, and the fact had been proven; but he soon became clerk of corbin's court and later took corbin's place as judge, with another negro for clerk. nearly every radical official in dallas county was indicted for corruption in office by a radical or mixed jury, but negro juries refused to convict them.[ ] an elaborate militia system was provided for by the carpet-baggers, with general dustin of iowa, a carpet-bagger, as major-general. the strength of organization was to be in the black counties, but governor smith persistently refused to organize the negro militia. he was afraid of the effect on his slender white following, and he did not think that the negro ought to do anything but vote. he was also afraid of democratic militia, afraid that it would overturn the hated state government. he tried to get several friendly white companies to organize, but failed, and during the rest of his term relied exclusively upon federal troops. even before the reconstruction government was set going it was seen that the whites would be restless. forcing the rejected constitution and the low-class state government upon the people against the will of the majority had a very bad effect. they recognized it as the government _de facto_ only, and they so considered it all during the reconstruction. then the ku klux movement began, and north alabama especially was disturbed for several years. smith sometimes threatened to call out the militia, but never did so. however, he kept the federal troops busy answering his calls. after the election of grant the army was always at the service of the state officials, who used detachments as police, marshals, and _posses_. the government had not the respect of its own party, and had to be upheld by military force. it was a fixed custom to call in the military when the law was to be enforced--governor, congressmen, marshals, sheriff, judge, justice of peace, politicians, all calling for and obtaining troops. it was distasteful duty to the federal officers and soldiers. though the people knew that only the soldiers upheld the state government, yet they were not, as a rule, sorry to see the soldiers come in. the military rule was preferable to the civil rule, and acted as a check on radical misgovernment. the whites were often sorry to see the soldiers leave, even though they were instruments of oppression. wholesale arrests by the army were not as frequent during smith's administration as later.[ ] [illustration: election for president, .] the state government was shaken to its foundations by the presidential campaign and election of . the whites had waked up and gone to work in earnest. it was the first election in which the races voted against one another. busteed, strobach, and other carpet-baggers toured the north, predicting chains and slavery for the blacks and butchery for the "loyal" whites in case seymour were elected. the union league whipped the negroes into line. brass bands lent enthusiasm to radical parades. the negroes were afraid that they would "lose their rights" and be reënslaved, that their wives would have to work the roads and not be allowed to wear hoopskirts. the radicals urged upon the democrats the view that those who did not believe in negro suffrage could not take the voter's oath. many democrats refused to register because of the oath. there were numbers who would not vote against grant because they believed that he was the only possible check against congress. others felt that so far as alabama was concerned the election was cut and dried for grant. but nevertheless a majority of the whites determined to resist further africanization in government. their natural leaders were disfranchised, but a strong campaign was made. the hope was held out of overthrowing the irregular revolutionary state government and driving out the carpet-baggers in case seymour became president. north alabama declared that a vote for grant was a vote against the whites and formed a boycott of all radicals. the south alabama leaders tried to secure a part of the negro vote, and urged that imprudent talk be avoided and that carpet-baggers and scalawags be let alone, and the negroes be treated kindly as being responsible for none of the evils. orders purporting to be signed by general grant were sent out among the negroes, bidding them to beware of the promises of the whites and directing them to vote for him. some rascally whites made large sums of money by selling grant badges to the blacks. they had been sent down for free distribution; but the negroes, ordered, as they believed, by the general, purchased his pictures at $ each, or less. the carpet-baggers were afraid of losing the state. some left and went home. others wanted the legislature to choose electors. still others wanted to have no election at all, preferring to let it go by default; but the higher military commanders, terry and grant, were sympathetic and troops were so distributed over the state as to bring out the negro vote. army officers assisted at radical political meetings, and the negro was informed by his advisers that general grant had sent the troops to see that they voted properly. the result was that the state went for grant by a safe majority.[ ] during the administration of smith the incompatibility of the elements of the radical party began to show more clearly. the native whites began to desert as soon as the convention of showed that the negro vote would be controlled by the carpet-baggers. the genuine unionist voters resented the leadership of renegade secessionists. the carpet-baggers demanded the lion's share of the spoils and were angered because smith vetoed some of their measures; the scalawags upheld him. the carpet-baggers felt that since they controlled the negro voters they were entitled to the greater consideration. their manipulation of the union league alarmed the native radicals. the negroes were becoming conscious of their power and were inclined to demand a larger share of the offices than the carpet-baggers wanted to give them. some of the negroes were desirous of voting with the whites. negro leaders were aspiring to judgeships, to the state senate, to be postmasters, to go to congress. even now the party was held together only by the knowledge that it would be destroyed if divided.[ ] in governor smith and other radical leaders, convinced that they were permanently in power, secured the passage of a law providing for the gradual removal of disabilities imposed by state law. the same year a complete registration had been made for the purpose of excluding the leading whites. after disabilities were removed, so far as state action was concerned there was no advantage to radicals in a registration of voters. on the other hand, it threatened to become a powerful aid to the democrats, who began to attend the polls and demand that only registered voters be allowed to cast ballots, thus preventing repeating. consequently, as a preparation for the first general election in the fall of , the legislature passed a law forbidding the use of registration lists by any official at any election. no one was to be asked if he were registered. no one was to be required to show a registration certificate. the assertion of the would-be voter was to be taken as sufficient. and it was made a misdemeanor to challenge a voter, thus interfering with the freedom of elections. after this a negro might vote under any name he pleased as often as he pleased. this election system was in force until , when the democrats came into power.[ ] to the forty-first congress in returned only one of the former carpet-bag delegation, c. w. buckley. two so-called democrats were chosen, two scalawags, and a new carpet-bagger. p. m. dox, one of the democrats, was a northern man who had lived in the south before the war, who was neutral during the war; and after the war he posed as a "unionist." congressional timber was scarce on account of the test oath and the fourteenth amendment, so dox secured a nomination. his opponent was a negro, which helped him in north alabama. the other democrat, w. c. sherrod, who was also from north alabama, had served in the confederate army. his opponent was j. j. hinds, one of the most disliked of the carpet-baggers. robert s. heflin, one of the scalawags, was from that section where the peace society flourished during the war. at first a confederate, in he deserted and went within the federal lines. charles hays, the other scalawag, became the most notorious of the reconstruction representatives in congress. he was a cotton planter in one of the densest black districts and managed to stay in congress for four years. he is chiefly remembered because of the hays-hawley correspondence in . alfred e. buck of maine had been an officer of negro troops. he served only one term and after defeat passed into the federal service. he died as minister to japan in . this delegation was weaker in ability and in morals than the carpet-bag delegation to the fortieth congress. [illustration: election of for governor.] in the fall of governor smith was a candidate for reëlection against robert burns lindsay, democrat. the hostility of smith to carpet-baggers weakened the party. the ticket was not acceptable to the whites because rapier, a negro, was candidate for secretary of state. the genuine unionists were becoming ultra democrats, because of the prominence given in their party to former secessionists like parsons, sam rice, and hays, and to negroes and carpet-baggers. lindsay was from north alabama, which supported him as a "white man's candidate." the negroes had been taught to distrust scalawags, as being little better than democrats. smith was asked why he ran on a ticket with a negro. he replied that now that was the only way to get office. he also called attention to the fact that in north alabama the democrats drew the color line, and called themselves the "white man's party," while in the black counties they made an earnest effort to secure the negro vote. the union league, through keffer, sent out warning that whatever would suit "rebels" would not suit "union men," who must treat their "fine professions as coming from the prince of darkness himself," and that if lindsay were elected, the "condition of union men would be like unto hell itself." smith and senator warner said that the democrats would repudiate railroad bonds, destroy the schools, and repeal the amendments and the reconstruction acts. in the white counties the radical speakers were generally insulted, and soon the white districts were given up as permanently lost. the black belt alone was now the stronghold of the radicals. strict inspection here prevented the negroes from voting democratic, as some were disposed to do. negroes in the white counties voted for democrats with many misgivings. an old man told a candidate, "i intend to vote for you; i liked your speech; but if you put me back into slavery, i'll never forgive you." federal troops were again judiciously distributed in the black belt and in the white counties when there was a large negro vote. as a result the election was very close, lindsay winning by a vote of , to , . ex-governor parsons, who had now become a radical, advised smith not to submit to the seating of lindsay, but to force a contest, and meanwhile to prevent the vote from being counted by the legislature. so, by injunction from the supreme court, the radical president of the senate, barr, was forbidden to count the votes for governor. but the houses in joint session counted the rest of the votes, and e. h. moren, democrat, was declared elected lieutenant-governor. a majority of the house was anti-radical. the old senate, refusing to classify, held over. as soon as moren was declared elected, barr arose and left, followed by most of the radical senators, saying that he was forbidden to count the vote for governor. moren at once appeared, took the oath, and the joint meeting not having been regularly adjourned, he ordered the count for governor to proceed. a few radical senators had lingered out of curiosity, and were retained. thus lindsay was counted in, and at once took the oath of office. by the advice of parsons, smith, though willing to retire, refused to give place to lindsay. the radical senators recognized smith; the house recognized lindsay. smith brought federal troops into the state-house to keep lindsay out, and for two or three weeks there were rival governors. finally smith was forced to retire by a writ from the carpet-bag circuit court of montgomery.[ ] lindsay was born in scotland and educated at the university of st. andrews. he lived in alabama for fifteen years before the war, opposed secession, and gave only a half-hearted support to the confederacy. as he said: "i would rather not tell my military history, for there was very little glory in it.... i do not know that i can say much about my soldiering."[ ] lindsay was a scholar, a good lawyer, and a pure man, but a weak executive. in this respect he was better than smith, however, who was supported by a unanimous radical legislature. under lindsay the senate was radical and the house doubtful. the radical auditor held over; democrats were elected to the offices of treasurer, secretary of state, attorney-general, and superintendent of public instruction. w. w. allen, a confederate major-general, was placed in command of the militia and organized some white companies. the democratic and independent majority of the house had some able leaders, but many of the rank and file were timid and inexperienced. several thousand of the best citizens were still disfranchised. there were too many young men in public office, half-educated and inexperienced. in the house there were only fourteen negroes. so far as the legislature was concerned, there would be a deadlock for two years. the radicals would consent to no repeal of injurious legislation, and thus the evil effects of the laws relating to schools, railroads, and elections continued. governor lindsay tried to bring some order into the state finances, but the democrats were divided on the subject of repudiating the fraudulent bond issues, while the radicals upheld all of the bond stealing. lindsay was blamed by the people for not dealing more firmly with the question, but, as a matter of fact, he did as well as any man in his position could do. one cause of weakness to the administration was the fact that some of the attorneys for the railroads were prominent democrats who insisted upon the recognition of the fraudulent bonds. these attorneys were few in number, but they caused a division among the leaders. the selfish motive was very evident, though for the sake of appearance they talked of "upholding the state's credit," "the fair name of alabama," etc. it is difficult to see that their conduct was in any way on a higher plane than that of the carpet-baggers, who issued the bonds with intent to defraud. in order to protect themselves they mercilessly criticised lindsay. most of the local officials held over from to ; in by-elections it was clearly shown that the radicals had lost all except the black belt, where they continued to roll up large majorities, but even here they were losing by resignation, sale of offices, ku kluxing, and removal. the more decent carpet-baggers were leaving for the north; the white radicals were distinctly lower in character than before, having been joined by the dregs of the democrats while losing their best white county men. lindsay made many appointments, thus gradually changing for the better the local administration. owing to the peculiar methods by which the first set of officials got into office, the local administration was never again as bad, except in some of the black counties, as it was in - . as the personnel of the radical party ran lower and lower, more and more democrats entered into the local administration. but in spite of the fact that they secured representation in the state government, they were unable to make any important reforms until they gained control of all departments. the results of one or two local elections may be noticed. in mobile, which had a white majority, the carpet-bag and negro government was overthrown in . though prohibited by law from challenging fraudulent voters, the democrats intimidated the negroes by standing near the polls and fastening a fish-hook into the coat of each negro who voted. the negroes were frightened. rumor said that those who were hooked were marked for jail. repeating was thus prevented; many of them did not vote at all. in selma the democrats came into power. property was then made safe, the streets were cleaned, and the negroes found out that they would not be reënslaved. governor lindsay endeavored to reform the local judicial administration by getting rid of worthless young solicitors and incompetent judges, but the radical senate defeated his efforts. he was unable to secure any good legislation during his term, and all reform was limited to the reduction of administration expenses, the checking of bad legislation, and the appointment of better men to fill vacancies.[ ] to the forty-second congress buckley, hays, and dox were reëlected. the new congressmen were turner, negro, handley, democrat, and sloss, independent. turner had been a slave in north carolina and alabama and had secured a fair education before the war. he had at first entered politics as a democrat, and advised the negroes against alien leaders. to succeed warner, george goldthwaite, democrat, was chosen to the united states senate. in the democrats nominated for governor, thomas h. herndon of mobile, who was in favor of a more aggressive policy than lindsay. he was a south alabama man and hence lost votes in north alabama. david p. lewis, the radical nominee, was from north alabama and in politics a turncoat. opposed to secession in , he nevertheless signed the ordinance and was chosen to the confederate congress; later he was a confederate judge; in he went within the federal lines; in - he was a democrat, but changed about . he was victorious for several reasons: the administration was blamed for the division in the party and for not reforming abuses; herndon did not draw out the full north alabama vote; the presidential election was held at the same time and the democrats were disgusted at the nomination of horace greeley; federal troops were distributed over the state for months before the election, and the enforcement acts were so executed as to intimidate many white voters. the full radical ticket was elected. all were scalawags, except the treasurer. in a speech, c. c. sheets said of the radical candidates, "fellow-citizens, they are as pure, as spotless, as stainless, as the immaculate son of god."[ ] [illustration: election of for governor.] in both houses of the legislature the democrats had by the returns a majority at last. the radicals were in a desperate position. a united states senator was to be elected, and spencer wanted to succeed himself. he had spent thousands of dollars to secure the support of the radicals, and a majority of the radical members were devoted to him. most scalawags were opposed to his reëlection, but it was known that he controlled the negro members, and to prevent division all agreed to support him. but how to overcome the democratic majorities in both houses? parsons was equal to the occasion. he advised that the radical members refuse to meet with the democrats and instead organize separately. so the democrats met in the capitol and the radicals in the united states court-house, as had been previously arranged. the senate consisted of members and the house of . the democrats organized with senators and members in the house, all bearing proper certificates of election, and each house having more than a quorum. at the court-house the radicals had senators and or representatives who had certificates of election. there were negroes in the senate and in the house. in neither radical house was there a quorum; so each body summoned radicals who had been candidates, to make up a quorum. it was hard to find enough, and some custom-house officials from mobile had to secure leave of absence and come to montgomery to complete the quorum. the regular (democratic) organization at the capitol counted the votes and declared all the radical state officials elected. lewis and mckinstry, lieutenant-governor, accepted the count and took the oath and at once recognized the court-house body as the general assembly. lindsay had recognized the regular organization, but had taken no steps to protect it from the radical schemes. the militia was ready to support the regular body, but lewis was more energetic than lindsay. he telegraphed to the nearest federal troops, at opelika, to come; when they came, he stationed them on the capitol grounds. he proposed to the democrats that they admit the entire radical body, expelling enough democrats to put the latter in a minority. upon their refusal, he told the court-house body to go ahead with legislation. some of the radicals--one or two whites and four or five negroes--were dubious about the security of their _per diem_ and showed signs of a desire to go to the capitol. these were guarded to keep them in line, and were also paid in money and promises of federal offices. the weak-kneed negroes were shut up in a room and guarded, to keep them from going to the capitol. spencer was determined to be elected and would not wait for the trouble to be settled. on december , , the court-house radicals chose him to succeed himself. the next thing was to prevent the regular assembly from electing a senator who might contest. two of that body had died; one or two were indifferent and easily kept away from a joint session; others were called away by telegrams (forged by the radicals) about illness in their families; three members were arrested before reaching the city; one member was drugged and nearly killed. by such methods a quorum was defeated in both houses at the capitol until december , when the absent members came in, and f. w. sykes was chosen to the united states senate. meanwhile lewis and the radical members had appealed to president grant to be sustained. by his direction united states attorney-general williams prepared a plan of compromise skilfully designed to destroy the democratic majority in the house and produce a tie in the senate. lewis was assured that the plan would be supported by the federal authorities. the plan was as follows: ( ) both bodies were to continue separate organizations until a fusion was effected. ( ) on a certain day, both parties of the house were to meet in the capitol, and in the usual manner form a temporary organization--but the democrats whose seats were contested but who had certificates of election were to be excluded, while the radical contestants were to be seated. this would give a radical majority. then the contests were to be decided and a permanent organization formed. ( ) in the same way the senate was to be temporarily organized, the regularly elected democrats being excluded, while their contestants were seated, except in the case of the democratic senator from conecuh and butler, who was to sit but not to vote. by this arrangement there was a bare chance that the democrats might secure a majority of one in the senate. ( ) as soon as the fusion was thus made, the permanent organization was to be effected. nothing was said about the legality of past legislation by each body, but the understanding was that all was to be considered void. meanwhile lewis had tried to obtain forcible possession of the capitol, but strobach, the sheriff whom he sent, was arrested by order of the house and imprisoned until he apologized. the democrats were plainly informed that the "gentle intimations of the convictions of the law officer of the united states" would be enforced by the use of federal troops, and there was nothing to do but give way. the plan was put into operation on december . in the house contests the democrats lost their majority, as was intended. in the senate they lost all except one by the plan itself. to unseat senator martin from conecuh would be a flagrant outrage. so his case went over until after christmas. the democrats elected the clerks, doorkeepers, and pages. the radicals still kept up their separate organization, not meaning to abide by the fusion unless they could gain the entire legislature. during the vacation lieutenant-governor mckinstry wrote to attorney-general williams asking if the federal government would support him in case he himself should decide as to the rightful senator from conecuh. he explained that a majority of the committee on elections was going to report in favor of martin, democrat, who held the certificate of election. further, he said that if the senate were allowed to vote on the question, the democratic senator would remain seated. he proposed to decide the contest himself upon the report made, and not allow the senate to vote. williams was now becoming weary of the conduct of the radicals; he told mckinstry that the course proposed was contrary to both parliamentary and statute law, and said that federal troops would not be furnished to support such a ruling. moreover, he expressed strong disapproval of the course of the radicals in keeping up their separate organization contrary to the plan of compromise. he ordered the marshal not to allow the federal court-house to be used by the radicals, but the marshal paid no attention to the order. after the holidays the democrats and anti-spencer radicals hoped to bring about a new election for senator. on february , , hunter of lowndes, a radical member of the house, proposed that the legislature proceed to the election of a senator. parsons, the speaker, refused to entertain the motion and ordered hunter under arrest. mckinstry refused to consider the senate as permanently organized until martin was disposed of, fearing a joint session. the radical solicitor of montgomery secured several indictments against spencer's agents for bribery, and summoned several members of the legislature as witnesses. parsons ordered knox, the solicitor, and strobach, the sheriff, to be arrested for invading the privileges of the house. next, hunter, who had been arrested for proposing to elect a senator, had parsons arrested for violation of the enforcement acts in preventing the election of a senator. busteed, federal judge, discharged parsons "for lack of evidence." in the senate the radicals matured a plan to get rid of martin. a caucus decided to sustain mckinstry in all his rulings. it was known that edwards, a democratic senator, wanted to visit his home. so glass, a radical senator, proposed to pair with him, and at the same time both get leave of absence for ten days. edwards and glass went off at the same time, in different directions. a mile outside of town, glass left the train, returned to montgomery, and went into hiding. now was the time. the reports on the martin contest were called up. a democrat moved the adoption of the majority report in favor of martin; a radical moved that the minority report be substituted in the motion. the democrats were voting under protest because they wanted debate and wanted edwards, one of the writers of the majority report, to return. in order to move a reconsideration, cobb, a democrat, fearing treachery, voted with the radicals; glass appeared before his name was reached, broke his pair, and voted; mckinstry refused to entertain cobb's motion for a reconsideration, and though the effect of the voting was only to put the minority report before the senate to be voted upon, mckinstry declared that martin by the vote was unseated and miller admitted. the temporary radical majority sustained him in all his rulings, and thus the democrats lost their majority in the senate. the whole thing had been planned beforehand; mckinstry had arms in his desk; the cloak-rooms were filled with roughs to support the radicals in case the democrats made a fight; the federal troops were at the doors in spite of what williams had said. mckinstry now announced that the senate was permanently organized and the schism healed. glass was expelled by the masonic order for breaking the pair. spencer was safe, since the republican senate at washington was sure to admit him. in the course of the contest spencer had spent many thousands of dollars in defeating dissatisfied radical candidates for the legislature and in purchasing voters. the money he used came from the national republican executive committee, from the state committee, and from the government funds of the post-office at mobile and the internal revenue offices in mobile and montgomery. more than $ , of united states funds were used for spencer, who, after his election, refused to reimburse the postmaster and the two collectors, who were prosecuted and ruined. every federal office-holder was assessed from one-fifth to one-third of his pay during the fall months for campaign expenses. they were notified that unless they paid the assessments their resignations would be accepted. spencer refused to pay the bills of a negro saloon-keeper who had, at his orders, "refreshed" the negro members of the legislature. but of those who voted for spencer in the radical "legislature" more than thirty secured federal appointments. of other agents about twenty secured federal appointments. one of them, robert barbour, was given a position in the custom-house at mobile with the understanding that he would not have to go there. his pay was sent to him at montgomery. as a preparation for the autumn presidential contest, spencer worked upon the fears of grant and secured the promise of troops, though he had some difficulty. his letters are not at all complimentary to grant. finally he wrote, "grant is scared and will do what we want." the deputy marshals manufactured ku klux outrages and planned the arrest of democratic politicians, of whom scores were gotten out of the way, for a week or two, but none were prosecuted. there was no election of senator other than that of spencer by the irregular body and that of sykes by the regular organization at the capitol, neither of which took place on the day appointed by law. the senate admitted spencer on the ground that governor lewis had recognized the court-house aggregation. sykes contested and of course failed; the senate refused for several years to vote his expenses, as was customary. in , senator hoar secured $ , for spencer as expenses in the contest. in the alabama legislature, radical and democratic, united in an address to the united states senate, asking that spencer's seat be declared vacant.[ ] under lewis the radical administration went to pieces. the enormous issues of bonds, fraudulent and otherwise, by smith and lewis which destroyed the credit of the state; ignorant negroes in public office; drunken judges on the benches; convicts as officials; teachers and school officers unable to read; intermarriage of whites and blacks declared legal by the supreme court; the low character of the federal officials; constant arrests of respectable whites for political purposes; use of federal troops; packed juries; purchase and sale of offices; defaulters in every radical county; riots instigated by the radical leaders; heavy taxes,--all these burdens bore to the ground the lewis administration before the end of its term. the last year was simply a standstill while the whites were preparing to overthrow the radical government, which was demoralized and disabled also by constant aid and interference from the federal administration. [illustration: democratic and conservative leaders. governor r. m. patton. general james h. clanton. organizer of the present democratic party in alabama. governor george s. houston. governor r. b. lindsay. major j. r. crowe, now of sheffield, ala., one of the founders of the ku klux klan at pulaski, tenn.] lewis appointed a lower class of officials than smith had appointed, among them many ignorant negroes for minor offices. carpet-baggers and scalawags were becoming scarce. the white counties under their own local government were slowly recovering; the formerly wealthy black belt counties were being ruined under the burden of local, state, and municipal taxation.[ ] to the forty-second congress alabama, now entitled to eight representatives, sent four scalawags, pelham, hays, white, and sheets; one negro, rapier; and three democrats or independents, bromberg, caldwell, and glass; carpet-baggers were now at a discount; scalawags and negroes wanted all the spoils. in the spring of the whites began to organize to overthrow radical rule. they were firmly determined that there should not be another radical administration. in the radical party only a few whites were left to hold the negroes together. some of the negroes were disgusted because of promises unfulfilled; others were grasping at office; the union league discipline was missed; "outrages" were no longer so effective. the radicals had no new issues to present. the state credit was destroyed; the negroes no longer believed so seriously the stories of reënslavement; the northern public was becoming more indifferent, or more sympathetic toward the whites. the time for the overthrow of radical rule was at hand. sec. . social conditions during reconstruction in previous chapters something has been said of social and economic matters, especially concerning labor, education, religion, and race relations. some supplementary facts and observations may be of use. the central figure of reconstruction was the negro. how was his life affected by the conditions of reconstruction? in the first place, crime among the blacks increased, as was to be expected. removed from the restraints and punishments of slavery, with criminal leaders, the negro, even under the most african of governments, became the chief criminal. the crime of rape became common, caused largely, the whites believed, by the social equality theories of the reconstructionists. personal conflicts among blacks and between blacks and whites were common, though probably decreasing for a time in the early ' 's. stealing was the most frequent crime, with murder a close second. during the last year of negro rule the report of the penitentiary inspectors gave the following statistics:-- ================================================ crimes | whites | negroes ----------------------------|----------|-------- murder | | assault | | burglary and grand larceny | | arson | | rape | | other felonies | | |----------|-------- total | | ================================================ thus white to , of population was in prison for felony; black to ; felonies, white to blacks; misdemeanors, white to blacks. in montgomery jail were confined about blacks to white. these statistics do not show the real state of affairs, since most convictions of blacks were in cases prosecuted by blacks. to be prosecuted by a white was equivalent to persecution--so reasoned the negro jury in the black belt. under the instigation of low white leaders, the negroes frequently burned the houses and other property of whites who were disliked by the radical leaders. several attempts, more or less successful, were made to burn the white villages in the black belt; hardly a single one wholly escaped. for several years the whites had to picket the towns in time of political excitement. the worst negro criminals were the discharged negro soldiers, who sometimes settled in gangs together in the black belt. more charges were made of crimes by blacks against whites, than by whites against blacks. most criminals did not go to prison after conviction. the radical legislature passed a law allowing the sale of the convict's labor to relatives. a good old negro could buy the time of a worthless son for ten cents a day and have him released. the marriage relations of the negroes were hardly satisfactory, judged by white standards. the white legislatures in - had declared slave marriages binding. the reconstructionists denounced this as a great cruelty and repealed the law. marriages were then made to date from the passage of the reconstruction acts. many negro men had had several wives before that date. they were relieved from the various penalties of desertion, bigamy, adultery, etc. and after the passage of these laws, numerous prominent negroes were relieved of the penalties for promiscuous marriages. divorces became common among the negroes who were in politics. during one session of the legislature seventy-five divorces were granted. this was cheaper than going through the courts, and more certain. the average negro divorced himself or herself without formality; some of them were divorced by their churches, as in slavery. upon the negro woman fell the burden of supporting the children. her husband or husbands had other duties. children then began to be unwelcome and foeticide and child murder were common crimes. the small number of negro children during the decade of reconstruction was generally remarked. negro women began to flock to towns; how they lived no one can tell; immorality was general among them. the conditions of reconstruction were unfavorable to honesty and morality among the negroes, both male and female. the health of the negroes was injured during the period - . in the towns the standard of living was low; sanitary arrangements were bad; disease, especially consumption and venereal diseases, killed large numbers and permanently injured the negro constitution. negro women took freedom even more seriously than the men. it was considered slavery by many of them to work in the fields; domestic service was beneath the freedwomen--especially were washing and milking the cows tabooed. to live like their former mistresses, to wear fine clothes and go often to church, was the ambition of a negro lady. after reconstruction was fully established the negro women were a strong support to the union league, and took a leading part in the prosecution of negro democrats. negro women never were as well-mannered, nor, on the whole, as good-tempered and cheerful, as the negro men. both sexes during reconstruction lost much of their cheerfulness; the men gradually ceased to go "holloing" to the fields; some of the blacks, especially the women, became impudent and insulting toward the whites. while many of the negroes for a time seemed to consider it a mark of servility to behave decently to the whites, toward the close of reconstruction and later conditions changed, and the negro men especially were in general well-behaved and well-mannered in their relations with whites except in time of political excitement. the entire black race was wild for education in and , but most of them found that the necessary work--which they had not expected--was too hard, and by the close of reconstruction they were becoming indifferent. the education acquired was of doubtful value. there was in - a religious furor among the negroes, and several negro denominations were organized. the chief result, as stated at length elsewhere, was to separate from the white churches, discard the old conservative black preachers, and take up the smooth-tongued, ranting, emotional, immoral preachers who could stir congregations. the negro church has not yet recovered from the damage done by these ministers. negro health was affected by the night meetings and religious debauches. in general it may be said that the negro speech grew more like that of the whites, on account of schools, speeches, much travel, and contact with white leaders. the negro leaders acquired much superficial civilization, and very quickly mastered the art of political intrigue. a very delicate question to both races was that of the exact position of the negro in the social system. the convention of had contained a number of equal-rights members, and there had been much discussion. a proposition to have separate schools was not made obligatory. a measure to prevent the intermarriage of the races was lost, and the supreme court of the state declared that marriages between whites and blacks were lawful. laws were passed to prevent the separation of the races on street cars, steamers, and railway cars, but the whites always resisted the enforcement of such laws. some negroes, especially the mulattoes, dreamed of having white wives, but the average pure negro was not moved by such a desire. when the coburn investigation was being made, coburn, the chairman, was trying to convince a negro who had declared against the policy and the necessity of the civil rights bill. the negro retorted by asking how he would like to see him sitting by his (coburn's) daughter's side. the black declared that he would not like to be sitting by miss coburn and have some young man who was courting her come along and knock over the big black negro; further he did not want to eat at the table nor sit in cars with the whites, preferring to sit by his own color. some of the negroes were displeased at the proposed civil rights bill, thinking that it was meant to force the negro to go among the whites.[ ] there were negro police in the larger towns, selma, montgomery, and mobile, who irritated the whites by their arrests and by discrimination in favor of blacks. the negroes, in many cases, had ceased to care for the good opinion of the whites and, following disreputable leaders, suffered morally. the color line began to be strictly drawn in politics, which increased the estrangement of the races, though individuals were getting along better together.[ ] the white carpet-baggers and scalawags never formed a large section of the radical party and constantly decreased in numbers,--the natives returning to the white party, the aliens returning to the north. the native radicals were found principally in the cities and holding federal offices, and in the white counties were still a few genuine republican unionist voters. the carpet-baggers were found almost entirely in the black belt and in federal offices. as their numbers decreased the general character was lowered. some of the white radicals were sincere and honest men, but none of this sort stood any chance for office. if they themselves would not steal, they must arrange for others to steal. the most respectable of the radicals were a few old whigs who had always disliked democrats and who preferred to vote with the negroes. such a man was benjamin gardner, who became attorney-general in . all white radicals suffered the most bitter ostracism--in business, in society, in church; their children in the schools were persecuted by other children because of their fathers' sins. the scalawag, being a renegade, was scorned more than a carpet-bagger. in every possible way they were made to feel the weight of the displeasure of the whites. small boys were unchecked when badgering a white radical. one radical complained that the youngsters would come near him to hold a spelling class. the word would be given out: "spell _damned rascal_." it would be spelled. "spell _damned radical_." that would be spelled. "they are nearly alike, aren't they?" the blacks always felt that the carpet-bagger was more friendly to them than the scalawag was, for the carpet-baggers associated more closely with the negroes. the alien white teachers boarded with negroes; some of the politicians made it a practice to live among the negroes in order to get their votes. the candidates for sheriff and tax collector in montgomery went to negro picnics, baptizings, and church services, drank from the same bottle of whiskey with negroes, had the negro leaders to visit their homes, where they dined together, and the white women furnished music. the carpet-baggers seldom had families with them, and, excluded from white society, began to contract unofficial alliances among the blacks. scarcely an alien office-holder in the black belt but was charged with immorality and the charges proven. numbers were relieved by the legislature of the penalties for adultery. the average radical politician was in time quite thoroughly africanized. they spoke of "us niggers," "we niggers," at first from policy, later from habit. when lewis was elected, in , a white radical cried out in his joy, "we niggers have beat 'em." two years later white radicals marched with negro processions and sang the song:-- "the white man's day has passed; the negro's day has come at last."[ ] one effect of reconstruction was to fuse the whites into a single homogeneous party. before the war political divisions were sharply drawn and feeling often bitter, so also in - and to a certain extent during the early period of reconstruction. at first there was no "solid south"; within the white man's party there were grave differences between old whig and old democrat, radical and conservative. there were different local problems before the whites of the various sections that for a while prevented the formation of a unanimous white man's party. there were the whites of the black belt, the former slaveholders, who wished well to the negro, favored negro education, and looked upon his political activity as a joke, but who came nearer than any other white people to recognizing the possibility of permanent political privileges for the black. they believed that they could sooner or later regain moral control over their former slaves and thus do away with the evils of carpet-bag government. it must be said that the former slaveholding class had more consideration, then, before, and since, for the poor negro than for the poor white, probably because the negroes only were always with them. the poorest whites felt that the negro was not only their social but also their economic enemy, and, the protection of the owner removed, the blacks suffered more from these people than ever before. the negro in school, the negro in politics, the negro on the best lands--all this was not liked by the poorest white people, whose opportunities were not as good as those of the blacks. between these two extremes was the mass of the whites, displeased at the way negro suffrage, education, etc., was imposed, but willing to put up with the results if good. the later years of reconstruction found the temper of the whites more and more exasperated. they were tired of reconstruction, new amendments, force bills, federal troops, and of being ruled as a conquered province by the least fit. every measure aimed at the south seemed to them to mean that they were considered incorrigible, not worthy of trust, and when necessary to punish some whites, all were punished. and strong opposition to proscriptive measures was called fresh rebellion. "when the jacobins say and do low and bitter things, their charge of want of loyalty in the south because our people grumble back a little seems to me as unreasonable as the complaint of the little boy: 'mamma, make bob 'have hisself. he makes mouths at me every time i hit him with my stick.'" probably the grind was harder on the young men, who had all life before them and who were growing up with slight opportunities in any line of activity. sidney lanier, then an alabama school-teacher, wrote to bayard taylor, "perhaps you know that with us of the young generation in the south, since the war, pretty much the whole of life has been merely not dying." negro and alien rule was a constant insult to the intelligence of the country. the taxpayers were non-participants. some people withdrew entirely from public life, went to their farms or plantations, kept away from towns and from speech-making, waiting for the end to come. i know old men who refused for several years to read the newspapers, so unpleasant was the news. the good feeling produced by the magnanimity of grant at appomattox was destroyed by his southern policy when president. there was no gratitude for any so-called leniency of the north, no repentance for the war, no desire for humiliation, for sackcloth and ashes and confession of wrong. the insistence of the radicals upon a confession of depravity only made things much worse. there was not a single measure of congress during reconstruction designed or received in a conciliatory spirit. under the reconstruction régime the political, and to some extent the social, morality of the whites declined. constant fighting fire with fire scorched all. while in one way the bitter discipline of reconstruction was not lost, yet with it the pleasantest of southern life went out. during the war and reconstruction there was a radical change in southern temperament toward the severe. hospitality has declined; old southern life was never on a strictly business basis, the new southern life is more so; the old individuality is partially lost; class distinctions are less felt. the white people, by the fires of reconstruction, have been welded into a homogeneous society.[ ] the material evils of reconstruction are by no means the more lasting: the state debt may be paid and wasted resources renewed; but the moral and intellectual results will be the permanent ones. in spite of the misgovernment during the reconstruction, there was in most of the white counties a slow movement toward industrial development. all over the state in - and - there were poor crops. the white counties gradually found themselves better able to stand bad seasons. the decadence of the black belt gave the white farmer an opportunity. the railroads now began to open up the mineral and timber districts, rather than the cotton counties. during the last four years of negro rule the coal and iron of the northern part of the state began to attract northern capital and rapid development began. the timber of the white counties now began to be cut. in the mines, on the railroads, and in the forests many whites were profitably employed. farmers in the white counties, having thrown off the local reconstruction government, began to organize agricultural societies, patrons of husbandry, grangers, etc., and to hold county fairs. the radicals maintained that this granger movement was only another manifestation of ku klux, and it was, in a way.[ ] immigration from the north or from abroad amounted to nothing; disturbed political conditions and the presence of the negroes prevented it. nor did the reconstruction rulers desire immigration; their rule would be the sooner overthrown. there were two movements of emigration from the state--culminating in and in - . those were the gloomiest periods of reconstruction, especially for the white man in the black belt. most of the emigrants went to texas, others to mexico, to brazil, to the north, and to tennessee and georgia, where the whites were in power. it was estimated that in this emigration the state lost more of its population than by war. in the black belt the condition of the whites grew worse. frequent elections demoralized negro labor, and crops often failed for lack of laborers. the more skilful negroes went to the towns, railroads, mines, and lumber mills. on account of this migration and the gradual dying off of slavery-trained negroes, negro agricultural labor was less and less satisfactory. the negro woman often refused to work in the fields. the white population of the black belt decreased in comparison with the numbers of blacks. the whites deserted the plantations, going to the towns or gathering in villages. taxation was heavy, tax sales became frequent. one of the worst evils that afflicted the black belt was the so-called "deadfall." a "deadfall" was a low shop or store where a white thief encouraged black people to steal all kinds of farm produce and exchange it with him for bad whiskey, bad candy, brass jewellery, etc. this evil was found all over the state where there were negroes. whites and industrious blacks lost hogs, poultry, cattle, corn in the fields, cotton in the fields and in the gin. the business of the "deadfall" was usually done at night. the thirsty negro would go into a cotton field and pick a sack of cotton worth a dollar, or take a bushel of corn from the nearest field, and exchange it at a "deadfall" for a glass of whiskey, a plug of tobacco, or a dime. these "deadfalls" were in the woods or swamps on the edges of the large plantations. it was not possible to guard against them. the "deadfall" keepers often became rich, the harvests of some amounting to to bales of cotton for each, besides farm produce. careful estimates by grand juries and business men placed the average annual loss at one-fifth of the crop. a bill was introduced into the legislature to prohibit the purchase after dark of farm produce from any one but the producer. the measure was unanimously opposed by the radicals, on the ground that it was class legislation aimed at the negroes. the debates show that some of them considered it proper for a negro to steal from his employer. after the democratic victory in a law was passed abolishing "deadfalls."[ ] chapter xxiv the overthrow of reconstruction the republican party in the republican party of alabama went into the campaign of weakened by dissensions within its own ranks and by the lessening of the sympathy of the northern radicals. during the previous six years the opposition to the radical reconstruction policy had gradually gained strength. the industrial expansion that followed the war, the dissatisfaction with the administration of grant, the disclosure of serious corruption on the part of public officials, and the revelations of the real conditions in the south--these had resulted in the formation of a party of opposition to the administration, which called itself the "liberal republican" party and which advocated home rule for the southern states. the democratic party, somewhat discredited by its course during the war, had now regained the confidence of its former members by accepting as final the decisions of the war on the questions involved and by bringing out conservative candidates on practical platforms. by nine northern states had gone democratic in the elections; from to , five southern states returned to the democratic columns. the lower house of congress was soon to be safely democratic and no more radical legislation was to be expected; the executive department of the government alone was in active sympathy with the reconstruction régime in the southern states. the divisions within the party in the state were due to various causes. in the first place, the action of the more respectable of the whites in deserting the party left it with too few able men to hold the organization well together. by all but about whites had forsaken the republicans and returned to the democrats. these whites were mainly in north alabama, though there were some few in the black belt,--five, for instance, in marengo county, and fifty in dallas. a further source of weakness was the disposition of the black politician to demand more consideration than had hitherto been accorded to him. the blacks had received much political training of a certain kind since , and the negro leaders were no longer the helpless dupes of the carpet-bagger and the scalawag. a meeting of the negro politicians, called the "equal rights union," was held in montgomery in january, . the resolutions adopted demanded that the blacks have first choice of the nominations in black counties and a proportional share in all other counties. they expressed themselves as opposed to the efforts of the carpet-baggers to organize new secret political societies, "having found no good to result from such since the disbursement [_sic_] of the union league."[ ] if the negroes should be able to obtain these demands, nothing would be left for the white members of the party. the rank and file of the blacks had lost much of their faith in their white leaders and were disposed to listen to candidates of their own color. closely connected with the negroes' demands for office were their demands for social rights. the state supreme court had decided that whites and blacks might lawfully intermarry, and there had been several instances of such marriages between low persons of each race.[ ] noisy negro speakers were demanding the passage of the civil rights bill then pending in congress. a mobile negro declared that he wanted to drink in white men's saloons, ride in cars with whites, and go to the same balls. the white radicals in convention and legislature were disposed to avoid the subject when the blacks brought up the question of "mixed accommodations." the negroes constantly reminded the white radicals that the latter were very willing to associate with them in the legislature and in political meetings. the speeches of boutwell of massachusetts and morton of indiana in favor of mixed schools were quoted by the negro speakers, who now became impatient of the constant request of their leaders not to offend north alabama and drive out of the party the whites of that region. lewis, a negro member of the legislature, declared that they were weary of waiting for their rights; that the state would not grant them, but the united states would; and then they would take their proper places alongside the whites, and "we intend to do it in defiance of the immaculate white people of north alabama.... hereafter we intend to demand [our rights] and we are going to press them on every occasion, and preserve them inviolate if we can. the day is not far distant when you will find on the bench of the supreme court of the state a man as black as i am, and north alabama may help herself if she can."[ ] an "equal rights convention," from which white radicals were excluded, met in montgomery in june, . the various speakers demanded that colored youths be admitted to the state university, to the agricultural and mechanical college, and to all other schools on an equal footing with the whites, "in order that the idea of the inferiority of the negro might be broken up." several delegates expressed themselves as in favor of mixed schools, but advised delay in order not to drive out the white members of the party. a negro preacher from jackson county said that he wanted to hold on to the north alabama whites "until their stomachs grew strong enough to take civil rights straight."[ ] in and there had been some blacks who had opposed the agitation of social matters on the ground that their civil and political rights would be endangered, but these were no longer in politics. the result of the agitation in was to irritate the whites generally and to cause the defection of north alabama republicans. another cause of weakness in the radical party was the quarrel among the reconstruction newspapers of the state over the distribution of the money for printing the session laws of congress. the _state journal_ and the _mountain home_ lost the printing, which, by direction of the alabama delegation in congress, was given to the _huntsville advocate_ and the _national republican_, "to aid needy newspapers in other localities for the benefit of the republican party." the result was discord among the editors and a lukewarm support of the party from those dissatisfied.[ ] in in each county where there was a strong republican vote discord arose among those who wanted office. every white radical wanted a nomination and the negroes also wanted a share. the results were temporary splits everywhere in the county organizations, which were usually mended before the elections, but which seriously weakened the party. the strobach-robinson division in montgomery county may be taken as typical. strobach was the carpet-bag sheriff of montgomery county, which was overwhelmingly black. there was reason to believe that strobach was being purchased by the democrats.[ ] the stalwarts accused him of conspiring with the democrats to sell the administration to them. they charged that he would not allow the negroes to use the court-house for political meetings, that entirely too many republicans were indicted at his instance, and that he summoned as jurors too many democrats and "strobach traitors" and too few republicans. as leader of the regular organization strobach had considerable influence in spite of these charges, and his enemies undertook to form a new organization. the leaders of the bolters, known as the robinson faction, were busteed, buckley, barbour, and robinson. they made the fairest promises and secured the support of the majority of the negroes, though strobach still controlled many. between the two factions there was practically civil war during . the bolters organized their negroes in the "national guards," a semi-military society-- or strong. this body broke up the strobach meetings, and serious disturbances occurred at wilson's station, elam church, and at union springs. at the latter place the bolters attempted to take forcible possession of the congressional nominating convention. the negroes, led by a few whites, invaded the town, firing guns and pistols and making threats until it seemed as if a three-cornered fight would result between the whites and the two factions of the blacks. rapier, the negro congressman, made peace by agreeing to support the robinson-buckley faction provided they kept the peace and allowed him to receive the nomination for congress from the other faction. they forced him to sign an agreement to that effect, which he repudiated a few days later. the bolters were not admitted to the state convention in , and thus weakness resulted. during the summer and fall of , ten or twelve negroes were killed and numbers injured in the fights between the factions.[ ] the democrats naturally did all that was possible to encourage such division in the ranks of the enemy. bolting candidates and independent candidates, especially negroes, were secretly supported by advice and funds. carpet-bag and scalawag leaders were purchased, and agreed to use their influence to divide their party. to some of them it was clear that the whites would soon be in control, and meanwhile they were willing to profit by selling out their party.[ ] for two or three years it had been a practice in the black belt for the radical office-holders to farm out their offices to the democrats, who appointed deputies to conduct such offices. the stalwarts now endeavored to cast these men out of the party, but only succeeded in weakening it. the negroes in in spite of all adverse influence, however, the great majority of the negroes remained faithful to the republican party and voted for governor lewis in the fall elections. they missed the rigid organization of former years, and many of them were greatly dissatisfied because of unfulfilled promises made by their leaders; but the radical office-holders, realizing clearly the desperate situation, made strong efforts to bring out the entire negro vote. the union league methods were again used to drive negro men into line. they were again promised that if their party succeeded in the elections, there would be a division of property. some believed that equal rights in cars, hotels, theatres, and churches would be obtained. clothes, bacon and flour, free homes, mixed schools, and public office were offered as inducements to voters. in opelika, a. b. griffin told the negroes that after the election all things would be divided and that each lee county negro would receive a house in opelika. to one man he promised "forty acres and an old gray horse." heyman, a radical leader of opelika, told the blacks that if the elections resulted properly, the land would be taxed so heavily that the owners would be obliged to leave the state, and then the negroes and northerners would get the land.[ ] promises of good not being sufficient to hold the blacks in line, threats of evil were added. circulars were sent out, purporting to be signed by general grant, threatening the blacks with reënslavement unless they voted for him. the united states deputy marshals informed the blacks of marengo county that if they voted for w. b. jones, a scalawag candidate who had been purchased by the whites, they would be reënslaved. heyman of opelika declared that defeat would result in the negroes' having their ears cut off, in whipping posts and slavery. pelham, a white congressman, told the blacks that if the democrats carried the elections, jefferson davis would come to montgomery and reorganize the confederate government. so industriously were such tales told that many of the negroes became genuinely alarmed, and it was asserted that negro women began to hide their children as the election approached.[ ] the negro women and the negro preachers were more enthusiastic than the negro men, and through clubs and churches brought considerable pressure to bear on the doubtful and indifferent. they agreed that negro children should not go to schools where the teachers were democrats. in opelika a negro women's club was formed of those whose husbands were democrats or were about to be. the initiate swore to leave her husband if he voted for a democrat. this club was formed by a white radical, john o. d. smith, and the negroes were made to believe that general grant ordered it. a similar organization in chambers county had a printed constitution by which a member, if married, was made to promise to desert her husband should he vote for a democrat, and a single woman promised not to marry a democratic negro or to have anything to do with one. the negro women were used as agents to distribute tickets to voters. these tickets had spencer's picture on them, which they believed was grant's.[ ] in the negro churches to be a democrat was to become liable to discipline. some preachers preferred regular charges against those members who were suspected of democracy. the average negro still believed that it was a crime "to vote against their race" and offenders were sure of expulsion from church unless, as happened sometimes, the bolters were strong enough to turn the republicans out. nearly every church had its political club to which the men belonged and sometimes the women. robert bennett of lee county related his experience to the coburn committee. he wanted to vote the democratic ticket, he said, and for that offence was put on trial in his church. the "ministers and exhorters" told him that he must not do so, saying, "we had rather you wouldn't vote at all; if you won't go with us to vote with us, you are against us; the bible says so.... we can have you arrested. we have got you; if you won't say you won't vote or will vote with us, we will have you arrested.... all who won't vote with us we will kick out of the society--and turn them out of church;" and so it happened to robert bennett.[ ] the efforts made to hold the negroes under control indicate that numbers of them were becoming restless and desirous of change. this was especially the case with the former house-servant class and those who owned property. one negro, in accounting for his change of politics, said, "honestly, i love my race, but the way the colored people have taken a stand against the white people ... will not do." of the white radicals he said, "they know that we are a parcel of poor ignorant people, and i think it is a bad thing for them to take advantage of a poor ignorant person, and i do not think they are honest men; they cannot be." he said that the radicals promised much and gave little; that they never helped him. the democrats gave him credit and paid his doctor's bills; so that it was to his interest to vote for the democrats--"i done it because it was to my interest. i wanted a change." another negro explained his change of politics by saying that bad government kept up the price of pork, and allowed sorry negroes to steal what industrious negroes made and saved--eggs, chickens, and cotton. when adam kirk, of chambers county, was asked why be belonged to the "white man's party," he answered: "i was raised in the house of old man billy kirk. he raised me as a body servant. the class that he belongs to feels nearer to me than the northern white man, and actually, since the war, everything that i have got is by their aid and assistance. they have helped me raise up my family and have stood by me, and whenever i want a doctor, no matter what hour of the day or night, he is called in whether i have got a cent or not. i think they have got better principles and better character than the republicans."[ ] there is no doubt that these represented the sentiments of several thousand negroes who had mustered up courage to remain away from the polls or perhaps to vote for the democrats. and while in white counties the campaign was made on the race issue, in the black belt the whites, as strobach said, "were more than kind" to negro bolters. they encouraged and paid the expenses of negro democratic speakers, and gave barbecues to the blacks who would promise to vote for the "white man's party." numerous democratic clubs were formed for the negroes and financed by the whites. of these there were several in each black county, but none in the white counties. though safer than ever before since enfranchisement, negro democrats still received rather harsh treatment from those of their color who sincerely believed that a negro democrat was a traitor and an enemy to his race. negro democratic speakers were insulted, stoned, and sometimes killed. at night they had to hide out. their political meetings were broken up; their houses were shot into; their families were ostracized in negro society, churches, and schools. one negro complained that his children were beaten by other children at school, and that the teacher explained to him that nothing better could be expected as long as he, the father, remained a democrat. some negro democrats were driven away from home and others were whipped. most of them found it necessary to keep quiet about politics; and the members of democratic clubs were usually sworn to secrecy.[ ] the colored methodist episcopal church, which was under the guardianship of the white methodist church, suffered from negro persecution; several of its buildings were burned and its ministers insulted. the democratic and conservative party in if the republican party was weaker in this campaign than ever before, the democrats, on the other hand, were more united and more firmly determined to carry the elections, peaceably if possible, by force if necessary. there are evidences that the state government in alabama would have been overthrown early in if the louisiana revolution of that year had not been crushed by the federal government. the different sections of the state were now more closely united than ever before, owing to the completion of two of the railroads which had cost the state treasury so much. the people of the northern white counties now came down into central alabama and learned what negro government really was, and it was now made clear to the unionist republican element of the mountain counties that while they had local white government they were supporting a state government by the negro and the alien, both of whom they disliked. in order to gain the support of north alabama, the opposition of the whites in the black belt to a campaign on the race issue was disregarded, and the campaign, especially in the white counties, was made on the simple issue--shall black or white rule the state? it may be of interest here to examine the attitude of the whites toward the blacks since the war. in , the whites would grant civil rights to the negro, but would have special legislation for the race on the theory that it needed a period of guardianship; by , many far-sighted men were willing to think of political rights for the negro after the proper preparation; by , there was serious thought of an immediate qualified suffrage for the black, the object being to increase the representation in congress, to disarm the radicals,--the native whites believing that they could control the negro vote. this shifting of position was checked by the grant of suffrage to the negroes by congress, and during the campaigns of and the whites held aloof, meaning to try to influence the negro vote later, when the opportunity offered. from to there was an increasing tendency, especially in the black belt, to appeal to the negro for political support, but, though the former personal relations were to some extent resumed, the effort always ended in practical failure. the result was that by - , the whites despaired of dividing the black vote and many of the black belt whites were willing to join those of the white counties in drawing the color line in politics.[ ] the democrats were aided in presenting the race issue to north alabama by the attitude, above referred to, of the negroes in demanding office and social privileges and by the fact that a strong effort had been made in congress and would again be made to enact a stringent civil rights law securing equal rights to negroes in cars, theatres, hotels, schools, etc. the alabama members of congress, who were republicans, had voted for such a bill. the democrats made the most of the issue. the speeches of boutwell, morton, and sumner were circulated among the whites as campaign documents, and were most effective in securing the unionists and independents of north alabama.[ ] the following extracts from state papers will indicate the state of mind of the whites. the _montgomery advertiser_ of february , , declared that "the great struggle in the south is the race struggle of white against black for political supremacy. it is all in vain to protest that the southern wing of the radical party is not essentially a party of black men arrayed against their white neighbors in a close and bitter struggle for power. the struggle going on around us is not a mere contest for the triumph of this or that platform of party principles. it is a contest between antagonistic races and for that which is held dearer than life by the white race. if the negro must rule alabama permanently, whether in person or by proxy, the white man must ultimately leave the state." "old whig" protested in the _opelika daily times_ of june , , against the rule of the mob of , yelling negroes who, at scalawag mandate, and in the name of liberty, deposited ballots against southern white men. another writer declared that "all of the good men of alabama are for the white man's party. outcasts, libellers, liars, handcuffers, and traitors to blood are for the negro party." pinned down by bayonets and bound by tyranny, the whites had been forced to silence and expedients and humiliation until wrath burned "like a seven-fold furnace in the bosom of the people." the negro must be expelled from the government. the white was a god-made prince; the black, a god-made subordinate. "what right hath dahomey to give laws to runnymede, or bosworth field to take a lesson from congo-ashan? shall bill turner give laws to watts, elmore, barnes, morgan, and the many mighty men of the south?" "when alabama goes down the white men of alabama will go with her."[ ] the whites who still remained with the negro party were subjected to more merciless ostracism than ever before. no one would have business relations with a republican; no one believed in his honor or honesty; his children were taunted by their schoolmates; his family were socially ostracized; no one would sit by them at church or in public gatherings.[ ] in the white counties numerous conventions adopted a series of resolutions in regard to ostracism, known as the "pike county platform," which first was adopted in june, , by the democratic convention in pike county. it read in part as follows: "resolved that nothing is left to the white man's party but social ostracism of all those who act, sympathize, or side with the negro party, or who support or advocate the odious, unjust, and unreasonable measure known as the civil rights bill; and that henceforth we will hold all such persons as the enemies of our race, and will not for the future have intercourse with them in any of the social relations of life."[ ] with the changed conditions in appeared a considerable number of "independent" candidates and voters. these were ( ) those whites who had wearied of radicalism, and, foreseeing defeat, had left their party, yet were unwilling to join the democrats; ( ) certain half-hearted democrats who did not want to see the old democratic leaders come back to power; ( ) disappointed politicians, especially old whigs of strong prejudices, who disliked the democrats from ante-bellum days. these people, foreseeing the defeat of the radicals, hastened to offer themselves as independent candidates and voters. they hoped to get the votes of the bulk of the radicals and many democrats and thus get into power. the radicals, otherwise certain of defeat, showed some disposition to meet those people halfway, and a partial success was possible if the democrats could not whip the "independents" into line. this was successfully done. the following dissertation on "independents" is offered as typical: the independent is the brutus of the south, "the protégé of radicalism, the spawn of corruption or poverty, or passion, or ignorance, come forth as leaders of ignorant or deluded blacks, to attack and plunder for avarice. there may be no god to avenge the south, but there is a devil to punish independents." the independents are only the tools of the radicals, they are like bloodhounds,--to be used and then killed, for no sooner than their work is done the radicals will knife them. "satan hath been in the democratic camp and, taking these independents from guard duty, led them up into the mountains and shown them the kingdoms of radicalism, his silver and gold, storehouses and bacon, and all these promised to give if they would fall down and worship him; and they worshipped him, throwing down the altars of their fathers and trampling them under their feet."[ ] the campaign of the democrats nominated for governor george s. houston of north alabama, a "union" man whose "unionism" had not been very strong, and the republicans renominated governor d. p. lewis, also of north alabama. the democratic convention met in july, , and put forth a declaration and a platform declaring that the radicals had for years inflamed the passions and prejudices of the races until it was now necessary for the whites to unite in self-defence. the convention denied the power of congress to legislate for the social equality of the races and denounced the civil rights bill then pending in congress as an attempt to force social union. legislation on social matters was condemned as unnecessary and criminal. the radical state administration was blamed for extravagance and corruption, and a declaration was made that fraudulent state debts would not be paid if the democrats were successful.[ ] the fact that the race issue was the principal one is borne out by the county platforms. in barbour county the "white man's party" declared that the issue was "white _vs._ black"; that if the whites were defeated, the county would no longer be endurable and would be abandoned to the blacks; that a conflict of races would be deplorable, but that the whites must protect themselves, and that though in the past some had stayed away from the polls through disgust, those who did not vote would be reckoned as of the negro party; that the whites would be ready to protect themselves and their ballots by force if necessary. in lee county the convention declared that the democrats had long avoided the race issue, but that now it had been forced upon them by the radicals; that "this county is the white man's and the white man must rule over it," and that whites or blacks who aid the negro party "are the political and social enemies of the white race." in the same county a local club declared that peace was wanted, but not peace purchased by "unconditional surrender of every freeman's privilege to fraud, federal bayonets, and intimidation."[ ] the republican state convention in august pronounced itself in favor of the civil rights bill and the civil and political equality of all men without regard to race, declared that the race issue was an invention of the democrats which would result in war with the united states, and accused the democrats of being responsible for the bad condition of the state finances. the equal rights convention and the union labor convention declared for the civil rights bill and indorsed charles sumner and j. t. rapier, the negro congressman.[ ] in preparation for the fall elections the radical members of congress had secured the passage of a resolution by congress appropriating money for the relief of the sufferers from floods on the alabama, warrior, and tombigbee rivers. the floods occurred in the early spring; the appropriation became available in may, but as late as july the governor had not appointed agents to distribute the bacon which had been purchased with the appropriation. the members of congress from the state met and agreed upon a division of the bacon without reference to flooded districts, but with reference to the political conditions in the various counties.[ ] their agents were to distribute the bacon, but the governor was unable to get their names until august. the purpose was to hold the bacon until near the election. the governor and other republican leaders were opposed to the use of bacon in the campaign, and the state refused to pay transportation; so the agents had to sell part of the bacon to pay expenses. in lewis's last message to the legislature, he said pointedly, "our beloved state has been free from pestilence, floods, and extensive disasters to labor."[ ] as a matter of fact, there had been the regular spring freshets, but there were no sufferers. the loss fell upon the planters, who were under contract to furnish food, stock, and implements to their tenants. in august, captain gentry of the nineteenth infantry was sent by the war department, which was supplying the bacon, to investigate the matter of the "political" bacon. he found no suffering, and no one was able to tell him where the suffering was, though the members of congress were positive that there was suffering. the crops were doing well. in montgomery captain gentry found that the agents in charge of congressman rapier's share of the bacon were j. c. hendrix and holland thompson (colored), both active politicians. distribution had been delayed because rapier thought that he had not received his share. congressman hays had bacon sent to calera, brierfield, and marion, none of the places being near flowing water. he sent quantities to perry, shelby, and bibb counties, but none to fayette and baker (chilton). as he wrote to his agent, "of course the overflowed districts will need more than those not overflowed." when the war department discovered the use that had been made of the bacon, captain gentry was directed to seize the bacon in dry districts that was being held until the election. at eufaula, miles from the nearest flooded district, he seized pounds that rapier had stored there; at seale, pounds were seized; and at opelika, pounds; but not all was discovered at either place.[ ] an opelika negro thus described the method of using the bacon: it was understood that only the faithful could get any of it. this negro was considered doubtful, but was told, "if you will come along and do right, you will get two or three shoulders." bacon suppers were held at negro churches, to which only those were admitted who promised to vote the republican ticket.[ ] the use of bacon in the campaign injured the republican cause more than it aided it; the supply of bacon was too small to go around, and the whites were infuriated because the negroes stopped work so long while trying to get some of it. in previous campaigns the republicans had used with success the "southern outrage" issue; stories of murder, cruelty, and fraud by the whites were carried to washington and found ready believers, and federal troops and deputy marshals were sent to assist the southern republicans in the elections by making arrests, thus intimidating the whites and encouraging the blacks. in the campaign of such assistance was more than ever necessary to the black man's party in alabama. the race line was now distinctly drawn and most of the whites had forsaken the black man's party. the blacks, many of them, were indifferent; the whites were determined to overthrow the reconstruction rule. the leaders of the whites were confident of success and strongly advised against every appearance of violence, since it would work to the advantage of the hostile party. there were some, however, who did not object to the tales of outrage, since they would cause investigation and the sending of federal troops. these would, in the black districts, really protect the whites, and any kind of an investigation would result in damage to the radical party. pursuing its plan of a peaceable campaign, the democratic executive committee, on august , , issued an address as follows: "we especially urge upon you carefully to avoid all injuries to others while you are attempting to preserve your own rights. let our people avoid all just causes of complaint. turmoil and strife with those who oppose us in this contest will only weaken the moral force of our efforts. let us avoid personal conflicts; and if these should be forced upon us, let us only act in that line of just self-defence which is recognized and provided for by the laws of the land. we could not please our enemies better than by becoming parties to conflicts of violence, and thus furnish them plausible pretext for asking the interference of federal power in our domestic affairs. let us so act that all shall see and that all whose opinions are entitled to any respect shall admit that ours is a party of peace, and that we only seek to preserve our rights and liberties by the peaceful but efficient power of the ballot-box."[ ] there is no doubt but that the whites engaged in less violence in this campaign than in former election years and less than was to be expected considering their temper in . but there is also no doubt that very little incentive would have been necessary to have precipitated serious conflict. the whites were determined to win, peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary. this very determination made them inclined to peace as long as possible and made the opposite party cautious about giving causes for conflict. the republican leaders industriously circulated in the north stories of "outrages" in alabama. the most comprehensive "outrage" story was that of charles hays, member of congress, published in the famous "hays-hawley letter" of september , . hays had borne a bad character in alabama while a slaveholder and had been ostracized for being cruel to his slaves, and as a confederate soldier he had a doubtful record. naturally, in reconstruction he had sided against the whites, and the negroes, with few exceptions, forgot his past history. in order to get campaign material, senator joseph hawley of connecticut wrote to hays to get facts for publication,--"i want to publish it at home and give it to my neighbors and constituents as the account of a gentleman of unimpeachable honor." hays responded in a long letter, filled with minute details of horrible outrages that occurred within his personal observation. the spirit of rebellion still exists, he said; riots, murders, assassinations, torturings, are more common than ever; the half cannot be told; unless the federal government interposes there is no hope for loyal men. the letter created a sensation. senator hawley sent it out with his indorsement of hays as a gentleman. the _new york tribune_, then "liberal" in politics, sent "a thoroughly competent and trustworthy correspondent who is a lifelong republican" to investigate the charges made by hays. the charges of hays were as follows: ( ) for political reasons, one allen was beaten nearly to death with pistols; ( ) five negroes were brutally murdered in sumter county, for no reason; ( ) "no white man in pickens county ever cast a republican vote and lived after;" ( ) in hale county a negro benevolent society was ordered to meet no more; ( ) masked men drove james bliss, a negro, from hale county; ( ) j. g. stokes, a republican speaker, was warned by armed ruffians not to make another radical speech in hale county; ( ) in choctaw county negroes had been killed and wounded by whites in ambuscade; ( ) in marengo county w. a. lipscomb was killed for being a republican; ( ) "simon edward and monroe keeton were killed in sumter county for political effect;" ( ) in pickens county negroes were killed, tied to logs, and sent floating down the river with the following inscription, "to mobile with the compliments of pickens;" ( ) w. p. billings, a northern republican, was killed in sumter county on account of his politics, and ivey, a negro mail agent, was also killed for his politics in sumter; ( ) there were numerous outrages in coffee, macon, and russell counties; ( ) near carrollton, two negro speakers were hanged. hays also declared that "only an occasional murder leaks out;" republican speakers were always "rotten-egged" or shot at, while not a single democrat was injured; the associated press agents were all "rebels and democrats," and systematically misrepresented the radical party to the north. the _tribune_ after investigation pronounced the hays-hawley letter "a tissue of lies from beginning to end." the correspondent sent to alabama investigated each reported outrage and found that the facts were as follows: ( ) allen said that he was beaten for private reasons by one person with the weapons of nature; ( ) three negroes were killed by negroes and two were shot while stealing corn; ( ) since there had been white republican voters and officials in sumter county; ( ) the negro societies in hale county denied that any of them had been ordered to disband; ( ) james bliss himself denied that he had been driven from hale county; ( ) affidavits of the republican officials of hale county denied the stokes story; ( ) in regard to the " killed and wounded" outrage, affidavits were obtained from the "killed and wounded" denying that the reported outrage had occurred (the truth was, a negro was beaten by other negroes, and when the sheriff had attempted to arrest them, they resisted and one shot was fired; the negroes swore that they had told hays that none was injured); ( ) lipscomb in person denied that he had been murdered or injured; ( ) edward and keeton lived in mississippi and there was no evidence that either had been murdered; ( ) the story of the dead negroes tied to floating logs was not heard in pickens county before hays published it, and no foundation for it could be discovered; ( ) billings was killed by unknown persons for purposes of robbery, and republican officials testified that the killing of ivey was not political; ( ) nothing could be found to support the statement about outrages in coffee, macon, and russell counties; ( ) the hanging of the two negroes near carrollton was denied by the republicans of that district. the _tribune_ correspondent asserted that hays "knew that his statements were lies when he made them"; that the whites were exercising remarkable restraint; that they were trying hard to keep the peace; that counties in hays's district were showing signs of going democratic, and since his was the strongest republican district, desperate measures were necessary to hold the republicans in line; and that the administration press "had grossly slandered the people of the state." governor lewis and a few of the republicans had opposed the "outrage" issue, and though troops were sent to the state it was against the wishes of lewis.[ ] the washington administration readily listened to the "outrage" stories and prepared to interfere in alabama affairs, though governor lewis could not be persuaded to ask for troops. president grant wrote, on september , , to belknap, secretary of war, directing him to hold troops in readiness to suppress the "atrocities" in alabama, georgia, and south carolina. early in september attorney-general williams began to encourage united states marshal healy to make arrests under the enforcement acts, and on september , , he instructed healy to appoint special deputies at all points where troops were to be stationed. he promised that the deputies would be supported by the infantry and cavalry. during october the state was filled with deputy marshals, agents of the department of justice and of the post-office department, and secret service men, most of them in disguise, searching for opportunities to arrest whites. most of these men were of the lowest class, since only men of that kind would do the work required of them. the deputies were appointed, ten to twenty-five in each county, by marshal healy on the recommendation of the officials of the republican party. charles e. mayer of mobile, chairman of the republican executive committee, nominated and secured the appointment of deputy marshals, vouching for them as good republicans, all except four democrats who were warranted to be "mild, _i.e._ honest." robert barbour of montgomery and isaac heyman of opelika also nominated deputies.[ ] the marshals did some effective work during october. in dallas county, where the democrats had encouraged a bolting negro candidate with the intention of purchasing his office from him, the negro bolter and general john t. morgan were arrested for violation of the enforcement acts.[ ] in sumter county, john little, a negro who had started a negro democratic club called the "independent thinkers," was arrested and the club was broken up.[ ] from eufaula several prominent whites were taken, among them general alpheus baker, j. m. buford, g. l. comer, w. h. courtney, and e. j. black.[ ] in livingston, where a democratic convention was being held in the court-house, the deputy marshals came in, pretended to search through the whole room, and finally arrested renfroe and bullock, whom, with chiles, they handcuffed and paraded about the county, exposing them to insult from gangs of negroes. the jailer in sumter county refused to give up the jail to the use of the deputy marshals and was imprisoned in his own jail.[ ] about the same time colonel wedmore, chairman of the democratic county executive committee, was arrested with forty-two other prominent democrats, thus almost destroying the party organization in sumter county. though there were three united states commissioners in sumter county, wedmore and others were carried to mobile for trial before a united states commissioner there, and, instead of being carried by the shortest route, they were for political effect taken on a long détour _via_ demopolis, selma, and montgomery. those arrested were never tried, but were released just before or soon after the election.[ ] the whites were thoroughly intimidated in the black districts, but were not seriously molested in the white counties. the houses of nearly all the democrats in the black belt were searched by the deputies and soldiers, and the women frightened and insulted. the officers of the army were disgusted with the nature of the work.[ ] such was the intimidation practised by the officials of the federal government. the republican state administration took little part in the persecutions, because it was weak, because it was not desirous of being held responsible, and because some of the prominent officials were certain that the intimidation policy would injure their party. in the white counties there was considerably less effort to influence the elections. but by no means was all of the intimidation on the republican side. in the counties where the whites were numerous the determination was freely expressed that the elections were to be carried by the whites. there were few open threats, very little violence, and none of the kind of persecution employed by the other side. but the whites had made up their minds, and the other side knew it, or rather felt it in the air, and were thereby intimidated. besides the silent forces of ostracism, etc., already described, the whites found many other means of influencing the voters on both sides. where radical posters were put up announcing speakers and principles, the democrats would tear them down and post instead caricatures of spencer, lewis, hays, or rapier, or declarations against "social equality enforced by law." in white districts some obnoxious speakers were "rotten-egged," others forbidden to speak and asked to leave. one radical speaker complained that whites in numbers came to hear him, sat on the front seats with guns across their knees, blew tin horns, and asked him embarrassing questions about "political bacon" and race equality under the civil rights bill. "blacklists" of active negro politicians were kept and the whites warned against employing them; "pledge meetings" were held in some counties and negroes strenuously advised to sign the "pledge" to vote for the white man's party. "the barbour county fever" spread over the state. this was a term used for any process for making life miserable for white radicals. there was something like a revival of the ku klux klan in the white leagues or clubs whose members were sworn to uphold "white" principles. in many towns these clubs were organized as military companies. some of them applied to governor lewis for arms and for enrolment as militia. but he was afraid to organize any white militia because it might overthrow his administration, and, on the other hand, he also refused to give arms to negro militia because he feared race conflicts. by private subscription, often with money from the north, the white companies were armed and equipped. they drilled regularly and made long practice marches through the country. they kept the peace, they made no threats, but their influence was none the less forcible. the democratic politicians were opposed to these organizations, but the latter persisted and several companies went in uniform to houston's inauguration. the republicans found cause for anxiety in the increasing frequency of confederate veterans' reunions, and it is said that cavalry companies and squadrons of ex-confederates began to drill again, much to the alarm of the blacks.[ ] in truth, some of the whites were exasperated to the point where they were about ready to fight again. as one man expressed it: "the attempt to force upon the country this social equality, miscalled civil rights bill, may result in another war. the southern people do not desire to take up arms again, but may be driven to desperation."[ ] the feelings of the poorer whites and those who had suffered most from radical rule are reflected in the following speeches. a negro who was canvassing for rapier, the negro congressman, was told by a white: "you might as well quit. we have made up our minds to carry the state or kill half of you negroes on election day. we begged you long enough and have persuaded you, but you will vote for the radical party." another white man said to negro republicans, "god damn you, you have voted my land down to half a dollar an acre, and i wish the last one of you was down in the bottom of hell."[ ] the democratic campaign was managed by w. l. bragg, an able organizer, assisted by a competent staff. the state had not been so thoroughly canvassed since . the campaign fund was the largest in the history of the state; every man who was able, and many who were not, contributed; assistance also came from northern democrats, and northern capitalists who had investments in the south or who owned part of the legal bonds of the state. the election officials were all radicals and with federal aid had absolute control over the election. if inclined to fraud, as in - , they could easily count themselves in, but they clearly understood that no fraud would be tolerated. to prevent the importation of negroes from georgia and mississippi guards were stationed all around the state. to prevent "repeating," which had formerly been done by massing the negroes at the county seat for their first vote and then sending them home to vote again, the whites made lists of all voters, white and black, kept an accurate account of all democratic votes cast, and demanded that the votes be thus counted. so well did the democrats know their resources that a week before the election an estimate of the vote was made that turned out to be almost exactly correct. in randolph county, several days before the election, the democratic manager reported a certain number of votes for the democrats; on election day two votes more than he estimated were cast. tons of campaign literature were distributed mainly by freight, express, and messengers, the mails having proved unsafe, being in the hands of the radicals. for the same reason political messages were sent by telegraph. every man who could speak had to "go on the stump." toward the close of the campaign a hundred speeches a day were made by speakers sent out from headquarters. the lawyers did little or no business during october; it is said that of seventy-five lawyers in montgomery all but ten were usually out of the city making speeches.[ ] the election of the election of passed off with less violence than was expected; in fact, it was quieter than any previous campaign. the democrats were assured of success and had no desire to lose the fruits of victory on account of riots and disorder. so the responsible people strained every nerve to preserve the peace. a regiment of soldiers was scattered throughout the black belt and showed a disposition to neglect the affairs of the blacks. but here, in the counties where the numerous arrests had been made, the blacks voted in full strength. in fact, with few exceptions, both parties voted in full strength, and, as regards the counting of the votes, it was the fairest election since the negroes began to vote. there were instances in white counties of negroes being forced to vote for the democrats, while in the black belt negro democrats were mobbed and driven from the polls. but the negro democrats resorted to expedients to get in their tickets. in one county where the democratic tickets were smooth at the top and the negro tickets perforated, the democrats prepared perforated tickets for negro democrats which went unquestioned. in other places special tickets were printed for the use of negro democrats with the picture of general grant or of spencer on them and these passed the hurried radical inspection and were cast for the democrats. in marengo county the democrats purchased a republican candidate, who agreed for $ that he would not be elected. by his "sign of the button," sent out among the negroes, the latter were instructed to vote a certain colored ticket which did not conform to law and hence was not counted. other candidates agreed not to qualify after election, thus leaving the appointment to the governor. in the black belt, now as before, the negroes were marshalled in regiments of to under men who wrote orders purporting to be signed by general grant, directing the negroes to vote for him. in greene county uniformed negroes took possession of the polls, and excluded the few whites.[ ] a riot in mobile was brought on by the close supervision over election affairs, which was objected to by a drunken negro who wanted to vote twice, and who declared that he wanted "to wade in blood up to his boot tops." the negro was killed. a conflict at belmont, where a negro was killed, and another at gainesville were probably caused by the endeavor of the whites to exclude negroes who had been imported from mississippi. by rioting the republicans had everything to gain and the democrats everything to lose, and while it is impossible in most cases to ascertain which party fired the first shot or struck the first blow, the evidence is clear that the desperate radical whites encouraged the blacks to violent conduct in order to cause collisions between the races and thus secure federal interference. in eufaula occurred the most serious riot of the reconstruction period that occurred in alabama. the negroes came armed and threatening to the polls, which were held by a republican sheriff and forty republican deputies. judge keils, a carpet-bagger, had advised the blacks to come to eufaula to vote: "you go to town; there are several troops of yankees there; these damned democrats won't shoot a frog. you come armed and do as you please." the democrats were glad to have the troops, who were disgusted with the intimidation work of the previous month. order was kept until a negro tried to vote the democratic ticket and was discovered and mobbed by other blacks. the whites tried to protect him and some negro fired a shot. then the riot began. the few whites were heavily armed and the negroes also. the deputies, it was said, lost their heads and fired indiscriminately. when the fight was over it was found that ten whites were wounded, and four negroes killed and sixty wounded. the federal troops came leisurely in after it was over, and surrounded the polls. the course of the federal troops in eufaula was much as it was elsewhere. they camped some distance from the polls, and when their aid was demanded by the republicans the captain either directly refused to interfere, or consulted his orders or his telegrams or his law dictionary. at last he offered to _notify_ the white men wanted by the marshal to meet the latter and be arrested. another commander, who took possession of the polls in opelika in order to prevent a riot, was censured by general mcdowell, the department commander. the troops were weary of such work, and their orders from general mcdowell were very vague.[ ] after the election, as was to be expected, an outcry arose from the radicals that the troops had in every case failed to do their duty. [illustration: election of for governor.] when the votes were counted, it appeared that the democrats had triumphed. houston had , votes to , for lewis. two years before herndon (democrat) had received , votes to , for lewis. the presidential campaign in had assisted lewis. grant ran far ahead of the radical state ticket. the legislature of - was to be composed as follows: senate, republicans (of whom were negroes) and democrats; house, republicans (of whom were negroes) and democrats.[ ] the whites were exceedingly pleased with their victory, while the republicans took defeat as something expected. there were, of course, the usual charges of outrage, ku kluxism, and the intimidation of the negro vote, but these were fewer than ever before. there was considerable complaint that the federal troops had sided always with the whites in the election troubles. the republican leaders knew, of course, that for their own time at least alabama was to remain in the hands of the whites. the blacks were surprisingly indifferent after they discovered that there was to be no return to slavery, so much so that many whites feared that their indifference masked some deep-laid scheme against the victors. [illustration: election of for governor.] the heart of the black belt still remained under the rule of the carpet-bagger and the black. the democratic state executive committee considered that enough had been gained for one election, so it ordered that no whites should contest on technical grounds alone the offices in those black counties. other methods gradually gave the black belt to the whites. no democrat would now go on the bond of a republican official and numbers were unable to make bond; their offices thus becoming vacant, the governor appointed democrats. others sold out to the whites, or neglected to make bond, or made bonds which were later condemned by grand juries. this resulted in many offices going to the whites, though most of them were still in the hands of the republicans.[ ] houston's two terms were devoted to setting affairs in order. the administration was painfully economical. not a cent was spent beyond what was absolutely necessary. numerous superfluous offices were cut off at once and salaries reduced. the question of the public debt was settled. to prevent future interference by federal authorities the time for state elections was changed from november, the time of the federal elections, to august, and this separation is still in force. the whites now demanded a new constitution. their objections to the constitution of were numerous: it was forced upon the whites, who had no voice in framing it; it "reminds us of unparalleled wrongs"; it had not secured good government; it was a patchwork unsuited to the needs of the state; it had wrecked the credit of the state by allowing the indorsement of private corporations; it provided for a costly administration, especially for a complicated and unworkable school system which had destroyed the schools; there was no power of expansion for the judiciary; and above all, it was not legally adopted.[ ] the republicans declared against a new constitution as meant to destroy the school system, provide imprisonment for debt, abolish exemption from taxation, disfranchise and otherwise degrade the blacks. by a vote of , to , , a convention was ordered by the people, and to it were elected democrats, republicans, and independents. a new constitution was framed and adopted in .[ ] later phases of state politics from to neither national party was able to control both houses of congress. consequently no "force" legislation could be directed against the white people of alabama, who had control and were making secure their control of the state administration. the black vote was not eliminated, but gradually fell under the control of the native whites when the carpet-bagger and scalawag left the black belt. in order to gain control of the black vote, carpet-bag methods were sometimes resorted to, though there was not as much fraud and violence used as is believed, for the simple reason that it was not necessary; it was little more difficult now to make the blacks vote for the democrats than it had been to make republicans of them; the mass of them voted, in both cases, as the stronger power willed it. the black belt came finally into democratic control in , when the party leaders ordered the alabama republicans to vote the greenback ticket. the negroes did not understand the meaning of the manoeuvre, did not vote in force, and lost their last stronghold. a few white republicans and a few black leaders united to maintain the republican state organization in order that they might control the division of spoils coming from the republican administration at washington. most of them were or became federal officials within the state. it was not to their interest that their numbers should increase, for the shares in the spoils would then be smaller. success in the elections was now the last thing desired. [illustration: election of for governor] this clique of office-holders was almost destroyed by the two democratic administrations under cleveland, and has been unhappy under later republican administrations; but the federal administration in the state is not yet respectable. dissatisfaction on the part of the genuine republicans in the northern counties resulted in the formation of a "lily white" faction which demanded that the negro be dropped as a campaign issue and that an attempt be made to build up a decent white republican party. the opposing faction has been called "the black and tans," and has held to the negro. the national party organization and the administration have refused to recognize the demands of the "lily whites"; and it would be exceedingly embarrassing to go back on the record of the past in regard to the negro as the basis of the republican party in the south. in consequence the growth of a reputable white party has been hindered. [illustration: election of for governor] the populist movement promised to cause a healthy division of the whites into two parties. but the tactics of the national republican organization in trying to profit by this division, by running in the negroes, resulted in a close reunion of the discordant whites, the populists furnishing to the reunited party some new principles and many new leaders, while the democrats furnished the name, traditions, and organization. to make possible some sort of division and debate among the whites the system of primary elections was adopted. in these elections the whites were able to decide according to the merits of the candidate and the issues involved. the candidate of the whites chosen in the primaries was easily elected. this plan had the merit of placing the real contest among the whites, and there was no danger of race troubles in elections. in the black belt the primary system was legalized and served by its regulations to confine the election contests to regularly nominated candidates, and hence to whites, the blacks having lost their organization. [illustration: election for governor , under new constitution] the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments in their operation gave undue political influence to the whites of the black belt, and this was opposed by whites of other districts. it also resulted in serious corruption in elections. there was always danger in the black belt that the republicans, taking advantage of divisions among the whites, would run in the negroes again. there were instances when the whites simply counted out the negro vote or used "shotgun" methods to prevent a return to the intolerable conditions of reconstruction. the people grew weary of the eternal "negro in the woodpile," and a demand arose for a revision of the constitution in order to eliminate the mass of the negro voters, to do away with corruption in the elections and to leave the whites free. the conservative leaders, like governors jones and oates, were rather opposed to a disfranchising movement. the black belt whites were somewhat doubtful, but the mass of the whites were determined, and the work was done; the stamp of legality was thus placed upon the long-finished work of necessity, and the "white man's movement" had reached its logical end.[ ] * * * * * the mistakes and failures of reconstruction are clear to all. whether any successes were achieved by the congressional plan has been a matter for debate. it has been strongly asserted that reconstruction, though failing in many important particulars, succeeded in others. the successes claimed may be summarized as follows: ( ) there was no more legislation for the negro similar to that of - , that following the reconstruction being "infinitely milder"; ( ) reconstruction gave the negroes a civil status that a century of "restoration" would not have accomplished, for though the right to vote is a nullity, other undisputed rights of the black are due to the reconstruction; the unchangeable organic laws of the state and of the united states favor negro suffrage, which will come the sooner for being thus theoretically made possible; ( ) reconstruction prevented the southern leaders from returning to washington as irreconcilables, and gave them troubles enough to keep them busy until a new generation grew up which accepted the results of war; ( ) by organizing the blacks it made them independent of white control in politics; ( ) it gave the negro an independent church; ( ) it gave the negro a right to education and gave to both races the public school system; ( ) it made the negro economically free and showed that free labor was better than slave labor; ( ) it destroyed the former leaders of the whites and "freed them from the baleful influence of old political leaders"; in general, as sumner said, the ballot to the negro was "a peacemaker, a schoolmaster, a protector," soon making him a fairly good citizen, and secured peace and order--the "political hell" through which the whites passed being a necessary discipline which secured the greatest good to the greatest number.[ ] on the other hand, it may be maintained ( ) that the intent of the legislation of - has been entirely misunderstood, that it was intended on the whole for the benefit of the negro as well as of the white, and that it has been left permanently off the statute book, not because the whites have been taught better by reconstruction, but because of the amendments which prohibit in theory what has all along been practised (hence the gross abuses of peonage); ( ) that the theoretical rights of the negro have been no inducement to grant him actual privileges, and that these theoretical rights have not proven so permanent as was supposed before the disfranchising movement spread through the south; ( ) that the generation after reconstruction is more irreconcilable than the conservative leaders who were put out of politics in - --that the latter were willing to give the negro a chance, while the former, able, radical, and supported by the people, find less and less place for the negro; ( ) that if the blacks were united, so were the whites, and in each case the advantage may be questioned; ( ) that the value of the negro church is doubtful; ( ) that as in politics, so in education, the negro has no opportunities now that were not freely offered him in - , and the school system is not a product of reconstruction, but came near being destroyed by it; ( ) that negro free labor is not as efficient as slave labor was, and the negro as a cotton producer has lost his supremacy and his economic position is not at all assured; ( ) that the whites have acquired new leaders, but the change has been on the whole from conservatives to radicals, from friends of the negro to those indifferent to him. in short, a careful study of conditions in alabama since will not lead one to the conclusion that the black race in that state has any rights or privileges or advantages that were not offered by the native whites in - . for the misgovernment of reconstruction, the negro, who was in no way to blame, has been made to suffer, since those who were really responsible could not be reached; so politically the races are hostile; the black belt has had, until recently, an undue and disturbing influence in white politics; the federal official body and the republican organization in the state have not been respectable, and the growth of a white republican party has been prevented; the whites have for thirty-five years distrusted and disliked the federal administration which, until recent years, showed little disposition to treat them with any consideration;[ ] the rule of the carpet-bagger, scalawag, and negro, and the methods used to overthrow that rule, weakened the respect of the people for the ballot, for law, for government; the estrangement of the races and the social-equality teachings of the reconstructionists have made it much less safe than in slavery for whites to reside near negro communities, and the negro is more exposed to imposition by low whites. in recent years there have been many signs of improvement, but only in proportion as the principles and practices that the white people of the state understand are those of reconstruction are rejected or superseded. to the northern man reconstruction probably meant and still means something quite different from what the white man of alabama understands by the term. but as the latter understands it, he has accepted none of its essential principles and intends to accept none of its so-called successes. in destroying all that was old, reconstruction probably removed some abuses; from the new order some permanent good must have resulted. but credit for neither can rightfully be claimed until it can be shown that those results were impossible under the régime destroyed. appendix i production of cotton in alabama. - (_a_) typical black counties with boundaries unchanged. (_b_) typical white counties. ====================================================================== county | | | | | ----------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|--------- | bales | bales | bales | bales | bales autauga | , | , | , | , | , baker (chilton) | ---- | , | , | , | , baldwin | , | | | , | barbour (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , bibb | , | , | , | , | , blount (_b_) | , | | , | , | , bullock | ---- | , | , | , | , butler | , | , | , | , | , calhoun | , | , | , | , | , chambers | , | , | , | , | , cherokee (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , choctaw (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , clarke (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , clay (_b_) | ---- | , | , | , | , cleburne (_b_) | ---- | | , | , | , coffee (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , colbert | ---- | , | , | , | , conecuh (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , coosa | , | , | , | , | , covington (_b_) | , | | , | , | , crenshaw (_b_) | ---- | , | , | , | , cullman (_b_) | ---- | ---- | | , | , dale (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , dallas (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , de kalb (_b_) | , | | , | , | , elmore (_b_) | ---- | , | , | , | , escambia | ---- | | | | , etowah (_b_) | ---- | , | , | , | , fayette (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , franklin | , | , | , | , | , geneva (_b_) | ---- | | , | , | , greene (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , hale | ---- | , | , | , | , henry (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , jackson (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , jefferson (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , lamar (sanford) | | | | | (_b_) | ---- | , | , | , | , lauderdale | , | , | , | , | , lawrence | , | , | , | , | , lee | ---- | , | , | , | , limestone | , | , | , | , | , lowndes (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , macon (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , madison | , | , | , | , | , marengo (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , marion (_b_) | , | | , | , | , marshall (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , mobile | | | | | monroe (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , montgomery (_a_)| , | , | , | , | , morgan (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , perry (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , pickens (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , pike (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , randolph (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , russell (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , shelby (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , st. clair (_b_) | , | , | , | , | , sumter (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , talladega | , | , | , | , | , tallapoosa (_b_)| , | , | , | , | , tuscaloosa | , | , | , | , | , walker (_b_) | , | | , | , | , washington | , | , | , | , | , wilcox (_a_) | , | , | , | , | , winston (_b_) | | | | , | , |----------|----------|----------|----------|--------- totals | , | , | , | , | , , ====================================================================== appendix ii registration of voters under the new constitution ============================================== | males of voting |registered voters | age in | in |----------------------------------- county | white | black | white | black ----------|--------|--------|--------|-------- autauga | , | , | , | baldwin | , | | , | barbour | , | , | , | bibb | , | , | , | blount | , | | , | -- bullock | , | , | , | butler | , | , | , | calhoun | , | , | , | chambers | , | , | , | cherokee | , | | , | chilton | , | | , | choctaw | , | , | , | clarke | , | , | , | clay | , | | , | -- cleburne | , | | , | -- coffee | , | | , | -- colbert | , | , | , | conecuh | , | , | , | coosa | , | | , | -- covington | , | | , | crenshaw | , | , | , | -- cullman | , | | , | dale | , | , | , | dallas | , | , | , | de kalb | , | | , | -- elmore | , | , | , | escambia | , | | , | etowah | , | , | , | fayette | , | | , | franklin | , | | , | geneva | , | | , | greene | | , | | hale | , | , | , | henry } | , | , | , | -- houston } | (new county) | , | -- jackson | , | | , | jefferson | , | , | , | lamar | , | | , | lauderdale| , | , | , | lawrence | , | , | , | lee | , | , | , | limestone | , | , | , | lowndes | , | , | , | macon | , | , | | madison | , | , | , | marengo | , | , | , | marion | , | | , | marshall | , | | , | -- mobile | , | , | , | monroe | , | , | , | montgomery| , | , | , | morgan | , | , | , | perry | , | , | , | pickens | , | , | , | pike | , | , | , | randolph | , | | , | russell | , | , | , | shelby | , | , | , | st. clair | , | | , | sumter | , | , | , | talladega | , | , | , | tallapoosa| , | , | , | tuscaloosa| , | , | , | walker | , | , | , | washington| , | , | , | wilcox | , | , | , | winston | , | | , | |--------|--------|--------|-------- totals | , | , | , | , ============================================== number of whites of voting age not registered, estimated at , . number of blacks of voting age not registered, estimated at , . foreign whites of voting age, . number of whites registered but unable to comply with other requirements for voting, estimated at , . index abolition sentiment in alabama, . agriculture, during the war, ; since the war, - . alabama, admitted to union, ; secedes, ; readmitted, . alabama and chattanooga railroad, - . american missionary association and negro education, , , , , . amnesty proclamation of president johnson, ; published by military commanders in alabama, . amusements during the war, . andrew, bishop, and the separation of the methodist church, . anti ku klux, . anti-slavery sentiment in alabama, . applegate, a. j., lieutenant-governor, . army, u. s., and the civic authorities, ; in conflict with federal court, ; relations with the people, - ; used in elections, - , , , , . athens sacked by colonel turchin, . bacon used to influence elections, . banks and banking during the war, . baptist church, separation of, ; declaration in regard to the state of the country, ; during reconstruction, ; relations with negroes, . "barbour county fever," . bingham, d. h., mentioned, , , ; in convention of , ; in union league, . birney, james g., mentioned, . black belt, during slavery, ; at the end of the war, ; share system in, ; decadence of, during reconstruction, . "black code," or "black laws," . "black republican" party arraigned, . blockade-running, . bonded debt of alabama, - . bonds, of state, ; of counties and towns, , ; fraudulent issues, , ; of railroads, - ; fraudulent indorsements, - . boyd, alexander, killed by ku klux, . bragg, w. l., democratic campaign manager, . brooks, william m., president of convention of , ; letter to president davis, ; advocates limited negro suffrage, . brown, john, plans negro uprising in alabama, . buchanan, admiral franklin, at battle of mobile bay, . buck, a. e., carpet-bagger, in convention of , ; elected to congress, . buckley, c. w., carpet-bagger, agent of freedmen's bureau, , , , , ; in convention of , ; elected to congress, ; on ku klux committee, ; sides with the robinson faction, . bulger, m. j., in secession convention, , , , ; candidate for governor, ; in politics, . busteed, richard, federal judge, on fourteenth amendment, ; in radical politics, , , . byrd, william m., "union" leader, . calhoun democrats, . callis, john b., carpet-bagger, agent of freedmen's bureau, ; in union league, ; elected to congress, . campaign, of , - ; of , , ; of , ; of , ; of , - . carpet-bag and negro rule, _et seq._ carpet-baggers, in convention of , , , ; in congress, , , , . _see also_ republicans. chain gang abolished, . charleston convention of , . churches, separation of, - ; during the war, ; seized by the federal army and the northern churches, ; condition after the war, , ; attitude toward negro education and religion, , , ; during reconstruction, - . civil rights bill of , . civil war in alabama, - ; seizure of the forts, ; operations in north alabama, ; streight's raid, ; rousseau's raid, ; operations in south alabama, ; wilson's raid, ; destruction by the armies, . clanton, gen. james h., organizes opposition to radicals, , ; on negro education, , ; on the religious situation, . clay, senator c. c., speech on withdrawal from u. s. senate, ; arrested by federals, . clayton, judge henry d., charge to the pike county grand jury on the negro question, . clemens, jere (or jeremiah), in secession convention, , , ; mentioned, , ; deserter, , , ; advocates reconstruction, , , . clews & company, financial agents, , , . cloud, n. b., superintendent of public instruction, - . cobb, w. r. w., "union" leader, ; disloyal to confederacy, . colleges during the war, . colonies of negroes, , . color line in politics, . commercial conventions, . commissioners sent to southern states, , . composition of population of alabama, , . concentration camps of negroes, , , . "condition of affairs in the south," . confederate property confiscated, . confederate states, established, - ; congress of, ; enrolment laws, , ; finance in alabama, - . confederate text-books, . confiscation, proposed in secession convention, ; by united states, _et seq._; frauds, , ; of cotton, ; of lands, ; supports freedmen's bureau, ; belief of negroes in, , ; for taxes, . congress, c. s., alabama delegation to, . congress, u. s., rejects johnson's plan, , ; imposes new conditions, ; forces carpet-bag government on alabama, - ; members of, from alabama, , , , . "conquered province" theory of reconstruction, . conscription, - ; enrolment laws, - ; trouble between state and confederate authorities, - . conservative party, , , . _see also_ democratic party. constitution, of , , ; of , , vote on, , rejected, ; imposed by congress, - , ; of , ; of , . contraband trade, . "convention" candidates in , , . convention, of , ; of , ; of , , ; of , . coöperationists, ; policy of, in secession convention, ; speeches of, _et seq._ "cotton is king," . cotton, exported through the lines, , - ; confiscated, _et seq._; agents prosecuted for stealing, , ; cotton tax, ; production of, in alabama, - , . county and local officials during reconstruction, , , , , . county and town debts, , , , . crowe, j. r., one of the founders of ku klux klan, . curry, j. l., m., in confederate congress, ; defeated, ; on negro education, , , , , . dargan, e. s., in secession convention, , , ; on impressment, . davis, nicholas, in nashville convention, ; in secession convention, , , , ; in radical politics, , ; opposed by union league, ; opinion of rev. a. s. lakin, . "deadfalls," . debt commission, work of, - . debt of alabama, - . democratic party, ante-bellum, _et seq._; reorganized, , ; during reconstruction, , , , ; populist influence, . department of negro affairs, . deserters, - ; outrages by, ; prominent men, ; numbers, . destitution, during the war, - ; after the war, . destruction of property, , . disaffection toward the confederacy, - , , . disfranchisement of whites, , , ; of negroes, , . "disintegration and absorption" policy of the northern churches, . domestic life during the war, - . drugs and medicines, . economic and social conditions, - , - ; in , ; during reconstruction, - , - . education, during the war, ; during reconstruction, , - , ; discussion of, in convention of , ; of the negro, - , . election, of lincoln, , ; of , ; of , ; of , - ; of , ; of , , ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , . election methods, , , , . _see also_ union league. emancipation, economic effects of, - . emigration of whites from alabama, . enforcement laws, state, ; federal, . enrolment of soldiers from alabama, - ; laws relating to, , . episcopal church, divided, ; closed by the federal army, ; loses its negro members, . eufaula riot, . eutaw riot, . exemption from military service, - ; numbers exempted, . expenditures of the reconstruction régime, , , . factories during the war, - . farms and plantations during the war, . federal army closes churches, . federal courts and the army, . finances during the war, - ; banks and banking, ; bonds and notes, ; salaries, ; taxation, ; impressment, ; debts, stay laws, sequestration, ; trade, barter, prices, ; during reconstruction, - . financial settlement, - , - . fitzpatrick, benjamin, in nashville convention, ; arrested, ; president of convention of , . florida, negotiations for purchase of west florida, . force laws, state and federal, , . "forfeited rights" theory of reconstruction, . forsyth, john, on fourteenth amendment, ; mayor of mobile, . "forty acres and a mule," , . fourteenth amendment, proposed, ; rejected, , ; adopted by reconstructed legislature, . fowler, w. h., estimates of number of soldiers from alabama, , . freedmen, _see_ negroes. freedmen's aid societies, . freedmen's bureau, , - ; organization of, in alabama, - ; supported by confiscations, ; character of agents of, ; native officials of, , ; relations with the civil authorities, ; administration of justice, - ; the labor problem, - ; care of the sick, ; issue of rations, ; demoralization caused, ; effect on negro education, - ; connection with the union league, , , . freedmen's codes, . "freedmen's home colonies," , , . freedmen's savings-bank, - ; bank book, ; good effect of, ; failure, . general officers from alabama in the confederate service, . giers, j. j., tory, , . gordon, gen. john b., speech on negro education, . grant, gen. u. s., letter on condition of the south, ; elected president, ; orders troops to alabama, . haughey, thomas, scalawag, deserter, elected to congress, . hayden, gen. julius, in charge of freedmen's bureau, . hays, charles, scalawag, in eutaw riot, ; member of congress, , ; letter to senator joseph hawley on outrages in alabama, - . herndon, thomas h., candidate for governor, . hilliard, henry w., "union" leader, . hodgson, joseph, mentioned, ; superintendent of public instruction, . home life during the war, - . houston, george s., "union" leader, ; elected to u. s. senate, ; on debt commission, ; elected governor, , . humphreys, d. c., deserter, , , . huntsville parade of ku klux klan, . immigration to alabama, , , ; not desired by radicals, . impressment by confederate authorities, . "independents" in , . indian question and nullification, , . indorsement of railroad bonds, - . industrial development during the war, - , ; military industries, ; private enterprises, . industrial reconstruction, - , . intimidation, by federal authorities, ; by democrats, . "iron-clad" test oath, . jemison, robert, in secession convention, , , , , ; elected to confederate senate, . johnson, president andrew, plan of restoration, ; amnesty proclamation, ; grants pardons, , ; interferes with provisional governments, , ; his work rejected by congress, , , . joint committee on reconstruction, report on affairs in the south, . jones, capt. c. ap r., at the selma arsenal, . juries, of both races ordered by pope, ; during reconstruction, . keffer, john c., mentioned, , , , , , . kelly, judge, in mobile riot, , . "king cotton," confidence in, . knights of the white camelia, , . _see also_ ku klux klan. ku klux klan, causes, ; origin and growth, ; disguises, ; warnings, ; parade at huntsville, ; cross plains or patona affair, ; drives carpet-baggers from the state university, - ; burns negro schoolhouses, ; table of alleged outrages, ; ku klux investigation, ; results of the ku klux revolution, . labor laws, , . labor of negroes and whites compared, - . labor regulations of freedmen's bureau, - . lakin, rev. a. s., northern methodist missionary, , , , ; in union league, ; elected president of state university, ; davis's opinion of, . lands confiscated for taxes, . lane, george w., unionist, federal judge, , . lawlessness in , . legislation, by convention of , ; of , ; of , ; about freedmen, . legislature during reconstruction, - , , - . lewis, d. p., in secession convention, ; deserter, ; repudiates union league, ; elected governor in , . life, loss of, in war, . lincoln, effect of election of, ; his plan of reconstruction, . lindsay, r. b., taxation under, - ; action on railroad bonds, - ; elected governor, , . literary activity during the war, . loss of life and property, . "loyalists," during the war, , ; after the war, . mckinstry, alexander, lieutenant-governor, assists to elect spencer, - . mctyeire, bishop h. n., on negro education, , . meade, gen. george g., in command of third military district, ; his administration, - ; installs the reconstructed government, . medicines and drugs in war time, . methodist church, separation, ; during reconstruction, ; favors negro education, . military commissions, _see_ military government. military government, - , - ; trials by military commissions, - ; objections to, - . military government under the reconstruction acts, - ; pope's administration, - ; meade's administration, - ; control over the civil government, , ; pope's trouble with the newspapers, ; trials by military commissions, , . militia system during the civil war, - ; during reconstruction, . miller, c. a., carpet-bagger, agent of the freedmen's bureau, , ; in convention of , ; elected secretary of state, . mitchell, gen. o. m., - . mobile bay, battle of, . mobile riot, , . mobile schools during reconstruction, . moore, a. b., governor, calls secession convention, ; orders forts seized, ; objects to blockade-running, ; arrested by federal authorities, . morgan, john t., in secession convention, , , , . morse, joshua, scalawag, attorney-general, . mossbacks, tories, and unionists, , ; numbers, . nashville convention of , . "national guards," a negro organization, . national union movement, , . negro affairs, department of, . _see also_ freedmen's bureau. negro criminality, , ; negro labor, - ; family relations, ; church in politics, ; women in politics, . negro education, favored by southern whites, , , ; native white teachers, ; freedmen's bureau teaching, - ; opposition to, ; character of, , , - . negroes during the war, - ; in the army, , , ; on the farms, ; fidelity of, ; in the churches, ; home life, . negroes under the provisional government, test their freedom, ; suffering among them, ; colonies of, , ; civil status of, , ; insurrection feared, , ; not to be arrested by civil authorities, ; attitude of army to, - ; negro suffrage in , . negroes during reconstruction, controlled by the union league, - ; first vote, ; in the convention of , , , ; in the campaign of , , ; negro democrats, , ; punished by ku klux klan, ; negro juries, , ; disfranchised, , . negroes, social rights of, allowed in street cars, ; not allowed at hotel table, ; demand social privileges, , , , . negroes and the churches, , . newspapers, during the war, ; under pope's administration, . nick-a-jack, a proposed new state, . nitre making, . non-slaveholders uphold slavery, , . norris, b. w., carpet-bagger, agent freedmen's bureau, ; elected to congress, . north alabama, anti-slavery sentiment in, ; in secession convention, ; during the civil war, ; during reconstruction, , , , , . northern men, treatment of, , . nullification, on indian question, , ; divides the democratic party, . oath, "iron-clad," ; prescribed for voters, , . ordinance of secession, , ; declared null and void, . painted stakes sold to negroes, . pardons by president johnson, , . parsons, l. e., obstructionist and "peace society" man, , , ; provisional governor, , ; elected to u. s. senate, ; speaks in the north, , ; advises rejection of fourteenth amendment, ; originates "white man's movement," ; radical politician, , , - . parties in the convention of , ; of , . patona, or cross plains, affair, . patton, r. m., mentioned, ; elected governor, ; vetoes legislation for blacks, , ; on the fourteenth amendment, - ; advises congressional reconstruction, . peace society, - . pike county grand jury, judge clayton's charge to, . "pike county platform," . "political bacon," - . political beliefs of early settlers, . politics, during the war, - ; - , ; - , _et seq._ pope, general john, in command of third military district, - ; his administration, - ; quarrel with the newspapers, ; removed, . population, composition of, , . populist movement, . presbyterian church, separation, , , ; during reconstruction, ; attitude toward negroes, . prescript of ku klux klan, , . president's plan of reconstruction, _et seq._; rejected by congress, ; fails, , . prices during the war, . property, lost in war, ; decreases in value during reconstruction, . provisional government, , . pryor, roger a., debate with yancey, . public bonded debt, - . publishing-houses during the war, . race question, in convention of , ; in the campaign of , - . races, segregation of, _see maps in text_. radical party organized, . _see also_ republican party. railroad legislation and frauds, - . railroads aided by state, counties, and towns during reconstruction, - . railroads, built during the war, ; destroyed, . randolph, ryland, a member of ku klux klan, , , ; expelled from legislature, . rapier, j. t., negro member of congress, mentioned, , , , ; supports robinson-buckley faction, . rations issued by freedmen's bureau, , . reconstruction, sentiment during the war, - ; theories of, - ; early attempts at, ; reconstruction acts, - , ; reconstruction convention, , - ; constitution rejected, ; completed by congress, , - ; its successes and failures, . reconstruction, and education, - ; and the churches, - . registration of voters, , , . regulators, _see_ ku klux klan. reid, dr. g. p. l., on knights of the white camelia, . religious conditions, during the war, - ; in , ; during reconstruction, - . republican party in alabama, organized, - ; numbers, , ; in the legislature, , , ; divisions in, , ; "lily whites" and "black and tans," . "restoration," by the president, _et seq._; convention, ; completed, ; rejected, . restrictions on trade in , . riot, at eufaula, ; at eutaw, ; at mobile, , . roddy, gen. p. d., mentioned, , . roman catholic church and the negroes, . rousseau's raid, . salt making, . sansom, miss emma, guides general forrest, . savings-bank, freedmen's, - . scalawags, in convention of , , , . _see also_ republicans. schools, _see_ education. schurz's report on the condition of the south, . secession, , , , - ; convention called, , ; ordinance passed, , ; debate on, in , . secession convention, parties in, , ; political theories of members, ; slave trade prohibited, ; sends commission to washington, ; legislation, - . secessionists, ; policy in secession convention, . secret societies, _see_ union league _and_ ku klux klan. segregation of races, - . _see also the maps in the text._ seibels, j. j., favors coöperation, ; obstructionist, , , . sequestration of enemies' property, . share system of farming, . sheets, c. c., tory, , ; in convention of , ; visited by ku klux klan, . shorter, john g., elected governor, ; defeated, ; arrested by federal authorities, . slaveholders and non-slaveholders, location of, . slavery, and politics, - ; upheld by non-slaveholders, - ; abolished, . slaves, _see_ negroes. slave trade prohibited by secession convention, . smith, william h., deserter, , , ; a registration official, ; first reconstruction governor, ; indorses railroad bonds, , , ; opinion of senator spencer, . smith, william r., "union" leader, ; coöperationist leader in secession convention, , , , ; candidate for governor, ; president of state university, . social and economic conditions, during the war, - ; in , _et seq._; during reconstruction, - , _et passim_. social effects of reconstruction, on whites, ; on blacks, _et seq._; on carpet-baggers, . social rights for negroes, , , . soldiers from alabama, numbers, character, organization, - . southern aid society, . "southern outrages," , , . "southern theory" of reconstruction, . "southern unionists'" convention, , . speed, joseph h., superintendent of public instruction, . spencer, g. e., carpet-bagger, election to u. s. senate, , , ; governor smith's opinion of, . state rights democrats, , ; led by yancey, , . "state suicide" theory of reconstruction, . statistics of cotton frauds, . status, of freedmen, ; of the provisional government, . steedman and fullerton's report on the freedmen's bureau, . stevens's plan of reconstruction, . streight, col. a. d., raids into alabama, . strobach-robinson division in the radical party, . suffrage for negroes in , . sumner's plan of reconstruction, . swayne, gen. wager, assistant commissioner of freedmen's bureau, , ; on the temper of the people, ; opinion of the laws relating to freedmen, , , ; fears negro insurrection, ; in command of alabama, , ; attitude toward civil authorities, , ; forces negro education, ; enters politics, , ; removed, . sykes, f. w., in radical politics, ; elected to u. s. senate, , . taxation during the war, ; during reconstruction, - ; amounts to confiscation, . temper of the people after the war, . test oath, iron-clad, , , . text-books, confederate, ; radical, . theories of reconstruction, _et seq._ third military district, under the reconstruction acts, - . thomas, gen. g. h., mentioned, , , , . tories and deserters, - ; in north alabama, ; definition, , ; outrages by, ; numbers, . trade through the lines, . treasury agents prosecuted, . trials by military commission, , , , . _tribune_, of new york, investigates the "hays-hawley letter," . truman, benjamin, report on the south, . turchin, col. j. b., allows athens to be sacked, . underground railway in alabama, . union league of america, - ; white members, ; negroes admitted, ; ceremonies, ; organization and method, ; influence over negroes, ; control over elections, , ; resolutions of alabama council, . union troops from alabama, . unionists, tories, mossbacks, , . university of alabama under the reconstruction régime, . wages of freedmen, , , , . walker, l. p., in nashville convention, ; at charleston convention, ; on negro suffrage, . wards of the nation, - . warner, willard, carpet-bagger, elected to u. s. senate, . watts, thomas h., "union" leader, ; in secession convention, , , , ; defeated for governor, ; elected, ; supports the confederacy, ; troubles over militia with conscript officials, , , ; favors blockade-running, ; speech in , ; arrested by federal authorities, . whig party, appears, ; its progress on the slavery question, ; breaks up, , . white brotherhood, . white camelia, . white counties, agriculture in, ; destitution in, - ; politics in, _see maps_. white labor superior to negro labor, . white league, . "white man's government," . "white man's party," , , . wilmer, bishop r. h., ; trouble with military authorities, - ; suspended, . wilson's raid, . women, interest in public questions, . _women's gunboat_, . yancey, william lowndes, leader of state rights democrats, , ; author of alabama platform of , ; advocates secession, , ; debate with roger a. pryor, ; offered nomination for vice-presidency, ; in secession convention, , , , , , , . footnotes: [ ] nativities of the free population state or country alabama , , connecticut florida , , georgia , , kentucky , , louisiana , maine maryland massachusetts mississippi , , new york , , north carolina , , ohio pennsylvania south carolina , , tennessee , , virginia , , england , france germany , , ireland , , scotland spain switzerland totals native , , foreign , , the total population from to was as follows:-- white black , , , , , , , , , , [ ] hundly, "social relations"; hodgson, "cradle of the confederacy," ch. ; garrett, "reminiscences," ch. ; miller's and brown's "histories of alabama," _passim_; saunders, "early settlers," _passim_. from to there was a slight sectional and political division between the counties of north alabama and those of central and south alabama, owing to the conflicting interests of the two sections and to the lack of communication. by this was tending to become a social division between the white counties and the black counties. the division to some extent still exists. [ ] in all studies of the sectional spirit it should be remembered that the southwest was settled somewhat in spite of the washington government and without the protection of the united states army; the reverse is true of the northwest. [ ] hodgson, "cradle of the confederacy," chs. , , , ; dubose, "life of william l. yancey"; phillips, "georgia and state rights," chs. , ; pickett, "alabama," owen's edition. [ ] in there were eight emancipation societies in north alabama: the state society, courtland, lagrange, tuscumbia, florence, madison county, athens, and lincoln. publications, southern history association, vol. ii, pp. , . [ ] see hodgson, p. . in representation in the legislature was changed from the "federal" basis and based on white population alone. this change was made by the democrats and was opposed by the whigs. the latter predominated in the black belt. [ ] hodgson, ch. ; debates of convention of , _passim_. [ ] miller, "alabama," p. . [ ] known as the "alabama platform" of . [ ] benjamin fitzpatrick led the conservative element of the democratic party and opposed yancey. [ ] this division in the state rights ranks existed until secession was actually achieved and even after. [ ] each extreme southern state--texas, mississippi, alabama, and south carolina--showed a desire to have some more moderate state act first. some prominent men in this convention were yancey, seibels, thomas williams, john a. elmore, b. f. saffold, abram martin, a. p. bagley, adam c. felder, david clopton, and george goldthwaite, nearly all south carolinians by birth. [ ] a dodging of the question. [ ] for an account of one of these, see the _american historical review_, oct., . [ ] general pryor informs me that at the convention of no one understood that there was any desire on the part of yancey and others to reopen the slave trade. they recognized that the rest of the world was against them on that question and were demanding simply a repeal of what they considered discriminating laws. yancey compared the question to that of the tea tax in the american colonies. see also hodgson, p. , and yancey's speeches in smith's "debates of ." [ ] a branch of the underground railway reached from ohio as far into alabama as tallapoosa county. kagi, one of brown's confederates, had marked out a chain of black counties where he had travelled and where the negroes were expected to rise. he had travelled through south carolina, georgia, alabama, and mississippi. russell county, alabama, was one of those marked on his map. the people were greatly alarmed when the map was discovered. see seibert's "underground railroad," pp. , , , ; hinton, "john brown"; hague, "blockaded family." as early as incendiary literature had been scattered among the alabama slaves, and in that year the grand jury of tuscaloosa county indicted robert g. williams of new york for sending such printed matter among the slaves. general gayle demanded that he be sent to alabama for trial, but governor marcy refused to give him up. see brown's "alabama," p. , and _gulf states hist. mag._, july, . [ ] afterwards confederate secretary of war. [ ] yancey was willing to disregard instructions and not withdraw; the rest of the delegation overruled him. see paper by petrie in transactions ala. hist. soc., vol. iv. [ ] hodgson, ch. . [ ] acts of alabama ( - ), pp. - ; smith's "debates," pp. , . [ ] acts of alabama ( - ), pp. - ; senate journal ( - ), pp. , , , . [ ] during this session judge sam. rice, in reply to john forsyth and others who feared that secession would lead to war, said: "there will be no war. but if there should be, we can whip the yankees with popguns." after the war, when he had turned "scalawag," he was taken to task for the speech. "you said we could whip the yankees with popguns." "yes,--but the damned rascals wouldn't fight that way." [ ] the popular vote in alabama was: for breckenridge, , ; for douglas, , ; for bell, , . [ ] many people believed that hamlin was a mulatto. [ ] horace greeley, "the american conflict," vol. i, p. . for a similar meeting in montgomery, see hodgson, p. _et seq._ [ ] see townsend collection, columbia university library, vol. i, p. . one poor white man in tallapoosa county welcomed the election of lincoln, for "now the negroes would be freed and white men could get more work and better pay." authorities for the political history of alabama before : hodgson's "cradle of the confederacy"; garrett's "reminiscences of public men of alabama"; brewer's "alabama"; brown's "history of alabama"; miller's "history of alabama"; pickett's "history of alabama" (owen's edition); "northern alabama illustrated"; "memorial record of alabama"; dubose's "life and times of william l. yancey"; hilliard's "politics and pen pictures and speeches"; transactions of ala. hist. soc., vol. iv, papers by yonge, cozart, culver, scott, and petrie. [ ] o'gorman, "history of the roman catholic church in the united states," p. . [ ] carroll, "religious forces of the united states," p. ; thompson, "history of the presbyterian churches in the united states," pp. , . [ ] statistics of churches, census of , p. ; riley, "history of the baptists in the southern states east of the mississippi," p. _et seq._; newman, "history of the baptists of the united states," pp. - . [ ] see smith, "life of james osgood andrew"; buckley, "history of methodism"; mctyeire, "history of methodism"; alexander, "history of the methodist episcopal church south"; statistics of churches, p. . [ ] statistics of churches, p. . [ ] southern aid society reports, - . [ ] statistics of churches, p. ; carroll, "religious forces," pp. , ; thompson, "history of the presbyterian churches," p. . [ ] thompson, "history of the presbyterian churches," p. ; johnson, "history of the southern presbyterian church," pp. , ; mcpherson, "history of the rebellion," p. ; "annual cyclopædia" ( ), p. ; statistics of churches, p. . [ ] carroll, "religious forces," pp. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] wilmer, "recent past," p. . [ ] perry, "history of the american episcopal church," vol. ii, p. _et seq._; mcpherson, "history of the rebellion," p. ; whitaker, "church in alabama." [ ] president of columbia college (n.y.) during and after the war. [ ] smith, pp. - , condensed. [ ] smith, "history and debates of the convention of alabama," , p. . my account of the convention is condensed almost entirely from smith's "debates." smith was a coöperationist member from tuscaloosa county. he kept full notes of the proceedings and is impartial in his reports of speeches. almost the entire edition of the "debates" was destroyed by fire in . hodgson, "cradle of the confederacy," and dubose, "life and times of william l. yancey," both give short accounts of the convention. [ ] except yancey, who declared that the disease preying on the vitals of the federal union was not due to any defect in the constitution, but to the heads, hearts, and consciences of the northern people; that no guarantees, no amendments, could reëducate the northern people on the slavery question, so as to induce a northern majority to withhold the exercise of its power in aid of abolition. governor moore, in the commissions given to the ambassadors to the other states, declared that the peace, honor, and security of the southern states were endangered by the election of lincoln, the candidate of a purely sectional party, whose avowed principles demanded the destruction of slavery. [ ] it would seem that after this vote no one would say that nearly half of the members were "unionists," yet nearly all accounts make this statement. [ ] there were many indications that the opposition was more sectional and personal than political. it is safe to state for north alabama that had the black belt declared for the union, that section would have voted for secession. [ ] this minority report was signed by clemens of madison, lewis of lawrence, winston of de kalb, kimball of tallapoosa, watkins of franklin, and jemison of tuscaloosa, all from north alabama. [ ] c.=coöperationist; s.=secessionist; cs.=coöperationist who voted for secession. [ ] it was he who compiled the debates of the convention. [ ] he was the oldest general officer in the confederate service. [ ] constitution, article i, section x: "no state shall without the consent of congress enter into any agreement or compact with another state," etc. [ ] he was here referring indirectly to the action of the state authorities in seizing the forts at pensacola and mobile before secession. [ ] clemens was accused of voting for secession in order to obtain the command of the militia. he had formerly been an army officer, and was now made major-general of militia. it was not long before he deserted and went north. [ ] who succeeded yancey in the convention after the latter was sent to europe. [ ] the present ( ) senior u. s. senator from alabama. [ ] bulger of tallapoosa, jones and wilson of fayette, and sheets of winston voted in the negative. [ ] see below, ch. iii, sec. . [ ] coffee was a white county and had very few slaves. [ ] the commissioners sent to the various states were as follows: _virginia_, a. f. hopkins and f. m. gilmer; _south carolina_, john a. elmore; _north carolina_, i. w. garrott and robert h. smith; _maryland_, j. l. m. curry; _delaware_, david clopton; _kentucky_, s. f. hale; _missouri_, william cooper; _tennessee_, l. pope walker; _arkansas_, david hubbard; _louisiana_, john a. winston; _texas_, j. m. calhoun; _florida_, e. c. bullock; _georgia_, john g. shorter; _mississippi_, e. w. pettus. only one state, south carolina, sent a delegate to alabama. [ ] it was not until the end of june, , that the united states postal service was withdrawn and final reports made to the united states. the confederate postal service succeeded. at first, the confederate postmaster-general directed the postmasters to continue to report to the united states. [ ] this account of the work of the convention is compiled from the pamphlet ordinances in the supreme court library in montgomery. [ ] so smith, the coöperationist historian, reported. [ ] see smith's "debates"; hodgson's "cradle of the confederacy"; dubose's "yancey"; wilmer's "recent past." [ ] gov. a. b. moore to president buchanan, jan. , , in o. r. ser. i, vol. i, pp. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] miller, "history of alabama," p. . [ ] see d. c. buell, "operations in north alabama," in "battles and leaders of the civil war," vol. ii, pp. - . [ ] miller, p. ; brewer, "alabama," p. ; mrs. clay-clopton, "a belle of the fifties," chs. - ; o. r., ser. i, vol. x, pt. ii, pp. , , , _et passim_. buell stated that "habitual lawlessness prevailed in a portion of general mitchell's command," and that though authority was granted to punish with death there were no punishments. discipline was lost. the officers were engaged in cotton speculation, and mitchell's wagon trains were used to haul the cotton for the speculators. flagrant crimes, buell stated, were "condoned or neglected" by mitchell. "battles and leaders," vol. ii, pp. , . north alabama was not important to the federals from a strategic point of view, and only the worst disciplined troops were stationed in that section. [ ] his real name was ivan vasilivitch turchinoff. several other officers were court-martialled at the same time for similar conduct. keifer, "slavery and four years of war," vol. i, p. ; miller, p. ; "battles and leaders," ii, p. . a former "union" man declared after the war that the barbarities of turchin crushed out the remaining "union" sentiment in north alabama. ku klux rept., ala. testimony, p. (richardson); o. r., ser. i, vols. x and xvi, _passim_; brewer, "alabama," pp. , . accounts of eye-witnesses. [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, pt. ii, pp. , , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, pt. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, pt. ii, pp. , , (may, ); for clemens and lane, see ch. iii, sec. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, pt. ii, pp. - . [ ] brewer, p. , _et passim_; miller, p. ; o. r., ser. i, vol. xxxiii, pt. iii, pp. - . [ ] gen. d. s. stanley to gen. william d. whipple, feb., ; o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. i, p. . [ ] clanton's report, march, ; o. r., ser. i, vol. xxxiii, pt. iii, p. . [ ] miller, "alabama." [ ] miller, p. . [ ] miller, "alabama"; brewer, pp. , . [ ] brewer, pp. , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xvi, pt. i, pp. , ; wyeth, "life of forrest," pp. - . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxxii, pt. i, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xx, pt. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xx, pt. ii, p. . [ ] the andrews raiders in georgia were hanged as spies for being dressed "in the promiscuous southern style." [ ] wyeth, "life of forrest," pp. - ; mathes, "general forrest," pp. - ; miller, ch. . [ ] brewer, p. . [ ] miller, p. . [ ] after completion at selma the _tennessee_ was taken down the river to defend mobile. it was found, even after removing her armament, that the vessel could not pass the dog river bar, and timber was cut from the forests up the river and "camels" made with which to buoy up the heavy vessel. by accident these camels were burned and more had to be made. at last the heavy ram was floated over the bar. of course the newspapers harshly criticised those in charge of the _tennessee_. maclay, "history of the united states navy," vol. ii, p. . [ ] brewer, p. ; scharf, "confederate navy," ch. ; miller, pp. - . [ ] brewer, p. ; miller, p. . [ ] some of the confederate gunboats were sunk (_huntsville_ and _tuscaloosa_), and commander farrand surrendered twelve gunboats in the tombigbee. all of these had been built at mobile, selma, and in the tombigbee. [ ] miller, pp. , - . [ ] it was intended that wilson should raid to and fro all through central alabama. his men were armed with repeating carbines; his train of wagons was escorted by unmounted men who secured mounts as they went farther into the interior. greeley, vol. ii, p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, april , . [ ] april cahaba was captured by a part of wilson's force and twenty federal prisoners released from the military prison at that place. they reported that they had been well treated.--_n. y. herald_, april , . [ ] wyeth, "life of forrest," pp. , . [ ] parsons's cooper institute speech in _n. y. times_, nov. , ; trowbridge, "the south," pp. , . accounts of eye-witnesses. [ ] trowbridge, "the south," p. . [ ] hardy, "history of selma," p. ; miller, "alabama," pp. - ; parsons, speeches in _n. y. times_, nov. , , apr. , ; _n. y herald_, may , and apr. , ; _montgomery advertiser_, july , ; wilson's report, june , ; _selma times_, feb. , ; "our women in war times," p. ; greeley, vol. ii, p. ; wyeth, "life of forrest," pp. - ; "northern alabama," p. . [ ] hardy, "history of selma," p. , says four regiments were organized, and the others were driven away. [ ] , bales, according to greeley, vol. ii, p. . [ ] the _advertiser_ of april , . [ ] _n. y. world_, may and july , ; _n. y. herald_, may and , and june , ; brewer, p. ; greeley, vol. ii, p. . [ ] _n. y. daily news_, may , ; _century magazine_, nov., ; transactions ala. hist. soc., vol. iv, p. . [ ] report, june , . [ ] somers, "the south since the war," pp. , . [ ] truman in _n. y. times_, nov. , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. iii, pp. - . [ ] see brewer, "county notes." [ ] brewer, p. _et passim_; miller, p. ; o. r., ser. i, vol. xxiii, pt. i, pp. - . [ ] miller, p. ; garrett, "public men." [ ] miller, p. . [ ] speech at cooper institute, nov. , , in _n. y. times_, nov. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, may and , ; the _world_, may , ; the _times_, april , and nov. , ; _montgomery advertiser_, july , ; _selma times_, feb. , ; wilson's report, june , : hardy, "history of selma," pp. , . [ ] "the south," p. . [ ] hague, "blockaded family," _passim_; riley, "baptists in alabama," pp. , ; "our women in the war," p. _et seq._; riley, "history of conecuh county," p. . [ ] miller, "history of alabama," p. ; brewer, "history of alabama," pp. , ; transactions ala. hist. soc., vol. ii, p. . [ ] miller, "history of alabama," p. ; colonel moore's article in the _louisville post_, may , . [ ] miller, p. . [ ] for other estimates, see livermore, "numbers and losses," and curry, "civil history of the confederate states," pp. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , . [ ] livermore, "numbers and losses," pp. , . [ ] alabama did not succeed in organizing the militia. [ ] miller, "alabama," appendix; report of col. e. d. blake, supt. of special registration, in o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , ; brewer, "alabama," see "regimental histories." [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. iii, pp. , ; brewer, "alabama." several commands were equipped at the expense of the commanders; others were equipped by the communities in which they were raised; one old gentleman, joel e. matthews of selma, gave his check for $ , to the state, besides paying for the outfitting of several companies of soldiers. "northern alabama illustrated," p. . [ ] these regiments were the th and st infantry, and th cavalry. [ ] general lee protested against this practice as preventing the proper recruitment of the armies. livermore, "numbers and losses in the civil war," p. . [ ] the infantry regiments in lee's army had companies. [ ] see summary of confederate legislation on the subject. livermore, p. . the purpose of these laws was to discourage the formation of new commands. it was not effective in alabama. [ ] these were the infantry regiments numbered , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . [ ] the infantry regiments numbered , , , . [ ] the infantry regiments numbered , , , . brewer, "regimental histories." [ ] these were the infantry regiments numbered , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . [ ] when the regiments enlisted for a short time were retained in the service, the men were allowed to change to other regiments if they desired, and many did so. these transfers and reënlistments swelled the total enrolment of popular regiments. [ ] this has since been the method of estimating the number of soldiers furnished by alabama,--each enlistment counting as one man. [ ] the infantry regiments numbered , , , , , , , . [ ] the d infantry. [ ] the regiments that were united were: , , and ; and ; and ; and ; , , , and - . all were in johnston's army except the d and th, which were in taylor's command. some of these regiments were consolidated after only one year's service; the others after less than two years. this indicates a low enrolment. many companies were never recruited to the minimum. three infantry regiments were disbanded after short service,-- , and ,--and the men reënlisted in other organizations. [ ] the d, d, th. a thousand to the regiment is a very liberal estimate; is probably more nearly correct, i am told by old soldiers. [ ] jeff davis artillery, hadaway's battery, jeff davis legion, th battalion infantry, d battalion infantry. [ ] the st, d, th, th, and th confederate regiments of cavalry had some companies from alabama. [ ] the th infantry. [ ] miller, p. . [ ] brewer evidently follows fowler, as to the army of northern virginia. [ ] not that this deceived the confederate administration, but the large estimates sounded well in the governor's messages, and when there was a dispute with richmond about the quota of the state. [ ] in and some regiments enlisted for short terms, some for three years, some for the war. i have been unable, in more than two or three cases, to find out the exact term, but there could hardly have been more than one reënlistment of an organization. [ ] the st, d, th, th, st, th, th- th, th, th, d, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, d, th. [ ] the d, russell's th, th, th, th, th, th. [ ] (_a_) there had been to the end of , , enlistments in alabama. included in these figures were all reënlistments and transfers. (_b_) in the summer of the state took a census of all males from sixteen to sixty years of age, a total of , names. these included , and later , , exempts, and all the cripples and deadheads in the state. since this was six months previous to the report of the , enlistments, there must have been in the latter number many that were on the former list. see o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. - , . [ ] west point graduates, nine. [ ] killed in battle, ten. [ ] derry, "story of the confederate states"; southern hist. soc. papers, vol. vi; brewer, "alabama," "regimental histories"; miller, "history of alabama," p. ; brown, "history of alabama," pp. - . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] riley, "baptists of alabama," p. ; o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol i, p. ; vol. ii, pp. , . [ ] _n. y. world_, march , ; "the land we love," vol. ii, p. . [ ] southern hist. soc. papers, vol. ii, p. ; shaver, "history of the sixtieth alabama," p. ; miller, "history of alabama," pp. , ; brewer, "alabama," pp. - ; "confederate military history"--alabama; longstreet, "manassas to appomattox"; "memorial record of alabama" (wheeler's "military history"); mcmorries, "history of the first alabama regiment." [ ] transactions ala. hist. soc., vol. ii, p. ; also john s. wise, "end of an era"; longstreet, "manassas to appomattox." [ ] _montgomery advertiser_ almanac ( ), p. . [ ] report of , appendix, pt. i, p. . [ ] report of the secretary of war, , appendix, pt. i, p. ; report of the secretary of war ( - ), p. ; moore, "rebellion record," vol. vii, p. ; miller, p. ; o. r., ser. iii, vol. iii, pp. , , and vol. iv, pp. , , , , ; o. r., ser. ii, vol. v, pp. , , , , , , ; "confederate military history"--alabama. [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] moore, "rebellion record," supplement. [ ] the th, th, th, etc. see moore, "rebellion record," supplement. the highest number of a militia regiment to be found on the records was the d, in sumter county. [ ] see o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii (shorter to johnston). [ ] moore, "rebellion record," vol. vi; o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. - . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxxix, pts. ii and iii, pp. , ; ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , . [ ] act of general assembly, aug. , , which seems to have followed an act of congress of similar nature. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. - , , . the state supreme court held the same view. [ ] moore, "rebellion record," vol. viii, p. . [ ] acts of general assembly, dec. , . [ ] _n. y. times_, april , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] see o. r., general index. [ ] the st, nd, and th regiments were thus formed, the men becoming subject to duty under the conscript act, or by volunteering. [ ] act, april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess. [ ] act, april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess. [ ] act, sept. , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., d sess. [ ] act, oct. , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., d sess. these details were still carried on the rolls of the company. [ ] act, oct. , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., d sess. the exemption of one white for twenty negroes was called the "twenty-nigger law." one peaceable black belt citizen wished to stay at home, but he possessed only nineteen negroes. his neighbors thought that he ought to go to war, and no one would give, lend, or sell him a slave. unable to purchase even the smallest negro, he was sadly making preparations to depart, when one morning he was rejoiced by the welcome news that one of the negro women had presented her husband with a fine boy. the tale of twenty negroes was complete, and the master remained at home. [ ] act of april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., d sess. [ ] acts, dec. , , and jan. , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., th sess. [ ] pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., th sess. [ ] act, feb. , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., th sess. [ ] acts, jan. , , st called session. [ ] act, aug. , . [ ] nov. , . [ ] dec. , . [ ] act, aug. , . [ ] dec. , . this was a measure of obstruction, since the confederate laws did not exempt millers. the legislature elected in contained many obstructionists. [ ] act, aug. , . [ ] resolution, dec. , . [ ] _ex parte_ hill, _in re_ willis _et al._ _vs._ confederate states-- alabama reports ( ), . all over the state at various times men sought to avoid conscription or some certain service under every pretext, sometimes "even resorting to a _habeas corpus_ before an ignorant justice of the peace, who had no jurisdiction over such cases." see o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii, p. ; also governor shorter to general johnston. aug., . [ ] dunkards, quakers, nazarenes. _in re_ stringer-- alabama ( ), . [ ] alabama, . [ ] alabama, . [ ] alabama, . [ ] alabama, . [ ] alabama, . [ ] alabama, . [ ] alabama, . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , , _et passim_. [ ] memorial, oct. , . [ ] acts, dec. , . [ ] dec. , . [ ] curry, "civil history of the confederate states," p. . [ ] the conscript bureau had posts at the following places: decatur, courtland, somerville, guntersville, tuscumbia, fayetteville, pikeville, camden, montgomery, selma, lebanon, pollard, troy, mobile, west point (ga.), marion, greensborough, blountsville, livingston, gadsden, cedar bluff, jacksonville, ashville, carrollton, tuscaloosa, eutaw, eufaula, jasper, newton, clarksville, talladega, elyton. o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. - . [ ] see de leon, "four years in rebel capitals." [ ] president davis visited mobile in october, , and upon reviewing the alabama troops recently raised, was much moved at seeing the young boys and the old gray-haired men in the ranks before him. see annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . the a. and i. general of alabama reported, july , , that not more than , conscripts could be secured from alabama unless the enemy could be expelled from the tennessee valley. in that case, more men might be secured. o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. ; vol. ii, pp. , , , . [ ] see curry, "civil history," p. . [ ] james phelan to president davis, o. r., ser. i, vol. xvii, pt. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xvii, pt. ii, p. . [ ] c. c. clay, jr., to secretary of war, o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. , . [ ] i know of one man who for two years carried his arm in a sling to deceive the enrolling officers. it was sound when he put it into the sling. after the war ended he could never regain the use of it. a draft from the home guards of selma was ordered to go to mobile. the roll was made out, and opposite his name each man was allowed to write his excuse for not wishing to go. one cripple, john smith, wrote, "one leg too short," and was at once excused by the board. the next man had no excuse whatever, but he had seen how smith's excuse worked, so he wrote, "both legs too short," but he had to go to mobile. "the land we love," vol. iii, p. . [ ] shorter's proclamation, dec. , . [ ] m. j. saffold, afterward a prominent "scalawag," escaped service as an "agent to examine political prisoners." o. r., ser. ii, vol. vi, p. . [ ] the list of pardons given by president johnson will show a number of the titles assumed by the exempts. the chronic exempts were skilled in all the arts of beating out. if a new way of securing exemption were discovered, the whole fraternity of "deadheads" soon knew of it. in nearly all the exemptions and details made in order to supply the quartermaster's department were revoked, and agents sent through the country to notify the former exempts that they were again subject to duty. before the enrolling officers reached them nearly all of them had secured a fresh exemption, and from a large district in middle alabama, i have been informed by the agent who revoked the contracts, not one recruit for the armies was secured. often the exemption was only a detail, and large numbers of men were carried on the rolls of companies who never saw their commands. often a man when conscripted would have sufficient influence to be at once detailed, and would never join his company. little attention was paid to the laws regarding exemption. [ ] curry, "civil history," pp. - . the wealthy young men volunteered, at first as privates or as officers; the older men of wealth nearly all became officers, chosen by their men. one company from tuskegee owned property worth over $ , , . _opelika post_, dec. , . [ ] act of feb. , , pub. laws, c. s. a. [ ] curry, "civil history," pp. - , . [ ] _n. y. world_, march , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] the law of feb. , , provided for the separate enrolment of these two classes, and the enrolling officers interpreted it as requiring separate service. such an interpretation would practically prohibit the formation of volunteer commands and would leave the reserves to the enrolling officers to be organized in camp. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , , , , , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , . at this time there were in the state officials who had the governor's certificate of exemption. there were in georgia, in virginia, , in north carolina, and much smaller numbers in the other states. see o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. (march , ). [ ] an ex-confederate related to me his experiences with the conscript officers. in he was at home on furlough and was taken by the "buttermilk" cavalry, carried to camp watts, at notasulga, and enrolled as a conscript, no attention being paid to his furlough. to camp watts were brought daily squads of conscripts, rounded up by the "buttermilk" cavalry. they were guarded by conscripts. when rested, the new recruits would leave, the guards often going with them. then another squad would be brought in, who in a day or two would desert. this soldier came home again with a discharge for disability. the conscript officials again took him to camp watts. he presented his discharge papers; the commandant tore them up before his face, and a few days later this soldier with a friend boarded the cowcatcher of a passing train and rode to chehaw. the commandant sent guards after the fugitives, who captured the guards and then went to tuskegee, where they swore out, as he said, a _habeas corpus_ before the justice of the peace and started for their homes with their papers. they found the swamps filled with the deserters, who did not molest them after finding that they too were "deserters." [ ] to january, . see report of colonel preston, april, , in o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , . the estimate was based on the census of . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , , _et passim_. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , . [ ] feb. , . [ ] there were to nov. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , - . [ ] g. o., no. , dept. of the cumberland, atlanta, ga., oct. , , war department archives. there were other similar cases, but i found record of no other conviction. the "tories" were sometimes in league with the conscript officers, and sometimes they shot them at sight. [ ] d. p. lewis of lawrence, jeremiah (or jere) clemens of madison, and c. c. sheets of winston deserted later. [ ] t. h. clark, "railroads and highways," in the "memorial record of alabama," vol. i, pp. - . [ ] smith, clemens, jemison, and bulger, in smith's "history and debates of the convention of "; hodgson, "cradle of the confederacy"; garrett, "public men of alabama." [ ] see smith's "history and debates of the convention of "; nicolay and hay, "lincoln," vol. iii, p. . [ ] a. b. hendren, mayor of athens and editor of the _union banner_, wrote in to secretary walker, stating that he had strongly opposed secession, but was now convinced that it was right; as mayor, he was committed to reconstruction, which he no longer favored; he did not proclaim his new sentiments through his paper for fear of pecuniary loss, but people were becoming suspicious of his lukewarm reconstruction spirit. o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, pp. , . [ ] "northern alabama illustrated," p. ; ku klux rept. ala. test., pp. , ; saunders, "early settlers"; brewer, "alabama," p. ; garrett, "public men"; miller, "alabama"; nicolay and hay, vol. iii, p. ; dubose, "life of yancey," pp. , . [ ] see dubose, "life of yancey," p. . the non-slaveholders in the black belt appear to have been more dissatisfied than those of the white counties at the outbreak of the war. may , , william m. brooks, who had presided over the secession convention, wrote from perry county to president davis in regard to the bad effect of the refusal to accept short-time volunteers. he said that though there were , slaves in perry county, most of the whites were non-slaveholders. some of the latter had been made to believe that the war was solely to get more slaves for the rich, and many who had no love for slaveholders were declaring that they would "fight for no rich man's slave." the men who had enlisted were largely of the hill class, poor folks who left their work to go to camp and drill. here, while their crops wasted, they lost their ardor, and when they heard that their one-year enlistment was not to be accepted, they began to murmur. they were made to believe by traitors that a rich man could enter the army for a year and then quit, while they had to enlist for the war. o. r., ser. iv, vol. viii, pp. - . horace greeley in the _tribune_ was reported to have said: large slaveholders were not secessionists, they resisted disunion; those who had much at stake hesitated a long while; it was not a "slaveholders' rebellion"; it was really a rebellion of the non-slaveholders resident in the strongholds of slavery, springing from no love of slavery, but from the antagonism of race and the hatred of the idea of equality with the blacks involved in simple emancipation.--ku klux rept., p. . there is a basis of truth in this. [ ] north alabama before the war was overwhelmingly democratic and was called "the avalanche" from the way it overran the whiggish counties of the southern and central sections. this was shown in the convention, where representation was based on the white vote. since the war representation in the conventions is based on population, and the black belt has controlled the white counties. "northern alabama illustrated," pp. , . see also dubose, "yancey," p. . [ ] professor george w. duncan of auburn, ala., and many others have given me information in regard to the people in that section. see also h. mis. doc. no. , th cong., st sess.; _n. y. tribune_, nov. , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. iii, p. . for much information concerning the conditions in north alabama during the war, i am indebted to professor o. d. smith of the alabama polytechnic institute, a native of vermont who was then a confederate bonded treasury agent and travelled extensively over that part of the country. [ ] reid, "after the war," pp. - ; saunders, "early settlers," pp. , ; jones, "a rebel war clerk's diary," vol. i, pp. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. . . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, pt. ii, p. . [ ] moore, "anecdotes, poetry, and incidents of the war," p. (letters from the chaplain of streight's regiment); o. r., ser. i, vol. xvi, pt. i, pp. , (streight's report); miller, "alabama"; jones, "diary," vol. i, pp. - . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. vii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. vii, pp. - , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. - . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxxix, pt. ii, p. . [ ] the official statement of the war department. see also "confederate military history," vol. xii, p. . [ ] act of general assembly, aug. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, p. . [ ] joint resolution, dec. , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxxii, pt. i, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxxii, pt. i, p. , and vol. xxxiii, pt. iii, pp. , , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxxiii, pt. iii, pp. , , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. i, p. . [ ] somers, "the southern states since the war," p. ; _montgomery advertiser_, aug. , ; _n. y. tribune_, feb. , ; freemantle, "three months in the southern states." [ ] moore, "rebellion record," vol. vii, p. ; freemantle, p. . [ ] freemantle, "three months in the southern states," p. , quoted from a local newspaper; accounts of eye-witnesses. [ ] miller, _passim_; somers, "southern states," p. . [ ] miller, p. ; moore, "rebellion record," vol. vii, p. . [ ] saunders, "early settlers," pp. , . [ ] this correspondent defined a "unionist" or "loyalist" as one truly devoted to the union and who had never wavered, thus excluding from consideration those who had gone with the confederacy and later become disappointed. _boston journal_, nov. , ; _n. y. herald_, april , ; _the tribune_, nov. , ; _n. y. times_, nov. , ; tharin, "the alabama refugee." [ ] _the world_, feb. , . [ ] information in regard to affairs in southeast alabama during the war i have obtained from relatives (all of whom were "union" men before the war) and from neighbors who were acquainted with the conditions in that section of the country. [ ] miller, "alabama." sanders had been a confederate officer. [ ] thickets which the eye could not penetrate. [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. lii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxviii, pt. ii, p. ; ser. iv, vol. ii, p. . [ ] joint resolution, oct. , . j. j. seibels proposed to raise a regiment for state defence of men under and over military age. he wanted, also, to get the skulkers who could not otherwise be obtained. o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , (solicitor james n. arrington and attorney-general m. a. baldwin). [ ] clemens was a cousin of "mark twain." he was fond of drink, and once when william l. yancey asked him not to drink so much, he answered that he was obliged to drink his genius down to a level with yancey's. [ ] _n. y. tribune_, may , . see smith, "debates," index. [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, pt. ii, pp. , , , . clemens had been captain, major, and colonel of the thirteenth united states infantry. from to he was united states senator. he died in philadelphia a few years after the war. garrett, "public men of alabama," pp. - . [ ] brewer, "alabama," p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. lii, pt. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, pt. ii, pp. - . [ ] "northern alabama illustrated," p. ; acts of alabama, , p. ; moore, "anecdotes, poetry, and incidents of the war," p. . [ ] lewis became the second "radical" or scalawag governor of alabama, serving from to . miller, "alabama," pp. , ; brewer, "alabama," p. . [ ] o. r., ser. ii, vol. viii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxx, pt. iii, pp. - . [ ] it is a notable fact that among the disaffected persons of prominence there were none of the old whigs, or bell and everett men. nearly all were douglas democrats. the bell and everett people so conducted themselves during the war that afterwards they were as completely disfranchised and out of politics as were the breckenridge democrats. the work of reconstruction under the johnson plan fell mainly to the former douglas democrats and the lesser whigs. [ ] report of the secretary of war, , vol. i, p. ; "confederate military history," vol. xii, p. . [ ] report of the secretary of war, vol. i, p. ; "confederate military history," vol. xii, p. . [ ] i am indebted to old soldiers for descriptions of conditions in north and west alabama before and following taylor's surrender. all agree in their accounts of the conditions in alabama and mississippi at that time. [ ] these estimates are based on half a hundred other estimates made during the war by state, confederate, and federal officials, and by other observers, and from estimates made by persons familiar with conditions at that time. they are rather too small than too large. o. r., ser. iv, vols. i to iv _passim_. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, pp. , . [ ] see also pollard, "lost cause," p. ; schwab, p. . [ ] see below, ch. xxi. [ ] see dubose, "yancey," pp. , , and brewer and garrett under the names of the above. [ ] brewer, p. ; garrett, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] joint resolution, acts of st called sess., , p. . [ ] joint resolution, acts of called sess. and d regular sess., , p. . [ ] acts of called sess. and d regular sess., , p. . [ ] a "bomb-proof" was a person who secured a safe position in order to keep out of service in the field. a "feather bed" was one who stayed at home with good excuse,--a teacher, agriculturist, preacher, etc., who had only recently been called to such profession. [ ] by act of the legislature soldiers in the field were to vote, but no instance is found of their having done so. [ ] see hannis taylor, "political history of alabama," in "memorial record of alabama," vol. i, p. . [ ] jones, "a rebel war clerk's diary," vol. i, pp. , , ; schwab, "confederate states," p. ; garrett, p. ; brewer, p. . [ ] acts of d regular sess., , p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; schwab, "confederate states," pp. , ; brewer, ; garrett, pp. , . see _infra_, p. . [ ] shorter's proclamation, dec. , , in moore, "rebellion record," vol. iv, and above, p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, p. ; brewer, pp. , , ; garrett, p. ; hannis taylor, in "memorial record of alabama," p. . [ ] acts, d regular sess., , p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . francis wayland, jr., in a "letter to a peace democrat" in the _atlantic monthly_, dec., , quotes governor watts as saying immediately after he had been elected: "if i had the power i would build up a wall of fire between yankeedom and the confederate states, there to burn for ages." see also o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. ; mcmorries, "history of the first alabama regiment of infantry." [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , , , , . see also above, pp. , , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , , , . [ ] act, oct. , . [ ] act, dec. , . [ ] see mcpherson, "rebellion," pp. - . [ ] the "confederate military history" states that in the people hoped for terms of peace, believing that democratic successes in the northern elections would result in an armistice, and later reconstruction; that the people were always ready to go back to the principles of , and it was believed that davis was willing, but that the unfavorable elections of and the military interference by the federal administration in the border states killed this constitutional peace party. see vol. i, pp. , . [ ] williamson r. w. cobb of jackson county, a very popular politician, a member of the th congress, met his first defeat in , when a candidate for the confederate congress. in he was successful over the man who had beaten him in . after the election, if not before, he was in constant communication with the enemy and went into their lines several times. the congress expelled him by a unanimous vote. it was rumored that president lincoln intended to appoint him military governor, but he killed himself accidentally in . cobb was a "down east yankee" who had come into the state as a clock pedler. he had no education and little real ability, but was a smooth talker and was master of the arts of the demagogue. in political life he was famed for shaking hands with the men, kissing the women, and playing with the babies. at a hardshell foot-washing he won favor by carrying around the towels, in striking contrast with his episcopalian rival, who sat on the back bench. cobb was for the confederacy as long as he thought it would win; when luck changed, he proceeded to make himself safe. after his desertion he lost influence among the people of his district. see brewer, pp. , ; mcpherson, pp. , , , . [ ] o. r., vol. ii, p. (w. t. walthall, commandant of conscripts for alabama, talladega, aug. , ). in the fall of a secret peace society was discovered in southwest virginia, north carolina, and tennessee. o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. - . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii, pp. - . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii, pp. , . [ ] the st alabama regiment was composed largely of conscripts under veteran officers. it was evidently at first called the th. brewer, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii, p. . [ ] the th alabama regiment was recruited in the counties of pike, coffee, dale, henry, and barbour. see brewer, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii, p. . the th alabama regiment was formed from a part of hilliard's legion. brewer, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii, pp. , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxvi, pt. ii, p. ; brewer, "alabama," p. . it may be that the th regiment here spoken of as consolidated was not the th under the command of bolling hall, but was merely the first number given to the regiment, which later became the st. see brewer, pp. , . however, the society existed in bolling hall's regiment. [ ] see nicolay and hay, "lincoln," vol. viii, pp. - ; mcpherson, "rebellion," pp. - . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xxxiii, pt. iii, pp. , , and vol. xxii, pt. i, p. ; ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. - . a fuller account of the peace society will be found in the _south atlantic quarterly_, july, . some of the prominent leaders in the peace society were said to be: lewis e. parsons, later provisional governor, said to be the head of it; col. j. j. seibels of montgomery; r. s. heflin, state senator from randolph county; w. w. dodson, william kent, david a. perryman, lieut.-col. e. b. smith, w. armstrong, and a. a. west, of randolph county; capt. w. s. smith, demopolis; l. mckee and lieut. n. b. dearmon. general james h. clanton testified in that while in the alabama legislature during the war l. e. parsons, afterwards governor, introduced resolutions invoking the blessings of heaven on the head of jefferson davis and praying that god would spare him to consummate his holy purposes. jabez m. curry charged parsons with being a "reconstructionist" during the war, that is, with being disloyal to the government. parsons had two young sons in the confederate army, and one of them was so indignant at the charge against his father that he shot and wounded curry. dr. ware of montgomery afterwards made the same charge. ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] see o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. i, p. . "confederate military history," vol. i, pp. , , , , . [ ] a douglas democrat, a douglas elector, and a strong secessionist, who had deserted to the enemy. brewer, p. . [ ] _n. y. times_, feb. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , ; _n. y. daily news_, april , , from columbus (ga.) sun. [ ] _n. y. tribune_, may , . [ ] _n. y. world_, march , . [ ] _n. y. times_, march , ; _n. y. world_, march , . busteed was a newly appointed federal judge who afterward became notorious in "carpet-bag" days. he succeeded george w. lane in the judgeship. [ ] there were several regular, reliable correspondents in north alabama, for the new york, boston, and chicago papers. their accounts are corroborated by the reports made later by confederate and federal officials. [ ] at this time bulger was in active service. see brewer, "alabama," pp. , ; "confederate military history"--alabama, see index. bradley was a north alabama man who had gone over to the enemy to save his property. this was his chief claim to notoriety. he became a prominent "scalawag" later. [ ] _n. y. herald_, nov. , ; _n. y. times_, feb. , ; _boston journal_, nov. , ; _the world_, march , , feb. , ; o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. i, pp. , . [ ] later governor, succeeding parsons. [ ] letter from giers at decatur, jan. , ; o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. i, pp. , . see also report of joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii, pp. - , , . [ ] giers, from nashville, to grant; o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. i, p. . [ ] judging from the correspondence of giers, the plan had the approval of general grant. [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. ii, p. . [ ] this fear is expressed in all their correspondence. [ ] davis, "rise and fall of the confederate government," vol. i, p. ; o. r., ser. i, vol. iii, p. . [ ] miller, "history of alabama," p. ; davis, "confederate government," vol. i, p. ; o. r., ser. i, vol. iii, p. . [ ] acts of d called and st regular sess. ( ), pp. , . [ ] april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess. [ ] april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess.; governor's proclamation, march , . [ ] april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess. [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. iii, pp. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , ; davis, vol. i, p. ; "southern hist. soc. papers," vol. ii, p. . [ ] miller, "history of alabama," pp. , ; davis, vol. i, pp. , ; hardy, "history of selma," pp. , ; _n. y. times_, nov. , (truman); o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , . the arsenal was commanded by col. j. l. white; the naval foundries and the rolling mills were under the direction of capt. catesby ap roger jones, the designer of the _virginia_; commodore ebenezer farrand superintended the construction of war vessels at the selma navy-yard. captain jones cast the heavy ordnance for the forts at mobile, charleston, and wilmington. five gunboats were built at selma in and two or three others in - . the ram _tennessee_, built in - , was constructed like the _virginia_, but was an improvement except for the weak engines. when the keel of the _tennessee_ was laid, in the fall of , some of the timbers to be used in her were still standing in the forest, and the iron for her plates was ore in the mines. scharf, "confederate navy," pp. , , , ; "northern alabama illustrated," p. ; maclay, "history of united states navy," vol. ii, pp. , ; wilson, "ironclads in action," vol. i, p. . [ ] ball, "clarke county," p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. , . [ ] miller, pp. , ; davis, vol. i, p. ; porcher, p. . [ ] april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] one of the most valuable of these caves was the "santa cave." see o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. , . [ ] in the war department gave leonard and riddle of montgomery an order for , pounds of nitre, and a company near larkinsville in north alabama was making pounds a day, which it sold to the government at to cents a pound. o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] april , . pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess.; acts of ala., dec. , , and dec. , ; o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , , , ; davis, vol. i, pp. , , ; miller, pp. , ; schwab, "confederate states," p. ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; le conte's "autobiography," p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] somers, "southern states," p. . [ ] somers, p. . [ ] april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , , , . [ ] freight rates in alabama were as follows in december, :-- . ammunition $ . per lbs., per miles. . (second class) . per lbs., per miles. . live stock . per car, per miles. . hay, fodder, wagons, ambulances, etc. . per car, per miles. troops were to be carried for - / to - / cents a mile per man. o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, p. . [ ] charles t. pollard, president of the montgomery and west point r.r., who ran his road under direction of the government, reported, april , , that he had placed the whole line between montgomery and selma under contract, and that it would be completed within the year if iron could be obtained. he thought the road between selma and meridian ought to be completed at once. o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, pp. , . on sept. , , it was reported that the grading was finished on the road between montgomery and union springs, but that no iron could be obtained. o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. ; pub. laws, c.s.a., feb. , . [ ] on april , , the secretary of war wrote to a. s. gaines that the road from selma to demopolis had been completed; from demopolis to reagan, a distance of miles, a part of the grading had been done; while the road from reagan to meridian, a distance of miles, had been graded, bridged, and some iron had been laid. o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, pp. - , . gaines stated, april , , that on the mississippi end of the road the road was completed to within miles of demopolis, ala., and was being built at the rate of miles a week. connection was made by boat to gainesville, within miles of which a spur of the mobile and ohio, miles long, had been completed. o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, pp. , ; vol. ii, pp. , , , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. - ; vol. iii, p. ; stats.-at-large, prov. cong., c.s.a., feb. , ; pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess., april and oct. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] acts, feb. , . [ ] acts, d called and st regular sess., p. . [ ] governor moore to sec. l. p. walker, july , , o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. ; somers, p. . [ ] schwab, "confederate states," p. . [ ] somers, p. . [ ] acts, dec. , , acts of ala., d called and st regular sess. _passim_. [ ] le conte states that in he found the only bessemer furnace in the confederacy at shelbyville; it was the first that he had ever seen. "autobiography," pp. - . it was probably the first in america. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] miller, pp. , , , ; davis, vol. i, p. ; _montgomery advertiser_, july , ; _n. y. herald_, may , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] this act authorized the governor to lease the salt springs belonging to the state and to require the lessee to sell salt at cents a bushel at the salt works. the state paid cents a bushel bounty and advanced $ , to the salt maker. acts, nov. and nov. , . [ ] one private maker with one furnace and from to hands made bushels a day. another, with hands, burning cords of wood, made bushels a day. there were also many other private salt makers. [ ] ball, "clarke county," pp. - , ; "our women in war," p. _et seq._ [ ] acts, nov. , , and dec. , . [ ] acts, dec. , , oct. , , and dec. , . [ ] miller, "alabama," pp. , , ; hague, "blockaded family"; "our women in war," pp. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, sept. , ; miller, p. . [ ] _american cyclopædia_ ( ), p. ; _n. y. times_, april , . to show the character of the white laborers employed in the salt works: in reconstruction days, a prominent negro politician told how, when a slave, he had to keep accounts, and read and write letters for the whites at the salt works, who were very ignorant people. [ ] later the southern express company, which is still in existence. it was the southern division of the adams express company. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] miller, pp. , , , ; davis, vol. ii, p. ; _montgomery advertiser_, july , ; _n. y. herald_, may , ; acts of the general assembly of alabama, - , _passim_. the freedman's bureau was largely supported by sales of the remnants of iron works, etc. [ ] smith, "debates," pp. , . [ ] smith, "debates," pp. , . [ ] in his message of oct. , , governor shorter made a report showing that the finances of the state for were in good condition, and advised against levying a tax on the people to pay the state's quota of the confederate tax. he stated that the banks had done good service to the state; that, though in time of peace they were a necessary evil, now they were a public necessity; that all the money used to date by the state in carrying on the war had come from the banks. o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, pp. - . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, pp. - ; acts of gen. assembly, feb. , nov. and , and dec. and , ; patton's message, jan. , . [ ] ordinance no. , amending sections , , , of the code, march , . [ ] in two banks were chartered, two in , five in , and two in . several of these were savings-banks. [ ] ordinance no. , jan. , ; nos. and , march , . [ ] schwab, p. ; davis, vol. i, p. ; journal of the convention of , p. ; acts of ala., jan. , feb. and , dec. , ; stats.-at-large, prov. cong., c. s. a., feb. , ; miller, "alabama," pp. , . [ ] journal of the convention, , p. ; acts of ala., nov. , dec. , , and , ; miller, p. . [ ] jour. of the convention of , p. ; acts of ala., aug. , dec. , ; miller, pp. , . [ ] miller, p. ; acts of ala., oct. and dec. , . [ ] resolutions of gen. assembly, dec. , ; schwab, p. . [ ] resolutions, dec. , . [ ] confederate funding act, feb. , . [ ] acts of ala., oct. , ; schwab, pp. , . [ ] acts of ala., dec. , . [ ] acts of ala., _passim_. notes of the state and of state banks were hoarded, while confederate notes were distrusted. pollard, "lost cause," p. . [ ] acts of ala., nov. , ; schwab, p. . it was considered a matter of patriotism to invest funds in confederate securities. not many other investments offered; there was little trade in negroes. pollard, "lost cause," p. . [ ] acts of ala., dec. , . [ ] acts of ala., dec. , . [ ] clark, "finance and banking," in the "memorial record of alabama," vol. i, p. . statement of j. h. fitts. [ ] patton's message, jan. , . [ ] jones, "diary," vol. i, p. . north carolina alone had contributed more--$ , . [ ] clark, "education in alabama," p. . [ ] acts of ala., dec. , . [ ] the state authorities considered it inexpedient to levy heavier state taxes. the people had always been opposed to heavy state taxes, but paid county taxes more willingly. so the gift of $ , to the confederate government in and the $ , , war tax of the same year were assumed by the state, and bonds were issued. stats.-at-large, prov. cong., c.s.a., feb. , ; acts of ala., nov. , . [ ] another measure aimed at the speculator. [ ] acts of ala., dec. , . [ ] acts of ala., dec. , . [ ] pub. laws, st cong., st sess., april , . [ ] pollard, "lost cause," p. . [ ] pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., d sess., april , . [ ] see also curry, "confederate states," p. . [ ] pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., th sess., jan. , . [ ] pub. laws, c.s.a., d cong., st sess., june and , . [ ] miller, "alabama," p. . [ ] _n. y. times_, feb. , . [ ] fitzgerald ross, "cities and camps of the confederate states," pp. , . [ ] miller, p. . [ ] acts of ala., nov. , . [ ] acts of ala., nov. , . [ ] acts of ala., oct. , . [ ] o. r., ser. ii, vol. iii, p. ; g. o., , a. and i. g. office, richmond, dec. , ; miller, pp. , ; beverly, "history of alabama,"; a. c. gordon, in _century magazine_, sept., ; david dodge, in _atlantic monthly_, aug., . [ ] pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., d sess., march , . [ ] a conference of impressment commissioners met in augusta, ga., oct. , . among those present were wylie w. mason, of tuskegee, ala., and robert c. farris, of montgomery, ala. see o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. - . [ ] schwab, p. ; saunders, "early settlers." schedules were printed in all the newspapers, and many have been reprinted in the official records. [ ] jones, "diary," vol. i, p. ; miller, "alabama," pp. , ; pollard, "lost cause," pp. - . [ ] acts of ala., nov. , . [ ] jones, "diary," vol. i, p. . [ ] pub. laws, c.s.a., d cong., st sess., june , ; saunders, "early settlers." [ ] resolutions of gen. assembly, nov. , . [ ] ball, "clarke county," p. . [ ] smith, "debates," pp. - . [ ] stats.-at-large, prov. cong., c.s.a. [ ] stat.-at-large, prov. cong., d sess.; mcpherson, "rebellion," pp. , . european merchants and capitalists also had a large trade with the south when the war broke out, and thus sustained great losses. they had made large advances to southern planters and merchants, and were also interested in property in the south. proceeds were remitted to foreign creditors or owners in confederate or state currency or bonds for there was no other form of remittance. robertson, "the confederate debt and private southern debts" (english pamphlet). [ ] mcpherson, "rebellion," pp. , ; acts of prov. cong., aug. , ; benjamin's "instructions to receivers," sept. , . [ ] stats.-at-large, prov. cong., d sess., feb. , . [ ] mcpherson, "rebellion," p. . [ ] acts of ala., dec. , . [ ] two years after the passage of the sequestration law its entire proceeds in the confederacy amounted to less than $ , , . pollard, "lost cause," p. . [ ] suspension of specie payments had been made in order to prevent a drain on the banks. the confederate government took possession of some of the coin, while much was used in the contraband and blockade trade. all this contributed to discredit confederate paper currency. pollard, "lost cause," p. . in may, , general beauregard seized $ , in coin from a bank in jackson, ala. the coin belonged to a new orleans bank and had been sent out to prevent confiscation by butler. confederate money was almost worthless at mobile in , while in the interior of the state it still had a fair value. [ ] confederate paper held up well in and , though prices were very high. the people were opposed to fixing a depreciated value to confederate money, but they were forced to do so by speculators. the money was worth more the farther away from richmond, though comparison with gold should not be made, as gold was scarce, and prices in gold fell. board, which formerly cost $ a day, could now be had for fifty cents in gold. gold was not a standard of value, but an article of commerce with a fictitious value. pollard, "lost cause," p. . [ ] clark, "finance and banking memorial record," vol. i, p. ; "two months in the confederate states by an english merchant," pp. , ; debow's review for . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. x, pt. ii, p. . [ ] ball, "clarke county," pp. , ; miller, p. ; oral accounts. [ ] _n. y. times_, april , (from mobile papers). [ ] _n. y. times_, sept. , . [ ] smedes, "a southern planter," p. . [ ] hague, "blockaded family," _passim_; "our women in the war," _passim_; jacobs, "drug conditions." [ ] ball, "clarke county," p. . [ ] miller, p. . a negro went to a conscript camp in with a fifty-cent jug of whiskey. he gave his master a bottleful from the jug, replacing what he had taken out by water. the resulting mixture he sold for $ a drink, a drink being a cap-box full. each drink poured out of the jug was replaced by the same measure of water. in this way he made $ before the mixture was so diluted that the thirsty soldiers would not buy. related by the negro's master. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] _montgomery daily advertiser_, april , . but for another month state money circulated in montgomery. [ ] see messages and papers of the presidents, vol. vi, p. . [ ] messages and papers of the presidents, vol. vi, pp. , . [ ] in the south exported $ , , worth of cotton, and mobile was the second cotton port of america. scharf, "history of the confederate navy," pp. , . besides the regular ship channel there were two shallow entrances to mobile bay, through which blockade-runners passed. soley, "the blockade and the cruisers," p. . regular water communication with new orleans was kept up until through mississippi sound. scharf, p. ; maclay, "a history of the united states navy," vol. ii, p. . [ ] miller, "alabama," p. ; acts of the called sess. ( ), p. ; acts of d called and st regular sess. ( ), pp. , , , . [ ] the blockading force before mobile in often consisted of only one vessel (soley, p. ), and the people of mobile believed that foreign nations would not recognize the blockade as effective. there was an english squadron under admiral milne in the gulf, and on aug. , , the _mobile register and advertiser_ said that a conflict between the english and united states forces was expected; the english were then to raise the blockade. scharf, p. . [ ] this, however, was not the plan favored by ex-gov. a. b. moore, who, on feb. , , wrote to president davis stating his belief that the permission given by the federal fleet to export cotton was a "yankee trick" to get cotton to leave port in order to seize it. he thought that the confederate government should forbid all exportation of cotton until the close of the war. "this leaky blockade system should be deprecated as one [in which the parties] are either dupes or knaves and [is] not in the least calculated to demonstrate the fact that our cotton crops are a necessity to the commerce of the world." if cotton was not a necessity to europe, then the sooner the south knew it the better; if it was a necessity, the sooner europe knew it the better. o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] acts of feb. and dec. , . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. ; ser. i, vol. xxxiii, pt. iii, p. . [ ] the confederate war and treasury departments required that each steamship coming and going should reserve one-half its tonnage for government use. the owners of an outgoing vessel had to make bond to return with one-half the cargo for the government and the other half in articles the importation of which was not prohibited by the confederate government. the confederate government paid five pence sterling a pound on outgoing freight, payable in a british port. on return freight £ a ton was paid in cotton at a confederate port. the expenses of one blockade-runner for one trip amounted to $ , ; while the gross profits were $ , , leaving a net gain of $ , on the trip. scharf, pp. , . [ ] joseph jacobs, "drug conditions." [ ] soley, pp. , . [ ] see taylor, "running the blockade." a typical blockade-runner of - was a long, low, slender, rakish sidewheel steamer, of to tons, about nine times as long as broad, with powerful engines, twin screws, and feathering paddles. the funnels were short and could be lowered to the deck. it was painted a dull gray or lead color, and the masts being very short, it could not be seen more than two hundred yards away. when possible to obtain it, anthracite coal was burned, and when running into port all lights were turned out and the steam blown off under water. scharf, p. ; soley, p. ; spears, vol. iv, p. . [ ] "two months in the confederate states by english merchant," p. ; taylor, "running the blockade"; hague, "a blockaded family"; "our women in war," _passim_; jacobs, "drug conditions." [ ] report of a. roane, chief of the produce loan office; richmond, to secretary of treasury trenholm, oct. , , in h. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; "two months in the confederate states," p. . [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, p. . [ ] jones, "a rebel war clerk's diary," vol. i, p. . [ ] scharf, pp. , ; spears, vol. iv, p. . [ ] bancroft. "seward," vol. ii, p. ; wilson, "ironclads in action," vol. i, pp. - . [ ] scharf, p. ; wilson, pp. , . [ ] scharf, p. , says that the press and public sentiment were against allowing shipment of cotton to districts or through ports held by the united states. when in danger of capture the cotton was burned. pollard states that the richmond authorities were opposed to allowing any extensive cotton trade through the lines or through blockaded ports, because it was believed that the union finances were in bad condition and would not stand the loss of cotton manufacturing. moreover, the confederate authorities were afraid of the demoralization caused by contraband trade, and also feared that europe might consider that licensed trade through ports in possession of the enemy, like new orleans, was a confession of the weakness of king cotton, and would refuse to recognize the confederacy. "lost cause," pp. - . [ ] the north was determined to show that cotton was not king, and to do this it must get all the cotton possible from the south by allowing a contraband trade in which nearly or quite all the profits on the cotton should be stripped off, leaving only the bare cost to the confederate government or cotton planter. the north was willing that the south should sell all its cotton, but the north was to be middleman. scharf, p. ; "personal memoirs of u. s. grant," vol. i, p. . [ ] the various proclamations, orders, regulations, and laws affecting commercial intercourse between the united states and the confederate states will be found in a compilation of the united states treasury department entitled "acts of congress and rules and regulations prescribed by the secretary of the treasury, in pursuance thereto, with the approval of the president, concerning commercial intercourse with and in states and parts of states declared in insurrection, captured, abandoned, and confiscable property, the care of freedmen, and the purchase of products of insurrectionary districts on government account." the proclamations of the president will be found in the messages and papers of the presidents. see also sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess., and no. , d cong., d sess., p. ; ho. ex. doc., no. __, th cong., d sess., p. ; ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess., p. . a fuller account of the trade regulations is in the _south atlantic quarterly_, july, . [ ] act, april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess. [ ] act, feb. , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., th sess. [ ] the state officials in - planned to exchange cotton from mississippi and alabama with the cotton speculators in tennessee for bacon. davis opposed (pollard, p. ), but, nevertheless, the change was made. along the tennessee river there was much trading with the enemy. in order to conform with the united states regulations forbidding the payment of coin for confederate staples, the northern speculator bought confederate and state money, often at a high price ($ gold for $ in confederate currency or $ to $ in alabama, georgia, or south carolina bank-notes), with which to carry on the cotton trade. o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, p. . [ ] shorter, who was opposed to contraband trade, complained in july, , that the cotton speculators in mobile had an understanding with butler and farragut by which salt was allowed to come in and cotton, in unlimited quantities, allowed to go out. o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, p. . [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] ho. rept., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. , . davis probably made his last official indorsement on this report, apr. , . he forwarded it to the adjutant and inspector-general with instructions to look into the matter. [ ] somers, "the southern states since the war," p. . general grant, july , , stated that this trade through west tennessee was injurious to the united states forces. "restriction, if lived up to," he said, "makes trade unprofitable and hence none but dishonest men go into it. i will venture to say, that no honest man has made money in west tennessee in the last year, while many fortunes have been made there during the time." so vexed was general grant with the speculators that, early in , he suspended all permits, but within a month he had to remove the suspensions. scharf, pp. , , . [ ] taylor, "destruction and reconstruction," pp. , . [ ] confederate currency was plentiful in the north, where it was made even more cheaply than in the south, and the southerners did not notice the difference. [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, pt. ii, pp. - , - . [ ] ho. rept., no. , th cong., d sess.; no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] _n. y. herald_, april , . [ ] jacobs, "drug conditions," p. . the southern express company worked in connection with the adams, of which it had been a part before . [ ] jacobs, "drug conditions," pp. - . [ ] ho. repts., th cong., d sess., p. . before this, samuel noble of rome, georgia, representing himself as a "loyal" man (he was introduced and vouched for by george w. quintard), made a contract with a united states treasury agent to deliver , bales of cotton from alabama, georgia, louisiana, and south carolina. in alabama at that time he owned bales at selma, at mobile, and had much more contracted for. the cotton was to be delivered at huntsville, mobile, and places in the adjoining states. noble was to get three-fourths of the proceeds, according to the regulations. ho. rept., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] statement of professor o. d. smith of auburn, ala., who was then a confederate bonded agent operating in north alabama. [ ] taylor, "destruction and reconstruction," p. . [ ] letter of secretary chase to hon. e. b. washburne, in ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] acts of gen. assembly, nov. , . as early as jan. , , governor moore reported that the poorest classes were in want and that much suffering, perhaps starvation, would result unless aid were given. o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . the soldiers' families were reported to be almost destitute in april, . _idem_, p. . [ ] acts of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] jones, "diary," vol. i, pp. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, nov. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, nov. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, nov. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, oct. , . [ ] acts of gen. assembly, oct. and dec. , , and aug. , . miller, "alabama," p. . [ ] acts of gen. assembly, nov. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, nov. , . [ ] jones, "diary," vol. i, p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, dec. , . [ ] act, april , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., th sess.; act of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, aug. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, aug. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, aug. , . [ ] resolutions of gen. assembly, aug. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] acts of gen. assembly, dec. and dec. , . [ ] acts of gen. assembly, oct. , , and dec. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] acts of gen. assembly, dec. , , aug. and , , and dec. , . [ ] acts of gen. assembly, dec. , . there were confederate soldiers who were paid only twice in two years' service, and then not enough to buy a new uniform. the following incident is related of the th alabama infantry: at chancellorsville some federals had been captured by the regiment, and as they were being sent back over the field covered with dead federals, one of the prisoners remarked: "you rebs are sharper than you used to be. you used to shoot us anywhere; now you shoot us in the head so as not to bloody our clothes." the th was a regiment of sharpshooters from north alabama. the narrator says that the prisoner was alluding to "the practice of stripping the dead of their clothing to cover our nakedness."--"the land we love," vol. ii, pp. . [ ] the legislature had offered $ , for , pairs of shoes, but received none. [ ] miller, p. ; acts of gen. assembly, dec. , ; o. r., ser. iv, vol. ii, pp. , . [ ] resolutions of gen. assembly, nov. , . [ ] miller, "alabama," p. . [ ] miller, p. . [ ] miller, "alabama," pp. , , . [ ] saunders, "early settlers," p. . [ ] saunders, "early settlers," p. ; hague, "blockaded family"; clayton, "white and black under the old régime"; "our women in the war." [ ] governor shorter's proclamation, march , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; resolution, april , , pub. laws, th cong., d sess. [ ] a report to davis in october, , stated that alabama, georgia, and mississippi had been supplying the confederate armies. georgia was exhausted, and alabama, having sent , pounds of bacon, could do no more. pollard, "lost cause," pp. - . but in remote counties were large stores of supplies that could not be moved for want of transportation facilities. [ ] "our women in the war," p. _et seq._ [ ] moore, "rebellion records," p. ; o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] acts of gen. assembly, nov. , . [ ] jones, "diary," vol. i, p. ; schwab, p. . [ ] acts of gen. assembly, nov. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] act of gen. assembly, dec. , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. x, p. . [ ] in september, , surgeon richard potts was instructed to buy all the apple brandy to be had, at not more than $ a gallon, but to purchase as a private individual in order not to have to pay too much. o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] saunders, "early settlers of alabama," p. ; o. r., ser. iv, vol. i, p. . [ ] see also article by c. c. jones, jr., in _magazine of american history_, vol. xvi, pp. - ; j. w. beverly (colored), "history of alabama," p. . [ ] act, jan. , ; beverly, "alabama," p. . [ ] april and , , pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., d sess. [ ] acts, oct. and nov. , . [ ] resolutions, aug. , . [ ] i have known two men who hired negro substitutes to go to the army, and the negroes having been killed in battle, the whites were forced to go. [ ] beverly, "alabama," p. ; miller, "alabama," pp. , , ; curry, "civil history," p. ; o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, p. . [ ] john s. wise, "end of an era," pp. , , speaks of the impression made by the d alabama before and after the two years' service. the privates in one company in this regiment paid tax on $ , , . [ ] see also beverly, "alabama," p. . several of these old body-servants have related their experiences to me. [ ] _sewanee review_, vol. ii, pp. - ; acts of ala., nov. , , and resolution of aug. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] see also c. c. jones, jr., in the _magazine of american history_, vol. xvi, pp. - . when the war ended general (now senator) morgan was recruiting near selma for a confederate negro brigade. [ ] his master was named godwin. horace learned to make bridges, and became so skilful and was so much in demand that he was set free. by special act of the alabama legislature he was given civil rights and at once he became a slave owner. after the war he was in republican politics for a while, but soon went back to bridge-building. [ ] some masters, like general john b. gordon, informed their slaves that the victory of the north meant the freedom of the negroes. see ku klux rept., ga. test., and _sewanee review_, vol. ii, p. . i have been told by ex-slaves that the negroes in the quarters believed from the first that their freedom would follow the defeat of the masters, but that few slaves believed that their masters could be defeated. [ ] the following are some of the various occupations in which slaves relieved whites: spinners, weavers, dyers, cutters and dressmakers, body-servants, butlers, coachmen, gardeners, carpenters, planters, brick masons, painters, tanners, shoemakers, harness makers, barrel makers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, machinists, engineers, millers, seine and sail makers, and ship carpenters, besides farm occupations. nearly all of the skilled laborers were negroes. their industrial capacity was even greater during the war than in time of peace. president winston in proceedings of fourth conference for education in the south, pp. , . see also the books of miss hague, mrs. clayton, and booker t. washington. [ ] harrison, "gospel among the slaves," p. . [ ] see mallard, pp. , ; hague, "blockaded family"; clayton, "white and black"; "our women in war"; _sewanee review_, vol. ii, p. . [ ] see mallard, p. ; _sewanee review_, vol. ii, pp. - ; _southern magazine_, jan., . [ ] it has been estimated that one-fourth of the total number of negroes was not engaged in field labor, but in some kind of service which brought them into close relations with the whites. tillinghast, "negro in africa and america," p. . and on the farms and smaller plantations also the blacks knew their "white folks." [ ] see w. h. thomas, "american negro," p. . [ ] the experiences of reconstruction showed that the negro had only to feel the touch of a stronger hand, and, with most of them, the attachments of a lifetime were of no force. the negro was as wax in the hands of a stronger race. hence the influence of the carpet-baggers, who were for a time the stronger power. [ ] harrison, "gospel among the slaves," pp. , ; mctyeire, "a history of methodism"; riley, "baptists in alabama"; mallard, "plantation life," p. _et seq._ w. h. thomas (colored), "american negro," pp. , , gives as reasons why the slaves did not revolt during the war: ( ) genuine affection for the whites; ( ) the desire on the part of the negro to do the duty intrusted to him; ( ) and most important--the supreme and all-pervading influence of religion. the mission work among the negroes was kept up all during the war. harrison, pp. - ; tichenor, "work of southern baptists among the negroes" (pamphlet). [ ] harrison, pp. , . for general information in regard to the negroes during the war, consult beverly (colored), "alabama," pp. , ; miller, "alabama," pp. - ; mallard, "plantation life"; washington, "up from slavery"; washington, "future of the american negro"; thomas, "the american negro"; tillinghast, "negro in africa and america"; hague, "a blockaded family"; clayton, "white and black under the old régime"; smedes, "southern planter"; "our women in war." [ ] w. g. clark, "education in alabama," pp. - ; w. g. clark, "the progress of education," in "memorial record," vol. i, p. ; acts, st called sess. ( ), p. ; _n. y. daily news_, may , ; _century magazine_, nov., . in recent years congress has made a grant of lands in north alabama to replace the burned buildings. rept. comr. of ed., - , vol. i, p. . [ ] clark, "education in alabama," pp. , , , ; "northern alabama illustrated," p. . [ ] clark, "education in alabama," pp. , , , . [ ] clark, "education in alabama," pp. , , ; acts, st called sess. ( ), pp. , , , ; acts, d called sess. and st regular sess., pp. , , ; brewer, "alabama," p. . [ ] "northern alabama illustrated," p. . [ ] clark, "education in alabama," pp. , , , , , , ; ingle, "southern side-lights," p. . [ ] pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess., april , ; st cong., d sess., oct. , . [ ] acts, st called sess. ( ), p. . [ ] acts ( ), p. . [ ] acts, d called and st regular sess. ( ), pp. , , , , , ; acts of and , _passim_. [ ] my chief source of information in regard to the common schools during the war has been the accounts of persons who were teachers and pupils in the schools. [ ] from to w. g. clark and co. of mobile, the chief educational publishers of the state, brought out a series of five readers, "the chaudron series,"--by adelaide de v. chaudron, a well-known writer of mobile. large numbers were sold. s. h. goetzel of mobile published madame chaudron's spelling-book, of which , copies were sold in and . w. g. clark and co. printed a revision of colburn's mental arithmetic in . a mental arithmetic by g. y. browne of tuscaloosa is dated atlanta, , but was probably published in north carolina. in w. g. clark and co. announced "a book of geographical questions." before the close of the war confederate text-books were quite common in the state. the series were usually named "confederate," "dixie," "texas," "virginia," etc. stephen b. weeks, in "a preliminary bibliography of confederate text-books" (rept. of comr. of ed., - , vol. i, p. ), lists primers, spellers, readers, geographies, dictionary, arithmetics, grammars, books in foreign languages, sunday-school and religious works, and miscellaneous educational publications. those published in georgia, north and south carolina, and virginia sold largely in alabama. few came from the west. see also yates snowden, "confederate books." [ ] see weeks, "bibliography of confederate text-books." [ ] see mrs. clayton, "white and black," p. , and hague, "blockaded family." [ ] see hague, "a blockaded family." miss hague was a teacher in a plantation school during the war. [ ] w. w. screws, "alabama journalism," in "memorial record," vol. ii, pp. , . [ ] screws, pp. , , , , , , ; pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess., april , ; d sess., oct. , ; yates snowden, "confederate books." [ ] screws, pp. , , , , . [ ] see also yates snowden, "confederate books." i have examined copies of most of the books mentioned. [ ] riley, "history of the baptists of alabama," p. . [ ] mcpherson, "rebellion," p. . [ ] smith, "life and letters of james osgood andrew," p. . [ ] _n. y. world_, dec. , . [ ] riley, "baptists of alabama," p. . [ ] mcpherson, "rebellion," p. . [ ] pub. laws, c.s.a., st cong., st sess., april , , and d sess., oct. , . [ ] acts of ala., dec. , , and , . [ ] _n. y. times_, aug. , . [ ] rev. j. william jones, "the great revival in the southern armies"; rev. j. william jones, "confederate military history," vol. xii, p. _et seq._; bennett, "the great revival in the southern armies"; alexander, "history of the methodist church south," p. . [ ] hague, "blockaded family," pp. , , ; ball, "clarke county," p. . [ ] for one instance, see hague, "blockaded family," p. ; and for others, jones on the "morale of the confederate armies," in vol. xii, "confederate military history." [ ] by the alabama conference of the methodist episcopal church south, there was appropriated for slave missions in the state from to $ , . from to , . before the separation the planters were not favorably inclined toward methodist missionaries on account of the attitude of the northern section of the church. they preferred the baptists and presbyterians, who did most of their work with the blacks in connection with the white congregations. after the separation, in , there was a greater demand for methodist missionaries. many planters of the episcopal church paid the salaries of baptist and methodist missionaries to their slaves, and erected chapels for their use. harrison, "gospel among the slaves," pp. , , , . in there were , negro southern methodists in alabama, about half of whom were attached to the white churches and the rest to plantation missions. the number was rapidly increasing. the number of negro baptists was much greater, but there are no exact statistics of membership. there were smaller numbers in all the other churches. [ ] the following statistics relate to colored mission work by the methodists:-- ================================================================= year| number of missions |members|missionaries|appropriations ----|-----------------------|-------|------------|--------------- | | | | $ , . | | | | , . | | ---- | | , . | | | | , . | | | | , . | | | | , . |(montgomery conference)| | | | | | | , . | (mobile conference) | | | | | | |some money was | | | | raised in | | | | for . ================================================================= the general conference raised, in , $ , . for negro missions; in , $ , . ; and, for , $ , . [ ] harrison, p. . [ ] riley, "baptists of alabama." [ ] hague, pp. , . [ ] riley, "baptists of alabama," pp. , ; mctyeire, "a history of methodism," p. ; tichenor, "the work of the baptists among the negroes." the war records of the churches show that sometimes the slaves gave more money for church purposes than the whites; for example, in the methodist church of auburn, ala. [ ] smith, "methodists in georgia and florida." [ ] mcpherson, p. . [ ] mcpherson, p. . [ ] mcpherson, pp. , ; nicolay and hay, vol. v, p. . [ ] see _gulf states hist. mag._, sept., , on "the churches in alabama during civil war and reconstruction"; o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. i, p. ; _southern review_, april, , p. ; _boston journal_, nov. , ; mctyeire, "a history of methodism," p. . [ ] richardson, "lights and shadows of itinerant life," p. . [ ] see whitaker's paper in transactions ala. hist. soc., vol. iv, p. _et seq._ [ ] col. higginson seems to understand the influence of the women, but not the reason for their interest in public questions. he says: "but for the women of the seceding states, the war of the rebellion would have been waged more feebly, been sooner ended, and far more easily forgotten.... had the voters of the south been all women, it would have plunged earlier into the gulf of secession, dived deeper, and come up even more reluctantly." higginson, "common sense about women," pp. , . professor burgess, with a better understanding, explains the reason for the interest of the women in sectional questions. he says that, after the attempt of john brown to incite the slaves to insurrection, "especially did terror and bitterness take possession of the hearts of the women of the south, who saw in slave insurrection not only destruction and death, but that which to feminine virtue is a thousand times worse than the most terrible death. for those who would excite such a movement or sympathize with anybody who would excite such a movement, the women of the south felt a hatred as undying as virtue itself. men might still hesitate ... but the women were united and resolute, and their unanimous exhortation was: 'men of the south, defend the honor of your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and your daughters. it is your highest and most sacred duty.'" burgess, "civil war and the constitution," vol. i, p. . [ ] "our women in war," _passim_; ball, "clarke county," pp. - ; oral accounts, scrap-books, letters. [ ] one of my acquaintances says that quite often she had only bread, milk, and syrup twice a day. sometimes she was unable to eat any breakfast, but after spinning an hour or two she was hungry enough to eat. to many the diet was very healthful, but the sick and the delicate often died for want of proper food. [ ] at the close of the war my mother was twelve years old; for more than two years she had been doing a woman's task at spinning. her sister had been spinning for a year, though she was only six years old. [ ] many of the heavier articles woven during the war, such as coverlets, counterpanes, rugs, etc., are still, after forty years, almost as good as new. [ ] acts, dec., , d called and st regular sess., p. . [ ] hague, "blockaded family," _passim_; miller, pp. - ; "our women in the war," p. _et seq._; clayton, "white and black under the old régime," pp. - ; porcher, "resources of the southern fields and forests," pp. , , - , , , . [ ] clayton, "white and black under the old régime"; hague, "blockaded family," _passim_; miller, p. ; jacobs, "drug conditions," p. ; oral accounts; porcher, _passim_. [ ] o. r., ser. iv, vol. iii, pp. - ; jacobs, "drug conditions." [ ] jacobs, pp. - , - , - ; porcher, p. . [ ] hague, "blockaded family." [ ] jacobs, "drug conditions," pp. - , - , - ; hague, "blockaded family," _passim_; "our women in the war"; ball, "clarke county"; miller, "alabama"; porcher; pub. so. hist. ass'n, march, . [ ] smedes, "a southern planter," p. . [ ] in the early part of the war when a soldier received a slight wound he was given a furlough for a few weeks until he was well again. slight wounds came to be called "furloughs," and some soldiers when particularly homesick are said to have exposed themselves unnecessarily in order to get a "furlough." [ ] see _boston journal_, sept. and nov. , . [ ] see mrs. clayton's "white and black" in regard to rations for negroes. [ ] see acts of ala., nov. and , , dec. , , and dec. , ; transactions ala. hist. soc., vol. iv, pp. _et seq._ [ ] it was estimated that one-fourth of the people of the state were furnished for three years with meal and salt. [ ] moore, "rebellion record," vol. iv ( ). [ ] _n. y. news_, march , , from the _richmond whig_, from the _mobile evening news_; oral accounts. there were numbers of women who actually cut off their hair, thinking that it could be sold through the blockade. for a while they were hopeful and enthusiastic in regard to the plan of selling their hair. [ ] p. a. hague's "blockaded family" is the best account of life in alabama during the war. mrs. clayton's "white and black under the old régime" is very good, but brief. "our women in the war" is a valuable collection of articles by a number of women. nearly all the incidents mentioned i have heard related by relatives and friends. "john holden, unionist," by t. c. de leon, gives a good account of life in the hill country. mary a. h. gay's "life in dixie during the war" and miller's "history of alabama" give information based on personal experiences. porcher's "resources of the southern fields and forests," published in , is a mine of information in regard to economic conditions in the south. porcher quotes much from the newspapers and from correspondence. the second edition, published in , omits much of the more interesting material. [ ] in his inaugural proclamation of july (or ), , governor parsons gives the following figures:-- alabama male population ( ), to years , connecticut male population ( ), to years , alabama soldiers enlisted , connecticut soldiers enlisted , alabama soldiers died in service , alabama soldiers disabled , _n. y. times_, aug. , ; _n. y. herald_, aug. , ; parsons's message, nov. , ; parsons's speech at cooper institute, nov. , . [ ] fowler's report, transactions ala. hist. soc., vol. ii, p. . [ ] ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] _n. y. times_, oct. , . [ ] southern hist. soc. papers, vol. xv (paroles at appomattox); miller, "history of alabama," p. ; brewer, "regimental histories." [ ] census of , _selma times and messenger_, march , . [ ] whites blacks , , , , , , censuses of , , . [ ] ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] miller, "history of alabama," p. . [ ] miller, "alabama," p. (auditor's report). [ ] , , , acres; , , , acres. [ ] , $ , , ; , $ , , ; , $ , , . [ ] which must be reduced by one-fifth for depreciated currency. [ ] see census bulletin, no. , th census. [ ] census, and ; miller, "alabama," p. . [ ] _n. y. times_, nov. , (truman). [ ] the explosion was caused by fire reaching the ordnance stores left by the confederate troops. one of the cotton agents claimed that bales of cotton were destroyed for him in the explosion. but the government held otherwise. it was charged, without satisfactory proof, that the cotton agents caused the explosion to cover their shortage. [ ] "northern alabama illustrated," p. . [ ] "northern alabama illustrated," p. . [ ] m. g. molinari, "lettres sur les Ã�tats-unis et le canada," p. ; somers, "southern states," pp. , . [ ] somers, "southern states," p. ; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] john hardy, "history of selma," pp. , ; reid, "after the war," pp. , , , ; miller, "alabama," pp. - ; ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. (patton to congress); _n. y. times_, nov. , oct. , and aug. , ; riley, "history of conecuh county"; riley, "baptists of alabama," pp. , ; brewer, "alabama," pp. , ; brown, "alabama," pp. , ; dubose, "alabama," pp. , ; "our women in the war," p. _et seq._ [ ] somers, "southern states," p. . [ ] somers, "southern states," p. . [ ] somers, "southern states," p. . [ ] reid, "after the war," pp. , ; ball, "clarke county," p. ; riley, "baptists of alabama," pp. - ; _n. y. times_, oct. , ; _n. y. herald_, july , . [ ] an indignant northern newspaper correspondent appealed to the military authorities to check this "rebellious discrimination," but nothing was done. the railroad officials, as well as all other southern people, were now suspicious of paper money. [ ] ho. repts., vol. iv, th cong., d sess., on "affairs of southern railroads"; trowbridge, "the south," p. ; reid, "after the war," p. ; brewer, "alabama," pp. , ; miller, "alabama," pp. , ; _n. y. world_, july , ; _selma times_, jan. and feb. , ; _n. y. times_, oct. , ; april and july , ; berney, "handbook of alabama"; hodgson, "alabama manual and statistical register." [ ] _n. y. herald_, june and aug. , ; taylor, "destruction and reconstruction," pp. , ; miller, "history of alabama," p. ; mcculloch, "men and measures," p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, july and , ; _n. y. world_, july , ; _n. y. times_, aug. and dec. , ; miller, "history of alabama," pp. , ; herbert, "the solid south," pp. , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. ; oral accounts. [ ] "our women in the war," p. ; riley, "baptists of alabama," pp. , . see also elizabeth mccracken, "the southern woman and reconstruction," in the _outlook_, nov., . [ ] miller, "history of alabama," p. ; patton's message, jan. , . [ ] brewer, "alabama," pp. , . [ ] _n. y. times_, nov. , (truman). [ ] _n. y. herald_, oct. , ; report of carl schurz. [ ] _chicago tribune_, (fall of) , montgomery correspondence. [ ] governor patton's message, jan. , . [ ] oral accounts; _daily news_, sept. , (selma correspondence). [ ] ordinances, no. , sept. , , and no. , sept. , . [ ] reid, "after the war," pp. , ; ordinance, no. , sept. , . [ ] _daily times_, aug. , nov. , and dec. , ; report of carl schurz; oral accounts. [ ] report of the freedmen's bureau, oct. , ; patton's message, jan. , ; report of the joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii, p. . [ ] _n. y. times_, oct. , . see also resolutions of legislature, - . [ ] joint memorial and resolutions of the general assembly, in acts of ala. ( - ), pp. - . [ ] memorial and joint resolutions, acts of ala. ( - ), pp. - . [ ] miller, "alabama," p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, dec. , . [ ] the wife of one of these officers was a notorious prostitute. [ ] _selma times_, feb. , . [ ] from ms. account by a citizen of greensboro. the young man who came so near hanging was some years later a hotel proprietor in birmingham and created much newspaper discussion by ordering general sherman to leave his hotel. [ ] see mrs. clayton, "white and black under the old régime," pp. - . [ ] washington, "up from slavery," pp. , . [ ] _columbus_ (ga.) _sun_, nov. , ; _the world_, july , ; _n. y. herald_, july , ; parsons's speech, cooper institute, nov. , ; riley, "baptists of alabama," pp. , ; ball, "clarke county," p. ; herbert, "solid south," pp. , ; miller, "history of alabama," ch. cxli; oral accounts. [ ] _n. y. herald_, aug. , ; _mobile register_, aug. , . [ ] _huntsville advocate_, july and nov. , ; mctyeire, "history of methodism"; riley, "baptists of alabama"; conversations with various negroes and whites. [ ] hardy, "history of selma," p. . [ ] _debow's review_, march, . [ ] negro population in , negro population in , ------- decrease , [ ] estimated , --census of . [ ] _southern mag._, jan., . authorities as already noted and _debow's review_, march, ; _montgomery advertiser_, march , ; hardy, "history of selma," p. ; _n. y. times_, oct. , ; _huntsville advocate_, nov. , ; _n. y. herald_, july , ; _n. y. news_, sept. and dec. , ; census of in _selma times and messenger_, march , ; mrs. clayton, "white and black," pp. , ; "our women in the war"; thomas, "the american negro," p. ; report of the joint committee, pt. iii, p. ; b. c. truman, report to the president, april , ; carl schurz, report to the president, see sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; general grant, report to the president, sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] _southern mag._, jan., . [ ] protestant episcopal freedmen's commission, occasional papers, jan., . [ ] _n. y. times_, aug. , , jan. , feb. , and july , ; _n. y. herald_, june , ; _the nation_, feb. and april , ; reid, "after the war," pp. - ; reports of grant, truman, and schurz; report of the joint committee on reconstruction (fisk); herbert, "solid south," p. ; paper by petrie in transactions ala. hist. soc., vol. iv, p. . [ ] brown, "alabama," p. . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, dec., , and jan. , ; _n. y. times_, oct. and dec. , ; _n. y. news_, dec. , ; _n. y. herald_, dec., , and jan. , ; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. (w. h. smith); sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. (swayne's report); riley, "baptists of alabama," p. ; trowbridge, "the south," p. ; miller, "alabama," pp. , ; somers, "south since the war," p. ; _huntsville advocate_, nov. , . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, jan. , . [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; buckley's report, jan. , ; report of john h. hurst and a. b. strickland, oct. , . [ ] swayne's report, oct. , ; r. t. smith to swayne, jan. , (in ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.); w. h. smith, d. c. humphreys, and j. j. giers, memorial to congress, ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; patton's message, jan. , . [ ] report of m. h. cruikshank, march, . [ ] ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess; _national intelligencer_, oct. , . [ ] _huntsville independent_, april and , ; _selma times_, june , ; oral accounts. [ ] w. garrett to swayne, jan. , , in ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] _chicago tribune_, june , (correspondent at bellefonte, jackson county); _huntsville independent_, april and , ; reports of general swayne, - . [ ] march , , general howard of the freedmen's bureau reported that in alabama there were , whites and blacks in a destitute condition, and that during the next five months, owing to the failure of the crops in , there would be needed , , rations valued at $ , , or cents per ration. sen. ex. docs., no. , th cong., st sess. report of swayne, oct. , ; report of com. bureau, nov. , ; g. o., no. , hq. dist. of ala., montgomery, oct. , . [ ] freedmen's bureau report, oct. , . [ ] swayne's report, nov., ; sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; reid, "after the war," p. ; freedmen's bureau report, nov. , , nov. , , oct. , ; and other authorities noted above. [ ] these were general agents, supervising special agents, assistant special agents, local special agents, agency aids, aids to the revenue, customs officers, and superintendents of freedmen. rules and regulations, july , . ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] amended regulations, sec. iv, march , . [ ] rules and regulations, sec. ix, treasury department, may , . renewed by circular instructions, may , , and in force to june , . in alabama the regulation was enforced during the entire summer. ho. rept., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," p. . [ ] proclamations, june and , . [ ] proclamation, aug. , . [ ] wilson burned at selma , bales, and at columbus, ga., , bales, much of which came from alabama. during the raid he destroyed , bales, , of which were burned in alabama. the confederates destroyed at montgomery , bales (other accounts say , and , ; see greeley, vol. ii, p. ). government cotton was, of course, the first destroyed, and there is no doubt but that nearly all of it was burned either by the raiders or by the confederates to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. cotton was also destroyed at mobile and by the federal armies that came up from the south. [ ] report of a. roane, chief of the produce loan, c.s.a. office, in ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] roane then estimated that by april , , the confederacy owned in all no more than , bales. dr. curry, a member of the confederate congress, stated that only , bales were ever owned by the confederate government. "civil history," pp. , . f. s. lyon, when a member of the confederate congress in , found that the confederacy had a claim on about , bales scattered over ten states. ku klux rept., ala. test., . [ ] j. barr robertson, "the confederate debt and private southern debts," p. . [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. (chase). [ ] circular, sept. , . [ ] act, march , . [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; treasury department doc., no. . according to a decision of the supreme court in case of klein _vs._ united states ( wallace, ), "disloyal" owners might become "loyal" by pardon and thus have all rights of property restored. this was the effect of proclamations of the president. "the restoration of the proceeds [then] became the absolute right of persons pardoned." see ho. repts., no. , st cong., st sess., and no. ; d cong., st sess. the attorney-general stated that "congress took notice of the fact that captures of private property on land had been made and would continue to be made by the armies as a necessary and proper means of diminishing the wealth and thus reducing the powers of the insurgent rulers," and that after a seizure had been made there could be no question of whether the usages of war were observed or violated, except through the courts; the president and the secretary of the treasury had no discretion in the matter. ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. according to the opinion of the united states law officers, "no one who submitted to the confederate states, obeyed their laws, and contributed to support their government ought to recover under the statute" of march , , see sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] secretary mcculloch to president of the senate, jan. , . sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess., no. , th cong., th sess. [ ] department circular, no. , jan. , ; stats.-at-large, p. . [ ] see ho. mis. doc., no. , d cong., d sess.; no. , d cong., d sess.; no. , d cong., st sess.; no. , d cong., d sess.; no. , th cong., st sess.; no. , th cong., d sess.; nos. and , th cong., d sess.; also treasury department doc., no. ( ); department circular, no. . jan. , . [ ] sen. rept., no. , pt. i, pp. , , d cong., d sess. [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] curry, "civil history confederate states," pp. , , . see testimony of lieut.-col. hunter brooke in rept. joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii, p. . [ ] whitelaw reid, "after the war," p. . [ ] reid, "after the war," pp. , . [ ] miller, "alabama," p. . [ ] one who suffered writes from selma: "our cotton, the only thing left us with which to buy the necessaries of life, was seized at the point of the bayonet under the plea that it was confederate cotton and that it was being seized by the government for its own use, whereas it was taken by the officers and sold, and the money put into their own pockets. it was then worth $ a bale. gen. ---- commanded at this place, and he and his staff coined money faster than a mint could turn it out." judge b. h. craig. in july, , a train of wagons at talladega was sent to the ginnery of ross green, at alexandria, and bales of cotton, green's own property, worth $ a bale in gold, were carried off. miller, p. . [ ] testimony in rept. of joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii, p. ; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . f. s. lyon said that the people would have been better reconciled to the confiscation had the cotton been sold for the benefit of the united states, but it was plainly stolen by the agents and the army, and they began to resist in every way. some of them concealed confederate cotton; some stole from the government, some from the agents what the latter had stolen from them; some went into partnership with the agents. no one believed that any one except the original owner had a right to the cotton, and they did anything to get even. [ ] miller, p. ; _n. y. times_, march and aug. , . in the black belt the united states military authorities collected the tax-in-kind which had been levied by the confederate authorities but not collected. one planter had to pay one thousand bushels of corn, two barrels of syrup, and smaller quantities of other produce. from those who refused to pay the tax was taken forcibly. see ku klux rept., p. (f. s. lyon). [ ] ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] trowbridge, "the south," p. ; reid, "after the war," pp. , , ; _n. y. times_, aug. , ; _n. y. herald_, june , . [ ] _n. y. times_, aug. and nov. , ; _de bow's review_, ; oral accounts. [ ] mcculloch, "men and measures," pp. , . [ ] sen. rept., no. , pt. i, d cong., d sess., pp. - . [ ] the minority ku klux report asserted that it was a well-known fact that draper when appointed cotton agent was a bankrupt, and that when he died he was a millionnaire. [ ] the cotton secured in this way was, it was claimed, sold as "waste," "trash," or "dog tail" to some friend of the agent, who would divide with the latter. [ ] all freight, agency, auctioneer, insurance, storage, etc., charges, and fees for legal advice, were charged against the cotton, and had to be paid before it was restored. [ ] probably draper was correct here. the agents would consign to him all cotton that they felt sure the government had record of, and the rest they sold for their own benefit. [ ] ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] secretary mcculloch to president of the senate, march , , in sen. ex. doc. no. , th cong., d sess. in this way, during the summer of , $ , . was restored to owners, and to the end of $ , , . was restored. most of the owners lived in alabama and louisiana. [ ] see brewer, p. , and garrett, p. . lyon was one of the most useful, reliable, and respected public men of alabama and his account is entitled to confidence. he had been a lawyer, clerk of the senate, senator, member of congress, state bank commissioner, presidential elector, member confederate congress, etc. [ ] letter to f. p. blair, in sen. rept., no. , pt. i, p. , d cong., d sess. [ ] under the reconstruction government dustin held the office of major-general of militia. [ ] see ku klux rept., pp. - . letter of f. s. lyon to general blair. also ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. - , . lyon had been agent for the confederate produce loan, and consequently knew what was government cotton and what was not. after the war he acted as attorney for those whose cotton was unlawfully seized. the general officers commanding in his district approved his conduct, but he was hated by the cotton agents, who frequently complained of his "rebellious conduct." lyon tried to save even the cotton pledged to the confederacy, on the ground that the promise or sale had not been completed and that the transaction was void from the beginning, and that the right of capture did not exist after the close of the war. [ ] ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess., p. . [ ] calculation based on subscriptions to produce loan. most of it had been destroyed. [ ] _n. y. times_, june , ; _huntsville advocate_, may , . report of grand jury. [ ] _n. y. times_, june , . [ ] worth $ , , at the lowest price. [ ] g. o., no. , department of ala., oct. , ; g. o., no. , department of ala., feb. , ; ms. records in war department archives. for years these men were in prison while their friends were working to secure their release. the principal arguments for dexter's release were the virtue of his wife's relations in new england and the illegality of the trial before the military commission in time of peace. judging from the tone of the indorsements he was probably released, though there is no record of the fact in the archives. the manuscript proceedings of the trial show that thousands of bales of cotton had been "spirited away," but everything was in such a state of confusion that little could be plainly proven against the agents. only one thing was certain, "that much more cotton was seized for the government than was received by the government." the investigation was hushed up as soon as possible; too many were implicated. [ ] sen. rept., no. , pt. i, pp. , , d cong., d sess. this estimate is probably too large for both numbers. [ ] "civil history, confederate states," pp. , . [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] sen. rept., no. , pt. i, p. , d cong., d sess. [ ] after which date confiscation was forbidden by treasury regulation. [ ] an example of the way charges were piled up: a lot of bales of cotton was seized in eufaula, alabama, and shipped to new york, _via_ appalachicola. the expenses were:-- expenses to and at appalachicola $ , . freight , . expenses at new york , . information and collecting , . --------- total expenses , . gross proceeds of sale , . net proceeds of sale , . sen. ex. doc., no. , d cong., d sess. the following cotton statistics show how the mobile agents ran up expenses:-- j. r. dillon, st agency: cotton sales $ , . total proceeds of all sales , . expenses, total , . s. b. eaton, st agency: cotton sold , . total receipts , . total expenses , . t. c. a. dexter, th agency: cotton sold , . total receipts , . expenses , . j. m. tomeny, th agency: cotton sold , . total receipts , . expenses , . total expenses of every kind amounted to , , . on receipts of , , . of which cotton sold for , , . [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] see ku klux rept., pp. - ; sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; ho. ex. doc., no. , st cong., d sess.; sen. ex. doc., no. , d cong., d sess.; department circular, no. , jan. , . [ ] department circular, no. , jan. , ; sen. ex. doc., no. , d cong., d sess. there are imperfect records of only two alabama agencies, which reported a certain number of bales seized. the other agencies did not report their operations in alabama. the agents not reporting were: j. r. dillon, h. m. buckley, s. b. eaton, e. p. hotchkiss, l. ellis, a. d. banks, james and ellis carver, and perhaps others. none of the numerous collecting agents made reports or kept records. in , thirty-three cotton agents were defaulters to the united states, one man owing the united states $ , . . of these, sixteen were not to be found anywhere. four of the defaulters had operated in alabama. these men were by their own records defaulters--having failed to turn over to the government the proceeds of sales they had reported. ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] in addition to the tax of twenty-five per cent on purchases of cotton levied by a treasury regulation during the war and in force during . treasury regulations, may , . see also president's proclamation, in mcpherson, "reconstruction," p. . [ ] governor patton, in his message of nov. , , stated that the cotton tax of three cents a pound was oppressive and unjust, a burden on the farmers and on the laborers also; that the tax went into the united states treasury and then passed into the hands of the manufacturers as a gratuity of three cents per pound; that there was no way of getting the ruinous tax raised or lightened unless by an appeal in the form of a petition; that the people of alabama had no voice in the government; that this "law paralyzes our energies and represses the development of our resources and is injurious to the whole country." governor's message, house journal, - , p. . [ ] twenty states and territories are not included in these sums, as no reports were received from them. ho. ex. doc., no. , d cong., d sess., and sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , d cong., d sess. [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; ho. ex. doc., no. , d cong., d sess. [ ] $ , , in . [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , d cong., d sess. [ ] the cotton tax was justified on the ground that while alabama had paid $ , , from to , new jersey had paid a total tax of $ , , , the two states having very nearly the same population. but no account was taken of the fact that for four years no tax was collected from alabama by the united states, while nearly all of the movable wealth was destroyed during the war, and that in property was almost non-existent in alabama. new jersey, however, was a rich state. alabama had besides paid an enormous war tax and had been looted of millions of dollars' worth of cotton. and in alabama there were , negroes who paid no tax, while most of the population of new jersey were taxpayers. ho. ex. doc., no. , d cong., d sess. [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] sen. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. (a. a. low, chairman of committee of the n. y. chamber of commerce). [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , (general pettus); journal of the convention of . [ ] see saunders, "early settlers," p. (reverdy johnson to saunders). jan. , , the alabama legislature (republican senate and democratic house) memorialized congress, asking to have the cotton tax refunded to the impoverished people, and stating that the tax was "most unjust and oppressive, a direct tax upon industry"; that to refund the tax would be "evenhanded but tardy justice." acts of ala., - , pp. - . a similar petition was made on feb. , . acts of ala., - , p. . [ ] in december, , representative j. s. williams of mississippi introduced a measure in congress to refund the amount of the cotton tax to the southern states. [ ] it is difficult to understand now how thoroughly the confederate soldier realized that the questions at issue were decided against him. but that it was a crime to have been a confederate soldier, he did not understand. see also testimony of john b. gordon and of edmund w. pettus in the ku klux testimony. [ ] a neglected point of view is the attitude of the confederate soldier. he had surrendered with arms in hand, and certain terms had been made with him, as he thought, a contract, embodied in the parole. this he believed secured his rights in return for laying down arms, and that as long as he was law-abiding his rights were to be inviolate. he was well pleased with the "spirit of appomattox," but nearly all that happened after appomattox was in violation, he felt, of the terms of surrender. the whole radical programme was contrary to the contract made with men who had arms in their hands. lee had decided that there should be no guerilla warfare, and in return certain moral obligations rested on the north. see the statements of general (now senator) edmund w. pettus, in ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , and of general john b. gordon, in ga. test., pp. , , , . [ ] see "our women in the war," p. ; ball, "clarke county," p. ; le conte, "autobiography," p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, june and aug. , ; _n. y. times_, aug. and oct. , ; mrs. clay, "a belle of the fifties"; _nation_, feb. , ; oral accounts; clayton, "white and black under the old régime." [ ] letter concerning affairs at the south, dec. , , sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; mcpherson, "reconstruction," p. . general grant's conclusions were undoubtedly correct, but they evidently could not be based on the information gathered in a week's journeying through the south. this gave the radicals an opportunity to attack his report as being based on insufficient information. but general grant knew the men against whom he had fought, he had talked with many of the representative men of the south, and through military channels was well informed as to actual conditions at the south. [ ] report of carl schurz, sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. schurz made a journey of more than two months through the southern states. judging from the testimony which he submits, his confidence must have been confined to the officers of the freedmen's bureau. as a foreigner (a german), he would not be able, even if so inclined, to ascertain anything of the sentiments of the representative people. however, his report was evidently not based entirely on the evidence submitted with it; if it had been, it would have been even more unfavorable. in _mcclure's magazine_, january, , schurz has an article which is practically a rewriting of this report made nearly forty years before. he repeats some of the same stories told him then, and endeavors to reconcile his attitude in - with his course as a liberal republican in - . [ ] report of benjamin c. truman to the president, april , , sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; _n. y. times_, march , . truman spent two months in alabama, and saw many prominent men whom schurz did not see, and came in contact with thousands of other citizens. his aim was to picture conditions as they were. the newspaper correspondents, regardless of politics, gave better accounts than the volunteer officers, who had little training or education and much prejudice. [ ] see blaine, vol. ii, p. . [ ] the sub-committee: senator harris (new york) and senator boutwell (massachusetts) and morrill (vermont) from the house. [ ] smith and humphreys. [ ] j. j. giers. [ ] m. j. saffold. he was pardoned by president johnson for that offence. [ ] george e. spencer, colonel st alabama union cavalry. [ ] the witnesses who furnished testimony to the congressional committee were:-- ================================================================== name | nativity | remarks ------------------------------|----------------|------------------ . warren kelsey | massachusetts | cotton speculator . general edward hatch | iowa | volunteer army . general george e. spencer | iowa | volunteer army . william h. smith | alabama | deserter . j. j. giers | alabama | tory . mordecai mobley | iowa | . general george h. thomas | virginia | u. s. army . general clinton b. fisk | north | freedmen's bureau . m. j. saffold | alabama | "union" man . d. c. humphreys | alabama | deserter . colonel milton m. bane | illinois | volunteer army . general joseph r. west | california | volunteer army . colonel hunter brooke | north | volunteer army . general grierson | illinois | volunteer army . general swayne | north | freedmen's bureau . general c. c. andrews | minnesota | volunteer army . general chetlain | illinois | volunteer army . general tarbell | north | volunteer army ================================================================== [ ] one of these men (w. h. smith) became the first scalawag governor of alabama, another (george e. spencer) became a united states senator by negro votes, the third (giers) was provided for in the departments at washington, the fourth (saffold) became a circuit judge in alabama, and the fifth (humphreys) a judge of the supreme court of the district of columbia. see herbert, "the solid south," pp. , . [ ] testimony of general swayne, report of the joint committee on reconstruction, , pt. iii, pp. - . [ ] other witnesses gave, in some respects, more favorable testimony, though most of them were very much more bitter. general swayne showed no bias except the natural bias of one who did not understand the people, and who had no sympathy with any of the southern social or political principles. of the northern men he was the best qualified by experience and observation to testify as to conditions in the south. he was an intelligent, educated man, trained in the law, and had a good military record. most of the others were distinctly below his standard,--ignorant, prejudiced officers of volunteers from the west. [ ] general swayne was in alabama nearly three years as the head of the unpopular freedmen's bureau, and his accounts, from first to last, of conditions in alabama were marked by a fairness which can be found in but little of the official correspondence from the south. he believed in the freedmen's bureau, in negro suffrage, and in the political proscription of white leaders; but his feelings influenced his judgment but little, and, unlike other bureau officials, he never made misrepresentations. [ ] _the nation_, feb. , . [ ] _huntsville advocate_, july , . [ ] herbert, "solid south," pp. , ; _atlantic monthly_, feb., . [ ] see memorial of william h. smith, j. j. giers, and d. c. humphreys to congress, feb., , in ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. testimony of the same and of m. j. saffold in report of joint committee on reconstruction, ; letter of d. h. bingham from west point, new york; reid, "after the war," _passim_. [ ] see le conte, "autobiography," p. ; montgomery correspondent in _n. y. daily news_, may , . [ ] a newspaper correspondent, the guest of ex-governor c. c. clay, wrote: "while the yankee boldly marched in at the front door into his [clay's] parlors and best chambers to dream loyal dreams and rest now that the warfare's o'er, the quondam aristocrat [a son of ex-governor clay, editor of a paper in huntsville, had been outlawed for his sentiments during the occupation of north alabama by the federal troops and was in hiding] must plod around to the rear and there eat the (corn) bread of mad passion weighed down with mad remorse." letter from a travelling correspondent of the _n. y. times_, aug. , . the _times_ usually had very little of such correspondence. the _times_, the _herald_, and the _world_ had good correspondents in the south, especially during reconstruction. [ ] an old alabama river steamboat captain had had his boat burned by wilson, but had secured another. the federal army regarded him as a most unmitigated "rebel." he would play "dixie" in spite of all prohibitions. he was finally arrested on a more serious charge. "what do you answer to the charge against you?" "faith, an' which one?" "that you refuse to take the bodies of dead federal soldiers on your boat to montgomery." "no, no, that's not true. god knows it would be the pleasure of my life to take the whole yankee nation up the river _in that same fix_." "our women in the war," p. . colonel robert mcfarland returned to florence in the only suit he possessed--a gray uniform. he was peremptorily ordered by the federal officers not to wear it. he was in a quandary until a friend secured a long linen duster for him to wear. "northern alabama," p. . [ ] gen. t. kilby smith, on sept. , , in mobile, made a statement for carl schurz in which he asserted that one of the most intelligent, well-bred, pious ladies of mobile wanted the military authorities to whip or torture into a confession of theft two negroes whom she suspected of stealing. she considered it a hardship, he said, that a negro might not be whipped or tortured in order to force a confession, when there was no evidence against him. "i offer this," he wrote, "as an instance of the feeling that exists in all classes against the negro." see doc. no. , accompanying the report of schurz. [ ] i have seen a coarse article reflecting on the character of southern women originally published in the _tribune_ and copied in a small alabama paper each issue for several weeks. it asserted in thinly veiled terms that many of the young southern women were too intimate with negro men; the solution of the race question by amalgamation was asserted as sure to come; details of such a solution were suggested, and examples of what was taking place were cited. [ ] general terry attempted to explain the condition of affairs by saying that the results of the war were but the legitimate consequence of a conflict between an inferior and a superior race. "land we love," vol. iv, p. . gen. t. kilby smith, in september, , complained that federal officers were not received in society in mobile. general wood, he said, had been six weeks in mobile, "ignored socially and damned politically"; and this, he said, in a community which before the war was considered one of the most refined and hospitable of all the southern maritime cities, the favorite home of army and naval officers. doc. no. , accompanying the report of schurz. [ ] in addition to references cited above, see also _huntsville advocate_, march and , july , ; ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; sen. mis. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. (truman); reid, "after the war," pp. , , , ; "the land we love," _passim_; "our women in the war," p. _et passim_; abbott, "the rights of man," pp. - ; clayton, "white and black," pp. - ; clay, "a belle of the fifties"; straker, "the new south investigated," pp. , ; report of the joint committee, , pt. iii; _n. y. daily news_, april , , and dec. , ; reports of schurz, truman, and grant; reports of the freedmen's bureau; _southern magazine_, (deleon); _n. y. times_, oct. , ; _n. y. herald_, july , ; miller, "alabama," pp. - ; columbus (ga.) _sun_, march and april , ; _the nation_, feb. , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., _passim_; reconstruction articles in _atlantic monthly_, . [ ] trowbridge, "the south," p. . [ ] thomas w. conway, of the freedmen's bureau, who passed through the state in , stated that there were men in alabama who, rather than sell their lands to northern men or borrow money in the north, would see their plantations lie waste, and before they would hire their former slaves as free laborers they would starve. the spirit of hatred toward northern men was universal, he said. report to chamber of commerce, new york, june , . [ ] jan. , , the state legislature declared that the reports published in the northern papers that it was unsafe for northern men to reside in alabama were false. the lower house declared that "we, in the name of the people of alabama, most cordially invite skilled labor and capital from the world, and particularly from all parts of the united states, and pledge the hearty coöperation and support of the state." annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . for several years every inducement was offered by the planters to encourage immigration to the black belt. as late as immigration conventions were held. annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . during the north alabama "unionists" hoped to see northern white men come in and take the place of the negroes. _the nation_, aug. , . [ ] report of truman, sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; reid "after the war," _passim_; trowbridge, "the south," p. ; _n. y. times_, nov. , , july and oct. , ; general swayne's testimony, report joint committee, pt. iii, p. ; general tarbell's testimony, report joint committee, pt. iii, pp. , . [ ] report joint committee, , pt. iii, pp. - . [ ] in addition to the above references, see _the world_, nov. , ; _n. y. times_, july and sept. , ; _n. y. herald_, july and aug. , (swayne); truman's report, april , ; swayne's report, jan., ; _harper's monthly magazine_, jan., . [ ] pastoral letters, may and june , . [ ] perry, "history of the american episcopal church," vol. ii, p. _et seq._; whitaker, "the church in alabama," pp. - ; _n. y. herald_, sept. , ; wilmer, "the recent past from a southern standpoint," p. . gen. t. kilby smith said that wilmer had great influence among the better class of people, especially the women. doc. no. , accompanying the report of carl schurz. [ ] perry, "history of the american episcopal church," vol. ii, p. _et seq._; whitaker, pp. , ; wilmer, pp. - . [ ] whitaker, p. ; wilmer, "recent past," p. . a copy of the order was also found in the war department archives. [ ] pastoral letter, sept. , . [ ] whitaker, pp. , ; wilmer, pp. , ; _montgomery mail_, oct. , . [ ] whitaker, p. ; wilmer, p. ; copy of order in war department archives. republished on g. o. , jan. , , hq. dept. ala., mobile. [ ] whitaker, p. ; _mobile register_, jan. , ; _montgomery mail_, jan. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; wilmer, pp. - ; whitaker, pp. - ; perry, vol. ii, p. _et seq._ the northern conferences of the methodist protestant church returned in to the southern organization. see "statistics of churches," p. . [ ] see messages and papers of the presidents, vol. x, p. . [ ] see dunning, "essays on the civil war and reconstruction," pp. - . [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. , , , . [ ] taylor, "destruction and reconstruction"; report of joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii, pp. , . [ ] see dunning, "essays," pp. - . [ ] with only two dissenting votes. [ ] some of these were southerners who were about to withdraw. [ ] _cong. globe_, july , , , . [ ] _cong. globe_, dec. , . [ ] messages and papers of the presidents, vol. vi, pp. - . [ ] proclamation, dec. , , in messages and papers of the presidents, vol. vi, p. . [ ] proclamation, july , , messages and papers of the presidents, vol. vi, p. . [ ] lincoln to reverdy johnson, nicolay and hay, p. . [ ] nicolay and hay, vol. ix, p. ; vol. x, p. . [ ] nicolay and hay, vol. viii, p. . [ ] message, dec. , , in messages and papers of the presidents, vol. vi, p. . [ ] _cong. globe_, feb. , . [ ] _atlantic monthly_, oct., . [ ] _globe_, feb. , , and dec. , . see henry adams, "historical essays." [ ] speeches in the _globe_, - . [ ] _globe_, aug. , . [ ] _globe_, jan. , . [ ] _globe_, jan. , . [ ] _globe_, jan. , . [ ] _globe_, dec. , , march , ; taylor, "destruction and reconstruction," p. . [ ] see also dunning, "essays," pp. - . [ ] see dunning, "essays," pp. - ; texas _versus_ white ( ), wallace ; scott, "reconstruction during the civil war"; mccarthy, "lincoln's plan of reconstruction"; burgess, "reconstruction and the constitution," pp. - . [ ] _n. y. times_, april , . [ ] elected in . [ ] testimony of m. j. saffold, report joint committee, , pt. iii, p. . the "union" men greatly exaggerated the strength of the "union" sentiment in the state during the war and their individual part in the peace movement. this was necessary in order to secure recognition as representatives of a strong "union" element. when the plan of the president was so modified as to leave them in their natural position of no influence, they became very bitter against it and played the martyr act to perfection. [ ] testimony of j. j. giers, report joint committee, pt. iii, p. ; o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. ii, pp. , , , . [ ] see pp. - . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. ii, p. . [ ] judge byrd was elected to the supreme court in . he was a distant relative of colonel william byrd, of westover, va., esq. brewer, p. . [ ] general c. c. andrews, in o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. ii, p. ; _n. y. commercial advertiser_, may , ; _n. y. tribune_, june , . [ ] there were present: ex-gov. john g. shorter, m. a. baldwin (attorney-general, brewer, p. ), w. b. bell, a. b. clitherall (brewer, p. ), all of whom had been ardent secessionists, and l. e. parsons (see p. ), col. j. c. bradley, col. j. j. seibels (brewer, p. ; see p. ), w. j. bibb, j. g. strother, m. j. saffold (brewer, p. ), george goldthwaite (brewer, p. , a. and i. general). it was a fairly representative body of government officials and "stay-at-homes." [ ] garrett, p. . reese was a "union" man. [ ] _n. y. commercial advertiser_, may , ; _n. y. tribune_, june , ; _montgomery mail_, may , . the members of the committee which went to washington were: joseph c. bradley, l. e. parsons, m. j. saffold, lewis owen, george s. houston, james birney, w. j. bibb, john m. sutherlin, albert roberts, luke pryor. none of the committee had been secessionists. reese had been a "union" man, saffold a "political agent." w. j. bibb had made a visit to washington during the war and had a consultation with lincoln. parsons was a "union" man. houston and pryor (see brewer, pp. , ) were neither "union" nor "secessionist," but "constitutional." the others were unknown to public life. [ ] formerly colonel of the th alabama infantry. [ ] _n. y. daily news_, may , . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. ii, p. . [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. ii, pp. , , . [ ] member of congress, confederate colonel of the th alabama, former whig. brewer, p. . [ ] former whig, adjutant and inspector-general during the war. brewer, p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, june , . [ ] _n. y. world_, june , . the absence of the old names in all these movements is noticeable. the old leaders had been strongly in favor of the confederacy and now took back seats while smaller men came forward. they never came into power again. [ ] _huntsville advocate_, july , . [ ] in one of the mountain counties, but the exact location was never named in any of the accounts of the convention. [ ] _n. y. herald_, june , . [ ] he represented talladega in the convention of . [ ] see above, p. . [ ] parsons, bradley, houston, nicholas davis, pryor, saffold, bibb, roberts, etc. [ ] letter in _n. y. herald_, june , . [ ] see mcpherson, "rebellion," p. . [ ] the _mobile register_ and _advertiser_ (john forsyth, editor) supported the president's policy: "the states were never out of the union"--july , . the _huntsville advocate_, july , said, "the presidential policy is simple, direct, and emphatic." henry w. hilliard, general cullen a. battle, ex-governors shorter, moore, watts, and fitzpatrick declared that there would be no opposition but a hearty effort "to get straight." [ ] lilian foster, "andrew johnson: services and speeches," pp. , , "address to loyal southerners," april, . [ ] there is little reason to believe that lincoln could have succeeded in the struggle with congress. [ ] see foster, "andrew johnson," for change of feeling in johnson as expressed in his speeches in and . [ ] "president tamers" the radicals called them. [ ] mcculloch, p. and preface; _nation_, oct. , ; mayes, "l. q. c. lamar"; reid, "after the war," pp. , , ; _mobile register and advertiser_, july , ; _huntsville advocate_, july , . [ ] mcpherson, p. ; messages and papers of the presidents, vol. vi, p. . [ ] mcpherson, p. . [ ] g. o., nos. , , and , department of alabama, . [ ] _n. y. herald_, june , ; brewer and garret, _sub. nom._ [ ] article ii, section : article iv, section . [ ] lewis eliphalet parsons, born , boone county, new york, was the son of a farmer and the grandson of the celebrated jonathan edwards. he came to alabama in and practised law in talladega, was a whig, later a douglas democrat, and on both sides during the war. see above, p. . [ ] here "loyal" seems to mean those who had taken the amnesty oath. [ ] messages and papers of the presidents, vol. vi, p. . [ ] those who could take the iron-clad test oath of . [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , p. , th cong., st sess. [ ] james redpath in _the nation_, aug. , , condensed. [ ] see foster, "andrew johnson," pp. , , , , . [ ] the d of may was the date when the confederate state government ceased to exist. [ ] garrett, p. , says aug. and sept. . the convention met on sept. . [ ] parsons's proclamation, july (or ), ; in _n. y. herald_, july and aug. , ; garrett, p. ; mcpherson, p. . [ ] parsons's message to convention, sept. , ; proclamation, july , ; in _n. y. herald_, aug. , . [ ] _huntsville advocate_, aug. , . [ ] see mcculloch, p. and _passim_; _n. y. tribune_, may , ; _mobile times_, april , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, sept. , . [ ] testimony of m. j. saffold, report of joint committee, , pt. iii, pp. - . [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] others were pardoned for having aided the confederacy in the following occupations: agents of the nitre and mining bureau; tax collector and state assessor; tax receiver (confederate); general officer of the confederate army; postmasters who had held office before the war; members of the state legislature; cotton agents; foreign agents and commissioners; graduates of west point and annapolis; resigning united states service to join confederacy; mail contractors; clerks of the confederate government; state and confederate judges; members of congress; receivers of subscriptions for the confederacy; marshals and deputy marshals; clerks of state and confederate courts; agents for the purchase of supplies; members of advisory board; cotton bond agent; confederate government official; commissioner of appraisement; depositary; route agent; commissioner of indian affairs; member of convention of ; prize commissioner; commissioner to take testimony; indian agent; confederate financial agent; commissioner to examine prisoners held by military authorities; agent of the produce loan; receiver of the tax-in-kind; leaving loyal state; commissioner of "fifteen million loan"; agent to receive subscriptions for cotton and produce loans; depot agent to receive the tax-in-kind; agent under sequestration laws; enrolling officer; impressment agent; treasury agent; confederate contractor; sequestration commissioner; agent to collect provisions for the army; district attorney; state printer; border agriculturist; custom officer; agent to receive titles; commissioner to examine political prisoners. ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess., gives a list of those pardoned. some of the more well-known men pardoned were: r. m. patton, "agent for the sale of rebel bonds, and worth over $ , "; nicholas davis, "member of rebel provisional congress"; charles hays, worth over $ , ; benjamin fitzpatrick, "resigned united states senate"; j. g. gilchrist, "member of secession convention"; s. f. rice, worth over $ , ; s. s. scott, indian agent; h. c. semple, worth over $ , ; thomas h. watts, "member of rebel convention, voted for ordinance of secession, colonel in rebel army, attorney-general of the would-be southern confederacy, rebel governor of alabama, and worth $ , "; m. j. saffold, "commissioner to examine political prisoners, and state printer." [ ] the names and offences of those pardoned are given in ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; no. , th cong., d sess.; and no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] _n. y. herald_, oct. , . [ ] _montgomery daily advertiser_, oct. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, sept. and oct. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, sept. , . [ ] journal of the convention, , p. . [ ] journal of the convention, , pp. , , ; _n. y. herald_, sept. and oct. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , ; journal of the convention, , pp. , . [ ] the vote cast was , probably all who were present. journal of the convention, p. ; _n. y. herald_, sept. , ; shepherd, "constitution and ordinances," , p. ; code of , ordinance no. , sept. , . early in the session mardis of shelby, a "loyal" member, proposed a resolution to the effect that the ordinance of secession was "unconstitutional and therefore illegal and void, [and that] the leaders of the rebellion having been forced to lay down their arms and turn over to the conservative people of the state the reigns of the civil government by which the state has become more peaceful and loyal to the united states government. she is now entitled to all the rights as before ordinance of secession." journal of the convention, , p. . the resolutions of the "loyalists" were curiosities, and the secretary did not always expurgate bad spelling, etc. [ ] shepherd, "constitution and ordinances," , p. ; ordinance no. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, sept. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _n. y. times_, sept. , ; _n. y. herald_, oct. , ; shepherd, "constitution and ordinances," , pp. , ; ordinances nos. - , september, . in spite of this ordinance certain war debts were paid. fowler, superintendent of army records, was paid $ for his work during the war, the legislature buying the records from him. coleman, a confederate judge, was paid for services during the war. see acts - and the journal of the convention of . the newspaper reports give summaries of the debates on the more important ordinances; the journal of the convention gives only the votes and resolutions. [ ] chairman of the committee on suffrage, convention of . [ ] it seems to have been taken for granted by the convention that slavery was already abolished. [ ] the amnesty proclamation expressly excepted property in slaves. [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _n. y. times_, sept. , . [ ] "loyalist," and later a "scalawag." [ ] _n. y. herald_, oct. , . [ ] journal of the convention, , p. . [ ] journal of the convention, , pp. , ; _n. y. herald_, oct. , ; shepherd, "constitution and ordinances," , p. , ordinance no. . the three members who voted against the abolition ordinance were crawford of coosa, cumming of monroe, and white of talladega. they wanted to let the supreme court decide. the supreme court of alabama, a year later, held that, as a matter of history which the court would recognize, slavery was dead as a result of war before the passage of the ordinance of sept. , . [ ] that class of men called all negroes "free negroes" and "freedmen" for years after the war as a term of contempt. [ ] afterwards second provisional governor. [ ] _n. y. times_, sept. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, oct. , . [ ] _n. y. times_, sept. , . [ ] journal of the convention, , p. ; shepherd, "constitution and ordinances," , p. , ordinance no. . [ ] _huntsville advocate_, sept. , . a "johnson reconstruction paper." [ ] _huntsville advocate_, oct. , . [ ] shepherd, p. , ordinance no. ; journal of the convention, , pp. , . see constitution of , article iv, section . [ ] journal of the convention, , p. . [ ] a member of the convention of . [ ] _n. y. herald_, oct. , . [ ] journal of the convention, , p. . [ ] shepherd, p. , ordinance no. . [ ] shepherd, p. , ordinance no. . [ ] shepherd, p. , ordinance no. . [ ] shepherd, p. , ordinance no. . [ ] shepherd, p. , ordinance no. . see constitution, , article iv, section . [ ] shepherd, pp. , , , ordinances nos. , , . [ ] shepherd, pp. , , , ordinances nos. , , . [ ] ordinances nos. , , , . [ ] shepherd, p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, oct. , ; sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. (parsons); report joint committee, , pt. iii, pp. - . [ ] parsons's proclamation, sept. , . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, may , . [ ] in macon, russell, and lowndes counties. [ ] _n. y. daily news_, sept. , ; _n. y. tribune_, feb. , ; swayne's report, jan., , in ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; report joint committee of reconstruction, , pt. iii, p. (swayne). [ ] "i, _a. b._, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that i have never voluntarily borne arms against the united states since i have been a citizen thereof; that i have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that i have never sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority, in hostility to the united states; that i have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power or constitution within the united states, hostile or inimical thereto; and i do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, i will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that i take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which i am about to enter. so help me god." mcpherson, "reconstruction," p. . [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess., mcculloch, report, march , ; mcculloch, "men and measures," pp. , . the finance committee reported in favor of paying these officials, accepting as correct the secretary's statement. they were paid, in spite of the opposition of sumner, who voted not to pay "those rebels." mcculloch, p. . [ ] on march , , the postmaster-general, in a letter to the president, stated that the test oaths of july , , and march , , hindered the reconstruction of the postal service in the south. of mail routes in , only had been restored. before the war there were postmasters, and in there were but , of whom were women and others could not take the oath. ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] _n. y. news_, dec. and oct. , ; _n. y. times_, july , . [ ] cox, "three decades," p. ; reid, "after the war," pp. , ; _n. y. daily news_, oct. and dec. , ; _n. y. times_, july , . [ ] _selma times_, april , . the rejection of such men as dr. f. w. sykes of lawrence as tax commissioner was especially discouraging to the anti-democratic party in the state. sykes had been an obstructionist in the legislature during the war. brewer, p. . [ ] one official who had suffered from objections made against his past record inserted the following advertisement in the _selma times_, april , :-- "having been elected twice, given three approved bonds, and sworn in five times, i propose opening the business of the city courts of selma. "e. m. garrett, "_clerk city court of selma_." [ ] there were no nominating conventions; the candidates were announced by caucuses of friends. several other men were spoken of, but the contest narrowed down to three. [ ] _n. y. times_, nov. , . [ ] r. m. patton, , ; m. j. bulger, , ; w. r. smith, . the total vote was , ; the registration to sept. , , had been , ; the vote for delegates to the convention had been about , ; the vote for presidential electors in had been , . the falling off in the vote may be explained by the death and disfranchisement of voters and by the indifference of south alabama people to the north alabama candidates. [ ] the convention in september had proceeded to correct the theory of the situation by conferring the powers of a civil governor upon parsons, and authorizing him to act as governor until the elected governor should be qualified. [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," p. . alabama was the twenty-seventh state to ratify, and with seven other seceding states made up the necessary three-fourths of the thirty-six states. so far the johnson state governments were recognized. _tribune_ almanac, . later, when all that the "restoration" administration had done was found to be useless or worse than useless, an alabama writer, in "the land we love," complained:-- "the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery could only be passed constitutionally when the southern states were in the union. we were then in the union for the few weeks during which time this was being done. for this brief privilege we lost , , of slaves valued at $ , , , . we have every reason to be thankful for being wakened out of our brief dream of being in the union. a few more weeks of such costly sleep would have stripped us entirely of houses and lands." [ ] _n. y. herald_, dec. , . [ ] inaugural addresses, dec. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] both parsons and houston had been "unionists," but neither could have subscribed to the oath exacted from members of congress. the representatives chosen were: ( ) c. c. langdon, whig, bell and everett man, of northern birth, opposed secession, a member of the legislature of ; ( ) george c. freeman, whig, bell and everett man, opposed secession, captain and major th alabama; ( ) cullen a. battle, democrat, major-general c.s.a.; ( ) joseph w. taylor, whig, bell and everett man, opposed secession; ( ) burwell t. pope, whig, opposed secession; ( ) thomas j. foster, whig, bell and everett man, opposed secession. none of the congressmen-elect could subscribe to the test oath. the people would have voted for no man who could take the test oath. [ ] mcpherson, p. . [ ] _cong. globe_, dec. , . [ ] _globe_, dec. , . this was a distinct refusal to recognize, for the present at least, the restoration as done by the president. [ ] _cong. globe_, dec. , . [ ] herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] mcpherson made a collection of extracts from various newspapers relating to his action in omitting the names of the southern members. few of the editorials seem to indicate any belief that a grave constitutional question was to be settled. most of the editors believed that he had exceeded his authority, but approved his action because the southern members were democrats. the general opinion seemed to be that their politics alone was a cause of offence. see mcpherson's scrap-book, "the roll of the th congress," in the library of congress. [ ] _globe_, march , . [ ] swayne's report, oct. , , sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] acts of ala. ( - ), p. . [ ] swayne's reports, dec. , , jan. , , and oct. , , in ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess., and sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; patton's message, jan. , ; _n. y. times_, jan. , ; _n. y. evening post_, jan. , ; mcpherson, "reconstruction," p. ; mcpherson's scrap-book, "freedmen's bureau bill," . [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. , ; act, approved feb. , , penal code of ala., pp. - ; acts of ala. ( - ), pp. , . [ ] acts of ala. ( - ), act of dec. , ; penal code of ala., p. . the compilers of the penal code placed this act in the code separate from the rest, as irreconcilable with the provisions of the code and with other legislation. that is, they refused to codify it and left it for the courts to decide. the law was meant to suppress a common practice of encouraging negroes to steal cotton, etc., for sale. [ ] acts of ala. ( - ), p. ; penal code, pp. , . in one respect the negro had a better standing in court than the white: he was a competent witness in his own behalf, and his wife might also be a witness. [ ] acts, dec. and , . see below, ch. xii. [ ] in an interview with general swayne, in , he informed me that he was present when the bills were drawn up. the governor and the president of the senate in consultation decided that all measures already brought forward should be vetoed or dropped; the apprentice and contract laws as they stood on the statute book were then drawn up, and no objection was made to them by general swayne, who was present by request. he made suggestions as to what would be acceptable to the bureau and to northern public opinion. [ ] acts of ala. ( - ), pp. , (act of feb. , ); penal code, p. . [ ] penal code, pp. , . [ ] acts of ala. ( - ), pp. - (act feb. , ). [ ] penal code, pp. , . [ ] penal code of ala., pp. - ; acts of ala. ( - ), pp. - . this was another act which the compilers refused to incorporate into the penal code. it was an amendment to the law already on the statute books, and the constitution of the state provided that the law revised or amended must be set forth in full (article iv, section .) the next legislature repealed this and similar laws as being in conflict with the code. acts of ala. ( - ), pp. , , . it was never in force, being practically repealed by the later adoption of the penal code, which had the old ante-bellum law of vagrancy, which provided a fine of $ to $ for the first offence, and for a second conviction, $ to $ and hard labor for not more than six months. (see penal code, p. ). the laws regulating labor and vagrancy were so carelessly drawn that it would have been practically impossible to enforce them. not only were they technically unconstitutional, but they were also in conflict with the provisions of the code. the consequence was confusion and the suspension of both code and statutes. colonel herbert, in "the solid south" (pp. - ), gives a summary of similar laws of the northern states which were more stringent than the alabama laws. as a matter of fact, all the states had similar laws, but in the south they had always been a dead letter on the statute book. [ ] see blaine, "twenty years," vol. ii, p. . [ ] it was not possible then, nor is it now, to pass any law in regard to labor contracts, vagrancy, or minor crimes, that would not affect the negroes to a much greater degree than the whites. all laws regulating society, if strictly enforced, would bear with much greater force upon blacks than upon whites. [ ] neither swayne nor howard made any objection to the apprentice and vagrancy laws, and so far as i can gather from the reports of general swayne, they were not enforced. if so, there were no results unfavorable to the freedmen. in , in an interview, swayne stated that all measures that he considered objectionable had either failed to pass the senate or had been vetoed by the governor. he intimated that he had a great deal to do with the suppression of such measures and the framing of new ones. [ ] feb. , . [ ] the date of the beginning of the provisional government. [ ] general swayne's account. [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, feb. , ; swayne's report, oct. , ; swayne's testimony, report joint committee, pt. iii, pp. - . [ ] truman's report, april , ; mrs. clayton, "white and black," p. _et passim_; "our women in the war," _passim_; _the nation_, oct. , ; reid and trowbridge. [ ] truman's report, april , . [ ] _the nation_, feb. , . [ ] referring to the emigration movement to mexico, brazil, europe, etc. [ ] this charge was published in the general presentments of the pike county grand jury and was immediately taken up by the northern democratic and the conservative republican papers and given a wide publication. mrs. clayton republished it in her book (pp. - ). judge clayton was disfranchised by the reconstruction acts, and not until was he again able to hold judicial office. the bench and bar were generally in favor of admitting the negro to the fullest standing in the courts. under slavery, when a case turned on negro testimony, extra-legal trials were often held and the decision given by "lynch-law" jury, the court officials presiding. in the lawyers and judges were ready to admit negro testimony, according to general swayne, but made more or less objection in order not to alienate those of the people who objected. [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] _the nation_, oct. , . [ ] brooks was a cousin of preston brooks of south carolina, and had been president of the convention of . the measure was indorsed by governor patton, judge goldthwaite, and a respectable minority. ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "fourteenth amendment," p. . [ ] first confederate secretary of war, brigadier-general, c.s.a. [ ] for this incident my authority is a statement of general swayne made to me in . he was much interested in the movement, and was positive that in time the native whites would have given the suffrage to the negro had not the reconstruction acts and other legislation so alienated the races. general swayne gave me full explanations of his policy in alabama. his death, a year after the interview, prevented him from verifying some details. his account, though given thirty-five years after the occurrences, was correct so far as i could compare it with the printed matter available. it agreed almost exactly with his reports as printed in the public documents, though he had not those at hand, and had not seen them for thirty years. i have several times been told by old citizens that negroes voted in , in minor elections, by consent of the whites. [ ] "diary and correspondence of s. p. chase," in the annual report of the amer. hist. assn. ( ), vol. ii, p. . [ ] stephen b. weeks, in _polit. sci. quarterly_ ( ), vol. ix, pp. - . [ ] see herbert, "solid south," pp. , , . [ ] resolution, dec. , , acts of ala. ( - ), p. . [ ] resolution, jan. , , acts of ala. ( - ), p. . [ ] resolution, dec. , , acts of ala. ( - ), p. . [ ] resolution, feb. , , acts of ala. ( - ), p. ; mcpherson, p. ; _selma times_, feb. , . [ ] see _n. y. herald_, april , (alabama correspondence). [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "the campaign of ," vol. i, pp. , . [ ] see burgess, "reconstruction," pp. - . [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "freedmen's bureau bill, ," pp. , . [ ] the reconstruction laws of congress were almost invariably referred to as "bills" even in official documents and military orders. [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "civil rights bill, ," pp. , . [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "civil rights bill, ," p. . [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "civil rights bill, ," p. . [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "civil rights bill, ," p. . [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "fourteenth amendment," pp. , . [ ] the cotton tax, for instance. [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] _n. y. tribune_, nov. , . i have not been able to discover what the name of the paper was, but very likely it was the _mobile national_. [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "fourteenth amendment," pp. , , . [ ] governor's message, nov. , , in house journal ( - ), p. ; _n. y. tribune_, nov. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , . [ ] house journal ( - ), p. . [ ] mcpherson, p. ; mcpherson's scrap-book, "fourteenth amendment," p. ; _n. y. times_, jan. , . general wager swayne to s. p. chase, dec. , , wrote, in substance, that--the evident intention of congress to enforce its own plan makes it seem possible to secure from the alabama legislature the ratification of the amendment; that the senate was ready to ratify in spite of the governor's message against it, and of the certain disapproval of "the people, poor, ignorant, and without mail facilities," but a despatch had been sent to parsons in the north for advice, and he advised rejection; inspired, it was asserted by the president, the cry was raised, "we can't desert _our_ president," and the measure was lost; but when they return (in january) they will be prepared for either course, and the governor will recommend ratification. "diary and correspondence of s. p. chase," in the annual rept. of the amer. hist. assn. ( ), vol. ii, pp. - . [ ] _n. y. times_, jan. , . patton also went to washington during the recess. [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , . [ ] mcpherson, pp. , ; mcpherson's scrap-book, "fourteenth amendment," pp. , . the telegrams are in the impeachment testimony, vol. i, pp. - . interview with general swayne, . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] see mcpherson, pp. , , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, july , . [ ] according to his own report. see _nation_, feb. , . hart, "american history as told by contemporaries," vol. iv, p. . [ ] report of b. c. truman, april , ; report of joint committee, , pt. iii, _passim_; report of schurz with accompanying documents; _n. y. times_, sept. and oct. , ; _nation_, feb. , _et passim_; _world_ and _tribune_; _herald_ and _tribune_ correspondent, ; _montgomery mail and advertiser_; _selma times_; _tuscaloosa monitor and blade_, to . of the new york papers the _nation_ and _tribune_ were especially violent at first, but changed later. the _times_ and the _herald_ had fair correspondents most of the time. [ ] _n. y. daily news_, may , (montgomery correspondent). [ ] see _n. y. times_, sept. , (federal soldier), oct. , (ohio man); _n. y. news_, may , (montgomery correspondent). [ ] lewis e. parsons (new york), whig; george s. houston; a. b. cooper (new jersey), whig; john forsyth, state rights democrat; r. b. lindsay (scotch), douglas democrat; james w. taylor, whig; benjamin fitzpatrick, douglas democrat. [ ] some of them were w. h. crenshaw (democrat), who presided,--crenshaw was then president of the senate; john g. shorter (democrat), war governor of alabama; h. d. clayton (whig), confederate general; c. c. langdon (whig); william s. mudd (whig); william garrett (whig); m. j. bulger (douglas democrat), confederate general; c. a. battle (democrat), confederate general; a. tyson (whig). see brewer and garrett, and _n. y. times_, aug. and , . [ ] mcpherson, pp. , . [ ] _n. y. times_, aug. , . by "union" party, parsons evidently meant those who opposed secession. [ ] the northern business men were on the side of the whites. [ ] mcpherson, p. . [ ] mcpherson, p. . [ ] _n. y. times_, sept. , . [ ] davis was of good middle-class virginia stock. a whig in politics, mrs. chesnut called him "a social curiosity." in convention of he voted against immediate secession, threatened resistance among the hills of north alabama, and ended by signing the ordinance of secession; was chosen to succeed dr. fearn in the confederate provisional congress; was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the th alabama infantry, but declined; commanded a battalion for a while; his "loyalty" consisted in his leaving the confederate service and returning to huntsville within the federal lines. brewer, p. , garrett, pp. , ; smith's debates, _passim_. he soon fell out with the carpet-baggers and "formed a party of one." [ ] the disposition of some of the north alabama leaders (even among the conservatives) to play the childish act was one of the disgusting features of reconstruction. [ ] _n. y. times_, jan. , . among those present were: d. c. humphreys (douglas democrat), confederate officer, who deserted to federals (he was in the first carpet-bag legislature, and later judge of the supreme court of the district of columbia; see garrett, p. ); john b. callis, agent of the freedmen's bureau, veteran reserve corps, member of congress, ; c. c. sheets, in convention of , refused to sign ordinance of secession and deserted to federals, a member of congress, ; thomas m. peters, whig, deserted to federals, later judge of supreme court of alabama (see brewer, p. ; garrett, p. ); f. w. sykes, member of legislature during war, soon returned to conservative party (brewer, p. ); j. j. hinds, afterward a notorious scalawag. [ ] one new man was s. c. posey of lauderdale, who had been in the convention of and refused to sign the ordinance of secession and was in the legislature during the war. returned soon to conservative party. brewer, p. , garrett, p. . [ ] the radical party might have done much worse than to send him to the senate. warren and spencer, the senators elected, were far inferior in character and abilities to swayne. he was too decent a man to suit the radicals and was soon dropped. [ ] _n. y. herald_, march , . [ ] the proclamation announcing that the rebellion had ended was issued april , . mcpherson, p. . [ ] van horne, life of thomas, pp. , , , ; _huntsville advocate_, june , (for copy of order relating to department of the south that i have not found elsewhere); g. o. no. , mil. div. tenn., june , ; g. o. no. , w. dept., june , ; g. o. no. , dept. ala., july , ; g. o. no. , dist. ala., june , ; g. o. no. , dept. tenn., aug. , ; g. o. no. , dept. tenn., nov. , . the general and special orders cited in this chapter are on file in the war department at washington. [ ] o. r., ser. i, vol. xlix, pt. ii, pp. , , , , , ; report of the joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii. [ ] miller, "alabama," p. ; acts of ala. ( - ), pp. , . [ ] that is, the officers had the privileges and authority of officers of a division. g. o. nos. , , , , , dept. ala., ; g. o. no. , mil. div. tenn., . [ ] the "amnesty oath." the oath of allegiance had already been administered to all who would take it. see mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. , . [ ] g. o. nos. and , dept. ala., . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., july , . there was complaint about the stealing of cotton by troops. [ ] g. o. no. , post of montgomery, may , . this order is printed on thin, blue confederate writing paper, which seems to have been shaped with scissors to the proper size. supplies had not followed the army. [ ] g. o. no. , dept. of ala., aug. , . [ ] g. o. no. , post of mobile, in _n. y. daily news_, june , . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., oct. , . [ ] statement of general woods, sept. , , document no. , accompanying the report of schurz. [ ] see statement of woods, sept. , , schurz's report. [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., jan. , . [ ] _n. y. daily news_, sept. , . [ ] statement of gen. t. k. smith, sept. , , in schurz's report. [ ] statement of general woods, sept. , . [ ] g. o. no. , sub-dist. ala., oct. , . [ ] see ch. vi, sec. . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. of ala., sept. , ; statement of general woods, sept. , , in schurz's report. [ ] see ch. vi, sec. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, nov. and dec. , . [ ] document no. , accompanying schurz's report. [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., oct. , . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., feb. , . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., jan. , . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., . there were other trials, but the records are missing and the names of the parties are unknown. a large number of cases were prosecuted before military commissions convened at the instance of the freedmen's bureau. [ ] for two years after the war the confederate sympathizers in north alabama suffered from persecution of this kind. during the war the confederates in north alabama had been classed as guerillas by the federal commanders. [ ] g. o. no. , mil. div. tenn., sept. , ; g. o. no. , dept. ala., sept. , . [ ] g. o. no. , h. q. a., jan. , ; g. o. no. , dept. ala., feb. , . [ ] g. o. no. , dept. ala., oct. , . [ ] g. o. no. , mil. div. tenn., feb. , . [ ] g. o. no. , mil. div. tenn., sept. , . [ ] g. o. no. , h. q. a., july , ; g. o. no. , dept. of the south, july , . [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] p. m. dox to governor parsons, sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] see p. . [ ] _selma times_, feb. , . [ ] there were really three governments in alabama based on the war powers of the president: ( ) the army ruling through its commanders; ( ) the freedmen's bureau, with its agents; ( ) the provisional civil government. [ ] circular no. , aug. --, ; g. o. no. , dept. ala., april , . [ ] _de bow's review_, . de bow made a trip through the south. _nation_, oct. and , ; truman, report to president, april , . see also grant, letter to president, dec. , . [ ] colonel herbert says that the relations between the soldiers and the ex-confederates were very kindly, but the latter hoped the army would soon be removed, when civil government was established. "solid south," p. . [ ] miller, "alabama," p. ; resolutions of the legislature, jan. , . [ ] testimony of swayne, report joint committee, , pt. iii, p. ; various reports of swayne as assistant commissioner of freedmen's bureau. it was noticeable that when swayne was placed in command of the army in the state there was less interference and better order than before, though he never obtained the cavalry. [ ] for instance: in the city of mobile a petition of some kind might be made out in proper form and given to the commander of the post of mobile. the latter would indorse it with his approval or disapproval, and send it to the commander of the district of mobile, who likewise forwarded it with his indorsement to the commander of the department of alabama at mobile or montgomery. in important cases the paper had to go on until it reached headquarters in macon, nashville, louisville, atlanta, or washington, and it had to return the same way. the following orders relate to the changes made so often:-- g. o. nos. , , , , , , , , dept. ala., from july to sept. , ; g. o. no. , dept. ala., march , ; g. o. no. , dist. ala., june , ; g. o. no. , sub-dist. ala., oct. --, ; g. o. no. , mil. div. tenn., june , ; g. o. nos. and , dept. of the tenn., aug. and nov. , ; g. o. no. , dept. of the south, june , ; g. o. no. , dept. of the gulf, ----, ; g. o. no. , dist. of the chattahoochee, aug. --, . there were numerous general orders from local headquarters of the same nature. see also van horne, "life of thomas," pp. , , , ; and sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] g. o. no. , sub-dist. ala., march , . [ ] freedmen's bureau report, oct. , ; ho. ex. doc., no. , st cong., d sess. [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] regulations, july , . [ ] stats.-at-large, vol. xiii, pp. - . see also o. o. howard, "the freedmen during the war," in the _new princeton review_, may and sept., . [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. - , - , , , ; burgess, "reconstruction," pp. - . [ ] _n. y. times_, oct. , . [ ] circular no. , sept. , (howard); circular no. , june , (howard); ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; circular no. , july , (conway); circular no. , july , (conway). [ ] one of them--chaplain c. w. buckley--was guardian of the blacks at montgomery. he afterwards played a prominent part in carpet-bag politics. [ ] ku klux rept., p. ; _n. y. world_, july , ; oral accounts and letters. it was on this theory that the bureau was established, and at the head of the institution was placed general o. o. howard, who was a soft-hearted, unpractical gentleman, with boundless confidence in the negro and none whatever in the old slave owner. a man of hard common sense like sherman would have done less harm and probably much good with the bureau. [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] circular no. , june , (howard); circular no. , july , (conway); ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] freedmen's bureau report, dec., . [ ] in november, , the following army officers, most of whom were members of the veteran reserve corps, were made superintendents of these depots: montgomery, capt. j. l. whiting, v.r.c.; mobile, brevet major g. h. tracy, th infantry; huntsville, brevet col. j. b. callis, v.r.c.; selma, lieut. george sharkley; greenville, james f. mcgogy, late first lieut. u.s.a.; tuscaloosa, capt. w. h. h. peck, v.r.c.; talladega, j. w. burkholder, a.a.g., u.s.a.; demopolis, brevet major c. w. pierce, v.r.c. other bureau officials who afterward became well-known carpet-baggers were: major c. a. miller, d maine cavalry, a.a.g.; major b. w. norris, additional paymaster; lieut.-col. edwin beecher, additional paymaster; rev. c. w. buckley, chaplain th u.s.c. infantry. other officers of the v.r.c. who arrived later were capt. roderick theune, lieuts. george f. browing, g. w. pierce, john jones, p. e. o'conner, and joseph logan. see swayne's report, oct. , ; sen. ex. doc., no. , th. cong., d sess. with one exception these later assisted in reconstruction. [ ] freedmen's bureau report, oct. , . [ ] freedmen's bureau report, oct. , . [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "freedmen's bureau bill, ," p. . [ ] for examples, see schurz's report and accompanying documents, nos. , , , ; taylor, "destruction and reconstruction"; article by schurz in _mcclure's magazine_, jan., . [ ] _the nation_, feb. , . [ ] report of the joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii, p. . [ ] g. o. no. , montgomery, aug. , . [ ] no one ever knew exactly how far the military commander was bound to obey the assistant commissioner and _vice versa_. the problem was at last solved by making swayne military commander also. [ ] report of the joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii, p. (testimony of general wager swayne). [ ] report of the joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii, p. . [ ] swayne did not hesitate to intimidate such men as parsons. he would treat old men--former senators, governors, and congressmen--as if they were bad boys; he himself was under thirty. [ ] the reason for this was that the day before several federal drunken officers had been careering around the bay in a boat, and forsyth, who was on this boat, did not want his party of ladies to meet them. [ ] statement of swayne, ; _n. y. news_, aug. , . [ ] circular no. (freedmen's bureau), war dept., nov. , . [ ] circular no. , sept. , . [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," p. . [ ] richardson, messages and papers of the presidents, vol. vi, p. ; g. o. no. , dept. ala., dec. , ; swayne's report, jan. , ; freedmen's bureau reports, dec., , and nov., . [ ] freedmen's bureau report, dec., ; swayne's reports, jan. and oct. , , in ho. ex. doc., no. , and sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] freedmen's bureau report, nov. , . [ ] ho. rept., no. , st cong., d sess.; sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] freedmen's bureau reports, dec., , and nov., ; ho. ex. doc., no. st cong., d sess.; miller, "history of alabama," p. . congress appropriated $ , , , and there was an immense amount of confederate property confiscated and sold for the benefit of the bureau. of this no account was kept. one detailed estimate of bureau expenses is as follows:-- appropriations by congress $ , , general bounty fund , , freedmen and refugee fund , , retained bounty fund (butler) , , school fund (confiscated property) , , ----------- total $ , , edwin de leon, "ruin and reconstruction of the southern states," in _southern magazine_, . see also ho. ex. doc., no. , st cong., d sess. [ ] g. o. no. , july , . [ ] _n. y. news_, sept. , (montgomery correspondent); ku klux rept., p. ; oral accounts. [ ] _montgomery mail_, may , . [ ] howard's circular, may , ; war department circular no. , july , . [ ] _huntsville advocate_, july , . this was when the army officials were conducting the bureau. later the civilian agents charged $ for making every contract, and the negroes soon wanted the bureau abolished so far as it related to contracts. _n. y. times_, march , (letter from florence, ala.). in madison county some of the negroes tarred and feathered a bureau agent who had been collecting $ . each for drawing contracts. _n. y. herald_, dec. , . [ ] swayne's report, jan. , . [ ] these regulations bear the approval of the other two rulers of alabama--general woods and governor parsons. see g. o. no. , aug. , . [ ] g. o. no. , sept., . this order was in force until . see _n. y. world_, nov. , . [ ] these propositions were approved by a. humphreys, assistant superintendent at talladega, and by general chetlain, commanding the district of talladega. _selma times_, dec. , . [ ] _selma messenger_, nov. , ; _n. y. world_, nov. , . [ ] ku klux rept., p. ; _n. y. news_, sept. , ; oral accounts. [ ] swayne's report, jan., . rev. c. w. buckley, in a report to swayne (dated jan. , ), of a tour in lowndes county, stated that while the bureau and the army and the "government of the christian nation," each had done much good, all was as nothing to what god was doing. the hand of god was seen in the stubborn and persistent reluctance of the negro to make contracts and go to work; god had taught the , , arrogant and haughty whites that they were dependent upon the freedmen; god had ordained that "the self-interest of the former master should be the protection of the late slaves." [ ] swayne's report, oct. , . [ ] freedmen's bureau report, oct. , . [ ] _de bow's review_, . [ ] freedmen's bureau report, dec., . [ ] howard's circular letter, oct. , . [ ] report, oct. , . [ ] herbert, "solid south," p. ; _n. y. news_, sept. , (selma correspondent). [ ] in one case the agent in montgomery sent to troy, fifty-two miles distant, and arrested a landlord who refused to rent a house to a negro. the negro told the bureau agent that he was being evicted. [ ] there were several plantations near montgomery, selma, mobile, and huntsville where negroes were thus collected. [ ] in montgomery, the rev. c. w. buckley, a "hard-shell" preacher, looked after negro contracts. a negro was not allowed to make his own contract, but it must be drawn up before buckley. when a negro broke his contract, buckley always decided in his favor, and avowed that he would sooner believe a negro than a white man. his delight was to keep a white man waiting for a long time while he talked to the negro, turning his back to and paying no attention to the white caller. he preached to the negroes several times a week, not sermons, but political harangues. the audience was composed chiefly of negro women, who, if they had work, would leave it to attend the meetings. they would not disclose what buckley said to them, and when questioned would reply, "it's a secret, and we can't tell it to white folks." buckley advocated confiscation, but swayne, who had more common sense, frowned upon such theological doctrines. [ ] barker, a carriage-maker at livingston, was arrested and confined in prison for some time, and finally was released without trial. he was told that a negro servant had preferred charges against him, and later denied having done so. such occurrences were common. ku klux rept. ala. test., pp. , , , , , ; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; swayne's reports, dec., , and jan., . [ ] _selma times_, april , . busteed was a much-disliked carpet-bag federal judge. mr. burns survived the _busting_, and was a member of the constitutional convention of . [ ] the bureau courts continued to act even after the state was readmitted to the union. in , two constables arrested a negro charged with house-burning in tuscumbia. col. d. c. rugg, the bureau agent at huntsville, raised a force of forty negroes and came to the rescue of the negro criminal. "if you attempt to put that negro on the train," he said, "blood will be spilled. i am acting under the orders of the military department." the officers were trying to take him to tuscumbia for trial. rugg thought the bureau should try him, and said, "these men [the negroes] are not going to let you take the prisoner away, and blood will be shed if you attempt it." _n. y. world_, oct. , ; _tuscaloosa times_. [ ] probably more. freedmen's bureau report, nov. , . [ ] bureau reports, - . [ ] freedmen's bureau reports, - ; hardy, "history of selma"; _n. y. world_, nov. , . [ ] the southern famine relief commission of new york, which worked in alabama until , reported that there was much greater suffering from want among the whites than among the blacks. this society sent corn alone to the state,-- , bushels. see final proceedings and general report, new york, . [ ] freedmen's bureau reports, - . [ ] ho. rept., no. , st cong., d sess. [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] freedmen's bureau report, dec., . [ ] swayne's report, oct. , ; _n. y. daily news_, sept. , (montgomery correspondent). [ ] trowbridge, "the south," p. . [ ] in the convention of this teaching bore fruit in the ordinance authorizing suits by former slaves to recover wages from jan. , . [ ] _n. y. world_, nov. , (selma correspondent); oral accounts. [ ] _de bow's review_, march, (dr. nott); _n. y. times_, oct. , ; _montgomery advertiser_, march , . [ ] du bois in _atlantic monthly_, march, . [ ] a tallapoosa county farmer stated that for three years after the war the crops were very bad. yet the whites who had negroes on their farms felt bound to support them. but if the whites tried to make the negroes work or spoke sharply to them, they would leave and go to the bureau for rations. p. m. dox, a democratic member of congress in , said that in north alabama, in - , negro women would not milk a cow when it rained. servants would not black boots. there was a general refusal to do menial service. ala. test., pp. , . the alabama cotton crop of was , bales; of , , bales; of , , bales; of , , bales; of , , bales. of each crop since the war an increasingly large proportion has been raised by the whites. [ ] swayne's report, oct. , . [ ] within the last five years i have seen several old negroes who said they had been paying assessments regularly to men who claimed to be working to get the "forty acres and the mule" for the negro. they naturally have little to say to white people on the subject. from what i have been told by former slaves, i am inclined to think that the negroes have been swindled out of many hard-earned dollars, even in recent times, by the scoundrels who claim to be paying the fees of lawyers at work on the negroes' cases. [ ] swayne's report, oct. , ; freedmen's bureau report, dec., ; grant's report; truman's report, april , ; _debow's review_, march, ; _montgomery advertiser_, march , ; _n. y. news_, nov. , (selma correspondent); _n. y. world_, nov. , ; _n. y. times_, oct. , ; _n. y. news_, sept., and oct. , , . b. w. norris, a bureau agent from skowhegan, maine, told the negroes the tale of "forty acres and a mule," and they sent him to congress in to get the land for them. he told them that they had a better right to the land than the masters had. "your work made this country what it is, and it is yours." ala. test., pp. , . [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] ball, "clarke county," p. . [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] ala. test., p. ; see annual cyclopædia ( ), article "confiscation." [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, march, . buckley was known among the "malignants" as "the high priest of the nigger bureau." _n. y. world_, dec. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, july , ; herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] _debow's review_, ; oral accounts. [ ] _n. y. times_, feb. , (letter of northern traveller); steedman and fullerton's reports; _n. y. herald_, june , ; _columbus_ (ga.) _sun_, nov. , ; _n. y. times_, jan. , . [ ] account by col. j. w. dubose in manuscript. [ ] herbert, "solid south," pp. , ; _n. y. times_, jan. , . [ ] ho. rept., no. , st cong., d sess.; ku klux rept., p. . see chapter in regard to union league. [ ] see also dubois, in _atlantic monthly_, march, ; ho. ex. doc., no. , st cong., d sess. [ ] ho. rept., no. , p. , st cong., d sess. [ ] some of the prominent incorporators were peter cooper, william c. bryant, a. a. low, gerritt smith, john jay, a. s. barnes, j. w. alvord, s. g. howe, george l. stearns, edward atkinson, and a. a. lawrence. the act of incorporation was approved by the president on march , , at the same time the freedmen's bureau bill was approved. numbers of the incorporators and bank officials were connected with the bureau. see ho. mis. doc., no. , d cong., d sess. [ ] a bureau paymaster. [ ] ho. mis. doc., no. , d cong., d sess. [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] see williams, "history of the negro race in america," vol. ii, p. . august was a month in which there was little money-making among the negroes. it was vacation time, between the "laying by" and the gathering of the crop. [ ] hoffman, "race traits and tendencies," p. , says $ , , . [ ] hoffman, p. ; also sen. rept., no. , th cong., d sess. williams, vol. ii, p. , states that the total deposits amounted to $ , , , an average of $ for each depositor. [ ] dividends were declared as follows: nov. , , %; march , - , %; sept. , , %; june , , %; may , , %; making % in all. to , $ , , had been paid to depositors, and there was a balance in the hands of the government receivers of $ , . [ ] williams, "history of the negro race," vol. ii, pp. - ; fred douglass, "life and times," ch. xiv; ho. mis. doc., no. , d cong., d sess.; du bois, "the souls of black folk"; the various reports of the freedmen's bureau and of the commissioners appointed to settle the affairs of the freedmen's savings and trust company, to ; hoffman, "race traits and tendencies," pp. , ; fleming, "documents relating to reconstruction," nos. and . [ ] regulations of the treasury dept., july , . [ ] mcpherson, "rebellion," pp. , ; mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. - . [ ] see ch. iv, sec. . [ ] dubois (_atlantic monthly_, march, ) declares that the opposition to the education of the negro was bitter, for the south believed that the educated negro was a dangerous negro. this statement is perhaps partially correct for fifteen or twenty years after , but it is not correct for - . [ ] _the gulf states hist. mag._, sept., ; report of general swayne to howard, dec. , . the evidence on this point that is worthy of consideration is conclusive. it is all one way. see also chs. xix and xx, below. [ ] report of swayne, oct. , . [ ] "up from slavery," pp. , . [ ] _daily news_, sept. , (montgomery correspondence). oral accounts. [ ] g. o. no. , july , (montgomery); freedmen's bureau reports, - . [ ] swayne's report, oct. , ; freedmen's bureau report, . [ ] swayne's report., oct. , . [ ] freedmen's bureau report, dec., ; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] _daily news_, oct. , (mobile correspondent); _de bow's review_, (dr. nott). [ ] swayne's report, oct. , . [ ] the account of this particular school was given me by dr. o. d. smith of auburn, ala., who was one of the men who chose the white teacher. [ ] swayne's report, oct. , . [ ] report, oct. , . [ ] rent was usually paid at the rate of $ a month for thirty pupils. ho. rept., no. , pp. , , , , st cong., d sess. the books of the american missionary association showed that it had received, in and , from the freedmen's bureau for alabama, the following amounts in cash, though how much it received before these dates is not known. december, $ . october, . february, . (?) january, . april, . may, . june, . july, . september, . november, . december, . for building (?) , . an item in the account of the association was "chicago to mobile, $ , ." no one was able to explain what it meant unless it was the $ , building in mobile used as a training school for negro teachers and on which the bureau paid rent. in the southern states the bureau paid to the american missionary association, as shown by the books of the latter, $ , . . judging from the variable items not noted above, rent was evidently not included nor even all the cash. ho. rept., no. , p. _et seq._, st cong., d sess. (howard investigation). [ ] buckley's report for march , ; semiannual report on schools for freedmen, july , ; general clanton in ku klux rept. ala. test. [ ] francis wayland. [ ] s. g. greene, president of the association. [ ] president hill of harvard college. [ ] reports, proceedings, and lectures of the national teachers' association, to ; reports of the freedmen's aid societies of the methodist episcopal church. for results of the mistaken teachings of the radical instructors, see page's article on "lynching" in the _north american review_, jan., . [ ] miss alice m. bacon, in the slater fund trustees, occasional papers, no. , p. . armstrong, at hampton, va., was a shining exception to the kind of teachers described above. [ ] the reconstruction government was now in power. there were, at this time, thirty-one bureau schools at thirty-one points in the state. [ ] freedmen's bureau reports, - . [ ] _atlantic monthly_, march, . [ ] sir george campbell, "white and black," pp. , ; thomas, "the american negro," p. ; washington, "the future of the american negro," pp. - , ; _debow's review_, ; slater fund trustees, occasional papers, no. . washington tells of the craze for the education in greek, latin, and theology. this education would make them the equal of the whites, they thought, and would free them from manual labor, and above all fit them for office-holding. nearly all became teachers, preachers, and politicians. "up from slavery," pp. , , ; "future of the american negro," p. . [ ] from the surrender of the confederate armies, to his death in , dr. curry was a stanch believer in the work for negro education. no other man knew the whole question so thoroughly as he. and he had the advantage of a close acquaintance with the negro from his early childhood. his observations as to the effects of alien efforts to educate the black will be found in the slater fund occasional papers, and in an address delivered before the montgomery conference in . see also ch. xiv. [ ] i have talked with many who uniformly assert that they were unable to conform to the bureau regulations. it was better to let land remain uncultivated. wherever possible no attention was paid to the rules. the negro laborers themselves have no recollections of any real assistance in labor matters received from the bureau. they remember it rather as an obstruction to laboring freely. [ ] the president and the supreme court now being powerless. [ ] that is, blacks and such whites as were not "disfranchised for participation in the rebellion or for felony." [ ] july , , the oath was modified for those whose disabilities had been removed by congress; feb. , , those not disfranchised by the fourteenth amendment were allowed to take the modified oath of july , , instead of the iron-clad oath. see macdonald, "select statutes." the alabama representatives all took the "iron-clad" oath. [ ] text of the act, mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. , ; g. o. no. , d m. d., april , . for criticism, burgess, "reconstruction," pp. - ; dunning, "civil war and reconstruction," pp. , - , . [ ] g. o. nos. and , h. q. a., march and , ; mcpherson, p. . [ ] report of secretary of war, , vol. i, p. . [ ] the oath was: "i, ---- ----, do solemnly swear (or affirm), in the presence of almighty god, that i am a citizen of the state of alabama; that i have resided in said state for ---- months, next preceding this day, and now reside in the county of ---- in said state; that i am twenty-one years old; that i have not been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war against the united states, nor for felony committed against the laws of any state or of the united states; that i have never been a member of any state legislature, nor held any executive or judicial office in any state and afterward engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the united states or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof; that i have never taken an oath as a member of congress of the united states, as an officer of the united states, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the constitution of the united states and afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the united states or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof; that i will faithfully support the constitution and obey the laws of the united states, and will, to the best of my ability, encourage others to do so, so help me god!" mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. , ; g. o. no. , d m. d., april , . [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. - ; burgess, "reconstruction," pp. - ; dunning, "civil war and reconstruction," pp. , . [ ] g. o. nos. and , d m. d., april and , ; _n. y. herald_, april , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; mcpherson, pp. , ; report of secretary of war, , vol. i, p. ; herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] g. o. no. , dist. ala., april , ; mcpherson, p. . [ ] report of secretary of war, , vol. i, p. ; _n. y. herald_, april , . [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] g. o. no. , h. q. a., april , . [ ] report of secretary of war, , vol. i, p. . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., april , . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., april , . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., aug. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., may , . (this was to favor radical meetings. there were many stump speakers sent down from the north to tell the negro how to vote, and it was feared they might excite the whites to acts of violence.) _n. y. herald_, june , (explanatory order). [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. , ; dunning, pp. , . [ ] as long as pope was in command at montgomery and atlanta, he and grant kept up a rapid and voluminous (on the part of pope) correspondence. they were usually agreed on all that pertained to reconstruction, both now being extreme in their views. [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; no. , th cong., st sess.; mcpherson, p. . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., aug. , ; mcpherson, p. . [ ] g. o. nos. and , d m. d., aug. and , ; report of the secretary of war, , vol. i, p. ; mcpherson, p. . [ ] see _selma messenger_, jan. , . [ ] see mcpherson, p. . [ ] _eutaw whig and observer_, dec. and , . [ ] s. o. no. , d m. d., april , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _montgomery mail_, april , . [ ] see p. . [ ] g. o. nos. , , , post of mobile, ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. - ; _n. y. times_, may , . [ ] _n. y. world_, may , ; s. o. no. , d m. d., may , ; herbert, "solid south," p. ; _n. y. times_, may , . [ ] s. o. no. , d m. d., june , ; s. o. no. , d m. d., may , ; _n. y. tribune_, june , ; _selma messenger_, june , ; _evening post_, may, ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. - ; _mobile register_, oct. --, . [ ] _mobile register_, oct. --, . [ ] herbert, "solid south," pp. , ; _n. y. times_, dec. , . see above, p. . [ ] s. o. nos. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , d m. d., ; report of the secretary of war, , vol. i, p. . (some of the persons appointed were b. t. pope and david p. lewis, judges; george p. goldthwaite, solicitor; and b. f. saffold, mayor of selma.) [ ] report of the secretary of war, , vol. i, p. . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., oct. , ; mcpherson, p. . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., dec. , . [ ] report of the secretary of war, , vol. i, p. ; mcpherson, p. . [ ] s. o. , d m. d., nov. , ; pope to swayne, nov. , ; _n. y. world_, dec. , . [ ] g. o. no. , sub-dist. alabama, april , ; mcpherson, p. . [ ] mcpherson, p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, april , . [ ] _n. y. tribune_, june , ; _n. y. herald_, june , ; g. o. no. , d m. d., june , ; report of the secretary of war, , vol. i, p. . [ ] aug. , . [ ] g. o. nos. and . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., aug. , . [ ] report of the secretary of war, , vol. i, p. . [ ] _selma messenger_, dec. , . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., . [ ] s. o. no. , d m. d., june , ; g. o. no. , d m. d., aug. , ; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., . [ ] s. o. no. , d m. d., aug . ; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. there were other cases not referred to in general and special orders, but this was the only case in which pope himself directly interfered. [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., april , . [ ] in this way, white majorities in ten counties were overcome by black majorities in the adjoining counties of the district. [ ] of the registrars who later became somewhat prominent in politics, the whites were horton, dimon, dereen, sillsby, william m. buckley, stanwood, ely, pennington, haughey--all being northern men. of the negro members of the boards, royal, finley, williams, alston, turner, rapier, and king (or godwin) rose to some prominence, and their records were much better that those of their white colleagues. [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., may , . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., . [ ] smith was later the first reconstruction governor of alabama. [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., aug. , . [ ] governor, secretary of state, treasurer, comptroller, sheriff, judicial officers of every kind, and all court clerks and other officials, commissioners, tax assessors and collectors, county surveyors, treasurers, mayor, councilmen, justices of the peace, solicitors. [ ] special instructions to registrars in alabama, report of the secretary of war, , vol. i, p. . [ ] registration orders, june , . [ ] record of cabinet meeting, june , , in ho. ex. doc., no, , th cong., st sess.; burgess, p. ; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. [ ] ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess.; mcpherson, p. . see above, p. . [ ] mcpherson, pp. , ; burgess, pp. - . [ ] mcpherson, pp. , . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., aug. , ; journal of convention of , pp. - ; report of the secretary of war, , vol. i, pp. , ; _tribune_ almanac, . [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. _tribune_ almanac, , ; report of col. j. f. meline, inspector of registration, jan. , . these figures are based on the latest reports of . according to the census of , there would be in , , whites over twenty-one years of age, and , blacks. [ ] meline's report, jan. , . see also ch. xiii below. [ ] g. o. no. , oct. , ; journal of convention of , pp. - . [ ] mcpherson, p. ; journal of convention, , pp. , , ; _n. y. world_, dec. , . when the convention passed a resolution indorsing the "firm and impartial, yet just and gentle," administration of pope, three delegates voted against it because they said pope had not done his full duty in removing disloyal persons from office but, after being informed of their politics, had left them in office. journal of convention, , pp. , . for account of the convention, see below, ch. xiv. [ ] g. o. no. , dec. , ; mcpherson, p. ; journal of convention, p. . [ ] the th united states infantry, a negro regiment. [ ] mcpherson, p. ; g. o. no. , h. q. a. (a. g. o.), dec. , ; g. o. no. , d m. d., jan. , . [ ] herbert, "solid south"; _n. y. times_, jan. , . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., jan. , . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., jan. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; report of major-general meade's military operations and administration of the d m. d., etc. (pamphlet); _n. y. times_, jan. , . [ ] see ch. xv for "convention" candidates. [ ] report of meade, etc., ; telegrams of meade to grant, jan. , , and , and of grant to meade, jan. and . [ ] report of meade, etc., ; herbert, "solid south," pp. , . in his first report meade estimated that the constitution failed of ratification by votes (herbert, "solid south," p. ). in his report at the end of the year, based on the official report of general hayden, which was made a month after the election, he changed the number to , . see also ch. xvi, on the rejection of the constitution. [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., march , ; mcpherson, p. ; meade's report, . [ ] in one case he reinstated charles r. hubbard, clerk of the district court, who had been removed by swayne. this was contrary to instructions from the war department, which forbade the reappointment of an officer who had been removed. annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] report of meade, etc., ; g. o. no. , d m. d., jan. , . [ ] g. o. no. , jan. , , republishing g. o. no. , war department, . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., march , . [ ] pope was in feeble health, and this treatment hastened his death, which occurred shortly after being released from jail. brewer, "alabama," p. . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., april , ; _n. y. herald_, april , . judge pope was arrested for violating pope's g. o. nos. , , which certainly provided for mixed juries. meade was simply putting his own interpretation on these orders. [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., feb. , ; report of meade, etc., . [ ] report of meade, etc,. ; _independent monitor_, april and may, . the _independent monitor_ was a long-established and well-known weekly paper. f. a. p. barnard, who was afterwards president of columbia college, new york, was, when a professor at the university of alabama, the editor of the _monitor_, and under him it won a reputation for spiciness which it did not lose under randolph. see also ch. xxi, for randolph and the ku klux klan. [ ] g. o. no. , feb. , ; g. o. no. , march , ; g. o. no. , april , ; mcpherson, p. ; report of meade, etc., . [ ] g. o. no. , jan. , ; g. o. no. , may , ; mcpherson, p. ; report of meade, . [ ] report of meade, . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., april , ; _selma times and messenger_, april , . [ ] this was the offence according to conservative testimony. the radical testimony did not differ greatly, but the "hog thief" happened to be a carpet-bag politician also. [ ] these were the "eutaw cases," and were tried at selma. meade commuted some of the sentences at once. the prisoners were sent to dry tortugas, and were later pardoned by meade. the officials spoiled the effect of his leniency by putting the pardoned prisoners ashore at galveston, texas, without money and almost without clothes, while some of the party were ill. annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _selma times and messenger_, may , ; _n. y. world_, may , ; g. o. no. , d m. d., may , . [ ] _independent monitor_, april and may, ; report of meade, ; g. o. no. , d m. d., may , . [ ] g. o. nos. and , d m. d., april and , . during the eight months of meade's administration in the third district, there were thirty-two trials by military commission in georgia, florida, and alabama. only fifteen persons were convicted. the sentences in four cases were disapproved, in eight cases remitted, and two cases were referred to the president, leaving only one person confined in prison. report of meade, . [ ] _selma messenger_, oct. , . [ ] _montgomery mail_, june , ; _independent monitor_, june , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _montgomery advertiser_, june , . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. - . [ ] mcpherson, p. ; see below, ch. xv. [ ] only the radical candidates had been voted for. [ ] report of meade, . [ ] g. o. no. , d m. d., june , . [ ] g. o. no. , july , . [ ] g. o. no. , july , . [ ] the volume of orders numbered in the adjutant-general's office at washington contains the general orders of the third military district. volume relates to civil affairs in the same district. [ ] _n. y. herald_, june , . [ ] washington (in "the future of the american negro," pp. , , ) thinks it unfortunate that the native whites did not make stronger efforts to control the politics of the negro, and prevent him from falling under the control of unscrupulous aliens. but any attempt to influence the negro voters was looked upon as "obstructing reconstruction," and, in fact, was contrary to the spirit of the reconstruction laws and rendered a person liable to arrest. this was recognized by patton and others, who, however, never dreamed that the negroes would be so successfully exploited by political adventurers, or perhaps they would have pursued a different policy. general clanton, the leader of the conservatives, said that early in the whites had endeavored to keep the blacks away from radical leaders by giving them barbecues, etc. on one occasion a radical, who had once been kept from mistreating negroes by the military authorities at clanton's request, told the negroes that the whites intended to poison them at the barbecue. two long tables had been set, one for each race, and the preachers, speakers, and the whites were present, but the blacks did not come. ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, march , . [ ] herbert, "solid south," p. ; herbert, "political history" in "memorial record of alabama," vol. i, p. ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] northern observers who were friendly to the south saw the danger much more clearly than the southerners themselves, who seemed unable to take negro suffrage seriously or to consider it as great a danger as it is generally believed they did. two years of the freedmen's bureau had not wholly succeeded in alienating the best of the whites and the negroes. the whites thought that the removal of outside interference would quiet the blacks. to give the negro the ballot was absurd, they thought, but they did not consider it necessarily as dangerous as it turned out to be. a remarkable prophecy of reconstruction is found in calhoun's works, vol. vi, pp. - . the behavior of the negro during and after the war, in spite of malign influences, had been such as to reassure many whites, who began to believe that to accept negro suffrage and get rid of the freedmen's bureau and the army would be a good exchange. the northern friendly observers saw more clearly because, perhaps, they better understood the motives of the radicals. the _n. y. herald_ said: "briefly, we may regard the entire ten unreconstructed southern states, with possibly one or two exceptions, as forced by a secret and overwhelming revolutionary influence to a common and inevitable fate. they are all bound to be governed by blacks, spurred on by worse than blacks--white wretches who dare not show their faces in respectable society anywhere. this is the most abominable phase barbarism has assumed since the dawn of civilization. it was all right and proper to put down the rebellion. it was all right, perhaps, to emancipate the slaves, although the right to hold them had been acknowledged before. but it is not right to make slaves of white men, even though they may have been former masters of blacks. this is but a change in a system of bondage that is rendered the more odious and intolerable because it has been inaugurated in an enlightened instead of a dark and uncivilized age." see annual register, . [ ] see mcpherson's scrapbook, "the campaign of ," vol. i, p. , for an account of a typical meeting. [ ] _selma times_, march , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, march , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, april , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _n. y. herald_, april , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, may , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , . it is noticeable all through reconstruction that most of the demands for social rights or privileges came from mobile mulattoes. [ ] for an estimate of the importance of the union league, see ch. xvi. [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," pp. , . the last assertion refers to such statements as those of secretary mcculloch and the postmaster-general in regard to the character of the "loyalists." see mcculloch, "men and measures," p. . [ ] see herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] on march , , senator wilson, in a speech in favor of negro suffrage, said that when the purpose of the act of march was carried out, the "majority of these states will, within a twelvemonth, send here senators and representatives that think as we think, and speak as we speak, and vote as we vote, and will give their electoral vote for whoever we nominate as candidate for president in . the power is all in our hands." _cong. globe_, march , . [ ] clanton had been a whig, had opposed secession, made a brilliant war record, became the leader of the democratic and conservative party in , and led the fight against the carpet-bag government until his death in . he was killed in knoxville by a hireling of one of the railroad companies which had looted the state treasury and against which he was fighting. brewer, p. ; garrett, pp. - . [ ] see herbert, "solid south," p. ; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] _n. y. tribune_, may , , editorial. when the shots were fired kelly showed the white feather, and reclined upon the platform behind and under the speaker's chair; afterwards he ran hatless to the hotel, and told the clerk to "swear he was out." a special boat at once took him from the city to montgomery. [ ] _n. y. tribune_, may , ; _n. y. times_, may , ; _n. y. world_, may , ; _mobile times_, ----, ; _mobile register_, ----, ; _evening post_, ----, ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, may , . [ ] see herbert, "solid south," p. ; oral accounts, etc. [ ] sykes soon deserted the radicals, and was a seymour elector the next year. later he was a candidate for the u. s. senate against spencer. brewer, p. . [ ] he was the north alabama candidate for appointment as provisional governor in , but was defeated by parsons, the middle alabama candidate. parsons made him a judge, but he resigned because the lawyers who argued before him spoke in insulting phrases concerning his war record. in pope appointed him superintendent of registration for the state. he was a prominent member of the union league. brewer, p. ; _n. y. herald_, june , ; report of joint committee on reconstruction, pt. iii. [ ] _n. y. herald_, june , , a northern republican account. [ ] nicholas davis of madison county and judge busteed were both candidates for the chairmanship. but the negroes and union leaguers were hostile to davis, because he did not like negro politicians and carpet-baggers and was opposed to the union league. busteed was not a favorite for practically the same reasons, and because the negroes thought he was trying to "ride two horses at once." he had spoken at a meeting of moderate reconstructionists in mobile, had presided over the kelly meeting where the riot occurred, and was believed to be in favor of moderate measures. he wrote a letter to the president of the convention, advising moderation and criticising certain methods of the radicals. this letter was styled the "god save the republic" letter, and was characterized, his enemies said, by its bad taste and malignant spirit, and was a stab at his best friends. he was chosen a member of the lowndes county delegation, but his name was erased from the list of delegates. he then asked to have the privileges of the floor as a courtesy, but his request was denied. one cause of dislike of him was that he was believed to have senatorial aspirations, and expected the support of the moderates, or "rebel" reconstructionists. but he was very unfortunate, for the "rebels" also thought he was trying to play a double game and were dropping him. suits were pending against him charging him with malfeasance in office, fraudulent conversion of money, and corrupt abuse of the judicial office. ex-governor watts, judges s. f. rice and wade keys, john a. elmore, h. c. semple, d. s. troy, and r. h. goldthwaite were the parties prosecuting him. _n. y. herald_, june , ; brewer, p. ; _montgomery mail_, june , . [ ] swayne, as well as busteed, was an aspirant for senatorial honors. busteed had succeeded in causing the rejection of albert griffin, the editor of the _mobile nationalist_, as register in chancery. griffin was swayne's friend, and now each gave the other the benefit of his influence. _n. y. herald_, june , ; _montgomery mail_, june , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, june , . [ ] the only taxes that affected these people. [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , ; _montgomery mail_, june , ; _n. y. herald_, june , , . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, july , . [ ] herbert, pp. , ; _n. y. herald_, june and , . most of the violent and radical schemes originated and were advocated by the white radical leaders. generally the negro leaders made moderate demands. holland thompson, a negro leader, in a speech at tuskegee, advised his race not to organize a negro military company, as it would be sure to cause trouble. he said that the negro did not ask for social equality. he told the negroes to stop buying guns and whiskey and go to work. mcpherson's scrapbook, "the campaign of ," vol. i, p. . in striking contrast were the speeches of such white men as b. w. norris and a. c. felder, who undertook to persuade the negroes that reconstruction was the remedy for all the ills that affected humanity. mcpherson's scrapbook, "the fourth of july" ( ), pp. , . [ ] herbert, p. . [ ] lawyer, colonel of th alabama cavalry, superintendent of education, - , author of "the cradle of the confederacy," "alabama manual and statistical register," editor _montgomery mail_, _mobile register_, etc. [ ] a reign of terror had followed the reconstruction of tennessee under "parson" brownlow. [ ] _n. y. times_, aug. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, sept. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; herbert, p. . [ ] herbert, pp. , ; _n. y. herald_, sept. , . [ ] _montgomery sentinel_, july , ; _n. y. herald_, aug. , . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . a frequent threat. [ ] _n. y. world_, nov. , ; harris, "political conflict in america," p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, oct. , . [ ] accounts of negroes and whites who were at the polls. [ ] _selma messenger_, oct. and , dec. and , , and jan. , ; _montgomery mail_, jan. , ; ball, "clarke county"; oral accounts. [ ] freedmen's bureau report, nov. , . [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. the _n. y. tribune_, oct. , , gives slightly different figures. statements of the vote do not agree. there was much confusion in the records. for statistics, see above, pp. , . [ ] samuel a. hale, a dissatisfied radical from new hampshire, a brother of john p. hale, wrote to senator henry wilson, on jan. , , concerning the character of the members of the convention. he said that many were negroes, grossly ignorant; a large proportion were northern adventurers who had manipulated the negro vote; and all were "worthless vagabonds, homeless, houseless, drunken knaves." hale had lived for several years in alabama. ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. - . [ ] there is doubt about four or five men, whether they were black or white. the lists made at the time do not agree. [ ] _n. y. world_, nov. , , and feb. , ; _selma messenger_, dec. and , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; herbert, "solid south," p. . a partial list of aliens as described by a northern correspondent: a. j. applegate of wisconsin; arthur bingham of ohio and new york; d. h. bingham of new york, who had lived in the state before the war, an old man, and intensely bitter in his hatred of southerners; w. h. block of ohio; w. t. blackford of new york, a bureau official, "the wearer of one of the two clean shirts visible in the whole convention"; m. d. brainard of new york, a bureau clerk who did not know, when elected to represent monroe, where his county was located; alfred e. buck of maine, a court clerk of mobile appointed by pope; charles w. buckley of massachusetts, new york, and illinois, chaplain of a negro regiment, later a bureau official; william m. buckley of new york, his brother; j. h. burdick of iowa, extremely radical; pierce burton of massachusetts, who had been removed from the bureau for writing letters to northern papers, advocating the repeal of the cotton tax, but now that the negroes desired the repeal of the tax, the breach was healed; c. m. cabot of (unknown), member of convention of ; datus e. coon of iowa; joseph h. davis of (unknown), surgeon u.s.a., member of convention of ; charles h. dustan of illinois; george ely of massachusetts and new york; s. s. gardner of massachusetts, of the freedmen's bureau; albert griffin of ohio and illinois, radical editor; thomas haughey of scotland, surgeon u.s.a.; r. m. johnson of illinois, lived in montgomery and represented henry county; john c. keffer of pennsylvania, chairman of radical executive committee, "known to malignants as the 'head devil' of the loyal league"; david lore of (unknown); charles a. miller of maine, bureau official, "wore the second clean shirt in the convention"; a. c. morgan of (unknown); b. w. norris of maine, commissioner of national cemetery, - , commissary and paymaster, - , bureau official; e. woolsey peck of new york; r. m. reynolds of iowa, six months in alabama and "knew all about it"; j. silsby of massachusetts, another bureau reverend; n. d. stanwood of massachusetts, a bureau official who had caused several serious negro disturbances in lowndes county; j. p. stow of (unknown); whelan of ireland; j. w. wilhite of (unknown), u.s. sutler; benjamin yordy of (unknown), a bureau official and revenue official who never saw the county he represented; benjamin rolfe, a carriage painter from new york, was too drunk to sign the constitution, and was known as "the hero of two shirts," because when he failed to pay a hotel bill in selma his carpet-bag was seized, and was found to contain nothing but two of those useful garments. ku klux rept., ala. test., _passim_; _n. y. world_, nov. , ; herbert, p. . [ ] some of the better known were: r. deal of dale county, a baptist preacher, one of those who, in , negligently reconstructed the state, and the hope was now expressed that "he has better success in reconstructing souls than sovereignties"; w. c. ewing of baine county, "one of the original moulton leaguers who, in , first organized the radical party in alabama," a bitter radical; w. r. jones of covington, had been barbarously murdered in "a rebel outrage," but came to the convention notwithstanding; b. f. saffold, an officer of the confederate army and military mayor of selma; henry c. semple, ex-confederate, nephew of president tyler; joseph h. speed, cousin of attorney-general speed. [ ] the negro members were: ben alexander of greene, field hand; john caraway of mobile, assistant editor of the _mobile nationalist_; thomas diggs of barbour, field hand; peyton finley, formerly doorkeeper of the house; james k. green of hale, a carriage driver; ovid gregory of mobile, a barber; jordan hatcher of dallas and washington johnson of russell, field hands, were the blackest negroes in the convention; l. s. latham of bullock; tom lee of perry, field hand, who had a reputation for moderation; alfred strother of dallas; j. t. rapier of lauderdale, educated in canada; j. w. mcleod of marengo; b. f. royal of bullock; j. h. burdick of wilcox; h. stokes and jack hatcher of dallas; simon brunson and benjamin inge of sumter; samuel blandon of lee; lafeyette robinson and columbus jones of madison. beverly, "history of alabama," p. ; _n. y. world_, nov. , ; owen, "official and statistical register," p. . [ ] journal convention of , pp. - . [ ] journal convention of , p. ; _n. y. herald_, nov. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] _selma messenger_, dec. , ; journal convention of , p. ; _n. y. world_, nov. , . [ ] journal, pp. - , , , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _n. y. herald_, march , . [ ] journal, pp. , , ; _n. y. world_, nov. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] journal, pp. , , , ; _n. y. herald_, nov. , . [ ] twice the pay in the convention of . [ ] journal, pp. , , - ; pope to swayne, nov. , ; _n. y. world_, dec. , ; g. o. no. , d m. d., nov. , . [ ] journal, p. . [ ] journal, p. ; _n. y. herald_, nov. , . [ ] journal, p. ; herbert, "solid south," p. ; _n. y. herald_, nov. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] journal, pp. , . [ ] journal, pp. , , ; _n. y. herald_, nov. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _selma messenger_, dec. , . [ ] journal, p. ; _n. y. world_, dec. , . [ ] dubbed "the incarnate fiend" by the whites because of his violent prejudice. [ ] _n. y. world_, dec. , ; _montgomery mail_, nov., ; _n. y. herald_, nov. and and dec. , . [ ] journal, pp. , , ; _n. y. herald_, nov. , . [ ] by griffin of ohio, keffer of pennsylvania, norris of maine, and davis of (?). it was said that norris and davis had to be influenced by swayne to sign the majority report. _n. y. world_, nov. , . [ ] journal, pp. - ; _n. y. world_, nov. , . [ ] by speed of virginia, whelan of ireland, and lee (negro). [ ] journal, pp. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _n. y. world_, nov. , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, nov. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] journal, pp. , , , . [ ] journal, pp. , , , . [ ] journal, p. . [ ] journal, p. . [ ] journal, p. . [ ] journal, p. . [ ] _selma messenger_, dec. , . [ ] journal, pp. , . [ ] _n. y. world_, nov. and dec. and , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] code of alabama, , p. . griffin said that the oath required the voter never to favor a change in the new constitution so far as the suffrage was concerned; that "it was the determination of the committee to forever fasten this constitution on the people of alabama. he wanted to tie the hands of rebels, so that complete political equality should be secured to the negro." annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] this was aimed at the confederate soldiers of north alabama, who had imprisoned and in some cases hanged the tories and outlaws of that section. [ ] code of alabama, ; constitution of , article vii. [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , ; journal, pp. , . [ ] journal, pp. - ; _n. y. world_, nov. , . [ ] journal, pp. - . [ ] journal, pp. , . [ ] journal, pp. , , ; _n. y. world_, nov. , . [ ] journal, pp. , . [ ] journal, p. . the whites had for more than two years been asking for the repeal of this unjust tax, but they were not heeded. as soon as the negroes demanded its repeal, it was repealed. that was certainly one advantage they received from the possession of political rights. one petition from the negroes asked that the tax be repealed because, in many instances, it was greater than the value of the land. if this was not done, they wanted the land taken from the owners and worked in common. _n. y. herald_, nov. , . [ ] journal, p. . [ ] journal, pp. , . [ ] journal, p. ; meade, speed, semple, cabot, graves, j. l. alexander, ewing, latham, and hurst. [ ] journal, p. ; j. p. stow of (?). [ ] address of protesting delegates to the people of alabama, dec. , . [ ] journal, p. . [ ] the codes of alabama for and do not recognize the validity of the constitution of . it is listed as the "constitution (so-called) of the state of alabama, ." the president of the convention of said, "what is called the present constitution of the state of alabama is a piece of unseemly mosaic, composed of shreds and patches gathered here and there, incongruous in design, inharmonious in action, discriminating and oppressive in the burdens it imposes, reckless in the license it confers on unjust and wicked legislation, and utterly lacking in every element to inspire popular confidence and the reverence and affection of the people." journal, , p. . [ ] ely, a delegate from russell, was a candidate in montgomery; brainard, a delegate from monroe, was a candidate in montgomery; r. m. johnson, a delegate from henry, was also a candidate in montgomery. these men, however, lived in montgomery and had never seen the counties they represented. [ ] _selma messenger_, jan. , . [ ] herbert, "solid south," p. ; _n. y. world_, feb. , . [ ] _n. y. world_, feb. and , ; _selma times and messenger_, feb. , ; _cong. globe_, march , ; herbert, "solid south"; beverly, "alabama"; owen, p. . the above list is not complete, as there were undoubtedly other candidates among those who did not sign the constitution, since a number of them fell into line later. the starred names are those of candidates who were also registrars, and who not only conducted their own elections for the convention, but also for office under the new constitution. three members of the majority who signed the report were not eligible for office when the election came off, two being in jail,--one for stealing and the other for fraud,--while a third "had been betrayed into an act of virtue by dying." _n. y. world_, feb. , . [ ] after the election, governor patton, who at first had supported reconstruction, issued an address complaining that nearly all the candidates voted for were strangers to the people; that many were ignorant negroes, and that in one county all the commissioners-elect were negroes who were unable to read; that unlicensed lawyers, wholly uneducated, were chosen for state solicitors; that the strangers were too often of bad character; and that the radical party consisted almost entirely of negroes, the native whites having forsaken the party as soon as the negroes fell under the control of the imported radicals who ran the machine. _n. y. times_, april , . [ ] herbert, p. . [ ] _montgomery mail_, july , ; _n. y. world_, sept. , . [ ] the radical papers in alabama were supported almost entirely by campaign funds and by appropriations from the government for printing the session laws of the united states. they styled themselves the "official journals of the united states government." when one offended and the washington patronage was withdrawn, it always collapsed. in the reconstructionist papers in the state were _alabama state sentinel_, _the nationalist_, _elmore standard_, _east alabama monitor_, _alabama republican_, _the tallapoosian_, _the reconstructionist_, _huntsville advocate_, _moulton union_, _livingston messenger_. see journal convention of , p. . the circulation of each paper was small and almost entirely among the negroes. special campaign editions were printed and scattered broadcast. the constitution was printed in all of the above-named papers, and also in a washington paper which was franked by the thousands from congressmen through the union league as a campaign document. _n. y. world_, feb. , . [ ] see, for example, _the nationalist_, feb. , (editorial). on jan. , , an "address to the laboring men of alabama" stated in part, "if you fail to vote and the constitution fails to be ratified, your right to vote hereafter closes and all participation on your part in the administration of the laws of the state is at an end." _montgomery mail_, jan., . [ ] _selma messenger_, jan. , . [ ] _cong. globe_, march , , p. . [ ] not yet called democrats, but sometimes "democratic and conservative." [ ] popular accounts say thousands, but not as many went this time as later, in the early 's. [ ] herbert, p. , and journal convention of . [ ] _cong. globe_, march , , p. . [ ] _selma messenger_, dec. , . [ ] _selma messenger_, dec. , . [ ] both later became radicals. [ ] _tuskegee news_, oct. , . [ ] _n. y. times_, jan. , ; _montgomery mail_, jan. , ; herbert, p. ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] thirty-five white counties with a population of , -- , whites and , blacks--had representatives, or one representative to , of the population. twenty-four black counties with a population of , -- , whites and , blacks--had representatives, or one to . three small white counties were not represented, but had to vote with others.; _selma times and messenger_, march , ; _cong. globe_, - , pp. , . [ ] variously estimated at from , to , . [ ] _selma times and messenger_, march , . the minority report, march , , of beck of kentucky and brooks of new york, on the admission of alabama, sums up the conservative objections to the constitution. see _cong. globe_, march , , p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _n. y. times_, jan. , ; _selma times and messenger_, march , . [ ] _tribune_ almanac, . pope reported , ; meline, , . [ ] _tribune_ almanac, . the methods of the registrars may be imagined, since meade had more than , names of negroes struck from the lists. [ ] it is impossible to obtain exact figures of the registration; no one ever knew exactly what they were, and accounts never agree. meade's estimate was , , report, . another estimate was , , _cong. globe_, march , , p. ; and still another , , alabama manual and statistical register, p. xxiii. it is evident that the registration was about , . [ ] in the vote on holding a convention had been more than a majority of registered voters. [ ] report of meade, , published in atlanta. [ ] for instance, william h. smith, candidate for governor. [ ] _the nationalist_, aug. , ; _mobile register_, feb. , ; report of meade, . [ ] report of meade, . [ ] _montgomery mail_, feb. , , , and , ; _n. y. world_, march , ; _cong. globe_, march , , p. ; _mobile register_, feb. , ; _selma times and messenger_, feb. , . [ ] _selma times and messenger_, feb. , . [ ] a political adviser at the polls. [ ] the conservatives had challenged such voters several times and johnson sent the following order:-- "at office, mobile, feb. , . "the judges of the election at the mississippi hotel will receive all ballots endorsed by the voter and my signature. the certificate of voters is in my possession. "respectfully, "d. g. johnson, "registrar district no. ." --_mobile register_, feb. , . [ ] _cong. globe_, march , , p. ; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; _n. y. world_, march , . [ ] in henry county the registrars had all forsaken the party and resigned. on the last day the united states troops opened the polls and people voted. _abbeville register_, feb. , . in dale county it was much the same way. after a careful search one john metcalf of skipperville was found to make complaint on behalf of the reconstructionists. it was a sad story: "we had," he said, "depended on mr. deal, the delegate to the convention, to bring the registration books, 'but he fused with the destructive party' and we couldn't register. on the fourth day an election was held anyway, but the conservatives would not let us hold it on the fifth. it was the almost united wish of the voters of the county to adopt the constitution. there are about in the county that are opposed to it, and they united on the fifth and broke us up. we would have polled to votes for the constitution." ho. mic. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] in montgomery whites of voted. of these were carpet-baggers and nearly all were candidates for office. the _montgomery mail_ of feb. printed the entire list, with sarcastic comments on their past history and present aspirations. the list was headed, _our white black list, the roll of dishonor_. see _cong. globe_, march , , p. . [ ] the storm played a very effective part in the debates in congress later. moving tales were told of negroes swimming the swollen streams in order to get to the polls. one instance was given where, in swimming the alabama river, which was beyond its banks and floating with ice, a negro was drowned. _cong. globe_, - , p. . the river at this point when out of its banks is not less than a mile wide, and there was never any ice in it since the glacial epoch. [ ] the conservatives claimed that the lowndes county box was stolen by the radicals themselves as soon as they saw the constitution had failed of ratification, in order to give point to charges of fraud. in the same way the returns from baine, colbert, and jones counties were so tampered with by the radical election officials that the military canvassers were obliged to reject them. _montgomery mail_, feb. , ; _cong. globe_, - , p. . [ ] _the nationalist_, feb. and , and aug. , ; _n. y. world_, march , ; _selma times and messenger_, feb. , ; _cong. globe_, march , , pp. , . this is a statement signed by griffin of ohio, keffer of pennsylvania, burton of massachusetts, hardy and spencer of ohio, and indorsed by joshua morse, who signed himself as "disfranchised rebel." [ ] report of meade, . meade made this report to grant at the time, and at the end of the year he made practically the same, though perhaps a little stronger. the _nationalist_ (albert griffin of ohio, editor) said, april , , that the statements of meade, the "military saphead," were "false in letter and false in spirit." [ ] ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. the whites were complaining loudly because of the scarcity of labor, and few would discharge a negro laborer, no matter how often he might vote the radical ticket. general hayden sent a list of eighteen questions in regard to the election to every election official. they covered every possible point, and full answers were required. one of the questions was in regard to the proportion of white voters. a summary of the answers is here given: . _elmore county._ intimidation and threats of discharge; of the to whites who registered, from to voted. . _autauga._ no intimidation, but threats of discharge; of the whites registered, voted. . _chambers._ fair election, with white voters of the registered. . _russell._ threats of discharge; one-thirty-sixth of the whites voted. . _tallapoosa._ "persuasion and arguments" deterred the blacks from voting; whites voted of the who registered. . _coosa._ two discharges; one-third of the whites voted. . _montgomery._ "ostracism," and two discharges; whites voted of the who registered. . _macon._ fair election and whites voted of the registered. . _lee._ one discharge and threats; or whites voted of registered. . _randolph._ fair election. . _clay._ threats of ostracism and one discharge. . _crenshaw._ two discharges. . _lowndes._ three threats of discharge; "too much challenging;" whites voted of registered. . _barbour._ four threats of discharge; "whites afraid of social proscription." . _bullock._ "needless questions" to voters, and three threats of discharge; no whites voted. . _pike._ one threat of discharge; one-fourth of the whites voted. . _butler._ eight threats; whites of voted. . _covington._ "threats;" whites voted of the . . _coffee._ "threats" and "proscription." - . _dale_ and _henry_. no election; no registrars; none would serve. in dale county were a number of "outrageous acts committed by a mr. oats." - . _mobile_, _washington_, _baldwin_, _clarke_, _monroe_, and _conecuh_. "threats and social ostracism;" of whites voted. . _walker._ fair election; one negro driven away; "more whites voted than were expected." - . _winston_ and _jackson_. more whites voted than were expected; one threat in jackson. - . _madison_ and _lauderdale_. fair elections; in lauderdale of whites voted. . _lawrence._ "persuasion;" of whites voted. - . _colbert_ and _franklin_. twenty-five per cent of the whites voted; per cent "were opposed to article , paragraph , of constitution." - . _limestone_, _morgan_, and _cherokee_. fair elections; few whites voted. . _marshall._ "threats"; one-third of the whites voted. . _de kalb._ fair; of the whites. . _baine._ "handbills advised people not to vote;" only one-fifth voted. . _blount._ one threat; "persuasion;" one-fourth of the whites voted. . _st. clair._ threats; one-third of the whites voted. - . _marion_ and _jones_. fair; two-sevenths of the whites voted. . _fayette._ speeches published against the constitution, three drunken men threatened the managers at one box; liquor given to negroes to "vote against their intentions," all of which "prevented full and free expression of opinion by ballot"; two-sevenths of the whites voted. . _shelby._ fair; one-fourth of the whites voted. . _talladega._ fair, though threats were heard; three-tenths of the whites voted. . _perry._ fair; of the whites voted. . _bibb._ fair; of the whites. . _dallas._ fair; whites voted; others suffered from "want of independence." . _wilcox._ ten threats; whites of . . _tuscaloosa._ one threat; one-fifth of the whites voted. . _pickens._ "threats too numerous to mention;" to of the whites voted. . _jefferson._ fair; one-fifth of the whites voted. . _sumter._ threats against blacks; whites to be ostracized. . _greene._ threats, though the "union men" were afraid to tell who threatened them; ballots had "constitution" torn off. . _marengo._ voters were refused at one box because the names were not on the list, though the parties were willing to swear they had been registered. threats and speeches were made at the polls and one man made discharges; whites of the voted. - . no reports from _choctaw_, _calhoun_, _cleburne_, and _hale_. nearly all officials reported quiet elections; the assertions about threats were almost invariably hearsay. even the few specific instances were based on hearsay. the worst complaint was that conservatives sometimes attended and challenged the votes of certain negroes, and made speeches or used persuasion to induce the negroes not to vote. much importance was attached to the ridicule and jeers of the white leaders. these reports were made by the election officials, who were thoroughgoing reconstructionists. general meade denied the charges of fraud and intimidation. it will be noticed that the heaviest white vote was cast in the counties where there were few negroes, and where the peace society had been strongest during the war. if the estimates given above by the registrars were correct, it is doubtful if whites voted in the election, as was asserted. the judges were supposed to mark "c" on the ballot of a negro and "w" on that of a white. ho. mis. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess.; report of meade, ; _montgomery mail_, feb. , ; _n. y. world_, march , . [ ] strobach, the austrian, went so far off in the northwest that after the state was admitted he could not return to the special session of the legislature. he drew his pay, however, the speaker certifying that he was present. _n. y. world_, oct. , ; _montgomery mail_, april , ; _nationalist_, feb. , . [ ] in _north alabamian_, . [ ] he had evidently not seen meade's report. [ ] dustan had been a candidate for major-general of militia. [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] _globe_, feb. , , p. . [ ] _cong. globe_, march , , and , , pp. , , , , , , , , , , . [ ] both statements were incorrect. [ ] _globe_, march and , , pp. , , , . [ ] mcpherson, "reconstruction," p. ; _globe_, march , , pp. , . [ ] _globe_, march , , pp. , , . [ ] april , . [ ] _nationalist_, april , . [ ] _independent monitor_, april , . [ ] yordy, a carpet-bag bureau agent, registrar, and senator-elect from sumter county, was turned out of a hotel at eutaw and told to go to the negro inn. _tuscaloosa independent monitor_, sept. , . [ ] _globe_, march , , p. . claus and wilson were two carpet-baggers of tuscaloosa. [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _cong. globe_, march , , p. . [ ] _globe_, may , , p. . [ ] _cong. globe_, june and , , pp. , , , , ; mcpherson, "reconstruction," p. ; foulke, "life of morton," vol. ii, p. . [ ] _globe_, june and , , pp. , . [ ] _globe_, june , , pp. , , . [ ] _globe_, june , , p. . [ ] _globe_, june , , pp. , ; mcpherson, p. . [ ] mcpherson, p. . the present constitution of the state, adopted in , nullifies this fundamental condition. other southern states have also disregarded this limitation. [ ] mcpherson, p. . [ ] g. o. no. , july , . [ ] warner, who was said to have gone to his own state--ohio--and run for office, now returned. [ ] the credentials were signed by e. w. peck, president of the convention of , who certified to their election. _globe_, july , , p. . [ ] _globe_, july , , , and , , pp. , , , , , . [ ] president jay's address, march , ; bellows, "history union league club of new york," pp. - ; "chronicle of philadelphia union league," pp. - . [ ] "chronicle of philadelphia union league," pp. - ; bellows, "union league club," p. . [ ] first annual report of board of directors of union league of philadelphia; bellows, pp. , ; "chronicle of philadelphia union league," pp. , . [ ] see bellows, "history union league club." [ ] bellows, p. . [ ] there were different pamphlets published by the philadelphia league and posters; , pamphlets were issued in ; , pamphlets were issued in ; , pamphlets were issued in ; , , pamphlets were issued in ; , , pamphlets were issued in eight years. "chronicle of philadelphia union league," pp. , , . [ ] "chronicle of philadelphia union league," p. ; bellows, pp. , , , ; reports of the executive committee, union league club of n. y., - ; _century magazine_, vol. vi, pp. , ; oral accounts. [ ] i am especially indebted to professor l. d. miller, jacksonville, ala., for many details concerning the loyal leagues. he made inquiries for me of people who knew the facts. i have also had other oral accounts. see also ku klux rept., ala. test. (pierce), p. ; (lowe), p. ; (forney), p. . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test. (sayre), p. ; (governor lindsay), p. ; (nicholas davis), p. ; (richardson), pp. , ; (ford), p. ; (lowe), p. ; (forney), p. ; miller, "alabama," p. ; herbert, "solid south," pp. , ; also oral accounts. [ ] there is a copy of the charter of a local council in the alabama testimony of the ku klux report, p. . the montgomery council was organized june , , and three days later general swayne, of the freedmen's bureau, joined it. it was charged that even thus early he was desirous of representing alabama in the senate. herbert, pp. - . [ ] _n. y. herald_, aug. , . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test. (lowe), p. ; (english), pp. , ; (lindsay), p. ; _n. y. herald_, aug. , , and june , ; professor miller's account; oral accounts. [ ] in sumter county a northern teacher of a negro school informed a planter that the leaguers were sworn to defend one another, and that he, the planter, would be punished for striking a leaguer whom he had caught stealing and had thrashed. _selma times and messenger_, july , . [ ] the montgomery council, may , , resolved "that the union league is the right arm of the union republican party of the united states, and that no man should be initiated into the league who does not heartily indorse the principles and policy of the union republican party." herbert, "solid south," p. . a confederate could not be admitted to the league unless he would acknowledge that during the war he had been guilty of treason. [ ] alcohol on salt burns with a peculiar flame, making the faces of those around, especially the negroes, appear ghostly. [ ] a copy of the constitution and ritual was secured by the whites and published in the _montgomery advertiser_, july , ; printed also in fleming, "documents relating to reconstruction," no. . [ ] the montgomery council was composed of white radicals, and the lincoln council in the same city was for blacks. most of the officers of the latter were whites. herbert, p. . [ ] this fact will partly explain why there were burnings of negro churches and schoolhouses by the ku klux klan. these were political headquarters of the radical party in each community. [ ] see miller, "alabama," pp. , ; lester and wilson, "ku klux klan," pp. , . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test. (lindsay), pp. , ; (nicholas davis), p. ; (richardson), pp. , ; (lowe), pp. , , ; (pettus), p. ; (walker), pp. , . [ ] thaddeus stevens's speech on confiscation, through the loyal league, had a wide circulation in alabama. agents were sent to the state to organize new councils and to secure the benefits of the proposed confiscation; free farms were promised the negroes. _n. y. herald_, june , . many whites now believed that wholesale confiscation would take place. [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test. (sanders), pp. , ; (dox), p. ; (herr), pp. , . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test. (lowe), pp. , , , ; (davis), p. ; (cobbs), p. ; (pettus), p. . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test. (ford), p. ; (herr), p. ; (pettus), p. ; (jolly), pp. , ; (sayre), p. ; (pierce), p. ; _n. y. herald_, dec. , , oct. , ; herbert, "solid south," p. . one wash austin, a democratic negro, was attacked by a mob, pursued, and when he reached home his wife called him "a damned conservative," struck him on the head with a brick, and then left him. norris v. hanley, in ho. mis. doc., no. , st cong., d sess. [ ] _n. y. herald_, oct. and nov. , , eufaula correspondence; ku klux rept., ala. test. (sanders), p. ; (pettus), p. ; (herr), p. ; (pierce), p. ; (sayre), p. ; harris, "political conflict in america," p. . [ ] a notice posted on the door of a citizen of dallas county was to this effect, "irvin hauser is the damnedest rascal in the neighborhood, and if he and three or four others don't mind they will get a ball in them." _selma times and messenger_, april , ; oral accounts; see also brown, "lower south," ch. iv; herbert, pp. , . [ ] _the macon telegraph_, march , . [ ] _n. y. herald_, dec. and , ; _montgomery advertiser_, dec. , (j. m. chappell). [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test. (lyon), pp. , ; (abrahams), pp. , . [ ] see ku klux rept., ala. test. (alston), p. ; (herr), p. ; (sayre), p. ; (pierce), p. . [ ] _selma messenger_, july , ; see fleming, "documents relating to reconstruction," no. . [ ] it is certain that the estimate of , white and , black members at the same time is not correct. as the latter increased in numbers the former decreased. early in keffer said there were , whites and , blacks in the league. _n. y. herald_, may , . perhaps he meant the total enrolment early in the year. in he claimed , whites, about , too many. [ ] lester and wilson, "ku klux klan," p. ; also ku klux rept., ala. test., _passim_. [ ] _montgomery mail_, aug. , . [ ] in the ku klux rept., ala. test., the conservative and sometimes the radical witnesses assert that the ku klux movement was caused partly by the workings of the union league. [ ] senate journal, - , p. . [ ] ku klux rept., p. . [ ] ku klux rept., p. . [ ] auditor's report, , p. . [ ] ku klux rept., p. ; census of . the assessed valuation of property increased % from to . the comptroller's report of nov. , , states that the slave property of the state at that time paid nearly half the taxes. this was true of all ordinary taxes to . see senate journal, - , p. . [ ] journal convention of , p. ; patton's report to the convention, nov. , . [ ] cotton crop, , bales cotton crop, , bales cotton crop, , bales cotton crop, , bales cotton crop, , bales most of the war crop was confiscated by the united states. the crops of - show the effects of politics among the negro laborers rather than unfavorable seasons. hodgson, "alabama manual and statistical register," . [ ] the exemption laws were so framed as to release the average negroes from paying tax, and also the class of whites that supported the radical policy. the following list will show the incidence of taxation for :-- ======================================================= | value | tax ------------------------|-----------------|------------ lands | $ , , . | $ , . town property | , , . | , . cattle | , , . | , . mules | , , . | , . horses | , , . | , . sheep and goats | , . | . hogs | , . | , . wagons, carriages, etc. | , . | , . tools | , . | , . farming implements | , . | , . household furniture | , , . | , . cotton presses | , . | . ======================================================= besides these items, heavy taxes were laid on the following: wharves, toll bridges, ferries, steamboats, and all water craft, stocks of goods, libraries, jewellery, plate and silverware, musical instruments, pistols, guns, jacks and jennies, race-horses, watches, money in and out of the state, money loaned, credits, commercial paper, capital in incorporated companies in or out of the state, bonds except of united states and alabama, incomes and gains over $ , banks, poll tax, insurance companies, auction sales, lotteries, warehouses, distilleries, brokers, factors, express and telegraph companies, etc. see ku klux report and auditor's report, . [ ] revenue laws of ala., - ; report of the debt commission, jan. , ; governor lindsay's message, nov. , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , . [ ] see acts of ala., - , _passim_. [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , . [ ] ala. test., pp. , . [ ] ala. test., pp. , , . [ ] taxes are paid on $ , , , slaves included; see census of ; census of ; ku klux rept., pp. , , , , . [ ] includes receipts and disbursements in confederate money. [ ] license taxes only. [ ] license taxes, bond issues, and temporary loans. [ ] interest paid on the public debt with bond issues included, and expenses of the convention of . the actual expenses of the state administration were $ , . . [ ] the first figures for include the receipts from taxes and the expenditures for state purposes only; the other figures include the proceeds from sale of bonds used for state purposes. the radicals always gave the first set of figures, and the democrats the second. [ ] $ , should be added for the sale of bonds and state obligations. [ ] issue of bonds to railroads included. [ ] includes interest paid on railroad bonds. [ ] currency had depreciated. many claims went unpaid. the "home debt" amounted to $ , . . the actual state expenses were $ , , . . [ ] state expenses only. democrats in power. see auditor's reports, - , ; ku klux rept., pp. , , , , ; report of the debt commission, ; journal convention of , p. . [ ] ku klux rept., pp. , , ; auditor's reports, - ; reports of the alabama debt commission. [ ] report of governor patton to the convention, nov. , ; journal convention of , p. . [ ] see _tuskegee news_, june , ; auditor's reports, - . [ ] the average legislator in - was paid $ . and mileage. the senate had members and attending officers, clerks, and secretaries; the lower house, with a membership of , had from to attending officials. besides these there were dozens of pages, doorkeepers, firemen, assistants, etc. in there were regular capitol servants who received $ , in wages. auditor's report, - ; _montgomery mail_, dec. , . there were about in . [ ] journal of the "capitol" senate, , p. - ; in senate journal, . [ ] the older and abler men were disfranchised. [ ] _montgomery mail_, sept. , . [ ] auditor's reports, - . [ ] the purpose of the act was to liberate negro prisoners and save money for the officials to spend in other ways. [ ] these items are taken from the accounts of lewis's administration. [ ] the investigating committee remarked that had he chartered a parlor car and paid hotel bills at the rate of $ a day, he would have been unable to spend $ on that trip. [ ] see ch. xxiv. [ ] report of the committee to investigate the contingent fund, ; senate journal, - , pp. - . [ ] caffey, "the annexation of west florida to alabama," p. ; senate journal, - , pp. - . [ ] report of the committee to examine the offices of auditor and treasurer, ; report of the debt commission, , . [ ] see edwin deleon, "ruin and reconstruction of the southern states," in the _southern magazine_, jan., . [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] _state journal_, april , . [ ] ala. test., p. . the radical newspapers that had the public printing made money from the tax sale notices by dividing each lot into sixteenths of a section, advertising each, and charging for each division. the author of the tax sale law was pierce burton, a radical editor. [ ] _scribner's monthly_, aug., ; king, "the great south." [ ] _southern argus_, jan. and feb. , ; _scribner's monthly_, aug., ; herbert, "solid south," pp. , . colonel herbert believes that during the six years of reconstruction the state gained practically nothing by immigration, while it lost more by emigration than it had by the civil war. [ ] auditor's reports, - ; comptroller's reports, - , ; patton's report, , to the convention; journal convention of , pp. , ; ku klux rept., pp. , , . [ ] the following is a partial list compiled from the session laws:-- issues of county bonds . walker county $ , . . dallas county , . . bullock county , . . limestone county , . . hale county , . . greene county , . . pickens county , . . baldwin county , . . bibb county , . . choctaw county (?) unlimited . crenshaw county , . . pickens county , . . butler county , . . jefferson county , . . montgomery county , . . madison county , . (?) dallas county , . (?) chambers county , . (?) lee county , . (?) randolph county , . (?) barbour county (?) (?) tallapoosa county , . issues of town and city bonds . troy $ , . . eutaw , . . greensboro , . . mobile , , . . selma , . . prattville , . . mobile , . opelika , . and in addition each county and town had a large floating debt in "scrip" or local obligations. speculators gathered up such obligations and sold them at reduced prices to those who had local taxes, fines, and licenses to pay. [ ] auditor's reports, - ; report of committee on public debt, ; mcclure, "the south: industrial, financial, and political condition," p. . [ ] report of the committee on public debt, ; senate journal, - , p. ; auditor's report, . [ ] senate journal, - , pp. , ; report of the committee on the public debt, . in his book clews tells how he invested in the securities of the struggling southern states, being desirous of assisting them. but when the ungrateful states refused to pay the claims that he and others like him presented, he says it was because they, the creditors, were northern men. see clews, "twenty-eight years in wall street," pp. , . [ ] deleon, "ruin and reconstruction," in the _southern magazine_, jan., . the state debts of the ten southern states were then estimated at $ , , , while the debts of the other twenty-seven states amounted to only $ , , . [ ] houston's message, ; senate journal, - , p. . [ ] act of dec. , . [ ] later increased to $ , , . [ ] report of the debt commission, . this was nearly half the value of the farm lands of the state, which were worth $ , , , and was much more than the gross value of a year's cotton crop. [ ] report of the debt commission, jan. , ; senate journal, - , pp. - ; report of the joint committee on the public debt, feb. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; "northern alabama," p. ; final report of the committee of the alabama and chattanooga bondholders, london, ; mcclure, "the south," p. ; second report of the debt commission, dec. , . [ ] senate journal, - , p. . [ ] second report, dec. , . [ ] second report of the debt commission, dec. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; "northern alabama," pp. , ; acts of - . [ ] auditor's report, , p. . [ ] _e.g._ the state bank. [ ] t. h. clark, "railroads and navigation," in "memorial record of alabama," vol. ii, pp. - ; martin, "internal improvements in alabama," pp. - ; garrett, "public men," pp. , . [ ] martin, "internal improvements," pp. - . [ ] martin, "internal improvements," p. _et seq._ [ ] martin, "internal improvements," pp. - ; auditor's report, oct. , . [ ] census, , . [ ] acts of ala., - , pp. - . [ ] the constitution of , art. , sec. , provided that the credit of the state should not be given nor loaned except in aid of railways or internal improvements, and then only by a two-thirds vote of each house. [ ] acts of ala., aug. and sept. , . the promoters of the roads claimed that the old law was useless, but that $ , a mile would attract northern and european capital. herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] governor's message, nov. , . the carpet-bag auditor also advocated the repeal of the law. he thought that no road should be indorsed for more than $ , a mile, since the average value was less than $ , a mile. [ ] act of feb. , , acts of ala., - [ ] act of march , , acts of ala., - , p. . [ ] act of april , , acts of ala., - , p. . [ ] acts of oct. and nov. , , acts of ala., , pp. , ; herbert, "solid south," p. ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , . the railroad must have intended to profit by the indorsement, and must have paid for it, for when, a year later, ex-governor patton, who for the sake of respectability was made the nominal president, was in boston, he was reproached by the alabama and chattanooga officials for allowing their charter to cost them $ , . see ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] alabama _vs._ burr, united states reports, p. . burr, j. c. stanton, and d. n. stanton had been prosecuted by the state of alabama for the fraudulent use of indorsed bonds. [ ] governor smith's message, nov. , . [ ] auditor's report, . [ ] message in _independent monitor_, dec. , . [ ] _independent monitor_, june , ; ku klux rept., pp. , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. ; auditor's report, . [ ] act of feb. , , acts of ala., - . [ ] _montgomery mail_, jan. , ; _southern argus_, feb. , , and feb. , ; somers, "southern states," p. ; report of the house railroad investigation committee, ; herbert, "solid south," pp. , . colonel herbert says that the alabama and chattanooga officials _demanded_ the $ , , and received it. "solid south," p. . the legislature that voted the gift of $ , , was composed as follows: senate, radicals and democrat; house, radicals (of whom were negroes) and doubtful democrats. the carpet-bag editor of the _demopolis republican_ said: "men who never paid ten dollars' tax in their lives talk as flippantly of millions as the schoolboy of his marbles. meanwhile, outsiders talk of buying and selling men at prices which would have been a disgrace to a slave before the war." _montgomery mail_, jan. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] report of the house railroad committee, ; ku klux rept., p. . [ ] ku klux rept., p. ; house journal, - , p. ; report of the house railroad investigating committee, ; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. ; j. p. stow, radical senator from montgomery, said that when hardy left at the end of the session, he carried away $ , . not all of it was his own; some of it he had collected for others. one senator is said to have held his vote at $ regularly. [ ] senate journal, ; appendix containing journal of the capitol senate, , pp. - ; lindsay's message, , to the capitol legislature. lindsay said that all the democrats worked hard to prevent the passage of the $ , , bill; that he himself worked in the lobby until three o'clock in the morning trying to defeat the thieves. ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] ku klux rept., p. ; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. ; report of the house investigation committee, p. . ex-governor patton testified that though president of the alabama and chattanooga road, he had opposed the bill and in consequence had been displaced, d. n. stanton of boston being elected. patton stated that none of the capital stock had at this time been paid in by the stockholders. in - "another set of financiers had made up their minds to come down south and help alabama. their demand was for $ , , with which to set furnaces and factories going. they were too late. if they had only come the session before, there was no chance for a bill containing $ , , , properly pressed, to have failed." but the lower house now had a democratic majority. herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] senate journal, - , p. ; lindsay's message, nov. , ; senate journal, - . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , ; lindsay's messages, - ; lindsay's statement of facts, april , ; report of commissioners of the public debt, jan. , . [ ] act of feb. , . [ ] statement of facts which influenced governor robert b. lindsay in his action in regard to the bonds of the alabama and chattanooga railroad company, april , ; lindsay's message, nov. , . while lindsay was in new york, ex-governor smith called on him and half acknowledged the whole affair. ala. test., p. . afterwards in a letter smith strongly protested that some of the bonds signed and sealed by himself were fraudulent, and blamed governor lindsay and the legislature for recognizing them. he acknowledged that his carelessness had resulted in the present state of affairs. somers, "southern states," p. . april , , smith wrote, "i admit that if i had attended strictly to the indorsement and issue of these bonds, that all this never would have occurred." herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] statement of facts, april , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , . lindsay said that since the alabama and chattanooga road was indorsed under the laws of and , it did not come under the laws of . consequently, when the alabama and chattanooga defaulted, the state was not bound to pay interest on the $ , , state bonds until the legislature acted in march, . in his statement of facts, lindsay relates a suggestive and illuminating incident: on dec. , , john demerett, an alabama and chattanooga bondholder, brought suit in the superior court of king's county, new york, against the alabama and chattanooga railroad company, the state of alabama, and one f. b. loomis (of the alabama and chattanooga company), alleging that the said railway company was about to place on the market first mortgage bonds numbered from to , indorsed by the governor of alabama in violation of the law. demerett prayed for an injunction to restrain the company from selling the bonds. the records showed that the state of alabama appeared by her attorney, one william d. vieder, who declared on affidavit that he was employed by henry clews & company, financial agents of alabama. vieder filed an answer in behalf of alabama, stating that the bonds numbered to were properly indorsed, and were of the same class as others issued by the company, that the indorsement was in conformity to law, and that in no case would the bonds be repudiated. the injunction was dissolved and the company permitted to sell. to the ku klux committee lindsay suggested that smith might have signed the illegal bonds after he went out of office, as they were not placed on the market until january, . (see ala. test., p. .) but the demerett case seems to disprove this and to show that the bonds were issued while smith was governor. the house railroad investigation committee, in , reported that smith asserted that the fraudulent indorsements were secured by the active coöperation of henry clews & company, souter & company, and braunfels of Ã�mile erlanger et cie., with the stantons. _southern argus_, feb. , . lindsay further stated that there were evidences of collusion between stanton and smith to secure the election of the latter in at all hazards. they wanted to gain time in order to conceal the irregularity in the issue of bonds. stanton furnished much money to the campaign fund, and on election day marched to the registration office at the head of railroad employees, who came from the entire length of the road, had them registered, gave each of them a radical ticket, and then voted them in a body. ala. test., pp. , . [ ] acts of alabama, - , pp. , . [ ] ku klux rept., p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , ; lindsay's message, nov. , ; senate journal, - , pp. , ; report of john h. gindrat, receiver of the alabama and chattanooga railroad, . the engineers in the employ of the state reported that to put the road in alabama in fair condition at the time it was seized would require $ , . . twenty-four miles of rails were old ones that sherman had burned. report of farrand and thom, nov. , ; senate journal, - , p. . to complete the road, gindrat reported that $ , , would be needed. senate journal, - , p. . at the time the road was seized $ , , from all sources had disappeared. part of it was spent on the road, which, with all equipment, in was valued at $ , , . (an estimate of its value in was $ , , .) the capital stock authorized was $ , , , of which only $ , , was ever paid in. ku klux rept., pp. , ; auditor's report, and . the earnings of the road from november, , to november, , were $ , . . the expenses of the road from november, , to november, , were $ , , . . report of the receiver of the alabama and chattanooga railroad, . [ ] rice and chilton, attorneys of the alabama and chattanooga road, gave the state much trouble. rice was a scalawag, but several partners he had at that time and later were democrats. [ ] during the whole time there was a large element in favor of not recognizing the legality of the bond issues authorized by the carpet-bag legislatures. the carpet-bag government was not a government of the people, but was imposed and upheld by military force, some said, and had no right to vote away the money of the people without their consent. the _selma times_, march , , voiced this sentiment: "alabama must and will be ruled by whites.... we will not pay a single dollar of the infamous debt, piled upon us by fraud, bribery, and corruption, known as the 'bond swindle' debt. let the bondholders take the railroads." see senate journal, - , pp. - . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; ( ), pp. , ; lewis's message, dec. , ; senate journal, - , p. ; lewis's message, nov. ; senate journal, - ; final report of the committee of the alabama and chattanooga bondholders, london, ; acts of ala., dec. , ; acts of ala., march , . [ ] lewis's message, nov., . [ ] ku klux rept., p. ; governor houston's message, dec., ; senate journal, - . [ ] governor lewis's message, nov., ; senate journal, - . [ ] report of house railroad committee; auditor's report, . [ ] auditor's report, . [ ] martin, "internal improvements," p. ; auditor's report, ; acts of dec. , , acts of ala., , pp. , . the south and north road was merely an expansion of "the mountain railroad company," an old corporation. [ ] acts of - , p. . [ ] message, in _independent monitor_, dec. , . [ ] report of house railroad inv. com., . see also report of auditor, , which says $ , , indorsement. [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] auditor's report, . [ ] ku klux rept., p. ; report of house railroad inv. com., . [ ] _montgomery mail_, feb. , . [ ] message, nov. , . [ ] report of house railroad inv. com., ; lewis's message, nov. , ; auditor's report, ; auditor's report, ; house journal, - , pp. , ; acts of - , p. . [ ] _southern argus_, feb. , ; governor lewis's message, nov. , ; auditor's report, and . [ ] lewis's message, nov. , ; auditor's report, ; act of jan. , . [ ] _southern argus_, feb. , ; auditor's report, ; lewis's messages, . [ ] _southern argus_, feb. , ; auditor's reports, and ; mathes, "general forrest," p. ; wyeth, "life of general nathan bedford forrest," pp. , . when smith had indorsed this road for $ , , he reported the amount as $ , . _independent monitor_, dec. , . [ ] act of dec. , . [ ] senate journal, - , pp. - ; acts of ala., - , p. ; auditor's reports, , ; governor lewis's report, nov. , . [ ] act of feb. , . [ ] auditor's report, . [ ] $ , , fraudulent indorsement; $ , , in state bonds in addition. [ ] no record of $ , indorsement. [ ] also "three per cent fund" amounting to $ , +, and state bonds amounting to $ , . no record of $ , . [ ] no record of $ , , . [ ] no record of $ , . also a loan of $ , . [ ] no record of $ , . [ ] including $ , , , of which no record was found. [ ] act of dec. , ; acts of , p. . [ ] _southern argus_, june , ; miller, "alabama," p. ; acts of ala., _passim_; "northern alabama," p. ; brown, "alabama," p. ; herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] a commission from mobile visited the schools in new york, boston, and other cities of the north. [ ] exclusive of mobile county, which, as the honored pioneer, has always been outside of, and a model for, the state system. [ ] clark, "history of education in alabama," pp. - ; report of the united states commissioner of education, , p. . [ ] the son of ex-governor watts. clark, p. . [ ] see ch. xi, sec. . [ ] clark, p. _et passim_. in n. b. cloud, the superintendent of public instruction, asked the legislature to make the loan a gift, since the destruction of the buildings was "the natural fruits of secession," the fault of the "purblind leaders" who "pretended to secede." therefore he thought the state was responsible for the damage done the university. [ ] see journal convention of , p. _et passim_, and above, chs. xiv and xv. [ ] there were four congressional districts. [ ] the supreme court decided in regard to the board of education: "the new system has not only administrative, but full legislative, powers concerning all matters having reference to the common school and public educational interests of the state. it cannot be destroyed nor essentially changed by legislative authority." report of the commissioner of education, , p. . but in - the legislature, however, by refusing appropriations, did manage to nullify the work of the board. [ ] constitution of , art. xi. [ ] in the legislature repealed this act, and a case that arose was carried to the united states supreme court, which, reversing a former decision of the state supreme court, held that the action of one legislature could not restrain subsequent legislatures from legislating for the public welfare by suppressing practices that tended to corrupt public morals. besides, the court professed itself unable to find in the act any authority for a lottery. see boyd _vs._ alabama, united states reports, p. (opinion by justice field). [ ] act of dec. , . at the same time the office of commissioner of lotteries was created, with a salary of $ a year. [ ] this is the opinion of two subsequent members--one a democrat and one a radical. see also ku klux report, ala. test., p. . the members were g. l. putnam, a. b. collins (collins was made a professor in the university, but murdered haughey, the radical congressman, and fled from the state), w. d. miller, jesse h. booth, thomas a. cook, james nichols, william h. clayton, gustavus a. smith,--four scalawags and four carpet-baggers. the first two named resigned to accept offices created by the board. see register of the university of alabama, - , p. . [ ] report, nov. , . [ ] this was done at the instance of the aid societies from the north which had been doing work among the negroes. [ ] acts, aug. , . public school laws (pamphlet). see also acts of ala., , pp. - . [ ] clark, p. . [ ] see ch. xx. [ ] nicholas davis, a north alabama republican, had this to say about lakin to the ku klux subcommittee: "he called on me to explain why i said unkind things about his being candidate for president of the alabama university, and i said, 'mr. lakin, you and i are near neighbors, and i don't want to have much to do with you--not much; but i think this: didn't you try to be president of the alabama university?' he said he did. i said, 'it would have been a disgrace to the state. you don't know an adjective from a verb, nor nothing else.'... he says, '... but i rather didn't like what you said.' i said, 'doctor, you will have to like it or let it alone.' he let it alone."--ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] clark, p. , is not correct on this point; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , ; account of dr. o. d. smith of the second board of education; _independent monitor_, aug. and sept. , . [ ] for the picture see ala. test., p. , or the _independent monitor_, sept , . ryland randolph, the editor of the _monitor_ at that time, says that the picture was made from a rough woodcut, fashioned in the _monitor_ office. the _cincinnati commercial_ published an edition of , copies of the hanging picture for distribution as a campaign document. a columbus, ohio, newspaper also printed for distribution a larger edition containing the famous picture. this was during the seymour-grant campaign, and the democratic newspapers and leaders of the state were furious at randolph for furnishing such excellent campaign literature to the radicals. [ ] clark, p. ; _independent monitor_, jan. and march , . [ ] _selma times and messenger_, aug. , . [ ] clark, pp. , . _monitor_, jan. , march and , . "the reconstruction university," a farce, was acted at the court-house for the benefit of the brass band. there was no hope whatever that the reconstructed faculty would have a pleasant time. [ ] see the _monitor_, march , . [ ] richards was at the same time state senator from wilcox, sheriff of the same county, contractor to feed prisoners, and professor in the university. his income from all the offices was about $ , , the professorship paying about $ . [ ] report of cloud, nov., . clark, p. . [ ] see _monitor_, april , . the editor of the _monitor_ finally came to grief because of his attacks on the radical faculty. his paper had charged professor v. h. vaughn with drunkenness, whipping his wife, incompetence, etc. after a year of such pleasantries, vaughn, who was a timid man, determined to secure assistance and be revenged. in the university was a student named smith, son of a regent and nephew of the governor, who, on account of his union record, was given the position of steward of the mess hall, after the removal of the old steward. smith had been in trouble about abstracting stores from the university commissary, and the _monitor_ had not spared him. so he and vaughn with their guns went after randolph, and smith shot him "while vaughn stood at a respectful distance." randolph lost his leg from the shot. smith and vaughn were put in jail, but through the connivance of the officials made their escape. vaughn went to washington and was given an office in utah territory. see ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] he was a competent man, well educated and possessing administrative ability. in the secession convention he had led the coöperationist forces. [ ] clark, pp. - ; _monitor_, jan. and and march , . the register of the university (p. ) gives only thirteen names for the session - . no record was kept at the university. [ ] see register of the university of alabama, p. . [ ] these notices were printed in the ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . they were fastened to the door with a dagger. the students who were notified left at once. [ ] see ku klux rept., ala. test., p. (speed). [ ] the following table gives the enrolment of students during reconstruction:-- session students - - - - - - - - - [ ] i have this account from the men who furnished the bribes. [ ] clark, p. . [ ] finley had been doorkeeper for the first board ( - ), and in was elected to serve four years. he was a member of the convention of and of the legislature. he had no education and no ability, but he was a sensible negro and was an improvement on the white men of the preceding board. [ ] journal of the board of education and regents, june , . [ ] act of dec. , , school laws. [ ] clark, p. ; report of cloud, nov., ; _montgomery mail_, sept. , . in connection with the act merging the mobile schools into the state system, the board of education took occasion to enlarge or complete its constitutional powers. there was no limit, according to the constitution, to the time for the governor to retain acts of the board. governor smith had pocketed several obnoxious educational bills, and the board now resolved "that the same rules and provisions which by law govern and define the time and manner in which the governor of the state shall approve of or object to any bill or resolution of the general assembly shall also apply to any bill or resolution having the force of law passed by this board of education." the governor approved neither resolution nor the mobile act, but they were both declared in force. _montgomery mail_, nov. , . [ ] senate journal, - , p. . [ ] _montgomery mail_, sept. , . [ ] a specimen pay-roll of emerson institute ("blue college") for the quarter ending march , :-- ====================================================================== |months| salary | total -------------------------------------------|------|---------|--------- g. l. putnam, supt. of colored schools | | $ . | $ . h. s. kelsey, prin. emerson institute | | . | . e. i. ethridge, prin. grammar school | | . | . susie a. carley, prin. lower school | | . | . a. a. rockfellow, prin. intermediate school| | . | . sarah a. primey, prin. intermediate school | | . | . m. l. harris, prin. intermediate school | | . | . m. a. cooley, prin. intermediate school | | . | . m. e. f. smith, prin. intermediate school | | . | . ruth a. allen, primary school | | . | . n. g. lincoln, primary school | | . | . m. l. theyer, primary school | | . | . judge rapier, legal opinion | -- | -- | . american missionary association, fuel | -- | -- | . | | |--------- total | | | $ . ====================================================================== at this time the average salary of the teacher in the state schools was $ a month. [ ] _montgomery mail_, sept. , . cloud's report, nov., , shows that $ , . had been drawn out of the treasury by putnam, and he had also drawn $ for his salary as county superintendent. [ ] report of the auditor, ; report of the commissioner of education, , . [ ] see act of dec. , ; somers, "southern states," pp. , . [ ] the law stated that the trustees were to receive $ a day, but cloud said that it was a mistake, as it should be the clerks who were paid, and thus it was done. there were clerks in the state; they were paid about $ , a year. the county superintendents received about $ , , an average of $ each, which was paid from the school fund. before the war the average salary of the county superintendent was $ and was paid by the county. in few counties was the work of the county superintendent sufficient to keep him busy more than two days in the week. many of the superintendents stayed in their offices only one day in the week. the expenses of the board of education were from $ to $ a year, not including the salary of the state superintendent. _montgomery mail_, sept. and , . [ ] hodgson's report, ; ala. test., p. . [ ] cloud, the state superintendent, had power of attorney to act for certain county superintendents. this he sub-delegated to his son, w. b. cloud, who drew warrants for $ . , which were allowed by the auditor. this amount was the school fund for the following counties: sumter, $ , . ; pickens, $ , . ; winston, $ . ; calhoun, $ . ; marshall, $ . . a clerk in the office of c. a. miller, the secretary of state, forged miller's name as attorney and drew $ , . from the etowah county fund. miller swore that he had notified both auditor and treasurer that he would not act as attorney to draw money for any one. john b. cloud bought whiskey with tax stamps. see hodgson's report, ; ala. test., p. ; _montgomery advertiser_, sept. , . [ ] hodgson's report, ; _montgomery advertiser_, sept. , ; report of the commission to examine state offices, . [ ] somers, pp. , . [ ] _montgomery mail_, sept. , . [ ] somers, "southern states," p. ; voters only counted as polls. [ ] _montgomery mail_, sept. , . [ ] in recent years the people have demanded and obtained a different class of school histories, such as those of derry, lee, jones, thompson, cooper, estill, and lemmon. adams and trent is an example of one of the compromise works that resulted from the demand of the southerners for books less tinctured with northern prejudices. [ ] cloud's report, nov., ; hodgson's report, ; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. ; montgomery conference, "race problems," p. . [ ] see ala. test., p. (general clanton). [ ] ku klux rept., p. ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , . [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, july , ; _selma times_, june , . [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] _selma times_, dec. , ; _gulf states hist. mag._, sept., . [ ] trowbridge, "the south," p. . [ ] _marion commonwealth_; meeting held may , . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, july , ; ala. test., p. . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, july , ; ala. test., pp. , . [ ] see ch. xi, sec. . [ ] for specimen letters written to their homes, see the various reports of the freedmen's aid society of the methodist church, and the reports of other aid societies. [ ] the best-known instances of the killing of such negroes were in tuscaloosa and chambers counties. the ku klux report gives only about half a dozen cases of outrages on teachers. see ala. test., pp. , , , , , , , , , . cloud in his report made no mention of violence to teachers, nor did the governor. lakin said a great deal about it, but gave no instances that were not of the well-known few. there was much less violence than is generally supposed, even in the south. [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] see ala. test., pp. , ; somers, "southern states," p. ; report of the joint committee on outrages, . in crenshaw, butler, and chambers counties some schools existed for a year or more until teachers of bad character were elected. then the neighborhood roughs burned the school buildings. neither cloud nor any other official reported cases of such burnings. the legislative committee could discover but two, and in both instances the women teachers were of bad character. in the records can be found only seventeen reports of burnings, and several of these were evidently reports of the same instance; few were specific. lakin, who spent several years in travelling over north alabama, and who was much addicted to fabrication and exaggeration, made a vague report of "the ruins of a dozen" schoolhouses. (ala. test., pp. , .) there may have been more than half a dozen burnings in north alabama, but there is no evidence that such was the case. the majority of the reports originated outside the state through pure malice. the houses burned were principally in the white counties and were, as lakin reports, slight affairs costing from $ to $ . it was so evident that some of the fires were caused by the carelessness of travellers and hunters who camped in them at night, that the legislature passed a law forbidding that practice. see acts of ala., p. . about as many schoolhouses for whites were destroyed as for blacks. some were fired by negroes for revenge, others were burned by accident. [ ] _weekly mail_, aug. , . [ ] _demopolis new era_, april , . [ ] hodgson's report, nov. , . [ ] hodgson's report, nov. , . [ ] hodgson's report, nov. , . [ ] for opinions in regard to the value of the early education among the negroes, see washington's "future of the american negro" and "up from slavery"; w. h. thomas's "american negro"; p. a. bruce's "plantation negro as a freeman"; j. l. m. curry, in montgomery conference. [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, july , . [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test. dr. j. l. m. curry, who, in , began his work for the education of the negro, has thus expressed his opinion of the early attempts to educate the blacks: "the education was unsettling, demoralizing, pandered to a wild frenzy for schooling as the quick method of reversing social and political conditions. nothing could have been better devised for deluding the poor negro, and making him the tool, the slave, of corrupt taskmasters.... with deliberate purpose to subject the southern states to negro domination and secure the states permanently for partisan ends, the education adopted was contrary to common sense, to human experience, to all noble purposes. the aptitude and capabilities and needs of the negro were wholly disregarded. especial stress was laid on classics and liberal culture to bring the race _per saltum_ to the same plane with their former masters, and realize the theory of social and political equality. colleges and universities, established and conducted by the freedmen's bureau and northern churches and societies, sprang up like mushrooms, and the teachers, ignorant and fanatical, without self-poise, proceeded to make all possible mischief." montgomery conference, "race problems," p. . see also the papers of rev. d. clay lilly and dr. p. b. barringer in montgomery conference, "race problems," p. ; william h. baldwin and dr. curry in second capon springs conference; barringer, "the american negro: his past and future"; barringer, w. t. harris, and j. d. dreher in proceedings southern education association, ; haygood, "pleas for progress" and "our brother in black"; abbott, "rights of man," pp. - . [ ] the united states commissioner of education, in his report for that year, made before the elections, stated that in educational matters the state of alabama was about to take a "backward step," meaning that it was about to become democratic. report, , p. . later he made similar remarks, much to the disgust of hodgson, who was an enthusiast in educational matters. [ ] journal of the board of education and regents, . dr. o. d. smith, who was one of the newly elected democratic members of the board, says that cloud refused to inform the board of the contents of hodgson's communications. thereupon hodgson addressed one to the board directly and not to cloud. when it came in through the mail, cloud took possession of it, but dr. smith, who was on the lookout, called his attention to the fact that it was addressed to the board and reminded him of the penalties for tampering with the mail of another person. the secretary read hodgson's communication, and the board was then free to act. the democratic members convinced the radicals that if cloud continued in office they would not be able to draw their _per diem_, so cloud was compelled to vacate at once. when he left he had his buggy brought to the door, and into it he loaded all the government coal that was in his office and carried it away. [ ] hodgson's report, . [ ] see hodgson's report, . [ ] hodgson's report, ; report of the commissioner of education, , p. ; journal of the board of education and regents, ; acts of the board of education, pamphlet. [ ] and this was the case notwithstanding the fact that the county superintendents were now allowed mileage at the rate of eight cents a mile in order to get them to come to montgomery for their money and thus to decrease the chances of corrupt practices of the attorneys. hodgson complained that many old claims which should have been settled by cloud were presented during his administration. [ ] speed was a southern radical. during the war he was a state salt agent at the salt works in virginia. he was a member of the board of education from to , and was far above the average radical office-holder in both character and ability. [ ] report of the commissioner of education, , , ; speed's report, . speed was ill much of the time, and his bookkeeping was little better than cloud's. two clerks, who, a committee of investigation stated, were distinguished by a "total want of capacity and want of integrity," managed the department with "such a want of system ... as most necessarily kept it involved in inextricable confusion." money was received and not entered on the books. a sum of money in coin was received in june, , and six months later was paid into the treasury in depreciated paper. vouchers were stolen and used again. bradshaw, a county superintendent, died, leaving a shortage of $ , . in his accounts. a large number of vouchers were abstracted from the office of speed by some one and used again by bradshaw's administrator, who was no other than dr. n. b. cloud, who made a settlement with speed's clerks, and when the shortage was thus made good, the administrator still had many vouchers to spare. this seems to have been cloud's last raid on the treasury. _montgomery advertiser_, dec. , ; report of the joint committee on irregularities in the department of education, . [ ] under the reconstruction administrative expenses amounted to per cent, and even more. [ ] the experiences with the american missionary association, etc., made this provision necessary. [ ] the united states commissioner of education gave a disapproving account of these changes. it was exchanging "a certainty for an uncertainty," he said. speed had not found it a "certainty" by any means. [ ] plus the poll tax, which was not appropriated as required by the constitution, but diverted to other uses. [ ] there was a shortage of $ , . , diverted to other uses. [ ] shortage unknown; teachers were paid in depreciated state obligations. [ ] shortage was $ , . . [ ] only $ , . was paid, the rest diverted; shortage now was $ , , . . [ ] none was paid, all diverted; shortage nearly two millions. [ ] all was paid (by democrats, who were now in power). [ ] mctyeire, "a history of methodism," p. ; smith, "life and times of george f. pierce"; _southern review_, april, . [ ] buckley, "history of methodism in the united states," pp. , . [ ] matlack, "anti-slavery struggle and triumph in the methodist episcopal church," p. ; smith, "life and times of george f. pierce," p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; caldwell, "reconstruction of church and state in georgia" (pamphlet). [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] "the schismatical plans of the northern methodists and the subtle proselytism of the episcopalians" (pierce). see smith, "life and times of george f. pierce," pp. , , , ; west, "history of methodism in alabama," p. ; mctyeire, "a history of methodism," p. . [ ] a federal official in north alabama who had known of lakin in the north testified that he had had a bad reputation in new york and in illinois and had been sent south as a means of discipline. see ku klux rept., ala. test., p. (l. w. day, united states commissioner). governor lindsay said that lakin was a shrewd, cunning, strong-willed man, given to exaggeration and lying,--one who had a "jaundiced eye," "a magnifying eye," and who among the blacks was a power for evil. ala. test., p. . [ ] _n. y. herald_, may , ; buckley, "history of methodism," vol. ii, p. . [ ] in , lakin stated that of his , members, three-fourths were whites of the poorer classes; that there were under his charge presiding elders' districts with circuits and stations, and ministers and local preachers; and that he had been assisted in securing the "loyal" element by several ministers who had been expelled by the southern methodists during the war as traitors. ala. test., pp. , . governor lindsay stated that some of the whites of lakin's church were to be found in the counties of walker, winston, and blount; that there were few such white congregations, and that some of these afterward severed their connection with the northern church, and by there were only two or three in the state. lakin worked among the negro population almost entirely, and his statement that three-fourths of his members were whites was not correct. see ala. test., pp. , . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , , . lakin secured all church property formerly used by the southern church for negro congregations. [ ] lakin never acknowledged the present existence of the southern church. [ ] ala. test., pp. , . [ ] one of lakin's relations was that while he was conducting a great revival meeting among the hills of north alabama, governor smith and other prominent and sinful scalawag politicians were under conviction and were about to become converted. but in came the klan and the congregation scattered. smith and the others were so angry and frightened that their good feelings were dissipated, and the devil reëntered them, so that he (lakin) was never able to get a hold on them again. consequently, the klan was responsible for the souls lost that night. lakin told a dozen or more marvellous stories of his hairbreadth escapes from death by assassination,--enough, if true, to ruin the reputation of north alabama men for marksmanship. [ ] shackleford, "history of the muscle shoals baptist association," p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . in there is a much better spirit, and the churches of the two sections are on good terms, though not united. [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . see p. and ch. iv, sec. , above. [ ] thompson, "history of the presbyterian churches," p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] carroll, "religious forces," p. ; thompson, "history of the presbyterian churches," pp. , ; johnson, "history of the southern presbyterian churches," pp. , . [ ] perry, p. _et seq._ [ ] later the northern congregations of the methodist protestant church rejoined the main body, which was southern. [ ] sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] riley, "history of the baptists in alabama," p. ; _montgomery advertiser_, oct. , ; _n. y. times_, oct. , ; george brewer, "history of the central association," pp. , . [ ] _huntsville advocate_, may , . [ ] shackleford, "history of the muscle shoals baptist association," p. . the radical missionaries, in order to further their own plans, encouraged the negroes to assert their equality by forcing themselves into the congregations of the various denominations. governor lindsay related an incident of a negro woman who went alone into a white church, selected a good pew, and calmly appropriated it. no one molested her, of course. ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . america trammell, a negro preacher of east alabama, before the war and afterward as late as preached to mixed congregations of blacks and whites. a part of the church building was set apart for the whites and a part for the blacks. later he became affected by the work of the missionaries, and in began to preach that "christ never died for the southern people at all; that he died only for the northern people." a white woman teacher lived in his house, and he was killed by the ku klux klan. ku klux rept., ala. test., p. . [ ] ball, "history of clarke county," pp. , ; statistics of churches, p. . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , . [ ] "the work of the southern baptists among the negroes" (pamphlet). [ ] see the _southern baptist convention advanced quarterly_, p. , "missionary lesson, the negroes," march , , which is a most interesting, artless, southern lesson. the northern baptists also have a mission lesson on the negroes which is distinctly of the abolitionist spirit. the average student will get about the same amount of prepared information from each. see "home mission lesson no. , the negroes." [ ] foster, "sketch of history of the cumberland presbyterian church," p. ; carroll, "religious forces," p. ; thompson, "history of the presbyterian churches," p. . [ ] thompson, "history of the presbyterian churches," p. ; scouller, "history of the united presbyterian church of north america," p. . [ ] montgomery conference, "race problems," p. . [ ] eighth annual report of the freedmen's aid society. [ ] house rept., no. , st cong., d sess. [ ] see "race problems," p. , for a statement of the work now being done among the negroes in alabama by the catholic church. [ ] whitaker, "the church in alabama," pp. , , - . the work of the episcopal church among the negroes is more promising in later years. see "race problems," pp. - . it is not a sectional church, with a northern section hindering the work of a southern section among the negroes, as is the methodist episcopal church. [ ] carroll, "religious forces," p. . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, nov. , . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, nov. , . [ ] report for , sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. [ ] lakin fomented disturbances between the races. his daughter wrote slanderous letters to northern papers, which were reprinted by the alabama papers. lakin told the negroes that the whites, if in power, would reëstablish slavery, and advised them, as a measure of safety, physical as well as religious, to unite with the northern church. the scalawags did not like lakin, and one of them (nicholas davis) gave his opinion of him and his talks to the ku klux committee as follows: "the character of his [lakin's] speech was this: to teach the negroes that every man that was born and raised in the southern country was their enemy, that there was no use trusting them, no matter what they said,--if they said they were for the union or anything else. 'no use talking, they are your enemies.' and he made a pretty good speech, too; awful; a hell of a one; ... inflammatory and game, too, ... it was enough to provoke the devil. did all the mischief he could.... i tell you, that old fellow is a hell of an old rascal." ala. test., pp. , . one of lakin's negro congregations complained that they paid for their church and the lot on which it stood, and that lakin had the deed made out in his name. [ ] in the black belt and in the cities the slaveholders often erected churches or chapels for the use of the negroes, and paid the salary of the white preacher who was detailed by conference, convention, association, or presbytery to look after the religious instruction of the blacks. nearly always the negro slaves contributed in work or money towards building these houses of worship, and the reconstruction convention in passed an ordinance which transferred such property to the negroes whenever they made any claim to it. see ordinance no. , dec. , . see also acts of , pp. - ; governor lindsay in ku klux rept., ala. test., p. ; _montgomery advertiser_, nov. , . [ ] _huntsville advocate_, may , ; carroll, "religious forces," p. . [ ] reports of the freedmen's aid society, - . [ ] the first recognition of such work, i find, is in the report of the freedmen's aid society in . [ ] tenth and eleventh reports of the freedmen's aid society. [ ] these religious bodies were the african methodist episcopal and the african methodist episcopal zion. the former was organized in philadelphia in , and the latter in new york in . both were secessions from the methodist episcopal church. see statistics of churches, pp. , . at first there were bitter feuds between the blacks who wished to join the northern churches and those who wished to remain in the southern churches, but the latter were in the minority and they had to go. see ala. test., p. ; smith, "history of methodism in georgia and florida"; "life and times of george f. pierce," p. . the main difference between the a. m. e. and the a. m. e. zion church, according to a member of the latter, is that in one the dues are cents a week and in the other cents. [ ] mctyeire, "history of methodism," pp. - . a southern methodist negro preacher in north alabama was trying to reorganize his church and was driven away by lakin, who told his flock that there was a wolf in the fold. see ala. test, p. . the statements of several of the negro ministers would seem to indicate that lakin took possession of a number of negro congregations and united them with the cincinnati conference without their knowledge. few of the negroes knew of the divisions in the methodist episcopal church, and most of them thought that lakin's course was merely some authorized reorganization after the destruction of war. one witness who knew lakin in the north said that he was an original secessionist, since, in peru, indiana, he broke up a church and organized a secession congregation because he was opposed to men and women sitting together. the same person testified that once in north alabama lakin asked for lodging one night at a white man's house. the host was treated to a lecture by lakin on the equality of the races, and thereupon sent out and got a negro and put him in a bed to which lakin was directed at bedtime. he hesitated, but slept with the negro. ala. test., pp. - . lakin was a strange character, and for several years was a powerful influence among the radicals and negroes of north alabama. see ala. test., p. . a northern methodist leader among the negroes of coosa county was the rev. ---- dorman, who had formerly belonged to the southern church, but had been expelled for immorality. he lived with the negroes and led a lewd life. he advised the negroes to arm themselves and assert their rights, and required them to go armed to church. see ala. test., pp. , . rev. j. b. f. hill of eutaw was another ex-southern methodist who taught a negro school and preached to the negroes. he had been expelled from the alabama conference (southern) for stealing money from the church, and it was charged that he tried to sell a coffin which had been sent him and in which he was to send to ohio the body of a federal soldier who had died in eutaw. see _demopolis new era_, april , . during the worst days of reconstruction a number of negro churches which were used as radical headquarters were burned by the ku klux klan. the northern methodist church is the weakest of the three negro churches; mountaineers and negroes do not mix well. the church is not favored by the whites, and there is opposition to the establishment of a negro university at anniston by the freedmen's aid society of this church, on the ground that socially, commercially, and educationally the interests of the white race suffer where an institution is located by this society. see _brundidge_ (ala.) _news_, aug. , . [ ] mctyeire, "a history of southern methodism," p. ; carroll, "religious forces," p. ; alexander, "methodist episcopal church south," pp. - . [ ] carroll, "religious forces," p. ; bishop halsey in the _n. y. independent_, march , ; statistics of churches, p. . [ ] w. t. harris, richmond meeting, southern educational association ( ), p. . [ ] see washington, "up from slavery." one church with two hundred members had eighteen preachers. exhorters or "zorters" and "pot liquor" preachers were still more numerous. [ ] "race problems," pp. , , , , , , ; haygood, "our brother in black," _passim_; statistics of churches, p. . [ ] _the nation_, july , , condensed. [ ] caldwell, "reconstruction of church and state in georgia" (pamphlet). the circulars of advice to the blacks by the freedmen's bureau officials repeatedly mention the advisability of the separation of the races in religious matters. but this was less the case in alabama than in other southern states. [ ] see testimony of minnis in ku klux rept., ala. test.; brown, "lower south," ch. iv. [ ] see above, ch. viii, sec. . [ ] saunders, "early settlers"; miller, "alabama"; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. (general pettus); somers, "southern states," p. . [ ] ku klux rept., pp. - ; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. (governor lindsay). [ ] ala. test., pp. , (p. m. dox, m. c.); p. (w. s. mudd); p. (william h. forney); beard, "ku klux sketches." [ ] somers, p. ; _birmingham age-herald_, may , (j. w. dubose); ala. test., p. (gen. william h. forney). [ ] ala. test., p. (general clanton); pp. , , (w. s. mudd). [ ] planters who before the war were able to raise their own bacon at a cost of cents a pound now had to kill all the hogs to keep the negroes from stealing them, and then pay to cents a pound for bacon. the farmer dared not turn out his stock. ala. test., pp. , (clanton). [ ] _n. y. world_, april , (_montgomery advertiser_). there was a plot to burn selma and tuscumbia; talladega was almost destroyed; the court-house of greene county was burned and that of hale set on fire. in perry county a young man had a difficulty with a carpet-bag official and slapped his face. that night the carpet-bagger's agents burned the young man's barn and stables with horses in them. it was generally believed that the penalty for a dispute with a carpet-bagger was the burning of a barn, gin, or stable. see also brown, "lower south," ch. iv. [ ] ala. test., p. (gen. william h. forney). [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , statement of general pettus, the present junior senator from alabama. pope and grant continually reminded the old soldiers that their paroles were still in force. also beard, "ku klux sketches"; testimony of john d. minnis, a carpet-bag official, in ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. - . [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] ala. test., p. (william m. lowe). [ ] see ch. xxiii. [ ] for general accounts: lester and wilson, "ku klux klan"; beard, "ku klux sketches"; brown, "the lower south in american history," ch. iv; nordhoff, "cotton states in "; somers, "the southern states." for documents, see fleming, "docs. relating to reconstruction." for innumerable details, see the ku klux testimony and the testimony taken by the coburn investigating committee. [ ] _independent monitor_ (tuscaloosa), april , . [ ] the negroes called them "paterollers." [ ] ala. test., p. (william h. forney). [ ] ala. test., p. (william. m. lowe); p. (p. m. dox); oral accounts. it must be remembered that, so far as numbers of whites are considered, the black belt has always been as a thinly populated frontier region, where every white must care for himself. [ ] rev. w. e. lloyd and mr. r. w. burton, both of auburn, ala., and numerous negroes have given me accounts of the policy of the black districts soon after the war. [ ] ala. test., p. (j. j. garrett). [ ] _birmingham age-herald_, may , (j. w. dubose). [ ] ala. test., p. (l. w. day). [ ] saunders, "early settlers"; oral accounts. [ ] ala. test., p. (p. m. dox); miller, "alabama." the negroes still point out and avoid the trees on which these outlaws were hanged. [ ] j. w. dubose and accounts of other members. [ ] report of the joint committee on reconstruction, , pt. iii, p. (swayne). [ ] ala. test., pp. , (daniel taylor); pp. , (col. john j. holley). [ ] ala. test., p. (wm. m. lowe); p. (daniel coleman). [ ] "the so-called ku klux organizations were formed in this state (alabama) very soon after the return of our soldiers to their homes, following the surrender. to the best of my recollection, it was during the winter of that i first heard of the klan in alabama."--ryland randolph. the quotations from randolph are taken from his letters, unless his paper, the _independent monitor_, is referred to. [ ] "this fellow jones up at pulaski got up a piece of greek and originated it, and then general forrest took hold of it."--nicholas davis, in ala. test., p. . [ ] lester and wilson, "ku klux klan," p. ; ala. test., pp. , , ; accounts of members. [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] "it [the klan] originated with the returned soldiers for the purpose of punishing those negroes who had become notoriously and offensively insolent to white people, and, in some cases, to chastise those white-skinned men who, at that particular time, showed a disposition to affiliate socially with negroes. the impression sought to be made was that these white-robed night prowlers were the ghosts of the confederate dead, who had arisen from their graves in order to wreak vengeance upon an undesirable class of white and black men."--randolph. [ ] lester and wilson, ch. i; ala. test., p. (blackford); somers, p. ; oral accounts. [ ] general forrest was the first and only grand wizard. [ ] there could not be more than two dominions in a single congressional district. [ ] there might be two grand giants in a province. [ ] the office of grand ensign was abolished by the revised and amended prescript, adopted in . the banner was in the shape of an isosceles triangle, five feet by three, of yellow cloth with a three-inch red border. painted on it in black was a _draco volans_, or flying dragon, and this motto, "quod semper, quod umbique, quod ab omnibus." this, in a note to the prescript, was translated, "what always, what everywhere, what by all is held to be true." [ ] sources of revenue: ( ) sale of the prescript to dens for $ a copy, of which the treasuries of province, dominion, and realm each received $ and the treasury of the empire $ ; ( ) a tax levied by each division on the next lower one, amounting to % of the revenue of the subordinate division; ( ) a special tax, unlimited, might be levied in a similar manner, when absolutely necessary; ( ) the dens raised money by initiation fees ($ each), fines, and a poll tax levied when the grand cyclops saw fit. [ ] the revised prescript made all officers appointive except the grand wizard, who was elected by the grand dragons,--a long step toward centralization. [ ] it was by virtue of this authority that the order was disbanded in . [ ] the judiciary was abolished by the revised prescript. [ ] "we had a regular system of by-laws, one or two of which only do i distinctly remember. one was, that should any member reveal the names or acts of the klan, he should suffer the full penalty of the identical treatment inflicted upon our white and black enemies. another was that in case any member of the klan should become involved in a personal difficulty with a radical (white or black), in the presence of any other member or members, he or they were bound to take the part of the member, even to the death, if necessary."--randolph. [ ] "terrible, horrible, furious, doleful, bloody, appalling, frightful, gloomy," etc. the register was changed in the revised prescript. it was simply a cipher code. [ ] the revised prescript says "the constitutional laws." lester and wilson, p. . [ ] compare with the declaration of similar illegal societies,--the "confréries" of france in the middle ages,--which sprang into existence under similar conditions seven hundred years before, "pour defendre les innocents et réprimer les violences iniques." see lavisse et rambaud, "histoire générale," vol. ii, p. . [ ] see also lester and wilson, pp. , . [ ] i have before me the original prescript, a small brown pamphlet about three inches by five, of sixteen pages. the title-page has a quotation from "hamlet" and one from burns. at the top and bottom of each page are single-line latin quotations: "damnant quod non intelligunt"; "amici humani generis"; "magna est veritas, et prevalebit"; "hic manent vestigia morientis libertatis"; "cessante causa, cessat effectus"; "dormitur aliquando jus, moritur nunquam"; "deo adjuvante, non timendum"; "nemo nos impune lacessit," etc. this prescript belonged to the grand giant of the province of tuscaloosa county, the late ryland randolph, formerly editor of the _independent monitor_, and was given to me by him. it is the only copy known to be in existence. he called it the "ku klux guide book," and states that it was sent to him from headquarters at memphis. an imperfect copy of the original prescript was captured in , and printed in ho. mis. doc., no. , pp. - , st cong., d sess., and again in the ku klux rept., vol. xiii, pp. - . there is a copy of the revised and amended prescript in columbia university library, the only copy known to be in existence. no committee of congress ever discovered this prescript, and when the klan disbanded, in march, , it was strictly ordered that all papers be destroyed. a few prescripts escaped destruction, and years afterward one of these was given to the southern society of new york by a nashville lady. the southern society gave it to columbia university library. it was printed in the office of the _pulaski citizen_ in . the revised and amended prescript is reproduced in facsimile as no. of the w. va. univ. "docs, relating to reconstruction." lester and wilson use it incorrectly (p. ) as the one adopted in nashville in . at this time general forrest is said to have assumed the leadership. see wyeth, "life of forrest," p. ; mathes, "general forrest," pp. - ; ku klux rept., vol. xiii, forrest's testimony. [ ] somers, p. . [ ] "breckenridge democrats, douglas democrats, watts state rights whigs, langdon consolidation know-nothings," united in ku klux. _birmingham age-herald_, may , ; ala. test., p. (busteed) _et passim_. [ ] but some survivors are now inclined to remember all opposition to the radical programme as ku klux, that is, to have been a democrat then was to have been a member of ku klux. [ ] general terry, in report of sec. of war, - , vol. ii, p. . [ ] "the ku klux organizations flourished chiefly in middle and southern alabama; notably in montgomery, greene, tuscaloosa, and pickens counties."--randolph. [ ] ku klux rept., p. ; ala. test., pp. , (b. w. norris); pp. , (swayne); p. (p. m. dox); p. (general pettus); p. (william h. forney); p. (parsons); pp. , (blackford); p. (minnis); p. (daniel coleman); p. (busteed). [ ] ala. test., p. (nicholas davis); pp. , (governor parsons). [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] "had these organizations confined their operations to their legitimate objects, then their performances would have effected only good. unfortunately the klan began to degenerate into a vile means of wreaking revenge for personal dislikes or personal animosities, and in this way many outrages were perpetrated, ultimately resulting in casting so much odium on the whole concern that about the year there was an almost universal collapse, all the good and brave men abandoning it in disgust. many outrages were committed in the name of ku klux that really were done by irresponsible parties who never belonged to the klan."--randolph. [ ] it was evidently organized may , , since the constitution directed that all orders and correspondence should be dated with "the year of the b.--computing from the d of may, .... thursday the th of july, , shall be the th day of the th month of the d year of the b. of the ----." constitution, title viii, article . [ ] ala. test., pp. - (blackford); p. (william miller); accounts of former members. p. j. glover testified in the coburn-buckner report, pp. - ( ), that in - he was a member of the order of the white camelia in marengo county, and that it coöperated with a similar order in sumter county. the ku klux testimony relating to alabama (p. ) shows that in glover had denied any knowledge of such secret orders. [ ] w. va. univ. docs., no. ; brown, "lower south," ch. iv. [ ] the officers of the supreme council were: ( ) supreme commander, ( ) supreme lieutenant commander, ( ) supreme sentinel, ( ) supreme corresponding secretary, ( ) supreme treasurer. [ ] the officers were grand commander, grand lieutenant commander, etc. [ ] the officers of a central council were eminent commander, etc.; of a subordinate council, commander, etc. [ ] dr. g. p. l. reid, marion, alabama, formerly an official in the order. mr. william garrott brown gives the statement of one of the leaders of the order: "the authority of the commander [this office i held] was _absolute_. all were sworn to obey his orders. there was an inner circle in each circle, to which was committed any particular work; its movements were not known to other members of the order. this was necessary because, in our neighborhood, almost every southern man was a member." "lower south," p. . [ ] it is said that the ku klux klan had a number of negro members. [ ] in making the presentation the following dialogue took place: _q._ who comes there? _ans._ a son of your race. _q._ what does he wish? _ans._ peace and order; the observance of the laws of god; the maintenance of the laws and constitution as established by the patriots of . _q._ to obtain this, what must be done? _ans._ the cause of our race must triumph. _q._ and to secure its triumph, what must we do? _ans._ we must be united as are the flowers that grow on the same stem, and, under all circumstances, band ourselves together as brethren. _q._ will he join us? _ans._ he is prepared to answer for himself, and under oath. [ ] the oath: "i do solemnly swear, in the presence of these witnesses, never to reveal, without authority, the existence of this order, its objects, its acts, and signs of recognition; never to reveal or publish, in any manner whatsoever, what i shall see or hear in this council; never to divulge the names of the members of the order, or their acts done in connection therewith; i swear to maintain and defend the social and political superiority of the white race on this continent; always and in all places to observe a marked distinction between the white and african races; to vote for none but white men for any office of honor, profit, or trust; to devote my intelligence, energy, and influence to instil these principles in the minds and hearts of others; and to protect and defend persons of the white race, in their lives, rights, and property, against the encroachments and aggressions of persons of any inferior race. i swear, moreover, to unite myself in heart, soul, and body with those who compose this order; to aid, protect, and defend them in all places; to obey the orders of those who, by our statutes, will have the right of giving those orders; to respond at the peril of my life, to a call, sign, or cry coming from a fellow-member whose rights are violated; and to do everything in my power to assist him through life. and to the faithful performance of this oath i pledge my life and sacred honor." [ ] the motto is printed in large capitals in the original text. [ ] large capitals in the original text. [ ] the constitution and the ritual of the knights of the white camelia are reprinted in w. va. univ. docs., no. . they were preserved by dr. g. p. l. reid of perry county, alabama, who buried his papers when the order was disbanded, and years afterward dug them up. the secrets of the knights of the white camelia were more closely kept than those of the ku klux klan, and the federal officials were unable to find out anything about the order. [ ] constitutional union guards, sons of ' , the ' association, pale faces, white boys, white brotherhood, regulators, white league, white rose, etc. sumarez de haviland, in an article on "ku klux klan" in the _gentleman's magazine_, vol. xl, (evidently based on lester and wilson), gives the names of a number of secret societies, which he says were connected in some way; the first group was absorbed into ku klux klan; the second consisted of opposing societies; they existed before, during, and after the civil war. . the lost clan of cocletz, knights of the golden circle, knights of the white camelia, centaurs of caucasian civilization, angels of avenging justice, etc. . the underground railroad, the red string band, the union league, the black avengers of justice, etc. "the generic name of ku klux was applied to all secret organizations in the south composed of white natives and having for their object the execution of the 'first law of nature.' there were many organizations (principally of local origin) which had no connection one with another; others, again, were more extended in their influence and operations. the one numerically the largest and which embraced the most territory was the white camelia."--dr. g. p. l. reid. [ ] "their robes used in these nocturnal campaigns consisted simply of sheets wrapped around their bodies and belted around the waist. the lower portion reached to the heels, whilst the upper had eyeholes through which to see, and mouth holes through which to breathe. of course, every man so caparisoned had one or more pistols in holsters buckled to his waist."--randolph. [ ] ala. test., pp. - , , , , , , , , , , , , ; somers, "southern states," p. ; report of joint committee, alabama legislature, ; oral accounts. the ku klux costumes represented in wilson's "history of the american people," vol. v, ch. i, were captured after a ku klux parade in huntsville, ala. when costumes were to be made, the materials were sometimes sent secretly to the women, who made them according to directions and returned them secretly. [ ] ala. test., pp. , , , , , ; beard, "ku klux sketches"; brown, "lower south," ch. iv; lester and wilson, ch. iii; weir, "old times in georgia," p. ; accounts of former members. [ ] "concerning any elaborate organization, i am unable to state from any personal experience. there were certain heads of departments or organizations, under heads or chiefs bearing titles intended to strike awe into the minds of the ignorant. in some instances organizers were sent to towns to establish the klans. these latter were formed into companies officered somewhat in military style. in ( ) i was honored by being chosen leader of the tuscaloosa klan, and even at this late day i am gratified to be able to say that my company did good service to tuscaloosa."--randolph. [ ] "we had regular meetings about once a week, at which the conduct of certain offensive characters would be discussed, and if the majority voted to punish such, it would be done accordingly on certain prescribed nights. sometimes it was deemed necessary only to post notices of warning, which, in some cases, were sufficient to alarm the victims and to induce them to reform in their behavior. to the best of my recollection, our company consisted of about sixty members. as soon as our object was effected, viz., got the negroes to behave themselves, we disbanded. i well remember those notices in _the monitor_, for they were concocted and posted by my own hand--disguised of course."--randolph. [ ] printed in report of joint committee, alabama legislature, . the warning is not in the ordinary ku klux form. the purpose is clear, however. the illiteracy is probably assumed, though not necessarily. [ ] headquarters s. v. w., ancient commandery, mother earth. st quarter new moon. st year of revenge. _special order_: the worldly medium for the expression of +southern opinion+ is notified to publish for the eyes of humanity the orders of the offended ghosts. failing to do so, let him prepare his soul for travelling beyond the limits of his corporosity. cyclops warns it--print it well, or glide instanter down to h--l! by order of the great blufustin the mighty chief. +hobgoblin.+ true copy, +peterloo.+ s. k. k. k. --_independent monitor_, april , . [ ] "they [ku klux orders] had this meaning: the very night of the day on which said notices made their appearance, three notably offensive negro men were dragged out of their beds, escorted to the old boneyard ( / mile from tuscaloosa) and thrashed in the regular ante-bellum style, until their unnatural nigger pride had a tumble, and humbleness to the white man reigned supreme."--randolph. [ ] report of meade, . [ ] report of joint committee, ; ala. test., p. (william m. lowe). [ ] in - there was an epidemic of resignations in the black belt. it was in the rich black belt that the carpet-bagger flourished. the departing radical could always sell his property at a high price, the whites often uniting to purchase it. in perry, pickens, choctaw, marengo, hale, and other black belt counties the carpet-baggers resigned and left. ala. test., pp. , . [ ] the case of w. b. jones of marengo county was well known. see ala. test., p. _et passim_. [ ] ala. test., p. (a bureau agent). it is more likely that this was when the klan was dying out and the class of men composing it had no time to go on night rides while the crops were needing their attention. during the leisure seasons time would hang heavy on their hands, and they would begin their deviltry again. [ ] i have learned of only two such cases; one was in tuscaloosa county. the woman was a bureau school-teacher from the north. _independent monitor_, may , . the other was the case of america trammell in east alabama. ala. test., p. . [ ] ala. test., pp. , , , , , , , . [ ] ala. test., pp. , , . [ ] ala. test., pp. , , _et passim_. i have been told that in one place muskets were collected, taken from negroes. [ ] ala. test., p. . the legal militia consisted of major-general dustan only. [ ] not nearly so many as is usually supposed. lakin, who never underestimated anything, could think of only six in all north alabama. [ ] ala. test., ; coburn-buckner report. [ ] several southern churches seized by lakin for the northern church were burned. [ ] report of joint committee, ; ala. test., p. . [ ] ala. test., pp. , , , . see above, p. . [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] "of the acts of this order much has been written which is untrue; every disturbance between the races was laid at its door; every act of violence, in which the negro or the northern man was the victim, it was charged with. i do not deny that extreme measures were sometimes resorted to, but of such i have no personal knowledge.... four hours would have been in [perry county] ample time to secure the assembly, at any central point, of a thousand resolute men who would have done the bidding of their commander whatever it might have been, yet in this time [three years] no single act of violence was committed on the person or property of a negro or alien by its order or which received its sanction or indorsement."--dr. g. p. l. reid. [ ] however, in governor lindsay stated that there were in the state fewer feuds, crimes, difficulties, etc., than since , when the state was admitted. this was especially the case, he said, in northern alabama, for this reason: the people of the mountain and hill county were now prosperous; cotton was selling for $ to $ a bale; these white mountaineers by their own labor were doing well. such was not the case with the planter who had to hire negro labor and pay high prices for provisions, farming implements, and mules. meat that cost the planter cents a pound was raised by the mountain people. outrages against negroes were now very rare. ala. test., pp. - . it is certain that the prosperity of the white counties which in got rid of the alien local officials had much to do with allaying disorder. [ ] the estimate is lakin's. [ ] report joint committee of ; ala. test., p. _et passim_. the _n. y. tribune_, nov. , , states that gustavus horton, the first radical mayor of mobile, was killed in this riot. after the riot was over the united states troops appeared too late, as they usually were in such cases. [ ] ala. test., pp. , _et passim_; _montgomery mail_, july , . the mountain people had another grudge against luke. he associated constantly with negroes and was said to be a miscegenationist. the mountain farmers had the greatest horror of such. [ ] ala. test., pp. , , , _et passim_. boyd had many private enemies, among them relatives of a man he had killed, and it was charged that they killed him. he was a man of low character, and his own party was not sorry to lose him. [ ] it was a marked fact that no resistance to the united states soldiers was ever attempted. when the soldiers appeared, all violence ceased. the soldiers were as a rule in favor of the whites and sometimes took a hand in the ku kluxing. they usually appeared after the row was over. [ ] ala. test., pp. , , _et passim_; _eutaw whig_, oct. , . [ ] ala. test., p. _et passim_. when he testified before the ku klux committee, alston swore that it was the men whom he had asked to protect him that had shot him,--such men as general cullen a. battle. [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] "the company of k. k. k.'s which was organized in tuscaloosa, was an independent organization, _i.e._ it was altogether a local affair, having no connection with any general klan."--randolph. [ ] miss. test., pp. , , ; ala. test., pp. , - ; garner, "reconstruction in mississippi," pp. , . [ ] ala. test., p. ; lester and wilson, p. . [ ] the anti-negro bands of the hills and mountains were rather of the spurious ku klux and were largely composed of tories and radicals. [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] constitution, article ; brown, "ku klux movement," _atlantic monthly_, may, . [ ] ala. test., pp. - . [ ] ala. test., pp. - . [ ] with the white camelia in south alabama the case was somewhat different. [ ] see testimony of lindsay and clanton, cited above; also ala. test., p. (pettus); p. (lowe). [ ] somers, "southern states," pp. , , ; lester and wilson, chs. iii, iv, v; sanders, "early settlers," p. . "the peaceful citizen knew that a faithful patrol had guarded his premises while he slept."--mrs. stubbs. brown, "lower south," ch. iv; ala. test., pp. , , , . [ ] throughout the pages of the ku klux testimony are found assertions that ku klux was not an organization, but merely the understanding of the southern people, the spirit of the community, the concert of feeling of the whites, a state of mind in the population. [ ] ala. test., pp. , , , ; somers, "southern states," p. . governor lindsay said that the so-called ku klux who went over to mississippi were roughs and that the people were glad when they heard that one of them had been shot. in - , while living in alabama, general forrest, the reputed grand wizard, repeatedly condemned in the strongest terms the conduct of the so-called ku klux. ala. test., pp. , . [ ] ala. test., pp. , . [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] ala. test., pp. , . [ ] ala. test., pp. , , . [ ] ala. test., p. . governor smith, a radical, said in regard to the motives of senator george e. spencer, i. d. sibley, and j. j. hinds, carpet-baggers: "my candid opinion is that sibley does not want the law executed, because that would put down crime and crime is his life's bread. he would like very much to have a ku klux outrage every week to assist him in keeping up strife between the whites and blacks, that he might be more certain of the votes of the latter. he would like to have a few colored men killed every week to furnish semblance of truth to spencer's libels upon the people of the state generally. it is but proper in this connection that i should speak in strong terms of condemnation of the conduct of two white men in tuskegee a few days ago, in advising the colored men to resist the authority of the sheriff; these men were not ku klux, but republicans." letter in _huntsville advocate_, june , . see also herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] see ala. test., p. . [ ] ala. test., p. . in some communities a negro is still told that he must not let the sun go down on him before leaving. [ ] ala. test., pp. , , . [ ] ala. test., pp. , , , , . judge mudd was by no means a representative of the old slaveholding element, but rather of the white county people. [ ] ala. test., p. . [ ] ala. test., pp. , , . [ ] ala. test., pp. , . [ ] g. o. no. , sub-dist. ala., april , ; _selma times and messenger_, april , ; _n. y. herald_, april , . [ ] report of the secretary of war, , p. _et seq._; report of meade, . [ ] joint resolution, sept. , , in acts of ala., p. . the delegation to washington did not provide themselves with an authenticated copy of the resolution and had to wait for it. governor smith, who was with the delegation, spoiled everything by declaring that there was no disorder except along the tennessee river and in southwestern alabama and that troops were not needed. no officials had been resisted, he said, and it would be imprudent to send troops. _n. y. herald_, sept. , . the citizens of montgomery held a mass-meeting and denied _in toto_ the allegations of the memorial, denouncing it as a move of partisan politics. the strangers were sure to fall from power unless upheld by outside force. _n. y. herald_, sept. , . [ ] act of dec. , ; acts of ala., p. . [ ] joint resolutions, nov. and dec. , ; acts of ala., pp. , . [ ] j. def. richards and g. r. mcafee of the senate, and e. f. jennings, w. r. chisholm, and g. w. malone of the house. [ ] report of joint committee on outrages, . [ ] act dec. , ; acts of ala., - . a supplementary act had to be passed allowing the probate judges to license _for one dollar_ the wearing of masks or disguises at balls, theatres, and circuses and other places of amusement, public and private. application had to be made at least three days beforehand by "three responsible persons of established character and reputation." act dec. , ; acts of ala., p. . [ ] act of dec. , ; acts of ala., pp. - . [ ] see dunning, "essays," pp. - . [ ] messages and papers, vol. vii, pp. , , march , . [ ] _the nation_, feb. , , in regard to the "force" legislation: "it would not have been possible for the most ingenious enemy of the blacks to draw up a code better calculated to keep up and fan the spirit of strife and contention between the races." james l. pugh, later united states senator from alabama: the people were tired of being reconstructed by president and by congress. now the enforcement laws punish all for the crime of a few. they are an insult to a whole people, assuming them incorrigible. alabama testimony, pp. , , . [ ] see burgess, "reconstruction," pp. - . [ ] text of act in mcpherson, pp. - . this act was ostensibly to provide for the enforcement of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. its constitutionality has been criticised on these grounds: ( ) the amendments were directed against _states_, not _persons_; ( ) the law enacted penalties not only against state officers, but also against any _person_ who might offend against the election laws of the state or against this act; ( ) it is entirely out of the question to claim that the amendments protect the right of a person within a state against infringement by other persons, or even against the state itself unless on account of race, color, or previous condition. see burgess, pp. - . [ ] text of act in mcpherson, "handbook of politics," , pp. - . while only the congressional elections and all the registrations were to be guarded, the chief purpose of the act was to control state elections, which were held at the same time and place. see burgess, "reconstruction," pp. - . this was so clearly the purpose that after the rescue of the state government from carpet-bag rule the time of the state and local elections was changed from november to august in order to escape federal espionage. [ ] "upon the basis of information which turned out to be very insufficient and unreliable."--burgess, p. . [ ] messages and papers, vol. vii, pp. - . [ ] burgess, pp. , . [ ] text in mcpherson, "handbook," , pp. - . for criticism, burgess, pp. , . [ ] messages and papers, vol. vii, pp. , . [ ] report of the committee, pp. , . [ ] some of the conservatives who testified were gen. cullen a. battle, r. h. abercrombie, gen. james h. clanton, p. m. dox, gov. robert b. lindsay, reuben chapman, thomas cobbs, daniel coleman, jefferson m. falkner, william h. forney, william m. lowe, william richardson, francis s. lyon, william s. mudd, gen. edmund w. pettus, turner reavis, james l. pugh, p. t. sayre, r. w. walker,--all prominent men of high character. [ ] some of those who gave, willingly or unwillingly, democratic testimony: w. t. blackford (c.), judge busteed (c.), general crawford, nicholas davis (s.), l. w. day (c.), samuel a. hale (c.), j. h. speed (s.), senator willard warner (c.), n. l. whitfield (s.). (c.) = carpet-bagger; (s.) = scalawag. [ ] charles hays (s.), w. b. jones (s.), s. f. rice (s.), john a. minnis (c.), a. s. lakin (c.), b. w. norris (c.), l. e. parsons (s.), e. w. peck (s.), and l. r. smith (c.). [ ] day, busteed, van valkenburg, general crawford, etc. [ ] senate report, no. , d cong., d sess., pts. , , and , and house report, no. , d cong., d sess., pts. , , and , contain the alabama testimony. [ ] feb. , ; report of committee, p. . [ ] mcpherson, "handbook," , pp. , . [ ] mcpherson, "handbook," , pp. , . these provisions had to be inserted in the sundry civil bill, which was approved june , . kellogg of louisiana introduced the "rider." [ ] for instances of petty annoyances to the people from marshals, deputy marshals, and supervisors, see sen. ex. doc., no. , th cong. st sess., and ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., d sess. these annoyances lasted for several years. [ ] ku klux rept., pp. , . [ ] in his message, nov. , , smith stated: "nowhere have the courts been interrupted. no resistance has been encountered by the officers of courts in their effort to discharge the duties imposed upon them by law." smith was criticised by the carpet-baggers for not calling out the negro militia to "enforce the laws." he stood out against them, and on july , , he replied to their criticisms, denouncing george e. spencer (united states senator), j. d. sibley, j. j. hinds, and others as systematically uttering every conceivable falsehood. "during my entire administration of the state government," he said, "but one officer had certified to me that he was unable, on account of lawlessness, to execute his official duties. that officer was the sheriff of morgan county. i immediately made application to general crawford for troops. they were sent and the said sheriff refused their assistance." "solid south," p. . [ ] _montgomery mail_, july , . the black cavalry and its spurious ku klux successors infested those parts of eastern alabama where, in , the existence of a system of peonage was discovered. [ ] _tuskegee news_, sept. , ; report of joint committee on election of george spencer. during the remainder of reconstruction under the enforcement acts, the federal government exercised supervision over all elections. election outrages by the democrats probably decreased, while outrages by the radicals tended to increase. the democrats put in their work of influence and intimidation in the summer and early fall, and when the elections came were quiet, trusting to the influence brought to bear some months previously. after the carpet-bag government collapsed, the federal enforcement acts still gave supervision of elections to the washington government. the democrats in congress were unable to secure the repeal of the force legislation. "we do not expect to repeal any of the recent enactments [force laws]. they may stand forever, but we intend by superior intelligence, stronger muscle, and greater energy, to make them dead letter upon the statute books." _birmingham news_, quoted in the _state journal_, june , . but in no appropriation was made for the pay of the deputy marshals and supervisors. in the supreme court in the case of united states _vs._ reese declared the two most important sections of the enforcement act of unconstitutional. in , in the case of the united states _vs._ harris, the ku klux act of april , , was declared unconstitutional. in , when house, senate, and president were republican, an attempt was made by mr. mckinley (afterward president) to pass a force bill to enforce the old election laws, which were still on the statute book. the measure failed to pass. it was in opposition to this force bill that colonel hilary a. herbert of alabama and other southern congressmen wrote the work called "why the solid south? or reconstruction and its results." it is said that this book had some influence in causing a halt in force legislation. it was the first attempt to write the history of the reconstruction period, and is still the best general account. in , when house, senate, and president were democratic, the remnants of the enforcement acts were repealed, and thus was swept away the last of the radical system. see dunning, "the undoing of reconstruction," in the _atlantic monthly_, oct., . [ ] coburn-buckner report, p. . the constitution is not in the _journal_, however. [ ] coburn-buckner report, pp. , , , , , . [ ] cameron report, , pp. , ; oral accounts. [ ] the accounts of the wild and idle negro children of the rice and tobacco districts are not true of those in the cotton belt. the smallest tot could do a little in a cotton field. [ ] see _birmingham age-herald_, march and april , (j. w. dubose); _review of reviews_, sept., , on "the cotton crop of to-day," by r. h. edmonds; ingle, "southern sidelights," p. ; address of president thach, alabama polytechnic institute, before the american economic association, ; tillinghast, "negro in africa and america," pp. , ; mallard, "plantation life before emancipation"; washington, "up from slavery," and "the future of the american negro," _passim_. the immense cost of slave labor is seen when the value of the slaves is compared with the value of the lands cultivated by their labor. in the cash value of the lands in alabama was $ , , , and that of the slaves was $ , , . the larger portion of this land had not a negro on it, and if cultivated, was cultivated exclusively by whites. see census of . the effect of the loss of slaves on the welfare of a planter is shown in the case of william l. yancey. his slaves were accidentally poisoned and died. the loss ruined him, and he was forced to sell his plantation and engage in a profession. a farmer in a white county employing white labor would have been injured only temporarily by such a loss of labor. [ ] the tenant furnished labor, supplies, and teams, and paid the landlord a fourth of the cotton and a third of the corn produced. [ ] there was usually good feeling between the whites and blacks at work together; but the negroes, at heart, scorned the poor whites, and had to be closely watched to keep them from insulting or abusing them. the negro had little respect for the man who owned no slaves or who owned but few and worked with them in the fields. to protect the slaves against outsiders was one reason why discipline was strict, supervision close, passes required, etc. when both white and black were allowed to go at will over the plantation and community, trouble was sure to result from the impudent behavior of the negro to "white trash" and the consequent retaliation of the latter. the whites often came to the master and wanted him to whip his best slaves for impudence to them. the master, to prevent this, regulated the liberty of the slave by passes, etc., and the whites, especially strangers, were expected not to trespass on a plantation where slaves were. [ ] the idea of the so-called "prejudice" against manual labor is perhaps due largely to abolitionist theories and arguments, which have been partially accepted since the war by some southerners who think it due to the old system to show its lofty attitude toward the common things of life. but the negro had, and still has, a contempt for a white who works as he does. and it has always been a custom of mankind,--white, yellow, or black,--to get out of doing manual labor if there was anything else to do. [ ] accounts from old citizens, former planters. [ ] the agent of president johnson. [ ] report to president, april , . [ ] colonel saunders, a noted slaveholder in one of the white counties in north alabama, established a patriarchal protectorate over his former slaves. he built a church for them, and organized a monthly court, presided over by himself, in which the old negro men tried delinquents. it is said that the findings of this court were often ludicrous in the extreme, but order was preserved, and for a long while there was no resort to the bureau. saunders, "early settlers," p. . many similar protectorates were established in the remote districts, but the policy of the bureau was to break them up. [ ] a term of contempt. [ ] see _sewanee review_, jan., , article on "servant problem in a black belt village." [ ] _n. y. herald_, july , ; reid, "after the war," pp. , , ; tillet, in _century magazine_, vol. xi; reports of general swayne, , ; van de graaf, in _forum_, vol. xxi, pp. , ; _debow's review_, feb., , p. ; oral accounts. [ ] for a description of the bureau labor regulations, see chapter xi, sec. . also _montgomery mail_, may , ; howard's circular, may , ; circular no. , war department, july , ; _huntsville advocate_, july , ; swayne's reports, , ; g. o. no. , dept. ala., aug. , ; g. o. no. , dept. ala., sept., ; _selma times_, dec. , . the so-called "black laws" passed by the legislature in - to regulate labor were scarcely heard of by the people who hired negroes. [ ] somers, "southern states," . [ ] _southern magazine_, jan., ; _selma messenger_, nov. , ; _harper's monthly magazine_, jan., ; _selma times_, dec. , ; oral accounts; _debow's review_, feb., . [ ] swayne to a. f. perry, _n. y. herald_, aug. , ; _n. y. herald_, july , ; reid, "after the war," pp. - ; _debow's review_, , pp. , ; somers, "southern states," p. . [ ] _debow's review_, feb., . [ ] many of the carpet-bag politicians were northern men who had failed at cotton planting. [ ] report to the president, april , ; "ten years in a georgia plantation," by the hon. mrs. leigh; oral accounts. on account of the general failure of the northern men who invested capital in the south in and , there grew up in the business world an unfavorable feeling against the south, and for the remainder of reconstruction days that section had to struggle against adverse business opinion. _harper's magazine_, jan., . [ ] _selma times_, dec. , . nearly all the newspapers printed advertisements of the immigration societies. [ ] "northern alabama illustrated," p. . [ ] _selma times_, dec. , ; _n. y. times_, july , . [ ] the great evil of slavery was its tendency to drive the whites who were in moderate circumstances away from the more fertile lands of the prairie and cane-brake and river bottoms, leaving them to the few slaveholders and the immense number of slaves. emancipation thus left on the finest lands of the state a shiftless laboring population, which still retains possession. now, as in slavery times, the white prefers not to work as a field hand in the black belt when he can get more independent work elsewhere. and besides, he does not wish to live among the negroes. slavery kept white farmers from settling on the fertile lands; the negro keeps whites from taking possession now. [ ] _mobile daily times_, oct. , ; _montgomery advertiser_, march , ; _debow's review_, march , . several young women of montgomery, who were once wealthy, worked in the printing-office of the _advertiser_. one of them was a daughter of a former president of the united states. many women became teachers, displacing men, who then went to the fields. disabled soldiers generally tried teaching. there seems to be a belief that emancipation had a good effect in driving to work a certain "gentleman of leisure" class, who had been supported by the work of slaves and who had scorned labor. (see w. b. tillett, in the _century magazine_, vol. xi, p. .) it is a mistake to regard the slaveholding, planting class as, in any degree, idle, unless from the point of view of the negro or the ignorant white, who believed that any man who did not work with his hands was a gentleman of leisure. the alabama planter was and had to be a man of great energy, good judgment, and diligence. it was a belief that a man who could not manage a plantation or other business should not be intrusted with an official position. one of the most serious objections made by the cotton planters to jefferson davis as president was that he had failed to manage his plantation with success. see also somers, "southern states," p. . [ ] _debow's review_, feb. and march, ; _montgomery advertiser_, march , ; _n. y. herald_, july , . it was estimated that in the fall of the negro male population of the state was reduced by , able-bodied men, who were hanging around the cities and towns, doing nothing. at mobile there were , ; at meridian, miss., ; at montgomery, , ; at selma, ; and at various smaller points, , . _mobile times_, oct. , . [ ] see also reid, "after the war," p. . [ ] trowbridge, "the south," p. _et seq._ [ ] trowbridge, "the south," p. ; reports of general swayne, dec. , , and jan., , in ho. ex. doc., no. , th cong., st sess. general swayne strongly approved the objects of these societies. he said there was not and never had been any question of the right of the negro to hold property. free negroes had held property before the war. [ ] _debow's review_, feb., . [ ] jan. , . [ ] i have this account from a planter of the district. [ ] somers, an english traveller, thought that the economic relations of planter and negro were startling, and that anywhere else they would be considered absurd. the tenant, he said, was sure of a support, and did not much care if the crop failed. even his taxes, when he condescended to pay any, were paid by his master. for all work outside of his crop he had to be paid, and often he went away and worked for some one else for cash. and his privileges were innumerable. "the soul is often crushed out of labor by penury and oppression. here a soul cannot begin to be infused into it through the sheer excess of privilege and license with which it is surrounded." "southern states since the war," pp. , . [ ] my father's tenants, white and black, rented on all systems. the negroes usually began as wage laborers or as tenants "on halves," for they had no supplies when they came. then the more industrious and thrifty would save and rent farms for "third and fourth" or for "standing rent." the whites usually obtained the highest grade, and the average white man would save enough of his earnings to purchase a team, wagon, buggy, farm implements, and a year's supply and spend all else, though some saved enough to buy land of their own in cheaper districts or to support themselves for a year or two while opening up a homestead in the pine woods. the negro, as a rule, rented "on halves," for he spent all his earnings and required supervision. the average negro stays only a year or two at one place before he longs for change and removes to another farm. about christmas, or just before, the negroes and many of the whites begin to move to new homes. for a description of conditions in mississippi, where the negro has somewhat better opportunities than in alabama, see mr. a. h. stone's article in the _quarterly journal of economics_, feb., . [ ] in the census each person cultivating a crop is counted as a farmer and the land he cultivates as a farm. thus a plantation might be represented in the census statistics by from five to twenty-five farms. [ ] see also otken, "ills of the south"; somers, "south since the war," p. ; _harper's monthly_, jan., ; _debow's review_, feb., . [ ] any stick is good enough to beat slavery with, so it is usually stated that slavery was responsible for the wasteful methods of cultivation that prevailed in the south before the war. that can be true only indirectly, for the soil always received the worst treatment in the white counties. like frontiersmen everywhere, the alabama white farmers found it easier to clear new land or to move west than to fertilize worn-out soils. the lack of transportation facilities in the white districts made it almost impossible to bring in commercial fertilizers or to move the crops when made. the railroads had opened up only the rich slave districts. if there had not been a negro in the state, the frontier methods would have prevailed, as they still do among the farmers in some parts of the west. on the other hand, the rich lands worked by slave labor under intelligent direction were kept in good condition. under free negro labor they are in the worst possible condition. experience, necessity, the disappearance of free land, and the increase of transportation facilities have caused the white county farmer to employ better methods, and to keep up and increase the fertility of the land by using fertilizers. [ ] but it was nearly forty years before the entire cotton crop of the state was as large as in . [ ] _southern magazine_, jan., ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , ; somers, "southern states," p. . in it was estimated that of the whole cotton crop to per cent was produced by white labor; in the proportion of whites to blacks in the cotton fields was to ; in white labor produced per cent of the cotton crop; in , per cent; in , per cent; in , per cent. and this was done by the whites on inferior lands. see w. b. tillett, in _century magazine_, vol. xi, p. ; hammond, "the cotton industry," pp. , , . [ ] debow estimated that the entire acreage of the cotton crop was as follows:-- . , , acres . , , acres . , , acres . , , acres the commissioner of agriculture in estimated that the acreage in was , , . taking this estimate, which, while probably too large, is more nearly correct, only per cent of the arable land was planted in cotton--the staple crop. hammond, "the cotton industry," p. . [ ] smith, "cotton production in alabama" ( ); census, ; smith in ala. geolog. survey, - ; kelsey, "the negro farmer"; oral accounts and personal observation. [ ] so poor were the people after the war that, even though the value of the mineral and timber lands was well known, there was no native capital to develop them, and the lion's share went to outsiders, who bought the lands at tax and mortgage sales during and after the carpet-bag régime. [ ] slavery or negroes prevented the establishment of manufactures by crowding out a white population capable of carrying on manufactures. the census shows that in the white districts had a fair proportion of manufactures for a state less than forty years old. [ ] address of president c. c. thach, dec. , . [ ] "northern alabama illustrated," p. ; see article on "immigration to the southern states" in the _political science quarterly_, june, . [ ] address of president c. c. thach, dec. , . [ ] the decreasing value of the wage laborer is shown by the following table of wages: =========================================== year | men | women | youths, - ---------|---------|--------|-------------- |$ | $ | $ - | - | - | - | | | | | | | | | - =========================================== the figures of are based on the wages of an able-bodied negro. the statistics of - are taken from tables of wages prescribed by the freedmen's bureau; those for and show the decline caused by the inefficiency of the free negro laborer. yet the demand for labor was always greater than the supply. in clothing and rations were also given; in - rations and no clothing. in nothing was furnished. in - the currency was inflated, and the wages for were really much lower. hammond, "the cotton industry," p. ; _montgomery mail_, may , ; freedmen's bureau reports, - . [ ] a convention held in montgomery, in , recommended that the share system be abolished and a contract wage system be inaugurated; wages should be secured by a lien on the employer's crop; separate contracts should be made with each laborer, and the "squad" system abolished. in this way the laborer would not be responsible for bad crops. to aid the laborers, congress was asked to pass the sumner civil rights bill, providing for the recognition of certain social rights for negroes, to exempt homesteads from tax action, and to increase the tax on property held by speculators. and the president was asked to supply bread and meat to the negro farmers. annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _tuscaloosa blade_, nov. , . [ ] see willet, "workers of the nation," vol. ii, pp. , . [ ] willet, vol. ii, p. . [ ] washington, in _atlantic monthly_, vol. lxxviii, pp. - . [ ] somers, p. . [ ] _southern magazine_, jan., . [ ] somers, p. . [ ] somers, p. . [ ] _southern magazine_, march, . [ ] "southern states," p. . [ ] the prosperity of several large commercial houses in alabama is said to date from the corner groceries of the ' 's. [ ] somers, "southern states," pp. , ; _harper's monthly magazine_, jan., ; king, "the great south"; c. c. smith, "colonization of negroes in central alabama"; _southern magazine_, jan., ; _the forum_, vol. xxi, p. ; hoffman, p. ; hammond, p. . see also appendix ii. [ ] a northern traveller in the alabama black belt in recent years says of it: "the white population is rapidly on the decrease and the negro population on the increase.... there are hundreds of the 'old mansion houses' going to decay, the glass broken in the windows, the doors off the hinges, the siding long unused to paint, the columns of the verandas rotting away, and the bramble thickets encroaching to the very doors. the people have sold their land for what little they could get and moved to the cities and towns, that they may educate their children and escape the intolerable conditions surrounding them at their old beloved homes.... these friends have largely gone from the negro's life, and he is left alone in the wilderness, held down by crop liens and mortgages given to the alien. land rent is half its value; the tenant must purchase from the creditor's store and raise cotton to pay for what he has already eaten and worn." c. c. smith, "colonization of negroes in central alabama," published by the christian women's board of missions, indianapolis, ind. [ ] see also edmunds, in _review of reviews_, sept., ; dillingham, in _yale review_, vol. v, p. ; stone, "the negro in the yazoo-mississippi delta"; stone, in _quarterly journal of economics_, feb., ; _gunton's magazine_, sept., (dowd); brown, in _north american review_, dec., ; census , vol. vi, pt. ii, pp. - ; _harper's monthly magazine_, jan., , and jan., ; stone, in _south atlantic quarterly_, jan., ; kelsey, "the negro farmer"; hammond, "the cotton industry." another solution of the problem is often suggested, viz. the crowding out of the blacks from the black belt by the whites--especially northerners and germans--who want to cultivate the black belt lands, who settle in colonies, and who have no place for the negro in their plans of industrial society. the black belt landlords are becoming weary of negro labor, and some are disposed to make special inducements to get whites to settle in the black belt. in louisiana and mississippi, italians have replaced negroes on many sugar and cotton plantations. georgia and alabama, in order to make the negro work, have recently passed stringent vagrancy laws, and the planters are talking of chinese labor. for the opinions of those who favor white immigration to the south, see the _manufacturers record_, the _atlanta constitution_, and the _montgomery advertiser_, during recent years. there is a general demand for foreigners who will perform agricultural labor. [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., p. (lowe); _n. y. world_, dec. , , aug. , . [ ] for information in regard to the radical congressmen: barnes, "history of the th congress," index; ku klux rept., ala. test. (clanton, lowe, lindsay); _harper's weekly_, may , (picture of spencer); _elyton herald_, ----, ; _montgomery mail_, july , ; _n. y. world_, feb. and sept. , ; alabama manual ( ), p. ; _n. y. herald_, ----, . [ ] pike was the only county that never fell completely into the hands of the radicals. [ ] "north alabama illustrated," p. ; _montgomery advertiser_, july , ; _n. y. world_, april and july , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , ; acts of ala. ( ), p. ; ( - ), pp. , ; beverly, "alabama," p. . a vivid description of the first session of the reconstructed legislature was published by capt. b. h. screws, "the loil legislature." [ ] tradition says that what is now known as the davis memorial room was the one thus used. [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , ; _weekly mail_, march , ; _independent monitor_, jan. , ; report of investigating committee; miller, "alabama," p. ; "northern alabama," p. ; oral accounts of former members. [ ] acts of ala. ( ), pp. , , , , , . [ ] senate journal ( ), pp. , , . [ ] acts of ala. ( ), pp. , , , , , , ; ( - ), p. ; _montgomery mail_, feb. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; journal ( - ), _passim_; brown, "alabama," p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _n. y. herald_, aug. , . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , ; senate journals ( - ). [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , , , , , , , , , ; herbert, "solid south," p. ; coburn report, p. ; _n. y. world_, april , ; _montgomery mail_, april , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., p. ; _augusta chronicle and sentinel_, june , ; _selma times and messenger_, june , . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , , ; _n. y. world_, nov. , ; coburn report, p. ; herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , ; _n. y. herald_, sept. and oct. , ; report of sec. of war, , vol. i, p. . [ ] mcpherson's scrap-book, "campaign of ," vol. i, p. ; vol. v, pp. , , , , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , ; _n. y. world_, sept. , ; g. o. no. , dept. of the south, oct. , ; g. o. no. , dept. of the south, nov. , ; _tuskegee news_, july , . [ ] _n. y. times_, sept. , (speech of judge t. m. peters). [ ] nordhoff, "cotton states in ," pp. , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , , . [ ] miller, "alabama," p. ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; mcpherson's scrap-book, "campaign of ," vol. i, pp. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , ; "northern alabama," p. ; _montgomery mail_, aug. , (union league appeal). [ ] somers, "southern states," p. ; ku klux rept., ala. test., p. ; miller, "alabama," p. . [ ] somers, "southern states," pp. , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., , , , , , , - (see also the whole of lindsay's testimony); "northern alabama," p. ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; miller, "alabama," pp. - ; beverly, "alabama," p. . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, sept. , . [ ] report of joint committee in regard to election of george e. spencer; taft, "senate election cases," pp. , , - ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , ; ( ), - ; memorial of general assembly (radical) to president, november, ; coburn report, p. ; senate journal ( - ), pp. - ("court-house senate"); senate journal, ("capitol senate"), appendix; mcpherson, "handbook of politics" ( ), pp. , ; acts of ala. ( - ), p. ; acts of ala., , p. ; _montgomery advertiser_, nov. and , ; jan. , feb. and , ; _southern argus_, nov. , ; jan. , ; herbert, "solid south," pp. - ; miller, "alabama," p. . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , , , , , , ; "northern alabama," p. ; _tuscaloosa blade_, nov. , ; _montgomery advertiser_, sept. , . [ ] see coburn report, pp. , . [ ] _montgomery advertiser_, march, ; report of inspector of penitentiary, - ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , ; acts of ala. ( - ), p. ; washington, "up from slavery," pp. - ; _n. y. world_, feb. and april , ; _tuscaloosa monitor_, dec. , ; coburn report, pp. , , , , , ; clowes, "black america," pp. , ; herbert, "solid south," p. . [ ] ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , , , ; coburn report, p. ; _huntsville democrat_, ; straker, "the new south investigated," pp. , , ; _ala. state journal_, may , ; mcpherson's scrap-book, "campaign of ," vol. i, p. . [ ] _international monthly_, vol. v, p. ; coburn report, p. ; "the land we love," vol. i, p. ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , , , ; riley, "baptists of alabama," pp. , , ; clowes, "black america," pp. , , , ; murphy, "the present south." [ ] see also ch. xxii. [ ] charge of judge h. d. clayton to barbour county grand jury in coburn report, p. ; report of montgomery grand jury in _advertiser_, oct. , ; _tuskegee news_, march , ; little, "history of butler county," p. ; _tuscaloosa blade_, nov. , ; coburn report, pp. , ; _montgomery advertiser_, nov. , ; ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. , , ; _scribner's monthly_, sept., ; herbert, "solid south," pp. , . [ ] _ala. state journal_, jan. , . [ ] _state journal_, march , . the justice who performed the ceremony in one case gave as his excuse that the woman was so bad that nothing she could do would make her worse. [ ] _montgomery advertiser_ and other montgomery papers of march , . [ ] coburn report on affairs in alabama, , pp. xiv, , , , , ; _montgomery advertiser_, oct. , . [ ] see _state journal_, jan. and feb. , . [ ] a few years ago strobach offered to tell me all about his political career in exchange for $ , but died before he could begin the account. [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , - ; _state journal_, may and , ; _montgomery advertiser_, oct. , . [ ] see coburn report, pp. , - . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , , . when the coburn committee was in opelika, washington jones, colored, appeared before it and demanded that the promises made to him be fulfilled. he wanted the mule, the land, "overflow" bacon, etc. the committee got rid of him in a hurry. see coburn report, p. . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , , , , , ; _state journal_, june , . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , , , , , , , . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , , . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , , . see also ku klux rept., ala. test., pp. - . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , , , , , , , . [ ] the _state journal_ of aug. , , has a list of extracts from democratic papers from to , showing the change of attitude in regard to the negro. [ ] _tuskegee news_, june , and aug. , and sept. , ; coburn report, pp. , , , , , _et passim_; _eufaula times_, july , , quoting from the _birmingham news_, _shelby guide_, and _eutaw whig_; _state journal_, june , . [ ] _opelika times_, aug. , , condensed; coburn report, pp. , , . [ ] see testimony of dunbar and gardner in coburn report, pp. , , , , ; _opelika daily times_, sept. , . [ ] _state journal_, june , . for a typical readoption of this platform see the resolutions of the tuscaloosa county democrats in _state journal_, june , . "old whig" in the _opelika daily times_, sept. , , proposed that the whites "fall back upon the old wesleyan doctrine 'to prefer one another in business';" "give the radicals no support;" "the adder that stings should find no warmth in the bosom of the dying victim." [ ] _opelika times_, oct. , ; coburn report, pp. , - . [ ] coburn report, p. ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , ; _opelika daily times_, june and oct. , ; _montgomery advertiser_, oct. , . [ ] _state journal_, june and , ; coburn report, p. ; annual cyclopædia ( ), pp. , ; _tuskegee news_, july , . [ ] the division was as follows:-- ===================================================== district | distributing points | pounds -----------------|---------------------------|------- | | first | mobile, selma, camden | , second | montgomery | , third | opelika, talladega, seale | , fourth | demopolis | , fifth and sixth | decatur | , ===================================================== [ ] senate journal, - , p. . [ ] for full account of the bacon question see ho. doc., no. , d cong., d sess.; also _tuskegee news_, june , aug. , and sept. , ; coburn report, pp. , , , , . the following list shows how one distribution was made in october, just before the elections:-- ===================================== county | pounds -----------------------------|------- montgomery | , lowndes | , butler | , dale (to p. king, haw ridge) | , barbour | , bullock | , pike (to gardner and wiley) | , henry | , clay | , randolph | , coosa | , elmore | , talladega | , lee (to w. h. betts) | , russell (to w. h. betts) | , walker | , "to g. p. plowman, by order | of charles pelham, m. c." | , ===================================== [ ] coburn report, pp. , . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; coburn report, pp. - . [ ] _the tribune_, oct. , , and , ; _the nation_, aug. , and oct. and , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; foulke, "life of o. p. morton," vol. ii, p. . the hays-hawley letter was first published in the _hartford courant_ and in the _boston daily advertiser_. it is also in the coburn report, pp. - . [ ] _n. y. tribune_, oct. , ; coburn report, pp. , , , , , , , . [ ] coburn report, p. . [ ] coburn report, p. . [ ] _eufaula news_, sept. , ; coburn report, p. . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , . [ ] coburn report, pp. , ; "an appeal to governor lewis from the people of sumter." [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , , , , , - . [ ] _union springs herald and times_, quoted in _state journal_, june , . [ ] coburn report, pp. , . [ ] for information in regard to the campaign of i am indebted to several of those who took part in it, and especially to mr. t. j. rutledge, now state bank examiner, who was then secretary of the democratic campaign committee. [ ] coburn report, pp. , . [ ] coburn report, pp. xix, , - , , , , , , , , - ; _tuskegee news_, nov. , ; _state journal_, oct. and nov., . [ ] annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; _tribune_ almanac, . [ ] coburn report, pp. , , , ; _the nation_, nov. , ; _tuskegee news_, dec. , . [ ] in the code of alabama ( ), pp. - , is printed the "constitution (so-called) of the state of alabama, ," as the code terms it. the last three amendments are thus noted, "adoption proclaimed by the secretary of state, dec. , " (or july , , or march , ). the other amendments have notes stating date of submission and date of ratification by the state. see code of , pp. , ; also code of . [ ] the negroes voted against it. some of them were told that, if adopted, a war with spain would result and that the blacks, being the "only truly loyal," would have to do most of the fighting against the spanish, who would land at apalachicola, milton, and eufaula. see _tuskegee news_, dec. , . see also in regard to the new constitution, _tuskegee news_, june , ; "northern alabama illustrated," pp. , ; annual cyclopædia ( ), p. ; ho. ex. doc., no. , d cong., d sess.; "report of the joint committee in regard to the amendment of the constitution." [ ] most whites believe that eliminating the negro has solved the problem of the negro in politics. it seems to me that this is a superficial view. the black counties are still represented in party conventions and legislature in proportion to population. the white counties are jealous of this undue influence and would like to reduce this representation. the party leaders have been able to repress this jealousy, but it is not forgotten. before it will submit to loss of representation the black belt, it is believed, will gradually admit to the franchise those negroes who have been excluded, and they will vote with the whites. such a course will undoubtedly cause political realignments. notice on the maps that the republican strongholds are now in the white counties. the "lily whites" are increasing in numbers. [ ] these views are set forth most clearly by alexander johnston in lalor's "cyclopædia of political science," vol. iii, p. . see also mccall, "thaddeus stevens," and his article in the _atlantic monthly_, june, ; blaine, "twenty years"; schurz, in _mcclure's magazine_, jan., ; grosvenor, in _forum_, aug., . [ ] for a belated recognition of the reasons for this, see h. l. nelson, "three months of roosevelt," in the _atlantic monthly_, feb., . publications of the columbia university press the macmillan company, agents, - fifth avenue, new york _books published at net prices are sold by booksellers everywhere at the advertised net prices. when delivered from the publishers, carriage, either postage or expressage, is an extra charge._ science of statistics. by richmond mayo-smith, ph.d., professor of political economy and social science, columbia university. part i. statistics and sociology. vo, cloth, pp. xvi + . price, $ . _net_. part ii. statistics and economics. vo, cloth, pp. xiii + . price, $ . _net_. essays in taxation. by edwin r. a. seligman, professor of political economy and finance, columbia university. vo, cloth, pp. x + . price, $ . _net_. the shifting and incidence of taxation. by edwin r. a. seligman, professor of political economy and finance, columbia university. second 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university. vo, cloth, pp. xxvi + . price, $ . _net_. crime in its relation to social progress. by arthur cleveland hall, ph.d. vo, pp. . price, paper, $ . _net_; in cloth, $ . _net_. transcriber's notes: the original text includes several words printed inverted and reversed that are represented as +word+ in this text version. the original text includes several blank spaces. these are represented by _______________ in this text version. the american republic: its constitution, tendencies, and destiny. by o. a. brownson, ll. d. new york: p. o'shea, bleecker street. . entered according to act of congress, in the year , by p. o'shea, in the clerk's office of the district court of the united states for the southern district of new york. to the hon. george bancroft, the erudite, philosophical, and eloquent historian of the united states, this feeble attempt to set forth the principles of government, and to explain and defend the constitution of the american republic, is respectfully dedicated, in memory of old friendship, and as a slight homage to genius, ability, patriotism, private worth, and public service, by the author. contents. page chapter i. introduction chapter ii. government chapter iii. origin of government chapter iv. origin of government--continued chapter v. origin of government--continued chapter vi. origin of government--concluded chapter vii. constitution of government chapter viii. constitution of government--concluded chapter ix. the united states chapter x. constitution of the united states chapter xi. the constitution--continued chapter xii. secession chapter xiii. reconstruction chapter xiv. political tendencies chapter xv. destiny--political and religious preface. in the volume which, with much diffidence, is here offered to the public, i have given, as far as i have considered it worth giving, my whole thought in a connected form on the nature, necessity, extent, authority, origin, ground, and constitution of government, and the unity, nationality, constitution, tendencies, and destiny of the american republic. many of the points treated have been from time to time discussed or touched upon, and many of the views have been presented, in my previous writings; but this work is newly and independently written from beginning to end, and is as complete on the topics treated as i have been able to make it. i have taken nothing bodily from my previous essays, but i have used their thoughts as far as i have judged them sound and they came within the scope of my present work. i have not felt myself bound to adhere to my own past thoughts or expressions any farther than they coincide with my present convictions, and i have written as freely and as independently as if i had never written or published any thing before. i have never been the slave of my own past, and truth has always been dearer to me than my own opinions. this work is not only my latest, but will be my last on politics or government, and must be taken as the authentic, and the only authentic statement of my political views and convictions, and whatever in any of my previous writings conflicts with the principles defended in its pages, must be regarded as retracted, and rejected. the work now produced is based on scientific principles; but it is an essay rather than a scientific treatise, and even good-natured critics will, no doubt, pronounce it an article or a series of articles designed for a review, rather than a book. it is hard to overcome the habits of a lifetime. i have taken some pains to exchange the reviewer for the author, but am fully conscious that i have not succeeded. my work can lay claim to very little artistic merit. it is full of repetitions; the same thought is frequently recurring,--the result, to some extent, no doubt, of carelessness and the want of artistic skill; but to a greater extent, i fear, of "malice aforethought." in composing my work i have followed, rather than directed, the course of my thought, and, having very little confidence in the memory or industry of readers, i have preferred, when the completeness of the argument required it, to repeat myself to encumbering my pages with perpetual references to what has gone before. that i attach some value to this work is evident from my consenting to its publication; but how much or how little of it is really mine, i am quite unable to say. i have, from my youth up, been reading, observing, thinking, reflecting, talking, i had almost said writing, at least by fits and starts, on political subjects, especially in their connection with philosophy, theology, history, and social progress, and have assimilated to my own mind what it would assimilate, without keeping any notes of the sources whence the materials assimilated were derived. i have written freely from my own mind as i find it now formed; but how it has been so formed, or whence i have borrowed, my readers know as well as i. all that is valuable in the thoughts set forth, it is safe to assume has been appropriated from others. where i have been distinctly conscious of borrowing what has not become common property, i have given credit, or, at least, mentioned the author's name, with three important exceptions which i wish to note more formally. i am principally indebted for the view of the american nationality and the federal constitution i present, to hints and suggestions furnished by the remarkable work of john c. hurd, esq., on the law of freedom and bondage in the united states, a work of rare learning and profound philosophic views. i could not have written my work without the aid derived from its suggestions, any more than i could without plato, aristotle, st. augustine, st. thomas, suarez, pierre leroux, and the abbate gioberti. to these two last-named authors, one a humanitarian sophist, the other a catholic priest, and certainly one of the profoundest philosophical writers of this century, i am much indebted, though i have followed the political system of neither. i have taken from leroux the germs of the doctrine i set forth on the solidarity of the race, and from gioberti the doctrine i defend in relation to the creative act, which is, after all, simply that of the credo and the first verse of genesis. in treating the several questions which the preparation of this volume has brought up, in their connection, and in the light of first principles, i have changed or modified, on more than one important point, the views i had expressed in my previous writings, especially on the distinction between civilized and barbaric nations, the real basis of civilization itself, and the value to the world of the graeco-roman civilization. i have ranked feudalism under the head of barbarism, rejected every species of political aristocracy, and represented the english constitution as essentially antagonistic to the american, not as its type. i have accepted universal suffrage in principle, and defended american democracy, which i define to be territorial democracy, and carefully distinguish from pure individualism on the one hand, and from pure socialism or humanitarianism on the other. i reject the doctrine of state sovereignty, which i held and defended from to , but still maintain that the sovereignty of the american republic vests in the states, though in the states collectively, or united, not severally, and thus escape alike consolidation and disintegration. i find, with mr. madison, our most philosophic statesman, the originality of the american system in the division of powers between a general government having sole charge of the foreign and general, and particular or state governments having, within their respective territories, sole charge of the particular relations and interests of the american people; but i do not accept his concession that this division is of conventional origin, and maintain that it enters into the original providential constitution of the american state, as i have done in my review for october, , and january and october, . i maintain, after mr. senator sumner, one of the most philosophic and accomplished living american statesmen, that "state secession is state suicide," but modify the opinion i too hastily expressed that the political death of a state dissolves civil society within its territory and abrogates all rights held under it, and accept the doctrine that the laws in force at the time of secession remain in force till superseded or abrogated by competent authority, and also that, till the state is revived and restored as a state in the union, the only authority, under the american system, competent to supersede or abrogate them is the united states, not congress, far less the executive. the error of the government is not in recognizing the territorial laws as surviving secession but in counting a state that has seceded as still a state in the union, with the right to be counted as one of the united states in amending the constitution. such state goes out of the union, but comes under it. i have endeavored throughout to refer my particular political views; to their general principles, and to show that the general principles asserted have their origin and ground in the great, universal, and unchanging principles of the universe itself. hence, i have labored to show the scientific relations of political to theological principles, the real principles of all science, as of all reality. an atheist, i have said, may be a politician; but if there were no god, there could be no politics. this may offend the sciolists of the age, but i must follow science where it leads, and cannot be arrested by those who mistake their darkness for light. i write throughout as a christian, because i am a christian; as a catholic, because all christian principles, nay, all real principles are catholic, and there is nothing sectarian either in nature or revelation. i am a catholic by god's grace and great goodness, and must write as i am. i could not write otherwise if i would, and would not if i could. i have not obtruded my religion, and have referred to it only where my argument demanded it; but i have had neither the weakness nor the bad taste to seek to conceal or disguise it. i could never have written my book without the knowledge i have, as a catholic, of catholic theology, and my acquaintance, slight as it is, with the great fathers and doctors of the church, the great masters of all that is solid or permanent in modern thought, either with catholics or non-catholics. moreover, though i write for all americans, without distinction of sect or party, i have had more especially in view the people of my own religious communion. it is no discredit to a man in the united states at the present day to be a firm, sincere, and devout catholic. the old sectarian prejudice may remain with a few, "whose eyes," as emerson says, "are in their hind-head, not in their fore-head;" but the american people are not at heart sectarian, and the nothingarianism so prevalent among them only marks their state of transition from sectarian opinions to positive catholic faith. at any rate, it can no longer be denied that catholics are an integral, living, and growing element in the american population, quite too numerous, too wealthy, and too influential to be ignored. they have played too conspicuous a part in the late troubles of the country, and poured out too freely and too much of their richest and noblest blood in defence of the unity of the nation and the integrity of its domain, for that. catholics henceforth must be treated as standing, in all respects, on a footing of equality with any other class of american citizens, and their views of political science, or of any other science, be counted of equal importance, and listened to with equal attention. i have no fears that my book will be neglected because avowedly by a catholic author, and from a catholic publishing house. they who are not catholics will read it, and it will enter into the current of american literature, if it is one they must read in order to be up with the living and growing thought of the age. if it is not a book of that sort, it is not worth reading by any one. furthermore, i am ambitious, even in my old age, and i wish to exert an influence on the future of my country, for which i have made, or, rather, my family have made, some sacrifices, and which i tenderly love. now, i believe that he who can exert the most influence on our catholic population, especially in giving tone and direction to our catholic youth, will exert the most influence in forming the character and shaping the future destiny of the american republic. ambition and patriotism alike, as well as my own catholic faith and sympathies, induce me to address myself primarily to catholics. i quarrel with none of the sects; i honor virtue wherever i see it, and accept truth wherever i find it; but, in my belief, no sect is destined to a long life, or a permanent possession. i engage in no controversy with any one not of my religion, for, if the positive, affirmative truth is brought out and placed in a clear light before the public, whatever is sectarian in any of the sects will disappear as the morning mists before the rising sun. i expect the most intelligent and satisfactory appreciation of my book from the thinking and educated classes among catholics; but i speak to my countrymen at large. i could not personally serve my country in the field: my habits as well as my infirmities prevented, to say nothing of my age; but i have endeavored in this humble work to add my contribution, small though it may be, to political science, and to discharge, as far as i am able, my debt of loyalty and patriotism. i would the book were more of a book, more worthy of my countrymen, and a more weighty proof of the love i beat them, and with which i have written it. all i can say is, that it is an honest book, a sincere book, and contains my best thoughts on the subjects treated. if well received, i shall be grateful; if neglected, i shall endeavor to practise resignation, as i have so often done. o. a. brownson. elizabeth, n. j., september , . chapter i introduction the ancients summed up the whole of human wisdom in the maxim, know thyself, and certainly there is for an individual no more important as there is no more difficult knowledge, than knowledge of himself, whence he comes, whither he goes, what he is, what he is for, what he can do, what he ought to do, and what are his means of doing it. nations are only individuals on a larger scale. they have a life, an individuality, a reason, a conscience, and instincts of their own, and have the same general laws of development and growth, and, perhaps, of decay, as the individual man. equally important, and no less difficult than for the individual, is it for a nation to know itself, understand its own existence, its own powers and faculties, rights and duties, constitution, instincts, tendencies, and destiny. a nation has a spiritual as well as a material, a moral as well as a physical existence, and is subjected to internal as well as external conditions of health and virtue, greatness and grandeur, which it must in some measure understand and observe, or become weak and infirm, stunted in its growth, and end in premature decay and death. among nations, no one has more need of full knowledge of itself than the united states, and no one has hitherto had less. it has hardly had a distinct consciousness of its own national existence, and has lived the irreflective life of the child, with no severe trial, till the recent rebellion, to throw it back on itself and compel it to reflect on its own constitution, its own separate existence, individuality, tendencies, and end. the defection of the slaveholding states, and the fearful struggle that has followed for national unity and integrity, have brought it at once to a distinct recognition of itself, and forced it to pass from thoughtless, careless, heedless, reckless adolescence to grave and reflecting manhood. the nation has been suddenly compelled to study itself, and henceforth must act from reflection, understanding, science, statesmanship, not from instinct, impulse, passion, or caprice, knowing well what it does, and wherefore it does it. the change which four years of civil war have wrought in the nation is great, and is sure to give it the seriousness, the gravity, the dignity, the manliness it has heretofore lacked. though the nation has been brought to a consciousness of its own existence, it has not, even yet, attained to a full and clear understanding of its own national constitution. its vision is still obscured by the floating mists of its earlier morning, and its judgment rendered indistinct and indecisive by the wild theories and fancies of its childhood. the national mind has been quickened, the national heart has been opened, the national disposition prepared, but there remains the important work of dissipating the mists that still linger, of brushing away these wild theories and fancies, and of enabling it to form a clear and intelligent judgment of itself, and a true and just appreciation of its own constitution tendencies,--and destiny; or, in other words, of enabling the nation to understand its own idea, and the means of its actualization in space and time. every living nation has an idea given it by providence to realize, and whose realization is its special work, mission, or destiny. every nation is, in some sense, a chosen people of god. the jews were the chosen people of god, through whom the primitive traditions were to be preserved in their purity and integrity, and the messiah was to come. the greeks were the chosen people of god, for the development and realization of the beautiful or the divine splendor in art, and of the true in science and philosophy; and the romans, for the development of the state, law, and jurisprudence. the great despotic nations of asia were never properly nations; or if they were nations with a mission, they proved false to it--, and count for nothing in the progressive development of the human race. history has not recorded their mission, and as far as they are known they have contributed only to the abnormal development or corruption of religion and civilization. despotism is barbaric and abnormal. the united states, or the american republic, has a mission, and is chosen of god for the realization of a great idea. it has been chosen not only to continue the work assigned to greece and rome, but to accomplish a greater work than was assigned to either. in art, it will prove false to its mission if it do not rival greece; and in science and philosophy, if it do not surpass it. in the state, in law, in jurisprudence, it must continue and surpass rome. its idea is liberty, indeed, but liberty with law, and law with liberty. yet its mission is not so much the realization of liberty as the realization of the true idea of the state, which secures at once the authority of the public and the freedom of the individual--the sovereignty of the people without social despotism, and individual freedom without anarchy. in other words, its mission is to bring out in its life the dialectic union of authority and liberty, of the natural rights of man and those of society. the greek and roman republics asserted the state to the detriment of individual freedom; modern republics either do the same, or assert individual freedom to the detriment of the state. the american republic has been instituted by providence to realize the freedom of each with advantage to the other. the real mission of the united states is to introduce and establish a political constitution, which, while it retains all the advantages of the constitutions of states thus far known, is unlike any of them, and secures advantages which none of them did or could possess. the american constitution has no prototype in any prior constitution. the american form of government can be classed throughout with none of the forms of government described by aristotle, or even by later authorities. aristotle knew only four forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, and mixed governments. the american form is none of these, nor any combination of them. it is original, a new contribution to political science, and seeks to attain the end of all wise and just government by means unknown or forbidden to the ancients, and which have been but imperfectly comprehended even by american political writers themselves. the originality of the american constitution has been overlooked by the great majority even of our own statesmen, who seek to explain it by analogies borrowed from the constitutions of other states rather than by a profound study of its own principles. they have taken too low a view of it, and have rarely, if ever, appreciated its distinctive and peculiar merits. as the united states have vindicated their national unity and integrity, and are preparing to take a new start in history, nothing is more important than that they should take that new start with a clear and definite view of their national constitution, and with a distinct understanding of their political mission in the future of the world. the citizen who can help his countrymen to do this will render them an important service and deserve well of his country, though he may have been unable to serve in her armies and defend her on the battle-field. the work now to be done by american statesmen is even more difficult and more delicate than that which has been accomplished by our brave armies. as yet the people are hardly better prepared for the political work to be done than they were at the outbreak of the civil war for the military work they have so nobly achieved. but, with time, patience, and good-will, the difficulties may be overcome, the errors of the past corrected, and the government placed on the right track for the future. it will hardly be questioned that either the constitution of the united states is very defective or it has been very grossly misinterpreted by all parties. if the slave states had not held that the states are severally sovereign, and the constitution of the united states a simple agreement or compact, they would never have seceded; and if the free states had not confounded the union with the general government, and shown a tendency to make it the entire national government, no occasion or pretext for secession would have been given. the great problem of our statesmen has been from the first, how to assert union without consolidation, and state rights without disintegration? have they, as yet, solved that problem? the war has silenced the state sovereignty doctrine, indeed, but has it done so without lesion to state rights? has it done it without asserting the general government as the supreme, central, or national government? has it done it without striking a dangerous blow at the federal element of the constitution? in suppressing by armed force the doctrine that the states are severally sovereign, what barrier is left against consolidation? has not one danger been removed only to give place to another? but perhaps the constitution itself, if rightly understood, solves the problem; and perhaps the problem itself is raised precisely through misunderstanding of the constitution. our statesmen have recognized no constitution of the american people themselves; they have confined their views to the written constitution, as if that constituted the american people a state or nation, instead of being, as it is, only a law ordained by the nation already existing and constituted. perhaps, if they had recognized and studied the constitution which preceded that drawn up by the convention of , and which is intrinsic, inherent in the republic itself, they would have seen that it solves the problem, and asserts national unity without consolidation, and the rights of the several states without danger of disintegration. the whole controversy, possibly, has originated in a misunderstanding of the real constitution of the united states, and that misunderstanding itself in the misunderstanding of the origin and constitution of government in general. the constitution, as will appear in the course of this essay is not defective; and all that is necessary to guard against either danger is to discard all our theories of the constitution, and return and adhere to the constitution itself, as it really is and always has been. there is no doubt that the question of slavery had much to do with the rebellion, but it was not its sole cause. the real cause must be sought in the program that had been made, especially in the states themselves, in forming and administering their respective governments, as well as the general government, in accordance with political theories borrowed from european speculators on government, the so-called liberals and revolutionists, which have and can have no legitimate application in the united states. the tendency of american politics, for the last thirty or forty years, has been, within the several states themselves, in the direction of centralized democracy, as if the american people had for their mission only the reproduction of ancient athens. the american system is not that of any of the simple forms of government, nor any combination of them. the attempt to bring it under any of the simple or mixed forms of government recognized by political writers, is an attempt to clothe the future in the cast-off garments of the past. the american system, wherever practicable, is better than monarchy, better than aristocracy, better than simple democracy, better than any possible combination of these several forms, because it accords more nearly with the principles of things, the real order of the universe. but american statesmen have studied the constitutions of other states more than that of their own, and have succeeded in obscuring the american system in the minds of the people, and giving them in its place pure and simple democracy, which is its false development or corruption. under the influence of this false development, the people were fast losing sight of the political truth that, though the people are sovereign, it is the organic, not the inorganic people, the territorial people, not the people as simple population, and were beginning to assert the absolute god-given right of the majority to govern. all the changes made in the bosom of the states themselves have consisted in removing all obstacles to the irresponsible will of the majority, leaving minorities and individuals at their mercy. this tendency to a centralized democracy had more to do with provoking secession and rebellion than the anti-slavery sentiments of the northern, central, and western states. the failure of secession and the triumph of the national cause, in spite of the short-sightedness and blundering of the administration, have proved the vitality and strength of the national constitution, and the greatness of the american people. they say nothing for or against the democratic theory of our demagogues, but every thing in favor of the american system or constitution of government, which has found a firmer support in american instincts than in american statesmanship. in spite of all that had been done by theorists, radicals, and revolutionists, no-government men, non-resistants, humanitarians, and sickly sentimentalists to corrupt the american people in mind, heart, and body, the native vigor of their national constitution has enabled them to come forth triumphant from the trial. every american patriot has reason to be proud of his country-men, and every american lover of freedom to be satisfied with the institutions of his country. but there is danger that the politicians and demagogues will ascribe the merit, not to the real and living national constitution, but to their miserable theories of that constitution, and labor to aggravate the several evils and corrupt tendencies which caused the rebellion it has cost so much to suppress. what is now wanted is, that the people, whose instincts are right, should understand the american constitution as it is, and so understand it as to render it impossible for political theorists, no matter of what school or party, to deceive them again as to its real import, or induce them to depart from it in their political action. a work written with temper, without passion or sectional prejudice, in a philosophical spirit, explaining to the american people their own national constitution, and the mutual relations of the general government and the state governments, cannot, at this important crisis in our affairs, be inopportune, and, if properly executed, can hardly fail to be of real service. such a work is now attempted--would it were by another and abler hand--which, imperfect as it is, may at least offer some useful suggestions, give a right direction to political thought, although it should fail to satisfy the mind of the reader. this much the author may say, in favor of his own work, that it sets forth no theory of government in general, or of the united states in particular. the author is not a monarchist, an aristocrat, a democrat, a feudalist, nor an advocate of what are called mixed governments like the english, at least for his own country; but is simply an american, devoted to the real, living, and energizing constitution of the american republic as it is, not as some may fancy it might be, or are striving to make it. it is, in his judgment, what it ought to be, and he has no other ambition than to present it as it is to the understanding and love of his countrymen. perhaps simple artistic unity and propriety would require the author to commence his essay directly with the united states; but while the constitution of the united states is original and peculiar, the government of the united states has necessarily something in common with all legitimate governments, and he has thought it best to precede his discussion of the american republic, its constitution, tendencies, and destiny, by some considerations on government in general. he does this because he believes, whether rightly or not, that while the american people have received from providence a most truly profound and admirable system of government, they are more or less infected with the false theories of government which have been broached during the last two centuries. in attempting to realize these theories, they have already provoked or rendered practicable a rebellion which has seriously threatened the national existence, and come very near putting an end to the american order of civilization itself. these theories have received already a shock in the minds of all serious and thinking men; but the men who think are in every nation a small minority, and it is necessary to give these theories a public refutation, and bring back those who do not think, as well as those who do, from the world of dreams to the world of reality. it is hoped, therefore, that any apparent want of artistic unity or symmetry in the essay will be pardoned for the sake of the end the author has had in view. chapter ii. government. man is a dependent being, and neither does nor can suffice for himself. he lives not in himself, but lives and moves and has his being in god. he exists, develops, and fulfils his existence only by communion with god, through which he participates of the divine being and life. he communes with god through the divine creative act and the incarnation of the word, through his kind, and through the material world. communion with god through creation and incarnation is religion, distinctively taken, which binds man to god as his first cause, and carries him onward to god as his final cause; communion through the material world is expressed by the word property; and communion with god through humanity is society. religion, society, property, are the three terms that embrace the whole of man's life, and express the essential means and conditions of his existence, his development, and his perfection, or the fulfilment of his existence, the attainment of the end for which he is created. though society, or the communion of man with his maker through his kind, is not all that man needs in order to live, to grow, to actualize the possibilities of his nature, and to attain to his beatitude, since humanity is neither god nor the material universe, it is yet a necessary and essential condition of his life, his progress, and the completion of his existence. he is born and lives in society, and can be born and live nowhere else. it is one of the necessities of his nature. "god saw that it was not good for man to be alone." hence, wherever man is found he is found in society, living in more or less strict intercourse with his kind. but society never does and never can exist without government of some sort. as society is a necessity of man's nature, so is government a necessity of society. the simplest form of society is the family--adam and eve. but though adam and eve are in many respects equal, and have equally important though different parts assigned them, one or the other must be head and governor, or they cannot form the society called family. they would be simply two individuals of different sexes, and the family would fail for the want of unity. children cannot be reared, trained, or educated without some degree of family government, of some authority to direct, control, restrain, or prescribe. hence the authority of the husband and father is recognized by the common consent of mankind. still more apparent is the necessity of government the moment the family develops and grows into the tribe, and the tribe into the nation. hence no nation exists without government; and we never find a savage tribe, however low or degraded, that does not assert somewhere in the father, in the elders, or in the tribe itself, the rude outlines or the faint reminiscences of some sort of government, with authority to demand obedience and to punish the refractory. hence, as man is nowhere found out of society, so nowhere is society found without government. government is necessary: but let it be remarked by the way, that its necessity does not grow exclusively or chiefly out of the fact that the human race by sin has fallen from its primitive integrity, or original righteousness. the fall asserted by christian theology, though often misinterpreted, and its effects underrated or exaggerated, is a fact too sadly confirmed by individual experience and universal history; but it is not the cause why government is necessary, though it may be an additional reason for demanding it. government would have been necessary if man had not sinned, and it is needed for the good as well as for the bad. the law was promulgated in the garden, while man retained his innocence and remained in the integrity of his nature. it exists in heaven as well as on earth, and in heaven in its perfection. its office is not purely repressive, to restrain violence, to redress wrongs, and to punish the transgressor. it has something more to do than to restrict our natural liberty, curb our passions, and maintain justice between man and man. its office is positive as well as negative. it is needed to render effective the solidarity of the individuals of a nation, and to render the nation an organism, not a mere organization--to combine men in one living body, and to strengthen all with the strength of each, and each with the strength of all--to develop, strengthen, and sustain individual liberty, and to utilize and direct it to the promotion of the common weal--to be a social providence, imitating in its order and degree the action of the divine providence itself, and, while it provides for the common good of all, to protect each, the lowest and meanest, with the whole force and majesty of society. it is the minister of wrath to wrong-doers, indeed, but its nature is beneficent, and its action defines and protects the right of property, creates and maintains a medium in which religion can exert her supernatural energy, promotes learning, fosters science and art, advances civilization, and contributes as a powerful means to the fulfilment by man of the divine purpose in his existence. next after religion, it is man's greatest good; and even religion without it can do only a small portion of her work. they wrong it who call it a necessary evil; it is a great good, and, instead of being distrusted, hated, or resisted, except in its abuses, it should be loved, respected, obeyed, and if need be, defended at the cost of all earthly goods, and even of life itself. the nature or essence of government is to govern. a government that does not govern, is simply no government at all. if it has not the ability to govern and governs not, it may be an agency, an instrument in the bands of individuals for advancing their private interests, but it is not government. to be government it must govern both individuals and the community. if it is a mere machine for making prevail the will of one man, of a certain number of men, or even of the community, it may be very effective sometimes for good, sometimes for evil, oftenest for evil, but government in the proper sense of the word it is not. to govern is to direct, control, restrain, as the pilot controls and directs his ship. it necessarily implies two terms, governor and governed, and a real distinction between them. the denial of all real distinction between governor and governed is an error in politics analogous to that in philosophy or theology of denying all real distinction between creator and creature, god and the universe, which all the world knows is either pantheism or pure atheism--the supreme sophism. if we make governor and governed one and the same, we efface both terms; for there is no governor nor governed, if the will that governs is identically the will that is governed. to make the controller and the controlled the same is precisely to deny all control. there must, then, if there is government at all, be a power, force, or will that governs, distinct from that which is governed. in those governments in which it is held that the people govern, the people governing do and must act in a diverse relation from the people governed, or there is no real government. government is not only that which governs, but that which has the right or authority to govern. power without right is not government. governments have the right to use force at need, but might does not make right, and not every power wielding the physical force of a nation is to be regarded as its rightful government. whatever resort to physical force it may be obliged to make, either in defence of its authority or of the rights of the nation, the government itself lies in the moral order, and politics is simply a branch of ethics--that branch which treats of the rights and duties of men in their public relations, as distinguished from their rights and duties in their private relations. government being not only that which governs, but that which has the right to govern, obedience to it becomes a moral duty, not a mere physical necessity. the right to govern and the duty to obey are correlatives, and the one cannot exist or be conceived without the other. hence loyalty is not simply an amiable sentiment but a duty, a moral virtue. treason is not merely a difference in political opinion with the governing authority, but a crime against the sovereign, and a moral wrong, therefore a sin against god, the founder of the moral law. treason, if committed in other countries, unhappily, has been more frequently termed by our countrymen patriotism and loaded with honor than branded as a crime, the greatest of crimes, as it is, that human governments have authority to punish. the american people have been chary of the word loyalty, perhaps because they regard it as the correlative of royalty; but loyalty is rather the correlative of law, and is, in its essence, love and devotion to the sovereign authority, however constituted or wherever lodged. it is as necessary, as much a duty, as much a virtue in republics as in monarchies; and nobler examples of the most devoted loyalty are not found in the world's history than were exhibited in the ancient greek and roman republics, or than have been exhibited by both men and women in the young republic of the united states. loyalty is the highest, noblest, and most generous of human virtues, and is the human element of that sublime love or charity which the inspired apostle tells us is the fulfilment of the law. it has in it the principle of devotion, of self-sacrifice, and is, of all human virtues, that which renders man the most godlike. there is nothing great, generous, good, or heroic of which a truly loyal people are not capable, and nothing mean, base, cruel, brutal, criminal, detestable, not to be expected of a really disloyal people. such a people no generous sentiment can move, no love can bind. it mocks at duty, scorns virtue, tramples on all rights, and holds no person, no thing, human or divine, sacred or inviolable. the assertion of government as lying in the moral order, defines civil liberty, and reconciles it with authority. civil liberty is freedom to do whatever one pleases that authority permits or does not forbid. freedom to follow in all things one's own will or inclination, without any civil restraint, is license, not liberty. there is no lesion to liberty in repressing license, nor in requiring obedience to the commands of the authority that has the right to command. tyranny or oppression is not in being subjected to authority, but in being subjected to usurped authority--to a power that has no right to command, or that commands what exceeds its right or its authority. to say that it is contrary to liberty to be forced to forego our own will or inclination in any case whatever, is simply denying the right of all government, and falling into no-governmentism. liberty is violated only when we are required to forego our own will or inclination by a power that has no right to make the requisition; for we are bound to obedience as far as authority has right to govern, and we can never have the right to disobey a rightful command. the requisition, if made by rightful authority, then, violates no right that we have or can have, and where there is no violation of our rights there is no violation of our liberty. the moral right of authority, which involves the moral duty of obedience, presents, then, the ground on which liberty and authority may meet in peace and operate to the same end. this has no resemblance to the slavish doctrine of passive obedience, and that the resistance to power can never be lawful. the tyrant may be lawfully resisted, for the tyrant, by force of the word itself, is a usurper, and without authority. abuses of power may be resisted even by force when they become too great to be endured, when there is no legal or regular way of redressing them, and when there is a reasonable prospect that resistance will prove effectual and substitute something better in their place. but it is never lawful to resist the rightful sovereign, for it can never be right to resist right, and the rightful sovereign in the constitutional exercise of his power can never be said to abuse it. abuse is the unconstitutional or wrongful exercise of a power rightfully held, and when it is not so exercised there is no abuse or abuses to redress. all turns, then, on the right of power, or its legitimacy. whence does government derive its right to govern? what is the origin and ground of sovereignty? this question is fundamental and without a true answer to it politics cannot be a science, and there can be no scientific statesmanship. whence, then, comes the sovereign right to govern? chapter iii. origin of government government is both a fact and a right. its origin as a fact, is simply a question of history; its origin as a right or authority to govern, is a question of ethics. whether a certain territory and its population are a sovereign state or nation, or not--whether the actual ruler of a country is its rightful ruler, or not--is to be determined by the historical facts in the case; but whence the government derives its right to govern, is a question that can be solved only by philosophy, or, philosophy failing, only by revelation. political writers, not carefully distinguishing between the fact and the right, have invented various theories as to the origin of government, among which may be named-- i. government originates in the right of the father to govern his child. ii. it originates in convention, and is a social compact. iii. it originates in the people, who, collectively taken, are sovereign. iv. government springs from the spontaneous development of nature. v. it derives its right from the immediate and express appointment of god;-- vi. from god through the pope, or visible head of the spiritual society;-- vii. from god through the people;-- viii. from god through the natural law. i. the first theory is sound, if the question is confined to the origin of government as a fact. the patriarchal system is the earliest known system of government, and unmistakable traces of it are found in nearly all known governments--in the tribes of arabia and northern africa, the irish septs and the scottish clans, the tartar hordes, the roman qentes, and the russian and hindoo villages. the right of the father was held to be his right to govern his family or household, which, with his children, included his wife and servants. from the family to the tribe the transition is natural and easy, as also from the tribe to the nation. the father is chief of the family; the chief of the eldest family is chief of the tribe; the chief of the eldest tribe becomes chief of the nation, and, as such, king or monarch. the heads of families collected in a senate form an aristocracy, and the families themselves, represented by their delegates, or publicly assembling for public affairs, constitute a democracy. these three forms, with their several combinations, to wit, monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, and mixed governments, are all the forms known to aristotle, and have generally been held to be all that are possible. historically, all governments have, in some sense, been developed from the patriarchal, as all society has been developed from the family. even those governments, like the ancient roman and the modern feudal, which seem to be founded on landed property, may be traced back to a patriarchal origin. the patriarch is sole proprietor, and the possessions of the family are vested in him, and he governs as proprietor as well as father. in the tribe, the chief is the proprietor, and in the nation, the king is the landlord, and holds the domain. hence, the feudal baron is invested with his fief by the suzerain, holds it from him, and to him it escheats when forfeited or vacant. all the great asiatic kings of ancient or modern times hold the domain and govern as proprietors; they have the authority of the father and the owner; and their subjects, though theoretically their children, are really their slaves. in rome, however, the proprietary right undergoes an important transformation. the father retains all the power of the patriarch within his family, the patrician in his gens or house, but, outside of it, is met and controlled by the city or state. the heads of houses are united in the senate, and collectively constitute and govern the state. yet, not all the heads of houses have seats in the senate, but only the tenants of the sacred territory of the city, which has been surveyed and marked by the god terminus. hence the great plebeian houses, often richer and nobler than the patrician, were excluded from all share in the government and the honors of the state, because they were not tenants of any portion of the sacred territory. there is here the introduction of an element which is not patriarchal, and which transforms the patriarch or chief of a tribe into the city or state, and founds the civil order, or what is now called civilization. the city or state takes the place of the private proprietor, and territorial rights take the place of purely personal rights. in the theory of the roman law, the land owns the man, not the man the land. when land was transferred to a new tenant, the practice in early times was to bury him in it, in order to indicate that it took possession of him, received, accepted, or adopted him; and it was only such persons as were taken possession of, accepted or adopted by the sacred territory or domain that, though denizens of rome, were citizens with full political rights. this, in modern language, means that the state is territorial, not personal, and that the citizen appertains to the state, not the state to the citizen. under the patriarchal, the tribal, and the asiatic monarchical systems, there is, properly speaking, no state, no citizens, and the organization is economical rather than political. authority--even the nation itself--is personal, not territorial. the patriarch, the chief of the tribe, or the king, is the only proprietor. under the graeco-roman system all this is transformed. the nation is territorial as well as personal, and the real proprietor is the city or state. under the empire, no doubt, what lawyers call the eminent domain was vested in the emperor, but only as the representative and trustee of the city or state. when or by what combination of events this transformation was effected, history does not inform us. the first-born of adam, we are told, built a city, and called it after his son enoch; but there is no evidence that it was constituted a municipality. the earliest traces of the civil order proper are found in the greek and italian republics, and its fullest and grandest developments are found in rome, imperial as well as republican. it was no doubt preceded by the patriarchal system, and was historically developed from it, but by way of accretion rather than by simple explication. it has in it an element that, if it exists in the patriarchal constitution, exists there only in a different form, and the transformation marks the passage from the economical order to the political, from the barbaric to the civil constitution of society, or from barbarism to civilization. the word civilization stands opposed to barbarism, and is derived from civitas--city or state. the greeks and romans call all tribes and nations in which authority is vested in the chief, as distinguished from the state, barbarians. the origin of the word barbarian, barbarus, or ........, is unknown, and its primary sense can be only conjectured. webster regards its primary sense as foreign, wild, fierce; but this could not have been its original sense; for the greeks and romans never termed all foreigners barbarians, and they applied the term to nations that had no inconsiderable culture and refinement of manners, and that had made respectable progress in art and sciences--the indians, persians, medians, chaldeans, and assyrians. they applied the term evidently in a political, not an ethical or an aesthetical sense, and as it would seem to designate a social order in which the state was not developed, and in which the nation was personal, not territorial, and authority was held as a private right, not as a public trust, or in which the domain vests in the chief or tribe, and not in the state; for they never term any others barbarians. republic is opposed not to monarchy, in the modern european sense, but to monarchy in the ancient or absolute sense. lacedaemon had kings; yet it was no less republican than athens; and rome was called and was a republic under the emperors no less than under the consuls. republic, respublica, by the very force of the term, means the public wealth, or, in good english, the commonwealth; that is, government founded not on personal or private wealth, but on the public wealth, public territory, or domain, or a government that vests authority in the nation, and attaches the nation to a certain definite territory. france, spain, italy, holland, belgium, denmark, even great britain in substance though not in form, are all, in the strictest sense of the word, republican states; for the king or emperor does not govern in his own private right, but solely as representative of the power and majesty of the state. the distinctive mark of republicanism is the substitution of the state for the personal chief, and public authority for personal or private right. republicanism is really civilization as opposed to barbarism, and all civility, in the old sense of the word, or civilian in italian, is republican, and is applied in modern times to breeding or refinement of manners, simply because these are characteristics of a republican, or polished [from ....., city] people. every people that has a real civil order, or a fully developed state or polity, is a republican people; and hence the church and her great doctors when they speak of the state as distinguished from the church, call it the republic, as may be seen by consulting even a late encyclical of pius ix., which some have interpreted wrongly in an anti-republican sense. all tribes and nations in which the patriarchal system remains, or is developed without transformation, are barbaric, and really so regarded by all christendom. in civilized nations the patriarchal authority is transformed into that of the city or state, that is, of the republic; but in all barbarous nations it retains its private and personal character. the nation is only the family or tribe, and is called by the name of its ancestor, founder, or chief, not by a geographical denomination. race has not been supplanted by country; they are a people, not a state. they are not fixed to the soil, and though we may find in them ardent love of family, the tribe, or the chief, we never find among them that pure love of country or patriotism which so distinguished the greeks and romans, and is no less marked among modern christian nations. they have a family, a race, a chief or king, but no patria, or country. the barbarians who overthrew the roman empire, whether of the west or the east, were nations, or confederacies of nations, but not states. the nation with them was personal, not territorial. their country was wherever they fed their flocks and herds, pitched their tents, and encamped for the night. there were germans, but no german state, and even to-day the german finds his "father-land" wherever the german speech is spoken. the polish, sclavonian, hungarian, illyrian, italian, and other provinces held by german states, in which the german language is not the mother-tongue, are excluded from the germanic confederation. the turks, or osmanlis, are a race, not a state, and are encamped, not settled, on the site of the eastern roman or greek empire. even when the barbaric nations have ceased to be nomadic, pastoral, or predatory nations, as the ancient assyrians and persians or modern chinese, and have their geographical boundaries, they have still no state, no country. the nation defines the boundaries, not the boundaries the nation. the nation does not belong to the territory, but the territory to the nation or its chief. the irish and anglo-saxons, in former times, held the land in gavelkind, and the territory belonged to the tribe or sept; but if the tribe held it as indivisible, they still held it as private property. the shah of persia holds the whole persian territory as private property, and the landholders among his subjects are held to be his tenants. they hold it from him, not from the persian state. the public domain of the greek empire is in theory the private domain of the ottoman emperor or turkish sultan. there is in barbaric states no republic, no commonwealth; authority is parental, without being tempered by parental affection. the chief is a despot, and rules with the united authority of the father and the harshness of the proprietor. he owns the land and his subjects. feudalism, established in western europe after the downfall of the roman empire, however modified by the church and by reminiscences of graeco-roman civilization retained by the conquered, was a barbaric constitution. the feudal monarch, as far as he governed at all, governed as proprietor or landholder, not as the representative of the commonwealth. under feudalism there are estates, but no state. the king governs as an estate, the nobles hold their power as an estate, and the commons are represented as an estate. the whole theory of power is, that it is an estate; a private right, not a public trust. it is not without reason, then that the common sense of civilized nations terms the ages when it prevailed in western europe barbarous ages. it may seem a paradox to class democracy with the barbaric constitutions, and yet as it is defended by many stanch democrats, especially european democrats and revolutionists, and by french and germans settled in our own country, it is essentially barbaric and anti-republican. the characteristic principle of barbarism is, that power is a private or personal right, and when democrats assert that the elective franchise is a natural right of man, or that it is held by virtue of the fact that the elector is a man, they assert the fundamental principle of barbarism and despotism. this says nothing in favor of restricted suffrage, or against what is called universal suffrage. to restrict suffrage to property-holders helps nothing, theoretically or practically. property has of itself advantages enough, without clothing its holders with exclusive political rights and privileges, and the laboring classes any day are as trustworthy as the business classes. the wise statesman will never restrict suffrage, or exclude the poorer and more numerous classes from all voice in the government of their country. general suffrage is wise, and if louis philippe had had the sense to adopt it, and thus rally the whole nation to the support of his government, he would never have had to encounter the revolution of . the barbarism, the despotism, is not in universal suffrage, but in defending the elective franchise as a private or personal right. it is not a private, but a political right, and, like all political rights, a public trust. extremes meet, and thus it is that men who imagine that they march at the head of the human race and lead the civilization of the age, are really in principle retrograding to the barbarism of the past, or taking their place with nations on whom the light of civilization has never yet dawned. all is not gold that glisters. the characteristic of barbarism is, that it makes all authority a private or personal right; and the characteristic of civilization is, that it makes it a public trust. barbarism knows only persons; civilization asserts and maintains the state. with barbarians the authority of the patriarch is developed simply by way of explication; in civilized states it is developed by way of transformation. keeping in mind this distinction, it may be maintained that all systems of government, as a simple historical fact, have been developed from the patriarchal. the patriarchal has preceded them all, and it is with the patriarchal that the human race has begun its career. the family or household is not a state, a civil polity, but it is a government, and, historically considered, is the initial or inchoate state as well as the initial or inchoate nation. but its simple direct development gives us barbarism, or what is called oriental despotism, and which nowhere exists, or can exist, in christendom. it is found only in pagan and mohammedan nations; christianity in the secular order is republican, and continues and completes the work of greece and rome. it meets with little permanent success in any patriarchal or despotic nation, and must either find or create civilization, which has been developed from the patriarchal system by way of transformation. but, though the patriarchal system is the earliest form of government, and all governments have been developed or modified from it, the right of government to govern cannot be deduced from the right of the father to govern his children, for the parental right itself is not ultimate or complete. all governments that assume it to be so, and rest on it as the foundation of their authority, are barbaric or despotic, and, therefore, without any legitimate authority. the right to govern rests on ownership or dominion. where there is no proprietorship, there is no dominion; and where there is no dominion, there is no right to govern. only he who is sovereign proprietor is sovereign lord. property, ownership, dominion rests on creation. the maker has the right to the thing made. he, so far as he is sole creator, is sole proprietor, and may do what he will with it. god is sovereign lord and proprietor of the universe because he is its sole creator. he hath the absolute dominion, because he is absolute maker. he has made it, he owns it; and one may do what he will with his own. his dominion is absolute, because he is absolute creator, and he rightly governs as absolute and universal lord; yet is he no despot, because he exercises only his sovereign right, and his own essential wisdom, goodness, justness, rectitude, and immutability, are the highest of all conceivable guaranties that his exercise of his power will always be right, wise, just, and good. the despot is a man attempting to be god upon earth, and to exercise a usurped power. despotism is based on, the parental right, and the parental right is assumed to be absolute. hence, your despotic rulers claim to reign, and to be loved and worshipped as gods. even the roman emperors, in the fourth and fifth centuries, were addressed as divinities; and theodosius the great, a christian, was addressed as "your eternity," eternitas vestras--so far did barbarism encroach on civilization, even under christian emperors. the right of the father over his child is an imperfect right, for he is the generator, not the creator of his child. generation is in the order of second causes, and is simply the development or explication of the race. the early roman law, founded on the confusion of generation with creation, gave the father absolute authority over the child--the right of life and death, as over his servants or slaves; but this was restricted under the empire, and in all christian nations the authority of the father is treated, like all power, as a trust. the child, like the father himself, belongs to the state, and to the state the father is answerable for the use he makes of his authority. the law fixes the age of majority, when the child is completely emancipated; and even during his nonage, takes him from the father and places him under guardians, in case the father is incompetent to fulfil or grossly abuses his trust. this is proper, because society contributes to the life of the child, and has a right as well as an interest in him. society, again, must suffer if the child is allowed to grow up a worthless vagabond or a criminal; and has a right to intervene, both in behalf of itself and of the child, in case his parents neglect to train him up in the nurture and admonition of the lord, or are training him up to be a liar, a thief, a drunkard, a murderer, a pest to the community. how, then, base the right of society on the right of the father, since, in point of fact, the right of society is paramount to the right of the parent? but even waiving this, and granting what is not the fact that the authority of the father is absolute, unlimited, it cannot be the ground of the right of society to govern. assume the parental right to be perfect and inseparable from the parental relation, it is no right to govern where no such relation exists. nothing true, real, solid in government can be founded on what carlyle calls a "sham." the statesman, if worthy of the name, ascertains and conforms to the realities, the verities of things; and all jurisprudence that accepts legal fictions is imperfect, and even censurable. the presumptions or assumptions of law or politics must have a real and solid basis, or they are inadmissible. how, from the right of the father to govern his own child, born from his loins, conclude his right to govern one not his child? or how, from my right to govern my child, conclude the right of society to found the state, institute government, and exercise political authority over its members? chapter iv. origin of government--continued. ii. rejecting the patriarchal theory as untenable, and shrinking from asserting the divine origin of government, lest they should favor theocracy, and place secular society under the control of the clergy, and thus disfranchise the laity, modern political writers have sought to render government purely human, and maintain that its origin is conventional, and that it is founded in compact or agreement. their theory originated in the seventeenth century, and was predominant in the last century and the first third of the present. it has been, and perhaps is yet, generally accepted by american politicians and statesmen, at least so far as they ever trouble their heads with the question at all, which it must be confessed is not far. the moral theologians of the church have generally spoken of government as a social pact or compact, and explained the reciprocal rights and obligations of subjects and rulers by the general law of contracts; but they have never held that government originates in a voluntary agreement between the people and their rulers, or between the several individuals composing the community. they have never held that government has only a conventional origin or authority. they have simply meant, by the social compact, the mutual relations and reciprocal rights and duties of princes and their subjects, as implied in the very existence and nature of civil society. where there are rights and duties on each side, they treat the fact, not as an agreement voluntarily entered into, and which creates them, but as a compact which binds alike sovereign and subject; and in determining whether either side has sinned or not, they inquire whether either has broken the terms of the social compact. they were engaged, not with the question whence does government derive its authority, but with its nature, and the reciprocal rights and duties of governors and the governed. the compact itself they held was not voluntarily formed by the people themselves, either individually or collectively, but was imposed by god, either immediately, or mediately, through the law of nature. "every man," says cicero, "is born in society, and remains there." they held the same, and maintained that every one born into society contracts by that fact certain obligations to society, and society certain obligations to him; for under the natural law, every one has certain rights, as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and owes certain duties to society for the protection and assistance it affords him. but modern political theorists have abused the phrase borrowed from the theologians, and made it cover a political doctrine which they would have been the last to accept. these theorists or political speculators have imagined a state of nature antecedently to civil society, in which men lived without government, law, or manners, out of which they finally came by entering into a voluntary agreement with some one of their number to be king and to govern them, or with one another to submit to the rule of the majority. hobbes, the english materialist, is among the earliest and most distinguished of the advocates of this theory. he held that men lived, prior to the creation of civil society, in a state of nature, in which all were equal, and every one had an equal right to every thing, and to take any thing on which he could lay his hands and was strong enough to hold. there was no law but the will of the strongest. hence, the state of nature was a state of continual war. at length, wearied and disgusted, men sighed for peace, and, with one accord, said to the tallest, bravest, or ablest among them: come, be our king, our master, our sovereign lord, and govern us; we surrender our natural rights and our natural independence to you, with no other reserve or condition than that you maintain peace among us, keep us from robbing and plundering one another or cutting each other's throats. locke followed hobbes, and asserted virtually the same theory, but asserted it in the interests of liberty, as hobbes had asserted it in the interests of power. rousseau, a citizen of geneva, followed in the next century with his contrat social, the text-book of the french revolutionists--almost their bible--and put the finishing stroke to the theory. hitherto the compact or agreement had been assumed to be between the governor and the governed; rousseau supposes it to be between the people themselves, or a compact to which the people are the only parties. he adopts the theory of a state of nature in which men lived, antecedently to their forming themselves into civil society, without government or law. all men in that state were equal, and each was independent and sovereign proprietor of himself. these equal, independent, sovereign individuals met, or are held to have met, in convention, and entered into a compact with themselves, each with all, and all with each, that they would constitute government, and would each submit to the determination and authority of the whole, practically of the fluctuating and irresponsible majority. civil society, the state, the government, originates in this compact, and the government, as mr. jefferson asserts in the declaration of american independence, "derives its just powers from the consent of the governed." this theory, as so set forth, or as modified by asserting that the individual delegates instead of surrendering his rights to civil society, was generally adopted by the american people in the last century, and is still the more prevalent theory with those among them who happen to have any theory or opinion on the subject. it is the political tradition of the country. the state, as defined by the elder adams, is held to be a voluntary association of individuals. individuals create civil society, and may uncreate it whenever they judge it advisable. prior to the southern rebellion, nearly every american asserted with lafayette, "the sacred right of insurrection" or revolution, and sympathized with insurrectionists, rebels, and revolutionists, wherever they made their appearance. loyalty was held to be the correlative of royalty, treason was regarded as a virtue, and traitors were honored, feasted, and eulogized as patriots, ardent lovers of liberty, and champions of the people. the fearful struggle of the nation against a rebellion which threatened its very existence may have changed this. that there is, or ever was, a state of nature such as the theory assumes, may be questioned. certainly nothing proves that it is, or ever was, a real state. that there is a law of nature is undeniable. all authorities in philosophy, morals, politics, and jurisprudence assert it; the state assumes it as its own immediate basis, and the codes of all nations are founded on it; universal jurisprudence, the jus qentium of the romans, embodies it, and the courts recognize and administer it. it is the reason and conscience of civil society, and every state acknowledges its authority. but the law of nature is as much in force in civil society as out of it. civil law does not abrogate or supersede natural law, but presupposes it, and supports itself on it as its own ground and reason. as the natural law, which is only natural justice and equity dictated by the reason common to all men, persists in the civil law, municipal or international, as its informing soul, so does the state of nature persist in the civil state, natural society in civil society, which simply develops, applies, and protects it. man in civil society is not out of nature, but is in it--is in his most natural state; for society is natural to him, and government is natural to society, and in some form inseparable from it. the state of nature under the natural law is not, as a separate state, an actual state, and never was; but an abstraction, in which is considered, apart from the concrete existence called society, what is derived immediately from the natural law. but as abstractions have no existence, out of the mind that forms them, the state of nature has no actual existence in the world of reality as a separate state. but suppose with the theory the state of nature to have been a real and separate state, in which men at first lived, there is great difficulty in understanding how they ever got out of it. can a man divest himself of his nature, or lift himself above it? man is in his nature, and inseparable from it. if his primitive state was his natural state, and if the political state is supernatural, preternatural, or subnatural, how passed he alone, by his own unaided powers, from the former to the latter? the ancients, who had lost the primitive tradition of creation, asserted, indeed, the primitive man as springing from the earth, and leading a mere animal life, living in eaves or hollow trees, and feeding on roots and nuts, without speech, without science, art, law, or sense of right and wrong; but prior to the prevalence of the epicurean philosophy, they never pretended, that man could come out of that state alone by his own unaided efforts. they ascribed the invention of language, art, and science, the institution of civil society, government, and laws, to the intervention of the gods. it remained for the epicureans--who, though unable, like their modern successors, the positivists or developmentists, to believe in a first cause, believed in effects without causes, or that things make or take care of themselves--to assert that men could, by their own unassisted efforts, or by the simple exercise of reason, come out of the primitive state, and institute what in modern times is called civilta, civility, or civilization. the partisans of this theory of the state of nature from which men have emerged by the voluntary and deliberate formation of civil society, forget that if government is not the sole condition, it is one of the essential conditions of progress. the only progressive nations are civilized or republican nations. savage and barbarous tribes are unprogressive. ages on ages roll over them without changing any thing in their state; and niebuhr has well remarked with others, that history records no instance of a savage tribe or people having become civilized by its own spontaneous or indigenous efforts. if savage tribes have ever become civilized, it has been by influences from abroad, by the aid of men already civilized, through conquest, colonies, or missionaries; never by their own indigenous efforts, nor even by commerce, as is so confidently asserted in this mercantile age. nothing in all history indicates the ability of a savage people to pass of itself from the savage state to the civilized. but the primitive man, as described by horace in his satires, and asserted by hobbes, locke, rousseau, and others, is far below the savage. the lowest, most degraded, and most debased savage tribe that has yet been discovered has at least some rude outlines or feeble reminiscences of a social state, of government, morals, law, and religion, for even in superstition the most gross there is a reminiscence of true religion; but the people in the alleged state of nature have none. the advocates of the theory deceive themselves by transporting into their imaginary state of nature the views, habits, and capacities of the civilized man. it is, perhaps, not difficult for men who have been civilized, who have the intelligence, the arts, the affections, and the habits of civilization, if deprived by some great social convulsion of society, and thrown back on the so-called state of nature, or cast away on some uninhabited island in the ocean, and cut off from all intercourse with the rest of mankind, to reconstruct civil society, and re-establish and maintain civil government. they are civilized men, and bear civil society in their own life. but these are no representatives of the primitive man in the alleged state of nature. these primitive men have no experience, no knowledge, no conception even of civilized life, or of any state superior to that in which they have thus far lived. how then can they, since, on the theory, civil society has no root in nature, but is a purely artificial creation, even conceive of civilization, much less realize it? these theorists, as theorists always do, fail to make a complete abstraction of the civilized state, and conclude from what they feel they could do in case civil society were broken up, what men may do and have done in a state of nature. men cannot divest themselves of themselves, and, whatever their efforts to do it, they think, reason, and act as they are. every writer, whatever else he writes, writes himself. the advocates of the theory, to have made their abstraction complete, should have presented their primitive man as below the lowest known savage, unprogressive, and in himself incapable of developing any progressive energy. unprogressive, and, without foreign assistance, incapable of progress, how is it possible for your primitive man to pass, by his own unassisted efforts, from the alleged state of nature to that of civilization, of which he has no conception, and towards which no innate desire, no instinct, no divine inspiration pushes him? but even if, by some happy inspiration, hardly supposable without supernatural intervention repudiated by the theory--if by some happy inspiration, a rare individual should so far rise above the state of nature as to conceive of civil society and of civil government, how could he carry his conception into execution? conception is always easier than its realization, and between the design and its execution there is always a weary distance. the poetry of all nations is a wail over unrealized ideals. it is little that even the wisest and most potent statesman can realize of what he conceives to be necessary for the state: political, legislative or judicial reforms, even when loudly demanded, and favored by authority, are hard to be effected, and not seldom generations come and go without effecting them. the republics of plato, sir thomas more, campanella, harrington, as the communities of robert owen and m. cabet, remain utopias, not solely because intrinsically absurd, though so in fact, but chiefly because they are innovations, have no support in experience, and require for their realization the modes of thought, habits, manners, character, life, which only their introduction and realization can supply. so to be able to execute the design of passing from the supposed state of nature to civilization, the reformer would need the intelligence, the habits, and characters in the public which are not possible without civilization itself. some philosophers suppose men have invented language, forgetting that it requires language to give the ability to invent language. men are little moved by mere reasoning, however clear and convincing it may be. they are moved by their affections, passions, instincts, and habits. routine is more powerful with them than logic. a few are greedy of novelties, and are always for trying experiments; but the great body of the people of all nations have an invincible repugnance to abandon what they know for what they know not. they are, to a great extent, the slaves of their own vis inertiae, and will not make the necessary exertion to change their existing mode of life, even for a better. interest itself is powerless before their indolence, prejudice, habits, and usages. never were philosophers more ignorant of human nature than they, so numerous in the last century, who imagined that men can be always moved by a sense of interest, and that enlightened self-interest, l'interet bien entendu, suffices to found and sustain the state. no reform, no change in the constitution of government or of society, whatever the advantages it may promise, can be successful, if introduced, unless it has its root or germ in the past. man is never a creator; he can only develop and continue, because he is himself a creature, and only a second cause. the children of israel, when they encountered the privations of the wilderness that lay between them and the promised land flowing with milk and honey, fainted in spirit, and begged moses to lead them back to egypt, and permit them to return to slavery. in the alleged state of nature, as the philosophers describe it, there is no germ of civilization, and the transition to civil society would not be a development, but a complete rupture with the past, and an entire new creation. when it is with the greatest difficulty that necessary reforms are introduced in old and highly civilized nations and when it can seldom be done at all without terrible political and social convulsions, how can we suppose men without society, and knowing nothing of it, can deliberately, and, as it were, with "malice aforethought," found society? without government, and destitute alike of habits of obedience and habits of command, how can they initiate, establish, and sustain government? to suppose it, would be to suppose that men in a state of nature, without culture, without science, without any of the arts, even the most simple and necessary, are infinitely superior to the men formed under the most advanced civilization. was rousseau right in asserting civilization as a fall, as a deterioration of the race? but suppose the state of nature, even suppose that men, by some miracle or other, can get out of it and found civil society, the origin of government as authority in compact is not yet established. according to the theory, the rights of civil society are derived from the rights of the individuals who form or enter into the compact. but individuals cannot give what they have not, and no individual has in himself the right to govern another. by the law of nature all men have equal rights, are equals, and equals have no authority one over another. nor has an individual the sovereign right even to himself, or the right to dispose of himself as he pleases. man is not god, independent, self-existing and self-sufficing. he is dependent, and dependent not only on his maker, but on his fellow-men, on society, and even on nature, or the material world. that on which he depends in the measure in which be depends on it, contributes to his existence, to his life, and to his well-being, and has, by virtue of its contribution, a right in him and to him; and hence it is that nothing is more painful to the proud spirit than to receive a favor that lays him under an obligation to another. the right of that on which man depends, and by communion with which he lives, limits his own right over himself. man does not depend exclusively on society, for it is not his only medium of communion with god, and therefore its right to him is neither absolute nor unlimited; but still be depends on it, lives in it, and cannot live without it. it has, then, certain lights over him, and he cannot enter into any compact, league, or alliance that society does not authorize, or at least permit. these rights of society override his rights to himself, and he can neither surrender them nor delegate them. other rights, as the rights of religion and property, which are held directly from god and nature, and which are independent of society, are included in what are called the natural rights of man; and these rights cannot be surrendered in forming civil society, for they are rights of man only before civil society, and therefore not his to cede, and because they are precisely the rights that government is bound to respect and protect. the compact, then, cannot be formed as pretended, for the only rights individuals could delegate or surrender to society to constitute the sum of the rights of government are hers already, and those which are not hers are those which cannot be delegated or surrendered, and in the free and full enjoyment of which, it is the duty, the chief end of government to protect each and every individual. the convention not only is not a fact, but individuals have no authority without society, to meet in convention, and enter into the alleged compact, because they are not independent, sovereign individuals. but pass over this: suppose the convention, suppose the compact, it must still be conceded that it binds and can bind only those who voluntarily and deliberately enter into it. this is conceded by mr. jefferson and the american congress of , in the assertion that government derives its "just powers from the consent of the governed." this consent, as the matter is one of life and death, must be free, deliberate, formal, explicit, not simply an assumed, implied, or constructive consent. it must be given personally, and not by one for another without his express authority. it is usual to infer the consent or the acceptance of the terms of the compact from the silence of the individual, and also from his continued residence in the country and submission to its government. but residence is no evidence of consent, because it may be a matter of necessity. the individual may be unable to emigrate, if he would; and by what right can individuals form an agreement to which i must consent or else migrate to some strange land? can my consent, under such circumstances, even if given, be any thing but a forced consent, a consent given under duress, and therefore invalid? nothing can be inferred from one's silence, for he may have many reasons for being silent besides approval of the government. he may be silent because speech would avail nothing; because to protest might be dangerous--cost him his liberty, if not his life; because he sees and knows nothing better, and is ignorant that he has any choice in the case; or because, as very likely is the fact with the majority, he has never for moment thought of the matter, or ever had his attention called to it, and has no mind on the subject. but however this may be, there certainly must be excluded from the compact or obligation to obey the government created by it all the women of a nation, all the children too young to be capable of giving their consent, and all who are too ignorant, too weak of mind to be able to understand the terms of the contract. these several classes cannot be less than three-fourths of the population of any country. what is to be done with them? leave them without government? extend the power of the government over them? by what right? government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed, and that consent they have not given. whence does one-fourth of the population get its right to govern the other three-fourths? but what is to be done with the rights of minorities? is the rule of unanimity to be insisted on in the convention and in the government, when it goes into operation? unanimity is impracticable, for where there are many men there will be differences of opinion. the rule of unanimity gives to each individual a veto on the whole proceeding, which was the grand defect of the polish constitution. each member of the polish diet, which included the whole body of the nobility, had an absolute veto, and could, alone, arrest the whole action of the government. will you substitute the rule of the majority, and say the majority must govern? by what right? it is agreed to in the convention. unanimously, or only by a majority? the right of the majority to have their will is, on the social compact theory, a conventional right, and therefore cannot come into play before the convention is completed, or the social compact is framed and accepted. how, in settling the terms of the compact, will you proceed? by majorities? but suppose a minority objects, and demands two-thirds, three-fourths, or four-fifths, and votes against the majority rule, which is carried only by a simple plurality of votes, will the proceedings of the convention bind the dissenting minority? what gives to the majority the right to govern the minority who dissent from its action? on the supposition that society has rights not derived from individuals, and which are intrusted to the government, there is a good reason why the majority should prevail within the legitimate sphere of government, because the majority is the best representative practicable of society itself; and if the constitution secures to minorities and dissenting individuals their natural rights and their equal rights as citizens, they have no just cause of complaint, for the majority in such case has no power to tyrannize over them or to oppress them. but the theory under examination denies that society has any rights except such as it derives from individuals who all have equal rights. according to it, society is itself conventional, and created by free, independent, equal, sovereign individuals. society is a congress of sovereigns, in which no one has authority over another, and no one can be rightfully forced to submit to any decree against his will. in such a congress the rule of the majority is manifestly improper, illegitimate, and invalid, unless adopted by unanimous consent. but this is not all. the individual is always the equal of himself, and if the government derives its powers from the consent of the governed, he governs in the government, and parts with none of his original sovereignty. the government is not his master, but his agent, as the principal only delegates, not surrenders, his rights and powers to the agent. he is free at any time he pleases to recall the powers he has delegated, to give new instructions, or to dismiss him. the sovereignty of the individual survives the compact, and persists through all the acts of his agent, the government. he must, then, be free to withdraw from the compact whenever he judges it advisable. secession is perfectly legitimate if government is simply a contract between equals. the disaffected, the criminal, the thief the government would send to prison, or the murderer it would hang, would be very likely to revoke his consent, and to secede from the state. any number of individuals large enough to count a majority among themselves, indisposed to pay the government taxes, or to perform the military service exacted, might hold a convention, adopt a secession ordinance, and declare themselves a free, independent, sovereign state, and bid defiance to the tax-collector and the provost-marshall, and that, too, without forfeiting their estates or changing their domicile. would the government employ military force to coerce them back to their allegiance? by what right? government is their agent, their creature, and no man owes allegiance to his own agent, or creature. the compact could bind only temporarily, and could at any moment be dissolved. mr. jefferson saw this, and very consistently maintained that one generation has no power to bind another; and, as if this was not enough, he asserted the right of revolution, and gave it as his opinion that in every nation a revolution once in every generation is desirable, that is, according to his reckoning, once every nineteen years. the doctrine that one generation has no power to bind its successor is not only a logical conclusion from the theory that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, since a generation cannot give its consent before it is born, but is very convenient for a nation that has contracted a large national debt; yet, perhaps, not so convenient to the public creditor, since the new generation may take it into its head not to assume or discharge the obligations of its predecessor, but to repudiate them. no man, certainly, can contract for any one but himself; and how then can the son be bound, without his own personal or individual consent, freely given, by the obligations entered into by his father? the social compact is necessarily limited to the individuals who form it, and as necessarily, unless renewed, expires with them. it thus creates no state, no political corporation, which survives in all its rights and powers, though individuals die. the state is on this theory a voluntary association, and in principle, except that it is not a secret society, in no respect differs from the carbonari, or the knights of the golden circle. when orsini attempted to execute the sentence of death on the emperor of the french, in obedience to the order of the carbonari, of which the emperor was a member, he was, if the theory of the origin of government in compact be true, no more an assassin than was the officer who executed on the gallows the rebel spies and incendiaries beal and kennedy. certain it is that the alleged social compact has in it no social or civil element. it does not and cannot create society. it can give only an aggregation of individuals, and society is not an aggregation nor even an organization of individuals. it is an organism, and individuals live in its life as well as it in theirs. there is a real living solidarity, which makes individuals members of the social body, and members one of another. there is no society without individuals, and there are no individuals without society; but in society there is that which is not individual, and is more than all individuals. the social compact is an attempt to substitute for this real living solidarity, which gives to society at once unity of life and diversity of members, an artificial solidarity, a fictitious unity for a real unity, and membership by contract for real living membership, a cork leg for that which nature herself gives. real government has its ground in this real living solidarity, and represents the social element, which is not individual, but above all individuals, as man is above men. but the theory substitutes a simple agency for government, and makes each individual its principal. it is an abuse of language to call this agency a government. it has no one feature or element of government. it has only an artificial unity, based on diversity; its authority is only personal, individual, and in no sense a public authority, representing a public will, a public right, or a public interest. in no country could government be adopted and sustained if men were left to the wisdom or justness of their theories, or in the general affairs of life, acted on them. society, and government as representing society, has a real existence, life, faculties, and organs of its own, not derived or derivable from individuals. as well might it be maintained that the human body consists in and derives all its life from the particles of matter it assimilates from its food, and which are constantly escaping as to maintain that society derives its life, or government its powers, from individuals. no mechanical aggregation of brute matter can make a living body, if there is no living and assimilating principle within; and no aggregation of individuals, however closely bound together by pacts or oaths, can make society where there is no informing social principle that aggregates and assimilates them to a living body, or produce that mystic existence called a state or commonwealth. the origin of government in the contrat social supposes the nation to be a purely personal affair. it gives the government no territorial status, and clothes it with no territorial rights or jurisdiction. the government that could so originate would be, if any thing, a barbaric, not a republican government. it has only the rights conferred on it, surrendered or delegated to it by individuals, and therefore, at best, only individual rights. individuals can confer only such rights as they have in the supposed state of nature. in that state there is neither private nor public domain. the earth in that state is not property, and is open to the first occupant, and the occupant can lay no claim to any more than he actually occupies. whence, then, does government derive its territorial jurisdiction, and its right of eminent domain claimed by all national governments? whence its title to vacant or unoccupied lands? how does any particular government fix its territorial boundaries, and obtain the right to prescribe who may occupy, and on what conditions the vacant lands within those boundaries? whence does it get its jurisdiction of navigable rivers, lakes, bays, and the seaboard within its territorial limits, as appertaining to its domain? here are rights that it could not have derived from individuals, for individuals never possessed them in the so-called state of nature. the concocters of the theory evidently overlooked these rights, or considered them of no importance. they seem never to have contemplated the existence of territorial states, or the division of mankind into nations fixed to the soil. they seem not to have supposed the earth could be appropriated; and, indeed, many of their followers pretend that it cannot be, and that the public lands of a nation are open lands, and whoso chooses may occupy them, without leave asked of the national authority or granted. the american people retain more than one reminiscence of the nomadic and predatory habits of their teutonic or scythian ancestors before they settled on the banks of the don or the danube, on the northern ocean, in scania, or came in contact with the graeco-roman civilization. yet mankind are divided into nations, and all civilized nations are fixed to the soil. the territory is defined, and is the domain of the state, from which all private proprietors hold their title-deeds. individual proprietors hold under the state, and often hold more, than they occupy; but it retains in all private estates the eminent domain, and prohibits the alienation of land to one who is not a citizen. it defends its domain, its public unoccupied lands, and the lands owned by private individuals, against all foreign powers. now whence, if government has only the rights ceded it by individuals, does it get this domain, and hold the right to treat settlers on even its unoccupied lands as trespassers? in the state of nature the territorial rights of individuals, if any they have, are restricted to the portion of land they occupy with their rude culture, and with their flocks and herds, and in civilized nations to what they hold from the state, and, therefore, the right as held and defended by all nations, and without which the nation has no status, no fixed dwelling, and is and can be no state, could never have been derived from individuals. the earliest notices of rome show the city in possession of the sacred territory, to which the state and all political power are attached. whence did rome become a landholder, and the governing people a territorial people? whence does any nation become a territorial nation and lord of the domain? certainly never by the cession of individuals, and hence no civilized government ever did or could originate in the so-called social compact. chapter v. origin of government--continued. iii. the tendency of the last century was to individualism; that of the present is to socialism. the theory of hobbes, locke, rousseau, and jefferson, though not formally abandoned, and still held by many, has latterly been much modified, if not wholly transformed. sovereignty, it is now maintained, is inherent in the people; not individually, indeed, but collectively, or the people as society. the constitution is held not to be simply a compact or agreement entered into by the people as individuals creating civil society and government, but a law ordained by the sovereign people, prescribing the constitution of the state and defining its rights and powers. this transformation, which is rather going on than completed, is, under one aspect at least, a progress, or rather a return to the sounder principles of antiquity. under it government ceases to be a mere agency, which must obtain the assassin's consent to be hung before it can rightfully hang him, and becomes authority, which is one and imperative. the people taken collectively are society, and society is a living organism, not a mere aggregation of individuals. it does not, of course, exist without individuals, but it is something more than individuals, and has rights not derived from them, and which are paramount to theirs. there is more truth, and truth of a higher order, in this than in the theory of the social compact. individuals, to a certain extent, derive their life from god through society, and so far they depend on her, and they are hers; she owns them, and has the right to do as she will with them. on this theory the state emanates from society, and is supreme. it coincides with the ancient greek and roman theory, as expressed by cicero, already cited. man is born in society and remains there, and it may be regarded as the source of ancient greek and roman patriotism, which still commands the admiration of the civilized world. the state with greece and rome was a living reality, and loyalty a religion. the romans held rome to be a divinity, gave her statues and altars, and offered her divine worship. this was superstition, no doubt, but it had in it an element of truth. to every true philosopher there is something divine in the state, and truth in all theories. society stands nearer to god, and participates more immediately of the divine essence, and the state is a more lively image of god than the individual. it was man, the generic and reproductive man, not the isolated individual, that was created in the image and likeness of his maker. "and god created man in his own image; in the image of god created he him; male and female created he them." this theory is usually called the democratic theory, and it enlists in its support the instincts, the intelligence, the living forces, and active tendencies of the age. kings, kaisers, and hierarchies are powerless before it, and war against it in vain. the most they can do is to restrain its excesses, or to guard against its abuses. its advocates, in returning to it, sometimes revive in its name the old pagan superstition. not a few of the european democrats recognize in the earth, in heaven, or in hell, no power superior to the people, and say not only people-king but people-god. they say absolutely, without any qualification, the voice of the people is the voice of god, and make their will the supreme law, not only in politics, but in religion, philosophy, morals, science, and the arts. the people not only found the state, but also the church. they inspire or reveal the truth, ordain or prohibit worships, judge of doctrines, and decide cases of conscience. mazzini said, when at the head of the roman republic in , the question of religion must be remitted to the judgment of the people. yet this theory is the dominant theory of the age, and is in all civilized nations advancing with apparently irresistible force. but this theory has its difficulties. who are the collective people that have the rights of society, or, who are the sovereign people? the word people is vague, and in itself determines nothing. it may include a larger or a smaller number; it may mean the political people, or it may mean simply population; it may mean peasants, artisans, shopkeepers, traders, merchants, as distinguished from the nobility; hired laborers or workmen as distinguished from their employer, or slaves as distinguished from their master or owner. in which of these senses is the word to be taken when it is said, "the people are sovereign?" the people are the population or inhabitants of one and the same country. that is something. but who or what determines the country? is the country the whole territory of the globe? that will not be said, especially since the dispersion of mankind and their division into separate nations. is the territory indefinite or undefined? then indefinite or undefined are its inhabitants, or the people invested with the rights of society. is it defined and its boundaries fixed? who has done it? the people. but who are the people? we are as wise as we were at starting. the logicians say that the definition of idem per idem, or the same by the same, is simply no definition at all. the people are the nation, undoubtedly, if you mean by the people the sovereign people. but who are the people constituting the nation? the sovereign people? this is only to revolve in a vicious circle. the nation is the tribe or the people living under the same regimen, and born of the same ancestor, or sprung from the same ancestor or progenitor. but where find a nation in this the primitive sense of the word? migration, conquest, and intermarriage, have so broken up and intermingled the primitive races, that it is more than doubtful if a single nation, tribe, or family of unmixed blood now exists on the face of the earth. a frenchman, italian, spaniard, german, or englishman, may have the blood of a hundred different races coursing in his veins. the nation is the people inhabiting the same country, and united under one and the same government, it is further answered. the nation, then, is not purely personal, but also territorial. then, again, the question comes up, who or what determines the territory? the government? but not before it is constituted, and it cannot be constituted till its territorial limits are determined. the tribe doubtless occupies territory, but is not fixed to it, and derives no jurisdiction from it, and therefore is not territorial. but a nation, in the modern or civilized sense, is fixed to the territory, and derives from it its jurisdiction, or sovereignty; and, therefore, till the territory is determined, the nation is not and cannot be determined. the question is not an idle question. it is one of great practical importance; for, till it is settled, we can neither determine who are the sovereign people, nor who are united under one and the same government. laws have no extra-territorial force, and the officer who should attempt to enforce the national laws beyond the national territory would be a trespasser. if the limits are undetermined, the government is not territorial, and can claim as within its jurisdiction only those who choose to acknowledge its authority. the importance of the question has been recently brought home to the american people by the secession of eleven or more states from the union. were these states a part of the american nation, or were they not? was the war which followed secession, and which cost so many lives and so much treasure, a civil war or a foreign war? were the secessionists traitors and rebels to their sovereign, or were they patriots fighting for the liberty and independence of their country and the right of self-government? all on both sides agreed that the nation is sovereign; the dispute was as to the existence of the nation itself, and the extent of its jurisdiction. doubtless, when a nation has a generally recognized existence as an historical fact, most of the difficulties in determining who are the sovereign people can be got over; but the question here concerns the institution of government, and determining who constitute society and have the right to meet in person, or by their delegates in convention, to institute it. this question, so important, and at times so difficult, the theory of the origin of government in the people collectively, or the nation, does not solve, or furnish any means of solving. but suppose this difficulty surmounted there is still another, and a very grave one, to overcome. the theory assumes that the people collectively, "in their own native right and might," are sovereign. according to it the people are ultimate, and free to do whatever they please. this sacrifices individual freedom. the origin of government in a compact entered into by individuals, each with all and all with each, sacrificed the rights of society, and assumed each individual to be in himself an independent sovereignty. if logically carried out, there could be no such crime as treason, there could be no state, and no public authority. this new theory transfers to society the sovereignty which that asserted for the individual, and asserts social despotism, or the absolutism of the state. it asserts with sufficient energy public authority, or the right of the people to govern; but it leaves no space for individual rights, which society must recognize, respect, and protect. this was the grand defect of the ancient graeco-roman civilization. the historian explores in vain the records of the old greek and roman republics for any recognition of the rights of individuals not held as privileges or concessions from the state. society recognized no limit to her authority, and the state claimed over individuals all the authority of the patriarch over his household, the chief over his tribe, or the absolute monarch over his subjects. the direct and indirect influence of the body of freemen admitted to a voice in public affairs, in determining the resolutions and action of the state, no doubt tempered in practice to some extent the authority of the state, and prevented acts of gross oppression; but in theory the state was absolute, and the people individually were placed at the mercy of the people collectively, or, rather, the majority of the collective people. under ancient republicanism, there were rights of the state and rights of the citizen, but no rights of man, held independently of society, and not derived from god through the state. the recognition of these rights by modern society is due to christianity: some say to the barbarians, who overthrew the roman empire; but this last opinion is not well founded. the barbarian chiefs and nobles had no doubt a lively sense of personal freedom and independence, but for themselves only. they had no conception of personal freedom as a general or universal right, and men never obtain universal principles by generalizing particulars. they may give a general truth a particular application, but not a particular truth--understood to be a particular truth--a general or universal application. they are too good logicians for that. the barbarian individual freedom and personal independence was never generalized into the doctrine of the rights of man, any more than the freedom of the master has been generalized into the right of his slaves to be free. the doctrine of individual freedom before the state is due to the christian religion, which asserts the dignity and worth of every human soul, the accountability to god of each man for himself, and lays it down as law for every one that god is to be obeyed rather than men. the church practically denied the absolutism of the state, and asserted for every man rights not held from the state, in converting the empire to christianity, in defiance of the state authority, and the imperial edicts punishing with death the profession of the christian faith. in this she practically, as well as theoretically, overthrew state absolutism, and infused into modern society the doctrine that every individual, even the lowest and meanest, has rights which the state neither confers nor can abrogate; and it will only be by extinguishing in modern society the christian faith, and obliterating all traces of christian civilization, that state absolutism can be revived with more than a partial and temporary success. the doctrine of individual liberty may be abused, and so explained as to deny the rights of society, and to become pure individualism; but no political system that runs to the opposite extreme, and absorbs the individual in the state, stands the least chance of any general or permanent success till christianity is extinguished. yet the assertion of principles which logically imply state absolutism is not entirely harmless, even in christian countries. error is never harmless, and only truth can give a solid foundation on which to build. individualism and socialism are each opposed to the other, and each has only a partial truth. the state founded on either cannot stand, and society will only alternate between the two extremes. to-day it is torn by a revolution in favor of socialism; to-morrow it will be torn by another in favor of individualism, and without effecting any real progress by either revolution. real progress can be secured only by recognizing and building on the truth, not as it exists in our opinions or in our theories, but as it exists in the world of reality, and independent of our opinions. now, social despotism or state absolutism is not based on truth or reality. society has certain rights over individuals, for she is a medium of their communion with god, or through which they derive life from god, the primal source of all life; but she is not the only medium of man's life. man, as was said in the beginning, lives by communion with god, and he communes with god in the creative act and the incarnation, through his kind, and, through nature. this threefold communion gives rise to three institutions--religion or the church, society or the state, and property. the life that man derives from god through religion and property, is not derived from him through society, and consequently so much of his life be holds independently of society; and this constitutes his rights as a man as distinguished from his rights as a citizen. in relation to society, as not held from god through her, these are termed his natural rights, which, she must hold inviolable, and government protect for every one, whatever his complexion or his social position. these rights--the rights of conscience and the rights of property, with all their necessary implications--are limitations of the rights of society, and the individual has the right to plead them against the state. society does not confer them, and it cannot take them away, for they are at least as sacred and as fundamental as her own. but even this limitation of popular sovereignty is not all. the people can be sovereign only in the sense in which they exist and act. the people are not god, whatever some theorists may pretend--are not independent, self-existent, and self-sufficing. they are as dependent collectively as individually, and therefore can exist and act only as second cause, never as first cause. they can, then, even in the limited sphere of their sovereignty, be sovereign only in a secondary sense, never absolute sovereign in their own independent right. they are sovereign only to the extent to which they impart life to the individual members of society, and only in the sense in which she imparts it, or is its cause. she is not its first cause or creator, and is the medial cause or medium through which they derive it from god, not its efficient cause or primary source. society derives her own life from god, and exists and acts only as dependent on him. then she is sovereign over individuals only as dependent on god. her dominion is then not original and absolute, but secondary and derivative. this third theory does not err in assuming that the people collectively are more than the people individually, or in denying society to be a mere aggregation of individuals with no life, and no rights but what it derives from them; nor even in asserting that the people in the sense of society are sovereign, but in asserting that they are sovereign in their own native or underived right and might. society has not in herself the absolute right to govern, because she has not the absolute dominion either of herself or her members. god gave to man dominion over the irrational creation, for he made irrational creatures for man; but he never gave him either individually or collectively the dominion over the rational creation. the theory that the people are absolutely sovereign in their own independent right and might, as some zealous democrats explain it, asserts the fundamental principle of despotism, and all despotism is false, for it identifies the creature with the creator. no creature is creator, or has the rights of creator, and consequently no one in his own right is or can be sovereign. this third theory, therefore, is untenable. iv. a still more recent class of philosophers, if philosophers they may be called, reject the origin of government in the people individually or collectively. satisfied that it has never been instituted by a voluntary and deliberate act of the people, and confounding government as a fact with government as authority, maintain that government is a spontaneous development of nature. nature develops it as the liver secretes bile, as the bee constructs her cell, or the beaver builds his dam. nature, working by her own laws and inherent energy, develops society, and society develops government. that is all the secret. questions as to the origin of government or its rights, beyond the simple positive fact, belong to the theological or metaphysical stage of the development of nature, but are left behind when the race has passed beyond that stage, and has reached the epoch of positive science, in which all, except the positive fact, is held to be unreal and non-existent. government, like every thing else in the universe, is simply a positive development of nature. science explains the laws and conditions of the development, but disdains to ask for its origin or ground in any order that transcends the changes of the world of space and time. these philosophers profess to eschew all theory, and yet they only oppose theory to theory. the assertion that reality for the human mind is restricted to the positive facts of the sensible order, is purely theoretic, and is any thing but a positive fact. principles are as really objects of science as facts, and it is only in the light of principles that facts themselves are intelligible. if the human mind had no science of reality that transcends the sensible order, or the positive fact, it could have no science at all. as things exist only in their principles or causes, so can they be known only in their principles and causes; for things can be known only as they are, or as they really exist. the science that pretends to deduce principles from particular facts, or to rise from the fact by way of reasoning to an order that transcends facts, and in which facts have their origin, is undoubtedly chimerical, and as against that the positivists are unquestionably right. but to maintain that man has no intelligence of any thing beyond the fact, no intuition or intellectual apprehension of its principle or cause, is equally chimerical. the human mind cannot have all science, but it has real science as far as it goes, and real science is the knowledge of things as they are, not as they are not. sensible facts are not intelligible by themselves, because they do not exist by themselves; and if the human mind could not penetrate beyond the individual fact, beyond the mimetic to the methexic, or transcendental principle, copied or imitated by the individual fact, it could never know the fact itself. the error of modern philosophers, or philosopherlings, is in supposing the principle is deduced or inferred from the fact, and in denying that the human mind has direct and immediate intuition of it. something that transcends the sensible order there must be, or there could be no development; and if we had no science of it, we could never assert that development is development, or scientifically explain the laws and conditions of development. development is explication, and supposes a germ which precedes it, and is not itself a development; and development, however far it may be carried, can never do more than realize the possibilities of the germ. development is not creation, and cannot supply its own germ. that at least must be given by the creator, for from nothing nothing can be developed. if authority has not its germ in nature, it cannot be developed from nature spontaneously or otherwise. all government has a governing will; and without a will that commands, there is no government; and nature has in her spontaneous developments no will, for she has no personality. reason itself, as distinguished from will, only presents the end and the means, but does not govern; it prescribes a rule, but cannot ordain a law. an imperative will, the will of a superior who has the right to command what reason dictates or approves, is essential to government; and that will is not developed from nature, because it has no germ in nature. so something above and beyond nature must be asserted, or government itself cannot be asserted, even as a development. nature is no more self-sufficing than are the people, or than is the individual man. no doubt there is a natural law, which is law in the proper sense of the word law; but this is a positive law under which nature is placed by a sovereign above herself, and is never to be confounded with those laws of nature so-called, according to which she is productive as second cause, or produces her effects, which are not properly laws at all. fire burns, water flows, rain falls, birds fly, fishes swim, food nourishes, poisons kill, one substance has a chemical affinity for another, the needle points to the pole, by a natural law, it is said; that is, the effects are produced by an inherent and uniform natural force. laws in this sense are simply physical forces, and are nature herself. the natural law, in an ethical sense, is not a physical law, is not a natural force, but a law impose by the creator on all moral creatures, that is, all creatures endowed with reason and free-will, and is called natural because promulgated in natural reason, or the reason common and essential to all moral creatures. this is the moral law. it is what the french call le droit naturell, natural right, and, as the theologians teach us, is the transcript of the eternal law, the eternal will or reason of god. it is the foundation of all law, and all acts of a state that contravene it are, as st. augustine maintains, violences rather than laws. the moral law is no development of nature, for it is above nature, and is imposed on nature. the only development there is about it is in our understanding of it. there is, of course, development in nature, for nature considered as creation has been created in germ, and is completed only in successive developments. hence the origin of space and time. there would have been no space if there had been no external creation, and no time if the creation had been completed externally at once, as it was in relation to the creator. ideal space is simply the ability of god to externize his creative act, and actual space is the relation of coexistence in the things created; ideal time is the ability of god to create existences with the capacity of being completed by successive developments, and actual time is the relation of these in the order of succession, and when the existence is completed or consummated development ceases, and time is no more. in relation to himself the creator's works are complete from the first, and hence with him there is no time, for there is no succession. but in relation to itself creation is incomplete, and there is room for development, which may be continued till the whole possibility of creation is actualized. here is the foundation of what is true in the modern doctrine of progress. man is progressive, because the possibilities of his nature are successively unfolded and actualized. development is a fact, and its laws and conditions may be scientifically ascertained and defined. all generation is development, as is all growth, physical, moral, or intellectual. but everything is developed in its own order, and after its kind. the darwinian theory of the development of species is not sustained by science. the development starts from the germ, and in the germ is given the law or principle of the development. from the acorn is developed the oak, never the pine or the linden. every kind generates its kind, never another. but no development is, strictly speaking, spontaneous, or the result alone of the inherent energy or force of the germ developed. there is not only a solidarity of race, but in some sense of all races, or species; all created things are bound to their creator, and to one another. one and the same law or principle of life pervades all creation, binding the universe together in a unity that copies or imitates the unity of the creator. no creature is isolated from the rest, or absolutely independent of others. all are parts of one stupendous whole, and each depends on the whole, and the whole on each, and each on each. all creatures are members of one body, and members one of another. the germ of the oak is in the acorn, but the acorn left to itself alone can never grow into the oak, any more than a body at rest can place itself in motion. lay the acorn away in your closet, where it is absolutely deprived of air, heat, and moisture, and in vain will you watch for its germination. germinate it cannot without some external influence, or communion, so to speak, with the elements from which it derives its sustenance and support. there can be no absolutely spontaneous development. all things are doubtless active, for nothing exists except in so far as it is an active force of some sort; but only god himself alone suffices for his own activity. all created things are dependent, have not their being in themselves, and are real only as they participate, through the creative act, of the divine being. the germ can no more be developed than it could exist without god, and no more develop itself than it could create itself. what is called the law of development is in the germ; but that law or force can operate only in conjunction with another force or other forces. all development, as all growth, is by accretion or assimilation. the assimilating force is, if you will, in the germ, but the matter assimilated comes and must come from abroad. every herdsman knows it, and knows that to rear his stock he must supply them with appropriate food; every husbandman knows it, and knows that to raise a crop of corn, he must plant the seed in a soil duly prepared, and which will supply the gases needed for its germination, growth, flowering, boiling, and ripening. in all created things, in all things not complete in themselves, in all save god, in whom there is no development possible, for he is, as say the schoolmen, most pure act, in whom there is no unactualized possibility, the same law holds good. development is always the resultant of two factors, the one the thing itself, the other some external force co-operating with it, exciting it, and aiding it to act. hence the praemotio physica of the thomists, and the praevenient and adjuvant grace of the theologians, without which no one can begin the christian life, and which must needs be supernatural when the end is supernatural. the principle of life in all orders is the same, and human activity no more suffices for itself in one order than in another. here is the reason why the savage tribe never rises to a civilized state without communion in some form with a people already civilized, and why there is no moral or intellectual development and progress without education and instruction, consequently without instructors and educators. hence the value of tradition; and hence, as the first man could not instruct himself, christian theologians, with a deeper philosophy than is dreamed of by the sciolists of the age, maintain that god himself was man's first teacher, or that he created adam a full-grown man, with all his faculties developed, complete, and in full activity. hence, too, the heathen mythologies, which always contain some elements of truth, however they may distort, mutilate, or travesty them, make the gods the first teachers of the human race, and ascribe to their instruction even the most simple and ordinary arts of every-day life. the gods teach men to plough, to plant, to reap, to work in iron, to erect a shelter from the storm, and to build a fire to warm them and to cook their food. the common sense, as well as the common traditions of mankind, refuses to accept the doctrine that men are developed without foreign aid, or progressive without divine assistance. nature of herself can no more develop government than it can language. there can be no language without society, and no society without language. there can be no government without society, and no society without government of some sort. but even if nature could spontaneously develop herself, she could never develop an institution that has the right to govern, for she has not herself that right. nature is not god, has not created us, therefore has not the right of property in us. she is not and cannot be our sovereign. we belong not to her, nor does she belong to herself, for she is herself creature, and belongs to her creator. not being in herself sovereign, she cannot develop the right to govern, nor can she develop government as a fact, to say nothing of its right, for government, whether we speak of it as fact or as authority, is distinct from that which is governed; but natural developments are nature, and indistinguishable from her. the governor and the governed, the restrainer and the restrained, can never as such be identical. self-government, taken strictly, is a contradiction in terms. when an individual is said to govern himself, he is never understood to govern himself in the sense in which he is governed. he by his reason and will governs or restrains his appetites and passions. it is man as spirit governing man as flesh, the spiritual mind governing the carnal mind. natural developments cannot in all cases be even allowed to take their own course without injury to nature herself. "follow nature" is an unsafe maxim, if it means, leave nature to develop herself as she will, and follow thy natural inclinations. nature is good, but inclinations are frequently bad. all our appetites and passions are given us for good, for a purpose useful and necessary to individual and social life, but they become morbid and injurious if indulged without restraint. each has its special object, and naturally seeks it exclusively, and thus generates discord and war in the individual, which immediately find expression in society, and also in the state, if the state be a simple natural development. the christian maxim, deny thyself, is far better than the epicurean maxim, enjoy thyself, for there is no real enjoyment without self-denial. there is deep philosophy in christian asceticism, as the positivists themselves are aware, and even insist. but christian asceticism aims not to destroy nature, as voluptuaries pretend, but to regulate, direct, and restrain its abnormal developments for its own good. it forces nature in her developments to submit to a law which is not in her, but above her. the positivists pretend that this asceticism is itself a natural development, but that cannot be a natural development which directs, controls, and restrains natural development. the positivists confound nature at one time with the law of nature, and at another the law of nature with nature herself, and take what is called the natural law to be a natural development. here is their mistake, as it is the mistake of all who accept naturalistic theories. society, no doubt, is authorized by the law of nature to institute and maintain government. but the law of nature is not a natural development, nor is it in nature, or any part of nature. it is not a natural force which operates in nature, and which is the developing principle of nature. do they say reason is natural, and the law of nature is only reason? this is not precisely the fact. the natural law is law proper, and is reason only in the sense that reason includes both intellect and will, and nobody can pretend that nature in her spontaneous developments acts from intelligence and volition. reason, as the faculty of knowing, is subjective and natural; but in the sense in which it is coincident with the natural law, it is neither subjective nor natural, but objective and divine, and is god affirming himself and promulgating his law to his creature, man. it is, at least, an immediate participation of the divine by which he reveals himself and his will to the human understanding, and is not natural, but supernatural, in the sense that god himself is supernatural. this is wherefore reason is law, and every man is bound to submit or conform to reason. that legitimate governments are instituted under the natural law is frankly conceded, but this is by no means the concession of government as a natural development. the reason and will of which the natural law is the expression are the reason and will of god. the natural law is the divine law as much as the revealed law itself, and equally obligatory. it is not a natural force developing itself in nature, like the law of generation, for instance, and therefore proceeding from god as first cause, but it proceeds from god as final cause, and is, therefore, theological, and strictly a moral law, founding moral rights and duties. of course, all morality and all legitimate government rest on this law, or, if you will, originate in it. but not therefore in nature, but in the author of nature. the authority is not the authority of nature, but of him who holds nature in the hollow of his hand. v. in the seventeenth century a class of political writers who very well understood that no creature, no man, no number of men, not even, nature herself, can be inherently sovereign, defended the opinion that governments are founded, constituted, and clothed with their authority by the direct and express appointment of god himself. they denied that rulers hold their power from the nation; that, however oppressive may be their rule, that they are justiciable by any human tribunal, or that power, except by the direct judgment of god, is amissible. their doctrine is known in history as the doctrine of "the divine right of kings, and passive obedience." all power, says st. paul, is from god, and the powers that be are ordained of god, and to resist them is to resist the ordination of god. they must be obeyed for conscience' sake. it would, perhaps, be rash to say that this doctrine had never been broached before the seventeenth century, but it received in that century, and chiefly in england, its fullest and most systematic developments. it was patronized by the anglican divines, asserted by james i. of england, and lost the stuarts the crown of three kingdoms. it crossed the channel, into france, where it found a few hesitating and stammering defenders among catholics, under louis xiv., but it has never been very generally held, though it has had able and zealous supporters. in england it was opposed by all the presbyterians, puritans, independents, and republicans, and was forgotten or abandoned by the anglican divines themselves in the revolution of , that expelled james ii. and crowned william and mary. it was ably refuted by the jesuit suarez in his reply to a remonstrance for the divine right of kings by the james i.; and a spanish monk who had asserted it in madrid, under philip ii., was compelled by the inquisition to retract it publicly in the place where he had asserted it. all republicans reject it, and the church has never sanctioned it. the sovereign pontiffs have claimed and exercised the right to deprive princes of their principality, and to absolve their subjects from the oath of fidelity. whether the popes rightly claimed and exercised that power is not now the question; but their having claimed and exercised it proves that the church does not admit the inamissibility of power and passive obedience; for the action of the pope was judicial, not legislative. the pope has never claimed the right to depose a prince till by his own act he has, under the moral law or the constitution of his state, forfeited his power, nor to absolve subjects from their allegiance till their oath, according to its true intent and meaning, has ceased to bind. if the church has always asserted with the apostle there is no power but from god--non est potestas nisi a deo--she has always through her doctors maintained that it is a trust to be exercised for the public good, and is forfeited when persistently exercised in a contrary sense. st. augustine, st. thomas, and suarez all maintain that unjust laws are violences rather than laws, and do not oblige, except in charity or prudence, and that the republic may change its magistrates, and even its constitution, if it sees proper to do so. that god, as universal creator, is sovereign lord and proprietor of all created things or existences, visible or invisible, is certain; for the maker has the absolute right to the thing made; it is his, and he may do with it as he will. as he is sole creator, he alone hath dominion; and as he is absolute creator, he has absolute dominion over all the things which he has made. the guaranty against oppression is his own essential nature, is in the plenitude of his own being, which is the plenitude of wisdom and goodness. he cannot contradict himself, be other than he is, or act otherwise than according to his own essential nature. as he is, in his own eternal and immutable essence, supreme reason and supreme good, his dominion must always in its exercise be supremely good and supremely reasonable, therefore supremely just and equitable. from him certainly is all power; he is unquestionably king of kings, and lord of lords. by him kings reign and magistrates decree just things. he may, at his will, set up or pull down kings, rear or overwhelm empires, foster the infant colony, and make desolate the populous city. all this is unquestionably true, and a simple dictate of reason common to all men. but in what sense is it true? is it true in a supernatural sense? or is it true only in the sense that it is true that by him we breathe, perform any or all of our natural functions, and in him live, and move, and have our being? viewed in their first cause, all things are the immediate creation of god, and are supernatural, and from the point of view of the first cause the scriptures usually speak, for the great purpose and paramount object of the sacred writers, as of religion itself, is to make prominent the fact that god is universal creator, and supreme governor, and therefore the first and final cause of all things. but god creates second causes, or substantial existences, capable themselves of acting and producing effects in a secondary sense, and hence he is said to be causa causarum, cause of causes. what is done by these second causes or creatures is done eminently by him, for they exist only by his creative act, and produce only by virtue of his active presence, or effective concurrence. what he does through them or through their agency is done by him, not immediately, but mediately, and is said to be done naturally, as what he does immediately is said to be done supernaturally. natural is what god does through second causes, which he creates; supernatural is that which he does by himself alone, without their intervention or agency. sovereignty, or the right to govern, is in him, and he may at his will delegate it to men either mediately or immediately, by a direct and express appointment, or mediately through nature. in the absence of all facts proving its delegation direct and express, it must be assumed to be mediate, through second causes. the natural is always to be presumed, and the supernatural is to be admitted only on conclusive proof. the people of israel had a supernatural vocation, and they received their law, embracing their religious and civil constitution and their ritual directly from god at the hand of moses, and various individuals from time to time appear to have been specially called to be their judges, rulers, or kings. saul was so called, and so was david. david and his line appear, also, to have been called not only to supplant saul and his line, but to have been supernaturally invested with the kingdom forever; but it does not appear that the royal power with which david and his line were invested was inamissible. they lost it in the babylonish captivity, and never afterwards recovered it. the asmonean princes were of another line, and when our lord came the sceptre was in the hands of herod, an idumean or edomite. the promise made, to david and his house is generally held by christian commentators to have received its fulfilment in the everlasting spiritual royalty of the messiah, sprung through mary from david's line. the christian church is supernaturally constituted and supernaturally governed, but the persons selected to exercise powers supernaturally defined, from the sovereign pontiff down to the humblest parish priest are selected and inducted into office through human agency. the gentiles very generally claimed to have received their laws from the gods, but it does not appear, save in exceptional cases, that they claimed that their princes were designated and held their powers by the direct and express appointment of the god. save in the case of the jews, and that of the church, there is no evidence that any particular government exists or ever has existed by direct or express appointment, or otherwise than by the action of the creator through second causes, or what is called his ordinary providence. except david and his line, there is no evidence of the express grant by the divine sovereign to any individual or family, class or caste of the government of any nation or country. even those christian princes who professed to reign "by the grace of god," never claimed that they received their principalities from god otherwise than through his ordinary providence, and meant by it little more than an acknowledgment of their dependence on him, their obligation to use their power according to his law and their accountability to him for the use they make of it. the doctrine is not favorable to human liberty, for it recognizes no rights of man in face of civil society. it consecrates tyranny, and makes god the accomplice of the tyrant, if we suppose all governments have actually existed by his express appointment. it puts the king in the place of god, and requires us to worship in him the immediate representative of the divine being. power is irresponsible and inamissible, and however it may be abused, or however corrupt and oppressive may be its exercise, there is no human redress. resistance to power is resistance to god. there is nothing for the people but passive obedience and unreserved submission. the doctrine, in fact, denies all human government, and allows the people no voice in the management of their own affairs, and gives no place for human activity. it stands opposed to all republicanism, and makes power an hereditary and indefeasible right, not a trust which he who holds it may forfeit, and of which he may be deprived if he abuses it. chapter vi. origin of government--concluded. vi. the theory which derives the right of government from the direct and express appointment of god is sometimes modified so as to mean that civil authority is derived from god through the spiritual authority. the patriarch combined in his person both authorities, and was in his own household both priest and king, and so originally was in his own tribe the chief, and in his kingdom the king. when the two offices became separated is not known. in the time of abraham they were still united. melchisedech, king of salem, was both priest and king, and the earliest historical records of kings present them as offering sacrifices. even the roman emperor was pontifex maximus as well as imperator, but that was so not because the two offices were held to be inseparable, but because they were both conferred on the same person by the republic. in egypt, in the time of moses, the royal authority and the priestly were separated and held by different persons. moses, in his legislation for his nation, separated them, and instituted a sacerdotal order or caste. the heads of tribes and the heads of families are, under his law, princes, but not priests, and the priesthood is conferred on and restricted to his own tribe of levi, and more especially the family of his own brother aaron. the priestly office by its own nature is superior to the kingly, and in all primitive nations with a separate, organized priesthood, whether a true priesthood or a corrupt, the priest is held to be above the king, elects or establishes the law by which is selected the temporal chief, and inducts him into his office, as if he received his authority from god through the priesthood. the christian priesthood is not a caste, and is transmitted by the election of grace, not as with the israelites and all sacerdotal nations, by natural generation. like him whose priests they are, christian priests are priests after the order of melchisedech, who was without priestly descent, without father or mother of the priestly line. but in being priests after the order of melchisedech, they are both priests and kings, as melchisedech was, and as was our lord himself, to whom was given by his father all power in heaven and in earth. the pope, or supreme pontiff, is the vicar of our lord on earth, his representative--the representative not only of him who is our invisible high-priest, but of him who is king of kings and lord of lords, therefore of both the priestly and the kingly power. consequently, no one can have any mission to govern in the state any more than in the church, unless derived from god directly or indirectly through the pope or supreme pontiff. many theologians and canonists in the middle ages so held, and a few perhaps hold so still. the bulls and briefs of several popes, as gregory vii., innocent ill., gregory ix., innocent iv., and boniface viii., have the appearance of favoring it. at one period the greater part of the medieval kingdoms and principalities were fiefs of the holy see, and recognized the holy father as their suzerain. the pope revived the imperial dignity in the person of charlemagne, and none could claim that dignity in the western world unless elected and crowned by him, that is, unless elected directly by the pope or by electors designated by him, and acting under his authority. there can be no question that the spiritual is superior to the temporal, and that the temporal is bound in the very nature of things to conform to the spiritual, and any law enacted by the civil power in contravention of the law of god is null and void from the beginning. this is what mr. seward meant by the higher law, a law higher even than the constitution of the united states. supposing this higher law, and supposing that kings and princes hold from god through the spiritual society, it is very evident that the chief of that society would have the right to deprive them, and to absolve their subjects, as on several occasions he actually has done. but this theory has never been a dogma of the church, nor, to any great extent, except for a brief period, maintained by theologians or canonists. the pope conferred the imperial dignity on charlemagne and his successors, but not the civil power, at least out of the pope's own temporal dominions. the emperor of germany was at first elected by the pope, and afterwards by hereditary electors designated or accepted by him, but the king of the germans with the full royal authority could be elected and enthroned without the papal intervention or permission. the suzerainty of the holy see over italy, naples, aragon, muscovy, england, and other european states, was by virtue of feudal relations, not by virtue of the spiritual authority of the holy see or the vicarship of the holy father. the right to govern under feudalism was simply an estate, or property; and as the church could acquire and hold property, nothing prevented her holding fiefs, or her chief from being suzerain. the expressions in the papal briefs and bulls, taken in connection with the special relations existing between the pope and emperor in the middle ages, and his relations with other states as their feudal sovereign, explained by the controversies concerning rights growing out of these relations, will be found to give no countenance to the theory in question. these relations really existed, and they gave the pope certain temporal rights in certain states, even the temporal supremacy, as he has still in what is left him of the states of the church; but they were exceptional or accidental relations, not the universal and essential relations between the church and the state. the rights that grew out of these relations were real rights, sacred and inviolable, but only where and while the relations subsisted. they, for the most part, grew out of the feudal system introduced into the roman empire by its barbarian conquerors, and necessarily ceased with the political order in which they originated. undoubtedly the church consecrated civil rulers, but this did not imply that they received their power or right to govern from god through her; but implied that their persons were sacred, and that violence to them would be sacrilege; that they held the christian faith, and acknowledged themselves bound to protect it, and to govern their subjects justly, according to the law of god. the church, moreover, has always recognized the distinction of the two powers, and although the pope owes to the fact that he is chief of the spiritual society, his temporal principality, no theologian or canonist of the slightest respectability would argue that he derives his rights as temporal sovereign from his rights as pontiff. his rights as pontiff depend on the express appointment of god; his rights as temporal prince are derived from the same source from which other princes derive their rights, and are held by the same tenure. hence canonists have maintained that the subjects of other states may even engage in war with the pope as prince, without breach of their fidelity to him as pontiff or supreme visible head of the church. the church not only distinguishes between the two powers, but recognizes as legitimate, governments that manifestly do not derive from god through her. st. paul enjoins obedience to the roman emperors for conscience' sake, and the church teaches that infidels and heretics may have legitimate government; and if she has ever denied the right of any infidel or heretical prince, it has been on the ground that the constitution and laws of his principality require him to profess and protect the catholic faith. she tolerates resistance in a non-catholic state no more than in a catholic state to the prince; and if she has not condemned and cut off from her communion the catholics who in our struggle have joined the secessionists and fought in their ranks against the united states, it is because the prevalence of the doctrine of state sovereignty has seemed to leave a reasonable doubt whether they were really rebels fighting against their legitimate sovereign or not. no doubt, as the authority of the church is derived immediately from god in a supernatural manner, and as she holds that the state derives its authority only mediately from him, in a natural mode, she asserts the superiority of her authority, and that, in case of conflict between the two powers, the civil must yield. but this is only saying that supernatural is above natural. but--and this is the important point--she does not teach, nor permit the faithful to hold, that the supernatural abrogates the natural, or in any way supersedes it. grace, say the theologians, supposes nature, gratia supponit naturam. the church in the matter of government accepts the natural, aids it, elevates it, and is its firmest support. vii. st. augustine, st. gregory magnus, st. thomas, bellarmin, suarez, and the theologians generally, hold that princes derive their power from god through the people, or that the people, though not the source, are the medium of all political authority, and therefore rulers are accountable for the use they make of their power to both god and the people. this doctrine agrees with the democratic theory in vesting sovereignty in the people, instead of the king or the nobility, a particular individual, family, class, or caste; and differs from it, as democracy is commonly explained, in understanding by the people, the people collectively, not individually--the organic people, or people fixed to a given territory, not the people as a mere population--the people in the republican sense of the word nation, not in the barbaric or despotic sense; and in deriving the sovereignty from god, from whom is all power, and except from whom there is and can be no power, instead of asserting it as the underived and indefeasible right of the people in their "own native right and might." the people not being god, and being only what philosophers call a second cause, they are and can be sovereign only in a secondary and relative sense. it asserts the divine origin of power, while democracy asserts its human origin. but as, under the law of nature, all men are equal, or have equal rights as men, one man has and can have in himself no right to govern another; and as man is never absolutely his own, but always and everywhere belongs to his creator, it is clear that no government originating in humanity alone can be a legitimate government. every such government is founded on the assumption that man is god, which is a great mistake--is, in fact, the fundamental sophism which underlies every error and every sin. the divine origin of government, in the sense asserted by christian theologians, is never found distinctly set forth in the political writings of the ancient greek and roman writers. gentile philosophy had lost the tradition of creation, as some modern philosophers, in so-called christian nations, are fast losing it, and were as unable to explain the origin of government as they were the origin of man himself. even plato, the profoundest of all ancient philosophers, and the most faithful to the traditionary wisdom of the race, lacks the conception of creation, and never gets above that of generation and formation. things are produced by the divine being impressing his own ideas, eternal in his own mind, on a pre-existing matter, as a seal on wax. aristotle teaches substantially the same doctrine. things eternally exist as matter and form, and all the divine intelligence does, is to unite the form to the matter, and change it, as the schoolmen say, from materia informis to materia formata. even the christian platonists and peripatetics never as philosophers assert creation; they assert it, indeed, but as theologians, as a fact of revelation, not as a fact of science; and hence it is that their theology and their philosophy never thoroughly harmonize, or at least are not shown to harmonize throughout. speaking generally, the ancient gentile philosophers were pantheists, and represented the universe either as god or as an emanation from god. they had no proper conception of providence, or the action of god in nature through natural agencies, or as modern physicists say, natural laws. if they recognized the action of divinity at all, it was a supernatural or miraculous intervention of some god. they saw no divine intervention in any thing naturally explicable, or explicable by natural laws. having no conception of the creative act, they could have none of its immanence, or the active and efficacious presence of the creator in all his works, even in the action of second causes themselves. hence they could not assert the divine origin of government, or civil authority, without supposing it supernaturally founded, and excluding all human and natural agencies from its institution. their writings may be studied with advantage on the constitution of the state, on the practical workings of different forms of government, as well as on the practical administration of affairs, but never on the origin of the state, and the real ground of its authority. the doctrine is derived from christian theology, which teaches that there is no power except from god, and enjoins civil obedience as a religious duty. conscience is accountable to god alone, and civil government, if it had only a natural or human origin, could not bind it. yet christianity makes the civil law, within its legitimate sphere, as obligatory on conscience as the divine law itself, and no man is blameless before god who is not blameless before the state. no man performs faithfully his religious duties who neglects his civil duties, and hence, the law of the church allows no one to retire from the world and enter a religious order, who has duties that bind him or her to the family or the state; though it is possible that the law is not always strictly observed, and that individuals sometimes enter a convent for the sake of getting rid of those duties, or the equally important duty of taking care of themselves. but by asserting the divine origin of government, christianity consecrates civil authority, clothes it with a religious character, and makes civil disobedience, sedition, insurrection, rebellion, revolution, civil turbulence of any sort or degree, sins against god as well as crimes against the state. for the same reason she makes usurpation, tyranny, oppression of the people by civil rulers, offences against god as well as against society, and cognizable by the spiritual authority. after the establishment of the christian church, after its public recognition, and when conflicting claims arose between the two powers--the civil and the ecclesiastical--this doctrine of the divine origin of civil government was abused, and turned against the church with most disastrous consequences. while the roman empire of the west subsisted, and even after its fall, so long as the emperor of the east asserted and practically maintained his authority in the exarchate of ravenna and the duchy of rome, the popes comported themselves, in civil matters, as subjects of the roman emperor, and set forth no claim to temporal independence. but when the emperor had lost rome, and all his possessions in italy, had abandoned them, or been deprived of them by the barbarians, and ceased to make any efforts to recover them, the pope was no longer a subject, even in civil matters, of the emperor, and owed him no civil allegiance. he became civilly independent of the roman empire, and had only spiritual relations with it. to the new powers that sprang up in europe he appears never to have acknowledged any civil subjection, and uniformly asserted, in face of them, his civil as well as spiritual independence. this civil independence the successors of charlemagne, who pretended to be the successors of the roman emperors of the west, and called their empire the holy roman empire, denied, and maintained that the pope owed them civil allegiance, or that, in temporals, the emperor was the pope's superior. if, said the emperor, or his lawyers for him, the civil power is from god, as it must be, since non est potestas nisi a deo, the state stands on the same footing with the church, and the imperial power emanates from as high a source as the pontifical. the emperor is then as supreme in temporals as the pope in spirituals, and as the emperor is subject to the pope in spirituals, so must the pope be subject to the emperor in temporals. as at the time when the dispute arose, the temporal interests of churchmen were so interwoven with their spiritual rights, the pretensions of the emperor amounted practically to the subjection in spirituals as well as temporals of the ecclesiastical authority to the civil, and absorbed the church in the state, the reasoning was denied, and churchmen replied: the pope represents the spiritual order, which is always and everywhere supreme over the temporal, since the spiritual order is the divine sovereignty itself. always and everywhere, then, is the pope independent of the emperor, his superior, and to subject him in any thing to the emperor would be as repugnant to reason as to subject the soul to the body, the spirit to the flesh, heaven to earth, or god to man. if the universal supremacy claimed for the pope, rejoined the imperialists, be conceded, the state would be absorbed in the church, the autonomy of civil society would be destroyed, and civil rulers would have no functions but to do the bidding of the clergy. it would establish a complete theocracy, or, rather, clerocracy, of all possible governments the government the most odious to mankind, and the most hostile to social progress. even the jews could not, or would not, endure it, and prayed god to give them a king, that they might be like other nations. in the heat of the controversy neither party clearly and distinctly perceived the true state of the question, and each was partly right and partly wrong. the imperialists wanted room for the free activity of civil society, the church wanted to establish in that society the supremacy of the moral order, or the law of god, without which governments can have no stability, and society no real well-being. the real solution of the difficulty was always to be found in the doctrine of the church herself, and had been given time and again by her most approved theologians. the pope, as the visible head of the spiritual society, is, no doubt, superior to the emperor, not precisely because he represents a superior order, but because the church, of which he is the visible chief, is a supernatural institution, and holds immediately from god; whereas civil society, represented by the emperor, holds from god only mediately, through second causes, or the people. yet, though derived from god only through the people, civil authority still holds from god, and derives its right from him through another channel than the church or spiritual society, and, therefore, has a right, a sacredness, which the church herself gives not, and must recognize and respect. this she herself teaches in teaching that even infidels, as we have seen, may have legitimate government, and since, though she interprets and applies the law of god, both natural and revealed, she makes neither. nevertheless, the imperialists or the statists insisted on their false charge against the pope, that he labored to found a purely theocratic or clerocratic government, and finding themselves unable to place the representative of the civil society on the same level with the representative of the spiritual, or to emancipate the state from the law of god while they conceded the divine origin or right of government, they sought to effect its independence by asserting for it only a natural or purely human origin. for nearly two centuries the most popular and influential writers on government have rejected the divine origin and ground of civil authority, and excluded god from the state. they have refused to look beyond second causes, and have labored to derive authority from man alone. they have not only separated the state from the church as an external corporation, but from god as its internal lawgiver, and by so doing have deprived the state of her sacredness, inviolability, or hold on the conscience, scoffed at loyalty as a superstition, and consecrated not civil authority, but what is called "the right of insurrection." under their teaching the age sympathizes not with authority in its efforts to sustain itself and protect society, but with those who conspire against it--the insurgents, rebels, revolutionists seeking its destruction. the established government that seeks to enforce respect for its legitimate authority and compel obedience to the laws, is held to be despotic, tyrannical, oppressive, and resistance to it to be obedience to god, and a wild howl rings through christendom against the prince that will not stand still and permit the conspirators to cut his throat. there is hardly a government now in the civilized world that can sustain itself for a moment without an armed force sufficient to overawe or crush the party or parties in permanent conspiracy against it. this result is not what was aimed at or desired, but it is the logical or necessary result of the attempt to erect the state on atheistical principles. unless founded on the divine sovereignty, authority can sustain itself only by force, for political atheism recognizes no right but might. no doubt the politicians have sought an atheistical, or what is the same thing, a purely human, basis for government, in order to secure an open field for human freedom and activity, or individual or social progress. the end aimed at has been good, laudable even, but they forgot that freedom is possible only with authority that protects it against license as well as against despotism, and that there can be no progress where there is nothing that is not progressive. in civil society two things are necessary--stability and movement. the human is the element of movement, for in it are possibilities that can be only successively actualized. but the element of stability can be found only in the divine, in god, in whom there is no unactualized possibility, who, therefore, is immovable, immutable, and eternal. the doctrine that derives authority from god through the people, recognizes in the state both of these elements, and provides alike for stability and progress. this doctrine is not mere theory; it simply states the real order of things. it is not telling what ought to be, but what is in the real order. it only asserts for civil government the relation to god which nature herself holds to him, which the entire universe holds to the creator. nothing in man, in nature, in the universe, is explicable without the creative act of god, for nothing exists without that act. that god "in the beginning created heaven and earth," is the first principle of all science as of all existences, in politics no less than in theology. god and creation comprise all that is or exists, and creation, though distinguishable from god as the act from the actor, is inseparable from him, "for in him we live and move and have our being." all creatures are joined to him by his creative act, and exist only as through that act they participate of his being. through that act he is immanent as first cause in all creatures and in every act of every creature. the creature deriving from his creative act can no more continue to exist than it could begin to exist without it. it is as bad philosophy as theology, to suppose that god created the universe, endowed it with certain laws of development or activity, wound it up, gave it a jog, set it agoing, and then left it to go of itself. it cannot go of itself, because it does not exist of itself. it did not merely not begin to exist, but it cannot continue to exist, without the creative act. old epicurus was a sorry philosopher, or rather, no philosopher at all. providence is as necessary as creation, or rather, providence is only continuous creation, the creative act not suspended or discontinued, or not passing over from the creature and returning to god. through the creative act man participates of god, and he can continue to exist, act, or live only by participating through it of his divine being. there is, therefore, something of divinity, so to speak, in every creature, and therefore it is that god is worshipped in his works without idolatry. but he creates substantial existences capable of acting as second causes. hence, in all living things there is in their life a divine element and a natural element; in what is called human life, there are the divine and the human, the divine as first and the human as second cause, precisely what the doctrine of the great christian theologians assert to be the fact with all legitimate or real government. government cannot exist without the efficacious presence of god any more than man himself, and men might as well attempt to build up a world as to attempt to found a state without god. a government founded on atheistical principles were less than a castle in the air. it would have nothing to rest on, would not be even so much as "the baseless fabric of a vision," and they who imagine that they really do exclude god from their politics deceive themselves; for they accept and use principles which, though they know it not, are god. what they call abstract principles, or abstract forms of reason, without which there were no logic, are not abstract, but the real, living god himself. hence government, like man himself, participates of the divine being, and, derived from god through the people, it at the same time participates of human reason and will, thus reconciling authority with freedom, and stability with progress. the people, holding their authority from god, hold it not as an inherent right, but as a trust from him, and are accountable to him for it. it is not their own. if it were their own they might do with it as they pleased, and no one would have any right to call them to an account; but holding it as a trust from god, they are under his law, and bound to exercise it as that law prescribes. civil rulers, holding their authority from god through the people, are accountable for it both to him and to them. if they abuse it they are justiciable by the people and punishable by god himself. here is the guaranty against tyranny, oppression, or bad government, or what in modern times is called the responsibility of power. at the same time the state is guarantied against sedition, insurrection, rebellion, revolution, by the elevation of the civic virtues to the rank of religious, virtues, and making loyalty a matter of conscience. religion is brought to the aid of the state, not indeed as a foreign auxiliary, but as integral in the political order itself. religion sustains the state, not because it externally commands us to obey the higher powers, or to be submissive to the powers that be, not because it trains the people to habits of obedience, and teaches them to be resigned and patient under the grossest abuses of power, but because it and the state are in the same order, and inseparable, though distinct, parts of one and the same whole. the church and the state, as corporations or external governing bodies, are indeed separate in their spheres, and the church does not absorb the state, nor does the state the church; but both are from god, and both work to the same end, and when each is rightly understood there is no antithesis or antagonism between them. men serve god in serving the state as directly as in serving the church. he who dies on the battle-field fighting for his country ranks with him who dies at the stake for his faith. civic virtues are themselves religious virtues, or at least virtues without which there are no religious virtues, since no man who loves not his brother does or can love god. the guaranties offered the state or authority are ample, because it has not only conscience, moral sentiment, interest, habit, and the via inertia of the mass, but the whole physical force of the nation, at its command. the individual has, indeed, only moral guaranties against the abuse of power by the sovereign people, which may no doubt sometimes prove insufficient. but moral guaranties are always better than none, and there are none where the people are held to be sovereign in their own native right and might, organized or unorganized, inside or outside of the constitution, as most modern democratic theorists maintain; since, if so, the will of the people, however expressed, is the criterion of right and wrong, just and unjust, true and false, is infallible and impeccable, and no moral right can ever be pleaded against it; they are accountable to nobody, and, let them do what they please, they can do no wrong. this would place the individual at the mercy of the state, and deprive him of all right to complain, however oppressed or cruelly treated. this would establish the absolute despotism of the state, and deny every thing like the natural rights of man, or individual and personal freedom, as has already been shown. now as men do take part in government, and as men, either individually or collectively, are neither infallible nor impeccable, it is never to be expected, under any possible constitution or form of government, that authority will always be wisely and justly exercised, that wrong will ever be done, and the rights of individuals never in any instance be infringed; but with the clear understanding that all power is of god, that the political sovereignty is vested in the people or the collective body, that the civil rulers hold from god through them and are responsible to him through them, and justiciable by them, there is all the guaranty against the abuse of power by the nation, the political or organic people, that the nature of the case admits. the nation may, indeed, err or do wrong, but in the way supposed you get in the government all the available wisdom and virtue the nation has, and more is never, under any form or constitution of government, practicable or to be expected. it is a maxim with constitutional statesmen, that "the king reigns, not governs." the people, though sovereign under god, are not the government. the government is in their name and by virtue of authority delegated from god through them, but they are not it, are not their own ministers. it is only when the people forget this and undertake to be their own ministers and to manage their own affairs immediately by themselves instead of selecting agents to do it for them, and holding their agents to a strict account for their management, that they are likely to abuse their power or to sanction injustice. the nation may be misled or deceived for a moment by demagogues, those popular courtiers, but as a rule it is disposed to be just and to respect all natural rights. the wrong is done by individuals who assume to speak in their name, to wield their power, and to be themselves the state. l'etat, c'est moi. i am the state, said louis xiv. of france, and while that was conceded the french nation could have in its government no more wisdom or virtue than he possessed, or at least no more than he could appreciate. and under his government france was made responsible for many deeds that the nation would never have sanctioned, if it bad been recognized as the depositary of the national sovereignty, or as the french state, and answerable to god for the use it made of political power, or the conduct of its government. but be this as it may, there evidently can be no physical force in the nation to coerce the nation itself in case it goes wrong, for if the sovereignty vests in the nation, only the nation can rightly command or authorize the employment of force, and all commissions must run in its name. written constitutions alone will avail little, for they emanate from the people, who can disregard them, if they choose, and alter or revoke them at will. the reliance for the wisdom and justice of the state must after all be on moral guaranties. in the very nature of the case there are and can be no other. but these, placed in a clear light, with an intelligent and religious people, will seldom be found insufficient. hence the necessity for the protection, not of authority simply or chiefly, but of individual rights and the liberty of religion and intelligence in the nation, of the general understanding that the nation holds its power to govern as a trust from god, and that to god through the people all civil rulers are strictly responsible. let the mass of the people in any nation lapse into the ignorance and barbarism of atheism, or lose themselves in that supreme sophism called pantheism, the grand error of ancient as well as of modern gentilism, and liberty, social or political, except that wild kind of liberty, and perhaps not even that should be excepted, which obtains among savages, would be lost and irrecoverable. but after all, this theory does not meet all the difficulties of the case. it derives sovereignty from god, and thus asserts the divine origin of government in the sense that the origin of nature is divine; it derives it from god through the people, collectively, or as society, and therefore concedes it a natural, human, and social element, which distinguishes it from pure theocracy. it, however, does not explain how authority comes from god to the people. the ruler, king, prince, or emperor, holds from god through the people, but how do the people themselves hold from god? mediately or immediately? if mediately, what is the medium? surely not the people themselves. the people can no more be the medium than the principle of their own sovereignty. if immediately, then god governs in them as he does in the church, and no man is free to think or act contrary to popular opinion, or in any case to question the wisdom or justice of any of the acts of the state, which is arriving at state absolutism by another process. besides, this would theoretically exclude all human or natural activity, all human intelligence and free-will from the state, which were to fall into either pantheism or atheism. viii. the right of government to govern, or political authority, is derived by the collective people or society, from god through the law of nature. rulers hold from god through the people or nation, and the people or nation hold from god through the natural law. how nations are founded or constituted, or a particular people becomes a sovereign political people, invested with the rights of society, will be considered in following chapters. here it suffices to say that supposing a political people or nation, the sovereignty vests in the community, not supernaturally, or by an external supernatural appointment, as the clergy hold their authority, but by the natural law, or law by which god governs the whole moral creation. they who assert the origin of government in nature are right, so far as they derive it from god through the law of nature, and are wrong only when they understand by the law of nature the physical force or forces of nature, which are not laws in the primary and proper sense of the term. the law of nature is not the order or rule of the divine action in nature which is rightfully called providence, but is, as has been said, law in its proper and primary sense, ordained by the author of nature, as its sovereign and supreme lawgiver, and binds all of his creatures who are endowed with reason and free-will, and is called natural, because promulgated through the reason common to all men. undoubtedly, it was in the first instance, to the first man, supernaturally promulgated, as it is republished and confirmed by christianity, as an integral part of the christian code itself. man needs even yet instruction in relation to matters lying within the range of natural reason, or else secular schools, colleges, and universities would be superfluous, and manifestly the instructor of the first man could have been only the creator himself. the knowledge of the natural law has been transmitted from adam to us through two channels--reason, which is in every man, and in immediate relation with the creator, and the traditions of the primitive instruction embodied in language and what the romans call jus gentium, or law common to all civilized nations. under this law, whose prescriptions are promulgated through reason and embodied in universal jurisprudence, nations are providentially constituted, and invested with political sovereignty; and as they are constituted under this law and hold from god through it, it defines their respective rights and powers, their limitation and their extent. the political sovereignty, under the law of nature, attaches to the people, not individually, but collectively, as civil or political society. it is vested in the political community or nation, not in an individual, or family, or a class, because, under the natural law, all men are equal, as they are under the christian law, and one man has, in his own right, no authority over another. the family has in the father a natural chief, but political society has no natural chief or chiefs. the authority of the father is domestic, not political, and ceases when his children have attained to majority, have married and become heads of families themselves, or have ceased to make part of the paternal household. the recognition of the authority of the father beyond the limits of his own household, is, if it ever occurs, by virtue of the ordinance, the consent, express or tacit, of the political society. there are no natural-born political chiefs, and wherever we find men claiming or acknowledged to be such, they are either usurpers, what the greeks called tyrants, or they are made such by the will or constitution of the people or the nation. both monarchy and aristocracy were, no doubt, historically developed from the authority of the patriarchs, and have unquestionably been sustained by an equally false development of the right of property, especially landed property. the owner of the land, or he who claimed to own it, claimed as an incident of his ownership the right to govern it, and consequently to govern all who occupied it. but however valid may be the landlord's title to the soil, and it is doubtful if man can own any thing in land beyond the usufruct, it can give him under the law of nature no political right. property, like all natural rights, is entitled by the natural law to protection, but not to govern. whether it shall be made a basis of political power or not is a question of political prudence, to be determined by the supreme political authority. it was the basis, and almost exclusive basis, in the middle ages, under feudalism, and is so still in most states. france and the united states are the principal exceptions in christendom. property alone, or coupled with birth, is made elsewhere in some form a basis of political power, and where made so by the sovereign authority, it is legitimate, but not wise nor desirable; for it takes from the weak and gives to the strong. the rich have in their riches advantages enough over the poor, without receiving from the state any additional advantage. an aristocracy, in the sense of families distinguished by birth, noble and patriotic services, wealth, cultivation, refinement, taste, and manners, is desirable in every nation, is a nation's ornament, and also its chief support, but they need and should receive no political recognition. they should form no privileged class in the state or political society. chapter vii constitution of government. the constitution is twofold: the constitution of the state or nation, and the constitution of the government. the constitution of the government is, or is held to be, the work of the nation itself; the constitution of the state, or the people of the state, is, in its origin at least, providential, given by god himself, operating through historical events or natural causes. the one originates in law, the other in historical fact. the nation must exist, and exist as a political community, before it can give itself a constitution; and no state, any more than an individual, can exist without a constitution of some sort. the distinction between the providential constitution of the people and the constitution of the government, is not always made. the illustrious count de maistre, one of the ablest political philosophers who wrote in the last century, or the first quarter of the present, in his work on the generative principle of political constitutions, maintains that constitutions are generated, not made, and excludes all human agency from their formation and growth. disgusted with french jacobinism, from which he and his kin and country had suffered so much, and deeply wedded to monarchy in both church and state, he had the temerity to maintain that god creates expressly royal families for the government of nations, and that it is idle for a nation to expect a good government without a king who has descended from one of those divinely created royal families. it was with some such thought, most likely, that a french journalist, writing home from the united states, congratulated the american people on having a bonaparte in their army, so that when their democracy failed, as in a few years it was sure to do, they would have a descendant of a royal house to be their king or emperor. alas! the bonaparte has left us, and besides, he was not the descendant of a royal house, and was, like the present emperor of the french, a decided parvenu. still, the emperor of the french, if only a parvenu, bears himself right imperially among sovereigns, and has no peer among any of the descendants of the old royal families of europe. there is a truth, however, in de maistre's doctrine that constitutions are generated, or developed, not created de novo, or made all at once. but nothing is more true than that a nation can alter its constitution by its own deliberate and voluntary action, and many nations have done so, and sometimes for the better, as well as for the worse. if the constitution once given is fixed and unalterable, it must be wholly divine, and contain no human element, and the people have and can have no hand in their own government--the fundamental objection to the theocratic constitution of society. to assume it is to transfer to civil society, founded by the ordinary providence of god, the constitution of the church, founded by his gracious or supernatural providence, and to maintain that the divine sovereignty governs in civil society immediately and supernaturally, as in the spiritual society. but such is not the fact. god governs the nation by the nation itself, through its own reason and free-will. de maistre is right only as to the constitution the nation starts with, and as to the control which that constitution necessarily exerts over the constitutional changes the nation can successfully introduce. the disciples of jean jacques rousseau recognize no providential constitution, and call the written instrument drawn up by a convention of sovereign individuals the constitution, and the only constitution, both of the people and the government. prior to its adoption there is no government, no state, no political community or authority. antecedently to it the people are an inorganic mass, simply individuals, without any political or national solidarity. these individuals, they suppose, come together in their own native right and might, organize themselves into a political community, give themselves a constitution, and draw up and vote rules for their government, as a number of individuals might meet in a public hall and resolve themselves into a temperance society or a debating club. this might do very well if the state were, like the temperance society or debating club, a simple voluntary association, which men are free to join or not as they please, and which they are bound to obey no farther and no longer than suits their convenience. but the state is a power, a sovereignty; speaks to all within its jurisdiction with an imperative voice; commands, and may use physical force to compel obedience, when not voluntarily yielded. men are born its subjects, and no one can withdraw from it without its express or tacit permission, unless for causes that would justify resistance to its authority. the right of subjects to denationalize or expatriate themselves, except to escape a tyranny or an oppression which would forfeit the rights of power and warrant forcible resistance to it, does not exist, any more than the right of foreigners to become citizens, unless by the consent and authorization of the sovereign; for the citizen or subject belongs to the state, and is bound to it. the solidarity of the individuals composing the population of a territory or country under one political head is a truth; but "the solidarity of peoples," irrespective of the government or political authority of their respective countries, so eloquently preached a few years since by the hungarian kossuth, is not only a falsehood, but a falsehood destructive of all government and of all political organization. kossuth's doctrine supposes the people, or the populations of all countries, are, irrespective of their governments, bound together in solido, each for all and all for each, and therefore not only free, but bound, wherever they find a population struggling nominally for liberty against its government, to rush with arms in their hands to its assistance--a doctrine clearly incompatible with any recognition of political authority or territorial rights. peoples or nations commune with each other only through the national authorities, and when the state proclaims neutrality or non-intervention, all its subjects are bound to be neutral, and to abstain from all intervention on either side. there may be, and indeed there is, a solidarity, more or less distinctly recognized, of christian nations, but of the populations with and through their governments, not without them. still more strict is the solidarity of all the individuals of one and the same nation. these are all bound together, all for each and each for all. the individual is born into society and under the government, and without the authority of the government, which represents all and each, he cannot release himself from his obligations. the state is then by no means a voluntary association. every one born or adopted into it is bound to it, and cannot without its permission withdraw from it, unless, as just said, it is manifest that he can have under it no protection for his natural rights as a man, more especially for his rights of conscience. this is vattel's doctrine, and the dictate of common sense. the constitution drawn up, ordained, and established by a nation for itself is a law--the organic or fundamental law, if you will, but a law, and is and must be the act of the sovereign power. that sovereign power must exist before it can act, and it cannot exist, if vested in the people or nation, without a constitution, or without some sort of political organization of the people or nation. there must, then, be for every state or nation a constitution anterior to the constitution which the nation gives itself, and from which the one it gives itself derives all its vitality and legal force. logic and historical facts are here, as elsewhere, coincident, for creation and providence are simply the expression of the supreme logic, the logos, by whom all things are made. nations have originated in various ways, but history records no instance of a nation existing as an inorganic mass organizing itself into a political community. every nation, at its first appearance above the horizon, is found to have an organization of some sort. this is evident from the only ways in which history shows us nations originating. these ways are: . the union of families in the tribe. . the union of tribes in the nation. . the migration of families, tribes, or nations in search of new settlements. . colonization, military, agricultural, commercial, industrial, religious, or penal. . war and conquest. . the revolt, separation, and independence of provinces. . the intermingling of the conquerors and conquered, and by amalgamation forming a new people. these are all the ways known to history, and in none of these ways does a people, absolutely destitute of all organization, constitute itself a state, and institute and carry on civil government. the family, the tribe, the colony are, if incomplete, yet incipient states, or inchoate nations, with an organization, individuality, and a centre of social life of their own. the families and tribes that migrate in search of new settlements carry with them their family and tribal organizations, and retain it for a long time. the celtic tribes retained it in gaul till broken up by the roman conquest, under caesar augustus; in ireland, till the middle of the seventeenth century; and in scotland, till the middle of the eighteenth. it subsists still in the hordes of tartary, the arabs of the desert, and the berbers or kabyles of africa. colonies, of whatever description, have been founded, if not by, at least under, the authority of the mother country, whose political constitution, laws, manners, and customs they carry with them. they receive from the parent state a political organization, which, though subordinate, yet constitutes them embryonic states, with a unity, individuality, and centre of public life in themselves, and which, when they are detached and recognized as independent, render them complete states. war and conquest effect great national changes, but do not, strictly speaking, create new states. they simply extend and consolidate the power of the conquering state. provinces revolt and become independent states or nations, but only when they have previously existed as such, and have retained the tradition of their old constitution and independence; or when the administration has erected them into real though dependent political communities. a portion of the people of a state not so erected or organized, that has in no sense had a distinct political existence of its own, has never separated from the national body and formed a new and independent nation. it cannot revolt; it may rise up against the government, and either revolutionize and take possession of the state, or be put down by the government as an insurrection. the amalgamation of the conquering and the conquered forms a new people, and modifies the institutions of both, but does not necessarily form a new nation or political community. the english of to-day are very different from both the normans and the saxons, or dano-saxons, of the time of richard coeur de lion, but they constitute the same state or political community. england is still england. the roman empire, conquered by the northern barbarians, has been cut up into several separate and independent nations, but because its several provinces had, prior to their conquest by the roman arms, been independent nations or tribes, and more especially because the conquerors themselves were divided into several distinct nations or confederacies. if the barbarians had been united in a single nation or state, the roman empire most likely would have changed masters, indeed, but have retained its unity and its constitution, for the germanic nations that finally seated themselves on its ruins had no wish to destroy its name or nationality, for they were themselves more than half romanized before conquering rome. but the new nations into which the empire has been divided have never been, at any moment, without political or governmental organization, continued from the constitution of the conquering tribe or nation, modified more or less by what was retained from the empire. it is not pretended that the constitutions of states cannot be altered, or that every people starts with a constitution fully developed, as would seem to be the doctrine of de maistre. the constitution of the family is rather economical than political, and the tribe is far from being a fully developed state. strictly speaking, the state, the modern equivalent for the city of the greeks and romans, was not fully formed till men began to build and live in cities, and became fixed to a national territory. but in the first place, the eldest born of the human race, we are told, built a city, and even in cities we find traces of the family and tribal organization long after their municipal existence--in athens down to the macedonian conquest, and in rome down to the establishment of the empire; and, in the second place, the pastoral nations, though they have not precisely the city or state organization, yet have a national organization, and obey a national authority. strictly speaking, no pastoral nation has a civil or political constitution, but they have what in our modern tongues can be expressed by no other term. the feudal regime, which was in full vigor even in europe from the tenth to the close of the fourteenth century, had nothing to do with cities, and really recognized no state proper; yet who hesitates to speak of it as a civil or political system, though a very imperfect one? the civil order, as it now exists, was not fully developed in the early ages. for a long time the national organizations bore unmistakable traces of having been developed from the patriarchal, and modelled from the family or tribe, as they do still in all the non-christian world. religion itself, before the incarnation, bore traces of the same organization. even with the jews, religion was transmitted and diffused, not as under christianity by conversion, but by natural generation or family adoption. with all the gentile tribes or nations, it was the same. at first the father was both priest and king, and when the two offices were separated, the priests formed a distinct and hereditary class or caste, rejected by christianity, which, as we have seen, admits priests only after the order of melchisedech. the jews had the synagogue, and preserved the primitive revelation in its purity and integrity; but the greeks and romans, more fully than any other ancient nations, preserved or developed the political order that best conforms to the christian religion; and christianity, it is worthy of remark, followed in the track of the roman armies, and it gains a permanent establishment only where was planted, or where it is able to plant, the graeco-roman civilization. the graeco-roman republics were hardly less a schoolmaster to bring the world to christ in the civil order, than the jewish nation was to bring it to him in the spiritual order, or in faith and worship. in the christian order nothing is by hereditary descent, but every thing is by election of grace. the christian dispensation is teleological, palingenesiac, and the whole order, prior to the incarnation, was initial, genesiac, and continued by natural generation, as it is still in all nations and tribes outside of christendom. no non-christian people is a civilized people, and, indeed, the human race seems not anywhere, prior to the incarnation, to have attained to its majority: and it is, perhaps, because the race were not prepared for it, that the word was not sooner incarnated. he came only in the fulness of time, when the world was ready to receive him. the providential constitution is, in fact, that with which the nation is born, and is, as long as the nation exists, the real living and efficient constitution of the state. it is the source of the vitality of the state, that which controls or governs its action, and determines its destiny. the constitution which a nation is said to give itself, is never the constitution of the state, but is the law ordained by the state for the government instituted under it. thomas paine would admit nothing to be the constitution but a written document which he could fold up and put in his pocket, or file away in a pigeon-hole. the abbe sieyes pronounced politics a science which he had finished, and he was ready to turn you out constitutions to order, with no other defect than that they had, as carlyle wittily says, no feet, and could not go. many in the last century, and some, perhaps, in the present, for folly as well as wisdom has her heirs, confounded the written instrument with the constitution itself. no constitution can be written on paper or engrossed on parchment. what the convention may agree upon, draw up, and the people ratify by their votes, is no constitution, for it is extrinsic to the nation, not inherent and living in it--is, at best, legislative instead of constitutive. the famous magna charta drawn up by cardinal langton, and wrung from john lackland by the english barons at runnymede, was no constitution of england till long after the date of its concession, and even then was no constitution of the state, but a set of restrictions on power. the constitution is the intrinsic or inherent and actual constitution of the people or political community itself; that which makes the nation what it is, and distinguishes it from every other nation, and varies as nations themselves vary from one another. the constitution of the state is not a theory, nor is it drawn up and established in accordance with any preconceived theory. what is theoretic in a constitution is unreal. the constitutions conceived by philosophers in their closets are constitutions only of utopia or dreamland. this world is not governed by abstractions, for abstractions are nullities. only the concrete is real, and only the real or actual has vitality or force. the french people adopted constitution after constitution of the most approved pattern, and amid bonfires, beating of drums, sound of trumpets, roar of musketry, and thunder of artillery, swore, no doubt, sincerely as well as enthusiastically, to observe them, but all to no effect; for they had no authority for the nation, no hold on its affections, and formed no element of its life. the english are great constitution-mongers--for other nations. they fancy that a constitution fashioned after their own will fit any nation that can be persuaded, wheedled, or bullied into trying it on; but, unhappily, all that have tried it on have found it only an embarrassment or encumbrance. the doctor might as well attempt to give an individual a new constitution, or the constitution of another man, as the statesman to give a nation any other constitution than that which it has, and with which it is born. the whole history of europe, since the fall of the roman empire, proves this thesis. the barbarian conquest of rome introduced into the nations founded on the site of the empire, a double constitution--the barbaric and the civil--the germanic and the roman in the west, and the tartaric or turkish and the graeco-roman in the east. the key to all modern history is in the mutual struggles of these two constitutions and the interests respectively associated with them, which created two societies on the same territory, and, for the most part, under the same national denomination. the barbaric was the constitution of the conquerors; they had the power, the government, rank, wealth, and fashion, were reinforced down to the tenth century by fresh hordes of barbarians, and had even brought the external ecclesiastical society to a very great extent into harmony with itself. the pope became a feudal sovereign, and the bishops and mitred abbots feudal princes and barons. yet, after eight hundred years of fierce struggle, the roman constitution got the upper hand, and the barbaric constitution, as far as it could not be assimilated to the roman, was eliminated. the original empire of the west is now as thoroughly roman in its constitution, its laws, and its civilization, as it ever was under any of its christian emperors before the barbarian conquest. the same process is going on in the east, though it has not advanced so far, having begun there several centuries later, and the graeco-roman constitution was far feebler there than in the west at the epoch of the conquest. the germanic tribes that conquered the west had long had close relations with the empire, had served as its allies, and even in its armies, and were partially romanized. most of their chiefs had received a roman culture; and their early conversion to the christian faith facilitated the revival and permanence of the old roman constitution. in the east it was different. the conquerors had no touch of roman civilization, and, followers of the prophet, they were animated with an intense hatred, which, after the conquest, was changed into a superb contempt, of christians and romans. they had their civil constitution in the koran; and the koran, in its principles, doctrines, and spirit, is exclusive and profoundly intolerant. the graeco-roman constitution was always much weaker in the east, and had far greater obstacles to overcome there than in the west; yet it has survived the shock of the conquest. throughout the limits of the ancient empire of the east, the barbaric constitution has received and is daily receiving rude blows, and, but as reenforced by barbarians lying outside of the boundaries of that empire, would be no longer able to sustain itself. the greek or christian populations of the empire are no longer in danger of being exterminated or absorbed by the mohammedan state or population. they are the only living and progressive people of the ottoman empire, and their complete success in absorbing or expelling the turk is only a question of time. they will, in all present probability, reestablish a christian and roman east in much less time from the fall of constantinople in , than it took the west from the fall of rome in to put an end to the feudal or barbaric constitution founded by its germanic invaders. indeed, the roman constitution, laws, and civilization not only gain the mastery in the nations seated within the limits of the old roman empire, but extend their power through out the whole civilized world. the graeco-roman civilization is, in fact, the only civilization now recognized, and nations are accounted civilized only in proportion as they are romanized and christianized. the roman law, as found in the institutes, pandects, and novellae of justinian, or the corpus legis civilis, is the basis of the law and jurisprudence of all christendom. the graeco-roman civilization, called not improperly christian civilization, is the only progressive civilization. the old feudal system remains in england little more than an empty name. the king is only the first magistrate of the kingdom, and the house of lords is only an hereditary senate. austria is hard at work in the roman direction, and finds her chief obstacle to success in hungary, with the magyars whose feudalism retains almost the full vigor of the middle ages. russia is moving in the same direction; and prussia and the smaller germanic states obey the same impulse. indeed, rome has survived the conquest--has conquered her conquerors, and now invades every region from which they came. the roman empire may be said to be acknowledged and obeyed in lands lying far beyond the farthest limits reached by the roman eagles, and to be more truly the mistress of the world than under augustus, trajan, or the antonines. nothing can stand before the christian and romanized nations, and all pagandom and mohammedom combined are too weak to resist their onward march. all modern european revolutions result only in reviving the roman empire, whatever the motives, interests, passions, or theories that initiate them. the french revolution of the last century and that of the present prove it. france, let people say what they will, stands at the head of the european civilized world, and displays en grand all its good and all its bad tendencies. when she moves, europe moves; when she has a vertigo, all european nations are dizzy; when she recovers her health, her equilibrium, and good sense, others become sedate, steady, and reasonable. she is the head, nay, rather, the heart of christendom--the head is at rome--through which circulates the pure and impure blood of the nations. it is in vain great britain, germany, or russia disputes with her the hegemony of european civilization. they are forced to yield to her at last, to be content to revolve around her as the centre of the political system that masters them. the reason is, france is more completely and sincerely roman than any other nation. the revolutions that have shaken the world have resulted in eliminating the barbaric elements she had retained, and clearing away all obstacles to the complete triumph of imperial rome. napoleon iii. is for france what augustus was for rome. the revolutions in spain and italy have only swept away the relics of the barbaric constitution, and aided the revival of roman imperialism. in no country do the revolutionists succeed in establishing their own theories; caesar remains master of the field. even in the united states, a revolution undertaken in favor of the barbaric system has resulted in the destruction of what remained of that system--in sweeping away the last relics of disintegrating feudalism, and in the complete establishment of the graeco-roman system, with important improvements, in the new world. the roman system is republican, in the broad sense of the term, because under it power is never an estate, never the private for the public good. as it existed under the caesars, and is revived in modern times, whether under the imperial or the democratic form, it, no doubt, tends to centralism, to the concentration of all the powers and forces of the state in one central government, from which all local authorities and institutions emanate. wise men oppose it as affording no guaranties to individual liberty against the abuses of power. this it may not do, but the remedy is not in feudalism. the feudal lord holds his authority as an estate, and has over the people under him all the power of caesar and all the rights of the proprietor. he, indeed, has a guaranty against his liege-lord, sometimes a more effective guaranty than his liege-lord has against him; but against his centralized power his vassals and serfs have only the guaranty that a slave has against his owner. feudalism is alike hostile to the freedom of public authority and of the people. it is essentially a disintegrating element in the nation. it breaks the unity and individuality of the state, embarrasses the sovereign, and guards against the abuse of public authority by overpowering and suppressing it. every feudal lord is a more thorough despot in his own domain than caesar ever was or could be in the empire; and the monarch, even if strong enough, is yet not competent to intervene between him and his people, any more than the general government in the united states was to intervene between the negro slave and his master. the great vassals of the crown singly, or, if not singly, in combination--and they could always combine in the interest of their order--were too strong for the king, or to be brought under any public authority, and could issue from their fortified castles and rob and plunder to their hearts' content, with none to call them to an account. under the most thoroughly centralized government there is far more liberty for the people, and a far greater security for person and property, except in the case of the feudal nobles themselves, than was even dreamed of while the feudal regime was in full vigor. nobles were themselves free, it is conceded, but not the people. the king was too weak, too restricted in his action by the feudal constitution to reach them, and the higher clergy were ex officio sovereigns, princes, barons, or feudal lords, and were led by their private interests to act with the feudal nobility, save when that nobility threatened the temporalities of the church. the only reliance, under god, left in feudal times to the poor people was in the lower ranks of the clergy, especially of the regular clergy. all the great german emperors in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, who saw the evils of feudalism, and attempted to break it up and revive imperial rome, became involved in quarrels with the chiefs of the religious society, and failed, because the interest of the popes, as feudal sovereigns and italian princes, and the interests of the dignified clergy, were for the time bound up with the feudal society, though their roman culture and civilization made them at heart hostile to it. the student of history, however strong his filial affection towards the visible head of the church, cannot help admiring the grandeur of the political views of frederic the second, the greatest and last of the hohenstaufen, or refrain from dropping a tear over his sad failure. he had great faults as a man, but he had rare genius as a statesman; and it is some consolation to know that he died a christian death, in charity with all men, after having received the last sacraments of his religion. the popes, under the circumstances, were no doubt justified in the policy they pursued, for the swabian emperors failed to respect the acknowledged rights of the church, and to remember their own incompetency in spirituals; but evidently their political views and aims were liberal, far-reaching, and worthy of admiration. their success, if it could have been effected without lesion to the church, would have set europe forward some two or three hundred years, and probably saved it from the schisms of the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. but it is easy to be wise after the event. the fact is, that during the period when feudalism was in full vigor, the king was merely a shadow; the people found their only consolation in religion, and their chief protectors in the monks, who mingled with them, saw their sufferings, and sympathized with them, consoled them, carried their cause to the castle before the feudal lord and lady, and did, thank god, do something to keep alive religious sentiments and convictions in the bosom of the feudal society itself. whatever opinions may be formed of the monastic orders in relation to the present, this much is certain, that they were the chief civilizers of europe, and the chief agents in delivering european society from feudal barbarism. the aristocracy have been claimed as the natural allies of the throne, but history proves them to be its natural enemies, whenever it cannot be used in their service, and kings do not consent to be their ministers and to do their bidding. a political aristocracy has at heart only the interests of its order, and pursues no line of policy but the extension or preservation of its privileges. having little to gain and much to lose, it opposes every political change that would either strengthen the crown or elevate the people. the nobility in the french revolution were the first to desert both the king and the kingdom, and kings have always found their readiest and firmest allies in the people. the people in europe have no such bitter feelings towards royalty as they have towards the feudal nobility--for kings have never so grievously oppressed them. in rome the patrician order opposed alike the emperor and the people, except when they, as chivalric nobles sometimes will do, turned courtiers or demagogues. they were the people of rome and the provinces that sustained the emperors, and they were the emperors who sustained the people, and gave to the provincials the privileges of roman citizens. guaranties against excessive centralism are certainly needed, but the statesman will not seek them in the feudal organization of society--in a political aristocracy, whether founded on birth or private wealth, nor in a privileged class of any sort. better trust caesar than brutus, or even cato. nor will he seek them in the antagonism of interests intended to neutralize or balance each other, as in the english constitution. this was the great error of mr. calhoun. no man saw more clearly than mr. calhoun the utter worthlessness of simple paper constitutions, on which mr. jefferson placed such implicit reliance, or that the real constitution is in the state itself, in the manner in which the people themselves are organized; but his reliance was in constituting, as powers in the state, the several popular interests that exist, and pitting them against each other--the famous system of checks and balances of english states men. he was led to this, because he distrusted power, and was more intention guarding against its abuses than on providing for its free, vigorous, and healthy action, going on the principle that "that is the best government which governs least." but, if the opposing interests could be made to balance one another perfectly, the result would be an equilibrium, in which power would be brought to a stand-still; and if not, the stronger would succeed and swallow up all the rest. the theory of checks and balances is admirable if the object be to trammel power, and to have as little power in the government as possible; but it is a theory which is born from passions engendered by the struggle against despotism or arbitrary power, not from a calm and philosophical appreciation of government itself. the english have not succeeded in establishing their theory, for, after all, their constitution does not work so well as they pretend. the landed interest controls at one time, and the mercantile and manufacturing interest at another. they do not perfectly balance one another, and it is not difficult to see that the mercantile and manufacturing interest, combined with the moneyed interest, is henceforth to predominate. the aim of the real statesman is to organize all the interests and forces of the state dialectically, so that they shall unite to add to its strength, and work together harmoniously for the common good. chapter viii. constitution of government--concluded. though the constitution of the people is congenital, like the constitution of an individual, and cannot be radically changed without the destruction of the state, it must not be supposed that it is wholly withdrawn from the action of the reason and free-will of the nation, nor from that of individual statesmen. all created things are subject to the law of development, and may be developed either in a good sense or in a bad; that is, may be either completed or corrupted. all the possibilities of the national constitution are given originally in the birth of the nation, as all the possibilities of mankind were given in the first man. the germ must be given in the original constitution. but in all constitutions there is more than one element, and the several elements maybe developed pari passu, or unequally, one having the ascendency and suppressing the rest. in the original constitution of rome the patrician element was dominant, showing that the patriarchal organization of society still retained no little force. the king was only the presiding officer of the senate and the leader of the army in war. his civil functions corresponded very nearly to those of a mayor of the city of new york, where all the effective power is in the aldermen, common council, and heads of departments. except in name he was little else than a pageant. the kings, no doubt, labored to develop and extend the royal element of the constitution. this was natural; and it was equally natural that they should be resisted by the patricians. hence when the tarquins, or etruscan dynasty, undertook to be kings in fact as well as in name, and seemed likely to succeed, the patricians expelled them, and supplied their place by two consuls annually elected. here was a modification, but no real change of the constitution. the effective power, as before, remained in the senate. but there was from early times a plebeian element in the population of the city, though forming at first no part of the political people. their origin is not very certain, nor their original position in the city. historians give different accounts of them. but that they should, as they increased in numbers, wealth, and importance, demand admission into the political society, religious or solemn marriage, a voice in the government, and the faculty of holding civil and military offices, was only in the order of regular development. at first the patricians fought them, and, failing to subdue them by force, effected a compromise, and bought up their leaders. the concession which followed of the tribunitial veto was only a further development. by that veto the plebeians gained no initiative, no positive power, indeed, but their tribunes, by interposing it, could stop the proceedings of the government. they could not propose the measures they liked, but they could prevent the legal adoption of measures they disliked--a faculty mr. calhoun asserted for the several states of the american union in his doctrine of nullification, or state veto, as he called it. it was simply an obstructive power. but from a power to obstruct legislative action to the power to originate or propose it, and force the senate to adopt it through fear of the veto of measures the patricians had at heart, was only a still further development. this gained, the exclusively patrician constitution had disappeared, and marius, the head of a great plebeian house, could be elected consul and the plebeians in turn threaten to become predominant, which sylla or sulla, as dictator, seeing, tried in vain to prevent. the dictator was provided for in the original constitution. retain the dictatorship for a time, strengthen the plebeian element by ruthless proscriptions of patricians and by recruits from the provinces, unite the tribunitial, pontifical, and military powers in the imperator designated by the army, all elements existing in the constitution from an early day, and already developed in the roman state, and you have the imperial constitution, which retained to the last the senate and consuls, though with less and less practical power. these changes are very great, but are none of them radical, dating from the recognition of the plebs as pertaining to the roman people. they are normal developments, not corruptions, and the transition from the consular republic to the imperial was unquestionably a real social and political progress. and yet the roman people, had they chosen, could have given a different direction to the developments of their constitution. there was providence in the course of events, but no fatalism. sulla was a true patrician, a blind partisan of the past. he sought to arrest the plebeian development led by marius, and to restore the exclusively patrician government. but it was too late. his proscriptions, confiscations, butcheries, unheard-of cruelties which anticipated and surpassed those of the french revolution of , availed nothing. the marian or plebeian movement, apparently checked for a moment, resumed its march with renewed vigor under julius, and triumphed at pharsalia. in vain cicero, only accidentally associated with the patrician party, which distrusted him--in vain cicero declaims, cato scolds, or parades his impractical virtues, brutus and cassius seize the assassin's dagger, and strike to the earth "the foremost man of all the world;" the plebeian cause moves on with resistless force, triumphs anew at philippi, and young octavius avenges the murder of his uncle, and proves to the world that the assassination of a ruler is a blunder as well as a crime. in vain does mark antony desert the movement, rally egypt and the barbaric east, and seek to transfer the seat of empire from the tiber to the banks of the nile or the orontes; plebeian and imperial rome wins a final victory at actium, and definitively secures the empire of the civilized world to the west. thus far the developments were normal, and advanced civilization. but rome still retained the barbaric element of slavery in her bosom, and had conquered more barbaric nations than she had assimilated. these nations she at first governed as tributary states, with their own constitutions and national chiefs; afterwards as roman provinces, by her own proconsuls and prefects. when the emperors threw open the gates of the city to the provincials, and conceded them the rights and privileges of roman citizens, they introduced not only a foreign element into the state, destitute of roman patriotism, but the barbaric and despotic elements retained by the conquered nations as yet only partially assimilated. these elements became germs of anti-republican developments, rather of corruptions, and prepared the downfall of the empire. doubtless these corruptions might have been arrested, and would have been, if roman patriotism had survived the changes effected in the roman population by the concession of roman citizenship to provincials; but it did not, and they were favored as time went on by the emperors themselves, and more especially by dioclesian, a real barbarian, who hated rome, and by constantine, surnamed the great, a real despot, who converted the empire from a republican to a despotic empire. rome fell from the force of barbarism developed from within, far more than from the force of the barbarians hovering on her frontiers and invading her provinces. the law of all possible developments is in the providential or congenital constitution; but these possible developments are many and various, and the reason and free-will of the nation as well as of individuals are operative in determining which of them shall be adopted. the nation, under the direction of wise and able statesmen who understood their age and country, who knew how to discern between normal developments and barbaric corruptions, placed at the head of affairs in season, might have saved rome from her fate, eliminated the barbaric and assimilated the foreign elements, and preserved rome as a christian and republican empire to this day, and saved the civilized world from the ten centuries of barbarism which followed her conquest by the barbarians of the north. but it rarely happens that the real statesmen of a nation are placed at the head of affairs. rome did not fall in consequence of the strength of her external enemies, nor through the corruption of private morals and manners, which was never greater than under the first triumvirate. she fell from the want of true statesmanship in her public men, and patriotism in her people. private virtues and private vices are of the last consequence to individuals, both here and hereafter; but private virtues never saved, private vices never ruined a nation. edward the confessor was a saint, and yet he prepared the way for the norman conquest of england; and france owes infinitely less to st. louis than to louis xi., richelieu, and napoleon, who, though no saints, were statesmen. what is specially needed in statesmen is public spirit, intelligence, foresight, broad views, manly feelings, wisdom, energy, resolution; and when statesmen with these qualities are placed at the head of affairs, the state, if not already lost, can, however far gone it may be, be recovered, restored, reinvigorated, advanced, and private vice and corruption disappear in the splendor of public virtue. providence is always present in the affairs of nations, but not to work miracles to counteract the natural effects of the ignorance, ineptness, short-sightedness, narrow views, public stupidity, and imbecility of rulers, because they are irreproachable and saintly in their private characters and relations, as was henry vi. of england, or, in some respects, louis xvi. of france. providence is god intervening through the laws he by his creative act gives to creatures, not their suspension or abrogation. it was the corruption of the statesmen, in substituting the barbaric element for the proper roman, to which no one contributed more than constantine, the first christian emperor, that was the real cause of the downfall of rome, and the centuries of barbarism that followed, relieved only by the superhuman zeal and charity of the church to save souls and restore civilization. but in the constitution of the government, as distinguished from the state, the nation is freer and more truly sovereign. the constitution of the state is that which gives to the people of a given territory political existence, unity, and individuality, and renders it capable of political action. it creates political or national solidarity, in imitation of the solidarity of the race, in which it has its root. it is the providential charter of national existence, and that which gives to each nation its peculiar character, and distinguishes it from every other nation. the constitution of government is the constitution by the sovereign authority of the nation of an agency or ministry for the management of its affairs, and the letter of instructions according to which the agent or minister is to act and conduct the matters intrusted to him. the distinction which the english make between the sovereign and the ministry is analogous to that between the state and the government, only they understand by the sovereign the king or queen, and by the ministry the executive, excluding, or not decidedly including, the legislature and the judiciary. the sovereign is the people as the state or body politic, and as the king holds from god only through the people, he is not properly sovereign, and is to be ranked with the ministry or government. yet when the state delegates the full or chief governing power to the king, and makes him its sole or principal representative, he may, with sufficient accuracy for ordinary purposes, be called sovereign. then, understanding by the ministry or government the legislative and judicial, as well as the executive functions, whether united in one or separated into distinct and mutually independent departments, the english distinction will express accurately enough, except for strictly scientific purposes, the distinction between the state and the government. still, it is only in despotic states, which are not founded on right, but force, that the king can say, l'etat, c'est moi, i am the state; and shakespeare's usage of calling the king of france simply france, and the king of england simply england, smacks of feudalism, under which monarchy is an estate, property, not a public trust. it corresponds to the scottish usage of calling the proprietor by the name of his estate. it is never to be forgotten that in republican states the king has only a delegated sovereignty, that the people, as well as god, are above him. he holds his power, as the emperor of the french professes to hold his, by the grace of god and the national will--the only title by which a king or emperor can legitimately hold power. the king or emperor not being the state, and the government, whatever its form or constitution, being a creature of the state, he can be dethroned, and the whole government even virtually overthrown, without dissolving the state or the political society. such an event may cause much evil, create much social confusion, and do grave injury to the nation, but the political society may survive it; the sovereign remains in the plenitude of his rights, as competent to restore government as he was originally to institute it. when, in , louis philippe was dethroned by the parisian mob, and fled the kingdom, there was in france no legitimate government, for all commissions ran in the king's name; but the organic or territorial people of france, the body politic, remained, and in it remained the sovereign power to organize and appoint a new government. when, on the d of december, , the president, by a coup d'etat, suppressed the legislative assembly and the constitutional government, there was no legitimate government standing, and the power assumed by the president was unquestionably a usurpation; but the nation was competent to condone his usurpation and legalize his power, and by a plebiscitum actually did so. the wisdom or justice of the coup d'etat is another question, about which men may differ; but when the french nation, by its subsequent act, had condoned it, and formally conferred dictatorial powers on the prince-president, the principal had approved the act of his agent, and given him discretionary powers, and nothing more was to be said. the imperial constitution and the election of the president to be emperor, that followed on december d, , were strictly legal, and, whatever men may think of napoleon iii., it must be conceded that there is no legal flaw in his title, and that he holds his power by a title as high and as perfect as there is for any prince or ruler. but the plebiscitum cannot be legally appealed to or be valid when and where there is a legal government existing and in the full exercise of its constitutional functions, as was decided by the supreme court of the united states in a case growing out of what is known as the dorr rebellion in rhode island. a suffrage committee, having no political authority, drew up and presented a new constitution of government to the people, plead a plebiscitum in its favor, and claimed the officers elected under it as the legally elected officers of the state. the court refused to recognize the plebiscitum, and decided that it knew rhode island only as represented through the government, which had never ceased to exist. new states in territories have been organized on the strength of a plebiscitum when the legal territorial government was in force, and were admitted as states into the union, which, though irregular and dangerous, could be done without revolution, because congress, that admitted them, is the power to grant the permission to organize as states and apply for admission. congress is competent to condone an offence against its own rights. the real danger of the practice is, that it tends to create a conviction that sovereignty inheres in the people individually, or as population, not as the body politic or organic people attached to a sovereign domain; and the people who organize under a plebiscitum are not, till organized and admitted into the union, an organic or a political people at all. when louis napoleon made his appeal to a vote of the french people, he made an appeal to a people existing as a sovereign people, and a sovereign people without a legal government. in his case the plebiscitum was proper and sufficient, even if it be conceded that it was through his own fault that france at the moment was found without a legal government. when a thing is done, though wrongly done, you cannot act as if it were not done, but must accept it as a fact and act accordingly. the plebiscitum, which is simply an appeal to the people outside of government, is not valid when the government has not lapsed, either by its usurpations or by its dissolution, nor is it valid either in the case of a province, or of a population that has no organic existence as an independent sovereign state. the plebiscitum in france was valid, but in the grand duchy of tuscany, the duchies of modena, parma, and lucca, and in the kingdom of the two sicilies it was not valid, for their legal governments had not lapsed; nor was it valid in the aemilian provinces of the papal states, because they were not a nation or a sovereign people, but only a portion of such nation or people. in the case of the states and provinces--except lombardy, ceded to france by austria, and sold to the sardinian king--annexed to piedmont to form the new kingdom of italy, the plebiscitum was invalid, because implying the right of the people to rebel against the legal authority, and to break the unity and individuality of the state of which they form an integral part. the nation is a whole, and no part has the right to secede or separate, and set up a government for itself, or annex itself to another state, without the consent of the whole. the solidarity of the nation is both a fact and a law. the secessionists from the united states defended their action only on the ground that the states of the american union are severally independent sovereign states, and they only obeyed the authority of their respective states. the plebiscitum, or irregular appeal to what is called universal suffrage, since adopted by louis napoleon in france after the coup d'etat, is becoming not a little menacing to the stability of governments and the rights and integrity of states, and is not less dangerous to the peace and order of society than "the solidarity of peoples" asserted by kossuth, the revolutionary ex-governor of hungary, the last stronghold of feudal barbarism in christian europe; for russia has emancipated her serfs. the nation, as sovereign, is free to constitute government according to its own judgment, under any form it pleases--monarchical, aristocratic, democratic, or mixed--vest all power in an hereditary monarch, in a class or hereditary nobles, in a king and two houses of parliament, one hereditary, the other elective, or both elective; or it may establish a single, dual, or triple executive, make all officers of government hereditary or all elective, and if elective, elective for a longer or a shorter time, by universal suffrage or a select body of electors. any of these forms and systems, and many others besides, are or may be legitimate, if established and maintained by the national will. there is nothing in the law of god or of nature, antecedently to the national will, that gives any one of them a right to the exclusion of any one of the others. the imperial system in france is as legitimate as the federative system in the united states. the only form or system that is necessarily illegal is the despotic. that can never be a truly civilized government, nor a legitimate government, for god has given to man no dominion over man. he gave men, as st. augustine says, and pope st. gregory the great repeats, dominion over the irrational creation, not over the rational, and hence the primitive rulers of men were called pastors or shepherds, not lords. it may be the duty of the people subjected to a despotic government to demean themselves quietly and peaceably towards it, as a matter of prudence, to avoid sedition, and the evils that would necessarily follow an attempted revolution, but not because, founded as it is on mere force, it has itself any right or legality. all other forms of government are republican in their essential constitution, founded on public right, and held under god from and for the commonwealth, and which of them is wisest and best for the commonwealth is, for the most part, an idle question. "forms of government," somebody has said, "are like shoes--that is the best form which best fit the feet that are to wear them." shoes are to be fitted to the feet, not the feet to the shoes, and feet vary in size and conformation. there is, in regard to government, as distinguished from the state, no antecedent right which binds the people, for antecedently to the existence of the government as a fact, the state is free to adopt any form that it finds practicable, or judges the wisest and best for itself. ordinarily the form of the government practicable for a nation is determined by the peculiar providential constitution of the territorial people, and a form of government that would be practicable and good in one country may be the reverse in another. the english government is no doubt the best practicable in great britain, at present at least, but it has proved a failure wherever else it has been attempted. the american system has proved itself, in spite of the recent formidable rebellion to overthrow it, the best and only practicable government for the united states, but it is impracticable everywhere else, and all attempts by any european or other american state to introduce it can end only in disaster. the imperial system apparently works well in france, but though all european states are tending to it, it would not work well at all on the american continent, certainly not until the republic of the united states has ceased to exist. while the united states remain the great american power, that system, or its kindred system, democratic centralism, can never become an american system, as maximilian's experiment in mexico is likely to prove. political propagandism, except on the roman plan, that is, by annexation and incorporation, is as impracticable as it is wanting in the respect that one independent people owes to another. the old french jacobins tried to propagate, even with fire and sword, their system throughout europe, as the only system compatible with the rights of man. the english, since , have been great political propagandists, and at one time it seemed not unlikely that every european state would try the experiment of a parliamentary government, composed of an hereditary crown, an hereditary house of lords, and an elective house of commons. the democratic americans are also great political propagandists, and are ready to sympathize with any rebellion, insurrection, or movement in behalf of democracy in any part of the world, however mean or contemptible, fierce or bloody it may be; but all this is as unstatesmanlike as unjust; unstatesmanlike, for no form of government can bear transplanting, and because every independent nation is the sole judge of what best comports with its own interests, and its judgment is to be respected by the citizens as well as by the governments of other states. religious propagandism is a right and a duty, because religion is catholic and of universal obligation; and so is the jus gentium of the romans, which is only the application to individuals and nations of the great principles of natural justice; but no political propagandism is ever allowable, because no one form of government is catholic in its nature, or of universal obligation. thoughtful americans are opposed to political propagandism, and respect the right of every nation to choose its own form of government; but they hold that the american system is the best in itself, and that if other nations were as enlightened as the american, they would adopt it. but though the american system, rightly understood, is the best, as they hold, it is not because other nations are less enlightened, which is by no means a fact, that they do not adopt, or cannot bear it, but solely because their providential constitutions do not require or admit it, and an attempt to introduce it in any of them would prove a failure and a grave evil. fit your shoes to your feet. the law of the governmental constitution is in that of the nation. the constitution of the government must grow out of the constitution of the state, and accord with the genius, the character, the habits, customs, and wants of the people, or it will not work well, or tend to secure the legitimate ends of government. the constitutions imagined by philosophers are for utopia, not for any actual, living, breathing people. you must take the state as it is, and develop your governmental constitution from it, and harmonize it with it. where there is a discrepancy between the two constitutions, the government has no support in the state, in the organic people, or nation, and can sustain itself only by corruption or physical force. a government may be under the necessity of using force to suppress an insurrection or rebellion against the national authority, or the integrity of the national territory, but no government that can sustain itself, not the state, only by physical force or large standing armies, can be a good government, or suited to the nation. it must adopt the most stringent repressive measures, suppress liberty of speech and of conscience, outrage liberty in what it has the most intimate and sacred, and practise the most revolting violence and cruelty, for it can govern only by terror. such a government is unsuited to the nation. this is seen in all history: in the attempt of the dictator sulla to preserve the old patrician government against the plebeian power that time and events had developed in the roman state, and which was about to gain the supremacy, as we have seen, at pharsalia, philippi, and actium; in the efforts to establish a jacobinical government in france in ; in rome in , and the government of victor emmanuel in naples in and . these efforts, proscriptions, confiscations, military executions, assassinations, massacres, are all made in the name of liberty, or in defence of a government supposed to guaranty the well-being of the state and the rights of the people. they are rendered inevitable by the mad attempt to force on a nation a constitution of government foreign to the national constitution, or repugnant to the national tastes, interests, habits, convictions, or whole interior life. the repressive policy, adopted to a certain extent by nearly all european governments, grows out of the madness of a portion of the people of the several states in seeking to force upon the nation an anti-national constitution. the sovereigns may not be very wise, but they are wiser, more national, more patriotic than the mad theorists who seek to revolutionize the state and establish a government that has no hold in the national traditions, the national character, or the national life; and the statesman, the patriot, the true friend of liberty sympathizes with the national authorities, not with the mad theorists and revolutionists. the right of a nation to change its form of government, and its magistrates or representatives, by whatever name called, is incontestable. hence the french constitution of , which involved that of , was not illegal, for though accompanied by some irregularities, it was adopted by the manifest will of the nation, and consented to by all orders in the state. not its legality but its wisdom is to be questioned, together with the false and dangerous theories of government which dictated it. there is no compact or mutual stipulation between the state and the government. the state, under god, is sovereign, and ordains and establishes the government, instead of making a contract, a bargain, or covenant, with it. the common democratic doctrine on this point is right, if by people is understood the organic people attached to a sovereign domain, not the people as individuals or as a floating or nomadic multitude. by people in the political sense, cicero, and st. augustine after him, understood the people as the republic, organized in reference to the common or public good. with this understanding, the sovereignty persists in the people, and they retain the supreme authority over the government. the powers delegated are still the powers of the sovereign delegating them, and may be modified, altered, or revoked, as the sovereign judges proper. the nation does not, and cannot abdicate or delegate away its own sovereignty, for sovereign it is, and cannot but be, so long as it remains a nation not subjected to another nation. by the imperial constitution of the french government, the imperial power is vested in napoleon iii., and made hereditary in his family, in the male line of his legitimate descendants. this is legal, but the nation has not parted with its sovereignty or bound itself by contract forever to a napoleonic dynasty. napoleon holds the imperial power "by the grace of god and the will of the nation," which means simply that he holds his authority from god, through the french people, and is bound to exercise it according to the law of god and the national will. the nation is as competent to revoke this constitution as the legislature is to repeal any law it is competent to enact, and in doing so breaks no contract, violates no right, for napoleon and his descendants hold their right to the imperial throne subject to the national will from which it is derived. in case the nation should revoke the powers delegated, he or they would have no more valid claim to the throne than have the bourbons, whom the nation has unmistakably dismissed from its service. the only point here to be observed is, that the change must be by the nation itself, in its sovereign capacity; not by a mob, nor by a part of the nation conspiring, intriguing, or rebelling, without any commission from the nation. the first napoleon governed by a legal title, but he was never legally dethroned, and the government of the bourbons, whether of the elder branch or the younger, was never a legal government, for the bourbons had lost their original rights by the election of the first napoleon, and never afterwards had the national will in their favor. the republic of was legal, in the sense that the nation acquiesced in it as a temporary necessity; but hardly anybody believed in it or wanted it, and the nation accepted it as a sort of locum tenens, rather than willed or ordained it. its overthrow by the coup d'etat may not be legally defensible, but the election of napoleon iii. condoned the illegality, if there was any, and gave the emperor a legal title, that no republican, that none but a despot or a no-government man can dispute. as the will of the nation, in so far as it contravenes not the law of god or the law of nature, binds every individual of the nation, no individual or number of individuals has, or can have, any right to conspire against him, or to labor to oust him from his place, till his escheat has been pronounced by the voice of the nation. the state, in its sovereign capacity, willing it, is the only power competent to revoke or to change the form and constitution of the imperial government. the same must be said of every nation that has a lawful government; and this, while it preserves the national sovereignty, secures freedom of progress, condemns all sedition, conspiracy, rebellion, revolution, as does the christian law itself. chapter ix. the united states sovereignty, under god, inheres in the organic people, or the people as the republic; and every organic people fixed to the soil, and politically independent of every other people, is a sovereign people, and, in the modern sense, an independent sovereign nation. sovereign states may unite in an alliance, league, or confederation, and mutually agree to exercise their sovereign powers or a portion of them in common, through a common organ or agency; but in this agreement they part with none of their sovereignty, and each remains a sovereign state or nation as before. the common organ or agency created by the convention is no state, is no nation, has no inherent sovereignty, and derives all its vitality and force from the persisting sovereignty of the states severally that have united in creating it. the agreement no more affects the sovereignty of the several states entering into it, than does the appointment of an agent affect the rights and powers of the principal. the creature takes nothing from the creator, exhausts not, lessens not his creative energy, and it is only by his retaining and continuously exerting his creative power that the creature continues to exist. an independent state or nation may, with or without its consent, lose its sovereignty, but only by being merged in or subjected to another. independent sovereign states cannot by convention, or mutual agreement, form themselves into a single sovereign state, or nation. the compact, or agreement, is made by sovereign states, and binds by virtue of the sovereign power of each of the contracting parties. to destroy that sovereign power would be to annul the compact, and render void the agreement. the agreement can be valid and binding only on condition that each of the contracting parties retains the sovereignty that rendered it competent to enter into the compact, and states that retain severally their sovereignty do not form a single sovereign state or nation. the states in convention cannot become a new and single sovereign state, unless they lose their several sovereignty, and merge it in the new sovereignty; but this they cannot do by agreement, because the moment the parties to the agreement cease to be sovereign, the agreement, on which alone depends the new sovereign state, is vacated, in like manner as a contract is vacated by the death of the contracting parties. that a nation may voluntarily cede its sovereignty is frankly admitted, but it can cede it only to something or somebody actually existing, for to cede to nothing and not to cede is one and the same thing. they can part with their own sovereignty by merging themselves in another national existence, but not by merging themselves in nothing; and, till they have parted with their own sovereignty, the new sovereign state does not exist. a prince can abdicate his power, because by abdicating he simply gives back to the people the trust he had received from them; but a nation cannot, save by merging itself in another. an independent state not merged in another, or that is not subject to another, cannot cease to be a sovereign nation, even if it would. that no sovereign state can be formed by agreement or compact has already been shown in the refutation of the theory of the origin of government in convention, or the so-called social compact. sovereign states are as unable to form themselves into a single sovereign state by mutual compact as are the sovereign individuals imagined by rousseau. the convention, either of sovereign states or of sovereign individuals, with the best will in the world, can form only a compact or agreement between sovereigns, and an agreement or compact, whatever its terms or conditions, is only an alliance, a league, or a confederation, which no one can pretend is a sovereign state, nation, or republic. the question, then, whether the united states are a single sovereign state or nation, or a confederacy of independent sovereign states depends on the question whether the american people originally existed as one people or as several independent states. mr. jefferson maintains that before the convention of they existed as several independent sovereign states, but that since that convention, or the ratification of the constitution it proposed, they exist as one political people in regard to foreign nations, and several sovereign states in regard to their internal and domestic relations. mr. webster concedes that originally the states existed as severally sovereign states, but contends that by ratifying the constitution they have been made one sovereign political people, state, or nation, and that the general government is a supreme national government, though with a reservation in favor of state rights. but both are wrong. if the several states of the union were severally sovereign states when they met in the convention, they are so now; and the constitution is only an agreement or compact between sovereigns, and the united states are, as mr. calhoun maintained, only a confederation of sovereign states, and not a single state or one political community. but if the sovereignty persists in the states severally, any state, saving its faith, may whenever it chooses to do so, withdraw from the union, absolve its subjects from all obligation to the federal authorities, and make it treason in them to adhere to the federal government. secession is, then, an incontestable right; not a right held under the constitution or derived from the convention but a right held prior to it, independently of it, inherent in the state sovereignty, and inseparable from it. the state is bound by the constitution of the union only while she is in it, and is one of the states united. in ratifying the constitution she did not part with her sovereignty, or with any portion of it, any more than france has parted with her sovereignty, and ceased to be an independent sovereign nation, by vesting the imperial power in napoleon iii. and his legitimate heirs male. the principal parts not with his power to his agent, for the agent is an agent only by virtue of the continued power of the principal. napoleon is emperor by the will of the french people, and governs only by the authority of the french nation, which is as competent to revoke the powers it has conferred on him, when it judges proper, as it was to confer them. the union exists and governs, if the states are sovereign, only by the will of the state, and she is as competent to revoke the powers she has delegated as she was to delegate them. the union, as far as she is concerned, is her creation, and what she is competent to make she is competent to unmake. in seceding or withdrawing from the union a state may act very unwisely, very much against her own interests and the interests of the other members of the confederacy; but, if sovereign, she in doing so only exercises her unquestionable right. the other members may regret her action, both for her sake and their own, but they cannot accuse her or her citizens of disloyalty in seceding, nor of rebellion, if in obedience to her authority they defend their independence by force of arms against the union. neither she nor they, on the supposition, ever owed allegiance to the union. allegiance is due from the citizen to the sovereign state, but never from a sovereign state or from its citizens to any other sovereign state. while the state is in the union the citizen owes obedience to the united states, but only because his state has, in ratifying the federal constitution, enacted that it and all laws and treaties made under it shall be law within her territory. the repeal by the state of the act of ratification releases the citizen from the obligation even of obedience, and renders it criminal for him to yield it without her permission. it avails nothing, on the hypothesis of the sovereignty of the states as distinguished from that of the united states, to appeal to the language or provisions of the federal constitution. that constitutes the government, not the state or the sovereign. it is ordained by the sovereign, and if the states were severally independent and sovereign states, that sovereign is the states severally, not the states united. the constitution is law for the citizens of a state only so long as the state remains one of the united states. no matter, then, how clear and express the language, or stringent the provisions of the constitution, they bind only the citizens of the states that enact the constitution. the written constitution is simply a compact, and obliges only while the compact is continued by the states, each for itself. the sovereignty of the united states as a single or political people must be established before any thing in the constitution can be adduced as denying the right of secession. that this doctrine would deprive the general government of all right to enforce the laws of the union on a state that secedes, or the citizens thereof, is no doubt true; that it would weaken the central power and make the union a simple voluntary association of states, no better than a rope of sand, is no less true; but what then? it is simply saying that a confederation is inferior to a nation, and that a federal government lacks many of the advantages of a national government. confederacies are always weak in the centre, always lack unity, and are liable to be dissolved by the influence of local passions, prejudices, and interests. but if the united states are a confederation of states or nations, not a single nation or sovereign state, then there is no remedy. if the anglo-american colonies, when their independence of great britain was achieved and acknowledged, were severally sovereign states, it has never since been in their power to unite and form a single sovereign state, or to form themselves into one indivisible sovereign nation. they could unite only by mutual agreement, which gives only a confederation, in which each retains its own sovereignty, as two individuals, however closely united, retain each his own individuality. no sovereignty is of conventional origin, and none can emerge from the convention that did not enter it. either the states are one sovereign people or they are not. if they are not, it is undoubtedly a great disadvantage; but a disadvantage that must be accepted, and submitted to without a murmur. whether the united states are one sovereign people or only a confederation is a question of very grave importance. if they are only a confederation of states--and if they ever were severally sovereign states, only a confederation they certainly are--state secession is an inalienable right, and the government has had no right to make war on the secessionists as rebels, or to treat them, when their military power is broken, as traitors, or disloyal persons. the honor of the government, and of the people who have sustained it, is then deeply compromised. what then is the fact? are the united states politically one people, nation, state, or republic, or are they simply independent sovereign states united in close and intimate alliance, league, or federation, by a mutual pact or agreement? were the people of the united states who ordained and established the written constitution one people, or were they not? if they were not before ordaining and establishing the government, they are not now; for the adoption of the constitution did not and could not make them one. whether they are one or many is then simply a question of fact, to be decided by the facts in the case, not by the theories of american statesmen, the opinion of jurists, or even by constitutional law itself. the old articles of confederation and the later constitution can serve here only as historical documents. constitutions and laws presuppose the existence of a national sovereign from which they emanate, and that ordains them, for they are the formal expression of a sovereign will. the nation must exist as an historical fact, prior to the possession or exercise of sovereign power, prior to the existence of written constitutions and laws of any kind, and its existence must be established before they can be recognized as having any legal force or vitality. the existence of any nation, as an independent sovereign nation, is a purely historical fact, for its right to exist as such is in the simple fact that it does so exist. a nation de facto is a nation de jure, and when we have ascertained the fact, we have ascertained the right. there is no right in the case separate from the fact--only the fact must be really a fact. a people hitherto a part of another people, or subject to another sovereign, is not in fact a nation, because they have declared themselves independent, and have organized a government, and are engaged in what promises to be a successful struggle for independence. the struggle must be practically over; the former sovereign must have practically abandoned the effort to reduce them to submission, or to bring them back under his authority, and if he continues it, does it as a matter of mere form; the postulant must have proved his ability to maintain civil government, and to fulfil within and without the obligations which attach to every civilized nation, before it can be recognized as an independent sovereign nation; because before it is not a fact that it is a sovereign nation. the prior sovereign, when no longer willing or able to vindicate his right, has lost it, and no one is any longer bound to respect it, for humanity demands not martyrs to lost causes. this doctrine may seem harsh, and untenable even, to those sickly philanthropists who are always weeping over extinct or oppressed nationalities; but nationality in modern civilization is a fact, not a right antecedent to the fact. the repugnance felt to this assertion arises chiefly from using the word nation sometimes in a strictly political sense, and sometimes in its original sense of tribe, and understanding by it not simply the body politic, but a certain relation of origin, family, kindred, blood, or race. but god has made of one blood, or race, all the nations of men; and, besides, no political rights are founded by the law of nature on relations of blood, kindred, or family. under the patriarchal or tribal system, and, to some extent, under feudalism, these relations form the basis of government, but they are economical relations rather than civil or political, and, under christian and modern civilization, are restricted to the household, are domestic relations, and enter not the state or body politic, except by way of reminiscence or abuse. they are protected by the state, but do not found or constitute it. the vicissitudes of time, the revolutions of states and empires, migration, conquest, and intermixture of families and races, have rendered it impracticable, even if it were desirable, to distribute people into nations according to their relations of blood or descent. there is no civilized nation now existing that has been, developed from a common ancestor this side of adam, and the most mixed are the most civilized. the nearer a nation approaches to a primitive people of pure unmixed blood, the farther removed it is from civilization. all civilized nations are political nations, and are founded in the fact, not on rights antecedent to the fact. a hundred or more lost nationalities went to form the roman empire, and who can tell us how many layers of crushed nationalities, superposed one upon another, serve for the foundation of the present french, english, russian, austrian, or spanish nationalities? what other title to independence and sovereignty, than the fact, can you plead in behalf of any european nation? every one has absorbed and extinguished--no one can say how many--nationalities, that once had as good a right to be as it has, or can have. whether those nationalities have been justly extinguished or not, is no question for the statesman; it is the secret of providence. failure in this world is not always a proof of wrong; nor success, of right. the good is sometimes overborne, and the bad sometimes triumphs; but it is consoling, and even just, to believe that the good oftener triumphs than the bad. in the political order, the fact, under god, precedes the law. the nation holds not from the law, but the law holds from the nation. doubtless the courts of every civilized nation recognize and apply both the law of nature and the law of nations, but only on the ground that they are included, or are presumed to be included, in the national law, or jurisprudence. doubtless, too, the nation holds from god, under the law of nature, but only by virtue of the fact that it is a nation; and when it is a nation dependent on no other, it holds from god all the rights and powers of any independent sovereign nation. there is no right behind the fact needed to legalize the fact, or to put the nation that is in fact a nation in possession of full national rights. in the case of a new nation, or people, lately an integral part of another people, or subject to another people@ the right of the prior sovereign must be extinguished indeed, but the extinction of that right is necessary to complete the fact, which otherwise would be only an initial, inchoate fact, not a fait accompli. but that right ceases when its claimant, willingly or unwillingly, formally or virtually, abandons it; and he does so when he practically abandons the struggle, and shows no ability or intention of soon renewing it with any reasonable prospect of success. the notion of right, independent of the fact as applied to sovereignty, is founded in error. empty titles to states and kingdoms are of no validity. the sovereignty is, under god, in the nation and the title and the possession are inseparable. the title of the palaeologi to the roman empire of the east, of the king of sicily, the king of sardinia, or the king of spain--for they are all claimants--to the kingdom of jerusalem founded by godfrey and his crusaders, of the stuarts to the thrones of england, ireland, and scotland, or of the bourbons to the throne of france, are vacated and not worth the parchment on which they are engrossed. the contrary opinion, so generally entertained, belongs to barbarism, not to civilization. it is in modern society a relic of feudalism, which places the state in the government, and makes the government a private estate--a private, and not a public right--a right to govern the public, not a right to govern held from or by the public. the proprietor may be dispossessed in fact of his estate by violence, by illegal or unjust means, without losing his right, and another may usurp it, occupy it, and possess it in fact without acquiring any right or legal title to it. the man who holds the legal title has the right to oust him and re-enter upon his estate whenever able to do so. here, in the economical order, the fact and the right are distinguishable, and the actual occupant may be required to show his title-deeds. holding sovereignty to be a private estate, the feudal lawyers very properly distinguish between governments de facto and governments de jure, and argue very logically that violent dispossession of a prince does not invalidate his title. but sovereignty, it has been shown, is not in the government, but in the state, and the state is inseparable from the public domain. the people organized and held by the domain or national territory, are under god the sovereign nation, and remain so as long as the nation subsists without subjection to another. the government, as distinguished from the state or nation, has only a delegated authority, governs only by a commission from the nation. the revocation of the commission vacates, its title and extinguishes its rights. the nation is always sovereign, and every organic people fixed to the soil, and actually independent of every other, is a nation. there can then be no independent nation de facto that is not an independent nation de jure, nor de jure that is not de facto. the moment a people cease to be an independent nation in fact, they cease to be sovereign, and the moment they become in fact an independent nation, they are so of right. hence in the political order the fact and the right are born and expire together; and when it is proved that a people, are in fact an independent nation, there is no question to be asked as to their right to be such nation. in the case of the united states there is only the question of fact. if they are in fact one people they are so in right, whatever the opinions and theories of statesmen, or even the decisions of courts; for the courts hold from the national authority, and the theories and opinions of statesmen may be erroneous. certain it is that the states in the american union have never existed and acted as severally sovereign states. prior to independence, they were colonies under the sovereignty of great britain, and since independence they have existed and acted only as states united. the colonists, before separation and independence, were british subjects, and whatever rights the colonies had they held by charter or concession from the british crown. the colonists never pretended to be other than british subjects, and the alleged ground of their complaint against the mother country was not that she had violated their natural rights as men, but their rights as british subjects--rights, as contended by the colonists, secured by the english constitution to all englishmen or british subjects. the denial to them of these common rights of englishmen they called tyranny, and they defended themselves in throwing off their allegiance to george iii., on the ground that he had, in their regard, become a tyrant, and the tyranny of the prince absolves the subject from his allegiance. in the declaration of independence they declared themselves independent states indeed, but not severally independent. the declaration was not made by the states severally, but by the states jointly, as the united states. they unitedly declared their independence; they carried on the war for independence, won it, and were acknowledged by foreign powers and by the mother country as the united states, not as severally independent sovereign states. severally they have never exercised the full powers of sovereign states; they have had no flag--symbol of sovereignty--recognized by foreign powers, have made no foreign treaties, held no foreign relations, had no commerce foreign or interstate, coined no money, entered into no alliances or confederacies with foreign states or with one another, and in several respects have been more restricted in their powers in the union than they were as british colonies. colonies are initial or inchoate states, and become complete states by declaring and winning their independence; and if the english colonies, now the united states, had separately declared and won their independence, they would unquestionably have become separately independent states, each invested by the law of nature with all the rights and powers of a sovereign nation. but they did not do this. they declared and won their independence jointly, and have since existed and exercised sovereignty only as states united, or the united states, that is, states sovereign in their union, but not in their separation. this is of itself decisive of the whole question. but the colonists have not only never exercised the full powers of sovereignty save as citizens of states united, therefore as one people, but they were, so far as a people at all, one people even before independence. the colonies were all erected and endowed with their rights and powers by one and the same national authority, and the colonists were subjects of one and the same national sovereign. mr. quincy adams, who almost alone among our prominent statesmen maintains the unity of the colonial people, adds indeed to their subjection to the same sovereign authority, community of origin, of language, manners, customs, and law. all these, except the last, or common law, may exist without national unity in the modern political sense of the term nation. the english common law was recognized by the colonial courts, and in force in all the colonies, not by virtue of colonial legislation, but by virtue of english authority, as expressed in english jurisprudence. the colonists were under the common law, because they were englishmen, and subjects of the english sovereign. this proves that they were really one people with the english people, though existing in a state of colonial dependence, and not a separate people having nothing politically in common with them but in the accident of having the same royal person for their king. the union with the mother country was national, not personal, as was the union existing between england and hanover, or that still existing between the empire of austria, formerly germany, and the kingdom of hungary; and hence the british parliament claimed, and not illegally, the right to tax the colonies for the support of the empire, and to bind them in all cases whatsoever--a claim the colonies themselves admitted in principle by recognizing and observing the british navigation laws. the people of the several colonies being really one people before independence, in the sovereignty of the mother country, must be so still, unless they have since, by some valid act, divided themselves or been divided into separate and independent states. the king, say the jurists, never dies, and the heralds cry, "the king is dead! live the king!" sovereignty never lapses, is never in abeyance, and the moment it ceases in one people it is renewed in another. the british sovereignty ceased in the colonies with independence, and the american took its place. did the sovereignty, which before independence was in great britain, pass from great britain to the states severally, or to the states united? it might have passed to them severally, but did it? there is no question of law or antecedent right in the case, but a simple question of fact, and the fact is determined by determining who it was that assumed it, exercised it, and has continued to exercise it. as to this there is no doubt. the sovereignty as a fact has been assumed and exercised by the united states, the states united, and never by the states separately or severally. then as a fact the sovereignty that before independence was in great britain, passed, on independence to the states united, and reappears in all its vigor in the united states, the only successor to great britain known to or recognized by the civilized world. as the colonial people were, though distributed in distinct colonies, still one people, the people of the united states, though distributed into distinct and mutually independent states, are yet one sovereign people, therefore a sovereign state or nation, and not a simple league or confederacy of nations. there is no doubt that all the powers exercised by the general government, though embracing all foreign relations and all general interests and relations of all the states, might have been exercised by it under the authority of a mutual compact of the several states, and practically the difference between the compact theory and the national view would be very little, unless in cases like that of secession. on the supposition that the american people are one political people, the government would have the right to treat secession, in the sense in which the seceders understand it, as rebellion, and to suppress it by employing all the physical force at its command; but on the compact theory it would have no such right. but the question now under discussion turns simply on what has been and is the historical fact. before the states could enter into the compact and delegate sovereign powers to the union, they must have severally possessed them. it is historically certain that they did not possess them before independence; they did not obtain them by independence, for they did not severally succeed to the british sovereignty, to which they succeeded only as states united. when, then, and by what means did they or could they become severally sovereign states? the united states having succeeded to the british sovereignty in the anglo-american colonies, they came into possession of full national sovereignty, and have alone held and exercised it ever since independence became a fact. the states severally succeeding only to the colonies, never held, and have never been competent to delegate sovereign powers. the old articles of confederation, it is conceded, were framed on the assumption that the states are severally sovereign; but the several states, at the same time, were regarded as forming one nation, and, though divided into separate states, the people were regarded as one people. the legislature of new york, as early as , calls for an essential change in the articles of confederation, as proved to be inadequate to secure the peace, security, and prosperity of "the nation." all the proceedings that preceded and led to the call of the convention of were based on the assumption that the people of the united states were one people. the states were called united, not confederated states, even in the very articles of confederation themselves, and officially the united states were called "the union." that the united colonies by independence became united states, and formed really one and only one people, was in the thought, the belief, the instinct of the great mass of the people. they acted as they existed through state as they had previously acted through colonial organization, for in throwing off the british authority there was no other organization through which they could act. the states, or people of the states, severally sent their delegates to the congress of the united states, and these delegates adopted the rule of voting in congress by states, a rule that might be revived without detriment to national unity. nothing was more natural, then, than that congress, composed of delegates elected or appointed by states, should draw up articles of confederation rather than articles of union, in order, if for no other reason, to conciliate the smaller states, and to prevent their jealousy of the larger states such as virginia, massachusetts, and pennsylvania. moreover, the articles of confederation were drawn up and adopted during the transition from colonial dependence to national independence. independence was declared in , but it was not a fact till , when the preliminary treaty acknowledging it was signed at paris. till then the united states were not an independent nation; they were only a people struggling to become an independent nation. prior to that preliminary treaty, neither the union nor the states severally were sovereign. the articles were agreed on in congress in , but they were not ratified by all the states till may, , and in the movement was commenced in the legislature of new york for their amendment. till the organization under the constitution ordained by the people of the united states in , and which went into operation in , the united states had in reality only a provisional government, and it was not till then that the national government was definitively organized, and the line of demarcation between the general government and the particular state governments was fixed. the confederation was an acknowledged failure, and was rejected by the american people, precisely because it was not in harmony with the unwritten or providential constitution of the nation; and it was not in harmony with that constitution precisely because it recognized the states as severally sovereign, and substituted confederation for union. the failure of confederation and the success of union are ample proofs of the unity of the american nation. the instinct of unity rejected state sovereignty in as it did in . the first and the last attempt to establish state sovereignty have failed, and the failure vindicates the fact that the sovereignty is in the states united, not in the states severally. chapter x constitution of the united states the constitution of the united states is twofold, written and unwritten, the constitution of the people and the constitution of the government. the written constitution is simply a law ordained by the nation or people instituting and organizing the government; the unwritten constitution is the real or actual constitution of the people as a state or sovereign community, and constituting them such or such a state. it is providential, not made by the nation, but born with it. the written constitution is made and ordained by the sovereign power, and presupposes that power as already existing and constituted. the unwritten or providential constitution of the united states is peculiar, and difficult to understand, because incapable of being fully explained by analogies borrowed from any other state historically known, or described by political philosophers. it belongs to the graeco-roman family, and is republican as distinguished from despotic constitutions, but it comes under the head of neither monarchical nor aristocratic, neither democratic nor mixed constitutions, and creates a state which is neither a centralized state nor a confederacy. the difficulty of understanding it is augmented by the peculiar use under it of the word state, which does not in the american system mean a sovereign community or political society complete in itself, like france, spain, or prussia, nor yet a political society subordinate to another political society and dependent on it. the american states are all sovereign states united, but, disunited, are no states at all. the rights and powers of the states are not derived from the united states, nor the rights and powers of the united states derived from the states. the simple fact is, that the political or sovereign people of the united states exists as united states, and only as united states. the union and the states are coeval, born together, and can exist only together. separation is dissolution--the death of both. the united states are a state, a single sovereign state; but this single sovereign state consists in the union and solidarity of states instead of individuals. the union is in each of the states, and each of the states is in the union. it is necessary to distinguish in the outset between the united states and the government of the united states, or the so-called federal government, which the convention refused, contrary to its first intention to call the national government. that government is not a supreme national government, representing all the powers of the united states, but a limited government, restricted by its constitution to certain specific relations and interests. the united states are anterior to that government, and the first question to be settled relates to their internal and inherent providential constitution as one political people or sovereign state. the written constitution, in its preamble, professes to be ordained by "we, the people of the united states." who are this people? how are they constituted, or what the mode and conditions of their political existence? are they the people of the states severally? no; for they call themselves the people of the united states. are they a national people, really existing outside and independently of their organization into distinct and mutually independent states? no; for they define themselves to be the people of the united states. if they had considered themselves existing as states only, they would have said "we, the states," and if independently of state organization, they would have said "we, the people," do ordain, &c. the key to the mystery is precisely in this appellation united states, which is not the name of the country, for its distinctive name is america, but a name expressive of its political organization. in it there are no sovereign people without states, and no states without union, or that are not united states. the term united is not part of a proper name, but is simply an adjective qualifying states, and has its full and proper sense. hence while the sovereignty is and must be in the states, it is in the states united, not in the states severally, precisely as we have found the sovereignty of the people is in the people collectively or as society, not in the people individually. the life is in the body, not in the members, though the body could not exist if it had no members; so the sovereignty is in the union, not in the states severally; but there could be no sovereign union without the states, for there is no union where there is nothing united. this is not a theory of the constitution, but the constitutional fact itself. it is the simple historical fact that precedes the law and constitutes the law-making power. the people of the united states are one people, as has already been proved: they were one people, as far as a people at all, prior to independence, because under the same common law and subject to the same sovereign, and have been so since, for as united states they gained their independence and took their place among sovereign nations, and as united states they have possessed and still possess the government. as their existence before independence in distinct colonies did not prevent their unity, so their existence since in distinct states does not hinder them from being one people. the states severally simply continue the colonial organizations, and united they hold the sovereignty that was originally in the mother country. but if one people, they are one people existing in distinct state organizations, as before independence they were one people existing in distinct colonial organizations. this is the original, the unwritten, and providential constitution of the people of the united states. this constitution is not conventional, for it existed before the people met or could meet in convention. they have not, as an independent sovereign people, either established their union, or distributed themselves into distinct and mutually independent states. the union and the distribution, the unity and the distinction, are both original in their constitution, and they were born united states, as much and as truly so as the son of a citizen is born a citizen, or as every one born at all is born a member of society, the family, the tribe, or the nation. the union and the states were born together, are inseparable in their constitution, have lived and grown up together; no serious attempt till the late secession movement has been made to separate them; and the secession movement, to all persons who knew not the real constitution of the united states, appeared sure to succeed, and in fact would have succeeded if, as the secessionists pretended, the union had been only a confederacy, and the states had been held together only by a conventional compact, and not by a real and living bond of unity. the popular instinct of national unity, which seemed so weak, proved to be strong enough to defeat the secession forces, to trample out the confederacy, and maintain the unity of the nation and the integrity of its domain. the people can act only as they exist, as they are, not as they are not. existing originally only as distributed in distinct and mutually independent colonies, they could at first act only through their colonial organizations, and afterward only through their state organizations. the colonial people met in convention, in the person of representatives chosen by colonies, and after independence in the person of representatives chosen by states. not existing outside of the colonial or state organizations, they could not act outside or independently of them. they chose their representatives or delegates by colonies or states, and called at first their convention a congress; but by an instinct surer than their deliberate wisdom, they called it not the congress of the confederate, but of the united states, asserting constitutional unity as well as constitutional multiplicity. it is true, in their first attempt to organize a general government, they called the constitution they devised articles of confederation, but only because they had not attained to full consciousness of themselves; and that they really meant union, not confederation, is evident from their adopting, as the official style of the nation or new power, united, not confederate states. that the sovereignty vested in the states united, and was represented in some sort by the congress, is evident from the fact that the several states, when they wished to adopt state constitutions in place of colonial charters, felt not at liberty to do so without asking and obtaining the permission of congress, as the elder adams informs us in his diary, kept at the time; that is, they asked and obtained the equivalent of what has since, in the case of organizing new states, been called an "enabling act." this proves that the states did not regard themselves as sovereign states out of the union, but as completely sovereign only in it. and this again proves that the articles of confederation did not correspond to the real, living constitution of the people. even then it was felt that the organization and constitution of a state in the union could be regularly effected only by the permission of congress; and no territory can, it is well known, regularly organize itself as a state, and adopt a state constitution, without an enabling act by congress, or its equivalent. new states, indeed, have been organized and been admitted into the union without an enabling act of congress; but the case of kansas, if nothing else, proves that the proceeding is irregular, illicit, invalid, and dangerous. congress, of course, can condone the wrong and validate the act, but it were better that the act should be validly done, and that there should be no wrong to condone. territories have organized as states, adopted state constitutions, and instituted state governments under what has been called "squatter sovereignty;" but such sovereignty has no existence, because sovereignty is attached to the domain; and the domain is in the united states. it is the offspring of that false view of popular sovereignty which places it in the people personally or generically, irrespective of the domain, which makes sovereignty a purely personal right, not a right fixed to the soil, and is simply a return to the barbaric constitution of power. in all civilized nations, sovereignty is inseparable from the state, and the state is inseparable from the domain. the will of the people, unless they are a state, is no law, has no force, binds nobody, and justifies no act. the regular process of forming and admitting new states explains admirably the mutual relation of the union and the several states. the people of a territory belonging to the united states or included in the public domain not yet erected into a state and admitted into the union, are subjects of the united states, without any political rights whatever, and, though a part of the population, are no part of the sovereign people of the united states. they become a part of that people, with political rights and franchises, only when they are erected into a state, and admitted into the union as one of the united states. they may meet in convention, draw up and adopt a constitution declaring or assuming them to be a state, elect state officers, senators, and representatives in the state legislature, and representatives and senators in congress, but they are not yet a state, and are, as before, under the territorial government established by the general government. it does not exist as a state till recognized by congress and admitted into the union. the existence of the state, and the rights and powers of the people within the state, depend on their being a state in the union, or a state united. hence a state erected on the national domain, but itself outside of the union, is not an independent foreign state, but simply no state at all, in any sense of the term. as there is no union outside of the states, so is there no state outside of the union; and to be a citizen either of a state or of the united states, it is necessary to be a citizen of a state, and of a state in the union. the inhabitants of territories not yet erected into states are subjects, not citizens--that is, not citizens with political rights. the sovereign people are not the people outside of state organization, nor the people of the states severally, but the distinct people of the several states united, and therefore most appropriately called the people of the united states. this is the peculiarity of the american constitution and is substantially the very peculiarity noted and dwelt upon by mr. madison in his masterly letter to edward everett, published in the "north american review," october, . "i in order to understand the true character of the constitution of the united states," says mr. madison, "the error, not uncommon, must be avoided of viewing it through the medium either of a consolidated government or of a confederated government, whilst it is neither the one nor the other, but a mixture of both. and having, in no model, the similitudes and analogies applicable to other systems of government, it must, more than any other, be its own interpreter, according to its text and the facts in the case. "from these it will be seen that the characteristic peculiarities of the constitution are: . the mode of its formation. . the division of the supreme powers of government between the states in their united capacity and the states in their individual capacities. " . it was formed not by the governments of the component states, as the federal government, for which it was substituted, was formed; nor was it formed by a majority of the people of the united states as a single community, in the manner of a consolidated government. it was formed by the states; that is, by the people in each of the states, acting in their highest sovereign capacity, and formed consequently by the same authority which formed the state constitution. "being thus derived from the same source as the constitutions of the states, it has within each state the same authority as the constitution of the state, and is as much a constitution in the strict sense of the term, within its prescribed sphere, as the constitutions of the states are within their respective spheres; but with this obvious and essential difference, that, being a compact among the states in their highest capacity, and constituting the people thereof one people for certain purposes, it cannot be altered or annulled at the will of the states individually, as the constitution of a state may be at its individual will. " . and that it divides the supreme powers of government between the government of the united states and the governments of the individual states, is stamped on the face of the instrument; the powers of war and of taxation, of commerce and treaties, and other enumerated powers vested in the government of the united states, are of high and sovereign a character as any of the powers reserved to the state governments." mr. jefferson, mr. webster, chancellor kent, judge story, and nearly all the old republicans, and even the old federalists, on the question as to what is the actual constitution of the united states, took substantially the same view; but they all, as well as mr. madison himself, speak of the written constitution, which on their theory has and can have only a conventional value. mr. madison evidently recognizes no constitution of the people prior to the written constitution, from which the written constitution, or the constitution of the government, derives all its force and vitality. the organization of the american people, which he knew well--no man better,--and which he so justly characterizes, he supposes to have been deliberately formed by the people themselves, through the convention--not given them by providence as their original and inherent constitution. but this was merely the effect of the general doctrine which he had adopted, in common with nearly all his contemporaries, of the origin of the state in compact, and may be eliminated from his view of what the constitution actually is, without affecting that view itself. mr. madison lays great stress on the fact that though the constitution of the union was formed by the states, it was formed, not by the governments, but by the people of the several states; but this makes no essential difference, if the people are the people of the states, and sovereign in their severalty, and not in their union. had it been formed by the state governments with the acquiescence of the people, it would have rested on as high authority as if formed by the people of the state in convention assembled. the only difference is, that if the state ratified it by the legislature, she could abrogate it by the legislature; if in convention, she could abrogate it only in convention. mr. madison, following mr. jefferson, supposes the constitution makes the people of the several states one people for certain specific purposes, and leaves it to be supposed that in regard to all other matters, or in all other relations, they are sovereign; and hence he makes the government a mixture of a consolidated government and a confederated government, but neither the one nor the other exclusively. say the people of the united states were one people in all respects, and under a government which is neither a consolidated nor a confederated government, nor yet a mixture of the two, but a government in which the powers of government are divided between a general government and particular governments, each emanating from the same source, and you will have the simple fact, and precisely what mr. madison means, when is eliminated what is derived from his theory of the origin of government in compact. it is this theory of the conventional origin of the constitution, and which excludes the providential or real constitution of the people, that has misled him and so many other eminent statesmen and constitutional lawyers. the convention did not create the union or unite the states, for it was assembled by the authority of the united states who were present in it. the united states or union existed before the convention, as the convention itself affirms in declaring one of its purposes to be "to provide for a more perfect union." if there had been no union, it could not and would not have spoken of providing for a more perfect union, but would have stated its purpose to be to create or form a union. the convention did not form the union, nor in fact provide for a more perfect union; it simply provided for the more perfect representation or expression in the general government of the union already existing. the convention, in common with the statesmen at the time, recognized no unwritten or providential constitution of a people, and regarded the constitution of government as the constitution of the state, and consequently sometimes put the state for the government. in interpreting its language, it is necessary to distinguish between its act and its theory. its act is law, its theory is not. the convention met, among other things, to organize a government which should more perfectly represent the union of the states than did the government created by the articles of confederation. the convention, certainly, professes to grant or concede powers to the united states, and to prohibit powers to the states; but it simply puts the state for the government. the powers of the united states are, indeed, grants or trusts, but from god through the law of nature, and are grants, trusts, or powers always conceded to every nation or sovereign people. but none of them are grants from the convention. the powers the convention grants or concedes to the united states are powers granted or conceded by the united states to the general government it assembled to organize and establish, which, as it extends over the whole population and territory of the union, and, as the interests it is charged with relate to all the states in common, or to the people as a whole, is with no great impropriety called the government of the united states, in contradistinction from the state governments, which have each only a local jurisdiction. but the more exact term is, for the one, the general government, and for the others, particular governments, as having charge only of the particular interests of the state; and the two together constitute the government of the united states, or the complete national government; for neither the general government nor the state government is complete in itself. the convention developed a general government, and prescribed its powers, and fixed their limits and extent, as well as the bounds of the powers of the state or particular governments; but they are the united states assembled in convention that do all this, and, therefore, strictly speaking, no powers are conceded to the united states that they did not previously possess. the convention itself, in the constitution it ordained, defines very clearly from whom the general government holds its powers. it holds them, as we i have seen, from "we, the people of the united states;" not we, the people of the states severally, but of the states united. if it had meant the states severally, it would have said, we, the states; if it had recognized and meant the population of the country irrespective of its organization into particular states, it would have said simply, we, the people. by saying "we, the people of the united states," it placed the sovereign power where it is, in the people of the states united. the convention ordains that the powers not conceded to the general government or prohibited to the particular governments, "are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." but the powers reserved to the states severally are reserved by order of the united states, and the powers not so reserved are reserved to the people. what people? the first thought is that they are the people of the states severally; for the constitution understands by people the state as distinguished from the state government; but if this had been its meaning in this place, it would have said, "are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people" thereof. as it does not say so, and does not define the people it means, it is necessary to understand by them the people called in the preamble "the people of the united states." this is confirmed by the authority reserved to amend the constitution, which certainly is not reserved to the states severally, but necessarily to the power that ordains the constitution--"we, the people of the united states." no power except that which ordains is or can be competent to amend a constitution of government. the particular mode prescribed by the convention in which the constitution of the government may be amended has no bearing on the present argument, because it is prescribed by the states united, not severally, and the power to amend is evidently reserved, not indeed to the general government, but to the united states; for the ratification by any state or territory not in the union counts for nothing. the states united, can, in the way prescribed, give more or less power to the general government, and reserve more or less power to the states individually. the so-called reserved powers are really reserved to the people of the united states, who can make such disposition of them as seems to them good. the conclusion, then, that the general government holds from the states united, not from the states severally, is not invalidated by the fact that its constitution was completed only by the ratification of the states in their individual capacity. the ratification was made necessary by the will of the people in convention assembled; but the convention was competent to complete it and put it in force without that ratification, had it so willed. the general practice under the american system is for the convention to submit the constitution it has agreed on to the people, to be accepted or rejected by a plebiscitum; but such submission, though it may be wise and prudent, is not necessary. the convention is held to be the convention of the people, and to be clothed with the full authority of the sovereign people, and it is in this that it differs from the congress or the legislature. it is not a congress of delegates or ministers who are obliged to act under instructions, to report their acts to their respective sovereigns for approval or rejection; it is itself sovereign, and may do whatever the people themselves can do. there is no necessity for it to appeal to a plebiscitum to complete its acts. that the convention, on the score of prudence, is wise in doing so, nobody questions; but the convention is always competent, if it chooses, to ordain the constitution without appeal. the power competent to ordain the constitution is always competent to change, modify, or amend it. that amendments to the constitution of the government can be adopted only by being proposed by a convention of all the states in the union, or by being proposed, by a two-thirds vote of both houses of congress, and ratified by three-fourths of the states, is simply a conventional ordinance, which the convention can change at its pleasure. it proves nothing as it stands but the will of the convention. the term ratification itself, because the term commonly used in reference to treaties between sovereign powers, has been seized on, since sometimes used by the convention, to prove that the constitution emanates from the states severally, and is a treaty or compact between sovereign states, not an organic or fundamental law ordained by a single sovereign will; but this argument is inadmissible, because, as we have just seen, the convention is competent to ordain the constitution without submitting it for ratification, and because the convention uses sometimes the word adopt instead of the word ratify. that the framers of the constitution held it to be a treaty, compact, or agreement among sovereigns, there is no doubt, for they so held in regard to all constitution of government; and there is just as little doubt that they intended to constitute, and firmly believed that they were constituting a real government. mr. madison's authority on this point is conclusive. they unquestionably regarded the states, prior to the ratification of the constitution they proposed, as severally sovereign, as they were declared to be by the old articles of confederation, but they also believed that all individuals are sovereign prior to the formation of civil society. yet very few, if any, of them believed that they remained sovereign after the adoption of the constitution; and we may attribute to their belief in the conventional origin of all government,--the almost universal belief of the time among political philosophers,--the little account which they made of the historical facts that prove that the people of the united states were always one people, and that the states never existed as severally sovereign states. the political philosophers of the present day do not generally accept the theory held by our fathers, and it has been shown in these pages to be unsound and incompatible with the essential nature of government. the statesmen of the eighteenth century believed that the state is derived from the people individually, and held that sovereignty is created by the people in convention. the rights and powers of the state, they held, were made up of the rights held by individuals under the law of nature, and which the individuals surrendered to civil society on its formation. so they supposed that independent sovereign states might meet in convention, mutually agree to surrender a portion of their rights, organize their surrendered rights into a real government, and leave the convention shorn, at least, of a portion of their sovereignty. this doctrine crops out everywhere in the writings of the elder adams, and is set forth with rare ability by mr. webster, in his great speech in the senate against the state sovereignty doctrine of general hayne and mr. calhoun, which won for him the honorable title of expounder of the constitution--and expound it he, no doubt, did in the sense of its framers. he boldly concedes that prior to the adoption of the constitution, the people of the united states were severally sovereign states, but by the constitution they were made one sovereign political community or people, and that the states, though retaining certain rights, have merged their several sovereignty in the union. the subtle mind of mr. calhoun, who did not hold that a state can originate in compact, proved to mr. webster that his theory could not stand; that, if the states went into the convention sovereign states, they came out of it sovereign states; and that the constitution they formed could from the nature of the case be only a treaty, compact, or agreement between sovereigns. it could create an agency, but not a government. the sovereign states could only delegate the exercise of their sovereign powers, not the sovereign powers themselves. the states could agree to exercise certain specific powers of sovereignty only in common, but the force and vitality of the agreement depended on the states, parties to the agreement retaining respectively their sovereignty. hence, he maintained that sovereignty, after as before the convention, vested in the states severally. hence state sovereignty, and hence his doctrine that in all cases that cannot come properly before the supreme court of the united states for decision, each state is free to decide for itself, on which he based the right of nullification, or the state veto of acts of congress whose constitutionality the state denies. mr. calhoun was himself no secessionist, but he laid down the premises from which secession is the logical deduction; and large numbers of young men, among the most open, the most generous, and the most patriotic in the country, adopted his premises, without being aware of this fact any more than he himself was, and who have been behind none in their loyalty to the union, and in their sacrifices to sustain it, in the late rebellion. the formidable rebellion which is now happily suppressed, and which attempted to justify itself by the doctrine of state sovereignty, has thrown, in many minds, new light on the subject, and led them to re-examine the historical facts in the case from a different point of view, to see if mr. calhoun's theory is not as unfounded as he had proved mr. webster's theory to be. the facts in the case really sustain neither, and both failed to see it: mr. calhoun because he had purposes to accomplish which demanded state sovereignty, and mr. webster because he examined them in the distorting medium of the theory or understanding of the statesmen of the eighteenth century. the civil war has vindicated the union, and defeated the armed forces of the state sovereignty men; but it has not refuted their doctrine, and as far as it has had any effect, it has strengthened the tendency to consolidation or centralism. but the philosophy, the theory of government, the understanding of the framers of the constitution, must be considered, if the expression will be allowed, as obiter dicta, and be judged on their merits. what binds is the thing done, not the theory on which it was done, or on which the actors explained their work either to themselves or to others. their political philosophy, or their political theory, may sometimes affect the phraseology they adopt, but forms no rule for interpreting their work. their work was inspired by and accords with the historical facts in the case, and is authorized and explained by them. the american people were not made one people by the written constitution, as mr. jefferson, mr. madison, mr. webster, and so many others supposed, but were made so by the unwritten constitution, born with and inherent in them. chapter xi. the constitution--continued. providence, or god operating through historical facts, constituted the american people one political or sovereign people, existing and acting in particular communities, organizations, called states. this one people organized as states, meet in convention, frame and ordain the constitution of government, or institute a general government in place of the continental congress; and the same people, in their respective state organizations, meet in convention in each state, and frame and ordain a particular government for the state individually, which, in union with the general government, constitutes the complete and supreme government within the states, as the general government, in union with all the particular governments, constitutes the complete and supreme government of the nation or whole country. this is clearly the view taken by mr. madison in his letter to mr. everett, when freed from his theory of the origin of government in compact. the constitution of the people as one people, and the distinction at the same time of this one people into particular states, precedes the convention, and is the unwritten constitution, the providential constitution, of the american people or civil society, as distinguished from the constitution of the government, which, whether general or particular, is the ordination of civil society itself. the unwritten constitution is the creation or constitution of the sovereign, and the sovereign providentially constituted constitutes in turn the government, which is not sovereign, but is clothed with just so much and just so little authority as the sovereign wills or ordains. the sovereign in the republican order is the organic people, or state, and is with us the united states, for with us the organic people exist only as organized into states united, which in their union form one compact and indissoluble whole. that is to say, the organic american people do not exist as a consolidated people or state; they exist only as organized into distinct but inseparable states. each state is a living member of the one body, and derives its life from its union with the body, so that the american state is one body with many members; and the members, instead of being simply individuals, are states, or individuals organized into states. the body consists of many members, and is one body, because the members are all members of it, and members one of another. it does not exist as separate or distinct from the members, but exists in their solidarity or membership one of another. there is no sovereign people or existence of the united states distinguishable from the people or existence of the particular states united. the people of the united states, the state called the united states, are the people of the particular states united. the solidarity of the members constitutes the unity of the body. the difference between this view and mr. madison's is, that while his view supposes the solidarity to be conventional, originating and existing in compact, or agreement, this supposes it to be real, living, and prior to the convention, as much the work of providence as the existence in the human body of the living solidarity of its members. one law, one life, circulates through all the members, constituting them a living organism, binding them in living union, all to each and each to all. such is the sovereign people, and so far the original unwritten constitution. the sovereign, in order to live and act, must have an organ through which he expresses his will. this organ under the american system, is primarily the convention. the convention is the supreme political body, the concrete sovereign authority, and exercises practically the whole sovereign power of the people. the convention persists always, although not in permanent session. it can at any time be convened by the ordinary authority of the government, or, in its failure, by a plebiscitum. next follows the government created and constituted by the convention. the government is constituted in such manner, and has such and only such powers, as the convention ordains. the government has, in the strict sense, no political authority under the american system, which separates the government from the convention. all political questions proper, such as the elective franchise, eligibility, the constitution of the several departments of government, as the legislative, the judicial, and the executive, changing, altering, or amending the constitution of government, enlarging, or contracting its powers, in a word, all those questions that arise on which it is necessary to take the immediate orders of the sovereign, belong not to the government, but to the convention; and where the will of the sovereign is not sufficiently expressed in the constitution, a new appeal to the convention is necessary, and may always be had. the constitution of great britain makes no distinction between the convention and the government. theoretically the constitution of great britain is feudal, and there is, properly speaking, no british state; there are only the estates, king, lords, and commons, and these three estates constitute the parliament, which is held to be omnipotent; that is, has the plenitude of political sovereignty. the british parliament, composed of the three estates, possesses in itself all the powers of the convention in the american constitution, and is at once the convention and the government. the imperial constitution of france recognizes no convention, but clothes the senate with certain political functions, which, in some respects, subjects theoretically the sovereign to his creature. the emperor confessedly holds his power by the grace of god and the will of the nation, which is a clear acknowledgment that the sovereignty vests in the french people as the french state; but the imperial constitution, which is the constitution of the government, not of the state, studies, while acknowledging the sovereignty of the people, to render it nugatory, by transferring it, under various subtle disguises, to the government, and practically to the emperor as chief of the government. the senate, the council of state, the legislative body, and the emperor, are all creatures of the french state, and have properly no political functions, and to give them such functions is to place the sovereign under his own subjects! the real aim of the imperial constitution is to secure despotic power under the guise of republicanism. it leaves and is intended to leave the nation no way of practically asserting its sovereignty but by either a revolution or a plebiscitum, and a plebiscitum is permissible only where there is no regular government. the british constitution is consistent with itself, but imposes no restriction on the power of the government. the french imperial constitution is illogical, inconsistent with itself as well as with the free action of the nation. the american constitution has all the advantages of both, and the disadvantages of neither. the convention is not the government like the british parliament, nor a creature of the state like the french senate, but the sovereign state itself, in a practical form. by means of the convention the government is restricted to its delegated powers, and these, if found in practice either too great or too small, can be enlarged or contracted in a regular, orderly way, without resorting to a revolution or to a plebiscitum. whatever political grievances there may be, there is always present the sovereign convention competent to redress them. the efficiency of power is thus secured without danger to liberty, and freedom without danger to power. the recognition of the convention, the real political sovereign of the country and its separation from and independence of the ordinary government, is one of the most striking features of the american constitution. the next thing to be noted, after the convention, is the constitution by the convention of the government. this constitution, as mr. madison well observes, divides the powers conceded by the convention to government between the general government and the particular state governments. strictly speaking, the government is one, and its powers only are divided and exercised by two sets of agents or ministries. this division of the powers of government could never have been established by the convention if the american people had not been providentially constituted one people, existing and acting through particular state organizations. here the unwritten constitution, or the constitution written in the people themselves, rendered practicable and dictated the written constitution, or constitution ordained by the convention and engrossed on parchment. it only expresses in the government the fact which pre-existed in the national organization and life. this division of the powers of government is peculiar to the united states, and is an effective safeguard against both feudal disintegration and roman centralism. misled by their prejudices and peculiar interests, a portion of the people of the united states, pleading in their justification the theory of state sovereignty, attempted disintegration, secession, and national independence separate from that of the united states, but the central force of the constitution was too strong for them to succeed. the unity of the nation was too strong to be effectually broken. no doubt the reaction against secession and disintegration will strengthen the tendency to centralism, but centralism can succeed no better than disintegration has succeeded because the general government has no subsistentia, no suppositum, to borrow a theological term, outside or independent of the states. the particular governments are stronger, if there be any difference, to protect the states against centralism than the general government is to protect the union against disintegration; and after swinging for a time too far toward one extreme and then too far toward the other, the public mind will recover its equilibrium, and the government move on in its constitutional path. republican rome attempted to guard against excessive centralism by the tribunitial veto, or by the organization of a negative or obstructive power. mr. calhoun thought this admirable, and wished to effect the same end here, where it is secured by other, more effective, and less objectionable means, by a state veto on the acts of congress, by a dual executive, and by substituting concurrent for numerical majorities. imperial rome gradually swept away the tribunitial veto, concentrated all power in the hands of the emperor, became completely centralized, and fell. the british constitution seeks the same end by substituting estates for the state, and establishing a mixed government, in which monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy temper, check, or balance each other; but practically the commons estate has become supreme, and the nobility govern not in the house of lords, and can really influence public affairs only through the house of commons. the principle of the british constitution is not the division of the powers of government, but the antagonism of estates, or rather of interests, trusting to the obstructive influence of that antagonism to preserve the government from pure centralism. hence the study of the british statesman is to manage diverse and antagonistic parties and interests so as to gain the ability to act, which he can do only by intrigue, cajolery, bribery in one form or another, and corruption of every sort. the british government cannot be carried on by fair, honest, and honorable means, any more than could the roman under the antagonism created by the tribunitial veto. the french tried the english system of organized antagonism in , as a cure for the centralism introduced by richelieu and louis xiv., and again under the restoration and louis philippe, and called it the system of constitutional guarantees; but they could never manage it, and they have taken refuge in unmitigated centralism under napoleon iii., who, however well disposed, finds no means in the constitution of the french nation of tempering it. the english system, called the constitutional, and sometimes the parliamentary system, will not work in france, and indeed works really well nowhere. the american system, sometimes called the federal system, is not founded on antagonism of classes, estates, or interests, and is in no sense a system of checks and balances. it needs and tolerates no obstructive forces. it does not pit section against section, the states severally against the general government, nor the general government against the state governments, and nothing is more hurtful than the attempt to explain it and work it on the principles of british constitutionalism. the convention created no antagonistic powers; it simply divided the powers of government, and gave neither to the general government nor to the state governments all the powers of government, nor in any instance did it give to the two governments jurisdiction in the same matters. hence each has its own sphere, in which it can move on without colliding with that of the other. each is independent and complete in relation to its own work, incomplete and dependent on the other for the complete work of government. the division of power is not between a national government and state governments, but between a general government and particular governments. the general government, inasmuch as it extends to matters common to all the states, is usually called the government of the united states, and sometimes the federal government, to distinguish it from the particular or state governments, but without strict propriety; for the government of the united states, or the federal government, means, in strictness, both the general government and the particular governments, since neither is in itself the complete government of the country. the general government has authority within each of the states, and each of the state governments has authority in the union. the line between the union and the states severally, is not precisely the line between the general government and the particular governments. as, for instance, the general government lays direct taxes on the people of the states, and collects internal revenue within them; and the citizens of a particular state, and none others, are electors of president and vice-president of the united states, and representatives in the lower house of congress, while senators in congress are elected by the state legislatures themselves. the line that distinguishes the two governments is that which distinguishes the general relations and interests from the particular relations and interests of the people of the united states. these general relations and interests are placed under the general government, which, because its jurisdiction is coextensive with the union, is called the government of the united states; the particular relations and interests are placed under particular governments, which, because their jurisdiction is only coextensive, with the states respectively, are called state governments. the general government governs supremely all the people of the united states and territories belonging to the union, in all their general relations and interests, or relations and interests common alike to them all; the particular or state government governs supremely the people of a particular state, as massachusetts, new york, or new jersey, in all that pertains to their particular or private rights, relations, and interests. the powers of each are equally sovereign, and neither are derived from the other. the state governments are not subordinate to the general government, nor the general government to the state governments. they are co-ordinate governments, each standing on the same level, and deriving its powers from the same sovereign authority. in their respective spheres neither yields to the other. in relation to the matters within its jurisdiction, each government is independent and supreme in regard of the other, and subject only to the convention. the powers of the general government are the power-- to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the general welfare of the united states; to borrow money on the credit of the united states; to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and with the indian tribes; to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the united states; to coin money and regulate the value thereof, and fix the standard of weights and measures; to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the united states; to establish post-offices and post-roads; to promote the progress of science and of the useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries; to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations; to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water; to raise and support armies; to provide and maintain a navy; to make rules for the government of the land and naval forces; to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions; to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and of governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the united states; to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district, not exceeding ten miles square, as may by cession of particular states and the acceptance of congress, become the seat of the government of the united states, and to exercise a like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the united states, or in any department or office thereof. in addition to these, the general government is clothed with the treaty-making power, and the whole charge of the foreign relations of the country; with power to admit new states into the union; to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations concerning the territory and all other property belonging to the united states; to declare, with certain restrictions, the punishment of treason, the constitution itself defining what is treason against the united states; and to propose, or to call, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of all the states, a convention for proposing amendments to this constitution; and is vested with supreme judicial power, original or appellate, in all cases of law and equity arising under this constitution, the laws of the united states, and treaties made or to be made under their authority, in all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, in all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, in all controversies to which the united states shall be a party, all controversies between two or more states, between a state and citizens of another state, between citizens of different states, between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state or the citizens thereof and foreign states, citizens, or subjects. these, with what is incidental to them, and what is necessary and proper to carry them into effect, are all the positive powers with which the convention vests the general government, or government of the united states, as distinguished from the governments of the particular states; and these, with the exception of what relates to the district in which it has its seat, and places of forts, magazines, &c., are of a general nature, and restricted to the common relations and interests of the people, or at least to interests and relations which extend beyond the limits of a particular state. they are all powers that regard matters which extend beyond not only the individual citizen, but the individual state, and affect alike the relations and interests of all the states, or matters which cannot be disposed of by a state government without the exercise of extra-territorial jurisdiction. they give the government no jurisdiction of questions which affect individuals or citizens only in their private and domestic relations which lie wholly within a particular state. the general government does not legislate concerning private rights, whether of persons or things, the tenure of real estate, marriage, dower, inheritance, wills, the transferrence or transmission of property, real or personal; it can charter no private corporations, out of the district of columbia, for business, literary, scientific, or eleemosynary purposes, establish no schools, found no colleges or universities, and promote science and the useful arts only by securing to authors and inventors for a time the exclusive right to their writings and discoveries. the united states bank was manifestly unconstitutional, as probably are the present so-called national banks. the united states bank was a private or particular corporation, and the present national banks are only corporations of the same sort, though organized under a general law. the pretence that they are established to supply a national currency, does not save their constitutionality, for the convention has not given the general government the power nor imposed on it the duty of furnishing a national currency. to coin money, and regulate the value thereof, is something very different from authorizing private companies to issue bank notes, on the basis of the public stocks held as private property, or even on what is called a specie basis. to claim the power under the general welfare clause would be a simple mockery of good sense. it is no more for the general welfare than any other successful private business. the private welfare of each is, no doubt, for the welfare of all, but not therefore is it the "general welfare," for what is private, particular in its nature, is not and cannot be general. to understand by general welfare that which is for the individual welfare of all or the greater number, would be to claim for the general government all the powers of government, and to deny that very division of powers which is the crowning merit of the american system. the general welfare, by the very force of the words themselves, means the common as distinguished from the private or individual welfare. the system of national banks may or may not be a good and desirable system, but it is difficult to understand the constitutional power of the general government to establish it. on the ground that its powers are general, not particular, the general government has no power to lay a protective tariff. it can lay a tariff for revenue, not for protection of home manufactures or home industry; for the interests fostered, even though indirectly advantageous to the whole people, are in their nature private or particular, not general interests, and chiefly interests of private corporations and capitalists. their incidental or even consequential effects do not change their direct and essential nature. so with domestic slavery. slavery comes under the head of private rights, whether regarded on the side of the master or on the side of the slave. the right of a citizen to hold a slave, if a right at all, is the private right of property, and the right of the slave to his freedom is a private and personal right, and neither is placed under the safeguard of the general government, which has nowhere, unless in the district of columbia and the places over which it has exclusive legislative power in all cases whatsoever, either the right to establish it or to abolish it, except perhaps under the war power, as a military necessity, an indemnity for the past, or a security for the future. this applies to what are called territories as well as to the states. the right of the government to govern the territories in regard to private and particular rights and interests, is derived from no express grant of power, and is held only ex necessitate--the united states owning the domain, and there being no other authority competent to govern them. but, as in the case of all powers held ex necessitate, the power is restricted to the absolute necessity in the case. what are called territorial governments, to distinguish them from the state governments, are only provisional governments, and can touch private rights and interests no further than is necessary to preserve order and prepare the way for the organization and installation of a regular state government. till then the law governing private rights is the law that was in force, if any such there was, when the territory became by purchase, by conquest, or by treaty, attached to the domain of the united states. hence the supreme court declared unconstitutional the ordinance of , prohibiting slavery in what was called the territory of the northwest, and the so-called missouri compromise, prohibiting slavery north of the parallel ° '. the wilmot proviso was for the same reason unconstitutional. the general government never had and has not any power to exclude slavery from the territories, any more than to abolish it in the states. but slavery being a local institution, sustained neither by the law of nature nor the law of nations, no citizen migrating from a slave state could carry his slaves with him, and hold them as slaves in the territory. rights enacted by local law are rights only in that locality, and slaves carried by their masters into a slave state even, are free, unless the state into which they are carried enacts to the contrary. the only persons that could be held as slaves in a territory would be those who were slaves or the children of those who were slaves in the territory when it passed to the united states. the whole controversy on, slavery in the territories, and which culminated in the civil war, was wholly unnecessary, and never could have occurred had the constitution been properly understood and adhered to by both sides. true, congress could not exclude slavery from the territory, but neither could citizens migrating to them hold slaves in them; and so really slavery was virtually excluded, for the inhabitants in nearly all of them, not emigrants from the states after the cession to the united states, were too few to be counted. the general government has power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, to which all the states must conform, and it was very proper that it should have this power, so as to prevent one state from gaining by its naturalization laws an undue advantage over another; but the general government has itself no power to naturalize a single foreigner, or in any case to say who shall or who shall not be citizens, either of a state or of the united states, or to declare who may or may not be electors even of its own officers. the convention ordains that members of the house of representatives shall be chosen by electors who have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature, but the state determines these qualifications, and who do or do not possess them; that the senators shall be chosen by the state legislatures, and that the electors of president and vice-president shall be appointed in such manner as the respective state legislatures may direct. the whole question of citizenship, what shall or shall not be the qualifications of electors, who shall or shall not be freemen, is reserved to the states, as coming under the head of personal or private rights and franchises. in practice, the exact line of demarcation may not always have been strictly observed either by the general government or by the state governments; but a careful study of the constitution cannot fail to show that the division of powers is the division or distinction between the public and general relations and interests, rights and duties of the people, and their private and particular relations and interests, rights and duties. as these two classes of relations and interests, rights and duties, though distinguishable, are really inseparable in nature, it follows that the two governments are essential to the existence of a complete government, or to the existence of a real government in its plenitude and integrity. left to either alone, the people would have only an incomplete, an initial, or inchoate government. the general government is the complement of the state governments, and the state governments are the complement of the general government. the consideration of the powers denied by the convention to the general government and to the state governments respectively, will lead to the same conclusion. to the general government is denied expressly or by necessary implication all jurisdiction in matters of private rights and interests, and to the state government is denied all jurisdiction in right, or interests which extend, as has been said, beyond the boundaries of the state. "no state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money, emit bills of credit, make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in the payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. no state shall, without the consent of congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any state on imports and exports shall be for the use of the treasury of the united states, and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of congress. no state shall, without the consent of congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships-of-war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay." the powers denied to the states in some matters which are rather private and particular, such as bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, laws impairing the obligation of contracts, granting titles of nobility, are denied equally to the general government. there is evidently a profound logic in the constitution, and there is not a single provision in it that is arbitrary, or anomalous, or that does not harmonize dialectically with the whole, and with the real constitution of the american people. at first sight the reservation to the state of the appointment of the officers of the militia might seem an anomaly; but as the whole subject of internal police belongs to the state, it should have some military force at its command. the subject of bankruptcies, also, might seem to be more properly within the province of the state, and so it would be if commerce between the several states had not been placed under congress, or if trade were confined to the citizens of the state and within its boundaries; but as such is not the case, it was necessary to place it under the general government, in order that laws on the subject might be uniform throughout the union, and that the citizens of all the states, and foreigners trading with them, should be placed on an equal footing, and have the same remedies. the subject follows naturally in the train of commerce, for bankruptcies, as understood at the time, were confined to the mercantile class, bankers, and brokers; and since the regulation of commerce, foreign and inter-state, was to be placed under the sole charge of the general government, it was necessary that bankruptcy should be included. the subject of patents is placed under the general government, though the patent is a private right, because it was the will of the convention that the patent should be good in all the states, as affording more encouragement to science and the useful arts than if good only within a single state, or if the power were left to each state to recognize or not patents granted by another. the right created, though private in its nature, is yet general or common to all the states in its enjoyment or exercise. the division of the powers of government between a general government and particular governments, rendered possible and practicable by the original constitution of the people themselves, as one people existing and acting through state organizations, is the american method of guarding against the undue centralism to which roman imperialism inevitably tends; and it is far simpler and more effective than any of the european systems of mixed governments, which seek their end by organizing an antagonism of interests or classes. the american method demands no such antagonism, no neutralizing of one social force by another, but avails itself of all the forces of society, organizes them dialectically, not antagonistically, and thus protects with, equal efficiency both public authority and private rights. the general government can never oppress the people as individuals, or abridge their private rights or personal freedom and independence, because these are not within its jurisdiction, but are placed in charge, within each state, of the state government, which, within its sphere, governs as supremely as the general government: the state governments cannot weaken the public authority of the nation or oppress the people in their general rights and interests, for these are withdrawn from state jurisdiction, and placed under charge of a general government, which, in its sphere, governs as supremely as the state government. there is no resort to a system of checks and balances; there is no restraint on power, and no systematic distrust of power, but simply a division of powers between two co-ordinate governments, distinct but inseparable, moving in distinct spheres, but in the same direction, or to a common end. the system is no invention of man, is no creation of the convention, but is given us by providence in the living constitution of the american people. the merit of the statesmen of is that they did not destroy or deface the work of providence, but accepted it, and organized the government in harmony with the real orders the real elements given them. they suffered themselves in all their positive substantial work to be governed by reality, not by theories and speculations. in this they proved themselves statesmen, and their work survives; and the republic, laugh as sciolists may, is, for the present and future, the model republic--as much so as was rome in her day; and it is not simply national pride nor american self-conceit that pronounces its establishment the beginning of a new and more advanced order of civilization; such is really the fact. the only apparently weak point in the system is in the particular states themselves. feudalism protected the feudal aristocracy effectively for a time against both the king and the people, but left the king and the people without protection against the aristocracy, and hence it fell. it was not adequate to the wants of civil society, did not harmonize all social elements, and protect all social and individual rights and interests, and therefore could not but fail. the general government takes care of public authority and rights; the state protects private rights and personal freedom as against the general government: but what protects the citizens in their private rights, their personal freedom and independence, against the particular state government? universal suffrage, answers the democrat. armed with the ballot, more powerful than the sword, each citizen is able to protect himself. but this is theory, not reality. if it were true, the division of the powers of government between two co-ordinate, governments would be of no practical importance. experience does not sustain the theory, and the power of the ballot to protect the individual may be rendered ineffective by the tyranny of party. experience proves that the ballot is far less effective in securing the freedom and independence of the individual citizen than is commonly pretended. the ballot of an isolated individual counts for nothing. the individual, though armed with the ballot, is as powerless, if he stands alone, as if he had it not. to render it of any avail he must associate himself with a party, and look for his success in the success of his party; and to secure the success of his party, he must give up to it his own private convictions and free will. in practice, individuals are nothing individually, and parties are every thing. even the suppression of the late rebellion, and the support of the administration in doing it, was made a party question, and the government found the leaders of the party opposed to the republican party an obstacle hardly less difficult to surmount than the chiefs of the armies of the so-called confederate states. parties are formed, one hardly knows how, and controlled, no one knows by whom; but usually by demagogues, men who have some private or personal purposes, for which they wish, through party to use the government. parties have no conscience, no responsibility, and their very reason of being is, the usurpation and concentration of power. the real practical tendency of universal suffrage is to democratic, instead of an imperial, centralism. what is to guard against this centralism? not universal suffrage, for that tends to create it; and if the government is left to it, the government becomes practically the will of an ever shifting and irresponsible majority. is the remedy in written or paper constitutions? party can break through them, and by making the judges elective by party, for short terms, and re-eligible, can do so with impunity. in several of the states, the dominant majority have gained the power to govern at will, without any let or hindrance. besides, constitutions can be altered, and have been altered, very nearly at the will of the majority. no mere paper constitutions are any protection against the usurpations of party, for party will always grasp all the power it can. yet the evil is not so great as it seems, for in most of the states the principle of division of powers is carried into the bosom of the state itself; in some states further than in others, but in all it obtains to some extent. in what are called the new england states, the best governed portion of the union, each town is a corporation, having important powers and the charge of all purely local matters--chooses its own officers, manages its own finances, takes charge of its own poor, of its own roads and bridges, and of the education of its own children. between these corporations and the state government are the counties, that take charge of another class of interests, more general than those under the charge of the town, but less general than those of the state. in the great central and northwestern states the same system obtains, though less completely carried out. in the southern and southwestern states, the town corporations hardly exist, and the rights and interests of the poorer classes of persons have been less well protected in them than in the northern and eastern states. but with the abolition of slavery, and the lessening of the influence of the wealthy slaveholding class, with the return of peace and the revival of agricultural, industrial, and commercial prosperity, the new england system, in its main features, is pretty sure to be gradually introduced, or developed, and the division of powers in the state to be as effectively and as systematically carried out as it is between the general government and the particular or state governments. so, though universal suffrage, good as far as it goes, is not alone sufficient, the division of powers affords with it a not inadequate protection. no government, whose workings are intrusted to men, ever is or can be practically perfect--secure all good, and guard against all evil. in all human governments there will be defects and abuses, and he is no wise man who expects perfection from imperfection. but the american constitution, taken as a whole, and in all its parts, is the least imperfect that has ever existed, and under it individual rights, personal freedom and independence, as well as public authority or society, are better protected than under any other; and as the few barbaric elements retained from the feudal ages are eliminated, the standard of education elevated, and the whole population americanized, moulded by and to the american system, it will be found to effect all the good, with as little of the evil, as can be reasonably expected from any possible civil government or political constitution of society. chapter xii. secession. the doctrine that a state has a right to secede and carry with it its population and domain, has been effectually put down, and the unity and integrity of the united states as a sovereign nation have been effectively asserted on the battle-field; but the secessionists, though disposed to submit to superior force, and demean themselves henceforth as loyal citizens, most likely hold as firmly to the doctrine as before finding themselves unable to reduce it to practice, and the union victory will remain incomplete till they are convinced in their understandings that the union has the better reason as well as the superior military resources. the nation has conquered their bodies, but it is hardly less important for our statesmen to conquer their minds and win their hearts. the right of secession is not claimed as a revolutionary right, or even as a conventional right. the secessionists disclaim revolutionary principles, and hold that the right of secession is anterior to the convention, a right which the convention could neither give, nor take away, because inherent in the very conception of a sovereign state. secession is simply the repeal by the state of the act of accession to the union; and as that act was a free, voluntary act of the state, she must always be free to repeal it. the union is a copartnership; a state in the union is simply a member of the firm, and has the right to withdraw when it judges it for its interest to do so. there is no power in a firm to compel a copartner to remain a member any longer than be pleases. he is undoubtedly holden for the obligations contracted by the firm while he remains a member; but for none contracted after he has withdrawn and given due notice thereof. so of a sovereign state in the union. the union itself, apart from the sovereign states that compose it, is a mere abstraction, a nullity, and binds nobody. all its substance and vitality are in the agreement by which the states constitute themselves a firm or copartnership, for certain specific purposes, and for which they open an office and establish an agency under express instructions for the management of the general affairs of the firm. the state is held jointly and severally for all the legal obligations of the union, contracted while she is in it but no further; and is free to withdraw when she pleases, precisely as an individual may withdraw from an ordinary business firm. the remaining copartners have no right of compulsion or coercion against the seceding member, for he, saving the obligations already contracted, is as free to withdraw as they are to remain. the population is fixed to the domain and goes with it; the domain is attached to the state, and secedes in the secession of the state. secession, then, carries the entire state government, people, and domain out of the union, and restores ipso facto the state to its original position of a sovereign state, foreign to the united states. being an independent sovereign state, she may enter into a new confederacy, form a new copartnership, or merge herself in some other foreign state, as she judges proper or finds opportunity. the states that seceded formed among themselves a new confederacy, more to their mind than the one formed in , as they had a perfect right to do, and in the war just ended they were not rebels nor revolutionists, but a people fighting for the right of self-government, loyal citizens and true patriots defending the independence and inviolability of their country against foreign invaders. they are to be honored for their loyalty and patriotism, and not branded as rebels and punished as traitors. this is the secession argument, which rests on no assumption of revolutionary principles or abstract rights of man, and on no allegation of real or imaginary wrongs received from the union, but simply on the original and inherent rights of the several states as independent sovereign states. the argument is conclusive, and the defence complete, if the union is only a firm or copartnership, and the sovereignty vests in the states severally. the refutation of the secessionists is in the facts adduced that disprove the theory of state sovereignty, and prove that the sovereignty vests not in the states severally, but in the states united, or that the union is sovereign, and not the states individually. the union is not a firm, a copartnership, nor an artificial or conventional union, but a real, living, constitutional union, founded in the original and indissoluble unity of the american people, as one sovereign people. there is, indeed, no such people, if we abstract the states, but there are no states if we abstract this sovereign people or the union. there is no union without the states, and there are no states without the union. the people are born states, and the states are born united states. the union and the states are simultaneous, born together, and enter alike into the original and essential constitution of the american state. this the facts and reasonings adduced fully establish. but this one sovereign people that exists only as organized into states, does not necessarily include the whole population or territory included within the jurisdiction of the united states. it is restricted to the people and territory or domain organized into states in the union, as in ancient rome the ruling people were restricted to the tenants of the sacred territory, which had been surveyed, and its boundaries marked by the god terminus, and which by no means included all the territory held by the city, and of which she was both the private proprietor and the public sovereign. the city had vast possessions acquired by confiscation, by purchase, by treaty, or by conquest, and in reference to which her celebrated agrarian laws were enacted, and which have their counterpart in our homestead and kindred laws. in this class of territory, of which the city was the private owner, was the territory of all the roman provinces, which was held to be only leased to its occupants, who were often dispossessed, and their lands given as a recompense by the consul or imperator to his disbanded legionaries. the provincials were subjects of rome, but formed no part of the roman people, and had no share in the political power of the state, till at a late period the privileges of roman citizens were extended to them, and the roman people became coextensive with the roman empire. so the united states have held and still hold large territorial possessions, acquired by the acknowledgment of their independence by great britain, the former sovereign, the cession of particular states, and purchase from france, spain, and mexico. till erected into states and admitted into the union, this territory, with its population, though subject to the united states, makes no part of the political or sovereign territory and people of the united states. it is under the union, not in it, as is indicated by the phrase admitting into the union--a legal phrase, since the constitution ordains that "new states may be admitted by the congress into this union." there can be no secession that separates a state from the national domain, and withdraws it from the territorial sovereignty or jurisdiction of the united states; yet what hinders a state from going out of the union in the sense that it comes into it, and thus ceasing to belong to the political people of the united states? if the view of the constitution taken in the preceding chapters be correct, and certainly no facts tend to disprove it, the accession of a territory as a state in the union is a free act of the territorial people. the territory cannot organize and apply for admission as a state, without what is called an "enabling act" of congress or its equivalent; but that act is permissive, not mandatory, and nothing obliges the territory to organize under it and apply for admission. it may do so or not, as it chooses. what, then, hinders the state once in the union from going out or returning to its former condition of territory subject to the union? the original states did not need to come in under an enabling act, for they were born states in the union, and were never territory outside of the union and subject to it. but they and the new states, adopted or naturalized states, once in the union, stand on a footing of perfect equality, and the original states are no more and no less bound than they to remain states in the union. the ratification of the constitution by the original states was a free act, as much so as the accession of a new state formed from territory subject to the union is a free act, and a free act is an act which one is free to do or not to do, as he pleases. what a state is free to do or not to do, it is free to undo, if it chooses. there is nothing in either the state constitution or in that of the united states that forbids it. this is denied. the population and domain are inseparable in the state; and if the state could take itself out of the union, it would take them out, and be ipso facto a sovereign state foreign to the union. it would take the domain and the population out of the union, it is conceded and even maintained, but not therefore would it take them out of the jurisdiction of the union, or would they exist as a state foreign to the union; for population and territory may coexist, as dacota, colorado, or new mexico, out of the union, and yet be subject to the union, or within the jurisdiction of the united states. but the union is formed by the surrender by each of the states of its individual sovereignty, and each state by its admission into the union surrenders its individual sovereignty, or binds itself by a constitutional compact to merge its individual sovereignty in that of the whole. it then cannot cease to be a state in the union without breach of contract. having surrendered its sovereignty to the union, or bound itself by the constitution to exercise its original sovereignty only as one of the united states, it can unmake itself of its state character, only by consent of the united states, or by a successful revolution. it is by virtue of this fact that secession is rebellion against the united states, and that the general government, as representing the union, has the right and the duty to suppress it by all the forces at its command. there can be no rebellion where there is no allegiance. the states in the union cannot owe allegiance to the union, for they are it, and for any one to go out of it is no more an act of rebellion than it is for a king to abdicate his throne. the union is not formed by the surrender to it by the several states of their respective individual sovereignty. such surrender could, as we have seen, form only an alliance, or a confederation, not one sovereign people; and from an alliance, or confederation, the ally or confederate has, saving its faith, the inherent right to secede. the argument assumes that the states were originally each in its individuality a sovereign state, but by the convention which framed the constitution, each surrendered its sovereignty to the whole, and thus several sovereign states became one sovereign political people, governing in general matters through the general government, and in particular matters through particular or state governments. this is mr. madison's theory, and also mr. webster's; but it has been refuted in the refutation of the theory that makes government originate in compact. a sovereign state can, undoubtedly, surrender its sovereignty, but can surrender it only to something or somebody that really exists; for to surrender to no one or to nothing is, as has been shown, the same thing as not to surrender at all; and the union, being formed only by the surrender, is nothing prior to it, or till after it is made, and therefore can be no recipient of the surrender. besides, the theory is the reverse of the fact. the state does not surrender or part with its sovereignty by coming into the union, but acquires by it all the rights it holds as a state. between the original states and the new states there is a difference of mode by which they become states in the union, but none in their powers, or the tenure by which they hold them. the process by which new states are actually formed and admitted into the union, discloses at once what it is that is gained or lost by admission. the domain and population, before the organization of the territory into one of the united states, are subject to the united states, inseparably attached to the domain of the union, and under its sovereignty. the territory so remains, organized or unorganized, under a territorial government created by congress. congress, by an enabling act, permits it to organize as a state, to call a convention to form a state constitution, to elect under it, in such way as the convention ordains, state officers, a state legislature, and, in the way prescribed by the constitution of the united states, senators and representatives in congress. here is a complete organization as a state, yet, though called a state, it is no state at all, and is simply territory, without a single particle of political power. to be a state it must be recognized and admitted by congress as a state in the union, and when so recognized and admitted it possesses, in union with the other united states, supreme political sovereignty, jointly in all general matters, and individually in all private and particular matters. the territory gives up no sovereign powers by coming into the union, for before it came into the union it had no sovereignty, no political rights at all. all the rights and powers it holds are held by the simple fact that it has become a state in the union. this is as true of the original states as of the new states; for it has been shown in the chapter on the united states, that the original british sovereignty under which the colonies were organized and existed passed, on the fact of independence, to the states united, and not to the states severally. hence if nine states had ratified the constitution, and the other four had stood out, and refused to do it, which was within their competency, they would not have been independent sovereign states, outside of the union, but territories under the union. texas forms the only exception to the rule that the states have never been independent of the union. all the other new states have been formed from territory subject to the union. this is true of all the states formed out of the territory of the northwest, and out of the domain ceded by france, spain, and mexico to the united states. all these cessions were held by the united states as territory immediately subject to the union, before being erected into states; and by far the larger part is so held even yet. but texas was an independent foreign state, and was annexed as a state without having been first subjected as territory to the united states. it of course lost by annexation its separate sovereignty. but this annexation was held by many to be unconstitutional; it was made when the state sovereignty theory had gained possession of the government, and was annexed as a state instead of being admitted as a state formed from territory belonging to the united states, for the very purpose of committing the nation to that theory. its annexation was the prologue, as the mexican war was the first act in the secession drama, and as the epilogue is the suppression of the rebellion on texan soil. texas is an exceptional case, and forms no precedent, and cannot be adduced as invalidating the general rule. omitting texas, the simple fact is, the states acquire all their sovereign powers by being states in the union, instead of losing or surrendering them. our american statesmen have overlooked or not duly weighed the facts in the case, because, holding the origin of government in compact, they felt no need of looking back of the constitution to find the basis of that unity of the american people which they assert. neither mr. madison nor mr. webster felt any difficulty in asserting it as created by the convention of , or in conceding the sovereignty of the states prior to the union, and denying its existence after the ratification of the constitution. if it were not that they held that the state originates in convention or the social compact, there would be unpardonable presumption on the part of the present writer in venturing to hazard an assertion contrary to theirs. but, if their theory was unsound, their practical doctrine was not; for they maintained that the american people are one sovereign people, and mr. quincy adams, an authority inferior to neither, maintained that they were always one people, and that the states hold from the union, not the union from the states. the states without the union cease to exist as political communities: the union without the states ceases to be a union, and becomes a vast centralized and consolidated state, ready to lapse from a civilized into a barbaric, from a republican to a despotic nation. the state, under the american system, as distinguished from territory, is not in the domain and population fixed to it, nor yet in its exterior organization, but solely in the political powers, rights, and franchises which it holds from the united states, or as one of the united states. as these are rights, not obligations, the state may resign or abdicate them and cease to be a state, on the same principle that any man may abdicate or forego his rights. in doing so, the state breaks no oath of allegiance, fails to fulfil no obligation she contracted as a state: she simply forgoes her political rights and franchises. so far, then, secession is possible, feasible, and not unconstitutional or unlawful. but it is, as mr. sumner and others have maintained, simply state suicide. nothing hinders a state from committing suicide, if she chooses, any more than there was something which compelled the territory to become a state in the union against its will. it is objected to, this conclusion that the states were, prior to the union, independent sovereign states, and secession would not destroy the state, but restore it to its original sovereignty and independence, as the secessionists maintain. certainly, if the states were, prior to the union, sovereign states; but this is precisely what has been denied and disproved; for prior to the union there were no states. secession restores, or reduces, rather, the state to the condition it was in before its admission into the union; but that condition is that of territory, or a territory subject to the united states, and not that of an independent sovereign state. the state holds all its political rights and powers in the union from the union, and has none out of it, or in the condition in which its population and domain were before being a state in the union. state suicide, it has been urged, releases its population and territory from their allegiance to the union, and as there is no rebellion where there is no allegiance, resistance by its population and territory to the union, even war against the union, would not be rebellion, but the simple assertion of popular sovereignty. this is only the same objection in another form. the lapse of the state releases the population and territory from no allegiance to the union; for their allegiance to the union was not contracted by their becoming a state, and they have never in their state character owed allegiance to the united states. a state owes no allegiance to the united states, for it is one of them, and is jointly sovereign. the relation between the united states and the state is not the relation of suzerain and liegeman or vassal. a state owes no allegiance, for it is not subject to the union; it is never in their state capacity that its population and territory do or can rebel. hence, the government has steadily denied that, in the late rebellion, any state as such rebelled. but as a state cannot rebel, no state can go out of the union; and therefore no state in the late rebellion has seceded, and the states that passed secession ordinances are and all along have been states in the union. no state can rebel, but it does not follow therefrom that no state can secede or cease to exist as a state: it only follows that secession, in the sense of state suicide, or the abdication by the state of its political rights and powers, is not rebellion. nor does it follow from the fact that no state has rebelled, that no state has ceased to be a state; or that the states that passed secession ordinances have been all along states in the union. the secession ordinances were illegal, unconstitutional, not within the competency of the state, and therefore null and void from the beginning. unconstitutional, illegal, and not within the competency of the state, so far as intended to alienate any portion of the national domain and population thereto annexed, they certainly were, and so far were void and of no effect; but so far as intended to take the state simply as a state out of the union, they were within the competency of the state, were not illegal or unconstitutional, and therefore not null and void. acts unconstitutional in some parts and constitutional in others are not wholly void. the unconstitutionality vitiates only the unconstitutional parts; the others are valid, are law, and recognized and enforced as such by the courts. the secession ordinances are void, because they were never passed by the people of the state, but by a faction that overawed them and usurped the authority of the state. this argument implies that, if a secession ordinance is passed by the people proper of the state, it is valid; which is more than they who urge it against the state suicide doctrine are prepared to concede. but the secession ordinances were in every instance passed by the people of the state in convention legally assembled, therefore by them in their highest state capacity--in the same capacity in which they ordain and ratify the state constitution itself; and in nearly all the states they were in addition ratified and confirmed, if the facts have been correctly reported, by a genuine plebiscitum, or direct vote of the people. in all cases they were adopted by a decided majority of the political people of the state, and after their adoption they were acquiesced in and indeed actively supported by very nearly the whole people. the people of the states adopting the secession ordinances were far more unanimous in supporting secession than the people of the other states were in sustaining the government in its efforts to suppress the rebellion by coercive measures. it will not do, then, to ascribe the secession ordinances to a faction. the people are never a faction, nor is a faction ever the majority. there has been a disposition at the north, encouraged by the few union men at the south, to regard secession as the work of a few ambitious and unprincipled leaders, who, by their threats, their violence, and their overbearing manner, forced the mass of the people of their respective states into secession against their convictions and their will. no doubt there were leaders at the south, as there are in every great movement at the north; no doubt there were individuals in the seceding states that held secession wrong in principle, and were conscientiously attached to the union; no doubt, also, there were men who adhered to the union, not because they disapproved secession, but because they disliked the men at the head of the movement, or because they were keen-sighted enough to see that it could not succeed, that the union must be the winning side, and that by adhering to it they would become the great and leading men of their respective states, which they certainly could not be under secession. others sympathized fully with what was called the southern cause, held firmly the right of secession, and hated cordially the yankees, but doubted either the practicability or the expediency of secession, and opposed it till resolved on, but, after it was resolved on, yielded to none in their earnest support of it. these last comprised the immense majority of those who voted against secession. never could those called the southern leaders have carried the secession ordinances, never could they have carried on the war with the vigor and determination, and with such formidable armies as they collected and armed for four years, making at times the destiny of the union well nigh doubtful, if they had not had the southern heart with them, if they had not been most heartily supported by the overwhelming mass of the people. they led a popular, not a factious movement. no state, it is said again, has seceded, or could secede. the state is territorial, not personal, and as no state can carry its territory and population out of the union, no state can secede. out of the jurisdiction of the union, or alienate them from the sovereign or national domain, very true; but out of the union as a state, with rights, powers, or franchises in the union, not true. secession is political, not territorial. but the state holds from the territory or domain. the people are sovereign because attached to a sovereign territory, not the domain because held by a sovereign people, as was established by the analysis of the early roman constitution. the territory of the states corresponds to the sacred territory of rome, to which was attached the roman sovereignty. that territory, once surveyed and consecrated, remained sacred and the ruling territory, and could not be divested of its sacred and governing character. the portions of the territory of the united states once erected into states and consecrated as ruling territory can never be deprived, except by foreign conquest or successful revolution, of its sacred character and inviolable rights. the state is territorial, not personal, and is constituted by public, not by private wealth, and is always respublica or commonwealth, in distinction from despotism or monarchy in its oriental sense, which is founded on private wealth, or which assumes that the authority to govern, or sovereignty, is the private estate of the sovereign. all power is a domain, but there is no domain without a dominus or lord. in oriental monarchies the dominus is the monarch; in republics it is the public or people fixed to the soil or territory, that is, the people in their territorial, and not in their personal or genealogical relation. the people of the united states are sovereign only within the territory or domain of the united states, and their sovereignty is a state, because fixed, attached, or limited to that specific territory. it is fixed to the soil, not nomadic. in barbaric nations power is nomadic and personal, or genealogical, confined to no locality, but attaches to the chief, and follows wherever he goes. the gothic chiefs hold their power by a personal title, and have the same authority in their tribes on the po or the rhone as on the banks of the elbe or the danube. power migrates with the chief and his people, and may be exercised wherever he and they find themselves, as a swedish queen held when she ordered the execution of one of her subjects at paris, without asking permission of the territorial lord. in these nations, power is a personal right, or a private estate, not a state which exists only as attached to the domain, and, as attached to the domain, exists independently of the chief or the government. the distinction is between public domain and private domain. the american system is republican, and, contrary to what some democratic politicians assert, the american democracy is territorial, not personal; not territorial because the majority of the people are agriculturists or landholders, but because all political rights, powers, or franchises are territorial. the sovereign people of the united states are sovereign only within the territory of the united states. the great body of the freemen have the elective franchise, but no one has it save in his state, his county, his town, his ward, his precinct. out of the election district in which he is domiciled, a citizen of the united states has no more right to vote than has the citizen or subject of a foreign state. this explains what is meant by the attachment of power to the territory, and the dependence of the state on the domain. the state, in republican states, exists only as inseparably united with the public domain; under feudalism, power was joined to territory or domain, but the domain was held as a private, not as a public domain. all sovereignty rests on domain or proprietorship, and is dominion. the proprietor is the dominus or lord, and in republican states the lord is society, or the public, and the domain is held for the common or public good of all. all political rights are held from society, or the dominus, and therefore it is the elective franchise is held from society, and is a civil right, as distinguished from a natural, or even a purely personal right. as there is no domain without a lord or dominus, territory alone cannot possess any political rights or franchises, for it is not a domain. in the american system, the dominus or lord is not the particular state, but the united states, and, the domain of the whole territory, whether erected into particular states or not, is in the united states alone. the united states do not part with the dominion of that portion of the national domain included within a particular state. the state holds the domain not separately but jointly, as inseparably one of the united states: separated, it has no dominion, is no state, and is no longer a joint sovereign at all, and the territory that it included falls into the condition of any other territory held by the united states not erected into one of the united states. lawyers, indeed, tell us that the eminent domain is in the particular state, and that all escheats are to the state, not to the united states. all escheats of private estates, but no public or general escheats. but this has nothing to do with the public domain. the united states are the dominus, but they have, by the constitution, divided the powers of government between a general government and particular state governments, and ordained that all matters of a general nature, common to all the states, should be placed under the supreme control of the former, and all matters of a private or particular character under the supreme control of the latter. the eminent domain of private estates is in the particular state, but the sovereign authority in the particular state is that of the united states expressing itself through the state government. the united states, in the states as well as out of them, is the dominus, as the states respectively would soon find if they were to undertake to alienate any part of their domain to a foreign power, or even to the citizens or subjects of a foreign state, as is also evident from the fact that the united states, in the way prescribed by the constitution, may enlarge or contract at will the rights and powers of the states. the mistake on this point grows out of the habit of restricting the action of the united states to the general government, and not recollecting that the united states govern one class of subjects through the general government and another class through state governments, but that it is one and the same authority that governs in both. the analogy borrowed from the roman constitution, as far as applicable, proves the reverse of what is intended. the dominus of the sacred territory was the city, or the roman state, not the sacred territory itself. the territory received the tenant, and gave him as tenant the right to a seat in the senate; but the right of the territory was derived not from the domain, but from the dominus, that is, the city. but the city could revoke its grant, as it practically did when it conferred the privileges of roman citizenship on the provincials, and gave to plebeians seats in the senate. moreover, nothing in roman history indicates that to the validity of a senatus consultum it was necessary to count the vacant domains of the sacred territory. the particular domain must, under the american system, be counted when it is held by a state, but of itself alone, or even with its population, it is not a state, and therefore as a state domain is vacant and without any political rights or powers whatever. to argue that the territory and population once a state in the union must needs always be so, would be well enough if a state in the union were individually a sovereign state; for territory, with its population not subject to another, is always a sovereign state, even though its government has been subverted. but this is not the fact, for territory with its population does not constitute a state in the union; and, therefore, when of a state nothing remains but territory and population, the state has evidently disappeared. it will not do then to maintain that state suicide is impossible, and that the states that adopted secession ordinances have never for a moment ceased to be states in the union, and are free, whenever they choose, to send their representatives and senators to occupy their vacant seats in congress. they must be reorganized first. there would also be some embarrassment to the government in holding that the states that passed the secession ordinance remain, notwithstanding, states in the union. the citizens of a state in the union cannot be rebels to the united states, unless they are rebels to their state; and rebels to their state they are not, unless they resist its authority and make war on it. the authority of the state in the union is a legal authority, and the citizen in obeying it is disloyal neither to the state nor to the union. the citizens in the states that made war on the united states did not resist their state, for they acted by its authority. the only men, on this supposition, in them, who have been traitors or rebels, are precisely the union men who have refused to go with their respective states, and have resisted, even with armed force, the secession ordinances. the several state governments, under which the so-called rebels carried on the war for the destruction of the union, if the states are in the union, were legal and loyal governments of their respective states, for they were legally elected and installed, and conformed to their respective state constitutions. all the acts of these governments have been constitutional. their entering into a confederacy for attaining a separate nationality has been legal, and the debts contracted by the states individually, or by the confederacy legally formed by them, have been legally contracted, stand good against them, and perhaps against the united states. the war against them has been all wrong, and the confederates killed in battle have been murdered by the united states. the blockade has been illegal, for no nation can blockade its own ports, and the captures and seizures under it, robberies. the supreme court has been wrong in declaring the war a territorial civil war, as well as the government in acting accordingly. now, all these conclusions are manifestly false and absurd, and therefore the assumption that the states in question have all along been states in the union cannot be sustained. it is easy to understand the resistance the government offers to the doctrine that a state may commit suicide, or by its own act abdicate its rights and cease to be a state in the union. it is admissible on no theory of the constitution that has been widely entertained. it is not admissible on mr. calhoun's theory of state sovereignty, for on that theory a state in going out of the union does not cease to be a state but simply resumes the powers it had delegated to the general government. it cannot be maintained on mr. madison's or mr. webster's theory, that the states prior to the union were severally sovereign, but by the union were constituted one people; for, if this one people are understood to be a federal people, state secession would not be state suicide, but state independence; and if understood to be one consolidated or centralized people, it would be simply insurrection or rebellion against the national authority, laboring to make itself a revolution. the government seems to have understood mr. madison's theory in both senses--in the consolidated sense, in declaring the secessionists insurgents and rebels, and in the federal sense, in maintaining that they have never seceded, and are still states in the union, in full possession of all their political or state rights. perhaps, if the government, instead of borrowing from contradictory theories of the constitution which have gained currency, had examined in the light of historical facts the constitution itself, it would have been as constitutional in its doctrine as it has been loyal and patriotic, energetic and successful in its military administration. another reason why the doctrine that state secession is state suicide has appeared so offensive to many, is the supposition entertained at one time by some of its friends, that the dissolution of the state vacates all rights and franchises held under it. but this is a mistake. the principle is well known and recognized by the jurisprudence of all civilized nations, that in the transfer of a territory from one territorial sovereign to another, the laws in force under the old sovereign remain in force after the change, till abrogated, or others are enacted in their place by the new sovereign, except such as are necessarily abrogated by the change itself of the sovereign; not, indeed, because the old sovereign retains any authority, but, because such is presumed by the courts to be the will of the new sovereign. the principle applies in the case of the death of a state in the union. the laws of the state are territorial, till abrogated by competent authority, remain the lex loci, and are in full force. all that would be vacated would be the public rights of the state, and in no case the private rights of citizens, corporations, or laws affecting them. but the same conclusion is reached in another way. in the lapse of a state or its return to the condition of a territory, there is really no change of sovereignty. the sovereignty, both before and after, is the united states. the sovereign authority that governs in the state government, as we have seen, though independent of the general government, is the united states. the united states govern certain matters through a general government, and others through particular state governments. the private rights and interests created, regulated, or protected by the particular state, are created, regulated, or protected by the united states, as much and as plenarily as if done by the general government, and the state laws creating, regulating, or protecting them can be abrogated by no power known to the constitution, but either the state itself, or the united states in convention legally assembled. if this were what is meant by the states that have seceded, or professed to secede, remaining states in the union, they would, indeed, be states still in the union, notwithstanding secession and the government would be right in saying that no state can secede. but this is not what is meant, at least not all that is meant. it is meant not only that the private rights of citizens and corporations remain, but the citizens retain all the public rights of the state, that is, the right to representation in congress and in the electoral college, and the right to sit in the convention, which is not true. but the correction of the misapprehension that the private rights and interests are lost by the lapse of the state may remove the graver prejudices against the doctrine of state suicide, and dispose loyal and honest union men to bear the reasons by which it is supported, and which nobody has refuted or can refute on constitutional grounds. a territory by coming into the union becomes a state; a state by going out of the union becomes a territory. chapter xiii. reconstruction. the question of reconstructing the states that seceded will be practically settled before these pages can see the light, and will therefore be considered here only so far as necessary to complete the view of the constitution of the united states. the manner in which the government proposed to settle, has settled, or will settle the question, proves that both it and the american people have only confused views of the rights and powers of the general government, but imperfectly comprehend the distinction between the legislative and executive departments of that government, and are far more familiar with party tactics than with constitutional law. it would be difficult to imagine any thing more unconstitutional, more crude, or more glaringly impolitic than the mode of reconstruction indicated by the various executive proclamations that have been issued, bearing on the subject, or even by the bill for guaranteeing the states republican governments, that passed congress, but which failed to obtain the president's signature. it is, in some measure, characteristic of the american government to understand how things ought to be done only when they are done and it is too late to do them in the right way. its wisdom comes after action, as if engaged in a series of experiments. but, happily for the nation, few blunders are committed that with our young life and elasticity are irreparable, and that, after all, are greater than are ordinarily committed by older and more experienced nations. they are not of the most fatal character, and are, for the most part, such as are incident to the conceit, the heedlessness, the ardor, and the impatience of youth, and need excite no serious alarm for the future. there has been no little confusion in the public mind, and in that of the government itself, as to what reconstruction is, who has the power to reconstruct, and how that power is to be exercised. are the states that seceded states in the union, with no other disability than that of having no legal governments? or are they territories subject to the union? is their reconstruction their erection into new states, or their restoration as states previously in the union? is the power to reconstruct in the states themselves? or is it in the general government? if partly in the people and partly in the general government, is the part in the general government in congress, or in the executive? if in congress, can the executive, without the authority of congress, proceed to reconstruct, simply leaving it for congress to accept or reject the reconstructed state? if the power is partly in the people of the disorganized states who or what defines that people, decides who may or may not vote in the reorganization? on all these questions there has been much crude, if not erroneous, thinking, and much inconsistent and contradictory action. the government started with the theory that no state had seceded or could secede, and held that, throughout, the states in rebellion continued to be states in the union. that is, it held secession to be a purely personal and not a territorial insurrection. yet it proclaimed eleven states to be in insurrection against the united states, blockaded their ports, and interdicted all trade and intercourse of any kind with them. the supreme court, in order to sustain the blockade and interdict as legal, decided the war to be not a war against simply individual or personal insurgents but "a territorial civil war." this negatived the assumption that the states that took up arms against the united states remained all the while peaceable and loyal states, with all their political rights and powers in the union. the states in the union are integral elements of the political sovereignty, for the sovereignty of the american nation vests in the states finite; and it is absurd to pretend that the eleven states that made the rebellion and were carrying on a formidable war against the united states, were in the union, an integral element of that sovereign authority which was carrying on a yet more formidable war against them. nevertheless, the government still held to its first assumption, that the states in rebellion continued to be states in the union--loyal states, with all their rights and franchises unimpaired! that the government should at first have favored or acquiesced in the doctrine that no state had ceased to be a state in the union, is not to be wondered at. the extent and determination of the secession movement were imperfectly understood, and the belief among the supporters of the government, and, perhaps, of the government itself, was, that it was a spasmodic movement for a temporary purpose, rather than a fixed determination to found an independent separate nationality; that it was and would be sustained by the real majority of the people of none of the states, with perhaps the exception of south carolina; that the true policy of the government would be to treat the seceders with great forbearance, to avoid all measures likely to exasperate them or to embarrass their loyal fellow-citizens, to act simply on the defensive, and to leave the union men in the several seceding states to gain a political victory at the polls over the secessionists, and to return their states to their normal position in the union. the government may not have had much faith in this policy, and mr. lincoln's personal authority might be cited to the effect that it had not, but it was urged strongly by the union men of the border states. the administration was hardly seated in office, and its members were new men, without administrative experience; the president, who had been legally elected indeed, but without a majority of the popular votes, was far from having the full confidence even of the party that elected him; opinions were divided; party spirit ran high; the excitement was great, the crisis was imminent, the government found itself left by its predecessor without an army or a navy, and almost without arms or ordnance; it knew not how far it could count on popular support, and was hardly aware whom it could trust or should distrust; all was hurry and confusion; and what could the government do but to gain time, keep off active war as long as possible, conciliate all it could, and take ground which at the time seemed likely to rally the largest number of the people to its support? there were men then, warm friends of the administration, and still warmer friends of their country, who believed that a bolder, a less timid, a less cautious policy would have been wiser, that in revolutionary times boldness, what in other times would be rashness, is the highest prudence, on the side of the government as well as on the side of the revolution; that when once it has shown itself, the rebellion that hesitates, deliberates, consults, is defeated and so is the government. the seceders owed from the first their successes not to their superior organization, to their better preparation, or to the better discipline and appointment of their armies, but to their very rashness, to their audacity even, and the hesitancy, cautious and deliberation of the government. napoleon owed his successes as general and civilian far more to the air of power he assumed, and the conviction he produced of his invincibility in the minds of his opponents, than to his civil or military strategy and tactics, admirable as they both were. but the government believed it wisest to adopt a conciliatory and, in many respects, a temporizing policy, and to rely more on weakening the secessionists in their respective states than on strengthening the hands and hearts of its own staunch and uncompromising supporters. it must strengthen the union party in the insurrectionary states, and as this party hoped to succeed by political manipulation rather than by military force, the government must rely rather on a show of military power than on gaining any decisive battle. as it hoped, or affected to hope, to suppress the rebellion in the states that seceded through their loyal citizens, it was obliged to assume that secession was the work of a faction, of a few ambitious and disappointed politicians, and that the states were all in the union, and continued in the loyal portion of their inhabitants. hence its aid to the loyal virginians to organize as the state of virginia, and its subsequent efforts to organize the union men in louisiana, arkansas, and tennessee, and its disposition to recognize their organization in each of those states as the state itself, though including only a small minority of the territorial people. had the facts been as assumed, the government might have treated the loyal people of each state as the state itself, without any gross usurpation of power; but, unhappily, the facts assumed were not facts, and it was soon found that the union party in all the states that seceded, except the western part of virginia and the eastern section of tennessee, after secession had been carried by the popular vote, went almost unanimously with the secessionists; for they as well as the secessionists held the doctrine of state sovereignty; and to treat the handful of citizens that remained loyal in each state as the state itself, became ridiculous, and the government should have seen and acknowledged it. the rebellion being really territorial, and not personal, the state that seceded was no more continued in the loyal than in the disloyal population. while the war lasted, both were public enemies of the united states, and neither had or could have any rights as a state in the union. the law recognizes a solidarity of all the citizens of a state, and assumes that, when a state is at war, all its citizens are at war, whether approving the war or not. the loyal people in the states that seceded incurred none of the pains and penalties of treason, but they retained none of the political rights of the state in the union, and, in reorganizing the state after the suppression of the rebellion, they have no more right to take part than the secessionists themselves. they, as well as the secessionists, have followed the territory. it was on this point that the government committed its gravest mistake. as to the reorganization or reconstruction of the state, the whole territorial people stood on the same footing. taking the decision of the supreme court as conclusive on the subject, the rebellion was territorial, and, therefore, placed all the states as states out of the union, and retained them only as population and territory, under or subject to the union. the states ceased to exist, that is, as integral elements of the national sovereignty. the question then occurred, are they to be erected into new states, or are they to be reconstructed and restored to the union as the identical old states that seceded? shall their identity be revived and preserved, or shall they be new states, regardless of that identity? there can be no question that the work to be done was that of restoration, not of creation; no tribe should perish from israel, no star be struck from the firmament of the union. every inhabitant of the fallen states, and every citizen of the united states must desire them to be revived and continued with their old names and boundaries, and all true americans wish to continue the constitution as it is, and the union as it was. who would see old virginia, the virginia of revolutionary fame, of washington, jefferson, madison, of monroe, the "old dominion," once the leading state of the union, dead without hope of resurrection? or south carolina, the land of rutledge, moultrie, laurens, hayne, sumter, and marion? there is something grating to him who values state associations, and would encourage state emulation and state pride, in the mutilation of the old dominion and the erection within her borders of the new state called west virginia. states in the union are not mere prefectures, or mere dependencies on the general government, created for the convenience of administration. they have an individual, a real existence of their own, as much so as have the individual members of society. they are free members, not of a confederation indeed, but of a higher political community, and reconstruction should restore the identity of their individual life, suspended for a moment by secession, but capable of resuscitation. these states had become, indeed, for a moment, territory under the union; but in no instance had they or could they become territory that had never existed as states. the fact that the territory and people had existed as a state, could with regard to none of them be obliterated, and, therefore, they could not be erected into absolutely new states. the process of reconstructing them could not be the same as that of creating new states. in creating a new state, congress, ex necessitate, because there is no other power except the national convention competent to do it, defines the boundaries of the new state, and prescribes the electoral people, or who may take part in the preliminary organization but in reconstructing states it does neither, for both are done by a law congress is not competent to abrogate or modify, and which can be done only by the united states in convention assembled, or by the state itself after its restoration. the government has conceded this, and, in part, has acted on it. it preserves, except in virginia, the old boundaries, and recognizes, or rather professes to recognize the old electoral law, only it claims the right to exclude from the electoral people those who have voluntarily taken part in the rebellion. the work to be done in states that have seceded is that of reconstruction, not creation; and this work is not and cannot be done, exclusively nor chiefly by the general government, either by the executive or by congress. that government can appoint military, or even provisional governors, who may designate the time and place of holding the convention of the electoral people of the disorganized state, as also the time and place of holding the elections of delegates to it, and superintend the elections so far as to see the polls are opened, and that none but qualified electors vote, but nothing more. all the rest is the work of the territorial electoral people themselves, for the state within its own sphere must, as one of the united states, be a self-governing community. the general government may concede or withhold permission to the disorganized state to reorganize, as it judges advisable, but it cannot itself reorganize it. if it concedes the permission, it must leave the whole electoral people under the preexisting electoral law free to take part in the work of reorganization, and to vote according to their own judgment. it has no authority to purge the electoral people, and say who may or may not vote, for the whole question of suffrage and the qualifications of electors is left to the state, and can be settled neither by an act of congress nor by an executive proclamation. if the government theory were admissible, that the disorganized states remain states in the union, the general government could have nothing to say on the subject, and could no more interfere with elections in any one of them than it could with elections in massachusetts or new york. but even on the doctrine here defended it can interfere with them only by way of general superintendence. the citizens have, indeed, lost their political rights, but not their private rights. secession has not dissolved civil society, or abrogated any of the laws of the disorganized state that were in force at the time of secession. the error of the government is not in maintaining that these laws survive the secession ordinances, and remain the territorial law, or lex loci, but in maintaining that they do so by will of the state, that has, as a state, really lapsed. they do so by will of the united states, which enacted them through the individual state, and which has not in convention abrogated them, save the law authorizing slavery, and its dependent laws. this point has already been made, but as it is one of the niceties of the american constitution, it may not be amiss to elaborate it at greater length. the doctrine of mr. jefferson, mr. madison, and the majority of our jurists, would see to be that the states, under god, are severally sovereign in all matters not expressly confided to the general government, and therefore that the american sovereignty is divided, and the citizen owes a double allegiance--allegiance to his state, and allegiance to the united states--as if there was a united states distinguishable from the states. hence mr. seward, in an official dispatch to our minister at the court of st. james, says: "the citizen owes allegiance to the state and to the united states." and nearly all who hold allegiance is due to the union at all, hold that it is also due to the states, only that which is due to the united states is paramount, as that under feudalism due to the overlord. but this is not the case. there is no divided sovereignty, no divided allegiance. sovereignty is one, and vests not in the general government or in the state government, but in the united states, and allegiance is due to the united states, and to them alone. treason can be committed only against the united states, and against a state only because against the united states, and is properly cognizable only by the federal courts. hence the union men committed no treason in refusing to submit to the secession ordinances of their respective states, and in sustaining the national arms against secession. there are two very common mistakes: the one that the states individually possess all the powers not delegated to the general government; and the other that the union, or united states, have only delegated powers. but the united states possess all the powers of a sovereign state, and the states individually and the general government possess only such powers as the united states in convention delegate to them respectively. the sovereign is neither the general government nor the states severally, but the united states in convention. the united states are the one indivisible sovereign, and this sovereign governs alike general matters in the general government, and particular matters in the several state governments. all legal authority in either emanates from this one indivisible and plenary sovereign, and hence the law enacted by a state are really enacted by the united states, and derive from them their force and vitality as laws. hence, as the united states survive the particular state, the lapse of the state does not abrogate the state laws, or dissolve civil society within its jurisdiction. this is evidently so, because civil society in the particular state does not rest on the state alone, nor on congress, but on the united states. hence all civil rights of every sort created by the individual state are really held from the united states, and therefore it was that the people of non-slaveholding states were, as citizens of the united states, responsible for the existence of slavery in the states that seceded. there is a solidarity of states in the union as there is of individuals in each of the states. the political error of the abolitionists was not in calling upon the people of the united states to abolish slavery, but in calling upon them to abolish it through the general government, which had no jurisdiction in the case; or in their sole capacity as men, on purely humanitarian grounds, which were the abrogation of all government and civil society itself, instead of calling upon them to do it as the united states in convention assembled, or by an amendment to the constitution of the united states in the way ordained by that constitution itself. this understood, the constitution and laws of a defunct state remain in force by virtue of the will of the united states, till the state is raised from the dead, restored to life and activity, and repeals or alters them, or till they are repealed or altered by the united states or the national convention. but as the defunct state could not, and the convention had not repealed or altered them, save in the one case mentioned, the general government had no alternative but to treat them and all rights created by them as the territorial law, and to respect them as such. what then do the people of the several states that seceded lose by secession? they lose, besides incurring, so far as disloyal, the pains and penalties of treason, their political rights, or right, as has just been said, to be in their own department self-governing communities, with the right of representation in congress and the electoral colleges, and to sit in the national convention, or of being counted in the ratification of amendments to the constitution--precisely what it was shown a territorial people gain by being admitted as a state into the union. this is the difference between the constitutional doctrine and that adopted by mr. lincoln's and mr. johnson's administrations. but what authority, on this constitutional doctrine, does the general government gain over the people of states that secede, that it has not over others! as to their internal constitution, their private rights of person or property, it gains none. it has over them, till they are reconstructed and restored to the union, the right to institute for them provisional governments, civil or military, precisely as it has for the people of a territory that is not and has never been one of the united states; but in their reconstruction it has less, for the geographical boundaries and electoral people of each are already defined by a law which does not depend on its will, and which it can neither abrogate nor modify. here is the difference between the constitutional doctrine and that of the so-called radicals. the state has gone, but its laws remain, so far as the united states in convention does not abrogate them; not because the authority of the state survives, but because the united states so will, or are presumed to will. the united states have by a constitutional amendment abrogated the laws of the several states authorizing slavery, and prohibited slavery forever within the jurisdiction of the union; and no state can now be reconstructed and be admitted into the union with a constitution that permits slavery, for that would be repugnant to the constitution of the united states. if the constitutional amendment is not recognized as ratified by the requisite number of states, it is the fault of the government in persisting in counting as states what are no states. negro suffrage, as white suffrage, is at present a question for states. the united states guarantee to such state a republican form of government. and this guarantee, no doubt, authorizes congress to intervene in the internal constitution of a state so far as to force it to adopt a republican form of government, but not so far as to organize a government for a state, or to compel a territorial people to accept or adopt a state constitution for themselves. if a state attempts to organize a form of government not republican, it can prevent it; and if a territory adopts an unrepublican form, it can force it to change its constitution to one that is republican, or compel it to remain a territory under a provisional government. but this gives the general government no authority in the organization or re-organization of states beyond seeing that the form of government adopted by the territorial people is republican. to press it further, to make the constitutional clause a pretext for assuming the entire control of the organization or re-organization of a state, is a manifest abuse--a palpable violation of the constitution and of the whole american system. the authority given by the clause is specific, and is no authority for intervention in the general reconstruction of the lapsed state. it gives authority in no question raised by secession or its consequences, and can give none, except, from within or from without, there is an overt attempt to organize a state in the union with an unrepublican form of government. the general government gives permission to the territorial people of the defunct state to re-organize, or it contents itself with suffering them, without special recognition, to reorganize in their own way, and apply to congress for admission, leaving it to congress to admit them as a state, or not, according to its own discretion, in like manner as it admits a new state; but the re-organization itself must be the work of the territorial people themselves, under their old electoral law. the power that reconstructs is in the people themselves; the power that admits them, or receives them into the union, is congress. the executive, therefore, has no authority in the matter, beyond that of seeing that the laws are duly complied with; and whatever power he assumes, whether by proclamation or by instructions given to the provisional governors, civil or military, is simply a usurpation of the power of congress, which it rests with congress to condone or not, as it may see fit. executive proclamations, excluding a larger or a smaller portion of the electoral or territorial people from the exercise of the elective franchise in reorganizing the state, and executive efforts to throw the state into the hands of one political party or another, are an unwarrantable assumption of power, for the president, in relation to reconstruction, acts only under the peace powers of the constitution, and simply as the first executive officer of the union. his business is to execute the laws, not to make them. his legislative authority is confined to his qualified veto on the acts of congress, and to the recommendation to congress of such measures as he believes are needed by the country. in reconstructing a disorganized state, neither congress nor the executive has any power that either has not in time of peace. the executive, as commander-in-chief of the army, may ex necessitate, pace it ad interim under a military governor, but he cannot appoint even a provisional civil governor till congress has created the office and given him authority to fill it; far less can be legally give instructions to the civil governor as to the mode or manner of reconstructing the disorganized state, or decide who may or may not vote in the preliminary reorganization. the executive could do nothing of the sort, even in regard to a territory never erected into a state. it belongs to congress, not to the executive, to erect territorial or provisional governments, like those of dacotah, colorado, montana, nebraska, and new mexico; and, congress, not the executive, determines the boundaries of the territory, passes the enabling act, and defines the electoral people, till the state is organized and able to act herself. even congress, in reconstructing and restoring to life and vigor in the union a disorganized state, has nothing to say as to its boundaries or its electoral people, nor any right to interfere between parties in the state, to throw the reconstructed state into the hands of one or another party. all that congress can insist on is, that the territorial people shall reconstruct with a government republican in form; that its senators and representatives in congress, and the members of the state legislature, and all executive and judicial officers of the state shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support and defend the constitution of the united states. in the whole work the president has nothing to do with reconstruction, except to see that peace is preserved and the laws are fully executed. it may be at least doubted that the executive has power to proclaim amnesty and pardon to rebels after the civil war has ceased, and ceased it has when the rebels have thrown down their arms and submitted; for his pardoning power is only to pardon after conviction and judgment of the court: it is certain that he has no power to proscribe or punish even traitors, except by due process of law. when the war is over he has only his ordinary peace powers. he cannot then disfranchise any portion of the electoral people of a state that seceded, even though there is no doubt that they have taken part in the rebellion, and may still be suspected of disloyal sentiments. not even congress can do it, and no power known to the constitution till the state is reconstructed can do it without due process of law, except the national convention. should the president do any of the things supposed, he would both abuse the power he has and usurp power that he has not, and render himself liable to impeachment. there are many things very proper, and even necessary to be done, which are high crimes when done by an improper person or agent. the duty of the president, when there are steps to be taken or things to be done which he believes very necessary, but which are not within his competency, is, if congress is not in session, to call it together at the earliest practicable moment, and submit the matter to its wisdom and discretion. it must be remembered that the late rebellion was not a merely personal but a territorial rebellion. in such a rebellion, embracing eleven states, and, excluding slaves, a population of at least seven millions, acting under an organized territorial government, preserving internal civil order, supporting an army and navy under regularly commissioned officers, and carrying on war as a sovereign nation--in such a territorial rebellion no one in particular can be accused and punished as a traitor. the rebellion is not the work of a few ambitious or reckless leaders, but of the people, and the responsibility of the crime, whether civil or military, is not individual, but common to the whole territorial people engaged in it; and seven millions, or the half of them, are too many to ban to exile, or even to disfranchise their defeat and the failure of their cause must be their punishment. the interest of the country, as well the sentiment of the civilized world--it might almost be said the law of nations--demands their permission to return to their allegiance, to be treated according to their future merits, as an integral portion of the american people. the sentiment of the civilized world has much relaxed from its former severity toward political offenders. it regards with horror the savage cruelties of great britain to the unfortunate jacobites, after their defeat under charles edward, at culloden, in , their barbarous treatment of the united irishmen in , and her brutality to the mutinous hindoos in -' ; the harshness of russia toward the insurgent poles, defeated in their mad attempts to recover their lost nationality; the severity of austria, under haynau, toward the defeated magyars. the liberal press kept up for years, especially in england and the united states, a perpetual howl against the papal and neapolitan governments for arresting and imprisoning men who conspired to overthrow them. louis kossuth was no less a traitor than jefferson davis, and yet the united states solicited his release from a turkish prison, and sent a national ship to bring him hither as the nation's guest. the people of the united states have held from the first "the right of insurrection," and have given their moral support to every insurrection in the old or new world they discovered, and for them to treat with severity any portion of the southern secessionists, who, at the very worst, only acted on the principles the nation had uniformly avowed and pronounced sacred, would be regarded, and justly, by the civilized world as little less than infamous. not only the fair fame, but the interest of the union forbids any severity toward the people lately in arms against the government. the interest of the nation demands not the death or the expulsion of the secessionists, and, least of all, of those classes proscribed by the president's proclamation of the th of may, , nor even their disfranchisement, perpetual or temporary; but their restoration to citizenship, and their loyal co-operation with all true-hearted americans, in hearing the wounds inflicted on the whole country by the civil war. there need be no fear to trust them. their cause is lost; they may or may not regret it, but lost it is, and lost forever. they appealed to the ballot-box, and were defeated; they appealed from the ballot-box to arms, to war, and have been again defeated, terribly defeated. they know it and feel it. there is no further appeal for them; the judgment of the court of last resort has been rendered, and rendered against them. the cause is finished, the controversy closed, never to be re-opened. henceforth the union is invincible, and it is worse than idle to attempt to renew the war against it. henceforth their lot is bound up with that of the nation, and all their hopes and interests, for themselves and their children, and their children's children, depend on their being permitted to demean themselves henceforth as peaceable and loyal american citizens. they must seek their freedom, greatness, and glory in the freedom, greatness, and glory of the american republic, in which, after all, they can be far freer, greater, more glorious than in a separate and independent confederacy. all the arguments and considerations urged by union men against their secession, come back to them now with redoubled force to keep them henceforth loyal to the union. they cannot afford to lose the nation, and the nation cannot afford to lose them. to hang or exile them, and depopulate and suffer to run to waste the lands they had cultivated, were sad thrift, sadder than that of deporting four millions of negroes and colored men. to exchange only those excepted from amnesty and pardon by president johnson, embracing some two millions or more, the very pars sanior of the southern population, for what would remain or flock in to supply their place, would be only the exchange of glaucus and diomed, gold for brass; to disfranchise them, confiscate their estates, and place them under the political control of the freedmen, lately their slaves, and the ignorant and miserable "white trash," would be simply to render rebellion chronic, and to convert seven millions of americans, willing and anxious to be free, loyal american citizens, eternal enemies. they have yielded to superior numbers and resources; beaten, but not disgraced, for they have, even in rebellion, proved themselves what they are--real americans. they are the product of the american soil, the free growth of the american republic, and to disgrace them were to disgrace the whole american character and people. the wise romans never allowed a triumph to a roman general for victories, however brilliant, won over romans. in civil war, the victory won by the government troops is held to be a victory for the country, in which all parties are victors, and nobody is vanquished. it was as truly for the good of the secessionists to fail, as it was for those, who sustained the government to succeed; and the government having forced their submission and vindicated its own authority, it should now leave them to enjoy, with others, the victory which it his won for the common good of all. when war becomes a stern necessity, when it breaks out, and while it lasts, humanity requires it to be waged in earnest, prosecuted with vigor, and made as damaging, as distressful to the enemy as the laws of civilized nations permit. it is the way to bring it to a speedy close, and to save life and property. but when it is over, when the enemy submits, and peace returns, the vanquished should be treated with gentleness and love. no rancor should remain, no vengeance should be sought; they who met in mortal conflict on the battle-field should be no longer enemies, but embrace as comrades, as friends, as brothers. none but a coward kicks a fallen foe; a brave people is generous, and the victors in the late war can afford to be generous generously. they fought for the union, and the union has no longer an enemy; their late enemies are willing and proud to be their countrymen, fellow-citizens, and friends; and they should look to it that small politicians do not rob them in the eyes of the world, by unnecessary and ill-timed severity to the submissive, of the glory of being, as they are, a great, noble, chivalric, generous, and magnanimous people. the government and the small politicians, who usually are the most influential with all governments, should remember that none of the secessionists, however much in error they have been, have committed the moral crime of treason. they held, with the majority of the american people, the doctrine of state sovereignty, and on that doctrine they had a right to secede, and have committed no treason, been guilty of no rebellion. that was, indeed, no reason why the government should not use all its force, if necessary, to preserve the national unity and the integrity of the national domain; but it is a reason, and a sufficient reason, why no penalty of treason should be inflicted on secessionists or their leaders, after their submission, and recognition of the sovereignty of the united states as that to which they owe allegiance. none of the secessionists have been rebels or traitors, except in outward act, and there can, after the act has ceased, be no just punishment where there has been no criminal intent. treason is the highest crime, and deserves exemplary punishment; but not where there has been no treasonable intent, where they who committed it did not believe it was treason, and on principles held by the majority of their countrymen, and by the party that had generally held the government, there really was no treason. concede state sovereignty, and jefferson davis was no traitor in the war he made on the united states, for he made none till his state had seceded. he could not then be arraigned for his acts after secession, and at most, only for conspiracy, if at all, before secession. but, if you permit all to vote in the re-organization of the state who, under the old electoral law, have the elective franchise, you throw the state into the hands of those who have been disloyal to the union. if so, and you cannot trust them, the remedy is not in disfranchising the majority, but in prohibiting re-organization, and in holding the territorial people still longer under the provisional government, civil or military. the old electoral law disqualifies all who have been convicted of treason either to the state or the united states, and neither congress nor the executive can declare any others disqualified on account of disloyalty. but you must throw the state into the hands of those who took part, directly or indirectly, in the rebellion, if you reconstruct the states at all, for they are undeniably the great body of the territorial people in all the states that seceded. these people having submitted, and declared their intention to reconstruct the state as a state in the union, you must amend the constitution of the united states, unless they are convicted of a disqualifying crime by due process of law, before you can disfranchise them. it is impossible to reconstruct any one of the disorganized states with those alone, or as the dominant party, who have adhered to the union throughout the fearful struggle, as self-governing states. the state, resting on so small a portion of the people, would have no internal strength, no self-support, and could stand only as upheld by federal arms, which would greatly impair the free and healthy action of the whole american system. the government attempted to do it in virginia, louisiana, arkansas, and tennessee, before the rebellion was suppressed, but without authority and without success. the organizations, effected at great expense, and sustained only by military force, were neither states nor state governments, nor capable of being made so by any executive or congressional action. if the disorganized states, as the government held, were still states in the union, these organizations were flagrantly revolutionary, as effected not only without, but in defiance of state authority; if they had seceded and ceased to be states, as was the fact, they were equally unconstitutional and void of authority, because not created by the free suffrage of the territorial people, who alone are competent to construct or reconstruct a state. if the unionists had retained the state organization and government, however small their number, they would have held the state, and the government would have been bound to recognize and to defend them as such with all the force of the union. the rebellion would then have been personal, not territorial. but such was not the case. the state organization, the state government, the whole state authority rebelled, made the rebellion territorial, not personal, and left the unionists, very respectable persons assuredly, residing, if they remained at home, in rebel territory, traitors in the eye of their respective states, and shorn of all political status or rights. their political status was simply that of the old loyalists, or adherents of the british crown in the american war for independence, and it was as absurd to call them the state, as it would have been for great britain to have called the old tories the colonies. the theory on which the government attempted to re-organize the disorganized states rested on two false assumptions: first, that the people are personally sovereign; and, second, that all the power of the union vests in the general government. the first, as we have seen, is the principle of so-called "squatter sovereignty," embodied in the famous kansas-nebraska bill, which gave birth, in opposition, to the republican party of . the people are sovereign only as the state, and the state is inseparable from the domain. the unionists without the state government, without any state organization, could not hold the domain, which, when the state organization is gone, escheats to the united states, that is to say, ceases to exist. the american democracy is territorial, not personal. the general government, in time of war or rebellion, is indeed invested, for war purposes, with all the power of the union. this is the war power. but, though apparently unlimited, the war power is yet restricted to war purposes, and expires by natural limitation when peace returns; and peace returns, in a civil war, when the rebels have thrown down their arms and submitted to the national authority, and without any formal declaration. during the war, or while the rebellion lasts, it can suspend the civil courts, the civil laws, the state constitutions, any thing necessary to the success of the war--and of the necessity the military authorities are the judges; but it cannot abolish, abrogate, or reconstitute them. on the return of peace they revive of themselves in all their vigor. the emancipation proclamation of the president, if it emancipated the slaves in certain states and parts of states, and if those whom it emancipated could not be re-enslaved, did not anywhere abolish slavery, or change the laws authorizing it; and if the government should be sustained by congress or by the supreme court in counting the disorganized states as states in the union, the legal status of slavery throughout the union, with the exception of maryland, and perhaps missouri, is what it was before the war.[ ] the government undoubtedly supposed, in the reconstructions it attempted, that it was acting under the war power; but as reconstruction can never be necessary for war purposes, and as it is in its very nature a work of peace, incapable of being effected by military force, since its validity depends entirely on its being the free action of the territorial people to be reconstructed, the general government had and could have, with regard to it, only its ordinary peace powers. reconstruction is jure pacis, not jure belli. yet such illegal organizations, though they are neither states nor state governments, and incapable of being legalized by any action of the executive or of congress, may, nevertheless, be legalized by being indorsed or acquiesced in by the territorial people. they are wrong, as are all usurpations; they are undemocratic, inasmuch as they attempt to give the minority the power to rule the majority; they are dangerous inasmuch as they place the state in the hands of a party that can stand only as supported by the general government, and thus destroy the proper freedom and independence of the state, and open the door to corruption, tend to keep alive rancor and ill feeling, and to retard the period of complete pacification, which might be effected in three months as well as in three years, or twenty years; yet they can become legal, as other governments illegal in their origin become legal, with time and popular acquiescence. the right way is always the shortest and easiest; but when a government must oftener follow than lead the public, it is not always easy to hit the right way, and still less easy to take it. the general instincts of the people are right as to the end to be gained, but seldom right as to the means of gaining it; and politicians of the union party, as well as of the late secession party, have an eye in reconstructing, to the future political control of the state when it is reconstructed. the secessionists, if permitted to retain their franchise, would, even if they accepted abolition, no doubt re-organize their respective states on the basis of white suffrage, and so would the unionists, if left to themselves. there is no party at the south prepared to adopt negro suffrage, and there would be none at the north if the negroes constituted any considerable portion of the population. as the reconstruction of a state cannot be done under the war power, the general government can no more enfranchise than it can disfranchise any portion of the territorial people, and the question of negro suffrage must be left, where the constitution leaves it--to the states severally, each to dispose of it for itself. negro suffrage will, no doubt, come in time, as soon as the freedmen are prepared for it, and the danger is that it will be attempted too soon. it would be a convenience to have the negro vote in the reconstruction of the states disorganized by secession, for it would secure their re-construction with antislavery constitutions, and also make sure of the proposed antislavery amendment to the constitution of the united states; but there is no power in congress to enfranchise the negroes in the states needing reconstruction, and, once assured of their freedom, the freedmen would care little for the union, of which they understand nothing. they would vote, for the most part, with their former masters, their employers, the wealthier and more intelligent classes, whether loyal or disloyal; for, as a rule, these will treat them with greater personal consideration and kindness than others. the dislike of the negro, and hostility to negro equality, increase as you descend in the social scale. the freedmen, without political instruction or experience, who have had no country, no domicile, understand nothing of loyalty or of disloyalty. they have strong local attachments, but they can have no patriotism. if they adhered to the union in the rebellion, fought for it, bled for it, it was not from loyalty, but because they knew that their freedom could come only from the success of the union arms. that freedom secured, they have no longer any interest in the union, and their local attachments, personal associations, habits, tastes, likes and dislikes, are southern, not northern. in any contest between the north and the south, they would take, to a man, the southern side. after the taunts of the women, the captured soldiers of the union found, until nearly the last year of the war, nothing harder to bear, when marched as prisoners into richmond, than the antics and hootings of the negroes. negro suffrage on the score of loyalty, is at best a matter of indifference to the union, and as the elective franchise is not a natural right, but a civil trust, the friends of the negro should, for the present, be contented with securing him simply equal rights of person and property. [ ] this was the case in august, . it may be quite otherwise before these pages see the light. chapter xiv. political tendencies. the most marked political tendency of the american people has been, since , to interpret their government as a pure and simple democracy, and to shift it from a territorial to a purely popular basis, or from the people as the state, inseparably united to the national territory or domain, to the people as simply population, either as individuals or as the race. their tendency has unconsciously, therefore, been to change their constitution from a republican to a despotic, or from a civilized to a barbaric constitution. the american constitution is democratic, in the sense that the people are sovereign that all laws and public acts run in their name; that the rulers are elected by them, and are responsible to them; but they are the people territorially constituted and fixed to the soil, constituting what mr. disraeli, with more propriety perhaps than he thinks, calls a "territorial democracy." to this territorial democracy, the real american democracy, stand opposed two other democracies--the one personal and the other humanitarian--each alike hostile to civilization, and tending to destroy the state, and capable of sustaining government only on principles common to all despotisms. in every man there is a natural craving for personal freedom and unrestrained action--a strong desire to be himself, not another--to be his own master, to go when and where he pleases, to do what he chooses, to take what he wants, wherever he can find it, and to keep what he takes. it is strong in all nomadic tribes, who are at once pastoral and predatory, and is seldom weak in our bold frontier-men, too often real "border ruffians." it takes different forms in different stages of social development, but it everywhere identifies liberty with power. restricted in its enjoyment to one man, it makes him chief, chief of the family, the tribe, or the nation; extended in its enjoyment to the few, it founds an aristocracy, creates a nobility--for nobleman meant originally only freeman, as it does his own consent, express or constructive. this is the so-called jeffersonian democracy, in which government has no powers but such as it derives from the consent of the governed, and is personal democracy or pure individualism philosophically considered, pure egoism, which says, "i am god." under this sort of democracy, based on popular, or rather individual sovereignty, expressed by politicians when they call the electoral people, half seriously, half mockingly, "the sovereigns," there obviously can be no state, no social rights or civil authority; there can be only a voluntary association, league, alliance, or confederation, in which individuals may freely act together as long as they find it pleasant, convenient, or useful, but from which they may separate or secede whenever they find it for their interest or their pleasure to do so. state sovereignty and secession are based on the same democratic principle applied to the several states of the union instead of individuals. the tendency to this sort of democracy has been strong in large sections of the american people from the first, and has been greatly strengthened by the general acceptance of the theory that government originates in compact. the full realization of this tendency, which, happily, is impracticable save in theory, would be to render every man independent alike of every other man and of society, with full right and power to make his own will prevail. this tendency was strongest in the slaveholding states, and especially, in those states, in the slaveholding class, the american imitation of the feudal nobility of mediaeval europe; and on this side the war just ended was, in its most general expression, a war in defence of personal democracy or the sovereignty of the people individually, against the humanitarian democracy, represented by the abolitionists, and the territorial democracy, represented by the government. this personal democracy has been signally defeated in the defeat of the late confederacy, and can hardly again become strong enough to be dangerous. but the humanitarian democracy, which scorns all geographical lines, effaces all in individualities, and professes to plant itself on humanity alone, has acquired by the war new strength, and is not without menace to our future. the solidarity of the race, which is the condition of all human life, founds, as we have seen, society, and creates what are called social rights, the rights alike of society in regard to individuals, and of individuals in regard to society. territorial divisions or circumscriptions found particular societies, states, or nations; yet as the race is one and all its members live by communion with god through it and by communion one with another, these particular states or nations are never absolutely independent of each other but, bound together by the solidarity of the race, so that there is a real solidarity of nations as well as of individuals--the truth underlying kossuth's famous declaration of the solidarity of peoples. the solidarity of nations is the basis of international law, binding on every particular nation, and which every civilized nation recognizes and enforces on its own subjects or citizens through its own courts as an integral part of its own municipal or national law. the personal or individual right is therefore restricted by the rights of society, and the rights of the particular society or nation are limited by international law, or the rights of universal society--the truth the ex-governor of hungary overlooked. the grand error of gentilism was in denying the unity and therefore the solidarity of the race, involved in its denial or misconception of the unity of god. it therefore was never able to assign any solid basis to international law, and gave it only a conventional or customary authority, thus leaving the jus gentium, which it recognized in deed, without any real foundation in the constitution of things, or authority in the real world. its real basis is in the solidarity of the race, which has its basis in the unity of god, not the dead or abstract unity asserted by the old eleatics, the neo-platonists, or the modern unitarians, but the living unity consisting in the threefold relation in the divine essence, of father, son, and holy ghost, as asserted by christian revelation, and believed, more or less intelligently, by all christendom. the tendency in the southern states has been to overlook the social basis of the state, or the rights of society founded on the solidarity of the race, and to make all rights and powers personal, or individual; and as only the white race has been able to assert and maintain its personal freedom, only men of that race are held to have the right to be free. hence the people of those states felt no scruple in holding the black or colored race as slaves. liberty, said they, is the right only of those who have the ability to assert and maintain it. let the negro prove that he has this ability by asserting and maintaining his freedom, and he will prove his right to be free, and that it is a gross outrage, a manifest injustice, to enslave him; but, till then, let him be my servant, which is best for him and for me. why ask me to free him? i shall by doing so only change the form of his servitude. why appeal to me! am i my brother's keeper? nay, is he my brother? is this negro, more like an ape or a baboon than a human being, of the same race with myself? i believe it not. but in some instances, at least, my dear slaveholder, your slave is literally your brother, and sometimes even your son, born of your own daughter. the tendency of the southern democrat was to deny the unity of the race, as well as all obligations of society to protect the weak and helpless, and therefore all true civil society. at the north there has been, and is even yet, an opposite tendency--a tendency to exaggerate the social element, to overlook the territorial basis of the state, and to disregard the rights of individuals. this tendency has been and is strong in the people called abolitionists. the american abolitionist is so engrossed with the unity that he loses the solidarity of the race, which supposes unity of race and multiplicity of individuals; and falls to see any thing legitimate and authoritative in geographical divisions or territorial circumscriptions. back of these, back of individuals, he sees humanity, superior to individuals, superior to states, governments, and laws, and holds that he may trample on them all or give them to the winds at the call of humanity or "the higher law." the principle on which he acts is as indefensible as the personal or egoistical democracy of the slaveholders and their sympathizers. were his socialistic tendency to become exclusive and realized, it would found in the name of humanity a complete social despotism, which, proving impracticable from its very generality, would break up in anarchy, in which might makes right, as in the slaveholder's democracy. the abolitionists, in supporting themselves on humanity in its generality, regardless of individual and territorial rights, can recognize no state, no civil authority, and therefore are as much out of the order of civilization, and as much in that of barbarism, as is the slaveholder himself. wendell phillips is as far removed from true christian civilization as was john c. calhoun, and william lloyd garrison is as much of a barbarian and despot in principle and tendency as jefferson davis. hence the great body of the people in the non-slaveholding states, wedded to american democracy as they were and are could never, as much as they detested slavery, be induced to make common cause with the abolitionists, and their apparent union in the late civil war was accidental, simply owing to the fact that for the time the social democracy and the territorial coincides or had the same enemy. the great body of the loyal people instinctively felt that pure socialism is as incompatible with american democracy as pure individualism; and the abolitionists are well aware that slavery has been abolished, not for humanitarian or socialistic reasons but really for reasons of state, in order to save the territorial democracy. the territorial democracy would not unite to eliminate even so barbaric an element as slavery, till the rebellion gave them the constitutional right to abolish it; and even then so scrupulous were they, that they demanded a constitutional amendment, so as to be able to make clean work of it, without any blow to individual or state rights. the abolitionists were right in opposing slavery, but not in demanding its abolition on humanitarian or socialistic grounds. slavery is really a barbaric element, and is in direct antagonism to american civilization. the whole force of the national life opposes it, and must finally eliminate it, or become itself extinct and it is no mean proof of their utter want of sympathy with all the living forces of modern civilization, that the leading men of the south and their prominent friends at the north really persuaded themselves that with cotton, rice, and tobacco, they could effectually resist the anti-slavery movement, and perpetuate their barbaric democracy. they studied the classics, they admired greece and rome, and imagined that those nations became great by slavery, instead of being great even in spite of slavery. they failed to take into the account the fact that when greece and rome were in the zenith of their glory, all contemporary nations were also slaveholding nations, and that if they were the greatest and most highly civilized nations of their times, they were not fitted to be the greatest and most highly civilized nations of all times. they failed also to perceive that, if the graeco-roman republic did not include the whole territorial people in the political people, it yet recognized both the social and the territorial foundation of the state, and never attempted to rest it on pure individualism; they forgot, too, that greece and rome both fell, and fell precisely through internal weakness caused by the barbarism within, not through the force of the barbarism beyond their frontiers. the world has changed since the time when ten thousand of his slaves were sacrificed as a religious offering to the manes of a single roman master. the infusion of the christian dogma of the unity and solidarity of the race into the belief, the life, the laws, the jurisprudence of all civilized nations, has doomed slavery and every species of barbarism; but this our slaveholding countrymen saw not. it rarely happens that in any controversy, individual or national, the real issue is distinctly presented, or the precise question in debate is clearly and distinctly understood by either party. slavery was only incidentally involved in the late war. the war was occasioned by the collision of two extreme parties; but it was itself a war between civilization and barbarism, primarily between the territorial democracy and the personal democracy, and in reality, on the part of the nation, as much a war against the socialism of the abolitionist as against the individualism of the slaveholder. yet the victory, though complete over the former, is only half won over the latter, for it has left the humanitarian democracy standing, and perhaps for the moment stronger than ever. the socialistic democracy was enlisted by the territorial, not to strengthen the government at home, as it imagines, for that it did not do, and could not do, since the national instinct was even more opposed to it than to the personal democracy; but under its antislavery aspect, to soften the hostility of foreign powers, and ward off foreign intervention, which was seriously threatened. the populations of europe, especially of france and england, were decidedly anti-slavery, and if the war here appeared to them a war, not solely for the unity of the nation and the integrity of its domain, as it really was, in which they took and could take no interest, but a war for the abolition of slavery, their governments would not venture to intervene. this was the only consideration that weighed with mr. lincoln, as he himself assured the author, and induced him to issue his emancipation proclamation; and europe rejoices in our victory over the rebellion only so far as it has liberated the slaves, and honors the late president only as their supposed liberator, not as the preserver of the unity and integrity of the nation. this is natural enough abroad, and proves the wisdom of the anti-slavery policy of the government, which had become absolutely necessary to save the republic long before it was adopted; yet it is not as the emancipator of some two or three millions of slaves that the american patriot cherishes the memory of abraham lincoln, but, aided by the loyal people, generals of rare merit, and troops of unsurpassed bravery and endurance, as the saviour of the american state, and the protector of modern civilization. his anti-slavery policy served this end, and therefore was wise, but he adopted it with the greatest possible reluctance. there were greater issues in the late war than negro slavery or negro freedom. that was only an incidental issue, as the really great men of the confederacy felt, who to save their cause were willing themselves at last to free and arm their own negroes, and perhaps were willing to do it even at first. this fact alone proves that they had, or believed they had, a far more important cause than the preservation of negro slavery. they fought for personal democracy, under the form of state sovereignty, against social democracy; for personal freedom and independence against social or humanitarian despotism; and so far their cause was as good as that against which they took up arms; and if they had or could have fought against that, without fighting at the same time against the territorial, the real american, the only civilized democracy, they would have succeeded. it is not socialism nor abolitionism that has won; nor is it the north that has conquered. the union itself has won no victories over the south, and it is both historically and legally false to say that the south has been subjugated. the union has preserved itself and american civilization, alike for north and south, east and west. the armies that so often met in the shock of battle were not drawn up respectively by the north and the south, but by two rival democracies, to decide which of the two should rule the future. they were the armies of two mutually antagonistic systems, and neither army was clearly and distinctly conscious of the cause for which it was shedding its blood; each obeyed instinctively a power stronger than itself, and which at best it but dimly discerned. on both sides the cause was broader and deeper than negro slavery, and neither the proslavery men nor the abolitionists have won. the territorial democracy alone has won, and won what will prove to be a final victory over the purely personal democracy, which had its chief seat in the southern states, though by no means confined to them. the danger to american democracy from that quarter is forever removed, and democracy à la rousseau has received a terrible defeat throughout the world, though as yet it is far from being aware of it. but in this world victories are never complete. the socialistic democracy claims the victory which has been really won by the territorial democracy, as if it had been socialism, not patriotism, that fired the hearts and nerved the arms of the brave men led by mcclellan, grant, and sherman. the humanitarians are more dangerous in principle than the egoists, for they have the appearance of building on a broader and deeper foundation, of being more christian, more philosophic, more generous and philanthropic; but satan is never more successful than under the guise of an angel of light. his favorite guise in modern times is that of philanthropy. he is a genuine humanitarian, and aims to persuade the world that humanitarianism is christianity, and that man is god; that the soft and charming sentiment of philanthropy is real christian charity; and he dupes both individuals and nations, and makes them do his work, when they believe they are earnestly and most successfully doing the work of god. your leading abolitionists are as much affected by satanophany as your leading confederates, nor are they one whit more philosophical or less sophistical. the one loses the race, the other the individual, and neither has learned to apply practically that fundamental truth that there is never the general without the particular, nor the particular without the general, the race without individuals, nor individuals without the race. the whole race was in adam, and fell in him, as we are taught by the doctrine of original sin, or the sin of the race, and adam was an individual, as we are taught in the fact that original sin was in him actual or personal sin. the humanitarian is carried away by a vague generality, and loses men in humanity, sacrifices the rights of men in a vain endeavor to secure the rights of man, as your calvinist or his brother jansenist sacrifices the rights of nature in order to secure the freedom of grace. yesterday he agitated for the abolition of slavery, to-day he agitates for negro suffrage, negro equality, and announces that when he has secured that he will agitate for female suffrage and the equality of the sexes, forgetting or ignorant that the relation of equality subsists only between individuals of the same sex; that god made the man the head of the woman, and the woman for the man, not the man for the woman. having obliterated all distinction of sex in politics, in social, industrial, and domestic arrangements, he must go farther, and agitate for equality of property. but since property, if recognized at all, will be unequally acquired and distributed, he must go farther still, and agitate for the total abolition of property, as an injustice, a grievous wrong, a theft, with m. proudhon, or the englishman godwin. it is unjust that one should have what another wants, or even more than another. what right have you to ride in your coach or astride your spirited barb while i am forced to trudge on foot? nor can our humanitarian stop there. individuals are, and as long as there are individuals will be, unequal: some are handsomer and some are uglier, some wiser or sillier, more or less gifted, stronger or weaker, taller or shorter, stouter or thinner than others, and therefore some have natural advantages which others have not. there is inequality, therefore injustice, which can be remedied only by the abolition of all individualities, and the reduction of all individuals to the race, or humanity, man in general. he can find no limit to his agitation this side of vague generality, which is no reality, but a pure nullity, for he respects no territorial or individual circumscriptions, and must regard creation itself as a blunder. this is not fancy, for he has gone very nearly as far as it is here shown, if logical, he must go. the danger now is that the union victory will, at home and abroad, be interpreted as a victory won in the interest of social or humanitarian democracy. it was because they regarded the war waged on the side of the union as waged in the interest of this terrible democracy, that our bishops and clergy sympathized so little with the government in prosecuting it; not, as some imagined, because they were disloyal, hostile to american or territorial democracy, or not heartily in favor of freedom for all men, whatever their race or complexion. they had no wish to see slavery prolonged, the evils of which they, better than any other class of men, knew, and more deeply deplored; none would have regretted more than they to have seen the union broken up; but they held the socialistic or humanitarian democracy represented by northern abolitionists as hostile alike to the church and to civilization. for the same reason that they were backward or reserved in their sympathy, all the humanitarian sects at home and abroad were forward and even ostentatious in theirs. the catholics feared the war might result in encouraging la republiques democratique et sociale; the humanitarian sects trusted that it would. if the victory of the union should turn out to be a victory for the humanitarian democracy, the civilized world will have no reason to applaud it. that there is some danger that for a time the victory will be taken as a victory for humanitarianism or socialism, it would be idle to deny. it is so taken now, and the humanitarian party throughout the world are in ecstasies over it. the party claim it. the european socialists and red republicans applaud it, and the mazzinis and the garibaldis inflict on us the deep humiliation of their congratulations. a cause that can be approved by the revolutionary leaders of european liberals must be strangely misunderstood, or have in it some infamous element. it is no compliment to a nation to receive the congratulations of men who assert not only people-king, but people-god; and those americans who are delighted with them are worse enemies to the american democracy than ever were jefferson davis and his fellow conspirators, and more contemptible, as the swindler is more contemptible than the highwayman. but it is probable the humanitarians have reckoned without their host. not they are the real victors. when the smoke of battle has cleared away, the victory, it will be seen, has been won by the republic, and that that alone has triumphed. the abolitionists, in so far as they asserted the unity of the race and opposed slavery as a denial of that unity, have also won; but in so far as they denied the reality or authority of territorial and individual circumscriptions, followed a purely socialistic tendency, and sought to dissolve patriotism into a watery sentimentality called philanthropy, have in reality been crushingly defeated, as they will find when the late insurrectionary states are fully reconstructed. the southern or egoistical democrats, so far as they denied the unity and solidarity of the race, the rights of society over individuals, and the equal rights of each and every individual in face of the state, or the obligations of society to protect the weak and help the helpless, have been also defeated; but so far as they asserted personal or individual rights which society neither gives nor can take away, and so far as they asserted, not state sovereignty, but state rights, held independently of the general government, and which limit its authority and sphere of action, they share in the victory, as the future will prove. european jacobins, revolutionists, conspiring openly or secretly against all legitimate authority, whether in church or state, have no lot or part in the victory of the american people: not for them nor for men with their nefarious designs or mad dreams, have our brave soldiers fought, suffered and bled for four years of the most terrible war in modern times, and against troops as brave and as well led as themselves; not for them has the country sacrificed a million of lives, and contracted a debt of four thousand millions of dollars, besides the waste and destruction that it will take years of peaceful industry to repair. they and their barbaric democracy have been defeated, and civilization has won its most brilliant victory in all history. the american democracy has crushed, actually or potentially, every species of barbarism in the new world, asserted victoriously the state, and placed the government definitively on the side of legitimate authority, and made its natural association henceforth with all civilized governments--not with the revolutionary movements to overthrow them. the american people will always be progressive as well as conservative; but they have learned a lesson, which they much needed against false democracy: civil war has taught them that "the sacred right of insurrection" is as much out of place in a democratic state as in an aristocratic or a monarchical state; and that the government should always be clothed with ample authority to arrest and punish whoever plots its destruction. they must never be delighted again to have their government send a national ship to bring hither a noted traitor to his own sovereign as the nation's guest. the people of the northern states are hardly less responsible for the late rebellion than the people of the southern states. their press had taught them to call every government a tyranny that refused to remain quiet while the traitor was cutting its throat or assassinating the nation, and they had nothing but mad denunciations of the papal, the austrian, and the neapolitan governments for their severity against conspirators and traitors. but their own government has found it necessary for the public safety to be equally arbitrary, prompt, and severe, and they will most likely require it hereafter to co-operate with the governments of the old world in advancing civilization, instead of lending all its moral support, as heretofore, to the jacobins, revolutionists, socialists, and humanitarians, to bring back the reign of barbarism. the tendency to individualism has been sufficiently checked by the failure of the rebellion, and no danger from the disintegrating element, either in the particular state or in the united states, is henceforth to be apprehended. but the tendency in the opposite direction may give the american state some trouble. the tendency now is, as to the union, consolidation, and as to the particular state, humanitarianism, socialism, or centralized democracy. yet this tendency, though it may do much mischief, will hardly become exclusive. the states that seceded, when restored, will always, even in abandoning state sovereignty, resist it, and still assert state rights. when these states are restored to their normal position, they will always be able to protect themselves against any encroachments on their special rights by the general government. the constitution, in the distribution of the powers of government, provides the states severally with ample means to protect their individuality against the centralizing tendency of the general government, however strong it may be. the war has, no doubt, had a tendency to strengthen the general government, and to cause the people, to a great extent, to look upon it as the supreme and exclusive national government, and to regard the several state governments as subordinate instead of co-ordinate governments. it is not improbable that the executive, since the outbreak of the rebellion, has proceeded throughout on that supposition, and hence his extraordinary assumptions of power; but when once peace is fully re-established and the states have all resumed their normal position in the union, every state will be found prompt enough to resist any attempt to encroach on its constitutional rights. its instinct of self-preservation will lead it to resist, and it will be protected by both its own judiciary and that of the united states. the danger that the general government will usurp the rights of the states is far less than the danger that the executive will usurp all the powers of congress and the judiciary. congress, during the rebellion, clothed the president, as far as it could, with dictatorial powers, and these powers the executive continues to exercise even after the rebellion is suppressed. they were given and held under the rights of war, and for war purposes only, and expired by natural limitation when the war ceased; but the executive forgets this, and, instead of calling congress together and submitting the work of reconstruction of the states that seceded to its wisdom and authority, undertakes to reconstruct them himself, as if he were an absolute sovereign; and the people seem to like it. he might and should, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy, govern them as military departments, by his lieutenants, till congress could either create provisional civil governments for them or recognize them as self-governing states in the union; but he has no right, under the constitution nor under the war power, to appoint civil governors, permanent or provisional; and every act he has done in regard to reconstruction is sheer usurpation, and done without authority and without the slightest plea of necessity. his acts in this respect, even if wise and just in themselves, are inexcusable, because done by one who has no legal right to do them. yet his usurpation is apparently sustained by public sentiment, and a deep wound is inflicted on the constitution, which will be long in healing. the danger in this respect is all the greater because it did not originate with the rebellion, but had manifested itself for a long time before. there is a growing disposition on the part of congress to throw as much of the business of government as possible into the hands of the executive. the patronage the executive wields, even in times of peace, is so large that he has indirectly an almost supreme control over the legislative branch of the government. for this, which is, and, if not checked will continue to be, a growing evil, there is no obvious remedy, unless the president is chosen for a longer term of office and made ineligible for a second term, and the mischievous doctrine of rotation in office is rejected as incompatible with the true interests of the public. here is matter for the consideration of the american statesman. but as to the usurpations of the executive in these unsettled times, they will be only temporary, and will cease when the states are all restored. they are abuses, but only temporary abuses, and the southern states, when restored to the union, will resume their rights in their own sphere, as self-governing communities, and legalize or undo the unwarrantable acts of the federal executive. the socialistic and centralizing tendency in the bosom of the individual states is the most dangerous, but it will not be able to become predominant; for philanthropy, unlike charity, does not begin at home, and is powerless unless it operates at a distance. in the states in which the humanitarian tendency is the strongest, the territorial democracy has its most effective organization. prior to the outbreak of the rebellion the american people had asserted popular sovereignty, but had never rendered an account to themselves in what sense the people are or are not sovereign. they had never distinguished the three sorts of democracy from one another, asked themselves which of the three is the distinctively american democracy. for them, democracy was democracy, and those who saw dangers ahead sought to avoid them either by exaggerating one or the other of the two exclusive tendencies, or else by restraining democracy itself through restrictions on suffrage. the latter class began to distrust universal suffrage, to lose faith in the people, and to dream of modifying the american constitution so as to make it conform more nearly to the english model. the war has proved that the were wrong, for nothing is more certain than that the people have saved the national unity and integrity almost in spite of their government. the general government either was not disposed or was afraid to take a decided stand against secession, till forced to do it by the people themselves. no wise american can henceforth distrust american democracy. the people may be trusted. so much is settled. but as the two extremes were equally democratic, as the secessionists acted in the name of popular sovereignty, and as the humanitarians were not unwilling to allow separation, and would not and did not engage in the war against secession for the sake of the union and the integrity of the national domain, the conviction becomes irresistible that it was not democracy in the sense of either of the extremes that made the war and came out of it victorious; and hence the real american democracy must differ from them both, and is neither a personal nor a humanitarian, but a territorial democracy. the true idea of american democracy thus comes out, for the first time, freed from the two extreme democracies which have been identified with it, and henceforth enters into the understandings as well as the hearts of the people. the war has enlightened patriotism, and what was sentiment or instinct becomes reason--a well-defined, and clearly understood constitutional conviction. in the several states themselves there are many things to prevent the socialistic tendency from becoming exclusive. in the states that seceded socialism has never had a foothold, and will not gain it, for it is resisted by all the sentiments, convictions, and habits of the southern people, and the southern people will not be exterminated nor swamped by migrations either from the north or from europe. they are and always will be an agricultural people, and an agricultural people are and always will be opposed to socialistic dreams, unless unwittingly held for a moment to favor it in pursuit of some special object in which they take a passionate interest. the worst of all policies is that of hanging, exiling, or disfranchising the wealthy landholders of the south, in order to bring up the poor and depressed whites, shadowed forth in the executive proclamation of the th of may, . of course that policy will not be carried out, and if the negroes are enfranchised, they will always vote with the wealthy landholding class, and aid them in resisting all socialistic tendencies. the humanitarians will fail for the want of a good social grievance against which they can declaim. in the new england states the humanitarian tendency is strong as a speculation, but only in relation to objects at a distance. it is aided much by the congregational constitution of their religion; yet it is weak at home, and is resisted practically by the territorial division of power. new england means massachusetts, and nowhere is the subdivision of the powers of government carried further, or the constitution of the territorial democracy more complete, than in that state. philanthropy seldom works in private against private vices and evils: it is effective only against public grievances, and the farther they are from home and the less its right to interfere with them, the more in earnest and the more effective for evil does it become. its nature is to mind every one's business but its own. but now that slavery is abolished, there is nowhere in the united states a social grievance of magnitude enough to enlist any considerable number of the people, even of massachusetts, in a movement to redress it. negro enfranchisement is a question of which the humanitarians can make something and they will make the most of it; but as it is a question that each state will soon settle for itself, it will not serve their purpose of prolonged agitation. they could not and never did carry away the nation, even on the question of slavery itself, and abolitionism had comparatively little direct influence in abolishing slavery; and the exclusion of negro suffrage can never be made to appear to the american people as any thing like so great a grievance as was slavery. besides, in all the states that did not secede, catholics are a numerous and an important portion of the population. their increasing numbers, wealth, and education secure them, as much as the majority may dislike their religion, a constantly increasing influence, and it is idle to leave them out in counting the future of the country. they will, in a very few years, be the best and most thoroughly educated class of the american people; and, aside from their religion, or, rather, in consequence of their religion, the most learned, enlightened, and intelligent portion of the american population; and as much as they have disliked the abolitionists, they have, in the army and elsewhere, contributed their full share to the victory the nation has won. the best things written on the controversy have been written by catholics, and catholics are better fitted by their religion to comprehend the real character of the american constitution than any other class of americans, the moment they study it in the light of their own theology. the american constitution is based on that of natural society, on the solidarity of the race, and the difference between natural society and the church or christian society is, that the one is initial and the other teleological. the law of both is the same; catholics, as such, must resist both extremes, because each is exclusive, and whatever is exclusive or one-sided is uncatholic. if they have been backward in their sympathy with the government, it has been through their dislike of the puritanic spirit and the humanitarian or socialistic elements they detected in the republican party, joined with a prejudice against political and social negro equality. but their church everywhere opposes the socialistic movements of the age, all movements in behalf of barbarism, and they may always be counted on to resist the advance of the socialistic democracy. if the country has had reason to complain of some of them in the late war, it will have, in the future, far stronger reason to be grateful; not to them, indeed, for the citizen owes his life to his country, but to their religion, which has been and is the grand protectress of modern society and civilization. from the origin of the government there has been a tendency to the extension of suffrage, and to exclude both birth and private property as bases of political rights or franchises. this tendency has often been justified on the ground that the elective franchise is a natural right; which is not true, because the elective franchise is political power, and political power is always a civil trust, never a natural right, and the state judges for itself to whom it will or will not confide the trust; but there can be no doubt that it is a normal tendency, and in strict accordance with the constitution of american civil society, which rests on the unity of the race, and public instead of private property. all political distinctions founded on birth, race, or private wealth are anomalies in the american system, and are necessarily eliminated by its normal developments. to contend that none but property-holders may vote, or none but persons of a particular race may be enfranchised, is unamerican and contrary, to the order of civilization the new world is developing. the only qualification for the elective franchise the american system can logically insist on is that the elector belong to the territorial people--that is, be a natural-born or a naturalized citizen, be a major in full possession of his natural faculties, and unconvicted of any infamous offence. the state is free to naturalize foreigners or not, and under such restrictions as it judges proper; but, having naturalized them, it must treat them as standing on the same footing with natural-born citizens. the naturalization question is one of great national importance. the migration of foreigners hither has added largely to the national population, and to the national wealth and resources, but less, perhaps, to the development of patriotism, the purity of elections, or the wisdom and integrity of the government. it is impossible that there should be perfect harmony between the national territorial democracy and individuals born, brought up, and formed under a political order in many respects widely different from it; and there is no doubt that the democracy, in its objectionable sense, has been greatly strengthened by the large infusion of naturalized citizens. there can be no question that, if the laboring classes, in whom the national sentiment is usually the strongest, had been composed almost wholly of native americans, instead of being, as they were, at least in the cities, large towns, and villages, composed almost exclusively of persons foreign born, the government would have found far less difficulty in filling up the depleted ranks of its armies. but to leave so large a portion of the actual population as the foreign born residing in the country without the rights of citizens, would have been a far graver evil, and would, in the late struggle, have given the victory to secession. there are great national advantages derived from the migration hither of foreign labor, and if the migration be encouraged or permitted, naturalization on easy and liberal terms is the wisest, the best, and only safe policy. the children of foreign-born parents are real americans. emigration has, also, a singular effect in developing the latent powers of the emigrant, and the children of emigrants are usually more active, more energetic than the children of the older inhabitants of the country among whom they settle. some of our first men in civil life have been sons of foreign-born parents, and so are not a few of our greatest and most successful generals. the most successful of our merchants have been foreign-born. the same thing has been noticed elsewhere, especially in the emigration of the french huguenots to holland, germany, england, and ireland. the immigration of so many millions from the old world has, no doubt, given to the american people much of their bold, energetic, and adventurous character, and made them a superior people on the whole to what they would otherwise have been. this has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority of race or blood, but is a natural effect of breaking men away from routine, and throwing them back on their own individual energies and personal resources. resistance is offered to negro suffrage, and justly too, till the recently emancipated slaves have served an apprenticeship to freedom; but that resistance cannot long stand before the onward progress of american democracy, which asserts equal rights for all, and not for a race or class only. some would confine suffrage to landholders, or, at least, to property-holders; but that is inconsistent with the american idea, and is a relic of the barbaric constitution which founds power on private instead of public wealth. nor are property-owners a whit more likely to vote for the public good than are those who own no property but their own labor. the men of wealth, the business men, manufacturers and merchants, bankers and brokers, are the men who exert the worst influence on government in every country, for they always strive to use it as an instrument of advancing their own private interests. they act on the beautiful maxim, "let government take care of the rich, and the rich will take care of the poor," instead of the far safer maxim, "let government take care of the weak, the strong can take care of themselves." universal suffrage is better than restricted suffrage, but even universal suffrage is too weak to prevent private property from having an undue political influence. the evils attributed to universal suffrage are not inseparable from it, and, after all, it is doubtful if it elevates men of an inferior class to those elevated by restricted suffrage. the congress of , or of . was a fair average of the wisdom, the talent, and the virtue of the country, and not inferior to that of , or that of ; and the executive during the rebellion was at least as able and as efficient as it was during the war of , far superior to that of great britain, and not inferior to that of france during the crimean war. the crimean war developed and placed in high command, either with the english or the french, no generals equal to halleck, grant, and sherman, to say nothing of others. the more aristocratic south proved itself, in both statesmanship and generalship, in no respect superior to the territorial democracy of the north and west. the great evil the country experiences is not from universal suffrage, but from what may be called rotation in office. the number of political aspirants is so great that, in the northern and western states especially, the representatives in congress are changed every two or four years, and a member, as soon as he has acquired the experience necessary to qualify him for his position, is dropped, not through the fickleness of his constituency, but to give place to another whose aid had been necessary to his first or second election. employes are "rotated," not because they are incapable or unfaithful, but because there are others who want their places. this is all bad, but it springs not from universal suffrage, but from a wrong public opinion, which might be corrected by the press, but which is mainly formed by it. there is, no doubt, a due share of official corruption, but not more than elsewhere, and that would be much diminished by increasing the salaries of the public servants, especially in the higher offices of the government, both general and state. the pay to the lower officers and employes of the government, and to the privates and non-commissioned officers in the army, is liberal, and, in general, too liberal; but the pay of the higher grades in both the civil and military service is too low, and relatively far lower than it was when the government was first organized. the worst tendency in the country, and which is not encouraged at all by the territorial democracy, manifests itself in hostility to the military spirit and a standing army. the depreciation of the military spirit comes from the humanitarian or sentimental democracy, which, like all sentimentalisms, defeats itself, and brings about the very evils it seeks to avoid. the hostility to standing armies is inherited from england, and originated in the quarrels between king and parliament, and is a striking evidence of the folly of that bundle of antagonistic forces called the british constitution. in feudal times most of the land was held by military service, and the reliance of government was on the feudal militia; but no real progress was made in eliminating barbarism till the national authority got a regular army at its command, and became able to defend itself against its enemies. it is very doubtful if english civilization has not, upon the whole, lost more than it has gained by substituting parliamentary for royal supremacy, and exchanging the stuarts for the guelfs. no nation is a living, prosperous nation that has lost the military spirit, or in which the profession of the soldier is not held in honor and esteem; and a standing army of reasonable size is public economy. it absorbs in its ranks a class of men who are worth more there than anywhere else; it creates honorable places for gentlemen or the sons of gentlemen without wealth, in which they can serve both themselves and their country. under a democratic government the most serious embarrassment to the state is its gentlemen, or persons not disposed or not fitted to support themselves by their own hands, more necessary in a democratic government than in any other. the civil service, divinity, law, and medicine, together with literature, science, and art, cannot absorb the whole of this ever-increasing class, and the army and navy would be an economy and a real service to the state were they maintained only for the sake of the rank and position they give to their officers, and the wholesome influence these officers would exert on society and the politics of the country--this even in case there were no wars or apprehension of wars. they supply an element needed in all society, to sustain in it the chivalric and heroic spirit, perpetually endangered by the mercantile and political spirit, which has in it always something low and sordid. but wars are inevitable, and when a nation has no surrounding nations to fight, it will, as we have just proved, fight itself. when it can have no foreign war, it will get up a domestic war; for the human animal, like all animals, must work off in some way its fighting humor, and the only sure way of maintaining peace is always to be prepared for war. a regular standing army of forty thousand men would have prevented the mexican war, and an army of fifty thousand well-disciplined and efficient troops at the command of the president on his inauguration in march, , would have prevented the rebellion, or have instantly suppressed it. the cost of maintaining a land army of even a hundred thousand men, and a naval force to correspond, would have been, in simple money value, only a tithe of what the rebellion has cost the nation, to say nothing of the valuable lives that have been sacrificed for the losses on the rebel side, as well as those on the side of the government, are equally to be counted. the actual losses to the country have been not less than six or eight thousand millions of dollars, or nearly one-half the assessed value of the whole property of the united states according to the census returns of , and which has only been partially cancelled by actual increase of property since. to meet the interest on the debt incurred will require a heavier sum to be raised annually by taxation, twice over, without discharging a cent of the principal, than would have been necessary to maintain an army and navy adequate to the protection of peace and the prevention of the rebellion. the rebellion is now suppressed, and if the government does not blunder much more in its civil efforts at pacification than it did in its military operations, before things will settle down into their normal order; but a regular army--not militia or volunteers, who are too expensive--of at least a hundred thousand men of all arms, and a navy nearly as large as that of england or france, will be needed as a peace establishment. the army of a hundred thousand men must form a cadre of an army of three times that number, which will be necessary to place the army on a war footing. less will answer neither for peace nor war, for the nation has, in spite of herself, to maintain henceforth the rank of a first-class military and maritime power, and take a leading part in political movements of the civilized world, and, to a great extent, hold in her hand the peace of europe. canning boasted that he had raised up the new world to redress the balance of the old: a vain boast, for he simply weakened spain and gave the hegemony of europe to russia, which the emperor of the french is trying, by strengthening italy and spain, and by a french protectorate in mexico, to secure to france, both in the old world and the new--a magnificent dream, but not to be realized. his uncle judged more wisely when he sold louisiana, left the new world to itself, and sought only to secure to france the hegemony of the old. but the hegemony of the new world henceforth belongs to the united states, and she will have a potent voice in adjusting the balance of power even in europe. to maintain this position, which is imperative on her, she must always have a large armed force, either on foot or in reserve, which she can call out and put on a war footing at short notice. the united states must henceforth be a great military and naval power, and the old hostility to a standing army and the old attempt to bring the military into disrepute must be abandoned, and the country yield to its destiny. of the several tendencies mentioned, the humanitarian tendency, egoistical at the south, detaching the individual from the race and socialistic at the north, absorbing the individual in the race, is the most dangerous. the egoistical form is checked, sufficiently weakened by the defeat of the rebels; but the social form believes that it has triumphed, and that individuals are effaced in society, and the states in the union. against this, more especially should public opinion and american statesmanship be now directed, and territorial democracy and the division of the powers of government be asserted and vigorously maintained. the danger is that while this socialistic form of democracy is conscious of itself, the territorial democracy has not yet arrived, as the germans say, at self consciousness--_selbsbewusstseyn_--and operates only instinctively. all the dominant theories and sentimentalities are against it, and it is only providence that can sustain it. chapter xv. destiny--political and religious. it has been said in the introduction to this essay that every living nation receives from providence a special work or mission in the progress of society, to accomplish which is its destiny, or the end for which it exists; and that the special mission of the united states is to continue and complete in the political order the graeco-roman civilization. of all the states or colonies on this continent, the american republic alone has a destiny, or the ability to add any thing to the civilization of the race. canada and the other british provinces, mexico and central america, columbia and brazil, and the rest of the south american states, might be absorbed in the united states without being missed by the civilized world. they represent no idea, and the work of civilization could go on without them as well as with them. if they keep up with the progress of civilization, it is all that can be expected of them. france, england, germany, and italy might absorb the rest of europe, and all asia and africa, without withdrawing a single laborer from the work of advancing the civilization of the race; and it is doubtful if these nations themselves can severally or jointly advance it much beyond the point reached by the roman empire, except in abolishing slavery and including in the political people the whole territorial people. they can only develop and give a general application to the fundamental principles of the roman constitution. that indeed is much, but it adds no new element nor new combination of preexisting elements. but nothing of this can be said of the united states. in the graeco-roman civilization is found the state proper, and the great principle of the territorial constitution of power, instead of the personal or the genealogical, the patriarchal or the monarchical; and yet with true civil or political principles it mixed up nearly all the elements of the barbaric constitution. the gentile system of rome recalls the patriarchal, and the relation that subsisted between the patron and his clients has a striking resemblance to that which subsists between the feudal lord and his retainers, and may have had the same origin. the three tribes, ramnes, quirites, and luceres, into which the roman people were divided before the rise of the plebs, may have been, as niebuhr contends, local, not genealogical, in their origin, but they were not strictly territorial distinctions, and the division of each tribe into a hundred houses or gentes was not local, but personal, if not, as the name implies, genealogical. no doubt the individuals or families composing the house or gens were not all of kindred blood, for the oriental custom of adoption, so frequent with our north american indians, and with all people distributed into tribes, septs, or clans, obtained with the romans. the adopted member was considered a child of the house, and took its name and inherited its goods. whether, as niebuhr maintains, all the free gentiles of the three tribes were called patres or patricians or whether the term was restricted to the heads of houses, it is certain that the head of the house represented it in the senate, and the vote in the curies was by houses, not by individuals en masse. after all, practically the roman senate was hardly less an estate than the english house of lords, for no one could sit in it unless a landed proprietor and of noble blood. the plebs, though outside of the political people proper, as not being included in the three tribes, when they came to be a power in the republic under the emperors, and the old distinction of plebs and patricians was forgotten, were an estate, and not a local or territorial people. the republican element was in the fact that the land, which gave the right to participate in political power, was the domain of the state, and the tenant held it from the state. the domain was vested in the state, not in the senator nor the prince, and was therefore respublica, not private property--the first grand leap of the human race from barbarism. in all other respects the roman constitution was no more republican than the feudal. athens went farther than rome, and introduced the principle of territorial democracy. the division into demes or wards, whence comes the word democracy, was a real territorial division, not personal nor genealogical. and if the equality of all men was not recognized, all who were included in the political class stood on the same footing. athens and other greek cities, though conquered by rome, exerted after their conquest a powerful influence on roman civilization, which became far more democratic under the emperors than it had been under the patrician senate, which the assassins of julius caesar, and the superannuated conservative party they represented, tried so hard to preserve. the senate and the consulship were opened to the representatives of the great plebeian houses, and the provincials were clothed with the rights of roman citizens, and uniform laws were established throughout the empire. the grand error, as has already been said, of the graeco-roman or gentile civilization, was in its denial or ignorance of the unity of the human race, as well as the unity of god, and in its including in the state only a particular class of the territorial people, while it held all the rest as slaves, though in different degrees of servitude. it recognized and sustained a privileged class, a ruling order; and if, as subsequently did the venetian aristocracy, it recognized democratic equality within that order, it held all outside of it to be less than men and without political rights. practically, power was an attribute of birth and of private wealth. suffrage was almost universal among freemen, but down almost to the empire, the people voted by orders, and were counted, not numerically, but by the rank of the order, and the comitia curiata could always carry the election over the comitia centuriata, and thus power remained always in the hands of the rich and noble few. the roman law, as digested by jurists under justinian in the sixth century, indeed, recognizes the unity of the race, asserts the equality of all men by the natural law, and undertakes to defend slavery on principles not incompatible with that equality. it represents it as a commutation of the punishment of death, which the emperor has the right to inflict on captives taken in war, to perpetual servitude; and as servitude is less severe than death, slavery was really a proof of imperial clemency. but it has never yet been proved that the emperor has the right under the natural law to put captives taken even in a just war to death, and the roman poet himself bids us "humble the proud, but spare the submissive." in a just war the emperor may kill on the battle-field those in arms against him, but the jus gentium, as now interpreted by the jurisprudence of every civilized nation, does not allow him to put them to death after they have ceased resistance, have thrown down their arms, and surrendered. but even if it did, it gives him a right only over the persons captured, not over their innocent children, and therefore no right to establish hereditary slavery, for the child is not punishable for the offences of the parent. the law, indeed, assumed that the captive ceased to exist as a person and treated him as a thing, or mere property of the conqueror, and being property, he could beget only property, which would accrue only to his owner. but there is no power in heaven or earth that can make a person a thing, a mere piece of merchandise, and it is only by a clumsy fiction, or rather by a bare-faced lie, that the law denies the slave his personality and treats him as a thing. i the unity of all men had been clearly seen and vividly felt, the law would never have attempted to justify perpetual slavery on the ground of its penal character, or indeed on any ground whatever. all men are born under the law of nature with equal rights, and the civil law can justly deprive no man of his liberty, but for a crime, committed by him personally, that justly forfeits his liberty to society. these defects of the graeco-roman civilization the european nations have in part remedied, and may completely remedy. they can carry out practically the christian dogma of the unity of the human race, abolish slavery in every form, make all men equal before the law, and the political people commensurate with the territorial people. indeed, france has already done it. she has abolished slavery, villenage, serfage, political aristocracy, asserted the equality of all men before the law, vindicated the sovereignty of the people, and established universal suffrage, complete social and territorial democracy. the other nations may do as much, but hardly can any of them do more or advance farther. yet in france, territorial democracy the most complete results only in establishing the most complete imperial centralism, usually called caesarism. the imperial constitution of france recognizes that the emperor reigns "by the grace of god and the will of the nation," and therefore, that by the grace of god and the will of the nation he may cease to reign; but while he reigns he is supreme, and his will is law. the constitution imposes no real or effective restraint on his power: while he sits upon the throne he is practically france, and the ministers are his clerks; the council of state, the senate, and the legislative body are merely his agents in governing the nation. this may, indeed, be changed, but only to substitute for imperial centralism democratic centralism, which were no improvement, or to go back to the system of antagonisms, checks and balances, called constitutionalism, or parliamentary government, of which great britain is the model, and which were a return toward barbarism, or mediaeval feudalism. the human race has its life in god, and tends to realize in all orders the divine word or logos, which is ionic itself, and the principle of all conciliation, of the dialectic union of all opposites or extremes. mankind will be logical; and the worst of all tyrannies is that which forbids them to draw from their principles their last logical consequences, or that prohibits them the free explication and application of the divine idea, in which consists their life, their progress. such tyranny strikes at the very existence of society, and wars against the reality of things. it is supremely sophistical, and its success is death; for the universe in its constitution is supremely logical, and man, individually and socially, is rational. god is the author and type of all created things; and all creatures, each in its order, imitate or copies the divine being, who is intrinsically father, son, and holy ghost, principle, medium, and end. the son or word is the medium, which unites the two extremes, whence god is living god a real, active, living being--living, concrete, not abstract or dead unity, like the unity of old xenophanes, plotinus, and proclus. in the holy trinity is the principle and prototype of all society, and what is called the solidarity of the race is only the outward expression, or copy in the external order, of what theologians term the circumsession of the three divine persons of the godhead. now, human society, when it copies the divine essence and nature either in the distinction of persons alone, or in the unity alone, is sophistical, and wants the principle of all life and reality. it sins against god, and must fail of its end. the english system, which is based on antagonistic elements, on opposites, without the middle term that conciliates them, unites them, and makes them dialectically one, copies the divine model in its distinctions alone, which, considered alone, are opposites or contraries. it denies, if englishmen could but see it, the unity of god. the french, or imperial system, which excludes the extremes, instead of uniting them, denies all opposites, instead of conciliating them--denies the distinctions in the model, and copies only the unity, which is the supreme sophism called pantheism. the english constitution has no middle term, and the french no extremes, and each in its way denies the divine trinity, the original basis and type of the syllogism. the human race can be contented with neither, for neither allows it free scope for its inherent life and activity. the english system tends to pure individualism; the french to pure socialism or despotism, each endeavoring to suppress an element of the one living and indissoluble truth. this is not fancy, is not fine-spun speculation, or cold and lifeless abstraction, but the highest theological and philosophical truth, without which there were no reason, no man, no society; for god is the first principle of all being, all existence, all science, all life, and it is in him that we live and move and have our being. god is at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of all things--the universal principle, medium, and end; and no truth can be denied without his existence being directly or indirectly impugned. in a deeper sense than is commonly understood is it true that nisi dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam. the english constitution is composed of contradictory elements, incapable of reconciliation, and each element is perpetually struggling with the others for the mastery. for a long time the king labored, intrigued, and fought to free himself from the thraldom in which he was held by the feudal barons; in the aristocracy and people united and humbled the crown; and now the people are at work seeking to sap both the crown and the nobles. the state is constituted to nobody's satisfaction; and though all may unite in boasting its excellences, all are at work trying to alter or amend it. the work of constituting the state with the english is ever beginning, never ending. hence the eternal clamor for parliamentary reform. great britain and other european states may sweep away all that remains of feudalism, include the whole territorial people with the equal rights of all in the state or political people, concede to birth and wealth no political rights, but they will by so doing only establish either imperial centralism, as has been done in france, or democratic centralism, clamored for, conspired for, and fought for by the revolutionists of europe. the special merit of the american system is not in its democracy alone, as too many at home and abroad imagine; but along with its democracy in the division of the powers of government, between a general government and particular state governments, which are not antagonistic governments, for they act on different matters, and neither is nor can be subordinated to the other. now, this division of power, which decentralizes the government without creating mutually hostile forces, can hardly be introduced into any european state. there may be a union of states in great britain, in germany, in italy, perhaps in spain, and austria is laboring hard to effect it in her heterogeneous empire; but the union possible in any of them is that of a bund or confederation, like the swiss or german bund, similar to what the secessionists in the united states so recently attempted and have so signally failed to establish. an intelligent confederate officer remarked that their confederacy had not been in operation three months before it became evident that the principle on which it was founded, if not rejected, would insure its defeat. it was that principle of state sovereignty, for which the states seceded, more than the superior resources and numbers of the government, that caused the collapse of the confederacy. the numbers were relatively about equal, and the military resources of the confederacy were relatively not much inferior to those of the government. so at least the confederate leaders thought, and they knew the material resources of the government as well as their own, and had calculated them with as much care and accuracy as any men could. foreign powers also, friendly as well as unfriendly, felt certain that the secessionists would gain their independence, and so did a large part of the people even of the loyal states. the failure is due to the disintegrating principle of state sovereignty, the very principle of the confederacy. the war has proved that united states are, other things being equal, an overmatch for confederated states. the european states must unite either as equals or as unequals. as equals, the union can be only a confederacy, a sort of zollverein, in which each state retains its individual sovereignty; if as unequals, then someone among them will aspire to the hegemony, and you have over again the athenian confederation, formed at the conclusion of the persian war, and its fate. a union like the american cannot be created by a compact, or by the exercise of supreme power. the emperor of the french cannot erect the several departments of france into states, and divide the powers of government between them as individual and as united states. they would necessarily hold from the imperial government, which, though it might exercise a large part of its functions through them, would remain, as now, the supreme central government, from which all governmental powers emanate, as our president is apparently attempting, in his reconstruction policy, to make the government of the united states. the elements of a state constituted like the american do not exist in any european nation, nor in the constitution of european society; and the american constitution would have been impracticable even here had not providence so ordered it that the nation was born with it, and has never known any other. rome recognized the necessity of the federal principle, and applied it in the best way she could. at first it was a single tribe or people distributed into distinct gentes or houses; after the sabine war, a second tribe was added on terms of equality, and the state was dual, composed of two tribes, the ramnes and the tities or quirites, and, afterward, in the time of tullus hostilius, were added the lucertes or luceres, making the division into three ruling tribes, each divided into one hundred houses or gentes. each house in each tribe was represented by its chief or decurion in the senate, making the number of senators exactly three hundred, at which number the senate was fixed. subsequently was added, by ancus, the plebs, who remained without authority or share in the government of the city of rome itself, though they might aspire to the first rank in the allied cities. the division into tribes, and the division of the tribes into gentes or houses, and the vote in the state by tribes, and in the tribes by houses, effectually excluded democratic centralism; but the division was not a division of the powers of government between two co-ordinate governments, for the senate had supreme control, like the british parliament, over all matters, general and particular. the establishment, after the secession of the plebs, of the tribunitial veto, which gave the plebeians a negative power in the state, there was an incipient division of the powers of government; but only a division between the positive and negative powers, not between the general and the particular. the power accorded to the plebs, or commons, as niebuhr calls them--who is, perhaps, too fond of explaining the early constitution of rome by analogies borrowed from feudalism, and especially from the constitution of his native ditmarsch--was simply an obstructive power; and when it, by development, became a positive power, it absorbed all the powers of government, and created the empire. there was, indeed, a nearer approach to the division of powers in the american system, between imperial rome and her allied or confederated municipalities. these municipalities, modelled chiefly after that of rome, were elective, and had the management of their own local affairs; but their local powers were not co-ordinate in their own sphere with those exercised by the roman municipality, but subordinate and dependent. the senate had the supreme power over them, and they held their rights subject to its will. they were formally, or virtually, subjugated states, to which the roman senate, and afterward the roman emperors, left the form of the state and the mere shadow of freedom. rome owed much to her affecting to treat them as allies rather than as subjects, and at first these municipal organizations secured the progress of civilization in the provinces; but at a later period, under the emperors, they served only the imperial treasury, and were crushed by the taxes imposed and the contributions levied on them by the fiscal agents of the empire. so heavy were the fiscal burdens imposed on the burgesses, if the term may be used, that it needed an imperial edict to compel them to enter the municipal government; and it became, under the later emperors, no uncommon thing for free citizens to sell themselves into slavery, to escape the fiscal burdens imposed. there are actually imperial edicts extant forbidden freemen to sell themselves as slaves. thus ended the roman federative system, and it is difficult to discover in europe the elements of a federative system that could have a more favorable result. now, the political destiny or mission of the united states is, in common with the european nations, to eliminate the barbaric elements retained by the roman constitution, and specially to realize that philosophical division of the powers of government which distinguish it from both imperial and democratic centralism on the one hand, and, on the other, from the checks and balances or organized antagonisms which seek to preserve liberty by obstructing the exercise of power. no greater problem in statesmanship remains to be solved, and no greater contribution to civilization to be made. nowhere else than in this new world, and in this new world only in the united states, can this problem be solved, or this contribution be made, and what the graeco-roman republic began be completed. but the united states have a religious as well as a political destiny, for religion and politics go together. church and state, as governments, are separate indeed, but the principles on which the state is founded have their origin and ground in the spiritual order--in the principles revealed or affirmed by religion--and are inseparable from them. there is no state without god, any more than there is a church without christ or the incarnation. an atheist may be a politician, but if there were no god there could be no politics, theological principles are the basis of political principles. the created universe is a dialectic whole, distinct but inseparable from its creator, and all its parts cohere and are essential to one another. all has its origin and prototype in the triune god, and throughout expresses unity in triplicity and triplicity in unity, without which there is no real being and no actual or possible life. every thing has its principle, medium, and end. natural society is initial, civil government is medial, the church is teleological, but the three are only distinctions in one indissoluble whole. man, as we have seen, lives by communion with god through the divine creative act, and is perfected or completed only through the incarnation, in christ, the word made flesh. true, he communes with god through his kind, and through external nature, society in which he is born and reared, and property through which he derives sustenance for his body; but these are only media of his communion with god, the source of life--not either the beginning or the end of his communion. they have no life in themselves, since their being is in god, and, of themselves, can impart none. they are in the order of second causes, and second causes, without the first cause, are nought. communion which stops with them, which takes them as the principle and end, instead of media, as they are, is the communion of death, not of life. as religion includes all that relates to communion with god, it must in some form be inseparable from every living act of man, both individually and socially; and, in the long run, men must conform either their politics to their religion or their religion to their politics. christianity is constantly at work, moulding political society in its own image and likeness, and every political system struggles to harmonize christianity with itself. if, then, the united states have a political destiny, they have a religious destiny inseparable from it. the political destiny of the united states is to conform the state to the order of reality, or, so to speak, to the divine idea in creation. their religious destiny is to render practicable and to realize the normal relations between church and state, religion and politics, as concreted in the life of the nation. in politics, the united states are not realizing a political theory of any sort whatever. they, on the contrary, are successfully refuting all political theories, making away with them, and establishing the state--not on a theory, not on an artificial basis or a foundation laid by human reason or will, but on reality, the eternal and immutable principles in relation to which man is created. they are doing the same in regard to religious theories. religion is not a theory, a subjective view, an opinion, but is, objectively, at once a principle, a law, and a fact, and, subjectively, it is, by the aid of god's grace, practical conformity to what is universally true and real. the united states, in fulfilment of their destiny, are making as sad havoc with religious theories as with political theories, and are pressing on with irresistible force to the real or the divine order which is expressed in the christian mysteries, which exists independent of man's understanding and will, and which man can neither make nor unmake. the religious destiny of the united states is not to create a new religion nor to found a new church. all real religion is catholic, and is neither new nor old, but is always and everywhere true. even our lord came neither to found a new church nor to create a new religion, but to do the things which had been foretold, and to fulfil in time what had been determined in eternity. god has himself founded the church on catholic principles, or principles always and everywhere real principles. his church is necessarily catholic, because founded on catholic dogmas, and the dogmas are catholic, because they are universal and immutable principles, having their origin and ground in the divine being himself, or in the creative act by which he produces and sustains all things. founded on universal and immutable principles, the church can never grow old or obsolete, but is the church for all times and places, for all ranks and conditions of men. man cannot change either the church or the dogmas of faith, for they are founded in the highest reality, which is above him, over him, and independent of him. religion is above and independent of the state, and the state has nothing to do with the church or her dogmas, but to accept and conform to them as it does to any of the facts or principles of science, to a mathematical truth, or to a physical law. but while the church, with her essential constitution, and her dogmas are founded in the divine order, and are catholic and unalterable, the relations between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities may be changed or modified by the changes of time and place. these relations have not been always the same, but have differed in different ages and countries. during the first three centuries of our era the church had no legal status, and was either connived at or persecuted by the state. under the christian emperors she was recognized by the civil law; her prelates had exclusive jurisdiction in mixed civil and ecclesiastical questions, and were made, in some sense, civil magistrates, and paid as such by the empire. under feudalism, the prelates received investiture as princes and barons, and formed alone, or in connection with the temporal lords, an estate in the kingdom. the pope became a temporal prince and suzerain, at one time, of a large part of europe, and exercised the arbitratorship in all grave questions between christian sovereigns themselves, and between them and their subjects. since the downfall of feudalism and the establishment of modern centralized monarchy, the church has been robbed of the greater part of her temporal possessions, and deprived, in most countries, of all civil functions, and treated by the state either as an enemy or as a slave. in all the sectarian and schismatic states of the old world, the national church is held in strict subjection to the civil authority, as in great britain and russia, and is the slave of the state; in the other states of europe, as france, austria, spain, and italy, she is treated with distrust by the civil government, and allowed hardly a shadow of freedom and independence. in france, which has the proud title of eldest daughter of the church, catholics, as such, are not freer than they are in turkey. all religious are said to be free, and all are free, except the religion of the majority of frenchmen. the emperor, because nominally a catholic, takes it upon himself to concede the church just as much and just as little freedom in the empire as he judges expedient for his own secular interests. in italy, spain, portugal, mexico, and the central and south american states, the policy of the civil authorities is the same, or worse. it may be safely asserted that, except in the united states, the church is either held by the civil power in subjection, or treated as an enemy. the relation is not that of union and harmony, but that of antagonism, to the grave detriment of both religion and civilization. it is impossible, even if it were desirable, to restore the mixture of civil and ecclesiastical governments which obtained in the middle ages; and a total separation of church and state, even as corporations, would, in the present state of men's minds in europe, be construed, if approved by the church, into a sanction by her of political atheism, or the right of the civil power to govern according to its own will and pleasure in utter disregard of the law of god, the moral order, or the immutable distinctions between right and wrong. it could only favor the absolutism of the state, and put the temporal in the place of the spiritual. hence, the holy father includes the proposition of the entire separation of church and state in the syllabus of errors condemned in his encyclical, dated at rome, december , . neither the state nor the people, elsewhere than in the united states, can understand practically such separation in any other sense than the complete emancipation of our entire secular life from the law of god, or the divine order, which is the real order. it is not the union of church and state--that is, the union, or identity rather, of religious and political principles--that it is desirable to get rid of, but the disunion or antagonism of church and state. but this is nowhere possible out of the united states; for nowhere else is the state organized on catholic principles, or capable of acting, when acting from its own constitution, in harmony with a really catholic church, or the religious order really existing, in relation to which all things are created and governed. nowhere else is it practicable, at present, to maintain between the two powers their normal relations. but what is not practicable in the old world is perfectly practicable in the new. the state here being organized in accordance with catholic principles, there can be no antagonism between it and the church. though operating in different spheres, both are, in their respective spheres, developing and applying to practical life the one and the same divine idea. the church can trust the state, and the state can trust the church. both act from the same principle to one and the same end. each by its own constitution co-operates with, aids, and completes the other. it is true the church is not formally established as the civil law of the land, nor is it necessary that she should be; because there is nothing in the state that conflicts with her freedom and independence, with her dogmas or her irreformable canons. the need of establishing the church by law, and protecting her by legal pains and penalties, as is still done in most countries, can exist only in a barbarous or semi-barbarous state of society, where the state is not organized on catholic principles, or the civilization is based on false principles, and in its development tends not to the real or divine order of things. when the state is constituted in harmony with that order, it is carried onward by the force of its own internal constitution in a catholic direction, and a church establishment, or what is called a state religion, would be an anomaly, or a superfluity. the true religion is in the heart of the state, as its informing principle and real interior life. the external establishment, by legal enactment of the church, would afford her no additional protection, add nothing to her power and efficacy, and effect nothing for faith or piety--neither of which can be forced, because both must, from their nature, be free-will offerings to god. in the united states, false religions are legally as free as the true religion; but all false religions being one-sided, sophistical, and uncatholic, are opposed by the principles of the state, which tend, by their silent but effective workings, to eliminate them. the american state recognizes only the catholic religion. it eschews all sectarianism, and none of the sects have been able to get their peculiarities incorporated into its constitution or its laws. the state conforms to what each holds that is catholic, that is always and everywhere religion; and what ever is not catholic it leaves, as outside of its province, to live or die, according to its own inherent vitality or want of vitality. the state conscience is catholic, not sectarian; hence it is that the utmost freedom can be allowed to all religions, the false as well as the true; for the state, being catholic in its constitution, can never suffer the adherents of the false to oppress the consciences of the adherents of the true. the church being free, and the state harmonizing with her, catholicity has, in the freedom of both, all the protection it needs, all the security it can ask, and all the support it can, in the nature of the case receive from external institutions, or from social and political organizations. this freedom may not be universally wise or prudent, for all nations may not be prepared for it: all may not have attained their majority. the church, as well as the state, must deal with men and nations as they are, not as they are not. to deal with a child as with an adult, or with a barbarous nation as with a civilized nation, would be only acting a lie. the church cannot treat men as free men where they are not free men, nor appeal to reason in those in whom reason is undeveloped. she must adapt her discipline to the age, condition, and culture of individuals, and to the greater or less progress of nations in civilization. she herself remains always the same in her constitution, her authority, and her faith; but varies her discipline with the variations of time and place. many of her canons, very proper and necessary in one age, cease to be so in another, and many which are needed in the old world would be out of place in the new world. under the american system, she can deal with the people as free men, and trust them as freemen, because free men they are. the freeman asks, why? and the reason why must be given him, or his obedience fails to be secured. the simple reason that the church commands will rarely satisfy him; he would know why she commands this or that. the full-grown free man revolts at blind obedience, and he regards all obedience as in some measure blind for which he sees only an extrinsic command. blind obedience even to the authority of the church cannot be expected of the people reared under the american system, not because they are filled with the spirit of disobedience, but because they insist that obedience shall be rationabile obsequium, an act of the understanding, not of the will or the affections alone. they are trained to demand a reason for the command given them, to distinguish between the law and the person of the magistrate. they can obey god, but not man, and they must see that the command given has its reason in the divine order, or the intrinsic catholic reason of things, or they will not yield it a full, entire, and hearty obedience. the reason that suffices for the child does not suffice for the adult, and the reason that suffices for barbarians does not suffice for civilized men, or that suffices for nations in the infancy of their civilization does not suffice for them in its maturity. the appeal to external authority was much less frequent under the roman empire than in the barbarous ages that followed its downfall, when the church became mixed up with the state. this trait of the american character is not uncatholic. an intelligent, free, willing obedience, yielded from personal conviction, after seeing its reasonableness, its justice, its logic in the divine order--the obedience of a free man, not of a slave--is far more consonant to the spirit of the church, and far more acceptable to god, than simple, blind obedience; and a people capable of yielding it stand far higher in the scale of civilization than the people that must be governed as children or barbarians. it is possible that the people of the old world are not prepared for the regimen of freedom in religion any more than they are prepared for freedom in politics; for they have been trained only to obey external authority, and are not accustomed to look on religion as having its reason in the real order, or in the reason of things. they understand no reason for obedience beyond the external command, and do not believe it possible to give or to understand the reason why the command itself is given. they regard the authority of the church as a thing apart, and see no way by which faith and reason can be harmonized. they look upon them as antagonistic forces rather than as integral elements of one and the same whole. concede them the regimen of freedom, and their religion has no support but in their good-will, their affections, their associations, their habits, and their prejudices. it has no root in their rational convictions, and when they begin to reason they begin to doubt. this is not the state of things that is desirable, but it cannot be remedied under the political regime established elsewhere than in the united states. in every state in the world, except the american, the civil constitution is sophistical, and violates, more or less, the logic of things; and, therefore, in no one of them can the people receive a thoroughly dialectic training, or an education in strict conformity to the real order. hence, in them all, the church is more or less obstructed in her operations, and prevented from carrying out in its fulness her own divine idea. she does the best she can in the circumstances and with the materials with which she is supplied, and exerts herself continually to bring individuals and nations into harmony with her divine law: but still her life in the midst of the nations is a struggle, a warfare. the united states being dialectically constituted, and founded on real catholic, not sectarian or sophistical principles, presents none of these obstacles, and must, in their progressive development or realization of their political idea, put an end to this warfare, in so far as a warfare between church and state, and leave the church in her normal position in society, in which she can, without let or hindrance, exert her free spirit, and teach and govern men by the divine law as free men. she may encounter unbelief, misbelief, ignorance, and indifference in few, or in many; but these, deriving no support from the state, which tends constantly to eliminate them, must gradually give way before her invincible logic, her divine charity, the truth and reality of things, and the intelligence, activity, and zeal of her ministers. the american people are, on the surface, sectarians or indifferentists; but they are, in reality, less uncatholic than the people of any other country because they are, in their intellectual and moral development, nearer to the real order, or, in the higher and broader sense of the word more truly civilized. the multitude of sects that obtain may excite religious compassion for those who are carried away by them, for men can be saved or attain to their eternal destiny only by truth, or conformity to him who said, "i am the way, the truth, and the life;" but in relation to the national destiny they need excite no alarm, no uneasiness, for underlying them all is more or less of catholic truth, and the vital forces of the national life repel them, in so far as they are sectarian and not catholic, as substances that cannot be assimilated to the national life. the american state being catholic in its organic principles, as is all real religion, and the church being free, whatever is anticatholic, or uncatholic, is without any support in either, and having none, either in reality or in itself, it must necessarily fall and gradually disappear. the sects themselves have a half unavowed conviction that they cannot subsist forever as sects, if unsupported by the civil authority. they are free, but do not feel safe in the united states. they know the real church is catholic, and that they themselves are none of them catholic. the most daring among them even pretends to be no more than a "branch" of the catholic church. they know that only the catholic church can withstand the pressure of events and survive the shocks of time, and hence everywhere their movements to get rid of their sectarianism and to gain a catholic character. they hold conventions of delegates from the whole sectarian world, form "unions," "alliances," and "associations;" but, unhappily for their success, the catholic church does not originate in convention, but is founded by the word made flesh, and sustained by the indwelling holy ghost. the most they can do, even with the best dispositions in the world, is to create a confederation, and confederated sects are something very different from a church inherently one and catholic. it is no more the catholic church than the late southern confederacy was the american state. the sectarian combinations may do some harm, may injure many souls, and retard, for a time, the progress of civilization; but in a state organized in accordance with catholic principles, and left to themselves, they are powerless against the national destiny, and must soon wither and die as branches severed from the vine. such being the case, no sensible catholic can imagine that the church needs any physical force against the sects, except to repel actual violence, and protect her in that freedom of speech and possession which is the right of all before the state. what are called religious establishments are needed only where either the state is barbarous or the religion is sectarian. where the state, in its intrinsic constitution, is in accordance with catholic principles, as in the united states, the church has all she needs or can receive. the state can add nothing more to her power or her security in her moral and spiritual warfare with sectarianism, and any attempt to give her more would only weaken her as against the sects, place her in a false light, partially justify their hostility to her, render effective their declamations against her, mix her up unnecessarily with political changes, interests, and passions, and distract the attention of her ministers from their proper work as churchmen, and impose on them the duties of politicians and statesmen. where there is nothing in the state hostile to the church, where she is free to act according to her own constitution and laws, and exercise her own discipline on her own spiritual subjects, civil enactments in her favor or against the sects may embarrass or impede her operations, but cannot aid her, for she can advance no farther than she wins the heart and convinces the understanding. a spiritual work can, in the nature of things, be effected only by spiritual means. the church wants freedom in relation to the state--nothing more; for all her power comes immediately from god, without any intervention or mediation of the state. the united states, constituted in accordance with the real order of things, and founded on principles which have their origin and ground in the principles on which the church herself is founded, can never establish any one of the sects as the religion of the state, for that would violate their political constitution, and array all the other sects, as well as the church herself, against the government. they cannot be called upon to establish the church by law, because she is already in their constitution as far as the state has in itself any relation with religion, and because to establish her in any other sense would be to make her one of the civil institutions of the land, and to bring her under the control of the state, which were equally against her interest and her nature. the religious mission of the united states is not then to establish the church by external law, or to protect her by legal disabilities, pains, and penalties against the sects, however uncatholic they may be; but to maintain catholic freedom, neither absorbing the state in the church nor the church in the state, but leaving each to move freely, according to its own nature, in the sphere assigned it in the eternal order of things. their mission separates church and state as external governing bodies, but unites them in the interior principles from which each derives its vitality and force. their union is in the intrinsic unity of principle, and in the fact that, though moving in different spheres, each obeys one and the same divine law. with this the catholic, who knows what catholicity means, is of course satisfied, for it gives the church all the advantage over the sects of the real over the unreal; and with this the sects have no right to be dissatisfied, for it subjects them to no disadvantage not inherent in sectarianism itself in presence of catholicity, and without any support from the civil authority. the effect of this mission of our country fully realized, would be to harmonize church and state, religion and politics, not by absorbing either in the other, or by obliterating the natural distinction between them, but by conforming both to the real or divine order, which is supreme and immutable. it places the two powers in their normal relation, which has hitherto never been done, because hitherto there never has been a state normally constituted. the nearest approach made to the realization of the proper relations of church and state, prior to the birth of the american republic, was in the roman empire under the christian emperors; but the state had been perverted by paganism, and the emperors, inheriting the old pontifical power, could never be made to understand their own incompetency in spirituals, and persisted to the last in treating the church as a civil institution under their supervision and control, as does the emperor of the french in france, even yet. in the middle ages the state was so barbarously constituted that the church was obliged to supervise its administration, to mix herself up with the civil government, in order to infuse some intelligence into civil matters, and to preserve her own rightful freedom and independence. when the states broke away from feudalism, they revived the roman constitution, and claimed the authority in ecclesiastical matters that had been exercised by the roman caesars, and the states that adopted a sectarian religion gave the sect adopted a civil establishment, and subjected it to the civil government, to which the sect not unwillingly consented, on condition that the civil authority excluded the church and all other sects, and made it the exclusive religion of the state, as in england, scotland, sweden, denmark, russia, and the states of northern germany. even yet the normal relations of church and state are nowhere practicable in the old world; for everywhere either the state is more or less barbaric in its constitution, or the religion is sectarian, and the church as well as civilization is obliged, to struggle with antagonistic forces, for self-preservation. there are formidable parties all over europe at work to introduce what they take to be the american system; but constitutions are generated, not made--providential, not conventional. statesmen can only develop what is in the existing constitutions of their respective countries, and no european constitution contains all the elements of the american. european liberals mistake the american system, and, were they to succeed in their efforts, would not introduce it, but something more hostile to it than the governments and institutions they are warring against. they start from narrow, sectarian, or infidel premises, and seek not freedom of worship, but freedom of denial. they suppress the freedom of religion as the means of securing what they call religious liberty--imagine that they secure freedom of thought by extinguishing the light without which no thought is possible, and advance civilization by undermining its foundation. the condemnation of their views and movements by the holy father in the encyclical, which has excited so much hostility, may seem to superficial and unthinking americans even, as a condemnation of our american system--indeed, as the condemnation of modern science, intelligence, and civilization itself; but whoever looks below the surface, has some insight into the course of events, understands the propositions and movements censured, and the sense in which they are censured, is well assured that the holy father has simply exercised his pastoral and teaching authority to save religion, society, science, and civilization from utter corruption or destruction. the opinions, tendencies, and movements, directly or by implication censured, are the effect of narrow and superficial thinking, of partial and one-sided views, and are sectarian, sophistical, and hostile to all real progress, and tend, as far as they go, to throw society back into the barbarism from which, after centuries of toil and struggle, it is just beginning to emerge. the holy father has condemned nothing that real philosophy, real science does not also condemn; nothing, in fact, that is not at war with the american system itself. for the mass of the people, it were desirable that fuller explanations should be given of the sense in which the various propositions censured are condemned, for some of them are not, in every sense, false; but the explanations needed were expected by the holy father to be given by the bishops and prelates, to whom, not to the people, save through them, the encyclical was addressed. little is to be hoped, and much is to be feared, for liberty, science, and civilization from european liberalism, which has no real affinity with american territorial democracy and real civil and religious freedom. but god and reality are present in the old world as, well as in the new, and it will never do to restrict their power or freedom. whether the american people will prove faithful to their mission, and realize their destiny, or not, is known only to him from whom nothing is hidden. providence is free, and leaves always a space for human free-will. the american people can fail, and will fail if they neglect the appointed means and conditions of success; but there is nothing in their present state or in their past history to render their failure probable. they have in their internal constitution what rome wanted, and they are in no danger of being crushed by exterior barbarism. their success as feeble colonies of great britain in achieving their national independence, and especially in maintaining, unaided, and against the real hostility of great britain and france, their national unity and integrity against a rebellion which, probably, no other people could have survived, gives reasonable assurance for their future. the leaders of the rebellion, than whom none better knew or more nicely calculated the strength and resources of the union, counted with certainty on success, and the ablest, the most experienced, and best informed statesmen of the old world felt sure that the republic was gone, and spoke of it as the late united states. not a few, even in the loyal states, who had no sympathy with the rebellion, believed it idle to think of suppressing it by force, and advised peace on the best terms that could be obtained. but ilium fuit was chanted too soon; the american people were equal to the emergency, and falsified the calculations and predictions of their enemies, and surpassed the expectations of their friends. the attitude of the real american people during the fearful struggle affords additional confidence in their destiny. with larger armies on foot than napoleon ever commanded, with their line of battle stretching from ocean to ocean, across the whole breadth of the continent, they never, during four long years of alternate victories and defeats--and both unprecedentedly bloody--for a moment lost their equanimity, or appeared less calm, collected, tranquil, than in the ordinary times of peace. they not for a moment interrupted their ordinary routine of business or pleasure, or seemed conscious of being engaged in any serious struggle which required an effort. there was no hurry, no bustle, no excitement, no fear, no misgiving. they seemed to regard the war as a mere bagatelle, not worth being in earnest about. the on-looker was almost angry with their apparent indifference, apparent insensibility, and doubted if they moved at all, yet move they did: guided by an unerring instinct, they moved quietly on with an elemental force, in spite of a timid and hesitating administration, in spite of inexperienced, over-cautious, incompetent, or blundering military commanders, whom they gently brushed aside, and desisted not till their object was gained, and they saw the flag of the union floating anew in the breeze from the capitol of every state that dared secede. no man could contemplate them without feeling that there was in them a latent power vastly superior to any which they judged it necessary to put forth. their success proves to all that what, prior to the war, was treated as american arrogance or self-conceit, was only the outspoken confidence in their destiny as a providential people, conscious that to them is reserved the hegemony of the world. count de maistre predicted early in the century the failure of the united states, because they have no proper name; but his prediction assumed what is not the fact. the united states have a proper name by which all the world knows and calls them. the proper name of the country is america: that of the people is americans. speak of americans simply, and nobody understands you to mean the people of canada, mexico, brazil, peru, chile, paraguay, but everybody understands you to mean the people of the united states. the fact is significant, and foretells for the people of the united states a continental destiny, as is also foreshadowed in the so-called "monroe doctrine," which france, during our domestic troubles, was permitted, on condition of not intervening in our civil war in favor of the rebellion, to violate. there was no statesmanship in proclaiming the "monroe doctrine," for the statesman keeps always, as far as possible, his government free to act according to the exigencies of the case when it comes up, unembarrassed by previous declarations of principles. yet the doctrine only expresses the destiny of the american people, and which nothing but their own fault can prevent them from realizing in its own good time. napoleon will not succeed in his mexican policy, and mexico will add some fifteen or twenty new states to the american union as soon as it is clearly for the interests of all parties that it should be done, and it can be done by mutual consent, without war or violence. the union will fight to maintain the integrity of her domain and the supremacy of her laws within it, but she can never, consistently with her principles or her interests, enter upon a career of war and conquest. her system is violated, endangered, not extended, by subjugating her neighbors, for subjugation and liberty go not together. annexation, when it takes place, must be on terms of perfect equality and by the free act of the state annexed. the union can admit of no inequality of rights and franchises between the states of which it is composed. the canadian provinces and the mexican and central american states, when annexed, must be as free as the original states of the union, sharing alike in the power and the protection of the republic--alike in its authority, its freedom, its grandeur, and its glory, as one free, independent, self-governing people. they may gain much, but must lose nothing by annexation. the emperor napoleon and his very respectable protege, maximilian, an able man and a liberal-minded prince, can change nothing in the destiny of the united states, or of mexico herself; no imperial government can be permanent beside the american republic, no longer liable, since the abolition of slavery, to be distracted by sectional dissensions. the states that seceded will soon, in some way, be restored to their rights and franchises in the union, forming not the least patriotic portion of the american people; the negro question will be settled, or settle itself, as is most likely, by the melting away of the negro population before the influx of white laborers; all traces of the late contest in a very few years will be wiped out, the national debt paid, or greatly reduced, and the prosperity and strength of the republic be greater than ever. its moral force will sweep away every imperial throne on the continent, without any effort or action on the part of the government. there can be no stable government in mexico till every trace of the ecclesiastical policy established by the council of the indies is obliterated, and the church placed there on the same footing as in the united states; and that can hardly be done without annexation. maximilian cannot divest the church of her temporal possessions and place protestants and catholics on the same footing, without offending the present church party and deeply injuring religion, and that too without winning the confidence of the republican party. in all spanish and portuguese america the relations between the church and state are abnormal, and exceedingly hurtful to both. religion is in a wretched condition, and politics in a worse condition still. there is no effectual remedy for either but in religious freedom, now impracticable, and to be rendered practicable by no european intervention, for that subjects religion to the state, the very source of the evils that now exist, instead of emancipating it from the state, and leaving it to act according to its own constitution and laws, as under the american system. but the american people need not trouble themselves about their exterior expansion. that will come of itself as fast as desirable. let them devote their attention to their internal destiny, to the realization of their mission within, and they will gradually see the whole continent coming under their system, forming one grand nation, a really catholic nation, great, glorious, and free. destruction and reconstruction: personal experiences of the late war. by richard taylor, lieutenant-general in the confederate army. new york: d. appleton and company, and broadway. . copyright by d. appleton and company, . preface. these reminiscences of secession, war, and reconstruction it has seemed to me a duty to record. an actor therein, accident of fortune afforded me exceptional advantages for an interior view. the opinions expressed are sincerely entertained, but of their correctness such readers as i may find must judge. i have in most cases been a witness to the facts alleged, or have obtained them from the best sources. where statements are made upon less authority, i have carefully endeavored to indicate it by the language employed. r. taylor. _december, ._ contents. page preface chapter i. secession. causes of the civil war--the charleston convention--convention of louisiana--temper of the people. chapter ii. first scenes of the war. blindness of the confederate government--general bragg occupies pensacola--battle of manassas--its effects on the north and the south--"initiative" and "defensive" in war. chapter iii. after manassas. general w.h.t. walker--the louisiana brigade--the "tigers"--major wheat--general joseph e. johnston and jefferson davis--alexander h. stephens. chapter iv. opening of the peninsular campaign. mcclellan as an organizer--the james river route to richmond--army of northern virginia moved to orange court house--straggling--general ewell--bugeaud's "maxims"--uselessness of tents--counsels to young officers. chapter v. the valley campaign. the army moved to gordonsville--joseph e. johnston as a commander--valley of virginia--stonewall jackson--belle boyd--federals routed at front royal--cuirassiers strapped to their horses--battle of winchester--a "walk over" at strasburg--general ashby--battle of port republic. chapter vi. "the seven days around richmond." clever strategy--the valley army summoned to the defense of richmond--battles of cold harbor, frazier's farm, malvern hill--ignorance of the topography--mcclellan as a commander--general r.e. lee--his magnificent strategy--his mistakes. chapter vii. the district of louisiana. general bragg--invasion of kentucky--western louisiana--its topography and river systems--the attakapas, home of the acadians--the creole population. chapter viii. operations in louisiana and on the mississippi. federal post at bayou des allemands surprised--marauding by the federals--salt mines at petit anse--general pemberton--major brent chief of artillery--federal operations on the lafourche--gunboat cotton--general weitzel advances up the teche--capture of federal gunboats--general kirby smith. chapter ix. attacked by the federals--attempt to relieve vicksburg--capture of berwick's bay. federal advance against bisland--retreat of the confederates--banks's dispatches--relief of vicksburg impracticable--capture of federal post at berwick's bay--attack on fort butler--fall of vicksburg and of port hudson. chapter x. movement to the red river--campaign against banks. the confederate losses at vicksburg and port hudson--federals beaten at bayou bourbeau--trans-mississippi department, its bureaux and staff--a federal fleet and army ascend red river--battle of pleasant hill--success of the confederates--perilous situation of banks's army and the fleet. chapter xi. escape of banks and porter. the fleet descends red river to grand ecore--banks concentrates his army there--taylor's force weakened by general kirby smith--confederates harass rear of federal column--the federals cross the river at monette's ferry and reach alexandria--retreat of the fleet harassed--it passes over the falls at alexandria. chapter xii. east of the mississippi. the mississippi controlled by the federals--taylor assigned to the command of alabama, mississippi, etc.--forrest's operations--general sherman in georgia--desperate situation of hood--remnant of his army sent to north carolina. chapter xiii. closing operations of the war--surrender. fall of mobile--last engagement of the war--johnston-sherman convention--taylor surrenders to general canby--last hours of the "trans-mississippi department." chapter xiv. criticisms and reflections. gettysburg--shiloh--albert sidney johnston--lack of statesmanship in the confederacy--"king cotton"--carpet-baggers. chapter xv. reconstruction under johnson. interceding for prisoners--debauchery and corruption in washington--general grant--andrew johnson--stevens, winter davis, sumner--setting up and pulling down state governments--the "ku-klux"--philadelphia convention. chapter xvi. reconstruction under grant. demoralization at the north--a corrupt vice-president--a hypocritical banker--a great preacher profiting by his own evil reputation--knaves made plenipotentiaries--a spurious legislature installed in the louisiana state house--general sheridan in new orleans--an american alberoni--presidential election of --congress over-awed by a display of military force. chapter xvii. conclusion. the financial crisis--breaches of trust--labor troubles--destitution--negro suffrage fatal to the south. destruction and reconstruction. chapter i. secession. the history of the united states, as yet unwritten, will show the causes of the "civil war" to have been in existence during the colonial era, and to have cropped out into full view in the debates of the several state assemblies on the adoption of the federal constitution, in which instrument luther martin, patrick henry, and others, insisted that they were implanted. african slavery at the time was universal, and its extinction in the north, as well as its extension in the south, was due to economic reasons alone. the first serious difficulty of the federal government arose from the attempt to lay an excise on distilled spirits. the second arose from the hostility of new england traders to the policy of the government in the war of , by which their special interests were menaced; and there is now evidence to prove that, but for the unexpected peace, an attempt to disrupt the union would then have been made. the "missouri compromise" of was in reality a truce between antagonistic revenue systems, each seeking to gain the balance of power. for many years subsequently, slaves--as domestic servants--were taken to the territories without exciting remark, and the "nullification" movement in south carolina was entirely directed against the tariff. anti-slavery was agitated from an early period, but failed to attract public attention for many years. at length, by unwearied industry, by ingeniously attaching itself to exciting questions of the day, with which it had no natural connection, it succeeded in making a lodgment in the public mind, which, like a subject exhausted by long effort, is exposed to the attack of some malignant fever, that in a normal condition of vigor would have been resisted. the common belief that slavery was the cause of civil war is incorrect, and abolitionists are not justified in claiming the glory and spoils of the conflict and in pluming themselves as "choosers of the slain." the vast immigration that poured into the country between the years and had a very important influence in directing the events of the latter year. the numbers were too great to be absorbed and assimilated by the native population. states in the west were controlled by german and scandinavian voters, while the irish took possession of the seaboard towns. although the balance of party strength was not much affected by these naturalized voters, the modes of political thought were seriously disturbed, and a tendency was manifested to transfer exciting topics from the domain of argument to that of violence. the aged and feeble president, mr. buchanan, unfitted for troublous times, was driven to and fro by ambitious leaders of his own party, as was the last weak hapsburg who reigned in spain by the rival factions of france and austria. under these conditions the national democratic convention met at charleston, south carolina, in the spring of , to declare the principles on which the ensuing presidential campaign was to be conducted, and select candidates for the offices of president and vice-president. appointed a delegate by the democracy of my state, louisiana, in company with others i reached charleston two days in advance of the time. we were at once met by an invitation to join in council delegates from the gulf states, to agree upon some common ground of action in the convention, but declined for the reason that we were accredited to the national convention, and had no authority to participate in other deliberations. this invitation and the terms in which it was conveyed argued badly for the harmony of the convention itself, and for the preservation of the unity of the democracy, then the only organization supported in all quarters of the country. it may be interesting to recall the impression created at the time by the tone and temper of different delegations. new england adhered to the old tenets of the jefferson school. two leaders from massachusetts, messrs. caleb cushing and benjamin f. butler, of whom the former was chosen president of the convention, warmly supported the candidacy of mr. jefferson davis. new york, under the direction of mr. dean richmond, gave its influence to mr. douglas. of a combative temperament, mr. richmond was impressed with a belief that "secession" was but a bugbear to frighten the northern wing of the party. thus he failed to appreciate the gravity of the situation, and impaired the value of unusual common sense and unselfish patriotism, qualities he possessed to an eminent degree. the anxieties of pennsylvania as to candidates were accompanied by a philosophic indifference as to principles. the northwest was ardent for douglas, who divided with guthrie missouri, kentucky, and tennessee. maryland, virginia, north carolina, georgia, and louisiana held moderate opinions, and were ready to adopt any honorable means to preserve the unity of the party and country. the conduct of the south carolina delegates was admirable. representing the most advanced constituency in the convention, they were singularly reticent, and abstained from adding fuel to the flames. they limited their rôle to that of dignified, courteous hosts, and played it as carolina gentlemen are wont to do. from alabama, florida, mississippi, arkansas, and texas came the fiery spirits, led by mr. william l. yancey of alabama, an able rhetorician. this gentleman had persuaded his state convention to pass a resolution, directing its delegates to withdraw from charleston if the democracy there assembled refused to adopt the extreme southern view as to the rights of citizens in the territories. in this he was opposed by ex-governor winston, a man of conservative tendencies, and long the rival of mr. yancey in state politics. both gentlemen were sent to charleston, but the majority of their co-delegates sustained mr. yancey. several days after its organization the national convention reached a point which made the withdrawal of alabama imminent. filled with anxious forebodings, i sought after nightfall the lodgings of messrs. slidell, bayard, and bright, united states senators, who had come to charleston, not as delegates, but under the impulse of hostility to the principles and candidacy of mr. douglas. there, after pointing out the certain consequences of alabama's impending action, i made an earnest appeal for peace and harmony, and with success. mr. yancey was sent for, came into our views after some discussion, and undertook to call his people together at that late hour, and secure their consent to disregard instructions. we waited until near dawn for yancey's return, but his efforts failed of success. governor winston, originally opposed to instructions as unwise and dangerous, now insisted that they should be obeyed to the letter, and carried a majority of the alabama delegates with him. thus the last hope of preserving the unity of the national democracy was destroyed, and by one who was its earnest advocate. the withdrawal of alabama, followed by other southern states, the adjournment of a part of the convention to baltimore and of another part to richmond, and the election of lincoln by votes of northern states, require no further mention. in january, , the general assembly of louisiana met. a member of the upper branch, and chairman of its committee on federal relations, i reported, and assisted in passing, an act to call a convention of the people of the state to consider of matters beyond the competency of the assembly. the convention met in march, and was presided over by ex-governor and ex-united states senator alexander mouton, a man of high character. i represented my own parish, st. charles, and was appointed chairman of the military and defense committee, on behalf of which two ordinances were reported and passed: one, to raise two regiments; the other, to authorize the governor to expend a million of dollars in the purchase of arms and munitions. the officers of the two regiments were to be appointed by the governor, and the men to be enlisted for five years, unless sooner discharged. more would have been desirable in the way of raising troops, but the temper of men's minds did not then justify the effort. the governor declined to use his authority to purchase arms, assured as he was on all sides that there was no danger of war, and that the united states arsenal at baton rouge, completely in our power, would furnish more than we could need. it was vainly urged in reply that the stores of the arsenal were almost valueless, the arms being altered flintlock muskets, and the accouterments out of date. the current was too strong to stem. the convention, by an immense majority of votes, adopted an ordinance declaring that louisiana ceased to be a state within the union. indeed, similar action having already been taken by her neighbors, louisiana of necessity followed. at the time and since, i marveled at the joyous and careless temper in which men, much my superiors in sagacity and experience, consummated these acts. there appeared the same general _gaîté de coeur_ that m. ollivier claimed for the imperial ministry when war was declared against prussia. the attachment of northern and western people to the union; their superiority in numbers, in wealth, and especially in mechanical resources; the command of the sea; the lust of rule and territory always felt by democracies, and nowhere to a greater degree than in the south--all these facts were laughed to scorn, or their mention was ascribed to timidity and treachery. as soon as the convention adjourned, finding myself out of harmony with prevailing opinion as to the certainty of war and necessity for preparation, i retired to my estate, determined to accept such responsibility only as came to me unsought. the inauguration of president lincoln; the confederation of south carolina, georgia, and the five gulf states; the attitude of the border slave states, hoping to mediate; the assembling of confederate forces at pensacola, charleston, and other points; the seizure of united states forts and arsenals; the attack on "sumter"; war--these followed with bewildering rapidity, and the human agencies concerned seemed as unconscious as scene-shifters in some awful tragedy. chapter ii. first scenes of the war. i was drawn from my retreat by an invitation from general bragg, a particular friend, to visit pensacola, where he commanded the southern forces, composed of volunteers from the adjacent states. full of enthusiasm for their cause, and of the best material, officers and men were, with few exceptions, without instruction, and the number of educated officers was, as in all the southern armies, too limited to satisfy the imperious demands of the staff, much less those of the drill-master. besides, the vicious system of election of officers struck at the very root of that stern discipline without which raw men cannot be converted into soldiers. the confederate government, then seated at montgomery, weakly receded from its determination to accept no volunteers for short terms of service, and took regiments for twelve months. the same blindness smote the question of finance. instead of laying taxes, which the general enthusiasm would have cheerfully endured, the confederate authorities pledged their credit, and that too for an amount which might have implied a pact with mr. seward that, should war unhappily break out, its duration was to be strictly limited to sixty days. the effect of these errors was felt throughout the struggle. general bragg occupied pensacola, the united states navy yard, and fort barrancas on the mainland; while fort pickens, on santa rosa island, was held by federal troops, with several war vessels anchored outside the harbor. there was an understanding that no hostile movement would be made by either side without notice. consequently, bragg worked at his batteries bearing on pickens, while major brown, the federal commander, strengthened with sand bags and earth the weak landward curtain of his fort; and time was pleasantly passed by both parties in watching each other's occupation. some months before this period, when florida enforced her assumed right to control all points within her limits, a small company of united states artillery, under lieutenant slemmer, was stationed at barrancas, where it was helpless. after much manoeuvring, the state forces of florida induced slemmer to retire from barrancas to pickens, then _garrisoned_ by one ordnance sergeant, and at the mercy of a corporal's guard in a rowboat. fort sumter, in charleston harbor, was in a similar condition before anderson retired to it with his company. the early seizure of these two fortresses would have spared the confederates many serious embarrassments; but such small details were neglected at that time. my visit to pensacola was brought to a close by information from the governor of louisiana of my appointment to the colonelcy of the th louisiana infantry, a regiment just formed at camp on the railway some miles north of new orleans, and under orders for richmond. accepting the appointment, i hastened to the camp, inspected the command, ordered the lieutenant colonel--randolph, a well-instructed officer for the time--to move by rail to richmond as rapidly as transportation was furnished, and went on to new orleans, as well to procure equipment, in which the regiment was deficient, as to give some hours to private affairs. it was known that there was a scarcity of small-arm ammunition in virginia, owing to the rapid concentration of troops; and i was fortunate in obtaining from the louisiana authorities a hundred thousand rounds, with which, together with some field equipment, i proceeded by express to richmond, where i found my command, about a thousand strong, just arrived and preparing to go into camp. the town was filled with rumor of battle away north at manassas, where beauregard commanded the confederate forces. a multitude of wild reports, all equally inflamed, reached my ears while looking after the transportation of my ammunition, of which i did not wish to lose sight. reaching camp, i paraded the regiment, and stated the necessity for prompt action, and my purpose to make application to be sent to the front immediately. officers and men were delighted with the prospect of active service, and largely supplied want of experience by zeal. ammunition was served out, three days' rations were ordered for haversacks, and all camp equipage not absolutely essential was stored. these details attended to, at p.m. i visited the war office, presided over by general pope walker of alabama. when the object of my visit was stated, the secretary expressed much pleasure, as he was anxious to send troops forward, but had few in readiness to move, owing to the lack of ammunition, etc. as i had been in richmond but a few hours, my desire to move and adequate state of preparation gained me some "red-letter" marks at the war office. the secretary thought that a train would be in readiness at o'clock that night. accordingly, the regiment was marched to the station, where we remained several weary hours. at length, long after midnight, our train made its appearance. as the usual time to manassas was some six hours, we confidently expected to arrive in the early forenoon; but this expectation our engine brought to grief. it proved a machine of the most wheezy and helpless character, creeping snail-like on levels, and requiring the men to leave the carriages to help it up grades. as the morning wore on, the sound of guns, reëchoed from the blue ridge mountains on our left, became loud and constant. at every halt of the wretched engine the noise of battle grew more and more intense, as did our impatience. i hope the attention of the recording angel was engrossed that day in other directions. later we met men, single or in squads, some with arms and some without, moving south, in which quarter they all appeared to have pressing engagements. at dusk we gained manassas junction, near the field where, on that day, the battle of first "manassas" had been fought and won. bivouacking the men by the roadside, i sought through the darkness the headquarters of general beauregard, to whom i was instructed to report. with much difficulty and delay the place was found, and a staff officer told me that orders would be sent the following morning. by these i was directed to select a suitable camp, thus indicating that no immediate movement was contemplated. the confusion that reigned about our camps for the next few days was extreme. regiments seemed to have lost their colonels, colonels their regiments. men of all arms and all commands were mixed in the wildest way. a constant fusillade of small arms and singing of bullets were kept up, indicative of a superfluity of disorder, if not of ammunition. one of my men was severely wounded in camp by a "stray," and derived no consolation from my suggestion that it was a delicate attention of our comrades to mitigate the disappointment of missing the battle. the elation of our people at their success was natural. they had achieved all, and more than all, that could have been expected of raw troops; and some commands had emulated veterans by their steadiness under fire. settled to the routine of camp duty, i found many opportunities to go over the adjacent battle field with those who had shared the action, then fresh in their memories. once i had the privilege of so doing in company with generals johnston and beauregard; and i will now give my opinion of this, as i purpose doing of such subsequent actions, and commanders therein, as came within the range of my personal experience during the war. although since the days of nimrod war has been the constant occupation of men, the fingers of one hand suffice to number the great commanders. the "unlearned" hardly think of usurping tyndall's place in the lecture room, or of taking his cuneiform bricks from rawlinson; yet the world has been much more prolific of learned scientists and philologers than of able generals. notwithstanding, the average american (and, judging from the dictatorship of maître gambetta, the frenchman) would not have hesitated to supersede napoleon at austerlitz or nelson at trafalgar. true, cleon captured the spartan garrison, and narses gained victories, and bunyan wrote the "pilgrim's progress;" but pestilent demagogues and mutilated guardians of eastern zenanas have not always been successful in war, nor the great and useful profession of tinkers written allegory. as men without knowledge have at all times usurped the right to criticise campaigns and commanders, they will doubtless continue to do so despite the protests of professional soldiers, who discharge this duty in a reverent spirit, knowing that the greatest is he who commits the fewest blunders. general mcdowell, the federal commander at manassas, and a trained soldier of unusual acquirement, was so hounded and worried by ignorant, impatient politicians and newspapers as to be scarcely responsible for his acts. this may be said of all the commanders in the beginning of the war, and notably of albert sidney johnston, whose early fall on the field of shiloh was irreparable, and mayhap determined the fate of the south. mcdowell's plan of battle was excellent, and its execution by his mob no worse than might have been confidently expected. the late governor andrew of massachusetts observed that his men thought they were going to a town meeting, and this is exhaustive criticism. with soldiers at his disposal, mcdowell would have succeeded in turning and overwhelming beauregard's left, driving him from his rail communications with richmond, and preventing the junction of johnston from the valley. it appears that beauregard was to some extent surprised by the attack, contemplating movements by his own centre and right. his exposed and weak left stubbornly resisted the shock of attacking masses, while he, with coolness and personal daring most inspiriting to his men, brought up assistance from centre and right; and the ground was held until johnston, who had skillfully eluded patterson, arrived and began feeding our line, when the affair was soon decided. there can be little question that with a strong brigade of soldiers johnston could have gone to washington and baltimore. whether, with his means, he should have advanced, has been too much and angrily discussed already. napoleon held that, no matter how great the confusion and exhaustion of a victorious army might be, a defeated one must be a hundred-fold worse, and action should be based on this. assuredly, if there be justification in disregarding an axiom of napoleon, the wild confusion of the confederates after manassas afforded it. the first skirmishes and actions of the war proved that the southron, untrained, was a better fighter than the northerner--not because of more courage, but of the social and economic conditions by which he was surrounded. devoted to agriculture in a sparsely populated country, the southron was self-reliant, a practiced horseman, and skilled in the use of arms. the dense population of the north, the habit of association for commercial and manufacturing purposes, weakened individuality of character, and horsemanship and the use of arms were exceptional accomplishments. the rapid development of railways and manufactures in the west had assimilated the people of that region to their eastern neighbors, and the old race of frontier riflemen had wandered to the far interior of the continent. instruction and discipline soon equalized differences, and battles were decided by generalship and numbers; and this was the experience of our kinsmen in their great civil war. the country squires who followed the banners of newcastle and rupert at first swept the eastern-counties yeomanry and the london train-bands from the field; but fiery and impetuous valor was at last overmatched by the disciplined purpose and stubborn constancy of cromwell's ironsides. the value of the "initiative" in war cannot be overstated. it surpasses in power mere accession of numbers, as it requires neither transport nor commissariat. holding it, a commander lays his plans deliberately, and executes them at his own appointed time and in his own way. the "defensive" is weak, lowering the morale of the army reduced to it, enforcing constant watchfulness lest threatened attacks become real, and keeping commander and troops in a state of anxious tension. these truisms would not deserve mention did not the public mind ignore the fact that their application is limited to trained soldiers, and often become impatient for the employment of proved ability to sustain sieges and hold lines in offensive movements. a collection of untrained men is neither more nor less than a mob, in which individual courage goes for nothing. in movement each person finds his liberty of action merged in a crowd, ignorant and incapable of direction. every obstacle creates confusion, speedily converted into panic by opposition. the heroic defenders of saragossa could not for a moment have faced a battalion of french infantry in the open field. osman's solitary attempt to operate outside of plevna met with no success; and the recent defeat of moukhtar may be ascribed to incaution in taking position too far from his line of defense, where, when attacked, manoeuvres of which his people were incapable became necessary. chapter iii. after manassas. after the action at manassas, the summer and winter of wore away without movements of special note in our quarter, excepting the defeat of the federals at ball's bluff, on the potomac, by a detached brigade of confederates, commanded by general evans of south carolina, a west-pointer enjoying the sobriquet of _shanks_ from the thinness of his legs. in the organization of our army, my regiment was brigaded with the th, th, and th regiments of the louisiana infantry, and placed under general william h.t. walker of georgia. graduated from west point in the summer of , this officer joined the th united states infantry operating against the seminoles in florida. on christmas day following was fought the battle of okeechobee, the severest fight of that indian war. the savages were posted on a thickly jungled island in the lake, through the waters of which, breast-high, the troops advanced several hundred yards to the attack. the loss on our side was heavy, but the indians were so completely routed as to break their spirit. colonel zachary taylor commanded, and there won his yellow sash and grade. walker was desperately wounded, and the medical people gave him up; but he laughed at their predictions and recovered. in the war with mexico, assaulting molino del rey, he received several wounds, all pronounced fatal, and science thought itself avenged. again he got well, as he said, to spite the doctors. always a martyr to asthma, he rarely enjoyed sleep but in a sitting posture; yet he was as cheerful and full of restless activity as the celebrated earl of peterborough. peace with mexico established, walker became commandant of cadets at west point. his ability as an instructor, and his lofty, martial bearing, deeply impressed his new brigade and prepared it for stern work. subsequently walker died on the field near atlanta, defending the soil of his native state--a death of all others he would have chosen. i have dwelt somewhat on his character, because it was one of the strangest i have met. no enterprise was too rash to awaken his ardor, if it necessitated daring courage and self-devotion. truly, he might have come forth from the pages of old froissart. it is with unaffected feeling that i recall his memory and hang before it my humble wreath of immortelles. in camp our army experienced much suffering and loss of strength. drawn almost exclusively from rural districts, where families lived isolated, the men were scourged with mumps, whooping-cough, and measles, diseases readily overcome by childhood in urban populations. measles proved as virulent as smallpox or cholera. sudden changes of temperature drove the eruption from the surface to the internal organs, and fevers, lung and typhoid, and dysenteries followed. my regiment was fearfully smitten, and i passed days in hospital, nursing the sick and trying to comfort the last moments of many poor lads, dying so far from home and friends. time and frequent changes of camp brought improvement, but my own health gave way. a persistent low fever sapped my strength and impaired the use of my limbs. general johnston kindly ordered me off to the fauquier springs, sulphur waters, some twenty miles to the south. there i was joined and carefully nursed by a devoted sister, and after some weeks slowly regained health. on the eve of returning to the army, i learned of my promotion to brigadier, to relieve general walker, transferred to a brigade of georgians. this promotion seriously embarrassed me. of the four colonels whose regiments constituted the brigade, i was the junior in commission, and the other three had been present and "won their spurs" at the recent battle, so far the only important one of the war. besides, my known friendship for president davis, with whom i was connected by his first marriage with my elder sister, would justify the opinion that my promotion was due to favoritism. arrived at headquarters, i obtained leave to go to richmond, where, after an affectionate reception, the president listened to the story of my feelings, the reasons on which they were based, and the request that the promotion should be revoked. he replied that he would take a day for reflection before deciding the matter. the following day i was told that the answer to my appeal would be forwarded to the army, to which i immediately returned. the president had employed the delay in writing a letter to the senior officers of the brigade, in which he began by stating that promotions to the grade of general officer were by law intrusted to him, and were made for considerations of public good, of which he alone was judge. he then, out of abundant kindness for me, went on to soothe the feelings of these officers with a tenderness and delicacy of touch worthy a woman's hand, and so effectually as to secure me their hearty support. no wonder that all who enjoy the friendship of jefferson davis love him as jonathan did david. several weeks without notable incident were devoted to instruction, especially in marching, the only military quality for which southern troops had no aptitude. owing to the good traditions left by my predecessor, walker, and the zeal of officers and men, the brigade made great progress. with the army at this time was a battalion of three companies from louisiana, commanded by major wheat. these detached companies had been thrown together previous to the fight at manassas, where wheat was severely wounded. the strongest of the three, and giving character to all, was called the "tigers." recruited on the levee and in the alleys of new orleans, the men might have come out of "alsatia," where they would have been worthy subjects of that illustrious potentate, "duke hildebrod." the captain, who had succeeded to the immediate command of these worthies on the advancement of wheat, enjoying the luxury of many aliases, called himself white, perhaps out of respect for the purity of the patriotic garb lately assumed. so villainous was the reputation of this battalion that every commander desired to be rid of it; and general johnston assigned it to me, despite my efforts to decline the honor of such society. he promised, however, to sustain me in any measures to enforce discipline, and but a few hours elapsed before the fulfillment of the promise was exacted. for some disorder after tattoo, several "tigers" were arrested and placed in charge of the brigade guard. their comrades attempted to force the guard and release them. the attempt failed, and two ringleaders were captured and put in irons for the night. on the ensuing morning an order for a general court-martial was obtained from army headquarters, and the court met at a.m. the prisoners were found guilty, and sentenced to be shot at sunset. i ordered the "firing party" to be detailed from their own company; but wheat and his officers begged to be spared this hard duty, fearing that the "tigers" would refuse to fire on their comrades. i insisted for the sake of the example, and pointed out the serious consequences of disobedience by their men. the brigade, under arms, was marched out; and as the news had spread, many thousands from other commands flocked to witness the scene. the firing party, ten "tigers," was drawn up fifteen paces from the prisoners, the brigade provost gave the command to fire, and the unhappy men fell dead without a struggle. this account is given because it was the first military execution in the army of northern virginia; and punishment, so closely following offense, produced a marked effect. but major "bob" wheat deserves an extended notice. in the early summer of , after the victories of palo alto and resaca de la palma, the united states army under general zachary taylor lay near the town of matamoros. visiting the hospital of a recently joined volunteer corps from the states, i remarked a bright-eyed youth of some nineteen years, wan with disease, but cheery withal. the interest he inspired led to his removal to army headquarters, where he soon recovered health and became a pet. this was bob wheat, son of an episcopal clergyman, who had left school to come to the war. he next went to cuba with lopez, was wounded and captured, but escaped the garrote to follow walker to nicaragua. exhausting the capacities of south american patriots to _pronounce_, he quitted their society in disgust, and joined garibaldi in italy, whence his keen scent of combat summoned him home in convenient time to receive a bullet at manassas. the most complete dugald dalgetty possible, he had "all the defects of the good qualities" of that doughty warrior. some months after the time of which i am writing, a body of federal horse was captured in the valley of virginia. the colonel commanding, who had been dismounted in the fray, approached me. a stalwart man, with huge mustaches, cavalry boots adorned with spurs worthy of a _caballero_, slouched hat, and plume, he strode along with the nonchalant air of one who had wooed dame fortune too long to be cast down by her frowns. suddenly major wheat, near by, sprang from his horse with a cry of "percy! old boy!" "why, bob!" was echoed back, and a warm embrace was exchanged. colonel percy wyndham, an englishman in the federal service, had last parted from wheat in italy, or some other country where the pleasant business of killing was going on, and now fraternized with his friend in the manner described. poor wheat! a month later, and he slept his last sleep on the bloody field of cold harbor. he lies there in a soldier's grave. gallant spirit! let us hope that his readiness to die for his cause has made "the scarlet of his sins like unto wool." as the autumn of the year passed away, the question of army organization pressed for solution, while divergent opinions were held by the government at richmond and general johnston. the latter sent me to president davis to explain his views and urge their adoption. my mission met with no success; but in discharging it, i was made aware of the estrangement growing up between these eminent persons, which subsequently became "the spring of woes unnumbered." an earnest effort made by me to remove the cloud, then "no greater than a man's hand," failed; though the elevation of character of the two men, which made them listen patiently to my appeals, justified hope. time but served to widen the breach. without the knowledge and despite the wishes of general johnston, the descendants of the ancient dwellers in the cave of adullam gathered themselves behind his shield, and shot their arrows at president davis and his advisers, weakening the influence of the head of the cause for which all were struggling. immediately after the birth of the confederacy, a resolution was adopted by the "provisional congress" declaring that military and naval officers, resigning the service of the united states government to enter that of the confederate, would preserve their relative rank. later on, the president was authorized to make five appointments to the grade of general. these appointments were announced after the battle of manassas, and in the following order of seniority: samuel cooper, albert sidney johnston, robert e. lee, joseph e. johnston, and g.t. beauregard. near the close of president buchanan's administration, in , died general jesup, quartermaster-general of the united states army; and joseph e. johnston, then lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, was appointed to the vacancy. now the quartermaster-general had the rank, pay, and emoluments of a brigadier-general; but the rank was staff, and by law this officer could not exercise command over troops unless by special assignment. when, in the spring of , the officers in question entered the service of the confederacy, cooper had been adjutant-general of the united states army, with the rank of colonel; albert sidney johnston, colonel and brigadier-general by brevet, and on duty as such; lee, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, senior to joseph e. johnston in the line before the latter's appointment above mentioned; beauregard, major of engineers. in arranging the order of seniority of generals, president davis held to the superiority of line to staff rank, while joseph e. johnston took the opposite view, and sincerely believed that injustice was done him. after the grave and wondrous scenes through which we have passed, all this seems like "a tempest in a tea-pot;" but it had much influence and deserves attention. general beauregard, who about this time was transferred to the army in the west, commanded by albert sidney johnston, was also known to have grievances. whatever their source, it could not have been _rank_; but it is due to this general--a gentleman of taste--to say that no utterances came from him. indiscreet persons at richmond, claiming the privilege and discharging the duty of friendship, gave tongue to loud and frequent plaints, and increased the confusion of the hour. as the year opened, and the time for active movements drew near, weighty cares attended the commander of the army of northern virginia. the folly of accepting regiments for the short period of twelve months, to which allusion has been made, was now apparent. having taken service in the spring of , the time of many of the troops would expire just as the federal host in their front might be expected to advance. a large majority of the men were willing to reënlist, provided that they could first go home to arrange private affairs; and fortunately, the fearful condition of the country permitted the granting of furloughs on a large scale. except on a few pikes, movements were impossible, and an army could no more have marched across country than across chesapeake bay. closet warriors in cozy studies, with smooth macadamized roadways before their doors, sneer at the idea of military movements being arrested by mud. i apprehend that these gentlemen have never served in a bad country during the rainy season, and are ignorant of the fact that, in his russian campaign, the elements proved too strong for the genius of napoleon. general johnston met the difficulties of his position with great coolness, tact, and judgment; but his burden was by no means lightened by the interference of certain politicians at richmond. these were perhaps inflamed by the success that had attended the tactical efforts of their washington peers. at all events, they now threw themselves upon military questions with much ardor. their leader was alexander h. stephens of georgia, vice-president of the confederacy, who is entitled to a place by himself. like the celebrated john randolph of roanoke, mr. stephens has an acute intellect attached to a frail and meagre body. as was said by the witty canon of st. paul's of francis jeffrey, his mind is in a state of indecent exposure. a trained and skillful politician, he was for many years before the war returned to the united states house of representatives from the district in which he resides, and his "device" seems always to have been, "fiat justitia, ruat coelum." when, in december, , the congress assembled, there was a whig administration, and the same party had a small majority in the lower house, of which mr. stephens, an ardent whig, was a member; but he could not see his way to support his party's candidate for speaker, and this inability to find a road, plain mayhap to weaker organs, secured the control of the house to his political adversaries. during the exciting period preceding "secession" mr. stephens held and avowed moderate opinions; but, swept along by the resistless torrent surrounding him, he discovered and proclaimed that "slavery was the corner-stone of the confederacy." in the strong vernacular of the west, this was "rather piling the agony" on the humanitarians, whose sympathies were not much quickened toward us thereby. as the struggle progressed, mr. stephens, with all the impartiality of an equity judge, marked many of the virtues of the government north of the potomac, and all the vices of that on his own side of the river. regarding the military questions in hand he entertained and publicly expressed original opinions, which i will attempt to convey as accurately as possible. the war was for principles and rights, and it was in defense of these, as well as of their property, that the people had taken up arms. they could always be relied on when a battle was imminent; but, when no fighting was to be done, they had best be at home attending to their families and interests. as their intelligence was equal to their patriotism, they were as capable of judging of the necessity of their presence with the colors as the commanders of armies, who were but professional soldiers fighting for rank and pay, and most of them without property in the south. it may be observed that such opinions are more comfortably cherished by political gentlemen, two hundred miles away, than by commanders immediately in front of the enemy. in july, , two months after the close of the great war, i visited washington in the hope of effecting some change in the condition of jefferson davis, then ill and a prisoner at fortress monroe; and this visit was protracted to november before its object was accomplished. in the latter part of october of the same year mr. stephens came to washington, where he was the object of much attention on the part of people controlling the congress and the country. desiring his coöperation in behalf of mr. davis, i sought and found him sitting near a fire (for he is of a chilly nature), smoking his pipe. he heard me in severe politeness, and, without unnecessary expenditure of enthusiasm, promised his assistance. since the war mr. stephens has again found a seat in the congress, where, unlike the rebel brigadiers, his presence is not a rock of offense to the loyal mind.[ ] [footnote : the foregoing sketch of mr. stephens appeared substantially in the "north american review," but the date of the interview in washington was not stated. thereupon mr. stephens, in print, seized on july, and declared that, as he was a prisoner in fort warren during that month, the interview was a "munchausenism." he also disputes the correctness of the opinions concerning military matters ascribed to him, although scores of his associates at richmond will attest it. again, he assumes the non-existence of twelve-months' regiments because some took service for the war, etc. like other ills, feeble health has its compensations, especially for those who unite restless vanity and ambition to a feminine desire for sympathy. it has been much the habit of mr. stephens to date controversial epistles from "a sick chamber," as do ladies in a delicate situation. a diplomatist of the last century, the chevalier d'eon, by usurping the privileges of the opposite sex, inspired grave doubts concerning his own.] chapter iv. opening of the peninsular campaign. pursuing "the even tenor of his way," johnston rapidly increased the efficiency of his army. furloughed men returned in large numbers before their leaves had terminated, many bringing new recruits with them. divisions were formed, and officers selected to command them. some islands of dry land appeared amid the sea of mud, when the movement of the federal forces in our front changed the theatre of war and opened the important campaign of . when overtaken by unexpected calamity african tribes destroy the fetich previously worshiped, and with much noise seek some new idol in which they can incarnate their vanities and hopes. stunned by the rout at manassas, the north pulled down an old veteran, scott, and his lieutenant, mcdowell, and set up mcclellan, who caught the public eye at the moment by reason of some minor successes in western virginia, where the confederate general, robert garnett, was killed. it is but fair to admit that the south had not emulated the wisdom of solomon nor the modesty of godolphin. the capture of fort sumter, with its garrison of less than a hundred men, was hardly gibraltar; yet it would put the grandiloquent hidalgoes of spain on their mettle to make more clatter over the downfall of the cross of st. george from that historic rock. mcclellan was the young napoleon, the very god of war in his latest avatar. while this was absurd, and in the end injurious to mcclellan, it was of service to his government; for it strengthened his loins to the task before him--a task demanding the highest order of ability and the influence of a demigod. a great war was to be carried on, and a great army, the most complex of machines, was necessary. the cardinal principles on which the art of war is based are few and unchangeable, resembling in this the code of morality; but their application varies as the theatre of the war, the genius and temper of the people engaged, and the kind of arms employed. the united states had never possessed a great army. the entire force engaged in the war against mexico would scarcely have made a respectable _corps d'armée_, and to study the organization of great armies and campaigns a recurrence to the napoleonic era was necessary. the governments of europe for a half century had been improving armaments, and changing the tactical unit of formation and manoeuvre to correspond to such improvement. the italian campaign of louis napoleon established some advance in field artillery, but the supreme importance of breech-loaders was not admitted until sadowa, in . all this must be considered in determining the value of mcclellan's work. taking the raw material intrusted to him, he converted it into a great military machine, complete in all its parts, fitted for its intended purpose. moreover, he resisted the natural impatience of his government and people, and the follies of politicians and newspapers, and for months refused to put his machine at work before all its delicate adjustments were perfected. thus, much in its own despite, the north obtained armies and the foundation of success. the correctness of the system adopted by mcclellan proved equal to all emergencies, and remained unchanged until the close of the war. disappointed in his hands, and suffering painful defeats in those of his immediate successors, the "army of the potomac" always recovered, showed itself a vital organism, and finally triumphed. mcclellan organized victory for his section, and those who deem the preservation of the "union" the first of earthly duties should not cease to do him reverence. i have here written of mcclellan, not as a leader, but an organizer of armies; and as such he deserves to rank with the von moltkes, scharnhorsts, and louvois of history. constant struggle against the fatal interference of politicians with his military plans and duties separated mcclellan from the civil department of his government, and led him to adopt a policy of his own. the military road to richmond, and the only one as events proved, was by the peninsula and the james river, and it was his duty so to advise. he insisted, and had his way; but not for long. a little of that selfishness which serves lower intelligences as an instinct of self-preservation would have shown him that his most dangerous enemies were not in his front. the administration at washington had to deal with a people blind with rage, an ignorant and meddlesome congress, and a wolfish horde of place-hunters. a sudden dash of the confederates on the capital might change the attitude of foreign powers. these political considerations weighed heavily at the seat of government, but were of small moment to the military commander. in a conflict between civil policy and military strategy, the latter must yield. the jealousy manifested by the venetian and dutch republics toward their commanders has often been criticised; but it should be remembered that they kept the military in strict subjection to the civil power; and when they were overthrown, it was by foreign invasion, not by military usurpation. their annals afford no example of the declaration by their generals that the special purpose of republican armies is to preserve civil order and enforce civil law. after the battle of chickamauga, in , general grant was promoted to the command of the armies of the united states, and called to washington. in a conference between him, president lincoln, and secretary stanton, the approaching campaign in virginia was discussed. grant said that the advance on richmond should be made by the james river. it was replied that the government required the interposition of an army between lee and washington, and could not consent at that late day to the adoption of a plan which would be taken by the public as a confession of previous error. grant observed that he was indifferent as to routes; but if the government preferred its own, so often tried, to the one he suggested, it must be prepared for the additional loss of a hundred thousand men. the men were promised, grant accepted the governmental plan of campaign, and was supported to the end. the above came to me well authenticated, and i have no doubt of its correctness.[ ] [footnote : some of the early pages of this work were published in the number of the "north american review" for january, , including the above account of a conference at washington between president lincoln, secretary stanton, and general grant. in the "new york herald" of may , , appears an interview with general grant, in which the latter says, "the whole story is a fabrication, and whoever vouched for it to general taylor vouched for a fiction." general halleck, who was at the time in question chief of staff at the war office, related the story of this conference to me in new orleans, where he was on a visit from louisville, ky., then his headquarters. several years later general joseph e. johnston gave me the same account, which he had from another officer of the united states army, also at the time in the war office. a letter from general johnston, confirming the accuracy of my relation, has been published. since, i have received a letter, dated new york, june , , wherein the writer states that in washington, in or , he had an account of this conference, as i give it, from general john a. logan of illinois. when calling for reënforcements, after his losses in the wilderness, general grant reminded stanton of his opposition to the land route in their conference, but added that "he would now fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." the writer of this communication is quite unknown to me, but manifests his sincerity by suggesting that i should write to general logan, who, he doubts not, will confirm his statement. i have not so written, because i have no acquaintance with general logan, and no desire to press the matter further. from many sources comes evidence that _a conference_ was held, which general grant seems to deny. moreover, i cannot forget that in one notable instance a question of fact was raised against general grant, with much burden of evidence; and while declaiming any wish or intent of entering on another, one may hold in all charity that general grant's memory may be as treacherous about _facts_ as mine proved about a _date_, when, in a letter to the "herald," i stupidly gave two years after general halleck's death as the time of his conversation with me. these considerations have determined me to let the account of the conference stand as originally written.] during his operations on the peninsula and near richmond, mcclellan complained much of want of support; but the constancy with which president lincoln adhered to him was, under the circumstances, surprising. he had drifted away from the dominant washington sentiment, and alienated the sympathies of his government. his fall was inevitable; the affection of the army but hastened it; even victory could not save him. he adopted the habit of saying, "my army," "my soldiers." such phraseology may be employed by a frederick or napoleon, sovereigns as well as generals; but officers command the armies of their governments. general mcclellan is an upright, patriotic man, incapable of wrong-doing, and has a high standard of morality, to which he lives more closely than most men do to a lower one; but it is to be remembered that the examples of the good are temptations and opportunities to the unscrupulous. the habit of thought underlying such language, or soon engendered by its use, has made mexico and the south american republics the wonder and scorn of civilization. the foregoing account of mcclellan's downfall is deemed pertinent because he was the central figure in the northern field, and laid the foundation of northern success. above all, he and a gallant band of officers supporting him impressed a generous, chivalric spirit on the war, which soon faded away; and the future historian, in recounting some later operations, will doubt if he is dealing with campaigns of generals or expeditions of brigands. the intention of mcclellan to transfer his base from washington to some point farther south was known to johnston, but there was doubt whether fredericksburg or the peninsula would be selected. to meet either contingency, johnston in the spring of moved his army from manassas to the vicinity of orange court house, where he was within easy reach of both fredericksburg and richmond. the movement was executed with the quiet precision characteristic of johnston, unrivaled as a master of logistics. i was ordered to withdraw the infantry pickets from the lower bull run after nightfall, and move on a road through the county of prince william, east of the line of railway from manassas to orange. this road was tough and heavy, and crossed by frequent streams, affluents of the neighboring potomac. these furnished occupation and instruction to a small body of pioneers, recently organized, while the difficulties of the road drew heavily on the marching capacity--or rather incapacity--of the men. straggling was then, and continued throughout to be, the vice of southern armies. the climate of the south was not favorable to pedestrian exercise, and, centaur-like, its inhabitants, from infancy to old age, passed their lives on horseback, seldom walking the most insignificant distance. when brought into the field, the men were as ignorant of the art of marching as babes, and required for their instruction the same patient, unwearied attention. on this and subsequent marches frequent halts were made, to enable stragglers to close up; and i set the example to mounted officers of riding to the rear of the column, to encourage the weary by relieving them of their arms, and occasionally giving a footsore fellow a cast on my horse. the men appreciated this care and attention, followed advice as to the fitting of their shoes, cold bathing of feet, and healing of abrasions, and soon held it a disgrace to fall out of ranks. before a month had passed the brigade learned how to march, and, in the valley with jackson, covered long distances without leaving a straggler behind. indeed, in several instances it emulated the achievement of crauford's "light brigade," whose wonderful march to join wellington at talavera remains the stoutest feat of modern soldiership. arrived at the rappahannock, i found the railway bridge floored for the passage of troops and trains. the army, with the exception of ewell's division, composed of elzey's, trimball's, and my brigades, had passed the rapidan, and was lying around orange court house, where general johnston had his headquarters. some horse, under stuart, remained north of the rappahannock, toward manassas. for the first time ewell had his division together and under his immediate command; and as we remained for many days between the rivers, i had abundant opportunities for studying the original character of "dick ewell." we had known each other for many years, but now our friendship and intercourse became close and constant. graduated from west point in , ewell joined the st regiment of united states dragoons, and, saving the mexican war, in which he served with such distinction as a young cavalryman could gain, his whole military life had been passed on the plains, where, as he often asserted, he had learned all about commanding fifty united states dragoons, and forgotten everything else. in this he did himself injustice, as his career proves; but he was of a singular modesty. bright, prominent eyes, a bomb-shaped, bald head, and a nose like that of francis of valois, gave him a striking resemblance to a woodcock; and this was increased by a bird-like habit of putting his head on one side to utter his quaint speeches. he fancied that he had some mysterious internal malady, and would eat nothing but frumenty, a preparation of wheat; and his plaintive way of talking of his disease, as if he were some one else, was droll in the extreme. his nervousness prevented him from taking regular sleep, and he passed nights curled around a camp-stool, in positions to dislocate an ordinary person's joints and drive the "caoutchouc man" to despair. on such occasions, after long silence, he would suddenly direct his eyes and nose toward me with "general taylor! what do you suppose president davis made me a major-general for?"--beginning with a sharp accent and ending with a gentle lisp. superbly mounted, he was the boldest of horsemen, invariably leaving the roads to take timber and water. no follower of the "pytchley" or "quorn" could have lived with him across country. with a fine tactical eye on the battle field, he was never content with his own plan until he had secured the approval of another's judgment, and chafed under the restraint of command, preparing to fight with the skirmish line. on two occasions in the valley, during the temporary absence of jackson from the front, ewell summoned me to his side, and immediately rushed forward among the skirmishers, where some sharp work was going on. having refreshed himself, he returned with the hope that "old jackson would not catch him at it." he always spoke of jackson, several years his junior, as "old," and told me in confidence that he admired his genius, but was certain of his lunacy, and that he never saw one of jackson's couriers approach without expecting an order to assault the north pole. later, after he had heard jackson seriously declare that he never ate pepper because it produced a weakness in his left leg, he was confirmed in this opinion. with all his oddities, perhaps in some measure because of them, ewell was adored by officers and men. orders from headquarters directed all surplus provisions, in the country between the rappahannock and rapidan, to be sent south of the latter stream. executing these orders strictly, as we daily expected to rejoin the army, the division began to be straitened for supplies. the commissary of my brigade, major davis, was the very pearl of commissaries. indefatigable in discharge of duty, he had as fine a nose for bullocks and bacon as major monsoon for sherry. the commissaries of the other brigades were less efficient, and for some days drew rations from davis; but it soon became my duty to take care of my own command, and general ewell's attention was called to the subject. the general thought that it was impossible so rich a country could be exhausted, and sallied forth on a cattle hunt himself. late in the day he returned with a bull, jaded as was he of ballyraggan after he had been goaded to the summit of that classic pass, and venerable enough to have fertilized the milky mothers of the herds of our early presidents, whose former estates lie in this vicinity. with a triumphant air ewell showed me his plunder. i observed that the bull was a most respectable animal, but would hardly afford much subsistence to eight thousand men. "ah! i was thinking of my fifty dragoons," replied the general. the joke spread, and doubtless furnished sauce for the happy few to whose lot the bull fell. meantime, the cavalry force in our front had been withdrawn, and the federal pickets made their appearance on the north bank of the rappahannock, occasionally exchanging a shot with ours across the stream. this served to enliven us for a day or two, and kept ewell busy, as he always feared lest some one would get under fire before him. at length a fire of artillery and small arms was opened from the north end of the bridge, near the south end of which my brigade was camped. ordering the command to move out, i galloped down to the river, where i found ewell assisting with his own hands to place some guns in position. the affair was over in a few minutes. the enemy had quietly run up two pieces of artillery, supported by dismounted horsemen, and opened fire on my camp; but the promptness with which the men had moved prevented loss, saving one or two brush huts, and a few mess pans. the bridge had previously been prepared for burning, ewell's orders being to destroy all railway bridges behind him, to prevent the use of the rails by the federals. during the little _alerte_ mentioned, i saw smoke rising from the bridge, which was soon a mass of flame. now, this was the only bridge for some miles up or down; and though the river was fordable at many points, the fords were deep and impassable after rains. its premature destruction not only prevented us from scouting and foraging on the north bank, but gave notice to the enemy of our purpose to abandon the country. annoyed, and doubtless expressing the feeling in my countenance, as i watched the flames, ewell, after a long silence, said, "you don't like it." whereupon i related the following from bugeaud's "maxims": at the close of the napoleonic wars, bugeaud, a young colonel, commanded a french regiment on the swiss frontier. a stream spanned by a bridge, but fordable above and below, separated him from an austrian force of four times his strength. he first determined to destroy the bridge, but reflected that if left it might tempt the enemy, whenever he moved, to neglect the fords. accordingly, he masked his regiment as near his end of the bridge as the topography of the ground permitted, and waited. the austrians moved by the bridge, and bugeaud, seizing the moment, fell upon them in the act of crossing and destroyed the entire force. moral: 'tis easier to watch and defend one bridge than many miles of fordable water. "why did you keep the story until the bridge was burnt?" exclaimed ewell. subsequently, alleging that he had small opportunity for study after leaving west point, he drew from me whatever some reading and a good memory could supply; but his shrewd remarks changed many erroneous opinions i had formed, and our "talks" were of more value to me than to him. as our next move, hourly expected, would take us beyond the reach of railways, i here reduced the brigade to light marching order. my own kit, consisting of a change of underwear and a tent "fly," could be carried on my horse. a fly can be put up in a moment, and by stopping the weather end with boughs a comfortable hut is made. the men carried each his blanket, an extra shirt and drawers, two pairs of socks (woolen), and a pair of extra shoes. these, with his arm and ammunition, were a sufficient load for strong marching. tents, especially in a wooded country, are not only a nuisance, involving much transportation, the bane of armies, but are detrimental to health. in cool weather they are certain to be tightly closed, and the number of men occupying them breeds a foul atmosphere. the rapidity with which men learn to shelter themselves, and their ingenuity in accomplishing it under unfavorable conditions, are surprising. my people grumbled no little at being "stripped", but soon admitted that they were better for it, and came to despise useless _impedimenta_. i early adopted two customs, and adhered to them throughout the war. the first was to examine at every halt the adjacent roads and paths, their direction and condition; distances of nearest towns and cross-roads; the country, its capacity to furnish supplies, as well as general topography, etc., all of which was embodied in a rude sketch, with notes to impress it on memory. the second was to imagine while on the march an enemy before me to be attacked, or to be received in my position, and make the necessary dispositions for either contingency. my imaginary manoeuvres were sad blunders, but i corrected them by experience drawn from actual battles, and can safely affirm that such slight success as i had in command was due to these customs. assuredly, a knowledge of details will not make a great general; but there can be no greatness in war without such knowledge, for genius is but a capacity to grasp and apply details. these observations are not for the "heaven-born," who from their closets scan with eagle glance fields of battle, whose mighty pens slay their thousands and their tens of thousands, and in whose "serbonian" inkstands "armies whole" disappear; but it is hoped that they may prove useful to the young adopting the profession of arms, who may feel assured that the details of the art of war afford "scope and verge" for the employment of all their faculties. conscientious study will not perhaps make them great, but it will make them respectable; and when the responsibility of command comes, they will not disgrace their flag, injure their cause, nor murder their men. chapter v. the valley campaign. at length the expected order to march came, and we moved south to gordonsville. in one of his letters to madame du deffand, horace walpole writes of the english spring as "coming in with its accustomed severity," and such was our experience of a virginian spring; or rather, it may be said that winter returned with renewed energy, and we had for several days snow, sleet, rain, and all possible abominations in the way of weather. arrived at gordonsville, whence the army had departed for the peninsula, we met orders to join jackson in the valley, and marched thither by swift run "gap"--the local name for mountain passes. swift run, an affluent of the rapidan, has its source in this gap. the orders mentioned were the last received from general joseph e. johnston, from whom subsequent events separated me until the close of the war; and occasion is thus furnished for the expression of opinion of his character and services. in the full vigor of mature manhood, erect, alert, quick, and decisive of speech, general johnston was the beau ideal of a soldier. without the least proneness to blandishments, he gained and held the affection and confidence of his men. brave and impetuous in action, he had been often wounded, and no officer of the general staff of the old united states army had seen so much actual service with troops. during the mexican war he was permitted to take command of a voltigeur regiment, and rendered brilliant service. in he resigned from the engineers to accept the lieutenant-colonelcy of a cavalry regiment. when the civil war became certain, a virginian by birth, he left the position of quartermaster-general of the united states, and offered his sword to the confederacy. to the east, as his great namesake albert sidney to the west, he was "the rose and fair expectancy" of our cause; and his timely march from patterson's front in the valley to assist beauregard at manassas confirmed public opinion of his capacity. yet he cannot be said to have proved a fortunate commander. leaving out of view bentonville and the closing scenes in north carolina, which were rather the spasmodic efforts of despair than regular military movements, general johnston's "offensive" must be limited to seven pines or fair oaks. here his plan was well considered and singularly favored of fortune. some two corps of mcclellan's army were posted on the southwest or richmond side of the chickahominy, and a sudden rise of that stream swept away bridges and overflowed the adjacent lowlands, cutting off these corps from their supports. they ought to have been crushed, but johnston fell, severely wounded; upon which confusion ensued, and no results of importance were attained. official reports fail, most unwisely, to fix the responsibility of the failure, and i do not desire to add to the gossip prevailing then and since. from his own account of the war we can gather that johnston regrets he did not fight on the oostenaula, after polk had joined him. it appears that in a council two of his three corps commanders, polk, hardee, and hood, were opposed to fighting there; but to call a council at all was a weakness not to be expected of a general of johnston's ability and self-reliant nature. i have written of him as a master of logistics, and his skill in handling troops was great. as a retreat, the precision and coolness of his movements during the georgia campaign would have enhanced the reputation of moreau; but it never seems to have occurred to him to assume the offensive during the many turning movements of his flanks, movements involving time and distance. dispassionate reflection would have brought him to the conclusion that lee was even more overweighted in virginia than he in georgia; that his government had given him every available man, only leaving small garrisons at wilmington, charleston, savannah, and mobile; that forrest's command in mississippi, operating on sherman's communications, was virtually doing his work, while it was idle to expect assistance from the trans-mississippi region. certainly, no more egregious blunder was possible than that of relieving him from command in front of atlanta. if he intended to fight there, he was entitled to execute his plan. had he abandoned atlanta without a struggle, his removal would have met the approval of the army and public, an approval which, under the circumstances of its action, the richmond government failed to receive. i am persuaded that general johnston's mind was so jaundiced by the unfortunate disagreement with president davis, to which allusion has been made in an earlier part of these reminiscences, as to seriously cloud his judgment and impair his usefulness. he sincerely believed himself the esau of the government, grudgingly fed on bitter herbs, while a favored jacob enjoyed the flesh-pots. having known him intimately for many years, having served under his command and studied his methods, i feel confident that his great abilities under happier conditions would have distinctly modified, if not changed, the current of events. destiny willed that davis and johnston should be brought into collision, and the breach, once made, was never repaired. each misjudged the other to the end. ewell's division reached the western base of swift run gap on a lovely spring evening, april , , and in crossing the blue ridge seemed to have left winter and its rigors behind. jackson, whom we moved to join, had suddenly that morning marched toward mcdowell, some eighty miles west, where, after uniting with a force under general edward johnson, he defeated the federal general milroy. some days later he as suddenly returned. meanwhile we were ordered to remain in camp on the shenandoah near conrad's store, at which place a bridge spanned the stream. the great valley of virginia was before us in all its beauty. fields of wheat spread far and wide, interspersed with woodlands, bright in their robes of tender green. wherever appropriate sites existed, quaint old mills, with turning wheels, were busily grinding the previous year's harvest; and grove and eminence showed comfortable homesteads. the soft vernal influence shed a languid grace over the scene. the theatre of war in this region was from staunton to the potomac, one hundred and twenty miles, with an average width of some twenty-five miles; and the blue ridge and alleghanies bounded it east and west. drained by the shenandoah with its numerous affluents, the surface was nowhere flat, but a succession of graceful swells, occasionally rising into abrupt hills. resting on limestone, the soil was productive, especially of wheat, and the underlying rock furnished abundant metal for the construction of roads. railway communication was limited to the virginia central, which entered the valley by a tunnel east of staunton and passed westward through that town; to the manassas gap, which traversed the blue ridge at the pass of that name and ended at strasburg; and to the winchester and harper's ferry, thirty miles long. the first extended to richmond by charlottesville and gordonsville, crossing at the former place the line from washington and alexandria to lynchburg; the second connected strasburg and front royal, in the valley, with the same line at manassas junction; and the last united with the baltimore and ohio at harper's ferry. frequent passes or gaps in the mountains, through which wagon roads had been constructed, afforded easy access from east and west; and pikes were excellent, though unmetaled roads became heavy after rains. but the glory of the valley is massanutten. rising abruptly from the plain near harrisonburg, twenty-five miles north of staunton, this lovely mountain extends fifty miles, and as suddenly ends near strasburg. parallel with the blue ridge, and of equal height, its sharp peaks have a bolder and more picturesque aspect, while the abruptness of its slopes gives the appearance of greater altitude. midway of massanutten, a gap with good road affords communication between newmarket and luray. the eastern or luray valley, much narrower than the one west of massanutten, is drained by the east branch of the shenandoah, which is joined at front royal, near the northern end of the mountain, by its western affluent, whence the united waters flow north, at the base of the blue ridge, to meet the potomac at harper's ferry. the inhabitants of this favored region were worthy of their inheritance. the north and south were peopled by scions of old colonial families, and the proud names of the "old dominion" abounded. in the central counties of rockingham and shenandoah were many descendants of german settlers. these were thrifty, substantial farmers, and, like their kinsmen of pennsylvania, expressed their opulence in huge barns and fat cattle. the devotion of all to the southern cause was wonderful. jackson, a valley man by reason of his residence at lexington, south of staunton, was their hero and idol. the women sent husbands, sons, lovers, to battle as cheerfully as to marriage feasts. no oppression, no destitution could abate their zeal. upon a march i was accosted by two elderly sisters, who told me they had secreted a large quantity of bacon in a well on their estate, hard by. federals had been in possession of the country, and, fearing the indiscretion of their slaves, they had done the work at night with their own hands, and now desired to _give_ the meat to their people. wives and daughters of millers, whose husbands and brothers were in arms, worked the mills night and day to furnish flour to their soldiers. to the last, women would go distances to carry the modicum of food between themselves and starvation to a suffering confederate. should the sons of virginia ever commit dishonorable acts, grim indeed will be their reception on the further shores of styx. they can expect no recognition from the mothers who bore them. ere the war closed, the valley was ravaged with a cruelty surpassing that inflicted on the palatinate two hundred years ago. that foul deed smirched the fame of louvois and turenne, and public opinion, in what has been deemed a ruder age, forced an apology from the "grand monarque." yet we have seen the official report of a federal general wherein are recounted the many barns, mills, and other buildings destroyed, concluding with the assertion that "a crow flying over the valley must take rations with him." in the opinion of the admirers of the officer making this report, the achievement on which it is based ranks with marengo. moreover, this same officer, general sheridan, many years after the close of the war, denounced several hundred thousands of his fellow citizens as "banditti," and solicited permission of his government to deal with them as such. may we not well ask whether religion, education, science and art combined have lessened the brutality of man since the days of wallenstein and tilly? while in camp near conrad's store, the th louisiana, colonel hays, a crack regiment, on picket down stream, had a spirited affair, in which the enemy was driven with the loss of a score of prisoners. shortly after, for convenience of supplies, i was directed to cross the river and camp some miles to the southwest. the command was in superb condition, and a four-gun battery from bedford county, virginia, captain bowyer, had recently been added to it. the four regiments, th, th, th, and th louisiana, would average above eight hundred bayonets. of wheat's battalion of "tigers" and the th i have written. the th, colonel seymour, recruited in new orleans, was composed of irishmen, stout, hardy fellows, turbulent in camp and requiring a strong hand, but responding to kindness and justice, and ready to follow their officers to the death. the th, colonel stafford, was from north louisiana. planters or sons of planters, many of them men of fortune, soldiering was a hard task to which they only became reconciled by reflecting that it was "niddering" in gentlemen to assume voluntarily the discharge of duties and then shirk. the th, colonel kelly, was from the attakapas--"acadians," the race of which longfellow sings in "evangeline." a home-loving, simple people, few spoke english, fewer still had ever before moved ten miles from their natal _cabanas_; and the war to them was "a liberal education," as was the society of the lady of quality to honest dick steele. they had all the light gayety of the gaul, and, after the manner of their ancestors, were born cooks. a capital regimental band accompanied them, and whenever weather and ground permitted, even after long marches, they would waltz and "polk" in couples with as much zest as if their arms encircled the supple waists of the célestines and mélazies of their native teche. the valley soldiers were largely of the presbyterian faith, and of a solemn, pious demeanor, and looked askant at the caperings of my creoles, holding them to be "devices and snares." the brigade adjutant, captain (afterward colonel) eustace surget, who remained with me until the war closed, was from mississippi, where he had large estates. without the slightest military training, by study and zeal, he soon made himself an accomplished staff officer. of singular coolness in battle, he never blundered, and, though much exposed, pulled through without a scratch. my aide, lieutenant hamilton, grandson of general hamilton of south carolina, was a cadet in his second year at west point when war was declared, upon which he returned to his state--a gay, cheery lad, with all the pluck of his race. at nightfall of the second day in this camp, an order came from general jackson to join him at newmarket, twenty odd miles north; and it was stated that my division commander, ewell, had been apprised of the order. our position was near a pike leading south of west to harrisonburg, whence, to gain newmarket, the great valley pike ran due north. all roads near our camp had been examined and sketched, and among them was a road running northwest over the southern foot-hills of massanutten, and joining the valley pike some distance to the north of harrisonburg. it was called the keazletown road, from a little german village on the flank of massanutten; and as it was the hypothenuse of the triangle, and reported good except at two points, i decided to take it. that night a pioneer party was sent forward to light fires and repair the road for artillery and trains. early dawn saw us in motion, with lovely weather, a fairish road, and men in high health and spirits. later in the day a mounted officer was dispatched to report our approach and select a camp, which proved to be beyond jackson's forces, then lying in the fields on both sides of the pike. over three thousand strong, neat in fresh clothing of gray with white gaiters, bands playing at the head of their regiments, not a straggler, but every man in his place, stepping jauntily as on parade, though it had marched twenty miles and more, in open column with arms at "right shoulder shift," and rays of the declining sun flaming on polished bayonets, the brigade moved down the broad, smooth pike, and wheeled on to its camping ground. jackson's men, by thousands, had gathered on either side of the road to see us pass. indeed, it was a martial sight, and no man with a spark of sacred fire in his heart but would have striven hard to prove worthy of such a command. after attending to necessary camp details, i sought jackson, whom i had never met. and here it may be remarked that he then by no means held the place in public estimation which he subsequently attained. his manassas reputation was much impaired by operations in the valley, to which he had been sent after that action. the winter march on romney had resulted in little except to freeze and discontent his troops; which discontent was shared and expressed by the authorities at richmond, and jackson resigned. the influence of colonel alek boteler, seconded by that of the governor of virginia, induced him to withdraw the resignation. at kernstown, three miles south of winchester, he was roughly handled by the federal general shields, and only saved from serious disaster by the failure of that officer to push his advantage, though shields was usually energetic. the mounted officer who had been sent on in advance pointed out a figure perched on the topmost rail of a fence overlooking the road and field, and said it was jackson. approaching, i saluted and declared my name and rank, then waited for a response. before this came i had time to see a pair of cavalry boots covering feet of gigantic size, a mangy cap with visor drawn low, a heavy, dark beard, and weary eyes--eyes i afterward saw filled with intense but never brilliant light. a low, gentle voice inquired the road and distance marched that day. "keazletown road, six and twenty miles." "you seem to have no stragglers." "never allow straggling." "you must teach my people; they straggle badly." a bow in reply. just then my creoles started their band and a waltz. after a contemplative suck at a lemon, "thoughtless fellows for serious work" came forth. i expressed a hope that the work would not be less well done because of the gayety. a return to the lemon gave me the opportunity to retire. where jackson got his lemons "no fellow could find out," but he was rarely without one. to have lived twelve miles from that fruit would have disturbed him as much as it did the witty dean. quite late that night general jackson came to my camp fire, where he stayed some hours. he said we would move at dawn, asked a few questions about the marching of my men, which seemed to have impressed him, and then remained silent. if silence be golden, he was a "bonanza." he sucked lemons, ate hard-tack, and drank water, and praying and fighting appeared to be his idea of the "whole duty of man." in the gray of the morning, as i was forming my column on the pike, jackson appeared and gave the route--north--which, from the situation of its camp, put my brigade in advance of the army. after moving a short distance in this direction, the head of the column was turned to the east and took the road over massanutten gap to luray. scarce a word was spoken on the march, as jackson rode with me. from time to time a courier would gallop up, report, and return toward luray. an ungraceful horseman, mounted on a sorry chestnut with a shambling gait, his huge feet with outturned toes thrust into his stirrups, and such parts of his countenance as the low visor of his shocking cap failed to conceal wearing a wooden look, our new commander was not prepossessing. that night we crossed the east branch of the shenandoah by a bridge, and camped on the stream, near luray. here, after three long marches, we were but a short distance below conrad's store, a point we had left several days before. i began to think that jackson was an unconscious poet, and, as an ardent lover of nature, desired to give strangers an opportunity to admire the beauties of his valley. it seemed hard lines to be wandering like sentimental travelers about the country, instead of gaining "kudos" on the peninsula. off the next morning, my command still in advance, and jackson riding with me. the road led north between the east bank of the river and the western base of the blue ridge. rain had fallen and softened it, so as to delay the wagon trains in rear. past midday we reached a wood extending from the mountain to the river, when a mounted officer from the rear called jackson's attention, who rode back with him. a moment later, there rushed out of the wood to meet us a young, rather well-looking woman, afterward widely known as belle boyd. breathless with speed and agitation, some time elapsed before she found her voice. then, with much volubility, she said we were near front royal, beyond the wood; that the town was filled with federals, whose camp was on the west side of the river, where they had guns in position to cover the wagon bridge, but none bearing on the railway bridge below the former; that they believed jackson to be west of massanutten, near harrisonburg; that general banks, the federal commander, was at winchester, twenty miles northwest of front royal, where he was slowly concentrating his widely scattered forces to meet jackson's advance, which was expected some days later. all this she told with the precision of a staff officer making a report, and it was true to the letter. jackson was possessed of these facts before he left newmarket, and based his movements upon them; but, as he never told anything, it was news to me, and gave me an idea of the strategic value of massanutten--pointed out, indeed, by washington before the revolution. there also dawned on me quite another view of our leader than the one from which i had been regarding him for two days past. convinced of the correctness of the woman's statements, i hurried forward at "a double," hoping to surprise the enemy's idlers in the town, or swarm over the wagon bridge with them and secure it. doubtless this was rash, but i felt immensely "cocky" about my brigade, and believed that it would prove equal to any demand. before we had cleared the wood jackson came galloping from the rear, followed by a company of horse. he ordered me to deploy my leading regiment as skirmishers on both sides of the road and continue the advance, then passed on. we speedily came in sight of front royal, but the enemy had taken the alarm, and his men were scurrying over the bridge to their camp, where troops could be seen forming. the situation of the village is surpassingly beautiful. it lies near the east bank of the shenandoah, which just below unites all its waters, and looks directly on the northern peaks of massanutten. the blue ridge, with manassas gap, through which passes the railway, overhangs it on the east; distant alleghany bounds the horizon to the west; and down the shenandoah, the eye ranges over a fertile, well-farmed country. two bridges spanned the river--a wagon bridge above, a railway bridge some yards lower. a good pike led to winchester, twenty miles, and another followed the river north, whence many cross-roads united with the valley pike near winchester. the river, swollen by rain, was deep and turbulent, with a strong current. the federals were posted on the west bank, here somewhat higher than the opposite, and a short distance above the junction of waters, with batteries bearing more especially on the upper bridge. under instructions, my brigade was drawn up in line, a little retired from the river, but overlooking it--the federals and their guns in full view. so far, not a shot had been fired. i rode down to the river's brink to get a better look at the enemy through a field-glass, when my horse, heated by the march, stepped into the water to drink. instantly a brisk fire was opened on me, bullets striking all around and raising a little shower-bath. like many a foolish fellow, i found it easier to get into than out of a difficulty. i had not yet led my command into action, and, remembering that one must "strut" one's little part to the best advantage, sat my horse with all the composure i could muster. a provident camel, on the eve of a desert journey, would not have laid in a greater supply of water than did my thoughtless beast. at last he raised his head, looked placidly around, turned, and walked up the bank. this little incident was not without value, for my men welcomed me with a cheer; upon which, as if in response, the enemy's guns opened, and, having the range, inflicted some loss on my line. we had no guns up to reply, and, in advance as has been mentioned, had outmarched the troops behind us. motionless as a statue, jackson sat his horse some few yards away, and seemed lost in thought. perhaps the circumstances mentioned some pages back had obscured his star; but if so, a few short hours swept away the cloud, and it blazed, sirius-like, over the land. i approached him with the suggestion that the railway bridge might be passed by stepping on the cross-ties, as the enemy's guns bore less directly on it than on the upper bridge. he nodded approval. the th regiment was on the right of my line, near at hand; and dismounting, colonel kelly led it across under a sharp musketry fire. several men fell to disappear in the dark water beneath; but the movement continued with great rapidity, considering the difficulty of walking on ties, and kelly with his leading files gained the opposite shore. thereupon the enemy fired combustibles previously placed near the center of the wagon bridge. the loss of this structure would have seriously delayed us, as the railway bridge was not floored, and i looked at jackson, who, near by, was watching kelly's progress. again he nodded, and my command rushed at the bridge. concealed by the cloud of smoke, the suddenness of the movement saved us from much loss; but it was rather a near thing. my horse and clothing were scorched, and many men burned their hands severely while throwing brands into the river. we were soon over, and the enemy in full flight to winchester, with loss of camp, guns, and prisoners. just as i emerged from flames and smoke, jackson was by my side. how he got there was a mystery, as the bridge was thronged with my men going at full speed; but smoke and fire had decidedly freshened up his costume. in the angle formed by the two branches of the river was another camp held by a federal regiment from maryland. this was captured by a gallant little regiment of marylanders, colonel bradley johnson, on our side. i had no connection with this spirited affair, saving that these marylanders had acted with my command during the day, though not attached to it. we followed the enemy on the winchester road, but to little purpose, as we had few horsemen over the river. carried away by his ardor, my commissary, major davis, gathered a score of mounted orderlies and couriers, and pursued until a volley from the enemy's rear guard laid him low on the road, shot through the head. during my service west of the mississippi river, i sent for the colonel of a mounted regiment from western texas, a land of herdsmen, and asked him if he could furnish men to hunt and drive in cattle. "why! bless you, sir, i have men who can find cattle where there _aint any_," was his reply. whatever were poor davis's abilities as to non-existent supplies, he could find all the country afforded, and had a wonderful way of cajoling old women out of potatoes, cabbages, onions, and other garden stuff, giving variety to camp rations, and of no small importance in preserving the health of troops. we buried him in a field near the place of his fall. he was much beloved by the command, and many gathered quietly around the grave. as there was no chaplain at hand, i repeated such portions of the service for the dead as a long neglect of pious things enabled me to recall. late in the night jackson came out of the darkness and seated himself by my camp fire. he mentioned that i would move with him in the morning, then relapsed into silence. i fancied he looked at me kindly, and interpreted it into an approval of the conduct of the brigade. the events of the day, anticipations of the morrow, the death of davis, drove away sleep, and i watched jackson. for hours he sat silent and motionless, with eyes fixed on the fire. i took up the idea that he was inwardly praying, and he remained throughout the night. off in the morning, jackson leading the way, my brigade, a small body of horse, and a section of the rockbridge (virginia) artillery forming the column. major wheat, with his battalion of "tigers," was directed to keep close to the guns. sturdy marchers, they trotted along with the horse and artillery at jackson's heels, and after several hours were some distance in advance of the brigade, with which i remained. a volley in front, followed by wild cheers, stirred us up to a "double," and we speedily came upon a moving spectacle. jackson had struck the valley pike at middletown, twelve miles south of winchester, along which a large body of federal horse, with many wagons, was hastening north. he had attacked at once with his handful of men, overwhelmed resistance, and captured prisoners and wagons. the gentle tigers were looting right merrily, diving in and out of wagons with the activity of rabbits in a warren; but this occupation was abandoned on my approach, and in a moment they were in line, looking as solemn and virtuous as deacons at a funeral. prisoners and spoil were promptly secured. the horse was from new england, a section in which horsemanship was an unknown art, and some of the riders were strapped to their steeds. ordered to dismount, they explained their condition, and were given time to unbuckle. many breastplates and other protective devices were seen here, and later at winchester. we did not know whether the federals had organized cuirassiers, or were recurring to the customs of gustavus adolphus. i saw a poor fellow lying dead on the pike, pierced through breastplate and body by a rifle ball. iron-clad men are of small account before modern weapons. a part of the federal column had passed north before jackson reached the pike, and this, with his mounted men, he pursued. something more than a mile to the south a road left the pike and led directly west, where the federal general fremont, of whom we shall hear more, commanded "the mountain department." attacked in front, as described, a body of federals, horse, artillery, and infantry, with some wagons, took this road, and, after moving a short distance, drew up on a crest, with unlimbered guns. their number was unknown, and for a moment they looked threatening. the brigade was rapidly formed and marched straight upon them, when their guns opened. a shell knocked over several men of the th regiment, and a second, as i rode forward to an eminence to get a view, struck the ground under my horse and exploded. the saddle cloth on both sides was torn away, and i and adjutant surget, who was just behind me, were nearly smothered with earth; but neither man nor horse received a scratch. the enemy soon limbered up and fled west. by some well-directed shots, as they crossed a hill, our guns sent wagons flying in the air, with which "p.p.c." we left them and marched north. at dusk we overtook jackson, pushing the enemy with his little mounted force, himself in advance of all. i rode with him, and we kept on through the darkness. there was not resistance enough to deploy infantry. a flash, a report, and a whistling bullet from some covert met us, but there were few casualties. i quite remember thinking at the time that jackson was invulnerable, and that persons near him shared that quality. an officer, riding hard, overtook us, who proved to be the chief quartermaster of the army. he reported the wagon trains far behind, impeded by a bad road in luray valley. "the ammunition wagons?" sternly. "all right, sir. they were in advance, and i doubled teams on them and brought them through." "ah!" in a tone of relief. to give countenance to this quartermaster, if such can be given of a dark night, i remarked jocosely: "never mind the wagons. there are quantities of stores in winchester, and the general has invited me to breakfast there to-morrow." jackson, who had no more capacity for jests than a scotchman, took this seriously, and reached out to touch me on the arm. in fact, he was of scotch-irish descent, and his unconsciousness of jokes was _de race_. without physical wants himself, he forgot that others were differently constituted, and paid little heed to commissariat; but woe to the man who failed to bring up ammunition! in advance, his trains were left far behind. in retreat, he would fight for a wheelbarrow. some time after midnight, by roads more direct from front royal, other troops came on the pike, and i halted my jaded people by the roadside, where they built fires and took a turn at their haversacks. moving with the first light of morning, we came to kernstown, three miles from winchester, and the place of jackson's fight with shields. here heavy and sustained firing, artillery and small arms, was heard. a staff officer approached at full speed to summon me to jackson's presence and move up my command. a gallop of a mile or more brought me to him. winchester was in sight, a mile to the north. to the east ewell with a large part of the army was fighting briskly and driving the enemy on to the town. on the west a high ridge, overlooking the country to the south and southeast, was occupied by a heavy mass of federals with guns in position. jackson was on the pike, and near him were several regiments lying down for shelter, as the fire from the ridge was heavy and searching. a virginian battery, rockbridge artillery, was fighting at a great disadvantage, and already much cut up. poetic authority asserts that "old virginny never tires," and the conduct of this battery justified the assertion of the muses. with scarce a leg or wheel for man and horse, gun or caisson, to stand on, it continued to hammer away at the crushing fire above. jackson, impassive as ever, pointed to the ridge and said, "you must carry it." i replied that my command would be up by the time i could inspect the ground, and rode to the left for that purpose. a small stream, abraham's creek, flowed from the west through the little vale at the southern base of the ridge, the ascent of which was steep, though nowhere abrupt. at one point a broad, shallow, trough-like depression broke the surface, which was further interrupted by some low copse, outcropping stone, and two fences. on the summit the federal lines were posted behind a stone wall, along a road coming west from the pike. worn somewhat into the soil, this road served as a countersink and strengthened the position. further west, there was a break in the ridge, which was occupied by a body of horse, the extreme right of the enemy's line. there was scarce time to mark these features before the head of my column appeared, when it was filed to the left, close to the base of the ridge, for protection from the plunging fire. meanwhile, the rockbridge battery held on manfully and engaged the enemy's attention. riding on the flank of my column, between it and the hostile line, i saw jackson beside me. this was not the place for the commander of the army, and i ventured to tell him so; but he paid no attention to the remark. we reached the shallow depression spoken of, where the enemy could depress his guns, and his fire became close and fatal. many men fell, and the whistling of shot and shell occasioned much ducking of heads in the column. this annoyed me no little, as it was but child's play to the work immediately in hand. always an admirer of delightful "uncle toby," i had contracted the most villainous habit of his beloved army in flanders, and, forgetting jackson's presence, ripped out, "what the h--are you dodging for? if there is any more of it, you will be halted under this fire for an hour." the sharp tones of a familiar voice produced the desired effect, and the men looked as if they had swallowed ramrods; but i shall never forget the reproachful surprise expressed in jackson's face. he placed his hand on my shoulder, said in a gentle voice, "i am afraid you are a wicked fellow," turned, and rode back to the pike. the proper ground gained, the column faced to the front and began the ascent. at the moment the sun rose over the blue ridge, without cloud or mist to obscure his rays. it was a lovely sabbath morning, the th of may, . the clear, pure atmosphere brought the blue ridge and alleghany and massanutten almost overhead. even the cloud of murderous smoke from the guns above made beautiful spirals in the air, and the broad fields of luxuriant wheat glistened with dew. it is remarkable how, in the midst of the most absorbing cares, one's attention may be fixed by some insignificant object, as mine was by the flight past the line of a bluebird, one of the brightest-plumaged of our feathered tribes, bearing a worm in his beak, breakfast for his callow brood. birdie had been on the war path, and was carrying home spoil. as we mounted we came in full view of both armies, whose efforts in other quarters had been slackened to await the result of our movement. i felt an anxiety amounting to pain for the brigade to acquit itself handsomely; and this feeling was shared by every man in it. about half way up, the enemy's horse from his right charged; and to meet it, i directed lieutenant-colonel nicholls, whose regiment, the th, was on the left, to withhold slightly his two flank companies. by one volley, which emptied some saddles, nicholls drove off the horse, but was soon after severely wounded. progress was not stayed by this incident. closing the many gaps made by the fierce fire, steadied the rather by it, and preserving an alignment that would have been creditable on parade, the brigade, with cadenced step and eyes on the foe, swept grandly over copse and ledge and fence, to crown the heights from which the enemy had melted away. loud cheers went up from our army, prolonged to the east, where warm-hearted ewell cheered himself hoarse, and led forward his men with renewed energy. in truth, it was a gallant feat of arms, worthy of the pen of him who immortalized the charge of the "buffs" at albuera. breaking into column, we pursued closely. jackson came up and grasped my hand, worth a thousand words from another, and we were soon in the streets of winchester, a quaint old town of some five thousand inhabitants. there was a little fighting in the streets, but the people were all abroad--certainly all the women and babies. they were frantic with delight, only regretting that so many "yankees" had escaped, and seriously impeded our movements. a buxom, comely dame of some five and thirty summers, with bright eyes and tight ankles, and conscious of these advantages, was especially demonstrative, exclaiming, "oh! you are too late--too late!" whereupon, a tall creole from the teche sprang from the ranks of the th regiment, just passing, clasped her in his arms, and imprinted a sounding kiss on her ripe lips, with "madame! je n'arrive jamais trop tard." a loud laugh followed, and the dame, with a rosy face but merry twinkle in her eye, escaped. past the town, we could see the federals flying north on the harper's ferry and martinsburg roads. cavalry, of which there was a considerable force with the army, might have reaped a rich harvest, but none came forward. raised in the adjoining region, our troopers were gossiping with their friends, or worse. perhaps they thought that the war was over. jackson joined me, and, in response to my question, "where is the cavalry?" glowered and was silent. after several miles, finding that we were doing no good--as indeed infantry, preserving its organization, cannot hope to overtake a flying enemy--i turned into the fields and camped. here i will "say my say" about confederate cavalry; and though there were exceptions to the following remarks, they were too few to qualify their general correctness. the difficulty of converting raw men into soldiers is enhanced manifold when they are mounted. both man and horse require training, and facilities for rambling, with temptation so to do, are increased. there was but little time, and it may be said less disposition, to establish camps of instruction. living on horseback, fearless and dashing, the men of the south afforded the best possible material for cavalry. they had every quality but discipline, and resembled prince charming, whose manifold gifts, bestowed by her sisters, were rendered useless by the malignant fairy. scores of them wandered about the country like locusts, and were only less destructive to their own people than the enemy. the universal devotion of southern women to their cause led them to give indiscriminately to all wearing the gray. cavalry officers naturally desired to have as large commands as possible, and were too much indulged in this desire. brigades and regiments were permitted to do work appropriate to squadrons and companies, and the cattle were unnecessarily broken down. assuredly, our cavalry rendered much excellent service, especially when dismounted and fighting as infantry. such able officers as stuart, hampton, and the younger lees in the east, forrest, green, and wheeler in the west, developed much talent for war; but their achievements, however distinguished, fell far below the standard that would have been reached had not the want of discipline impaired their efforts and those of their men. after the camp was established, i rode back to winchester to look after my wounded and see my sister, the same who had nursed me the previous autumn. by a second marriage she was mrs. dandridge, and resided in the town. her husband, mr. dandridge, was on duty at richmond. depot of all federal forces in the valley, winchester was filled with stores. prisoners, guns, and wagons, in large numbers, had fallen into our hands. of especial value were ordnance and medical stores. the following day my command was moved ten miles north on the pike leading by charlestown to harper's ferry, and after a day some miles east toward the shenandoah. this was in consequence of the operations of the federal general shields, who, in command of a considerable force to the east of the blue ridge, passed manassas gap and drove from front royal a regiment of georgians, left there by jackson. meanwhile, a part of the army was pushed forward to martinsburg and beyond, while another part threatened and shelled harper's ferry. jackson himself was engaged in forwarding captured stores to staunton. on saturday, may , i received orders to move through winchester, clear the town of stragglers, and continue to strasburg. few or no stragglers were found in winchester, whence the sick and wounded, except extreme cases, had been taken. i stopped for a moment, at a house near the field of the th, to see colonel nicholls. he had suffered amputation of the arm that morning, and the surgeons forbade his removal; so that, much to my regret and more to his own, he was left. we reached camp at strasburg after dark, a march of thirty odd miles, weather very warm. winder, with his brigade, came in later, after a longer march from the direction of harper's ferry. jackson sat some time at my camp fire that night, and was more communicative than i remember him before or after. he said fremont, with a large force, was three miles west of our present camp, and must be defeated in the morning. shields was moving up luray valley, and might cross massanutten to newmarket, or continue south until he turned the mountain to fall on our trains near harrisonburg. the importance of preserving the immense trains, filled with captured stores, was great, and would engage much of his personal attention; while he relied on the army, under ewell's direction, to deal promptly with fremont. this he told in a low, gentle voice, and with many interruptions to afford time, as i thought and believe, for inward prayer. the men said that his anxiety about the wagons was because of the lemons among the stores. dawn of the following day (sunday) was ushered in by the sound of fremont's guns. our lines had been early drawn out to meet him, and skirmishers pushed up to the front to attack. much cannonading, with some rattle of small arms, ensued. the country was densely wooded, and little save the smoke from the enemy's guns could be seen. my brigade was in reserve a short distance to the rear and out of the line of fire; and here a ludicrous incident occurred. many slaves from louisiana had accompanied their masters to the war, and were a great nuisance on a march, foraging far and wide for "prog" for their owners' messes. to abate this, they had been put under discipline and made to march in rear of the regiments to which they pertained. they were now, some scores, assembled under a large tree, laughing, chattering, and cooking breakfast. on a sudden, a shell burst in the tree-top, rattling down leaves and branches in fine style, and the rapid decampment of the servitors was most amusing. but i must pause to give an account of my own servant, tom strother, who deserves honorable and affectionate mention at my hands, and serves to illustrate a phase of southern life now passed away. as under feudal institutions the arms of heiresses were quartered with those of the families into which they married, in the south their slaves adopted the surname of the mistress; and one curious in genealogy could trace the descent and alliances of an old family by finding out the names used by different slaves on the estate. those of the same name were a little clannish, preserving traditions of the family from which their fathers had come, and magnifying its importance. in childhood i often listened with credulous ears to wondrous tales of the magnificence of my forefathers in virginia and maryland, who, these imaginative africans insisted, dwelt in palaces, surrounded by brave, handsome sons, lovely, virtuous daughters, and countless devoted servants. the characters of many southern children were doubtless influenced by such tales, impressive from the good faith of the narrators. my paternal grandmother was miss sarah strother of virginia, and from her estate came these strother negroes. tom, three years my senior, was my foster brother and early playmate. his uncle, charles porter strother (to give him his full name), had been body servant to my grandfather, colonel richard taylor, whom he attended in his last illness. he then filled the same office to my father, following him through his indian and mexican campaigns, and dying at washington a year before his master. tom served in florida and mexico as "aide-de-camp" to his uncle, after which he married and became father of a large family. on this account i hesitated to bring him to virginia, but he would come, and was a model servant. tall, powerful, black as ebony, he was a mirror of truth and honesty. always cheerful, i never heard him laugh or knew of his speaking unless spoken to. he could light a fire in a minute under the most unfavorable conditions and with the most unpromising material, made the best coffee to be tasted outside of a creole kitchen, was a "dab" at camp stews and roasts, groomed my horses (one of which he rode near me), washed my linen, and was never behind time. occasionally, when camped near a house, he would obtain starch and flat-irons, and get up my extra shirt in a way to excite the envy of a professional clear-starcher; but such red-letter days were few. i used to fancy that there was a mute sympathy between general jackson and tom, as they sat silent by a camp fire, the latter respectfully withdrawn; and an incident here at strasburg cemented this friendship. when my command was called into action, i left tom on a hill where all was quiet. thereafter, from a change in the enemy's dispositions, the place became rather hot, and jackson, passing by, advised tom to move; but he replied, if the general pleased, his master told him to stay there and would know where to find him, and he did not believe shells would trouble him. two or three nights later, jackson was at my fire when tom came to give me some coffee; where upon jackson rose and gravely shook him by the hand, and then told me the above. after the war was closed, tom returned with me to new orleans, found his wife and children all right, and is now prosperous. my readers have had so much fighting lately, and are about to have so much more, as to render unnecessary an apology for introducing tom's history. to return. cannonading continued without much effect, and ewell summoned me to his presence, directing the brigade to remain in position till further orders. jackson, busy with his trains, was not at the moment on the field, which he visited several times during the day, though i did not happen to see him. to reach ewell, it was necessary to pass under some heavy shelling, and i found myself open to the reproach visited previously on my men. whether from fatigue, loss of sleep, or what, there i was, nervous as a lady, ducking like a mandarin. it was disgusting, and, hoping that no one saw me, i resolved to take it out of myself the first opportunity. there is a story of turenne, the greatest soldier of the bourbons, which, if not true, is _ben trovato_. of a nervous temperament, his legs on the eve of an action trembled to such an extent as to make it difficult to mount his horse. looking at them contemptuously, he said: "if you could foresee the danger into which i am going to take you, you would tremble more." it was with a similar feeling, not only for my legs, but for my entire carcass, that i reached ewell, and told him i was no more good than a frightened deer. he laughed, and replied: "nonsense! 'tis tom's strong coffee. better give it up. remain here in charge while i go out to the skirmishers. i can't make out what these people are about, for my skirmish line has stopped them. they won't advance, but stay out there in the wood, making a great fuss with their guns; and i do not wish to commit myself to much advance while jackson is absent." with this, he put spurs to his horse and was off, and soon a brisk fusillade was heard, which seemed gradually to recede. during ewell's absence, surrounded by his staff, i contrived to sit my horse quietly. returning, he said: "i am completely puzzled. i have just driven everything back to the main body, which is large. dense wood everywhere. jackson told me not to commit myself too far. at this rate my attentions are not likely to become serious enough to commit any one. i wish jackson was here himself." i suggested that my brigade might be moved to the extreme right, near the capon road, by which fremont had marched, and attempt to strike that road, as this would enable us to find out something. he replied: "do so; that may stir them up, and i am sick of this fiddling about." had ewell been in command, he would have "pitched in" long before; but he was controlled by instructions not to be drawn too far from the pike. we found the right of our line held by a mississippi regiment, the colonel of which told me that he had advanced just before and driven the enemy. several of his men were wounded, and he was bleeding profusely from a hit in his leg, which he was engaged in binding with a handkerchief, remarking that "it did not pester him much." learning our purpose, he was eager to go in with us, and was not at all pleased to hear that i declined to change general ewell's dispositions. a plucky fellow, this colonel, whose name, if ever known, i cannot recall. the brigade moved forward until the enemy was reached, when, wheeling to the left, it walked down his line. the expression is used advisedly, for it was nothing but a "walk-over." sheep would have made as much resistance as we met. men decamped without firing, or threw down their arms and surrendered, and it was so easy that i began to think of traps. at length we got under fire from our own skirmishers, and suffered some casualties, the only ones received in the movement. our whole skirmish line was advancing briskly as the federals retired. i sought ewell, and reported. we had a fine game before us, and the temptation to play it was great; but jackson's orders were imperative and wise. he had his stores to save, shields to guard against, lee's grand strategy to promote; and all this he accomplished, alarming washington, fastening mcdowell's strong corps at fredericksburg and preventing its junction with mcclellan, on whose right flank he subsequently threw himself at cold harbor. he could not waste time chasing fremont, but we, who looked from a lower standpoint, grumbled and shared the men's opinion about the _lemon wagons_. the prisoners taken in our promenade were germans, speaking no english; and we had a similar experience a few days later. in the federal army was a german corps, the th, commanded by general o.o. howard, and called by both sides "the flying dutchmen." since the time of arminius the germans have been a brave people; to-day, in military renown, they lead the van of the nations; but they require a cause and leaders. in our revolutionary struggle the hessians were unfortunate at bennington, saratoga, and trenton. we have millions of german citizens, and excellent citizens they are. let us hope that the foregoing facts may be commended to them, so their ways may be ways of peace in their adopted land. although the movement along the enemy's line was successful, as described, it was rash and foolish. fremont had troops which, had they been in the place of these germans, would have made us pass one of rabelais's unpleasant quarters of an hour. alarm and disgust at my own nervousness occasioned it, proving weak nerves to be the source of rash acts. fremont made no further sign, and as the day declined the army was recalled to the pike and marched south. jackson, in person, gave me instructions to draw up my brigade facing west, on some hills above the pike, and distant from it several hundred yards, where i was to remain. he said that the road was crowded, and he wanted time to clear it, that fremont was safe for the night, and our cavalry toward winchester reported banks returned to that place from the potomac, but not likely to move south before the following day; then rode off, and so rapidly as to give me no time to inquire how long i was to remain, or if the cavalry would advise me in the event that banks changed his purpose. this was near sunset, and by the time the command was in position darkness fell upon us. no fires were allowed, and, stacking arms, the men rested, munching cold rations from their haversacks. it was their first opportunity for a bite since early morning. i threw myself on the ground, and tried in vain to sleep. no sound could be heard save the clattering of hoofs on the pike, which as the night wore on became constant. hour after hour passed, when, thinking i heard firing to the north, i mounted and looked for the pike. the darkness was so intense that it could not have been found but for the white limestone. some mounted men were passing, whom i halted to question. they said their command had gone on to rejoin the army, and, they supposed, had missed me in the dark; but there was a squadron behind, near the enemy's advance, which, a large cavalry force, had moved from winchester at an early period of the day and driven our people south. this was pleasant; for winder's brigade had marched several hours since, and a wide interval existed between us. more firing, near and distinct, was heard, and the command was ordered down to the pike, which it reached after much stumbling and swearing, and some confusion. fortunately, the battery, captain bowyer, had been sent forward at dusk to get forage, and an orderly was dispatched to put it on the march. the th (irish) regiment was in rear, and i took two companies for a rear guard. the column had scarce got into motion before a party of horse rushed through the guard, knocking down several men, one of whom was severely bruised. there was a little pistol-shooting and sabre-hacking, and for some minutes things were rather mixed. the enemy's cavalry had charged ours, and driven it on the infantry. one federal was captured and his horse given to the bruised man, who congratulated the rider on his promotion to a respectable service. i dismounted, gave my horse to tom to lead, and marched with the guard. from time to time the enemy would charge, but we could hear him coming and be ready. the guard would halt, about face, front rank with fixed bayonets kneel, rear rank fire, when, by the light of the flash, we could see emptied saddles. our pursuers' fire was wild, passing over head; so we had few casualties, and these slight; but they were bold and enterprising, and well led, often charging close up to the bayonets. i remarked this, whereupon the irishmen answered, "devil thank 'em for that same." there was no danger on the flanks. the white of the pike alone guided us. owls could not have found their way across the fields. the face of the country has been described as a succession of rolling swells, and later the enemy got up guns, but always fired from the summits, so that his shells passed far above us, exploding in the fields. had the guns been trained low, with canister, it might have proved uncomfortable, for the pike ran straight to the south. "it was a fine night intirely for divarsion," said the irishmen, with which sentiment i did not agree; but they were as steady as clocks and chirpy as crickets, indulging in many a jest whenever the attentions of our friends in the rear were slackened. they had heard of shields's proximity, and knew him to be an irishman by birth, and that he had irish regiments with him. during an interlude i was asked if it was not probable that we would encounter shields, and answering affirmatively, heard: "them germans is poor creatures, but shields's boys will be after fighting." expressing a belief that my "boys" could match shields's any day, i received loud assurance from half a hundred tipperary throats: "you may bet your life on that, sor." thus we beguiled the weary hours. during the night i desired to relieve the guard, but was diverted from my purpose by scornful howls of "we are the boys to see it out." as argyle's to the tartan, my heart has warmed to an irishman since that night. daylight came, and i tried to brace myself for hotter work, when a body of troops was reported in position to the south of my column. this proved to be charles winder with his (formerly jackson's own) brigade. an accomplished soldier and true brother-in-arms, he had heard the enemy's guns during the night, and, knowing me to be in rear, halted and formed line to await me. his men were fed and rested, and he insisted on taking my place in the rear. passing through winder's line, we moved slowly, with frequent halts, so as to remain near, the enemy pressing hard during the morning. the day was uncommonly hot, the sun like fire, and water scarce along the road; and our men suffered greatly. just after midday my brisk young aide, hamilton, whom i had left with winder to bring early intelligence, came to report that officer in trouble and want of assistance. my men were so jaded as to make me unwilling to retrace ground if it could be avoided; so they were ordered to form line on the crest of the slope at hand, and i went to winder, a mile to the rear. his brigade, renowned as the "stonewall," was deployed on both sides of the pike, on which he had four guns. large masses of cavalry, with guns and some sharp-shooters, were pressing him closely, while far to the north clouds of dust marked the approach of troops. his line was on one of the many swells crossing the pike at right angles, and a gentle slope led to the next crest south, beyond which my brigade was forming. the problem was to retire without giving the enemy, eager and persistent, an opportunity to charge. the situation looked so blue that i offered to move back my command; but winder thought he could pull through, and splendidly did he accomplish it. regiment by regiment, gun by gun, the brigade was withdrawn, always checking the enemy, though boldly led. winder, cool as a professor playing the new german game, directed every movement in person, and the men were worthy of him and of their first commander, jackson. it was very close work in the vale before he reached the next crest, and heavy volleys were necessary to stay our plucky foes; but, once there, my command showed so strong as to impress the enemy, who halted to reconnoiter, and the two brigades were united without further trouble. the position was good, my battery was at hand, and our men were so fatigued that we debated whether it was not more comfortable to fight than retreat. we could hold the ground for hours against cavalry, and night would probably come before infantry got up, while retreat was certain to bring the cavalry on us. at this juncture up came general turner ashby, followed by a considerable force of horse, with guns. this officer had been engaged in destroying bridges in luray valley, to prevent shields from crossing that branch of the shenandoah, and now came, much to our satisfaction, to take charge of the rear. he proceeded to pay his respects to our friends, and soon took them off our hands. we remained an hour to rest the men and give ashby time to make his dispositions, then moved on. before sunset heavy clouds gathered, and the intense heat was broken by a regular downpour, in the midst of which we crossed the bridge over the west branch of the shenandoah--a large stream--at mount jackson, and camped. there was not a dry thread about my person, and my boots would have furnished a respectable bath. notwithstanding the flood, tom soon had a fire, and was off to hunt forage for man and beast. here we were less than ten miles from newmarket, between which and this point the army was camped. jackson was easy about massanutten gap. shields must march south of the mountain to reach him, while the river, just crossed, was now impassable except by bridge. we remained thirty-six hours in this camp, from the evening of the d until the morning of the th of june--a welcome rest to all. two days of light marching carried us thence to harrisonburg, thirty miles. here jackson quitted the pike leading to staunton, and took the road to port republic. this village, twelve miles southeast of harrisonburg, lies at the base of the blue ridge, on the east bank of the shenandoah. several streams unite here to form the east (locally called south) branch of that river; and here too was the only bridge from front royal south, all others having been destroyed by ashby to prevent shields from crossing. this commander was pushing a part of his force south, from front royal and luray, on the east bank. the army passed the night of june in camp three miles from harrisonburg toward port republic. ewell's division, which i had rejoined for the first time since we met jackson, was in rear; and the rear brigade was general george stewart's, composed of one maryland and two virginia regiments. my command was immediately in advance of stewart's. ashby had burnt the bridge at mount jackson to delay fremont, and was camped with his horse in advance of harrisonburg. the road to port republic was heavy from recent rains, causing much delay to trains, so that we did not move on the morning of the th. early in the day fremont, reënforced from banks, got up; and his cavalry, vigorously led, pushed ashby through harrisonburg, where a sharp action occurred, resulting in the capture of many federals--among others, colonel percy wyndham, commanding brigade, whose meeting with major wheat has been described. later, while ewell was conversing with me, a message from ashby took him to the rear. federal cavalry, supported by infantry, was advancing on ashby. stewart's brigade was lying in a wood, under cover of which ewell placed it in position. a severe struggle ensued; the enemy was driven, and many prisoners were taken. i had ridden back with ewell, and so witnessed the affair, uncommonly spirited, and creditable to both sides. colonel kane of philadelphia was among the prisoners and painfully wounded. having known his father, judge kane, as well as his brother, the arctic explorer, i solicited and obtained from jackson his parole. colonel nicholls, left wounded near winchester, had married a short time previous to the war, and his young wife now appeared, seeking to join her husband. jackson referred her request to ewell, who passed it to me. of this i was informed by captain nicholls, th regiment, brother to the colonel, killed a few days after at cold harbor. much cavalry skirmishing was still going on around harrisonburg, dangerous for a lady to pass through; and besides, she had come from port republic, seen our situation, and might be indiscreet. these considerations were stated to captain nicholls, but his sister-in-law insisted on seeing me. a small, fairy-like creature, plucky as a "dandie dinmont" terrier, and with a heart as big as massanutten, she was seated in a nondescript trap, drawn by two mules, driven by a negro. one look from the great, tearful eyes made of me an abject coward, and i basely shuffled the refusal to let her pass on to jackson. the parthian glance of contempt that reached me through her tears showed that the lady understood and despised my paltering. nicholls was speedily exchanged, became a general officer, lost a foot at chancellorsville, and, after leading his people up out of captivity, is now the conservative governor of louisiana. the skirmishing spoken of in the above connection developed into severe work, in which general ashby was killed. alluding to his death in an official report, jackson says, "as a partisan officer i never knew his superior." like claverhouse, "with a face that painters loved to limn and ladies look upon," he was the most daring and accomplished rider in a region of horsemen. his courage was so brilliant as to elicit applause from friend and foe, but he was without capacity or disposition to enforce discipline on his men. i witnessed his deep chagrin at the conduct of our troopers after the enemy had been driven from winchester in may. with proper organization and discipline, his bold riders under his lead might have accomplished all that the lamented nolan claimed as possible for light cavalry. popular imagination, especially the female, is much in error as to these matters. graceful young cavaliers, with flowing locks, leaping cannon to saber countless foes, make a captivating picture. in the language of bosquet, "'tis beautiful, but 'tis not war"; and grave mishaps have been occasioned by this misconception. valor is as necessary now as ever in war, but disciplined, subordinated valor, admitting the courage and energies of all to be welded and directed to a common end. it is much to be desired that the ladies would consent to correct their opinions; for, after all, their approval stimulates our best fighting. on the th of june we marched to a place within four miles of port republic, called cross keys, where several roads met. near at hand was the meeting-house of a sect of german quakers, tunkers or dunkards, as they are indifferently named. here jackson determined to await and fight fremont, who followed him hard; but as a part of shields's force was now unpleasantly near, he pushed on to port republic with winder's and other infantry, and a battery, which camped on the hither bank of the river. jackson himself, with his staff and a mounted escort, crossed the bridge and passed the night in the village. ewell, in immediate charge at cross keys, was ready early in the morning of the th, when fremont attacked. the ground was undulating, with much wood, and no extended view could be had. in my front the attack, if such it could be called, was feeble in the extreme--an affair of skirmishers, in which the enemy yielded to the slightest pressure. a staff officer of jackson's, in hot haste, came with orders from his chief to march my brigade double-quick to port republic. elzey's brigade, in second line to the rear, was asked to take my place and relieve my skirmishers; then, advising the staff officer to notify ewell, whom he had not seen, we started on the run, for such a message from jackson meant business. two of the intervening miles were quickly passed, when another officer appeared with orders to halt. in half an hour, during which the sound of battle at cross keys thickened, jackson came. as before stated, he had passed the night in the village, with his staff and escort. up as usual at dawn, he started alone to recross the bridge, leaving his people to follow. the bridge was a few yards below the last house in the village, and some mist overhung the river. under cover of this a small body of horse, with one gun, from shields's forces, had reached the east end of the bridge and trained the gun on it. jackson was within an ace of capture. as he spurred across, the gun was fired on him, but without effect, and the sound brought up staff and escort, when the horse retired north. this incident occasioned the order to me. after relating it (all save his own danger), jackson passed on to ewell. thither i followed, to remain in reserve until the general forward movement in the afternoon, by which fremont was driven back with loss of prisoners. we did not persist far, as shields's force was near upon us. from ewell i learned that there had been some pretty fighting in the morning, though less than might have been expected from fremont's numbers. i know not if the presence of this commander had a benumbing influence on his troops, but certainly his advanced cavalry and infantry had proved bold and enterprising. in the evening we moved to the river and camped. winder's and other brigades crossed the bridge, and during the night ewell, with most of the army, drew near, leaving trimble's brigade and the horse at cross keys. no one apprehended another advance by fremont. the following morning, sunday, june , my command passed the bridge, moved several hundred yards down the road, and halted. our trains had gone east over the blue ridge. the sun appeared above the mountain while the men were quietly breakfasting. suddenly, from below, was heard the din of battle, loud and sustained, artillery and small arms. the men sprang into ranks, formed column, and marched, and i galloped forward a short mile to see the following scene: from the mountain, clothed to its base with undergrowth and timber, a level--clear, open, and smooth--extended to the river. this plain was some thousand yards in width. half a mile north, a gorge, through which flowed a small stream, cut the mountain at a right angle. the northern shoulder of this gorge projected farther into the plain than the southern, and on an elevated plateau of the shoulder were placed six guns, sweeping every inch of the plain to the south. federal lines, their right touching the river, were advancing steadily, with banners flying and arms gleaming in the sun. a gallant show, they came on. winder's and another brigade, with a battery, opposed them. this small force was suffering cruelly, and its skirmishers were driven in on their thin supporting line. as my irishmen predicted, "shields's boys were after fighting." below, ewell was hurrying his men over the bridge, but it looked as if we should be doubled up on him ere he could cross and develop much strength. jackson was on the road, a little in advance of his line, where the fire was hottest, with reins on his horse's neck, seemingly in prayer. attracted by my approach, he said, in his usual voice, "delightful excitement." i replied that it was pleasant to learn he was enjoying himself, but thought he might have an indigestion of such fun if the six-gun battery was not silenced. he summoned a young officer from his staff, and pointed up the mountain. the head of my approaching column was turned short up the slope, and speedily came to a path running parallel with the river. we took this path, the guide leading the way. from him i learned that the plateau occupied by the battery had been used for a charcoal kiln, and the path we were following, made by the burners in hauling wood, came upon the gorge opposite the battery. moving briskly, we reached the hither side a few yards from the guns. infantry was posted near, and riflemen were in the undergrowth on the slope above. our approach, masked by timber, was unexpected. the battery was firing rapidly, enabled from elevation to fire over the advancing lines. the head of my column began to deploy under cover for attack, when the sounds of battle to our rear appeared to recede, and a loud federal cheer was heard, proving jackson to be hard pressed. it was rather an anxious moment, demanding instant action. leaving a staff officer to direct my rear regiment--the th, colonel hays--to form in the wood as a reserve, i ordered the attack, though the deployment was not completed, and our rapid march by a narrow path had occasioned some disorder. with a rush and shout the gorge was passed and we were in the battery. surprise had aided us, but the enemy's infantry rallied in a moment and drove us out. we returned, to be driven a second time. the riflemen on the slope worried us no little, and two companies of the th regiment were sent up the gorge to gain ground above and dislodge them, which was accomplished. the fighting in and around the battery was hand to hand, and many fell from bayonet wounds. even the artillerymen used their rammers in a way not laid down in the manual, and died at their guns. as conan said to the devil, "'twas claw for claw." i called for hays, but he, the promptest of men, and his splendid regiment, could not be found. something unexpected had occurred, but there was no time for speculation. with a desperate rally, in which i believe the drummer-boys shared, we carried the battery for the third time, and held it. infantry and riflemen had been driven off, and we began to feel a little comfortable, when the enemy, arrested in his advance by our attack, appeared. he had countermarched, and, with left near the river, came into full view of our situation. wheeling to the right, with colors advanced, like a solid wall he marched straight upon us. there seemed nothing left but to set our backs to the mountain and die hard. at the instant, crashing through the underwood, came ewell, outriding staff and escort. he produced the effect of a reënforcement, and was welcomed with cheers. the line before us halted and threw forward skirmishers. a moment later, a shell came shrieking along it, loud confederate cheers reached our delighted ears, and jackson, freed from his toils, rushed up like a whirlwind, the enemy in rapid retreat. we turned the captured guns on them as they passed, ewell serving as a gunner. though rapid, the retreat never became a rout. fortune had refused her smiles, but shields's brave "boys" preserved their organization and were formidable to the last; and had shields himself, with his whole command, been on the field, we should have had tough work indeed. jackson came up, with intense light in his eyes, grasped my hand, and said the brigade should have the captured battery. i thought the men would go mad with cheering, especially the irishmen. a huge fellow, with one eye closed and half his whiskers burned by powder, was riding cock-horse on a gun, and, catching my attention, yelled out, "we told you to bet on your boys." their success against brother patlanders seemed doubly welcome. strange people, these irish! fighting every one's battles, and cheerfully taking the hot end of the poker, they are only found wanting when engaged in what they believe to be their national cause. excepting the defense of limerick under brilliant sarsfield, i recall no domestic struggle in which they have shown their worth. while jackson pursued the enemy without much effect, as his cavalry, left in front of fremont, could not get over till late, we attended to the wounded and performed the last offices to the dead, our own and the federal. i have never seen so many dead and wounded in the same limited space. a large farmhouse on the plain, opposite the mouth of the gorge, was converted into a hospital. ere long my lost th regiment, sadly cut up, rejoined. this regiment was in rear of the column when we left jackson to gain the path in the woods, and before it filed out of the road his thin line was so pressed that jackson ordered hays to stop the enemy's rush. this was done, for the th would have stopped a herd of elephants, but at a fearful cost. colonel hays was severely wounded, among many others, and the number of killed was large. upon my promotion to major-general, hays succeeded to the command of the brigade, served through the war, returned to the practice of the law, and died in new orleans. he was brother to colonel jack hays, formerly of texas, now of california, and shared much of the fighting ability of that renowned partisan. the young officer who guided us through the wood deserves mention, as he was one of the first to reach the battery, where he was killed. lieutenant english, near harper's ferry, virginia, proved to be his name and place of birth. many hours passed in discharge of sad duties to the wounded and dead, during which fremont appeared on the opposite bank of the river and opened his guns; but, observing doubtless our occupation, he ceased his fire, and after a short time withdrew. it may be added here that jackson had caused such alarm at washington as to start milroy, banks, fremont, and shields toward that capital, and the great valley was cleared of the enemy. we passed the night high up the mountain, where we moved to reach our supply wagons. a cold rain was falling, and before we found them every one was tired and famished. i rather took it out of the train-master for pushing so far up, although i had lunched comfortably from the haversack of a dead federal. it is not pleasant to think of now, but war _is_ a little hardening. on the th of june the army moved down to the river, above port republic, where the valley was wide, with many trees, and no enemy to worry or make us afraid. here closed jackson's wonderful valley campaign of .[ ] [footnote : a part of the foregoing text was published in the number of the "north american review" for march, , under the title of "stonewall jackson and the valley campaign." in a kind and friendly letter, dated new york, march , general shields corrects some misapprehensions into which i had fallen, more especially concerning his _personal_ connection with the events described. i had been unable to procure a copy of general shields's report, which, he informs me in the same letter, was suppressed by secretary stanton.] the louisiana brigade marched from its camp near conrad's store, to join jackson at newmarket, on the st of may. in twenty days it marched over two hundred miles, fought in five actions, of which three were severe, and several skirmishes, and, though it had suffered heavy loss in officers and men, was yet strong, hard as nails, and full of confidence. i have felt it a duty to set forth the achievements of the brigade, than which no man ever led braver into action, in their proper light, because such reputation as i gained in this campaign is to be ascribed to its excellence. for the first time since several weeks, friend ewell and i had a chance to renew our talks; but events soon parted us again. subsequently he was wounded in the knee at the second battle of manassas, and suffered amputation of the leg in consequence. his absence of mind nearly proved fatal. forgetting his condition, he suddenly started to walk, came down on the stump, imperfectly healed, and produced violent hæmorrhage. about the close of the war he married mrs. brown, a widow, and daughter of judge campbell, a distinguished citizen of tennessee, who had represented the united states at the court of st. petersburg, where this lady was born. she was a kinswoman of ewell, and said to have been his early love. he brought her to new orleans in , where i hastened to see him. he took me by the hand and presented me to "my wife, mrs. brown." how well i remember our chat! how he talked of his plans and hopes and happiness, and of his great lot of books, which he was afraid he would never be able to read through. the while "my wife, mrs. brown," sat by, handsome as a picture, smiling on her general, as well she might, so noble a gentleman. a few short years, and both he and his wife passed away within an hour of each other; but his last years were made happy by her companionship, and comfortable by the wealth she had brought him. dear dick ewell! virginia never bred a truer gentleman, a braver soldier, nor an odder, more lovable fellow. on the second day in this camp general winder came to me and said that he had asked leave to go to richmond, been refused, and resigned. he commanded jackson's old brigade, and was aggrieved by some unjust interference. holding winder in high esteem, i hoped to save him to the army, and went to jackson, to whose magnanimity i appealed, and to arouse this dwelt on the rich harvest of glory he had reaped in his brilliant campaign. observing him closely, i caught a glimpse of the man's inner nature. it was but a glimpse. the curtain closed, and he was absorbed in prayer. yet in that moment i saw an ambition boundless as cromwell's, and as merciless. this latter quality was exhibited in his treatment of general richard garnett, cousin to robert garnett, before mentioned, and his codisciple at west point. i have never met officer or soldier, present at kernstown, who failed to condemn the harsh treatment of garnett after that action. richard garnett was subsequently restored to command at my instance near jackson, and fell on the field of gettysburg. no reply was made to my effort for winder, and i rose to take my leave, when jackson said he would ride with me. we passed silently along the way to my camp, where he left me. that night a few lines came from winder, to inform me that jackson had called on him, and his resignation was withdrawn. charles winder was born in maryland, graduated at west point in , embarked soon thereafter for california in charge of a detachment of recruits, was wrecked on the coast, and saved his men by his coolness and energy. he left the united states army to join the confederacy, and was killed at cedar run some weeks after this period. had he lived, he would have reached and adorned high position. and now a great weariness and depression fell upon me. i was threatened with a return of the illness experienced the previous autumn. for many weeks i had received no intelligence from my family. new orleans had fallen, and my wife and children resided there or on an estate near the city. i hoped to learn of them at richmond; change might benefit health, and matters were quiet in the valley. accordingly, a short leave was asked for and granted; and although i returned within three days to join my command on the march to cold harbor, we were absorbed in the larger army operating against mcclellan, and i saw but little of jackson. i have written that he was ambitious; and his ambition was vast, all-absorbing. like the unhappy wretch from whose shoulders sprang the foul serpent, he loathed it, perhaps feared it; but he could not escape it--it was himself--nor rend it--it was his own flesh. he fought it with prayer, constant and earnest--apollyon and christian in ceaseless combat. what limit to set to his ability i know not, for he was ever superior to occasion. under ordinary circumstances it was difficult to estimate him because of his peculiarities--peculiarities that would have made a lesser man absurd, but that served to enhance his martial fame, as those of samuel johnson did his literary eminence. he once observed, in reply to an allusion to his severe marching, that it was better to lose one man in marching than five in fighting; and, acting on this, he invariably surprised the enemy--milroy at mcdowell, banks and fremont in the valley, mcclellan's right at cold harbor, pope at second manassas. fortunate in his death, he fell at the summit of glory, before the sun of the confederacy had set, ere defeat, and suffering, and selfishness could turn their fangs upon him. as one man, the south wept for him; foreign nations shared the grief; even federals praised him. with wolfe and nelson and havelock, he took his place in the hearts of english-speaking peoples. in the first years of this century, a great battle was fought on the plains of the danube. a determined charge on the austrian center gained the victory for france. the courage and example of a private soldier, who there fell, contributed much to the success of the charge. ever after, at the parades of his battalion, the name of latour d'auvergne was first called, when the oldest sergeant stepped to the front and answered, "died on the field of honor." in valhalla, beyond the grave, where spirits of warriors assemble, when on the roll of heroes the name of jackson is reached, it will be for the majestic shade of lee to pronounce the highest eulogy known to our race--"died on the field of duty." i reached richmond, by charlottesville and lynchburg, the day after leaving camp, and went to the war office, where i found letters from my family. my wife and children had left new orleans on a steamer just as farragut's fleet arrived, and were on the atchafalaya river with friends, all well. while reading my letters, an acquaintance in high position in the office greeted me, but went on to say, if i knew what was afoot, my stay in richmond would be short. taking the hint, and feeling improved in health in consequence of relief from anxiety about my family, i returned to the station at once, and took rail to charlottesville. arrived there, i met the valley army in march to the southeast, and joined my command. that night we camped between charlottesville and gordonsville, in orange county, the birthplace of my father. a distant kinsman, whom i had never met, came to invite me to his house in the neighborhood. learning that i always slept in camp, he seemed so much distressed as to get my consent to breakfast with him, if he would engage to have breakfast at the barbarous hour of sunrise. his house was a little distant from the road; so, the following morning, he sent a mounted groom to show the way. my aide, young hamilton, accompanied me, and tom of course followed. it was a fine old mansion, surrounded by well-kept grounds. this immediate region had not yet been touched by war. flowering plants and rose trees, in full bloom, attested the glorious wealth of june. on the broad portico, to welcome us, stood the host, with his fresh, charming wife, and, a little retired, a white-headed butler. greetings over with host and lady, this delightful creature, with ebon face beaming hospitality, advanced, holding a salver, on which rested a huge silver goblet filled with virginia's nectar, mint julep. quantities of cracked ice rattled refreshingly in the goblet; sprigs of fragrant mint peered above its broad rim; a mass of white sugar, too sweetly indolent to melt, rested on the mint; and, like rose buds on a snow bank, luscious strawberries crowned the sugar. ah! that julep! mars ne'er received such tipple from the hands of ganymede. breakfast was announced, and what a breakfast! a beautiful service, snowy table cloth, damask napkins, long unknown; above all, a lovely woman in crisp gown, with more and handsomer roses on her cheek than in her garden. 'twas an idyl in the midst of the stern realities of war! the table groaned beneath its viands. sable servitors brought in, hot and hot from the kitchen, cakes of wondrous forms, inventions of the tropical imagination of africa, inflamed by virginian hospitality. i was rather a moderate trencherman, but the performance of hamilton was gargantuan, alarming. duty dragged us from this eden; yet in hurried adieus i did not forget to claim of the fair hostess the privilege of a cousin. i watched hamilton narrowly for a time. the youth wore a sodden, apoplectic look, quite out of his usual brisk form. a gallop of some miles put him right, but for many days he dilated on the breakfast with the gusto of one of hannibal's veterans on the delights of capua. chapter vi. "the seven days around richmond." leaving gordonsville, we proceeded in a southeasterly direction, passing louisa court house and frederickshall, and camped at ashland on the fredericksburg railway, twelve miles north of richmond, on the evening of the th of june. to deceive the enemy, general lee had sent to the valley a considerable force under generals whiting, hood, and lawton. the movement was openly made and speedily known at washington, where it produced the desired impression, that jackson would invade maryland from the valley. these troops reached staunton by rail on the th, and, without leaving the train, turned back to gordonsville, where they united with jackson. the line from gordonsville to frederickshall, south of which point it had been interrupted, was used to facilitate our movement, but this was slow and uncertain. the advance frequently halted or changed direction. we were pushing between mcdowell and mcclellan's right, over ground recently occupied by the enemy. bridges had been destroyed, and, to conceal the movement, no guides were trusted--an over-caution occasioning delay. during the day and night of the th i suffered from severe pains in the head and loins, and on the morning of the th found it impossible to mount my horse; so the brigade marched under the senior colonel, seymour, th regiment. a small ambulance was left with me, and my staff was directed to accompany seymour and send back word if an engagement was imminent. several messages came during the day, the last after nightfall, reporting the command to be camped near pole green church, beyond the chickahominy; so far, no fighting. lying on the floor of a vacant house at ashland, i had scarce consciousness to comprehend these messages. pains in head and back continued, with loss of power to move my limbs. toward daylight of the th sleep came from exhaustion, and lasted some hours. from this i was aroused by sounds of artillery, loud and constant, brought by the easterly wind. tom raised me into a sitting posture, and administered a cup of strong coffee. the sound of battle continued until it became unendurable, and i was put into the ambulance by tom and the driver, the former following with the horses. we took the route by which the troops had marched, the din of conflict increasing with every mile, the rattle of small arms mingling with the thud of guns. after weary hours of rough road, every jolt on which threatened to destroy my remaining vitality, we approached cold harbor and met numbers of wounded. among these was general elzey, with a dreadful wound in the head and face. his aide was taking him to the rear in an ambulance, and, recognizing tom, stopped a moment to tell of the fight. ewell's division, to which elzey and i belonged, had just been engaged with heavy loss. this was too much for any illness, and i managed somehow to struggle on to my horse and get into the action. it was a wild scene. battle was raging furiously. shot, shell, and ball exploded and whistled. hundreds of wounded were being carried off, while the ground was strewn with dead. dense thickets of small pines covered much of the field, further obscured by clouds of smoke. the first troops encountered were d.h. hill's, and, making way through these, i came upon winder's, moving across the front from right to left. then succeeded elzey's of ewell's division, and, across the road leading to gaines's mill, my own. mangled and bleeding, as were all of ewell's, it was holding the ground it had won close to the enemy's line, but unable to advance. the sun was setting as i joined, and at the moment cheers came up from our left, raised by winder's command, which had turned and was sweeping the federal right, while lawton's georgians, fresh and eager, attacked in our front. the enemy gave way, and, under cover of the night, retired over the chickahominy. firing continued for two hours, though darkness concealed everything. the loss in my command was distressing. wheat, of whom i have written, was gone, and seymour, and many others. i had a wretched feeling of guilt, especially about seymour, who led the brigade and died in my place. colonel seymour was born in georgia, but had long resided in new orleans, where he edited the leading commercial paper--a man of culture, respected of all. in early life he had served in indian and mexican wars, and his high spirit brought him to this, though past middle age. brave old seymour! i can see him now, mounting the hill at winchester, on foot, with sword and cap in hand, his thin gray locks streaming, turning to his sturdy irishmen with "steady, men! dress to the right!" georgia has been fertile of worthies, but will produce none more deserving than colonel seymour. the following morning, while looking to the burial of the dead and care of the wounded, i had an opportunity of examining the field of battle. the campaign around richmond is too well known to justify me in entering into details, and i shall confine myself to events within my own experience, only enlarging on such general features as are necessary to explain criticism. the chickahominy, a sluggish stream and subject to floods, flows through a low, marshy bottom, draining the country between the pamunky or york and james rivers, into which last it discharges many miles below richmond. the upper portion of its course from the crossing of the central railroad, six miles north of richmond, to long bridge, some three times that distance to the southeast, is parallel with both the above-mentioned rivers. the bridges with which we were concerned at and after cold harbor were the federal military bridges, grapevine, york river railroad, bottom's, and long, the lowermost; after which the stream, affected by tide, spread over a marshy country. the upper or grapevine bridge was on the road leading due south from cold harbor, and, passing savage's station on york river railroad, united with the williamsburg road, which ran east from richmond to bottom's bridge. a branch from this williamsburg road continued on the south bank of the chickahominy to long bridge, where it joined the charles city, darbytown, and newmarket roads coming south-southeast from richmond. many other roads, with no names or confusing ones, crossed this region, which was densely wooded and intersected by sluggish streams, draining the marshes into both the chickahominy and james. we came upon two of these country roads leading in quite different directions, but bearing the same name, grapevine; and it will astound advocates of phonics to learn that the name of _darby_ (whence darbytown) was thus pronounced, while it was spelt and written _enroughty_. a german philologist might have discovered, unaided, the connection between the sound and the letters; but it would hardly have occurred to mortals of less erudition. at the beginning of operations in this richmond campaign, lee had seventy-five thousand men, mcclellan one hundred thousand. round numbers are here given, but they are taken from official sources. a high opinion has been expressed of the strategy of lee, by which jackson's forces from the valley were suddenly thrust between mcdowell and mcclellan's right, and it deserves all praise; but the tactics on the field were vastly inferior to the strategy. indeed, it may be confidently asserted that from cold harbor to malvern hill, inclusive, there was nothing but a series of blunders, one after another, and all huge. the confederate commanders knew no more about the topography of the country than they did about central africa. here was a limited district, the whole of it within a day's march of the city of richmond, capital of virginia and the confederacy, almost the first spot on the continent occupied by the british race, the chickahominy itself classic by legends of captain john smith and pocahontas; and yet we were profoundly ignorant of the country, were without maps, sketches, or proper guides, and nearly as helpless as if we had been suddenly transferred to the banks of the lualaba. the day before the battle of malvern hill, president davis could not find a guide with intelligence enough to show him the way from one of our columns to another; and this fact i have from him. people find a small cable in the middle of the ocean, a thousand fathoms below the surface. for two days we lost mcclellan's great army in a few miles of woodland, and never had any definite knowledge of its movements. let it be remembered, too, that mcclellan had opened the peninsular campaign weeks before, indicating this very region to be the necessary theatre of conflict; that the confederate commander (up to the time of his wound at fair oaks), general johnston, had been a topographical engineer in the united states army; while his successor, general lee--another engineer--had been on duty at the war office in richmond and in constant intercourse with president davis, who was educated at west point and served seven years; and then think of our ignorance in a military sense of the ground over which we were called to fight. every one must agree that it was amazing. even now, i can scarcely realize it. mcclellan was as superior to us in knowledge of our own land as were the germans to the french in their late war, and owed the success of his retreat to it, although credit must be given to his ability. we had much praying at various headquarters, and large reliance on special providences; but none were vouchsafed, by pillar of cloud or fire, to supplement our ignorance; so we blundered on like people trying to read without knowledge of their letters. to return to the field of cold harbor, the morning (saturday) after the battle. mcclellan had chosen an excellent position, covering his military bridges over the chickahominy. his left, resting on the river, and his center were covered by a small stream, one of its affluents, boggy and of difficult passage. his right was on high ground, near cold harbor, in a dense thicket of pine-scrub, with artillery massed. this position, three miles in extent, and enfiladed in front by heavy guns on the south bank of the chickahominy, was held by three lines of infantry, one above the other on the rising ground, which was crowned with numerous batteries, concealed by timber. mcclellan reported thirty-six thousand men present, including sykes's and porter's regulars; but reënforcements brought over during the action probably increased this number to fifty thousand. lee had forty thousand on the field. longstreet attacked on our right, near the river, a.p. hill on his left. jackson approached cold harbor from the north, his divisions in column on one road as follows: ewell's, whiting's, lawton's (georgians), and winder's. at cold harbor jackson united with the division of d.h. hill, in advance of him, and directed it to _find_ and attack the enemy's right. his own divisions, in the order above named, were to come up on d.h. hill's right and connect it with a.p. hill's left. artillery was only employed by the confederates late in the day, and on their extreme left. d.h. hill and ewell were speedily engaged, and suffered heavily, as did a.p. hill and longstreet, all attacking in front. ignorance of the ground, densely wooded, and want of guides occasioned confusion and delay in the divisions to ewell's rear. lawton came to ewell's support, whiting to a.p. hill's; while of the three brigades of the last division, the second went to longstreet's right, the third to a.p. hill's center, and the first was taken by winder, with a fine soldierly instinct, from right to left, across the battle, to reënforce d.h. hill and turn the federal position. this movement was decisive, and if executed earlier would have saved loss of men and time. so much for fighting on unknown ground. during the day of saturday, mcclellan remained on the south bank of the chickahominy with guns in position guarding his bridges; and the only movement made by lee was to send stuart's cavalry east to the river terminus of the york railway, and ewell's division to the bridge of that line over the chickahominy and to bottom's, a short distance below. late in the evening general lee informed me that i would remain the following day to guard bottom's and the railway bridges, while stuart's cavalry watched the river below to long bridge and beyond. from all indications, he thought that mcclellan would withdraw during the night, and expected to cross the river in the morning to unite with magruder and huger in pursuit. holmes's division was to be brought from the south side of the james to bar the enemy's road; and he expressed some confidence that his dispositions would inflict serious loss on mcclellan's army, if he could receive prompt and accurate information of that general's movements. meantime, i would remain until the following (sunday) evening, unless sooner convinced of the enemy's designs, when i would cross grapevine bridge and follow jackson. it is to be presumed that general lee disclosed so much of his plans to his subordinates as he deemed necessary to insure their intelligent execution. the morning light showed that the federals had destroyed a part of the railway bridge near the center of the stream. we were opposite to savage's station (on the line toward richmond), from which distinct sounds reached us, but dense forest limited vision to the margin of the river. smoke rising above the trees, and explosions, indicated the destruction of stores. in the afternoon, a great noise of battle came--artillery, small arms, shouts. this, as we afterward learned, was magruder's engagement at savage's station, but this din of combat was silenced to our ears by the following incident: a train was heard approaching from savage's. gathering speed, it came rushing on, and quickly emerged from the forest, two engines drawing a long string of carriages. reaching the bridge, the engines exploded with terrific noise, followed in succession by explosions of the carriages, laden with ammunition. shells burst in all directions, the river was lashed into foam, trees were torn for acres around, and several of my men were wounded. the enemy had taken this means of destroying surplus ammunition. after this queer action had ceased, as sunset was approaching, and all quiet at bottom's bridge, we moved up stream and crossed grapevine bridge, repaired by jackson earlier in the day. darkness fell as we bivouacked on the low ground south of the river. a heavy rain came down, converting the ground into a lake, in the midst of which a half-drowned courier, with a dispatch, was brought to me. with difficulty, underneath an ambulance, a light was struck to read the dispatch, which proved to be from magruder, asking for reënforcements in front of savage's station, where he was then engaged. several hours had elapsed since the courier left magruder, and he could tell nothing beyond the fact of the engagement, the noise of which we had heard. it must be borne in mind that, during the operations north of the chickahominy, the divisions of magruder and huger had remained in position between mcclellan's left and richmond. in the night the enemy disappeared from savage's, near which we passed the following (monday) morning, in march to rejoin jackson. we encountered troops of magruder's, huger's, and other divisions, seeking to find their proper routes. countless questions about roads were asked in vain. at length, we discovered that jackson had followed the one nearest the chickahominy, and about noon overtook the rear of his column, halted in the road. artillery could be heard in front, and a staff officer was sent to find out the meaning of it. enfeebled by pain, i used an ambulance to husband my little strength for emergencies; and i think it was here that general wade hampton, accompanied by senator wigfall, came up to me. hampton had been promoted to brigadier for gallantry at manassas, where he was wounded, but not yet assigned to a command. wigfall had left the army to take a seat in the confederate congress as senator from texas, and from him i learned that he was in hopes some brigadier would be killed to make a place for hampton, to whom, as volunteer aide, he proposed to attach himself and see the fun. finding me extended in an ambulance, he doubtless thought he had met his opportunity, and felt aggrieved that i was not _in extremis_. hampton took command of a brigade in jackson's old division the next day, and perhaps his friend wigfall enjoyed himself at malvern hill. the staff officer returned from the front and reported the situation. d.h. hill's division was at white oak swamp creek, a slough, and one of "despond" to us, draining to the chickahominy. the enemy held the high ground beyond, and artillery fire was continuous, but no infantry was engaged. there was no change until nightfall, when we bivouacked where we were. our loss, _one_ artilleryman mortally wounded, proved that no serious effort to pass the slough was made; yet a prize was in reach worth the loss of thousands. while we were idly shelling the wood, behind which lay franklin's corps--the right of mcclellan's army--scarce a rifle shot to the southwest, but concealed by intervening forest, longstreet and a.p. hill were fighting the bloody engagement of frazier's farm with heintzelman and mccall, the federal center and left. again, fractions against masses; for of the two divisions expected to support them, magruder's and huger's, the latter did not get up, and the former was taken off by a misleading message from holmes, who, from the south bank of the james, had reached the newmarket road a day later than was intended. longstreet and hill fought into the night, held a large part of the field, and captured many prisoners (including general mccall) and guns, but their own loss was severe. after the action, franklin quietly passed within a few yards of them, joined heintzelman, and with him gained malvern hill, which mcclellan had fortified during the day, employing for the purpose the commands of keyes and porter. on the succeeding morning (july ), jackson followed the enemy's track from white oak swamp creek toward malvern hill, passing the field of frazier's farm, and magruder's division, which had arrived in the night and relieved the exhausted commands of longstreet and hill. malvern hill was a desperate position to attack in front, though, like cold harbor, it could be turned on the right. here mcclellan was posted with his whole force. his right was covered by turkey creek, an affluent of the james; his left was near that river and protected by gunboats, which, though hidden by timber, threw shells across his entire front. distance and uncertainty of aim saved us from much loss by these projectiles, but their shriek and elongated form astonished our landward men, who called them lamp posts. by its height, malvern hill dominated the ground to the north, the james river, and the newmarket road on which we approached, and was crowned with a numerous and heavy artillery. on our side, from inferior elevation, artillery labored under a great disadvantage, and was brought into action in detail to be overpowered. the left attack was assigned to jackson, the right to magruder, supported by huger and holmes--longstreet and a.p. hill in reserve. jackson's dispositions were as follows: on the extreme left, the division of whiting, then artillery supported by a brigade under wade hampton, my brigade, and on my right the division of d.h. hill. in reserve were the remainder of ewell's division and the brigades of winder, lawton, and cunningham. it was perhaps o'clock of the afternoon before these dispositions were completed. as it was general lee's intention to open from his right, magruder was waited for, who, following jackson on the road, was necessarily later in getting into position. orders were for hill to attack with the bayonet as soon as he heard the cheers of magruder's charge. to be ready, hill advanced over open ground to some timber within four hundred yards of the enemy's line, but suffered in doing so. artillery sent to his support was crippled and driven off. it was o'clock or after when a loud shout and some firing were heard on the right, and, supposing this to be magruder's attack, hill led his men to the charge. he carried the first line of the enemy, who, unoccupied elsewhere, reënforced at once, and hill was beaten off with severe loss. the brigades of trimble, lawton, winder, and cunningham were sent to his assistance, but could accomplish nothing beyond holding the ground. about sunset, after hill's attack had failed, magruder got into position and led on his men with similar fortune. like hill, he and his troops displayed superb courage and suffered enormously; but it was not to be; such partial attacks were without the first element of success. my brigade was not moved from its position, but experienced some loss by artillery. after the action, stuart arrived from the north side of the chickahominy, where he had been since cold harbor. had he been brought over the long bridge two days earlier, mcclellan's huge trains on the charles city road would have fallen an easy prey to his cavalry, and he could have blocked the roads through the forest. mcclellan's guns continued firing long after nightfall, but the ensuing morning found him and his army at harrison's landing, in an impregnable position. here ended the campaign around richmond. the strategy displayed on the confederate side was magnificent, and gave opportunity for resplendent success; but this opportunity was lost by tactical mistakes, occasioned by want of knowledge of the theatre of action, and it is to be feared that time, when he renders his verdict, will declare the gallant dead who fell at gaines's mill, cold harbor, frazier's farm, and malvern hill, to have been sacrificed on the altar of the bloodiest of all molochs--ignorance. the crisis of my illness now came in a paralysis of the lower limbs, and i was taken to richmond, where i learned of my promotion to major-general, on the recommendation of jackson, for services in the valley, and assignment to a distant field. * * * * * having expressed an opinion of mcclellan as an organizer of armies, i will now treat of his conduct as a commander in this and his subsequent campaign. his first operations on the peninsula were marked by a slowness and hesitancy to be expected of an engineer, with small experience in handling troops. his opponent, general magruder, was a man of singular versatility. of a boiling, headlong courage, he was too excitable for high command. widely known for social attractions, he had a histrionic vein, and indeed was fond of private theatricals. few managers could have surpassed him in imposing on an audience a score of supernumeraries for a grand army. accordingly, with scarce a tenth the force, he made mcclellan reconnoiter and deploy with all the caution of old melas, till johnston came up. it is true that mcclellan steadily improved, and gained confidence in himself and his army; yet he seemed to regard the latter as a parent does a child, and, like the first frederick william's gigantic grenadiers, too precious for gunpowder. his position in front of richmond, necessitated by the establishment of his base on york river, was vicious, because his army was separated by the chickahominy, a stream subject to heavy floods, which swept away bridges and made the adjacent lowlands impassable. attacked at fair oaks while the river was in flood, he displayed energy, but owed the escape of his two exposed corps to johnston's wound and the subsequent blunders of the confederates. to operate against richmond on the north bank of the james, his proper plan was to clear that river and rest his left upon it, or to make the potomac and rappahannock his base, as the line of rail from aquia and fredericksburg was but little longer than the york river line. this, keeping him more directly between the confederate army and washington, would have given him mcdowell's corps, the withdrawal of which from his direction he earnestly objected to. the true line of attack was on the south of the james, where grant was subsequently forced by the ability of lee; but it should be observed that after he took the field, mcclellan had not the liberty of action accorded to grant. that lee caught his right "in the air" at hanover and cold harbor, mcclellan ascribes to his government's interference with and withdrawal of mcdowell's corps. reserving this, he fought well at gaines's mill, cold harbor, and frazier's farm. always protecting his selected line of retreat, bringing off his movable stores, and preserving the organization of his army, he restored its spirit and _morale_ by turning at malvern hill to inflict a bloody repulse on his enemy. in his official report he speaks of his movement from the chickahominy to harrison's landing on the james as a change of base, previously determined. this his detractors sneer at as an afterthought, thereby unwittingly enhancing his merit. regarded as a change of base, carefully considered and provided for, it was most creditable; but if suddenly and unexpectedly forced upon him, he exhibited a courage, vigor, and presence of mind worthy of the greatest commanders. safe at harrison's landing, in communication with the fleet, the army was transferred from mcclellan to the command of general pope; and the influence of mcclellan on his troops can not be correctly estimated without some allusion to this officer, under whose command the federal army of the potomac suffered such mortifying defeat. of an effrontery while danger was remote equaled by helplessness when it was present, and mendacity after it had passed, the annals of despotism scarce afford an example of the elevation of such a favorite. it has been said that his talent for the relation of obscene stories engaged the attention and confidence of president lincoln. however this may be, great was the consternation at washington produced by his incapacity. the bitterness of official rancor was sweetened, and in honeyed phrase mcclellan was implored to save the capital. he displayed an unselfish patriotism by accepting the task without conditions for himself, but it may be doubted if he was right in leaving devoted friends under the scalping-knife, speedily applied, as might have been foreseen. with vigor he restored order and spirit to the army, and led it, through the passes of south mountain, to face lee, who was stretched from chambersburg to harper's ferry. having unaccountably permitted his cavalry to separate from him, and deprived himself of adequate means of information, lee was to some extent taken unawares. his thin lines at antietam, slowly fed with men jaded by heavy marching, were sorely pressed. there was a moment, as hooker's advance was stayed by the wound of its leader, when mcclellan, with _storgé_ of battle, might have led on his reserves and swept the field. hard would it have been for the confederates, with the river in rear; but this seemed beyond mcclellan or outside of his nature. antietam was a drawn battle, and lee recrossed into virginia at his leisure. while it may be confidently believed that mcclellan would have continued to improve by experience in the field, it is doubtful if he possessed that divine spark which impels a commander, at the accepted moment, to throw every man on the enemy and grasp complete victory. but his government gave him no further opportunity. he disappeared from the war, to be succeeded by mediocrity, too well recognized to disturb the susceptibility of a war secretary who, like louvois, was able, but jealous of merit and lustful of power. * * * * * although in the last months of the war, after he had assumed command of the armies of the confederacy, i had some correspondence with general lee, i never met him again, and indeed was widely separated from him, and it now behooves me to set forth an opinion of his place in southern history. of all the men i have seen, he was best entitled to the epithet of distinguished; and so marked was his appearance in this particular, that he would not have passed unnoticed through the streets of any capital. reserved almost to coldness, his calm dignity repelled familiarity: not that he seemed without sympathies, but that he had so conquered his own weaknesses as to prevent the confession of others before him. at the outbreak of the war his reputation was exclusively that of an engineer, in which branch of the military service of the united states he had, with a short exception, passed his career. he was early sent to western virginia on a forlorn hope against rosecrans, where he had no success; for success was impossible. yet his lofty character was respected of all and compelled public confidence. indeed, his character seemed perfect, his bath in stygian waters complete; not a vulnerable spot remained: _totus teres atque rotundus_. his soldiers reverenced him and had unbounded confidence in him, for he shared all their privations, and they saw him ever unshaken of fortune. tender and protecting love he did not inspire: such love is given to weakness, not to strength. not only was he destitute of a vulgar greed for fame, he would not extend a hand to welcome it when it came unbidden. he was without ambition, and, like washington, into whose family connection he had married, kept duty as his guide. the strategy by which he openly, to attract attention, reënforced jackson in the valley, to thrust him between mcdowell and mcclellan at cold harbor, deserves to rank with marlborough's cross march in germany and napoleon's rapid concentration around ulm; though his tactical manoeuvres on the field were inferior to the strategy. his wonderful defensive campaign in stands with that of napoleon in ; and the comparison only fails by an absence of sharp returns to the offensive. the historian of the federal army of the potomac states (and, as far as i have seen, uncontradicted) that grant's army, at second cold harbor, refused to obey the order to attack, so distressed was it by constant butchery. in such a condition of _morale_ an advance upon it might have changed history. in truth, the genius of lee for offensive war had suffered by a too long service as an engineer. like erskine in the house of commons, it was not his forte. in both the antietam and gettysburg campaigns he allowed his cavalry to separate from him, and was left without intelligence of the enemy's movements until he was upon him. in both, too, his army was widely scattered, and had to be brought into action by piecemeal. there was an abundance of supplies in the country immediately around harper's ferry, and had he remained concentrated there, the surrender of miles would have been advanced, and mcclellan met under favorable conditions. his own report of gettysburg confesses his mistakes; for he was of too lofty a nature to seek scapegoats, and all the rambling accounts of that action i have seen published add but little to his report. these criticisms are written with unaffected diffidence; but it is only by studying the campaigns of great commanders that the art of war can be illustrated. nevertheless, from the moment lee succeeded to the command of the army in virginia, he was _facile princeps_ in the war, towering above all on both sides, as the pyramid of ghizeh above the desert. steadfast to the end, he upheld the waning fortunes of the confederacy as did hector those of troy. last scene of all, at his surrender, his greatness and dignity made of his adversary but a humble accessory; and if departed intelligences be permitted to take ken of the affairs of this world, the soul of light horse harry rejoices that his own eulogy of washington, "first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen," is now, by the united voice of the south, applied to his noble son. foregoing criticisms have indicated the tendency of engineer service to unfit men for command. it was once said of a certain colonel that he was an admirable officer when absent from soldiers. no amount of theoretical training can supply the knowledge gained by direct and immediate association with troops. the ablest and most promising graduates from west point are annually assigned to the engineer and ordnance corps. after some years they become scientists, perhaps pedants, but not soldiers. whatever may be the ultimate destination of such young men, they should be placed on duty for at least one year with each arm of the service, and all officers of the general staff below the highest grades should be returned to the line for limited periods. in no other way can a healthy connection between line and staff be preserved. the united states will doubtless continue to maintain an army, however small, as a model, if for no other purpose, for volunteers, the reliance of the country in the event of a serious war. it ought to have the best possible article for the money, and, to secure this, should establish a camp of instruction, composed of all arms, where officers could study the actual movements of troops. chapter vii. the district of louisiana. a month of rest at richmond restored my health, which subsequently remained good; but in leaving virginia i was separated from my brigade, endeared by so many memories. it remained with lee's army, and gained distinction in many battles. as the last preserved of benjamin on the rock of rimmon, scarce a handful survived the war; but its story would comprise much of that of the army of northern virginia, and i hope some survivor, who endured till the end, will relate it. a braver command never formed line of battle. and now i turned my steps toward the west, where, beyond the "father of waters," two years of hard work and much fighting awaited me. the most direct route to the southwest was by chattanooga, where general bragg was concentrating the army of tennessee. this officer had requested the war department to assign me to duty with his army as chief of staff, and it was suggested to me to call on him _en route_. he had reached chattanooga in advance of his troops, then moving from tupelo in northern mississippi. in the two days passed at chattanooga, general bragg communicated to me his plan of campaign into kentucky, which was excellent, giving promise of large results if vigorously executed; and i think its failure may be ascribed to the infirmities of the commander. born in north carolina, graduated from west point in , bragg served long and creditably in the united states artillery. in the war with mexico he gained much celebrity, especially at buena vista, to the success of which action, under the immediate eye of general zachary taylor, he largely contributed. resigning the service, he married a lady of louisiana and purchased an estate on the bayou lafourche, where he resided at the outbreak of civil war. promoted to the rank of general after the death of albert sidney johnston, he succeeded beauregard, retired by ill health, in command of the army of tennessee. possessing experience in and talent for war, he was the most laborious of commanders, devoting every moment to the discharge of his duties. as a disciplinarian he far surpassed any of the senior confederate generals; but his method and manner were harsh, and he could have won the affections of his troops only by leading them to victory. he furnished a striking illustration of the necessity of a healthy body for a sound intellect. many years of dyspepsia had made his temper sour and petulant; and he was intolerant to a degree of neglect of duty, or what he esteemed to be such, by his officers. a striking instance of this occurred during my visit. at dinner, surrounded by his numerous staff, i inquired for one of his division commanders, a man widely known and respected, and received this answer: "general ---- is an old woman, utterly worthless." such a declaration, privately made, would have been serious; but publicly, and certain to be repeated, it was astonishing. as soon as we had withdrawn to his private room, i asked by whom he intended to relieve general ----. "oh! by no one. i have but one or two fitted for high command, and have in vain asked the war department for capable people." to my suggestion that he could hardly expect hearty coöperation from officers of whom he permitted himself to speak contemptuously, he replied: "i speak the truth. the government is to blame for placing such men in high position." from that hour i had misgivings as to general bragg's success, and felt no regret at the refusal of the authorities to assign me to duty with him. it may be said of his subordinate commanders that they supported him wonderfully, in despite of his temper, though that ultimately produced dissatisfaction and wrangling. feeble health, too, unfitted him to sustain long-continued pressure of responsibility, and he failed in the execution of his own plan. the movement into kentucky was made by two lines. general kirby smith led a subordinate force from knoxville, east tennessee, through cumberland gap, and, defeating the federals in a spirited action at richmond, kentucky, reached lexington, in the center of the state, and threatened cincinnati. bragg moved on a line west of the cumberland range toward louisville, on the ohio river; and this movement forced the federal commander, buell, to march north to the same point by a parallel road, farther west. buell left garrisons at nashville and other important places, and sought to preserve his communications with louisville, his base. weakened by detachments, as well as by the necessity of a retrograde movement, bragg should have brought him to action before he reached louisville. defeated, the federals would have been driven north of the ohio to reorganize, and bragg could have wintered his army in the fertile and powerful state of kentucky, isolating the garrisons in his rear; or, if this was impossible, which does not appear, he should have concentrated against buell when the latter, heavily reënforced, marched south from louisville to regain nashville. but he fought a severe action at perryville with a fraction of his army, and retired to central tennessee. the ensuing winter, at murfreesboro, he contested the field with rosecrans, buell's successor, for three days; and though he won a victory, it was not complete, and the summer of found him again at chattanooga. in the mean time, a federal force under general burnside passed through cumberland gap, and occupied knoxville and much of east tennessee, severing the direct line of rail communication from richmond to the southwest. this condensed account of the kentucky campaign, extending over many months, is given because of my personal intimacy with the commander, who apprised me of his plans. general bragg died recently in texas. i have rarely known a more conscientious, laborious man. exacting of others, he never spared himself, but, conquering disease, showed a constant devotion to duty; and distinguished as were his services in the cause he espoused, they would have been far greater had he enjoyed the blessing of health. leaving chattanooga, i proceeded to my destination, western louisiana, and crossed the mississippi at the entrance of red river. some miles below, in the atchafalaya, i found a steamer, and learned that the governor of the state was at opelousas, which could be reached by descending the last river to the junction of the bayou courtableau, navigable at high water to the village of washington, six miles north of opelousas. embarking on the steamer, i reached the junction at sunset, but the water in courtableau was too low for steam navigation. as my family had sought refuge with friends in the vicinity of washington, i was anxious to get on, and hired a boat, with four negro oarsmen, to take me up the bayou, twenty miles. the narrow stream was overarched by trees shrouded with spanish moss, the universal parasite of southern forests. heavy rain fell, accompanied by vivid lightning, the flashes of which enabled us to find our way; and before dawn i had the happiness to embrace wife and children after a separation of fourteen months. some hours later i reached opelousas, and met the governor, thomas o. moore, with whom i had served in our state assembly. this worthy gentleman, a successful and opulent planter, had been elected governor in . he was a man of moderate temper and opinions, but zealously aided the confederate cause after his state had joined it. forced to leave new orleans by the approach of farragut's fleet, he brought my family with him, and was unwearied in kind attentions. melancholy indeed was the condition of the "district of louisiana," to the command of which i was assigned. confederate authority had virtually ceased with the fall of new orleans in the previous april. fortifications at barataria, berwick's bay, and other gulf-coast points had been abandoned, the garrisons withdrawn, works dismantled, and guns thrown into the water. the confederate government had no soldiers, no arms or munitions, and no money, within the limits of the district. governor moore was willing to aid me to the extent of his ability, but, deprived by the loss of new orleans and the lower river parishes of half the population and three fourths of the resources of his state, he could do little. general magruder had recently been assigned to command in texas, and general holmes, the senior officer west of the mississippi, was far to the north in arkansas. to him i at once reported my arrival and necessities. many days elapsed before his reply was received, to the effect that he could give me no assistance, as he meditated a movement against helena on the mississippi river. without hope of aid from abroad, i addressed myself to the heavy task of arousing public sentiment, apathetic if not hostile from disaster and neglect, and the creation of some means of defense. such was the military destitution that a regiment of cavalry could have ridden over the state, while innumerable rivers and bayous, navigable a large part of the year, would admit federal gunboats to the heart of every parish. to understand subsequent operations in this region, one must have some idea of its topography and river systems. washed on the east, from the arkansas line to the gulf of mexico, by the mississippi, western louisiana is divided into two not very unequal parts by the red river, which, entering the state at its northwestern angle, near the boundaries of texas and arkansas, flows southeast to the mississippi through a broad, fertile valley, then occupied by a population of large slave-owners engaged in the culture of cotton. from the southern slopes of the ozark mountains in central arkansas comes the washita river to unite with the red, a few miles above the junction of the latter with the mississippi. preserving a southerly course, along the eastern foot of the hills, the washita enters the state nearly a hundred miles west of the mississippi, but the westerly trend of the great river reduces this distance until the waters meet. the alluvion between these rivers, protected from inundation by levees along the streams, is divided by many bayous, of which the tensas, with its branch the macon, is the most important. these bayous drain the vast swamps into the washita, and, like this river, are in the season of floods open to steam navigation. here was one of the great cotton-producing regions of the south. estates of , acres and more abounded, and, with the numerous slaves necessary to their cultivation, were largely under the charge of overseers, while the proprietors resided in distant and more healthy localities. abundant facilities for navigation afforded by countless streams superseded the necessity for railways, and but one line of some eighty miles existed. this extended from monroe on the washita to a point opposite vicksburg on the mississippi; but the great flood of had broken the eastern half of the line. finally, the lower washita, at trinity, where it receives the tensas from the east and little river from the west, takes the name of black river. and it may be well to add that in louisiana counties are called parishes, dikes levees, and streams bayous. south of the red river, population and industries change. the first is largely composed of descendants of french colonists, termed creoles, with some spanish intermixed, and the sugar cane is the staple crop, changing as the gulf is approached to rice. at the point where the united red and washita rivers join the mississippi, which here changes direction to the east, the atchafalaya leaves it, and, flowing due south through grand lake and berwick's bay, reaches the gulf at atchafalaya bay, two degrees west of its parent stream, and by a more direct course. continuing the line of the red and washita, it not only discharges much of their waters, but draws largely from the mississippi when this last is in flood. midway between the atchafalaya and the city of new orleans, some eighty miles from either point, another outlet of the great river, the bayou lafourche, discharges into the gulf after passing through a densely populated district, devoted to the culture of sugar cane and rice. a large lake, des allemands, collects the waters from the higher lands on the river and bayou, and by an outlet of the same name carries them to barataria bay. lying many feet below the flood level of the streams, protected by heavy dikes, with numerous steam-engines for crushing canes and pumping water, and canals and ditches in every direction, this region resembles a tropical holland. at the lower end of lake des allemands passed the only line of railway in southern louisiana, from a point on the west bank of the river opposite new orleans to berwick's bay, eighty miles. berwick's bay, which is but the atchafalaya after it issues from grand lake, is eight hundred yards wide, with great depth of water, and soon meets the gulf in atchafalaya bay. a few miles above the railway terminus at berwick's there enters from the west the teche, loveliest of southern streams. navigable for more than a hundred miles, preserving at all seasons an equal breadth and depth, so gentle is its flow that it might be taken for a canal, did not the charming and graceful curves, by which it separates the undulating prairies of attakapas from the alluvion of the atchafalaya, mark it as the handiwork of nature. before the war, the teche for fifty miles, from berwick's bay to new iberia, passed through one field of sugar canes, the fertile and well-cultivated estates succeeding each other. the mansions of the opulent planters, as well as the villages of their slaves, were situated on the west bank of the bayou overlooking the broad, verdant prairie, where countless herds roamed. on the east bank, the dense forest had given way to fields of luxuriant canes; and to connect the two parts of estates, floating bridges were constructed, with openings in the center for the passage of steamers. stately live oaks, the growth of centuries, orange groves, and flowers of every hue and fragrance surrounded the abodes of the _seigneurs_; while within, one found the grace of the _salon_ combined with the healthy cheeriness of country life. abundance and variety of game encouraged field sports, and the waters, fresh and salt, swarmed with fish. with the sky and temperature of sicily, the breezes from prairie and gulf were as health-giving as those that ripple the heather on scotch moors. in all my wanderings, and they have been many and wide, i can not recall so fair, so bountiful, and so happy a land. the upper or northern teche waters the parishes of st. landry, lafayette, and st. martin's--the attakapas, home of the "acadians." what the gentle, contented creole was to the restless, pushing american, that and more was the acadian to the creole. in the middle of the past century, when the victories of wolfe and amherst deprived france of her northern possessions, the inhabitants of nouvelle acadie, the present nova scotia, migrated to the genial clime of the attakapas, where beneath the flag of the lilies they could preserve their allegiance, their traditions, and their faith. isolated up to the time of the war, they spoke no language but their own _patois_; and, reading and writing not having come to them by nature, they were dependent for news on their curés and occasional peddlers, who tempted the women with _chiffons_ and trinkets. the few slaves owned were humble members of the household, assisting in the cultivation of small patches of maize, sweet potatoes, and cotton, from which last the women manufactured the wonderful attakapas _cotonnade_, the ordinary clothing of both sexes. their little _cabanes_ dotted the broad prairie in all directions, and it was pleasant to see the smoke curling from their chimneys, while herds of cattle and ponies grazed at will. here, unchanged, was the french peasant of fénelon and bossuet, of louis le grand and his successor le bien-aimé. tender and true were his traditions of la belle france, but of france before voltaire and the encyclopædists, the convention and the jacobins--ere she had lost faith in all things, divine and human, save the _bourgeoisie_ and _avocats_. mounted on his pony, with lariat in hand, he herded his cattle, or shot and fished; but so gentle was his nature, that lariat and rifle seemed transformed into pipe and crook of shepherd. light wines from the médoc, native oranges, and home-made sweet cakes filled his largest conceptions of feasts; and violin and clarionet made high carnival in his heart. on an occasion, passing the little hamlet of grand coteau, i stopped to get some food for man and horse. a pretty maiden of fifteen springs, whose parents were absent, welcomed me. her lustrous eyes and long lashes might have excited the envy of "the dark-eyed girl of cadiz." finding her alone, i was about to retire and try my fortune in another house; but she insisted that she could prepare "monsieur un dîner dans un tour de main," and she did. seated by the window, looking modestly on the road, while i was enjoying her repast, she sprang to her feet, clapped her hands joyously, and exclaimed: "v'là le gros jean baptiste qui passe sur son mulet avec _deux_ bocals. ah! nous aurons grand bal ce soir." it appeared that _one_ jug of claret meant a dance, but _two_ very high jinks indeed. as my hostess declined any remuneration for her trouble, i begged her to accept a pair of plain gold sleeve buttons, my only ornaments. wonder, delight, and gratitude chased each other across the pleasant face, and the confiding little creature put up her rose-bud mouth. in an instant the homely room became as the bower of titania, and i accepted the chaste salute with all the reverence of a subject for his queen, then rode away with uncovered head so long as she remained in sight. hospitable little maiden of grand coteau, may you never have graver fault to confess than the innocent caress you bestowed on the stranger! it was to this earthly paradise, and upon this simple race, that the war came, like the tree of the knowledge of evil to our early parents. some weeks before i reached my new field, general van dorn, who commanded the confederate forces east of the mississippi, had successfully resisted a bombardment of vicksburg by federal gunboats, during which the confederate ram arkansas, descending the yazoo river, passed through the enemy's fleet, inflicting some damage and causing much alarm, and anchored under the guns of vicksburg. to follow up this success, van dorn sent general breckenridge with a division against baton rouge, the highest point on the river above new orleans then held by the federals, and the arkansas was to descend to coöperate in the attack. breckenridge reached baton rouge at the appointed time, assaulted, and was repulsed after a severe action; but the arkansas, disabled by an accident to her machinery, was delayed, and, learning of breckenridge's failure, her commander ran her ashore on the west bank of the river a few miles above baton rouge, and destroyed her. strengthening their garrison in this town, the federals employed many steamers on the river between it and new orleans, a hundred and twenty miles, armed vessels of farragut's fleet guarding the stream. from time to time parties of infantry were landed to plunder and worry the peaceful inhabitants, though after the fall of new orleans no confederate forces had been on that part of the river, and no resistance was made by the people. two days were passed at opelousas in consultation with governor moore, who transferred to me several small bodies of state troops which he had organized. alexandria on the red river, some seventy-five miles north of opelousas, was the geographical center of the state and of steam navigation, and the proper place for the headquarters of the district. to escape the intense heat, i rode the distance in a night, and remained some days at alexandria, engaged in the organization of necessary staff departments and in providing means of communication with different parts of the state. great distances and the want of railway and telegraph lines made this last a heavy burden. without trained officers, my presence was required at every threatened point, and i was seldom enabled to pass twenty-four consecutive hours at headquarters; but adjutant surget, of whom mention has been made, conducted the business of the district with vigor and discretion during my absence. subsequently, by using an ambulance in which one could sleep, and with relays of mules, long distances were rapidly accomplished; and, like the irishman's bird, i almost succeeded in being in two places at the same time. leaving alexandria, i went south to visit the lafourche and intervening regions. at vermilionville, in the parish of lafayette, thirty miles south of opelousas, resided ex-governor mouton, a man of much influence over the creole and acadian populations, and an old acquaintance. desiring his aid to arouse public sentiment, depressed since the fall of new orleans, i stopped to see him. past middle age, he had sent his sons and kindred to the war, and was eager to assist the cause in all possible ways. his eldest son and many of his kinsmen fell in battle, his estate was diminished by voluntary contributions and wasted by plunder, and he was taken to new orleans and confined for many weeks; yet he never faltered in his devotion, and preserved his dignity and fortitude. in camp near new iberia, seven and twenty miles south of vermilionville, was colonel fournet, with a battalion of five companies raised in the parish, st. martin's. the men were without instruction, and inadequately armed and equipped. impressing on fournet and his officers the importance of discipline and instruction, and promising to supply them with arms, i proceeded to the residence of leclerc fusilier, in the parish of st. mary's, twenty miles below new iberia. possessor of great estates, and of a hospitable, generous nature, this gentleman had much weight in his country. his sons were in the army, and sixty years had not diminished his energy nor his enthusiasm. he desired to serve on my staff as volunteer aide, promising to join me whenever fighting was to be done; and he kept his promise. in subsequent actions on the teche and red river, the first gun seemed the signal for the appearance of captain fusilier, who, on his white pony, could be seen where the fight was the thickest, leading on or encouraging his neighbors. his corn bins, his flocks and herds, were given to the public service without stint; and no hungry, destitute confederate was permitted to pass his door. fusilier was twice captured, and on the first occasion was sent to fortress monroe, where he, with fifty other prisoners from my command, was embarked on the transport maple leaf for fort delaware. reaching the capes of chesapeake at nightfall, the prisoners suddenly attacked and overpowered the guard, ran the transport near to the beach in princess anne county, virginia, landed, and made their way to richmond, whence they rejoined me in louisiana. again taken, fusilier escaped, while descending the teche on a steamer, by springing from the deck to seize the overhanging branch of a live oak. the guard fired on him, but darkness and the rapid movement of the steamer were in his favor, and he got off unhurt. i have dwelt somewhat on the characters of mouton and fusilier, not only because of their great devotion to the confederacy, but because there exists a wide-spread belief that the creole race has become effete and nerveless. in the annals of time no breed has produced nobler specimens of manhood than these two; and while descendants of the french colonists remain on the soil of louisiana, their names and characters should be reverenced as are those of hampden and sidney in england. to berwick's bay, a hundred and seventy-five miles from alexandria. here, on the eastern shore, was the terminus of the new orleans and opelousas railroad. a deep, navigable arm of the bay, called bayou boeuf, flows east of the station, which is on the island fronting the bay proper. some engines and plant had been saved from the general wreck at new orleans, and the line was operated from the bay to lafourche crossing, thirty miles. the intervening territory constitutes the parish of terrebonne, with fertile, cultivated lands along the many bayous, and low swamps between. from lafourche crossing to algiers, opposite new orleans, is fifty miles; and, after leaving the higher ground adjacent to the lafourche, the line plunges into swamps and marshes, impassable except on the embankment of the line itself. midway of the above points, the bayou des allemands, outlet of the large lake of the same name, is crossed; and here was a federal post of some two hundred men with two field guns. on the west bank of the lafourche, a mile or two above the railway crossing, and thirty-two miles below donaldsonville, where the bayou leaves the mississippi, lies the town of thibodeaux, the most considerable place of this region. navigable for steamers, whenever the waters of its parent river are high, restrained from inundation by levees on both banks, the lafourche flows through the fertile and populous parishes of assumption and lafourche, and, after a sinuous course of some ninety miles, reaches the gulf to the west of barataria bay. above thibodeaux there were no bridges, and communication between the opposite banks was kept up by ferries. one or two companies of mounted men, armed with fowling pieces, had been organized under authority from governor moore, and colonel waller's battalion of mounted riflemen had recently arrived from texas. these constituted the confederate army in this quarter. chapter viii. operations in louisiana and on the mississippi. mention has been made of the plundering expeditions of the federals, and the post at bayou des allemands was reported as the especial center from which raids on the helpless inhabitants were undertaken. i determined to attempt the surprise and capture of this post, which could be reached from the river at a point fifty miles below donaldsonville. my estate was in the immediate vicinity of this point, and the roads and paths through plantations and swamps were well known to me. colonel waller was assigned to the duty, with minute instructions concerning roads and movements, and competent guides were furnished him. moving rapidly by night, and, to escape observation, avoiding the road near the river, waller with his texans gained the enemy's rear, advanced on his camp, and, after a slight resistance, captured two companies of infantry and the guns. the captured arms and accouterments served to equip waller's men, whose rifles were altered flintlocks and worthless, and the prisoners were sent to the teche to be guarded by fournet's acadians. this trifling success, the first in the state since the loss of new orleans, attracted attention, and the people rejoiced at the capture of the des allemands garrison as might those of greece at the unearthing of the accomplished and classic thief cacus. indeed, the den of that worthy never contained such multifarious "loot" as did this federal camp. books, pictures, household furniture, finger rings, ear rings, breastpins and other articles of feminine adornment and wear, attested the catholic taste and temper of these patriots. persuaded that the federal commander at new orleans, general benjamin f. butler, was ignorant of the practices of his outlying detachments, i requested ex-governor wickliffe of louisiana, a non-combatant, to visit that officer under a flag of truce and call his attention to the subject. duty to the suffering population would force me to deal with perpetrators of such misdeeds as robbers rather than as soldiers. general butler received governor wickliffe politely, invited him to dine, and listened attentively to his statements, then dismissed him without committing himself to a definite reply. however, the conduct complained of was speedily stopped, and, as i was informed, by orders from general butler. this was the only intercourse i had with this officer during the war. some months later he was relieved from command at new orleans by general banks, whose blunders served to endear him to president lincoln, as did those of villeroy to his master, the fourteenth louis. when the good scotch parson finished praying for all created beings and things, he requested his congregation to unite in asking a blessing for the "puir deil," who had no friends; and general butler has been so universally abused as to make it pleasant to say a word in his favor. not that he needs assistance to defend himself; for in the war of epithets he has proved his ability to hold his ground against all comers as successfully as did count robert of paris with sword and lance. preservation of the abundant supplies of the lafourche country, and protection of the dense population from which recruits could be drawn, were objects of such importance as to justify the attempt to secure them with inadequate means. a few days after the des allemands affair, i was called to the north, and will for convenience anticipate events in this quarter during my absence. minute instructions for his guidance were given to colonel waller. the danger to be guarded against while operating on the river was pointed out, viz.: that the enemy might, from transports, throw forces ashore above and below him, at points where the swamps in the rear were impassable; and this trap waller fell into. most of his men escaped by abandoning arms, horses, etc. immunity from attack for some days had made them careless. nothing compensates for absence of discipline; and the constant watchfulness, even when danger seems remote, that is necessary in war, can only be secured by discipline which makes of duty a habit. meanwhile, two skeleton regiments, the th louisiana and crescent, and a small battalion (clack's) of infantry, with semmes's and ralston's batteries, reached me from east of the mississippi, and were directed to the lafourche. there also reported to me brigadier alfred mouton, son of governor mouton, and a west pointer. this officer had been wounded at shiloh, and was now ordered to command on the lafourche. his instructions were to make thibodeaux his centre of concentration, to picket bayou des allemands and donaldsonville, thirty miles distant each, to secure early information of the enemy's movements, and to provide a movable floating bridge by which troops could cross the bayou, as the water was too low to admit steamers from the river. these same instructions had been given to the senior officer present before mouton's arrival, but had been imperfectly executed. a feint on des allemands had induced the movement of nearly half the little force in that direction, and mouton had scant time after he reached thibodeaux to correct errors before the enemy was upon him. in the last days of october the federal general, weitzel, brought up a force of some , from new orleans, landed at donaldsonville, and advanced down the lafourche, on the west bank. there were confederates on both sides of the bayou, but, having neglected their floating bridge, they could not unite. with his own, the th, the crescent, colonel mcpheeters, and the four-gun battery of captain ralston--in all men--colonel armand resisted weitzel's advance at labadieville, eight miles above thibodeaux. the fighting was severe, and armand only retired after his ammunition was exhausted; but he lost many killed and wounded, and some few prisoners. colonel mcpheeters was among the former, and captains ralston and story among the latter. the loss of the federals prevented weitzel from attempting a pursuit; and mouton, who deemed it necessary to retire across berwick's bay, was not interrupted in his movement. with his forces well in hand, mouton would have defeated weitzel and retained possession of the lafourche country. the causes of his failure to concentrate have been pointed out. information of these untoward events reached me on the road from the north, and i arrived at berwick's bay as mouton was crossing. to return to the time of departure from the lafourche. several days were passed at new iberia in attention to a matter of much interest. some eight miles to the southwest of the village there rises from the low prairie and salt marsh, at the head of vermilion bay, an island of high land, near a thousand acres in extent. connected with the mainland by a causeway of some length, the island was the property and residence of judge avery. a small bayou, petit anse, navigable for light craft, approached the western side and wound through the marsh to vermilion bay. salt wells had long been known to exist on the island, and some salt had been boiled there. the want of salt was severely felt in the confederacy, our only considerable source of supply being in southwestern virginia, whence there were limited facilities for distribution. judge avery began to boil salt for neighbors, and, desiring to increase the flow of brine by deepening his wells, came unexpectedly upon a bed of pure rock salt, which proved to be of immense extent. intelligence of this reached me at new iberia, and induced me to visit the island. the salt was from fifteen to twenty feet below the surface, and the overlying soil was soft and friable. devoted to our cause, judge avery placed his mine at my disposition for the use of the government. many negroes were assembled to get out salt, and a packing establishment was organized at new iberia to cure beef. during succeeding months large quantities of salt, salt beef, sugar, and molasses were transported by steamers to vicksburg, port hudson, and other points east of the mississippi. two companies of infantry and a section of artillery were posted on the island to preserve order among the workmen, and secure it against a sudden raid of the enemy, who later sent a gunboat up the petit anse to shell the mine, but the gunboat became entangled in the marsh and was impotent. at alexandria, where every effort was made to collect material, but without funds and among a depressed people, progress was slow. it was necessary to visit monroe, the chief place of the important washita country; and i was further impelled thereto by dispatches from richmond advising me that lieutenant-general pemberton had been assigned to command of the country east of the mississippi, and that it was important for me to meet him, in order to secure coöperation on the river. i rode the distance, _via_ monroe, to a point opposite vicksburg, over two hundred miles, excepting forty miles east of monroe, where the railway was in operation. the eastern half of the line, from bayou macon to the mississippi, had been broken up by the great flood of the previous spring. near bayou macon was encamped colonel henry grey with his recently organized regiment, the th infantry. without much instruction and badly equipped, its material was excellent, and there were several officers of some experience, notably adjutant blackman, who had accompanied my old regiment, the th, to virginia, where he had seen service. the men were suffering from camp diseases incident to new troops, and colonel grey was directed to move by easy marches to the teche. in the low country between the macon and the mississippi were some mounted men under captain harrison. residents of this region, they understood the intricate system of swamps and bayous by which it is characterized, and furnished me guides to vicksburg. vicksburg lies on the hills where the river forms a deep reentering angle. the peninsula on the opposite or western bank is several miles in length, narrow, and, when the waters are up, impassable except along the river's bank. it was through this peninsula that the federals attempted, by digging a canal, to pass their gunboats and turn the vicksburg batteries. the position of the town with reference to approach from the west was marked by me at the time, and should be borne in mind. general pemberton, who was at jackson, came to vicksburg to meet me, and we discussed methods of coöperation. it was of vital importance to control the section of the mississippi receiving the red and washita rivers. by so doing connection would be preserved between the two parts of the confederacy, and troops and supplies crossed at will. port hudson, some forty miles below the entrance of red river, was as favorably situated as vicksburg above: for there again the hills touched the river and commanded it. my operations on the lafourche had induced the enemy to withdraw from baton rouge, fifteen miles below, and one or two heavy guns were already mounted at port hudson. pemberton engaged to strengthen the position at once. as there were many steamers in the red and washita, i undertook to supply vicksburg and port hudson with corn, forage, sugar, molasses, cattle, and salt; and this was done beyond the ability of the garrisons to store or remove them. quantities of these supplies were lying on the river's bank when the surrenders of the two places occurred. a pennsylvanian by birth, pemberton graduated from west point in , and was assigned to an artillery regiment. his first station was in south carolina, and he there formed his early friendships. the storm of "nullification" had not yet subsided, and pemberton imbibed the tenets of the calhoun school. in or i met him for the first time on the niagara frontier, and quite remember my surprise at his state-rights utterances, unusual among military men at that period. during the war with mexico he was twice brevetted for gallantry in action. later, he married a lady of virginia, which may have tended to confirm his political opinions. at the beginning of civil strife he was in minnesota, commanding a battalion of artillery, and was ordered to washington. arrived there with his command, he resigned his commission in the united states army, went to richmond, and offered his sword to the confederacy without asking for rank. certainly he must have been actuated by principle alone; for he had everything to gain by remaining on the northern side. in the summer of general van dorn, commanding east of the mississippi, proclaimed martial law, which he explained to the people to be the will of the commander. though a mississippian by birth, such a storm was excited against van dorn in that state that president davis found it necessary to supersede him, and pemberton was created a lieutenant-general for the purpose. davis could have known nothing of pemberton except that his military record was good, and it is difficult to foresee that a distinguished subordinate will prove incompetent in command. errors can only be avoided by confining the selection of generals to tradespeople, politicians, and newspaper men without military training or experience. these are all great commanders _d'état_, and universally succeed. the incapacity of pemberton for independent command, manifested in the ensuing campaign, was a great misfortune to the confederacy, but did not justify aspersions on his character and motives. the public howled, gnashed its teeth, and lashed itself into a beautiful rage. he had joined the south for the express purpose of betraying it, and this was clearly proven by the fact that he surrendered on the th of july, a day sacred to the yankees. had he chosen any other day, his guilt would not have been so well established; but this particular day lacerated the tenderest sensibilities of southern hearts. president davis should have known all about it; and yet he made a pet of pemberton. "vox populi, vox diaboli." returned to alexandria, i met my chief of artillery and ordnance, major j.l. brent, just arrived from the east with some arms and munitions, which he had remained to bring with him. this officer had served on the staff of general magruder in the peninsular and richmond campaigns, after which, learning that i was ordered to louisiana, where he had family connections, he applied to serve with me. before leaving richmond i had several interviews with him, and was favorably impressed. a lawyer by profession, major brent knew nothing of military affairs at the outbreak of the war, but speedily acquainted himself with the technicalities of his new duties. devoted to work, his energy and administrative ability were felt in every direction. batteries were equipped, disciplined, and drilled. leather was tanned, harness made, wagons built, and a little workshop, established at new iberia by governor moore, became important as an arsenal of construction. the lack of paper for cartridges was embarrassing, and most of the country newspapers were stopped for want of material. brent discovered a quantity of wall paper in the shops at franklin, new iberia, etc., and used it for cartridges; and a journal published at franklin was printed on this paper. a copy of it would be "a sight" to mr. walter and the staff of the "thunderer." the _esprit de corps_ of brent's artillery was admirable, and its conduct and efficiency in action unsurpassed. serving with wild horsemen, unsteady and unreliable for want of discipline, officers and men learned to fight their guns without supports. true, brent had under his command many brilliant young officers, whose names will appear in this narrative; but his impress was upon all, and he owes it to his command to publish an account of the services of the artillery in western louisiana. _en route_ to lafourche, i learned of the action at labadieville, and hurried on to berwick's bay, which mouton had just crossed, and in good time; for federal gunboats entered from the gulf immediately after. their presence some hours earlier would have been uncomfortable for mouton. it is curious to recall the ideas prevailing in the first years of the war about gunboats. to the wide-spread terror inspired by them may be ascribed the loss of fort donelson and new orleans. _omne ignotum pro magnifico_; and it was popularly believed that the destructive powers of these monsters were not to be resisted. time proved that the lighter class of boats, called "tin-clads," were helpless against field guns, while heavy iron-clads could be driven off by riflemen protected by the timber and levees along streams. to fire ten-inch guns at skirmishers, widely disposed and under cover, was very like snipe-shooting with twelve-pounders; and in narrow waters gunboats required troops on shore for their protection. penetrated in all directions by watercourses navigable when the mississippi was at flood, my "district" was especially exposed, and every little bayou capable of floating a cock-boat called loudly for forts and heavy guns. ten guns, thirty-two and twenty-four-pounders, of those thrown into the water at barataria and berwick's bays after the surrender of new orleans, had been recovered, and were mounted for defense. to protect red river against anything that might chance to run the batteries of vicksburg and port hudson, two thirty-twos were placed in position on the south bank, thirty odd miles below alexandria, where the high ground of avoyelles prairie touches the river; and for the same purpose two guns were mounted at harrisonburg on the west bank of the washita. an abrupt hill approached the river at this point, and commanded it. the presence of gunboats in berwick's bay made it necessary to protect the atchafalaya also; for access to the red and washita could be had by it. as yet, the waters were too low to navigate grand lake; but it was now november, and the winter flood must be expected. some twelve miles from st. martinsville on the teche was a large mound on the west bank of the atchafalaya, called "butte à la rose." a short distance above the point, where the river expands into grand lake, this "butte" was the only place for many miles not submerged when the waters were up. the country between it and the teche was almost impassable even in the dry season--a region of lakes, bayous, jungle, and bog. i succeeded in making my way through to inspect the position, the only favorable one on the river, and with much labor two twenty-fours were taken there and mounted. forts beauregard on the washita, de russy on the red, and burton on the atchafalaya, were mere water batteries to prevent the passage of gunboats, and served that purpose. it was not supposed that they could be held against serious land attacks, and but fifty to a hundred riflemen were posted at each to protect the gunners from boats' crews. during the floods of the previous spring many steamers had been brought away from new orleans, and with others a powerful tow-boat, the webb, now lying at alexandria, and the cotton. this last, a large river steamer, was in the lower teche in charge of captain fuller, a western steamboat man, and one of the bravest of a bold, daring class. he desired to convert the cotton into a gunboat, and was assisted to the extent of his means by major brent, who furnished two twenty-fours and a field piece for armament. an attempt was made to protect the boilers and machinery with cotton bales and railway iron, of which we had a small quantity, and a volunteer crew was put on board, fuller in command. midway between berwick's bay and franklin, or some thirteen miles from each, near the bisland estate, the high ground from grand lake on the east to vermilion bay on the west is reduced to a narrow strip of some two thousand yards, divided by the teche. here was the best position in this quarter for a small force; and mouton, who had now ten guns and about thirteen hundred men, was directed to hold it, with scouts and pickets toward berwick's. a floating bridge, of the kind described, was just above the position, and two others farther up stream afforded ready communication across the bayou. a light earthwork was thrown up from grand lake marsh to the teche, and continued west to the embankment of the uncompleted opelousas railway, which skirted the edge of vermilion marsh. the objection to this position was the facility of turning it by a force embarking at berwick's, entering grand lake immediately above, and landing at hutchin's, not far from franklin, through which last passed the only line of retreat from bisland. this danger was obvious, but the people were so depressed by our retreat from lafourche that it was necessary to fight even with this risk. weitzel had followed slowly after mouton, and now, in connection with gunboats, made little attacks on our pickets below bisland; but i knew his force to be too small to attempt anything serious. in these affairs fuller was always forward with the cotton, though her boilers were inadequately protected, and she was too large and unwieldy to be handled in the narrow teche. meanwhile, i was much occupied in placing guns on the rivers at the points mentioned, getting out recruits for the two skeleton infantry regiments, consolidating independent companies, and other work of administration. in the first days of january, , weitzel's force was increased to forty-five hundred men (see "report on the conduct of the war," vol. ii., p. ); and on the th of the month, accompanied by gunboats, he advanced up the teche and drove in mouton's pickets. left unprotected by the retreat of the pickets, the cotton was assailed on all sides. fuller fought manfully, responding to the fire of the enemy's boats with his twenty-fours, and repulsing the riflemen on either bank with his field piece. his pilots were killed and he had an arm broken, but he worked the wheel with his feet, backing up the bayou, as from her great length the boat could not be turned in the narrow channel. night stopped the enemy's advance, and mouton, deeming his force too weak to cope with weitzel, turned the cotton across the bayou, and scuttled and burned her to arrest the further progress of the federal boats. weitzel returned to berwick's, having accomplished his object, the destruction of the cotton, supposed by the federals to be a formidable iron-clad. much disturbed by the intelligence of these events, as they tended still further to depress public sentiment and increase the dread of gunboats, i went to bisland and tried to convince officers and men that these tin-clads could not resist the rapid fire of field guns, when within range. at distances the thirty-pound parrotts of the boats had every advantage, but this would be lost by bringing them to close quarters. during my stay several movements from berwick's were reported, and mouton and i went down with a battery to meet them, hoping to illustrate my theory of the proper method of fighting gunboats; but the enemy, who intended nothing beyond annoyance, always retired before we could reach him. yet this gave confidence to our men. the two twenty-fours removed from the wreck of the cotton were mounted in a work on the west bank of the teche, to command the bayou and road, and the line of breastworks was strengthened. some recruits joined, and mouton felt able to hold the lines at bisland against the force in his front. in the last days of january, , general grant, with a large army, landed on the west bank of the mississippi and began operations against vicksburg, a fleet of gunboats under admiral porter coöperating with him. the river was now in flood, and the federals sought, by digging a canal through the narrow peninsula opposite vicksburg, to pass their fleet below the place without exposing it to fire from the batteries. many weeks were devoted to this work, which in the end was abandoned. in february the federal gunboat queen of the west, armed with a thirty-pound parrott and five field guns, ran the batteries at vicksburg and caused much alarm on the river below. the tow-boat webb, before mentioned, had powerful machinery and was very fast, and i determined to use her as a ram and attempt the destruction of the queen. a thirty-two-pounder, rifled and banded, was mounted forward, some cotton bales stuffed around her boilers, and a volunteer crew organized. pending these preparations i took steamer at alexandria and went down to fort de russy, and thence to butte à la rose, which at this season could only be reached by river. the little garrison of sixty men, with their two twenty-fours, had just before driven off some gunboats, attempting to ascend the atchafalaya from berwick's bay. complimenting them on their success and warning them of the presence of the queen in our waters, i turned back, hoping to reach de russy; but at simmsport, on the west bank of the atchafalaya, a mile or two below the point at which it leaves the red, i learned that the federal boat had passed up the latter river, followed by one of our small steamers captured on the mississippi. accompanied by major levy, an officer of capacity and experience, i took horse and rode across country to de russy, thirty miles. it was the th of february, a cold, rainy day; and as we emerged from the swamps of deglaize on to the prairie of avoyelles, the rain changed to sleet and hail, with a fierce north wind. occasional gusts were so sharp that our cattle refused to face them and compelled us to halt. suddenly, reports of heavy guns came from the direction of de russy, five miles away. spurring our unwilling horses through the storm, we reached the river as night fell, and saw the queen of the west lying against the opposite shore, enveloped in steam. a boat was manned and sent over to take possession. a wounded officer, with a surgeon in charge, and four men, were found on board. the remainder of the crew had passed through the forest to the captured steamer below, embarked, and made off down river. a shot from de russy had cut a steam pipe and the tiller rope, but in other respects the queen was not materially injured. she was an ordinary river steamer, with her bow strengthened for ramming. a heavy bulwark for protection against sharp-shooters, and with embrasures for field guns, surrounded her upper deck. pushing on to alexandria, i found the wildest alarm and confusion. the arrival of the federal gunboat was momentarily expected, and the intelligence of her capture was hardly credited. the webb was dispatched to overtake the escaped crew of the queen, and the latter towed up to alexandria for repairs. entering the mississippi, the webb went up river, sighted the escaped steamer, and was rapidly overhauling her, when there appeared, coming down, a heavy iron-clad that had passed the vicksburg batteries. this proved to be the indianola, armed with two eleven-inch guns forward and two nine-inch aft, all in iron casemates. the webb returned to de russy with this information, which was forwarded to alexandria. we had barely time to congratulate ourselves on the capture of the queen before the appearance of the indianola deprived us again of the navigation of the great river, so vital to our cause. to attempt the destruction of such a vessel as the indianola with our limited means seemed madness; yet volunteers for the work promptly offered themselves. major brent took command of the expedition, with captain mccloskey, staff quartermaster, on the queen, and charles pierce, a brave steamboatman, on the webb. on the th of february brent went down to de russy with the queen, mechanics still working on repairs, and there called for volunteer crews from the garrison. these were furnished at once, sixty for the webb under lieutenant handy, seventy for the queen, on which boat brent remained. there were five and twenty more than desired; but, in their eagerness to go, many texans and louisianians smuggled themselves aboard. the fighting part of the expedition was soon ready, but there was difficulty about stokers. some planters from the upper red river had brought down their slaves to de russy to labor on earthworks, but they positively refused to furnish stokers for the boats. it was a curious feature of the war that the southern people would cheerfully send their sons to battle, but kept their slaves out of danger. having exhausted his powers of persuasion to no purpose, major brent threw some men ashore, surrounded a gang of negroes at work, captured the number necessary, and departed. a famous din was made by the planters, and continued until their negroes were safely returned. in the night of the d of february the expedition, followed by a tender, entered the mississippi, and met a steamer from port hudson, with two hundred men, sent up by general gardiner to destroy the queen of the west, the capture of which was unknown. this, a frail river boat without protection for her boilers, could be of no service; but she followed brent up the river, keeping company with his tender. on the d natchez was reached, and here the formidable character of the indianola was ascertained. while steaming up river in search of the enemy, the crews were exercised at the guns, the discharge of which set fire to the cotton protecting the boilers of the queen. this was extinguished with difficulty, and showed an additional danger, to be guarded against by wetting the cotton thoroughly. arrived in the afternoon of the th at a point sixty miles below vicksburg, brent learned that the indianola was but a short distance ahead, with a coal barge lashed on each side. he determined to attack in the night, to diminish the chances of the enemy's fire. it was certain that a shell from one of the eleven-or nine-inch guns would destroy either of his boats. at p.m. the indianola was seen near the western shore, some thousand yards distant, and the queen, followed by the webb, was driven with full head of steam directly upon her, both boats having their lights obscured. the momentum of the queen was so great as to cut through the coal barge and indent the iron plates of the indianola, disabling by the shock the engine that worked her paddles. as the queen backed out the webb dashed in at full speed, and tore away the remaining coal barge. both the forward guns fired at the webb, but missed her. returning to the charge, the queen struck the indianola abaft the paddle box, crushing her frame and loosening some plates of armor, but received the fire of the guns from the rear casemates. one shot carried away a dozen bales of cotton on the right side; the other, a shell, entered the forward port-hole on the left and exploded, killing six men and disabling two field pieces. again the webb followed the queen, struck near the same spot, pushing aside the iron plates and crushing timbers. voices from the indianola announced the surrender, and that she was sinking. as she was near the western shore, not far below grant's army, major brent towed her to the opposite side, then in our possession, where, some distance from the bank, she sank on a bar, her gun deck above water. thus we regained control of our section of the mississippi, and by an action that for daring will bear comparison with any recorded of nelson or dundonald. succeeding events at vicksburg and gettysburg so obscured this one, that in justice to the officers and men engaged it has seemed to me a duty to recount it. brent returned to red river, with his boats much shattered by the fray; and before we could repair them, admiral farragut with several ships of war passed port hudson, and the navigation of the great river was permanently lost to us. of the brave and distinguished admiral farragut, as of general grant, it can be said that he always respected non-combatants and property, and made war only against armed men. in the second week of march a brigade of mounted texans, with a four-gun battery, reached opelousas, and was directed to bisland on the lower teche. this force numbered thirteen hundred, badly armed; and to equip it exhausted the resources of the little arsenal at new iberia. under brigadier sibley, it had made a campaign into new mexico and defeated the federals in some minor actions, in one of which, valverde, the four guns had been captured. the feeble health of sibley caused his retirement a few days after he reached the teche, and colonel thomas green, a distinguished soldier, succeeded to the command of the brigade. the men were hardy and many of the officers brave and zealous, but the value of these qualities was lessened by lack of discipline. in this, however, they surpassed most of the mounted men who subsequently joined me, discipline among these "shining by its utter absence." their experience in war was limited to hunting down comanches and lipans, and, as in all new societies, distinctions of rank were unknown. officers and men addressed each other as tom, dick, or harry, and had no more conception of military gradations than of the celestial hierarchy of the poets. i recall an illustrative circumstance. a mounted regiment arrived from texas, which i rode out to inspect. the profound silence in the camp seemed evidence of good order. the men were assembled under the shade of some trees, seated on the ground, and much absorbed. drawing near, i found the colonel seated in the center, with a blanket spread before him, on which he was dealing the fascinating game of monte. learning that i would not join the sport, this worthy officer abandoned his amusement with some displeasure. it was a scene for that illustrious inspector colonel martinet to have witnessed. there also arrived from the east, in the month of march, , to take command of the "trans-mississippi department," lieutenant-general e. kirby smith, which "department," including the states of missouri, arkansas, louisiana, and texas, and the indian territory, with claims on new mexico, extended over some millions of square miles. the occupation of a large part of this region by the federals would have spared general smith some embarrassments, had he not given much of his mind to the recovery of his lost empire, to the detriment of the portion yet in his possession; and the substance of louisiana and texas was staked against the shadow of missouri and northern arkansas. general e. kirby smith graduated from west point in , in time to see service in the war with mexico. resigning from the united states cavalry to join the confederacy, he moved with general joseph e. johnston's forces from the valley to reënforce beauregard at manassas, where he was wounded while bringing up some troops to our left. commanding in eastern tennessee in the summer of , he led a force into kentucky through cumberland gap, to coöperate with bragg. at richmond, kentucky, a body of federals was driven off, and smith moved north to lexington and frankfort; after which his column was absorbed by bragg's army. the senior general west of the mississippi, holmes, was in arkansas, where he had accomplished nothing except to lose five thousand of his best troops, captured at arkansas post by general sherman. it was advisable to supersede holmes; and, though he proved unequal to extended command, smith, from his training and services, seemed an excellent selection. general smith remained for several weeks in alexandria, when he was driven away by the enemy's movements. the military situation of my immediate command was explained to him. to reopen the navigation of the mississippi was the great desire of the federal government, and especially of the western people, and was manifested by declarations and acts. grant was operating against vicksburg, and banks would certainly undertake the reduction of port hudson; but it was probable that he would first clear the west bank of the mississippi to prevent interruption of his communications with new orleans, threatened so long as we had a force on the lower atchafalaya and teche. banks had twenty thousand men for the field, while my force, including green's texans, would not exceed twenty-seven hundred, with many raw recruits, and badly equipped. the position at bisland might be held against a front attack, but could be turned by the way of grand lake. with five thousand infantry i would engage to prevent the investment of port hudson; and as such a reënforcement must come from holmes, and could not reach me for a month, i hoped immediate orders would be issued. on the th of march weitzel, who had been quiet at berwick's bay for some time, sent the gunboat diana, accompanied by a land force, up the teche to drive in our pickets. the capture of the queen of the west and destruction of the indianola had impaired the prestige of gunboats, and the troops at bisland were eager to apply my theory of attacking them at close quarters. the enemy's skirmishers were driven off; a section of the "valverde" battery, captain sayres, rapidly advanced; the fire of the gunboat was silenced in a moment, and she surrendered, with two companies of infantry on board. she was armed with a thirty-pounder parrott and two field guns, and had her boilers protected by railway iron. moved up to bisland, her "parrott" became a valuable adjunct to our line of defense. chapter ix. attacked by the federals--attempt to relieve vicksburg--capture of berwick's bay. increased activity of the enemy at berwick's bay in the first days of april indicated an advance; and to guard against the danger from grand lake, fuller, whose wounds in the cotton affair were partially healed, was sent to alexandria to complete repairs on the queen and convert one or two other steamers into gunboats. it was hoped that he might harass the enemy on grand lake, delay the landing of troops, and aid the little garrison at butte à la rose in defending the atchafalaya. fuller was as energetic as brave, but the means at his disposal were very limited. accompanied by a tender, he descended the atchafalaya on the queen, leaving orders for his steamers to follow as soon as they were armed. they failed to reach him, and his subsequent fate will be mentioned. on the th of april the enemy had assembled at berwick's sixteen thousand men under weitzel, emory, and grover ("report on the conduct of the war," vol. ii., page ). on the th weitzel and emory, twelve thousand strong, advanced up the teche against bisland, while grover, with four thousand men, embarked on transports to turn our position by grand lake. weitzel and emory came in sight of our lines before nightfall, threw forward skirmishers, opened guns at long range, and bivouacked; and our scouts reported the movement on the lake. my dispositions were as follows: mouton, with six hundred men and six guns, held the left from the lake to the teche. the diana in the bayou and two twenty-fours on the right bank guarded the stream and the main road; and sixteen hundred men, with twelve guns, prolonged the line to the railway embankment on our extreme right, held by green with his dismounted horsemen. one of green's regiments, colonel reilly, the d louisiana cavalry, colonel vincent, recently embodied, and a section of guns, were at hutchin's point on grand lake. the cannonading ceased at dark, and when all was quiet i rode up to franklin, thirteen miles, to look after my rear. a staff officer had been previously sent to direct the removal of stores from new iberia, order down clack's battalion, some ninety men, from the salt mines, and communicate with fuller at butte à la rose; but the country around the butte was flooded, and he was unable to reach it. above franklin the teche makes a great bend to the east and approaches grand lake at hutchin's point, where there was a shell bank, and a good road leading to the high ground along the bayou. the road to new iberia leaves the teche at franklin to avoid this bend, and runs due north across the prairie. just clear of the village it enters a small wood, through which flows a sluggish stream, the bayou yokely, crossed by a bridge. in the wood and near the stream the ground was low and boggy, impassable for wagons except on a causeway. the distance from hutchin's point to yokely bridge was less than that from bisland; and this bridge, held by the enemy, made escape from the latter place impossible; yet to retreat without fighting was, in the existing condition of public sentiment, to abandon louisiana. i remained at franklin until after midnight, when, learning from reilly that no landing had been made at hutchin's, i returned to bisland. the enemy was slow in moving on the th, apparently waiting for the effect of his turning movement to be felt. as the day wore on he opened his guns, and gradually increased his fire until it became very heavy. many of his field pieces were twenty-pounder parrotts, to which we had nothing to reply except the parrott on the diana and the twenty-fours; and, as our supply of ammunition was small, major brent desired to reserve it for an emergency. with the exception of green's command, the troops on the right of the teche were raw, and had never been in action. as shot and shell tore over the breastwork behind which they were lying, much consternation was exhibited, and it was manifest that an assault, however feeble, would break a part of the line. it was absolutely necessary to give the men some _morale_; and, mounting the breastwork, i made a cigarette, struck fire with my _briquet_, and walked up and down, smoking. near the line was a low tree with spreading branches, which a young officer, bradford by name, proposed to climb, so as to have a better view. i gave him my field glass, and this plucky youngster sat in his tree as quietly as in a chimney corner, though the branches around were cut away. these examples, especially that of captain bradford, gave confidence to the men, who began to expose themselves, and some casualties were suffered in consequence. from the extreme right colonel green sent word that his corner was uncomfortably hot, and i found it so. the battery near him was cut up, its captain, sayres, severely wounded, and major brent withdrew it. green was assured that there were no places on our line particularly cool, and there was nothing to be done but submit to the pounding. a heavy fire was concentrated on the twenty-fours and the diana. captain semmes, son of admiral semmes of alabama fame, and an officer of much coolness in action, had been detached from his battery and placed in command of the boat. a message from him informed me that the diana was disabled. she was lying against the bank under a severe fire. the waters of the bayou seemed to be boiling like a kettle. an officer came to the side of the boat to speak to me, but before he could open his mouth a shell struck him, and he disappeared as suddenly as harlequin in a pantomine. semmes then reported his condition. conical shells from the enemy's parrotts had pierced the railway iron, killed and wounded several of his gunners and crew, and cut a steam pipe. fortunately, he had kept down his fires, or escaping steam would have driven every one from the boat. it was necessary to take her out of fire for repairs. to lose even temporarily our best gun, the thirty-pounder, was hard, but there was no help for it. during the day staff officers were frequently sent to mouton to ascertain his condition; and, as the bridge over which they passed was in the line of fire directed on the diana and the twenty-fours, the promenade was not a holiday affair. several times in the afternoon the enemy appeared to be forming for an assault; and after my men had become steady, i hoped an attack would be made, feeling confident of repulsing it. night brought quiet, and no report came from reilly at hutchin's. no news seemed good news; for i would have ample time to provide against a debarkation north of hutchin's. the force at bisland was in fine spirits. protected by the breastwork, we had suffered but little; and the diana was expected to resume her position before morning. at p.m. appeared colonel reilly to make the following report: the enemy had landed at hutchin's, several thousand strong, with artillery, and advanced to the teche, pushing our people back to and through franklin. reilly had left his command in camp below franklin, toward bisland, but thought the enemy had not reached the village at nightfall. here was pleasant intelligence! there was no time to ask questions. i hoped to cut my way through, but feared the loss of wagons and material. mouton was directed to withdraw from the left bank of the bayou, start the artillery and trains to franklin, and follow with the infantry. green, with his mounted men and a section of guns, was to form the rear guard; and semmes was told to hurry his repairs and get the diana to franklin by dawn. as there was no means of removing the two twenty-fours, they were to be disabled. leaving major brent to look after his artillery and major levy to superintend the prompt execution of orders, i rode for franklin, taking reilly with me. reaching his camp, three miles from the town, i found the men sleeping and the trains parked, though the enemy was so near at hand. the camp was aroused, the troops were ordered under arms, and reilly left to move up at once, with his trains following. two hours after midnight, and the village of franklin was as silent as the grave. beyond the last houses, toward new iberia, a faint light from some camp fires could be seen. were the federals in possession of the road? approaching the fires cautiously, i saw a sentinel walking his post, and, as he passed between me and the light, marked his ragged confederate garb. major clack had reached this point after dark, and intended to resume his march to bisland in the morning. he speedily got his little band under arms, and in the darkness we beat the wood to our right. not a picket nor scout was found, and yokely causeway and bridge were safe. from the farther edge of the wood, in open fields, federal camp fires were visible. it was a wonderful chance. grover had stopped just short of the prize. thirty minutes would have given him the wood and bridge, closing the trap on my force. reilly, with his own and vincent's regiments of horse and the two guns, came up. the guns were placed on the road near the teche, with orders to stand fast. reilly and vincent dismounted their men, sent horses well to the rear, and formed line in the wood to the left of the guns, with clack to the left of vincent. the first light of dawn made objects visible and aroused the federals, some two hundred yards distant. advancing rapidly from the wood, our line poured in a fire and rushed forward with a shout. taken by surprise, the federals fell back, leaving a battery on their right exposed. to prevent the sleepy gunners from opening, i rode straight on the guns, followed by my staff and four mounted couriers, and the gunners made off. all this was easy enough. surprise and the uncertain light had favored us; but broad day exposed our weakness, and the enemy threw forward a heavy line of skirmishers. it was necessary for us to regain the wood, now four hundred yards to the rear. officers behaved admirably in seconding my efforts to encourage and steady their men and keep them well in hand. our two guns on the road fired rapidly and effectively, but the federals came on in numbers, and their fire began to tell. reilly was killed, vincent wounded in the neck, and many others went down. at this moment the peculiar whistle of a parrott shell was heard, and semmes appeared with the diana. the enemy's advance was arrested; gray's infantry from bisland came up; the wood was occupied; mouton with the remaining infantry arrived, and all danger was over. green, in command of the rear guard, showed great vigor, and prevented emory and weitzel from pressing the trains. besides the twenty-fours mentioned, one gun of cornay's battery, disabled in the action of the th, was left at bisland, and with these exceptions every wagon, pot, or pan was brought off. two months later these guns were recaptured, much to the delight of our men. the trains over yokely bridge and on the road to new iberia, mouton skillfully withdrew from grover's front as green entered franklin from below. to facilitate this, semmes was directed to work the diana's gun to the last moment, then get ashore with his crew, and blow up the boat. with his usual coolness semmes carried out his instructions, but, remaining too long near the diana to witness the explosion he had arranged, was captured. the object sought in holding on to bisland was attained. from this time forward i had the sympathy and support of the people, and my troops were full of confidence. our retreat to opelousas, by new iberia and vermilionville, was undisturbed, green with his horse keeping the enemy in check. indeed, the pursuit was without energy or vigor. the first defensible position was at the bayou vermilion, thirty miles south of opelousas. here, after an action of some warmth, the enemy was held back until night and the bridge destroyed. from opelousas the infantry, by easy marches, moved to and up the valley of the red river, where supplies were abundant. the country was open, and the great superiority of his numbers enabled the enemy to do as he liked. mouton, with green's horse, marched west of opelousas. it was hoped that he could find subsistence between that place and the mermentou river, and be in position to fall on the enemy's rear and capture any small force left on the teche. i supposed that the federal army, after reaching alexandria, would turn to the east, cross the mississippi, and invest port hudson; and this supposition proved to be correct. meantime, accompanied by a tender, fuller on the queen entered grand lake on the th, expecting his two armed steamers to follow. on the morning of the th the federal gunboats from berwick's bay appeared, and fuller, dispatching the tender up the atchafalaya to hasten his steamers, prepared for action, as he doubtless would have done in presence of admiral farragut's fleet. a shell set fire to the queen, and fuller with his crew was captured. on the th the enemy's gunboats, assisted by four companies of infantry, captured butte à la rose with two twenty-four-pounders and sixty men. semmes, fuller, and the prisoners taken from the queen and at the butte, were on the transport maple leaf with captain fusilier, and escaped in the manner related, excepting fuller, who from wounds received in his last action was unable to walk. remaining in charge of the maple leaf until his friends were ashore, he restored her to the federals, was taken to fort delaware, and died in prison. a braver man never lived. the federal army reached opelousas on the th of april, and remained there until the th of may, detained by fear of mouton's horse to the west. unfortunately, this officer was forced by want of supplies to move to the sabine, more than a hundred miles away, and thrown out of the game for many days. in the "report on the conduct of the war," vol. ii., pp. and , the federal general banks makes the following statements: "during these operations on the teche we captured over twenty-five hundred prisoners and twenty-two guns; destroyed three gunboats and eight steamers"; and further: "a dispatch from governor moore to general taylor was intercepted, in which taylor was directed to fall back into texas." at the time, my entire force in western louisiana was under three thousand, and it is rather startling to learn that we were all captured. two twenty-fours and one field gun were abandoned at bisland, and two twenty-fours lost at butte à la rose. we scuttled and burnt the cotton at bisland, and blew up the diana (captured from the enemy) at franklin. the queen (also captured) was destroyed in action on grand lake. the federals caught two small steamers, the ellen and cornie, in the atchafalaya, and we destroyed two in the teche. the other four reported by general banks must have come from the realm of the multitude of prisoners and guns. it also appears from the intercepted dispatch of governor moore that major-generals of the confederate army were under the orders of state governors--an original discovery. the delay of the federals at opelousas gave abundant time to remove our stores from alexandria. general kirby smith, the new departmental commander, was advised to retire to shreveport, two hundred miles up red river, where, remote from danger or disturbance, he could organize his administration. threatened in rear, fort de russy was untenable; so the place was dismantled and the little garrison withdrawn. on the th of april admiral porter with several gunboats had passed the vicksburg batteries, and the abandonment of de russy now left the red river open to him. he reached alexandria on the th of may, a few hours in advance of banks's army. from the th to the th of the same month some of his gunboats bombarded fort beauregard, on the washita, but were driven off by the garrison under colonel logan. at this time i was sorely stricken by domestic grief. on the approach of the enemy to alexandria my family embarked on a steamer for shreveport. accustomed to the gentlest care, my good wife had learned to take action for herself, insisting that she was unwilling to divert the smallest portion of my time from public duty. a moment to say farewell, and she left with our four children, two girls and two boys, all pictures of vigorous health. before forty-eight hours had passed, just as she reached shreveport, scarlet fever had taken away our eldest boy, and symptoms of the disease were manifest in the other children. the bereaved mother had no acquaintance in shreveport, but the good samaritan appeared in the person of mr. ulger lauve, a resident of the place, who took her to his house and showed her every attention, though he exposed his own family to great danger from contagion. the second boy died a few days later. the two girls, older and stronger, recovered. i was stunned by this intelligence, so unexpected, and it was well perhaps that the absorbing character of my duties left no time for the indulgence of private grief; but it was sad to think of the afflicted mother, alone with her dead and dying, deprived of the consolation of my presence. many days passed before we met, and then but for an hour. my infantry, hardly a thousand strong, with the trains, had marched to natchitoches and camped, and some mounted scouts to observe the enemy were kept in the vicinity of alexandria. on page of the "report" before quoted, general banks says: "a force under generals weitzel and dwight pursued the enemy nearly to grand ecore, so thoroughly dispersing his forces that he was unable to reorganize a respectable army until july." a party of federal horse crossed cane river at monette's ferry, forty miles below grand ecore, and chased a mounted orderly and myself about four miles, then turned back to alexandria; but i maintain that the orderly and i were not dispersed, for we remained together to the end. the federal army withdrew from alexandria on the th of may, and on the d crossed the mississippi and proceeded to invest port hudson; whereupon i returned by steamer to alexandria, directing the infantry at natchitoches to march back to the teche to unite with mouton. having obtained supplies on the sabine, mouton and green, the latter promoted to brigadier for gallant conduct, returned to the teche country, but arrived too late to cut off the enemy, who with large plunder had crossed to the east side of berwick's bay, where he had fortifications and gunboats. at alexandria a communication from general kirby smith informed me that major-general walker, with a division of infantry and three batteries, four thousand strong, was on the march from arkansas, and would reach me within the next few days; and i was directed to employ walker's force in some attempt to relieve vicksburg, now invested by general grant, who had crossed the mississippi below on the st of may. the peculiar position of vicksburg and the impossibility of approaching it from the west bank of the mississippi have been stated, and were now insisted upon. granting the feasibility of traversing the narrow peninsula opposite the place, seven miles in length and swept by guns afloat on both sides, what would be gained? the problem was to withdraw the garrison, not to reënforce it; and the correctness of this opinion was proved by the fact that pemberton could not use the peninsular route to send out messengers. on the other hand, i was confident that, with walker's force, berwick's bay could be captured, the lafourche overrun, banks's communication with new orleans interrupted, and that city threatened. its population of two hundred thousand was bitterly hostile to federal rule, and the appearance of a confederate force on the opposite bank of the river would raise such a storm as to bring general banks from port hudson, the garrison of which could then unite with general joseph johnston in the rear of general grant. too late to relieve port hudson, i accomplished all the rest with a force of less than three thousand of all arms. remonstrances were of no avail. i was informed that all the confederate authorities in the east were urgent for some effort on our part in behalf of vicksburg, and that public opinion would condemn us if we did not _try to do something_. to go two hundred miles and more away from the proper theatre of action in search of an indefinite _something_ was hard; but orders are orders. time was so important that i determined to run the risk of moving walker by river, though the enemy could bring gunboats into the lower red and washita, as well as into the tensas, and had some troops in the region between this last and the mississippi. steamers were held in readiness, and as soon as walker arrived his command was embarked and taken up the tensas. i went on in advance to give notice to the boats behind of danger; for, crowded with troops, these would have been helpless in the event of meeting an enemy. without interference, a point on the tensas opposite vicksburg was reached and the troops disembarked. here captain harrison's mounted men, previously mentioned, met us. for safety the steamers were sent down the tensas to its junction with the washita, and up the last above fort beauregard; and bridges were thrown over the tensas and macon to give communication with the terminus of the monroe railway. walker rapidly advanced to the village of richmond, midway between the tensas and mississippi, some twelve miles from each, where he surprised and captured a small federal party. at young's point, ten miles above vicksburg, on the west bank of the river, the enemy had a fortified camp, and a second one four miles above young's, both occupied by negro troops. holding one brigade in reserve at the point of separation of the roads, walker sent a brigade to young's and another to the camp above. both attacks were made at dawn, and, with the loss of some scores of prisoners, the negroes were driven over the levee to the protection of gunboats in the river. fifteen miles above vicksburg the yazoo river enters the mississippi from the east, and twenty-five miles farther up steele's bayou connects the two rivers. before reaching the mississippi the yazoo makes a bend to the south, approaching the rear of vicksburg. the right of grant's army rested on this bend, and here his supplies were landed, and his transports were beyond the reach of annoyance from the west bank of the mississippi. as foreseen, our movement resulted, and could result, in nothing. walker was directed to desist from further efforts on the river, and move to monroe, where steamers would be in readiness to return his command to alexandria, to which place i pushed on in advance. subsequently, general kirby smith reached monroe direct from shreveport, countermanded my orders, and turned walker back into the region east of the tensas, where this good soldier and his fine division were kept idle for some weeks, until the fall of vicksburg. the time wasted on these absurd movements cost us the garrison of port hudson, nearly eight thousand men; but the pressure on general kirby smith to _do something_ for vicksburg was too strong to be resisted. at alexandria i found three small regiments of texan horse, just arrived. together they numbered six hundred and fifty, and restored the loss suffered in action and in long marches by the forces on the teche. colonel (afterward brigadier) major, the senior officer, was ordered to move these regiments to morgan's ferry on the atchafalaya; and by ambulance, with relays of mules, i reached mouton and green on the lower teche in a few hours. the federals had a number of sick and convalescent at berwick's bay, but the effective force was small. some works strengthened their positions, and there was a gunboat anchored in the bay. mouton and green were directed to collect small boats, skiffs, flats, even sugar-coolers, in the teche; and the importance of secrecy was impressed upon them. pickets were doubled to prevent communication with the enemy, and only a few scouts permitted to approach the bay. returning north to morgan's ferry, i crossed the atchafalaya with major's command, and moved down the fordoche and grosse-tête, bayous draining the region between the atchafalaya and mississippi. a short march brought us near the fausse rivière, an ancient bed of the mississippi, some miles west of the present channel, and opposite port hudson. halting the command on the fordoche, i rode out to the estate of an acquaintance on fausse rivière, whence the noise of battle at port hudson could be heard. two ladies of the family, recently from new orleans, told me that the federal force left in the city would not exceed a thousand men; that a small garrison occupied a work near donaldsonville, where the lafourche leaves the mississippi, and with this exception there were no troops on the west bank of the river. from our position on the fordoche to the bayou boeuf, in rear of the federal camp at berwick's bay, was over a hundred miles. the route followed the grosse-tête to plaquemine on the mississippi, and to escape observation plaquemine must be passed in the night. below this point there was an interior road that reached the lafourche some distance below donaldsonville. minute instructions and guides were given to major. it was now the th of june, and he was expected to reach the boeuf on the morning of the d. the necessity of punctuality was impressed on him and his officers, as i would attack berwick's at dawn on the d, and their coöperation was required to secure success. indeed, their own safety depended on promptness. the men carried rations, with some forage, and wagons were sent back across the atchafalaya. major moved in time to pass plaquemine, twenty odd miles, before midnight, and i hastened to mouton's camp below bisland, reaching it in the afternoon of the d. fifty-three small craft, capable of transporting three hundred men, had been collected. detachments for the boats were drawn from green's brigade and the d louisiana horse. major hunter of baylor's texans was placed in command, with major blair of the d louisiana as second. after nightfall hunter embarked his men, and paddled down the teche to the atchafalaya and grand lake. fortunately, there was no wind; for the slightest disturbance of the lake would have swamped his _fleet_. he had about twelve miles to make, and was expected to reach before daylight the northeast end of the island, a mile from berwick's and the railway terminus, where he was instructed to lie quiet until he heard general green's guns from the west side of the bay, then rush on the rear of the federal works. during the night green placed a battery opposite the gunboat and railway station, and deployed five hundred dismounted men along the shores of the bay, here eight hundred yards wide. the battery was run up by hand, and every precaution to secure silence taken. at dawn of the d (june, ) our guns opened on the gunboat, and speedily drove it away. fire was then directed on the earthwork, where the enemy, completely surprised, had some heavy pieces with which he attempted to reply. a shout was heard in his rear, and hunter with his party came rushing on. resistance ceased at once; but before hunter closed in, a train of three engines and many carriages escaped from the station toward the boeuf, seven miles away. i crossed in a "pirogue" with green, and sent back two flats and several skiffs found on the east side for his men, who used them to get over, their horses swimming alongside. it was a scene of the wildest excitement and confusion. the sight of such quantities of "loot" quite upset my hungry followers. wandering through the station and warehouse, filled with stores, a texan came upon a telegraphic instrument, clicking in response to one down the line. supposing this to be some infernal machine for our destruction, he determined to save his friends at the risk of his own life, and smashed the instrument with his heavy boots; then rushed among his comrades, exclaiming: "boys! they is trying to blow us up. i seen the triggers a-working, but i busted 'em." mouton now crossed with some infantry, and order was restored; and green, who had brought over several scores of horses, mounted his men and followed the rail toward the boeuf. before reaching it he heard the noise of the train; then, firing and moving forward, found the train stopped, and major, up to time, in possession of the bridge. the capture of the train was of importance, as it enabled us to operate the thirty miles of rail between berwick's and the lafourche. in the combined movements described, green and major had set out from points more than a hundred miles apart, the latter marching through a region in possession or under control of the enemy, while the boat expedition of hunter passed over twelve miles of water; yet all reached their goal at the appointed time. although every precaution had been taken to exclude mistakes and insure coöperation, such complete success is not often attained in combined military movements; and i felt that sacrifices were due to fortune. in his rapid march from the fordoche major captured seventy prisoners and burned two steamers at plaquemine. he afterward encountered no enemy until he reached thibodeaux, near which place, at lafourche crossing, there was a stockade held by a small force to protect the railway bridge. colonel pyron, with two hundred men, was detached to mask or carry this stockade, and major passed on to the boeuf. pyron's attack was repulsed with a loss of fifty-five killed and wounded, pyron among the latter; but the enemy, after destroying the bridge, abandoned the post and three guns and retired to new orleans. the spoils of berwick's were of vast importance. twelve guns, thirty-twos and twenty-fours (among which were our old friends from bisland), seventeen hundred prisoners, with many small arms and accouterments, and great quantities of quarter-master's, commissary, ordnance, and medical stores, fell into our hands. for the first time since i reached western louisiana i had supplies, and in such abundance as to serve for the red river campaign of . three fourths of the prisoners were sick and convalescent men left here, as well as the stores, by general banks, when he marched up the teche in april. excepting those too ill to be moved, the prisoners were paroled and sent to new orleans under charge of their surgeons. i was eager to place batteries on the mississippi to interrupt banks's communication with new orleans; but the passage of berwick's bay consumed much time, though we worked night and day. we were forced to dismount guns and carriages and cross them piecemeal in two small flats, and several days elapsed before a little steamer from the upper teche could be brought down to assist. it must be remembered that neither artillery nor wagons accompanied major's march from the fordoche. on the th general green, with major's men and such of his own as had crossed their horses, marched for donaldsonville, sixty-five miles, and general mouton, with two regiments of infantry, took rail to thibodeaux and sent pickets down the line to bayou des allemands, twenty-five miles from new orleans. our third regiment of infantry remained at the bay, where major brent was at work mounting the captured guns on the southern end of the island and on the western shore opposite. gunboats could stop the crossing, and entrance from the gulf was open. while we might drive off "tin-clads" the enemy had boats capable of resisting field guns, and it is remarkable that, from the d of june to the d of july, he made no attempt to disturb us at berwick's bay. general green reached the vicinity of donaldsonville on the th, and found an earthwork at the junction of the lafourche and mississippi. this work, called fort butler, had a ditch on three sides, and the river face was covered by gunboats in the stream. the garrison was reported to be from two to three hundred negro troops. after some correspondence with mouton, green determined to assault the place, and drew around it five hundred of his men in the night of the th. two hours before dawn of the th colonel joseph phillipps led his regiment, two hundred strong, to the attack. darkness and ignorance of the ground caused much blundering. the levee above the fort was mistaken for the parapet, and some loss was sustained from the fire of gunboats. changing direction, phillipps came upon the ditch, unknown to him as to green, who had been deceived by false information. the ditch passed, phillipps mounted the parapet and fell dead as he reached the top. an equally brave man, major ridley, worthy of his leader, followed, and, calling on his men to come, jumped into the work. frightened by his appearance, the enemy abandoned the parapet; but finding that ridley was alone, returned and captured him. a dozen men would have carried the place; but the ditch afforded protection from fire, and the men, disheartened by phillipps's death, could not be induced to leave it. indeed, the largest part of our loss, ninety-seven, was made up of these men, who remained in the ditch until daylight and surrendered. the above statements are taken from the report of major ridley, made after he was exchanged. the affair was unfortunate. open to fire from vessels on the river, fort butler was of no value to us, and the feeble garrison would have remained under cover; but, like the irishman at donnybrook, green's rule was to strike an enemy whenever he saw him--a most commendable rule in war, and covering a multitude of such small errors as the attack on fort butler. meantime i was detained at berwick's bay, engaged in hurrying over and forward artillery and arranging to transport the more valuable stores into the interior. it was not, however, until near the end of the first week in july that i succeeded in placing twelve guns on the river below donaldsonville. fire was opened, one transport destroyed and several turned back. gunboats attempted to dislodge us, but were readily driven away by the aid of green's men, dismounted and protected by the levee. for three days the river was closed to transports, and our mounted scouts were pushed down to a point opposite kenner, sixteen miles above new orleans. a few hours more, and the city would have been wild with excitement; but in war time once lost can not be regained. the unwise movement toward vicksburg retarded operations at berwick's and on the river, and port hudson fell. during the night of the th of july intelligence of its surrender on the previous day reached me, and some hours later the fall of vicksburg on the th was announced. an iron-clad or two in berwick's bay, and the road at plaquemine held by troops, supported by vessels in the river, would close all egress from the lafourche, and the enemy could make arrangements to bag us at his leisure; while grant's army and porter's fleet, now set free, might overrun the washita and red river regions and destroy walker's division, separated from me by a distance of more than three hundred miles. the outlook was not cheerful, but it was necessary to make the best of it, and at all hazards save our plunder. batteries and outposts were ordered in to the lafourche; green concentrated his horse near donaldsonville, the infantry moved to labadieville to support him, and mouton went to berwick's, where he worked night and day in crossing stores to the west side of the bay. on the th of july generals weitzel, grover, and dwight, with six thousand men, came from port hudson, disembarked at donaldsonville, and advanced down the lafourche. ordering up the infantry, i joined green, but did not interfere with his dispositions, which were excellent. his force, fourteen hundred, including a battery, was dismounted and in line. as i reached the field the enemy came in sight, and green led on his charge so vigorously as to drive the federals into donaldsonville, capturing two hundred prisoners, many small arms, and two guns, one of which was the field gun lost at bisland. the affair was finished too speedily to require the assistance of the infantry. undisturbed, we removed not only all stores from berwick's, but many supplies from the abundant lafourche country, including a large herd of cattle driven from the prairies of opelousas by the federals some weeks before. on the st of july, we ran the engines and carriages on the railway into the bay, threw in the heavy guns, and moved up the teche, leaving pickets opposite berwick's. twenty-four hours thereafter the enemy's scouts reached the bay. the timidity manifested after the action of the th may be ascribed to the fertile imagination of the federal commander, general banks, which multiplied my force of less than three thousand of all arms into nine or twelve thousand. in the "report on the conduct of the war," vol. ii., pages and , general banks states: "orders had been sent to brashear city [berwick's] to remove all stores, but to hold the position, with the aid of gunboats, to the last. the enemy succeeded in crossing grand lake by means of rafts, and surprised and captured the garrison, consisting of _about three hundred men_. the enemy, greatly strengthened in numbers, then attacked the works at donaldsonville, on the mississippi, which were defended by a garrison of two hundred and twenty-five men, including convalescents, commanded by major j.d. bullen, th maine volunteers. the attack was made on the morning of the th of june, and lasted until daylight. the garrison made a splendid defense, killing and wounding more than their own number, and capturing as many officers and nearly as many men as their garrison numbered. the enemy's troops were under the command of general green of texas, and consisted of the louisiana troops under general taylor and five thousand texas cavalry, making a force of nine to twelve thousand in that vicinity. "the troops engaged in these different operations left but _four hundred men for the defense of new orleans_. upon the surrender of port hudson it was found that the enemy had established batteries below, on the river, cutting off our communication with new orleans, making it necessary to send a large force to dislodge them. on the th of july seven transports, containing all my available force, were sent below against the enemy in the vicinity of donaldsonville. the country was speedily freed from his presence, and brashear city [berwick's] was recaptured on the d of july." here are remarkable statements. fourteen hundred men and the vast stores at berwick's (brashear city) are omitted, as is the action of the th of july with "all my [his] available force.... the country was speedily freed from his [my] presence, and brashear city reoccupied," though i remained in the country for eleven days after the th, and had abandoned brashear city twenty-four hours before the first federal scout made his appearance. the conduct of major j.d. bullen, th maine volunteers, with two hundred and twenty-five negroes, "including convalescents," appears to have surpassed that of leonidas and his spartans; but, like the early gods, modern democracies are pleased by large utterances. while we were engaged in these operations on the lafourche, a movement of grant's forces from natchez was made against fort beauregard on the washita. the garrison of fifty men abandoned the place on the d of september, leaving four heavy and four field guns, with their ammunition, to be destroyed or carried off by the enemy. chapter x. movement to the red river--campaign against banks. recent events on the mississippi made it necessary to concentrate my small force in the immediate valley of red river. indeed, when we lost vicksburg and port hudson, we lost not only control of the river but of the valley from the washita and atchafalaya on the west to pearl river on the east. an army of forty odd thousand men, with all its material, was surrendered in the two places, and the fatal consequences were felt to the end of the struggle. the policy of shutting up large bodies of troops in fortifications, without a relieving army near at hand, can not be too strongly reprobated. vicksburg should have been garrisoned by not more than twenty-five hundred men, and port hudson by a thousand. these would have been ample to protect the batteries against a sudden _coup_, and forty thousand men added to general joseph johnston's force would have prevented the investment of the places, or at least made their loss of small moment. after wasting three months in ineffectual attempts to divert the channel of the mississippi, general grant ran gunboats and transports by the batteries, and crossed the river below. instead of meeting this movement with every available man, pemberton detached general bowen with a weak division, who successfully resisted the federal advance for many hours, vainly calling the while for reënforcements. pemberton then illustrated the art of war by committing every possible blunder. he fought a series of actions with fractions against the enemy's masses, and finished by taking his defeated fragments into the vicksburg trap. it may be stated, however, that, had he acted wisely and kept out of vicksburg, he would have been quite as much hounded as he subsequently was. grant's error in undertaking an impossible work cost him three months' time and the loss by disease of many thousands of his men. the event showed that he could as readily have crossed the river below vicksburg at first as at last; but, once over, he is entitled to credit for promptly availing himself of his adversary's mistakes and vigorously following him. the same may be said of his first success at fort donelson on the cumberland. the terror inspired by gunboats in the first year of the war has been alluded to; and at fort donelson general grant had another potent ally. the two senior confederate generals, politicians rather than warriors, retired from command on the approach of the enemy. one can imagine the effect of such conduct, unique in war, on the raw troops left behind. general buckner, an educated soldier, was too heavily handicapped by his worthy superiors to make a successful defense, and general grant secured an easy victory. "among the blind, the one-eyed are kings." general grant's first essay at belmont failed, and at shiloh he was out-manoeuvred and out-fought by sidney johnston, and, indeed, he was saved from destruction by johnston's death. before he moved against bragg at missionary ridge, the latter had detached longstreet with a third of his force, while he (grant) reënforced thomas with most of the vicksburg army and two strong corps under hooker from the east. the historian of the federal army of the potomac states that, in reply to a question of general meade, grant said: "i never manoeuvre"; and one has but to study the virginia campaign of , and imagine an exchange of resources by grant and lee, to find the true place of the former among the world's commanders. he will fall into the class represented by marshal villars and the duke of cumberland. genius is god-given, but men are responsible for their acts; and it should be said of general grant that, as far as i am aware, he made war in the true spirit of a soldier, never by deed or word inflicting wrong on non-combatants. it would be to the credit of the united states army if similar statements could be made of generals sherman and sheridan. released at length from the swamps of the tensas, where it had suffered from sickness, walker's division of texas infantry joined me in the early autumn, and was posted to the north of opelousas. major-general j.g. walker served as a captain of mounted rifles in the war with mexico. resigning from the united states army to join the confederacy, he commanded a division at the capture of harper's ferry in , and in the subsequent battle of antietam; after which he was transferred to arkansas. seconded by good brigade and regimental officers, he had thoroughly disciplined his men, and made them in every sense soldiers; and their efficiency in action was soon established. on the th of september green, with his horse and a part of mouton's brigade of louisiana infantry, crossed the atchafalaya at morgan's ferry, and attacked and routed the enemy on the fordoche, capturing four hundred and fifty prisoners and two guns. green lost a hundred in killed and wounded; the enemy, who fought under cover, less than half that number. in october the federals moved a large force of all arms up the teche, their advance reaching the courtableau. i concentrated for a fight, but they suddenly retired to the bayou bourbeau, three miles south of opelousas, where they left a considerable body under general burbridge. on the d of november green, reënforced by three regiments of walker's division, was ordered to attack them, and they were beaten with the loss of six hundred prisoners. this was the first opportunity i had had of observing the admirable conduct of walker's men in action. green's pursuit was stopped by the approach of heavy masses of the enemy from the south, who seemed content with the rescue of burbridge, as they retired at once to the vicinity of new iberia, fifty miles away. green followed with a part of his horse, and kept his pickets close up; but one of his regiments permitted itself to be surprised at night, on the open prairie near new iberia, and lost a hundred men out of a hundred and twenty-five. so much for want of discipline and over-confidence. general banks's report mentions this capture, but is silent about bourbeau. the prisoners taken at the bourbeau were marched to the red river, where supplies could be had. the second day after the action, _en route_ for alexandria in an ambulance, i turned out of the road on to the prairie to pass the column, when i observed an officer, in the uniform of a colonel, limping along with his leg bandaged. surprised at this, i stopped to inquire the reason, and was told that the colonel refused to separate from his men. descending from the ambulance, i approached him, and, as gently as possible, remonstrated against the folly of walking on a wounded leg. he replied that his wound was not very painful, and he could keep up with the column. his regiment was from wisconsin, recruited among his neighbors and friends, and he was very unwilling to leave it. i insisted on his riding with me, for a time at least, as we would remain on the road his men were following. with much reluctance he got into the ambulance, and we drove on. for some miles he was silent, but, avoiding subjects connected with the war, i put him at ease, and before alexandria was reached we were conversing pleasantly. impressed by his bearing and demeanor, i asked him in what way i could serve him, and learned that he desired to send a letter to his wife in wisconsin, who was in delicate health and expecting to be confined. she would hear of the capture of his regiment, and be uncertain as to his fate. "you shall go to the river to-night," i replied, "catch one of your steamers, and take home the assurance of your safety. remain on parole until you can send me an officer of equal rank, and i will look to the comfort of your men and have them exchanged at the earliest moment." his manly heart was so affected by this as to incapacitate him from expressing his thanks. during the administration of andrew johnson a convention met in the city of philadelphia which, at the earnest instance of the president, i attended. the gallant wisconsin colonel was also there to lend his assistance in healing the wounds of civil strife. my presence in the city of _brotherly love_ furnished an occasion to a newspaper to denounce me as "a rebel who, with hands dripping with loyal blood, had the audacity to show myself in a loyal community." whereupon my wisconsin friend, accompanied by a number of persons from his state, called on me to express condemnation of the article in question, and was ready, with the slightest encouragement, to make the newspaper office a hot place. this was the difference between brave soldiers and non-fighting politicians, who grew fat by inflaming the passions of sectional hate. the ensuing winter of - was without notable events. control of the mississippi enabled the enemy to throw his forces upon me from above and below red river, and by gunboats interfere with my movements along this stream; and as soon as the lafourche campaign ended, steps were taken to provide against these contingencies. twenty miles south of alexandria a road leaves the boeuf, an effluent of red river, and passes through pine forest to burr's ferry on the sabine. twenty odd miles from the boeuf this road intersects another from opelousas to fort jesup, an abandoned military post, thence to pleasant hill, mansfield, and shreveport. at varying distances of twelve to thirty miles the valley of the red river is an arc, of which this last-mentioned road is the chord, and several routes from the valley cross to ferries on the sabine above burr's. but the country between the boeuf and pleasant hill, ninety miles, was utterly barren, and depots of forage, etc., were necessary before troops could march through it. with great expenditure of time and labor depots were established, with small detachments to guard them; and events proved that the time and labor were well bestowed. movements of the federals along the west coast of texas in november induced general kirby smith to withdraw from me green's command of texas horse, and send it to galveston. this left me with but one mounted regiment, vincent's d louisiana, and some independent companies, which last were organized into two regiments--one, on the washita, by colonel harrison, the other, on the teche, by colonel bush; but they were too raw to be effective in the approaching campaign. mouton's brigade of louisiana infantry could be recruited to some extent; but the texas infantry received no recruits, and was weakened by the ordinary casualties of camp life, as well as by the action of the shreveport authorities. the commander of the "trans-mississippi department" displayed much ardor in the establishment of bureaux, and on a scale proportioned rather to the extent of his territory than to the smallness of his force. his staff surpassed in numbers that of von moltke during the war with france; and, to supply the demands of bureaux and staff, constant details from the infantry were called for, to the great discontent of the officers in the field. hydrocephalus at shreveport produced atrophy elsewhere. extensive works for defense were constructed there, and heavy guns mounted; and, as it was known that i objected to fortifications beyond mere water batteries, for reasons already stated, the chief engineer of the "department" was sent to fort de russy to build an iron-casemated battery and other works. we shall see what became of de russy. in the winter there joined me from arkansas a brigade of texas infantry, numbering seven hundred muskets. the men had been recently dismounted, and were much discontented thereat. prince charles polignac, a french gentleman of ancient lineage, and a brigadier in the confederate army, reported for duty about the same time, and was assigned to command this brigade. the texans swore that a frenchman, whose very name they could not pronounce, should never command them, and mutiny was threatened. i went to their camp, assembled the officers, and pointed out the consequences of disobedience, for which i should hold them accountable; but promised that if they remained dissatisfied with their new commander _after an action_, i would then remove him. order was restored, but it was up-hill work for general polignac for some time, notwithstanding his patience and good temper. the incongruity of the relation struck me, and i thought of sending my monte-dealing texas colonel to paris, to command a brigade of the imperial guard. in the first weeks of the enemy sent a gunboat expedition up the washita, and polignac's brigade, with a battery, was moved to trinity to meet it. the gunboats were driven off, and polignac, by his coolness under fire, gained the confidence of his men, as he soon gained their affections by his care and attention. they got on famously, and he made capital soldiers out of them. general polignac returned to europe in , and as he had shown great gallantry and talent for war while serving with me, i hoped that he might come to the front during the struggle with germany; but he belonged to that race of historic gentry whose ancestors rallied to the white plume of henry at ivry, and followed the charge of condé at rocroy. had he been a shopkeeper or scribbling attorney, he might have found favor with the dictator who ruled france. all the information received during the months of january and february, , indicated a movement against me in the early spring; and in the latter month it was ascertained that porter's fleet and a part of sherman's army from vicksburg would join banks's forces in the movement, while steele would coöperate from little rock, arkansas. this information was communicated to department headquarters, and i asked that prompt measures should be taken to reënforce me; but it was "a far cry" to shreveport as to "lochow," and the emergency seemed less pressing in the rear than at the front. the end of february found my forces distributed as follows: harrison's mounted regiment (just organized), with a four-gun battery, was in the north, toward monroe; mouton's brigade near alexandria; polignac's at trinity on the washita, fifty-five miles distant; walker's division at marksville and toward simmsport on the atchafalaya, with two hundred men under colonel byrd detached to assist the gunners at de russy, which, yet unfinished, contained eight heavy guns and two field pieces. walker had three companies of vincent's horse on the east side of the atchafalaya, watching the mississippi. the remainder of vincent's regiment was on the teche. increased activity and concentration at berwick's bay, and a visit of sherman to new orleans to confer with banks, warned me of the impending blow; and on the th of march polignac was ordered to move at once to alexandria, and thence, with mouton's brigade, to the boeuf, twenty-five miles south. harrison was directed to get his regiment and battery to the west bank of the washita, gather to him several independent local companies of horse, and report to general liddell, sent to command on the north bank of red river, whence he was to harass the enemy's advance up that stream. vincent was ordered to leave flying scouts on the teche and move his regiment, with such men as bush had recruited, to opelousas, whence he afterward joined me on the burr's ferry road. at alexandria steamers were loaded with stores and sent above the falls, and everything made ready to evacuate the place. these arrangements were not completed a moment too soon. on march th admiral porter, with nineteen gunboats, followed by ten thousand men of sherman's army, entered the mouth of red river. (these numbers are from federal official reports.) on the th, under cover of a part of the fleet, the troops debarked at simmsport, on the atchafalaya near the red, other vessels ascending the latter stream, and on the th, under command of general a.j. smith, marched to de russy, thirty miles, which they reached about p.m. as stated, the work was incomplete, and had time been given me would have been abandoned. attacked in the rear, the garrison surrendered after losing ten killed and wounded. byrd's two hundred men were in rifle pits on the river below, where gunboats, under commander phelps, were removing obstructions in the channel. a number of byrd's men and a few gunners escaped to the swamps and rejoined their commands; but we lost a hundred and eighty-five prisoners, eight heavy guns, and two field pieces. thus much for our red river gibraltar. cut off from direct communication by the sudden appearance of the enemy on the th, the three mounted companies east of the atchafalaya were forced to cross at morgan's ferry, below simmsport, and did not rejoin walker until the th. this officer was thereby left without means of information; but, judging correctly of the numbers of the enemy by a personal observation of his transports and fleet, he fell back from his advanced position to the boeuf, forty miles, where he was united with mouton and polignac. his division at this time was reduced to some thirty-three hundred muskets, too weak to make head against a.j. smith's column. on the afternoon of the th of march the advanced boats of porter's fleet reached alexandria, whence all stores had been removed; but, by the mismanagement of a pilot, one steamer was grounded on the falls and had to be burned. in the "report on the conduct of the war," vol. ii., page , colonel j.s. clarke, aide-de-camp to general banks, states that banks's army in this campaign was twenty-eight thousand strong, eighteen thousand under franklin, ten thousand under a.j. smith. general steele, operating from arkansas, reports his force at seven thousand; and the number of gunboats given is taken from the reports of admiral porter to the secretary of the navy. to meet porter and a.j. smith, major-general franklin had left the lower teche on the th for alexandria, with eighteen thousand men. my entire force on the south side of red river consisted of fifty-three hundred infantry, five hundred horse, and three hundred artillerymen; and liddell, on the north, had about the same number of horse and a four-gun battery. from texas, if at all, the delayed reënforcements must come, and it was vital to cover the roads from the sabine. from the boeuf, on the th, i marched on the burr's ferry road to carroll jones's, which was reached on the evening of the th. here, where the burr's ferry and natchitoches roads separated, was a depot of forage, and i camped. polignac's and the louisiana brigade, under colonel gray, were united in a division for general mouton. vincent's horse, from opelousas, joined on the th, and on the following day was sent forward to the bayou rapides, twelve miles, where it skirmished with the enemy's horse from alexandria, twenty miles below. at dawn of the st edgar's battery, four guns, was sent to strengthen vincent, and posted in a strong position near james's store, where it overlooked and commanded the valley. meanwhile, couriers were dispatched to the sabine to inform approaching reënforcements of my position, and direct them on to the fort jesup road. the st proved to be a cold, rainy day, with gusts of wind. toward evening the sound of edgar's guns was heard. fearing a surprise during the night, captain elgee of my staff was sent to withdraw the battery and warn vincent of the necessity of vigilance; but the enemy had been too prompt. vincent's pickets found their fires more agreeable than outposts. at nightfall the battery and a number of the horse were captured, as was captain elgee, who rode up just after the event. we lost the four guns, with their caissons, and two hundred men. vincent, with the remainder of his command escaped. in truth, my horse was too ill disciplined for close work. on the d we marched to beaseley's, twelve miles, and remained until the th, hoping that reënforcements would reach us. beaseley's was a depot of forage, and covered roads to fort jesup and natchitoches; and a cross road reached the red river valley at a point twenty-five miles below the latter place, by which some supplies were obtained. as no reënforcements arrived, and the enemy was moving up the river, the troops were ordered to pleasant hill via fort jesup, forty miles, and i went to natchitoches, thirty miles. here, on the night of the th, i met colonel mcneill's regiment of texas horse, numbering two hundred and fifty men, of whom fifty were without arms; and the following morning colonel herbert came in, with a hundred and twenty-five of his three hundred and fifty men unarmed. these were a part of green's command, and the first reënforcements received. the enemy's advance reached natchitoches, by the river road, on the st, and mcneill and herbert were directed to fall back slowly toward pleasant hill, thirty-six miles. i remained in the town until the enemy entered, then rode four miles to grand ecore, where, in the main channel of red river, a steamer was awaiting me. embarking, i went up river to blair's landing, forty miles by the windings of the stream, whence was a road, sixteen miles, to pleasant hill. four miles from blair's was bayou pierre, a large arm of the river, crossed by a ferry. at pleasant hill, on the st of april, walker and mouton, with their infantry divisions, artillery, and trains joined me, as did green with his staff. from the latter i learned that de bray's regiment of cavalry, with two batteries and trains, was in march from fort jesup. as the enemy was moving from natchitoches, and could strike the jesup road across country, de bray was ordered to push forward his artillery and wagons, and look well to his right. he reached pleasant hill after dark. the enemy attempted to impede the march, but was driven off, with a loss of five wounded to de bray. during the day our horse, toward natchitoches, had some skirmishing. it appeared that general major, with the remainder of green's horse, could not get up before the th, and he was directed to cross the sabine at logansport and march to mansfield, twenty miles in my rear. this insured his march against disturbance; and, to give him time, i halted two days at pleasant hill, prepared for action. but the enemy showed no disposition to advance seriously, and on the th and th the infantry moved to mansfield, where on the following day major, with his horse and buchell's regiment of cavalry, joined. general major was sent to pleasant hill to take charge of the advance. de bray's and buchell's regiments have been spoken of as _cavalry_ to distinguish them from mounted infantry, herein called _horse_. they had never before left their state (texas), were drilled and disciplined, and armed with sabers. buchell's regiment was organized in the german settlement of new braunfels. the men had a distinct idea that they were fighting for their adopted country, and their conduct in battle was in marked contrast to that of the germans whom i had encountered in the federal army in virginia. colonel buchell had served in the prussian army, and was an instructed soldier. three days after he joined me, he was mortally wounded in action, and survived but a few hours. i sat beside him as his brave spirit passed away. the old "fatherland" sent no bolder horseman to battle at rossbach or gravelotte. during this long retreat of two hundred miles from the banks of the atchafalaya to mansfield, i had been in correspondence with general kirby smith at shreveport, and always expressed my intention to fight as soon as reënforcements reached me. general kirby smith thought that i would be too weak to meet the enemy, even with all possible reënforcements, and suggested two courses: one, to hold the works at shreveport until he could concentrate a force to relieve me; the other, to retire into texas and induce the enemy to follow us. my objection to the first suggestion was, that it would result in the surrender of the troops and shreveport, as it would be impossible to raise a new force for their relief; and to the second, that its consequences would be quite as disastrous as a defeat, as it would be an abandonment of louisiana and southern arkansas. the men from these states might be expected to leave us, and small blame to them; while from the interior of texas we could give no more aid to our brethren on the east of the mississippi than from the sandwich islands. general kirby smith did not insist on the adoption of either of his own suggestions, nor express an approval of mine; but when mansfield was reached, a decision became necessary. three roads lead from this place to shreveport, the kingston, middle, and keachi. the distance by the first, the one nearest to the valley of red river, is thirty-eight miles; by the second, forty; and by the third, forty-five. from keachi, five and twenty miles from mansfield and twenty from shreveport, roads cross the sabine into texas. past mansfield, then, the enemy would have three roads, one of which would be near his fleet on the river, and could avail himself of his great superiority in numbers. this was pointed out to the "aulic council" at shreveport, but failed to elicit any definite response. on the st of march there had reached shreveport, from price's command in arkansas, two brigades of missouri infantry and two of arkansas, numbering together forty-four hundred muskets. these troops i had repeatedly asked for, but they were retained at shreveport until the afternoon of the th of april, when they marched to keachi, and reported to me from that place on the morning of the th. supplies were far from abundant in the vicinity of mansfield; and as i might at any moment receive an order to retire to keachi, they were directed to remain there for the present. green, now promoted to major-general, was placed in command of all the horse, with brigadiers bee, major, and bagby under him. on the morning of the th of april, major, from pleasant hill, reported the enemy advancing in force; whereupon green went to the front. later in the day the southerly wind brought such distinct sounds of firing to mansfield as to induce me to join green. riding hard, i suddenly met some fifty men from the front, and reined up to speak to them; but, before i could open my mouth, received the following rebuke from one of the party for a bad habit: "general! if you won't curse us, we will go back with you." i bowed to the implied homily, rode on, followed by the men, and found green fighting a superior force of horse. putting in my little reënforcement, i joined him, and enjoyed his method of managing his wild horsemen; and he certainly accomplished more with them than any one else could have done. after some severe work, the enemy's progress was arrested, and it became evident that green could camp that night at a mill stream seven miles from pleasant hill, a matter of importance. the roads in this region follow the high ridge dividing the drainage of red river from that of the sabine, and water is very scarce. between pleasant hill and mansfield but two streams are found, the one above mentioned, and a smaller, seven miles nearer to the latter place. for twenty miles from pleasant hill toward natchitoches there was little or no water; and at pleasant hill itself we had exhausted the wells and reduced the store in cisterns during our stay. this, as it affected movements and positions of troops, should be borne in mind. leaving green, i returned to mansfield, stopping on the road to select my ground for the morrow. this was in the edge of a wood, fronting an open field eight hundred yards in width by twelve hundred in length, through the center of which the road to pleasant hill passed. on the opposite side of the field was a fence separating it from the pine forest, which, open on the higher ground and filled with underwood on the lower, spread over the country. the position was three miles in front of mansfield, and covered a cross-road leading to the sabine. on either side of the main mansfield-pleasant hill road, at two miles' distance, was a road parallel to it and connected by this sabine cross-road. general churchill, commanding the missouri-arkansas troops at keachi, was ordered to march for mansfield at dawn of the th, and advised that a battle was impending. my medical director was instructed to prepare houses in the village for hospitals, and quartermasters were told to collect supplies and park surplus wagons. an officer with a small guard was selected to preserve order in the town, and especially among the wagoners, always disposed to "stampede." walker and mouton were ordered to move their divisions in the morning, ready for action, to the position selected; and a staff officer was sent to green, with instructions to leave a small force in front of the enemy, and before dawn withdraw to the appointed ground. these arrangements made, a dispatch was sent to general kirby smith at shreveport, informing him that i had returned from the front, found the enemy advancing in force, and would give battle on the following day, april , , unless positive orders to the contrary were sent to me. this was about p.m. of the th. my confidence of success in the impending engagement was inspired by accurate knowledge of the federal movements, as well as the character of their commander, general banks, whose measure had been taken in the virginia campaigns of and since. on the morning of the th of april admiral porter left grand ecore with six gunboats and twenty transports, on which last were embarked some twenty-five hundred troops. the progress of these vessels up the river was closely watched by an officer of my staff, who was also in communication with general liddell on the north side. banks began his movement from grand ecore to pleasant hill on the th, with an estimated force of twenty-five thousand. though lateral roads existed, his column marched by the main one, and in the following order: five thousand mounted men led the advance, followed by a large wagon train and much artillery. infantry succeeded, then more wagons and artillery, then infantry again. in the afternoon of the th i knew that the front and rear of his column were separated by a distance of twenty miles. my troops reached the position in front of sabine cross-road at an early hour on the th, and were disposed as follows: on the right of the road to pleasant hill, walker's infantry division of three brigades, with two batteries; on the left, mouton's, of two brigades and two batteries. as green's men came in from the front, they took position, dismounted, on mouton's left. a regiment of horse was posted on each of the parallel roads mentioned, and de bray's cavalry, with mcmahon's battery, held in reserve on the main road. dense forest prevented the employment of much artillery, and, with the exception of mcmahon's, which rendered excellent service, none was used in the action. i had on the field fifty-three hundred infantry; three thousand horse, and five hundred artillerymen--in all, eight thousand eight hundred men, a very full estimate. but the vicious dispositions of the enemy made me confident of beating all the force he could concentrate during the day; and on the morrow churchill, with forty-four hundred muskets, would be up. the forenoon of the th wore on as the troops got into position. riding along the line, i stopped in front of the louisiana brigade of mouton's division, and made what proved to be an unfortunate remark to the men: "as they were fighting in defense of their own soil i wished the louisiana troops to draw the first blood." but they were already inflamed by many outrages on their homes, as well as by camp rumors that it was intended to abandon their state without a fight. at this moment our advanced horse came rushing in, hard followed by the enemy. a shower of bullets reached mouton's line, one of which struck my horse, and a body of mounted men charged up to the front of the th louisiana. a volley from this regiment sent them back with heavy loss. infantry was reported in the wood opposite my left. this was a new disposition of the enemy, for on the th and th his advance consisted of horse alone; and to meet it, mouton was strengthened by moving randall's brigade of walker's from the right to the left of the road. to cover this change, skirmishers were thrown forward and de bray's regiment deployed in the field. the enemy showing no disposition to advance, at p.m. i ordered a forward movement of my whole line. the ardor of mouton's troops, especially the louisianians, could not be restrained by their officers. crossing the field under a heavy fire of artillery and small arms, the division reached the fence, paused for a moment to draw breath, then rushed into the wood on the enemy. here our loss was severe. general mouton was killed, as were colonels armand, beard, and walker, commanding the th, crescent, and th louisiana regiments of gray's brigade. major canfield of the crescent also fell, and lieutenant-colonel clack of the same regiment was mortally wounded. as these officers went down, others, among whom adjutant blackman was conspicuous, seized the colors and led on the men. polignac's brigade, on the left of gray's, also suffered heavily. colonel noble, th texas, with many others, was killed. polignac, left in command by the death of mouton, displayed ability and pressed the shattered division steadily forward. randall, with his fine brigade, supported him on the right; while major's dismounted men, retarded by dense wood, much to the impatience of general green, gradually turned the enemy's right, which was forced back with loss of prisoners and guns. on the right of the main road general walker, with waul's and scurry's brigades, encountered but little resistance until he had crossed the open field and entered the wood. finding that he outflanked the enemy's left, he kept his right brigade, scurry's, advanced, and swept everything before him. the first federal line, consisting of all the mounted force and one division of the th army corps, was in full flight, leaving prisoners, guns, and wagons in our hands. two miles to the rear of the first position, the d division of the th corps brought up, but was speedily routed, losing guns and prisoners; and our advance continued. near sunset, four miles from our original position, the th army corps was found, drawn up on a ridge overlooking a small stream. fatigued, and disordered by their long advance through dense wood, my men made no impression for a time on this fresh body of troops; but possession of the water was all-important, for there was none other between this and mansfield. walker, green, and polignac led on their weary men, and i rode down to the stream. there was some sharp work, but we persisted, the enemy fell back, and the stream was held, just as twilight faded into darkness. twenty-five hundred prisoners, twenty pieces of artillery, several stands of colors, many thousands of small arms, and two hundred and fifty wagons were the fruits of victory in the battle of mansfield. eight thousand of the enemy, his horse and two divisions of infantry, had been utterly routed, and over five thousand of the th corps driven back at sunset. with a much smaller force on the field, we invariably outnumbered the enemy at the fighting point; and foreseeing the possibility of this, i was justified in my confidence of success. the defeat of the federal army was largely due to the ignorance and arrogance of its commander, general banks, who attributed my long retreat to his own wonderful strategy. night put an end to the struggle along the little stream, and my troops camped by the water. a dispatch was sent to general kirby smith, at shreveport, to inform him of the result of the day's fighting, and of my intention to push the enemy on the following morning. leaving instructions for green, with all the mounted force, to pursue at dawn, i rode to mansfield to look after our wounded and meet churchill. the precautions taken had preserved order in the village throughout the day. hospitals had been prepared, the wounded brought in and cared for, prisoners and captured property disposed of. churchill came and reported his command in camp, four miles from mansfield, on the keachi road; and he was directed to prepare two days' rations, and march toward pleasant hill at a.m. sitting by my camp fire to await the movement of churchill's column, i was saddened by recollection of the many dead, and the pleasure of victory was turned to grief as i counted the fearful cost at which it had been won. of the louisianians fallen, most were acquaintances, many had been neighbors and friends; and they were gone. above all, the death of gallant mouton affected me. he had joined me soon after i reached western louisiana, and had ever proved faithful to duty. modest, unselfish, and patriotic, he showed best in action, always leading his men. i thought of his wife and children, and of his father, governor mouton, whose noble character i have attempted to portray. churchill's march disturbed these solemn reveries, and i returned to the front, where walker and green were awaiting the approaching day. the horse, with a battery, moved early to pleasant hill, fourteen miles, leaving walker and polignac to follow churchill's column as soon as it had passed. i rode with green, and we found many stragglers, scattered arms, and burning wagons, showing the haste of the enemy's retreat. the mill stream, seven miles distant, was reached, then the vicinity of pleasant hill, before a shot was fired. a short mile in front of the latter place the enemy was found; and as our rapid advance had left the infantry far to the rear, feints were made to the right and left to develop his position and strength. the village of pleasant hill occupies part of a plateau, a mile wide from east to west, along the mansfield and fort jesup road. the highest ground, called college hill, is on the west, and here enters a road from the sabine, which, sixteen miles to the east, strikes the red river at blair's landing; while, from the necessity of turning spanish lake, the distance to natchitoches and grand ecore is thirty-six miles. the federal fleet, with accompanying troops, was now many miles above blair's, which by river is forty-five miles above grand ecore. driven from pleasant hill to the latter place, the federal forces would be widely separated, and might be destroyed in detail. though it appeared to be the enemy's intention to continue his retreat, as he was known to be moving back his trains, yet if undisturbed he might find courage to attempt a junction with his fleet at blair's landing; and i did not wish to lose the advantage of the _morale_ gained by success on the previous day. our reconnoissance showed that the federal lines extended across the open plateau, from college hill on their left to a wooded height on the right of the road to mansfield. winding along in front of this position was a gully cut by winter rains, but now dry, and bordered by a thick growth of young pines, with fallen timber interspersed. this was held by the enemy's advanced infantry, with his main line and guns on the plateau. separating the gully and thicket from the forest toward mansfield was an open field, several hundred yards wide near the road, but diminishing in width toward the west. here the federal commander had concentrated some eighteen thousand, including a.j. smith's force, not engaged on the previous day. my plan of attack was speedily determined. orders were sent to the infantry to fill canteens at the mill stream, and to the trains to park there. shortly after midday the infantry appeared, churchill in advance; but a glance showed that his men were too much exhausted to attack. they had marched forty-five miles, and were thoroughly jaded. walker's and polignac's divisions had been heavily engaged on the previous day, and all were suffering from heat and thirst. accordingly, two hours were given to the troops to lie down and rest. at p.m. churchill, with two batteries and three regiments of horse, was directed to move to the right and turn the enemy's left. his route was through the forest for two miles to the road coming from the sabine. the enemy's left outflanked, he was to attack from the south and west, keeping his regiments of horse well to his right, and walker would attack on his left. this was explained to churchill, and mr. t.j. williams, formerly sheriff of de soto parish, and acquainted with every road in the vicinity, was sent with him as a guide. on walker's left, near the road from mansfield, major brent had twelve guns in the wood, with four on the road, where were posted buchell's and de bray's cavalry, under general bee, and polignac's division, the last in reserve. in the wood on the left of the road from mansfield, major, with two brigades of horse dismounted, was to drive back the enemy's skirmishers, turn his right, and gain the road to blair's landing. as no offensive movement by the enemy was anticipated, he would be turned on both flanks, subjected to a concentric fire, and overwhelmed. though i had but twelve thousand five hundred men against eighteen thousand in position, the _morale_ was greatly in our favor, and intelligent execution of orders was alone necessary to insure success. at . p.m. churchill was reported to be near the position whence he would attack; and, to call off attention, major brent advanced his twelve guns into the field, within seven hundred yards of the enemy's line, and opened fire. soon thereafter the sound of churchill's attack was heard, which the cheers of his men proved to be successful. walker at once led forward his division by echelons of brigades from his right, brent advanced his guns, and major turned the enemy's right and gained possession of the road to blair's. complete victory seemed assured when churchill's troops suddenly gave way, and for a time arrested the advance of walker and major. the road from the sabine reached, churchill formed his line with the two missouri brigades, general parsons on the right, and the two arkansas, general tappan, on the left. advancing three fourths of a mile through the forest, he approached the enemy's line, and found that he had not gained ground enough to outflank it. throwing forward skirmishers, he moved by the right flank until the missouri brigades were on the right of the sabine road, the regiments of horse being farther to the right. churchill should have placed his whole command on the right of the sabine road, and he would have found no difficulty in successfully executing his orders. in his official report he states "that had my [his] line extended a half mile more to the right, a brilliant success would have been achieved"; and he gives as the reason for not so disposing his force that he judged, from information furnished by his guides, the enemy's left to be already outflanked. the attack ordered, the missourians threw themselves on the enemy, drove him from the gully and thicket, mounted the plateau, broke an opposing line, captured and sent to the rear three hundred prisoners, got possession of two batteries, the horses of which had been killed, and reached the village. here a federal brigade, left by churchill's error on his right, attacked them in flank and rear, while their rapid charge had put three hundred yards between them and the arkansas brigades, delayed by the gully. the enemy's reserve was thrust into this opening and advanced in front. finding themselves assaulted on all sides, the missourians retreated hastily, and in repassing the gully and thicket fell into much confusion. colonel hardiman, commanding the horse, checked the enemy, and parsons rallied his men on the line first formed by churchill. the arkansas brigades had forced the gully and mounted the plateau as the missourians retreated, whereupon they fell back, their left brigade (gause's) running into walker's right (scurry's) and impeding its advance. gause imagined that scurry had fired on him; but as his entire loss in the action amounted to but fifteen killed and fifty-nine wounded, out of eleven hundred men, there appears little ground for this belief. churchill's two batteries followed the missourians, and with much difficulty reached the plateau, where they opened an effective fire. when the infantry retreated three carriages broke down in the attempt to get through the thicket and fallen timber, and the guns were lost. night ended the conflict on this part of the field, and both sides occupied their original positions. we brought off three hundred prisoners, but lost three guns and one hundred and seventy-nine prisoners from churchill's command. out of two thousand men, the missourians lost three hundred and thirty-one in killed and wounded, and the arkansas brigades, of equal strength, one hundred and forty-two. within a few minutes of the time when our whole line became engaged, an officer came to inform me that general walker was wounded. directing polignac to move up his division and hold it in readiness, i left general green in charge of the center and hastened to walker, whose division was now fully engaged in the wood. i found him suffering from a contusion in the groin, and ordered him to retire, which he unwillingly did. here it was that our right gave way in the manner described. scurry's brigade of walker's, disordered by the sudden retreat upon it of gause, was heavily pressed by the enemy. scurry and his men struggled gallantly, but required immediate relief; and to give it, waul and randall on their left were ordered to drive back the line fronting them. never was order more thoroughly executed. leading on their fine brigades with skill and energy, these officers forced back the federals and relieved scurry. meanwhile, the fire of brent's guns had overpowered a federal battery posted on the plateau in front of the road from mansfield. the confusion attending the withdrawal of this battery, coupled with the fierce attack of waul and randall, led general green to believe that the enemy was retreating, and he ordered bee to charge with his two regiments of cavalry, buchell's and de bray's. bee reached the plateau, where he was stopped by a heavy fire from infantry, in the wood on both sides of the road. some men and horses went down, buchell was mortally wounded, and bee and de bray slightly. the charge was premature and cost valuable lives, but was of use in moral effect. i returned to the road as bee, with coolness and pluck, withdrew. brent advanced his guns close up to the opposing line, polignac attacked on randall's left with his reduced but stubborn division, and green urged on his dismounted horsemen, cleared the wood from the mansfield to the blair's landing road, and at nightfall held the position previously occupied by the federal battery. severe fighting continued in the dense thicket, where polignac, randall, waul, and scurry were steadily driving back the enemy. approaching twilight obscured the wood, but resistance in front was becoming feeble, and, anxious to reach the village, i urged on our men. as randall and waul gained ground to the front, they became separated by a ravine in which was concealed a brigade of federals. isolated by the retreat of their friends, these troops attempted to get out. fired on from both sides of the ravine, a part of them appeared on the field in front of brent's guns, to be driven back by grape. with heavy loss they at length succeeded in escaping through the thicket. a letter from the commander was subsequently captured, wherein he denounces the conduct of his superiors who abandoned him to his fate. however true the allegation, it is doubtful if his brigade could have rendered more service elsewhere. the suddenness of its appearance stopped our forward movement, and a cry arose that we were firing on our own people. the thickening gloom made it impossible to disabuse the troops of this belief, and i ordered them to withdraw to the open field. the movement was made slowly and in perfect order, the men forming in the field as they emerged from the thicket. the last light of day was fading as i rode along the line, and the noise of battle had ceased. churchill came to report the result of his attack, and seemed much depressed. i gave such consolation as i could, and directed him to move his command to the mill stream, seven miles to the rear, where he would find his trains and water. a worthy, gallant gentleman, general churchill, but not fortunate in war. the mill stream was the nearest water to be had, and i was compelled to send the troops back to it. the enemy made no attempt to recover the ground from which his center and right had been driven. bee picketed the field with his cavalry, his forage wagons were ordered up from the mill stream, and it was hoped that water for his two regiments could be found in the wells and cisterns of the village. sounds of retreat could be heard in the stillness of the night. parties were sent on the field to care for the wounded, and bee was ordered to take up the pursuit toward grand ecore at dawn, to be followed by the horse from the mill stream as soon as water and forage had been supplied. these dispositions for the morning made, worn out by fatigue and loss of sleep, i threw myself on the ground, within two hundred yards of the battle field, and sought rest. the enemy retreated during the night, leaving four hundred wounded, and his many dead unburied. on the morning of the th bee pursued for twenty miles before he overtook his rear guard, finding stragglers and burning wagons and stores, evidences of haste. in the two actions of mansfield and pleasant hill my loss in killed and wounded was twenty-two hundred. at pleasant hill we lost three guns and four hundred and twenty-six prisoners, one hundred and seventy-nine from churchill's, and two hundred and forty-seven from scurry's brigade at the time it was so nearly overwhelmed. the federal loss in killed and wounded exceeded mine, and we captured twenty guns and twenty-eight hundred prisoners, not including stragglers picked up after the battle. the enemy's campaign for conquest was defeated by an inferior force, and it was doubtful if his army and fleet could escape destruction. these were creditable results, yet of much less importance than those that would have been accomplished but for my blunder at pleasant hill. instead of intrusting the important attack by my right to a subordinate, i should have conducted it myself and taken polignac's division to sustain it. true, this would have removed my reserve from the center and line of retreat, and placed it on a flank; but i was confident that the enemy had no intention of resuming the offensive, and should have acted on that conviction. all this flashed upon me the instant i learned of the disorder of my right. herein lies the vast difference between genius and commonplace: one anticipates errors, the other discovers them too late. the foregoing account of churchill's attack at pleasant hill, hidden from me by intervening wood, is taken from his official report and the reports of his subordinates; and i will now supplement it by some extracts from the testimony given by general francis fessenden of the federal army. on pages and of the second volume of the "report on the conduct of the war," the following appears: "in the afternoon we were changed, from a position in the woods in front of pleasant hill, to a position in rear of a deep ditch near the town. we were placed behind this ditch, in open ground, and practically held the left of the front line; and my regiment was on the left. i think it was not expected that an attack would be made by the enemy in that direction. the attack was expected by the road which led in by the right center of the army. instead of that, however, the enemy came around through the woods, and about half-past o'clock drove in our skirmishers, and made a very fierce attack on the brigade i was in--colonel benedict's brigade. the brigade fell back under the attack a great deal broken up, and my regiment was separated from the other three regiments which went off in another direction. i had fallen back still further to the left, as i knew there was a brigade of troops in there to protect our left flank and rear from attack in that direction. my regiment being the last of the brigade to fall back, the enemy had already advanced so far after the other three regiments that i could not fall back where they did. i therefore fell back in another direction, rallying my regiment and forming on the right of the brigade referred to; and that brigade, my regiment, and another brigade, which i think had been brought up under general emory, made an attack upon the enemy's column, which had advanced some distance, and drove them back with great loss. we continued to advance, and drove them a mile or more, so completely off the field that there was no other attack made by the enemy in that direction. "that night we fell back again, marching all night and all the next morning, until we reached the camping ground at the end of our first day's march from grand ecore. i ought to state here that in that attack of the enemy on our left the brigade commander, colonel benedict, was killed, and i then assumed command of the brigade. we remained at grand ecore some eight or nine days, where we built intrenchments to a certain extent--rifle pits. i think the whole army threw up a kind of temporary work in front." general fessenden's statements accord with the reports of churchill and his officers, and in other respects are accurate. on page of the volume quoted from, general a.l. lee, commanding mounted division of banks's army, testifies: "the next morning ( th of april) i was ordered by general banks to detach one thousand cavalry to act as scouts and skirmishers, and to take the remainder of my division, and take whatever was left of the detachment of the th army corps and some negro troops that were there, and take the trains and the majority of the artillery of the army to grand ecore. it was thought that the enemy would get between us and grand ecore. i started about o'clock with this train, and with six or eight batteries of artillery, and reached grand ecore the next day. the battle of the th of april commenced just as i was leaving. the next day at night the main army had reached grand ecore and joined me there. general banks impressed on me very strongly that, in sending me back from pleasant hill just as the fight was commencing, it was of the greatest importance to save what material we had left. early the next morning, when i was distant from pleasant hill eighteen miles, i received a dispatch from general banks. i have not the dispatch with me, but it was to this effect: that they had whipped the enemy terribly; that price was killed, also two or three other rebel generals whom he named, but who have since recovered; and that i was to send back the subsistence trains for such and such troops. i was very much puzzled by that order, and immediately sent a staff officer back for more specific instructions. but he had not been gone more than half an hour when a staff officer of general banks arrived with an order to me, with which he had left in the night, for me to continue pressing on with the whole train to grand ecore, and with instructions if any wagons broke down to burn them, not stop to fix anything, but get everything into grand ecore as quickly as i could, and look out very carefully on the flanks." there can be no question of the correctness of these statements of general a.l. lee. the following quotations from the reports of admiral porter to the secretary of the navy are taken from page , and succeeding pages of the same volume: "flag-ship cricket, grand ecore, _april , _. "the army here has met with a great defeat, no matter what the generals try to make ofit. with the defeat has come demoralization, and it will take some time to reorganize and make up the deficiencies in killed and prisoners. the whole affair has been seriously mismanaged. it was well we came up, for i am convinced the rebels would have attacked this broken army at grand ecore had we not been here to cover them. i do not think our army would be in a condition to resist them. i must confess that i feel a little uncertain how to act. i could not leave this army now without disgracing myself forever; and, when running a risk in their cause, i do not want to be deserted. one of my officers has already been asked 'if we would not burn our gunboats as soon as the army left?' speaking as if a gunboat was a very ordinary affair, and could be burned with indifference. i inclose two notes i received from generals banks and stone. there is a faint attempt to make a victory out of this, but two or three such victories would cost us our existence." again, on page of the same volume appears this dispatch from lieutenant-general grant, at culpepper, virginia, to general halleck, chief of staff, at washington: "you can see from general brayman's dispatch to me something of general banks's disaster." concerning the battle of pleasant hill general banks reports (page ): "the whole of the reserves were now ordered up, and in turn we drove the enemy, continuing the pursuit until night compelled us to halt. the battle of the th was desperate and sanguinary. the defeat of the enemy was complete, and his loss in officers and men more than double that sustained by our forces. there was nothing in the immediate position and condition of the two armies to prevent a forward movement the next morning, and orders were given to prepare for an advance. but representations subsequently received from general franklin and all the general officers of the th corps, as to the condition of their respective commands for immediate active operations against the enemy, caused a suspension of this order, and a conference of the general officers was held in the evening, in which it was determined to retire upon grand ecore the following day. the reasons urged for this course were: . that the absence of water made it absolutely necessary to advance or retire without delay. general emory's command had been without rations for two days, and the train, which had been turned to the rear during the battle, could not be put in condition to move forward upon the single road through dense woods, in which it stood, without great difficulty and much loss of time." again, on page , general banks states: "the enemy was driven from the field. it was as clear a rout as it was possible for any army to suffer. after consulting with my officers, i concluded, against my own judgment, to fall back to grand ecore and reorganize. we held the field of battle. our dead were buried. the wounded men were brought in and placed in the best hospitals we could organize, and surgeons were left with them, with provisions, medicines, and supplies; and at daybreak we fell back to grand ecore." here the proportion of fiction to fact surpasses that of sack to bread in sir john's tavern bill; and it may be doubted if a mandarin from the remotest province of the celestial empire ever ventured to send such a report to peking. general fessenden's testimony, given above, shows that the army marched during the night of the th, and continued to grand ecore, where it intrenched; and general a.l. lee's, that the main army joined him at that place on the evening of the th. twenty of the thirty-six miles between pleasant hill and grand ecore were passed on the th by my cavalry before the rear of the enemy's column was seen; yet general banks officially reports that his army left pleasant hill at daybreak of the th. homeric must have been the laughter of his troops when this report was published. chapter xi. escape of banks and porter. from my resting-place on the ground at pleasant hill, after the battle of the th, i was aroused about p.m. by general kirby smith, just arrived from shreveport. this officer disapproved of further pursuit of banks, except by a part of our mounted force, and ordered the infantry back to mansfield. he was apprehensive that the troops on the transports above would reach shreveport, or disembark below me and that place. in addition, steele's column from arkansas caused him much uneasiness, and made him unwilling for my troops to increase their distance from the capital of the "trans-mississippi department." it was pointed out that the water in red river was falling, and navigation becoming more and more difficult; that i had a staff officer watching the progress of the fleet, which was not accompanied by more than three thousand men, too few to attempt a landing, and that they would certainly hear of banks's defeat and seek to rejoin him at grand ecore. as to steele he was more than a hundred miles distant from shreveport, harassed by price's force; he must learn of banks's misfortune, and, leading but a subsidiary column, would retire to little rock. banks, with the remains of his beaten army, was before us, and the fleet of porter, with barely water enough to float upon. we had but to strike vigorously to capture or destroy both. but it was written that the sacrifices of my little army should be wasted, and, on the morning of the th, i was ordered to take all the infantry and much of the horse to mansfield. the bayou pierre, three hundred feet wide and too deep to ford, leaves the red river a few miles below shreveport, and after a long course, in which it frequently expands into lakes, returns to its parent stream three miles above grand ecore, dividing the pine-clad hills on the west from the alluvion of the river on the east. several roads lead from the interior to landings on the river, crossing bayou pierre by ferries. one from pleasant hill to blair's landing, sixteen miles, has been mentioned. another led from mansfield to grand bayou landing, eighteen miles. dispatches from captain mccloskey informed me that the enemy's fleet had passed this last place on the morning of the th, pushing slowly up river, impeded by low water. feeling assured that intelligence of banks's defeat would send the fleet back to grand ecore, and hoping to cut off its communication, at dawn of the th i sent general bagby, with a brigade of horse and a battery, from mansfield to grand bayou landing. before reaching the ferry at bayou pierre, he ascertained that the fleet had turned back on the afternoon of the th. there was a pontoon train at shreveport that i had in vain asked for, and bagby experienced great delay in crossing bayou pierre by means of one small flat. the fleet, descending, passed grand bayou landing at o'clock a.m. of the th, some hours before bagby reached the river; and he pushed on toward blair's landing, where he arrived on the night of the th, after the close of green's operations of that day. general green, from pleasant hill, had been directing the movements of our advanced horse, a part of which, under bee, was in front of grand ecore and natchitoches. advised of the movements of the enemy's fleet, he, with seven hundred and fifty horse and two batteries, left pleasant hill for blair's landing at o'clock p.m. on the th. as in the case of bagby, he was delayed at bayou pierre, and, after hard work, only succeeded in crossing three guns and a part of his horse before the fleet came down on the th. green attacked at once, and leading his men in his accustomed fearless way, was killed by a discharge of grape from one of the gunboats. deprived of their leader, the men soon fell back, and the fleet reached grand ecore without further molestation from the west bank. the enemy's loss, supposed by our people to have been immense, was officially reported at seven on the gunboats and fifty on the transports. _per contra_, the enemy believed that our loss was stupendous; whereas we had scarcely a casualty except the death of general green, an irreparable one. no confederate went aboard the fleet and no federal came ashore; so there was a fine field of slaughter in which the imagination of both sides could disport itself. with facilities for crossing the pierre at hand, the fleet, during the th and th, would have been under the fire of two thousand riflemen and eighteen guns and suffered heavily, especially the transports, crowded with troops. as it was, we accomplished but little and lost general green. like mouton, this officer had joined me at an early period of my service in western louisiana. coming to me with the rank of colonel, his conspicuous services made it my pleasant duty to recommend him for promotion to brigadier and major-general. upright, modest, and with the simplicity of a child, danger seemed to be his element, and he rejoiced in combat. his men adored him, and would follow wherever he led; but they did not fear him, for, though he scolded at them in action, he was too kind-hearted to punish breaches of discipline. in truth, he had no conception of the value of discipline in war, believing that all must be actuated by his own devotion to duty. his death was a public calamity, and mourned as such by the people of texas and louisiana. to me he was a tried and devoted friend, and our friendship was cemented by the fact that, through his virginia mother, we were related by blood. the great commonwealth, whose soil contains his remains, will never send forth a bolder warrior, a better citizen, nor a more upright man than thomas green. the brigade of horse brought by general green to louisiana, and with which he was so long associated, had some peculiar characteristics. the officers such as colonels hardiman, baylor, lane, herbert, mcneill, and others, were bold and enterprising. the men, hardy frontiersmen, excellent riders, and skilled riflemen, were fearless and self-reliant, but discharged their duty as they liked and when they liked. on a march they wandered about at will, as they did about camp, and could be kept together only when a fight was impending. when their arms were injured by service or neglect, they threw them away, expecting to be supplied with others. yet, with these faults, they were admirable fighters, and in the end i became so much attached to them as to be incapable of punishing them. after the affair at blair's landing on the th, the horse returned to pleasant hill, and thence joined bee in front of grand ecore, where banks had his army concentrated behind works, with gunboats and transports in the river, bee occupying the town of natchitoches, four miles away. on the morning of the th general kirby smith visited me at mansfield. relieved of apprehension about the fleet, now at grand ecore, he expressed great anxiety for the destruction of steele's column. i was confident that steele, who had less than ten thousand men and was more than a hundred miles distant from shreveport, would hear of banks's disaster and retreat; but general kirby smith's views differed from mine. i then expressed my willingness to march, with the main body of the infantry, to join price in arkansas, and serve under his command until steele's column was destroyed or driven back; insisting, however, that in the event of steele's retreat i should be permitted to turn on banks and porter, to complete the work of mansfield and pleasant hill. the destruction of the federal army and capture of the fleet, helpless alone by reason of low and falling water in red river, were the legitimate fruits of those victories, and i protested with all possible earnestness against a policy that would fail to reap them. after this conversation general kirby smith returned to shreveport, leaving me under the impression that my last proposition was acceded to. the loss of valuable time incurred by a wild-goose chase after steele was most annoying, but i was hopeful it might be recovered. to get the fleet down to alexandria and over the falls at that place would require much time in the low condition of the water; and banks's army was so much demoralized by defeat that bee found no difficulty in restraining its movements with his horse. at dawn of the th walker's and churchill's divisions of infantry, with their artillery, prepared for an active campaign, marched for shreveport, forty miles. the same day polignac's infantry division, reduced to some twelve hundred muskets, was sent toward grand ecore to strengthen the horse in front of the enemy. on the evening of the th i reached shreveport, and had a short interview with general kirby smith, who informed me that steele had begun his retreat from a point a hundred and ten miles distant, but that he hoped to overtake him, and would personally direct the pursuit. i was further informed that my presence with the troops was not desired, and that i would remain in nominal command of shreveport, but might join the force near grand ecore if i thought proper. all this with the curt manner of a superior to a subordinate, as if fearing remonstrance. general kirby smith marched north of shreveport on the th, and three days thereafter i received a dispatch from his "chief of staff" informing me that the pontoon train, asked for in vain when it would have been of priceless value, would be sent back from his army and placed at my disposition. doubtless general kirby smith thought that a pontoon train would supply the place of seven thousand infantry and six batteries. i remained at shreveport three days, occupied with reports and sending supplies to my little force near grand ecore, toward which i proceeded on the th of april. major-general wharton, who had gained reputation as a cavalry officer in the confederate army of tennessee, accompanied me. he had reported for duty at shreveport on the th, and was assigned to the command of the horse to replace the lamented green. we reached polignac's camp, in the vicinity of grand ecore, ninety odd miles from shreveport, on the evening of the st, and learned that the enemy had threatened an advance during the day. this convinced me of his intention to retreat, and an officer was sent to general bee to warn him. cane river leaves the main channel of the red below grand ecore, and, passing by natchitoches, returns to the red after a winding course of sixty miles. except at the season of floods, it is not navigable; but the alluvion through which it flows is very productive, while the pine forest immediately to the west is sterile. bee, under instructions, occupied the valley of cane river with his horse, and had been ordered to keep his pickets close to grand ecore and natchitoches, draw his forage from plantations along the river, and, when the enemy retreated toward alexandria, fall back before him to monette's ferry, which he was expected to hold. monette's ferry, forty miles below natchitoches, was on the only practicable road to alexandria. here the river made a wide, deep ford, and pine-clad hills rose abruptly from the southern bank. on the left, looking toward natchitoches, were hills and impassable lakes, easily held against any force. on the right, hills, rugged and pine-clad, extended eight miles to the point at which cane river reënters the red. the distance from monette's to alexandria is thirty-five miles, of which fourteen is through wooded hills. roads led west to carroll jones's and beaseley's, twelve and thirty miles respectively; and on these roads bee was directed to keep his trains. concerning the position at monette's general banks reports: "the army marched from grand ecore on the morning of the d of april. to prevent the occupation of monette's bluff, on cane river, a strong position commanding the only road leading across the river to alexandria, or to prevent the concentration of the enemy's forces at that point, it became necessary to accomplish the evacuation without his knowledge." as before stated, the threatened advance of the st convinced me that the enemy's retreat was imminent, and so i advised bee; but there was not time to send general wharton to him after i reached polignac's camp. bee had two thousand horse and four batteries, and, after several days to examine and prepare his ground, might well be expected to hold it with tenacity. immediately after the battle of pleasant hill i had sent vincent, with his own and bush's regiments of louisiana horse, to threaten alexandria and drive out small parties of the enemy from the attakapas and teche regions. subsequently, a brigade of texas horse, seven hundred strong, under brigadier william steele, joined me, and was now with polignac. as anticipated, the enemy left grand ecore during the night of the st and marched without halting to cloutierville, thirty-two miles. with steele's brigade, wharton drove his rear guard from natchitoches on the morning of the d, capturing some prisoners, and continued the pursuit to the twenty-four-mile ferry. on the d, after a sharp action, he pushed the enemy's rear below cloutierville, taking some score of prisoners. polignac's infantry joined that evening, and covered a road leading through the hills from cloutierville to beaseley's. if bee stood firm at monette's, we were in position to make banks unhappy on the morrow, separated as he was from the fleet, on which he relied to aid his demoralized forces. but bee gave way on the afternoon of the d, permitting his strong position to be forced at the small cost to the enemy of less than four hundred men, and suffering no loss himself. then, instead of attacking the great trains, during their fourteen miles' march through the forest, and occupying with artillery mcnutt's hill, a high bluff twenty miles from alexandria and commanding the road thither in the valley, he fell back at once to beaseley's, thirty miles. before this mistake could be rectified, the enemy crossed at monette's, burning many wagons at the ford, and passed below mcnutt's hill. general bee had exhibited much personal gallantry in the charge at pleasant hill, but he was without experience in war, and had neglected to study the ground or strengthen his position at monette's. leaving mansfield for shreveport on the th, under orders from general kirby smith, i only got back to the front on the night of the st, too late to reach monette's or send wharton there. it was very disheartening, but, persuaded that the enemy could not pass the falls at alexandria with his fleet, i determined to stick to him with my little force of less than forty-five hundred of all arms. it was impossible to believe that general kirby smith would continue to persist in his inexplicable policy, and fail to come, ere long, to my assistance. on the th bee's horse, from beaseley's, joined steele's at mcnutt's hill; and together, under wharton, they attacked the enemy in the valley and drove him, with loss of killed and prisoners, to the immediate vicinity of alexandria. when general banks retreated so hastily from grand ecore, admiral porter was laboring to get his fleet down to alexandria. in a communication to the secretary of the navy from his flag-ship below grand ecore, he says ("report on the conduct of the war," vol. ii., pages - ): "i soon saw that the army would go to alexandria again, and we would be left above the bars in a helpless condition. the vessels are mostly at alexandria, above the falls, excepting this one and two others i kept to protect the eastport. the red river is falling at the rate of two inches a day. if general banks should determine to evacuate this country, the gunboats will be cut off from all communication with the mississippi. it cannot be possible that the country would be willing to have eight iron-clads, three or four other gunboats, and many transports sacrificed without an effort to save them. it would be the worst thing that has happened this war." the eastport, the most formidable iron-clad of the mississippi squadron, grounded on a bar below grand ecore. three tin-clad gunboats and two transports remained near to assist in getting her off; and, to prevent this, some mounted riflemen were sent, on the morning of the th, to coöperate with liddell's raw levies on the north bank of the river. these forced the enemy to destroy the eastport, and drove away the gunboats and transports. our loss in the affair was two killed and four wounded. meantime, to intercept the gunboats and transports on their way down, colonel caudle of polignac's division, with two hundred riflemen and cornay's four-gun battery, had been posted at the junction of cane and red rivers, twenty miles below. at o'clock p.m. of the th the leading gunboat and one transport came down. our fire speedily crippled and silenced the gunboat, and a shot exploded the boiler of the transport. under cover of escaping steam the gunboat drifted out of fire, but the loss of life on the transport was fearful. one hundred dead and eighty-seven severely scalded, most of whom subsequently died, were brought on shore. these unfortunate creatures were negroes, taken from plantations on the river above. the object of the federals was to remove negroes from their owners; but for the lives of these poor people they cared nothing, or, assuredly, they would not have forced them, on an unprotected river steamer, to pass riflemen and artillery, against which gunboats were powerless. on the following day, the th, the two remaining gunboats and transport attempted to pass caudle's position; and the former, much cut up, succeeded, but the transport was captured. colonel caudle had one man wounded, and the battery one killed--its commander, captain cornay, who, with mouton, armand, and many other creoles, proved by distinguished gallantry that the fighting qualities of the old french breed had suffered no deterioration on the soil of louisiana. the following extracts from the report of admiral porter well exhibit the efficiency of caudle and cornay in this affair: "flag-ship cricket, off alexandria, _april , _. "when rounding the point, the vessels in close order and ready for action, we descried a party of the enemy with artillery on the right bank, and we immediately opened fire with our bow guns. the enemy immediately returned it with a _large number of cannon, eighteen in all_, every shot of which struck this vessel. the captain gave orders to stop the engines. i corrected this mistake, and got headway on the vessel again, but not soon enough to avoid the pelting showers of shot and shell which the enemy poured into us, every shot going through and through us, clearing all our decks in a moment. i took charge of the vessel, and, _as the battery was a very heavy one_, i determined to pass it, which was done under the heaviest fire i ever witnessed. seeing that the hindman did not pass the batteries, the juliet disabled, and that one of the pump boats (transport) had her boiler exploded by a shot, i ran down to a point three or four miles below. lieutenant-commander phelps had two vessels in charge, the juliet and champion (transport), which he wished to get through safely. he kept them out of range until he could partially repair the juliet, and then, starting under a heavy fire, he make a push by. unfortunately the pump boat (champion) was disabled and set fire to. the hindman had her wheel ropes cut away, and drifted past, turning round and round, and getting well cut up in going by. the juliet was cut to pieces in hull and machinery; had fifteen killed and wounded. i inclose the report of lieutenant-commander phelps, from the time of his first misfortune until his arrival at this place (alexandria), where i now am with all the fleet, but very much surprised that i have any left, considering all the difficulties encountered. i came up here with the river on the rise, and water enough for our largest vessels; and even on my way up to shreveport from grand ecore the water rose, while it commenced falling where i left the largest gunboats. falling or not, i could not go back while in charge of the transports and material on which _an army of thirty thousand men depended_." this is high testimony to the fighting capacity of two hundred riflemen and four guns, two twelve-pounder smooth-bores and two howitzers, all that admiral porter's three gunboats had to contend with. it proves the utter helplessness of gunboats in narrow streams, when deprived of the protection of troops on the banks. even the iron-clads, with armor impenetrable by field guns, were readily driven off by sharp-shooters, who, under cover, closed their ports or killed every exposed man. on the th liddell, from the north bank of red river, dashed into pineville, opposite alexandria, killed and captured a score of the enemy's party, and drove the remainder over the river. on the th admiral porter's fleet was lying above the falls, now impassable, and banks's army, over twenty thousand strong, was in and around alexandria behind earthworks. such was the condition to which this large force had been reduced by repeated defeat, that we not only confined it to its works, driving back many attacks on our advanced positions, but i felt justified in dividing my little command in order to blockade the river below, and cut off communication with the mississippi. wharton's horse was divided into three parts, each a thousand strong, and accompanied by artillery. the first, under steele, held the river and rapides roads, above and west of alexandria; the second, under bagby, the boeuf road to the south of that place; while major, with the third, was sent to davide's ferry, on the river, twenty-five miles below. polignac's infantry, twelve hundred muskets, was posted on the boeuf within supporting distance of the two last. liddell's seven hundred newly-organized horse, with four guns, was of little service beyond making feints to distract the enemy. major reached his position on the th, and on the following day, the st of may, captured and sunk the transport emma. on the d he captured the transport city belle, on her way up to alexandria, with the th ohio regiment on board. all the officers and two hundred and seventy-six men were taken, with many killed and wounded. on the evening of the th the gunboats covington and signal, each mounting eight heavy guns, with the transport warner, attempted to pass. the covington was blown up by her crew to escape capture, but the signal and warner surrendered. four guns, two three-inch rifled and two howitzers, were engaged in this action with the covington and signal. they were run up to the river's bank by hand, the howitzers above, the three-inch rifles below the gunboats, which, overpowered by the rapid fire, moved back and forth until one surrendered and the other was destroyed, affording a complete illustration of the superiority of field guns to gunboats in narrow streams. there was no further attempt to pass major's position, and federal communication with the mississippi was closed for fifteen days. during these operations the enemy was engaged night and day in the construction of a dam across the red river, to enable him to pass his fleet over the falls; and the following extracts from the report of admiral porter to the secretary of the navy well exhibit the condition of affairs in and around alexandria ("report on the conduct of the war," vol. ii., page ): "flag-ship cricket, alexandria, _april , _. "sir: i have written you an account of the operations of the fleet in these waters, but take the liberty of writing to you confidentially the true state of affairs. i find myself blockaded by a fall of three feet of water, three feet four inches being the amount now on the falls. seven feet being required to get over, no amount of lightening will accomplish the object. i have already written to you how the whole state of things has been changed by a too blind carelessness on the part of our military leader, and our retreat back to alexandria from place to place has so demoralized general banks's army that the troops have no confidence in anybody or anything. our army is now all here, with the best general (franklin) wounded and unfit for duty in the field. general banks seems to hold no communication with any one, and it is impossible for me to say what he will do. i have no confidence in his promises, as he asserted in a letter, herein inclosed, that he had no intention of leaving grand ecore, when he had actually already made all his preparations to leave. the river is crowded with transports, and every gunboat i have is required to convoy them. i have to withdraw many light-draughts from other points on the mississippi to supply demands here. in the mean time the enemy are splitting up into parties of two thousand, and bringing in the artillery (with which we have supplied them) to blockade points below here; and what will be the upshot of it all i can not foretell. i know that it will be disastrous in the extreme, for this is a country in which a retreating army is completely at the mercy of an enemy. notwithstanding that the rebels are reported as coming in from washita, with heavy artillery to plant on the hills opposite alexandria, no movement is being made to occupy the position, and i am in momentary expectation of hearing the rebel guns open on the transports on the town side; or if they go down or come up the river, it will be at the risk of destruction. our light-clads can do nothing against hill batteries. i am in momentary expectation of seeing this army retreat, when the result will be disastrous. unless instructed by the government, i do not think that general banks will make the least effort to save the navy here. the following vessels are above the falls and command the right of the town: mound city, louisville, pittsburgh, carondelet, chillicothe, osage, neosho, ozark, lexington, and fort hindman. at this moment the enemy have attacked our outposts, and driven in our indifferent cavalry, which came up numbering six thousand, and have brought nothing but calamity in their train. our whole army is cooped up in this town, while a much inferior force is going rampant about the country, making preparations to assail our helpless transports, which, if caught filled with men, would be perfect slaughter-houses. quick remedies are required, and i deem it my duty to lay the true state of affairs before you. if left here by the army, i will be obliged to destroy this fleet to prevent it falling into the enemy's hands. i can not conceive that the nation will permit such a sacrifice to be made, when men and money can prevent it. we have fought hard for the opening of the mississippi, and have reduced the naval forces of the rebels in this quarter to two vessels. if we have to destroy what we have here, there will be material enough to build half a dozen iron-clads, and the red river, which is now of no further dread to us, will require half the mississippi squadron to watch it. i am apprehensive that the turrets of the monitors will defy any efforts we can make to destroy them. our prestige will receive a shock from which it will be long in recovering; and if the calamities i dread should overtake us, the annals of this war will not present so dire a one as will have befallen us." thus admiral porter, who even understates the facts. in vain had all this been pointed out to general kirby smith, when he came to me at pleasant hill in the night after the battle. granted that he was alarmed for shreveport, sacred to him and his huge staff as benares, dwelling-place of many gods, to the hindoo; yet, when he marched from that place on the th of april against steele, the latter, already discomfited by price's horse, was retreating, and, with less than a third of banks's force at grand ecore, was then further from shreveport than was banks. to pursue a retreating foe, numbering six thousand men, he took over seven thousand infantry, and left me twelve hundred to operate against twenty odd thousand and a powerful fleet. from the evening of the st of april, when i returned to the front near grand ecore, to the th of may, the day on which porter and banks escaped from alexandria, i kept him advised of the enemy's movements and condition. couriers and staff officers were sent to implore him to return and reap the fruits of mansfield and pleasant hill, whose price had been paid in blood. not a man was sent me; even the four-gun battery with liddell on the north of the river was, without my knowledge, withdrawn toward arkansas. from first to last, general kirby smith seemed determined to throw a protecting shield around the federal army and fleet. in all the ages since the establishment of the assyrian monarchy no commander has possessed equal power to destroy a cause. far away from the great centers of conflict in virginia and georgia, on a remote theatre, the opportunity of striking a blow decisive of the war was afforded. an army that included the strength of every garrison from memphis to the gulf had been routed, and, by the incompetency of its commander, was utterly demoralized and ripe for destruction. but this army was permitted to escape, and its th corps reached chesapeake bay in time to save washington from general early's attack, while the th, th, and th corps reënforced sherman in georgia. more than all, we lost porter's fleet, which the falling river had delivered into our hands; for the protection of an army was necessary to its liberation, as without the army a dam at the falls could not have been constructed. with this fleet, or even a portion of it, we would have at once recovered possession of the mississippi, from the ohio to the sea, and undone all the work of the federals since the winter of . instead of sherman, johnston would have been reënforced from west of the mississippi, and thousands of absent men, with fresh hope, would have rejoined lee. the southern people might have been spared the humiliation of defeat, and the countless woes and wrongs inflicted on them by their conquerors. it was for this that green and mouton and other gallant spirits fell! it was for this that the men of missouri and arkansas made a forced march to die at pleasant hill! it was for this that the divisions of walker and polignac had held every position intrusted to them, carried every position in their front, and displayed a constancy and valor worthy of the guards at inkermann or lee's veterans in the wilderness! for this, too, did the handful left, after our brethren had been taken from us, follow hard on the enemy, attack him constantly at any odds, beat off and sink his gunboats, close the red river below him and shut up his army in alexandria for fifteen days! like "sister ann" from her watch tower, day after day we strained our eyes to see the dust of our approaching comrades arise from the north bank of the red. not a camp follower among us but knew that the arrival of our men from the north would give us the great prize in sight. vain, indeed, were our hopes. the commander of the "trans-mississippi department" had the power to destroy the last hope of the confederate cause, and exercised it with all the success of bazaine at metz. "the affairs of mice and men aft gang aglee," from sheer stupidity and pig-headed obstinacy. general kirby smith had publicly announced that banks's army was too strong to be fought, and that the proper policy was either to defend the works protecting shreveport, or retreat into texas. people do not like to lose their reputations as prophets or sons of prophets. subsequently, it was given out that general kirby smith had a wonderful plan for the destruction of the enemy, which i had disturbed by rashly beating his army at mansfield and pleasant hill; but this plan, like trochu's for the defense of paris, was never disclosed--undoubtedly, because _c'était le secret de polichinelle_. after many days of energetic labor, the enemy on the th of may succeeded in passing his fleet over the falls at alexandria, evacuated the place, and retreated down the river, the army, on the south bank, keeping pace with the fleet. admiral porter, in his report to the secretary of the navy, gives a graphic account of the passage of the falls, and under date of may th, says: "in my report in relation to the release of the gunboats from their unpleasant position above the falls, i did not think it prudent to mention that i was obliged to destroy eleven thirty-two-pounders, not having time to haul them from above the falls to alexandria, the army having moved and drawn in all their pickets. for the same reason i also omitted to mention that i was obliged to take off the iron from the sides of the pook gunboats and from the ozark, to enable them to get over." to harass the retreat, the horse and artillery, on the river above alexandria, were directed to press the enemy's rear, and the remaining horse and polignac's infantry to intercept his route at avoyelles prairie. during the th, th, and th he was constantly attacked in front, rear, and right flank; and on the th wharton charged his rear near mansura, capturing many prisoners, while colonel yager, with two regiments of horse, cut in on the wagon train at yellow bayou, killed and drove off the guard, and destroyed much property. meanwhile liddell, on the north bank of the red, followed the fleet and kept up a constant fire on the transports. but for the unfortunate withdrawal of his battery, before alluded to, he could have destroyed many of these vessels. on the th we attacked the enemy at yellow bayou, near simmsport, and a severe engagement ensued, lasting until night. we held the field, on which the enemy left his dead, but our loss was heavy, four hundred and fifty-two in killed and wounded; among the former, colonel stone, commanding polignac's old brigade. polignac, in charge of division, was conspicuous in this action. the following day, may , , the enemy crossed the atchafalaya and was beyond our reach. here, at the place where it had opened more than two months before, the campaign closed. the army i had the honor to command in this campaign numbered, at its greatest strength, about thirteen thousand of all arms, including liddell's force on the north bank of red river; but immediately after the battle of pleasant hill it was reduced to fifty-two hundred by the withdrawal of walker's and churchill's divisions. many of the troops marched quite four hundred miles, and from the th of april to the th of may not a day passed without some engagement with the enemy, either on land or river. our total loss in killed, wounded, and missing was three thousand nine hundred and seventy-six; that of the enemy, nearly three times this number. from the action at yellow bayou on the th of may, , to the close of the war in the following year, not a shot was fired in the "trans-mississippi department." johnston was forced back to atlanta and relieved from command, and atlanta fell. not even an effective demonstration was made toward arkansas and missouri to prevent troops from being sent to reënforce thomas at nashville, and hood was overthrown. sherman marched unopposed through georgia and south carolina, while lee's gallant army wasted away from cold and hunger in the trenches at petersburg. like augustus in the agony of his spirit, the sorely pressed confederates on the east of the mississippi asked, and asked in vain: "varus! varus! where are our legions?" the enemy's advance, fleet and army, reached alexandria on the th of march, but he delayed sixteen days there and at grand ecore. my first reënforcements, two small regiments of horse, joined at natchitoches on the st; but the larger part of green's force came in at mansfield on the th of april, churchill's infantry reaching keachi the same day. had banks pushed to mansfield on the th instead of the th of april, he would have met but little opposition; and, once at mansfield, he had the choice of three roads to shreveport, where steele could have joined him. judging from the testimony given to the congressional committee on the conduct of the war, cotton and elections seem to have been the chief causes of delay. in the second volume of "report" may be found much crimination and recrimination between the navy and army concerning the seizure of cotton. without attempting to decide the question, i may observe that admiral porter informs the secretary of the navy of "the capture from the rebels of three thousand bales of cotton on the washita river, and two thousand on the red, all of which i have sent to cairo"; while general banks testifies that he "took from western louisiana ten thousand bales of cotton and twenty thousand beef cattle, horses, and mules." from this, the army appears to have surpassed the navy to the extent of five thousand bales of cotton and the above-mentioned number of beef cattle, etc. whether admiral porter or general banks was the more virtuous, the unhappy people of louisiana were deprived of "cakes and ale." in his enthusiasm for art the classic cobbler forgot his last; but "all quality, pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war" could not make general banks forget his politics, and he held elections at alexandria and grand ecore. the general describes with some unction the devotion of the people to the "union," which was and was to be, to them, "the fount of every blessing." says general banks in his report: "it became necessary to accomplish the evacuation [of grand ecore] without the enemy's knowledge. the conflagration of a portion of the town at the hour appointed for the movement partially frustrated the object." and further on: "rumors were circulated freely throughout the camp at alexandria, that upon the evacuation of the town it would be burned, and a considerable portion of the town was destroyed." evidently, these burnings were against the orders of general banks, who appears to have lost authority over some of his troops. moreover, in their rapid flight from grand ecore to monette's ferry, a distance of forty miles, the federals burned nearly every house on the road. in pursuit, we passed the smoking ruins of homesteads, by which stood weeping women and children. time for the removal of the most necessary articles of furniture had been refused. it was difficult to restrain one's inclination to punish the ruffians engaged in this work, a number of whom were captured; but they asserted, and doubtless with truth, that they were acting under orders. from the universal testimony of citizens, i learned that general banks and the officers and men of the th corps, eastern troops, exerted themselves to prevent these outrages, and that the perpetrators were the men of general a.j. smith's command from sherman's army. educated at west point, this general smith had long served in the regular army of the united states, and his men were from the west, whose brave sons might well afford kindness to women and babes. a key to their conduct can be found in the "memoirs" of general w.t. sherman, the commander who formed them, and whose views are best expressed in his own words. the city of atlanta, from which the confederates had withdrawn, was occupied by slocum's corps of sherman's army on the d of september, . in vol. ii. of his "memoirs," page , general sherman says: "i was resolved to make atlanta a pure military garrison or depot, with no civil population to influence military measures. i gave notice of this purpose as early as the th of september, to general halleck, in a letter concluding with these words: 'if the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, i will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. if they want peace, they and their relations must stop the war.'" on pages - appears the correspondence of general sherman with the mayor and councilmen of atlanta concerning the removal of citizens, in which the latter write: "we petition you to reconsider the order requiring them to leave atlanta. it will involve in the aggregate consequences appalling and heartrending. many poor women are in an advanced state of pregnancy, others now having young children, and whose husbands for the greater part are either in the army, prisoners, or dead. some say, 'i have such a one sick at my house; who will wait on them when i am gone?' others say, 'what are we to do? we have no house to go to, and no means to buy, build, or rent any; no parents, relatives, or friends to go to.' this being so, how is it possible for the people still here, mostly women and children, to find shelter? and how can they live through the winter in the woods?" to this general sherman replies: "i have your letter of the th, in the nature of a petition to revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants from atlanta. i have read it carefully, and give full credit to your statements of the distress that will be occasioned, and yet shall not revoke my orders, because _they were not intended to meet the humanities of the case_. you might as well appeal against the thunderstorm as against these terrible hardships of war. they are inevitable; and the only way the people of atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home is to stop the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride." again, on page is sherman's telegram to general grant: "until we can repopulate georgia, it is useless for us to occupy it; but the utter destruction of its roads, houses, and people will cripple their military resources. i can make this march, and make georgia howl." it could hardly be expected that troops trained by this commander would respect _the humanities_. chapter xii. east of the mississippi. prostrated by two years of constant devotion to work--work so severe, stern, and exacting as to have prevented me from giving the slightest attention to my family, even when heavily afflicted--and persuaded that under existing administration nothing would be accomplished in the "trans-mississippi department," a month after the close of the red river campaign i applied for relief from duty. after several applications this was granted, and with my wife and two surviving children i retired to the old spanish-french town of natchitoches. the inhabitants, though impoverished by the war, had a comfortable house ready for my family, to which they invited me, with all the warmth of southern hearts and all the good taste of the latin race. here i remained for several weeks, when information of my promotion to lieutenant-general came from richmond, with orders to report for duty on the east side of the mississippi. the officers of my staff, who had long served with me, desired and were permitted to accompany me, with the exception of brent, now colonel of artillery, who could not be spared. colonel brent remained in west louisiana until the close of the war, attaining the rank of brigadier. of his merit and services i have already written. the red river campaign of was the last federal campaign undertaken for political objects, or intrusted to political generals. experience taught the washington government that its enormous resources must be concentrated, and henceforth unity of purpose and action prevailed. posts on the mississippi between memphis and new orleans were strengthened, intervening spaces closely guarded by numerous gunboats, and parties thrown ashore to destroy all boats that could be found. though individuals, with precaution, could cross the great river, it was almost impossible to take over organized bodies of troops or supplies, and the confederates on the west were isolated. the federal government now directed its energies against richmond and atlanta. upon what foundations the civil authorities of the confederacy rested their hopes of success, after the campaign of fully opened, i am unable to say; but their commanders in the field, whose rank and position enabled them to estimate the situation, fought simply to afford statesmanship an opportunity to mitigate the sorrows of inevitable defeat. a grand old oak, on the east bank of the black river, the lower washita, protected my couch; and in the morning, with two guides, the faithful tom following, i threaded my way through swamp and jungle to the mississippi, which was reached at sunset. a light canoe was concealed some distance from the river bank, and after the short twilight faded into night this was borne on the shoulders of the guides, and launched. one of the guides embarked to paddle, and tom and i followed, each leading a horse. a gunboat was lying in the river a short distance below, and even the horses seemed to understand the importance of silence, swimming quietly alongside of our frail craft. the eastern shore reached, we stopped for a time to rub and rest the cattle, exhausted by long-continued exertion in the water; then pushed on to woodville, some five and twenty miles east. this, the chief town of wilkison county, mississippi, was in telegraphic communication with richmond, and i reported my arrival to the war office. an answer came, directing me to take command of the department of alabama, mississippi, etc., with the information that president davis would shortly leave richmond to meet me at montgomery, alabama. while awaiting telegram, i learned of the fall of atlanta and the forts at the entrance of mobile bay. my predecessor in the department to the command of which telegraphic orders had just assigned me was general bishop polk, to whom i accord all his titles; for in him, after a sleep of several centuries, was awakened the church militant. before he joined johnston in northern georgia, polk's headquarters were at meridian, near the eastern boundary of mississippi, where the mobile and ohio railway, running north, is crossed by the vicksburg, jackson, and selma line, running east. to this point i at once proceeded, _via_ jackson, more than a hundred miles northeast of woodville. grierson's and other "raids," in the past summer, had broken the new orleans and jackson railway, so that i rode the distance to the latter place. it was in september, and the fierce heat was trying to man and beast. the open pine forests of southern mississippi obstruct the breeze, while affording no protection from the sun, whose rays are intensified by reflection from the white, sandy soil. jackson reached, i stopped for an hour to see the governor of mississippi, clarke, an old acquaintance, and give instructions to brigadier wirt adams, the local commander; then took rail to meridian, eighty miles, where i found the records of the department left by general polk, as well as several officers of the general staff. these gentlemen had nothing especial to do, and appeared to be discharging that duty conscientiously; but they were zealous and intelligent, and speedily enabled me to judge of the situation. major-general maury, in immediate command at mobile, and the senior officer in the department before my arrival, had ordered general forrest with his cavalry to mobile in anticipation of an attack. forrest himself was expected to pass through meridian that evening, _en route_ for mobile. just from the mississippi river, where facilities for obtaining information from new orleans were greater than at mobile, i was confident that the enemy contemplated no immediate attack on the latter place. accordingly, general maury was informed by telegraph of my presence, that i assumed command of the department, and would arrest forrest's movement. an hour later a train from the north, bringing forrest in advance of his troops, reached meridian, and was stopped; and the general, whom i had never seen, came to report. he was a tall, stalwart man, with grayish hair, mild countenance, and slow and homely of speech. in few words he was informed that i considered mobile safe for the present, and that all our energies must be directed to the relief of hood's army, then west of atlanta. the only way to accomplish this was to worry sherman's communications north of the tennessee river, and he must move his cavalry in that direction at the earliest moment. to my surprise, forrest suggested many difficulties and asked numerous questions: how he was to get over the tennessee; how he was to get back if pressed by the enemy; how he was to be supplied; what should be his line of retreat in certain contingencies; what he was to do with prisoners if any were taken, etc. i began to think he had no stomach for the work; but at last, having isolated the chances of success from causes of failure with the care of a chemist experimenting in his laboratory, he rose and asked for fleming, the superintendent of the railway, who was on the train by which he had come. fleming appeared--a little man on crutches (he had recently broken a leg), but with the energy of a giant--and at once stated what he could do in the way of moving supplies on his line, which had been repaired up to the tennessee boundary. forrest's whole manner now changed. in a dozen sharp sentences he told his wants, said he would leave a staff officer to bring up his supplies, asked for an engine to take him back north twenty miles to meet his troops, informed me he would march with the dawn, and hoped to give an account of himself in tennessee. moving with great rapidity, he crossed the tennessee river, captured stockades with their garrisons, burned bridges, destroyed railways, reached the cumberland river below nashville, drove away gunboats, captured and destroyed several transports with immense stores, and spread alarm over a wide region. the enemy concentrated on him from all directions, but he eluded or defeated their several columns, recrossed the tennessee, and brought off fifteen hundred prisoners and much spoil. like clive, nature made him a great soldier; and he was without the former's advantages. limited as was clive's education, he was a person of erudition compared with forrest, who read with difficulty. in the last weeks of the war he was much with me, and told me the story of his life. his father, a poor trader in negroes and mules, died when he was fifteen years of age, leaving a widow and several younger children dependent on him for support. to add to his burden, a posthumous infant was born some weeks after the father's death. continuing the paternal occupations in a small way, he continued to maintain the family and give some education to the younger children. his character for truth, honesty, and energy was recognized, and he gradually achieved independence and aided his brethren to start in life. such was his short story up to the war. some months before the time of our first meeting, with two thousand men he defeated the federal general sturgis, who had five times his force, at tishimingo; and he repeated his success at okalona, where his opponent, general smith, had even greater odds against him. the battle of okalona was fought on an open plain, and forrest had no advantage of position to compensate for great inferiority of numbers; but it is remarkable that he employed the tactics of frederick at leuthen and zorndorf, though he had never heard these names. indeed, his tactics deserve the closest study of military men. asked after the war to what he attributed his success in so many actions, he replied: "well, i _got there first with the most men_." jomini could not have stated the key to the art of war more concisely. i doubt if any commander since the days of lion-hearted richard has killed as many enemies with his own hand as forrest. his word of command as he led the charge was unique: "forward, men, and _mix_ with 'em!" but, while cutting down many a foe with long-reaching, nervous arm, his keen eye watched the whole fight and guided him to the weak spot. yet he was a tender-hearted, kindly man. the accusations of his enemies that he murdered prisoners at fort pillow and elsewhere are absolutely false. the prisoners captured on his expedition into tennessee, of which i have just written, were negroes, and he carefully looked after their wants himself, though in rapid movement and fighting much of the time. these negroes told me of mass forrest's kindness to them. after the war i frequently met general forrest, and received many evidences of attachment from him. he has passed away within a month, to the regret of all who knew him. in the states of alabama, mississippi, and tennessee, to generations yet unborn, his name will be a "household word." having devoted several hours at meridian to the work mentioned, i took rail for mobile, a hundred and forty miles. this town of thirty thousand inhabitants is situated on the west bank of the alabama (here called mobile) river, near its entrance into mobile bay, which is five-and-twenty miles long by ten broad. a month before my arrival admiral farragut had captured fort morgan at the eastern mouth of the bay, after defeating the confederate fleet under admiral buchanan, who was severely wounded in the action. two or three of buchanan's vessels had escaped, and were in charge of commodore farrand near mobile. the shallow waters of the bay were thickly planted with torpedoes, and many heavy guns were mounted near the town, making it safe in front. mobile had excellent communications with the interior. the alabama, tombigby, and black warrior rivers afforded steam navigation to central alabama and eastern mississippi, while the mobile and ohio railway reached the northern limit of the latter state. supplies from the fertile "cane-brake" region of alabama and the prairies of eastern mississippi were abundant. before they abandoned pensacola, the confederates had taken up fifty miles of rails from the pensacola and montgomery line, and used them to make a connection between the latter place and blakeley, at the eastern head of the bay, opposite mobile. from the known dispositions of the federal forces, i did not think it probable that any serious attempt on mobile would be made until spring. already in possession of fort morgan and pensacola, thirty miles east of the first, and the best harbor on the gulf, the enemy, when he attacked, would doubtless make these places his base. it was important, then, to look to defensive works on the east side of the bay, and such works were vigorously pushed at blakeley, above mentioned, and at spanish fort, several miles south. i had no intention of standing a siege in mobile, but desired to hold the place with a small force, so as to compel the employment of an army to reduce it; and for this its situation was admirably adapted. the mobile river, forty miles long, and formed by the alabama and tombigby, is but the estuary at the head of mobile bay, silted up with detritus by the entering streams. several miles wide, it incloses numerous marshy islands in its many channels. these features make its passage difficult, while the mobile and ohio railway, trending to the west as it leaves the town to gain the high land above the valley, affords a ready means for the withdrawal of a limited force. the officer commanding at mobile was well qualified for his task. major-general d.h. maury, nephew to the distinguished matthew maury, formerly of the united states navy, graduated from west point in time to serve in the war with mexico, where he was wounded. a virginian, he resigned from the united states cavalry to share the fortunes of his state. intelligent, upright, and devoted to duty, he gained the respect and confidence of the townspeople, and was thereby enabled to supplement his regular force of eight thousand of all arms with a body of local militia. it was a great comfort to find an able officer in this responsible position, who not only adopted my plans, but improved and executed them. general maury had some excellent officers under him, and the sequel will show how well they discharged their duty to the end. from mobile to meridian, and after some days to selma, ninety miles east. the railway between these last places had been recently laid down, and was very imperfect. there was no bridge over the tombigby at demopolis, and a steam ferry was employed. east of demopolis, the line passed through the cane-brake country, a land of fatness. the army of lee, starving in the trenches before richmond and petersburg, could have been liberally supplied from this district but for lack of transportation. here it may be asserted that we suffered less from inferiority of numbers than from want of mechanical resources. most of the mechanics employed in the south were northern men, and returned to their section at the outbreak of war. the loss of new orleans, our only large city, aggravated this trouble, and we had no means of repairing the long lines of railway, nor the plant. even when unbroken by raids, wear and tear rendered them inefficient at an early period of the struggle. this had a more direct influence on the sudden downfall of the confederacy than is generally supposed. selma, a place of some five thousand people, is on the north bank of the alabama river, by which it has steam communication with mobile and montgomery, forty miles above on the opposite bank. in addition to the railway from meridian, there was a line running to the northeast in the direction of dalton, georgia, the existing terminus of which was at blue mountain, a hundred and odd miles from selma; and, to inspect the line, i went to blue mountain. this, the southern limit of the alleghanies, which here sink into the great plain of the gulf, was distant from the atlanta and chattanooga railway, sherman's only line of communication, sixty miles. a force operating from blue mountain would approach this line at a right angle, and, drawing its supplies from the fertile country near selma, would cover its own communications while threatening those of an enemy from atlanta to chattanooga. on this account the road might be of importance. returning to selma, i stopped at talladega, on the east bank of the coosa river, the largest affluent of the alabama, and navigable by small steamers to rome, georgia. here i met brigadier daniel adams, in local command, and learned much of the condition of the surrounding region. after passing chattanooga the tennessee river makes a great bend to the south, inclosing a part of alabama between itself and the tennessee state line; and in this district was a small confederate force under brigadier roddy, which was enabled to maintain an exposed position by knowledge of the country. general adams thought he could procure wire enough to establish communication with roddy, or materially shorten the courier line between them; and, as this would duplicate my means of getting news, especially of forrest, he was directed to do so. i had no knowledge of hood's plans or condition, saving that he had been defeated and was southwest of atlanta; but if he contemplated operations on sherman's communications, which was his true policy, he must draw supplies from selma, as much of the country between the tennessee and alabama rivers was sterile and sparsely populated. accordingly, i moved my headquarters to selma and ordered the collection of supplies there, and at talladega; then took steamer for montgomery, to meet the general assembly of alabama, called in extra session in view of the crisis produced by hood's defeat and the fall of atlanta. just as the steamer was leaving selma, i received dispatches from forrest, announcing his first success after crossing the tennessee river. traveling alone, or with one staff officer, and unknown to the people, i had opportunities of learning something of the real state of public sentiment in my new department. citizens were universally depressed and disheartened. sick and wounded officers and men from hood's army were dissatisfied with the removal of johnston from command, and the subsequent conduct of affairs. from conversations in railway carriages and on river steamers i had gathered this, and nothing but this, since my arrival. reaching montgomery in the morning, i had interviews with the governor and leading members of the assembly, who promised all the assistance in their power to aid in the defense of the state. the governor, watts, who had resigned the office of attorney-general of the confederacy to accept his present position, was ever ready to coöperate with me. late in the afternoon a dispatch was received from president davis, announcing his arrival for the following morning. he came, was received by the state authorities, visited the capitol, addressed the assembly, and then received leading citizens; all of which consumed the day, and it was ten o'clock at night when he took me to his chamber, locked the door, and said we must devote the night to work, as it was imperative for him to return to richmond the next morning. he began by saying that he had visited hood and his army on his way to montgomery, and was gratified to find officers and men in excellent spirits, not at all depressed by recent disasters, and that he thought well of a movement north toward nashville. i expressed surprise at his statement of the condition of hood's army, as entirely opposed to the conclusions forced on me by all the evidence i could get, and warned him of the danger of listening to narrators who were more disposed to tell what was agreeable than what was true. he readily admitted that persons in his position were exposed to this danger. proceeding to discuss the suggested movement toward nashville, i thought it a serious matter to undertake a campaign into tennessee in the autumn, with troops so badly equipped as were ours for the approaching winter. every mile the army marched north, it was removing farther from supplies, and no reënforcements were to be hoped for from any quarter. besides, sherman could control force enough to garrison chattanooga and nashville, and, if time were allowed him to accumulate supplies at atlanta by his one line of rail, could abandon everything south of chattanooga, and with fifty thousand men, in the absence of hood's army, march where he liked. the president asked what assistance might be expected from the trans-mississippi. i replied, none. there would not be another gun fired there; for the federals had withdrawn their troops to concentrate east of the river. the difficulty of bringing over organized bodies of men was explained, with the addition of their unwillingness to come. the idea prevailed that the states west of the mississippi had been neglected by the government, and this idea had been encouraged by many in authority. so far from desiring to send any more men to the east, they clamored for the return of those already there. certain senators and representatives, who had bitterly opposed the administration at richmond, talked much wild nonsense about setting up a government west of the mississippi, uniting with maximilian, and calling on louis napoleon for assistance. the president listened attentively to this, and asked, "what then?" i informed him of the work forrest was doing, pointed out the advantages of blue mountain as a base from which to operate, and suggested that hood's army be thrown on sherman's line of railway, north of atlanta. as johnston had been so recently removed from command, i would not venture to recommend his return, but believed that our chances would be increased by the assignment of beauregard to the army. he still retained some of the early popularity gained at sumter and manassas, and would awaken a certain enthusiasm. apprehending no immediate danger for mobile, i would strip the place of everything except gunners and join beauregard with four thousand good troops. even the smallest reënforcement is inspiriting to a defeated army, and by seizing his railway we would force sherman to battle. granting we would be whipped, we could fall back to blue mountain without danger of pursuit, as the enemy was chained to his line of supply, and we certainly ought to make the fight hot enough to cripple him for a time and delay his projected movements. at the same time, i did not disguise my conviction that the best we could hope for was to protract the struggle until spring. it was for statesmen, not soldiers, to deal with the future. the president said beauregard should come, and, after consultation with hood and myself, decide the movements of the army; but that he was distressed to hear such gloomy sentiments from me. i replied that it was my duty to express my opinions frankly to him, when he asked for them, though there would be impropriety in giving utterance to them before others; but i did not admit the gloom. in fact, i had cut into this game with eyes wide open, and felt that in staking life, fortune, and the future of my children, the chances were against success. it was not for me, then, to whimper when the cards were bad; that was the right of those who were convinced there would be no war, or at most a holiday affair, in which everybody could display heroism. with much other talk we wore through the night. in the morning he left, as he purposed, and i returned to selma. my next meeting with president davis was at fortress monroe, under circumstances to be related. some days at selma were devoted to accumulation of supplies, and general maury was advised that he must be prepared to forward a part of his command to that place, when a message from beauregard informed me that he was on the way to blue mountain and desired to meet me there. he had not seen hood, whose army, after an ineffectual attack on altoona, had left sherman's line of communication, moved westward, and was now some fifteen miles to the north of blue mountain. having told me this, beauregard explained the orders under which he was acting. to my disappointment, he had not been expressly assigned to command hood's army, but to the general direction of affairs in the southwest. general maury, a capable officer, was at mobile; forrest, with his cavalry division, i had sent into tennessee; and a few scattered men were watching the enemy in various quarters--all together hardly constituting a command for a lieutenant-general, my rank. unless beauregard took charge of hood's army, there was nothing for him to do except to command me. here was a repetition of . then johnston was sent with a roving commission to command bragg in tennessee, pemberton in mississippi, and others in sundry places. the result was that he commanded nobody, and, when pemberton was shut up in vicksburg, found himself helpless, with a handful of troops, at jackson. to give an officer discretion to remove another from command of an army in the field is to throw upon him the responsibility of doing it, and this should be assumed by the government, not left to an individual. however, i urged on beauregard the considerations mentioned in my interview with president davis, that sherman had detached to look after forrest, was compelled to keep garrisons at many points from atlanta to nashville, and, if forced to action fifty or sixty miles north of the former place, would be weaker then than we could hope to find him later, after he had accumulated supplies. i mentioned the little reënforcement we could have at once from mobile, my readiness to take any command, division, brigade, or regiment to which he might assign me, and, above all, the necessity of prompt action. there were two persons present, colonel brent, of beauregard's staff, and mr. charles villeré, a member of the confederate congress from louisiana. the former said all that was proper for a staff officer in favor of my views; the latter, beauregard's brother-in-law, warmly urged their adoption. the general ordered his horse, to visit hood, and told me to await intelligence from him. on his return from hood, he informed me that the army was moving to the northwest, and would cross the tennessee river near the muscle shoals. as this plan of campaign had met the sanction of president davis, and hood felt confident of success, he declined to interfere. i could not blame beauregard; for it was putting a cruel responsibility on him to supersede a gallant veteran, to whom fortune had been adverse. there was nothing to be said and nothing to be done, saving to discharge one's duty to the bitter end. hood's line of march would bring him within reach of the mobile and ohio railway in northern mississippi, and supplies could be sent him by that road. selma ceased to be of importance, and my quarters were returned to meridian. forrest, just back from tennessee, was advised of hood's purposes and ordered to coöperate. maury was made happy by the information that he would lose none of his force, and the usual routine of inspections, papers, etc., occupied the ensuing weeks. my attention was called about this time to the existence of a wide-spread evil. a practice had grown up of appointing provost-marshals to take private property for public use, and every little post commander exercised the power to appoint such officials. the land swarmed with these vermin, appointed without due authority, or self-constituted, who robbed the people of horses, mules, cattle, corn, and meat. the wretched peasants of the middle ages could not have suffered more from the "free companies" turned loose upon them. loud complaints came up from state governors and from hundreds of good citizens. i published an order, informing the people that their property was not to be touched unless by authority given by me and in accordance with the forms of law, and they were requested to deal with all violators of the order as with highwaymen. this put an end to the tyranny, which had been long and universally submitted to. the readiness of submission to power displayed by the american people in the war was astonishing. our british forefathers transmitted to us respect for law and love of liberty founded upon it; but the influence of universal suffrage seemed to have destroyed all sense of personal manhood, all conception of individual rights. it may be said of the south, that its people submitted to wrong because they were engaged in a fierce struggle with superior force; but what of the north, whose people were fighting for conquest? thousands were opposed to the war, and hundreds of thousands to its conduct and objects. the wonderful vote received by mcclellan in showed the vast numbers of the northern minority; yet, so far from modifying in the smallest degree the will and conduct of the majority, this multitude of men dared not give utterance to their real sentiments; and the same was true of the south at the time of secession. reformers who have tried to improve the morals of humanity, discoverers who have striven to alleviate its physical conditions, have suffered martyrdom at its hands. years upon years have been found necessary to induce the masses to consider, much less adopt, schemes for their own advantage. a government of numbers, then, is not one of virtue or intelligence, but of force, intangible, irresistible, irresponsible--resembling that of cæsar depicted by the great historian, which, covering the earth as a pall, reduced all to a common level of abject servitude. for many years scarce a descendant of the colonial gentry in the eastern states has been elected to public office. to-day they have no existence even as a social force and example. under the baleful influence of negro suffrage it is impossible to foretell the destiny of the south. small wonder that pure democracies have ever proved ready to exchange "demos" for some other tyrant. occasional visits for inspection were made to mobile, where maury was strengthening his defenses. on the east side of the bay, blakeley and spanish fort were progressing steadily, as i held that the enemy would attack there, tempted by his possession of pensacola and fort morgan. although this opinion was justified in the end, hope may have had some influence in its formation; for we could meet attack from that quarter better than from the west, which, indeed, would have speedily driven us from the place. the loss of the mobile and ohio railway would have necessitated the withdrawal of the garrison across the bay, a difficult operation, if pressed by superior force. the confederate congress had enacted that negro troops, captured, should be restored to their owners. we had several hundreds of such, taken by forrest in tennessee, whose owners could not be reached; and they were put to work on the fortifications at mobile, rather for the purpose of giving them healthy employment than for the value of the work. i made it a point to visit their camps and inspect the quantity and quality of their food, always found to be satisfactory. on one occasion, while so engaged, a fine-looking negro, who seemed to be leader among his comrades, approached me and said: "thank you, massa general, they give us plenty of good victuals; but how you like our work?" i replied that they had worked very well. "if you will give us guns we will fight for these works, too. we would rather fight for our own white folks than for strangers." and, doubtless, this was true. in their dealings with the negro the white men of the south should ever remember that no instance of outrage occurred during the war. their wives and little ones remained safe at home, surrounded by thousands of faithful slaves, who worked quietly in the fields until removed by the federals. this is the highest testimony to the kindness of the master and the gentleness of the servant; and all the dramatic talent prostituted to the dissemination of falsehood in "uncle tom's cabin" and similar productions can not rebut it. about the middle of november i received from general lee, now commanding the armies of the confederacy, instructions to visit macon and savannah, georgia, if i could leave my department, and report to him the condition of affairs in that quarter, and the probabilities of sherman's movements, as the latter had left atlanta. i proceeded at once, taking rail at montgomery, and reached macon, _via_ columbus, georgia, at dawn. it was the bitterest weather i remember in this latitude. the ground was frozen and some snow was falling. general howell cobb, the local commander, met me at the station and took me to his house, which was also his office. arrived there, horses appeared, and cobb said he supposed that i would desire to ride out and inspect the fortifications, on which he had been at work all night, as the enemy was twelve miles north of macon at noon of the preceding day. i asked what force he had to defend the place. he stated the number, which was utterly inadequate, and composed of raw conscripts. whereupon i declined to look at the fortifications, and requested him to order work upon them to be stopped, so that his men could get by a fire, as i then was and intended to remain. i had observed a movement of stores in passing the railway station, and now expressed the opinion that macon was the safest place in georgia, and advised cobb to keep his stores. here entered general mackall, one of cobb's subordinates, who was personally in charge of the defensive works, and could not credit the order he had received to stop. cobb referred him to me, and i said: "the enemy was but twelve miles from you at noon of yesterday. had he intended coming to macon, you would have seen him last evening, before you had time to strengthen works or remove stores." this greatly comforted cobb, who up to that moment held me to be a lunatic. breakfast was suggested, to which i responded with enthusiasm, having been on short commons for many hours. while we were enjoying the meal, intelligence was brought that the enemy had disappeared from the north of macon and marched eastward. cobb was delighted. he pronounced me to be the wisest of generals, and said he knew nothing of military affairs, but had entered the service from a sense of duty. cobb had been speaker of the united states house of representatives, and secretary of the treasury in the administration of president buchanan. beloved and respected in his state, he had been sent to georgia to counteract the influence of governor joe brown, who, carrying out the doctrine of state rights, had placed himself in opposition to president davis. cobb, with his conscripts, had been near atlanta before sherman moved out, and gave me a laughable account of the expeditious manner in which he and "his little party" got to macon, just as he was inditing a superb dispatch to general lee to inform him of the impossibility of sherman's escape. while we were conversing governor brown was announced, as arrived from milledgeville, the state capital, forty miles to the northeast. cobb remarked that it was awkward; for governor brown was the only man in georgia to whom he did not speak. but he yielded to the ancient jest, that for the time being we had best hang together, as there seemed a possibility of enjoying that amusement separately, and brought the governor in, who told me that he had escaped from milledgeville as the federals entered. people said that he had brought off his cow and his cabbages, and left the state's property to take care of itself. however, governor brown deserves praise at my hands, for he promptly acceded to all my requests. with him were general robert toombs, the most original of men, and general g.w. smith, both of whom had been in the confederate army. toombs had resigned to take the place of adjutant-general of georgia; smith, to superintend some iron works, from which he had been driven by sherman's movements, and was now in command of governor brown's "army," composed of men that he had refused to the confederate service. this "army" had some hours before marched east toward savannah, taking the direct route along the railway. i told the governor that his men would be captured unless they were called back at once; and smith, who undertook the duty in person, was just in time. "joe brown's army" struck the extreme right of sherman, and suffered some loss before smith could extricate it. to albany, ninety miles south of macon, there was a railway, and some forty miles farther south, across the country, thomasville was reached. here was the terminus of the savannah and gulf railway, two hundred miles, or thereabouts, southwest of savannah. this route i decided to take, and suggested it to the governor as the only safe one for his troops. he acquiesced at once, and toombs promised to have transportation ready by the time smith returned. taking leave of cobb, i departed. several years after the close of the war general cobb and i happened to be in new york, accompanied by our families, but stopping at different inns. he dined with me, seemed in excellent health and spirits, and remained to a late hour, talking over former times and scenes. i walked to his lodgings with him, and promised to call with my wife on mrs. cobb the following day at o'clock. we were there at the hour, when the servant, in answer to my request to take up our cards, stated that general cobb had just fallen dead. i sprang up the stair, and saw his body lying on the floor of a room, his wife, dazed by the shock, looking on. a few minutes before he had written a letter and started for the office of the inn to post it, remarking to his wife that he would return immediately, as he expected our visit. a step from the threshold, and he was dead. thus suddenly passed away one of the most genial and generous men i have known. his great fortune suffered much by the war, but to the last he shared its remains with less fortunate friends. traveling all night, i reached thomasville in the early morning, and found that there was telegraphic communication with general hardee at savannah, whom i informed of my presence and requested to send down transportation for governor brown's troops. there was much delay at thomasville, the railway people appearing to think that sherman was swarming all over georgia. at length i discovered an engine and a freight van, which the officials promised to get ready for me; but they were dreadfully slow, until toombs rode into town and speedily woke them up. smith returned to macon after my departure, found transportation ready for his men, brought them to albany by rail, and was now marching to thomasville. toombs, who had ridden on in advance, was not satisfied with hardee's reply to my dispatch, but took possession of the telegraph and threatened dire vengeance on superintendents and road masters if they failed to have the necessary engines and carriages ready in time. he damned the dawdling creatures who had delayed me to such an extent as to make them energetic, and my engine appeared, puffing with anxiety to move. he assured me that he would not be many hours after me at savannah, for smith did not intend to halt on the road, as his men could rest in the carriages. a man of extraordinary energy, this same toombs. savannah was reached about midnight, and hardee was awaiting me. a short conversation cleared the situation and enabled me to send the following report to general lee. augusta, georgia, held by general bragg with a limited force, was no longer threatened, as the enemy had passed south of it. sherman, with sixty or seventy thousand men, was moving on the high ground between the savannah and ogeechee rivers; and as this afforded a dry, sandy road direct to savannah, where he would most readily meet the federal fleet, it was probable that he would adhere to it. he might cross the savannah river forty or fifty miles above and march on charleston, but this was hardly to be expected; for, in addition to the river named, there were several others and a difficult country to pass before charleston could be reached, and his desire to communicate with the fleet by the nearest route and in the shortest time must be considered. hardee's force was inadequate to the defense of savannah, and he should prepare to abandon the place before he was shut up. uniting, bragg and hardee should call in the garrison from charleston, and all scattered forces along the coast south of wilmington, north carolina, and be prepared to resist sherman's march through the carolinas, which he must be expected to undertake as soon as he had established a base on the ocean. before this report was dispatched, hardee read and approved it. meanwhile scores of absurd rumors about the enemy came in. places i had passed within an hour were threatened by heavy columns; others, from which the enemy was distant a hundred miles, were occupied, etc. but one of importance did come. the railway from savannah to charleston passes near the coast. the officer commanding at pocotaligo, midway of the two places, reported an advance of the enemy from port royal, and that he must abandon his post the following morning unless reënforced. to lose the charleston line would seriously interfere with the concentration just recommended. hardee said that he could ill spare men, and had no means of moving them promptly. i bethought me of toombs, smith, and governor brown's "army." the energetic toombs had frightened the railway people into moving him, and, from his telegrams, might be expected before dawn. hardee thought but little of the suggestion, because the ground of quarrel between governor brown and president davis was the refusal of the former to allow his guards to serve beyond their state. however, i had faith in toombs and smith. a short distance to the south of savannah, on the gulf road, was a switch by which carriages could be shunted on to a connection with the charleston line. i wrote to toombs of the emergency, and sent one of hardee's staff to meet him at the switch. the governor's army was quietly shunted off and woke up at pocotaligo in south carolina, where it was just in time to repulse the enemy after a spirited little action, thereby saving the railway. doubtless the georgians, a plucky people, would have responded to an appeal to leave their state under the circumstances, but toombs enjoyed the joke of making them unconscious patriots. in the past autumn cassius clay of kentucky killed a colored man who had attacked him. for more than thirty years mr. clay had advocated the abolition of slavery, and at the risk of his life. dining with toombs in new york just after the event, he said to me: "seen the story about old cassius clay? been an abolitionist all his days, and ends by shooting a nigger. i knew he would." a droll fellow is robert toombs. full of talent and well instructed, he affects quaint and provincial forms of speech. his influence in georgia is great, and he is a man to know. two days at savannah served to accomplish the object of my mission, and, taking leave of hardee, i returned to my own department. an educated soldier of large experience, hardee was among the best of our subordinate generals, and, indeed, seemed to possess the requisite qualities for supreme command; but this he steadily refused, alleging his unfitness for responsibility. such modesty is not a common american weakness, and deserves to be recorded. general hardee's death occurred after the close of the war. in this journey through georgia, at andersonville, i passed in sight of a large stockade inclosing prisoners of war. the train stopped for a few moments, and there entered the carriage, to speak to me, a man who said his name was _wirtz_, and that he was in charge of the prisoners near by. he complained of the inadequacy of his guard and of the want of supplies, as the adjacent region was sterile and thinly populated. he also said that the prisoners were suffering from cold, were destitute of blankets, and that he had not wagons to supply fuel. he showed me duplicates of requisitions and appeals for relief that he had made to different authorities, and these i indorsed in the strongest terms possible, hoping to accomplish some good. i know nothing of this wirtz, whom i then met for the first and only time, but he appeared to be earnest in his desire to mitigate the condition of his prisoners. there can be but little doubt that his execution was a "sop" to the passions of the "many-headed." returned to meridian, the situation of hood in tennessee absorbed all my attention. he had fought at franklin, and was now near nashville. franklin was a bloody affair, in which hood lost many of his best officers and troops. the previous evening, at dusk, a federal column, retreating north, passed within pistol-shot of hood's forces, and an attack on it might have produced results; but it reached strong works at franklin, and held them against determined assaults, until night enabled it to withdraw quietly to nashville. this mistake may be ascribed to hood's want of physical activity, occasioned by severe wounds and amputations, which might have been considered before he was assigned to command. maurice of saxe won fontenoy in a litter, unable from disease to mount his horse; but in war it is hazardous to convert exceptions into rules. notwithstanding his frightful loss at franklin, hood followed the enemy to nashville, and took position south of the place, where he remained ten days or more. it is difficult to imagine what objects he had in view. the town was open to the north, whence the federal commander, thomas, was hourly receiving reënforcements, while he had none to hope for. his plans perfected and his reënforcements joined, thomas moved, and hood was driven off; and, had the federal general possessed dash equal to his tenacity and caution, one fails to see how hood could have brought man or gun across the tennessee river. it is painful to criticise hood's conduct of this campaign. like ney, "the bravest of the brave," he was a splendid leader in battle, and as a brigade or division commander unsurpassed; but, arrived at higher rank, he seems to have been impatient of control, and openly disapproved of johnston's conduct of affairs between dalton and atlanta. unwillingness to obey is often interpreted by governments into capacity for command. reaching the southern bank of the tennessee, hood asked to be relieved, and a telegraphic order assigned me to the duty. at tupelo, on the mobile and ohio railway, a hundred and odd miles north of meridian, i met him and the remains of his army. within my experience were assaults on positions, in which heavy losses were sustained without success; but the field had been held--retreats, but preceded by repulse of the foe and followed by victory. this was my first view of a beaten army, an army that for four years had shown a constancy worthy of the "ten thousand"; and a painful sight it was. many guns and small arms had been lost, and the ranks were depleted by thousands of prisoners and missing. blankets, shoes, clothing, and accouterments were wanting. i have written of the unusual severity of the weather in the latter part of november, and it was now near january. some men perished by frost; many had the extremities severely bitten. fleming, the active superintendent mentioned, strained the resources of his railway to transport the troops to the vicinity of meridian, where timber for shelter and fuel was abundant and supplies convenient; and every energy was exerted to reëquip them. sherman was now in possession of savannah, but an interior line of rail by columbus, macon, and augusta, georgia, and columbia, south carolina, was open. mobile was not immediately threatened, and was of inferior importance as compared with the safety of lee's army at petersburg. unless a force could be interposed between sherman and lee's rear, the game would be over when the former moved. accordingly, i dispatched to general lee the suggestion of sending the "army of tennessee" to north carolina, where johnston had been restored to command. he approved, and directed me to send forward the men as rapidly as possible. i had long dismissed all thought of the future. the duty of a soldier in the field is simple--to fight until stopped by the civil arm of his government, or his government has ceased to exist; and military men have usually come to grief by forgetting this simple duty. forrest had fought and worked hard in this last tennessee campaign, and his division of cavalry was broken down. by brigades it was distributed to different points in the prairie and cane-brake regions, where forage could be had, and i hoped for time to restore the cattle and refit the command. with our limited resources of transportation, it was a slow business to forward troops to johnston in north carolina; but at length it was accomplished, and the month of march came round to raise the curtain for the last act of the bloody drama. two clouds appeared on the horizon of my department. general canby, a steady soldier, whom i had long known, had assumed command of all the federal forces in the southwest, and was concentrating fifty thousand men at fort morgan and pensacola against mobile. in northern alabama general wilson had ten thousand picked mounted men ready for an expedition. at selma was a foundry, where the best ordnance i have seen was made of briarsfield iron, from a furnace in the vicinity; and, as this would naturally attract the enemy's attention to selma, i endeavored to prepare for him. the cahawba river, from the northeast, enters the alabama below selma, north of which it separates the barren mineral region from the fertile lands of the river basin; and at its crossing i directed forrest to concentrate. wilson, with the smallest body, would probably move first; and, once disposed of, forrest could be sent south of the alabama river to delay canby and prolong the defense of mobile. for a hundred miles north of the gulf the country is sterile, pine forest on a soil of white sand; but the northern end of the montgomery and pensacola railway was in our possession, and would enable us to transport supplies. in a conference with maury at mobile i communicated the above to him, as i had previously to forrest, and hastened to selma. distributed for forage, and still jaded by hard work, forrest ordered his brigades to the cahawba crossing, leading one in person. his whole force would have been inferior to wilson's, but he was a host in himself, and a dangerous adversary to meet at any reasonable odds. our information of the enemy had proved extremely accurate; but in this instance the federal commander moved with unusual rapidity, and threw out false signals. forrest, with one weak brigade, was in the path; but two of his brigadiers permitted themselves to be deceived by reports of the enemy's movements toward columbus, mississippi, and turned west, while another went into camp under some misconception of orders. forrest fought as if the world depended on his arm, and sent to advise me of the deceit practiced on two of his brigades, but hoped to stop the enemy if he could get up the third, the absence of which he could not account for. i directed such railway plant as we had to be moved out on the roads, retaining a small yard engine to take me off at the last moment. there was nothing more to be done. forrest appeared, horse and man covered with blood, and announced the enemy at his heels, and that i must move at once to escape capture. i felt anxious for him, but he said he was unhurt and would cut his way through, as most of his men had done, whom he had ordered to meet him west of the cahawba. my engine started toward meridian, and barely escaped. before headway was attained the enemy was upon us, and capture seemed inevitable. fortunately, the group of horsemen near prevented their comrades from firing, so we had only to risk a fusillade from a dozen, who fired wild. the driver and stoker, both negroes, were as game as possible, and as we thundered across cahawba bridge, all safe, raised a loud "yah! yah!" of triumph, and smiled like two sable angels. wilson made no delay at selma, but, crossing the alabama river, pushed on to montgomery, and thence into georgia. i have never met this general wilson, whose soldierly qualities are entitled to respect; for of all the federal expeditions of which i have any knowledge, his was the best conducted. it would have been useless to pursue wilson, had there been troops disposable, as many hundred miles intervened between him and north carolina, where johnston commanded the nearest confederate forces, too remote to be affected by his movements. canby was now before the eastern defenses of mobile, and it was too late to send forrest to that quarter. he was therefore directed to draw together and reorganize his division near meridian. chapter xiii. closing operations of the war--surrender. on the th of march canby invested spanish fort, and began the siege by regular approaches, a part of his army investing blakeley on the same day. general r.l. gibson, now a member of congress from louisiana, held spanish fort with twenty-five hundred men. fighting all day and working all night, gibson successfully resisted the efforts of the immense force against him until the evening of april , when the enemy effected a lodgment threatening his only route of evacuation. under instructions from maury, he withdrew his garrison in the night to mobile, excepting his pickets, necessarily left. gibson's stubborn defense and skillful retreat make this one of the best achievements of the war. although invested on the th of march, the siege of blakeley was not pressed until april , when steele's corps of canby's army joined the original force before it. here, with a garrison of twenty-eight hundred men, commanded general liddell, with general cockrell, now a senator from missouri, as his second. every assault of the enemy, who made but little progress, was gallantly repulsed until the afternoon of the th, when, learning by the evacuation of spanish fort how small a force had delayed him, he concentrated on blakeley and carried it, capturing the garrison. maury intended to withdraw liddell during the night of the th. it would have been more prudent to have done so on the night of the th, as the enemy would naturally make an energetic effort after the fall of spanish fort; but he was unwilling to yield any ground until the last moment, and felt confident of holding the place another day. after dismantling his works, maury marched out of mobile on the th of april, with forty-five hundred men, including three field batteries, and was directed to cuba station, near meridian. in the interest of the thirty thousand non-combatants of the town, he properly notified the enemy that the place was open. during the movement from mobile toward meridian occurred the last engagement of the civil war, in a cavalry affair between the federal advance and our rear guard under colonel spence. commodore farrand took his armed vessels and all the steamers in the harbor up the tombigby river, above its junction with the alabama, and planted torpedoes in the stream below. forrest and maury had about eight thousand men, but tried and true. cattle were shod, wagons overhauled, and every preparation for rapid movement made. from the north, by wire and courier, i received early intelligence of passing events. indeed, these were of a character for the enemy to disseminate rather than suppress. before maury left mobile i had learned of lee's surrender, rumors of which spreading among the troops, a number from the neighboring camps came to see me. i confirmed the rumor, and told them the astounding news, just received, of president lincoln's assassination. for a time they were silent with amazement, then asked if it was possible that any southern man had committed the act. there was a sense of relief expressed when they learned that the wretched assassin had no connection with the south, but was an actor, whose brains were addled by tragedies and plutarch's fables. it was but right to tell these gallant, faithful men the whole truth concerning our situation. the surrender of lee left us little hope of success; but while johnston remained in arms we must be prepared to fight our way to him. again, the president and civil authorities of our government were on their way to the south, and might need our protection. granting the cause for which we had fought to be lost, we owed it to our own manhood, to the memory of the dead, and to the honor of our arms, to remain steadfast to the last. this was received, not with noisy cheers, but solemn murmurs of approval, showing that it was understood and adopted. forrest and maury shared my opinions and objects, and impressed them on their men. complete order was maintained throughout, and public property protected, though it was known later that this would be turned over to the federal authorities. a considerable amount of gold was near our camps, and safely guarded; yet it is doubtful if our united means would have sufficed to purchase a breakfast. members of the confederate congress from the adjoining and more western states came to us. these gentlemen had left richmond very hurriedly, in the first days of april, and were sorely jaded by fatigue and anxiety, as the presence of wilson's troops in georgia had driven them to by-paths to escape capture. arrived at a well-ordered camp, occupied by a formidable-looking force, they felt as storm-tossed mariners in a harbor of refuge, and, ignorant of recent events, as well as uncertain of the future, were eager for news and counsel. the struggle was virtually over, and the next few days, perhaps hours, would decide my course. in my judgment it would speedily become their duty to go to their respective homes. they had been the leaders of the people, had sought and accepted high office at their hands, and it was for them to teach the masses, by example and precept, how best to meet impending troubles. possibly they might suffer annoyance and persecution from federal power, but manhood and duty required them to incur the risk. to the credit of these gentlemen it should be recorded that they followed this advice when the time for action came. there was one exception which deserves mention. ex-governor harris, now a united states senator from tennessee, occupied the executive chair of his state in , and withdrew from nashville when the army of general sidney johnston retreated to the tennessee river in the spring of that year. by the death of president lincoln, andrew johnson had succeeded to power, and he was from tennessee, and the personal enemy of governor harris. the relations of their state with the federal union had been restored, and harris's return would be productive of discord rather than peace. i urged him to leave the country for a time, and offered to aid him in crossing the mississippi river; but he was very unwilling to go, and only consented after a matter was arranged, which i anticipate the current of events to relate. he had brought away from nashville the coin of the bank of tennessee, which, as above mentioned, was now in our camp. an official of the bank had always been in immediate charge of this coin, but harris felt that honor was involved in its safe return. at my request, general canby detailed an officer and escort to take the coin to nashville, where it arrived intact; but the unhappy official accompanying it was incarcerated for his fidelity. had he betrayed his trust, he might have received rewards instead of stripes. 'tis dangerous to be out of harmony with the practices of one's time. intelligence of the johnston-sherman convention reached us, and canby and i were requested by the officers making it to conform to its terms until the civil authorities acted. a meeting was arranged to take place a few miles north of mobile, where the appearance of the two parties contrasted the fortunes of our respective causes. canby, who preceded me at the appointed spot, a house near the railway, was escorted by a brigade with a military band, and accompanied by many officers in "full fig." with one officer, colonel william levy, since a member of congress from louisiana, i made my appearance on a hand-car, the motive power of which was two negroes. descendants of the ancient race of abraham, dealers in cast-off raiment, would have scorned to bargain for our rusty suits of confederate gray. general canby met me with much urbanity. we retired to a room, and in a few moments agreed upon a truce, terminable after forty-eight hours' notice by either party. then, rejoining the throng of officers, introductions and many pleasant civilities passed. i was happy to recognize commodore (afterward admiral) james palmer, an old friend. he was second to admiral thatcher, commanding united states squadron in mobile bay, and had come to meet me. a bountiful luncheon was spread, of which we partook, with joyous poppings of champagne corks for accompaniment, the first agreeable explosive sounds i had heard for years. the air of "hail columbia," which the band in attendance struck up, was instantly changed by canby's order to that of "dixie"; but i insisted on the first, and expressed a hope that columbia would be again a happy land, a sentiment honored by many libations. there was, as ever, a skeleton at the feast, in the person of a general officer who had recently left germany to become a citizen and soldier of the united states. this person, with the strong accent and idioms of the fatherland, comforted me by assurances that we of the south would speedily recognize our ignorance and errors, especially about slavery and the rights of states, and rejoice in the results of the war. in vain canby and palmer tried to suppress him. on a celebrated occasion an emperor of germany proclaimed himself above grammar, and this earnest philosopher was not to be restrained by canons of taste. i apologized meekly for my ignorance, on the ground that my ancestors had come from england to virginia in , and, in the short intervening period of two hundred and fifty-odd years, had found no time to transmit to me correct ideas of the duties of american citizenship. moreover, my grandfather, commanding the th virginia regiment in our revolutionary army, had assisted in the defeat and capture of the hessian mercenaries at trenton, and i lamented that he had not, by association with these worthies, enlightened his understanding. my friend smiled blandly, and assured me of his willingness to instruct me. happily for the world, since the days of huss and luther, neither tyranny nor taste can repress the teutonic intellect in search of truth or exposure of error. a kindly, worthy people, the germans, but wearing on occasions. the party separated, canby for mobile, i for meridian, where within two days came news of johnston's surrender in north carolina, the capture of president davis in georgia, and notice from canby that the truce must terminate, as his government disavowed the johnston-sherman convention. i informed general canby that i desired to meet him for the purpose of negotiating a surrender of my forces, and that commodore farrand would accompany me to meet admiral thatcher. the military and civil authorities of the confederacy had fallen, and i was called to administer on the ruins as residuary legatee. it seemed absurd for the few there present to continue the struggle against a million of men. we could only secure honorable interment for the remains of our cause--a cause that for four years had fixed the attention of the world, been baptized in the blood of thousands, and whose loss would be mourned in bitter tears by countless widows and orphans throughout their lives. at the time, no doubts as to the propriety of my course entered my mind, but such have since crept in. many southern warriors, from the hustings and in print, have declared that they were anxious to die in the last ditch, and by implication were restrained from so doing by the readiness of their generals to surrender. one is not permitted to question the sincerity of these declarations, which have received the approval of public opinion by the elevation of the heroes uttering them to such offices as the people of the south have to bestow; and popular opinion in our land is a court from whose decisions there is no appeal on this side of the grave. on the th of may, , at citronelle, forty miles north of mobile, i delivered the epilogue of the great drama in which i had played a humble part. the terms of surrender demanded and granted were consistent with the honor of our arms; and it is due to the memory of general canby to add that he was ready with suggestions to soothe our military pride. officers retained their side arms, mounted men their horses, which in our service were private property; and public stores, ordnance, commissary, and quartermaster, were to be turned over to officers of the proper departments and receipted for. paroles of the men were to be signed by their officers on rolls made out for the purpose, and i was to retain control of railways and river steamers to transport the troops as nearly as possible to their homes and feed them on the road, in order to spare the destitute people of the country the burden of their maintenance. railways and steamers, though used by the confederate authorities, were private property, and had been taken by force which the owners could not resist; and it was agreed that they should not be seized by civil jackals following the army without special orders from washington. finally, i was to notify canby when to send his officers to my camp to receive paroles and stores. near the tombigby river, to the east of meridian, were many thousands of bales of cotton, belonging to the confederate government and in charge of a treasury agent. it seemed to me a duty to protect public property and transfer it to the united states, successors by victory to the extinct confederacy. accordingly, a guard had been placed over this cotton, though i hated the very name of the article, as the source of much corruption to our people. canby remarked that cotton had been a curse to his side as well, and he would send to new orleans for a united states treasury agent, so that we might rid ourselves of this at the earliest moment. the conditions of surrender written out and signed, we had some conversation about the state of the country, disposition of the people, etc. i told him that all were weary of strife, and he would meet no opposition in any quarter, and pointed out places in the interior where supplies could be had, recommending him to station troops at such places. i was persuaded that moderation by his officers and men would lead to intercourse, traffic, and good feeling with the people. he thanked me for the suggestions, and adopted them. the governors of mississippi and alabama, clarke and watts, had asked for advice in the emergency produced by surrender, which they had been informed was impending, and i thought their best course would be to summon their state legislatures. these would certainly provide for conventions of the people to repeal ordinances of secession and abolish slavery, thus smoothing the way for the restoration of their states to the union. such action would be in harmony with the theory and practice of the american system, and clear the road of difficulties. the north, by its government, press, and people, had been declaring for years that the war was for the preservation of the union and for nothing else, and canby and i, in the innocence of our hearts, believed it. as canby thought well of my plan, i communicated with the governors, who acted on it; but the washington authorities imprisoned them for abetting a new rebellion. returned to meridian, i was soon ready for the federal officers, who came quietly to our camp and entered on their appointed work; and i have now in my possession receipts given by them for public stores. meanwhile, i received from canby a letter informing me that he had directed two of his corps commanders, generals steele and granger, to apply to me for instructions concerning the movement of their troops, as to time, places, and numbers. it was queer for one to be placed in _quasi_ command of soldiers that he had been fighting for four years, and to whom he had surrendered; but i delicately made some suggestions to these officers, which were adopted. with two or three staff officers, i remained at meridian until the last man had departed, and then went to mobile. general canby most considerately took me, tom, and my two horses on his boat to new orleans; else i must have begged my way. the confederate paper (not currency, for it was without exchangeable value) in my pocket would not have served for traveling expenses; and my battered old sword could hardly be relied on for breakfasts, dinners, and horse feed. after an absence of four years, i saw my native place and home, new orleans. my estate had been confiscated and sold, and i was without a penny. the man of uz admitted that naked he came into the world, and naked must leave it; but to find himself naked in the midst of it tried even his patience. my first care was to sell my horses, and a purchaser was found who agreed to take and pay for them the following morning. i felt somewhat eager to get hold of the "greenbacks," and suffered for my avarice. the best horse, one that had carried me many a weary mile and day without failing, could not move a hoof when the purchaser came to take him. like other veterans, long unaccustomed to abundance of prog, he had overfed and was badly foundered. fortunately, the liveryman proposed to take this animal as a consideration for the keep of the two, and the price received for the other would suffice to bring my wife and children from the red river to new orleans, and was sent to them for that purpose. awaiting the arrival of my family, i had a few days of rest at the house of an old friend, when generals price, buckner, and brent came from shreveport, the headquarters of the "trans-mississippi department," under flag of truce, and sent for me. they reported a deplorable condition of affairs in that region. many of the troops had taken up the idea that it was designed to inveigle them into mexico, and were greatly incensed. some generals of the highest rank had found it convenient to fold their tents and quietly leave for the rio grande; others, who remained, were obliged to keep their horses in their quarters and guard them in person; and numbers of men had disbanded and gone off. by a meeting of officers, the gentlemen present were deputed to make a surrender and ask for federal troops to restore order. the officers in question requested me to be present at their interview with general canby, who also invited me, and i witnessed the conclusion. so, from the charleston convention to this point, i shared the fortunes of the confederacy, and can say, as grattan did of irish freedom, that i "sat by its cradle and followed its hearse." for some weeks after my return to new orleans, i had various occasions to see general canby on matters connected with the surrender, and recall no instance in which he did not conform to my wishes. narrow perhaps in his view, and harsh in discharge of duty, he was just, upright, and honorable, and it was with regret that i learned of his murder by a band of modoc savages. chapter xiv. criticisms and reflections. the military collapse of the south was sudden and unexpected to the world without, but by no means so to some within. i happen to know that one or two of our ablest and most trusted generals concurred with me in opinion that the failure at gettysburg and the fall of vicksburg in july, , should have taught the confederate government and people the necessity of estimating the chances for defeat; but soldiers in the field can not give utterance to such opinions unless expressly solicited by the civil head of their government, and even then are liable to misconstruction. of many of the important battles of the civil war i have written, and desire to dwell somewhat on shiloh, but will first say a few words about gettysburg, because of recent publications there-anent. some facts concerning this battle are established beyond dispute. in the first day's fighting a part of lee's army defeated a part of meade's. intending to continue the contest on that field, a commander not smitten by idiocy would desire to concentrate and push the advantage gained by previous success and its resultant _morale_. but, instead of attacking at dawn, lee's attack was postponed until afternoon of the following day, in consequence of the absence of longstreet's corps. federal official reports show that some of meade's corps reached him on the second day, several hours after sunrise, and one or two late in the afternoon. it is positively asserted by many officers present, and of high rank and character, that longstreet was nearer to lee on the first day than meade's reënforcing corps to their chief, and even nearer than a division of ewell's corps, which reached the field in time to share in the first day's success. now, it nowhere appears in lee's report of gettysburg that he ordered longstreet to him or blamed him for tardiness; but his report admits errors, and quietly takes the responsibility for them on his own broad shoulders. a recent article in the public press, signed by general longstreet, ascribes the failure at gettysburg to lee's mistakes, which he (longstreet) in vain pointed out and remonstrated against. that any subject involving the possession and exercise of intellect should be clear to longstreet and concealed from lee, is a startling proposition to those having knowledge of the two men. we have biblical authority for the story that the angel in the path was visible to the ass, though unseen by the seer his master; but suppose, instead of smiting the honest, stupid animal, balaam had caressed him and then been kicked by him, how would the story read? and thus much concerning gettysburg. shiloh was a great misfortune. at the moment of his fall sidney johnston, with all the energy of his nature, was pressing on the routed foe. crouching under the bank of the tennessee river, grant was helpless. one short hour more of life to johnston would have completed his destruction. the second in command, beauregard, was on another and distant part of the field, and before he could gather the reins of direction darkness fell and stopped pursuit. during the night buell reached the northern bank of the river and crossed his troops. wallace, with a fresh division, got up from below. together, they advanced in the morning, found the confederates rioting in the plunder of captured camps, and drove them back with loss. but all this was as nothing compared to the calamity of johnston's death. educated at west point, johnston remained for eight years in the army of the united states, and acquired a thorough knowledge of the details of military duty. resigning to aid the cause of the infant republic of texas, he became her adjutant-general, senior brigadier, and secretary of war. during our contest with mexico, he raised a regiment of texans to join general zachary taylor, and was greatly distinguished in the fighting around and capture of monterey. general taylor, with whom the early years of his service had been passed, declared him to be the best soldier he had ever commanded. more than once i have heard general zachary taylor express this opinion. two cavalry regiments were added to the united states army in , and to the colonelcy of one of these johnston was appointed. subsequently, a brigadier by brevet, he commanded the expedition against the mormons in utah. thus he brought to the southern cause a civil and military experience surpassing that of any other leader. born in kentucky, descended from an honorable colonial race, connected by marriage with influential families in the west, where his life had been passed, he was peculiarly fitted to command western armies. with him at the helm, there would have been no vicksburg, no missionary ridge, no atlanta. his character was lofty and pure, his presence and demeanor dignified and courteous, with the simplicity of a child; and he at once inspired the respect and gained the confidence of cultivated gentlemen and rugged frontiersmen. besides, he had passed through the furnace of ignorant newspapers, hotter than that of the babylonian tyrant. commanding some raw, unequipped forces at bowling green, kentucky, the habitual american exaggeration represented him as at the head of a vast army prepared and eager for conquest. before time was given him to organize and train his men, the absurdly constructed works on his left flank were captured. at fort donelson on the cumberland were certain political generals, who, with a self-abnegation worthy of plutarch's heroes, were anxious to get away and leave the glory and renown of defense to others. johnston was in no sense responsible for the construction of the forts, nor the assignment to their command of these self-denying warriors; but his line of communication was uncovered by their fall, and he was compelled to retire to the southern bank of the tennessee river. from the enlighteners of public opinion a howl of wrath came forth, and johnston, who had just been alexander, hannibal, cæsar, napoleon, was now a miserable dastard and traitor, unfit to command a corporal's guard. president davis sought to console him, and some of the noblest lines ever penned by man were written by johnston in reply. they even wrung tears of repentance from the pachyderms who had attacked him, and will be a text and consolation to future commanders, who serve a country tolerant of an ignorant and licentious press. like pure gold, he came forth from the furnace above the reach of slander, the foremost man of all the south; and had it been possible for one heart, one mind, and one arm to save her cause, she lost them when albert sidney johnston fell on the field of shiloh. as soon after the war as she was permitted, the commonwealth of texas removed his remains from new orleans, to inter them in a land he had long and faithfully served. i was honored by a request to accompany the coffin from the cemetery to the steamer; and as i gazed upon it there arose the feeling of the theban who, after the downfall of the glory and independence of his country, stood by the tomb of epaminondas. "amid the clash of arms laws are silent," and so was confederate statesmanship; or at least, of its objects, efforts, and expectations little is known, save the abortive mission of messrs. stevens, hunter, and campbell to fortress monroe in the last months of the struggle, and about this there has recently been an unseemly wrangle. the followers of the calhoun school, who controlled the government, held the right of secession to be too clear for discussion. the adverse argument of mr. webster, approved by a large majority of the northern people, was considered to be founded on lust of power, not on reason. the governments of western europe, with judgments unclouded by selfishness, would at once acknowledge it. france, whose policy since the days of the eleventh louis had been one of intense centralization, and germany and italy, whose hopes and aspirations were in the same direction, would admit it, while england would not be restrained by anti-slavery sentiment. indeed, the statesmen of these countries had devoted much time to the study of the constitution of the united states, knew that it was a compact, and were in complete harmony with the opinions of mr. calhoun. there was to be no revolution, for this, though justified by oppression, involved the recognition of some measure of obligation to the union, from which the right to secede was manifest. hence the haste to manufacture a paper constitution, in which the powers of different departments were as carefully weighed as are dangerous drugs by dispensing chemists. hence two houses of congress, refuge for mischievous twaddlers to worry the executive and embarrass the armies. hence the governor browns, who, reasoning that one state had as much right to disagree with eleven as eleven with twenty, declared each of their hamlets of more importance than the cities of others. while the sections were marching through the streets, with pikes crowned by gory heads, and clamoring for more, sieyès had his pockets stuffed with constitutions and felt that his country was safe. it is not pretended that these ideas were entertained by the larger part of the southern people, or were confessed by the ruling minority; but they existed, nevertheless, under different forms. aggrieved by the action and tendencies of the federal government, and apprehending worse in the future, a majority of the people of the south approved secession as the only remedy suggested by their leaders. so travelers enter railway carriages, and are dragged up grades and through tunnels with utter loss of volition, the motive power, generated by fierce heat, being far in advance and beyond their control. we set up a monarch, too, king cotton, and hedged him with a divinity surpassing that of earthly potentates. to doubt his royalty and power was a confession of ignorance or cowardice. this potent spirit, at the nod of our prosperos, the cotton-planters, would arrest every loom and spindle in new england, destroy her wealth, and reduce her population to beggary. the power of old england, the growth of eight hundred years, was to wither as the prophet's gourd unless she obeyed its behests. and a right "tricksy spirit" it proved indeed. there was a complete mental derangement on this subject. the government undertook to own all cotton that could be exported. four millions of bales, belonging to many thousands of individuals, could be disposed of to better advantage by the government than by the proprietors; and this was enforced by our authorities, whose ancestors for generations had been resisting the intrusion of governments into private business. all cotton, as well as naval stores, that was in danger of falling into the enemy's possession, was, by orders based on legislative enactment, to be burned; and this policy continued to the end. it was fully believed that this destruction would appall our enemies and convince the world of our earnestness. possibly there was a lurking idea that it was necessary to convince ourselves. in their long struggle for independence, the dutch trafficked freely with the spaniards, got rich by the trade, paid enormous taxes to support the war, and achieved their liberty. but the dutch fought to rid themselves of a tyrant, while our first care was to set up one, cotton, and worship it. rules of common sense were not applicable to it. the grand monarque could not eat his dinners or take his emetics like ordinary mortals. our people were much debauched by it. i write advisedly, for during the last two and a half years of the war i commanded in the state of louisiana, mississippi, and alabama, the great producing states. out-post officers would violate the law, and trade. in vain were they removed; the temptation was too strong, and their successors did the same. the influence on the women was dreadful, and in many cases their appeals were heartrending. mothers with suffering children, whose husbands were in the war or already fallen, would beseech me for permits to take cotton through the lines. it was useless to explain that it was against law and orders, and that i was without authority to act. this did not give food and clothing to their children, and they departed, believing me to be an unfeeling brute. in fact, the instincts of humanity revolted against this folly. it is with no pleasure that i have dwelt on the foregoing topics, but the world can not properly estimate the fortitude of the southern people unless it understands and takes account of the difficulties under which they labored. yet, great as were their sufferings during the war, they were as nothing compared to those inflicted upon them after its close. extinction of slavery was expected by all and regretted by none, although loss of slaves destroyed the value of land. existing since the earliest colonization of the southern states, the institution was interwoven with the thoughts, habits, and daily lives of both races, and both suffered by the sudden disruption of the accustomed tie. bank stocks, bonds, all personal property, all accumulated wealth, had disappeared. thousands of houses, farm-buildings, work-animals, flocks and herds, had been wantonly burned, killed, or carried off. the land was filled with widows and orphans crying for aid, which the universal destitution prevented them from receiving. humanitarians shuddered with horror and wept with grief for the imaginary woes of africans; but their hearts were as adamant to people of their own race and blood. these had committed the unpardonable sin, had wickedly rebelled against the lord's anointed, the majority. blockaded during the war, and without journals to guide opinion and correct error, we were unceasingly slandered by our enemies, who held possession of every avenue to the world's ear. famine and pestilence have ever followed war, as if our mother earth resented the defilement of her fair bosom by blood, and generated fatal diseases to punish humanity for its crimes. but there fell upon the south a calamity surpassing any recorded in the annals or traditions of man. an article in the "north american review," from the pen of judge black, well describes this new curse, the carpet-baggers, as worse than attila, scourge of god. he could only destroy existing fruits, while, by the modern invention of public credit, these caterans stole the labor of unborn generations. divines, moralists, orators, and poets throughout the north commended their thefts and bade them god-speed in spoiling the egyptians; and the reign of these harpies is not yet over. driven from the outworks, they hold the citadel. the epithet of august, first applied to the mighty julius and to his successor octavius, was continued, by force of habit, to the slobbering claudius; and so of the senate of the united states, which august body contained in march last several of these freebooters. honest men regarded them as monsters, generated in the foul ooze of a past era, that had escaped destruction to linger in a wholesomer age; and their speedy extinction was expected, when another, the most hideous of the species, was admitted. this specimen had been kept by force of bayonets for four years upon the necks of an unwilling people, had no title to a seat in the senate, and was notoriously despised by every inhabitant of the state which he was seated to misrepresent. the senators composing the majority by which this was done acted under solemn oaths to do the right; but the jove of party laughs at vows of politicians. twelve years of triumph have not served to abate the hate of the victors in the great war. the last presidential canvass was but a crusade of vengeance against the south. the favorite candidate of his party for the nomination, though in the prime of vigor, had not been in the field, to which his eloquent appeals sent thousands, but preferred the pleasanter occupation of making money at home. he had converted the power of his great place, that of speaker of the house of representatives, into lucre, and was exposed. by mingled chicanery and audacity he obtained possession of his own criminating letters, flourished them in the face of the house, and, in the cambyses vein, called on his people to rally and save the luster of his loyalty from soil at the hands of rebels; and they came. from all the north ready acclaims went up, and women shed tears of joy, such as in king arthur's day rewarded some peerless deed of galahad. in truth, it was a manly thing to hide dishonorable plunder beneath the prostrate body of the south. the emperor commodus, in full panoply, met in the arena disabled and unarmed gladiators. the servile romans applauded his easy victories. ancient pistol covers with patches the ignoble scabs of a corrupt life. the vulgar herd believes them to be wounds received in the gallic wars, as it once believed in the virtue and patriotism of marat and barrère. in the sermon on the mount, the divine moralist instructed his hearers to forgive those who had injured them; but he knew too well the malice of the human heart to expect them to forgive those whom they had injured. the leaders of the radical masses of the north have inflicted such countless and cruel wrongs on the southern people as to forbid any hope of disposition or ability to forgive their victims; and the land will have no rest until the last of these persecutors has passed into oblivion. during all these years the conduct of the southern people has been admirable. submitting to the inevitable, they have shown fortitude and dignity, and rarely has one been found base enough to take wages of shame from the oppressor and maligner of his brethren. accepting the harshest conditions and faithfully observing them, they have struggled in all honorable ways, and for what? for their slaves? regret for their loss has neither been felt nor expressed. but they have striven for that which brought our forefathers to runnymede, the privilege of exercising some influence in their own government. yet we fought for nothing but slavery, says the world, and the late vice-president of the confederacy, mr. alexander stephens, reëchoes the cry, declaring that it was the corner-stone of his government. chapter xv. reconstruction under johnson. the following considerations induced me to make a pilgrimage to washington, where, by accident of fortune, i had a larger acquaintance with influential politicians than other southern commanders. when the whig party dissolved, most of its northern members joined the republicans, and now belonged to the reigning faction; and i had consorted with many of them while my father was president and afterward. mention has been made of the imprisonment of governors clarke and watts for adopting my advice, and it was but right for me to make an effort to have them released. moreover, jefferson davis was a prisoner in irons, and it was known that his health was feeble. lee, johnston, and i, with our officers and men, were at large, protected by the terms of our surrenders--terms which general grant had honorably prevented the civil authorities from violating. if mr. davis had sinned, we all were guilty, and i could not rest without making an attempt for his relief. at the time, it was understood that prisoners on parole should not change their residence without military permission, and leave to go to new york was asked and obtained of general canby. by steamer i reached that place in a week, and found that general dix had just been relieved by general hooker, to whom i at once reported. he uttered a shout of welcome (we were old acquaintances), declared that he was more pleased to see me than to see a church (which was doubtless true), made hospitable suggestions of luncheon, champagne, etc., and gave me a permit to go to washington, regretting that he could not keep me with him. a warm-hearted fellow is "fighting joe," who carried on war like a soldier. in washington, at willard's--a huge inn, filled from garret to cellar with a motley crowd--an acquaintance, whom i chanced to meet, informed me that a recent disturbance had induced the belief of the existence of a new plot for assassination, and an order had been published forbidding rebels to approach the capital without the permission of the war secretary. having been at sea for a week, i knew nothing of this, and hooker had not mentioned it when he gave me the permit to come to washington. my informant apprehended my arrest, and kindly undertook to protect me. through his intervention i received from the president, andrew johnson, permission to stay or go where i chose, with an invitation to visit him at a stated time. presenting myself at the "white house," i was ushered in to the president--a saturnine man, who made no return to my bow, but, after looking at me, asked me to take a seat. upon succeeding to power mr. johnson breathed fire and hemp against the south, proclaimed that he would make treason odious by hanging traitors, and ordered the arrest of general lee and others, when he was estopped by the action of general grant. he had now somewhat abated his wolfish desire for vengeance, and asked many questions about the condition of the south, temper of the people, etc. i explained the conduct of governors clarke and watts, how they were imprisoned for following my advice, submitted to and approved by general canby, who would hardly have abetted a new rebellion; and he made memoranda of their cases, as well as of those of many other prisoners, confined in different forts from boston to savannah, all of whom were released within a short period. fearing to trespass on his time, i left with a request that he would permit me to call again, as i had a matter of much interest to lay before him, and was told the hours at which i would be received. thence to the secretary of state, mr. seward, who in former whig times, as senator from new york, had been a warm supporter of my father's administration. he greeted me cordially, and asked me to dine. a loin of veal was the _pièce de résistance_ of his dinner, and he called attention to it as evidence that he had killed the fatted calf to welcome the returned prodigal. though not entirely recovered from the injuries received in a fall from his carriage and the wounds inflicted by the knife of payne, he was cheerful, and appeared to sympathize with the objects of my mission--at least, so far as i could gather his meaning under the cloud of words with which he was accustomed to cover the slightest thought. one or two other members of the cabinet, to whom mr. seward presented me, were also favorably inclined. one, the war secretary, i did not meet. a spy under buchanan, a tyrant under lincoln, and a traitor to johnson, this man was as cruel and crafty as domitian. i never saw him. in the end conscience, long dormant, came as alecto, and he was not; and the temple of justice, on whose threshold he stood, escaped profanation. in a second interview, president johnson heard the wish i had so much at heart, permission to visit jefferson davis. he pondered for some time, then replied that i must wait and call again. meantime, an opportunity to look upon the amazing spectacle presented by the dwellers at the capital was afforded. the things seen by the pilgrims in a dream were at this vanity fair visible in the flesh: "all such merchandise sold as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, states, lusts, pleasures; and delights of all sorts, as bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, greenbacks, pearls, precious stones, and what not." the eye of the inspired tinker had pierced the darkness of two hundred years, and seen what was to come. the martial tread of hundreds of volunteer generals, just disbanded, resounded in the streets. gorged with loot, they spent it as lavishly as morgan's buccaneers after the sack of panama. their women sat at meat or walked the highways, resplendent in jewels, spoil of southern matrons. the camp-followers of the army were here in high carnival, and in character and numbers rivaled the attendants of xerxes. courtesans swarmed everywhere, about the inns, around the capitol, in the antechambers of the "white house," and were brokers for the transaction of all business. of a tolerant disposition and with a wide experience of earthly wickedness, i did not feel called upon to cry aloud against these enormities, remembering the fate of faithful; but i had some doubts concerning divine justice; for why were the "cities of the plain" overthrown and this place suffered to exist? the officers of the army on duty at washington were very civil to me, especially general grant, whom i had known prior to and during the mexican war, as a modest, amiable, but by no means promising lieutenant in a marching regiment. he came frequently to see me, was full of kindness, and anxious to promote my wishes. his action in preventing violation of the terms of surrender, and a subsequent report that he made of the condition of the south--a report not at all pleasing to the radicals--endeared him to all southern men. indeed, he was in a position to play a rôle second only to that of washington, who founded the republic; for he had the power to restore it. his bearing and conduct at this time were admirable, modest and generous; and i talked much with him of the noble and beneficent work before him. while his heart seemed to respond, he declared his ignorance of and distaste for politics and politicians, with which and whom he intended to have nothing to do, but confine himself to his duties of commander-in-chief of the army. yet he expressed a desire for the speedy restoration of good feeling between the sections, and an intention to advance it in all proper ways. we shall see when and under what influences he adopted other views. the president put me off from day to day, receiving me to talk about southern affairs, but declining to give an answer to my requests. i found that he always postponed action, and was of an obstinate, suspicious temper. like a badger, one had to dig him out of his hole; and he was ever in one except when on the hustings, addressing the crowd. of humble birth, a tailor by trade, nature gave him a strong intellect, and he had learned to read after his marriage. he had acquired much knowledge of the principles of government, and made himself a fluent speaker, but could not rise above the level of the class in which he was born and to which he always appealed. he well understood the few subjects laboriously studied, and affected to despise other knowledge, while suspicious that those possessing such would take advantage of him. self-educated men, as they are called, deprived of the side light thrown on a particular subject by instruction in cognate matters, are narrow and dogmatic, and, with an uneasy consciousness of ignorance, soothe their own vanity by underrating the studies of others. to the vanity of this class he added that of the demagogue (i use the term in its better sense), and called the wise policy left him by his predecessor "my policy." compelled to fight his way up from obscurity, he had contracted a dislike of those more favored of fortune, whom he was in the habit of calling "the slave-aristocracy," and became incapable of giving his confidence to any one, even to those on whose assistance he relied in a contest, just now beginning, with the congress. president johnson never made a dollar by public office, abstained from quartering a horde of connections on the treasury, refused to uphold rogues in high places, and had too just a conception of the dignity of a chief magistrate to accept presents. it may be said that these are humble qualities for a citizen to boast the possession of by a president of the united states. as well claim respect for a woman of one's family on the ground that she has preserved her virtue. yet all whose eyes were not blinded by partisanship, whose manhood was not emasculated by servility, would in these last years have welcomed the least of them as manna in the desert. the president, between whom and the congressional leaders the seeds of discord were already sown, dallied with me from day to day, and at length said that it would spare him embarrassment if i could induce stevens, davis, and others of the house, and sumner of the senate, to recommend the permission to visit jefferson davis; and i immediately addressed myself to this unpleasant task. thaddeus stevens received me with as much civility as he was capable of. deformed in body and temper like caliban, this was the lord hategood of the fair; but he was frankness itself. he wanted no restoration of the union under the constitution, which he called a worthless bit of old parchment. the white people of the south ought never again to be trusted with power, for they would inevitably unite with the northern "copperheads" and control the government. the only sound policy was to confiscate the lands and divide them among the negroes, to whom, sooner or later, suffrage must be given. touching the matter in hand, johnson was a fool to have captured davis, whom it would have been wiser to assist in escaping. nothing would be done with him, as the executive had only pluck enough to hang two poor devils such as wirtz and mrs. surratt. had the leading traitors been promptly strung up, well; but the time for that had passed. (here, i thought, he looked lovingly at my neck, as petit andré was wont to do at those of his merry-go-rounds.) he concluded by saying that it was silly to refuse me permission to visit jefferson davis, but he would not say so publicly, as he had no desire to relieve johnson of responsibility. there was no excuse for longer sporting with this radical amaryllis either in shade or in sunshine; so i sought henry winter davis. like the fallen angel, davis preferred to rule in hell rather than serve in heaven or on earth. with the head of medusa and the eye of the basilisk, he might have represented siva in a hindoo temple, and was even more inaccessible to sentiment than thaddeus stevens. others, too numerous and too insignificant to particularize, were seen. these were the cuttle-fish of the party, whose appointed duty it was to obscure popular vision by clouds of loyal declamation. as sicilian banditti prepare for robberies and murders by pious offerings on shrines of favorite saints, these brought out the altar of the "nation," and devoted themselves afresh, whenever "crédits mobiliers" and kindred enormities were afoot, and sharpened every question of administration, finance, law, taxation, on the grindstone of sectional hate. so sputtering tugs tow from her moorings the stately ship, to send her forth to winds and waves of ocean, caring naught for the cargo with which she is freighted, but, grimy in zeal to earn fees, return to seek another. hopeless of obtaining assistance from such statesmen, i visited mr. charles sumner, senator from massachusetts, who received me pleasantly. a rebel, a slave-driver, and, without the culture of boston, ignorant, i was an admirable vessel into which he could pour the inexhaustible stream of his acquired eloquence. i was delighted to listen to beautiful passages from the classic as well as modern poets, dramatists, philosophers, and orators, and recalled the anecdote of the man sitting under a fluent divine, who could not refrain from muttering, "that is jeremy taylor; that, south; that, barrow," etc. it was difficult to suppress the thought, while mr. sumner was talking, "that is burke, or howard, wilberforce, brougham, macaulay, harriet beecher stowe, exeter hall," etc.; but i failed to get down to the particular subject that interested me. the nearest approach to the practical was his disquisition on negro suffrage, which he thought should be accompanied by education. i ventured to suggest that negro education should precede suffrage, observing that some held the opinion that the capacity of the white race for government was limited, although accumulated and transmitted through many centuries. he replied that "the ignorance of the negro was due to the tyranny of the whites," which appeared in his view to dispose of the question of the former's incapacity. he seemed over-educated--had retained, not digested his learning; and beautiful flowers of literature were attached to him by filaments of memory, as lovely orchids to sapless sticks. hence he failed to understand the force of language, and became the victim of his own metaphors, mistaking them for facts. he had the irritable vanity and weak nerves of a woman, and was bold to rashness in speculation, destitute as he was of the ordinary masculine sense of responsibility. yet i hold him to have been the purest and most sincere man of his party. a lover, nay, a devotee of liberty, he thoroughly understood that it could only be preserved by upholding the supremacy of civil law, and would not sanction the garrison methods of president grant. without vindictiveness, he forgave his enemies as soon as they were overthrown, and one of the last efforts of his life was to remove from the flag of a common country all records of victories that perpetuated the memory of civil strife. foiled in this direction, i worried the president, as old mustard would a stot, until he wrote the permission so long solicited. by steamer from baltimore i went down chesapeake bay, and arrived at fortress monroe in the early morning. general burton, the commander, whose civility was marked, and who bore himself like a gentleman and soldier, received me on the dock and took me to his quarters to breakfast, and to await the time to see mr. davis. it was with some emotion that i reached the casemate in which mr. davis was confined. there were two rooms, in the outer of which, near the entrance, stood a sentinel, and in the inner was jefferson davis. we met in silence, with grasp of hands. after an interval he said, "this is kind, but no more than i expected of you." pallid, worn, gray, bent, feeble, suffering from inflammation of the eyes, he was a painful sight to a friend. he uttered no plaint, and made no allusion to the irons (which had been removed); said the light kept all night in his room hurt his eyes a little, and, added to the noise made every two hours by relieving the sentry, prevented much sleep; but matters had changed for the better since the arrival of general burton, who was all kindness, and strained his orders to the utmost in his behalf. i told him of my reception at washington by the president, mr. seward, and others, of the attentions of generals grant and humphreys, who promoted my wish to see him, and that with such aid i was confident of obtaining permission for his wife to stay with him. i could solicit favors for him, having declined any for myself. indeed, the very accident of position, that enabled me to get access to the governing authorities, made indecent even the supposition of my acceptance of anything personal while a single man remained under the ban for serving the southern cause; and therefore i had no fear of misconstruction. hope of meeting his family cheered him much, and he asked questions about the condition and prospects of the south, which i answered as favorably as possible, passing over things that would have grieved him. in some way he had learned of attacks on his character and conduct, made by some southern curs, thinking to ingratiate themselves with the ruling powers. i could not deny this, but remarked that the curse of unexpected defeat and suffering was to develop the basest passions of the human heart. had he escaped out of the country, it was possible he might have been made a scapegoat by the southern people, and, great as were the sufferings that he had endured, they were as nothing to coward stabs from beloved hands. the attacks mentioned were few, and too contemptible for notice; for now his calamities had served to endear him to all. i think that he derived consolation from this view. the day passed with much talk of a less disturbing character, and in the evening i returned to baltimore and washington. after some delay mr. davis's family was permitted to join him, and he speedily recovered strength. later i made a journey or two to richmond, virginia, on business connected with his trial, then supposed to be impending. the slight service, if simple discharge of duty can be so called, i was enabled to render mr. davis, was repaid ten thousand fold. in the month of march, , my devoted wife was released from suffering, long and patiently endured, originating in grief for the loss of her children and exposure during the war. smitten by this calamity, to which all that had gone before seemed as blessings, i stood by her coffin, ere it was closed, to look for the last time upon features that death had respected and restored to their girlish beauty. mr. davis came to my side, and stooped reverently to touch the fair brow, when the tenderness of his heart overcame him and he burst into tears. his example completely unnerved me for the time, but was of service in the end. for many succeeding days he came to me, and was as gentle as a young mother with her suffering infant. memory will ever recall jefferson davis as he stood with me by the coffin. duty to imprisoned friends and associates discharged, i returned to new orleans, and remained for some weeks, when an untoward event occurred, productive of grave consequences. the saints and martyrs who have attained worldly success have rarely declined to employ the temporal means of sinners. while calling on hercules, they put their own shoulders to the wheel, and, in the midst of prayer, keep their powder dry. to prepare for the reëlection of president lincoln in , pretended state governments had been set up by the federal military in several southern states, where fragments of territory were occupied. in the event of a close election in the north, the electoral votes in these manufactured states would be under the control of the executive authority, and serve to determine the result. for some years the southern states were used as thimble-riggers use peas: now they were under the cup of the union, and now they were out. during his reign in new orleans the federal general banks had prepared a louisiana pea for the above purpose. at this time negro suffrage, as yet an unaccomplished purpose, was in the air, and the objective point of radical effort. to aid the movement, surviving accomplices of the banks fraud were instigated to call a "state convention" in louisiana, though with no more authority so to do than they had to call the british parliament. the people of new orleans regarded the enterprise as those of london did the proposed meeting of tailors in tooley street; and just before this debating society was to assemble, the federal commander, general sheridan, selected especially to restrain the alleged turbulent population of the city, started on an excursion to texas, proving that he attached no importance to the matter and anticipated no disturbance. living in close retirement, i had forgotten all about the "convention." happening to go to the center of the town, from my residence in the upper suburb, the day on which it met, on descending from the carriage of the tramway i heard pistol shots and saw a crowd of roughs, arabs, and negroes running across canal street. i walked in the direction of the noise to inquire the cause of excitement, as there was nothing visible to justify it. the crowd seemed largely composed of boys of from twelve to fifteen, and negroes. i met no acquaintance, and could obtain no information, when a negro came flying past, pursued by a white boy, certainly not above fifteen years of age, with a pistol in hand. i stopped the boy without difficulty, and made him tell what he was up to. he said the niggers were having a meeting at mechanics' institute to take away his vote. when asked how long he had enjoyed that inestimable right of a freeman, the boy gave it up, pocketed his "derringer," and walked off. by this time the row appeared to be over, so i went on my way without seeing the building called mechanics' institute, as it was around the corner near which the boy was stopped. speedily the town was filled with excitement, and baird, the federal commander in the absence of sheridan, occupied the streets with troops and arrested the movements of citizens. many poor negroes had been killed most wantonly, indignation ran high among decent people, and the perpetrators of the bloody deeds deserved and would have received swift, stern punishment had civil law been permitted to act. but this did not suit the purposes of the radicals, who rejoiced as torquemada might have done when the discovery of a score of heretics furnished him an excuse to torment and destroy a province. applying the theory of the detective police, that among the beneficiaries of crime must be sought the perpetrators, one would conclude that the radical leaders prompted the assassination of lincoln and the murder of negroes; for they alone derived profit from these acts. from this time forth the entire white race of the south devoted itself to the killing of negroes. it appeared to be an inherent tendency in a slave-driver to murder a negro. it was a law of his being, as of the monkey's to steal nuts, and could not be resisted. thousands upon thousands were slain. favorite generals kept lists in their pockets, proving time, place, and numbers, even to the smallest piccaninny. nay, such was the ferocity of the slave-drivers, that unborn infants were ripped from their mothers' wombs. probably these sable macduffs were invented to avenge the wrongs of their race on tyrants protected by satanic devices from injury at the hands of africans of natural birth. individual effort could not suffice the rage for slaughter, and the ancient order of "assassins" was revived, with an "old man" of the swamps at its head. thus "ku-klux" originated, and covered the land with a network of crime. earnest, credulous women in new england had their feelings lacerated by these stories, in which they as fondly believed as their foremothers in salem witches. as crocodiles conceal their prey until it becomes savory and tender and ripe for eating, so the radicals kept these dark corpses to serve up to the public when important elections approached, or some especial villainy was to be enacted by the congress. people who had never been south of the potomac and ohio rivers knew all about this "ku-klux"; but i failed, after many inquiries, to find a single man in the south who ever heard of it, saving in newspapers. doubtless there were many acts of violence. when ignorant negroes, instigated by pestilent emissaries, went beyond endurance, the whites killed them; and this was to be expected. the breed to which these whites belong has for eight centuries been the master of the earth wherever it has planted its foot. a handful conquered and holds in subjection the crowded millions of india. another and smaller bridles the fierce caffre tribes of south africa. place but a score of them on the middle course of the congo, and they will rule unless exterminated; and all the armies and all the humanitarians can not change this, until the appointed time arrives for ham to dominate japhet. two facts may here be stated. just in proportion as the whites recovered control of their local governments, in that proportion negroes ceased to be killed; and when it was necessary to radical success to multiply negro votes, though no census was taken, formal statistics were published to prove large immigration of negroes into the very districts of slaughter. certainty of death could not restrain the colored lambs, impelled by an uncontrollable ardor to vote the radical ticket, from traveling to the wolves. such devotion deserved the tenderest consideration of christian men and women, and all means of protection and loving care were due to this innocent, credulous race. a great bureau, the freedmen's, was established, and in connection with it, at the seat of government, a bank. it was of importance to teach the freedmen, unused to responsibility, industry and economy; and the bank was to encourage these virtues by affording a safe place of deposit for their small savings. to make assurance doubly sure, the "christian soldier of the united states army" was especially selected to keep the money, and he did--so securely, in point of fact, that it is to be apprehended the unfortunate depositors will never see it more. after so brilliant an experience in banking, prudence might have suggested to this officer the wisdom of retiring from public view. fortune is sometimes jealous of great reputations and fresh laurels. the success of his first speech prevented "single-speech hamilton" from rising again in the house of commons; frederick failed to repeat rossbach, and napoleon, austerlitz; but the "christian soldier" rushed on his fate, and met it at the hands of the nez percés. the profound strategy, the skillful tactics, the ready valor that had extinguished bank balances, all failed against this wily foe. while the excitement growing out of the untoward event mentioned was at its height, president johnson summoned me to washington, where i explained all the circumstances, as far as i knew them, of the recent murders, and urged him to send general hancock to command in new orleans. he was sent, and immediately restored order and confidence. a gentleman, one of the most distinguished and dashing officers of the united states army, general hancock recognizes both the great duties of a soldier of the republic--to defend its flag and obey its laws, discharging the last with a fidelity equal to his devotion to the first in front of battle. the contest between the congress and the president now waxed fierce, and thaddeus stevens, from his place in the house, denounced "the man at the other end of the avenue." the president had gone back to wise, lawful methods, and desired to restore the union under the constitution; and in this he was but following the policy declared in his last public utterance by president lincoln. mr. johnson could establish this fact by members of his predecessor's cabinet whom he had retained, and thus strengthen his position; but his vanity forbade him, so he called it "my policy," as if it were something new. at his instance, i had many interviews with him, and consulted influential men from different parts of the country. his secretary of war was in close alliance with his enemies in the congress, and constantly betraying him. this was susceptible of proof, and i so informed the president, and pointed out that, so far from assisting the people of the south, he was injuring them by inaction; for the congress persecuted them to worry him. he was president and powerful; they were weak and helpless. in truth, president johnson, slave to his own temper and appetites, was unfit to control others. general grant yet appeared to agree with me about "reconstruction," as it was called; and i was anxious to preserve good feeling on his part toward the president. in the light of subsequent events, it is curious to recall the fact that he complained of stanton's retention in the cabinet, because the latter's greed of power prevented the commander-in-chief of the army from controlling the most minute details without interference. i urged this on the president as an additional motive for dismissing his war secretary and replacing him by some one agreeable to general grant; but all in vain. this official "old man of the sea" kept his seat on the presidential neck, never closing crafty eye nor traitorous mouth, and holding on with the tenacity of an octopus. many moderate and whilom influential republicans determined to assemble in convention at philadelphia, and invited delegates from all parts, north and south, to meet them. the object was to promote good feeling and an early restoration of the union, and give aid to the president in his struggle with extremists. averse to appearing before the public, i was reluctant to go to this convention; but the president, who felt a deep interest in its success, insisted, and i went. it was largely attended, and by men who had founded and long led the freesoil party. ex-members of lincoln's first cabinet, senators and members of the congress, editors of republican newspapers (among whom was henry j. raymond, the ablest political editor of the day and an eminent member of congress as well), southern men who had fought for the confederacy, were there. northern republicans and democrats, long estranged, buried the political hatchet and met for a common purpose, to restore the union. negro-worshipers from massachusetts and slave-drivers from south carolina entered the vast hall arm in arm. the great meeting rose to its feet, and walls and roof shook with applause. general john a. dix of new york called the convention to order, and, in an eloquent and felicitous speech, stated the objects of the assembly--to renew fraternal feeling between the sections, heal the wounds of war, obliterate bitter memories, and restore the union of the fathers. senator doolittle of wisconsin was chosen permanent president, and patriotic resolutions were adopted by acclamation. all this was of as little avail as the waving of a lady's fan against a typhoon. radical wrath uprose and swept these northern men out of political existence, and they were again taught the lesson that is ever forgotten, namely, that it is an easy task to inflame the passions of the multitude, an impossible one to arrest them. from selfish ambition, from thoughtless zeal, from reckless partisanship, from the low motives governing demagogues in a country of universal suffrage, men are ever sowing the wind, thinking they can control the whirlwind; and the story of the gironde and the mountain has been related in vain. the president was charmed with the convention. believing the people--his god--to be with him, his crest rose, and he felt every inch a president. again i urged him to dismiss his war secretary and replace mr. seward, secretary of state, now in disfavor with his own creation, the radical party, by general dix, who was rewarded for his services at philadelphia by the appointment of naval officer at new york. he was an exception to the rule above mentioned. a more cautious pilot than palinurus, this respectable person is the "vicar of bray" of american politics; and like that eminent divine, his creeds sit so lightly as to permit him to take office under all circumstances. secretary of the treasury in the closing weeks of president buchanan, he aroused the north by sending his immortal dispatch to the commander of a revenue cutter: "if any man attempts to haul down the american flag, shoot him on the spot." this bespoke the heart of the patriot, loving his country's banner, and the arm of the hero, ready to defend it; and, clad in this armor of proof, he has since been invulnerable. the president took kindly to the proposition concerning general dix, and i flattered myself that it would come off, when suddenly the general was appointed minister plenipotentiary to france. i imagine that mr. seward had got wind of the project and hurried dix out of the way. thus, in a few days general dix had the offer of the netherlands, naval office, and france. "glamis, and thane of cawdor"; and his old age is yet so green, mayhap "the greatest is behind." to air his eloquence and enlighten the minds of his dear people, the president made a tour through the north and west, in which his conduct and declarations were so extraordinary as to defeat any hopes of success for "my policy." a circumstance connected with the philadelphia convention made an impression on me at the time. mr. raymond was editor of the "new york times," the most powerful republican journal in the north. among many who had gained large wealth by speculations during the war was mr. leonard jerome, a republican in politics. this gentleman spent his fortune so lavishly that his acquaintances and the public shared its enjoyment. with other property, mr. jerome owned the controlling interest in the "times," then very valuable. dining in new york with him and mr. raymond, the latter told me it was useless to support the president, who was daily becoming more unpopular, and that the circulation and influence of his paper were rapidly diminishing in consequence of his adherence to "my policy." whereupon mr. jerome replied: "i know but little about politics; but if you think it right to stand by the president, i will pay all losses that the 'times' may suffer to the other proprietors." this was unselfish and patriotic; and i record it with the more pleasure, because mr. jerome has lost much of his wealth, and i fear, like many another timon, some friends with it. after this period i saw little of president johnson, who fought his fight in his own way, had his hands completely tied, and barely escaped impeachment; the congress, meanwhile, making a whipping-post of the south, and inflicting upon it every humiliation that malignity could devise. chapter xvi. reconstruction under grant. before the conventions to nominate candidates for the presidency met in , i had much intercourse with general grant, and found him ever modest and determined to steer clear of politics, or at least not permit himself to be used by partisans; and i have no doubt that he was sincere. but the radical satan took him up to the high places and promised him dominion over all in view. perhaps none but a divine being can resist such temptation. he accepted the nomination from the radicals, and was elected; and though i received friendly messages from him, i did not see him until near the close of his first administration. as ignorant of civil government as of the characters on the moabitish stone, president grant begun badly, and went from bad to worse. the appointments to office that he made, the associates whom he gathered around him, were astounding. all his own relatives, all his wife's relatives, all the relatives of these relatives, to the remotest cousinhood, were quartered on the public treasury. never, since king jamie crossed the tweed with the hungry scotch nation at his heels, has the like been seen; and the soul of old newcastle, greatest of english nepotists, must have turned green with envy. the influence of this on the public was most disastrous. already shortened by the war, the standard of morality, honesty, and right was buried out of sight. for two or three years i was much in the north, and especially in new york, where i had dear friends. the war had afforded opportunity and stimulated appetite for reckless speculation. vast fortunes had been acquired by new men, destitute of manners, taste, or principles. the vulgar insolence of wealth held complete possession of public places and carried by storm the citadels of society. indeed, society disappeared. as in the middle ages, to escape pollution, honorable men and refined women (and there are many such in the north) fled to sanctuary and desert, or, like early christians in the catacombs, met secretly and in fear. the masses sank into a condition that would disgrace australian natives, and lost all power of discrimination. the vice-president of the united states accepted bribes, and perjured himself in vain to escape exposure. president grant wrote him a letter to assure him of his continued esteem and confidence, and this vice-president has since lectured before "young men's christian associations." plunderings by members of the congress excited no attention so long as they were confined to individuals or corporations. it was only when they voted themselves money out of taxes paid by the people, that these last growled and frightened some of the statesmen into returning it. a banker, the pet of the government, holding the same especial relation to it that the bank of england held to william of orange, discovered that "a great national debt was a blessing," and was commended and rewarded therefor. with a palace on the shores of the delaware, this banker owned a summer retreat on a lovely isle amid the waters of lake erie. a pious man, he filled this with many divines, who blessed all his enterprises. he contributed largely, too, to the support of an influential christian journal to aid in disseminating truth to jew, gentile, and heathen. the divines and the christian journal were employed to persuade widows and weak men to purchase his rotten securities, as things too righteous to occasion loss. the most eloquent preacher in the land, of a race devoted to adoration of negroes, as hannibal to hatred of rome, compromised the wife of a member of his congregation. discovered by the husband, he groveled before him in humiliation as before "his god" (his own expression). brought before the public, he swore that he was innocent, and denied the meaning of his own written words. the scandal endured for months and gave an opportunity to the metropolitan journals to display their enterprise by furnishing daily and minute reports of all details to their readers. the influence of the preacher was increased by this. his congregation flocked to him as the anabaptists to john of leyden, and shopkeepers profitably advertised their wares by doubling their subscriptions to augment his salary. far from concealing this wound inflicted on his domestic honor, the injured husband proclaimed it from the housetops, clothed himself in it as in a robe of price, and has successfully used it to become a popular lecturer. to represent the country at the capital of an ancient monarchy, a man was selected whom, it is no abuse of language to declare, titus oates after his release from the pillory would have blushed to recognize. on the eve of his departure, as one may learn from the newspapers of the day, all that was richest and best in new york gathered around a banquet in his honor, congratulated the country to which he was accredited, and lamented the misfortune of their own that it would be deprived, even temporarily, of such virtue. another was sent to an empire which is assured by our oft-succeeding envoys that it is the object of our particular affection. to the aristocracy of the realm this genial person taught the favorite game of the mighty west. a man of broad views, feeling that diplomatic attentions were due to commons as well as to crown and nobles, he occasionally withdrew himself from the social pleasures of the "west end" to inform the stags of capel court of the value of american mines. benefactors are ever misjudged. aristocracy and the many-antlered have since united to defame him; but galileo in the dungeon, pascal by his solitary lamp, more, sidney, and russell on the scaffold, will console him; and in the broad bosom of his native ohio he has found the exception to the rule that prophets are not without honor but in their own country. the years of methuselah and the pen of juvenal would not suffice to exhaust the list, or depict the benighted state into which we had fallen; but it can be asserted of the popular idols of the day that unveiled, they resemble mokanna, and can each exclaim: "here, judge if hell, with all its power to damn, can add one curse to the foul thing i am!" the examples of thousands of pure and upright people in the north were as powerless to mitigate the general corruption as song of seraphim to purify the orgies of harlots and burglars; for they were not in harmony with the brutal passions of the masses. in boston, july, , as co-trustees of the fund left by the late mr. peabody for the education of the poor in the southern states, president grant and i met for the first time since he had accepted the nomination from the radical party. he was a candidate for reëlection, and much worshiped; and, though cordial with me, his general manner had something of "i am the state." stopping at the same inn, he passed an evening in my room, to which he came alone; and there, avoiding public affairs, we smoked and chatted about the nueces, rio grande, palo alto, etc.--things twenty-five years agone, when we were youngsters beginning life. he was reëlected in november by a large majority of electoral votes; but the people of louisiana elected a democratic governor and assembly. when, in january following, the time of meeting of the assembly arrived, the country, habituated as it was to violent methods, was startled by the succeeding occurrences. the night before the assembly was to meet, the federal judge in the city of new orleans, a drunken reprobate, obtained from the commander of the united states troops a portion of his force, and stationed it in the state house. in the morning the members elect were refused admittance, and others not elected, many not even candidates during the election, were allowed to enter. one packard, marshal of the federal court, a bitter partisan and worthy adjunct of such a judge, had provided for an assembly to suit himself by giving tickets to his friends, whom the soldiers passed in, excluding the elected members. the ring-streaked, spotted, and speckled among the cattle and goats, and the brown among the sheep, were turned into the supplanters' folds, which were filled with lowing herds and bleating flocks, while laban had neither horn nor hoof. there was not a solitary return produced in favor of this packard body, nor of the governor subsequently installed; but the radicals asserted that their friends would have been elected had the people voted as they wished, for every negro and some whites in the state upheld their party. by this time the charming credulity of the negroes had abated, and they answered the statement that slave-drivers were murdering their race in adjacent regions by saying that slave-drivers, at least, did not tell them lies nor steal their money. all the whites and many of the blacks in louisiana felt themselves cruelly wronged by the action of the federal authorities. two assemblies were in session and two governors claiming power in new orleans. excitement was intense, business arrested, and collision between the parties imminent. as the packard faction was supported by federal troops, the situation looked grave, and a number of worthy people urged me to go to washington, where my personal relations with the president might secure me access to him. it was by no means a desirable mission, but duty seemed to require me to undertake it. accompanied by thomas f. bayard, senator from delaware, my first step in washington was to call on the leader of the radicals in the senate, morton of indiana, when a long conversation ensued, from which i derived no encouragement. senator morton was the couthon of his party, and this single interview prepared me for one of his dying utterances to warn the country against the insidious efforts of slave-driving rebels to regain influence in the government. the author of the natural history of ireland would doubtless have welcomed one specimen, by describing which he could have filled out a chapter on snakes; and there is temptation to dwell on the character of senator morton as one of the few radical leaders who kept his hands clean of plunder. but it may be observed that one absorbing passion excludes all others from the human heart; and the small portion of his being in which disease had left vitality was set on vengeance. death has recently clutched him, and would not be denied; and he is bewailed throughout the land as though he had possessed the knightly tenderness of sir philip sidney and the lofty patriotism of chatham. the president received me pleasantly, gave much time to the louisiana difficulty, and, in order to afford himself opportunity for full information, asked me frequently to dine with his immediate family, composed of kindly, worthy people. i also received attention and hospitality from some members of his cabinet, who with him seemed desirous to find a remedy for the wrong. more especially was this true of the secretary of state, hamilton fish, with whom and whose refined family i had an acquaintance. of a distinguished revolutionary race, possessor of a good estate, and with charming, cultivated surroundings, this gentleman seemed the noah of the political world. perhaps his retention in the cabinet was due to a belief that, under the new and milder dispensation, the presence of one righteous man might avert the doom of gomorrah. an exception existed in the person of the attorney-general, a man, as eminent barristers declare, ignorant of law and self-willed and vulgar. for some reason he had much influence with the president, who later appointed him chief justice of the united states; but the senatorial gorge, indelicate as it had proved, rose at this, as the easy-shaving barber's did at the coal-heaver, and rejected him. weeks elapsed, during which i felt hopeful from the earnestness manifested in my mission by the president and several of his cabinet. parties were in hostile array in new orleans, but my friends were restrained by daily reports of the situation at washington. only my opinion that there was some ground for hope could be forwarded. conversations at dinner tables or in private interviews with the executive and his advisers could not, then or since, be repeated; and this of necessity gave room for misconstruction, as will appear. at length, on the day before the congress was by law to adjourn, the president sent a message to the senate, informing that body that, in the event the congress failed to take action on the louisiana matter, he should esteem it his duty to uphold the government created by the federal judge. i left washington at once, and did not revisit it for nearly four years. i believe that president grant was sincere with me, and went as far as he felt it safe. no doubt the senatorial hyenas brought him to understand these unspoken words: "we have supported your acts, confirmed your appointments, protected and whitewashed your friends; but there are bones which we can not give up without showing our teeth, and louisiana is one of them." the failure to obtain relief for the state of my birth, and whose soil covered the remains of all most dear, was sad enough, and the attempt had involved much unpleasant work; but i had my reward. downfall of hope, long sustained, was bitter to the people, especially to the leaders expectant of office; and i became an object of distrust. "nothing succeeds like success," and nothing fails like failure, and the world is quite right to denounce it. the british ministry shot an admiral for failing to relieve minorca--to encourage others, as voltaire remarked. byng died silent, without plaint, which was best. the drunken federal judge, author of the outrages, was universally condemned, with one exception, of which more anon. both branches of the congress, controlled by radicals, pronounced his conduct to have been illegal and unjust, and he was driven from the bench with articles of impeachment hanging over him. nevertheless, the government evolved from his unjudicial consciousness was upheld by president grant with federal bayonets. two years later the people of louisiana elected an assembly, a majority of whose members were opposed to the fraudulent governor, kellogg. the president sent united states soldiers into the halls of the assembly to expel members at the point of the bayonet. lieutenant-general sheridan, the military maid of all (such) work, came especially to superintend this business, and it was now that he expressed the desire to exterminate "banditti." the destruction of buildings and food in the valley of virginia, to the confusion of the crows, was his salamanca; but this was his waterloo, and great was the fame of the lieutenant-general of the radicals. this _governor_ kellogg is the senator recently seated, of whom mention has been made, and, if a lesser quantity than zero be conceivable, with a worse title to the office than he had to that of governor of louisiana. so far as known, he is a commonplace rogue; but his party has always rallied to his support, as the "tenth legion" to its eagles. indeed, it is difficult to understand the qualities or objects that enlist the devotion and compel the worship of humanity. travelers in the orient tell of majestic fanes, whose mighty walls and countless columns are rich with elaborate carvings. hall succeeds hall, each more beautifully wrought than the other, until the innermost, the holy of holies, is reached, and there is found enshrined--a shriveled ape. the sole exception referred to in the case of the drunken federal judge was a lawyer of small repute, who had been democratic in his political tendencies. languishing in obscurity, he saw and seized his opportunity, and rushed into print in defense of the judge and in commendation of the president for upholding such judicial action. it is of record that this lawyer, in the society of some men of letters, declared dante to be the author of the decameron; but one may be ignorant of the italian poets and thoroughly read in french memoirs. during the war of the spanish succession, the duke of vendôme, filthiest of generals, not excepting suvaroff, commanded the french army in italy. to negotiate protection for their states, the italian princes sent agents to vendôme; but the agents sent by the duke of parma were so insulted by the bestialities of the french commander as to go back to their master without negotiating, and no decent man would consent to return. a starving little abbé volunteered for the service, and, possessing a special aptitude for baseness, succeeded in his mission. thus alberoni, afterward cardinal and prime minister of spain, got his foot on the first rung of the ladder of fame. the details of the story are too gross to repeat, and the memoirs of the duke of st. simon must be consulted for them; but our lawyer assuredly had read them. many may imitate homer, however feebly; one genius originated his epics. having entered on this lofty career, our alberoni stuck to it with the tenacity of a ferret in pursuit of rabbits, and was rewarded, though not at the time nor to the extent he had reason to expect. the mission to england was promised him by the reigning powers, when, on the very eve of securing his prize, a stick was put in the wheels of his progress, and by a brother's hand. another legal personage, practicing at the same bar, that of new york, and a friend, did the deed. "chloe was false, chloe was common, but constant while possessed"; but here chloe was without the last quality. in , general grant's election pending, chloe was affiliated with the democratic party, and had been chosen one of the captains of its citadel, a sachem of tammany. scenting success for grant, with the keenness of the vulture for his prey, he attended a radical meeting and announced his intention to give twenty thousand dollars to the radical election fund. this sum appears to have been the market value of a seat in the cabinet, to which ultimately he was called. when the english mission became vacant by the resignation of the incumbent, disgusted by british ingratitude, chloe quitted the cabinet to take it, and alberoni was left wearing weeds. yet much allowance is due to family affection, the foundation of social organization. descended from a noble stock, though under a somewhat different name, chloe from mystic sources learned that his english relatives pined for his society, and devotion to family ties tempted him to betray his friend. subsequently alberoni was appointed to a more northern country, where he may find congenial society; for, in a despotism tempered only by assassination, the knees of all become pliant before power. it is pleasant to mark the early steps of nascent ambition. in the time of the great napoleon every conscript carried the baton of a marshal in his knapsack; and in our happy land every rogue may be said to have an appointment to office in his pocket. this is also pleasant. since the spring of , when he gave himself up to the worst elements of his party, i have not seen president grant; but his career suggests some curious reflections to one who has known him for thirty-odd years. what the waiting-woman promised in jest, dame fortune has seriously bestowed on this malvolio, and his political cross-garterings not only find favor with the radical olivia, but are admired by the sir tobys of the european world. indeed, fortune has conceits as quaint as those of haroun al-raschid. the beggar, from profound sleep, awoke in the caliph's bed. amazed and frightened by his surroundings, he slowly gained composure as courtier after courtier entered, bowing low, to proclaim him king of kings, light of the world, commander of the faithful; and he speedily came to believe that the present had always existed, while the real past was an idle dream. of a nature kindly and modest, president grant was assured by all about him that he was the delight of the radicals, greatest captain of the age, and saviour of the nation's life. it was inevitable that he should begin by believing some of this, and end by believing it all. though he had wasted but little time on books since leaving west point, where in his day the curriculum was limited, he had found out to the last shilling the various sums voted by parliament to the duke of wellington, and spoke of them in a manner indicating his opinion that he was another example of the ingratitude of republics. the gentle temper and sense of justice of othello resisted the insidious wiles of iago; but ignorance and inexperience yielded in the end to malignity and craft. president grant was brought not only to smother the desdemona of his early preferences and intentions, but to feel no remorse for the deed, and take to his bosom the harridan of radicalism. as phalaris did those of agrigentum opposed to his rule, he finished by hating southerners and democrats. during the struggle for the presidency in the autumn of , he permitted a member of his cabinet, the secretary of the interior, to become the manager of the radicals and use all the power of his office, established for the public service, to promote the success of his party's candidate. monsieur fourtou, minister of the interior, removed prefects and mayors to strengthen the power of de broglie; whereupon all the newspapers in our land published long essays to show and lament the ignorance of the french and their want of experience in republican methods. one might suppose these articles to have been written by the "seven sleepers," so forgetful were they of yesterday's occurrences at home; but beams near at hand are ever blinked in our search of distant motes. the election over, but the result in dispute, president grant, in philadelphia, alarmed thoughtful people by declaring that "no man could take the great office of president upon whose title thereto the faintest shadow of doubt rested," and then, with all the power of the government, successfully led the search for this non-existing person. to insure fairness in the count, so that none could carp, he requested eminent statesmen to visit south carolina, florida, and louisiana, the electoral votes of which were claimed by both parties; but the statesmen were, without exception, the bitterest and most unscrupulous partisans, personally interested in securing victory for their candidate, and have since received their hire. soldiers were quartered in the capitals of the three states to aid the equitable statesmen in reaching a correct result by applying the bayonet if the figures proved refractory. with equity and force at work, the country might confidently expect justice; and justice was done--that justice ever accorded by unscrupulous power to weakness. but one house of the congress was controlled by the democrats, and these, herod-like, were seeking to slay the child, the nation. to guard against this, president grant ordered other troops to washington and a ship of war to be anchored in the potomac, and the child was preserved. again, the th of march, appointed by law for the installation of presidents, fell on sunday. president grant is of scotch descent, and doubtless learned in the traditions of the land o' cakes. the example of kirkpatrick at dumfries taught him that it was wise to "mak sicker"; so the incoming man and the chief justice were smuggled into the white house on the sabbath day, and the oath of office was administered. if the chair of george washington was to be filched, it were best done under cover. the value of the loot inspired caution. in paris, at a banquet, maître gambetta recently toasted our ex-president "as the great commander who had sacredly obeyed and preserved his country's laws." whether this was said in irony or ignorance, had general grant taken with him to paris his late secretary of the interior, the accomplished z. chandler, the pair might have furnished suggestions to marshal macmahon and fourtou that would have changed the dulcet strains of maître gambetta into dismal howls. chapter xvii. conclusion. dismissing hope of making my small voice heard in mitigation of the woes of my state, in may, , i went to europe and remained many months. returned to new york, i found that the characters on the wall, so long invisible, had blazed forth, and the vast factitious wealth, like the gold of the dervish, withered and faded in a night. the scenes depicted of paris and london, after the collapse of mississippi schemes and south sea bubbles, were here repeated on a greater scale and in more aggravated form. to most, the loss of wealth was loss of ancestry, repute, respectability, decency, recognition of their fellows--all. small wonder that their withers were fearfully wrung, and their wails piteous. enterprise and prosperity were frozen as in a sea of everlasting ice, and guardians of trusts, like ugolino, plunged their robber fangs into the scalps and entrails of the property confided to them. a public journal has recently published a detailed list, showing that there has been plundered by fiduciaries since the amazing amount of thirty millions of money; and the work goes on. scarce a newspaper is printed in whose columns may not be found some fresh instance of breach of trust. as poisoning in the time of brinvilliers, stealing is epidemic, and the watch-dogs of the flocks are transformed into wolves. since the tocsin sounded we have gone from bad to worse. during the past summer ( ) laborers, striking for increased wages or to resist diminution thereof, seized and held for many days the railway lines between east and west, stopping all traffic. aided by mobs, they took possession of great towns and destroyed vast property. at pittsburgh, in pennsylvania, state troops attempting to restore order were attacked and driven off. police and state authorities in most cases proved impotent, and the arm of federal power was invoked to stay the evil. thousands of the people are without employment, which they seek in vain; and from our cities issue heartrending appeals in behalf of the suffering poor. from the atlantic as far to the west as the young state of nebraska, there has fallen upon the land a calamity like that afflicting germany after the thirty years' war. hordes of idle, vicious tramps penetrate rural districts in all directions, rendering property and even life unsafe; and no remedy for this new disease has been discovered. let us remember that these things are occurring in a country of millions upon millions of acres of vacant lands, to be had almost for the asking, and where, even in the parts first colonized, density of population bears but a small relation to that of western europe. yet we daily assure ourselves and the world that we have the best government under the canopy of heaven, and the happiest land, hope and refuge of humanity. purified by fire and sword, the south has escaped many of these evils; but her enemies have sown the seeds of a pestilence more deadly than that rising from pontine marshes. now that federal bayonets have been turned from her bosom, this poison, the influence of three fourths of a million of negro voters, will speedily ascend and sap her vigor and intelligence. greed of office, curse of democracies, will impel demagogues to grovel deeper and deeper in the mire in pursuit of ignorant votes. her old breed of statesmen has largely passed away during and since the civil war, and the few survivors are naturally distrusted, as responsible for past errors. numbers of her gentry fell in battle, and the men now on the stage were youths at the outbreak of strife, which arrested their education. this last is also measurably true of the north. throughout the land the experience of the active portion of the present generation only comprises conditions of discord and violence. the story of the six centuries of sturdy effort by which our english forefathers wrought out their liberties is unknown, certainly unappreciated. even the struggles of our grandfathers are forgotten, and the names of washington, adams, hamilton, jay, marshall, madison, and story awaken no fresher memories in our minds, no deeper emotions in our hearts, than do those of solon, leonidas, and pericles. but respect for the memories and deeds of our ancestors is security for the present, seed-corn for the future; and, in the language of burke, "those will not look forward to their posterity who never look backward to their ancestors." traditions are mighty influences in restraining peoples. the light that reaches us from above takes countless ages to traverse the awful chasm separating us from its parent star; yet it comes straight and true to our eyes, because each tender wavelet is linked to the other, receiving and transmitting the luminous ray. once break the continuity of the stream, and men will deny its heavenly origin, and seek its source in the feeble glimmer of earthly corruption. index. acadian exiles in attakapas, ; their descendants, . alabama delegates retire from charleston convention, . alberoni, abbé, . andersonville prison, . antietam a drawn battle, . antipathy to the south, . anti-slavery agitation, . army, confederate, of virginia moved to gordonsville, . ashby, general turner, during march to harrisonburg, ; his death, ; no disciplinarian, . attakapas, home of the acadians, . bank of tennessee, its treasure restored, . banks, general n.p., his ignorance and arrogance, ; retreats to alexandria, ; his army demoralized, ; his misleading dispatches, , , , , , . baton rouge, confederates repulsed, . bayou des allemands surprised, . beauregard, general p.g.t., his coolness and courage at manassas, . berwick's bay captured by confederates, ; the prisoners and spoil, . bisland attacked by federals, . blunders of confederates in first richmond campaign, . bourbeau bayou, confederate success there, . boyd, belle, confederate spy, . bragg, general b., occupies pensacola, ; services in united states army, ; a strong disciplinarian, ; invades kentucky, _ib._; his petulance, _ib._ brent, major j.l., taylor's chief of artillery, ; his fertility of resource, . brown, joseph, governor of georgia, . bugeaud's "maxims," . burton, general, commandant of fortress monroe, . butler, general b.f., in the charleston convention, : puts a stop to marauding, . canby, general e.r.s., invests the mobile forts, ; the city occupied, . carpet-baggers, . cavalry, confederate, its indiscipline, . charleston convention, . civil war, causes of the, . cobb, howell, and the defenses of macon, ; his death, . cold harbor, battle of, . collapse of the confederacy, . confederate government at montgomery, its vacillation, . conventions called to repeal secession ordinances, ; this action punished as rebellion, . corruption, political and social, . cotton, confederate gunboat, . courtesy to a wounded prisoner, . creoles of louisiana not an effete race, . cushing, caleb, in the charleston convention, . davis, henry winter, . davis, jefferson, his amiability, ; a prisoner in fortress monroe, . disease in the confederate army of virginia, . diana, gunboat, captured by confederates, . "district of louisiana," its military resources, . dix, general john a., in the philadelphia convention, ; the "vicar of bray" of american politics, . embezzlement and breach of trust, . engineer service unfits for command, . ewell, lieutenant-general r.s., his services in the united states army, ; his manner and personal appearance, _ib._; his absence of mind, . farragut, admiral d.g., opens the mississippi to vicksburg, . fessenden, general, his account of the pleasant hill battle, . fish, hamilton, . forrest, general, by nature a great soldier, ; secret of his success, ; his kindly disposition, _ib._ fort butler unsuccessfully attacked, . fort de russy captured, . frazier's farm, . freedmen's bureau and bank, . fremont routed at strasburg, ; beaten at cross keys, . front royal captured by taylor, . fuller, captain, improvises a gunboat, ; delays federal advance up the teche, . fusilier, leclerc, his gallantry and munificence, . gettysburg battle, . gibson, general r.l., his defense of spanish fort, . governments set up by the military in southern states, . grant, general, opposed to advance on richmond by land, ; testimony concerning this point, , _note_; begins operations against vicksburg, ; classed with marshal villars and the duke of cumberland, ; his error at vicksburg, ; his modesty and generosity, ; opposed to reconstruction at first, ; his part in the election of , . green, major-general thomas, killed, . gunboats, the terror they at first inspired, . hancock, major-general w.s., restores order at new orleans, . hardee, major-general, his modesty, . hood, lieutenant-general, his losses at franklin, ; superseded by taylor, ; his army after defeat, _ib._ horsemen strapped to their steeds, . ignorance claims its victims, . immigration, how it determined the events of , . indianola, iron-clad, passes vicksburg, ; sunk by the confederates, . "initiative" and "defensive," . irishmen as soldiers, . jackson, general t.j. (stonewall), his appearance and manner, ; his care for the ammunition trains, ; routs banks at winchester, ; his inner nature, ; ranked with nelson and havelock, . jerome, leonard, and the new york "times," . johnson, andrew, , . johnston, general albert sidney, his services in the united states army, ; character, ; his death an irreparable loss, . johnston, general joseph e., his estrangement from jefferson davis, ; moves his army to orange court house, ; services in united states army, _ib._; a master of logistics, ; his neglect of opportunity, _ib._ kellogg, william pitt, . kentucky, invasion of, . "king cotton" a tyrant, . ku-klux assassinations, . labor troubles in the north, . lee, general r.e., his force at opening of first richmond campaign, ; his strategy commended, _ib._; place in southern history, ; his mistakes, ; his tactics inferior to his strategy, _ib._; his surrender proclaimed to taylor's army, . lee, general a.l., his account of the battle of pleasant hill, . louisiana secedes from the union, ; temper of the people, _ib._ louisiana brigade, ; its losses at cold harbor, . louisiana, the state government overturned, - . louisiana, western, its topography and river systems, . malvern hill battle, . manassas, first battle of, encourages the confederates, ; effect at the north, . mansfield, battle of, . mechanical resources wanting to the south, . missouri compromise, . mobile, its defenses, ; occupied by general canby, . moore, thomas o., governor of louisiana, . morton, senator, . mouton, alexander, president of louisiana convention, ; his zeal for the southern cause, . mcclellan, general george b., assumes command of potomac army, ; his work as an organizer, ; his strategy, ; his force at beginning of richmond campaign, ; in battle of cold harbor, ; his topographical knowledge, _ib._; as a commander, ; lacked audacity, . mcdowell, major-general irvin, his plan of battle at manassas, . magruder, general, as a commander, . malvern hill, battle of, . negro slaves, their fidelity, . office-seeking, the curse of democracies, . pemberton, general, his services in the united states army, ; his unfitness for independent command, ; his blunder at vicksburg, . philadelphia convention, . pleasant hill, battle of, . polignac, prince charles, . pope, general, his incapacity, . port hudson taken by federals, . port republic, federal repulse, . porter, admiral d.d., ascends red river, ; assists in taking fort de russy, _ib._; his report on battle of pleasant hill, ; his losses in descending red river, ; report on banks's retreat to alexandria, . presidential election of , . provost-marshals, their exactions, . queen of the west, gunboat, runs the vicksburg batteries, ; captured by confederates, . railroads, inefficiency of the southern, . red river opened by the federals, . richmond, dean, in the charleston convention, . river systems of western louisiana, . salt mines at petit anse, . selma taken by federals, . seward, w.h., . seymour, colonel, killed at cold harbor, . sheridan, general p.h., in new orleans, ; his course approved by a renegade democrat, . sherman, general w.t., his way of making war, . shiloh, battle of, . slavery not the cause of the civil war, . smith, lieutenant-general e. kirby, in command of the "trans-mississippi department," ; his military record, ; orders reënforcement of pemberton, ; his administration, ; his anxiety about safety of shreveport, ; allows banks and porter to escape, ; compared to quintilius varus, . south carolina delegates in charleston convention, . southern leaders after lee's surrender, . "southern outrages," . southrons have no aptitude for marching, . stanton, e.m., . statesmanship lacking to the confederacy, . stephens, alexander h., his character, ; his views concerning military matters, _ib._; his tergiversation, _ib._; neglect of jefferson davis, . stevens, thaddeus, . straggling in the southern army, . strasburg, affair at, . sufferings of the people after the war, . sumner, charles, . tactical mistakes of confederate generals, . taylor, r. (the author), a delegate to charleston, ; his efforts to promote harmony, ; sees war to be inevitable, ; commissioned colonel, ; brigadier, ; habit of noting topography and resources of districts, ; disposition for meeting or making an attack, _ib._; his louisiana brigade, ; major-general, ; in command of district of louisiana, ; lieutenant-general, ; supersedes hood, ; his army sent into north carolina, ; his surrender, ; return home, ; visits jeff. davis in fortress monroe, . teche country, ; military operations in, , . tents, useless _impedimenta_, . toombs, general robert, takes georgia "home-guards" out of their state, . topography, ignorance of, among confederates, . "trans-mississippi department," its last hours, . troopers strapped to their horses, ; protected by breastplates, _ib._ truce concluded between generals canby and taylor, . turenne, anecdote of, . universal suffrage, its effects on a people, . valley of virginia, its opulence, ; laid waste by general sheridan, . vicksburg, attempts to relieve it, . vicksburg and fort hudson, importance of, to the confederates, . walker, general w.h.t., his services in the united states army, ; joins forces with taylor, . war, its demoralizing effects on the north, . washington city after the war, . weitzel, general, ascends the teche, ; his successes, . western louisiana, its topography, . wheat, major, his turbulent battalion, ; his checkered career, . wilson, general, captures selma, . winchester, battle of, . winder, general charles, . winston, ex-governor, his conservatism, ; his change of views, _ib._ wirtz, his efforts to better the condition of prisoners, . wyndham, colonel percy, . yancey, william l., his influence in the charleston convention, . the end. * * * * * recent american history and biography. i. _four years with general lee:_ being a summary of the more important events touching the career of general robert e. lee, in the war between the states; together with an authoritative statement of the strength of the army which he commanded in the field. by william h. taylor, of his staff, and late adjutant-general of the army of northern virginia. vo. cloth, $ . . ii. _the life of general albert sidney johnston._ by his son, colonel william preston johnston. one large octavo volume, pages. with maps, a fine portrait on steel, and full-page illustrations. cloth, $ . ; sheep, $ . ; half turkey, $ . . iii. _the autobiography of william h. seward. 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half calf, extra, $ . ; morocco, antique, $ . . large-paper copy of the same. vo. cloth, $ . ; morocco, antique, $ . . complete poetical works. vol., mo. in blue-and-gold, $ . ; morocco, antique, $ . . * * * * * appletons' library of the british poets from chaucer to tennyson and the later poets. edited by rossiter johnson. complete in three large vo volumes. illustrated with portraits and views on steel. price, per volume, cloth, $ . ; sheep, $ . ; half turkey, $ . ; half russia, $ . ; full russia or full turkey, $ . . d. appleton & co., publishers, & broadway, new york. report on the condition of the south carl schurz first published th congress, senate. ex. doc. st session. no. . message of the president of the united states, communicating, _in compliance with a resolution of the senate of the th instant, information in relation to the states of the union lately in rebellion, accompanied by a report of carl schurz on the states of south carolina, georgia, alabama, mississippi, and louisiana; also a report of lieutenant general grant, on the same subject_. december , .--read and ordered to be printed, with the reports of carl schurz and lieutenant general grant. _to the senate of the united states_: in reply to the resolution adopted by the senate on the th instant, i have the honor to state, that the rebellion waged by a portion of the people against the properly constituted authorities of the government of the united states has been suppressed; that the united states are in possession of every state in which the insurrection existed; and that, as far as could be done, the courts of the united states have been restored, post offices re-established, and steps taken to put into effective operation the revenue laws of the country. as the result of the measures instituted by the executive, with the view of inducing a resumption of the functions of the states comprehended in the inquiry of the senate, the people in north carolina, south carolina, georgia, alabama, mississippi, louisiana, arkansas, and tennessee, have reorganized their respective state governments, and "are yielding obedience to the laws and government of the united states," with more willingness and greater promptitude than, under the circumstances, could reasonably have been anticipated. the proposed amendment to the constitution, providing for the abolition of slavery forever within the limits of the country, has been ratified by each one of those states, with the exception of mississippi, from which no official information has yet been received; and in nearly all of them measures have been adopted or are now pending to confer upon freedmen rights and privileges which are essential to their comfort, protection, and security. in florida and texas the people are making commendable progress in restoring their state governments, and no doubt is entertained that they will at an early period be in a condition to resume all of their practical relations with the federal government. in "that portion of the union lately in rebellion" the aspect of affairs is more promising than, in view of all the circumstances, could well have been expected. the people throughout the entire south evince a laudable desire to renew their allegiance to the government, and to repair the devastations of war by a prompt and cheerful return to peaceful pursuits. an abiding faith is entertained that their actions will conform to their professions, and that, in acknowledging the supremacy of the constitution and the laws of the united states, their loyalty will be unreservedly given to the government, whose leniency they cannot fail to appreciate, and whose fostering care will soon restore them to a condition of prosperity. it is true, that in some of the states the demoralizing effects of war are to be seen in occasional disorders, but these are local in character, not frequent in occurrence, and are rapidly disappearing as the authority of civil law is extended and sustained. perplexing questions were naturally to be expected from the great and sudden change in the relations between the two races, but systems are gradually developing themselves under which the freedman will receive the protection to which he is justly entitled, and, by means of his labor, make himself a useful and independent member of the community in which he has his home. from all the information in my possession, and from that which i have recently derived from the most reliable authority, i am induced to cherish the belief that sectional animosity is surely and rapidly merging itself into a spirit of nationality, and that representation, connected with a properly adjusted system of taxation, will result in a harmonious restoration of the relations of the states to the national union. the report of carl schurz is herewith transmitted, as requested by the senate. no reports from the honorable john covode have been received by the president. the attention of the senate is invited to the accompanying report of lieutenant general grant, who recently made a tour of inspection through several of the states whose inhabitants participated in the rebellion. andrew johnson washington, d.c., _december_ , . report of carl schurz on the states of south carolina, georgia, alabama, mississippi, and louisiana. sir: when you did me the honor of selecting me for a mission to the states lately in rebellion, for the purpose of inquiring into the existing condition of things, of laying before you whatever information of importance i might gather, and of suggesting to you such measures as my observations would lead me to believe advisable, i accepted the trust with a profound sense of the responsibility connected with the performance of the task. the views i entertained at the time, i had communicated to you in frequent letters and conversations. i would not have accepted the mission, had i not felt that whatever preconceived opinions i might carry with me to the south, i should be ready to abandon or modify, as my perception of facts and circumstances might command their abandonment or modification. you informed me that your "policy of reconstruction" was merely experimental, and that you would change it if the experiment did not lead to satisfactory results. to aid you in forming your conclusions upon this point i understood to be the object of my mission, and this understanding was in perfect accordance with the written instructions i received through the secretary of war. these instructions confined my mission to the states of south carolina, georgia, alabama, mississippi, and the department of the gulf. i informed you, before leaving the north, that i could not well devote more than three months to the duties imposed upon me, and that space of time proved sufficient for me to visit all the states above enumerated, except texas. i landed at hilton head, south carolina, on july , visited beaufort, charleston, orangeburg, and columbia, returned to charleston and hilton head; thence i went to savannah, traversed the state of georgia, visiting augusta, atlanta, macon, milledgeville, and columbus; went through alabama, by way of opelika, montgomery, selma, and demopolis, and through mississippi, by way of meridian, jackson, and vicksburg; then descended the mississippi to new orleans, touching at natchez; from new orleans i visited mobile, alabama, and the teche country, in louisiana, and then spent again some days at natchez and vicksburg, on my way to the north. these are the outlines of my journey. before laying the results of my observations before you, it is proper that i should state the _modus operandi_ by which i obtained information and formed my conclusions. wherever i went i sought interviews with persons who might be presumed to represent the opinions, or to have influence upon the conduct, of their neighbors; i had thus frequent meetings with individuals belonging to the different classes of society from the highest to the lowest; in the cities as well as on the roads and steamboats i had many opportunities to converse not only with inhabitants of the adjacent country, but with persons coming from districts which i was not able to visit; and finally i compared the impressions thus received with the experience of the military and civil officers of the government stationed in that country, as well as of other reliable union men to whom a longer residence on the spot and a more varied intercourse with the people had given better facilities of local observation than my circumstances permitted me to enjoy. when practicable i procured statements of their views and experience in writing as well as copies of official or private reports they had received from their subordinates or other persons. it was not expected of me that i should take formal testimony, and, indeed, such an operation would have required more time than i was able to devote to it. my facilities for obtaining information were not equally extensive in the different states i visited. as they naturally depended somewhat upon the time the military had had to occupy and explore the country, as well as upon the progressive development of things generally, they improved from day to day as i went on, and were best in the states i visited last. it is owing to this circumstance that i cannot give as detailed an account of the condition of things in south carolina and georgia as i am able to give with regard to louisiana and mississippi. instead of describing the experiences of my journey in chronological order, which would lead to endless repetitions and a confused mingling of the different subjects under consideration, i propose to arrange my observations under different heads according to the subject matter. it is true, not all that can be said of the people of one state will apply with equal force to the people of another; but it will be easy to make the necessary distinctions when in the course of this report they become of any importance. i beg to be understood when using, for the sake of brevity, the term "the southern people," as meaning only the people of the states i have visited. condition of things immediately after the close of the war. in the development of the popular spirit in the south since the close of the war two well-marked periods can be distinguished. the first commences with the sudden collapse of the confederacy and the dispersion of its armies, and the second with the first proclamation indicating the "reconstruction policy" of the government. of the first period i can state the characteristic features only from the accounts i received, partly from unionists who were then living in the south, partly from persons that had participated in the rebellion. when the news of lee's and johnston's surrenders burst upon the southern country the general consternation was extreme. people held their breath, indulging in the wildest apprehensions as to what was now to come. men who had occupied positions under the confederate government, or were otherwise compromised in the rebellion, run before the federal columns as they advanced and spread out to occupy the country, from village to village, from plantation to plantation, hardly knowing whether they wanted to escape or not. others remained at their homes yielding themselves up to their fate. prominent unionists told me that persons who for four years had scorned to recognize them on the street approached them with smiling faces and both hands extended. men of standing in the political world expressed serious doubts as to whether the rebel states would ever again occupy their position as states in the union, or be governed as conquered provinces. the public mind was so despondent that if readmission at some future time under whatever conditions had been promised, it would then have been looked upon as a favor. the most uncompromising rebels prepared for leaving the country. the masses remained in a state of fearful expectancy. this applies especially to those parts of the country which were within immediate reach of our armies or had previously been touched by the war. where union soldiers had never been seen and none were near, people were at first hardly aware of the magnitude of the catastrophe, and strove to continue in their old ways of living. such was, according to the accounts i received, the character of that first period. the worst apprehensions were gradually relieved as day after day went by without bringing the disasters and inflictions which had been vaguely anticipated, until at last the appearance of the north carolina proclamation substituted new hopes for them. the development of this second period i was called upon to observe on the spot, and it forms the main subject of this report. returning loyalty. it is a well-known fact that in the states south of tennessee and north carolina the number of white unionists who during the war actively aided the government, or at least openly professed their attachment to the cause of the union, was very small. in none of those states were they strong enough to exercise any decisive influence upon the action of the people, not even in louisiana, unless vigorously supported by the power of the general government. but the white people at large being, under certain conditions, charged with taking the preliminaries of "reconstruction" into their hands, the success of the experiment depends upon the spirit and attitude of those who either attached themselves to the secession cause from the beginning, or, entertaining originally opposite views, at least followed its fortunes from the time that their states had declared their separation from the union. the first southern men of this class with whom i came into contact immediately after my arrival in south carolina expressed their sentiments almost literally in the following language: "we acknowledge ourselves beaten, and we are ready to submit to the results of the war. the war has practically decided that no state shall secede and that the slaves are emancipated. we cannot be expected at once to give up our principles and convictions of right, but we accept facts as they are, and desire to be reinstated as soon as possible in the enjoyment and exercise of our political rights." this declaration was repeated to me hundreds of times in every state i visited, with some variations of language, according to the different ways of thinking or the frankness or reserve of the different speakers. some said nothing of adhering to their old principles and convictions of right; others still argued against the constitutionality of coercion and of the emancipation proclamation; others expressed their determination to become good citizens, in strong language, and urged with equal emphasis the necessity of their home institutions being at once left to their own control; others would go so far as to say they were glad that the war was ended, and they had never had any confidence in the confederacy; others protested that they had been opposed to secession until their states went out, and then yielded to the current of events; some would give me to understand that they had always been good union men at heart, and rejoiced that the war had terminated in favor of the national cause, but in most cases such a sentiment was expressed only in a whisper; others again would grumblingly insist upon the restoration of their "rights," as if they had done no wrong, and indicated plainly that they would submit only to what they could not resist and as long as they could not resist it. such were the definitions of "returning loyalty" i received from the mouths of a large number of individuals intelligent enough to appreciate the meaning of the expressions they used. i found a great many whose manner of speaking showed that they did not understand the circumstances under which they lived, and had no settled opinions at all except on matters immediately touching their nearest interests. upon the ground of these declarations, and other evidence gathered in the course of my observations, i may group the southern people into four classes, each of which exercises an influence upon the development of things in that section: . those who, although having yielded submission to the national government only when obliged to do so, have a clear perception of the irreversible changes produced by the war, and honestly endeavor to accommodate themselves to the new order of things. many of them are not free from traditional prejudice but open to conviction, and may be expected to act in good faith whatever they do. this class is composed, in its majority, of persons of mature age--planters, merchants, and professional men; some of them are active in the reconstruction movement, but boldness and energy are, with a few individual exceptions, not among their distinguishing qualities. . those whose principal object is to have the states without delay restored to their position and influence in the union and the people of the states to the absolute control of their home concerns. they are ready, in order to attain that object, to make any ostensible concession that will not prevent them from arranging things to suit their taste as soon as that object is attained. this class comprises a considerable number, probably a large majority, of the professional politicians who are extremely active in the reconstruction movement. they are loud in their praise of the president's reconstruction policy, and clamorous for the withdrawal of the federal troops and the abolition of the freedmen's bureau. . the incorrigibles, who still indulge in the swagger which was so customary before and during the war, and still hope for a time when the southern confederacy will achieve its independence. this class consists mostly of young men, and comprises the loiterers of the towns and the idlers of the country. they persecute union men and negroes whenever they can do so with impunity, insist clamorously upon their "rights," and are extremely impatient of the presence of the federal soldiers. a good many of them have taken the oaths of allegiance and amnesty, and associated themselves with the second class in their political operations. this element is by no means unimportant; it is strong in numbers, deals in brave talk, addresses itself directly and incessantly to the passions and prejudices of the masses, and commands the admiration of the women. . the multitude of people who have no definite ideas about the circumstances under which they live and about the course they have to follow; whose intellects are weak, but whose prejudices and impulses are strong, and who are apt to be carried along by those who know how to appeal to the latter. much depends upon the relative strength and influence of these classes. in the course of this report you will find statements of facts which may furnish a basis for an estimate. but whatever their differences may be, on one point they are agreed: further resistance to the power of the national government is useless, and submission to its authority a matter of necessity. it is true, the right of secession in theory is still believed in by most of those who formerly believed in it; some are still entertaining a vague hope of seeing it realized at some future time, but all give it up as a practical impossibility for the present. all movements in favor of separation from the union have, therefore, been practically abandoned, and resistance to our military forces, on that score, has ceased. the demonstrations of hostility to the troops and other agents of the government, which are still occurring in some localities, and of which i shall speak hereafter, spring from another class of motives. this kind of loyalty, however, which is produced by the irresistible pressure of force, and consists merely in the non-commission of acts of rebellion, is of a negative character, and might, as such, hardly be considered independent of circumstances and contingencies. oath-taking. a demonstration of "returning loyalty" of a more positive character is the taking of the oaths of allegiance and amnesty prescribed by the general government. at first the number of persons who availed themselves of the opportunities offered for abjuring their adhesion to the cause of the rebellion was not very large, but it increased considerably when the obtaining of a pardon and the right of voting were made dependent upon the previous performance of that act. persons falling under any of the exceptions of the amnesty proclamation made haste to avert the impending danger; and politicians used every means of persuasion to induce people to swell the number of voters by clearing themselves of all disabilities. the great argument that this was necessary to the end of reconstructing their state governments, and of regaining the control of their home affairs and their influence in the union, was copiously enlarged upon in the letters and speeches of prominent individuals, which are before the country and need no further comment. in some cases the taking of the oath was publicly recommended in newspapers and addresses with sneering remarks, and i have listened to many private conversations in which it was treated with contempt and ridicule. while it was not generally looked upon in the state i visited as a very serious matter, except as to the benefits and privileges it confers, i have no doubt that a great many persons took it fully conscious of the obligations it imposes, and honestly intending to fulfil them. the aggregate number of those who thus had qualified themselves for voting previous to the election for the state conventions was not as large as might have been expected. the vote obtained at these elections was generally reported as very light--in some localities surprisingly so. it would, perhaps, be worth while for the government to order up reports about the number of oaths administered by the officers authorized to do so, previous to the elections for the state conventions; such reports would serve to indicate how large a proportion of the people participated in the reconstruction movement at that time, and to what extent the masses were represented in the conventions. of those who have not yet taken the oath of allegiance, most belong to the class of indifferent people who "do not care one way or the other." there are still some individuals who find the oath to be a confession of defeat and a declaration of submission too humiliating and too repugnant to their feelings. it is to be expected that the former will gradually overcome their apathy, and the latter their sensitiveness, and that, at a not remote day, all will have qualified themselves, in point of form, to resume the right of citizenship. on the whole, it may be said that the value of the oaths taken in the southern states is neither above nor below the value of the political oaths taken in other countries. a historical examination of the subject of political oaths will lead to the conclusion that they can be very serviceable in certain emergencies and for certain objects, but that they have never insured the stability of a government, and never improved the morals of a people. feeling towards the soldiers and the people of the north. a more substantial evidence of "returning loyalty" would be a favorable change of feeling with regard to the government's friends and agents, and the people of the loyal states generally. i mentioned above that all organized attacks upon our military forces stationed in the south have ceased; but there are still localities where it is unsafe for a man wearing the federal uniform or known as an officer of the government to be abroad outside of the immediate reach of our garrisons. the shooting of single soldiers and government couriers was not unfrequently reported while i was in the south, and even as late as the middle of september, major miller, assistant adjutant general of the commissioner of the freedmen's bureau in alabama, while on an inspecting tour in the southern counties of that state, found it difficult to prevent a collision between the menacing populace and his escort. his wagon-master was brutally murdered while remaining but a short distance behind the command. the murders of agents of the freedmen's bureau have been noticed in the public papers. these, and similar occurrences, however, may be looked upon as isolated cases, and ought to be charged, perhaps, only to the account of the lawless persons who committed them. but no instance has come to my notice in which the people of a city or a rural district cordially fraternized with the army. here and there the soldiers were welcomed as protectors against apprehended dangers; but general exhibitions of cordiality on the part of the population i have not heard of. there are, indeed, honorable individual exceptions to this rule. many persons, mostly belonging to the first of the four classes above enumerated, are honestly striving to soften down the bitter feelings and traditional antipathies of their neighbors; others, who are acting more upon motives of policy than inclination, maintain pleasant relations with the officers of the government. but, upon the whole, the soldier of the union is still looked upon as a stranger, an intruder--as the "yankee," "the enemy." it would be superfluous to enumerate instances of insult offered to our soldiers, and even to officers high in command; the existence and intensity of this aversion is too well known to those who have served or are now serving in the south to require proof. in this matter the exceptions were, when i was there, not numerous enough to affect the rule. in the documents accompanying this report you will find allusions confirming this statement. i would invite special attention to the letter of general kirby smith, (accompanying document no. .) this feeling of aversion and resentment with regard to our soldiers may, perhaps, be called natural. the animosities inflamed by a four years' war, and its distressing incidents, cannot be easily overcome. but they extend beyond the limits of the army, to the people of the north. i have read in southern papers bitter complaints about the unfriendly spirit exhibited by the northern people--complaints not unfrequently flavored with an admixture of vigorous vituperation. but, as far as my experience goes, the "unfriendly spirit" exhibited in the north is all mildness and affection compared with the popular temper which in the south vents itself in a variety of ways and on all possible occasions. no observing northern man can come into contact with the different classes composing southern society without noticing it. he may be received in social circles with great politeness, even with apparent cordiality; but soon he will become aware that, although he may be esteemed as a man, he is detested as a "yankee," and, as the conversation becomes a little more confidential and throws off ordinary restraint, he is not unfrequently told so; the word "yankee" still signifies to them those traits of character which the southern press has been so long in the habit of attributing to the northern people; and whenever they look around them upon the traces of the war, they see in them, not the consequences of their own folly, but the evidences of "yankee wickedness." in making these general statements, i beg to be understood as always excluding the individual exceptions above mentioned. it is by no means surprising that prejudices and resentments, which for years were so assiduously cultivated and so violently inflamed, should not have been turned into affection by a defeat; nor are they likely to disappear as long as the southern people continue to brood over their losses and misfortunes. they will gradually subside when those who entertain them cut resolutely loose from the past and embark in a career of new activity on a common field with those whom they have so long considered their enemies. of this i shall say more in another part of this report. but while we are certainly inclined to put upon such things the most charitable construction, it remains nevertheless true, that as long as these feelings exist in their present strength, they will hinder the growth of that reliable kind of loyalty which springs from the heart and clings to the country in good and evil fortune. situation of unionists. it would have been a promising indication of returning loyalty if the old, consistent, uncompromising unionists of the south, and those northern men who during the war settled down there to contribute to the prosperity of the country with their capital and enterprise, had received that measure of consideration to which their identification with the new order of things entitled them. it would seem natural that the victory of the national cause should have given those who during the struggle had remained the firm friends of the union, a higher standing in society and an enlarged political influence. this appears to have been the case during that "first period" of anxious uncertainty when known unionists were looked up to as men whose protection and favor might be of high value. at least it appears to have been so in some individual instances. but the close of that "first period" changed the aspect of things. it struck me soon after my arrival in the south that the known unionists--i mean those who during the war had been to a certain extent identified with the national cause--were not in communion with the leading social and political circles; and the further my observations extended the clearer it became to me that their existence in the south was of a rather precarious nature. already in charleston my attention was called to the current talk among the people, that, when they had the control of things once more in their own hands and were no longer restrained by the presence of "yankee" soldiers, men of dr. mackey's stamp would not be permitted to live there. at first i did not attach much importance to such reports; but as i proceeded through the country, i heard the same thing so frequently repeated, at so many different places, and by so many different persons, that i could no longer look upon the apprehensions expressed to me by unionists as entirely groundless. i found the same opinion entertained by most of our military commanders. even governor sharkey, in the course of a conversation i had with him in the presence of major general osterhaus, admitted that, if our troops were then withdrawn, the lives of northern men in mississippi would not be safe. to show that such anticipations were not extravagant, i would refer to the letter addressed to me by general osterhaus. (accompanying document no. .) he states that he was compelled to withdraw the garrison from attala county, mississippi, the regiment to which that garrison belonged being mustered out, and that when the troops had been taken away, four murders occurred, two of white union men, and two of negroes. (he informed me subsequently that the perpetrators were in custody.) he goes on to say: "there is no doubt whatever that the state of affairs would be intolerable for all union men, all recent immigrants from the north, and all negroes, the moment the protection of the united states troops were withdrawn." general osterhaus informed me of another murder of a union man by a gang of lawless persons, in jackson, about the end of june. general slocum, in his order prohibiting the organization of the state militia in mississippi, speaks of the "outrages committed against northern men, government couriers, and negroes." (accompanying document no. .) he communicated to me an official report from lieutenant colonel yorke, commanding at port gibson, to general davidson, pointing in the same direction. general canby stated to me that he was obliged to disband and prohibit certain patrol organizations in louisiana because they indulged in the gratification of private vengeance. lieutenant hickney, assistant commissioner of the freedmen's bureau, at shreveport, louisiana, in a report addressed to assistant commissioner conway, says: "the life of a northern man who is true to his country and the spirit and genius of its institutions, and frankly enunciates his principles, is not secure where there is not a military force to protect him." (accompanying document no. .) mr. william king, a citizen of georgia, well known in that state, stated to me in conversation: "there are a great many bad characters in the country, who would make it for some time unsafe for known union people and northerners who may settle down here to live in this country without the protection of the military." the affair of scottsborough, in the military district of northern alabama, where a sheriff arrested and attempted to bring to trial for murder union soldiers who had served against the guerillas in that part of the country, an attempt which was frustrated only by the prompt interference of the district commander, has become generally known through the newspapers. (accompanying document no. .) it is not improbable that many cases similar to those above mentioned have occurred in other parts of the south without coming to the notice of the authorities. it is true these are mere isolated cases, for which it would be wrong to hold anybody responsible who was not connected with them; but it is also true that the apprehensions so widely spread among the unionists and northern men were based upon the spirit exhibited by the people among whom they lived. i found a good many thinking of removing themselves and their families to the northern states, and if our troops should be soon withdrawn the exodus will probably become quite extensive unless things meanwhile change for the better. aspect of the political field. the status of this class of unionists in the political field corresponds with what i have said above. in this respect i have observed practical results more closely in mississippi than in any other state. i had already left south carolina and georgia when the elections for the state conventions took place. of alabama, i saw only mobile after the election. in louisiana, a convention, a legislature, and a state government had already been elected, during and under the influence of the war, and i left before the nominating party conventions were held; but i was in mississippi immediately after the adjournment of the state convention, and while the canvass preparatory to the election of the legislature and of the state and county officers was going on. events have since sufficiently developed themselves in the other states to permit us to judge how far mississippi can be regarded as a representative of the rest. besides, i found the general spirit animating the people to be essentially the same in all the states above mentioned. the election for the state convention in mississippi was, according to the accounts i have received, not preceded by a very vigorous and searching canvass of the views and principles of the candidates. as i stated before, the vote was very far from being full, and in most cases the members were elected not upon strictly defined party issues, but upon their individual merits as to character, intelligence, and standing in society. only in a few places the contest between rival candidates was somewhat animated. it was probably the same in alabama, georgia, and south carolina. the mississippi convention was, in its majority, composed of men belonging to the first two of the four classes above mentioned. there were several union men in it of the inoffensive, compromising kind--men who had been opposed to secession in the beginning, and had abstained from taking a prominent part in the rebellion unless obliged to do so, but who had, at least, readily acquiesced in what was going on. but there was, as far as i have been able to ascertain, only one man there who, like the unionists of east tennessee, had offered active resistance to the rebel authorities. this was mr. crawford, of jones county; he was elected by the poor people of that region, his old followers, as their acknowledged leader, and his may justly be looked upon as an exceptional case. how he looked upon his situation appears from a speech he delivered in that convention, and especially from the amended version of it placed into my hands by a trustworthy gentleman of my acquaintance who had listened to its delivery. (accompanying document no. .) but several instances have come to my knowledge, in which union men of a sterner cast than those described as acquiescing compromisers were defeated in the election, and, aside from mr. crawford's case, none in which they succeeded. the impulses by which voters were actuated in making their choice appeared more clearly in the canvass for state officers, congressmen, and members of the legislature, when the antecedents and political views of candidates were more closely scrutinized and a warmer contest took place. the population of those places in the south which have been longest in the possession of our armies is generally the most accommodating as to the new order of things; at least the better elements are there in greater relative strength. a union meeting at vicksburg may, therefore, be produced as a not unfavorable exponent of mississippi unionism. among the documents attached to this report you will find three speeches delivered before such a meeting--one by mr. richard cooper, candidate for the attorney generalship of the state; one by hon. sylvanus evans, candidate for congress; and one by colonel partridge, candidate for a seat in the legislature. (accompanying document no. .) the speakers represented themselves as union men, and i have learned nothing about them that would cast suspicion upon the sincerity of their declarations as far as they go; but all there qualified their unionism by the same important statement. mr. cooper: "in i opposed an attempt to break up the united states government, and in i did the same. i travelled in alabama and mississippi to oppose the measure. (applause.) but after the state did secede, i did all in my power to sustain it." (heavy applause.) mr. evans: "in i was a delegate from lauderdale county to the state convention, then and in being opposed to the act of secession, and fought against it with all my powers. but when the state had seceded, i went with it as a matter of duty, and i sustained it until the day of the surrender with all my body and heart and mind." (great applause.) colonel partridge: "he was a union man before the war and a soldier in the war. he had performed his duty as a private and an officer on the battle-field and on the staff." these speeches, fair specimens of a majority of those delivered by the better class of politicians before the better class of audiences, furnish an indication of the kind of unionism which, by candidates, is considered palatable to the people of that region. and candidates are generally good judges as to what style of argument is best calculated to captivate the popular mind. in some isolated localities there may be some chance of success for a candidate who, proclaiming himself a union man, is not able to add, "but after the state had seceded i did all in my power to sustain it," although such localities are certainly scarce and difficult to find. it is not so difficult to find places in which a different style of argument is considered most serviceable. your attention is respectfully invited to a card addressed to the voters of the sixth judicial district of mississippi by mr. john t. hogan, candidate for the office of district attorney. (accompanying document no. .) when, at the commencement of the war, kentucky resolved to remain in the union, mr. hogan, so he informs the constituency, was a citizen of kentucky; because kentucky refused to leave the union mr. hogan left kentucky. he went to mississippi, joined the rebel army, and was wounded in battle; and because he left his native state to fight against the union, "therefore," mr. hogan tells his mississippian constituency, "he cannot feel that he is an alien in their midst, and, with something of confidence in the result, appeals to them for their suffrages." such is mr. hogan's estimate of the loyalty of the sixth judicial district of mississippi. a candidate relying for success upon nothing but his identification with the rebellion might be considered as an extreme case. but, in fact, mr. hogan only speaks out bluntly what other candidates wrap up in lengthy qualifications. it is needless to accumulate specimens. i am sure no mississippian will deny that if a candidate there based his claims upon the ground of his having left mississippi when the state seceded, in order to fight for the union, his pretensions would be treated as a piece of impudence. i feel warranted in saying that unionism absolutely untinctured by any connexion with, or at least acquiescence in the rebellion, would have but little chance of political preferment anywhere, unless favored by very extraordinary circumstances; while men who, during the war, followed the example of the union leaders of east tennessee, would in most places have to depend upon the protection of our military forces for safety, while nowhere within the range of my observation would they, under present circumstances, be considered eligible to any position of trust, honor, or influence, unless it be in the county of jones, as long as the bayonets of the united states are still there. the tendency of which in the preceding remarks i have endeavored to indicate the character and direction, appeared to prevail in all the states that came under my observation with equal force, some isolated localities excepted. none of the provisional governments adopted the policy followed by the late "military government" of tennessee: to select in every locality the most reliable and most capable union men for the purpose of placing into their hands the positions of official influence. those who had held the local offices before and during the rebellion were generally reappointed, and hardly any discrimination made. if such wholesale re-appointments were the only thing that could be done in a hurry, it may be asked whether the hurry was necessary. even in louisiana, where a state government was organized during the war and under the influence of the sentiments which radiated from the camps and headquarters of the union army, and where there is a union element far stronger than in any other of the states i visited, even there, men who have aided the rebellion by word and act are crowding into places of trust and power. governor wells, when he was elected lieutenant governor of louisiana, was looked upon and voted for as a thorough unionist; but hardly had he the patronage of the state government in his hands, when he was carried along by the seemingly irresistible current. even members of the "conservative union party," and friends of governor wells, expressed their dissatisfaction with the remarkable "liberality" with which he placed men into official positions who had hardly returned from the rebel army, or some other place where they had taken refuge to avoid living under the flag of the united states. the apprehension was natural that such elements would soon obtain a power and influence which the governor would not be able to control even if he wished. taking these things into consideration, the re-nomination of governor wells for the governorship can certainly not be called a victory of that union sentiment to which he owed his first election. while i was in new orleans an occurrence took place which may be quoted as an illustration of the sweep of what i might call the _reactionary movement_. when general shepley was military governor of louisiana, under general butler's regime, a school board was appointed for the purpose of reorganizing the public schools of new orleans. a corps of loyal teachers was appointed, and the education of the children was conducted with a view to make them loyal citizens. the national airs were frequently sung in the schools, and other exercises introduced, calculated to impregnate the youthful minds of the pupils with affection for their country. it appears that this feature of the public schools was distasteful to that class of people with whose feelings they did not accord. mr. h. kennedy, acting mayor of new orleans, early in september last, disbanded the school board which so far had conducted the educational affairs of the city, and appointed a new one. the composition of this new school board was such as to induce general canby to suspend its functions until he could inquire into the loyalty of its members. the report of the officer intrusted with the investigation is among the documents annexed hereto. (accompanying document no. .) it shows that a large majority of the members had sympathized with the rebellion, and aided the confederate government in a variety of ways. but as no evidence was elicited proving the members legally incapable of holding office, general canby considered himself obliged to remove the prohibition, and the new school board entered upon its functions. without offering any comment of my own, i annex an editorial taken from the "new orleans times," of september , evidently written in defence of the measure. (accompanying document no. .) its real substance, stripped of all circumlocutions, can be expressed in a few words: "the schools of new orleans have been institutions so intensely and demonstratively loyal as to become unpopular with those of our fellow-citizens to whom such demonstrations are distasteful, and they must be brought back under 'popular control' so as to make them cease to be obnoxious in that particular." it was generally understood, when the new school board was appointed, that a mr. rodgers was to be made superintendent of public schools. in major lowell's report to general canby (accompanying document no. ) this mr. rodgers figures as follows: "mr. rodgers, the candidate for the position of superintendent of public schools, held the same office at the commencement of the war. his conduct at that time was imbued with extreme bitterness and hate towards the united states, and, in his capacity as superintendent, he introduced the 'bonnie blue flag' and other rebel songs into the exercises of the schools under his charge. in histories and other books where the initials 'u.s.' occurred he had the same erased, and 'c.s.' substituted. he used all means in his power to imbue the minds of the youth intrusted to his care with hate and malignity towards the union. he has just returned from the late confederacy, where he has resided during the war. at the time he left the city to join the army he left his property in the care of one finley, who claims to be a british subject, but held the position of sergeant in a confederate regiment of militia." no sooner was the above-mentioned prohibition by general canby removed when mr. rodgers was actually appointed, and he now presides over the educational interests of new orleans. there is something like system in such proceedings. similar occurrences, such as the filling with rebel officers of professorships in the military institute of louisiana, where formerly general sherman held a position, have already become known to the country, and it is unnecessary to go into further details. many cases of this description are not of much importance in themselves, but serve as significant indications of the tendency of things in the south. it is easily understood that, under such circumstances, unionists of the consistent, uncompromising kind do not play an enviable part. it is a sad fact that the victory of the national arms has, to a great extent, resulted in something like a political ostracism of the most loyal men in that part of the country. more than once have i heard some of them complain of having been taunted by late rebels with their ill fortune; and it is, indeed, melancholy for them to reflect that, if they had yielded to the current of public sentiment in the rebel states instead of resisting it, their present situation and prospects would be much more pleasing. nor is such a reflection calculated to encourage them, or others, to follow a similar course if similar emergencies should again arise. what has been accomplished. while the generosity and toleration shown by the government to the people lately in rebellion has not met with a corresponding generosity shown by those people to the government's friends, it has brought forth some results which, if properly developed, will become of value. it has facilitated the re-establishment of the forms of civil government, and led many of those who had been active in the rebellion to take part in the act of bringing back the states to their constitutional relations; and if nothing else were necessary than the mere putting in operation of the mere machinery of government in point of form, and not also the acceptance of the results of the war and their development in point of spirit, these results, although as yet incomplete, might be called a satisfactory advance in the right direction. there is, at present, no danger of another insurrection against the authority of the united states on a large scale, and the people are willing to reconstruct their state governments, and to send their senators and representatives to congress. but as to the moral value of these results, we must not indulge in any delusions. there are two principal points to which i beg to call your attention. in the first place, the rapid return to power and influence of so many of those who but recently were engaged in a bitter war against the union, has had one effect which was certainly not originally contemplated by the government. treason does, under existing circumstances, not appear odious in the south. the people are not impressed with any sense of its criminality. and, secondly, there is, as yet, among the southern people an _utter absence of national feeling_. i made it a business, while in the south, to watch the symptoms of "returning loyalty" as they appeared not only in private conversation, but in the public press and in the speeches delivered and the resolutions passed at union meetings. hardly ever was there an expression of hearty attachment to the great republic, or an appeal to the impulses of patriotism; but whenever submission to the national authority was declared and advocated, it was almost uniformly placed upon two principal grounds: that, under present circumstances, the southern people could "do no better;" and then that submission was the only means by which they could rid themselves of the federal soldiers and obtain once more control of their own affairs. some of the speakers may have been inspired by higher motives, but upon these two arguments they had principally to rely whenever they wanted to make an impression upon the popular mind. if any exception is to be made to this rule it is louisiana, in whose metropolis a different spirit was cultivated for some time; but even there, the return in mass of those who followed the fortunes of the confederate flag during the war does not appear to have a favorable influence upon the growth of that sentiment. (see gen. canby's letter, accompanying document no. .) while admitting that, at present, we have perhaps no right to expect anything better than this submission--loyalty which springs from necessity and calculation--i do not consider it safe for the government to base expectations upon it, which the manner in which it manifests itself does not justify. the reorganization of civil government is relieving the military, to a great extent, of its police duties and judicial functions; but at the time i left the south it was still very far from showing a satisfactory efficiency in the maintenance of order and security.--in many districts robbing and plundering was going on with perfect impunity; the roads were infested by bands of highwaymen; numerous assaults occurred, and several stage lines were considered unsafe. the statements of major general woods, brigadier general kilby smith and colonel gilchrist, (accompanying documents nos. , and ,) give a terrible picture of the state of things in the localities they refer to. it is stated that civil officers are either unwilling or unable to enforce the laws; that one man does not dare to testify against another for fear of being murdered, and that the better elements of society are kept down by lawless characters under a system of terrorism. from my own observation i know that these things are not confined to the districts mentioned in the documents above referred to. both the governors of alabama and mississippi complained of it in official proclamations. cotton, horse and cattle stealing was going on in all the states i visited on an extensive scale. such a state of demoralization would call for extraordinary measures in any country, and it is difficult to conceive how, in the face of the inefficiency of the civil authorities, the removal of the troops can be thought of. in speaking above of the improbability of an insurrectionary movement on a large scale, i did not mean to say that i considered resistance in detail to the execution of the laws of congress and the measures of the government impossible. of all subjects connected with the negro question i shall speak in another part of this report. but there is another matter claiming the attention and foresight of the government. it is well known that the levying of taxes for the payment of the interest on our national debt is, and will continue to be, very unpopular in the south. it is true, no striking demonstrations have as yet been made of any decided unwillingness on the part of the people to contribute to the discharge of our national obligations. but most of the conversations i had with southerners upon this subject led me to apprehend that they, politicians and people, are rather inclined to ask money of the government as compensation for their emancipated slaves, for the rebuilding of the levees on the mississippi, and various kinds of damage done by our armies for military purposes, than, as the current expression is, to "help paying the expenses of the whipping they have received." in fact, there are abundant indications in newspaper articles, public speeches, and electioneering documents of candidates, which render it eminently probable that on the claim of compensation for their emancipated slaves the southern states, as soon as readmitted to representation in congress, will be almost a unit. in the mississippi convention the idea was broached by mr. potter, in an elaborate speech, to have the late slave states relieved from taxation "for years to come," in consideration of "debt due them" for the emancipated slaves; and this plea i have frequently heard advocated in private conversations. i need not go into details as to the efforts made in some of the southern states in favor of the assumption by those states of their debts contracted during the rebellion. it may be assumed with certainty that those who want to have the southern people, poor as they are, taxed for the payment of rebel debts, do not mean to have them taxed for the purpose of meeting our national obligations. but whatever devices may be resorted to, present indications justify the apprehension that the enforcement of our revenue laws will meet with a refractory spirit, and may require sterner measures than the mere sending of revenue officers into that part of the country. i have annexed to this report numerous letters addressed to me by gentlemen whose views on the loyalty of the southern people and kindred topics, formed as they are upon an extended observation and long experience, are entitled to consideration. (letter of general gillmore, accompanying document no. ; letter of dr. mackey, no. ; letter of mr. sawyer, no. ; letter of general hatch, no. ; letter of mr. pilsbury, no. ; statement of general steedman, no. ; letter of general croxton, no. ; letter of general canby, no. ; letter of general kirby smith, no. , &c.) in these papers a variety of opinions is expressed, some to a certain extent sanguine, others based upon a less favorable experience. i offer them to you, without exception, as they came to me. many of the gentlemen who wrote them have never been in any way connected with party politics, and their utterances may be looked upon as coming from unbiassed and impartial observers. the negro question--first aspects. the principal cause of that want of national spirit which has existed in the south so long, and at last gave birth to the rebellion, was, that the southern people cherished, cultivated, idolized their peculiar interests and institutions in preference to those which they had in common with the rest of the american people. hence the importance of the negro question as an integral part of the question of union in general, and the question of reconstruction in particular. when the war came to a close, the labor system of the south was already much disturbed. during the progress of military operations large numbers of slaves had left their masters and followed the columns of our armies; others had taken refuge in our camps; many thousands had enlisted in the service of the national government. extensive settlements of negroes had been formed along the seaboard and the banks of the mississippi, under the supervision of army officers and treasury agents, and the government was feeding the colored refugees, who could not be advantageously employed, in the so-called contraband camps. many slaves had also been removed by their masters, as our armies penetrated the country, either to texas or to the interior of georgia and alabama. thus a considerable portion of the laboring force had been withdrawn from its former employments. but a majority of the slaves remained on the plantations to which they belonged, especially in those parts of the country which were not touched by the war, and where, consequently, the emancipation proclamation was not enforced by the military power. although not ignorant of the stake they had in the result of the contest, the patient bondmen waited quietly for the development of things. but as soon as the struggle was finally decided, and our forces were scattered about in detachments to occupy the country, the so far unmoved masses began to stir. the report went among them that their liberation was no longer a mere contingency, but a fixed fact. large numbers of colored people left the plantations; many flocked to our military posts and camps to obtain the certainty of their freedom, and others walked away merely for the purpose of leaving the places on which they had been held in slavery, and because they could now go with impunity. still others, and their number was by no means inconsiderable, remained with their former masters and continued their work on the field, but under new and as yet unsettled conditions, and under the agitating influence of a feeling of restlessness. in some localities, however, where our troops had not yet penetrated and where no military post was within reach, planters endeavored and partially succeeded in maintaining between themselves and the negroes the relation of master and slave, partly by concealing from them the great changes that had taken place, and partly by terrorizing them into submission to their behests. but aside from these exceptions, the country found itself thrown into that confusion which is naturally inseparable from a change so great and so sudden. the white people were afraid of the negroes, and the negroes did not trust the white people; the military power of the national government stood there, and was looked up to, as the protector of both. upon this power devolved the task to bring order into that chaos. but the order to be introduced was a new order, of which neither the late masters nor the late slaves had an adequate conception. all the elements of society being afloat, the difficulties were immense. the military officers and agents of the freedmen's bureau, to whom the negroes applied for advice and guidance, either procured them such employment as could be found, or persuaded them to return to their plantations and to continue in the cultivation of the crops, promising them that their liberty, rights, and interests should be protected. upon the planters they urged the necessity of making fair and equitable contracts with the freedmen, admonishing them to treat their laborers as free men ought to be treated. these efforts met with such success as the difficulties surrounding the problem permitted to expect. large numbers of negroes went back to the fields, according to the advice they had received, but considerable accumulations still remained in and around the towns and along the seaboard, where there was no adequate amount of profitable employment for them. the making and approving of contracts progressed as rapidly as the small number of officers engaged in that line of duty made it possible, but not rapidly in proportion to the vast amount of work to be accomplished. the business experience of many of the officers was but limited; here and there experiments were tried which had to be given up. in numerous cases contracts were made and then broken, either by the employers or the laborers, and the officers in charge were overwhelmed with complaints from both sides. while many planters wanted to have the laborers who had left them back on their plantations, others drove those that had remained away, and thus increased the number of the unemployed. moreover, the great change had burst upon the country in the midst of the agricultural labor season when the crops that were in the ground required steady work to make them produce a satisfactory yield, and the interruption of labor, which could not but be very extensive, caused considerable damage. in one word, the efforts made could not prevent or remedy, in so short a time, the serious disorders which are always connected with a period of precipitous transition, and which, although natural, are exceedingly embarrassing to those who have to deal with them. the solution of the social problem in the south, if left to the free action of the southern people, will depend upon two things: , upon the ideas entertained by the whites, the "ruling class," of the problem, and the manner in which they act upon their ideas; and , upon the capacity and conduct of the colored people. options of the whites. that the result of the free labor experiment made under circumstances so extremely unfavorable should at once be a perfect success, no reasonable person would expect. nevertheless, a large majority of the southern men with whom i came into contact announced their opinions with so positive an assurance as to produce the impression that their minds were fully made up. in at least nineteen cases of twenty the reply i received to my inquiry about their views on the new system was uniformly this: "you cannot make the negro work, without physical compulsion." i heard this hundreds of times, heard it wherever i went, heard it in nearly the same words from so many different persons, that at last i came to the conclusion that this is the prevailing sentiment among the southern people. there are exceptions to this rule, but, as far as my information extends, far from enough to affect the rule. in the accompanying documents you will find an abundance of proof in support of this statement. there is hardly a paper relative to the negro question annexed to this report which does not, in some direct or indirect way, corroborate it. unfortunately the disorders necessarily growing out of the transition state continually furnished food for argument. i found but few people who were willing to make due allowance for the adverse influence of exceptional circumstances. by a large majority of those i came in contact with, and they mostly belonged to the more intelligent class, every irregularity that occurred was directly charged against the system of free labor. if negroes walked away from the plantations, it was conclusive proof of the incorrigible instability of the negro, and the impracticability of free negro labor. if some individual negroes violated the terms of their contract, it proved unanswerably that no negro had, or ever would have, a just conception of the binding force of a contract, and that this system of free negro labor was bound to be a failure. if some negroes shirked, or did not perform their task with sufficient alacrity, it was produced as irrefutable evidence to show that physical compulsion was actually indispensable to make the negro work. if negroes, idlers or refugees crawling about the towns, applied to the authorities for subsistence, it was quoted as incontestably establishing the point that the negro was too improvident to take care of himself, and must necessarily be consigned to the care of a master. i heard a georgia planter argue most seriously that one of his negroes had shown himself certainly unfit for freedom because he impudently refused to submit to a whipping. i frequently went into an argument with those putting forth such general assertions, quoting instances in which negro laborers were working faithfully, and to the entire satisfaction of their employers, as the employers themselves had informed me. in a majority of cases the reply was that we northern people did not understand the negro, but that they (the southerners) did; that as to the particular instances i quoted i was probably mistaken; that i had not closely investigated the cases, or had been deceived by my informants; that they _knew_ the negro would not work without compulsion, and that nobody could make them believe he would. arguments like these naturally finished such discussions. it frequently struck me that persons who conversed about every other subject calmly and sensibly would lose their temper as soon as the negro question was touched. effects of such opinions, and general treatment of the negro. a belief, conviction, or prejudice, or whatever you may call it, so widely spread and apparently so deeply rooted as this, that the negro will not work without physical compulsion, is certainly calculated to have a very serious influence upon the conduct of the people entertaining it. it naturally produced a desire to preserve slavery in its original form as much and as long as possible--and you may, perhaps, remember the admission made by one of the provisional governors, over two months after the close of the war, that the people of his state still indulged in a lingering hope slavery might yet be preserved--or to introduce into the new system that element of physical compulsion which would make the negro work. efforts were, indeed, made to hold the negro in his old state of subjection, especially in such localities where our military forces had not yet penetrated, or where the country was not garrisoned in detail. here and there planters succeeded for a limited period to keep their former slaves in ignorance, or at least doubt, about their new rights; but the main agency employed for that purpose was force and intimidation. in many instances negroes who walked away from the plantations, or were found upon the roads, were shot or otherwise severely punished, which was calculated to produce the impression among those remaining with their masters that an attempt to escape from slavery would result in certain destruction. a large proportion of the many acts of violence committed is undoubtedly attributable to this motive. the documents attached to this report abound in testimony to this effect. for the sake of illustration i will give some instances: brigadier general fessenden reported to major general gillmore from winnsboro, south carolina, july , as follows: "the spirit of the people, especially in those districts not subject to the salutary influence of general sherman's army, is that of concealed and, in some instances, of open hostility, though there are some who strive with honorable good faith to promote a thorough reconciliation between the government and their people. a spirit of bitterness and persecution manifests itself towards the negroes. they are shot and abused outside the immediate protection of our forces _by men who announce their determination to take the law into their own hands, in defiance of our authority_. to protect the negro and punish these still rebellious individuals it will be necessary to have this country pretty thickly settled with soldiers." i received similar verbal reports from other parts of south carolina. to show the hopes still indulged in by some, i may mention that one of the sub-district commanders, as he himself informed me, knew planters within the limits of his command who had made contracts with their former slaves _avowedly_ for the object of keeping them together on their plantations, so that they might have them near at hand, and thus more easily reduce them to their former condition, when, after the restoration of the civil power, the "unconstitutional emancipation proclamation" would be set aside. cases in which negroes were kept on the plantations, either by ruse or violence, were frequent enough in south carolina and georgia to call forth from general saxton a circular threatening planters who persisted in this practice with loss of their property, and from major general steedman, commander of the department of georgia, an order bearing upon the same subject. at atlanta, georgia, i had an opportunity to examine some cases of the nature above described myself. while i was there, th and th of august, several negroes came into town with bullet and buckshot wounds in their bodies. from their statements, which, however, were only corroborating information previously received, it appeared that the reckless and restless characters of that region had combined to keep the negroes where they belonged. several freedmen were shot in the attempt to escape, others succeeded in eluding the vigilance of their persecutors; large numbers, terrified by what they saw and heard, quietly remained under the restraint imposed upon them, waiting for better opportunities. the commander of the sub-district and post informed me that bands of guerillas were prowling about within a few miles of the city, making it dangerous for soldiers and freedmen to show themselves outside of the immediate reach of the garrison, and that but a few days previous to my arrival a small squad of men he had sent out to serve an order upon a planter, concerning the treatment of freedmen, had been driven back by an armed band of over twenty men, headed by an individual in the uniform of a rebel officer. as our troops in georgia were at that time mostly concentrated at a number of central points, and not scattered over the state in small detachments, but little information was obtained of what was going on in the interior of the country. a similar system was followed in alabama, but enough has become known to indicate the condition of things in localities not immediately under the eye of the military. in that state the efforts made to hold the negro in a state of subjection appear to have been of a particularly atrocious nature. rumors to that effect which reached me at montgomery induced me to make inquiries at the post hospital. the records of that institution showed a number of rather startling cases which had occurred immediately after the close of the war, and some of a more recent date; all of which proved that negroes leaving the plantations, and found on the roads, were exposed to the savagest treatment. an extract from the records of the hospital is appended, (accompanying document no. ;) also a statement signed by the provost marshal at selma, alabama, major j.p. houston, (accompanying document no. .) he says: "there have come to my notice officially twelve cases, in which i am morally certain the trials have not been had yet, that negroes were killed by whites. in a majority of cases the provocation consisted in the negroes' trying to come to town or to return to the plantation after having been sent away. the cases above enumerated, i am convinced, are but a small part of those that have actually been perpetrated." in a report to general swayne, assistant commissioner of the freedmen's bureau, in alabama, communicated to me by the general, captain poillon, agent of the bureau at mobile, says of the condition of things in the southwestern part of the state, july : "there are regular patrols posted on the rivers, who board some of the boats; after the boats leave they hang, shoot, or drown the victims they may find on them, and all those found on the roads or coming down the rivers are almost invariably murdered. the bewildered and terrified freedmen know not what to do--to leave is death; to remain is to suffer the increased burden imposed upon them by the cruel taskmaster, whose only interest is their labor, wrung from them by every device an inhuman ingenuity can devise; hence the lash and murder is resorted to to intimidate those whom fear of an awful death alone cause to remain, while patrols, negro dogs and spies, disguised as yankees, keep constant guard over these unfortunate people." in a letter addressed to myself, september , captain poillon says: "organized patrols, with negro hounds, keep guard over the thoroughfares; bands of lawless robbers traverse the country, and the unfortunate who attempts to escape, or he who returns for his wife or child, is waylaid or pursued with hounds, and shot or hung." (accompanying document no. .) in mississippi i received information of a similar character. i would respectfully invite your attention to two letters--one by colonel hayne, st texas cavalry, and one by colonel brinkerhoff--giving interesting descriptions of the condition of the freedmen, and the spirit of the whites shortly after the close of the war. (accompanying documents nos. and .) lieutenant colonel p.j. yorke, post commander at port gibson, mississippi, reported to general davidson, on august , that a "county patrol" had been organized by citizens of his sub-district, which, for reasons given, he had been obliged to disband; one of these reasons was, in his own language, that: "the company was formed out of what they called picked men, _i.e._, those only who had been actually engaged in the war, and were known as strong disunionists. the negroes in the sections of country these men controlled were kept in the most abject slavery, and treated in every way contrary to the requirements of general orders no. , from the war department." (accompanying document no. .) as late as september , captain j.h. weber, agent of the freedmen's bureau, reported to colonel thomas, assistant commissioner of the bureau, in the state of mississippi, as follows: "in many cases negroes who left their homes during the war, and have been within our military lines, and having provided homes here for their families, going back to get their wives and children, have been driven off, and told that they could not have them. in several cases guards have been sent to aid people in getting their families; in many others it has been impracticable, as the distance was too great. in portions of the northern part of this district the colored people are kept in slavery still. the white people tell them that they were free during the war, but the war is now over, and they must go to work again as before. the reports from sub-commissioners nearest that locality show that the blacks are in a much worse state than ever before, the able-bodied being kept at work under the lash, and the young and infirm driven off to care for themselves. as to protection from the civil authorities, there is no such thing outside of this city." (accompanying document no. .) the conviction, however, that slavery in the old form cannot be maintained has forced itself upon the minds of many of those who ardently desired its preservation. but while the necessity of a new system was recognized as far as the right of property in the individual negro is concerned, many attempts were made to introduce into that new system the element of physical compulsion, which, as above stated, is so generally considered indispensable. this was done by simply adhering, as to the treatment of the laborers, as much as possible to the traditions of the old system, even where the relations between employers and laborers had been fixed by contract. the practice of corporal punishment was still continued to a great extent, although, perhaps, not in so regular a manner as it was practiced in times gone by. it is hardly necessary to quote any documentary evidence on this point; the papers appended to this report are full of testimony corroborating the statement. the habit is so inveterate with a great many persons as to render, on the least provocation, the impulse to whip a negro almost irresistible. it will continue to be so until the southern people will have learned, so as never to forget it, that a black man has rights which a white man is bound to respect. here i will insert some remarks on the general treatment of the blacks as a class, from the whites as a class. it is not on the plantations and at the hands of the planters themselves that the negroes have to suffer the greatest hardships. not only the former slaveholders, but the non-slaveholding whites, who, even previous to the war, seemed to be more ardent in their pro-slavery feelings than the planters themselves, are possessed by a singularly bitter and vindictive feeling against the colored race since the negro has ceased to be property. the pecuniary value which the individual negro formerly represented having disappeared, the maiming and killing of colored men seems to be looked upon by many as one of those venial offences which must be forgiven to the outraged feelings of a wronged and robbed people. besides, the services rendered by the negro to the national cause during the war, which make him an object of special interest to the loyal people, make him an object of particular vindictiveness to those whose hearts were set upon the success of the rebellion. the number of murders and assaults perpetrated upon negroes is very great; we can form only an approximative estimate of what is going on in those parts of the south which are not closely garrisoned, and from which no regular reports are received, by what occurs under the very eyes of our military authorities. as to my personal experience, i will only mention that during my two days sojourn at atlanta, one negro was stabbed with fatal effect on the street, and three were poisoned, one of whom died. while i was at montgomery, one negro was cut across the throat evidently with intent to kill, and another was shot, but both escaped with their lives. several papers attached to this report give an account of the number of capital cases that occurred at certain places during a certain period of time. it is a sad fact that the perpetration of those acts is not confined to that class of people which might be called the rabble. several "gentlemen of standing" have been tried before military commissions for such offences. these statements are naturally not intended to apply to all the individuals composing the southern people. there are certainly many planters who, before the rebellion, treated their slaves with kindness, and who now continue to treat them as free laborers in the same manner. there are now undoubtedly many plantations in the south on which the relations between employers and employees are based upon mutual good will. there are certainly many people there who entertain the best wishes for the welfare of the negro race, and who not only never participated in any acts of violence, but who heartily disapprove them. i have no doubt, a large majority can, _as to actual participation_--not, however, as to the bitter spirit--i offer a good plea of not guilty. but however large or small a number of people may be guilty of complicity in such acts of persecution, those who are opposed to them have certainly not shown themselves strong enough to restrain those who perpetrate or favor them. so far, the _spirit of persecution_ has shown itself so strong as to make the protection of the freedman by the military arm of the government in many localities necessary--in almost all, desirable. it must not be forgotten that in a community a majority of whose members is peaceably disposed, but not willing or not able to enforce peace and order, a comparatively small number of bold and lawless men can determine the character of the whole. the rebellion itself, in some of the southern states, furnished a striking illustration of this truth. general ideas and schemes of whites concerning the freedmen. some of the planters with whom i had occasion to converse expressed their determination to adopt the course which best accords with the spirit of free labor, to make the negro work by offering him fair inducements, to stimulate his ambition, and to extend to him those means of intellectual and moral improvement which are best calculated to make him an intelligent, reliable and efficient free laborer and a good and useful citizen. those who expressed such ideas were almost invariably professed union men, and far above the average in point of mental ability and culture. i found a very few instances of original secessionists also manifesting a willingness to give the free-labor experiment a fair trial. i can represent the sentiments of this small class in no better way than by quoting the language used by an alabama judge in a conversation with me. "i am one of the most thoroughly whipped men in the south," said he; "i am a genuine old secessionist, and i believe now, as i always did, we had the constitutional right to secede. but the war has settled that matter, and it is all over now. as to this thing of free negro labor, i do not believe in it, but i will give it a fair trial. i have a plantation and am going to make contracts with my hands, and then i want a real yankee to run the machine for me; not one of your new yorkers or pennsylvanians, but the genuine article from massachusetts or vermont--one who can not only farm, but sing psalms and pray, and teach school--a real abolitionist, who believes in the thing just as i don't believe in it. if he does not succeed, i shall consider it proof conclusive that you are wrong and i am right." i regret to say that views and intentions so reasonable i found confined to a small minority. aside from the assumption that the negro will not work without physical compulsion, there appears to be another popular notion prevalent in the south, which stands as no less serious an obstacle in the way of a successful solution of the problem. it is that the negro exists for the special object of raising cotton, rice and sugar _for the whites_, and that it is illegitimate for him to indulge, like other people, in the pursuit of his own happiness in his own way. although it is admitted that he has ceased to be the property of a master, it is not admitted that he has a right to become his own master. as colonel thomas, assistant commissioner of the freedmen's bureau in mississippi, in a letter addressed to me, very pungently expresses it: "the whites esteem the blacks their property by natural right, and, however much they may admit that the relations of masters and slaves have been destroyed by the war and by the president's emancipation proclamation, they still have an ingrained feeling that the blacks at large belong to the whites at large, and whenever opportunity serves, they treat the colored people just as their profit, caprice or passion may dictate." (accompanying document no. .) an ingrained feeling like this is apt to bring forth that sort of class legislation which produces laws to govern one class with no other view than to benefit another. this tendency can be distinctly traced in the various schemes for regulating labor which here and there see the light. immediately after the emancipation of the slaves, when the general confusion was most perplexing, the prevalent desire among the whites seemed to be, if they could not retain their negroes as slaves, to get rid of them entirely. wild speculations were indulged in, how to remove the colored population at once and to import white laborers to fill its place; how to obtain a sufficient supply of coolies, &c., &c. even at the present moment the removal of the freedmen is strongly advocated by those who have the traditional horror of a free negro, and in some sections, especially where the soil is more adapted to the cultivation of cereals than the raising of the staples, planters appear to be inclined to drive the negroes away, at least from their plantations. i was informed by a prominent south carolinian in july, that the planters in certain localities in the northwestern part of his state had been on the point of doing so, but better counsel had been made to prevail upon them; and colonel robinson, th united states colored infantry, who had been sent out to several counties in southern alabama to administer the amnesty oath, reported a general disposition among the planters of that region to "set the colored people who had cultivated their crops during the summer, adrift as soon as the crops would be secured, and not to permit the negro to remain upon any footing of equality with the white man in that country." (accompanying document no. .) the disposition to drive away all the negroes from the plantations was undoubtedly confined to a few districts; and as far as the scheme of wholesale deportation is concerned, practical men became aware, that if they wanted to have any labor done, it would have been bad policy to move away the laborers they now have before others were there to fill their places. all these devices promising at best only distant relief, and free negro labor being the only thing in immediate prospect, many ingenious heads set about to solve the problem, how to make free labor compulsory by permanent regulations. shortly after the close of the war some south carolina planters tried to solve this problem by introducing into the contracts provisions leaving only a small share of the crops to the freedmen, subject to all sorts of constructive charges, and then binding them to work off the indebtedness they might incur. it being to a great extent in the power of the employer to keep the laborer in debt to him, the employer might thus obtain a permanent hold upon the person of the laborer. it was something like the system of peonage existing in mexico. when these contracts were submitted to the military authorities for ratification, general hatch, commanding at charleston, at once issued an order prohibiting such arrangements. i had an opportunity to examine one of these contracts, and found it drawn up with much care, and evidently with a knowledge of the full bearings of the provisions so inserted. appended to this report is a memorandum of a conversation i had with mr. w. king, of georgia, a gentleman of good political sentiments and undoubtedly benevolent intentions. he recommends a kind of guardianship to be exercised by the employer over the freedman. he is a fair representative, not of the completely unprejudiced, but of the more liberal-minded class of planters, and his sayings show in what direction even those who are not actuated by any spirit of bitterness against the negro, seek a way out of their perplexities. (accompanying document no. .) i annex also two documents submitted to mr. benjamin f. flanders, special treasury agent at new orleans, who then had the management of freedmen's affairs in louisiana, in november and december, . they are not of a recent date, but may be taken as true representations of the ideas and sentiments entertained by large numbers to-day. the first (accompanying document no. ) contains "suggestions on the wants of planters before embarking their capital in the cultivation of staple crops," and was submitted by a committee to a meeting of planters at new orleans, november , . it speaks for itself. the others (accompanying document no. ) is a letter addressed to mr. flanders by mr. t. gibson, a louisiana planter, who is well known in new orleans as professing much affection for the negro. it commences with the assertion that he "has no prejudices to overcome, and would do the black all the good in his power," and winds up with a postscript strongly insisting upon the necessity of corporal punishment, the "great desideratum in obtaining labor from free blacks being _its enforcement_." municipal regulations. the motives and spirit bringing forth such ideas found a still clearer expression in some attempted municipal regulations. in no state within the range of my observation had, at the time of my visit, so much progress been made in the reorganization of local government as in louisiana. in most of the parishes the parish authorities had exercised their functions for some time; in others the organization was less complete. governor wells informed me that he had filled the parish offices with men recommended to him by the people of the parishes, and it is fair to assume that in most cases the appointees represented the views and sentiments of the ruling class. some of the local authorities so appointed furnished us an indication of the principles upon which they thought it best to regulate free labor within their jurisdiction. mr. w.b. stickney, agent of the freedmen's bureau at shreveport, louisiana, reported to the assistant commissioner of the bureau in louisiana as follows: "august .--the following is a literal copy of a document brought to this office by a colored man, which is conclusive evidence that there are those who still claim the negro as their property: "'this boy calvin has permit to hire to whom he pleases, but i shall hold him as my property until set free by congress. july , . (signed.) e.v. tully.'" the spirit of the above also made its appearance in another form, in the action of the police board of the parish of bossier, which was an attempt to revive at once the old slave laws, and to prevent the freedmen from obtaining employment (away) from their former masters. the gist of the enactment alluded to is contained in the paragraph directing the officers on patrol duty "to arrest and take up all idle and vagrant persons running at large without employment and carry them before the proper authorities, to be dealt with as the law directs." a regulation like this certainly would make it difficult for freedmen to leave their former masters for the purpose of seeking employment elsewhere. the matter was submitted to brevet major general hawkins, commanding western district of louisiana, who issued an order prohibiting the parish police forces from arresting freedmen unless for positive offence against the law. clearer and more significant was the ordnance passed by the police board of the town of opelousas, louisiana. (accompanying document no. .) it deserves careful perusal. among a number of regulations applying exclusively to the negro, and depriving him of all liberty of locomotion, the following striking provisions are found: section . no negro or freedman shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town _under any circumstances_, and any one thus offending shall be ejected and _compelled to find an employer_ or leave the town within twenty-four hours. the lessor or furnisher of the house leased or kept as above shall pay a fine of ten dollars for each offence. section . no negro or freedman shall reside within the limits of the town of opelousas _who is not in the regular service of some white person or former owner_. section . no freedman shall sell, barter or exchange, any articles of merchandise or traffic within the limits of opelousas without permission in writing from his employer, or the mayor, or president of the board. this ordinance was at first approved by a lieutenant colonel of the united states forces having local command there, and it is worthy of note that thereupon the infection spread at once, and similar ordinances were entertained by the police boards of the town of franklin and of the parish of st. landry. (accompanying document no. ). the parish ordinance of st. landry differs from the town ordinances of opelousas and franklin in several points, and wherever there is any difference, it is in the direction of greater severity. it imposes heavier fines and penalties throughout, and provides, in addition, for a system of corporal punishment. it is also ordained "that the aforesaid penalties shall be _summarily enforced_, and that it shall be the duty of the _captain or chief of patrol_ to see that the aforesaid ordinances are promptly executed." while the town ordinances provide that a negro who does not find an employer shall be compelled to leave the town, the parish or county ordinance knows nothing of letting the negro go, but simply _compels_ him to find an employer. finally, it is ordained "that it shall be the duty of every _citizen_ to act as a police officer for the detection of offences and the apprehension of offenders, who shall be immediately handed over to the proper captain or chief of patrol." it is true, an "organization of free labor" upon this plan would not be exactly the re-establishment of slavery in its old form, but as for the practical working of the system with regard to the welfare of the freedman, the difference would only be for the worse. the negro is not only not permitted to be idle, but he is positively prohibited from working or carrying on a business for himself; he is _compelled_ to be in the "regular service" of a white man, and if he has no employer he is _compelled_ to find one. it requires only a simple understanding among the employers, and the negro is just as much bound to his employer "for better and for worse" as he was when slavery existed in the old form. if he should attempt to leave his employer on account of non-payment of wages or bad treatment he is _compelled_ to find another one; and if no other will take him he will be _compelled_ to return to him from whom he wanted to escape. the employers, under such circumstances, are naturally at liberty to arrange the matter of compensation according to their tastes, for the negro will be compelled to be in the regular service of an employer, whether he receives wages or not. the negro may be permitted by his employer "to hire his own time," for in the spirit and intent of the ordinance his time never properly belongs to him. but even the old system of slavery was more liberal in this respect, for such "permission to hire his own time" "shall never extend over seven days at any one time." (sec. .) the sections providing for the "_summary_" enforcement of the penalties and placing their infliction into the hands of the "chief of patrol"--which, by the way, throws some light upon the objects for which the militia is to be reorganized--place the freedmen under a sort of permanent martial law, while the provision investing every white man with the power and authority of a police officer as against every black man subjects them to the control even of those individuals who in other communities are thought hardly fit to control themselves. on the whole, this piece of legislation is a striking embodiment of the idea that although the former owner has lost his individual right of property in the former slave, "the blacks at large belong to the whites at large." such was the "organization of free labor" ordained by officials appointed by governor wells, and these ordinances were passed while both the emancipation proclamation and a provision in the new constitution of louisiana abolishing slavery in that state forever were recognized as being in full force. it is needless to say that as soon as these proceedings came to the knowledge of the freedmen's bureau and the department commander they were promptly overruled. but governor wells did not remove the police boards that had thus attempted to revive slavery in a new form. the opposition to the negro's controlling his own labor, carrying on business independently on his own account--in one word, working for his own benefit--showed itself in a variety of ways. here and there municipal regulations were gotten up heavily taxing or otherwise impeding those trades and employments in which colored people are most likely to engage. as an illustration, i annex an ordinance passed by the common council of vicksburg, (accompanying document no. ,) together with a letter from colonel thomas, in which he says: "you will see by the city ordinance that a drayman, or hackman, must file a bond of five hundred dollars, in addition to paying for his license. the mayor requires that the bondsmen must be freeholders. the laws of this state do not, and never did, allow a negro to own land or hold property; the white citizens refuse to sign any bonds for the freedmen. the white citizens and authorities say that it is for their interest to drive out all independent negro labor; that the freedmen must hire to white men if they want to do this kind of work." i found several instances of a similar character in the course of my observations, of which i neglected to procure the documentary evidence. it may be said that these are mere isolated cases; and so they are. but they are the local outcroppings of a spirit which i found to prevail everywhere. if there is any difference, it is in the degree of its intensity and the impatience or boldness with which it manifests itself. of the agencies which so far restrained it from venturing more general demonstrations i shall speak in another part of this report. education of the freedmen. it would seem that all those who sincerely desire to make the freedman a freeman in the true sense of the word, must also be in favor of so educating him as to make him clearly understand and appreciate the position he is to occupy in life, with all its rights and corresponding duties, and to impart to him all the knowledge necessary for enabling him to become an intelligent co-operator in the general movements of society. as popular education is the true ground upon which the efficiency and the successes of free-labor society grow, no man who rejects the former can be accounted a consistent friend of the latter. it is also evident that the education of the negro, to become general and effective after the full restoration of local government in the south, must be protected and promoted as an integral part of the educational systems of the states. i made it a special point in most of the conversations i had with southern men to inquire into their views with regard to this subject. i found, indeed, some gentlemen of thought and liberal ideas who readily acknowledged the necessity of providing for the education of the colored people, and who declared themselves willing to co-operate to that end to the extent of their influence. some planters thought of establishing schools on their estates, and others would have been glad to see measures taken to that effect by the people of the neighborhoods in which they lived. but whenever i asked the question whether it might be hoped that the legislatures of their states or their county authorities would make provisions for negro education, i never received an affirmative, and only in two or three instances feebly encouraging answers. at last i was forced to the conclusion that, aside from a small number of honorable exceptions, the popular prejudice is almost as bitterly set against the negro's having the advantage of education as it was when the negro was a slave. there may be an improvement in that respect, but it would prove only how universal the prejudice was in former days. hundreds of times i heard the old assertion repeated, that "learning will spoil the nigger for work," and that "negro education will be the ruin of the south." another most singular notion still holds a potent sway over the minds of the masses--it is, that the elevation of the blacks will be the degradation of the whites. they do not understand yet that the continual contact with an ignorant and degraded population must necessarily lower the mental and moral tone of the other classes of society. this they might have learned from actual experience, as we in the north have been taught, also by actual experience, that the education of the lower orders is the only reliable basis of the civilization as well as of the prosperity of a people. the consequence of the prejudice prevailing in the southern states is that colored schools can be established and carried on with safety only under the protection of our military forces, and that where the latter are withdrawn the former have to go with them. there may be a few localities forming exceptions, but their number is certainly very small. i annex a few papers bearing upon this subject. one is a letter addressed to me by chaplain joseph warren, superintendent of education under the freedmen's bureau in mississippi. (accompanying document no. .) the long and extensive experience of the writer gives the views he expresses more than ordinary weight. after describing the general spirit of opposition to the education of the negroes exhibited in mississippi, and enumerating the reasons assigned for it, he says: "in view of these things i have no doubt but that, if our protection be withdrawn, negro education will be hindered in every possible way, including obstructions by fraud and violence. i have not the smallest expectation that, with the state authorities in full power, a northern citizen would be protected in the exercise of his constitutional right to teach and preach to the colored people, and shall look for a renewal of the fearful scenes in which northerners were whipped, tarred and feathered, warned off, and murdered, before the war." the letter gives many details in support of this conclusion, and is in every respect worth perusing. in the letter of general kirby smith (accompanying document no. ) occurs the following statement referring to the condition of things in mobile, alabama: "threats were made to destroy all school-houses in which colored children were taught, and in two instances they were fired. the same threats were made against all churches in which colored people assembled to worship, and one of them burned. continued threats of assassination were made against the colored preachers, and one of them is now under special guard by order of major general woods." while i was in louisiana general canby received a petition, signed by a number of prominent citizens of new orleans, praying him "to annul order no. , which authorizes a board of officers to levy a tax on the taxpayers of the parish of orleans to defray the expense of educating the freedmen." the reasons given for making this request are as follows: "most of those who have lost their slaves by the rebellion, and whose lands are in the course of confiscation, being thus deprived of the means of raising corn for their hungry children, have not anything left wherewith to pay such a tax. the order in question, they consider, violates that sacred principle which requires taxation to be equal throughout the united states. _if the freedmen are to be educated at public expense, let it be done from the treasury of the united states_." (accompanying document no. .) many of the signers of this petition, who wanted to be relieved of the school tax on the ground of poverty, were counted among the wealthy men of new orleans, and they forgot to state that the free colored element of louisiana, which represents a capital of at least thirteen millions and pays a not inconsiderable proportion of the taxes, contributes at the same time for the support of the schools for whites, from which their children are excluded. i would also invite attention to some statements concerning this matter contained in the memorandum of my conversation with mr. king, of georgia. (accompanying document no. .) while travelling in the south i found in the newspapers an account of an interview between general howard and some gentlemen from mississippi, in which a dr. murdoch, from columbus, mississippi, figured somewhat conspicuously. he was reported to have described public sentiment in mississippi as quite loyal, and especially in favor of giving the colored race a good education. i inquired at the freedmen's bureau whether anything was known there of a feeling so favorable to negro education among dr. murdoch's neighbors. the information i received is contained in a letter from the assistant commissioner, colonel thomas. (accompanying document no. .) it appears that the feeling of dr. murdoch's neighbors at columbus was not only not in favor of negro education, but that, according to the report of the agent of the freedmen's bureau at that place, "the citizens of the town are so prejudiced against the negroes that they are opposed to all efforts being made for their education or elevation;" that "the people will not give rooms or allow the children of their hired freedmen to attend the schools," and that the citizens of the place have written a letter to the officers, saying "that they would respectfully ask that no freedmen's schools be established under the auspices of the bureau, as it would tend to disturb the present labor system, and take from the fields labor that is so necessary to restore the wealth of the state." it seems dr. murdoch's neighbors do not form an exception to the general rule. in this connexion i may add that several instances have come to my notice of statements about the condition of things in the late rebel states, being set afloat by southerners visiting the north, which would not bear close investigation. the reason, probably, is that gentlemen are attributing their own good intentions to the rest of their people with too great a liberality. having thus given my experience and impressions with regard to the spirit actuating the southern people concerning the freedman and the free-labor problem, and before inquiring into their prospective action, i beg leave to submit a few remarks on the conduct of the negro. the freedman. the first southern men with whom i came into contact after my arrival at charleston designated the general conduct of the emancipated slaves as surprisingly good. some went even so far as to call it admirable. the connexion in which they used these laudatory terms was this: a great many colored people while in slavery had undoubtedly suffered much hardship and submitted to great wrongs, partly inseparably connected with the condition of servitude, and partly aggravated by the individual wilfulness and cruelty of their masters and overseers. they were suddenly set free; and not only that: their masters but a short time ago almost omnipotent on their domains, found themselves, after their defeat in the war, all at once face to face with their former slaves as a conquered and powerless class. never was the temptation to indulge in acts of vengeance for wrongs suffered more strongly presented than to the colored people of the south; but no instance of such individual revenge was then on record, nor have i since heard of any case of violence that could be traced to such motives. the transition of the southern negro from slavery to freedom was untarnished by any deeds of blood, and the apprehension so extensively entertained and so pathetically declaimed upon by many, that the sudden and general emancipation of the slaves would at once result in "all the horrors of st. domingo," proved utterly groundless. this was the first impression i received after my arrival in the south, and i received it from the mouths of late slaveholders. nor do i think the praise was unjustly bestowed. in this respect the emancipated slaves of the south can challenge comparison with any race long held in servitude and suddenly set free. as to the dangers of the future, i shall speak of them in another connexion. but at that point the unqualified praise stopped and the complaints began: the negroes would not work; they left their plantations and went wandering from place to place, stealing by the way; they preferred a life of idleness and vagrancy to that of honest and industrious labor; they either did not show any willingness to enter into contracts, or, if they did, showed a stronger disposition to break them than to keep them; they were becoming insubordinate and insolent to their former owners; they indulged in extravagant ideas about their rights and relied upon the government to support them without work; in one word, they had no conception of the rights freedom gave, and of the obligations freedom imposed upon them. these complaints i heard repeated with endless variations wherever i went. nor were they made without some show of reason. i will review them one after another. _unwillingness to work_.--that there are among the negroes a good many constitutionally lazy individuals is certainly true. the propensity to idleness seems to be rather strongly developed in the south generally, without being confined to any particular race. it is also true that the alacrity negroes put into their work depends in a majority of cases upon certain combinations of circumstances. it is asserted that the negroes have a prejudice against working in the cultivation of cotton, rice, and sugar. although this prejudice, probably arising from the fact that the cotton, rice, and sugar fields remind the former slave of the worst experiences of his past life, exists to some extent, it has not made the freedmen now on the plantations unwilling to cultivate such crops as the planters may have seen fit to raise. a few cases of refusal may have occurred. but there is another fact of which i have become satisfied in the course of my observations, and which is of great significance: while most of the old slaveholders complain of the laziness and instability of their negro laborers, the northern men engaged in planting, with whom i have come into contact, almost uniformly speak of their negro laborers with satisfaction, and these northern men almost exclusively devote themselves to the cultivation of cotton. a good many southern planters, in view of the fact, expressed to me their intention to engage northern men for the management of their plantations. this circumstance would seem to prove that under certain conditions the negro may be expected to work well. there are two reasons by which it may be explained: first, that a northern man knows from actual experience what free labor is, and understands its management, which the late slaveholder, still clinging to the traditions of the old system, does not; and then, that the negro has more confidence in a northern man than in his former master. when a northern man discovers among his laboring force an individual that does not do his duty, his first impulse is to discharge him, and he acts accordingly. when a late slaveholder discovers such an individual among his laborers, his first impulse is to whip him, and he is very apt to suit the act to the impulse. ill treatment is a doubtful encouragement for free laborers, and it proves more apt to drive those that are still at work away than to make the plantation attractive to others. but if the reasons above stated are sufficient to explain why the negroes work better for northern than for southern men, it will follow that a general improvement will take place as soon as the latter fulfil the same conditions--that is, as soon as southern men learn what free labor is and how to manage it in accordance with its principles, and as soon as they succeed in gaining the confidence of the colored people. in the reports of officers of the freedmen's bureau, among the documents annexed to this, you will find frequent repetitions of the statement that the negro generally works well where he is decently treated and well compensated. nor do the officers of the freedmen's bureau alone think and say so. southern men, who were experimenting in the right direction, expressed to me their opinion to the same effect. some of them told me that the negroes on their plantations worked "as well as ever," or even "far better than they had expected." it is true the number of planters who made that admission was small, but it nearly corresponded with the number of those who, according to their own statements, gave free negro labor a perfectly fair trial, while all those who prefaced everything they said with the assertion that "the negro will not work without physical compulsion," could find no end to their complaints. there are undoubtedly negroes who will not do well under the best circumstances, just as there are others who will do well under the worst. in another part of this report i have already set forth the exceptional difficulties weighing upon the free-labor experiment in the south during this period of transition. the sudden leap from slavery to freedom is an exciting event in a man's life, and somewhat calculated to disturb his equanimity for a moment. people are on such occasions disposed to indulge themselves a little. it would have shown much more wisdom in the negroes if all of them had quietly gone to work again the next day. but it is not reasonable to expect the negroes to possess more wisdom than other races would exhibit under the same circumstances. besides, the willingness to work depends, with whites as well as blacks, somewhat upon the nature of the inducements held out, and the unsatisfactory regulation of the matter of wages has certainly something to do with the instability of negro labor which is complained of. northern men engaged in planting almost uniformly pay wages in money, while southern planters, almost uniformly, have contracted with their laborers for a share in the crop. in many instances the shares are allotted between employers and laborers with great fairness; but in others the share promised to the laborers is so small as to leave them in the end very little or nothing. moreover, the crops in the south looked generally very unpromising from the beginning, which naturally reduced the value falling to the lot of the laborer. i have heard a good many freedmen complain that, taking all things into consideration, they really did not know what they were working for except food, which in many instances was bad and scanty; and such complaints were frequently well founded. in a large number of cases the planters were not to blame for this; they had no available pecuniary means, and in many localities found it difficult to procure provisions. but these unfavorable circumstances, combined with the want of confidence in northern men, were well calculated to have an influence upon the conduct of the negro as a laborer. i have heard it said that money is no inducement which will make a negro work. it is certain that many of them, immediately after emancipation, had but a crude conception of the value of money and the uses it can be put to. it may, however, be stated as the general rule, that whenever they are at liberty to choose between wages in money and a share in the crop, they will choose the former and work better. many cases of negroes engaged in little industrial pursuits came to my notice, in which they showed considerable aptness not only for gaining money, but also for saving and judiciously employing it. some were even surprisingly successful. i visited some of the plantations divided up among freedmen and cultivated by them independently without the supervision of white men. in some instances i found very good crops and indications of general thrift and good management; in others the corn and cotton crops were in a neglected and unpromising state. the excuse made was in most cases that they had obtained possession of the ground too late in the season, and that, until the regular crops could be harvested, they were obliged to devote much of their time to the raising and sale of vegetables, watermelons, &c., for the purpose of making a living in the meantime. on the whole i feel warranted in making the following statement: many freedmen--not single individuals, but whole "plantation gangs"--are working well; others do not. the difference in their efficiency coincides in a great measure with a certain difference in the conditions under which they live. the conclusion lies near, that if the conditions under which they work well become general, their efficiency as free laborers will become general also, aside from individual exceptions. certain it is, that by far the larger portion of the work done in the south is done by freedmen. _vagrancy_.--large numbers of colored people left the plantations as soon as they became aware that they could do so with impunity. that they could so leave their former masters was for them the first test of the reality of their freedom. a great many flocked to the military posts and towns to obtain from the "yankees" reliable information as to their new rights. others were afraid lest by staying on the plantations where they had been held as slaves they might again endanger their freedom. still others went to the cities, thinking that there the sweets of liberty could best be enjoyed. in some places they crowded together in large numbers, causing serious inconvenience. but a great many, probably a very large majority, remained on the plantations and made contracts with their former masters. the military authorities, and especially the agents of the freedmen's bureau, succeeded by continued exertions in returning most of those who were adrift to the plantations, or in finding other employment for them. after the first rush was over the number of vagrants grew visibly less. it may be said that where the freedmen's bureau is best organized there is least vagrancy among the negroes. here and there they show considerable restlessness, partly owing to local, partly to general causes. among the former, bad treatment is probably the most prominent; among the latter, a feeling of distrust, uneasiness, anxiety about their future, which arises from their present unsettled condition. it is true, some are going from place to place because they are fond of it. the statistics of the freedmen's bureau show that the whole number of colored people supported by the government since the close of the war was remarkably small and continually decreasing. this seems to show that the southern negro, when thrown out of his accustomed employment, possesses considerable ability to support himself. it is possible, however, that in consequence of short crops, the destitution of the country, and other disturbing influences, there may be more restlessness among the negroes next winter than there is at present. where the results of this year's labor were very unsatisfactory, there will be a floating about of the population when the contracts of this year expire. it is to be expected, however, that the freedmen's bureau will be able to remedy evils of that kind. other emancipatory movements, for instance the abolition of serfdom in russia, have resulted in little or no vagrancy; but it must not be forgotten that the emancipated serfs were speedily endowed with the ownership of land, which gave them a permanent moral and material interest in the soil upon which they lived. a similar measure would do more to stop negro vagrancy in the south than the severest penal laws. in every country the number of vagrants stands in proportion to the number of people who have no permanent local interests, unless augmented by exceptional cases, such as war or famine. _contracts_.--freedmen frequently show great disinclination to make contracts with their former masters. they are afraid lest in signing a paper they sign away their freedom, and in this respect they are distrustful of most southern men. it generally requires personal assurances from a united states officer to make them feel safe. but the advice of such an officer is almost uniformly followed. in this manner an immense number of contracts has been made, and it is daily increasing. a northern man has no difficulty in making contracts, and but little in enforcing them. the complaints of southern men that the contracts are not well observed by the freedmen are in many instances well founded. the same can be said of the complaints of freedmen with regard to the planters. the negro, fresh from slavery, has naturally but a crude idea of the binding force of a written agreement, and it is galling to many of the planters to stand in such relations as a contract establishes to those who formerly were their slaves. i was, however, informed by officers of the freedmen's bureau, and by planters also, that things were improving in that respect. contracts will be more readily entered into and more strictly kept as soon as the intimate relations between labor and compensation are better understood and appreciated on both sides. _insolence and insubordination_.--the new spirit which emancipation has awakened in the colored people has undoubtedly developed itself in some individuals, especially young men, to an offensive degree. hence cases of insolence on the part of freedmen occur. but such occurrences are comparatively rare. on the whole, the conduct of the colored people is far more submissive than anybody had a right to expect. the acts of violence perpetrated by freedmen against white persons do not stand in any proportion to those committed by whites against negroes. every such occurrence is sure to be noticed in the southern papers and we have heard of but very few. when southern people speak of the insolence of the negro, they generally mean something which persons who never lived under the system of slavery are not apt to appreciate. it is but very rarely what would be called insolence among equals. but, as an old planter said to me, "our people cannot realize yet that the negro is free." a negro is called insolent whenever his conduct varies in any manner from what a southern man was accustomed to when slavery existed. the complaints made about the insubordination of the negro laborers on plantations have to be taken with the same allowance. there have been, no doubt, many cases in which freedmen showed a refractory spirit, where orders were disobeyed, and instructions disregarded. there have been some instances of positive resistance. but when inquiring into particulars, i found not unfrequently that the employer had adhered too strictly to his old way of doing things. i hardly heard any such complaints from northern men. i have heard planters complain very earnestly of the insubordinate spirit of their colored laborers because they remonstrated against the practice of corporeal punishment. this was looked upon as a symptom of an impending insurrection. a great many things are regarded in the old slave states as acts of insubordination on the part of the laborer which, in the free states, would be taken as perfectly natural and harmless. the fact is, a good many planters are at present more nervously jealous of their authority than before, while the freedmen are not always inclined to forget that they are free men. _extravagant notions_.--in many localities i found an impression prevailing among the negroes that some great change was going to take place about christmas. feeling uneasy in their present condition, they indulged in the expectation that government intended to make some further provision for their future welfare, especially by ordering distributions of land among them. to counteract this expectation, which had a tendency to interfere seriously with the making of contracts for the next season, it was considered necessary to send military officers, and especially agents of the freedmen's bureau, among them, who, by administering sound advice and spreading correct information, would induce them to suit their conduct to their actual circumstances. while in the south i heard of many instances in which this measure had the desired effect, and it is to be expected that the effect was uniformly good wherever judicious officers were so employed. impressions like the above are very apt to spread among the negroes, for the reason that they ardently desire to become freeholders. in the independent possession of landed property they see the consummation of their deliverance. however mistaken their notions may be in other respects, it must be admitted that this instinct is correct. _relations between the two races_.--there are whites in the south who profess great kindness for the negro. many of them are, no doubt, sincere in what they say. but as to the feelings of the masses, it is hardly necessary to add anything to what i have already stated. i have heard it asserted that the negroes also cherish feelings of hostility to the whites. taking this as a general assertion, i am satisfied that it is incorrect. the negroes do not trust their late masters because they do not feel their freedom sufficiently assured. many of them may harbor feelings of resentment towards those who now ill-treat and persecute them, but as they practiced no revenge after their emancipation for wrongs suffered while in slavery, so their present resentments are likely to cease as soon as the persecution ceases. if the persecution and the denial of their rights as freemen continue, the resentments growing out of them will continue and spread. the negro is constitutionally docile and eminently good-natured. instances of the most touching attachment of freedmen to their old masters and mistresses have come to my notice. to a white man whom they believe to be sincerely their friend they cling with greater affection even than to one of their own race. by some northern speculators their confidence has been sadly abused. nevertheless, the trust they place in persons coming from the north, or in any way connected with the government, is most childlike and unbounded. there may be individual exceptions, but i am sure they are not numerous. those who enjoy their confidence enjoy also their affection. centuries of slavery have not been sufficient to make them the enemies of the white race. if in the future a feeling of mutual hostility should develop itself between the races, it will probably not be the fault of those who have shown such an inexhaustible patience under the most adverse and trying circumstances. in some places that i visited i found apprehensions entertained by whites of impending negro insurrections. whenever our military commanders found it expedient to subject the statements made to that effect by whites to close investigation, they uniformly found them unwarranted by fact. in many instances there were just reasons for supposing that such apprehensions were industriously spread for the purpose of serving as an excuse for further persecution. in the papers annexed to this report you will find testimony supporting this statement. the negro is easily led; he is always inclined to follow the advice of those he trusts. i do, therefore, not consider a negro insurrection probable as long as the freedmen are under the direct protection of the government, and may hope to see their grievances redressed without resorting to the extreme means of self-protection. there would, perhaps, be danger of insurrections if the government should withdraw its protection from them, and if, against an attempt on the part of the whites to reduce them to something like their former condition, they should find themselves thrown back upon their own resources. of this contingency i shall speak below. _education_.--that the negroes should have come out of slavery as an ignorant class is not surprising when we consider that it was a penal offence to teach them while they were in slavery; but their eager desire to learn, and the alacrity and success with which they avail themselves of every facility offered to them in that respect, has become a matter of notoriety. the statistics of the freedmen's bureau show to what extent such facilities have been offered and what results have been attained. as far as my information goes, these results are most encouraging for the future. prospective--the reactionary tendency. i stated above that, in my opinion, the solution of the social problem in the south did not depend upon the capacity and conduct of the negro alone, but in the same measure upon the ideas and feelings entertained and acted upon by the whites. what their ideas and feelings were while under my observation, and how they affected the contact of the two races, i have already set forth. the question arises, what policy will be adopted by the "ruling class" when all restraint imposed upon them by the military power of the national government is withdrawn, and they are left free to regulate matters according to their own tastes? it would be presumptuous to speak of the future with absolute certainty; but it may safely be assumed that the same causes will always tend to produce the same effects. as long as a majority of the southern people believe that "the negro will not work without physical compulsion," and that "the blacks at large belong to the whites at large," that belief will tend to produce a system of coercion, the enforcement of which will be aided by the hostile feeling against the negro now prevailing among the whites, and by the general spirit of violence which in the south was fostered by the influence slavery exercised upon the popular character. it is, indeed, not probable that a general attempt will be made to restore slavery in its old form, on account of the barriers which such an attempt would find in its way; but there are systems intermediate between slavery as it formerly existed in the south, and free labor as it exists in the north, but more nearly related to the former than to the latter, _the introduction of which will be attempted_. i have already noticed some movements in that direction, which were made under the very eyes of our military authorities, and of which the opelousas and st. landry ordinances were the most significant. other things of more recent date, such as the new negro code submitted by a committee to the legislature of south carolina, are before the country. they have all the same tendency, because they all spring from the same cause. it may be objected that evidence has been given of a contrary spirit by the state conventions which passed ordinances abolishing slavery in their states, and making it obligatory upon the legislatures to enact laws for the protection of the freedmen. while acknowledging the fact, i deem it dangerous to be led by it into any delusions. as to the motives upon which they acted when abolishing slavery, and their understanding of the bearings of such an act, we may safely accept the standard they have set up for themselves. when speaking of popular demonstrations in the south in favor of submission to the government, i stated that the principal and almost the only argument used was, that they found themselves in a situation in which "they could do no better." it was the same thing with regard to the abolition of slavery; wherever abolition was publicly advocated, whether in popular meetings or in state conventions, it was on the ground of necessity--not unfrequently with the significant addition that, as soon as they had once more control of their own state affairs, they could settle the labor question to suit themselves, whatever they might have to submit to for the present. not only did i find this to be the common talk among the people, but the same sentiment was openly avowed by public men in speech and print. some declarations of that kind, made by men of great prominence, have passed into the newspapers and are undoubtedly known to you. i append to this report a specimen, (accompanying document, no. ,) not as something particularly remarkable, but in order to represent the current sentiment as expressed in the language of a candidate for a seat in the state convention of mississippi. it is a card addressed to the voters of wilkinson county, mississippi, by general w.l. brandon. the general complains of having been called "an unconditional, immediate emancipationist--an abolitionist." he indignantly repels the charge and avows himself a good pro-slavery man. "but, fellow-citizens," says he, "what i may in common with you have to submit to, is a very different thing. slavery has been taken from us; the power that has already practically abolished it threatens totally and forever to abolish it. _but does it follow that i am in favor of this thing? by no means_. my honest conviction is, we must accept the situation as it is, _until we can get control once more of our own state affairs. we cannot do otherwise and get our place again in the union, and occupy a position, exert an influence that will protect us against greater evils which threaten us_. i must, as any other man who votes or holds an office, submit _for the time_ to evils i cannot remedy." general brandon was elected on that platform, and in the convention voted for the ordinance abolishing slavery, and imposing upon the legislature the duty to pass laws for the protection of the freedmen. and general brandon is certainly looked upon in mississippi as an honorable man, and an honest politician. what he will vote for when his people have got once more control of their own state affairs, and his state has regained its position and influence in the union, it is needless to ask. i repeat, his case is not an isolated one. he has only put in print what, as my observations lead me to believe, a majority of the people say even in more emphatic language; and the deliberations of several legislatures in that part of the country show what it means. i deem it unnecessary to go into further particulars. it is worthy of note that the convention of mississippi--and the conventions of other states have followed its example--imposed upon subsequent legislatures the obligation not only to pass laws for the protection of the freedmen in person and property, but also _to guard against the dangers arising from sudden emancipation_. this language is not without significance; not the blessings of a full development of free labor, but only the dangers of emancipation are spoken of. it will be observed that this clause is so vaguely worded as to authorize the legislatures to place any restriction they may see fit upon the emancipated negro, in perfect consistency with the amended state constitutions; for it rests with them to define what the dangers of sudden emancipation consist in, and what measures may be required to guard against them. it is true, the clause does not authorize the legislatures to re-establish slavery in the old form; but they may pass whatever laws they see fit, stopping short only one step of what may strictly be defined as "slavery." peonage of the mexican pattern, or serfdom of some european pattern, may under that clause be considered admissible; and looking at the legislative attempts already made, especially the labor code now under consideration in the legislature of south carolina, it appears not only possible, but eminently probable, that the laws which will be passed to guard against the dangers arising from emancipation will be directed against the spirit of emancipation itself. a more tangible evidence of good intentions would seem to have been furnished by the admission of negro testimony in the courts of justice, which has been conceded in some of the southern states, at least in point of form. this being a matter of vital interest to the colored man, i inquired into the feelings of people concerning it with particular care. at first i found hardly any southern man that favored it. even persons of some liberality of mind saw seemingly insurmountable objections. the appearance of a general order issued by general swayne in alabama, which made it optional for the civil authorities either to admit negro testimony in the state courts or to have all cases in which colored people were concerned tried by officers of the bureau or military commissions, seemed to be the signal for a change of position on the part of the politicians. a great many of them, seeing a chance for getting rid of the jurisdiction of the freedmen's bureau, dropped their opposition somewhat suddenly and endeavored to make the admission of negro testimony in the state courts palatable to the masses by assuring them that at all events it would rest with the judges and juries to determine in each case before them whether the testimony of negro witnesses was worth anything or not. one of the speeches delivered at vicksburg, already referred to in another connexion, and a card published by a candidate for office, (accompanying document no. ,) furnish specimens of that line of argument. in my despatch from montgomery, alabama, i suggested to you that instructions be issued making it part of the duty of agents of the freedmen's bureau to appear in the state courts as the freedmen's next friend, and to forward reports of the proceedings had in the principal cases to the headquarters of the bureau. in this manner it would have been possible to ascertain to what extent the admission of negro testimony secured to the colored man justice in the state courts. as the plan does not seem to have been adopted, we must form our conclusions from evidence less complete. among the annexed documents there are several statements concerning its results, made by gentlemen whose business it was to observe. i would invite your attention to the letters of captain paillon, agent of the freedmen's bureau at mobile; major reynolds, assistant commissioner of the bureau at natchez; and colonel thomas, assistant commissioner for the state of mississippi. (accompanying documents nos. and .) the opinions expressed in these papers are uniformly unfavorable. it is to be hoped that at other places better results have been attained. but i may state that even by prominent southern men, who were anxious to have the jurisdiction of the state courts extended over the freedmen, the admission was made to me that the testimony of a negro would have but little weight with a southern jury. i frequently asked the question, "do you think a jury of your people would be apt to find a planter who has whipped one of his negro laborers guilty of assault and battery?" the answer almost invariably was, "you must make some allowance for the prejudices of our people." it is probable that the laws excluding negro testimony from the courts will be repealed in all the states lately in rebellion if it is believed that a satisfactory arrangement of this matter may in any way facilitate the "readmission" of the states, but i apprehend such arrangements will hardly be sufficient to secure to the colored man impartial justice as long as the feelings of the whites are against him and they think that his rights are less entitled to respect than their own. more potent certainly than the laws of a country are the opinions of right and wrong entertained by its people. when the spirit of a law is in conflict with such opinions, there is but little prospect of its being faithfully put in execution, especially where those who hold such opinions are the same who have to administer the laws. the facility with which southern politicians acquiesce in the admission of negro testimony is not surprising when we consider that the practical management of the matter will rest with their own people. i found them less accommodating with regard to "constitutional amendment." nine-tenths of the intelligent men with whom i had any conversation upon that subject expressed their willingness to ratify the first section, abolishing slavery throughout the united states, but not the second section, empowering congress "to enforce the foregoing by appropriate legislation." i feel warranted in saying that, while i was in the south, this was the prevailing sentiment. nevertheless, i deem it probable that the "constitutional amendment" will be ratified by every state legislature, provided the government insists upon such ratification as a _conditio sine qua non_ of readmission. it is instructive to observe how powerful and immediate an effect the announcement of such a condition by the government produces in southern conventions and legislatures. it would be idle to assume, however, that a telegraphic despatch, while it may beat down all parliamentary opposition to this or that measure, will at the same time obliterate the prejudices of the people; nor will it prevent those prejudices from making themselves seriously felt in the future. it will require measures of a more practical character to prevent the dangers which, as everybody that reads the signs of the times must see, are now impending. the militia. i do not mean to say that the southern people intend to retrace the steps they have made as soon as they have resumed control of their state affairs. although they regret the abolition of slavery, they certainly do not intend to re-establish it in its old form. although they are at heart opposed to the admission of negro testimony in the courts of justice, they probably will not re-enact the laws excluding it. but while accepting the "abolition of slavery," they think that some species of serfdom, peonage, or some other form of compulsory labor is not slavery, and may be introduced without a violation of their pledge. although formally admitting negro testimony, they think that negro testimony will be taken practically for what they themselves consider it "worth." what particular shape the reactionary movement will assume it is at present unnecessary to inquire. there are a hundred ways of framing apprenticeship, vagrancy, or contract laws, which will serve the purpose. even the mere reorganization of the militia upon the old footing will go far towards accomplishing the object. to this point i beg leave to invite your special attention. the people of the southern states show great anxiety to have their militia reorganized, and in some instances permission has been given. in the case of mississippi i gave you my reasons for opposing the measure under existing circumstances. they were, first, that county patrols had already been in existence, and had to be disbanded on account of their open hostility to union people and freedmen. (see colonel yorke's report, accompanying document no. .) second, that the governor proposed to arm the people upon the ground that the inhabitants refused to assist the military authorities in the suppression of crime, and that the call was addressed, not to the loyal citizens of the united states, but expressly to the "young men who had so distinguished themselves for gallantry" in the rebel service. (see correspondence between governor sharkey and general osterhaus, accompanying document no. .) and third, because the state was still under martial law, and the existence of organized and armed bodies not under the control of the military commander was inconsistent with that state of things. but there are other more general points of view from which this question must be looked at in order to be appreciated in its most important bearings. i may state, without fear of contradiction, that, in every case, where permission was asked for reorganizing the militia, the privilege or duty of serving in that armed organization was intended to be confined to the whites. in the conversations i had with southern men about this matter, the idea of admitting colored people to the privilege of bearing arms as a part of the militia was uniformly treated by them as a thing not to be thought of. the militia, whenever organized, will thus be composed of men belonging to one class, to the total exclusion of another. this concentration of organized physical power in the hands of one class will necessarily tend, and is undoubtedly designed, to give that class absolute physical control of the other. the specific purpose for which the militia is to be reorganized appears clearly from the uses it was put to whenever a local organization was effected. it is the restoration of the old patrol system which was one of the characteristic features of the regime of slavery. the services which such patrols are expected to perform consist in maintaining what southern people understand to be the order of society. indications are given in several of the accompanying documents. among others, the st. landry and bossier ordinances define with some precision what the authority and duties of the "chief patrols" are to be. the militia, organized for the distinct purpose of enforcing the authority of the whites over the blacks, is in itself practically sufficient to establish and enforce a system of compulsory labor without there being any explicit laws for it; and, being sustained and encouraged by public opinion, the chief and members of "county patrols" are not likely to be over-nice in the construction of their orders. this is not a mere supposition, but an opinion based upon experience already gathered. as i stated above, the reorganization of the county patrol system upon the basis here described will result in the establishment of a sort of permanent martial law over the negro. it is, therefore, not even necessary that the reaction against that result of the war, which consists in emancipation, should manifest itself by very obnoxious legislative enactments, just as in some of the slave states slavery did not exist by virtue of the state constitution. it may be practically accomplished, and is, in fact, practically accomplished whenever the freed man is not protected by the federal authorities, without displaying its character and aims upon the statute book. negro insurrections and anarchy. that in times like ours, and in a country like this, a reaction in favor of compulsory labor cannot be ultimately successful, is as certain as it was that slavery could not last forever. but a movement in that direction can prevent much good that might be accomplished, and produce much evil that might be avoided. not only will such a movement seriously interfere with all efforts to organize an efficient system of free labor, and thus very materially retard the return of prosperity in the south, but it may bring on a crisis as dangerous and destructive as the war of the rebellion itself. i stated above that i did not deem a negro insurrection probable as long as the freedmen were assured of the direct protection of the national government. whenever they are in trouble, they raise their eyes up to that power, and although they may suffer, yet, as long as that power is visibly present, they continue to hope. but when state authority in the south is fully restored, the federal forces withdrawn, and the freedmen's bureau abolished, the colored man will find himself turned over to the mercies of those whom he does not trust. if then an attempt, is made to strip him again of those rights which he justly thought he possessed, he will be apt to feel that he can hope for no redress unless he procure it himself. if ever the negro is capable of rising, he will rise then. men who never struck a blow for the purpose of gaining their liberty, when they were slaves, are apt to strike when, their liberty once gained, they see it again in danger. however great the patience and submissiveness of the colored race may be, it cannot be presumed that its active participation in a war against the very men with whom it again stands face to face, has remained entirely without influence upon its spirit. what a general insurrection of the negroes would result in, whether it would be easy or difficult to suppress it, whether the struggle would be long or short, what race would suffer most, are questions which will not be asked by those who understand the problem to be, not how to suppress a negro insurrection, but how to prevent it. certain it is, it would inflict terrible calamities upon both whites and blacks, and present to the world the spectacle of atrocities which ought to be foreign to civilized nations. the negro, in his ordinary state, is docile and good-natured; but when once engaged in a bloody business, it is difficult to say how far his hot impulses would carry him; and as to the southern whites, the barbarous scenes the country has witnessed since the close of the rebellion, indicate the temper with which they would fight the negro as an insurgent. it would be a war of extermination, revolting in its incidents, and with ruin and desolation in its train. there may be different means by which it can be prevented, but there is only one certain of effect: it is, that the provocations be avoided which may call it forth. but even if it be prevented by other means, it is not the only danger which a reactionary movement will bring upon the south. nothing renders society more restless than a social revolution but half accomplished. it naturally tends to develop its logical consequences, but is hindered by adverse agencies which work in another direction; nor can it return to the point from which it started. there are, then, continual vibrations and fluctuations between two opposites which keep society in the nervous uneasiness and excitement growing from the lingering strife between the antagonistic tendencies. all classes of society are intensely dissatisfied with things as they are. general explosions may be prevented, but they are always imminent. this state of uncertainty impedes all successful working of the social forces; people, instead of devoting themselves with confidence and steadiness to solid pursuits, are apt to live from hand to mouth, or to indulge in fitful experiments; capital ventures out but with great timity; the lawless elements of the community take advantage of the general confusion and dissatisfaction, and society drifts into anarchy. there is probably at the present moment no country in the civilized world which contains such an accumulation of anarchical elements as the south. the strife of the antagonistic tendencies here described is aggravated by the passions inflamed and the general impoverishment brought about by a long and exhaustive war, and the south will have to suffer the evils of anarchical disorder until means are found to effect a final settlement of the labor question in accordance with the logic of the great revolution. the true problem.--difficulties and remedies. in seeking remedies for such disorders, we ought to keep in view, above all, the nature of the problem which is to be solved. as to what is commonly termed "reconstruction," it is not only the political machinery of the states and their constitutional relations to the general government, but the whole organism of southern society that must be reconstructed, or rather constructed anew, so as to bring it in harmony with the rest of american society. the difficulties of this task are not to be considered overcome when the people of the south take the oath of allegiance and elect governors and legislatures and members of congress, and militia captains. that this would be done had become certain as soon as the surrenders of the southern armies had made further resistance impossible, and nothing in the world was left, even to the most uncompromising rebel, but to submit or to emigrate. it was also natural that they should avail themselves of every chance offered them to resume control of their home affairs and to regain their influence in the union. but this can hardly be called the first step towards the solution of the true problem, and it is a fair question to ask, whether the hasty gratification of their desire to resume such control would not create new embarrassments. the true nature of the difficulties of the situation is this: the general government of the republic has, by proclaiming the emancipation of the slaves, commenced a great social revolution in the south, but has, as yet, not completed it. only the negative part of it is accomplished. the slaves are emancipated in point of form, but free labor has not yet been put in the place of slavery in point of fact. and now, in the midst of this critical period of transition, the power which originated the revolution is expected to turn over its whole future development to another power which from the beginning was hostile to it and has never yet entered into its spirit, leaving the class in whose favor it was made completely without power to protect itself and to take an influential part in that development. the history of the world will be searched in vain for a proceeding similar to this which did not lead either to a rapid and violent reaction, or to the most serious trouble and civil disorder. it cannot be said that the conduct of the southern people since the close of the war has exhibited such extraordinary wisdom and self-abnegation as to make them an exception to the rule. in my despatches from the south i repeatedly expressed the opinion that the people were not yet in a frame of mind to legislate calmly and understandingly upon the subject of free negro labor. and this i reported to be the opinion of some of our most prominent military commanders and other observing men. it is, indeed, difficult to imagine circumstances more unfavorable for the development of a calm and unprejudiced public opinion than those under which the southern people are at present laboring. the war has not only defeated their political aspirations, but it has broken up their whole social organization. when the rebellion was put down they found themselves not only conquered in a political and military sense, but economically ruined. the planters, who represented the wealth of the southern country, are partly laboring under the severest embarrassments, partly reduced to absolute poverty. many who are stripped of all available means, and have nothing but their land, cross their arms in gloomy despondency, incapable of rising to a manly resolution. others, who still possess means, are at a loss how to use them, as their old way of doing things is, by the abolition of slavery, rendered impracticable, at least where the military arm of the government has enforced emancipation. others are still trying to go on in the old way, and that old way is in fact the only one they understand, and in which they have any confidence. only a minority is trying to adopt the new order of things. a large number of the plantations, probably a considerable majority of the more valuable estates, is under heavy mortgages, and the owners know that, unless they retrieve their fortunes in a comparatively short space of time, their property will pass out of their hands. almost all are, to some extent, embarrassed. the nervous anxiety which such a state of things produces extends also to those classes of society which, although not composed of planters, were always in close business connexion with the planting interest, and there was hardly a branch of commerce or industry in the south which was not directly or indirectly so connected. besides, the southern soldiers, when returning from the war, did not, like the northern soldiers, find a prosperous community which merely waited for their arrival to give them remunerative employment. they found, many of them, their homesteads destroyed, their farms devastated, their families in distress; and those that were less unfortunate found, at all events, an impoverished and exhausted community which had but little to offer them. thus a great many have been thrown upon the world to shift as best they can. they must do something honest or dishonest, and must do it soon, to make a living, and their prospects are, at present, not very bright. thus that nervous anxiety to hastily repair broken fortunes, and to prevent still greater ruin and distress, embraces nearly all classes, and imprints upon all the movements of the social body a morbid character. in which direction will these people be most apt to turn their eyes? leaving the prejudice of race out of the question, from early youth they have been acquainted with but one system of labor, and with that one system they have been in the habit of identifying all their interests. they know of no way to help themselves but the one they are accustomed to. another system of labor is presented to them, which, however, owing to circumstances which they do not appreciate, appears at first in an unpromising light. to try it they consider an experiment which they cannot afford to make while their wants are urgent. they have not reasoned calmly enough to convince themselves that the trial must be made. it is, indeed, not wonderful that, under such circumstances, they should study, not how to introduce and develop free labor, but how to avoid its introduction, and how to return as much and as quickly as possible to something like the old order of things. nor is it wonderful that such studies should find an expression in their attempts at legislation. but the circumstance that this tendency is natural does not render it less dangerous and objectionable. the practical question presents itself: is the immediate restoration of the late rebel states to absolute self-control so necessary that it must be done even at the risk of endangering one of the great results of the war, and of bringing on in those states insurrection or anarchy, or would it not be better to postpone that restoration until such dangers are passed? if, as long as the change from slavery to free labor is known to the southern people only by its destructive results, these people must be expected to throw obstacles in its way, would it not seem necessary that the movement of social "reconstruction" be kept in the right channel by the hand of the power which originated the change, until that change can have disclosed some of its beneficial effects? it is certain that every success of free negro labor will augment the number of its friends, and disarm some of the prejudices and assumptions of its opponents. i am convinced one good harvest made by unadulterated free labor in the south would have a far better effect than all the oaths that have been taken, and all the ordinances that have as yet been passed by southern conventions. but how can such a result be attained? the facts enumerated in this report, as well as the news we receive from the south from day to day, must make it evident to every unbiased observer that unadulterated free labor cannot be had at present, unless the national government holds its protective and controlling hand over it. it appears, also, that the more efficient this protection of free labor against all disturbing and reactionary influences, the sooner may such a satisfactory result be looked for. one reason why the southern people are so slow in accommodating themselves to the new order of things is, that they confidently expect soon to be permitted to regulate matters according to their own notions. every concession made to them by the government has been taken as an encouragement to persevere in this hope, and, unfortunately for them, this hope is nourished by influences from other parts of the country. hence their anxiety to have their state governments restored _at once_, to have the troops withdrawn, and the freedmen's bureau abolished, although a good many discerning men know well that, in view of the lawless spirit still prevailing, it would be far better for them to have the general order of society firmly maintained by the federal power until things have arrived at a final settlement. had, from the beginning, the conviction been forced upon them that the adulteration of the new order of things by the admixture of elements belonging to the system of slavery would under no circumstances be permitted, a much larger number would have launched their energies into the new channel, and, seeing that they could do "no better," faithfully co-operated with the government. it is hope which fixes them in their perverse notions. that hope nourished or fully gratified, they will persevere in the same direction. that hope destroyed, a great many will, by the force of necessity, at once accommodate themselves to the logic of the change. if, therefore, the national government firmly and unequivocally announces its policy not to give up the control of the free-labor reform until it is finally accomplished, the progress of that reform will undoubtedly be far more rapid and far less difficult than it will be if the attitude of the government is such as to permit contrary hopes to be indulged in. the machinery by which the government has so far exercised its protection of the negro and of free labor in the south--the freedmen's bureau--is very unpopular in that part of the country, as every institution placed there as a barrier to reactionary aspirations would be. that abuses were committed with the management of freedmen's affairs; that some of the officers of the bureau were men of more enthusiasm than discretion, and in many cases went beyond their authority: all this is certainly true. but, while the southern people are always ready to expatiate upon the shortcomings of the freedmen's bureau, they are not so ready to recognize the services it has rendered. i feel warranted in saying that not half of the labor that has been done in the south this year, or will be done there next year, would have been or would be done but for the exertions of the freedmen's bureau. the confusion and disorder of the transition period would have been infinitely greater had not an agency interfered which possessed the confidence of the emancipated slaves; which could disabuse them of any extravagant notions and expectations and be trusted; which could administer to them good advice and be voluntarily obeyed. no other agency, except one placed there by the national government, could have wielded that moral power whose interposition was so necessary to prevent southern society from falling at once into the chaos of a general collision between its different elements. that the success achieved by the freedmen's bureau is as yet very incomplete cannot be disputed. a more perfect organization and a more carefully selected personnel may be desirable; but it is doubtful whether a more suitable machinery can be devised to secure to free labor in the south that protection against disturbing influences which the nature of the situation still imperatively demands. immigration. a temporary continuation of national control in the southern states would also have a most beneficial effect as regards the immigration of northern people and europeans into that country; and such immigration would, in its turn, contribute much to the solution of the labor problem. nothing is more desirable for the south than the importation of new men and new ideas. one of the greatest drawbacks under which the southern people are laboring is, that for fifty years they have been in no sympathetic communion with the progressive ideas of the times. while professing to be in favor of free trade, they adopted and enforced a system of prohibition, as far as those ideas were concerned, which was in conflict with their cherished institution of slavery; and, as almost all the progressive ideas of our days were in conflict with slavery, the prohibition was sweeping. it had one peculiar effect, which we also notice with some asiatic nations which follow a similar course. the southern people honestly maintained and believed, not only that as a people they were highly civilized, but that their civilization was the highest that could be attained, and ought to serve as a model to other nations the world over. the more enlightened individuals among them felt sometimes a vague impression of the barrenness of their mental life, and the barbarous peculiarities of their social organization; but very few ever dared to investigate and to expose the true cause of these evils. thus the people were so wrapt up in self-admiration as to be inaccessible to the voice even of the best-intentioned criticism. hence the delusion they indulged in as to the absolute superiority of their race--a delusion which, in spite of the severe test it has lately undergone, is not yet given up; and will, as every traveller in the south can testify from experience, sometimes express itself in singular manifestations. this spirit, which for so long a time has kept the southern people back while the world besides was moving, is even at this moment still standing as a serious obstacle in the way of progress. nothing can, therefore, be more desirable than that the contact between the southern people and the outside world should be as strong and intimate as possible; and in no better way can this end be subserved than by immigration in mass. of the economical benefits which such immigration would confer upon the owners of the soil it is hardly necessary to speak. immigration wants encouragement. as far as this encouragement consists in the promise of material advantage, it is already given. there are large districts in the south in which an industrious and enterprising man, with some capital, and acting upon correct principles, cannot fail to accumulate large gains in a comparatively short time, as long as the prices of the staples do not fall below what they may reasonably be expected to be for some time to come. a northern man has, besides, the advantage of being served by the laboring population of that region with greater willingness. but among the principal requisites for the success of the immigrant are personal security and a settled condition of things. personal security is honestly promised by the thinking men of the south; but another question is, whether the promise and good intentions of the thinking men will be sufficient to restrain and control the populace, whose animosity against "yankee interlopers" is only second to their hostile feeling against the negro. if the military forces of the government should be soon and completely withdrawn, i see reasons to fear that in many localities immigrants would enjoy the necessary security only when settling down together in numbers strong enough to provide for their own protection. on the whole, no better encouragement can be given to immigration, as far as individual security is concerned, than the assurance that the national government will be near to protect them until such protection is no longer needed. the south needs capital. but capital is notoriously timid and averse to risk itself, not only where there actually is trouble, but where there is serious and continual danger of trouble. capitalists will be apt to consider--and they are by no means wrong in doing so--that no safe investments can be made in the south as long as southern society is liable to be convulsed by anarchical disorders. no greater encouragement can, therefore, be given to capital to transfer itself to the south than the assurance that the government will continue to control the development of the new social system in the late rebel states until such dangers are averted by a final settlement of things upon a thorough free-labor basis. how long the national government should continue that control depends upon contingencies. it ought to cease as soon as its objects are attained; and its objects will be attained sooner and with less difficulty if nobody is permitted to indulge in the delusion that it will cease _before_ they are attained. this is one of the cases in which a determined policy can accomplish much, while a half-way policy is liable to spoil things already accomplished. the continuance of the national control in the south, although it may be for a short period only, will cause some inconvenience and expense; but if thereby destructive collisions and anarchical disorders can be prevented, justice secured to all men, and the return of peace and prosperity to all parts of this country hastened, it will be a paying investment. for the future of the republic, it is far less important that this business of reconstruction be done quickly than that it be well done. the matter well taken in hand, there is reason for hope that it will be well done, and quickly too. in days like these great changes are apt to operate themselves rapidly. at present the southern people assume that free negro labor will not work, and therefore they are not inclined to give it a fair trial. as soon as they find out that they must give it a fair trial, and that their whole future power and prosperity depend upon its success, they will also find out that it will work, at least far better than they have anticipated. then their hostility to it will gradually disappear. this great result accomplished, posterity will not find fault with this administration for having delayed complete "reconstruction" one, two, or more years. although i am not called upon to discuss in this report the constitutional aspects of this question, i may be pardoned for one remark. the interference of the national government in the local concerns of the states lately in rebellion is argued against by many as inconsistent with the spirit of our federal institutions. nothing is more foreign to my ways of thinking in political matters than a fondness for centralization or military government. nobody can value the blessings of local self-government more highly than i do. but we are living under exceptional circumstances which require us, above all, to look at things from a practical point of view; and i believe it will prove far more dangerous for the integrity of local self-government if the national control in the south be discontinued--while by discontinuing it too soon, it may be rendered necessary again in the future--than if it be continued, when by continuing it but a limited time all such future necessity may be obviated. at present these acts of interference are but a part of that exceptional policy brought forth by the necessities into which the rebellion has plunged us. although there will be some modifications in the relations between the states and the national government, yet these acts of direct interference in the details of state concerns will pass away with the exceptional circumstances which called them forth. but if the social revolution in the south be now abandoned in an unfinished state, and at some future period produce events provoking new and repeated acts of direct practical interference--and the contingency would by no means be unlikely to arise--such new and repeated acts would not pass over without most seriously affecting the political organism of the republic. negro suffrage. it would seem that the interference of the national authority in the home concerns of the southern states would be rendered less necessary, and the whole problem of political and social reconstruction be much simplified, if, while the masses lately arrayed against the government are permitted to vote, the large majority of those who were always loyal, and are naturally anxious to see the free labor problem successfully solved, were not excluded from all influence upon legislation. in all questions concerning the union, the national debt, and the future social organization of the south, the feelings of the colored man are naturally in sympathy with the views and aims of the national government. while the southern white fought against the union, the negro did all he could to aid it; while the southern white sees in the national government his conqueror, the negro sees in it his protector; while the white owes to the national debt his defeat, the negro owes to it his deliverance; while the white considers himself robbed and ruined by the emancipation of the slaves, the negro finds in it the assurance of future prosperity and happiness. in all the important issues the negro would be led by natural impulse to forward the ends of the government, and by making his influence, as part of the voting body, tell upon the legislation of the states, render the interference of the national authority less necessary. as the most difficult of the pending questions are intimately connected with the status of the negro in southern society, it is obvious that a correct solution can be more easily obtained if he has a voice in the matter. in the right to vote he would find the best permanent protection against oppressive class-legislation, as well as against individual persecution. the relations between the white and black races, even if improved by the gradual wearing off of the present animosities, are likely to remain long under the troubling influence of prejudice. it is a notorious fact that the rights of a man of some political power are far less exposed to violation than those of one who is, in matters of public interest, completely subject to the will of others. a voter is a man of influence; small as that influence may be in the single individual, it becomes larger when that individual belongs to a numerous class of voters who are ready to make common cause with him for the protection of his rights. such an individual is an object of interest to the political parties that desire to have the benefit of his ballot. it is true, the bringing face to face at the ballot-box of the white and black races may here and there lead to an outbreak of feeling, and the first trials ought certainly to be made while the national power is still there to prevent or repress disturbances; but the practice once successfully inaugurated under the protection of that power, it would probably be more apt than anything else to obliterate old antagonisms, especially if the colored people--which is probable, as soon as their own rights are sufficiently secured--divide their votes between the different political parties. the effect of the extension of the franchise to the colored people upon the development of free labor and upon the security of human rights in the south being the principal object in view, the objections raised on the ground of the ignorance of the freedmen become unimportant. practical liberty is a good school, and, besides, if any qualification can be found, applicable to both races, which does not interfere with the attainment of the main object, such qualification would in that respect be unobjectionable. but it is idle to say that it will be time to speak of negro suffrage when the whole colored race will be educated, for the ballot may be necessary to him to secure his education. it is also idle to say that ignorance is the principal ground upon which southern men object to negro suffrage, for if it were, that numerous class of colored people in louisiana who are as highly educated, as intelligent, and as wealthy as any corresponding class of whites, would have been enfranchised long ago. it has been asserted that the negro would be but a voting machine in the hand of his employer. on this point opinions seem to differ. i have heard it said in the south that the freedmen are more likely to be influenced by their schoolmasters and preachers. but even if we suppose the employer to control to a certain extent the negro laborer's vote, two things are to be taken into consideration: . the class of employers, of landed proprietors, will in a few years be very different from what it was heretofore in consequence of the general breaking up, a great many of the old slaveholders will be obliged to give up their lands and new men will step into their places; and . the employer will hardly control the vote of the negro laborer so far as to make him vote against his own liberty. the beneficial effect of an extension of suffrage does not always depend upon the intelligence with which the newly admitted voters exercise their right, but sometimes upon the circumstances in which they are placed; and the circumstances in which the freedmen of the south are placed are such that, when they only vote for their own liberty and rights, they vote for the rights of free labor, for the success of an immediate important reform, for the prosperity of the country, and for the general interests of mankind. if, therefore, in order to control the colored vote, the employer, or whoever he may be, is first obliged to concede to the freedman the great point of his own rights as a man and a free laborer, the great social reform is completed, the most difficult problem is solved, and all other questions it will be comparatively easy to settle. in discussing the matter of negro suffrage i deemed it my duty to confine myself strictly to the practical aspects of the subject. i have, therefore, not touched its moral merits nor discussed the question whether the national government is competent to enlarge the elective franchise in the states lately in rebellion by its own act; i deem it proper, however, to offer a few remarks on the assertion frequently put forth, that the franchise is likely to be extended to the colored man by the voluntary action of the southern whites themselves. my observation leads me to a contrary opinion. aside from a very few enlightened men, i found but one class of people in favor of the enfranchisement of the blacks: it was the class of unionists who found themselves politically ostracised and looked upon the enfranchisement of the loyal negroes as the salvation of the whole loyal element. but their numbers and influence are sadly insufficient to secure such a result. the masses are strongly opposed to colored suffrage; anybody that dares to advocate it is stigmatized as a dangerous fanatic; nor do i deem it probable that in the ordinary course of things prejudices will wear off to such an extent as to make it a popular measure. outside of louisiana only one gentleman who occupied a prominent political position in the south expressed to me an opinion favorable to it. he declared himself ready to vote for an amendment to the constitution of his state bestowing the right of suffrage upon all male citizens without distinction of color who could furnish evidence of their ability to read and write, without, however, disfranchising those who are now voters and are not able to fulfil that condition. this gentleman is now a member of one of the state conventions, but i presume he will not risk his political standing in the south by moving such an amendment in that body. the only manner in which, in my opinion, the southern people can be induced to grant to the freedman some measure of self-protecting power in the form of suffrage, is to make it a condition precedent to "readmission." deportation of the freedmen. i have to notice one pretended remedy for the disorders now agitating the south, which seems to have become the favorite plan of some prominent public men. it is that the whole colored population of the south should be transported to some place where they could live completely separated from the whites. it is hardly necessary to discuss, not only the question of right and justice, but the difficulties and expense necessarily attending the deportation of nearly four millions of people. but it may be asked, what would become of the industry of the south for many years, if the bulk of its laboring population were taken away? the south stands in need of an increase and not of a diminution of its laboring force to repair the losses and disasters of the last four years. much is said of importing european laborers and northern men; this is the favorite idea of many planters who want such immigrants to work on their plantations. but they forget that european and northern men will not come to the south to serve as hired hands on the plantations, but to acquire property for themselves, and that even if the whole european immigration at the rate of , a year were turned into the south, leaving not a single man for the north and west, it would require between fifteen and twenty years to fill the vacuum caused by the deportation of the freedmen. aside from this, the influx of northern men or europeans will not diminish the demand for hired negro labor; it will, on the contrary, increase it. as europeans and northern people come in, not only vast quantities of land will pass from the hands of their former owners into those of the immigrants, but a large area of new land will be brought under cultivation; and as the area of cultivation expands, hired labor, such as furnished by the colored people, will be demanded in large quantities. the deportation of the labor so demanded would, therefore, be a very serious injury to the economical interests of the south, and if an attempt were made, this effect would soon be felt. it is, however, a question worthy of consideration whether it would not be wise to offer attractive inducements and facilities for the voluntary migration of freedmen to some suitable district on the line of the pacific railroad. it would answer a double object: . it would aid in the construction of that road, and . if this migration be effected on a large scale it would cause a drain upon the laboring force of the south; it would make the people affected by that drain feel the value of the freedmen's labor, and show them the necessity of keeping that labor at home by treating the laborer well, and by offering him inducements as fair as can be offered elsewhere. but whatever the efficiency of such expedients may be, the true problem remains, not how to remove the colored man from his present field of labor, but how to make him, where he is, a true freeman and an intelligent and useful citizen. the means are simple: protection by the government until his political and social status enables him to protect himself, offering to his legitimate ambition the stimulant of a perfectly fair chance in life, and granting to him the rights which in every just organization of society are coupled with corresponding duties. conclusion. i may sum up all i have said in a few words. if nothing were necessary but to restore the machinery of government in the states lately in rebellion in point of form, the movements made to that end by the people of the south might be considered satisfactory. but if it is required that the southern people should also accommodate themselves to the results of the war in point of spirit, those movements fall far short of what must be insisted upon. the loyalty of the masses and most of the leaders of the southern people, consists in submission to necessity. there is, except in individual instances, an entire absence of that national spirit which forms the basis of true loyalty and patriotism. the emancipation of the slaves is submitted to only in so far as chattel slavery in the old form could not be kept up. but although the freedman is no longer considered the property of the individual master, he is considered the slave of society, and all independent state legislation will share the tendency to make him such. the ordinances abolishing slavery passed by the conventions under the pressure of circumstances, will not be looked upon as barring the establishment of a new form of servitude. practical attempts on the part of the southern people to deprive the negro of his rights as a freeman may result in bloody collisions, and will certainly plunge southern society into restless fluctuations and anarchical confusion. such evils can be prevented only by continuing the control of the national government in the states lately in rebellion until free labor is fully developed and firmly established, and the advantages and blessings of the new order of things have disclosed themselves. this desirable result will be hastened by a firm declaration on the part of the government, that national control in the south will not cease until such results are secured. only in this way can that security be established in the south which will render numerous immigration possible, and such immigration would materially aid a favorable development of things. the solution of the problem would be very much facilitated by enabling all the loyal and free-labor elements in the south to exercise a healthy influence upon legislation. it will hardly be possible to secure the freedman against oppressive class legislation and private persecution, unless he be endowed with a certain measure of political power. as to the future peace and harmony of the union, it is of the highest importance that the people lately in rebellion be not permitted to build up another "peculiar institution" whose spirit is in conflict with the fundamental principles of our political system; for as long as they cherish interests peculiar to them in preference to those they have in common with the rest of the american people, their loyalty to the union will always be uncertain. i desire not to be understood as saying that there are no well-meaning men among those who were compromised in the rebellion. there are many, but neither their number nor their influence is strong enough to control the manifest tendency of the popular spirit. there are great reasons for hope that a determined policy on the part of the national government will produce innumerable and valuable conversions. this consideration counsels lenity as to persons, such as is demanded by the humane and enlightened spirit of our times, and vigor and firmness in the carrying out of principles, such as is demanded by the national sense of justice and the exigencies of our situation. in submitting this report i desire to say that i have conscientiously endeavored to see things as they were, and to represent them as i saw them: i have been careful not to use stronger language than was warranted by the thoughts i intended to express. a comparison of the tenor of the annexed documents with that of my report, will convince you that i have studiously avoided overstatements. certain legislative attempts at present made in the south, and especially in south carolina, seem to be more than justifying the apprehensions i have expressed. conscious though i am of having used my best endeavors to draw, from what i saw and learned, correct general conclusions, yet i am far from placing too great a trust in my own judgment, when interests of such magnitude are at stake. i know that this report is incomplete, although as complete as an observation of a few months could enable me to make it. additional facts might be elicited, calculated to throw new light upon the subject. although i see no reason for believing that things have changed for the better since i left for the south, yet such may be the case. admitting all these possibilities, i would entreat you to take no irretraceable step towards relieving the states lately in rebellion from all national control, until such favorable changes are clearly and unmistakably ascertained. to that end, and by virtue of the permission you honored me with when sending me out to communicate to you freely and unreservedly my views as to measures of policy proper to be adopted, i would now respectfully suggest that you advise congress to send one or more "investigating committees" into the southern states, to inquire for themselves into the actual condition of things, before final action is taken upon the readmission of such states to their representation in the legislative branch of the government, and the withdrawal of the national control from that section of the country. i am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, carl schurz. his excellency andrew johnson, _president of the united states_. documents accompanying the report of major general carl schurz. no. . headquarters department of south carolina, _hilton head, s.c., july_ , . dear sir: i have received your letter of the th instant, from charleston, propounding to me three questions, as follows: st. do you think that there are a number of _bona fide_ loyal persons in this state large enough to warrant the early establishment of civil government? d. do you think that the white population of south carolina, if restored to the possession of political power in this state, would carry out the spirit of the emancipation proclamation, and go to work in a _bona fide_ manner to organize free labor? d. what measures do you think necessary to insure such a result in this state? the first of these questions i am forced to answer in the negative, provided that white persons only are referred to in the expression "_bona fide loyal persons_," and provided that "the early establishment of civil government" means the early withdrawal of the general control of affairs from the united states authorities. to the second question, i answer that i do not think that the white inhabitants of south carolina, if left to themselves, are yet prepared to carry out the spirit of the emancipation proclamation; neither do i think that they would organize free labor upon any plan that would be of advantage to both whites and blacks until the mutual distrust and prejudice now existing between the races are in a measure removed. to the third question i answer, that, in order to secure the carrying out of the "spirit of the emancipation proclamation," and the organization of really free labor in good faith, it appears to me necessary that the military, or some other authority derived from the national government, should retain a supervisory control over the civil affairs in this state until the next season's crops are harvested and secured. the reasons which have dictated my replies i shall notice quite briefly. loyalty in south carolina--such loyalty as is secured by the taking of the amnesty oath and by the reception of executive clemency--does not approach the standard of loyalty in the north. it is not the golden fruit of conviction, but the stern and unpromising result of necessity, arising from unsuccessful insurrection. the white population of the state accept the condition which has been imposed upon them, simply because there is no alternative. they entered upon the war in the spring of and arrayed themselves on the side of treason with a unanimity of purpose and a malignity of feeling not equalled by that displayed in any other state. the individual exceptions to this rule were too few in numbers and were possessed of too little power to be taken into account at all. although the overt treason then inaugurated has been overcome by superior force, few will claim that it has been transformed into loyalty toward the national government. i am clearly of the opinion that it has not, and that time and experience will be necessary to effect such a change. all intelligent whites admit that the "abolition of slavery" and the "impracticability of secession" are the plain and unmistakable verdicts of the war. their convictions as yet go no further. their preference for the "divine institution," and their intellectual belief in the right of a state to secede, are as much articles of faith in their creed at the present moment as they were on the day when the ordinance of secession was unanimously adopted. when the rebel armies ceased to exist, and there was no longer any force that could be invoked for waging war against the nation, the insurgents accepted that fact simply as proof of the impossibility of their establishing an independent government. this sentiment was almost immediately followed by a general desire to save as much property as possible from the general wreck. to this state of the public mind, which succeeded the surrender of the rebel armies with noteworthy rapidity, i am forced to attribute the prevailing willingness and desire of the people to "return" to their allegiance, and resume the avocations of peace. i do not regard this condition of things as at all discouraging. it is, indeed, better than i expected to see or dared to hope for in so short a time. one good result of it is, that guerilla warfare, which was so very generally apprehended, has never been resorted to in this state. there was a sudden and general change from a state of war to a state of peace, and, with the exception of frequent individual conflicts, mostly between the whites and blacks, and often, it is true, resulting in loss of life, that peace has rarely been disturbed. it is, however, a peace resulting from a cool and dispassionate appeal to reason, and not from any convictions of right or wrong; it has its origin in the head, and not in the heart. impotency and policy gave it birth, and impotency, policy and hope keep it alive. it is not inspired by any higher motives than these, and higher motives could hardly be expected to follow immediately in the footsteps of armed insurrection. the hopes of the people are fixed, as a matter of course, upon the president. the whites hope and expect to recover the preponderating influence which they have lost by the war, and which has been temporarily replaced by the military authority throughout the state, and they receive with general satisfaction the appointment of mr. perry as provisional governor of the state, and regard it as a step toward their restoration to civil and political power. even those men who have taken the lead during the war, not only in the heartiness and liberality of their support of the rebel cause, but also in the bitterness of their denunciation of the national government and the loyal people of the northern states, express themselves as entirely satisfied with the shape which events are taking. the colored population, on the contrary, or that portion of it which moulds the feelings and directs the passions of the mass, look with growing suspicion upon this state of affairs, and entertain the most lively apprehensions with regard to their future welfare. they have no fears of being returned to slavery, having the most implicit faith in our assurance of its abolition for all time to come, but they think they see the power which has held the lash over them through many generations again being restored to their former masters, and they are impressed with a greater or less degree of alarm. thus the "irrepressible conflict," the antagonism of interest, thought, and sentiment between the races is perpetuated. the immediate resumption by the whites of the civil and political power of the state would have a tendency to augment this evil. at the present time all differences between the whites and blacks, but more especially those growing out of agreements for compensated labor, are promptly and willingly referred to the nearest military authority for adjustment; the whites well knowing that simple justice will be administered, and the blacks inspired by the belief that we are their friends. this plan works smoothly and satisfactorily. many of the labor contracts upon the largest plantations have been made with special reference to the planting and harvesting of the next year's crops; others expire with the present year. the immediate restoration of the civil power by removing military restraint from those planters who are not entirely sincere in their allegiance, and have not made their pledges and especially their labor contracts in good faith, and by withdrawing from the blacks that source of protection to which alone they look for justice with any degree of confidence, would, by engendering new suspicions, and new prejudices between the races, work disadvantageously to both in a pecuniary sense, while the successful solution of the important question of free black labor would be embarrassed, deferred, and possibly defeated, inasmuch as it would be placed thereby in the hands of men who are avowedly suspicious of the negro, and have no confidence in his fitness for freedom, or his willingness to work; who regard the abolition of slavery as a great sectional calamity, and who, under the semblance and even the protection of the law, and without violating the letter of the emancipation proclamation, would have it in their power to impose burdens upon the negro race scarcely less irksome than those from which it has theoretically escaped. indeed, the ordinary vagrancy and apprenticeship laws now in force in some of the new england states (slightly modified perhaps) could be so administered and enforced upon the blacks in south carolina as to keep them in practical slavery. they could, while bearing the name of freeman, be legally subjected to all the oppressive features of serfdom, peonage, and feudalism combined, without possessing the right to claim, much less the power to exact, any of the prerogatives and amenities belonging to either of those systems of human bondage. all this could be done without violating the letter of the emancipation proclamation; no argument is necessary to prove that it would be a total submission of its spirit. even upon the presumption that the whites, when again clothed with civil authority, would be influenced by a sincere desire to enforce the emancipation proclamation, and organize free labor upon a wise and just basis, it would seem injudicious to intrust them with unlimited power, which might be wielded to the injury of both races until the prejudices and animosities which generated the rebellion and gave it life and vigor have had time to subside. few men have any clear conception of what the general good at the present time requires in the way of state legislation. a thousand vague theories are floating upon the public mind. the evils which we would have to fear from an immediate re-establishment of civil government would be not only hasty and ignorant but excessive legislation. while there may be wide differences of opinion as to which is the greater of these two evils _per se_, i am free to express my belief that one or the other of them would be very likely to follow the immediate restoration of civil government, and that it would be not only injudicious in itself but productive of prospective harm, to whites as well as blacks, to place the former in a position where a community of feeling, the promptings of traditional teachings, and the instincts of self-interest and self-preservation, would so strongly tempt them to make a choice. i believe that a respectable majority of the most intelligent whites would cordially aid any policy calculated, in their opinion, to secure the greatest good of the greatest number, blacks included, but i do not regard them as yet in a condition to exercise an unbiassed judgment in this matter. inasmuch as very few of them are yet ready to admit the practicability of ameliorating the condition of the black race to any considerable extent, they would not be likely at the present time to devise a wise system of free black labor. neither would they be zealous and hopeful co-laborers in such a system if desired by others. i have spoken of the contract system which has been inaugurated by the military authorities throughout the state as working smoothly and satisfactorily. this statement should, of course, be taken with some limitation. it was inaugurated as an expedient under the pressure of stringent necessity at a time when labor was in a greatly disorganized state, and there was manifest danger that the crops, already planted, would be lost for want of cultivation. many of the negroes, but more especially the able-bodied ones and those possessing no strong family ties, had, under the novel impulses of freedom, left the plantation where they had been laboring through the planting season, and flocked to the nearest military post, becoming a useless and expensive burden upon our hands. very many plantations, under extensive cultivation, were entirely abandoned. at places remote from military posts, and that had never been visited by our troops, this exodus did not take place so extensively or to a degree threatening a very general loss of crops. the negroes were retained partly through ignorance or uncertainty of their rights and partly through fear of their former masters and the severe discipline unlawfully enforced by them. under the assurance that they were free, that they would be protected in the enjoyment of their freedom and the fruits of their labor, but would not be supported in idleness by the government so long as labor could be procured, the flow of negroes into the towns and military posts was stopped, and most of them already accumulated there were induced to return to the plantations and resume work under contracts to be approved and enforced by the military authorities. both planters and negroes very generally, and apparently quite willingly, fell into this plan as the best that could be improvised. although there have been many instances of violation of contracts, (more frequently, i think, by the black than by the white,) and although the plan possesses many defects, and is not calculated to develop all the advantages and benefits of a wise free-labor system. i am not prepared to recommend any material modification of it, or anything to replace it, at least for several months to come. for reasons already suggested i believe that the restoration of civil power that would take the control of this question out of the hands of the united states authorities (whether exercised through the military authorities or through the freedmen's bureau) would, instead of removing existing evils, be almost certain to augment them. very respectfully, your obedient servant, q.a. gillmore, _major general_. general carl schurz, _charleston, s.c._ no. . charleston, south carolina, _july_ , . general: since handing you my letter of yesterday i have read a speech reported to have been delivered in greenville, south carolina, on the d instant. i have judged of mr. perry by reports of others, but as i now have an opportunity from his own lips of knowing his opinions, i must request that you will cross out that portion of my letter referring to him. very respectfully, your obedient servant, john p. hatch, _brevet major general, commanding_. major general carl schurz. headquarters military district of charleston, _charleston, south carolina, july_ , . general: in answer to your question as to the disposition of the people being such as to justify their speedy return to the control of political power, i would say no. many portions of the state have not yet been visited by our troops, and in other parts not long enough occupied to encourage the formation of a new party, disposed to throw off the old party rulers, who, after thirty years preaching sedition, succeeded in carrying their point and forcing the people into rebellion. were elections to be held now, the old leaders already organized would carry everything by the force of their organization. i would say delay action, pardon only such as the governor can recommend, and let him only recommend such as he feels confident will support the views of the government. men who supported nullification in thirty-two, and have upheld the doctrine of states' rights since, should not be pardoned; they cannot learn new ways. i have read with care the published proceedings of every public meeting held in this state, and have observed that not one single resolution has yet been passed in which the absolute freedom of the colored man was recognized, or the doctrine of the right of secession disavowed. why is this? because the old leaders have managed the meetings, and they cannot see that a new order of things exists. they still hope to obtain control of the state, and then to pass laws with reference to the colored people which shall virtually re-establish slavery; and although they look upon secession as at present hopeless, a future war may enable them to again raise the standard. you ask what signs do they show of a disposition to educate the blacks for the new position they are to occupy? this is a question that has so far been but little discussed. no education, except as to their religious duties, was formerly allowed, and this only to make them contented in their position of servitude. whilst thoroughly instructed in the injunction, "servants obey your masters," adultery was not only winked at, but, unfortunately, in too many cases practically recommended. a few gentlemen have said to me that they were willing to have the blacks taught to read and write, but little interest appears to be felt on the subject. with reference to the benefit to be derived by the general government by delaying the formation for the present of a state government, i will be brief. it will discourage the old leaders who are anxious to seize immediately the reins of power. it will, by allowing time for discussion, give the people an opportunity to become acquainted with subjects they have heretofore trusted to their leaders. wherever our troops go, discussion follows, and it would be best that the people should not commit themselves to a line of policy, they have not had time to examine and decide upon coolly. it will give the young men ambitious of rising opportunity for organizing on a new platform a party which, assisted by the government, can quiet forever the questions which have made the state of south carolina a thorn in the side of the union. these young men, many of whom have served in the army, take a practical view of their present condition that the old stay-at-homes cannot be brought to understand. give them time and support and they will do the work required of them. their long absence has made it necessary to become acquainted with the people; but they will be listened to as men who have honestly fought in a cause which has failed, and will be respected for as honestly coming out in support of the now only reasonable chance of a peaceful government for the future. where our troops have been the longest time stationed we have the most friends; and were the people thoroughly convinced that the government (until they have shown a disposition to unite heartily in its support) is determined not to give them a state government, the change would go on much more rapidly. the selection of governor perry was most fortunate. i know of no other man in south carolina who could have filled the position. i remain, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, jno. p. hatch, _brevet major general commanding_. general carl schurz. no. . charleston, s.c., _july_ , . general: in compliance with your verbal request, made at our interview this a.m., to express to you my opinions and impressions regarding the status of the people of south carolina, and of such others of the insurrectionary states with whom i have come in contact, respecting a return to their allegiance to the federal government, and a willingness on their part to sustain and support the same in its efforts to restore and accomplish the actual union of the states, and also their probable adhesion to the several acts and proclamations which have been enacted and promulgated by the legislative and executive branches of the government, i beg to reply, that, as an officer of one of the departments, i have been enabled by constant intercourse with large numbers of this people to form an approximate estimate of the nature of their loyalty, and also to gain a knowledge of the prejudices which remain with them towards the forces, military and political, which have prevailed against them after the struggle of the last four years, and established the integrity and power of the republic. whatever may be said upon the abstract question of voluntary or forcible state secession, the defeat of the insurrectionary forces has been so perfect and complete, that the most defiant have already avowed their allegiance to the national government. the first experience of the insurgents is a complete submission, followed by a promise to abstain from all further acts of rebellion--in fact, the nucleus of their loyalty is necessity, while perhaps some with still a sentiment of loyalty in their hearts for the old flag turn back, like the prodigal, with tearful eyes, wasted means, and exhausted energies. at the present time there can be but few loyal men in the state of south carolina who, through evil and good report, have withstood the wiles of secession. south carolina has been sown broadcast for the last thirty years with every conceivable form of literature which taught her children the divine right of state sovereignty, carrying with it all its accompanying evils. the sovereign state of south carolina in her imperial majesty looked down upon the republic itself, and only through a grand condescension, remained to supervise and balance the power which, when not controlling, she had sworn to destroy. the works of calhoun were the necessary companion of every man of culture and education. they were by no means confined to the libraries of the economist and politician. when the national troops pillaged the houses and deserted buildings of charleston, the streets were strewn with the pamphlets, sermons and essays of politicians, clergymen, and belles-lettres scholars, all promulgating, according to the ability and tastes of their several authors, the rights of the sovereign state. no public occasion passed by which did not witness an assertion of these rights, and the gauntlet of defiance was ever upon the ground. it is the loyalty of such a people that we have to consider. as a people the south carolinians are brave and generous in certain directions. in their cities there is great culture, and many of the citizens are persons of refinement, education and taste. the educated classes are well versed in the history of our country, and many have an intimate knowledge of the varied story of political parties. but from the lowest to the highest classes of the white population there is an instinctive dread of the negro and an utter abhorrence of any doctrine which argues an ultimate improvement of his condition beyond that of the merest chattel laborer. the first proposition made by the southerner on all occasions of discussion is, that the emancipation proclamation of the president was a grievous error from every point of view; that in the settlement of the various questions arising from the insurrection, the national government assumes a responsibility which belongs to the several states, and now that the supremacy of the general government is established, and the prospect of a resuscitation, rehabilitation, reconstruction, or simple assertion of the legislative and executive powers of the separate states, a lingering hope yet remains with many, that although african slavery is abolished, the states may yet so legislate as to place the negro in a state of actual peonage and submission to the will of the employer. therefore, we have combined with a forced and tardy loyalty a lingering hope that such state legislation can be resorted to as will restore the former slave to, as nearly as possible, the condition of involuntary servitude. and the question naturally arises, how long must we wait for a higher and purer expression of fealty to the union, and for a more intelligent and just appreciation of the question of free colored, labor which the results of the contest have forced upon us? i am satisfied, that while no efforts must be spared to instil into the minds of the freedmen the necessity of patient labor and endeavor, and a practical knowledge of the responsibilities of their new condition, by a judicious system of education, the white southerner is really the most interesting pupil, and we must all feel a solicitude for his enlightenment. the principles of liberty have been working for a number of years in our republic, and have secured various great political results. latterly they have worked with wonderful and rapid effect, and it has ever been by aid of all the forces of education and enlightened commerce between man and man that the progress of true freedom has been hastened and made secure. when the southern planter sees it demonstrated beyond a doubt that the free labor of the black man, properly remunerated, conduces to his pecuniary interests, at that moment he will accept the situation, and not before, unless it is forced upon him; therefore, it is the white southerner that must be educated into a realization of his responsibility in the settlement of these questions, and by a systematic and judicious education of the freedman a citizen will gradually be developed; and the two classes, finding their interests mutual, will soon settle the now vexed question of suffrage. i am firmly of opinion that the government cannot afford to relax its hold upon these states until a loyal press, representing the views of the government, shall disseminate its sentiments broadcast all over this southern land; and when all the avenues and channels of communication shall have been opened, and the policy of the government shall be more easily ascertained and promulgated, and the states, or the citizens thereof in sufficient numbers, shall have avowed by word and act their acceptance of the new order of things, we may then safely consider the expediency of surrendering to each state legislature the duty of framing its necessary constitution and code, and all other adjuncts of civil government. if the form of our government were monarchical, we might be more sanguine of the success of any proposed measure of amnesty, because of the immediate power of the government to suppress summarily any disorder arising from too great leniency; but to delegate to the states themselves the quelling of the tumult which they have themselves raised, is, to say the least, a doubtful experiment. many thinking carolinians have said that they preferred that the government should first itself demonstrate the system of free labor, to such an extent that the planter would gladly avail himself of the system and carry it on to its completion. the presence of a strong military force is still needed in the state of south carolina to maintain order, and to see that the national laws are respected, as well as to enforce such municipal regulations as the occasion demands. for such service, officers of sound, practical sense should be chosen--men whose appreciation of strict justice both to employer and employee would compensate even for a lack of mere skilful military knowledge; men without the mean prejudices which are the bane of some who wear the insignia of the national service. i believe that affairs in south carolina are yet in a very crude state; that outrages are being practiced upon the negro which the military arm should prevent. doubtless many stories are fabricated or exaggerated, but a calm and candid citizen of charleston has said: "is it wonderful that this should be so; that men whose slaves have come at their call, but now demur, hesitate, and perhaps refuse labor or demand certain wages therefor--that such men, smarting under their losses and defeats, should vent their spite upon a race slipping from their power and asserting their newly acquired rights? is abuse not a natural result?" but time, enlightenment, and the strenuous efforts of the government can prevent much of this. i am, therefore, convinced that the education of the white and black must go hand in hand together until the system of free labor is so absolutely demonstrated that the interest of the employer will be found in the intelligence, the well-being, and the comfort of the employed. i believe that the great sources of benevolence at the north should still flood this southern land with its bounty--that the national government should encourage each state to receive all the implements of labor, education and comfort which a generous people can bestow, not merely for the benefit of the black freedman, but for the disenthralled white who has grovelled in the darkness of a past age, and who has been, perhaps, the innocent oppressor of a people he may yet serve, and with them enter into the enjoyment of a more glorious freedom than either have ever conceived. with sentiments of respect and esteem, i beg to remain, general, your obedient servant, john h. pilsbury, _deputy supervising and assistant special agent treasury department_. major general carl schurz, &c., &c., &c. no. . _views expressed by major general steedman in conversation with carl schurz_. augusta, georgia, _august_ , . i have been in command of this department only a month, and can, therefore, not pretend to have as perfect a knowledge of the condition of affairs, and the sentiments of the people of georgia, as i may have after longer experience. but observations so far made lead me to the following conclusions: the people of this state, with only a few individual exceptions, are submissive but not loyal. if intrusted with political power at this time they will in all probability use it as much as possible to escape from the legitimate results of the war. their political principles, as well as their views on the slavery question, are the same as before the war, and all that can be expected of them is that they will submit to actual necessities from which there is no escape. the state is quiet, in so far as there is no organised guerilla warfare. conflicts between whites and blacks are not unfrequent, and in many instances result in bloodshed. as to the labor question, i believe that the planters of this region have absolutely no conception of what free labor is. i consider them entirely incapable of legislating understandingly upon the subject at the present time. the organization of labor in this state, especially in the interior, has so far, in most cases, been left to the planters and freedmen themselves, the organization of the freedmen's bureau being as yet quite imperfect. a great many contracts have been made between planters and freedmen, some of which were approved by the military authorities and some were not. general wilde, the principal agent of the freedmen's bureau in this state, is, in my opinion, entirely unfit for the discharge of the duties incumbent upon him. he displays much vigor where it is not wanted, and shows but very little judgment where it is wanted. until the freedmen's bureau will be sufficiently organized in this state i deem it necessary to temporarily intrust the provost marshals, now being stationed all over the state, one to every four counties, with the discharge of its functions, especially as concerns the making of contracts and the adjustment of difficulties between whites and blacks. i deem it impracticable to refer such difficulties for adjustment to such civil courts as can at present be organized in this state. it would be like leaving each party to decide the case for itself, and would undoubtedly at once result in a free fight. it will be so until the people of this state have a more accurate idea of the rights of the freedmen. the military power is, in my opinion, the only tribunal which, under existing circumstances, can decide difficulties between whites and blacks to the satisfaction of both parties and can make its decisions respected. as for the restoration of civil power in this state, i apprehend it cannot be done without leading to the necessity of frequent interference on the part of the military until the sentiments of the people of georgia have undergone a very great change. this memorandum was read to general steedman by me and he authorized me to submit it in this form to the president. c. schurz. no. . headquarters district of columbus, _macon, georgia, august_ , . general: there are no loyal people in georgia, except the negroes; nor are there any considerable number who would under any circumstances offer armed resistance to the national authority. an officer, without arms or escort, could arrest any man in the state. but, while their submission is thus complete and universal, it is not a matter of choice, but a stern necessity which they deplore. if allowed they will readily reorganize their state government and administer it upon correct principles, except in matters pertaining to their former slaves. on this subject they admit the abolition of the institution, and will so frame their constitution, hoping thereby to procure their recognition as a state government, when they will at once, by legislation, reduce the freedmen to a condition worse than slavery. yet while they will not recognize the rights of their former slaves themselves, they will submit to its full recognition by the national government, which can do just as it pleases and no resistance will be offered. my own clear opinion is, it will have to do everything that may be necessary to secure real practical freedom to the former slaves. the disturbances at present are chiefly due, i think, to the swarm of vagrants thrown upon society by the disbanding of the rebel armies and the emancipation of the slaves at a season of the year when it is difficult for those who seek to find employment. after the st of january i apprehend no trouble, as the culture of the next crop will absorb all the labor of the country. in the interim a great deal of care and diligence will be required. hence i recommend the importance of sending men of energy and business capacity to manage the affairs of the freedmen's bureau. i am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, john t. croxton, _brigadier general united states_. general carl schurz. no. . headquarters department of the gulf, _new orleans, june_ , . sir: i have the honor to transmit for your consideration a copy of the correspondence between the governor of louisiana and myself touching the relations between the state and the military authorities in this department. the instructions upon this subject are, and probably designedly, indefinite. they indicate, however, the acceptance by the president of the constitution of the state, adopted in september, , as the means of re-establishing civil government in the state and the recognition of the governor as his agent in accomplishing this work. the same principle gives validity to such of the state laws as are not in conflict with this constitution, or repealed by congressional legislation, or abrogated by the president's proclamation or orders issued during the rebellion. this leaves many questions undetermined, except so far as they are settled by the law of nations and the laws of war, so far as my authority extends. i will turn over all such questions to the state government; and in cases that do not come within the legitimate authority of a military commander, will report them for such action as his excellency the president, or the war department, may think proper to adopt. i have had a very free conference with the governor upon this subject, and i believe that he concurs with me that the course i have indicated in the correspondence with him is not only the legal but the only course that will avoid the appeals to the local courts by interested or designing men, which are now dividing those who profess to be working for the same object--the re-establishment of civil authority throughout the state. then, in addition, many questions, in which the interests of the government are directly involved, or in which the relations of the general government to the states, as affected by the rebellion, are left unsettled by any adequate legislation. i do not think it will be wise to commit any of these questions, either directly or indirectly, to the jurisdiction of the state or other local courts, and will not so commit them unless instructed to do so. it is very possible that in the varied and complicated questions that will come up there may be differences of opinion between the governor and myself, but there shall be no discord of action, and i will give to his efforts the fullest support in my power. i have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, e.r.s. canby, _major general commanding_. the secretary of war, _washington, d.c._ official copy: r. des anges, _major, a.a.g._ state of louisiana, executive department, _new orleans, june_ , . general: there is a class of officers holding and exercising the duties of civil officers in this state who claim to hold their right to the same by virtue of deriving their appointment from military authority exercised either by general shepley as military governor, or michael hahn, and in some cases by major general banks, commander of the department of the gulf. these men resist my power to remove on the ground that i am not clothed with military power, although the offices they fill are strictly civil offices, and the power of appointing to the same to fill vacancies (which constructively exist until the office is filled according to law) is one of my prerogatives as civil governor. to dispossess these men by legal process involves delay and trouble. many of the persons so holding office are obnoxious to the charges of official misconduct and of obstructing my efforts to re-establish civil government. for the purpose, therefore, of settling the question, and relieving the civil government of the state from the obstructions to its progress caused by the opposition of these men, i would respectfully suggest to you, general, the expediency of your issuing an order revoking all appointments made by military or semi-military authority to civil offices in this state prior to the th of march, , the date on which i assumed the duties of governor. i fix that date because it is only since that period the governor has been confined to strictly civil powers, and what military power has been exercised since in appointments to office has been from necessity and was unavoidable. i throw out these suggestions, general, for your consideration. on my recent visit to the capital i had full and free conversation with president johnson on the subject of reorganizing civil government in louisiana, and while deprecating the interference of military power in civil government beyond the point of actual necessity, yet he fully appreciated the difficulties of my position, and assured me that i should be sustained by him in all necessary and legal measures to organize and uphold civil government. i have the honor to be, very respectfully, &c., j. madison wells, _governor of louisiana_. major general e.r.s. canby, _commanding department of the gulf_. official copy: r. des anges, _major, a.a.g._ headquarters department of the gulf, _new orleans, june_ , . sir: i have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the th instant, asking me to revoke all appointments made by military or semi-military authority to civil offices in the state prior to the th of march, . i have given this subject the attention and serious consideration which its importance demands, and i find it complicated not only with the private and public interests of the people and state of louisiana, but also with the direct interests of the government of the united states, or with the obligations imposed upon the government by the condition of the country or by the antecedent exercise of lawful military authority. to the extent that these considerations obtain they are controlling considerations, and i cannot find that i have any authority to delegate the duties devolved upon me by my official position, or to evade the responsibilities which it imposes. i venture the suggestion, also, that the evils complained of, and which are so apparent and painful to all who are interested in the restoration of civil authority, will scarcely be obtained by the course you recommend, but will, in my judgment, give rise to complications that will embarrass not only the state but the general government. all officers who hold their offices by the tenure of military appointment are subject to military authority and control, and will not be permitted to interfere in any manner whatever with the exercise of functions that have been committed to you as governor of louisiana. if they are obnoxious to the charge of misconduct in office, or of obstructing you in your efforts to re-establish civil government, they will, upon your recommendation, be removed. if, under the constitution and laws of the state, the power of appointment resides in the governor, my duty will be ended by vacating the appointment. if the office is elective, the military appointment will be cancelled so soon as the successor is elected and qualified. in the alternative cases the removal will be made, and successors recommended by you, and against whom there are no disqualifying charges, will be appointed. this, in my judgment, is the only course which will remove all legal objections, or even legal quibbles. i desire to divest myself as soon as possible of all questions of civil administration, and will separate, as soon and as far as i can, all such questions from those that are purely military in their character, and commit them to the care of the proper officers of the civil government. some of these questions are complicated in their character, and involve not only private and public interests, but the faith of the national government; originating in the legal exercise of military authority, they can only be determined by the same authority. there is another consideration, not directly but incidentally involved in the subject of your communication, to which i have the honor to invite your attention. the results of the past four years have worked many changes both as to institutions and individuals within the insurrectionary states, giving to some of the interests involved an absolutely national character, and in others leaving the relations between the general government and the states undetermined. so far as congress has legislated upon these subjects, it has placed them under the direct control of the general government, and under the laws of nations and laws of war the same principle applies to the other subject. until congress has legislated upon this subject, or until executive authority sanctions it, no questions of this character will be committed to the jurisdiction of the local courts. i make these suggestions to you for the reason that i have already found a strong disposition in some sections of the country to forestall the action of the general government by bringing these subjects more or less directly under the control of the local courts; and i have neither the authority nor the disposition to establish precedents that may possibly embarrass the future action of the government. i take this occasion to assure your excellency of my hearty co-operation in your efforts to re-establish civil government, and in any measures that may be undertaken for the benefit of the state or people of louisiana. i shall be happy at all times to confer with you upon any of these subjects, and to give you, whenever necessary, any assistance that you may require. i have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, e.r.s. canby, _major general, commanding_. his excellency the governor of louisiana, _new orleans, la_. official copy: r. des anges, _major, a.a.g._ state of louisiana, executive department, _new orleans, june_ , . general: i have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the th instant, in answer to mine of the th, relating to the expediency of your revoking the appointment of all civil officers in the state made by military or semi-military authority. i desire to state that your views and suggestions, as regards your duty and proper course of action in the premises, are entirely satisfactory to me. for the care you have bestowed on the subject, and the earnest disposition you evince to do all in your power to promote the interests of civil government in this unfortunate state, by co-operating with and sustaining me in all legitimate measures to that end, i beg to return you, not only my own thanks, but i feel authorized to speak for the great mass of our fellow-citizens, and to include them in the same category. with high respect, i subscribe myself, your obedient servant, j. madison wells, _governor of louisiana_. major general e.r.s. canby, _commanding department of the gulf_. official copy: r. des anges, _major, a.a.g._ headquarters department of louisiana, _new orleans, september_ , . sir: in compliance with your request, i have the honor to submit some remarks upon the civil government of louisiana, and its relation to the military administration of this department. these relations are more anomalous and complicated, probably, than in any other insurrectionary state, and it will be useful in considering these questions to bear in mind the changes that have occurred since the occupation of this city by the union forces. these are, briefly-- . the military administration of the commander of the department of the gulf, major general butler. . the military government, of which brigadier general shepley was the executive, by appointment of the president. . the provisional government, of which the hon. m. hahn was the executive, by appointment of the president, upon nomination by the people at an election held under military authority. . the constitutional government, organized under the constitution adopted by the convention in july, , and ratified by the people at an election held in september of that year. of this government the hon. j.m. wells is the present executive. this government has not yet been recognized by congress, and its relation to the military authority of the department has never been clearly defined. being restrained by constitutional limitations, its powers are necessarily imperfect, and it is frequently necessary to supplant them by military authority. many of the civil officers still hold their positions by the tenure of military appointments holding over until elections can be held under the constitution. these appointments may be vacated by the commander of the department, and, if under the constitution the power of appointment reside in the governor, be filled by him: if it does not, the appointment must be filled by the military commander. very few removals and no appointments have been made by me during my command of the department; but the governor has been advised that all persons holding office by the tenure of military appointment were subject to military supervision and control, and would not be permitted to interfere in the duties committed to him by the president of restoring "civil authority in the state of louisiana;" that upon his recommendation, and for _cause_, such officers would be removed; and if the power of appointment was not under the constitution vested in him, the appointment would be made by the department commander, if, upon his recommendation, there was no disqualifying exception. the instructions to the military commanders, in relation to the previous governments, were general, and i believe explicit; but, as their application passed away with the existence of these governments, it is not necessary to refer to them here. those that relate to the constitutional government are very brief, so far, at least, as they have reached me. in a confidential communication from his excellency to the late president, in which he deprecated, in strong terms, any military interferences, and expressed very freely his own views and wishes, he concluded by saying that "the military must be judge and master so long as the necessity for the military remains;" and, in my instructions from the war department, of may , , the secretary of war says: "the president directs me to express his wish that the military authorities render all proper assistance to the civil authorities in control in the state of louisiana, and not to interfere with its action further than it may be necessary for the peace and security of the department." these directions and wishes have been conclusive, and i have given to the civil authorities whatever support and assistance they required, and have abstained from any interference with questions of civil or local state administration, except when it was necessary to protect the freedmen in their newly acquired rights, and to prevent the local courts from assuming jurisdiction in cases where, of law and of right, the jurisdiction belongs inclusively to the united states courts or united states authorities. with the appointments made by the governor i have no right to interfere unless the appointees are disqualified by coming under some one of the exceptions made by the president in his proclamation of may , , or, (as in one or two instances that have occurred,) in the case of double appointments to the same office, when a conflict might endanger the peace and security of the department. my personal and official intercourse with the governor has been of the most cordial character. i have had no reason to distrust his wish and intention to carry out the views of the president. i do distrust both the loyalty and the honesty (political) of some of his advisers, and i look with apprehension upon many of the appointments made under these influences during the past two months. the feeling and temper of that part of the population of louisiana which was actively engaged in or sympathized with the rebellion have also materially changed within that period. the political and commercial combinations against the north are gaining in strength and confidence every day. political, sectional, and local questions, that i had hoped were buried with the dead of the past four years, are revived. independent sovereignty, state rights, and nullification, where the power to nullify is revoked, are openly discussed. it may be that these are only ordinary political discussions, and that i attach undue importance to them from the fact that i have never before been so intimately in contact with them; but, to my judgment, they indicate very clearly that it will not be wise or prudent to commit any question involving the paramount supremacy of the government of the united states to the states that have been in insurrection until the whole subject of restoration has been definitively and satisfactorily adjusted. before leaving this subject i think it proper to invite your attention to the position of a part of the colored population of this state. by the president's proclamation of january , , certain parishes in this state (thirteen in number) were excepted from its provisions--the condition of the negroes as to slavery remaining unchanged until they were emancipated by the constitution of . if this constitution should be rejected (the state of louisiana not admitted under it) the legal condition of these people will be that of slavery until this defect can be cured by future action. the government of the city of new orleans, although administered by citizens, derives its authority from military orders, and its offices have always been under the supervision and control of the commander of the department, or of the military governor of the state. the present mayor was appointed by major general hurlbut, removed by major general banks, and reinstated by myself. under the constitution and laws of the state the principal city offices are elective, but the time has not yet been reached when an election for these offices should be held. although standing in very different relations from the state government, i have thought it proper to apply the same rule, and have not interfered with its administration except so far as might be necessary to protect the interests of the government, or to prevent the appointment to offices of persons excepted by the president's proclamation. very respectfully, your obedient servant, ed. r.s. canby, _major general, commanding_. major general carl schurz _united states volunteers, new orleans_. no. . _statement of general thomas kilby smith_. new orleans, _september_ , . i have been in command of the southern district of alabama since the commencement of general canby's expedition against mobile, and have been in command of the district and post of mobile, with headquarters at mobile, from june until the th of august, and relinquished command of the post on september . during my sojourn i have become familiar with the character and temper of the people of all of southern alabama. it is my opinion that with the exception of a small minority, the people of mobile and southern alabama are disloyal in their sentiments and hostile to what they call the united states, and that a great many of them are still inspired with a hope that at some future time the "confederacy," as they style it, will be restored to independence. in corroboration of this assertion, i might state that in conversation with me bishop wilmer, of the diocese of alabama, (episcopal), stated that to be his belief; that when i urged upon him the propriety of restoring to the litany of his church that prayer which includes the prayer for the president of the united states, the whole of which he had ordered his rectors to expunge, he refused, first, upon the ground that he could not pray for a continuance of martial law; and secondly, that he would stultify himself in the event of alabama and the southern confederacy regaining their independence. this was on the th of june. this man exercises a widespread influence in the state, and his sentiments are those of a large proportion of what is called the better class of people, and particularly the women. hence the representatives of the united states flag are barely tolerated. they are not welcome among the people in any classes of society. there is always a smothered hatred of the uniform and the flag. nor is this confined to the military, but extends to all classes who, representing northern interests, seek advancement in trade, commerce, and the liberal professions, or who, coming from the north, propose to locate in the south. the men who compose the convention do, in my opinion, not represent the people of alabama, because the people had no voice in their election. i speak with assurance on this subject, because i have witnessed the proceedings in my district. i do not desire to reflect upon the personnel of the delegation from mobile, which is composed of clever and honorable men, but whatever may be their political course, they will not act as the true representatives of the sentiments and feelings of the people. i desire in this connexion to refer to the statements of captain poillon, which you have submitted to me, and to indorse the entire truthfulness thereof. i have known captain poillon intimately, and have been intimately acquainted with the proceedings of the freedmen's bureau. many of the facts stated by captain poillon i know of my own personal knowledge, and all i have examined into and believe. on the th of july i permitted in mobile a procession of the freedmen, the only class of people in mobile who craved of me the privilege of celebrating the anniversary of the declaration of independence. six thousand well-dressed and orderly colored people, escorted by two regiments of colored troops, paraded the streets, assembled in the public squares, and were addressed in patriotic speeches by orators of their own race and color. these orators counselled them to labor and to wait. this procession and these orations were the signal for a storm of abuse upon the military and the freedmen and their friends, fulminated from the street corners by the then mayor of the city and his common council and in the daily newspapers, and was the signal for the hirelings of the former slave power to hound down, persecute, and destroy the industrious and inoffensive negro. these men were found for the most part in the police of the city, acting under the direction of the mayor, r.h. hough, since removed. the enormities committed by these policemen were fearful. within my own knowledge colored girls seized upon the streets had to take their choice between submitting to outrage on the part of the policemen or incarceration in the guard-house. these men, having mostly been negro drivers and professional negro whippers, were fitting tools for the work in hand. threats of and attempts at assassination were made against myself. threats were made to destroy all school-houses in which colored children were taught, and in two instances they were fired. the same threats were made against all churches in which colored people assembled to worship, and one of them burned. continued threats of assassination were made against the colored preachers, and one of them is now under special guard by order of major general wood. when mayor hough was appealed to by this man for protection, he was heard to say that no one connected with the procession of the th of july need to come into his court, and that their complaints would not be considered. although mayor hough has been removed, a large majority of these policemen are still in office. mayor forsyth has promised to reform this matter. it is proper to state that he was put in office by order of governor parsons, having twice been beaten at popular elections for the mayoralty by mr. hough. this gives an indication of what will result when the office will again be filled by a popular election. the freedmen and colored people of mobile are, as a general thing, orderly, quiet, industrious, and well dressed, with an earnest desire to learn and to fit themselves for their new status. my last report from the school commissioners of the colored schools of mobile, made on the th of july, showed pupils in daily attendance. they give no cause for the wholesale charges made against them of insurrection, lawlessness, and hostility against their former masters or the whites generally. on the contrary, they are perfectly docile and amenable to the laws, and their leaders and popular teachers of their own color continually counsel them to industry and effort to secure their living in an honorable way. they had collected from themselves up to the st of august upwards of $ , for their own eleemosynary institutions, and i know of many noble instances where the former slave has devoted the proceeds of his own industry to the maintenance of his former master or mistress in distress. yet, in the face of these facts, one of the most intelligent and high-bred ladies of mobile, having had silver plate stolen from her more than two years ago, and having, upon affidavit, secured the incarceration of two of her former slaves whom she suspected of the theft, came to me in my official capacity, and asked my order to have them whipped and tortured into a confession of the crime charged and the participants in it. this lady was surprised when i informed her that the days of the rack and the thumbscrew were passed, and, though pious, well bred, and a member of the church, thought it a hardship that a negro might not be whipped or tortured till he would confess what he _might_ know about a robbery, although not even a _prima facie_ case existed against him, or that sort of evidence that would induce a grand jury to indict. i offer this as an instance of the feeling that exists in all classes against the negro, and their inability to realize that he is a free man and entitled to the rights of citizenship. with regard to municipal law in the state of alabama, its administration is a farce. the ministers of the law themselves are too often desperadoes and engaged in the perpetration of the very crime they are sent forth to prohibit or to punish. without the aid of the bayonets of the united states alabama is an anarchy. the best men of alabama have either shed their blood in the late war, emigrated, or become wholly incapacitated by their former action from now taking part in the government of the state. the more sensible portion of the people tremble at the idea of the military force being eliminated, for, whatever may be their hatred of the united states soldier, in him they find their safety. it has not been my lot to command to any great extent colored troops. i have had ample opportunity, however, of observing them in tennessee, mississippi, louisiana, and alabama, and, comparing them with white troops, i unhesitatingly say that they make as good soldiers. the two colored regiments under my command in mobile were noted for their discipline and perfection of drill, and between those troops and the citizens of mobile no trouble arose until after the proclamation of the provisional governor, when it became necessary to arm them going to and from their fatigue duty, because they were hustled from the sidewalk by infuriated citizens, who, carrying out the principles enunciated by mayor hough and the common council and the newspapers heretofore alluded to, sought to incite mob. i have said that a great deal of the trouble alluded to in the government of the state has arisen since the appointment and proclamation of the provisional governor. the people of alabama then believed they were relieved from coercion of the united states and restored to state government, and that having rid themselves of the bayonets, they might assume the reins, which they attempted to do in the manner above described. when i speak of the people i mean the masses, those that we call the populace. there are thinking, intelligent men in alabama, as elsewhere, who understand and appreciate the true condition of affairs. but these men, for the most part, are timid and retiring, unwilling to take the lead, and even when subjected to outrage, robbery, and pillage by their fellow-citizens, refrain from testifying, and prefer to put up with the indignity rather than incur an unpopularity that may cost their lives. hence there is danger of the mob spirit running riot and rampant through the land, only kept under by our forces. that there are organized bands throughout the country who, as guerillas or banditti, now still keep up their organization, with a view to further troubles in a larger arena, i have no doubt, though, of course, i have no positive testimony. but this i know, that agents in mobile have been employed to transmit ammunition in large packages to the interior. one man by the name of dieterich is now incarcerated in the military prison at mobile charged with this offence. a detective was sent to purchase powder of him, who represented himself to be a guerilla, and that he proposed to take it out to his band. he bought $ worth the first, and $ worth the second day, and made a contract for larger quantities. deputations of citizens waited upon me from time to time to advise me that these bands were in being, and that they were in imminent peril upon their avowing their intentions to take the oath of allegiance, or evincing in any other way their loyalty to the government; and yet these men, while they claimed the protection of the military, were unwilling to reveal the names of the conspirators. i have seen general wood's statement, which is true in all particulars so far as my own observation goes, and i have had even far better opportunities than general wood of knowing the character of the people he now protects, and while protecting, is ignored socially and damned politically; for it is a noticeable fact that, after a sojourn in mobile of upwards of six weeks in command of the state, during part of which time he was ill and suffering, he received but one call socially out of a community heretofore considered one of the most opulent, refined, and hospitable of all the maritime cities of the south, the favorite home of the officers of the army and the navy in by-gone days; and that one call from general longstreet, who was simply in transitu. thomas kilby smith, _brigadier general united states volunteers_. no. . headquarters northern district of mississippi, _jackson, mississippi, august_ , . general: the northern district of mississippi embraces that portion of the state north of southern boundary lines of clark, jasper, smith, simpson, and hinds counties, except the six counties (warren, yazoo, issaquena, washington, sunflower, and bolivar) constituting the western district. the entire railroad system of the state is within my district, and although these lines of communication were seriously injured during the war, steps are being taken everywhere to repair them as fast as means can be procured. the break of thirty-five miles on the southern (vicksburg mendrain) railroad, between big black and jackson, is, by authority of the department commander, being repaired by my troops, and will be ready for operation in a few days. the thirty-six counties under my military control constitute the richest portion of the state, the soil being the most available for agricultural purposes, cotton (upland) being the great staple, while in the eastern counties, in the valley of the upper tombigbee, corn was grown very extensively, the largest proportion of the usual demand in the state for this cereal being supplied from that section. the war and its consequences have laid waste nearly all the old fields, only a few acres were cultivated this year to raise sufficient corn for the immediate use of the respective families and the small amount of stock they succeeded in retaining after the many raids and campaigns which took place in the state of mississippi. even these attempts will only prove partially successful, for, although the final suppression of the rebellion was evident for the past two years, the collapse which followed the surrender of the rebel armies brought with it all the consequences of an unforeseen surprise. the people had in no way provided for this contingency, and of course became very restive, when all property which they had so long been accustomed to look upon as their own suddenly assumed a doubtful character. their "slaves" began to wander off and left their masters, and those growing crops, which could only be matured and gathered by the labor of the former slaves. for the first time the people saw and appreciated the extreme poverty into which they were thrown by the consequences of the rebellion, and it will hardly surprise any one familiar with human nature, that people in good standing before the war should resort to all kinds of schemes, even disresputable ones, to retrieve their broken fortunes. theft and every species of crime became matters of every-day occurrence. the large amount of government cotton in all parts of the state proved a welcome objective point for every description of lawlessness. absent owners of cotton were looked upon by these people as public enemies and became the victims of their (mostly illegal) speculations during the rebellion. this state of affairs continued for some time in all portions of the district not occupied by united states troops, and were in most instances accompanied by outrages and even murder perpetrated on the persons of the late "slaves." as soon as a sufficient number of troops could be brought into the district, i placed garrisons at such points as would, as far as my means permitted, give me control of almost every county. by the adoption of this system i succeeded in preventing this wholesale system of thieving, and a portion of the stolen goods was recovered and returned to the owners, while the outrages on negroes and union men sensibly diminished. from the beginning of the occupation until a recent period only five ( ) cases of murder or attempted murder occurred in my whole district, and i had no apprehension but what i would be able to stop the recurrence of such crimes effectually. the troops at my disposal were, however, sadly reduced by the recent muster-out of cavalry and infantry regiments. attala and holmes counties were, on my arrival, the theatre of the greatest outrages; the interior of these counties was garrisoned by cavalry detachments, which communicated with the infantry posts along the railroad, and they (the cavalry) were most effective in preventing crime and arresting malefactors, thus affording the much needed protection to peaceable inhabitants. the cavalry garrisons, however, were withdrawn about two ( ) weeks ago for muster-out, and since that time four ( ) murders, two of white union men and two of negroes, have been reported to me from attala county. the infantry garrisons along the railroad are actively endeavoring to effect the arrest of the suspected parties, but the chances of success are exceedingly doubtful, as only mounted troops can be successfully used for that purpose. there is no doubt whatever that the state of affairs would be intolerable for all union men, all recent immigrants from the north; and all negroes, the moment the protection of the united states troops was withdrawn. in support of this opinion permit me to make a few remarks about the citizens. although the people, as a general thing, are very anxious for peace, and for the restoration of law and order, they hardly realize the great social change brought about by the war. they all know that slavery, in the form in which it existed before the war, and in which they idolized it, is at an end; but these former slave owners are very loth to realize the new relative positions of employer and employee, and all kinds of plans for "new systems of labor" are under constant discussion. the principal feature of all plans proposed is that the labor of the nominally freedmen should be secured to their old masters without risk of interruption or change. this desire is very natural in an agricultural community, which has been left for generations in the undisturbed enjoyment of all the comforts and independent luxuries induced by a system where the laborer and not the labor was a marketable commodity. it is, however, just as natural that those most interested should differ essentially with the slaveholder on that point. they naturally claim that they (the laborers) have by the war and its consequences gained the right to hire out their labor to whomsoever they please, and to change their relations so as to insure for themselves the best possible remuneration. the defenders and protectors of this last position are principally the agents of the freedmen's bureau and the co-operating military forces, and of course they are not liked. their decisions and rules are looked upon by former slaveholders, and late rebels generally, as the commands of a usurper and a tyrant, and they will continue to be so regarded until a general resumption of agricultural pursuits shall have brought about a practical solution o this much vexed question, which, "in abstracts," is rather perplexing. i think that if each party is compelled to remain within the bounds of justice and equity by the presence of a neutral force, _i.e._ united states troops, one year's experience will assign to both employers and employees their respective relative positions. as soon as this most desirable end is attained, and the labor of the southern states regenerated on a real free labor basis, and thus brought into harmony with the other portions of the union, the exclusive and peculiar notions of the southern gentlemen, so much at variance with the views of the north, will have no longer any cause to exist, and the southern people will be glad to recognize the american nationality without reserve, and without the sectional limitation of geographical linos. i desire to affirm that loyalty and patriotism have not as yet gained any solid foundation among the white population of the states, and such cannot be expected until the relations between employers and laborers have become a fixed and acknowledged fact; then, and not before, will a feeling of contentment and loyalty replace the now prevalent bitterness and recriminations. the taking of the amnesty oath has not changed the late rebels (and there are hardly any white people here who have not been rebels) into loyal citizens. it was considered and looked upon as an act of expediency and necessity to enable them to build their shattered and broken fortunes up again. the elevating feeling of true patriotism will return with the smile of prosperity, and it should be the duty of all men to co-operate together in securing that end. this can only be done by securing for the black race also a state of prosperity. this race, which at present furnishes the only labor in the state, must be prevented from becoming a wandering and restless people, and they must be taught to become steady citizens. this will best be accomplished by guaranteeing them the right to acquire property and to become freeholders, with protection in the undisturbed possession of their property. this and a general system of education will work a quicker and more satisfactory change than the most stringent police regulations could ever achieve. at present the occupancy of the state by the united states troops is the only safeguard for the preservation of peace between the different classes. i am, general, with great respect, your obedient servant, p. jos. osterhaus, _major general u.s. vols_. major general carl schurz, _present_. no. . _statement of major general charles r. woods, commanding department of alabama_. mobile, ala., _september_ , . i do not interfere with civil affairs at all, unless called upon by the governor of the state to assist the civil authorities. there are troops within reach of every county ready to respond to the call of the civil authorities, but there are some counties where the sheriffs and other officers of the law appear to be afraid to execute their warrants, even with the aid of my troops, because the protection the troops might give them is liable to be withdrawn as soon as the duties for which they are called upon are fulfilled, although the troops are continually ready to aid them at short notice. in many of the counties, where there are no garrisons stationed, the civil authorities are unable or unwilling to carry out the laws. one case has come to my official notice where persons had been arrested on the complaint of citizens living in the country, for stealing, marauding, &c., but when called upon to come down to testify, the complainants declared that they did not know anything about the matter. there being no testimony, the accused parties had to be released. one of those who, by the offenders, was supposed to have made complaint, was, shortly after the release of the accused, found with his throat cut. it appears that in that locality the lawless element predominates, and keeps the rest of the community in fear of having their houses burnt, and of losing their lives. the case mentioned happened in washington county, about forty miles from this city, up the alabama river. there is a garrison of four companies at mount vernon arsenal, not far from that place, which at all times are ready to render aid to the civil authorities. i have sent a detachment of troops with an officer of the freedmen's bureau into clark, washington, choctaw, and marengo counties to investigate the reports of harsh treatment of the negroes that had come into the freedmen's bureau. cotton-stealing is going on quite generally, and on a large scale, wherever there is any cotton, and the civil authorities have completely failed in stopping it. it has been reported to me by citizens that armed bands attack and drive away the watchmen, load the cotton upon wagons, and thus haul it away. no case has come to my knowledge in which such offenders have been brought to punishment. horse, mule, and cattle stealing is likewise going on on a large scale. in compliance with instructions from general thomas, i have issued orders to arrest, and try by military commission, all citizens who are charged with stealing government horses, mules, or other property. no such cases had been taken cognizance of by civil authorities within my knowledge. as to the treatment of negroes by whites, i would refer to the reports of the freedmen's bureau. i sent out officers to every point in the state designated by the governor, on an average at least two officers to a county, for the purpose of administering the amnesty oath, but owing to a misapprehension on the part of the people, but few were taken before these officers until the governor's second proclamation came out, requiring them to do so, when the oath was administered to a great many. i have found myself compelled to give one of the papers appearing in this city (the mobile daily news) a warning, on account of its publishing sensational articles about impending negro insurrections, believing that they are gotten up without any foundation at all, for the purpose of keeping up an excitement. chas. r. woods, _brevet major general, commanding department of alabama_. no. . [general orders no. .] headquarters department of mississippi, _vicksburg, miss., august_ , . the attention of district commanders is called to a proclamation of the provisional governor of the state of mississippi, of the th instant, which provides for the organization of a military force in each county of the state. while the general government deems it necessary to maintain its authority here by armed forces, it is important that the powers and duties of the officers commanding should be clearly defined. the state of mississippi was one of the first that engaged in the recent rebellion. for more than four years all her energies have been devoted to a war upon our government. at length, from exhaustion, she has been compelled to lay down her arms; but no orders have as yet been received by the military authorities on duty here, indicating that the state has been relieved from the hostile position which she voluntarily assumed towards the united states. the general government, earnestly desiring to restore the state to its former position, has appointed a provisional governor, with power to call a convention for the accomplishment of that purpose. upon the military forces devolve the duties of preserving order, and of executing the laws of congress and the orders of the war department. the orders defining the rights and privileges to be secured to freedmen meet with opposition in many parts of the state, and the duties devolving upon military officers, in the execution of these orders, are often of a delicate nature. it has certainly been the desire of the department commander, and, so far as he has observed, of all officers on duty in the state, to execute these orders in a spirit of conciliation and forbearance, and, while obeying implicitly all instructions of the president and the war department, to make military rule as little odious as possible to the people. while the military authorities have acted in this spirit, and have been as successful as could have been anticipated, the provisional governor has thought proper, without consultation with the department commander or with any other officer of the united states on duty here, to organize and arm a force in every county, urging the "young men of the state who have so distinguished themselves for gallantry" to respond promptly to his call, meaning, thereby, that class of men who have as yet scarcely laid down the arms with which they have been opposing our government. such force, if organized as proposed, is to be independent of the military authority now present, and superior in strength to the united states forces on duty in the state. to permit the young men, who have so distinguished themselves, to be armed and organized independently of united states military officers on duty here, and to allow them to operate in counties now garrisoned by colored troops, filled, as many of these men are, not only with prejudice against those troops and against the execution of the orders relative to freedmen, but even against our government itself, would bring about a collision at once, and increase in a ten-fold degree the difficulties that now beset the people. it is to be hoped that the day will soon come when the young men called upon by governor sharkey and the colored men now serving the united states will zealously co-operate for the preservation of order and the promotion of the interests of the state and nation. it will be gratifying to the friends of the colored race to have the assurance in an official proclamation from the provisional governor, that the day has already arrived when the experiment can be safely attempted. but as the questions on which these two classes will be called to co-operate are those with regard to which there would undoubtedly be some difference of opinion, particularly as to the construction of certain laws relative to freedmen, the commanding general prefers to postpone the trial for the present. it is the earnest desire of all military officers, as it must be of every good citizen, to hasten the day when the troops can with safety be withdrawn from this state, and the people be left to execute their own laws, but this will not be hastened by arming at this time the young men of the state. the proclamation of the provisional governor is based on the supposed necessity of increasing the military forces in the state to prevent the commission of crime by bad men. it is a remarkable fact that most of the outrages have been committed against northern men, government couriers, and colored people. southern citizens have been halted by these outlaws, but at once released and informed that they had been stopped by mistake; and these citizens have refused to give information as to the parties by whom they were halted, although frankly acknowledging that they knew them. governor sharkey, in a communication written after his call for the organization of militia forces was made, setting forth the necessity for such organization, states that the people are unwilling to give information to the united states military authorities which will lead to the detection of these outlaws, and suggests as a remedy for these evils the arming of the very people who refuse to give such information. a better plan will be to disarm all such citizens, and make it for their interest to aid those who have been sent here to restore order and preserve peace. _it is therefore ordered_, that district commanders give notice at once to all persons within their respective districts that no military organizations, except those under the control of the united states authorities, will be permitted within their respective commands, and that if any attempt is made to organize after such notice, those engaged in it will be arrested. whenever any outrages are committed upon either citizens or soldiers, the commander of the post nearest the point at which the offence is committed will report the fact at once to the district commander, who will forthwith send as strong a force to the locality as can be spared. the officer in command of such force will at once disarm every citizen within ten miles of the place where the offence was committed. if any citizen, possessing information which would lead to the capture of the outlaws, refuses to impart the same, he will be arrested and held for trial. the troops will be quartered on his premises, and he be compelled to provide for the support of men and animals. these villains can be arrested, unless they receive encouragement from some portion of the community in which they operate; and such communities must be held responsible for their acts, and must be made to realize the inevitable consequences of countenancing such outrages. by order of major general slocum: j. warren miller, _assistant adjutant general_. no. . [reported for the vicksburg journal.] _speeches of hon. sylvanus evans and richard cooper, candidates for congress and attorney general, vicksburg, september_ , . pursuant to a call published in our yesterday's issue, a large number of citizens assembled at apollo hall last evening to listen to addresses from prominent candidates for office at the ensuing election. shortly after o'clock hon. a. burwell introduced hon. richard cooper to the meeting, who addressed them as follows: speech of mr. cooper. fellow-citizens: i present myself before you to-night as a candidate for the office of attorney general. i have not before spoken in public since announcing myself, relying wholly upon my friends and past record. i have resided in this state twenty-nine years, and have for twelve years been a prosecuting attorney. soon after announcing myself i found i had an opponent, and i concluded to accompany my friend, judge evans, to vicksburg, merely to make myself known, not intending to make a speech. i was born in georgia. the first vote i ever cast was with the old-line whig party. [applause.] in i opposed an attempt to break up the united states government, and in, i did the same thing. i travelled in alabama and mississippi to oppose the measure. [applause.] but after the state did secede i did all in my power to sustain it. [heavy applause.] i never entered the army, having held a civil office, and was advised by my friends that i could do more good in that way than by entering the service. i believed in secession while it lasted, but am now as good a union man as exists, and am in favor of breaking down old barriers, and making harmony and peace prevail. i was a delegate to the state convention lately in session at jackson, and hope the legislature will carry out the suggestions of the convention. i believe the negro is entitled to the claims of a freeman, now that he is made free, and i hope he will have them secured to him. i am thankful that mississippi has the right of jurisdiction, and i hope she will always have it. the office i am a candidate for is not a political, but strictly a judicial office. if elected i shall use my utmost endeavors to promote the interests of the state and country. hon. sylvanus evans was then introduced to the audience by mr. cooper, who spoke substantially as follows: speech of judge evans. fellow-citizens of warren county: i am grateful to meet you here this evening, although a stranger to most of you. here you must judge of my standing, and i hope you will pardon me while i attempt to explain my position to you. i came to mississippi in , and moved to lauderdale county in ; by profession, in early life, a blacksmith, latterly a lawyer, practicing in eastern mississippi; to some extent a politician, always believing in the policy of the old-line whigs, and always acting with them. in i was a delegate from lauderdale county to the state convention, then, as in , being opposed to the act of secession, and fought against it with all my powers. but after the state had seceded i went with it as a matter of duty, and i sustained it until the day of the surrender with all my body and heart and mind. [great applause.] i believed that the majority of the people did not know what was to come, but, blending their interests with mine, i could not, with honor, keep from it. we are now emerging; now daylight is dawning upon us. but whether peace and prosperity shall return in its fulness is now a question with the people. i am a candidate before you for the united states congress. let me say to you, as wise men, that unless the people and the legislature do their duty, it is useless to send me or any one else to washington, as we cannot there obtain seats in congress. my opponent, mr. west, was nominated at jackson by a lot of unauthorized delegates, which nomination was, in my judgment, of no account. were your delegates from this county authorized to nominate candidates for congress? ours were not. i am before the people at the urgent request of many friends; not by any nomination made at jackson. i heartily approve of the action of the convention. but this action will be useless unless the legislature you elect meet and build the structure upon the foundation laid by the convention. the convention did not abolish slavery. the result of four and a half years of struggle determined whether it was abolished by the bayonet or by legislation. it remains for you to show by your action whether this was done to rid the state of bayonets, or to obtain your representation in washington. it is not enough to say the negro is free. the convention requires the legislature to adopt such laws as will protect the negro in his rights of person and property. we are not willing that the negro shall testify in our courts. we all revolt at it, and it is natural that we should do so; but we must allow it as one of the requisites of our admission to our original standing in the union. to-day the negro is as competent a witness in our state as the white man, made so by the action of the convention. the credibility of the witness is to be determined by the jurors and justices. if you refuse his testimony, as is being done, the result will be the military courts and freedmen's bureau will take it up, and jurisdiction is lost, and those who best know the negro will be denied the privilege of passing judgment upon it, and those who know him least are often more in favor of his testimony than yours. i am opposed to negro testimony, but by the constitution it is admitted. (the speaker was here interrupted by an inquiry by one of the audience: "has this constitution been ratified by the people, and has the old constitution been abolished?" to which mr. evans replied: the people did not have an opportunity to ratify it. the convention did not see fit to submit it to them, and its action in the matter is final.) slavery was destroyed eternally before the convention met, by the last four years of struggle. the convention only indorsed it, because it could do nothing else. i consider that convention the most important ever held on this continent--the determination of the war pending upon its action, and its great influence upon our southern sister states. the unanimity of the convention was unparalleled: the result of which has met with universal approval. the only objectors to its action is the radicalism of the north, which thinks it should have conferred universal suffrage on the freedmen. it is useless to send any one to washington to gain admission to the congress of the united states unless the legislature carries out the dictations of the convention for the protection of the freedmen's rights and property, and let them have access to the courts of justice. do you not desire to get rid of the freedmen's bureau and the bayonets and meet the president half way in his policy of reconstruction? if you do, be careful and send men to the legislature who will carry out this point, and thereby enable your congressmen to obtain their seats, and not have to return. the speaker was here again interrupted by mr. john vallandigham, who wished to inform the gentleman and all present that there were no secessionists now. (the speaker requested not to be interrupted again.) [great applause.] i am no demagogue. supposing you fail to meet the president in his policy, what will be the result? the convention has done its duty. it remains for you to elect men to the next legislature who will secure to the freedman his right. there are large republican majorities in the united states congress. the northern press, denouncing the president's policy, are assuming that congress has the right to dictate to you who shall be your rulers. the result of the large majorities will be to give the right of suffrage to every man in the state, and the negroes will elect officers to govern you. the president and the conservative element of the north are determined that the negro shall be placed where nature places him, in spite of the fanatics. we can only make free labor profitable by giving the negro justice and a right at the courts. it is hard to accept the fact that our slaves stand as freedmen, and that we have no more right to direct them. it is hard to realize, but let us look at it as it is, and act accordingly. your country is laid desolate, your farms have been ravished and impoverished by the war. vicksburg, the city of hills, everywhere bears marks of war. the mississippi valley is desolate. you have been deprived of your property in the negro, your houses burned and destroyed. we can meet the president and the conservative element of the north by a simple act of legislation, and it becomes us as a country-loving people to look well to the candidates for the legislature. if they fail to take the necessary step, the result will be that the freedmen's bureau and bayonets will remain with us until they do. although somewhat ignorant of the proceeding of the federal congress, if elected i shall try to promote the especial interests of this state. i shall urge that the united states government owe it as a duty to the state of mississippi to repair her levees; her people are so impoverished by the war that they cannot stand the taxation necessary to rebuild them. i believe it to be the duty of the general government to appropriate money to assist the people to improve their railroads, rivers, and assist in like new enterprises. another important question, that of labor, i believe can only be settled by legislation. i believe it to be for the interests of the people of the south to have the vagrant freedmen removed, as they are the cause of continued strife and tumult. i am sure we do not want the scenes of st. domingo and hayti repeated in our midst. i believe such will be the case if they are not removed. if elected, i shall urge upon the general government the duty of colonizing the negroes; it being the duty of the government to do this, as we are deprived of that amount of property, and the negroes should be removed where they can be distinct and by themselves. it is impossible for the two classes to exist equal together, for we would always be liable to outbreaks and bloodshed. we must either educate them or abolish them, for they know but little more now than to lie all day in the sun and think some one will look out for them. though free, they cannot yet understand what freedom is, and in many cases it is an injury rather than a benefit. it would be better to have white labor than to try and retain the black. another important point--a great debt has been contracted by the federal government. the south cannot pay a proportion of that debt. i am opposed to repudiation, but am in favor of relieving the south of the internal revenue tax. my opponent, mr. west, contends that mississippi must pay her taxes up to . i do not think so; and this is the only issue between us. i deny that the government has a right to levy such a tax, and contend that the government cannot impose a tax upon a state unless that state participates in the accumulation of that debt. at the time this debt was contracted we were recognized as belligerents, and not liable to a share of the debt then contracted for. that back tax can only be collected by a special act of congress, and, if elected, i shall oppose any such act. mr. west proposed an amendment in favor of secession into the state senate, while i was opposed to it. i always contended that slavery would die with secession, while mr. west said it was the only remedy. but i do not consider this any time to talk of secession, but rather bury all such in oblivion, and talk of the best way to restore peace. in many instances those who opposed secession the most were the first to enter the army and fight most valiantly. (applause.) i believe it to be our duty to forget all this and attend to present issues. it is time the war was over, and it is time that the results of the war were settled, and those are to be settled by the actions of the people themselves. determine for yourselves whether or not the president does not offer terms that should suit any of us; is he not trying to stay the tide of fanaticism at the north that would overwhelm us? has he not shown it in our own state in the appointment of our military governor? no man in the state could have been appointed to give more general satisfaction than w.l. sharkey, an able, straightforward, just man. the president, in his speech to the southern delegation, assures them that he is determined to stay the tremendous tide of the fanatics of the north, and that suffrage to the negro shall not be forced upon the people of the south. if elected, i will heartily co-operate with the president in his policy of reconstruction, for i am bitterly opposed to conferring the right of suffrage upon the negro. i believe it to be the right of the states to settle that matter. the radicals of the north now contend that they have a right to confer the right of suffrage on the negro, and we must at this hour support the president in approving that idea; if not, he will be overpowered, and that will be the result. in conclusion, if honored with an election i pledge myself to exert every energy in my power in behalf of the state and district. at the conclusion of the remarks of judge evans, loud and repeated calls for colonel patridge brought that gentleman to his feet. he was received with much applause, which was somewhat protracted, showing the favor in which he was held by the audience. upon rising and attempting to speak from his place on the floor, loud and urgent calls demanded that he should take the stand. colonel patridge replied that he would not take the stand until he met his competitor there. remarks of colonel patridge. he said that as a public journalist he had gone in and out before this people for many years. his views were as well known as those of any man who ever approached the people, asking their suffrage. he was a union man before the war, and a soldier in the war. he had performed his duty as a private and an officer, on the battle field and on the staff. at the close of the struggle, terminating as it had in our overthrow, he had used his entire exertions to speedily restore mississippi to her former relations with the federal government. the convention had done this, in entire accordance with the views he had entertained, and if elected to the legislature, he should finish the work in the same spirit, and carry out fully the policy of the convention. so far as the question of admitting the testimony of negroes into our courts was concerned, he expressed no opinion upon it, as a separate question. he had as many prejudices as other southern men. but in his public acts he had always endeavored to discard prejudice. he looked to the happiness and welfare of the people. but there was one phase of the negro testimony question which was settled. the negro was already regarded as a competent witness. he alluded to the cases which, by an act of congress, came under the jurisdiction of the freedmen's bureau. the question was not whether their testimony should be received or not. it was already received. the question was whether, in receiving it, it shall be received before our own civil magistrates or juries, or before the provost marshals of the freedmen's bureau. he had no hesitation in expressing himself in favor of the former. he was opposed to all systems of repudiation, whether styled stay laws, bankrupt laws, or insolvent acts, and in general was in favor of placing mississippi in the front rank of states. he desired to see our congressmen admitted at the next session, and to that end would do all in his power to promote the policy of president johnson for the rehabilitation which it was understood was the ultimatum. his remarks, which were exceedingly well received, were continued for fifteen or twenty minutes, at the close of which he announced himself ready to meet his competitor, whom he spoke of in high terms, at any time to discuss the momentous issues devolving upon the next legislature. no. . _to the voters of the sixth judicial district, composed of the counties of lowndes, oktibbeha, noxubee, neshoba, kemper, and winston_: until the spring of i was a citizen of kentucky, but my native state having elected to abide by the fortunes of the union in the tremendous struggle that has lately terminated, while all my sympathies and instincts bound me to the southern people, i assumed new relations so far as citizenship was concerned, and for the last three years have been a resident of mississippi. i entered the army as a private soldier, and until the end of the conflict sustained, what i knew in the beginning to be, a desperate and doubtful cause. i went down in battle, never to rise up again a sound man, upon the frontier of this broad abounding land of yours. i therefore cannot feel that i am an alien in your midst, and, with something of confidence as to the result, appeal to you for your suffrages for the office of district attorney. i am as fully identified with the interests of mississippi as it is possible for any one to be, and in my humble way, will strive as earnestly as any one to restore her lost franchises and lost prosperity. in former years i held in kentucky a position similar to the one i now seek at your hands, and i hope that i violate no rule of propriety in saying that i deem myself equal to its duties and responsibilities. respectfully, your obedient servant, jno. t. hogan. p.s.--owing to the fact that i have but little acquaintance with the people of the sixth district, outside of the county of lowndes, i will address them at different points so soon as i can prepare and publish a list of appointments. j.t.h. columbus, _mississippi, august_ , . no. . headquarters department of louisiana, office of provost marshal general, _new orleans, la., september_ , . general: in the matter of the investigation ordered to be made in relation to the loyalty of certain members of the board of public schools of this city, i have the honor to report as follows: thomas sloo, in his capacity as president of the "sun mutual insurance company," subscribed fifty thousand dollars towards the confederate loan. john i. adams, a prominent and influential merchant, left this city immediately on the arrival of the federal forces, and did not return until the final overthrow of the rebellion. he presented a piece of ordnance, manufactured at his own expense, to the "washington artillery," to be used against the government of the united states. he also was a subscriber to the rebel loan. glendy burke and george ruleff, the former at one time a prominent politician, the latter a wealthy merchant, sent their sons into the confederacy, while they remained at home, refusing to assist in any way in the reorganization of the state government, and showing their contempt for the united states government and its constituted authorities. their conduct was far from being loyal and patriotic; associating only with the avowed enemies of the government. edwin l. jewell, editor and proprietor of the "star" newspaper, is not a citizen of new orleans. previous to the rebellion he was a resident of the parish of point coupee, where he edited a newspaper, noted only for its bitter and violent opposition to the government and the strong and ardent manner in which it enunciated the principles of secession. he has only lately arrived here, and has not resided in the city for a sufficient length of time to entitle him to the rights of citizenship. david mccoard is classed with those whose conduct throughout the war has been intent only in misrepresenting the government and treating its representatives with contumely. dr. alfred perry has served four years in the confederate army. comment is unnecessary. messrs. keep, viavant, turpise, toyes, holliday, bear, walsh, moore and ducongel, all contributed more or less in money and influence towards establishing a government hostile and inimical to the united states. dr. holliday was at one time acting as surgeon in a rebel camp. (moore.) mr. rodgers, the candidate for the position of superintendent of public schools, held the same office at the commencement of the war. his conduct at that time was imbued with extreme bitterness and hate towards the united states, and in his capacity as superintendent he introduced the "bonnie blue flag" and other rebel songs into the exercises of the schools under his charge. in histories and other books, where the initials "u.s." occurred, he had the same erased and "c.s." substituted. he used all means in his power to imbue the minds of the youths intrusted to his care with hate and malignity towards the union. he has just returned from the late confederacy, where he has resided during the war. at the time he left the city to join the rebel army he left his property in the care of one finley, who claims to be a british subject, but held the position of sergeant in a confederate regiment of militia. i am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, chas. w. lowell, _major th united states colored infantry and provost marshal general_. major general e.r.s. canby, _commanding department_. no. . [from the new orleans times, september , .] the public schools. to the citizens of new orleans our public schools have long been a cherished and peculiar interest. they have been regarded with pride, fostered with peculiar care, and looked up to as a source of future greatness. in their first organization, samuel j. peters, and those who acted with him, had to contend against the popular prejudices of the day, for parental pride--sometimes stronger than common sense--was shocked at the thought of an educational establishment in which the children of all classes of citizens met on a common level, and the difference between free schools and charity schools was not very readily discerned. those prejudices, however, wore gradually away, and the free schools increased in numbers and efficiency till they were regarded by rich and poor with equal interest. pride withdrew its frown and put on a patronizing smile. the children of the cavalier sat beside those of the roundhead, and heterogeneous differences of race were extinguished by a homogeneous fellowship. for years previous to the war our public schools occupied a high position. no political or sectarian dogmas were taught. in politics and religion children naturally incline to the opinions of their parents, and it is well that they do so; for if the reverse were the case, there would be many divided households, which, under existing arrangements, are harmonious and happy. the teachers taught those branches only which are set down in the educational programme, and the knowledge they imparted was necessary, not only for the appreciation but for the preservation of our free form of government. it is true that schoolmasters, like other people, have their own notions of right and wrong--their own political and religious opinions--but we speak what we know when we state that up to the time of the rebellion no attempt was made to give the minds of the pupils in the public schools of new orleans either a political or religious bias. some incline to the opinion that the duties of the educational trust would have been more effectively performed had patriotic politics been made a prominent branch of study; but to such a course innumerable objections would have arisen. patriotism does not always wear the same mantle, or point in the same direction. it accommodates itself to the peculiarities of different countries and forms of government. sometimes it is a holy principle--sometimes a mere party catchword with no more real meaning than can be attached to the echo of an echo. after the city was redeemed from rebel rule an earnest effort was made to include loyalty among the branches of our popular education, and tests were applied with perhaps an unnecessary degree of rigor. for this the excited state of public opinion, arising from the civil strife which then prevailed, was the sole excuse. some seeds of bitterness were unfortunately sown. the antagonism of parents were repeated and intensified in the children, and love of country proved weak when compared with hatred of the rebels. such enthusiastic displays, such hoistings of flags, such singings of patriotic songs were never known before. this made the children very loyal, but exceedingly revengeful and unchildlike. the divine advice, "love your enemy," they would have pronounced the height of madness, if not wickedness. in short, they were introduced before their time into the arena of political perplexities. for all this the teacher was perhaps not very much to blame. he was swept on by a current which he could not resist even if he would. a "higher law," irresponsible at the time, and backed up by the persuasive bayonet, was an authority which brooked no resistance. he merely obeyed orders and earned his daily bread. under these circumstances it is not to be wondered at that the public schools lost a portion of their previous popularity, and, notwithstanding the diminished financial resources of our citizens, private schools multiplied among them beyond all precedent. an effort is now made to get the schools once more under popular control, and render them what they were originally intended to be--mere educational institutions. to this end a school board has been appointed, but as soon as it undertook to act it was met, as to certain members, by a question of loyalty, raised, in all probability, by some interested party, who, being without offence himself, thought proper to fling a few stones at his offending neighbors. if there be any disloyalty in the board we trust that it will be speedily purged thereof, but, knowing most of the members, we greatly doubt that any such bill of indictment can be sustained. at any rate, a week has elapsed since the charge was made, and we imagine it will be disposed of before the meeting takes place, which was appointed for to-morrow evening. one of our contemporaries, in his edition of yesterday evening, states, on the strength of a positive assurance, "that his excellency j. madison wells has been appointed provisional governor of louisiana;" that his commission is here awaiting his acceptance, and that he "will probably order an election for members of a constitutional convention" soon after he returns to the city. if this proves so, it will create quite a stir in the political world hereabout. at the bare mention of "constitutional convention" a shudder involuntary creeps over us, visions of bankrupt treasuries present themselves, new species of taxation to frighten our patient but impoverished people, and a general "brandy and cigar" saturnalia for our disinterested and immensely patriotic politicians. but of this we suppose we need have no fear. the funds are deficient. no. . headquarters sub-district of jackson, _jackson, mississippi, september_ , . major: i would respectfully make the following report as to what i saw and learned by conversing with officers and citizens during my recent visit to the northwest part of this sub-district, particularly in holmes county. the only garrison at present in the county is at goodman, situated on the railroad, sixteen miles from lexington, the county seat, which place i visited. of the male population of the county i would estimate that not more than one-tenth of the whites and one-fourth the blacks seemed to have any employment or business of any kind; universal idleness seemed to be the rule, and work the exception, and but few of those at work seemed to be doing so with any spirit, as though they had any idea of accomplishing anything---just putting the time in. one-half of the male population can be met upon the road any day, and the travelling at night is much more than would be expected. in a common country road, probably thirty persons passed in a night on horseback. as to the character of the persons met by day or night many of them would be called suspicious, being supplied with arms, which they often take pains to display, riding united states and confederate states horses and mules, government saddles and bridles, which it is useless to try to take away, as they have no difficulty in proving them to be theirs by the evidence of some comrade with whom they reciprocate in kind. they boast of jeff. davis and president johnson, try in every way to show their contempt for the yankee, boast of the number they have killed; &c. they want it understood that they are not whipped--simply overpowered. they have no visible means of support, and the impression is that they are living off the proceeds of government cotton and stock, and quite frequently of private property---generally cotton. the negroes complain that these same "gallant young men" make a practice of robbing them of such trifles as knives, tobacco, combs, &c. if any resistance is made, death is pretty sure to be the result; or if the poor negro is so unfortunate as to appear to recognize his persecutors, he can then expect nothing less. negroes are often shot, as it appears, just out of wanton cruelty, for no reason at all that any one can imagine. the older and more respected class of white men seem to deplore the condition of things; think, however, that there is no way to stop it, except to let it have its own course; say such occurrences, though not so frequent, were by no means uncommon before the war. in conversing with such as were the leaders in politics and society before the war, and the leaders in the rebellion, one is reminded of their often-repeated assertions that the negro cannot take care of himself; capital must own labor, &c., &c. they have preached it, talked it, spoken it so long, that free labor would be a failure in the south, (and especially negro labor,) that it seems they have made themselves believe it, and very many act as though they were bound to make it so, if it was not going to be the natural result. some, now their crops are gathered, drive off all the hands they do not want, without any compensation for their summer's work except food and clothing. in many cases the negroes act just like children, roving around the country, caring nothing for the future, not even knowing one day what they are to eat the next. they also seem to think that in their present condition as freemen their former masters and present employers should address them in a more respectful manner than formerly. this the whites refuse to accede to, but persist in still treating them as niggers, giving them orders in the same austere manner as of old. in one day's travel i passed by different places where five colored men had been murdered during the five days just passed, and as many wounded. in one place it appears that one man was taken out of bed and killed because, as the neighbors say, he was a preacher, though they none of them contend that he had ever taught any doctrine or said anything against the peace and welfare of the neighborhood; but nearly all approve the act. three men were engaged in it, and finding some colored men were witnesses to the transaction, they killed two of them and left all three together. at another place a party of men, women, and children were collected together at a plantation, with the consent of the owner, and were having a dance, when a squad of about twelve rode up and, without any warning of any kind, commenced firing at them, killing one and wounding several. it is of course known by the white persons in the vicinity who these murderers are, but no effort is made to arrest them. the negroes say they have recognized a number of them, and say most all lived near by. i found no one that thought there was anything objectionable about this particular meeting, but nearly all objected to the practice of their gathering together; think it gives them extravagant ideas of liberty, has a tendency to make them insubordinate, &c. another place a colored man was killed--supposed to have been shot for a small amount of money he happened to have with him; no clue to the murderers. another place within one-fourth of a mile of lexington, a colored man was shot through the head on the public road, (was not yet dead,) and his pockets rifled of the few cents he had; also his knife. over in attala county i learned that not long since two white men, (merchants,) while sitting in their store, were both instantly killed, as is supposed, because they were finding out too much about where their stolen cotton had gone to. when returning, near canton i was informed by the commanding officer of the post that recently, near by, a colored boy was met by a couple of these "honorable young men" of the south, and his hands tied, was shot, his throat cut, and his ears cut off. no one has been able to ascribe any reason for it, as he was a very quiet, inoffensive lad. two persons have been arrested for the deed. when arraigned by the civil authorities they were acquitted, as no white witnesses were knowing to the murder, and colored witnesses were not permitted to testify; but they were again arrested by the captain commanding the post, add forwarded for trial by military commission. all, both black and white, are afraid to give evidence against any one. they say in some instances that they would like to see the rascals get their just deserts; but if they were instrumental in bringing it about they would have to move to a military post for safety, and when the troops are withdrawn they would have to go also. an insurrection among the colored people is quite a subject of conversation among the whites, and they appear to fear it will develop itself in a general uprising and massacre about the st of january next. i do not consider there are any grounds for their suspicions, and believe it arises from their troubled consciences, which are accusing them of the many cruel acts perpetrated against their former slaves, and these barbarities are continued by some for the purpose of still keeping them under subjection. in some places there will evidently be a scarcity of food the coming winter, and white and black, as the season for foraging has passed, will soon have to get assistance or starve, as they seem determined not to work. i did not find among those i talked with one person who was in favor of organizing militia as contemplated in the governor's proclamation. some thought it might be of service if it was composed of the right kind of men, but they know it would be composed of just a lot of roving fellows, the very ones who now most need watching. militia finds favor only with the politicians, who are much in want of a hobby to ride, bar-room loafers, who think it would give their present calling a little more respectability, and the rambling fellows who would like some show of authority to cover up their robberies, with probably a few men who honestly believe it would be composed of better material. if it were not for the classes above described, a large majority would be in favor of the united states forces remaining in the state. i am of the opinion that a large amount of good might be done, if good speakers would travel around the country and explain to the freedmen what their rights are, what their duties are, and to the planters what the government expects of them and wishes them to do. a better understanding of this matter would be of advantage to all concerned. in conclusion i would respectfully state that i find myself unable in many instances to arrest parties accused of crime, for the reason no horses or mules can be obtained to mount soldiers sent in pursuit, and on account of the scarcity of officers in the command to take charge of squads. i am, major, very respectfully, &c., charles h. gilchrist, _colonel th united states colored infantry, commanding_. major w.a. gordon, _assistant adjutant general, northern district mississippi_. official: t. wahren miller, _assistant adjutant general_. no. . headquarters district of northern alabama, _nashville, tennessee, september_ , . general: about the middle of september last while i was in command of the district of huntsville, formerly district of northern alabama, several citizens of jackson county called on me at huntsville, complaining that the sheriff of the county, colonel snodgrass, late of the confederate army, had arrested fifteen citizens of that county on charges of murder, which they were accused of having committed while in the service of the united states, under orders from their superiors, in fights with guerrillas. the trial was to take place before the probate judge, of jackson county, no regular courts being held at that time. i sent an order to the sheriff to release the prisoners. i also sent an order to the judge before whom the trial was to take place to suspend action in their cases. at the same time i reported the case to general thomas, commander of the military division of the tennessee, and asked for instructions. i received answer that my action was approved. a few days afterwards it was reported to me that the sheriff refused to obey the order, and had used the most disrespectful language against the military authorities of the united states. i ordered his arrest, but about the same time i received orders to muster out all white regiments in my district, and my own regiment being among them, i relinquished command of the district. i deem the lives of southern men that have served in the united states army unsafe when they return to their homes. as to the feeling of the people in that section of the country, the majority at this day are as bitter enemies of the united states government as they were during the war. general, i have the honor to remain your obedient servant, w. krzyzanowski, _late brevet brigadier general, u.s.v._ major general c. schurz. no. . _list of colored people killed or maimed by white men and treated at post hospital, montgomery_. . nancy, colored woman, ears cut off. she had followed wilson's column towards macon two or three days, and when returning camped near the road, and while asleep a white man by the name of ferguson, or foster, an overseer, came upon her and cut her ears off. this happened in april, about thirty miles east of montgomery. . mary steel, one side of her head scalped; died. she was with nancy. . jacob steel, both ears cut off; was with the same party. . amanda steel, ears cut off; was with the same party. . washington booth, shot in the back, near montgomery, while returning from his work, may . he was shot by william harris, of pine level, thirty miles from here, without any provocation. . sutton jones, beard and chin cut off. he belonged to nancy's party, and was maimed by the same man. . about six colored people were treated at this hospital who were shot by persons in ambuscade during the months of june and july. their names cannot be found in a hasty review of the record. . robert, servant of colonel hough, was stabbed while at his house by a man wearing in part the garb of a confederate soldier; died on the th of june, in this hospital, about seven days after having been stabbed. . ida, a young colored girl, was struck on the head with a club by an overseer, about thirty miles from here; died of her wound at this hospital june . . james taylor, stabbed about half a mile from town; had seven stabs that entered his lungs, two in his arms, two pistol-shots grazed him, and one arm cut one-third off, on the th of june. offender escaped. . james monroe, cut across the throat while engaged in saddling a horse. the offender, a white man by the name of metcalf, was arrested. no provocation. case happened on august , in this city. these cases came to my notice as surgeon in charge of the post hospital at montgomery. i treated them myself, and certify that the above statements are correct. montgomery hall, _august_ , . j.m. phipps, _acting staff surgeon, in charge post hospital_. _list of colored people wounded and maimed by white people, and treated in freedmen's hospital since july , _. . william brown, shot in the hand; brought here july . . william mathews, shot in the arm; brought here august . shot on mathews's plantation by a neighbor of mr. mathews, who was told by mr. mathews to shoot the negro. . amos whetstone, shot in the neck by john a. howser, august , in this city. howser halted the man, who was riding on a mule on the road; had an altercation with mr. whetstone; howser, whetstone's son-in-law, shot him while he was going to town. the above cases came to my notice as assistant surgeon at this hospital. similar cases may have been treated here before i entered upon my duties, of which i can give no reliable account. j.e. harvey, _assistant surgeon th illinois. freedmen's hospital, _montgomery, alabama, august_ , . no. . office provost marshal, _post of selma, alabama, august_ , . i have the honor to report the following facts in regard to the treatment of colored persons by whites within the limits of my observation: there have come under my notice, officially, twelve cases in which i am morally certain (the trials have not been had yet) that negroes were killed by whites. in a majority of cases the provocation consisted in the negroes trying to come to town, or to return to the plantation after having been sent away. these cases are in part as follows: wilson h. gordon, convicted by military commission of having shot and drowned a negro, may , . samuel smiley, charged with having shot one negro and wounded another, acquitted on proof of an alibi. it is certain, however, that one negro was shot and another wounded, as stated. trial occurred in june. three negroes were killed in the southern part of dallas county; it is supposed by the vaughn family. i tried twice to arrest them, but they escaped into the woods. mr. alexander, perry county, shot a negro for being around his quarters at a late hour. he went into his house with a gun and claimed to have shot the negro accidentally. the fact is, the negro is dead. mr. dermott, perry county, started with a negro to selma, having a rope around the negro's neck. he was seen dragging him in that way, but returned home before he could have reached selma. he did not report at selma, and the negro has never since been heard of. the neighbors declare their belief that the negro was killed by him. this was about the th of july. mr. higginbotham, and threadgill, charged with killing a negro in wilcox county, whose body was found in the woods, came to my notice the first week of august. a negro was killed on mr. brown's place, about nine miles from selma, on the th of august. nothing further is known of it. mr. brown himself reported. a negro was killed in the calaboose of the city of selma, by being beaten with a heavy club; also, by being tied up by the thumbs, clear of the floor, for three hours, and by further gross abuse, lasting more than a week, until he died. i can further state, that within the limits of my official observation crime is rampant; that life is insecure as well as property; that the country is filled with desperadoes and banditti who rob and plunder on every side, and that the county is emphatically in a condition of anarchy. the cases of crime above enumerated, i am convinced, are but a small part of those that have actually been perpetrated. i am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, j.p. houston, _major th minnesota, and provost marshal u.s. forces at selma, alabama_. major general carl schurz. no. . freedmen's bureau, _mobile, september_ , . sir: in compliance with your request i have the honor to report the state of affairs as connected with the freedmen in this city and the counties of washington, monroe, clark, choctaw and baldwin. the civil authorities in this city have accepted general swayne's order no. , (herewith enclosed,) but the spirit of the order is not complied with, and complaints of injustice and criminal partiality in the mayor's court have been frequently made at this office, and particularly when mr. morton presides there is no justice rendered to the freedmen. little or no business is done before other magistrates, as the colored people are aware, from experience, that their oath is a mere farce and their testimony against a white man has no weight; consequently all complaints of the colored people come before this bureau. i have by special order of general swayne designated one of the justices of the peace, mr. t. starr, who adjudicates cases of debt, and in matters where both parties are of color he has so far given satisfaction, but the prejudice so universal against colored people here is already beginning to affect his decisions. the civil police department of this city is decidedly hostile to color, and the daily acts of persecution in this city are manifest in the number of arrests and false imprisonment made where no shadow of criminality exists, while gangs of idle rebel soldiers and other dissolute rowdies insult, rob, and assault the helpless freedmen with impunity. all hopes of equity and justice through the civil organization of this city is barred; prejudice and a vindictive hatred to color is universal here; it increases intensely, and the only capacity in which the negro will be tolerated is that of slave. the fever of excitement, distrust, and animosity, is kept alive by incendiary and lying reports in the papers, and false representations of rebel detectives. the alarm is constantly abroad that the negroes are going to rise; this is utterly without foundation. the freedmen will not rise, though docile and submissive to every abuse that is heaped upon them in this city. if they are ragged and dirty, they are spurned as outcasts; if genteel and respectable, they are insulted as presumptive; if intelligent, they are incendiary; and their humble worship of god is construed as a designing plot to rise against the citizens who oppress them. it is evident that general swayne's good intentions are nugatory from the want of faith on the part of those to whom he intrusted his order. these men have been recipients of office for years. old associations, customs and prejudices, the pressure of public opinion, and the undying hostility to federal innovation, all conspire gainst impartiality to color. such is the state of affairs in this city. in the counties of this district above named there is no right of the negro which the white man respects; all is anarchy and confusion; a reign of terror exists, and the life of the freedmen is at the mercy of any villain whose hatred or caprice incites to murder. organized patrols with negro hounds keep guard over the thoroughfares, bands of lawless robbers traverse the country, and the unfortunate who attempts escape, or he who returns for his wife or child, is waylaid or pursued with hounds, and shot or hung. laborers on the plantations are forced to remain and toil without hope of remuneration. others have made the crop and are now driven off to reach mobile or starve; scarcely any of them have rags enough to cover them. many who still labor are denied any meat, and whenever they are treated with humanity it is an isolated exception. ragged, maimed, and diseased, these miserable outcasts seek their only refuge, the freedmen's bureau, and their simple tale of suffering and woe calls loudly on the mighty arm of our government for the protection promised them. these people are industrious. they do not refuse to work; on the contrary, they labor for the smallest pittance and plainest food, and are too often driven off deprived of the small compensation they labored for. the report of rations issued to destitute citizens on august , , was , persons. owing to the numerous impostures by those who had means of support, i erased the names of a large number and the list now stands , persons who are recipients of government alms. of this number, per cent. are rebels who have participated in some manner in this rebellion. number of rations issued to destitute colored people is simply six ( ). the report of the freedmen's colony of this district to this date is ( ) twelve men, ( ) seventy-one women, and ( ) eighty-eight children, and sick in hospital ( ) one hundred and five; total ( ) two hundred and seventy-six. of this number many have been driven off of plantations as helpless, while many of their grown children are forcibly retained to hard labor for their masters. i am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, w.a. poillon, _captain, assistant superintendent freedmen, refugees, abandoned lands, &c._ general carl schurz. freedmen's bureau, _july_ , . sir: i have the honor to report some testimony i have received of the murders and barbarities committed on the freedmen in clark, choctaw, washington and marengo counties, also the alabama and bigbee rivers. about the last of april, two freedmen were hung in clark county. on the night of the eleventh of may, a freedman named alfred was taken from his bed by his master and others and was hung, and his body still hangs to the limb. about the middle of june, two colored soldiers (at a house in washington county) showed their papers and were permitted to remain all night. in the morning the planter called them out and shot one dead, wounded the other, and then with the assistance of his brother (and their negro dogs) they pursued the one who had escaped. he ran about three miles and found a refuge in a white man's house, who informed the pursuers that he had passed. the soldier was finally got across the river, but has not been heard of since. at bladen springs, (or rather, six miles from there,) a freedman was chained to a pine tree and _burned to death_. about two weeks after, and fifteen miles from bladen, another freedman was burned to death. in the latter part of may, fifteen miles south of bladen, a freedman was shot _outside_ of the planter's premises and the body dragged into the stable, to make it appear he had shot him in the act of stealing. about the first of june, six miles west of bladen, a freedman was hung. his body is still hanging. about the last of may, three freedmen were coming down the bigbee river in a skiff, when two of them were shot; the other escaped to the other shore. at magnolia bluff (bigbee river) a freedman (named george) was ordered out of his cabin to be whipped; he started to run, when the men (three of them) set their dogs (five of them) on him, and one of the men rode up to george and struck him to the earth with a loaded whip. two of them dragged him back by the heels, while the dogs were lacerating his face and body. they then placed a stick across his neck, and while one stood on it the others beat him until life was nearly extinct. about the first of may, near ---- landing, in choctaw county, a freedman was hung; and about the same time, near the same neighborhood, a planter shot a freedman, (who was talking to one of his servants,) and dragged his body into his garden to conceal it. a preacher (near bladen springs) states in the _pulpit_ that the roads in choctaw county stunk with the dead bodies of servants that had fled from their masters. the people about bladen _declare_ that _no negro_ shall live in the county unless he remains with his _master_ and is as obedient as heretofore. in clark county, about the first of june, a freedman was shot through the heart; his body lies unburied. about the last of may, a planter hung his servant (a woman) in presence of all the neighborhood. said planter had _killed_ this woman's husband three weeks before. this occurred at suggsville, clark county. about the last of april, two women were caught near a certain plantation in clark county and hung; their bodies are still suspended. on the th of july, two freedmen were taken off the steamer commodore ferrand, tied and hung; then taken down, their heads cut off and their bodies thrown in the river. july , two men took a woman off the same boat and threw her in the river. this woman had a coop, with some chickens. they threw all in together, and told her to go to the damned yankees. the woman was drowned. there are regular patrols posted on the rivers, who board some of the boats; after the boats leave they hang, shoot or drown the victims they may find on them, and all those found on the roads or coming down the river are most invariably _murdered_. this is only a few of the murders that are committed on the helpless and unprotected freedmen of the above-named counties. all the cases i have mentioned are _authentic_, and _numerous_ witnesses will testify to all i have reported. _murder with his ghastly train stalks abroad at noonday and revels in undisputed carnage_, while the bewildered and terrified freedmen know not what to do. to leave is death; to remain is to suffer the increased burden imposed on them by the cruel taskmaster, whose only interest is their labor _wrung_ from them by every device an inhuman ingenuity can devise. hence the lash and murder are resorted to to intimidate those whom fear of an awful death _alone_ causes to remain, while patrols, negro dogs, and spies (disguised as yankees) keep _constant_ guard over these unfortunate people. i was in washington county in the latter part of june, and there learned there was a disposition to _coerce_ the labor of these people on plantations where they had always been abused. i was alone, and consequently could not go where my presence was most required, but i learned enough then to convince me there were many grievances which required military power to redress. since my return i have been attentive to the recital of the horrors which these people suffer, and have carefully perused their statements, which receive corroborate testimony. i have been careful in authenticity, and very much that has been related to me i have declined accepting as testimony, although i believe its truth. the history of all these cases, besides others, i have in full, with all their horrible particulars. believing, sir, you required the earliest intelligence in this matter, i concluded not to await your arrival. with much respect, i am, sir, your obedient servant, w.a. poillon, _captain and ass't. sup't. freedmen_. brig. gen. swayne. a true copy of the original deposited in this office. charles a. miller, _major and a.a.a. general_. no. . vicksburg, mississippi, _july_ , . captain: i have the honor to report that, in compliance with special orders no. , headquarters sub-district southwest mississippi, i proceeded to the counties of madison, holmes, and yazoo, but that i did not reach issaquena from the fact that the country between yazoo city and that county has been so overflowed as to render the roads impassable. i found a provost marshal of freedmen at yazoo city--lieutenant fortu, who seemed to understand his duties well, and to have performed them satisfactorily. there was no officer of the bureau in either of the other counties. the whole country is in a state of social and political anarchy, and especially upon the subject of the freedom of the negroes, but very few who understand their rights and duties. it is of the utmost importance that officers of the bureau should be sent to all the counties of the state to supervise the question of labor, and to insure the gathering of the growing crop, which, if lost, will produce the greatest suffering. in no case ought a citizen of the locality be appointed to manage the affairs of the freedmen: first, because these men will wish to stand well with their neighbors and cannot do justice to the negro; and secondly, because the negroes only know these men as oppressors of their race, and will have no confidence in their acts. the officers of the bureau should be especially charged to impress upon the freedmen the sacredness of the family relation and the duty of parents to take care of their children, and of the aged and infirm of their race. where a man and woman have lived together as husband and wife, the relation should be declared legitimate, and all parties, after contracting such relations, should be compelled to legal marriage by severe laws against concubinage. where parents have deserted their children, they should be compelled to return and care for them; otherwise there will be great suffering among the women and children, for many of the planters who have lost the male hands from their places threaten to turn off the women and children, who will become a burden to the community. the two evils against which the officers will have to contend are cruelty on the part of the employer, and shirking on the part of the negroes. every planter with whom i have talked premised his statements with the assertion that "a nigger won't work without whipping." i know that this is not true of the negroes as a body heretofore. a fair trial should be made of free labor by preventing a resort to the lash. it is true that there will be a large number of negroes who will shirk labor; and where they persistently refuse compliance with their contracts, i would respectfully suggest that such turbulent negroes be placed upon public works, such as rebuilding the levees and railroads of the state, where they can be compelled to labor, and where their labor will be of benefit to the community at large. it will be difficult for the employers to pay their laborers quarterly, as required by present orders. money can only be realized yearly on a cotton crop, because to make such a crop requires an entire year's work in planting, picking, ginning, and sending to market. the lien upon the crop secures the laborer his pay at the end of the year, for which he can afford to wait, as all the necessaries of life are furnished by the planter, who could not pay quarterly except at a great sacrifice. the present orders recommend that the freedmen remain with their former masters so long as they are kindly treated. this, as a temporary policy, is the best that could be adopted, but i very much doubt its propriety as a permanent policy. it will tend to rebuild the fallen fortunes of the slaveholders, and re-establish the old system of class legislation, thus throwing the political power of the country back into the hands of this class, who love slavery and hate freedom and republican government. it would, in my opinion, be much wiser to diffuse this free labor among the laboring people of the country, who can sympathize with the laborer, and treat him with humanity. i would suggest that great care be taken in the selection of officers of the bureau to be sent to the various counties. the revolution of the whole system of labor has been so sudden and radical as to require great caution and prudence on the part of the officers charged with the care of the freedmen. they should be able to discuss the question of free labor as a matter of political economy, and by reason and good arguments induce the employers to give the system a fair and honest trial. nowhere that i have been do the people generally realise the fact that the negro is free. the day i arrived at jackson _en route_ for canton, both the newspapers at that place published leading editorials, taking the ground that the emancipation proclamation was unconstitutional, and therefore void; that whilst the negro who entered the army _might_ be free, yet those who availed themselves not of the proclamation were still slaves, and that it was a question for the state whether or not to adopt a system of gradual emancipation. these seem to be the views of the people generally, and they expressed great desire "to get rid of these garrisons," when they hope "to have things their own way." and should the care and protection of the nation be taken away from the freedmen, these people will have their own way, and will practically re-establish slavery, more grinding and despotic than of old. respectfully submitted: j.l. haynes, _colonel first texas cavalry_. captain b.f. morey, _assistant adjutant general_. official: stuart eldridge, _lieutenant and acting assistant adjutant general_. colonel haynes was born and raised near yazoo city, mississippi. he owns a plantation, and owned negroes before the war. he left the state in , and went to new orleans, where he received a commission to raise a regiment of texas troops. samuel thomas, _colonel_. no. . railroad, _camp near clinton, miss., july_ , . sir: i am induced by the suffering i daily see and hear of among colored people to address you this communication. i am located with my command four miles west of clinton, hines county, on the railroad. a great many colored people, on their way to and from vicksburg and other distant points, pass by my camp. as a rule, they are hungry, naked, foot-sore, and heartless, aliens in their native land, homeless, and friendless. they are wandering up and down the country, rapidly becoming vagabonds and thieves from both necessity and inclination. their late owners, i am led to believe, have entered into a tacit arrangement to refuse labor, food or drink, in all cases, to those who have been soldiers, as well as to those who have belonged to plantations within the state; in the latter case, often ordering them back peremptorily to their "masters." one planter said in my hearing lately, "these niggers will all be slaves again in twelve months. you have nothing but lincoln proclamations to make them free." another said, "no white labor shall ever reclaim my cotton fields." another said, "emigration has been the curse of the country; it must be prevented here. this soil must be held by its present owners and their descendants." another said, "the constitutional amendment, if successful, will be carried before the supreme court before its execution can be certain, and we hope much from that court!" these expressions i have listened to at different times, and only repeat them here in order that i may make the point clear that there is already a secret rebel, anti-emigration, pro-slavery party formed or forming in this state, whose present policy appears to be to labor assiduously for a restoration of the old system of slavery, or a system of apprenticeship, or some manner of involuntary servitude, on the plea of recompense for loss of slaves on the one hand, and, on the other, to counterbalance the influence of yankee schools and the labor-hiring system as much as possible by oppression and cruelty. i hear that negroes are frequently driven from plantations where they either belong, or have hired, on slight provocation, and are as frequently offered violence on applying for employment. dogs are sometimes set upon them when they approach houses for water. others have been met, on the highway by white men they never saw before, and beaten with clubs and canes, without offering either provocation or resistance. i see negroes almost every day, of both sexes, and almost all ages, who have subsisted for many hours on berries, often wandering they know not where, begging for food, drink, and employment. it is impossible for me or any officer i have the pleasure of an acquaintance with to afford these people relief. neither can i advise them, for i am not aware that any provisions have been, or are to be made to reach such cases. the evil is not decreasing, but, on the contrary, as the season advances, is increasing. i have heretofore entertained the opinion that the negroes flocked into the cities from all parts of the country; but a few weeks' experience at this station has changed my views on the subject, and i am now led to believe that those who have done so comprise comparatively a very small part of the whole, and are almost entirely composed of those belonging to plantations adjoining the towns. however, those who did go to the cities have been well cared for in comparison with those who have remained in the country. a small proportion of the latter class are well situated, either as necessary house-servants, body-servants, or favorites by inclination, as mistresses, or by necessity or duty, as each master may have been induced to regard long and faithful service or ties of consanguinity. throughout the entire country, from vicksburg to the capital of the state, there is but little corn growing. the manner of cultivating is very primitive, and the yield will be exceedingly small. i estimate that in this country fully one-half of the white population, and a greater proportion of the colored people, will be necessitated either to emigrate, buy food, beg it, or starve. the negro has no means to buy, and begging will not avail him anything. he will then be compelled to emigrate, which, in his case, is usually equivalent to turning vagabond, or, induced by his necessities, resort to organized banding to steal, rob, and plunder. i am at a loss to know why the government has not adopted some system for the immediate relief and protection of this oppressed and suffering people, whose late social changes have conduced so much to their present unhappy condition, and made every officer in the united states army an agent to carry out its provisions. were i employed to do so, i should seize the largest rebel plantation in this and every other county in the state, partition it in lots of suitable size for the support of a family--say ten acres each--erect mills and cotton gins, encourage them to build houses and cultivate the soil, give them warrants for the land, issue rations to the truly needy, loan them seed, stock, and farming utensils for a year or two, and trust the result to "yankee schools" and the industry of a then truly free and proverbially happy people. some other system might be better; few could be more simple in the execution, and in my opinion better calculated to "save a race" now floating about in a contentious sea without hope or haven. i am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, h.r. brinkerhoff, _lieutenant colonel d u.s. colored infantry, commanding detachment_. major general o. o. howard, _washington, d.c._ official: stuart eldridge, _lieutenant, acting assistant adjutant general_. no. . executive office, _jackson, august_ , . sir: your order no. , disbanding police guard for claiborne county, has been laid before me. i apprehend you are laboring under a mistake in regard to the character of this organization. i had express authority from the president himself to organize the militia if i thought it necessary to keep order in the country. this i did not do, but authorized the organization of patrol guards or county police, for the purpose of suppressing crime, and for arresting offenders. this organization is therefore part of the civil organization of the state, as much so as sheriff, constable, and justices of the peace, and i claim the right to use this organization for these purposes, and hope you will revoke your order. your obedient servant, w.l. sharkey, _provisional governor of mississippi_. colonel york. official copy: j. warren miller, _assistant adjutant general_. headquarters post of port gibson, _port gibson, mississippi, august_ , . general: i have the honor to state that my reasons for issuing the enclosed order, (no. ,) was, that a party of citizens acting under authority from captain jack, th indiana cavalry, and having as their chief c.b. clark, was by their own acknowledgment in the habit of patrolling the roads in this section of the country, and ordering any one they came across to halt. if this was not promptly done, they were ordered to fire upon them. in this way one negro woman was wounded, and union men and negroes were afraid to be out of their houses after dark. the company was formed out of what they called picked men, _i.e._, those only who had been actively engaged in the war, and were known to be strong disunionists. the negroes in the section of the country these men controlled were kept in the most abject state of slavery, and treated in every way contrary to the requirements of general orders no. from the war department, a copy of which order was issued by me to c.b. clark. hoping, general, to receive instructions as to the manner in which i shall regulate my action, i have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, p. jones york, _lieutenant colonel commanding post_. provost major general davidson, _commanding southern district of mississippi_. official copy: j. warren miller, _assistant adjutant general_. [special orders no. .] headquarters post of port gibson, _port gibson, mississippi, august_ , . the permission given from these headquarters, dated july , , by captain jack, provost marshal, is hereby revoked. c.b. clark, chief of police, under the permission, will notify the parties forming the said patrol to discontinue the practice of patrolling the roads and country armed. all arrests must be made by the proper military or civil authorities. p. jones york, _lieutenant colonel commanding post_. official copy: j. warren miller, _assistant adjutant general_. no. . bureau refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands, office acting assistant commissioner for western dist. of miss., _vicksburg, miss., september_ , . colonel: i beg leave to call your attention to some of the difficulties we are still obliged to contend with, and some of the abuses still inflicted upon the freedmen, resulting from the prejudices which are still far from being eradicated. in the immediate vicinity of our military posts, and in locations that can readily be reached by the officers of this bureau, the citizens are wary of abusing the blacks; they are so because this bureau has arrested and punished people committing such offences; and the manner in which such cases have been dealt with has shown people that abuse and imposition will not be tolerated, and that such offences are sure to be punished in accordance with the enormity of the crime. but in remote localities, those that cannot well be reached by officers of the bureau, the blacks are as badly treated as ever; colored people often report themselves to the sub-commissioners with bruised heads and lacerated backs, and ask for redress, protection, to be permitted to live at their former homes, and some assurance that they will not be treated in a like manner again if they return. but nothing can be done if their homes happen to be twenty or thirty miles from any office that will protect them. a great many have thus learned that there is no protection for them, and quietly submit to anything that may be required of them, or, as is more frequently the case, they leave such places and crowd about the places where they can be protected. a girl about twelve years of age, certainly too young to commit any serious offence, lies in no. hospital now with her back perfectly raw, the results of a paddling administered by her former owner. any number of such cases could easily be cited. in many cases negroes who left their homes during the war, and have been within our military lines, and have provided homes here for their families, going back to get their wives or children, have been driven off and told they could not have them. in several cases guards have been sent to aid people in getting their families, in many others it has been impracticable, as the distance was too great. in portions of the northern part of this district the colored people are kept in slavery still. the white people tell them that they were free during the war, but the war is now over, and they must go to work again as before. the reports from sub-commissioners nearest that locality show that the blacks are in a much worse state than ever before, the able-bodied being kept at work under the lash, and the young and infirm driven off to care for themselves. as to protection from the civil authorities, there is no such thing outside of this city. there is not a justice of the peace or any other civil officer in the district, eight ( ) counties, of which i have charge, that will listen to a complaint from a negro; and in the city, since the adjudication of these cases has been turned over to the mayor, the abuse of and impositions upon negroes are increasing very visibly, for the reason that very little, if any, attention is paid to any complaint of a negro against a white person. negro testimony is admitted, but, judging from some of the decisions, it would seem that it carries very little weight. in several cases black witnesses have been refused on the ground that the testimony on the opposite side, white, could not be controverted, and it was useless to bring in black witnesses against it. i enclose an affidavit taken on one such case. in the mayor's court, cases in which it is practicable to impose a fine and thereby replenish the city treasury, are taken up invariably, but cases where the parties have no money are very apt to pass unnoticed. one more point, and a serious one, too, for the colored people, is, that in the collection of debts, and a great many of a similar class of cases that are not taken cognizance of in the mayor's court, they have to go through a regular civil process, necessitating the feeing of lawyers, &c., which is quite a burden on a people whose means are limited. these cases have all formerly been handled by an officer of this bureau, and without any expense to the parties for fees, &c. the prejudices of the citizens are very strong against the negro; he is considered to be deserving of the same treatment a mule gets, in many cases not as kind, as it is unprofitable to kill or maim a mule, but the breaking of the neck of the free negro is nobody's loss; and unless there is some means for meting out justice to these people that is surer and more impartial than these civil justice's courts, run by men whose minds are prejudiced and bitter against the negro, i would recommend, as an act of humanity, that the negroes be made slaves again. i am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, j.h. weber, _captain and acting ass't. com'r. freedmen's bureau for western dist. miss_. colonel samuel thomas, _ass't. com'r. bureau freedmen, &c., vicksburg, miss_. no. . office assistant commissioner bureau refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands for state of mississippi, _vicksburg, mississippi, september_ , . dear sir: in accordance with your request, i write the following letter, containing some of my views on the subject to which you called my attention--a subject worthy of great consideration, because a bad policy adopted now with reference to the administration of justice and the establishment of courts in the south may lead to evils that will be irreparable in the future. you are aware that some time ago general swayne, commissioner of the freedmen's bureau for alabama, constituted the civil officers of the provisional government of that state commissioners of the bureau for hearing and deciding all cases in which freedmen were parties, provided no invidious distinctions in receiving testimony, punishment, &c., were made between blacks and whites. governor parsons, of alabama, approved of the arrangement, and urged the state officials to comply with the condition, and thus do away with the necessity for military courts in connexion with freedmen affairs. i have no doubt i could have induced the governor of mississippi to take the same action had i thought it the policy of the government. i was under the impression that general swayne had made a mistake, and that he would defeat the very objects for which the bureau was laboring. i thought the citizens were not to be trusted with freedmen affairs until they had given some strong evidence that they were prepared to accept the great change in the condition of the freedmen. i had not the least idea that such a limited control as general swayne now has would accomplish what the authorities desired. the protection he gives freedmen under his order is so limited, and will fall so far short of what the freedmen have a right to expect, that i did not think of bringing the matter before the government. late orders and instructions from the president convince me that i was mistaken, and that the trial is to be made. i have issued an order in accordance with these instructions, which i append: [general orders no. .] bureau refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands, _office ass't. commissioner for state of miss., vicksburg, miss., september_ , . the following extracts from circular no. , current series, bureau refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands, and general orders no. , current series, headquarters department of mississippi, in reference to the same, are hereby republished for the guidance of officers of this bureau: ["circular no. .] "war department, "_bureau refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands, washington, may_ , . "rules and regulations for assistant commissioners. "vii. in all places where there is an interruption of civil law, or in which local courts, by reason of old codes, in violation of the freedom guaranteed by the proclamation of the president and laws of congress, disregard the negro's right to justice before the laws, in not allowing him to give testimony, the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen being committed to this bureau, the assistant commissioners will adjudicate, either themselves or through officers of their appointment, all difficulties arising between negroes and whites or indians, except those in military service, so far as recognizable by military authority, and not taken cognizance of by the other tribunals, civil or military, of the united states. "o.o. howard, _major general_, _commissioner bureau of refugees, freedmen, &c._ "approved june , . "andrew johnson, "president of the united states." ["general orders no. .] "headquarters department of mississippi, "_vicksburg, mississippi, august_ , . "vii. this order, (circular no. , paragraph vii, bureau refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands,) however, must not be so construed as to give the colored man immunities not accorded to other persons. if he is charged with the violation of any law of the state, or an ordinance of any city, for which offence the same penalty is imposed upon white persons as upon black, and if courts grant to him the same privileges as are accorded to white men, no interference on the part of the military authorities will be permitted. several instances have recently been reported in which military officers, claiming to act under the authority of the order above mentioned, have taken from the custody of the civil authorities negroes arrested for theft and other misdemeanors, even in cases where the courts were willing to concede to them the same privileges as are granted to white persons. these officers have not been governed by the spirit of the order. the object of the government is not to screen this class from just punishment--not to encourage in them the idea that they can be guilty of crime and escape its penalties, but simply to secure to them the rights of freemen, holding them, at the same time, subject to the same laws by which other classes are governed. "by order of major general slocum: "j. warren miller, "_assistant adjutant general_." in accordance with this order, where the judicial officers and magistrates of the provisional government of this state will take for their mode of procedure the laws now in force in this state, except so far as those laws make a distinction on account of color, and allow the negroes the same rights and privileges as are accorded to white men before their courts, officers of this bureau will not interfere with such tribunals, but give them every assistance possible in the discharge of their duties. in cities or counties where mayors, judicial officers, and magistrates will assume the duties of the administration of justice to the freedmen, in accordance with paragraph vii, circular no. , issued from the bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands, and approved by the president, and will signify their willingness to comply with this request by a written acceptance addressed to the assistant commissioner for the state, no freedmen courts will be established, and those that may now be in existence in such localities will be closed. it is expected that the officers of this bureau will heartily co-operate with the state officials in establishing law and order, end that all conflict of authority and jurisdiction will be avoided. by order of colonel samuel thomas, assistant commissioner freedmen's bureau for state of mississippi. stuart eldridge, _lieutenant, acting assistant adjutant general_. i have written to governor sharkey, and explained to him how this order can be put in force in this state, and will do all i can to secure its success, and to aid the civil authorities to discharge their duties. i presume the legislature of this state, which is to meet in october, will take up this matter immediately, and arrange some plan by which the state authorities can take complete charge of freedmen affairs, and relieve the officers of this bureau. there is a jealousy of united states officers existing among the state officials that makes it disagreeable to perform any duty which is liable to conflict with their authority. when general howard's circular no. was issued, i thought it was the intention that military courts should be established for the purpose of taking the administration of justice among the freedmen out of the hands of their old masters, and placing it under the control of their friends for a short time--until the citizens of the south were reconciled to the change, and until their feeling of hatred for their former slaves had abated; that a complete restoration of rights, privileges, and property was to come after a period of probation, in which they should give some evidence of their changed feelings. i have thought much on this subject, have watched the development of feeling among the southern people, and am satisfied that the time for such a restoration has not yet arrived. the order of general swayne and the proclamation of general parsons are unexceptionable in form. if justice to the freedmen can be secured by the means indicated in these documents, and if the process be not too expensive, and if ruinous delays be not allowed, then, it may be, all this movement will be good. but it seems to me that so delicate a matter cannot be smoothly managed in the present temper of mississippi. i am aware that it is the policy of the government; that we must trust these people some time; that the establishment of the freedman's bureau is (as soon as martial law is withdrawn) a violation of the spirit both of the state and federal constitutions; that the officers of the bureau have no interest in common with the white citizens of the state, and that the bureau is an immense expense to the general government, which should be abolished as soon as compatible with the public interest. yet, i feel that we are in honor bound to secure to the helpless people we have liberated a "republican form of government," and that we betray our trust when we hand these freed people over to their old masters to be persecuted and forced to live and work according to their peculiar southern ideas. it seems to me that we are forgetting the helpless and poor in our desire to assist our subjugated enemies, and that we are more desirous of showing ourselves to be a great and magnanimous nation than of protecting the people who have assisted us by arms, and who turned the scale of battle in our favor. we certainly commit a wrong, if, while restoring these communities to all their former privileges as states, we sacrifice one jot or tittle of the rights and liberties of the freedmen. the mayor of this city has had complete charge of all municipal affairs since the issue of general slocum's order , (quoted in the order i have before given.) he has been compelled to admit negro testimony by the provisions of that order. in cases that come before him, when it is necessary to admit it he goes through the form of receiving it, but i have yet to hear of one instance where such evidence affected his decision. the testimony of one white man outweighs (practically) that of any dozen freedmen. the admission of negro testimony will never secure the freedmen justice before the courts of this state as long as that testimony is considered valueless by the judges and juries who hear it. it is of no consequence what the law may be if the majority be not inclined to have it executed. a negro might bring a suit before a magistrate and have colored witnesses examined in his behalf, according to provisions of general orders and united states law, and yet the prejudices of the community render it impossible for him to procure justice. the judge would claim the right to decide whether the testimony was credible, and among the neighbors that would surround him, in many places, he would be bold, indeed, if he believed the sworn evidence of a negro when confronted by the simple assertion or opposed even to the interest of a white man. i recently heard a circle of mississippians conversing on this subject. their conclusion was, that they would make no objection to the admission of negro testimony, because "no southern man would believe a nigger if he had the dammed impudence to testify contrary to the statement of a white man." i verily believe that in many places a colored man would refuse, from fear of death, to make a complaint against a white man before a state tribunal if there were no efficient military protection at hand. wherever i go--the street, the shop, the house, the hotel, or the steamboat--i hear the people talk in such a way as to indicate that they are yet unable to conceive of the negro as possessing any rights at all. men who are honorable in their dealings with their white neighbors will cheat a negro without feeling a single twinge of their honor. to kill a negro they do not deem murder; to debauch a negro woman they do not think fornication; to take the property away from a negro they do not consider robbery. the people boast that when they get freedmen affairs in their own hands, to use their own classic expression, "the niggers will catch hell." the reason of all this is simple and manifest. the whites esteem the blacks their property by natural right, and however much they may admit that the individual relations of masters and slaves have been destroyed by the war and by the president's emancipation proclamation, they still have an ingrained feeling that the blacks at large belong to the whites at large, and whenever opportunity serves they treat the colored people just as their profit, caprice or passion may dictate. justice from tribunals made up among such people is impossible. here and there is a fair and just man. one in a hundred, perhaps, sees the good policy of justice; but these are so few that they will not, at present, guide public sentiment. other states may, in this matter, be in advance of mississippi; i suspect they are. if justice is possible, i feel sure they are. i fear such tribunals would be very expensive for the poor freedmen. fees are heavy in this state. unless they can get justice inexpensively, we might as well deny them all remedy before courts at once. indeed, i think that would be rather more merciful than the arrangement proposed, as they would then trust nobody, and would be less defrauded. long delays in the course of procedure would be ruinous to most of them. how could a freedman appeal a suit for wages, or respond adequately to an appeal, when he is starving for want of the very wages which are withheld from him? it may be claimed that officers of the bureau can watch such cases and see that justice is done the freedman. i say they cannot do it. political power is against him, and will destroy any officer who fearlessly does his duty in this way. he will be charged with interference with the civil authority, with violating some constitution or some code; his acts will be so twisted and contorted before they reach washington, that he will get nothing for his pains but censure and dismissal. i can say without fear of contradiction, that there has not occurred one instance of interference with civil authorities on the part of military officers in this state, unless they saw first that every law of justice was violated to such an extent as to arouse the indignation of any man born in a country where human beings have an equal right to justice before the tribunals of the land. yet, if i am not mistaken, there is a growing impression, supported by this same political power in the south, that the officers in this state are tyrannical, meddlesome, and disposed to thwart the faithful efforts of the noble white people to reorganize the state. many delegations of the citizens of this state have visited washington for the purpose of getting their property returned, or of obtaining some other favor. they, in order to accomplish their desire, represent the feeling of their friends at home as very cordially disposed toward the united states government, and say that they all acquiesce in the freedom of the negroes. a little examination into the condition of affairs in this state will show that this is not the case, and that what the people do is only done in order that they may be restored to power so as to change the direction in which affairs are tending. i am afraid the profuse loyalty of the delegations to washington is being taken as the sentiment of the masses, and is directing legislation and policy. it is idle to talk about these people working out this negro problem. people who will not admit that it is best, or even right, to educate the freedmen, are not the proper persons to be intrusted with the administration of justice to them. i have no hesitation in saying, that if the question of educating the colored people were to-day submitted to the whites of this state, they would vote against it in a body. nine-tenths of the educated and refined class, who are supposed to have higher and nobler feelings, would vote against it. i have been called on by persons of this class, and asked to suppress the religious meetings among the colored people because they made so much noise! when i remonstrate with them and talk of religious freedom, and of the right of all to worship god in the manner most suited to their convictions of right, these gentlemen hold up their hands in horror at the idea. what would magistrates selected from these people do in reference to such complaints? suppress the meeting, of course. a similar and much stronger prejudice exists against the establishment of schools for the negro's benefit. if federal bayonets were to-day removed from our midst, not a colored school would be permitted in the state. the teachers, perhaps, would not be tarred and feathered and hung, as they would have been in old times, but ways and means innumerable would present themselves by which to drive them out. the white citizens both of vicksburg and natchez have requested me not to establish freedmen schools inside their city limits, yet over one-half the population of these cities is composed of freed people--the class who are doing the work, toiling all day in the sun, while the white employers are reaping the benefit of their labor through superior knowledge, and are occupying their elegant leisure by talking and writing constantly about the demoralization of negro labor--that the negro won't work, &c. it is nonsense to talk so much about plans for getting the negroes to work. they do now and always have done, all the physical labor of the south, and if treated as they should be by their government, (which is so anxious to be magnanimous to the white people of this country, who never did work and never will,) they will continue to do so. who are the workmen in these fields? who are hauling the cotton to market, driving hacks and drays in the cities, repairing streets and railroads, cutting timber, and in every place raising the hum of industry? the freedmen, not the rebel soldiery. the southern white men, true to their instincts and training, are going to mexico or brazil, or talk of importing labor in the shape of coolies, irishmen--anything--anything to avoid work, any way to keep from putting their own shoulders to the wheel. the mass of the freedmen can and will support themselves by labor. they need nothing but justice before the courts of the land, impartial judges and juries, to encourage them in well-doing, or punish them for the violation of just laws, a chance to own the land and property they can honestly obtain, the free exercise of their right to worship god and educate themselves, and--let them alone. the delegates to washington think that it is their duty, peculiarly, to see the president and arrange the affairs of the negro. why don't they attend to their own business, or make arrangements for the working of the disbanded rebel army in the cotton fields and workshops of the south? there are to-day as many houseless, homeless, poor, wandering, idle white men here as there are negroes in the same condition, yet no arrangements are made for their working. all the trickery, chicanery and political power possible are being brought to bear on the poor negro, to make him do the hard labor for the whites, as in days of old. to this end the mass of the people are instinctively working. they steadily refuse to sell or lease lands to black men. colored mechanics of this city, who have made several thousand dollars during the last two years, find it impossible to buy even land enough to put up a house on, yet white men can purchase any amount of land. the whites know that if negroes are not allowed to acquire property or become landholders, they must ultimately return to plantation labor, and work for wages that will barely support themselves and families, and they feel that this kind of slavery will be better than none at all. people who will do these things, after such a war, and so much misery, while federal bayonets are yet around them, are not to be intrusted with the education and development of a, race of slaves just liberated. i have made this letter longer than it should have been, and may have taxed your patience, yet i do not see how i could have said less, and expressed my views on the subject. i am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, samuel thomas, colonel, assistant commissioner b.r.f. and a.l. for mississippi and n.e. louisiana. general carl schurz. no. . mobile, alabama, _september_ , . colonel george d. robinson, th united states colored troops, states as follows: i was sent out to connecuh, covington, coffee, dale, and henry counties, to administer the amnesty oath. i was at covington myself, having officers under my orders stationed in the other four counties. i travelled through connecuh and covington; about the other counties i have reports from my officers. a general disposition was found among the planters to set the colored people who had cultivated their crops during the summer adrift as soon as the crops would be secured, and not to permit the negro to remain upon any footing of equality with the white man in that country. in none of the above-named counties i heard of a justice of the peace or other magistrate discharging the duties of an agent of the freedmen's bureau, nor did i hear of any of them willing to do so. i deem it necessary that some officers be sent out there to attend to the interests of the freedmen, in order to avoid the trouble and confusion which is almost certain to ensue unless the matter is attended to and regulated. i returned from covington yesterday, september . geo. d. robinson, _colonel th united states infantry_. no. . memorandum of a conversation between william king, esq., of savannah, and carl schurz. savannah, july , . question by mr. schurz. what are the ideas of the people in this state as to the future organization of your labor system? answer. it is generally conceded that slavery is dead, but it is believed that the negro will not work unless compelled to. money is no inducement that will incite him to work. he works for comfort, that is, he wants to gain something and then enjoy it immediately afterwards. he has no idea of the binding force of a contract, and it is questionable whether he ever will have. question. so you consider the contract system, as it is now introduced here and there, a failure. answer. in a number of cases that i know of it is a failure. the negroes are not doing the work they have contracted for. i know other cases in which they have remained with their former masters, work well, and produce fair crops. question. in what manner, then, can, in your opinion, the free-labor system be made to work here? answer. the negro must be kept in a state of tutelage, like a minor. for instance, he may be permitted to freely choose the master for whom he wants to work; he may bind himself for a year, and, for all practical purposes, the master must act as his guardian. question. you think, then, something more is necessary than a mere contract system by which the negro is only held to fulfil his contract? answer. yes. the negro ought to be held in the position of a ward. question. do you not think the negro ought to be educated, and do you believe the people of this state would tax themselves for the purpose of establishing a general system of education? answer. i think it would be well to have the negro educated, but i do not think the people of this state would tax themselves for such a purpose. the people are too poor and have too many other things to take care of. we have to look for that to the people of the north. the north having freed the negroes, ought to see to it that they be elevated. besides, the poor whites are not in favor of general education at all. they are themselves very ignorant, and look upon education as something dangerous. for them we must have a system of compulsory education, or we cannot get them to send their children to school. a good many of the hardshell baptists among them look upon school-teachers as the emissaries of the devil. question. how far do you think the people of this state would be prepared to grant the negro equality before the law? would they, for instance, give him the right to testify in courts of justice against white men? answer. i think not. it is generally believed that the negro has no idea of the sanctity of an oath. question. do you not think such disabilities would place the negro under such disadvantage in the race of life as to deprive him of a fair chance? answer. this is the dilemma, in my opinion: either we admit the negro's testimony in courts of justice, and then our highest interests are placed at the mercy of a class of people who cannot be relied on when testifying under oath; or we deny the negro that right, and then he will not be in a position to properly defend his own interests, and will be a downtrodden, miserable creature. question. do you not think vagrancy laws and police regulations might be enacted, equally applicable to whites and blacks, which might obviate most of the difficulties you suggest as arising from the unwillingness of the negro to work? answer. perhaps they might; but the whites would not agree to that. the poor whites hate and are jealous of the negro, and the politicians will try and please the whites so as to get their votes. question. do you think it would be advisable to withdraw our military forces from the state if the civil government be restored at an early date? answer. it would not be safe. there are a great many bad characters in the country who would make it for some time unsafe for known union people, and for northerners who may settle down here, to live in this country without the protection of the military. the mere presence of garrisons will prevent much mischief. the presence of the military is also necessary to maintain the peace between the whites and blacks, and it will be necessary until their relations are settled upon a permanent and satisfactory basis. this memorandum was read by me to mr. king and approved by him as a correct reproduction of the views he had expressed. c. schurz. no. . _what the planter wants before he embarks his capital and time in the attempt to cultivate another crop.--suggestions submitted by a committee at a meeting of planters, november , _. _first_.--above all, he wants an undoubted guarantee that the labor and teams, corn and hay, with which he begins the cultivation of another crop shall be secured to him for at least twelve months. from past experience, we know that, to be reliable, this guarantee must come from the government at washington. _second_.--some mode of compelling laborers to perform ten ( ) hours of faithful labor in each twenty-four hours, (sundays excepted,) and strict obedience of all orders. this may be partially attained by a graduated system of fines, deduction of time or wages, deduction of rations of all kinds in proportion to time lost, rigidly enforced. but in obstinate cases it can only be done by corporal punishments, such as are inflicted in the army and navy of the united states. in light cases of disobedience of orders and non-performance of duty the employer should impose fines, &c. the corporal punishment should be inflicted by officers appointed by the superintendent of "colored labor," who might, from time to time, visit each plantation in a parish, and ascertain whether the laborer was satisfied with his treatment, and whether he performed his part of the contract, and thus the officer would qualify himself by his own information to correct any abuse that might exist, and award equal justice to each party. the plan of sending off refractory laborers to work on government plantations is worse than useless. a planter always plants as much land as he believes he has labor to cultivate efficiently, neither more nor less. if less, a portion of his laborers are idle a part of their time; if more, his crops must suffer from the want of proper cultivation. if the laborers do not work faithfully, and their work is not judiciously directed, either from want of skill on the part of him who directs the labor, or from the refusal or failure of the laborers from any cause to do the work as it ought to be done, the crops must suffer. if, then, a portion of labor necessary to cultivate a certain amount of land is abstracted by sending it to work anywhere else, the crop must fail in proportion to the amount of labor abstracted. it must therefore be apparent to all that the amount of prompt, faithful, and well-directed labor, necessary to cultivate a given quantity of land efficiently, must be available at all times, when the cultivator deems it necessary, or the crops must necessarily, to a greater or less extent, prove a failure. _third_.--the rate of wages should be fixed--above which no one should be allowed to go. there should be at least four classes of hands, both male and female. if the laborer should be furnished, as this year, , with clothing, shoes, rations, houses, wood, medicine, &c., the planter cannot afford to pay any more wages than this year, and to some hands not so much. wages should not be paid oftener than once a quarter. as long as a negro has a dime in his pocket he will go every saturday to some store or town. besides, if the men have money once a month they are constantly corrupting the women, who will not work because they expect to get money of the men. if the laborers are to pay for all their supplies, some think higher wages could be paid; but it would be necessary to require the negro to supply himself with at least two suits of clothes, one pair of shoes, a hat, and four pounds of pork or bacon, one peck of corn meal a week, vegetables at least twice a week, for a first-class hand. the laborer should pay for his medicine, medical attendance, nursing, &c.; also, house rent, $ a month, water included; wood at $ a cord in the tree, or $ a cord cut and delivered. instead of money, each employer should be required to pay once a week in tickets issued and signed by himself or agent, not transferable to any one off the premises of him who issues them, redeemable by the issuer quarterly in current funds, and to be received by him in the purchase of goods, provisions, &c., which he sold at current prices. _fourth_.--a law to punish most severely any one who endeavors, by offering higher wages, gifts, perquisites, &c., &c., to induce a negro to leave his employer before the expiration of the term for which he has engaged to labor without the consent of said employer. _fifth_.--wages to be quarterly. one-half to be retained to the end of the year, unless it is found that more than half is required to maintain a man and his family. _sixth_.--lost time to be deducted from wages daily; fines to be charged daily; rations, of all kinds, to be docked in proportion to the time lost during the week, if rations are to be supplied. _seventh_.--fines to be imposed for disobedience of any orders. _eighth_.--during sugar-making the laborer should be required to work at night as well as during the day. for night-work he might be allowed double wages for the time he works. _ninth_.--the negroes should not be allowed to go from one plantation to another without the written permit of their employer, nor should they be allowed to go to any town or store without written permission. _tenth_.--that the laborers should be required to have their meals cooked in a common kitchen by the plantation cooks, as heretofore. at present each family cook for themselves. if there be twenty-five houses on a plantation worked by one hundred hands, there are lighted, three times every day, winter and summer, for the purpose of cooking, twenty-five ( ) fires, instead of one or two, which are quite as many as are necessary. to attend these twenty-five fires there must be twenty-five cooks. the extravagance in wood and the loss of time by this mode must be apparent to all. making the negroes pay for the wood they burn, and for fencing lumber of any kind, would have a tendency to stop this extravagant mode of doing business. they should also be fined heavily or suffer some kind of corporal punishment for burning staves, hoop-poles, shingles, plank, spokes, &c., which they now constantly do. _eleventh_.--none but regularly ordained ministers should be allowed to preach. at present on every plantation there are a number of preachers. frequent meetings are held at night, continuing from or p.m. until or o'clock a.m. the day after one of these long meetings many of the laborers are unfit to labor; neither are the morals of the negroes improved by these late meetings, nor the health. the night meetings should break up at p.m., and there should be but one a week on a plantation. some of the preachers privately promulgate the most immoral doctrines. _twelfth_.--a police guard or patrol should be established under the control of the superintendent of free labor, whose duty it shall be, under their officers, to enforce the rules and regulations that the superintendent of free labor may think best to adopt for the government of the laborers and their families on plantations and in private families. _thirteenth_.--the laborers are at present extremely careless of the teams, carts, wagons, gear, tools, and material of all kinds put in their possession, and should therefore be held accountable for the same. parents should be held liable for things stolen or destroyed by their children not over twelve years of age. _fourteenth_.--foremen should be fined whenever they fail to report any of the laborers under them who disobey orders of any kind. the foreman at the stable should be required especially to report neglect or ill treatment of teams by their drivers, and he should be held liable for all tools and halters, &c., put in the stable. _fifteenth_.--the unauthorized purchase of clothing or other property by laborers, or others domesticated on plantations, should be severely punished, and so should the sale by laborers or others domesticated on plantations of plantation products without a written permission be punished by fine, imprisonment, and obstinate cases by corporal punishment. the sale or furnishing of intoxicating liquor of any kind to laborers or others domesticated on plantations should be severely punished. _sixteenth_.--the possession of arms or other dangerous weapons without authority should be punished by fine or imprisonment and the arms forfeited. _seventeenth_.--no one, white or colored, with or without passes, should have authority to go into a quarter without permission of the proprietor of said quarter. should any insist upon going in, or be found in a quarter without permission of the proprietor, he should be arrested at once by the proprietor. _eighteenth_.--fighting and quarrelling should be prohibited under severe penalties, especially husbands whipping their wives. _nineteenth_.--laborers and all other persons domesticated on plantations or elsewhere should be required to be respectful in tone, manner, and language to their employers, and proprietors of the plantations or places on which they reside, or be fined and imprisoned. _twentieth_.--the whole study, aim, and object of the negro laborer now is how to avoid work and yet have a claim for wages, rations, clothes, &c. no. . oak forest, near tigerville station, _n.o. and o. railroad, december_ , . dear sir: the earnest desire you have manifested to make the negro laborer under the new order of things successful, makes me the more disposed to offer every assistance in my power to that end. i have no prejudices to overcome; i would do the blacks all the good in my power consistently with their welfare and the welfare of the country; i owe them no ill will, but i am well satisfied that it will demand the highest skill and the largest experience combined to make the new system work successfully, when hitherto all others, including our own two years' experience, have signally failed. no namby-pamby measures will do. we may have more psalm singing, more night preaching, greater excesses in the outward manifestation of religion, but depend upon it there will be less true morality, less order, less truthfulness, less honest industry. it is not the experiment of a few only, or of a day, but of an _institution_, if anything, for millions; the mixing in industrial association of separate races hitherto distinct; of systems fundamentally changed and not of mere individuals, and the man who does not rise to the height of the great argument fails before he starts. it is not to listen to babblers, to _professional_ philanthropists, to quacks and demagogues: it demands a manly, masculine, vigorous exercise of executive power, adapted to the circumstances of the case. nobody is absolutely free, white or black. i have been a slave all my life; you have been the same. we were subject to discipline from childhood, and the negro as well, and must continue to be subject to wholesome restraints all of us. it is well to consider that the measures of the government have rendered labor scarce. it would be safe to say there is not _half a supply_; that every sort of inducement will be held out to get labor away from present situations; that the inclination of all who are unincumbered is, to get to the city and its neighborhood. every planter has some already there, living most unprofitably. i have half a dozen, some under the agreement of the present year. concentration is the order of the day, and none but those who can command the largest sum of money will be able to carry on plantations with any hope of success. i take leave to add some suggestions, believing you will receive them with the same friendly spirit in which they are offered. i am still surrounded by my own servants, and would like to see the system so ordered that they would still find it to their advantage to remain in their present comfortable homes. wages, rules, and regulations should be fixed and uniform: nothing left to discretion. a penalty should be inflicted on every employer who deviates from the established rates, _maximum_ rates. no field crops should be raised by hired laborers. the evils attending this are numerous and insurmountable. wages should be extremely moderate on account of the unsteadiness of labor and exceeding uncertainty of crops of all sorts, but especially of cane and cotton. cooking for hands should be confined absolutely to one kitchen, and a charge made for all wood taken to their houses; a certain supply should be allowed, and no additional quantity permitted at any price: otherwise no plantation can long stand the enormous, wasteful consumption of fuel. all necessary expenditures for the blacks, old as well as young, should be borne by themselves. white laborers are all liable to such charges, and why not wasteful and improvident blacks? they should be early taught the value of what they consume as well as the other costs of living. about keeping stock the rule should be absolute. no travelling about, day or night, without a written sanction from the proper person. the violation of this order by a commanding officer has brought the small-pox on my place and already eight grown hands have died with it, and there are not less than twenty invalids besides: this is one of the evils. medicine and professional attendance a charge to the patient, as well as all educational arrangements. every ploughman or woman, and teamster, to be obliged to feed and curry his or her team once at least every day. payments beyond proper and prescribed supplies to be small, the smaller the better, and still better if withheld till the crop is made and saved; but settlements by tickets should be made weekly. (a share in the crop is the best for both parties.) i do not perceive the utility of "home colonies;" they belong to the class of _theories_ more than anything else. families should be kept together and at the "homes" to which they have been accustomed, if possible, and _made_ to support themselves, all who are able to do so. at present there are many who will not do this because they are made a charge on the master or employer. vagrants should be punished; _work is a necessity_. but i only put down a few particulars to _impress_ upon your mind as they occur to me. i know the difficult task you have undertaken. you have a giant to manage, and you will have to exercise a giant's strength. you have no less than to revise the teachings of all past history. you have to accomplish what has never been accomplished before. neither in the east nor in the west has the african been found to work voluntarily; but the experiment is to be tried anew in this country, and i shall lend my assistance, whatever it is, to help on in the road to success, if that be possible. i have tried it two years under the military without success, or the prospect of it. if, however, i can in any way assist you to gain the meed of success, both my own interest and my kind feelings towards you combine to prompt me to renewed efforts in the cause. i remain, very respectfully and truly, yours, t. gibson. hon. b.f. flanders. p.s.--the great desideratum in obtaining labor from free blacks is its _enforcement_. how is this to be done? formerly the known authority possessed by the master over the slave, prevented in a great degree the exercise of it. the knowledge now, on the part of the blacks, that the military authority has forbidden any authority over them, increases the very necessity of the power which is forbidden. this is palpable to any one who sees with an experienced eye for a day. there can necessarily be no order, day or night, no fidelity, no morality, no industry. _it is so_, speculate and theorize as we may. i wish it were different; it is a great pity to witness these deplorable effects. disease is scattered broadcast; my own stock has been for some time consumed, except a few milch cows. the sugar from the sugar-houses has been sold in quantities in every direction. the cotton of one plantation has been sold to the extent of half the crop to a white man, and only by the merest accident discovered in time to be detected. my neighbor's hogs have been taken from the pen, killed and brought home for consumption; his cattle the same. these things are within my knowledge by the merest accident, but there is absolutely no remedy, because their testimony is as good, if not better than mine, and this they know perfectly well. in a case of sugar-selling, i had the oath of a disinterested white man to the fact, and the black and white man identified by the witness. when this witness was through with his testimony, the negro man, the interested party, _the accused himself_, was called up by the provost marshal, and of course he swore himself innocent, and so he was _cleared_. in the case of the cotton not a negro can be brought to confess, notwithstanding the confession of the white man and the surrender of the cotton. how, then, can good order, good morals and honest industry be maintained when immunity from punishment is patent to their understandings? i know no remedy adequate to the circumstances but an always present power to enforce law and order, and this now requires the constant presence of the bayonet. which is the best, a regular military government, or the quiet, humane exercise of just so much authority as the case demands, by the master, who has every motive, human and divine, to exercise humanity and protect his slave from injustice and injury? the past, or rather the present year, we had nothing but blank orders, and these are of no avail whatever without enforcement; and this brings us back to the starting-point again, and the bayonet again, and so it is to the end of the chapter. moral suasion will not do for whites who have had freedom as an inheritance, and education within their reach. how then can it be expected that he who has been predestined by the almighty to be a servant of servants all the days of his life, shall be capable of at once rising to motives of human conduct higher than those possessed by the white man? all that my reason teaches and the experience i have had, and the history i have read, bring me to the same conclusion: you must utterly fail unless you add the stimulus of _corporal punishment_ to the admonitions of the law; but as this would be somewhat inconsistent with the freedom which our solons have decreed, i must only confess my inability to prescribe the orthodox remedies according to the received dogmas from the inspired sources of knowledge at the north above all the lessons i have learned heretofore, and entirely above everything i expect to learn hereafter. no. . freedmen's bureau, _shreveport, la., august_ , . sir: at the date of my last monthly report, (july d,) the free-labor system in western louisiana was an experiment. no contracts between the planters and freedmen had then been entered into, and the difficulties to be met with and overcome by the contracting parties were new to each. the herculean task of removing the objections which the freedmen offered to signing a "contract," and of eradicating the prejudice existing among the planters against countenancing the employment upon their plantations as free men of those whom they had so long and firmly held in bondage, devolved upon the agents of the bureau. the objection presented by the freedmen consisted chiefly in the fact that they had _no confidence whatever_ in the word of their "old masters." said they, in substance, "we cannot trust the power that has never accorded us any privileges. our former oppressors show by their actions that they would sooner retard than advance our prosperity." while in nine cases out of ten the freedmen eagerly and readily acceded to fair terms for their labor when the matter was explained by a government agent, exactly in the same ratio did they refuse to listen to any proposition made by the planter alone. their readiness to comprehend their situation and to enter into an agreement to work when enlightened by an agent of the bureau, or, in exceptional cases, when the planters sought in a kind and philanthropic spirit to explain to them their relations to society and the government, is conclusive proof that the disposition to be idle formed no part of the reason for their refusing to contract with their former masters. with these facts in view, it will be readily perceived that the only feasible mode of success was to send agents into the country to visit every plantation. this was undertaken; but with no funds to procure the services of assistants, and with the difficulty of obtaining the right class of men for these positions from the army, the progress made has not been as rapid or the work as effectual as it would have been under more favorable circumstances. partial returns have been received, as follows: from bienville parish contracts. " bossier parish " " caddo parish " " desoto parish " " marion county, texas " --- total received " === returns are yet to be received from the parishes of claiborne, natchitoches, winn and sabine, and from harrison county, texas. these will all be given in by the th inst., and i shall then be able to determine the exact number employed upon each plantation and laboring under the new system. regarding the average number employed upon each plantation in the parish of caddo as a basis for an estimate, the returned rolls will foot up a list of , names, and the whole number of freedmen contracted with during the month of july in the district under my supervision will not probably exceed , , or fall short of , . during the month a sufficient length of time has elapsed to render judgment to a certain extent upon the workings of the new system. that it has not satisfied a majority of the planters is a conclusion which, from their disposition at first, was evident would be arrived at. that the freedmen have accepted the arrangements devised by the government for their protection so readily and have worked so faithfully, is a matter for congratulation. the planters at first expected that, though the power to "control" the persons of the laborers had been torn from them by the stern requirements of war, the agents of the bureau would, through the military, confine the negro to their plantations and compel him to labor for them. in this way it was thought that the same _regime_ as pursued in times of slavery could be kept up, and it was this idea which prompted a planter, noted for his frankness, to remark "that the people of the south desired the government to continue this supervision for a term of years." finding that their ideas of the policy of the government were erroneous, and that they could not exercise this "controlling power" either directly or indirectly, and that the freedman was to be placed, as nearly as the circumstances surrounding his situation would permit, upon the same grounds as the white laborer, it is but a logical sequence that the planters should be disappointed and dissatisfied with the work performed by the freedmen. in this place it may be well to notice that the country is yet in a very unsettled condition. after a four years' war which has sapped it of all its resources, and after a life-long servitude for a hard taskmaster, the negro is liberated from bondage, and he finds the people of the country in no condition to offer him the most advantageous terms for his services. this, with the natural desire experienced by all mankind for a period of repose after that of incessant and forced labor, is one of the causes which have contributed to render the freedmen negligent and inconstant at their work. reports are constantly brought to this office by the negroes from the interior that freedmen have been kidnapped and summarily disposed of. these obtain circulation and credence among all classes, and, whether true or not, operate disadvantageously to the interests of both the planters and the freedmen. again, the threat of shooting the laborers, so frequently made by the planters, is very unwise, and usually has the effect of causing a general stampede from the plantation where the threat was made. the fact that the body of a negro was seen hanging from a tree in texas, near the louisiana line; and of the murder in cold blood, in the northern part of the parish of caddo, of mary, a colored woman, by john johnson, the son of the proprietor of the plantation where the woman worked; and that instances have repeatedly occurred similar to a case presented at my office, where an old man had received a blow over his head with a shillalah one inch in diameter, which was so severe as to snap the stick asunder; and also the fracturing of the skull and the breaking of the arm of a helpless, inoffensive colored woman by a vindictive planter in the parish of natchitoches; and the statement of one of my agents, who says that "upon half the plantations the freedmen are not well clothed and their rations are scanty;" and of another who has visited every plantation in ward no. --, parish of ----, who reports at the close of the month as follows: "the freedmen in my ward are very poorly clothed and fed, although no particular complaints have been made as yet;" should all be taken into consideration in arriving at conclusions in regard to the disposition of the freedmen to work, and before judgment is rendered upon the complaints of the major portion of the planters; and it is also useless to disguise the fact that among the freedmen, as among all classes of people, there are many ill-disposed as well as idle persons, and a few of these upon each plantation create dissatisfaction among the others. notwithstanding the complaints of the planters and the above-named facts, the existence of which would cause a disturbance among any class of laborers in the world, the majority of the planters have been eager to contract with their former slaves, for the reason that after their plantations had been visited by an agent of the government, and an agreement had been made upon the prescribed forms, the freedmen worked better than before. this is a matter of significance, and its bearing is readily seen. having noticed the disapprobation of the larger portion of the planting community, and the causes which led to their complaints, i desire to call your attention in this connexion to the report of one of my most experienced agents. it is as follows: "in all cases have the employees given satisfaction where their former masters are at all reasonable. i would mention the case of jacob hoss as an example: he contracted with his former slaves in the latter part of may for one-fourth of all his crops; they have been steady and industrious, and have decidedly the finest cotton and corn in the district." mr. hoss has acres of cotton, of corn, and of potatoes. your attention is also solicited to the testimony of the _liberal few_ who have taken the amnesty oath with the intention to keep it. one says: "the freedmen in my neighborhood are laboring well where they are well paid." another, a large land proprietor, states that "he could not ask his hands to work better." the same gentleman also states that "he would not have the freedmen upon his plantation made slaves again if he could." the testimony is concurrent that, where liberal wages are paid and the freedmen are kindly treated, no difficulty is experienced with them, and that they labor honestly and industriously. the complaints which have been presented at the office for consideration are very nearly in a direct ratio of the two classes, but the wrongs of the freedmen are by far the most aggravated, as they suffer in almost every conceivable way. it has been necessary to fine and assess damages upon several planters for beating their laborers, and also to punish several freedmen for violating their contracts and for other misdemeanors. the following is a literal copy of a document brought to this office by a colored man, which is conclusive evidence that there _are_ those who still claim the negro as their property: "this boy calvin has permit to hire to whome he please, but i shall hold him as my propperty untill set free by congress. "july the , . e.v. tully." the spirit of the above also made its appearance in another form in the action of the police jury of the parish of bossier, which was an attempt to revive at once the old slave laws, and to prevent the freedmen from obtaining employment from the plantations of their former masters. the gist of the enactment alluded to is contained in the paragraph directing the officers on patrol duty "to arrest and take up all idle and vagrant persons running at large without employment, and carry them before the proper authority, to be dealt with as the law directs." as soon as this matter came under the observation of the bureau, the facts in the case were represented to brevet major general j.p. hawkins, commanding western district of louisiana, and at the same time a request was made that the restrictions imposed upon the freedmen in this section by general orders no. , headquarters northern division of louisiana, be revoked; and the general issued an order, dated july , which removes the said restrictions, and prohibits the parish police juries, established by the civil authorities, from arresting freedmen unless for positive offence against the law. this breaks down the last barrier to the enjoyment of liberty by the freedmen in western louisiana, and i feel highly gratified that it has been accomplished without referring it to higher authorities, as our mail facilities are so irregular that at least two months would have been consumed by the operation. upon the th of july the freedmen's hospital was opened for the reception of patients, and enclosed please find a copy of the hospital report for july, marked . this is a necessary as well as a charitable institution, as the city authorities have as yet taken no measures to provide for the indigent sick. since the establishment of the bureau here, it has been found necessary to issue rations to freedmen, as follows: to citizen employees to helpless and infirm to sick and hospital attendants , ----- total issued , ===== the number fed by the government to-day is as follows: men women children -- total number infirm and helpless rationed number sick at hospital number hospital attendants number citizen employees rationed -- total number supplied with rations == none but the helpless and infirm and sick have been fed at the expense of the government, and these only in cases of absolute necessity. many planters who abandoned their homes on the mississippi and carried away their slaves to texas have returned to this city, and with a coolness amounting to audacity have demanded transportation for their former slaves to various points from the mouth of the red river to lake providence. finding that the officers of the government would not oblige them in this particular, they left behind the aged and infirm to provide for themselves as best they could. this and the abuses on plantations have caused the principal suffering among the freedmen, and have brought many to the city who otherwise would have remained upon the plantation, but, all things being considered, comparatively few have congregated about town. there has been such a demand for day labor in the city that i have deemed it a false philanthropy to feed those who temporarily sought refuge from oppression. the permanent residents are orderly and industrious, and desire very much to have schools established for their children. i cannot here refrain from mentioning the fact that the presence of negroes in town possessing free papers is extremely disagreeable to the citizens. the tax collected of planters has thus far been sufficient to defray office and printing expenses. the hire of a surgeon and nurses for the hospital, amounting in july to $ . , is the only bill which it is necessary to refer to you for payment. all the property and money which has come into my hands on account of the bureau has been accounted for to the proper departments, according to regulations. by special orders no. , dated at headquarters northern division of louisiana, june , , chaplain thomas callahan, th united states colored infantry, was assigned to duty with me as my assistant, and he has had charge of the department of complaints. he is a very capable and efficient officer, and his services are very valuable to the bureau. again, i have occasion to return acknowledgments to brigadier general j.c. veatch for his cordial assistance in aiding me to carry out the measures of the bureau, and also to colonel crandal and lieutenant colonel mclaughlin, post commandants, for valuable aid; and to brevet major general j.p. hawkins we are indebted for that which makes the colored man in reality a _free_ man. believing that with proper management and kind treatment the freedmen in western louisiana will be found to be as industrious as laborers in other sections of the country, i have the honor to be, with much respect, your obedient servant, w.b. stickney, _lieutenant and assistant superintendent freedmen_. thomas w. conway, _assistant commissioner bureau of freedmen. &c._ no. . freedmen's bureau, _shreveport, louisiana, august_ , . sir: i have the honor to report, in accordance with orders, that in the district under my supervision, comprising eight parishes in louisiana and two counties in texas, and an area of about , square miles, , contracts have been made, and , laborers enrolled since the first of july. the work of making contracts is now nearly completed, but the returns for the month of august from the officers acting in the different parishes have not as yet been received. from the data already collected it will be safe to estimate the whole number of laborers working under the contract system in the district at not less than , , , of whom are in louisiana. the experience of two months has demonstrated the fact that the negro will work well when he is well paid and kindly treated; and another principle in the nature of the contracting parties has been equally as clearly elucidated, _i.e_., the planters are disposed to pay the freedmen the least possible sum for their labor, and that for much compensation the freedmen make an offset by making as little as possible. to acknowledge the right of the negro to freedom, and to regard him as a free man entitled to the benefits of his labor and to all the privileges and immunities of citizenship, is to throw aside the dogmas for which the south have been contending for the last thirty years, and seems to be too great a stride for the people to take at once, and too unpalatable a truth for the aristocratic planter to comprehend, without the interposition of the stern logic of the bayonet in the hands of a colored soldier. duty to my government compels me to report the following well-authenticated facts: . nineteen-twentieths of the planters have no disposition to pay the negro well or treat him well. . in the same proportion the planting aristocracy proffers obedience to the government, and at the same time do all in their power to make trouble. . the planters evince a disposition to throw all the helpless and infirm freedmen upon the hands of the government possible, in order to embarrass us and compel us to return them to slavery again. . a majority of the planters desire to prevent the success of the free-labor system, that they may force congress to revive slavery, or, what is more, a system of peonage. . the belief is general among the planters that without some means of "controlling" the persons of the laborers they cannot succeed; and for this reason they desire to have the military force removed, and the privilege of enacting such laws as will enable them to retain this power. . to defraud, oppress, and maltreat the freedmen seems to be the principle governing the action of more than half of those who make contracts with them. . the lives of the freedmen are frequently threatened, and murders are not of uncommon occurrence. . the life of a northern man who is true to his country and the spirit and genius of its institutions, and frankly enunciates his principles, is not secure where there is not a military force to protect him. about the th of july corporal j.m. wallace, of company b, forty-seventh indiana veteran volunteer infantry, was on duty with this bureau, and engaged in making contracts upon red river, in the parish of caddo. he visited mr. daniel's plantation, and, as it is stated, started for mr. white's place, but never reached it. being absent unaccountably, a sergeant and a detail of four men were sent to look him up, but could find no trace of him. without doubt he was murdered. he was a young man of unexceptionable habits and character, and was highly esteemed by the officers of his regiment. the circumstances of the case are such as to lead to the belief that the planters in the vicinity connived at his death. captain hoke, another agent of the bureau, was stopped by a highwayman within eight miles of shreveport. one of my assistants reports as follows: "in the northern part of this parish (cuddo) there are men armed and banded to resist the law." these facts prove that the presence of a military force is needed in every parish. instead of the present system of districts, i would recommend that the officer for each parish report direct to headquarters at new orleans for instructions, and that each officer be furnished with at least twenty men, ten of whom should be mounted. i apprehend that at the commencement of the next year the planters will endeavor to load us down with the aged and infirm, and those with large families. to meet this and other difficulties that may arise, i recommend that at least five thousand acres of land be confiscated in every parish, and an opportunity given the freedmen to rent or purchase the land, and that every facility be afforded planters in the lower part of the state to obtain laborers from western louisiana. another remedy has been suggested, and as it meets with my approval i quote the recommendations of the officer in his own words: "let the white troops on duty in this department be mustered out; they are greatly dissatisfied with remaining in the service after the close of the war; let black troops be mustered in their stead. in urging this matter, i suggest that the government has the first right to the services of the freedmen, and he needs the discipline of the army to develop his manhood and self-reliance. such a course of recruiting black soldiers will act as a powerful restraint upon the abuses practiced by the planters on the freedmen, and will also compel the payment of better wages. if the planter wishes the services of a shrewd, enterprising freedman, he must out-bid the government. lastly, the country needs the soldiers. politicians may say what they may; western louisiana is no more loyal now than when the state adopted the ordinance of secession." the statistics given at the commencement prove that we have experienced less difficulty with the freedmen than could have been expected. at times it has been necessary to adopt stringent measures to stem the tide of freedmen that seemed to be setting in toward shreveport, and many of them have such vague ideas of the moral obligations of a contract that it has been necessary to strengthen them by imprisonment and hard labor; but the great and insuperable difficulty which meets us at every step is, _that the planters and the freedmen have no confidence in and respect for each other_. the planters inform us that they are the best friends of the negro, but the freedmen fail to see the matter in that light. i am well assured that as a general rule the old planters and overseers can never succeed with the freedmen; that there must be an entire change in either laborers or proprietors before the country will again be prosperous. the plan of renting lands to the freedmen, as proposed by a few planters, i am of the opinion will prove very profitable to both parties. while, as a general rule, there is constant difficulty between the freedmen and their old masters and overseers, my agents and northern men have no trouble with them; and should the planters employ practical farmers from the north as business managers, it seems to be well demonstrated that the free-labor system, as it now is, with but slight modifications, would be a grand success. in this connexion i cannot refrain from noticing the assertion of a southern politician to the effect "that were the freedmen enfranchised, nine out of ten of them would vote for their old masters," which assertion every freedman will pronounce a wilful and malignant falsehood. the country is full of arms, and their use upon the freedmen is so frequent, and the general disposition of the people such, that i would strongly recommend, as a measure to secure the safety of life and property, that all classes of arms be taken from the citizens, not to be returned until an entirely different disposition is evinced. the system to be made binding for the next year should be published as early as the th of october, and the matter of contracting be commenced as soon thereafter as the parties desire to do so. i would respectfully suggest the propriety for calling of such statistical matter upon the back of the contract as will enable the officer in charge of the educational interests to determine the whole number of freedmen residing in the different parishes, and also the number of children of school age. the establishment of schools will be met by the most venomous opposition, and a military force will be required to protect the teacher and scholars from insult and injury unless the tone of public sentiment improves very rapidly. the civil authorities, so far as my knowledge extends, are not willing to grant the freedmen the rights to which their freedom entitles them. in fact it became necessary, as will be seen by a former report, for the military authorities to interfere to prevent their being virulently oppressed. in consequence of this i have kept an officer constantly on duty adjusting the difficulties arising between the whites and negroes, but important cases have been referred to the military authorities. chaplain thomas callahan, the officer referred to above, in his last report says: "to many of the planters the idea of a negro's testimony being as good as a white man's is very unpleasant, and occasional attempts are made to bully and browbeat a colored witness upon the stand. the attempt is never made twice. once i pitted a lawyer against a negro witness, held the parties on the cross-examination, and the lawyer was badly beaten. some of the freedmen can conduct a case with uncommon shrewdness." i cannot urge upon your attention too strongly the importance of keeping an officer in every parish and of providing him with a sufficient guard to command respect and enforce obedience to the laws. the presence of a military force, with judicious and discreet officers to command it, is the only means of securing to the freedmen their rights and of giving proper security to life and property. with many thanks for that encouragement which has supported and cheered me through every difficulty, i have the honor to be, with much respect, your most obedient servant, w.b. stickney, _lieutenant and assistant superintendent of freedmen_. thomas w. conway, _assistant commissioner, &c._ no. . ordinance relative to the police of recently emancipated negroes or freedmen within the corporate limits of the town of opelousas. whereas the relations formerly subsisting between master and slave have become changed by the action of the controlling authorities; and whereas it is necessary to provide for the proper police and government of the recently emancipated negroes or freedmen in their new relations to the municipal authorities: section . _be it therefore ordained by the board of police of the town of opelousas_, that no negro or freedman shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of opelousas without special permission from his employers, specifying the object of his visit and the time necessary for the accomplishment of the same. whoever shall violate this provision shall suffer imprisonment and two days' work on the public streets, or shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents. section . _be it further ordained_, that every negro freedman who shall be found on the streets of opelousas after o'clock at night without a written pass or permit from his employer shall be imprisoned and compelled to work five days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars. section . no negro or freedman shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances, and any one thus offending shall be ejected and compelled to find an employer or leave the town within twenty-four hours. the lessor or furnisher of the house leased or kept as above shall pay a fine of ten dollars for each offence. section . no negro or freedman shall reside within the limits of the town of opelousas who is not in the regular service of some white person or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said freedman; but said employer or former owner may permit said freedman to hire his time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend over twenty-four hours at any one time. any one violating the provisions of this, section shall be imprisoned and forced to work for two days on the public streets. section . no public meetings or congregations of negroes or freedmen shall be allowed within the limits of the town of opelousas under any circumstances or for any purpose without the permission of the mayor or president of the board. this prohibition is not intended, however, to prevent the freedmen from attending the usual church services conducted by established ministers of religion. every freedman violating this law shall be imprisoned and made to work five days on the public streets. section . no negro, or freedman shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people without a special permission from the mayor or president of the board of police under the penalty of a fine of ten dollars or twenty days' work on the public streets. section . no freedman who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry firearms, or any kind of weapons, within the limits of the town of opelousas without the special permission of his employer, in writing, and approved by the mayor or president of the board of police. any one thus offending shall forfeit his weapons and shall be imprisoned and made to work for five days on the public streets or pay a fine of five dollars in lieu of said work. section . no freedman shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within the limits of opelousas without permission in writing from his employer or the mayor or president of the board, under the penalty of the forfeiture of said articles and imprisonment and one day's labor, or a fine of one dollar in lieu of said work. section . any freedman found drunk within the limits of the town shall be imprisoned and made to labor five days on the public streets, or pay five dollars in lieu of said labor. section . any freedman not residing in opelousas who shall be found within the corporate limits after the hour of p.m. on sunday without a special permission from his employer or the mayor shall be arrested and imprisoned and made to work two days on the public streets, or pay two dollars in lieu of said work. section . all the foregoing provisions apply to freedmen and freedwomen, or both sexes. section . it shall be the special duty of the mayor or president of the board to see that all the provisions of this ordinance are faithfully executed. section . _be it further ordained_, that this ordinance to take effect from and after its first publication. ordained the d day of july, . e.d. estillette, _president of the board of police_. jos. d. richards, _clerk_. official copy: j. lovell, _captain and assistant adjutant general_. no. . an ordinance relative to the police of negroes recently emancipated within the parish of st. landry. whereas it was formerly made the duty of the police jury to make suitable regulations for the police of slaves within the limits of the parish; and whereas slaves have become emancipated by the action of the ruling powers; and whereas it is necessary for public order, as well as for the comfort and correct deportment of said freedmen, that suitable regulations should be established for their government in their changed condition, the following ordinances are adopted, with the approval of the united states military authorities commanding in said parish, viz: section . _be it ordained by the police jury of the parish of st. landry_, that no negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of said parish without a special permit in writing from his employer. whoever shall violate this provision shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents, or in default thereof shall be forced to work four days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as provided hereinafter. section . _be it further ordained_, that every negro who shall be found absent from the residence of his employer after o'clock at night, without a written permit from his employer, shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof, shall be compelled to work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. section . _be it further ordained_, that no negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish. any negro violating this provision shall be immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any negro, in violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence. section . _be it further ordained_, that every negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said negro. but said employer or former owner may permit said negro to hire his own time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend over seven days at any one time. any negro violating the provisions of this section shall be fined five dollars for each offence, or in default of the payment thereof shall be forced to work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. section . _be it further ordained_, that no public meetings or congregations of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset; but such public meetings and congregations may be held between the hours of sunrise and sunset, by the special permission in writing of the captain of patrol, within whose beat such meetings shall take place. this prohibition, however, is not intended to prevent negroes from attending the usual church services, conducted by white ministers and priests. every negro violating the provisions of this section shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof shall be compelled to work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. section . _be it further ordained_, that no negro shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people, without a special permission in writing from the president of the police jury. any negro violating the provisions of this section shall pay a fine of ten dollars, or in default thereof shall be forced to work ten days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. section . _be it further ordained_, that no negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms, or any kind of weapons, within the parish, without the special written permission of his employers, approved and indorsed by the nearest or most convenient chief of patrol. anyone violating the provisions of this section shall forfeit his weapons and pay a fine of five dollars, or in default of the payment of said fine, shall be forced to work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. section . _be it further ordained_, that no negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within said parish without the special written permission of his employer, specifying the articles of sale, barter or traffic. anyone thus offending shall pay a fine of one dollar for each offence, and suffer the forfeiture of said articles, or in default of the payment of said fine shall work one day on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. section . _be it further ordained_, that any negro found drunk within the said parish shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof shall work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided. section . _be it further ordained_, that all the foregoing provisions shall apply to negroes of both sexes. section . _be it further ordained_, that it shall be the duty of every citizen to act as a police officer for the detection of offences and the apprehension of offenders, who shall be immediately handed over to the proper captain or chief of patrol. section . _be it further ordained_, that the aforesaid penalties shall be summarily enforced, and that it shall be the duty of the captains and chiefs of patrol to see that the aforesaid ordinances are promptly executed. section . _be it further ordained_, that all sums collected from the aforesaid fines shall be immediately handed over to the parish treasurer. section . _be it further ordained_, that the corporeal punishment provided for in the foregoing sections shall consist in confining the body of the offender within a barrel placed over his or her shoulders, in the manner practiced in the army, such confinement not to continue longer than twelve hours, and for such time within the aforesaid limit as shall be fixed by the captain or chief of patrol who inflicts the penalty. section . _be it further ordained_, that these ordinances shall not interfere with any municipal or military regulations inconsistent with them within the limits of said parish. section . _be it further ordained_, that these ordinances shall take effect five days after their publication in the opelousas courier. official copy: j. lovell, _captain and assistant adjutant general_. at a meeting of the citizens of the parish of st. mary, held at the court-house in the town of franklin, on saturday, the th instant, p.c. bethel, esq., was called to the chair, when a committee was appointed to report upon certain matters submitted to the consideration of the meeting, which committee reported by their chairman the following, which was unanimously adopted: report of the committee. the committee appointed for the purpose of embodying the views and objects of the meeting of the citizens of the parish of st. mary, assembled at the court-house of said parish on the th day of july, a.d. , to deliberate concerning the discipline of colored persons or freedmen, respectfully report that they recommend to the town council of the town of franklin the adoption of the ordinance of the board of police of the town of opelousas, passed on the third day of the present month, with such alterations and modifications as may suit the wants and necessities of this locality; also the ordinance of the same board of police passed on the same day, relative to the town of opelousas; which ordinances are herewith presented for reference. and they furthermore recommend to the police jury of the parish of st. mary, whenever convened, to make such regulations with regard to the discipline and management of the freedmen or colored population for the entire parish as may be most conducive to the quiet, tranquillity, and productiveness of said parish generally. the committee further recommend to all well-disposed citizens to co-operate with the authorities and with each other in producing a return to civil rule and good order within the shortest delay possible, that the state of louisiana may be restored to her proper condition as regards internal political stability and tranquillity, as well as the representation she is entitled to in the councils of the nation, which representation is more important to her now than at any previous period of her history. w.t. palfrey, chairman. _proceedings of the mayor and council of the town of franklin_. friday, _july_ , . pursuant to call of the major commanding, the mayor and council met this day. present: a.s. tucker, mayor; wilson mckerall, alfred gates, john c. gordy, and j.a. peterman, members of the council. the following was unanimously adopted, viz: ordinance relative to the police of negroes or colored persons within the corporate limits of the town of franklin. sec. . _be it ordained by the mayor and council of the town of franklin_, that no negro or colored person shall be allowed to come within the limits of said town without special permission from his employer, specifying the object of his visit and the time necessary for the accomplishment of the same. whoever shall violate this provision shall suffer imprisonment and two days work on the public streets, or shall pay a fine of two dollars and a half. sec. . _be it further ordained. &c_., that every negro or colored person who shall be found on the streets of franklin after ten o'clock at night without a written pass or permit from his or her employer, shall be imprisoned and compelled to work five days on the public streets or pay a fine of five dollars. sec. . no negro or colored person shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances; and any one thus offending shall be ejected and compelled to find an employer, or leave the town within twenty-four hours. the lessor or furnisher of the house kept as above shall pay a fine of ten dollars for each offence: _provided_, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to any free negro or colored person who was residing in the town of franklin prior to the st january ( ) last. sec. . no negro or colored person shall reside within the limits of the town of franklin who is not in the regular service of some white person or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said negro or colored person; but said employer or former owner may permit said negro or colored person to hire his or their time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend to over twenty-five hours at any one time. any negro or colored person violating the provisions of this section shall be imprisoned and forced to work for two days on the public streets: _provided_, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to negroes or colored persons heretofore free. sec. . no public meetings or congregations of negroes or colored persons shall be allowed within the limits of the town of franklin, under any circumstances or for any purpose, without the permission of the mayor. this prohibition is not intended, however, to prevent negroes or colored persons from attending the usual church service, conducted by established ministers of religion. every negro or colored person violating this law shall be imprisoned and put to work five days on the public streets. sec. . no negro or colored person shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people without a special permission from the mayor, under the penalty of a fine of ten dollars or twenty days' work on the public streets. sec. . no negro or colored person who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms or any kind of weapons within the limits of the town of franklin without the special permission of his employer in writing, and approved by the mayor. any one thus offending shall forfeit his weapons and shall be imprisoned and made to work five days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars in lieu of said work. sec. . no negro or colored person shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within the limits of franklin, without permission in writing from his employer or the mayor, under the penalty of forfeiture of the said articles and imprisonment and one day's labor, or a fine of one dollar in lieu of said work. sec. . any negro or colored person found drunk within the limits of the town shall be imprisoned and made to labor five days on the public streets, or pay five dollars in lieu of said labor. sec. . any negro or colored person not residing in franklin who shall be found within its corporate limits after the hour of three o'clock p.m. on sunday without a special written permission from his employer or the mayor, shall be arrested and imprisoned and made to work two days on the public streets, or pay two dollars in lieu of said work. sec. . all the foregoing provisions apply to negroes or colored persons of both sexes. sec. . it shall be the special duty of the town constable, under direction of the mayor, to see that all the provisions of this ordinance are faithfully executed. sec. . whoever in franklin shall sell or give to any negro or colored person any intoxicating liquors, or shall exchange or barter for the same with any such negro or colored person, without special permission from the mayor or employer of said negro or colored person, shall, on conviction thereof before the mayor or justice of the peace in and for the seventh ward of the parish of st. mary, pay a fine of twenty-five dollars and costs of prosecution, and in default of the payment of said fine and costs the person thus offending shall suffer imprisonment in the parish jail for ten days. a.s. tucker, _mayor_. r.w. mcmillan, _clerk_. approved: geo. r. davis, _major third rhode island cavalry, commanding post_. [telegram.] new orleans, _august_ , . the ordinance relative to the "police of negroes or colored persons within the corporate limits of the town of franklin," dated friday, july , , and signed by a.l. tucker, mayor, being in violation of the emancipation proclamation, the orders of the war department, and the orders of these headquarters, you will prevent their enforcement and arrest any person attempting to carry them out. the negroes are as free as other people. this ordinance, if enforced, would be slavery in substance, which can never be. attend to this matter with all the vigor at your command. i have consulted general canby, who concurs with me in the matter. thomas w. conway, ass't. comm. bureau of refugees, freedmen, &c., state of louisiana_. lieutenant s.e. shepard, _provost marshal, parish of st. mary, brashear city, or franklin, la_. official copy: d.v. fenno, _first lieutenant and a.a.a. general_. no. . bureau refugees, freedmen and abandoned lands, office assistant commissioner for state of mississippi, _vicksburg, miss., september_ , . general: i enclose a copy of the city ordinances. you will see that negroes who sell vegetables, cakes, &c., on the street are required to pay ten dollars ($ ) per month for the privilege of doing so. to illustrate the workings of this ordinance i will give you an actual occurrence in this city. about a year ago an old negro man named henderson, crippled with over-work, about seventy years of age, was sent to me for support by the military authorities. i issued him rations for himself and wife, an old negro woman, incapable of doing anything but care for herself. i continued this till about january , , when the old man came to me and informed me that if i would allow him to sell apples and cakes to the soldiers on a corner of the street near my office, under a large tree that grew there, he thought he could care for himself and make enough to support himself and wife. i immediately gave him permission and an order to protect him. i had but little faith in his being able to do it, as he was compelled to go on crutches and was bent nearly double, owing to a severe whipping his old master had given him some years ago. he commenced his work, and, much to my surprise, made enough to support himself, and asked for no more assistance from me. when the city authorities took charge of the city matters the marshal of the city ordered him to pay the ten dollars per month for the privilege of supporting himself or desist from such trade. the old man told him that all his profits would not amount to ten dollars per month, and that in some months he did not make that amount of sales, but, as colonel thomas provided him with a place to live, he could barely support himself by such trade. the marshal of the city informed him that the tax must be paid by all, and that colonel thomas could take care of him, as it was his duty to do so. the old man came to my office and told me the whole affair. i wrote a letter to the mayor setting forth the whole case, and that the collection of this tax on such old cripples would compel me to support them, as they could not pay the city ten dollars per month and make their support. in fact, ten dollars per month is the common wages for negro labor. the mayor refused to allow the negro to continue his sales, and i was compelled to take charge of him. i would have refused to allow the city authorities to interrupt him had it not been for general orders no. , from headquarters department of mississippi, allowing the mayor to take charge of such matters. you will see by the city ordinance that a drayman or hackman must file a bond of five hundred dollars in addition to paying for his license. the mayor requires that the bondsmen shall be freeholders. the laws of this state do not, and never did, allow a negro to own land or hold property. the white citizens refuse to sign any bonds for the freedmen. the white citizens and authorities say that it is for their interest to drive out all independent negro labor; that the freedmen must hire to white men if they wish to do this kind of work. i am, general, very respectfully, samuel thomas, _colonel, assistant commissioner freedmen's bureau, state of mississippi_. major general c. schurz. _proceedings of the city council_. at a regular meeting of the board of mayor and council of the city of vicksburg, held at the city hall, on monday, august , : present--t.j. randolph, mayor; messrs. stites, royall, johnson, bender, spengler, manlove, and porterfield, councilmen. mr. stites introduced the following ordinance, which was read; and, on motion of mr. bender, the rules were suspended, the ordinance read a second time; and, on motion of mr. manlove, the rules were again suspended, the ordinance read a third time by its title, and passed. mr. johnson called for the ayes and noes on the passage of the ordinance, which were taken: ayes--stites, royall, bender, spengler, manlove, and porterfield-- . nay--johnson-- . an ordinance to raise revenue for the city of vicksburg. sec. . that there shall be assessed, levied, and collected upon the landholders, freeholders, and householders of the city of vicksburg, for the year commencing july , , upon the _ad valorem_ worth of all houses, lots and parts of lots, and lands, and on all goods, wares, and merchandise, on all moneys loaned at interest in said city, whether by a resident or nonresident or a corporation, a general tax of fifty cents on every one hundred dollars' value thereof; that said valuation or assessment shall be assessed from the th day of july, a.d. , and shall be for one year, but the tax so assessed shall be payable in advance. sec. . that on all goods, wares, and merchandise, produce, &c., contained or sold on board any flatboat, or other water craft, there shall be assessed, levied, and collected upon the _ad valorem_ worth a general tax of fifty cents on every one hundred dollars' value thereof. sec. . that there shall be assessed, levied, and collected a poll tax of two dollars upon every male inhabitant of said city over the age of twenty-one years. sec. . that the rate for license for the houses, business, &c., be assessed as follows, payable as set forth in section : on all family groceries, porter-houses, eating-houses, oyster houses, and restaurants, per year $ ; on all auction stores, per year, $ ; on all public auctioneers, $ ; on all banks, brokers, and exchange offices, $ ; on all insurance companies having agents in this city, $ ; on all express companies, $ ; on all wholesale and retail stores and commission houses, $ ; on all drays and carts, $ ; on all hacks, $ ; on all private boarding-houses having ten or more boarders, $ ; on all hotels, $ ; on all rooms where billiard tables are kept for playing, $ ; on all rooms where bagatelle or pigeonhole tables are kept for playing, $ ; on all alleys known as ten-pin or nine-pin alleys, $ ; on all livery stables, $ ; on all wagon yards, $ ; on all barber shops, for each chair, $ ; on all manufactories of ale, porter, or soda-water per year, $ ; on all bakeries, $ ; on all theatres, circuses, animal shows, or any public performance or exhibition where compensation is paid in money, each day, $ ; on all bar-rooms, or other places where vinous or spirituous liquors are sold in less quantities than one gallon, per year, $ ; on all confectionary, fruit or ice cream, soda water or vegetable stores, $ ; on all cigar stores, $ ; on all shops where fresh meat is sold, $ ; on all street peddlers of goods, wares, or merchandise, fruit &c., except from market carts from the country, per month, $ ; on all live stock sold in this city, one-half of one per cent, _ad valorem_. sec. . that all ordinances in any way conflicting with the provisions of this ordinance be, and the same are hereby, repealed. sec. . that this ordinance take effect from and after its passage. vicksburg, mississippi, _august_ , . mr. stites introduced the following ordinance, which was read; and, on motion of mr. bender, the rules were suspended and the ordinance read a second time; and, on motion of mr. manlove, the rules were again suspended, the ordinance read a third time by its title, and passed. an ordinance to regulate the mode of obtaining licenses within the city of vicksburg. sec. . that, before license shall be granted to any one to keep a family grocery, porter-house, oyster-house, eating-house, or restaurant in this city, the person or persons so applying shall execute a bond in the penal sum of $ , with one or more securities, payable to the mayor of the city of vicksburg and his successors in office, conditioned that he, she, or they will keep an orderly and well-conducted house, and will not permit any riotous or disorderly conduct, or any gaming in or about the same, and will not sell any vinous or spirituous liquors to any one in less quantity than one gallon during the continuance of his or her license. sec. . that before any person or persons shall be licensed to retail vinous or spirituous liquors within this city, he, she, or they shall produce before the board of mayor and council of said city the written recommendation of five freeholders of his or her neighborhood, setting forth that he or she is of good reputation and a suitable person to receive such license. sec. . that no license to sell vinous or spirituous liquors as aforesaid shall be delivered to any person until he or she shall have first produced the receipt of the treasurer of the city for the amount of tax assessed for such license, and shall also have executed a bond in the penal sum of $ , , with one or more good and sufficient sureties, payable to the mayor of the city of vicksburg and his successor in office, conditioned that he, she, or they will keep an orderly and well-conducted house, and will not permit any riotous or disorderly conduct, or any gaming, in or about the same. sec. . that the bonds provided for in this ordinance shall be submitted to, and approved by, the board of mayor and council before said license shall be issued. sec. . that if any person shall retail any vinous or spirituous liquors within this city in less quantity than one gallon without first having procured license to do so, pursuant to the provisions of this ordinance, or in any way violate the provisions of this ordinance, he shall, upon conviction before the mayor of the city, be fined in a sum not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars. sec. . that before issuing license to any person or persons for the privilege of running a public dray, cart, or hack in this city, the party so applying shall first file with the mayor of the city a bond, with good and sufficient security, to be approved by the mayor, in the penal sum of $ , conditioned for the faithful performance of their duties as public carriers. sec. . that all ordinances in any way conflicting with the provisions of this ordinance be, and the same are hereby, repealed. sec. . that this ordinance take effect from and after its passage. vicksburg, mississippi, _august_ , mr. johnson introduced the following ordinance, which was read; and on motion of mr. manlove, the rules were suspended and the ordinance read a second time; and on motion of mr. bender, the rules were again suspended, the ordinance read a third time by its title, and passed: an ordinance to amend the market ordinance. sec. . that from and after the passage of this ordinance it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to sell or expose for sale in the market-house of vicksburg, after the hour of o'clock a.m., any lemonade, ice-cream, cakes, pies, fruit, or vegetables, or other articles usually sold in market, under the penalty of $ for each and every offence. sec. . that it shall not be lawful for any person or persons trading in the market to buy or bargain for, during market hours, or receive from any person or persons not renting a stall in the market, any meat, fish, poultry, butter, eggs, vegetables, or fruits, and offer the same for sale in the market again within ten days, under a penalty of $ for each and every offence. sec. . that it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to buy from any person on their way to market, within the city, during market hours, any of the articles named in the second section, or prevent such person from going to market with aforesaid articles, under a penalty of $ for each and every offence. sec. . that it shall be the duty of the day police of each ward to arrest and bring before the mayor all persons found violating any section of the above ordinance. sec. . that all ordinances or parts of ordinances conflicting with this ordinance be, and the same are hereby, repealed. mr. porterfield introduced the following ordinance, which was read; and on motion of mr. manlove, the rules were suspended and the ordinance read a second time; and on further motion of mr. manlove, the rules were again suspended, the ordinance read a third time by its title, and passed: an ordinance regulating ferry-boats, &c. sec. . that all ferry-boats crossing the mississippi river and landing in the city limits shall pay the sum of $ per week. sec. . that this ordinance shall be in force from and after its passage. on motion of mr. manlove, the following resolution was adopted: _resolved_, that hereafter it shall be lawful for the city marshal to charge for prisoners committed to workhouse for board, per day, sixty cents. on motion of mr. spangler, the following resolution was adopted: _resolved_, that the city marshal notify the owners of property to have their side-walks and gutters repaired on washington street, between second corner of east to depot street, in thirty days; and if not done, the city marshal have it done, at the expense of the property. on motion of mr. manlove, the following resolution was adopted: _resolved_, that the mayor be authorized to pay the policemen the amounts due them respectively to date, according to the report by the city marshal. on motion of mr. spangler, the following resolution was adopted: _resolved_, that the overseers of street hands' pay shall be $ per month. on motion of mr. manlove, the following resolution was adopted: _resolved_, that the salary of the city marshal shall be $ , per annum, the salary of the deputy marshal be $ per annum, and the salary of the policemen $ per month, all of which shall be paid monthly. on motion of mr. manlove, the following resolution was adopted: _resolved_, that a committee of two be appointed to receive proposals to publish the proceedings of the city council to the third monday in march next, and also inquire on what terms the city printing can be done, and report to next meeting of this council. the mayor appointed messrs. manlove and bender on said committee. on motion of mr. bender, the board adjourned till thursday evening, august , at six o'clock. t.j. randolph, _mayor_. no. . freedmen's bureau, state of mississippi, _office state superintendent of education, vicksburg, miss., september_ , . general: at the request of colonel thomas, i beg your attention to a few considerations touching the turning over of the care of the freedmen in mississippi to the state authorities, so far as the transfer bears upon the religious and educational privileges of the colored people. perhaps no one who has been less engaged in caring for the education and the moral interests of these people can fully appreciate the facts that i intend to lay before you, or understand them as having the intensity of meaning that i see in them. i have seen a good deal of the people of mississippi, and have purposely sounded them as to their feelings with regard to the effort to educate the blacks. the general feeling is that of strong opposition to it. only one person resident in mississippi before the rebellion has expressed himself to me as in favor of it, and he did not propose to do anything to aid it; and, to show how much his favor was worth, he said he regretted that he was not able to prevent the negroes from having shouting meetings, and that he would keep them from going off the plantation to meeting now if he could, as he formerly did. aside from this gentleman, every native mississippian and irishman with whom i have conversed opposes the instruction of freedmen. some disguise their opposition by affected contemptuous disbelief of the negro's capacity. all the facts that we can give them, however rich and suggestive, are received with sneering incredulity and the assurance that they know the negroes better than we do. a little persistence in giving this class of men facts disproving their assertions usually makes them angry, and leads them to declare that if the negroes can learn, the greater the damage that will be done them, for the education will do them no good, and will spoil them. others take this last-mentioned ground at first, and say that a learned negro is a nuisance; for, while he is ignorant, stupid, and loutish, he may be compelled to labor; but as soon as he comes to know something the white people cannot make so profitable use of him. some manifest great spite when this subject is mentioned. they say we are trying to make the negro equal with them. many do not hesitate to say that he ought to be kept uneducated in order that he may not be superior to ignorant white men. i have discovered that many object to the negro women's being educated lest they should be led to respect themselves, and not so easily be made the instruments of the white man's lust. the people of vicksburg have asked colonel thomas to prevent the establishment of colored schools within the city--they would probably say, to preserve the peace of the city; but i feel sure it is because the sight of them gives pain. and if their removal ever becomes necessary to the peace of a place, the fact will illustrate public feeling sufficiently. i have heard more than one person say that he would kill a colored teacher if he ever saw one. the children of a community generally express the public feeling, and we may usually learn from them what the feeling is, even when the parents, from prudence, seek to conceal it. children often exaggerate, but they get their bias at home. the children of mississippi throw stones at colored scholars, and are only restrained by fear from mobbing colored schools. my memorandum book contains such information as to points in the interior of the state as i can gather from officers, and from any reliable source, to guide me in locating teachers. some of these memoranda are: "garrison withdrawn; school impossible." "no resident federal officer; a teacher could not be protected." "people much prejudiced; protection cannot be guaranteed." such things are said in regard to every place not under northern protection. i think i do not overstate in saying that i do not know a single northern man in mississippi who supposes a colored school possible where there is no federal sword or bayonet. some northern men do not regret this fact, perhaps; and this makes their testimony on this point more valuable. white churches recover their houses of worship which the blacks helped to build, and which they have repaired extensively during the last two years, and remorselessly turn the blacks out without any regard to their rights in equity, their feelings, or their religious interests. i may state here that there is such a general expression of contempt for negro religion, and such a desire to suppress it, if possible, that it seems as if the whites thought it a piece of terrible impertinence for the blacks to worship the same god that we do. the white people also fear, or affect to fear, that opposition to their plans, and even insurrection, will be hatched at the meetings of colored people. the nemesis of slavery still holds her whip over them. from this source arise the occasional reports of intended insurrections; and these reports are intended, often, to cause the prevention of meetings, at which the colored people may consult together, and convey information important to them. in view of all these things, i have no doubt but that, if our protection be withdrawn, negro education will be hindered in every possible way, including obstruction by fraud and violence. i have not the smallest expectation that, with the state authorities in full power, a northern citizen would be protected in the exercise of his constitutional right to teach and preach to the colored people; and shall look for a renewal of the fearful scenes, in which northerners were whipped, tarred and feathered, warned off, and murdered, before the war. i meant to make this letter shorter, but could not. i hope i need not assure you, general, that i am not conscious that any part of the above comes of enmity to the south. i certainly should rejoice to see my opinion of the state of feeling in mississippi falsified by patent facts. i have the honer to be, general, your obedient servant, joseph warren, _chaplain, state superintendent of education_. major general carl schurz. no. . office assistant commissioner bureau refugees, freedmen and abandoned lands for state of mississippi, _vicksburg, mississippi, september , _. general: i see by the papers of a late date that dr. murdoch, of columbus, mississippi, has made a speech at general howard's office, in which he makes strong promises of the hearty co-operation of his fellow-citizens in the education of the freedmen in the state. the officer of this bureau at that place, captain hubbard, writes that "the citizens of the place are so prejudiced against the negroes that they are opposed to all efforts being made for their education or elevation; that the people will not give rooms, or allow the children of their hired freedmen to attend the schools; that the citizens of the place have written a letter to the officer saying that they would respectfully ask that no freedmen schools be established under the auspices of the bureau, as it would tend to disturb the present labor system, and take from the field labor that is so necessary to restore the wealth of the state." this is signed by half a dozen citizens purporting to represent the people, and certainly gives us a different idea of the case from that stated by dr. murdoch. i am, general, very respectfully, samuel thomas, _colonel, assistant commissioner for mississippi_. major general carl schurz. no. . _to the voters of wilkinson county_: fellow-citizens: when i consented, some days ago, to be a candidate for the state convention, i confess that, with some of my personal friends, i was vain enough to believe that i was sufficiently well known to the people of wilkinson county to make it unnecessary for me to publish my political creed. but, to my surprise, it is rumored, to the prejudice of my humble claim upon your suffrage, that i am an "_unconditional, immediate emancipationist--an abolitionist_." in the freedom of casual, friendly conversation, it is certainly not unreasonable that i may, as any other man, be misunderstood. i cannot think any of my fellow-citizens capable of misrepresenting me purposely. but certain it is i am misunderstood if any man believes me to favor the policy that wrongs and impoverishes my country. it does occur to me, fellow-citizens, that the _charity_, at least, if not the good sense of those who know me, would contradict any such insinuation. true, i only claim to have done my duty, but my record for the last four years, i trust, is sufficient proof of my fidelity to the interests of the south and all her institutions. can any man believe me now in favor of, and ready to advocate, the abolition of an institution for which i have contended so long, and which i am as fully persuaded to-day, as ever, was the true status of the negro? surely not. but, fellow-citizens,--what i may, in common with you all, have to submit to, is a very different thing. slavery has been taken from us. the power that has already practically abolished the institution threatens totally and forever to abolish it. but does it follow that i am in favor of this thing? by no means. and, certainly, you who know me will not demand of me any further assurance than my antecedents afford that i will, as your representative, should you elect me, "do all and secure all" i could for the best interest of the state, and the rights and interests of a free people. i have thought, and have said, and do now repeat, that my honest conviction is, we must accept the situation as it is until we can get control once more of our own state affairs. we cannot do otherwise and get our place again in the union, and occupy a position, exert an influence, that will protect us against further and greater evils which threaten us. i must, as any other man who votes or holds an office, submit, for the time, to evils i cannot remedy. i want it distinctly understood that _i do not run on "mr. burruss's platform," or any other man's, save my own_. should you send me to the convention i will go committed, as i think an honest man can only commit himself, i. e., according to my best judgment, and with an intention to guard all the blessings we now enjoy, to the extent of my ability, exert myself, as i have said, to secure all i can for the interest of our state. if i cannot be trusted, then choose some other man, who may have shown himself hitherto, and is now, more truly your friend, and who is, in your judgment, more capable of representing you. w.l. brandon. wilkinson county, _august_ . no. . office acting assistant commissioner bureau freedmen, &c., for southern district of mississippi, _natchez, miss., september_ , . general: in obedience to your request, i have the honor to submit the following as the result of my observations during the past year among freedmen: the opinion and feeling among the negroes throughout this district, comprising the counties of claiborne, copiah, lawrence, covington, jones, wayne, jefferson, franklin, pike, marion, perry, greene, adams, wilkinson, amite, hancock, harrison, and jackson, and concordia and teusas parishes, louisiana, are almost unanimous on one point, viz: they will remain this year on their old places for a support, and such remuneration as the crop raised can give them, but next year they will leave and make other arrangements. they say that they have tried their old masters, know what they require, and how they will be treated, and that, as they are now free, they will try some other place and some other way of working. they take this view not because they are tired of work, or because they want to be idle, but because they are free, and want to find out in what their freedom consists. to contend with the results of this opinion will be the great work flung upon the hands of some one next year. and not only will they have to see that the laborers are properly settled, but they must provide for the crippled, the helpless and the children. the planters cannot be made to support those who are too feeble to give any return, and who only remain because they are too old or too young to get away. what, then, is to become of them? as to those who can labor, there will be no difficulty--the demand for laborers will far exceed the supply. the great trouble will be to keep the negro in the state, and to provide assistance for those who are unable to take care of themselves. another want to be provided for is that of education. if we are to have good, industrious, and law-abiding people, we must provide some means for their education. it is intended to place a teacher in every town in which schools can be established and protected. from conversations with intelligent citizens, whom i feel assured, represent the feelings of a large class of people, i think that for some time the equality of negroes and whites before the law, as regards testimony, will be merely an equality in name. citizens say that their legislature may, and probably will, make laws receiving the testimony of negroes in all cases, as a means of inducing the government to re-admit them to a full exercise of their state jurisdiction and representation, but that no southern jury can ever be found that, when it comes to a case where twenty negroes testify one way, and two white men testify the other, will not decide in favor of the white, and virtually throw out the negro testimony. of course this matter of testimony will settle itself with time, and a negro's word obtain the same credit from his individual character as among whites, for the whites, having cases that they are dependent upon negro testimony for, will in the course of time be brought by their own interests to take and demand the full benefit of the law; but for some time, although legally admitted, it will in fact be excluded. the report of captain warren peck, a copy of which i have the honor to enclose, gives a very fair view of what the result would be, were the officers of this bureau removed. when i took charge here i found a perfect state of terror among whites and blacks; but now that officers are thickly distributed over the district, complaints are few, and the laborers are well, and, so far as possible, comfortably fixed for this year. out of a negro population of over , , only receive rations from the government as destitutes. i feel no hesitation in saying that it is imperatively necessary to give the system of free labor a fair trial, and to secure to the freedmen all the benefits contemplated by the emancipation proclamation; that officers or agents should be retained whose duty it is to look after the interests of this large class of people, and see that they are gradually accustomed to manage their own business and protect their own interests. i have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, george d. reynolds, _major th united states colored heavy artillery, and acting assistant comm. bureau of freedmen, &c., southern dist. of mississippi_. major general carl schurz. no. . headquarters northern district of mississippi, _jackson, miss., august_ , . captain: i have the honor to enclose copies of a notice to form companies in this and a neighboring county, and of my letter to governor sharkey in reference to this matter. in a discussion which i had with the governor he told me that it was his intention to raise a company of militia in every county of the state, in accordance with the militia law of mississippi, mainly for the purpose of suppressing any acts of violence which the negroes may attempt to commit during next winter. i called the attention of the governor to the fact that the docket, until this day, exhibits only the name of white criminals, and that all information proves that almost all the cases of robbery, murder, &c., were brought in connexion with young men in the country lately returned from military service--just the very same men who, in all probability, would join the intended meetings to form companies of militia. the result of the organization of such companies, while the state is occupied by united states troops, mostly colored, cannot be doubted--the heterogeneous element must clash and bring about a state of affairs which certainly would prove detrimental to the peace and best interests of the state. governor sharkey tells me that he has applied to president johnson for authority to raise the militia, and that he would inform me of any decision he may receive from washington; in the mean time i consider it my duty to take action as communicated in my letter, and respectfully request the approval of the major general commanding department. very respectfully, your obedient servant, p. jos. osterhaus, _major general volunteers_. captain j. warren miller, _a.a. general, department of mississippi_. official copy: w.a. gordon, _a.a. general_. executive office, _jackson, miss., august_ , . information having reached me that parties of bad men have banded together in different parts of the state for the purpose of robbing and plundering, and for violating the law in various ways, and that outrages of various kinds are being perpetrated, and the military authorities of the united states being insufficient to protect the people throughout the entire state, i do therefore call upon the people, and especially on such as are liable to perform military duty, and are familiar with military discipline, to organize volunteer companies in each county in the state, if practicable, at least one company of cavalry and one of infantry, as speedily as possible, for the detection of criminals, the prevention of crime, and the preservation of good order. and i urge upon these companies, when formed, that they will be vigilant in the discharge of these duties. these companies will be organized under the law in relation to volunteer companies as contained in the revised code, and the amendment thereto, passed on the th of february, , except that as soon as the proper number shall volunteer, the election for officers may take place immediately and without further order, and commissions will be issued as soon as returns are received, and the election may be held by any justice of the peace. i most earnestly call upon the young men of the state, who have so distinguished themselves for gallantry, to respond promptly to this call, which is made in behalf of a suffering people. it will be the duty, as i hope it will be the pleasure, of these companies to pursue and apprehend all offenders against law, and by vigilance to prevent crime, to aid the civil authorities, and to contribute all in their power to the restoration of good order in the community. arms will be procured, if possible, for such as may not have them, but i would advise an immediate organization with such arms as can be procured. given under my hand and the great seal of state affixed. w.l. sharkey, _provisional governor of mississippi_. by the governor: john h. echols, _secretary of state_. headquarters northern district of mississippi, _jackson, miss., august_ , . captain: i have the honor to enclose copy of a letter received from governor sharkey in reply to my communication of yesterday, copy of which was sent you by last courier. the governor's proclamation, raising troops in the whole state, changes the status of things, as it no longer belongs to the limits of my district, but to the department; and, consequently, i desist from all further action in the matter until your instructions have come to hand. in regard to the robberies, i will state that not a single _regular_ stage, between big black and jackson, has been earnestly interfered with; they were permitted to run, without molestation, while the "robbers" operated against a massachusetts schoolmaster, some darkies, and the government messengers; not a house was entered in the vicinity of the field of operations, not an inhabitant robbed. all "home institutions" are apparently safe. the inference is natural that these highway men are guerillas in the true sense of the word, and are waging a war against the "invaders." the governor admits, very candidly, that he knows that the people are reluctant to give aid to me by imparting information. several persons who were halted by the "robbers," but released with the excuse that they were stopped by mistake, refused flatly to give any name, of the party they were stopped by, but declared to know them. you know, captain, that certain parties have importuned the governor, from the beginning, to raise the militia; and, as there was no cause for such a measure before, it probably was thought expedient to get up some cause for the desired purpose. now we have the "robberies"--they are very one-sided and extraordinary--but they furnished the cause so badly wanted. the governor is confident that a few squads of young men, armed with fowling-pieces and the omnipresent revolvers, can suppress all irregularities, which the utmost vigilance and constant exertion of a large number of united states troops failed to suppress! i must state yet that the parties arrested under suspicion of participating in the described robberies are young men lately connected with the rebel army. there is no doubt on my mind that the young men "who steal the despatches from our messengers" will become good members of the intended militia. with great respect, your obedient servant, p. jos. osterhaus, _major general volunteers_. captain j. warren miller, _a.a. general, department of mississippi_. official copy: w.a. gordon, _a.a. general_. headquarters northern district of mississippi, _jackson, miss., august_ , . sir: a notice appears in yesterday's paper, over the signature of lamar fontaine, calling on the young men of hinds and madison counties to meet at cooper wells and at livingstone, respectively, on the d and th instant, for the purpose of organizing companies and electing officers. the notice creates the impression that some kind of military organization is intended, and in that event i would beg leave to call your attention to the fact that the state of mississippi is under occupation, and that martial law is still in force, and that no military organizations can be tolerated which are not under the control of the united states officers. i am, therefore, in duty bound and compelled to prevent and prohibit all military organization not recognized as a portion of the united states forces, unless they are formed under special authority of the war department, or the major general commanding the department of mississippi. i can assure your excellency that the number of troops in the counties of hinds and madison is amply sufficient to give the civil authorities all the assistance they may possibly need, and the means at my disposal are amply sufficient to stop all crime, provided the civil authorities will co-operate sincerely with the military commanders, and furnish information promptly and voluntarily, as the public peace and safety require them to do. i respectfully request that you will communicate the tenor of this communication to mr. fontaine. believe me, with great esteem, your excellency's obedient servant, p. jos. o'sterhaus, _major general volunteers_. his excellency hon. w.l. sharkey, _provisional governor of mississippi_. official copy: w.a. gordon, a.a.g. executive office, _jackson, miss., august_ , . general: i have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of yesterday, in which you call my attention to the fact that the state of mississippi is still under military occupation, and that martial law is still in force, and that no military organizations can be tolerated which are not under the control of united states officers; and you add that you will feel bound to prevent such organizations, and you also assure me that you have sufficient troops in the counties of hinds and madison to aid the civil authorities. this last remark was made by you with reference to a particular organization which has been proposed in those counties. i have, however, issued a general order on this subject, a copy of which i hand you, regretting that you have felt yourself compelled to take this view of the subject, and i know you are prompted by a sense of duty. i beg to remind you that for twelve or fifteen consecutive nights passengers travelling in the stage between here and vicksburg have been robbed, and these things have occurred within twelve or fifteen miles of your own headquarters. i would not be understood as reflecting in the slightest degree on you. i know you have every desire to prevent such occurrences, and will use every means in your power to do so, and to arrest the culprits. i know, too, that the people are reluctant to give you aid by imparting information to you, but, in addition to these robberies, information daily reaches me of the perpetration of outrages, committed in various ways in distant parts of the--state where you have no military force. the people are calling on me for protection, which i cannot give them under existing circumstances, and it was to give them relief that the military organizations have been ordered. if further justification be necessary, i may add in the last interview i had with the president, in speaking of anticipated troubles, he distinctly stated to me that i could organize the militia if it should become necessary. i think the necessity is now manifest, and therefore claim the authority of the president of the united states for my action. it was precisely under this authority that in my proclamation of the st of july i called upon the people in unprotected counties to organize for their security. i will also state that the president has been apprised of what i am doing in this respect, and when he shall change his instructions i will, of course, yield obedience; but until he shall do so, i shall feel it to be my duty to carry out the line of policy i have adopted. i need scarcely assure you, general, that this is not in any sense a hostile demonstration, and feel quite sure no evil can result from it. mississippi has spoken too plainly in her convention to leave any doubt about her future purposes. believe me, with great respect, your most obedient servant, w.l. sharkey, _provisional governor of mississippi_. major general p. jos. osterhaus. official copy: w.a. gordon, a.a.g. no. . office acting assistant commissioner freedmen's bureau for northern district of mississippi, _jackson, miss., september_ , . major: in compliance with your request desiring me to furnish you a list of crimes and assaults against freedmen, i have the honor to report that on or about the th day of august, , matilda, a colored woman, was murdered by one j.h. kiley and son, in newton county, in this state, for simply remonstrating against whipping her son. lucinda, a colored woman, in yalobusha county, was stripped naked, tied to a tree, and severely whipped by three men, names unknown. in the county of holmes, between the th and th days of september, , five negroes were murdered; names of the perpetrators unknown. in simpson county, about the st of august, a father and his two sons cruelly whipped and abused a colored woman in their employ. near lauderdale springs, castwell eads, a citizen, by his own statement, shot and wounded a colored man for simply refusing to obey his command, _halt_! while he was running from him after being cruelly whipped. in smith county, s.s. catchings, a citizen, followed a colored man, who had left his plantation, overtook him, knocked him down, and beat him brutally. these are all the cases of which i have detailed accounts, none but general reports having yet been received from the agents. these indicate that cruelty is frequently practiced. i am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, e.s. donaldson, _lieutenant colonel, acting assistant commissioner_. major w.a. gordon, _assistant adjutant general_. no. . savannah, ga., _august_ , . general: in answer to your question with regard to free labor at the south, and particularly the way in which the contract system is viewed by persons who were formerly slaveholders, i would state that these persons accept the present condition of affairs as an alternative forced upon them, believing still that the emancipation of their slaves was a great blunder, and that slavery is the only system by which the colored laborer can be made profitable to his employer. within this district the plantation contracts now in force were entered into just subsequent to the arrival of the army, and when it was impossible for planters to undertake the care of their plantations. the negroes, therefore, planted for themselves, promising the owner a fair proportion of the crop as rent for the use of the land. now, however, the matter comes up in a different shape. owners have returned, and it is necessary to make arrangements for the next season. most of them complain and find fault with the government, and remain inactive. so long as the military form prevails they seem to submit and to conform to present requirements, but at heart they are unfriendly. some few, however, ask of us what we are going to do with the negro, and what provision will be made with regard to labor. there is nothing in their conduct that betokens sympathy with our movements, or a desire to co-operate with us earnestly in our work. the rebel spirit is as bitter as ever in the minds of the southern people. to return to the old customs is now their effort, and step by step they would take us back to where we were when the war broke out. they will contract with the freedmen, not because they prefer to, but because they are obliged to, and so long as the authority of the united states is present for the protection of all parties, and to compel a faithful performance, the agreement will be carried out; but should the army be withdrawn, the freedmen would virtually be reduced to slavery, and freedom-loving men would find a southern residence unsafe. i think the negro is disposed to fulfil his contract, and in cases where it has seemed otherwise, the other party has often been at fault. while i have met a few planters who seem to realize that emancipation is a fixed fact, and that they must make the most of present circumstances, by resorting to the only means by which labor can now be obtained, (the contract system,) i have found scarcely one who will enter into the matter with any kind of sympathy, or with either the belief or the hope that our plans will eventually succeed, for they feel keenly that the success of those plans will prove the foolishness of slavery. the coming year will produce a change of opinion at the south, i think, if by thorough supervision we secure protection to free labor. i am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, a.p. ketchum. major general carl schurz. letter of general grant concerning affairs at the south. headquarters armies of the united states, _washington, d.c., december_ , . sir: in reply to your note of the th instant, requesting a report from me giving such information as i may be possessed of coming within the scope of the inquiries made by the senate of the united states in their resolution of the th instant, i have the honor to submit the following: with your approval, and also that of the honorable secretary of war, i left washington city on the th of last month for the purpose of making a tour of inspection through some of the southern states, or states lately in rebellion, and to see what changes were necessary to be made in the disposition of the military forces of the country; how these forces could be reduced and expenses curtailed, &c.; and to learn, as far as possible, the feelings and intentions of the citizens of those states towards the general government. the state of virginia being so accessible to washington city, and information from this quarter, therefore, being readily obtained, i hastened through the state without conversing or meeting with any of its citizens. in raleigh, north carolina, i spent one day; in charleston, south carolina, two days; savannah and augusta, georgia, each one day. both in travelling and whilst stopping i saw much and conversed freely with the citizens of those states as well as with officers of the army who have been stationed among them. the following are the conclusions come to by me. i am satisfied that the mass of thinking men of the south accept the present situation of affairs in good faith. the questions which have heretofore divided the sentiment of the people of the two sections--slavery and state rights, or the right of a state to secede from the union--they regard as having been settled forever by the highest tribunal--arms--that man can resort to. i was pleased to learn from the leading men whom i met that they not only accepted the decision arrived at as final, but, now that the smoke of battle has cleared away and time has been given for reflection, that this decision has been a fortunate one for the whole country, they receiving like benefits from it with those who opposed them in the field and in council. four years of war, during which law was executed only at the point of the bayonet throughout the states in rebellion, have left the people possibly in a condition not to yield that ready obedience to civil authority the american people have generally been in the habit of yielding. this would render the presence of small garrisons throughout those states necessary until such time as labor returns to its proper channel, and civil authority is fully established. i did not meet any one, either those holding places under the government or citizens of the southern states, who think it practicable to withdraw the military from the south at present. the white and the black mutually require the protection of the general government. there is stick universal acquiescence in the authority of the general government throughout the portions of country visited by me, that the mere presence of a military force, without regard to numbers, is sufficient to maintain order. the good of the country, and economy, require that the force kept in the interior, where there are many freedmen, (elsewhere in the southern states than at forts upon the seacoast no force is necessary,) should all be white troops. the reasons for this are obvious without mentioning many of them. the presence of black troops, lately slaves, demoralizes labor, both by their advice and by furnishing in their camps a resort for the freedmen for long distances around. white troops generally excite no opposition, and therefore a small number of them can maintain order in a given district. colored troops must be kept in bodies sufficient to defend themselves. it is not the thinking men who would use violence towards any class of troops sent among them by the general government, but the ignorant in some places might; and the late slave seems to be imbued with the idea that the property of his late master should, by right, belong to him, or at least should have no protection from the colored soldier. there is danger of collisions being brought on by such causes. my observations lead me to the conclusion that the citizens of the southern states are anxious to return to self-government, within the union, as soon as possible; that whilst reconstructing they want and require protection from the government; that they are in earnest in wishing to do what they think is required by the government, not humiliating to them as citizens, and that if such a course were pointed out they would pursue it in good faith. it is to be regretted that there cannot be a greater commingling, at this time, between the citizens of the two sections, and particularly of those intrusted with the law-making power. i did not give the operations of the freedmen's bureau that attention i would have done if more time had been at my disposal. conversations on the subject, however, with officers connected with the bureau, lead me to think that, in some of the states, its affairs have not been conducted with good judgment or economy, and that the belief, widely spread among the freedmen of the southern states, that the lands of their former owners will, at least in part, be divided among them, has come from the agents of this bureau. this belief is seriously interfering with the willingness of the freedmen to make contracts for the coming year. in some form the freedmen's bureau is an absolute necessity until civil law is established and enforced, securing to the freedmen their rights and full protection. at present, however, it is independent of the military establishment of the country, and seems to be operated by the different agents of the bureau according to their individual notions. everywhere general howard, the able head of the bureau, made friends by the just and fair instructions and advice he gave; but the complaint in south carolina was that when he left, things went on as before. many, perhaps the majority, of the agents of the freedmen's bureau advise the freedmen that by their own industry they must expect to live. to this end they endeavor to secure employment for them, and to see that both contracting parties comply with their engagements. in some instances, i am sorry to say, the freedman's mind does not seem to be disabused of the idea that a freedman has the right to live without care or provision for the future. the effect of the belief in division of lands is idleness and accumulation in camps, towns, and cities. in such cases i think it will be found that vice and disease will tend to the extermination or great reduction of the colored race. it cannot be expected that the opinions held by men at the south for years can be changed in a day, and therefore the freedmen require, for a few years, not only laws to protect them, but the fostering care of those who will give them good counsel, and on whom they rely. the freedmen's bureau being separated from the military establishment of the country, requires all the expense of a separate organization. one does not necessarily know what the other is doing, or what orders they are acting under. it seems to me this could be corrected by regarding every officer on duty with troops in the southern states as an agent of the freedmen's bureau, and then have all orders from the head of the bureau sent through department commanders. this would create a responsibility that would secure uniformity of action throughout all the south; would insure the orders and instructions from the head of the bureau being carried out, and would relieve from duty and pay a large number of employees of the government. i have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, u.s. grant, _lieutenant general_. his excellency andrew johnson, _president of the united states_. charles aldarondo, charles franks and the online distributed proofreading team bricks without straw _a novel_ by albion w. tourgee, ll.d., late judge of the superior court of north carolina this volume i gratefully dedicate to my wife; to whose unflinching courage, unfaltering faith, unfailing cheer, and steadfast love, i owe more than many volumes might declare. translation: [_from an ancient egyptian papyrus-roll, recently discovered._] it came to pass that when pharaoh had made an end of giving commandment that the children of israel should deliver the daily tale of bricks, but should not be furnished with any straw wherewith to make them, but should instead go into the fields and gather such stubble as might be left therein, that neoncapos, the king's jester, laughed. and when he was asked whereat he laughed, he answered, at the king's order. and thereupon he laughed the more. then was pharaoh, the king, exceeding wroth, and he gave commandment that an owl be given to neoncapos, the king's jester, and that he be set forth without the gate of the king's palace, and that he be forbidden to return, or to speak to any in all the land, save only unto the owl which had been given him, until such time as the bird should answer and tell him what he should say. then they that stood about the king, and all who saw neoncapos, cried out, what a fool's errand is this! so that the saying remains even unto this day. nevertheless, upon the next day came neoncapos again into the presence of pharaoh, the king. then was pharaoh greatly astonished, and he said, how is this? hath the bird spoken? and neoncapos, the king's jester, bowed himself unto the earth, and said, he hath, my lord. then was pharaoh, the king, filled with amazement, and said, tell me what he hath said unto thee. and neoncapos raised himself before the king, and answered him, and said: as i went out upon the errand whereunto thou hadst sent me forth, i remembered thy commandment to obey it. and i spake only unto the bird which thou gavest me, and said unto him: there was a certain great king which held a people in bondage, and set over them task-masters, and required of them all the bricks that they could make, man for man, and day by day; for the king was in great haste seeking to build a palace which should be greater and nobler than any in the world, and should remain to himself and his children a testimony of his glory forever. and it came to pass, at length, that the king gave commandment that no more straw should be given unto them that made the bricks, but that they should still deliver the tale which had been aforetime required of them. and thereupon the king's jester laughed. because he said to himself, if the laborers have not straw wherewith to attemper the clay, but only stubble and chaff gathered from the fields, will not the bricks be ill-made and lack strength and symmetry of form, so that the wall made thereof will not be true and strong, or fitly joined together? for the lack of a little straw it may be that the palace of the great king will fall upon him and all his people that dwell therein. thereupon the king was wroth with his fool, and his countenance was changed, and he spake harshly unto him, and-- it matters not what thou saidst unto the bird, said the king. what did the bird say unto thee? the bird, said neoncapos, bowing himself low before the king, the bird, my lord, looked at me in great amaze, and cried again and again, in an exceeding loud voice: _who! who-o! who-o-o!_ then was pharaoh exceeding wroth, and his anger burned within him, and he commanded that the fool should be taken and bound with cords, and cast into prison, while he should consider of a fit punishment for his impudent words. note.-a script attached to this manuscript, evidently of later date, informs us that the fool escaped the penalty of his folly by the disaster at the red sea. contents i. tri-nominate ii. the font iii. the junonian rite iv. mars meddles v. nunc pro tunc vi. the toga virilis vii. damon and pythias viii. a friendly prologue ix. a bruised reed x. an express trust xi. red wing xii. on the way ay to jericho xiii. negotiating a treaty xiv. born of the storm xv. to him and his heirs forever xvi. a child of the hills xvii. good-morrow and farewell xviii. "prime wrappers," xix. the shadow of the flag, xx. phantasmagoria, xxi. a child-man xxii. how the fallow was seeded xxiii. an offering of first-fruits xxiv. a black dbmocritus xxv. a double-headed argument xxvi. taken at his word xxvii. moses in the sunshine xxviii. in the path of the storm xxix. like and unlike xxx. an unbidden guest xxxi. a life for a life xxxii. a voice from the darkness xxxiii. a difference of opinion xxxiv. the majesty of the law xxxv. a particular tenancy lapses xxxvi. the beacon-light of love xxxvii. the "best friends" reveal themselves xxxviii. "the rose above the mould," xxxix. what the mist hid xl. dawning xli. q. e. d. xlii. through a cloud-rift xliii. a glad good-by xliv. putting this and that together xlv. another ox gored xlvi. backward and forward xlvii. breasting the torrent xlviii. the price of honor xlix. highly resolved l. face answereth unto face li. how sleep the brave? lii. redeemed out of the house of bondage liii. in the cyclone liv. a bolt out of the cloud lv. an unconditional surrender lvi. some old letters lvii. a sweet and bitter fruitage lviii. coming to the front lix. the shuttlecock of fate lx. the exodian lxi. what shall the end be? lxii. how? bricks without straw. chapter i. tri-nominate. "wal, i 'clar, now, jes de quarest ting ob 'bout all dis matter o' freedom is de way dat it sloshes roun' de names 'mong us cullud folks. h'yer i lib ober on de hyco twenty year er mo'--nobody but ole marse potem an' de lor', an' p'raps de debble beside, know 'zackly how long it mout hev been--an' didn't hev but one name in all dat yer time. an' i didn't hev no use for no mo' neither, kase dat wuz de one ole mahs'r gib me hisself, an' nobody on de libbin' yairth nebber hed no sech name afo' an' nebber like to agin. dat wuz allers de way ub ole mahs'r's names. dey used ter say dat he an' de debble made 'em up togedder while he wuz dribin' roun' in dat ole gig 'twixt de diff'ent plantations--on de dan an' de ro'noke, an' all 'bout whar de ole cuss could fine a piece o' cheap lan", dat would do ter raise niggers on an' pay for bringin' up, at de same time. he was a powerful smart man in his day, wuz ole kunnel potem desmit; but he speshully did beat anythin' a findin' names fer niggers. i reckon now, ef he'd 'a hed forty thousan' cullud folks, men an' wimmen, dar wouldn't ha' been no two on 'em hevin' de same name. dat's what folks used ter say 'bout him, ennyhow. dey sed he used ter say ez how he wasn't gwine ter hey his niggers mixed up wid nobody else's namin', an' he wouldn't no mo' 'low ob one black feller callin' ob anudder by enny nickname ner nothin' ub dat kine, on one o' his plantations, dan he would ob his takin' a mule, nary bit. dey du say dat when he used ter buy a boy er gal de berry fust ting he wuz gwine ter du wuz jes ter hev 'em up an' gib 'em a new name, out 'n out, an' a clean suit ob close ter 'member it by; an' den, jes by way ob a little 'freshment, he used ter make de oberseer gib 'em ten er twenty good licks, jes ter make sure ob der fergittin' de ole un dat dey'd hed afo'. dat's what my mammy sed, an' she allers 'clar'd dat tow'rd de las' she nebber could 'member what she was at de fus' no more'n ef she hed'nt been de same gal. "all he wanted ter know 'bout a nigger wuz jes his name, an' dey say he could tell straight away when an' whar he wuz born, whar he'd done lived, an' all 'bout him. he war a powerful man in der way ob names, shore. some on 'em wuz right quare, but den agin mos' all on 'em wuz right good, an' it war powerful handy hevin' no two on 'em alike. i've heard tell dat a heap o' folks wuz a takin' up wid his notion, an' i reckon dat ef de s'rrender hed only stood off long 'nuff dar wouldn't 'a been nary two niggers in de whole state hevin' de same names. dat _would_ hev been handy, all roun'! "when dat come, though, old mahs'r's plan warn't nowhar. lor' bress my soul, how de names did come a-brilin' roun'! i'd done got kinder used ter mine, hevin' bed it so long an' nebber knowin' myself by any udder, so't i didn't like ter change. 'sides dat, i couldn't see no use. i'd allers got 'long well 'nuff wid it--all on'y jes once, an' dat ar wuz so long ago i'd nigh about forgot it. dat showed what a debblish cute plan dat uv ole mahs'r's was, though. "lemme see, dat er wuz de fus er secon' year atter i wuz a plow-boy. hit wuz right in de height ob de season, an' marse war'--dat was de oberseer--he sent me to der cou't house ob an ebenin' to do some sort ob arrant for him. when i was a comin' home, jes about an hour ob sun, i rides up wid a sort o' hard-favored man in a gig, an' he looks at me an' at de hoss, when i goes ter ride by, mighty sharp like; an' fust i knows he axes me my name; an' i tole him. an' den he axes whar i lib; an' i tole him, "on de knapp-o'-reeds plantation." den he say, "'who you b'long to, ennyhow, boy?' "an' i tole him 'ole marse potem desmit, sah'--jes so like. "den he sez 'who's a oberseein' dar now?' "an' i sez, 'marse si war', sah?' "den he sez, 'an' how do all de ban's on knapp-o reeds git 'long wid ole marse potem an' marse si war'?' "an' i sez, 'oh, we gits 'long tol'able well wid marse war', sah.' "an' he sez, 'how yer likes old marse potem?' "an' i sez, jes fool like, 'we don't like him at all, sah.' "an' he sez, 'why?' "an' i sez, 'dunno sah.' "an' he sez, 'don't he feed?' "an' i sez, 'tol'able, i spose.' "an' he sez, 'whip much?' "an' i sez, 'mighty little, sah.' "an' he sez, 'work hard?' "an' i sez, 'yes, moderate, sah.' "an' he sez, 'eber seed him?' "an' i sez, 'not ez i knows on, sah.' "an' he sez, 'what for don't yer like him, den?' "an' i sez, 'dunno, on'y jes' kase he's sech a gran' rascal.' "den he larf fit ter kill, an' say, 'dat's so, dat's so, boy.' den he take out his pencil an' write a word er two on a slip o' paper an' say, "'h'yer, boy, yer gibs dat ter marse si war', soon ez yer gits home. d'yer heah?' "i tole him, 'yes, sah,' an' comes on home an' gibs dat ter marse si. quick ez he look at it he say, 'whar you git dat, boy? 'an' when i tole him he sez, 'you know who dat is? dat's old potem desmit! what you say to him, you little fool?' "den i tell marse war' all 'bout it, an' he lay down in de yard an' larf fit ter kill. all de same he gib me twenty licks 'cordin' ter de orders on dat little dam bit o' paper. an' i nebber tink o' dat widout cussin', sence. "dat ar, now am de only time i ebber fault my name. now what i want ter change it fer, er what i want ob enny mo'? i don't want 'em. an' i tell 'em so, ebbery time too, but dey 'jes fo'ce em on me like, an' what'll i do'bout it, i dunno. h'yer i'se got--lemme see--one--two--tree! fo' god, i don' know how many names i hez got! i'm dod-dinged now ef i know who i be ennyhow. ef ennybody ax me i'd jes hev ter go back ter ole mahs'r's name an' stop, kase i swar i wouldn't know which ob de udders ter pick an' chuse from. "i specs its all 'long o' freedom, though i can't see why a free nigger needs enny mo' name dan the same one hed in ole slave times. mus' be, though. i mind now dat all de pore white folks hez got some two tree names, but i allus thought dat wuz 'coz dey hedn't nuffin' else ter call dere can. must be a free feller needs mo' name, somehow. ef i keep on i reckon i'll git enuff atter a while. h'yer it's gwine on two year only sence de s'rrender, an' i'se got tree ob 'em sartain!" the speaker was a colored man, standing before his log-house in the evening of a day in june. his wife was the only listener to the monologue. he had been examining a paper which was sealed and stamped with official formality, and which had started him upon the train of thought he had pursued. the question he was trying in vain to answer was only the simplest and easiest of the thousand strange queries which freedom had so recently propounded to him and his race. chapter ii. the font. knapp-of-reeds was the name of a plantation which was one of the numerous possessions of p. desmit, colonel and esquire, of the county of horsford, in the northernmost of those states which good queen caroline was fortunate enough to have designated as memorials of her existence. the plantation was just upon that wavy line which separates the cotton region of the east from the tobacco belt that sweeps down the pleasant ranges of the piedmont region, east of the blue appalachians. or, to speak more correctly, the plantation was in that indeterminate belt which neither of the great staples could claim exclusively as its own--that delectable land where every conceivable product of the temperate zone grows, if not in its rankest luxuriance, at least in perfection and abundance. tobacco on the hillsides, corn upon the wide bottoms, cotton on the gray uplands, and wheat, oats, fruits, and grasses everywhere. five hundred acres of hill and bottom, forest and field, with what was termed the island, consisting of a hundred more, which had never been overflowed in the century of cultivation it had known, constituted a snug and valuable plantation. it had been the seat of an old family once, but extravagant living and neglect of its resources had compelled its sale, and it had passed into the hands of its present owner, of whose vast possessions it formed an insignificant part. colonel desmit was one of the men who applied purely business principles to the opportunities which the south afforded in the olden time, following everything to its logical conclusion, and measuring every opportunity by its money value. he was not of an ancient family. indeed, the paternal line stopped short with his own father, and the maternal one could only show one more link, and then became lost in malodorous tradition which hung about an old mud-daubed log-cabin on the most poverty-stricken portion of nubbin ridge. there was a rumor that the father had a left-handed kinship with the brutons, a family of great note in the public annals of the state. he certainly showed qualities which tended to confirm this tradition, and abilities which entitled him to be considered the peer of the best of that family, whose later generations were by no means the equals of former ones. untiring and unscrupulous, mr. peter smith rose from the position of a nameless son of an unknown father, to be as overseer for one of the wealthiest proprietors of that region, and finally, by a not unusual turn of fortune's wheel, became the owner of a large part of his employer's estates. thrifty in all things, he married in middle life, so well as nearly to double the fortune then acquired, and before his death had become one of the wealthiest men in his county. he was always hampered by a lack of education. he could read little and write less. in his later days he was appointed a justice of the peace, and was chosen one of the county court, or "court of pleas and quarter sessions," as it was technically called. these honors were so pleasant to him that he determined to give his only son a name which should commemorate this event. the boy was, therefore, christened after the opening words of his commission of the peace, and grew to manhood bearing the name potestatem dedimus [footnote: potestatem dedimus: "we give thee power, etc." the initial words of the clause conferring jurisdiction upon officers, in the old forms of judicial commissions. this name is fact, not fancy.] smith. this son was educated with care--the shrewd father feeling his own need--but was early instilled with his father's greed for gain, and the necessity for unusual exertion if he would achieve equal position with the old families who were to be his rivals. the young man proved a worthy disciple of his father. he married, it is true, without enhancing his fortune; but he secured what was worth almost as much for the promotion of his purposes as if he had doubled his belongings. aware of the ill-effects of so recent a bar sinister in his armorial bearings, he sought in marriage miss bertha bellamy, of belleville, in the state of virginia, who united in her azure veins at least a few drops of the blood of all the first families of that fine-bred aristocracy, from pocahontas's days until her own. the _role_ of the gentleman had been too much for the male line of the bellamys to sustain. horses and hounds and cards and high living had gradually eaten down their once magnificent patrimony, until pride and good blood and poverty were the only dowry that the females could command. miss bertha, having already arrived at the age of discretion, found that to match this against the wealth of young potestatem dedimus smith was as well as she could hope to do, and accepted him upon condition that the vulgar _smith_ should be changed to some less democratic name. the one paternal and two maternal ancestors had not made the very common surname peculiarly sacred to the young man, so the point was yielded; and by considerable persistency on the part of the young wife, "p. d. smith" was transformed without much trouble into "p. desmit," before the administrator had concluded the settlement of his father's estate. the vigor with which the young man devoted himself to affairs and the remarkable success which soon began to attend his exertions diverted attention from the name, and before he had reached middle life he was known over almost half the state as "colonel desmit," "old desmit," or "potem desmit," according to the degree of familiarity or respect desired to be displayed. hardly anybody remembered and none alluded to the fact that the millionaire of horsford was only two removes from old sal smith of nubbin ridge. on the other hand the rumor that he was in some mysterious manner remotely akin to the brutons was industriously circulated by the younger members of that high-bred house, and even "the judge," who was of about the same age as colonel desmit, had been heard more than once to call him "cousin." these things affected colonel desmit but little. he had set himself to improve his father's teachings and grow rich. he seemed to have the true midas touch. he added acre to acre, slave to slave, business to business, until his possessions were scattered from the mountains to the sea, and especially extended on both sides the border line in the piedmont region where he had been bred. it embraced every form of business known to the community of which he was a part, from the cattle ranges of the extreme west to the fisheries of the farthest east. he made his possessions a sort of self-supporting commonwealth in themselves. the cotton which he grew on his eastern farms was manufactured at his own factory, and distributed to his various plantations to be made into clothing for his slaves. wheat and corn and meat, raised upon some of his plantations, supplied others devoted to non-edible staples. the tobacco grown on the hyco and other plantations in that belt was manufactured at his own establishment, supplied his eastern laborers and those which wrought in the pine woods to the southward at the production of naval supplies. he had realized the dream of his own life and the aspiration of his father, the overseer, and had become one of the wealthiest men in the state. but he attended to all this himself. every overseer knew that he was liable any day or night to receive a visit from the untiring owner of all this wealth, who would require an instant accounting for every bit of the property under his charge. not only the presence and condition of every slave, mule, horse or other piece of stock must be accounted for, but the manner of its employment stated. he was an inflexible disciplinarian, who gave few orders, hated instructions, and only asked results. it was his custom to place an agent in charge of a business without directions, except to make it pay. his only care was to see that his property did not depreciate, and that the course adopted by the agent was one likely to produce good results. so long as this was the case he was satisfied. he never interfered, made no suggestions, found no fault. as soon as he became dissatisfied the agent was removed and another substituted. this was done without words or controversy, and it was a well-known rule that a man once discharged from such a trust could never enter his employ again. for an overseer to be dismissed by colonel desmit was to forfeit all chance for employment in that region, since it was looked upon as a certificate either of incapacity or untrustworthiness. colonel desmit was especially careful in regard to his slaves. his father had early shown him that no branch of business was, or could be, half so profitable as the rearing of slaves for market. "a healthy slave woman," the thrifty father had been accustomed to say, "will yield a thousand per cent upon her value, while she needs less care and involves less risk than any other species of property." the son, with a broader knowledge, had carried his father's instructions to more accurate and scientific results. he found that the segregation of large numbers of slaves upon a single plantation was not favorable either to the most rapid multiplication or economy of sustenance. he had carefully determined the fact that plantations of moderate extent, upon the high, well-watered uplands of the piedmont belt, were the most advantageous locations that could be found for the rearing of slaves. such plantations, largely worked by female slaves, could be made to return a small profit on the entire investment, without at all taking into account the increase of the human stock. this was, therefore, so much added profit. from careful study and observation he had deduced a specific formulary by which he measured the rate of gain. with a well-selected force, two thirds of which should be females, he calculated that with proper care such plantations could be made to pay, year by year, an interest of five per cent on the first cost, and, in addition, double the value of the working force every eight years. this conclusion he had arrived at from scientific study of the rates of mortality and increase, and in settling upon it he had cautiously left a large margin for contingencies. he was not accustomed to talk about his business, but when questioned as to his uniform success and remarkable prosperity, always attributed it to a system which he had inexorably followed, and which had never failed to return to him at least twenty per cent. per annum upon every dollar he had invested. so confident was he in regard to the success of this plan that he became a large but systematic borrower of money at the legal rate of six per cent, taking care that his maturing liabilities should, at no time, exceed a certain proportion of his available estate. by this means his wealth increased with marvelous rapidity. the success of his system depended, however, entirely upon the care bestowed upon his slaves. they were never neglected. though he had so many that of hundreds of them he did not know even the faces, he gave the closest attention to their hygienic condition, especially that of the women, who were encouraged by every means to bear children. it was a sure passport to favor with the master and the overseer: tasks were lightened; more abundant food provided; greater liberty enjoyed; and on the birth of a child a present of some sort was certain to be given the mother. the one book which colonel desmit never permitted anybody else to keep or see was the register of his slaves. he had invented for himself an elaborate system by which in a moment he could ascertain every element of the value of each of his more than a thousand slaves at the date of his last visitation or report. when an overseer was put in charge of a plantation he was given a list of the slaves assigned to it, by name and number, and was required to report every month the condition of each slave during the month previous, as to health and temper, and also the labor in which the same had been employed each day. it was only as to the condition of the slaves that the owner gave explicit directions to his head-men. "mighty few people know how to take care of a nigger," he was wont to say; and as he made the race a study and looked to them for his profits, he was attentive to their condition. among the requirements of his system was one that each slave born upon his plantations should be named only by himself; and this was done only on personal inspection. upon a visit to a plantation, therefore, one of his special duties always was to inspect, name, and register all slave children who had been born to his estate since his previous visitation. it was in the summer of that a traveler drove into the grove in front of the house at knapp-of-reeds, in the middle of a june afternoon, and uttered the usual halloo. he was answered after a moment's delay by a colored woman, who came out from the kitchen and exclaimed, "who's dah?" it was evident at once that visitors were not frequent at knapp-of-reeds. "where's mr. ware?" asked the stranger. "he's done gone out in de new-ground terbacker, long wid de han's," answered the woman. "where is the new-ground this year?" repeated the questioner. "jes' down on the p'int 'twixt de branch an' de hyco," she replied. "anybody you can send for him?" "wal, thar mout be some shaver dat's big enough to go, but marse war's dat keerful ter please marse desmit dat he takes 'em all outen de field afore dey can well toddle," said the woman doubtfully. "well, come and take my horse," said he, as he began to descend from his gig, "and send for mr. ware to come up at once." the woman came forward doubtfully and took the horse by the bit, while the traveler alighted. no sooner did he turn fully toward her than her face lighted up with a smile, and she said, "wal, dar, ef dat a'n't marse desmit hisself, i do believe! how d'ye do, mahs'r?" and the woman dropped a courtesy. "i'm very well, thank ye, lorency, an' glad to see you looking so peart," he responded pleasantly. "how's mr. ware and the people? all well, i hope." "all tol'able, mahs'r, thank ye." "well, tie the horse, and get me some dinner, gal. i haven't eaten since i left home." "la sakes!" said the woman in a tone of commiseration, though she had no idea whether it was twenty or forty miles he had driven since his breakfast. the man who sat upon the porch and waited for the coming of mr. silas ware, his overseer, was in the prime of life, of florid complexion, rugged habit, short stubbly hair--thick and bristling, that stood close and even on his round, heavy head from a little way above the beetling brows well down upon the bull-like neck which joined but hardly separated the massive head and herculean trunk. this hair, now almost white, had been a yellowish red, a hue which still showed in the eyebrows and in the stiff beard which was allowed to grow beneath the angle of his massive jaw, the rest of his face being clean shaven. the eyes were deep-sunk and of a clear, cold blue. his mouth broad, with firm, solid lips. dogged resolution, unconquerable will, cold-blooded selfishness, and a keen hog-cunning showed in his face, while his short, stout form--massive but not fleshy--betrayed a capacity to endure fatigue which few men could rival. "how d'ye, mr. ware?" he said as that worthy came striding in from the new-ground nervously chewing a mouthful of home-made twist, which he had replenished several times since leaving the field, without taking the precaution to provide stowage for the quantity he was taking aboard. "how d'ye, colonel?" said ware uneasily. "reckon you hardly expected me to day?" continued desmit, watching him closely. "no, i dare say not. they hardly ever do. fact is, i rarely ever know myself long enough before to send word." he laughed heartily, for his propensity for dropping in unawares upon his agents was so well known that he enjoyed their confusion almost as much as he valued the surprise as a means of ascertaining their attention to his interests. ware was one of his most trusted lieutenants, however, and everything that he had ever seen or heard satisfied him of the man's faithfulness. so he made haste to relieve him from embarrassment, for the tall, awkward, shambling fellow was perfectly overwhelmed. "it's a long time since i've been to see you, mr. ware--almost a year. there's mighty few men i'd let run a plantation that long without looking after them. your reports have been very correct, and the returns of your work very satisfactory. i hope the stock and hands are in good condition?" "i must say, colonel desmit," responded ware, gathering confidence, "though perhaps i oughtn't ter say it myself, that i've never seen 'em lookin' better. 'pears like everything hez been jest about ez favorable fer hands an' stock ez one could wish. the spring's work didn't seem ter worry the stock a mite, an' when the new feed come on there was plenty on't, an' the very best quality. so they shed off ez fine ez ever you see ennything in yer life, an' hev jest been a doin' the work in the crop without turnin' a hair." "glad to hear it, mr. ware," said desmit encouragingly. "and the hands," continued ware, "have jest been in prime condition. we lost horion, as i reported to you in--lemme see, february, i reckon--along o' rheumatism which he done cotch a runnin' away from that navigation company that you told me to send him to work for." "yes, i know. you told him to come home if they took him into virginia, as i directed, i suppose." "certainly, sir," said ware; "an' ez near ez i can learn they took him off way down below weldon somewheres, an' he lit out to come home jest at the time of the february 'fresh.' he had to steal his way afoot, and was might'ly used up when he got here, and died some little time afterward." "yes. the company will have to pay a good price for him. wasn't a better nor sounder nigger on the river," said desmit. "that ther warn't," replied ware. "the rest has all been well. lorency had a bad time over her baby, but she's 'round again as peart as ever." "so i see. and the crops?" "the best i've ever seed sence i've been here, colonel. never had such a stand of terbacker, and the corn looks prime. knapp-of-reeds has been doin' better 'n' better ever sence i've knowed it; but she's jest outdoin' herself this year." "haven't you got anything to drink, ware?" "i beg your _parding_, colonel; i was that flustered i done forgot my manners altogether," said ware apologetically. "i hev got a drap of apple that they say is right good for this region, and a trifle of corn that ain't nothing to brag on, though it does for the country right well." ware set out the liquor with a bowl of sugar from his sideboard as he spoke, and called to the kitchen for a glass and water. "that makes me think," said desmit. "here, you lorency, bring me that portmanty from the gig." when it was brought he unlocked it and took out a bottle, which he first held up to the light and gazed tenderly through, then drew the cork and smelled of its contents, shook his head knowingly, and then handed it to ware, who went through the same performance very solemnly. "here, gal," said desmit sharply, "bring us another tumbler. now, mr. ware," said he unctuously when it had been brought, "allow me, sir, to offer you some brandy which is thirty-five years old--pure french brandy, sir. put it in my portmanty specially for you, and like to have forgot it at the last. just try it, man." ware poured himself a dram, and swallowed it with a gravity which would have done honor to a more solemn occasion, after bowing low to his principal and saying earnestly, "colonel, your very good health." "and now," said desmit, "have the hands and stock brought up while i eat my dinner, if you please. i have a smart bit of travel before me yet to-day." the overseer's horn was at ware's lips in a moment, and before the master had finished his dinner every man, woman, and child on the plantation was in the yard, and every mule and horse was in the barn-lot ready to be brought out for his inspection. the great man sat on the back porch, and, calling up the slaves one by one, addressed some remark to each, gave every elder a quarter and every youngster a dime, until he came to the women. the first of these was lorency, the strapping cook, who had improved the time since her master's coming to make herself gay with her newest gown and a flaming new turban. she came forward pertly, with a young babe upon her arm. "well, lorency, mr. ware says you have made me a present since i was here?" "yah! yah! marse desmit, dat i hab! jes' de finest little nigger boy yer ebber sot eyes on. jes' you look at him now," she continued, holding up her brighteyed pickaninny. "ebber you see de beat ub dat? reg'lar ten pound, an' wuff two hundred dollars dis bressed minnit." "is that it, lorency?" said desmit, pointing to the child. "who ever saw such a thunder-cloud?" there was a boisterous laugh at the master's joke from the assembled crowd. nothing abashed, the good-natured mother replied, with ready wit, "dat so, marse kunnel. he's _brack_, he is. none ob yer bleached out yaller sort of coffee-cullud nigger 'bout _him_. de rale ole giniwine kind, dat a coal make a white mark on. yah i yah! what yer gwine ter name him, mahs'r? gib him a good name, now, none o' yer common mean ones, but jes' der bes' one yer got in yer book;" for colonel desmit was writing in a heavy clasped book which rested on a light stand beside him. "what is it, mahs'r?" "nimbus," replied the master. "wh--what?" asked the mother. "say dat agin', won't yer, mahs'r?" "nimbus--_nimbus_," repeated desmit. "wal, i swan ter gracious!" exclaimed the mother. "ef dat don't beat! h'yer! little--what's yer name? jes' ax yer mahs'r fer a silver dollar ter pay yer fer hevin' ter tote dat er name 'roun' ez long ez yer lives." she held the child toward its godfather and owner as she spoke, amid a roar of laughter from her fellow-servants. desmit good-naturedly threw a dollar into the child's lap, for which lorency courtesied, and then held out her hand. "what do you want now, gal?" asked desmit. "yer a'n't a gwine ter take sech a present ez dis from a pore cullud gal an' not so much ez giv' her someting ter remember hit by, is yer?" she asked with arch persistency. "there, there," said he laughing, as he gave her another dollar. "go on, or i shan't have a cent left." "all right, marse kunnel. thank ye, mahs'r," she said, as she walked off in triumph. "oh, hold on," said desmit; "how old is it, lorency?" "jes' sebben weeks ole dis bressed day, mahs'r," said the proud mother as she vanished into the kitchen to boast of her good-fortune in getting two silver dollars out of marse desmit instead of the one customarily given by him on such occasions. and so the record was made up in the brass-clasped book of colonel potestatem desmit, the only baptismal register of the colored man who twenty-six years afterward was wondering at the names which were seeking him against his will. _ --nimbus--of lorency--male--april th, --sound--knapp-of-reeds._ it was a queer baptismal entry, but a slave needed no more--indeed did not need that. it was not given for his sake, but only for the convenience of his godfather should the chattel ever seek to run away, or should it become desirable to exchange him for some other form of value. there was nothing harsh or brutal or degraded about it. mr. desmit was doing, in a business way, what the law not only allowed but encouraged him to do, and doing it because it paid. chapter iii. the junonian rite. "marse desmit?" "well?" "ef yer please, mahs'r, i wants ter marry?" "the devil you do!" "yes, sah, if you please, sah." "what's your name?" "nimbus." "so: you're the curer at knapp-of-reeds, i believe?" "yes, sah." "that last crop was well done. mr. ware says you're one of the best hands he has ever known." "thank ye, mahs'r," with a bow and scrape. "what's the gal's name?" "lugena, sah." "yes, vicey's gal--smart gal, too. well, as i've about concluded to keep you both--if you behave yourselves, that is, as well as you've been doing--i don't know as there's any reason why you shouldn't take up with her." "thank ye, mahs'r," very humbly, but very joyfully. the speakers were the black baby whom desmit had christened nimbus, grown straight and strong, and just turning his first score on the scale of life, and colonel desmit, grown a little older, a little grayer, a little fuller, and a great deal richer--if only the small cloud of war just rising on the horizon would blow over and leave his possessions intact. he believed it would, but he was a wise man and a cautious one, and he did not mean to be caught napping if it did not. nimbus had come from knapp-of-reeds to a plantation twenty miles away, upon a pass from mr. ware, on the errand his conversation disclosed. he was a fine figure of a man despite his ebon hue, and the master, looking at him, very naturally noted his straight, strong back, square shoulders, full, round neck, and shapely, well-balanced head. his face was rather heavy--grave, it would have been called if he had been white--and his whole figure and appearance showed an earnest and thoughtful temperament. he was as far from that volatile type which, through the mimicry of burnt-cork minstrels and the exaggerations of caricaturists, as well as the works of less disinterested portrayers of the race, have come to represent the negro to the unfamiliar mind, as the typical englishman is from the punch-and-judy figures which amuse him. the slave nimbus in a white skin would have been considered a man of great physical power and endurance, earnest purpose, and quiet, self-reliant character. such, in truth, he was. except the whipping he had received when but a lad, by his master's orders, no blow had ever been struck him. indeed, blows were rarely stricken on the plantations of colonel desmit; for while he required work, obedience, and discipline, he also fed well and clothed warmly, and allowed no overseer to use the lash for his own gratification, or except for good cause. it was well known that nothing would more surely secure dismissal from his service than the free use of the whip. not that he thought there was anything wrong or inhuman about the whipping-post, but it was entirely contrary to his policy. to keep a slave comfortable, healthy, and good-natured, according to colonel desmit's notion, was to increase his value, and thereby add to his owner's wealth. he knew that nimbus was a very valuable slave. he had always been attentive to his tasks, was a prime favorite with his overseer, and had already acquired the reputation of being one of the most expert and trusty men that the whole region could furnish, for a tobacco crop. every step in the process of growing and curing--from the preparation of the seed-bed to the burning of the coal-pit, and gauging the heat required in the mud-daubed barn for different kinds of leaf and in every stage of cure--was perfectly familiar to him, and he could always be trusted to see that it was properly and opportunely done. this fact, together with his quiet and contented disposition, added very greatly to his value. the master regarded him, therefore, with great satisfaction. he was willing to gratify him in any reasonable way, and so, after some rough jokes at his expense, wrote out his marriage-license in these words, in pencil, on the blank leaf of a notebook: mr. ware: nimbus and lugena want to take up with each other. you have a pretty full force now, but i have decided to keep them and sell some of the old ones--say vicey and lorency. neither have had any children for several years, and are yet strong, healthy women, who will bring nearly as much as the girl lugena. i shall make up a gang to go south in charge of winburn next week. you may send them over to louisburg on monday. you had better give nimbus the empty house near the tobacco-barn. we need a trusty man there. respectfully, p. desmit. so nimbus went home happy, and on the saturday night following, in accordance with this authority, with much mirth and clamor, and with the half-barbarous and half-christian ceremony--which the law did not recognize; which bound neither parties, nor master nor stranger; which gave nimbus no rights and lugena no privileges; which neither sanctified the union nor protected its offspring--the slave "boy" and "gal" "took up with each other," and began that farce which the victims of slavery were allowed to call "marriage." the sole purpose of permitting it was to raise children. the offspring were sometimes called "families," even in grave legal works; but there was no more of the family right of protection, duty of sustenance and care, or any other of the sacred elements which make the family a type of heaven, than attends the propagation of any other species of animate property. when its purpose had been served, the voice of the master effected instant divorce. so, on the monday morning thereafter the mothers of the so-called bride and groom, widowed by the inexorable demands of the master's interests, left husband and children, and those fair fields which represented all that they knew of the paradise which we call home, and with tears and groans started for that living tomb, the ever-devouring and insatiable "far south." chapter iv. mars meddles. louisburg, january , . mr. silas ware: dear sir: in ten days i have to furnish twenty hands to work on fortifications for the confederate government. i have tried every plan i could devise to avoid doing so, but can put it off no longer. i anticipated this long ago, and exchanged all the men i could possibly spare for women, thinking that would relieve me, but it makes no difference. they apportion the levy upon the number of slaves. i shall have to furnish more pretty soon. the trouble is to know who to send. i am afraid every devil of them will run away, but have concluded that if i send nimbus as a sort of headman of the gang, he may be able to bring them through. he is a very faithful fellow, with none of the fool-notions niggers sometimes get, i think. in fact, he is too dull to have such notions. at the same time he has a good deal of influence over the others. if you agree with this idea, send him to me at once. respectfully, p. desmit. in accordance with this order nimbus was sent on to have another interview with his master. the latter's wishes were explained, and he was asked if he could fulfil them. "dunno," he answered stolidly. "are you willing to try?" "s'pect i hev ter, ennyhow, ef yer say so." "now, nimbus, haven't i always been a good master to you?" reproachfully. no answer. "haven't i been kind to you always?" "yer made marse war' gib me twenty licks once." "well, weren't you saucy, nimbus? wouldn't you have done that to a nigger that called you a 'grand rascal' to your face?" "s'pecs i would, mahs'r." "of course you would. you know that very well. you've too much sense to remember that against me now. besides, if you are not willing to do this i shall have to sell you south to keep you out of the hands of the yanks." mr, desmit knew how to manage "niggers," and full well understood the terrors of being "sold south." he saw his advantage in the flush of apprehension which, before he had ceased speaking, made the jetty face before him absolutely ashen with terror. "don't do dat, marse desmit, ef _you_ please! don't do dat er wid nimbus! mind now, mahs'r, i'se got a wife an' babies." "so you have, and i know you don't want to leave them." "no more i don't, mahs'r," earnestly. "and you need not if you'll do as i want you to. see here, nimbus, if you'll do this i will promise that you and your family never shall be separated, and i'll give you fifty dollars now and a hundred dollars when you come back, if you'll just keep those other fool-niggers from trying--mind' i say _trying_--to run away and so getting shot. there's no such thing as getting to the yankees, and it would be a heap worse for them if they did, but you know they _are_ such fools they might try it and get killed--which would serve them right, only i should have to bear the loss." "all right, mahs'r, i do the best i can," said nimbus. "that's right," said the master. "here are fifty dollars," and he handed him a confederate bill of that denomination (gold value at that time, $ . ). mr. desmit did not feel entirely satisfied when nimbus and his twenty fellow-servants went off upon the train to work for the confederacy. however, he had done all he could except to warn the guards to be very careful, which he did not neglect to do. just forty days afterward a ragged, splashed and torn young ebony samson lifted the flap of a federal officer's tent upon one of the coast islands, stole silently in, and when he saw the officer's eyes fixed upon him. asked, "want ary boy, mahs'r?" the tone, as well as the form of speech, showed a new-comer. the officer knew that none of the colored men who had been upon the island any length of time would have ventured into his presence unannounced, or have made such an inquiry. "where did you come from?" he asked. "ober to der mainlan'," was the composed answer. "how did you get here?" "come in a boat." "run away?" "s'pose so." "where did you live?" "up de kentry--horsford county." "how did you come down here?" "ben wukkin' on de bres'wuks." "the dickens you have!" "yes, sah." "how did you get a boat, then?" "jes' tuk it--dry so." "anybody with you?" "no, mahs'r." "and you came across the sound alone in an open boat?" "yes, mahs'r; an' fru' de swamp widout any boat." "i should say so," laughed the officer, glancing at his clothes. "what did you come here for?" "jes'--_kase_." "didn't they tell you you'd be worse off with the yankees than you were with them?" "yes, sah." "didn't you believe them?" "dunno, sah." "what do you want to do?" "anything." "fight the rebs?" "wal, i kin du it." "what's your name?" "nimbus." "nimbus? good name--ha! ha: what else?" "nuffin' else." "nothing else? what was your old master's name?" "desmit--potem desmit." "well, then, that's yours, ain't it--your surname--nimbus desmit?" "reckon not, mahs'r." "no? why not?" "same reason his name ain't nimbus, i s'pose." "well," said the officer, laughing, "there may be something in that; but a soldier must have two names. suppose i call you george nimbus?" "yer kin call me jes' what yer choose, sah; but my name's nimbus all the same. no gawge nimbus, nor ennything nimbus, nor nimbus ennything--jes' nimbus; so. nigger got no use fer two names, nohow." the officer, perceiving that it was useless to argue the matter further, added his name to the muster-roll of a regiment, and he was duly sworn into the service of the united states as george nimbus, of company c, of the---massachusetts volunteer infantry, and was counted one of the quota which the town of great barringham, in the valley of the housatuck, was required to furnish to complete the pending call for troops to put down rebellion. by virtue of this fact, the said george nimbus became entitled to the sum of four hundred dollars bounty money offered by said town to such as should give themselves to complete its quota of "the boys in blue," in addition to his pay and bounty from the government. so, if it forced on him a new name, the service of freedom was not altogether without compensatory advantages. thus the slave nimbus was transformed into the "contraband" george nimbus, and became not only a soldier of fortune, but also the representative of a patriotic citizen of great barringham, who served his country by proxy, in the person of said contraband, faithfully and well until the end of the war, when the south fell--stricken at last most fatally by the dark hands which she had manacled, and overcome by their aid whose manhood she had refused to acknowledge. chapter v. nunc pro tunc. the first step in the progress from the prison-house of bondage to the citadel of liberty was a strange one. the war was over. the struggle for autonomy and the inviolability of slavery, on the part of the south, was ended, and fate had decided against them. with this arbitrament of war fell also the institution which had been its cause. slavery was abolished--by proclamation, by national enactment, by constitutional amendment--ay, by the sterner logic which forbade a nation to place shackles again upon hands which had been raised in her defence, which had fought for her life and at her request. so the slave was a slave no more. no other man could claim his service or restrain his volition. he might go or come, work or play, so far as his late master was concerned. but that was all. he could not contract, testify, marry or give in marriage. he had neither property, knowledge, right, or power. the whole four millions did not possess that number of dollars or of dollars' worth. whatever they had acquired in slavery was the master's, unless he had expressly made himself a trustee for their benefit. regarded from the legal standpoint it was, indeed, a strange position in which they were. a race despised, degraded, penniless, ignorant, houseless, homeless, fatherless, childless, nameless. husband or wife there was not one in four millions. not a child might call upon a father for aid, and no man of them all might lift his hand in a daughter's defence. uncle and aunt and cousin, home, family--none of these words had any place in the freedman's vocabulary. right he had, in the abstract; in the concrete, none. justice would not hear his voice. the law was still color-blinded by the past. the fruit of slavery--its first ripe harvest, gathered with swords and bloody bayonets, was before the nation which looked ignorantly on the fruits of the deliverance it had wrought. the north did not comprehend its work; the south could not comprehend its fate. the unbound slave looked to the future in dull, wondering hope. the first step in advance was taken neither by the nation nor by the freedmen. it was prompted by the voice of conscience, long hushed and hidden in the master's breast. it was the protest of christianity and morality against that which it had witnessed with complacency for many a generation. all at once it was perceived to be a great enormity that four millions of christian people, in a christian land, should dwell together without marriage rite or family tie. while they were slaves, the fact that they might be bought and sold had hidden this evil from the eye of morality, which had looked unabashed upon the unlicensed freedom of the quarters and the enormities of the barracoon. now all at once it was shocked beyond expression at the domestic relations of the freedmen. so they made haste in the first legislative assemblies that met in the various states, after the turmoil of war had ceased, to provide and enact: i. that all those who had sustained to each other the relation of husband and wife in the days of slavery, might, upon application to an officer named in each county, be registered as such husband and wife. . that all who did not so register within a certain time should be liable to indictment, if the relation continued thereafter. . that the effect of such registration should be to constitute such parties husband and wife, as of the date of their first assumption of marital relations. . that for every such couple registered the officer should be entitled to receive the sum of one half-dollar from the parties registered. there was a grim humor about this marriage of a race by wholesale, millions at a time, and _nunc pro tunc;_ but especially quaint was the idea of requiring each freed-man, who had just been torn, as it were naked, from the master's arms, to pay a snug fee for the simple privilege of entering upon that relation which the law had rigorously withheld from him until that moment. it was a strange remedy for a long-hidden and stubbornly denied disease, and many strange scenes were enacted in accordance with the provisions of this statute. many an aged couple, whose children had been lost in the obscure abysses of slavery, or had gone before them into the spirit land, old and feeble and gray-haired, wrought with patience day after day to earn at once their living and the money for this fee, and when they had procured it walked a score of miles in order that they might be "registered," and, for the brief period that remained to them of life, know that the law had sanctioned the relation which years of love and suffering had sanctified. it was the first act of freedom, the first step of legal recognition or manly responsibility! it was a proud hour and a proud fact for the race which had so long been bowed in thralldom and forbidden even the most common though the holiest of god's ordinances. what the law had taken little by little, as the science of christian slavery grew up under the brutality of our legal progress, the law returned in bulk. it was the first seal which was put on the slave's manhood--the first step upward from the brutishness of another's possession to the glory of independence. the race felt its importance as did no one else at that time. by hundreds and thousands they crowded the places appointed, to accept the honor offered to their posterity, and thereby unwittingly conferred undying honor upon themselves. few indeed were the unworthy ones who evaded the sacred responsibility thus laid upon them, and left their offspring to remain under the badge of shame. when carefully looked at it was but a scant cure, and threw the responsibility of illegitimacy where it did not belong, but it was a mighty step nevertheless. the distance from zero to unity is always infinity. the county clerk in and for the county of horsford sat behind the low wooden railing which he had been compelled to put across his office to protect him from the too near approach of those who crowded to this fountain of rehabilitating honor that had recently been opened therein. unused to anything beyond the plantation on which they had been reared, the temple of justice was as strange to their feet, and the ways and forms of ordinary business as marvelous to their minds as the etiquette of the king's palace to a peasant who has only looked from afar upon its pinnacled roof. the recent statute had imposed upon the clerk a labor of no little difficulty because of this very ignorance on the part of those whom he was required to serve; but he was well rewarded. the clerk was a man of portly presence, given to his ease, who smoked a long-stemmed pipe as he sat beside a table which, in addition to his papers and writing materials, held a bucket of water on which floated a clean gourd, in easy reach of his hand. "be you the clerk, sail?" said a straight young colored man, whose clothing had a hint of the soldier in it, as well as his respectful but unusually collected bearing. "yes," said the clerk, just glancing up, but not intermitting his work; "what do you want?" "if you please, sah, we wants to be married, lugena and me." "_registered_, you mean, i suppose?" "no, we don't, sah; we means _married_." "i can't marry you. you'll have to get a license and be married by a magistrate or a minister." "but i heard der was a law---" "have you been living together as man and wife?" "oh, yes, sah; dat we hab, dis smart while." "then you want to be registered. this is the place. got a half-dollar?" "yes, sah?" "let's have it." the colored man took out some bills, and with much difficulty endeavored to make a selection; finally, handing one doubtfully toward the clerk, he asked, "is dat a one-dollah, sah?" "no, that is a five, but i can change it." "no, i'se got it h'yer," said the other hastily, as he dove again into his pockets, brought out some pieces of fractional currency and handed them one by one to the officer until he said he had enough. "well," said the clerk as he took up his pen and prepared to fill out the blank, "what is your name?" "my name's nimbus, sah." "nimbus what?" "nimbus nuffin', sah; jes' nimbus." "but you must have another name?" "no i hain't. jes' wore dat fer twenty-odd years, an' nebber hed no udder." "who do you work for?" "wuk for myself, sah." "well, on whose land do you work?" "wuks on my own, sah. oh, i libs at home an' boa'ds at de same place, i does. an' my name's nimbus, jes' straight along, widout any tail ner handle." "what was your old master's name?" "desmit--colonel potem desmit." "i might have known that," said the clerk laughingly, "from the durned outlandish name. well, desmit is your surname, then, ain't it?" "no'taint, mister. what right i got ter his name? he nebber gib it ter me no more'n he did ter you er lugena h'yer." "pshaw, i can't stop to argue with you. here's your certificate." "will you please read it, sah? i hain't got no larnin'. ef you please, sah." the clerk, knowing it to be the quickest way to get rid of them, read rapidly over the certificate that nimbus and lugena desmit had been duly registered as husband and wife, under the provisions of an ordinance of the convention ratified on the---day of---, . "so you's done put in dat name--desmit?" "oh, i just had to, nimbus. the fact is, a man can't be married according to law without two names." "so hit appears; but ain't it quare dat i should hev ole mahs'r's name widout his gibbin' it ter me, ner my axin' fer it, mister?" "it may be, but that's the way, you see." "so hit seems. 'pears like i'm boun' ter hev mo' names 'n i knows what ter do wid, jes' kase i's free. but de chillen--yer hain't sed nary word about dem, mister." "oh, i've nothing to do with them." "but, see h'yer, mister, ain't de law a doin dis ter make dem lawful chillen?" "certainly." "an' how's de law ter know which is de lawful chillen ef hit ain't on dat ar paper?" "sure enough," said the clerk, with amusement. "that would have been a good idea, but, you see, nimbus, the law didn't go that far." "wal, hit ought ter hev gone dat fur. now, mister clerk, couldn't you jes' put dat on dis yer paper, jes' ter "commodate me, yer know." "perhaps so," good-naturedly, taking back the certificate; "what do you want me to write?" "wal, yer see, dese yer is our chillen. dis yer boy lone--axylone, marse desmit called him, but we calls him lone for short--he's gwine on fo'; dis yer gal wicey, she's two past; and dis little brack cuss lugena's a-holdin' on, we call cap'n, kase he bosses all on us--he's nigh 'bout a year; an' dat's all." the clerk entered the names and ages of the children on the back of the paper, with a short certificate that they were present, and were acknowledged as the children, and the only ones, of the parties named in the instrument. and so the slave nimbus was transformed, first into the "contraband" and mercenary soldier _george nimbus_, and then by marriage into _nimbus desmit_. chapter vi. the toga virilis. but the transformations of the slave were not yet ended. the time came when he was permitted to become a citizen. for two years he had led an inchoate, nondescript sort of existence: free without power or right; neither slave nor freeman; neither property nor citizen. he had been, meanwhile, a bone of contention between the provisional governments of the states and the military power which controlled them. the so-called state governments dragged him toward the whipping-post and the black codes and serfdom. they denied him his oath, fastened him to the land, compelled him to hire by the year, required the respectfulness of the old slave "mahs'r" and "missus," made his employer liable for his taxes, and allowed recoupment therefor; limited his avocations and restricted his opportunities. these would substitute serfdom for chattelism. on the other hand the freedman's bureau acted as his guardian and friend, looked after his interests in contracts, prohibited the law's barbarity, and insisted stubbornly that the freedman was a man, and must be treated as such. it needed only the robe of citizenship, it was thought, to enable him safely to dispense with the one of these agencies and defy the other. so the negro was transformed into a citizen, a voter, a political factor, by act of congress, with the aid and assistance of the military power. a great crowd had gathered at the little town of melton, which was one of the chief places of the county of horsford, for the people had been duly notified by official advertisement that on this day the board of registration appointed by the commander of the military district in which horsford county was situated would convene there, to take and record the names, and pass upon the qualifications, of all who desired to become voters of the new body politic which was to be erected therein, or of the old one which was to be reconstructed and rehabilitated out of the ruins which war had left. the first provision of the law was that every member of such board of registration should be able to take what was known in those days as the "iron-clad oath," that is, an oath that he had never engaged in, aided, or abetted any rebellion against the government of the united states. men who could do this were exceedingly difficult to find in some sections. of course there were abundance of colored men who could take this oath, but not one in a thousand of them could read or write. the military commander determined, however, to select in every registration district one of the most intelligent of this class, in order that he might look after the interests of his race, now for the first time to take part in any public or political movement. this would greatly increase the labors of the other members of the board, yet was thought not only just but necessary. as the labor of recording the voters of a county was no light one, especially as the lists had to be made out in triplicate, it was necessary to have some clerical ability on the board. these facts often made the composition of these boards somewhat heterogeneous and peculiar. the one which was to register the voters of horsford consisted of a little old white man, who had not enough of stamina or character to have done or said anything in aid of rebellion, and who, if he had done the very best he knew, ought yet to have been held guiltless of evil accomplished. in his younger days he had been an overseer, but in his later years had risen to the dignity of a landowner and the possession of one or two slaves. he wrestled with the mysteries of the printed page with a sad seriousness which made one regret his inability to remember what was at the top until he had arrived at the bottom. writing was a still more solemn business with him, but he was a brave man and would cheerfully undertake to transcribe a list of names, which he well knew that anything less than eternity would be too short to allow him to complete. he was a small, thin-haired, squeaky-voiced bachelor of fifty, and as full of good intentions as the road to perdition. if tommy glass ever did any evil it would not only be without intent but from sheer accident. with tommy was associated an old colored man, one of those known in that region as "old-issue free-niggers." old pharaoh ray was a venerable man. he had learned to read before the constitution of deprived the free-negro of his vote, and had read a little since. he wore an amazing pair of brass-mounted spectacles. his head was surmounted by a mass of snowy hair, and he was of erect and powerful figure despite the fact that he boasted a life of more than eighty years. he read about as fast and committed to memory more easily than his white associate, glass. in writing they were about a match; pharaoh wrote his name much more legibly than glass could, but glass accomplished the task in about three fourths of the time required by pharaoh. the third member of the board was captain theron pardee, a young man who had served in the federal army and afterward settled in an adjoining county. he was the chairman. he did the writing, questioning, and deciding, and as each voter had to be sworn he utilized his two associates by requiring them to administer the oaths and--look wise. the colored man in about two weeks learned these oaths so that he could repeat them. the white man did not commit the brief formulas in the four weeks they were on duty. the good people of melton were greatly outraged that this composite board should presume to come and pass upon the qualifications of its people as voters under the act of congress, and indeed it was a most ludicrous affair. the more they contemplated the outrage that was being done to them, by decreeing that none should vote who had once taken an oath to support the government of the united states and afterward aided the rebellion, the angrier they grew, until finally they declared that the registration should not be held. then there were some sharp words between the ex-federal soldier and the objectors. as no house could be procured for the purpose, he proposed to hold the registration on the porch of the hotel where he stopped, but the landlord objected. then he proposed to hold it on the sidewalk under a big tree, but the town authorities declared against it. however, he was proceeding there, when an influential citizen kindly came forward and offered the use of certain property under his control. there was some clamor, but the gentleman did not flinch. thither they adjourned, and the work went busily on. among others who came to be enrolled as citizens was our old friend nimbus. "where do you live?" asked the late northern soldier sharply, as nimbus came up in. his turn in the long line of those waiting for the same purpose. "down ter red wing, sah?" "where's that?" "oh, right down h'yer on hyco, sah." "in this county?" "oh, bless yer, yes, mister, should tink hit was. hit's not above five or six miles out from h'yer." "how old are you?" "wal, now, i don't know dat, not edzactly." "how old do you think--twenty-one?" "oh, la, yes; more nor dat, cap'." "born where?" "right h'yer in horsford, sah." "what is your name?" "nimbus." "nimbus what?" asked the officer, looking up. "nimbus nothin', sah; jes' straight along nimbus." "well, but--" said the officer, looking puzzled, "you must have some sort of surname." "no, sah, jes' one; nigger no use for two names." "yah! yah! yah!" echoed the dusky crowd behind him. "you's jes' right dah, you is! niggah mighty little use fer heap o' names. jes' like a mule--one name does him, an' mighty well off ef he's 'lowed ter keep dat." "his name's desmit," said a white man, the sheriff of the county, who stood leaning over the railing; "used to belong to old potem desmit, over to louisburg. mighty good nigger, too. i s'pec' ole man desmit felt about as bad at losing him as ary one he had." "powerful good hand in terbacker," said mr. glass, who was himself an expert in "yaller leaf." "ther' wasn't no better ennywhar' round." "i knows all about him," said another. "seed a man offer old desmit eighteen hundred dollars for him afore the war--state money--but he wouldn't tech it. reckon he wishes he had now." "yes," said the sheriff, "he's the best curer in the county. commands almost any price in the season, but is powerful independent, and gittin' right sassy. listen at him now?" "they say your name is desmit--nimbus desmit," said the officer; "is that so?" "no, tain't." "wasn't that your old master's name?" asked the sheriff roughly. "co'se it war," was the reply. "well, then, ain't it yours too?" "no, it ain't." "well, you just ask the gentleman if that ain't so," said the sheriff, motioning to the chairman of the board. "well," said that officer, with a peculiar smile, "i do not know that there is any law compelling a freedman to adopt his former master's name. he is without name in the law, a pure _nullius filius_--nobody's son. as a slave he had but one name. he _could_ have no surname, because he had no family. he was arraigned, tried, and executed as 'jim' or 'bill' or 'tom.' the volumes of the reports are full of such cases, as the state _vs._ 'dick' or 'sam.' the roman custom was for the freedman to take the name of some friend, benefactor, or patron. i do not see why the american freedman has not a right to choose his own surname." "that is not the custom here," said the sheriff, with some chagrin, he having begun the controversy. "very true," replied the chairman; "the custom--and a very proper and almost necessary one it seems--is to call the freedman by a former master's name. this distinguishes individuals. but when the freedman refuses to acknowledge the master's name as his, who can impose it on him? we are directed to register the names of parties, and while we might have the right to refuse one whom we found attempting to register under a false name, yet we have no power to make names for those applying. indeed, if this man insists that he has but one name, we must, for what i can see, register him by that alone." his associates looked wise, and nodded acquiescence in the views thus expressed. "den dat's what i chuse," said the would-be voter. "my name's nimbus--noffin' mo'." "but i should advise you to take another name to save trouble when you come to vote," said the chairman. his associates nodded solemnly again. "wal, now, marse cap'n, you jes' see h'yer. i don't want ter carry nobody's name widout his leave. s'pose i take ole marse war's name ober dar?" "you can take any one you choose. i shall write down the one you give me." "is you willin', marse war'?" "i've nothing to do with it, nimbus," said ware; "fix your own name." "wal sah," said nimbus, "i reckon i'll take dat ef i must hev enny mo' name. yer see he wuz my ole oberseer, mahs'r, an' wuz powerful good ter me, tu. i'd a heap ruther hev his name than marse desmit's; but i don't _want_ no name but nimbus, nohow. "all right," said the chairman, as he made the entry. "ware it is then." as there might be a poll held at red wing, where nimbus lived, he was given a certificate showing that _nimbus ware_ had been duly registered as an elector of the county of horsford and for the precinct of red wing. then the newly-named nimbus was solemnly sworn by the patriarchal pharaoh to bear true faith and allegiance to the government of the united states, and to uphold its constitution and the laws passed in conformity therewith; and thereby the recent slave became a component factor of the national life, a full-fledged citizen of the american republic. as he passed out, the sheriff said to those about him, in a low tone, "there'll be trouble with that nigger yet. he's too sassy. you'll see." "how so?" asked the chairman. "i thought you said he was industrious, thrifty, and honest." "oh, yes," was the reply, "there ain't a nigger in the county got a better character for honesty and hard work than he, but he's too important--has got the big head, as we call it." "i don't understand what you mean," said the chairman. "why he ain't respectful," said the other. "talks as independent as if he was a white man." "well, he has as much right to talk independently as a white man. he is just as free," said the chairman sharply. "yes; but he ain't white," said the sheriff doggedly, "and our people won't stand a nigger's puttin' on such airs. why, captain," he continued in a tone which showed that he felt that the fact he was about to announce must carry conviction even to the incredulous heart of the yankee officer. "you just ought to see his place down at red wing. damned if he ain't better fixed up than lots of white men in the county. he's got a good house, and a terbacker-barn, and a church, and a nigger school-house, and stock, and one of the finest crops of terbacker in the county. oh, i tell you, he's cutting a wide swath, he is." "you don't tell me," said the chairman with interest. "i am glad to hear it. there appears to be good stuff in the fellow. he seems to have his own ideas about things, too." "yes, that's the trouble," responded the sheriff. "our people ain't used to that and won't stand it. he's putting on altogether too much style for a nigger." "pshaw," said the chairman, "if there were more like him it would be better for everybody. a man like him is worth something for an example. if all the race were of his stamp there would be more hope." "the devil!" returned the sheriff, with a sneering laugh, "if they were all like him, a white man couldn't live in the country. they'd be so damned sassy and important that we'd have to kill the last one of 'em to have any peace." "fie, sheriff," laughed the chairman good-naturedly; "you seem to be vexed at the poor fellow for his thrift, and because he is doing well." "i am a white man, sir; and i don't like to see niggers gittin' above us. them's my sentiments," was the reply. "and that's the way our people feel." there was a half-suppressed murmur of applause among the group of white men at this. the chairman responded, "no doubt, and yet i believe you are wrong. now, i can't help liking the fellow for his sturdy manhood. he may be a trifle too positive, but it is a good fault. i think he has the elements of a good citizen, and i can't understand why you feel so toward him." there were some appreciative and good-natured cries of "dar now," "listen at him," "now you're talkin'," from the colored men at this reply. "oh, that's because you're a yankee," said the sheriff, with commiserating scorn. "you don't think, now, that it's any harm to talk that way before niggers and set them against the white people either, i suppose?" the chairman burst into a hearty laugh, as he replied, "no, indeed, i don't. if you call that setting the blacks against the whites, the sooner they are by the ears the better. if you are so thin-skinned that you can't allow a colored man to think, talk, act, and prosper like a man, the sooner you get over your squeamishness the better. for me, i am interested in this nimbus. we have to go to red wing and report on it as a place for holding a poll and i am bound to see more of him." "oh, you'll see enough of him if you go there, never fear," was the reply. there was a laugh from the white men about the sheriff, a sort of cheer from the colored men in waiting, and the business of the board went on without further reference to the new-made citizen. the slave who had been transformed into a "contraband" and mustered as a soldier under one name, married under another, and now enfranchised under a third, returned to his home to meditate upon his transformations--as we found him doing in our first chapter. the reason for these metamorphoses, and their consequences, might well puzzle a wiser head than that of the many-named but unlettered nimbus. chapter vii. damon and pythias. after his soliloquy in regard to his numerous names, as given in our first chapter, nimbus turned away from the gate near which he had been standing, crossed the yard in front of his house, and entered a small cabin which stood near it. "dar! 'liab," he said, as he entered and handed the paper which he had been examining to the person addressed, "i reckon i'se free now. i feel ez ef i wuz 'bout half free, ennyhow. i wuz a sojer, an' fought fer freedom. i've got my house an' bit o' lan', wife, chillen, crap, an' stock, an' it's all mine. an' now i'se done been registered, an' when de 'lection comes off, kin vote jes' ez hard an' ez well an' ez often ez ole marse desmit. i hain't felt free afore--leastways i hain't felt right certain on't; but now i reckon i'se all right, fact an' truth. what you tinks on't, 'liab?" the person addressed was sitting on a low seat under the one window which was cut into the west side of the snugly-built log cabin. the heavy wooden shutter swung back over the bench. on the other side of the room was a low cot, and a single splint-bottomed chair stood against the open door. the house contained no other furniture. the bench which he occupied was a queer compound of table, desk, and work-bench. it had the leathern seat of a shoemaker's bench, except that it was larger and wider. as the occupant sat with his back to the window, on his left were the shallow boxes of a shoemaker's bench, and along its edge the awls and other tools of that craft were stuck in leather loops secured by tacks, as is the custom of the crispin the world over. on the right was a table whose edge was several inches above the seat, and on which were some books, writing materials, a slate, a bundle of letters tied together with a piece of shoe-thread, and some newspapers and pamphlets scattered about in a manner which showed at a glance that the owner was unaccustomed to their care, but which is yet quite indescribable. on the wall above this table, but within easy reach of the sitter's hand, hung a couple of narrow hanging shelves, on which a few books were neatly arranged. one lay open on the table, with a shoemaker's last placed across it to prevent its closing. eliab was already busily engaged in reading the certificate which nimbus had given him. the sun, now near its setting, shone in at the open door and fell upon him as he read. he was a man apparently about the age of nimbus--younger rather than older--having a fine countenance, almost white, but with just enough of brown in its sallow paleness to suggest the idea of colored blood, in a region where all degrees of admixture were by no means rare. a splendid head of black hair waved above his broad, full forehead, and an intensely black silky beard and mustache framed the lower portion of his face most fittingly. his eyes were soft and womanly, though there was a patient boldness about their great brown pupils and a directness of gaze which suited well the bearded face beneath. the lines of suffering were deeply cut upon the thoughtful brow and around the liquid eyes, and showed in the mobile workings of the broad mouth, half shaded by the dark mustache. the face was not a handsome one, but there was a serious and earnest calmness about it which gave it an unmistakable nobility of expression and prompted one to look more closely at the man and his surroundings. the shoulders were broad and square, the chest was full, the figure erect, and the head finely poised. he was dressed with unusual neatness for one of his race and surroundings, at the time of which we write. one comprehended at a glance that this worker and learner was also deformed. there was that in his surroundings which showed that he was not as other men. the individuality of weakness and suffering had left its indelible stamp upon the habitation which he occupied. yet so erect and self-helping in appearance was the figure on the cobbler's bench that one for a moment failed to note in what the affliction consisted. upon closer observation he saw that the lower limbs were sharply flexed and drawn to the leftward, so that the right foot rested on its side under the left thigh. this inclined the body somewhat to the right, so that the right arm rested naturally upon the table for support when not employed. these limbs, especially below the knees, were shrunken and distorted. the shoe of the right foot whose upturned sole rested on the left leg just above the ankle, was many sizes too small for a development harmonious with the trunk. nimbus sat down in the splint-bottomed chair by the door and fanned himself with his dingy hat while the other read. "how is dis, nimbus? what does dis mean? _nimbus ware?_ where did you get dat name?" he asked at length, raising his eyes and looking in pained surprise toward the new voter. "now, bre'er 'liab, don't talk dat 'ere way ter nimbus, ef yo please. don't do it now. yer knows i can't help it. ebberybody want ter call me by ole mahs'r's name, an' dat i can't abide nohow; an' when i kicks 'bout it, dey jes gib me some odder one, dey all seems ter tink i'se boun' ter hev two names, though i hain't got no manner o' right ter but one." "but how did you come to have dis one--ware?" persisted eliab. "wal, you see, bre'er 'liab, de boss man at der registerin' he ax me fer my las' name, an' i tell him i hadn't got none, jes so. den sheriff gleason, he put in his oar, jes ez he allus does, an' he say my name wuz _desmit,_ atter ole mahs'r. dat made me mad, an' i 'spute him, an' sez i, 'i won't hev no sech name'. den de boss man, he shet up marse gleason purty smart like, and _he_ sed i'd a right ter enny name i chose ter carry, kase nobody hadn't enny sort o' right ter fasten enny name at all on ter me 'cept myself. but he sed i'd better hev two, kase most other folks hed 'em. so i axed marse si war' ef he'd lend me his name jes fer de 'casion, yer know, an' he sed he hadn't no 'jection ter it. so i tole der boss man ter put it down, an' i reckon dar 'tis." "yes, here it is, sure 'nough, nimbus; but didn't you promise me you wouldn't have so many names?" "co'se i did; an' i did try, but they all 'llowed i got ter have two names whe'er er no." "then why didn't you take your old mahs'r's name, like de rest, and not have all dis trouble?" "now, 'liab, yer knows thet i won't nebber do dat." "but why not, nimbus?" "kase i ain't a-gwine ter brand my chillen wid no sech slave-mark! nebber! you hear dat, 'liab? i hain't got no ill-will gin marse desmit, not a mite--only 'bout dat ar lickin, an' dat ain't nuffin now; but i ain't gwine ter war his name ner giv it ter my chillen ter mind 'em dat der daddy wuz jes anudder man's critter one time. i tell you i can't do hit, nohow; an' i _won't,_ bre'er 'liab. i don't hate marse desmit, but i does hate slavery--dat what made me his--worse'n a pilot hates a rattlesnake; an' i hate everyting dat 'minds me on't, i do!" the black samson had risen in his excitement and now sat down upon the bench by the other. "i don't blame you for dat, nimbus, but--" "i don't want to heah no 'buts' 'bout it, an' i won't." "but the chillen, nimbus. you don't want dem to be different from others and have no surname?" "dat's a fac', 'liab," said nimbus, springing to his feet. "i nebber t'ought o' dat. dey must hev a name, an' i mus' hev one ter gib 'em, but how's i gwine ter git one? dar's nobody's got enny right ter gib me one, an' ef i choose one dis week what's ter hender my takin' ob anudder nex week?" "perhaps nothing," answered 'liab, "but yourself. you must not do it." "pshaw, now," said nimbus, "' what sort o' way is dat ter hev things? i tell ye what orter been done, 'liab; when de law married us all, jes out of han' like, it orter hev named us too. hit mout hev been done, jes ez well's not. dar's old mahs'r now, he'd hev named all de niggas in de county in a week, easy. an' dey'd been good names, too." "but you'd have bucked at it ef he had," said 'liab, good-naturedly. "no i wouldn't, 'liab. i hain't got nuffin 'gin ole mahrs'r. he war good enough ter me--good 'nuff. i only hate what _made_ him 'old mahs'r,' an' dat i does hate. oh, my god, how i does hate it, liab! i hates de berry groun' dat a slave's wukked on! i do, i swar! when i wuz a-comin' home to-day an' seed de gullies 'long der way, hit jes made me cuss, kase dey wuz dar a-testifyin' ob de ole time when a man war a critter--a dog--a nuffin!" "now you oughtn't to say dat, nimbus. just think of me. warn't you better off as a slave than i am free?" "no, i warn't. i'd ruther be a hundred times wuss off ner you, an' free, than ez strong as i am an' a slave." "but think how much more freedom is worth to you. here you are a voter, and i--" "bre'er 'liab," exclaimed nimbus, starting suddenly up, "what for you no speak 'bout dat afore. swar to god i nebber tink on't--not a word, till dis bressed minit. why didn't yer say nuffin' 'bout bein' registered yo'self, eh? yer knowed i'd a tuk yer ef i hed ter tote ye on my back, which i wouldn't. i wouldn't gone a step widout yer ef i'd only a t'ought. yer knows i wouldn't." "course i does, nimbus, but i didn't want ter make ye no trouble, nor take the mule out of the crap," answered 'liab apologetically. "damn de crap!" said nimbus impetuously. "don't; don't swear, nimbus, if you please." "can't help it, 'liab, when you turn fool an' treat me dat 'ere way. i'd swar at ye ef yer wuz in de pulpit an' dat come ober me, jes at de fust. yer knows nimbus better ner dat. now see heah, 'liab hill, yer's gwine ter go an' be registered termorrer, jes ez sure ez termorrer comes. here we thick-headed dunces hez been up dar to-day a-takin' de oath an' makin' bleve we's full grown men, an' here's you, dat knows more nor a ten-acre lot full on us, a lyin' here an' habin' no chance at all." "but you want to get de barn full, and can't afford to spend any more time," protested 'liab. "nebber you min' 'bout de barn. dat's nimbus' business, an" he'll take keer on't. let him alone fer dat. yis, honey, i'se comin' d'reckly!" he shouted, as his wife called him from his own cabin. "now bre'er 'liab, yer comes ter supper wid us. lugena's jes' a callin' on't." "oh, don't, nimbus," said the other, shrinking away. "i can't! you jes send one of the chillen in with it, as usual." "no yer don't," said nimbus; "yer's been a scoldin' an' abusin' me all dis yer time, an' now i'se gwine ter hab my way fer a little while." he went to the door and called: "gena! _oh,_ gena!" and as his wife did not answer, he said to one of his children, "_oh,_ axylone, jes run inter de kitchen, son, an' tell yer ma ter put on anudder plate, fer bre'er 'liab's comin' ober ter take a bite wid us." eliab kept on protesting, but it was in vain. nimbus bent over him as tenderly as a mother over the cradle of her first-born, clasped his arms about him, and lifting him from the bench bore him away to his own house. with an unconscious movement, which was evidently acquired by long experience, the afflicted man cast one arm over nimbus' shoulder, put the other around him, and leaning across the stalwart breast of his friend so evenly distributed his weight that the other bore him with ease. entering his own house, nimbus placed his burden in the chair at the head of the table, while he himself took his seat on one of the wooden benches at the side. "i jes brought bre'er 'liab in ter supper, honey," said he to his wife; "kase i see'd he war gettin' inter de dumps like, an' i 'llowed yer'd chirk him up a bit ef yer jes hed him over h'yer a while." "shan't do it," said the bright-eyed woman saucily. "kase why?" queried her husband. "kase bre'er 'liab don't come oftener. dat's why." "dar, now, jes see what yer done git fer being so contrary-like, will yer?" said the master to his guest. h'yer, you axylone," he continued to his eldest born, " fo'd up yer han's while bre'er 'liab ax de blessin'. you, too, capting," shaking his finger at a roll of animated blackness on the end of the seat opposite. "now, bre'er 'liab." the little black fingers were interlocked, the close-clipped, kinky heads were bowed upon them; the master of the house bent reverently over his plate; the plump young wife crossed her hands demurely on the bright handle of the big coffee-pot by which she stood, and "bre'er 'liab," clasping his slender fingers, uplifted his eyes and hands to heaven, and uttered a grace which grew into a prayer. his voice was full of thankfulness, and tears crept from under his trembling lids. the setting sun, which looked in upon the peaceful scene, no doubt flickered and giggled with laughter as he sank to his evening couch with the thought, "how quick these 'sassy' free-niggers do put on airs like white folks!" in the tobacco-field on the hillside back of his house, nimbus and his wife, lugena, wrought in the light of the full moon nearly all the night which followed, and early on the morrow nimbus harnessed his mule into his canvas-covered wagon, in which, upon a bed of straw, reclined his friend eliab hill, and drove again to the place of registration. on arriving there he took his friend in his arms, carried him in and sat him on the railing before the board. clasping the blanket close about his deformed extremities the cripple leaned upon his friend's shoulder and answered the necessary questions with calmness and precision. "there's a pair for you, captain," said gleason, nodding good-naturedly toward nimbus as he bore his helpless charge again to the wagon. "is he white?" asked the officer, with a puzzled look. "white?" exclaimed sheriff gleason, with a laugh. "no, indeed! he's a nigger preacher who lives with nimbus down at red wing. they're great cronies--always together. i expect he's at the bottom of all the black nigger's perversity, though he always seems as smooth and respectful as you please. he's a deep one. i 'llow he does all the scheming, and just makes nimbus a cat's-paw to do his work. i don't know much about him, though. he hardly ever talks with anybody." "he seems a very remarkable man," said the officer. "oh, he is," said the sheriff. "even in slave times he was a very influential man among the niggers, and since freedom he and nimbus together rule the whole settlement. i don't suppose there are ten white men in the county who could control, square out and out, as many votes as these two will have in hand when they once get to voting." "was he a slave? what is his history?" "i don't exactly know," answered the sheriff. "he is quite a young man, and somehow i never happened to hear of him till some time during the war. then he was a sort of prophet among them, and while he did a power of praying for you yanks, he always counselled the colored people to be civil and patient, and not try to run away or go to cutting up, but just to wait till the end came. he was just right, too, and his course quieted the white folks down here on the river, where there was a big slave population, more than a little." "i should like to know more of him," said the chairman. "all right," said gleason, looking around. "if hesden le moyne is here, i'll get him to tell you all about him, at noon. if he is not here then, he will come in before night, i'm certain." chapter viii. a friendly prologue. as they went from the place of registration to their dinner at the hotel, the sheriff, walking beside the chairman, said: "i spoke to le moyne about that negro fellow, eliab hill, and he says he's very willing to tell you all he knows about him; but, as there are some private matters connected with the story, he prefers to come to your room after dinner, rather than speak of it more publicly." "i am sure i shall be much obliged to him if he will do so," said pardee. "you will find him one of the very finest men you ever met, i'm thinking," continued gleason. "his father, casaubon le moyne, was very much of a gentleman. he came from virginia, and was akin to the le moynes of south carolina, one of the best of those old french families that brag so much of their huguenot blood. i never believed in it myself, but they are a mighty elegant family; no doubt of that. i've got the notion that they were not as well off as they might be. perhaps the family got too big for the estate. that would happen with these old families, you know; but they were as high-toned and honorable as if their fore-bears had been kings. not proud, i don't mean--not a bit of that--but high-spirited and hot-tempered. "his mother was a richards--hester richards--the daughter of old man jeems richards. the family was a mighty rich one; used to own all up and down the river on both sides, from red wing to mulberry hill, where hesden now lives. richards had a big family of boys and only one gal, who was the youngest. the boys was all rather tough customers, i've heard say, taking after their father, who was about as hard a man to get along with as was ever in this country. he came from up north somewhere about , when everybody thought this pea-vine country was a sort of new garden of eden. he was a well educated and capable man, but had a terrible temper. he let the boys go to the devil their own way, just selling off a plantation now and then and paying their debts. he had so much land that it was a good thing for him to get rid of it. but he doted on the gal, and sent her off to school and travelled with her and give her every sort of advantage. she was a beauty, and as sweet and good as she was pretty. how she come to marry casaubon le moyne nobody ever knew; but it's just my opinion that it was because they loved each other, and nothing else. they certainly were the best matched couple that i ever saw. they had but one child--this young man hesden. his mother was always an invalid after his birth; in fact hasn't walked a step since that time. she was a very remarkable woman. though, and in spite of her sickness took charge of her son's education and fitted him for college all by herself. the boy grew up sorter quiet like, probably on account of being in his mother's sick room so much; but there wasn't anything soft about him, after all. "the old man casaubon was a unioner--the strongest kind. mighty few of them in this county, which was one of the largest slave-holding counties in the state. it never had anything but a big democratic majority in it, in the old times. i think the old man le moyne, run for the legislature here some seven times befo're he was elected, and then it was only on his personal popularity. that was the only time the county ever had a whig representative even. when the war came on, the old man was right down sick. i do believe he saw the end from the beginning. i've heard him tell things almost to a fraction jest as they came out afterward. well, the young man hesden, he had his father's notions, of course, but he was pluck. he couldn't have been a le moyne, or a richards either, without that. i remember, not long after the war begun--perhaps in the second year, before the conscription came on, anyhow--he came into town riding of a black colt that he had raised. i don't think it had been backed more than a few times, and it was just as fine as a fiddle. i've had some fine horses myself, and believe i know what goes to make up a good nag, but i've never seen one that suited my notion as well as that black. le moyne had taken a heap of pains with him. a lot of folks gathered 'round and was admiring the beast, and asking questions about his pedigree and the like, when all at once a big, lubberly fellow named timlow--jay timlow--said it was a great pity that such a fine nag should belong to a union man an' a traitor to his country. you know, captain, that's what we called union men in them days. he hadn't more'n got the words out of his mouth afore hesden hit him. i'd no idea he could strike such a blow. timlow was forty pounds heavier than he, but it staggered him back four or five steps, and le moyne follered him up, hitting just about as fast as he could straighten his arm, till he dropped. the queerest thing about it was that the horse follered right along, and when timlow come down with his face all battered up, and le moyne wheeled about and started over to the court house, the horse kept on follerin' him up to the very steps. le moyne went into the court house and stayed about ten minutes. then he came out and walked straight across the square to where the crowd was around timlow, who had been washing the blood off his face at the pump. le moyne was as white as a sheet, and timlow was jest a-cussing his level best about what he would do when he sot eyes on him again. i thought there might be more trouble, and i told timlow to hush his mouth--i was a deputy then--and then i told le moyne he mustn't come any nearer. he was only a few yards away, with a paper in his hand, and that horse just behind him. he stopped when i called him, and said: "'you needn't fear my coming for any further difficulty, gentlemen. i merely want to say'--and he held up the paper--' that i have enlisted in the army of the confederate states, and taken this horse to ride--given him to the government. and i want to say further, that if jay timlow wants to do any fighting, and will go and enlist, i'll furnish him a horse, too.' "with that he jumped on his horse and rode away, followed by a big cheer, while jay timlow stood on the pump platform sopping his head with his handkerchief, his eyes as big as saucers, as they say, from surprise. we were all surprised, for that matter. as soon as we got over that a little we began to rally timlow over the outcome of his little fracas. there wasn't no such timber in him as in young le moyne, of course--a big beefy fellow--but he couldn't stand that, and almost before we had got well started he put on his hat, looked round at the crowd a minute, and said, 'damned if i don't do it!' he marched straight over to the court house and did it, too. "le moyne stood up to his bargain, and they both went out in the same company a few days afterward. they became great friends, and they do say the confederacy had mighty few better soldiers than those two boys. le moyne was offered promotion time and again, but he wouldn't take it. he said he didn't like war, didn't believe in it, and didn't want no responsibility only for himself. just about the last fighting they had over about appomattox--perhaps the very day before the surrender--he lost that horse and his left arm a-fighting over that same jay timlow, who had got a ball in the leg, and le moyne was trying to keep him out of the hands of you yanks. "he got back after a while, and has been living with his mother on the old plantation ever since. he married a cousin just before he went into the service--more to have somebody to leave with his ma than because he wanted a wife, folks said. the old man, colonel casaubon, died during the war. he never seemed like himself after the boy went into the army. i saw him once or twice, and i never did see such a change in any man. le moyne's wife died, too. she left a little boy, who with le moyne and his ma are all that's left of the family. i don't reckon there ever was a man thought more of his mother, or had a mother more worth setting store by, than hesden le moyne." they had reached the hotel when this account was concluded, and after dinner the sheriff came to the captain's room and introduced a slender young man in neatly fitting jeans, with blue eyes, a dark brown beard, and an empty coat-sleeve, as mr. hesden le moyne. he put his felt hat under the stump of his left arm and extended his right hand as he said simply: "the sheriff said you wished to see me about eliab hill." "i did," was the response; "but after what he has told me, i desired to see you much more for yourself." the sheriff withdrew, leaving them alone together, and they fell to talking of army life at once, as old soldiers always will, each trying to locate the other in the strife which they had passed through on opposite sides. chapter ix. a bruised reed. "eliab hill," said le moyne, when they came at length to the subject in relation to which the interview had been solicited, "was born the slave of potem desmit, on his plantation knapp-of-reeds, in the lower part of the county. his mother was a very likely woman, considerable darker than he, but still not more than a quadroon, i should say. she was brought from colonel desmit's home plantation to knapp-of-reeds some little time before her child was born. it was her first child, i believe, and her last one. she was a very slender woman, and though not especially unhealthy, yet never strong, being inclined to consumption, of which she finally died. of course his paternity is unknown, though rumor has not been silent in regard to it. it is said that a stubborn refusal on his mother's part to reveal it led colonel desmit, in one of his whimsical moods, to give the boy the name he bears. however, he was as bright a child as ever frolicked about a plantation till he was some five or six years old. his mother had been a house-servant before she was sent to knapp-of-reeds, and being really a supernumerary there, my father hired her a year or two afterward as a nurse for my mother, who has long been an invalid, as you may be aware." his listener nodded assent, and he went on: "her child was left at knapp-of-reeds, but saturday nights it was brought over to stay the sunday with her, usually by this boy nimbus, who was two or three years older than he. the first i remember of his misfortune was one saturday, when nimbus brought him over in a gunny-sack, on his back. it was not a great way, hardly half a mile, but i remember thinking that it was a pretty smart tug for the little black rascal. i was not more than a year or two older than he, myself, and not nearly so strong. "it seems that something had happened to the boy, i never knew exactly what--seems to me it was a cold resulting from some exposure, which settled in his legs, as they say, producing rheumatism or something of that kind--so that he could not walk or hardly stand up. the boy nimbus had almost the sole charge of him during the week, and of course he lacked for intelligent treatment. in fact, i doubt if desmit's overseer knew anything about it until it was too late to do any good. he was a bright, cheerful child, and nimbus was the same dogged, quiet thing he is now. so it went on, until his mother, moniloe, found that he had lost all use of his legs. they were curled up at one side, as you saw them, and while his body has developed well they have grown but little in comparison. "moniloe made a great outcry over the child, to whom she was much attached, and finally wrought upon my father and mother to buy herself and her crippled boy. colonel desmit, on whom the burden of his maintenance would fall, and who saw no method of making him self-supporting, was willing to sell the mother on very moderate terms if my father would take the child and guarantee his support. this was done, and they both became my father's property. neither forgot to be grateful. the woman was my mother's faithful nurse until after the war, when she died, and i have never been able to fill her place completely, since. i think eliab learned his letters, and perhaps to read a little, from me. he was almost always in my mother's room, being brought in and set down upon a sheepskin on one side the fireplace in the morning by his mammy. my mother had great sympathy with his misfortune, the more, i suppose, because of her own very similar affliction. she used to teach him to sew and knit, and finally, despite the law, began to encourage him to read. the neighbors, coming in and finding him with a book in his hands, began to complain of it, and my father, in order to silence all such murmurs, manumitted him square out and gave bonds for his support, as the law required. "as he grew older he remained more and more in his mother's cabin, in one corner of which she had a little elevated platform made for him. he could crawl around the room by means of his hands, and had great skill in clambering about by their aid. when he was about fifteen a shoemaker came to the house to do our plantation work. eliab watched him closely all the first day; on the second desired to help, and before the month had passed was as good a shoemaker as his teacher. from that time he worked steadily at the trade, and managed very greatly to reduce the cost of his support. "he was a strange boy, and he and this fellow nimbus were always together except when prevented by the latter's tasks. a thousand times i have known nimbus to come over long after dark and leave before daylight, in order to stay with his friend over night. not unfrequently he would carry him home upon his back and keep him for several days at knapp-of-reeds, where both were prime favorites, as they were with us also. as they grew older this attachment became stronger. many's the time i have passed there and seen nimbus working in the tobacco and eliab with his hammers and lasts pounding away under a tree near by. having learned to read, the man was anxious to know more. for a time he was indulged, but as the hot times just preceding the war came on, it became indiscreet for him to be seen with a book. "while he was still very young he began to preach, and his ministrations were peculiarly prudent and sensible. his influence with his people, even before emancipation, was very great, and has been increased by his correct and manly conduct since. i regard him, sir, as one of the most useful men in the community. "for some reason, i have never known exactly what, he became anxious to leave my house soon after nimbus' return from the army, although i had offered him the free use of the little shop where he and his mother had lived, as long as he desired. he and nimbus, by some hook or crook, managed to buy the place at red wing. it was a perfectly barren piney old-field then, and not thought of any account except for the timber there was on it. it happened to be at the crossing of two roads, and upon a high sandy ridge, which was thought to be too poor to raise peas on. the man who sold it to them--their old master potem desmit--no doubt thought he was getting two or three prices for it; but it has turned out one of the best tobacco farms in the county. it is between two very rich sections, and in a country having a very large colored population, perhaps the largest in the county, working the river plantations on one side and the creek bottoms on the other. i have heard that nimbus takes great credit to himself for his sagacity in foreseeing the capabilities of red wing. if he really did detect its value at that time, it shows a very fine judgment and accounts for his prosperity since. eliab hill affirms this to be true, but most people think he does the planning for the whole settlement. nimbus has done extremely well, however. he has sold off, i should judge, nearly half his land, in small parcels, has worked hard, and had excellent crops. i should not wonder, if his present crop comes off well and the market holds on, if before christmas he were worth as many thousands as he had hundreds the day he bought that piney old-field. it don't take much tobacco at a dollar a pound, which his last crop brought, lugs and all, to make a man that does his own work and works his own land right well off. he's had good luck, has worked hard, and has either managed well or been well advised; it don't matter which. "he has gathered a good crowd around him too, sober, hard-working men; and most of them have done well too. so that it has become quite a flourishing little settlement. i suppose there are some fifty or sixty families live there. they have a church, which they use for a school-house, and it is by a great deal the best school-house in the county too. of course they got' outside help, some from the bureau, i reckon, and more perhaps from some charitable association. i should think the church or school-house must have cost fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars. they have a splendid school. two ladies from the north are teaching there--real ladies, i should judge, too." the listener smiled at this indorsement. "i see," said le moyne, "it amuses you that i should qualify my words in that manner. it seems unneccessary to you." "entirely so." "well, it may be; but i assure you, sir, we find it hard to believe that any one who will come down here and teach niggers is of very much account at home." "they are generally of the very cream of our northern life," said the other. "i know at this very time the daughters of several prominent clergymen, of two college professors, of a wealthy merchant, of a leading manufacturer, and of several wealthy farmers, who are teaching in these schools. it is missionary work, you see--just as much as going to siam or china. i have never known a more accomplished, devoted, or thoroughly worthy class of ladies, and do not doubt that these you speak of, well deserve your praise without qualification." "well, it may be," said the other dubiously; "but it is hard for us to understand, you know. now, they live in a little old house, which they have fixed up with flowers and one thing and another till it is very attractive--on the outside, at least. i know nothing about the inside since their occupancy. it was a notable place in the old time, but had quite run down before they came. i don't suppose they see a white person once a month to speak to them, unless indeed some of the officers come over from the post at boyleston, now and then. i am sure that no lady would think of visiting them or admitting them to her house. i know a few gentlemen who have visited the school just out of curiosity. indeed, i have ridden over once myself, and i must say it is well worth seeing. i should say there were three or four hundred scholars, of all ages, sizes, and colors--black, brown, white apparently, and all shades of what we used to call 'ginger-cake.' these two ladies and the man eliab teach them. it is perfectly wonderful how they do get on. you ought to see it." "i certainly shall," said pardee, "as a special duty calls me there. how would it do for a polling-place?" "there ought to be one there, but i should be afraid of trouble," answered le moyne seriously. "name me one or two good men for poll-holders, and i will risk any disorder." "well, there is eliab. he's a good man if there ever was one, and capable too." "how about nimbus?" "he's a good man too, honest as the day is long, hard-headed and determined, but he can't read or write." "that is strange." "it _is_ strange, but one of the teachers was telling me so when i was there. i think he has got so that he can sign his first name--his only one, he insists--but that is all, and he cannot read a word." "i should have thought he would have been one of the first to learn that much at least." "so should i. he is the best man of affairs among them all--has good judgment and sense, and is always trying to do something to get on. he says he is 'too busy to get larnin', an' leaves that and preachin' to bre'er' 'liab.'" "do they keep up their former intimacy?" "keep it up? 'liab lives in nimbus' lot, has his meals from his table, and is toted about by nimbus just the same as if they were still boys. nimbus seems to think more of him than he would of a brother--than he does of his brothers, for he has two whom he seems to care nothing about. his wife and children are just as devoted to the cripple as nimbus, and 'liab, on his part, seems to think as much of them as if they were his own. they get along first-rate, and are prospering finely, but i am afraid they will have trouble yet." "why so?" "oh, well, i don't know; they are niggers, you see, and our people are not used to such things." "i hope your apprehensions are groundless." "well, i hope so too." the officer looked at his watch and remarked that he must return to his duty, and after thanking his companion for a pleasant hour, and being invited to call at mulberry hill whenever occasion might serve, the two men parted, each with pleasant impressions of the other. chapter x. an express trust. fortunately for nimbus, he had received scarcely anything of his pay while in the service, and none of the bounty-money due him, until some months after the surrender, when he was discharged at a post near his old home. on the next day it happened that there was a sale of some of the transportation at this post, and through the co-operation of one of his officers he was enabled to buy a good mule with saddle and bridle for a song, and by means of these reached home on the day after. he was so proud of his new acquisition that he could not be induced to remain a single day with his former comrades. he had hardly more than assured himself of the safety of his wife and children before he went to visit his old friend and playmate, eliab hill. he found that worthy in a state of great depression. "you see," he explained to his friend, "mister le moyne" (with a slight emphasis on the title) "bery kindly offered me de use ob dis cabin's long as i might want it, and has furnished me with nearly all i have had since the s'rrender. while my mother lived and he had her services and a well-stocked plantation and plenty ob hands, i didn't hab no fear o' being a burden to him. i knew he would get good pay fer my support, fer i did de shoemakin' fer his people, and made a good many clo'es fer dem too. thanks to miss hester's care, i had learned to use my needle, as you know, an' could do common tailorin' as well as shoemakin'. i got very little fer my wuk but confederate money and provisions, which my mother always insisted that mr. le moyne should have the benefit on, as he had given me my freedom and was under bond for my support. "since de s'rrender, t'ough dere is plenty ob wuk nobody has any money. mr. le moyne is just as bad off as anybody, an' has', to go in debt fer his supplies. his slaves was freed, his wife is dead, he has nobody to wait on miss hester, only as he hires a nuss; his little boy is to take keer on, an' he with only one arm an' jest a bare plantation with scarcely any stock left to him. it comes hard fer me to eat his bread and owe him so much when i can't do nothin' fer him in return. i know he don't mind it, an' b'lieve he would feel hurt if he knew how i feel about it; but i can't help it, nimbus--i can't, no way." "oh, yer mustn't feel that 'ere way, bre'er 'liab," said his friend. "co'se it's hard fer you jes now, an' may be a little rough on marse moyne. but yer mus' member dat atter a little our folks 'll hev money. white folks got ter have wuk done; nebber do it theirselves; you know dat; an' ef we does it now we's boun' ter hev pay fer it. an' when we gits money, you gits wuk. jes' let marse moyne wait till de crap comes off, an' den yer'll make it all squar wid him. i tell yer what, 'liab, it's gwine ter be great times fer us niggers, now we's free. yer sees dat mule out dar?" he asked, pointing to a sleek bay animal which he had tied to the rack in front of the house when he rode up. "yes, o' course i do," said the other, with very little interest in his voice. "likely critter, ain't it?" asked nimbus, with a peculiar tone. "certain. whose is it?" "wal, now, dat's jes edzackly de question i wuz gwine ter ax of you. whose yer spose 'tis?" "i'm sure i don't know. one o' mr. ware's?" "i should tink not, honey; not edzackly now. dat ar mule b'longs ter _me_--nimbus! d'yer h'yer dat, 'liab?" "no! yer don't tell me? bless de lord, nimbus, yer's a fortunit man. yer fortin's made, nimbus. all yer's got ter do is ter wuk fer a livin' de rest of this year, an' then put in a crap of terbacker next year, an' keep gwine on a wukkin' an' savin', an' yer fortin's made. ther ain't no reason why yer shouldn't be rich afore yer's fifty. bless the lord, nimbus, i'se that glad for you dat i can't find no words fer it." the cripple stretched out both hands to his stalwart friend, and the tears which ran down his cheeks attested the sincerity of his words. nimbus took his outstretched hands, held them in his own a moment, then went to the door, looked carefully about, came back again, and with some embarrassment said, "an' dat ain't all, bre'er 'liab. jes' you look dar." as he spoke nimbus took an envelope from the inside pocket of his soldier jacket and laid it on the bench where the other sat. 'liab looked up in surprise, but in obedience to a gesture from nimbus opened it and counted the contents. "mos' five hundred dollars!" he said at length, in amazement. "dis yours too, bre'er nimbus?" "co'se it is. didn't i tell yer dar wuz a good time comin'?" "bre'er nimbus," said eliab solemnly, "you gib me your word you git all dis money honestly?" "co'se i did. yer don't s'pose nimbus am a-gwine ter turn thief at dis day, does yer?" "how you get it?" asked eliab sternly. "how i git it?" answered the other indignantly. "you see dem clo'es? hain't i been a-sojerin' nigh onter two year now? hain't i hed pay an' bounty, an' rations too? one time i wuz cut off from de regiment, an' 'ported missin' nigh bout fo' months afo' i managed ter git over ter port r'yal an' 'port fer duty, an' dey gib me money fer rations all dat time. tell yer, 'liab, it all counts up. i'se spent a heap 'sides dat." still eliab looked incredulous. "you see dat _dis_charge?" said nimbus, pulling the document from his pocket. "you jes look at what de paymaster writ on dat, ef yer don't b'lieve nimbus hez hed any luck. 'sides dat, i'se got de dockyments h'yer ter show jes whar an' how i got dat mule." the care which had been exercised by his officer in providing nimbus with the written evidence of his ownership of the mule was by no means needless. according to the common law, the possession of personal property is _prima facie_ evidence of its ownership; but in those early days, before the nation undertook to spread the aegis of equality over him, such was not the rule in the case of the freedman. those first legislatures, elected only by the high-minded land-owners of the south, who knew the african, his needs and wants, as no one else could know them, and who have always proclaimed themselves his truest friends, enacted with especial care that he should not "hold nor own nor have any rights of property in any horse, mule, hog, cow, steer, or other stock," unless the same was attested by a bill of sale or other instrument of writing executed by the former owner. it was well for nimbus that he was armed with his "dockyments." eliab hill took the papers handed him by nimbus, and read, slowly and with evident difficulty; but as he mastered line after line the look of incredulity vanished, and a glow of solemn joy spread over his face. it was the first positive testimony of actual freedom--the first fruits of self-seeking, self-helping manhood on the part of his race which had come into the secluded country region and gladdened the heart of the stricken prophet and adviser. with a sudden jerk he threw himself off his low bench, and burying his head upon it poured forth a prayer of gratitude for this evidence of prayer fulfilled. his voice was full of tears, and when he said "amen," and nimbus rose from his knees and put forth his hand to help him as he scrambled upon his bench, the cripple caught the hand and pressed it close, as he said: "bress god, nimbus, i'se seen de time often an' often 'nough when i'se hed ter ax de lor' ter keep me from a-envyin' an' grudgin' de white folks all de good chances dey hed in dis world; but now i'se got ter fight agin' covetin' anudder nigga's luck. bress de lor', nimbus, i'se gladder, i do b'lieve, fer what's come ter you dan yer be yerself. it'll do you a power of good--you an' yours--but what good wud it do if a poor crippled feller like me hed it? not a bit. jes' git him bread an' meat, nimbus, dat's all. oh, de lord knows what he's 'bout, nimbus. mind you dat. he didn't give you all dat money fer nothing, an' yer'll hev ter 'count fer it, dat you will; mighty close too, 'kase he keeps his books right. yer must see ter dat, bre'er nimbus." the exhortation was earnestly given, and was enforced with tears and soft strokings of the dark strong hand which he still clasped in his soft and slender ones. "now don't you go ter sayin' nuffin' o' dat kind, ole feller. i'se been a-tinkin' ebber sence i got dat money dat it's jes ez much 'liab's ez'tis mine. ef it hadn't been fer you i'd nebber knowed 'nough ter go ober to de yanks, when ole mahs'r send me down ter wuk on de fo'tifications, an' so i neber git it at all. so now, yer see, bre'er 'liab, _you's_ gwine ter keep dat 'ere money. i don't feel half safe wid it nohow, till we find out jes what we wants ter do wid it. i 'lows dat we'd better buy a plantation somewheres. den i kin wuk it, yer know, an' you kin hev a shop, an' so we kin go cahoots, an' git along right smart. yer see, ef we do dat, we allers hez a livin', anyhow, an' der ain't no such thing ez spendin' an' losin' what we've got." there was great demurrer on the part of the afflicted friend, but he finally consented to become his old crony's banker. he insisted, however, on giving him a very formal and peculiarly worded receipt for the money and papers which he received from him. considering that they had to learn the very rudiments of business, eliab hill was altogether right in insisting upon a scrupulous observance of what he deemed "the form of sound words." in speaking of the son of his former owner as "mister," eliab hill meant to display nothing of arrogance or disrespect. the titles "master" and "missus," were the badges of slavery and inferiority. against their use the mind of the freedman rebelled as instinctively as the dominant race insisted on its continuance. the "black codes" of , the only legislative acts of the south since the war which were not affected in any way by national power or northern sentiment, made it incumbent on the freedman, whom it sought to continue in serfdom, to use this form of address, and denounced its neglect as disrespectful to the "master" or "mistress." when these laws ceased to be operative, the custom of the white race generally was still to demand the observance of the form, and this demand tended to embitter the dislike of the freedmen for it. at first, almost the entire race refused. after a while the habit of generations began to assert itself. while the more intelligent and better educated of the original stock discarded its use entirely, the others, and the children who had grown up since emancipation, came to use it almost interchangeably with the ordinary form of address. thus eliab hill, always nervously alive to the fact of freedom, never allowed the words to pass his lips after the surrender, except when talking with mrs. le moyne, to whose kindness he owed so much-in early years. on the other hand, nimbus, with an equal aversion to everything connected with slavery, but without the same mental activity, sometimes dropped into the old familiar habit. he would have died rather than use the word at another's dictation or as a badge of inferiority, but the habit was too strong for one of his grade of intellect to break away from at once. since the success of the old slaveholding element of the south in subverting the governments based on the equality of political right and power, this form of address has become again almost universal except in the cities and large towns. chapter xi. red wing. situated on the sandy, undulating chain of low, wooded hills which separated the waters of two tributaries of the roanoke, at the point where the "big road" from the west crossed the country road which ran northward along the crest of the ridge, as if in search of dry footing between the rich valleys on either hand, was the place known as red wing. the "big road" had been a thoroughfare from the west in the old days before steam diverted the ways of traffic from the trails which the wild beasts had pursued. it led through the mountain gaps, by devious ways but by easy grades, along the banks of the water-courses and across the shallowest fords down to the rich lowlands of the east. it was said that the buffalo, in forgotten ages, had marked out this way to the ever-verdant reed-pastures of the then unwooded east; that afterward the indians had followed his lead, and, as the season served, had fished upon the waters of currituck or hunted amid the romantic ruggedness of the blue appalachians. it was known that the earlier settlers along the smoky range and on the piedmont foot-hills had used this thoroughfare to take the stock and produce of their farms down to the great plantations of the east, where cotton was king, and to the turpentine orchards of the south atlantic shore line. at the crossing of these roads was situated a single house, which had been known for generations, far and near, as the red wing ordinary. in the old colonial days it had no doubt been a house of entertainment for man and beast. tradition, very well based and universally accepted, declared that along these roads had marched and countermarched the hostile forces of the revolutionary period. greene and cornwallis had dragged their weary columns over the tenacious clay of this region, past the very door of the low-eaved house, built up of heavy logs at first and covered afterward with fat-pine siding, which had itself grown brown and dark with age. it was said that the british regulars had stacked their arms around the trunk of the monster white-oak that stretched its great arms out over the low dark house, which seemed to be creeping nearer and nearer to its mighty trunk for protection, until of late years the spreading branches had dropped their store of glossy acorns and embossed cups even on the farther slope of its mossy roof, a good twenty yards away from the scarred and rugged bole. "two decks and a passage"--two moderate-sized rooms with a wide open pass-way between, and a low dark porch running along the front--constituted all that was left of a once well-known place of public refreshment. at each end a stone chimney, yellowish gray and of a massiveness now wonderful to behold, rose above the gable like a shattered tower above the salient of some old fortress. the windows still retained the little square panes and curious glazing of a century ago. below it, fifty yards away to the eastward, a bold spring burst out of the granite rock, spread deep and still and cool over its white sandy bottom, in the stone-walled inclosure where it was confined (over half of which stood the ample milk-house), and then gurgling along the stony outlet ran away over the ripple-marked sands of its worn channel, to join the waters of the creek a mile away. it was said that in the olden time there had been sheds and out-buildings, and perhaps some tributary houses for the use of lodgers, all of which belonged to and constituted a part of the ordinary. two things had deprived it of its former glory. the mart-way had changed even before the iron horse charged across the old routes, scorning their pretty curves and dashing in an almost direct line from mountain to sea. increasing population had opened new routes, which diverted the traffic and were preferred to the old way by travelers. besides this, there had been a feud between the owner of the ordinary and the rich proprietor whose outspread acres encircled on every side the few thin roods which were attached to the hostel, and when the owner thereof died and the property, in the course of administration, was put upon the market, the rich neighbor bought it, despoiled it of all its accessories, and left only the one building of two rooms below and two above, a kitchen and a log stable, with crib attached, upon the site of the ordinary which had vexed him so long. the others were all cleared away, and even the little opening around the ordinary was turned out to grow up in pines and black-jacks, all but an acre or two of garden-plot behind the house. the sign was removed, and the overseer of colonel walter greer, the new owner, was installed in the house, which thenceforth lost entirely its character as an inn. in the old days, before the use of artificial heat in the curing of tobacco, the heavy, coarse fibre which grew upon rich, loamy bottom lands or on dark clayey hillsides was chiefly prized by the grower and purchaser of that staple. the light sandy uplands, thin and gray, bearing only stunted pines or a light growth of chestnut and clustering chinquapins, interspersed with sour-wood, while here and there a dogwood or a white-coated, white-hearted hickory grew, stubborn and lone, were not at all valued as tobacco lands. the light silky variety of that staple was entirely unknown, and even after its discovery was for a longtime unprized, and its habitat and peculiar characteristics little understood. it is only since the war of rebellion that its excellence has been fully appreciated and its superiority established. the timber on this land was of no value except as wood and for house-logs. of the standard timber tree of the region, the oak, there was barely enough to fence it, should that ever be thought desirable. corn, the great staple of the region next to tobacco, could hardly be "hired" to grow upon the "droughty" soil of the ridge, and its yield of the smaller grains, though much better, was not sufficient to tempt the owner of the rich lands adjacent to undertake its cultivation. this land itself, he thought, was only good "to hold the world together" or make a "wet-weather road" between the rich tracts on either hand. indeed, it was a common saying in that region that it was "too poor even to raise a disturbance upon." to the westward of the road running north and south there had once been an open field of some thirty or forty acres, where the wagoners were wont to camp and the drovers to picket their stock in the halcyon days of the old hostelry. it had been the muster-ground of the militia too, and there were men yet alive, at the time of which we write, whose fathers had mustered with the county forces on that ground. when it was "turned out," however, and the ordinary ceased to be a place of entertainment, the pines shot up, almost as thick as grass-blades in a meadow, over its whole expanse. it is strange how they came there. only black-jacks and the lighter decidua which cover such sandy ridges had grown there before, but after these were cleared away by the hand of man and the plow for a few years had tickled the thin soil, when nature again resumed her sway, she sent a countless army of evergreens, of mysterious origin, to take and hold this desecrated portion of her domain. they sprang up between the corn-rows before the stalks had disappeared from sight; they shot through the charred embers of the deserted camp-fire; everywhere, under the shade of each deciduous bush, protected by the shadow of the rank weeds which sprang up where the stock had fed, the young pines grew, and protected others, and shot slimly up, until their dense growth shut out the sunlight and choked the lately protecting shrubbery. then they grew larger, and the weaker ones were overtopped by the stronger and shut out from the sunlight and starved to death, and their mouldering fragments mingled with the carpet of cones and needles which became thicker and thicker under their shade, until at the beginning of the war a solid, dark mass of pines fit for house-logs, and many even larger, stood upon the old muster-field, and constituted the chief value of the tract of two hundred acres which lay along the west side of the plantation of which it formed a part. it was this tract that nimbus selected as the most advantageous location for himself and his friend which he could find in that region. he rightly judged that the general estimate of its poverty would incline the owner to part with a considerable tract at a very moderate price, especially if he were in need of ready money, as colonel desmit was then reputed to be, on account of the losses he had sustained by the results of the war. his own idea of its value differed materially from this, and he was thoroughly convinced that, in the near future, it would be justified. he was cautious about stating the grounds of this belief even to eliab, having the natural fear of one unaccustomed to business that some other person would get wind of his idea and step into his bethesda while he, himself, waited for the troubling of the waters. he felt himself quite incompetent to conduct the purchase, even with eliab's assistance, and in casting about for some white man whom they could trust to act as their agent, they could think of no one but hesden le moyne. it was agreed, therefore, that eliab should broach the matter to him, but he was expressly cautioned by nimbus to give him no hint of the particular reasons which led them to prefer this particular tract or of their means of payment, until he had thoroughly sounded him in regard to the plan itself. this eliab did, and that gentleman, while approving the plan of buying a plantation, if they were able, utterly condemned the idea of purchasing a tract so notoriously worthless, and refused to have anything to do with so wild a scheme. eliab, greatly discouraged, reported this fact to his friend and urged the abandonment of the plan. nimbus, however, was stubborn and declared that "if marse hesden would not act for him he would go to louisburg and buy it of marse desmit himself." "dar ain't no use o' talkin', 'liab," said he. "you an' marse hesden knows a heap more'n i does 'bout most things; dar ain't no doubt 'bout dat 'an nobody knows it better'n i does. but what nimbus knows, he _knows_, an' dat's de eend on't. nobody don't know it any better. now, i don't know nuffin' 'bout books an' de scripter an' sech-like, only what i gits second-hand--no more'n you does 'bout sojerin', fer instance. but i tell ye what, 'liab, i does know 'bout terbacker, an' i knows _all_ about it, too. i kin jes' gib you an' marse hesden, an' aheap mo' jes like you uns, odds on dat, an' beat ye all holler ebbery time. what i don't know 'bout dat ar' crap dar ain't no sort ob use a tryin' to tell me. i got what i knows de reg'lar ole-fashioned way, like small-pox, jes by 'sposure, an' i tell yer 'liab, hit beats any sort ob 'noculation all ter rags. now, i tell _you_, 'liab hill, dat ar' trac' ob lan' 'bout dat ole or'nery is jes' de berry place we wants, an' i'm boun' ter hev it, ef it takes a leg. now you heah dat, don't yer?" eliab saw that it was useless for him to combat this determination. he knew the ruggedness of his friend's character and had long ago learned, that he could only be turned from a course, once fixed upon in his own mind, by presenting some view of the matter which had not occurred to him before. he had great confidence in mr. le moyne's judgment--almost as much as in nimbus', despite his admiration for his herculean comrade--so he induced his friend to promise that nothing more should be done about the matter until he could have an opportunity to examine the premises, with which he was not as familiar as he would like to be, before it was altogether decided. to this nimbus readily consented, and soon afterwards he borrowed a wagon and took eliab, one pleasant day in the early fall, to spy out their new canaan. when they had driven around and seen as much of it as they could well examine from the vehicle, nimbus drove to a point on the east-and-west road just opposite the western part of the pine growth, where a sandy hill sloped gradually to the northward and a little spring burst out of it and trickled across the road. "dar," he said, waving his hand toward the slope; "dar is whar i wants my house, right 'longside ob dat ar spring, wid a good terbacker barn up on de hill dar." "why, what do yer want ter lib dar fer?" asked the other in surprise, as he peered over the side of the wagon, in which he sat upon a thick bed of fodder which nimbus had spread over the bottom for his comfort. "kase dat ar side-hill am twenty-five acres ob de best terbacker groun' in ho'sford county." "yer don't say so, nimbus?" "dat's jes what i do say, 'liab, an' dat's de main reason what's made me so stubborn 'bout buyin' dis berry track of lan'. pears ter me it's jes made fer us. it's all good terbacker lan', most on't de berry best. it's easy clar'd off an' easy wukked. de 'backer growed on dis yer lan' an' cured wid coal made outen dem ar pines will be jes es yaller ez gold an' as fine ez silk, 'liab. i knows; i'se been a watchin' right smart, an' long ago, when i used ter pass by here, when dey fust begun ter vally de yaller terbacker, i used ter wonder dat some pore white man like marse war', dat knowed how ter raise an' cure terbacker, didn't buy de ole place an' wuk for demselves, 'stead ob overseein' fer somebody else. it's quar dey nebber t'ought on't. it allers seemed ter me dat i wouldn't ax fer nothin' better." "but what yer gwine ter do wid de ole house?" asked eliab. "wal, bre'er liab," said nimbus with a queer grimace, "i kinder 'llowed dat i'd ler you hab dat ar ter do wid jes 'bout ez yer like." "oh, bre'er nimbus, yer don't mean dat now?" "don't i? wal, you jes see ef i don't. i'se gwine ter lib right h'yer, an' ef yer don't occupy dat ole red wing or'nery i'm durned ef it don't rot down. yer heah dat man? dar don't nobody else lib in it, shuah." eliab was very thoughtful and silent, listening to nimbus' comments and plans until finally, as they sat on the porch of the old house eating their "snack," he said, "nimbus, dar's a heap ob cullud folks libbin' jes one way an' anudder from dis yer red wing cross-roads." "co'se dey is, an' dat's de berry reason i'se sot my heart on yer habbin' a shop right h'yer. yer shore ter git de wuk ob de whole country roun', an' der's mo' cullud folks right up an' down de creek an' de ribber h'yer dan ennywhar hereabouts dat i knows on." "but, nimbus--" said he, hesitatingly. "yis, 'liab, i hears ye." "couldn't we hab a church here?" "now yer's _talkin'_," exclaimed nimbus. "swar ter god, it's quare i nebber tink ob dat, now. an' you de minister? now yer _is_ talkin', shuah! why de debble i nebber tink ob dat afo'? yer see dem big pines dar, straight ez a arrer an' nigh 'bout de same size from top ter bottom? what yer s'pose dem fer, 'liab? dunno? i should tink not. house logs fer de church, 'liab. make it jes ez big ez yer wants. dar 'tis. only gib me some few shingles an' a flo', an' dar yer hev jes ez good a church ez de 'postles ebber hed ter preach in." "an' de school, nimbus?" timidly. "shuah 'nough. why i nebber tink ob dat afo'? an' you de teacher! now you is talkin', 'liab, _certain_ shuah! dat's jes de ting, jes what we wants an' hez got ter hev. plenty o' scholars h'yer-abouts, an' de church fer a school-house an' bre'er 'liab fer de teacher! 'clar fer it, bre'er'liab, you hez got ahead-piece, dat's a fac'. now i nebber tink of all dat togedder. mout hev come bimeby, little to a time, but not all to wonst like, as 'tis wid you. lord, how plain i sees it all now! de church an' school-house up dar on de knoll; nimbus' house jes about a hundred yards furder on, 'cross de road; an' on de side ob de hill de 'backer-barn; you a teachin' an' a preachin' an' nimbus makin' terbacker, an' gena a-takin' comfort on de porch, an' de young uns gittin' larnin'! wh-o-o-p! bre'er 'liab, yer's a great man, shuah!" nimbus caught him in his strong arms and whirled him about in a frenzy of joy. when he sat him down eliab said quietly: "we must get somebody else to teach for a while. 'liab don't know 'nough ter do dat ar. i'll go to school wid de chillen an' learn 'nough ter do it bimeby. p'raps dis what dey call de 'bureau' mout start a school here ef you should ax 'em, nimbus. yer know dey'd be mighty willin' ter 'blige a soldier, who'd been a fightin' fer 'em, ez you hev." "i don't a know about dat ar, bre'er'liab, but leastaways we can't do no more'n make de trial, anyhow." after this visit, eliab withdrew all opposition, not without doubt, but hoping for the best, and trusting, prayerfully, that his friend's sanguine expectations might be justified by the result. so it was determined that nimbus should make the purchase, if possible, and that the old ordinary, which had been abandoned as a hostel on the highway to the eastern market, be made a new inn upon the road which the freedman must now take, and which should lead to liberty and light. chapter xii. on the way to jericho. colonel desmit's devotion to the idea that slave property was more profitable than any other, and the system by which he had counted on almost limitless gain thereby, was not only overthrown by the universal emancipation which attended the issue of the war, but certain unlocked for contingencies placed him upon the very verge of bankruptcy. the location of his interests in different places, which he had been accustomed, during the struggle, to look upon as a most fortunate prevision, resulted most disastrously. as the war progressed, it came about that those regions which were at first generally regarded as the most secure from hostile invasion became the scene of the most devastating operations. the military foresight of the confederate leaders long before led them to believe that the struggle would be concluded, or would at least reach its climax, in the piedmont region. from the coast to the mountains the confederacy spanned, at this point, only two hundred miles. the country was open, accessible from three points upon the coast, at which lodgment was early made or might have been obtained, and only one flank of the forces marching thence toward the heart of the confederacy could be assailed. it was early apprehended by them that armies marching from the coast of north carolina, one column along the course of the cape fear and another from newberne, within fair supporting distance and converging toward the center of the state, would constitute the most dangerous movement that could be made against the confederacy, since it would cut it in twain if successful; and, in order to defeat it, the army of virginia would have to be withdrawn from its field of operations and a force advancing in its track from the james would be enabled to co-operate with the columns previously mentioned. it is instructive to note that, upon the other side, the untrained instinct of president lincoln was always turning in the same direction. in perusing the field of operations his finger would always stray to the eastern coast of north carolina as the vital point, and no persuasions could induce him to give up the apparently useless foothold which we kept there for more than three years without material advantage. it was a matter of constant surprise to the confederate military authorities that this course was not adopted, and the final result showed the wisdom of their premonition. among others, colonel desmit had obtained an inkling of this idea, and instead of concentrating all his destructible property in the region of his home, where, as it resulted, it would have been comparatively secure, he pitched upon the "piney-woods" region to the south-eastward, as the place of greatest safety. he had rightly estimated that cotton and naval stores would, on account of the rigorous blockade and their limited production in other countries, be the most valuable products to hold when the period of war should end. with these ideas he had invested largely in both, and in and about a great factory at the falls of a chief tributary of the pedee, he had stored his cotton; and in the heart of that sombre-shadowed stretch of soughing pines which lies between the cape fear and the yadkin he had hidden his vast accumulation of pitch, turpentine, and resin. both were in the very track of sherman's ruthless legions. first the factory and the thousands of bales carefully placed in store near by were given to the flames. potestatem desmit had heard of their danger, and had ridden post-haste across the rugged region to the northward in the vain hope that his presence might somehow avert disaster. from the top of a rocky mountain twenty miles away he had witnessed the conflagration, and needed not to be told of his loss. turning his horse's head to the eastward, at a country-crossing near at hand, he struck out with unabated resolution to reach the depot of his naval stores before the arrival of the troops, in order that he might interpose for their preservation. he had quite determined to risk the consequences of capture in their behalf, being now fully convinced of the downfall of the confederacy. during the ensuing night he arrived at his destination, where he found everything in confusion and affright. it was a vast collection of most valuable stores. for two years they had been accumulating. it was one of the sheet-anchors which the prudent and far-seeing potestatem desmit had thrown out to windward in anticipation of a coming storm. for half a mile along the bank of the little stream which was just wide enough to float a loaded batteau, the barrels of resin and pitch and turpentine were piled, tier upon tier, hundreds and thousands upon thousands of them. potestatem desmit looked at them and shuddered at the desolation which a single torch would produce in an instant. he felt that the chances were desperate, and he had half a mind to apply the torch himself and at least deprive the approaching horde of the savage pleasure of destroying his substance. but he had great confidence in himself, his own powers of persuasion and diplomacy. he would try them once more, and would not fail to make them serve for all they might be worth, to save this hoarded treasure. it was barely daylight the next morning when he was awakened by the cry, "the yanks are coming!" he had but a moment to question the frightened messenger, who pressed on, terror-stricken, in the very road which he might have known would be the path of the advancing enemy, instead of riding two miles into the heart of the boundless pine forest which stretched on either hand, where he would have been as safe from capture as if he had been in the center of the pyramid of cheops. potestatem desmit had his carriage geared up, and went coolly forth to meet the invaders. he had heard much of their savage ferocity, and was by no means ignorant of the danger which he ran in thus going voluntarily into their clutches. nevertheless he did not falter. he had great reliance in his personal presence. so he dressed with care, and arrayed in clean linen and a suit of the finest broadcloth, then exceedingly rare in the confederacy, and with his snowy hair and beard, his high hat, his hands crossed over a gold-headed cane, and gold-mounted glasses upon his nose, he set out upon his mission. the night before he had prudently removed from the place every drop of spirits except a small demi-john of old peach-brandy, which he put under the seat of his carriage, intending therewith to regale the highest official whom he should succeed in approaching, even though it should be the dreaded sherman himself. he had proceeded perhaps half a mile, when his carriage was all at once surrounded by a motley crew of curiously dressed but well-armed ruffians, whose very appearance disgusted and alarmed him. with oaths and threats the lumbering chariot, which represented in itself no little of respectability, was stopped. the appearance of such a vehicle upon the sandy road of the pine woods coming directly toward the advancing column struck the "bummers" with surprise. they made a thousand inquiries of the frightened driver, and were about to remove and appropriate the sleek span of carriage-horses when the occupant of the carriage, opening the window, thrust out his head, and with a face flaming with indignation ordered them to desist, bestowing upon them a volley of epithets, beginning with "rascals" and running as far into the language of abuse as his somewhat heated imagination could carry him. "hello, bill," said the bummer who was unfastening the right-wheeler, as he looked back and saw the red face framed in a circlet of white hair and beard. "just look at this old sunflower, will you? i guess the old bird must think he commands this brigade. ha! ha! ha! i say, old fellow, when did you leave the ark?" "and was noah and his family well when you bid 'em good-by?" queried another. this levity and ridicule were too much for colonel p. desmit to endure. he leaned out of the carriage window, and shaking his gold-headed cane at the mirthful marauders denounced them in language fearful in its impotent wrath. "take me to general sherman, you rascals! i want to see the general!" he yelled over and over again. "the hell you do! well, now, mister, don't you know that the general is too nervous to see company to-day? he's just sent us on ahead a bit to say to strangers that he's compelled to refuse all visitors to-day. he gits that way sometimes, does 'old bill,' so ye mustn't think hard of him, at all." "take me to the general, you plundering pirates!" vociferated the enraged colonel. "i'll see if a country gentleman travelling in his own carriage along the highway is to be robbed and abused in this manner!" "robbed, did he say?" queried one, with the unmistakable brogue of an irishman. "faith, it must be the gintleman has somethin' very important along wid him in the carriage, that he's gittin' so excited about; and its meself that'll not see the gintleman imposed upon, sure." this with a wink at his comrades. then to the occupant of the carriage: "what did yer honor say might be yer name, now? it's very partickler the general is about insthructin' us ter ax the names of thim that's wantin' an' inthroduction to him, ye know?" the solemnity of this address half deceived the irate southron, and he answered with dignity, "desmit--colonel potestatem desmit, of horsford county, sir." "ah, d'ye hear that, b'ys? faith, it's a kurnel it is ye've been a shtoppin' here upon the highway! shure it may be he's a goin' to the gineral wid a flag of thruce, belike." "i do wish to treat with the general," said desmit, thinking he saw a chance to put in a favorable word. "an' d'ye hear that, b'ys? shure the gintleman wants to thrate the gineral. faith it'll be right glad the auld b'y'll be of a dhrap of somethin' good down here in the pine woods." "can i see the general, gentlemen?" asked desmit, with a growing feeling that he had taken the wrong course to accomplish his end. the crowd of "bummers" constantly grew larger. they were mounted upon horses and mules, jacks and jennets, and one of them had put a "mcclellan saddle" and a gag-bit upon one of the black polled cattle which abound in that region, and which ambled easily and briskly along with his rider's feet just brushing the low "poverty-pines" which grew by the roadside. they wore all sorts of clothing. the blue and the gray were already peacefully intermixed in the garments of most of them. the most grotesque variety prevailed especially in their head-gear, which culminated in the case of one who wore a long, barrel-shaped, slatted sun-bonnet made out of spotted calico. they were boisterous and even amusing, had they not been well armed and apparently without fear or reverence for any authority or individual. for the present, the irishman was evidently in command, by virtue of his witty tongue. "can ye see the gineral, kurnel?" said he, with the utmost apparent deference; "av coorse ye can, sir, only it'll be necessary for you to lave your carriage an' the horses and the nagur here in the care of these gintlemen, while i takes ye to the gineral mesilf." "why can i not drive on?" "why can't ye dhrive? is it a kurnel ye is, an' don't know that? shure the cavalry an' the arthillery an' the caysons an' one thing an' another of that kind would soon crush a chayriot like that to flinders, ye know." "i cannot leave my carriage," said desmit. "mein gott, shust hear him now i" said a voice on the other side, which caused desmit to turn with a start. a bearded german, with a pair of myoptic glasses adding their glare to the peculiar intensity of the short-sighted gaze, had climbed upon the opposite wheel during his conversation with pat, and leaning half through the window was scanning carefully the inside of the carriage. he had already one hand on the demijohn of peach-brandy upon which the owner's hopes so much depended. potetsatem desmit was no coward, and his gold-headed cane made the acquaintance of the dutchman's poll before he had time to utter a word of protestation. it was all over in a minute, then. there was a rush and a scramble. the old man was dragged out of his carriage, fighting manfully but vainly. twenty hands laid hold upon him. the gold-headed cane vanished; the gold-mounted glasses disappeared; his watch leaped from his pocket, and the chain was soon dangling at the fob of one of the still laughing marauders. then one insisted that his hat was unbecoming for a colonel, and a battered and dirty infantry cap with a half-obliterated corps badge and regimental number was jammed down on his gray hairs; he was required to remove his coat, and then another took a fancy to his vest. the one who took his coat gave him in exchange a very ragged, greasy, and altogether disgusting cavalry jacket, much too short, and not large enough to button. the carriage was almost torn in pieces in the search for treasure. swords and bayonets were thrust through the panelling; the cushions were ripped open, the cover torn off, and every possible hiding-place examined. then thinking it must be about his person, they compelled him to take off his boots and stockings. in their stead a pair of almost soleless shoes were thrown him by one who appropriated the boots. meantime the irishman had distributed the contents of the demijohn, after having filled his own canteen. then there was great hilarity. the taste of the "colonel" was loudly applauded; his health was drunk, and it was finally decided to move on with him in charge. the "bummer" who rode the polled ox had, in the mean time, shifted his saddle to one of the carriage-horses, and kindly offered the steer to the "colonel." one who had come upon foot had already mounted the other horse. the driver performed a last service for his master, now pale, trembling, and tearful at the insults and atrocities he was called on to undergo, by spreading one of the carriage cushions over the animal's back and helping the queerly-habited potentate to mount his insignificant steed. it was better than marching through the hot sand on foot, however. when they reached the little hamlet which had grown up around his collection of turpentine distilleries they saw a strange sight. the road which bore still further to the southward was full of blue-coated soldiers, who marched along with the peculiar swinging gait which marked the army that "went down to the sea." beyond the low bridge, under a clump of pines which had been spared for shade, stood a group of horsemen, one of whom read a slip of paper, or rather shouted its contents to the soldiery as they passed, while he flourished the paper above his head. instantly the column was in an uproar. caps were thrown into the air, voices grew hoarse with shouting; frantic gesticulation, tearful eyes and laughter, yells, inane antics, queer combinations of sacrilegious oaths and absurd embraces were everywhere to be seen and heard. "who is that?" asked desmit of the irishman, near whom he had kept, pointing to the leading man of the group under the tree. "faith, kurnel, that is gineral-----. would ye like an inthroduction, kurnel?" "yes, yes," said desmit impatiently. "thin come wid me. shure i'll give ye one, an' tell him ye sint him a dhrink of auld pache to cilebrate the good news with. come along, thin!" just as they stepped upon the bridge desmit heard a lank hoosier ask, "what is in them bar'ls?" and some one answered, "turpentine." "hooray!" said the first. "a bonfire!" "hurry! hurry!" desmit cried to his guide. "come on thin, auld gintleman. it's mesilf that'll not go back on a man that furnishes a good dhram for so joyful an occasion." they dismounted, and, pressing their way through the surging mass on the bridge, approached the group under the pines. "gineral," said the irishman, taking off the silk hat which desmit had worn and waving it in the air; "gineral, i have the honor to inthroduce to ye anl auld gintleman--one av the vera furst families--that's come out to mate ye, an' begs that ye'll taste jest a dhrap av the finest auld pache that ivver ran over yer tongue, jist ter cilebrate this vera joyful occasion," he waved his hat toward desmit, and handed up his canteen at once. the act was full of the audacity of his race, but the news had overthrown all sense of discipline. the officer even lifted the canteen to his lips, and no doubt finding pat's assertion as to its quality to be true allowed a reasonable quantity of its aromatic contents to glide down his throat, and then handed it to one of his companions. "general! general!" shrieked desmit in desperation, as he rushed forward. "what do you want, sir?" said the officer sternly. there was a rush, a crackle, and a still louder shout. both turned and saw a tongue of red flame with a black, sooty tip leap suddenly skyward. the great mass of naval stores was fired, and no power on earth could save a barrel of them now. desmit staggered to the nearest tree, and faint and trembling watched the flame. how it raged! how the barrels burst and the liquid flame poured over the ground and into the river! still it burned! the whole earth seemed aflame! how the black billows of heavy smoke poured upward, hiding the day! the wind shifted and swept the smoke-wave over above the crowding, hustling, shouting column. it began to rain, but under the mass of heavy smoke the group at the pines stood dry. and still, out of the two openings in the dark pines upon the other side of the stream, poured the two blue-clad, steel-crowned columns! still the staff officer shouted the glad tidings, "_lee--surrendered--unconditionally_.'" still waved aloft the dispatch! still the boundless forests rang with shouts! still the fierce flame raged, and from the column which had gone into the forest beyond came back the solemn chant, which sounded at that moment like the fateful voice of an avenging angel; "john brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave; his soul is marching on!" one who looked upon the scene thinks of it always when he reads of the last great day--the boundless flame--the fervent heat--the shouts--the thousands like the sands of the sea--all are not to be forgotten until the likeness merges into the dread reality! the irishman touched desmit as he leaned against the pine. "war that yours, misther?" he asked, not unkindly. desmit nodded affirmatively. "here," said the other, extending his canteen. "there's a drink left. take it." desmit took it with a trembling hand, and drained it to the last drop. "that's right," said the irishman sympathetically. "i'm right sorry for ye, misther, that i am; but don't ye nivver give up heart. there's more turpentine where that come from, and this thing's over now. i couldn't find yer bull for ye, mister, but here's a mule. ye'd better jest take him and git away from here before this row's over. nobody'll miss ye now." two weeks afterward a queerly clad figure rode up to the elegant mansion of colonel potestatem desmit, overlooking the pleasant town of louisburg in the county of horsford, and found a party of federal officers lounging upon his wide porches and making merry after war's alarums! chapter xiii. negotiating a treaty. not only did colonel desmit lose his cotton and naval stores; but the funds which he had invested, with cautious foresight, in the bonds of the state and the issues of its banks, were also made worthless by the result of the war. contrary to the expectations of the most prudent and far-seeing, the bonds issued by the states in rebellion during the period of war, were declared to be attaint with treason, and by the supreme power of the land were forbidden to be paid. in addition to this he found himself what was properly termed "land-poor." the numerous small plantations which he had acquired in different parts of the country, in pursuance of his original and inherited design of acquiring wealth by slave-culture, though intrinsically very valuable, were just at this time in the highest degree unavailable. all lands had depreciated to a considerable extent, but the high price of cotton had tempted many northern settlers and capitalists into that belt of country where this staple had been most successfully raised, and their purchases, as well as the continued high price of the staple, had kept up the prices of cotton-lands far beyond all others. then, too, the lack of ready money throughout the country and the general indebtedness made an absolute dearth of buyers. in the four years of war there had been no collections. the courts had been debarred from judgment and execution. the sheriff had been without process, the lawyer without fees, the creditor without his money. few indeed had taken advantage of this state of affairs to pay debts. money had been as plenty as the forest leaves in autumn, and almost as valueless. the creditor had not desired to realize on his securities, and few debtors had cared to relieve themselves. there had come to be a sort of general belief that when the war ended there would be a jubilee for all debtors--that each one would hold what he had, and that a promise to pay would no more trouble or make afraid even the most timid soul. so that when the courts came to be unchained and the torrent of judgments and executions poured forth under their seals, the whole country was flooded with bankruptcy. almost nobody could pay. a few, by deft use of present advantages, gathered means to discharge their own liabilities and take advantage of the failure of others to do so. yet they were few indeed. on every court-house the advertisements of sale covered the panels of the door and overflowed upon the walls. thousands of homesteads, aye, hundreds of thousands of homes--millions of acres--were sold almost for a song--frequently less than a shilling an acre, generally less than a dollar. colonel desmit had not been an exception to these rules. he had not paid the obligations maturing during the war simply because he knew he could not be compelled to do so. instead of that, he had invested his surplus in lands, cotton, and naval stores. now the evil day was not far off, as he knew, and he had little to meet it. nevertheless he made a brave effort. the ruggedness of the disowned family of smiths and the chicanery inherited from the gnarly-headed and subtle-minded old judge came to his rescue, and he determined not to fail without a fight. he shingled himself with deeds of trust and sales under fraudulent judgments or friendly liens, to delay if they did not avert calamity. then he set himself at work to effect sales. he soon swallowed his wrath and appealed to the north--the enemy to whom he owed all his calamities, as he thought. he sent flaming circulars to bleak new england health-exhibits to the smitten of consumption, painting the advantages of climate, soil, and society--did all in his power to induce immigrants to come and buy, in order that he might beat off poverty and failure and open disgrace. he made a brave fight, but it had never occurred to him to sell an acre to a colored man when he was accosted by nimbus, who, still wearing some part of his uniform, came, over to negotiate with him for the purchase of red wing. all these untoward events had not made the master of knapp-of-reeds peculiarly amiable, or kindly disposed toward any whom he deemed in the remotest manner responsible for his loss. for two classes he could not find words sufficient to express his loathing--namely, yankees and secessionists. to the former directly and to the latter indirectly he attributed all his ills. the colored man he hated as a man, as bitterly as he had before highly prized him as a slave. at the outset of the war he had been openly blamed for his coolness toward the cause of the confederacy. then, for a time, he had acquiesced in what was done--had "gone with his state," as it was then expressed--and still later, when convinced of the hopelessness of the struggle, he had advocated peace measures; to save his property at all hazards, some said; because he was at heart a unionist, others declared so, he had come to regard himself as well disposed toward the union, and even had convinced himself that he had suffered persecution for righteousness' sake, when, in truth, his "unionism" was only an investment made to avoid loss. these things, however, tended to embitter him all the more against all those persons and events in any manner connected with his misfortunes. it was in such a mood and under such circumstances, that word was brought to mr. desmit in his private library, that "a nigger" wanted to see him. the servant did not know his name, what he wanted, or where he came from. she could only say that he had ridden there on a "right peart mule" and was a "right smart-looking boy." she was ordered to bring him in, and nimbus stood before his master for the first time since he had been sent down the country to work on fortifications intended to prevent the realization of his race's long-delayed vision of freedom. he came with his hat in his hand, saying respectfully, "how d'ye, marse desmit?" "is that you, nimbus? get right out of here! i don't want any such grand rascal nigger in my house." "but, marse desrnit," began the colored man, greatly flurried by this rude greeting. "i don't want any 'buts.' damn you, i've had enough of all such cattle. what are you here for, anyhow? why don't you go back to the yankees that you ran away to? i suppose you want i should feed you, clothe you, support you, as i've been doing for your lazy wife and children ever since the surrender. i shan't do it a day longer--not a day! d'ye hear? get off from my land before the sun goes down to-morrow or i'll have the overseer set his dogs on you." "all right," said nimbus coolly; "jes yer pay my wife what's due her and we'll leave ez soon ez yer please." "due her? you damned black rascal, do you stand there and tell me i owe her anything?" strangely enough, the colored man did not quail. his army life had taught him to stand his ground, even against a white man, and he had not yet learned how necessary it was to unlearn the lesson of liberty and assume again the role of the slave. the white man was astounded. here was a "sassy nigger" indeed! this was what freedom did for them! "her papers dat you gib her at de hirin', marse potem," said nimbus, "says dat yer shall pay her fo' dollars a month an' rations. she's hed de rations all reg'lar, marse desrnit; dat's all right, but not a dollar ob de money." "you lie, you black rascal!" said desmit excitedly; "she's drawn every cent of it!" "wal," said nimbus, "ef dat's what yer say, we'll hev ter let de 'bureau' settle it." "what, sir? you rascal, do you threaten me with the 'bureau'?" shouted desmit, starting toward him in a rage, and aiming a blow at him with the heavy walking-stick he carried. "don't do dat, marse desmit," cried the colored man; "don't do dat!" there was a dangerous gleam in his eye, but the white man did not heed the warning. his blow fell not on the colored man's head, but on his upraised arm, and the next moment the cane was wrested from his hands, and the recent slave stood over his former master as he lay upon the floor, where he had fallen or been thrown, and said: "don't yer try dat, marse desmit; i won't bar it--dat i won't, from no man, black ner white. i'se been a sojer sence i was a slave, an' ther don't no man hit me a lick jes cos i'm black enny mo'. yer's an' ole man, marse desmit, an' yer wuz a good 'nough marster ter me in the ole times, but yer mustn't try ter beat a free man. i don't want ter hurt yer, but yer mustn't do dat!" "then get out of here instantly," said desmit, rising and pointing toward the door. "all right, marse," said nimbus, stooping for his hat; "'tain't no use fer ye to be so mad, though. i jes come fer to make a trade wid ye." "get out of here, you damned, treacherous, ungrateful, black rascal. i wish every one of your whole race had the small-pox! get out!" as nimbus turned to go, he continued: "and get your damned lazy tribe off from my plantation before to-morrow night, if you don't want the dogs put on them, too!" "i ain't afeard o' yer dogs," said nimbus, as he went down the hall, and, mounting his mule, rode away. with every step his wrath increased. it was well for potestatem desmit that he was not present to feel the anger of the black giant whom he had enraged. once or twice he turned back, gesticulating fiercely and trembling with rage. then he seemed to think better of it, and, turning his mule into the town a mile off his road, he lodged a complaint against his old master, with the officer of the "bureau," and then rode quietly home, satisfied to "let de law take its course," as he said. he was glad that there was a law for him--a law that put him on the level with his old master--and meditated gratefully, as he rode home, on what the nation had wrought in his behalf since the time when "marse desmit" had sent him along that very road with an order to "marse ware" to give him "twenty lashes well laid on." the silly fellow thought that thenceforth he was going to have a "white man's chance in life." he did not know that in our free american government, while the federal power can lawfully and properly ordain and establish the theoretical rights of its citizens, it has no legal power to support and maintain those rights against the encroachment of any of the states, since in those matters the state is sovereign, and the part is greater than the whole. chapter xiv. born of the storm. perhaps there was never any more galling and hated badge of defeat imposed upon a conquered people than the "bureau of freedmen, refugees, and abandoned lands," a branch of the federal executive power which grew out of the necessities of the struggle to put down rebellion, and to which, little by little, came to be referred very many of those matters which could by no means be neglected, but which did not properly fall within the purview of any other branch of military administration. it is known, in these latter days, simply as the freedmen's bureau, and thought to have been a terrible engine of oppression and terror and infamy, because of the denunciations which the former slave-owners heaped upon it, and the usually accepted idea that the mismanaged and malodorous freedmen's savings bank was, somehow or other, an outgrowth and exponent of this institution. the poor thing is dead now, and, like dead humanity, the good it did has been interred with its bones. it has been buried, with curses deep and bitter for its funeral obsequies. its officers have been loaded with infamy. even its wonderful results have been hidden from the sight of man, and its history blackened with shame and hate. it is one of the curious indices of public feeling that the north listened, at first, with good-natured indifference to the virulent diatribes of the recently conquered people in regard to this institution; after a time wonder succeeded to indifference; until finally, while it was still an active branch of the public service, wondering credulity succeeded, and its name became synonymous with disgrace; so that now there is hardly a corner of the land in which a man can be found brave enough to confess that he wore the uniform and performed the duties of an agent of the "freedmen's bureau." the thorough subserviency of northern sentiment to the domination of that masterly will which characterized "the south" of the old regime was never better illustrated. "curse me this people!" said the southern balak--of the abolitionist first, of the bureau-officer next, and then of the carpet-bagger. the northern balaam hemmed and paltered, and then--_cursed the children of his loins_! of the freedmen, our recent allies in war, the grateful and devoted friends, of the nation which had opened for them the gateway of the future, not one of the whole four millions had a word to utter in reproach of this branch of the service, in which they were particularly interested. strangely enough, too, none of those union men of the south, who had been refugees during the war or friends of that union after its close, joined in the complaints and denunciations which were visited on this institution and its agents. neither did the teachers of colored schools, nor the officers and agents of those charitable and missionary associations of the north, whose especial work and purpose was the elevation and enlightenment of the colored man, see fit to unite in that torrent of detraction which swept over the country in regard to the "bureau" and its agents. but then, it may be that none of these classes were able to judge truly and impartially of its character and works! they may have been prepossessed in its favor to an extent which prevented a fair and honest determination in regard to it. certain it is that those who stood upon the other side--those who instituted and carried on rebellion, or the greater part of them, and every one of those who opposed reconstruction, who fought to the last moment the enfranchisement of the black; every one who denied the right of the nation to emancipate the slave; every one who clamored for the payment of the state debts contracted during the war; all of those who proposed and imposed the famous "black codes,"--every one of these classes and every man of each class avowed himself unable to find words to express the infamy, corruption, and oppression which characterized the administration of that climacteric outrage upon a brave, generous, overwhelmed but unconquered --forgiving but not to be forgiven, people. they felt themselves to have been in all things utterly innocent and guileless. the luck of war had been terribly against them, they considered, but the right remained with them. they were virtuous. their opponents had not only been the aggressors at the outset, but had shown themselves little better than savages by the manner in which they had conducted the war; and, to crown the infamy of their character, had imposed upon "the south" at its close that most nefarious of all detestable forms of oppressive degradation, "the bureau." their orators grew magniloquent over its tyrannical oppression; the southern press overflowed with that marvellous exuberance of diatribe of which they are the acknowledged masters--to all of which the complaisant north gave a ready and subservient concurrence, until the very name reeked in the public mind with infamous associations and degrading ideas. a few men tried to stem the torrent. some who had been in its service even dared to insist that they had not thereby rendered themselves infamous and unworthy. the nation listened for a time with kindly pity to their indignant protests, and then buried the troublesome and persistent clamorers in the silence of calm but considerate disbelief. they were quietly allowed to sink into the charitable grave of unquestioning oblivion. it was not any personal attaint which befouled their names and blasted their public prospects, but simply the fact that they had obeyed the nation's behest and done a work assigned to them by the country's rulers. thus it came to pass that in one third of the country it was an ineffaceable brand of shame to have been at any time an agent or officer of this bureau, and throughout the rest of the country it was accounted a fair ground for suspicion. in it all, the conquering element was simply the obedient indicator which recorded and proclaimed the sentiment and wish of the conquered. the words of the enemy were always regarded as being stamped with the mint-mark of truth and verity, while the declarations of our allies accounted so apparently false and spurious as to be unworthy of consideration, even when attested by svvorn witnesses and written in blood upon a page of history tear blotted and stained with savage deeds. all this was perfectly natural, however, and arose, almost unavoidably, from the circumstances under which the institution was created and the duties which it was called upon to discharge. it may not be amiss to consider again the circumstances under which it came to exist. this is how this institution had its origin: as the war to put down rebellion progressed and our armies advanced farther and farther into the heart of the confederacy, the most devoted and malignant adherents of the confederate cause abandoned their homes and all that they could not easily take with them, and fled within the confederate lines. those white people who were adverse to the confederate cause, or at least lukewarm in its support, spurred by the rigors of conscription and the dangers of proscription and imprisonment, took their lives in their hands, left their homes, and fled by every available road to the shelter of the federal forces. those who had no homes--the slaves--either deserted by their owners or fancying they saw in that direction a glimmer of possible freedom, swarmed in flank and rear of every blue-clad column which invaded the confederacy, by thousands and tens of thousands. they fled as the israelites did from the bondage of egypt, with that sort of instinctive terror which has in all ages led individuals, peoples, and races to flee from the scene of oppression. the whites who came to us were called "refugees," and the blacks at first "contrabands," and after january , , "freedmen." of course they had to be taken care of. the "refugee" brought nothing with him; the freedrnan had nothing to bring. the abandoned lands of the confederates were, in many cases, susceptible of being used to employ and supply these needy classes who came to us for aid and sustenance. it was to do this that the freedmen's bureau was created. its mission was twofold--to extend the helping hand to the needy who without such aid must have perished by disease and want, and to reduce the expenses of such charity by the cultivation and utilization of abandoned lands. it was both a business and a missionary enterprise. this was its work and mission until the war ended. its "agents" were chosen from among the wounded veteran officers of our army, or were detached from active service by reason of their supposed fitness on account of character or attainments. almost every one of them had won honor with the loss of limb or of health; all had the indorsement and earnest approval of men high in command of our armies, who had personal knowledge of their character and believed in their fitness. this renders it all the more remarkable that these men should so soon and so universally, as was stoutly alleged and weakly believed, have become thieves and vagabonds --corrupters of the blacks and oppressors of the whites. it only shows how altogether impossible it is to foresee the consequences of any important social or political movement upon the lives and characters of those exposed to its influences. when the war ended there were four millions of men, women, and children without homes, houses, lands, money, food, knowledge, law, right, family, friends, or possibility for self-support. all these the bureau adopted. they constituted a vast family of foundlings, whose care was a most difficult and delicate matter, but there was not one among them all who complained of the treatment they received. it is somewhat strange, too, that the officers of this branch of the service should have all misbehaved in exactly the same manner. their acts of oppression and outrage were always perpetrated in defence of some supposed right of a defenceless and friendless race, overwhelmed with poverty--the bondmen of ignorance--who had no money with which to corrupt, no art with which to beguile, and no power with which to overawe these representatives of authority. for the first time in the history of mankind, the corrupt and unprincipled agents of undefined power became the servants, friends, protectors, agents, and promoters of the poor and weak and the oppressors of the rich, the strong, the learned, and the astute. it may be said that this view cannot be true; that thousands of men selected from the officers of our citizen-soldiery by the unanswerable certificate of disabling wounds and the added prestige of their commander's recommendation, a class of men in physical, intellectual and moral power and attainments far superior to the average of the american people--it may be said that such could not have become all at once infamously bad; and, if they did suffer such transformation, would have oppressed the blacks at the instigation of the whites, who were willing and able to pay well for such subversion of authority, and not the reverse. this would seem to be true, but we are not now dealing with speculations, but with facts! we know that they did become such a pest because at the south they were likened to the plagues of egypt, and the north reiterated and affirmed this cry and condoled with the victims of the oppression with much show of penitence, and an unappeasable wrath toward the instruments of the iniquity. thus the voice of the people--that voice which is but another form of the voice of god--proclaimed these facts to the world, so that they must thenceforth be held indisputable and true beyond the utmost temerity of scepticism. the _facts_ remain. the puzzling _why_, let whosoever will endeavor to elucidate. perhaps the most outrageous and debasing of all the acts of the bureau, in the eyes of those who love to term themselves "the south," was the fact that its officers and agents, first of all, allowed the colored man to be sworn in opposition to and in contradiction of the word of a white man. that this should be exasperating and degrading to the southern white man was most natural and reasonable. the very corner-stone of southern legislation and jurisprudence for more than a hundred years was based upon this idea: the negro can have no rights, and can testify as to no rights or wrongs, as against a white man. so that the master might take his slave with him when he committed murder or did any other act in contravention of law or right, and that slave was like the mute eunuch of the seraglio, silent and voiceless before the law. indeed, the law had done for the slave-owner, with infinitely more of mercy and kindness, what the mutilators of the upper nile were wont to do for the keepers of the harems of cairo and constantinople--provided them with slaves who should see and hear and serve, but should never testify of what they saw and knew. to reverse this rule, grown ancient and venerable by the practice of generations, to open the mouths which had so long been sealed, was only less infamous and dangerous than to accord credence to the words they might utter. to do both was to "turn back the tide of time," indeed, and it passed the power of language to portray the anger, disgust, and degradation which it produced in the southern mind. to be summoned before the officer of the bureau, confronted with a negro who denied his most solemn averments, and was protected in doing so by the officer who, perhaps, showed the bias of the oppressor by believing the negro instead of the gentleman, was unquestionably, to the southerner, the most degrading ordeal he could by any possibility be called upon to pass through. from this it will be understood that colonel desmit passed a most uneasy night after nimbus had left his house. he had been summoned before the bureau! he had expected it. hardly had he given way to his petulant anger when he recognized the folly of his course. the demeanor of the colored man had been so "sassy" and aggravating, however, that no one could have resisted his wrath, he was sure. indeed, now that he came to look back at it, he wondered that he had been so considerate. he was amazed that he had not shot the impudent rascal on the spot instead of striking him with his walking-stick, which he was very confident was the worst that could be urged against him. however, that was enough, for he remembered with horror that, not long before, this same bureau officer had actually imprisoned a most respectable and correct man for having whipped a "nigger" at work in his crop, who had been "too sassy" to be tolerated by any gentleman. so it was with much trepidation that the old man went into the town the next morning, secured the services of a lawyer, and prepared for his trial before the "bureau." nimbus was intercepted as he came into town with his wife, and an attempt made to induce him to withdraw the prosecution, but that high-minded litigant would hear nothing of the proposed compromise. he had put his hand to the plow and would not look back. he had appealed to the law--"the bureau" and only "the bureau" should decide it. so colonel desmit and his lawyer asked a few hours' delay and prepared themselves to resist and disprove the charge of assault upon nimbus. the lawyer once proposed to examine the papers in the case, but desmit said that was useless--the boy was no liar, though they must make him out one if they could. so, at the time appointed, with his lawyer and train of witnesses, he went before "the bureau," and there met nimbus and his wife, lugena. "the bureau" wore the uniform of a captain of united states infantry, and was a man about forty-five years of age, grave and serious of look, with an empty sleeve folded decorously over his breast. his calm blue eyes, pale, refined face, and serious air gave him the appearance of a minister rather than a ruthless oppressor, but his reputation for cruelty among certain people was as well established as that of jeffreys. he greeted mr. desmit and his attorney with somewhat constrained politeness, and when they were seated proceeded to read the complaint, which simply recited that colonel desmit, having employed lugena, the wife of complainant, at a given rate per month, had failed to make payment, and had finally, without cause, ordered her off his premises. "is that all?" asked the lawyer. "that is all," answered the officer. "has no other complaint been lodged against colonel desmit?" "none." "we cannot--that is--we did not expect this," said the attorney, and then after a whispered consultation with his client, he added, "we are quite willing to make this matter right. we had entirely misunderstood the nature of the complaint." "have you any further complaint to make against colonel desmit?" asked the officer, of nimbus. "no," said that worthy, doubtfully. "he was pretty brash wid me, an' 'llowed ter hit me wid a stick; but he didn't--at least not ter speak on--so i don't make no 'count ob dat. 'twas jes dis matter ob lugeny's wuk dat made me bring him h'yer--nuffin' else." "when did this matter of the stick occur?" asked the officer. "on'y jes yeste'day, sah." "where was it?" "up ter marse potem's, sah. in his house." "how did it happen?" "wal, you see, sah, i went up dar ter see ef i could buy a track ob lan" from him, an'--" "what!" exclaimed desmit, in astonishment. "you didn't say a word to me about land." "no more i didn't," answered nimbus, "kase yer didn't gib me no chance ter say a word 'bout it. 'peared like de fus sight on me made yer mad, an' den yer jes feathered away on me, spite ob all i could do er say. yer see, sah," to the officer, "i'd made a bit ob money in de wah, an' wanted ter see ef i could buy a bit ob pore lan' ob marse desmit--a track jes good fer nothin on'y fer a nigga ter starve on--but afore i could git to dat marse desmit got so uproarous-like dat i clean fergot what'twas i cum fer." "there was evidently a misunderstanding," said the attorney. "i should think so," said the officer, dryly. "you say you have no complaint to make about that affair?" he added to nimbus. "no," said he; "'twan't a tingob any 'count, nohow. i can't make out what'twas made marse potem so fractious anyhow. i reckon, as he says, dar must hev ben some mistake about it. ef he'll fix up dis matter wid lugena, i hain't no mo' complaint, an' i'se mighty sorry 'bout dat, kase marse desmit hab allus been mighty kin' ter me--all 'cept dis time an' once afo'." "there's the money for the woman," said the attorney, laying some bills on the officer's table; "and i may say that my client greatly regrets the unfortunate misunderstanding with one of the best of his old slaves. he desires me to say that the woman's services have been entirely satisfactory, and that she can keep right on under the contract, if she desires." so that was settled. the officer discharged colonel desmit, commended nimbus for the sensible view he had taken of the quarrel, and the parties gave way for other matters which awaited the officer's attention. this would not seem to have been so very oppressive, but anything growing out of the war which had resulted so disastrously for him was hateful to colonel desmit, and we should not wonder if his grandchildren told over, with burning cheeks, the story of the affront which was offered to their ancestor in haling him before that infamous tribunal, "the bureau," to answer a charge preferred by a "nigger." chapter xv. to him and his heirs forever. after leaving the office of "the bureau," the parties repaired to that of the lawyer, and the trade for the land which had been so inopportunely forestalled by colonel desmit's hasty temper was entered upon in earnest. that gentleman's financial condition was such as to render the three or four hundred dollars of ready money which nimbus could pay by no means undesirable, while the property itself seemed of so little value as to be regarded almost as an incumbrance to the plantation of which it was a part. such was its well-established reputation for poverty of soil that desmit had no idea that the purchaser would ever be able to meet one of his notes for the balance of the purchase money, and he looked forward to resuming the control of the property at no distant day, somewhat improved by the betterments which occupancy and attempted use would compel the purchaser to make. he regarded the cash to be paid in hand as just so much money accidentally found in his pathway, for which, in no event, was he to render any _quid pro quo_. but of this he said nothing. it was not his business to look after the interests of a "sassy nigger." in fact, he felt that the money was in a sense due to him on account of the scurvy trick that nimbus had played him, in deserting to the yankees after agreeing to look after his "niggers" on the breast-works, although, as the event proved, his master would have gained nothing by his remaining. so the former master and slave met on the level of barter and sale, and gave and took in the conflict of trade. except the small tract just about the old hostel, which has already been mentioned, the plantation, which included red wing, was descended from an ancestor of the richards family, who had come from the north about the close of the revolution and "entered" an immense tract in this section. it had, however, passed out of the family by purchase, and about the beginning of the war of rebellion a life estate therein was held by its occupant, while the reversion belonged to certain parties in indiana by virtue of the will of a common ancestor. this life-tenant's necessities compelled him to relinquish his estate, which was bought by colonel desmit, during the second year of the war, together with the fee which he had acquired in the tract belonging to the old ordinary, not because he wanted the land about red wing, but because the plantation to which it was attached was a good one, and he could buy it on reasonable terms for confederate currency. he expected to treat with the indiana heirs and obtain their respective interests in the fee, which no doubt he would have been able to acquire very cheaply but for the intevening accident of war, as the life-tenant was yet of middle age and the succession consequently of little probable value to living reversioners. this, however, he had not done; but as his deed from the life-tenant was in form an exclusive and unlimited conveyance, it had been quite forgotten that the will of his grandfather limited it to a life estate. so when nimbus and his friend and counsellor, eliab hill, sought to negotiate the purchase of red wing, no mention was made of that fact; neither was it alluded to when they came again to conclude the purchase, nor when instructions were given to colonel desmit's lawyer to prepare the necessary papers. the trade was soon brought to an apparently happy conclusion. nimbus bought two hundred acres at a price of eight hundred dollars, paying one half the price agreed upon in cash, and for the balance gave three notes of equal amounts, one maturing each year thereafter, and received from colonel uesmit a bond for title to the whole tract, with full covenants of warranty and seizin. colonel desmit accounted the notes of little value; nimbus prized the bond for title above any patent of nobility. before the first note fell due all had been discharged, and the bond for title was exchanged for a deed in fee, duly executed. so the recent slave, who had but lately been the subject of barter and sale, was clothed with the rights of a proprietor. according to the former law, the slave was a sort of chattel-real. without being attached to the land, he was transferable from one owner to another only by deed or will. in some states he descended as realty, in others as personalty, while in others still, he constituted a separate kind of heritable estate, which was especially provided for in the canons of descent and statutes regulating administration. there was even then of record in the county of horsford a deed of sale, bearing the hand and seal of p, desmit, and executed little more than a year previously, conveying to one peyton winburn "all the right, title, and interest of said desmit, in and to a certain runaway negro boy named nimbus." the said winburn was a speculator in slaves who had long been the agent of desmit in marketing his human crop, and who, in the very last hours of the confederacy, was willing to risk a few dollars on the result. as he well stated it to himself, it was only staking one form of loss against another. he paid confederate money for a runaway negro. if the confederacy failed, the negro would be free; but then, too, the money would be worthless. so with grim humor he said to himself that he was only changing the form of his risk and could not possibly lose by the result. thus, by implication of law, the recent _subject_ of transfer by deed was elevated to the dignity of being a _party_ thereto. the very instrument of his bondage became thereby the sceptre of his power. it was only an incident of freedom, but the difference it measured was infinite. no wonder the former slave tiembled with elation as he received this emblem of autonomy, or that there was a look of gloom on the face of the former master as he delivered the carefully-enrolled deed, made complete by his hand and seal, and attested by his attorney. it was the first time the one had felt the dignity of proprietorship, or the other had known the shame of fraud. the one thought of the bright future which lay before his children, to whom he dedicated red wing at that moment in his heart, in terms more solemn than the legal phrases in which potestatem desmit had guaranteed to them the estate in fee therein. the other thought of the far-away indiana reversioners, of whose rights none knew aught save himself--himself and walter greer, who had gone away to the wilds of texas, and might never be heard of any more. it was the first time he had ever committed a deliberate fraud, and when he handed the freedman the deed and said sadly, "i never expected to come down to this," those who heard him thought he meant his low estate, and pitied his misfortunes. he smiled meaningly and turned hastily away, when nimbus, forgetting his own elation, said, in tones of earnest feeling: "i declar, marse desmit, i'se sorry fer you--i is dat; an' i hopes yer'll come outen dis yer trouble a heap better nor yer's lookin' for." then they separated--the one to treasure his apples of sodom, the other to nourish the memory of his shame. chapter xvi. a child of the hills. "come at once; oscar very low." this was the dispatch which an awkward telegraph messenger handed to the principal teacher of "no. ," one soft september day of . he waited upon the rough stone step, while she, standing in the doorway, read it again and again, or seemed to do so, as if she could not make out the import of the few simple words it contained. 'no ' was a school-house in one of the townships of bankshire county, in the commonwealth of massachusetts. in it were taught the children, within school age, of one of those little hamlets which have crept up the valleys of the white mountains, toled on and on, year after year, farther and farther up the little rivulets that dash down the mountain slopes, by the rumble and clatter of newly-erected machinery. these mountain streams are the magic handiwork of the nymphs and fays who for ages have lain hidden in the springs that burst out into little lakes upon the birch-crowned summits, and come rushing and tumbling down the rocky defiles to join the waters of the housatuck. school-house no. was thriftily placed on a bit of refractory land just opposite the junction of two streams which had their rise in two lakelets miles away from each other--one lying under the shadow of pixey mountain, and the other hidden among the wooded hills of birket. they were called "ponds," but are, in truth, great springs, in whose icy coldness the mountain trout delight. back of the school-house, which, indeed, was half built into it, was a sharp, rocky hillside; across the road which ran before it was a placid pond, bordered on the farther side by a dark fringe of evergreens that lay between it and the-wide expanse of white-armed birches and flaming maples, now beginning to feel the autumn's breath, on the rugged mountain-side above. a little to the left was the narrow gorge through which one of the streams discharged, its bottom studded with ponds and mills, and its sharp sides flecked with the little white-painted homes of well-to-do operatives; to the right and left along the other branch and the course of the united streams, the rumble of water-wheels, the puff of laboring engines, and the groan of tortured machinery never ceased. machine-shops and cotton-factories, bagging-mills and box-mills, and wrapping-mills, and print-mills, and fine-paper-mills, and even mills for the making of those filmy creations of marvellous texture and wonderful durability which become the representatives of value in the form of bank-notes, were crowded into the narrow gorges. the water was fouled with chemic combinations from source to mouth. for miles up and down one hardly got a breath of air untainted with the fumes of chemicals. bales of rags, loads of straw, packages of woody pulp, boxes of ultramarine dye, pipes leading from the distant mountain springs, and, above all, the rumble and the groaning of the beating-engines told to every sense that this was one of the great hillside centres of paper-manufacture in new england. the elegant residences of the owners were romantically situated on some half-isolated promonotory around which the stream sweeps, embowered with maples and begirt with willows at its base; or nestled away in some nook, moss-lined and hemlock-shaded, which marks where some spring brook bubbles down its brief career to the larger stream; or in some plateau upon the other side, backed by a scraggly old orchard, and hidden among great groves of rock-maples which the careful husbandman spared a hundred years ago for a "sugar-bush," little dreaming that the nabobs of the rushing streams would build homesteads beneath their shade. and all along, here and there, wherever a house could find a foothold or the native ruggedness be forced to yield one lodgment, houses and shops and crowded tenements stood thick. it was a busy and a populous village, full of wealth and not barren of poverty, stretched along the rushing tributary for more than a mile, and then branching with its constituent forks up into the mountain gorges. in the very centre of this busy whirl of life stood the little white two-story school-house, flanked on one side by the dwelling of a mill-owner, and on the other by a boarding-house; and just below it, across the street, a machine-shop, and a little cottage of cased logs, with minute-paned windows, and a stone chimney which was built before the revolution by the first inhabitant of the little valley. a little to the left of the school-house was a great granite boulder, rising almost to its eaves, which had been loosened from the mountain-side two miles up the gorge when the dam at the mouth of the pond gave way years before in a freshet, and brought down and left, by the respectful torrent almost at the threshold of the temple of knowledge. such was the scene the indian summer sun looked down upon, while the teacher stood gazing fixedly at the message which she held. curious faces peered out of the windows and through the door, which she left ajar when she came into the hall. she took no note of this infraction of discipline. "any answer, ma'arn?" the messenger-boy shifts his weight awkwardly upon the other foot, as he asks, but receives no reply. for two years mollie ainslie, with her assistants, had dispensed the sweets of knowledge at "no. ," to the children of the little hamlet. the hazy morning light revealed a small, lithe figure, scarcely taller than the messenger-boy that stood before her; a fair, white face; calm, gray eyes; hair with a glint of golden brown, which waved and rippled about a low, broad brow, and was gathered in a great shining coil behind; and a mouth clear-cut and firm, but now drawn and quivering with deep emotion. the comely head was finely poised upon the slender neck, and in the whole figure there was an air of self-reliance and power that accorded well with the position which she held. a simple gray dress, with a bright ribbon at the throat and a bunch of autumn flowers carelessly tucked into the belt which circled the trim waist, completed the picture framed in the doorway of the white school-house. she stood, with eyes fastened on the paper which she held in one hand, while the other pressed a pencil-head against her cheek, unmindful of the curious glances that were fixed upon her from within, until the messenger-boy had twice repeated his customary question: "any answer, ma'am?" she reached forth her hand, slowly and without reply. the boy looked up and saw that she was gazing far beyond him and had a strained, fixed look in her eyes. "want a blank?" he asked, in a tone of unconscious sympathy. she did not answer, but as he put his pad of blanks into her outstretched hand she drew it back and wrote, in a slow and absent manner, a message in these words: "to captain oscar ainslie, boyleston, va. "coming. "mollie." "collect?" asked the boy. "no!" she inquired, and paid the charges in the same unheeding way. the messenger departed with a wistful glance at the dry, pained eyes which heeded him not. with a look of dumb entreaty at the overhanging mountain and misty, indian summer sky, and a half perceptible shiver of dread, mollie ainslie turned and entered again the school-room. chapter xvii. good-morrow and farewell. a week afterward, mollie ainslie stood beside the bed of her only brother and watched the sharp, short struggle which he made with their hereditary enemy, consumption. weakened by wounds and exposure, he was but ill-prepared to resist the advances of the insidious foe, and when she reached his side she saw that the hope, even of delay, was gone. so she took her place, and with ready hand, brave heart, and steady purpose, brightened his pathway to the tomb. oscar and mollie ainslie were the oniy children of a new england clergyman whose life had lasted long enough, and whose means had been sufficient, with the closest economy, to educate them both according to the rigorous standards of the region in which they were born. until the son entered college they had studied together, and the sister was almost as well prepared for the university course as the brother when they were separated. then she stepped out of the race, and determined, though scarcely more than a child, to become herself a bread-winner, in order that her father's meager salary might be able to meet the drain of her brother's college expenses. she did this not only without murmuring, but with actual pleasure. her ambition, which was boundless, centered upon her brother. she identified herself with him, and cheerfully gave up every advantage, in order that his opportunities might be more complete. to oscar these sacrifices on his sister's part were very galling. he felt the wisdom of the course pursued toward him by his family, and was compelled to accede in silence to prevent the disappointment which his refusal would bring. yet it was the keenest trial for him to think of accepting his sister's earnings, and only the conviction that to do so was the quickest and surest way to relieve her of the burden of self-support, induced him to submit to such an arrangement. hardly had he entered upon his college course when the war of rebellion came on, and oscar ainslie saw in the patriotic excitement and the promise of stirring events a way out of a situation whose fetters were too heavy for him to bear by reason of their very tenderness. he was among the first, therefore, to enlist, happy thereby to forestall his sister's determination to engage in teaching, for his sake. his father was grieved at the son's abandonment of his projected career, but his heart was too patriotic to object. so he gave the bright-eyed young soldier his blessing as he bade him good-by, standing there before him, strong and trim, in his close-fitting cavalry uniform. he knew that oscar's heart beat high with hope, and he would not check it, though he felt sure that they looked into each other's eyes for the last time. when his own were glazing over with the ghastly grave-light, more than two years afterward, they were gladdened by the announcement which came throbbing along the wires and made bright the whole printed page from which he read: "private oscar ainslie, promoted to a captaincy for gallant conduct on the field of gettysburg." upon this he rallied his fading energies, and waited for a week upon the very brink of the chill river, that he might hear, before he crossed over, from the young soldier himself, how this honor was won. when he had learned this he fell asleep, and not long after, the faithful wife who had shared his toils and sacrifices heard the ceaseless cry of his lonely spirit, and was gathered again to his arms upon the shore where beauty fadeth not forever. the little homestead upon the rocky hillside overlooking the village was all that was left to the brother and sister; but it was more than the latter could enjoy alone, so she fled away and entered upon the vocation in which we found her engaged. meantime her brother had risen in. rank, and at the close of the war had been transferred to the regular army as a reward of distinguished merit. then his hereditary foe had laid siege to his weakened frame, and a brother officer had telegraphed to the sister in the bankshire hills the first warning of the coming end. it was a month after her arrival at boyleston, when her brother, overcoming the infatuation which usually attends that disease, saw that the end was near and made provision respecting it. "sis," he said, calling her by the pet name of their childhood, "what day of the month is it?" "the thirteenth, oscar--your birthday," she replied briskly. "don't you see that i have been out and gathered leaves and flowers to decorate your room, in honor of the event?" her lap was full of autumn leaves-maple and gum, flaming and variegated, brown oak of various shapes and shades, golden hickory, the open burrs of the chintuapin, pine cones, and the dun scraggly balls of the black-gum, some glowing bunches of the flame-bush, with their wealth of bursting red beries, and a full-laden branch of the black-haw. the bright october sun shone through the open window upon her as she arranged them with deft fingers, contrasting the various hues with loving skill, and weaving ornaments for different points in the bare room of the little country hotel where her brother lay. he watched her awhile in silence, and then said sadly, "yes, my last birthday." her lips trembled, and her head drooped lower over her lap, but she would not let him see her agitation. so she simply said, "do not say that, oscar." "no," he replied, "i ought not to say so. i should have said, my last earthly birthday. sit closer, sis, where i can see you better. i want to talk to you." "do you know," he continued, as she came and sat upon his bedside, spreading her many-hued treasures over the white coverlet, "that i meant to have been at home to-day?" "and are you not?" she asked cheerfully. "am i not with you?" "true, sis, and you are my home now; but, after all, i did want to see the old new england hills once more. one yearns for familiar scenes after years of war. i meant to have gone back and brought you here, away from the cold winters that sting, and bite, and kill. i hoped that, after rest, i might recover strength, and that you might, here escape the shadow which has fastened upon me." "have you seen my horse, midnight?" he asked, after a fit of coughing, followed by a dreamy silence. "yes." "how do you like him?" "he is a magnificent creature." "would he let you approach him?" "i had no trouble in doing so." none?" he's very vicious, too. everybody has had trouble with him. do you think you could ride him?" "i have ridden him every day for two weeks." "ah! that is how you have kept so fresh." then, after a pause, "do you know how i got him?" "i heard that he was captured." "yes, in the very last fight before the surrender at appomattox. i was with sheridan, you know. we were pursuing the retreating columns--had been pressing them hotly ever since the break at petersburg--on the rear and on both flanks, fighting, worrying, and watching all the time. on the last day, when the retreat had become a rout, as it seemed, a stand was made by a body of cavalry just on the crest of a smoothly-sloping hill. not anticipating serious resistance, we did not wait for the artillery to come up and dislodge them, but deploying a brigade we rode on, jesting and gay, expecting to see them disperse when we came within range and join the rabble beyond. we were mistaken. just when we got within easy charging distance, down they came, pell-mell, as dashing a body of dirty veterans as i ever saw. the attack was so unexpected that for a time we were swept off our feet and fairly carried backward with surprise. then we rallied, and there was a sharp, short struggle. the enemy retreated, and we pressed after them. the man that rode this horse seemed to have selected me as his mark. he rode straight at me from the first. he was a fine, manly-looking fellow, and our swords were about the last that were crossed in the struggle. we had a sharp tussle for a while. i think he must have been struck by a chance shot. at least he was unseated just about the time my own horse was shot under me. looking around amid the confusion i saw this horse without a rider. i was in mortal terror of being trampled by the shifting squadrons and did not delay, but sprang into the saddle and gave him the spur. when the confederate bugles sounded the retreat i had a terrible struggle to keep him from obeying orders and carrying me away into their lines. after that, however, i had no trouble with him. but he is not kind to strangers, as a rule. i meant to have taken him home to you," he added, sadly. "you will have him now, and will prize him for my sake, will you not, sis?" "you know, oscar, that everything you have ever loved or used will be held sacred," she answered tearfully. "yes, i know," he rejoined. "sis, i wish you would make me a promise." "you know i will." "well, then, do not go back to our old home this winter, nor the next, nor--but i will not impose terms upon you. stay as long as you can content yourself in this region. i am afraid for you. i know you are stronger and have less of the consumptive taint about you than i, but i am afraid. you would have worked for me when i was in college, and i have worked only for you, since that time. all that i have saved--and i have saved all i could, for i knew that my time was not long--is yours. i have some money on deposit, some bonds, and a few articles of personal property--among the latter, midnight. all these are yours. it will leave you comfortable for a time at least. now, dear, promise that i shall be buried and remain in the cemetery the government is making for the soldiers who fell in those last battles. somehow, i think it will keep you here, in order that you may be near me, and save you from the disease which is devouring my life." a week afterward his companions followed, with rever ed arms, the funereally-caparisoned midnight to the grounds of the national cemetery, and fired a salute over a new-made grave. nimbus, taking with him his helpless friend, had appealed, soon after his purchase, to the officer of the bureau for aid in erecting a school-house at red wing. by him he had been referred to one of those charitable associations, through whose benign agency the great-hearted north poured its free bounty into the south immediately upon the cessation of strife. perhaps there has been no grander thing in our history than the eager generosity with which the christian men and women of the north gave and wrought, to bring the boon of knowledge to the recently-enslaved. as the north gave, willingly and freely, men and millions to save the nation from disruption, so, when peace came, it gave other brave men and braver women, and other unstinted millions to strengthen the hands which generations of slavery had left feeble and inept. not only the colored, but the white also, were the recipients of this bounty. the queen city of the confederacy, the proud capital of the commonwealth of virginia, saw the strange spectacle of her own white children gathered, for the first time, into free public schools which were supported by northern charity, and taught by noble women with whom her high-bred christian dames and dainty maidens would not deign to associate. the civilization of the north in the very hour of victory threw aside the cartridge-box, and appealed at once to the contribution-box to heal the ravages of war. at the door of every church throughout the north, the appeal was posted for aid to open the eyes of the blind whose limbs had just been unshackled; and the worshipper, as he gave thanks for his rescued land, brought also an offering to aid in curing the ignorance which slavery had produced. it was the noblest spectacle that christian civilization has ever witnessed--thousands of schools organized in the country of a vanquished foe, almost before the smoke of battle had cleared away, free to the poorest of her citizens, supported by the charity, and taught by kindly-hearted daughters of a quick-forgiving enemy. the instinct of our liberty-loving people taught them that light must go with liberty, knowledge with power, to give either permanence or value. thousands of white-souled angels of peace, the tenderly-reared and highly-cultured daughters of many a northern home, came into the smitten land to do good to its poorest and weakest. even to this day, two score of schools and colleges remain, the glorious mementoes of this enlightened bounty and christian magnanimity. and how did the white brothers and sisters of these messengers of a matchless benevolence receive them? ah, god! how sad that history should be compelled to make up so dark a record--abuse, contumely, violence! christian tongues befouled with calumny! christian lips blistered with falsehood! christian hearts overflowing with hate! christian, pens reeking with ridicule because other christians sought to do their needy fellows good! no wonder that faith grew weak and unbelief ran riot through all the land when men looked upon the spectacle! the present may excuse, for charity is kind; but the future is inexorable and writes its judgments with a pen hard-nibbed! but let us not anticipate. in thousands of northern homes still live to testify these devoted sisters and daughters, now grown matronly. they are scattered through every state, almost in every hamlet of the north, while other thousands have gone, with the sad truth carved deep upon their souls, to testify in that court where "the action lies in its true nature." nimbus found men even more ready to assist than he and his fellows were to be aided. he himself gave the land and the timbers; the benevolent association to whom he had appealed furnished the other materials required; the colored men gave the major part of the labor, and, in less than a year from the time the purchase was made, the house was ready for the school, and the old hostelry prepared for the teachers that had been promised. so it was that, when nimbus came to the officer in charge at boyleston and begged that a teacher might be sent to red wing, and met the reply that because of the great demand they had none to send, mollie ainslie, hearing of the request, with her load of sorrow yet heavy on her lonely heart, said, "here am i; take me." she thought it a holy work. it was, to her simple heart, a love-offering to the memory of him who had given his life to secure the freedom of the race she was asked to aid in lifting up. the gentle child felt called of god to do missionary work for a weak and struggling people. she thought she felt the divine commandment which rested on the nazarene. she did not stop to consider of the "impropriety" of her course. she did not even know that there was any impropriety in it. she thought her heart had heard the trumpet-call of duty, and, like joan of arc, though it took her among camps and dangers, she would not flinch. so nimbus returned happy; an officer was sent to examine the location and report. mollie, mounted upon midnight, accompanied him. of course, this fact and her unbounded delight at the quaint beauty of red wing was no part of the reason why lieutenant hamilton made a most glowing report on the location; but it was owing to that report that the officer at the head of the "bureau" in that district, the department-commander, and finally the head of the bureau, general howard himself, indorsed the scheme most warmly and aided it most liberally. so that soon afterward the building was furnished as a school-house, mollie ainslie, with lucy ellison, an old schoolmate, as her assistant, was installed at the old hostlery, and bore sway in the school of three hundred dusky pupils which assembled daily at red wing. midnight was given royal quarters in the old log-stable, which had been re-covered and almost rebuilt for his especial delectation, the great square stall, with its bed of dry oak leaves, in which he stood knee-deep, being sufficient to satisfy even miss mollie's fastidious demands for the comfort of her petted steed after a time eliab hill, to whose suggestion the whole plan was due, became also an assistant instructor. mollie ainslie did not at all realize the nature of the task she had undertaken, or the burden of infamy and shame which a christian people would heap upon her because of this kindly-meant work done in their midst! chapter xviii. "prime wrappers." it was more than a year afterward. quite a little village had grown up around the church and school-house at red wing, inhabited by colored men who had been attracted thither by the novelty of one of their own members being a proprietor. encouraged by his example, one and another had bought parcels of his domain, until its size was materially reduced though its value was proportionately enhanced. those who settled here were mostly mechanics--carpenters and masons--who worked here and there as they could find employment, a blacksmith who wrought for himself, and some farm laborers who dreaded the yearly system of hire as too nearly allied to the slave regime, and so worked by the day upon the neighboring plantations. one or two bought somewhat larger tracts, intending to imitate the course of nimbus and raise the fine tobacco for which the locality was already celebrated. all had built cheap log-houses, but their lots were well fenced and their "truck-patches" clean and thrifty, and the little hamlet was far from being unattractive, set as it was in the midst of the green forests which belted it about. from the plantations on either side, the children flocked to the school. so that when the registering officer and the sheriff rode into the settlement, a few days after the registration at melton, it presented a thriving and busy spectacle. upon the hillside, back of his house, nimbus, his wife, and two men whom he had employed were engaged in cutting the tobacco which waved--crinkled and rank, with light ygjlowish spots showing here and there upon the great leaves--a billow of green in the autumn wind. the new-comers halted and watched the process for a moment as they rode up to the barn, while the sheriff explained to the unfamiliar northman: "this is the first cutting, as it is called. they only take out the ripest this time, and leave the rest for another cutting, a week or two later. you see, he goes through there," pointing to nimbus, "and picks out the ripe, yellow-looking plants. then he sets his knife in at the top of the stalk where it has been broken off to prevent its running up to seed, and splits it down almost to the ground; then he cuts the stalk off below the split, and it is ready to be hung on the thin narrow strips of oak, which you see stuck up here and there, where the cutting has been done. they generally put from seven to ten plants on a stick, according to the size of the plants; so that the number of sticks makes a very accurate measure of the size of the crop, and an experienced hand can tell within a few pounds the weight of any bulk of tobacco by simply counting the sticks." they rode up to the barn and found it already half full of tobacco. nimbus came and showed the officer how the sticks were laid upon beams placed at proper intervals, the split plants hanging tops downward, close together, but not touching each other. the upper portions of the barn were first filled and then the lower tiers, until the tobacco hung within two or three feet of the bottom. the barn itself was made of logs, the interstices closely chinked and daubed with clay, so as to make it almost air-tight. around the building on the inside ran a large stone flue, like a chimney laid on the ground. outside was a huge pile of wood and a liberal supply of charcoal. nimbus thus described the process of curing: "yer see, capting, we fills de barn chock full, an' then shets it up fer a day or two, 'cording ter de weather, sometimes wid a slow fire an' sometimes wid none, till it begins ter sweat--git moist, yer know. den we knows it's in order ter begin de curin', an' we puts on mo' fire, an' mo,' an' mo', till de whole house gits hot an' de leaves begins ter hev a ha'sh, rough feel about de edges, an' now an' den one begins ter yaller up. den we raises de heat jes ze fast ez we kin an' not fire de barn. some folks uses de flues alone an' some de coal alone, but i mostly 'pends on de flues wid a few heaps of coal jes here an' dar 'bout de flo', at sech a time, kase eberyting 'pends on a even reg'lar heat dat you kin manage good. den you keeps watch on it mighty close an' don't let it git too hot nor yet fail ter be hot 'nough, but jes so ez ter keep it yallerin' up nicely. when de leaves is crisp an' light so dat dey rustles roun' in de drafts like dead leaves in the fall, yer know, it's cured; an' all yer's got ter du den is ter dry out de stems an' stalks. dat's got ter be done, tho,' kase ef yer leaves enny bit ob it green an' sappy-like, fust ting yer knows when it comes in order--dat is, gits damp an' soft--de green runs outen de stems down inter de leaves an' jes streaks 'em all ober, or p'raps it turns de fine yaller leaf a dull greenish brown. so yer's got ter keep up yer fire till every stalk an' stem'll crack like a pipe-stem ez soon ez yer bends 'em up. den yer lets de fire go down an' opens der do' fer it ter come in order, so't yer kin bulk it down." "what do you mean by 'bulking it down'?" "put it in bulk, like dis yer," said he, pointing to a pile of sticks laid crosswise of each other with the plants still on them, and carefully covered to keep out the weather. "yer see," he continued, "dis answers two pu'poses; fust yergits yer barn empty an' uses it again. den de weather don't git in ter signify, yer know, an' so it don't come inter order any more an' color up wid de wet; dat is, 'less yer leaves it too long or de wedder is mighty damp." "oh, he knows," said the sheriff, with a ring of pride in his voice. "nimbus was raised in a tobacco-field, and knows as much as anybody about it. how did your first barn cure up, nimbus?" "right bright and even, sah," answered the colored man, as he thrust his hand under the boards spread over the bulk near which he stood, and drew out a few leaves, which he smoothed out carefully and handed to his visitors. "i got it down in tol'able fa'r order, too, alter de rain t'odder evenin'. dunno ez i ebber handled a barn thet, take it all round, 'haved better er come out fa'rer in my life--mighty good color an' desp'ut few lugs. yer see, i got it cut jes de right time, an' de weather couldn't hev ben better ef i'd hed it made ter order." the sheriff stretched a leaf to its utmost width, held it up to the sunshine, crumpled it between his great palms, held it to his face and drew a long breath through it, rubbed the edges between thumb and finger, pinched the stem with his thumb-nail till it broke in half a dozen places, and remarked with enthusiasm, to the northern man, who stood rubbing and smelling of the sample he held, in awkward imitation of one whom he recognized as a connoisseur: "that's prime terbacker, captain. if it runs like that through the bulk and nothing happens to it before it gets to the warehouse, it'll bring a dollar a pound, easy. you don't often see such terbacker any year, much less such a one as this has been. didn't it ripen mighty uneven, nimbus?" "jest about ez it oughter--a little 'arlier on the hilltop an' dry places 'long de sides, an' den gradwally down ter de moister places. dar wa'n't much ob dat pesky spotted ripenin' up--jes a plant h'yer an' anodder dar, all in 'mong de green, but jest about a good barnfull in tollable fa'r patches, an' den anodder comin' right on atter it. i'll hev it full agin an' fire up by to-morrer evenin'." "do you hang it right up after cutting?" asked the officer. "wal, we mout do so. tain't no hurt ter do it dat er way, only it handles better ter let it hang on de sticks a while an' git sorter wilted--don't break de leaves off ner mash 'em up so much loadin' an" unloadin', yer know," answered nimbus. "how much have you got here?" asked the sheriff, casting his eye over the field; "forty thousand?" "wal," said nimbus, "i made up sixty thousand hills, but i hed ter re-set some on 'em. i s'pose it'll run somewhere between fifty an' sixty thousand." "a right good crop," said the sheriff. "i doubt if any man in the county has got a better, take it all 'round." "i don't reckon ther's one wukked enny harder fer what he's got," said the colored man quietly. "no, i'll guarantee ther hain't," said the other, laughing. "nobody ever accused you of being lazy, nimbus. they only fault you fer being too peart." "all 'cause i wants my own, an' wuks fer it, an' axes nobody enny odds, but only a fa'r show--a white man's chance ter git along," responded nimbus, with a touch of defiance in his tone. "well, well," said the sheriff good-naturedly, "i won't never fault ye for that, but they do say you're the only man, white er black, that ever got ahead of potem desmit in a trade yet. how's that, nimbus?" "i paid him all he axed," said the colored man, evidently flattered by this tribute to his judgment as to the value of red wing. "kase white folks won't see good fine-terbacker lan' when dey walks ober it, tain't my fault, is it?" "no more tain't, nimbus; but don't yer s'pose yer marse potem's smartly worried over it?" "la, no, i reckon not. he don't 'pear ter be, ennyhow. he war by here when i was curin' up dis barn, an' stopped in an' looked at it, an' axed a power ob questions, an' got lugena ter bring him out some buttermilk an' a corn pone. den he went up an' sot an hour in de school an' sed ez how he war mighty proud ter see one of his ole nigga's gittin' on dat er way." "wal, now, that was kind of him, wasn't it?" "dat it war, sah, an' hit done us all a power ob good, too. hev you ebber ben ter de school, mr. sheriff? no? wal, yer oughter; an' you, too, capting. dar's a little yankee woman, miss mollie ainslie, a runnin' ob it, dat do beat all curration fer managin' tings. i'd nebber'd got long so h'yer, not by no means, ez i hez, but fer her advice--her'n an' 'liab's, gentlemen. dar she am now," he added, as a slight figure, mounted on a powerful black horse, and dressed in a dark riding-habit, with a black plume hanging from a low-crowned felt hat, came out of the woods below and cantered easily along the road a hundred yards away, toward the school-house. the visitors watched her curiously, and expressed a desire to visit the school. nimbus said that if they would walk on slowly he would go by the house and get his coat and overtake them before they reached the school-house. as they walked along the sheriff said, "did you notice the horse that yankee schoolmarm rode?" "i noticed that it was a very fine one," was the reply. "i should think it was. i haven't seen a horse in an age that reminded me so much of the one i was telling you about that hesden le moyne used to have. he is fuller and heavier, but if i was not afraid of making hesden mad i would rig him about a nigger-teacher's riding his horse around the country. of course it's not the same, but it would be a good joke, only hesden le moyne is not exactly the man one wants to start a joke on." when they arrived at the school-house they found that mollie ainslie had changed her habit and was now standing by the desk on the platform in the main room, clad in a neat half-mourning dress, well adapted to the work of the school-room, quiet and composed, tapping her bell to reduce to order the many-hued crowd of scholars of all ages and sizes who were settling into their places preparatory to the morning roll-call. nimbus took his visitors up the broad aisle, through an avenue of staring eyes, and introduced them awkwardly, but proudly, to the self-collected little figure on the platform. she in turn presented to them her assistant, miss lucy ellison, a blushing, peach-cheeked little northern beauty, and eliab hill, now advanced to the dignity of an assistant also, who sat near her on the platform. the sheriff nodded awkwardly to the ladies, as if doubtful how much deference it would do to display, said, "how d'ye, 'liab?" to the crippled colored man, laid his saddle-bags on the floor, and took the chair assigned to him. the northern man greeted the young ladies with apparent pleasure and profound respect, shook hands with the colored man, calling him "mister" hill, and before sitting down looked out on the crowded school with evident surprise. before proceeding with the roll-call miss ainslie took the large bible which lay upon her desk, and approaching the gentlemen said: "it is our custom every morning to read a portion of the scripture and offer prayer. we should be glad if either of you would conduct these exercises for us." both declined, the sheriff with some confusion, and the other remarking that he desired to see the school going on as if he were not present, in order that he might the better observe its exercises. miss ainslie returned to her desk, called the roll of a portion of the scholars, and then each of her assistants called the names of those assigned to their charge. a selection from the scripture was next read by the preceptress, a hymn sung under her lead with great spirit and correctness, and then eliab hill, clasping his hands, said, "let us pray." the whole school knelt, the ladies bowed their heads upon the desk, and eliab offered an appropriate prayer, in which the strangers were not forgotten, but were each kindly and fitly commended to the divine care. then there was an impromptu examination of the school. each of the teachers heard a class recite, there was more singing, with other agreeable exercises, and it was noon before the visitors thought of departing. then they were invited to dine with the lady teachers at the old ordinary, and would have declined, on the ground that they must go on to the next precinct, but nimbus, who had been absent for an hour, now appeared and brought word that the table was spread on the porch under the great oak, and their horses already cared for; so that excuse would evidently be useless. the sheriff was very uneasy, but the other seemed by no means displeased at the delay. however, the former recovered when he saw the abundant repast, and told many amusing stories of the old hostel. at length he said: "that is a fine horse you rode this morning, miss ainslie. may i ask to whom it belongs?" "to me, of course," replied the lady, in some surprise. "i did not know," replied the sheriff, slightly confused. "have you owned him long?" "nearly two years, she answered." "indeed? somehow i can't get it out of my head that i have seen him before, while i am quite sure i never had the pleasure of meeting you until to-day." "quite likely," she answered; "nimbus sometimes rides him into melton for the mail." "no," said he, shaking his head, "that is not it. but, no matter, he's a fine horse, and if you leave here or wish to sell him at any time, i hope you will rememher and give me a first chance." he was astonished at the result of his harmless proposal. "sir," said the little lady, her gray eyes filling and her voice choking with emotion, "that was my only brother's favorite horse. he rode him in the army, and gave him to me when he died. no money could buy him under any circumstances." "beg pardon," said the sheriff; "i had no idea--i--ah--" to relieve his embarrassment the officer brought forward the special object of his visit by stating that it was thought desirable to establish a voting precinct at red wing for the coming election, if a suitable place to hold the election could be found, and asked if the school-house could be obtained for that purpose. a lively conversation ensued, in which both gentlemen set forth the advantages of the location to the voters of that section. miss ellison seemed to favor it, but the little lady who was in charge only asked questions and looked thoughtful. when at length her opinion was directly asked, she said: "i had heard of this proposal through both mr. hill and nimbus, and i must say i quite agree with the view taken by the former. if it were necessary in order to secure the exercise of their rights by the colored men i would not object; but i cannot see that it is. it would, of course, direct even more attention to our school, and i do not think the feeling toward us among our white neighbors is any too kindly now. we have received no serious ill-treatment, it is true, but this is the first time any white person has ventured into our house. i don't think that anything should be done to excite unnecessary antipathy which might interfere with what i must consider the most important element of the colored man's development, the opportunity for education." "why, they hold the league meetings there, don't they?" asked the sheriff, with a twinkle which questioned her sincerity. "certainly," she answered calmly. "at least i gave them leave to do so, and have no doubt they do. i consider that necessary. the colored men should be encouraged to consider and discuss political affairs and decide in regard to them from their own standpoint. the league gives them this opportunity. it seems to be a quiet and orderly gathering. they are all colored men of the same way of thought, in the main, and it is carried on entirely by them; at least, such is the case here, and i consider the practice which it gives in the discussion of public affairs and the conduct of public assemblies as a most valuable training for the adults who will never have a chance to learn otherwise." "i think nimbus is in favor of having the election here," said captain pardee. "no doubt," she replied. "so are they all, and they have been very pressing in their importunity--all except mr. hill. they are proud of their school and the building, which is the joint product of their own labor and the helpfulness of northern friends, and are anxious for every opportunity to display their unexpected prosperity. it is very natural, but i think unwise." "nimbus owns the land, don't he?" asked the sheriff. "no, he gave that for school and church purposes, and, except that they have a right to use it on the sabbath, it is in my charge as the principal teacher here," she replied, wilh dignity. "and you do not desire the election held here?" asked captain pardee. "i am sorry to discommode the voters around here, white or black, but i would not balance a day's time or a day's walk against the more important interests of this school to the colored people. they can walk ten miles to vote, if need be, but no exertion of theirs could replace even the building and its furniture, let alone the school which it shelters." "that is very true," said the officer, thoughtfully. so the project was abandoned, and melton remained the nearest polling-place to red wing. as they rode away the two representatives of antipodal thought discussed the scenes they had witnessed that day, which were equally new to them both, and naturally enough drew from them entirely different conclusions. the northern man enthusiastically prophesied the rapid rise and miraculous development of the colored race under the impetus of free schools and free thought. the southern man only saw in it a prospect of more "sassy niggers," like nimbus, who was "a good enough nigger, but mighty aggravating to the white folks." with regard to the teachers, he ventured only this comment: "captain, it's a mighty pity them gals are teaching a nigger school. they're too likely for such work--too likely by half." the man whom he addressed only gave a low, quiet laugh at this remark, which the other found it difficult to interpret. chapter xix. the shadow of the flag. as soon as it became known that the plan of having a polling-place at red wing had been abandoned, there was an almost universal expression of discontent among the colored people. never before had the authority or wisdom of the teachers been questioned. the purity of their motives and the devotion they had displayed in advancing every interest of those to whom they had come as the missionaries of light and freedom, had hitherto protected them from all jealousy or suspicion on the part of the beneficiaries of their devotion. mollie ainslie had readily and naturally fallen into the habit of controlling and directing almost everything about her, simply because she had been accustomed to self-control and self-direction, and was by nature quick to decide and resolute to act. conscious of her own rectitude, and fully realizing the dangers which might result from the experiment proposed, she had had no hesitation about withholding her consent, without which the school-house could not be used, and had not deemed it necessary to consult the general wish of the villagers in regard to it. eliab hill had approved her action, and she had briefly spoken of it to nimbus--that was all. now, the people of red wing, with nimbus at their head, had set their hearts upon having the election held there. the idea was flattering to their importance, a recognition of their manhood and political co-ordination which was naturally and peculiarly gratifying. so they murmured and growled, and the discontent grew louder and deeper until, on the second day thereafter, nimbus, with two or three other denizens of red wing, came, with gloomy, sullen faces, to the school-house at the hour for dismissal, to hold an interview with miss ainslie on the subject. she knew their errand, and received them with that cool reserve which so well became her determined face and slight, erect figure. when they had stated their desire, and more than half indicated their determination to have the election held there at all hazards, she said briefly, "i have not the slightest objection." "dar now," said nimbus exultingly; "i 'llowed dar mus' be somethin' wrong 'bout it. they kep' tellin' me that you 'posed it, an' tole de capting dat it couldn't never be held here wid your consent while you wuz in de school." "so i did." "you don't say? an' now yer's changed yer mind." "i have not changed my mind at all." "no? den what made you say yer hadn't no 'jections, just now." "because i have not. it is a free country. you say you are determined to have the election here, i am fully convinced that it would do harm. yet you have a right to provide a place, and hold it here, if you desire. that i do not question, and shall not attempt to prevent; only, the day that you determine to do so i shall pack up my trunk, ride over to boyleston, deliver the keys to the superintendent, and let him do as he chooses about the matter." "yer don't mean ter say yer'd go an' leave us fer good, does yer, miss mollie?" asked nimbus in surprise. "certainly," was the reply; "when the people have once lost confidence in me, and i am required to give up my own deliberate judgment to a whimsical desire for parade, i can do no more good here, and will leave at once." "sho, now, dat won't do at all--no more it won't," responded nimbus. "ef yer feel's dat er way 'bout it, der ain't no mo' use a-talkin'. dere's gwine ter be nary 'lection h'yer ef it really troubles you ladies dat 'er way." so it was decided, and once again there was peace. to compensate themselves for this forbearance, however, it was suggested that the colored voters of red wing and vicinity should meet at the church on the morning of election and march in a body to the polls with music and banners, in order most appropriately and significantly to commemorate their first exercise of the electoral privilege. to this miss ainslie saw no serious objection, and in order fully to conciliate nimbus, who might yet feel himself aggrieved by her previous decision, she tendered him the loan of her horse on the occasion, he having been elected marshal. from that time until the day of the election there was considerable excitement. there were a number of political harangues made in the neighborhood; the league met several times; the colored men appeared anxious and important about the new charge committed to their care; the white people were angry, sullen, and depressed. the school at red wing went peaceably on, interrupted only by the excitement attendant upon the preparations making for the expected parade. almost every night, after work was over, the colored people would gather in the little hamlet and march to the music of a drum and fife, and under the command of nimbus, whose service in the army had made him a tolerable proficient in such tactical movements as pertained to the "school of the company." very often, until well past midnight the fife and drum, the words of command, and the rumble of marching feet could be heard in the little village. the white people in the country around about began to talk about "the niggers arming and drilling," saying that they intended to "seize the polls on election day;" "rise up and murder the whites;" "burn all the houses along the river;" and a thousand other absurd and incredible things which seemed to fill the air, to grow and multiply like baleful spores, without apparent cause. as a consequence of this there grew up a feeling of apprehension among the colored men also. they feared that these things were said simply to make a ready and convenient excuse for violence which was to be perpetrated upon them in order to prevent the exercise of their legal rights. so there were whisperings and apprehension and high resolve upon both sides. the colored men, conscious of their own rectitude, were either unaware of the real light in which their innocent parade was regarded by their white neighbors, or else laughed at the feeling as insincere and groundless. the whites, having been for generations firm believers in the imminency of servile insurrections; devoutly crediting the tradition that the last words of george washington, words of wisdom and warning, were, "never trust a nigger with a gun;" and accustomed to chafe each other into a fever heat of excitement over any matter of public interest, were ready to give credence to any report--all the more easily because of its absurdity. on the other hand, the colored people, hearing these rumors, said to themselves that it was simply a device to prevent them from voting, or to give color and excuse for a conflict at the polls. there is no doubt that both were partly right and partly wrong. while the parade was at first intended simply as a display, it came to be the occasion of preparation for an expected attack, and as the rumors grew more wild and absurd, so did each side grow more earnest and sincere. the colored men determined to exercise their rights openly and boldly, and the white men were as fully determined that at any exhibition of "impudence" on the part of the "niggers" they would teach them a lesson they would not soon forget. none of this came to the ears of mollie ainslie. nevertheless she had a sort of indefinite foreboding of evil to come out of it, and wished that she had exerted her influence to prevent the parade. on the morning of the election day a motley crowd collected at an early hour at red wing. it was noticeable that every one carried a heavy stick, though there was no other show of arms among them. some of them, no doubt, had pistols, but there were no guns in the crowd. they seemed excited and alarmed. a few notes from the fife, however, banished all irresolution, and before eight o'clock two hundred men gathered from the country round marched away toward melton, with a national flag heading the column, in front of which rode eliab hill in the carryall belonging to nimbus. with them went a crowd of women and children, numbering as many more, all anxious to witness the first exercise of elective power by their race, only just delivered from the bonds of slavery. the fife screeched, the drum rattled; laughter and jests and high cheer prevailed among them all. as they marched on, now and then a white man rode past them, silent and sullen, evidently enraged at the display which was being made by the new voters. as they drew nearer to the town it became evident that the air was surcharged with trouble. nimbus sent back miss ainslie's horse, saying that he was afraid it might get hurt. the boy that took it innocently repeated this remark to his teacher. within the town there was great excitement. a young man who had passed red wing while the men were assembling had spurred into melton and reported with great excitement that the "niggers" were collecting at the church and nimbus was giving out arms and ammunition; that they were boasting of what they would do if any of their votes were refused; that they had all their plans laid to meet negroes from other localities at melton, get up a row, kill all the white men, burn the town, and then ravish the white women. this formula of horrors is one so familiar to the southern tongue that it runs off quite unconsciously whenever there is any excitement in the air about the "sassy niggers." it is the "form of sound words," which is never forgotten. its effect upon the southern white man is magical. it moves him as the red rag does a mad bull. it takes away all sense and leaves only an abiding desire to kill. so this rumor awakened great excitement as it flew from lip to lip. few questioned its verity, and most of those who heard felt bound in conscience to add somewhat to it as they passed it on to the next listener. each one that came in afterward was questioned eagerly upon the hypothesis of a negro insurrection having already taken shape. "how many are there?" "who is at the head of it?" "how are they armed?" "what did they say?" were some of the queries which overwhelmed every new comer. it never seemed to strike any one as strange that if the colored men had any hostile intent they should let these solitary horsemen pass them unmolested. the fever spread. revolvers were flourished and shot-guns loaded; excited crowds gathered here and there, and nearly everybody in the town sauntered carelessly toward the bridge across which nimbus' gayly-decked column must enter the town. a few young men rode out to reconnoitre, and every few minutes one would come dashing back upon a reeking steed, revolver in hand, his mouth full of strange oaths and his eyes flaming with excitement. it was one of these that precipitated the result. the flag which waved over the head of the advancing column had been visible from the town for some time as now and then it passed over the successive ridges to the eastward. the sound of fife and drum had become more and more distinct, and a great portion of the white male population, together with those who had come in to the election from the surrounding country, had gathered about the bridge spanning the swift river which flowed between melton and the hosts of the barbarous and bloodthirsty "niggers" of the red wing country. several of the young scouts had ridden close up to the column with tantalizing shouts and insulting gestures and then dashed back to recount their own audacity; until, just as the stars and stripes began to show over the last gullied hill, one of them, desirous of outdoing his comrades in bravado, drew his revolver, flourished it over his head, and cast a shower of insulting epithets upon the colored pilgrims to the shrine of ballatorial power. he was answered from the dusky crowd with words as foul as his own. such insult was not to be endured. instantly his pistol was raised, there was a flash, a puff of fleecy smoke, a shriek from amid the crowd. at once all was confusion. oaths, cries, pistol-shots, and a shower of rocks filled the air as the young man turned and spurred back to the town. in a moment the long covered-bridge was manned by a well-armed crowd, while others were seen running toward it. the town was in an uproar. the officers of election had left the polls, and in front of the bridge could be seen hesden le moyne and the burly sheriff striving to keep back the angry crowd of white men. on the hill the colored men, for a moment struck with amazement, were now arming with stones, in dead earnest, uttering loud cries of vengeance for one of their number who, wounded and affrighted, lay groaning and writhing by the roadside. they outnumbered the whites very greatly, but the latter excelled them in arms, in training, and in position. still, such was their exasperation at what seemed to them a wanton and unprovoked attack, that they were preparing to charge upon the bridge without delay. nimbus especially was frantic with rage. "it's the flag!" he shouted; "the damned rebels are firing on the flag!" he strode back and forth, waving an old cavalry sabre which he had brought to mark his importance as marshal of the day, and calling on his followers to stand by him and they would "clean out the murderous crowd." a few pistol shots which were fired from about the bridge but fell far short, added to their excitement and desperation. just as they were about to rush down the hillside, mollie ainslie, with a white set face, mounted on her black horse, dashed in front of them, and cried, "halt!" eliab hill had long been imploring them with upraised hands to be calm and listen to reason, but his voice was unheeded or unheard in the wild uproar. the sight of the woman, however, whom all of them regarded so highly, reining in her restive horse and commanding silence, arrested the action of all. but nimbus, now raging like a mad lion, strode up to her, waving his sword and cursing fearfully in his wild wrath, and said hoarsely: "you git out o' de way, miss mollie! we all tinks a heap ob you, but yer hain't got no place h'yer! de time's come for _men_ now, an' dis is men's wuk, an' we's gwine ter du it, too! d'yer see dat man dar, a-bleedin' an' a-groanin'? blood's been shed! we's been fired into kase we wuz gwine ter exercise our rights like men under de flag ob our kentry, peaceable, an' quiet, an' disturbin' nobody! 'fore god, miss mollie, ef we's men an' fit ter hev enny rights, we won't stan' dat! we'll hev blood fer blood! dat's what we means! you jes git outen de way!" he added imperiously. "we'll settle dis yer matter ourselves!" he reached out his hand as he spoke to take her horse by the bit. "stand back!" cried the brave girl. "don't you touch him, sir!" she urged her horse forward, and nimbus, awed by her intensity, slowly retreated before her, until she was but a pace or two in front of the line which stretched across the road. then leaning forward, she said, "nimbus, give me your sword!" "what you wants ob dat, miss mollie?" he asked in surprise. "no matter; hand it to me!" he took it by the blade, and held the heavy basket-hilt toward her. she clasped her small white fingers around the rough, shark-skin handle and raised it over her head as naturally as a veteran leader desiring to command attention, and said: "now, nimbus, and the rest of you, you all know that i am your friend. my brother was a soldier, and fought for your liberty on this very horse. i have never advised you except for your good, and you know i never will. if it is right and best for you to right now, i will not hinder you. nay, i will say god-speed, and for aught i know fight with you. i am no coward, if i am a woman. you know what i have risked already for your good. now tell me what has happened, and what this means." there was a cheer at this, and fifty excited voices began the story. "stop! stop!'" she cried. "keep silent, all of you, and let mr. hill tell it alone. he was here in front and saw it all." thereupon she rode up beside the carry-all, which was now in the middle of the throng, and listened gravely while eliab told the whole story of the march from red wing, there was a buzz when he had ended, which she stilled by a word and a wave of the hand, and then turning to nimbus she said: "nimbus, i appoint you to keep order in this crowd until my return. do not let any man, woman, or child move forward or back, whatever may occur. do you understand?" "yes, ma'am, i hears; but whar you gwine, miss mollie?" "into the town." "no yer don't, miss mollie," said he, stepping before her. "dey'll kill you, shore." "no matter. i am going. you provoked this affray by your foolish love of display, and it must be settled now, or it will be a matter of constant trouble hereafter." "but, miss mollie--" "not a word! you have been a soldier and should obey orders. here is your sword. take it, and keep order here. examine that poor fellow's wound, and i will go and get a doctor for him." she handed nimbus his sword and turned her horse toward the bridge. then a wail of distress arose from the crowd. the women begged her not to go, with tears. she turned in her saddle, shook her head, and raised her hand to show her displeasure at this. then she took a handkerchief from her pocket and half waving it as she proceeded, went toward the bridge. "well, i swear," said the sheriff; "if that are gal ain't coming in with a flag of truce. she's pluck, anyhow. you ought to give her three cheers, boys." the scene which had been enacted on the hill had been closely watched from the bridge and the town, and mollie's conduct had been pretty well interpreted though her words could not be heard. the nerve which she had exhibited had excited universal comment, and it needed no second invitation to bring off every hat and send up, in her honor, the shrill yell with which our soldiers became familiar during the war. recognizing this, her pale face became suffused with blushes, and she put her handkerchief to her lips to hide their tremulousness as she came nearer. she ran her eyes quickly along the line of strange faces, until they fell upon the sheriff, by whom stood hesden le moyne. she rode straight to them and said, "oh, mr. sheriff--" then she broke down, and dropping the rein on her horse's neck, she pressed her handkerchief to her face and wept. her slight frame shook with sobs. the men looked at her with surprise and pity. there was even a huskiness in the sheriff's voice as he said, "miss ainslie--i--i beg your pardon, ma'am-but--" she removed the handkerchief, but the tears were still running down her face as she said, glancing round the circle of sympathizing faces: "do stop this, gentlemen. it's all a mistake. i know it must be a mistake!" "we couldn't help it, ma'am," said one impulsive youth, putting in before the elders had time to speak; "the niggers was marching on the town here. did you suppose we was going to sit still and let them burn and ravage without opposition? oh, we haven't got so low as that, if the yankees did outnumber us. not yet!" there was a sneering tone in his voice which did more than sympathy could, to restore her equanimity. so she said, with a hint of a smile on her yet tearful face, "the worst thing those poor fellows meant to do, gentlemen, was to make a parade over their new-found privileges--march up to the polls, vote, and march home again. they are just like a crowd of boys over a drum and fife, as you know. they carefully excluded from the line all who were not voters, and i had them arranged so that their names would come alphabetically, thinking it might be handier for the officers; though i don't know anything about how an election is conducted," she added, with an ingenuous blush. "it's all my fault, gentlemen! i did not think any trouble could come of it, or i would not have allowed it for a moment. i thought it would be better for them to come in order, vote, and go home than to have them scattered about the town and perhaps getting into trouble." "so 'twould," said the sheriff. "been a first-rate thing if we'd all understood it--first-rate." "oh, i'm so sorry, gentlemen--so sorry, and i'm afraid one man is killed. would one of you be kind enough to go for a doctor?" "here is one," said several voices, as a young man stepped forward and raised his hat respectfully. "i will go and see him," he said. he walked on up the hill alone. "well, ma'am," said the sheriff, "what do you think should be done now?" "if you would only let these people come in and vote, gentlemen. they will return at once, and i would answer with my life for their good behavior. i think it was all a misunderstanding." "certainly--certainly, ma'am," said the sheriff. "no doubt about it." she turned her horse and was about to ride back up the hill, but hesden le moyne, taking off his hat, said: "gentlemen, i think we owe a great deal to the bravery of this young lady. i have no doubt but all she says is literally true. yet we like to have got into trouble which might have been very serious in its consequences, nay, perhaps has already resulted seriously. but for her timely arrival, good sense, and courage there would have been more bloodshed; our town would have been disgraced, troops posted among us, and perhaps lives taken in retaliation. now, considering all this, i move a vote of thanks to the lady, and that we all pledge ourselves to take no notice of these people, but let them come in and vote and go out, without interruption. all that are in favor of that say aye!" every man waved his hat, there was a storm of "ayes," and then the old rebel yell again, as, bowing and blushing with pleasure, mollie turned and rode up the hill. there also matters had assumed a more cheerful aspect by reason of her cordial reception at the bridge, and the report of the surgeon that the man's wound, though quite troublesome, was by no means serious. she told in a few words what had occurred, explained the mistake, reminded them that such a display would naturally prove very exasperating to persons situated as the others were, counselled moderation and quietness of demeanor, and told them to re-form their ranks and go forward, quietly vote, and return. a rousing cheer greeted her words. eliab hill uttered a devout prayer of thankfulness. nimbus blunderingly said it was all his fault, "though he didn't mean no harm," and then suggested that the flag and music should be left there in charge of some of the boys, which was approved. the wounded man was put into the carry-all by the side of eliab, and they started down the hill. the sheriff, who was waiting at the bridge, called out for them to bring the flag along and have the music strike up. so, with flying colors and rattling drum-beat, the voters of red wing marched to the polls; the people of melton looked good-naturedly on; the young hot-bloods joked the dusky citizen, and bestowed extravagant encomiums on the plucky girl who had saved them from so much threatened trouble; and mollie ainslie rode home with a hot, flushed face, and was put to bed by her co-laborer, the victim of a raging headache. "i declare, mollie ainslie," said lucy, "you are the queerest girl i ever saw. i believe you would ride that horse into a den of lions, and then faint because you were not eaten up. i could never do what you have done--never in the world--but if did i wouldn't get sick because it was all over." chapter xx. phantasmagoria. the day after the election a colored lad rode up to the school-house, delivered a letter for miss ainslie to one of the scholars, and rode away. the letter was written in an even, delicate hand, which was yet full of feminine strength, and read as follows: "miss ainslie: "my son hesden has told me of your courage in preventing what must otherwise have resulted in a most terrible conflict yesterday, and i feel it to be my duty, in behalf of many ladies whose husbands and sons were present on that occasion, to express to you our gratitude. it is seldom that such opportunity presents itself to our sex, and still more seldom that we are able to improve it when presented. your courage in exerting the power you have over the peculiar people toward whom you hold such important relations, commands my utmost admiration. it is a matter of the utmost congratulation to the good people of horsford that one of such courage and prudence occupies the position which you hold. i am afraid that the people whom you are teaching can never be made to understand and appreciate the position into which they have been thrust by the terrible events of the past few years. i am sure, however, that you will do all in your power to secure that result, and most earnestly pray for your success. could i leave my house i should do myself the pleasure to visit your school and express my gratitude in person. as it is, i can only send the good wishes of a weak old woman, who, though once a slave-mistress, was most sincerely rejoiced at the down-fall of a system she had always regarded with regret, despite the humiliation it brought to her countrymen. "hester le moyne." this was the first word of commendation which had been received from any southern white woman, and the two lonely teachers were greatly cheered by it. when we come to analyze its sentences there seems to be a sort of patronizing coolness in it, hardly calculated to awaken enthusiasm. the young girls who had given themselves to what they deemed a missionary work of peculiar urgency and sacredness, did not stop to read between the lines, however, but perused with tears of joy this first epistle from one of their own sex in that strange country where they had been treated as leprous outcasts by all the families who belonged to the race of which they were unconscious ornaments. they jumped to the conclusion that a new day was dawning, and that henceforth they would have that companionship and sympathy which they felt that they deserved from the christian women by whom they were surrounded. "what a dear, good old lady she must be!" exclaimed the pretty and gushing lucy ellison. "i should like to kiss her for that sweet letter." so they took heart of grace, talked with the old "mammy" who had charge of their household arrangements about the gentle invalid woman, whom she had served as a slave, and pronounced "jes de bestest woman in de worl', nex' to my young ladies," and then they went on with their work with renewed zeal. two other results followed this affair, which tended greatly to relieve the monotony of their lives. a good many gentlemen called in to see the school, most of them young men who were anxious for a sight of the brave lady who had it in charge, and others merely desirous to see the pretty yankee "nigger teachers." many would, no doubt, have become more intimate with them, but there was something in the terms of respectful equality on which they associated with their pupils, and especially with their co-worker, eliab hill, which they could not abide or understand. the fame of the adventure had extended even beyond the county, however, and raised them very greatly in the esteem of all the people. miss ainslie soon noticed that the gentlemen she met in her rides, instead of passing her with a rude or impudent stare began to greet her with polite respect. besides this, some of the officers of the post at boyleston, hearing of the gallant conduct of their country-woman, rode over to pay their respects, and brought back such glowing reports of the beauty and refinement of the teachers at red wing that the distance could not prevent others of the garrison from following their example; and the old ordinary thereafter witnessed many a pleasant gathering under the grand old oak which shaded it. both of the teachers found admirers in the gallant company, and it soon became known that lucy ellison would leave her present situation erelong to brighten the life of a young lieutenant. it was rumored, too, that another uniform covered the sad heart of a cavalier who asked an exchange into a regiment on frontier duty, because mollie ainslie had failed to respond favorably to his passionate addresses. so they taught, read, sang, wandered along the wood-paths in search of new beauties to charm their northern eyes; rode together whenever lucy could be persuaded to mount nimbus' mule, which, despite its hybrid nature, was an excellent saddle-beast; entertained with unaffected pleasure the officers who came to cheer their loneliness; and under the care of their faithful old "mammy" and the oversight of a kind-hearted, serious-faced superintendent, who never missed red wing in his monthly rounds, they kept their oddly transformed home bright and cheerful, their hearts light and pure, and their faith clear, daily thanking god that they were permitted to do what they thought to be his will. all of their experiences were not so pleasant. by their own sex they were still regarded with that calm, unobserving indifference with which the modern lady treats the sister who stands without the pale of reputable society. so far as the "ladies" of horsford were concerned, the "nigger teachers" at red wing stood on the plane of the courtesan--they were _seen_ but not _known._ the recognition which they received from the gentlemen of southern birth had in it not a little of the shame-faced curiosity which characterizes the intercourse of men with women whose reputations have been questioned but not entirely destroyed. they were treated with apparent respect, in the school-room, upon the highway, or at the market, by men who would not think of recognizing them when in the company of their mothers, sisters, or wives. such treatment would have been too galling to be borne had it not been that the spotless-minded girls were all too pure to realize its significance. chapter xxi. a child-man. eliab hill had from the first greatly interested the teachers at red wing. the necessities of the school and the desire of the charitable board having it in charge, to accustom the colored people to see those of their own race trusted and advanced, had induced them to employ him as an assistant teacher, even before he was really competent for such service. it is true he was given charge of only the most rudimentary work, but that fact, while it inspired his ambition, showed him also the need of improvement and made him a most diligent student. lucy ellison, as being the most expert in housewifely accomplishments, had naturally taken charge of the domestic arrangements at the ordinary, and as a consequence had cast a larger share of the school duties upon her "superior officer," as she delighted to call mollie ainslie. this division of labor suited well the characteristics of both. to plan, direct, and manage the school came as naturally and easily to the stirring yankee "school-marm" as did the ordering of their little household to the new york farmer's daughter. among the extra duties thus devolved upon the former was the supervision and direction of the studies of eliab hill. as he could not consistently with the requisite discipline be included in any of the regular classes that had been formed, and his affliction prevented him from coming to them in the evening for private instruction, she arranged to teach him at the school-house after school hours. so that every day she remained after the school was dismissed to give him an hour's instruction. his careful attention and rapid progress amply repaid her for this sacrifice, and she looked forward with much pleasure to the time when, after her departure, he should be able to conduct the school with credit to himself and profit to his fellows. then, for the first time, she realized how great is the momentum which centuries of intelligence and freedom give to the mind of the learner--how unconscious is the acquisition of the great bulk of that knowledge which goes to make up the caucasian manhood of the nineteenth century. eliab's desire to acquire was insatiable, his application was tireless, but what he achieved seemed always to lack a certain flavor of completeness. it was without that substratum of general intelligence which the free white student has partly inherited and partly acquired by observation and experience, without the labor or the consciousness of study. the whole world of life, business, society, was a sealed book to him, which no other hand might open for him; while the field of literature was but a bright tangled thicket before him. that unconscious familiarity with the past which is as the small-change of daily thought to us was a strange currency to his mind. he had, indeed, the key to the value of each piece, and could, with difficulty, determine its power when used by another, but he did not give or receive the currency with instinctive readiness. two things had made him clearly the intellectual superior of his fellows--the advantages of his early years by which he learned to read, and the habit of meditation which the solitude of his stricken life induced. this had made him a thinker, a philosopher far more profound than his general attainments would naturally produce. with the super-sensitiveness which always characterizes the afflicted, also, he had become a most acute and subtle observer of the human countenance, and read its infinite variety of expression with ease and certainty. in two things he might be said to be profoundly versed--the spirit of the scriptures, and the workings of the human heart. with regard to these his powers of expression were commensurate with his knowledge. the psalms of david were more comprehensible to him than the simplest formulas of arithmetic. mollie ainslie was not unfrequently amazed at this inequality of nature in her favorite pupil. on one side he seemed a full-grown man of grand proportions; on the other, a pigmy-child. she had heard him pour forth torrents of eloquence on the sabbath, and felt the force of a nature exceptionally rich and strong in its conception of religious truths and human needs, only to find him on the morrow floundering hopelessly in the mire of rudimentary science, or getting, by repeated perusals, but an imperfect idea of some author's words, which it seemed to her he ought to have grasped at a glance. he had always been a man of thought, and now for two years he had been studying after the manner of the schools, and his tasks were yet but rudimentary. it is true, he had read much and had learned not a little in a thousand directions which he did not appreciate, but yet he was discouraged and despondent, and it is no wonder that he was so. the mountain which stood in his pathway could not be climbed over nor passed by, but pebble by pebble and grain by grain must be removed, until a broad, smooth highway showed instead. and all this he must do before he could comprehend the works of those writers whose pages glow with light to _our_ eyes from the very first. he read and re-read these, and groped his way to their meaning with doubt and difficulty. being a woman, mollie ainslie was not speculative. she could not solve this problem of strength and weakness. in power of thought, breadth of reasoning, and keenness of analysis she felt that he was her master; in knowledge--the power of acquiring and using scientific facts--she could but laugh at his weakness. it puzzled her. she wondered at it; but she had never sought to assign a reason for it. it remained for the learner himself to do this. one day, after weeks of despondency, he changed places with his teacher during the hour devoted to his lessons, and taught her why it was that he, eliab hill, with all his desire to learn and his ceaseless application to his tasks, yet made so little progress in the acquisition of knowledge. "it ain't so much the words, miss mollie," he said, as he threw down a book in which he had asked her to explain some passage she had never read before, but the meaning of which came to her at a glance--"it ain't so much the words as it is the ideas that trouble me. these men who write seem to think and feel differently from those i have known. i can learn the words, but when i have them all right i am by no means sure that i know just what they mean," "why, you must," said the positive little yankee woman; "when one has the words and knows the meaning of all of them, he cannot help knowing what the writer means." "perhaps i do not put it as i should," said he sadly. "what i want to say is, that there are thoughts and bearings that i can never gather from books alone. they come to you, miss ainslie, and to those like you, from those who were before you in the world, and from things about you. it is the part of knowledge that can't be put into books. now i have none of that. my people cannot give it to me. i catch a sight of it here and there. now and then, a conversation i heard years ago between some white men will come up and make plain something that i am puzzling over, but it is not easy for me to learn." "i do not think i understand you," she replied; "but if i do, i am sure you are mistaken. how can you know the meanings of words, and yet not apprehend the thought conveyed?" "i do not know _how_," he replied. "i only know that while thought seems to come from the printed page to your mind like a flash of light, to mine it only comes with difficulty and after many readings, though i may know every word. for instance," he continued, taking up a voiume of tennyson which lay upon her table, "take any passage. here is one: 'tears, idle tears, i know not what they mean!' i have no doubt that brings a distinct idea to your mind." "yes," she replied, hesitatingly; "i never thought of it before, but i think it does." "well, it does not to mine. i cannot make out what is meant by 'idle' tears, nor whether the author means to say that he does not know what 'tears' mean, or only 'idle' tears, or whether he does not understand such a display of grief because it _is_ idle." "might he not have meant any or all of these?" she asked. "that is it," he replied. "i want to know what he _did_ mean. of course, if i knew all about his life and ways, and the like, i could tell pretty fully his meaning. you know them because his thoughts are your thoughts, his life has been your life. you belong to the same race and class. i am cut off from this, and can only stumble slowly along the path of knowledge." thus the simple-minded colored man, taught to meditate by the solitude which his affliction enforced upon him, speculated in regard to the _leges non scripta_ which control the action of the human mind and condition its progress. "what has put you in this strange mood, eliab?" asked the teacher wonderingly. his face flushed, and the mobile mouth twitched with emotion as he glanced earnestly toward her, and then, with an air of sudden resolution, said: "well, you see, that matter of the election--you took it all in in a minute, when the horse came back. you knew the white folks would feel aggravated by that procession, and there would be trouble. now, i never thought of that. i just thought it was nice to be free, and have our own music and march under that dear old flag to do the work of free men and citizens. that was all." "but nimbus thought of it, and that was why he sent back the horse," she answered. "not at all. he only thought they might pester the horse to plague him, and the horse might get away and be hurt. we didn't, none of us, think what the white folks would feel, because we didn't know. you did." "but why should this affect you?" "just because it shows that education is something more that i had thought--something so large and difficult that one of my age, raised as i have been, can only get a taste of it at the best." "well, what then? you are not discouraged?" "not for myself--no. the pleasure of learning is reward enough to me. but my people, miss mollie, i must think of them. i am only a poor withered branch. they are the straight young tree. i must think of them and not of eliab. you have taught me--this affair, everything, teaches me--that they can only be made free by knowledge. i begin to see that the law can only give us an opportunity to make ourselves freemen. liberty must be earned; it cannot be given." "that is very true," said the practical girl, whose mind recognized at once the fact which she had never formulated to herself. but as she looked into his face, working with intense feeling and so lighted with the glory of a noble purpose as to make her forget the stricken frame to which it was chained, she was puzzled at what seemed inconsequence in his words. so she added, wonderingly, "but i don't see why this should depress you. only think how much you have done toward the end you have in view. just think what you have accomplished--what strides you have made toward a full and complete manhood. you ought to be proud rather than discouraged." "ah!" said he, "that has been for myself, miss mollie, not for my people. what am i to my race? aye," he continued, with a glance at his withered limbs, "to the least one of them not--not--" he covered his face with his hands and bowed his head in the self-abasement which hopeless affliction so often brings. "eliab," said the teacher soothingly, as if her pupil were a child instead of a man older than herself, "you should not give way to such thoughts. you should rise above them, and by using the powers you have, become an honor to your race." "no, miss mollie," he replied, with a sigh, as he raised his head and gazed into her face earnestly. "there ain't nothing in this world for me to look forward to only to help my people. i am only the dust on the lord's chariot-wheels--only the dust, which must be brushed out of the way in order that their glory may shine forth. and that," he continued impetuously, paying no attention to her gesture of remonstrance, "is what i wanted to speak to you about this evening. it is hard to say, but i must say it--must say it now. i have been taking too much of your time and attention, miss mollie." "i am sure, mr. hill--" she began, in some confusion. "yes, i have," he went on impetuously, while his face flushed hotly. "it is the young and strong only who can enter into the canaan the lord has put before our people. i thought for a while that we were just standing on the banks of jordan--that the promised land was right over yon, and the waters piled up like a wall, so that even poor weak 'liab might cross over. but i see plainer now. we're only just past the red sea, just coming into the wildnerness, and if i can only get a glimpse from horeb, wid my old eyes by and by, 'liab 'll be satisfied. it'll be enough, an' more'n enough, for him. he can only help the young ones--the lambs of the flock--a little, mighty little, p'raps, but it's all there is for him to do." "why, eliab--" began the astonished teacher again. "don't! don't! miss mollie, if you please," he cried, with a look of pain. "i'se done tried--i hez, miss mollie. god only knows how i'se tried! but it ain't no use--no use," he continued, with a fierce gesture, and relapsing unconsciously into the rougher dialect that he had been training himself to avoid. "i can't do it, an' there's no use a-tryin'. there ain't nothin' good for me in this worl'--not in this worl'. it's hard to give it up, miss mollie--harder'n you'll ever dream; but i hain't blind. i knows the brand is on me. it's on my tongue now, that forgets all i've learned jes ez soon ez the time of trial comes." he seemed wild with excitement as he leaned forward on the table toward her, and accompanied his words with that eloquence of gesticulation which only the hands that are tied to crippled forms acquire. he paused suddenly, bowed his head upon his crossed arms, and his frame shook with sobs. she rose, and would have come around the table to him. raising his head quickly, he cried almost fiercely: "don't! don't! don't come nigh me, miss mollie! i'm going to do a hard thing, almost too hard for me. i'm going to get off the chariot-wheel--out of the light of the glory--out of the way of the young and the strong! them that's got to fight the lord's battles must have the training, and not them that's bound to fall in the wilderness. the time is precious--precious, and must not be wasted. you can't afford to spend so much of it on me! the lord can't afford ter hev ye, miss mollie! i must step aside, an' i'se gwine ter do it now. if yer's enny time an' strength ter spar' more'n yer givin' day by day in the school, i want yer should give it to--to--winnie an' 'thusa--they're bright girls, that have studied hard, and are young and strong. it is through such as them that we must come up--our people, i mean. i want you to give them my hour, miss mollie--_my_ hour! don't say you won't do it!" he cried, seeing a gesture of dissent. "don't say it! you must do it! promise me, miss mollie--for my sake! for--promise me--now--quick! afore i gets too weak to ask it!" "why, certainly, eliab," she said, in amazement, while she half shrank from him as if in terror. "i will do it if you desire it so much. but you should not get so excited. calm yourself! i am sure i don't see why you should take such a course; but, as you say, they are two bright girls and will make good teachers, which are much needed." "thank god! thank god!" cried the cripple, as his head fell again upon his arms. after a moment he half raised it and said, weakly, "will you please call nimbus, miss mollie? i must go home now. and please, miss mollie, don't think hard of 'liab--don't, miss mollie," he said humbly. "why should i?" she asked in surprise. "you have acted nobly, though i cannot think you have done wisely. you are nervous now. you may think differently hereafter. if you do, you have only to say so. i will call nimbus. good-by!" she took her hat and gloves and went down the aisle. happening to turn near the door to replace a book her dress had brushed from a desk, she saw him gazing after her with a look that haunted her memory long afterward. as the door closed behind her he slid from his chair and bowed his head upon it, crying out in a voice of tearful agony, "thank god! thank god!" again and again, while his unfinished form shook with hysteric sobs. "and _she_ said i was not wise!" he half laughed, as the tears ran down his face and he resumed his invocation of thankfulness. thus nimbus found him and carried him home with his wonted tenderness, soothing him like a babe, and wondering what had occurred to discompose his usually sedate and cheerful friend. "i declare, lucy," said mollie ainslie that evening, to her co-worker, over their cosy tea, "i don't believe i shall ever get to understand these people. there is that eliab hill, who was getting along so nicely, has concluded to give up his studies. i believe he is half crazy anyhow. he raved about it, and glared at me so that i was half frightened out of my wits. i wonder why it is that cripples are always so queer, anyhow?" she would have been still more amazed if she had known that from that day eliab hill devoted himself to his studies with a redoubled energy, which more than made up for the loss of his teacher's aid. had she herself been less a child she would have seen that he whom she had treated as such was, in truth, a man of rare strength. chapter xxii. how the fallow was seeded. the time had come when the influences so long at work, the seed which the past had sown in the minds and hearts of races, must at length bear fruit. the period of actual reconstruction had passed, and independent, self-regulating states had taken the place of military districts and provisional governments. the people of the south began, little by little, to realize that they held their future in their own hands--that the supervising and restraining power of the general government had been withdrawn. the colored race, yet dazed with the new light of liberty, were divided between exultation and fear. they were like a child taking his first steps--full of joy at the last accomplished, full of terror at the one which was before. the state of mind of the southern white man, with reference to the freedman and his exaltation to the privilege of citizenship is one which cannot be too frequently analyzed or too closely kept in mind by one who desires fully to apprehend the events which have since occurred, and the social and political structure of the south at this time. as a rule, the southern man had been a kind master to his slaves. conscious cruelty was the exception. the real evils of the system were those which arose from its _un_-conscious barbarism--the natural and inevitable results of holding human beings as chattels, without right, the power of self-defence or protestation--dumb driven brutes, deprived of all volition or hope, subservient to another's will, and bereft of every motive for self-improvement as well as every opportunity to rise. the effect of this upon the dominant race was to fix in their minds, with the strength of an absorbing passion, the idea of their own innate and unimpeachable superiority, of the unalterable inferiority of the slave-race, of the infinite distance between the two, and of the depth of debasement implied by placing the two races, in any respect, on the same level. the southern mind had no antipathy to the negro in a menial or servile relation. on the contrary, it was generally kind and considerate of him, as such. it regarded him almost precisely as other people look upon other species of animate property, except that it conceded to him the possession of human passions, appetites, and motives. as a farmer likes to turn a favorite horse into a fine pasture, watch his antics, and see him roll and feed and run; as he pats and caresses him when he takes him out, and delights himself in the enjoyment of the faithful beast--just so the slave-owner took pleasure in the slave's comfort, looked with approval upon his enjoyment of the domestic relation, and desired to see him sleek and hearty, and physically well content. it was only _as a man_ that the white regarded the black with aversion; and, in that point of view, the antipathy was all the more intensely bitter since he considered the claim to manhood an intrusion upon the sacred and exclusive rights of his own race. this feeling was greatly strengthened by the course of legislation and legal construction, both national and state. many of the subtlest exertions of american intellect were those which traced and defined the line of demarcation, until there was built up between the races, _considered as men_, a wall of separation as high as heaven and as deep as hell. it may not be amiss to cite some few examples of this, which will serve at once to illustrate the feeling itself, and to show the steps in its progress. . it was held by our highest judicial tribunal that the phrase "we the people," in the declaration of independence, did not include slaves, who were excluded from the inherent rights recited therein and accounted divine and inalienable, embracing, of course, the right of self-government, which rested on the others as substantial premises. . the right or privilege, whichever it may be, of intermarriage with the dominant race was prohibited to the african in all the states, both free and slave, and, for all legal purposes, that man was accounted "colored" who had one-sixteenth of african blood. . the common-law right of self-defence was gradually reduced by legal subtlety, in the slave states, until only the merest shred remained to the african, while the lightest word of disobedience or gesture of disrespect from him, justified an assault on the part of the white man. . early in the present century it was made a crime in all the states of the south to teach a slave to read, the free blacks were disfranchised, and the most stringent restraining statutes extended over them, including the prohibition of public assembly, even for divine worship, unless a white man were present. . emancipation was not allowed except by decree of a court of record after tedious formality and the assumption of onerous responsibilities on the part of the master; and it was absolutely forbidden to be done by testament. . as indicative of the fact that this antipathy was directed against the colored man as a free agent, a man, solely, may be cited the well-known fact of the enormous admixture of the races by illicit commerce at the south, and the further fact that this was, in very large measure, consequent upon the conduct of the most refined and cultivated elements of southern life. as a thing, an animal, a mere existence, or as the servant of his desire and instrument of his advancement, the southern caucasian had no antipathy to the colored race. as one to serve, to nurse, to minister to his will and pleasure, he appreciated and approved of the african to the utmost extent. . every exercise of manly right, sentiment, or inclination, on the part of the negro, was rigorously repressed. to attempt to escape was a capital crime if repeated once or twice; to urge others to escape was also capitally punishable; to learn to read, to claim the rights of property, to speak insolently, to meet for prayer without the sanction of the white man's presence, were all offences against the law; and in this case, as in most others, the law was an index as well as the source of a public sentiment, which grew step by step with its progress in unconscious barbarity. . perhaps the best possible indication of the force of this sentiment, in its ripened and intensest state, is afforded by the course of the confederate government in regard to the proposal that it should arm the slaves. in the very crisis of the struggle, when the passions of the combatants were at fever heat, this proposition was made. there was no serious question as to the efficiency or faithfulness of the slaves. the masters did not doubt that, if armed, with the promise of freedom extended to them, they would prove most effective allies, and would secure to the confederacy that autonomy which few thoughtful men at that time believed it possible to achieve by any other means. such was the intensity of this sentiment, however, that it was admitted to be impossible to hold the southern soldiery in the field should this measure be adopted. so that the confederacy, rather than surrender a tithe of its prejudice against the negro _as a man_, rather than owe its life to him, serving in the capacity of a soldier, chose to suffer defeat and overthrow. the african might raise the food, build the breastworks, and do aught of menial service or mere manual labor required for the support of the confederacy, without objection or demurrer on the part of any; but they would rather surrender all that they had fought so long and so bravely to secure, rather than admit, even by inference, his equal manhood or his fitness for the duty and the danger of a soldier's life. it was a grand stubborness, a magnificent adherence to an adopted and declared principle, which loses nothing of its grandeur from the fact that we may believe the principle to have been erroneous. . another very striking and peculiar illustration of this sentiment is the fact that one of the most earnest advocates of the abolition of slavery, and a type of its southern opponents, the author of "the impending crisis"--a book which did more than any other to crystallize and confirm the sentiment awakened at the north by "uncle tom's cabin"--was perhaps more bitterly averse to the freedom, citizenship, and coexistence of the african with the caucasian than any man that has ever written on the subject. he differed from his slaveholding neighbors only in this: _they_ approved the african as a menial, but abominated him as a self-controlling man; _he_ abhorred him in both relations. with _them,_ the prejudice of race made the negro hateful only when he trenched on the sacred domain of their superior and self-controlling manhood; with _him,_ hatred of the race overleaped the conventional relation and included the african wherever found, however employed, or in whatsoever relation considered. his horror of the black far overtopped his ancient antipathy to the slave. the fact that he is an exception, and that the extravagant rhodomontades of "nojoque" are neither indorsed nor believed by any considerable number of the southern people, confirms most powerfully this analysis of their temper toward the african. . still another signal instance of its accuracy is the striking fact that one of the hottest political struggles since the war arose out of the proposition to give the colored man the right to testify, in courts of justice, against a white man. the objection was not bottomed on any desire to deprive the colored man of his legal rights, but had its root in the idea that it would be a degradation of the white man to allow the colored man to take the witness-stand and traverse the oath of a caucasian. now, as it relates to our story:--that this most intense and vital sentiment should find expression whenever the repressive power of the conquering people was removed was most natural; that it would be fanned into a white heat by the freedman's enfranchisement was beyond cavil; and that red wing should escape such manifestations of the general abhorrence of the work of development there going on was not to be expected, even by its most sanguine friend. although the conduct of the teachers at red wing had been such as to awaken the respect of all, yet there were two things which made the place peculiarly odious. one was the influence of eliab hill with his people in all parts of the county, which had very greatly increased since he had ceased to be a pupil, in appearance, and had betaken himself more than ever to solitude and study. the other was the continued prosperity and rugged independence of nimbus, who was regarded as a peculiarly "sassy nigger." to the malign influence of these two was attributed every difference of opinion between employer and employee, and every impropriety of conduct on the part of the freedmen of horsford. eliab was regarded as a wicked spirit who devised evil continually, and nimbus as his willing familiar, who executed his purpose with ceaseless diligence. so red wing was looked upon with distrust, and its two leading characters, unconsciously to themselves, became marked men, upon whom rested the suspicion and aversion of a whole community. chapter xxiii. an offering of first-fruits. an election was impending for members of the legislature, and there was great excitement in the county of horsford. of white republicans there were not above a half dozen who were openly known as such. there were two or three others who were regarded with some suspicion by their neighbors, among whom was hesden le moyne. since he had acted as a judge of election at the time of the adoption of the constitution, he had never been heard to express any opinion upon political matters. he was known to have voted for that constitution, and when questioned as to his reasons for such a course, had arrogantly answered, "simply because i saw fit to do so." his interrogator had not seen fit to inquire further. hesden le moyne was not a man with whom one wished to provoke a controversy. his unwillingness to submit to be catechised was generally accepted as a proof positive of his "radical" views. he had been an adviser of nimbus, his colored playmate, in the purchase of the red wing property, his interest in eliab hill had not slackened since that worthy cast in his lot with nimbus, and he did not hesitate to commend the work of the school. he had several times attended the examinations there, had become known to the teachers, and took an active interest in the movement there going on. what his personal views were in regard to the very peculiar state of affairs by which he was surrounded he had never found it necessary to declare. he attended quietly to the work of his plantation, tenderly cared for his invalid mother, and watched the growth of his little son with the seemingly settled conviction that his care was due to them rather than to the public. his counsel and assistance were still freely sought in private matters by the inhabitants of the little village of red wing, and neither was ever refused where he saw that it might do good. he was accounted by them a friend, but not a partisan, and none of them had ever discussed any political questions with him, except eliab hill, who had more than once talked with him upon the important problem of the future of that race to which the unfortunate cripple was so slightly akin and yet so closely allied. there was a large majority of colored men in the county, and one of the candidates for the legislature was a colored man. while elections were under the military control there had been no serious attempt to overcome this majority, but now it was decided that the county should be "redeemed," which is the favorite name in that section of the country for an unlawful subversion of a majority. so the battle was joined, and the conflict waged hot and fierce. that negroes--no matter how numerous they might be--should rule, should bear sway and control in the county of horsford, was a thought not by any means to be endured. it was a blow on every white cheek--an insult to every caucasian heart. men cursed wildly when they thought of it. women taunted them with cowardice for permitting it. it was the one controlling and consuming thought of the hour. on the other hand, the colored people felt that it was necessary for them to assert their newly-acquired rights if they expected to retain them. so that both parties were influenced by the strongest considerations which could possibly affect their action. red wing was one of the points around which this contest raged the hottest. although it had never become a polling precinct, and was a place of no mercantile importance, it was yet the center from which radiated the spirit that animated the colored men of the most populous district in the county. it was their place of meeting and conference. accustomed to regard their race as peculiarly dependent upon the divine aid because of the lowly position they had so long occupied, they had become habituated to associate political and religious interests. the helplessness of servitude left no room for hope except through the trustfulness of faith. the generation which saw slavery swept away, and they who have heard the tale of deliverance from the lips of those who had been slaves, will never cease to trace the hand of god visibly manifested in the events culminating in liberty, or to regard the future of the freed race as under the direct control of the divine being. for this reason the political and religious interests and emotions of this people are quite inseparable. wherever they meet to worship, there they will meet to consult of their plans, hopes, and progress, as at once a distinct race and a part of the american people. their religion is tinged with political thought, and their political thought shaped by religious conviction. in this respect the colored race in america are the true children of the covenanters and the puritans. their faith is of the same unquestioning type, which no disappointment or delay can daunt, and their view of personal duty and obligation in regard to it is not less intense than that which led men to sing psalms and utter praises on board the storm-bound "mayflower." the most english of all english attributes has, by a strange transmutation, become the leading element in the character of the africo-american. the same mixed motive of religious duty toward posterity and devotion to political liberty which peopled the bleak hills of new england and the fertile lands of canaan with peoples fleeing from bondage and oppression, may yet cover the north with dusky fugitives from the spirit and the situs of slavery. from time to time there had been political meetings held at the church or school-house, composed mainly of colored men, though now and then a little knot of white men would come in and watch their proceedings, sometimes from curiosity, and sometimes from spleen. heretofore, however, there had been no more serious interruption than some sneering remarks and derisive laughter. the colored men felt that it was their own domain, and showed much more boldness than they would ever manifest on other occasions. during this campaign, however, it was determined to have a grand rally, speeches, and a barbecue at red wing. the colored inhabitants of that section were put upon their mettle. several sheep and pigs were roasted, rude tables were spread under the trees, and all arrangements made for a great occasion. at an early hour of the day when it was announced that the meeting would be held, groups of colored people of all ages and both sexes began to assemble. they were all talking earnestly as they came, for some matter of unusual interest seemed to have usurped for the moment their accustomed lightness and jollity of demeanor. nimbus, as the most prosperous and substantial colored man of the region, had always maintained a decided leadership among them, all the more from the fact that he had sought thereby to obtain no advantage for himself. though a most ardent supporter of that party with which he deemed the interests of his race inseparably allied, he had never taken a very active part in politics, and had persistently refused to be put forward for any official position, although frequently urged to allow himself to be named a candidate. "no," he would always say; "i hain't got no larnin' an' not much sense. besides, i'se got all i kin manage, an' more too, a-takin' keer o' dis yer farm. dat's what i'm good fer. i kin manage terbacker, an' i'd ruther hev a good plantation an' run it myself, than all the offices in the worl'. i'se jes fit fer dat, an' i ain't fit fer nuffin' else." his success proved the justice of his estimate, and the more he prospered the stronger was his hold upon his people. of course, there were some who envied him his good-fortune, but such was his good-nature and readiness to render all the assistance in his power that this dangerous leaven did not spread. "bre'er nimbus" was still the heart and life of the community which had its center at red wing. his impetuosity was well tempered by the subtle caution of eliab hill, without whose advice he seldom acted in any important matter. the relations between these two men had continued singularly close, although of late eliab had been more independent of his friend's assistance than formerly; for, at the suggestion of the teachers, his parishioners had contributed little sums--a dime, a quarter, and a few a half-dollar apiece--to get him one of those wheeled chairs which are worked by the hands, and by means of which the infirm are frequently enabled to move about without other aid. it was the first time they had ever given anything to a minister of their own, and it was hard for those who had to support families upon a pittance which in other parts of the country would mean starvation; yet so many had hastened to give, that the "go-cart," as it was generally called, proved a vehicle of marvelous luxury and finish to the unaccustomed eyes of these rude children of the plantation. in this chair eliab was able to transport himself to and from the school-room, and even considerable distances among his people. this had brought him into nearer relations with them, and it was largely owing to his influence that, after northern benevolence began to restrict its gifts and to condition its benevolence upon the exercise of a self-help which should provide for a moiety of the expense, the school still continued full and prosperous, and the services of miss ainslie were retained for another year--the last she intended to give to the missionary work which accident had thrust upon her young life. already her heart was pining for the brightness and kindly cheer of the green-clad hills from which she had been exiled so long, and the friends whose hearts and arms would welcome her again to her childhood's home. on the morning of the barbecue nimbus and his household were astir betimes. upon him devolved the chief burden of the entertainment which was to be spread before his neighbors. there was an abundance of willing hands, but few who could do much toward providing the requisite material. his premises had undergone little change beyond the wide, cool, latticed walk which now led from his house to the kitchen, and thence to "uncle 'liab's" house, over which virginia-creepers and honeysuckle were already clambering in the furious haste which that quick-growing clime inspires in vegetation. a porch had also been added to his own house, up the posts and along the eaves of which the wisteria was clambering, while its pendulous, lilac flower-stems hung thick below. a few fruit-trees were planted here and there, and the oaks, which he had topped and shortened back when he cut away the forest for his house-lot, had put out new and dense heads of dark-green foliage that gave to the humble home a look of dignity and repose hardly to be matched by more ornate and costly structures. upon the north side the corn grew rank and thick up to the very walls of the mud-daubed gable, softening its rudeness and giving a charm even to the bare logs of which it was formed. lugena had grown full and matronly, had added two to her brood of lusty children, and showed what even a brief period of happiness and prosperity would do for her race as she bustled about in neat apparel with a look of supreme content on her countenance. long before the first comers from the country around had made their appearance, the preparations were completed, the morning meal cleared away, the table set in the latticed passage for the dinner of the most honored guests, the children made tidy, and nimbus, magnificently attired in clean shirt, white pants and vest, a black alpaca coat and a new panama hat, was ready to welcome the expected arrivals. eliab, too, made tidy by the loving care of his friends, was early mounted in his hand-carriage, and propelling himself here and there to meet the first comers. the barbecue was roasting under the charge of an experienced cook; the tables were arranged, and the speakers' stand at the back of the school-house in the grove was in the hands of the decorators. all was mirth and happiness. the freedmen were about to offer oblations to liberty--a sacrifice of the first-fruits of freedom. chapter xxiv. a black democritus. "_i say_, bre'er nimbus!" cried a voice from the midst of a group of those first arriving, "how yer do dis mornin'? hope yer's well, squar', you an' all de family." the speaker was a slender, loose-jointed young man, somewhat shabbily attired, with a shapeless narrow-brimmed felt hat in his hand, who was bowing and scraping with a mock solemnity to the dignitary of red wing, while his eyes sparkled with fun and his comrades roared at his comic gestures. "is dat you, berry?" said nimbus, turning, with a smile. "how yer do, berry? glad ter see ye well," nodding familiarly to the others and extending his hand. "thank ye, sah. you do me proud," said the jester, sidling towards him and bowing to the crowd with serio-comic gravity. "ladies an' gemmen, yer jes takes notice, ef yer please, dat i ain't stuck up--not a mite, i ain't, ef i _is_ pore. i'se not ashamed ter shake hands wid mr. squar' nimbus--desmit--war'. i stan's by him whatever his name, an' no matter how many he's got, ef it's more'n he's got fingers an' toes." he bowed low with a solemn wave of his grimy hat, as he shook the proffered hand, amid the laughter of his audience, with whom he seemed to be a prime favorite. "glad ter know it, berry," said nimbus, shaking the other's hand warmly, while his face glowed with evident pleasure. "how's all gittin' on wid ye, ennyhow?" "gittin' on, bre'er nimbus?" replied berry, striking an attitude. "gittin' on, did yer say? lor' bress yer soul, yer nebber seed de beat--nebber. ef yer ebber pegs out h'yer at red wing, bre'er nimbus, all yer's got ter du is jes ter come up on de kentry line whar folks _libs._ jes you look o' dar, will yer?" he continued, extending a slender arm ending in a skinny hand, the widely parted fingers of which seemed like talons, while the upturned palm was worn smooth and was of a yellowish, pallid white about the fingers' ends. "jes see de 'fec's ob high libbin' on a nigger. dar's muscle fer ye. all you needs, bre'er nimbus, is jest a few weeks ob good feed! come up dar now an' wuk a farm on sheers, an' let marse sykes 'llowance ye, an' yer'll come out like me an' git some good clothes, too! greatest place ter start up a run-down nigger yer ever seed. jes' look at me, now. when i went dar i didn't hev a rag ter my back--nary a rag, an' now jes see how i'se covered wid 'em!" there was a laugh from the crowd in which berry joined heartily, rolling his eyes and contorting his limbs so as to show in the completest manner the striking contrast between his lank, stringy, meanly-clad frame and the full, round, well-clothed form of nimbus. when the laughter had subsided he struck in again, with the art of an accomplished tease, and sidling still closer to the magnate of red wing, he said, with a queer assumption of familiarity: "an' how is yer good lady, missus lugena, an' all de babies, squar'? they tell me you're gittin' on right smart an' think of settin' up yer kerridge putty soon. jes' ez soon ez yer git it ready, sally an' me's a-comin' over ter christen it. we's cousins, yer know, squar', leastways, sally an' lugena's allus said ter be kin on the father's side--the white side ob de family, yer know. yer wouldn't go back on yer relations, would yer, nimbus? we ain't proud, not a bit proud, bre'er nimbus, an' yer ain't a gwine ter forgit us, is yer? yah, yah, yah!" there was a tinge of earnestness in this good-natured banter, but it was instantly dissipated by nimbus's reply: "not a bit of it, cousin berry. lugena charged me dis berry mornin', jes ez soon ez i seed you an' sally, ter invite ye ter help eat her big dinner to-day. whar' is sally?" "dar now," said berry, "dat's jes what i done tole sally, now. she's got a notion, kase you's rich yer's got stuck up, you an' lugena. but i tole her, sez i, 'nimbus ain't dat ar sort of a chile, nimbus hain't. he's been a heap luckier nor de rest of us, but he ain't got de big-head, nary bit.' dat's what i say, an' durn me ef i don't b'lieve it too, i does. we's been hevin' purty hard times, sally an' me hez. nebber did hev much luck, yer know--'cept for chillen. yah, yah! an' jes' dar we's hed a trifle more'n we 'zackly keered about. might hev spared a few an' got along jest ez well, 'cordin' ter my notion. den de ole woman's been kinder peaked this summer, an' some two or free ob de babies hez been right poorly, an' sal--wal, she got a leettle fretted, kase yer know we both wuks purty hard an' don't seem ter git ahead a morsel. so she got her back up, an' sez she ter me dis mornin': 'berry,' sez she, 'i ain't a gwine ter go near cousin nimbus', i ain't, kase i hain't got no fine clo'es, ner no chicken-fixing ter take ter de barbecue nuther.' so she's done stop up ter bob mosely's wid de baby, an' i t'ought i'd jes come down an' spy out de lan' an' see which on us wuz right. dat's de fac' truf, bre'er nimbus, an' no lyin". yah, yah!" "sho, sho, berry," replied nimbus, reproachfully; "what makes sally sech a big fool? she oughter be ashamed ter treat her ole fren's dat ar way." "now yer talkin', bre'er nimbus, dat you is! but la sakes! bre'er nimbus, dat ar gal hain't got no pride. why yer wouldn't b'lieve hit, but she ain't even 'shamed of berry--fac'! yah, yah! what yer tinks ob dat now?" "why, co'se she ain't," said nimbus. "don't see how she could be. yer always jes dat peart an' jolly dat nobody couldn't git put out wid yer." "tink so, bre'er nimbus? wal, now, i'shures ye dat yer couldn't be wuss mistaken ef yer'd tried. on'y jes' dis mornin' marse sykes got put out wid me jes de wus kind." "how's dat, berry?" "wal, yer see, i'se been a wukkin' fer him ebber sence de s'rrender jes de same ez afore, only dat he pays me an' i owes him. he pays me in sto' orders, an' it 'pears like i owes him mo' an' mo' ebbery time we settles up. didn't use ter be so when we lied de bureau, kase den marse sykes' 'count didn't use ter be so big; but dese las' two year sence de bureau done gone, bress god, i gits nex' ter nuffin' ez we goes 'long, an' hez less 'n nuffin' atterwards." "what wages d'ye git?" asked nimbus. "marse sykes, he sez i gits eight dollahs a month, myself, an' sally she gits fo'; an' den we hez tree pounds o' meat apiece an' a peck o' meal, each on us, ebbery week. we could git along right peart on dat--we an' de chillens, six on 'em--wid jes' a drop o' coffee now an' agin, yer know; but yer see, sally, she's a leetle onsartin an' can't allus wuk, an' it 'pears like it takes all ob my wuk ter pay fer her rations when she don't wuk. i dunno how 'tis, but dat's de way marse sykes figgers it out," "yer mus' buy a heap ob fine clo'es," said one of the bystanders. "'wall, ef i does, i leaves 'em ter home fer fear ob wearin' 'em out, don't i?" said berry, glancing at his dilapidated costume. "dat's what's de matter. i'se bad 'nough off, but yer jest orter see dem chillen! dey war's brak ebbery day jes' like a minister, yer knows--not sto' clo'es dough, oh, no! home-made all de time! mostly bar'-skins, yer know! yah, yah!" "an' yer don't drink, nuther," said one whose words and appearance clearly showed that he regarded it as a matter of surprise that any one should not. "'ceptin' only de christmas an' when some feller treats," responded berry. "p'raps he makes it outen de holidays," said a third. "dar's whar my boss sloshes it on ter me. clar ef i don't hev more holidays than dar is wuk-days, 'cordin 'ter his 'count." "holidays!" said berry; "dat's what's de matter. hain't hed but jes tree holidays 'cep' de chris'mas weeks, in all dat time. so, i 'llowed i'd take one an' come ter dis yer meetin'. wal, 'long de fust ob de week, i make bold ter tell him so, an' ebber sence dat 'pears like he's gwine ter hu't hisself, he's been so mad. i'se done tried not ter notice it, kase i'se dat solemn-like myself, yer knows, i couldn't 'ford ter take on no mo' ob dat kind; but every day or two he's been a lettin' slip somethin' 'bout niggas gaddin' roun', yer know." "that was mean," said nimbus, "kase ef yer is allus laughin' an' hollerin' roun', i'm boun' ter say dar ain't no stiddier han' in de county at enny sort ob wuk." "jes' so. much obleeged ter ye, squar', fer dat. same ter yeself 'tu. howsomever, _he_ didn't make no sech remark, not ez i heerd on, an' dis mornin' bright an' airly, he comed roun' an' axes me didn't i want ter take de carry-all and go ter lewyburg; an' when i 'llowed dat i didn't keer tu, not jes to-day, yer know, he axed me, was i comin' h'yer ter dis yer meetin', an' when i 'llowed i was, he jes' got up an' rar'd. yah, yah! how he did make de turf fly, all by hissef, kase i wur a whistlin' 'ole jim crow' an' some other nice psalm-tunes, jes' ter keep myself from larfin' in his face! till finally he sez, sez he, 'berry lawson, ef yer goes ter dat er radikil meetin', yer needn't never come back ter my plantation no mo'. yer can't stay h'yer no longer--' jes so. den i made bold ter ax him how our little 'count stood, kase we's been livin' mighty close fer a while, in hopes ter git a mite ahead so's ter sen' de two oldes' chillen ter school h'yer, 'gin winter. an' den sez he, 'count be damned!'--jes so; 'don't yer know hit's in de papers dat ef yer don't 'bey me an' wuk obedient ter my wishes, yer don't git nary cent, nohow at all?' i tole him i didn't know dat ar, and didn't reckon he did. den he out wid de paper an' read it ober ter me, an' shure 'nough, dar 'tis, dough i'll swar i nebber heerd nothin' on't afo'. nebber hed no sech ting in de papers when de bureau man drawed 'em up, dat's shuah." "how de debble yer come ter sign sech a paper, berry?" said nimbus. "dod burned ef i know, cousin nimbus. jes kase i don' know no better, i s'pose. how i gwine ter know what's in dat paper, hey? does you read all de papers yer signs, squar' nimbus? not much, i reckons; but den you keeps de minister right h'yer ter han' tu read 'em for ye. can't all ob us afford dat, bre'er nimbus." "yah, yah, dat's so!" "good for _you,_ berry!" from the crowd. "wal, yer orter hev a guardian--all on us ought, for dat matter," said nimbus; "but i don't s'pose dere's ary man in de country dat would sign sech a paper ef he know'd it, an' nobody but granville sykes that would hev thought of sech a dodge." "it's jes so in mine," said one of the bystanders. "and in mine;" "an' mine," added one and another. "and has any one else offered to turn men off for comin' here?" asked nimbus. to his surprise, he learned that two thirds the men in the crowd had been thus threatened. "jes let 'em try it!" he exclaimed, angrily. "dey dassent do it, nohow. they'll find out dat a man can't be imposed on allus, ef he _is_ pore an' black. dat dey will! i'se only jes a pore man, but i hain't enny sech mean cuss ez to stan' roun' an' see my race an' kin put on in dat ar way, i hain't." "all right, cousin nimbus, ef marse sykes turns me outen house an' home, i knows right whar i comes ter, now." "co'se yer do," said nimbus, proudly. "yer jes comes ter me an' i takes keer on ye. i needs anudder han' in de crap, ennyhow." "now, cousin nimbus, yer ain't in airnest, is yer? yer don't mean dat, pop-suah, does yer now?" asked berry anxiously. "dat i does, cousin berry! dat i does!" was the hearty response. "whoop, hurrah!" cried berry, throwing up his hat, turning a hand-spring, and catching the hat as it came down. "whar's dat sally ann? h'yeah, you fellers, clar away dar an' let me come at her. h'yer i goes now, i jes tole her dis yer bressed mornin' dat it tuk a fool fer luck. hi-yah!" he cried, executing a sommersault, and diving through the crowd he ran away. as he started off, he saw his wife walking along the road toward nimbus' house by the side of eliab hill in his rolling-chair. berry dashed back into the circle where nimbus was engaged in earnest conversation with the crowd in relation to the threats which had been made to them by their employers. "h'yer, cousin nimbus," he cried, "i done fergot ter thank ye, i was dat dar' flustered by good luck, yer know. i'se a t'ousan' times obleeged ter ye, bre'er nimbus, jes' a t'ousan' times, an' h'yer's sally ann, right outside on de road h'yer, she'll be powerful glad ter hear on't. i'd jes ez lief wuk fer you as a white man, bre'er nimbus. i ain't proud, i ain't! yah! yah!" he dragged nimbus through the crowd to intercept his wife, crying out as soon as they came near: "h'yer, you sally ann, what yer tinks now? h'yer's bre'er nimbus sez dat ef dat ole cuss, marse sykes, should happen ter turn us off, he's jest a gwine ter take us in bag an' baggage, traps, chillen and calamities, an' gib us de bes' de house affo'ds, an' wuk in de crap besides. what yer say now, you sally ann, ain't yer 'shamed fer what yer sed 'bout bre'er nimbus only dis yere mornin'?" "dat i be, cousin nimbus," said sally, turning a comely but careworn face toward nimbus, and extending her hand with a smile. "bre'er 'liab was jest a-tellin' me what a fool i was ter ever feel so toward jes de bes' man in de kentry, ez he sez." "an' i be damned ef he ain't right, too," chimed in berry. "sho, you berry. ain't yer'shamed now--usin' cuss-words afore de minister!" said sally. "beg yer parding, bre'er hill," said berry, taking off his hat, and bowing with mock solemnity to that worthy. "hit's been sech a long time sence sunday come ter our house dat i nigh 'bout forgot my 'ligion." "an' yer manners too," said sally briskly, turning from her conversation with nimbus. "jes so, bre'er hill, but yer see i was dat ar flustered by my ole woman takin' on so 'bout dat ar sneakin' cuss ob a marse sykes a turnin' on us off, dat i hardly knowed which from todder, an' when cousin nimbus 'greed ter take me up jes de minnit he dropped me down, hit kinder tuk me off my whoopendickilar, yer know." chapter xxv. a double-headed argument. the attempt to prevent the attendance of voters at the meeting, showing as it did a preconcerted purpose and design on the part of the employers to use their power as such, to overcome their political opponents, was the cause of great indignation at the meeting, and gave occasion for some flights of oratory which would have fallen upon dull ears but for the potent truth on which they were based. even the cool and cautious eliab hill could not restrain himself from an allusion to the sufferings of his people when he was raised upon the platform, still sitting in his rolling-chair, and with clasped hands and reverent face asked god's blessing upon the meeting about to be held. especially angry was our friend nimbus about this attempt to deprive his race of the reasonable privileges of a citizen. perhaps the fact that he was himself a proprietor and employer rendered him still more jealous of the rights of his less fortunate neighbors. the very immunity which he had from any such danger no doubt emboldened him to express his indignation more strongly, and after the regular speeches had been made he mounted the platform and made a vigorous harangue upon the necessity of maintaining the rights which had been conferred upon them by the chances of war. "we's got ter take keer ob ourselves," said he. "de guv'ment hez been doin' a heap for us. it's gin us ourselves, our wives, our chillen, an' a chance ter du fer ourselves an' fer dem; an' now we's got ter du it. ef we don't stan' togedder an' keep de white folks from a-takin' away what we's got, we nebber gits no mo'. in fac', we jes goes back'ards instead o' forrards till yer can't tell de difference twixt a free nigger an' a rale ole time slave. dat's my 'pinion, an' i say now's de time ter begin--jes when dey begins. ef a man turns off ary single one fer comin' ter dis meetin' evr'y han' dat is ter wuk for him oughter leave him to once an' nary colored man ought ter do a stroke ob wuk fer him till he takes 'em back." loud cheers greeted this announcement, but one old white-headed man arose and begged leave to ask him a question, which being granted, he said: "now, feller citizens, i'se been a listenin' ter all dat's been said here to-day, an' i'm jest ez good a 'publikin ez enny ub de speakers. yer all knows dat. but i can't fer de life ob me see how we's gwine ter carry out sech advice. ef we leave one man, how's we gwine ter git wuk wid anodder? an' ef we does, ain't it jest a shiftin' ub han's? does it make ary difference--at least enough ter speak on--whether a white man hez his wuk done by one nigger er another?" "but," said nimbus, hotly, "we oughtn't ter _none_ on us wuk fer him." "then," said the old man, "what's we ter do fer a libbin'? here's half er two thirds ob dis crowd likely ter be turned off afore to-morrer night. now what's yer gwine ter do 'bout it? we's got ter lib an' so's our wives an' chillens? how's we gwine ter s'port dem widout home or wuk?" "let them git wuk wid somebody else, that's all," said nimbus. "yes, bre'er nimbus, but who's a-gwine ter s'port 'em while we's waitin' fer de white folks ter back down, i wants ter know?" "i will," said nimbus, proudly. "i hain't no manner ob doubt," said the other, "dat bre'er nimbus'll do de berry bes' dat he can in sech a case, but he must 'member dat he's only one and we's a great many. he's been mighty fortinit an' i'se mighty glad ter know it; but jes s'pose ebbery man in de county dat hires a han' should turn him off kase he comes ter dis meetin' an' goes ter 'lection, what could bre'er nimbus du towards a feedin' on us? ob co'se, dey's got ter hev wuk in de crop, but you mus' member dat when de 'lection comes off de crap's all laid by, an' der ain't no mo' pressin' need fer wuk fer months ter come. now, how's we gwine ter lib during dat time? whar's we gwine ter lib? de white folks kin stan' it--dey's got all dey wants--but we can't. now, what's we gwine ter do? jest ez long ez de guv'ment stood by us an' seed dat we hed a fa'r show, we could stan' by de guv'ment. i'se jest ez good a 'publikin ez ennybody h'yer, yer all knows dat; but i hain't a gwine ter buck agin impossibles, i ain't. i'se got a sick wife an' five chillen. i ain't a gwine ter bring 'em nex' do' ter starvation 'less i sees some use in it. now, i don't see no use in dis h'yer notion, not a bit. ef de white folks hez made up der minds--an' hit seems ter me dey hez--dat cullu'd folks shan't vote 'less dey votes wid dem, we mout jest ez well gib up fust as las'!" "nebber! nebber, by god!" cried nimbus, striding across the platform, his hands clenched and the veins showing full and round on neck and brow. the cry was echoed by nearly all present. shouts, and cheers, and groans, and hisses rose up in an indistinguishable roar. "put him out! down wid him!" with other and fiercer cries, greeted the old man's ears. those around him began to jostle and crowd upon him. already violent hands were upon him, when eliab hill dashed up the inclined plane which had been made for his convenience, and, whirling himself to the side of nimbus, said, as he pointed with flaming face and imperious gesture to the hustling and boisterous crowd about the old man, "stop that!" in an instant nimbus was in the midst of the swaying crowd, his strong arms dashing right and left until he stood beside the now terrified remonstrant. "dar, dar, boys, no mo' ob dat," he cried, as he pushed the howling mass this way and that. "jes you listen ter bre'er 'liab. don't yer see he's a talkin' to yer?" he said, pointing to the platform where eliab sat with upraised hand, demanding silence. when silence was at last obtained he spoke with more earnestness and power than was his wont, pleading for moderation and thoughtfulness for each other, and a careful consideration of their surroundings. "there is too much truth," he said, "in all that has been said here to-day. brother nimbus is right in saying that we must guard our rights and privileges most carefully, if we would not lose them. the other brother is right, too, in saying that but few of us can exercise those privileges if the white men stand together and refuse employment to those who persist in voting against them. it is a terrible question, fellow-citizens, and one that it is hard to deal with. every man should do his duty and vote, and act as a citizen whenever called upon to do so, for the sake of his race in the future. we should not be weakly and easily driven from what has been gained for us. we may have to suffer--perhaps to fight and die; but our lives are nothing to the inheritance we may leave our children. "at the same time we should not grow impatient with our brethren who cannot walk with us in this way. i believe that we shall win from this contest the supreme seal of our race's freedom. it may not come in our time, but it will be set on the foreheads of our children. at all events, we must work together, aid each other, comfort each other, stand by each other. god has taught us patience by generations of suffering and waiting, and by the light which came afterwards. we should not doubt him now. let us face our danger like men; overcome it if we may, and if not, bow to the force of the storm and gather strength, rooting ourselves deep and wide while it blows, in order that we may rise erect and free when it shall have passed. "but above all things there must be no disagreement. the colored people must stand or fall together. those who have been as fortunate as our brother nimbus may breast the tempest, and we must all struggle on and up to stand beside them. it will not do to weakly yield or rashly fight. remember that our people are on trial, and more than mortal wisdom is required of us by those who have stood our friends. let us show them that we are men, not only in courage to do and dare, but also to wait and suffer. let the young and strong, and those who have few children, who have their own homes or a few months' provision, let them bid defiance to those who would oppress us; but let us not require those to join us who are not able or willing to take the worst that may come. remember that while others have given us freedom, we must work and struggle and wait for liberty--that liberty which gives as well as receives, self-supporting, self-protecting, holding the present and looking to the future with confidence. we must be as free of the employer as we are of the master--free of the white people as they are of us. it will be a long, hard struggle, longer and harder than we have known perhaps; but as god lives, we shall triumph if we do but persevere with wisdom and patience, and trust in him who brought us up out of the egypt of bondage and set before our eyes the canaan of liberty." the effect of this address was the very opposite of what eliab had intended. his impassioned references to their imperilled liberty, together with his evident apprehension of even greater danger than was then apparent, accorded so poorly with his halting counsel for moderation that it had the effect to arouse the minds of his hearers to resist such aggression even at every risk. so decided was this feeling that the man whom nimbus had just rescued from the rudeness of those about him and who had been forgotten during the remarks of the minister, now broke forth and swinging his hat about his head, shouted: "three cheers for 'liab hill! an' i tells yer what, brudderin', dat ef dis yer is ter be a fight fer takin' keer ob de freedom we's got, i'se in fer it as fur ez ennybody. we must save the crap that's been made, ef we don't pitch ary other one in our day at all. them's my notions, an' i'll stan' by 'em--er die by 'em ef wust comes ter wust." then there was a storm of applause, some ringing resolutions were adopted, and the meeting adjourned to discuss the barbecue and talk patriotism with each other. there was much clamor and boasting. the candidates, in accordance with a time-honored custom in that region, had come prepared to treat, and knowing that no liquor could be bought at red wing, had brought a liberal supply, which was freely distributed among the voters. on account of the large majority of colored voters in this country, no attempt had previously been made to influence them in this manner, so that they were greatly excited by this threat of coercion. of course, they talked very loud, and many boasts were made, as to what they would do if the white people persisted in the course indicated. there was not one, however, who in his drunkest moment threatened aught against their white neighbors unless they were unjustly debarred the rights which the law conferred upon them. they wanted "a white man's chance." that was all. there was no such resolution passed, but it was generally noised abroad that the meeting had resolved that any planter who discharged a hand for attending that meeting would have the privilege of cutting and curing his tobacco without help. as this was the chief crop of the region, and one admitting of no delay in its harvesting and curing, it was thought that this would prove a sufficient guaranty of fair treatment. however, a committee was appointed to look after this matter, and the day which had seemed to dawn so inauspiciously left the colored voters of that region more united and determined than they had ever been before. chapter xxvi. taken at his word it was past midnight of the day succeeding the meeting, when nimbus was awakened by a call at his front gate. opening the door he called out: "who's dar?" "nobody but jes we uns, bre'er nimbus," replied the unmistakable voice of berry. "h'yer we is, bag an' baggage, traps an' calamities, jest ez i tole yer. call off yer dogs, ef yer please, an' come an' 'scort us in as yer promised. h'yer we is--sally an' me an' bob an' mariar an' bill an' jim an' sally junior--an' fo' god i can't get fru de roll-call alone. sally, you jest interduce cousin nimbus ter de rest ob dis family, will yer?" sure enough, on coming to the gate, nimbus found berry and sally there with their numerous progeny, several bundles of clothing and a few household wares. "why, what does dis mean, berry?" he asked. "mean? yah, yah!" said the mercurial berry. "wal now, ain't dat cool? h'yer he axes me ter come ter his house jest ez soon ez ever marse granville routs us offen his plantation, an' ez soon's ever we comes he wants ter know what it means! how's dat fer cousinin', eh? now don't yer cry, sally ann. jes yer wait till i tell cousin nimbus de circumstanshuels an' see ef he don't ax us inside de gate." "oh, cousin nimbus," said sally, weeping piteously, "don't yer go ter fault us now--don't please. hit warn't our fault at all; leastways we didn't mean it so. i did tell berry he'd better stay an' du what marse sykes wanted him ter, 'stead of comin' tu der meetin', an' my mind misgive me all day kase he didn't. but i didn't look for no sech bad luck as we've hed." "come in, come in, gal," said nimbus, soothingly, as he opened the gate, "an' we'll talk it all ober in de mornin'." "oh, der ain't nuffin' mo' to be told, squar'," said berry, "on'y when we done got home we foun' dis yer truck outdoors in the road, an' dechillen at a neighbor's cryin' like de mischief. de house was locked up an' nailed up besides. i went down ter marse sykes' an' seed him, atter a gret while, but he jes sed he didn't know nothin' 'bout it, only he wanted the house fer somebody ez 'ud wuk when he tole 'em tu, instead ub gaddin' roun' ter p'litcal meetins; an' ez my little traps happened ter be in de way he'd jes sot'em inter de big-road, so dey'd be handy when i come ter load 'em on ter take away. so we jes take de lightest on 'em an' de chillen an' corned on ter take up quarters wid you cordin' ter de 'rangement we made yesterday." "dat's all right; jes right," said nimbus; "but i don't understand it quite. do yer mean ter say dat marse sykes turn you uns offen his plantation while you'se all away, jes kase yer come ter de meetin' yesterday?" "nuffin' else in de libbin yairth. jes put us out an' lock de do' an' nailed up de winders, an' lef de tings in de big-road." "but didn't yer leave the house locked when you came here?" "nary bit. nebber lock de do' at all. got no lock, ner key, ner nuffin' ter steal ub enny account ef enny body should want ter break in. so what i lock de do' fer? jes lef de chillen wid one ob de neighbors, drawed do' tu, an' comes on. dat's all." "an' he goes in an' takes de tings out? we'll hab de law ob him; dat we will, berry. de law'll fotch him, pop sure. dey can't treat a free man dat 'ere way no mo', specially sence de constooshunel 'mendments. dat dey can't." so berry became an inmate of castle nimbus, and the next day that worthy proprietor went over to louisburg to lay the matter before captain pardee, who was now a practising lawyer in that city. he returned at night and found berry outside the gate with a banjo which he accounted among the most precious of his belongings, entertaining a numerous auditory with choice selections from an extensive repertory. berry was a consummate mimic as well as an excellent singer, and his fellows were never tired either of his drolleries or his songs. few escaped his mimicry, and nothing was too sacred for his wit. when nimbus first came in sight, he was convulsing his hearers by imitating a well-known colored minister of the county, giving out a hymn in the most pompous manner. "de congregashun will now rise an' sing, ef yer please, the free hundred an' ferty-ferd _hime._" thereupon he began to sing: "sinner-mans will yer go to de high lans' o' hebben, whar de sto'ms nebber blow an' de mild summer's gibben? will yer go? will yer go? will yer go, sinner-mans? oh, say. sinner-mans, will yer go?" then, seeing nimbus approach, he changed at once to a political song. "de brack man's gittin' awful rich the people seems ter fear, alt'ough he 'pears to git in debt a little ebbery year. ob co'se he gits de biggest kind ob wages ebbery day, but when he comes to settle up dey dwindles all away. "den jes fork up de little tax dat's laid upon de poll. it's jes de tax de state exac's fer habben ob a soul!" "yer got no lan', yer got no cash, yer only got some debts; yer couldn't take de bankrupt law 'cos ye hain't got no 'assets.' de chillen dey mus' hev dere bread; de mudder's gettin' ole, so darkey, you mus' skirmish roun' an' pay up on yer poll." "den jes fork up de little tax, etc. "yer know's yer's wuked dis many a year. to buy de land for 'marster,' an' now yer orter pay de tax so't he kin hold it faster. he wuks one acre 'n ebbery ten, de odders idle stan'; so pay de tax upon _yo're_ poll an' take it off _his_ lan'. "den jes fork up de little tax, etc. "oh! dat's de song dat some folks sing! say, how d'y'e like de soun'? dey say de pore man orter pay for walkin' on de groun"! when cullud men was slaves, yer know', 'twas drefful hard to tax 'em; but jes de minnit dat dey's free, god save us! how dey wax 'em! "den jes fork up de little tax, etc." "what you know 'bout poll-tax, berry?" asked nimbus, good-naturedly, when the song was ended. "yer hain't turned politician, hez yer?" "what i know 'bout poll-tax, squar' nimbus? dat what yer ax? gad! i knows all 'bout 'em, dat i do, from who tied de dog loose. who'se a better right, i'd like ter know? i'se paid it, an' ole marse sykes hes paid it for me; an' den i'se hed ter pay him de tax an' half a dollah for 'tendin' ter de biznis for me. an' den, one time i'se been 'dicted for not payin' it, an' marse sykes tuk it up, an' i hed ter wuk out de tax an' de costs besides. den i'se hed ter wuk de road ebbery yeah some eight er ten days, an' den wuk nigh 'bout ez many more fer my grub while i wuz at it. oh, i knows 'bout poll-tax, i does! dar can't nobody tell a nigger wid five er six chillen an' a sick wife, dat's a wukkin' by de yeah an' a gettin' his pay in ole clo'es an' orders--dar can't nobody teach _him_ nothin' 'bout poll-tax, honey!" there was a laugh at this which showed that his listeners agreed fully with the views he had expressed. the efforts to so arrange taxation as to impose as large a burden as possible upon the colored man, immediately after his emancipation, were very numerous and not unfrequently extremely subtle. the black codes, which were adopted by the legislatures first convened under what has gone into history as the "johnsonian" plan of reconstruction, were models of ingenious subterfuge. among those which survived this period was the absurd notion of a somewhat onerous poll-tax. that a man who had been deprived of every benefit of government and of all means of self-support or acquisition, should at once be made the subject of taxation, and that a failure to list and pay such tax should be made an indictable offense, savored somewhat of the ludicrous. it seemed like taxing the privilege of poverty. indeed, the poor men of the south, including the recent slaves, were in effect compelled to pay a double poll-tax. the roads of that section are supported solely by the labor of those living along their course. the land is not taxed, as in other parts of the country, for the support of those highways the passability of which gives it value; but the poor man who travels over it only on foot must give as much of his labor as may be requisite to maintain it. this generally amounts to a period ranging from six to ten days of work per annum. in addition to this, he is required to pay a poll-tax, generally about two dollars a year, which is equivalent to at least one fourth of a month's pay. during both these periods he must board himself. so it may safely be estimated that the average taxes paid by a colored man equals one half or two thirds of a month's wages, even when he has not a cent of property, and only maintains his family by a constant miracle of effort which would be impossible but for the harsh training which slavery gave and which is one of the beneficent results of that institution. if he refuses to work the road, or to pay or list the poll-tax, he may be indicted, fined, and his labor sold to the highest bidder, precisely as in the old slave-times, to discharge the fine and pay the tax and costs of prosecution. there is a grim humor about all this which did not fail to strike the colored man and induce him to remark its absurdity, even when he did not formulate its actual character. a thousand things tend to enhance this absurdity and seeming oppression which the imagination of the thoughtful reader will readily supply. one is the self evident advantage which this state of things gives to the landowners. by it they are enabled to hold large tracts of land, only a small portion of which is cultivated or used in any manner. by refusing to sell on reasonable terms and in small parcels, they compel the freedmen to accept the alternative of enormous rents and oppressive terms, since starvation is the only other that remains to them. the men who framed these laws were experts in legislation and adepts in political economy. it would perhaps be well for countries which are to-day wrestling with the question: "what shall we do with our poor?" to consider what was the answer the south made to this same inquiry. there were four millions of people who owned no property. they were not worth a dollar apiece. of lands, tenements and hereditaments they had none. life, muscle, time, and the clothes that conceal nakedness were their only estate. but they were rich in "days' works." they had been raised to work and liked it. they were accustomed to lose _all_ their earnings, and could be relied on to endure being robbed of a part, and hardly know that they were the subject of a new experiment in governmental ways and means. so, the dominant class simply taxed the possibilities of the freedman's future, and lest he should by any means fail to recognize the soundness of this demand for tribute and neglect to regard it as a righteous exemplification of the word, which declares that "from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath," they frugally provided: . that the ignorant or inept citizen neglecting to list his poll for taxation should be liable to indictment and fine for such refusal or neglect. . that if unable to pay such tax and fine and the costs of prosecution, he should be imprisoned and his labor sold to the highest bidder until this claim of the state upon his poverty should be fully redeemed. . that the employer should be liable to pay the personal taxes of his employees, and might recoup himself from any wages due to said hirelings or to become due. . to add a further safeguard, in many instances they made the exercise of the elective franchise dependent upon the payment of such tax. should the effete monarchies of the old world ever deign to glance at our civil polity, they will learn that taxation is the only sure and certain cure for pauperism, and we may soon look for their political economists to render thanks to the "friends" of the former slave for this discovery of a specific for the most ancient of governmental ills! the song that has been given shows one of the views which a race having little knowledge of political economy took of this somewhat peculiar but perhaps necessary measure of governmental finance. the group broke up soon after nimbus arrived, and berry, following him upon the porch said, as he laid his banjo in the window: "wal, an' what did de cap'n say 'bout my case 'gin marse granville sykes?" "he said you could indict him, an' hev him fined by de court ef he turned yer off on 'count ob yer perlitical principles." "bully fer de cap'n!" said berry, "dat's what i'll do, straight away. yah, yah! won't dat er be fun, jes makin' ole mahs'r trot up ter de lick-log fer meanness ter a nigger? whoop! h'yer she goes!" and spreading his hands he made "a cart-wheel" and rolled on his outstretched hands and feet half way to the gate, and then turned a handspring back again, to show his approval of the advice given by the attorney. "an' he says," continued nimbus, who had looked seriously on at his kinsman's antics, "dat yer can sue him an' git yer wages fer de whole year, ef yer kin show dat he put yer off widout good reason." "der ain't no mite ob trouble 'bout dat ar, nary mite," said berry, confidently. "you knows what sort uv a wuk-hand i is in de crap, bre'er nimbus?" "yes, i knows dat," was the reply; "but de cap'n sez dat it mout take two or tree year ter git dese cases fru de court, an' dar must, of co'se, be a heap ob cost an' trouble 'bout 'em." "an' he's right tu', bre'er nimbus," said berry seriously. "dat's so, berry," answered nimbus, "an' on account ob dat, an' der fac' dat yer hain't got no money an' can't afford ter resk de wages dat yer family needs ter lib on, an' 'cause 'twould make smart ob feelin' an' yer don't stan' well fer a fa'r show afore de court an' jury, kase of yer color, _he_ sez yer'd better jes thank de lo'd fer gittin' off ez well ez yer hev, an' try ter look out fer breakers in de futur. he sez ez how it's all wrong an' hard an' mean an' all dat, but he sez, tu, dat yer ain't in no sort ob fix ter make a fight on't wid marse sykes. now, what _you_ think, berry?" the person addressed twirled his narrow-brimmed felt hat upon his finger for a time and then said, looking suddenly up at the other: "uncle nimbus, berry's right smart ob a fool, but damn me ef i don't b'lieve de cap'n's in de right on't. what you say, now?" nimbus had seated himself and was looking toward the darkening west with a gloomy brow. after a moment's silence he said: "i'se mighty feared yer both right, bre'er berry. but it certain ar' a mighty easy way ter git wuk fer nothin', jes ter wait till de crap's laid by an' den run a man off kase he happens ter go ter a political meetin'! 'pears like tain't _much_ more freedom dan we hed in ole slave-times." "did it ebber'ccur ter you. uncle nimbus," said berry, very thoughtfully, "dat dis yer ting _freedom_ waz a durn curus affair fer we cullud people, ennyhow?" "did it ever? wal, now, i should tink it hed, an' hit 'ccurs ter me now dat it's growin' quarer an' quarer ebbery day. though i'se had less on't ter bear an' puzzle over than a-most enny on ye, dat i hez, i don't know whar it'll wuk out. 'liab sez de lord's a doin' his own wuk in his own way, which i 'specs is true; but hit's a big job, an' he's got a quare way ob gittin' at it, an' seems ter be a-takin' his own time fer it, tu. dat's my notion." it was no doubt childish for these two simple-minded colored men to take this gloomy view of their surroundings and their future. they should have realized that the fact that their privileges were insecure and their rights indefensible was their own misfortune, perhaps even their fault. they should have remembered that the susceptibilities of that race among whom their lot had been cast by the compulsion of a strange providence, were such as to be greatly irritated by anything like a manly and independent exercise of rights by those who had been so long accounted merely a superior sort of cattle. they should not have been at all surprised to find their race helpless and hopeless before the trained and organized power of the whites, controlled by the instinct of generations and animated by the sting of defeat. all this should have been clear and plain to them, and they should have looked with philosophic calmness on the abstract rights which the nation had conferred and solemnly guaranteed to them, instead of troubling themselves about the concrete wrongs they fancied they endured. why should berry lawson care enough about attending a political meeting to risk provoking his employer's displeasure by so doing; or why, after being discharged, should he feel angry at the man who had merely enforced the words of his own contract? he was a free man; he signed the contract, and the courts were open to him as they were to others, if he was wronged. what reason was there for complaint or apprehension, on his part? yet many a wiser head than that of berry lawson, or even that of his more fortunate kinsman, the many-named nimbus, has been sorely puzzled to understand how ignorance and poverty and inexperience should maintain the right, preserve and protect themselves against opposing wisdom, wealth and malicious skill, according to the spirit and tenor of the reconstruction acts. but it is a problem which ought to trouble no one, since it has been enacted and provided by the nation that all such persons shall have all the rights and privileges of citizens. that should suffice. however, the master-key to the feeling which these colored men noted and probed in their quiet evening talk was proclaimed aloud by the county newspaper which, commenting on the meeting at red wing and the dismissal of a large number of colored people who attended it in opposition to the wish of their employers, said: "our people are willing that the colored man should have all his rights of _person_ and of _property_; we desire to promote his _material_ welfare; but when he urges his claim to political right, he offers a flagrant insult to the white race. we have no sympathy to waste on negro-politicians or those who sympathize with and encourage them." [footnote: taken from the patriot-democrat, clinton, la., oct .] the people of horsford county had borne a great deal from negro-domination. new men had come into office by means of colored votes, and the old set to whom office had become a sort of perquisite were deprived thereby of this inherited right. the very presence of nimbus and a few more who like him were prosperous, though in a less degree, had been a constant menace to the peace of a community which looked with peculiar jealousy upon the colored man in his new estate. this might have been endured with no evil results had their prosperity been attended with that humility which should characterize a race so lately lifted from servitude to liberty. it was the "impudent" assertion of their "rights" that so aggravated and enraged the people among whom they dwelt. it was not so much the fact of their having valuable possessions, and being entitled to pay for their labor, that was deemed such an outrage on the part of the colored race, but that they should openly and offensively use those possessions to assert those rights and continually hold language which only "white men" had a right to use. this was more than a community, educated as the southerners had been, could be expected peaceably to endure. as a farmer, a champion tobacco-grower and curer, as the most prosperous man of his race in that section, horsford was not without a certain pride in nimbus; but when he asserted the right of his people to attend a political meeting without let or hindrance, losing only from their wages as hirelings the price of the time thus absent, he was at once marked down as a "dangerous" man. and when it was noised abroad that he had proposed that all the colored men of the county should band together to protect themselves against this evil, as he chose to regard it, he was at once branded not only as "dangerous" but as a "desperate" and "pestiferous" nigger, instead of being considered merely "sassy," as theretofore. so this meeting and its results had the effect to make nimbus far more active in political matters than he had ever been before, since he honestly believed that their rights could only be conserved by their political co-operation. to secure this he travelled about the country all the time he could spare from his crop, visiting the different plantations and urging his political friends to stand firm and not be coaxed or driven away from the performance of their political duty. by this means he became very "obnoxious" to the "best people" of horsford, and precipitated a catastrophe that might easily have been avoided had he been willing to enjoy his own good fortune, instead of clamoring about the collective rights of his race. chapter xxvii. motes in the sunshine. mollie ainslie's third year of teacher's life was drawing near its close. she had promised her brother to remain at the south during that time in order that she might escape the perils of their native climate. she was of vigorous constitution but of slight build, and he dreaded lest the inherited scourge should take an ineradicable hold upon her system. she had passed her school-girl life with safety; but he rightly judged that a few years in the genial climate where she then was would do very much toward enabling her to resist the approaches of disease. the work in which she had been engaged had demanded all her energies and commanded all her devotion. commencing with the simplest of rudimentary training she had carried some of her pupils along until a fair english education had been achieved. one of these pupils had already taken the place vacated a few months before by lucy ellison, since which time mollie had occupied alone the north rooms of the old hostelry--a colored family who occupied the other portion serving as protectors, and bringing her meals to her own apartments. a friend had spent a portion of this time with her, a schoolmate whose failing health attested the wisdom of the condition her dying brother had imposed in regard to herself. as the warm weather approached this friend had returned to her new england home, and mollie ainslie found herself counting the days when she might also take her flight. her work had not grown uninteresting, nor had she lost any of her zeal for the unfortunate race she had striven to uplift; but her heart was sick of the terrible isolation that her position forced upon her. she had never once thought of making companions, in the ordinary sense, of those for whom she labored. they had been so entirely foreign to her early life that, while she labored unremittingly for their advancement and entertained for many of them the most affectionate regard, there was never any inclination to that friendly intimacy which would have been sure to arise if her pupils had been of the same race as herself. she recognized their right most fully to careful and polite consideration; she had striven to cultivate among them gentility of deportment; but she had longed with a hungry yearning for friendly white faces, and the warm hands and hearts of friendly associates. her chief recreation in this impalpable loneliness--this chillon of the heart in which she had been bound so long--was in daily rides upon her horse, midnight. even in her new england home she had been passionately fond of a horse, and while at school had been carefully trained in horsemanship, being a prime favorite with the old french riding-master who had charge of that branch of education in the seminary of her native town. midnight, coming to her from the dying hand of her only brother, had been to her a sacred trust and a pet of priceless value. all her pride and care had centered upon him, and never had horse received more devoted attention. as a result, horse and rider had become very deeply attached to each other. each knew and appreciated the other's good qualities and varying moods. for many months the petted animal had shown none of that savageness with which his owner had before been compelled occasionally to struggle. he had grown sleek and round, but had lost his viciousness, so far as she was concerned, and obeyed her lightest word and gesture with a readiness that had made him a subject of comment in the country around, where the "yankee school-marm" and her black horse had become somewhat noted. there was one road that had always been a favorite with the horse from the very first. whenever he struck that he pressed steadily forward, turning neither to the right or left until he came to a rocky ford five miles below, which his rider had never permitted him to cross, but from which he was always turned back with difficulty--at first with a troublesome display of temper, and at the last, with evident reluctance. it was in one of her most lonely moods, soon after the incidents we have just narrated, that mollie ainslie set out on one of her customary rides. in addition to the depression which was incident to her own situation, she was also not a little disturbed by the untoward occurrences affecting those for whom she had labored so long. she had never speculated much in regard to the future of the freedmen, because she had considered it as assured. growing to womanhood in the glare of patriotic warfare, she had the utmost faith in her country's honor and power. to her undiscriminating mind the mere fact that this honor and power were pledged to the protection and elevation of the negro had been an all-sufficient guarantee of the accomplishment of that pledge. in fact, to her mind, it had taken on the reality and certainty of a fact already accomplished. she had looked forward to their prosperity as an event not to be doubted. in her view nimbus and eliab hill were but feeble types of what the race would "in a few brief years" accomplish for itself. she believed that the prejudice that prevailed against the autonomy of the colored people would be suppressed, or prevented from harmful action by the national power, until the development of the blacks should have shown them to be of such value in the community that the old-time antipathy would find itself without food to exist upon longer. she had looked always upon the rosy side, because to her the country for which her brother and his fellows had fought and died was the fairest and brightest thing upon earth. there might be spots upon the sun's face, but none were possible upon her country's escutcheon. so she had dreamed and had fondly pictured herself as doing both a patriot's and a christian's duty in the work in which she had been engaged. she felt less of anger and apprehension with regard to the bitter and scornful whites than of pity and contempt for them, because they could not appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the nation of which they were an unwilling part, and of the future that lay just before. she regarded all there had been of violence and hate as the mere puerile spitefulness of a subjugated people. she had never analyzed their condition or dreamed that they would ever be recognized as a power which might prove dangerous either to the freedman's rights or to the nation itself. the recent events had opened her eyes. she found that, unknown to herself, knowledge had forced itself upon her mind. as by a flash the fact stood revealed to her consciousness that the colored man stood alone. the nation had withdrawn its arm. the flag still waved over him, but it was only as a symbol of sovereignty renounced--of power discarded. naked privileges had been conferred, but the right to enforce their recognition had been abandoned. the weakness and poverty of the recent slave was pitted alone and unaided against the wealth and power and knowledge of the master. it was a revelation of her own thought to herself, and she was stunned and crushed by it. she was no statesman, and did not comprehend anything of those grand policies whose requirements over-balance all considerations of individual right--in comparison with which races and nations are but sands upon the shore of time. she little realized how grand a necessity lay at the back of that movement which seemed to her so heartless and inexcusable. she knew, of course, vaguely and weakly, that the fathers made a constitution on which our government was based. she did not quite understand its nature, which was very strange, since she had often heard it expounded, and as a matter of duty had read with care several of those books which tell us all about it. she had heard it called by various names in her far new england home by men whom she loved and venerated, and whose wisdom and patriotism she could not doubt. they had called it "a matchless inspiration" and "a mass of compromises;" "the charter of liberty" and "a league with hell;" "the tocsin of liberty" and "the manacle of the slave." she felt quite sure that nobler-minded, braver-hearted men than those who used these words had never lived, yet she could not understand the thing of which they spoke so positively and so passionately. she did not question the wisdom or the patriotism of the fathers who had propounded this enigma. she thought they did the best they knew, and knew the best that was at that time to be known. she had never _quite_ believed them to be inspired, and she was sure they had no models to work after. greece and rome were not republics in the sense of our day, and in their expanded growth did not profess to be, at any time; switzerland and san marino were too limited in extent to afford any valuable examples; venice while professedly a republic had been as unique and inimitable as her own island home. then there were a few experiments here and there, tentative movements barren of results, and that was all that the civilized world had to offer of practical knowledge of democracy at that time. beyond this were the speculations of philosophers and the dreams of poets. or perhaps the terms should be reversed, for the dreams were oft-times more real and consistent than the lucubrations. from these she did not doubt that our ancient sages took all the wisdom they could gather and commingled it with the riper knowledge of their own harsh experience. but yet she could not worship the outcome. she knew that franklin was a great man and had studied electricity very profoundly, for his day; but there are ten thousand unnoted operators to-day who know more of its properties, power and management than he ever dreamed of. she did not know but it might be so with regard to free government. the silly creature did not know that while the world moves in all things else, it stands still or goes backward in governmental affairs. she never once thought that while in science and religion humanity is making stupendous strides, in government as in art, it turns ever to the model of the antique and approves the wisdom only of the ancient. so it was that she understood nothing of the sacredness of right which attaches to that impalpable and indestructible thing, a state of the american union--that immortal product of mortal wisdom, that creature which is greater than its creator, that part which is more than the whole, that servant which is lord and master also. if she had been given to metaphysical researches, she would have found much pleasure in tracing the queer involutions of that network of wisdom that our forefathers devised, which their sons have labored to explain, and of which the sword had already cut some of the more difficult knots. not being a statesman or a philosopher, she could only wonder and grow sad in contemplating the future that she saw impending over those for whom she had labored so long. chapter xxviii. in the path of the storm. while mollie ainslie thought of these things with foreboding, her steed had turned down his favorite road, and was pressing onward with that persistency which characterizes an intelligent horse having a definite aim in view. the clouds were gathering behind her, but she did not notice them. the horse pressed on and on. closer and closer came the storm. the road grew dark amid the clustering oaks which overhung its course. the thunder rolled in the distance and puffs of wind tossed the heavy-leafed branches as though the trees begged for mercy from the relentless blast. a blinding flash, a fierce, sharp peal, near at hand, awoke her from her reverie. the horse broke into a quick gallop, and glancing back she saw a wall of black cloud, flame-lighted and reverberant, and felt the cold breath of the summer storm come sweeping down upon her as she sped away. she saw that it would be useless to turn back. long before she could reach any shelter in that direction she would be drenched. she knew she was approaching the river, but remembering that she had noticed some fine-looking houses just on the other side, she decided that she would let the horse have his own way, and apply at one of these for shelter. she was sure that no one would deny her that in the face of such a tornado as was raging behind her. the horse flew along as if a winged thing. the spirit of the storm seemed to have entered into him, or else the thunder's voice awakened memories of the field of battle, and for once his rider found herself powerless to restrain his speed or direct his course. he laid back his ears, and with a short, sharp neigh dashed onward with a wild tremor of joy at the mad race with wind and storm. the swaying tree-tops waved them on with wild gesticulations. the lightning and the thunder added wings to the flying steed. just before reaching the river bank they had to pass through a stretch of tall pines, whose dark heads were swaying to and fro until they almost met above the narrow road, making it so dark below that the black horse grew dim in the shadow, while the gaunt trunks creaked and groaned and the leaves hissed and sobbed as the wind swept through them. the resinous fragrance mingled with the clayey breath of the pursuing storm. the ghost-like trunks stood out against the lightning flashes like bars before the path of flame. she no longer tried to control her horse. between the flashes, his iron feet filled the rocky road with sparks of fire. he reached the ford and dashed knee-deep into the dark, swift stream, casting a cool spray around him before he checked his speed. then he halted for an instant, tossed his head as if to give the breeze a chance to creep beneath his flowing mane, cast a quick glance back at his rider, and throwing out his muzzle uttered a long, loud neigh that seemed like a joyful hail, and pressed on with quick, careful steps, picking his way along the ledge of out-cropping granite which constituted the ford, as if traversing a well-remembered causeway. the water grew deeper and darker; the rider reached down and gathered up her dark habit and drew her feet up close beneath her. the current grew swifter. the water climbed the horse's polished limbs. it touched his flanks and foamed and dashed about his rugged breast. still he picked his way among the rocks with eager haste, neighing again and again, the joy-ringing neighs of the home-coming steed. the surging water rose about his massive shoulders and the rider drew herself still closer up on the saddle, clinging to bow and mane and giving him the rein, confident in his prowess and intelligence, wondering at his eagerness, yet anxious for his footing in the dashing current. the wind lifted the spray and dashed it about her. the black cloud above was fringed with forked lightning and resonant with swift-succeeding peals of thunder. the big drops began to fall hissing into the gurgling waters. now and then they splashed on her hands and face and shot through her close-fitting habit like icy bolts. the brim of the low felt hat she wore and its dark plume were blown about her face. casting a hurried glance backward, she saw the grayish-white storm-sheet come rushing over the sloping expanse of surging pines, and heard its dull heavy roar over the rattle of the aerial artillery which echoed and re-echoed above her. and now the wind shifted, first to one point and then to another. now it swept down the narrow valley through which the stream ran; now it dashed the water in her face, and anon it seemed about to toss her from her seat and hurl her over her horse's head. she knew that the fierce storm would strike her before she could reach any place of shelter. the wild excitement of a struggle with the elements flamed up in her face and lighted her eyes with joy. she might have been a viking's daughter as her fair hair blew over her flushed face, while she patted her good steed and laughed aloud for very glee at the thought of conflict with the wild masterful storm and the cool gurgling rapid which her horse breasted so gallantly. there was a touch of fun, too, in the laugh, and in the arch gleaming of her eyes, as she thought of the odd figure which she made, perched thus upon the saddle in mid-river, blown and tossed by the wind, and fleeing from the storm. her rides were the interludes of her isolated life, and this storm was a part of the fun. she enjoyed it as the vigorous pleasure-seeker always enjoys the simulation of danger. the water shoaled rapidly as they neared the farther shore. the black horse mounted swiftly to the bank, still pressing on with unabated eagerness. she leaned over and caught up the stirrup, thrust her foot into it, regained her seat and seized the reins, as with a shake and a neigh he struck into a long easy gallop. "go!" she said, as she shook the reins. the horse flew swiftly along while she swayed lightly from side to side as he rose and fell with great sinewy strides. she felt him bound and quiver beneath her, but his steps were as though the black, corded limbs were springs of steel. her pride in the noble animal she rode overcame her fear of the storm, which followed swifter than they fled. she looked eagerly for a by-path leading to some farm-house, but the swift-settling darkness of the summer night hid them from her eager glance, if any there were. half a mile from the ford, and the storm over-took them--a wall of wind-driven rain, which dashed and roared about them, drenching the rider to the skin in an instant. in a moment the red-clay road became the bed of a murky torrent. the horse's hoofs, which an instant before echoed on the hard-beaten track, splashed now in the soft mud and threw the turbid drops over her dripping habit and into her storm-washed face. a quarter of a mile more, and the cold streams poured down her back and chilled her slight frame to the marrow. her hands were numb and could scarce cling to the dripping reins. tears came into her eyes despite herself. still the wild cloud-burst hurled its swift torrents of icy rain upon them. she could scarcely see her horse's head, through the gray, chilly storm-sheet. "whoa! whoa, midnight!" she cried, in tremulous tones through her chattering teeth and white, trembling lips. all her gay exultant courage had been drenched and chilled out of her. she tried to check his stride with a loose convulsive clutch at the reins as she peered about with blinded eyes for a place of shelter. the horse shook his head with angry impatience, neighed again, clasped the bit in his strong teeth, stretched his neck still further and covered the slippery ground with still swifter strides. a hundred yards more and he turned into a narrow lane at the right, between two swaying oaks, so quickly as almost to unseat his praticed rider, and with neigh after neigh dashed down to a great, rambling, old farm-house just visible under the trees at the foot of the lane, two hundred yards away. the way was rough and the descent sharp, but the horse did not slacken his speed. she knew it was useless to attempt to check him, and only clung to the saddle pale with fear as he neared the high gate which closed its course. as he rose with a grand lift to take the leap she closed her eyes in terror. easy and swift as a bird's flight was the leap with which the strong-limbed horse cleared the high palings and lighted on the soft springy turf within; another bound or two and she heard a sharp, strong voice which rang above the storm with a tone of command that betrayed no doubt of obedience: "whoa, satan! stand, sir!" the fierce horse stopped instantly. mollie ainslie was thrown heavily forward, clasped by a strong arm and borne upon the piazza. when she opened her eyes she saw the torrents pouring from the eaves, the rain beating itself into spray upon the ground without, the black horse steaming and quivering at the steps of the porch, and hesden le moyne gazing anxiously down into her face. the water dripped from her garments and ran across the porch. she shook as if in an ague-fit. she could not answer the earnest inquiries that fell from his lips. she felt him chafing her chill, numbed hands, and then the world was dark, and she knew no more of the kindly care which was bestowed upon her. chapter xxix. like and unlike. when she awoke to consciousness she was lying on a bed in an apartment which was a strange compound of sitting- and sleeping-room. the bed stood in a capacious alcove which seemed to have been built on as an afterthought. the three sides were windows, in the outer of which were tastefully arranged numerous flowering plants, some of which had clambered up to the ceiling and hung in graceful festoons above the bed. the window-shades were so arranged as to be worked by cords, which hung within easy reach of one lying there. the night had not fully come, but a lamp was burning at the side of the bed yet beyond its head-board, so that its rays lit up the windows and the green trailing vines, but did not fall upon the bed. in an invalid's chair drawn near the bedside, a lady well past the middle age but with a face of singular sweetness and refinement was watching and directing the efforts which were being made for the resuscitation of the fainting girl by two servant women, who were busily engaged in chafing her hands and making warm applications to her chilled limbs. as she opened her eyes they took in all these things, but she could not at once remember what had happened or where she was, this sweet vision of a home interior was so different from the low, heavy-beamed rooms and little diamond-paned windows of the ordinary, even after all her attempts to make it cosy, that she seemed to have awakened in fairy land. she wondered dully why she had never trained ivies and madeira vines over those dark beams, and blushed at the thought that so simple a device had never occurred to her. she lay motionless until she had recalled the incidents of the day. she had recognized mr. le moyne at once, and she knew by instinct that the graceful lady who sat beside her was she who had written her the only word of sympathy or appreciation she had ever received from one of her own sex in the south. she was anxious for a better view and turned toward her. "ah, here are you, my dear!" said a soft, low voice, as the light fell upon her opened eyes. "move me up a little, maggie," to one of the servants." we are glad to see you coming around again. don't move, dear," she continued, as she laid her thin soft hand upon the plump one of the reclining girl." you are among friends. the storm and the ride were too much for you, and you fainted for a little while. that is all. there is no trouble now. you weren't hurt, were you?" she asked anxiously. "no," said the other, wonderingly. "we are glad of that," was the reply. "you are exhausted, of course, but if you do not get cold you will soon be all right. maggie," she continued, to the servant, "tell mr. hesden to bring in that hot toddy now. he had better put the juice of a lemon it it, too. miss ainslie may not be accustomed to taking it. i am mrs. le moyne, i forgot to say," she added, turning to her unintended guest, "and hesden, that is my son, tells me that you are miss ainslie, the brave young teacher at red wing whom i have long wished to see. i am really glad that chance, or hesden's old war horse satan, brought you here, or i am afraid i should never have had that pleasure. this is hesden," she continued, nodding toward him as he entered with a small silver waiter on which was a steaming pitcher and a delicate glass. "he has been my nurse so long that he thinks no one can prepare a draught for a sick person so well as he, and i assure you that i quite agree with his notion. you have met before, i believe. just take a good dose of this toddy and you will be better directly. you got a terrible drenching, and i was afraid you would have a congestive chill when they brought you in here as white as a sheet with your teeth chattering like castanets." hesden le moyne filled the glass with the steaming decoction and held the salver toward her. she took it and tried to drink. "hand me the waiter, hesden," said his mother, reprovingly, "and raise her head. don't you see that miss ainslie cannot drink lying there. i never saw you so stupid, my son. i shall have to grow worse again soon to keep you from getting out of practice entirely." thus reproached, hesden le moyne put his arm hesitatingly beneath the pillow, raised the flushed face upon it and supported the young lady while she quaffed the hot drink. then he laid her easily down, smoothed the pillow with a soft instinctive movement, poured out a glass of the toddy which he offered to his mother, and then, handing the waiter to the servant, leaned over his mother with a caressing movement and said: "you must look out, little mother. too much excitement will not do for you. you must not let miss ainslie's unexpected call disturb you." "no indeed, hesden," she said, as she looked up at him gratefully, "i feel really glad of any accident that could bring her under our roof, now that i am satisfied that she is to experience no harm from her stormy ride. she will be all right presently, and we will have supper served here as usual. you may tell laura that she need be in no haste." having thus dismissed her son she turned to her guest and said: "i have been an invalid so long that our household is all ordered with regard to that fact. i am seldom able to be taken out to dinner, and we have got into the habit of having a late supper here, just hesden, his little boy, and i, and to-night we will have the table set by the bedside and you will join us." the sudden faint was over; the toddy had sent the blood tingling through the young girl's veins. the _role_ of the invalid was an unaccustomed one for her to play, and the thought of supping in bed was peculiarly distasteful to her self-helping northern training. it was not long before she began to manifest impatience. "are you in pain, dear?" asked the good lady, noticing with the keen eye of the habitual invalid her restive movements. "no, indeed," was the reply. "i am not at all sick. it was only a little faint. really, mrs. le moyne, i would rather get up than lie here." "oh, lie still," said the elder lady, cheerfully. "the room hardly looks natural unless the bed is occupied. besides," she added with a light laugh, "you will afford me an excellent opportunity to study effects. you seem to me very like what i must have been when i was first compelled to abandon active life. you are very nearly the same size and of much the same complexion and cast of features. you will pardon an old lady for saying it, i am sure. lest you should not, i shall be compelled to add that i was considered something of a beauty when i was young. now, you shall give me an idea of how i have looked in all the long years that couch has been my home. i assure you i shall watch you very critically, for it has been my pride to make my invalid life as pleasant to myself and as little disagreeable to others as i could. knowing that i could never be anything else, i devised every plan i could to make myself contented and to become at least endurable to my family." "everyone knows how well you have succeeded, mrs, le moyne," said the young girl. "it must indeed have been a sad and burdened life, and it seems to me that you have contrived to make your sick room a perfect paradise." "yes, yes," said the other, sadly, "it is beautiful. those who loved me have been very indulgent and very considerate, too. not only every idea of my own has been carried into effect, but they have planned for me, too. that alcove was an idea of my husband's. i think that the sunlight pouring in at those windows has done more to prolong my life than anything else. i did not think, when thirty years ago i took to my bed, that i should have survived him so long--so long--almost eight years. he was considerably older than i, but i never looked to outlive him, never. "that lamp-stand and little book-rack," she continued, with the garrulity of the invalid when discoursing of his own affairs, "were hesden's notions, as were many other things in the room. the flowers i had brought in, one by one, to satisfy my hunger for the world without. in the winter i have many more. hesden makes the room a perfect conservatory, then. they have come to be very dear to me, as you may well suppose. that ivy now, over the foot of the bed, i have watched it from a little slip not a finger high. it is twenty-seven years old." so she would have run on, no one knows to what length, had not the servant entered to set the table for supper. under her mistress' directions she was about to place it beside the bed, when the young girl sprang into a sitting posture and with flaming cheeks cried out: "please, mrs. le moyne, i had rather not lie here. i am quite well--just as well as ever, and i wish you would let me get up." "but how can you, dear?" was the reply. "your clothes are drying in the kitchen. they were completely drenched." "sure enough," answered miss ainslie. "i had forgotten that." she laid herself down resignedly as the invalid said: "if hesden's presence would annoy you, he shall not come. i only thought it might be pleasanter for you not to be confined to the conversation of a crippled old woman. besides, it is his habit, and i hardly know what he would do if he had to eat his supper elsewhere." "oh, certainly, i would not wish to disturb your usual arrangement," answered mollie, "but--" she began, and then stoppd with some signs of confusion. "but what, my dear?" asked the elder lady, briskly. "do you mean that you are not accustomed as i am to invalidism, and hardly like the notion of supping in bed as an introduction to strangers? well, i dare say it would be annoying, and if you think you are quite well enough to sit up, i reckon something better may be arranged." "i assure you, mrs. le moyne," said the other, "that i am quite well, but pray do not let me make you any trouble." "oh, no trouble at all, dear; only you will have to wear one of my gowns now many years old. i thought they were very pretty then, i assure you. i should be very glad to see them worn again. there are few who could wear them at all; but i think they would both fit and suit you. you are like enough to me to be my daughter. here, you maggie!" she called the servant, and gave some directions which resulted in her bringing in several dresses of an ancient pattern but exquisite texture, and laying them upon the bed. "you will have to appear in full dress, my dear, for i have no other gowns that would be at all becoming," said mrs. le moyne. "how very beautiful!" said the girl sitting up in the bed, gazing at the dainty silks and examining their quaint patterns. "but really, mrs. le moyne--" "now, please oblige me by making no more objections," interrupted that lady. "indeed," she added, shaking her finger threateningly at her guest, "i will not listen to any more. the fit has seized me now to have you sit opposite me at the table. it will be like facing. my own youth; for now that i look at you more closely, you seem wonderfully like me. don't you think so, maggie?" "'deed i do," said the servant, "an' dat's jes what laura was a sayin' ter me when we done fotch de young lady in here in a faint. she sez ter me, sez she, 'maggie, ebber you see anybody look so much like de mistis made young again?'" "hush, maggie," said her mistress, gaily; "don't you see how the young lady is blushing, while it is the poor, faded woman here in the chair who ought to blush at such a compliment?" and indeed the bright flushed face with its crown of soft golden hair escaped from its customary bondage, tossing in sunny tendrils about the delicate brow and rippling in waves of light over her shoulders, was a picture which any woman past the middle life might well blush and sigh to recognize as the counterpart of her youth. the two women looked at each other and both laughed at the admiration each saw in the other's glance. "well," said mollie, as she sank smilingly on her pillow, "i see i must submit. you will have your own way." she raised her arm above' her head and toyed with a leaf of the ivy which hung in graceful festoons about the head-board. as she did so the loose-sleeved wrapper which had been flung about her when her own drenched clothing was removed, fell down almost to her shoulder and revealed to the beauty-worshipping watcher by the bedside an arm of faultless outline, slender, pink-tinged, plump and soft. when she had toyed lazily for a moment with the ivy, she dropped her arm listlessly down upon the bed. it fell upon one of the dresses which lay beside her. "ah, thank you!" exclaimed mrs. le moyne. "you have relieved me greatly. i was trying to decide which one i wanted you to wear, when your arm dropped across that pale, straw-colored silk, with the vine border around the corsage and the clambering roses running down the front. that is the one you must wear. i never wore it but once, and the occasion is one i shall always like to recall." there was a gleeful time in the invalid's room while the fair girl was being habited in the garments of a by-gone generation, and when hesden le moyne and his boy hildreth were admitted to the hearty evening meal, two women who seemed like counterparts sat opposite each other at the sparkling board--the one habited in black silk with short waist, a low, square bodice with a mass of tender lawn showing about the fair slender neck, puffed at the shoulders with straight, close sleeves reaching to the wrists, around which peeped some rows of soft white lace; the white hair combed in puffs beside the brow, clustering above its pinky softness and falling in a silvery cataract upon the neck. the style of the other's dress was the same, save that the shoulders were uncovered, and except for the narrow puff which seemed but a continuation on either side, of the daintily-edged bodice, the arm hung pink and fair over the amber satin, uncovered and unadorned save at the wrist, where a narrow circlet of gold clung light and close about it. her hair was dressed in the same manner as the elder lady's, and differed only in its golden sheen. the customary lamp had been banished, and colored wax-candles, brought from some forgotten receptacle, burned in the quaint old candelabra with which the mantels of the house had long been decorated. the one-armed veteran of thirty gazed in wonder at this unaccustomed brightness. if he needed to gaze long and earnestly at the fair creature who sat over against his mother, to determine the resemblances which had been noted between the permanent and the temporary invalid, who shall blame him for so doing? little hildreth in his six-year-old wonderment was less judicial, or at least required less time and inquiry to decide, for he cried out even before an introduction could be given, "oh, papa, see, i've got a new, young grandma." it was a gay party at that country supper-table, and four happier people could hardly have gone afterward into the parlor where the invalid allowed herself to be wheeled by her son in special honor of their unintended guest. miss ainslie was soon seated at the piano which hesden had kept in tune more for the pleasure of occasional guests than his own. it was three years since she had touched one, but the little organ, which some northern benefactor had given to the church and school at red wing, had served to prevent her fingers from losing all their skill, and in a few minutes their wonted cunning returned. she had been carefully trained and had by nature rare musical gifts. the circumstances of the day had given a wonderful exhilaration to her mind and thought. she seemed to have taken a leaf out of paradise and bound it among the dingy pages of her dull and monotonous life. every thing about her was so quaint and rare, the clothes she wore so rich and fantastic, that she could not control her fancy. every musical fantasy that had ever crept into her brain seemed to be trooping along its galleries in a mad gallop as her fair fingers flew over the time-stained keys. the little boy stood clinging to her skirt in silent wonder, his fair, sensitive face working, and his eyes distended, with delighted amazement. the evening came to an end at last, and when the servant went with her in her quaint attire, lighting her up the winding stairway from the broad hall to the great airy room above, with its yawning fireplace cheery with the dying embers of a fire built hours ago to drive out the dampness, and its two high-posted beds standing there in lofty dignity, the little yankee school marm could hardly realize what madcap freaks she had perpetrated since she bounded over the gate at the foot of the lane leading from the highway down to mulberry hill, the ancestral home of the richards family. as she sat smiling and blushing over the memory of what she had done and said in those delicious hours, a servant tapped at the door and announced that master hildreth, whom she bore in her arms and whose chubby fists were stuck into his eyes, was crying most disconsolately lest he should lose his "new grandma" while he slept. she had brought him, therefore, to inquire whether he might occupy one of the beds in the young lady's room. mollie had not seen for so many years a child that she could fondle and caress, that it was with unbounded delight that she took the little fellow from his nurse's arms, laid him on the bed and coaxed his eyes to slumber. chapter xxx. an unbidden guest. when the morning dawned the boy awoke with hot cheeks and bloodshot eyes, moaning and restless, and would only be quiet when pillowed in the arms of his new-found friend. a physician who was called pronounced his ailment to be scarlet-fever. he soon became delirious, and his fretful moans for his "new grandma" were so piteous that miss ainslie could not make up her mind to leave him. she stayed by his bed-side all day, saying nothing of returning to red wing, until late in the afternoon a messenger came from there to inquire after her, having traced her by inquiry among several who had seen her during the storm, as well as by the report that had gone out from the servants of her presence at mulberry hill. when hesden le moyne came to inform her of the messenger's arrival, he found her sitting by his son's bedside, fanning his fevered brow, as she had done the entire day. he gazed at them both in silence a moment before making known his errand. then he took the fan from her hand and informed her of the messenger's arrival. his voice sounded strangely, and as she looked up at him she saw his face working with emotion. she cast down her eyes quickly. she could not tell why. all at once she felt that this quiet, maimed veteran of a lost cause was not to her as other men. perhaps her heart was made soft by the strange occurrences of the few hours she had passed beneath his mother's roof. however that may be, she was suddenly conscious of a feeling she had never known before. her cheeks burned as she listened to his low, quiet tones. the tears seemed determined to force themselves beneath her downcast lids, but her heart bounded with a strange undefined joy. she rose to go and see the messenger. the sick boy moaned and murmured her name. she stole a glance at the father, and saw his eyes filled with a look of mingled tenderness and pain. she walked to the door. as she opened it the restless sufferer called for her again. she went out and closed it quickly after her. at the head of the stairs she paused, and pressed her hand to her heart while she breathed quick and her face burned. she raised her other hand and pushed back a stray lock or two as if to cool her forehead. she stood a moment irresolute; glanced back at the door of the room she had left, with a half frightened look; placed a foot on the first stair, and paused again. then she turned suddenly back with a scared resolute look in her gray eyes, opened the door and glided swiftly to the bedside. hesden le moyne's face was buried in the pillow. she stood over him a moment, her bosom heaving with short, quick sighs. she reached out her hand as if she would touch him, but drew it quickly back. then she spoke, quietly but with great effort, looking only at the little sufferer. "mr. le moyne?" he raised his head quickly and a flush of joy swept over his face. she did not see it, at least she was not looking at him, but she knew it. "would you like me to--to stay--until--until this is over?" he started, and the look of joy deepened in his face. he raised his hand but let it fall again upon the pillow, as he answered humbly and tenderly, "if you please, miss ainslie." she put her hand upon the bed, in order to seem more at ease, as she replied, with a face which she knew was all aflame, "very well. i will remain for--the present." he bent his head and kissed her hand. she drew it quickly away and added in a tone of explanation: "it would hardly be right to go back among so many children after such exposure." so quick is love to find excuse. she called it duty, nor ever thought of giving it a tenderer name. he made no answer. so easy is it for the fond heart to be jealous of a new-found treasure. she waited a moment, and then went out and wrote a note to eliab hill. then she went into the room of the invalid mother. how sweet she looked, reclining on the bed in the pretty alcove, doing penance for her unwonted pleasure of the night before! the excited girl longed to throw her arms about her neck and weep. it seemed to her that she had never seen any one so lovely and loveable. she went to the bedside and took the slender hand extended toward her, "so," said mrs. le moyne, "i hear they have sent for you to go back to red wing. i am sorry, for you have given us great pleasure; but i am afraid you will have only sad memories of mulberry hill. it is too bad! poor hildreth had taken such a liking to you, too. i am sure i don't blame him, for i am as much in love with you as an invalid can be with any one but herself. hesden will have a hard time alone in this great house with two sick people on his hands." "i shall not go back to red wing to-day." "indeed?" "no, i do not think it would be right to endanger so many by exposure to the disease." "oh," carelessly; "but i am afraid yon may take it yourself." "i hope not. i am very well and strong. besides, hildreth calls for me as soon as i leave him for a moment." "poor little fellow! it is pitiable to know that i can do nothing for him." "i will do what i can, mrs. le moyne." "but you must not expose yourself in caring for a strange child, my dear. it will not do to be too unselfish." "i cannot leave him, mrs. le moyne." she left the room quickly and returned to her place at the sufferer's bedside. hesden le moyne rose as she approached. she took the fan from his hand and sat down in the chair he had occupied. he stood silent a moment, looking down upon her as she fanned the uneasy sleeper, and then quietly left the room. "what a dear, tender-hearted thing she is!" said mrs. le moyne to herself after she had gone. "so lady-like and refined too. how can such a girl think of associating with niggers and teaching a nigger school? such a pity she is not one of our people. she would be just adorable then. don't you think so, hesden?" she said aloud as her son entered. having been informed of the subject of her cogitations, mr. hesden le moyne replied, somewhat absently and irrelevantly, as she thought, yet very warmly, "miss ainslie is a very remarkable woman." he passed into the hall, and his mother, looking after him, said, "poor fellow! he has a heap of trouble." and then it struck her that her son's language was not only peculiar but amusing. "a remarkable woman!" she laughed to herself as she thought of it. a little, brown-haired, bright-eyed, fair-skinned chit, pretty and plucky, and accomplished no doubt, but not at all "remarkable." she had no style nor pride. yankee women never had. and no family of course, or she would not teach a colored school. "remarkable!" it was about the only thing miss ainslie was not and could not be. it was very kind of her to stay and nurse hildreth, though she only did that out of consideration for the colored brats under her charge at red wing. nevertheless she was glad and gratified that she did so. she was a very capable girl, no doubt of that, and she would feel much safer about hildreth because of her care. it was just in her line. she was like all yankee women--just a better class of housemaids. this one was very accomplished. she had played the piano exquisitely and had acted the lady to perfection in last night's masquerade. but hesden must be crazy to call her remarkable. she chuckled lightly as she determined to rally him upon it, when she saw him next. when that time came, the good lady had quite forgotten her resolve. chapter xxxi. a life for a life. it was a time of struggle at mulberry hill. love and death fought for the life of little hildreth le moyne. the father and the "new grandma" watched over him most assiduously; the servants were untiring in their exertions; the physician's skill was not lacking, but yet none could foresee the result. the invalid below sent frequent inquiries. first one and then the other stole away to ask her some question or bring her tidings in regard to the lad in whose life was bound up the hope of two old families. one morning, while the child was still very sick, when miss ainslie awoke after the brief sleep which had been all the rest she had allowed herself from her self-imposed task, her head seemed strangely light. there was a roaring in her ears as if a cataract were playing about them. her limbs ached, and every movement seemed unusually difficult--almost painful. she walked across the room and looked dully into the mirror on her dressing-case, resting her hands on the top of the high old-fashioned furniture as she did so. she was only able to note that her eyes looked heavy and her face flushed and swollen, when a sharp pain shot through her frame, her sight grew dim, the room spun round and round. she could only crawl back and clamber with difficulty upon the high-posted bed, where the servant found her fevered and unconscious when she came an hour later to awaken her for breakfast. the struggle that had been waged around the bed of the young child was now renewed by that of his self-constituted nurse. weeks passed away before it was over, and ere that time the music of little feet had ceased about the ancient mansion, and the stroke to pride and love had rendered the invalid grand-mother still more an invalid. the child had been her hope and pride as its mother had been her favorite. by a strange contrariety the sunny-faced little mother had set herself to accomplish her son's union with the tall, dark, and haughty cousin, who had expired in giving birth to little hildreth. there was nothing of spontaneity and no display of conjugal affection on the part of the young husband or his wife; but during the absence of her son, the invalid was well cared for and entertained by the wife, whom she came to love with an intensity second only to that she lavished on her son. in the offspring of these two her heart had been wrapped up from the hour of his birth. she had dreamed out for him a life full of great actualities, and had even reproached hesden for his apathy in regard to public affairs during the stirring scenes enacting around them, urging him to take part in them for his son's sake. she was a woman of great ambition. at first this had centered in her son, and she had even rejoiced when he went into the army, though he was earnestly opposed to the war, in the hope that it might bring him rank and fame. when these did not come, and he returned to her a simple private, with a bitterer hate for war and a sturdier dislike for the causes which had culminated in the struggle than he had when it began, she had despaired of her dream ever being realized through him, but had fondly believed that the son of the daughter-in-law she had so admired and loved would unite his father's sterling qualities with his mother's pride and love of praise, and so fulfill her desire that the family name should be made famous by some one descended from herself. this hope was destroyed by the death of the fair, bright child whom she loved so intensely, and she felt a double grief in consequence. in her sorrow, she had entirely secluded herself, seeing no one but her nurse and, once or twice, her son. the sick girl in the room above was somehow unpleasantly connected with her grief, and received no real sympathy in her illness. there was even something of jealousy in the mind of the confirmed invalid, when she remembered the remarkable manner in which the child had been attracted toward the new-comer, as well as the fact that she had nursed him so faithfully that his last words were a moan for his "new grandma," while his real grandmother lay useless and forgotten in her dim-shadowed room below. besides, it was with a feeling of envy that she recognized the fact that, for the first time in his life, her son was more absorbed in another's welfare than in her own. the chronic ailment of the mother had no doubt become so much a thing of habit in his life that it failed to impress him as it should, while the illness of the young girl, having, as he believed, been incurred by her voluntary attendance upon his son inspired him with a feeling of responsibility that would not otherwise have existed. something had occurred, too, which had aroused a feeling upon his part which is often very close akin to a tenderer one. as soon as he had learned of her illness, he had endeavored to induce some of his female relatives to come and attend her, but they had all flatly refused. they would come and care for the child, they said; they would even send the "yankee school-marm" flowers, and make delicacies to tempt her appetite, but they would not demean themselves by waiting upon a sick "nigger teacher." they did not fear the contagion; indeed they would have come to take care of little hildreth but that they did not care to meet his yankee nurse. they even blamed hesden for allowing her to come beneath his roof, and intimated that she had brought contagion with her. he was angry at their injustice and prejudice. he had known of its existence, but it never before seemed so hateful. somehow he could not rid himself of two thoughts: one was of the fairy creature whose song and laughter and bird-like grace and gaiety, as she masqueraded in the quaint dress of olden time, had made the dull old mansion bright as a dream of paradise for a single night. it had seemed to him, then, that nothing so bright and pure had ever flitted through the somber apartments of the gray old mansion. he remembered the delight of his boy--that boy whom he loved more than he had ever loved any one, unless it were his invalid mother--and he could not forget the same slight form, with serious shadowed face and earnest eyes moving softly about the sick-room of the child, her eyes full of sorrowful anxiety as if the life she sought to save were part of her own being. he wondered that any one could think of her as a stranger. it was true she had come from the north and was engaged in a despised avocation, but even that she had glorified and exalted by her purity and courage until his fastidious lady mother herself had been compelled to utter words of praise. so his heart grew sore and his face flushed hot with wrath when his cousins sneered at this lily which had been blighted by the fevered breath of his son. they tauntingly advised him to send to red wing and get some of her "nigger" pupils to attend upon her. much to their surprise he did so, and two quiet, gentle, deft-handed watchers came, who by day and by night sat by her bedside, gladly endeavoring to repay the debt they owed to the faithful teacher. but this did not seem to relieve mr. le moyne of anxiety. he came often and watched the flushed face, heard the labored breathing, and listened with pained heart to the unmeaning murmurs which fell from her lips--the echoes of that desert dreamland through which fever drags its unconscious victims. he heard his own name and that of the fast-failing sufferer in the adjoining room linked in sorrowful phrase by the stammering tongue. even in the midst of his sorrow it brought him a thrill of joy. and when his fear became fact, and he mourned the young life no love could save, his visits to the sick-room of her who had been his co-watcher by his child's bedside became more frequent. he would not be denied the privilege until the crisis came, and reason resumed her sway. then he came no more, but every day sent some token of remembrance. mrs. le moyne had noted this solicitude, and with the jealousy of the confirmed invalid grudged the sick girl the slightest of the thoughtful attentions that she alone had been accustomed to receive. she did not dream that her son, hesden le moyne, cared anything for the little yankee chit except upon broadly humanitarian grounds, or perhaps from gratitude for her kindly attention to his son; but even this fretted her. as time went on, she came more and more to dislike her and to wish that she had never come beneath their roof. so the days flew by, grew into weeks, and mollie ainslie was still at mulberry hill, while important events weve happening at red wing. chapter xxxii. a voice from the darkness. it was two weeks after miss ainslie's involuntary flight from red wing that nimbus, when he arose one morning, found a large pine board hung across his gateway. it was perhaps six feet long and some eighteen or twenty inches wide in the widest part, smoothly planed upon one side and shaped like a coffin lid. a hole had been bored in either end, near the upper corner, and through each of these a stout cord had been passed and tied into a loop, which, being slipped over a paling, one on each side the gate, left the board swinging before it so as effectually to bar its opening unless the board were first removed. the attention of nimbus was first directed to it by a neighbor-woman who, stopping in front of the gate, called out to him in great excitement, as he sat with berry lawson on his porch waiting for his breakfast: "oh, bre'er nimbus, what in de libbin' yairth is dis h'yer on your gate? la sakes, but de kluckers is after you now, shore 'nough!" "why, what's de matter wid yer, cynthy?" said nimbus, cheerfully. "yer hain't seen no ghosteses nor nuffin', bez ye?" "ghosteses, did yer say?" answered the excited woman. "jes yer come an' look, an' ef yer don't say hit wuss ner ghosteses, yer may count cynthy a fool. dat's all." berry started down to the gate, nimbus following him, carelessly. "why, hello, bre'er nimbus! yer shore hez got a signboard cross de passway. jes look a' dat now! what yer 'spect it mout be, cousin?" said berry, stopping short and pointing to the board hung on the fence. "'clar, i dunno," said nimbus, as he strode forward and leaned over the fence to get a sight of the other side of the board. "'spec' it must be some of dem ku kluck's work, ez cynthy says." after examining it a moment, he directed berry to lift up the other end, and together they carried it to the house of eliab hill, where its grotesque characters were interpreted, so far as he was able to translate them, as well as the purport of a warning letter fastened on the board by means of a large pocket-knife thrust through it, and left sticking in the soft wood. upon the head of the coffin-shaped board was roughly drawn, in black paint, a skull and cross-bones and, underneath them, the words "eliab hill and nimbus desmit," and below these still, the mystic cabala, "k.k.k," a formulary at which, just at that time, a great part of the nation was laughing as a capital illustration of american humor. it was accounted simply a piece of grotesquerie intended to frighten the ignorant and superstitious negro. the old claim of the south, that the colored man could be controlled and induced to labor only by the lash or its equivalent, had many believers still, even among the most earnest opponents of slavery, and not a few of these even laughed good-naturedly at the grotesque pictures in illustrated journals of shadowy beings in horrible masks and terrified negroes cowering in the darkness with eyes distended, hair rising in kinky tufts upon their heads, and teeth showing white from ear to ear, evidently clattering like castanets. it was wonderfully funny to far-away readers, and it made uproarious mirth in the aristocratic homes of the south. from the banks of the rio grande to the waters of the potomac, the lordly southron laughed over his glass, laughed on the train, laughed in the street, and laughed under his black cowl of weirdly decorated muslin--not so much at the victims of the terrible klan, as at the silly north which was shaking its sides at the mask he wore. it was an era of fun. everybody laughed. the street gamins imitated the _kluck,_ which gave name to the klan. it was one of the funniest things the world had ever known. the yankee--brother jonathan--had long been noted as a droll. a grin was as much a part of his stock apparel as tow breeches or a palm-leaf hat. the negro, too, had from time immemorial been portrayed upon the stage and in fiction as an irrepressible and inimitably farcical fellow. but the "southern gentleman" was a man of different kidney from either of these. a sardonic dignity hedged him about with peculiar sacredness. he was chivalrous and baronial in his instincts, surroundings, and characteristics. he was nervous, excitable, and bloodthirsty. he would "pluck up drowned honor by the locks" and make a target of everyone who laughed. he hunted, fought, gambled, made much of his ancestors, hated niggers, despised yankees, and swore and swaggered on all occasions. that was the way he was pictured in the ancient days. he laughed--sometimes--not often, and then somewhat sarcastically--but he did not make himself ridiculous. his _amour propre_ was most intense. he appreciated fun, but did not care that it should be at his expense. he was grave, irritable and splenetic; but never comical. a braggart, a rough-rider, an aristocrat; but never a masquerader. that was the old-time idea. yet so had the war and the lapse of half a decade changed this people that in one state forty thousand men, in another thirty, in others more and in others less, banded together with solemn oaths and bloody ceremonies, just to go up and down the earth in the bright moonlight, and play upon the superstitious fears of the poor ignorant and undeveloped people around them. they became a race of jesters, moonlight masqueraders, personators of the dead. they instituted clubs and paraded by hundreds, the trained cavalry of a ghostly army organized into companies, battalions, divisions, departments, having at their head the "grand wizard of the empire." it was all in sport--a great jest, or at the worst designed only to induce the colored man to work somewhat more industriously from apprehension of ghostly displeasure. it was a funny thing--the gravest, most saturnine, and self-conscious people on the globe making themselves ridiculous, ghostly masqueraders by the hundred thousand! the world which had lately wept with sympathy for the misfortunes of the "lost cause," was suddenly convulsed with merriment at the midnight antics of its chivalric defenders. the most vaunted race of warriors seized the cap and bells and stole also the plaudits showered upon the fool. grave statesmen, reverend divines, legislators, judges, lawyers, generals, merchants, planters, all who could muster a good horse, as it would seem, joined the jolly cavalcade and rollicked through the moonlight nights, merely to make fun for their conquerors by playing on the superstitious fear of the sable allies of the northmen. never before was such good-natured complaisance, such untiring effort to please. so the north laughed, the south chuckled, and the world wondered. but the little knot of colored men and women who stood around eliab hill while he drew out the knife which was thrust through the paper into the coffin-shaped board laid across the front of his "go-cart," and with trembling lips read the message it contained--these silly creatures did not laugh. they did not even smile, and a joke which berry attempted, fell flat as a jest made at a funeral. there is something very aggravating about the tendency of this race to laugh at the wrong time, and to persist in being disconsolate when every one can see that they ought to dance. generation after generation of these perverse creatures in the good old days of slavery would insist on going in search of the north pole under the most discouraging circumstances. on foot and alone, without money or script or food or clothing; without guide or chart or compass; without arms or friends; in the teeth of the law and of nature, they gave themselves to the night, the frost, and all the dangers that beset their path, only to seek what they did not want! we know there was never a happier, more contented, light-hearted, and exuberant people on the earth than the africo-american slave! he had all that man could reasonably desire--and more too! well-fed, well-clothed, luxuriously housed, protected from disease with watchful care, sharing the delights of an unrivalled climate, relieved of all anxiety as to the future of his off-spring, without fear of want, defiant of poverty, undisturbed by the bickerings of society or heartburnings of politics, regardless of rank or station, wealth, kindred, or descent, it must be admitted that, from an earthly point of view, his estate was as near elysian as the mind can conceive. besides all this, he had the gospel preached unto him--for nothing; and the law kindly secured him against being misled by false doctrines, by providing that the bread of life should never be broken to him unless some reputable caucasian were present to vouch for its quality and assume all responsibility as to its genuineness! that a race thus carefully nourished, protected, and guarded from error as well as evil should be happy, was just as natural as that the sun should shine. that they were happy only lunatics could doubt. all their masters said so. they even raved when it was denied. the ministers of the gospel--those grave and reverend men who ministered unto them in holy things, who led their careless souls, blindfolded and trustful, along the straight and narrow way--all declared before high heaven that they were happy, almost too happy, for their spiritual good. politicians, and parties, and newspapers; those who lived among them and those who went and learned all about them from the most intelligent and high-toned of their caucasian fellow-beings--nigh about everybody, in fact--declared, affirmed, and swore that they were at the very utmost verge of human happiness! yet even under these circumstances the perverse creatures _would_ run away. indeed, to run away seemed to be a characteristic of the race like their black skin and kinkling hair! it would have seemed, to an uninformed on-looker, that they actually desired to escape from the paternal institution which had thrown around their lives all these blissful and beatifying circumstances. but we know it was not so. it was only the inherent perversity of the race! again, when the war was ended and they were thrown upon the cold charity of an unfriendly world, naked, poor, nameless, and homeless, without the sheltering and protecting care of that master who had ever before been to them the incarnation of a kindly providence --at that moment when, by all the rules which govern caucasian human nature, their eyes should have been red with regretful tears, and their hearts overburdened with sorrow, these addled-pated children of africa, moved and instigated by the perverse devil of inherent contrariness, were grinning from ear to ear with exasperating exultation, or bowed in still more exasperating devotion, were rendering thanks to god for the calamity that had befallen them! so, too, when the best people of the whole south masqueraded for their special benefit, they stupidly or stubbornly failed and refused to reward their "best friends" for the entertainment provided for them, at infinite pains and regardless of expense, even with the poor meed of approving cachinnation. they ought to have been amused; they no doubt were amused; indeed, it is morally impossible that they should not have been amused--but they would not laugh! well may the caucasian of the south say of the ebony brother whom he has so long befriended and striven to amuse: "i have piped unto you, and you have not danced!" so eliab read, to a circle whose cheeks were gray with pallor, and whose eyes glanced quickly at each other with affright, these words "eliab hill and nimbus desmit: you've been warned twice, and it hain't done no good. this is your last chance. if you don't git up and git out of here inside of ten days, the buzzards will have a bait that's been right scarce since the war. the white folks is going to rule horsford, and sassy niggers must look out. we're not going to have any such san domingo hole as red wing in it, neither. now just sell off and pack up and git clear off and out of the country before we come again, which will be just as soon as the moon gits in the left quarter, and has three stars in her lower horn. if you're here then you'll both need coffins, and that boy berry lawson that you coaxed away from his employer will hang with you. "remember! _remember!_ remember! "by order of the grand cyclops of the den and his two night hawks, and in the presence of all the ghouls, on the fifth night of the sixth dark moon! "k.k.k." hardly had he finished reading this when a letter was brought to him which had been found on the porch of the old ordinary. it was addressed to "miss mollie ainslie, nigger teacher at red wing," but as it was indorsed "k.k.k." eliab felt no compunctions in opening it in her absence. it read: "miss ainslie: we hain't got no spite against you and don't mean you no harm; but the white folks owns this country, and is going to rule it, and we can't stand no such nigger-equality schools as you are running at red wing. it's got to stop, and you'd better pick up and go back north where you come from, and that quick, if you want to keep out of trouble. remember! "by order of the grand cyclops of the den and his ghouls, k.k.k." "p.s. we don't mean to hurt you. we don't make no war on women and children as the yankees did, but we mean what we say--git out! and don't come back here any more neither!" the rumor of the mysterious klan and its terrible doings had been in the air for many months. from other states, and even from adjoining counties, had come to their ears the wail of its victims. but so preponderating was the colored population of horsford, and so dependent upon their labor was its prosperity, that they had entertained little fear of its coming among them. two or three times before, nimbus and eliab had received warnings and had even taken some precautions in regard to defense; but they did not consider the matter of sufficient moment to require them to make it public. indeed, they were inclined to think that as there had been no acts of violence in the county, these warnings were merely the acts of mischievous youngsters who desired to frighten them into a display of fear. this seemed to be a more serious demonstration, but they were not yet prepared to give full credence to the threat conveyed in so fantastic a manner. chapter xxxiii. a difference of opinion. "wal, dey manage to fotch berry inter it widout sending him a letter all to hissef, alter all," said that worthy, when eliab, with pale lips, but a firm voice, had finished reading the paper. "ben done 'spectin' dat, all de time sence i come h'yer, cousin nimbus. i'se been a-hearin' 'bout dese klu kluckers dis smart while now, ober yer in pocatel and hanson counties, an' i 'spected marse sykes'd be a-puttin' 'em on ter me jest ez soon as dey got ober here. he hed no idear, yer know, but what i'd hev ter go back an' wuk fer jes what i could git; an sence i hain't he's mad about it, dat's all. what yer gwine ter do 'bout it, nimbus?" "i'se gwine ter stay right h'yer an' fight it out, i is," said nimbus, doggedly. 'i'se fout fer de right ter live in peace on my own lan' once, an' i kin fight for it agin. ef de ku kluckers wants ter try an' whip nimbus, jes let 'em come on," he said, bringing down his clenched right hand upon the board which was upheld by his left, with such force that it was split from end to end. "hi! you take keer dar, cousin nimbus," said berry, hopping out of the way of the falling board with an antic gesture. "fust you know, yer hurt yer han' actin' dat er way. what you gwine ter do 'bout dis yer matter, uncle 'liab?" he continued, turning to the preacher. the man addressed was still gazing on the threatening letter. his left hand wandered over his dark beard, but his face was full of an unwavering light as he replied: "the lord called me to my work; he has opened many a door before me and taken me through many trials. he has written, 'i will be with thee alway, even unto the end.' bless his holy name! hitherto, when evil has come i have waited on him. i may not do a man's part like you, my brother," he continued, laying his hand on nimbus' knotted arm and gazing admiringly upon his giant frame," but i can stand and wait, right here, for the lord's will to be done; and here i will stay--here with my people. thank the lord, if i am unable to fight i am also unable to fly. he knew what a poor, weak creature i was, and he has taken care of that. i shall stay, let others do as they may. what are you going to do, brother berry? you are in the same danger with nimbus and me." "wal, bre'er 'liab," replied berry," i hab jes 'bout made up my min' ter run fer it. yer see, i'se jes a bit differently sarcumstanced from what either o' you 'uns is. dar's nimbus now, he's been in de wah an' knows all 'bout de fightin' business; an' you's a preacher an' knows all der is ob de prayin' trade. but i never was wuth nothin' ob any account at either. it's de feet ez hez allers stood by me," he added, executing a double-shuffle on the plank walk where he stood; "an' i 'llows ter stan' by dem, an' light outen here, afore dem ar kluckers comes roun' fer an answer ter dat ar letter. dat's my notion, bre'er 'liab." "yer don't mean yer gwine ter run away on de 'count ob dese yer ku kluckers, does yer, berry?" said nimbus, angrily. "dat's jes 'zackly what i do mean, cousin nimbus--no mistake 'bout dat," answered berry, bowing towards nimbus with a great show of mock politeness. "what else did yer tink berry mean, hey? didn't my words 'spress demselves cl'ar? yer know, cousin, dat i'se not one ob de fightin' kine. nebber hed but one fight in my life, an' den dar wuz jes de wuss whipped nigger you ebber seed. yer see dem sinners, eh?" rolling up his sleeve and showing a round, close-corded arm. "oh, i'se some when i gits started, i is. all whip-cord an' chain-lightnin', whoop! i'll bet a harf dollar now, an borrer de money from bre'er nimbus h'yer ter pay it, dat i kin turn more han'-springs an' offener an' longer nor ary man in dis crowd. oh, i'se some an' more too, i is, an' don't yer fergit it. 'bout dat fight?" he continued to a questioner, "oh, yes, dat was one ob de mos' 'markable fights dar's ever been in ho'sford county. yer see 'twuz all along uv ben slade an' me. lor' bress yer, how we did fight! 'pears ter me dat it must hev been nigh 'bout harf a day we wuz at it." "but you didn't lick ben, did you, berry?" asked one of the bystanders in surprise. "lick him? yer jes' orter see de corn i wollered down 'long wid dat nigga'! dar must hev been close on ter harf an acre on't." "but he's a heap bigger'n you, berry, ez stout ez a bull an' one ob de bes' fighters ebber on de hill at louisburg. yer jest romancin' now, berry," said nimbus, incredulously. "oh, but yer don't understan' it, cousin," said berry. "yer see i played fer de _under holt_--an' got it, dat i did. lor'! how dat ar ben did thrash de groun' wid me! ole mahs'r lost a heap ob corn on 'count dat ar fight! but i hung on ter him, an' nebber would hev let him go till now, ef--ef somebody hedn't pulled me out from under him!" there was a roar of laughter at this, in which berry joined heartily, and as it began to die out he continued: "dat's de only fight i ebber hed, an' i don't want no mo'. i'se a peaceable man, an' don't want ter hurt nobody. ef de kluckers wants ter come whar i is, an' gibs me sech a perlite notice ez dat ter quit, i'se gwine ter git out widout axin' no imper'ent questions 'bout who was dar fust. an' i'se gwine ter keep gittin' tu--jest' ez fur an' ez fast ez dey axes me ter move on, ez long ez de road's cut out an' i don't come ter no jumpin'-off place. ef dey don't approve of berry lawson a stayin' roun' h'yer, he's jes' a gwine west ter grow up wid der kentry." "i'd sooner be dead than be sech a limber-jinted coward!" said nimbus. "i'm sorry i ebber tuk ye in atter marse sykes hed put yer out in de big road, dat i am." there was a murmur of approval, and he added: "an' ef yer hed enny place ter go ter, yer shouldn't stay in my house nary 'nother minit." "now, cousin nimbus," said berry, soberly, "dar hain't nary bit ob use ob enny sech talk ter me. berry arns his libbin' ef he does hab his joke now an' agin." "oh, no doubt o' dat," said nimbus. "ther ain't no better han' in enny crop dan berry lawson. i've said dat often an' over." "den yer jes take back dem hard words yer spoke 'bout berry, won't yer now, cousin nimbus?" said berry, sidling up to him and looking very much as if he intended to give the lie to his own account of his fighting proclivities. "no, i won't," said nimbus, positively. "i do say dat any man ez runs away kase de ku kluck tries ter scar him off is a damn coward, 'n i don't care who he calls his name neither." "wal, now, cousin nimbus," said berry, his eyes flashing and his whole appearance falsifying his previous poltroonery, "dar's two sides ter dat ar question. i hain't nebber been a sojer like you, cousin, an' it's a fac' dat i don't keer ter be; but i du say ez how i'd be ez willin' ter stan' up an' fight fer de rights we's got ez enny man dat ebber's trod de sile ennywhere's 'bout red wing, ef i thought ez how 'twould do de least bit ob good. but i tell yer, gemmen, hit won't do enny good, not de least bit, an' i knows it. i'se seen de ku kluckers, gemmen, an' i knows who some on 'em is, an' i knows dat when sech men takes hold ob sech a matter wid only pore niggers on de udder side, dar ain't no chance fer de niggers. i'se seen 'em, an' i _knows_." "when?" "whar?" "tell us 'bout it, berry!" came up from all sides in the crowd which had collected until now almost all the inhabitants of red wing and its vicinity were there. "oh, 'tain't nuffin'," said he, nonchalantly. "what berry says, ain't no 'count, nohow." "yes, tell us 'bout it," said nimbus, in a conciliatory tone. "wal, ef _you_ wants ter hear, i'll tell it," said berry, condescendingly. "yer mind some tree er fo' weeks ago i went ter bre'er rufe's, ober in hanson county, on a friday night, an' didn't git back till a monday mornin'?" "sartin," said nimbus, gravely. "wal, 'twas along o' dis yer business dat i went thar. i know'd yer'd got one er two warnin's sence i'd come yere wid yer, an' i 'llowed it were on account ob me, kase dem ar sykeses is monstrous bad folks when dey gits mad, an' ole marse granville, he war powerful mad at me findin' a home here wid my own relations. so, i tole sally ann all 'bout it, an' i sez to her, 'sally,' sez i, 'i don't want ter make nimbus no sort o' trouble, i don't, kase he's stood up ter us like a man. now, ef dey should take a notion ter trouble bre'er nimbus, hit mout do him a heap of harm, kase he's got so much truck 'round him here ter lose.' so we made it up dat i was ter go ter bre'er rufe paterson's, ober in hanson county an' see ef we couldn't find a place ter lib dar, so's not ter be baitin' de hawks on ter you, cousin nimbus." "now you, berry," said nimbus, extending his hand heartily, "what for yer no tell me dis afore?" "jes kase 'twas no use," answered berry. "wall, yer know, i left h'yer 'bout two hours ob de sun, an' i pushes on right peart, kase it's a smart step ober ter rufe's, ennyhow, an' i wanted ter see him an' git back ter help nimbus in de crap ob a monday. sally hed fixed me up a bite o' bread an' a piece o' meat, an' i 'llowed i'd jes stop in some piney ole-field when i got tired, eat my snack, go ter sleep, an' start fresh afo' daylight in de mornin' for de rest ob de way. i'd been a wukkin' right peart in de new-ground dat day, an' when i got ter dat pine thicket jes past de spring by de brook's place, 'twixt de haw ribber an' stony fork, 'long 'bout nine o'clock i reckon, i wuz dat done out dat i jes takes a drink at de spring, eats a bite o' bread an' meat, hunts a close place under de pines, an' goes ter sleep right away. "yer knows dar's a smart open place dar, whar dey used ter hev de ole muster-ground. 'twas de time ob de full moon, an' when i woke up a-hearin' somethin', an' kind o' peeped out under de pine bushes, i t'ought at fust dat it was de ghostesses ob de ole chaps dat hed come back ter muster dar, sure 'nough. dey warn't more'n ten steps away from me, an' de boss man, he sot wid his back to me in dat rock place what dey calls de lubber's cheer. de hosses was tied all round ter de bushes, an' one ob 'em warn't more'n tree steps from me, nohow. i heard 'em talk jest ez plain ez you can hear me, an' i know'd right smart ob de voices, tu; but, la sakes! yer couldn't make out which from t'odder wid dem tings dey hed on, all ober der heads, an' way down to der feet." "what did they say?" asked eliab hill. "wal, bre'er 'liab, dey sed a heap, but de upshot on't all was dat de white folks hed jes made up dar min's ter run dis kentry, spite ob ebbery ting. dey sed dat dey wuz all fixed up in ebbery county from ole virginny clean ter texas, an' dey wuz gwine ter teach de niggers dere place agin, ef dey hed ter kill a few in each county an' hang 'em up fer scarecrows--jes dat 'ere way. dey wa'n't no spring chickens, nuther. dar wur sheriff gleason. he sed he'd corned over ter let 'em know how they was gittin' on in ho'sford. he sed dat ebbery white man in de county 'cept about ten or twelve was inter it, an' dey wuz a gwine ter clean out nigger rule h'yer, _shore_. he sed de fust big thing they got on hand wuz ter break up dis buzzard-roost h'yer at red wing, an' he 'llowed dat wouldn't be no hard wuk kase dey'd got some pretty tough tings on nimbus an" 'liab both. "dey wuz all good men, i seed de hosses, when dey mounted ter go 'way. i tell ye dey wuz good 'uns! no pore-white trash dar; no lame hosses ner blind mules ner wukked down crap-critters, jes sleek gentlemen's hosses, all on 'em. "wal, dey went off atter an hour er two, an' i lay dar jes in a puffick lather o' sweat. i was dat dar skeered, i couldn't sleep no mo' dat ar night, an' i darsn't walk on afore day kase i wuz afeared o' meetin' some on 'em. so i lay, an' t'ought dis ting all ober, an' i tell ye, fellers, 'tain't no use. 'spose all de white men in ho'sford is agin us, what's we gwine ter do? we can't lib. lots o' niggers can't lib a week widout wuk from some white man. 'sides dat, dey's got de bosses an' de guns, an' de 'sperience; an' what we got? jes nuffin'. der ain't no mo' use o' fightin' dan ob tryin' ter butt down 'simmons off a foot-an'-a-half tree wid yer head. it don't make no sort o' matter 'bout our rights. co'se we'se got a _right_ ter vote, an' hold meetin's, an' be like white folks; but we can't do it ef dey's a mind ter stop us. an' dey _is_--dat berry ting! "nimbus sez he's gwine ter fight, an' 'liab sez he's gwine ter pray. dat's all right, but it won't do nobody else enny good nor them nuther. dat's my notion. what good did fightin' er prayin' either used ter do in ole slave times? nary bit. an' dey's got us jest about ez close ez dey hed us den, only de halter-chain's a leetle mite longer, dat's all. all dey's got ter do is jes ter shorten up on de rope an' it brings us in, all de same ez ever. dat's my notion. so i'se gwine ter move on ebbery time dey axes me tu; kase why, i can't help it. berry'll git enough ter eat most ennywhar, an' dat's 'bout all he 'spects in dis worl'. it's a leetle better dan de ole slave times, an' ef it keeps on a-growin' better 'n better, gineration atter gineration, p'raps some of berry's kinfolks'll git ter hev a white man's chance some time." berry's experience was listened to with profound interest, but his conclusions were not received with favor. there seemed to be a general conviction that the colored race was to be put on trial, and that it must show its manhood by defending itself and maintaining its rights against all odds. his idea of running away was voted a cowardly and unworthy one, and the plan advocated by nimbus and eliab, to stay and fight it out or take whatever consequences might result, was accepted as the true one to be adopted by men having such responsibility as rested upon them, as the first generation of free-men in the american history of their race. so, nimbus and his friends made ready to fight by holding a meeting in the church, agreeing upon signals, taking account of their arms, and making provision to get ammunition. berry prepared for his exodus by going again to his brother rufus' house and engaging to work on a neighboring plantation, and some two weeks afterward he borrowed nimbus' mule and carry-all and removed his family also. as a sort of safeguard on this last journey, he borrowed from eliab hill a repeating spencer carbine, which a federal soldier had left at the cabin of that worthy, soon after the downfall of the confederacy. he was probably one of those men who determined to return home as soon as they were convinced that the fighting was over. sherman's army, where desertion had been unknown during the war, lost thousands of men in this manner between the scene of johnston's surrender and the grand review at washington, which ended the spectacular events of the war. eliab had preserved this carbine very carefully, not regarding it as his own, but ready to surrender it to the owner or to any proper authority when demanded. it was useless without the proper ammunition, and as this seemed to be a peculiar emergency, he allowed berry to take it on condition that he should stop at boyleston and get a supply of cartridges. eliab had never fired a gun in his life, but he believed in defending his rights, and thought it well to be ready to resist unlawful violence should it be offered. chapter xxxiv. the majesty of the law. a few days after the events narrated in the last two chapters, the sheriff presented himself at red wing. there was a keen, shrewd look in the cold, gray eyes under the overhanging brows, as he tied his horse to the rack near the church, and taking his saddle-bags on his arm, crossed the road toward the residence of nimbus and eliab hill. red wing had always been a remarkably peaceful and quiet settlement. acting under the advice of miss ainslie and eliab, nimbus had parted with none of his possessions except upon terms which prevented the sale of spirituous liquors there. this was not on account of any "fanatical" prejudice in favor of temperance, since the squire of red wing was himself not exactly averse to an occasional dram; but he readily perceived that if such sale could be prohibited in the little village the chances for peace and order would be greatly improved. he recognized the fact that those characters that were most likely to assemble around a bar-room were not the most likely to be valuable residents of the settlement. besides the condition in his own deeds, therefore, he had secured through the members of the legislature from his county the passage of an act forever prohibiting the sale of spirituous liquors within one mile of the school-house at red wing. just without this limit several little shanties had been erected where chivalric white men doled out liquor to the hard-working colored men of red wing. it was an easy and an honorable business and they did not feel degraded by contact with the freedmen across the bar. the superior race did not feel itself debased by selling bad whisky at an extravagant price to the poor, thirsty africans who went by the "shebangs" to and from their daily toil. but nimbus and the law would not allow the nearer approach of such influences. by these means, with the active co-operation of the teachers, red wing had been kept so peaceful, that the officers of the law rarely had occasion to appear within its limits, save to collect the fiscal dues from its citizens. it was with not a little surprise, therefore, that nimbus saw the stalwart sheriff coming towards him where he was at work upon the hillside back of his house, "worming" and "topping" a field of tobacco which gave promise of a magnificent yield. "mornin', nimbus," said the officer, as he drew near, and turning partially around glanced critically over the field and furtively at the little group of buildings below. "a fine stand of terbacker you've got--mighty even, good growth. don't think i've seen quite as good-looking a crap this year. there's old man george price up about rouseville, he's got a mighty fine crap--always does have, you know. i saw it yesterday and didn't think anything could be better, but your's does beat it, that's sure. it's evener and brighter, and a trifle heavier growth, too. i told him that if anybody in the county could equal it you were the man; but i had no idea you could beat it. this is powerful good land for terbacker, certain." "'tain't so much the land," said nimbus, standing up to his arm-pits in the rank-leaved crop above which his bare black arms glistened in the hot summer sun, "as 'tis the keer on't. powerful few folks is willin' ter give the keer it takes ter grow an' cure a fine crop o' terbacker. ther ain't a minit from the time yer plant the seed-bed till ye sell the leaf, that ye kin take yer finger offen it widout resk ob losin' all yer wuk." "that's so," responded the sheriff, "but the land has a heap to do with it, after all." "ob co'se," said nimbus, as he broke a sucker into short pieces between his thumb and finger, "yer's got ter hab de sile; but ther's a heap mo' jes ez good terbacker lan' ez dis, ef people only hed the patience ter wuk it ez i do mine." "wal, now, there's not so much like this," said the sheriff, sharply, "and you don't think so, neither. you wouldn't take a big price for your two hundred acres here now." he watched the other's countenance sharply as he spoke, but the training of slavery made the face of the black ajax simply sphinx-like in its inscrutability. "wal, i don't know," said nimbus, slowly, "i mout and then again i moutn't, yer know. ther'd be a good many pints ter think over besides the quality of the sile afore i'd want ter say 'yes' er 'no' to an offer ob dat kind." "that's what i thought," said the sheriff. "you are nicely fixed here, and i don't blame you. i had some little business with you, and i'm glad i come to-day and caught ye in your terbacker. it's powerful fine." "business wid me?" asked nimbus in surprise. "what is it?" "oh, i don't know," said the officer, lightly, as he put on his spectacles, opened his saddle-bags and took out some papers. "some of these lawyers have got after you, i suppose, thinking you're getting along too peart. let me see," he continued, shuffling over the papers in his hand. "here's a summons in a civil action--the old man, granville sykes, against nimbus desmit and eliab hill. where is 'liab? i must see him, too. here's your copy," he continued, handing nimbus the paper and marking the date of service on the original in pencil with the careless promptitude of the well-trained official. nimbus looked at the paper which was handed him in undisguised astonishment. "what is dis ting, anyhow, marse sheriff?" he asked. "that? why, that is a summons. can't you read it? here, let me take it." he read over the legal formulary requiring nimbus to be and appear at the court house in louisburg on the sixth monday after the second monday in august, to answer the demand of the plaintiff against him, and concluding with the threat that in default of such appearance judgment would be entered up against him. "you see, you've got to come and answer old man granville's complaint, and after that you will have a trial. you'll have to get a lawyer, and i expect there'll be smart of fuss about it before it's over. but you can afford it; a man as well fixed as you, that makes such terbacker as this, can afford to pay a lawyer right smart. i've no doubt the old man will get tired of it before you do; but, after all, law is the most uncertain thing in the world." "what does it mean? has he sued me?" asked nimbus. "sued you? i should rather think he had--for a thousand dollars damages too. that is you and 'liab, between you." "but what for? i don't owe him anythin' an' never did." "oh, that's nothing. he says you've damaged him. i've forgot what it's about. let me see. oh, yes, i remember now. he says you and 'liab enticed away his servant--what's his name? that limber-jinted, whistlin' feller you've had working for you for a spell." "what, berry?" "that's it, berry--berry lawson, that's the very chap. well, old granville says you coaxed him to leave his employ, and he's after you under the statute." "but it's a lie--every word on't! i nebber axed berry ter leave him, an' hed no notion he was a gwine ter do it till marse sykes throwed him out in de big road." "wal, wal, i don't know nothing about that, i'm sure. he says you did, you say you didn't. i s'pose it'll take a court and jury to decide betwixt ye. it's none of my concern. oh, yes," he continued, "i like to have forgot it, but here's a _capias_ for you, too--you and 'liab again. it seems there's a bill of indictment against you. i presume it's the same matter. i must have a bond on this for your appearance, so you'd better come on down to 'liab's house with me. i'll take you for him, and him for you, as sureties. i don't suppose 'liab'll be apt to run away, eh, and you're worth enough for both." "what's this all about?" asked nimbus. "well, i suppose the old man sykes got ye indicted under the statute making it a misdemeanor, punishable with fine and imprisonment, to coax, hire, or seduce away one's niggers after he's hired 'em. just the same question as the other, only this is an indictment and that's a civil action--an action under the code, as they call it, since you radicals tinkered over the law. one is for the damage to old man sykes, and the other because it's a crime to coax off or harbor any one's hirelings." "is dat de law, mister sheriff?" "oh, yes, that's the law, fast enough. no trouble about that. didn't know it, did you? thought you could go and take a man's "hands" right out from under his nose, and not get into trouble about it, didn't ye?" "i t'ought dat when a man was free anudder could hire him widout axin' leave of his marster. dat's what i t'ought freedom meant." "oh, not exactly; there's lots of freedom lyin' round loose, but it don't allow a man to hire another man's hands, nor give them aid and comfort by harboring and feeding them when they break their contracts and run away. i reckon the old man's got you, nimbus. if one hook don't catch, the other will. you've been harborin' the cuss, if you didn't entice him away, and that's just the same." "ef you mean by harborin' that i tuk my wife's kinsman in when ole marse sykes turned his family out in de big road like a damned ole rascal--" "hold on, nimbus!" said the sheriff, with a dangerous light in his cold gray eyes; "you'd better not talk like that about a white gentleman." "whose ter hender my talkin', i'd like ter know? hain't i jes' de same right ter talk ez you er marse sykes, an' wouldn't you call me a damn rascal ef i'd done ez he did? ain't i ez free ez he is?" "you ain't white!" hissed the sheriff. "no, an' it seems i ain't free, nuther!" was the hot reply." h'yer t'other night some damn scoundrels--i'specs they wuz white, too, an' yer may tell 'em from me dat i called 'em jes what i did--come an' hung a board 'fore my gate threatening ter kill me an' 'liab kase we's 'too sassy,' so they sed. now, 'liab hill ner me nebber disturb nobody, an' nebber do nothin' only jes stan' up for our own rights, respectful and peaceable-like; but we hain't ter be run down in no sech way, i'se a free man, an' ef i think a man's a gran' rascal i'se gwine ter _say_ so, whether he's black er white; an' ef enny on 'em comes ter ku klux me i'll put a bullet t'rough dem! i will, by god! ef i breaks the law i'll take the consequences like a man, but i'll be damned ef ennybody shall ku kluck me without somebody's goin' 'long with me, when i drops outen dis world! dat much i'se sot on!" the sheriff did not answer, only to say, "careful, careful! there's them that would give you a high limb if they heard you talk like that." they went together to the house. the required bonds were given, and the sheriff started off with a chuckle. he had hardly passed out of sight when he checked his horse, returned, and calling nimbus to the gate, said to him in a low tone: "see here, nimbus, if you should ever get in the notion of selling this place, remember and let me have the first chance." "all right, marse gleason." "and see here, these little papers i've served to-day--you needn't have any trouble about them in that case. you understand," with a wink. "dunno ez i does, marse sheriff," stolidly. "oh, well, if you sell to me, i'll take care of them, that's all." "an' ef i don't?" "oh, well, in that case, you must look out for yourself." he wheeled his horse and rode off with a mocking laugh. nimbus returned to the porch of eliab's house where the preacher sat thoughtfully scanning the summons and _capias_. "what you tink ob dis ting, 'liab?" "it is part of a plan to break you up, nimbus," was the reply. "dar ain't no sort ob doubt 'bout that, 'liab," answered nimbus, doggedly, "an' dat ole sheriff gleason's jes' at de bottom ob it, i do b'lieve. but i ain't ter be druv off wid law-suits ner ku kluckers. i'se jest a gwine ter git a lawyer an' fight it out, dat i am." chapter xxxv. a particular tenancy lapses. the second day after the visit of the sheriff, nimbus was sitting on his porch after his day's work when there was a call at his gate. "who's dar?" he cried, starting up and gazing through an opening in the honeysuckle which clambered up to the eaves and shut in the porch with a wall of fragrant green. seeing one of his white neighbors, he went out to the gate, and after the usual salutations was greeted with these words: "i hear you's gwine to sell out an' leave, nimbus?" "how'd ye hear dat?" "wal, sheriff gleason's a' been tellin' of it 'round, and ther ain't no other talk 'round the country only that." "what 'ud i sell out an' leave for? ain't i well 'nough off whar i is?" "the sheriff says you an' 'liab hill has been gittin' into some trouble with the law, and that the ku klux has got after you too, so that if you don't leave you're likely to go to states prison or have a whippin' or hangin' bee at your house afore you know it." "jes let 'em come," said nimbus, angrily--"ku kluckers or sheriffs, it don't make no difference which. i reckon it's all 'bout one an' de same ennyhow. it's a damn shame too. dar, when de 'lection come las' time we put marse gleason in agin, kase we hadn't nary white man in de county dat was fitten for it an' could give de bond; an' of co'se dere couldn't no cullu'd man give it. an' jes kase we let him hev it an' he's feared we mout change our minds now, here he is a runnin' 'roun' ter ku klux meetin's an' a tryin' ter stir up de bery ole debble, jes ter keep us cullu'd people from hevin' our rights. he can't do it wid me, dat's shore. i hain't done nuffin' an' i won't run. ef i'd a-done ennythin' i'd run, kase i don't b'lieve more'n ennybody else in a, man's stayin' ter let de law git a holt on him; but when i hain't done nary ting, ther ain't nobody ez kin drive me outen my tracks." "but the ku klux mout _lift_ ye outen 'em," said the other with a weak attempt at wit. "jes let 'em try it once!" said nimbus, excitedly. "i'se purty well prepared for 'em now, an' atter tomorrer i'll be jes ready for 'em. i'se gwine ter louisburg to-morrer, an' i 'llow that atter i come back they won't keer ter meddle wid nimbus. tell yer what, mister dossey, i bought dis place from ole marse desmit, an' paid for it, ebbery cent; an' i swar i ain't a gwine ter let no man drive me offen it--nary foot. an' ef de ku klux comes, i's jest a gwine ter kill de las' one i gits a chance at. now, you min' what i say, mister dossey, kase i means ebbery word on't." the white man cowered before the other's energy. he was of that class who were once denominated "poor whites." the war taught him that he was as good a man to stop bullets as one that was gentler bred, and during that straggle which the non-slaveholders fought at the beck and in the interest of the slaveholding aristocracy, he had learned more of manhood than he had ever known before. in the old days his father had been an overseer on a plantation adjoining knapp-of-reeds, and as a boy he had that acquaintance with nimbus which every white boy had with the neighboring colored lads--they hunted and fished together and were as near cronies as their color would allow. since the war he had bought a place and by steady work had accumulated some money. his plantation was on the river and abutted on the eastern side with the property of nimbus. after a moment's silence he said: "that reminds me of what i heard to-day. your old marse potem is dead." "yer don't say, now!" "yes--died yesterday and will be buried to-morrow." "la, sakes! an' how's he lef ole missus an' de gals, i wonder?" "mighty pore i'm afraid. they say he's been mighty bad off lately, an' what he's got won't more'n half pay his debts. i reckon the widder an' chillen'll hev ter 'homestead it' the rest of their lives." "yer don't tink so? wal, i do declar', hit's too bad. ez rich ez he was, an' now ter come down ter be ez pore ez nimbus--p'raps poorer!" "it's mighty hard, that's sure. it was all along of the wah that left everybody pore in this country, just as it made all the yankees rich with bonds and sech-like." "sho'! what's de use ob bein' a fool? 'twan't de wah dat made marse desmit pore. 'twuz dat ar damn fool business ob slavery afo' de wah dat wound him up. ef he'd never been a 'speculator' an' hadn't tried to grow rich a raisin' men an' wimmen for market he'd a been richer'n ever he was, when he died." "oh, you're mistaken 'bout that, nimbus. the wah ruined us all." "ha! ha! ha!" roared nimbus, derisively. "what de wah ebber take from you, mister dossey, only jes yer oberseer's whip? an' dat wur de berry best ting ebber happen ter ye, kase it sot yer to wuk an' put yer in de way ob makin' money for yerself. it was hard on sech ez ole mahs'r, dat's a fac, even ef 'twas mostly his own fault; but it was worth a million ter sech ez you. you 'uns gained mo' by de outcome ob de wah, right away, dan we cullu'd folks'll ebber git, i'm afeared." "yer may be right," said dawsey, laughing, and with a touch of pride in his tone. "i've done pretty well since the wah. an' that brings me back to what i come over for. i thought i'd ax, if ye should git in a notion of selling, what yer'd take fer yer place here?" "i hain't no idea uv selling, mister dossey, an' hain't no notion uv hevin' any 'nuther. you an' ebberybody else mout jest ez well larn, fust ez las', dat i shan't never sell only jes ter make money. ef i put a price on red wing it'll be a big one; kase it ain't done growing yet, an' i might jest ez well stay h'yr an' grow ez ter go west an' grow up wid de kentry, ez dat fool berry lawson's allers tellin' about." "wal, that's all right, only ef you ever want ter sell, reasonable-like, yer know who to come to for your money. good-night!" the man was gathering up his reins when nimbus said: "when did yer say ole mahsr's funeral was gwine ter be?" "to-morrow afternoon at four o'clock, i heerd." "thank ye. i'se 'bout made up my mind ter go ter louisburg to-morrer, stay ter dat funeral, an' come back nex' day. seems ter me ole mahs'r'd be kind o' glad ter see nimbus at his funeral, fer all i wan't no gret fav'rite o' his'n. he wa'nt sich a bad marster, an' atter i bought red wing he use ter come ober ebbery now an' agin, an' gib me a heap ob advice 'bout fixin' on it up. i allus listened at him, tu, kase ef ennybody ever knowed nex' do' ter ebberyting, dat ar man wuz ole marse potem. i'se sorry he's dead, i is; an' i'se mighty sorry for ole missus an' de gals. an' i'se a gwine ter go ter dat er funeral an' see him laid away, ef it do take anudder day outen de crap; dat i is, shore. "an' that 'minds me," said the white man, "that i heard at the same time, that walter greer, who used to own the plantation afore yer marse desmit bought it, died sometime lately, 'way out in texas. it's quare, ain't it, that they should both go nigh about the same time. good-night." the "poor-white" neighbor rode away, little dreaming that the colored man had estimated him aright, and accounted him only an emissary of his foes, nor did he comprehend the importance of the information he had given. chapter xxxvi. the beacon-light of love. mollie ainslie had been absent from red wing more than a month. it was nearly midnight. the gibbous moon hung over the western tree-tops. there was not a sound to be heard in the little hamlet, but strangely draped figures might have been seen moving about in the open glades of the piney woods which skirted red wing upon the west. one after another they stole across the open space between the church and the pine grove, in its rear, until a half-dozen had collected in its shadow. one mounted on another's shoulders and tried one of the windows. it yielded to his touch and he raised it without difficulty. he entered and another after him. then two or three strange-looking packages were handed up to them from the outside. there was a whispered discussion, and then the parties within were heard moving cautiously about and a strong benzoic odor came from the upraised window. now and then a sharp metallic clang was heard from within. at length the two that had entered returned to the window. there was a whispered consultation with those upon the outside. one of these crept carefully to the corner and gave a long low whistle. it was answered after a moment's interval, first from one direction and then from another, until every part of the little hamlet resounded with short quick answers. then the man at the corner of the church crept back and whispered, "all right!" one of the parties inside came out upon the window-sill and dropped lightly to the ground. the other mounted upon the window-sill, and turned round upon his knees; there was a gleam of light within the building, a flicker and a hiss, and then with a mighty roar the flame swept through it as if following the trail of some combustible. here and there it surged, down the aisles and over the desks, white and clear, showing in sharpest silhouette every curve and angle of building and furniture. the group at the window stood gazing within for a moment, the light playing on their faces and making them seem ghastly and pale by the reflection; then they crept hastily back into the shadow of the wood--all but one, who, clad in the horribly grotesque habit of the ku klux klan, stood at the detached bell-tower, and when the flames burst forth from the windows solemnly tolled the bell until driven from his post by the heat. one had hardly time to think, before the massive structure of dried pitch-pine which northern charity had erected in the foolish hope of benefiting the freedmen, where the young teachers had labored with such devotion, and where so many of the despised race had laid the foundation of a knowledge that they vainly hoped might lift them up into the perfect light of freedom, was a solid spire of sheeted flame. by its ghastly glare, in various parts of the village were to be seen groups and single armed sentries, clad in black gowns which fell to their very feet, spire-pointed caps, grotesquely marked and reaching far above the head, while from the base a flowing masque depended over the face and fell down upon the shoulders, hiding all the outlines of the figure. the little village was taken completely by surprise. it had been agreed that the ringing of the church bell should be the signal for assembling at the church with such arms as they had to resist the ku klux. it had not been thought that the danger would be imminent until about the expiration of the time named in the notice; so that the watch which had been determined upon had not been strictly kept, and on this night had been especially lax on one of the roads leading into the little hamlet. at the first stroke of the bell all the villagers were awake, and from half-opened doors and windows they took in the scene which the light of the moon and the glare of the crackling fire revealed. then dusky-skinned forms stole hastily away into the shadows of the houses and fences, and through the rank-growing corn of the little truck-patches, to the woods and fields in the rear. there were some who since the warning had not slept at home at all, but had occupied little leafy shelters in the bush and half-hid burrows on the hillside. on the eyes of all these gleamed the blaze of the burning church, and each one felt, as he had never realized before, the strength of that mysterious band which was just putting forth its power to overturn and nullify a system of laws that sought to clothe an inferior and servile race with the rights and privileges theretofore exercised solely by the dominant one. among those who looked upon this scene was eliab hill. sitting upon his bench he gazed through the low window of his little cottage, the flame lighting up his pale face and his eyes distended with terror. his clasped hands rested on the window-sill and his upturned eyes evidently sought for strength from heaven to enable him manfully to perform the part he had declared his determination to enact. what he saw was this: a company of masked men seemed to spring out of the ground around the house of nimbus, and, at a whistle from one of their number, began swiftly to close in upon it. there was a quick rush and the door was burst open. there were screams and blows, angry words, and protestations within. after a moment a light shot up and died quickly out again--one of the party had struck a match. eliab heard the men cursing lugena, and ordering her to make up a light on the hearth. then there were more blows, and the light shone upon the window. there were rough inquiries for the owner, and eliab thanked god that his faithful friend was far away from the danger and devastation of that night. he wondered, dully, what would be his thought when he should return on the morrow, and mark the destruction wrought in his absence, and tried to paint his rage. while he thought of these things the neighboring house was ransacked from top to bottom. he heard the men cursing because their search was fruitless. they brought out the wife, lugena, and two of her children, and coaxed and threatened them without avail. a few blows were struck, but the wife and children stoutly maintained that the husband and father was absent, attending his old master's funeral, at louisburg. the yellow light of the blazing church shone on the house, and made fantastic shadows all around. the lurid glare lighted up their faces and pictured their terror. they were almost without clothing. eliab noticed that the hand that clasped lugena's black arm below the band of the chemise was white and delicate. the wife and children were crying and moaning in terror and pain. oaths and blows were intermingled with questions in disguised voices, and gasping broken answers. blood was running down the face of the wife. the younger children were screaming in the house. children and women were shrieking in every direction as they fled to the shelter of the surrounding woods. the flame roared and crackled as it licked the resin from the pine logs of the church and leaped aloft. it shone upon the glittering needles of the surrounding pines, lighted up the ripening tobacco on the hillside, sparkled in the dewy leaves of the honeysuckle which clambered over the freedman's house and hid the staring moon with its columns of black smoke. the search for nimbus proving unavailing--they scarcely seemed to expect to find him--they began to inquire of the terror-stricken woman the whereabouts of his friend. "where is 'liab hill?" asked the man who held her arm. "what have you done with that snivelling hop-toad minister?" queried another. "speak, damn you! and see that you tell the truth," said a third, as he struck her over the bare shoulders with a stick. "oh! don't! don't!" shrieked the poor woman as she writhed in agony. "i'll tell! i will, gentlemens--i will--i will! oh, my god! don't! _don't!_" she cried, as she leaped wildly about, tearing the one garment away in her efforts to avoid the blows which fell thick and fast on every part of her person, now fully exposed in the bright light. "speak, then!" said the man who held the goad. "out with it! tell where you've hid him!" "he ain't--here, gentlemen! he--he--don't--stay here no mo'." again the blows came thick and fast. she fell upon the ground and rolled in the dust to avoid them. her round black limbs glistened in the yellow light as she writhed from side to side. "here i am--here!" came a wild, shrill shriek from eliab's cabin. casting a glance towards it, one of the men saw a blanched and pallid face pressed against the window and lighted by the blazing church--the face of him who was wont to minister there to the people who did not know their own "best friends!" "there he is!"--"bring the damn rascal out!"--"he's the one we want, anyhow!" these and numerous other shouts of similar character, beat upon the ears of the terrified watcher, as the crowd of masked marauders rushed towards the little cabin which had been his home ever since red wing had passed into the possession of its present owner. it was the first building erected under the new proprietorship, and was substantially built of pine logs. the one low window and the door in front were the only openings cut through the solidly-framed logs. the door was fastened with a heavy wooden bar which reached across the entire shutter and was held in place by strong iron staples driven into the heavy door-posts. above, it was strongly ceiled, but under the eaves were large openings made by the thick poles which had been used for rafters. if the owner had been capable of defense he could hardly have had a castle better adapted for a desperate and successful struggle than this. eliab hill knew this, and for a moment his face flushed as he saw the crowd rush towards him, with the vain wish that he might fight for his life and for his race. he had fully made up his mind to die at his post. he was not a brave man in one sense of the word. a cripple never is. compelled to acknowledge the physical superiority of others, year after year, he comes at length to regard his own inferiority as a matter of course, and never thinks of any movement which partakes of the aggressive. eliab hill had procured the strong bar and heavy staples for his door when first warned by the klan, but he had never concocted any scheme of defense. he thought vaguely, as he saw them coming towards him in the bright moonlight and in the brighter glow of the burning sanctuary, that with a good repeating arm he might not only sell his life dearly, but even repel the attack. it would be a proud thing if he might do so. he was sorry he had not thought of it before. he remembered the spencer carbine which he had given a few days before to berry lawson to clean and repair, and to obtain cartridges of the proper calibre, in order that it might be used by some one in the defense of red wing. berry had not yet returned. he had never thought of using it himself, until that moment when he saw his enemies advancing upon him with wild cries, and heard the roar of the flaming church. he was not a hero. on the contrary, he believed himself a coward. he was brave enough in suffering, but his courage was like that of a woman. he was able and willing to endure the most terrible evils, but he did not think of doing brave things or achieving great acts. his courage was not aggressive. he could be killed, but did not think of killing. not that he was averse to taking life in self-defense, but he had been so long the creature of another's will in the matter of locomotion that it did not occur to him to do otherwise than say: "do with me as thou wilt. i am bound hand and foot. i cannot fight, but i can die." he shrank from acute pain with that peculiar terror which the confirmed invalid always exhibits, perhaps because he realizes its horror more than those who are usually exempt from its pangs. as he pressed his face close to the flame-lighted pane, and watched the group of grotesquely disguised men rushing toward his door, his eyes were full of wild terror and his face twitched, while his lips trembled and grew pale under the dark mustache. there was a rush against the door, but it did not yield. another and another; but the heavy bar and strong staples held it fast. then his name was called, but he did not answer. drawing his head quickly from the window, he closed the heavy wooden shutter, which fitted closely into the frame on the inside, and fastened it with a bar like that upon the door. hardly had he done so when a blow shattered the window. something was thrust in and passed around the opening, trying here and there to force open the shutter, but in vain. then it was pressed against the bottom, just where the shutter rested on the window-sill. there was an instant's silence save that eliab hill heard a click which he thought was caused by the cocking of a revolver, and threw himself quickly down upon his bench. there was a sharp explosion, a jarring crash as the ball tore through the woodwork, and hurtling across the room buried itself in the opposite wall. then there were several shots fired at the door. one man found a little hole in the chinking, between two of the logs, and putting his revolver through, fired again and again, sending spits of hot flame and sharp spiteful reverberations through the darkness of the cabin. eliab hill watched all this with fixed, staring eyes and teeth set, but did not move or speak. he scrambled off the bench, and crawled, in his queer tri-pedal fashion, to the cot, crept into it, and with hands clasped, sat bolt upright on the pillow. he set his back against the wall, and, facing the door, waited for the end. he wished that some of the bullets that were fired might pierce his heart. he even prayed that his doom might come sharp and swift--that he might be saved from torture--might be spared the lash. he only feared lest his manhood should fail him in the presence of impending suffering. there came a rush against the door with some heavy timber. he guessed that it was the log from the hitching rack in front of nimbus' house. but the strong bar did not yield. they called out his name again, and assured him that if he did not undo the door they would fire the house. a strange look of relief, even of joy, passed over his face as he heard this declaration. he clasped his hands across his breast as he sat upon the bed, and his lips moved in prayer. he was not afraid to die, but he was afraid that he might not be strong enough to endure all the pain that might be caused by torture, without betraying his suffering or debasing his manhood. he felt very weak and was glad to know that fire and smoke would hide his groans and tears. while he waited for the hissing of the flame the blows of an axe resounded on the door. it was wielded by stalwart hands, and ere long the glare from without shone through the double planking. "hello, 'liab--'liab hill!" cried a voice at the opening which seemed to the quiet listener within strangely like that of sheriff gleason. "damn me, boys, if i don't believe you've killed the nigger, shooting in there. hadn't we better just set the cabin afire and let it burn?" "put in your hand and see if you can't lift the bar," said another. "i'd like to know whether the scoundrel is dead or alive. besides that, i don't fancy this burning houses. i don't object to hanging a sassy nigger, or anything of that kind, but burning a house is a different matter. that's almost too mean for a white man to do. it's kind of a nigger business, to my notion." "for instance!" said another, with a laugh, pointing to the blazing church. "oh, damn it!" said the former, "that's another thing. a damn nigger school-house ain't of no more account than a brush-pile, anyhow." a hand was thrust through' the opening and the bar lifted from one socket and drawn out of the other. then the door flew open and a half dozen men rushed into the room. the foremost fell over the rolling chair which had been left near the door, and the others in turn fell over him. "what the hell!" cried one. "here, bring the light here. what is this thing anyhow?" the light was brought, and the voice continued: "damned if it ain't the critter's go-cart. here kick the damn thing out--smash it up! such things ain't made for niggers to ride on, anyhow. he won't need it any more--not after we have got through with him." "that he won't!" said another, as the invalid's chair which had first given eliab hill power to move himself about was kicked out of the door and broken into pieces with blows of the axe. eliab hill felt as if a part of his life was already destroyed. he groaned for the fate of this inseparable companion of all his independent existence. it had grown dearer to him than he knew. it hurt him, even then, to hear the coarse, grim jests which were uttered as its finely-wrought frame cracked beneath the blows of the axe, and its luxurious belongings were rent and torn by the hands that would soon rend and tear its owner. he had come to look upon the insensate machine with a passionate regard. while it seemed like tearing away his limbs to take it from him, yet there was a feeling of separate animate existence about it which one never feels towards his own members. he had petted and polished and cared for this strong, pretty, and easily worked combination of levers and springs and wheels that had served him so faithfully, until it seemed to his fancy like an old and valued friend. chapter xxxvii. the "best friends" reveal themselves. "bring alight!" shouted the leader. one of the men rushed into the house of nimbus, and snatched a flaming brand from the hearth. as he ran with it out of the front door, he did not see a giant form which leaped from the waving corn and sprang into the back door. the black foot was bare and made no sound as it fell upon the threshold. he did not see the black, furious face or the right arm, bared above the elbow, which snatched a saber from the top of a cupboard. he did not see the glaring, murderous eyes that peered through the vine-leaves as he rushed, with his flaming brand aloft, out of the house to the hut of eliab. as he readied the door the light fell upon the preacher, who sat upon the bed. the fear of death had passed away--even the fear of suffering was gone. his lips moved in prayer, the forgiving words mingling with the curses of his assailants: "o god, my help and my shield!" ("_here he is, god damn him._") "forgive them, father--" ("_i've got him._") "they know not---a--h!" a long, shrill shriek--the voice of a man overborne by mortal agony--sounded above the clamor of curses, and above the roar of the blazing church. there was a fall upon the cabin floor--the grating sound of a body swiftly drawn along its surface--and one of the masked marauders rushed out dragging by the foot the preacher of the gospel of peace. the withered leg was straightened. the weakened sinews were torn asunder, and as his captor dragged him out into the light and flung the burden away, the limb dropped, lax and nerveless, to the ground. then there were blows and kicks and curses from the crowd, which rushed upon him. in the midst, one held aloft a blazing brand. groans and fragments of prayer came up through the din. [footnote: those who are interested in such matters may find some curiously exact parallels of the characters and incidents of this chapter testified to under oath in the "report of the committee on ku-klux outrages in the southern states." the facts are of no special interest, however, except as illustrations of the underlying spirit and cause of this strange epidemic of violence.] all at once there was a roar as of a desert lion bursting from its lair. they looked and saw a huge black form leap from the porch of the other house and bound toward them. he was on them in a minute. there was the swish of a saber swung by a practiced hand, and the high-peaked mask of the leader bent over the hissing blade, and was stripped away, leaving a pale, affrighted face glaring stupidly at the ebon angel of wrath in the luried fire-light. a fearful oath came through the white, strong teeth, which showed hard-set below the moustache. again the saber whistled round the head of the avenger. there was a shriek of mortal agony, and one of the masqueraders fell. the others shrunk back. one fired a shot. the man with the torch stood for the moment as though transfixed, with the glaring light still held aloft. then, with his revolver, he aimed a close, sure shot at the dusky giant whom he watched. suddenly he saw a woman's naked figure, that seemed to rise from the ground. there was a gleam of steel, and then down through mask and flesh and bone crashed the axe which had fallen by the door step, and the blood spurted upon lugena's unclothed form and into the face of the prostrate eliab, as the holder of the torch fell beside him. then the others gave way, and the two black forms pursued. there were some wild shots fired back, as they fled toward the wood beyond the road. then from its depths came a flash and a roar. a ball went shrieking by them and flew away into the darkness beyond. another, and another and another! it was not the sharp, short crack of the revolver, but the fierce angry challenge of the rifle. they had heard it before upon the battle-field, and terror lent them wings as they fled. the hurtling missiles flew here and there, wherever a masked form could be seen, and pursued their fleeing shadows into the wood, glancing from tree to tree, cutting through spine and branch and splintering bole, until the last echo of their footsteps had died away. then all was still, except the roar of the burning church and the solemn soughing of the pines, as the rising west wind rustled their branches. nimbus and his wife stood listening in the shade of a low oak, between the scene of conflict and the highway. no sound of the flying enemy could be heard. "nimbus! _oh_, nimbus!" the words came in a strained, low whisper from the unclad figure at his side. "wal, 'gena?" "is you hurt, honey?" "nary bit. how should i be? they run away ez quick ez i come. did they 'buse you, 'gena?" "none of enny 'count," she answered, cautiously, for fear of raising his anger to a point beyond control--"only jest a tryin' ter make me tell whar you was--you an' 'liab." "whar's yer clo'es, honey?" "in de house, dar, only what i tore, getting away from 'em." "an' de chillen?" "dey's run out an' hid somewheres. dey scattered like young pa'tridges." "dey's been hunted like 'em too, eh?" he lays his hand in caution upon the bare shoulder next him, and they both crouch closer in the shadow and listen. all is quiet, except groans and stertorous breathing near the cabin. "it's one of them damned villains. let me settle him!" said nimbus. "don't, don't!" cried lugena, as she threw her arms about his neck. "please don't, honey!" "p'raps it's bre'er 'liab! let me go!" he said, hastily. cautiously they started back through the strip of yellow light which lay between them and the cabin of eliab. they could not believe that their persecutors were indeed gone. nimbus's hand still clutched the saber, and lugena had picked up the axe which she had dropped. the groaning came indeed from eliab. he had partially recovered from the unconsciousness which had come over him while undergoing torture, and with returning animation had come the sense of acute suffering from the injuries he had received. "bre'er 'liab!" whispered nimbus, bending over him. "is that you, nimbus?" asked the stricken man in surprise. "how do you come to be here?" "jes tuk it inter my head ter come home atter de funeril, an' done got here jest in time ter take a han' in what was gwine on." "is the church all burned down, nimbus?" "de ruf hez all fell in. de sides 'll burn a long while yet. dey'se logs, yer know." "did 'gena get away, nimbus?" "here i is, bre'er 'liab." "is anybody hurt?" "not ez we knows on, 'cept two dat's lyin' on de groun' right h'yer by ye," said nimbus. "dead?" asked 'liab, with a shudder. he tried to raise himself up but sank back with a groan. "oh, bre'er 'liab! bre'er 'liab!" cried nimbus, his distress overcoming his fear, "is you hurt bad? my god!" he continued, as he raised his friend's head and saw that he had lapsed again into insensibility, "my god! 'gena, he's dead!" he withdrew the hand he had placed under the shoulders of the prostrate man. it was covered with blood. "sh--sh! you hear dat, nimbus?" asked lugena, in a choked whisper, as she started up and peered toward the road. "oh, nimbus, run! run! do, honey, do! dar dey comes! dey'll kill you, shore!" she caught her husband by the arm, and endeavored to drag him into the shadow of the cabin. "i can't leave bre'er 'liab," said nimbus, doggedly. "yer can't help him. yer'll jes stay an' be killed ye'self! dar now, listen at dat!" cried the trembling woman. the sound to which she referred was that of hurried footfalls in the road beyond their house. nimbus heard it, and stooping over his insensible friend, raised him in his arms and dashed around the cabin into the rank-growing corn beyond. his wife followed for a few steps, still carrying the axe. then she turned and peered through the corn-rows, determined to cover her husband's retreat should danger threaten him from that direction. after waiting awhile and hearing nothing more, she concluded to go to the house, get some clothing, and endeavor to rally her scattered brood. stealing softly up to the back door--the fire had died out upon the hearth--she entered cautiously, and after glancing through the shaded porch began to dress. she had donned her clothing and taken up her shoes preparatory to going back to the shelter of the cornfield, when she thought she heard a stealthy footstep on the porch. her heart stood still with terror. she listened breathlessly. it came again. there was no doubt of it now--a slow, stealthy step! a board creaked, and then all was still. again! thank god it was a _bare_ foot! her heart took hope. she stole to the open door and peeped out. there, in the half shadow of the flame-lit porch, she saw berry lawson stealing toward her. she almost screamed for joy. stepping into the doorway she whispered, "berry!" "is dat you, 'gena?" whispered that worthy, tiptoeing hastily forward and stepping into the shadow within the room. "how'd yer manage ter live t'rough dis yer night, 'gena? an' whar's nimbus an' de chillen?" these questions being hastily answered, lugena began to inquire in regard to his presence there. "whar i come from? jes got back from bre'er rufe's house. druv at night jes ter save de mornin' ter walk back in. lef' sally an' de chillen dar all right. when i come putty nigh ter red wing i sees de light o' de fire, an' presently i sez to myself, sez i, 'berry, dat ain't no common fire, now. ain't many houses in the kentry roun' make sech a fire ez dat. dat mus' be de church, berry.' den i members 'bout de ku kluckers, an' i sez ter myself agin, sez i, 'berry, dem rascals hez come ter red wing an' is raisin' de debble dar now, jes dere own way.' den i runs de mule and de carryall inter de woods, 'bout a mile down de road, an' i takes out bre'er 'liab's gun, dat i'd borrered fer company, yer know, an' hed got some cattridges fer, ober at lewyburg, an' i comes on ter take a han' in--ef dar wa'n't no danger, yer know, honey. "when i gits ober in de woods, dar, i heah de wust sort ob hullabaloo ober h'yer 'bout whar bre'er 'liab's house was--hollerin' an' screamin' an' cussin' an' fightin'. i couldn't make it all out, but i'llowed dat nimbus wuz a-habbin' a hell ob a time, an' ef i wuz gwine ter do anyting, dat wuz about de right time fer me ter put in. so i rested dis yer ole gal," patting the carbine in his hand, "agin a tree an' jes slung a bullet squar ober dere heads. ye see, i dassent shoot too low, fer fear ob hurtin' some of my fren's. 'd'ye heah dat shot, 'gena? lord! how de ole gal did holler. 'pears like i nebber hear a cannon sound so big. de ku kluckers 'peared ter hear it too, fer dey comed squar outen h'yer inter de big road. den i opened up an' let her bark at 'em ez long ez i could see a shadder ter pull trigger on. wonder ef i hurt enny on 'em. d'yer know, 'gena, wuz enny on 'em killed?" "dar's two on 'em a layin' out dar by 'liab's house," said the woman. "yer don't say so!" said berry with a start. "la, sakes! what's dat?" he continued, breathlessly, as a strange sound was heard in the direction indicated. they stole out upon the porch, and as they peered through the clustering wine-leaves a ghastly spectacle presented itself to their eyes. one of the prostrate forms had risen and was groping around on its hands and knees, uttering a strange moaning sound. presently it staggered to its feet, and after some vain efforts seized the mask, the long flowing cape attached to which fell down upon the shoulders, and tore it away. the pale, distorted face with a bloody channel down the middle was turned inquiringly this way and that. the man put his hand to his forehead as if to collect his thoughts. then he tried to utter a cry; the jaw moved, but only unintelligible sounds were heard. lugena heard the click of the gun-lock, and turning, laid her hand on berry, as she said, "don't shoot! 'tain't no use!" "yer right, it ain't," said berry with chattering teeth. "who ebber seed a man walkin' 'roun' wid his head split wide open afo'?" the figure staggered on, looked a moment at the house, turned toward the burning church, and then, seeming to recall what had happened, at once assumed a stealthy demeanor, and, still staggering as it went, crept off toward the gate, out of which it passed and went unsteadily off down the road. "dar ain't no sort of use o' his dodgin' 'round," said berry, as the footsteps died away. "de berry debble'd gib him de road, enny time." as he spoke, a whistle sounded down the road. berry and lugena instantly sought shelter in the corn. crouching low between the rows, they saw four men come cautiously into the yard, examine the prostrate man that remained, and bear him off between them, using for a stretcher the pieces of the coffin-shaped board which had been hung upon the gate two weeks before. chapter xxxviii. "the rose above the mould." the convalescence of mollie ainslie was very rapid, and a few days after the crisis of her disease her attendants were able to return to their homes at red wing. great was the rejoicing there over the recovery of their favorite teacher. the school had been greatly crippled by her absence and showed, even in that brief period, how much was due to her ability and skill. everybody was clamorous for her immediate return--everybody except eliab hill, who after an almost sleepless night sent a letter begging her not to return for a considerable time. it was a strangely earnest letter for one of its apparent import. the writer dwelt at considerable length upon the insidious and treacherous character of the disease from which she was recovering. he grew eloquent as he detailed all that the people of red wing owed to her exertions in their behalf, and told how, year after year, without any vacation, she had labored for them. he showed that this must have been a strain upon her vital energies, and pointed out the danger of relapse should she resume her duties before she had fully recovered. he begged her, therefore, to remain at mulberry hill at least a month longer; and, to support his request, informed her that with the advice and consent of the superintendent he had dismissed the school until that time. he took especial pains, too, to prevent the report of the threatened difficulty from coming to her ears. this was the more easily accomplished from the fact that those who had apprehended trouble were afraid of being deemed cowardly if they acknowledged their belief. so, while the greater number of the men in the little hamlet were accustomed to sleep in the neighboring thickets, in order to be out of harm's way should the ku klux come to make good their decree, very little was said, even among themselves, about the threatened attack. in utter unconsciousness, therefore, of the fate that brooded over those in whom she took so deep an interest, mollie abandoned herself to the restful delights of convalescence. she soon found herself able to visit the room of the confirmed invalid below, and though she seemed to detect a sort of coolness in her manner she did not dream of associating the change with herself. she attributed it entirely to the sore affliction which had fallen upon the household since her arrival, and which, she charitably reasoned, her own recovery must revive in their minds in full force. so she pardoned the fair, frail invalid who, reclining languidly upon the couch, asked as to her health and congratulated her in cool, set phrases upon her recovery. such was not the case, however, with her host. there were tears in his eyes when he met her on the landing for the first time after she left her sick-bed. she knew they were for the little hildreth whom she had nursed and whom her presence recalled. and yet there was a gleam in his eyes which was not altogether of sorrow. she, too, mourned for the sweet child whom she had learned to love, and her eyes responded to the tender challenge with copious tears. yet her own feelings were not entirely sad. she did not know why. she did not stop to analyze or reason. she only gave him her hand--how thin and white it was compared with the first time he had seen her and had noted its soft plumpness! their lips quivered so that they could not speak. he held her hand and assisted the servant in leading her into the parlor. she was still so weak that they had to lay her on the sofa. hesden le moyne bent over her for a little while, and then hurried away. he had not said a word, and both had wept; yet, as she closed her eyes after he had gone she was vaguely conscious that she had never been so happy before in her life. so the days wore on, quietly and swiftly, full of a tender sorrow tempered with an undefined joy. day by day she grew stronger and brighter, needing less of assistance but receiving even more of attention from the stricken father of her late charge. "you have not asked about satan," said mr. le moyne suddenly one day. "why should i?" she replied, with an arch look. "if that personage will be equally forgetful of me i am sure i shall be very glad." "oh, i mean your horse--midnight, as you call him," laughed hesden. "so i supposed," she replied. "i have a dim notion that you applied that eipthet to him on the night of my arrival. your mother, too, said something about 'satan,' that night, which i remember puzzled me very greatly at the moment, but i was too much flustered to ask about it just then. thinking of it afterward, i concluded that she intended to refer to my black-skinned pet. but why do you give him that name?" "because that was the first name he ever knew," answered hesden, with an amused smile. "the first name he ever knew? i don't understand you," she replied. "my brother captured him at appomattox, or near there, and named him midnight, and midnight he has been ever since." "very true," said hesden, "but he was satan before that, and very well earned this name, in his young days." "in his young days?" she asked, turning towards him in surprise. "did you know him then?" "very well, indeed," he replied, smiling at her eagerness. "he was raised on this plantation and never knew any other master than me until that day at rouse's bridge." "why, that is the very place my brother captured him. i remember the name now that you mention it!" she exclaimed. "is it anything surprising," said he, "that the day i lost him should be the day he captured him?" "no--not exactly--but then"--she paused in confusion as she glanced at the empty sleeve which was pinned across his breast. "yes," said he, noticing her look, "i lost that there," pointing to the empty sleeve as he spoke; "and though it was a sore loss to a young man who prided himself somewhat on his physical activity, i believe i mourned the horse more than i did the arm." "but my brother--" she began with a frightened look into his face. "well, he must have been in my immediate vicinity, for satan was the best-trained horse in the squadron. even after i was dismounted, he would not have failed to keep his place in the ranks when the retreat was sounded, unless an unusually good horseman were on his back." "my brother said he had as hard a struggle with him then as he had with his rider before," she said, looking shyly up. "indeed! i am obliged to him," he responded with a smile. "the commendation of an enemy is always pleasant to a soldier." "oh, he said you were terribly bloodthirsty and rode at him as if nothing would satisfy you but his life," she said, with great eagerness. "very likely," he answered, lightly. "i have some reputation for directness of purpose, and that was a moment of desperation. we did not know whether we should come back or not, and did not care. we knew that the end was very near, and few of us wished to outlive it. not that we cared so much--many of us at least--for the cause we fought for; but we dreaded the humiliation of surrender and the stigma of defeat. we felt the disgrace to our people with a keenness that no one can appreciate who has not been in like circumstances. i was opposed to the war myself, but i would rather have died than have lived to see the surrender." "it must have been hard," she said, softly. "hard!" he exclaimed. "i should think it was! but then," he added, his brow suddenly clearing, "next to the fact of surrender i dreaded the loss of my horse. i even contemplated shooting him to prevent his falling into the hands of the enemy." "my brother thought you were rather anxious to throw away your own life," she said, musingly. "no," he answered, "just indifferent. i wonder if i saw him at all." "oh, you must, for you-" she began eagerly, but stopped in confusion. "well, what did i do? nothing very bad, i hope?" he asked. "well, you left an ugly scar on a very smooth forehead, if you call that bad, sir," she said, archly. "indeed! of course i do," was the reply, but his tone indicated that he was thinking less of the atrocity which she had laid to his charge than of the events of that last day of battle. "let me see," said he, musingly. "i had a sharp turn with a fellow on a gray horse. he was a slender, fair-haired man"--looking down at the figure on the sofa behind which he stood as if to note if there were any resemblance. "he was tall, as tall as i am, i should say, and i thought--i was of the impression--that he was of higher rank than a captain. he was somewhat in advance of his line and right in my path. i remember thinking, as i crossed swords with him that if--if we were both killed, the odds would be in favor of our side. he must have been a colonel at least, or i was mistaken in his shoulder-straps." "my brother was a colonel of volunteers," she said, quietly. "he was only a captain, however, after his transfer to the regular army." "indeed!" said he with new interest. "what was he like?" for answer mollie put her hand to her throat, and opening a gold locket which she wore, held up the case so far as the chain would allow while hesden bent over to look at it. his face was very near her own, and she noted the eagerness with which he scanned the picture. "yes, that is the man!" he said at length, with something like a sigh. "i hope i did not injure him seriously." "only his beauty," she replied, pleasantly. "of which, judging from what i see," he said saucily, letting his eyes wander from the miniature to her face, "he could afford to lose a good deal and yet not suffer by comparison with others." it was a bold, blunt compliment, yet it was uttered with evident sincerity; but she had turned the locket so that she could see the likeness and did not catch the double meaning of his words. so she only answered calmly and earnestly, "he was a good brother." a shadow passed over his face as he noticed her inattention to his compliment, but he added heartily, "and a gallant one. i am glad that my horse fell into his hands." she looked at him and said, "you were very fond of your horse?" "yes, indeed!" he answered. "he was a great pet before we went into the service, and my constant companion for nearly three years of that struggle. but come out on the porch, and let me show you some of the tricks i taught him, and you will not only understand how i prized him, but will appreciate his sagacity more than you do now." he assisted her to a rocking-chair upon the porch, and, bidding a servant to bring out the horse, said: "you must remember that i have but one arm and have not seen him, until lately, at least, for five years. "poor old fellow!" he added, as he went down the steps of the porch, and told the servant to turn him loose. he called him up with a snap of his thumb and finger as he entered the yard and patted his head which was stretched out to receive the caress. "poor fellow! he is not so young as he was then, though he has had good care. the gray hairs are beginning to show on his muzzle, and i can detect, though no one else might notice them, the wrinkles coming about his eyes. let me see, you are only nine years old, though,--nine past. but it's the war that tells--tells on horses just as well as men. you ought to be credited with about five years for what you went through then, old fellow. and a man--do you know, miss mollie," he said, breaking suddenly off--"that a man who was in that war, even if he did not get a shot, discounted his life about ten years? it was the wear and tear of the struggle. we are different from other nations. we have no professional soldiers--at least none to speak of. to such, war is merely a business and peace an interlude. there is no mental strain in their case. but in our war we were all volunteers. every man, on both sides, went into the army with the fate of a nation resting on his shoulders, and because he felt the burden of responsibility. it was that which killed--killed and weakened--more than shot and shell and frost and heat together. and then--what came afterward?" he turned towards her as he spoke, his hand still resting on the neck of the horse which was rubbing against him and playfully nipping at him with his teeth, in manifestation of his delight. her face had settled into firm, hard lines. she seemed to be looking beyond him, and the gray coldness which we saw about her face when she read the telegram in the far-away bankshire hills, settled on cheek and brow again, as she slowly repeated, as though unconscious of their meaning, the lines: "in the world's broad field of battle, in the bivouac of life, be not like dumb, driven cattle! be a hero in the strife!" hesden le moyne gazed at her a moment in confused wonder. then he turned to the horse and made him perform various tricks at his bidding. he made him back away from him as far as he chose by the motion of his hand, and then, by reversing the gesture, brought him bounding back again. the horse lifted either foot at his instance, lay down, rolled over, stood upon his hind feet, and finally knelt upon the edge of the porch in obeisance to his mistress, who sat looking, although in a preoccupied manner, at all that was done. hesden le moyne was surprised and somewhat disappointed at her lack of enthusiasm over what he thought would give her so much pleasure. she thanked him absently when it was over, and retired to her own room. chapter xxxix. what the mist hid. the darkness was already giving way to the gray light of a misty morning following the attack on red wing. the mocking birds, one after another, were responding to each other's calls, at first sleepily and unwillingly, as though the imprisoned melody compelled expression, and then, thoroughly aroused and perched upon the highest dew-laden branches swaying and tossing beneath them, they poured forth their rival orisons. other sounds of rising day were coming through the mist that still hung over the land, shutting out the brightness which was marching from the eastward. the crowing of cocks, the neighing of horses, and the lowing of cattle resounded from hill to hill across the wide bottom-lands and up and down the river upon either hand. nature was waking from slumber--not to the full, boisterous wakefulness which greets the broad day, but the half-consciousness with which the sluggard turns himself for the light, sweet sleep of the summer morning. there was a tap at the open window that stood at the head of hesden le moyne's bed. his room was across the hall from his mother's, and upon the same floor. it had been his room from childhood. the window opened upon the wide, low porch which ran along three sides of the great rambling house. hesden heard the tap, but it only served to send his half-awakened fancy on a fantastic trip through dreamland. again came the low, inquiring tap, this time upon the headboard of the old mahogany bedstead. he thought it was one of the servants coming for orders about the day's labors. he wondered, vaguely and dully, what could be wanted. perhaps they would go away if he did not move. again it came, cautious and low, but firm and imperative, made by the nail of one finger struck sharply and regularly against the polished headboard. it was a summons and a command for silence at once. hesden raised himself quickly and looked toward the window. the outline of a human figure showed dimly against the gray darkness beyond. "who's there?"--in a low, quiet voice, as though caution had been distinctly enjoined. "marse hesden!"--a low whisper, full of suppressed excitement. "you, nimbus?" said le moyne, as he stepped quickly out of bed and approached the window. "what's the matter?" "marse hesden," whispered the colored man, laying a hand trembling with excitement on his shoulder as he came near, "is yer a friend ter 'liab hill?" "of course i am; you know that"--in an impatient undertone. "sh--sh! marse hesden, don't make no noise, please," whispered nimbus. "i don't mean ter ax ef yer's jes got nothin' agin' him, but is yer that kind ob a friend ez 'll stan' by him in trouble?" "what do you mean, nimbus?" asked hesden in surprise. "will yer come wid me, marse hesden--slip on yer clo'es an' come wid me, jist a minnit?" hesden did not think of denying this request. it was evident that something of grave importance had occurred. hardly a moment had elapsed before he stepped cautiously out upon the porch and followed nimbus. the latter led the way quickly toward a spring which burst out of the hillside fifty yards away from the house, at the foot of a giant oak. lying in the shadow of this tree and reclining against its base, lay eliab hill, his pallid face showing through the darkness like the face of the dead. a few words served to tell hesden le moyne what the reader already knows. "i brought him here, marse hesden, kase ther ain't no place else dat he'd be safe whar he could be tuk keer on. dem ar kluckers is bound ter kill him ef dey kin. he's got ter be hid an' tuk keer on till he's well--ef he ever gits well at all." "why, you don't think he's hurt--not seriously, do you?" "hurt, man!" said nimbus, impatiently. "dar ain't much difference atwixt him an' a dead man, now. "good god! nimbus, you don't mean that. he seems to sleep well," said hesden, bending over the prostrate form. "sleep! marse hesden, i'se kerried him tree miles sence he's been a-sleepin' like dat; an' de blood's been a runnin' down on my hans an' a-breakin' my holt ebbery now an' den, tu!" "why, nimbus, what is this you tell me? was any one else hurt?" "wal, dar's a couple o' white men a-layin' mighty quiet dar, afo' 'liab's house." hesden shuddered. the time he had dreaded had come! the smouldering passion of the south had burst forth at last! for years--ever since the war-prejudice and passion, the sense of insult and oppression had been growing thicker and blacker all over the south. thunders had rolled over the land. lightnings had fringed its edges. the country had heard, but had not heeded. the nation had looked on with smiling face, and declared the sunshine undimmed. it had taken no note of exasperation and prejudice. it had unconsciously trampled under foot the passionate pride of a conquered people. it had scorned and despised a sentiment more deeply inwrought than that of caste in the hindoo breast. the south believed, honestly believed, in its innate superiority over all other races and peoples. it did not doubt, has never doubted, that, man for man, it was braver, stronger, better than the north. its men were "gentlemen"--grander, nobler beings than the north ever knew. their women were "ladies"--gentle, refined, ethereal beings, passion and devotion wrapped in forms of ethereal mould, and surrounded by an impalpable effulgence which distinguished them from all others of the sex throughout the world. whatever was of the south was superlative. to be southern-born was to be _prima facie_ better than other men. so the self-love of every man was enlisted in this sentiment. to praise the south was to praise himself; to boast of its valor was to advertise his own intrepidity; to extol its women was to enhance the glory of his own achievements in the lists of love; to vaunt its chivalry was to avouch his own honor; to laud its greatness was to extol himself. he measured himself with his northern compeer, and decided without hesitation in his own favor. the south, he felt, was unquestionably greater than the north in all those things which were most excellent, and was only overtopped by it in those things which were the mere result of numbers. outnumbered on the field of battle, the south had been degraded and insulted by a sordid and low-minded conqueror, in the very hour of victory. outnumbered at the ballot-box, it had still dictated the policy of the nation. the southern white man naturally compared himself with his northern brother. for comparison between himself and the african--the recent slave, the scarcely human anthropoid--he found no ground. only contrast was possible there. to have these made co-equal rulers with him, seated beside him on the throne of popular sovereignty, merely, as he honestly thought, for the gratification of an unmanly spite against a fallen foe, aroused every feeling of exasperation and revenge which a people always restive of restraint could feel. it was not from hatred to the negro, but to destroy his political power and restore again their own insulted and debased supremacy that such things were done as have been related. it was to show the conqueror that the bonds in which the sleeping samson had been bound were green withes which he scornfully snapped asunder in his first waking moment. pride the most overweening, and a prejudice of caste the most intense and ineradicable, stimulated by the chagrin of defeat and inflamed by the sense of injustice and oppression--both these lay at the bottom of the acts by which the rule of the majorities established by reconstructionary legislation were overthrown. it was these things that so blinded the eyes of a whole people that they called this bloody masquerading, this midnight warfare upon the weak, this era of unutterable horror, "redeeming the south!" there was no good man, no honest man, no christian man of the south who for an instant claimed that it was right to kill, maim, beat, wound and ill-treat the black man, either in his old or his new estate. he did not regard these acts as done to another _man_, a compeer, but only as acts of cruelty to an inferior so infinitely removed from himself as to forbid any comparison of rights or feelings. it was not right to do evil to a "nigger;" but it was infinitely less wrong than to do it unto one of their own color. these men did not consider such acts as right in themselves, but only as right in view of their comparative importance and necessity, and the unspeakable inferiority of their victims. for generations the south had regarded the uprising of the black, the assertion of his manhood and autonomy, as the _ultima thule_ of possible evil. san domingo and hell were twin horrors in their minds, with the odds, however, in favor of san domingo. to prevent negro domination anything was justifiable. it was a choice of evils, where on one side was placed an evil which they had been taught to believe, and did believe, infinitely outweighed and overmatched all other evils in enormity. anything, said these men in their hearts; anything, they said to each other; anything, they cried aloud to the world, was better, is better, must be better, than negro rule, than african domination. now, by negro rule _they_ meant the exercise of authority by a majority of citizens of african descent, or a majority of which they constituted any considerable factor. the white man who acted with the negro in any relation of political co-ordination was deemed even worse than the african himself. if he became a leader, he was anathematized for self-seeking. if he only co-operated with his ballot, he was denounced as a coward. in any event he was certain to be deemed a betrayer of his race, a renegade and an outcast. hesden le moyne was a southern white man. all that has just been written was essential truth to him. it was a part of his nature. he was as proud as the proudest of his fellows. the sting of defeat still rankled in his heart. the sense of infinite distance between his race and that unfortunate race whom he pitied so sincerely, to whose future he looked forward with so much apprehension, was as distinct and palpable to him as to any one of his compeers. the thousandth part of a drop of the blood of the despised race degraded, in his mind, the unfortunate possessor. he had inherited a dread of the ultimate results of slavery. he wished--it had been accounted sensible in his family to wish--that slavery had never existed. having existed, they never thought of favoring its extinction. they thought it corrupting and demoralizing to the white race. they felt that it was separating them, year by year, farther and farther from that independent self-relying manhood, which had built up american institutions and american prosperity. they feared the fruit of this demoralization. _for the sake of the white man_, they wished that the black had never been enslaved. as to the blacks--they did not question the righteousness of their enslavement. they did not care whether it were right or wrong. they simply did not consider them at all. when the war left them free, they simply said, "poor fellows!" as they would of a dog without a master. when the blacks were entrusted with the ballot, they said again, "poor fellows!" regarding them as the blameless instrument by which a bigoted and revengeful north sought to degrade and humiliate a foe overwhelmed only by the accident of numbers; the colored race being to these northern people like the cat with whose paw the monkey dragged his chestnuts from the fire. hesden had only wondered what the effect of these things would be upon "the south;" meaning by "the south" that regnant class to which his family belonged--a part of which, by a queer synecdoche, stood for the whole. his love for his old battle-steed, and his curious interest in its new possessor, had led him to consider the experiment at red wing with some care. his pride and interest in eliab as a former slave of his family had still further fixed his attention and awakened his thought. and, finally, his acquaintance with mollie ainslie had led him unconsciously to sympathize with the object of her constant care and devotion. so, while he stood there beside the stricken man, whose breath came stertorous and slow, he was in that condition of mind of all others most perilous to the southern man--he had begun to _doubt_: to doubt the infallibility of his hereditary notions; to doubt the super-excellence of southern manhood, and the infinite superiority of southern womanhood; to doubt the incapacity of the negro for self-maintenance and civilization; to doubt, in short, all those dogmas which constitute the differential characteristics of "the southern man." he had gone so far--a terrible distance to one of his origin--as to admit the possibility of error. he had begun to question--god forgive him, if it seemed like sacrilege--he had begun to question whether the south might not have been wrong--might not still be wrong--wrong in the principle and practice of slavery, wrong in the theory and fact of secession and rebellion, wrong in the hypothesis of hate on the part of the conquerors, wrong in the assumption of exceptional and unapproachable excellence. the future was as misty as the gray morning. chapter xl dawning. hesden le moyne stood with nimbus under the great low-branching oak, in the chill morning, and listened to the labored breathing of the man for the sake of whose humanity his father had braved public opinion in the old slave-era, which already seemed centuries away in the dim past. the training of his life, the conditions of his growth, bore fruit in that moment. he pitied the outraged victim, he was shocked at the barbarity of his fellows; but there was no sense of injustice, no feeling of sacred rights trampled on and ignored in the person of the sufferer. he remembered when he had played with eliab beside his mother's hearth; when he had varied the monotony of study by teaching the crippled slave-boy the tasks he himself was required to perform. the tenderness of old associations sprang up in his mind and he felt himself affronted in the person of the protege of his family. he disliked cruelty; he hated cowardice; and he felt that eliab hill had been the victim of a cruel and cowardly assault. he remembered how faithfully this man's mother had nursed his own. above all, the sentiment of comradeship awoke. this man who had been his playfellow had been brutally treated because of his weakness. he would not see him bullied. he would stand by him to the death. "the cowards!" he hissed through his teeth. "bring him in, nimbus, quick! they needn't expect me to countenance such brutality as this!" "marse hesden," said the black samson who had stood, silently watching the white playmate of his boyhood, while the latter recovered himself from the sort of stupor into which the revelation he had heard had thrown him, "god bress yer fer dem words! i 'llowed yer'd stan' by 'liab. dat's why i fotched him h'yer." "of course i would, and by you too, nimbus." "no, marse hesden, dat wouldn't do no sort o' good. nimbus hez jes got ter cut an' run fer it. i 'specs them ar dat's a lyin' dar in front ob 'liab's do' ain't like ter do no mo' troublin'; an' yer knows, marse hesden, 'twouldn't nebber be safe fer a cullu'd man dat's done dat ar ter try an' lib h'yerabouts no mo'!" "but you did it in defense of life. you had a right to do it, nimbus." "dar ain't no doubt o' dat, marse hesden, but i'se larned dat de right ter du a ting an' de doin' on't is two mighty diff'rent tings, when it's a cullu'd man ez does it. i hed a right ter buy a plantation an' raise terbacker; an' 'liab hed a right ter teach an' preach; an' we both hed a right ter vote for ennybody we had a mind ter choose. an' so we did; an' dat's all we done, tu. an' now h'yer's what's come on't, marse hesden." nimbus pointed to the bruised creature before them as he spoke, and his tones sounded like an arraignment. "i am afraid you are right, nimbus," said the white man, with a sense of self-abasement he had never thought to feel before one of the inferior race. "but bring him in, we must not waste time here." "dat's a fac'," said nimbus, with a glance at the east. "'tain't more'n 'bout a hour till sun-up, an' i mustn't be seen hereabouts atter dat. dey'll be a lookin' atter me, an' 'twon't be safe fer nimbus ter be no whar 'cept in de mos' lonesome places. but whar's ye gwine ter put 'liab, marse hesden?" "in the house--anywhere, only be quick about it. don't let him die here!" said hesden, bending over the prostrate man and passing a hand over his forehead with a shudder. "but whar'bouts in de house yer gwine ter put him, marse hesden?" "anywhere, man--in my room, if nowhere else. come, take hold here!" was hesden's impatient rejoinder as he put his one hand under eliab's head and strove to raise him up. "dat won't do, marse hesden," said nimbus, solemnly. 'liab had a heap better go back ter de woods an' chance it wid nimbus, dan be in your room." "why so?" "why? kase yer knows dat de men what done disting ain't a-gwine ter let him lib ef dey once knows whar he's ter be found. he's de one dey wuz atter, jest ez much ez nimbus, an' p'raps a leetle more, dough yer knows ther ain't a mite o' harm in him, an' nebber was, but dat don't matter. deytinks dat he keeps de cullu'd folks togedder, an' makes' em stan' up for dere rights, an' dat's why dey went fer him. 'sides dat, ef he didn't hurt none on 'em dey know he seed an' heerd 'em, an' so'll be afeared ter let up on him on dat account." "i'd like to see the men that would take him out of my house!" said le moyne, indignantly. "dar'd jes be two men killed instead ob one, ef yer should," said the other, dryly. "perhaps you're right," said le moyne, thoughtfully. "the men who did this will do anything. but where _shall_ we put him? he can't lie here." "marse hesden, does yer mind de loft ober de ole dinin'-room, whar we all used ter play ob a sunday?" "of course, i've got my tobacco bulked down there now," was the answer. "dat's de place, marse hesden!" "but there's no way to get in there except by a ladder," said hesden. "so much de better. you gits de ladder, an' i brings 'liab." in a few minutes eliab was lying on some blankets, hastily thrown over a bulk of leaf tobacco, in the loft over the old dining-room at mulberry hill, and hesden le moyne was busy bathing his face, examining his wounds, and endeavoring to restore him to consciousness. nimbus waited only to hear his report that the wounds, though numerous and severe, were not such as would be likely to prove fatal. there were several cuts and bruises about the head; a shot had struck the arm, which had caused the loss of blood; and the weakened tendons of the cramped and unused legs had been torn asunder. these were all the injuries le moyne could find. nimbus dropped upon his knees, and threw his arms about the neck of his friend at this report, and burst into tears. "god bress yer, 'liab! god bress yer!" he sobbed. "nimbus can't do no mo' fer ye, an' don't 'llow he'll nebber see ye no mo'--no mo' in dis world! good-by, 'liab, good-by! yer don't know nimbus's gwine away, does yer? god bress yer, p'raps it's better so--better so!" he kissed again and again the pale forehead, from which the dark hair had been brushed back by repeated bathings. then rising and turning away his head, he extended his hand to le moyne and said: "good-bye, marse hesden! god bress yer! take good keer o' 'liab, mahs'r, an'--an'--ef he gits round agin, don't let him try ter stay h'yrabouts--don't, please! 'tain't no use! see ef yer can't git him ter go ter de norf, er somewhar. oh, my god!" he exclaimed, suddenly, as the memory of his care of the stricken friend came suddenly upon him, "my god! what'll he ebber do widout nimbus ter keer fer him?" his voice was drowned in sobs and his grip on the hand of the white man was like the clasp of a vice. "don't go, nimbus, don't!" pleaded hesden. "i must, marse hesden," said he, repressing his sobs. "l'se got ter see what's come o' 'gena an' de rest, an' it's best fer both. good-by! god bress yer! ef he comes tu, ax him sometimes ter pray for nimbus. but'tain't no use--no use--fer he'll do it without axin'. good-by!" he opened the wooden shutter, ran down the ladder, and disappeared, as the misty morning gave way to the full and perfect day. chapter xli. q. e. d. as mollie ainslie grew stronger day by day, her kind host had done all in his power to aid her convalescence by offering pleasing attentions and cheerful surroundings. as soon as she was able to ride, she had been lifted carefully into the saddle, and under his watchful supervision had made, each day, longer and longer rides, until, for some days preceding the events of the last few chapters, her strength had so fully returned that they had ridden several miles. the flush of health had returned to her cheeks, and the sleep that followed her exercise was restful and refreshing. already she talked of returning to red wing, and, but for the thoughtfulness of eliab hill in dismissing the school for a month during her illness, would have been present at the terrible scenes enacted there. she only lingered because she was not quite recovered, and because there was a charm about the old plantation, which she had never found elsewhere. a new light had come into her life. she loved hesden le moyne, and hesden le moyne loved the yankee school-marm. no word of love had been spoken. no caress had been offered. a pall hung over the household, in the gloom of which the lips might not utter words of endearment. but the eyes spoke; and they greeted each other with kisses of liquid light when their glances met. flushed cheeks and tones spoke more than words. she waited for his coming anxiously. he was restive and uneasy when away. the peace which each one brought to the other's heart was the sure witness of well-grounded love. she had never asked herself where was the beginning or what would be the end. she had never said to herself, "i love him;" but his presence brought peace, and in her innocence she rested there as in an undisturbed haven. as for him--he saw and trembled. he could not shut his eyes to her love or his own. he did not wish to do so. and yet, brave man as he was, he trembled at the thought. hesden le moyne was proud. he knew that mollie ainslie was as proud as himself. he had the prejudices of his people and class, and he knew also that she had the convictions of that part of the country where she had been reared. he knew that she would never share his prejudices; he had no idea that he would ever share her convictions. he wished that she had never taught a "nigger school"--not for his own sake, he said to himself, with a flush of shame, but for hers. how could she face sneers? how could he endure insults upon his love? how could he ask her to come where sneers and insults awaited her? love had set himself a hard task. he had set before him this problem: "new england puritanism and southern prejudice; how shall they be reconciled?" for the solution of this question, there were given on one side a maiden who would have plucked out her heart and trampled it under her feet, rather than surrender one tenet in her creed of righteousness; and on the other side a man who had fought for a cause he did not approve rather than be taunted with having espoused one of the fundamental principles of her belief. to laugh at locksmiths was an easy thing compared with the reading of this riddle! on the morning when eliab was brought to mulberry hill, mrs. le moyne and mollie breakfasted together alone in the room of the former. both were troubled at the absence of the master of the house. "i cannot see why he does not come," said mrs. le moyne. "he is the soul of punctuality, and is never absent from a meal when about home. he sent in word by laura early this morning that he would not be at breakfast, and that we should not wait for him, but gave no sort of reason. i don't understand it." "i hope he is not sick. you don't think he has the fever, do you?" said mollie, with evident anxiety. the elder woman glanced keenly at her as she replied in a careless tone: "oh, no indeed. you have no occasion for anxiety. i told laura to take him a cup of coffee and a roll in his room, but she says he is not there. i suppose something about the plantation requires his attention. it is very kind of you, i am sure; but i have no doubt he is quite well." there was something in the tone as well as the words which cut the young girl to the heart. she could not tell what it was. she did not dream that it was aimed at herself. she only knew that it sounded harsh and cold, and unkind. her heart was very tender. sickness and love had thrown her off her guard against sneers and hardness. it did not once occur to her that the keen-sighted invalid, whose life was bound up in her son's life, had looked into the heart which had never yet syllabled the love which filled it, and hated what she saw. she did not deem it possible that there should be aught but kindly feeling for her in the household she had all but died to serve. moreover, she had loved the delicate invalid ever since she had received a letter from her hand. she had always been accustomed to that unconscious equality of common right and mutual courtesy that prevails so widely at the north, and had never thought of construing the letter as one of patronizing approval. she had counted it a friendly commendation, not only of herself, but of her work. this woman she had long pictured to herself as one that rose above the prejudice by which she was surrounded. she who, in the old times, had bravely taught eliab hill to read in defiance of the law, would surely approve of a work like hers. so thought the silly girl, not knowing that the gentle invalid had taught eliab hill the little that he knew before emancipation more to show her defiance of meddling objectors, than for the good of the boy. in fact, she had had no idea of benefiting him, other than by furnishing him a means of amusement in the enforced solitude of his affliction. mollie did not consider that hester le moyne was a southern woman, and as such, while she might admire courage and accomplishments in a woman of northern birth, always did so with a mental reservation in favor of her own class. when, however, one came from the north to teach the negroes, in order that they might overpower and rule the whites, which she devoutly believed to be the sole purpose of the colored educational movement, no matter under what specious guise of charity it might be done, she could not go even so far as that. yet, if such a one came to her, overwhelmed by stress of weather, she would give her shelter; if she were ill she would minister unto her; for these were christian duties. if she were fair and bright, and brave, she would delight to entertain her; for that was a part of the hospitality of which the south boasted. there was something enjoyable, too, in parading the riches of a well-stocked wardrobe and the lavish splendors of an old southern home to one who, she believed, had never seen such magnificence before; for the belief that poverty and poor fare are the common lot of the country folks at the north is one of the fallacies commonly held by all classes at the south. as slavery, which was the universal criterion of wealth and culture at the south, did not prevail at all at the north, they unconsciously and naturally came to associate self-help with degradation, and likened the northern farmer to the poor white "cropper." where social rank was measured by the length of the serving train, it was not strange that the northern self-helper should be despised and his complacent assumption of equal gentility scorned. so mrs. le moyne had admired the courage of mollie ainslie before she saw her; she had been charmed with her beauty and artless grace on the first night of her stay at mulberry hill, and had felt obliged to her for her care of the little hildreth; but she had not once thought of considering her the peer of the richardses and the le moynes, or as standing upon the same social plane as herself. she was, no doubt, good and honest and brave, very well educated and accomplished, but by no means a lady in _her_ sense of the word. mrs. le moyne's feeling toward the northern school-teacher was very like that which the english gentry express when they use the word "person." there is no discredit in the term. the individual referred to may be the incarnation of every grace and virtue, only he is of a lower degree in the social scale. he is of another grade. entertaining such feelings toward mollie, it was no wonder that mrs. le moyne was not pleased to see the anxious interest that young lady freely exhibited in the health of her son. on the other hand, the young new england girl never suspected the existence of such sentiments. conscious of intellectual and moral equality with her hostess, she did not imagine that there could be anything of patronage, or anything less than friendly sympathy and approval, in the welcome she had received at mulberry hill. this house had seemed to her like a new home. the exile which she had undergone at red wing had unfitted her for the close analysis of such pleasing associations. therefore, the undertone in mrs. le moyne's remarks came upon her like a blow from an unseen hand. she felt hurt and humbled, but she could not exactly tell why. her heart grew suddenly heavy. her eyes filled with tears. she dallied a little while with coffee and toast, declined the dainties pressed upon her with scrupulous courtesy, and presently, excusing her lack of appetite, fled away to her room and wept. "i must be nervous this morning," she said to herself smilingly, as she dried her eyes and prepared for her customary morning ride. on going down stairs she found a servant in waiting with her horse ready saddled, who said: "mornin', miss mollie. marse hesden said ez how i was ter tell yer dat he was dat busy dis mornin' dat he couldn't go ter ride wid yer to-day, nohow. i wuz ter gib yer his compliments, all de same, an' say he hopes yer'll hev a pleasant ride, an' he wants ter see yer when yer gits back. he's powerful sorry he can't go." "tell mr. le moyne it is not a matter of any consequence at all, charley," she answered pleasantly. "yer couldn't never make marse hesden b'lieve dat ar, no way in de world," said charles, with deft flattery, as he lifted her into the saddle. then, glancing quickly around, he said in a low, earnest voice: "hez ye heerd from red wing lately, miss mollie?" "not for a day or two. why?" she asked, glancing quickly down at him. "oh, nuffin', only i wuz afeared dar'd been somethin' bad a gwine on dar, right lately." "what do you mean, charles?" she asked, bending down and speaking anxiously. "don't say nuffin' 'bout it, miss mollie--dey don't know nuffin' 'bout it in h'yer," nodding toward the house, "but de ku kluckers was dar las' night." "you don't mean it, charles?" "dat's what i hear," he answered doggedly. "anybody hurt?" she asked anxiously. "i don't know dat, miss mollie. dat's all i hear--jes dat dey'd been dar." chapter xlii. through a cloud-rift. it was with a heavy heart that mollie ainslie passed out of the gate and rode along the lane toward the highway. the autumn sun shone bright, and the trees were just beginning to put on the gay trappings in which they are wont to welcome wintry death. yet, somehow, everything seemed suddenly to have grown dark and dull. her poor weak brain was overwhelmed and dazed by the incongruity of the life she was leaving with that to which she was going back--for she had no hesitation in deciding as to the course she ought to pursue. she did not need to question as to what had been done or suffered. if there was any trouble, actual or impending, affecting those she had served, her place was with them. they would look to her for guidance and counsel. she would not fail them. she did not once think of danger, nor did she dream that by doing as she proposed she was severing herself entirely from the pleasant life at the fine old country seat which had been so eventful. she did, indeed, think of hesden. she always thought of him of late. everything, whether of joy or of sorrow, seemed somehow connected with him. she thought of him--not as going away from him, or as putting him out of her life, but as deserving his approval by her act. "he will miss me when he finds that i do not return. perhaps he will be alarmed," she said to herself, as she cantered easily toward the ford. "but then, if he hears what has happened, he will know where i have gone and will approve my going. perhaps he will be afraid for me, and then he will--" her heart seemed to stop beating! all its bright current flew into her face. the boundless beatitude of love burst on her all at once. she had obeyed its dictates and tasted its bliss for days and weeks, quite unconscious of the rapture which filled her soul. now, it came like a great wave of light that overspread the earth and covered with a halo all that was in it. how bright upon the instant was everything! the sunshine was a beating, pulsing ether animated with love! the trees, the fields, the yellow-breasted lark, pouring forth his autumn lay, the swallows, glancing in the golden sunshine and weaving in and out on billowy wing the endless dance with which they hie them southward ere the winter comes--everything she saw or heard was eloquent with look and tones of love! the grand old horse that carried her so easily, how strange and how delightful was this double ownership, which yet was only one! hers? hesden's? hesden's because hers, for--ah, glowing cheek! ah, bounding heart! how sweet the dear confession, breathed--nay told unspokenly--to autumn sky and air, to field and wood and bird and beast, to nature's boundless heart--_she_ was but hesden's! the altar and the idol of his love! oh, how its incense thrilled her soul and intoxicated every sense! there was no doubt, no fear, no breath of shame! he would come and ask, and she--would give? no! no! no! she could not give, but she would tell, with word and look and swift embrace, how she _had_ given--ah! given all--and knew it not! oh, fairer than the opened heaven is earth illumined with love! as she dreamed, her horse's swift feet consumed the way. she reached the river--a silver billow between emerald banks, to-day! almost unheedingly she crossed the ford, just smiling, rapt in her vision, as memory brought back the darkness of her former crossing! then she swept on, through the dark, over-arching pines, their odor mingling with the incense of love which filled her heart. she had forgotten red wing and all that pertained to it. the new song her lips had been taught to sing had made thin and weak every melody of the past, shall care cumber the heart of the bride? she knew vaguely that she was going to red wing. she recognized the road, but it seemed glorified since she travelled it before. once, she thought she heard her name called. the tone was full of beseeching. she smiled, for she thought that love had cheated her, and syllabled the cry of that heart which would not be still until she came again. she did not see the dark, pleading face which gazed after her as her horse bore her swiftly beyond his ken. on and on, easily, softly! she knows she is approaching her journey's end, but the glamour of love enthralls her senses yet. the last valley is passed. she ascends the last hill. before her is red wing, bright and peaceful as paradise before the spoiler came. she has forgotten the story which the hostler told. the sight of the little village but heightens her rapture. she almost greets it with a shout, as she gives her horse the rein and dashes down the little street. how her face glows! the wind toys with stray tresses of her hair! how dull and amazed the people seem whom she greets so gayly! still on! around the angle of the wood she turns--and comes upon the smouldering church! ah, how the visions melt! what a cry of agony goes up from her white lips! how pale her cheeks grow as she drops the rein from her nerveless fingers! the observant horse needs no words to check his swift career. the scene of desolation stops him in an instant. he stretches out his head and looks with staring eyes upon the ruin. he snuffs with distended nostrils the smoke that rises from the burning. the villagers gather around. she answers every inquiry with low moans. gently they lead her horse under the shadow of the great oak before the old ordinary. very tenderly she is lifted down and borne to the large-armed rocker on the porch, which the weeping, trembling old "mammy" has loaded with pillows to receive her. all day long she heard the timid tread of dusky feet and listened to the tale of woe and fear. old and young, those whom she had counselled, and those whom she had taught, alike sought her presence and advice. lugena came, and showed her scarred form; brought her beaten children, and told her tale of sorrow. the past was black enough, but the shadow of a greater fear hung over the little hamlet. they feared for themselves and also for her. they begged her to go back to mr. le moyne's. she smiled and shook her head with a soft light in her eyes. she would not go back until the king came and entreated her. but she knew that would be very soon. so she roused herself to comfort and advise, and when the sun went down, she was once more the little mollie ainslie of the bankshire hills, only fairer and ruddier and sweeter than ever before, as she sat upon the porch and watched with dewy, love-lit eyes the road which led to mulberry hill. the shadows came. the night fell; the stars came out; the moon arose--he came not. stealthy footsteps came and went. faithful hearts whispered words of warning with trembling lips. she did not fear. her heart was sick. she had not once dreamed that hesden would fail to seek her out, or that he would allow her to pass one hour of darkness in this scene of horror. she almost began to wish the night might be a counterpart of that which had gone before. she took out her brother's heavy revolver, loaded every chamber, laid it on the table beside her chair, and sat, sleepless but dry-eyed, until the morning. the days went by. hesden did not come, and sent no word. he was but five miles away; he knew how she loved him; yet the grave was not more voiceless! she hoped--a little--even after that first night. she pictured possibilities which she hoped might be true. then the tones of the mother's voice came back to her--the unexplained absence--the unfulfilled engagement--and doubt was changed to certainty! she did not weep or moan or pine. the yankee girl had no base metal in her make. she folded up her vision of love and laid it away, embalmed in the fragrance of her own purity, in the inmost recess of her heart of hearts. the rack could not have wrung from her a whisper of her one day in paradise. she was simply mollie ainslie, the teacher of the colored school at red wing, once more; quiet, cool, and practical, giving herself day by day, with increased devotion, to the people whom she had served so faithfully before her brief translation. chapter xliii. a glad good-by. a few days after her departure from mulberry hill, mollie ainslie wrote to mrs. le moyne: "my dear madam: you have no doubt heard of the terrible events which have occurred at red wing. i had an intimation of trouble just as i set out on my ride, but had no idea of the horror which awaited me upon my arrival here, made all the more fearful by contrast with your pleasant home. "i cannot at such a time leave the people with whom i have labored so long, especially as their only other trusted adviser, the preacher, eliab hill, is missing. with the utmost exertion we have been able to learn nothing of him or of nimbus since the night of the fire. there is no doubt that they are dead. of course, there is great excitement, and i have had a very anxious time. i am glad to say, however, that my health continues to improve. i left some articles scattered about in the room i occupied, which i would be pleased if you would have a servant collect and give to the bearer. "with the best wishes for the happiness of yourself and mr. hesden, and with pleasant memories of your delightful home, i remain, "yours very truly, "mollie ainslie." to this she received the following reply: "miss mollie ainslie: i very much regret the unfortunate events which occasioned your hasty departure from mulberry hill. it is greatly to be hoped that all occasion for such violence will soon pass away. it is a great calamity that the colored people cannot be made to see that their old masters and mistresses are their best friends, and induced to follow their advice and leadership, instead of going after strangers and ignorant persons of their own color, or low-down white men, who only wish to use them for their own advantage. i am very sorry for eliab and the others, but i must say i think they have brought it all on themselves. i am told they have been mighty impudent and obstreperous, until really the people in the neighborhood did not feel safe, expecting every day that their houses or barns would be burned down, or their wives or daughters insulted, or perhaps worse, by the lazy, saucy crowd they had gathered about them. "eliab was a good boy, but i never did like that fellow nimbus. he was that stubborn and headstrong, even in his young days, that i can believe anything of him. then he was in the yankee army during the war, you know, and i have no doubt that he is a desperate character. i learn he has been indicted once or twice, and the general belief is that he set the church on fire, and, with a crowd of his understrappers, fixed up to represent ku klux, attacked his own house, abused his wife and took eliab off and killed him, in order to make the north believe that the people of horsford are only a set of savages, and so get the government to send soldiers here to carry the election, in order that a filthy negro and a low-down, dirty, no-account poor-white man may _mis_represent this grand old county in the legislature again. "i declare, miss ainslie, i don't see how you endure such things. you seemed while here very much of a lady, for one in your sphere of life, and i cannot understand how you can reconcile it with your conscience to encourage and live with such a terrible gang. "my son has been very busy since you left. he did not find time to inquire for you yesterday, and seemed annoyed that you had not apprised him of your intention to leave. i suppose he is afraid that his old horse might be injured if there should be more trouble at red wing. "yours truly, "hester richards le moyne." "p.s.--i understand that they are going to hunt the fellow nimbus with dogs to-morrow. i hope they will catch him and hang him to the nearest tree. i have no doubt he killed poor eliab, and did all the rest of the bad things laid to his charge. he is a desperate negro, and i don't see how you can stand up for him. i hope you will let the people of the north know the truth of this affair, and make them understand that southern gentlemen are not such savages and brutes as they are represented." the letter was full of arrows designed to pierce her breast; but mollie ainslie did not feel one of them. after what she had suffered, no ungenerous flings from such a source could cause her any pain. on the contrary, it was an object of interest to her, in that it disclosed how deep down in the heart of the highest and best, as well as the lowest and meanest, was that prejudice which had originally instigated such acts as had been perpetrated at red wing. the credulous animosity displayed by this woman to whom she had looked for sympathy and encouragement in what she deemed a holy work, revealed to her for the first time how deep and impassable was the channel which time had cut between the people of the north and those of the south. she did not lose her respect or regard for mrs. le moyne. she did not even see that any word which had been written was intended to stab her, as a woman. she only saw that the prejudice-blinded eyes had led a good, kind heart to endorse and excuse cruelty and outrage. the letter saddened but did not enrage her. she saw and pitied the pride of the sick lady whom she had learned to love in fancy too well to regard with anger on account of what was but the natural result of her life and training. chapter xliv. putting this and that together. after mollie had read the letter of mrs. le moyne, it struck her as a curious thing that she should write to her of the hunt which was to be made after nimbus, and the great excitement which there was in regard to him. knowing that mrs. le moyne and hesden were both kindly disposed toward eliab, and the latter, as she believed, toward nimbus also, it occurred to her that this might be intended as a warning, given on the hypothesis that those parties were in hiding and not dead. at the same time, also, it flashed upon her mind that lugena had not seemed so utterly cast down as might naturally be expected of a widow so suddenly and sadly bereaved. she knew something of the secretive powers of the colored race. she knew that in the old slave times one of the men now living in the little village had remained a hidden runaway for months, within five miles of his master's house, only his wife knowing his hiding-place. she knew how thousands of these people had been faithful to our soldiers escaping from confederate prisons during the war, and she felt that a secret affecting their own liberty, or the liberty of one acting or suffering in their behalf, might be given into the keeping of the whole race without danger of revelation. she remembered that amid all the clamorous grief of others, while lugena had mourned and wept over the burning of the church and the scenes of blood and horror, she had exhibited little of that poignant and overwhelming grief or unappeasable anger which she would have expected, under the circumstances, from one of her temperament. she concluded, therefore, that the woman might have some knowledge in regard to the fate of her husband, eliab, and berry, which she had not deemed it prudent to reveal. with this thought in mind, she sent for lugena and asked if she had heard that they were going to hunt for her husband with dogs. "yes, miss mollie, i'se heerd on't," was the reply, "but nebber you mind. ef nimbus is alive, dey'll nebber git him in no sech way ez dat, an' dey knows it. 'sides dat, it's tree days ago, an' nimbus ain't no sech fool ez ter stay round dat long, jes ter be cotched now. i'se glad ter hear it, dough, kase it shows ter me dat dey hain't killed him, but wants ter skeer him off, an' git him outen de kentry. de sheriff--not de high-sheriff, but one ob his understrappers--wuz up ter our house to-day, a-purtendin' ter hunt atter nimbus. i didn't put no reliance in dat, but somehow i can't make out cla'r how dey could hev got away with him an' berry an' 'liab, all on 'em, atter de fight h'yer, an' not left no trace nor sign on' em nowhar. "now, i tell yer what's my notion, miss mollie," she added, approaching closer, and speaking in a whisper; "i'se done a heap o' tinkin' on dis yer matter, an' dis is de way i'se done figgered it out. i don't keer ter let on 'bout it, an' mebbe you kin see furder inter it nor i kin, but i'se jes made up my min' dat nimbus is all right somewhars. i don't know whar, but it's somewhar not fur from 'liab--dat yer may be shore on, honey. now, yer see, miss mollie, dar's two or tree tings makes me tink so. in de fus' place, yer know, i see dat feller, berry, atter all dis ting wuz ober, an' talked wid him an' told him dat nimbus lef all right, an' dat he tuk 'liab wid him, an' dat bre'er 'liab wuz mighty bad hurt. wal, atter i told him dat, an' he'd helped me hunt up de chillens dat wuz scattered in de co'n, an' 'bout one place an' anudder, berry he 'llows dat he'll go an' try ter fin' nimbus an' 'liab. so he goes off fru de co'n wid dat ar won'ful gun dat jes keeps on a-shootin' widout ary load. "atter a while i heahs him ober in de woods a-whistlin' an' a-carryin' on like a mockin'-bird, ez you'se heerd de quar critter du many a time." mollie nodded affirmatively, and lugena went on: "i couldn't help but laugh den, dough i wuz nigh about skeered ter death, ter tink what a mighty cute trick it wuz. i knowed he wuz a callin' nimbus an' dat nimbus 'ud know it, tu, jest ez soon ez he heerd it; but yer know ennybody dat hadn't heerd it over an offen, wouldn't nebber tink dat it warn't a mocker waked up by de light, or jes mockin' a cat-bird an' rain-crow, an' de like, in his dreams, ez dey say dey does when de moon shines, yer know." mollie smiled at the quaint conceit, so well justified by the fact she had herself often observed. lugena continued: "i tell yer, miss mollie, dat ar berry's a right cute nigga, fer all dey say 'bout him. he ain't stiddy, like nimbus, yer know, ner pious like 'liab--dat is not ter hurt, yer know--but he sartin hab got a heap ob sense, fer all dat." "it was certainly a very shrewd thing, but i don't see what it has to do with the fate of nimbus," said mollie. "i don't wish to seem to discourage you, but i am quite certain, myself, that we shall never see nimbus or eliab again." "oh, yer can't discourage _me_, miss mollie," answered the colored woman bravely. "i jes knows, er ez good ez knows, dat nimbus is all right yit awhile. now i tells yer, honey, what dis yer's got ter du wid it. yer see, it must ha' been nigh about a half-hour atter nimbus left afore berry went off; jes dat er way i tole yer "bout." "well?" said mollie, inquiringly. "wal," continued lugena, "don't yer see? dar hain't been nary word heard from neither one o' dem boys sence." "well?" said mollie, knitting her brows in perplexity. "_don't_ yer see, miss mollie," said the woman impatiently, "dat dey couldn't hab got 'em bofe togedder, 'cept berry had found nimbus fust?" "well?" "_wal!_ don't yer see dar would hev been a--a--_terrible_ fight afore dem two niggas would hev gin up bre'er 'liab, let alone derselves? yer must 'member dat dey had dat ar gun. sakes-a-massy! miss mollie, yer orter hev hearn it dat night. 'peared ter me yer could hab heard it clar' roun' de yairth, ef it _is_ round, ez yer say 'tis. now, somebody--some cullu'd body--would have been shore ter heah dat gun ef dar'd been a fight." "i had not thought of that, lugena," said mollie. "co'se yer hadn't, honey; an' dere's sunthin' else yer didn't link ob, nuther, kase yer didn't know it," said lugena. "yer min' dat boy berry, he'd done borrered our mule, jest afo' dat, ter take sally an' de chillen an' what few duds dey hez down inter hanson county, whar his brudder rufe libs, an' whar dey's gwine ter libbin' tu. dar didn't nobody 'spect him ter git back till de nex' day, any more'n nimbus; an' it war jes kinder accidental-like dat either on 'em got h'yer dat night. now, miss mollie, what yer s'pose hez come ob dat ar mule an' carryall? dat's de question." "i'm sure i don't know, 'gena, said mollie thoughtfully. "ner i don't know, nuther," was the response; "but it's jes my notion dat whar dey is, right dar yer'll fin' nimbus an' berry, an' not fur off from dem yer'll find bre'er 'liab." "you may be right," said her listener, musingly. "i'se pretty shore on't, honey. yer see when dat ar under-sheriff come ter day an' had look all 'round fer nimbus, he sed, finally, sez he, 'i'se got a'tachment'--dat's what he call it, miss mollie--a'tachment 'gin de property, or sunthin' o' dat kine. i didn't know nary ting 'bout it, but i spunked up an' tole him ebbery ting in de house dar was mine. he argyfied 'bout it a right smart while, an' finally sed dar wan't nuffin' dar ob no 'count, ennyhow. den he inquired 'bout de mule an' de carryall, an' atter dat he went out an' levelled on de crap." "did what?" asked mollie. "levelled on de crap, miss, dat's what he said, least-a-ways. den he called fer de key ob de 'backer-barn, an' i tole him 'twan't nowheres 'bout de house--good reason too, kase nimbus allus do carry dat key in his breeches pocket, 'long wid his money an' terbacker. so he takes de axe an' goes up ter de barn, an' i goes 'long wid him ter see what he's gwine ter du. den he breaks de staple an' opens de do'. now, miss mollie, 'twan't but a week er two ago, of a sunday atternoon, nimbus an' i wuz in dar lookin' roun', an' dar wuz a right smart bulk o' fine terbacker dar--some two er tree-hundred poun's on't. now when de sheriff went in, dar wa'n't more'n four or five ban's ob 'backer scattered 'long 'twixt whar de pile had been an' de do'. yah! yah! i couldn't help laughin' right out, though i wuz dat mad dat i couldn't hardly see, kase i knowed ter once how 'twas. d'yer see _now_, miss mollie?" "i confess i do not," answered the teacher. "no? wal, whar yer 'spose dat 'backer gone ter, hey?" "i'm sure i don't know. where do you think?" "what i tink become ob dat 'backer? wal, miss mollie, i tink nimbus an' berry put dat 'backer in dat carryall, an' den put bre'er 'liab in on dat 'backer, an' jes druv off somewhar--'gena don't know whar, but dat 'backer 'll take 'em a long way wid dat ar mule an' carryall. it's all right, miss mollie, it's all right wid nimbus. 'gena ain't feared. she knows her ole man too well fer dat! "yer know he runned away once afo' in de ole slave times. he didn't say nary word ter me 'bout gwine ober ter de yanks, an' de folks all tole me dat i nebber'd see him no mo'. but i knowed nimbus, an' shore 'nough, atter 'bout two year, back he come! an' dat's de way it'll be dis time--atter de trouble's ober, he'll come back. but dat ain't what worries me now, miss mollie," continued lugena. "co'se i'd like ter know jes whar nimbus is, but i know he's all right. i'se a heap fearder 'bout bre'er 'liab, fer i 'llow it's jes which an' t'other ef we ever sees him again. but what troubles me now, miss mollie, is 'bout myseff." "about yourself?" asked mollie, in surprise. "'bout me an' my chillens, miss mollie," was the reply. "why, how is that, 'gena?" "wal yer see, dar's dat ar 'tachment matter. i don't understan' it, nohow." "nor i either," said mollie. "p'raps yer could make out sunthin' 'bout it from dese yer," said the colored woman, drawing a mass of crumpled papers from her pocket. mollie smoothed them out upon the table beside her, and began her examination by reading the endorsements. the first was entitled, "_peyton winburn v. nimbus desmit_, et al. _action for the recovery of real estate. summons._" the next was endorsed, "_copy of complaint_," and another, "_affidavit and order of attachment against non-resident or absconding debtor._" "what's dat, miss mollie?" asked lugena, eagerly, as the last title was read. "dat's what dat ar sheriff man said my nimbus was--a non--_non_--what, miss mollie? i tole him 'twan't no sech ting; but la sakes! i didn't know nothing in de worl' 'bout it. i jes 'llowed dat 'twas sunthin' mighty mean, an' i knowed dat i couldn't be very fur wrong nohow, ef i jes contraried ebbery word what he said. what does it mean, miss mollie?" "it just means," said mollie, "that nimbus owes somebody--this mr. winburn, i judge, and--" "it's a lie! a clar, straight-out lie!" interrupted lugena. "nimbus don't owe nobody nary cent--not nary cent, miss mollie! tole me dat hisself jest a little time ago." "yes, but this man _claims_ he owes him--swears so, in fact; and that he has run away or hidden to keep from paying it," said mollie. "he swears he is a non-resident--don't live here, you know; lives out of the state somewhere." "an' peyton winburn swars ter dat?" asked the woman, eagerly. "yes, certainly." "didn't i tell yer dat nimbus was safe, miss mollie?" she cried, springing from her chair. "don't yer see how dey cotch derselves? ef der's ennybody on de green yairth dat knows all 'bout dis ku kluckin' it's peyton winburn, and dat ar sheriff gleason. now, don't yer know dat ef he was dead dey wouldn't be a suin' on him an' a swearin' he'd run away?" "i'm sure i don't know, but it would seem so," responded mollie. "seem so! it's boun' ter be so, honey," said the colored woman, positively. "i don't know, i'm sure," said mollie. "it's a matter i don't understand. i think i had better take these papers over to captain pardee, and see what ought to be done about them. i am afraid there is an attempt to rob you of all your husband has acquired, while he is away." "dat's what i'se afeared on," said the other. "an' it wuz what nimbus 'spected from de fust ob dis h'yer ku kluck matter. dear me, what ebber will i do, i dunno--i dunno!" the poor woman threw her apron over her head and began to weep. "don't be discouraged, 'gena," said mollie, soothingly. "i'll stand by you and get mr. pardee to look after the matter for you." "t'ank ye, miss mollie, t'ank ye. but i'se afeared it won't do no good. dey's boun' ter break us up, an' dey'll do it, sooner or later! it's all of a piece--a ku kluckin' by night, and a-suin' by day. 'tain't no use, t'ain't no use! dey'll hab dere will fust er last, one way er anudder, shore!" without uncovering her head, the sobbing woman turned and walked out of the room, across the porch and down the path to the gate. "not if i can help it!" said the little yankee woman, as she smoothed down her hair, shut her mouth close, and turned to make a more thorough perusal of the papers lugena had left with her. hardly had she finished when she was astonished by lugena's rushing into the room and exclaiming, as she threw herself on her knees: "oh, miss mollie, i done forgot--i was dat ar flustered 'bout de 'tachment an' de like, dat i done forgot what i want ter tell yer most ob all. yer know, miss mollie, dem men dat got hurt dat ar night--de ku kluckers, two on 'em, one i 'llow, killed out-an'-out, an' de todder dat bad cut--oh, my god!" she cried with a shudder, "i nebber see de likes--no nebber, miss mollie. all down his face--from his forehead ter his chin, an' dat too--yes, an' his breast-bone, too--looked like dat wuz all split open an' a-bleedin'! oh, it war horrible, horrible, miss mollie!" the woman buried her face in the teacher's lap as if she would shut out the fearful spectacle. "there, there," said mollie, soothingly, as she placed a hand upon her head. "you must not think of it. you must try and forget the horrors of that night." "don't yer know, miss mollie, dat dem ku kluckers ain't a-gwine ter let de one ez done dat lib roun' h'yer, ner ennywhar else dat dey can come at 'em, world widout end?" "well, i thought you were sure that nimbus was safe?" "nimbus?" said the woman in surprise, uncovering her face and looking up. "nimbus? 'twan't him, miss mollie, 'twan't him. i 'llows it mout hev been him dat hurt de one dat 'peared ter hev been killed straight out; but it was _me_ dat cut de odder one, miss mollie." "you?" cried mollie, in surprise, instinctively drawing back. "you?" "yes'm," said lugena, humbly, recognizing the repulse. "me--wid de axe! i hope yer don't fault me fer it, miss mollie." "blame you? no indeed, 'gena!" was the reply. "only it startled me to hear you say so. you did entirely right to defend yourself and nimbus. you should not let that trouble you for a moment." "no, miss mollie, but don't yer know dat de ku kluckers ain't a-gwine ter fergit it?" "heavens!" said the yankee girl, springing up from her chair in uncontrollable excitement. "you don't think they would hurt you--a woman?" "dat didn't save me from bein' stripped an' beat, did it?" "too true, too true!" moaned the teacher, as she walked back and forth wringing her hands. "poor child! what can you do?--what can you do?" "dat's what i want ter know, miss mollie," said the woman. "i dassent sleep ter home at night, an' don't feel safe ary hour in de day. dem folks won't fergit, an' 'gena won't nebber be safe ennywhar dat dey kin come, night ner day. what will i do, miss mollie, what will i do? yer knows nimbus 'll 'llow fer 'gena ter take keer ob herself an' de chillen an' de plantation, till he comes back, er sends fer me, an' i dassent stay, not 'nudder day, miss mollie! what'll i do? what'll i do?" there was silence in the little room for a few moments, as the young teacher walked back and forth across the floor, and the colored woman sat and gazed in stupid hopelessness up into her face. presently she stopped, and, looking down upon lugena, said with impetuous fervor: "you shall not stay, lugena! you shall not stay! can you stand it a few nights more?" "oh, yes, i kin stan' it, 'cause i'se got ter. i'se been sleepin' in de woods ebber sence, an' kin keep on at it; but i knows whar it'll end, an' so der you, miss mollie." "no, it shall not, 'gena. you are right. it is not safe for you to stay. just hide yourself a few nights more, till i can look after things for you here, and i will take you away to the north, where there are no ku klux!" "yer don't mean it, miss mollie!" "indeed i do." "an' de chillen?" "they shall go too." "god bress yer, miss mollie! god bress yer!" with moans and sobs, the torrent of her tears burst forth, as the poor woman fell prone upon the floor, and catching the hem of the teacher's robe, kissed it again and again, in a transport of joy. chapter xlv. another ox gored. there was a caller who begged to see mr. le moyne for a few minutes. descending to the sitting-room, hesden found there mr. jordan jackson, who was the white candidate for the legislature upon the same ticket with a colored man who had left the county in fright immediately after the raid upon red wing. hesden was somewhat surprised at this call, for although he had known mr. jackson from boyhood, yet there had never been more than a passing acquaintance between them. it is true, mr jackson was a neighbor, living only two or three miles from mulberry hill; but he belonged to such an entirely different class of society that their knowledge of each other had never ripened into anything like familiarity. mr. jackson was what used to be termed a poor man. he and his father before him, as hesden knew, had lived on a little, poor plantation, surrounded by wealthy neighbors. they owned no slaves, and lived, scantily on the products of the farm worked by themselves. the present occupant was about hesden's own age. there being no free schools in that county, and his father having been unable, perhaps not even desiring, to educate him otherwise, he had grown up almost entirely illiterate. he had learned to sign his name, and only by strenuous exertions, after his arrival at manhood, had become able, with difficulty, to spell out words from the printed page and to write an ordinary letter in strangely-tangled hieroglyphics, in a spelling which would do credit to a phonetic reformer. he had entered the army, probably because he could not do otherwise, and being of stalwart build, and having great endurance and native courage, before the struggle was over had risen, despite his disadvantages of birth and education, to a lieutenancy. this experience had been of advantage to him in more ways than one. chief among these had been the opening of his eyes to the fact that he himself, although a poor man, and the scion of a poor family, was, in all the manly requisites that go to make up a soldier, always the equal, and very often the superior, of his aristocratic neighbors. little by little, the self-respect which had been ground out of him and his family by generations of that condition of inferiority which the common-liver, the self-helper of the south, was forced to endure under the old slave _regime_, began to grow up in his heart. he began to feel himself a man, and prized the rank-marks on his collar as the certificate and endorsement of his manhood. as this feeling developed, he began to consider the relations between himself, his family, and others like them, and the rich neighbors by whom they were surrounded and looked down upon. and more and more, as he did so, the feeling grew upon him that he and his class had been wronged, cheated--"put upon," he phrased it--in all the past. they had been the "chinking" between the "mud" of slavery and the "house-logs" of aristocracy in the social structure of the south--a little better than the mud because of the same grain and nature as the logs; but useless and nameless except as in relation to both. he felt the bitter truth of that stinging aphorism which was current among the privates of the confederate army, which characterized the war of rebellion as "the poor man's war and the rich man's fight." so, when the war was over, lieutenant jordan jackson did not return easily and contentedly to the niche in the social life of his native region to which he had been born and bred. he found the habit of leadership and command very pleasant, and he determined that he would rise in the scale of horsford society as he had risen in the army, simply because he was brave and strong. he knew that to do this he must acquire wealth, and looking about, he saw opportunities open before him which others had not noticed. almost before the smoke of battle had cleared away, jordan jackson had opened trade with the invaders, and had made himself a prime favorite in the federal camps. he coined money in those days of transition. fortunately, he had been too poor to be in debt when the war broke out. he was independently poor, because beyond the range of credit. he had lost nothing, for he had nothing but the few poor acres of his homestead to lose. so he started fair, and before the period of reconstruction began he had by thrifty management accumulated quite a competency. he had bought several plantations whose aristocratic owners could no longer keep their grip upon half-worked lands, had opened a little store, and monopolized a considerable trade. looking at affairs as they stood at that time, jordan jackson said to himself that the opportunity for him and his class had come. he had a profound respect for the power and authority of the government of the united states, _because_ it had put down the rebellion. he had been two or three times at the north, and was astounded at its collective greatness. he said that the colored man and the poor-whites of the south ought to put themselves on the side of this great, busy north, which had opened the way of liberty and progress before them, and establish free schools and free thought and free labor in the fair, crippled, south-land. he thought he saw a great and fair future looming up before his country. he freely gave expression to these ideas, and, as he traded very largely with the colored people, soon came to be regarded by them as a leader, and by "the good people of horsford" as a low-down white nigger, for whom no epithet was too vile. nevertheless, he grew in wealth, for he attended to his business himself, early and late. he answered raillery with raillery, curses with cursing, and abuse with defiance. he was elected to conventions and legislatures, where he did many foolish, some bad, and a few wise things in the way of legislation. he knew what he wanted--it was light, liberty, education, and a "fair hack" for all men. how to get it he did not know. he had been warned a thousand times that he must abandon this way of life. the natural rulers of the county felt that if they could neutralize his influence and that which went out from red wing, they could prevent the exercise of ballatorial power by a considerable portion of the majority, and by that means "redeem" the county. they did not wish to hurt jordan jackson. he was a good enough man. his father had been an honest man, and an old citizen. nobody knew a word against his wife or her family, except that they had been poor. the people who had given their hearts to the confederate cause, remembered too, at first, his gallant service; but that had all been wiped out from their minds by his subsequent "treachery." even after the attack on red wing, he had been warned by his friends to desist. one morning, he had found on the door of his store a paper containing the following words, written inside a little sketch of a coffin: [illustration: jordan jackson, if you don't get out of here in three days, you will go to the bone yard. k.k.k.] he had answered this by a defiant, ill-spelled notice, pasted just beside it, in which he announced himself as always ready to meet any crowd of "cowards and villains who were ashamed of their own faces, at any time, night or day." his card was english prose of a most vigorous type, interspersed with so much of illiterate profanity as to satisfy any good citizen that the best people of horsford were quite right in regarding him as a most desperate and dangerous man--one of those whose influence upon the colored people was to array them against the whites, and unless promptly put down, bring about a war of races--which the white people were determined never to have in horsford, if they had to kill every radical in the county in order to live in peace with their former slaves, whom they had always nourished with paternal affection and still regarded with a most tender care. this man met hesden as the latter came out upon the porch, and with a flushed face and a peculiar twitching about his mouth, asked if he could see him in private for a moment. hesden led the way to his own room. jackson then, having first shut the door, cautiously said: "you know me, mr. le moyne?" "certainly, jackson." "an' you knew my father before me?" "of course. i knew old man billy jackson very well in my young days." "did you ever know anything mean or disreputable about him?" "no, certainly not; he was a very correct man, so far as i ever heard." "poor but honest?"--with a sneer. "well, yes; a poor man, but a very correct man." "well, did you ever know anything disreputable about _me?_" keenly. "well--why--mr. jackson--you--" stammered hesden, much confused. "out with it!" angrily. "i'm a radical?" "yes--and--you know, your political course has rendered you very unpopular." "of course! a man has no right to his own political opinions." "well, but you know, mr. jackson, yours have been so peculiar and so obnoxious to our best people. besides, you have expressed them so boldly and defiantly. i do not think our people have any ill-feeling against you, personally; but you cannot wonder that so great a change as we have had should excite many of them very greatly. you should not be so violent, mr. jackson." "violent--hell! you'd better go and preach peace to eliab hill. poor fellow! i don't reckon the man lives who ever heard him say a harsh thing to any one. he was always that mild i used to wonder the lord didn't take him long ago. nigger as he was, and cripple as he was, i'd ruther had his religion than that of all the mean, hypocritical, murdering aristocrats in horsford." "but, mr. jackson, you should not speak in that way of our best citizens." "oh, the devil! i know--but that is no matter, mr. le moyne. i didn't come to argue with you. did you ever hear anything agin' me outside of my politics?" "i don't know that i ever did." "if you were in a tight place, would you have confidence in jordan jackson as a friend?" "you know i have reason to remember that," said hesden, with feeling. "you helped me when i could not help myself. it's not every man that would care about his horse carrying double when he was running away from the yanks." "ah! you remember that, then?" with a touch of pride in his voice. "yes, indeed! jackson," said hesden, warmly. "well, would you do me a good turn to pay for that?" "certainly--anything that--" hesitating. "oh, damn it, man, don't strain yourself! i didn't ask any questions when i helped you!" "mr. jackson," said hesden, with dignity, "i merely wished to say that i do not care at this time to embroil myself in politics. you know i have an old mother who is very feeble. i have long regretted that affairs are in the condition that they are in, and have wondered if something could not be done. theoretically, you are right and those who are with you. practically, the matter is very embarrassing. but i do not hesitate to say, mr. jackson, that those who commit such outrages as that perpetrated at red wing disgrace the name of gentleman, the county, and state, the age we live in, and the religion we profess. that i _will_ say." "and that's quite enough, mr. le moyne. all i wanted was to ask you to act as my trustee." "your trustee in what?" "there is a deed i have just executed conveying everything i have to you, and i want you to sell it off and dispose of it the best you can, and send me the money." "_send_ it to you?" "yes, i'm going away." "going away? why? you are not in debt?" "i don't owe a hundred dollars." "then why are you doing this? i don't understand." "mr. le moyne," said jackson, coming close to him and speaking in a low intense tone, "i was _whipped_ last night!" "whipped!" "yes." "by whom?" "by my own neighbors, in the sight of my wife and daughter!" "by the ku klux?" "that's what they call themselves." "my god, it cannot be!" "cannot?" the man's face twitched nervously, as, dropping his hat, he threw off his light coat and, opening his shirt-collar and turning away his head, showed his shoulder covered with wales, still raw and bleeding. "my god!" cried hesden, as he put up his hand and started back in horror. "and you a white man?" "yes, mr. le moyne," said jackson, turning his face, burning with shame and indignation, toward his high-bred neighbor, "and the only reason this was done--the only thing agin me--is that i was honestly in favor of giving to the colored man the rights which the law of the land says he shall have, like other men. when the war was over, mr. le moyne, i didn't 'give up,' as all you rich folks talked about doing, and try to put up with what was to come afterward. i hadn't lost nothing by the war, but, on the contrary, had gained what i had no chance to git in any other way. so i jest looked things square in the face and made up my mind that it was a good thing for me, and all such as me, that the damned old confederacy was dead. and the more i thought on't the more i couldn't help seein' and believin' that it was right and fair to free the niggers and let them have a fair show and a white man's chance--votin' and all. that's what i call a fair hack, and i swear, mr. le moyne, i don't know how it may seem to you, but to my mind any man that ain't willing to let any other man have that, is a damn coward! i'm as white as anybody, and hain't no more reason to stand up for niggers than any of the rest of the white people--no, nor half as much as most of 'em, for, as fur as i know, i hain't got no relations among 'em. but i do say that if the white folks of the south can't stand up to a fair fight with the niggers at the polls, without cuttin', and murderin', and burnin', and shootin', and whippin', and ku kluxin', and cheatin', and swindlin', they are a damned no-'count people, and don't deserve no sort of show in the world--no more than a mean, sneakin', venomous moccasin-snake--there!" "but you don't think--" hesden began. "think? damn it, i _know_!" broke in jackson. "they said if i would quit standin' up for the niggers, they'd let me off, even after they'd got me stripped and hung up. i wouldn't do it! i didn't believe then they'd cut me up this way; but they did! an' now i'm goin'. i'd stay an' fight, but 'tain't no use; an' i couldn't look a man in the eye who i thought tuk a hand in that whippin' without killin' him. i've got to go, le moyne," he said with clenched fists, "or i shall commit murder before the sun goes down." "where are you going?" "god knows! somewhere where the world's free and the earth's fresh, and where it's no crime to have been born poor or to uphold and maintain the laws of the land." "i'm sorry, jackson, but i don't blame you. you can't live here in peace, and you are wise to go," said hesden, extending his hand. "will you be my trustee?" "yes." "god bless you!" the angry, crushed, and outraged man broke into tears as he shook the hand he held. there was an hour or two of close consultation, and then hesden le moyne looked thoughtfully after this earnest and well-meaning man, who was compelled to flee from the land for which he had fought, simply because he had adopted the policy and principles which the conquering power had thrust into the fundamental law, and endeavored to carry them out in good faith. like the fugitive from slavery in the olden time, he had started toward the north pole on the quest for liberty. chapter xlvi. backward and forward. the task which hesden le moyne undertook when he assumed the care and protection of eliab hill, was no trivial one, as he well understood. he realized as fully as did nimbus the necessity of absolute concealment, for he was well aware that the blaze of excitement which would sweep over horsford, when the events that had occurred at red wing should become known, would spare no one who should harbor or conceal any of the recognized leaders of the colored men. he knew that not only that organization which had just shown its existence in the county, but the vast majority of all the white inhabitants as well, would look upon this affair as indubitable evidence of the irrepressible conflict of races, in which they all believed most devoutly. he had looked forward to this time with great apprehension. although he had scrupulously refrained from active participation in political life, it was not from any lack of interest in the political situation of the country. he had not only the ordinary instinct of the educated southern man for political thought--an instinct which makes every man in that section first of all things a partisan, and constitutes politics the first and most important business of life--but besides this general interest in public affairs he had also an inherited bias of hostility to the right of secession, as well as to its policy. his father had been what was termed a "douglas democrat," and the son had absorbed his views. with that belief in a father's infallibility which is so general in that part of the country, hesden, despite his own part in the war and the chagrin which defeat had brought, had looked only for evil results to come out of the present struggle, which he believed to have been uselessly precipitated. it was in this state of mind that he had watched the new phase of the "irrepressible conflict" which supervened upon the downfall of the rebellion in so doing, he had arrived at the following conclusions: . that it was a most fortunate and providential thing that the confederacy had failed. he had begun to realize the wisdom of washington when he referred to the dogma of "state rights" as "that bantling--i like to have said _that monster._" . that the emancipation of the slaves would ultimately prove advantageous to the white man, . that it was the part of honorable men fairly and honestly to carry out and give effect to all the conditions, expressed and implied, on which power, representation, and autonomy were restored to the recently rebellious states. this he believed to be a personal duty, and a failure so to do he regarded as a disgrace to every man in any way contributing to it, especially if he had been a soldier and had shared the defeat of which these conditions were a consequence. . he did not regard either the war or the legislation known as reconstructionary as having in any manner affected the natural relation of the races. in the old times he had never felt or believed that the slave was inherently endowed with the same rights as the master; and he did not see how the results of war could enhance his natural rights. he did not believe that the colored man had an inherent right to freedom or to self-government. whatever right of that kind he might now have was simply by the free grace of the conqueror. he had a right to the fruit of his own labor, to the care, protection, and service of his own children, to the society and comfort of his wife, to the protection of his own person, to marriage, the ballot, possessory capacity, and all those things which distinguish the citizen from the chattel--not because of his manhood, nor because of inherent co-equality of right with the white man; but simply because the national legislation gave it to him as a condition precedent of statal rehabilitation. these may seem to the northern reader very narrow views; and so they are, as compared with those that underlay the spirit of resistance to rebellion, and the fever heat for human rights, which was the animating principle in the hearts of the people when they endorsed and approved those amendments which were the basis of reconstructionary legislation. it should be remembered, however, that even these views were infinitely in advance of the ideas generally entertained by his white fellow-citizens of the south. nearly all of them regarded these matters in a very different light; and most naturally, too, as any one may understand who will lemember what had gone before, and will keep in mind that defeat does not mean a new birth, and that warfare leaves _men_ unchanged by its results, whatever may be its effects on nations and societies. they regretted the downfall of the confederacy as the triumph of a lower and baser civilization--the ascendency of a false idea and an act of unrighteous and unjustifiable subversion. to their minds it was a forcible denial of their rights, and, to a large portion of them, a dishonorable violation of that contract or treaty upon which the federal union was based, and by which the right for which they fought had, according to their construction, been assured. as viewed by them, the result of the war had not changed these facts, nor justified the infraction of the rights of the south. in the popular phrase of that day, they "accepted the situation"--which to _their_ minds, simply meant that they would not fight any more for independent existence. the north understood it to mean that they would accept cheerfully and in good faith any terms and conditions which might be imposed upon them as a condition of rehabilitation. the masses of the southern whites regarded the emancipation of the negro simply as an arbitrary exercise of power, intended as a punishment for the act of attempted secession--which act, while many believed it to have been impolitic, few believed to be in conflict with the true theory of our government. they considered the freeing of the slave merely a piece of wanton spite, inspired, in great measure, by sheer envy of southern superiority, in part by angry hate because of the troubles, perils, and losses of the war, and, in a very small degree, by honest though absurd fanaticism. they did not believe that it was done for the sake of the slave, to secure his liberty or to establish his rights; but they believed most devoutly that it was done solely and purposely to injure the master, to punish the rebel, and to still further cripple and impoverish the south. it was, to them, an unwarrantable measure of unrighteous retribution inspired by the lowest and basest motives. but if, to the mass of southern white men, emancipation was a measure born of malicious spite in the breast of the north, what should they say of that which followed--the _enfranchisement_ of the black? it was a gratuitous insult--a causeless infamy! it was intended to humiliate, without even the mean motive of advantage to be derived. they did not for a moment believe--they do not believe to-day--that the negro was enfranchised for his own sake, or because the north believed that he was entitled to self-government, or was fit for self-government; but simply and solely because it was hoped thereby to degrade, overawe, and render powerless the white element of the southern populations. they thought it a fraud in itself, by which the north pretended to give back to the south her place in the nation; but instead, gave her only a debased and degraded co-ordination with a race despised beyond the power of words to express. this anger seemed--and still seems to the northern mind--useless, absurd, and ridiculous. it appears to us as groundless and almost as laughable as the frantic and impotent rage of the chinaman who has lost his sacred queue by the hand of the christian spoiler. to the northern mind the cause is entirely incommensurate with the anger displayed. one is inclined to ask, with a laugh, "well, what of it?" perhaps there is not a single northern resident of the south who has not more than once offended some personal friend by smiling in his face while he raged, with white lips and glaring eyes, about this culminating ignominy. yet it was sadly real to them. in comparison with this, all other evils seemed light and trivial, and whatever tended to prevent it, was deemed fair and just. for this reason, the southerners felt themselves not only justified, but imperatively called upon, in every way and manner, to resist and annul all legislation having this end in view. regarding it as inherently fraudulent, malicious, and violent, they felt no compunctions in defeating its operation by counter-fraud and violence. it was thus that the elements of reconstruction affected the hearts and heads of most of the southern whites. to admit that they were honest in holding such views as they did is only to give them the benefit of a presumption which, when applied to the acts and motives of whole peoples, becomes irrefutable. a mob may be wrong-headed, but it is always right-hearted. what it does may be infamous, but underlying its acts is always the sting of a great evil or the hope of a great good. thus it was, too, that to the subtler mind and less selfish heart of hesden le moyne, every attempt to nullify the effect or evade the operation of the reconstruction laws was tinged with the idea of personal dishonor. to his understanding, the terms of surrender were, not merely that he would not again fight for a separate governmental existence, but, also, that he would submit to such changes in the national polity as the conquering majority might deem necessary and desirable as conditions precedent to restored power; and would honestly and fairly, as an honorable man and a brave soldier, carry out those laws either to successful fruition or to fair and legitimate repeal. he was not animated by any thought of advantage to himself or to his class to arise from such ideas. unlike jordan jackson, and men of his type, there was nothing which his class could gain thereby, except a share in the ultimate glory and success of an enlarged and solidified nation. the self-abnegation which he had learned from three years of duty as a private soldier and almost a lifetime of patient attendance upon a loved but exacting invalid, inclined to him to study the movements of society and the world, without especial reference to himself, or the narrow circle of his family or class. to his mind, _honor_--that honor which he accounted the dearest birthright his native south had given--required that from and after the day of his surrender he should seek and desire, not the gratification of revenge nor the display of prejudice, but the success and glory of the great republic. he felt that the american nation had become greater and more glorious by the very act of overcoming rebellion. he recognized that the initial right or wrong of that struggle, whatever it might have been, should be subordinated in all minds to the result--an individual nation. it was a greater and a grander thing to be an american than to have been a confederate! it was more honorable and knightly to be true in letter and in spirit to every law of his reunited land than to make the woes of the past an excuse for the wrongs of the present. he felt all the more scrupulous in regard to this, because those measures were not altogether such as he would have adopted, nor such as he could yet believe would prove immediately successful. he thought that every southern man should see to it especially that, if any element of reconstruction failed, it should not be on account of any lack of honest, sincere and hearty co-operation on his part. it was for this reason that he had taken such interest in the experiment that was going on at red wing in educating the colored people. he did not at first believe at all in the capacity of the negro for culture, progress, self-support, or self-government; but he believed that the experiment, having been determined on by the nation, should be fairly and honestly carried out and its success or failure completely demonstrated. he admitted frankly that, if they had such capacity, they undoubtedly had the right to use it; because he believed the right inherent and inalienable with any race or people having the capacity. he considered that it was only the lack of co-ordinate capacity that made the africans unfit to exercise co-ordinate power with individuals of the white race. he thought they should be encouraged by every means to develop what was in them, and readily admitted that, should the experiment succeed and all distinction of civil right and political power be successfully abolished, the strength and glory of the nation would be wonderfully enhanced. his partiality for the two chief promoters of the experiment at red wing had greatly increased his interest in the result, which had by no means been diminished by his acquaintance with mollie ainslie. it was not, however, until he bent over his unconscious charge in the stillness of the morning, made an examination of the wounds of his old playmate by the flickering light of the lamp, and undertook the process of resuscitation and cure, that he began to realize how his ancient prejudice was giving way before the light of what he could not but regard as truth. the application of some simple remedies soon restored eliab to consciousness, but he found that the other injuries were so serious as to demand immediate surgical attendance, and would require considerable time for their cure. his first idea had been to keep eliab's presence at his house entirely concealed; but as soon as he realized the extent of his injuries, he saw that this would be impossible, and concluded that the safer way would be to entrust the secret to those servants who were employed "about the lot," which includes, upon a southern plantation, all who are not regularly engaged in the crop. he felt the more willing to do this because of the attachment felt for the sweet-tempered but deformed minister at red wing by all of his race in the county. he carefully impressed upon the two women and charles, the stable-boy, the necessity of the utmost caution in regard to the matter, and arranged with them to care for his patient by turns, so as never to leave him alone. he sent to the post at boyleston for a surgeon, whose coming chanced not to be noticed by the neighbors, as he arrived just after dark and went away before daylight to return to his duty. a comfortable cot was arranged for the wounded man, and, to make the care of him less onerous, as well as to avoid the remark which continual use of the ladder would be sure to excite, charles was directed to cut a doorway through the other gable of the old house into one of the rooms in a newer part. charles was one of those men found on almost every plantation, who can "turn a hand to almost anything." in a short time he had arranged a door from the chamber above "marse hesden's room," and the task of nursing the stricken man back to life and such health as he might thereafter have, was carried on by the faithful band of watchers in the dim light of the old attic and amid the spicy odor of the "bulks" of tobacco, which was stored there awaiting a favorable market. hesden was so occupied with fhis care that it was not until the next day that he became aware of mollie's absence. as she had gone without preparation or farewell, he rightly judged that it was her intention to return. at first, he thought he would go at once to red wing and assure himself of her safety, but a moment's consideration showed him not only that this was probably unnecessary, but also that to do so would attract attention, and perhaps reveal the hiding-place of eliab. besides, he felt confident that she would not be molested, and thought it quite as well that she should not be at mulberry hill for a few days, until the excitement had somewhat worn away. on the next day, eliab inquired so pitifully for both miss mollie and nimbus, that hesden, although he knew it was a half-delirious anxiety, had sent charles on an errand to a plantation in that vicinity, with directions to learn all he could of affairs there, if possible without communicating directly with miss ainslie. this he did, and reported everything quiet--nimbus and berry not heard from; eliab supposed to have been killed; the colored people greatly alarmed; and "miss mollie a-comfortin' an encouragin' on 'em night an' day." together with this anxiety came the trust confided to hesden by jordan jackson, and the new, and at first somewhat arduous, duties imposed thereby. in the discharge of these he was brought into communication with a great many of the best people of the county, and did not hesitate to express his opinion freely as to the outrage at red wing. he was several times warned to be prudent, but he answered all warnings so firmly, and yet with so much feeling, that he was undisturbed. he stood so high, and had led so pure a life, that he could even be allowed to entertain obnoxious sentiments without personal danger, so long as he did not attempt to reduce them to practice or attempt to secure for colored people the rights to which he thought them entitled. however, a great deal of remark was occasioned by the fact of his having become trustee for the fugitive radical, and he was freely charged with having disgraced and degraded himself and his family by taking the part of a "renegade, radical white nigger," like jackson. this duty took him from home during the day in a direction away from red wing, and a part of each night he sat by the bedside of eliab. so that more than a week had passed, during which he had found opportunity to take but three meals with his mother, and had not yet been able to visit red wing. chapter xlvii. breasting the torrent. to make up for the sudden loss of society occasioned by the simultaneous departure of mollie and the unusual engrossment of hesden in business matters of pressing moment, as he had informed her, mrs. le moyne had sent for one of the sisters of her son's deceased wife, miss hetty lomax, to come and visit her. it was to this young lady that hesden had appealed when the young teacher was suddenly stricken down in his house, and who had so rudely refused. learning that the object of her antipathy was no longer there, miss hetty came and made herself very entertaining to the invalid by detailing to her all the horrors, real and imagined, of the past few days. day by day she was in the invalid's room, and it was from her that mrs. le moyne had learned all that was contained in her letter to mollie concerning the public feeling and excitement. a week had elapsed, when miss hetty one day appeared with a most interesting budget of news, the recital of which seemed greatly to excite mrs. le moyne. at first she listened with incredulity and resentment; then conviction seemed to force itself upon her mind, and anger succeeded to astonishment. calling her serving woman, she asked impetuously: "maggie, is your master hesden about the house?" "really now mistis," said the girl in some confusion, "i can't edsackly tell. he war, de las' time i seed him; but then he mout hev gone out sence dat, yer know." "where was he then?" "he war in his room, ma'am, wid a strange gemmen." "yes," added the mistress, in a significant tone, "he seems to have a great deal of strange company lately." the girl glanced at her quickly as she arranged the bed-clothing, and the young lady who sat in the easy chair chuckled knowingly. so the woman answered artfully, but with seeming innocence: "la, mistis, it certain am quare how you finds out t'ings. 'pears like a mouse can't stir 'bout de house, but you hears it quicker nor de cat." it was deft flattery, and the pleased mistress swallowed the bait with a smile. "i always try to know what is going on in my own house," she responded, complacently. "should t'ink yer did," said the colored woman, gazing at her in admiring wonder. "i don't 'llow dar's ennybody come inter dis yer house in one while, dat yer didn't know all 'bout 'em widout settin' eyes on 'em. i wouldn't be at all s'prised, dat i wouldn't," said she to the young lady, "ter find dat she knows whose h'yer now, an' whose been h'yer ebbery day sence marse hesden's been so busy. la! she's a woman--she's got a headpiece, she hab!" "yes," said the invalid; "i know that that odious scallawag, jordan jackson, has been here and has been shut up with my son, consulting and planning the lord knows what, here in this very house of mine. pretty business for a le moyne and a richards to be in! you all thought you'd keep it from me; but you couldn't." "la, sakes!" said the girl, with a look of relief, "yer mustn't say _me_. _i_ didn't never try ter keep it. i know'd yer'd find it out." "when do you say you saw him?" "i jes disremembers now what time it war. some time dis mornin' though. it mout hev been some two--free hours ago." "who was the gentleman with him--i hope he was a _gentleman?_" "oh la, ma'am, dat he war--right smart ob one, i should jedge, though i nebber seen his face afo' in my born days." "and don't know his name?" "not de fust letter ob it, mistis." maggie might well say that, since none of the letters of the alphabet were known to her; but when she conveyed the idea that she did not know the name of the visitor, it was certainly a stretch of the truth; but then she did not know as "marse hesden" would care about his mother knowing the name of his visitor, and she had no idea of betraying anything which concerned him against his wish. so in order to be perfectly safe, she deemed it best to deceive her mistress. "tell your master hesden i wish to see him immediately, maggie," said mrs. le moyne, imperiously. "yes'm," said the girl, as she left the room to perform her errand. there was a broad grin upon her face as she crossed the passage and knocked at the door of hesden's room, thinking how she had flattered her mistress into a revelation of her own ignorance. she was demure enough, however, when hesden himself opened the door and inquired what she wished. "please, sah, de mistis tole me ter ax yer ter come inter her room, right away." "anything the matter, maggie?" "nuffin', only jes she wants ter talk wid yer 'bout sunthin', i reckon." "who is with her?" "miss hetty." "yes"--musingly. "an' de mistis 'pears powerfully put out 'bout sunthin' or udder," volunteered the girl. "yes," repeated hesden, absently. "well. maggie, say to my mother that i am very closely engaged, and i hope she will please excuse me for a few hours." the girl returned and delivered her message. "what!" exclaimed the sick woman, in amazement. "he must have turned radical sure enough, to send me such an answer as that! maggie," she continued, with severe dignity, "you must be mistaken. return and tell my son that i am sure you are mistaken." "oh, dar ain't no mistake 'bout it, mistis. dem's de berry words marse hesden said, shore." "do as i bade you, maggie," said the mistress, quietly. "oh, certain, mistis, certain--only dar ain't no mistake," said the woman, as she returned with the message she was charged to deliver. "did you ever see such a change?" asked mrs. le moyne of her companion as soon as the door was closed upon the servant. "there never was a time before when hesden did not come the instant i called, no matter upon what he might be engaged." "yes," said the other, laughingly, "i used to tell julia that it would make me awfully jealous to have a husband jump up and leave me to go and pet his mother before the honeymoon was over." "poor julia!" sighed the invalid. "hesden never appreciated her--never. he didn't feel her loss as i did." "i should think not," replied the sister-in-law, sharply. "but he might at least have had regard enough for her memory not to have flirted so outrageously with that yankee school-marm." "what do you mean, hetty!" said mrs. le moyne, severely. "please remember that it is my son of whom you are speaking." "oh, yes," said miss hetty, sharply, "we have been speaking of him all along, and--" the door from the hall was opened quickly, and hesden looking in, said pleasantly, "i hope you are not suffering, mother?" "not more than usual, hesden," said mrs. le moyne, "but i wish to see you very particularly, my son." "i am very busy, mother, on a most important matter; but you know i will always make everything give way for you." so saying, he stepped into the room and stood awaiting his mother's pleasure, after bowing somewhat formally to the younger lady. "what are these reports i hear about you, hesden?" asked his mother, with some show of anger. "i beg your pardon, little mother," said hesden smiling; "but was it to make this inquiry you called me from my business?" "yes, indeed," was the reply; "i should like to know what there could be of more importance to you than such slanderous reports as cousin hetty tells me are being circulated about you." "i have no doubt they are interesting if cousin hetty brings them," said hesden; "but you will please excuse me now, as i have matters of more importance to attend to." he bowed, and would have passed out, but the good lady cried out almost with a shriek, "but hesden! hesden! hetty says that--that--that they say--you--are a--a radical!" she started from her pillows, and leaned forward with one white hand uplifted, as she waited his reply. he turned back instantly, stepped quickly to the bedside, and put his one arm caressingly about her as he said earnestly, "i am afraid, mother, if one speaks of things which have occurred in horsford during the past few days as a man of honor ought, he must expect to be called bad names." "but hesden--you are not--do tell me, my son," said his mother, in a tone of entreaty, "that you are _not_ one of those horrid radicals!" "there, there; do not excite yourself, mother. i will explain everything to you this evening," said he, soothingly. "but you are not a radical?" she cried, catching his hand. "i am a man of honor, always," he replied, proudly. "then you cannot be a radical," she said, with a happy smile. "but he is--he is!" exclaimed the younger lady, starting forward with flushed cheeks and pointing a trembling finger at his face, as if she had detected a guilty culprit. "he is!" she repeated. "deny it if you dare, hesden le moyne!" "indeed, miss hetty," said hesden, turning upon her with dignified severity. "may i inquire who constituted you either my judge or my accuser." "oh fie! hesden," said his mother. "isn't hetty one of the family?" "and has every richards and le moyne on the planet a right to challenge my opinions?" asked hesden. "certainly!" said his mother, with much energy, while her pale face flushed, and her upraised hand trembled--"certainly they have, my son, if they think you are about to disgrace those names. but do deny it! do tell me you are not a radical!" she pleaded. "but suppose i were?" he asked, thoughtfully. "i would disown you! i would disinherit you!" shrieked the excited woman, shrinking away from his arm as if there were contagion in the touch. "remember, sir," she continued threateningly, "that mulberry hill is still mine, and it shall never go to a radical--never!" "there, there, mother; do not excite yourself unnecessarily," said hesden. "it is quite possible that both these matters are beyond either your control or mine." "why, what do you mean?" "i simply mean that circumstances over which we have no control have formed my opinions, and others over which we have as little control may affect the ownership of this plantation." "why--what in the world! hesden, are you mad? you know that it is mine by the will of my father! who or what could interfere with my right?" "i sincerely hope that no one may," answered hesden; "but i shall be able to tell you more about these matters after dinner, when i promise that you shall know all, without any reservation." there had been a calm, almost sorrowful, demeanor about hesden during this conversation, which had held the excited women unconsciously in check. they were so astonished at the coolness of his manner and the matter-of-fact sincerity of his tones that they were quite unable to express the indignation and abhorrence they both felt that his language merited. now, however, as he moved toward the door, the younger lady was no longer able to restrain herself, "i knew it was so!" she said. "that miserable nigger-teacher wasn't here for nothing! the mean, low hussy! i should think he would have been ashamed to bring her here anyhow--under his mother's very nose!" hesden had almost reached the door of the room when these words fell upon his ear. he turned and strode across the room until he stood face to face with his mother once more. there was no lack of excitement about him now. his face was pale as death, his eyes blazed, and his voice trembled. "mother," said he, "i have often told you that i would never bring to you a wife whom you did not approve. i hope never to do so; but i wish to say one thing: miss ainslie is a pure and lovely woman. none of us have ever known her superior. she is worthy of any man's devotion. i would not have said this but for what has been spoken here. but now i say, that if i ever hear that anyone having a single drop of our blood in her veins has spoken ill of her--ay, or if her name is linked with mine in any slighting manner, even by the breath of public rumor--i will make her my wife if she will accept my hand, whatever your wishes. and further, if any one speaks slightingly of her, i will resent it as if she were my wife, so help me god!" he turned upon his heel, and strode out of the room. he had not once looked or spoken to the lady whose words had given the offense. the mother and cousin were overwhelmed with astonishment at the intensity of the usually quiet and complaisant hesden. miss hetty soon made excuses for returning to her home, and mrs. le moyne waited in dull wonder for the revelation which the evening was to bring. it seemed to her as if the world had lost its bearings and everything must be afloat, now that hesden had been so transformed as to speak thus harshly to the mother for whom his devotion had become proverbial all the country around. chapter xlviii. the price of honor. when hesden came to his mother's room that night, his countenance wore an unusually sad and thoughtful expression. his mother had not yet recovered from the shock of the morning's interview. the more she thought of it, the less she could understand either his language or his manner. that he would once think of allying himself in political thought with those who were trying to degrade and humiliate their people by putting them upon a level with the negro, she did not for a moment believe, despite what he had said. neither did she imagine, even then, that he had any feeling for mollie ainslie other than mere gratitude for the service she had rendered, but supposed that his outburst was owing merely to anger at the slighting language used toward her by cousin hetty. yet she felt a dim premonition of something dreadful about to happen, and was ill at ease during the evening meal. when it was over, the table cleared, and the servant had retired, hesden sat quiet for a long time, and then said, slowly and tenderly: "mother, i am very sorry that all these sad things should come up at this time--so soon after our loss. i know your heart, as well as mine, is sore, and i wish you to be sure that i have not, and cannot have, one unkind thought of you. do not cry," he added, as he saw the tears pouring down her face, which was turned to him with a look of helpless woe upon it--"do not cry, little mother, for we shall both of us have need of all our strength." "oh, hesden," she moaned, "if you only would not--" "please do not interrupt me," he said, checking her with a motion of his hand; "i have a long story to tell, and after that we will speak of what now troubles you. but first, i wish to ask you some questions. did you ever hear of such a person as edna richards?" "edna richards--edna richards?" said mrs. le moyne, wiping away her tears and speaking between her sobs. "it seems as if i had, but--i--i can't remember, my son. i am so weak and nervous." "calm yourself, little mother; perhaps it will come to your mind if i ask you some other questions. our grandfather, james richards, came here from pennsylvania, did he not?" "certainly, from about lancaster. he always promised to take me to see our relatives there, but he never did. you know, son, i was his youngest child, and he was well past fifty when i was born. so he was an old man when i was grown up, and could not travel very much. he took me to the north twice, but each time, before we got around to our pennsylvania friends, he was so tired out that he had to come straight home." "did you ever know anything about his family there?" "not much--nothing except what he told me in his last days. he used to talk about them a great deal then, but there was something that seemed to grieve and trouble him so much that i always did all i could to draw his mind away from the subject. especially was this the case after the boys, your uncles, died. they led rough lives, and it hurt him terribly." "do you know whether he ever corresponded with any of our relatives at the north?" "i think not. i am sure he did not after i was grown. he often spoke of it, but i am afraid there was some family trouble or disagreement which kept him from doing so. i remember in his last years he used frequently to speak of a cousin to whom he seemed to have been very much attached. he had the same name as father, who used to call him 'red jim.'" "was he then alive?" "i suppose so--at least when father last heard from him. i think he lived in massachusetts. let me see, what was the name of the town. i don't remember," after a pause. "was it marblehead?" asked the son, with some eagerness. "that's it, dear--marblehead. how funny that you should strike upon the very name?" "you think he never wrote?" "oh, i am sure not. he mourned about it, every now and then, to the very last." "was my grandfather a bachelor when he came here?" "of course, and quite an old bachelor, too. i think he was about thirty when he married your grandmother in ." "she was a lomax--margaret lomax, i believe?' "yes; that's how we come to be akin to all the lomax connection." "just so. you are sure he had never married before?" "sure? why, yes, certainly. how could he? why, hesden, what _do_ you mean? why do you ask all these questions? you do not--you cannot--oh, hesden!" she exclaimed, leaning forward and trembling with apprehension. "be calm, mother. i am not asking these questions without good cause," he answered, very gravely. after a moment, when she had recovered herself a little, he continued, holding toward her a slip of paper, as he asked: "did you ever see that signature before?" his mother took the paper, and, having wiped her glasses, adjusted them carefully and glanced at the paper. as she did so a cry burst from her lips, and she said, "oh, hesden, hesden, where did you get it? oh, dear! oh, dear!" "why, mother, what is it?" cried hesden in alarm, springing up and going quickly to her side. "that--that horrid thing, hesden! where _did_ you get it? do you know it was that which made that terrible quarrel between your grandfather and uncle john, when he struck him that--that last night, before john's body was found in the river. he was drowned crossing the ford, you know. i don't know what it was all about; but there was a terrible quarrel, and john wrote that on a sheet of paper and held it before your grandfather's face and said something to him--i don't know what. i was only a little girl then, but, ah me! i remember it as if it was but yesterday. and then father struck him with his cane. john fell as if he were dead. i was looking in at the window, not thinking any harm, and saw it all. i thought he had killed john, and ran away, determined not to tell. i never breathed a lisp of it before, son, and nobody ever knew of that quarrel, only your grandfather and me. i know it troubled him greatly after john died. oh, i can see that awful paper, as john held it up to the light, as plain as this one in my hand now." the slip of paper which she held contained only the following apparently unintelligible scrawl: "and you never saw it but once?" asked hesden, thoughtfully. "never but once before to-night, dear." "it was not uncle john's usual signature, then?" "no, indeed. is it a signature? she glanced curiously at the paper while hesden pointed out the letters, "that is what i take it to be, at least," he said. "sure enough," said mrs. le moyne, "and that might stand for john richards or james richards. it might be uncle john or your grandfather, either, child." "true, but grandfather always wrote his name plainly, j. richards. i have seen a thousand of his signatures, i reckon. besides, uncle john was not alive in ." "of course not. but what has that to do with the matter? what does it all mean anyhow? there must be some horrid secret about it, i am sure." "i do not know what it means, mother, but i am determined to find out. that is what i have been at all day, and i will not stop until i know all about it." "but how did you come to find it? what makes you think there is anything to be known about it?" "this is the way it occurred, mother. the other day it became necessary to cut a door from the chamber over my room into the attic of the old kitchen, where i have been storing the tobacco. you know the part containing the dining-room was the original house, and was at first built of hewed logs. it was, in fact, two houses, with a double chimney in the middle. afterward, the two parts were made into one, the rude stairs torn away, and the whole thing ceiled within and covered with thick pine siding without. in cutting through this, charles found between two of the old logs and next to the chinking put in on each side to keep the wall flush and smooth, a pocketbook, carefully tied up in a piece of coarse linen, and containing a yellow, dingy paper, which, although creased and soiled, was still clearly legible. the writing was of that heavy round character which marked the legal hand of the old time, and the ink, though its color had somewhat changed by time, seemed to show by contrast with the dull hue of the page even more clearly than it could have done when first written. the paper proved to be a will, drawn up in legal form and signed with the peculiar scrawl of which you hold a tracing. it purported to have been made and published in december, , at lancaster, in the state of pennsylvania, and to have been witnessed by james adiger and johan welliker of that town." "how very strange!" exclaimed mrs. le moyne. "i suppose it must have been the will of your grandfather's father." "that was what first occurred to me," answered hesden, "but on closer inspection it proved to be the will of james richards, as stated in the caption, of marblehead, in the state of massachusetts, giving and bequeathing all of his estate, both real and personal, after some slight bequests, to his beloved wife edna, except--" "stop, my son," said mrs. le moyne, quickly, "i remember now. edna was the name of the wife of father's cousin james--"red jim," he called him. it was about writing to _her_ he was always talking toward the last. so i suppose he must have been dead." "i had come to much the same conclusion," said hesden, "though i never heard that grandfather had a cousin james until to-night. i should never have thought any more of the document, however, except as an old relic, if it had not gone on to bequeath particularly 'my estate in carolina to my beloved daughter, alice e., when she shall arrive at the age of eighteen years,' and to provide for the succession in case of her death prior to that time." "that is strange," said mrs. le moyne. "i never knew that we had any relatives in the state upon that side." "that is what i thought," said the son. "i wondered where the estate was which had belonged to this james richards, who was not our ancestor, and, looking further, i found it described with considerable particlarity. it was called stillwater, and was said to be located on the waters of the hyco, in williams county." "but the hyco is not in williams county," said his listener. "no, mother, but it was then," he replied. "you know that county has been many times subdivided." "yes, i had forgotten that," she said. "but what then?" "it went on," contined hesden, "to say that he held this land by virtue of a grant from the state which was recorded in registry of deeds in williams county, in book a, page ." "it is an easy matter to find where it was, then, i suppose," said the mother. "i have already done that," he replied, "and that is the strange and unpleasant part of what i had to tell you." "i do hope," she said, smiling, "that you have not made us out cousins of any low-down family." "as to that i cannot tell, mother; but i am afraid i have found something discreditable in our own family history." "oh, i hope not, hesden," she said, plaintively. "it is so unpleasant to look back upon one's ancestors and not feel that they were strictly honorable. don't tell me, please. i had rather not hear it." "i wish you might not," said he; "but the fact which you referred to to-day--that you are, under the will of my grandfather, the owner of mulberry hill, makes it necessary that you should." "please, hesden, don't mention that. i was angry then. please forget it. what can that have to do with this horrid matter?" "it has this to do with it, mother," he replied. "the boundaries of that grant, as shown by the record, are identical with the record of the grant under which our grandfather claimed the estate of which this is a part, and which is one of the first entered upon the records of horsford county." "what do you say, hesden? i don't understand you," said his mother, anxiously. "simply that the land bequeathed in this will of j. richards, is the same as that afterward claimed and held by my grandfather, james richards, and in part now belonging to you." "it cannot be, hesden, it cannot be! there must be some mistake!" she exclaimed, impatiently. "i wish there were," he answered, "but i fear there is not. the will names as executor, 'my beloved cousin james richards, of the borough of lancaster, in the state of pennsylvania.' i presume this to have been my grandfather. i have had the records of both counties searched and find no record of any administration upon this will." "you do not think a richards could have been so dishonorable as to rob his cousin's orphans?" "alas! mother, i only know that we have always claimed title under that very grant. the grant itself is among your papers in my desk, and is dated in . i have always understood that grandfather married soon after coming here." "oh, yes, dear," was the reply, "i have heard mother tell of it a hundred times." "and that was in ?" "yes, yes; but he might have been here before, child." "that is true, and i hope it may all turn out to have been only a strange mistake." "but if it does not, hesden?" said his mother, after a moment's thought. "what do you mean to do?" "i mean first to go to the bottom of this matter and discover the truth." "and then--if--if there was--anything wrong?" "then the wrong must be righted." "but that--why, hesden, it might turn us out of doors! it might make us beggars!" "we should at least be honest ones." "but hesden, think of me--think--" she began. "so i will, little mother, of you and for you till the last hour of your life or of mine. but mother, i would rather you should leave all and suffer all, and that we should both die of starvation, than that we should live bounteously on the fruit of another's wrong." he bent over her and kissed her tenderly again and again. "never fear, mother," he said, "we may lose all else by the acts of others, but we can only lose honor by our own. i would give my life for you or to save your honor." she looked proudly upon him, and reached up her thin white hand to caress his face, as she said with overflowing eyes: "you are right, my son! if others of our name have done wrong, there is all the more need that we should do right and atone for it." chapter xlix. highly resolved. mollie ainslie had made all her preparations to leave red wing. she had investigated the grounds of the suit brought by winburn against nimbus and others. indeed, she found herself named among the "others," as well as all those who had purchased from nimbus or were living on the tract by virtue of license from him. captain pardee had soon informed her that the title of nimbus was, in fact, only a life-estate, which had fallen in by the death of the life tenant, while winburn claimed to have bought up the interests of the reversioners. he intimated that it was possible that winburn had done this while acting as the agent of colonel desmit, but this was probably not susceptible of proof, on account of the death of desmit. he only stated it as a conjecture at best. at the same time, he informed her that the small tract about the old ordinary, which had come to nimbus by purchase, and which was all that she occupied, was not included in the life-estate, but was held in fee by walter greer. she had therefore instructed him to defend for her upon nimbus's title, more for the sake of asserting his right than on account of the value of the premises. the suit was for possession and damages for detention and injury of the property, and an attachment had been taken out against nimbus's property, on the claim for damages, as a non-resident debtor. as there seemed to be no good ground for defense on the part of those who had purchased under nimbus, the attorney advised that resistance to the suit would be useless. thus they lost at once the labor of their whole life of freedom, and were compelled to begin again where slavery had left them. this, taken in connection with the burning of the church, the breaking up of the school, and the absence of eliab and nimbus, had made the once happy and busy little village most desolate and forlorn. the days which mollie ainslie had passed in the old hostel since she left mulberry hill had been days of sorrow. tears and moans and tales of anxious fear had been in her ears continually. all over the county, the process of "redemption" was being carried on. the very air was full of horrors. men with bleeding backs, women with scarred and mutilated forms, came to her to seek advice and consolation. night after night, devoted men, who did not dare to sleep in their own homes, kept watch around her, in order that her slumbers might be undisturbed. it seemed as if all law had been forgotten, and only a secret klan had power in the land. she did not dare, brave as she was, to ride alone outside of the little village. she did not really think she would be harmed, yet she trembled when the night came, and every crackling twig sent her heart into her mouth in fear lest the chivalric masqueraders should come to fulfil their vague threats against herself. but her heart bled for the people she had served, and whom she saw bowed down under the burden of a terrible, haunting fear. if she failed to make due allowance for that savageness of nature which generations of slavery are sure to beget in the master, let us not blame her. she was only a woman, and saw only what was before her. she did not see how the past injected itself into the present, and gave it tone and color. she reasoned only from what met her sight. it is not strange that she felt bitterly toward those who had committed such seemingly vandal acts. no wonder she spoke bitterly, wrote hard things to her northern friends, and denied the civilization and christianity of those who could harry, oppress, and destroy the poor, the ignorant, and the weak. it is not surprising that she sneered at the "southern gentleman," or that she wrote him down in very black characters in the book and volume of her memory. she was not a philosopher nor a politician, and she had never speculated on the question as to how near of kin virtue and vice may be. she had never considered how narrow a space it is that very often divides the hero from the criminal, the patriot from the assassin, the gentleman from the ruffian, the christian saint from the red-handed savage. her heart was hot with wrath and her tongue was tipped with bitterness. for the first time she blushed at the thought of her native land. that the great, free, unmatched republic should permit these things, should shut its eyes and turn its back upon its helpless allies in their hour of peril, was a most astounding and benumbing fact to her mind. what she had loved with all that tenacity of devotion which every northern heart has for the flag and the country, was covered with ignominy by these late events. she blushed with shame as she thought of the weak, vacillating nation which had given the promise of freedom to the ears of four millions of weak but trustful allies, and broken it to their hearts. she knew that the country had appealed to them in its hour of mortal agony, and they had answered with their blood. she knew that again it had appealed to them for aid to write the golden words of freedom in its constitution, words before unwritten, in order that they might not be continued in slavery, and they had heard and answered by their votes; and then, while the world still echoed with boastings of these achievements, it had taken away the protecting hand and said to those whose hearts were full of hate, "stay not thine hand." she thought, too, that the men who did these things--the midnight masqueraders--were rebels still in their hearts. she called them so in hers at least--enemies of the country, striving dishonorably to subvert its laws. she did not keep in mind that to every southern man and woman, save those whom the national act brought forth to civil life, the nation is a thing remote and secondary. to them the state is first, and always so far first as to make the country a dim, distant cloud, to be watched with suspicion or aversion as a something hostile to their state or section. the northern mind thinks of the nation first. the love of country centers there. his pride in his native state is as a part of the whole. as a _northerner_, he has no feeling at all. he never speaks of his section except awkwardly, and when reference to it is made absolutely necessary by circumstances. he may be from the east or the west or the middle, from maine or minnesota, but he is first of all things an american. mollie thought that the result of the war--defeat and destruction--ought to have made the white people of the south just such americans. in fact it never occurred to her simple heart but that they had always been such. in truth, she did not conceive that they could have been otherwise. she had never dreamed that there were any americans with whom it was not the first and ever-present thought that they _were_ americans. she might have known, if she had thought so far, that in that mystically-bounded region known as "the south," the people were first of all "southerners;" next "georgians," or "virginians," or whatever it might be; and last and lowest in the scale of political being, "americans." she might have known this had she but noted how the word "southern" leaps into prominence as soon as the old "mason and dixon's line" is crossed. there are "southern" hotels and "southern" railroads, "southern" steamboats, "southern" stage-coaches, "southern" express companies, "southern" books, "southern" newspapers, "southern" patent-medicines, "southern" churches, "southern" manners, "southern" gentlemen, "southern" ladies, "southern" restaurants, "southern" bar-rooms, "southern" whisky, "southern" gambling-hells, "southern" principles, "southern" _everything!_ big or little, good or bad, everything that courts popularity, patronage or applause, makes haste to brand itself as distinctively and especially "southern." then she might have remembered that in all the north--the great, busy, bustling, over-confident, giantly great-heart of the continent--there is not to be found a single "northern" hotel, steamer, railway, stage-coach, bar-room, restaurant, school, university, school-book, or any other "northern" institution. the word "northern" is no master-key to patronage or approval. there is no "northern" clannishness, and no distinctive "northern" sentiment that prides itself on being such. the "northern" man may be "eastern" or "western." he may be "knickerbocker," "pennamite," "buckeye," or "hoosier;" but above all things, and first of all things in his allegiance and his citizenship, he is an american. the "southern" man is proud of the nation chiefly because it contains his section and state; the "northern" man is proud of his section and state chiefly because it is a part of the nation. but mollie ainslie did not stop to think of these differences, or of the bias which habit gives to the noblest mind; and so her heart was full of wrath and much bitterness. she had forgiven coldness, neglect, and aspersion of herself, but she could not forgive brutality and violence toward the weak and helpless. she saw the futility of hope of aid from the nation that had deserted its allies. she felt, on the other hand, the folly of expecting any change in a people steeped in intolerance and gloating in the triumph of lawless violence over obnoxious law. she thought she saw that there was but little hope for that people for whom she had toiled so faithfully to grow to the full stature of the free man in the region where they had been slaves. she was short-sighted and impatient, but she was earnest and intense. she had done much thinking in the sorrowful days just past, and had made up her mind that whatsoever others might do, she, mollie ainslie, would do her duty. the path seemed plain to her. she had been, as it seemed to her, mysteriously led, step by step, along the way of life, always with blindfolded eyes and feet that sought not to go in the way they were constrained to take. her father and mother dead, her brother's illness brought her to the south; there his wish detained her; a seeming chance brought her to red wing; duties and cares had multiplied with her capacity; the cup of love, after one sweet draught, had been dashed from her lips; desolation and destruction had come upon the scene of her labors, impoverishment and woe upon those with whom she had been associated, and a hopeless fate upon all the race to which they belonged in the land wherein they were born. she did not propose to change these things. she did not aspire to set on foot any great movement or do any great deed, but she felt that she was able to succor a few of the oppressed race. those who most needed help and best deserved it, among the denizens of red wing, she determined to aid in going to a region where thought at least was free. it seemed to her altogether providential that at this time she had still, altogether untouched, the few thousands which oscar had given her of his army earnings, and also the little homestead on the massachusetts hills, toward which a little town had been rapidly growing during the years of unwonted prosperity succeeding the war, until now its value was greatly increased from what it was but a few years before. she found she was quite an heiress when she came to take an inventory of her estate, and made up her mind that she would use this estate to carry out her new idea. she did not yet know the how or the where, but she had got it into her simple brain that somewhere and somehow this money might be invested so as to afford a harbor of refuge for these poor colored people, and still not leave herself unprovided for. she had not arranged the method, but she had fully determined on the undertaking. this was the thought of mollie ainslie as she sat in her room at the old ordinary, one afternoon, nearly two weeks after her departure from the le moyne mansion. she had quite given up all thought of seeing hesden again. she did not rave or moan over her disappointment. it had been a sharp and bitter experience when she waked out of the one sweet dream of her life. she saw that it _was_ but a dream, foolish and wild; but she had no idea of dying of a broken heart. indeed, she did not know that her heart _was_ broken. she had loved a man whom she had fancied as brave and gentle as she could desire her other self to be. she had neither proffered her love to him nor concealed it. she was not ashamed that she loved nor ashamed that he should know it, as she believed he did. she thought he must have known it, even though she did not herself realize it at the time. if he had been that ideal man whom she loved, he would have come before, claimed her love, and declared his own. that man could never have let her go alone into desolation and danger without following at once to inquire after her. it was not that she needed his protection, but she had desired--nay, expected as a certainty--that he would come and proffer it. the ideal of her love would have done so. if hesden le moyne had come then, she would have given her life into his keeping forever after, without the reservation of a thought. that he did not come only showed that he was not her ideal, not the one she had loved, but only the dim likeness of that one. it was so much the worse for mr. hesden le moyne, but none the worse for mollie ainslie. she still loved her ideal, but knew now that it was only an ideal. thus she mused, although less explicitly, as the autumn afternoon drew to its close. she watched the sun sinking to his rest, and reflected that she would see him set but once more over the pines that skirted red wing. there was but little more to be done--a few things to pack up, a few sad farewells to be said, and then she would turn her face towards the new life she had set her heart upon. there was a step upon the path. she heard her own name spoken and heard the reply of the colored woman, who was sitting on the porch. her heart stopped beating as the footsteps approached her door. she thought her face flushed burning red, but in reality it was of a hard, pallid gray as she looked up and saw hesden le moyne standing in the doorway. chapter l. face answereth to face. "how do you do, miss mollie?" she caught her breath as she heard his ringing, tone and noted his expectant air. oh, if he had only come before! if he had not left her to face alone--he knew not what peril! but he had done so, and she could not forget it. so she went forward, and, extending her hand, took his without a throb as she said, demurely, "i am very well, mr. le moyne. how are you, and how have you left all at home?" she led the way back to the table and pointed to a chair opposite her own as she spoke. hesden le moyne had grown to love mollie ainslie almost as unconsciously as she had given her heart to him. the loss of his son had been a sore affliction. while he had known no passionate love for his cousin-wife, he yet had had the utmost respect for her, and had never dreamed that there were in his heart deeper depths of love still unexplored. after her death, his mother and his child seemed easily and naturally to fill his heart. he had admired mollie ainslie from the first. his attention had been first particularly directed to her accomplishments and attractions by the casual conversation with pardee in reference to her, and by the fact that the horse she rode was his old favorite. he had watched her at first critically, then admiringly, and finally with an unconscious yearning which he did not define. the incident of the storm and the bright picture she made in his somewhat somber home had opened his eyes as to his real feelings. at the same time had come the knowledge that there was a wide gulf between them, but he would have bridged it long before now had it not been for his affliction, which, while it drew him nearer to the object of his devotion than he had ever been before, also raised an imperative barrier against words of love. then the time of trial came. he found himself likely to be stripped of all hope of wealth, and he had been goaded into declaring to others his love for mollie, although he had never whispered a word of it to her. since that time, however, despite his somewhat dismal prospects, he had allowed his fancy greater play. he had permitted himself to dream that some time and somehow he might be permitted to call mollie ainslie his wife. she seemed so near to him! there was such a calm in her presence! he had never doubted that his passion was reciprocated. he thought that he had looked down into her heart through the soft, gray eyes, and seen himself. she had never manifested any consciousness of love, but in those dear days at the hill she had seemed to come so close to him that he thought of her love as a matter of course, as much so as if it had been already plighted. he felt too that her instinct had been as keen as his own, and that she must have discovered the love he had taken no pains to conceal. but the events which had occurred since she went to red wing had to his mind forbidden any further expression of this feeling. for her sake as well as for his own honor it must be put aside. he had no wish to conceal or deny it. the fact that he must give her up was the hardest element of the sacrifice which the newly discovered will might require at his hands. so he had come to tell her all, and he hoped that she would see where honor led him, and would hold him excused from saying, "i love you. will you be my wife?" he believed that she would, and that they would part without distrust and with unabated esteem for each other. never, until this moment, had he thought otherwise. perhaps he was not without hope still, but it was not such as could be allowed to control his action. he could not say now why it was; he could not tell what was lacking, but somehow there seemed to have been a change. she was so far away--so intangible. it was the same lithe form, the same bright face, the same pleasant voice; but the life, the soul, seemed to have gone out of the familiar presence. he sat and watched her keenly, wonderingly, as they chatted for a moment of his mother. then he said: "we have had strange happenings at mulberry hill since you left us, miss mollie." "you don't tell me!" she said laughingly. "i cannot conceive such a thing possible. dear me! how strange to think of anything out of the common happening there!" the tone and the laugh hurt him. "indeed," said he, gravely, "except for that i should have made my appearance here long ago." "you are very kind. and i assure you, i am grateful that you did not entirely forget me." her tone was mocking, but her look was so guileless as almost to make him disbelieve his ears. "i assure you, miss mollie," said he, earnestly, "you do me injustice. i was so closely engaged that i was not even aware of your departure until the second day afterward." he meant this to show how serious were the matters which claimed his attention. to him it was the strongest possible proof of their urgency. but she remembered her exultant ride to red wing, and said to-herself, "and he did not think of me for two whole days!" as she listened to his voice, her heart had been growing soft despite her; but it was hard enough now. so she smiled artlessly, and said: "only two days? why, mr. le moyne, i thought it was two weeks. that was how i excused you. charles said you were too busy to ride with me; your mother wrote that you were too busy to ask after me; and i supposed you had been too busy to think of me, ever since." "now, miss mollie," said he, in a tone of earnest remonstrance, "please do not speak in that way. things of the utmost importance have occurred, and i came over this evening to tell you of them. you, perhaps, think that i have been neglectful." "i had no right to demand anything from mr. le moyne." "yes, you had, miss ainslie," said he, rising and going around the table until he stood close beside her. "you know that only the most pressing necessity could excuse me for allowing you to leave my house unattended." "that is the way i went there," she interrupted, as she looked up at him, laughing saucily. "but that was before you had, at my request, risked your life in behalf of my child. let us not hide the truth, miss ainslie. we can never go back to the relation of mere acquaintanceship we held before that night. if you had gone away the next morning it might have been different, but every hour afterward increased my obligations to you. i came here to tell you why i had seemed to neglect them. will you allow me to do so?" "it is quite needless, because there is no obligation--none in the least--unless it be to you for generous hospitality and care and a pleasant respite from tedious duty." "why do you say that? you cannot think it is so," he said, impetuously. "you know it was my duty to have attended you hither, to have offered my services in that trying time, and by my presence and counsel saved you such annoyance as i might. you know that i could not have been unaware of this duty, and you dare not deny that you expected me to follow you very speedily after your departure." "mr. le moyne," she said, rising, with flushed cheeks and flashing eyes, "you have no right to address such language to me! it was bad enough to leave me to face danger and trouble and horror alone; but not so bad as to come here and say such things. but i am not ashamed to let you know that you are right. i _did_ expect you, hesden le moyne. as i came along the road and thought of the terrors which the night might bring, i said to myself that before the sun went down you would be here, and would counsel and protect the girl who had not shrunk from danger when you asked her to face it, and who had come to look upon you as the type of chivalry. because i thought you better and braver and nobler than you are, i am not ashamed to confess what i expected. i know it was foolish. i might have known better. i might have known that the man who would fight for a cause he hated rather than be sneered at by his neighbors, would not care to face public scorn for the sake of a 'nigger-teacher'--no matter what his obligations to her." she stood before him with quivering nostrils and flashing eyes. he staggered back, raising his hand to check the torrent of her wrath. "don't, miss ainslie, don't!" he said, in confused surprise. "oh, yes!" she continued bitterly, "you no doubt feel very much surprised that a 'yankee nigger-teacher' should dare to resent such conduct. you thought you could come to me, now that the danger and excitement have subsided, and resume the relations we held before. i know you and despise you, hesden le moyne! i have more respect for one of those who made red wing a scene of horror and destruction than for you. is that enough, sir? do you understand me now?" "oh, entirely, miss ainslie," said hesden, in a quick, husky tone, taking his hat from the table as he spoke. "but in justice to myself i must be allowed to state some facts which, though perhaps not sufficient, in your opinion, to justify my conduct, will i hope show you that you have misjudged me in part. will you hear me?" "oh, yes, i will hear anything," she said, as she sat down. "though nothing can be said that will restore the past." "unfortunately, i am aware of that. there is one thing, however, that i prize even more than that, and that is my honor. do not take the trouble to sneer. say, what i _call_ my honor, if it pleases you better, and i will not leave a stain upon that, even in your mind, if i can help it." "yes, i hear," she said, as he paused a moment. "your _honor_, i believe you said." "yes, miss ainslie," he replied with dignity; "my honor requires that i should say to you now what i had felt forbidden to say before--that, however exalted the opinion you may have formed of me, it could not have equalled that which i cherished for you--not for what you did, but for what you were--and this feeling, whatever you may think, is still unchanged." mollie started with amazement. her face, which had been pale, was all aflame as she glanced up at hesden with a frightened look, while he went on. "i do not believe that you would intentionally be unjust. so, if you will permit me, i will ask you one question. if you knew that on the day of your departure, and for several succeeding days, a human life was absolutely dependent upon my care and watchfulness, would you consider me excusable for failure to learn of your unannounced departure, or for not immediately following you hither on learning that fact?" he paused, evidently expecting a reply. "surely, mr. le moyne," she said, looking up at him in wide-eyed wonder, "you know i would." "and would you believe my word if i assured you that this was the fact?" "of course i would." "i am very glad. such was the case; and that alone prevented my following you and insisting on your immediate return." "i did not know your mother had been so ill," she said, with some contrition in her voice. "it was not my mother. i am sorry, but i cannot tell you now who it was. you will know all about it some time. and more than that," he continued, "on the fourth day after you had gone, one who had saved my life in battle came and asked me to acknowledge my debt by performing an important service for him, which has required nearly all my time since that." "oh, mr. le moyne!" she said, as the tears came into her eyes, "please forgive my anger and injustice." "i have nothing to forgive," he said. "you were not unjust--only ignorant of the facts, and your anger was but natural." "yet i should have known better. i should have trusted you more," said she, sobbing. "well, do not mind it," he said, soothingly. "but if my explanation is thus far sufficient, will you allow me to sit down while i tell you the rest? the story is a somewhat long one." "oh, pray do, mr. le moyne. excuse my rudeness as well as my anger. please be seated and let me take your hat." she took the hat and laid it on a table at the side of the room, and then returned and listened to his story. he told her all that he had told his mother the night before, explaining such things as he thought she might not fully understand. then he showed her the pocket-book and the will, which he had brought with him for that purpose. at first she listened to what he said with a constrained and embarrassed air. he had not proceeded far, however, before she began to manifest a lively interest in his words. she leaned forward and gazed into his face with an absorbed earnestness that awakened his surprise. two or three times she reached out her hand, and her lips moved, as though she would interrupt him. he stopped; but, without speaking, she nodded for him to go on. when he handed her the pocket-book and the will, she took them with a trembling hand and examined them with the utmost care. the student-lamp had been lighted before his story was ended. her face was in the soft light which came through the porcelain shade, but her hands were in the circle of bright light that escaped beneath it. he noticed that they trembled so that they could scarcely hold the paper she was trying to read. he asked if he should not read it for her. she handed him the will, but kept the pocketbook tightly clasped in both hands, with the rude scrawl, marblehead, mass., in full view. she listened nervously to the reading, never once looking up. when he had finished, she said, "and you say the land mentioned there is the plantation you now occupy?" "it embraces my mother's plantation and much more. indeed, this very plantation of red wing, except the little tract around the house here, is a part of it. the red wing ordinary tract is mentioned as one of those which adjoins it upon the west. this is the west line, and the house at mulberry hill is very near the eastern edge. it is a narrow tract, running down on this side the river until it comes to the big bend near the ford, which it crosses, and keeps on to the eastward. "it is a large belt, though i do not suppose it was then of any great value--perhaps not worth more than a shilling an acre. it is almost impossible to realize how cheap land was in this region at that time. a man of moderate wealth might have secured almost a county. especially was that the case with men who bought up what was termed "land scrip" at depreciated rates, and then entered lands and paid for them with it at par." "was that the way this was bought?" she asked. "i cannot tell," he replied. "i immediately employed mr. pardee to look the matter up, and it seems from the records that an entry had been made some time before, by one paul cresson, which was by him assigned to james richards. i am inclined to think that it was a part of the crown grant to lord granville, which had not been alienated before the revolution, and of which the state claimed the fee afterward by reason of his adhesion to the crown. the question of the right of such alien enemies to hold under crown grants was not then determined, and i suppose the lands were rated very low by reason of this uncertainty in the title." "do you think--that--that this will is genuine?" she asked, with her white fingers knotted about the brown old pocket-book. "i have no doubt about its proving to be genuine. that is evident upon its face. i hope there may be something to show that my grandfather did not act dishonorably," he replied. "but suppose--suppose there should not be; what would be the effect?" "legally, mr. pardee says, there is little chance that any valid claim can be set up under it. the probabilities are, he says, that the lapse of time will bar any such claim. he also says that it is quite possible that the devisee may have died before coming of age to take under the will, and the widow, also, before that time; in which case, under the terms of the will, it would have fallen to my grandfather." "you are not likely to lose by it then, in any event?" "if it should prove that there are living heirs whose claims are not barred by time, then, of course, they will hold, not only our plantation, but also the whole tract. in that case, i shall make it the business of my life to acquire enough to reimburse those who have purchased of my grandfather, and who will lose by this discovery." "but you are not bound to do that?" she asked, in surprise. "not legally. neither are we bound to give up the plantation if the heir is legally estopped. but i think, and my mother agrees with me, that if heirs are found who cannot recover the land by reason of the lapse of time, even then, honor requires the surrender of what we hold." "and you would give up your home?" "i should gladly do so, if i might thereby right a wrong committed by an ancestor." "but your mother, hesden, what of her?" "she would rather die than do a dishonorable thing." "yes--yes; but--you know--" "yes, i know that she is old and an invalid, and that i am young and--and unfortunate; but i will find a way to maintain her without keeping what we had never any right to hold." "you have never known the hardship of self-support!" she said. "i shall soon learn," he answered, with a shrug. she sprang up and walked quickly across the room. her hands were clasped in front of her, the backs upward and the nails digging into the white flesh. hesden wondered a little at her excitement. "thank god! thank god!" she exclaimed at last, as she sank again into her chair, and pressed her clasped hands over her eyes. "why do you say that?" he asked, curiously. "because you--because i--i hardly know," she stammered. she looked at him a moment, her face flushing and paling by turns, and stretching out her hand to him suddenly across the table, she said, looking him squarely in the face: "hesden le moyne, you are a brave man!" he took the hand in his own and pressed it to his lips, which trembled as they touched it. "miss mollie," he said, tenderly, "will you forgive my not coming before?" "if you will pardon my lack of faith in you." "you see," he said, "that my duty for the present is to my mother and the name i bear. "and mine," she answered, "is to the poor people whose wrongs i have witnessed." "what do you mean?" he asked. "i mean that i will give myself to the task of finding a refuge for those who have suffered such terrible evils as we have witnessed here at red wing." "you will leave here, then?" "in a day or two." "to return--when?" "never." their hands were still clasped across the narrow table. he looked into her eyes, and saw only calm, unflinching resolution. it piqued his self-love that she should be so unmoved. warmly as he really loved her, self-sacrificing as he felt himself to be in giving her up, he could not yet rid himself of the thought of her northern birth, and felt annoyed that she should excel him in the gentle quality of self control. he had no idea that he would ever meet her again. he had made up his mind to leave her out of his life forever, though he could not cast her out of his heart. and yet, although he had no right to expect it, he somehow felt disappointed that she showed no more regret. he had not quite looked for her to be so calm, and he was almost annoyed by it; so dropping her hand, he said, weakly, "shall i never see you again?" "perhaps"--quietly. "when?" "when you are willing to acknowledge yourself proud of me because of the work in which i have been engaged! hesden le moyne," she continued, rising, and standing before him, "you are a brave man and a proud one. you are so brave that you would not hesitate to acknowledge your regard for me, despite the fact that i am a 'nigger-teacher.' it is a noble act, and i honor you for it. but i am as proud as you, and have good reason to be, as you will know some day; and i say to you that i would not prize any man's esteem which coupled itself with an apology for the work in which i have been engaged. i count that work my highest honor, and am more jealous of its renown than of even my own good name. when you can say to me, 'i am as proud of your work as of my own honor--so proud that i wish it to be known of all men, and that all men should know that i approve,' then you may come to me. till then, farewell!" she held out her hand. he pressed it an instant, took his hat from the table, and went out into the night, dazed and blinded by the brightness he had left behind. chapter li. how sleep the brave? two days afterward, mollie ainslie took the train for the north, accompanied by lugena and her children. at the same time went captain pardee, under instructions from hesden le moyne to verify the will, discover who the testator really was, and then ascertain whether he had any living heirs. to mollie ainslie the departure was a sad farewell to a life which she had entered upon so full of abounding hope and charity, so full of love for god and man, that she could not believe that all her bright hopes had withered and only ashes remained. the way was dark. the path was hedged up. the south was "redeemed." the poor, ignorant white man had been unable to perceive that liberty for the slave meant elevation to him also. the poor, ignorant colored man had shown himself, as might well have been anticipated, unable to cope with intelligence, wealth, and the subtle power of the best trained political intellects of the nation; and it was not strange. they were all alone, and their allies were either as poor and weak as themselves, or were handicapped with the brand of northern birth. these were their allies--not from choice, but from necessity. few, indeed, were there of the highest and the best of those who had fought the nation in war as they had fought against the tide of liberty before the war began--who would accept the terms on which the nation gave re-established and greatly-increased power to the states of the south. so there were ignorance and poverty and a hated race upon one side, and, upon the other, intelligence, wealth, and pride. the former _outnumbered_ the latter; but the latter, as compared with the former, were a grecian phalanx matched against a scattered horde of scythian bowmen. the nation gave the jewel of liberty into the hands of the former, armed them with the weapons of self-government, and said: "ye are many; protect what ye have received." then it took away its hand, turned away its eyes, closed its ears to every cry of protest or of agony, and said: "we will not aid you nor protect you. though you are ignorant, from you will we demand the works of wisdom. though you are weak, great things shall be required at your hands." like the ancient taskmaster, the nation said: "_there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks._" but, alas! they were weak and inept. the weapon they had received was two-edged. sometimes they cut themselves; again they caught it by the blade, and those with whom they fought seized the hilt and made terrible slaughter. then, too, they were not always wise--which was a sore fault, but not their own. nor were they always brave, or true--which was another grievous fault; but was it to be believed that one hour of liberty would efface the scars of generations of slavery? ah! well might they cry unto the nation, as did israel unto pharaoh: "theree is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, 'make brick': and behold thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people." they had simply demonstrated that in the years of grace of the nineteenth century liberty could not be maintained nor prosperity achieved by ignorance and poverty, any more than in the days of moses adobe bricks could be made without straw. the nation gave the power of the south into the hands of ignorance and poverty and inexperience, and then demanded of them the fruit of intelligence, the strength of riches, and the skill of experience. it put before a keen-eyed and unscrupulous minority--a minority proud, aggressive, turbulent, arrogant, and scornful of all things save their own will and pleasure--the temptation to enhance their power by seizing that held by the trembling hands of simple-minded and unskilled guardians. what wonder that it was ravished from their care? mollie ainslie thought of these things with some bitterness. she did not doubt the outcome. her faith in truth and liberty, and her proud confidence in the ultimate destiny of the grand nation whose past she had worshiped from childhood, were too strong to permit that. she believed that some time in the future light would come out of the darkness; but between then and the present was a great gulf, whose depth of horror no man knew, in which the people to serve whom she had given herself must sink and suffer--she could not tell how long. for them there was no hope. she did not, indeed, look for a continuance of the horrors which then prevailed. she knew that when the incentive was removed the acts would cease. there would be peace, because there would no longer be any need for violence. but she was sure there would be no real freedom, no equality of right, no certainty of justice. she did not care who ruled, but she knew that this people--she felt almost like calling them her people--needed the incentive of liberty, the inspiriting rivalry of open and fair competition, to enable them to rise. ay, to prevent them from sinking lower and lower. she greatly feared that the words of a journal which gloried in all that had been done toward abbreviating and annulling the powers, rights, and opportunities of the recent slaves might yet become verities if these people were deprived of such incentives. she remembered how deeply-rooted in the southern mind was the idea that slavery was a social necessity. she did not believe, as so many had insisted, that it was founded merely in greed. she believed that it was with sincere conviction that a leading journal had declared: "the evils of free society are insufferable. free society must fail and give way to a _class society_--a social system old as the world, universal as man." she knew that the leader of a would-be nation had declared: "a thousand must die as slaves or paupers in order that one gentleman may live. yet they are cheap to any nation, even at that price." so she feared that the victors in the _post-bellum_ strife which was raging around her would succeed, for a time at least, in establishing this ideal "class society." while the nation slumbered in indifference, she feared that these men, still full of the spirit of slavery, in the very name of law and order, under the pretense of decency and justice, would re-bind those whose feet had just begun to tread the path of liberty with shackles only less onerous than those which had been dashed from their limbs by red-handed war. as she thought of these things she read the following words from the pen of one who had carefully watched the process of "redemption," and had noted its results and tendency--not bitterly and angrily, as she had done, but coolly and approvingly: "we would like to engrave a prophecy on stone, to be read of generations in the future. the negro, in these [the southern] states, will be slave again or cease to be. his sole refuge from extinction will be in slavery to the white man." [footnote: out of the numerous declarations of this conviction which have been made by the southern press every year since the war, i have selected one from the _meridian (miss.) mercury_ of july st, . i have done this simply to show that the sentiment is not yet dead.] she remembered to have heard a great man say, on a memorable occasion, that "the forms of law have always been the graves of buried liberties." she feared that, under the "forms" of _subverted_ laws, the liberties of a helpless people would indeed be buried. she had little care for the nation. it was of those she had served and whose future she regarded with such engrossing interest that she thought. she did not dream of remedying the evil. that was beyond her power. she only thought she might save some from its scath. to that she devoted herself. the day before, she had visited the cemetery where her brother's ashes reposed. she had long ago put a neat monument over his grave, and had herself supplemented the national appropriation for its care. it was a beautiful inclosure, walled with stone, verdant with soft turf, and ornamented with rare shrubbery. across it ran a little stream, with green banks sloping either way. a single great elm drooped over its bubbling waters. a pleasant drive ran with easy grade and graceful curves down one low hill and up another. the iron gate opened upon a dusty highway. beside it stood the keeper's neat brick lodge. in front, and a little to the right, lay a sleepy southern town half hidden in embowering trees. across the little ravine within the cemetery, upon the level plateau, were the graves, marked, in some cases, by little square white monuments of polished marble, on which was but the single word, "unknown." a few bore the names of those who slept below. but on one side there were five long mounds, stretching away, side by side, as wide as the graves were long, and as long as four score graves. smoothly rounded from end to end, without a break or a sign, they seemed a fit emblem of silence. where they began, a granite pillar rose high, decked with symbols of glory interspersed with emblems of mourning. cannon, battered and grim, the worn-out dogs of war, gaped with silent jaws up at the silent sky. no name was carved on base or capital, nor on the marble shield upon the shaft. only, "sacred to the memory of the unknown heroes who died--." how quick the memory fills out the rest! there had been a military prison of the confederacy just over the hill yonder, where the corn now grew so rank and thick. twelve thousand men died there and were thrown into those long trenches where are now heaped-up mounds that look like giants' graves--not buried one by one, with coffin, shroud, and funeral rite, but one upon another heaped and piled, until the yawning pit would hold no more. no name was kept, no grave was marked, but in each trench was heaped one undistinguishable mass of dead humanity! mollie ainslie, when she had bidden farewell to her brother's grave, looked on these piled-up trenches, scanned the silent shaft, and going into the keeper's office just at hand, read for herself the mournful record: known unknown , ------ total , died in prison , as she wandered back to the town, she gleaned from what she had seen a lesson of charity for the people toward whom her heart had been full of hardness. "it was thus," she said to herself, "that they treated brave foemen of their own race and people, who died, not on the battle-field, but of lingering disease in crowded prison pens, in the midst of pleasant homes and within hearing of the sabbath chimes. none cared enough to give to each a grave, put up a simple board to mark the spot where love might come and weep--nay, not enough even to make entry of the name of the dead some heart must mourn. and if they did this to their dead foemen and kinsmen, their equals, why should we wonder that they manifest equal barbarity toward the living freedman--their recent slave, now suddenly exalted. _it is the lesson and the fruitage of slavery!"_ and so she made excuse both for the barbarity of war and the savagery which followed it by tracing both to their origin. she did not believe that human nature changed in an hour, but that centuries past bore fruit in centuries to come. she thought that the former master must be healed by the slow medicament of time before he could be able to recognize in all men the sanctity of manhood; as well as that the freedman must be taught to know and to defend his rights. when she left the cemetery, she mounted midnight for a farewell ride. the next morning, before he arose, hesden le moyne heard the neigh of his old war-horse, and, springing from his bed, he ran out and found him hitched at his gate. a note was tied with a blue ribbon to his jetty forelock. he removed it, and read: "i return your noble horse with many thanks for the long loan. may i hope that he will be known henceforth only as midnight? "mollie." he thought he recognized the ribbon as one which he had often seen encircling the neck of the writer, and foolishly treasured it upon his heart as a keepsake. the train bore away the teacher, and with her the wife and children who fled, not knowing their father's fate, and the lawyer who sought an owner for an estate whose heir was too honorable to hold it wrongfully. chapter lii. redeemed out of the house of bondage. three months passed peacefully away in horsford. in the "redeemed" county its "natural rulers" bore sway once more. the crops which nimbus had cultivated were harvested by a receiver of the court. the families that dwelt at red wing awaited in sullen silence the outcome of the suits which had been instituted. of nimbus and eliab not a word had been heard. some thought they had been killed; others that they had fled. the family of berry lawson had disappeared from the new home which he had made near "bre'er rufe patterson's," in hanson county. some said that they had gone south; others that they had gone east. "bre'er rufe" declared that he did not know where they had gone. all he knew was that he was "ober dar ob a saturday night, an' dar dey was, sally an' de chillen; an' den he went dar agin ob a monday mornin' arly, an' dar dey wasn't, nary one ob' em." the excitement with regard to the will, and her fear that hesden was infected with the horrible virus of "radicalism," had most alarmingly prostrated the invalid of mulberry hill. for a long time it was feared that her life of sufferirig was near its end. hesden did not leave home at all, except once or twice to attend to some business as the trustee for the fugitive jackson. cousin hetty had become a regular inmate of the house. all the invalid's affection for her dead daughter-in-law seemed to have been transferred to hetty lomax. no one could serve her so well. even hesden's attentions were less grateful. she spoke freely of the time when she should see hetty in her sister's place, the mistress of mulberry hill. she had given up all fear of the property being claimed by others, since she had heard how small were the chances of discovering an heir whose claims were not barred; and though she had consented to forego her legal rights, she trusted that a way would be found to satisfy any who might be discovered. at any rate, she was sure that her promise would not bind her successor, and, with the usual stubbornness of the chronic invalid, she determined that the estate should not pass out of the family. in any event, she did not expect to live until the finding of an heir, should there chance to be one. one of the good citizens of the county began to show himself in public for the first time since the raid on red wing. an ugly scar stretched from his forehead down along his nose and across his lips and chin. at the least excitement it became red and angry, and gave him at all times a ghastly and malevolent appearance. he was a great hero with the best citizens; was _feted_, admired, and praised; and was at once made a deputy sheriff under the new _regime_. another most worthy citizen, the superintendent of a sabbath-school, and altogether one of the most estimable citizens of the county, had been so seriously affected with a malignant brain-fever since that bloody night that he had not yet left his bed. the colored men, most of whom from a foolish apprehension had slept in the woods until the election, now began to perceive that the nights were wholesome, and remained in their cabins. they seemed sullen and discontented, and sometimes whispered among themselves of ill-usage and unfair treatment; but they were not noisy and clamorous, as they had been before the work of "redemption." it was especially noted that they were much more respectful and complaisant to their superiors than they had been at any time since the surrender. the old time "marse" was now almost universally used, and few "niggers" presumed to speak to a white man in the country districts without removing their hats. in the towns the improvement was not so perceptible. the "sassy" ones seemed to take courage from their numbers, and there they were still sometimes "boisterous" and "obstreperous." on the whole, however, the result seemed eminently satisfactory, with a prospect of growing better every day. labor was more manageable, and there were much fewer appeals to the law by lazy, impudent, and dissatisfied laborers. the master's word was rarely disputed upon the day of settlement, and there was every prospect of reviving hope and continued prosperity on the part of men who worked their plantations by proxy, and who had been previously very greatly annoyed and discouraged by the persistent clamor of their "hands" for payment. there had been some ill-natured criticism of the course of hesden le moyne. it was said that he had made some very imprudent remarks, both in regard to the treatment of jordan jackson and the affair at red wing. there were some, indeed, who openly declared that he had upheld and encouraged the niggers at red wing in their insolent and outrageous course, and had used language unworthy of a "southern gentleman" concerning those patriotic men who had felt called upon, for the protection of their homes and property, to administer the somewhat severe lesson which had no doubt nipped disorder in the bud, saved them from the war of races which had imminently impended, and brought "redemption" to the county. several of hesden's personal friends called upon him and remonstrated with him upon his course. many thought he should be "visited," and "radicalism in the county stamped out" at once, root and branch. he received warning from the klan to the effect that he was considered a dangerous character, and must change his tone and take heed to his footsteps. as, however, his inclination to the dangerous doctrines was generally attributed in a great measure to his unfortunate infatuation for the little "nigger-teacher," it was hoped that her absence would effect a cure. especially was this opinion entertained when it became known that his mother was bitterly opposed to his course, and was fully determined to root the seeds of "radicalism" from his mind. his attachment for her was well known, and it was generally believed that she might be trusted to turn him from the error of his ways, particularly as she was the owner of red wing, and had freely declared her intention not to leave him a foot of it unless he abandoned his absurd and vicious notions. hesden himself, though he went abroad but little, saw that his friends had grown cool and that his enemies had greatly multiplied. this was the situation of affairs in the good county of horsford when, one bright morning in december--the morning of "that day whereon our saviour's birth is celebrate"--hesden le moyne rode to the depot nearest to his home, purchased two tickets to a northern city, and, when the morning train came in, assisted his "boy" charles to lift from a covered wagon which stood near by, the weak and pallid form of the long-lost "nigger preacher," eliab hill, and place him upon the train. it was noticed by the loungers about the depot that hesden carried but half concealed a navy revolver which seemed to have seen service. there was some excitement in the little crowd over the reappearance of eliab hill, but he was not interfered with. in fact, the cars moved off so quickly after he was first seen that there was no time to recover from the surprise produced by the unexpected apparition. it was not until the smoke of the engine had disappeared in the distance that the wrath of the bystanders clothed itself in words. then the air reeked with expletives. what ought to have been done was discussed with great freedom. an excited crowd gathered around charles as he was preparing to return home, and plied him with questions. his ignorance was phenomenal, but the look of stupefied wonder with which he regarded his questioners confirmed his words. it was not until he had proceeded a mile on his homeward way, with midnight in leading behind the tail-board, that, having satisfied himself that there was no one within hearing, by peeping from beneath the canvas covering of the wagon, both before and behind, he tied the reins to one of the bows which upheld the cover, abandoned the mule to his own guidance, and throwing himself upon the mattress on which eliab had lain, gave vent to roars of laughter. "yah, yah, yah!" he cried, as the tears rolled down his black face. "it du take marse hesden to wax dem fellers! dar he war, jest ez cool an' keerless ez yer please, a'standin' roun' an' waitin' fer de train an' payin' no 'tention at all ter me an' de wagon by de platform, dar. swar, but i war skeered nigh 'bout ter death, till i got dar an' seed him so quiet and keerless; an' bre'er 'liab, he war jest a-prayin' all de time--but dat's no wonder. den, when de train whistle, marse hesden turn quick an' sharp an' i seed him gib dat ole pistol a jerk roun' in front, an' he come back an' sed, jest ez cool an' quiet, 'now, charles!' i declar' it stiddied me up jes ter hear him, an' den up comes bre'er 'liab in my arms. marse hesden helps a bit an' goes fru de crowd wid his mouf shet like a steel trap. we takes him on de cars. all aboard! _whoo-oop--puff, puff!_ off she goes! an' dat crowd stan's dar a-cussin' all curration an' demselves to boot! yah, yah, yah! 'rah for marse hesden!" chapter liii. in the cyclone. then the storm burst. every possible story was set afloat. the more absurd it seemed the more generally was it credited. men talked and women chattered of nothing but hesden le moyne, his infamous "negro-loving radicalism," his infatuation with the "yankee school-marm," the anger of his mother, his ill-treatment of his cousin, hetty lomax; his hiding of the "nigger preacher" in the loft of the dining-room, his alliance with the red wing desperadoes to "burn every white house on that side of the river"--in short, his treachery, his hypocrisy, his infamy. on the street, in the stores, at the churches--wherever men met--this was the one unfailing theme of conversation. none but those who have seen a southern community excited over one subject or one man can imagine how much can be said about a little matter. the newspapers of that and the adjoining counties were full of it. colored men were catechized in regard to it. his friends vied with his enemies in vituperation, lest they should be suspected of a like offense. he was accounted a monster by many, and an enemy by all who had been his former associates, and, strangely enough, was at once looked upon as a friend and ally by every colored man, and by the few white men of the county who secretly or silently held with the "radicals." it was the baptism of fire which every southern man must face who presumes to differ from his fellows upon political questions. nothing that he had previously done or said or been could excuse or palliate his conduct. the fact that he was of a good family only rendered his alliance with "niggers" against his own race and class the more infamous. the fact that he was a man of substantial means, and had sought no office or aggrandizement by the votes of colored men, made his offence the more heinous, because he could not even plead the poor excuse of self-interest. the fact that he had served the confederacy well, and bore on his person the indubitable proof of gallant conduct on the field of battle, was a still further aggravation of his act, because it marked him as a renegade and a traitor to the cause for which he had fought. compared with a northern republican he was accounted far more infamous, because of his desertion of his family, friends, comrades, and "the cause of the south"--a vague something which no man can define, but which "fires the southern heart" with wonderful facility. comparison with the negro was still more to his disadvantage, since he had "sinned against light and knowledge," while they did not even know their own "best friends." and so the tide of detraction ebbed and flowed while hesden was absent, his destination unknown, his return a matter of conjecture, and his purpose a mystery. the most generally-accepted theory was that he had gone to washington for the purpose of maliciously misrepresenting and maligning the good people of horsford, in order to secure the stationing of soldiers in that vicinity, and their aid in arresting and bringing to trial, for various offences against the peace and persons of the colored people, some of the leading citizens of the county. in support of this they cited his intimate relations with jordan jackson, as well as with nimbus and eliab. it was soon reported that jackson had met him at washington; that nimbus desmit had also arrived there; that the whole party had been closeted with this and that leading "radical"; and that the poor, stricken, down-trodden south--the land fairest and richest and poorest and most peaceful and most chivalric, the most submissive and the most defiant; in short, the most contradictory in its self-conferred superlatives--that this land of antipodal excellences must now look for new forms of tyranny and new measures of oppression. the secrecy which had been preserved for three months in regard to eliab's place of concealment made a most profound impression upon hesden's neighbors of the county of horsford. they spoke of it in low, horrified tones, which showed that they felt deeply in regard to it. it was ascertained that no one in his family knew of the presence of eliab until the morning of his removal. miss hetty made haste to declare that in her two months and more of attendance upon the invalid she had never dreamed of such a thing. the servants stoutly denied all knowledge of it, except charles, who could not get out of having cut the door through into the other room. it was believed that hesden had himself taken all the care of the injured man, whose condition was not at all understood. how badly he had been hurt, or in what manner, none could tell. many visited the house to view the place of concealment. only the closed doors could be seen, for hesden had taken the key with him. some suggested that nimbus was still concealed there, and several advised mrs. le moyne to get some one to go into the room. however, as no one volunteered to go, nothing came of this advice. it was rumored, too, that hesden had brought into the county several detectives, who had stolen into the hearts of the unsuspecting people of horsford, and had gone northward loaded down with information that would make trouble for some of the "best men." it was generally believed that the old attic over the dining-room had long been a place where "radicals" had been wont to meet in solemn conclave to "plot against the whites." a thousand things were remembered which confirmed this view. it was here that hesden had harbored the detectives, as rahab had hidden the spies. it was quite evident that he had for a long time been an emissary of the government at washington, and no one could guess what tales of outrage he might not fabricate in order to glut his appetite for inhuman revenge. the southern man is always self-conscious. he thinks the world has him in its eye, and that he about fills the eye. this does not result from comparative depreciation of others so much as from a habit of magnifying his own image. he always poses for effect. he walks, talks, and acts "as if he felt the eyes of europe on his tail," almost as much as the peacock. there are times, however, when even he does not care to be seen, and it was observed that about this time there were a goodly number of the citizens of horsford who modestly retired from the public gaze, some of them even going into remote states with some precipitation and an apparent desire to remain for a time unknown. it was even rumored that hesden was with nimbus, disguised as a negro, in the attack made on the klan during the raid on red wing, and that, by means of the detectives, he had discovered every man engaged in that patriotic affair, as well as those concerned in others of like character. the disappearance of these men was, of course, in no way connected with this rumor. since the "southern people" have become the great jesters of the world, their conduct is not at all to be judged by the ordinary rules of cause and effect as applied to human action. it might have been mere buffoonery, quite as well as modesty, that possessed some of the "best citizens of horsford" with an irrepressible desire to view the falls of niagara from the canadian side in mid-winter. there is no accounting for the acts of a nation of masqueraders! but perhaps the most generally-accepted version of hesden's journey was that he had run away to espouse mollie ainslie. to her was traced his whole bias toward the colored population and "radical" principles. nothing evil was said of her character. she was admitted to be as good as anybody of her class could be--intelligent, bigoted, plucky, pretty, and malicious. it was a great pity that a man belonging to a good family should become infatuated by one in her station. he could never bring her home, and she would never give up her "nigger-equality notions." she had already dragged him down to what he was. such a man as he, it was strenuously asserted, would not degrade himself to stand up for such a man as jordan jackson or to associate with "niggers," without some powerful extraneous influence. that influence was mollie ainslie, who, having inveigled him into "radicalism," had now drawn him after her into the north and matrimony. but nowhere did the conduct of hesden cause more intense or conflicting feelings than at mulberry hill. his achievement in succoring, hiding, and finally rescuing eliab hill was a source of never-ending wonder, applause, and mirth in the kitchen. but miss hetty could not find words to express her anger and chagrin. without being at all forward or immodest, she had desired to succeed her dead sister in the good graces of hesden le moyne, as well as in the position of mistress of the hill. it was a very natural and proper feeling. they were cousins, had always been neighbors, and hesden's mother had encouraged the idea, almost from the time of his first wife's death. it was no wonder that she was jealous of the yankee school-marm. love is keen-eyed, and she really loved her cousin. she had become satisfied, during her stay at the hill, that he was deeply attached to mollie ainslie, and knew him too well to hope that he would change; and such a conviction was, of course, not pleasant to her vanity. but when she was convinced that he had degraded himself and her by espousing "radicalism" and associating with "niggers," her wrath knew no bounds. it seemed an especial insult to her that the man whom she had honored with her affection should have so demeaned himself. mrs. le moyne was at first astonished, then grieved, and finally angry. she especially sympathized with hetty, the wreck of whose hope she saw in this revelation. if mollie ainslie had been "one of our people," instead of "a northern nigger school-teacher," there would have been nothing so very bad about it. he had never professed any especial regard or tenderness for miss hetty, and had never given her any reason to expect a nearer relation than she had always sustained toward him. mollie was good enough in her way, bright and pretty and--but faugh! the idea! she would not believe it! hesden was not and could not be a "radical." he might have sheltered eliab--ought to have done so; that she _would_ say. he had been a slave of the family, and had a right to look to her son for protection. but to be a "radical!" she would not believe it. there was no use in talking to her. she remained stubbornly silent after she had gotten to the conclusive denial: "he could not do it!" nevertheless, she thought it well to use her power while she had any. if he was indeed a "radical," she would never forgive him--never! so she determined to make her will. a man learned in the law was brought to the hill, and hester le moyne, in due form, by her last will and testament devised the plantation to her beloved son hesden le moyne, and her affectionate cousin hetty lomax, jointly, and to their heirs forever, on condition that the said devisees should intermarry with each other within one year from the death of the devisor; and in case either of the said devisees should refuse to intermarry with the other, then the part of such devisee was to go to the other, who should thereafter hold the fee in severalty, free of all claim from the other. the new york and boston papers contained, day after day, this "personal:" "the heirs of james richards, deceased, formerly of marblehead, massachusetts, will learn something to their advantage by addressing theron pardee, care of james & jones, attorneys, at no. -- broadway, n. y." mrs. le moyne was well aware of this, and also remembered her promise to surrender the estate, should an heir be found. but that promise had been made under the influence of hesden's ardent zeal for the right, and she found by indirection many excuses for avoiding its performance. "of course," she said to herself, "if heirs should be found in my lifetime, i would revoke this testament; but it is not right that i should bind those who come after me for all time to yield to his quixotic notions. besides, why should i be juster than the law? this property has been in the family for a long time, and ought to remain there." her anger at hesden burned very fiercely, and she even talked of refusing to see him, should he return, as she had no real doubt he would. the excitement, however, prostrated her as usual, and her anger turned into querulous complainings as she grew weaker. the return of hesden, hardly a week after his departure, brought him to face this tide of vituperation at its flood. all that had been said and written and done in regard to himself came forthwith to his knowledge. he was amazed, astounded for a time, at the revelation. he had not expected it. he had expected anger, and was prepared to meet it with forbearance and gentleness; but he was not prepared for detraction and calumny and insult. he had not been so very much surprised at the odium which had been heaped upon jordan jackson. he belonged to that class of white people at the south to whom the better class owed little duty or regard. it was not so strange that they should slander that man. he could understand, too, how it was that they attributed to the colored people such incredible depravity, such capacity for evil, such impossible designs, as well as the reason why they invented for every northern man that came among them with ideas different from their own a fictitious past, reeking with infamy. he could sympathize in some degree with all of this. he had not thought, himself, that it was altogether the proper thing for the illiterate "poor-white" man, jordan jackson, to lead the negroes of the county in political hostility to the whites. he had felt naturally the distrust of the man of northern birth which a century of hostility and suspicion had bred in the air of the south. he had grown up in it. he had been taught to regard the "yankees" (which meant all northerners) as a distinct people--sometimes generous and brave, but normally envious, mean, low-spirited, treacherous, and malignant. he admitted the exceptions, but they only proved the rule. as a class he considered them cold, calculating, selfish, greedy of power and wealth, and regardless of the means by which these were acquired. above all things, he had been taught to regard them as animated by hatred of the south. knowing that this had been his own bias, he could readily excuse his neighbors for the same. but in his own case it was different. _he_ was one of themselves. they knew him to be brave, honorable, of good family, of conservative instincts, fond of justice and fair play, and governed in his actions only by the sincerest conviction. that they should accuse him of every mean and low impossibility of act and motive, and befoul his holiest purposes and thoughts, was to him a most horrible thing. his anger grew hotter and hotter, as he listened to each new tale of infamy which a week had sufficed to set afloat. then he heard his mother's reproaches, and saw that even her love was not proof against a mere change of political sentiment on his part. these things set him to thinking as he had never thought before. the scales fell from his eyes, and from the kindly gentle southern man of knightly instincts and gallant achievements was born--the "pestiferous radical." he did not hesitate to avow his conviction, and from that moment there was around him a wall of fire. he had lost his rank, degraded his caste, and fallen from his high estate. from and after that moment he was held unworthy to wear the proud appellation, "a southern gentleman." however, as he took no active part in political life, and depended in no degree upon the patronage or good will of his neighbors for a livelihood, he felt the force of this feeling only in his social relations. unaware, as yet, of the disherison which his mother had visited upon him in his absence, he continued to manage the plantation and conduct all the business pertaining to it in his own name, as he had done ever since the close of the war. at first he entertained a hope that the feeling against him would die out. but as time rolled on, and it continued still potent and virulent, he came to analyze it more closely, judging his fellows by himself, and saw that it was the natural fruit of that intolerance which slavery made necessary--which was essential to its existence. then he no longer wondered at them, but at himself. it did not seem strange that they should feel as they did, but rather that he should so soon have escaped from the tyrannical bias of mental habit. he saw that the struggle against it must be long and bitter, and he determined not to yield his convictions to the prejudices of others. it was a strange thing. in one part of the country--and that the greater in numbers, in wealth, in enterprise and vigor, in average intelligence and intellectual achievements--the sentiments he had espoused were professed and believed by a great party which prided itself upon its intelligence, purity, respectability, and devotion to principle. in two thirds of the country his sentiments were held to be honorable, wise, and patriotic. every act he had performed, every principle he had reluctantly avowed, would there have been applauded of all men. nay, the people of that portion of the country were unable to believe that any one could seriously deny those principles. yet in the other portion, where he lived, they were esteemed an ineffaceable brand of shame, which no merit of a spotless life could hide. the _southern clarion_, a newspaper of the county of horsford, in referring to his conduct, said: "of all such an example should be made. inaugurate social ostracism against every white man who gives any support to the radical party. every true southern man or woman should refuse to recognize as a gentleman any man belonging to that party, or having any dealings with it. hesden le moyne has chosen to degrade an honored name. he has elected to go with niggers, nigger teachers, and nigger preachers; but let him forever be an outcast among the respectable and high minded white people of horsford, whom he has betrayed and disgraced!" a week later, it contained another paragraph: "we understand that the purpose of hesden le moyne in going to the north was not entirely to stir up northern prejudice and hostility against our people. at least, that is what he claims. he only went, we are informed he says, to take the half-monkey negro preacher who calls himself eliab hill to a so-called college in the north to complete his education. we shall no doubt soon have this misshapen, malicious hypocrite paraded through the north as an evidence of southern barbarity. "the truth is, as we are credibly informed, that what injuries he received on the night of the raid upon red wing were purely accidental. there were some in the company, it seems, who were disappointed at not finding the black desperado, nimbus desmit, who was organizing his depraved followers to burn, kill, and ravish, and proposed to administer a moderate whipping to the fellow eliab, who was really supposed to be at the bottom of all the other's rascality. these few hot-heads burst in the door of his cabin, but one of the oldest and coolest of the crowd rushed in and, at the imminent risk of his own life, rescued him from them. in order to bring him out into the light where he could be protected, he caught the baboon-like creature by his foot, and he was somewhat injured thereby. he is said to have been shot also, but we are assured that not a shot was fired, except by some person with a repeating rifle, who fired upon the company of white men from the woods beyond the school-house. it is probable that some of these shots struck the preacher, and it is generally believed that they were fired by hesden le moyne. several who were there have expressed the opinion that, from the manner in which the shooting was done, it must have been by a man with one arm. however, eliab will make a good radical show, and we shall have another dose of puritanical, hypocritical cant about southern barbarity. well, we can bear it. we have got the power in horsford, and we mean to hold it. niggers and nigger-worshippers must take care of themselves. this is a white man's country, and white men are going to rule it, no matter whether the north whines or not." the report given in this account of the purpose of hesden's journey to the north was the correct one. in the three months in which the deformed man had been under his care, he had learned that a noble soul and a rare mind were shut up in that crippled form, and had determined to atone for his former coolness and doubt, as well as mark his approval of the course of this hunted victim, by giving him an opportunity to develop his powers. he accordingly placed him in a northern college, and became responsible for the expenses of his education. chapter liv. a bolt out of the cloud. a year had passed, and there had been no important change in the relations of the personages of our story. the teacher and her "obstreperous" pupils had disappeared from horsford and had been almost forgotten. hesden, his mother, and cousin hetty still led their accustomed life at red wing. detraction had worn itself out upon the former, for want of a new occasion. he was still made to feel, in the little society which he saw, that he was a black sheep in an otherwise spotless fold. he did not complain. he did not account himself "ostracized," nor wonder at this treatment. he saw how natural it was, how consistent with the training and development his neighbors had received. he simply said to himself, and to the few friends who still met him kindly, "i can do without the society of others as long as they can do without mine. i can wait. this thing must end some time--if not in my day, then afterward. our people must come out of it and rise above it. they must learn that to be americans is better than to be 'southern.' then they will see that the interests and safety of the whole nation demand the freedom and political co-equality of all." these same friends comforted him much as did those who argued with the man of uz. mrs. le moyne's life had gone back to its old channel. shut out from the world, she saw only the fringes of the feeling that had set so strongly against her son. indeed, she received perhaps more attention than usual in the way of calls and short visits, since she was understood to have manifested a proper spirit of resentment at his conduct. hesden himself was almost the only one who did not know of her will. it was thought, of course, that she was holding it over him _in terrorem_. yet he was just as tender and considerate of her as formerly, and she was apparently just as fond of him. she had not yet given up her plan of a matrimonial alliance for him with cousin hetty, but that young lady herself had quite abandoned the notion. in the year she had been at mulberry hill she had come to know hesden better, and to esteem him more highly than ever before. she knew that he regarded her with none of the feeling his mother desired to see between them, but they had become good friends, and after a short time she was almost the only one of his relatives that had not allowed his political views to sunder their social relations. living in the same house, it was of course impossible to maintain a constant state of siege; but she had gone farther, and had held out a flag of truce, and declared her conviction of the honesty of his views and the honorableness of his _intention_. she did not think as he did, but she had finally become willing to let him think for himself. people said she was in love with hesden, and that with his mother's aid she would yet conquer his indifference. she did not think so. she sighed when she confessed the fact to herself. she did indeed hope that he had forgotten mollie ainslie. she could never live to see her mistress at the dear old hill! the term of the court was coming on at which the suits that had been brought by winburn against the occupants of red wing must be tried. many had left the place, and it was noticed that from all who desired to leave, theron pardee had purchased, at the full value, the titles which they held under nimbus, and that they had all gone off somewhere out west. others had elected to remain, with a sort of blind faith that all would come out right after a while, or from mere disinclination to leave familiar scenes--that feeling which is always so strong in the african race. it was at this time that pardee came one day to mulberry hill and announced his readiness to make report in the matter intrusted to his charge concerning the will of j. richards. "well," said hesden, "have you found the heirs?" "i beg your pardon, mr. le moyne," said pardee; "i have assumed a somewhat complicated relation to this matter, acting under the spirit of my instructions, which makes it desirable, perhaps almost necessary, that i should confer directly with the present owner of this plantation, and that is--?" "my mother," said hesden, as he paused. "i suppose it will be mine some time," he continued laughing, "but i have no present interest in it." "yes," said the lawyer. "and is mrs. le moyne's health such as to permit her considering this matter now?" "oh, i think so," said hesden. "i will see her and ascertain." in a short time the attorney was ushered into the invalid's room, where mrs. le moyne, reclining on her beautifully decorated couch, received him pleasantly, exclaiming, "you will see how badly off i am for company, captain pardee, when i assure you that i am glad to see even a lawyer with such a bundle of papers as you have brought. i have literally nobody but these two children," glancing at hesden and hetty, "and i declare i believe i am younger and more cheerful than either of them." "your cheerfulness, madam," replied pardee, "is an object of universal remark and wonder. i sincerely trust that nothing in these papers will at all affect your equanimity." "but what have you in that bundle, captain?" she asked. "i assure you that i am dying to know why you should insist on assailing a sick woman with such a formidable array of documents." "before proceeding to satisfy your very natural curiosity, madam," answered pardee, with a glance at miss hetty, "permit me to say that my communication is of great moment to you as the owner of this plantation, and to your son as your heir, and is of such a character that you might desire to consider it carefully before it should come to the knowledge of other parties." "oh, never mind cousin hetty," said mrs. le moyne quickly. "she has just as much interest in the matter as any one." the lawyer glanced at hesden, who hastened to say, "i am sure there can be nothing of interest to me which i would not be willing that my cousin should know." the young lady rose to go, but both hesden and mrs. le moyne insisted on her remaining. "certainly," said pardee, "there can be no objection on my part. i merely called your attention to the fact as a part of my duty as your legal adviser." so miss hetty remained sitting upon the side of the bed, holding one of the invalid's hands. pardee seated himself at a small table near the bed, and, having arranged his papers so that they would be convenient for reference, began: "you will recollect, madam, that the task intrusted to me was twofold: first, to verify this will found by your son and ascertain whose testament it was, its validity or invalidity; and, in case it was valid, its effect and force. secondly, i was directed to make all reasonable effort, in case of its validity being established, to ascertain the existence of any one entitled to take under its provisions. in this book," said he, holding up a small volume, "i have kept a diary of all that i have done in regard to the matter, with dates and places. it will give you in detail what i shall now state briefly. "i went to lancaster, where the will purports to have been executed, and ascertained its genuineness by proving the signatures of the attesting witnesses, and established also the fact of their death. these affidavits'--holding up a bundle of papers--"show that i also inquired as to the testator's identity; but i could learn nothing except that the descendants of one of the witnesses who had bought your ancestor's farm, upon his removal to the south, still had his deed in possession. i copied it, and took a tracing of the signature, which is identical with that which he subsequently used --james richards, written in a heavy and somewhat sloping hand, for that time. i could learn nothing more in regard to him or his family. "proceeding then to marblehead, i learned these facts. there were two parties named james richards. they were cousins; and in order to distinguish them from each other they were called by the family and neighbors, 'red jim' and 'black jim' respectively--the one having red hair and blue eyes, and the other dark hair and black eyes." "yes," interrupted mrs. le moyne, "i was the only blonde in my family, and i have often heard my father say that i got it from some ancestral strain, perhaps the whidbys, and resembled his cousins." "yes," answered pardee, "a whidby was a common ancestress of your father and his cousin, 'red jim.' it is strange how family traits reproduce themselves in widely-separated strains of blood." "well," said hesden, "did you connect him with this will?" "most conclusively," was the reply. "in the first place, his wife's name was edna--edna goddard--before marriage, and he left an only daughter, alice. he was older than his cousin, 'black jim,' to whom he was greatly attached. the latter removed to lancaster, when about twenty-five years of age, having inherited a considerable estate in that vicinity. i had not thought of examining the record of wills while in lancaster, but on my return i went to the prothonotary's office, and verified this also. so there is no doubt about the 'black jim' of the marblehead family being your ancestor." "stop! stop! captain pardee!" interrupted mrs. le moyne quickly. "isn't marblehead near cape cod?" "yes, madam." "and buzzard's bay?" "certainly." "no wonder," said she, laughing, "that you wanted hetty to leave before you opened your budget. do pray run away, child, before you hear any more to our discredit. hesden, do please escort your cousin out of the room," she added, in assumed distress. "no indeed," laughed miss hetty; "i am getting interested, and as you would not let me go when i wished to, i have now determined to stay till the last horror is revealed." "it is too late, mother," said hesden ruefully; "fortunately, cousin hetty is not attainted, except collaterally, thus far." "well, go on, captain," said mrs. le moyne gayly. "what else? pray what was the family occupation--'calling' i believe they say in new england. i suppose they had some calling, as they never have any 'gentlemen' in that country." pardee's face flushed hotly. he was born among the new hampshire hills himself. however, he answered calmly, but with a slight emphasis, "they were seafaring men, madam." "oh, my!" cried the invalid, clapping her hands. "codfish! codfish! i knew it, hetty! i knew it! why didn't you go out of the room when i begged you to? do you hear it, hesden? that is where you get your radicalism from. my! my!" she laughed, almost hysterically, "what a family! codfish at one end and radical at the other! 'and the last state of that man was worse than the first!' what would not the newspapers give to know that of you, hesden?" she laughed until the tears came, and her auditors laughed with her. yet, despite her mirth, it was easy to detect the evidence of strong feeling in her manner. she carried it off bravely, however, and said, "but, perhaps, captain pardee, you can relieve us a little. perhaps they were not cod-fishers but mackerelers. i remember a song i have heard my father sing, beginning, "when jake came home from mack'reling, he sought his sary ann, and found that she, the heartless thing, had found another man!" "do please say that they were mackerelers!" "i am sorry i cannot relieve your anxiety on that point," said pardee, but i can assure you they were a very respectable family." "no doubt, as families _go_ 'there," she answered, with some bitterness. "they doubtless sold good fish, and gave a hundred pounds for a quintal, or whatever it is they sell the filthy truck by." "they were very successful and somewhat noted privateers during the revolution," said pardee. "worse and worse!" said mrs. le moyne. better they were fishermen than pirates! i wonder if they didn't bring over niggers too?" "i should not be at all surprised," answered pardee coolly. "this 'red jim' was master and owner of a vessel of some kind, and was on his way back from charleston, where it seems he had sold both his vessel and cargo, when he executed this will." "but how do you know that it _is_ his will?" asked hesden. "oh, there is no doubt," said pardee. "being a shipmaster, his signature was necessarily affixed to many papers. i have found not less than twenty of these, all identical with the signature of the will." "that would certainly seem to be conclusive," said hesden. "taken with other things, it is," answered pardee. "among other things is a letter from your grandfather, which was found pasted inside the cover of a bible that belonged to mrs. edna richards, in regard to the death of her husband. in it he says that his cousin visited him on his way home; went from there to philadelphia, and was taken sick; your grandfather was notified and went on, but death had taken place before he arrived. the letter states that he had but little money and no valuable papers except such as he sent. out of the money he had paid the funeral expenses, and would remit the balance as soon as he could make an opportunity. the tradition in 'red jim's' family is that he died of yellow fever in philadelphia, on his way home with the proceeds of his sale, and was robbed of his money before the arrival of his cousin. no suspicion seems ever to have fallen on "black jim." "thank god for that!" ejaculated hesden fervently. "i suppose you took care to awaken none," said mrs. le moyne. "i spoke of it to but one person, to whom it became absolutely necessary to reveal it. however, it is perfectly safe, and will go no farther." "well, did you find any descendants of this 'red jim' living?" asked mrs. le moyne. "one," answered pardee. "only one?" said she. "i declare. hesden, the richards family is not numerous if it is strong." "why do you say 'strong,' mother?" "oh, codfish and radicals, you know!" "now, mother--" "oh, if you hate to hear about it, why don't you quit the dirty crowd and be a gentleman again. or is it your new-found cousin you feel so bad for? by the way, captain, is it a boy or girl, and is it old or young?" "it is a lady, madam, some twenty years of age or thereabout." "a lady? well, i suppose that is what they call them there. married or single?" "single." "what a pity you are getting so old, hesden! you might make a match and settle her claim in that way. though i don't suppose she has any in law." "on the contrary, madam," said pardee, "her title is perfect. she can recover not only this plantation but every rood of the original tract." "you don't say!" exclaimed the invalid. "it would make her one of the richest women in the state!" "undoubtedly." "oh, it cannot be, captain pardee!" exclaimed miss hetty. "it cannot be!" "there can be no doubt about it," said pardee. "she is the great-grand-daughter of 'red jim,' and his only lineal descendant. his daughter alice, to whom this is bequeathed, married before arriving at the age of eighteen, and died in wedlock, leaving an only daughter, who also married before she became of age, and also died in wedlock, leaving a son and daughter surviving. the son died without heirs of his body, and only the daughter is left. there has never been an hour when the action of the statute was not barred." "have you seen her?" asked mrs. le moyne. "yes." "does she know her good luck?" "she is fully informed of her rights." "indeed? you told her, i suppose?" "i found her already aware of them." "why, how could that be?" "i am sure i do not know," said pardee, glancing sharply at hesden. "what," said hesden, with a start; "what did you say is the name of the heir?" "i did not say," said pardee coolly. hesden sprang to his feet, and going across the room stood gazing out of the window. "why don't you tell us the name of the heir, captain? you must know we are dying to hear all about our new cousin," said mrs. le moyne bitterly. "is she long or short, fat or lean, dark or fair? do tell us all about her?" "in appearance, madam," said pardee carelessly, "i should say she much resembled yourself at her age." "oh, captain, you flatter me, i'm sure," she answered, with just a hint of a sneer. "well, what is her name, and when does she wish to take possession?" "her name, madam, you must excuse me if i withhold for the present. i am the bearer of a proposition of compromise from her, which, if accepted, will, i hope, avoid all trouble. if not accepted, i shall find myself under the necessity of asking to be relieved from further responsibility in this matter." "come here, hesden," said his mother, "and hear what terms your new cousin wants for mulberry hill. i hope we won't have to move out till spring. it would be mighty bad to be out of doors all winter. go on, captain pardee, hesden is ready now. this is what comes of your silly idea about doing justice to some low-down yankee. it's a pity you hadn't sense enough to burn the will up. it would have been better all round. the wealth will turn the girl's head, and the loss of my home will kill me," she continued fiercely to her son. "as to the young lady, you need have no fear," said pardee. "she is not one of the kind that lose their heads. "ah, you seem to be quite an admirer of her?" "i am, madam." "if we do not accept her proposal, you will no doubt become her attorney?" "i am such already." "you don't say so? well, you are making good speed. i should think you might have waited till you had dropped us before picking her up. but then, it will be a good thing to be the attorney of such an heiress, and we shall be poor indeed after she gets her own--as you say it is." "madam," said pardee seriously, "i shall expect you to apologize both to me and to my client when you have heard her proposition." "i shall be very likely to, mr. pardee," she said, with a dry laugh. "i come of an apologetic race. old jim richards was full of apologies. he liked to have died of them, numberless times. but what is your proposal?" "as i said," remarked pardee, "my client--i beg pardon--the great-grand-daughter of 'red jim' richards, instructs me to say that she does not desire to stain her family name or injure your feelings by exposing the fraud of your ancestor, 'black jim' richards. "what, sir!" said mrs. le moyne sharply. "fraud! you had better measure your words, sir, when you speak of my father. do you hear that, hesden? have you lost all spirit since you became a radical?" she continued, while her eyes flashed angrily. "i am sorry to say that i do not see what milder term could be used," said hesden calmly. "go on with your proposition, sir." "well, as i said," continued the lawyer, "this young lady, desiring to save the family name and your feelings from the shock of exposure, has instructed me to say: first, that she does not wish to disturb any of those rights which have been obtained by purchase from your ancestor; and second, that she understands that there is a dispute in regard to the title of a portion of it--the tract generally known as red wing--neither of the parties claiming which have any title as against her. she understands that the title held by winburn is technically good against that of the colored man, nimbus desmit, providing hers is not set up. "now she proposes that if you will satisfy winburn and obtain a quit-claim from him to desmit, she will make a deed in fee to mrs. le moyne of the whole tract; and as you hold by inheritance from one who purported to convey the fee, the title will thereafter be estopped, and all rights held under the deeds of 'black jim' richards will be confirmed." "well, what else?" asked mrs. le moyne breathlessly, as he paused. "there is nothing more." "nothing more! why, does the girl propose to give away all this magnificent property for nothing?" she asked in astonishment. "absolutely nothing to her own comfort or advantage," answered the attorney. "well, now, that is kind--that is kind!" said the invalid. "i am sorry for what i have said of her, captain pardee." "i thought you would be, madam," he replied. "you must attend to that red wing matter immediately, hesden," she said, thoughtfully. "you accept the proposal then?" asked pardee. "accept, man? of course we do!" said mrs. le moyne. "stop, mother!" said hesden. "you may accept for yourself, but not for me. is this woman able to give away such a fortune?" he asked of pardee. "she is not rich. she has been a teacher, and has some property--enough, she insists, for comfort," was the answer. "if she had offered to sell, i would have bought at any possible price, but i cannot take such a gift!" "do you accept the terms?" asked pardee of mrs. le moyne. "i do," she answered doggedly, but with a face flushing with shame. "then, madam, let me say that i have already shown the proofs in confidence to winburn's attorney. he agrees that they have no chance, and is willing to sell the interest he represents for five hundred dollars. that i have already paid, and have taken a quit-claim to desmit. upon the payment of that, and my bill for services, i stand ready to deliver to you the title." the whole amount was soon ascertained and a check given to pardee for the sum. thereupon he handed over to mrs. le moyne a deed in fee-simple, duly executed, covering the entire tract, except that about red wing, which was conveyed to nimbus in a deed directly to him. mrs. le moyne unfolded the deed, and turning quickly to the last page read the name of the donor: "mollie ainslie!" "what!" she exclaimed, "not the little nigger teacher at red wing?" "the same, madam," said pardee, with a smile and a bow. the announcement was too much for the long-excited invalid. she fell back fainting upon her pillow, and while cousin hetty devoted herself to restoring her relative to consciousness, pardee gathered up his papers and withdrew. hesden followed him, presently, and asked where miss ainslie was. "i am directed," said pardee, "not to disclose her residence, but will at any time forward any communication you may desire to make." chapter lv. an unconditional surrender. the next day mr. pardee received a note from mrs. le moyne, requesting him to come to mulberry hill at his earliest convenience. being at the time disengaged, he returned with the messenger. upon being ushered again into the invalid's room, he found miss hetty lomax with a flushed face standing by the bedside. both the ladies greeted him with some appearance of embarrassment. "cousin hetty," said the invalid, "will you ask hesden to come here for a moment?" miss hetty left the room, and returned a moment afterward in company with hesden. "hesden," said mrs. le moyne, "were you in earnest in what you said yesterday in regard to receiving any benefits under this deed?" "certainly, mother," replied hesden; "i could never consent to do so." "very well, my son," said the invalid; "you are perhaps right; but i wish you to know that i had heretofore made my will, giving to you and cousin hetty a joint interest in my estate. you know the feeling which induced me to do so. i am in the confessional to-day, and may as well admit that i was hasty and perhaps unjust in so doing. in justice to cousin hetty i wish also to say--" "oh, please, mrs. le moyne," interrupted hetty, blushing deeply. "hush, my child," said the invalid tenderly; "i must be just to you as well as to others. hetty," she continued, turning her eyes upon hesden, who stood looking in wonder from one to the other, "has long tried to persuade me to revoke that instrument. i have at length determined to cancel and destroy it, and shall proceed to make a new one, which i desire that both of you shall witness when it has been drawn." being thus dismissed, hesden and his cousin withdrew, while pardee seated himself at the little table by the bedside, on which writing materials had already been placed, and proceeded to receive instructions and prepare the will as she directed. when it had been completed and read over to her, she said, wearily, "that is right." the attorney called hesden and his cousin, who, having witnessed the will by her request, again withdrew. "now mr. pardee," said mrs. le moyne sadly, "i believe that i have done my duty as well as hesden has done his. it is hard, very hard, for me to give up projects which i have cherished so long. as i have constituted you my executor, i desire that you will keep this will, and allow no person to know its contents unless directed by me to do so, until my death." "your wishes shall be strictly complied with, madam," said pardee, as he folded the instrument and placed it in his pocket. "i have still another favor to request of you, mr. pardee," she said. "i have written this note to miss ainslie, which i wish you to read and then transmit to her. no, no," she continued, as she saw him about to seal the letter which she had given him, without reading it; "you must read it. you know something of what it has cost me to write it, and will be a better judge than i as to whether it contains all that i should say." thus adjured, pardee opened the letter and read: "mulberry hill saturday, oct. , . "my dear miss ainslie: "captain pardee informed us yesterday of your nobly disinterested action in regard to the estate rightfully belonging to you. words cannot express my gratitude for the consideration you have shown to our feelings in thus shielding the memory of the dead. mr. pardee will transmit to you with this the papers, showing that we have complied with your request. pardon me if i do not write as warmly as i ought. one as old and proud as i cannot easily adapt herself to so new and strange a role. i hope that time will enable me to think more calmly and speak more freely of this matter. "hoping you will forgive my constraint, and believe that it arises from no lack of appreciation of your magnanimity, but only springs from my own weakness; and asking your pardon for all unkindness of thought, word, or act in the past, i remain, "yours gratefully, "hester richards le moyne." "my dear mrs. le moyne," said pardee, as he extended his hand and grasped that of the suffering woman, "i am sure miss ainslie would never require any such painful acknowledgment at your hands." "i know she would not," was the reply; "it is not she that requires it, but myself--my honor, mr. pardee. you must not suppose, nor must she believe, that the wife of a le moyne can forget the obligations of justice, though her father may have unfortunately done so." "but i am sure it will cause her pain," said pardee. "would it cause her less were i to refuse what she has so delicately given?" "no, indeed," said the attorney. "then i see no other way." "perhaps there is none," said pardee thoughtfully. "you think i have said enough?" she asked. "you could not say more," was the reply. after a moment's pause he continued, "are you willing that i should give miss ainslie any statement i may choose of this matter?" "i should prefer," she answered, "that nothing more be said; unless," she added, with a smile, "you conceive that your duty imperatively demands it." "and hesden?" he began. "pardon me, sir," she said, with dignity; "i will not conceal from you that my son's course has given me great pain; indeed, you are already aware of that fact. since yesterday, i have for the first time admitted to myself that in abandoning the cause of the southern people he has acted from a sense of duty. my own inclination, after sober second thought," she added, as a slight flush overspread her pale face, "would have been to refuse, as he has done, this bounty from the hands of a stranger; more particularly from one in the position which miss ainslie has occupied; but i feel also that her unexpected delicacy demands the fullest recognition at our hands. hesden will take such course as his own sense of honor may dictate." "am i at liberty to inform him of the nature of the testament which you have made?" "i prefer not." "well," said pardee, "if there is nothing more to be done i will bid you good-evening, hoping that time may yet bring a pleasant result out of these painful circumstances." after the lawyer had retired, mrs. le moyne summoned her son to her bedside and said, "i hope you will forgive me, hesden, for all--" "stop, mother," said he, playfully laying his hand over her mouth; "i can listen to no such language from you. when i was a boy you used to stop my confessions of wrong-doing with a kiss; how much more ought silence to be sufficient between us now." he knelt by her side and pressed his lips to hers. "oh, my son, my son!" said the weeping woman, as she pushed back the hair above his forehead and looked into his eyes; "only give your mother time--you know it is so hard--so hard. i am trying, hesden; and you must be very kind to me, very gentle. it will not be for long, but we must be alone--all alone--as we were before all these things came about. only," she added sobbingly, "only little hildreth is not here now." "believe me, mother," said he, and the tears fell upon the gentle face over which he bent, "i will do nothing to cause you pain. my opinions i cannot renounce, because i believe them right." "i know, i know, my son," she said; "but it is so hard--so hard--to think that we must lose the place which we have always held in the esteem of--all those about us." there was silence for a time, and then she continued, "hetty thinks it is best--that--that she--should--not remain here longer at this time. she is perhaps right, my son. you must not blame her for anything that has occurred; indeed--indeed she is not at fault. in fact," she added, "she has done much toward showing me my duty. of course it is hard for her, as it is for me, to be under obligations to--to--such a one as miss ainslie. it is very hard to believe that she could have done as she has without some--some unworthy motive." "mother!" said hesden earnestly, raising his head and gazing reproachfully at her. "don't--don't, my son! i am trying--believe me, i am trying; but it is so hard. why should she give up all this for our sakes?" "not for ours mother--not for ours alone; for her own as well." "oh, my son, what does she know of family pride?" "mother," said he gravely, "she is prouder than we ever were. oh, i _know_ it,"--seeing the look of incredulity upon her face;--"prouder than any richards or le moyne that ever lived; only it is a different kind of pride. she would _starve_, mother," he continued impetuously; "she would work her fingers to the bone rather than touch one penny of that estate." "oh, why--why, hesden, should she do that? just to shield my father's name?" "not alone for that," said hesden. "partly to show that she can give you pride for pride, mother." "do you think so, hesden?" "i am sure of it." "will you promise me one thing?" "whatever you shall ask." "do not write to her, nor in any way communicate with her, except at my request." "as you wish." chapter lvi. some old letters. i. "red wing, saturday, feb. , . "miss mollie ainslie: "i avail myself of your kind permission to address you a letter through captain pardee, to whom i will forward this to-morrow. i would have written to you before, because i knew you must be anxious to learn how things are at this place, where you labored so long; but i was very busy--and, to tell you the truth, i felt somewhat hurt that you should withhold from me for so long a time the knowledge even of where you were. it is true, i have known that you were somewhere in kansas; but i could see no reason why you should not wish it to be known exactly where; nor can i now. i was so foolish as to think, at first, that it was because you did not wish the people where you now live to know that you had ever been a teacher in a colored school. "when i returned here, however, and learned something of your kindness to our people--how you had saved the property of my dear lost brother nimbus, and provided for his wife and children, and the wife and children of poor berry, and so many others of those who once lived at red wing; and when i heard captain pardee read one of your letters to our people, saying that you had not forgotten us, i was ashamed that i had ever had such a thought. i know that you must have some good reason, and will never seek to know more than you may choose to tell me in regard to it. you may think it strange that i should have had this feeling at all; but you must remember that people afflicted as i am become very sensitive--morbid, perhaps--and are very apt to be influenced by mere imagination rather than by reason. "after completing my course at the college, for which i can never be sufficiently grateful to mr. hesden, i thought at first that i would write to you and see if i could not obtain work among some of my people in the west. before i concluded to do so, however, the president of the college showed me a letter asking him to recommend some one for a colored school in one of the northern states. he said he would be willing to recommend me for that position. of course i felt very grateful to him, and very proud of the confidence he showed in my poor ability. before i had accepted, however, i received a letter from mr. hesden, saying that he had rebuilt the school-house at red wing, that the same kind people who furnished it before had furnished it again, and that he wished the school to be re-opened, and desired me to come back and teach here. at first i thought i could not come; for the memory of that terrible night--the last night that i was here--came before me whenever i thought of it; and i was so weak as to think i could not ever come here again. then i thought of mr. hesden, and all that he had done for me, and felt that i would be making a very bad return for his kindness should i refuse any request he might make. so i came, and am very glad that i did. "it does not seem like the old red wing, miss mollie. there are not near so many people here, and the school is small in comparison with what it used to be. somehow the life and hope seem to have gone out of our people, and they do not look forward to the future with that confident expectation which they used to have. it reminds me very much of the dull, plodding hopelessness of the old slave time. it is true, they are no longer subject to the terrible cruelties which were for a while visited upon them; but they feel, as they did in the old time, that their rights are withheld from them, and they see no hope of regaining them. with their own poverty and ignorance and the prejudices of the white people to contend with, it does indeed seem a hopeless task for them to attempt to be anything more, or anything better, than they are now. i am even surprised that they do not go backward instead of forward under the difficulties they have to encounter. "i am learning to be more charitable than i used to be, miss mollie, or ever would have been had i not returned here. it seems to me now that the white people are not so much to be blamed for what has been done and suffered since the war, as pitied for that prejudice which has made them unconsciously almost as much _slaves_ as my people were before the war. i see, too, that these things cannot be remedied at once. it will be a long, sad time of waiting, which i fear our people will not endure as well as they did the tiresome waiting for freedom. i used to think that the law could give us our rights and make us free. i now see, more clearly than ever before, that we must not only make _ourselves_ free, but must overcome all that prejudice which slavery created against our race in the hearts of the white people. it is a long way to look ahead, and i don't wonder that so many despair of its ever being accomplished. i know it can only be done through the attainment of knowledge and the power which that gives. "i do not blame for giving way to despair those who are laboring for a mere pittance, and perhaps not receiving that; who have wives and children to support, and see their children growing up as poor and ignorant as themselves. if i were one of those, miss mollie, and whole and sound, i wouldn't stay in this country another day. i would go somewhere where my children would have a chance to learn what it is to be free, whatever hardship i might have to face in doing so, for their sake. but i know that they cannot go--at least not all of them, nor many of them; and i think the lord has dealt with me as he has in order that i might be willing to stay here and help them, and share with them the blessed knowledge which kind friends have given to me. "mr. hesden comes over to see the school very often, and is very much interested in it. i have been over to mulberry hill once, and saw the dear old 'mistress.' she has failed a great deal, miss mollie, and it does seem as if her life of pain was drawing to an end. she was very kind to me, asked all about my studies, how i was getting on, and inquired very kindly of you. she seemed very much surprised when i told her that i did not know where you were, only that you were in the west. it is no wonder that she looks worn and troubled, for mr. hesden has certainly had a hard time. i do not think it is as bad now as it has been, and some of the white people, even, say that he has been badly treated. but, miss mollie, you can't imagine the abuse he has had to suffer because he befriended me, and is what they call a 'radical.' "there is one thing that i cannot understand. i can see why the white people of the south should be so angry about colored people being allowed to vote. i can understand, too, why they should abuse mr. hesden, and the few like him, because they wish to see the colored people have their rights and become capable of exercising them. it is because they have always believed that we are an inferior race, and think that the attempt to elevate us is intended to drag them down. but i cannot see why the people of the _north_ should think so ill of such men as mr. hesden. it would be a disgrace for any man there to say that he was opposed to the colored man having the rights of a citizen, or having a fair show in any manner. but they seem to think that if a man living at the south advocates those rights, or says a word in our favor, he is a low-down, mean man. if we had a few men like mr, hesden in every county, i think it would soon be better; but if it takes as long to get each one as it has to get him, i am afraid a good many generations will live and die before that good time will come. "i meant to have said more about the school, miss mollie; but i have written so much that i will wait until the next time for that. hoping that you will have time to write to me, i remain "your very grateful pupil, "eliab hill." ii. "mulberry hill, wednesday, march , . "miss mollie ainslie: "through the kindness of our good friend, captain pardee, i send you this letter, together with an instrument, the date of which you will observe is the same as that of my former letter. you will see that i have regarded myself only as a trustee and a beneficiary, during life, of your self-denying generosity. the day after i received your gift, i gave the plantation back to you, reserving only the pleasing privilege of holding it as my own while i lived. the opportunity which i then hoped might some time come has now arrived. i can write to you now without constraint or bitterness. my pride has not gone; but i am proud of you, as a relative proud as myself, and far braver and more resolute than i have ever been. "my end is near, and i am anxious to see you once more. the dear old plantation is just putting on its spring garment of beauty. will you not come and look upon your gift in its glory, and gladden the heart of an old woman whose eyes long to look upon your face before they see the brightness of the upper world? "come, and let me say to the people of horsford that you are one of us--a richards worthier than the worthiest they have known! "yours, with sincerest love, "hester richards le moyne. "p. s.--i ought to say that, although hesden is one of the witnesses to my will, he knows nothing of its contents. he does not know that i have written to you, but i am sure he will be glad to see you. "h. r. le m." iii. mrs. le moyne received the following letter in reply: "march , . "my dear mrs. le moynb: "your letter gave me far greater pleasure than you can imagine. but you give me much more credit for doing what i did than i have any right to receive. while i know that i would do the same now, to give you pleasure and save you pain, as readily as i did it then from a worse motive, i must confess to you that i did it, almost solely i fear, to show you that a yankee girl, even though a teacher of a colored school, could be as proud as a southern lady. i did it to humiliate _you._ please forgive me; but it is true, and i cannot bear to receive your praise for what really deserves censure. i have been ashamed of myself very many times for this unworthy motive for an act which was in itself a good one, but which i am glad to have done, even so unworthily. "i thank you for your love, which i hope i may better deserve hereafter. i inclose the paper which you sent me, and hope you will destroy it at once. i could not take the property you have so kindly devised to me, and you can readily see what trouble i should have in bestowing it where it should descend as an inheritance. "do not think that i need it at all. i had a few thousands which i invested in the great west when i left the south, three years ago, in order to aid those poor colored people at red wing, whose sufferings appealed so strongly to my sympathies. by good fortune a railroad has come near me, a town has been built up near by and grown into a city, as in a moment, so that my venture has been blessed; and though i have given away some, the remainder has increased in value until i feel myself almost rich. my life has been very pleasant, and i hope not altogether useless to others. "i am sorry that i cannot do as you wish. i know that you will believe that i do not now act from any un-worthy motive, of from any lack of appreciation of your kindness, or doubt of your sincerity. thanking you again for your kind words and hearty though undeserved praises, i remain, "yours very truly, "mollie ainslie." "hesden," said mrs. le moyne to her son, as he sat by her bedside while she read this letter, "will you not write to miss ainslie?" "what!" said he, looking up from his book in surprise. "do you mean it?" "indeed i do, my son," she answered, with a glance of tenderness. "i tried to prepare you a surprise, and wrote for her to come and visit us; but she will not come at my request. i am afraid you are the only one who can overcome her stubbornness. "i fear that i should have no better success," he answered. nevertheless, he went to his desk, and, laying out some paper, he placed upon it, to hold it in place while he wrote, a great black hoof with a silver shoe, bearing on the band about its crown the word "midnight." after many attempts he wrote as follows: "miss mollie ainslie: "will you permit me to come and see you, upon the conditions imposed when i saw you last? "hesden le moyne." iv. while hesden waited for an answer to this letter, which had been forwarded through captain pardee, he received one from jordan jackson. it was somewhat badly spelled, but he made it out to be as follows: "eupolia, kansas, sunday, march , . "my dear le moyne: "i have been intending to write to you for a long time, but have been too busy. you never saw such a busy country as this. it just took me off my legs when i first came out here. i thought i knew what it meant to 'git up and git.' nobody ever counted me hard to start or slow to move, down in that country; but here--god bless you, le moyne, i found i wasn't half awake! work? lord! lord! how these folks do work and tear around! it don't seem so very hard either, because when they have anything to do they don't do nothing else, and when have nothing to do they make a business of that, too. "then, they use all sorts of machinery, and never do anything by hand-power that a horse can be made to do, in any possible way. the horses do all the ploughing, sowing, hoeing, harvesting, and, in fact, pretty much all the farm-work; while the man sits up on a sulky-seat and fans himself with a palm-leaf hat. so that, according to my reckoning, one man here counts for about as much as four in our country. "i have moved from where i first settled, which was in a county adjoining this. i found that my notion of just getting a plantation to settle down on, where i could make a living and be out of harm's way, wasn't the thing for this country, nohow. a man who comes here must pitch in and count for all he's worth. it's a regular ground-scuffle, open to all, and everybody choosing his own hold. morning, noon, and night the world is awake and alive; and if a man isn't awake too, it tramps on right over him and wipes him out, just as a stampeded buffalo herd goes over a hunter's camp. "everybody is good-natured and in dead earnest. every one that comes is welcome, and no questions asked. kin and kin-in-law don't count worth a cuss. nobody stops to ask where you come from, what's your politics, or whether you've got any religion. they don't care, if you only mean 'business.' they don't make no fuss over nobody. there ain't much of what we call 'hospitality' at the south, making a grand flourish and a big lay-out over anybody; but they just take it, as a matter of course, that you are all right and square and honest, and as good as anybody till you show up diferent. there ain't any big folks nor any little ones. of course, there are rich folks and poor ones, but the poor are just as respectable as the rich, feel just as big, and take up just as much of the road. there ain't any crawling nor cringing here. everybody stands up straight, and don't give nor take any sass from anybody else. the west takes right hold of every one that comes into it and makes him a part of itself, instead of keeping him outside in the cold to all eternity, as the south does the strangers who go there. "i don't know as you'd like it; but if any one who has been kept down and put on, as poor men are at the south, can muster pluck enough to get away and come here, he'll think he's been born over again, or i'm mistaken. nobody asks your politics. i don't reckon anybody knew mine for a year. the fact is, we're all too busy to fuss with our neighbors or cuss them about their opinions. i've heard more politics in a country store in horsford in a day than i've heard here in eupolia in a year--and we've got ten thousand people here, too. i moved here last year, and am doing well. i wouldn't go back and live in that d--d hornet's nest that i felt so bad about leaving--not for the whole state, with a slice of the next one throwed in. "i've meant to tell you, a half dozen times, about that little yankee gal that used to be at red wing; but i've been half afraid to, for fear you would get mad about it. my wife said that when she came away there was a heap of talk about you being sorter 'sweet' on the 'nigger-school-marm.' i knew that she was sick at your house when i was there, and so, putting the two together, i 'llowed that for once there might be some truth in a horsford rumor. i reckon it must have been a lie, though; or else she 'kicked' you, which she wouldn't stand a speck about doing, even if you were the president, if you didn't come up to her notion. it's a mighty high notion, too, let me tell you; and the man that gits up to it'll have to climb. bet your life on that! "but that's all no matter. i reckon you'll be glad to know how she's gettin' on out here, anyhow. she come here not a great while after i did; but, bless your stars, she wasn't as green as i, not by any manner of means. she didn't want to hide out in a quiet part of the country, where the world didn't turn around but once in two days. no, sir! she was keen--just as keen as a razor-blade. she run her eye over the map and got inside the railroad projects somehow, blessed if i know how; and then she just went off fifty miles out of the track others was taking, and bought up all the land she could pay for, and got trusted for all the credit that that brought her; and here she is now, with eupolia building right up on her land, and just a-busting up her quarter-sections into city lots, day after day, till you can't rest. "just think on't, moyne! it's only three years ago and she was teaching a nigger school, there in red wing; and now, god bless you, here she is, just a queen in a city that wasn't nowhere then. i tell you, she's a team! just as proud as lucifer, and as wide-awake as a hornet in july. she beats anything i ever did see. she's given away enough to make two or three, and i'll be hanged if it don't seem to me that every cent she gives just brings her in a dollar. the people here just worship her, as they have a good right to; but she ain't a bit stuck up. she's got a whole lot of them red wing niggers here, and has settled them down and put them to work, and made them get on past all expectation. she just tells right out about her having taught a nigger school down in horsford, and nobody seems to think a word on't. in fact, i b'lieve they rather like her better for it. "i heard about her soon after she came here, but, to tell the truth, i thought i was a little better than a 'nigger-teacher,' if i was in kansas. so i didn't mind anything about her till eupolia began to grow, and i came to think about going into trading again. then i came over, just to look around, you know. i went to see the little lady, feeling mighty 'shamed, you may bet, and more than half of the notion that she wouldn't care about owning that she'd ever seen me before. but, lord love you! i needn't have had any fear about that. nobody ever had a heartier welcome than she gave me, until she found that i had been living only fifty miles away for a year and hadn't let her know. then she come down on me--whew! i thought there was going to be a blizzard, sure enough. "'jordan jackson,' said she, 'you just go home and bring that wife and them children here, where they can see something and have a rest.' "i had to do it, and they just took to staying in eupolia here nigh about all the time. so i thought i might as well come too; and here i am, doing right well, and would be mighty glad to see an old friend if you could make up your mind to come this way. we are all well, and remember you as the kindest of all old friends in our time of need. "i never wrote as long a letter as this before, and never 'llow to do it again. "your true friend, "jordan jackson." v. in due time there came to hesden le moyne an envelope, containing only a quaintly-shaped card, which looked as if it had been cut from the bark of a brown-birch tree. on one side was printed, in delicate script characters, "miss mollie ainslie, eupolia, kansas." on the other was written one word: "come." a bride came to mulberry hill with the may roses, and when mrs. le moyne had kissed her who knelt beside her chair for a maternal benison, she placed a hand on either burning cheek, and, holding the face at arm's length, said, with that archness which never forsook her, "what am i to do about the old plantation? hesden refuses to be my heir, and you refuse to be my devisee; must i give it to the poor?" the summer bloomed and fruited; the autumn glowed and faded; and peace and happiness dwelt at red wing. but when the christmas came, wreaths of _immortelles_ lay upon a coffin in "mother's room," and hesden and mollie dropped their tears upon the sweet, pale face within. so hesden and mollie dwelt at red wing. the heirs of "red jim" had their own, and the children of "black jim" were not dispossessed. chapter lvii. a sweet and bitter fruitage. the charms of the soft, luxurious climate were peculiarly grateful to mollie after the harshness of the kansas winter and the sultry summer winds that swept over the heated plains. there was something, too, very pleasant in renewing her associations with that region in a relation so different from that under which she had formerly known it. as the teacher at red wing, her life had not been wholly unpleasant; but that which had made it pleasant had proceeded from herself and not from others. the associations which she then formed had been those of kindly charity--the affection which one has for the objects of sympathetic care. so far as the world in which she now lived was concerned--the white world and white people of horsford--she had known nothing of them, nor they of her, but as each had regarded the other as a curious study. their life had been shut out from her, and her life had been a matter that did not interest them. she had wondered that they did not think and feel as she did with regard to the colored people; and they, that any one having a white skin and the form of woman should come a thousand miles to become a servant of servants. the most charitable among them had deemed her a fool; the less charitable, a monster. in the few points of contact which she had with them personally, she had found them pleasant. in the few relations which they held toward the colored people, and toward her as their friend, she had found them brutal and hateful beyond her power to conceive. then, her life had been with those for whom she labored, so far as it was in or of the south at all. they had been the objects of her thought, her interest, and her care. their wrongs had entered into her life, and had been the motive of her removal to the west. out of these conditions, by a curious evolution, had grown a new life, which she vainly tried to graft upon the old without apparent disjointure. now, by kinship and by marriage, she belonged to one of the most respectable families of the region. it was true that hesden. had sullied his family name by becoming a radical; but as he had never sought official position, nor taken any active part in enforcing or promulgating the opinions which he held; had, in fact, identified himself with the party of odious principles only for the protection of the victims of persecution or the assertion of the rights of the weak--he was regarded with much more toleration and forbearance than would otherwise have been displayed toward him. in addition to this, extravagant rumors came into the good county of horsford respecting the wealth which mollie ainslie had acquired, and of the pluck and enterprise which she had displayed in the far west. it was thought very characteristic of the brave young teacher of red wing, only her courage was displayed there in a different manner. so they took a sort of pride in her, as if she had been one of themselves; and as they told to each other the story of her success, they said, "ah, i knew she would make her mark! any girl that had her pluck was too good to remain a nigger-teacher long. it was lucky for hesden, though. by george! he made his radicalism pay, didn't he? well, well; as long as he don't trouble anybody, i don't see why we should not be friends with him--if he _is_ a radical." so they determined that they would patronize and encourage hesden le moyne and his wife, in the hope that he might be won back to his original excellence, and that she might be charmed with the attractions of southern society and forget the bias of her yankee origin. the occupants of mulberry hill, therefore, received much attention, and before the death of hesden's mother had become prime favorites in the society of horsford. it is true that now and then they met with some exhibition of the spirit which had existed before, but in the main their social life was pleasant; and, for a considerable time, hesden felt that he had quite regained his original status as a "southern gentleman," while mollie wondered if it were possible that the people whom she now met upon such pleasant terms were those who had, by their acts of violence, painted upon her memory such horrible and vivid pictures. she began to feel as if she had done them wrong, and sought by every means in her power to identify herself with their pleasures and their interests. at the same time, she did not forget those for whom she had before labored, and who had shown for her such true and devoted friendship. the school at red wing was an especial object of her care and attention. rarely did a week pass that her carriage did not show itself in the little hamlet, and her bright face and cheerful tones brought encouragement and hope to all that dwelt there. having learned from hesden and eliab the facts with regard to the disappearance of nimbus, she for a long time shared lugena's faith in regard to her husband, and had not yet given up hope that he was alive. indeed, she had taken measures to discover his whereabouts; but all these had failed. still, she would not abandon the hope that he would some time reappear, knowing how difficult it was to trace one altogether unnoted by any except his own race, who were not accustomed to be careful or inquisitive with regard to the previous life of their fellows. acting as his trustee, not by any specific authority, but through mere good-will, hesden had managed the property, since the conclusion of the winburn suit, so as to yield a revenue, which lugena had carefully applied to secure a home in the west, in anticipation of her husband's return. this had necessarily brought him into close relations with the people of red wing, who had welcomed mollie with an interest half proprietary in its character. was she not _their_ miss mollie? had she not lived in the old "or'nary," taught in their school, advised, encouraged, and helped them? they flocked around her, each reminding her of his identity by recalling some scene or incident of her past life, or saying, with evident pride, "miss mollie, i was one of your scholars--i was." she did not repel their approaches, nor deny their claim to her attention. she recognized it as a duty that she should still minister to their wants, and do what she could for their elevation. and, strangely enough, the good people of horsford did not rebel nor cast her off for so doing. the rich wife of hesden le moyne, the queen of the growing kansas town, driving in her carriage to the colored school-house, and sitting as lady patroness upon the platform, was an entirely different personage, in their eyes, from the yankee girl who rode midnight up and down the narrow streets, and who wielded the pedagogic sceptre in the log school-house that nimbus had built. she could be allowed to patronize the colored school; indeed, they rather admired her for doing so, and a few of them now and then went with her, especially on occasions of public interest, and wondered at the progress that had been made by that race whose capacity they had always denied. every autumn hesden and mollie went to visit her kansas home, to look after her interests there, help and advise her colored proteges, breathe the free air, and gather into their lives something of the busy, bustling spirit of the great north. the contrast did them good. hesden's ideas were made broader and fuller; her heart was reinvigorated; and both returned to their southern home full of hope and aspiration for its future. so time wore on, and they almost forgot that they held their places in the life which was about them by sufferance and not of right; that they were allowed the privilege of associating with the "best people of horsford," not because they were of them, or entitled to such privilege, but solely upon condition that they should submit themselves willingly to its views, and do nothing or attempt nothing to subvert its prejudices. since the county had been "redeemed" it had been at peace. the vast colored majority, once overcome, had been easily held in subjection. there was no longer any violence, and little show of coercion, so far as their political rights were concerned. at first it was thought necessary to discourage the eagerness with which they sought to exercise the elective franchise, by frequent reference to the evils which had already resulted therefrom. now and then, when some ambitious colored man had endeavored to organize his people and to secure political advancement through their suffrages, he had been politely cautioned in regard to the danger, and the fate which had overwhelmed others was gently recalled to his memory. for a while, too, employers thought it necessary to exercise the power which their relations with dependent laborers gave them, to prevent the neglect of agricultural interests for the pursuit of political knowledge, and especially to prevent absence from the plantation upon the day of election. after a time, however, it was found that such care was unnecessary. the laws of the state, carefully revised by legislators wisely chosen for that purpose, had taken the power from the irresponsible hands of the masses, and placed it in the hands of the few, who had been wont to exercise it in the olden time. that vicious idea which had first grown up on the inclement shores of massachusetts bay, and had been nourished and protected and spread abroad throughout the north and west as the richest heritage which sterile new england could give to the states her sons had planted; that outgrowth of absurd and fanatical ideas which had made the north free, and whose absence had enabled the south to remain "slave"--the township system, with its free discussion of all matters, even of the most trivial interest to the inhabitants; that nursery of political virtue and individual independence of character, comporting, as it did, very badly with the social and political ideas of the south--this system was swept away, or, if retained in name, was deprived of all its characteristic elements. in the foolish fever of the reconstruction era this system had been spread over the south as the safeguard of the new ideas and new institutions then introduced. it was foolishly believed that it would produce upon the soil of the south the same beneficent results as had crowned its career at the north. so the counties were subdivided into small self-governing communities, every resident in which was entitled to a voice in the management of its domestic interests. trustees and school commissioners and justices of the peace and constables were elected in these townships by the vote of the inhabitants. the roads and bridges and other matters of municipal finance were put directly under the control of the inhabitants of these miniature boroughs. massachusetts was superimposed upon south carolina. that system which had contributed more than all else to the prosperity, freedom, and intelligence of the northern community was invoked by the political theorists of the reconstruction era as a means of like improvement there. it did not seem a dangerous experiment. one would naturally expect similar results from the same system in different sections, even though it had not been specifically calculated for both latitudes. especially did this view seem natural, when it was remembered that wherever the township system had existed in any fullness or perfection, there slavery had withered and died without the scath of war; that wherever in all our bright land the township system had obtained a foothold and reached mature development, there intelligence and prosperity grew side by side; and that wherever this system had not prevailed, slavery had grown rank and luxuriant, ignorance had settled upon the people, and poverty had brought its gaunt hand to crush the spirit of free men and establish the dominion of class. the astute politicians of the south saw at once the insane folly of this project. they knew that the system adapted to new england, the mainspring of western prosperity, the safeguard of intelligence and freedom at the north, could not be adapted to the social and political elements of the south. they knew that the south had grown up a peculiar people; that for its government, in the changed state of affairs, must be devised a new and untried system of political organization, assimilated in every possible respect to the institutions which had formerly existed. it is true, those institutions and that form of government had been designed especially to promote and protect the interests of slavery and the power of caste. but they believed that the mere fact of emancipation did not at all change the necessary and essential relations between the various classes of her population, so far as her future development and prosperity were concerned. therefore, immediately upon the "redemption" of these states from the enforced and sporadic political ideas of the reconstruction era, they set themselves earnestly at work to root out and destroy all the pernicious elements of the township system, and to restore that organization by which the south had formerly achieved power and control in the national councils, had suppressed free thought and free speech, had degraded labor, encouraged ignorance, and established aristocracy. the first step in this measure of counter-revolution and reform was to take from the inhabitants of the township the power of electing the officers, and to greatly curtail, where they did not destroy, the power of such officers. it had been observed by these sagacious statesmen that in not a few instances incapable men had been chosen to administer the laws, as justices of the peace and as trustees of the various townships. very often, no doubt, it happened that there was no one of sufficient capacity who would consent to act in such positions as the representatives of the majority. sometimes, perhaps, incompetent and corrupt men had sought these places for their own advantage. school commissioners may have been chosen who were themselves unable to read. there may have been township trustees who had never yet shown sufficient enterprise to become the owners of land, and legislators whose knowledge of law had been chiefly gained by frequent occupancy of the prisoner's dock. such evils were not to be endured by a proud people, accustomed not only to self-control, but to the control of others. they did not stop to inquire whether there was more than one remedy for these evils. the system itself was attainted with the odor of puritanism. it was communistic in its character, and struck at the very deepest roots of the social and political organization which had previously prevailed at the south. so it was changed. from and after that date it was solemnly enacted that either the governor of the state or the prevailing party in the legislature should appoint all the justices of the peace in and for the various counties; that these in turn should appoint in each of the subdivisions which had once been denominated townships, or which had been clothed with the power of townships, school commissioners and trustees, judges of election and registrars of voters; and that in the various counties these chosen few, or the state executive in their stead, should appoint the boards of commissioners, who were to control the county finances and have direction of all municipal affairs. of course, in this counter-revolution there was not any idea of propagating or confirming the power of the political party instituting it! it was done simply to protect the state against incompetent officials! the people were not wise enough to govern themselves, and could only become so by being wisely and beneficently governed by others, as in the ante-bellum era. from it, however, by a _curious accident_, resulted that complete control of the ballot and the ballot-box by a dominant minority so frequently observed in those states. observe that the legislature or the executive appointed the justices of the peace; they in turn met in solemn conclave, a body of electors, taken wholly or in a great majority from the same party, and chose the commissioners of the county. these, again, a still more select body of electors, chose with the utmost care the trustees of the townships, the judges of election, and the registrars of voters. so that the utmost care was taken to secure entire harmony throughout the state. it mattered not how great the majority of the opposition in this county or in that; its governing officers were invariably chosen from the body of the minority. by these means a _peculiar safeguard_ was also extended to the ballot. all the inspectors throughout the state being appointed by the same political power, were carefully chosen to secure the results of good government. either all or a majority of every board were of the same political complexion, and, if need be, the remaining members, placed there in order that there should be no just ground of complaint upon the part of the opposition, were unfitted by nature or education for the performance of their duty. if not blind, they were usually profound strangers to the cadmean mystery. thus the registration of voters and the elections were carefully devised to secure for all time the beneficent results of "redemption." it was found to be a very easy matter to allow the freedman to indulge, without let or hindrance, his wonderful eagerness for the exercise of ballotorial power, without injury to the public good. from and after that time elections became simply a harmless amusement. there was no longer any need of violence. the peaceful paths of legislation were found much more pleasant and agreeable, as well as less obnoxious to the moral feelings of that portion of mankind who were so unfortunate as to dwell without the boundaries of these states. in order, however, to secure entire immunity from trouble or complaint, it was in many instances provided that the ballots should be destroyed as soon as counted, and the inspectors were sworn to execute this law. in other instances, it was provided, with tender care for the rights of the citizen, that if by any chance there should be found within the ballot-box at the close of an election any excess of votes over and above the number the tally-sheet should show to have exercised that privilege at that precinct, instead of the whole result being corrupted, and the voice of the people thereby stifled, one member of the board of inspectors should be blindfolded, and in that condition should draw from the box so many ballots as were in excess of the number of voters, and that the result, whatever it might be, should be regarded and held as the voice of the people. by this means formal fraud was avoided, and the voice of the people declared free from all legal objection. it is true that when the ticket was printed upon very thin paper, in very small characters, and was very closely folded and the box duly shaken, the smaller ballots found their way to the bottom, while the larger ones remained upon the top; so that the blindfolded inspector very naturally removed these and allowed the tissue ballots to remain and be counted. it is true, also, that the actual will of the majority thus voting was thus not unfrequently overwhelmingly negatived. yet this was the course prescribed by the law, and the inspectors of elections were necessarily guiltless of fraud. so it had been in horsford. the colored majority had voted when they chose. the ballots had been carefully counted and the result scrupulously ascertained and declared. strangely enough, it was found that, whatever the number of votes cast, the majorities were quite different from those which the same voters had given in the days before the "redemption," while there did not seem to have been any great change in political sentiment. perhaps half a dozen colored voters in the county professed allegiance to the party which they had formerly opposed; but in the main the same line still separated the races. it was all, without question, the result of wise and patriotic legislatioa! chapter lviii. coming to the front. in an evil hour hesden le moyne yielded to the solicitations of those whom he had befriended, and whose rights he honestly believed had been unlawfully subverted, and became a candidate in his county. it had been so long since he had experienced the bitterness of persecution on account of his political proclivities, and the social relations of his family had been so pleasant, that he had almost forgotten what he had once passed through; or rather, he had come to believe that the time had gone by when such weapons would be employed against one of his social grade. the years of silence which had been imposed on him by a desire to avoid unnecessarily distressing his mother, had been years of thought, perhaps the richer and riper from the fact that he had refrained from active participation in political life. like all his class at the south, he was, if not a politician by instinct, at least familiar from early boyhood with the subtle discussion of political subjects which is ever heard at the table and the fireside of the southern gentleman. he had regarded the experiment of reconstruction, as he believed, with calm, unprejudiced sincerity; he had buried the past, and looked only to the future. it was not for his own sake or interest that he became a candidate; he was content always to be what he was--a quiet country gentleman. he loved his home and his plantation; he thoroughly enjoyed the pursuits of agriculture, and had no desire to be or do any great thing. his mother's long illness had given him a love for a quiet life, his books and his fireside; and it was only because he thought that he could do something to reconcile the jarring factions and bring harmony out of discord, and lead his people to see that the nation was greater and better than the south; that its interests and prosperity were also their interest, their prosperity, and their hope--that hesden le moyne consented to forego the pleasant life which he was leading and undertake a brief voyage upon the stormy sea of politics. he did not expect that all would agree with him, but he believed that they would listen to him without prejudice and without anger. and he so fully believed in the conclusions he had arrived at that he thought no reasonable man could resist their force or avoid reaching a like result. his platform, as he called it, when he came to announce himself as a candidate at the court house on the second day of the term of court, in accordance with immemorial custom in that county, was simply one of plain common-sense. he was not an office-holder or a politician. he did not come of an office-holding family, nor did he seek position or emolument. he offered himself for the suffrages of his fellow-citizens simply because no other man among them seemed willing to stand forth and advocate those principles which he believed to be right, expedient, and patriotic. he was a white man, he said, and had the prejudices and feelings that were common to the white people of the south. he had not believed in the right or the policy of secession, in which he differed from some of his neighbors; but when it came to the decision of that question by force of arms he had yielded his conviction and stood side by side upon the field of battle with the fiercest fire-eaters of the land. no man could accuse him of being remiss in any duty which he owed his state or section. but all that he insisted was past. there was no longer any distinct sectional interest or principle to be maintained. the sword had decided that, whether right or wrong as an abstraction, the doctrine of secession should never be practically asserted in the government. the result of the struggle had been to establish, beyond a peradventure, what had before been an unsettled question: that the nation had the power and the will to protect itself against any disintegrating movement. it might not have decided what was the meaning of the constitution, and so not determined upon which side of this question lay the better reasoning; but it had settled the practical fact. this decision he accepted; he believed that they all accepted it--with only this difference, perhaps, that he believed it rendered necessary a change in many of the previous convictions of the southern people. they had been accustomed to call themselves southern men; after that, americans. hereafter it became their duty and their interest to be no longer southern men, but americans only. "having these views," he continued, "it is my sincere conviction that we ought to accept, in spirit as well as in form, the results of this struggle; not in part, but fully." the first result had been the freeing in the slave. in the main he believed that had been accepted, if not cheerfully, at least finally. the next had been the enfranchisement of the colored man. this he insisted had not been honestly accepted by the mass of the white people of the south. every means, lawful and unlawful, had been resorted to to prevent the due operation of these laws. he did not speak of this in anger or to blame. knowing their prejudices and feelings, he could well excuse what had been done; but he insisted that it was not, and could not be, the part of an honest, brave and intelligent people to nullify or evade any portion of the law of the land. he did not mean that it was the duty of any man to submit without opposition to a law which he believed to be wrong; but that opposition should never be manifested by unlawful violence, unmanly evasion, or cowardly fraud. he realized that, at first, anger might over-bear both patriotism and honor, under the sting of what was regarded as unparalleled wrong, insult, and outrage; but there had been time enough for anger to cool, and for his people to look with calmness to the future that lay before, and let its hopes and duties overbalance the disappointments of the past. he freely admitted that had the question of reconstruction been submitted to him for determination, he would not have adopted the plan which had prevailed; but since it had been adopted and become an integral part of the law of the land, he believed that whoever sought to evade its fair and unhindered operation placed himself in the position of a law-breaker. they had the right, undoubtedly, by fair and open opposition to defeat any party, and to secure the amendment or repeal of any law or system of laws. but they had no right to resist law with violence, or to evade law by fraud. the right of the colored man to exercise freely and openly his elective franchise, without threat, intimidation, or fear, was the same as that of the whitest man he addressed; and the violation of that right, or the deprivation of that privilege, was, really an assault upon the right and liberty of the white voter also. no rights were safe unless the people had that regard for law which would secure to the weakest and the humblest citizen the free and untrammeled enjoyment and exercise of every privilege which the law conferred. he characterized the laws that had been enacted in regard to the conduct of elections and the selection of local officers as unmanly and shuffling--an assertion of the right to nullify national law by fraud, which the south had failed to maintain by the sword, and had by her surrender virtually acknowledged herself in honor bound to abandon. he did not believe, he would not believe, that his countrymen of the south, his white fellow-citizens of the good old county of horsford, had fairly and honestly considered the position in which recent events and legislation had placed them, not only before the eyes of the country, but of the civilized world. it had always been claimed, he said, that a white man is by nature, and not merely by the adventitious circumstances of the past, innately and inherently, and he would almost add infinitely, the superior of the colored man. in intellectual culture, experience, habits of self-government and command, this was unquestionably true. whether it were true as a natural and scientific fact was, perhaps, yet to be decided. but could it be possible that a people, a race priding itself upon its superiority, should be unwilling or afraid to see the experiment fairly tried? "have we," he asked, "so little confidence in our moral and intellectual superiority that we dare not give the colored man an equal right with us to exercise the privilege which the nation has conferred upon him? are the white people of the south so poor in intellectual resources that they must resort to fraud or open violence to defeat the ignorant and weak colored man of even the least of his law-given rights? "we claim," he continued, "that he is ignorant. it is true. are we afraid that he will grow wiser than we? we claim that he has not the capacity to acquire or receive a like intellectual development with ourselves. are we afraid to give him a chance to do so? could not intelligence cope with ignorance without fraud? boasting that we could outrun our adversary, would we hamstring him at the starting-post? it was accounted by all men, in all ages, an unmanly thing to steal, and a yet more unmanly thing to steal from the weak; so that it has passed into a proverb, 'only a dog would steal the blind man's dinner.' and yet," he said, "we are willing to steal the vote of the ignorant, the blind, the helpless colored man!" it was not for the sake of the colored man, he said in conclusion, that he appealed to them to pause and think. it was because the honor, the nobility, the intelligence of the white man was being degraded by the course which passion and resentment, and not reason or patriotism, had dictated. he appealed to his hearers as _white men_, not so much to give to the colored man the right to express his sentiments at the ballot-box, as to regard that right as sacred because it rested upon the law, which constituted the foundation and safeguard of their own rights. he would not appeal to them as southern men, for he hoped the day was at hand when there would no more be any such distinction. but he would appeal to them as men--honest men, honorable men--and as american citizens, to honor the law and thereby honor themselves. it had been said that the best and surest way to secure the repeal of a bad law was first to secure its unhindered operation. especially was this true of a people who had boasted of unparalleled devotion to principle, of unbounded honor, and of the highest chivalry. how one of them, or all of them, could claim any of these attributes of which they had so long boasted, and yet be privy to depriving even a single colored man of the right which the nation had given him, or to making the exercise of that right a mockery, he could not conceive; and he would not believe that they would do it when once the scales of prejudice and resentment had fallen from their eyes. if they had been wronged and outraged as a people, their only fit revenge was to display a manhood and a magnanimity which should attest the superiority upon which they prided themselves. this address was received by his white hearers with surprised silence; by the colored men with half-appreciative cheers. they recognized that the speaker was their friend, and in favor of their being allowed the free exercise of the rights of citizenship. his white auditors saw that he was assailing with some bitterness and earnest indignation both their conduct and what they had been accustomed to term their principles. there was no immediate display of hostility or anger; and hesden le moyne returned to his home full of hope that the time was at hand for which he had so long yearned, when the people of his native south should abandon the career of prejudice and violence into which they had been betrayed by resentment and passion. early the next morning some of his friends waited upon him and adjured him, for his own sake, for the sake of his family and friends, to withdraw from the canvass. this he refused to do. he said that what he advocated was the result of earnest conviction, and he should always despise himself should he abandon the course he had calmly decided to take. whatever the result, he would continue to the end. then they cautiously intimated to him that his course was fraught with personal danger. "what!" he cried, "do you expect me to flinch at the thought of danger? i offered my life and gave an arm for a cause in which i did not believe; shall i not brave as much in the endeavor to serve my country in a manner which my mind and conscience approve? i seek for difficulty with no one; but it may as well be understood that hesden le moyne does not turn in his tracks because of any man's anger. i say to you plainly that i shall neither offer personal insult nor submit to it in this canvass." his friends left him with heavy hearts, for they foreboded ill. it was not many days before he found that the storm of detraction and contumely through which he had once passed was but a gentle shower compared with the tornado which now came down upon his head. the newspapers overflowed with threat, denunciation, and abuse. one of them declared: "the man who thinks that he can lead an opposition against the organized democracy of horsford county is not only very presumptuous, but extremely bold. such a man will require a bodyguard of democrats in his canvass and a gibraltar in his rear on the day of the election." another said: "the radical candidate would do well to take advice. the white men of the state desire a peaceful summer and autumn. they are wearied of heated political strife. if they are forced to vigorous action it will be exceedingly vigorous, perhaps unpleasantly so. those who cause the trouble will suffer most from it. bear that in mind, persons colored and white-skinned. we reiterate our advice to the reflective and argumentative radical leader, to be careful how he goes, and not stir up the animals too freely; they have teeth and claws." still another said: "will our people suffer a covert danger to rankle in their midst until it gains strength to burst into an open enemy? will they tamely submit while hesden le moyne rallies the colored men to his standard and hands over horsford to the enemy? will they stand idly and supinely, and witness the consummation of such an infamous conspiracy? no! a thousand times, no! awake! stir up your clubs; let the shout go up; put on your red shirts and let the ride begin. let the young men take the van, or we shall be sold into political slavery." another sounded the key-note of hostility in these words: "every white man who dares to avow himself a radical should be promptly branded as the bitter and malignant enemy of the south; every man who presumes to aspire to office through republican votes should be saturated with stench. as for the negroes, let them amuse themselves, if they will, by voting the radical ticket. we have the count. we have a thousand good and true men in horsford whose brave ballots will be found equal to those of five thousand vile radicals." one of his opponents, in a most virulent speech, called attention to the example of a celebrated confederate general. "he, too," said the impassioned orator, "served the confederacy as bravely as hesden le moyne, and far more ably. but he became impregnated with the virus of radicalism; he abandoned and betrayed the cause for which he fought; he deserted the southern people in the hour of need and joined their enemies. he was begged and implored not to persevere in his course, but he drifted on and on, and floundered deeper and deeper into the mire, until he landed fast in the slough where he sticks to-day. and what has he gained? scorn, ostracism, odiurn, ill-will--worse than all, the contempt of the men who stood by him in the shower of death and destruction. let hesden le moyne take warning by his example." and so it went on, day after day. personal affront was studiously avoided, but in general terms he was held up to the scorn and contempt of all honest men as a renegade and a traitor. those who had seemed his friends fell away from him; the home which had been crowded with pleasant associates was desolate, or frequented only by those who came to remonstrate or to threaten. he saw his mistake, but he knew that anger was worse than useless. he did not seek to enrage, but to convince. failing in this, he simply performed the duty which he had undertaken, as he said he would do it--fearlessly, openly, and faithfully. the election came, and the result--was what he should have been wise enough to foresee. nevertheless, it was a great and grievous disappointment to hesden le moyne. not that he cared about a seat in the legislature; but it was a demonstration to him that in his estimate of the people of whom he had been so proud he had erred upon the side of charity. he had believed them better than they had shown themselves. the fair future which he had hoped was so near at hand seemed more remote than ever. his hope for his people and his state was crushed, and apprehension of unspeakable evil in the future forced itself upon his heart. chapter lix. the shuttlecock of fate. "marse hesden, marse hesden!" there was a timorous rap upon the window of hesden le moyne's sleeping-room in the middle of the night, and, waking, he heard his name called in a low, cautious voice. "who is there?" he asked. "sh--sh! don't talk so loud, marse hesden. please come out h'yer a minnit, won't yer?" the voice was evidently that of a colored man, and hesden had no apprehension or hesitancy in complying with the request. in fact, his position as a recognized friend of the colored race had made such appeals to his kindness and protection by no means unusual. he rose at once, and stepped out upon the porch. he was absent for a little while, and when he returned his voice was full of emotion as he said to his wife, "mollie, there is a man here who is hungry and weary. i do not wish the servants to know of his presence. can you get him something to eat without making any stir?" "why, what--" began mollie. "it will be best not to stop for any questions," said hesden hurriedly, as he lighted a lamp and, pouring some liquor into a glass, started to return. "get whatever you can at once, and bring it to the room above. i will go and make up a fire." mollie rose, and, throwing on a wrapper, proceeded to comply with her husband's request. but a few moments had elapsed when she went up the stairs bearing a well-laden tray. her slippered feet made no noise, and when she reached the chamber-door she saw her husband kneeling before the fire, which was just beginning to burn brightly. the light shone also upon a colored man of powerful frame who sat upon a chair a little way back, his hat upon the floor beside him, his gray head inclined upon his breast, and his whole attitude indicating exhaustion. "here it is, hesden," she said quietly, as she stepped into the room. the colored man raised his head wearily as she spoke, and turned toward her a gaunt face half hidden by a gray, scraggly beard. no sooner did his eyes rest upon her than they opened wide in amazement. he sprang from his chair, put his hand to his head, as if to assure himself that he was not dreaming, and said, "what!--yer ain't--'fore god it must be--miss mollie!" "oh, nimbus!" cried mollie, with a shriek. her face was pale as ashes, and she would have fallen had not hesden sprang to her side and supported her with his arm, while he said, "hush! hush! you must not speak so loud. i did not expect you so soon or i would have told you." the colored man fell upon his knees, and gazed in wonder on the scene. "oh, marse hesden!" he cried, "is it--can it be our miss mollie, or has nimbus gone clean crazy wid de rest ob his misfortins?" "no, indeed!" said hesden. "it is really miss mollie, only i have stolen her away from her old friends and made her mine." "there is no mistake about it, nimbus," said mollie, as she extended her hand, which the colored man clasped in both his own and covered with tears and kisses, while he said, between his sobs, "tank god! t'ank god! nimbus don't keer now! he ain't afeared ob nuffin' no mo', now he's seen de little angel dat use ter watch ober him, an' dat he's been a-dreamin' on all dese yeahs! bress god, she's alive! dar ain't no need ter ax fer 'gena ner de little ones now; i knows dey's all right! miss mollie's done tuk keer o' dem, else she wouldn't be h'yer now. bress de lord, i sees de deah little lamb once mo'." "there, there!" said mollie gently. "you must not talk any more now. i have brought you something to eat. you are tired and hungry. you must eat now. everything is all right. 'gena and the children are well, and have been looking for you every day since you went away." "bress god! bress god! i don't want nuffin' mo' !" said nimbus. he would have gone on, in a wild rhapsody of delight, but both hesden and mollie interposed and compelled him to desist and eat. ah! it was a royal meal that the poor fugitive had spread before him. mollie brought some milk. a coffee-pot was placed upon the fire, and while he ate they told him of some of the changes that had taken place. when at length hesden took him into the room where eliab had remained concealed so long, and closed the door and locked it upon him, they could still hear the low tones of thankful prayer coming from within. hesden knocked upon the door to enjoin silence, and they returned to their room, wondering at the providence which had justified the faith of the long-widowed colored wife. the next day hesden went to the court house to ascertain what charges there were against nimbus. he found there were none. the old prosecution for seducing the laborers of mr. sykes had long ago been discontinued. strangely enough, no others had been instituted against him. for some reason the law had not been appealed to to avenge the injuries of the marauders who had devastated red wing. on his return, hesden came by way of red wing and brought eliab home with him. the meeting between the two old friends was very affecting. since the disappearance of nimbus, eliab had grown more self-reliant. his two years and more of attendance at a northern school had widened and deepened his manhood as well as increased his knowledge, and the charge of the school at red wing had completed the work there begun. his self-consciousness had diminished, and it no longer required the spur of intense excitement to make him forget his affliction. his last injuries had made him even more helpless, when separated from his rolling-chair, but his life had been too full to enable him to dwell upon his weakness so constantly as formerly. in nimbus there was a change even more apparent. gray hairs, a bowed form, a furrowed face, and that sort of furtive wildness which characterizes the man long hunted by his enemies, had taken the place of his former unfearing, bull-fronted ruggedness. his spirit was broken. he no longer looked to the future with abounding hope, careless of its dangers. "yer's growed away from me, bre'er 'liab," he said at length, when they had held each other's hands and looked into each other's faces for a long time. "yer wouldn't know how ter take a holt o' nimbus ter hev him tote yer roun', now. yer's growed away from him--clean away," he added sadly. "you, too, have changed, brother nimbus," said eliab soothingly. "yes, i'se changed, ob co'se; but not as you hez, bre'er 'liab. dis h'yer ole shell hez changed. nimbus couldn't tote yer roun' like he used. i'se hed a hard time--a hard time, 'liab, an' i ain't nuffin' like de man, i used ter be; but i hain't changed inside like you hez. i'se jes de same ole nimbus dat i allus wuz--jes de same, only kinder broke down in sperrit, bre'er 'liab. i hain't growed ez you hev. i hain't no mo' man dan i was den--not so much, in fac'. i don't keer now no mo' 'bout what's a-gwine ter be. i'se an' ole man, 'liab--an' ole man, of i is young." that night he told his story to a breathless auditory. "yes, bre'er 'liab, dar's a heap o' t'ings happened sence dat ar mornin' i lef' you h'yer wid marse hesden. yer see, i went back fust whar i'd lef berry, an' we tuk an' druv de mule an' carry-all inter a big pine thicket, down by de ribber, an' dar we stays all day mighty close; only once, when i went out by de road an' sees miss mollie ridin' by. i calls out to her jest ez loudez i dared to; but, la sakes! she didn't h'year me." "was that you, nimbus?" asked mollie, turning from a bright-eyed successor to little hildreth, whom she had been proudly caressing. "i thought i heard some one call me, but did not think of its being you. i am so sorry! i stopped and looked, but could see nothing." "no, you didn't see me, miss mollie, but it done me a power o' good ter see _you_. i knowed yer was gwine ter red wing, an' yer'd take keer on an' advise dem ez wuz left dar. wal, dat night we went back an' got the 'backer out o' de barn. i tuk a look roun' de house, an' went ter de smoke-house, an' got a ham of meat an' some other t'ings. i 'llowed dat 'gena'd know i'd been dar, but didn't dare ter say nuffin' ter nobody, fer fear de sheriff's folks mout be a watchin' roun'. i 'llowed dey'd hev out a warrant for me, an' p'raps fer berry too, on account o' what we'd done de night afo'." "they never did," said hesden. "yer don't tell me!" exclaimed nimbus, in surprise. "no. there has never been any criminal process against you, except for enticing berry away from old granville sykes," said hesden. "wal," responded nimbus, "t'was all de same. i t'ought dey would. de udder wuz 'nough, dough. ef dey could once cotch me on dat, i reckon dey could hev hung me fer nuffin', fer dat matter." "it was a very wise thing in you to leave the country," said hesden. "there is no doubt of that." "t'ank ye, marse hesden, t'ank ye," said nimbus. "i'se glad ter know i hain't been a fool allus, ef i is now. but now i t'inks on't, marse hesden, i'd like ter know what come of dem men dat 'gena an' me put our marks on dat night." "one of them died a year or two afterward--was never well after that night--and the other is here, alive and well, with a queer seam down the middle of his face," said hesden. "died, yer say?" said nimbus. "wal, i'se right sorry, but he lived a heap longer nor bre'er 'liab would, ef i hadn't come in jest about dat time." "yes, indeed," said eliab, as he extended his hand to his old friend. "wal," continued nimbus, "we went on ter wellsboro, an' dar we sold de 'backer. den we kinder divided up. i tuk most o' de money an' went on south, an' berry tuk de mule an' carry-all an' started fer his home in hanson county. i tuk de cars an' went on, a-stoppin' at one place an' anodder, an' a wukkin' a little h'yer an' dar, but jest a-'spectin' ebbery minnit ter be gobbled up by a officer an' brought back h'yer. i'd heard dat texas wuz a good place fer dem ter go ter dat didn't want nobody ter find 'em; so i sot out ter go dar. when i got ez fur ez fairfax, in louisiana, i was tuk down wid de fever, an' fer nigh 'bout six month i wa'ant ob no account whatebber. an' who yer tink tuk keer ob me den, marse hesden?" "i am sure i don't know," was the reply. "no, yer wouldn't nebber guess," said nimbus; "but twa'n't nobody else but my old mammy, lorency." "you don't say! well, that was strange," said hesden. "it was quare, marse hesden. she was gittin' on to be a old woman den. she's dead sence. yer see, she knowed me by my name, an' she tuk keer on me, else i'd nebber been here ter tell on't. atter i got better like, she sorter persuaded me ter stay dar. i wuz powerful homesick, an' wanted ter h'year from 'gena an' de chillen, an' ef i'd hed money 'nough left, i'd a come straight back h'yer; but what with travellin' an' doctors' bills, an' de like, i hadn't nary cent. den i couldn't leave my ole mammy, nuther. she'd hed a hard time sence de wah, a-wukkin' fer herself all alone, an' i wuz boun' ter help her all i could. i got a man to write ter miss mollie; but de letter come back sayin' she wa'n't h'yer no mo'. den i got him to write ter whar she'd been afo' she come south; but that come back too." "why did you not write to me?" said hesden. "wal," said nimbus, with some confusion, "i wuz afeared ter do it, marse hesden. i wuz afeared yer mout hev turned agin me. i dunno why 'twuz, but i wuz mighty skeered ob enny white folks, 'ceptin' miss mollie h'yer. so i made it up wid mammy, dat we should wuk on till we'd got 'nough ter come back; an' den we'd come, an' i'd stop at some place whar i wa'n't knowed, an' let her come h'yer an' see how t'ings wuz. "i'd jest about got ter dat pint, when i hed anodder pull-back. yer see, dar wuz two men, both claimed ter be sheriff o' dat parish. dat was--let me see, dat was jes de tenth yeah atter de s'render, fo' years alter i left h'yer. one on 'em, ez near ez i could make out, was app'inted by de guv'ner, an' t'odder by a man dat claimed ter be guv'ner. de fust one called on de cullu'd men ter help him hold de court house an' keep t'ings a-gwine on right; an' de t'odder, he raised a little army an' come agin' us. i'd been a sojer, yer know, an' i t'ought i wuz bound ter stan' up fer de guv'ment. so i went in ter fight wid de rest. we t'rew up some bres'wuks, an' when dey druv us outen dem we fell back inter de court house. den dar come a boat load o' white folks down from sweevepo't, an' we hed a hard time a-fightin' on 'em. lots ob us got killed, an' some o' dem. we hadn't many guns ner much ammunition. it war powerful hot, an' water wuz skeerce. "so, atter a while, we sent a flag o' truce, an' 'greed ter s'render ebberyting, on condition dat dey wouldn't hurt us no mo'. jest ez quick ez we gib up dey tuk us all pris'ners. dar was twenty-sebben in de squad i wuz wid. 'long a while atter dark, dey tuk us out an' marched us off, wid a guard on each side. we hadn't gone more'n two or t'ree hundred yards afo' de guard begun ter shoot at us. dey hit me in t'ree places, an' i fell down an' rolled inter a ditch by de roadside, kinder under de weeds like. atter a while i sorter come ter myself an' crawled off fru de weeds ter de bushes. nex' day i got a chance ter send word ter mammy, an' she come an' nussed me till we managed ter slip away from dar." "poor nimbus!" said mollie, weeping. "you have had a hard time indeed!" "not so bad as de odders," was the reply. "dar wuz only two on us dat got away at all. the rest wuz all killed." "yes," said hesden, "i remember that affair. it was a horrible thing. when will our southern people learn wisdom!" "i dunno dat, marse hesden," said nimbus, "but i do know dat de cullu'd folks is larnin' enough ter git outen dat. you jes mark my words, ef dese t'ings keep a-gwine on, niggers'll be skeerce in dis kentry purty soon. we can't be worse off, go whar we will, an' i jes count a cullu'd man a fool dat don't pole out an' git away jest ez soon ez he finds a road cut out dat he kin trabbel on." "but that was three years ago, nimbus," said hesden. "where have you been since?" "wal, yer see, atter dat," said nimbus, "we wuz afeared ter stay dar any mo'. so we went ober inter miss'ippi, mammy an' me, an' went ter wuk agin. i wasn't berry strong, but we wukked hard an' libbed hard ter git money ter come back wid. mammy wuz powerful anxious ter git back h'yer afo' she died. we got along tollable-like, till de cotting wuz about all picked, an' hadn't drawed no wages at all, to speak on. den, one day, de boss man on de plantation, he picked a quarrel wid mammy 'bout de wuk, an' presently hit her ober her ole gray head wid his cane. i couldn't stan' dat, nohow, so i struck him, an' we hed a fight. i warn't nuffin' ter what i war once, but dar war a power o' strength in me yet, ez he found out. "dey tuk me up an' carried me ter jail, an' when de court come on, my ole mammy wuz dead; so i couldn't prove she war my mammy, an' i don't 'llow 'twould hev made enny difference ef i had. the jury said i war guilty, an' de judge fined me a hundred dollars an' de costs, an' sed i wuz ter be hired out at auction ter pay de fine, an' costs, an' sech like. so i wuz auctioned off, an' brought twenty-five cents a day. 'cordin' ter de law, i hed ter wuk two days ter make up my keep fer ebbery one i lost. i war sick an' low-sperrited, an' hadn't no heart ter wuk, so i lost a heap o' days. den i run away once or twice, but dey cotch me, an' brought me back. so i kep' losin' time, an' didn't git clean away till 'bout four months ago. sence den i'se been wukkin' my way back, jes dat skeery dat i dassent hardly walk de roads fer fear i'd be tuk up agin. but i felt jes like my ole mammy dat wanted ter come back h'yer ter die." "but you are not going to die," said mollie, smiling through her tears. "your plantation is all right. we will send for 'gena and the children, and you and eliab can live again at red wing and be happy." "i don't want ter lib dar, miss mollie," said nimbus. "i ain't a-gwine ter die, ez you say; but i don't want ter lib h'yer, ner don't want my chillen ter. i want 'em ter lib whar dey kin be free, an' hev 'bout half a white man's chance, ennyhow." "but what about red wing?" asked hesden. "i'd like ter see it once mo'," said the broken-hearted man, while the tears ran down his face. "i 'llowed once that i'd hab a heap o' comfort dar in my ole days. but dat's all passed an' gone, now--passed an' gone! i'll tell yer what, marse hesden, i allus 'llowed fer bre'er 'liab ter hev half o' dat plantation. now yer jes makes out de papers an' let him hev de whole on't, an' i goes ter kansas wid 'gena." "no, no, nimbus," said eliab; "i could not consent--" "yes yer kin, 'liab," said nimbus quickly, with some of his old-time arrogance. "yer kin an' yer will. you kin use dat er trac' o' lan' an' make it wuth sunthin' ter our people, an' i can't. so, yer sees, i'll jes be a-doin' my sheer, an' i'll allus t'ink, when i hears how yer's gittin' along an' a-doin' good, dat i'se a pardner wid ye in de wuk o' gibbin' light ter our people, so dat dey'll know how ter be free an' keep free forebber an' ebber. amen!" the listeners echoed his "amen," and eliab, flinging himself into the arms of nimbus, by whom he had been sitting, and whose hand he had held during the entire narrative, buried his face upon his breast and wept. chapter lx. the exodian. hesden and mollie were on their way homeward from eupolia, where they had inspected their property and had seen nimbus united with his family and settled for a new and more hopeful start in life. they had reached that wonderful young city of seventy-seven hills which faces toward free kansas and reluctantly bears the ban which slavery put upon missouri. while they waited for their train in the crowded depot in which the great ever-welcoming far west meets and first shakes hands with ever-swarming east, they strolled about among the shifting crowd. soon they came upon a dusky group whose bags and bundles, variegated attire, and unmistakable speech showed that they were a party of those misguided creatures who were abandoning the delights of the south for the untried horrors of a life upon the plains of kansas. these were of all ages, from the infant in arms to the decrepit patriarch, and of every shade of color, from saxon fairness with blue eyes and brown hair to ebon blackness. they were telling their stories to a circle of curious listeners. there was no lack of variety of incident, but a wonderful similarity of motive assigned for the exodus they had undertaken. there were ninety-four of them, and they came from five different states--alabama, georgia, mississippi, louisiana, and texas. they had started without preconcert, and were unacquainted with each other until they had collected into one body as the lines of travel converged on the route to kansas. a few of the younger ones said that they had come because they had heard that kansas was a country where there was plenty of work and good wages, and where a colored man could get pay for what he did. others told strange tales of injustice and privation. some, in explanation of their evident poverty, showed the contracts under which they had labored. some told of personal outrage, of rights withheld, and of law curiously diverted from the ends of justice to the promotion of wrong. by far the greater number of them, however, declared their purpose to be to find a place where their children could grow up free, receive education, and have "a white man's chance" in the struggle of life. they did not expect ease or affluence themselves, but for their offspring they craved liberty, knowledge, and a fair start. while hesden and mollie stood watching this group, with the interest one always feels in that which reminds him of home, seeing in these people the forerunners of a movement which promised to assume astounding proportions in the near future, they were startled by an exclamation from one of the party: "wall, i declar'! ef dar ain't miss mollie--an' 'fore god, marse hesden, too!" stumbling over the scattered bundles in his way, and pushing aside those who stood around, berry lawson scrambled into the presence of the travelers, bowing and scraping, and chuckling with delight; a battered wool hat in one hand, a shocking assortment of dilapidated clothing upon his person, but his face glowing with honest good-nature, and his tones resonant of fun, as if care and he had always been strangers. "how d'ye, miss mollie--sah'vent, marse hesden. i 'llow i must be gittin' putty nigh ter de promised lan' when i sees you once mo'. yah, yah! yer hain't done forgot berry, i s'pose? kase ef yer hez, i'll jes hev ter whistle a chune ter call myself ter mind. jes, fer instance now, like dis h'yer." then raising his hands and swaying his body in easy accompaniment, he began to imitate the mocking-bird in his mimicry of his feathered companions. he was very proud of this accomplishment, and his performance soon drew attention from all parts of the crowded depot. noticing this, hesden said, "there, there, berry; that will do. there is no doubt as to your identity. we both believe that nobody but berry lawson could do that, and are very glad to see you." mollie smiled assent. "t'ank ye, sah. much obleeged fer de compliment. hope i see yer well, an' miss mollie de same. yer do me proud, both on yer," said berry, bowing and scraping again, making a ball of his old hat, sidling restlessly back and forth, and displaying all the limpsy litheness of his figure, in his embarrassed attempts to show his enjoyment. "'pears like yer's trabblin' in company," he added, with a glance at mollie's hand resting on hesden's arm. "yes," said hesden good-naturedly; "miss mollie is mrs. le moyne now." "yer don't say!" said berry, in surprise. "der lo'd an' der nation, what will happen next? miss mollie an' marse hesden done married an' a-meetin' up wid berry out h'yer on de berry edge o' de kingdom! jest ez soon hab expected to a' seen de vanguard o' de resurrection. yer orter be mighty proud, marse hesden. we used ter t'ink, 'bout red wing, dat dar wa'n't nary man dat ebber cast a shadder good 'nough fer miss mollie." "and so there isn't," said hesden, laughing, "but we can't stand here and talk all day. where are you from?" "whar's i frum? ebbery place on de green yairth, marse hesden, 'ceptin' dis one, whar dey hez ter shoe de goats fer ter help 'em climb de bluffs; an' please de lo'd i'll be from h'yer jest es soon ez de train come's 'long dat's 'boun' fer de happy land of canaan.'" "we shall have to stop over, dear," said hesden to his wife. "there's no doing anything with berry in the time we have between the trains. have you any baggage?" he asked of berry, "baggage? dat i hab--a whole handkercher full o' clean clo'es--jest ez soon ez dey's been washed, yer know. yah, yah!" "where are you going?" "whar's i gwine? gwine west, ter grow up wid de kentry, marse hesden." "there, there, take your bundle and come along." "all right, marse hesden. jest ez soon wuk fer you ez ennybody. good-by, folkses," said he, waving his hat to his late traveling companions. "i'se mighty sorry to leave yer, but biz is biz, yer know, an' i'se got a job. wish yer good luck, all on yer. jes let 'em know i'm on der way, will yer? ef yo' gits dar afo' i do, jes tell 'em i'se a-comin' too," he sang, as he followed hesden and mollie out of the depot, amid the laughter of the crowd which had gathered about them. their baggage was soon removed from the platform, and, with berry on the seat with the driver, they went to the hotel. then, taking him down the busy street that winds around between the sharp hills as though it had crawled up, inch by inch, from the river-bottom below, hesden procured him some new clothes and a valise, which berry persisted in calling a "have'em-bag," and took him back to the hotel as his servant. as hesden started to his room, the rejuvenated fugitive inquired, "please, marse hesden, does yer know ennyt'ing what's a come ob--ob my sally an' de chillen. it's been a powerful time sence i seed 'em, marse hesden. i 'llow ter send fer 'em jest ez quick ez i find whar dey is, an' gits de money, yer know." "they are all right, berry. you may come to my room in half an hour, and we will tell you all about them," answered hesden. hardly had he reached his room when he heard the footsteps of berry without. going to the door he was met by berry with the explanation, "beg parding, marse hesden. i knowed 'twa'n't de time fer me ter come yit, but somehow i'llowed it would git on pearter ef i wuz somewhar nigh you an' miss mollie. i'se half afeared i'se ies been dreamin' ennyhow." "well, come in," said hesden. berry entered the room, and sat in unwonted silence while mollie and her husband told him what the reader already knows about his family and friends. the poor fellow's tears flowed freely, but he did not interrupt, save to ask now and then a question. when they had concluded, he sat a while in silence, and then said, "bress de lo'd! berry won't nebber hab no mo' doubt 'bout de lo'd takin' keer ob ebberybody--speshully niggas an' fools. h'yer i'se been a-feelin' mighty hard kase de ole marster 'llowed berry ter be boxed roun', h'yer an' dar, fus' dis way an' now dat, an' let him be run off from his wife an' chillen dat he t'ought der couldn't nobody take keer on but hissef; an' h'yer all de time de good lo'd hez been a-lookin' atter 'em an' a-nussin' 'em like little lambs, widout my knowin' ennyt'ing about it, er even axin' fer him ter do it. berry!" he continued, speaking to himself, "yer's jest a gran' rascal, an' desarve ter be whacked roun' an' go hungry fer--" "berry," interrupted mollie, "have you had your breakfast?" "brekfas', miss mollie?" said berry, "what berry want ob any brekfas'? ain't what yer's been a-tellin' on him brekfas' an' dinner an' supper ter him? brekfas' don't matter ter him now. he's jes dat full o' good t'ings dat he won't need no mo' for a week at de berry least." "tell the truth, berry; when did you eat last?" "wal, i 'clar, miss mollie, ef berry don't make no mistake, he bed a squar meal night afo' las', afo' we leave saint lewy. de yemergrant train runs mighty slow, an' berry wa'n't patronizin' none o' dem cheap shops 'long de way--not much; yah, yah!" hesden soon arranged to relieve his discomfort, and that night he told them where he had been and what had befallen him in the mean time. berry's story. "yer see, atter i lef bre'er nimbus, i went back down inter hanson county; but i wuz jes dat bad skeered dat i darn't show myse'f in de daytime at all. so i jes' tuk sally an' de chillen in de carry-all dat nimbus lent me wid de mule, an' started on furder down east. 'clar, i jes hev ter pay nimbus fer dat mule an' carry-all, de berry fus' money i gits out h'yer in kansas. it certain war a gret help ter berry. jest as long ez i hed dat tertrabbel wid, i knowed i war safe; kase nobody wouldn't nebber'spect i was runnin' away in dat sort ob style. wal, i went way down east, an' denex' spring went ter crappin' on sheers on a cotting plantation. sally 'n' me we jes made up ourminds dat we wouldn't draw no rations from de boss man. ner ax him fer ary cent ob money de whole yeah, an' den, yer know, dar wouldn't be nary 'count agin us when de year wuz ober. so sally, she 'llowed dat she'd wuk fer de bread an' meat an' take keer ob de chillen, wid de few days' help i might spar' outen de crap. de boss man, he war boun' by de writin's ter feed de mule. dat's de way we sot in. "we got 'long mighty peart like till some time atter de crap wuz laid by, 'long bout roastin'-ear-time. den sally tuk sick, an' de fus' dat i knowed we wuz out o' meat. sally wuz powerful sot agin my goih' ter de boss man fer enny orders on destore, kase we knowed how dat wukked afo'. den i sez, 'see h'yer, sally, i'se done got it. dar's dat piece ob corn dar, below de house, is jest a-gittin' good fer roastin-yeahs, now, we'll jes pick offen de outside rows, an' i'll be dod-dinged ef we can't git 'long wid dat till de crap comes off; an' i'll jes tell maise hooper--dat wuz de name o' de man what owned de plantation--dat i'll take dem rows inter my sheer.' so it went on fer a week er two, an' i t'ought i wuz jes gittin' on like a quarter hoss. sally wuz nigh 'bout well, an' 'llowed she'd be ready ter go ter wuk de nex' week; when one mo'nin' i tuk the basket an' went down ter pick some corn. jest ez i'd got de basket nigh 'bout full, who should start up dar, outen de bushes, on'y jes marse hooper; an' he sez, mighty brisk-like, 'so? i 'llowed i'd cotch yer 'fore i got fru! stealin' corn, is yer?' "den i jes larfed right out, an' sez i, 'dat's de fus' time i ebber heerd ob ennybody a-stealin' corn out ob his own field! yah! yah!' jes so-like. 'ain't dis yer my crap, marse hooper? didn't i make it, jest a-payin' ter you one third on't for de rent?' t'ought i hed him, yer know. but, law sakes, he didn't hev no sech notion, not much. so he sez, sez he: "'no yer don't! dat mout a' done once, when de radikils wuz in power, but de legislatur las' winter dey made a diff'rent sort ob a law, slightually. dey sed dat ef a renter tuk away enny o' de crap afo' it wuz all harvested an' diwided, widout de leave o' de owner, got afo' hand, he was guilty o' stealin' '--larsininy, he called it, but its all de same. an' he sed, sez he, 'dar ain't no use now, berry lawson. yer's jes got yer choice. yer kin jes git up an' git, er else i hez yer 'dicted an' sent ter state prison fer not less ner one year nor more'n twenty--dat's 'cordin' ter de law.' "den i begun ter be skeered-like, an' i sez, sez i, 'arn't yer gwine ter let me stay an' gether my crap?' "'damn de crap,' sez he (axin' yer parding, miss mollie, fer usin' cuss-words), 'i'll take keer o' de crap; don't yer be afeared o' dat. yer t'ought yer was damn smart, didn't yer, not takin' enny store orders, an' a-tryin' to fo'ce me ter pay yer cash in de lump? but now i'se got yer. dis lan'lo'd an' tenant act war made fer jes sech cussed smart niggers ez you is.' "'marse hooper,' sez i, 'is dat de law?' "'sartin,' sez he, 'jes you come long wid me ober ter squar tice's, an' ef he don't say so i'll quit--dat's all.' "so we went ober ter squar tice's, an' he sed marse hooper war right--dat it war stealin' all de same, even ef it war my own crap. den i seed dat marse hooper hed me close, an' i begun ter beg off, kase i knowed it war a heap easier ter feed him soft corn dan ter fight him in de law, when i wuz boun' ter git whipped. de squar war a good sort ob man, an' he kinder 'suaded marse hooper ter 'comp' de matter wid me; an' dat's what we did finally. he gin me twenty dollahs an' i signed away all my right ter de crap. den he turned in an' wanted ter hire me fer de nex yeah; but de squar, he tuk me out an' sed i'd better git away from dar, kase ennybody could bring de matter up agin me an' git me put in de penitentiary fer it, atter all dat hed been sed an' done. so we geared up, an' moved on. sally felt mighty bad, an' it did seem hard; but i tried ter chirk her up, yer know, an' tole her dat, rough ez it war, it war better nor we'd ebber done afo', kase we hed twenty dollahs an' didn't owe nuffin'. "i 'llowed we'd git clean away dat time, an' we didn't stop till we'd got inter anodder state." "wal, dar i sot in ter wuk a cotting crap agin. dis time i 'llowed i'd jes take de odder way; an' so i tuk up all de orders on de sto' dat de boss man would let me hev, kase i 'llowed ter git what i could ez i went 'long, yer know. so, atter de cotting wuz all picked, an' de 'counts all settled up, dar warn't only jest one little bag ob lint a comin' ter berry. i tuk dat inter de town one saturday in de ebenin', an' went roun' h'yer an' dar, a-tryin' ter git de biggest price 'mong de buyers dat i could. "it happened dat i done forgot al 'bout it's comin' on late, an' jest a little atter sun-down, i struck on a man dat offered me 'bout a cent a poun' more'n ennybody else hed done, an' i traded wid him. den i druv de mule roun', an' hed jes got de cotting out ob de carry-all an' inter de sto', when, fust i knowed, 'long come a p'liceman an' tuk me up for selling cotting atter sun-down. i tole him dat it was my own cotting, what i'd done raised myself, but he sed ez how it didn't make no sort of diff'rence at all. he 'clared dat de law sed ez how ennybody ez sold er offered fer sale any cotting atter sundown an' afore sun-up, should be sent ter jail jes de same ez ef he'd done stole it. den i axed de man dat bought de cotting ter gib it back ter me, but he wouldn't do dat, nohow, nor de money for it nuther. so dey jes' toted me off ter jail. "i knowed der warn't no use in savin' nuffin' den. so when sally come in i tole her ter jes take dat ar mule an' carry-all an' sell 'em off jest ez quick ez she could, so dat nobody wouldn't git hold ob dem. but when she tried ter do it, de boss man stopped her from it, kase he hed a mortgage on 'em fer de contract; an' he sed ez how i hedn't kep' my bargain kase i'd gone an' got put in jail afo' de yeah was out. so she couldn't git no money ter pay a lawyer, an' i don't s'pose 'twould hev done enny good ef she hed. i tole her not ter mind no mo' 'bout me, but jes ter come back ter red wing an' see ef miss mollie couldn't help her out enny, yer see i was jes shore dey'd put me in de chain-gang, an' i didn't want her ner de chillen ter be whar dey'd see me a totin' 'roun' a ball an' chain. "shore 'nough, when de court come on, dey tried me an' fotch me in guilty o' sellin' cotting alter sundown. de jedge, he lectured me powerful fer a while, an' den he ax me what i'd got ter say 'bout it. dat's de way i understood him ter say, ennyhow. so, ez he wuz dat kind ez ter ax me ter speak in meetin', i 'llowed twa'n't no mo' dan polite fer me ter say a few words, yer know. i told him squar out dat i t'ought 'twas a mighty quare law an' a mighty mean one, too, dat put a man in de chain-gang jes kase he sold his own cotting atter sundown, when dey let ennybody buy it an' not pay fer it at all. i tole him dat dey let 'em sell whisky an' terbacker an' calico and sto' clo'es an' ebbery t'ing dat a nigger hed ter buy, jest all times o' day an' night; an' i jest bleeved dat de whole t'ing war jest a white man's trick ter git niggas in de chain-gang. den de jedge he tried ter set down on me an' tole me ter stop, but i wuz dat mad dat when i got a-gwine dar warn't no stoppin' me till de sheriff he jes grabbed me by de scruff o' de neck, an' sot me down jest ennyway--all in a heap, yer know. den de jedge passed sentence, yer know, an' he sed dat he gib me one year fer de stealin' an' one year fer sassin' de court. "so dey tuk me back ter jail, but, lor' bress ye, dey didn't git me inter de chain-gang, nohow. 'fore de mo'nin' come i'd jes bid good-by ter dat jail an' was a pintin' outen dat kentry, in my weak way, ez de ministers say, jest ez fast ez i could git ober de groun'. "den i jes clean gib up. i couldn't take my back trac nowhar, fer fear i'd be tuk up. i t'ought it all ober while i wuz a trabblin' 'long; an' i swar ter god, marse hesden, i jes did peg out ob all hope. i couldn't go back ter sallie an' de chillen, ner couldn't do 'em enny good ef i did; ner i couldn't send fer dem ter come ter me, kase i hedn't nuffin' ter fotch 'em wid. so i jes kinder gin out, an' went a-sloshin' roun', not a-keerin' what i done er what was ter come on me. i kep' a'sendin' letters ter sally h'yer an' dar, but, bress yer soul, i nebber heard nuffin' on 'em atterwards. den i t'ought i'd try an' git money ter go an' hunt 'em up, but it was jes' ez it was afo'. i dunno how, but de harder i wuk de porer i got, till finally i jes started off afoot an' alone ter go ter kansas; an' h'yer i is, ready ter grow up wid de kentry, marse hesden, jest ez soon ez i gits ter sally an' de chillen." "i'm glad you have not had any political trouble," said hesden. "p'litical trouble?" said berry. "wal, marse hesden, yer knows dat berry is jes too good-natered ter do ennyt'ing but wuk an' larf, an' do a little whistlin' an banjo-pickin' by way ob a change; but i be dinged ef it don't 'pear ter me dat it's all p'litical trouble. who's berry ebber hurt? what's he ebber done, i'd like ter know, ter be debbled roun' dis yer way? i use ter vote, ob co'se. t'ought i hed a right ter, an' dat it war my duty ter de kentry dat hed gib me so much. but i don't do dat no mo'. two year ago i quit dat sort o' foolishness. what's de use? i see'd 'em count de votes, marse hesden, an' den i knowed dar warn't no mo' use ob votin' gin dat. yer know, dey 'pints all de jedges ob de 'lection derselves, an' so count de votes jest ez dey wants 'em. dar in our precinct war two right good white men, but dey 'pinted nary one o' dem ter count de votes. oh no, not ter speak on! dey puts on de board a good-'nough old cullu'd man dat didn't know 'b' from a bull's foot. wal, our white men 'ranges de t'ing so dat dey counts our men ez dey goes up ter de box an' dey gibs out de tickets dereselves. now, dar wuz six hundred an' odd ob our tickets went inter dat box. dat's shore. but dar wa'n't t'ree hundred come out. i pertended ter be drunk, an' laid down by de chimbly whar dar was a peep-hole inter dat room, an' seed dat countin' done. when dey fust opened de box one on 'em sez, sez he, "'lord god! what a lot o' votes!' den dey all look an' 'llowed dar war a heap mo' votes than dey'd got names. so they all turned in ter count de votes. dar wuz two kinds on 'em. one wuz little bits ob slick, shiny fellers, and de odders jes common big ones. when dey'd got 'em all counted they done some figurin,' an' sed dey'd hev ter draw out 'bout t'ree hundred an' fifty votes. so dey put 'em all back in de box, all folded up jest ez dey wuz at de start, an' den dey shuck it an' shuck it an' shuck it, till it seemed ter me 'em little fellers wuz boun' ter slip fru de bottom. den one on 'em wuz blindfolded, an' he drew outen de box till he got out de right number--mostly all on 'em de big tickets, mind ye, kase dey wuz on top, yer know. den dey count de rest an' make up de papers, an' burns all de tickets. "now what's de use o' votin' agin dat? i can't see what fer dey put de tickets in de box at all. 'tain't half ez fa'r ez a lottery i seed one time in melton; kase dar dey kep turnin' ober de wheel, an' all de tickets hed a fa'r show. no, marse hesden, i nebber does no mo' votin' till i t'inks dar's a leetle chance o' habbin' my vote counted jest ez i drops it inter de box, 'long wid de rest. i don't see no use in it." "you are quite right, berry," said hesden; "but what do _you_ say is the reason you have come away from the south?" "jest kase a poor man dat hain't got no larnin' is wuss off dar dan a cat in hell widout claws; he can't fight ner he can't climb. i'se wukked hard an' been honest ebber sence de s'render an' i hed ter walk an' beg my rations ter git h'yer. [footnote: the actual words used by a colored man well-known to the writer in giving his reason for joining the "exodus," in a conversation in the depot at kansas city, in february last.] dat's de reason!" said berry, springing to his feet and speaking excitedly. "yes, berry, you have been unfortunate, but i know all are not so badly off." "t'ank god fer dat!" said berry. "yer see i'd a' got' long well 'nough ef i'd hed a fa'r shake an' hed knowd' all 'bout de law, er ef de law hadn't been made ter cotch jes sech ez me. i didn't ebber 'spect nuffin' but jest a tollable libbin', only a bit ob larnin, fer my chillen. i tried mighty hard, an' dis is jes what's come on't. i don't pertend ter say what's de matter, but sunthin' is wrong, or else sunthin' hez been wrong, an' dis that we hez now is jest de fruits on't--i dunno which. i can't understand it, nohow. i don't hate nobody, an' i don't know ez dar's enny way out, but only jes ter wait an' wait ez we did in slave times fer de good time ter come. i wuz jes dat tuckered out a-tryin,' dat i t'ought i'd come out h'yer an' wait an' see ef i couldn't grow up wid de kentry, yer know. yah, yah!" the next morning the light-hearted exodian departed, with a ticket for eupolia and a note to his white fellow-fugitive from the evils which a dark past has bequeathed to the south--jordan jackson, now the agent of hesden and mollie in the management of their interests at that place. hesden and mollie continued their homeward journey, stopping for a few days in washington on their way. chapter lxi. what shall the end be? two men sat upon one of the benches in the shade of a spreading elm in the shadow of the national capitol, as the sun declined toward his setting. they had been walking and talking as only earnest, thoughtful men are wont to talk. they had forgotten each other and themselves in the endeavor to forecast the future of the country after a consideration of its past. one was tall, broad, and of full habit, with a clear blue eye, high, noble forehead, and brown beard and hair just beginning to be flecked with gray, and of a light complexion inclining to floridness. he was a magnificent type of the northern man. he had been the shaper of his own destiny, and had risen to high position, with the aid only of that self-reliant manhood which constitutes the life and glory of the great free north. he was the child of the north-west, but his ancestral roots struck deep into the rugged hills of new england. the west had made him broader and fuller and freer than the stock from which he sprang, without impairing his earnestness of purpose or intensity of conviction. the other, more slender, dark, with something of sallowness in his sedate features, with hair and beard of dark brown clinging close to the finely-chiseled head and face, with an empty sleeve pinned across his breast, showed more of litheness and subtlety, and scarcely less of strength, than the one on whom he gazed, and was an equally perfect type of the southern-born american. the one was the honorable washington goodspeed, m.c., and the other was hesden le moyne. "well, mr. le moyne," said the former, after a long and thoughtful pause, "is there any remedy for these things? can the south and the north ever be made one people in thought, spirit, and purpose? it is evident that they have not been in the past; can they become so in the future? wisdom and patriotism have thus far developed no cure for this evil; they seem, indeed, to have proved inadequate to the elucidation of the problem. have you any solution to offer?" "i think," replied le moyne, speaking slowly and thoughtfully, "that there is a solution lying just at our hand, the very simplicity of which, perhaps, has hitherto prevented us from fully appreciating its effectiveness." "ah!" said goodspeed, with some eagerness, "and what may that be?" "education!" was the reply. "oh, yes," said the other, with a smile. "you have adopted, then, the fourth of july remedy for all national ills?" "if you mean by 'fourth of july remedy,'" replied hesdeu with some tartness, "that it is an idea born of patriotic feeling alone, i can most sincerely answer, yes. you will please to recollect that every bias of my mind and life has been toward the southern view of all things. i doubt if any man of the north can appreciate the full force and effect of that bias upon the minds and hearts of those exposed to its operation. when the war ended i had no reason or motive for considering the question of rebuilding the national prosperity and power upon a firmer and broader basis than before. that was left entirely to you gentlemen of the north. it was not until you, the representatives of the national power, had acted--ay, it was not until your action had resulted in apparent failure--that i began to consider this question at all. i did so without any selfish bias or hope, beyond that which every man ought to have in behalf of the nation which he is a part, and in which he expects his children to remain. so that i think i may safely say that my idea of the remedy does spring from a patriotism as deep and earnest as ever finds expression upon the national holiday." "oh, i did not mean that," was the half-apologetic rejoinder; "i did not mean to question your sincerity at all; but the truth is, there has been so much impracticable theorizing upon this subject that one who looks for results can scarcely restrain an expression of impatience when that answer is dogmatically given to such an inquiry." "without entirely indorsing your view as to the impracticality of what has been said and written upon this subject," answered le moyne, "i must confess that i have never yet seen it formulated in a manner entirely satisfactory to myself. for my part, i am thoroughly satisfied that it is not only practicable, but is also the sole practicable method of curing the ills of which we have been speaking. it seems to me also perfectly apparent why the remedy has not previously been applied--why the patriotism and wisdom of the past has failed to hit upon this simple remedy." "well, why was it?" "the difference between the north and the south before the war," said le moyne, "was twofold; both the political and the social organizations of the south were utterly different from those of the north, and could not be harmonized with them. the characteristics of the _social_ organization you, in common with the intelligent masses of the north, no doubt comprehend as fully and clearly as is possible for one who has not personally investigated its phenomena. your northern social system was builded upon the idea of inherent equality--that is, of equality and opportunity; so that the only inequality which could exist was that which resulted from the accident of wealth or difference of capacity in the individual. "the social system of the south was opposed to this in its very elements. at the very outset it was based upon a wide distinction, never overlooked or forgotten for a single moment. under no circumstances could a colored man, of whatever rank or grade of intellectual power, in any respect, for a single instant overstep the gulf which separated him from the caucasian, however humble, impoverished, or degraded the latter might be. this rendered easy and natural the establishment of other social grades and ideas, which tended to separate still farther the northern from the southern social system. the very fact of the african being thus degraded led, by natural association, to the degradation of those forms of labor most frequently delegated to the slave. by this means free labor became gradually to be considered more and more disreputable, and self-support to be considered less and less honorable. the necessities of slavery, as well as the constantly growing pride of class, tended very rapidly toward the subversion of free thought and free speech; so that, even with the white man of any and every class, the right to hold and express opinions different from those entertained by the bulk of the master-class with reference to all those subjects related to the social system of the south soon came to be questioned, and eventually utterly denied. all these facts the north--that is, the northern people, northern statesmen, northern thinkers--have comprehended _as_ facts. their influence and bearings, i may be allowed to say, they have little understood, because they have not sufficiently realized their influence upon the minds of those subjected, generation after generation, to their sway. "on the other hand, the wide difference between the _political_ systems of the north and the south seems never to have affected the northern mind at all. the northern statesmen and political writers seem always to have proceeded upon the assumption that the removal of slavery, the changing of the legal status of the african, resulting in the withdrawal of one of the props which supported the _social_ system of the south, would of itself overthrow not only that system, but the political system which had grown up along with it, and which was skillfully designed for its maintenance and support. of the absolute difference between the political systems of the south and the north, and of the fact that the social and political systems stood to each other in the mutual relation of cause and effect, the north seems ever to have been profoundly ignorant." "well," said mr. goodspeed, "i must confess that i cannot understand what difference there is, except what arose out of slavery." "the questien is not," said le moyne, "whether it _arose_ out of slavery, but whether it would of necessity fall with the extinction of slavery _as a legal status_. it is, perhaps, impossible for any one to say exactly how much of the political system of the south grew out of slavery, and how much of slavery and its consequences were due to the southern political system." "i do not catch your meaning," said goodspeed. "except for the system of slavery and the exclusion of the blacks from the exercise and enjoyment of poitical rights and privileges, i cannot see that the political system of the south differed materially from that of the north." "precisely so," said le moyne. "your inability to perceive my meaning very clearly illustrates to my mind the fact which i am endeavoring to impress upon you. if you will consider for a moment the history of the country, you will observe that a system prevailed in the nou-slaveholding states which was unknown, either in name or essential attributes, throughout the slaveholding part of the country." "yes?" said the other inquiringly. "what may that have been?" "in one word," said le moyne--"the 'township' system." "oh, yes," laughed the congressman lightly; "the yankee town-meeting." "exactly," responded le moyne; "yet i venture to say that the presence and absence of the town-meeting--the township system or its equivalent--in the north and in the south, constituted a difference not less vital and important than that of slavery itself. in fact, sir, i sincerely believe that it is to the township system that the north owes the fact that it is not to-day as much slave territory as the south was before the war." "what!" said the northerner, with surprise, "you do not mean to say that the north owes its freedom, its prosperity, and its intelligence--the three things in which it differs from the south most materially--entirely to the yankee town-meeting?" "perhaps not entirely," said le moyne; "but in the main i think it does. and there are certain facts connected with our history which i think, when you consider them carefully, will incline you to the same belief." "indeed; i should be glad to know them." "the first of these," continued le moyne, "is the fact that in every state in which the township system really prevailed, slavery was abolished without recourse to arms, without civil discord or perceptible evil results. the next is that in the states in which the township system did not prevail in fact as well as name, the public school system did not exist, or had only a nominal existence; and the proportion of illiteracy in those states as a consequence was, _among the whites alone_, something like four times as great as in those states in which the township system flourished. and this, too, notwithstanding almost the entire bulk of the ignorant immigration from the old world entered into the composition of the northern populations. and, thirdly, there resulted a difference which i admit to be composite in its causes--that is, the difference in average wealth. leaving out of consideration the capital invested in slaves, the _per capita_ valuation of the states having the township system was something more than three times the average in those where it was unknown." "but what reason can you give for this belief?" said goodspeed. "how do you connect with the consequences, which cannot be doubted, the cause you assign? the differences between the south and the north have hitherto been attributed entirely to slavery; why do you say that they are in so great a measure due to differences of political organization?" "i can very well see," was the reply, "that one reared as you were should fail to understand at once the potency of the system which has always been to you as much a matter of course as the atmosphere by which you are surrounded. it was not until harvey's time--indeed, it was not until a much later period--that we knew in what way and manner animal life was maintained by the inhalation of atmospheric air. the fact of its necessity was apparent to every child, but how it operated was unknown. i do not now profess to be able to give all of those particulars which have made the township system, or its equivalent, an essential concomitant of political equality, and, as i think, the vital element of american liberty. but i can illustrate it so that you will get the drift of my thought." "i should be glad if you would," said goodspeed. "the township system," continued le moyne, "may, for the present purpose, be denned to be the division of the entire territory of the state into small municipalises, the inhabitants of which control and manage for themselves, directly and immediately, their own local affairs. each township is in itself a miniature republic, every citizen of which exercises in its affairs equal power with every other citizen. each of these miniature republics becomes a constituent element of the higher representative republic--namely, a county, which is itself a component of the still larger representative republic, the state. it is patterned upon and no doubt grew out of the less perfect borough systems of europe, and those inchoate communes of our saxon forefathers which were denominated '_hundreds_.' it is the slow growth of centuries of political experience; the ripe fruit of ages of liberty-seeking thought. "the township is the shield and nursery of individual freedom of thought and action. the young citizen who has never dreamed of a political career becomes interested in some local question affecting his individual interests. a bridge is out of repair; a roadmaster has failed to perform his duty; a constable has been remiss in his office; a justice of the peace has failed to hold the scales with even balance between rich and poor; a school has not been properly cared for; the funds of the township have been squandered; or the assumption of a liability is proposed by the township trustees, the policy of which he doubts. he has the remedy in his own hands. he goes to the township meeting, or he appears at the town-house upon election day, and appeals to his own neighbors--those having like interests with himself. he engages in the struggle, hand to hand and foot to foot with his equals; he learns confidence in himself; he begins to measure his own power, and fits himself for the higher duties and responsibilities of statesmanship." "well, well," laughed goodspeed, "there is something in that. i remember that iny first political experience was in trying to defeat a supervisor who did not properly work the roads of his district; but i had never thought that in so doing i was illustrating such a doctrine as you have put forth." "no; the doctrine is not mine," said le moyne. "others, and especially that noted french political philosopher who so calmly and faithfully investigated our political system--the author of 'democracy in america'--clearly pointed out, many years ago, the exceptional value of this institution, and attributed to it the superior intelligence and prosperity of the north." "then," was the good-natured reply, "your prescription for the political regeneration of the south is the same as that which we all laughed at as coming from horace greeley immediately upon the downfall of the confederacy--that the government should send an army of surveyors to the south to lay off the land in sections and quarter-sections, establish parallel roads, and enforce topographic uniformity upon the nation? "not at all," said le moyne. "i think that the use of the term 'township' in a _double_ sense has misled our political thinkers in estimating its value. it is by no means necessary that the township of the united states survey should be arbitrarily established in every state. in fact, the township system really finds its fullest development where such a land division does not prevail, as in new england, pennsylvania, and other states. it is the _people_ that require to be laid off in townships, not the land. arkansas, missouri, alabama, all have their lands laid off in the parallelograms prescribed by the laws regulating united states surveys; but their _people_ are not organized into self-governing communes." "but was there no equivalent system of local self-government in those states?" "no; and there is not to-day. in some cases there are lame approaches to it; but in none of the former slave states were the counties made up of self-governing subdivisions. the south is to-day and always has been a stranger to local self-government. in many of those states every justice of the peace, every school committeeman, every inspector of elections is appointed by some central power in the county, which is in turn itself appointed either by the chief executive of the state or by the dominant party in the legislature. there may be the form of townships, but the differential characteristic is lacking--the self-governing element of the township." "i don't know that i fully comprehend you," said goodspeed. "please illustrate." "well, take one state for an example, where the constitution adopted during the reconstruction period introduced the township system, and authorized the electors of each township to choose their justices of the peace, constables, school-cominitteemen, and other local officials. it permitted the people of the county to choose a board of commissioners, who should administer the financial matters of the county, and, in some instances, exeicise a limited judicial authority. but now they have, in effect, returned to the old system. the dominant party in the legislature appoints every justice of the peace in the state. the justices of the peace of each county elect from their number the county commissioners; the county commissioners appoint the school-committeemen, the roadmasters, the registrars of election and the judges of election; so that every local interest throughout the entire state is placed under the immediate power and control of the dominant party, although not a tenth part of the voters of any particular township or county may belong to that party. in another state all this power, and even more, is exercised by the chief executive; and in all of them you will find that the county--or its equivalent, the parish--is the smallest political unit having a municipal character." chapter lxii. how? there was a moment of silence, after which the northern man said thoughtfully. "i think i understand your views, mr. le moyne, and must admit that both the facts and the deductions which you make from them are very interesting, full of food for earnest reflection, and, for aught i know, may fully bear out your view of their effects. still, i cannot see that your remedy for this state of affairs differs materially in its practicability from that of the departed philosopher of chappaqua. he prescribed a division of the lands, while, if i understand you, you would have the government in some way prescribe and control the municipal organisations of the people of the various states. i cannot see what power the national government has, or any branch of it, which could effectuate that result." "it can only be done as it was done at the north," said le moyne quietly. "well, i declare!" said goodspeed, with an outburst of laughter, "your riddle grows worse and worse--more and more insoluble to my mind. how, pray, was it done at the north? i always thought we got it from colonial times. i am sure the new england town-meeting came over in the mayflower." "so it did!" responded hesden, springing to his feet; "so it did; it came over in the hearts of men who demanded, and were willing to give up everything else to secure the right of local self-government. the little colony upon the mayflower was a township, and every man of its passengers carried the seed of the ideal township system in his heart." "admitted, admitted, mr. le moyne," said the other, smiling at his earnestness. "but how shall we repeat the experiment? would you import men into every township of the south, in order that they might carry the seeds of civil liberty with them, and build up the township system there?" "by no means. i would make the men on the spot. i would so mold the minds of every class of the southern people that all should be indoctrinated with the spirit of local self-government." "but how would you do it?" "with spelling-books!" answered hesden sententiously. "there we are," laughed the other, "at the very point we started from. like the poet of the western bar-room, you may well say, my friend, 'and so i end as i did begin.'" "yes," said le moyne, "we have considered the _desirability_ of education, and you have continually cried, with good-natured incredulity, 'how shall it be done?' are you not making that inquiry too soon?" "not at all," said the congressman earnestly; "i see how desirable is the result, and i am willing to do anything in my power to attain it, if there is any means by which it can be accomplished." "that is it," said le moyne; "you are _willing_; you recognize that it would be a good thing; you wish it might be done; you have no desire to stand in the way of its accomplishment. that is not the spirit which achieves results. nothing is accomplished by mere assent. the american people must first be thoroughly satisfied that it is a necessity. the french may shout over a red cap, and overturn existing systems for a vague idea; but american conservatism consists in doing nothing until it is absolutely necessary. we never move until the fifty-ninth minute of the eleventh hour. "only think of it! you fought a rebellion, based professedly upon slavery as a corner-stone, for almost two years before you could bring yourselves to disturb that corner-stone. you knew the structure would fall if that were done; but the american people waited and waited until every man was fully satisfied that there was no other possible road to success. it is just so in this matter. i feel its necessity. you do not.' "there i think you do me injustice," said goodspeed, "i feel the necessity of educating every citizen of the republic, as well as you." "no doubt, in a certain vague way," was the reply; "but you do not feel it as the only safety to the republic to-day; and i do." "i confess i do not see, as you seem to, the immediate advantage, or the immediate danger, more than that which has always threatened us," answered the congressman. "this, after all, is the real danger, i think," said le moyne. "the states containing only one third of the population of this union contain also more than two thirds of its entire illiteracy. twenty-five out of every hundred--one out of every four--of the _white voters_ of the former slave states cannot read the ballots which they cast; forty-five per cent of the entire voting strength of those sixteen states are unable to read or write." "well?" said the other calmly, seeing le moyne look at him as though expecting him to show surprise. "_well!_" said le moyne. "i declare your northern phlegm is past my comprehension.--'well,' indeed! it seems to me as bad as bad can be. only think of it--only six per cent of intelligence united with this illiterate vote makes a majority!" "well?" was the response again, still inquiringly. "and that majority," continued le moyne, "would choose seventy-two per cent of the electoral votes necessary to name a president of the united states!" "well," said the other, with grim humor, "they are not very likely to do it at present, anyhow." "that is true," replied le moyne. "but there is still the other danger, and the greater evil. that same forty-five per cent are of course easily made the subjects of fraud or violence, and we face this dilemma: they may either use their power wrongfully, or be wrongfully deprived of the exercise of their ballotorial rights. either alternative is alike dangerous. if we suppose the illiterate voter to be either misled or intimidated, or prevented from exercising his judgment and his equality of right with others in the control of our government, then we have the voice of this forty-five per cent silenced--whether by intimidation or by fraud matters not. then a majority of the remaining fifty-four per cent, or, say, twenty-eight per cent of one third of the population of the nation in a little more than one third of the states, might exercise seventy-two per cent of the electoral power necessary to choose a president, and a like proportion of the legislative power necessary to enact laws. will the time ever come, my friend, when it will be safe to put in the way of any party such a temptation as is presented by this opportunity to acquire power?" "no, no, no," said the northern man, with impatience. "but what can you do? education will not make men honest, or patriotic, or moral." "true enough," was the reply. "nor will the knowledge of toxicology prevent the physician from being a poisoner, or skill in handwriting keep a man from becoming a forger. but the study of toxicology will enable the physician to save life, and the study of handwriting is a valuable means of preventing the results of wrongful acts. so, while education does not make the voter honest, it enables him to protect himself against the frauds of others, and not only increases his power but inspires him to resist violence. so that, in the aggregate, you northerners are right in the boast which you make that intelligence makes a people stronger and braver and freer." "so your remedy is--" began the other. "not _my_ remedy, but the _only_ remedy, is to educate the people until they shall be wise enough to know what they ought to do, and brave enough and strong enough to do it." "oh, that is all well enough, if it could be done," said goodspeed. "therefore it is," returned hesden, "that it _must_ be done." "but _how?_" said the other querulously. "you know that the constitution gives the control of such matters entirely to the states. the nation cannot interfere with it. it is the duty of the states to educate their citizens--a clear and imperative duty; but if they will not do it the nation cannot compel them." "yes," said hesden, "i know. for almost a century you said that about slavery; and you have been trying to hunt a way of escape from your enforced denial of it ever since. but as a matter of fact, when you came to the last ditch and found no bridge across, you simply made one. when it became an unavoidable question whether the union or slavery should live, you chose the union. the choice may come between the union and ignorance; and if it does, i have no fear as to which the people will choose. the doctrine of state rights is a beautiful thing to expatiate upon, but it has been the root of nearly all the evil the country has suffered. however, i believe that this remedy can at once be applied without serious inconvenience from that source." "how?" asked the other; "that is what i want to know." "understand me," said le moyne; "i do not consider the means so important as the end. when the necessity is fully realized the means will be discovered; but i believe that we hold the clue even now in our hands." "well, what is it?" was the impatient inquiry. "a fund of about a million dollars," said le moyne, "has already been distributed to free public schools in the south, upon a system which does not seriously interfere with the jealously-guarded rights of those states." "you mean the peabody fund?" "yes; i do refer to that act of unparalleled beneficence and wisdom." "but that was not the act of the nation." "very true; but why should not the nation distribute a like bounty upon the same system? it is admitted, beyond serious controversy, that the nation may raise and appropriate funds for such purposes among the different states, provided it be not for the exclusive benefit of any in particular. it is perhaps past controversy that the government might distribute a fund to the different states _in the proportion of illiteracy_. this, it is true, would give greater amounts to certain states than to others, but only greater in proportion to the evil to be remedied." "yes," said the other; "but the experience of the nation in distributing lands and funds for educational purposes has not been encouraging. the results have hardly been commensurate with the investment." "that is true," said hesden, "and this is why i instance the peabody fund. that is not given into the hands of the officers of the various states, but when a school is organized and fulfills the requirements laid down for the distribution of that fund, in regard to numbers and average attendance--in other words, is shown to be an efficient institution of learning--then the managers of the fund give to it a sum sufficient to defray a certain proportion of its expenses." "and you think such a system might be applied to a government appropriation?" "certainly. the amount to which the county, township, or school district would be entitled might be easily ascertained, and upon the organization and maintenance of a school complying with the reasonable requirements of a well-drawn statute in regard to attendance and instruction, such amount might be paid over." "yes," was the reply, after a thoughtful pause; "but would not that necessitate a national supervision of state schools?" "to a certain extent, yes. yet there would be nothing compulsory about it. it would only be such inspection as would be necessary to determine whether the applicant had entitled himself to share the nation's bounty. surely the nation may condition its own bounty." "but suppose these states should refuse to submit to such inspection, or accept such appropriation?" "that is the point, exactly, to which i desire to bring your attention," said le moyne. "ignorance, unless biased by religious bigotry, always clamors for knowledge. you could well count upon the forty-five per cent of ignorant voters insisting upon the reception of that bounty. the number of those that recognize the necessity of instructing the ignorant voter, even in those states, is hourly increasing, and but a brief time would elapse until no party would dare to risk opposition to such a course. i doubt whether any party would venture upon it, even now." "but are not its results too remote, mr. le moyne, to make such a measure of present interest in the cure of present evils?" "not at all," answered hesden. "by such a measure you bring the purest men of the south into close and intimate relations with the government. you cut off the sap which nourishes the yet living root of the state rights dogma. you bring every man to feel as you feel, that there is something greater and grander than his state and section. besides that, you draw the poison from the sting which rankles deeper than you think. the southern white man feels, and justly feels, that the burden of educating the colored man ought not to be laid upon the south alone. he says truly, 'the nation fostered and encouraged slavery; it gave it greater protection and threw greater safeguards around it than any other kind of property; it encouraged my ancestors and myself to invest the proceeds of generations of care and skill and growth in slaves. when the war ended it not only at one stroke dissipated all these accumulations, but it also gave to these men the ballot, and would now drive me, for my own protection, to provide for their education. this is unjust and oppressive. i will not do it, nor consent that it shall be done by my people or by our section alone.' to such a man--and there are many thousands of them--such a measure would come as an act of justice. it would be a grateful balm to his outraged feelings, and would incline him to forget, much more readily than he otherwise would, what he regards to be the injustice of emancipation. it will lead him to consider whether he has not been wrong in supposing that the emancipation and enfranchisement of the blacks proceeded from a feeling of resentment, and was intended as a punishment merely. it will incline him to consider whether the people of the north, the controlling power of the government at that time, did not act from a better motive than he has given them credit for. but even if this plan should meet with disapproval, instead of approval, from the white voters of the south, it would still be the true and wise policy for the nation to pursue." "so you really think," said the northerner dubiously, "that such a measure would produce good results even in the present generation?" "unquestionably," was the reply. "perhaps the chief incentive to the acts which have disgraced our civilization--which have made the white people of the south almost a unit in opposing by every means, lawful and unlawful, the course of the government in reconstruction, has been a deep and bitter conviction that hatred, envy, and resentment against them on the part of the north, were the motives which prompted those acts. such a measure, planned upon a liberal scale, would be a vindication of the manhood of the north; an assertion of its sense of right as well as its determination to develop at the south the same intelligence, the same freedom of thought and action, the same equality of individual right, that have made the north prosperous and free and strong, while the lack of them has made the south poor and ignorant and weak." "well, well," said the congressman seriously, "you may be right. i had never thought of it _quite_ in that light before. it is worth thinking about, my friend; it is worth thinking about." "that it is!" said le moyne, joyfully extending his hand. "think! if you will only _think_--if the free people of the north will only think of this matter, i have no fears but a solution will be found. mine may not be the right one. that is no matter. as i said, the question of method is entirely subordinate to the result. but let the people think, and they will think rightly. don't think of it as a politician in the little sense of that word, but in the great one. don't try to compel the nation to accept your view or mine; but spur the national thought by every possible means to consider the evil, to demand its cure, and to devise a remedy." so, day by day, the "irrepressible conflict" is renewed. the past bequeaths to the present its wondrous legacy of good and ill. names are changed, but truths remain. the soil which slavery claimed, baptized with blood becomes the promised land of the freedman and poor white. the late master wonders at the mockery of fate. ignorance marvels at the power of knowledge. love overleaps the barriers of prejudice, and faith laughs at the impossible. "the world goes up and the world goes down, the sunshine follows the rain; and yesterday's sneer and yesterday's frown can never come over again." on the trestle-board of the present, liberty forever sets before the future some new query. the wise-man sweats drops of blood. the greatheart abides in his strength. the king makes commandment. the fool laughs. a letter to hon. charles sumner, with "statements" of outrages upon freedmen in georgia, and an account of my expulsion from andersonville, ga., by the ku-klux klan. by rev. h. w. pierson, d.d., formerly president of cumberland college, kentucky; author of jefferson at monticello, or the private life of thomas jefferson; corresponding member n. y. historical society, etc. compliments of the author. washington: chronicle print., ninth street. . [copy.] new york, _november, _ to the rev. h. w. pierson, d.d., _president of cumberland college, kentucky:_ dear sir: the undersigned beg leave respectfully to suggest to you the propriety of repeating your paper read before the historical society at a recent meeting, on the private life of thomas jefferson, and making public a larger portion of your ample materials, in the form of public lectures. the unanimous expression of approbation on the part of the society, which your paper elicited, is an earnest of the satisfaction with which your consent to lecture will be received by the public at large. we have the honor to be, very respectfully, yours, george bancroft, hamilton fish, wm. m. evarts, frederic de peyster, benj. h. field, george folsom, l. bradish, isaac ferris, gorham d. abbot, samuel osgood, george potts, henry w. bellows, joseph g. cogswell, horace webster, and many others. lawlessness in georgia. washington, d. c., _march , _. my dear sir: it would not become me to express an opinion upon any of the legal questions involved in the georgia bill now before the senate, but i respectfully call your attention to the following "statements" of facts. i certainly am not surprised that honorable gentlemen whom i greatly esteem, should express their belief that the outrages committed upon the freedmen and union men in georgia have been greatly exaggerated in the statements that have been presented to congress and the country. i know that to persons and communities not intimately acquainted with the state of society, and the civilization developed by the institution of slavery, they seem absolutely incredible. allow me to say, from my personal knowledge, and profoundly conscious of my responsibility to god and to history, that the statements that have been given to the public in regard to outrages in georgia come far short of the real facts in the case. permit me to add that i went to andersonville, ga., to labor as a pastor and teacher of the freedmen, _without pay_, as i had labored during the war in the service of the _christian commission_; that i had nothing at all to do with the political affairs of the state; that i did not know, and, so far as i am aware, i did not see or speak to any man who held a civil office in the state, except the magistrate at andersonville; that a few days after my arrival there i performed the first religious services, and participated in the first public honors that were ever rendered to the , "brave boys" who sleep there, by decorating the cemetery with procession, prayer, and solemn hymns to god, as described in appendix a. my time and labors were sacredly given to the freedmen. in addition to the usual sabbath services i visited them in their cabins around the stockades, and in the vicinity of the cemetery, reading the bible to them, and talking and praying with them. it was in the prosecution of these labors that i saw and heard more of sufferings and horrible outrages inflicted upon the freedmen than i saw and heard of as inflicted upon slaves in any five years of constant horseback travel in the south before the war, when i visited thousands of plantations as agent of the american tract society, the american bible society, and as president of cumberland college, princeton, kentucky. as illustrations of the sufferings of these oppressed, outraged people, and of their utter helplessness and want of protection from the state or federal courts, i give a few of the "statements" that i wrote down from their own lips. i know these men, and have entire confidence in their "statements." statement of cane cook. cane cook now lives near americus, sumter county, georgia. i heard through the colored people of the inhuman outrages committed upon him, and sent word to him to come to me if possible, that i might get a statement of the facts from his own lips. with the greatest difficulty he got into the cars at americus, and came here to-day. he says: "i worked for robert hodges, last year, who lives about two and-a-half miles from andersonville, georgia. i had my own stock, and rented land from him, agreeing to give him one-third of the corn, and one-fourth of the cotton for rent. we divided the corn by the wagon load, and had no trouble about that. i made three bags of cotton, weighing , , and pounds when it was packed. mr. hodges weighed it again, and i don't know what he has got it down, but that was the right weight; one-fourth was his, and three-fourths mine. he told me he would buy my cotton and pay me the market price, which was twenty-one cents that day, and i told him he might have it. i got some meat and corn and other things from him during the year, and he paid me $ in cash christmas. i went to him last friday a week ago, (january th, ) for a settlement. when he read over his account he had a gallon of syrup charged to me, and i told him i had not had any syrup of him. he asked me if i disputed his word. i told him that i did not want to dispute his word, but i had not had any syrup from him. he got up very angry, and took a large hickory stick and came towards me. i went backwards towards the door, and he followed me. he is a strong man and i did not want to have any trouble with him, and i gave him no impudence. i had a small piece of clap-board in my hand, that i had walked with. he told me to throw it down. i made no attempt to strike him, but held it up to keep off his blow. i went backwards to the door and to the edge of the porch, and he followed me. as i turned to go down the steps--there are four steps--he struck me a powerful blow on the back of my head, and i fell from the porch to the ground. i was not entirely senseless, but i was stiff and could not move hand or foot. i lay a long time--i do not know how long--but he did not touch me. jolly low was at work upon the house, and he came down where i was, and mr. hodges told him he might lift me up if he was a mind to. he lifted me up and set me on the steps. mr. hodges then sent about three miles for dr. westbrook, and he came and bled me in both arms; but i was so cold my left arm would not bleed at all, and my right arm bled but a very little. the doctor then told me to go to my friend's house and let him take care of me. two colored men--anthony dukes and edward corrillus--took me under each arm and carried me to burrell corrillus' house, about one hundred and fifty yards. i could not bear my weight upon my feet or stand at all. the doctor rode by and told mrs. corrillus to take good care of me and keep me there a couple of days. i staid there until sunday afternoon, when two men lifted me into a buggy and mr. corrillus carried me to my wife near americus. my hands, arms, back, and legs are almost useless. i have not been able to lift a bit of food to my mouth. i have to be fed like a baby. i have not gone before any of the courts. i have no money to pay a lawyer, and i know it would do no good. mr. hodges has not paid me for my cotton, and says he will not settle with me, but will settle with any man i will send him. while i lay before his door he told me that if i died he would pay my wife $ . i hope there will be some law sometime for us poor oppressed people. if we could only get land and have homes we could get along; but they won't sell us any land." andersonville, ga., _feb. , _. mr. cook is about fifty years old, has a large frame, has been an industrious, hard-working man, but is now almost entirely paralized and helpless. he is the most shattered, complete, and pitiable wreck from human violence i have ever seen. mr. hodges, i am told, owns about six thousand acres of land, and is one of the most prominent and respected citizens of sumter county. he is a methodist preacher, and mr. reese informs me, as i write, that he has heard him preach a great many times in the last twenty years to both white and colored people at camp-meetings and different meeting-houses in this region. he refuses to sell any of his land to the colored people, and will not allow them to build a school-house on it. statement of floyd snelson. floyd snelson, foreman of the hands employed by the government in the national cemetery, andersonville, georgia, says: "that in july, , after the work was suspended in the cemetery, and the lieutenant in charge had gone to marietta, georgia, and the schools for the freedmen were closed, and the teachers had left for the north, mr. b. b. dikes notified all the colored people who occupied buildings on the land now claimed by him, formerly occupied by the confederate government, in connection with the andersonville prison, that they must get out of their buildings within four days, or he would have them put out by the sheriff, and they would have the cost to pay. nearly all of these men had been in the employ of the government, at work in the national cemetery, many of them from the commencement of this work after the surrender. they all occupied these buildings by permission of the officer in charge of the cemetery, by whom they were employed. many of them had built these houses at their own expense, and cleared, fenced, and cultivated gardens of from one to four acres, which were covered with corn, potatoes, and other vegetables, which, with their houses, they were required to leave without any compensation. including these laborers and their families, about two hundred persons occupied these buildings. on account of the great difficulty of getting homes for so many on such short notice, most of these colored people applied to mr. dikes for the priviledge of occupying their houses and paying rent, either in money or a part of the crops that they were growing. but he refused, and said they could not stay on any terms. on the day appointed by mr. dikes, (wednesday, july th, ,) the most of the white people in from six to ten miles around, appeared in andersonville, with their arms, and mr. souber, the magistrate of the district, and mr. raiford, the sheriff of the county, accompanied by a party of some twenty-six or thirty armed white men, went to the houses of all these people, (except a very few who had vacated their premises,) and threw all their furniture, and provisions of every kind, out of doors. they then nailed up the doors of all their cabins, on the inside, and punched off a part of the roofs, and got out in this way. by about two p. m., all these people, with their furniture, bedding, provisions, and everything that they possessed, were turned out of doors. "about four o'clock, the most violent rain storm, accompanied with the most terrific thunder and lightning ever known here, commenced and continued the most of the night. every mill-dam and many of the mills in a circle of ten miles were washed away and so completely destroyed that but one of them has been repaired so as to be used. the women--some of them about to be confined--children and invalids were exposed to this storm during the night. their beds, clothing, provisions, and themselves were as completely drenched as if they had been thrown into a brook. some of these people got homes by working for their board. some able-bodied men got twenty-five cents a day. some of them, (deacon turner hall, of the congregational church, andersonville, among the number,) walked from ten to twenty miles a day, and could get neither homes nor work at any price at all. many women and children lay out of doors guarding their things, and exposed to the weather nearly a week, before they could get any shelter at all--their husbands and fathers roaming over the country to find some kind of a home. the rev. f. haley, of the american missionary association, arrived the next day, to look after the property of the mission. his life was threatened, but the colored people rallied around him to protect him, and he left the next day unharmed. large numbers of the white people, from the neighborhood, assembled at andersonville every day until saturday night, when they set fire to nine ( ) of the buildings, that had been built by the colored people, and burnt them up, and tore down their fences and destroyed their crops. the colored people, supposing that they intended to burn the buildings occupied for the "teacher's home" and the "freedmen's school," rallied and protected them. no one of the men engaged in these outrages, has ever been arrested or punished in any way, and no one of these freedmen has ever had any redress for his sufferings and losses. i will make oath to these statements." andersonville, ga., _feb. , _. statement of george smith. george smith now resides five miles from ellaville, in schley county, georgia. he says: "before the election of grant, large bodies of men were riding about the country in the night for more than a month. they and their horses were covered with large white sheets, so that you could not tell them or their horses. they gave out word that they would whip every radical in the country that intended to vote for grant, and did whip all they could get hold of. they sent word to me that i was one of the leaders of the grant club, and they would whip me. i saw them pass my house one night, and i should think there were thirty or forty of them. they looked in the night like jersey wagons. i supposed they were after me, and i took my blanket and gun and ran to the woods and lay out all night, and a good many other nights. nearly all the radicals in the neighborhood lay in the woods every night for two weeks before election. the kuklux would go to the houses of all that belonged to the grant club, call them to the door, throw a blanket over them and carry them off and whip them, and try and make them promise to vote for seymour and blair. the night i saw them they went to the house of mr. henry davis and ordered him out. he refused to come out and they tore down both of his doors. he fired at them and escaped. i heard a good many shots fired at him. he lay out about a week in the woods, and then slipped back in the night and got his family and moved off. he had bought a place and paid $ on it but he could not get a deed, and he has gone off and left it. they then went to the house of tom pitman and jonas swanson, called them to the door, threw blankets over their heads, carried them off and whipped them tremendously. they told them that they were damned radicals and leaders of the grant club, and that they would whip every one that voted for grant, and would not give any work to any but democrats. "bob wiggins, a preacher, was whipped all most to death because they said he was preaching radical doctrines to the colored people. it was supposed for a good many days that he would die, but he finally recovered. "i attended the election at ellaville. none of the radicals that had been ku-kluxed tried to vote; but a good many radicals did try to vote, but the judges made them all show their tickets, and if they were for grant they would not let them vote. i saw how they treated others and did not try to put my vote in. i went early in the morning, and the white and colored democrats voted until about noon, when i went home." andersonville, _february , _. statement of richard reese. richard reese, president of the grant club of schley county, confirms the statements of george smith in regard to the treatment of the radicals in schley county. he says: "when the ku-klux commenced riding about the country i was at macon attending the colored convention. when i got home some white men, democrats, who were friends of mine, told me that the ku-klux would certainly kill me if i staid at home at nights. i took my blanket and hid in the woods. i have never had a gun or pistol in my life. i lay in the woods every night until after election. day times i came home and worked my crop. one day, as i was in my yard, mr. jack childers, a democrat, came along from americus, and said to me, 'where is old dick, the damned old radical?' i said, 'here i am.' he said, 'well, you will be certain to be killed.' i said, 'well, if they kill me they will kill a good old radical, and i haven't got much longer to live noway.' he then started to get out of his buggy and come at me, but the man with him held him in and drove on. i had the grant tickets in my house, and went to the bumphead precinct, but there were more radicals than democrats there, and they would not open the polls at all. we staid there till twelve o'clock, then started for ellaville. the white and colored democrats were voting, but they would not let a radical vote until about two o'clock, when charley hudson got upon a stump and said no man could vote unless he had paid his taxes. he then got down, and he and nearly every white man there went around to the colored voters and told them that if they would vote the democratic ticket their tax was paid. i offered my ticket, and they said my tax was not paid, and if i put in my ticket they would put me in jail, and send me to the penitentiary. i had already agreed with a white man, who owed me $ , to pay my tax, and he said he had done it, but when i found him, and he found what was the matter, he said he had not paid it. they demanded $ . poll-tax, and i paid it and put in my vote. they were determined that i should not vote, and i was determined that i would vote for grant any way, as i was the president of the club. they told me if i would vote for seymour and blair i need not pay my taxes. after i got my vote in i took all my grant tickets and scattered them among the crowd, and told my club they need not try to vote, it would do no good. grant would be elected without schley county, and we all went home. "last spring we built a school-house, and hired a white lady to teach our school for several months. we held meetings and schools every sunday. friday night, february , , our school-house was burned up. "last night we had a meeting to see what we could do about building another house. we have a deed of one-and-a-half acres of land, but there is no timber on it, and the owners of the land around have put up a paper forbidding us to cut a stick on their's, and see how tight they have got us. we want the government or somebody to help us build. we want some law to protect us. we know that we could burn their churches and schools, but it is against the law to burn houses, and we don't want to break the law or harm anybody. we want the law to protect us, and all we want is to live under the law." andersonville, _feb. , _. statement of rev. charles ennis. charles ennis informs me that he was sixty-two years old last june; that he was the slave of mr. g. c. mcbee, who kept the ferry on the holston river, fifteen miles from knoxville tennessee; that he has often ferried the hon. messrs. brownlow and maynard over the river; that he learned to read when a small boy, and that he is now a preacher and teacher. he is the most intelligent colored man i have seen at andersonville. he says: "my wife has been a midwife for many years, and has attended upon a good many white and colored women in child-birth. last year we lived in mitchell county, and mr. henry adams, of baker county, sent for her to attend his wife, who was about to be confined. the child was born and did well. after the riot at camilla we were afraid to remain in mitchell county. i lived within three miles of camilla, and a good many of the dead were very near me, but i did not see any of them. i was afraid to go from home. dr. sanders, who attended upon those who were shot, told me that more than fifty were killed and wounded. mr. adams said his wife liked my wife so well that he wanted us to go to houston county with him, and he would pay our expenses there; and then he would certainly get me a school, and i could live on his place with my wife, and he would pay her $ a year wages. i told him we would not engage by the year, but only by the month, so long as we could agree. mr. robert adams, his uncle, was his partner, and managed the plantation. on the th of january, , he told my wife he wanted breakfast very early, as he was going to attend the burying of his nephew's wife next morning. she got up before day and got it, and i carried it to him and he ate it by candle light. after breakfast, as my wife was going to milk, he came out doors, and when he saw her he said: 'o you d----d old b----h, i have catched up to you, you g----d d----d old rogue,' and a good deal more of the same sort. i was surprised at this, as i knew she had got the breakfast all right, and i had carried it in to him. i went out and asked him in a mild manner, 'mr. adams, what is the matter? what has she done?' he made no reply at all, but rushed at me and caught me by the hair and commenced beating me. he struck me several times on the head. i made no resistance at all, but said, 'mr. adams, i will make you pay, for this.' this made him still worse, and he took out his knife and said he would give me something to make him pay for--he would kill me. "henry ottrecht, a german, and a colored boy named wash caught him and begged him not to kill me, and told me to promise him that i would not report him. he held on to me until i promised him that i would not report him, and then let me go. he told these men that he would have killed me if they had not prevented him. as he started away to attend the burying of his nephew's wife, he said to me, 'now you may go to perry,' (the county seat,) 'and report me if you want; but if you do i'll be d----d if i don't kill you.' at night my wife heard him tell charles evart, a freedman, about the scrape, and he said he would have killed me if they had not held him, and he would kill me anyway, if i reported him. i was a slave until freed the by war, but i never received such treatment during all my life as a slave. i waited on officers in the confederate army from until the surrender. the last six months i was with lt. col. jones, second georgia reserves, at andersonville. i never received a blow or a harsh word from one of them. i have traveled a great deal before and since the war. i know that the colored people are more brutally treated now than they were in slavery times. a great many more are beaten, wounded and killed now than then. i know a great many cases where they have been beaten to death with clubs, killed with knives and dirks, shot and hung. we have no protection at all from the laws of georgia. we had rather die than go back into slavery, but we are worse treated than we ever were before. we cannot protect ourselves; we want the government to protect us. a great many freedmen have told me that we should be obliged to rise and take arms and protect ourselves, but i have always told them this would not do; that the whole south would then come against us and kill us off, as the indians have been killed off. i have always told them the best way was for us to apply to the government for protection, and let them protect us." andersonville, ga., _february , _. why i was ku kluxed. mr. b. b. dikes, referred to in the foregoing statement of floyd snelson, is not the only claimant who has endeavored to secure possession of the grounds in and around the stockades at _andersonville, georgia_. i should have said that he has entered a suit in the u. s. court for the possession of these lands, but in the absence of the military he judged the ejectment of the freedmen, and getting possession in the manner i have described, as more sure and speedy than the "law's delay." a mr. crawford claims that the land which lies within and around the south stockade, in which are the hospital sheds, where so many of our soldiers died, where even now the bare ground upon which they lay shows the indenture made by the bodies of our suffering dying soldiers, belongs to certain heirs, and he, too, has been endeavoring to get possession of these grounds. my pastoral visitations led me to the cabins in and around the stockades, that have been built upon the land now claimed by mr. crawford. as was most natural, they poured into my ears the sad, the almost incredible, accounts of the wrongs they have suffered "since freedom came," or, as they more frequently expressed it, "since the surrender came through." one of these men came to me in january, in great distress, and told me that the day before he had been notified by mr. souber, the magistrate of the district, that he must leave his house by the next monday night, or he would bring the sheriff and turn him out. mr. souber told him that he had charge of the land for mr. crawford, _and that he was agoing to fence it in, and raise a cotton crop in and around these stockades_. there are thousands who know how this soil has been ensanguined and enriched. i had frequently walked over these grounds, and seen evidences of what is both too indelicate and too horrible to be described. i confess that my indignation was roused to the highest degree. i sat down immediately and wrote a statement of these facts to hon. j. m. ashley, and begged him to call on general grant, and see if there was any power in the government to prevent these outrages. the lieutenant in charge at andersonville called upon me some days later, and informed me that my letter to congressman ashley had been referred, by general grant to general meade, who had referred it to him. i furnished him the facts upon which it was based, and also wrote general meade as follows: [copy.] andersonville, ga., _january , _. general: i send you the accompanying "statements" in regard to the matters referred to in my letter to the hon. j. m. ashley, m.c. my letter was based upon _part_ of these statements. those additional to what had then been communicated to me are the result of investigations made since lieutenant corliss informed me that my letter had been referred to general meade and to himself. i have been acquainted with colored people in the south more than twenty-five years i know the difficulty of getting at the truth in such matters. but i think these "statements" can be depended upon. with great respect, yours very truly, h. w. pierson. to major general meade. statements of albert williams, martha randall, jane rogers, and benjamin weston. albert williams states to me that in january after the surrender he was employed by the government to work in the cemetery, and worked there until last spring. that mr. van dusen, supt. of the cemetery, gave him the privilege of moving into the house he now occupies, near the stockade that enclosed the hospital buildings; that afterwards captain rench gave him the privilege of clearing off the ground east of the stockade and raising a crop; that he hired hands and cleared and fenced about fifteen acres; that his wife and children helped to raise a crop; that after it was "laid by," mr. crawford, who claims the land, called on him and demanded rent, that he also called on lewis williams, howard ingraham, and butler johnson, who were raising crops around the stockades by permission of captain rench, and demanded rent, that mr. crawford called upon us four, with mr. b. b. dikes and esquire souber, and compelled us to sign a written contract, which they had prepared, that each of us four would pay forty bushels of corn each for rent; that he (williams) was unable to pay the forty bushels of corn, but did pay ten dollars in money, ten bushels of corn which he gathered and hauled to mr. dikes' crib, for which he was allowed fifteen dollars in rent. none of the four men were able to pay the forty bushels of corn; but mr. crawford brought the bailiff, john law, and took what corn he could, and a sow and pig from howard ingraham. all these men but me have left their places that they had cleared and fenced, because they could not pay such rent, and mr. crawford has put the places in charge of mr. souber, and brought him two males to cultivate the grounds. mr. williams states that twice the stockade has been set on fire in the night, and he and his boys have toted water and put it out. mr. williams states that mr. souber came to his house some two or three weeks ago, and told him he must get out of the house and leave the place, that he had charge of it now, that he was going to fence in the grounds and raise a crop in and around the stockade, and that he would not let any body live there but those that worked the place. that some time after this mr. souber sent him word by bob stevens that he had rented the place to him, and that he must get out or mr. souber would have him put out by the sheriff, mr. raiford; that mr. stevens and his wife have both been to his house several times with this message from mr. souber; that last saturday (january , ,) his wife told him that mr. souber came to his house while he was away and told her we must get out by monday night or he would bring the sheriff and have us put out. mr. williams says he will make oath to these statements. mrs. martha randall and mrs. jane rogers live very near mr. williams. they state to me that they occupy the house by permission of mr. souber, as they have agreed to work for him. they both say to me that they heard mr. souber tell mrs. williams, last saturday, that "they must get out of the house or he would have the sheriff put them out." note--you will see that there are three witnesses to these statements of mr. souber. i saw each of them "separate and apart" from the others, and no one knew what the others had said, and their statements agreed in every particular. benjamin weston states to me that major anthony gave him permission to raise a crop east of the stockade, where the small-pox hospital was located. that he cleared and fenced about six acres; that there was no clearing on the land--only some of the underbrush was cut out; that there was not a rail on the place; that he cut and split all the rails and made a good fence, and raised a crop of corn; that about the first of august mr. crawford came to him and said the land was his, and demanded thirty-five bushels of corn for rent, and required him to sign a contract and give security for that amount; that the place only yielded about twenty bushels, of which his family and stock used ten bushels, and he gave ten bushels for rent. mr. weston states that he heard that mr. souber had charge of the land, and about the first of january he applied to him to rent what he had cleared and fenced. mr. souber told him that he had charge of the land but it was not for rent; he was agoing to tend it himself. he then asked me what mr. williams was agoing to do. i told him i did not know. he said well, he had better hunt him a house, for i am agoing to tend that place myself. mr. weston says he has never had any pay for clearing and fencing the land, only about ten bushels of corn, as above stated. he says he will make oath to the above statements. _january , ._ general: i do not know the boundaries of the land claimed by crawford, but as far as i am able to learn, the mob that burnt the buildings here last summer, and threats and treatment like that detailed above, have driven off all the families that occupied these grounds by authority of officers of the united states government, except mr. williams, and mr. rhodes who occupies a building in the large stockade, which he tells me he has been warned to leave. through the means above detailed mr. c. has very nearly secured possession, which is nine-tenths in law. with great respect, yours, very truly, h. w. pierson. to major general meade. on the th of february, , captain bean called on me and introduced himself as a member of general meade's staff, and said he had come from atlanta to andersonville by order of general meade to make investigations in regard to the matters referred to in my letters. i went with him to the stockade and pointed out the new fences made and the grounds claimed by mr. souber. at his request i went with him to the office of mr. williams, the superintendent of the cemetery, and in my presence he told him _to notify mr. souber to suspend all work upon these grounds_. i confess that i was exceedingly gratified at this complete success of my efforts. i felt that these historic grounds, this gethsemane of the nation, had been rescued from what i could but esteem a sacrilegious use and possession, and that the flag that floated over the dead at andersonville had been honored by this order. when i told the freedmen the result of captain bean's visit their joy was great. in describing to me, as they often had, the suffering and losses they had endured when they were driven from their homes, and their cabins were burnt last summer, they always, in their simplicity, spoke of it as the time "when the government busted up." and this truly described the condition of the government from that time to the present, so far as they were concerned, for these facts show that no matter how horrible and brutal the outrage and personal violence committed upon them there had been no punishment to the perpetrators and no redress to the freedmen. now they felt that the government would again afford them some protection. but great as was my joy, and the joy of the suffering freedmen, it was nothing to the _rage_ of those who, after so long a struggle, had been defeated in their efforts to get possession of these grounds just as they were about to become completely successful. captain bean visited and left andersonville on the th. on the th i received a ku-klux letter, of which the following is a true copy: **************** * skull and * * cross-bones. * **************** "february , . "dr. pearson (so-called). "sir: for your especial benefit i am instructed to write you this special communication of warning and instruction. "the citizens of this place are aware of a few facts relative to yourself that i will proceed to designate: in the first place, they know you to be a wandering _vagrant carpet bagger_, without visible means of support, and living at present on the earnings of those who are endeavoring to make an honest living by teaching. you have also proved yourself a _scoundrel_ of the deepest dye by maliciously interfering in matters which do not in the least concern you, to the detriment of some of our citizens. "this, therefore, is to warn you to leave this county forthwith. twenty-four ( ) hours from the above date is the time allowed for you to leave. if after the said time your devilish countenance is seen at _this place or vicinity your worthless life will pay the forfeit_. congressional reconstruction, the military, nor anything else under heaven, will prevent summary justice being meted out to such an incarnate fiend as yourself. "by order of committee." i should do great injustice to mr. dikes, mr. souber, and mr. crawford, and their sympathising friends, the author and inspirers of the above letter, were i to say, or convey the impression, that they were worse men than their neighbors. from what i have seen and heard of them i am sure that in _mental culture_, in _kindness of heart_, in _loyalty_, and in _christian civilization_ they are decidedly _above_ rather than _below_ the over-whelming majority of their fellow citizens. they represent not the _lowest_ but the _highest_ type of patriotism, philanthropy, and christianity prevailing in that region. i challenge their late congressional representative, the hon. nelson tift, to go before his constituents and deny my statements in regard to the social standing of these men. the above letter states my offence: "you have proved yourself a _scoundrel_ of the deepest dye, by maliciously interfering in matters which do not in the least concern you, to the _detriment_ of some of our citizens." but general grant, general wade, and captain bean interfered far more potentially than i did. if i am a "_scoundrel_ of the deepest dye" what must they be? the "skull and bones," the insignia of the ku-klux klan and not the stars and stripes, represent the dominant power in that region. "congressional reconstruction, the military, &c.," are successfully defied. the power of the united states government is not felt or feared. they only know it as powerless to prevent the atrocities enacted before their eyes during and since the war. the flag that i had united with others to honor with procession, songs, and cheers, was powerless to protect me, and floats dishonored above the graves of the , martyr heroes who suffered and died in the stockades at andersonville, as prisoners of war never suffered and died before. i need hardly say that with my knowledge of the condition of things around me, as presented _only in part_ in this communication, i left andersonville as desired by the _ku-klux klan_. i knew that human life--that my life was not worth as much as the life of a chicken in any law-abiding, law-governed community, for should any evil disposed person there maliciously kill his neighbor's chicken he would be compelled to pay some slight fine or endure some brief imprisonment; but no one of all the perpetrators of the crimes i have named has suffered or has dreamed or suffering any fine, imprisonment, or punishment whatever. i knew that in their own language my life was "_worthless_." i went south to reside in , and there are few who know it as thoroughly. as agent of the american bible society, and in other capacities, i have traveled tens of thousands of miles over different states on horseback before the war. bishop kavenaugh, of the methodist episcopal church south, in introducing me to the louisville conference in , told them that though a presbyterian i had "out itinerated the itineracy itself." and yet i have never seen or heard as much of outrage and personal violence upon the colored people in any five years of slavery as i heard and saw at andersonville, georgia, from december , , to february , . i have never known crime to be committed in any community with such perfect impunity. i have yet to learn of a _single_ instance where the civil courts in that part of the state have rendered any punishment or redress for outrages like those i have detailed. the fact that such crimes have for years been committed with perfect impunity--that the men who perpetrate them have not the slightest fear or thought of ever being punished--that the freedmen who have suffered outrages such as these, and others entirely too gross for me to repeat, have not the faintest shadow of a hope that their wrongs will ever be redressed, has reduced these poor people to a state of almost utter hopelessness and despair. turner hall, a freedman, a deacon in the congregational church in andersonville, under whose black skin beats one of the most patriotic and noble christian hearts i have ever known, writes: "we seem to be forsaken of god and man." i have talked with many of these men, who in the late presidential election, with a spirit as noble as ever beat in the heart of a martyr, slept in swamps for weeks, were hunted like wild beasts, and perilled all means of livelihood for their wives and children, and their own lives, that they might vote for general grant for president. those of them that were employed in the national cemetery at andersonville, georgia, were threatened with dismission in case they voted for general grant. notwithstanding this threat some of them went to the polls, voted for general grant, and were immediately dismissed by henry williams, superintendent of the cemetery. this was done to deter the others, but they went forward and executed a "freeman's will" by voting for general grant. (mr. williams has since been removed.) and what to this hour has been their reward from their friends? i forbear to press this question. but with facts like these in mind can anyone suppose that a fair election--an election in which the thousands of freedmen in georgia shall give expression to their political wishes--can be held in that state in . the thing is simply impossible. until these ignorant, outraged people shall have some demonstration that there is power, either in the state or federal government, to afford them protection, and punish such outrages as that of rev. robert hodges upon cane cook, the freedmen cannot be expected again to risk their _livings_ and their _lives_ in voting for those whom they know to be their only friends. it will be proper for me to add that i did not come to washington at the suggestion or with the knowledge of any party in georgia. i belong to no "delegation." i came here at my own charges, in the interests of patriotism and suffering humanity, to lay these facts before congress and the highest officers of the government. all my self respect and honor as a man, all my regard for the rights of _american citizenship_, all my toils for the triumph of the starry banner, all my labors for the education and protection of the ignorant and outraged freedmen, and all the emotions stirred in my soul as again and again i have walked amid the graves of the nation's martyred dead at andersonville, compelled me to the performance of these unsought labors. _i ask that these freedmen may be protected and their wrongs redressed. i ask for the vindication of the rights of american citizenship in georgia and everywhere beneath our own flag upon our own soil._ with great respect, your obedient servant, h. w. pierson. hon. charles sumner, _united states senate_. appendix a. emancipation day in andersonville, ga. january , . by rev. h. w. pierson, d.d. this day so full of interest to the freedmen, so identified with the name and fame of the lamented lincoln, and so glorious in the history of our country, was duly celebrated in andersonville, georgia. if called upon to state what have been the instrumentalities at work among this people that have led to what i think all must esteem a most appropriate and beautiful celebration of the day, i must name as first and most efficient the _school for freedmen_, established here by the american missionary association, in the fall of , and successfully carried on up to the present time. its first teachers were miss m. l. root, of sheffield, ohio, and miss m. f. battey, of providence, r. i., who labored here for two years, with a christian heroism, wisdom and success that have left their names indelibly engraved upon the grateful hearts of all those for whom they toiled. during the second year, miss m. c. day, of sheffield, ohio, aided them, and was a worthy and efficient co-laborer. for reasons unknown to the writer, none of these ladies returned the third year, but were succeeded by miss laura parmelee, of toledo, ohio, and miss amelia johnson, of enfield, conn., who are carrying forward the work so successfully inaugurated with undiminished success. the colored people have become so impressed with the value of the school that they are contributing to its support with increasing liberality and enthusiasm. as the schools for the freedmen are all suspended during the christmas holidays, a number of teachers and their friends, in other places, had availed themselves of this opportunity to visit andersonville. at a social gathering at the "teachers' home" it was found that, including the visitors, the clerks in the service of the government, and the teachers here, there were present representatives of seven northern states, and all were ready to unite heartily with the freedmen in the celebration of emancipation day. they were miss russell, of maine; miss champney and miss stowell, of massachusetts; miss johnson and misses smith, of connecticut: mr. pond, of rhode island; mr. north, of indiana; mr. haughton, of new york; miss parmelee, of ohio, and rev. dr. h. w. pierson. the committee appointed to make arrangements for the appropriate celebration of the day, anxious to make the fullest possible exhibition of the loyalty of all who were to unite with them in its celebration, determined that it should include ( st,) services in the freedmens' chapel; ( d,) the decoration of the cemetery; and ( d,) the salutation of the "dear old flag," at the depot. all entered with alacrity and delight upon the work of preparation for these services. the colored people ranged the woods to find the choicest evergreens, and the young ladies, with willing hearts and skillful hands wrought the most elaborate and beautiful wreaths from the magnolia, bay, holly, cedar, and other boughs with which they were so bountifully furnished. songs were rehearsed, and all arrangements were duly completed. on new year's morning a deeply interested audience met in the room occupied both for school-room and chapel, and at a. m., mr. floyd snelson, (colored.) president of the day, called the meeting to order, and services were conducted as follows: ( .) singing--"from all that dwell below the skies." ( ) reading the scriptures, by miss johnson, of enfield, connecticut. ( .) prayer, by deacon stickney, (colored) ( .) reading of the emancipation proclamation, by miss parmelee, of toledo, ohio. ( ) singing--"oh, praise and thanks,"--whittier. ( ) address by rev. dr. h. w. pierson. this programme having been carried out, the entire audience was formed into a procession and marched to the cemetery, about half a mile north of us, under the direction of mr. houghton, of brooklyn, new york, marshal of the day. that procession, embracing so many happy freedmen and representatives from so many states, moving with so much order, and bearing such beautiful wreaths, was certainly one of the most impressive and beautiful i have ever seen. i am sure the sight would have melted tens of thousands of hearts could they have looked upon it. onward they marched upon their sacred mission, singing at times most appropriate and beautiful songs: winding down the hillside, crossing upon a single scantling the muddy stream that furnished water for our own prisoners, passing near the rude cabin where the blood-hounds were penned, in full view of the stockades where so many thousands yielded up their lives, moving onward and up the gentle elevation with slow and solemn tread, they at length reached the front (south) entrance of the cemetery, where the procession halted. on the right (east) of the gate is a post and tablet in the form of a cross, bearing this inscription: "national cemetery, andersonville, georgia." on the left (west) of the gate is a similar post and tablet, bearing this inscription: "on fame's eternal camping-ground their silent tents are spread, and glory guards, with solemn round, this bivouac of the dead." a young lady, designated for the purpose, left the procession and hung one of our most beautiful wreaths upon the cross above this inscription. the gates were then thrown open, and the entire procession entered the cemetery. but how shall i describe the scene spread out before us as we entered this solemn, silent city of the nation's dead? the cemetery contains forty-three acres, which are enclosed by a high board fence. it is divided into four principal sections by broad avenues, running north and south, and east and west, intersecting each other at right angles at the center of the grounds. there is a sidewalk and row of young trees on each side of these avenues. and then on either side of these avenues and walks, what fields, what fields of white head-boards, stretching away in long white parallel lines to the north and south, each with its simple record of the name, regiment, and date of death of him who lies beneath it. so they sleep their long sleep, lying shoulder to shoulder in their graves as they had stood together in serried ranks on many a field of battle. resuming our march, and moving up the broad avenue, with rank upon rank, and thousands upon thousands of these solemn sentinels upon either side of us, we find on the left (west) side of the avenue, a tablet with this inscription: "the hopes, the fears, the blood, the tears, that marked the bitter strife, are now all crowned by victory that saved the nation's life." we paused, and hung a wreath above this inscription, and then moved on to a tablet on the right (east) side of the avenue, with this inscription: "whether in the prison drear, or in the battle's van, the fittest place for man to die, is where he dies for man." we hung a wreath here, and again our procession moved forward and halted on the left (west) side of the avenue, at a tablet bearing the inspired words: "then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto god who gave it." here we placed another wreath, and moved onward to a tablet on the right (east) side of the avenue, where we read-- "a thousand battle-fields have drunk the blood of warriors brave, and countless homes are dark and drear, thro' the land they died to save." another wreath was placed here, and we marched to the last tablet in the north of the cemetery, standing in the midst of a section of graves numbering thousands, and inscribed-- "through all rebellion's horrors bright shines our nation's fame, our gallant soldiers, perishing, have won a deathless name." after hanging a wreath here, we marched to the center of the cemetery, and hung our last wreath upon the flag-staff from which the stars and stripes shall ever float above those who died in its defence. it was no place for speech. the surroundings were too solemn. our only other services were to unite in singing "my native country, thee," (america,) and rev. dr. pierson offered prayer. and so we decorated the national cemetery at andersonville, georgia. it was little, very little, we did, but we could not do more, and we dared not do less. here are the graves of , "brave boys," who died as prisoners of war in the stockades. eight hundred and sixty-eight other soldiers have been disinterred and brought here from macon, columbus, eufaula, americus, and other places in georgia, so that now this cemetery numbers , graves. we could not decorate them all, and we dared not decorate those of the states we represented, or of any particular class. we dared not single out any for special honors. we felt that all were worthy of equal honor from us, and from the nation they died to save. and so we decorated the cemetery as a whole, as best we could, and our tribute of affection was bestowed equally upon each one of all these , hallowed graves. and most earnestly did we implore the blessing of almighty god to rest upon our whole country, and upon all the fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, widows, and orphans, whose "dead" we thus attempted to honor. it will gratify the relatives and friends of all those buried here, to know that the nation is watching over their dead with pious care. hundreds of men have been employed in making the improvements already mentioned, and many others i have not time to notice, and a number are still at work. they are planting trees, making and improving walks, placing sod upon the graves, and otherwise beautifying the grounds. but i am detaining my readers too long from what i have already indicated as the third and final part of our programme. day after day the starry banner, the banner of peace ("let us have peace") is thrown to the breeze from the flag staff in front of the office of first lieutenant a. w. corliss, near the andersonville depot. this is the most beautiful sight; indeed, almost the only beautiful sight that greets the vision of a lover of his country here. we wished to give expression to the warm feelings of our own hearts, and also to make a demonstration of our loyalty and love for the flag in the presence of the unusual concourse of people assembled at the station for the business or pleasure of new year's day. our procession was re-formed in the cemetery, and taking the broad avenue that has been constructed by the government from the depot, a distance of about half a mile, we marched slowly back in the same order, and singing beautiful songs, as when we came. a part of the way our procession was in full view of the residents of the place, and the visitors there. fortunately, as we reached the depot, the passenger train arrived from the south, and witnessed our loyal demonstrations. arriving at the flag-staff, the entire procession formed in a circle around it, and sang with enthusiasm mr. william b. bradbury's "see the flag, the dear old flag," with the heart-stirring chorus-- "wave the starry banner high, strike our colors, never! here we stand to live or die, the stripes and stars forever." mr. snelson, the president of the day, then proposed three cheers for the "dear old flag," which were given with a will. three cheers were then proposed for lieutenant corliss and others, which were given in the same hearty manner. other patriotic songs were then sung, and after a brief prayer and the benediction, by rev. dr. pierson, the audience quietly dispersed. so we celebrated emancipation day in andersonville, georgia. to all of us who participated in it, it was a joyful day. we also hope our services may gladden and cheer many other hearts all over our broad land. note.--i may be mistaken in the name of the captain who made the brief visit to andersonville, february , .--see page . i shall regret if i have not properly honored one whose bearing was so gallant and gentlemanly. h. w. p. transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as presented in the original text. the following misprints have been corrected: "aad" corrected to "and" (page ) "confedearte" corrected to "confederate" (page ) "immedately" corrected to "immediately" (page ) "andersonvile" corrected to "andersonville" (page ) "sacreligious" corrected to "sacrilegious" (page ) "govvernment" corrected to "government" (page ) "cherrs" corrected to "cheers" (page ) all other spelling is presented as in the original. when referring to a specific county, the "c" in the word "county" has been capitalized for standard presentation. file was produced from scans of public domain material produced by microsoft for their live search books site.) gabriel tolliver _a story of reconstruction_ by joel chandler harris _author of "uncle remus," "the making of a statesman," etc._ mcclure, phillips & co. new york copyright, , by joel chandler harris _published, october, r_ * * * * * to james whitcomb riley * * * * * contents _prelude_ chapter one _kettledrum and fife_ chapter two _a town with a history_ chapter three _the return of two warriors_ chapter four _mr. goodlett's passengers_ chapter five _the story of margaret gaither_ chapter six _the passing of margaret_ chapter seven _silas tomlin goes a-calling_ chapter eight _the political machine begins its work_ chapter nine _nan and gabriel_ chapter ten _the troubles of nan_ chapter eleven _mr. sanders in his cups_ chapter twelve _caught in a corner_ chapter thirteen _the union league organises_ chapter fourteen _nan and her young lady friends_ chapter fifteen _silas tomlin scents trouble_ chapter sixteen _silas tomlin finds trouble_ chapter seventeen _rhody has something to say_ chapter eighteen _the knights of the white camellia_ chapter nineteen _major tomlin perdue arrives_ chapter twenty _gabriel at the big poplar_ chapter twenty-one _bridalbin follows gabriel_ chapter twenty-two _the fate of mr. hotchkiss_ chapter twenty-three _mr. sanders searches for evidence_ chapter twenty-four _captain falconer makes suggestions_ chapter twenty-five _mr. sanders's riddle_ chapter twenty-six _cephas has his troubles_ chapter twenty-seven _mr. sanders visits some of his old friends_ chapter twenty-eight _nan and margaret_ chapter twenty-nine _bridalbin finds his daughter_ chapter thirty _miss polly has some news_ chapter thirty-one _mr. sanders receives a message_ chapter thirty-two _malvern has a holiday_ chapter thirty-three _gabriel as an orator_ chapter thirty-four _nan surrenders_ gabriel tolliver _prelude_ "cephas! here is a letter for you, and it is from shady dale! i know you will be happy now." for several years sophia had listened calmly to my glowing descriptions of shady dale and the people there. she was patient, but i could see by the way she sometimes raised her eyebrows that she was a trifle suspicious of my judgment, and that she thought my opinions were unduly coloured by my feelings. once she went so far as to suggest that i was all the time looking at the home people through the eyes of boyhood--eyes that do not always see accurately. she had said, moreover, that if i were to return to shady dale, i would find that the friends of my boyhood were in no way different from the people i meet every day. this was absurd, of course--or, rather, it would have been absurd for any one else to make the suggestion; for at that particular time, sophia was a trifle jealous of shady dale and its people. nevertheless, she was really patient. you know how exasperating a man can be when he has a hobby. well, my hobby was shady dale, and i was not ashamed of it. the man or woman who cannot display as much of the homing instinct as a cat or a pigeon is a creature to be pitied or despised. sophia herself was a tramp, as she often said. she was born in a little suburban town in new york state, but never lived there long enough to know what home was. she went to albany, then to canada, and finally to georgia; so that the only real home she ever knew is the one she made herself--out of the raw material, as one might say. well, she came running with the letter, for she is still active, though a little past the prime of her youth. i returned the missive to her with a faint show of dignity. "the letter is for you," i said. she looked at the address more carefully, and agreed with me. "what in the world have i done," she remarked, "to receive a letter from shady dale?" "why, it is the simplest thing in the world," i replied. "you have been fortunate enough to marry me." "oh, i see!" she cried, dropping me a little curtsey; "and i thank you kindly!" the letter was from an old friend of mine--a school-mate--and it was an invitation to sophia, begging her to take a day off, as the saying is, and spend it in shady dale. "your children," the letter said, "will be glad to visit their father's old home, and i doubt not we can make it interesting for the wife." the letter closed with some prettily turned compliments which rather caught sophia. but her suspicions were still in full play. "i know the invitation is sent on your account, and not on mine," she said, holding the letter at arm's length. "well, why not? if my old friend loves me well enough to be anxious to give my wife and children pleasure, what is there wrong about that?" "oh, nothing," replied sophia. "i've a great mind to go." "if you do, my dear, you will make a number of people happy--yourself and the children, and many of my old friends." "he declares," said sophia, "that he writes at the request of his wife. you know how much of that to believe." "i certainly do. imagine me, for instance, inviting to visit us a lady whom you had never met." whereupon sophia laughed. "i believe you'd endorse any proposition that came from shady dale," she declared. she accepted the invitation more out of curiosity than with any expectation of enjoying herself; but she stayed longer than she had intended; and when she came back her views and feelings had undergone a complete change. "cephas, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for not going to see those people," she declared. "why, they are the salt of the earth. i never expected to be treated as they treated me. if it wasn't for your business, i would beg you to go back there and live. they are just like the people you read about in the books--i mean the good people, the ideal characters--the men and women you would like to meet." here she paused and sighed. "oh, i wouldn't have missed that visit for anything. but what amazes me, cephas, is that you've never put in your books characters such as you find in shady dale." the suggestion was a fertile one; it had in it the active principle of a germ; and it was not long before the ferment began to make itself felt. the past began to renew itself; the sun shone on the old days and gave them an illumination which they lacked when they were new. time's perspective gave them a mellower tone, and they possessed, at least for me, that element of mystery which seems to attach to whatever is venerable. it was as if the place, the people, and the scenes had taken the shape of a huge picture, with just such a lack of harmony and unity as we find in real life. let those who can do so continue to import harmony and unity into their fabrications and call it art. whether it be art or artificiality, the trick is beyond my powers. i can only deal with things as they were; on many occasions they were far from what i would have had them to be; but as i was powerless to change them, so am i powerless to twist individuals and events to suit the demands or necessities of what is called art. such a feat might be possible if i were to tell the simple story of nan and gabriel and tasma tid during the days when they roamed over the old bermuda hills, and gazed, as it were, into the worlds that existed only in their dreams: for then the story would be both fine and beautiful. it would be a wonderful romance indeed, with just a touch of tragic mystery, gathered from the fragmentary history of tasma tid, a child-woman from the heart of africa, who had formed a part of the cargo of the yacht _wanderer_, which landed three hundred slaves on the coast of georgia in the last months of . you may find the particulars of the case of the _wanderer_ in the files of the savannah newspapers, and in the records of the united states court for that district; but the tragic history of tasma tid can be found neither in the newspapers nor in the court records. but for this one touch of mystery and tragedy, this chronicle, supposing it to deal only with the childhood and early youth of nan and gabriel, would resolve itself into a marvellous fairy tale, made up of the innocent dreams and hopes and beliefs, and all the extraordinary inventions and imaginings of childhood. and even mystery and tragedy have their own particular forms of simplicity, so that, with tasma tid in the background the tale would be artless enough to satisfy the most artful. for, even if the reader, seated on the magic cloak of some competent story-teller, were transported to the heart of africa, where the mountains, with their feet in the jungle, reach up and touch the moon, or to china, or the islands of the sea, the hero of the tale would be the same. his name is dilly bal, and he carries on his operations wherever there are stars in the sky. he is a restless and a roving creature, flitting to and fro between all points of the compass. when king sun crawls into his trundle bed and begins to snore, dilly bal creeps forth from somewhere, or maybe from nowhere, which is just on the other side, fetching with him a long broom, which he swishes about to such purpose that the katydids hear it and are frightened. they hide under the leaves and are heard no more that night. that is why you never hear them crying and disputing when you chance to be awake after midnight. but dilly bal knows nothing of the katydids; he has his own duties to perform, and his own affairs to attend to; and these, as you will presently see, are very pressing. it is his business, as well as his pleasure, to be the housekeeper of the sky, which he dusts and tidies and puts in order. it is a part of his duty to see that the stars are safely bestowed against the moment when old king sun shall emerge from his tent, and begin his march over the world. and then, in the dusk of the evening, dilly bal must take each star from the bag in which he carries it, polish it bright, and put it in its proper place. sometimes, as you may have observed, a star will fall while dilly bal is handling it. this happens when he is nervous for fear that king sun, instead of going to bed in his tent, has crept back and is watching from behind the cloud mountains. sometimes a star falls quite by accident, as when lucindy or patience drops a plate in the kitchen. you will be sure to know dilly bal when you see him, for, in handling the stars and dusting the sky, his clothes get full of yellow cobwebs, which he never bothers himself to brush off. but dilly bal's most difficult job is with the moon. regularly the moon blackens her face in a vain effort to hide from king sun. if she used smut or soot, dilly bal's task would not be so difficult; but she has found a lake of pitch somewhere in africa, and in this lake she smears her face till it is so black her best friends wouldn't know her. the pitch is such sticky stuff that it is days and days before it can be rubbed off. the truth is, dilly bal never does succeed in getting all the pitch off. at her brightest, the moon shows signs of it. so said tasma tid, and so we all firmly believed. yes, indeed! if this chronicle could be confined to the childhood and youth of those children, dilly bal would be the hero first and last. he was so real to all of us that we used to wander out to the old bermuda fields almost every fine afternoon, and sit there until the light had faded from the sky, watching dilly bal hanging the stars on their pegs. the evening star was such a large and heavy one that dilly bal always replaced it before dark, so as to be sure not to drop it. once when we stayed out in the bermuda fields later than usual, a big star fell from its place, and went flying across the sky, leaving a long and brilliant streamer behind it. at first, nan thought that dilly bal had tried to hang the evening star on the wrong peg, but when she looked in the west, there was the big star winking at her and at all of us as hard as it could. the pity of it was that nan and gabriel, and all their young friends, had finally to come in contact with the hard practical affairs of the world. as for tasma tid, contact had no special influence on her. she was to all appearance as unchangeable as the pyramids, and as mysterious as the sphinx. but it was different with nan and gabriel, and, indeed, with all the rest. their story soon ceased to be a simple one. in some directions, it appeared to be a hopeless tangle, catching a great many other persons in its loops and meshes; so that, instead of a simple, entrancing story, all aglow with the glamour of romance, they had troubles that were grievous, and their full share of dulness and tediousness, which are the essential ingredients of everyday life. after all, it is perhaps fortunate that the marvellous dreams of nan and gabriel, and the quaint imaginings of tasma tid are not to be chronicled. the spinning of this glistening gossamer once begun would have no end, for nan was an expert dreamer both night and day, and in the practice of this art, gabriel was not far behind her; while tasma tid, who was nan's maid and bodyguard, could frame her face in her hands, and tell you stories from sunrise to sundown and far into the night. tasma tid, though she was only a child in stature and nature, was growner in years, as she said, than some of the grownest grown folks that they knew. she was a dwarf by race, and always denied bitterly, sometimes venomously, that she was a negro, declaring that in her country the people were always at war with the blacks. her color was dark brown, light enough for the blood tints to show in her face, and her hair was straight and glossy black. from the _wanderer_, she soon found herself in the slave market at malvern, and there she fell under the eye of dr. randolph dorrington, nan's father, who bought her forthwith. he thought that a live doll would please his daughter. the dwarf said that her name was tasma tid in her country, and she would answer to no other. it was a very fortunate bargain all around, especially for nan, for in the african woman she found both a playmate and a protector. tasma tid was far above the average negro in intelligence, in courage and in cunning. she was as obstinate as a mule, and no matter what obstacles were thrown in her way, her own desires always prevailed in the end, a fact that will explain her early appearance in the slave market. those of her owners who failed to understand her were not willing to see her spoil on their hands, like a barrel of potatoes or a basket of shrimps. the african was uncanny when she chose to be, outspoken, vicious, and tender-hearted, her nature being compounded of the same qualities and contradictions as those which belong to the great ladies of the earth, who, with opportunity always at their elbows, have contrived to create a great stir in the world. when dr. dorrington fetched tasma tid home, he called out to nan from his gig: "i have brought you a live doll, daughter; come and see how you like it." nan went running--she never learned how to walk until she was several years older--and regarded tasma tid with both surprise and sympathy. the african, seeing only the sympathy, leaped from the gig, seized nan around the waist, lifted her from the ground, ran this way and that, and then released her with a loud and joyous laugh. "what do you mean by that?" cried nan, somewhat taken aback. "she stan' fer we howdy," the african answered. "well, let's see you tell popsy howdy," suggested nan, indicating her father. "uh-uh! he we buckra." from that hour tasma tid attached herself to nan, following her everywhere with the unquestioning fidelity of a dog. she sat on the floor of the dining-room while nan ate her meals, and slept on a pallet by the child's bed at night. if the african was sweeping the yard, a task she sometimes consented to perform, she would fling the brushbroom away and go with nan if the child started out at the gate. at first this constant attendance was somewhat annoying to nan, for she was an independent lass; but presently, when she found that tasma tid was a most accomplished and versatile playfellow, as well as the depositary of hundreds of curious fables and quaint tales of the wildwood, nan's irritation disappeared. as for gabriel--gabriel tolliver--he was almost as indispensable as the african woman. children learn a good many things, as they grow older, and i have heard that nan and gabriel were thought to be queer, and that all who were much in their company were also thought to be queer. no one knows why. it was a simple statement, and simple statements are readily believed, because no one takes the trouble to inquire into them. a man who has views different from those of the majority is called eccentric; if he insists on promulgating them, he is known as a crank. in the case of nan and gabriel, it may be said by one who knows, that, while they were different from the majority of children, they were neither queer nor eccentric. they, and those whom they chose as companions, were children at a time when the demoralisation of war was about to begin--when it was already casting its long shadow before it--and when their elders were discussing as hard as ever they could the questions of state rights, the true interpretation of the constitution, squatter sovereignty, the right of secession--every question, in short, except the one at issue. in this way, and for this reason, the two children and their companions were thrown back upon themselves. of those who formed this merry little company, not one went to the academies that had been established in the town early enough to be its most ancient institutions. nan was taught by her father, randolph dorrington, and gabriel and i said our lessons to his grandmother, mrs. lucy lumsden. thus it happened that we were through with our school tasks before the children in the two academies had begun their morning recess. "we would never have been such good friends," said nan on one occasion, "if i hadn't wanted to go to your house, gabriel, to see how your grandmother wavies her hair. i saw cephas, and asked him to go along with me." child as she was, nan had her little vanities. she desired above all things that her hair should fall away from her brow in little rippling waves, like those that shone in the silver-grey hair of gabriel's grandmother. "why, my grandmother doesn't wavie her hair at all," protested gabriel. "of course not," replied nan, with a toss of the hand; "i found that out for myself. and i was very sorry; i want my hair to wavie like hers and yours." "well, if your hair was to wavie like mine," said gabriel, "you'd have a mighty hard time combing it in the morning." "don't you remember," nan went on in a reminiscent way, "that she made you shake hands with me that day? it was funny the way you came up and held out your arm. if i had jumped at you and said _boo!_ i don't know what would have happened." gabriel grew very red at this, but nan ignored his embarrassment. "you had syrup on your fingers, you know, and then we all had some in a saucer. yes, and we all sopped our bread in the same saucer, and cephas here got the syrup on his face and in his hair." it never occurred to me in those days that nan was beautiful, or that gabriel was handsome, but looking back in the light of experience, it is easy to remember that they had in their features all the promises that the long and slow-moving years were to fulfil. i was struck, however, by one peculiarity of nan's face. when her countenance was at rest, it gave out a hint of melancholy, and there was an appealing look in her brown eyes; but when she smiled or laughed, the sombre face broke up into numberless dimples. apart from her countenance, there was a charm about her which i have never been able to trace to its source, and which of course is beyond description; and this charm remained, and made itself felt whether the appearance of melancholy had its dwelling-place in her eyes, which were large, and lustrous, and full of tenderness, or whether her face was brilliant with smiles. she had a deserved reputation as a tomboy, but she carried off her tricksy whims with a daintiness that preserved them from all hint of coarseness; and if sometimes she was rude, she had a way of righting herself that none could resist. as for gabriel, he was always large for his age. he was strong and healthy, possessing every physical excuse for roughness and boisterousness; but association with his grandmother, who was one of the gentlest of gentlewomen, had toned him down and smoothed the rough edges. his hair was dark and curly, and his face gave promise of great strength of character--a promise which, it may be said here, was fulfilled to the letter. he was as whimsical as nan, and, in addition, had moods to which she was a stranger. these things did not occur to cephas the child, but are the fruits of his memory and experience. he only knew at that time that nan and gabriel were both very good to him. he was considerably younger than either of them, and he often wondered then, and has wondered since, why they were such good friends of his, and why they were constantly hunting him up if he failed to make his appearance. perhaps because he was so full of unadulterated mischief. gabriel, with all his gravity, was full of a quaint humour, and nan hunted for cause for laughter in everything; and she was never more beautiful than when this same laughter had shaken her tawny hair about her face. we had travelled widely. nan had been to malvern with her father, and had seen sights--railway trains, omilybuses, as she called them, a great big hotel, and "oodles" of crippled persons; yes, and besides the crippled persons, there was a blind man standing on the corner with a big card hanging from his neck; and that very day, she had eaten "reesins" until she never wanted 'em any more, as she said. gabriel and cephas had not gone so far; but once upon a time, they went to halcyondale, and, among other things, had seen major tomlin perdue kill sparrows with a pistol. nan had been anxious to go with them at the time, but when she heard about the slaughter of the sparrows, she was very glad she had stayed at home, for what did a grown man as old as major perdue want to kill the poor little brown sparrows for? nan's question was never answered. gabriel and cephas had only seen in the transaction the enviable skill of the major; whereas nan thought of nothing but the poor little birds that had been slain for a holiday show. "they may have been singing sparrows, or snow-birds," mourned nan. true enough; but gabriel and cephas had thought of nothing but the skill of the marksman with his duelling pistols. tasma tid also had her point of view. "wey you no fetcha dem lil bud home fer we supper?" she was hardly satisfied when she was told that the little birds, all put together, would have made hardly more than a mouthful. chapter one _kettledrum and fife_ the serene repose of shady dale no doubt stood for dulness and lack of progress in that day and time. in all ages of the world, and in all places, there are men of restless but superficial minds, who mistake repose and serenity for stagnation. no doubt then, as now, the most awful sentence to be passed on a community was to say that it was not progressive. but when you examine into the matter, what is called progress is nothing more nor less than the multiplication of the resources of those who, by means of dicker and barter, are trying all the time to overreach the public and their fellows, in one way and another. this sort of thing now has a double name; it is called civilisation, as well as progress, and those who take things as they find them in their morning newspaper, without going to the trouble to reflect for themselves, are no doubt duly impressed by terms that are large enough to fill both the ear and mouth at one and the same time. well, whatever serene repose stands for, shady dale possessed it in an eminent degree, and the people there had their full share of the sorrows and troubles of this world, as madame awtry, or miss puella gillum, or neighbour tomlin, or even that cheerful philosopher, mr. billy sanders, could have told you; but of these nan and gabriel and cephas knew nothing except in a vague, indefinite way. they heard hints of rumours, and sometimes they saw their elders shaking their heads as they gossiped together, but the youngsters lived in a world of their own, a world apart, and the vague rumours were no more interesting to them than the reports of canals on mars are to the average person to-day. he reads in his newspaper that the markings in mars are supposed to be canals; whereat he smiles and reflects that these canals can do him no harm. nan and gabriel and cephas were as far from contemporary troubles as we are from mars. the most serious trouble they had was not greater than that which they discovered one day on the bermuda hill. as they were sitting on the warm grass, wondering how long before peaches would be ripe, they saw a field mouse cutting up some queer capers. nan was not very friendly with mice, and she instinctively gathered up her skirts; but she did not run; her curiosity was ever greater than her fear. presently we found that the troubles of mother mouse were very real. a tremendous black beetle had invaded her nest, and had seized one of her children, a little bit of a thing, naked and red and about the size of a half-ripe mulberry. we tried hard to rescue the mouse from the beetle, but soon found that it was quite dead. cephas crushed the beetle, which was as venomous-looking a bug as they had ever seen. was the beetle preparing to eat the mouse? tasma tid said yes, but gabriel thought not. his idea was that the mother mouse had attacked the beetle, which was blindly crawling about, and had fallen in the nest accidentally. the beetle, striving to defend itself, had seized the mouse between its pinchers, and held it there until it was quite dead. but the bermuda fields were not the only resource of the children. there were seasons when uncle plato, who was meriwether clopton's carriage-driver, came to town with the big waggon to haul home the supplies necessary for the plantation; loads of bagging and rope; cases of brogan shoes, and hats for the negroes; and bales on bales of osnaburgs and blankets. the appearance of the clopton waggon on the public square was hailed by these youngsters with delight. they always made a rush for it, and, in riding back and forth with uncle plato, they spent some of the most delightful moments of their lives. and then in the fall season, there was the big gin running at the clopton place, with old beck, the blind mule, going round and round, turning the cogged and pivoted post that set the machinery in motion. but the youngsters rarely grew tired of riding back and forth with uncle plato. he was the one person in the world who catered most completely to their whims, who was most responsive to their budding and eager fancies, and who entered most enthusiastically into the regions created and peopled by nan's skittish and fantastic imagination. these children had their critics, as may well be supposed, especially nan, who did not always conform to the rules and theories which have been set up for the guidance of girls; but uncle plato, along with gabriel and cephas, accepted her as she was, with all her faults, and took as much delight in her tricksy and capricious behaviour, as if he were responsible for it all. she and her companions furnished uncle plato with what all story-tellers have most desired since hairy man began to shave himself with pumice-stone, and squat around a common hearth--a faithful and believing audience. uncle �sop, it may be, cared less for his audience than for the opportunity of lugging in a dismal and perfunctory moral. uncle plato, like uncle remus, concealed his behind text and adventure, conveying it none the less completely on that account. not one of his vagaries was too wild for the acceptance of his small audience, and the elusiveness of his methods was a perpetual delight to nan, as hers was to uncle plato, though he sometimes shook his head, and pretended to sigh over her innocent evasions. once when we were all riding back and forth from the clopton place to shady dale, nan asked uncle plato if he could spell. "tooby sho i kin, honey. what you reckon i been doin' all deze long-come-shorts ef i dunner how ter spell? how you speck i kin git 'long, haulin' an' maulin', ef i dunner how ter spell? why, i could spell long 'fo' i know'd my own name." "long-come-shorts, what are they?" asked nan. "rainy days an' windy nights," responded uncle plato, throwing his head back, and closing his eyes. "let's hear you spell, then," said nan. "dee-o-egg, dog," was the prompt response. nan looked at uncle plato to see if he was joking, but he was solemnity itself. "e-double-egg, egg!" he continued. "now spell john a. murrell," said nan. murrell, the land pirate, was one of her favourite heroes at this time. uncle plato pretended to be very much shocked. "why, honey, dat man wuz rank pizen. en spozen he wa'nt, how you speck me ter spell sump'n er somebody which i ain't never laid eyes on? how i gwineter spell johnny murrell, an' him done dead dis many a long year ago?" "well, spell goose, then," said nan, seeing a flock of geese marching stiffly in single file across a field near the road. uncle plato looked at them carefully enough to take their measure, and then shook his head solemnly. "deyer so many un um, honey, dey'd be monstus hard fer ter spell." "well, just spell one of them then," nan suggested. "which un, honey?" "any one you choose." uncle plato studied over the matter a moment, and again shook his head. "uh-uh, honey; dat ain't nigh gwine ter do. ef you speck me fer ter spell goose, you got ter pick out de one you want me ter spell." "well, spell the one behind all the rest." again uncle plato shook his head. "dat ar goose got half-grown goslin's, an' i ain't never larnt how ter spell goose wid half-grown goslin's. you ax too much, honey." "then spell the one next to head." nan was inexorable. "dat ar ain't no goose," replied uncle plato, with an air of triumph; "she's a gander." "i don't believe you know how to spell goose," said nan, with something like scorn. "don't you fool yo'se'f, honey," remarked uncle plato in a tone of confidence. "you git me a great big fat un, not too ol', an' not too young, an' fill 'er full er stuffin', an' bake 'er brown in de big oven, an' save all de drippin's, an' put 'er on de table not fur fum whar i mought be settin' at, an' gi' me a pone er corn bread, an' don't have no talkin' an' laughin' in de game--an' ef i don't spell dat goose, i'll come mighty nigh it, i sholy will. ef i don't spell 'er, dey won't be nuff lef' fer de nex' man ter spell. you kin 'pen' on dat, honey." nan suddenly called uncle plato's attention to the carriage horses, which were hitched to the waggon. she said she knew their names well enough when they were pulling the carriage, but now-- "haven't you changed the horses, uncle plato?" she asked. "how i gwine change um, honey?" "i mean, haven't you changed their places?" "no, ma'am!" he answered with considerable emphasis. "no, ma'am; ef i wuz ter put dat off hoss in de lead, you'd see some mighty high kickin'; you sho would." "oh, let's try it!" cried nan, with real eagerness. "dem may try it what choosen ter try it," responded uncle plato, dryly, "but i'll ax um fer ter kindly le' me git win' er what deyer gwine ter do, an' den i'll make my 'rangerments fer ter be somers out'n sight an' hearin'." "well, if you haven't made the horses swap places," remarked nan, "i'll bet you a thrip that the right-hand horse is named waffles, and the left-hand one battercakes." at once uncle plato became very dignified. "well-'um, i'm mighty glad fer ter hear you sesso, kaze ef dey's any one thing what i want mo' dan anudder, it's a thrip's wuff er mannyfac terbacker. ez fer de off hoss, dat's his name--waffles--you sho called it right. but when it comes ter de lead hoss, anybody on de plantation, er off'n it, i don't keer whar dey live at, ef dey yever so much ez hear er dat lead hoss, will be glad fer ter tell you dat he goes by de name er muffins." he held out his hand for the thrip. "well, what is the difference?" said nan, drawing back as if to prevent him from taking the thrip. "de diffunce er what?" inquired uncle plato. "and you expect me to give you money you haven't won," declared nan. "what's the difference between battercakes and muffins? a muffin is a battercake if you pour three big spoonfuls in a pan and spread it out, and a battercake is a muffin if you pen it up in a tin-thing like a napkin ring. anybody can tell you that, uncle plato--yes, anybody." what reply the old negro would have made to this bit of home-made casuistry will never be known. that it would have been reasonable, if not entirely adequate, may well be supposed, but just as he had given his head a preliminary shake, the rattle of a kettle-drum was heard, and above the rattle a fife was shrilling. the shrilling fife, and the roll and rattle of the drums! these were sounds somewhat new to shady dale in ; but presently they were to be heard all over the land. "i can see dem niggers right now!" exclaimed uncle plato, as we hustled out of his waggon. "riley playin' de fife, green beatin' on de kittledrum, an' ike varner bangin' on de big drum. ef de white folks pay much 'tention ter dem niggers, dey won't be no livin' in de same county wid um. but dey better not come struttin' 'roun' me!" the drums were beating the signal for calling together the men whose names had been signed to the roll of a company to be called the shady dale scouts, and the meeting was for the purpose of organizing and electing officers. all this was accomplished in due time; but meanwhile nan and gabriel and cephas, as well as tasma tid and all the rest of the children in the town, went tagging after the fife and drums listening to riley play the beautiful marching tunes that set nan's blood to tingling. riley was a master hand with the fife, and we had never known it, had never even suspected it! nan thought it was very mean in riley not to tell somebody that he could play so beautifully. well, in a very short time, the company was rigged out in the finest uniforms the children had even seen. all the men, even the privates, had plumes in their hats and epaulettes of gold on their shoulders; and on their coats they wore stripes of glowing red, and shiny brass buttons without number. and at least twice a week they marched through the streets and out into the bermuda fields, where they had their drilling grounds. these were glorious days for the youngsters. nan was so enthusiastic that she organised a company of little negroes, and insisted on being the captain. gabriel was the first lieutenant, and cephas was the second. when the company was ready to take the field, it was discovered that nan would also have to be orderly sergeant and color-bearer. but she took on herself the duties and responsibilities of these positions without a murmur. she wore a paper hat of the true napoleonic cut, and carried in one hand her famous sword-gun, and the colors in the other. the oldest private in nan's company was nine; the youngest was four, and had as much as he could do to keep up with the rest. the uniforms of these sun-seasoned troops was the regulation plantation fatigue dress--a shirt coming to the knees. two or three of the smaller privates had evidently fallen victims to the pot-liquor and buttermilk habits, for their bellies stuck out black and glistening from rents in their shirts. their accoutrements prefigured in an absurd way the resources of the confederacy at a later date. they were armed with broomsticks, and what-not. the file-leader had an old pair of tongs, which he snapped viciously when nan gave the word to fire. the famous sword-gun, with which nan did such execution, had once seen service as an umbrella handle. one afternoon, as nan was drilling her troops, she chanced to glance down the road, and saw a waggon coming along. deploying her company across the highway, she went forward in person to reconnoitre. she soon discovered that the waggon was driven by uncle plato. running back to her veterans, she placed herself in front of them, and calmly awaited events. slowly the fat horses dragged the waggon along, when suddenly nan cried "halt!" whereupon the drummer, obeying previous instructions, began to belabour his tin-pan, while nan levelled her famous sword-gun at uncle plato. "bang!" she exclaimed, and then, "why didn't you fall off the waggon?" she cried, as uncle plato remained immovable. "why, you don't know any more about real war than a baby," she said scornfully. if the truth must be told, uncle plato had been dozing, and when he awoke he viewed the scene before him with astonishment. there was no need to cry "halt!" or exclaim "bang!" for as soon as the drummer began to beat his tin-pan, the horses stood still and craned their necks forward, with a warning snort, trying to see what this strange and unnatural proceeding meant. uncle plato had involuntarily tightened the reins when he was so rudely awakened, and the horses took this for a hint that they must avoid the danger, and, as the shortest way is the best way, they began to back, and had the waggon nearly turned around before uncle plato could tell them a different tale. "ef i'd 'a' fell out'n de waggon, honey, who gwine ter pick me up?" he asked, laughing. "why, no one is picked up in war!" "is dis war, honey?" "of course it is," nan declared. "does bofe sides hafter take part in de rucus?" asked uncle plato, making a terrible face at the little negroes. "why, of course," said nan. seeing the scowl, nan's veteran troops began to edge slowly toward the nearest breach in the fence. uncle plato seized his whip and pretended to be clambering from the waggon. at this a panic ensued, and nan's army dispersed in a jiffy. the seasoned troops dropped their arms and fled. the four-year-old became lost or entangled in a thick growth of jimson weed, seeing which, uncle plato cried out in terrible voice, "ketch um dar! fetch um here!" then and there ensued a wild scene of demoralisation and anarchy; loud shrieks and screams filled the air; the dogs barked, the hens cackled, and the neighbours began to put their heads out of the windows. mrs. absalom, who had charge of the dorrington household, and who had raised nan from a baby, came to the door--the defeat of the troops occurred right at nan's own home--crying, "my goodness gracious! has the yeth caved in?" then, seeing the waggon crosswise the road, and mistaking nan's shrieks of laughter for cries of pain, she bolted from the house with a white face. mrs. absalom's reactions from her daily alarms about nan usually resulted in bringing her into open and direct war with everybody in sight or hearing, except the child; but on this occasion, her fright had been so serious that when nan, somewhat sobered, ran to her the good woman was shaking. "why, nonny!" cried nan, hugging her, "you are all trembling." "no wonder," said mrs. absalom in a subdued voice; "i saw you under them waggon wheels as plain as i ever saw anything in my life. i'm gittin' old, i reckon." and yet there were some people who wondered how nan could endure such a foster-mother as mrs. absalom. but the complete rout of nan's army made no change in the general complexion of affairs. the shady dale scouts continued to perfect themselves in the tactics of war, and after awhile, when the great controversy began to warm up--the children paid no attention to the passage of time--the company went into camp. this was a great hour for the youngsters. here at last was something real and tangible. the marching and the countermarching through the streets and in the old field were very well in their way, but nan and gabriel and the rest had grown used to these man[oe]uvres, and they longed for something new. this was furnished by the camp, with its white tents, and the grim sentinels pacing up and down with fixed bayonets. no one, not even an officer, could pass the sentinels without giving the password, or calling for the officer of the guard. all this, from the children's point of view, was genuine war; but to the members of the company it was a veritable picnic. the citizens of the town, especially the ladies, sent out waggon loads of food every day--boiled ham, barbecued shote, chicken pies, and cake; yes, and pickles. nan declared she didn't know there were as many pickles in the world, as she saw unloaded at the camp. mr. goodlett, who was mrs. absalom's husband, went out to the camp, looked it over with the eye of an expert, and turned away with a groan. this citizen had served both in the mexican and the florida wars, and he knew that these gallant young men would have a rude awakening, when it came to the real tug of war. "doesn't it look like war, mr. ab?" nan asked, running after the veteran. mr. goodlett looked at the bright face lifted up to his, and frowned, though a smile of pity showed itself around his grizzled mouth. he was a very deliberate man, and he hesitated before he spoke. "you think that looks like war?" he asked. "why, of course. isn't that the way they do when there's a war?" "what! gormandise, an' set in the shade? why, it ain't no more like war than sparrergrass is like jimson weed--not one ioter." with that, he sighed and went on his way. but when did the precepts of age and experience ever succeed in chilling the enthusiasm of youth? with the children, it was "o to be a soldier boy!" and nan and her companions continued to linger around the edges of the spectacle, taking it all in, and enjoying every moment. and the scouts themselves continued to live like lords, eating and drilling, and dozing during the day, and at night dancing to the sweet music of flavian dion's violin. nan and gabriel thought it was fine, and, as well as can be remembered, cephas was of the same opinion. as for tasma tid, she thought that the fife and drums, and the general glare and glitter of the affair were simply grand, very much nicer than war in her country, where the arab slave-traders crept up in the night and seized all who failed to escape in the forest, killing right and left for the mere love of killing. compared with the jungle war, this pageant was something to be admired. and many of the older citizens held views not very different from those of the children, for enthusiasm ran high. the shady dale scouts went away arrayed in their holiday uniforms. many of them never returned to their homes again, but those that did were arrayed in rags and tatters. their gallantry was such that the shady dale scouts, disguised as company b, were always at the head of their regiment when trouble was on hand. but all this is to anticipate. chapter two _a town with a history_ before, during, and after the war, shady dale presented always the same aspect of serene repose. it was, as you may say, a town with a history. then, as now, there were towns all about that had no such fortunate appendage behind them to explain their origin. no one could tell what they were begun for; no one could say whether they had for their nucleus an old field or a cross-roads grocery, or whether a party of immigrants pitched their tents there because the grass was fine and the water abundant. there is one city in georgia, and it is the most prosperous of all, that was built on the idea that the cattle-paths and the old government roads afford the most convenient and picturesque contours for the streets; and to this day, the thoroughfares of that city afford a most interesting study to those who are interested in either topography or human nature; for it is possible to go to that city, and, with half an eye, discover the places where the waggons and other vehicles turned aside nearly a hundred years ago to avoid the mudholes, the fallen trees, and other temporary obstructions. they have been preserved in the conformation of the streets. shady dale is no city, and it may be that its public-spirited citizens stretch the meaning of the term when they call it a town. nevertheless, the community has a well-defined history. when raleigh clopton, shortly after the signing of the treaty of peace between the united states and great britain, crossed the oconee, and settled on the lands of the hostile creeks, his friends declared that he was tempting providence; and so it seemed; but the event proved that from first to last, his adventure was under the direct guidance of providence. he demonstrated anew the truth of two ancient maxims: he who risks nothing, gains nothing; heaven helps those who help themselves. raleigh clopton risked everything and gained the most beautiful domain in all the land. he had, indeed, one stormy interview with general mcgillivray, the great creek chief and statesman, but after that all was peace and prosperity. general mcgillivray was one of the most remarkable men of his time, and his time was during an era of remarkable men. he possessed a genius that enabled him to cope successfully with the ablest statesmen of his day. he drew washington into a secret treaty with the creek nation, and when mcgillivray died, the father of his country referred to him as "my friend," and deplored his taking off. courageous and adventurous himself, mcgillivray was no doubt attracted by the attitude and personality of the fearless virginian. he became the warm friend of raleigh clopton, and marked that friendship by deeding to the first white settler two thousand acres of land lying between the little river hills on one side, and the meadows of murder creek on the other. moreover, he named the estate shady dale, and aided raleigh clopton to establish a trading-post where the court-house of the town now stands; and on a pine near by, he caused to be made the semblance of a broken arrow, a token that between the creeks and the master of shady dale a lasting peace had been established. this was the beginning. when the multifarious and long-disputed treaties between the united states and the creek nation had been signed, and a general peace was assured, raleigh clopton communicated with his friends in wilkes, burke, columbia and richmond counties--the choice spirits who had fought by his side in the bloodiest battles of the war for independence--informed them of his good fortune, and invited them to share it. the response was all that he could have desired. his old friends and comrades lost no time in joining him--the dorringtons, the tomlins, the gaithers, the awtrys, the terrells, the odoms, the lumsdens, and, later, the friends and relatives of these. for the most part they were men of substance and character. well, perhaps not all. there are black sheep in every flock, and wherever the nature of adam survives, there we may behold wisdom and folly dancing to the same tune, and sin and repentance occupying the same couch. so it has been from the first, and so it will be to the end. but, take them all in all, making due allowance for the tendencies of human nature, the men and women who responded to the invitation of raleigh clopton may be described as the salt of the earth. they had all, women and men, been subjected to the trials and hardships of a war in which no quarter was asked or given; and their experiences had given them a strength of character, and a versatility in dealing with unexpected events, that could hardly be matched elsewhere. to each of those who responded to his invitation, raleigh clopton gave a part of his domain, and laid out their settlement for them. this was the origin of shady dale. but to set forth its origin is not to describe its beauty, which is of a character that refuses to submit to description. you go down to the old town from the city, and you say to yourself and your friends that you are enjoying the delights of the country. you visit it from the plantations, and you feel that you are breathing the kind of atmosphere that should be found in the social life of a large, refined and perfectly homogeneous community. but whether you go there from the city, or from the plantations, you are inevitably impressed with a sense of the attractiveness of the place; you fall under the spell of the old town--it was old even in the old times of the sixties. and yet if you were called upon to define the nature of the spell, what could you say? what name could you give to the tremulous beauty that hovers about and around the place, when the fresh green leaves of the great trees are fluttering in the cool wind, and everything is touched and illumined by the tender colours of spring? under what heading in the catalogue of things would you place the vivid richness which animates the town and the landscape all around when the summer is at its height? and how could you describe the harmony that time has brought about between the fine old houses and the setting in which they are grouped? all these things are elusive; they make themselves keenly felt, but they do not lend themselves to analysis. it is a pity that those who are interested in traditions that are truer than history could not have all the facts in regard to shady dale from the lips of mr. obadiah tutwiler, who had constituted himself the oral historian of the community. mr. tutwiler was alive as late as , and had at his fingers'-ends all the essential facts relating to the origin and growth of the town, and he related the story with a fluency, an accuracy, and a relish quite surprising in so old a man. as was fitting, the old court-house, the temple of justice, had been reared in the centre of the town, and the square that surrounds it took the shape of a park of considerable dimensions. on two sides were some of the more pretentious dwellings; the tavern, with a few of the more modest houses took up a third side; while the fourth side was taken up by the shops and stores; and so careful had the early settlers been with the trees, that it was possible to stand in a certain upper window of the court-house, and look out upon the town with not a house in sight. naturally, the most interesting feature of shady dale was the clopton place. it had been the home of the first settler, and in , when nan and gabriel were enjoying their happiest days, it was owned and occupied by the son, meriwether clopton. from the time of the first settler, the clopton place had been dedicated and set apart to the uses of hospitality. the deed in which general mcgillivray, in the name of the creek nation, conveyed the domain to raleigh clopton, distinctly sets forth the condition that the clopton place was to be an asylum and a place of refuge for the unfortunate and for those who needed succour. during the long and bloody contests between the white settlers and the creeks, it was the pleasure of the creek chief to pay out of his own private fortune, which was a large one for those days, the ransoms which, under the rules of the tribal organisations, each indian town demanded for the prisoners captured by its warriors. such was the poverty of the whites in general that only occasionally was general mcgillivray reimbursed for his expenditures in this direction. but no matter by whom the ransoms were paid, the prisoners were one and all forwarded to the clopton place, where they were cared for until such time as they could be transferred to the white settlements. in this way hospitality became a habit at the place, and in the years that followed, no wayfarer was ever turned away from those wide doors. in the pleasant weather, it was a familiar spectacle to see meriwether clopton sitting on the wide lawn, reading virgil and horace, two volumes of which he never tired. his favourite seat was in the shade of a silver maple, through the branches of which a grapevine had been trained. this silver maple, with the vine running through it, and the seat in the shade, were a realisation, he once told gabriel and cephas, of one of the most beautiful poems in one of the volumes, but whether virgil or horace, the aforesaid cephas is unable to remember. there were days long to be remembered when the master of clopton place read aloud to the children, translating as he went along, and smacking his lips over the choice of words as though he were tasting a fine quality of wine. and the children felt the charm of these ancient verses; and they soon came to understand why words written down centuries ago, had power to take possession of the mind. they were charged with the qualities that brought them home to the modern hour; and for all that was foreign in them, they might have been composed at shady dale. it is no wonder that the common people in the middle ages clothed virgil with the gift and power of a prophet or a magician. something of the charm that dwelt all about the place had its origin and centre in meriwether clopton himself. his years sat lightly upon him. he had led an active and a temperate life, and a hale and hearty old age was the fruit thereof. he had had his flings, and something more, perhaps, for there were traditions of some very serious troubles in which he had been engaged shortly after reaching his majority. but gabriel's grandmother, who knew--none better--declared that these troubles were not of meriwether clopton's seeking. they were the results of a legacy of feuds which raleigh clopton, through no desire of his own, had left to his son. it was said of raleigh clopton that his sense of justice was as strong as his temper, which was a stormy one. he espoused the cause of young eli whitney, who had been despoiled of his rights in the cotton-gin in georgia, and this led him into a series of difficulties without parallel in the history of the state. raleigh clopton's attitude in this contest brought him in conflict with some of the most powerful men and interests in the commonwealth. it was a contest in which knavery, fraud and corruption, the courts, and considerable private capital, were all combined against whitney, who appeared to be without a strong friend until raleigh clopton became his champion. the collusion of the courts with this high-handed robbery was so ill-concealed that raleigh clopton soon discovered the fact, and his indignation rose to such a white heat that it drove him to excesses. he dragged one judge from a buggy, and plied him with a rawhide, he slapped the face of another in a public house, and posted a dozen prominent men as thieves and corruptionists, with the result that the state fairly swarmed with his enemies, men who were able to keep him busy in the way of troubles and difficulties. it was the day of private feuds, and it was not surprising that some of these enemies should attack the father through the son. thus it fell out that meriwether clopton's experience for half a score of years after he came of age was anything but peaceful. but he came out of all these difficulties with head erect, clean hands and a clear conscience. he was neither hardened nor embittered by the violence with which he had to deal. on the contrary, his character was strengthened and his temper sweetened; so that when the lads who listened to his mellifluous translations from the latin poets, were old enough to appreciate the qualities that go to make up a good man and an influential citizen, the fact dawned upon their minds that meriwether clopton was the finest gentleman they had ever seen. chapter three _the return of two warriors_ when the great contest began, nan was close to thirteen, and gabriel was fourteen. cephas was younger; he had lived hardly as many months as he had freckles on his face, otherwise he would have been an aged citizen. they wandered about together, always accompanied by tasma tid, all of them being children in every sense of the word. occasionally they were joined by some of the other boys and girls; but they were always happier when they were left to themselves. in the late afternoons they could always be found in the bermuda fields, but at other times, especially on a warm day, their favourite playground was under the wide-spreading elms in front of the post-office. amusing themselves there in the fine weather, they could see the people come and go, many of them looking for letters that never came. when the conflict at the front became warm and serious, and when the very newspapers, as mrs. absalom said, smelt of blood, there was always a large crowd of men, old and young, gathered at the post-office when the mail-coach came from malvern. as few of the people subscribed for a daily newspaper, judge odom (he was judge of the inferior court, now called the court of ordinary) took upon himself to mount a chair or a dry-goods box, and read aloud the despatches printed in the malvern _recorder_. this enterprising journal had a number of volunteer correspondents at the front who made it a point to send with their letters the lists of the killed and wounded in the various georgia regiments; and these lists grew ominously long as the days went by. and then, in the course of time, came the collapse of the confederacy, an event that blew away with a breath, as it were, the hopes and dreams of those who had undertaken to build a new government in the south; and this march of time brought about a gradual change in the relations between nan and gabriel. it was almost as imperceptible in its growth as the movement of the shadow on the sun-dial. somehow, and to her great disgust, nan awoke one morning and was told that she was a young woman, or dreamt that she was told. anyhow, she realised, all of a sudden, that she was now too tall for short dresses, and too old to be playing with the boys as if she were one of them; and the consciousness of this change gave her many a bad quarter of an hour, and sometimes made her a trifle irritable; for, sweet as she was, she had a temper. she asked herself a thousand times why she should now begin to feel shy of gabriel, and why she should be so self-conscious, she who had never thought of herself with any degree of seriousness until now. it was all a puzzle to her. as it was with nan, so it was with gabriel. as nan grew shy and shyer, so the newly-awakened gabriel grew more and more and more timid, and the two soon found themselves very far apart without knowing why. for a long time cephas was the only connecting link between them. he was a sly little rascal, this same cephas, and he found in the situation food for both curiosity and amusement. he had not the least notion why the two friends and comrades were inclined to avoid each other. he only knew that he was not having as pleasant a time as fell to his portion when they were all going about together with no serious notions of life or conduct. cephas got no satisfaction from either nan or gabriel when he asked them what the trouble was. nan tried to explain matters, but her explanation was a very lame one. "i am getting old enough to be serious, cephas; and i must begin to make myself useful. that's what miss polly gaither says, and she's old enough to know. oh, i hate it all!" said nan. "is miss polly gaither useful?" inquired cephas. "i'm sure i don't know," replied nan; "but that's what she told me, and then she held up her ear-trumpet for me to talk in it; but i just couldn't, she looked so very much in earnest. it was all i could do to keep from laughing. did you ever notice, cephas, how funny people are when they are really in earnest?" alas! cephas had often pinched himself in sunday-school to keep from laughing at old mrs. crafton, his teacher. she was so dreadfully in earnest that she kept her face in a pucker the whole time. outside of the sunday-school she was a very pleasant old lady. gabriel had no explanation to make whatever. he simply told cephas that nan was becoming vain. this cephas denied with great emphasis, but gabriel only shook his head and looked wise, as much as to say that he knew what he knew, and would continue to know it for some time to come. the truth is, however, that gabriel was as ignorant of the feminine nature as it is possible for a young fellow to be; whereas, nan, by means of the instinct or intuition which heaven has conferred on her sex for their protection, knew gabriel a great deal better than she knew herself. when the war came to a close, gabriel was nearly eighteen, and nan was seventeen, though she appeared to be a year or two younger. she was still childish in her ways and tastes, and carried with her an atmosphere of simplicity and sweetness in which very few girls of her age are fortunate enough to move. simplicity was a part of her nature, though some of her young lady friends used to whisper to one another that it was all assumed. she was even referred to as miss prissy, a term that was probably intended to be an abbreviation of priscilla. regularly, she used to hunt cephas up and carry him home with her for the afternoon; and on the other hand, gabriel manifested a great fondness for the little fellow, who enjoyed his enviable popularity with a clear conscience. it was years and years afterwards before the secret of his popularity dawned on him. if he had suspected it at the time, his pride, such as he had, would have had a terrible fall. one day, it was the year of appomattox, and the month was june, cephas heard his name called, and answered very promptly, for the voice was the voice of gabriel, and it was burdened with an invitation to visit the woods and fields that surrounded the town. the weather itself was burdened with the same invitation. the birds sang it, and it rustled in the leaves of the trees. and cephas leaped from the house, glad of any excuse to escape from the domestic task at which he had been set. they wandered forth, and became a part and parcel of the wild things. the hermit thrush, with his silver bell, was their brother, and the cat-bird, distressed for the safety of her young, was their sister. yea, and the gray squirrel was their playmate, a shy one, it is true, but none the less a genuine one for all that. they roamed about the green-wood, and over the hills and fields, and finally found themselves in the public highway that leads to malvern. cephas found a cornstalk, and with hardly an effort of his mind, changed it into a fine saddle-horse. the contagion seized gabriel, and though he was close upon his eighteenth birthday, he secured a cornstalk, which at once became a saddle-horse at his bidding. the magical powers of youth are wonderful, and for a little while the cornstalk horses were as real as any horses could be. the steed that cephas bestrode was comparatively gentle, but gabriel's horse developed a desire to take fright at everything he saw. a creature more skittish and nervous was never seen, and his example was soon followed by the steed that cephas rode. the two boys were so busily engaged in trying to control their perverse horses, that they failed to see a big covered waggon that came creeping up the hill behind them. so, while they were cutting up their queer capers, the big waggon, drawn by two large mules, was plumb upon them. as for cephas, he didn't care, being at an age when such capers are permissible, but gabriel blushed when he discovered that his childish pranks had witnesses; and he turned a shade redder when he saw that the occupants of the waggon were, of all the persons in the world, mr. billy sanders and francis bethune. both of the boys would have passed on but for the compelling voice of mr. sanders. "why, it's little gabe, and he's little gabe no longer. and cephas ain't growed a mite. hello, gabe! hello, cephas! howdy, howdy?" francis bethune's salutation was somewhat constrained, or if that be too large a word, was lacking in cordiality. "what is the matter with gabriel?" he asked. "it's a thousand pities, frank," remarked mr. sanders, "that sarah clopton wouldn't let you be a boy along with the other boys; but she coddled you up jest like you was a gal. be jigged ef i don't believe you've got on pantalettes right now." bethune blushed hotly, while gabriel and cephas fairly yelled with laughter--and there was a little resentment in gabriel's mirth. "but i don't see what could possess tolliver," bethune insisted. "shucks, frank! you wouldn't know ef he was to write it down for you, an' nan dorrin'ton would know wi'out any tellin'. you ain't a bit brighter about sech matters than you was the day nan give you a thumpin'." at this gabriel laughed again, for he had been an eye-witness to the episode to which mr. sanders referred. a boy has his prejudices, as older persons have theirs. bethune had always had the appearance of being too fond of himself; when other boys of his age were playing and pranking, he would be primping, and in the afternoon, before he went off to the war, he would strut around town in the uniform of a cadet, and seemed to think himself better than any one else. these things count with boys as much as they do with older persons. "climb in the waggin, gabe an' cephas, an' tell us about ever'thing an' ever'body. the yanks didn't take the town off, did they?" the boys accepted the invitation without further pressing, for they were both fond of mr. sanders, and proceeded to give their old friend all the information he desired. francis bethune asked no questions, and gabriel was very glad of it. at bottom, bethune was a very clever fellow, but the boys are apt to make up their judgments from what is merely superficial. francis had a very handsome face, and he could have made himself attractive to a youngster on the lookout for friends, but he had chosen a different line of conduct, and as a result, gabriel had several scores against the young man. and so had cephas; for, on one occasion, the latter had gone to the clopton place for some wine for his mother, who was something of an invalid, and, coming suddenly on sarah clopton, found her in tears. cephas never had a greater shock than the sight gave him, for he had never connected this self-contained, gray-haired woman with any of the tenderer emotions. in the child's mind, she was simply a sort of superintendent of affairs on the clopton place, who, in the early mornings, stood on the back porch of the big house, and, in a voice loud enough to be heard a considerable distance, gave orders to the domestics, and allotted to the field hands their tasks for the day. sarah clopton must have seen how shocked the child was, for she dried her eyes and tried to laugh, saying, "you never expected to see me crying, did you, little boy?" cephas had no answer for this, but when she asked if he could guess why she was crying, the child remembered what he had heard nan and gabriel say, and he gave an answer that was both prompt and blunt. "i reckon frank bethune has been making a fool of himself again," said he. "but how did you know, child?" she asked, placing her soft white fingers under his chin, and lifting his face toward the light. "you are a wise lad for your years," she said, when he made no reply, "and i am sure you are sensible enough to do me a favour. please say nothing about what you have seen. an old woman's tears amount to very little. and don't be too hard on frank. he has simply been playing some college prank, and they are sending him home." the most interesting piece of news that gabriel had in his budget related to the hanging of mr. absalom goodlett by some of sherman's men, when that commander came marching through georgia. it seems that a negro had told the men that mr. goodlett knew where the clopton silver had been concealed, and they took him in hand and tried to frighten him into giving them information which he did not possess. threats failing, they secured a rope and strung him up to a tree. they strung him up three times, and the third time, they went off and left him hanging; and but for the promptness of the negro who was the cause of the trouble, and who had been an interested spectator of the proceedings, mr. goodlett would never have opened his eyes on the affairs of this world again. the negro cut him down in the nick of time, and as soon as he recovered, he sent the darkey with instructions to go after the men, and tell them where they could find the plate, indicating an isolated spot. whereupon mr. goodlett took his gun, and went to the point indicated. the negro carried out his instructions to the letter. he found the men, who had not gone far, pointed out the spot from a safe distance, and then waited to see what would happen. if he saw anything unusual, he never told of it; but the men were never seen again. some of their companions returned to search for them, but the search was a futile one. the negro went about with a frightened face for several days, and then he settled down to work for mr. goodlett, in whom he seemed to have a strange interest. he showed this in every way. "you keep yo' eye on 'im," he used to say to his coloured acquaintances, in speaking of mr. goodlett; "keep yo' eye on 'im, an' when you see his under-jaw stickin' out, des turn you' back, an' put yo' fingers in yo' ears." "you never know," said mr. sanders, in commenting on the story, "what a man will do ontell he gits rank pizen mad, or starvin' hongry, or in love." "what would you do, mr. sanders, if you were in love?" gabriel asked innocently enough. "maybe i'd do as frank does," replied mr. sanders, smiling blandly; "shed scaldin' tears one minnit, an' bite my finger-nails the next; maybe i would, but i don't believe it." "now, i'll swear you ought not to tell these boys such stuff as that!" exclaimed francis bethune angrily. "i don't know about cephas, but tolliver doesn't like me any way." "how do you know?" inquired gabriel. "because you used to make faces at me," replied bethune, half laughing. "why, so did nan," gabriel rejoined. "mine must have been terrible ones for you to remember them so well." the reference to nan struck bethune, and he began to gnaw at the end of his thumb, whereupon mr. sanders smiled broadly. the young man reflected a moment and then remarked, his face a trifle redder than usual; "isn't the young lady old enough for you to call her miss dorrington?" "she is," replied gabriel; "but if she permits me to call her nan, why should any one else object?" there was no answer to this, but presently bethune turned to gabriel and said: "why do you dislike me, tolliver?" for a little time the lad was silent; he was trying to formulate his prejudices into something substantial and sufficient, but the effort was a futile one. while he was silent, bethune regarded him with a curious stare. "honestly," said gabriel, "i can give no reason; and i'm not sure i dislike you. but you always held your head so high that i kept away from you. i had an idea that you felt yourself above me because my grandmother is not as rich as the cloptons." the statement seemed to amaze bethune. "you couldn't have been more than ten or twelve when i left here for the war," he remarked. "yes, i was more than thirteen," gabriel replied. "well, i never thought that a boy so young could have such thoughts," bethune declared. "pooh!" exclaimed mr. sanders; "a fourteen-year-old boy can have some mighty deep thoughts, specially ef he' been brung up in a house full of books, as gabriel was. i hope, gabriel," he went on, "that you'll stick to your cornstalk hoss as long as you want to. you'll live longer for it, an' your friends will love you jest the same. frank here has never been a boy. out of bib an' hippin, he jumped into long britches an' a standin' collar, an' the only fun he ever had in his life he got kicked out of college for, an' served him right, too. i'll bet you a thrip to a pint of pot-licker that nan'll ride a stick hoss tomorrer ef she takes a notion--an' she's seventeen. don't you forgit, gabriel, that you'll never be a boy but once, an' you better make the most on it whilst you can." the waggon came just then to the brow of the hill that overlooked shady dale, and here mr. sanders brought his team to a standstill. it had been many long months since his eyes or bethune's had gazed on the familiar scene. "i'll tell you what's the fact, boys," he said, drawing in a long breath--"the purtiest place this side of paradise lies right yander before our eyes. ef i had some un to give out the lines, i'd cut loose and sing a hime. yes, sirs! you'd see me break out an' howl jest like my old coon dog, louder, used to do when he struck a hot track. the lord has picked us out of the crowd, frank, an' holp us along at every turn an' crossin'. but before the week's out, we'll forgit to be thankful. j'inin' the church wouldn't do us a grain of good. by next sunday week, frank, you'll be struttin' around as proud as a turkey gobbler, an' you'll git wuss an' wuss less'n nan takes a notion for to frail you out ag'in." bethune relished the remark so little that he chirped to the mules, but mr. sanders seized the reins in his own hands. "we've fit an' we've fout, an' we've got knocked out," he went on, "an' now, here we are ready for to take a fresh start. the lord send that it's the right start." he would have driven on, but at that moment, a shabby looking vehicle drew up alongside the waggon. gabriel and cephas knew at once that the outfit belonged to mr. goodlett. his mismatched team consisted of a very large horse and a very small mule, both of them veterans of the war. they had been left by the federals in a broken-down condition, and mr. goodlett found them grazing about, trying to pick up a living. he appropriated them, fed them well, and was now utilising them not only for farm purposes, but for conveying stray travellers to and from malvern, earning in this way many a dollar that would have gone elsewhere. mr. goodlett drew rein when he saw mr. sanders and francis bethune, and gave them as cordial a greeting as he could, for he was a very undemonstrative and reticent man. at that time both gabriel and cephas thought he was both sour and surly, but, in the course of events, their opinions in regard to that and a great many other matters underwent a considerable change. chapter four _mr. goodlett's passengers_ the vehicle that mr. goodlett was driving was an old hack that had been used for long years to ply between shady dale and malvern. on this occasion, mr. goodlett had for his passengers a lady and a young woman apparently about nan's age. there was such a contrast between the two that gabriel became absorbed in contemplating them; so much so that he failed to hear the greetings that passed between mr. goodlett and mr. sanders, who were old-time friends. the elder of the two women was emaciated to a degree, and her face was pale to the point of ghastliness; but in spite of her apparent weakness, there was an ease and a refinement in her manner, a repose and a self-possession that reminded gabriel of his grandmother, when she was receiving the fine ladies from a distance who sometimes called on her. the younger of the two women, on the other hand, was the picture of health. the buoyancy of youth possessed her. she had an eager, impatient way of handling her fan and handkerchief, and there was a twinkle in her eye that spoke of humour; but her glance never fell directly on the men in the waggon; all her attention was for the invalid. mr. goodlett, his greeting over, was for pushing on, but the voice of the invalid detained him. "can you tell me," she said, turning to mr. sanders, "whether the gaither place is occupied? oh, but i forgot; you are just returning from that horrible, horrible war." she had lifted herself from a reclining position, but fell back hopelessly. "why, ab thar ought to be able to tell you that," responded mr. sanders, his voice full of sympathy. "well, i jest ain't," declared mr. goodlett, with some show of impatience. "i tell you, william, i been so worried an' flurried, an' so disqualified an' mortified, an' so het up wi' fust one thing an' then another, that i ain't skacely had time for to scratch myself on the eatchin' places, much less gittin' up all times er night for to see ef the gaither place is got folks or ha'nts in it. when you've been through what i have, william, you won't come a-axin' me ef the gaither house is whar it mought be, or whar it oughter be, or ef it's popylated or dispopylated." the young lady stroked the invalid's hand and smiled. something in the frowning face and fractious tone of the old man evidently appealed to her sense of humour. "don't you think it is absurd," said the pale lady, again appealing to mr. sanders, "that a person should live in so small a town, and not know whether one of the largest houses in the place is occupied--a house that belongs to a family that used to be one of the most prominent of the county? why, of course it is absurd. there is something uncanny about it. i haven't had such a shock in many a day." "but, mother," protested the young lady, "why worry about it? a great many strange things have happened to us, and this is the least important of all." "why, dearest, this is the strangest of all strange things. the driver here says he lives at dorringtons', and the gaither house is not so very far from dorringtons'." "everybody knows," said gabriel, "that miss polly gaither lives in the gaither house." he spoke before he was aware, and began to blush. whereupon the young lady gave him a very bright smile. "humph!" grunted mr. goodlett, giving the lad a severe look. he started to climb into his seat, but turned to gabriel. "is she got a wen?" he asked, with something like a scowl. "yes, she has a wen," replied the lad, blushing again, but this time for mr. goodlett. "well, then, ef she's got a wen, ef polly gaithers is got a wen, she's livin' in that house, bekaze, no longer'n last sat'day, she come roun' for to borry some meal; an' whatsomever she use to have, an' whatsomever she mought have herearter, she's got a wen now, an' i'll tell you so on a stack of bibles as high as the court-house." the young lady laughed, but immediately controlled herself with a half-petulant "oh dear!" laughter became her well, for it smoothed away a little frown of perplexity that had established itself between her eyebrows. "oh, we'll take the young man's word for it," said the invalid, "and we are very much obliged to him. what is your name?" when gabriel had told her, she repeated the name over again. "i used to know your grandmother very well," she said. "tell her margaret bridalbin has returned home, and would be delighted to see her." "then, ma'am, you must be margaret gaither," remarked mr. sanders. "yes, i was margaret gaither," replied the invalid. "i used to know you very well, mr. sanders, and if i had changed as little as you have, i could still boast of my beauty." "yet nobody hears me braggin' of mine, margaret," said mr. sanders with a smile that found its reflection in the daughter's face; "but i hope from my heart that home an' old friends will be a good physic for you, an' git you to braggin' ag'in. anyhow, ef you don't brag on yourself, you can take up a good part of the time braggin' on your daughter." "oh, thank you, sir, for the clever joke. my mother has told me long ago how full of fun you are," said the young lady, blushing sufficiently to show that she did not regard the compliment as altogether a joke. "you may drive on now," she remarked to mr. goodlett. whereupon that surly-looking veteran slapped his mismatched team with the loose ends of the reins, and the shabby old hack moved off toward shady dale. mr. sanders waited for the vehicle to get some distance ahead, and then he too urged his team forward. "the word is home," he said; "i reckon margaret has had her sheer of trouble, an' a few slices more. she made her own bed, as the sayin' is, an' now she's layin' on it. well, well, well! when time an' occasions take arter you, it ain't no use to run; you mought jest as well set right flat on the ground an' see what they've got ag'in you." the remark was not original, nor very deep, but it recurred to gabriel when trouble plucked at his own sleeve, or when he saw disaster run through a family like a contagion. in no long time the waggon reached the outskirts of the town, where the highway became a part of the wide street that ran through the centre of shady dale, flowing around the old court-house in the semblance of a wide river embracing a small island. gabriel and cephas were on the point of leaving the waggon here, but mr. sanders was of another mind. "ride on to dorrin'tons' wi' us," he said. "i want to swap a joke or two wi' mrs. ab." "she's sure to get the best of it," gabriel warned him. "likely enough, but that won't spile the fun," responded mr. sanders. mrs. absalom, as she was called, was the wife of mr. goodlett, and was marked off from the great majority of her sex by her keen appreciation of humour. her own contributions were spoiled for some, for the reason that she gave them the tone of quarrelsomeness; whereas, it is to be doubted whether she ever gave way to real anger more than once or twice in her life. she was dr. randolph dorrington's housekeeper, and was a real mother to nan, who was motherless before she had drawn a dozen breaths of the poisonous air of this world. by the time the waggon reached dorrington's, gabriel, acting on the instructions of mr. sanders, had crawled under the cover of the waggon, and was holding out a pair of old shoes, so that a passer-by would imagine that some one was lying prone in the waggon with his feet sticking out. when the waggon reached the dorrington place, mr. sanders drew rein, and hailed the house, having signed to cephas to make himself invisible. evidently mrs. absalom was in the rear, or in the kitchen, which was a favourite resort of hers, for the "hello" had to be repeated a number of times before she made her appearance. she came wiping her face on her ample apron, and brushing the hair from her eyes. she was always a busy housekeeper. "we're huntin', ma'am, for a place called cloptons'," said mr. sanders in a falsetto voice, his hat pulled down over his eyes; "an' we'd thank you might'ly ef you'd put us on the right road. about four mile back, we picked up a' old snoozer who calls himself william h. sanders, an' he keeps on talkin' about the clopton place." "why, the clopton place is right down the road a piece. what in the world is the matter wi' old billy?" she inquired with real solicitude. "was he wounded in the war, or is he jest up to some of his old-time devilment?" "well, ma'am, from the looks of the jimmyjon we found by his side, he must 'a' shot hisself in the neck. he complains of cold feet, an' he's got 'em stuck out from under the kiver." "don't you worry about that," said mrs. absalom; "the climate will never strike in on old billy's feet till he gits better acquainted wi' soap an' water." "an' he talks in his sleep about a mrs. absalom," mr. sanders went on, "an' he cries, an' says she used to be his sweetheart, but he had to jilt her bekaze she can't cook a decent biscuit." "the old villain!" exclaimed mrs. absalom, with well simulated indignation; "he can't tell the truth even when he's drunk. if he ever sobers up in this world, i'll give him a long piece of my mind. jest drive on the way you've started, an' ef you can keep in the middle of the road wi' that drunken old slink in the waggin, you'll come to cloptons' in a mighty few minutes." at this juncture mr. sanders was obliged to laugh, whereupon, mrs. absalom, looking narrowly at the travellers, had no difficulty in recognising them. "well, my life!" she exclaimed, raising her hands above her head in a gesture of amazement. "why, that's old billy, an' him sober; and franky bethune, an' him not a primpin'! well, well! i'd 'a' never believed it ef i hadn't 'a' seed it. i vow i'm beginnin' to believe that war's a real good thing; it's like a revival meetin' for some folks. i'm sorry ab didn't take his gun an' jine in--maybe he'd 'a' shed his stinginess. but i declare to gracious, i'm glad to see you all; the sight of you is good for the sore eyes. an' frank tryin' to raise a beard! well, honey, i'll send you a bottle of bergamot grease to rub on it." mrs. absalom came out to the waggon and shook hands with the returned warriors very heartily, and, sharp as her tongue was, there were tears in her eyes as she greeted them; for in that region, nearly all had feelings of kinship for their neighbours and friends, and in that day and time, people were not ashamed of their emotions. "margaret gaither has come back," remarked mr. sanders. "ab fetched her in his hack." "well, the poor creetur'!" exclaimed mrs. absalom; "they say she's had trouble piled on her house-high." "she won't have much more in this world ef looks is any sign," mr. sanders replied. "she ain't nothin' but a livin' skeleton, but she's got a mighty lively gal." the waggon moved on and left mrs. absalom leaning on the gate, a position that she kept for some little time. farther down the road, gabriel, whose example was followed by cephas, bade mr. sanders good-bye, nodded lightly to francis bethune, and jumped from the waggon. "wait a moment, tolliver," said bethune. "i want you to come to see me--and bring cephas with you. i am going to make you like me if i can. the home folks have been writing great things about you. oh, you _must_ come," he insisted, seeing that gabriel was hesitating. "i want to show you what a good fellow i can be when i try right hard." "yes, you boys must come," said mr. sanders; "an' ef frank is off courtin' that new gal--i ketched him cuttin' his eye at her--you can hunt me up, an' i'll tell you some old-time tales that'll make your hair stan' on end." chapter five _the story of margaret gaither_ gabriel and cephas started toward their homes, which lay in the same direction. instead of going around by road or street, they cut across the fields and woods. before they had gone very far, they heard a rustling, swishing sound in the pine-thicket through which they were passing, but gave it little attention, both being used to the noises common to the forest. in their minds it was either a rabbit or a grey fox scuttling away; or a poree scratching in the bushes, or a ground-squirrel running in the underbrush. but a moment later, nan dorrington, followed by tasma tid, burst from the pine-thicket, crying, "oh, you walk so fast, you two!" she was panting and laughing, and as she stood before the lads, one little hand at her throat, and the other vainly trying to control her flying hair, a delicious rosiness illuminating her face, gabriel knew that he had just been doing her a gross injustice. as he walked along the path, followed by his faithful cephas, he had been mentally comparing her to a young woman he had just seen in mr. goodlett's hack; and had been saying to himself that the new-comer was, if possible, more beautiful than nan. but now here was nan herself in person, and gabriel's comparisons appeared to be shabby indeed. with nan before his eyes, he could see what a foolish thing it was to compare her with any one in this world except herself. there was a flavour of wildness in her beauty that gave it infinite charm and variety. it was a wildness that is wedded to grace and vivacity, such as we see embodied in the form and gestures of the wood-dove, or the partridge, or the flying squirrel, when it is un-awed by the presence of man. the flash of her dark brown eyes, her tawny hair blowing free, and her lithe figure, with the dark green pines for a background, completed the most charming picture it is possible for the mind to conceive. all that gabriel was conscious of, beyond a dim surprise that nan should be here--the old nan that he used to know--was a sort of dawning thrill of ecstasy as he contemplated her. he stood staring at her with his mouth open. "why do you look at me like that, gabriel?" she cried; "i am no ghost. and why do you walk so fast? i have been running after you as hard as i can. and, wasn't that francis bethune in the waggon with mr. sanders?" "did you run hard just to ask me that? mrs. absalom could have saved you all this trouble." the mention of bethune's name had brought gabriel to earth, and to commonplace thoughts again. "yes, that was master bethune, and he has grown to be a very handsome young man." "oh, he was always good-looking," said nan lightly. "where are you and cephas going?" "straight home," replied gabriel. "well, i'm going there, too. i heard nonny" (this was mrs. absalom) "say that margaret gaither has come home again, and then i remembered that your grandmother promised to tell me a story about her some day. i'm going to tease her to-day until she tells it." "and didn't mrs. absalom tell you that bethune was in the waggon with mr. sanders?" gabriel inquired, in some astonishment. "oh, gabriel! you are so--" nan paused as if hunting for the right term or word. evidently she didn't find it, for she turned to gabriel with a winning smile, and asked what mr. sanders had had to say. "i'm so glad he's come i don't know what to do. i wouldn't live in a town that didn't have its mr. sanders," she declared. "well, about the first thing he said was to remind bethune of the time when you whacked him over the head with a cudgel." "and what did master francis say to that?" inquired nan, with a laugh. "why, what could he say? he simply turned red. now, if it had been me, i----" the path was so narrow, that nan, the two lads, and tasma tid were walking in indian file. nan stopped so suddenly and unexpectedly that gabriel fell against her. as he did so, she turned and seized him by the arm, and emphasised her words by shaking him gently as each was uttered. "now--gabriel--don't--say--disagreeable--things!" what she meant he had not the least idea, and it was not the first nor the last time that his wit lacked the nimbleness to follow and catch her meaning. "disagreeable!" he exclaimed. "why, i was simply going to say that if i had been in bethune's shoes to-day, i should have declared that you did the proper thing." nan dropped a low curtsey, saying, "oh, thank you, sir--what was the gentleman's name, cephas--the gentleman who was such a cavalier?" "was he a frenchman?" asked cephas. "oh, cephas! you should be ashamed. you have as little learning as i." with that she turned and went along the path at such a rapid pace that it was as much as the lads could do to keep up with her, without breaking into an undignified trot. nan went home with gabriel; was there before him indeed, for he paused a moment to say something to cephas. she ran along the walk, took the steps two at a time, and as she ran skipping along the hallway, she cried out: "grandmother lumsden! where are you? oh, what do you think? margaret gaither has come home!" when gabriel entered the room, nan had fetched a footstool, and was already sitting at mrs. lumsden's feet, holding one of the old lady's frail, but beautiful white hands. here was another picture, the beauty of which dawned on gabriel later--youth and innocence sitting at the feet of sweet and wholesome old age. the lad was always proud of his grandmother, but never more so than at that moment when her beauty and refinement were brought into high relief by her attitude toward nan dorrington. gabriel was very happy to be near those two. not for a weary time had nan been so friendly and familiar as she was now, and he felt a kind of exaltation. "margaret gaither! margaret gaither!" gabriel's grandmother repeated the name as if trying to summon up some memory of the past. "poor girl! did you see her, gabriel? and how did she look?" with a boy's bluntness, he described her physical condition, exaggerating, perhaps, its worst features, for these had made a deep impression on him. "oh, i'm so sorry for her! and she has a daughter!" said mrs. lumsden softly. "i will call on them as soon as possible. and then if poor margaret is unable to return the visit, the daughter will come. and you must be here, nan; gabriel will fetch you. and you, gabriel--for once you must be polite and agreeable. candace shall brush up your best suit, and if it is to be mended, i will mend it." nan and gabriel laughed at this. both knew that this famous best suit would not reach to the lad's ankles, and that the sleeves of the coat would end a little way below the elbow. "i can't imagine what you are laughing at," said mrs. lumsden, with a faint smile. "i am sure the suit is a very respectable one, especially when you have none better." "no, grandmother lumsden; gabriel will have to take his tea in the kitchen with aunt candace." however, the affair never came off. the dear old lady, in whom the social instinct was so strong, had no opportunity to send the invitation until long afterward. nan was compelled to beg very hard for the story of margaret gaither. it was never the habit of gabriel's grandmother to indulge in idle gossip; she could always find some excuse for the faults of those who were unfortunate; but nan had the art of persuasion at her tongue's end. whether it was this fact or the fact that mrs. lumsden believed that the story carried a moral that nan would do well to digest, it would be impossible to say. at any rate, the youngsters soon had their desire. the story will hardly bear retelling; it can be compressed into a dozen lines, and be made as uninteresting as a newspaper paragraph; but, as told by gabriel's grandmother, it had the charm which sympathy and pity never fail to impart to a narrative. when it came to an end, nan was almost in tears, though she could never tell why. "it happened, nan, before you and gabriel were born," said mrs. lumsden. "margaret gaither was one of the most beautiful girls i have ever seen, and at that time pulaski tomlin was one of the handsomest young men in all this region. naturally these two were drawn together. they were in love with each other from the first, and, finally, a day was set for the wedding. they were to have been married in november, but one night in october, the tomlin place was found to be on fire. the flames had made considerable headway before they were discovered, and, to me, it was a most horrible sight. yet, horrible as it was, there was a fascination about it. the sweeping roar of the flames attracted me and held me spellbound, but i hope i shall never be under such a spell again. "well, it was impossible to save the house, and no one attempted such a preposterous feat. it was all that the neighbours could do to prevent the spread of the flames to the nearby houses. some of the furniture was saved, but the house was left to burn. all of a sudden, fanny tomlin----" "you mean aunt fanny?" interrupted nan. "yes, my dear. all of a sudden fanny tomlin remembered that her mother's portrait had been left hanging on the wall. without a word to any one she ran into the house. how she ever passed through the door safely, i never could understand, for every instant, it seemed to me, great tongues and sheets of flame were darting across it and lapping and licking inward, as if trying to force an entrance. you may be sure that we who were looking on, helpless, held our breaths when fanny tomlin disappeared through the doorway. pulaski tomlin was not a witness to this performance, but he was quickly informed of it; and then he ran this way and that, like one distraught. twice he called her name, and his voice must have been heard above the roar of the flames, for presently she appeared at an upper window, and cried out, 'what is it, brother?' 'come down! come out!' he shouted. 'i'm afraid i can't,' she answered; and then she waved her hand and disappeared, after trying vainly to close the blinds. "but no sooner had pulaski tomlin caught a glimpse of his sister, and heard her voice, than he lowered his head like an angry bull, and rushed through the flames that now had possession of the door. i, for one, never expected to see him again; and i stood there frightened, horrified, fascinated, utterly helpless. oh, when you go through a trial like that, my dear," said mrs. lumsden, stroking nan's hair gently, "you will realise how small and weak and contemptible human beings are when they are engaged in a contest with the elements. there we stood, helpless and horror-stricken, with two of our friends in the burning house, which was now almost completely covered with the roaring flames. what thoughts i had i could never tell you, but i wondered afterward that i had not become suddenly grey. "we waited an age, it seemed to me. major tomlin perdue, of halcyondale, who happened to be here at the time, was walking about wringing his hands and crying like a child. up to that moment, i had thought him to be a hard and cruel man, but we can never judge others, not even our closest acquaintances, until we see them put to the test. suddenly, i heard major perdue cry, 'ah!' and saw him leap forward as a wild animal leaps. "through the doorway, which was now entirely covered with a roaring flame, a blurred and smoking figure had rushed--a bulky, shapeless figure, it seemed--and then it collapsed and fell, and lay in the midst of the smoke, almost within reach of the flames. but major perdue was there in an instant, and he dragged the shapeless mass away from the withering heat and stifling smoke. after this, he had more assistance than was necessary or desirable. "'stand back!' he cried; and his voice had in it the note that men never fail to obey. 'stand back there! where is dorrington? why isn't he here?' your father, my dear, had gone into the country to see a patient. he was on his way home when he saw the red reflection of the flames in the sky, and he hastened as rapidly as his horse could go. he arrived just in the nick of time. he heard his name called as he drove up, and was prompt to answer. 'make way there!' commanded major perdue; 'make way for dorrington. and you ladies go home! there's nothing you can do here.' then i heard fanny tomlin call my name, and major perdue repeated in a ringing voice, 'lucy lumsden is wanted here!' "i don't know how it was, but every command given by major perdue was obeyed promptly. the crowd dispersed at once, with the exception of two or three, who were detailed to watch the few valuables that had been saved, and a few men who lingered to see if they could be of any service. "pulaski tomlin had been kinder to his sister than to himself. only the hem of her dress was scorched. it may be absurd to say so, but that was the first thing i noticed; and, in fact, that was all the injury she had suffered. her brother had found her unconscious on a bed, and he simply rolled her in the quilts and blankets, and brought her downstairs, and out through the smoke and flame to the point where he fell. fanny has not so much as a scar to show. but you can look at her brother's face and see what he suffered. when they lifted him into your father's buggy, his outer garments literally crumbled beneath the touch, and one whole side of his face was raw and bleeding. "but he never thought of himself, though the agony he endured must have been awful. his first word was about his sister: 'is fanny hurt?' and when he was told that she was unharmed, he closed his eyes, saying, 'don't worry about me.' we brought him here--it was fanny's wish--and by the time he had been placed in bed, the muscles of his mouth were drawn as you see them now. there was nothing to do but to apply cold water, and this was done for the most part by major perdue, though both fanny and i were anxious to relieve him. i never saw a man so devoted in his attentions. he was absolutely tireless; and i was so struck with his tender solicitude that i felt obliged to make to him what was at once a confession and an apology. 'i once thought, major perdue, that you were a hard and cruel man,' said i, 'but i'll never think so again.' "'but why did you think so in the first place?' he asked. "'well, i had heard of several of your shooting scrapes,' i replied. "he regarded me with a smile. 'there are two sides to everything, especially a row,' he said. 'i made up my mind when a boy that turn-about is fair play. when i insult a man, i'm prepared to take the consequences; yet i never insulted a man in my life. the man that insults me must pay for it. women may wipe their feet on me, and children may spit on me; but no man shall insult me, not by so much as the lift of an eyelash, or the twitch of an upper-lip. pulaski here has done me many a favour, some that he tried to hide, and i'd never get through paying him if i were to nurse him night and day for the rest of my natural life. in some things, ma'am, you'll find me almost as good as a dog.' "i must have given him a curious stare," continued mrs. lumsden, "for he laughed softly, and remarked, 'if you'll think it over, ma'am, you'll find that a dog has some mighty fine qualities.' and it is true." "but what about margaret gaither?" inquired nan, who was determined that the love-story should not be lost in a wilderness of trifles--as she judged them to be. "poor margaret!" murmured gabriel's grandmother. "i declare! i had almost forgotten her. well, bright and early the next morning, margaret came and asked to see pulaski tomlin. i left her in the parlour, and carried her request to the sick-room. "'brother,' said fanny, 'margaret is here, and wants to see you. shall she come in?' "i saw pulaski clench his hands; his bosom heaved and his lips quivered. 'not for the world!' he exclaimed; 'oh, not for the world!' "'i can't tell her that,' said i. 'nor i,' sobbed fanny, covering her face with her hands. 'oh, it will kill her!' "major perdue turned to me, his eyes wet. 'do you know why he doesn't want her to see him?' i could only give an affirmative nod. 'do you know, fanny?' she could only say, 'yes, yes!' between her sobs. 'it is for her sake alone; we all see that,' declared major perdue. 'now, then,' he went on, touching me on the arm, 'i want you to see how hard a hard man can be. show me where the poor child is.' "i led him to the parlour door. he stood aside for me to enter first, but i shook my head and leaned against the door for support. 'this is miss gaither?' he said, as he entered alone. 'my name is perdue--tomlin perdue. we are very sorry, but no one is permitted to see pulaski, except those who are nursing him.' 'that is what i am here for,' she said, 'and no one has a better right. i am to be his wife; we are to be married next month.' 'it is not a matter of right, miss gaither. are you prepared to sustain a very severe shock?' 'why, what--what is the trouble?' 'can you not conceive a reason why you should not see him now--at this time, and for many days to come?' 'i cannot,' she replied haughtily. 'that, miss gaither, is precisely the reason why you are not to see him now,' said major perdue. his tone was at once humble and tender. 'i don't understand you at all,' she exclaimed almost violently. 'i tell you i will see him; i'll beat upon the wall; i'll lie across the door, and compel you to open it. oh, why am i treated so and by his friends!' she flung herself upon a sofa, weeping wildly; and there i found her, when, a moment later, i entered the room in response to a gesture from major perdue. "whether she glanced up and saw me, or whether she divined my presence, i could never guess," gabriel's grandmother went on, "but without raising her face, she began to speak to me. 'this is your house, miss lucy,' she said--she always called me miss lucy--'and why can't i, his future wife, go in and speak to pulaski; or, at the very least, hold his hand, and help you and fanny minister to his wants?' i made her no answer, for i could not trust myself to speak; i simply sat on the edge of the sofa by her, and stroked her hair, trying in this mute way to demonstrate my sympathy. she seemed to take some comfort from this, and finally put her request in a different shape. would i permit her to sit in a chair near the door of the room in which pulaski lay, until such time as she could see him? 'i will give you no trouble whatever,' she said. 'i am determined to see him,' she declared; 'he is mine, and i am his.' i gave a cordial assent to this proposition, carried a comfortable chair and placed it near the door, and there she stationed herself. "i went into the room where the others were, and was surprised to see fanny tomlin looking so cheerful. even major perdue appeared to be relieved. fanny asked me a question with her eyes, and i answered it aloud. 'she is sitting by the door, and says she will remain there until she can see pulaski.' he beat his hand against the headboard of the bed, his mental agony was so great, and kept murmuring to himself. major perdue turned his back on his friend's writhings, and went to the window. presently he returned to the bedside, his watch in his hand. 'pulaski,' he said, 'if she's there fifteen minutes from now, i shall invite her in.' pulaski tomlin made no reply, and we continued our ministrations in perfect silence. "a few minutes later, i had occasion to go into my own room for a strip of linen, and to my utter amazement, the chair i had placed for margaret gaither was empty. had she gone for a drink of water, or for a book? i went from room to room, calling her name, but she had gone; and i have never laid eyes on her from that day to this. she went away to malvern on a visit, and while there eloped with a louisiana man named bridalbin, whose reputation was none too savoury, and we never heard of her again. even her aunt polly lost all trace of her." "what did mr. tomlin say when you told him she was gone?" nan inquired. "we never told him. i think he understood that she was gone almost as soon as she went, for his spiritual faculties are very keen. i remember on one occasion, and that not so very long ago, when he refused to retire at night, because he had a feeling that he would be called for; and his intuitions were correct. he was summoned to the bedside of one of his friends in the country, and, as he went along, he carried your father with him. margaret gaither, such as she was, was the sum and the substance of his first and last romance. he suffered, but his suffering has made him strong. "yes," mrs. lumsden went on, "it has made him strong and great in the highest sense. do you know why he is called neighbour tomlin? it is because he loves his neighbours as he loves himself. there is no sacrifice that he will not make for them. the poorest and meanest person in the world, black or white, can knock at neighbour tomlin's door any hour of the day or night, and obtain food, money or advice, as the case may be. if his wife or his children are ill, neighbour tomlin will get out of bed and go in the cold and rain, and give them the necessary attention. to me, there never was a more beautiful countenance in the world than neighbour tomlin's poor scarred face. but for that misfortune we should probably never have known what manner of man he is. the providence that urged margaret gaither to fly from this house was arranging for the succour of many hundreds of unfortunates, and pulaski tomlin was its instrument." "if i had been margaret gaither," said nan, clenching her hands together, "i never would have left that door. never! they couldn't have dragged me away. i've never been in love, i hope, but i have feelings that tell me what it is, and i never would have gone away." "well, we must not judge others," said gabriel's grandmother gently. "poor margaret acted according to her nature. she was vain, and lacked stability, but i really believe that providence had a hand in the whole matter." "i know i'm pretty," remarked nan, solemnly, "but i'm not vain." "why, nan!" exclaimed mrs. lumsden, laughing; "what put in your head the idea that you are pretty?" "i don't mean my own self," explained nan, "but the other self that i see in the glass. she and i are very good friends, but sometimes we quarrel. she isn't the one that would have stayed at the door, but my own, own self." mrs. lumsden looked at the girl closely to see if she was joking, but nan was very serious indeed. "i'm sure i don't understand you," said gabriel's grandmother. "gabriel does," replied nan complacently. gabriel understood well enough, but he never could have explained it satisfactorily to any one who was unfamiliar with nan's way of putting things. "well, you are certainly a pretty girl, nan," gabriel's grandmother admitted, "and when you and francis bethune are married, you will make a handsome pair." "when francis bethune and i are married!" exclaimed nan, giving a swift side-glance at gabriel, who pretended to be reading. "why, what put such an idea in your head, grandmother lumsden?" "why, it is on the cards, my dear. it is what, in my young days, they used to call the proper caper." "well, when frank and i are to be married, i'll send you a card of invitation so large that you will be unable to get it in the front door." she rose from the footstool, saying, "i must go home; good-bye, everybody; and send me word when you have chocolate cake." this was so much like the nan who had been his comrade for so long that gabriel felt a little thrill of exultation. a little later he asked his grandmother what she meant by saying that it was on the cards for nan to marry bethune. "why, i have an idea that the matter has already been arranged," she answered with a knowing smile. "it would be so natural and appropriate. you are too young to appreciate the wisdom of such arrangements, gabriel, but you will understand it when you are older. nan is not related in any way to the cloptons, though a great many people think so. her grandmother was captured by the creeks when only a year or two old. she was the only survivor of a party of seven which had been ambushed by the indians. she was too young to give any information about herself. she could say a few words, and she knew that her name was rosalind, but that was all. she was ransomed by general mcgillivray, and sent to shady dale. under the circumstances, there was nothing for raleigh clopton to do but adopt her. thus she became rosalind clopton. she married benier odom when, as well as could be judged, she was more than forty years old. randolph dorrington married her daughter, who died when nan was born. marriage, gabriel, is not what young people think it is; and i do hope that when you take a wife, it will be some one you have known all your life." "i hope so, too," gabriel responded with great heartiness. chapter six _the passing of margaret_ the day after the return of mr. sanders and francis bethune from the war, gabriel's grandmother had an early caller in the person of miss fanny tomlin. for a maiden lady, miss fanny was very plump and good-looking. her hair was grey, and she still wore it in short curls, just as she had worn it when a girl. the style became her well. the short curls gave her an air of jauntiness, which was in perfect keeping with her disposition, and they made a very pretty frame for her rosy, smiling face. socially, she was the most popular person in the town, with both young and old. a children's party was a dull affair in shady dale without miss fanny to give it shape and form, to suggest games, and to make it certain that the timid ones should have their fair share of the enjoyment. indeed, the community would have been a very dull one but for miss fanny; in return for which the young people conferred the distinction of kinship on her by calling her aunt fanny. she had remained single because her youngest brother, pulaski, was unmarried, and needed some one to take care of him, so she said. but she had another brother, silas tomlin, who was twice a widower, and who seemed to need some one to take care of him, for he presented a very mean and miserable appearance. it chanced that when miss fanny called, gabriel was studying his lessons, using the dining-room table as a desk, and he was able to hear the conversation that ensued. miss fanny stood on no ceremony in entering. the front door was open and she entered without knocking, saying, "if there's nobody at home i'll carry the house away. where are you, lucy?" "in my room, fanny; come right in." "how are you, and how is the high and mighty gabriel?" having received satisfactory answers to her friendly inquiries, miss fanny plunged at once into the business that had brought her out so early. "what do you think, lucy? margaret gaither and her daughter have returned. they are at the gaither place, and miss polly has just told me that there isn't a mouthful to eat in the house--and there is margaret at the point of death! why, it is dreadful. something must be done at once, that's certain. i wouldn't have bothered you, but you know what the circumstances are. i don't know what margaret's feelings are with respect to me; you know we never were bosom friends. yet i never really disliked her, and now, after all that has happened, i couldn't bear to think that she was suffering for anything. likely enough she would be embarrassed if i called and offered assistance. what is to be done?" "wouldn't it be best for some one to call--some one who was her friend?" the cool, level voice of gabriel's grandmother seemed to clear the atmosphere. "whatever is to be done should be done sympathetically. if i could see polly, there would be no difficulty." "well, i saw miss polly," said miss fanny, "and she told me the whole situation, and i was on the point of saying that i'd run back home and send something over, when an upper window was opened, and margaret gaither's daughter stood there gazing at me--and she's a beauty, lucy; there's a chance for gabriel there. well, you know how deaf miss polly is; if i had said what i wanted to say, that child would have heard every word, and there was something in her face that held me dumb. miss polly talked and i nodded my head, and that was all. the old soul must have thought the cat had my tongue." miss fanny laughed uneasily as she made the last remark. "if margaret is ill, she should have attention. i will go there this morning." this was mrs. lumsden's decision. "i'll send the carriage for you as soon as i can run home," said miss fanny. with that she rose to go, and hustled out of the room, but in the hallway she turned and remarked: "tell gabriel that he will have to lengthen his suspenders, now that nan has put on long dresses." "oh, no!" protested mrs. lumsden. "we mustn't put any such nonsense in gabriel's head. nan is for francis bethune. if it isn't all arranged it ought to be. why, the land of dorrington joins the land that bethune will fall heir to some day, and it seems natural that the two estates should become one." gabriel's grandmother had old-fashioned ideas about marriage. "oh, i see!" replied miss fanny with a laugh; "you are so intent on joining the two estates in wedlock that you take no account of the individuals. but brother pulaski says that for many years to come, the more land a man has the poorer he will become." "upon my word, i don't see how that can be," responded mrs. lumsden. this was the first faint whiff of the new order that had come to the nostrils of the dear old lady. miss fanny went home, and in no long time neighbour tomlin's carriage came to the door. at the last moment, mrs. lumsden decided that gabriel should go with her. "it may be necessary for you to go on an errand. i presume there are servants there, but i don't know whether they are to be depended on." so gabriel helped his grandmother into the carriage, climbed in after her, and in a very short time they were at the gaither place. the young woman whom gabriel had seen in mr. goodlett's hack was standing in the door, and the little frown on her forehead was more pronounced than ever. she was evidently troubled. "good-morning," said mrs. lumsden. "i have come to see margaret. does she receive visitors?" "my name is margaret, too," said the young woman, after returning mrs. lumsden's salutation, and bowing to gabriel. "but of course you came to see my mother. she is upstairs--she would be carried there, though i begged her to take one of the lower rooms. she is in the room in which she was born." "i know the way very well," said mrs. lumsden. she was for starting up the stairway, but the young woman detained her by a gesture and turned to gabriel. "won't you come in?" she inquired. "we are old acquaintances, you know. your name is gabriel--wait!--gabriel tolliver. don't you see how well i know you? come, we'll help your grandmother up the stairs." this they did--the girl with the firm and practised hand of an expert, and gabriel with the awkwardness common to young fellows of his age. the young woman led mrs. lumsden to her mother's bedside, and presently came back to gabriel. "we will go down now, if you please," she said. "my mother is very ill--worse than she has ever been--and you can't imagine how lonely i am. mother is at home here, while my home, if i have any, is in louisiana. i suppose you never had any trouble?" "my mother is dead," he said simply. margaret reached out her hand and touched him gently on the arm. it was a gesture of impulsive sympathy. "what is it?" gabriel asked, thinking she was calling his attention to something she saw or heard. "nothing," she said softly. gabriel understood then, and he could have kicked himself for his stupidity. "your grandmother is a very beautiful old lady," she remarked after a period of silence. "she is very good to me," gabriel replied, at a loss what to say, for he always shrank from praising those near and dear to him. as he sat there, he marvelled at the self-possession of this young woman in the midst of strangers, and with her mother critically ill. in a little while he heard his grandmother calling him from the head of the stairs. "gabriel, jump in the carriage and fetch dr. dorrington at once. he's at home at this hour." he did as he was bid, and nan, who was coming uptown on business of her own, so she said, must needs get in the carriage with her father. the combination was more than gabriel had bargained for. there was a twinkle in dr. dorrington's eye, as he glanced good-humouredly from one to the other, that gabriel did not like at all. for some reason or other, which he was unable to fathom, the young man was inclined to fight shy of nan's father; and there was nothing he liked less than to find himself in dr. dorrington's company--more especially when nan was present, too. noting the quizzical glances of the physician, gabriel, like a great booby, began to blush, and in another moment, nan was blushing, too. "now, father"--she only called him father when she was angry, or dreadfully in earnest--"now, father! if you begin your teasing, i'll jump from the carriage. i'll not ride with a grown man who doesn't know how to behave in his daughter's company." her father laughed gaily. "teasing? why, i wasn't thinking of teasing. i was just going to remark that the weather is very warm for the season, and then i intended to suggest to gabriel that, as i proposed to get you a blue parasol, he would do well to get him a red one." "and why should gabriel get a parasol?" nan inquired with a show of indignation. "why, simply to be in the fashion," her father replied. "i remember the time when you cried for a hat because gabriel had one; i also remember that once when you were wearing a sun-bonnet, gabriel borrowed one and wore it--and a pretty figure he cut in it." "i don't see how you can remember it," said gabriel laughing and blushing. "well, i don't see how in the world i could forget it," dr. dorrington responded in tone so solemn that nan laughed in spite of her uncomfortable feelings. "you say margaret gaither has a daughter, gabriel?" said dr. dorrington, suddenly growing serious, much to the relief of the others. "and about nan's age? well, you will have to go in with me, daughter, and see her. if her mother is seriously ill, it will be a great comfort to her to have near her some one of her own age." nan made a pretty little mouth at this command, to show that she didn't relish it, but otherwise she made no objection. indeed, as matters fell out, it became almost her duty to go in to margaret bridalbin; for when the carriage reached the house, the young girl was standing at the gate. "is this dr. dorrington? well, you are to go up at once. they are constantly calling to know if you have come. i don't know how my dearest is--i dread to know. oh, i am sure you will do what you can." there was an appeal in the girl's voice that went straight to the heart of the physician. "you may make your mind easy on that score, my dear," said dr. dorrington, laying his hand lightly on her shoulder. there was something helpful and hopeful in the very tone of his voice. "this is my daughter nan," he added. margaret turned to nan, who was lagging behind somewhat shyly. "will you please come in?--you and gabriel tolliver. it is very lonely here, and everything is so still and quiet. my name is margaret bridalbin," she said. she took nan's hand, and looked into her eyes as if searching for sympathy. and she must have found it there, for she drew nan toward her and kissed her. that settled it for nan. "my name is nan dorrington," she said, swallowing a lump in her throat, "and i hope we shall be very good friends." "we are sure to be," replied the other, with emphasis. "i always know at once." they went into the dim parlour, and nan and margaret sat with their arms entwined around each other. "gabriel told me yesterday that you were a young girl," nan remarked. "i am seventeen," replied the other. "only seventeen! why, i am seventeen, and yet i seem to be a mere child by the side of you. you talk and act just as a grown woman does." "that is because i have never associated with children of my own age. i have always been thrown with older persons. and then my mother has been ill a long, long time, and i have been compelled to do a great deal of thinking. i know of nothing more disagreeable than to have to think. do you dislike poor folks?" "no, i don't," replied nan, snuggling up to margaret. "some of my very bestest friends are poor." margaret smiled at the childish adjective, and placed her cheek against nan's for a moment. "i'm glad you don't dislike poverty," she said, "for we are very poor." "when it comes to that," nan responded, "everybody around here is poor--everybody except grandfather clopton and mr. tomlin. they have money, but i don't know where they get it. nonny says that some folks have only to dream of money, and when they wake in the morning they find it under their pillows." dr. dorrington came downstairs at this moment. "your mother is very much better than she was awhile ago," he said to margaret. "she never should have made so long a journey. she has wasted in that way strength enough to have kept her alive for six months." "i begged and implored her not to undertake it," the daughter explained, "but nothing would move her. even when she needed nourishing food, she refused to buy it; she was saving it to bring her home." "well, she is here, now, and we'll do the best we can. gabriel, will you run over, and ask fanny tomlin to come? and if neighbour tomlin is there tell him i want to see him on some important business." it was very clear to gabriel from all this that there was small hope for the poor lady above. she might be better than she was when the doctor arrived, but there was no ray of hope to be gathered from dr. dorrington's countenance. pulaski tomlin and his sister responded to the summons at once; and with gabriel's grandmother holding her hand, the poor lady had an interview with pulaski tomlin. but she never saw his face nor he hers. the large screen was carried upstairs from the dining-room, and placed in front of the bed; and near the door a chair was placed for pulaski tomlin. it was the heart's desire of the dying lady that neighbour tomlin should become the guardian of her daughter. he was deeply affected when told of her wishes, but before consenting to accept the responsibility, asked to see the daughter, and went to the parlour, where she was sitting with nan and gabriel. when he came in nan ran and kissed him as she never failed to do, for, though his face on one side was so scarred and drawn that the sight of it sometimes shocked strangers, those who knew him well, found his wounded countenance singularly attractive. "this is margaret," he said, taking the girl's hand. "come into the light, my dear, where you may see me as i am. your mother has expressed a wish that i should become your guardian. as an old and very dear friend of mine, she has the right to make the request. i am willing and more than willing to meet her wishes, but first i must have your consent." they went into the hallway, which was flooded with light. "are you the mr. tomlin of whom i have heard my mother speak?" margaret asked, fixing her clear eyes on his face; and when he had answered in the affirmative--"i wonder that she asked you, after what she has told me. she certainly has no claims on you." "ah, my dear, that is where you are wrong," he insisted. "i feel that every one in this world has claims on me, especially those who were my friends in old times. it is i who made a mistake, and not your mother; and i should be glad to rectify that mistake now, as far as i can, by carrying out her wishes. you know, of course, that she is very ill; will you go up and speak with her?" "no, not now; not when there are so many strangers there," margaret replied, and stood looking at him with almost childish wonder. at this moment, nan, who knew by heart all the little tricks of friendship and affection, left margaret, and took her stand by neighbour tomlin's side. it was an indorsement that the other could not withstand. she followed nan, and said very firmly and earnestly, "it shall be as my mother wishes." "i hope you will never have cause to regret it," remarked pulaski tomlin solemnly. "she never will," nan declared emphatically, as pulaski tomlin turned to go upstairs. he went up very slowly, as if lost in thought. he went to the room and stood leaning against the framework of the door. "pulaski is here," said miss fanny, who had been waiting to announce his return. "you remember, pulaski," the invalid began, "that once when you were ill, you would not permit me to see you. i was so ignorant that i was angry; yes, and bitter; my vanity was wounded. and i was ignorant and bitter for many years. i never knew until eighteen months ago why i was not permitted to see you. i knew it one day, after i had been ill a long time. i looked in the mirror and saw my wasted face and hollow eyes. i knew then, and if i had known at first, pulaski, everything would have been so different. i have come all this terrible journey to ask you to take my daughter and care for her. it is my last wish that you should be her guardian and protector. is she in the room? can she hear what i am about to say?" "no, margaret," replied pulaski tomlin, in a voice that was tremulous and husky. "she is downstairs; i have just seen her." "well, she has no father according to my way of thinking," margaret bridalbin went on. "her father is a deserter from the confederate army. she doesn't know that; i tried to tell her, but my heart failed me. neither does she know that i have been divorced from him. these things you can tell her when the occasion arises. if i had told her, it would have been like accusing myself. i was responsible--i felt it and feel it--and i simply could not tell her." "i shall try to carry out your wishes, margaret," said pulaski tomlin; "i have seen your daughter, as fanny suggested, and she has no objection to the arrangement. i shall do all that you desire. she shall be to me a most sacred charge." "if you knew how happy you are making me, pulaski--oh, i am grateful--grateful!" "there should be no talk of gratitude between you and me, margaret." at a signal from pulaski tomlin, judge odom cleared his throat, and read the document that he had drawn up, and his strong, business-like voice went far toward relieving the strain that had been put on those who heard the conversation between the dying woman and the man who had formerly been her lover. everything was arranged as she desired, every wish she expressed had been carried out; and then, as if there was nothing else to be done, the poor lady closed her eyes with a sigh, and opened them no more in this world. it seemed that nothing had sustained her but the hope of placing her daughter in charge of pulaski tomlin. chapter seven _silas tomlin goes a-calling_ when the solemn funeral ceremonies were over, it was arranged that nan should spend a few days with her new friend, margaret gaither--she was never called by the name of her father after her mother died--and gabriel took advantage of nan's temporary absence to pay a visit to mrs. absalom. he was very fond of that strong-minded woman; but since nan had grown to be such a young lady, he had not called as often as he had been in the habit of doing. he was afraid, indeed, that some one would accuse him of a sneaking desire to see nan, and he was also afraid of the quizzing which nan's father was always eager to apply. but with nan away--her absence being notorious, as you may say--gabriel felt that he could afford to call on the genial housekeeper. mrs. absalom had for years been the manager of the dorrington household, and she retained her place even after randolph dorrington had taken for his second wife zepherine dion, who had been known as miss johns, and who was now called mrs. johnny dorrington. in that household, indeed, mrs. absalom was indispensable, and it was very fortunate that she and mrs. johnny were very fond of each other. her maiden name was margaret rorick, and she came of a family that had long been attached to the dorringtons. in another clime, and under a different system, the roricks would have been described as retainers. they were that and much more. they served without fee or reward. they were retainers in the highest and best sense; for, in following the bent of their affections, they retained their independence, their simple dignity and their self-respect; and in that region, which was then, and is now, the most democratic in the world, they were as well thought of as the cloptons or the dorringtons. it came to pass, in the order of events, that margaret rorick married mr. absalom goodlett, who was the manager of the dorrington plantation. though she was no chicken, as she said herself, mr. goodlett was her senior by several years. she was also, in a sense, the victim of the humour that used to run riot in middle georgia; for, in spite of her individuality, which was vigorous and aggressive, she lost her own name and her husband's too. at margaret rorick's wedding, or, rather, at the infair, which was the feast after the wedding, mr. uriah lazenby, whose memory is kept green by his feats at tippling, and who combined fiddling with farming, furnished the music for the occasion. being something of a privileged character, and having taken a thimbleful too much dram, as fiddlers will do, the world over, mr. lazenby rose in his place, when the company had been summoned to the feast, and remarked: "margaret rorick, now that the thing's been gone and done, and can't be holp, i nominate you mrs. absalom, an' mrs. absalom it shall be herearter. ab goodlett, you ought to be mighty proud when you can fling your bridle on a filly like that, an' lead her home jest for the bar' sesso." the loud laughter that followed placed the bride at a temporary disadvantage. she joined in, however, and then exclaimed: "my goodness! old uriah's drunk ag'in; you can't pull a stopper out'n a jug in the same house wi' him but what he'll dribble at the mouth an' git shaky in the legs." but drunk or sober, uriah had "nominated" mrs. absalom for good and all. one reason why this "nomination" was seized on so eagerly was the sudden change that had taken place in miss rorick's views in regard to matrimony. she was more than thirty years old when she consented to become mrs. absalom. up to that time she had declared over and over again that there wasn't a man in the world she'd look at, much less marry. now, many a woman has said the same thing and changed her mind without attracting attention; but mrs. absalom's views on matrimony, and her pithy criticisms of the male sex in general, had flown about on the wings of her humour, and, in that way, had come to have wide advertisement. but her "nomination" interfered neither with her individuality, nor with her ability to indulge in pithy comments on matters and things in general. of mr. lazenby, she said later: "what's the use of choosin' betwixt a fool an' a fiddler, when you can git both in the same package?" she made no bad bargain when she married mr. goodlett. his irritability was all on the surface. at bottom, he was the best-natured and most patient of men--a philosopher who was so thoroughly contented with the ways of the world and the order of providence, that he had no desire to change either--and so comfortable in his own views and opinions that he was not anxious to convert others to his way of thinking. if anything went wrong, it was like a garment turned inside out; it would "come out all right in the washin'." mrs. absalom's explanation of her change of views in the subject of matrimony was very simple and reasonable. "why, a single 'oman," she said, "can't cut no caper at all; she can't hardly turn around wi'out bein' plumb tore to pieces by folks's tongues. but now--you see ab over there? well, he ain't purty enough for a centre-piece, nor light enough for to be set on the mantel-shelf, but it's a comfort to see him in that cheer there, knowin' all the time that you can do as you please, and nobody dastin to say anything out of the way. why, i could put on ab's old boots an' take his old buggy umbrell, an' go an' jine the muster. the men might snicker behind the'r han's, but all they could say would be, 'well, ef that kind of a dido suits ab goodlett, it ain't nobody else's business.'" it happened that mr. sanders was the person to whom mrs. absalom was addressing her remarks, and he inquired if such an unheard of proceeding would be likely to suit mr. goodlett. "to a t!" she exclaimed. "why, he wouldn't bat his eye. he mought grunt an' groan a little jest to let you know that he's alive, but that'd be all. an' that's the trouble: ef ab has any fault in the world that you can put your finger on, it's in bein' too good. you know, william--anyhow, you'd know it ef you belonged to my seck--that there's lots of times and occasions when it'd make the wimmen folks feel lots better ef they had somethin' or other to rip and rare about. my old cat goes about purrin', the very spit and image of innocence; but she'd die ef she didn't show her claws sometimes. once in awhile i try my level best for to pick a quarrel wi' ab, but before i say a dozen words, i look at him an' have to laugh. why the way that man sets there an' says nothin' is enough to make a saint ashamed of hisself." it was the general opinion that mr. goodlett, who was shrewd and far-seeing beyond the average, had an eye to strengthening his relations with dr. dorrington, when he "popped the question" to margaret rorick. but such was not the case. his relations needed no strengthening. he managed dorrington's agricultural interests with uncommon ability, and brought rare prosperity to the plantation. unlettered, and, to all appearances, taking no interest in public affairs, he not only foresaw the end of the civil war, but looked forward to the time when the confederate government, pressed for supplies, would urge upon the states the necessity of limiting the raising of cotton. he gave both meriwether clopton and neighbour tomlin the benefit of these views; and then, when the rumours of sherman's march through georgia grew rifer he made a shrewd guess as to the route, and succeeded in hiding out and saving, not only all the cotton the three plantations had grown, but also all the livestock. having an ingrained suspicion of the negroes, and entertaining against them the prejudices of his class, mr. goodlett employed a number of white boys from the country districts to aid him with his refugee train. and he left them in charge of the camp he had selected, knowing full well that they would be glad to remain in hiding as long as the federal soldiers were about. the window of the dining-room at dorringtons' commanded a view of the street for a considerable distance toward town, and it was at this window that mrs. absalom had her favourite seat. she explained her preference for it by saying that she wanted to know what was going on in the world. she looked out from this window one day while she was talking to gabriel tolliver, whose visits to dorringtons' had come to be coincident with nan's absence, and suddenly exclaimed: "well, my gracious! ef yonder ain't old picayune pauper! i wonder what we have done out this way that old picayune should be sneakin' around here? i'll tell you what--ef ab has borried arry thrip from old silas tomlin, i'll quit him; i won't live wi' a man that'll have anything to do wi' that old scamp. as i'm a livin' human, he's comin' here!" now, silas tomlin was neighbour tomlin's elder brother, but the two men were as different in character and disposition as a warm bright day is different from a bitter black night. pulaski tomlin gave his services freely to all who needed them, and he was happy and prosperous; whereas silas was a miserly money-lender and note-shaver, and always appeared to be in the clutches of adversity. to parsimony he added the sting--yes, and the stain--of a peevish and an irritable temper. it was as mrs. absalom had said--"a picayunish man is a pauper, i don't care how much money he's got." "i'll go see ef johnny is in the house," said mrs. absalom. "johnny" was mrs. dorrington, who, in turn, called mrs. absalom "nonny," which was nan's pet name for the woman who had raised her--"i'll go see, but i lay she's gone to see nan; i never before seed a step-mammy so wropped up in her husband's daughter." nan, as has been said, was spending a few days with poor margaret bridalbin, whose mother had just been buried. mrs. absalom called mrs. dorrington, and then looked for her, but she was not to be found at the moment. "i reckon you'll have to go to the door, gabe," said mrs. absalom, as the knocker sounded. "sence freedom, we ain't got as many niggers lazyin' around an' doin' nothin' as we use to have." "is mr. goodlett in?" asked silas tomlin, when gabriel opened the door. "i think he's in malvern," gabriel answered, as politely as he could. "no, no, no!" exclaimed silas tomlin, with a terrible frown; "you don't know a thing about it, not a thing in the world. he got back right after dinner." "well, ef he did," said mrs. absalom, coming forward, "he didn't come here. he ain't cast a shadow in this house sence day before yistiddy, when he went to malvern." "how are you, mrs. absalom?--how are you?" said silas, with a tremendous effort at politeness. "i hope you are well; you are certainly looking well. you say your husband is not in? well, i'm sorry; i wanted to see him on business; i wanted to get some information." "ab don't owe you anything, i hope," remarked mrs. absalom, ignoring the salutation. "not a thing--not a thing in the world. but why do you ask? many people have the idea that i'm rolling in money--that's what i hear--and they think that i go about loaning it to tom, dick and harry. but it is not so--it is not so; i have no money." mrs. absalom laughed ironically, saying, "i reckon if your son paul was to scratch about under the house, he'd find small change about in places." silas tomlin looked hard at mrs. absalom, his little black eyes glistening under his coarse, heavy eyebrows like those of some wild animal. he was not a prepossessing man. he was so bald that he was compelled to wear a skull-cap, and the edge of this showed beneath the brim of his chimney-pot hat. his face needed a razor; and the grey beard coming through the cuticle, gave a ghastly, bluish tint to the pallor of his countenance. his broadcloth coat--mrs. absalom called it a "shadbelly"--was greasy at the collar, and worn at the seams, and his waistcoat was stained with ambeer. his trousers, which were much too large for him, bagged at the knees, and his boots were run down at the heels. though he was temperate to the last degree, he had the appearance of a man who is the victim of some artificial stimulant. "what put that idea in your head, mrs. goodlett?" he asked, after looking long and searchingly at mrs. absalom. "well, i allowed that when you was countin' out your cash, a thrip or two mought have slipped through the cracks in the floor," she replied; "sech things have happened before now." he wiped his thin lips with his lean forefinger, and stood hesitating, whereupon mrs. absalom remarked: "it sha'n't cost you a cent ef you'll come in. ab'll be here purty soon ef somebody ain't been fool enough to give him his dinner. his health'll fail him long before his appetite does. show mr. tomlin in the parlour, gabriel, an' i'll see about ab's dinner; i don't want it to burn to a cracklin' before he gits it." silas tomlin went into the parlour and sat down, while gabriel stood hesitating, not knowing what to do or say. he was embarrassed, and silas tomlin saw it. "oh, take a seat," he said, with a show of impatience. "what are you doing for yourself, tolliver? you're a big boy now, and you ought to be making good money. we'll all have to work now: we'll have to buckle right down to it. the way i look at it, the man who is doing nothing is throwing money away; yes, sir, throwing it away. what does adam smith say? why, he says----" gabriel never found out what particular statement of adam smith was to be thrown at his head, for at that moment, mr. goodlett called out from the dining-room: "si tomlin in there, gabriel? well, fetch him out here whar i live at. i ain't got no parlours for company." by the time that gabriel had led mr. silas tomlin into the dining-room, mr. goodlett had a plate of victuals carrying it to the kitchen; and he remarked as he went along, "i got nuther parlours nor dinin'-rooms: fetch him out here to the kitchen whar we both b'long at." if silas tomlin objected to this arrangement, he gave no sign; he followed without a word, mr. goodlett placed his plate on the table where the dishes were washed, and dropped his hat on the floor beside him, and began to attack his dinner most vigorously. believing, evidently, that ordinary politeness would be wasted here, silas entered at once on the business that had brought him to dorringtons'. "sorry to trouble you, goodlett," he said by way of making a beginning. "i notice you ain't cryin' none to hurt," remarked mr. goodlett placidly. "an' ef you was, you'd be cryin' for nothin'. you ain't troublin' me a mite. forty an' four like you can't trouble me." "you'll have to excuse ab," said mrs. goodlett, who had preceded gabriel and silas to the kitchen. "he's lost his cud, an' he won't be right well till he finds it ag'in." she placed her hand over her mouth to hide her smiles. silas tomlin paid no attention to this by-play. he stood like a man who is waiting an opportunity to get in a word. "goodlett, who were the ladies you brought from malvern to-day?" his face was very serious. "you know 'em lots better'n i do. the oldest seed you out in the field, an' she axed me who you mought be. i told her, bekaze i ain't got no secrets from my passengers, specially when they're good-lookin' an' plank down the'r money before they start. arter i told 'em who you was, the oldest made you a mighty purty bow, but you wer'n't polite enough for to take off your hat. i dunno as i blame you much, all things considered. then the youngest, she's the daughter, she says, says she, 'is that reely him, ma?' an' t'other one, says she, 'ef it's him, honey, he's swunk turrible.' she said them very words." "i wonder who in the world they can be?" said silas tomlin, as if talking to himself. "you'll think of the'r names arter awhile," mr. goodlett remarked by way of consolation, but his tone was so suspicious that silas turned on his heel--he had started out--and asked mr. goodlett what he meant. "adzackly what i said, nuther more nor less." mrs. absalom was so curious to find out something more that silas was hardly out of the house before she began to ply her husband with questions. but they were all futile. mr. goodlett knew no more than that he had brought the women from malvern; that they had chanced to spy old silas tomlin in a field by the side of the road, and that when the elder of the two women found out what his name was, she made him a bow, which silas wasn't polite enough to return. "that's all i know," remarked mr. goodlett. "dog take the wimmen anyhow!" he exclaimed indignantly; "ef they'd stay at home they'd be all right; but here they go, a-trapesin' an' a-trollopin' all over creation, an' a-givin' trouble wherever they go. they git me so muddled an' befuddled wi' ther whickerin' an' snickerin' that i dunner which een' i'm a-stannin' on half the time. nex' time they want to ride wi' me, i'll say, 'walk!' by jacks! i won't haul 'em." this episode, if it may be called such, made small impression on gabriel's mind, but it tickled mrs. goodlett's mind into activity, and the lad heard more of silas tomlin during the next hour than he had ever known before. in a manner, silas was a very important factor in the community, as money-lenders always are, but according to gabriel's idea, he was always one of the poorest creatures in the world. when he was a young man, silas joined the tide of emigration that was flowing westward. he went to mississippi, where he married his first wife. in a year's time, he returned to his old home. when asked about his wife--for he returned alone--he curtly answered that she was well enough off. mrs. absalom was among those who made the inquiry, and her prompt comment was, "she's well off ef she's dead; i'll say that much." but there was a persistent rumour, coming from no one knew where, that when a child was born to silas, the wife was seized with such a horror of the father that the bare sight of him would cause her to scream, and she constantly implored her people to send him away. it is curious how rumours will travel far and wide, from state to state, creeping through swamps, flying over deserts and waste places, and coming home at last as the carrier-pigeon does, especially if there happens to be a grain of truth in them. it turned out that the lady, in regard to whom silas tomlin expressed such curiosity, was a mrs. claiborne, of kentucky, who, with her daughter, had refugeed from point to point in advance of the federal army. finally, when peace came, the lady concluded to make her home in georgia, where she had relatives, and she selected shady dale as her place of abode on account of its beauty. these facts became known later. evidently the new-comers had resources, for they arranged to occupy the gaither house, taking it as it stood, with miss polly gaither, furniture and all. this arrangement must have been satisfactory to miss polly in the first place, or it would never have been made; and it certainly relieved her of the necessity of living on the charity of her neighbours, under pretence of borrowing from them. but so strange a bundle of contradictions is human nature, that no sooner had miss polly begun to enjoy the abundance that was now showered upon her in the shape of victuals and drink than she took her ear-trumpet in one hand and her work-bag in the other, and went abroad, gossiping about her tenants, telling what she thought they said, and commenting on their actions--not maliciously, but simply with a desire to feed the curiosity of the neighbours. in order to do this more effectually, miss polly returned visits that had been made to her before the war. there was nothing in her talk to discredit the claibornes or to injure their characters. they were strangers to the community, and there was a natural and perfectly legitimate curiosity on the part of the town to learn something of their history. miss polly could not satisfy this curiosity, but she could whet it by leaving at each one's door choice selections from her catalogue of the sayings and doings of the new-comers--wearing all the time a dress that miss eugenia, the daughter, had made over for her. miss polly was a dumpy little woman, and, with her wen, her ear-trumpet, and her work-bag, she cut a queer figure as she waddled along. there was one piece of information she gave out that puzzled the community no little. according to miss polly, the claibornes had hardly settled themselves in their new home before silas tomlin called on them. "i can't hear as well as i used to," said miss polly--she was deaf as a door-post--"but i can see as well as anybody; yes indeed, as well as anybody in the world. and i tell you, lucy lumsden"--she was talking to gabriel's grandmother--"as soon as old silas darkened the door, i knew he was worried. i never saw a grown person so fidgety and nervous, unless it was micajah clemmons, and he's got the rickets, poor man. so i says to myself, 'i'll watch you,' and watch i did. well, when mrs. claiborne came into the parlour, she bowed very politely to old silas, but i could see that she could hardly keep from laughing in his face; and i don't blame her, for the way old silas went on was perfectly ridiculous. he spit and he spluttered, and sawed the air with his arms, and buttoned and unbuttoned his coat, and jerked at the bottom of his wescut till i really thought he'd pull the front out. i wish you could have seen him, lucy lumsden, i do indeed. and when the door was shut on him, mrs. claiborne flung herself down on a sofa, and laughed until she frightened her daughter. i don't complain about my afflictions as a general thing, lucy, but i would have given anything that day if my hearing had been as good as it used to be." and though gabriel's grandmother was a woman of the highest principles, holding eavesdropping in the greatest contempt, it is possible that she would have owned to a mild regret that miss polly gaither was too deaf to hear what silas tomlin's troubles were. this was natural, too, for, on account of the persistent rumours that had followed silas home from mississippi, there was always something of a mystery in regard to his first matrimonial venture. there was none about his second. a year or two after he returned home he married susan pritchard, whose father was a prosperous farmer, living several miles from town. susan bore silas a son and died. she was a pious woman, and with her last breath named the child paul, on account of the conjunction of the names of paul and silas in the new testament. paul grew up to be one of the most popular young men in the community. chapter eight _the political machine begins its work_ all that has been set down thus far, you will say, is trifling, unimportant and wearisome. your decision is not to be disputed; but if, by an effort of the mind, you could throw yourself back to those dread days, you would understand what a diversion these trifling events and episodes created for the heart-stricken and soul-weary people of that region. the death of margaret bridalbin moved them to pity, and awoke in their minds pleasing memories of happier days, when peace and prosperity held undisputed sway in all directions. the arrival of the claibornes had much the same effect. it gave the community something to talk about, and, in a small measure, took them out of themselves. moreover, the claibornes, mother and daughter, proved to be very attractive additions to the town's society. they were both bright and good-humoured, and the daughter was very beautiful. to a people overwhelmed with despair, the most trifling episode becomes curiously magnified. the case of mr. goodlett is very much to the point. he was merely an individual, it is true, but in some respects an individual represents the mass. when sherman's men hanged him to a limb, under the mistaken notion that he was the custodian of the clopton plate, the last thing he remembered as he lost consciousness, was the ticking of his watch. it sounded in his ears, he said, as loud as the blows of a sledge-hammer falling on an anvil. from that day until he died, he never could bear to hear the ticking of a watch. he gave his time-piece to his wife, who put it away with her other relics and treasures. how it was with other communities it is not for this chronicler to say, but the collapse of the confederacy, coming when it did, was an event that shady dale least expected. the last trump will cause no greater surprise and consternation the world over, than the news of lee's surrender caused in that region. the public mind had not been prepared for such an event, especially in those districts remote from the centres of information. almost every piece of news printed in the journals of the day was coloured with the prospect of ultimate victory: and when the curtain suddenly came down and the lights went out, no language can describe the grief, the despair, and the feeling of abject humiliation that fell upon the white population in the small towns and village communities. how it was in the cities has not been recorded, but it is to be presumed that then, as now, the demands and necessities of trade and business were powerful enough to overcome and destroy the worst effects of a calamity that attacked the sentiments and emotions. it has been demonstrated recently on some very wide fields of action that the atmosphere of commercialism is unfavourable to the growth of sentiments of an ideal character. that is why wise men who believe in the finer issues of life are inclined to be suspicious of what is loosely called civilisation and progress, and doubtful of the theories of those who clothe themselves in the mantle of science. whatever the feeling in the cities may have been when news of the surrender came, it caused the most poignant grief and despair in the country places: and there, as elsewhere in this world, whenever suffering is to be borne, the most of the burden falls on the shoulders of the women. it is at once the strength and weakness of the sex that woman suffers more than man and is more capable of enduring the pangs of suffering. as for the men they soon recovered from the shock. they were startled and stunned, but when they opened their eyes to the situation they found themselves confronted by conditions that had no precedent or parallel in the history of the world. it is small fault if their minds failed at first to grasp the significance and the import of these conditions, so new were they and so amazing. a few years later, gabriel tolliver, who, when the surrender came, was a lad just beyond seventeen, took himself severely to task before a public assemblage for his blindness in , and the years immediately following; and his criticisms must have gone home to others, for the older men who sat in the audience rose to their feet and shook the house with their applause. they, too, had been as blind as the boy. it was perhaps well for shady dale that mr. sanders came home when he did. he had been in the field, if not on the forum. he had mingled with public men, and, as he himself contended, had been "closeted" with one of the greatest men the country ever produced--the reference being to mr. lincoln. mr. sanders had to tell over and over again the story of how he and frank bethune didn't kidnap the president; and he brought home hundreds of rich and racy anecdotes that he had picked up in the camp. in those awful days when there was little ready money to be had, and business was at a standstill, and the courts demoralised, and the whole social fabric threatening to fall to pieces, it was mr. billy sanders who went around scattering cheerfulness and good-humour as carelessly as the children scatter the flowers they have gathered in the fields. mr. sanders and francis bethune had formed a part of the escort that went with mr. davis as far as washington in wilkes county. on this account, mr. sanders boasted that at the last meeting of the confederate cabinet held in that town, he had elected himself a member, and was duly installed. "it was the same," he used to say, "as j'inin' the free-masons. the doorkeeper gi' me the grip an' the password, the head man of the war department knocked me on the forrerd, an' the thing was done. when mr. davis was ready to go, he took me by the hand, an' says, 'william,' says he, 'keep house for the boys till i git back, an' be shore that you cheer 'em up.'" this sort of nonsense served its purpose, as mr. sanders intended that it should. wherever he appeared on the streets a crowd gathered around him--as large a crowd as the town could furnish. to a spectator standing a little distance away and out of hearing, the attitude and movements of these groups presented a singular appearance. the individuals would move about and swap places, trying to get closer to mr. sanders. there would be a period of silence, and then, suddenly, loud shouts of laughter would rend the air. such a spectator, if a stranger, might easily have imagined that these men and boys, standing close together, and shouting with laughter at intervals, were engaged in practising a part to be presented in a rural comedy--or that they were a parcel of simpletons. one peculiarity of mr. sanders's humour was that it could not be imitated with any degree of success. his raciest anecdote lost a large part of its flavour when repeated by some one else. it was the way he told it, a cut of the eye, a lift of the eyebrow, a movement of the hand, a sudden air of solemnity--these were the accessories that gave point and charm to the humour. mr. sanders had cut out a very large piece of work for himself. he kept it up for some time, but he gradually allowed himself longer and longer intervals of seriousness. the multitude of problems growing out of the new and strange conditions were of a thought-compelling nature; and they grew larger and more ominous as the days went by. gabriel tolliver might take to the woods, as the saying is, and so escape from the prevailing depression. but mr. sanders and the rest of the men had no such resource; responsibility sat on their shoulders, and they were compelled to face the conditions and study them. gabriel could sit on the fence by the roadside, and see neither portent nor peril in the groups and gangs of negroes passing and repassing, and moving restlessly to and fro, some with bundles and some with none. he watched them, as he afterward complained, with a curiosity as idle as that which moves a little child to watch a swarm of ants. he noticed, however, that the negroes were no longer cheerful. their child-like gaiety had vanished. in place of their loud laughter, their boisterous play, and their songs welling forth and filling the twilight places with sweet melodies, there was silence. gabriel had no reason to regard this silence as ominous, but it was so regarded by his elders. he thought that the restless and uneasy movements of the negroes were perfectly natural. they had suddenly come to the knowledge that they were free, and they were testing the nature and limits of their freedom. they desired to find out its length and its breadth. so much was clear to gabriel, but it was not clear to his elders. and what a pity that it was not! how many mistakes would have been avoided! what a dreadful tangle and turmoil would have been prevented if these grown children could have been judged from gabriel's point of view! for the boy's interpretation of the restlessness and uneasiness of the blacks was the correct one. your historians will tell you that the situation was extraordinary and full of peril. well, extraordinary, if you will, but not perilous. gabriel could never be brought to believe that there was anything to be dreaded in the attitude of the blacks. what he scored himself for in the days to come was that his interest in the matter never rose above the idle curiosity of a boy. and yet there were some developments calculated to pique curiosity. a few years before the war, one of madame awtry's nephews from massachusetts came in to the neighbourhood preaching freedom to the negroes. as a result, a large body of the clopton negroes gathered around the house one morning with many breathings and mutterings. uncle plato, the carriage-driver, went to his master with a very grave face, and announced that the hands, instead of going to work, had come in a body to the house. "well, go and see what they want, plato," said the master of the clopton place. "i done ax um dat, suh," replied uncle plato, "an' dey say p'intedly dat dey want ter see you." "very well; where is mr. sanders?" "he out dar, suh, makin' fun un um." when meriwether clopton went out, he was told by old man isaiah, the foreman of the field-hands, that the boys didn't want to be "bledserd." it was some time before the master could understand what the old man meant, but mr. sanders finally made it clear, and meriwether clopton sent the negroes about their business with a promise that none of them should ever be "bledserd" by his consent. a year or two before this "rising" occurred, general jesse bledsoe had died leaving a will, by the terms of which all his negroes were given their freedom, and provision was made for their transportation to a free state. but the general had relatives, who put in their claims, and succeeded in breaking the will, with the result that many of the negroes were carried to the west and southwest, bringing about a wholesale separation of families, the first that had ever occurred in that section. the impression it made on both whites and negroes was a lasting one. in the minds of the blacks, freedom was only another name for "bledserin'." nevertheless, when, after the collapse of the confederacy and the advent of sherman's army, the clopton negroes were told that they were free, a large number of them joined the restless, migratory throng that passed to and fro along the public highway, some coming, some going, but all moved by the same irresistible impulse to test their freedom--to see if they really could come hither and go yonder without let or hinderance. uncle plato and his family, with a dozen others who were sagacious enough to follow the old man's example, remained in their places and fared better than the rest. for a time shady dale rested peacefully in its seclusion, watching the course of events with apparent tranquillity. but behind this appearance of repose there was a good deal of restlessness and uneasiness. sometimes its bosom (so to speak) was inflamed with anger, and sometimes it would be sunk in despair. one of the events that brought shady dale closer to the troubles that the newspapers were full of, was a circular letter issued by major tomlin perdue, of halcyondale. major perdue had returned home thoroughly reconstructed. he was full of admiration for general grant's attitude toward general lee, and he endorsed with all his heart the tone and spirit of lee's address to his old soldiers; but when he saw the unexpected turn that the politicians had been able to give to events, he found it hard to hold his peace. finally, when he could restrain himself no longer, he incited his friends to hold a meeting and propose his name as a candidate for congress. this was done, and the major seized the opportunity to issue a circular letter declining the nomination, and giving his reasons therefor. this letter remains to this day the most scathing arraignment of carpet-baggery, bayonet rule, and the republican party generally that has ever been put in print. it contained some decidedly picturesque references to the personality of the commander of the georgia district, who happened to be general pope, the famous soldier who had his head-quarters in the saddle at a very interesting period of the civil war. major perdue did not intend it so, but his letter was a piece of pure recklessness. the effect of this scorching document was to bring a company of federal troops to halcyondale, and in the course of a few weeks a detachment was stationed at shady dale. in each case they brought their tents with them, and went into camp. this was taken as a signal by the carpet-baggers that the region round-about was to be cultivated for political purposes, and forthwith they began operations, receiving occasional accessions in the person of a number of scalawags, the most respectable and conscientious of these being mr. mahlon butts, who had been a vigorous and consistent union man all through the war. he could be neither convinced nor intimidated, and his consistency won for him the respect of his neighbours. but when the carpet-baggers made their appearance, and mahlon butts began to fraternise with them, he was ostracised along with the rest. it soon became necessary for the whites to take counsel together, and shady dale became, as it had been before the war, the mecca of the various leaders. before the war, the politicians of both parties were in the habit of meeting at shady dale, enjoying the barbecues for which the town was famous, and taking advantage of the occasion to lay out the programme of the campaign. and now, when it was necessary to organise a white man's party, the leaders turned their eyes and their steps to shady dale. then it was that gabriel had an opportunity to see toombs, and stephens, and hill, and herschel v. johnson--he who was on the national ticket with douglas in --and other men who were to become prominent later. there were some differences of opinion to be settled. a few of the leaders had advised the white voters to take no part in the political farce which congress had arranged, but to leave it all to the negroes and the aliens, especially as so many of the white voters had been disfranchised, or were labouring under political disabilities. others, on the contrary, advised the white voters to qualify as rapidly as possible. it was this difference of opinion that remained to be settled, so far as georgia was concerned. it was gabriel's acquaintance with mr. stephens that first fired his ambition. here was a frail, weak man, hardly able to stand alone, who had been an invalid all his life, and yet had won renown, and by his wisdom and conservatism had gained the confidence and esteem of men of all parties and of all shades of opinion. his willpower and his energy lifted him above his bodily weakness and ills, and carried him through some of the most arduous campaigns that ever occurred in georgia, where heated canvasses were the rule and not the exception. watching him closely, and noting his wonderful vivacity and cheerfulness, gabriel tolliver came to the conclusion that if an invalid could win fame a strong healthy lad should be able to make his mark. it fell out that gabriel attracted the attention of mr. stephens, who was always partial to young men. he made the lad sit near him, drew him out, and gave him some sound advice in regard to his studies. at the suggestion of mr. stephens, the lad was permitted to attend the conferences, which were all informal, and the kindly statesman took pains to introduce the awkward, blushing youngster to all the prominent men who came. it was curious, gabriel thought, how easily and naturally the invalid led the conversation into the channel he desired. he was smoking a clay pipe, which his faithful body-servant replenished from time to time. "mr. sanders," he began, "i have heard a good deal about your attempt to kidnap lincoln. what did you think of lincoln anyhow?" "well, sir, i thought, an' still think that he was the best all-'round man i ever laid eyes on." "he certainly was a very great man," remarked mr. stephens. "i knew him well before the war. we were in congress together. it is odd that he showed no remarkable traits at that time." "well," replied mr. sanders, "arter the dimmycrats elected him president, he found hisself in a corner, an' he jest had to be a big man." "you mean after the republicans elected him," some one suggested. "not a bit of it,--not a bit of it!" exclaimed mr. sanders. "why the republicans didn't have enough votes to elect three governors, much less a president. but the dimmycrats, bein' perlite by natur' an' not troubled wi' any surplus common sense, divided up the'r votes, an' the republicans walked in an' took the cake. if you ever hear of me votin' the dimmycrat ticket--an' i reckon i'll have to do it--you may jest put it down that it ain't bekase i want to, but bekase i'm ableege to. the party ain't hardly got life left in it, an' yit here you big men are wranglin' an' jowerin' as to whether you'll set down an' let a drove of mules run over you, or whether you'll stan' up to the rack, fodder or no fodder." "this brings us to the very point we are to discuss," said mr. stephens, laughing. "i may say in the beginning that i am much of mr. sanders's opinion. some very able men insist that if we take no part in this reconstruction business, we'll not be responsible for it. that is true, but we will have to endure the consequences just the same. radicalism has majorities at present, but these will disappear after a time." "i reckon some of us can be trusted to wear away a few majorities," said mr. sanders, dryly, and it was his last contribution to the discussion. as might be supposed, no definite policy was hit upon. the conditions were so new to those who had to deal with them, that, after an interchange of views, the company separated, feeling that the policy proper to be pursued would arise naturally out of the immediate necessities of the occasion, or the special character of the situation. this was the view of mr. stephens, who, as he was still suffering from his confinement in prison, accepted the invitation of meriwether clopton to remain at shady dale for a week or more. during that week, there was hardly a day that gabriel did not go to the clopton place. he went because he could see that his presence was agreeable to mr. stephens, as well as to meriwether clopton. he was led along to join in the conversation which the older men were carrying on, and in that way he gained more substantial information about political principles and policies than he could have found in the books and the newspapers. moreover, gabriel came in closer contact with francis bethune. that young gentleman seized the opportunity to invite gabriel to his room, where they had several familiar and pleasant talks. bethune told gabriel much that was interesting about the war, and about the men he had met in richmond and washington. he also related many interesting incidents and stories of adventure, in which he had taken part. but he never once put himself forward as the hero of an exploit. on the contrary, he was always in the background; invariably, it was some one else to whom he gave the credit of success, taking upon himself the responsibility of the failures. gabriel had never suspected this proud-looking young man of modesty, and he at once began to admire and like bethune, who was not only genial, but congenial. he seemed to take a real interest in gabriel, and gave him a good deal of sober advice which he should have taken himself. "i'll never be anything but plain bethune," he said to gabriel. "i'd like to do something or be something for the sake of those who have had the care of me; but it isn't in me. i don't know why, but the other fellow gets there first when there's something to be won. and when i am first it leads to trouble. take my college scrape; you've heard about it, no doubt. well, the boys there have been playing poker ever since there was a college, and they'll play it as long as the college remains; but the first game i was inveigled into, the chancellor walked in upon us while i was shuffling the cards, and stood at my back and heard me cursing the others because they had suddenly turned to their books. 'that will do, mr. bethune,' said the chancellor; 'we have had enough profanity for to-night.' well, that has been the way all through. i wanted to win rank in the army--and i did; i ranked everybody as the king-bee of insubordination. that isn't all. take my gait--the way i walk; everybody thinks i hold my head up and swagger because i am vain. but look at the matter with clear eyes, tolliver; i walk that way because it is natural to me. as for vanity, what on earth have i to be vain of?" "well, you are young, you know," said gabriel--"almost as young as i am; and though you have been unlucky, that is no sign that it will always be so." "no, tolliver, i am several years older than you. all your opportunities are still to come; and if i can do nothing myself, i should like to see you succeed. i have heard my grandfather say some fine things about you." now, such talk as that, when it carries the evidence of sincerity along with it, is bound to win a young fellow over; youth cannot resist it. bethune won gabriel, and won him completely. it was so pleasing to gabriel to be able to have a cordial liking for bethune that he had the feelings of those who gain a moral victory over themselves in the matter of some evil habit or passion. his grandmother smiled fondly on his enthusiasm, remarking: "yes, gabriel; he is certainly a fine young gentleman, and i am glad of it for nan's sake. he will be sure to make her happy, and she deserves happiness as much as any human being i ever knew." gabriel also thought that nan deserved to be very happy, but he could imagine several forms of happiness that did not include marriage with bethune, however much he might admire his friend. and his enthusiastic praises of bethune ceased so suddenly that his grandmother looked at him curiously. the truth is, her remarks about nan and bethune always gave gabriel a cold chill. his grandmother was to him the fountain-head of wisdom, the embodiment of experience. when he was a bit of a lad, she used to untie all the hard knots, and untangle all the tangles that persisted in invading his large collection of string, cords and twines, and the ease with which she did this--for the knots seemed to come untied of their own accord, and the tangles to vanish as soon as her fingers touched them--gave gabriel an impression of her ability that he never lost. her word was law with him, though he had frequently broken the law, and her judgment was infallible. chapter nine _nan and gabriel_ gabriel renewed his enthusiasm for bethune as soon as he had an opportunity to see nan. these opportunities became rarer and rarer as the days went by. sometimes she was friendly and familiar, as on the day when she went home with him to hear the story of poor margaret gaither; but oftener she was cool and dignified, and appeared to be inclined to patronise her old friend and comrade. this was certainly her attitude when gabriel began to sing the praises of francis bethune when, on one occasion, he met her on the street. "i'm sure it is very good of you, gabriel, to speak so kindly of mr. bethune," she said. "no doubt he deserves it all. he also says some very nice things about you, so i've heard. nonny says there's some sort of an agreement between you--'you tickle me and i'll tickle you.' oh, there's nothing for you to blush about, gabriel," she went on very seriously. "nonny may laugh at it, but i think it speaks well for both you and mr. bethune." gabriel made no reply, and as he stood there looking at nan, and realising for the first time what he had only dimly suspected before, that they could no longer be comrades and chums, he presented a very uncomfortable spectacle. he was the picture of awkwardness. his hands and his feet were all in his way, and for the first time in his life he felt cheap. nan had suddenly loomed up as a woman grown. it is true that she resolutely refused to follow the prevailing fashion and wear hoop-skirts, but this fact and her long dress simply gave emphasis to the fact that she was grown. "well, nan, i'm very sorry," said gabriel, by way of saying something. he spoke the truth without knowing why. "sorry! why should you be sorry?" cried nan. "i think you have everything to make you glad. you have your mr. bethune, and no longer than yesterday i heard eugenia claiborne say that you are the handsomest man she ever saw--yes, she called you a man. she declared that she never knew before that curly hair could be so becoming to a man. and margaret says that you and eugenia would just suit each other, she a blonde and you a brunette." gabriel blushed again in spite of himself, and laughed, too--laughed at the incongruity of the situation. this nan, with her long gingham frock, and her serious ways, was no more like the nan he had known than if she had come from another world. it was laughable, of course, and pathetic, too, for gabriel could laugh and feel sorry at the same moment. "you haven't told me why you are sorry," said nan, when the lad's silence had become embarrassing to her. "well, i am just sorry," gabriel replied. "you are angry," she declared. "no," he insisted, "i am just sorry. i don't know why, unless it's because you are not the same. you have been changing all the time, i reckon, but i never noticed it so much until to-day." his tone was one of complaint. as nan stood there regarding gabriel with an expression of perplexity in her countenance, and tapping the ground impatiently with one foot, the two young people got their first whiff of the troubles that had been slowly gathering over that region. around the corner near which they stood, two men had paused to finish an earnest conversation. evidently they had been walking along, but their talk had become so interesting, apparently, that they paused involuntarily. they were hid from nan and gabriel by the high brick wall that enclosed madame awtry's back yard. "as president of this league," said a voice which neither nan nor gabriel could recognise, "you will have great responsibility. i hope you realise it." "i'm in hopes i does, suh," replied the other, whose voice there was no difficulty in recognising as that of the rev. jeremiah tomlin. "as you so aptly put it last night at your church, the bottom rail is now on top, and it will stay there if the coloured people know their own interests. every dollar that has been made in the south during the parst two hundred years was made by the niggeroes and belongs to them." "dat is so, suh; dat is de lord's trufe. i realise dat, suh; an' i'll try fer ter make my people reelize it," responded the rev. jeremiah. "what you lack in experience," continued the first speaker, "you make up in numbers. it is important to remember that. organise your race, get them together, impress upon them the necessity of acting as one man. once organised, you will find leaders. all the arrangements have been made for that." "i hears you, suh; an' b'lieves you," replied the rev. jeremiah with great ceremony. "you have seen white men from a distance coming and going. where did they go?" "dey went ter clopton's, suh; right dar an' nowhars else. i seed um, suh, wid my own eyes." "you don't know what they came for. well, i will tell you: they came here to devise some plan by which they can deprive the niggeroes of the right to vote. now, what do you suppose would be the simplest way to do this?" the rev. jeremiah made no reply. he was evidently waiting in awe to hear what the plan was. "you don't know," the first speaker went on to say; "well, i will tell you. they propose to re-enslave the coloured people. they propose to take the ballots out of their hands and put in their place, the hoe and the plough-handles. they propose to deprive you of the freedom bestowed upon you by the martyr president." "you don't tell me, suh! well, well!" "yes, that is their object, and they will undoubtedly succeed if your people do not organise, and stand together, and give their support to the republican party." "i has b'longed ter de erpublican party, suh, sense fust i heard de name." "we meet to-night in the school-house. bring only a few--men whom you can trust, and the older they are the better." "i ain't so right down suttin and sho' 'bout dat, suh. some er de ol' ones is mighty sot in der ways; dey ain't got de l'arnin', suh, an' dey dunner what's good fer 'm. but i'll pick out some, suh; i'll try fer ter fetch de ones what'll do us de mos' good." "very well, mr. tommerlin; the old school-house is the place, and there'll be no lights that can be seen from the outside. rap three times slowly, and twice quickly--so. the password is----" he must have whispered it, for no sound came to the ears of nan and gabriel. the latter motioned his head to nan, and the two walked around the corner. as they turned nan was saying, "you must go with me some day, and call on eugenia claiborne; she'll be delighted to see you--and she's just lovely." what answer gabriel made he never knew, so intently was he engaged in trying to digest what he had heard. the rev. jeremiah took off his hat and smiled broadly, as he gave nan and gabriel a ceremonious bow. they responded to his salute and passed on. the white man who had been talking to the negro was a stranger to both of them, though both came to know him very well--too well, in fact--a few months later. he had about him the air of a preacher, his coat being of the cut and colour of the garments worn by clergymen. his countenance was pale, but all his features, except his eyes, stood for energy and determination. the eyes were restless and shifty, giving him an appearance of uneasiness. "what does he mean?" inquired nan, when they were out of hearing. "he means a good deal," replied gabriel, who as an interested listener at the conferences of the white leaders, had heard several prominent men express fears that just such statements would be made to the negroes by the carpet-bag element; and now here was a man pouring the most alarming and exciting tidings into the ears of a negro on the public streets. true, he had no idea that any one but the rev. jeremiah was in hearing, but the tone of his voice was not moderated. what he said, he said right out. "but what do you mean by a good deal?" nan asked. "you heard what he said," gabriel answered, "and you must see what he is trying to do. suppose he should convince the negroes that the whites are trying to put them back in slavery, and they should rise and kill the whites and burn all the houses?" "now, gabriel, you know that is all nonsense," replied nan, trying to laugh. in spite of her effort to smile at gabriel's explanation, her face was very serious indeed. "yonder comes miss claiborne," said gabriel. "good-bye, nan; i'm still sorry you are not as you used to be. i must go and see mr. sanders." with that, he turned out of the main street, and went running across the square. "that child worries me," said nan, uttering her thought aloud, and unconsciously using an expression she had often heard on mrs. absalom's tongue. "did you see that great gawk of a boy?" she went on, as eugenia claiborne came up. "he hasn't the least dignity." "well, you should be glad of that, nan," eugenia suggested. "i? well, please excuse me. if there is anything i admire in other people, it is dignity." she straightened herself up and assumed such a serious attitude that eugenia became convulsed with laughter. "what did you do to gabriel, nan, that he should be running away from you at such a rate? or did he run because he saw me coming?" before nan could make any reply, eugenia seized her by both elbows--"and, oh, nan! you know the yankee captain who is in command of the yankee soldiers here? well, his name is falconer, and mother says he is our cousin. and would you believe it, she wanted to ask him to tea. i cried when she told me; i never was so angry in my life. why, i wouldn't stay in the same house nor eat at the same table with one who is an enemy of my country." "nor i either," said nan with emphasis. "but he's very handsome." "i don't care if he is," cried the other impulsively. "he has been killing our gallant young men, and depriving us of our liberties, and he's here now to help the negroes lord it over us." "oh, now i know what gabriel intends to do!" exclaimed nan, but she refused to satisfy eugenia's curiosity, much to that young lady's discomfort. "i must go," said nan, kissing her friend good-bye. eugenia stood watching her until she was out of sight, and wondered why she was in such a hurry. nan had changed greatly in the course of two years, and, in some directions, not for the better, as some of the older ones thought and said. they remembered how charming she was in the days when she threw all conventions to the winds, and was simply a wild, sweet little rascal, engaged in performing the most unheard-of pranks, and cutting up the most impossible capers. until margaret gaither and eugenia claiborne came to shady dale, nan had no girl-friends. all the others were either ages too old or ages too young, or disagreeable, and nan had to find her amusements the best way she could. margaret gaither and eugenia claiborne had a very subduing effect upon nan. they had been brought up with the greatest respect for all the small formalities and conventions, and the attention they paid to these really awed nan. the young ladies were free and unconventional enough when there was no other eye to mark their movements, but at table, or in company, they held their heads in a certain way, and they had rules by which to seat themselves in a chair, or to rise therefrom; they had been taught how to enter a room, how to bow, and how to walk gracefully, as was supposed, from one side of a room to the other. nan tried hard to learn a few of these conventions, but she never succeeded; she never could conform to the rules; she always failed to remember them at the proper time; and it was very fortunate that this was so. the native grace with which she moved about could never have been imparted by rule; but there were long moments when her failure to conform weighed upon her mind, and subdued her. this was a part of the change that gabriel found in her. she could no longer, in justice to the rules of etiquette, seize gabriel by the lapels of his coat and give him a good shaking when he happened to displease her, and she could no longer switch him across the face with her braided hair--that wonderful tawny hair, so fine, so abundant, so soft, and so warm-looking. no, indeed! the day for that was over, and very sorry she was for herself and for gabriel, too. and while she was going home, following in the footsteps of that young man (for dorringtons' was on the way to cloptons'), a thought struck her, and it seemed to be so important that she stopped still and clapped the palms of her hands together with an energy unusual to young ladies. then she gathered her skirt firmly, drew it up a little, and went running along the road as rapidly as gabriel had run. fortunately, a knowledge of the rules of etiquette had not had the effect of paralysing nan's legs. she ran so fast that she was wellnigh breathless when she reached home. she rushed into the house, and fell in a chair, crying: "oh, nonny!" chapter ten _the troubles of nan_ "why, what on earth ails the child?" exclaimed mrs. absalom. nan was leaning back in the chair, her face very red, making an effort to fan herself with one little hand, and panting wildly. "malindy!" mrs. absalom yelled to the cook, "run here an' fetch the camphire as you come! ain't you comin'? the laws a massy on us! the child'll be cold and stiff before you start! honey, what on earth ails you? tell your nonny. has anybody pestered you? ef they have, jest tell me the'r name, an' i'll foller 'em to the jumpin'-off place but what i'll frail 'em out. you malindy! whyn't you come on? you'll go faster'n that to your own funeral." but when malindy came with the camphor, and a dose of salts in a tumbler, nan waved her away. "i don't want any physic, nonny," she said, still panting, for her run had been a long one; "i'm just tired from running. and, oh, nonny! i have something to tell you." "well, my life!" exclaimed mrs. absalom indignantly, withdrawing her arms from around nan, and rising to her feet. "a little more, an' you'd 'a' had me ready for my coolin'-board. i ain't had such a turn--not sence the day a nigger boy run in the gate an' tol' me the yankees was a-hangin' ab. an' all bekaze you've hatched out some rigamarole that nobody on the green earth would 'a' thought of but you." she fussed around a little, and was for going about the various unnecessary duties she imposed on herself; but nan protested. "please, nonny, wait until i tell you." thereupon nan told as well as she could of the conversation she and gabriel had overheard in town, and the recital gave mrs. absalom a more serious feeling than she had had in many a day. her muscular arms, bare to the elbow, were folded across her ample bosom, and she seemed to be glaring at nan with a frown on her face, but she was thinking. "well," she said with a sigh, "i knowed there was gwine to be trouble of some kind--old billy sanders went by here this mornin' as drunk as a lord." "drunk!" cried nan with blanched face. "well, sorter tollerbul how-come-you-so. the last time old billy was drunk, was when sesaytion was fetched on. ev'ry time he runs a straw in a jimmy-john, he fishes up trouble. an' my dream's out. i dremp last night that a wooden-leg man come to the door, an' ast me for a pair of shoes. i ast him what on earth he wanted wi' a pair, bein's he had but one foot. he said that the foot he didn't have was constant a-feelin' like it was cold, an' he allowed maybe it'd feel better ef it know'd that he had a shoe ready for it ag'in colder weather." "oh, i hate him! i just naturally despise him!" cried nan. when she was angry her face was pale, and it was very pale now. "why do you hate the wooden-leg man, honey? it was all in a dream," said mrs. absalom, soothingly. "oh, i don't know what you are talking about, nonny!" exclaimed nan, ready to cry. "i mean old billy sanders. and if i don't give him a piece of my mind when i see him. now gabriel will go to that place to-night, and he's nothing but a boy." "a boy! well, i dunner where you'll find your men ef gabriel ain't nothin' but a boy. where's anybody in these diggin's that's any bigger or stouter? i wish you'd show 'em to me," remarked mrs. absalom. "i don't care," nan persisted; "i know just what gabriel will do. he'll go to that place to-night, and--and--i'd rather go there myself." "well, my life!" exclaimed mrs. absalom, with lifted eyebrows. the pallor of nan's face was gradually replaced by a warmer glow. "now, nonny! don't say a word--don't tease--don't tease me about gabriel. if you do, i'll never tell you anything more for ever and ever." "all this is bran new to me," mrs. absalom declared. "you make me feel, nan, like i was in some strange place, talkin' wi' some un i never seed before. you ain't no more like yourself--you ain't no more like you used to be--than day is like night, an' i'm jest as sorry as i can be." "that's what gabriel says," sighed nan. "he said he was sorry, and now you say you are sorry. oh, nonny, i don't want any one to be sorry for me." "well, then, behave yourself, an' be like you use to be, an' stop trollopin' aroun' wi' them highfalutin' gals downtown. they look like they know too much. all they talk about is boys, boys, boys, from mornin' till night; an' i noticed when they was spendin' a part of the'r time here that you was just as bad. it was six of one an' twice three of the rest. now you know that ain't a sign of good health for gals to be eternally talkin' about boys, 'specially sech ganglin', lop-sided creeturs as we've got aroun' here." "where's johnny?" asked nan, who evidently had no notion of getting in a controversy with mrs. absalom on the subject of boys. "johnny" was her name for her step-mother, whose surname of dion had been changed to "johns" the day after she arrived at shady dale. the story of little miss johns has been told in another place and all that is necessary to add to the record is the fact that she had managed to endear herself to the critical, officious, and somewhat jealous mrs. absalom. mrs. dorrington had the tact and the charm of the best of her race. she was nan's dearest friend and only confidante, and though she was not many years the girl's senior, she had an influence over her that saved nan from many a bad quarter of an hour. mrs. dorrington was in her own room when nan found her, sewing and singing softly to herself, the picture of happiness and content. nan dropped on her knees beside her chair, and threw her arms impulsively around the little woman's neck. "tell me ever what it is, nan, before you smother-cate me," said mrs. dorrington, smoothing the girl's hair. the two had a language of their own, which the elder had learned from the younger. "it is the most miserable misery, johnny. do you remember what i told you about those people?" "how could i forget, nan?" "well, those people are going head foremost into trouble, and whatever happens, i want to be there." "oh, is that so? well, it is too bad," said the little woman sympathetically. "perhaps if you would say something about it--not too much, but just enough for me to get it through my thick numskull----" whereupon nan told of all the fears by which she was beset, and of all the troubles that racked her mind, and the two had quite a consultation. "you are not afraid for yourself; why should you be afraid for those people?" inquired mrs. dorrington, laying great stress on "those people," the name that gabriel went by when nan and johnny were referring to him. "oh, i don't know," replied nan, helplessly. "it isn't because of what you would guess if you knew no better. i have a very great friendship for those people; but it isn't the other feeling--the kind that you were telling me about. if it is--oh, if it is--i shall never forgive myself." "in time--yes. it is quite easy to forgive yourself on account of those people. i found it so." "oh, don't! you make me feel as if i ought never to speak to myself." "then don't," said mrs. dorrington, calmly. "you can speak to me instead of to that ignorant girl." "oh, you sweetest!" cried nan, hugging her step-mother; "i am going to have you for my doll." "very well, then," said mrs. dorrington, shrugging her shoulders; "but you will have some trouble on your hands--yes, more than those people give you." "johnny, you are my little mother, and you never gave me any trouble in your life. i am the one that is troublesome; i am troubling you now." "silly thing! will you be good?" cried mrs. dorrington, tapping nan lightly on the cheek. "how can you trouble me when i don't know what you mean? you haven't told me." "i thought you could guess as well as i can," replied nan. "about some things--yes; but not about this terrible danger that is to overcome those people." whereupon, nan told mrs. dorrington of the conversation she and gabriel had overheard. to this information she added her suspicions that gabriel intended to do something desperate; and then she gave a very vivid description of the strange white man, of his pale and eager countenance, his glittering, shifty eyes, and his thin, cruel lips. instead of shuddering, as she should have done, mrs. dorrington laughed. "but i don't see what the trouble is," she declared. "that boy is ever so large; he can take care of himself. but if you think not, then ask him to tea." nan frowned heavily. "but, johnny, tea is so tame. think of rescuing a friend from danger by means of a cup of tea! doesn't it seem ridiculous?" "of course it is," responded mrs. dorrington. "but it isn't half so ridiculous as your make-believe. oh, nan! nan! when will you come down from your clouds?" now, nan's world of make-believe was as natural to her as the persons and things all about her. no sooner had she guessed that it was gabriel's intention to find out what the union league was for, and, in a way, expose himself to some possible danger of discovery, than she carried the whole matter into her land of make-believe as naturally as a mocking-bird carries a flake of thistle-down to its nest. once there, nothing could be more reasonable or more logical than the terrible danger to which gabriel would be exposed. while it lasted, nan's feeling of anxiety and alarm was both real and sincere. mrs. absalom could never enter into this world of nan's; she was too practical and downright. and yet she had a ready sympathy for the girl's troubles and humoured her without stint, though she sometimes declared that nan was queer and flighty. mrs. dorrington, on the other hand, inheriting the sensitive and artistic temperament of flavian dion, her father, was able to enter heartily into the most of nan's vagaries. sometimes she humoured them, but more frequently she laughed at them as the girl grew older. occasionally, in her twilight conversations with her father, whose gentleness and shyness kept him in the background, mrs. dorrington would deplore nan's tendency to exploit her imagination. "but she was born thus, my dear," flavian dion would reply, speaking the picturesque patois of new france. "it will either be her great misery, or her great happiness. how was it with me? once it was my great misery, but now--you see how it is. come! we will have some music, if mademoiselle the dreamer is willing." and then they would go into the parlour, where, with mrs. dorrington at the piano, flavian dion with his violin, and nan with her voice, which was rich and strong, they would render the beautiful folk-songs of france. moreover, flavian dion had caught many of the plantation melodies, of which nan knew the words, and when the french songs were exhausted, they would fall back on these. it frequently happened that mademoiselle the dreamer would add feet as well as voice to the negro melodies, especially if tasma tid were there to incite her, and the way that nan reproduced steps and poses was both wonderful and inimitable. the reader who takes the trouble to make inferences as he goes along, will perceive that nan's solicitude for gabriel was no compliment to him; it was not flattering to the heroism of a young man who was threatening to grow a moustache, for a young lady to believe, or even pretend to believe, that he needed to be rescued from some imaginary danger. gabriel was strong enough to take a man's place at a log-rolling, and he would have had small relish for the information if he had been told that nan dorrington was planning to rescue him. let the simple truth be told. gabriel was no hero in nan's eyes. he was merely a friend and former comrade, who now was in sad need of some one to take care of him. that was her belief, and she would have shrunk from the idea that gabriel would one day be her lover. she had quite other views. yes, indeed! her lover must be a man who had passed through some desperate experiences. he must be a hero with sword and plume, a cutter and slasher, a man who had a relish for bloodshed, such as she had read about in the romances she had appropriated from her father's library. nan had brought over from her childhood many queer dreams and fancies. once upon a time, she had heard her elders talking of john a. murrell, the notorious land-pirate and highwayman. the man was one of the coarsest and cruellest of modern ruffians, but about his name the common people had placed a halo of romance. it was said of him that he rescued beautiful maidens from their abductors, and restored them to their friends, and that he robbed the rich only to give to the poor. sad to say, this ruffian was nan's ideal hero. and now, when she was racking her brains to invent some bold and simple plan for the rescue of gabriel, her mind reverted to this ideal hero of her childhood. "if you insist, johnny, i'll ask gabriel to tea," nan remarked for the second time; "but, as you say, it is perfectly ridiculous. whoever heard of rescuing persons by inviting them to supper?" she paused a moment, and then went on with a sigh that would have sounded very real in mrs. absalom's ears, but which simply brought a smile to mrs. dorrington's face--"heigh-ho! what a pity john a. murrell isn't alive to-day!" "and who is this mr. murrell?" mrs. dorrington asked. "he was a fierce robber-chief," replied nan, placidly. "he wore a big black beard, and a hat with a red feather in it. over his left shoulder was a red sash, and he rode a big white horse. he carried two big pistols and a bowie-knife--nonny can tell you all about him." whereupon, mrs. dorrington jumped from her chair, and made an effort to catch the young romancer; and in a moment, the laughter of the pursuer, and the shrieks of the pursued, when she thought she was in danger of being caught, roused the echoes in the old house. mrs. absalom, who was in the kitchen, laughed and shook her head. "i believe them two scamps will be children when they are sixty year old!" but after awhile, when their romp was over, nan suddenly discovered that she had been in very high spirits, and this, according to the constitution and by-laws of the land of make-believe, was an unpardonable offence, especially when, as now, a very dear friend was in danger. so she went out upon the veranda, and half-way down the steps, where she seated herself in an attitude of extreme dejection. while sitting there, nan suddenly remembered that she did have a grievance and a very real one. tasma tid was in a state of insurrection. she had not been permitted to accompany her young mistress when the latter visited her girl-friends, and for a long time she had been sulking and pouting. an effort had been made to induce tasma tid to make herself useful, but even the strong will of mrs. absalom collapsed when it found itself in conflict with the bright-eyed african. tasma tid had been wounded in her tenderest part--her affections. her sentiments and emotions, being primitive, were genuine. her grief, when separated from nan, was very keen. she refused to eat, and for the most part kept herself in seclusion, and no one was able to find her hiding-place. now, when nan threw herself upon the steps in an attitude of dejection, with her head on her arm, it happened that tasma tid was prowling about with the hope of catching a glimpse of her. the african, slipping around the house, suddenly came plump upon the object of her search. she stood still, and drew a long breath. here was honey nan apparently in deep trouble. tasma tid crept up the steps as silently as a ghost, and sat beside the prostrate form. if nan knew, she made no sign; nor did she move when the african laid a caressing hand on her hair. it was only when tasma tid leaned over and kissed nan on the hand that she stirred. she raised her head, saying, "you shouldn't do that, tasma tid; i'm too mean." "how come you dis away, honey nan?" inquired the african in a low tone. "who been-a hu't you?" "no one," replied nan; "i am just mean." "'tis ain't so, nohow. somebody been-a hu't you. you show dem ter tasma tid--dee ain't hu't you no mo'." "where have you been? why did you go away and leave me?" "nobody want we fer stay. you go off, an' den we go off. we go off an' walk, walk, walk in de graveyard--walk, walk, walk in de graveyard; an' den we go home way off yander in de woods." "home! why this is your home; it shall always be your home," cried nan, touched by the forlorn look in tasma tid's eyes, and the despairing expression in her voice. "no, no, honey nan; 'tis-a no home fer we when you drive we 'way fum foller you, when you shak-a yo' haid ef we come trot, trot 'hind you. we no want home lak dat. no, no, honey nan. we make home in de woods." "where is your home?" nan inquired, full of curiosity. "we take-a you dey when dem sun go 'way." "well, you must stay here," said nan, emphatically. "you shall follow me wherever i go." "you talk-a so dis time, honey nan; nex' time--" tasma tid ran down the steps, and went along the walk mimicking nan's movements, shaking her frock first on one side and then on the other. then she looked over her shoulder, turned around with a frown, stamped her foot and made menacing gestures with her hands. "dat how 'twill be nex' time, honey nan." hearing mrs. absalom laughing, nan conjectured that she had witnessed tasma tid's performance. "nonny," she cried, "do i really walk that way, and finger my skirt so?" "to a t," said mrs. absalom, laughing louder. "ef she was a foot an' a half higher, i'd 'a' made shore it was you practisin' ag'in the time when you'll mince by the store where old silas tomlin's yearlin' is clerkin', or by the tavern peazzer, where frank bethune an' the rest of the loafers set at. it's among the merikels that gabe tolliver don't mix wi' that crowd. i reckon maybe it's bekaze he jest natchally too wuthless." "now, nonny! i don't think you ought to make fun of me," protested nan. "i am perfectly certain that i don't mince when i walk, and you are always complaining that i don't care how my clothes look." "go roun' to the kitchen, you black slink," exclaimed mrs. absalom, addressing tasma tid, "an' git your dinner! you've traipsed and trolloped until i bet you can gulp down all the vittles on the place." "and when you have finished your dinner, come to my room," said nan. it was not often that nan was to be found in her own room during the day, but now she remembered that she had promised to spend the night with eugenia claiborne; and how was she to invite gabriel to tea, as mrs. dorrington had suggested? there was but one thing to do, and that was to break her engagement with eugenia. she was of half a dozen minds what to say to her friend. she wrote note after note, only to destroy each one. she pulled her nose, stuck out her tongue, looked at the ceiling, and bit her thumb, but all to no purpose. tasma tid, who had finished her dinner, sat on the floor eying nan as an intelligent dog eyes its master, ready to respond to look, word or gesture. finally, the african, seeing nan's perplexity, made a suggestion. "make dem cuss-words come," she said. tasma tid had heard men use profane language when fretted or irritated, and she supposed that it was a remedy for troubles both small and large. "be jigged if i haven't a mind to," cried nan, laughing at the african's earnestness. but at last she flung her pen down, seized her hat, and, with an unspoken invitation to tasma tid, went out into the street, determined to go to the gaither place, where eugenia lived, and present her excuses in person. chapter eleven _mr. sanders in his cups_ when nan came in sight of the court-house she saw a crowd of men and boys gazing at some spectacle on the side opposite her. some were laughing, while others had serious faces. among them she noticed francis bethune, and she also saw gabriel, who was standing apart from the rest with a very gloomy countenance. arriving near the crowd, she paused to discover what had excited their curiosity; and there before her eyes, seated on the court-house steps, was mr. billy sanders, relating to an imaginary audience some choice incidents in his family history. his hat was off, and his face was very red. as nan listened, he was telling how his "pa" and "ma" had married in south carolina, and had subsequently moved to jasper county in georgia. in coming away (according to mr. sanders's version), they had fetched a half dozen hogs too many, and maybe a cow or two that didn't belong to them. by-and-by the owners of the stock appeared in the neighbourhood where mr. sanders, sr., had settled, found the missing property, and carried him away with them. they had, or claimed to have, a warrant, and they hustled the pioneer off to south carolina, and put him in jail. "now, sally hart was nancy's own gal," said mr. sanders, pausing to take a nip from a bottle he carried in his pocket. "she was a chip off'n the old block ef they ever was a block that had a chip. so sally (that was ma) she went polin' off to sou' ca'liny. the night she got to whar she was agwine, she tore a hole in the side of the jail that you could 'a' driv a buggy through. then she took poor pa by one ear, an' fetched him home. an' that ain't all. arter she got him home, she took a rawhide an' liter'ly wore pa out. she said arterwards that she didn't larrup him for fetchin' the stock off, but for layin' up there in jail an' lettin' his crap spile. well, that frailin' made a good christian of pa. he j'ined the church, an' would 'a' been a preacher, but ma wouldn't let him. she allowed they'd be too much gaddin' about, an' maybe a little too much honeyin' up wi' the sisterin'. 'no,' says she, 'ef you want to do good prayin', pray whilst you're ploughin'. i'll look arter the hoein' myself,' says she." mr. sanders was not regarded as a dangerous man in his cups, but on one well-remembered occasion he had fired into a crowd of men who were inclined to be too familiar, and since that day he had been given a wide berth when he took a seat on the court-house steps and began to recite his family history. while nan stood there, mr. sanders drew a pistol from his pocket, and, smiling blandly, began to flourish it around. as he did so, gabriel tolliver sprang into the street and ran rapidly toward him. some one in the crowd uttered a cry of warning. seized by some blind impulse nan ran after gabriel. francis bethune caught her arm as she ran by him, but she wrenched herself from his grasp, and ran faster than ever. "stand back there!" exclaimed mr. sanders in an angry voice, raising his pistol. for one brief moment, the spectators thought that gabriel was doomed, for he went on without wavering. but he was really in no danger. mr. sanders had mistaken him for some of the young men who had been taunting him as they stood at a safe distance. but when he saw who it was, he replaced the pistol in his pocket, remarking, "you ought to hang out your sign, gabe. ef i hadn't 'a' had on my furseein' specks, i'm afear'd i'd a plugged you." at that moment nan arrived on the scene, her anger at white heat. she caught her breath, and then stood looking at mr. sanders, with eyes that fairly blazed with scorn and anger. "ef looks'd burn, honey, they wouldn't be a cinder left of me," said mr. sanders, moving uneasily. "arter she's through wi' me, gabriel, plant me in a shady place, an' make old tar-baby thar," indicating tasma tid, who had followed nan--"make old tar-baby thar set on my grave, an' warm it up once in awhile. i leave you my sunday shirts wi' the frills on 'em, gabriel, an' my sunday boots wi' the red tops; an' have a piece put in the malvern paper, statin' that i was one of the most populous and public-sperreted citizens of the county. an' tell how i went about killin' jimson weeds an' curkle-burrs for my neighbours by blowin' my breath on 'em." what nan had intended to say, she left unsaid. her feelings reacted while mr. sanders was talking, and she turned her back on him and began to cry. under the circumstances, it was the very thing to do. mr. sanders's face fell. "i'll tell you the honest truth, gabriel--i never know'd that anybody in the roun' world keer'd a continental whether i was drunk or sober, alive or dead; an' i'd lots ruther some un 'd stick a knife through my gizzard than to see that child cryin'." he rose and went to nan--he was not too tipsy to walk--and tried to lay his hand on her arm, but she whirled away from him. "honey," he said, "what must i do? i'll do anything in the world you say." "go home and try to be decent," she answered. "i will, honey, ef you an' gabriel will go wi' me. i need some un for to keep the boogers off. you git on the lead side, honey, an' gabriel, you be the off-hoss. now, hitch on here"--he held out both elbows, so that each could take him by an arm--"an' when you're ready to start, give the word." nan dried her eyes as quickly as she could, but before she would consent to go with mr. sanders, insisted on searching him. she found a flask of apple-brandy, and hurled it against the side of the court-house. "nan," he said ruefully, "that's twice you've broke my heart in a quarter of an hour. ain't there some way you can break gabriel's?" he paused and sniffed the fumes of the apple-brandy. "it's a mighty good thing court ain't in session," he remarked, "bekaze the judge an' jury an' all the lawyers would come pourin' out for to smell at that wall there. you say they ain't no way for you to break gabriel's heart, too?" he asked again, turning to nan. "i just know my eyes are a sight," she said in reply. "are they red and swollen, gabriel?" "they are somewhat red, but----" "but what?" she asked, as gabriel paused. "they are just as pretty as ever." "mr. sanders, that is the first compliment he ever paid me in his life." "you'll remember it longer on that account," said mr. sanders. "gabriel is lazy-minded, but he'll brighten up arter awhile. speakin' of fust an' last, an' things of that kind," he went on, "i reckon this is the fust time i ever come betwixt you children. i hope no harm's done." "well, sir," said nan, addressing gabriel with a pretty formality, "since you are kind enough to pay me a compliment, i'll be bold enough to ask you to take tea with me this evening; and i'll have no refusal." gabriel found himself in an awkward predicament. he felt bound to discover what part the union league was playing. he had read of its sinister influence in other parts of the south, and he judged that the hour of its organisation at shady dale was the aptest time for such a discovery. he couldn't tell nan what his plans were--he had no idea that she had already guessed them--and he hardly knew what to say. he was thoroughly uncomfortable. he was silent so long that mr. sanders had an opportunity to ask nan if she hadn't made a remark to gabriel. "yes; i asked him to tea," she replied in a low voice; "he has forgotten it by this time." but nan well knew why gabriel was silent; she was neither vexed nor surprised at his hesitation. nevertheless, she must play her part. "give him time, nan; give him time," said mr. sanders, consolingly. "gabriel comes of a stuttering family. they say it took his grandma e'en about seven year to tell dick lumsden she'd have him. i lay gabriel is composin' in his mind a flowery piece sorter like, 'here's my heart, an' here's my hand; ef you ax me to tea, i'm your'n to command.'" "i'm sorry i can't come, nan, but i can't; and it's just my luck that you should invite me to-day," said gabriel, finally. "you have another engagement?" asked nan. "no, not an engagement," he replied. "well, you are going to do something very unnecessary and improper," said nan, with the air and tone of a mature woman. "you are sure to get into trouble. why don't you ask your mr. bethune to take your place, or at least go with you?" "why, you talk as if you knew what i am going to do," remarked gabriel; "but you couldn't guess in a week." at this point mr. sanders tried to stop in order to deliver an address. "i bet you--i bet you a seven-pence ag'in a speckled hen that nan knows precisely what you're up to." but nan and gabriel pulled him along in spite of his frequently expressed desire to "lay down in the road an' take a nap." "it's a shame," he said, "for a great big gal an' a great big boy to be harryin' a man as old as me. why don't you ketch hands an' run to play? no, nothin' will do, but you must worry william h. sanders, late of said county." he received no reply to this, and continued: "i'm glad i took too much, gabriel, ef only for one thing. you know what i told you about nan's temper--well, you've seed it for yourself. she's frailed frank, she'd 'a' frailed me jest now ef you hadn't 'a' been on hand, an' she'll frail you out before long. she's jest turrible." mr. sanders kept up his good-humour all the way home, and when he had been placed in charge of uncle plato, who knew how to deal with him, he said: "now, fellers, i had a mighty good reason for restin' my mind. you cried bekase old billy sanders was drunk, didn't you, nan? well, i'm mighty glad you did. i never know'd before that a sob or two would make a son of temperance of a man; but that's what they'll do for me. nobody in this world will ever see me drunk ag'in. so long!" it may be said here that mr. sanders kept his promise. the events which followed required clear heads and steady hands for their shaping, but each crisis, as it arose, found mr. sanders, and a few others who acted with him, fully prepared to meet it, though there were times and occasions when he, as well as the rest, was overtaken by a profound sense of his helplessness. some fell into melancholy, and some were overtaken by dejection, but mr. sanders never for a moment forgot to be cheerful. "i don't suppose there is another girl in the country who would make such a spectacle of herself as i made to-day," said nan, as she and gabriel walked slowly in the direction of town. "what do you mean?" inquired gabriel. "you know well enough," replied nan. "why, think of a young woman rushing across the public square in the face of a crowd, and doing as i did! i'll be the talk of the town. what is your opinion?" "well, considering who the man was, and everything, i think it was very becoming in you," replied gabriel. "oh, thank you!" said nan. "under the circumstances, you could say no less. you have changed greatly, gabriel, since eugenia claiborne began to make eyes at you. you seem to think it is a mark of politeness to pay compliments right and left, and to agree with everybody. no doubt, if an invitation to tea had come from further up the street, you would have found some excuse for accepting." nan's logic was quite feminine, but gabriel took no advantage of that fact. "i'm sorry i can't come, nan, and i hope you'll not be angry." "angry! why should i be angry?" nan exclaimed. "an invitation to tea is not so important." "but this one is important to me," said gabriel. "it is the first time you have asked me, and i hope it won't be the last." nan said nothing more until she bade gabriel good-bye at her father's gate. he thought she was angry, while she was wondering if he considered her bold. chapter twelve _caught in a corner_ it was no difficult matter for nan dorrington to infer what course of action gabriel intended to pursue. the union leagues established in the south under the auspices of the political department of the freedman's bureau had already excited the suspicion of the whites. the reputation they instantly achieved was extremely sinister, and they had become the source of much uneasiness. there was an air of mystery about them which, however pleasing it might be to the negroes, was not at all relished by those who had been made the victims of radical legislation. there were wild rumours to the effect that the object of these leagues was to organise the negroes and prepare them for an armed attack on the whites. these rumours were to be seen spread out in the newspapers, and were to be heard wherever people gathered together. nan was familiar with them, and, while both she and gabriel were possibly too young to harbour all the anxieties entertained by their elders, they nevertheless took a very keen interest in the situation; and it was not less keen because it had curiosity for its basis. gabriel had no sooner digested the purport of the conversation to which he had listened than he made up his mind to unravel, if he could, the mystery of the union league, and to discover what part the new-comer, the companion of the rev. jeremiah tomlin, proposed to play. it was characteristic of the lad that he should act promptly. when he left nan so unceremoniously, he ran to the clopton place to report what he had heard to mr. sanders, but he found that worthy citizen in no condition to give him aid, or even advice. meriwether clopton chanced to be in consultation with some gentleman from atlanta, and could not be seen, while francis bethune was said to be in town somewhere. it was then that gabriel made up his mind that he would act alone. he knew the old school-house in which the league was to be organised, as well as he knew his own home. it had formerly been called the shady dale male academy, and its reputation, before the war, had gone far and wide. gabriel had spent many a happy hour there, and some that were memorably unpleasant, especially during the term that a school-master by the name of mcmanus wielded the rod. among the things that gabriel remembered was the fact that the space under the stairway--the building had two stories--was boarded up so as to form a large closet, where the pupils deposited their extra coats and wraps, as well as their lunches. the closet had also been used as a reformatory for refractory pupils, and this was one reason why gabriel remembered it so well; he had spent numerous uncomfortable hours there at a time when darkness and isolation had real terrors for him. the building had been abandoned by the whites during the war, and was for a time used as a hospital. at the close of the war it was turned over to the negroes, who established there a flourishing school, which was presided over by a native southerner, an old gentleman whom the war had stripped of this world's goods. gabriel thought it best to begin operations before the sun went down. he made a detour wide enough to place the school-house between him and shady dale, so that if by any chance his movements should attract attention he would have the appearance of approaching the building quite by accident. under the circumstances, it was perhaps fortunate that he took this precaution, for when he drew near the school-house, the rev. jeremiah tomlin was standing in the back door flourishing a broom. "hello, jeremiah!" said gabriel by way of salutation. "what's up now?" "good-evenin', mister gabe," responded the rev. jeremiah. "dey been havin' some plasterin' done in my chu'ch, suh, an' we 'lowd we'd hol' pra'r-meetin' here ter-night. an' i'll tell you why, suh: you know mighty well how we coloured folks does--we ain't got nothin' fer ter hide, an' we couldn't hide it ef we did had sump'n. well, suh, dem mongst us what got any erligion is bleeze ter show it; when de sperret move um, dey bleeze ter let one an'er know it; an' in dat way, suh, dey do a heap er movin' 'bout. dey rastles wid satan, ez you may say, when dey gits in a weavin' way; an' i wuz fear'd, suh, dat dey mought shake de damp plasterin' down." "but you have no pulpit here," suggested gabriel, who associated a pulpit with all religious gatherings. "so much de better, suh," replied the rev. jeremiah. "ef you wuz ter come ter my chu'ch, you'd allers see me come down when i gits warmed up. dey ain't no pulpit big nuff for me long about dat time. no, suh; i'm bleeze ter have elbow-room, an' i'm mighty glad dey ain't no pulpit in here. but whar you been, mr. gabe?" inquired the rev. jeremiah, craftily changing the subject. "just walking about in the woods and fields," answered gabriel. "'twant no use fer ter ax you, suh; you been doin' dat sence you wuz big nuff ter clime a fence. ef you wan't wid miss nan, you wuz by yo'se'f. i uv seed you many a day, suh, when you didn't see me. you wuz wid miss nan dis ve'y day." the rev. jeremiah dropped his head to one side, and smiled a knowing smile. "oh, you needn't be shame un it, suh," the negro went on as the colour slowly mounted to gabriel's face. "i uv said it befo' an' i'll say it ag'in, an' i don't keer who hears me--miss nan is boun' ter make de finest 'oman in de lan'. an' dat ain't all, suh: when i hear folks hintin' dat she's gwine ter make a match wid mr. frank bethune, sez i, 'des keep yo' eye on mr. gabe'; dat zackly what i sez." "oh, the dickens and tom walker!" exclaimed gabriel impatiently; "who's been talking of the affairs of miss dorrington in that way?" "why, purty nigh eve'ybody, suh," remarked the rev. jeremiah, smacking his lips. "what white folks say in de parlour, you kin allers hear in de kitchen." after firing this homely truth at gabriel, the rev. jeremiah went to work with his broom and made a great pretence of sweeping and moving the benches about. the lad followed him in, and looked about him with interest. it was the first time he had revisited the old school-house since he was a boy of ten, and he was pleased to find that there had been few changes. the desk at which he had sat was intact. his initials, rudely carved, stared him in the face, and there, too, was the hole he had cut in the seat. he remembered that this was a dungeon in which he had imprisoned many a fly. these mute evidences of his idleness seemed to be as solid as the hills. between those times and the present, the wild and furious perspective of war lay spread out, and gabriel could imagine that the idler who had hacked the desk belonged to another generation altogether. he went to the blackboard, found a piece of chalk, and wrote in a large, bold hand: "rev. jeremiah tomlin will lecture here to-night, beginning at early candle-light." the rev. jeremiah, witnessing the performance, had his curiosity aroused: "what is de word you uv writ, suh?" he inquired, and when gabriel had read it off, the negro exclaimed, "well, suh! you put all dat down, an' it didn't take you no time; no, suh, not no time. but i might uv speckted it, bekase i hear lots er talk about how smart you is on all sides--dey all sesso." "does tasma tid belong to your church?" gabriel inquired with a most innocent air. "do which, suh?" exclaimed rev. jeremiah, pausing with his broom suspended in the air. when gabriel repeated his inquiry, the rev. jeremiah drew a deep breath, his nostrils dilated, and he seemed to grow several inches taller. "no, suh, she do not; no, suh, she do not belong ter my chu'ch. you kin look at her, suh, an' see de mark er de ol' boy on her. she got de hoodoo eye, suh; an' de blue gums dat go long wid it, an' ef she wuz ter jine my chu'ch, she'd be de only member." it was very clear to gabriel that nothing was to be gained by remaining, so he bade the rev. jeremiah good-bye, and went toward shady dale. when he was well out of sight, the negro approached the blackboard, and, with the most patient curiosity, examined the inscription or announcement that gabriel had written. with his forefinger, he traced over the lines, as if in that way he might absorb the knowledge that was behind the writing. then, stepping back a few paces, he viewed the writing critically. finally he shook his head doubtfully, exclaiming aloud: "dat's whar dey'll git us--yes, suh, dat's whar dey sho' will git us." after which, he carefully closed the doors of the school-house and followed the path leading to shady dale--the path that gabriel had taken. the rev. jeremiah mumbled as he walked along, giving oral utterance to his thoughts, but in a tone too low to reveal their import. he had taken a step which it was now too late to retrace. he was not a vicious negro. in common with the great majority of his race--in common, perhaps with the men of all races--he was eaten up by a desire to become prominent, to make himself conspicuous. generations of civilisation (as it is called) have gone far to tone down this desire in the whites, and they manage to control it to some extent, though now and then we see it crop out in individuals. but there had been no toning down of the rev. jeremiah's egotism; on the contrary, it had been fed by the flattery of his congregation until it was gross and rank. it was natural, therefore, under all the circumstances, that the rev. jeremiah should become the willing tool of the politicians and adventurers who had accepted the implied invitation of the radical leaders of the republican party to assist in the spoliation of the south. the rev. jeremiah, once he had been patted on the back, and addressed as mr. tomlin by a white man, and that man a representative of the government, was quite ready to believe anything he was told by his new friends, and quite as ready to aid them in carrying out any scheme that their hatred of the south and their natural rapacity could suggest or invent. therefore, let it not be supposed that the rev. jeremiah, as he went along the path, mumbling out his thoughts, was expressing any doubt of the wisdom or expediency of the part he was expected to play in arraying the negroes against the whites. no; he was simply putting together as many sonorous phrases as he could remember, and storing them away in view of the contingency that he would be called on to address those of his race who might be present at the organisation of the union league. he had been very busy since his conference with the agent of the freedman's bureau, and, in one way and another, had managed to convey information of the proposed meeting to quite a number of the negroes; and in performing this service he was careful that a majority of those notified should be members of his church--negroes with whom his influence was all-powerful. but he had also invited uncle plato, clopton's carriage-driver, wiley millirons, and walthall's jake, three of the worthiest and most sensible negroes to be found anywhere. while the rev. jeremiah, full of his own importance, and swelling with childish vanity, was making his way toward neighbour tomlin's, on whose lot he had a house, rent free, there were other plotters at work. in addition to gabriel tolliver, nan dorrington was a plotter to be reckoned with, especially when she had as her copartner tasma tid, who was as cunning as some wild thing. when the day was far spent, or, as mrs. absalom would say, "along to'rds the shank of the evenin'," nan and tasma tid went wandering out of town in the direction of the school-house. the excuse nan had given at home was that she wanted to see tasma tid's hiding-place. as they passed tomlin's, they saw the rev. jeremiah splitting wood for his wife, who was the cook. at sight of jeremiah, tasma tid began to laugh, and she laughed so long and so loud that the parson paused in his labours and looked at her. he took off his hat and bowed to nan, whereupon tasma tid raised her hand above her head, and indulged in a series of wild gesticulations, which, to the rev. jeremiah, were very mysterious and puzzling. he shook his head dubiously, and mopped his face with a large red handkerchief. "what are you trying to do to jeremiah?" inquired nan, as they went along. "him fool nigger. we make him dream bad dream," responded tasma tid curtly. the two were in no hurry. they sauntered along leisurely, and, although the sun had not set, by the time they had entered the woods in which the school-house stood, the deep shadows of the trees gave the effect of twilight to the scene. tasma tid led nan to the old building, and told her to wait a moment. the african crawled under the house, and then suddenly reappeared at the back door, near which nan stood waiting. tasma tid had crawled under the house, and lifted a loose plank in the floor of the closet, making her entrance in that way. the front door was locked and the key was safe in the pocket of the rev. jeremiah, but the back door was fastened on the inside, and tasma tid had no trouble in getting it open. it is fair to say that nan hesitated before entering. some instinct or presentiment held her a moment. she was not afraid; her sense of fear had never developed itself; it was one of the attributes of human nature that was foreign to her experience; and this was why some of her actions, when she was younger, and likewise when she was older, were inexplicable to the rest of her sex, and made her the object of criticism which seemed to have good ground to go upon. nan hesitated with her foot on the step, but it was not her way to draw back, and she went in. tasma tid refastened the door very carefully, and then turned and led the way toward the closet. the room was not wholly dark; one or two of the shutters had fallen off, and in this way a little light filtered in. nan followed tasma tid to the closet, the door of which was open. "dis-a we house," said tasma tid; "dis-a de place wey we live at." "why did you come here?" nan asked. "we had no nurrer place; all-a we frien' gone; da's why." what further comment nan may have made cannot even be guessed, for at that moment there was a noise at one of the windows; some one was trying to raise the sash. nan and tasma tid held their breath while they listened, and then, when they were sure that some one was preparing to enter the building, the african closed the closet door noiselessly, and pulled nan after her to the narrowest and most uncomfortable part of the musty and dusty place--the space next the stairway, where it was so low that they were compelled to sit flat on the floor. the intruder, whoever he might be, crawled cautiously through the window--they could hear the buttons of his coat strike against the sill--and leaped lightly to the floor. he lowered the window again, and then, after tiptoeing about among the benches, came straight to the closet. as tasma tid had not taken time to fasten it on the inside, the door was easily opened. dark as it was, nan and the african could see that the intruder was a man, but, beyond this, they could distinguish nothing. nan and her companion would have breathed freer if recognition had been possible, for the new-comer was gabriel, who had determined to take this method of discovering the aim and object of the union league. once in the closet, gabriel took pains to make the inside fastenings secure. it was one of the whims of mr. mcmanus, the school-master, who had so often caused gabriel's head and the blackboard to meet, that the fastenings of this closet should be upon the inside. it tickled his humour to feel that a refractory boy should be his own jailer, able, and yet not daring, to release himself until the master should rap sharply on the door. gabriel was less familiar with these fastenings than he had formerly been, and he fumbled about in the dark for some moments before he could adjust them to his satisfaction. he made no effort to explore the closet, taking for granted that it could have no other occupant. this was fortunate for nan, for if he had moved about to any extent, he would inevitably have stumbled over the african and her young mistress, who were crouched and huddled as far under the stairway as they could get. gabriel stood still a moment, as if listening, and then he sat flat on the floor, and stretched out his legs with a sigh of relief. after that there was a long period of silence, during which nan had a fine opportunity to be very sorry that she had ever ventured out on such a fool's errand. "if i get out of this scrape," she thought over and over again, "i'll never be a tomboy; i'll never be a harum-scarum girl any more." she had no physical fear, but she realised that she was placed in a very awkward position. she was devoured with curiosity to know whether the intruder really was gabriel. she hoped it was, and the hope caused her to blush in the dark. she knew she was blushing; she felt her ears burn--for what would gabriel think if he knew that she was crouching on the floor, not more than an arm's length from him? why, naturally, he would have no respect for her. how could he? she asked herself. as for gabriel, he was sublimely unconscious of the fact that he was not alone. once or twice he fancied he heard some one breathing, but he was a lad who was very close to nature, and he knew how many strange and varied sounds rise mysteriously out of the most profound silence; and so, instead of becoming suspicious, he became drowsy. he made himself as comfortable as he could, and leaned against the wall, pitting his patience against the loneliness of the place and the slow passage of time. being a healthy lad, gabriel would have gone to sleep then and there, but for a mysterious splutter and explosion, so to speak, which went off right at his elbow, as he supposed. he was in that neutral territory between sleeping and waking and he was unable to recognise the sound that had startled him; and it would have remained a mystery but for the fact that a sneeze is usually accompanied by its twin. nan had for some time felt an inclination to sneeze, and the more she tried to resist it the greater the inclination grew, until finally, it culminated in the spluttering explosion that had aroused gabriel. this was followed by a sneeze which he had no difficulty in recognising. the fact that some unknown person was a joint occupant of the closet upset him so little that he was surprised at himself. he remained perfectly quiet for awhile, endeavouring to map out a course of action, little knowing that nan dorrington was chewing her nails with anger a few feet from where he sat. "who are you?" he asked finally. he spoke in a firm low tone. in another moment nan's impulsiveness would have betrayed her, but tasma tid came to her rescue. "huccum you in we house? whaffer you come dey? how you call you' name?" "oh, shucks! is that you, tiddy me tas?"--this was the way gabriel sometimes twisted her name. "i thought you were the booger-man. you'd better run along home to your miss nan. she says she wants to see you. what are you hiding out here for anyway?" "we no hide, misser gable. 'tis-a we house, dis. honey nan no want we; she no want nobody. she talkin' by dat misser frank what live-a down dey at clopton. dee got cake, dee got wine, dee got all de bittle dee want." tasma tid told this whopper in spite of the fact that nan was giving her warning nudges and pinches. "yes, i reckon they are having a good time," said gabriel gloomily. "miss nan gave me an invitation, but i couldn't go." it was something new in nan's experience to hear gabriel call her miss nan, and she rather relished the sensation it gave her. she was now ready to believe that she was really and truly a young lady. "whaffer you ain't gone down dey?" inquired tasma tid. "ef you kin come dis-a way, you kin go down dey." "i was obliged to come here," responded gabriel. "shoo! dem fib roll out lak dey been had grease on top um," exclaimed tasma tid derisively. "who been ax you fer come by dis way? 'tis-a we house, dis. you better go, misser gable; go by dat place wey honey nan live, an' look in de blin' wey you see dat misser frank, and dat misser paul tomlin, an' watch um how dee kin make love. maybe you kin fin' out how fer make love you'se'f." gabriel laughed uneasily. "no, tiddy me tas--no love-making for me. i'm either too old or too young, i forget which." they ceased talking, for they heard footsteps outside, and the sound of voices. presently some one opened the door, and it seemed from the noise that was made, the shuffling of feet, and the repressed tones of conversation, that a considerable number of negroes had responded to the rev. jeremiah's invitation. the first-comers evidently lit a candle, for a phantom-like shadow of light trickled through a small crack in the closet door, and a faint, but unmistakable, odour of a sulphur match readied gabriel's nostrils. there were whispered consultations, and a good deal of muffled and subdued conversation, but every word that was distinctly enunciated was clearly heard in the sound-box of a closet. but suddenly all conversation ceased, and complete silence took possession of those present. chapter thirteen _the union league organises_ the silence was presently broken by a very clear and distinct voice, which both nan and gabriel recognised as that of the stranger whom they had overheard talking to the rev. jeremiah. "before we proceed to the business that has called us together," said the voice, "it is best that we should come to some clear understanding. i am not here in my own behalf. i have nothing to lose except my life, and nothing to gain but the betterment of those who have been released from the horrors of slavery. very few of you know even my name, but the very fact that i am here with you to-night should go far to reassure you. it is sufficient to say that i represent the great party that has given you your freedom. that fact constitutes my credentials." "bless god!" exclaimed the rev. jeremiah, piously. he rolled the word "credentials" under his tongue, and resolved to remember it and bring it out in one of his sermons. the stranger had a very smooth and pleasing delivery. there was a sort of sunday-school cadence to his voice well calculated to impress his audience. the language he employed was far above the heads of those to whom he spoke, but his persuasive tone, and his engaging manner carried conviction. the great majority of the negroes present were ready to believe what he said whether they understood it or not. "my name," he went on, "is gilbert hotchkiss, and i belong to a family that has been striving for more than a generation to bring about the emancipation of the negroes. my father worked until the day of his death for the abolition of slavery; and now that slavery has been abolished, i, with thousands of devoted women and men whom you have never seen and doubtless never will see, have begun the work of uplifting the coloured people in order that they may be placed in a position to appreciate the benefits that have been conferred on them, and enable them to enjoy the fruits of freedom. it is a great work, a grand work, and all we ask is the active co-operation and assistance of the coloured people themselves." these were the words of mr. hotchkiss, the philanthropist; but now mr. hotchkiss, the politician, took his place, and there was an indefinable change in the tone of his voice. "there is no need to ask," he said, "why we do not, in this great work of uplifting the coloured race, ask the assistance of those who were lately in rebellion against the best and the greatest government on which the sun ever shone. it would be foolish and unreasonable to expect their assistance. they fought to destroy the union, and they were defeated; they fought to perpetuate slavery, and they failed. more than that, there is every reason to believe that they will refuse to abide by the results of the war. they are very quiet now, but they are merely waiting their opportunity. with our troops withdrawn, and with the republican party weakened by opposition, what is to prevent your late masters from placing you back in slavery? could we expect anything less from those who have been brought up to believe that slavery is a divine institution?" "you hear dat, people?" cried the rev. jeremiah. "you cannot help believing," continued mr. hotchkiss, "that your former masters would force the chains of slavery on you if they could; all they lack is the opportunity; and if you are not careful, they will find an opportunity, or make one. slavery was profitable to them once, and it would be profitable again. there is one fact you should never forget," said the speaker, warming up a little. "it is a most stupendous fact, namely: that every dollar's worth of property in all this southern land has been earned by the labour of your hands and by the sweat of your brows. it has been earned by you, not once, but many times over. you have earned every dollar that has ever circulated here. the lands, the houses, the stock, and all the farm improvements are a part of the fruits of negro labour; and when right and justice prevail, this property, or a very large part of it, will be yours." this statement was received with demonstrations of approval, one of the audience exclaiming: "you sho' is talkin' now, boss!" "but how are right and justice to prevail? only by the constant and continued success of the party of which the martyred lincoln was the leader. the mission of that party has not yet been fulfilled. first, it made you freemen. then it went a step further, and made you citizens and voters. should you sustain it by your votes, it will take still another step, and give you an opportunity to reap some of the fruits of your toil, as well as the toil of the unfortunates who pined away and died or who were starved under the infamous system of slavery." "ain't it de trufe!" exclaimed the rev. jeremiah fervently. "we have met here to-night to organise a union league," continued mr. hotchkiss. "the object of this league is to bring about a unity of purpose and action among its members, to give them opportunities to confer together, and to secure a clear understanding. no one knows what will happen. your former masters are jealous of your rights; they will try by every means in their power to take these rights away from you. they will employ both force and fraud, and the only way for you to meet and overcome this danger is to organise. ten men who understand one another and act together are more powerful than a hundred who act as individuals. you must be as wise as serpents, but not as harmless as doves. your rights have been bought for you by the blood of thousands of martyrs, and you must defend them. if necessary arm yourselves. yea! if necessary apply the torch." there was a certain air of plausibility about this harangue, a degree of earnestness, that impressed gabriel, and he does not know to this day whether this ill-informed emissary of race hatred and sectional prejudice really believed all that he said. who shall judge? certainly not those who remember the temper of those times, the revengeful attitude of the radical leaders at the north, and the distorted fears of those who suddenly found themselves surrounded by a horde of ignorant voters, pliant tools in the hands of unscrupulous carpet-baggers. hotchkiss brought his remarks to a close, and then proceeded to read the constitution and by-laws of the proposed union league, under which, he explained, hundreds of leagues had been organised. each one who desired to become a member was to make oath separately and individually that he would not betray the secrets of the league, nor disclose the signs and passwords, nor tolerate any opposition to the republican party, nor have any unnecessary dealings with rebels and former slave-holders. he was to keep eyes and ears open, and report all important developments to the league. "we are now ready, i presume, for the ceremonies to begin," remarked mr. hotchkiss. "first we will elect officers of the league, and i suggest that the honourable jeremiah tomlin be made president." "dat's right!" "he sho is de man!" "no needs fer ter put dat ter de question!" were some of the indorsements that came from various parts of the room. the rev. jeremiah was immensely tickled by the title of honourable that had been so unexpectedly bestowed on him. he hung his head with as much modesty as he could summon, and, bearing in mind his calling, one might have been pardoned for suspecting that he was offering up a brief prayer of thanksgiving. he rose in his place, however, passed the back of his hand across his mouth, paused a moment, and then began: "mr. cheer, i thank you an' deze friends might'ly fer de renomination er my name, an' de gener'l endossments er de balance er deze gentermen. so fur, so good. but, mr. cheer, 'fo' we gits right spang down ter business, i moves dat some er de br'ers be ax'd fer ter give der idee er dis plan which have been laid befo' us by our hon'bul frien'. i moves dot we hear fum br'er plato clopton, ef so be de sperret is on him fer ter gi' us his sesso." uncle plato, taken somewhat by surprise, was slow in responding, but when he rose, he presented a striking figure. he was taller than the average negro, and there was a simple dignity--an air of gentility and serene affability--in his attitude and bearing that attracted the attention of mr. hotchkiss. the rev. jeremiah was still standing, and uncle plato, after bowing gracefully to mr. hotchkiss, turned with a smile to the negro who had called on him. "you know mighty well, br'er jerry, dat i ain't sech a talker ez ter git up an' say my say des dry so, an' let it go at dat. howsomever, i laid off ter say sump'n, an' i ain't sorry you called my name. in what's been said dey's a heap dat i 'gree wid. i b'lieve dat de cullud folks oughter work tergedder, an' stan tergedder fer ter he'p an' be holped. but when you call on me fer ter turn my back on my marster, an' go to hatin' 'im, you'll hatter skuzen me. you sho will." "he ain't yo' marster now, br'er plato, an' you know it," said the rev. jeremiah. "i know dat mighty well," replied uncle plato, "but ef it don't hurt my feelin's fer ter call him dat it oughtn't ter pester yuther people. how it may be wid you all, i dunno; but me an' my marster wus boys tergedder. we useter play wid one an'er, an' fall out an' fight, an' i've whipped him des ez many times ez he ever whipped me--an' he'll tell you de same." "but all this," suggested mr. hotchkiss coldly, "has nothing to do with the matter in hand. the coloured race is facing conditions that amount to a crisis--a crisis that has no parallel in the world's history." "dat is suttinly so!" the rev. jeremiah ejaculated, though he had but a dim notion of what hotchkiss was talking about. "they have been made citizens," pursued the organiser, "and it is their duty to demand all their rights and to be satisfied with nothing less. the best men of our party believe that the rebels are still rebellious, and that they will seize the first opportunity to re-enslave the coloured people." "ah-yi!" exclaimed the rev. jeremiah triumphantly. "does you reely b'lieve, br'er jerry, dat pulaski tomlin will ever try ter put you back in slav'ry?" asked uncle plato. the inquiry was a poser, and the rev. jeremiah was unable to make any satisfactory reply. perceiving this, mr. hotchkiss came to the rescue. "you must bear in mind," he blandly remarked, "that this is not a question of one person here and another person there. it concerns a whole race. should all the former slave-owners of the south succeed in reclaiming their slaves, mr. tomlin and mr. clopton would be compelled by public sentiment to reclaim theirs. if they refused to do so, their former slaves would fall into the hands of new masters. it is not a question of individuals at all." "well, suh, we'll fin' out atter awhile dat we'll hatter do like de white folks. eve'y tub'll hatter stan' on its own bottom. i'm des ez free now ez i wuz twenty year ago----" "i can well believe that, after what you have said," mr. hotchkiss interrupted. the tone of his voice was as smooth as velvet, but his words carried the sting of an imputation, and uncle plato felt it and resented it. "yes, suh,--an' i wuz des ez free twenty year ago ez you all will ever be. my marster has been good ter me fum de work go. i ain't stayin' wid 'im bekaze he got money. ef him an' miss sa'ah di'n'a have a dollar in de worl', an no way ter git it, i'd work my arms off fer 'm. an' ef i 'fused ter do it, my wife'd quit me, an' my chillun wouldn't look at me. but i'll tell you what i'll do: when my marster tu'ns his back on me i'll tu'n my back on him." "i'm really sorry that you persist in making this question a personal one when it affects all the negroes now living and millions yet to be born," said mr. hotchkiss. "well, suh, le's look at it dat away," uncle plato insisted. "spoz'n you ban' tergedder like dis, an' try ter tu'n de white folks ag'in you, an' dey see what you up ter, an' tu'n der backs, den what you gwine ter do? you got ter live here an' you got ter make yo' livin' here. is you gwine ter cripple de cow dat gives de cream?" uncle plato paused and looked around. he saw at once that he was in a hopeless minority, and so he reached for his hat. "i'm mighty glad ter know you, suh," he said to mr. hotchkiss, with a bow that chesterfield might have envied, "but i'll hatter bid you good-night." with that, he went out, followed by wiley millirons and walthall's jake, much to the relief of the rev. jeremiah, who proceeded to denounce "white folks' niggers," and to utter some very violent threats. then, in no long time, the union league was organised. those in the closet failed to hear the words that constituted the ceremony of initiation. only low mutterings came to their ears. but the ceremony consisted of a lot of mummery well calculated to impress the simple-minded negroes. after a time the meeting adjourned, the solitary candle was blown out, and the last negro departed. gabriel waited until all sounds had died away, and then, with a brief good-night to tasma tid, he opened the closet door, slipped out, and was soon on his way home. but before he was out of the dark grove, some one went flitting by him--in fact, he thought he saw two figures dimly outlined in the darkness; yet he was not sure--and presently he thought he heard a mocking laugh, which sounded very much as if it had issued from the lips of nan dorrington. but he was not sure that he heard the laugh, and how, he asked himself, could he imagine that it was nan dorrington's even if he had heard it? he told himself confidentially, the news to go no further, that he was a drivelling idiot. as gabriel went along he soon forgot his momentary impressions as to the two figures in the dark and the laugh that had seemed to come floating back to him. the suave and well-modulated voice of mr. hotchkiss rang in his ears. he had but one fault to find with the delivery: mr. hotchkiss dwelt on his r's until they were as long as a fishing-pole, and as sharp as a shoemaker's awl. though these magnified r's made gabriel's flesh crawl, he had been very much impressed by the address, only part of which has been reported here. boylike, he never paused to consider the motives or the ulterior purpose of the speaker. gabriel knew of course that there was no intention on the part of the whites to re-enslave the negroes; he knew that there was not even a desire to do so. he knew, too, that there were many incendiary hints in the address--hints that were illuminated and emphasised more by the inflections of the speaker's voice than by the words in which they were conveyed. in spite of the fact that he resented these hints as keenly as possible, he could see the plausibility of the speaker's argument in so far as it appealed to the childish fears and doubts and uneasiness of the negroes. if anything could be depended on, he thought, to promote a spirit of incendiarism among the negroes such an address would be that thing. if gabriel had attended some of the later meetings of the league, he would have discovered that the address he had heard was a milk-and-water affair, compared with some of the harangues that were made to the negroes in the old school-house. all that gabriel had heard was duly reported to meriwether clopton, and to mr. sanders, and in a very short time all the whites in the community became aware of the fact that the negroes were taking lessons in race-hatred and incendiarism, and as a natural result, hotchkiss became a marked man. his comings and goings were all noted, so much so that he soon found it convenient as well as comfortable to make his head-quarters in the country, at the home of judge mahlon butts, whose union principles had carried him into the republican party. the judge lived a mile and a half from the corporation line, and mr. hotchkiss's explanation for moving there was that the exercise to be found in walking back and forth was necessary to his health. uncle plato was very much surprised the next day to be called into the house where mr. sanders was sitting with meriwether clopton and miss sarah in order that they might shake hands with him. "i want to shake your hand, plato," said his old master. "i've always thought a great deal of you, but i think more of you to-day than ever before." "and you must shake hands with me, plato," remarked sarah clopton. "well, sence shakin' han's is comin' more into fashion these days, i reckon you'll have to shake wi' me," declared mr. sanders. "i declar' ter gracious i dunner whedder you all is makin' fun er me or not!" exclaimed uncle plato. "but sump'n sholy must 'a' happened, kaze des now when i wuz downtown mr. alford call me in his sto' an' 'low, 'plato, when you wanter buy anything, des come right in, money er no money, kaze yo' credit des ez good in here ez de best man in town.' i dunner what done come over eve'ybody." he went away laughing. nevertheless, uncle plato was more seriously affected by the schemes of mr. hotchkiss than any other inhabitant of shady dale. he had been a leader in the rev. jeremiah's church, and up to the day of the organisation of the union league, had wielded an influence among the negroes second only to that of the rev. jeremiah himself. but now all was changed. he soon found that he would have to resign his deaconship, for those whom he had regarded as his spiritual brethren were now his enemies--at any rate they were no longer his friends. but uncle plato had one consolation in his troubles, and that was the strong indorsement and support of aunt charity, his wife, who was the cook at clopton's, famous from one end of the state to the other for her biscuits and waffles. uncle plato had been somewhat dubious about her attitude, for the negro women had developed the most intense partisanship, and some of them were loud in their threats, going much further than the men. no doubt aunt charity would have taken a different course had she been in her husband's place, if only for the sake of her colour, as she called her race. she was very fond of her own white folks, but she had her prejudices against the rest. when uncle plato reached home and told his wife what he had said and done, she drew a long breath and looked at him hard for some time. then she took up her pipe from the chimney-corner, remarking, "well, what you done, you done; dar's yo' supper." uncle plato had a remarkably good appetite, and while he ate, aunt charity sat near a window and looked out at the stars. she was getting together in her mind a supply of personal reminiscences, of which she had a goodly store. presently, she began to shake with laughter, which she tried to suppress. uncle plato mistook the sound he heard for an evidence of grief, and he spoke up promptly: "i declar' ef i'd 'a' know'd i wuz gwine ter hurt yo' feelings, i'd 'a' j'ined in wid um den an' dar. an' 'taint too late yit. i kin go ter br'er jerry an' tell him whilst i ain't change my own min' i'll j'ine in wid um druther dan be offish an' mule-headed." "no you won't! no you won't! no you won't!" exclaimed aunt charity. "i mought 'a' done diffunt, an' i mought 'a' done wrong. we'll hatter git out'n de church, ef you kin call it a church, but dat ain't so mighty hard ter do. yit, 'fo' we does git out i'm gwine ter preach ol' jerry's funer'l one time--des one time. dat what make me laugh des now; i was runnin' over in my min' how i kin raise his hide. some folks got de idee dat kaze i'm fat i'm bleeze ter be long-sufferin'; but you know better'n dat, don't you?" "well, i know dis," said uncle plato, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "when you git yo' dander up you kin talk loud an' long." "miss sa'ah done tol' me dat when i git mad, i kin keep up a conversation ez long ez de nex' one," remarked aunt charity, with real pride. "an' den dar's dat hat miss sa'ah gi' me; i laid off ter w'ar it ter church nex' sunday, but now--well, i speck i better des w'ar my head-hankcher, kaze dey's sho gwine ter be trouble ef any un um look at me cross-eyed." "you gwine, is you?" uncle plato asked. "ef i live," replied aunt charity, "i'm des ez good ez dar right now. an' mo' dan dat, you'll go too. 'tain't gwineter be said dat de clopton niggers hung der heads bekaze dey stood by der own white folks. ef it's said, it'll hatter be said 'bout some er de yuthers." "i'll go," said uncle plato, "but i hope i won't hatter frail br'er jerry out." "now, dat's right whar we gits crossways," aunt charity declared. "i hope you'll hatter frail 'im out." fortunately, uncle plato had no excuse for using his walking-cane on the rev. jeremiah, when sunday came. none of the church-members made any active show of animosity. they simply held themselves aloof. aunt charity had her innings, however. when services were over, and the congregation was slowly filing out of the building, followed by the rev. jeremiah, she remarked loud enough for all to hear her: "br'er jerry, de nex' time you want me ter cook pullets fer dat ar lizzie gaither, des fetch um 'long. i'll be glad ter 'blige you." as the rev. jeremiah's wife was close at hand, the closing scenes can be better imagined than described. in this chronicle the veil of silence must be thrown over them. it may be said, nevertheless, that uncle plato and his wife felt very keenly the awkward position in which they were placed by the increasing prejudice of the rest of the negroes. they were both sociable in their natures, but now they were practically cut off from all association with those who had been their very good friends. it was a real sacrifice they had to make. on the other hand, who shall say that their firmness in this matter was not the means of preventing, at least in shady dale, many of the misfortunes that fell to the lot of the negroes elsewhere? there can hardly be a doubt that their attitude, firm and yet modest, had a restraining influence on some of the more reckless negroes, who, under the earnest but dangerous teachings of hotchkiss and his fellow-workers, would otherwise have been led into excesses which would have called for bloody reprisals. chapter fourteen _nan and her young lady friends_ nan dorrington found a pretty howdy-do at her house when she reached home the night the union league was organised. the members of the household were all panic-stricken when the hours passed and nan failed to return. ordinarily, there would have been no alarm whatever, but a little after dark, eugenia claiborne, accompanied by a little negro girl, came to dorrington's to find out why nan had failed to keep her engagement. she had promised to take supper with eugenia, and to spend the night. it will be remembered that nan was on her way to present her excuses to eugenia when the spectacle of mr. sanders, tipsy and talkative, had attracted her attention. she thought no more of her engagement, and for the time being eugenia was to nan as if she had never existed. meanwhile, the members of the dorrington household, if they thought of nan at all, concluded that she had gone to the gaither place, where eugenia lived. but when miss claiborne came seeking her, why that put another face on affairs. eugenia decided to wait for her; but when the long minutes, and the half hours and the hours passed, and nan failed to make her appearance, mrs. absalom began to grow nervous, and mrs. dorrington went from room to room with a very long face. she could have made a very shrewd guess as to nan's whereabouts, but she didn't dare to admit, even to herself, that the girl had been so indiscreet as to go in person to the rescue of gabriel. they waited and waited, until at last mrs. dorrington suggested that something should be done. "i don't know what," she said, "but something; that would be better than sitting here waiting." mrs. absalom insisted on keeping up an air of bravado. "the child's safe wherever she is. she's been a rippittin' 'round all day tryin' to git old billy sanders sober, an' more'n likely she's sot down some'rs an' fell asleep. ef folks could sleep off the'r sins, nan'd be a saint." "but wherever she is, she isn't here," remarked mrs. dorrington, tearfully; "and here is where she should be. i wonder what her father will say when he comes?" dr. dorrington had gone to visit a patient in the country. "perhaps she went with him," eugenia suggested. "no fear of that," said mrs. absalom. "ridin' in a gig is too much like work for nan to be fond of it. no; she's some'rs she's got no business, an' ef i could lay my hand on her, i'd jerk her home so quick, her head would swim worse than old billy sanders's does when he's full up to the chin." after awhile, eugenia said she had waited long enough, but mrs. dorrington looked at her with such imploring eyes that she hesitated. "if you go," said the lady, "i will feel that nan is not coming, but as long as you stay, i have hope that she will run in any moment. she is with that tasma tid, and i think it is terrible that we can't get rid of that negro. i have never been able to like negroes." "well, you needn't be too hard on the niggers," declared mrs. absalom. "everything they know, everything they do, everything they say--everything--they have larnt from the white folks. study a nigger right close, an' you'll ketch a glimpse of how white folks would look an' do wi'out the'r trimmin's." "oh, perhaps so," assented mrs. dorrington, with a little shrug of the shoulders which said a good deal plainer than words, "you couldn't make me believe that." just as dr. dorrington drove up, and just as mrs. absalom was about to get her bonnet, for the purpose, as she said, of "scouring the town," nan came running in out of breath. "oh, such a time as i've had!" she exclaimed. "you'll not be angry with me, eugenia, when you hear all! talk of adventures! well, i have had one at last, after waiting all these years! don't scold me, nonny, until you know where i've been and what i've done. and poor johnny has been crying, and having all sorts of wild thoughts about poor me. don't go, eugenia; i am going with you in a moment--just as soon as i can gather my wits about me. i am perfectly wild." "tell us something new," said mrs. absalom drily. "here we've been on pins and needles, thinkin' maybe some of your john a. murrells had rushed into town an' kidnapped you, an' all the time you an' that slink of a nigger have been gallivantin' over the face of the yeth. i declare ef randolph don't do somethin' wi' you they ain't no tellin' what'll become of you." but dr. dorrington was not in the humour for scolding; he rarely ever was; but on that particular night less so than ever. for one brief moment, nan thought he was too angry to scold, and this she dreaded worse than any outbreak; for when he was silent over some of her capers she took it for granted that his feelings were hurt, and this thought was sufficient to give her more misery than anything else. but she soon discovered that his gravity, which was unusual, had its origin elsewhere. she saw him take a tiny tin waggon, all painted red, from his pocket and place it on the mantel-piece, and both she and mrs. dorrington went to him. "oh, popsy! i'm so sorry about everything! he didn't need it, did he?" "no, the little fellow has no more use for toys. he sent you his love, nan. he was talking about you with his last breath; he remembered everything you said and did when you went with me to see him. he said you must be good." now, if nan was a heroine, or anything like one, it would never do to say that she hid her face in her hands and wept a little when she heard of the death of the little boy who had been her father's patient for many months. in the present state of literary criticism, one must be very careful not to permit women and children to display their sensitive and tender natures. only the other day, a very good book was damned because one of the female characters had wept times during the course of the story. out upon tears and human nature! let us go out and reform some one, and leave tears to the kindergarten, where steps are taking even now to dry up the fountains of youth. nevertheless, nan cried a little, and so did eugenia claiborne, when she heard the story of the little boy who had suffered so long and so patiently. the news of his death tended to quiet nan's excitement, but she told her story, and, though the child's death took the edge off nan's excitement, the story of her adventure attracted as much attention as she thought it would. she said nothing about gabriel, and it was supposed that only she and tasma tid were in the closet; but the next morning, when dr. dorrington drove over to clopton's to carry the information, he was met by the statement that gabriel had told of it the night before. a little inquiry developed the fact that gabriel had concealed himself in the closet in order to discover the mysteries of the union league. dorrington decided that the matter was either very serious or very amusing, and he took occasion to question nan about it. "you didn't tell us that gabriel was in the closet with you," he said to nan. "well, popsy, so far as i was concerned he was not there. he certainly has no idea that i was there, and if he ever finds it out, i'll never speak to him again. he never will find it out unless he is told by some one who dislikes me. outside of this family," nan went on with dignity, "not a soul knows that i was there except eugenia claiborne, and i'm perfectly certain she'll never tell any one." dorrington thought his daughter should have a little lecture, and he gave her one, but not of the conventional kind. he simply drew her to him and kissed her, saying, "my precious child, you must never forget the message the little boy sent you. about the last thing he said was, 'tell my miss nan to be dood.' and you know, my dear, that it is neither proper nor good for my little girl to be wandering about at night. she is now a young lady, and she must begin to act like one--not too much, you know, but just enough to be good." now, you may depend upon it, this kind of talk, accompanied by a smile of affection, went a good deal farther with nan than the most tremendous scolding would have gone. it touched her where she was weakest--or, if you please, strongest--in her affections, and she vowed to herself that she would put off her hoyden ways, and become a demure young lady, or at least play the part to the best of her ability. eugenia claiborne declared that nan had acted more demurely in the closet than she could have done, if, instead of gabriel, paul tomlin had come spying on the radicals where she was. "i don't see how you could help saying something. if i had been in your place, and paul had come in there, i should certainly have said something to him, if only to let him know that i was as patriotic as he was." miss eugenia had grand ideas about patriotism. "oh, if it had been paul instead of gabriel i would have made myself known," said nan; "but gabriel----" "i don't see what the difference is when it comes to making yourself known to any one in the dark, especially to a friend," remarked eugenia. "for my part, horses couldn't have dragged me in that awful place. i'm sure you must be very brave, to make up your mind to go there. weren't you frightened to death?" "why there was nothing to frighten any one," said nan; "not even rats." "ooh!" cried eugenia with a shiver. "why of course there were rats in that dark, still place. i wouldn't go in there in broad daylight." this conversation occurred while nan was visiting eugenia, and in the course thereof, nan was given to understand that her friend thought a good deal of paul tomlin. as soon as nan grasped the idea that eugenia was trying to convey--there never was a girl more obtuse in love-matters--she became profuse in her praises of paul, who was really a very clever young man. as mrs. absalom had said, it was not likely that he would ever be brilliant enough to set the creek on fire, but he was a very agreeable lad, entirely unlike silas tomlin, his father. if eugenia thought that nan would exchange confidences with her, she was sadly mistaken. nan had a horror of falling in love, and when the name of gabriel was mentioned by her friend, she made many scornful allusions to that youngster. "but you know, nan, that you think more of gabriel than you do of any other young man," said eugenia. "you may deceive yourself and him, but you can't deceive me. i knew the moment i saw you together the first time that you were fond of him; and when i was told by some one that you were to marry mr. bethune, i laughed at them." "i'm glad you did," replied nan. "i care no more for frank bethune than for gabriel. i'll tell you the truth, if i thought i was in love with a man, i'd hate him; i wouldn't submit to it." "well, you have been acting as if you hate gabriel," suggested eugenia. "oh, i don't like him half as well as i did when we were playfellows. i think he's changed a great deal. his grandmother says he's timid, but to me it looks more like conceit. no, child," nan went on with an affectation of great gravity; "the man that i marry must be somebody. he must be able to attract the attention of everybody." "then i'm afraid you'll have to move away from this town, or remain an old maid," said the other. "or it may be that gabriel will make a great man. he and paul belong to a debating society here in town, and paul says that gabriel can make as good a speech as any one he ever heard. they invited some of the older men not long ago, and mother heard mr. tomlin say that gabriel would make a great orator some day. paul thinks there is nobody in the world like gabriel. so you see he is already getting to be famous." "but will he ever wear a red feather in his hat and a red sash over his shoulder?" inquired nan gravely. she was reverting now to the ideal hero of her girlish dreams. "why, i should hope not," replied eugenia. "you don't want him to be the laughing-stock of the people, do you?" "oh, i'm not anxious for him to be anything," said nan, "but you know i've always said that i never would marry a man unless he wore a red feather in his hat, and a red sash over his shoulder." "when i was a child," remarked eugenia, "i always said i would like to marry a pirate--a man with a long black beard, a handkerchief tied around his head to keep his hair out of his eyes, and a shining sword in one hand and a pistol in the other." "oh, did you?" cried nan, snuggling closer to her friend. "let's talk about it. i am beginning to be very old, and i want to talk about things that make me feel young again." but they were not to talk about their childish ideals that day, for a knock came on the door, and margaret gaither was announced--margaret, who seemed to have no ideals, and who had confessed that she never had had any childhood. she came in dignified and sad. her face was pale, and there was a weary look in her eyes, a wistful expression, as if she desired very much to be able to be happy along with the rest of the people around her. the two girls greeted her very cordially. both were fond of her, and though they could not understand her troubles, she had traits that appealed to both. she could be lively enough on occasion, and there was a certain refinement of manner about her that they both tried to emulate--whenever they could remember to do so. "i heard nan was here," she said, with a beautiful smile, "and i thought i would run over and see you both together." "that is a fine compliment for me," eugenia declared. "miss jealousy!" retorted margaret, "you know i am over here two or three times a week--every time i can catch you at home. but i wish you were jealous," she added with a sigh. "i think i should be perfectly happy if some one loved me well enough to be jealous." "you ought to be very happy without all that," said nan. "yes, i know i should be; but suppose you were in my shoes, would you be happy?" she turned to the girls with the gravity of fate itself. as neither one made any reply, she went on: "see what i am--absolutely dependent on those who, not so very long ago, were entire strangers. i have no claims on them whatever. oh, don't think i am ungrateful," she cried in answer to a gesture of protest from nan. "i would make any sacrifice for them--i would do anything--but you see how it is. i can do nothing; i am perfectly helpless. i--but really, i ought not to talk so before you two children." "children! well, i thank you!" exclaimed eugenia, rising and making a mock curtsey. "nan is nearly as old as you are, and i am two days older." "no matter; i have no business to be bringing my troubles into this giddy company; but as i was coming across the street, i happened to think of the difference in our positions. talk about jealousy! i am jealous and envious. yes, and mean; i have terrible thoughts sometimes. i wouldn't dare to tell you what they are." "i know better," said nan; "you never had a mean thought in your life. aunt fanny says you are the sweetest creature in the world." "don't! don't tell me such things as that, nan. you will run me wild. there never was another woman like aunt fanny. and, oh, i love her! but if i could get away and become independent, and in some way pay them back for all they have done for me, and for all they hope to do, i'd be the happiest girl in the world." "i think i know how you feel," said nan, with a quick apprehension of the situation; "but if i were in your place, and couldn't help myself, i wouldn't let it trouble me much." "very well said," mrs. claiborne remarked, as she entered the room. "nan, you are becoming quite a philosopher. and how is margaret?" she inquired, kissing that blushing maiden on the check. "i am quite well, i thank you, but i'd be a great deal better if i thought you hadn't heard my foolish talk." "i heard a part of it, and it wasn't foolish at all. the feeling does you credit, provided you don't carry it too far. you are alone too much; you take your feelings too seriously. you must remember that you are nothing but a child; you are just beginning life. you should cultivate bright thoughts. my dear, let me tell you one thing--if pulaski tomlin had any idea that you had such feelings as you have expressed here, he would be miserable; he would be miserable, and you would never know it. you said something about gratitude; well if you want to show any gratitude and make those two people happy, be happy yourself--and if you can't really be happy, pretend that you are happy. and the first thing you know, it will be a reality. now, i have had worse troubles than ever fell to your portion and if i had brooded over them, i should have been miserable. your lot is a very fortunate one, as you will discover when you are older." this advice was very good, though it may have a familiar sound to the reader, and margaret tried hard for the time being to follow it. she succeeded so well that her laughter became as loud and as joyous as that of her companions, and when she returned home, her countenance was so free from care and worry that both neighbour tomlin and his sister remarked it, and they were the happier for it. chapter fifteen _silas tomlin scents trouble_ one day--it was a warm saturday, giving promise of a long hot sunday to follow--mr. sanders was on his way home, feeling very blue indeed. he had been to town on no particular business--the day was a half-holiday with the field-hands--and he had wandered about aimlessly, making several unsuccessful efforts to crack a joke or two with such acquaintances as he chanced to meet. he had concluded that his liver was out of order, and he wondered, as he went along, if he would create much public comment and dissatisfaction if he should break his promise to nan dorrington by purchasing a jug of liquor and crawling into the nearest shuck-pen. it was on this warm saturday, the least promising of all days, as he thought, that he stumbled upon an adventure which, for a season, proved to be both interesting and amusing. he was walking along, as has been said, feeling very blue and uncomfortable, when he heard his name called, and, turning around, saw a negro girl running after him. she came up panting and grinning. "miss ritta say she wish you'd come dar right now," said the girl. "i been runnin' an' hollin atter you tell i wuz fear'd de dogs 'd take atter me. miss ritta say she want to see you right now." the girl was small and very slim, bare-legged and good-humoured. mr. sanders looked at her hard, but failed to recognise her; nor had he the faintest idea as to the identity of "miss ritta." the girl bore his scrutiny very well, betraying a tendency to dance. as mr. sanders tried in vain to place her in his memory, she slapped her hands together, and whirled quickly on her heel more than once. "you're a way yander ahead of me," he remarked, after reflecting awhile. "i reckon i've slipped a cog some'rs in my machinery. what is your name?" "i'm name larceeny. don't you know me, marse billy? i use ter b'long ter de clopton cadets, when miss nan was de captain; but i wan't ez big den ez i is now. i been knowin' you most sence i was born." "what is your mammy's name?" "my mammy name creecy," replied the girl, grinning broadly. "she cookin' fer miss ritta." mr. sanders remembered creecy very well. she had belonged to the gaither family before the war. "where do you stay?" he inquired. he was not disposed to admit, even indirectly, that he didn't know every human being in the town. "i stays dar wid miss ritta," replied larceeny. "i goes ter de do', an' waits on miss nugeeny." "ah!" exclaimed mr. sanders, with a smile of satisfaction. here was a clew. miss nugeeny must be eugenia claiborne, and miss ritta was probably her mother. "miss ritta say she wanter see you right now," insisted larceeny. "when she seed you on de street, you wuz so fur, she couldn't holla at you, an' time she call me outer de gyarden, you wuz done gone. i wuz at de fur een' er de gyarden, pickin' rasbe'ies, an' i had ter drap ever'thing." "do you pick raspberries with your mouth?" inquired mr. sanders, with a very solemn air. "is my mouf dat red?" inquired larceeny, with an alarmed expression on her face. she seized her gingham apron by the hem, and, using the underside, proceeded to remove the incriminating stains, remarking, "i'm mighty glad you tol' me, kaze ef ol' miss polly had seed dat--well, she done preach my funer'l once, an' i don't want ter hear it no mo'." mr. sanders, following larceeny, proceeded to the gaither place, and was ushered into the parlour, where, to his surprise, he found judge vardeman, of rockville, one of the most distinguished lawyers of the state. mr. sanders knew the judge very well, and admired him not only on account of his great ability as a lawyer, but because of the genial simplicity of his character. they greeted each other very cordially, and were beginning to discuss the situation--it was the one topic that never grew stale during that sad time--when mrs. claiborne came in; she had evidently been out to attend to some household affairs. "i'm very glad to see you, mr. sanders," she said. "i have sent for you at the suggestion of judge vardeman, who is a kinsman of mine by marriage. he is surprised that you and i are not well acquainted; but i tell him that in such sad times as these, it is a wonder that one knows one's next-door neighbours." mr. sanders made some fitting response, and as soon as he could do so without rudeness, closely studied the countenance of the lady. there was a vivacity, a gaiety, an archness in her manner that he found very charming. her features were not regular, but when she laughed or smiled, her face was beautiful. if she had ever experienced any serious trouble, mr. sanders thought, she had been able to bear it bravely, for no marks of it were left on her speaking countenance. "give me a firm faith and a light heart," says an ancient writer, "and the world may have everything else." "i have sent for you, mr. sanders," said the lady, laughing lightly, "to ask if you will undertake to be my drummer." "your drummer!" exclaimed mr. sanders. "well, i've been told that i have a way of blowin' my own horn, when the weather is fine and the spring sap is runnin', but as for drummin', i reely hain't got the knack on it." "oh, i only want you to do a little talking here and there, and give out various hints and intimations--you know what i mean. i am anxious to even up matters with a friend of yours, who, i am afraid, isn't any better than he should be." while the lady was talking, mr. sanders was staring at a couple of crayon portraits on the wall. he rose from his seat, walked across the room, and attentively studied one of the portraits. it depicted a man between twenty-five and thirty-five. "well, i'll be jigged!" he exclaimed as he resumed his seat. "ef that ain't silas tomlin i'm a dutchman!" "why, i shouldn't think you would recognise him after all these years," the lady said, smiling brightly. "don't you think the portrait flatters him?" "quite a considerbul," replied mr. sanders; "but silas has got p'ints about his countenance that a coat of tar wouldn't hide. trim his eyebrows, an' give him a clean, close shave, an' he's e'en about the same as he was then. an' ef i ain't mighty much mistaken, the pictur' by his side was intended to be took for you. the feller that took it forgot to put the right kind of a sparkle in the eye, an' he didn't ketch the laugh that oughter be hov'rin' round the mouth, like a butterfly tryin' to light on a pink rose; but all in all, it's a mighty good likeness." "now, don't you think i should thank mr. sanders?" said the lady, turning to judge vardeman. "it has been many a day since i have had such a compliment. actually, i believe i am blushing!" and she was. "it wasn't much of a compliment to the artist," the judge suggested. "well, when it comes to paintin' a purty 'oman," remarked mr. sanders, "it's powerful hard for to git in all the p'ints. a feller could paint our picturs in short order, judge. a couple of kags of pink paint, a whitewash brush, an' two or three strokes, bold an' free, would do the business." the judge's eye twinkled merrily, and mrs. claiborne laughingly exclaimed, "why, you'd make quite an artist. you certainly have an eye for colour." thereupon judge vardeman suggested to mrs. claiborne that she begin at the beginning, and place mr. sanders in possession of all the facts necessary to the successful carrying out of the plan she had in view. it was a plan, the judge went on to say, that he did not wholly indorse, bordering, as it did, on frivolity, but as the lady was determined on it, he would not advise against it, as the results bade fair to be harmless. it must have been quite a story the lady had to tell mr. sanders, for the sun was nearly down when he came from the house; and it must have been somewhat amusing, too, for he came down the steps laughing heartily. when he reached the sidewalk, he paused, looked back at the closed door, shook his head, and threw up his hands, exclaiming to himself, "bless katy! i'm powerful glad i ain't got no 'oman on my trail. 'specially one like her. be jigged ef she don't shake this old town up!" he heard voices behind him, and turned to see eugenia claiborne and paul tomlin walking slowly along, engaged in a very engrossing conversation. mr. sanders looked at the couple long enough to make sure that he was not mistaken as to their identity, and then he went on his way. he had intended to go straight home, but, yielding to a sudden whim or impulse, he went to the tavern instead. this old tavern, at a certain hour of the day, was the resort of all the men, old and young, who desired to indulge in idle gossip, or hear the latest news that might be brought by some stray traveller, or commercial agent, or cotton-buyer from malvern. for years, mr. woodruff, the proprietor--he had come from vermont in the forties, as a school-teacher--complained that the hospitality of the citizens was enough to ruin any public-house that had no gold mine to draw upon. but, after the war, the tide, such as it was, turned in his favour, and by the early part of , he was beginning to profit by what he called "a pretty good line of custom," and there were days in the busy season when he was hard put to it to accommodate his guests in the way he desired. during the spring and summer months, there was no pleasanter place than the long, low veranda of mr. woodruff's tavern, and it was very popular with those who had an idle hour at their disposal. this veranda was much patronised by mr. silas tomlin, who, after the death of his wife, had no home-life worthy of the name. silas was not socially inclined; he took no part in the gossip and tittle-tattle that flowed up and down the veranda. the most interesting bit of news never caused him to turn his head, and the raciest anecdote failed to bring a smile to his face. nevertheless, nothing seemed to please him better than to draw a chair some distance away from the group of loungers, yet not out of ear-shot, lean back against one of the supporting pillars, close his eyes and listen to all that was said, or dream his own dreams, such as they might be. mr. sanders was well aware of silas tomlin's tavern habits, and this was what induced him to turn his feet in that direction. he expected to find silas there at this particular hour and he was not disappointed. silas was sitting aloof from the crowd, his chair leaning against one of the columns, his legs crossed, his eyes closed, and his hands folded in his lap. but for an occasional nervous movement of his thin lips, and the twitching of his thumbs, he might have served as a model for a statue of repose. as a matter of fact, all his faculties were alert. the crowd of loungers was somewhat larger than usual, having been augmented during the day by three commercial agents and a couple of cotton-buyers. lawyer tidwell was taking advantage of the occasion to expound and explain several very delicate and intricate constitutional problems. mr. tidwell was a very able man in some respects, and he was a very good talker, although he wanted to do all the talking himself. he lowered his voice slightly, as he saw mr. sanders, but kept on with his exposition of our organic law. "hello, mr. sanders!" said one of the cotton-buyers, taking advantage of a momentary pause in mr. tidwell's monologue; "how are you getting on these days?" "well, i was gittin' on right peart tell to-day, but this mornin' i struck a job that's made me weak an' w'ary." "you're looking mighty well, anyhow. what has been the trouble to-day?" "why, i'll tell you," responded mr. sanders, with a show of animation. "i've been gwine round all day tryin' to git up subscriptions for to build a flatform for gus tidwell. gus needs a place whar he can stand an' explutterate on the constitution all day, and not be in nobody's way." "well, of course you succeeded," remarked mr. tidwell, good-naturedly. "middlin' well--middlin' well. a coloured lady flung a dime in the box, an' i put in a quarter. in all, i reckon i've raised a dollar an' a half. but i reely believe i could 'a' raised a hunderd dollars ef i'd 'a' told 'em whar the flatform was to be built." "where is that?" some one inquired. "in the pine-thicket behind the graveyard," responded mr. sanders, so earnestly and promptly that the crowd shouted with laughter. even mr. tidwell, who was "case-hardened," as mrs. absalom would say, to mr. sanders's jokes, joined in with the rest. "gus is a purty good lawyer," said mr. sanders, lifting his voice a little to make sure that silas tomlin would hear every syllable of what he intended to say; "but he'll never be at his best till he finds out that the constitution, like the bible, can be translated to suit the idees of any party or any crank. but i allers brag on gus because i believe in paternizin' home industries. howsomever, between us boys an' gals, an' not aimin' for it to go any furder, there's a lawyer in town to-day--an' maybe he'll be here to-morrow--who knows more about the law in one minnit than gus could tell you in a day and a half. an' when it comes to explutterations on p'ints of constitutional law, gus wouldn't be in it." "is that so? what is the gentleman's name?" asked mr. tidwell. "judge albert vardeman," replied mr. sanders. "now, when you come to talk about lawyers, you'll be doin' yourself injustice ef you leave out the name of albert vardeman. he ain't got much of a figure--he's shaped somethin' like a gourdful of water--but i tell you he's got a head on him." "is the judge really here?" mr. tidwell asked. "i'd like very much to have a talk with him." "i don't blame you, gus," remarked mr. sanders, "you can git more straight p'ints from albert vardeman than you'll find in the books. he's been at mrs. claiborne's all day; i reckon she's gittin' him to ten' to some law business for her. they's some kinder kinnery betwixt 'em. his mammy's cat ketched a rat in her gran'mammy's smokehouse, i reckon. we've got more kinfolks in these diggin's, than they has been sence the first generation arter adam." at the mention of mrs. claiborne's name silas tomlin opened his eyes and uncrossed his legs. this movement caused him to lose his balance, and his chair fell from a leaning position with a sharp bang. "what sort of a dream did you have, silas?" mr. sanders inquired with affected solicitude. "you'd better watch out; dock dorrin'ton says that when a man gits bald-headed, it's a sign that his bones is as brittle as glass. he found that out on one of his furrin trips." "don't worry about me, sanders," replied silas. he tried to smile. "well, i don't reckon you could call it worry, silas, bekaze when i ketch a case of the worries, it allers sends me to bed wi' the jimmyjon. i can be neighbourly wi'out worryin', i hope." "for a woman with a grown daughter," remarked mr. tidwell, speaking his thoughts aloud, as was his habit, "mrs. claiborne is well preserved--very well preserved." mr. tidwell was a widower, of several years' standing. "why, she's not only preserved, she's the preserves an' the preserver," mr. sanders declared. "to look in her eye an' watch her thoughts sparklin' like fire, to watch her movements, an' hear her laugh, not only makes a feller young agin, but makes him glad he's a-livin'. an' that gal of her'n--well, she's a thoroughbred. did you ever notice the way she holds her head? i never see her an' nan dorrington together but what i'm sorry i never got married. i'd put up wi' all the tribulation for to have a gal like arry one on 'em." mr. sanders paused a moment, and then turned to silas tomlin. "silas, i think paul is fixin' for to do you proud. as i come along jest now, him an' jinny claiborne was walkin' mighty close together. they must 'a' been swappin' some mighty sweet secrets, bekaze they hardly spoke above a whisper. an' they didn't look like they was in much of a hurry." while mr. sanders was describing the scene he had witnessed, exaggerating the facts to suit his whimsical humour, silas tomlin sat bold upright in his chair, his eyes half-shut, and his thin lips working nervously. "paul knows which side his bread is buttered on," he snapped out. "bread!" exclaimed mr. sanders, pretending to become tremendously excited; "bread! shorely you must mean poun'-cake, silas. and whoever heard of putting butter on poun'-cake?" when the loungers began to disperse, some of them going home, and others going in to supper in response to the tavern bell, mr. silas tomlin called to lawyer tidwell, and the two walked along together, their homes lying in the same direction. "gus," said silas, somewhat nervously, "i want to put a case to you. it's purely imaginary, and has probably never happened in the history of the world." "you mean what we lawyers call a hypothetical case," remarked mr. tidwell, in a tone that suggested a spacious and a tolerant mind. "precisely," replied mr. silas tomlin, with some eagerness. "i was readin' a tale in an old copy of _blackwood's magazine_ the other day, an' the whole business turned on just such a case. the sum and substance of it was about this: a man marries a woman and they get along together all right for awhile. then, all of a sudden she takes a mortal dislike to the man, screams like mad when he goes about her, and kicks up generally when his name is mentioned. he, being a man of some spirit, and rather touchy at best, finally leaves her in disgust. finally her folks send him word that she is dead. on the strength of that information, he marries again, after so long a time. all goes well for eighteen or twenty years, and then suddenly the first wife turns up. now what, in law, is the man's status? where does he stand? is this woman really his wife?" "why, certainly," replied mr. tidwell. "his second marriage is no marriage at all. the issue of such a marriage is illegitimate." "that's just what i thought," commented silas tomlin. "but in the tale, when the woman comes back, and puts in her claim, the judge flings her case out of court." "that was in england," mr. tidwell suggested. "or scotland--i forget which," silas tomlin replied. "well, it isn't the law over here," mr. tidwell declared confidently. they walked on a little way, when the lawyer suddenly turned to silas and said: "mr. tomlin, will you fetch that magazine in to-morrow? i want to see the ground on which the woman's case was thrown out. it's interesting, even if it is all fiction. perhaps there was some technicality." "all right, gus; i'll fetch it in to-morrow." chapter sixteen _silas tomlin finds trouble_ when silas tomlin reached home, he found his son reading a book. no word of salutation passed between them; paul simply changed his position in the chair, and silas grunted. they had no confidences, and they seemed to have nothing in common. as a matter of fact, however, silas was very fond of this son, proud of his appearance--the lad was as neat as a pin, and fairly well-favoured,--and proud of his love for books. unhappily, silas was never able to show his affection and his fair-haired son never knew to his dying day how large a place he occupied in his father's heart. miserly silas was with money, but his love for his son was boundless. it destroyed or excluded every other sentiment or emotion that was in conflict with it. his miserliness was for his son's sake, and he never put away a dollar without a feeling of exultation; he rejoiced in the fact that it would enable his son to live more comfortably than his father had cared to live. silas loved money, not for its own sake, but for the sake of his son. mrs. absalom would have laughed at such a statement. the social structure of the southern people, and the habits and traditions based thereon, were of such a character that a great majority could not be brought to believe that it was possible for parsimony to exist side by side with any of the finer feelings. all the conditions and circumstances, the ability to command leisure, the very climate itself, promoted hospitality, generosity, open-handedness, and that fine spirit of lavishness that seeks at any cost to give pleasure to others. popular opinion, therefore, looked with a cold and suspicious eye on all manifestations of selfishness. but silas tomlin's parsimony, his stinginess, had no selfish basis. he was saving not for himself, but for his son, in whom all his affections and all his ambitions were centered. he had reared paul tenderly without displaying any tenderness, and if the son had speculated at all in regard to the various liberties he had been allowed, or the indulgent methods that had been employed in his bringing up, he would have traced them to the carelessness and indifference of his father, rather than to the ardent affection that burned unseen and unmarked in silas's bosom. he had never, by word or act, intentionally wounded the feelings of his son; he had never thrown himself in the path of paul's wishes. there was a feeling in shady dale that silas was permitting his son to go to the dogs; whereas, as a matter of fact, no detective was ever more alert. without seeming to do so, he had kept an eye on all paul's comings and goings. when the lad's desires were reasonable, they were promptly gratified; when they were unreasonable, their gratification was postponed until they were forgotten. books paul had in abundance. half of the large library of meredith tomlin had fallen to silas, and the other half to pulaski tomlin, and the lad had free access to all. paul was very fond of his uncle pulaski and his aunt fanny, and he was far more familiar with these two than he was with his father. his association with his uncle and aunt was in the nature of a liberal education. it was pulaski tomlin who really formed paul's character, who gathered together all the elements of good that are native to the mind of a sensitive lad, and moulded them until they were strong enough to outweigh and overwhelm the impulses of evil that are also native to the growing mind. thus it fell out that paul was a young man to be admired and loved by all who find modest merit pleasing. when his father arrived at home on that particular evening, as has been noted, paul was reading a book. he changed his position, but said nothing. after awhile, however, he felt something was wrong. his father, instead of seating himself at the table, and consulting his note-book, walked up and down the floor. "what is wrong? are you ill?" paul asked after awhile. "no, son; i am as well in body as ever i was; but i'm greatly troubled. i wish to heaven i could go back to the beginning, and tell you all about it; but i can't--i just can't." paul also had his troubles, and he regarded his father gloomily enough. "why can't you tell me?" he asked, somewhat impatiently. "but i needn't ask you that; you never tell me anything. i heard something to-day that made me ashamed." "ashamed, paul?" gasped his father. "yes--ashamed. and if it is true, i am going away from here and never show my face again." silas fell, rather than leaned, against the mantel-piece, his face ghastly white. he tried to say, "what did you hear, paul?" his lips moved, but no sound issued from his throat. "two or three persons told me to-day," paul went on, "that they had heard of your intention to join the radicals, and run for the legislature. i told each and every one of them that it was an infernal lie; but i don't know whether it is a lie or not. if it isn't i'll leave here." silas tomlin's heart had been in his throat, as the saying is, but he gulped it down again and smiled faintly. if this was all paul had heard, well and good. compared with some other things, it was a mere matter of moonshine. paul took up his book again, but he turned the leaves rapidly, and it was plain that he was impatiently waiting for further information. at last silas spoke: "all the truth in that report, paul, is this--it has been suggested to me that it would be better for the whites here if some one who sympathises with their plans, and understands their interests, should pretend to become a republican, and make the race for the legislature. this is what some of our best men think." "what do you mean by our best men, father?" "why, i don't know that i am at liberty to mention names even to you, paul," said silas, who had no notion of being driven into a corner. "and then, on the other hand, the white republicans are not as fond of the negroes as they pretend to be. and if they can't get some native-born white man to run, who do you reckon they'll have to put up as a candidate? why, old jerry, pulaski's man of all work." "well, what of it?" paul asked with rising indignation. "jerry is a great deal better than any white man who puts himself on an equality with him." "have you met mr. hotchkiss?" asked silas. "he seems to be a very clever man." "no, i haven't met him and i don't want to meet him." paul rose from his seat, and stood facing his father. he was a likely-looking young man, tall and slim, but broad-shouldered. he had the delicate pink complexion that belongs to fair-haired persons. "this is a question, father, that can't be discussed between us. you beat about the bush in such a way as to compel me to believe the reports i have heard are true. well, you can do as you like; i'll not presume to dictate to you. you may disgrace yourself, but you sha'n't disgrace me." with that, the high-strung young fellow seized his hat, and flung out of the house, carrying his book with him. he shut the door after him with a bang, as he went out, demonstrating that he was full of the heroic indignation that only young blood can kindle. silas tomlin sank into a chair, as he heard the street-door slammed. "disgrace him! my god! i've already disgraced him, and when he finds it out he'll hate me. oh, lord!" if the man's fountain of tears had not been dried up years before, he would have wept scalding ones. an inner door opened and a negro woman peeped in. seeing no one but silas, she cried out indignantly, "who dat slammin' dat front do'? you'll break eve'y glass in de house, an' half de crock'ry-ware in de dinin'-room, an' den you'll say i done it." "it was paul, rhody; he was angry about something." the negro woman gave an indignant snort. "i don't blame 'im--i don't blame 'im; not one bit. ain't i been tellin' you how 'twould be? ain't i been tellin' you dat you'd run 'im off wid yo' scrimpin' an' pinchin'? but 'tain't dat dat run'd 'im off. it's sump'n wuss'n dat. he ain't never done dat away befo'. ef dat boy ain't had de patience er job, he'd 'a' been gone fum here long ago." rhody came into the room where she could look silas in the eyes. he regarded her with curiosity, which appeared to be the only emotion left him. certainly he had never seen his cook and aforetime slave in such a tantrum. what would she say and do next? "home!" she exclaimed in a loud voice. then she turned around and deliberately inspected the room as if she had never seen it before. "an' so dis is what you call home--you, wid all yo' money hid away in holes in de groun'! dis de kinder place you fix up fer dat boy, an' him de onliest one you got! well!" rhody's indignation could only be accounted for on the ground that she had overheard the whole conversation between father and son. "why, you never said anything about it before," remarked silas tomlin. "no, i didn't, an' i wouldn't say it now, ef dat boy hadn't 'a' foun' out fer hisse'f what kinder daddy he got." "blast your black hide! i'll knock your brains out if you talk that way to me!" exclaimed silas tomlin, white with anger. "well, i bet you nobody don't knock yo' brains out," remarked rhody undismayed. "an' while i'm 'bout it, i'll tell you dis: yo' supper's in dar in de pots an' pans; ef you want it you go git it an' put on de table, er set flat on de h'ath an' eat it. dat chile's gone, an' i'm gwine." "you dratted fool!" silas exclaimed, "you know paul hasn't gone for good. he'll come back when he gets hungry, and be glad to come." "is you ever seed him do dis away befo' sence he been born?" rhody paused and waited for a reply, but none was forthcoming. "no, you ain't! no, you ain't! you don't know no mo' 'bout dat chile dan ef he want yone. but i--me--ol' rhody--i know 'im. i kin look at 'im sideways an' tell ef he feelin' good er bad er diffunt. what you done done ter dat chile? tell me dat." but silas tomlin answered never a word. he sat glowering at rhody in a way that would have subdued and frightened a negro unused to his ways. rhody started toward the kitchen, but at the door leading to the dining-room she paused and turned around. "oh, you got a heap ter answer fer--a mighty heap; an' de day will come when you'll bar in mind eve'y word i been tellin' you 'bout dat chile fum de time he could wobble 'roun' an' call me mammy." with that she went out. silas heard her moving about in the back part of the house, but after awhile all was silence. he sat for some time communing with himself, and trying in vain to map out some consistent course of action. what a blessing it would be, he thought, if paul would make good his threat, and go away! it would be like tearing his father's heart-strings out, but better that than that he should remain and be a witness to his own disgrace, and to the bitter humiliation of his father. silas had intended to warn his son that he was throwing away his time by going with eugenia claiborne--that marriage with her was utterly impossible. but it was a very delicate subject, and, once embarked in it, he would have been unable to give his son any adequate or satisfactory reason for the interdiction. many wild and whirling thoughts passed through the mind of silas tomlin, but at the end, he asked himself why he should cross the creek before he came to it? the reflection was soothing enough to bring home to his mind the fact that he had had no supper. unconsciously, and through force of habit, he had been waiting for rhody to set the small bell to tinkling, as a signal that the meal was ready, but no sound had come to his ears. he rose to investigate. a solitary candle was flaring on the dining-table. he went to the door leading to the kitchen and called rhody, but he received no answer. "blast your impudent hide!" he exclaimed, "what are you doing out there? why don't you put supper on the table?" he would have had silence for an answer, but for the barking of a nearby neighbour's dog. he went into the kitchen, and found the fire nearly out, whereupon he made dire threats against his cook, but, in the end, he was compelled to fish his supper from the pans as best he could. when he had finished he looked at the clock, and was surprised to find that it was only a little after eight. during the course of an hour and a half, he seemed to have lived and suffered a year and a half. the early hour gave him an opportunity to display one of his characteristic traits. it had never been his way to run from trouble. when a small boy, if his nurse told him the booger-man was behind a bush, he always insisted on investigating. the same impulse seized him now. if this mrs. claiborne proposed to make any move against him--as he inferred from the hints which the jovial mr. sanders had flung at his head--he would beard the lioness in her den, and find out what she meant, and what she wanted. silas was prompt to act on the impulse, and as soon as he could make the house secure, he proceeded to the gaither place. his knock, after some delay, was answered by eugenia. the girl involuntarily drew back when she saw who the visitor was. "what is it you wish?" she inquired. "if your mother is at home, please ask her if she will see silas tomlin on a matter of business." eugenia left the door open, and in a moment, from one of the rear rooms came the sound of merry, unrestrained laughter, which only ceased when some one uttered a warning "sh-h!" eugenia returned almost immediately, and invited the visitor into the parlour, saying, "it is rather late for business, mamma says, but she will see you." silas seated himself on a sofa, and had time to look about him before the lady of the house came in. it was his second visit to mrs. claiborne, and he observed many changes had taken place in the disposition of the furniture and the draperies. he noted, too, with a feeling of helpless exasperation, that his own portrait hung on the wall in close proximity to that of rita claiborne. he clenched his hands with inward rage. "what does this she-devil mean?" he asked himself, and at that moment, the object of his anger swept into the room. there was something gracious, as well as graceful, in her movements. she had the air of a victor who is willing to be magnanimous. "what is your business with me?" she asked with lifted eyebrows. there was just the shadow of a smile hovering around her mouth. silas caught it, and looking into a swinging mirror opposite, he saw how impossible it was for a man with a weazened face and a skull-cap to cope with such a woman as this. however, he had his indignation, his sense of persecution, to fall back upon. "i want to know what you intend to do," said silas. there was a note of weakness and helplessness in his voice. "i want to know what to expect. i'm tired of leading a dog's life. i hear you have been colloguing with lawyers." "do you remember your first visit here?" inquired mrs. claiborne very sweetly. if she was an enemy, she certainly knew how to conceal her feelings. "do you remember how wildly you talked--how insulting you were?" "i declare to you on my honour that i never intended to insult you," silas exclaimed. "why, all your insinuations were insulting. you gave me to understand that my coming here was an outrage--as if you had anything to do with my movements. but you insisted that my coming here was an attack on you and your son. when and where and how did i ever do you a wrong?" "why didn't you--didn't--" silas tried hard to formulate his wrongs, but they were either so many or so few that words failed him. "did i desert you when you were ill and delirious? did i put faith in an anonymous letter and believe you to be dead?" the lady spoke with a calmness that seemed to be unnatural and unreal. for a little while, silas made no reply, but sat like one dazed, his eyes fixed on the crayon portrait of himself. "did you hang that thing up there for paul to see it and ask questions about it?" he asked, after awhile. "i hung it there because i chose to," she replied. "judge vardeman thinks it is a very good likeness of you, but i don't agree with him. do you think it does you justice?" she asked. "and then there's paul," said silas, ignoring her question. "do you propose to let him go ahead and fall in love with the girl?" "paul is not my son," the lady calmly answered. "but the girl is your daughter," silas insisted. "i shall look after her welfare, never fear," said the lady. "but suppose they should take a notion to marry; what would you do to stop 'em?" "oh, well, that is a question for the future," replied the lady, serenely. "it will be time enough to discuss that matter when the necessity arises." her composure, her indifference, caused silas to writhe and squirm in his chair, and she, seeing the torture she was inflicting, appeared to be very well content. "i didn't come to argue," said silas presently. "i came for information; i want to know what you intend to do. i don't ask any favours and i don't want any; i'm getting my deserts, i reckon. what i sowed that i'm reaping." "ah!" the lady exclaimed softly, and with an air of satisfaction. "do you really feel so?" she leaned forward a little, and there was that in her eyes that denoted something else besides satisfaction; compassion shone there. her mood had not been a serious one up to this point, but she was serious now, and silas could but observe how beautiful she was. "do you really feel that i would be justified if i confirmed the suspicions you have expressed?" "so far as i am concerned, you'd be doing exactly right," said silas bluntly. "but what about paul?" "well, what about paul?" mrs. claiborne asked. "well, for one thing, he's never done you any harm. and there's another thing," said silas rising from his seat: "i'd be willing to have my body pulled to pieces, inch by inch, and my bones broken, piece by piece, to save that boy one single pang." he stood towering over the lady. for once he had been taken clean out of himself, and he seemed to be transfigured. mrs. claiborne rose also. "paul is a very good young man," she said. "yes, he is!" exclaimed silas. "he never had a mean thought, and he has never been guilty of a mean action. but that would make no difference in my feelings. it would be all the same to me if he was a thief and a scoundrel or if he was deformed, or if he was everything that he is not. no matter what he was or might be, i would be willing to live in eternal torment if i could know that he is happy." his face was not weazened now. it was illuminated with his love for his son, the one passion of his life, and he was no longer a contemptible figure. the lady refixed her eyes upon him, and wondered how he could have changed himself right before her eyes, for certainly, as it seemed to her, this was not the mean and shabby figure she had found in the parlour when she first came in. she sighed as she turned her eyes away. "do you remember what i told you on the occasion of your first visit?" she inquired very seriously. "you were both rude and disagreeable, but i said that i'd not trouble you again, so long as you left me alone." "well, haven't i left you alone?" asked silas. "what do you call this?" there was just the shadow of a smile on her face. "that's a fact," said silas after a pause. "but i just couldn't help myself. honestly i'm sorry i came. i'm no match for you. i must bid you good-night. i hardly know what's come over me. if i've worried you, i'm truly sorry." "one of these days," she said very kindly, as she accompanied him to the door, "i'll send for you. at the proper time i'll give you some interesting news." "well, i hope it will be good news; if so, it will be the first i have heard in many a long day. good-night." the lady closed the door, and returned to the parlour and sat down. "why, i thought he was a cold-blooded, heartless creature," she said to herself. then, after some reflection she uttered an exclamation and clasped her hands together. suppose he were to make way with himself! the bare thought was enough to keep the smiles away from the face of this merry-hearted lady for many long minutes. finally, she caught a glimpse of herself in the swinging mirror. she snapped her fingers at her reflection, saying, "pooh! i wouldn't give that for your firmness of purpose!" chapter seventeen _rhody has something to say_ now, all this time, while the mother was engaged with silas, eugenia, the daughter, was having an experience of her own. when rhody, silas tomlin's cook and housekeeper, discovered that paul had left the house in a fit of anger, she knew at once that something unusual had occurred, and her indignation against silas tomlin rose high. she was familiar with every peculiarity of paul's character, and she was well aware of the fact that behind his calm and cool bearing, which nothing ever seemed to ruffle, was a heart as sensitive and as tender as that of a woman, and a temper hot, obstinate and unreasonable when aroused. so, without taking time to serve silas's supper, she went in search of paul. she went to the store where he was the chief clerk, but the doors were closed; she went to the tavern, but he was not to be seen; and she walked along the principal streets, where sometimes the young men strolled after tea. there she met a negro woman, who suggested that he might be at the gaither place. "humph!" snorted rhody, "how come dat ain't cross my mind? but ef he's dar dis night, ef he run ter dat gal when he in trouble, i better be layin' off ter cook some weddin' doin's." there wasn't a backyard in the town that rhody didn't know as well as she knew her own, and she stood on no ceremony in entering any of them. she went to the gaither place, swung back the gate, shutting it after her with a bang, and stalked into the kitchen as though it belonged to her. at the moment there was no one in sight but mandy, the house-girl, a bright and good-looking mulatto. "why, howdy, miss rhody!" she exclaimed, in a voice that sounded like a flute. "what wind blowed you in here?" "put down dem dishes an' wipe yo' han's," said rhody, by way of reply. the girl silently complied, expressing no surprise and betraying no curiosity. "now, den, go in de house, an' ax ef paul tomlin is in dar," commanded rhody. "ef he is des tell 'im dat mammy rhody want ter see 'im." "i hope dey ain't nobody dead," suggested mandy with a musical laugh. "i'm lookin' out for all sorts er trouble, because i've had mighty funny dreams for three nights han'-runnin'. look like i can see blood. i wake up, i do, cryin' an' feelin' tired out like de witches been ridin' me. then i drop off to sleep, an' there's the blood, plain as my han'." she went on in the house and rhody followed close at her heels. she was determined to see paul if she could. she was very willing for silas tomlin to be drawn through a hackle; she was willing to see murder done if the whites were to be the victims; but paul--well, according to her view, paul was one of a thousand. she had given him suck; she had fretted and worried about him for twenty years; and she couldn't break off her old habits all at once. she had listened to and indorsed the incendiary doctrines of the radical emissary who pretended to be representing the government; she had wept and shouted over the strenuous pleadings of the rev. jeremiah; but all these things were wholly apart from paul. and if she had had the remotest idea that they affected his interests or his future, she would have risen in the church and denounced the carpet-bagger and his scalawag associates, and likewise the rev. jeremiah. when mandy, closely followed by rhody, went into the house, she heard voices in the parlour, but eugenia was in the sitting-room reading by the light of a lamp. "miss genia," said the girl, "is mr. paul here?" "why do you ask?" inquired eugenia. "they-all cook wanter speak with him." at this moment, eugenia saw the somewhat grim face of rhody peering over the girl's shoulder. "paul isn't here," said the young lady, rising with a vague feeling of alarm. "what is the matter?" and then, feeling that if there was any trouble, rhody would feel freer to speak when they were alone together, eugenia dismissed mandy, and followed to see that the girl went out. "now, what _is_ the trouble, rhody? mr. silas tomlin is in the parlour talking to mother." rhody opened her eyes wide at this. "_he_ in dar? what de name er goodness he doin' here?" eugenia didn't know, of course, and said so. "well, he ain't atter no good," rhody went on; "you kin put dat down in black an' white. dat man is sho' ter leave a smutty track wharsomever he walk at. you better watch 'im; you better keep yo' eye on 'im. is he yever loant yo' ma any money?" "why, no," replied eugenia, laughing at the absurdity of the question. "what put that idea in your head?" "bekaze dat's his business--loanin' out a little dab er money here an' a little dab dar, an' gittin' back double de dab he loant," said rhody. "deyer folks in dis county, which he loant um money, an' now he got all de prop'ty dey yever had; an' deyer folks right here in dis town, which he loant um dat ar conferick money when it want wuff much mo dan shavin's, an' now dey got ter pay 'im back sho nuff money. i hear 'im sesso. oh, dat's him! dat's silas tomlin up an' down. you kin take a thrip an' squeeze it in yo' han' tell it leave a print, an' hol' it up whar folks kin see it, an' dar you got his pictur'; all it'll need will be a frame. he done druv paul 'way fum home." she spoke with some heat, and really went further than she intended, but she was swept away by her indignation. she was certain, knowing paul as well as she did, that he had left the house in a fit of anger at something his father had said or done and she was equally as certain that he would have to be coaxed back. "surely you are mistaken," said eugenia. "it is too ridiculous. why, paul--mr. paul is----" she paused and stood there blushing. "go on, chile: say it out; don't be shame er me. nobody can't say nothin' good 'bout dat boy but what i kin put a lots mo' on what dey er tellin'. silas tomlin done tol' me out'n his own mouf dat paul went fum de house vowin' he'd never come back." eugenia was so sure that rhody (after her kind and colour) was exaggerating, that she refused to be disturbed by the statement. "why did you come here hunting for paul?" the young lady asked. "oh, go away, miss genia!" exclaimed rhody, laughing. "'tain't no needs er my answerin' dat, kaze you know lots better'n i does." "are you very fond of him?" eugenia inquired. "who--_me_? why, honey, i raised 'im. sick er well, i nussed 'im fer long years. i helt 'im in deze arms nights an' nights, when all he had ter do fer ter leave dis vale wuz ter fetch one gasp an' go. ef his daddy had done all dat, he wouldn't 'a' druv de boy fum home." alas! how could rhody, in her ignorance and blindness, probe the recesses of a soul as reticent as that of silas tomlin? "oh, don't say he was driven from home!" cried eugenia, rising and placing a hand on rhody's arm. "if you talk that way, other people will take it up, and it won't be pleasant for paul." "dat sho is a mighty purty han'," exclaimed rhody enthusiastically, ignoring the grave advice of the young woman. "i'm gwine ter show somebody de place whar you laid it, an' i bet you he'll wanter cut de cloff out an' put it in his alvum." eugenia made a pretence of pushing rhody out of the room, but she was blushing and smiling. "well'm, he ain't here, sho, an' here's whar he oughter be; but i'll fin' 'im dis night an' ef he ain't gwine back home, i ain't gwine back--you kin put dat down." with that, she bade the young lady good-night, and went out. as rhody passed through the back gate, she chanced to glance toward pulaski tomlin's house, and saw a light shining from the library window. "ah-yi!" she exclaimed, "he's dar, an' dey ain't no better place fer 'im. dey's mo' home fer 'im right dar den dey yever wus er yever will be whar he live at." so saying, she turned her steps in the direction of neighbour tomlin's. in the kitchen, she asked if paul was in the house. the cook didn't know, but when the house-girl came out, she said that mr. paul was there, and had been for some time. "deyer holdin' a reg'lar expeunce meetin' in dar," she said. "miss fanny sho is a plum sight!" the house-girl went in again to say that rhody would like to speak with him, and rhody, as was her custom, followed at her heels. "come in, rhody," said miss fanny. "i know you are there. you always send a message, and then go along with it to see if it is delivered correctly. 'twould save a great deal of trouble if the rest of us were to adopt your plan." "i hope you all is well," remarked rhody, as she made her appearance. "i declar', miss fanny, you look good enough to eat." "well, i do eat," responded miss fanny, teasingly. "i mean you look good enough ter be etted," said rhody, correcting herself. "now, that is what i call a nice compliment," miss fanny observed complacently. "brother pulaski, if i am ever 'etted' you won't have to raise a monument to my memory." "no wonder you look young," laughed rhody. "anybody what kin git fun out'n a graveyard is bleeze ter look young." paul was lying on the wide lounge that was one of the features of the library. his eyes were closed, and his aunt fanny was gently stroking his hair. pulaski tomlin leaned back in an easy chair, lazily enjoying a cigar, the delicate flavour of which filled the room. there was something serene and restful in the group, in the furniture, in all the accessories and surroundings. the negro woman turned around and looked at everything in the room, as if trying to discover what produced the effect of perfect repose. it is the rule that everything beautiful and precious in this world should have mystery attached to it. there is the enduring mystery of art, the mystery that endows plain flesh and blood with genius. a little child draws you by its beauty; there is mystery unfathomable in its eyes. you enter a home, no matter how fine, no matter how humble; it may be built of logs, and its furnishings may be of the poorest; but if it is a home, a real home, you will know it unmistakably the moment you step across the threshold. some subtle essence, as mysterious as thought itself, will find its way to your mind and enlighten your instinct. you will know, however fine the dwelling, whether the spirit of home dwells there. rhody, as she looked around in the vain effort to get a clew to the secret, wondered why she always felt so comfortable in this house. she sighed as she seated herself on the floor at the foot of the lounge on which paul lay. this was her privilege. if miss fanny could sit at his head, rhody could sit at his feet. "you wanted to speak to paul," suggested miss fanny. "yes'm; he lef' de house in a huff, an' i wanter know ef he gwine back--kaze ef he ain't, i'm gwineter move way fum dar. he ain't take time fer ter git his supper." "why, paul!" exclaimed miss fanny. "i couldn't eat a mouthful to save my life," said paul. "whar miss margaret?" rhody inquired; and she seemed pleased to hear that the young lady was spending the night with nan dorrington. "honey," she said to paul, "how come yo' pa went ter de gaither place ter-night? what business he got dar?" this was news to paul, and he could make no reply to rhody's question. he reflected over the matter a little while. "was he really there?" he asked finally. "i hear 'im talkin' in de parlour, an' miss genia say it's him." "what were _you_ doing there?" inquired miss fanny, pushing her jaunty grey curls behind her ears. "a coloured 'oman recommen' me ter go dar ef i wan' ter fin' dat chile." "why, paul! and is the wind really blowing in that quarter?" cried miss fanny, leaning over and kissing him on the forehead. "now, mammy rhody, why did you do that?" paul asked with considerable irritation. "what will miss eugenia and her mother think?" he sat bolt upright on the sofa. "well, her ma ain't see me, an' miss genia look like she wuz sorry i couldn't fin' you dar." miss fanny laughed, but rhody was perfectly serious. "miss fanny," she said, turning to the lady, "how come dat chile lef' home?" "shall i tell her, paul? i may as well." whereupon she told the negro woman the cause of paul's anger, and ended by saying that she didn't blame him for showing the spirit of a southern gentleman. "well, he'll never j'ine de 'publican party in dis county," rhody declared emphatically. "he will if he has made up his mind to do so. you don't know silas," said miss fanny. "who--me? me not know dat man? huh! i know 'im better'n he know hisse'f; an' i know some yuther folks, too. i tell you right now, he'll never j'ine; an' ef you don't believe me, you wait an' see. time i git thoo wid his kaycter, de 'publicans won't tetch 'im wid a ten-foot pole." "i hope you are right," said pulaski tomlin, speaking for the first time. "there's enough trouble in the land without having a scalawag in the tomlin family." "well, you nee'nter worry 'bout dat, kaze i'll sho put a stop ter dem kinder doin's. honey," rhody went on, addressing paul, "you come on home when you git sleepy; i'm gwineter set up fer you, an' ef you don't come, yo' pa'll hatter cook his own vittles ter-morrer mornin'." "good-night, rhody, and pleasant dreams," said miss fanny, as the negro woman started out. "i dunner how anybody kin have pleasin' drams ef dey sleep in de same lot wid marse silas," replied rhody. "good-night all." now, the cook at the tomlin place was the wife of the rev. jeremiah. she was a tall, thin woman, some years older than her husband, and she ruled him with a rod of iron. the new conditions, combined with the insidious flattery of the white radicals, had made her vicious against the whites. rhody knew this, and from the "big house," she went into the kitchen, where mrs. jeremiah was cleaning up for the night. her name was patsy. "you gittin' mighty thick wid de white folks, sis' rhody," said patsy, pausing in her work, as the other entered the door. for answer, rhody fell into a chair, held both hands high above her head, and then let them drop in her lap. the gesture was effective for a dozen interpretations. "well!" she exclaimed, and then paused, patsy watching her narrowly the while. "i dunner how 'tis wid you, sis' patsy, but wid me, it's live an' l'arn--live an' l'arn. an' i'm a-larnin', mon, spite er de fack dat de white folks think niggers ain't got no sense." "dey does! dey does!" exclaimed patsy. "dey got de idee dat we all ain't got no mo' sense dan a passel er fryin'-size chickens. but dey'll fin' out better, an' den--ah-h-h!" this last exclamation was a hoarse gutteral cry of triumph. "you sho is talkin' now!" cried rhody, with an admiring smile. "i knows it ter-night, ef i never is know'd it befo'." patsy knew that some disclosure was coming, and she invited it by putting rhody on the defensive. "it's de trufe," she declared. "dat what make me feel so quare, sis' rhody, when i see you so ready fer ter collogue wid de white folks. i wuz talkin' wid jerry 'bout it no longer'n las' night. yes'm, i wuz. i say, 'jerry, what de matter wid sis' rhody?' he say, 'which away, pidgin?'--desso; he allers call me pidgin," explained patsy, with a smile of pride. "i say, 'by de way she colloguin' wid de white folks.'" "what br'er jerry say ter dat?" inquired rhody. "he des shuck his head an' groan," was the reply. rhody leaned forward with a frown that was almost tragic in its heaviness, and spoke in a deep, unnatural tone that added immensely to the emphasis of her words. "'oman, lemme tell you: i done it, an' i'm glad i done it; an' you'll be glad i done it; an' he'll be glad i done it." patsy was drying the dish-pan with a towel, but suspended operations the better to hear what rhody had to say. "dey done got it fixt up fer ol' silas ter j'ine in wid de 'publican party. he gwineter j'ine so he kin fin' out all der doin's, an' all der comin's an' der gwines, so he kin tell de yuthers." "huh! oh, yes--yes, yes, yes! oh, yes! we er fools; we ain't got no sense!" cackled patsy viciously. "he des gwineter make out he's a 'publican," rhody went on; "dey got it all planned. he gwineter j'ine de nunion league, an' git all de names. dey talk 'bout it, sis' patsy, right befo' my face an' eyes. dey mus' take me fer a start-natchel fool." "dey does--dey does!" cried patsy; "dey takes us all fer fools. but won't dey be a wakin' up when de time come?" then and there was given the death-blow to silas tomlin's ambition to become a republican politician. the rev. jeremiah was apprised of the plan, which so far as rhody was concerned, was a pure invention. word went round, and when silas put in his application to become a member of the union league, he was informed that orders had come from atlanta that no more members were to be enrolled. when rhody went out into the street, after her talk with patsy, a passer-by would have said that her actions were very queer. she leaned against the fence and went into convulsions of silent laughter. "oh, i wish i wuz some'rs whar i could holler," she said aloud between gasps. "he calls her 'pidgin!' pidgin! ef she's a pidgin, i'd like ter know what gone wid de cranes!" she recurred to this name some weeks afterward, when the rev. jeremiah informed her confidentially that his wife had discovered silas tomlin's plan to unearth the secrets of the union league. rhody's comment somewhat surprised the rev. jeremiah. "i allers thought," she said with a laugh, "dat pidgin had sump'n else in her craw 'sides corn." rhody waited in the kitchen that night until paul returned, and then she went to bed. silas and his son were up earlier than usual the next morning, but they found breakfast ready and waiting. the attitude of father and son toward each other was constrained and reserved. silas felt that he must certainly say something to paul about eugenia claiborne. he hardly knew how to begin, but at last he plunged into the subject with the same shivering sense of fear displayed by a small boy who is about to jump into a pond of cold water--dreading it, and yet determined to take a header. "i hear, paul," he began, "that you are very attentive to eugenia claiborne." "i call on her occasionally," said paul. "she is a very agreeable young lady." he spoke coolly, but the blood mounted to his face. "so i hear--so i hear," remarked silas in a business-like way. "still, i hope you won't carry matters too far." "what do you mean?" paul inquired. "i wish i could go into particulars; i wish i could tell you exactly what i mean, but i can't," said silas. "all i can say is that it would be impossible for you to marry the young woman. my lord!" he exclaimed, as he saw paul close his jaws together. "ain't there no other woman in the world?" "do you know anything against the young lady's character?" the son asked. "nothing, absolutely nothing," was the response. "well," said paul, "i hadn't considered the question of marriage at all, but since you've brought the subject up, we may as well discuss it. you say it will be impossible for me to marry this young lady, and you refuse to tell me why. don't you think i am old enough to be trusted?" "why, certainly, paul--of course; but there are some things--" silas paused, and caught his breath, and then went on. "honestly, paul, if i could tell you, i would; i'd be glad to tell you; but this is a matter in which you will have to depend on my judgment. can't you trust me?" "just as far as you can trust me, but no farther," was the reply. "i'm not a child. in a few months i'll be of age. but if i were only ten years old, and knew the young lady as well as i know her now, you couldn't turn me against her by insinuations." he rose, shook himself, walked the length of the room and back again, and stood close to his father. "you've already settled the question of marriage. i asked you last night about the report that you intended to act with the radicals, and you refused to give me a direct answer. that means that the report is true. do you suppose that eugenia claiborne, or any other decent woman would marry the son of a scalawag?" he asked with a voice full of passion. "why, she'd spit in his face, and i wouldn't blame her." the young man went out, leaving silas sitting at the table. "lord! i hate to hurt him, but he'd better be dead than to marry that girl." rhody, who was standing in the entryway leading from the dining-room to the kitchen, and who had overheard every word that passed between father and son, entered the room at this moment, exclaiming: "well, you des ez well call 'im dead den, kaze marry her he will, an' i don't blame 'im; an' mo'n dat i'll he'p 'im all i can." "you don't know what you are talking about," said silas, wiping his lips, which were as dry as a bone. "maybe i does, an' maybe i don't," replied rhody. "but what i does know, i knows des ez good ez anybody. you say dat boy sha'n't marry de gal; but how come you courtin' de mammy?" "doing what?" cried silas, pushing his chair back from the table. "courtin' de mammy," answered rhody, in a loud voice. "you wuz dar las' night, an' fer all i know you wuz dar de night befo', an' de night 'fo' dat. you may fool some folks, but you can't fool me." "courting! why you blasted idiot! i went to see her on business." rhody laughed so heartily that few would have detected the mockery in it. "business! yasser; it's business, an' mighty funny business. well, ef you kin git her, you take her. ef she don't lead you a dance, i ain't name rhody." "i believe you've lost what little sense you used to have," said silas with angry contempt. "i notice dat nobody roun' here ain't foun' it," remarked rhody, retiring to the kitchen with a waiter full of dishes. chapter eighteen _the knights of the white camellia_ matters have changed greatly since those days, and all for the better. the people of the whole country understand one another, and there is no longer any sectional prejudice for the politicians to feed and grow fat upon. but in the days of reconstruction everything was at white heat, and every episode and every development appeared to be calculated to add to the excitement. in all this, shady dale had as large a share as any other community. the whites had witnessed many political outrages that seemed to have for their object the renewal of armed resistance. and it is impossible, even at this late day, for any impartial person to read the debates in the federal congress during the years of - without realising the awful fact that the prime movers in the reconstruction scheme (if not the men who acted as their instruments and tools) were intent on stirring up a new revolution in the hope that the negroes might be prevailed upon to sack cities and towns, and destroy the white population. this is the only reasonable inference; no other conceivable conclusion can explain the wild and whirling words that were uttered in these debates: unless, indeed, some charitable investigator shall establish the fact that the radical leaders were suffering from a sort of contagious dementia. it is all over and gone, but it is necessary to recall the facts in order to explain the passionate and blind resistance of the whites of the south and their hatred of everything that bore the name or earmarks of republicanism. shady dale, in common with other communities, had witnessed the assembling of a convention to frame a new constitution for the state. this body was well named the mongrel convention. it was made up of political adventurers from maine, vermont, and other northern states, and boasted of a majority composed of ignorant negroes and criminals. one of the most prominent members had served a term in a northern penitentiary. the real leaders, the men in whose wisdom and conservatism the whites had confidence, were disqualified from holding office by the terms of the reconstruction acts, and the convention emphasised and adopted the policy of the radical leaders in washington--a policy that was deliberately conceived for the purpose of placing the governments of the southern states in the hands of ignorant negroes controlled by men who had no interest whatever in the welfare of the people. but this was not all, nor half. when the military commandant who had charge of affairs in georgia, found that the state government established under the terms of mr. lincoln's plan of reconstruction, had no idea of paying the expenses of the mongrel convention out of the state's funds, he issued an order removing the governor and treasurer, and "detailed for duty as governor of georgia," one of the members of his staff. the mongrel convention, which would have been run out of any northern state in twenty-four hours, had provided for an election to be held in april, , for the ratification or rejection of the new constitution that had been framed, and for the election of governor and members of the general assembly. beginning on the th, the election was to continue for three days, a provision that was intended to enable the negroes to vote at as many precincts as they could conveniently reach in eighty-three hours. no safeguard whatever was thrown around the ballot-box, and it was the remembrance of this initial and overwhelming combination of fraud and corruption that induced the whites, at a later day, to stuff the ballot-boxes and suppress the votes of the ignorant. these things, with the hundreds of irritating incidents and episodes belonging to the unprecedented conditions, gradually worked up the feelings of the whites to a very high pitch of exasperation. the worst fears of the most timid bade fair to be realised, for the negroes, certain of their political supremacy, sure of the sympathy and support of congress and the war department, and filled with the conceit produced by the flattery and cajolery of the carpet-bag sycophants, were beginning to assume an attitude which would have been threatening and offensive if their skins had been white as snow. gabriel was now old enough to appreciate the situation as it existed, though he never could bring himself to believe that there were elements of danger in it. he knew the negroes too well; he was too familiar with their habits of thought, and with their various methods of accomplishing a desired end. but he was familiar with the apprehensions of the community, and made no effort to put forward his own views, except in occasional conversations with meriwether clopton. after a time, however, it became clear, even to gabriel, that something must be done to convince the misguided negroes that the whites were not asleep. he conformed himself to all the new conditions with the ready versatility of youth. he studied hard both night and day, but he spent the greater part of his time in the open air. it was perhaps fortunate for him at this time that there was a lack of formality in his methods of acquiring knowledge. he had no tutor, but his line of study was mapped out for him by meriwether clopton, who was astonished at the growing appetite of the lad for knowledge--an appetite that seemed to be insatiable. what he most desired to know, however, he made no inquiries about. he ached, as mrs. absalom would have said, to know why he had suddenly come to be afraid of nan dorrington. he had been somewhat shy of her before, but now, in these latter days, he was absolutely afraid of her. he liked her as well as ever, but somehow he became panic-stricken whenever he found himself in her company, which was not often. it was impossible that his desire to avoid her should fail to be observed by nan, and she found a reason for it in the belief that gabriel had discovered in some way that she was in the closet with tasma tid the night the union league had been organised. nan would never have known what a crime--this was the name she gave the escapade--what a crime she had committed but for the shock it gave her step-mother. this lady had been trained and educated in a convent, where every rule of propriety was emphasised and magnified, and most rigidly insisted upon. one day, when nan was returning home from the village, she saw gabriel coming directly toward her. she studied the ground at her feet for a considerable distance, and when she looked up again gabriel was gone; he had disappeared. this episode, insignificant though it was, was the cause of considerable worry to nan. she gave mrs. dorrington the particulars, and then asked her what it all meant. "why should it mean anything?" that lady asked with a laugh. "oh, but it must mean something, johnny. gabriel has avoided me before, and i have avoided him, but we have each had some sort of an excuse for it. but this time it is too plain." "what silly children!" exclaimed mrs. dorrington, with her cute french accent. nan went to a window and looked out, drumming on a pane. outside everything seemed to be in disorder. the flowers were weeds, and the trees were not beautiful any more. even the few birds in sight were all dressed in drab. what a small thing can change the world for us! "i know why he hid himself," nan declared from the window. "he has found out that i was in the closet with tasma tid." how sad it was to be compelled to realise the awful responsibilities that rest as a burden upon girls who are grown! "well, you were there," replied mrs. dorrington, "and since that is so, why not make a joke of it? gabriel has no squeamishness about such things." "then why should he act as he does?" nan was about to break down. "well, he has his own reasons, perhaps, but they are not what you think. oh, far from it. gabriel knows as well as i do that it would be impossible for you to do anything _very_ wrong." "oh, but it isn't impossible," nan insisted. "i feel wicked, and i know i am wicked. if gabriel tolliver ever dares to find out that i was in that closet, i'll tell him what i think of him, and then i'll--" her threat was never completed. mrs. dorrington rose from her chair just in time to place her hand over nan's mouth. "if you were to tell gabriel what you really think of him," said the lady, "he would have great astonishment." "oh, no, he wouldn't, johnny. you don't know how conceited gabriel is. i'm just ready to hate him." "well, it may be good for your health to dislike him a little occasionally," remarked mrs. dorrington, with a smile. "now, what _do_ you mean by that, johnny?" cried nan. but the only reply she received was an eloquent shrug of the shoulders. gabriel was as much mystified by his own dread of meeting nan, as he was by her coolness toward him. he could not recall any incident which she had resented; but still she was angry with him. well, if it was so, so be it; and though he thought it was cruel in his old comrade to harbour hard thoughts against him, he never sought for an explanation. he had his own world to fall back upon--a world of books, the woods and the fields. and he was far from unhappiness; for no human being who loves nature well enough to understand and interpret its meaning and its myriad messages to his own satisfaction, can be unhappy for any length of time. whatever his losses or his disappointments, he can make them all good by going into the woods and fields and taking nature, the great comforter, by the hand. so gabriel confined his communications for the most part to his old and ever-faithful friends, the woods and the velvety bermuda fields. he walked about among these old friends with a lively sense of their vitality and their fruitfulness. he was certain that the fields knew him as well as he knew them--and as for the trees, he had a feeling that they knew his name as well as he knew theirs. he was so familiar with some of them, and they with him, that the katydids in the branches continued their cries even while he was leaning against the trunks of the friends of his childhood: whereas, if a stranger or an alien to the woods had so much as laid the tip of his little finger on the rugged bark of one of them, a shuddering signal would have been sent aloft, and the cries would have ceased instantly. gabriel's grandmother went to bed early and rose early--a habit that belongs to old age. but it was only after the darkness and silence of night had descended upon the world that all of gabriel's faculties were alert. it was his favourite time for studying and reading, and for walking about in the woods and fields, especially when the weather was too warm for study. every sunday night found him in the bermuda fields, long since deserted by nan and tasma tid. to think of the old days sometimes brought a lump in his throat; but the skies, and the constellations (in their season) remained, and were as fresh and as beautiful as when they looked down in pity on the sufferings of job. gabriel's favourite bermuda field was crowned by a hill, which, gradually sloping upward, commanded a fine view of the surrounding country; and though it was close to shady dale, it was a lonely place. here the killdees ran, and bobbed their heads, and uttered their plaintive cries unmolested; here the partridge could raise her brood in peace; and here the whippoorwill was free to play upon his flute. many and many a time, while sitting on this hill, gabriel had watched the village-lights go out one by one till all was dark; and the silence seemed to float heaven-ward, and fall again, and shift and move in vast undulations, keeping time to a grand melody which the soul could feel and respond to, but which the ear could not hear. and at such time, gabriel believed that in the slow-moving constellations, with their glittering trains, could be read the great secrets that philosophers and scientists are searching for. beyond the valley, still farther away from the town, was the negro church, of which the rev. jeremiah tomlin was the admired pastor. ordinarily, there were services in this church three times a week, unless one of the constantly recurring revivals was in progress, and then there were services every night in the week, and sometimes all night long. the rev. jeremiah was a preacher who had lung-power to spare, and his voice was well calculated to shatter our old friend the welkin, so dear to poets and romancers. but if there was no revival in progress, the nights devoted to prayer-meetings were mainly musical, and the songs, subdued by the distance, floated across the valley to gabriel with entrancing sweetness. one wednesday night, when the political conditions were at their worst, gabriel observed that while the lights were lit in the church, there was less singing than usual. this attracted his attention and then excited his curiosity. listening more intently, he failed to hear the sound of a single voice lifted in prayer, in song or in preaching. the time was after nine o'clock, and this silence was so unusual that gabriel concluded to investigate. he made his way across the valley, and was soon within ear-shot of the church. the pulpit was unoccupied, but gabriel could see that a white man was standing in front of it. the inference to be drawn from his movements and gestures was that he was delivering an address to the negroes. hotchkiss was standing near the speaker, leaning in a familiar way on one of the side projections of the pulpit. gabriel knew hotchkiss, but the man who was speaking was a stranger. he was flushed as with wine, and appeared to have no control of his hands, for he flung them about wildly. gabriel crept closer, and climbed a small tree, in the hope that he might hear what the stranger was saying, but listen as he might, no sound of the stranger's voice came to gabriel. the church was full of negroes, and a strange silence had fallen on them. he marvelled somewhat at this, for the night was pleasant, and every window was open. the impression made upon the young fellow was very peculiar. here was a man flinging his arms about in the heat and ardour of argument or exhortation, and yet not a sound came through the windows. suddenly, while gabriel was leaning forward trying in vain to hear the words of the speaker, a tall, white figure, mounted on a tall white horse, emerged from the copse at the rear of the church. at the first glance, gabriel found it difficult to discover what the figures were, but as horse and rider swerved in the direction of the church, he saw that both were clad in white and flowing raiment. while he was gazing with all his eyes, another figure emerged from the copse, then another, and another, until thirteen white riders, including the leader, had come into view. following one another at intervals, they marched around the church, observing the most profound silence. the hoofs of their horses made no sound. three times this ghostly procession marched around the church. finally they paused, each horseman at a window, save the leader, who, being taller than the rest, had stationed himself at the door. he was the first to break the silence. "brothers, is all well with you?" his voice was strong and sonorous. "all is not well," replied twelve voices in chorus. "what do you see?" the impressive voice of the leader asked. "trouble, misery, blood!" came the answering chorus. "blood?" cried the leader. "yes, blood!" was the reply. "then all is well!" "so mote it be! all is well!" answered twelve voices in chorus. once more the ghostly procession rode round and round the church, and then suddenly disappeared in the darkness. gabriel rubbed his eyes. for an instant he believed that he had been dreaming. if ever there were goblins, these were they. the figures on horseback were so closely draped in white that they had no shape but height, and their heads and hands were not in view. it may well be believed that the sudden appearance and disappearance of these apparitions produced consternation in the rev. jeremiah's congregation. the stranger who had been addressing them was left in a state of collapse. the only person in the building who appeared to be cool and sane was the man hotchkiss. the negroes sat paralysed for an instant after the white riders had disappeared--but only for an instant, for, before you could breathe twice, those in the rear seats made a rush for the door. this movement precipitated a panic, and the entire congregation joined in a mad effort to escape from the building. the rev. jeremiah forgot the dignity of his position, and, umbrella in hand, emerged from a window, bringing the upper sash with him. benches were overturned, and wild shrieks came from the women. the climax came when five pistol-shots rang out on the air. gabriel, in his tree, could hear the negroes running, their feet sounding on the hard clay like the furious scamper of a drove of wild horses. years afterward, he could afford to laugh at the events of that night, but, at the moment, the terror of the negroes was contagious, and he had a mild attack of it. the pistol-shots occurred as the rev. jeremiah emerged from the window, and were evidently in the nature of a signal, for before the echoes of the reports had died away, the white horsemen came into view again, and rode after the fleeing negroes. gabriel did not witness the effect of this movement, but it came near driving the fleeing negroes into a frenzy. the white riders paid little attention to the mob itself, but selected the rev. jeremiah as the object of their solicitude. he had bethought him of his dignity when he had gone a few hundred steps, and found he was not pursued, and, instead of taking to the woods, as most of his congregation did, he kept to the public road. before he knew it, or at least before he could leave the road, he found himself escorted by the entire band. six rode on each side, and the leader rode behind him. once he started to run, but the white riders easily kept pace with him, their horses going in a comfortable canter. when he found that escape was impossible, he ceased to run. he would have stopped, but when he tried to do so he felt the hot breath of the leader's horse on the back of his neck, and the sensation was so unexpected and so peculiar, that the frightened negro actually thought that a chunk of fire, as he described it afterward, had been applied to his head. so vivid was the impression made on his mind that he declared that he had actually seen the flame, as it circled around his head; and he maintained that the back of his head would have been burned off if "de fier had been our kind er fier." finding that he could not escape by running, he began to walk, and as he was a man of great fluency of speech, he made an effort to open a conversation with his ghostly escort. he was perspiring at every pore, and this fact called for a frequent use of his red pocket-handkerchief. "blood!" cried the leader, and twelve voices repeated the word. "bosses--marsters! what is i ever done to you?" to this there was no reply. "i ain't never hurted none er you-all; i ain't never had de idee er harmin' you. all i been doin' for dis long time, is ter try ter fetch sinners ter de mercy-seat. dat's all i been doin', an' dat's all i wanter do--i tell you dat right now." still there was no response, and the rev. jeremiah made bold to take a closer look at the riders who were within range of his vision. he nearly sunk in his tracks when he saw that each one appeared to be carrying his head under his arm. "name er de lord!" he cried; "who is you-all anyhow? an' what you gwineter do wid me?" silence was the only answer he received, and the silence of the riders was more terrifying than their talk would have been. "ef you wanter know who been tryin' fer ter 'casion trouble, i kin tell you, an' dat mighty quick." but apparently the white riders were not seeking for information. they asked no questions, and the perspiration flowed more freely than ever from the rev. jeremiah's pores. again his red handkerchief came out of his pocket, and again the rider behind him cried out "blood!" and the others repeated the word. the rev. jeremiah, in despair, caught at what he thought was the last straw. "ef you-all think dey's blood on dat hankcher, you mighty much mistooken. 'twuz red in de sto', long 'fo' i bought it, an' ef dey's any blood on it, i ain't put it dar--i'll tell you dat right now." but there was no answer to his protest, and the ghostly cortège continued to escort him along the road. the white riders went with him through town and to the tomlin place. once there, each one filed between him and the gate he was about to enter, and the last word of each was "beware!" chapter nineteen _major tomlin perdue arrives_ gabriel was struck by the fact that hotchkiss seemed to be undisturbed by the events that had startled and stampeded the negroes and the white stranger. he remained in the church for some time after the others were gone, and he showed no uneasiness whatever. he had seated himself on one of the deacons' chairs near the pulpit, and, with his head leaning on his hand, appeared to be lost in thought. after awhile--it seemed to be a very long time to gabriel--he rose, put on his hat, blew out one by one the lamps that rested in sconces along the wall, and went out into the darkness. gabriel had remained in the tree, and with good reason. he knew that whoever fired the pistol, the reports of which added so largely to the panic among the negroes, was very close to the tree where he had hid himself, and so he waited, not patiently, perhaps, but with a very good grace. when hotchkiss was out of sight, and presumably out of hearing, gabriel heard some one calling his name. he made no answer at first, but the call was repeated in a tone sufficiently loud to leave no room for mistake. "tolliver, where are you? if you're asleep, wake up and show me a near-cut to town." "who are you?" gabriel asked. "one," replied the other. "i don't know your voice," said gabriel; "how did you know me?" "that is a secret that belongs to the knights of the white camellia," answered the unknown. "if you don't come down, i'm afraid i'll have to shake you out of that tree. can't you slide down without hurting your feelings?" gabriel slid down the trunk of the small tree as quickly as he could, and found that the owner of the voice was no other than major tomlin perdue, of halcyondale. "you didn't expect to find me roosting around out here, did you?" the irrepressible major asked, as he shook gabriel warmly by the hand. "well, i fully expected to find you. your grandmother told me an hour ago that i'd find you mooning about on the hills back there. i didn't find you because i didn't care to go about bawling your name; so i came around by the road. i was loafing around here when you came up, and i knew it was you, as soon as i heard you slipping up that tree. but that hill business, and the mooning--how about them? you're in love, i reckon. well, i don't blame you. she's a fine gal, ain't she?" "who?" inquired gabriel. "who!" cried major perdue, mockingly. "why, there's but one gal in the dale. you know that as well as i do. she never has had her match, and she'll never have one. and it's funny, too; no matter which way you spell her first name, backwards or forwards, it spells the same. did you ever think of that, tolliver? but for vallic--you know my daughter, don't you?--i never would have found it out in the world." gabriel laughed somewhat sheepishly, wondering all the time how major perdue could think and talk of such trivial matters, in the face of the spectacle they had just witnessed. "well, you deserve good luck, my boy," the major went on. "everybody that knows you is singing your praises--some for your book-learning, some for your modesty, and some for the way you ferreted out the designs of that fellow who was last to leave the church." "i'm sure i don't deserve any praise," protested gabriel. "continue to feel that way, and you'll get all the more," observed the major, sententiously. "but for you these dirty thieves might have got the best of us. why, we didn't know, even at halcyondale, what was up till we got word of your discovery. well, sir, as soon as we found out what was going on, we got together, and wiped 'em up. why, you've got the pokiest crowd over here i ever heard of. they just sit and sun themselves, and let these white devils do as they please. when they do wake up, the white rascals will be gone, and then they'll take their spite out of the niggers--and the niggers ain't no more to blame for all this trouble than a parcel of two-year-old children. you mark my words: the niggers will suffer, and these white rascals will go scot-free. why don't the folks here wake up? they can't be afraid of the yankee soldiers, can they? why the captain here is a rank democrat in politics, and a right down clever fellow." "he is a clever gentleman," gabriel assented. "i have met him walking about in the woods, and i like him very much. he is a kentuckian, and he's not fond of these carpet-baggers and scalawags at all. but i never told anybody before that he is a good friend of mine. you know how they are, especially the women--they hate everything that's clothed in blue." "well, by george! you are the only person in the place that keeps his eyes open, and finds out things. you saw that rascal talking to the niggers awhile ago, didn't you? well, he's the worst of the lot. he has been preaching his social equality doctrine over in our town, but i happened to run across him t'other day, and i laid the law down to him. i told him i'd give him twenty-four hours to get out of town. he stayed the limit; but when he saw me walk downtown with my shot-gun, he took a notion that i really meant business, and he lit out. minervy ann found out where he was headed for, and i've followed him over here. he's the worst of the lot, and they're all rank poison." major perdue paused a moment in his talk, as if reflecting. "can you keep a secret, tolliver?" he asked after awhile. "well, i haven't had much practice, major, but if it is important, i'll do my best to keep it." "oh, it is not so important. that fellow you saw talking to the negroes awhile ago is named bridalbin." "bridalbin!" exclaimed gabriel. "yes; he goes by some other name, i've forgotten what. he used to hang around malvern some years before the war, and a friend of mine who lived there knew him the minute he saw him. he's the fellow that married margaret gaither; you remember her; she came home to die not so very long ago. pulaski tomlin adopted her daughter, or became the girl's guardian. now, tolliver, whatever you do, don't breathe a word about this bridalbin--don't mention his name to a soul, not even to your grandmother. there's no need of worrying that poor girl; she has already had trouble enough in this world. i'm telling you about him because i want you to keep your eye on him. he's up to some kind of devilment besides exciting the niggers." gabriel promptly gave his word that he would never mention anything about bridalbin's name, and then he said--"but this parade--what does it mean?" the major laughed. "oh, that was just some of the boys from our settlement. they are simply out for practice. they want to get their hands in, as the saying is. they heard i was coming over, and so they followed along. they don't belong to the kuklux that you've read so much about. a chap from north carolina came along t'other day, and told about the knights of the white camellia, and the boys thought it would be a good idea to have a bouquet of their own. they have no signs or passwords, but simply a general agreement. you'll have to organise something of that kind here, tolliver. oh, you-all are so infernally slow out here in the country! why, even in atlanta, they have a young men's democratic club. you've got to get a move on you. there's no way out of it. the only way to fight the devil is to use his own weapons. the trouble is that some of the hot-headed youngsters want to hold the poor niggers responsible, as i said just now, and the niggers are no more to blame than the chicken in a new-laid egg. don't forget that, tolliver. i wouldn't give my old minervy ann for a hundred and seventy-five thousand of these white thieves and rascals; and jerry tomlin, fool as he is, is more of a gentleman than any of the men who have misled him." they walked back to the village the way gabriel had come. on top of the bermuda hill, major perdue paused and looked toward shady dale. lights were still twinkling in some of the houses, but for the most part the town was in darkness. the major waved his hand in that direction, remarking, "that's what makes the situation so dangerous, tolliver--the women and the children. here, and in hundreds of communities, and in the country places all about, the women and children are in bed asleep, or they are laughing and talking, with only dim ideas of what is going on. it looks to me, my son, as if we were between the devil and the deep blue sea. i, for one, don't believe that there's any danger of a nigger-rising. but look at the other side. i may be wrong; i may be a crazy old fool too fond of the niggers to believe they're really mean at heart. suppose that such men as this--ah, now i remember!--this boring--that is what bridalbin calls himself now--suppose that such men as he were to succeed in what they are trying to do? i don't believe they will, even if we took no steps to prevent it; but then there's the possibility--and we can't afford to take any chances." gabriel agreed with all this very heartily. he was glad to feel that his own views were also those of this keen, practical, hard-headed man of the world. "but men of my sort will be misjudged, tolliver," pursued the major; "violent men will get in the saddle, and outrages will be committed, and injustice will be done. public opinion to the north of us will say that the old fire-eaters, who won't permit even a respectable white man to insult them with impunity--the old slave-drivers--are trying to destroy the coloured race. but you will live, my son, to see some of these same radicals admit that all the injustice and all the wrong is due to the radical policy." this prophecy came true. time has abundantly vindicated the major and those who acted with him. "yes, yes," major perdue went on musingly, "injustice will be done. the fact is, it has already begun in some quarters. be switched if it doesn't look like you can't do right without doing wrong somewhere on the road." gabriel turned this paradox over in his mind, as they walked along; but it was not until he was a man grown that it straightened itself out in his mind something after this fashion: when a wrong is done the innocent suffer along with the guilty; and the innocent also suffer in its undoing. shady dale woke up the next morning to find the walls and the fences in all public places plastered with placards, or handbills, printed in red ink. the most prominent feature of the typography, however, was not its colour, but the image of a grinning skull and cross-bones. the handbill was in the nature of a proclamation. it was dated "den no. ten, second moon. year , of the dynasty." it read as follows: "to all lovers of peace and good order--greeting: whereas, it has come to the knowledge of the grand cyclops that evil-minded white men, and deluded freedmen, are engaged in stirring up strife; and whereas it is known that corruption is conspiring with ignorance-- "therefore, this is to warn all and singular the persons who have made or are now making incendiary propositions and threats, and all who are banded together in secret political associations to forthwith cease their activity. and let this warning be regarded as an order, the violation of which will be followed by vengeance swift and sure. the white riders are abroad. "thrice endorsed by the venerable, the grand cyclops, in behalf of the all-powerful klan. (. (. (. k. k. k. .) .) .)" now, if this document had been in writing, it might have passed for a joke, but it was printed, and this fact, together with its grave and formal style, gave it the dignity and importance of a genuine proclamation from a real but an unseen and unknown authority. it had the advantage of mystery, and there are few minds on which the mysterious fails to have a real influence. in addition to this, the spectacular performance at the rev. jeremiah's church the night before gave substance to the proclamation. that event was well calculated to awe the superstitious and frighten the timid. the white riders had disappeared as mysteriously as they came. only one person was known to have seen them after they had left the church--it was several days before the rev. jeremiah could be induced to relate his experience--and that person was mr. sanders. what he claimed to have witnessed was even more alarming than the brief episode that occurred at the rev. jeremiah's church. mr. sanders was called on to repeat the story many times during the next few weeks, but it was observed by a few of the more thoughtful that he described what he had seen with greater freedom and vividness when there was a negro within hearing. his narrative was something like this: "gus tidwell sent arter me to go look at his sick hoss, an' i went an' doctored him the best i know'd how, an' then started home ag'in. i had but one thought on my mind; gus had offered to pay me for my trouble sech as it was, an' i was tryin' for to figger out in my mind what in the name of goodness had come over gus. i come mighty nigh whirlin' roun' in my tracks, an' walkin' all the way back jest to see ef he didn't need a little physic. he was cold sober at the time, an' all of a sudden, when he seed that i had fetched his hoss through a mighty bad case of the mollygrubs, he says to me, 'mr. sanders,' says he, 'you've saved me a mighty fine hoss, an' i want to pay you for it. you've had mighty hard work; what is it all wuth?' 'gus,' says i, 'jest gi' me a drink of cold water for to keep me from faintin', an' we'll say no more about it.' "well, i didn't turn back, though i was much of a mind to. i mosied along wondering what had come over gus. i had got as fur on my way home as the big 'simmon tree--you-all know whar that is--when all of a sudden, i felt the wind a-risin'. it puffed in my face, an' felt warm, sorter like when the wind blows down the chimbley in the winter time. then i heard a purrin' sound, an' i looked up, an' right at me was a gang of white hosses an' riders. they was right on me before i seed 'em, an' i couldn't 'a' got out'n the'r way ef i'd 'a' had the wings of a hummin'-bird. so i jest ketched my breath, an' bowed my head, an' tried to say, 'now i lay me down to sleep.' i couldn't think of the rest, an' it wouldn't 'a' done no good nohow. i cast my eye aroun', findin' that i wasn't trompled, an' the whole caboodle was gone. i didn't feel nothin' but the wind they raised, as they went over me an' up into the elements. did you ever pass along by a pastur' at night, an' hear a cow fetch a long sigh? well, that's jest the kind of fuss they made as they passed out'n sight." this story made a striking climax to the performances that the negroes themselves had witnessed, and for a time they were subdued in their demeanour. they even betrayed a tendency to renew their old familiar relations with the whites. the situation was not without its pathetic side, and if mr. sanders professed to find it simply humourous, it was only because of the effort which men make--an effort that is only too successful--to hide the tenderer side of their natures. but the episode of the white riders soon became a piece of history; the alarm that it had engendered grew cold; and hotchkiss, aided by bridalbin, who called himself boring, soon had the breach between the two races wider than ever. chapter twenty _gabriel at the big poplar_ late one afternoon, at a date when the tension between the two races was at its worst, gabriel chanced to be sitting under the great poplar which was for years, and no doubt is yet, one of the natural curiosities of shady dale, on account of its size and height. he had been reading, but the light had grown dim as the sun dipped behind the hills, and he now sat with his eyes closed. his seat at the foot of the tree was not far from the public highway, though that fact did not add to its attractions from gabriel's point of view. he preferred the seat for sentimental reasons. he had played there when a little lad, and likewise nan had played there; and they had both played there together. the old poplar was hollow, and on one side the bark and a part of the trunk had sloughed away. here gabriel and nan had played housekeeping, many and many a day before the girl had grown tired of her dolls. the hollow formed a comfortable playhouse, and the youngsters, in addition to housekeeping, had enjoyed little make-believe parties and picnics there. as gabriel sat leaning against the old poplar, his back to the road and his eyes closed, he heard the sound of men's voices. the conversation was evidently between country folk who had been spending a part of the day in town. turning his head, gabriel saw that there were three persons, one riding and two walking. directly opposite the tree where gabriel sat, they met an acquaintance who was apparently making a belated visit to town. "hello, boys!" said the belated one by way of salutation. "i 'low'd i'd find you in town, an' have company on my way home." "what's the matter, sam?" asked one of the others. "this ain't no time of day to be gwine away from home." "well, i'm jest obliged to git some ammunition," replied sam. "i've been off to mill mighty nigh all day, an' this evenin', about four o'clock, whilst my wife was out in the yard, a big buck nigger stopped at the gate, an' looked at her. she took no notice of him one way or another, an' presently, he ups an' says, 'hello, sissy! can't you tell a feller howdy?'" "_he did?_" cried the others. gabriel could hear their gasps of astonishment and indignation from where he sat. "he said them very words," replied sam; "'hello, sissy! can't you tell a feller howdy?'" "did you leave anybody at home?" inquired one of the others. "you bet your sweet life!" replied sam in the slang of the day. "johnny bivins is there, an' he ain't no slouch, johnny ain't. i says to molly, says i, 'johnny will camp here till i can run to town, an' git me some powder an' buckshot.'" "we have some," one of the others suggested. "better let 'im go on an' git it," said another; "we can't have too much in our neck of the woods when things look like they do now. we'll wait for you, sam, if you'll hurry up." "good as wheat!" responded sam, who went rapidly toward town. "i tell you what, boys, we didn't make up our minds about this business a single minute too soon," remarked one of the three who were waiting for the return of their neighbour. "somethin's got to be done, an' the sooner it's done, the sooner it'll be over with." "you're talkin' now with both hands and tongue!" declared one of the others, in a tone of admiration. "you'll see," remarked the one who had proposed to wait, "that sam is jest as ripe as we are. we know what we know, an' sam knows what he knows. i don't know as i blame the niggers much. look at it from their side of the fence. they see these d--d white hellians goin' roun', snortin' an' preachin' ag'in the whites, an' they see us settin' down, hands folded and eyes shet, and they jest natchally think we're whipped and cowed. can you blame 'em? i hate 'em all right enough, but i don't blame 'em." gabriel knew that the man who was speaking was george rivers, a small farmer living a short distance in the country. his companions were tom alford and britt hanson, and the man who had gone to town for the ammunition was sam hathaway. "are you right certain an' shore that this man hotchkiss is stayin' wi' mahlon butts?" george rivers inquired. "he lopes out from there every mornin'," replied tom alford. "mahlon allers was the biggest skunk in the woods," remarked hanson. "he's runnin' for ordinary. i happened to hear him talkin' to a lot of niggers t'other day, and i went up and cussed him out. i wanted the niggers to see how chicken-hearted he is. well, sirs, he never turned a feather. i never seed a more lamblike man in my life. i started to spit in his face, and then i happened to think about his wife. yes, sirs, it seemed to me for about the space of a second or two that i was lookin' right spang in becky's big eyes, an' i couldn't 'a' said a word or done a thing to save my life. i jest whirled in my tracks and went on about my business. you-all know becky butts--well, there's a woman that comes mighty nigh bein' a saint. why she married sech a rapscallion as mahlon, i'll never tell you, an' i don't believe she knows herself. but she's all that's saved mahlon." "that's the lord's truth," responded tom alford. "why, when he first j'ined the stinkin' radicals," continued britt hanson, "a passel of the boys, me among 'em, laid off to pay him a party call, an' string him up. well, the very day we'd fixed on, here comes becky over to my house; an' she fetched the baby, too. i knowed, time i laid eyes on her, that she had done got wind of what we was up to. says she to me, 'britt, i hear it whispered around that you are fixin' up to do me next to the worst harm a man can do to a woman.' 'why, becky,' says i, 'i wouldn't harm you for the world, and i wouldn't let anybody else do it.' 'oh, yes, you would, britt,' says she. she laughed as she said it, but when i looked in her big eyes, i could see trouble and pain in 'em. i says to her, says i, 'what put that idee in your head, becky?' and says she, 'no matter how it got there, britt, so long as it's there. you're fixin' up to hurt me an' my baby.' "well, sirs, you can see where she had me. i says, says i, 'becky, what's to hender you from takin' supper here to-night?' this kinder took her by surprise. she says, 'i'd like it the best in the world, britt; but don't you think i'd better be at home--to-night?' 'no,' says i, 'a passel of the boys'll be here d'reckly after supper, and i reckon maybe they'd like to see you. you know yourself that they're all mighty fond of you, becky,' says i. she sorter studied awhile, an' then she says, 'i'll tell you what i'll do, britt--i'll come over after supper an' set awhile.' 'you ain't afeard to come?' says i. 'no, britt,' says she; 'i ain't afeard of nothin' in this world except my friends.' she was laughin', but they ain't much diff'ence betwixt that kind of laughin' an' cryin'. "about that time, mother come in. says she, 'an' be shore an' fetch the baby, becky.' the minnit mother said that, i know'd that she was the one that told becky what we had laid off to do. you-all know what happened after that." "we do that away," said george rivers. "when i walked in on you, and seen becky an' the baby, i know'd purty well that the jig was up, but i thought i'd set it out and see what'd happen." "i never seen a baby do like that'n done that night," remarked tom alford. "it laughed an' it crowed, an' helt out its han's to go to ever' blessed feller in the crowd; an' becky looked like she was the happiest creetur in the world. i was the fust feller to cave, an' i didn't feel a bit sheepish about it, neither. i rose, i did, an' says, 'well, boys, it's about my bedtime, an' i reckon i'll toddle along,' an' so i handed the baby to the next feller, an' mosied off home." "you did," said britt hanson, "an' by the time the boys got through passin' the baby to the next feller, there wan't any feller left but me. an' then the funniest thing happened that you ever seed. you know how becky was gwine on, laughin' an' talkin'. well, the last man hadn't hardly shet the door behind him, when becky flopped down and put her head in mother's lap, and cried like a baby. i'm mighty glad i ain't married," britt hanson went on. "there ain't a man in the world that knows a woman's mind. why, becky was runnin' on and laughin' jest like a gal at picnic up to the minnit the last man slammed the door, and then, down she went and began to boohoo. now, what do you think of that?" "i know one thing," remarked george rivers--"the meaner a man is, the quicker he gits the pick of the flock. the biggest fool in the world allers gits the best or the purtiest gal." then there was a pause, as if the men were listening. "well," said tom alford, after awhile, "we ain't after the gals now. that hotchkiss feller goes out to mahlon's by fust one road and then the other. you know where ike varner lives; well, ike's wife is a mighty good-lookin' yaller gal, an' when hotchkiss knows that ike ain't at home, he goes by that road. i got all that from a nigger that works for me. if ike ain't at home, he goes in for a drink of water, an' then he tells the yaller gal how to convert ike into bein' a radical--ike, you know, don't flock with that crowd. that's what the gal tells my nigger. well, i put a flea in ike's ear t'other day, an' night before last, ike comes to me to borry my pistol. you know that short, single-barrel shebang? well, i loant it to him on the express understandin' that he wasn't to shoot any spring doves nor wild pea-fowls." the men laughed, and then sat or stood silent, each occupied with his own reflections, until sam hathaway returned. whereupon, they moved on, one of them singing, in a surprisingly sweet tenor, the ballad of "nelly gray." it was now dark, and ordinarily, gabriel would have gone to supper. but, instead of doing that, he went on toward town, and met hotchkiss and boring on the outskirts. they were engaged in a close discussion when gabriel met them. it would have been a great deal better for him and his friends if he had passed on without a word; but gabriel was gabriel, and he was compelled to act according to gabriel's nature. so, without hesitation, he walked up to the two men. "is this mr. hotchkiss?" he inquired. "that is my name," replied hotchkiss in his smoothest tone. "are you going out to butts's to-night?" "now, that is a queer question," remarked hotchkiss, after a pause--"a very queer question. what is your name?" "tolliver--gabriel tolliver." "gabriel tolliver--h'm--yes. well, mr. tolliver, why are you so desirous of knowing whether i go to butts's to-night?" "honestly," replied gabriel, a little nettled at the man's airs, "i don't want to know at all. i simply wanted to advise you not to go there to-night." "oh, you wanted to _advise_ me not to go. now, then, let's go a little further into the matter. _why_ do you want to advise me?" hotchkiss was a man who was not only ripe for a discussion at all times, and upon any subject, but made it a point to emphasise all the most trifling details. "have you any special interest in my welfare?" "i think not," replied gabriel, bluntly. "i simply wanted to drop you a hint. you can take it or not, just as you choose." with that, he turned on his heel, and went home to supper, little dreaming that his kindness of heart, and his sincere efforts to do a stranger a favour would involve him in a tangled web of circumstances, from which he would find it almost impossible to escape. gabriel heard hotchkiss laugh, but he did not hear the remark that followed. "why, even the children and the young men think i am a coward. they have the idea that courage exists nowhere but among themselves. it is the most peculiar mental delusion i ever heard, and it persists in the face of facts. the probability is that the young man who has just delivered this awful warning has laid a wager with some of his companions that he can fill me full of fright and prevent my going to butts's." "now, i don't think that," replied boring, or bridalbin. "i know these people to the core. i had their ideas and thought their thoughts until i found that sentiment doesn't pay. that young man has probably heard some threat made against you, and he thinks he is doing the chivalrous thing to give you a warning. chivalry! why, i reckon that word has done more harm to this section, first and last, than the war itself." "or, more probable still," suggested hotchkiss, his voice as smooth and as flexible as a snake, "he was simply trying to find out whether i propose to go to butts's to-night. if i had some one to keep an eye on him, we might be able to procure some important information, disclosing a conspiracy against the officers of the government. a few arrests in this neighbourhood might have a wholesome and subduing effect." "don't you believe it," said bridalbin. "i know these people a great deal better than you do." "i know them a great deal better than i care to," remarked hotchkiss drily. "i have not a doubt that this young tolliver was one of that marauding band of conspirators that surrounded the church recently, and endeavoured to intimidate our coloured fellow-citizens. nor do i doubt that these same conspirators will make an effort to frighten me. i have no doubt that they will make a strong effort to run me away. but they can't do it, my friend. i feel that i have a mission here, and here i propose to stay until there is no work for me to do." "well, i can keep an eye on tolliver if you think it best," bridalbin suggested somewhat doubtfully. "i know where he lives." "do that, boring," exclaimed hotchkiss with grateful enthusiasm. "come to the lodge about nine or half-past, and report." the "lodge" was the new name for the old school-house, and in that direction hotchkiss turned his steps. chapter twenty-one _bridalbin follows gabriel_ boring, or bridalbin--no one ever discovered why he changed his name, for he changed neither his nature nor his associations--followed along after gabriel, and was in time to see him enter the door and close it behind him. the lumsden place was somewhat in the open, but the trees, where bridalbin took up his position of watcher, made such dense and heavy shadows that it was almost impossible to distinguish objects more than a few feet away. in these heavy shadows bridalbin stood while gabriel was supposed to be eating his supper. a dog trotting along the walk shied and growled when he saw the motionless figure, but after that, there was a long period of silence, which was finally broken by voices on a veranda not far away. the owners of the voices had evidently come out for a breath of fresh air, and were carrying on a conversation which had begun inside. bridalbin could see neither the house nor the occupants of the veranda, but he could hear every word that was said. one of the voices was soft and clear, while the other was hard, almost harsh, yet it was the voice of a woman. if bridalbin had been at all familiar with shady dale, he would have known that one of the speakers was madame awtry and the other miss puella gillum. "it was only a few weeks ago that they told the poor child about her father," said miss puella. "neighbour tomlin couldn't muster up the courage to do it, and so it became fanny's duty. i know it nearly broke her heart." "why did they tell her at all? why did they think it was necessary?" inquired madame awtry. her voice had in it the quality that attracts attention and compels obedience. "well, you know margaret is of age now, and neighbour tomlin, who is made up of heart and conscience, felt that it would be wrong to keep her in ignorance, but he couldn't make up his mind to be the bearer of bad news; so it fell to fanny's lot. but it seems that margaret already knew, and on that occasion fanny had to do all the crying that was done. margaret had known it all along, and had only feigned ignorance in order not to worry her mother. 'i have known it from the first,' she said. 'please don't tell nan.' but nan had known it all along, and fanny told margaret so. it is a pity about her father. if he was what he should be, he'd be very proud of margaret." "his name was bridlebin, or something of that kind, was it not?" madame awtry asked. "something like that," replied miss puella. "the world is full of trouble," she said after awhile, and her voice was as gentle as the cooing of a dove--"so very full of trouble. i sometimes think that we should have as much pity for those who are the cause of it as for those who are the victims." alas! miss puella was thinking of waldron awtry, whose stormy spirit had passed away. "that is the christian spirit, certainly," said waldron's mother, in her firm, clear tones. "let those live up to it who can!" "the girl is in good hands," remarked miss puella, after a pause, "and she should be happy. neighbour tomlin and fanny fairly worship her." "yes, she's in good hands," responded madame awtry, "yet when she comes here, which she is kind enough to do sometimes, it seems to me that i can see trouble in her eyes. it is hard to describe, but it's such an expression as you or i would have if we were dependent, and something was wrong or going wrong with those on whom we depended. but it may be merely my imagination." "it certainly must be," miss puella declared, "for there is nothing wrong or going wrong with neighbour tomlin and fanny." at this point the conversation ceased, and the two women sat silent, each occupied with her own thoughts. miss puella wondered that madame awtry could even imagine trouble at the tomlin place, while the madame was smiling grimly to herself, and pitying miss puella because she could not perceive what the trouble really was. "what a world it is! what a world!" madame awtry said to herself with a sigh. and bridalbin stood wondering at the freak of chance or circumstance that had enabled him to hear two persons unknown to him discussing the dependence of his daughter. "dependent" was the word that grated on his ear. he never thought of providence--how few of us do!--he never dreamed that his presence at that particular place at that particular moment was to be the means of providing a sure remedy for the most serious trouble, short of bereavement, that his daughter would ever be called on to face. bridalbin walked slowly in the direction of the lumsden place, which having fewer trees around it could be dimly seen in the starlight. before he emerged from the denser shadows he heard the door open and close, and then gabriel came down the steps whistling, and was soon in the thoroughfare. but, instead of going toward town, he turned and went toward the fields. following the road for a hundred yards or more he soon came to the bars, which formed a sort of gateway to the rich pastures of bermuda, and, vaulting lightly over these, he was soon lost to view, though the stars were shining as brightly as they could. he was making his way toward his favourite bermuda hill. now, bridalbin knew enough about the topography of shady dale to know that the path or roadway, leading from the bars across the bermuda fields, was a short cut to one of the highways that led from town past the door of mahlon butts. he paused a moment, and then, more sedate than gabriel, climbed the bars and followed the path across the field. he walked rapidly, for he was anxious to discover what course gabriel had taken. he crossed the fields and saw no one; he reached the highway, and followed it for a quarter of a mile or more, but he could see no sign of gabriel. and for a very good reason. that young man had followed the field-path only a short distance. he had turned sharply, to the right, making for the bermuda hill, where, with no fear of the dewy dampness to disturb him, he flung himself at full length on the velvety grass, and gulped down great draughts of the cool, sweet air. he heard the sound of bridalbin's footsteps, as that worthy went rapidly along the path, and he had a boy's mischievous impulse to hail the passer-by. but he was so fond of the hill, and so jealous of his possession of the silence, the night, and the remote stars, that he suppressed the impulse, and bridalbin went on his way, firm in the belief that gabriel had crossed the field to the public highway, and was now going in the direction of mahlon butts's home. he believed it, and continued to believe it to his dying day, though the only evidence he had was the hint conveyed in the surmises of hotchkiss. bridalbin finally abandoned his wild-goose chase, and returned to the neighbourhood of gabriel's home, where he waited and watched until his engagement with hotchkiss compelled him to abandon his post. the business of the union league was not very pressing that night, or it had been dispatched with unusual celerity, for when bridalbin reached the old school-house, the rev. jeremiah, who had taken upon himself the duties of janitor, was in the act of closing the doors. "i been waitin' fer you, mr. borin'," said the rev. jeremiah, after he had responded to bridalbin's salutation. "de honerbul mr. hotchkiss tol' me ter tell you, in case i seed you, dat he gwine on home; an' he say p'intedly dat dey's no need fer ter worry 'bout him, kaze eve'ything's all right. ez he gun it ter me, so i gin it ter you. you oughter been here ter-night. me an' mr. hotchkiss took an' put all de business thoo 'fo' you kin bat yo' eye; yes, suh, we did fer a fack." "i'm very sorry he didn't wait for me," said bridalbin. as for gabriel, he lay out on the bermuda hill, contemplating himself and the rest of the world. the stars rode overhead, all moving together like some vast fleet of far-off ships. in the northwest, while gabriel was watching, a huge star seemed to break away from its companions and rush hurtling toward the west, leaving a trail of white vapour behind it. the illumination was but momentary. the night was quick to snuff out all lights but its own. whatever might be taking place on the other side of the world, night had possession here, and proposed to maintain it as long as possible. a bird might scream when brother fox seized it; a mouse might squeak when cousin screech-owl swooped down on noiseless wing and seized it; uncle wind might rustle the green grass in search of brother dust: nevertheless, the order of the hour was silence, and night was prompt to enforce it. it is a fine night, gabriel thought--and the silence might have answered, "yes, a fine night and a fateful." it was a night that was to leave its mark on many lives. at supper, gabriel's grandmother had informed him that three of his friends had come by to invite him to accompany them to a country dance on the further side of murder creek--a dance following a neighbouring barbecue. these friends, his grandmother said, were francis bethune, paul tomlin, and jesse tidwell. they had searched the town over for gabriel, and were disappointed at not finding him at home. "where do you hide yourself, gabriel?" his grandmother had asked him. "and why do you hide? this is not the first time by a dozen that your friends have been unable to find you." gabriel shook his curly head and laughed. "let me see, grandmother: directly after dinner, i said my latin and greek lessons to mr. clopton. bethune was upstairs in his own room, for i heard him singing. after that, i went into the library, and read for an hour or more. then i selected a book and went over the hill to the big poplar--you know where it is--and there i stayed until dark." "it is all very well to read and study, gabriel, and i am sure i am glad to know that you are doing both," said his grandmother, with a smile, "but you must remember that there are social obligations which cannot be ignored. you will have to go out into the world after awhile, and you should begin to get in the habit of it now. you should not avoid your friends. i don't mean, of course, that you should run after them, or fling yourself at their heads; i wouldn't have you do that for the world; but you shouldn't make a hermit of yourself. to be popular, you should mix and mingle freely with your equals. i know how it was in my day. i was not fond of society myself, but my mother always insisted that i should sacrifice my own inclinations for the pleasure of others, and in this way earn the only kind of popularity that is really gratifying. and i really believe i was the most popular of all the girls." the dear old lady tossed her head triumphantly. "that's what mr. clopton says," remarked gabriel; "but you know, grandmother, your time was different from our time"--oh, these youngsters who persist in reminding us of our fogyism--"and you were a girl in those days, while i am a boy in these. i am lazy, i know; i can loaf with a book all day long; but for the life of me, i can't do as bethune does. he doesn't read, and he doesn't study; he just dawdles around, and calls on the girls, and talks with them by the hour. he used to be in love with nan (so mr. sanders says) and now he's in love with margaret bridalbin; he's just crazy about her. now, i'm not in love with anybody"--"oh, gabriel!" protested a still, small voice in his bosom--"and if i were, i wouldn't dawdle around, and whittle on dry-goods boxes, and go and sit for hours at a time with sally, and susy, and bessy, and molly." decidedly, gabriel was coming out; here he was with strong views of his own. his grandmother laughed aloud at this, saying, "you are very much like your grandfather, gabriel. he was a very serious and masterful man. he detested small-talk and tittle-tattle, and i was the only girl he ever went with. but francis bethune is very foolish not to stick to nan; she is such a delightful girl. it would be very unfortunate indeed if those two were not to marry." if the dear old lady had not been so loyal to her sex, she would have told gabriel that nan had visited her that very day, and had asked a thousand and one questions about her old-time comrade. indeed, nan, with that delightful spirit of unconventionality that became her so well, had made bold to rummage through gabriel's books and papers. she found one sheet on which he had evidently begun a letter. it started out well, and then stopped suddenly: "dear nan: i hardly know----" then the attempt was abandoned in despair, and on the lower part of the sheet was scrawled: "dearest nan: i hardly know, in fact i don't know, and you'll never know till gabriel blows his horn." this sheet the fair forager promptly appropriated, saying to herself "boys are such funny creatures." the conversation between gabriel and his grandmother, as has been said, took place while they were eating their supper. the youngster was not sorry that he was absent when his friends called for him. it was a long ride to the samples plantation, where the dance was to be, and a long, long ride back home, when the fiddles were in their bags, the dancers fagged out, and the fun and excitement all over and done with. the bermuda hill was good enough for gabriel, unless he could arrange his own dances, and have one partner--just one--from early candle-light till the grey dawn of morning. it was late when gabriel returned from the bermuda hill, later than he thought, for he had completely lost himself in the solemn imaginings that overtake and overwhelm a young man who is just waking up to the serious side of existence, and on whose mind are beginning to dawn the possibilities and responsibilities of manhood. ah, these young men! how lovable they are when they are true to themselves--when they try boldly to live up to their own ideals! once in his room, gabriel looked about for the book he had been reading during the afternoon. it was his habit to read a quarter of an hour at least--sometimes longer--before going to bed. but the book was not to be found. this was surprising until he remembered that he had not entered his bed-room since the dinner-hour; and then it suddenly dawned on his mind that he had left the book at the foot of the big poplar. well! that was a pretty come-off for a young man who was inclined to be proud of his careful and systematic methods. and the book was a borrowed one, and very valuable--one of the early editions of franklin's autobiography, bound in leather. what would meriwether clopton think, if, through gabriel's carelessness, the dampness and the dew had injured the volume, which, after horace and virgil, was one of mr. clopton's favourites? there was but one thing to be done, and that gabriel was prompt to do. he went softly downstairs, so as not to disturb his grandmother, and made his way to the big poplar, where he was fortunate enough to find the book. thanks to the sheltering arms of the tree, and the leaf-covered ground, the volume had sustained no damage. as gabriel recovered the book, and while he was examining it, he heard a chorus of whistlers coming along the road. mingled with the whistling chorus were the various sounds made by a waggon drawn by horses. gabriel judged that the waggon contained the young men who had been to the dance at the samples plantation, and in this his judgment turned out to be correct. the young men were in a double-seated spring waggon, drawn by two horses. they drew up in response to gabriel's holla, and he climbed into the waggon. "well, what in the name of the seven stars are you doing out here in the woods at this time of night?" cried jesse tidwell, and he laughed with humourous scorn when gabriel told him. "but the book belongs to bethune's grandfather," explained gabriel. "it might have been ruined by rain, or by the damp night-air, if left out until morning. if it had been my own book, perhaps i'd have trusted to luck." "you missed it to-night, tolliver," said francis bethune. "feel samples"--his name was felix--"was considerably put out because you didn't come. and the girls--tolliver, when did you get acquainted with them? they all know you. nelly kendrick tossed her head and turned up her nose, and said that a dance wasn't a dance unless mr. tolliver was present. tidwell, who was the red-headed girl that raved so about tolliver's curls?" "oh, yes!" exclaimed jesse tidwell, "that was amy rowland. if she wasn't the belle of the ball, i'll never want any more money in this world. it's no use for gabriel to blow his horn, when he has all the girls in that part of the country to blow it for him. my son, when and where did you come to know all these young ladies?" "why, i used to go out there to church with mr. sanders, and sometimes with mrs. absalom. there are some fine people in that settlement." "fine!" exclaimed jesse tidwell, with real enthusiasm; "why, split silk is as coarse as gunny-bagging by the side of those girls. i told 'em i was coming back. 'you must!' they declared, 'and be sure and bring mr. tolliver!'" young tidwell mimicked a girl's voice with such ridiculous completeness that his companions shouted with laughter. "there's another thing you missed, tolliver," he went on. "feel samples has a cow that gives apple-brandy, and old burrel bohannon, the one-legged fiddler, must have milked her dry, for along about half-past ten he kind of rolled his eyes, and fetched a gasp, and wobbled out of his chair, and lay on the floor just as if he was stone dead." in a short time the young men had reached the tavern, where the team and vehicle belonged. as they drew up in front of the door, jesse tidwell, continuing and completing his description of the condition of burrel bohannon, exclaimed: "yes, sir, he fell and lay there. he may have kicked a time or two, and i think he mumbled something, but he was as good as dead." bridalbin, restless and uneasy, had been wandering about the town, and he came up just in time to hear this last remark. at that moment, a negro issued from the tavern with a lantern, and bridalbin was not at all surprised to see gabriel tolliver with the rest; and he wondered what mischief the young men had been engaged in. some one had been badly hurt or killed. that much he could gather from tidwell's declaration; but who? he went to his lodging and to bed in a very uncomfortable frame of mind. chapter twenty-two _the fate of mr. hotchkiss_ mr. hotchkiss, after leaving the union league, had decided not to wait for his co-worker, whom he knew as boring. so far as he was concerned, he had no fears. he knew, of course, that he was playing with fire, but what of that? he had the government behind him, and he had two companies of troops within call. what more could any man ask? more than that, he was doing what he conceived to be his duty. he belonged to that large and pestiferous tribe of reformers, who go through the world without fixed principles. he had been an abolitionist, but he was not of the garrison type. on the contrary, he thought that garrison was a time-server and a laggard who needed to be spurred and driven. he was one of the men who urged john brown to stir up an insurrection in which innocent women and children would have been the chief sufferers; and he would have rejoiced sincerely if john brown had been successful. he mistook his opinions for first principles, and went on the theory that what he thought right could not by any possibility be wrong. he belonged to the peace society, and yet nothing would have pleased him better than an uprising of the blacks, followed by the shedding of innocent blood. in short, there were never two sides to any question that interested hotchkiss. he held the southern people responsible for american slavery, and would have refused to listen to any statement of facts calculated to upset his belief. he was narrow-minded, bigoted, and intensely in earnest. some writer, newman, perhaps, has said that a man will not become a martyr for the sake of an opinion; but newman probably never came in contact with the whipper-snappers of exeter hall, or their prototypes in this country--the men who believe that philanthropy, and reform, and progress generally are worthless unless it be accompanied by strife, and hate, and, if possible, by bloodshed. you find the type everywhere; it clings like a leech to the skirts of every great movement. the hotchkisses swarm wherever there is an opening for them, and they always present the same general aspect. they are as productive of isms as a fly is of maggots, and they live and die in the belief that they are promoting the progress of the world; but if their success is to be measured by their operations in the south during the reconstruction period, the world would be much better off without them. they succeeded in dedicating millions of human beings to misery and injustice, and warped the minds of the whites to such an extent that they thought it necessary to bring about peace and good order by means of various acute forms of injustice and lawlessness. mr. hotchkiss was absolutely sincere in believing that the generation of southern whites who were his contemporaries were personally responsible for slavery in this country, and for all the wrongs that he supposed had been the result of that institution. he felt it in every fibre of his cultivated but narrow mind, and he went about elated at the idea that he was able to contribute his mite of information to the negroes, and breed in their minds hatred of the people among whom they were compelled to live. if there had been a booker washington in that day, he would have been denounced by the hotchkisses as a traitor to his race, and an enemy of the government, just as they denounced and despised such negroes as uncle plato. hotchkiss went along the road in high spirits. he had delivered a blistering address to the negroes at the meeting of the league, and he was feeling happy. his work, he thought, was succeeding. before he delivered his address, he had initiated ike varner, who was by all odds the most notorious negro in all that region. ike was a poet in his way; if he had lived a few centuries earlier, he would have been called a minstrel. he could stand up before a crowd of white men, and spin out rhymes by the yard, embodying in this form of biography the weak points of every citizen. some of his rhymes were very apt, and there are men living to-day who can repeat some of the extemporaneous satires composed by this negro. he had the reputation among the blacks of being an uncompromising friend of the whites. in the town, he was a privileged character; he could do and say what he pleased. he was a fine cook, and provided possum suppers for those who sat up late at night, and ice-cream for those who went to bed early. he tidied up the rooms of the young bachelors, he sold chicken-pies and ginger-cakes on public days, and cephas, whose name was mentioned at the beginning of this chronicle, is willing to pay five dollars to the man or woman who can bake a ginger-cake that will taste as well as those that ike varner made. he was a happy-go-lucky negro, and spent his money as fast as he made it, not on himself, but on edie, his wife, who was young, and bright, and handsome. she was almost white, and her face reminded you somehow of the old paintings of the magdalene, with her large eyes and the melancholy droop of her mouth. edie was the one creature in the world that ike really cared for, and he had sense enough to know that she cared for him only when he could supply her with money. yet he watched her like a hawk, madly jealous of every glance she gave another man; and she gave many, in all directions. ike's jealousy was the talk of the town among the male population, and was the subject for many a jest at his expense. his nature was such that he could jest about it too, but far below the jests, as any one could see, there was desperation. in spite of all this, ike was the most popular negro in the town. his wit and his good-humour commended him to the whole community. he had moved his wife and his belongings into the country, two or three miles from town, on the ground that the country is more conducive to health. ike's white friends laughed at him, but the negro couldn't see the joke. why should a negro be laughed at for taking precautions of this sort, when there is a whole nation of whites that keeps its women hid, or compels them to cover their faces when they go out for a breath of fresh air? the fact is that ike didn't know what else to do, and so he sent his handsome wife into exile, and went along to keep her company. nevertheless, all his interests were within the corporate limits of shady dale, and he was compelled by circumstances to leave edie to pine alone, sometimes till late at night. whether edie pined or not, or whether she was lonely, is a question that this chronicler is not called on to discuss. now, the fact of ike's popularity with the whites had struck mr. hotchkiss as a very unfavourable sign, and he set himself to work to bring about a change. he sent some of the negro leaders to talk with ike, who sent them about their business in short order. then mr. hotchkiss took the case in hand, and called on ike at his house. the two had an argument over the matter, ike interspersing his remarks with random rhymes which hotchkiss thought very coarse and crude. at the conclusion of the argument, hotchkiss saw that the negro had been laughing at him all the way through, and he resented this attitude more than another would. he went away in a huff, resolved to leave the negro with his idols. this would have been very well, if the matter had stopped there, but edie put her finger in the pie. one day when ike was away, she called to hotchkiss as he was passing on his way to town, and invited him into the house. there was something about the man that had attracted the wild and untamed passions of the woman. he was not a very handsome man, but his refinement of manner and speech stood for something, and edie had resolved to cultivate his acquaintance. he went in, in response to her invitation, and found that she desired to ask his advice as to the best and easiest method of converting ike into a union leaguer. hotchkiss gave her such advice as he could in the most matter-of-fact way, and went on about his business. otherwise he paid no more attention to her than if she had been a sign in front of a cigar-store. edie was not accustomed to this sort of thing, and it puzzled her. she went to her looking-glass and studied her features, thinking that perhaps something was wrong. but her beauty had not even begun to fade. a melancholy tenderness shone in her lustrous eyes, her rosy lips curved archly, and the glow of the peach-bloom was in her cheeks. "i didn't know the man was a preacher," she said, laughing at herself in the glass. time and again she called mr. hotchkiss in as he went by, and on some occasions they held long consultations at the little gate in front of her door. ike was not at all blind to these things; if he had been, there was more than one friendly white man to call his attention to them. the negro was compelled to measure hotchkiss by the standard of the most of the white men he knew. he was well aware of edie's purposes, and he judged that hotchkiss would presently find them agreeable. ike listened to edie's arguments in behalf of the union league with a great deal of patience. prompted by hotchkiss, she urged that membership in that body would give him an opportunity to serve his race politically; he might be able to go to the legislature, and, in that event, edie could go to atlanta with him, where (she said to herself) she would be able to cut a considerable shine. moreover, membership in the league, with his aptitude for making a speech, would give him standing among the negro leaders all over the state. ike argued a little, but not much, considering his feelings. he pointed out that all his customers, the people who ate his cakes and his cream, and so forth and so on, were white, and felt strongly about the situation. should they cease their patronage, what would he and edie do for victuals to eat and clothes to wear? "oh, we'll git along somehow; don't you fret about that," said edie with a toss of her head. "maybe you will, but not me," replied ike. at last, however, he had consented to join the league, and appeared to be very enthusiastic over the matter. as mr. hotchkiss went along home that night--the night on which the young men had gone to the country dance--he was feeling quite exultant over ike's conversion, and the enthusiasm he had displayed over the proceedings. after he had decided to go home rather than wait for bridalbin, he hunted about in the crowd for ike, but the negro was not to be found. as their roads lay in the same direction hotchkiss would have been glad of the negro's company along the way, and he was somewhat disappointed when he was told that ike had started for home as soon as the meeting adjourned. mr. hotchkiss thereupon took the road and went on his way, walking a little more rapidly than usual, in the hope of overtaking ike. at last, however, he came to the conclusion that the negro had remained in town. he was sorry, for there was nothing he liked better than to drop gall and venom into the mind of a fairly intelligent negro. as for ike, he had his own plans. he had told edie that in all probability he wouldn't come home that night, and advised her to get a nearby negro woman to stay all night with her. this edie promised to do. when the league adjourned, ike lost no time in taking to the road, and for fear some one might overtake him he went in a dog-trot for the first mile, and walked rapidly the rest of the way. before he came to the house, he stopped and pulled off his shoes, hiding them in a fence-corner. he then left the road, and slipped through the woods until he was close to the rear of the house. here his wariness was redoubled. he wormed himself along like a snake, and crept and crawled, until he was close enough to see edie sitting on the front step--there was but one--of their little cabin. he was close enough to see that she had on her sunday clothes, and he thought he could smell the faint odour of cologne; he had brought her a bottle home the night before. he lay concealed for some time, but finally he heard footsteps on the road, and he rose warily to a standing position. edie heard the footsteps too, for she rose and shook out her pink frock, and went to the gate. the lonely pedestrian came leisurely along the road, having no need for haste. when he found that it was impossible to overtake ike, mr. hotchkiss ceased to walk rapidly, and regulated his pace by the serenity of the hour and the deliberate movements of nature. the hour was rapidly approaching when solitude would be at its meridian on this side of the world, and a mocking-bird not far away was singing it in. mr. hotchkiss would have passed ike's gate without turning his head, but he heard a voice softly call his name. he paused, and looked around, and at the gate he saw the figure of edie. "is that you, mr. hotchkiss? what you do with ike?" "isn't he at home? he started before i did." "he ain't comin' home to-night, an' i was so lonesome that i had to set on the step here to keep myse'f company," said edie. "won't you come in an' rest? i know you must be tired; i got some cold water in here, fresh from the well." "no, i'll not stop," replied mr. hotchkiss. "it is late, and i must be up early in the morning." "well, tell me 'bout ike," said edie. "you got 'im in the league all right, i hope?" she came out of the gate, as she said this, and moved nearer to hotchkiss. in her hand she held a flower of some kind, and with this she toyed in a shamefaced sort of way. "mr. varner is now a member in good standing," replied hotchkiss, "and i think he will do good work for his race and for the party." edie moved a step or two nearer to him, toying with her flower. now, mr. hotchkiss was a genuine reformer of the most approved type, and, as such, he was entitled to as many personal and private fads as he chose to have. he was a vegetarian, holding to the theory that meat is a poison, though he was not averse to pie for breakfast. his pet aversion, leaving alcohol out of the question, was all forms of commercial perfumes. as edie came close to him, he caught a whiff of her cologne-scented clothes, and his anger rose. "why will you ladies," he said, "persist in putting that sort of stuff on you?" "i dunner what you mean," replied edie, edging still closer to hotchkiss. "why that infernal----" he never finished the sentence. a pistol-shot rang out, and hotchkiss fell like a log. edie, fearing a similar fate for herself, ran screaming down the road, and never paused until she had reached the dwelling of mahlon butts. she fell in the door when it was opened and lay on the floor, moaning and groaning. when she could be persuaded to talk, her voice could have been heard a mile. "they've killt him!" she screamed; "they've killt him! an' he was sech a good man! oh, he was sech a good man!" chapter twenty-three _mr. sanders searches for evidence_ the news of the shooting of hotchkiss spread like wildfire, and startled the community, giving rise to various emotions. it created consternation among the negroes, who ran to and fro, and hither and yonder, like wild creatures. many of the whites, especially the thoughtless and the irresponsible, contemplated the tragedy with a certain degree of satisfaction, feeling that a very dangerous man had been providentially removed. on the other hand, the older and more conservative citizens deplored it, knowing well that it would involve the whole community in trouble, and give it a conspicuous place in the annals which radical rage was daily preparing, in order still further to inflame the public mind of the north. bridalbin promptly disappeared from shady dale, but returned in a few days, accompanied by a squad of soldiers. it was the opinion of the community, when these fresh troops made their appearance, that they were to be added to the detachment stationed in the town; but this proved to be a mistake. two nights after their arrival, when the officer in charge, who was a member of the military commander's staff, had investigated the killing, he gave orders for the arrest of gabriel tolliver, francis bethune, paul tomlin, and jesse tidwell. the arrests were made at night, and so quietly that when the town awoke to the facts, and was ready to display its rage at such a high-handed proceeding, the soldiers and their prisoners were well on their way to malvern. the people felt that something must be done, but what? one by one the citizens instinctively assembled at the court-house. no call was issued; the meeting was not preconcerted; there was no common understanding; but all felt that there must be a conference, a consultation, and there was no place more convenient than the old court-house, where for long years justice had been simply and honestly administered. it was, indeed, a trying hour. meriwether clopton and his daughter sarah were the first to make their appearance at the court-house, and it was perhaps owing to their initiative that a large part of the community shortly assembled there. at first, there was some talk of a rescue, and this would have been feasible, no doubt; but while lawyer tidwell was violently advocating this course, mr. sanders mounted the judge's bench, and rapped loudly for order. when this had been secured, he moved that meriwether clopton be called to the chair. the motion had as many seconds as there were men in the room, for the son of the first settler was as well-beloved and as influential as his father had been. "my friends," he said, after thanking the meeting for the honour conferred upon him, "i feel as if we were all in the midst of a dream, and therefore i am at a loss what to say to you. as it is all very real, and far removed from the regions of dreams, the best that i can do is to counsel moderation and calmness. the blow that has fallen on a few of us strikes at all, for what has happened to some of our young men may easily happen to the rest, especially if we meet this usurpation of civil justice with measures that are violent and retaliatory. we can only hope that the hand that has led us into the sea of troubles by which we have been overwhelmed of late will lead us safely out again. for myself, i am fully persuaded that what now seems to be a calamity will, in some shape or other, make us all stronger and better. i am an old man, and this has been my experience. you need have no fears for the welfare of the young men. they may be deprived for a time of the comforts to which they are accustomed, but their safety is assured. they will probably be tried before a military court, but if there is a spark of justice in such a tribunal, our young men will shortly be restored to us. we all know that these lads never dreamed of assassination, and this is what the killing of this unfortunate man amounts to. we have met here to-day, not to discuss measures of vengeance and retaliation, but to consult together as to the best means of securing evidence of the innocence of the young men. speaking for myself, i think it would be well to place the whole matter in the hands of mr. sanders, leaving him to act as he thinks best." this was agreed to by the meeting, more than one of the audience declaring loudly that mr. sanders was the very man for the occasion. by unanimous agreement it was decided that one of the most distinguished lawyers in the state should be retained to defend the young men and that he should be authorised to employ such assistant counsel as he might deem necessary. it was the personality of meriwether clopton, rather than his remarks, that soothed and subdued the crowd which had assembled at the court-house. he was serenity itself; his attitude breathed hope and courage; and in the tones of his voice, in his very gestures, there was a certainty that the young men would not be made the victims of political necessity. in his own mind, however, he was not at all sure that the radical leaders at washington would not be driven by their outrageous rancour to do the worst that could be done. as may be supposed, mr. sanders did not allow the grass to grow under his feet. he was the first to leave the court-room, but he was followed and overtaken by silas tomlin. "be jigged, silas, ef you don't look like you've seed a ghost!" exclaimed mr. sanders, whose good-humour had been restored by the prospect of prompt action. "worse than that, sanders; paul has been carried off. if you'll fetch him back, you may show me an army of ghosts. but i wanted to see you, sanders, about this business. you'll need money, and if you can't get it anywhere else, come to me; i'll take it as a favour." mr. sanders frowned and pursed his lips as if he were about to whistle. "you mean, silas, that if i need money, and can't beg, nor borry, nor steal it, maybe you'll loan me a handful of shinplasters. why, man, i wouldn't give you the wroppin's of my little finger for all the money you eber seed or saved. do you think that i'm tryin' to make money?" "but there'll be expenses, william, and money's none too plentiful among our people." silas spoke in a pleading tone, and his lips were trembling from grief or excitement. noticing this, mr. sanders relented a little in his attitude toward the man. "well, silas, when i reely need money, i'll call on you. but don't lose any sleep on account of that promise, for it'll be many a long day before i call on you." with that, mr. sanders mounted his horse--known far and wide as the racking roan--and was soon out of sight. his destination was the residence of mahlon butts, and in no long time his horse had covered the distance. although the murder of hotchkiss was more than a week old, a considerable number of negroes were lounging about the premises of judge butts--he had once been a justice of the peace--and in the road near by, drawn to the spot by that curious fascination which murder or death exerts on the ignorant. they moved about with something like awe, talking in low tones or in whispers. mr. sanders tied his horse to a swinging limb and went in. he was met at the door by mahlon himself. "why, come in, william; come in an' make yourself welcome. you uv heard of the trouble, i make no doubt, or you wouldn't be here. it's turrible, william, turrible, for a man to be overcome in this off-hand way, wi' no time for to say his pra's or even so much as to be sorry for his misdeeds." judge butts's dignity was of the heavy and oppressive kind. his enunciation was slow and deliberate, and he had a way of looking over his spectacles, and nodding his head to give emphasis to his words. this dignity, which was fortified in ignorance, had received a considerable reinforcement from the fact that he was a candidate for a county office on the republican ticket. before mr. sanders could make any reply to mahlon's opening remark, mrs. becky butts came into the room. she was not in a very good humour, and, at first, she failed to see mr. sanders. "mahlon, if you don't go and run that gang of niggers off, i'll take the shot-gun to 'em. they've been hanging around--why, howdye, mr. sanders? i certainly am glad to see you. i hope you'll stay to dinner; it looks like old times to see you in the house." there was something about mrs. becky butts that was eminently satisfying to the eye. she was younger than her husband, who, at fifty, appeared to be an old man. her sympathies were so keen and persistent that they played boldly in her face, running about over her features as the sunshine ripples on a pond of clear water. "set down, becky," said mr. sanders, after he had responded to her salutation. "i've come to find out about the killing of that feller hotchkiss." "you may well call it killin', william, bekaze friend hotchkiss was stone dead a few hours arter the fatal shot was fired," declared judge butts. "where was the killin' done?" inquired mr. sanders. he addressed himself to mrs. butts, but mahlon made reply. "we found him, william, right spang in front of ike varner's cabin--right thar, an' nowhar else. he war doin' his level best for to git on his feet, an' he tried to talk, but not more than two or three words did he say." "well, what did he say?" inquired mr. sanders. "it was the same thing ever' time--'why, tolliver, tolliver'--them was his very words." "are you right certain about that, mahlon?" asked mr. sanders. "as certain an' shore, william, as i am that i'm settin' here. ef he said it once, he said it a dozen times." "i reckon maybe he had been talking with young tolliver before he came from town," remarked mrs. butts, noting mr. sanders's serious countenance. "whar was he wounded, becky?" asked mr. sanders. "between the left ear and the temple." "becky's right, william," was the solemn comment of mahlon. "yes, sir, he was hit betwixt the year an' the temple." "did you have a doctor?" "we sent for one, but if he come, we never saw him," mrs. butts replied. "would you uv believed it, william? an' yit it's the plain truth," said mahlon. "what time was hotchkiss killed?" "'bout half-past ten; maybe a little sooner." this was all the information mr. sanders could get, and it was a great deal more than he wanted in one particular. he knew that gabriel tolliver was innocent of the killing; but the fact that his name was called by the dying man was almost as damaging as an ante-mortem accusation would have been. mr. sanders rode to ike varner's cabin, a few hundred yards away. tying his horse to the fence on the opposite side of the road, he entered the house without ceremony. "who is that? la! mr. sanders, you sho did skeer me," exclaimed edie. "why, when did you come? i would as soon have spected to see a ghost!" "you'll see 'em here before you're much older," replied mr. sanders, grimly. "they ain't fur off. wher's ike?" "la! ef you know anything about ike you know more than i does. i ain't laid eyes on that nigger man, not sence----" she paused, and looked at mr. sanders with a smile. "not sence the night hotchkiss was killed," said mr. sanders, completing her sentence for her. "la, mr. sanders! how'd you know that? but it's the truth: i ain't never seen ike sence that night." "i know a heap more'n you think i do," mr. sanders remarked. "hotchkiss was talkin' to you at the gate thar when he was shot. what was he sayin'?" the woman was a bright mulatto, and, remembering her own designs and desires so far as hotchkiss was concerned, her face flushed and she turned her eyes away. "why, he wan't sayin' a word, hardly; i was doin' all the talkin'. i was settin' on the step there, an' i seen him passin', an' hollad at him. i ast him if he wouldn't have a drink of cold water, an' he said he would, an' i took it out to the gate, an' while i was talkin', they shot him. they certainly did." "did you ask ike about it?" mr. sanders inquired. "la! i ain't seen ike sence that night," exclaimed edie, flirting her apron with a coquettish air that was by no means unbecoming. "now, edie," said mr. sanders, with a frown to match the severity of his voice, "you know as well as i do, that when you heard the pistol go off, and saw what had happened, you run in the house an' flung your apern over your head." it was a wild guess, but it was close to the truth. "la, mr. sanders! you talk like you was watchin' me. 'twa'n't my apern, 'twas my han's. i didn't have on no apern that night; i had on my sunday frock." "an' you know jest as well as i do that ike come in here an' stood over you, an' said somethin' to you." "no, sir; he didn't stand over me; i was here"--she illustrated his position by her movements--"an' when ike come in, he stood over there." "what did he say?" "he said," replied edie, smiling to show her pretty teeth, "'if you want him, go out there an' git him.' yes, sir, he said that. la! i never heard of a nigger killin' a white man on _that_ account; did you, mr. sanders?" "i don't know as i ever did," replied mr. sanders, regarding her with an expression akin to pity. "but times has changed." "they certainly has," said edie. "i tell you what, mr. sanders, i don't b'live mr. hotchkiss was a man." she looked up at mr. sanders, as she made the remark. catching his eye, she exclaimed--"i don't; i declare i don't! i never will believe it." she gave a chirruping laugh, as she made the remark. it is to be doubted if, in the history of the world, a man ever had a higher compliment paid to his devotion and his singleness of purpose. as mr. sanders mounted his horse, edie watched him, and, as she stood with her arms extended, each hand grasping a side of the doorway, smiling and showing her white teeth, she presented a picture of wild and irresponsible beauty that an artist would have admired. finally, she turned away with a laugh, saying, "i declare that mr. sanders is a sight!" in due time the racking roan carried mr. sanders across murder creek to the plantation of felix samples, where the news of the arrest of the young men occasioned both grief and indignation. they had arrived at the dance about nine o'clock, and had started home between eleven and twelve. gabriel, mr. samples said, was not one of the party. indeed, he remembered very well that when some of the young people asked for gabriel, francis bethune had said that the town had been searched for gabriel, and he was not to be found. evidently, there was no case against the three young men who had gone to the dance. they could prove an alibi by fifty persons. "be jigged ef i don't b'lieve gabriel is in for it," said mr. sanders to himself as he was going back to shady dale. "an' that's what comes of moonin' aroun' an' loafin' about in the woods wi' the wild creeturs." mr. sanders went straight to the lumsden place to consult with gabriel's grandmother. meriwether clopton and miss fanny tomlin were already there, each having called for the purpose of offering her such comfort and consolation as they could. this fine old gentlewoman had had the care of gabriel almost from the time he was born, for his birth left his mother an invalid, the victim of one of those mysterious complaints that sometimes seize on motherhood. it was well known in that community, whose members knew whatever was to be known about one another, that lucy lumsden's mind and heart were wholly centred on gabriel and his affairs. she was a frail, delicate woman, gentle in all her ways, and ever ready to efface herself, as it were, and give precedence to others. her manners were so fine that they seemed to cling to her as the perfume clings to the rose. so these old friends--meriwether clopton, and miss fanny tomlin--considered it to be their duty, as it was their pleasure, to call on lucy lumsden in her trouble. they expected to find her in a state of collapse, but they found her walking about the house, apparently as calm as a june morning. "good-morning, meriwether," she said pleasantly; "it is a treat indeed, and a rare one, to see you in this house. and here is fanny! i am glad to see you, my dear. it is very good of you to come to an old woman who is in trouble. i think we are all in trouble together. no, don't sit here, my dear; the library is cooler, and you must be warm. come into the library, meriwether." "upon my word, you look twenty years younger," said miss fanny tomlin. "do i, indeed? then trouble must be good for me. still, i don't appreciate it. i am an old woman, my dear, and all the years of my life i have had a contempt for those who fly into a rage, or lose their tempers. and now, look at me! never in all your days have you seen a woman in such a rage as i have felt all day and still feel!" "the idea!" exclaimed miss fanny. "why, you look as cool as a cucumber." "yes, the idea!" echoed mrs. lumsden. "if i had those miserable creatures in my power, do you know what i would do? do you know, meriwether?" "i can't imagine, lucy," he replied gently. he saw that the apparent calmness of gabriel's grandmother was simply the result of suppressed excitement. "well, i'll not tell you if you don't know." she seated herself, but rose immediately, and went to the window, where she stood looking out, and tapping gently on the pane with her fingers. she stood there only a short time. "you may imagine that i am nervous," she said, turning away from the window, "but i am not." she held out her hand to illustrate. it was frail, but firm. "no," she went on, "i am not nervous; i am simply furious. i know what you came for, my friends, and it is very kind of you; but it is useless. i love you both well, and i know what you would say. i have said such things to my friends, and thought i was performing a duty." "well, you know the old saying, lucy," said meriwether clopton. "misery loves company. we are all in the same boat, and it seems to be a leaky one. i have heard it said that a woman's wit is sometimes better than a man's wisdom, and, for my part, i have not come to see if you needed to be consoled, but to find out your views." "i have none," she said somewhat curtly. "show me a piece of blue cloth, and i'll tear it to pieces. that is the only thought or idea i have." "well, that doesn't help us much," meriwether clopton remarked. at that moment, mr. sanders was announced, and word was sent to him to come right in. "howdy, everybody," he said in his informal way, as he entered the room. he was warm, and instead of leaving his hat on the hall-rack, he had kept it in his hand, and was using it as a fan. "miss lucy," he said, "i won't take up two minutes of your time----" "mr. sanders, you may take up two hours of my time. time!" mrs. lumsden exclaimed bitterly--"why, time is about all i have left." "oh, it ain't nigh as bad as you think," remarked mr. sanders, as cheerfully as he could. "but i want to settle a p'int or two. do you remember what time it was when gabriel come home the night hotchkiss was killed?" mrs. lumsden reflected a moment. "why, he went out directly after supper, and came in--well, i don't remember when he came in. i must have been asleep." "um-m," grunted mr. sanders. "is it important?" mrs. lumsden asked. "it may turn out to be right down important," replied mr. sanders, and then he said no more, but sat looking at the floor, and wondering how gabriel could be released from the tangled web that the spider, circumstance, had woven about him. as mr. sanders went out, he met nan at the door, and he was amazed at the change that had come over her. perplexity and trouble looked forth from her eyes, and there was that in her face that mr. sanders had never seen there before. "why, honey!" he exclaimed, "you look like you've lost your best friend." "well, perhaps i have. who is in there?" and when mr. sanders told her, she cried out, "oh, why don't they leave her alone?" "well, they ain't pesterin' her much, honey. go right in. lucy lumsden has got as much grit as a major gener'l, an' she'll be glad to see you." but nan stood staring at mr. sanders, as if she wanted to ask him a question, and couldn't find words for it. her face was pale, and she had the appearance of one who is utterly forspent. "why, honey, what ails you? i never seed you lookin' like this before." "you've never seen me ill before," answered nan. "i thought the walk would do me good, but the sun--oh, mr. sanders! please don't ask me anything else." with that, she ran up the steps very rapidly for an ill person, and stood a moment in the hallway. "be jigged ef she ain't wuss hit than any on us!" declared mr. sanders, to himself, as he turned away. "what a pity that she had to go an' git grown!" following the sound of voices, nan went into the library. mrs. lumsden, who was still walking about restlessly, paused and tried to smile when she saw nan; but it was only a make-believe smile. nan went directly to her, and stood looking in the old gentlewoman's eyes. then she kissed her quite suddenly and impulsively. "nan, you must be ill," miss fanny tomlin declared. "i am, aunt fanny; i am not feeling well at all." "lie there on the sofa, child," mrs. lumsden insisted. taking nan by the arm, she almost forced her to lie down. "if you-all are talking secrets, i'll go away," said nan. "no, child," remarked mrs. lumsden; "we are talking about trouble, and trouble is too common to be much of a secret in this world." she seated herself on the edge of the sofa, and held nan's hand, caressing it softly. "this is the way i used to cure gabriel, when he was ill or weary," she said in a tone too low for the others to hear. "did you?" whispered nan, closing her eyes with a sigh of satisfaction. "this is the second time i have been able to sit down since breakfast," remarked mrs. lumsden. "i have walked miles and miles," replied nan, wearily. there was a noise in the hall, and presently tasma tid peeped cautiously into the room. "wey you done wit honey nan?" she asked. "she in dis house; you ain' kin fool we." "come in, and behave yourself if you know how," said mrs. lumsden. "come in, tid." "how come we name tid? how come we ain't name tasma tid?" no one thought it worth while to make any reply to this, and the african came into the room, acting as if she were afraid some one would jump at her. "sit in the corner there at the foot of the sofa," said mrs. lumsden. tasma tid complied very readily with this command, since it enabled her to be near nan. the african squatted on the floor, and sat there motionless. meriwether clopton and miss fanny went away after awhile, but mrs. lumsden continued to sit by nan, caressing her hand. not a word was said for a long time, but the silence was finally broken by nan, who spoke to the african. "tasma tid, i want you to go home and tell miss johnny that i will spend the rest of the day and the night with grandmother lumsden." "don't keer; we comin' back," said tasma tid. "yes, come back," said mrs. lumsden; whereupon, the african whisked out of the room as quick as a flash. after tasma tid had gone, a silence fell on the house--a silence so profound that nan could hear the great clock ticking in the front hall, and the bookshelves cracked just as they do in the middle of the night. "if i had known what was going to happen when gabriel came and kissed me good-bye," said mrs. lumsden, after awhile, "i would have gone out there where those men were, and--well, i don't know what i wouldn't have done!" "didn't gabriel tell you? why----" nan paused. "not he! not gabriel!" cried mrs. lumsden in a voice full of pride. "he wanted to spare his grandmother one night's worry, and he did." "didn't you know when he kissed you good-night that something was wrong?" nan inquired. "how should i? why, he sometimes comes and kisses me in the middle of the night, even after he has gone to bed. he says he sleeps better afterwards." what was there in this simple statement to cause nan to catch her breath, and seize the hand that was caressing her. for one thing, it presented the tender side of gabriel's nature in a new light; and for the rest--well, who shall pretend to fathom a young woman's heart? "yes, he was always doing something of that kind," remarked the grandmother proudly; "and i have often thought that he should have been a girl." "a girl!" cried nan. "yes; he will marry some woman who doesn't appreciate his finer qualities--the tenderness and affection that he tries to hide from everybody but his grandmother; and he will go about with a hungry heart, and his wife will never suspect it. i am afraid i dislike her already." "oh, don't say that!" nan implored. "but if he was a girl," the grandmother went on, "he would be better prepared to endure coldness and neglect. this is partly what we were born for, my dear, as you will find out one day for yourself." chapter twenty-four _captain falconer makes suggestions_ it was not often that mr. sanders had a surprise, but he found one awaiting him when he left the lumsden place, and started in the direction of home. he had not taken twenty steps before he met the young captain who had charge of the detachment of federal troops stationed at shady dale. "this is mr. sanders, i believe," he said without ceremony. "my name is falconer. i have just been to call on mr. clopton, but they tell me there that he is at mrs. lumsden's." "well, i wouldn't advise you to go there," said mr. sanders, bluntly. "the lady is in a considerbul state of mind about her gran'son." "it is a miserable piece of business all the way through," remarked captain falconer. there was a note of sympathy in his voice, which mr. sanders could not fail to catch, and it interested him. "i called upon my cousin, mrs. claiborne, for the first time to-day," the captain went on. "she has invited me to tea often, but i have refused the invitation on account of the state of feeling here. i know how high it is. it is natural, of course, but it is not justifiable. take my case, for instance: i am a democrat, and i come from a family of democrats, who have never voted anything else but the democratic ticket, except when henry clay was a candidate, and when lincoln was running for a second term." "you don't tell me!" cried mr. sanders, with genuine astonishment. "it is a fact," said captain falconer, with emphasis. "if you think that i, or any of the men under me, or any of the men who fought at all, intended to bring about such a condition as now exists in this part of the country, you are doing us a great wrong. don't mistake me! i am not apologising for the part i took. i would do it all over again a hundred times if necessary. yet i do not believe in negro suffrage, and i abhor and detest every exaction that the politicians in washington have placed upon the people of the south." mr. sanders was too much astonished to make appropriate comment. he could only stare at the young man. and captain falconer was very good to look upon. he was of the kentucky type, tall, broad-shouldered and handsome. his undress uniform became him well, and he had the distinctive and pleasing marks that west point leaves on all young men who graduate at the academy there. "well, as i told you, i called on my cousin to-day for the first time, and after we had talked of various matters, especially the unfortunate events that have recently occurred, she insisted that i make it my business to see you or mr. clopton. she told me," the captain said, with a pleasant smile, "that you are the man that kidnapped mr. lincoln." "she's wrong about that," replied mr. sanders; "i'm the man that didn't kidnap him. but i want to ask you: ain't you some kin to john barbour falconer?" "he was my father," the captain replied. "well, i've heard meriwether clopton talk about him hundreds of times. they ripped around in congress together before the war." "now, that is very interesting to me," said the captain, his face brightening. he was silent for some time, as they walked slowly along, and during this period of silence, meriwether clopton came up behind them. he would have passed on, with a polite inclination of his head, but mr. sanders drew his attention. "mr. clopton," he said, "here's a gentleman i reckon you'd like to know--captain falconer. he's a son of john barbour falconer." "is that so?" exclaimed meriwether clopton, a wonderful change passing over his face. "well, i am glad to see a son of my dear old friend, anywhere and at any time." he shook hands very cordially with the captain. "let me see--let me see: if i am not mistaken, your first name is garnett; you were named after your maternal grandfather." "that is true, sir," replied the captain, with a boyish laugh that was pleasing to the ear--he was not more than thirty. "but i am surprised that you should remember these things so well." "why, my dear sir, it is not surprising at all. i have dandled you on my knee many and many a time; i know the very house, yes, the very room, in which you were born. some of the happiest hours of my manhood were spent with your father and mother in washington. your father is dead, i believe. well, he was a good man; among the best i ever knew. what of your mother?" "she has broken greatly," responded the captain. "the war was a great burden to her. she was a virginian, you know." "yes--yes!" said meriwether clopton. "the war has been a dreadful nightmare to the people on both sides; and it seems to be still going on disguised as politics. only last night, as you perhaps know, a posse of soldiers arrested and carried off four of our worthiest young men." "yes, sir, i know of it and regret it," responded captain falconer. "and i have no doubt that a majority of the people here are incensed at the soldiers, forgetting that they are the mere instruments of their superiors, and that their superiors themselves take their orders from other superiors who are engaged in the game of politics. it is the duty of a soldier to blindly obey orders. to pause to ask a question would be charged to a spirit of insubordination. the army is at the beck and call of what is called the government, and to-day the government happens to be the radical contingent of the republican party. a soldier may detest the service he is called on to perform, but he is bound to obey orders. i can answer for the officer who was sent to arrest these young men. he was boiling over with rage because he had been sent here on such an errand." "i am glad to hear that," declared meriwether clopton, with great heartiness. "his feelings were perfectly natural, sir," said captain falconer. "take the army as it stands to-day, and it would be hard, if not impossible, to find a man in it who does not shrink from doing the dirty work of the politicians. can you imagine that my mission here is pleasant to me? i can assure you, sir, it is the most disagreeable duty that ever fell to my lot. i am glad you spoke of these arrests. at your convenience, i should like to have a little conversation with you and mr. sanders on this subject." "there is no time like the present," replied meriwether clopton. "will you come with me to my house?" "certainly, sir; and with the more pleasure because i called on my cousin mrs. claiborne to-day. i have forborne to call on her heretofore on account of the prejudice against us. but these arrests made it necessary for me to communicate with some of the influential friends of the young men. i was afraid my visit to-day would prove to be embarrassing to her. if i visit you at your invitation, the probability is she will have no social penalty to pay. i know what the feeling is." indeed, he knew too well. he had passed along the streets apparently perfectly oblivious to the attitude and movements of those whom he chanced to meet, but all his faculties had been awake, for he was a man of the keenest sensibilities. he had seen women and young girls curl their lips in a sneer, and toss their heads in scorn, as he passed them by; and some of them pulled their skirts aside, lest his touch should pollute them. he had observed all this, and he was wounded by it; and yet he had no resentment. being a southerner himself, he knew that the feelings which prompted such actions were perfectly natural, the fitting accompaniment of the humiliation which the radical element compelled the whites to endure. in the course of his long and frequent walks in the countryside, captain falconer had made the acquaintance of gabriel tolliver, in whose nature the spirit of a gypsy vagrant seemed to have full sway; and gabriel was the only person native to shady dale, except the ancient postmaster, with whom the young officer had held communication. he seemed to be cut off not only from all social intercourse, but even from acquaintanceship. "you may rest assured," declared meriwether clopton, "that if i had known you were the son of my old friend, i would have sought you out, much as i detest the motives and purposes of those who have inaugurated this era of bayonet rule. and you may be sure, too, that in my house you will be a welcome guest." "i appreciate your kindness, sir, and i shall remember it," said captain falconer. that portion of shady dale which was moving about the streets with its eyes open was surprised and shocked--nay, wellnigh paralysed--to see the "yankee captain" on parade, as it were, with meriwether clopton on one side of him, and mr. sanders on the other. yes, and the hand of the son of the first settler (could their eyes deceive them?) was resting familiarly on the shoulder of the "yankee!" surely, here was food for thought. were meriwether clopton and mr. sanders about to join the radicals? well, well, well! at last one of the loungers, a man of middle age, who had seen service, raised his voice and put an end to comment. "you can bet your sweet life," he declared, "that billy sanders knows what he's up to. he may not git the game he's after, but he'll fetch back a handful of feathers or hair. mr. clopton i don't know so well, but i was in the war wi' billy sanders, and i wish you'd wake me up and let me know when somebody fools him. there ain't a living man on the continent, nor under it neither, that can git on his blind side." "now you are whistlin'!" exclaimed one of his companions, and this seemed to settle the matter. if mr. sanders didn't know what he was about, why, then, everybody else in that neighbourhood might as well give up, "and let natur' cut her caper." "i understand now why mrs. claiborne referred me to you," said captain falconer, when mr. sanders had related the nature and extent of the information which he had been able to gather during the morning. "the lady is kinder partial," remarked mr. sanders, "but she's as bright as a new dollar, somethin' i ain't seed sence i cut my wisdom teeth." "you already know what i intended to tell you," said the captain. but it turned out, nevertheless, that he was able to give them some very startling information. it was the general understanding in shady dale that the prisoners were to be sent to atlanta; but the military authorities, fearing an attempt at rescue, perhaps, had ordered them to be sent to fort pulaski, below savannah. there were other reasons, the captain explained, for sending the young men there. they would be isolated from their friends, and, so placed, might be induced to confess; and if the circumstances surrounding them were not sufficient to produce such a result then other measures were to be taken. meanwhile, the circumstantial evidence against gabriel was very strong--stronger even than mr. sanders had imagined. bridalbin, whom captain falconer knew as boring, had informed that officer of his own supposed discoveries with respect to gabriel's movements; and the evidence he was prepared to give, coupled with the fact that hotchkiss had pronounced the lad's name with his last breath, made out a case of exceptional strength. urged on by the vindictiveness of the radical leaders in congress, it was more than probable that the military court before which the young men were to be tried, would convict any or all of them on much slighter evidence than that which had accumulated against gabriel. it was all circumstantial evidence of course, but even in the civil courts, and before juries made up of their peers, men accused of crime have frequently been convicted on circumstantial evidence alone--that is to say, on probability. "now, this is what i wanted to say," remarked captain falconer, as they sat in the library at the clopton place, and after he had gone over the evidence, item by item: "i was given to understand by the officer who made the arrests that i would shortly be transferred to savannah, or, rather, to fort pulaski, and placed in charge of the prisoners, the idea being that i, knowing something of the young men, would be able to extract a confession from them by fair means. this failing, there are others who could be depended on to employ foul. the officer, who is a very fine soldier, and thoroughly in love with his profession, dropped a hint that, all other means failing, the young men are to be put through a course of sprouts in order to extort a confession." mr. sanders looked hard at the captain; he was taking the young man's measure. what he saw or divined must have been satisfactory, for his face, which had been in a somewhat puckered condition, as he himself would have expressed it, suddenly cleared up, and he rose from his chair with a laugh. "do you-all know what i've gone an' done?" he asked. "you do so many clever things, william, that we cannot possibly imagine what the newest is," said meriwether clopton. "well, sir, this is the cleverest yit. i've come off from lucy lumsden's an' clean forgot my hoss. it's a wonder i didn't forgit my head. now, you might 'a' said, an' said truly, that i'd forgit a man, or a 'oman, but when william h. sanders, esquire, walks off in the broad light of day, an' forgits his hoss, an' that hoss the rackin' roan, you may know that his thinkin' machine has slipped a cog. ef you'll excuse me, i'll go right arter that creetur. i'm mighty glad he can't talk--it's about the only thing he can't do--bekaze he'd gi' me a long an' warm piece of his mind." captain falconer rose also, but meriwether clopton protested. "i should be glad if you would stay to dinner," he said. "i have several things to show you--some interesting letters from your father, for instance." "but the ladies?" suggested the captain, with a comically doubtful lift of the eyebrows. he had no notion of bearding any of the confederate lionesses in their dens. "you know how they regard us here." "only my daughter sarah is here. she knew your father well, and has a very lively remembrance of him. she was fifteen when you were three, and many a day she was your volunteer nurse." so it was arranged that the captain should remain to dinner, and it may be said that he spent a very pleasant time, after his long period of social isolation. "i shall call you garnett, to begin with," said sarah clopton, as she shook his hand, "but you must not expect me to be very cordial to-day. it was only last night, you must remember, that some of the people you associate with arrested and carried off a young man who is very dear to me." "you may be very sure, miss clopton, that the officer who did that piece of work had no relish for it. he simply obeyed orders. he had no discretion in the matter whatever." "well, i shall be very glad to think that, garnett, for your sake. but that fact doesn't restore our young men," she said with a sigh. "oh, i wonder when we'll all be at peace and happy again?" "in god's own time, and not before," declared meriwether clopton solemnly. "well, we'll try an' help that time to come," said mr. sanders, entering the room at that moment. he was followed by cephas, who was one of gabriel's favourites among the small boys. cephas was bashful enough, but he always felt at ease at the clopton place, where everything moved along the lines of simplicity and perfect openness. the small boy had a sort of chilly feeling when he saw the officer, but he soon got over that. "i went an' got my hoss," said mr. sanders, "an' he paid me back for my forgitfulness by purty nigh bitin' a piece out'n my arm; an' whilst i was a-rubbin' the place, up comes cephas for to find out somethin' about the boys. when i got through makin' a few remarks sech as you don't hear at church, a kinder blind idee popped in my head, an' so i tuck cephas up behind me, an' fetched him here." "sit on the sofa, cephas. have a chair, william, and tell us about your blind idea." "ef you'll promise not to laugh," mr. sanders stipulated. "you know mrs. ab's sayin' that ef the old sow knowed she was swallerin' a tree ev'ry time she crunched an acorn, she'd grunt a heap louder'n she does: well, i know what i'm fixin' for to swaller, and you won't hear much loud gruntin' from me." "well, we are ready to hear from you," said meriwether clopton. whereupon, mr. sanders threw his head back and laughed. chapter twenty-five _mr. sanders's riddle_ "i tell you how it is," said mr. sanders: "the riddle is how to git a message to gabriel; i could git the captain thar to take it, but the captain will have as much as he can attend to, an' for that matter, so have i. wi' this riddle i'm overcrapped. sence i left here, i've gone over the whole matter in my mind, ef you can call it a mind. i could go down thar myself, an' i'd be glad to, but could i git to have a private talk wi' gabriel? i reckon not." the remark was really interrogative, and was addressed to captain falconer, who made a prompt reply--"i hardly think the scheme would work. my impression is that orders have been issued from atlanta for these young men to be isolated. if that is so they can hold communication with no one but the sentinel on duty, or the officer who has charge of them. they are to be treated as felons, though nothing has been proved against them. i am not sure, but i think that is the programme." "that is about what i thought," said mr. sanders, "an' that's what i told cephas here. when i was fetchin' my horse, cephas, he comes up, an' he says, 'mr. sanders, have you heard from gabriel?' an' i says, 'no, cephas, we ain't had time for to git a word from 'em.' an' then he went on to say, cephas did, that he'd like mighty well to see gabriel. i told him that maybe we could fix it up so as he could see gabriel. you can't imagine how holp up the little chap was. to see him then, an' see him now, you'd think it was another boy." captain falconer looked at cephas, and could see no guile. on the contrary, he saw a freckled lad who appeared to be about ten years old; he was really nearly fourteen. cephas was so ugly that he was ugly when he laughed, as he was doing now; but there was something about him that attracted the attention of those who were older. it was a fact much talked about that this freckled little boy never went with children of his own age, but was always to be found with those much older. he was gabriel's chum when gabriel wanted a chum; he went hunting with francis bethune; and he could often be found at the store in which paul tomlin was the chief clerk. he knew all the secrets of these young men, and kept them, and they frequently advised with him about the young ladies. but he was fonder of gabriel than of all the rest, and he was also fond of nan, who had been kind to him in many ways. cephas was one of those ill-favoured little creatures, who astonish everybody by never forgetting a favour. gratitude ran riot in his small bosom, and he was ever ready to sacrifice himself for his friends. seeing that captain falconer continued to look at him, cephas hung his head. he was only too conscious of his ugliness, and was very sensitive about it. he wanted to be large and strong and handsome like gabriel, or dark and romantic-looking like francis bethune; and sometimes he was very miserable because of the unkindness of fate or providence in this matter. "and so you want to see your friends," said the captain, very kindly. every feature of his face showed that his sympathies were keen. "they are very far away, or will be when they get to their journey's end--too far, i should think, for a little boy to travel." "maybe so," said cephas, "but gabriel had to go." "i see," said the captain; "wherever gabriel goes, you are willing to go?" "yes, sir," replied cephas very simply. "i hope gabriel appreciates it," remarked sarah clopton. "oh, he does!" exclaimed cephas. "gabriel knows. why, one day----" then, remembering the company he was in, he blushed, and refused to go on with what he intended to say. seeing his embarrassment, mr. sanders came to his rescue. "what i want to know, captain, is this: if that little chap comes down to savannah, will you allow him to see gabriel and talk to him?" again the captain looked at the boy, and cephas, catching a certain humourous gleam in the gentleman's eye, began to smile. "now, then," said captain falconer, with an answering smile, "how would you like to go with me?" "i think i would like it," replied cephas, with a broad grin; "i think that would be fine." "and what does mr. sanders think of it?" the captain asked. "well, i hadn't looked at it from that p'int of view," said mr. sanders. "i 'lowed maybe that the best an' cheapest plan would be for me to take the little chap down an' fetch him back." "my opinion may not be worth much, mr. sanders," said sarah clopton, "but i think it would be a shame to take that child so far away from home. i don't believe his mother will allow him to go." "that is a matter that was jest fixin' for to worry me," remarked mr. sanders. "i could feel it kinder fermentin' in my mind, like molasses turnin' to vinegar, an' now that you've fetched it to the top, sarah, we'll settle it before we go any furder. come, cephas; we'll go an' see your mammy, an' see ef we can't coax her into lettin' you go. you'll have to do your best, my son; i'll coax, an' you must wheedle." as they went out, cephas was laughing at mr. sanders's remark about wheedling. the youngster was an expert in that business. he was his mother's only child, and he had learned at a very early age just how to manage her. "what troubles me, cephas," said mr. sanders, "is how you can git a message to gabriel wi'out lettin' the cat out'n the bag. he'll be surrounder'd in sech a way that you can't git a word wi' 'im wi'out tellin' the whole caboodle." at that moment, mr. sanders heard a small voice cry out something like this: "phazasee! phazasee! arawa ooya ingagog?" to which jabbering cephas made prompt reply: "iya ingagog ota annysavvy ota eesa gibbleable!" "ooya ibfa! ooya ibfa!" jeered the small voice. mr. sanders looked at cephas in astonishment. "what kinder lingo is that?" he asked. "it's the way we school-children talk when we don't want anybody to know what we are saying. johnny asked me where i was going, and i told him i was going to savannah to see gabriel." "did he know what you said?" "why, he couldn't help but know, but he didn't believe it; he said it was a fib." "well, i'll be jigged!" exclaimed mr. sanders. "call that boy over here." cephas turned around--they had passed the house where the little boy lived--and called out: "onnaja! onnaja! stermera andersa antwasa ota eesa ooya." the small boy came running, though there was a doubtful look on his face. he had frequently been the victim of cephas's practical jokes. mr. sanders questioned him closely, and he confirmed the interpretation of the lingo which cephas had given to mr. sanders. "do you mean to tell me," said mr. sanders to cephas when they had dismissed the small boy, "that this kinder thing has been goin' on right under my nose, an' i not knowin' a word about it? how'd you pick up the lingo?" "gabriel teached it to me," replied cephas. "he talks it better than any of the boys, and i come next." this last remark cephas made with a blush. "do i look pale, my son?" inquired mr. sanders, mopping his red face with his handkerchief. cephas gave a negative reply by shaking his head. "well, i may not look pale, but i shorely feel pale. you'll have to loan me your arm, cephas; i feel like christopher columbus did when he discovered atlanta, ga." "why, he didn't discover atlanta, mr. sanders," protested cephas. "he didn't!" exclaimed mr. sanders. "well, it was his own fault ef he didn't. all he had to do was to read the country newspapers. but that's neither here nor thar. here i've been buttin' my head ag'in trees, an' walkin' in my sleep tryin' for to study up some plan to git word to gabriel, an' here you walk along the street an' make me a present of the very thing i want, an' i ain't even thanked you for it." cephas couldn't guess what mr. sanders was driving at, and he asked no questions. his mind was too full of his proposed trip. when the proposition was first broached to cephas's mother, she scouted the idea of allowing her boy to make the journey. he was all she had, and should anything happen to him--well, the world wouldn't be the same world to her. and it was so far away; why, she had heard some one say that savannah was right on the brink of the ocean--that great monster that swallowed ships and men by the thousand, and was just as hungry afterward as before. but cephas began to cry, saying that he wanted to see gabriel; and mr. sanders told gabriel's side of the story. between the two, the poor woman had no option but to say that she'd consider the matter, and when a woman begins to consider--well, according to the ancient philosophers, it's the same as saying yes. the truth is, a great deal of pressure was brought to bear on cephas's mother, in one way and another. meriwether clopton called on her, bringing captain falconer. she was not at all pleased to see the captain, and she made no effort to conceal her prejudice. "i never did think that i'd speak to a man in that uniform," she said with a very red face. but she was better satisfied when meriwether clopton told her that the captain was the son of his dearest friend, and that he was utterly opposed to the radical policy. the upshot of the matter was that, with many a sigh and some tears, she gave her consent for her onliest, her dearest, and her bestest, to go on the long journey. and then, after consenting, she was angry with herself because she had consented. in short, she was as miserable and as anxious as mother-love can make a woman, and poor cephas never could understand until he became a grown man, and had children of his own, how his mother could make such a to-do over the opportunity that providence had thrown in his way. to tell the truth, he was almost irritated at the obstacles and objections that the vivid imagination of his mother kept conjuring up. she said he must be sure not to fall in the ocean, and he must keep out of the way of the railroad trains. she cried silently all the time she was packing his modest supply of clothes in a valise, and put some tea-cakes in one corner, and a little testament in the other. it is no wonder that children who do not understand such feelings should be impatient of them, and cephas is to be excused if he watched the whole proceeding with something like contempt for woman's weakness. but he has bitterly regretted, oh, tens of thousands of times, that, instead of standing aloof from his mother's feelings, he did not throw his arms around her, and tell how much he appreciated her love, and how every tear she shed for him was worth to him a hundred times more than a diamond. but cephas was a boy, and, being a boy, he could not rise superior to his boy's nature. it was arranged that cephas was to go to savannah with captain falconer, and return with mr. sanders, who would take advantage of the occasion to settle up some old business with the firm that had acted as factor for meriwether clopton before the war. the arrangement took place when mr. sanders returned home after his visit to cephas's mother, and was of course conditional on her consent, which was not obtained at once. mr. sanders was shrewd enough not to dwell too much on the plight of the young men on his return. by some method of his own, he seemed to sweep the whole matter from his mind, and both he and meriwether clopton addressed themselves to such topics as they imagined the federal captain would find interesting; and in this they were seconded by sarah clopton, whom robert toombs declared to be one of the finest conversationalists of her time when she chose to exert her powers. but for the softness and fine harmony of her features, her face would have been called masculine. her countenance was entirely responsive to her emotions, and it was delightful to watch the eloquent play of her features. captain falconer fell quickly under the spell of her conversation, for one of its chiefest charms was the ease with which she brought out the best thoughts of his mind--thoughts and views that were a part of his inner self. it was the same at dinner, where, without monopolising the talk, she led it this way and that, but always in channels that were congenial and pleasing to the captain, and that enabled him to appear at his best. in honour of his guest, meriwether clopton brought out some fine old claret that had lain for many years undisturbed in the cellar. "thank you, sarah," said mr. sanders, when the hostess pressed him to have a glass, "i'll not trouble you for any to-day. i've made the acquaintance of that claret. it ain't sour enough for vinegar, nor strong enough for liquor; it's a kind of a cross betwixt a second drawin' of tea an' the syrup of squills; an' no matter how hard you hit it it'll never hit you back. it's lots too mild for a son of temp'rance like me. no; gi' me a full jug an' a shuck-pen to crawl into, an' you may have all the wine, red or yaller." but the fine old claret was thoroughly enjoyed by those who could appreciate the flower of its age and the flavour of its vintage; and when dinner was over, and captain falconer was on his way to camp, he felt that, outside of his own home, he had never had such a pleasant experience. in the course of a few days orders came from atlanta for captain falconer to turn over the command of the detachment to the officer next in rank, and proceed to malvern, where he would find further instructions awaiting him. when the time came for cephas to be off with the captain, you may well believe that his mother saw all sorts of trouble ahead for him. she had dreamed some very queer dreams, she said, and she was very sure that no good would follow. and at the last moment, she would have taken cephas from the barouche which had come for him, if the driver, following the instructions of mr. sanders, had not whipped up his horses, and left the lady standing in the street. as for cephas, he found that parting from his mother was not such a fine thing after all. he watched her through a mist of tears, and waved his handkerchief as long as he could see her; and then after that he was the loneliest little fellow you have ever seen. he refused to eat the extra tea-cake that his mother had put in the pocket of his jacket, and made up his mind to be perfectly miserable until he got back home. but, after all, boys are boys, and the feeling of loneliness and dejection wore away after awhile, and before he had gone many miles, what with making the acquaintance of the driver, who was a private soldier, and getting on friendly terms with captain falconer, he soon arrived at the point where he relished his tea-cake, and when this had been devoured, he felt as if travelling was the most delightful thing in the world, especially if a fellow has been intrusted with a tremendous secret that nobody else in the world knew besides mr. sanders and himself. for as soon as mr. sanders discovered that the captain would be willing to have cephas go along, he had taken the little chap in hand, and thoroughly impressed upon his mind everything he wanted him to say to gabriel, and he was not satisfied until cephas had written the message out in the dog-latin of the school-children, and had learned it by heart. mr. sanders also impressed on the little lad's mind the probability that the captain would be curious as to the nature of the message; and he gave cephas a plausible answer for every question that an inquisitive person could put to him, and made him repeat these answers over and over again. in fact, cephas was compelled to study as hard as if he had been in school, but he relished the part he was to play, and learned it with a zest that was very pleasing to mr. sanders. only an hour before he was to leave with the captain, mr. sanders went to cephas's home, and made him repeat over everything he had been taught, and the glibness with which the little lad repeated the answers to the questions was something wonderful in so small a chap. "don't git lonesome, cephas," was the parting injunction of mr. sanders. "don't forgit that i'll be on the train when the whistle blows. i'm gwine to start right off. you may not see me, but i'll not be far off. keep a stiff upper lip, an' don't git into no panic. the whole thing is gwine through like it was on skids, an' the skids greased." chapter twenty-six _cephas has his troubles_ usually there is a yawning gulf between youth and old age; but in the case of mrs. lumsden and nan dorrington, it was spanned by the simplicity and tenderness common to both. whether any of the ancients or moderns have mentioned the fact, it is hardly worth while to inquire, but good-humour is a form of tenderness. those who are easy to laugh are likewise ready to be sorry, and they have a fund of sympathy to draw on whenever the necessity arises. simplicity and tenderness connect the highest wisdom with the deepest ignorance, and find the elements of brotherhood where the intellect is unable to discern it. it was simplicity and tenderness that bridged the gulf of years that lay between the old gentlewoman and the young girl. age can find no comfort for itself unless it can make terms with youth. where it stands alone, depending upon the respect that should belong to what is venerable, there is something gruesome about it. it quenches the high spirits of children and young people, and chills their enthusiasm. all that it does for them is to give notorious advertisement to the complexion to which they must all come at last. "you see these wrinkled and flabby features, this gray hair, these faded and watery eyes, these shaking limbs and trembling hands: well, this is what you must come to." and, indeed, it is an object lesson well calculated to sober and subdue the giddy. now, age had dealt very gently with gabriel's grandmother; it became her well. her white hair was even more beautiful now than it had been when she was young, as meriwether clopton often declared. her eyes were bright, and all her sympathies were as keenly alive as they had been fifty years before. she had kept in touch with gabriel and the young people about her, and none of her faculties had been impaired. she was the gentlest of gentlewomen. once nan had asked her--"grandmother lumsden, what is the perfume i smell every time i come here? you have it on your clothes." "life everlasting, my dear." for one brief and fleeting instant, nan had the odd feeling that she could see millions and millions of years into the future. life everlasting! she caught her breath. but the vision or feeling was swept away by the placid voice of mrs. lumsden. "i believe you and gabriel call it rabbit tobacco," she explained. nan had a great longing to be with mrs. lumsden the moment she heard that gabriel had been spirited away by the strong arm of the government. she felt that she would be more comfortable there than at home. "my dear, what put it into that wise little head of yours to come and comfort an old woman?" mrs. lumsden asked, when meriwether clopton and miss fanny tomlin had taken their departure. she was still sitting close to nan, caressing her hand. "i thought you would be lonely with gabriel gone, and i just made up my mind to come. i was afraid until i reached the door, and then i wasn't afraid any more. if you don't want me, i'll soon find it out." "i can't tell you how glad i am, nan, to have you here; and i can guess your feelings. no doubt you were shocked to hear that francis bethune had been taken with the rest." the dear old lady had the knack of clinging to her ideas. "i'm sure i don't know what you mean, grandmother lumsden. i care no more for mr. bethune than i do for the others--perhaps not so much." "i don't know why it is," said mrs. lumsden, "but i have always looked forward to the day when you and francis would be married." "i've heard you talk that way before, and i've often wondered why you did it." "oh, well! perhaps it is one of my foolish dreams," said mrs. lumsden with a sigh. "your father's plantation and that of francis's grandfather are side by side, and i have thought it would be romantic for the heirs to join hands and make the two places one." "i can't see anything romantic in that, grandmother lumsden. it's like a sum in arithmetic." "well, you must allow old people to indulge in their dreams, my dear. when you are as old as i am, and have seen as much of life, you will have different ideas about romance." "i hope, ma'am, that your next dream will be truer," said nan, almost playfully. that night, nan lay awake for a long time. at last she slipped out of bed, felt her way around it, and leaned over and kissed gabriel's grandmother. in an instant she felt the motherly arms of the old gentlewoman around her. "is that the way you do, when gabriel comes and kisses you in the night?" whispered nan wistfully. "yes, yes, my dear--many times." "oh, i am so glad!" the words exhaled from the girl's lips in a long-drawn, trembling sigh. then she went back to her place in bed, and soon both the comforter and the comforted were sound asleep. as has been hinted, the moment mr. sanders discovered there was some slight chance of getting a message to gabriel, he became one of the busiest men in shady dale, though his industry was not immediately apparent to his friends and neighbours. among those whom he took occasion to see was mr. tidwell, whose son jesse was among the prisoners. "gus," said mr. sanders, without any ceremony, "you remember the row you come mighty nigh havin' wi' tomlin perdue, not so many years ago?" "yes; i remember something of it," replied mr. tidwell. he was a man who ordinarily went with his head held low, as though engaged in deep thought. when spoken to he straightened up, and thereby seemed to add several inches to his height. "well, it's got to be done over ag'in," remarked mr. sanders. "it happened in malvern, didn't it?" "yes, in the depot," replied mr. tidwell. "we were both on our way to atlanta, and the major misunderstood something i had said." "egzackly! well, it must be done over ag'in." mr. tidwell lowered his head and appeared to reflect. then he straightened up again, and his face was very serious. "mr. sanders, has tomlin perdue been dropping his wing about that fuss? has he been making remarks?" "oh, i reckon not," replied mr. sanders cheerfully. "but i've got a mighty good reason for axin' you about it. come in your office, gus, an' i'll tell you all i know, an' it won't take me two minnits." they went in and closed the door, and remained in consultation for some time. while they were thus engaged, silas tomlin came to the door, tried the bolt, and finding that it would not yield, walked restlessly up and down, preyed upon by many strange and conflicting emotions. he had evidently gone through much mental suffering. his face was drawn and haggard, and his clothes were shabbier than ever. he took no account of time, but walked up and down, waiting for mr. tidwell to come out, and as he walked he was the victim both of his fears and his affections. one moment, he heartily wished that he might never see his son again; the next he would have given everything he possessed to have the boy back, and hear once more the familiar, "hello, father!" after awhile, mr. sanders and mr. tidwell came forth from the lawyer's office. they appeared to be in fine humour, for both were laughing, as though some side-splitting joke had just passed between them. "there's no doubt about it, mr. sanders," lawyer tidwell was saying, "you ought to be a major-general!" "i declare, tidwell!" exclaimed silas, with something like indignation, "i don't see how you can go around happy and laughing under the circumstances. you do like you could fetch your son back with a laugh. i wish i could fetch paul back that way." "well, he'd stay whar he is, silas," said mr. sanders, with a benevolent smile, "ef his comin' back had to be brung about by any hilarity from you. why, you ain't laughed but once sence you was a baby, an' when you heard the sound of it you set up a howl that's lasted ever sence." "if you think, silas, that crying will bring the boys back," said mr. tidwell, "i'll join you in a crying-match, and stand here and boohoo with you just as long as you want to." "i just called by to see if you had heard any news," remarked silas, taking no offence at the sarcastic utterances of the two men. "i am just obliged to get some news. i am on pins: i can't sleep at night; and my appetite is gone." mr. sanders looked at the man's haggard face, and immediately became serious and sympathetic. "well, i tell you, silas, you needn't worry another minnit. the only one amongst 'em that's in real trouble is gabriel tolliver. i've looked into the case from a to izzard, an' that's the way it stan's." "that is perfectly true," assented mr. tidwell. "we can account for the movements of all the boys on the night of the killing except those of tolliver; and he is in considerable danger. by the way, silas, you said some time ago--oh, ever so long ago--that you would bring me a copy of _blackwood's magazine_. you remember there was a story in it you wanted me to read." "no, i--well, i tried to find it; i hunted for it high and low; but i haven't been able to put my hands on it. but i've had so much trouble of one kind and another, that i clean forgot it. i'm glad you mentioned it; i'll try to find it again." "well, as a lawyer," said mr. tidwell, somewhat significantly--or so it seemed to silas--"i don't charge you a cent for telling you that your case wouldn't stand a minnit." "my case--my case! what case? i have no case. why, i don't know what you are talking about." he shook his head and waved his hand nervously. "oh, i remember now; your case was purely hypothetical," said mr. tidwell. "well, your _blackwood_ was wrong about it." "that's what i thought," silas assented with a grunt; and with that, he turned abruptly away, and went in the direction of his house. "i'll tell you what's the fact," remarked mr. sanders, as he watched the shabby and shrunken figure retreat; "i'm about to change my mind about silas. i used to think he was mean all through; but he's got a nice warm place in his heart for that son of his'n. i declare i feel right sorry for the man." before cephas went away, he was not too busy learning the lessons mr. sanders had set for him to forget to hunt up nan dorrington and tell her the wonderful news; to-wit, that he was about to go on a journey, and that while he was gone he would most likely see gabriel. "well," said nan, drawing herself up a little stiffly, "what is that to me?" unfortunately, cephas had come upon the girl when she was talking with eugenia claiborne, who had sought her out at the lumsden place. cephas looked at her hard a moment, and then his freckled face turned red. he was properly angry. "well, whatever it may be to you, it's a heap to me," he said. "i hope it's nothing to you." "cephas, will you see paul tomlin?" asked eugenia. "if you do, tell him that one of his friends sent him her love." "is it sure enough love?" inquired cephas. "yes, cephas, it is," replied eugenia simply and seriously--but her face was very red. "tell him that eugenia claiborne sent him her love." "all right," said cephas, and turned away without looking at nan. she had hurt his feelings. this turn of affairs didn't suit nan at all. she ran after cephas, and caught him by the arm. "aren't you ashamed of yourself, cephas, to treat me so? how could i tell you anything before others? if you see gabriel, tell him--oh, i don't know what to say. if i was to tell you what i want to, you'd say that nan dorrington had lost her mind. no, i'll not send any word, cephas. it wouldn't be proper in a young lady. if he asks about me, just tell him that i am well and happy." she turned away, in response to a call from eugenia claiborne, but she kept her eyes on cephas for some time. evidently she wished to send a message, but was afraid to. "don't be angry with me, cephas," she said, before the youngster got out of hearing. cephas made no reply, but trudged on stolidly. he was at the age when a boy is easily disgusted with girls and young women. you may call them sweet creatures if you want to, but a twelve-year-old boy is not to be deceived by fine words. the sweet creatures are under no restraints when dealing with small boys, and the small boys are well acquainted with all their worst traits. what is most strange is that this intimate knowledge is of no service to them when they grow a little older. they forget all about it and fall into the first trap that love sets for them. cephas was angry without knowing why. he felt that both gabriel and himself had been insulted, though he couldn't have explained the nature of the insult; and he was all the angrier because he was fond of nan. she had been very kind to the little boy--kinder, perhaps, than he deserved, for he had made the impulsive young lady the victim of many a practical joke. as cephas went along, it suddenly occurred to him that he had done wrong to say anything about his proposed journey, and the thought took away all his resentment. he whirled in his tracks, and ran back to where he had left the girls. he saw eugenia claiborne sauntering along the street, but nan was nowhere in sight. he had no trouble in pledging miss claiborne to secrecy, for she was very fond of all sorts of secrets, and could keep them as well as another girl. nan, she informed cephas, had expressed a determination to visit him at his own home, and, in fact, cephas found her there. she was as sweet as sugar, and was not at all the same nan who had drawn herself up proudly and as good as told cephas that it was nothing to her that he was going to see gabriel. no; this was another nan, and she had a troubled look in her eyes that cephas had never seen there before. "i came to see if you were still angry, cephas," she said by way of explanation. "i wasn't very nice to you, was i?" "well, i hope you don't mind cephas," said the lad's mother. "if you do, he'll keep you guessing. has he been rude to you, nan?" and it was then that cephas heard praise poured on his name in a steady stream. cephas rude! cephas saucy! a thousand times no! why, he was the best, the kindest, and the brightest child in the town. nan was so much in earnest that cephas had to blush. "i didn't know," said his mother. "he has been going with those large boys so much that i was afraid he was getting too big for his breeches." she loved her son, but she had no illusions about the nature of boys; she knew them well. "are you still angry, cephas?" nan asked. she appeared very anxious to be sure on that score. "n-o-o," replied cephas, somewhat doubtfully; he hesitated to surrender the advantage that he saw he had. "yes, you are," said nan, "and i think it is very unkind of you. i am sorry you misunderstood me; if you only knew how i really feel, and how much trouble i have, you would be sorry instead of angry." "i'm the one to blame," said cephas penitently. "gabriel says you dislike him, and i thought he was only guessing. but he knew better than i did. i had no business to bother you." nan caught her breath. "did gabriel say i disliked him?" "he didn't say that word," replied cephas. "i think he said you detested him, and i told him he didn't know what he was talking about. but he did; he knew a great deal better than i did, because i didn't really know until just now." "but, cephas!" cried nan; "what could have put such an idea in his head?" cephas's mother was now busy about the house. "i didn't know then, but i know now," remarked the boy stolidly. "don't be unkind, cephas. if you knew me better, you'd be sorry for me. you and gabriel are terribly mistaken. i'm very fond of both of you." "oh, _i_ don't count in this game," cephas declared. "oh, yes, you do," said nan. "you are one of my dearest friends, and so is gabriel." "all right," said cephas. "if you treat all your dearest friends as you do gabriel, i'm very sorry for them." "cephas, if you tell gabriel what i said while eugenia claiborne was standing there, all ears, i'll never forgive you." nan was at her wit's end. "tell him that!" cried cephas; "why, i wouldn't tell him that, not for all the world. i'll tell him nothing." "please, cephas," said nan. "tell him"--she paused, and threw her hair away from her pale face--"tell him that if he doesn't come home soon, i shall die!" then her face turned from pale to red, and she laughed loudly. "well, i certainly sha'n't tell him that," said cephas. "i didn't think you would," said nan. "you are a nice little boy, and i am going to kiss you good-bye. if you don't have something sweet to tell me when you come back, i'll think you detest me--wasn't that gabriel's word? poor gabriel! he's in prison, and here we are joking about him." "i'm not joking about him!" exclaimed cephas. "just as much as i am," said nan; and then she leaned over and kissed cephas's freckled face, leaving it very red after the operation. chapter twenty-seven _mr. sanders visits some of his old friends_ it will be observed by those who are accustomed to make note of trifles, that the chronicler, after packing cephas off in a barouche with the handsome captain falconer, still manages to retain him in shady dale. for the sake of those who may be puzzled over the matter, let us say that it is a mistake of the reporter. that is the way our public men dispose of their unimportant inconsistencies--and the reporter, for his part, can say that the trouble is due to a typographical error. the truth is, however, that when a cornfield chronicler finds himself entangled in a rush of events, even if they are minor ones, he feels compelled to resort to that pattern of the "p. s." which is so comforting to the lady writers, and so captivating to their readers. mr. sanders is supposed to be on his way to savannah on the same train with cephas and captain falconer, supposing the train to be on time. nevertheless, it is necessary to give a further account of his movements before he started on the journey that was to prove to be such an important event in gabriel's career. on the third morning after the arrest of the young men, mrs. lumsden expressed a desire to see mr. sanders, but he was nowhere to be found. many sympathetic persons, including nan dorrington, joined in the search, but it proved to be a fruitless one. as a matter of fact, mr. sanders had gone to bed early the night before, but a little after midnight he awoke with a start. this was such an unusual experience that he permitted it to worry him. he had had no dream, he had heard no noise; yet he had suddenly come out of a sound and refreshing sleep with every faculty alert. he struck a match, and looked at his watch. it was a quarter to one. "i wish, plague take 'em!" he said with a snort, "that somebody would whirl in an' make a match that wouldn't smifflicate the whole house an' lot." he lit the candle, and then proceeded to draw on his clothes. in the course of this proceeding, he lay back on the bed with his hands under his head. he lay thus for some minutes, and then suddenly jumped to his feet with an exclamation. he put on his clothes in a hurry, and went out to the stables, where he gave his horse a good feed--seventeen ears of corn and two bundles of fodder. then he returned to the house, and rummaged around until he found a pitcher of buttermilk and a pone of corn-bread, which he disposed of deliberately, and with great relish. this done, he changed his clothes, substituting for those he wore every day the suit he wore on sundays and holidays. when all these preparations were complete, the hands of his watch stood at quarter past three. he had delayed and dillydallied in order to give his horse time to eat. the animal had taken advantage of the opportunity, for when mr. sanders went to the stables, the racking roan was playfully tossing the bare cobs about in the trough with his flexible upper lip. "be jigged ef your appetite ain't mighty nigh as good as mine," he remarked, whereupon the roan playfully bit at him. "don't do that, my son," protested mr. sanders. "can't you see i've got on my sunday duds?" to bridle and saddle the horse was a matter of a few moments only, and when mr. sanders mounted, the spirited horse was so evidently in for a frolic that he was going at a three-minute gait by the time the rider had thrown a leg over the saddle. a horseback ride, when the weather is fine and the sun is shining, is a very pleasing experience, but it is not to be compared to a ride in the dark, provided you are on good terms with your horse, and are familiar with the country. you surrender yourself entirely to the creature's movements, and if he is a horse equipped with courage, common-sense and energy, you are lifted entirely out of your everyday life into the regions of romance and derring-do--whatever that may be. there is no other feeling like it, no other pleasure to be compared to it; all the rest smell of the earth. "i'm sorter glad i lit that match," mr. sanders remarked to the horse. "it's like gittin' a whiff of the bad place, an' then breathin' the fresh air of heav'n." the reply of the roan was a sharp affirmative snort. the sun was just rising when mr. sanders rode into halcyondale. coincident with his arrival, the train from atlanta came in with a tremendous clatter. there was much creaking and clanking as it slowed up at the modest station. it paused just long enough for the mail-bag and a trunk to be thrown off with a bang, and then it went puffing away. short as the pause had been, one of the passengers, in the person of colonel bolivar blasengame, had managed to escape from it. the colonel, with his valise in his hand, paused to watch the train out of sight, and then leisurely made his way toward his home. to reach that point, he was compelled to cross the public square, and as he emerged from the side street leading to the station, he met mr. sanders, who had also been watching the train. "hello, colonel, how are you? we belong apparently to the early bird society." "good-morning, mr. sanders," replied the colonel, with a smile of friendly welcome. "what wind has blown you over here?" "why, i want to see major perdue. you know we have had trouble in our settlement." "and you want to see tomlin because you have had trouble; but why is it, mr. sanders, that your people never think of me when you have trouble? am i losing caste in your community?" "well, you know, colonel, you haven't been over sence the year one; an' then the major is kinder kin to one of the chaps that's been took off." "exactly; but did it ever occur to you that whoever is kin to tomlin is a little kin to me," remarked the colonel. "tomlin is my brother-in-law--but where are you going now?" "well, i thought i would go to the tavern, have my hoss put up an' fed, git a snack of somethin' to eat, an' then call on the major." "you hadn't heard, i reckon, that the tavern is closed, and the livery-stable broke up," said the colonel, by way of giving the visitor some useful information. at that moment a negro came out on the veranda of the hotel--only the older people called it a tavern--and rang the bell that meant breakfast in half an hour. "what's that?" inquired mr. sanders, though he knew well enough. "it's pure habit," replied the colonel. "that nigger has been ringing the bell so long that he can't quit it. anyhow, you can't go to the tavern, and you can't go to tomlin's. he's got a mighty big family to support, tomlin has. he's fixin' up to have a son-in-law, and he's already got a daughter, and old minervy ann, who brags that she can eat as much as she can cook. no, you can't impose on tomlin." "then, what in the world will i do?" mr. sanders asked with a laugh. he was perfectly familiar with the tactics of the colonel. "well, there wasn't any small-pox or measles at my house when i left day before yesterday. suppose we go there, and see if there's anything the matter. if the stable hasn't blown away or burned down, maybe you'll find a place for your horse, and then we can scuffle around maybe, and find something to eat. that's a fine animal you're on. he's the one, i reckon, that walked the stringer, after the bridge had been washed away. i never could swallow that tale, mr. sanders." "nor me nuther," replied mr. sanders. "all i know is that he took me across the river one dark night after a fresh, an' some folks on t'other side wouldn't believe i had come across. they got to the place whar the bridge ought to 'a' been long before dark, and they found it all gone except one stringer. i seed the stringer arterwards, but i never could make up my mind that my hoss walked it wi' me a-straddle of his back." "still, if he was my horse," colonel blasengame remarked, "i wouldn't take a thousand dollars for him, and i reckon you've heard it rumoured around that i haven't got any more money than two good steers could pull." mr. sanders turned his horse's head in the direction that colonel blasengame was going, and when they arrived at his home, he stopped at the gate. "mr. sanders," he said, taking out his watch, "i'll bet you two dollars and a half to a horn button that breakfast will be ready in ten minutes, and that everything will be fixed as if company was expected." and it was true. by the time the horse had been put in the stable and fed, breakfast was ready, and when mr. sanders was ushered into the room, mrs. blasengame was sitting in her place at the table pouring out coffee. she was a frail little woman, but her eyes were bright with energy, and she greeted the unexpected guest as cordially as if he had come on her express invitation. she had little to say at any time, but when she spoke her words were always to the purpose. "what did you accomplish?" she asked her husband, after mr. sanders, as in duty bound, had praised the coffee and the biscuit, and the meal was well under way. "nothing, honey; not a thing in the world. i thought the boys had been carried to atlanta, but they are at fort pulaski." mrs. blasengame said nothing more, and the colonel was for talking about something else, but the curiosity of mr. sanders was aroused. "what boys was you referrin' to, colonel?" he asked. "i don't like to tell you, mr. sanders," replied colonel blasengame, "but if you'll take no offence, i'll say that the boys are from a little one-horse country settlement called shady dale, a place where the people are asleep day and night. a parcel of yankees went over there the other night, snatched four boys out of their beds, and walked off with them." "that's so," mr. sanders assented. "yes, it's so," cried the colonel hotly. "and it's a----" he caught the eye of his wife and subsided. "excuse me, honey; i'm rather wrought up over this thing. what worries me," he went on, "is that the boys were yerked out of bed, and carried off, and then their own families went to sleep again. but suppose they didn't turn over and go back to sleep: doesn't that make matters worse? i can't understand it to save my life. why, if it had happened here, the whole town would have been wide awake in ten minutes, and the boys would never have been carried across the corporation line. tomlin is mighty near wild about it. if i hadn't gone to atlanta, he would have gone; and you know how he is, honey. somebody would have got hurt." yet, strange to say, major tomlin perdue was far cooler and more deliberate than his brother-in-law, colonel blasengame. it was the peculiarity of each that he was anxious to assume all the dangerous responsibilities with which the other might be confronted; and the only serious dispute between the two men was in the shape of a hot controversy as to which should call to account the writer of a card in which major perdue was criticised somewhat more freely than politeness warranted. "you are correct in your statement about the four boys bein' took away," said mr. sanders, "but you'll have to remember that the woods ain't so full of blasengames an' perdues as they used to be; an' you ain't got in this town a big, heavy balance-wheel the size an' shape of meriwether clopton." "yes, dear, you were about to be too hasty in your remarks," suggested mrs. blasengame. her soft voice had a strangely soothing effect on her husband. "if some of our young men had been seized, all of us, including you, my dear, would have been in a state of paralysis, just as our friends in shady dale were." "the only man in town that know'd it," mr. sanders explained, "was silas tomlin. he was sleepin' in the same room wi' paul, an' they rousted him out, an' took him along. they carried him four or five mile. he had to walk back, an' by the time he got home, the sun was up." "that puts a new light on it," said the colonel, "and tomlin will be as glad to hear it as i am. but i wonder what the rest of the state will think of us." "my dear, didn't these young men, and the yankees who arrested them, take the train here?" inquired mrs. blasengame. she nodded to mr. sanders, and a peculiar smile began to play over that worthy's features. "by george! i believe they did, honey!" exclaimed the colonel. "and in broad daylight?" persisted the lady. to this the colonel made no reply, and mr. sanders became the complainant. "i dunner what we're comin' to," he declared, "when a passel of yankees can yerk four of our best young men on a train in this town in broad daylight, an' all the folks a-stanin' aroun' gapin' at 'em, an' wonderin' what they're gwine to do next." "say no more, mr. sanders; say no more--the mule is yours." this in the slang of the day meant that the point at issue had been surrendered. "i suppose lucy lumsden is utterly crushed on gabriel's account," remarked mrs. blasengame. "crushed!" exclaimed mr. sanders; "no, ma'am! not much, if any. she's fightin' mad." "i know well how she feels," said the pale, bright-eyed little woman. "it is a pity the men can't have the same feeling." "why, honey, what good would it do?" the colonel asked, somewhat querulously. "it would do no good; it would do harm--to some people." "and yet," said the colonel, turning to mr. sanders with a protesting frown on his face, "when i want to show some fellow that i'm still on top of the ground, or when tomlin takes down his gun and goes after some rascal, she makes such a racket that you'd think the world was coming to an end." "a racket! i make a racket? why, mr. blasengame, i'm ashamed of you! the idea!" "well, racket ain't the word, i reckon; but you look so sorry, honey, that to me it's the same as making a racket. it takes all the grit out of me when i know that you are sitting here, wondering what minute i'll be brought home cut into jiblets, or shot full of holes." mrs. blasengame laughed, as she rose from the table. she stood tiptoe to pin a flower in her husband's button-hole. "you've missed a good deal, mr. sanders," said the colonel, stooping to kiss his wife. "you don't know what a comfort it is to have a little bit of a woman to boss you, and cuss you out with her eyes when you git on the wrong track." "yes," said mr. sanders, "i allers feel like a widower when i see a man reely in love wi' his wife. it's a sight that ain't as common as it used to be. we'll go now, if you're ready, an' see the major. i ain't got much time to tarry." "oh, you want me to go too?" said the colonel eagerly. "well, i'm your man; you can just count on me, no matter what scheme you've got on hand." they went to major perdue's, and were ushered in by minervy ann. "i'm mighty glad you come," said she; "kaze 'taint been ten minnits sence marse tomlin wuz talkin' 'bout gwine over dar whar you live at; an' he ain't got no mo' business in de hot sun dan a rabbit is got in a blazin' brushpile. miss vallie done tole 'im so, an' i done tole 'im so. he went ter bed wid de headache, an' he got up wid it; an' what you call dat, ef 'taint bein' sick? but, sick er well, he'll be mighty glad ter see you." aunt minervy ann made haste to inform the major that he had visitors. "i tuck 'em in de settin'-room," she said, "kaze dat parlour look ez cold ez a funer'l. it give me de shivers eve'y time i go in dar. de cheers set dar like dey waitin' fer ter make somebody feel like dey ain't welcome, an' dat ar sofy look like a coolin'-board." mr. sanders was very much at home in the major's house; he had dandled vallie on his knee when she was a baby; and he had made the major's troubles his own as far as he could. consequently the greeting he received was as cordial as he could have desired. "major," he said, when he found opportunity to state the nature of his business, "do you know young gabe tolliver?" "mighty well--mighty well," responded major perdue, "and a fine boy he is. he'll make his mark some day." "not onless we do somethin' to help him out. they ain't no way in the world he can prove that he didn't kill that feller hotchkiss. ike varner done the killin', but he's gone, an' i think his wife is fixin' to go to atlanta. they've got the dead wood on gabriel. they ain't no case at all ag'in the rest; but you know how gabriel is--he goes moonin' about in the fields both day an' night, an' it's mighty hard for to put your finger on him when you want him. an' to make it wuss, hotchkiss called his name more'n once before he died. it looks black for gabriel, an' we must do somethin' for him." major perdue leaned forward a little, a frown on his face, and stretched forth his left hand, in the palm of which he placed the forefinger of his right. "i'll tell you what, mr. sanders, i'm just as much obliged to you for coming to me as if you had saved me from drowning. i have come to the point where i can't hold in much longer, and maybe you'll keep me from making a fool of myself. i'll say beforehand, i don't care what your plan is; i don't care to know it--just count on me." "and where do i come in?" colonel blasengame inquired. "right by my side," responded major perdue. without further preliminaries, mr. sanders set forth the details of the programme that had arranged itself in his mind, and when he was through, major perdue leaned back in his chair, and gazed with admiration at the bland and child-like countenance of this georgia cracker. the innocence of childhood shone in mr. sanders's blue eyes. "i swear, mr. sanders, i'm sorry i didn't have the pleasure of serving with you in virginia. if there is anything in this world that i like it's a man with a head on him, and that's what you've got. you can count on us if we are alive. i don't know how bolivar feels about it, but i feel that you have done me a great favour in thinking of me in connection with this business. you couldn't pay either of us a higher compliment." "tomlin expresses my views exactly," said colonel blasengame; "yet i feel that one of us will be enough. it may be that your scheme will fail, and that those who are engaged in it will have to take the consequence. now, i'd rather take 'em alone than to have tumlin mixed up with it." "fiddlesticks, bolivar! you couldn't keep me out of it unless you had a bench-warrant served on me five minutes before the train left, and if you try that, i'll have one served on you. now, don't forget to tell tidwell that i'll be glad to renew that dispute. i bear no malice, but when it comes to a row, i don't need malice to keep my mind and my gun in working order. i'm going down to malvern to-morrow, and before i come away, i'll have everything fixed. there are some details, you know, that never occurred to you: the police, for instance. well, the chief of police is a very good friend of mine, and the major was bolivar's adjutant." "well, i thank the lord for all his mercies!" cried mr. sanders; and he meant what he said. chapter twenty-eight _nan and margaret_ it was hinted in some of the early chapters of this chronicle that none of the characters would turn out to be very heroic, but this was a mistake. the chronicler had forgotten a few episodes that grew out of the expedition of cephas to fort pulaski--episodes that should have stood out clear in his memory from the first. cephas was very meek and humble when he started on his expedition, so much so that there were long moments when he would have given a large fortune, if he had possessed it, to be safe at home with his mother. a hundred times he asked himself why he had been foolish enough to come away from home, and trust himself to the cold mercy of the world; and he promised himself faithfully that if he ever got back home alive, he would never leave there again. captain falconer was very kind and attentive to the lad, but he was also very inquisitive. he asked cephas a great many artful questions, all leading up to the message he was to deliver to gabriel; but the instructions he had received from mr. sanders made cephas more than a match for the captain. when the lad came to the years of maturity, he often wondered how a plain and comparatively ignorant countryman could foresee the questions that were to be asked, and provide simple and satisfactory answers to them; and the matter is still a mystery. well, cephas was not a hero when he started, and if the truth is to be told, he developed none of the symptoms until he had returned home safely, accompanied by mr. sanders. then he became the lion of the village, and was sought after by old and young. all wanted to hear the story of his wonderful adventures. he speedily became a celebrated cephas, and when he found that he was really regarded as a hero by his schoolmates, and by some of the young women, he was quick to appropriate the character. he became reticent; he went about with a sort of weary and travel-worn look, as if he had seen everything that was worth seeing, and heard everything that was worth hearing. now, what cephas had seen and heard was bad enough. he could hardly be brought to believe that the haggard and wild-eyed young fellow who answered to gabriel's name at the fort was the gabriel that he had known, and when he made up his mind that it really was gabriel, he couldn't hold the tears back. "brace up, old man," said gabriel. it was then in a choking voice that cephas delivered mr. sanders's message, using the dog-latin which they both knew so well. and in that tongue gabriel told cephas of the tortures to which he and his fellow-prisoners had been subjected, of the horrors of the sweat-boxes, and the terrors of the wrist-rack. so effective was the narrative that gabriel rattled off in the school tongue, that when he was ordered back to his solitary cell, cephas turned away weeping. he was no hero then; he was simply a small boy with a tender heart. there were grave faces at shady dale when cephas told what he had seen and heard. major tomlin perdue, of halcyondale, became almost savage when he heard of the indignities to which the unfortunate young men had been subjected. he wrote a card and published it in the _malvern recorder_, and the card was so much to the purpose, and created such indignation in the state, that the authorities at washington took cognisance thereof, and issued orders that there was to be no more torture of the prisoners. this fact, however, was not known until months afterward, and, meanwhile, the newspapers of georgia were giving a wide publicity to the cruelties which had been practised on the young men, and radicalism became the synonym of everything that was loathsome and detestable. reprisals were made in all parts of the state, and as was to be expected, the negroes were compelled to bear the brunt of all the excitement and indignation. the tale that cephas told to mr. sanders was modest when compared to the inventions that occurred to his mind after he found how easy it was to be a hero. though he pretended to be heartily tired of the whole subject, there was nothing that tickled him more than to be cornered by a crowd of his schoolmates and comrades, all intent on hearing anew the awful recital which cephas had prepared after his return. one of the first to seek cephas out was nan dorrington, and this was precisely what the young hero wanted. he was very cold and indifferent when nan besought him to tell her all about his trip. how did he enjoy himself? and didn't he wish he was back at home many a time? and what did paul and jesse have to say? ah, cephas had his innings now! "i didn't see paul and jesse," replied cephas, "and i didn't see francis bethune." "did they have them hid?" asked nan. "i don't know. the one i saw was in a black dungeon. i couldn't hardly see his face, and when i did see it, i was sorry i saw it." cephas leaned back against the fence with the air of a fellow who has seen too much. nan was dying to ask a hundred questions about the one cephas had seen, but she resented his indifferent and placid attitude. all heroes are placid and indifferent when they discuss their deeds, but they wouldn't be if the public in general felt toward them as nan felt toward cephas. the only reason she didn't seize the little fellow and give him a good shaking was the fact that she was dying to hear all he had to say about his visit, and all about gabriel. gradually cephas thawed out. one or the other had to surrender, and the small boy had no such incentive to silence as nan had. his pride was not involved, whereas nan would have gone to the rack and suffered herself to be pulled to pieces before she would have asked any direct questions about gabriel. "i'm mighty sorry i went," said cephas finally, and then he stopped short. "why?" inquired nan. "oh, well--i don't know exactly. i thought i would find everybody just like they were before they went away, but the one i saw looked like a drove of mules had trompled on him. he didn't have on any coat, and his shirt was torn and dirty, and his face looked like he had been sick a month. his eyes were hollow, and had black circles around them." "did he say anything?" asked nan in a low tone. "yes, he said, 'brace up, old man.'" "was that all?" "and then he asked if anybody had sent him any word, and i said, 'nobody but mr. sanders'; and then he said, 'i might have known that he wouldn't forget me.'" cephas could see nan crushing her handkerchief in her hand, and he enjoyed it immensely. "was he angry with any one?" nan asked. "why, when did anybody ever hear of his being angry with any one he thought was a friend?" exclaimed cephas scornfully. nan writhed at this, and cephas went on. "he had been tied up by the wrists, and then he had been put in a sweat-box, and nearly roasted--yes, by grabs! pretty nigh cooked." "why, you didn't tell his grandmother that," said nan. "well, i should say not!" exclaimed cephas. "what do you take me for? do you reckon i'd tell that to anybody that cared anything for him? why, i wouldn't tell his grandmother that for anything in the world, and if she was to ask me about it, i'd deny it." this arrow went home. cephas had the unmixed pleasure of seeing nan turn pale. "i think you are simply awful," she gasped. "you are cruel, and you are unkind. you know very well that i care something for gabriel. haven't we been friends since we were children together? do you suppose i have no feelings?" "i know what you said when i told you i was going to see gabriel." "what was that?" inquired nan. "why, you said, 'well, what is that to me?'" exclaimed cephas. he twisted his face awry, and mimicked nan's voice with considerable success, only he made it more spiteful than that charming young woman could have done. "yes, i did say that, but didn't i go to your house, and tell you what to say to gabriel?" cephas laughed scornfully. "did you think i was going to swallow the joke that you and that claiborne girl hatched up between you? do you reckon i'm fool enough to tell gabriel that you'll die if he don't come home soon?" "you didn't tell him, then?" "no, i didn't," replied cephas. "i would cut off one of my fingers before i'd let him know that there were people here at home making fun of him." nan gazed at cephas as if she suspected him of a joke. but she saw that he was very much in earnest. "i'm glad you didn't tell him," she said finally. then she laughed, saying, "cephas, i really did think you had a little sense." "i have sense enough not to hurt the feelings of them that like me," the boy replied. and he went on his way, trying to reconcile the nan dorrington who used to be so kind to him with the nan dorrington who was flirting and flitting around with long skirts on. he failed, as older and more experienced persons have failed. but you may be sure that he felt himself no less a hero because nan dorrington had hinted that he had no sense. he knew where the lack of sense was. after awhile, when interested persons ceased to run after him to get all the particulars of his visit to fort pulaski, he threw himself in their way, and when the details of his journey began to pall on the appetite of his friends, he invented new ones, and in this way managed to keep the centre of the stage for some time. when he could no longer interest the older folk, he had the school-children to fall back upon, and you may believe that he caused the youngsters to sit with open-mouthed wonder at the tales he told. the fact that he stammered a little, and sometimes hesitated for a word, made not the slightest difference with his audience of young people. there was one fact that bothered cephas. he had been told that francis bethune was in love with margaret gaither, and he knew that the young man was a constant caller at neighbour tomlin's, where margaret lived. indeed, he had carried notes to her from the young man, and had faithfully delivered the replies. he judged, therefore, as well as a small boy can judge, that there was some sort of an understanding between the two, and he itched for the opportunity to pour the tale of his adventures into margaret's ears. he loitered around the house, and threw himself in margaret's way when she went out visiting or shopping. she greeted him very kindly on each particular occasion, but not once did she betray any interest in francis bethune or his fellow-prisoners. when nan met cephas, on the occasion of the interview which has just been reported, she was on her way to neighbour tomlin's to pay a visit to margaret, and thither she went, after giving cephas the benefit of her views as to his mental capacity. margaret happened to be out at the moment, but miss fanny insisted that nan should come in anyhow. "margaret will be back directly," miss fanny said; "she has only gone to the stores to match a piece of ribbon. besides, i want to talk to you a little while. but good gracious! what is the matter with you? i expected cheerfulness from you at least, but what do i find? well, you and margaret should live in the same house; they say misery loves company. here i was about to ask you why margaret is unhappy, and i find you looking out of margaret's eyes. are you unhappy, too?" "no, aunt fanny, i'm not unhappy; i'm angry. i don't see why girls should become grown. why, i was always in a good humour until i put on long skirts, and then my troubles began. i can neither run nor play; i must be on my dignity all the time for fear some one will raise her hands and say, 'do look at that nan dorrington! isn't she a bold piece?' i never was so tired of anything in my life as i am of being grown. i never will get used to it." "oh, you'll get in the habit of it after awhile, child," said miss fanny. "but i never would have believed that nan dorrington would care very much for what people said." "oh, it isn't on my account that i care," remarked nan, with a toss of her head, "but i don't want my friends to have their feelings hurt by what other people say. if there is anything in this world i detest it is dignity--i don't mean margaret's kind, because she was born so and can't help it--but the kind that is put on and taken off like a summer bonnet. if i can't be myself, i'll do like leese clopton did, i'll go into a convent." "well, you certainly would astonish the nuns when you began to cut some of your capers," miss fanny declared. "am i as bad as all that? tell me honestly, aunt fanny, now while i am in the humour to hear it, what do i do that is so terrible?" "honestly, nan, you do nothing terrible at all. not even miss puella gillum could criticise you." "why, miss puella never criticises any one. she's just as sweet as she can be." "well, she's an old maid, you know, and old maids are supposed to be critical," said miss fanny. "i'll tell you where all the trouble is, nan: you are sensitive, and you have an idea that you must behave as some of the other girls do--that you must hold your hands and your head just so. if you would be yourself, and forget all about etiquette and manners, you'd satisfy everybody, especially yourself." "why, that is what worries me now; i do forget all about those things, and then, all of a sudden, i realise that i am acting like a child, and a very noisy child at that, and then i'm afraid some one will make remarks. it is all very miserable and disagreeable, and i wish there wasn't a long skirt in the world." "well, when you get as old as i am," sighed miss fanny, "you won't mind little things like that. margaret is coming now. i'll leave you with her. try to find out why she is unhappy. pulaski is nearly worried to death about it, and so am i." margaret gaither came in as sedately as an old woman. she was very fond of nan, and greeted her accordingly. whatever her trouble was, it had made no attack on her health. she had a fine color, and her eyes were bright; but there was the little frown between her eyebrows that had attracted the attention of gabriel, and it gave her a troubled look. "if you'll tell me something nice and pleasant," she said to nan, "i'll be under many obligations to you. tell me something funny, or if you don't know anything funny, tell me something horrible--anything for a change. i saw cephas downtown; that child has been trying for days to tell me of his adventures, and i have been dying to hear them. but i keep out of his way; i am so perverse that i refuse to give myself that much pleasure. oh, if you only knew how mean i am, you wouldn't sit there smiling. i hear that the dear boys are having a good deal of trouble. well, it serves them right; they had no business to be boys. they should have been girls; then they would have been perfectly happy all the time. don't you think so, sweet child?" nan regarded her friend with astonishment. she had never heard her talk in such a strain before. "why, what is the matter with you, margaret? you know that girls can be as unhappy as boys; yes, and a thousand times more so." "oh, i'll never believe it! never!" cried margaret. "why, do you mean to tell me that any girl can be unhappy? you'll have to prove it, nan; you'll have to give the name, and furnish dates, and then you'll have to give the reason. do you mean to insinuate that you intend to offer yourself as the horrible example? fie on you, nan! you're in love, and you mistake that state for unhappiness. why, that is the height of bliss. look at me! i'm in love, and see how happy i am!" "i know one thing," said nan, and her voice was low and subdued, "if you go on like that, you'll frighten me away. do you want to make your best friends miserable?" "why, certainly," replied margaret. "what are friends for? i should dislike very much to have a friend that i couldn't make miserable. but if you think you are going to run away, come up to my room and we'll lock ourselves in, and then i know you can't get away." "now, what is the matter?" nan insisted, when they had gone upstairs, and were safe in margaret's room. she had seized her friend in her arms, and her tone was imploring. "i don't think i can tell you, nan; you would consider me a fool, and i want to keep your good opinion. but i can tell you a part of my troubles. he wants me to marry francis bethune! think of that!" she paused and looked at nan. "well, why don't you congratulate me?" "i'll never believe that," said nan, decisively. "did he say that he wanted you to marry frank bethune?" the "he" in this case was pulaski tomlin. "well, he didn't insist on it; he's too kind for that. but francis has been coming here very often, until our friends in blue gave him a much-needed rest, and i suppose i must have been going around looking somewhat gloomy; you know how i am--i can't be gay; and then he asked me what the trouble was, and finally said that francis would make me a good husband. why, i could have killed myself! think of me, in this house, and occupying the position i do!" such heat and fury nan had never seen her friend display before. "why, margaret!" she cried, "you don't know what you are saying. why, if he or aunt fanny could hear you, they would be perfectly miserable. i don't see how you can feel that way." "no, you don't, and i hope you never will!" exclaimed margaret. "nobody knows how i feel. if i could, i would tell you--but i can't, i can't!" "margaret," said nan, in a most serious tone, "has he or aunt fanny ever treated you unkindly?" nan was prepared to hear the worst. "unkindly!" cried margaret, bursting into tears; "oh, i wish they would! i wish they would treat me as i deserve to be treated. oh, if he would treat me cruelly, or do something to wound my feelings, i would bless him." margaret had led nan into a strange country, so to speak, and she knew not which way to turn or what to say. something was wrong, but what? of all nan's acquaintances, margaret was the most self-contained, the most evenly balanced. many and many a time nan had envied margaret's serenity, and now here she was in tears, after talking as wildly as some hysterical person. "come home with me, margaret," cried nan. "maybe the change would do you good." "i thank you, nan. you are as good as you can be; you are almost as good as the people here; but i can't go. i can't leave this house for any length of time until i leave it for good. i'd be wild to get back; my misery fascinates me; i hate it and hug it." "i am sure that i don't understand you at all," said nan, in a tone of despair. "no, and you never will," margaret affirmed. "to understand you would have to feel as i do, and i hope you may be spared that experience all the days of your life." after awhile nan decided that margaret would be more comfortable if she were alone, and so she bade her friend good-bye, and went downstairs, where she found miss fanny awaiting her somewhat impatiently. "well, what is the trouble, child?" she asked. nan shook her head. "i don't know, aunt fanny, and i don't believe she knows herself." "but didn't she give you some hint--some intimation? i don't want to be inquisitive, child; but if she's in trouble, i want to find some remedy for it. pulaski is in a terrible state of mind about her, and i am considerably worried myself. we love her just as much as if she were our own, and yet we can't go to her and make a serious effort to discover what is worrying her. she is proud and sensitive, and we have to be very careful. oh, i hope we have done nothing to wound that child's feelings." "it isn't that," replied nan. "i asked her, and she said that you treated her too kindly." "well," sighed miss fanny, "if she won't confide in us, she'll have to bear her troubles alone. it is a pity, but sometimes it is best." and then there came a knock on the door, and it was so sudden and unexpected that nan gave a jump. chapter twenty-nine _bridalbin finds his daughter_ "they's a gentleman out there what says he wanter see miss bridalbin," said the house-girl who had gone to the door. "i tol' him they wan't no sech lady here, but he say they is. it's that there mr. borin'," the girl went on, "an' i didn't know if you'd let him go in the parlour." "yes, ask him in the parlour," said miss fanny, "and then go upstairs and tell miss margaret that some one wants to see her." "oh, yessum!" said the house-girl with a laugh; "it's miss marg'ret; i clean forgot her yuther name." "the rascal certainly has impudence," remarked miss fanny. "pulaski should know about this." whereupon, she promptly called neighbour tomlin out of the library, and he came into the room just as margaret came downstairs. "wait one moment, margaret," he said. "it may be well for me to see what this man wants--unless----" he paused. "do you know this boring?" "no; i have heard of him. i have never even seen him that i know of." "then i'll see him first," said neighbour tomlin. he went into the parlour, and those who were listening heard a subdued murmur of voices. "what is your business with miss bridalbin?" neighbour tomlin asked, ignoring the proffered hand of the visitor. "i am her father." neighbour tomlin stood staring at the man as if he were dazed. bridalbin's face bore the unmistakable marks of alcoholism, and he had evidently prepared himself for this interview by touching the bottle, for he held himself with a swagger. neighbour tomlin said not a word in reply to the man's declaration. he stared at him, and turned and went back into the sitting-room where he had left the others. "why, pulaski, what on earth is the matter?" cried miss fanny, as he entered the room. "you look as if you had seen a ghost." and indeed his face was white, and there was an expression in his eyes that nan thought was most piteous. "go in, my dear," he said to margaret. "the man has business with you." and then, when margaret had gone out, he turned to miss fanny. "it is her father," he said. "well, i wonder what's he up to?" remarked miss fanny. there was a touch of anger in her voice. "she shan't go a step away from here with such a creature as that." "she is her own mistress, sister. she is twenty years old," replied neighbour tomlin. "well, she'll be very ungrateful if she leaves us," said miss fanny, with some emphasis. "don't, sister; never use that word again; to me it has an ugly sound. we have had no thought of gratitude in the matter. if there is any debt in the matter, we are the debtors. we have not been at all happy in the way we have managed things. i have seen for some time that margaret is unhappy; and we have no business to permit unhappiness to creep into this house." so said neighbour tomlin, and the tones of his voice seemed to issue from the fountains of grief. "well, i am sure i have done all i could to make the poor child happy," miss fanny declared. "i am sure of that," said neighbour tomlin. "if any mistake has been made it is mine. and yet i have never had any other thought than to make margaret happy." "i know that well enough, pulaski," miss fanny assented, "and i have sometimes had an idea that you thought too much about her for your own good." "that is true," he replied. he was a merciless critic of himself in matters both great and small, and he had no concealments to make. he was open as the day, except where openness might render others unhappy or uncomfortable. "yes, you are right," he insisted; "i have thought too much about her happiness for my own good, and now i see myself on the verge of great trouble." "if margaret understood the situation," said miss fanny, "i think she would feel differently." "on the contrary, i think she understands the situation perfectly well; that is the only explanation of her troubles which she has not sought to conceal." at that moment margaret came to the door. her face was very pale, almost ghastly, indeed, but whatever trouble may have looked from her eyes before, they were clear now. she came into the room with a little smile hovering around her mouth. she had no eyes for any one but pulaski tomlin, and to him she spoke. "my father has come," she said. "he is not such a father as i would have selected; still, he is my father. i knew him the moment i opened the door. he wants me to go with him; he says he is able to provide for me. he has claims on me." "have we none?" miss fanny asked. "more than anybody in the world," replied margaret, turning to her; "more than all the rest of the world put together. but i have always said to myself," she addressed neighbour tomlin again, "that if it should ever happen that i found myself unable to carry out your wishes, sir, it would be best for me to leave your roof, where all my happiness has come to me." she was very humble, both in speech and demeanour. neighbour tomlin looked at her with a puzzled and a grieved expression. "why, i don't understand you, margaret," said neighbour tomlin. "what wish of mine have you found yourself unable to carry out?" "only one, sir; but that was a very important one; you desired me to marry mr. bethune." "i? why, you were never more mistaken in your life," replied neighbour tomlin, with what miss fanny thought was unnecessary energy. "i may have suggested it; i saw you gloomy and unhappy, and i had observed the devotion of the young man. what more natural than for me to suggest that--margaret! you are giving me a terrible wound!" he turned and went into the library, and margaret ran after him. it is probable that nan knows better than any outsider what occurred then. it seems that margaret, in her excitement, forgot to close the door after her, and nan was sitting where she could see pretty much everything that happened; and she had a delicious little tale to tell her dear johnny when she went home, a tale so impossible and romantic that she forgot her own troubles, and fairly glowed with happiness. but it is best not to depend too much on what nan saw, though her sight was fairly good where her interests were enlisted. margaret ran after neighbour tomlin and seized him by the arm. "oh, i never meant to wound you," she cried--"you who have been so kind, and so good! oh, if you could only read my heart, you would forgive me, instantly and forever." "i can read my own heart," said neighbour tomlin, "and it has but one feeling for you." "then kiss me good-bye," she said. "i am going with my father." "if i kiss you," he replied, "you'll not go." she looked at him, and he at her, and she found herself in the focus of a light that enabled her to see everything more clearly. she caught his secret and he hers, and there was no longer any room for misunderstanding. her father, weak as he was, had been strong enough to provide his daughter with a remedy for the only serious trouble, short of bereavement, that his daughter was ever to know. she refused to return to the parlour, where he awaited her. "shall i go?" said neighbour tomlin. "if you please, sir," said margaret, with a faint smile. she could hardly realise the change that had so suddenly taken place in her hopes and her plans, so swift and unexpected had it been. neighbour tomlin went into the parlour, and made bridalbin acquainted with the facts. "margaret has changed her mind," said neighbour tomlin. "she thinks it is best to remain under the care and protection of those whom she knows better than she knows her father." "why, she seemed eager to go a moment ago," said bridalbin; "and you must remember that she is my daughter." "her friends couldn't forget that under all the circumstances," neighbour tomlin remarked drily. "i believe her mind has been poisoned against me," bridalbin declared. "that is quite possible," replied neighbour tomlin; "and i think you could easily guess the name of the poisoner." "may i see my daughter?" "that rests entirely with her," said neighbor tomlin. but margaret refused to see him again. since her own troubles had been so completely swept away, her memory reverted to all the troubles her mother had to endure, as the result of bridalbin's lack of fixed principles, and she sent him word that she would prefer not to see him then or ever afterward; and so the man went away, more bent on doing mischief than ever, though he was compelled to change his field of operations. and then, after he was gone, a silence fell on the company. nan appeared to be in a dazed condition, while miss fanny sat looking out of the window. margaret, very much subdued, was clinging to nan, and neighbour tomlin was pacing up and down in the library in a glow of happiness. all his early dreams had come back to him, and they were true. the romance of his youth had been changed into a reality. margaret was the first to break the silence. she left nan, and went slowly to miss fanny, and stood by her chair. "what do you think of me?" she said, in a low voice. for answer, miss fanny rose and placed her arms around the girl, and held her tightly for a moment, and then kissed her. "but i do think, my dear," she said with an effort to laugh, "that the matter might have been arranged without frightening us to death." "i had no thought of frightening you. oh, i am afraid i had no thought for anything but my own troubles. did you know? did you guess?" "i knew about pulaski, but i had to go away from home to learn the news about you. madame awtry called my attention to it, and then with my eyes upon, i could see a great many things that were not visible before." "why, how could she know?" cried margaret. "i have talked with her not more than a half dozen times." "she is a very wise woman," miss fanny remarked, by way of explanation. "well, when i get in love, i'll not visit madame awtry," said nan. "my dear, you have been there once too often," miss fanny declared. "why, what has she been telling you?" inquired nan, blushing very red. "i'll not disclose your secrets, nan," answered miss fanny. "i would thank you kindly, if i had any," said nan. and then, suddenly, while margaret was standing with her arms around miss fanny, she began to blush and show signs of embarrassment. "nan," she said, "will you take a boarder for--for--for i don't know how long?" "not for long, nan. say a couple of weeks." it was neighbour tomlin who spoke, as he came out of the library. "oh, for longer than that," protested margaret. "you must remember that i am getting old, child," he said very solemnly. "so am i, sir," she said archly. "i am quite as old as you are, i think." "this is the first quarrel," nan declared, "and who knows how it will all end? you are to come and stay as long as you please, and then after that, you are to stay as long as i please." "i declare, nan, you talk like an old woman!" exclaimed miss fanny; whereupon nan laughed and said she had to be serious sometimes. and so it was arranged that margaret was to stay with nan for an indefinite period. "i hope you will come to see me occasionally, mr. tomlin, and you too, aunt fanny," she said with mock formality. "we shall have days for receiving company, just as the fine ladies do in the cities; and you'll have to send in your cards." the two young women refused to go in the carriage. "it is so small and stuffy," said margaret to neighbour tomlin, "and to-day i want to be in the fresh air. if you please, sir, don't look at me like that, or i can never go." she went close to him. "oh, is it all true? is it really and truly true, or is it a dream?" "it is true," he said, kissing her. "it is a dream, but it is my dream come true." "i didn't think," she said, as she went along with nan, "that the world was as beautiful as it seems to be to-day." "mr. sanders says," replied nan, "that it is the most comfortable world he has ever found; but somehow--well, you know we can't all be happy the same way at the same time." "your day is still to come," said margaret, "and when it does, i want to be there." "you say that," remarked nan, "but you know you would have felt better if you hadn't had so much company. for a wonder tasma tid wouldn't go in the house with me. she said something was happening in there. now, how did she know?" tasma tid had joined them as they came through the gate, and now nan turned to her with the question. "huh! we know dem trouble w'en we see um. dee ain't no trouble now. she done gone--dem trouble. but yan' come mo'." she pointed to miss polly gaither, who came toddling along with her work-bag and her turkey-tail fan. "howdy, girls? i'm truly glad to see you. you are looking well both of you, and health is a great blessing. i have just been to lucy lumsden's, nan, and she thinks a great deal of you. i could tell you things that would turn your head. but i'm really sorry for lucy; she's almost as lonely as i am. they say gabriel is sure to be dealt with; i'm told there is no other way out of it. have you two heard anything?" margaret and nan shook their heads, but gestures of that kind were not at all satisfactory to miss polly. "they say that little cephas was sent down to prepare gabriel for the worst. but i didn't say a word about that to lucy, and if you two girls go there, you must be very careful not to drop a word about it. lucy is getting old, and she can't bear up under trouble as she used to could. she has aged wonderfully in the past few weeks. don't you think so, nan?" she held up her ear-trumpet as she spoke, and nan made a great pretence of yelling into it, though not a sound issued from her lips. miss polly frowned. "don't talk so loud, my dear; you will make people think i'm a great deal deafer than i am. but you always would yell at me, though i have asked you a dozen times to speak only in ordinary tones. well, i don't agree with you about lucy. she has broken terribly since gabriel was carried off; she is not the same woman, she takes no interest in affairs at all. i told her a piece of astonishing news, and she paid no more attention to it than if she hadn't heard it; and she didn't use to be that way. well, we all have our troubles, and you two will have yours when you grow a little older. that is one thing of which there is always enough left to go around. the supply is never exhausted." after delivering this truism, miss polly waved her turkey-tail fan as majestically as she knew how, and went toddling along home. miss polly was a kind-hearted woman, but she couldn't resist the inclination to gossip and tattle. her tattle did no harm, for her weakness was well advertised in that community; but, unfortunately, her deafness had made her both suspicious and irritable. when in company, for instance, she insisted on feeling that people were talking about her when the conversation was not carried on loud enough for her to hear the sound of the voices, if not the substance of what was said, and she had a way of turning to the one closest at hand, with the remark, "they should have better manners than to talk of the afflictions of an old woman, for it is not at all certain that they will escape." naturally this would call out a protest on the part of all present, whereupon miss polly would shake her head, and remark that she was not as deaf as many people supposed; that, in fact, there were days when she could hear almost as well as she heard before the affliction overtook her. "i wonder," said nan, whose curiosity was always ready to be aroused, "what piece of astonishing news miss polly has been telling grandmother lumsden. perhaps she has told her of the events of the morning at mr. tomlin's." "that is absurd, nan," margaret declared. "still, it would make no difference to me. he was the only person that i ever wanted to hide my feelings from. i never so much as dreamed that he could care for me--and, oh, nan! suppose that he should be pretending simply to please me!" "you goose!" cried nan. "whoever heard of that man pretending, or trying to deceive any one? if he was a young man, now, it would be different." "not with all young men," margaret asserted. "there is gabriel tolliver--i don't believe he would deceive any one." "oh, gabriel--but why do you mention gabriel?" "because his eyes are so beautiful and honest," answered margaret. but nan tossed her head; she would never believe anything good about gabriel unless she said it herself--or thought it, for she could think hundreds, yes, thousands, of things about gabriel that she wouldn't dare to breathe aloud, even though there was no living soul within a hundred miles. and that fact needn't make gabriel feel so awfully proud, for there were other persons and things she could think about. ah, well! love is such a restless, suspicious thing, such an irritating, foolish, freakish, solemn affair, that it is not surprising the two young women were somewhat afraid of it when they found themselves in its clutches. chapter thirty _miss polly has some news_ the news which miss polly had laid as a social offering at mrs. lucy lumsden's feet, and which she boasted was very astonishing, had the appearance of absurdity on the face of it. miss polly, with her work-bag and her turkey-tail fan, had paid a very early visit to the lumsden place. she went in very quietly, greeted her old friend in a subdued manner, and then sat staring at her with an expression that mrs. lumsden failed to understand. it might have been the result of special and unmitigated woe, or of physical pain, or of severe fatigue. whatever the cause, it was unnatural, and so gabriel's grandmother made haste to inquire about it. "why, what in the world is the matter, polly? are you ill?" at this miss polly acted as if she had been aroused from a dream or a revery. her work-bag slid from her lap, and her turkey-tail fan would have fallen had it not been attached to her wrist by a piece of faded ribbon. "i declare, lucy, i don't know that i ought to tell you; and i wouldn't if i thought you would repeat it to a living soul. it is more than marvellous; it is, indeed, lucy"--leaning a little nearer, and lowering her voice, which was never very loud--"i honestly believe that ritta claiborne is in love with old silas tomlin! i certainly do." "you must have some reason for believing that," said mrs. lumsden, with a benevolent smile, the cause of which the ear-trumpet could not interpret. "reasons! i have any number, lucy. i'm certain you won't believe me, but it has come to that pass that old silas calls on her every night, and they sit in the parlour there and talk by the hour, sometimes with eugenia, and sometimes without her. it would be no exaggeration at all if i were to tell you that they are talking together in that parlour five nights out of the seven. now, what do they mean by that?" "why, there's nothing in that, polly. i have heard that they are old acquaintances. surely old acquaintances can talk together, and be interested in one another, without being in love. why, very frequently of late meriwether clopton comes here. i hope you don't think i'm in love with him." "certainly not, lucy, most certainly not. but do you have meriwether's portrait hanging in your parlour? and do you go and sit before it, and study it, and sometimes shake your finger at it playfully? i tell you, lucy, there are some queer people in this world, and ritta claiborne is one of them." "she is excellent company," said mrs. lumsden. "she is, she is," miss polly assented. "she is full of life and fun; she sees the ridiculous side of everything; and that is why i can't understand her fondness for old silas. it is away beyond me. why, lucy, she treats that portrait as if it were alive. what she says to it, i can't tell you, for my hearing is not as good now as it was before my ears were affected. but she says something, for i can see her lips move, and i can see her smile. my eyesight is as good now as ever it was. i'm telling you what i saw, not what i heard. the way she went on over that portrait was what first attracted my attention; but for that i would never have had a suspicion. now, what do you think of it, lucy?" "nothing in particular. if it is true, it would be a good thing for silas. he is not as mean as a great many people think he is." "he may not be, lucy," responded miss polly, "but he brings a bad taste in my mouth every time i see him." "well, directly after sherman passed through," said mrs. lumsden, "and when few of us had anything left, silas came to me, and asked if i needed anything, and he was ready to supply me with sufficient funds for my needs." "well, he didn't come to me," miss polly declared with emphasis, "and if anybody in this world had needs, i did. you remember robert gaither? well, silas loaned him some money during the war, and although robert was in a bad way, old silas collected every cent down to the very last, and robert had to go to texas. oh, i could tell you of numberless instances where he took advantage of those who had borrowed from him." "i suppose that mr. lumsden had been kind to silas when he was sowing his wild oats; indeed, i think my husband advanced him money when he had exhausted the supply allowed him by the executors of the tomlin estate." "and just think of it, lucy--ritta claiborne sits there and plays the piano for old silas, and sometimes eugenia goes in and sings, and she has a beautiful voice; i'm not too deaf to know that." it was then that mrs. lumsden leaned over and gave the ear-trumpet some very good advice. "if i were in your place, polly, i wouldn't tell this to any one else. mrs. claiborne is an excellent woman; she comes of a good family, and she is cultured and refined. no doubt she is sensitive, and if she heard that you were spreading your suspicions abroad, she would hardly feel like staying in a house where----" mrs. lumsden paused. she had it on her tongue's-end to say, "in a house where she is spied upon," but she had no desire in the world to offend that simple-minded old soul, who, behind all her peculiarities and afflictions, had a very tender heart. "i know what you mean, lucy," said miss polly, "and your advice is good; but i can't help seeing what goes on under my eyes, and i thought there could be no harm in telling you about it. i am very fond of ritta claiborne, and as for eugenia, why she is simply angelic. i love that child as well as if she were my own. if there's a flaw in her character, i have never found it. i'll say that much." the explanation of miss polly's suspicions is not as simple as her recital of them. no one can account for some of the impulses of the human heart, or the vagaries of the human mind. it is easy to say that after silas tomlin had his last interview with mrs. claiborne, he permitted his mind to dwell on her personality and surroundings, and so fell gradually under a spell. such an explanation is not only easy to imagine, but it is plausible; nevertheless, it would not be true. there is a sort of tradition among the brethren who deal with character in fiction that it must be consistent with itself. this may be necessary in books, for it sweeps away at one stroke ten thousand mysteries and problems that play around the actions of every individual, no matter how high, no matter how humble. how often do we hear it remarked in real life that the actions of such and such an individual are a source of surprise and regret to his friends; and how often in our own experience have we been shocked by the unexpected as it crops out in the actions of our friends and acquaintances! for this and other reasons this chronicler does not propose to explain silas's motives and movements and try to show that they are all consistent with his character, and that, therefore, they were all to be predicated from the beginning. what is certainly true is that silas was one day stopped in the street by eugenia, who inquired about paul. he looked at the girl very gloomily at first, but when he began to talk about the troubles of his son, he thawed out considerably. in this case eugenia's sympathies abounded, in fact were unlimited, and she listened with dewy eyes to everything silas would tell her about paul. "you mustn't think too much about paul," remarked silas grimly, as they were about to part. "thank you, sir," replied eugenia, with a smile, "i'll think just enough and no more. but it was my mother that told me to ask about him if i saw you. she is very fond of him. you never come to see us now," the sly creature suggested. silas stared at her before replying, and tried to find the gleam of mockery in her eyes, or in her smile. he failed, and his glances became shifty again. "why, i reckon she'd kick me down the steps if i called without having some business with her. if you were to ask her who her worst enemy is, she'd tell you that i am the man." "well, sir," replied eugenia archly, "i have been knowing mother a good many years, but i've never seen her put any one out of the house yet. we were talking about you to-day, and she said you must be very lonely, now that paul is away, and i know she sympathises with those who are lonely; i've heard her say so many a time." "yes; that may be true," remarked silas, "but she has special reasons for not sympathising with me. she knows me a great deal better than you do." "i'm afraid you misjudge us both," said eugenia demurely. "if you knew us better, you'd like us better. i'm sure of that." "humph!" grunted silas. then looking hard at the girl, he bluntly asked, "is there anything between you and paul?" "a good many miles, sir, just now," she answered, making one of those retorts that paul thought so fine. "h-m-m; yes, you are right, a good many miles. well, there can't be too many." "i think you are cruel, sir. is paul not to come home any more? paul is a very good friend of mine, and i could wish him well wherever he might be; but how would you feel, sir, if he were never to return?" "well, i must go," said silas somewhat bluntly. when beauty has a glib tongue, abler men than silas find themselves without weapons to cope with it. "shall i tell mother that you have given your promise to call soon?" eugenia asked. "now, i hope you are not making fun of me," cried silas with some irritation. "how could that be, sir? don't you think it would be extremely pert in a young girl to make fun of a gentleman old enough to be her father?" silas winced at the comparison. "well, i have seen some very pert ones," he insisted, and with that he bade her good-day with a very ill grace, and went on about his business, of which he had a good deal of one kind and another. "mother," said eugenia, after she had given an account of her encounter with silas, "i believe the man has a good heart and is ashamed of it." "why, i think the same may be said of most of the grand rascals that we read about in history; and the pity of it is that they would have all been good men if they had had the right kind of women to deal with them and direct their careers." "do you really think so, mother?" the daughter inquired. "i'm sure of it," said the lady. then after all there might be some hope for old silas tomlin. and his instinct may have given him an inkling of the remedy for his particular form of the whimsies, for it was not many days before he came knocking at the lady's door, where he was very graciously received, and most delightfully entertained. both mother and daughter did their utmost to make the hours pass pleasantly, and they succeeded to some extent. for awhile silas was suspicious, then he would resign himself to the temptations of good music and bright conversation. presently he would remember his suspicions, and straighten himself up in his chair, and assume an attitude of defiance; and so the first evening passed. when silas found himself in the street on his way home, he stopped still and reflected. "now, what in the ding-nation is that woman up to? what is she trying to do, i wonder? why, she's as different from what she was when i first knew her as a butterfly is from a caterpillar. why, there ain't a pearter woman on the continent. no wonder paul lost his head in that house! she's up to something, and i'll find out what it is." silas was always suspicious, but on this occasion he bethought himself of the fact that he had not been dragged into the house; he had been under no compulsion to knock at the door; indeed, he had taken advantage of the slightest hint on the part of the daughter--a hint that may have been a mere form of politeness. he remembered, too, that he had frequently gone by the house at night, and had heard the piano going, accompanied by the singing of one or the other of the ladies. his reflections would have made him ashamed of himself, but he had never cultivated such feelings. he left that sort of thing to the women and children. in no long time he repeated his visit, and met with the same pleasurable experience. on this occasion, eugenia remained in the parlour only a short time. for a diversion, the mother played a few of the old-time tunes on the piano, and sang some of the songs that silas had loved in his youth. this done, she wheeled around on the stool, and began to talk about paul. "if i had a son like that," she said, "i should be immensely proud of him." "you have a fine daughter," silas suggested, by way of consolation. she shrugged her shoulders. "yes, but you know we always want that which we have not. yet they say that envy is among the mortal sins." "well, a sin's a sin, i reckon," remarked silas. "oh, no! there are degrees in sin. i used to know a preacher who could run the scale of evil-doing and thinking, just as i can trip along the notes on the piano." "they once tried to make a preacher out of me," remarked silas, "but when i slipped in the church one day and went up into the pulpit, i found it was a great deal too big for me." "they make them larger now," said the lady, "so that they will hold the exhorter and the horrible example at the same time." "did paul ever see my picture there?" asked silas, changing the conversation into a more congenial channel. "why, i think so," replied the lady placidly. "i think he asked about it, and i told him that we had known each other long ago, which was not at all the truth." "what did paul say to that?" asked silas eagerly. "he said that while some people might think you were queer, you had been a good dad to him. i think he said dad, but i'll not be sure." "yes, yes, he said it," cried silas, all in a glow. "that's paul all over; but what will the poor boy think when he finds out what you know?" "why, he'll enjoy the situation," said the lady, laughing. "as you georgians say, he'll be tickled to death." silas regarded her with astonishment, his hands clenched and his thin lips pressed together. "do you think, madam, that it is a matter for a joke? you women----" "can't i have my own views? you have yours, and i make no objection." "but think of what a serious matter it is to me. do you realise that there is nothing but a whim betwixt me and disgrace--betwixt paul and disgrace?" "a whim? why, you are another daniel o'connell! call me a hyperbole, a rectangled triangle, a parenthesis, or a hyphen." she was laughing, and yet it was plain to be seen that she had no relish for the term which silas had unintentionally applied to her. "i meant to say that if the notion seized you, you would fetch us down as a hunter bags a brace of doves." "doves!" exclaimed mrs. claiborne, with a comical lift of the eyebrows. "buzzards, then!" said silas with some heat. "oh, you overdo everything," laughed the lady. "well, there's nobody hurt but me," was silas's gruff reply. "and paul," suggested the lady, with a peculiar smile. "well, when i say paul, i mean myself. i've been called worse names than buzzard by people who were trying to walk off with my money. oh, they didn't call me that to my face," said silas, noticing a queer expression in the lady's eyes. "and people who should have known better have hated me because i didn't fling my money away after i had saved it." "well, you needn't worry about that," mrs. claiborne remarked. "you will have plenty of company in the money-grabbing business before long. i can see signs of it now, and every time i think of it i feel sorry for our young men, yes, and our young women, and the long generations that are to come after them. in the course of a very few years you will find your business to be more respectable than any of the professions. you remember how, before the war, we used to sneer at the yankees for their money-making proclivities? well, it won't be very long before we'll beat them at their own game; and then our politicians will thrive, for each and all of them will have their principles dictated by shylock and his partners." "why, you talk as if you were a politician yourself. but why are you sorry for our young women?" "that was a hasty remark. i am sorry for those who will grow weary and fall by the wayside. the majority of them, and the best of them, will make themselves useful in thousands of ways, and new industries will spring up for their benefit. they will become workers, and, being workers, they will be independent of the men, and finally begin to look down on them as they should." "well!" exclaimed silas, and then he sat and gazed at the lady for the first time with admiration. "where'd you learn all that?" he asked after awhile. "oh, i read the newspapers, and such books as i can lay my hands on, and i remember what i read. didn't you notice that i recited my piece much as a school-boy would?" "no, i didn't," replied silas. "i do a good deal of reading myself, but all those ideas are new to me." "well, they'll be familiar to you just as soon as our people can look around and get their bearings. as for me, i propose to become an advanced woman, and go on the stage; there's nothing like being the first in the field. i always told my husband that if he died and left me without money, i proposed to earn my own living." "you told your husband that? when did you tell him?" inquired silas with some eagerness. "oh, long before he died," replied the lady. silas sat like one stunned. "do you mean to tell me that your husband is dead?" "why, certainly," replied mrs. claiborne. "what possible reason could i have for denying or concealing the fact?" silas straightened himself in his chair, and frowned. "then why did you come here and pretend--pretend--ain't you ritta rozelle, that used to be?" "there were two of them," the lady replied. "they were twins. one was named clarita, and the other floretta, but both were called ritta by those who could not distinguish them apart. i had reason to believe that you hadn't treated my sister as you should have done, and i came here to see if you would take the bait. you snapped it up before the line touched the water. it was not even necessary for me to try to deceive you. you simply shut your eyes and declared that i was your wife and that i had come." "you are the sister who was going to school in--wasn't it boston?" "yes; that is why i am broad-minded and free from guile," remarked the lady with a laugh so merry that it irritated silas. "then you have never been married to me," silas suggested, still frowning. "i thank you kindly, sir, i never have been." "well, you never denied it," he said. "you never gave me an opportunity," she retorted. "you simply sat back, and watched me make a fool of myself." "you express it very well." silas squirmed on his chair. "why, you knew me the minute you saw me!" he cried. "therefore you are still sure i am the woman you married in louisiana. well, the man who was driving the hack the day of my arrival, saw you in the fields, and he made a remark i have never forgotten. he said--she mimicked mr. goodlett as well as she could--'well, dang my hide! ef thar ain't old silas tomlin out huntin'! ef he shoots an' misses he'll pull all his ha'r out.' 'why?' i asked. 'bekaze he can't afford to waste a load of powder an' shot.'" silas tried to smile. he knew that the point of mr. goodlett's joke was lost on the lady. silas tried to smile, but the effort was too much for him, and he frowned instead. "you did all you could to humour my mistake," he declared. "i certainly did," said mrs. claiborne, very seriously. "i had good reason to believe that your treatment of my sister was not what it should have been." "good lord! she wouldn't let me treat her well. why, we hadn't been married three months before she took a dislike to me, and she never got over it. the truth is, she couldn't bear the sight of me. i did what any other young man would have done. i packed up my things and came back home. i told dorrington about it when i came back, and he said the trouble was a form of hysterics that finally develops into insanity." "yes, that was what happened to my poor sister," said mrs. claiborne, "and i never knew the facts until a few months ago. our aunt, you know, always contended that you were the cause of it all. but judge vardeman, quite by accident, met the physician who had charge of the case, and i have a letter from him which clearly explains the whole matter." silas tomlin sat silent for a long time, his gaze fixed on the floor. "well, well! here i have been going on for years under the impression that i was partly responsible for that poor girl's troubles; and it has been a nightmare riding me every minute that i had time to think." he stood up, stretched his arms above his head, and drew a long breath. "i thank you for laying my ghost, and i'll bid you good-night." chapter thirty-one _mr. sanders receives a message_ the demeanour of mr. sanders about this time was a seven days' wonder in shady dale. as mrs. absalom declared, he had tucked his good-humour under the bed, and was now going about in a state of gloom. this at least was the general impression; but mr. sanders was not gloomy. he was filled to the brim with impatience, and was to be seen constantly walking the streets, or occupying his favourite seat on the court-house steps, the seat that had always attracted him when he was communing with john barleycorn. but he and john barleycorn were strangers now; they were not on speaking terms. he avoided the companionship of those who were in the habit of seeking him out to enjoy his drolleries; and various rumours flew about as to the cause of his apparent troubles. he was on the point of joining the church, having had enough of the world's sinfulness; he had lost the money he made by selling cotton directly after the war; he had been jilted by some buxom country girl. in short, when a man is as prominent in a community as mr. sanders was in shady dale, he must pay such penalty as gossip levies when his conduct becomes puzzling or problematical. the tittle-tattle of the town ran in a different direction when some one discovered that the racking roan was tied every day to the rack behind the court-house. then the gossips were certain that the yankees were after mr. sanders, and his horse was placed close at hand in order to give him an opportunity to escape. mr. sanders apparently confirmed this rumour when he told cephas to take the horse to clopton's, should he find the animal standing at the rack after sundown. as mr. sanders walked about, or sat on the court-house steps, he wondered if he had made all the arrangements necessary to the scheme he had in view. hundreds and hundreds of times he went over the ground in his mind, and reviewed every step he had taken, trying to discover if anything had been omitted, or if there were any flaw in the plan he proposed to follow. he had made all his arrangements beforehand. he had made a visit to malvern, and remained there several days. he had met the mayor of the city, the chief of police, and the latter had casually introduced him to the chief of the fire department. mr. sanders accounted himself very fortunate in making the acquaintance of the fire chief, who was what might be termed one of the unreconstructed. he was something more than that, he was an irreconcilable, who would have been glad of an opportunity to take up arms again. this official took an eager interest in the scheme which mr. sanders had in view; in fact, as he said himself, it was a personal interest. he invited mr. sanders to the head-quarters of the fire department. "i'll tell you why i want you to come," he said. "there's a man in my office, or he will be there when we arrive, who is likely to take as much interest in this thing as i do--he couldn't take more--and i want him to hear your plan. have you ever heard of captain buck sanford?" mr. sanders paused in the street, and stared at the fire chief. "heard of him? well, i should say! he's the feller that fights a duel before breakfast to git up an appetite. well, well! how many men has buck sanford winged?" "oh, quite a number, but not as many as he gets credit for. he comes in my private office every morning, and he's a great help to me. he was rather down at the heels right after the war, and then i happened to find out that he had a great talent in getting the truth out of criminals. we sometimes arrest a man against whom there is no direct evidence of guilt, and if we didn't have some one skilful enough to make him own up, we could do nothing. buck always knows whether a fellow is guilty or not, and we turn over the suspects to him, and whatever he says goes. he sits in my office like a piece of furniture, and you'd think he was a wooden man. now you go down with me, and go over your scheme so that buck can hear you, and whatever he says do, will be the thing to do." when mr. sanders and the chief arrived at the head-quarters of the department, and entered the private office, they found a pale and somewhat emaciated young man sitting in a chair, which was leaned against the wall at a somewhat dangerous angle. he was apparently asleep; his eyes were closed, and he held between his teeth a short but handsome pipe. he made no movement whatever when the two entered the room. his hat was on the floor at the side of his chair, and had evidently fallen from his head. if mr. sanders had been called on to describe the young man, he would have said that he was a weasly looking creature, half gristle and half ghost. his hands were small and thin, and the skin of his face had the appearance of parchment. at the request of the chief, mr. sanders went over the details of his plan from beginning to end, and at the close the young man, who had apparently been asleep, remarked in a thin, smooth voice, "won't it be a fine day for a parade!" his eyes remained closed; he had not even taken the pipe out of his mouth. there was a silence of many long seconds. but the weasly looking man made no movement, nor did he add anything to his remark. evidently, he had no more to say. "buck is right," said the chief. "what does he mean?" mr. sanders inquired. "why, he means that it will be a fine day for a general turn-out of the department," replied the chief. mr. sanders reflected a moment, and then made one of his characteristic comments. "be jigged ef he ain't saved my life!" "captain sanford, this is mr. sanders, of shady dale," said the chief, by way of introducing the two men. both rose, and mr. sanders found himself looking into the eyes of one of the most interesting characters that georgia ever produced. captain buck sanford was one of the last of the knights-errant, the self-constituted champion of all women, old or young, good or bad. he said of himself, with some drollery, that he was one of the scavengers of society, and he declared that the job was important enough to command a good salary. no man in his hearing ever used the name of a woman too freely without answering for it; and it made no difference whether the woman was rich or poor, good or bad. otherwise he was the friendliest and simplest of men, as modest as a woman, and entirely unobtrusive. his duel with colonel conrad asbury, one of the most sensational events in the annals of duelling, owing to the fact that the weapons were shot-guns at ten paces, was the result of a remark the colonel had made about a lady whom sanford had never seen. but so far as the general public knew, it grew out of the fact that the colonel had spilled some water on sanford's pantaloons. "well, sir," said mr. sanders, "i've heard tell of you many a time, an' i'm right down glad to see you." "you haven't heard much good of me, i reckon," captain sanford remarked. "yes; not so very long ago i heard a fine old lady say that if they was more buck sanfords, the wimmen would be better off." a faint colour came into the face of the duellist. "is that so?" he asked with some eagerness. "it's jest like i tell you, an' the lady was lucy lumsden, the grandmother of this chap that we're tryin' to git out'n trouble." "i wonder if tomlin perdue wouldn't let me into the row?" inquired captain sanford. "you see, it's this way: if the boy can't break away, it would be well for a serious accident to happen, and in that case, you'll need a man that's perfectly willing to bear the brunt of such an accident." "we'll see about that," said mr. sanders. "suppose it's a rainy day, buck; what then?" asked the chief. "and you a grown man!" exclaimed mr. sanford, sarcastically. "did you ever hear of a false alarm? or were you at a sunday-school picnic when it was rung in? oh, i'm going to get a blacksmith and have your head worked on," and with that, captain buck sanford turned on his heel and went out. "i know buck was pleased with your plan," the chief declared. "he nodded at me a time or two when you wasn't looking. if you can work him into the row, it will tickle him mightily. he ain't flighty; he never gets mad; and he always knows just what to do, and when to shoot." thus, long before he became impatient enough to walk the streets, or seek consolation on the court-house steps, which he called his liquor-post, mr. sanders had made all the arrangements necessary to the success of his scheme. he had sent a suit of clothes to a friend in malvern, he had shipped three bales of cotton to the firm of vardeman & stark, who had been informed of the use to which mr. sanders desired to put it; he had hired an ox-cart, and made a covered waggon of it; and the yoke of oxen he proposed to use had been driven through the country and were now at malvern. in short, no matter how deeply mr. sanders might ponder over the matter, there was nothing he could think of to add to the details of the arrangement that he had already made. one morning, while nan, who was on her way to borrow a book from eugenia claiborne, was leaning on the court-house fence talking to mr. sanders, tasma tid cried out, "yonner dee come! yonner dee come!" the african, who had heard the rumour that the yankees were after mr. sanders, concluded that this was the advance guard, and she therefore sounded the alarm. but only a solitary rider was in sight, and he was coming as fast as a tired horse could fetch him. by the time this rider had reached the public square, mr. sanders had mounted the racking roan, and was awaiting him. the rider was no other than colonel blasengame, who had insisted on bringing the message himself. he was the bearer of a telegram addressed to major perdue. "consignment will be shipped to-morrow night. reach malvern next morning. invoice by mail." this was signed by the firm of factors with whom meriwether clopton had had dealings for many years. it was the form of announcement that had been agreed on, and to mr. sanders the message read, "the prisoners will go to atlanta to-morrow night, and they will reach malvern the next morning. this information can be relied on." "it's a joy to see you, colonel," cried mr. sanders. "one more day of waitin' would 'a' pulled the rivets out. you know miss nan dorrington, don't you, colonel blasengame? i lay you used to dandle her on your knee when she was a baby." the colonel bowed lower to nan than if she had been a queen. "you are not to go to the tavern," remarked mr. sanders. "meriwether clopton wants the messenger to go straight to his house, an' he'll be all the gladder bekaze it's you. gus tidwell will drive you home in his buggy in the cool of the evenin', an' you can leave your hoss at clopton's for a day or two. ef you see tidwell, nan, please tell him that the colonel is at clopton's. i reckon you'll be willin' to buss me, honey, the next time you see me." "if you have earned it, mr. sanders," said nan, trying to smile. thereupon, mr. sanders waved his hand miscellaneously, as he would have described it, and moved away at a clipping gait, stirring up quite a cloud of dust as he went. he reached halcyondale, and at once sought out major tomlin perdue, and found that a telegram had already been sent to captain buck sanford, whose prompt reply over the wire had been. "all skue vee," which was as satisfactory as any other form of reply would have been--more so, perhaps, for it showed that the captain was in high good-humour. mr. tidwell and colonel blasengame arrived in time to eat a late supper, and the next morning found them all ready to take the train for malvern. major perdue and mr. sanders were in high feather. somehow their spirits always rose when a doubtful issue was to be faced. on the other hand, colonel blasengame and mr. tidwell were somewhat thoughtful--the colonel because he had an idea that they were trying to "crowd him into a back seat," as he expressed it, and mr. tidwell because it had occurred to him that his presence might tend to jeopardise the case of his son. they were not gloomy; on the contrary they were cheerful; but their spirits failed to run as high as those of mr. sanders and major perdue, who were engaged all the way to malvern in relating anecdotes and narrating humourous stories. it seemed that everything either one of them said reminded the other of a story or a humourous incident, and they kept the car in a roar until malvern was reached. mr. sanders did not go at once to the hotel, but turned his attention to the various details which he had arranged for. mr. tidwell went to the hotel opposite the railway station, while major perdue and colonel blasengame, for obvious reasons, went to the rival hotel. there they found captain buck sanford lounging about with a winchester rifle slung across his shoulder. a great many people were interested when this pale and weary-looking little man appeared in public with a gun in his hands, and he was compelled to answer many questions in regard to the event. to all he made the same reply, namely, that he had been out practising at a target. "i'm getting so i can't miss," he said to major perdue. "i wasted twenty-four cartridges trying to miss the bull's eye, but i couldn't do it. i don't know what to make of it," he complained. "there must be something wrong with me. that kind of shooting don't look reasonable. i'm afraid something is going to happen to me. it may be a sign that i'm going to fall over a cellar-door and break my neck, or tumble downstairs and injure my spine." then he left his gun with a clerk in the hotel, and, taking major perdue by the arm, went into a corner and discussed the scheme which mr. sanders had mapped out. they were joined presently by colonel blasengame; and as they sat there, whispering together, and making many emphatic gestures, they were the centre of observation, and word went around that some personal difficulty, in which these noted men were to act together, was imminent. chapter thirty-two _malvern has a holiday_ very early the next morning malvern aroused itself to the fact that the firemen and the police, and a very large crowd of the rag, tag and bobtail that hangs on the edge of all holiday occasions, were out for a frolic. a band was playing, and the old-fashioned apparatus with which fire departments were provided in that day and time, was showing the amazed and amused crowd how to put out an imaginary conflagration. and it succeeded, too. worked as it was by hand-power, it sent a famously strong stream into the very midst of the imaginary conflagration; and when the fire raged no longer, the gallant firemen turned the stream on the rag, tag and bobtail, and such screams and such a scattering as ensued has no parallel in the history of malvern, which is a long and varied one. but what did it all mean? it was some kind of a celebration, of course, but why then did the _malvern recorder_, one of the most enterprising newspapers in the state, as its editors and proprietors were willing to admit, why, then, did the _recorder_ fail to have an appropriate announcement of an event so interesting and important? was our public press, the palladium of our liberties, losing its prestige and influence? certainly it seemed so, when such an affair as this could be devised and carried out without an adequate announcement in the organ of public opinion. after awhile there was a lull in the display. the chief, who was stationed near the depot, received authoritative information that the train from savannah was approaching. he waved his trumpet, and the firemen formed themselves into a procession, and passed twice in review before their chief, and then halted, with their hose reels, and their hook and ladder waggons almost completely blocking up the entrance to the station. the crowd had followed them, but the police managed to keep the street clear, so that vehicles might effect a passage. it was well that the officers of the law had been thus thoughtful in the matter, otherwise a countryman who chanced to be coming along just then would have found it difficult to drive his team even half way through the jam. he was a typical georgia farmer in his appearance. he wore a wide straw hat to preserve his complexion, a homespun shirt and jeans trousers, the latter being held in place by a dirty pair of home-made suspenders. he drove what is called a spike-team, two oxen at the wheels, and a mule in the lead. the day was warm, but he was warmer. the crowd had flurried him, and he was perspiring more profusely than usual. he was also inclined to use heated language, as those nearest him had no difficulty in discovering. in fact, he was willing to make a speech, as the crowd into which he was wedging his team grew denser and denser. it was observed that when the crowd really impeded the movements of his team, he had a way of touching the mule in the flank with the long whip he carried. this was invariably the signal for such gyrations on the part of the mule as were calculated to make the spectators pay due respect to the animal's heels. "i don't see," said the countryman, "why you fellers don't get out some'rs an' go to work. they's enough men in this crowd to make a crop big enough to feed a whole county, ef they'd git out in the field an' buckle down to it stidder loafin' roun' watchin' 'em spurt water at nothin'. it's a dad-blamed shame that the courts don't take a han' in the matter. ef you lived in my county, you'd have to work or go to the poor-house. whoa, beck! gee, buck! why don't you gee, contrive your hide!" at a touch from the whip, the rearing, plunging, and kicking of the mule were renewed, and the team managed to fight its way to a point opposite where the chief officials of the police and fire department were standing. the waggon to which the team was attached was a ramshackle affair apparently, but was strong enough, nevertheless, to sustain the weight of three bales of cotton, one of the bales being somewhat larger than the others. "my friend," said the chief of police, elevating his voice so that the countryman could hear him distinctly, "this is not a warehouse. if you want to sell your cotton, carry it around the corner yonder, and there you'll find the warehouse of vardeman & stark." "if i want to sell my cotton? well, you don't reckon i want to give it away, do you? way over yander in the fur eend of town, they told me that the cotton warehouse was down here some'rs, an' that it was made of brick. this shebang is down yander, an' it's made of brick. how fur is t'other place?" "right around the corner," said one in the crowd. "humph--yes; that's the way wi' ever'thing in this blamed town; it's uther down yander, or right around the corner. but ef it was right here, how could i git to it? deliver me from places whar they celebrate christmas in the hottest part of june! ef i ever git out'n the town you'll never ketch me here ag'in--i'll promise you that." "oh, mister, please don't say that!" wailed some humourist in the crowd. "there's hundreds of us that couldn't live without you." "oh, is that you?" cried the countryman. "tell your sister molly that i'll be down as soon as i sell my cotton." this set the crowd in a roar, for though the humourist had no sister molly, the retort was accepted as a very neat method of putting an end to impertinence. inside the station another scene was in the full swing of action. certain well-known citizens of halcyondale had been pacing up and down the planked floor of the station apparently awaiting with some impatience for the moment to come when the train for atlanta would be ready to leave. but the train itself seemed to be in no particular hurry. the locomotive was not panting and snorting with suppressed energy, as the moguls do in our day, but stood in its place with the blue smoke curling peacefully from its black chimney. presently an access of energy among the employees of the station gave notice to those who were familiar with their movements that the train from savannah was crossing the "y." mr. tidwell, of shady dale, who was also among those who were apparently anxious to take the train for atlanta, ceased his restless walking, and stood leaning against one of the brick pillars supporting the rear end of the structure. major tomlin perdue, on the other hand, leaned confidently on the counter of the little restaurant, where a weary traveller could get a cup of hasty and very nasty coffee for a dime. the major was acquainted with the vendor of these luxuries, and he informed the man confidentially that he was simply waiting a fair opportunity to put a few lead plugs into the carcass of the person at the far end of the station, who was no other than mr. tidwell. "is that so?" asked the clerk breathlessly. "well, i don't mind telling you that he has been having some of the same kind of talk about you, and you'd better keep your eye on him. they say he's 'most as handy with his pistol as buck sanford." slowly the savannah train backed in, and slowly and carelessly major perdue sauntered along the raised floor. they had decided that the prisoners would most likely be in the second-class coach, and they purposed to make that coach the scene of their sham duel. it was a very delicate matter to decide just when to begin operations. a moment too soon or too late would be decisive. when this point was referred to mr. sanders, he settled it at once. "what's your mouth for, gus? shoot wi' that tell the time comes to use your gun. and the major has got about as much mouth as you. talk over the rough places, an' talk loud. don't whisper; rip out a few damns an' then cut your caper. this is about the only chance you'll have to cuss the major out wi'out gittin' hurt. i wisht i was in your shoes; i'd rake him up one side an' down the other. you can stand to be cussed out in a good cause, i reckon, major." "yes--oh, yes! it'll make my flesh crawl, but i'll stand it like a baby." "don't narry one on you try to be too polite," said mr. sanders, and this was his parting injunction. the two men were the length of the car apart when the savannah train came to a standstill. "perdue! they tell me that you have been hunting for me all over the city," said mr. tidwell. he was a trained speaker, and his voice had great carrying power. the firemen of both trains heard it distinctly, caught the note of passion in it and looked curiously out of their cabs. "yes, i've been hunting you, and now that i've found you you'll not get away until you apologise to me for the language you have used about me," cried major perdue. he was not as loud a talker as mr. tidwell, but his voice penetrated to every part of the building. "what i've said i'll stand to," declared mr. tidwell, "and if you think i have been trying to keep out of your way, you will find out differently, you blustering blackguard!" (the major insisted afterward that tidwell took advantage of the occasion to give his real views.) "are you ready, you cowardly hellian?" cried the major, apparently in a rage. "as ready as you will ever be," replied tidwell hotly. he was the better actor of the two. and then just as the prisoners were coming out of the coach--as soon as gabriel, lean and haggard, had reached the floor of the station, major perdue whipped out his pistol and a shot rang out, clear and distinct, and it was immediately reproduced from the further end of the car by mr. tidwell, and then the shooting became a regular fusillade. there was a wild scattering on the part of the crowd assembled in the station, a scuffling, scurrying panic, and in the midst of it all gabriel ducked his head, and made a rush with the rest. he had been handcuffed, but his wrist was nearly as large as his hand, and he had found early in his experience with these bracelets that by placing his thumb in the palm of his hand, he would have no difficulty in freeing himself from the irons. this he had accomplished without much trouble, as soon as he started out of the car, and when he ducked his head and ran, he had nothing to impede his movements. and gabriel was always swift of foot, as cephas will tell you. on the present occasion, he brought all his strength, and energy, and will to bear on his efforts to escape. running half-bent, he was afraid the crowd which he saw all about him, pushing and shoving, and apparently making frantic efforts to escape, would give him some trouble. but strangely enough, this struggling crowd seemed to help him along. he saw men all around him with uniforms on, and wearing queerly shaped hats. they opened a way before him and closed in behind him. he heard a sharp cry, "prisoner escaped!" and he heard the energetic commands of the officer in charge, but still the crowd opened a way in front of him, and closed up behind him. this pathway, formed of struggling firemen, led gabriel away from the main entrance, and conducted him to the side, where there was an opening between the pillars. not twenty feet away was the countryman with his queer-looking team. he was still complaining of the way he had been taken in by the town fellers who had told him that the station was a cotton warehouse. gabriel recognised the voice and ran toward it, jumped into the waggon, and crawled under the cover. "now here--now here!" cried the countryman, "you kin rob me of my money, an' make a fool out'n me about your cotton warehouses, but be jigged ef i'll let you take my waggin an' team. i dunner what you're up to, but you'll have to git out'n my waggin." with that he stripped the cover from the top, and, lo! there was no one there! he turned to the astonished crowd with open mouth. "wher' in the nation did he go?" he cried. there was no answer to this, for the spectators were as much astonished as mr. sanders professed to be. the man who had crawled under the waggon-cover had disappeared. he turned to the astonished crowd with a face on which amazement was depicted, crying out, "now, you see, gentlemen, what honest men have to endyore when they come to your blame town. whoever he is, an' wharsoever he may be, that chap ain't up to no good." then he looked under the waggon and between the bales of cotton, and, finally, took the cover and shook it out, as if it might be possible for one of the "slick city fellers" to hide in any impossible place. there was a tremendous uproar in the station, caused by the soldiers trying to run over the firemen and the efforts of the firemen to prevent them. in a short time, however, a squad of soldiers had forced themselves through the crowd, and as they made their appearance, mr. sanders gave the word to old beck, saying as he moved off, "ef you gents will excuse me, i'll mosey along, an' the next time i have a crap of cotton to sell, i'll waggin it to some place or other wher' w'arhouses ain't depots, an' wher' jugglers don't jump on you an' make the'r disappearance in broad daylight. this is my fust trip to this great town, an' it'll be my last ef i know myself, an' i ruther reckon i do." as he spoke, his team was moving slowly off, and the soldiers who were in pursuit of gabriel had no idea that it was worth their while to give the countryman and his superannuated equipment more than a passing glance. it was providential that captain falconer, who was to have conveyed the prisoners to atlanta, should have been confined to his bed with an attack of malarial fever when the order for their removal came. the captain would surely have recognised the countryman as mr. sanders, and the probability is that gabriel would have been recaptured, though captain buck sanford, who was sitting in an upper window of the hotel, with his winchester across his lap, says not. the officer in charge did all that he could have been expected to do under the circumstances. by a stroke of good-luck, as he supposed, he found the chief of police near the entrance of the station and interested that official in his effort to recapture the prisoner who had escaped. by order of the military commander in atlanta, the train was held a couple of hours while the search for gabriel proceeded. the whole town was searched and researched, but all to no purpose. gabriel had disappeared, and was not to be found by any person hostile to his interests. mr. sanders drove his team around to the warehouse of vardeman & stark, where he was met by colonel tom vardeman, who, besides being a cotton factor, was one of the political leaders of the day, and as popular a man as there was in the state. "i heard a terrible fusillade in the direction of the depot," he said to mr. sanders, as the latter drove up. "i hope nobody's hurt." "well, they ain't much damage done, i reckon. gus tidwell an' major perdue took a notion to play a game of tag wi' pistols. they're doin' it jest for fun, i reckon. they want to show you city fellers that all the public sperrit an' enterprise ain't knocked out'n the country chaps." "well, they're almost certain to get in the lock-up," remarked colonel tom vardeman. "it reely looks that away," said mr. sanders, drily; "the chief of police was standin' in front of the depot, an' ev'ry time a gun'd go off he'd wink at me." colonel tom laughed, and then turned to mr. sanders with a serious air. "what did i tell you about that wild plan of yours to rescue one of the prisoners? you've had all your trouble for nothing, and the probability is that you are out considerable cash first and last. you don't catch grown men asleep any more. why, if the officer in charge of those poor boys were to permit one of them to escape, he'd be court-martialled, and it would serve him right." "so it would," replied mr. sanders, "an' i'm mighty glad it wa'n't captain falconer. this feller that had the boys in tow is a stranger to me, an' i'm glad of it. he'll never know who lost him his job. he's a right nice-lookin' feller, too, but when he run out'n the depot awhile ago, his face kinder spoke up an' said he had had a dram too much some time endyorin' of the night; or his colour mought 'a' been high bekaze he was flurried or skeered. now, then, colonel tom, ef you've done what you laid off to do, an' i don't misdoubt it in the least, you've got a safe place wher' i kin store a bale of long-staple cotton, ag'in a rise in prices. ef you've got it fixed, i'll drive right in, bekaze the kind of cotton i'm dealin' in will spile ef it lays in the sun too long." "do you mean to tell me----" "i'm mean enough for anything, colonel tom; but right now, i want to git wher' i can drench a long-sufferin' friend of mine wi' a big gourdful of cold water." "but, mr. sanders----" "ef you'd 'a' stuck in the william h., you'd 'a' purty nigh had my whole name," remarked mr. sanders with a solemn air. "why, dash it, man! you've taken my breath away. drive right in there. john! henry! come here, you lazy rascals, and take this team out! i told you," said colonel tom to mr. sanders as the negroes came forward, "that you couldn't get any better prices for your cotton than i offered you. we treat everybody right over here, and that's the way we keep our trade." the two negroes were detailed to convey the mule and the oxen to the stable where mr. sanders had arranged for their "keep," as he termed it, and as soon as they were out of sight, mr. sanders went to the rear of the waggon, and said playfully, "peep eye, gabriel!" receiving no answer, he was suddenly seized with the idea that the young man had suffocated behind the loose cotton which was intended to conceal him. but no such thing had happened. gabriel had plenty of breathing-room, and the practical and unromantic rascal was sound asleep. his quarters were warm, but the sweat-boxes at fort pulaski were hotter. it was very fortunate for gabriel that the reaction from the strain under which he had been, took the blessed shape of sleep. gabriel's place of concealment was simplicity itself. with his own hands mr. sanders had constructed a stout box of oak boards, and around this he had packed cotton until the affair, when complete, had the appearance of an extra large bale of cotton, covered with bagging, and roped as the majority of cotton-bales were in those days. the only way to discover the sham was to pull out the cotton that concealed the opening in the end of the box. in delivering his message to cephas, mr. sanders had called this loose cotton a plug, and the fact that the word was new to the vocabulary of the school-children gave great trouble to gabriel, causing him to lose considerable sleep in the effort to translate it satisfactorily to himself. the meaning dawned on him one night when he had practically abandoned all hope of discovering it, and then the whole scheme became so clear to him that he could have shouted for joy. it was thought that a search would be made for gabriel in the neighbourhood of shady dale, and it was decided that it would be best for him to remain in the city until all noise of the pursuit had died away. but no pursuit was ever made, and it soon became apparent to the public at large that radicalism was burning itself out at last, after a weary time. when rage has nothing to feed upon it consumes itself, especially when various chronic maladies common to mankind take a hand in the game. not only was no pursuit made of gabriel, but the detachment of federal troops which had been stationed at shady dale was withdrawn. the young men who had been arrested with gabriel were placed on trial before a military court, but with the connivance of counsel for the prosecution, the trial dragged along until the military commander issued a proclamation announcing that civil government had been restored in the state, and the prisoners were turned over to the state courts. and as there was not the shadow of a case against them, they were never brought to trial, a fact which caused some one to suggest to mr. sanders that all his work in behalf of gabriel had been useless. "well, it didn't do gabriel no good, maybe," remarked the veteran, "but it holp me up mightily. it gi' me somethin' to think about, an' it holp me acrosst some mighty rough places. you have to pass the time away anyhow, an' what better way is they than workin' for them you like? why, i knowed a gal, an' a mighty fine one she was, who knit socks for a feller she had took a fancy to. the feller died, but she went right ahead wi' her knittin' just the same. now, that didn't do the feller a mite of good, but it holp the gal up might'ly." chapter thirty-three _gabriel as an orator_ the _malvern recorder_ was very kind to gabriel, and said nothing in regard to his escape. this was due to a timely suggestion on the part of colonel tom vardeman, who rightly guessed that the government authorities would be more willing to permit the affair to blow over, provided the details were not made notorious in the newspapers. as the result of the colonel's discretion, there was not a hint in the public press that one of the prisoners had eluded the vigilance of those who had charge of him. there was a paragraph or two in the _recorder_, stating that the shady dale prisoners--"the victims of federal tyranny"--had passed through the city on their way to atlanta, and a long account was given of their sufferings in fort pulaski. the facts were supplied by gabriel, but the printed account went far beyond anything he had said. "they are not the first martyrs that have suffered in the cause of liberty," said the editor of the _recorder_, in commenting on the account in the local columns, "and they will not be the last. let the radicals do their worst; on the old red hills of georgia, the camp-fires of democracy have been kindled, and they will continue to burn and blaze long after the tyrants and corruptionists have been driven from power." gabriel read this eloquent declaration somewhat uneasily. there was something in it, and something in the exaggeration of the facts that he had given to the representative of the paper that jarred upon him. he had already in his own mind separated the government and its real interests from the selfish aims and desires of those who were temporarily clothed with authority, and he had begun to suspect that there might also be something selfish behind the utterances of those who made such vigorous protests against tyranny. the matter is hardly worth referring to in these days when shams and humbugs appear before the public in all their nakedness; but it was worth a great deal to gabriel to be able to suspect that the champions of constitutional liberty, and the defenders of popular rights, in the great majority of instances had their eyes on the flesh-pots. the suspicions he entertained put him on his guard at a time when he was in danger of falling a victim to the rhetoric of orators and editors, and they preserved him from many a mistaken belief. during the period that intervened between his escape and the announcement of the restoration of civil government in georgia, gabriel settled down to a course of reading in the law office of judge vardeman, colonel tom's brother. he did this on the advice of those who were old enough to know that idleness does not agree with a healthy youngster, especially in a large city. his experience in judge vardeman's office decided his career. he was fascinated from the very beginning. he found the dullest law-book interesting; and he became so absorbed in his reading that the genial judge was obliged to warn him that too much study was sometimes as bad as none. yet the lad's appetite grew by what it fed on. a new field had been opened up to him, and he entered it with delight. here was what he had been longing for, and there were moments when he felt sure that he had heard delivered from the bench, or had dreamed, the grave and sober maxims and precepts that confronted him on the printed page. he pursued his studies in a state of exaltation that caused the days to fly by unnoted. he thought of home, and of his grandmother, and a vision of nan sometimes disturbed his slumbers; but for the time being there was nothing real but the grim commentators and expounders of the common law. when mr. sanders returned home, bearing the news of gabriel's escape, nan dorrington laid siege to his patience, and insisted that he go over every detail of the event, not once but a dozen times. to her it was a remarkable adventure, which fitted in well with the romances which she had been weaving all her life. how did gabriel look when he ran from the depot at malvern? was he frightened? and how in the world did he manage to get in the waggon, and crawl on the inside of the sham bale of cotton and hide so that nobody could see him? and what did he say and how did he look when mr. sanders found him asleep in the cotton-bale box, or the cotton-box bale, whichever you might call it? "why, honey, i've told you all i know an' a whole lot more," protested mr. sanders. "ef ever'body was name nan, i'd be the most populous man in the whole county." "well, tell me this," nan insisted; "what did he talk about when he woke up? did he ask about any of the home-folks?" "lemme see," said mr. sanders, pretending to reflect; "he turned over in his box, an' got his ha'r ketched in a rough plank, an' then he bust out cryin' jest like you use to do when you got hurt. i kinder muched him up, an' then he up an' tol' me a whole lot of stuff about a young lady: how he was gwine to win her ef he had to stop chawin' tobacco, an' cussin'. i'll name no names, bekaze i promised him i wouldn't." "i think that is disgusting," nan declared. "do you mean to tell me he never asked about his grandmother?" "fiddlesticks, nan! he looked at me like he was hungry, an' i told him all about his grandmother, an' he kep' on a-lookin' hungry, an' i told him all about her neighbours. what he said i couldn't tell you no more than the man in the moon. he done jest like any other healthy boy would 'a' done, an' that's all i know about it." "that's what i thought," said nan wearily; "boys are so tiresome!" "well, gabriel didn't look much like a boy when i seed him last. he hadn't shaved in a month of sundays, and his beard was purty nigh as long as my little finger. he couldn't go to a barber-shop in malvern for fear some of the niggers might know him an' report him to the commander of the post there. i begged him not to shave the beard off. he looks mighty well wi' it." "his beard!" cried nan. "if he comes home with a beard i'll never speak to him again. gabriel with a beard! it is too ridiculous!" "don't worry," mr. sanders remarked soothingly. "ef i git word of his comin' i'll git me a pa'r of shears, an' meet him outside the corporation line, an' lop his whiskers off for him; but i tell you now, it won't make him look a bit purtier--not a bit." "you needn't trouble yourself," said nan, with considerable dignity. "i have no interest in the matter at all." "well, i thought maybe you'd be glad to git gabriel's beard an' make it in a sofy pillow." "why, whoever heard of such a thing?" cried nan. in common with many others, she was not always sure when mr. sanders was to be taken seriously. "i knowed a man once," replied mr. sanders, by way of making a practical application of his suggestion, "that vowed he'd never shave his beard off till henry clay was elected president. well, it growed an' growed, an' bimeby it got so long that he had to wrop it around his body a time or two for to keep it from draggin' the ground. it went on that away for a considerbul spell, till one day, whilst he was takin' a nap, his wife took her scissors an' whacked it off. the reason she give was that she wanted to make four or five sofy pillows; but i heard afterwards that she changed her mind, an' made a good big mattress." nan looked hard at the solemn countenance of mr. sanders, trying to discover whether he was in earnest, but older and wiser eyes than hers had often failed to penetrate behind the veil of child-like serenity that sometimes clothed his features. one day while gabriel was deep in a law-book, colonel tom vardeman came in smiling. he had a telegram in his hand, which he tossed to gabriel. it was from major tomlin perdue, and contained an urgent request for gabriel to take the next train for halcyondale, where he would meet the prisoners who had been released pending their trial by the state courts, an event that never came off. gabriel had seen in the morning paper that the prisoners were to be released in a day or two; but undoubtedly major perdue had the latest information, for he was in communication with meriwether clopton and other friends of the prisoners who were in atlanta watching the progress of the case. gabriel lost no time in making his arrangements to leave, and he was in halcyondale some hours before the atlanta train was due. when all had arrived, they were for going home at once; but the citizens of halcyondale, led by major perdue and colonel blasengame, would not hear of such a thing. "no, sirs!" exclaimed major perdue. "you young ones have been away from home long enough to be weaned, and a day or two won't make any difference to anybody's feelings. we have long been wanting a red-letter day in this section, and now that we've got the excuse for making one, we're not going to let it go by. everything is fixed, or will be by day after to-morrow. we're going to have a barbecue half-way between this town and shady dale. the time was ripe for it anyhow, and you fellows make it more binding. the people of the two counties haven't had a jollification since the war, and they couldn't have one while it was going on. they haven't had an excuse for it; and now that we have the excuse we're not going to turn it loose until the jollification is over." and so it was arranged. notice was given to the people in the old-fashioned way, and nearly everybody in the two counties not only contributed something to the barbecue, but came to enjoy it, and when they were assembled they made up the largest crowd that had been seen together in that section since the day when alexander stephens and judge cone had their famous debate--a debate which finally ended in a personal encounter between the two. the details of the barbecue were in the hands of mr. sanders, who was famous in those days for his skill in such matters. the fires had been lighted the night before, and when the sun rose, long lines of carcasses were slowly roasting over the red coals, contributing to the breezes an aroma so persistent and penetrating that it could be recognised miles away, and so delicious that, as mr. sanders remarked, "it would make a sick man's mouth water." a speaker's stand had been erected, and everything was arranged just as it would have been for a political meeting. there was a good deal of formality too. major perdue prided himself on doing such things in style. he was a great hand to preside at political meetings, in which there is considerable formality. as the major managed the affair, the friends of the young men caught their first glimpse of them as they went upon the stand. by some accident, or it may have been arranged by major perdue, gabriel was the first to make his appearance, but he was closely followed by the rest. a tremendous shout went up from the immense audience, which was assembled in front of the stand, and this was what the major had arranged for. the shouts and cheers of a great assemblage were as music in his ears. he comported himself with as much pride as if all the applause were a tribute to him. he advanced to the front, and stood drinking it in greedily, not because he was a vain man, but because he was fond of the excitement with which the presence of a crowd inspired him. it made his blood tingle; it warmed him as a glass of spiced wine warms a sick person. when the applause had subsided, the major made quite a little speech, in which he referred to the spirit of martyrdom betrayed by the young patriots, who had been seized and carried into captivity by the strong hand of a tyrannical government, and he managed to stir the crowd to a great pitch of excitement. he brought his remarks to a close by introducing his young friend, gabriel tolliver. there was tremendous cheering at this, and all of a sudden gabriel woke up to the fact that his name had been called, and he looked around with a dazed expression on his face. he had been trying to see if he could find the face of nan dorrington in the crowd, but so far he had failed, and he woke out of a dream to hear a multitude of voices shouting his name. "why, what do they mean?" he asked. "get up there and face 'em," said major perdue. now, nan was not so very far from the stand, so close, indeed, that she had not been in gabriel's field of vision while he was sitting down; but when he rose to his feet she was the first person he saw, and he observed that she was very pale. in fact, nan had shrunk back when the major announced that gabriel would speak for his fellow-martyrs, and for a moment or two she fairly hated the man. she might not be very fond of gabriel, but she didn't want to see him made a fool of before so many people. somehow or other, the young fellow divined her thought, and he smiled in spite of himself. he had no notion what to say, but he had the gift of saying something, very strongly developed in him; and he knew the moment he saw nan's scared face that he must acquit himself with credit. so he looked at her and smiled, and she tried to smile in return, but it was a very pitiful little smile. gabriel walked to the small table and leaned one hand on it, and his composure was so reassuring to everybody but nan, that the cheering was renewed and kept up while the youngster was trying to put his poor thoughts together. he began by thanking major perdue for his sympathetic remarks, and then proceeded to take sharp issue with the whole spirit of the major's speech, using as the basis of his address an idea that had been put into his head by judge vardeman. the day before he left malvern, the judge had asked him this question: "why should a parcel of politicians turn us against a government under which we are compelled to live?" this was the basis of gabriel's remarks. he elaborated it, and was perhaps the first person in the country to ask if there was any confederate soldier who had feelings of hatred against the soldiers of the union. he had not gone far before he had the audience completely under his control. almost every statement he made was received with shouts of approval, and in some instances the applause was such that he had time to stand and gaze at nan, whose colour had returned, and who occasionally waved the little patch of lace-bordered muslin that she called a handkerchief. she was almost frightened at gabriel's composure. the last time she had seen him, he was an awkward young man, whose hands and feet were always in his way. she felt that she was his superior then; but how would she feel in the presence of this grave young man, who was as composed while addressing an immense crowd as if he had been talking to cephas, and who was dealing out advice to his seniors right and left? nan was very sure in her own mind that she would never understand gabriel again, and the thought robbed the occasion of a part of its enjoyment. she allowed her thoughts to wander to such an extent that she forgot the speech, and had her mind recalled to it only when the frantic screams of the audience split her ears, and she saw gabriel, flushed and triumphant, returning to his seat. then the real nature of his triumph dawned on her, as she saw meriwether clopton and all the others on the stand crowding around gabriel and shaking his hand. she sat very quiet and subdued until she felt some one touch her shoulder. it was cephas, and he wanted to know what she thought of it all. wasn't it splendiferous? nan made no reply, but gave the little lad a message for gabriel, which he delivered with promptness. he edged his way through the crowd, crawled upon the stand, and pulled at gabriel's coat-tails. the great orator--that's what cephas thought he was--seized the little fellow and hugged him before all the crowd; and though many years have passed, cephas has never had a triumph of any kind that was quite equal to the pride he felt while gabriel held him in his arms. the little fellow took this occasion to deliver his message, which was to the effect that gabriel was to ride home in the dorrington carriage with nan. chapter thirty-four _nan surrenders_ it was all over at last, and gabriel found himself seated in the carriage, side by side with the demurest and the quietest young lady he had ever seen. he had shaken hands until his arm was sore, and he had hunted for nan everywhere; and finally, when he had given up the search, he heard her calling him and saw her beckoning him from a carriage. there was not much of a greeting between them, and he saw at once that, while this was the nan he had known all his life, she had changed greatly. what he didn't know was that the change had taken place while he was in the midst of his speech. she was just as beautiful as ever; in fact, her loveliness seemed to be enhanced by some new light in her eyes--or was it the way her head drooped?--or a touch of new-born humility in her attitude? whatever it was, gabriel found it very charming. to his surprise, he found himself quite at ease in her presence. the change, if it could be called such, had given him an advantage. "you used to be afraid of me, gabriel," said nan, "and now i am afraid of you. no, not afraid; you know what i mean," she explained. "if i thought you were afraid of me, nan, i'd get out of the carriage and walk home," and then, as the carriage rolled and rocked along the firm clay road, gabriel sat and watched her, studying her face whenever he had an opportunity. neither seemed to have any desire to talk. gabriel had forgotten all about his sufferings in the sweat-boxes of fort pulaski; but those experiences had left an indelible mark on his character, and on his features. they had strengthened him every way--strengthened and subdued him. he was the same gabriel, and yet there was a difference, and this difference appealed to nan in a way that astonished her. she sat in the carriage perfectly happy, and yet she felt that a good cry would help her wonderfully. "i had something i wanted to say to you, nan," he remarked after awhile. "i've wanted to say it for a long time. but, honestly, i'm afraid----" "don't say you are afraid, gabriel. you used to be afraid; but now i'm the one to be afraid. i mean i should be afraid, but i'm not." "i was feeling very bold when i was mouthing to those people; and every time i looked into your eyes, i said to myself, 'you are mine; you are mine! and you know it!' and i thought all the time that you could hear me. it was a very queer impression. please don't make fun of me to-day; wait till to-morrow." "i couldn't hear you," said nan, "but i could feel what you said." "that was why you were looking so uneasy," remarked gabriel. "perhaps you were angry, too." "no, i was very happy. i didn't hear your speech, but i knew from the actions of the people around me that it was a good one. but, somehow, i couldn't hear it. i was thinking of other things. did you think i was bold to send for you?" "why, i was coming to you anyway," said gabriel. "well, if you hadn't i should have come to you," said nan with a sigh. "since i received your letter, i haven't been myself any more." "did i send you a letter?" asked gabriel. "no; you wrote part of one," answered nan. "but that was enough. i found it among your papers. and then when i heard you had been arrested--well, it is all a dream to me. i didn't know before that one could be perfectly happy and completely miserable at the same time." then, for the first time since he had entered the carriage she looked at him. her eyes met his, and--well, nothing more was said for some time. nan had as much as she could do to straighten her hat, and get her hair smoothed out as it should be, so that people wouldn't know that she and gabriel were engaged. that was what she said, and she was so cute and lovely, so sweet and gentle that gabriel threatened to crush the hat and get the hair out of order again. and they were very happy. when they arrived at shady dale, gabriel insisted that nan go home with him, and he gave what seemed to the young woman a very good reason. "you know, nan, my grandmother has been bethuning me every time i mentioned your name, and i have heard her bethuning you. we'll just go in hand in hand and tell her the facts in the case." "hand in hand, gabriel? wouldn't she think i was very bold?" "no, nan," replied gabriel, very emphatically. "there are two things my grandmother believes in. she believes in her bible, and she believes in love." "and she believes in you, gabriel. oh, if you only knew how much she loves you!" cried nan. they didn't go in to the dear old lady hand in hand, for when they reached the lumsden place, they found miss polly gaither there, and they interrupted her right in the midst of some very interesting gossip. miss polly, after greeting gabriel as cordially as her lonely nature would permit, looked at nan very critically. there was a question in her eyes, and nan answered it with a blush. "i thought as much," said miss polly, oracularly. "i declare i believe there's an epidemic in the town. there's pulaski tomlin, silas tomlin, paul tomlin, and now gabriel tolliver. well, i wish them well, especially you, gabriel. nan is a little frivolous now, but she'll settle down." "she isn't frivolous," said gabriel, speaking in the ear-trumpet; "she is simply young." "is that the trouble?" inquired miss polly, with a smile, "well, she'll soon recover from that." and then she turned to gabriel's grandmother, and took up the thread of her gossip where it had been broken by the arrival of nan and gabriel. "i declare, lucy, if anybody had told me, and i couldn't see for myself, i never would have believed it. why, silas tomlin is a changed man. he looks better than he did twenty-five years ago. he goes about smiling, and while he isn't handsome--he never could be handsome, you know--he is very pleasant-looking. yes, he is a changed man. he was going into the house just now as i came out, and he stopped and shook hands with me, and asked about my health, something he never did before. honestly i don't know what to make of it; i'm clean put out. why, the man had two or three quarrels with ritta claiborne when she first came here, and now he is going to marry her, or she him--i don't know which one did the courting, but i'll never believe it was old silas. i am really and truly sorry for ritta claiborne. we who know silas tomlin better than she does ought to warn her of the step she is about to take. i have been on the point of doing so several times; but really, lucy, i haven't the heart. she is one of the finest characters i ever knew--she is perfectly lovely. she is all heart, and i am afraid silas tomlin has imposed on her in some way. but she is perfectly happy, and so is silas. if i thought such a thing was possible, i'd say they were very much in love with each other." "possible!" cried gabriel's grandmother; "why, love is the only thing worth thinking about in this world. even the old testament is full of it, and there is hardly anything else in the new testament. read it, polly, and you'll find that all the sacrifice and devotion are based on love--real love, and unselfish because it is real." "it may be so, lucy; i'll not deny it," and then, after some more gossip less interesting, miss polly gaither took her leave, saying, "i'll leave you with your grand-children, lucy." when she was gone, gabriel stood up and beckoned to nan, and she went to him without a word. he placed his arm around her, and then called the attention of his grandmother. "you've been bethuning nan and me for ever so long, grandmother: what do you think of this?" "why, i think it is very pretty, if it is real. i have known it all along; i mean since the night you were carried away. nan told me." "why, grandmother lumsden! i never said a word to you about it; i wouldn't have dared." "i knew it when you came in the door that day--the day that meriwether clopton was here. do you suppose i would have sat by you on the sofa, and held your hand if i had not known it?" "i'm glad you knew it," said nan. "i wanted you to know it, but i didn't dare to tell you in so many words. i am going home now, gabriel, and you mustn't call on me to-day or to-night. i want to be alone. i am so happy," she said to mrs. lumsden, as she kissed her, "that i don't want to talk to any one, not even to gabriel." and this was gabriel's thought too. he saw none of his friends that day, and when night fell he went out to the old bermuda hill, and lay upon the warm damp grass, the happiest person in the world. the end kitty's conquest. by charles king, u.s.a., author of "the colonel's daughter." philadelphia: j. b. lippincott company. . copyright. , by j. b. lippincott & co. preface. the incidents of this little story occurred some twelve years ago, and it was then that the story was mainly written. if it meet with half the kindness bestowed upon his later work it will more than fulfil the hopes of the author. february, . kitty's conquest. chapter i. it was just after christmas, and discontentedly enough i had left my cosy surroundings in new orleans, to take a business-trip through the counties on the border-line between tennessee and northern mississippi and alabama. one sunny afternoon i found myself on the "freight and passenger" of what was termed "the great southern mail route." we had been trundling slowly, sleepily along ever since the conductor's "all aboard!" after dinner; had met the mobile express at corinth when the shadows were already lengthening upon the ruddy, barren-looking landscape, and now, with iuka just before us, and the warning whistle of the engine shrieking in our ears with a discordant pertinacity attained only on our southern railroads, i took a last glance at the sun just disappearing behind the distant forest in our wake, drew the last breath of life, from my cigar, and then, taking advantage of the halt at the station, strolled back from the dinginess of the smoking-car to more comfortable quarters in the rear. there were only three passenger-cars on the train, and, judging from the scarcity of occupants, one would have been enough. elbowing my way through the gaping, lazy swarms of unsavory black humanity on the platform, and the equally repulsive-looking knots of "poor white trash," the invariable features of every country stopping-place south of mason and dixon, i reached the last car, and entering, chose one of a dozen empty seats, and took a listless look at my fellow-passengers,--six in all,--and of them, two only worth a second glance. one, a young, perhaps very young, lady, so girlish, _petite_, and pretty she looked even after the long day's ride in a sooty car. her seat was some little distance from the one into which i had dropped, but that was because the other party to be depicted was installed within two of her, and, with that indefinable sense of repulsion which induces all travellers, strangers to one another, to get as far apart as possible on entering a car, i had put four seats 'twixt him and me,--and afterwards wished i hadn't. it _was_ rude to turn and stare at a young girl,--travelling alone, too, as she appeared to be. i did it involuntarily the first time, and found myself repeating the performance again and again, simply because i couldn't help it,--she looked prettier and prettier every time. a fair, oval, tiny face; a somewhat supercilious nose, and not-the-least-so mouth; a mouth, on the contrary, that even though its pretty lips were closed, gave one the intangible yet positive assurance of white and regular teeth; eyes whose color i could not see because their drooping lids were fringed with heavy curving lashes, but which subsequently turned out to be a soft, dark gray; and hair!--hair that made one instinctively gasp with admiration, and exclaim (mentally), "if it's _only_ real!"--hair that rose in heavy golden masses above and around the diminutive ears, almost hiding them from view, and fell in braids (not braids either, because it _wasn't_ braided) and rolls--only that sounds breakfasty--and masses again,--it must do for both,--heavy golden masses and rolls and waves and straggling offshoots and disorderly delightfulness all down the little lady's neck, and, landing in a lump on the back of the seat, seemed to come surging up to the top again, ready for another tumble. it looked as though it hadn't been "fixed" since the day before, and yet as though it would be a shame to touch it; and was surmounted, "sat upon," one might say, by the jauntiest of little travelling hats of some dark material (don't expect a bachelor, and an elderly one at that, to be explicit on such a point), this in turn being topped by the pertest little mite of a feather sticking bolt upright from a labyrinth of beads, bows, and buckles at the side. more of this divinity was not to be viewed from my post of observation, as all below the fragile white throat with its dainty collar and the handsome fur "boa," thrown loosely back on account of the warmth of the car, was undergoing complete occultation by the seats in front; yet enough was visible to impress one with a longing to become acquainted with the diminutive entirety, and to convey an idea of cultivation and refinement somewhat unexpected on that particular train, and in that utterly unlovely section of the country. naturally i wondered who she was; where she was going; how it happened that she, so young, so innocent, so be-petted and be-spoilt in appearance, should be journeying alone through the thinly settled counties of upper mississippi. had she been a "through" passenger, she would have taken the express, not this grimy, stop-at-every-shanty, slow-going old train on which we were creeping eastward. in fact, the more i peeped, the more i marvelled; and i found myself almost unconsciously inaugurating a detective movement with a view to ascertaining her identity. all this time mademoiselle was apparently serenely unconscious of my scrutiny and deeply absorbed in some object--a book, probably--in her lap. a stylish russia-leather satchel was hanging among the hooks above her head,--evidently her property,--and those probably, too, were her initials in monogram, stamped in gilt upon the flap, too far off for my fading eyes to distinguish, yet tantalizingly near. now i'm a lawyer, and as such claim an indisputable right to exercise the otherwise feminine prerogative of yielding to curiosity. it's our business to be curious; not with the sordid views and mercenary intents of templeton jitt; but rather as dickens's "bar" was curious,--affably, apologetically, professionally curious. in fact, as "bar" himself said, "we lawyers _are_ curious," and take the same lively interest in the affairs of our fellow-men (and women) as maiden aunts are popularly believed to exercise in the case of a pretty niece with a dozen beaux, or a mother-in-law in the daily occupations of the happy husband of her eldest daughter. why need i apologize further? i left my seat; zig-zagged down the aisle; took a drink of water which i didn't want, and, returning, the long look at the monogram which i _did_. there they were, two gracefully intertwining letters; a "c" and a "k." now was it c. k. or k. c.? if c. k., what did it stand for? i thought of all manner of names as i regained my seat; some pretty, some tragic, some commonplace, none satisfactory. then i concluded to begin over; put the cart before the horse, and try k. c. now, it's ridiculous enough to confess to it, but ku-klux was the first thing i thought of; k. c. didn't stand for it at all, but ku-klux _would_ force itself upon my imagination. well, everything _was_ ku-klux just then. congress was full of them; so was the south;--ku-klux had brought me up there; in fact i had spent most of the afternoon in planning an elaborate line of defence for a poor devil whom i knew to be innocent, however blood-guilty might have been his associates. ku-klux had brought that lounging young cavalryman (the other victim reserved for description), who--confound him--had been the cause of my taking a metaphorical back seat and an actual front one on entering the car; but ku-klux couldn't have brought _her_ there; and after all, what business had i bothering my tired brains over this young beauty? i was nothing to her, why should she be such a torment to me? in twenty minutes we would be due at sandbrook, and there i was to leave the train and jog across the country to the plantation of judge summers, an old friend of my father's and of mine, who had written me to visit him on my trip, that we might consult together over some intricate cases that of late had been occupying his attention in that vicinity. in fact, i was too elderly to devote so much thought and speculation to a damsel still in her teens, so i resolutely turned eyes and tried to turn thoughts to something else. the lamps were being lighted, and the glare from the one overhead fell full upon my other victim, the cavalryman. i knew him to be such from the crossed sabres in gold upon his jaunty forage cap, and the heavy army cloak which was muffled cavalier-like over his shoulders, displaying to vivid advantage its gorgeous lining of canary color, yet completely concealing any interior garments his knightship might be pleased to wear. something in my contemplation of this young warrior amused me to that extent that i wondered he had escaped more than a casual glance before. lolling back in his seat, with a huge pair of top boots spread out upon the cushion in front, he had the air, as the french say, of thorough self-appreciation and superiority; he was gazing dreamily up at the lamp overhead and whistling softly to himself, with what struck me forcibly as an affectation of utter nonchalance; what struck me still more forcibly was that he did not once look at the young beauty so close behind him; on the contrary, there was an evident attempt on his part to appear sublimely indifferent to her presence. now that's very unusual in a young man under the circumstances, isn't it? i had an idea that these charles o'malleys were heart-smashers; but this conduct hardly tallied with any of my preconceived notions on the subject of heart-smashing, and greatly did i marvel and conjecture as to the cause of this extraordinary divergence from the manners and customs of young men,--soldiers in particular, when, of a sudden, mars arose, threw off his outer vestment, emerged as it were from a golden glory of yellow shelter-tent; discovered a form tall, slender, graceful, and erect, the whole clad in a natty shell-jacket and riding-breeches; stalked up to the stove in the front of the car; produced, filled, and lighted a smoke-begrimed little meerschaum; opened the door with a snap; let himself out with a bang; and disappeared into outer darkness. looking quickly around, i saw that the fair face of c. k. or k. c. was uplifted; furthermore, that there was an evident upward tendency on the part of the aforementioned supercilious nose, entirely out of proportion with the harmonious and combined movement of the other features; furthermore, that the general effect was that of maidenly displeasure; and, lastly, that the evident object of such divine wrath was, beyond all peradventure, the vanished knight of the sabre. "now, my lad," thought i, "what have you done to put your foot in it?" just then the door reopened, and in came, not mars, but the conductor; and that functionary, proceeding direct to where she sat, thus addressed the pretty object of my late cogitations (i didn't listen, but i heard): "it'll be all right, miss. i telegraphed the judge from iuka, and reckon he'll be over with the carriage to meet you; but if he nor none of the folks ain't there, i'll see that you're looked after all right. old jake biggs'll be there, most like, and then you're sure of getting over to the judge's to-night anyhow." here i pricked up my ears. beauty smilingly expressed her gratitude, and, in smiling, corroborated my theory about the teeth to the most satisfactory extent. "the colonel," continued the conductor, who would evidently have been glad of any excuse to talk with her for hours, "the colonel, him and mr. peyton, went over to holly springs three days ago; but the smash-up on the mississippi central must have been the cause of their not getting to the junction in time to meet you. that's why i brought you along on this train; 'twasn't no use to wait for them there." "halloo!" thought i at this juncture, "here's my chance; he means judge summers by 'the judge's,' and 'the colonel' is harrod summers, of course, and ned peyton, that young reprobate who has been playing fast and loose among the marshals and sheriffs, is the mr. peyton he speaks of; and this must be some friend or relative of miss pauline's going to visit her. the gentlemen have been sent to meet her, and have been delayed by that accident. i'm in luck;" so up i jumped, elbowed the obliging conductor to one side; raised my hat, and introduced myself,--"mr. brandon, of new orleans, an old friend of judge summers, on my way to visit him; delighted to be of any service; pray accept my escort," etc., etc.--all somewhat incoherent, but apparently satisfactory. mademoiselle graciously acknowledged my offer; smilingly accepted my services; gave me a seat by her side; and we were soon busied in a pleasant chat about "pauline," her cousin, and "harrod," her other cousin and great admiration. soon i learned that it was k. c., that k. c. was kitty carrington; that kitty carrington was judge summers's niece, and that judge summers's niece was going to visit judge summers's niece's uncle; that they had all spent the months of september and october together in the north when she first returned from abroad; that she had been visiting "aunt mary" in louisville ever since, and that "aunt mary" had been with her abroad for ever so long, and was just as good and sweet as she could be. in fact, i was fast learning all my charming little companion's family history, and beginning to feel tolerably well acquainted with and immensely proud of her, when the door opened with a snap, closed with a bang, and, issuing from outer darkness, re-entered mars. now, when mars re-entered, he did so pretty much as i have seen his brother button-wearers march into their company quarters on inspection morning, with an air of determined ferocity and unsparing criticism; but when mars caught sight of me, snugly ensconced beside the only belle on the train, the air suddenly gave place to an expression of astonishment. he dropped a gauntlet; picked it up; turned red; and then, with sudden resumption of lordly indifference, plumped himself down into his seat in as successful an attempt at expressing "who cares?" without saying it, as i ever beheld. chancing to look at miss kitty, i immediately discovered that a little cloud had settled upon her fair brow, and detected the nose on another rise, so said i,-- "what's the matter? our martial friend seems to have fallen under the ban of your displeasure," and then was compelled to smile at the vindictiveness of the reply: "_he!_ he has indeed! why, he had the impertinence to speak to me before you came in; asked me if i was not the miss carrington expected at judge summers's; actually offered to escort me there, as the colonel had failed to meet me!" "indeed! then i suppose i, too, am horribly at fault," said i, laughing, "for i've done pretty much the same thing?" "nonsense!" said miss kit. "can't you understand? he's a yankee,--a yankee officer! you don't suppose i'd allow myself, a southern girl whose home was burnt by yankees and whose only brother fought all through the war against them,--you don't suppose i'd allow myself to accept any civility from a yankee, do you?" and the bright eyes shot a vengeful glance at the dawdling form in front, and a terrific pout straightway settled upon her lips. amused, yet unwilling to offend, i merely smiled and said that it had not occurred to me; but immediately asked her how long before my entrance this had happened. "oh, about half an hour; he never made more than one attempt." "what answer did you give him?" "answer!--why! i couldn't say much of anything, you know, but merely told him i wouldn't trouble him, and said it in such a way that he knew well enough what was meant. he took the hint quickly enough, and turned red as fire, and said very solemnly, 'i ask your pardon,' put on his cap and marched back to his seat." here came a pretty little imitation of mars raising his chin and squaring his shoulders as he walked off. i smiled again, and then began to think it all over. mars was a total stranger to me. i had never seen him before in my life, and, so long as we remained on an equal footing as strangers to the fair k. c., i had been disposed to indulge in a little of the usual jealousy of "military interference," and, from my exalted stand-point as a man of the world and at least ten years his senior in age, to look upon him as a boy with no other attractions than his buttons and a good figure; but beauty's answer set me to thinking. i was a yankee, too, only she didn't know it; if she had, perhaps mars would have stood the better chance of the two. i, too, had borne arms against the sunny south (as a valiant militia-man when the first call came in ' ), and had only escaped wearing the uniform she detested from the fact that our regimental rig was gray, and my talents had never conspired to raise me above the rank of lance-corporal. i, too, had participated in the desecration of the "sacred soil" (digging in the hot sun at the first earthworks we threw up across the long bridge); in fact, if she only knew it, there was probably more reason, more real cause, for resentment against me, than against the handsome, huffy stripling two seats in front. he was a "yank," of course; but judging from the smooth, ruddy cheek, and the downiest of downy moustaches fringing his upper lip, had but just cut loose from the apron-strings of his maternal west point. why! he must have been at school when we of the old seventh tramped down broadway that april afternoon to the music of "sky-rockets," half drowned in stentorian cheers. in fact, i began, in the few seconds it took me to consider this, to look upon mars as rather an ill-used individual. very probably he was stationed somewhere in the vicinity, for loud appeals had been made for regular cavalry ever since the year previous, when the ku-klux began their devilment in the neighborhood. very probably he knew judge summers; visited at his plantation; had heard of miss kitty's coming, and was disposed to show her attention. meeting her on the train alone and unescorted, he had done nothing more than was right in offering his services. he had simply acted as a gentleman, and been rebuffed. ah, miss kitty, you must, indeed, be very young, thought i, and so asked,-- "have you been long in the south since the war, miss carrington?" "i? oh, no! we lived in kentucky before the war, and when it broke out mother took me abroad. i was a little bit of a girl then, and was put at school in paris, but mother died very soon afterwards, and then auntie took charge of me. why, i only left school last june!" poor little kit! her father had died when she was a mere baby; her mother before the child had reached her tenth year; their beautiful old home in kentucky had been sacked and burned during the war; and george, her only brother, after fighting for his "lost cause" until the last shot was fired at appomattox, had gone abroad, married, and settled there. much of the large fortune of their father still remained; and little kit, now entering upon her eighteenth year, was the ward of judge summers, her mother's brother, and quite an heiress. all this i learned, partly at the time, principally afterwards from the judge himself; but meantime there was the rebellious little fairy at my side with all the hatred and prejudice of ten years ago, little dreaming how matters had changed since the surrender of her beloved lee, or imagining the quantity of oil that had been poured forth upon the troubled waters. chapter ii. the "twenty minutes to sandbrook" had become involved in difficulty. interested in my chat with kitty, i had failed to notice that we were stopping even longer than usual at some mysterious locality where there was even less of any apparent reason for stopping at all. all without was darkness. i pushed open the window, poked out my head, and took a survey. all was silence save the hissing of the engine way ahead, and one or two voices in excited conversation somewhere near the baggage-car and by the fence at the roadside. two lights, lanterns apparently, were flitting rapidly about. i wondered at the delay, but could assign no cause in reply to the natural question miss kit asked as i drew in my head. mars opened his window as i closed mine, looked out a moment, then got up, gave himself a stretch, and stalked out; this time without slamming the door; a bang would have been too demonstrative in that oppressive silence. in one minute he came back with a quick, nervous step, picked up a belt and holster he had left at his seat, and, without a glance at us, turned sharply back to the door again. as he disappeared, i saw his hand working at the butt of the revolver swung at his hip. something was wrong. i knew that the ku-klux had been up to mischief in that vicinity, and the thought flashed upon me that they were again at work. looking around, i saw that three of our four fellow-passengers had disappeared. they were ill-favored specimens, for i remembered noticing them just before we stopped, and remarked that they were talking earnestly and in low tones together at the rear end of the car. the other passenger was an old lady, spectacled and rheumatic. without communicating my suspicions to my little charge, i excused myself; stepped quietly out; swung off the car, and stumbled up the track toward the lights. a group of six or eight men was gathered at the baggage-car. about the same number were searching along the fence, all talking excitedly. i hailed a brakeman and asked what was the matter. "ku-klux, sir! tried to rob the express! there was two of them in mask jumped in with their pistols and belted the agent over the head and laid him out; but afore they could get into the safe, the baggage-master, jim dalton, came in, and he yelled and went for 'em. we was running slow up grade, and they jumped off; jim and the conductor after them; that's why we stopped and backed down." "which way did they go?" i asked. "took right into the bush, i reckon. that lieutenant and another feller has gone in through here, and bill here says he seen three other fellers light out from the back car,--the one you was in, sir. that's enough to catch them if they're on the trail." "catch them!" i exclaimed. "those three men in our car were of the same gang, if anything, and that makes five to our four." "yes, by g--d!" said another of the party, a sturdy-looking planter; "and what's more, i believe they've got a ranch in hereabouts and belong to hank smith's gang. there ain't a meaner set of cut-throats in all dixie." "then, for heaven's sake, let's go in and hunt up our party!" said i, really apprehensive as to their safety. three or four volunteered at once. over the fence we went, and on into the pitchy darkness beyond. stumbling over logs and cracking sticks and leaves, squashing through mud-holes and marshy ground, we plunged ahead, until a minute or two brought us panting into a comparatively open space, and there we paused to listen. up to this time i had heard not a sound from the pursuit, and hardly knew which way to turn. each man held his breath and strained his ears. another minute and it came,--well on to the front,--a yell, a shot, another shot, and then,--"this way!" "this way!" "here they are!" the rest was drowned by our own rush, as we once more plunged into the thicket and on towards the shouts. all of us were armed in one way or another,--it is rare enough that any man goes otherwise in that section of the country,--and to me there was a terrible excitement about the whole affair, and my heart came bounding up to my throat with every stride. one or two more shots were heard, and on we kept until, just as every man was almost breathless and used up, we were brought to a sudden stop on the steep bank of a bayou that stretched far to either side of our path, right and left, completely barring farther progress. in blank amazement, and utterly at a loss what to do, we were gazing stupidly in one another's faces, as one after another we gathered on the brink, when there came a sudden exclamation from the midst of us,--"who's that?" i jumped, thanks to startled nerves, and looked around. a dark form came creeping slowly up the bank, and a weak voice said,-- "don't shoot, fellows. i'm all right, but they nigh onto finished me, and they've got hank smith away anyhow." we crowded around him with questions; but he was faint and sick and the blood was streaming from a cut on his forehead. a long pull at a flask tendered by some sympathetic soul in the group revived him enough to tell his experience. "me and the lieutenant took out through the open until we had to take to the bush. didn't see the conductor nor jim anywhere, but we gained on the kluxers. pretty soon we heard 'em busting through the bushes and heard 'em holler. i got blowed, but the lieutenant, he went ahead like as though he'd done nothing but jump since he was a pup. i never seen such a kangaroo. he got clean out of sight, and all of a sudden i heard him holler; and then came a couple o' shots; and pretty quick i came upon him and another cuss just more than going for one another in the bushes. the yankee had him under, though, and had winged him on the run. when i came up he says to me, says he, 'you look out for this man now. he can't hurt you, but if he squirms, you put a hole in him. i'm going on after the others.' so on he went, and i took a look round. i'd sat down on the cuss to make sure i had him, and my pistol at his ear. he was lyin' right here a-glarin' up at me, and the moment i got a good, square look at his face, d--n my eyes if it wasn't hank smith! then i began to feel bully; and just then i heard some other fellows running up, and thought it was our crowd, so i yelled out that i was here and had hank smith all right; and he kinder grinned; and they hollered 'bully' too; and next thing i knew one of 'em ran up and fetched me a wipe over the head and rolled me off down the bank, and there i've been mud-hugging ever since. "i was stunned, but knew enough to lie quiet, and they got into some kind of a boat and went paddling off across the creek; but hank was groaning and cussing so that i couldn't hear nothing but him. he swore by all that was holy that he'd have that yank's heart's-blood before the month was out, and i tell you the lieutenant had better keep his eye peeled or he'll do it." so we had lost him after all! it was too bad! and so said the conductor and baggage-master when they rejoined us a few minutes after, bringing with them the cavalryman, all three out of breath, covered with mud and scratches, and the latter looking very white and saying but little. i noticed that his handkerchief was bound tightly round his left hand, and divined the cause at once. my respect for mars was rising every minute. he took a pull at the flask, looked revived, and as we all turned moodily back to the train, i asked him about his hurt. "nothing but a clip on the hand," said he; "but i suppose it bled a good deal before i noticed it, and made me a little faint after the row was over. i suspected those fellows who were in our car; in fact, had been sent up to corinth to look after one or two just such specimens, and was on my way back to my troop by this train. if that man was hank smith, as they seem to think, i would almost rather have lost my commission than him." mars's teeth came together solidly as he gave vent to this sentiment, and his strides unconsciously lengthened so that i had to strike an amble to keep up. by this time we had worked our way back into a comparatively open space again, and could see the dim lights of the train several hundred yards off. the rest of our little party kept crowding around us and offering my young hero cordial expressions of sympathy for his hurt, and, in homely phrase, many a compliment on his plucky fight. mars took it all in a laughing sort of way, but was evidently too disgusted at the escape of his bird to care to talk much about anything. nevertheless, before we got back to the train i gave him my name, and, as an old friend of judge summers's, whom i presumed he knew, trusted that i might meet him frequently, and that we might become better acquainted. "thank you, mr. brandon," he answered; "i have heard the judge speak of you, and am sorry i did not know sooner who you were. my name is amory." "have you been long in the south?" i asked. "no, sir; only a month or two. in fact,"--and here something like a blush stole up to the young fellow's cheek,--"i only graduated in this last class--' --from the academy, and so have seen but little of any kind of service." "you're soldier all over, at any rate," thought i, as i looked at the erect, graceful figure beside me; and wondered--my thoughts suddenly reverting to miss kitty--how a young girl could find it in her heart to snub such a handsome fellow as that, yank or no yank. a few strides more brought us to the train, where amory, whose gallantry had already been noised abroad among the passengers, was immediately surrounded by an excited group of non-combatants, while i jumped into our car to see how my little _protégée_ had fared during our absence. she looked vastly relieved at my reappearance, having of course learned the true state of affairs soon after our sudden departure. i told her briefly what had happened, taking rather a mischievous delight in dilating upon mars's achievement, and affecting not to notice the expression of mingled contempt and incredulity that promptly appeared in her pretty face. mars himself did not reappear: he had gone into the baggage-car to bathe his hand and accept the eager attentions of one or two africans, native and to the manner born, who were vying with one another in brushing off the dirt from his snugly-fitting uniform. he was still surrounded by a knot of passengers and train-hands when i went forward to see how he was getting along, which i did when the train started, but we exchanged a cordial grip of the hand; and parted with the promise of meeting at "the judge's," or the cavalry camp, a few miles beyond, within the next two or three days. the whistle for sandbrook was just beginning as i rejoined miss kitty, and, after a vigorous life of at least two minutes, wound up in a dismal whine as we rolled in among the lights at the station. yes, there they were, ready and waiting for us. the genial, gray-haired old judge and miss pauline herself, his only and devoted daughter, in whose arms miss kit was rapturously enfolded the instant she hopped from the platform. there, too, was old jake biggs, whom the conductor had mentioned as mademoiselle's escort in case no one else appeared,--jake and his boon companion, his faithful old horse, "bob," so named in honor of general lee. jake was an old colored servant of the summers family, and had followed his "young massa," harrod summers, all through the war; had seen him rise from subaltern to colonel; had nursed him through wounds and illness; and at last when the war was over, and harrod, who had gone forth with the enthusiasm and ardor of a boy, returned to his father's home, old jake contentedly followed him, and settled down in one of the few log cabins that remained on the almost ruined estate of the summers'. jake was a "free nigger" now, but the world to him was wrapped up in old associations and "mars' harrod." no such soldier ever had lived as his "cunnel," no such statesman as the judge; no such belle as missy pauline. and jake not only would not leave them, but in a vague and chivalric manner he stumbled about the premises, lording it over the young niggers and making mighty pretence at earning an independent livelihood for himself by "doin' chores" around the neighborhood, and in hauling loads from the depot to the different plantations within a few miles' radius of sandbrook. he had managed to scrape up a dilapidated cart and harness somewhere or other, and poor old bob furnished, greatly to his disgust, the draft and motive power. having been a fine and spirited saddle-horse in his younger days, bob had naturally rebelled at the idea of coming down to the level of the plantation mules, and had shown something of his former self in the vigorous and determined remonstrance which resulted on the occasion of jake's first experiments with the harness; but beyond a temporary dislocation of buckles, straps, and dash-board, and a volley of african anathemas and "whoa da's" from his master, poor old bob's rebellion had accomplished nothing, and he had finally settled down into a resigned and dreamy existence, and went plodding about the vicinity with the asthmatic cart at his heels, a victim to the vicissitudes of war. jake was a pet of mine, and had amused me very much on the occasion of my first visit to the judge's, and that's why i tell so long a rigmarole about him. he stood there, a little aloof from the "quality folks," grinning and bowing, and making huge semicircular sweeps with his battered old hat, in his anxiety to do proper honor to the judge's guests. i had a chance to receive my especial welcome while miss kit was being almost devoured by her relatives; and presently the baggage was all pitched off; the train moved on with a parting whoop; mars appeared at the rear door and gave me a farewell wave of the hand; and then, leaving to jake and bob the responsible duty of transporting the young lady's trunks, we four--miss summers and miss kit, the judge and i--were duly ensconced in the comfortable old carriage, and went jolting off homeward. mr. summers and i had much to talk about, and finding it impossible to get a word in edgewise with the two young ladies, who were fondling, fluttering, cooing, and chattering on the back seat in the most absorbed manner imaginable, we gradually drifted off into our law business and let them gossip away and exchange volleys of news and caresses. the judge was deeply interested in my account of the adventure with the ku-klux, and much concerned about amory's hurt. i learned from him of the desperate and lawless character of the men who were generally believed to be the prominent members of the gang, and the perpetrators of the dastardly outrages that had been so recently inflicted both upon the negroes and the whites. the people were terrified beyond expression; several had been driven from the country; several had been shot down in cold blood. a defenceless girl who had been sent down from the north as teacher of the freedmen's school, had been dragged from her bed at midnight and brutally whipped by some cowardly ruffians. the sheriff, who had arrested one of the suspected parties, was threatened in an anonymous letter with death if he failed to release his prisoner within twenty-four hours. he called upon the citizens for assistance, but none was given, for the union people were too few. a dozen men in mask surrounded his house the next night; his wife heard the strange noise, and went to the door; opened it, and was shot dead in her tracks. the jail was forced, the prisoner released and spirited off beyond the limits of the state. all this was going on, when, to the great joy of peace-loving people, and undisguised anger of the unreconstructed, a troop of united states cavalry came suddenly to the scene. several arrests of known murderers and marauders were made; and, until that very evening, nothing more had been heard of the dreaded ku-klux. indeed, it was by some persons believed that their organization was broken up, and nothing but the positive testimony of one of their own neighbors, the man to whom amory had turned over his prisoner, would induce the citizens generally to believe that hank smith himself was concerned in the attempted robbery of the express car. the cavalry had been there just about a month when this affair took place. chapter iii. miss kitty's tongue had been far from idle all the time that the judge and i had been talking over these matters, but it was only just before we reached our destination that i heard her telling miss summers of the events of the evening. the moment she mentioned that our lieutenant was hurt, miss pauline started and exclaimed,-- "oh, kitty! you don't mean it! what _will_ major vinton say?" "who is major vinton?" said miss kit. "major vinton is the commanding officer of the cavalry, and mr. amory is one of his lieutenants. father knows them both very well, and the major is with us almost every day," was the answer. miss kit's eyes must have been as big as saucers when she heard that. i couldn't see, but knew it when she exclaimed, in tones almost horror-stricken,-- "oh, pauline! do you mean to tell me that uncle and you receive yankee officers! i wouldn't have believed it!" "you don't know him, kitty," was miss summers's quiet answer. "i believe that we owe father's life to him, and i know that, but for him, none of us could have remained here. he is a thorough gentleman, and you'd like him if you only knew him as we do. as for mr. amory, he is only a boy, to be sure; but the major says he is a fine officer, and i know that he is a real nice fellow." miss kit relapsed into amazed silence; the judge added some few gentle words of reproof for her treatment of the youngster; and i was smiling to myself over the whole affair, when we drove up to the main entrance of their once beautiful home. a tall, soldierly-looking man opened the door, exchanged a word of greeting with miss summers as he assisted the ladies to alight, and then, as they scurried away up the stairs, i was introduced to major vinton. now, though we had never met before, the major's name was by no means unfamiliar. we were both new yorkers; both had struggled through columbia, and had many a wrestle with anthon and drisler; both had rushed to arms in heroic style and tramped off for washington at the first call for troops. but i had speedily tramped back again; while he remained, chose the cavalry arm of the service, fought his way up to the command of his regiment; and when, in , his services were no longer needed, sheathed his sabre; put aside his well-worn regimentals; tried hard to interest himself in some civil pursuit; took a brief tour abroad, returned just as the new organization of the regular army was being made, and meeting one night a joyous bevy of his old comrades, regular and volunteer, with whom he had fought over every field from bull run to five forks, the old fire was fanned into a blaze, and in one week he found himself a successful candidate for a captaincy of cavalry. the "major" came afterwards "by brevet," and vinton had settled down into contentedly following the old life, though in a less exciting time and exalted capacity. he greeted me in a frank, warm-hearted way; and we were in the midst of a comparison of notes as to old college names, when the judge interrupted us with,-- "vinton, mr. brandon brings important news, which i think you ought to know at once." so once again the story of our little adventure was told. the major listened attentively and never interposed a word; but his brow darkened and his face set when i came to amory's wound and hank smith's parting threat. the instant i finished he turned to a servant, saying,-- "be good enough to tell my orderly to bring the horses round at once." in vain the judge begged him to stay and have supper, or at least some little refreshment. the major said, very quietly, that he must be off to camp at once; asked me one or two more questions in a business-like way; and the moment the horses came, bade us good night, swung into saddle, and followed by his orderly, disappeared at a rapid trot. the judge and i stood listening on the portico until the hoof-beats died away, and then returned to the blaze of the great wood-fire in the sitting-room. the young ladies came fluttering down-stairs. supper was announced. miss pauline looked inquiringly around as we walked into the next room, where a bounteous table was spread. "where is major vinton, father?" "gone back to camp, dear. he asked me to present his excuses to you, but he was obliged to leave as soon as he heard of this affair." i fancied that a shade of disappointment settled on miss summers's face, but she merely answered, "indeed, i'm very sorry," and busied herself with the tea and coffee. miss kit looked immensely relieved, and immediately became radiant;--chattered like a little magpie,--in fact, was as charming and bewitching as possible; but it was already late; good-nights were soon exchanged; and, tired out, the household went to sleep. next morning when we assembled in the breakfast-room, our little heroine looked fresher, prettier, and _tinier_ than the day before. this time her hair was "fixed," and that was the only point that in my eyes was no improvement. all day long the judge and i roamed about the premises or pored over the cases he had on hand. all day long the young ladies laughed, chatted, flitted about from one room to another, played and sang. no news came from the camp. late in the afternoon, when we were all standing on the portico, a solitary trooper came cantering up the road along which the major had disappeared the night before. without knowing why, i found my eyes turning upon miss summers. she was listening abstractedly to miss kit's account of a visit to the mammoth cave, but _her_ eyes were fixed upon the horseman as he rapidly neared the gate,--neared it, and, never drawing rein or checking speed, rode stolidly past on the road to sandbrook depot. the wistful, almost eager light faded from her soft brown eyes; the full lip quivered one little bit; but quickly rallying, she plunged into a blithe wordy skirmish with her cousin about some alleged flirtation of the summer previous. evening came, and with it harrod summers and mr. peyton; both making much over miss kit; both bemoaning the accident which had prevented their meeting; and both apparently pleased to know that "mr. brandon was _so_ kind and attentive." i had known harrod slightly before, as he was away much of the time of my previous visit; but i knew him to be his father's son, a man to be honored and respected. of peyton, the less said the better. he was a rash, foolhardy, and, i feared, criminally reckless boy, a violent "reb" and unsparing hater of every yankee. i had heard grave stories concerning his connection with some of the acts of violence committed upon the union-loving people in the vicinity, and had noticed the troubled look on the judge's face every time his name was mentioned. i knew that he had been arrested, and that there was strong presumptive evidence as to his guilt; but he had been immediately bailed out and released. after this occurrence, the judge had managed to persuade him to take a trip to havana and new orleans; but the moment he heard of miss kitty's projected visit he came hurrying back. they were second cousins, and had met abroad. rumor had it that peyton had offered himself; that miss kit had a girlish fancy for him; that his suit promised favorably until aunt mary became suddenly aware of this nice little family arrangement, and, being a woman of the world, and possessed of a keen sense of what constituted the eligible and ineligible in a young man, swooped remorselessly down upon the blissful pair; hustled master ned into immediate exile; and, gathering her one chicken under the shadow of her protecting wing, bore her in triumph away to a realm uninfested with dangerous young men. miss kit is said to have shed bitter tears one week; sulked the next; pouted another; to have made a vigorous and romantic attempt at pining in all three; but the effort was too much for her; and, being wisely left to herself, it was not long before peyton and his escapades were to her matters of serene indifference. not so with him, however. to do him justice, peyton was probably very much in love; and at all events had a very correct idea of the unlimited benefits to be obtained through the medium of miss kit's solid bank account. he was no fool, if he was a reprobate; and was as handsome and naughty a wolf as could be found infesting southern sheepfolds; and here he was, primed and ready to renew the attack. the judge didn't like it; miss summers didn't; nor harrod; nor i; but it only took a few hours to convince us all that our beauty had just enough feminine mischief in her to enjoy the prospect of another flirtation with her old flame; and so to all but peyton and to her, the evening passed gloomily enough. the judge retired to his library; miss summers played soft, sad music at the piano; and harrod and i smoked cigar after cigar upon the porch. ten o'clock came and still the pair were cooing away in the corner; kitty's low, sweet, bubbling laugh floating out through the open casement to where we sat. miss summers closed her piano abruptly; came out to our nook on the portico; and, declining the offer of a chair, stood leaning her hand upon her brother's shoulder. harrod looked fondly up at her for a moment or two as she gazed out towards the gate; then a teasing smile played about his mouth as he asked,-- "anybody been here to-day, paulie?" "no-o-o-o! that is, nobody to speak of." "no major, then?" pauline looks squarely down into her brother's eyes as she answers, "no major, if you refer to major vinton." a little heightened color, perhaps, but that's all. she is as brave as harrod and not easy to tease. harrod turns to me: "do you think he has gone after those men with his troop, mr. brandon?" "i don't know, colonel; he said nothing about it, but rode off immediately. i shouldn't wonder, though; for the judge tells me he is over here almost every day." "ye-e-es?" (inquiringly.) "how is that, paulie?" paulie has no reasons to allege; probably he wouldn't come if he didn't want to. "true enough," harrod suggests; "and still less unless he knew he was welcome. he is awfully proud, isn't he, paulie?" "indeed, harrod, i don't know; but he is welcome, and any man who has rendered us the service he has in protecting our father against the fury of that mob on court-day, ought to be welcome among us!"--color rising and a perceptible tremor of the hand on harrod's shoulder. he takes it gently and leans his cheek lovingly upon it as he looks up at the flushing face, whose dark eyes still gaze unflinchingly into his own. "you are right enough, dear, and you know i agree with you. he _is_ a noble fellow, brandon, and i hope you'll meet and know him better. father's decision against two or three ku-klux raised a terrible row here; and as he attempted to leave the court-house with one or two friends the mob hooted him; and even his long residence among these people would not have saved him. they call him traitor and yankee now. well, father tried to speak to them, but they wouldn't listen. a few more friends gathered round him; a blow was struck; and then the mob charged. shooting ensued, of course, and two of their own men were badly wounded, while father and his party of six barred themselves in the court-house. old jake biggs dashed out to camp, luckily meeting major vinton on the way, and in five minutes from the time the first shot was fired, and before those howling devils could break down the door, vinton darted at a gallop into their midst,--not a soul with him but his orderly,--rode up to the door as though he were built of cast iron, and then turned squarely and confronted the whole mob. there's only one thing on earth these people are afraid of, brandon: they don't care a fig for law, sheriffs, or marshals, but they would rather see the devil than the federal uniform. and for ten minutes vinton and his one man kept that mob at bay; and then young amory with half the troop came tearing into town, and if the major hadn't checked them, would have gone through that crowd in ten seconds. "the mob skulked off; but they hate father and the cavalry most bitterly, and would wreak their vengeance if they dared. i was away in mobile at the time, and knew nothing about the affair until next day, when my sister's telegram came; but the sheriff never tires of telling how the major rode into that crowd; and how mad mr. amory was because vinton stopped his charge." "no wonder you all think so much of him, colonel," i answered. "he comes of a noble old race, and whether as enemy or friend you cannot fail to respect him; and i'm glad to see a cordial feeling springing up between our sections in this way. i would to god it were more general!" "ah, brandon, it is not the soldiers, not the men who did the fighting, who are bitter now. our enemies in the north are the men who sat at home wondering why your army of the potomac didn't move. your enemies are those who never felt the shock of northern arms. we would have had peace long ago could the soldiers have been allowed to make the terms." and so we sat and talked, until the clocks throughout the house were chiming eleven, and then miss summers declared we must retire. the corner flirtation was broken up; peyton and miss kit exchanging a lingering and inaudible good-night at the stairs. harrod and i closed and bolted doors and windows. peyton stuck his hands in his pockets and walked nervously up and down the hall buried in thought until we had finished our work; and then, on receiving colonel summers' somewhat cold intimation that it was time to go to bed, wished us a sulky "pleasant dreams," took his candle and disappeared. harrod waited until he was out of hearing and then said to me, "they are all out of the way now, brandon, and i want to see you one moment. it is a hard thing to say of one's own kinsman, but peyton can't be trusted in this matter. here is a letter that was left for father at the post-office in town, but i have opened and withheld it, knowing that it would only cause him unnecessary trouble. i'm worried about it, and had hoped that vinton would have come over to-day; we're safe enough with him and his men." saying this he handed me the letter. i had seen them before; ku-klux anonymous rascalities,--a huge, coarse, brown envelope, directed in a sprawling hand to the "honerable judge summers," and embellished in red ink with numerous death's-heads, k. k.'s, and in the upper left-hand corner a flaming scroll, on which appeared in bold relief the words "blood! death! liberty!" the whole affair was ludicrous enough in appearance, and, throwing it to one side, i read the inclosure. it began with the usual "death to traitors," and wound up, after one or two incoherent "whereases" and "therefores," by informing the judge that if he remained in that vicinity twenty-four hours longer "all the damned yankees this side of hell couldn't save him," and intimating that the lives of the federal officers upon whom he relied "weren't worth their weight in mud." harrod and i sat for some time talking over this elegant document, and decided that nothing should be said until we could see major vinton on the following day. the camp was six miles away, and on the outskirts of the county-seat where the court-house row had taken place; and sandbrook was nearly as far in the opposite direction. he anticipated no danger for that night; but such had been the reckless nature of the klan, that we agreed it best to be on the safe side and to look well to our arms; then we parted, each to his own room. chapter iv. it was a clear, starlit night and very mild, almost warm, in fact; and having spent my christmas but a few days before amid the orange groves and magnolias of louisiana, i had prepared myself for something more wintry on the borders of tennessee; but up to that time my overcoat had been insupportable. the combined effects of half a dozen cigars and the conversation just concluded with harrod summers had banished all desire for sleep. in fact, if i must confess it, i was nervous and ill at ease. the room seemed close and stifling, so i opened both window and door to secure the full benefit of the cool night-air, and then proceeded to make myself comfortable. first pulling off my boots and insinuating my feet into an easy old pair of slippers, i took the boots to the door and deposited them noiselessly in the hall, where small pomp, the "general utility" man of the household, could find and black them in the morning. a dim light was burning on a little table in the hall, and i noticed mr. peyton's boots at his door, the door next to mine, and on the same side of the hall. we were quartered in what was known as the east wing, a one-storied addition to the main building, containing four sleeping apartments for the use of the judge's guests; the floor, as is generally the case in these southern houses, being elevated some eight or nine feet above the ground. peyton and i were the only occupants of the wing that night; the rooms of the rest of the household being in the main building. it occurred to me, therefore, that the hall lamp was unnecessary there; and so i crossed over, took it from its table, and was returning with it to my own room, when i heard a long, shrill, distant whistle. it came from the direction of the woods on the eastern side of the plantation, so far away, in fact, that save in the dead of night it probably would have failed to attract attention. involuntarily i stopped short in my tracks, listening; and involuntarily, too, i looked at peyton's door. it was closed, but the transom above it was open, and all was darkness within. no sound had come from his room before, and i supposed him asleep; and now, as if in corroboration of that supposition, he began to snore; rather a louder and more demonstrative snore than would have been natural from so sudden a start, i thought afterwards. meantime, i stood still a minute and listened. the whistle died away, and there was no answer or repetition; the snoring continued; i moved on into my room; closed and bolted the door; put my lamp on the bureau; took out my revolver and carefully examined it; then turned down the light until nothing but a mere glimmer was left; crouched down by the open window, and looked out. the stillness was so intense that the ticking of my watch and the loud beating of my heart seemed insupportable. leaning out from the casement, i could see that peyton's window, too, was open, and that there was a little shed of some kind beneath it, whose roof reached up to within about five feet of the window-sill. garden-tools were probably stored there, as i had noticed a few spades and a wheelbarrow during the day. peyton was still snoring, though less loudly. i listened for ten minutes more, and still no sound came from the direction in which i had heard the whistle, save the distant neigh of a horse and the occasional barking of dogs. yet my nerves were upset. that whistle _must_ have been a signal of some kind, and, if so, what did it portend? at last, being unable to arrive at any conclusion, i determined to lie down and think it over; and so, taking off coat and waist-coat, and putting on a loose wrapper, i threw myself upon the bed. it must have been after midnight then, yet i could not sleep, and at the same time thinking was an effort. i found myself listening intently for every sound, and holding my breath every time the distant bark of a dog or the lowing of cattle was heard. an hour passed; nothing further happened; and i began to feel drowsy at last and to regard myself as the easiest man to scare in the whole county. soon after, i must have fallen into a doze; an uneasy, fitful slumber it must have been, too; for the very next thing i knew i found myself sitting bolt upright; every nerve strained; and listening with beating heart to the same signal whistle; only this time, though low and cautious, it was nearer; and, unless i was vastly mistaken, came from a little clump of trees just beyond the eastern fence. harrod's big newfoundland, who always slept on the porch in front of the house, and seldom, if ever, barked or made any disturbance at night, came tearing around to our side, growling fiercely, and evidently excited and alarmed. _something_ was up, that was certain; and immediately i began to wonder what ought to be done. the call was not repeated; all was soon quiet again. "blondo" had given one or two low, short barks; scouted through the grounds about the house; and returned to the southern front again. after one or two moments' consideration he had given another, a sort of interrogatory bark, as though he expected a reply; and then, with a dissatisfied sniff at hearing nothing further, slowly returned to his usual post. blondo's nerves were better than mine. i thought over the matter ten minutes longer in the most undecided manner imaginable. harrod had plainly intimated that he suspected mr. peyton of complicity with the ku-klux or i would have awakened him; as it was, i was possessed with the idea that he ought to know nothing of our suspicions, nothing of the anonymous letter (from us, at least), and in no manner or way be admitted to confidence. rather hard on peyton, to be sure; but there _was_ something about him i didn't like, something besides the mere fact that i saw he didn't like me, and----what was that! there _could_ be no mistake! i plainly saw through my open window a sudden gleam of light among the leaves of the oak-tree on the other side of the garden-walk. it was as though the light had been momentarily thrown upon it from a bull's-eye lantern and instantly withdrawn. more than that, the light was thrown upon it from this side. thoroughly aroused now, i stole noiselessly from the bed; took my revolver; and, making the least possible "creak" in turning the key, i slowly opened my door, and on tiptoe and in stocking feet crept out into the hall. my plan was to go and arouse harrod. without closing my door i turned stealthily away; and, as a matter of course, stumbled over one of my boots. there they were, right at the door, just where i had left them, and visible enough for all practical purposes in the dim light that came from my open doorway and the window at the end of the hall. it was clumsy and stupid of me. i looked towards peyton's door, wondering if the noise, slight as it was, had awakened him. no more snoring, at all events. i took a step or two towards his room to listen, looked carefully down to see that i didn't stumble over his boots too, and then stopped short. peyton's boots were no longer there. for a moment i could not realize it; then i stole closer to the door, and the door that i knew was tightly closed when i came up-stairs was now unlatched and partly open. the conviction forced itself into my mind that my next-door neighbor was up to some of his old devilment, and that that signal whistle had some connection with the mysterious disappearance of his boots. peeping through the partly-opened door, i could see the bed, its coverlet undisturbed, its pillows smooth and untouched. that was enough to embolden me, and at the same time make me mad. all that snoring was a counterfeit for _my_ benefit, was it? i opened the door and looked in: no signs of its late occupant; ned peyton had gone. sorely puzzled what to do next, i sidled out again; sneaked out, i might as well say, for that's the way i felt; and leaving his door as i found it, returned to my own room and took post at the window. curiously enough, the discovery of peyton's absence and his probable connection with the mysterious signals without, had had a wonderful effect in restoring me to confidence and endowing me with a fabulous amount of pluck and courage. the idea of summoning harrod was abandoned; the thing to be done now was to find out what my amiable next-door neighbor was up to; and, if possible, to do so without letting him know that his nice little game was detected. a clock somewhere in the hall struck three while i was pondering over the matter. ten minutes afterwards there came a stealthy step on the garden-walk, and the figure of a man emerged from behind an old arbor near the oak-tree. it was peyton, of course, although the light was too uncertain to admit of my recognizing him until he came nearer. i crouched down lower, but kept him in view. cautiously and slowly master ned tiptoed it up to the little tool-house under his window; swung himself carefully up to the roof; crept on all-fours until he reached the top; and then, making very little noise, clambered into his window and disappeared from view. a moment or two after, i heard him softly deposit his boots in the hall; close and bolt his door; and soon after tumble into bed. evidently, then, we had nothing further to fear for that night at least; and in fifteen minutes i was sound asleep. at breakfast the next morning the household generally put in a late appearance. peyton established himself at miss kitty's side and monopolized her in the most lover-like manner. immediately afterwards the pair sallied forth for a walk. miss summers looked very anxiously after them until they disappeared in the shrubbery, and then turned to harrod with an appealing look in her eyes. "i don't know what to do, harrod. i didn't imagine the possibility of his coming back here when we invited kitty." "don't worry about it, pauline. mr. brandon and i are going to drive over to the cavalry camp this morning, and this afternoon i'll have a talk with ned. how soon can you get through your talk with father?" he suddenly asked, turning to me. "twenty minutes at most will be long enough," i answered; so he sent off to the stable to order the carriage. the judge and i strolled slowly around the house, planning the course to be pursued in the prosecution of the men who had been arrested under the "enforcement act." as we sauntered along the garden-walk on the eastern side, i naturally glanced up at my window and peyton's. a coarse brown envelope was lying right at the door of the little tool-house, the very place where he had clambered to the roof the night before. "we lawyers are curious," and, without interrupting the judge's conversation, i "obliqued" over to the left; picked up the envelope; dropped it carelessly into my pocket; and went on talking without having attracted the judge's attention to the movement. after the judge had returned to his study, and before harrod was ready, i had an opportunity of investigating this precious document. it only needed a glance to assure me that it was just such another envelope as the one which inclosed the ku-klux letter to the judge that harrod had shown me, and that fact was sufficient to remove any scruples i might have had as to reading its contents. the envelope bore no mark or address. the inclosure was as follows: "captain peyton: "dear sir,--the yankee major, with forty of his men, went off in a hurry late last night, leaving the lieutenant and about ten men in camp. they're after hank and the crowd, but we got notice in time, broke up the ranch, and scattered. hank's wound is pretty rough; he played a d--d fool trick in trying to get that express money, and the boys all think he'd been drinking again. three of us took him over the big bear in scantwell's boat, and on up to chickasaw. he sent me back from there to see you and tell you to watch out for every chance to get word to him. he'll be at eustice's, across the tennessee, until his arm is well; and then he's coming back to get square with the yank who shot him. the lieutenant has got an infernal bad cut on the left hand, and can't do nothing for the next week. look out for signal any night about two o'clock. burn this. "yours respectfully, "blackey." here was a pretty piece of villainy. i thought earnestly whether to show it immediately to harrod and make a full _exposé_ of peyton's complicity with the affair; but, before i could decide, the carriage came; and with the driver listening to every word that was said, it was out of the question. it was scandalous enough as it stood without letting the servants know of it. we talked a good deal about their general performances, but in no way alluded to the latest developments of the klan as we drove rapidly along. neither expected to find major vinton there at camp; but i had reason to know that amory would be on hand, and had determined to give him immediate information as to the whereabouts of smith that he might send out a party to secure him. sure enough, only one or two soldiers were to be seen when we drove up, but a corporal took us to amory's tent. he sprang up from the little camp-bed in which he was lounging and reading; gave us a cordial welcome; and, in reply to our questions, stated that the major had gone out with three days' rations and nearly all the men, hoping to hunt up and capture the gang. a united states marshal was with him, who felt certain that he could guide him to the very point on the bayou where the fight had taken place. he had started about three o'clock on the previous morning, just as soon as rations could be cooked, and was determined to hunt them to their holes. "i expect him back every hour, and am disgusted enough at being ordered to stay behind; but he and the doctor both forbade my going, so here i am playing the invalid." his arm was still in a sling and the hand closely bound. we sat and chatted for some twenty minutes. amory inquired after "the young ladies" very calmly; made no allusion to miss kitty's snub; accounted for his non-appearance the day before by saying that the doctor had insisted on his remaining quiet in his tent; and so neither harrod nor i saw fit to make any apology for our troublesome little heroine. she was worrying all of us now,--innocently enough perhaps, but sorely for all that. harrod turned the subject to hank smith; and, finding that amory had not heard of his threat as related by the man whom his friends had "fetched a wipe over the head," repeated it to him, and warned him to be on his guard. mars took it coolly enough; expressed his readiness to welcome hank and his adherents to hospitable graves; and, except that his teeth came as solidly together as they had when alluding to the ruffian's escape two nights previous, displayed no symptoms of the slightest emotion at the prospect of losing a quart or two of "heart's-blood" within the month. presently harrod drove off to the village to make some necessary purchases, promising to return for me within an hour. then i lost not a moment in giving mars my information about hank smith; where he was to be found, etc., but without mentioning peyton's connection with the affair or stating how the news came into my possession. he asked, of course, but i gave a good reason for declining to name the person who had volunteered the news, at the same time assuring him of my belief in its truth. mars was all ablaze in a minute. chickasaw was at least twelve miles away and to the north. vinton's plan, and the marshal's, was to go south-west, should they find the ranch abandoned, and search a number of suspected points in tishomingo and prentiss counties. all the gang by this time knew that there was a hunt going on, and, at the cry of "yanks coming," had scattered in every direction. smith thought himself safe across the tennessee, and would probably have only one or two men with him. amory was fairly excited this time anyhow, and in ten minutes had made up his mind; gave his orders to a non-commissioned officer, wrote a letter to major vinton, with instructions to deliver it immediately upon the return of the troop to camp, and before harrod summers' return, had vaulted lightly into saddle, waved me a laughing good-by, and trotted off at the head of a little squad of five dragoons,--all the men he could possibly take. i watched them till they disappeared from view on the road to the tennessee and then sat me down to wait for harrod. the corporal who had shown us to amory's tent was on "sick-report" he said, with chills and fever. he, with three or four others, remained in charge of camp, and i amused myself listening to their talk about their officers and the ku-klux. an old darky on a mule came in to sell chickens, and after him, a seedy-looking fellow on a shaggy pony,--he "didn't want nothing in particular, unless it was to know when the captain'd be back." the corporal was non-committal,--didn't know. the seedy party shifted around in his saddle, and, after profuse expectoration, "reckoned that the lieutenant warn't much hurt nohow." "why so?" says the corporal. "'cause he's off so quick again." "that don't prove anything," says the dragoon. "whar's he gone to?" says seedy. "don't know." "ain't gone far, i reckon; didn't take no rations, did he?" "don't know." "i kind of wondered _why_ he took the north road _fur_, if he wanted to catch the captain, 'cause i knew _he_ was out towards guntown." "_how_ did you know?" "well, i heard so, that's all." the corporal looks steadily at seedy, and is apparently suspicious. seedy turns his quid over with his tongue and looks all around. he's a bad hand at extracting information, at all events. at last he makes another venture. "wish i knew how far up the north road the lieutenant went. i've got some business up towards the tennessee. i belong to a missionary society hereabouts, and yet i don't like to take that long ride alone." i hear the corporal mutter a rather unflattering comment on _that_ statement; and it occurs to me that there is more of the odor of bad whiskey than sanctity about the member of the missionary society. he reminds me of mr. stiggins; and mr. stiggins makes one more attempt. "whar am i most like to catch the boys by dinner-time?" "don't know." the member looks incredulous and indignant; and after a long survey of every object in range about the camp, turns his dejected steed slowly around and shambles off, with the parting shot,-- "reckon you never _did_ know nothin', did you?" to which the corporal responds,-- "no; and if i _did_, i wouldn't tell you, johnny." stiggins strikes a canter on reaching the main road, and disappears on the trail of the cavalry. presently harrod returns, greatly surprised at amory's sudden expedition, and curious as to the source from which he derives his information. i hardly know what to say, but finally get out of it by the explanation that it was all "confidential," and that i could say nothing on the subject until his return. on the drive home we come suddenly upon the troop itself, looking tired and dusty, but returning from the two days' trip to tishomingo partially successful, and with six rough-looking specimens of "corn-crackers" footing it along between the horsemen. they found no trace of smith, the marshal tells us, as the men go filing by; but, after all, their luck has been good, and six of the worst characters are now securely under guard. the major, he tells us, had stopped at judge summers's, and expected to find us there; so we whip up and hurry on. a brisk drive brings us to the plantation in a very few minutes. as we rattle up to the doorway, harrod catches sight of mr. peyton lounging on the portico by the open window of the parlor, for once in his life paying little or no attention to miss kitty, who is seated on the old wicker-work sofa, some distance from him, pouting and puzzled. harrod warns me to say not a word of lieutenant amory's expedition until peyton is out of the way. old jake detains him a moment about "dis yer hicks's mule done broke into the _gyarden_ las' night," and i move on into the house. in the parlor are the judge, major vinton, and pauline; the first listening, the second narrating, the third as complete a contrast to miss kit as can be imagined. vinton rises and greets me. he looks dusty, tanned, and travel-stained, but more soldierly than ever in his dark-blue jacket and heavy boots. after harrod's entrance he resumes his story,--he was telling of the capture of the ku-klux,--talking frankly and as though none but friends were near. harrod shifts uneasily in his chair and glances nervously towards the window. peyton is invisible, but, beyond doubt, there, and a listener. it is vain to attempt to warn the major; by this time peyton knows the whole story, knows who had aided the troops in their search, knows just how the evidence was procured which led to the arrest of the six victims, and doubtless his black-list is swelled by the addition of several names destined to become the recipients of ku-klux attentions. lunch is announced, and we all sit down at the table, peyton and kit coming in from the porch and endeavoring to ignore major vinton, a circumstance which apparently renders him no uneasiness whatever. he talks constantly with pauline, and never gives a glance at the pair. harrod and i are nervous. i watch peyton closely, and it requires no penetration to see that not a word of vinton's is lost on him. suddenly there comes the clatter of hoofs on the ground without; the clank of a cavalry sabre, and, a moment after, the ring of spurred heels along the hall. a servant announces the major's orderly; and, begging the major not to rise, the judge directs that the trooper be shown in. just as i thought, it is amory's letter. "sergeant malone said that it was to be given the major directly he returned. them was the loot'nant's orders, and he told me to ride right over with it, sir," says the orderly. and, apologizing to miss summers, the major opens it and begins to read. i glance at harrod; his eyes are fixed on peyton; peyton's furtively watching vinton. another minute and vinton has risen to his feet; an eager, flashing light in his eyes, but his voice steady and calm as ever, as he says,-- "gallop back. tell sergeant malone to send me a dozen men, armed and mounted at once, and you bring my other horse." away goes the orderly, and then in reply to the wistful look of inquiry in pauline's eyes, the major says,-- "i must be off again. amory has obtained information as to the whereabouts of smith and some of his gang, and has started after them, but with only five men, too few to cope with such desperadoes. he has four hours the start of me now, and 'twill be nearly five before my men can get here; but i must reach him before he attempts to recross the tennessee." i cannot be mistaken in peyton's start of astonishment. instantly his face turns pale; the secret is out, his complicity perhaps detected. lunch is forgotten, and we all rise and leave the table. harrod manages to whisper a caution to the major to say nothing more while peyton is near, whereat vinton looks vacant and aghast. five minutes more and peyton and kitty are missed,--gone out for a walk, the servant says. then harrod explains, and vinton looks as though biting his own tongue off close to the roots would be the most congenial and exhilarating recreation that could be suggested. he is annoyed beyond expression, but it is too late now. peyton is off; no one knows which way, and in half an hour all the real or supposable ku-klux in the county will know of the danger that threatens them; know, too, how small a force young amory has taken with him in his hurried raid to the tennessee; and, ten to one, if he succeed in capturing smith, he cannot attempt to recross the river without having to fight his way through. all this is canvassed in the anxious council that ensues. no time is to be lost; he must be reinforced at once. harrod orders out his two horses; old jake is hastily summoned and told to bring up his charger, "bob"; and while the horses are being saddled, vinton decides on his plan. he and harrod are to gallop on after amory; old jake to ride down to meet the troopers, with orders to make all speed possible to the tennessee. i am possessed with an immediate thirst for human gore, and want to go with the major; but there is no other horse, and i couldn't ride without shaking myself to pieces and capsizing every hundred yards or so if there were. to me, therefore, is assigned the cheerful duty of remaining at the plantation and watching peyton's movements should he return. just before the horses are brought around, kitty comes back, alone. she looks white and scared, and hurries up the steps as though anxious to avoid us, but harrod intercepts and leads her to one side. she grows paler as he questions and talks to her; and suddenly bursts into tears, and rushes past him into the house. "he's gone, by heaven!" says harrod, as he rejoins us. "kitty says he took the overseer's horse and galloped off towards the north." "here, jake," says vinton, "waste no time now; ride as though the devil chased you. tell sergeant malone to follow as fast as he can. don't spare the horses!" jake makes a spring; lights on his stomach on old "bob's" withers; swings himself round; and barely waiting to get his seat, makes vigorous play with both heels on his pet's astonished ribs, and with a "yoop, da!" our ethiopian aide-de-camp clatters away. then comes a hurried and anxious leave-taking with pauline and the judge, and in another minute our two soldiers trot out to the road. we watch the gallant forms till the riders disappear, and then turn silently away. pauline's eyes are dim with tears, and she seeks her own room. that was a wretched afternoon and evening. kitty never appeared. pauline came down to tea and tried to entertain me during the long hours that dragged slowly away; but we started at every sound, and when midnight came she retired altogether. we had hoped for news, but none reached us. the judge dozed fitfully in his easy-chair, but i was too much excited to feel the least drowsiness; so, cigar in mouth, i strolled out to the gate and gazed longingly up the dim, shadowy vista through the woods where lay the road to the tennessee along which our first news, good or bad, must come. two o'clock came first, and i was then reading, in a distracted style, in the library. the clocks had barely ceased striking when my eager ears caught the sound of hoof-beats rapidly nearing us. down went the book; and in a minute i was at the gate, just in time to meet the horseman, a corporal of vinton's troop. "we've got the ku-klux all right, sir," he says, as he reins in his jaded steed, "but we had to fight half the county. the lieutenant's wounded, and so is monahan, one of the men, sir. they are bringing them here, and i'm to ride right on for the doctor." off he goes before i can ask more. pauline meets me as i return to the hall. she is pale as death and her whole frame shakes as she says, "tell me everything, mr. brandon." "harrod and vinton are safe; amory and one of his men are hurt, and they are bringing them here," i answer. she saw by my face that there had been a fight. what her woman's heart craved, was to know that those she loved were safe, unhurt, and returning to her. then the next minute she is all sympathy, all tenderness, even, for our boy _sabreur_; and she occupies herself with preparations for his reception and nursing. while we are talking, who should come noiselessly down the stairs but kitty, dressed in a loose blue wrapper; her lovely hair falling down her back and thrown from her temples and forehead, her eyes red with weeping. pauline's heart is full, and the sight of this sorrowing little object is too much for her; she opens her arms and takes her to her heart, and kitty's sobs break out afresh. "i _know_ that something has happened," she cries; "_do_ tell me. you all think i care for ned peyton, but i _don't_--i _don't_! and he was frightful to-day, and--and--if he did what he said he was going to do i'll never speak to him again." pauline tries to comfort and soothe her, but i want to know what peyton's threat was; and have the unblushing hard-heartedness to ask. "he declared that he would raise forty men and kill every man lieutenant amory had with him. he frightened me so that i did not know what to do. oh, paulie, _what_ has happened?" "we don't know yet, kitty. harrod is bringing mr. amory here. he was wounded, and there has been a fight, but we hope it was not serious." poor little kit starts back in horror, and then sobs harder than ever. it is impossible to comfort the child. she is possessed with the idea that in some way or other she has been instrumental in bringing the affair about. she is terrified at learning the part peyton has played, and bitterly reproaches herself for the uneasiness her flirtation had caused us all. she is the most abject little penitent i ever saw, and her distress is something overpowering to a susceptible old bachelor. in the course of an hour she is persuaded to return to her room, but not without the interchange of multitudinous embraces and kisses,--pauline, of course, being the party of the second part. it is nearly daybreak when harrod arrives, convoying a rusty old carriage which he has obtained somewhere along the tennessee; and from this our young soldier is tenderly lifted by two of his troop and carried to the room opposite mine in the wing. poor fellow! it is hard to recognize in the pallid, blood-stained, senseless form the gallant young officer of the night on the train. while the doctor was examining his hurts and dressing the wounds, harrod gave me a hurried account of what had happened. amory had reached the tennessee about two in the afternoon, and, leaving his horses on the south bank in charge of one man, crossed quickly and completely took "eustice's" with its precious garrison of desperadoes by surprise. luckily, smith had but two of his gang with him. they hardly had time to think of resistance. hank was found stretched out in bed and swearing cheerfully over the unexpected turn of affairs, but had sense enough to acknowledge that his yankee adversary "had the drop on him," and surrendered at discretion. securing him and his two chums, but leaving the other inmates of "eustice's" unmolested, amory in less than an hour and a half landed his party once more on the south bank, and, after procuring food for his men and horses and resting another hour, started on the back-track about five in the evening; moving slowly, as his horses were jaded and his three prisoners had to foot it. their road was bordered by thick woods, and ran through an almost uninhabited tract. hank was suffering apparently a great deal of pain from the fever of his wound, and, after sullenly plodding along about a mile, began showing signs of great distress. he was offered a horse, but declared that riding would hurt him just as much, and finally stopped short, swearing that "ef you un's expects to git me to yer d--d camp this yer night you've got to do a heap of toting." finding that he was really weak and sick, amory was too soft-hearted to insist; and so a brief halt was ordered while one of the men went in search of a farm-wagon. just at night-fall a horseman came cantering rapidly up the road, at sight of whom the prisoners exchanged quick, eager glances of intelligence, and attempted to spring to their feet and attract his attention. no sooner, however, had he espied the party than he stopped short; reined his horse about; and, digging spur into him, disappeared at a gallop into the shadows of the forest. the whole thing was so sudden that no pursuit was made. ten minutes after, there came the distant sound of a shrill, prolonged whistle, and amory, thoroughly aroused, ordered a mount and immediate start. strange to say, hank moved on with great alacrity. no man ever rose from so brief a rest so thoroughly invigorated. once or twice more the same whistle was heard, but nothing could be seen, as darkness had set in. silently and anxiously the little party moved on, amory riding several yards in advance, peering cautiously about and listening eagerly to every sound. all of a sudden from thick darkness came blinding flashes,--the ringing reports of musketry and pistols, and the regular old-time rebel yell. amory reeled. his horse reared wildly, and then, with a snort of terror, plunged down the road; his rider dragging over his side. of the next five minutes, none of the men could give a collected account. the sergeant had done his duty well, however; had kept his men together; and, what with superior discipline and the rapid fire from their magazine carbines, his little party proved too plucky for their assailants. there was a sound of scrambling and scattering among the shrubbery and of clambering over the rail-fence by the roadside. the fire suddenly ceased and the troopers were masters of the situation. during the excitement, one of the prisoners had managed to crawl off; while hank and the other specimen adopted the tactics of throwing themselves flat on their faces. the soldiers were eager to pursue and capture some of the band; but the sergeant was wary and cautious; kept them on the defensive; secured his two remaining prisoners; and was just about ordering a search for their lieutenant, when the well-known and welcome voice of the major was heard down the road, and in a moment he and harrod dashed up to the spot. then came eager inquiries and the search for amory; and presently a cry from one of the men announced that he was found. hurrying to the spot, they discovered him, bleeding, bruised, and senseless, by the roadside; one deep gash was cut on his forehead, from which the blood was oozing rapidly; a bullet-hole and a little red streak in the shoulder of his jacket told where one at least of the ambuscading villains had made his mark; while the moan of pain that followed when they strove tenderly to raise him from the ground proved that our boy was suffering from still other injuries; but for all that, thank god! alive, perhaps safe. it was long before the men could find a farm-house; longer still before they came in with the lumbering old rattletrap of a carriage which their major had directed them to secure at any cost; and all this time poor amory lay with his head on vinton's lap, utterly unconscious of the latter's grief, of his almost womanly tenderness; but at last they were able to lift him into the improvised ambulance; and while the troopers, now reinforced by the small party which had followed vinton, took charge of the prisoners, with orders to turn them over to the marshal at sandbrook, the others drove carefully and slowly homewards, and so once more mars was in our midst,--now our pet and hero. all night long we watched him. all next day he tossed in feverish delirium; and when night came, vinton and pauline were bending over him striving to soothe and calm the boy in his restless pain. he spoke but little. muttered words, half-broken sentences, incoherent all of them, were the only things we could win from him. he knew none of us; though he appeared to recognize vinton's voice better than any. at last, late in the evening, when the doctor had forced an anodyne between his set teeth, amory's muscles relaxed, he threw his unwounded arm wearily over his face and murmured, "i give up,--i'm whipped." vinton could hardly help smiling. "he thinks himself in one of his old cadet fights," said he. "those fellows at west point settle all difficulties with their fists, and this youngster was eternally in some row or other; he'd fight the biggest man in the corps on the slightest provocation." we were all wearied with watching, and it was a glad sight when our pugilistic patient dropped off into a deep sleep. vinton had to go back to camp to look after his men. harrod was tired out and had sought his room. i had agreed to sit by amory's bedside until midnight, as they had expelled me from the sick-room and made me sleep all morning "on account of age." pauline was just giving a smoothing touch to the pillows when the door softly opened and who should come in but kitty. yes, kitty, our rampant little rebel kit, who but a few days before had seen fit to snub our wounded boy simply because he was a "yank" and wore the uniform which uncle sam has condemned his men-at-arms to suffer in. but how changed was kitty now! once or twice during the day she had stolen to the door or waylaid pauline in the halls, always with a white, tear-stained, anxious face and a wistful inquiry as to how mr. amory was doing; then she would creep lonely and homesick back to her room; probably have a good long cry; and then down-stairs again for still another and later bulletin. she had smoothed back her soft golden hair now; bathed away all but a few traces of the tears that had flown so copiously during the last thirty-six hours; and in her simple yet daintily-fitting dress, looked more womanly, more gentle and attractive, than i had ever seen her. walking quietly up to us, she put her little white hand on pauline's shoulder, saying,-- "you go now, paulie; it's my turn. you've all been working here and _must_ be tired and sleepy. i'm going to play nurse now." and for a minute the corners of the pretty mouth twitch, and the soft-gray eyes fill, as though our little heroine were again on the verge of a relapse into lamentation. pauline's arm is round her in an instant, and she draws her close to her bosom as she says,-- "it is just like you, darling; i knew you would want to come." and then follows the invariable exchange of caresses so indispensable among tender-hearted young ladies on such occasions. not that i disapprove of it. oh, no! only one can hardly expect to be "counted out" from all participation in such ceremonies and yet stand by and look on with unmoved and unenvying complacency. ten minutes more and pauline has gone, with a good-night to both. the judge comes in and bends with almost fatherly interest over the sleeping boy; and as kitty seats herself quietly by the bedside, goes round and kisses her, saying, "you are more like your dear mother to-night than i ever saw you." kit looks up in his face without a word, but in affection that is eloquent in itself. then her little hand busies itself about the bandage on amory's forehead, and my occupation is gone. leaving her to attend to that, the judge and i seat ourselves at the open fireplace, waking and dozing alternately. the doctor pronounced him better when he came next morning to dress the wounds. mars spent most of the time in sleeping. never did patient meet with care and attention more tender, more constant. either pauline or kit was at his bedside. the old judge would come in with every hour or so. vinton galloped over from camp and spent the afternoon; and as for myself, i was becoming vastly interested in helping kitty, when, as bad luck would have it, old jake brought me what he termed a "tallygraff" when he came back from sandbrook late at evening with the mail; and the tallygraff sent me hurrying back to holly springs by first train the following day. it was with no satisfaction whatever that i bade them all adieu; though my heart lightened up when the doctor reported our "sub" improving. we all thought he recognized vinton when the latter arrived in the morning to drive over with me. we all thought, too, that a week at the utmost would bring me back with them in time to resume my functions as assistant nurse; but it was fully a month before my business could be completed, and by that time no further occasion existed for my services. "we've had quite a little series of adventures, major," said i, as we whirled along towards the station, "and for one, _i_ shouldn't be surprised if a spice of romance were to be thrown in; a love-affair, in fact. what do you think?" vinton knocked the ashes off his cigar on the dash-board; replaced his cigar between his teeth with great deliberation; smiled very quietly, not to say suggestively, to himself; gave a tug or two at his moustache, and then said,-- "amory and miss kit you mean. well,--i can't say. to tell the truth, i've been thinking for some time past that he has left his heart up north somewhere,--some old west point affair, you know; writes long letters every now and then, and won't let me see the address; drops them in the postal-car himself, instead of sending them by the company mail; gets a dainty missive now and then, lady's handwriting, pretty monogram; and blushes, too, when i 'devil' him about syracuse; they are postmarked from there. may not amount to much, of course. these youngsters get into that sentimental sort of vein at the academy and seem to think it the correct thing to be spoony over somebody all the time." that struck me as being a long speech for vinton, a man of few words ordinarily. it occurred to me, too, that he was suspicious of his _own_ affair's being the one to which i referred, and wanted to head me off. oh, the perversity of human nature! _that_ made me press the point and return to the subject. (pauline afterwards said it was the meanest thing i ever did in my life. how little she knew me!) "don't dash my expectations in that way, vinton. if amory and miss kit don't carry out my plan and fall in love, i'll have to fall back upon you and miss pauline, you know; and just imagine how the judge and harrod would feel at having to give her up. besides, old fellow, you and i are cut out for confirmed old bachelors. can't expect a young and attractive girl like her, who could marry anybody, to settle down to an _un_settled and nomadic existence in the army; that's altogether too much for so little, don't you see?" "job's comforters" would have proven a dead failure in comparison with that effort. it _was_ mean, but there was something exhilarating about it for all that. what man, raised in a large family of sisters, doesn't grow up as i was raised,--a tease? vinton is too old a campaigner, however, and sees my game; grins expressively, and behaves with commendable nonchalance. "i'll put the matter in train when i get back, brandon, and try and arrange it between the young people to your satisfaction, so that you won't have to fall back on anything so utterly problematical as the other suggestion." that was all he had to say on the subject. we reached sandbrook; the train came; and in a moment more i was standing on the rear platform watching the tall, stalwart, soldierly form that waved me good-by, growing dim and dimmer in the distance. that night found me at holly springs and in consultation with the united states marshal and the commanding officer of the little garrison of infantrymen. to the care of the last named, our captured ku-klux had been turned over, together with a few more of their fraternity, recent acquisitions, one of whom, the marshal informed me, was badly wounded and in hospital. he had been arrested the day after the ambuscade at a farm-house within five miles of the spot, and duly forwarded to join his klan at their new and much anathematized rendezvous. on my expressing a desire to see him, the captain obligingly conducted me into the neat little hospital-tent, only a few steps from his own; and there, stretched out at full length, with a bandaged shoulder and a woe-begone countenance, was my missionary friend--stiggins. it was easy enough to conjecture how he came by his wound, though his own statement of the occurrence had surrounded him with a halo of martyrdom up to the time of my arrival. stiggins had stoutly maintained that the ku-klux had shot him; that he was a law-abiding man, and that he hadn't seen a blue-coated soldier since the war. but when stiggins caught sight of me he looked very much as though he had been lying, and in all human probability he had. i said nothing to the officers on the subject until afterwards; when, in examining the articles which were in his possession at the time of his arrest, i came across a letter written in a hand i knew well enough, appointing a meeting with one j. bostwick, and signed "peyton." it was dated the night harrod and master ned arrived at the plantation. stiggins swore he didn't know peyton; never had seen him; "that note didn't belong to him nohow," and lied with a volubility and earnestness that would have done credit to a jew in a clothing-store. but no information as to peyton's whereabouts could be extracted from him or his unwounded confederates; nor could they be induced to give any clue which might lead to his implication. whatever they were otherwise, they were game to the backbone; and stood by one another throughout their captivity and the trial which followed. hank smith we found domiciled in the prison room where the gang were cooped up. he carried his arm in a sling, and a bed had been provided for his especial accommodation. he was surly and defiant, but accepted a piece of plug tobacco with much avidity, and was kind enough to say that "'twould be a derned sight better if you handed over a bottle of whiskey with it," which sentiment was unanimously concurred in by the assembled delegates, but vetoed by the captain. two weeks passed away, and still was i detained. then came a summons to jackson, where the state legislature was in session. i had written to the judge and to vinton. the former had been called south on business, but while at jackson the latter's reply reached me,--a long, and for him, gossipy letter. amory was rapidly recovering, and the moment he was well enough to be moved--in fact, as soon as he had his ideas about him--had insisted on being carried to camp. it was in vain that harrod, pauline, and vinton had protested; go he would. no persuasions could induce him to remain where he was a burden and a care to them. kitty had taken no part in the discussion, and had been but little in the sick-room after he had recognized her; but the poor child was possessed with the idea that he was determined to go simply on her account, and was very miserable in consequence. as a last resort, pauline, "for whom he has a warm affection," had communicated this fact to her intractable patient, and his pale face had flushed up for an instant and he was at a loss what to say, but finally protested that it had nothing to do with his determination. that evening he asked to see her, and, in an embarrassed but earnest way, thanked her for nursing him so kindly and carefully. "i'll never forget how good you--you all were to me, miss carrington." and from that time until the ambulance came for him, two days after, whenever she chanced to come to the room he was very gentle, and in his whole manner seemed anxious to show her that not an atom of resentment or annoyance remained. "somehow or other there's something wrong," vinton wrote. "i can't get her to look or talk like her old self; she won't cheer up, and whenever she is in the room both of them are nervous and embarrassed, and though miss summers and i have striven to get them into conversation when the doctor would let him talk, it's of no use." oh, the subtlety of feminine influence! fancy vinton in the _rôle_ of match-maker! and so amory was back again among his men, rapidly improving, but still, as vinton said, "something was wrong." nothing had been heard from or of peyton except an order for his trunk and personal effects, brought to the colonel by a total stranger. it was conjectured, however, that the judge had gone to mobile during his trip, and that his troublesome kinsman was to be shipped off to climes where ku-klux were unknown, and where his propensities for mischief would have no field for operation. no further complaints of outrages or disorders; everything was quiet and peaceful, and men and horses were having a good rest. chapter v. one bright, beautiful evening late in february, it was my good fortune to find myself once more within "twenty minutes of sandbrook"; this time on no hurried visit, but with the deliberate intention of accepting the cordial invitation of the judge and harrod to spend a month with them. i was to make their home my headquarters while attending to the limited amount of law business that called me to that vicinity. i had heard several times from the plantation since vinton's letter, and the very last news i had received was penned by miss pauline's own fair hand, telling me in a sweet, happy, womanly letter of what neither you, who have had patience enough to read this, nor i could be in the least degree surprised to learn,--her engagement to major vinton. the major himself, she wrote, had been summoned as a witness before a court-martial, and would be gone several days, but back in time to welcome me. then came a page about amory: "he has entirely recovered; that is to say, he is as strong and active as ever; but still--i don't know how to express it exactly--he is not the same man he was before that night. you know that the wound in his shoulder was a very slight one, and that his injuries were mainly shocks and bruises received by being thrown and dragged by his wounded horse. when he was well enough to drive about, the major used to bring him here frequently; and i really thought that he and kitty were going to become great friends, for they wore off much of the old embarrassment and seemed to be getting along so nicely. then he used to ride over and spend entire afternoons with us; and then, all of a sudden, he stopped coming; only visits us now when he _has_ to; and is so changed, so constrained and moody that i don't know what to make of it. i really believe that kitty was growing to like him ever so much; and she wonders, i know, at this sudden change. even when he _does_ come he avoids and barely looks at her." it was strange; and i puzzled over it for some time. matchmaking was hardly in my line of business, yet no spinster aunt could have taken more interest in the affair than myself. i was really anxious to get back to the plantation and see what could be made of it. harrod and the carriage were at the station to meet me, and a rapid drive in the cool night air soon brought us to the dear old house again; and there on the broad piazza, in the broad, cheerful stream of light from the hall, stood the judge, vinton, and pauline; and in a moment i had sprung from the carriage and was receiving their warm and charming welcome. vinton was as happy in his quiet, undemonstrative way as man could be, and the fond, proud light in his dark eyes as he looked down at the graceful form leaning so trustfully upon his arm, was a sight that made me envious. presently kitty came down; but not the kitty of old. ah! little girl, what is it that has made those soft eyes so heavy, so sad? what has taken all the color from those round, velvety cheeks? what has become of the ringing, light-hearted laugh that came bubbling up from heart-springs that seemed inexhaustible in their freshness, their gladness? it is of no use to smile and chatter and prate about your pleasure at seeing this antiquarian again. it is of no use to toss your little head and look at me with something of the old coquettish light in your eyes. you can't deceive me, little kit; you are changed, sadly changed. i, who have been away so long a time, can see what others only partially notice. during the evening we all gathered in the parlor, talking over the events of my previous visit. kitty had early tired of any share in the conversation, and sat silent and absent, taking little heed of what was said, though once or twice, when we were not speaking of amory, she rallied for a moment and made an effort. she had taken a chair near the window, and was more than half the time gazing dreamily out towards the road. at last vinton said he must get back to camp, bade us all good-night; his orderly came round with the horses, and pauline went out to see him off, everybody else just at that particular moment finding something of extreme interest which detained him or her in the parlor. it is odd how long it takes to say good-night under those circumstances. fully fifteen minutes elapsed before the spurred boot-heels were heard going down the steps; then there was another slight detention,--cause, unknown; time, three minutes and a half,--and finally the clatter of hoofs as they rode off, twenty-seven minutes by the clock after the time when the major had announced that he must be off at once,--couldn't stay another minute. when the hoof-beats had died away, pauline came back to us radiant, lovely; and even that tease harrod could not find it in his heart to say one word on the subject of the major's unaccountable display of unmilitary tardiness, though he looked vastly as though he would like to. good-nights were exchanged, and soon after i found myself cosily ensconced in my old quarters in the wing. about noon on the following day mars trotted up the road, and, throwing his horse's rein over the gate-post, came "clinking" up the walk. his heels were decorated with a pair of huge mexican spurs, with little pendants of steel attached to the rowels in such a way as to cause a jingling with every movement. i had gone out on the piazza to meet him, and he quickened his pace and waved his cap with a cheery "how are you, mr. brandon?" the moment he caught sight of me. as he sprang up the steps i saw that he had at least lost none of his old activity; and though thinner and a trifle paler than when i first met him, it was not at first glance noticeable. after the excitement of our meeting was over, however, and we were chatting over the ku-klux entertainments, i noticed how soon he became just the restless, absent, constrained fellow that pauline had described. he changed color and started every time a footstep was heard in the hall; greeted pauline warmly when she came down, and seemed to be more himself when talking with her, but even then his eyes wandered to the doorway. something was wanting; and at last he made a vigorous effort and stammered an inquiry as to "miss carrington's" health. "kitty is pretty well, and will be down in a minute. she was writing to aunt mary when you came. if i were kitty _i_ wouldn't come down to see you at all, mr. frank amory, for you've not been near us for the last ten days, and i presume we owe this call entirely to mr. brandon." poor fellow! he fidgets and looks woe-begone enough; tries hard to plead constant duties, no lack of inclination, etc., and just in the midst of it all, the rustle of skirts and the patter of quick, light footsteps is heard in the hall, and frank amory starts up with the flush deepening on his cheek and forehead, and stands facing the doorway as little kit comes in,--comes in with a face that flushes deeply as his own, with eyes that are raised to his but for one brief second and then seek any other object but the young soldier before her, with a nervous, fluttering reply to his "good-morning, miss carrington; i hope you're well?" and finally, as she subsides into an arm-chair by the window, with an air of mingled relief and apprehension that puzzles me inexpressibly. amory, meantime, has resumed his seat (on his forage-cap this time), and plunged hastily into a description of a marvellous horse they have just concluded to purchase for officers' use. he must be a marvel; and it is astonishing what an amount of interest frank takes in telling pauline all about his performances. kitty sits by the window listening, but saying not a word; and after this sort of thing has been kept up some twenty minutes pauline excuses herself. "now don't go till i come back, frank; i'll only be gone a few minutes." and with a glance at me that seems, as mark twain says, "perfectly luminous with meaning" to her, but which in my masculine stupidity i fail to comprehend until some minutes after, that young lady makes her exit. then mars turns upon me, utterly absorbed in the same horse, and with distracting volubility tells me the same rigmarole he told pauline, every word of which i had heard. then he asks questions about hank smith that he had asked three or four times already, and just as i'm beginning to wonder whether his accident had not resulted in permanent injury to his mental faculties a servant appears at the door. "miss summers says will mr. brandon please come and help her a minute." and as mr. brandon obligingly rises to comply with her request, amory springs up too, whips out his watch, and exclaims,-- "by jove! how time flies! i told vinton i'd be back for afternoon stables,--_must_ be off! good-by, mr. brandon; come over to camp and see us. good-by, miss carrington; sorry i have to hurry." and out he goes; clatters down the steps and back to his horse; throws the reins over the animal's head, and vaults into his saddle; and then, with one wave of his hand, dashes off at a mad gallop. i turned again into the house, and this is what i saw in the parlor. kitty carrington, all alone, standing there at the window gazing after amory as he disappeared down the road; her tiny white hands tightly clinching the window-sill; two great big tears just starting from each eye and trickling slowly, heavily down her cheeks; her dainty form quivering with emotion. little by little i am beginning to suspect the truth in the matter, and, as i turn softly away without attracting her attention, mentally resolve to unearth the whole secret. pretty business for a man of my years, you will say, but "we lawyers are curious." n.b.--pauline didn't want me at all. it was a ruse to get me away. for the next three days matters went on in pretty much the same groove. amory came over to dinner once and was utterly absurd,--handed miss kit to her chair, took his allotted place beside her; and hardly addressed one word to her through the entire repast, though he gabbled unceasingly to every one else. just as soon as we could finish our cigars after dinner, and an adjournment was moved to the parlor, he declared he must be off; said he had a whole heap of commissary returns to make up before morning; and, with the briefest possible good-night to the ladies and the judge, away he went. pauline looked puzzled, vinton amused, and kitty--out of the window. that night mr. g. s. brandon, who has already played too inquisitive a part in this little affair, resolved, before closing his eyes for a good, old-fashioned sleep, that he might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, and pry still further; but he never dreamed how odd would be the solution. chapter vi. the next day harrod summers and i drove over to the cavalry camp to see amory. it was a crisp, cheery morning, just enough wintry rime in earth and air and sky to make rapid motion a keen delight. as we neared the spot, the mellow notes of the trumpet came floating on the breeze, and as we rounded a bend in the road, we came in sight of the troop itself trotting across a broad open field. mars was taking advantage of the glorious weather to brush up on company drill, and we had arrived just in time to see it. it was a very pretty, stirring sight to my eyes; for the dash and spirit of the manoeuvres were new to a man whose martial associations had been confined to the curbstones of broadway, barring that blistering march from annapolis to the railway, and the month of _fêted_ soldiering at the capital and camp cameron in ' . harrod gazed at it all with professional calm; occasionally giving some brief and altogether too technical explanation of evolutions that were beyond my comprehension. but the one thing which struck me most forcibly was that, though frequently trotting or galloping close to where we sat in the buggy, mr. frank amory never took the faintest notice of us. his whole attention was given to his troop and the drill; and with flashing sabre and animated voice, he darted here and there on his big chestnut sorrel, shouting, exhorting, and on occasion excitedly swearing at some thick-headed trooper; but for all the notice he took of us we might as well have been back at home. "rather a cool reception," said i, "considering the youngster was so anxious we should come over." "why, that's all right," said harrod. "it is a breach of military propriety to hold any kind of communication with lookers-on when a fellow's at drill or on parade." and yet to my civilian notions this struck me as being uncivil. less than a month afterwards i saw the same young fellow sit like a statue on his horse, and never give the faintest sign of recognition when the girl i knew he--well, that's anticipating--when a party of ladies were driven in carriages past his troop, so close to his horse's nose as to seriously discomfit that quadruped, and one of the young ladies was miss carrington. to my undisciplined faculties that sort of thing was incomprehensible. i looked on at the drill for a while, wondering how in the world those fellows could manage to keep their seats in the saddle without grabbing the pommel, when harrod remarked that he believed he would go on into the village to attend to some business, and leave me at amory's tent until he returned. of course i could only assent; and in another moment i was landed in front of the tent which had become so fixed a picture "in my mind's eye" since the afternoon mr. stiggins rode in to inquire where the lieutenant and his people had gone. a darky boy officiously brushed off the seat of a camp-chair, saying that "mos' like drill'd be over in ten minutes." so i sat me down under the canvas to wait. amory's tent was not luxurious. it was one of the simple variety known as the "wall" tent, so called probably because for three feet from the ground the sides are vertical and give more room than the "a" tents of the rank and file. a camp-cot occupied one side; a canvas-covered trunk stood at the head. then on the other side of the tent was a rude field-desk, perched on four legs; the pigeon-holes crammed with portentous-looking blanks and papers, and the lid lowered to a horizontal. on this lay a square of blotting-paper, covered with ink-dabs and some stray papers, an ungainly inkstand, and one or two scattered pens and holders. a looking-glass about the size of one's face was swung on the front pole. a rude washstand was placed near the foot of the bed. a swinging pole, hung under the ridge-pole of the tent, constituted the wardrobe or clothes-closet of the occupant, and from this several garments were pendent. there was no tent floor; the bare ground was the carpet; and but for one little table the abode would have been rude in the extreme as the habitation of a civilized being. the table in question stood at the entrance of the tent, under the "fly" or awning spread in front. a couple of pipes with brier-root stems lay thereon, and a jar of tobacco. but in an easel-frame of soft velvet, a frame rich and handsome, conspicuously so in contrast with all the surroundings, was a photograph--cabinet-size--of a woman's face. it was not there on the occasion of my first visit, nor was the table. but there sat the picture, the first thing one would notice in entering the tent; and, having nothing else to do, i proceeded to examine it. a sweet, placid, sorrow-worn face; eyes whose wrinkled lids spoke of age, but yet looked calmly, steadfastly into mine. scanty hair, yet rippling over the brows and temples as though indicating that in years gone by the tresses had been full and luxuriant. scanty hair, tinged with many a streak of gray, and carried back of the ears in a fashion suggestive of the days that long preceded the war,--the days when jenny lind entranced us all at castle garden (though i claim to have been but a boy then); when mario and grisi were teaching us knickerbockers the beauties of italian opera; when count d'orsay was the marvel of metropolitan society; when daguerreotypes were first introduced along broadway. all these i thought of as i looked into this placid face, so refined in its every line; marking, too, that at the throat was clasped a portrait in plain gold frame, the inevitable indication that the wearer was of southern birth, for none but our southern women wear thus outwardly the portraits of those they love and have lost. the picture fascinated me; it was so sweet, so simple, so homelike; and, as i stood with it in my hands, i could plainly see the strong likeness between the features and those of my plucky young hero, whom i was half ready to be indignant with for ignoring me ten minutes before. his mother i knew it to be at a glance. just then came an orderly bearing a packet of letters. to my intense gratification--i don't know why--he saluted with his unoccupied hand as he said, "letters for the lieutenant, sir." was it possible that he thought i might be some staff-officer? he could not--that is, he would not, had he ever seen me straddle a horse--suppose me to be a cavalryman. perhaps he had heard i was with the lieutenant the night he nabbed hank smith; perhaps he--why, perhaps they--the troop--had heard i had charged through the woods to his support. well, i took with dignified calm the bundle of letters he handed me, and endeavored to look the suppositious character and place them carelessly on the table, when the superscription of the very first one attracted my attention. the writing was strangely familiar. there were four letters,--two "official," long and heavy; two personal, and evidently of feminine authorship. it was my business to lay them on the table. i did nothing of the kind. holding the package in both hands, i sat stupidly staring at the topmost letter,--a tiny, dainty affair,--and striving to come back from dream-land. where had i seen that superscription before? there stood the address, "lieut. frank amory, --th u.s. cavalry, sandbrook station, memphis and charleston r. r., alabama," every letter as perfectly traced as though by the hand of an engraver; every i dotted, every t crossed, every capital having its due proportion, every letter wellnigh perfect. the superscription itself was a chirographic marvel. the writing was simply beautiful, and i had seen it before. it was familiar to me, or at least _had_ been well known. pondering over it, i gazed, of course, at the postmark: a mere blur. something or some place in new york was all i could make out before it suddenly occurred to me that the whole thing was none of my business anyhow. i set the packet down on the table and strove to shut it from my mind; but there that letter lay on top, staring me in the face; i could not keep my eyes from it. i turned, picked it up and placed it on the desk inside the tent; dropped a handkerchief that was lying there over it; and returned to my place under the fly. i wanted to keep it out of my sight. presently, the bustle and laughter among the tents of the soldiers near me gave warning that the troop had come in from drill. the next moment, as i was again holding and looking at the picture in the velvet frame, mars came springily forward, his sabre and spurs clinking with every stride. he pulled off his gauntlet, and held out his hand with a cheery and cordial "so glad to see you, mr. brandon," and then, as i was about to apologize for taking liberties with his belongings, he said,--and how can i throw into the words the tremulous tenderness of his voice?-- "that's mother. my birthday present. it only came a few days ago, and i like to have it out here with me." and the boy took it from my hands, and stood for a moment, all glowing as he came from his rapid drill, and with the beads of perspiration on his face, and looked fondly at it. "it's the only decent picture i ever had of her, and, somehow, it almost seems as though she were here now. that ku-klux business upset her completely, and the blessed little mother wants me to pull out and resign; but i can't do that." "i have been admiring it for some time, mr. amory. the face attracted me at once, and it was easy to see the family resemblance. may i ask where your mother is living now?" "in boston now, but i think she longs to come south again. the north never seemed home to her. father was in the old army. perhaps vinton has told you. he was killed at fredericksburg, at the head of his brigade; and my uncle, mother's younger brother, died of wounds received in the same fight." amory's voice faltered a little and his color brightened. "of course they were on opposite sides," he added, in a lower tone. i bowed silently. nothing seemed the appropriate thing to say just then. presently amory went on: "you see i'm about all she has left in the world,--her only son. and when husband and brother were both taken from her at one fell swoop, it made it hard to let me take up father's profession; but it was always his wish, and the only thing i'm fit for, i reckon." "do yankees habitually say 'i reckon'?" i asked, by way of lightening up the rather solemn tone of the conversation. mars laughed. "why," said he, "i'm more than half southern; born in north carolina, and spending much of my boyhood there at mother's old home. they used to call me 'reb' the whole time i was a cadet. it is a wonder i wasn't an out-and-out 'reb' too. all mother's people were, and they never have been reconciled to her for sticking to father and his side of the question. poor little mother," he added, while the tears gathered in his eyes, "she _is_ alone in the world if ever woman was, and i sometimes wonder if i ought not to yield to her wishes and go and be a clerk of some kind." all the glow, all the life that possessed him as he came in fresh from the exercise of his drill seemed to have left mars by this time. he was profoundly sad and depressed. that was plainly to be seen. hoping to find something as a distraction to his gloomy reflections, i called his attention to the mail that had arrived during his absence. he moved negligently towards the desk, raised the handkerchief with weary indifference, and glanced at the packet underneath. instantly his whole manner changed; the color sprang to his face; his eyes flamed, and a nervous thrill seemed to shoot through his frame. paying no attention to the others, he had seized the dainty missive that so excited my curiosity, and with a hand that plainly shook tore it open, turned his back to me with the briefest "excuse me one minute," and was speedily so absorbed in the letter that he never noticed me as i rose and strolled out to the front of the tent and the bright wintry sunshine beyond. the boy needed to be alone. fully fifteen minutes passed by before he rejoined me, coming out with a quick, nervous step, and a face that had grown white and almost old in that time. what _could_ be wrong with him? "mr. brandon, i beg your pardon for being so inhospitable. my letters were important, and--and rather a surprise, one of them. it is just about noon. may i offer you a toddy? it's the best i can do." mr. brandon, to the scandal of his principles, decided that on this occasion he would accept the proffered refreshment. it seemed to be a relief to mars. he bustled about, getting sugar and glasses and some fresh spring water; then speedily tendering me a goblet, produced a black bottle from his trunk. "shall i pour for you?" said he. "say when." and in a moment the juice of the rye and other less harmful ingredients were mingled with the sweetened water. "you will excuse me," said he. "i never touch it, except--well, that drink i took the night on the train after our tussle with smith is the only one i've taken since i joined the troop. i promised mother, mr. brandon." the reader has already discovered that mr. brandon could readily make a sentimental idiot of himself on slight provocation. hearing these words of mr. amory's and the renewed allusion to the mother who filled so big a place in the boy's heart, mr. brandon deposited his glass on the table and held out his hand; took that of the surprised young soldier; gave it a cordial grip; made an abortive attempt to say something neat and appropriate; and broke abruptly off at the first word. then harrod came back. "brandon," said he, "there's the mischief to pay in new orleans. i've just received the papers, and it looks as though there would be riot and bloodshed with a vengeance." "what's up now?" i asked, with vivid interest. "it seems to be a breaking out of the old row. two legislatures, you know, and a double-headed executive. more troops are ordered there." i eagerly took the paper and read the headlines. the same old story, only worse and more of it. the state-house beleaguered; the metropolitan police armed with winchesters and manning a battery; the citizens holding indignation meetings and organizing for defence against usurping state government; two riots on canal street, and a member of one legislature shot down by the sergeant-at-arms of the other; a great mob organizing to attack the governor and the state-house, etc., etc. it all looked familiar enough. i had seen the same thing but a short time before. it was simply a new eruption of the old volcano, but a grave one, unless i utterly misjudged the indications. "amory," said harrod, "mount your horse and come over to dinner with us. mr. brandon and i must go back, for there are matters in the mail which require my attention at once." but amory said he could not leave. in vinton's absence he felt that he ought to stick to camp. we drove back as we came. both the young ladies were on the gallery when we drove up. harrod shook his head in response to the look of inquiry in pauline's eyes. "not back yet, and no news of him,--unless--unless--there should be something in this letter," said he, with provoking gravity and deliberation, as he felt in every pocket of his garments in apparently vain search, while the quizzical look in his face proclaimed that he was purposely reserving the right pocket for the last. miss summers stood with exemplary patience and outstretched hand. at last the eagerly-expected letter was produced, and harrod and i went in to talk over the startling tidings from new orleans. the next moment we heard pauline's rapid step in the hall and ascending the stairs; heard her go hurriedly to her room and close the door, harrod looked puzzled and a little worried. "i hope there is no bad news from vinton," he said. "that rush to her room is unlike her." then the swish of kitty's skirts was heard. harrod stepped out and spoke some words to her in a low tone. her reply was anxious and startled in its hurried intonation, but the words were indistinct. "she says pauline did not read her letter through at all, but sprang up with tears in her eyes and merely said she must run up-stairs a few minutes. what do you suppose is wrong?" of course i had no explanation to offer. pauline did not return for an hour. when she again appeared she was very pale and quiet. harrod meantime had taken a horse and ridden off to sandbrook, where he wanted to reach the telegraph-office. it was late in the evening when he returned. i had been reading in the library for some time while the ladies were at the piano. he strode into the hall and stood at the parlor-door. "pauline, did the major tell you in his letter?" he asked. "tell me what?" she inquired, with quickly rising color. "that their orders had come?" she hesitated and made no reply. quickly he stepped forward and threw his arm around her, tenderly kissing her forehead. "you'll make a soldier's wife, pauline. you can keep a secret." and now, looking quickly at miss kitty, i saw that she had risen and was eagerly gazing at them, a strange, wistful light in her sweet young face. "what is it all, colonel?" i inquired. "the cavalry left for new orleans at dark. amory got telegraphic orders soon after we left, and vinton came in from the west by the evening train and took command at the station. neither of them had time to come out here to say good-by," he added, with an involuntary glance at kitty, while still holding pauline's hand in his own. "you saw major vinton?" pauline calmly asked. "yes, dear. i have a note for you. he was only there thirty minutes. amory had the troop, horses and all, on the cars before the memphis train got in." she took her note and with him walked into the library. irresolutely i stepped out on the gallery a moment. then returning for a cigar or something consolatory, i nearly collided with miss kitty at the parlor-door. she recoiled a pace; then with her bonny head bowed in her hands, with great sobs shaking her slender form, my unheroic little heroine rushed past me and up the stairs to her own room. i felt like a spy. chapter vii. the next few days passed somewhat gloomily. eager interest centred in the daily paper from new orleans. the _times_ in those days was "run" entirely in the interest of a strong faction not inaptly termed "carpet-baggers." few of the republican party of the white element had been natives and property-owners in the state before the war. all of the colored race, most of them at least, had been residents perhaps, but held as property rather than as property-owners. the _picayune_, always the representative of the old _régime_ in the south, was naturally the journal which found its way into our distant household. its pictures of affairs in the crescent city were startling beyond question, and its columns were filled with grave portent of riot, insurrection, and bloodshed. judge summers was visibly worried by its reports. harrod looked gloomy and ill at ease; pauline very grave; kitty picturesquely doleful. all, however, seemed to relax no effort to make me feel at home and "entertained," but the evident cloud overshadowed me. i began to want to get away. if all new orleans were swept by the flames, my personal losses would be slight; but the small library i owned would be an excuse. my confidence that neither side would set fire to anything was only equalled by that which i felt that both would join forces to put it out if they did. for two years we had been having just the same exhilarating experiences, and it never came to burning anything but a little powder. sometimes one side, sometimes another would raise a huge mob, and with much pomp and parade, with much blatant speech-making and wide publication of their intentions, would march noisily through the streets towards some public building, at that moment held by the opposite party, avowedly for the purpose of taking it by force of arms. the first year there had been some desultory shooting, but no casualties to speak of. the second there had been less damage, though far more display; for by this time there were three parties in the field. then, however, uncle sam assumed the _rôle_ of peace-maker; sent a general thither with his staff (giving him a major-general's title and a major's force), with vague orders as to what he was to do, as i chanced to know, beyond keeping the peace and upholding the law and the constituted authorities. as three parties claimed to be the "constituted authorities," it seemed embarrassing at times to tell which to uphold. washington officials declined to decide for him, so the veteran soldier hit on the happy expedient of upholding the party that was attacked. this put him squarely in the right so far as keeping the peace was concerned; for whichever crowd sallied forth to whip the other, invariably found a small battalion of bayonets, or on one occasion a solitary aide-de-camp representing the united states. they would not "fire on the flag"; so retired to thunder at one another through the press. but it put him squarely in the wrong where settling the question for good and all was concerned. so long as the factions felt sure they would not be allowed to fight, the more they talked about doing it; and the real sufferers were the patient, plodding infantry officers and men, who were kept trudging up and down, night and day, from town to barracks. they were tired, hungry, jaded-looking fellows that winter. i had called three of them into my room one chill morning after they had been standing all night on the curbstones of the state-house waiting for an attack they knew would never come; warmed them up with coffee or cocktails as they might prefer; then one of them opened his heart. "this whole thing is the most infernal farce," said he. "ten to one the true way to stop it is to send us miles away and let them get at one another. the lord knows i'd afford them every encouragement. they don't want to fight. if old general fitz blazes would only send me with my company _behind_ instead of between these howling idiots they'd evaporate quick enough." well i recalled every bit of this! it was when the "radical" party was split up into local factions, each demanding the state-house--and the treasury; but--things were different now. the old residents, the business men, the representative citizens of the city had stood that sort of thing just as long as human endurance and their ebbing purses could stand it. they now had organized and risen against the perturbed state authorities; and when that class of men began shooting somebody was going to be hurt. as yet nothing aggressive had been done; but the republican government was tottering on its louisiana throne, and appealed for aid. this it was that was sending troops from all directions to the crescent city. i decided to go and protect my lares and penates, trivial though they might be. to my relief, yet surprise, the moment i mentioned this to colonel summers his face lighted up with an expression of delight. "mr. brandon, we'll go together, and as soon as you like." noticing my evident surprise, he added, "to tell the truth i ought to go, and at once. will you come into father's library and let me explain?" assenting, as a matter of course, i followed him. pauline was seated by her father's side as we entered, writing, as she often did, from his dictation. "father," broke in the colonel, abruptly, "we can spare you all that work. mr. brandon tells me he has decided to go at once to new orleans. i will go with him, and take the papers." the judge rose somewhat slowly--anxiety had told on him very much in the last day or two--and greeted me with his old-fashioned courtesy. "it is a source of great regret to me--to us all--that you should leave us; yet you have doubtless anxieties, as indeed i have,--great ones,--and i wish it were in my power to go myself; but that cannot be, for a fortnight at least; and by that time, as things are looking now, it may be too late,--it may be too late. my son will tell you----" he broke off suddenly. miss summers had risen; her sweet, thoroughbred face had grown a little paler of late, and she stood anxiously regarding her father, but saying not a word. for some moments we sat in general conversation; then, noticing how tired the judge was looking, i rose, saying it was time to make preparations. two hours later, the old carriage rattled up to the steps. the colonel stood aside, holding some final consultation with his father. miss summers, with a blush that was vastly becoming to her, handed me a letter for the major. "as yet, you know, major vinton has not been able to send me his new orleans address. they are barely there by this time; but you were so incautious as to offer to take anything to him, so i burden you with this." kitty carrington was looking on with wistful eyes. "and you, little lady? what note or message will you intrust to me?" she had smoothed back her bright hair. she was looking again as she had the night she begged to play nurse over our unconscious mars. she looked older, graver, but so gentle, so patient in the trouble that had come into her young life. whatever that trouble might have been _i_ could not say. there was something very pathetic about the slender little figure as she stood there. for all answer to my question, she shook her head, smiling rather sadly, yet striving to throw archness into her accompanying gesture. the faint shrug of her pretty shoulders, the forward movement of her hands, with open and extended palms,--something so southern in it all. i could not help noting it. possibly i stared, as previous confessions indicate that i had that adventurous night in the cars. my rudeness caused her to turn sharply away with heightened color. then came general good-byes, good speeds, good lucks, promises to write,--those promises, like so many others, made only to be broken. we clambered into the carriage. already the driver was gathering his whip and reins; had "chucked" to his sleepy team. harrod was sitting on the side nearest the group on the steps; i craning my neck forward for a last look at them. kitty was eagerly bending forward; her lips parted, her eyes dilated, her fingers working nervously. already the wheels had begun to crunch through the gravel, when with sudden movement she darted like a bird down the steps. "_harrod!_" she cried. "hold on, driver," was the response, as he bent to the doorway to meet her. standing on tiptoe, her tiny white hands clutching his arm, a vivid color shooting over her face, her eyes one moment nervously, apprehensively, reproachfully glancing at me, plainly saying, "please don't listen," then, raised to his bronzed, tender face, as he bent ear towards her lips in response to the evident appeal. she rapidly whispered half a dozen words. "_do_ you understand? _sure_ you understand?" she questioned eagerly, as now she leaned back, looking up into his eyes. he bent still farther, kissed her forehead. "sure," he nodded. "sure." then back she sprang. crack went the whip, and we rolled away towards the gate. looking back, my eyes took in for the last time the old home; and the picture lingers with me, will live with me to the end of my lonely life. the red-gold light of the setting sun streamed in all its glory on the southern front of the quaint plantation house. the tangled shrubbery, the sombre line of the dense forest beyond the fields, the vines and tendrils that clung about the gallery railing and the wooden pillars, the low-hanging eaves, the moss-covered line of porch-roof,--all were tinged, gilded, gleaming here and there with the warmth and glow of the gladness-giving rays. the windows above blazed with their reflected glory. even old blondo's curly hide and jake biggs's woolly pate gained a lustre they never knew before. all around the evidences of approaching decay and present dilapidation, so general throughout the bright sunny south years after the war, all around the homeliest objects, the wheelbarrow and garden tools, there clung a tinge of gladness in answering homage to the declining king of day; but, central figures of all, the trio we left upon the steps, _they_ fairly stood in a halo of mellow gold. the gray-haired gentleman waving his thin hand in parting salutation; the noble, womanly girl at his side, half supporting, half leaning upon him; and on the lower stair, kissing her hand, waving her dainty kerchief, her eyes dancing, her cheeks aflame, her white teeth flashing through the parted lips, her fragile form all radiance, all sweet, glowing, girlish beauty, stood kitty carrington; she who but a moment before had seemed so patiently sad. "did you ever see anything prettier?" i gasped, as at last the winding roadway hid them from our sight. "kitty, brandon?--she's a darling!" was the warm-hearted answer. that was precisely my opinion. all the way into sandbrook i was tortured with curiosity to know the purport of the mysterious parting whisper. it would not do to let colonel summers suspect that of me; neither would it answer to propound any question. we had much to talk of that is of no interest and has no bearing on our story, but it kept us employed until we reached the station. our train was due at . , going west, the same hour at which the troops had left. their single passenger-car and the four freight-cars on which their horses were carried had been coupled to the regular train. they had gone, we learned, to grand junction; thence down the mississippi central. the station-master was an old army friend of the colonel's. he received us with all courtesy, and immediately asked us into his own little office. "reckon you'd best just make yourselves comfortable, gentlemen; that train's nigh onto two hours late, near as i can make it." "two hours late! why, that will ruin our connection!" exclaimed harrod. "they're going to try and make the central wait over," was the answer, "but i'd bet high on our being later'n we think for. once a fellow gets off his schedule on this road, he's more apt to be losing all the time than gaining." the colonel and i looked at each other a moment in some dismay. quandary though it was, there was nothing for it but to wait, and wait we did, two--three hours. the darkness grew intense back towards the tennessee; the loungers in the waiting-room or platform in groups of two or three, rose, yawned, stretched themselves, "'lowed t'warn't no use waitin'; could see the derned train any other night just as well," and took themselves and their tobacco-juice off. the lights across the way, beyond the tracks, died out one by one, until only those two were left which represented the rival saloons, still keeping open for the presumable benefit of some prowler hoping to get trusted for a drink. finally only the station-master and ourselves were left, all drowsy, but the former still seated, with his one remaining hand close to his telegraph instrument. still no news of the train. i began to doze. it could not have been more than ten or fifteen minutes before the clicking of the instrument aroused me. having long since ceased to care whether the train now came or not, since we had heard by nine that the central would not wait, i only sleepily gazed at the operator. the colonel had gone asleep, and the sound did not awake him. but another moment the expression on the face of the man sitting so intently over his table aroused me to eagerness. at first professionally indifferent, it grew suddenly clouded; then a look of keen distress came upon it as he quickly glanced around at his old comrade. i involuntarily sprang up and approached the table. he had written half the message, then dropped pencil and hammered away at the key. "for him," said he, with a backward jerk of the head to indicate the colonel. it seemed an endless time before he could get the thing straightened out and the message written. "please wake him," said he. i gently shook harrod's shoulder. he started up with soldierly promptitude. "train coming?" he asked, as he began gathering his traps. "not yet, colonel. it's news from the boys, the cavalry." "got to new orleans all right?" "got there; but--read for yourself." with a face that paled even in the dim light of the station, and lips that trembled under his moustache, the colonel read, handed it to me without a word, and turned away. this was the message: "new orleans, tuesday. "colonel h. summers, sandbrook station, m. and c. r. r., alabama. "arrived yesterday. vinton dangerously ill; delirious. post surgeons in charge. if possible, come. "frank amory." then we three looked at one another with faces sad and blanched. harrod was the first to speak. "may i take your horse, billy?" "yes, and the house and barn if it'll help." "then i'm off for home at once, for pauline." the delay of that train was a blessing in disguise. chapter viii. a dim, murky morning it was that dawned on sandbrook the following day. i had spent the livelong night at the station. the missing train came unheeded, soon after colonel summers on "billy's" horse loped off into the northern darkness. i had sent a dispatch to amory, care of department headquarters in new orleans. "billy" had hospitably invited me to share his humble breakfast, made most relishable though by the steaming coffee "cooked" army fashion in a battered old pot with a reliable lid. i had noted with respect and with pleasure the fine picture of general lee hanging over the narrow mantel, and the battered old cavalry sabre beneath it; and was beginning to ask myself how i could best employ the day until evening train-time, when the rapid beat of hoofs and the familiar rattle of the carriage-wheels sounded in my ears. "hyar they come," said "billy." "i knew they would." even before we could reach the platform, the carriage had whirled up there and harrod sprang from the box-seat. "that freight gone by yet, billy?" "the freight! lord, no! colonel, you're not going to take miss summers that way?" "it hasn't gone, dear," he quickly spoke to the silent inmate of the carriage. "but it's due how soon?" turning again to his friend. "ten minutes, colonel, and on time, too, if you're bound to go by her." "by all means. we may strike something at corinth; if not, we'll go on to the junction." then with lowered voice, "anything is better than waiting at such a time. we'd better get them out, i think." them! who could be there? thought i, for up to this time i had thought best not to intrude. now i stepped forward as he opened the carriage-door, and with light, quick spring out popped kitty. "mr. brandon will take charge of you, kit; there's a dear," said he, gently, then turned again to the door, and tenderly handed out his sister. she came instantly to me with dry eyes, and firm, low voice, only with face so pale. she frankly held forth her hand, which--which i took in both my own. "have you heard anything further?" i shook my head. "and you have been sitting up here all night waiting for us. how kind, yet how tired you must be!" "i never expected you till evening," i answered, bluntly, and was rewarded by a look of quick, reproachful surprise. "harrod reached us at one o'clock. it took very little time to get ready. mr. brandon, can you make _any_ conjecture as to the nature of his illness?" "none whatever; fever of some kind, i am half inclined to believe, contracted while off on this court-martial tour." she bowed her head, and now silent tears fell from her eyes. harrod led her to one side and, putting his arm around her, stood whispering cheeringly to her. then i turned to kitty, who was very quietly engaged in getting out satchels, baskets, and travelling-bags; all was done before i reached her. "it is a surprise to see you, miss kitty." "a surprise! surely you did not suppose i would let paulie go on so sad a journey without me. there are many ways in which i can help her." there was no answer to the wisdom of that statement. the distant whistle of the freight had twice been heard, and in ten minutes our party of four were disposed in the conductor's caboose. the situation had been explained to that officer in very few words by harrod and "billy;" and, with that almost chivalrous courtesy which the roughest-looking men in the south show to the gentler sex on all occasions i ever witnessed, the train-hands had busied themselves in making a comfortable corner for the ladies. rude and poor were the appliances, but walter raleigh never laid down his priceless cloak for foot of royal mistress with truer grace than did those rough ex-soldiers spread their blankets, coats, and pillows to make a soft substructure for the heavy shawls which the ladies had with them. watching, as i have on a thousand occasions, the gentle courtesy of southern men to women, high or low, i never lack for explanation, never wonder how they came to fight so well. bayard taylor struck the key-note when he wrote,-- "the bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring." at noon we were at corinth and eagerly questioning the officials there. no train till nine. "what chance by going to grand junction?" "no better, colonel; they've had the customary smash-up on the central, and 'taint no use trying. even if the road weren't blocked, their south-bound express don't get off as early as ours from here." "are there no trains coming south, not even freight?" "colonel, i'm sorry, but there's not a train of any kind,--nothin' except a special, going through a-whoopin' for orleans, i suppose, with a lot o' damyankees." "what! a special with troops, do you mean?" asked harrod, eagerly. "exactly; somewhere from up in tennessee. two or three companies--but, lord! you couldn't ride with them even if they'd let you. they telegraphed ahead here for coffee for seventy men, and want to take the kettles on to the next station. not much----" "never mind, mr. agent," broke in harrod, impatiently; "when are they due?" "coffee's ordered for . . reckon they'll be along very soon," replied the nettled functionary. "what say you, brandon? shall we try it?" "most assuredly; and i think it can be done." four pairs of anxious, eager eyes watched that train of "damyankees" as it came rushing into the station sharp at . . a crowd of sullen-looking "white trash" had gathered, a larger knot of curious and eager darkies, to see the sight. the engine whizzed past the platform; then two passenger-cars, from every window of which protruded blue-capped, dust-begrimed soldier heads; sentries stood at the doors, and only as the last car--a third passenger-car--came opposite us did the train stop. a sharp, business-like young fellow, in dust-covered fatigue dress with infantry shoulder-straps and cap, sprang out. "that coffee ready?" he asked, bounding at the agent at once. "wall, i s'pose so," drawled the party addressed, as though desirous of giving all the annoyance he could. "if you want your money you'd better know, and lively too. we've no time to waste. tumble out here, sergeant triggs. bring six men while this party is waking up." then as his men went into the kitchen to bring out the steaming caldrons, i asked if i could see the commanding officer on immediate and important business. "certainly, sir; rear car. come this way." we followed him, harrod and i; found the forward half of the third car filled, as were the other two, with the rank and file. at the rear end were half a dozen sleepy, dusty, and disgusted-looking gentlemen. "this is major williams, sir," said the business-like youngster, and in an instant he was out on the platform again. a tall, dust-colored officer rose to meet my extended card and hand, mild surprise in his eyes. "major," said i, "major vinton, of the cavalry, lies dangerously ill in new orleans. he is engaged to the sister of my friend, colonel summers. no train leaves here until nine to-night, and in our eagerness to get to vinton before it be too late we ask to be taken with you." for an instant the commanding officer was staggered by my impetuous harangue, but "he rallied." "major vinton, say you? i'm distressed to hear it. i know him well by reputation, though it has not been my good fortune to meet him. we--we must find some way----excuse me, let me speak one instant with the quartermaster." he quickly stepped to a bulky, stolid-looking youth, and addressed him in few rapid words. the whistle blew,--my heart stood still. he sprang to a window, stuck out his head, and shouted,-- "a--a--mr. _tur_pin. stop the train. don't start till i tell you." "all right, sir," came back in the quick, sharp tones we had heard before. again the major and the stolid youth met. we heard snatches of the latter's words,--"no precedent, no authority,"--and my heart again sank. like mr. perker of blessed memory, i was about to interpose with "but my dear sir, my _dear_ sir," when mr. turpin burst in like a thunder-clap at the rear door. "jupiter ammon, fellows! blow the dust from your eyes if you want to see the prettiest girl in the south!" "never mind precedent; we'll make a precedent," broke in the major, impatiently. "gentlemen,"--he turned to us,--"you see how forlorn are our surroundings, but you and yours are welcome." the whole thing took less time than it takes to read it. harrod sprang for his sister. mr. turpin sprang for kitty. eager hands seized the bags and traps, shoving them through windows, anywhere, anyhow; and half bewildered, all grateful, all surprise, pauline and kitty found themselves aboard, and we were spinning out of inhospitable corinth. "pardon our great haste, ladies," i heard the major saying. "we _must_ be in new orleans some time in the early morning." the "damyankees" were going to get us there twenty-four hours ahead of any other arrangement we could have made. shall i ever forget that almost breathless ride? "be here to-morrow morning without fail" were the words of the dispatch major williams had received at the point where his train left the louisville road and swung into the rails of the mobile and ohio. it was the "longer way round,"--that through mobile,--but some late experiences had proved it the shorter way home; and, as the conductor presently explained to the major, on entering the car, "i've given the engineer orders to jump her for all she's worth. we only stop for water and passing one up-train. even the express has to side-track for us." then the conductor wiped his hot brow, and with infinite surprise looked first at the ladies just getting settled into the seats eager hands had been dusting and preparing for them, then at me. then harrod came quickly to us, and in him he recognized at once colonel summers of the alabama cavalry of by-gone days. with the free-masonry of old campaigners, they gripped hands before questions of any kind were put. harrod promptly explained the situation. "thanks to these gentlemen, we are permitted to share their car. of course we settle with you for the fare. but for their kindness we could not have reached new orleans before late, perhaps too late, to-morrow night." the conductor turned to the officers: "major williams, sir (yes, he did say "sah," and i liked to hear it), i want to thank you in the name of the road for your prompt courtesy to these friends of mine. i had to jump for the telegraph-office myself, and did not see them. you can just bet your life, sir, the mobile and ohio shall know of it, and they'll thank you in a way i'm not empowered to." and so, whizzing at forty-five miles an hour, southron and yank were drawing into the brotherhood of a common sympathy. and so it went all through that grimy afternoon. with what unremitting thoughtfulness and care those fellows looked after our fair charges! the sanctity of her grief and anxiety rendered miss summers the object of the deepest respect and sympathy. reclining at the rear of the car, her veil drawn over her face, none but harrod ventured to approach her; but kitty was the centre of incessant attention, and through her all manner of improvised delicacies were brought to pauline. the dust was stifling, and indefatigable mr. turpin appeared from somewhere in front with a tin basin filled with cracked ice. the doctor came forward with a silver cup of delicious lemonade (he had levied on his pannier for lime-juice and powdered sugar) dexterously rendered soulful by a dash of vini gallici. kitty smiled her thanks to both, and a duplicate of the beverage was grateful to her silent cousin. we flew over the rattling rails, and the jarring was incessant. the doctor produced an air-pillow for pauline's head. we stopped somewhere for water, and the major disappeared. the ladies had brought luncheon in a large basket--but no appetites. the soldiers had rations and were filled. the officers had not had a mouthful since a breakfast at a.m., and were hungry. no chance for a bite until p.m., when, said the conductor, they might grab a sandwich at ragsdale's, at meridian. "but we can't stop three minutes, boys." kitty overheard it. she was in animated conversation with a tall subaltern, who claimed to be from kentucky. they were sitting three seats ahead of miss summers, who was undisturbed by their chatter; all voices were subdued as far as was possible. mr. turpin, who was a man of few words but vast action, was hovering about, eager for a chance to do something. she knew it. they all seem to have infinite intuition that way. "oh, mr. turpin, would you please bring me our lunch-basket?" and turpin was down upon us like his namesake of old, demanding the basket in a manner suggestive of "or your lives." another second and it was deposited in front of her, and she bade him summon his brotherhood; and they went, even the stolid quartermaster, who felt sheepish apparently. and there she sat like a little lady bountiful, dispensing to each and all (a southern lunch-basket reminds me of the parable of the loaves and fishes), and they surrounded her, eating and adoring. at five we rolled into meridian, and ragsdale's sandwiches were forgotten. major williams sprang from the train. "yes, dear," i heard harrod saying to his sister, "i will try and send a dispatch from here," and with that he rose. i went with him in search of the telegraph-office. at the door we met the major, some open dispatches in his hand. "have we time to send a despatch to new orleans?" asked harrod, eagerly. "hardly," said the major, with a quiet smile. "but won't this do?" and he placed in harrod's hand one of the papers. the message read: "telegram received. assure vinton's friends that fever is less. he receives best care. we are hopeful now. "reynolds, a.a.g." "thank god!" i uttered. summers, with tears starting to his eyes, grasped the soldier's hand. "you are a very thoughtful man, sir." "all aboard!" yelled the conductor. "get those lamps lit now." somehow i was glad it was dusk in the car as we sprang aboard. harrod, with quick, eager step, went directly to her. something told her he had news, and she rose, throwing back her veil, and bent eagerly forward. he placed the paper in her hand, and, clutching it, she seemed to devour the contents. kitty had turned quickly to look. conversation somehow had ceased. then we saw her glance one instant up in his face. then his strong arms were round her, for, burying her face in his breast, she had burst into a passion of almost hysterical weeping. then we all turned away and shook hands. the whole car knew vinton was better. one soldier up in front wanted to give three cheers, but was promptly suppressed. kitty's own eyes were overflowing as she received the congratulations of the lately banquetted, and with a great load off our hearts we sped onward through the darkness. two sweet pictures remain in my memory of that strange night. first was that of miss summers and major williams. at her request harrod brought him to her, that she might thank him for the thoughtfulness, the delicate attention he had shown. her face was exquisite in the revival of hope, in the intensity of gratitude. the second was about p.m. we had had to make some stops. our run was now less impeded. it had grown chilly and raw. coming in from the front, whither i had gone to smoke with the conductor, i found the inmates of the rear of our car apparently buried in slumber, except one figure. mr. turpin, with his blouse collar turned up and his hands in his pockets, was sitting bolt upright. two seats behind him, her fair hair curling about her rounded cheek, sleeping like a babe after all the fatigues and excitements of the day, but from neck to foot completely enveloped in a cloak of army blue, was kitty carrington, our rampant little rebel kit. chapter ix. early in the morning, earlier even than i had supposed possible, the conductor's voice was heard announcing to somebody that we would be in new orleans in less than half an hour. i had been sleeping somewhat uneasily, curled up on one of the seats. i was dimly conscious of the fact that at some unknown hour in the night another telegram had been received referring to vinton, and that miss summers was wide awake when it came. i remember harrod's bending over and kissing her, and hearing the words, "that is better yet." then sleep again overpowered me. now, at daybreak, i arose and gazed around the dimly-lighted car. miss summers, harrod, and major williams were the only occupants apparently astir. the former was sitting near the opened window; the cool, salty breeze from the gulf was playing with the ripples of fair hair that clustered about her forehead. she looked very white and wan in the uncertain light, but there was a womanly tenderness and sweetness about her face that made it inexpressibly lovely to me. she was gazing wistfully out over the sea of marsh and swamp, as though longing to bridge the distance that still separated us from the city, where he lay battling with that insidious enemy. harrod and the major were in earnest conversation. other occupants of the car were beginning to stir uneasily, as though warned that soon they must be up and doing; but kitty still slept, and the cloak of army blue still covered her. mr. turpin had disappeared. a few moments more and the officers had been aroused; the men were donning their belts and equipments; pauline herself stepped forward, and, bending over her pretty cousin, roused her from her baby-like sleep; and glancing from the windows, i could see that we were rolling up the "elysian fields." then came the curving sweep around on the broad levee. all looked quiet, even deserted, as we passed the mint and the wide thoroughfare of esplanade street. some of the lamps still burned dimly in the _cafés_ and bars, but no trace of commotion or excitement could be discerned. it was with some little surprise then that our eyes met the warlike scene as we rolled into the station at the foot of canal street. the instant the train stopped, our car was boarded by an alert gentleman in civilian dress whom i had often seen, and whom i knew to be an aide-de-camp on the staff of the commanding general. he came at once to major williams; shook hands with him, and conveyed some orders in a low tone of voice; then asked to be presented to colonel summers. major williams brought him to where our group of four was then standing, at the rear of the car,--miss summers, kitty, harrod, and myself. "let me introduce colonel newhall, of general emory's staff," he said, and the colonel, raising his hat in general salutation to the party, spoke in the hurried, nervous way i afterwards found was habitual with him, despite the _sang-froid_ that distinguished him at all times save in the presence of ladies. "i have come direct from major vinton's room, colonel summers, and am happy to tell you that the doctors pronounce him much better. the general charged me to bring you the latest news of him, and to express to you and to your ladies his warm interest and sympathy." then we had not come as strangers to a strange land. i glanced at pauline, as her brother, warmly grasping the staff-officer's hand, presented him to her and to kitty. her clear, brave eyes were suffused with tears and she did not venture to speak a word; but she was infinitely moved by the constantly recurring evidences of interest in her and her gallant lover. such an informal announcement of an engagement perhaps was not strictly in accordance with the prevailing customs of society, but the exigencies of the case put all such considerations aside. everybody on our train knew the story of course, and it had evidently been telegraphed to headquarters. meantime, major williams had been superintending the debarkation of his men, and they were forming ranks on the platform outside. beyond them, a long line of stacked arms was guarded by sentries, and several companies of infantry were grouped behind them, watching with professional interest the arrival of comrade soldiery. a number of officers had gathered at the side of the car,--very weary they looked too, and far from jaunty in their dusty fatigue uniforms; but they were intent on welcoming major williams and his command, and at that hour in the morning, costume and unshaven chins were not subject to criticism. time and again it had been my lot to be at this very station, but never before had i seen it thronged with troops. it was evident that matters of grave moment were going on in the city. colonel newhall had left the car for a moment and harrod came to me: "it seems that vinton is at colonel newhall's quarters on royal street, mr. brandon. he met the troop on its arrival in town, and finding vinton wellnigh delirious with fever, had him taken at once to his lodgings. there are a number of vacant rooms, he tells me, and he has made all arrangements to take us right there; so there we will go. the st. charles is crowded, and pauline naturally wants to be near him. i think it the best arrangement that could possibly be made." even as he finished, the colonel came in to say that the carriage was ready. harrod, pauline, kitty and i followed him to the platform. the group of officers standing there courteously raised their forage-caps as our ladies passed them. kitty looked furtively about her as she stepped from the car, and mr. turpin sprang forward to take her light satchel. it was but a few steps to the carriage. pauline and kitty were handed in. summers and colonel newhall took their seats in the carriage. we shook hands all round without saying much of anything, except that i should meet them later in the day; the driver cracked his whip, and away they went up canal street, mr. turpin and i gazing after them. even as we looked, there came trotting down the stone pavement towards us a pair of cavalrymen. the one in front, tall, slender, erect, i recognized at once as frank amory. the one in rear was evidently his orderly. never noticing the carriage, which had hurried off on the custom-house side of the street, the former rode rapidly to the very point where we were standing. i saw mr. turpin look eagerly at him, then spring forward. "sheep, old man, how are you?" "hello, cyclone! when did you get here?" and throwing the reins to his orderly, frank amory sprang from the saddle, and warmly grasped mr. turpin by the hand. the boys were classmates. it was perhaps a minute before amory noticed that i was standing there, so absorbed was he in greeting his comrade. the moment he caught sight of me, however, he stepped quickly forward. quite a number of the younger officers had gathered around by this time, and with heightened color he looked eagerly in my face. "when did you come? who--who else came?" he asked, excitedly. "we arrived only a few minutes ago," i said. "miss summers, miss kitty, and the colonel with me. they just drove off in that carriage. we are so rejoiced to hear major vinton is better." "you don't say so!" he exclaimed, then stopped short, as though at a loss what to add. "i--i had no idea she--you could get here so soon. vinton _is_ better, thank god! where have they gone?" "to colonel newhall's quarters," i answered. "it seems there are several rooms, and the colonel says his landlady will take the best of care of them. then they will be near him, which is something to be considered." "why, sheep, did you know colonel summers and miss carrington?" broke in mr. turpin, suddenly. "yes, quite well. i was stationed near them," was the answer, given with some constraint. mr. turpin stuck his hands deep in his pockets and said not another word. other officers crowded about mr. amory to inquire for major vinton, and to ask for news. presently major williams came up with colonel starr, the commanding officer of the battalion that was "in bivouac" at the station, and i was presented to the latter. from them i learned something of the situation. they had been on guard all night there at the station. what for they could not exactly tell. it seems that one faction of the legislature occupied the temporary state-house; another had its headquarters over a prominent bar-room in royal street; and a large concourse of citizens had organized with military formalities and the avowed intention of dislodging the factional legislature from the house; installing a governor of their own choice; and subduing the police force of the city, now enrolled as a uniformed and fully-equipped battalion of infantry, with a battery of field-guns and a squadron of cavalry as assistants. the police held the various stations, and no encounter had taken place; but the citizens had turned out in great numbers, and the chances were that they would prove too powerful for the mixed array of the police force; and trouble had been anticipated for that very night, but it had not come. a strong battalion of infantry was posted here at the railway station. another, after a day of weary marching, was resting at a large cotton-press up the levee; two companies of cavalry were stationed at the quartermaster's warehouse up in magazine street, near the headquarters of the commanding general, and two foot batteries from an artillery regiment had spent the night in the state-house itself. cavalry patrols had been scouting through the city all night, promptly reporting any unusual gathering, but in no case interfering. verily these were strange accompaniments to the times of piping peace. it was after seven o'clock when i reached my rooms. i was tired and ought to have been sleepy after the long, rapid ride by rail, but the morning papers were full of exciting prophecy as to the events of the day, and sleep was out of the question. amory had declined my invitation to breakfast, saying that he could not be away from his troop more than fifteen minutes at a time, and had only managed to get down to the station while out looking after his patrols. a bath and a change of raiment proved refreshing. then i took a car; rode to canal street; walked down royal to colonel newhall's lodgings; met one of the doctors, who assured me that major vinton was doing very well, and that later they hoped he might be well enough to see miss summers. he was still flighty and had no idea of his whereabouts. the ladies were up-stairs resting. would i see them? no, i preferred not to disturb them, and so went off by myself to breakfast at my usual haunt, moreau's. the room was already well filled when i entered. most of the tables were occupied, many of them by prominent citizens. much earnest talk was going on in subdued tones, and there was an air of suppressed excitement that was noticeable to the most careless observer. two of the tables were occupied by a party of infantry officers whom i had seen at the station, and it was noticeable that within earshot of them little was being said in reference to "the situation." i had several acquaintances among the business men present, and took a seat near them. the first words that fell upon my ears were,-- "and it will be done to-night, you may depend upon it." "but do you suppose that general emory will stand by and allow such a thing to go on under his very nose?" "general emory can't help himself, sir. his orders from washington do not permit him to act unless called upon by the marshal or by the state authorities. the whole thing will be over and done with before they can make their demand, and our people will have dispersed before the troops get there." "but suppose they get wind of it and call upon him to station his men to meet the move?" "why, that ends it, of course. we are helpless in that case. we don't mean to raise a finger against the general government. let him send a corporal's guard to any one of the places and it's safe; but as for this infernal mottled police----" "steady!" and then both speakers looked up at the party of infantry officers, who had risen and were quietly leaving. then they looked at me, and the rest of the conversation was in too low a tone for any one to hear. the day was one of restless anxiety, yet of apparent quiet and order. the broad "banquette" of canal street was thronged with ladies and children as is customary on bright afternoons. the matinées at the varieties and the st. charles theatre were crowded. at half-past four, as i strolled up the street under the friendly shade of the awnings, that made the wide sidewalks one long arcade, i was struck by the perfectly peaceful aspect of the scene. from the custom-house to rampart street, on the lower side of the way, i did not see a policeman, much less a soldier in uniform; but at all the corners, the knots of unoccupied men were much larger than usual; this being especially the case around dumonteil's and lopez's confectioneries, and the well-known establishment of "dr. sample." on the opposite side and grouped around the brown-stone building of the shakespeare club, half a dozen men in civilian dress were lolling about, and less than one hundred yards up dryades street, as many more were sitting or standing around the entrance of the massive mechanics' institute, now used as a state-house and place of meeting of one at least of the rival legislatures; but there was nothing in its exterior to indicate the state of siege as described in the daily press. in all, there might have been one hundred loungers scattered from victor's marble-columned restaurant on the lower side down to "dr. sample's," in the middle of the next block; but absolute quiet and order reigned. some of the windows in the second story of the institute were open, and occasionally the features of some colored legislator could be seen peering curiously and cautiously out towards canal street. now that demon of curiosity that has always possessed me, prompted me to stroll across the broad thoroughfare and to approach the entrance of dryades street. as a neutral, i felt serenely confident that neither side would take exceptions to my movements, but looking behind me as i reached the car-tracks, i saw that the listless loungers on the banquette had crowded forward to its edge, and were watching me with interest. keeping on, however, i soon reached the upper side, and deliberately walked ahead as though bent on going to the state-house. the instant i got beyond the canal street pavement, however, one of the men i had noticed at the upper corner stepped quickly in front of me and said,-- "pardon me, mr. brandon, where did you wish to go?" then, seeing my look of surprise, he smilingly added, "of course i know you, sir, though you do not know me; i'm a detective." "why," said i, "if there be no objections, i would like to go to the state-house, just to see what is going on." "i'm sorry, sir," was the civil reply; "at this moment our orders are to admit nobody." now, i hated to go back. i knew well that all those estimable fellow-citizens of mine on the other side were watching the scene, and that they would be sure to hold me in lighter estimation if i had to retire. i put a bold face on the matter and whipped out my card-case. "there are two batteries of foot artillery in there, i'm told, and among their officers is a gentleman whom i used to know in new york and would like to see. can you send this to him?" i hastily scrawled "late n. y. th regt." under my name. the detective took the card; whistled to a boy who stood near; the youngster seized it and was off like a shot; while my detective and i walked slowly towards the building. before we reached the stone steps, a fine-looking fellow in the fatigue uniform of the united states artillery came out and looked inquiringly around. i stepped forward at once and introduced myself; was most courteously greeted and invited to walk in; the police official smilingly nodded "all right now," and, guided by the lieutenant, i entered the mysterious portals of the besieged halls of government. it was an extraordinary sight that met my eyes. grouped inside the vestibule, where they could not be seen from canal street, or indeed from any point on dryades except directly in front, were some fifty metropolitan police in complete uniform and the equipments of infantry soldiers; belts, cartridge-boxes, bayonet-scabbards, and all. their officers, with drawn swords and wearing shoulder-straps like those of the regular service, were gathered in front. stacks of winchester rifles stood close by, many of the men having their muskets still in their hands. all the lower hall and the staircases were crowded with these improvised troops, some white, some colored, there being white men in the rank and file, and colored men among the officers. all were very quiet, orderly, and apparently well disciplined. some of those who were seated on the stairway rose rather slowly to make way for us, and a colored officer in the shoulder-straps of a captain spoke in a quick, sharp tone to them; and, black and white, they sprang to their feet and respectfully drew aside. at the head of the stairs were sentries and an officer of the guard, all in police uniform, and they saluted my artillery guide with all the precision of regulars. "would you like to look in at your legislature?" asked he, with a mischievous grin. i assented. the officer of the guard opened a door, and we found ourselves in an inner hall or vestibule. here we came upon a dozen colored men surrounding a low wooden counter or table covered with pies, cakes, sandwiches, and fruit. behind the counter sat an old negress in vehement expostulation. "it's no use talkin', gen'lemen, you's just wastin' yo' time. las' year i done trus' de gen'lemen of de senate an' representives, an' dey ain't paid me yit." "but fo' de lawd's sake, mis' fontelieu, i ain't had nuffin to eat sence day befo' yis'day mawnin', an' i's starvin', i is. yo' ought ter have some consideration fo' gen'lemen of de legislature what's sufferin' here fo' you an' de people. soon's we done git our salaries we's goin' to pay you fus' thing. ain't we, gen'lemen?" said the spokesman appealingly to his brother solons. "of co'se we is, mis' fontelieu," was the chorus, but all to no purpose. miss fontelieu's experiences with previous legislatures and legislators had undermined her faith in the stability of their financial condition, and nothing but cash in hand would induce her to part with any of her stock in trade. "i'd buy them a breakfast myself," said my lieutenant, laughingly, "for i know very well that they have had nothing to eat except what they could pick up here; but we contributed all our spare greenbacks yesterday, and they'd be just as hungry by ten o'clock to-night." we pushed on through the lobby and entered the main room, the temporary hall of representatives, and here another odd sight greeted our eyes. the room was large, rectangular in shape; a raised platform being at the farther end; rows of cane-bottomed chairs were arranged in semicircular order across the hall; a desk for the presiding officer was on the platform; and tables and desks for clerks and reporters stood below it. scattered in groups all about the room were upwards of an hundred men, some white, some colored, stretched at length upon the chairs, others were lying asleep. the instant we entered, conversation ceased, and all looked eagerly and inquiringly at my companion; even some of the recumbent figures straightened up and gazed at him. several stepped forward from the nearest group and asked if there were any news, receiving with evident disappointment his civil reply that he had heard nothing. "they have been cooped up here for nearly forty-eight hours," the lieutenant explained. "you see, they've just got a quorum, and the governor knows blessed well that if they once get out, the chances are ten to one they'll never get back. either the other crowd will mob them, or, in fear of the attack on the state-house, they will keep in hiding somewhere around town." the governor, with his officers, was in his private room down-stairs, my friend explained; and the senate was likewise blockaded in another part of the building; and this was the shape in which one governor, at least, of the sovereign state of louisiana was "holding the fort" against all would-be adversaries. then we left the hall of unwilling representatives; clambered another flight of stairs, and came upon what the local press had not inaptly termed "the citadel." here, in an upper room, half a dozen officers of artillery of the regular service were killing time, reading, writing, or dozing; and most disgusted they looked with their occupation. on being presented to the commanding officer and his comrades i was courteously greeted and invited to make myself at home, "if," said the major, "you can find any comfort in the situation. i've only once in my life been on more distasteful duty, and that was when we were sent to break up illicit distilleries in brooklyn." their orders, i learned, were that both officers and men should remain in the state-house, and not leave, even for meals, which were to be sent from a neighboring restaurant; and there they had been for two nights and days, in readiness to defend the place if attacked, yet having every assurance that so long as there remained a "regular" soldier in the building it would not be molested. no wonder they yawned and looked bored to death; and my proffer of services was gladly accepted. "send us anything you may have in the way of reading matter, and we'll be only too thankful," was the major's half-laughing, half-rueful reply, and after an hour's chat i left. the lieutenant accompanied me to the entrance, where he bade me good-by. the knot of detectives drew aside and passed me out without remark. once more i crossed canal street, and in an instant found myself surrounded by a bevy of eager reporters, note-book and pencil in hand, clamoring for information. from the obscurity of yesterday, mr. g. s. brandon had suddenly leaped into prominence. chapter x. at nine o'clock that evening i was seated on a balcony overhanging royal street, quietly chatting with miss summers, kitty carrington, and harrod. vinton was much better, the doctors had assured us; the fever was broken; he had recognized pauline during the afternoon, and was now asleep. the doctor had advised her to lie down and rest, for, after all her anxiety and the excitement of her rapid journey, she was looking very white and wan; but after an hour in her room she had again appeared, pleading that she could not sleep, and harrod had led her out to the balcony, where we sat enjoying the evening air. colonel newhall had not returned from headquarters. we saw him for an instant at moreau's, whither harrod, kitty, and i had gone for dinner, about six o'clock, leaving pauline to share the simple tea offered her by the sympathetic landlady. he had stopped just long enough to say that it was not probable that he would be home during the evening,--he was needed at the office,--and then had walked briskly away. coming home we could not help noticing how many men there were standing in quiet groups about the clay statue and all along canal street; but royal street, generally so busy and bustling, was strangely quiet, wellnigh deserted. it was an exquisite night; the moon was at her full, and objects across the narrow thoroughfare were almost as distinct as in broad daylight. i could easily read the signs over the shops, and distinguish the features of the few people who passed. it was very still, too. off to our left, towards canal street, the roar of wheels over the massive pavement was to be heard, but few sounds broke the stillness near our balcony. some distance down the street a clear, ringing voice was carolling the page's song from "mignon"; across the way two or three darkies were chattering in that indescribable language that sounds like french, yet is no more french than siamese, the patois of the creole negroes; but not a wheel or hoof awakened the echoes of the compact rows of old-fashioned houses. our landlady came out and looked uneasily up and down. "i'm sure i don't know what to make of this," said she. "ordinarily royal street is gay in the evening. to-night it is still as a cemetery. i know something is going to happen. a neighbor of mine on chartres street, just back of us, says that hundreds of men have been going down there for the last hour,--going down towards jackson square,--and they had guns, most all of them." it was just then that somewhere near us a clock began striking nine. hardly had the last stroke died, quivering away through the still night air, when from the direction of the great cathedral, opposite the very square she named, there came a sudden and startling uproar, a rattling volley of small-arms, a chorus of yells that made the welkin ring; then a pandemonium of shots, shouts, and yells all together. instantly, people below could be seen rushing to close their shutters; the chattering darkies disappeared around the corner, and we had sprung to our feet and were listening excitedly to the clamor, which increased with every moment. pauline quickly stepped in-doors; her first thought was for her lover, and she had gone to his door. kitty, very pale, was grasping the balcony rail and looking appealingly up in harrod's face. he and i gazed questioningly at each other. full a minute we stood there before any one spoke. then harrod pointed up royal street. "look! what is this?" leaning over the balcony i gazed eagerly up towards the white colonnade of the st. charles, glistening and brilliant in the moonlight. coming towards us in perfect silence at rapid, shuffling step, with the moonbeams glancing from their sloping arms and glistening bayonets, was a column of soldiers. another moment and they were directly under us, and with them, drawn by horses, was a large field-piece. i recognized the uniforms at a glance: they were the police. rapidly, almost at double-quick, they filed under the balcony and marched on down the street. we followed them with our eyes until they turned to the right, some squares farther east, and waited further developments. the noise of the firing, the shouts and yells had partially died away, but not entirely. suddenly there came a renewal of the clangor; the rattling fusilade was resumed, then came a volley or two, delivered as though by word of command; then a deafening roar that shook the windows. "by jove, brandon, i can't stand this," said colonel summers. "i _must_ go and see what it means." then came another tremendous bang. "that's a twelve-pounder!" but kitty and the landlady implored him not to go, and as a final compromise the latter agreed to guide him through her premises to her neighbor's house on chartres street, where he could find out all that was going on without being exposed to the danger of the street; and in a few moments more we were both, he and i, standing on a balcony that overhung the latter street. royal street had been wellnigh deserted. chartres street was a scene of excitement and confusion. far down to the left we could see the flash of small-arms and hear the shouts of the excited men. directly under us, numbers of citizens were running, some towards jackson square, where the fighting was going on, others towards canal street, as though eager to get out of the way. a man living in the house had just come in, pale and panting, and to our quick inquiries he replied that at nine o'clock a great crowd of citizens had suddenly assaulted the police station opposite jackson square; had whipped out the police and completely gutted the building; that they had things all their own way until general badger suddenly appeared with a big gun and a lot of reinforcements, and now there was going to be a tremendous fight. crowds of citizens were coming from every direction and hemming in the police, and no more reinforcements could reach them, said our informant. even as he spoke, we saw a large body of men in civilian garb, but many or most of them armed with shot-guns and rifles, coming up chartres street from the square. halting at the corner below us, some twenty or thirty of them were told off and left there; the others went on. their leaders spoke in low tones to the people they met in the street, and the latter turned back as though in implicit obedience. in five minutes, except the silent groups of armed men at the corner, chartres street was as deserted as at dawn of day. the firing and noise had ceased. "there are crowds going down custom-house street and the levee," said our still panting friend. "these parties are being thrown out in every direction to prevent more of the police from getting in to help badger; then in course of an hour we'll have five thousand citizens down there around the square, and if the united states troops don't interfere it will be all up with the police." in eager interest harrod and i waited. below us the party at the corner had posted two sentinels, who were pacing across the street in most approved soldierly fashion. every now and then a distant cheer was heard over towards the levee,--fresh bodies of citizens were coming in or somebody was making a speech perhaps. harrod went back to the house to reassure pauline, but speedily returned. vinton was still sleeping quietly, and the doctor was there with the ladies. he said it was understood on the street that at ten o'clock the citizens were going to resume the attack and with every prospect of success. already they had an overwhelming force. i looked at my watch. it was just ten minutes of ten. over on the levee the hoarse shouts of the crowd could be heard at more frequent intervals. far up the street, towards canal, i could see a dense black mass blocking the entrance, evidently a crowd of people drawn thither by curiosity, but restrained by a sense of danger from coming farther towards the scene of action. the sentries still paced the streets at the corners above and below us. two squares farther down towards the cathedral we could see the other sentries pacing to and fro. "those are the police pickets," said our previous informant; "just wait five minutes and you'll see them skip." again i nervously looked at my watch. i was trembling with suppressed excitement. the police station was only four squares away to our left. i thought i could see the moonbeams gleaming on the big gun that our friend and fellow-citizen said the police had run out in the middle of the street and pointed towards the levee. suddenly there came a racket towards canal street. we all leaned over the balcony and gazed eagerly in that direction. a single black shadow came swiftly down the middle of the street. we heard the loud clatter of iron-shod hoofs on the stone-block pavement. a horseman riding at full gallop came flashing through the moonlight. "who comes there?" shouted the sentries above us. "don't stop him!" yelled some authoritative voice as the horseman, never heeding either challenge or rebuke, thundered along almost at racing speed. as he sped under the balcony i did not need to see the glittering aiguillettes and shoulder-knots, or hear the clank of the cavalry sabre, to recognize the youngest of the general's aides-de-camp. again he was challenged at the lower corner, and some excitable party in the crowd fired a gun. my nerves jumped in quick response, but on went the officer. then we heard shouts farther down and two more shots, this time from the police, and then harrod grabbed my arm. "come on; let's go and see it. i can't stand this." and leading the way he plunged down the stairs, i following. "you can't get through there, gentlemen," said the leader of the party below us; "the police hold the street below." so we headed for the levee, two squares away; found a surging crowd there, but, half running, half walking, we pushed ahead, speedily finding ourselves at the outskirts of a great throng of men spreading out over the broad levee towards jackson square. under the gas-lamp at the corner, now surrounded by a dense throng, we could see the aide-de-camp, seated on his panting horse and in animated conversation with some of the citizens nearest him. i had met the young officer and knew him slightly, and was eager to hear what he might say, but it was impossible to get nearer. in a moment, however, he turned away and rode back towards the police station. a tall, gray-headed gentleman, of soldierly bearing and address, stepped upon a box or barrel and spoke briefly to the crowd,-- "gentlemen,--general emory sends word that in compliance with his orders the united states troops are now marching to the defence of the police. there is nothing further for us to do. you will therefore disperse." and without a word, in perfect quiet and order, the crowd began to break up and move off up and down the levee. curious as usual to see all there was to be seen, i suggested to harrod that we should go to the station. he assented, and we elbowed our way through the crowd; reached the street that runs along the upper side of the square from the levee to chartres street; found it utterly deserted, and so, rapidly pushed ahead. presently we drew near enough to see that the head of the street was occupied by the cannon and its detachment, and a company of police. the next instant, half a dozen bayonets came flashing down upon us. we were surrounded by a squad of men under command of a darky sergeant, and with loud summons to surrender, and much excited adjuration not to resist if we didn't want our heads blown off, colonel summers and myself were roughly seized and hustled towards the station. "here's two of the d--d scoundrels anyway," was our introduction to the men in the ranks as we were hurried along, and my very vehement protestations were lost amid the chorus of jeers with which we were greeted. already we were within a few yards of the station-house door, when i caught sight of the aide-de-camp talking with the chief of police. i shouted his name, despite the savage order from my captors to shut my mouth if i didn't want to be killed, and instantly he recognized me, sprang forward, and ordered the police to stand back, which they sulkily did. i breathlessly introduced colonel summers, and he too was freed from the rude grasp of the two stalwart "peelers" who held him. then the chief came up. explanations followed, and despite my indignation we had a general laugh. "my men are somewhat nervous to-night," said he, apologetically. "even the full uniform of the captain here did not protect him, you see; the pickets up the street fired at him as he came to the rescue, but i will send a sergeant with you to see you safely through the lines." so after taking a look at the demolished station-house, we were courteously escorted up chartres street, and in a few minutes we were laughingly telling our adventures to the ladies on our gallery. even as harrod was in the midst of the recital, there was heard the rapid tramp of many hoofs up the street, and a troop of cavalry came sweeping down at rapid trot. well out to the front, followed by his trumpeter, rode a tall, slender young officer, whose form was now familiar to us all. he glanced up at our balcony as he passed beneath us, the moonlight shining full in his brave young face. pauline waved her handkerchief; a gauntleted hand returned the salute; and with kitty's eyes furtively following him frank amory swept by. chapter xi. later in the night, after the ladies had retired, harrod and i once more walked down to the square to see how things were going on. all was very quiet. a battalion of regular infantry had stacked its arms in the middle of the street in front of the dismantled station-house; the men were seated along the curbstone; some in their weariness were lying asleep upon the stone pavement; the officers, grouped under the archways of the old police court on the other side of the street, were puffing their cigarettes and sleepily discussing the situation. major williams and his command were not there; the battalion on duty was one which had been for some time past stationed at jackson barracks below the city. a little farther down we came upon amory and his troop making a night of it in front of the cathedral. the horses were still saddled, though with loosened girths, but had been unbitted, and were busily munching at the hay spread before them on the pavement. mars himself was seated on the curbstone with a grain-sack in his lap, petting his horse's head as that quadruped blissfully devoured the oats with which his thoughtful master had heaped the sack. harrod hailed him gleefully. "that takes a fellow back to old times, lad, only oats were scarcer than horses." mars held out his unoccupied hand, looking up with rather a tired smile on his face. "how's vinton?" he asked. "very much better, we think," said harrod, "though he is very weak, and has had an ugly siege. i think he will be housed some time yet." "did you see--did you happen to hear of any letter for me at sandbrook before you came away? i told them to forward everything, but nothing has come." "no," replied harrod. "had there been anything i think they would have told us, though it may be that letters were simply re-directed and dropped in the corinth mail." there was so much anxiety in amory's face that it suddenly occurred to me to ask, "your mother is not ill, i hope? you have heard from her?" "mother is quite well, thanks. i had telegraphed her of our move, and a letter reached me yesterday. this was--i rather expected another letter." and even in the pale moonlight it was plain that mr. amory was blushing vividly. instantly i was reminded of the letter he had received at camp, and received with such evident excitement. was it from that source he now looked for another? if so, what did it mean? mars was getting to be a mystery. "when are you coming to see us?" asked the colonel. "i don't know. i'd like to come at once, but you see how i'm fixed,--the only officer with the troop." "well, if all should be quiet to-morrow, come and dine with us at moreau's at six, will you?" persisted harrod. "there will be no one but ourselves and the ladies, you know; and if you are pressed for time just meet us there. we'll expect you." "i would be delighted to," answered the young fellow, though in a strangely embarrassed and hesitating way, "but i really cannot promise. you see how it is, don't you?" he continued, looking almost appealingly at me; but i chose not to "see how it was," and only insisted on seconding harrod's invitation. all the old adam in me was wild with curiosity to see him with kitty once more, and his reluctance or hesitancy was something that only served to make me more persistent. have you never noticed that amiable trait in many a man or woman who, having passed the meridian of life him- or herself, seems bent on directing in the most trivial matters the plans and movements of younger persons? it was no earthly business of mine, and yet i was determined to have mars come and see kitty whether he wanted to or not. harrod, of course, was actuated by no such motives. early on the following day, on going to my office, the few letters deposited on the desk were naturally the first things to be disposed of. almost wearily i glanced at the superscriptions, for nobody in new orleans felt particularly business-like that morning. some were from correspondents up the railway; others from "down the coast." i simply glanced at their envelopes, and had just about completed the list, when suddenly hand and eye rested upon a dainty little missive, an envelope of creamy white, and addressed to me--to _me_ in the very handwriting that had so attracted my attention and curiosity in amory's tent at sandbrook. here was the same exquisite chirography. i knew i had seen it before. i knew now why it seemed so familiar then. for six years or thereabouts it had not fallen under my gaze; and when it did, six years before, it was only that a proud papa might exhibit to me the beautiful writing of his daughter, then in her last year at school in new york city, the youngest child of a sister long since dead. it was the handwriting of my pretty niece, bella grayson,--bella, whom i had not seen since her girlhood, and all at once it flashed across my perturbed brain that frank amory's mysterious correspondent was this self-same bella. here was a revelation indeed! for some minutes i was too much confounded to open the letter. then i proceeded to read it. a very bright, graceful, well-expressed note it proved to be. uncle george was appropriately reminded that it was more than two years since he had written to papa. papa did not propose to write again until his letters were answered; but, feeling a trifle uneasy while reading the accounts of the stormy times in new orleans, and having seen occasional mention of uncle george in connection with ku-klux excitements, she had been commissioned to make inquiries as to uncle george's health and fortunes, to express the hope that uncle george would no longer neglect them as he had, and to subscribe herself very affectionately, uncle george's niece, bella. so far so good. uncle george had very vivid recollections of miss bella in her graduating years, and had been vastly impressed by the vivacity, wit, and sparkle of the bright little lady who made his last visit to her father's home so pleasant a thing to look back upon. from that time to this he had never seen her, but never had she been entirely dropped from his remembrance. for four years or so he had occasionally occupied himself in the metaphorical selection of an appropriate wedding-present, as home letters gave indications that miss bella was contemplating matrimony; but it never seemed to pass the point of contemplation. twice at least, on authoritative announcements, miss bella had been "engaged." a dozen times at least, if reports were to be relied upon, miss bella was on the verge of that social entanglement. it was in the winter of ' that she had first begun to exercise that involuntary gift of fascination over uncle george which seemed to involve him, as it did all masculines who came within the sphere of her movements. i say involuntary, because then and ever afterwards, miss bella was wont to protest that she was no more conscious of any effort or desire to attract than she was of breathing when asleep. she had spent some months of the preceding summer and autumn at west point. she was _petite_, graceful, not absolutely a beauty, yet there was something about those large, clear, heavily-lashed gray eyes of hers that had all the effect and power of beauty; and even when only eighteen, as she was then, miss bella had learned their influence, and, involuntarily of course, how to use them. i had not been a witness of the campaign itself, but i could not live in their cosey home in the city for a week without becoming measurably aware of its results. the postman's visits to the grayson residence were as regular as his rounds, and it often happened that letters deposited on the hall-table were left there some hours, awaiting miss bella's return from calls or drives or strolls with her society friends of both sexes, and that i, in search of my own mail, should look over the pile on the marble slab. there was always one postmarked west point; there was sometimes more; and there were no less than three separate and distinct handwritings thus making frequent calls at our house. in my avuncular capacity i had ventured to say something intended to be arch with regard to those letters. it was at the breakfast-table. miss bella was pouring coffee, and doing it with a deft and graceful turn of the wrist that showed her slender white hand to vast advantage. for all answer she had given me one of those searching glances from under the deep lids; looked me squarely in the face, though a merry smile was hovering about the corners of her rosy mouth; and, neither admitting nor denying the correspondence, had disarmed me by a prompt inquiry as to whether i really thought it improper for her to hear from her cadet friends. no one could ever call it a correspondence, for no one ever saw miss bella writing, or heard of her mailing letters to west point or anywhere else. between her and her devoted papa the closest sympathy and alliance existed. he seemed to take a jovial delight in bella's fascinations. she ruled him with a winning and imperious sway that was delicious to see, and uncle george speedily fell into the same groove, with this difference: she may have told her father who her correspondents were; she never did tell uncle george. what was more, uncle george never could find out. despite several efforts to win the young lady's confidence in his somewhat bulky and blundering way, uncle george had had to give it up. she was impenetrable as a sphinx. and now, six years afterwards, here she reappeared in his life; and, if uncle george was not very much mistaken, miss bella was the correspondent whose letter had caused frank amory so much excitement and emotion that last day in camp at sandbrook. it was her letter he was so eagerly awaiting now. and all this time---- well. to the neglect of other letters i sat at the desk pondering over this maidenly missive; then with an effort refolded and was about to close it, when my eyes were attracted by some lines on the outer page. who was it who first said that the gist of a woman's letter would always be found in the postscript? there, on page four of the tiny note-sheet, were the words: "p. s.--so you have met mr. amory of the cavalry, and you had quite an exciting adventure, too. should you see him again pray remember me to him, though it is quite possible he has forgotten me. we were good friends during his 'first class camp.'" oh, bella grayson! "pray remember me to him," indeed! "quite possible he has forgotten me." upon my word, young lady, this is too much even for a long-suffering uncle. asking me to remember her to a young fellow with whom she was actually in correspondence at the time! for a moment i was fairly indignant; but something of the witchery of bella's own caressing voice and manner seemed to steal from the folds of the tiny note. a dozen things that had been told me of her from time to time came floating back to my brain, and--i couldn't help it--i began to laugh. once, just before his coming south, miss bella had appeared before uncle george in a state of indignation. a young man whom he rather liked had been one of her devotees for a month or more, and then suddenly ceased his attentions. bella's eyes flashed as she half reluctantly related to uncle george (in response to his urgent request) the circumstances which led to the sudden break. "he dared to say to me that, if no more attractive subject happened to be available, it was his belief i would flirt with a chimney-sweep!" and then, when uncle george burst into a fit of uncontrollable merriment, miss bella had first flushed with indignation, then her irresistible sense of the humorous began to get the better of her resolution to be deeply offended, and presently she laughed too; laughed till the tears ran down her cheeks; laughed as only bella could laugh, the most musical, ringing, delightful laugh ever heard; and then, suddenly recollecting herself, she had pronounced uncle george an unfeeling wretch, and flounced out of the room in high dudgeon. now, it is contrary to all principles of story-telling to introduce an utterly new character towards the fag end of a narrative, but mr. brandon makes no pretensions to being a story-teller. he can only relate things as they happened; and never, until this stage of the game, had his fair niece bella appeared as a factor in the plot so far as his knowledge went. nevertheless, it was vividly apparent to mr. brandon that now at least she was destined to become a leading lady, a power behind the throne, whether she appeared in person upon the boards or not. he recalled the frequent allusions to her in the letters that used to reach him from the north in the days when he found time to keep up correspondence with the scattered family. there was a tone of almost tragic despair in the letters of one of her aunts whenever bella was the subject under discussion. wherever she went--and she went pretty much everywhere--miss grayson was the centre of a knot of admirers. her summers were spent at west point or on "the sound;" her winters in new york or syracuse; and the oddest thing about it all was that, despite her great attractiveness among the beaus of society, she retained an absolute dominion over the hearts of a little coterie of schoolmates,--a sextette of as bright and intelligent and attractive girls as uncle george had ever seen; two of them undoubted beauties; all of them gracious and winning; yet, as though by common and tacit understanding, when bella appeared in their midst, and the men concentrated their attentions upon her, the others contentedly, even approvingly, so it seemed, fell into the background. they had their own personal worshippers, to be sure, but they were paraded for bella's inspection and approval before being decided upon. two of the sisterhood married within a few years of their graduation after receiving bella's sanction. it had even been alleged that, involuntarily as usual, bella had diverted the growing admiration of one youth from a sister to herself; but the unruffled sweetness of the sisterly relations seemed to give the lie to that statement. but bella's fascinations were not so placidly accepted with the opposite sex. it had been a pet theory of hers that cadets and officers were fair game for flirtation _à l'outrance_. she had become involved in her very first visit to the academy in two very serious affairs; retaining complete mastery over her own susceptibilities, while obtaining mastery as complete over those of two cadet admirers who chanced to be rather close friends. one of them, at least, had been desperately in earnest at the outset; both of them were before they got through; and bella was, or professed to be, totally incapable of believing that they had intended more than a mere flirtation. to her credit be it said, she was grievously distressed when the actual truth came to light; but her theories were in nowise shaken, for with the following year a still more desperate victim was at her feet, while the singed moths of the previous season looked gloomily and sardonically on the throes which they had so recently suffered. it was an attribute of bella's as marvellous as the ascendency she maintained over her sisterhood, that even in jilting an admirer she had so sweet, sympathetic, caressing, and self-reproachful a manner as to make the poor devil feel that the whole thing was his own fault, or that of his blindness; and to send him on his way comforted, perhaps enslaved. she never could succeed in absolutely and definitely disposing of a lover. new ones might come, and did come, every season of the year. she had them wherever she moved; but bella could no more let one go than a cat could a captured mouse,--another statement at her expense that first excited her wrath and afterwards nearly convulsed her by its humorous accuracy. she would turn her back on him; lose sight of him to all appearances; but let him but display a desire for freedom; let him but make an effort to get away from the toils; and under the _patte de velours_ was an inflexible grasp that once more stretched the victim panting at her feet. and yet she was so winning, so plaintive, so appealing with it all! volumes of pity and trust and sympathy beamed from bella's clear gray eyes. volumes of half-playful reproach and condolence in the letters she would write. "even in bidding you go she implores you to stay," was once said of her by an exasperated yet enthralled victim, and uncle george was quite ready to believe it. and bella was still unmarried; still careering over the old preserves; still maintaining, apparently, her old theory that "men are deceivers ever;" and still, to judge from recent developments, bringing down fresh victims among the too inflammable youngsters of the battalion of cadets. now, was frank amory a victim in good earnest, or only a narrow escape from being one? she wrote to him, but that proved nothing: she wrote to a dozen, and all at the same time. aunt ethel declared of her that she was writing to two classmates an entire winter, receiving almost daily missives from both, and responding when she felt disposed; and that not until they came to be stationed at the same post; to occupy the same quarters; to make the simultaneous discovery that each had parted with his class ring; and, one never-to-be-forgotten day, that each was receiving letters from the same damsel; had either of the young fellows the faintest idea that he was not the sole possessor of such attentions. it was alleged of bella that she could have worn a class ring on every finger if she chose; but whatever may have been her object in accepting them, it was not for purposes of self-glorification. her most intimate friend never knew whose rings she had; never knew how many; and bella's flirtations, whatever may have been the wide-spread destruction she effected, were subjects that never could be spoken of in her presence. a dozen men were believed to confide in her, and she held their confidence inviolable. no one of them ever extracted from her the faintest admission that she ever received a line or an attention from any one else. now, what in the world was i to do? here was a complication that baffled me completely. if mars were really smitten with my fascinating niece, how far had it gone? that he had been i could readily believe; but, whether she looked it or not, bella must now be older than he, and probably had only been--involuntarily, as usual--amusing herself with his devotions. and now he was interested in kitty,--of that i felt certain,--and, by jove! i had it. he felt himself still bound by the old ties; still fettered by some real or imaginary allegiance to his west point affinity; still--"why, the whole thing was plain as a, b, c," thought i, in my masculine profundity. "bella would not accept, could not discard him, and here she has kept him dangling at her beck and call ever since." i decided to write to bella,--oh, the bewildering idiocy of some men!--and i wrote forthwith. that evening a letter winding up as follows was on its way northward: "yes, i have met your friend, young amory; have seen a good deal of him, in fact, and am greatly interested in him. he strikes me as a gallant young soldier and gentleman, and his evident admiration for a fair young friend of mine--an heiress, by the way--commands my entire sympathy. i've half a mind to take you into my confidence, bella, for perhaps you can dispel my perplexity. i _think_--mind you, i only say i _think_--that the young people are quite ready to fall in love with one another. they have been thrown together under most romantic circumstances, but he has behaved very oddly of late, and i could not but indulge in some theory as to the cause. i have learned that he has some young lady correspondent up north, and, knowing what susceptible fellows cadets are (from your own statements), it has occurred to me that he may have gotten into some entanglement there from which he would now gladly escape. now, bella, put on your thinking-cap. you have been there every summer for six or eight years (oh!), and although much above cadets now i fancy, you still retain your old ascendency over the sex. you knew amory well, probably, and possibly he has made you a confidante of his affairs. what young girl was there to whom he was devoted? perhaps you and i can help him out of his boyish folly and into something that is worth having." was there _ever_ such a colossal ass? chapter xii. that evening we dined at moreau's. things had quieted down in the city, though the troops still remained on duty in the streets; and it was with eager anticipation of meeting frank amory that i wended my way to the tidy old restaurant with its sanded floor, its glittering array of little tables, and the ever-attentive waiters. colonel summers and his party had not yet arrived. would monsieur step up to the room and wait their coming? monsieur would; and, taking the _evening picayune_ to while away the time, mr. brandon seated himself on the balcony overlooking canal street,--busy, bustling, thronged as usual; yet bustling in the languid, latinized sense of the term; bustling in a way too unlike our northern business centres to justify the use of the term. no sign of disorder or turmoil was manifest. the banquettes on both sides were covered with ladies and children; the street-cars on the esplanade were filled with passengers going in every direction; the booths, fruit-stands, confectioneries were all doing a thriving business; the newsboys were scurrying to and fro in their picturesque tatters screaming the headlines of their evening bulletins; carriages and cabriolets were rattling to and fro; the setting sun shone hot on the glaring façade of the stone custom-house down the street; and beyond, across the crowded and dusty levee, dense volumes of black smoke were rising from the towering chimneys of the boats even now pushing from the shore and ploughing huskily up the stream. all spoke of business activity and lively trade. the mercurial spirit of the populace seemed to have subsided to the normal level; and the riot of yesterday was a thing of the distant past. voices on the stairs called me into the cosey room, and kitty entered radiant; with her--not mars but mr. turpin; behind her, colonel summers and the doctor. pauline had again decided to remain and take tea with the landlady, but vinton was improving, said harrod, who instantly added an inquiry for amory. "he has not been here, nor have i seen him to-day. have you, mr. turpin?" i asked. "no, sir. amory and his troop were sent up to jeffersonville at noon, so i learned at headquarters, and they have not come back since." "then we must go on without him," said harrod, and dinner was ordered forthwith. seated by kitty's side, mr. turpin was soon absorbed in the duty of making himself agreeable. evidently they had been talking of amory before coming in, and, whether piqued at the latter's conduct in not yet having been to see her, or worse, at his having been there to inquire for vinton and not for her, kitty was in the very mood to render her new admirer's attentions acceptable. she was sparkling with animation. she was listening with flattering eagerness to everything he said, laughing merrily at every sally; urging him to tell more of his cadet days and army life; paying no heed to any of the rest of us; plainly, only too plainly, bent on fascinating her infantry friend, and fascination it plainly was. mr. turpin was head over heels in love with her before dinner was half over; and while we oldsters were discussing our cigars and _pousse café_ on the balcony after that repast, they were seated on the sofa merrily, intently chatting together, as firm friends as though they had known one another from childhood. so intent that my entrance for a match in nowise disturbed them; so utterly intent that they never saw what i saw at once,--frank amory standing at the door. to my eager welcome he responded absently. turpin sprang up and held out his hand, which was taken in a perfunctory sort of way, but there was no heartiness in his reply to the cordial greeting of his classmate. he bowed in a constrained manner to kitty, who had flushed with surprise--possibly some other emotion--when she caught sight of him; and then without further notice of either her or her companion, he passed on to where harrod was standing at the open window, and eagerly inquired for vinton, but his bearing was forced and unnatural. he had already dined, he said, and had been unable to get back from jeffersonville with the troop until late, too late to accept colonel summers's invitation; so he had merely dropped in to inquire after his captain, as he thought we would still be here; and now, he said, he must hasten to the warehouse on magazine street, as there was no telling how soon he and his men might be needed again. we urged him to stay and make one of a party to go to the theatre, but mars was adamant. his refusal was even curt. "pray make my excuses and apologies to the ladies. _i'll_ go down through the hall," were his parting words. and so, without even having touched kitty's hand or spoken a sentence to her by way of welcome, mr. amory took his leave. was he "miffed" because he had found turpin in happy _tête-à-tête_ with her? had he hoped to reserve that happiness to himself; or was there some deeper reason to account for his avoidance of her? kitty evidently adopted the first-mentioned explanation of his conduct; ascribed his cold salutation and sudden departure to jealousy,--absolute jealousy,--and i am bound to say that so far from being depressed or saddened by his conduct she seemed to derive additional inspiration or stimulant. a burning color had mounted to her cheeks; her eyes had taken an almost defiant sparkle; her coquetry with turpin became more marked than before; and, as though elated at the betrayal of amory's feelings, and excited by the exhibition of his jealousy, she seemed in extraordinary spirits. turpin promptly accepted the invitation to go to the theatre, provided he could obtain major williams's permission to be absent from the battalion during the evening, and went off to see about it forthwith, agreeing to join us at the royal street lodgings in fifteen minutes. in less than fifteen minutes we were there. kitty ran blithely up-stairs to see pauline, and then harrod turned to me. "brandon, did you notice anything wrong with amory to-night?" he asked, anxiously. "he was excited, perhaps upset, at seeing turpin where he was; but why do you ask?" "it was something more than that, i fear. did you notice his eyes, his color? did you feel his hand?" "he was flushed, i noticed, and i thought it due to riding all day in the sun; but his hand i did not touch." "it was burning as though with fever. can he have been seized as vinton was?" said the colonel. and for a moment we looked at one another in silence. "you know he has been up and around now for several nights, and exposed all day to the heat of the sun. the extremes are dangerous to those not accustomed to our louisiana climate, and if he had contracted any disorder this would bring it out. here comes mr. turpin," continued the colonel. "let us ask him what he observed." turpin joined us with his quick, springy step. "the major says i may go," he spoke blithely; "but is not amory coming?" "it was of amory we wanted to ask you," said harrod. "he seemed very unlike himself the few minutes he was at moreau's. did you note anything out of the way?" turpin flushed. "why--yes," said he, hesitatingly. "he seemed a little queer--a good deal stiff and formal and----" "but as to his health. do you think he is well?" "why," said turpin, with a sudden start, "i had not thought of that. i ascribed his manner to--to--well, he always was a quick, impulsive fellow, and i thought perhaps he regarded me as being in the way; but his hand _was_ hot,--hot as fire. i'm ashamed i did not think of it before." and then he stopped short, for kitty re-entered. she walked smilingly up to mr. turpin with extended hand. "you can go?" she said. "i'm so glad. how soon must we start? pauline is coming down a moment." and with pauline's coming we forgot for the time being our talk about amory. very gentle, very lovely, looked miss summers as she stood answering our warm inquiries about the major. he was so much better; was sleeping quietly and naturally, the nurse said; and the doctor was so delighted with the improvement, and had let her sit for a while by the bedside and talk to him, though the major himself was forbidden to talk. she was _so_ glad we were going to the theatre. it must be wearisome staying around the house for us, though she could not bear to go. and so we bade her good-night and went on our way. the varieties was crowded that night, and an admirable play was on the stage; but my thoughts were incessantly wandering back to mars, to his strange behavior, and to bella grayson and her possible connection with his changed manner. then, too, i was worried about harrod's theory,--that the boy was ill. all things considered, i could pay very little attention to what was going on, either in the audience or on the stage. our seats were in the front row of the dress-circle, a little to the right of the centre of the house; and during the intermission between the first and second acts kitty and turpin had been keeping up an incessant chatter, though so low-toned and semi-confidential that i heard nothing of what was said. the house was very full, as i say, and many gentlemen were standing in the side aisles over the proscenium boxes. others were swarming about the outer row of dress-circle seats. others still were seated on the steps leading down into the parquet. the curtain rose upon the second act, and kitty, sitting next to me, with turpin on her other side, drew back and glanced one minute up in my face. all animation, life, sparkle, and saucy triumph she looked; there was a mischievous challenge in her laughing eyes as they met mine, then wandered off to the stage. another moment and i turned to her to whisper some comment upon the costume worn by one of the actresses and--how can i describe the change that had come over her face? pale, startled, yes, frightened. she was staring across the parquet towards a group of men standing in the outer aisle. following her eyes i too looked, and there, glaring at our party, with a strange, wild, uncanny expression on his face, was frank amory. for an instant nothing was said. then, involuntarily, i half rose. his eyes met mine, and, without a sign of recognition, he dropped back in the throng and disappeared. "did you see him?" i exclaimed to harrod. "watch! see where he goes! it is amory, and something is wrong." the colonel looked at me in startled wonderment, but a glance at kitty's face seemed to bring him confirmation of my statement. i rose and looked about in my excitement and anxiety, but an indignant "down in front!" from some half-dozen mouths in rear brought me back to seat and senses. not until the close of the act could i get out. then, followed by harrod, i worked my way into the vestibule, searched the corridors, the bar-room, the main stairway, and the broad entrance. no sign of him. several infantry officers were standing there, but, in answer to my appeal, said they had seen nothing of lieutenant amory; but at the gate the door-keeper remembered a young officer going out in the middle of the second act and declining a return check. i determined to go at once to his lodgings. harrod would stay and look after kitty and turpin. in half an hour i had reached the warehouse. a sleepy sentinel told me that the lieutenant was not there. he occupied a room "over beyant," in a large frame boarding-house. ringing the bell, a colored servant answered. would he show me to lieutenant amory's room? he would, and we went up the main stairway and out on a back gallery to one of those little ten by six boxes, without which no new orleans boarding-place is complete. no answer to our knock, but the door was unlocked, and i entered and turned up the light. there stood his trunk, open. papers and letters were strewn on the bureau, and among them, almost the first to catch my eye, was a dainty envelope addressed in that graceful, unmistakable hand to lieutenant frank amory at sandbrook, and forwarded thence to new orleans. he had had another letter, then, from bella. in answer to inquiries, the servant said that mr. amory had come in "lookin' mighty tired" late in the afternoon; had taken a bath, dressed, and gone out again without saying a word to anybody, and had not been back since. telling him he might go, i decided to await amory's return. i knew not where to search for him. it was then late. the bells of the churches over on camp street and lafayette square were chiming ten o'clock. all below was very quiet. the distant roar of wheels down towards canal street, and the tinkle of the mule-cars were the only sounds that struck upon the ear. i felt strangely worried and depressed, and sought for something with which to occupy my thoughts and keep me from brooding. books there were none, for mars had had no time for reading since his arrival; paper, envelopes, some open letters were on the bureau with her envelope, but the letter it had contained was gone. tossing them over with impatient hand, i came upon two envelopes addressed in his vigorous hand; one to his mother, the other to miss isabel r. grayson, care of hon. h. c. grayson, syracuse, new york,--further confirmation of my theory. then there were some scraps of paper on which he had been scribbling; and on one, written perhaps a dozen times, was the name "kittie." that was his way, then, of spelling it. an hour passed by. eleven o'clock came, and no amory. i could stand it no longer. once more i went out on magazine street, and over to the warehouse. this time a corporal of the guard met me and seemed to know me. "no, sir. the lieutenant hasn't been in all night, sir, and it isn't his way at all. he may be over at headquarters. shall i send, sir?" no. i decided to go myself. late as it was, a broad glare of light shone out from the upper windows of the handsome brown-stone residence, occupied at the time by the commanding general as the offices of himself and the staff. the lower hall was open. i entered and went up-stairs to the first open door. one or two officers in undress uniform were lounging about; and, seeing me, colonel newhall sprang up and came hastily forward, inviting me to enter. i inquired at once for amory, and briefly stated that we feared he was not well. this brought to his feet the junior aide-de-camp whom we had seen galloping down chartres street the previous night. "amory was here early in the evening asking for me," he said, "and he left this note. i cannot understand. he seems worried about something." i took the note and read,-- "dear parker: both times i've been in to see you to-day, you happened to be out. i _must_ see you. i must get a leave and go north at once. can you suggest any way of helping me? some one must take the troop. i'll be in this evening. do wait for me. "yours, "amory." "it is after eleven now and no sign of him," said the aide. "you say you thought he looked ill?" "very ill," i answered, "and i am strangely worried." "sit down just a few minutes until i see the general. then, if possible, i'll go with you and see if we can find him." perhaps ten minutes afterwards we were on our way back to his temporary quarters, when the aide-de-camp called out to a man whom i saw hurrying along the opposite side of the street under the gas-lamp, and the very corporal who was on duty at the stables came springing over the cobble-stones. "i was looking for you, sir," he said, breathlessly. "did you see the lieutenant?" "no; where is he?" "i don't know, sir. directly after you left he jumped off a street-car and ordered us to saddle up. i routed out the first sergeant and the men, but before they could get their clothes and belts on he had leaped on his horse and galloped off down the street like mad. we don't know what to do, sir." "which way did he go?" quickly asked the officer with me. "down the street, sir, towards canal." "give me one of your fastest horses. tell the first sergeant i want to see him at once, and let the men unsaddle again." "what do you think it is?" i anxiously asked. "fever; and he is twice as delirious as vinton was. we must find him at once." chapter xiii. that night we had a chase such as i had never before indulged in. the aide-de-camp believed frank amory to be ill with fever:--delirium in fact, but to my knowledge delirium was unusual as a first symptom of an ordinary southern fever. he might be feverish; might indeed be ill; but that alone would not be apt to cause his extraordinary excitement. two or three officers at headquarters had remarked his strange manner and absent-minded replies, said the aide, while he had been there early in the evening, but at that time his face was pale rather than flushed. at the stables on magazine street we again questioned the sergeant. "did the lieutenant appear to be under any strong excitement?" asked the aide-de-camp, and the sergeant eyed him askance a moment as though he misunderstood the drift of the question, seeing which i interposed,-- "the captain fears that mr. amory is seized with just such a fever as that which prostrated major vinton." whereat the sergeant looked relieved, and answered,-- "i couldn't say, sir. he never spoke more than to order his horse and then go off at a gallop. but two or three times lately at sandbrook he has done that,--taken his horse and gone off riding at the dead of night. he may be ill, sir, but i couldn't say." this news in some way strengthened my view of the case. the fact that he had frequently or occasionally gone off in a similar manner went to prove that the ailment was not a new bodily trouble. knowing what i knew and felt bound to keep to myself, it was not hard to determine that mental perturbations, aggravated perhaps by recent fatigues and excitements, were at the bottom of amory's strange conduct. none the less, however, i was eager to find and bring him back. he ought not to be away from his command at such a time. directing the sergeant to say to mr. amory that we were in search of him and begged him to wait for us on his return, the aide-de-camp and i hurried down the street; sought a cab-stand; and, jumping into one of the light cabriolets that were then a feature of the new orleans streets, we drove rapidly down to vinton's quarters. i thought amory might have galloped thither. a dim light was burning in the sick-room, as we could see from the front. the door was closed and locked, but i rang, and presently a servant came sleepily through the hall and stared at me in mild stupefaction. "no. mr. amory hadn't been there." i brushed past the darky and went noiselessly up the stairs and tapped at vinton's door. the nurse came and peered at me through the inch-wide crack: not a whit more would he open the door lest the night air should be wafted in. "we fear that lieutenant amory is taken ill," i said in a low tone. "he may come here to see his captain. try and get him to lie down in colonel summers's room until we get back, if he should come." the nurse nodded; said that vinton was sleeping quietly, and directed me to harrod's door. i knocked there, and it was opened in a moment. "what! you, brandon? anything wrong?" "we can't find amory. he is on horseback and galloping around town all by himself. they think at headquarters that he may be ill with fever like vinton. mr. parker and i are hunting for him. if he should come here, get him into your room and make him lie down, will you?" "certainly i will. but, brandon, had not i better go with you? are you sure he is ill? i thought him strange enough at moreau's, but----" "i cannot say what it is," i broke in, impatiently. "i must hurry off, as he must be found as quickly as possible." "with that i turned away and retraced my steps through the dimly-lighted hall. reaching the stairs i paused, for another door had softly opened, and pauline's voice, low-toned and anxious, was heard. "harrod, what is it?" "mr. amory is ill, i'm afraid," was the reply, and i hurried back to the street. rapidly we drove to the levee, and there at the depot found major williams's sleeping battalion. the aide sprang out and accosted a sentry. a sergeant came with a lantern and ushered the staff-officer in among the snoring groups; for the men had thrown themselves in their blankets upon the wooden flooring. presently they reappeared, and with them came mr. turpin, hurriedly adjusting his collar and cravat. "sheep always was a most excitable fellow," he was saying, "but this beats me. he hasn't been here at all, and i've no idea where he can have gone." leaving directions what was to be done in case he did appear, we drove away up canal street. it was then nearly two o'clock, but there were still loungers around the clay statue; lights gleaming from one or two "open-all-night" bars and from the cab-lanterns on st. charles street. our driver pulled up, and mr. parker sprang out and exchanged a few words with a policeman. i could not hear, but saw that the latter pointed up the street; and the aide came quickly back,-- "drive on,--right out canal, and keep a bright lookout for an officer on horseback," were his orders, as we whirled away over the smooth pavement. "that policeman says he saw a young officer gallop out this way not ten minutes ago, and he's been wondering ever since what was going on. he walked up as far as dryades street to find out, thinking he might have stopped at the state-house; but all is quiet there, and the patrols told him the officer went on out canal, riding like mad." evidently, then, mars had stopped somewhere or had ridden elsewhere before going out towards the swamps. we peered eagerly up and down the dimly-lighted cross-streets as we whirled rapidly past them. the lamps along the broad thoroughfare grew infrequent; the street was deserted. once in a while we passed a carriage-load of revellers returning from the shell road and a supper at the "lake end." well out towards the stables of the street-railway we caught sight of another policeman; hauled up, and hailed him with anxious questioning. no, he had seen no officer on horseback; his beat lay along canal street, but he had "taken a turn through a side street after a couple of s'picious-lookin' parties," and might have been gone four or five minutes. crack! went the whip, and we pushed ahead. gas-lamps now became few and far between; open stretches of level turf or prairie were visible here and there between the houses or garden-walls; the moonlight was tempered and shrouded by low-hanging clouds, and surrounding objects were only dimly seen. still we whirled ahead over the smooth-beaten road, and at last drove rapidly between the high walls of the silent cities of the dead that bounded the highway near the crossing of the canal. two or three loungers were hanging about the dimly-lighted portico of a saloon. mr. parker sprang out and made some rapid inquiries, then hurried back to the cab. "he crossed here nearly half an hour ago,--went right on over the bridge," he exclaimed, as he sprang in and told the driver to whip up. "turn to the right," he added. "drive towards lake end. it's the only place he can have gone." and in a moment more the wheels were whirring over the level track; a dense hedgerow of swamp undergrowth on our left; the dark waters of the canal on our right. we passed two or three roadside hostelries, whose enticing lights still lured the belated or the dissipated into the ready bars. mr. parker scanned them as we drove ahead. "he never drinks a drop, i hear, and it's no use looking for him there." nevertheless, our driver suddenly pulled up in front of a lamp-lighted entrance. "there's a couple of buggies and a horse in under that shed," said he. the aide-de-camp jumped out and stepped briskly off in the direction indicated by the driver's hand. our cab again pulled up. presently he emerged from the darkness of the shed. "it isn't amory's horse. it's a louisiana pony," said he. "wait one moment and i'll see who's inside." with that he sprang up the steps and walked rapidly towards the glass doorways of the bar. he was in civilian dress except for the forage-cap, which he had hastily picked up when we left the office. its gold cord and crossed sabres gleamed under the lamp as he sharply turned the door-knob and entered the room. even without that cap i by this time would have known his profession; he had that quick, springy, nervous walk and erect carriage so marked among the younger west-pointers. my eyes followed him until he disappeared; so apparently did others. from the farther end of the gallery two dark forms rose from a sitting posture, and one of them came tiptoeing along towards the doorway. our cab had halted near the steps at the end opposite them, and, despite our lights, the stealthily-moving figure seemed to pay no attention to us. before i had time to conjecture what his object could be, the man crouched before the door, his hat pulled low over his forehead, and peered eagerly through the glass. then he turned his head; gave a low whistle, and, almost at a run, the second figure, in slouch hat like the first and with overcoat pulled well up about his ears, hurried to his side; stooped; peered through, and shook his head. "drive up there, quick!" i said. and, as hoof and wheel crunched through the gravel, the pair drew suddenly back; sprang noiselessly down the steps and in among the shrubbery out of my sight. almost at the same instant mr. parker reappeared; took his seat beside me, and, before i could interpose, called out, "drive on,--lake end." and away we went, leaving the mysterious strangers in the dusk behind us. "amory has not been seen there, nor beyond. there are two young sports in there who came in from lake end half an hour ago, but they are both pretty full. the barkeeper said there were two more gentlemen who came out from town with another buggy earlier, but they had gone outside." "i saw them," answered i, "and they are bad characters of some kind. they stole up on tiptoe and peered after you as you went in, then sprang back out of sight as you came out. i wanted to tell you about them. they seemed waiting or watching for somebody." "gamblers or 'cappers' probably. fellows who lie in wait for drunken men with money and steer them into their dens,--fleece them, you know. the streets are full of them day and night." "yes; but these men wore slouch hats and overcoats that muffled their faces, and they watched you so oddly. why did they leap back as you came out?" "that was odd," said mr. parker, thoughtfully. "could you see nothing of their faces?" "nothing at all, except that the first man had a heavy dark moustache, and was tall and stoutly built; the other seemed young and slight; his face was hidden entirely." the aide-de-camp leaned out and looked back along the dark road; then drew in again. "no use to look," he said. "even if they were to follow i could not see; their buggy has no lamps, our rig has to have them. are you armed?" "no; i never carry anything." "nor i, as a rule; yet had i thought we would come so far at this time of night i would have brought my revolver. not that any attack is to be feared from those two unless there should be a crowd at their back; otherwise we would be three to two." "but they are armed, and we are not." "they think we are, all the same. the average citizen hereabouts goes prepared to shoot if he is on a night-prowl like this. i don't know why i asked if you were armed." then for some distance we rattled along in silence. the clouds had grown heavier; a few heavy rain-drops had pattered in on our faces, and the night air was damp and raw. we passed one or two more dark houses, and then came in view of the lights at lake end. here, despite the lateness of the hour, one or two resorts seemed still to be open and patronized. directing the driver to turn towards the lights on the right, mr. parker again sprang out, looked in the carriage-shed, then into the bar-room; came out, crossed the way, and made a similar search in a neighboring establishment. then i saw him questioning a sleepy-looking stableman, and then he came back to me. perplexity and concern were mingled in his face as he stood there looking up at me in the glare of our lamp. "nobody has been here on horseback since midnight. these are the only places open since that hour, and now there are not more than half a dozen people out here--roysterers after a late supper. where could amory have gone? do you suppose he knew his way back by washington avenue, and had turned to the left instead of this way?" "he is an entire stranger in new orleans,--never was out here before in his life,--and i don't know what to make of it." he looked at his watch, retook his seat. "we must get back to the bridge," said he. "driver, stop at gaston's,--where we were before,--and go lively." now through the pattering rain we hurried on our return trip. we were silent, plunged in thought and anxiety. in some way those two skulkers at gaston's had become connected in my mind with amory's disappearance. i could not shake off the impression, and, as though the same train of thought were affecting my companion, he suddenly spoke,-- "you say that those men followed me as i went in, and sprang out into the shrubbery as i came back?" "yes; as though to avoid being seen by you." he took off his forage-cap and looked disgustedly at it a moment. "confound this thing! why didn't i wear my hat?" he muttered; then turned suddenly to me: "mr. brandon, when we get back to gaston's let me have your hat, will you? i would like to take another look in there, and if you will stay in the cab, we will stop this side of the entrance, and i'll go ahead on foot. here, driver, hold up a moment." cabby reined in his horse and turned towards us in surprise. the aide-de-camp sprang out in the rain and began working at the lamp. "don't put it out, sir; it's against orders," said the driver. "never you mind, driver; i'll be responsible for any row there may be over it. there is reason for it, and a mighty good one. douse that glim on your side. that's right! now go ahead, lively as you can, and stop just this side of gaston's." then for a while we pushed on in the darkness, and nobody spoke. finally the driver turned, saying that gaston's lights were near at hand; presently he reined up. mr. parker exchanged head-gear with me; pulled the brim of my roomy black felt well down over his face; and, cautioning us in a low tone to remain where we were, disappeared in the direction of the lights. it must have been long after three. i was tired and chilled. the driver got out his gum coat and buttoned it around him. five--ten minutes we waited. no sound but the dismal patter of the rain. full quarter of an hour passed, it seemed to me, before i saw a lantern coming rapidly out of the darkness in front, and presently mr. parker's voice was heard. "come on; drive slowly. go right in to gaston's," and, even as he spoke, he swung in beside me. "had amory any money, do you know?" he asked, before fairly taking his seat. "no. why?" "there is something strange about this affair i cannot fathom. i've been talking with gaston and one of his men. they have been sitting up waiting for us to get back. those two footpads were up to some mischief, and i'm afraid it was amory they were after. you will hear in a moment. come into the bar," he said, as the cab stopped at the steps. another moment and gaston himself had ushered us into a little room and proceeded to tell his tale. we had no sooner left, he said, than those gentlemen who came from town in the buggy after midnight re-entered the bar, ordered drinks, and asked gaston to join them. one was a big man, with a heavy moustache, and deep-set eyes under very shaggy brows; he was rather poorly dressed, and had no watch. the other was a young, dark-eyed, handsome fellow, with dark moustache, stylish clothes, and a fine gold watch, which he kept nervously looking at every moment or so. the former did all the talking; the latter paid for everything they ordered both before and after our visit. after a few ordinary remarks the big man asked gaston who the young officer was, and gaston, knowing him to be stationed in the city and having often seen him, gave his name. then they wanted to know who was with him in the cab, and "what took him off so sudden." gaston had seen nobody with him, but told them unhesitatingly that mr. parker was in search of a friend,--an officer who had ridden out on horseback. at this the men had looked suddenly at one another, and very soon after had gone out, saying they believed they would drive back, it looked like rain. five minutes afterwards, louis, the hostler, came into the bar and asked gaston who those men were, and, on being told that they were strangers, had replied, "well, they're here for no good, and i'd like to follow them up. they didn't see me out there in the dark, and were talking very low and fast when they came for their buggy." we called louis in and had his story from his own lips. he had heard their talk, and it alarmed and puzzled him. the big man was saying with an oath that some man they were waiting for must be around there somewhere; he had come across the bridge, for gaston told them the officer said so. the little man was excited, and had answered, "well, we've got to tackle him; but don't you drive into any light." with that and some more talk they had got into the buggy and had driven rapidly off towards the canal street bridge. "how long ago?" asked mr. parker. "full half an hour," was the answer. "then we had better start at once," said the aide to me. "what other places are there near here that would be open now, gaston?" "none at all. i'd have been shut long ago but for this affair. there are one or two saloons near the bridge and the metairie track, but none would be open this late." thanking them for their information, and promising to let them know if anything resulted, we hurried out to the cab and told the driver to go to the bridge. we were both more than anxious by this time, and were unable to account for the strange proceedings in any satisfactory manner. the rain seemed to have held up for a few moments, and the veil of clouds thrown over the face of the moon had perceptibly thinned, so that a faint, wan light fell upon roadway, swamp, and canal. the lamps at the crossing burned with a yellowish glare. no one was visible around the bridge or the buildings at the city end,--no one from whom we could obtain information as to the movements of amory or of the two strangers. "there are one or two places over here on the upper side i mean to have a look at," said mr. parker, "and if no one is there, amory must have gone back to town." we had turned to the right, towards lake pontchartrain, on coming out. now the driver was directed to go to the other side. parker kept peering out into the darkness, and presently the driver said,-- "i think there's a light in there at gaffney's." "hold up, then," said the aide. "now, mr. brandon, lend me your hat again: i'm going to hunt through one or two sheds hereabouts for that buggy. i may be gone ten or twelve minutes. you get the cab into this little side alley here and wait. those men will be on the watch for our lamps if they are still here, but i can crawl up on them by keeping the cab out of sight." the side alley proved to be a lane leading through the tall hedge of swampy vegetation. i could not see where it led to, but the driver said it only ran out a few hundred feet to some barns that lay near the old metairie track. he drove in, however, and halted the cab close under the hedge on one side. too nervous to sit still, i got out and walked back to the main road, where the buildings of gaffney's place could be seen. there was, as the driver had said, a dim light, but it seemed to be in one of the rear rooms. for five minutes all was silent. then, far up the road, i thought i heard the beat of horses' hoofs coming on at a jog-trot. listening intently, i soon was assured. nothing could be seen along the dark shadow of the hedgerow; the light was too feeble to point out objects in the road; but every moment, more and more distinctly, i heard what i felt certain to be a horse and buggy coming towards us. then all of a sudden the sound ceased. the approach to gaffney's was a semicircular sweep of shell road leading from the main highway to the galleries of the saloon. there was probably a distance of a hundred yards between the two entrances. i was standing at the northern end. that buggy had evidently stopped at or very near the other. i almost fancied i could see it. now, had parker heard it coming? waiting a moment more in breathless expectancy, i suddenly heard, as though from the shrubbery in front of gaffney's, low, prolonged, and clear, a whistle. my nerves leaped with sudden start. the same odd thrill of tremulous excitement seized me that had so mastered me that strange night in the old plantation home at sandbrook. it was for all the world like the signal-whistle that had so roused me that night, only very much softer. could it have been from mr. parker? whether it was or no he would probably need me now. i crept into the shadow of the hedgerow and, on tiptoe, hastened up the curve towards the gallery. a dim figure was standing at the end of the house peering towards the other entrance,--a figure that held out a warning hand, and i stole noiselessly up beside it, my heart beating like a trip-hammer. it was parker. "quiet," he whispered; "i think we have treed our buggy friends." "the buggy is out there on the road," i answered. "it was, but that whistle will bring it in here. there stands the big man just at the other end of the gallery. he cannot see us; he is looking the other way. follow me across into the shrubbery and we will get up near him. i'm bound to hear what devilment they are up to." with that he sprang lightly across. i followed; and, crouching noiselessly along the soft grass, we stole through the low trees and bushes until nearly opposite the southern end of the gallery. almost at the same instant the buggy came driving up the turn, and a voice uttered an impatient "whoa!" "what have you seen?" queried the party in the buggy in a low, agitated voice,--a voice i knew i had heard before, and instinctively reached forth my hand and placed it on my companion's arm. "seen! not a d--d thing. your blue-bellied skunk has been too smart for you, cap. he not only hasn't come himself, but he's got his friends out here on your track." "he has come, i tell you," answered the first speaker. "you know yourself they were asking for him at gaston's, and that fellow at the bridge told you he saw him ride across." "then where'd he go to?" said the other, sulkily and savagely. "no man passed gaston's on horseback, i can swear to that; and if he came at all as far as the bridge, why didn't he come the rest of the way? where did he go? how did he get back? are you sure you wrote plain directions?" "plain! of course i did. i wrote turn towards the lake, to the south, after crossing the bridge, and he'd find me; and so he would, d--n him!" added the younger man between his teeth. his voice was growing more and more familiar to me every moment in its sulky, peevish tones. "but you said he was a stranger here. how was he to know where the lake lay?" "suppose he didn't! i told him to turn south. any man knows north from south i reckon. perhaps the white-livered sneak was a yank at bottom, and lost his nerve." "tain't likely. not from what i seen of him. his kind don't scare so d--d easy at yours, and he came out here to find you, you bet. why didn't you say turn to the right instead of south? damfino which is north or south here anyhow. how was he to know?" "don't be a fool!" said the other, impatiently, "everybody knows the river runs north and south, and canal street runs out right angles to the river, and you turn to the right to go to the lake. it must be south." here i couldn't help nudging my neighbor, the aide, who was chuckling with delight at this scientific statement. "well, by gawd! you may know more 'bout it than i do; but when i got off that boat yesterday morning up there by julia street, d--n me if the sun wasn't rising in the west then,--over there across algiers,--and if the yank is no better posted on the points of the compass than i am, strikes me he's slipped out of your trap easy enough." "you mean he's gone to the left--past here?" asked the other, snarlingly. "just that. he's taken the turn to the left. none of these places this side have been open since we came out; and seeing no one, he's kept on, and probably got back to town some other way. like enough he's in bed and asleep by this time, and here we've been fooling away the whole night." chilled as i was, trembling 'twixt cold and excitement, i was beginning to enjoy this conversation hugely. more than that, both the aide and myself were beginning to feel assured that amory was safe. "then all we can do is go back," said the young man in the buggy, after a moment of silence. "but i'll get that fellow yet," he added, with a torrent of blasphemy. "get in." "where's that flask of yours?" asked the man on the steps. "i want a drink." "get in first and i'll give it to you." then we heard the creaking of the springs, and the dim, shadowy form of the big man lumbered into the light vehicle. a gurgle and a long-drawn "ah-h-h" followed, then,-- "got a cigar?" "yes; but hadn't we better wait until we get back on canal street before lighting them? we want to look out for those other fellows in that cab, you know." "oh, d--n them! you can see their lamps half a mile off. here, give us a match." another minute and a feeble glare illuminated the dark interior. pale and blue at first, it speedily gained strength and lighting power. eagerly we scanned the two faces, now for one never-to-be-forgotten instant revealed to our gaze. one lowering, heavy-browed, coarse, and bearded; the other--ah, well i knew i had heard that voice, for there, half muffled in the heavy coat, half shrouded by the slouching hat, were the pale, clear-cut, dissipated features i had marked so keenly at sandbrook. it was the face of ned peyton. chapter xiv. another minute the match, spluttering in the damp night air, was extinguished; but i had seen enough. to the amaze of my companion, to the scandal of any legal or professional education i might have had, indignation got the better of all discretion, and i burst through the shrubbery and laid my hand on the rein. "mr. peyton, i believe," said i, in a tone intended to be double-shotted with sarcasm. "think we had the pleasure of meeting at judge----" "hell!" hissed a startled voice. "quick,--drive on!" crack! went the whip; the horse plunged violently forward; the wheel struck me full on the left leg and hurled me against the stout branches of some dripping bush, and with a whirr of wheels and crushing of gravel the buggy disappeared in the darkness. mr. parker ran to my assistance, and together we rushed to our own cab. "follow that buggy! be lively!" was all i could find breath to say to our driver, and then we were off in pursuit. we heard their hoofs and wheels thundering over the bayou bridge, and saw their light vehicle flash under the lamps at the canal street end, and that was the last we ever did see of them. our old horse with his heavy load was no match for theirs. long before we reached the open road beyond the cemeteries, they were spinning along hundreds of yards out of sight ahead, and gaining at every stride. in hurried words i told the aide-de-camp who the youth was and what i knew about him, and, like myself, he was eager to overhaul him; but it was useless. not a trace could we find of the precious pair as we drove in town. day was breaking, and all our thoughts now turned to amory. where was he, and how had he escaped the trap? in the cold, misty dawn we reined up at the magazine street warehouse. the sentry, with his head wrapped in the cape of his overcoat, called out the corporal of the guard, and of him we eagerly inquired. yes. the lieutenant had returned, about an hour ago, his horse covered with mud and much "blown." the lieutenant seemed to have a chill, and had gone right to his room. thither we followed, and noiselessly ascending the stairs, made our way out to the gallery. a dim light burned in the window; the door was half open, and by the bedside sat a soldier, who at sight of mr. parker rose and saluted respectfully. "what has been the matter, orderly?" asked the aide-de-camp, in a whisper. "i don't quite know, sir. lieutenant amory came home with a bad chill about an hour ago, and quick as he dismounted i came over with him, and he took some quinine and got to bed. he's just gone to sleep. he hasn't been to bed for forty-eight hours, sir, and must be used up." we stepped forward and bent over him. he had removed his heavy riding-boots and trousers; his cavalry jacket was thrown on the chair at the foot of the bed; and, muffled up in blankets, he lay there, sleeping heavily yet uneasily. he moaned in his slumber, and threw himself restlessly on the other side as we raised the light to see his face. placing my hand lightly on his forehead, i found it burning; so were his cheeks, his hands. fever had certainly set in after his chill, but of how severe a character we could not judge, and it would never do to awaken him. we stepped out on the landing, and after a brief consultation, decided that parker should find the attending surgeon and send him to us as soon as possible. meantime, i would remain with amory. in less than an hour the doctor arrived. very thoroughly, yet very gently, he examined his patient as to pulse and temperature; closely scrutinized his face, and then replaced the bed-clothing that in his fevered tossing amory had thrown off. seeing the anxiety in my eyes, he spoke,-- "very feverish, and probably quite ill. you did right not to wake him. he will not sleep long, and every little helps. i will stay for the present, and be with him when he does wake, for until then i cannot really judge of his condition. what a night you have had of it, mr. brandon! parker has been telling me something of it." i glanced half reproachfully at parker. we had agreed to keep the thing to ourselves until i could see harrod and consult with him. but the aide promptly relieved me of any misapprehension. he had "named no names," nor had he spoken of the part played by peyton. then, at the doctor's suggestion, we withdrew, to seek such rest as we could find after our night in the rain. leaving parker at headquarters, with the promise to meet him late in the afternoon, i went to my own rooms, gave my suspicious-looking landlady directions that i was not to be disturbed until noon, and, tired out, slept until after two o'clock. when i opened my eyes, harrod summers rose from an easy-chair in the sitting-room, and came forward to greet me with outstretched hand. one glance at his face showed that he had something of lively interest to tell me, and as i sat up half sleepily in bed and answered his query as to whether i felt rested or any the worse for the night's adventures, i could see plainly that there was some matter that worried him, and divined quite readily that he wanted to speak with me. it all came out while i was shaving and dressing, and, dovetailed with what was already known to mr. parker and myself, "a very pretty quarrel" as it stood was unfolded to my ears. it seems that on leaving the theatre the night previous, colonel summers had stepped ahead of kitty and her friend, lieutenant turpin, and was searching for me. seeing nothing of me in the crowd around the entrance, he looked in at one or two resorts along canal street, thinking it possible that he might meet some officers who could tell him of amory's movements, and so enable him to judge of mine. meantime, turpin and kitty strolled homeward, arm in arm. on reaching the clay statue, harrod decided to search no farther, but to go home, feeling sure that if anything were wrong i would follow him thither. at the house pauline met him with anxious inquiry. had he seen or heard anything of mr. amory? kitty had returned ten or fifteen minutes before; had bidden mr. turpin a very abrupt good-night, and excused herself on the plea of fatigue and headache; and pauline, following her to her room, found her very pale and nervous, and learned from her that amory had been at the theatre, looking "so strangely" she thought he was ill; and, as they came down the street, two men in a buggy drove up close beside them, and leaned out and stared at them. she was utterly upset by amory's appearance, perhaps, and thinking of him, did not notice this performance until mr. turpin suddenly dropped her arm and strode fiercely towards the buggy, as though to demand the meaning of the conduct of its occupants; whereupon they had whipped up and dashed off around the first corner; and one of them--though his hat and coat-collar concealed his face--one of them looked, she said, strangely like ned peyton. pauline, seeing her nervousness and fright, had soothed her with arguments as to the impossibility of peyton's being there; but she very anxiously spoke of the matter to harrod. then, after we had made our midnight visit, kitty, in her loose wrapper, white as a sheet and trembling with dread and excitement, had stolen to pauline's room. her own window overlooked the balcony and the street, and unable to sleep, as she told pauline, she was lying wide awake, when she heard rapid hoof-beats on the pavement coming from canal street,--a horse at rapid trot, but with no sound of wheels in company, and the horse halted before their door. unable to restrain her curiosity or anxiety, she had risen, stolen to the window, and peered out through the slats of the blind. a gas-lamp threw its light upon the street in front, and there, plainly illumined by its glare, sat frank amory in the saddle, gazing up at her window. she turned instantly, she knew not why, and stepped back. he could not have seen her, yet, in another moment, rapidly as he came, he rode away, turned to the left at the corner, and she heard his hoof-beats dying away in the direction of dauphin street. that was all, until we came, and not until i had gone had she courage to creep over to pauline and tell her what she had seen. early in the morning harrod had gone to headquarters; found amory's address, and on going thither was told by a soldier that the lieutenant was too ill to see anybody. but, on sending up his name, the doctor and mr. parker came down, and from them he learned that amory had a sharp attack of fever; nothing like as serious as vinton's, and one that would soon yield to treatment, provided nothing else went wrong. "there has been some sore trouble or anxiety which has been telling upon amory," said the doctor, "and that complicates matters somewhat. he _may_ have had some delirium last night, but not enough to cause such a freak as an all-night gallop. in fact, parker has confided to me that mr. brandon and himself know something of the matter, and that they mean to have a talk with you." "and that," said harrod, "is what brought me here four hours ago, though i had the grace not to disturb you. now, what is it? what do you know? has that young cub peyton been at the bottom of this?" and then i told harrod the story of our night's adventures. he listened at first with composure; but when it came to the description of the two skulkers at gaston's and the conversation i had overheard, he rose excitedly and began pacing rapidly up and down the room, tugging fiercely at his moustache. every now and then some muttered anathema fell from his lips. he was evidently powerfully and unpleasantly moved, and when at last my prolix recital was brought to an end with the discovery of peyton, and our fruitless chase, harrod burst out into genuine imprecation,-- "the doubly damned young scoundrel!" he groaned. "why, brandon, i believe there is no cowardly villainy of which that fellow is not capable. i ought to have gone with you. i _knew_ i ought to have gone." "why so?" "then we could have secured him by this time. it is too late now, i fear. he is off for havana or mexico." "but what good would that have done? what could we prove? what would you want him secured for now that we have amory safe and warned against him in the future? you would not care to have the thing made public, would you?" "not if _that_ were all! by heaven! the easiest solution of the whole thing would be to let him try to trap amory once more, and let amory know all that--that we both know." "do you mean that he has been at other mischief than this mysterious attempt at amory?" "yes. we thought him safely out of the way,--in cuba. he was there, but must have come directly to this point when he heard of the verdict in those ku-klux cases. you know they acquitted smith. no jury could be found that dared do otherwise, i suppose," he added gloomily. "i knew that, of course; but why should that bring peyton here?" "he _had_ to leave havana, brandon. don't you remember father's anxiety at sandbrook before we came away? and what he said about its perhaps being too late for any effort on his part? i was to have told you, but i couldn't bear to just yet. why, that damned scoundrel forged father's signature to a large draft, and got the money there where the bankers knew them both. it was only discovered here in new orleans when the draft came to the hibernia, and as the loss comes on these old correspondents of father's in havana, he feels bound to see them reimbursed, for he cannot bear the thought of disgrace to his name or that of a kinsman. by peyton's arrest we might secure part of the money. that is all, for he has taken every cent father had in the world." "then the sooner we get to the chief of police and acquaint him with peyton's movements and description the better it will be," said i, who felt no scruples whatever against bringing master ned to the bar of justice. "it's too late, brandon, i'm afraid. he saw amory yesterday and kitty last night; he knows by this time we are here, and he is miles away. father had telegraphed at once that he would refund the amount of peyton's forged raise, and so suspended pursuit or arrest. peyton of course has heard of this or he would not have ventured hither in the first place; but he well knows that with me here it is no place for him. we will go, of course, and start the detectives, but i fear we have lost him. do you think amory can see us this evening and tell us what he knows of this affair?" "we must see him, unless the doctor prohibits it; but come first to the city hall," said i. and as we rode thither in a street-car, both deeply engrossed in thought, harrod turned suddenly towards me,-- "brandon, this is the most extraordinary piece of cross-purposes to me. for three weeks--for a month past, frank amory has been a mystery. we all thought him growing very fond of kitty, and after the affair on the tennessee, where he was hurt, she seemed very much interested in him. now for nearly a month he has avoided her, and she thinks that--well, she gave me a message for him the night we started, which virtually begged his forgiveness for something she had said or done to wound him. she would never have sent it if she did not believe he cared for her. of course i have never delivered it, because she was here to speak for herself, and told me not to; but he has treated her with something like aversion, and she resents it, and now she's flirting with young turpin, and then there will be more trouble. great heavens! what a world of misunderstandings it is!" and harrod laughed despite his anxiety. having some inkling by this time as to the secret of amory's hesitancy and strange conduct towards kitty, i told harrod that a solution of the matter had occurred to me. there was an explanation, i believed, and a satisfactory one, and it would appear very shortly i thought. this, in profound wisdom and some mystery of manner, i imparted to the perplexed colonel. he gazed at me in bewilderment, but was polite enough to press the matter no further. "a few days will straighten that matter," said i. "we will see when he is well enough to be about again." and in my purblind idiocy i really fancied that letter of mine to bella grayson was going to settle everything. our visit at police headquarters was brief and not particularly satisfactory. it was already past steamer time for both havana and vera cruz. if peyton were "wanted," a telegram to the quarantine station, with his full description, might establish whether or no he was on board; but there were no officers there to make the arrest, and an arrest was not wanted in any event,--it was the recovery of the money. if he had not left town it was just barely possible they might nab him; but dozens of river boats left new orleans for a dozen different points every evening, and there were hundreds of hiding-places in the city itself. he would try, said the chief, and one or two solemn-looking men in civilian's dress came in at his call and listened attentively to our description of peyton and his companion; but, one and all, they said they would like to hear lieutenant amory's account of what he had had to do with the pair. so, taking one of the detectives, we drove up to amory's lodging. the doctor was there and came down to meet us. i told him our dilemma, and asked if it were possible to hear amory's story. he looked grave for a moment, and considered well before answering. "you might see him, mr. brandon, if that will do. i would much rather he did not talk until to-morrow, but if there be an emergency, why, he can stand it. he is doing well, has slept well since his medicine began to take hold this morning, and now he's awake and inclined to be fretful. something worries him, and perhaps it may be a benefit to see you." so harrod and the detective waited, while i went up to interview mars. bless the boy's face! it brightened so at sight of me that i felt like an uncle towards him. he was very pale, rather feeble, but eagerly grasped my hand and welcomed me. "mr. brandon has come to see you on business of some importance, mr. amory," said the doctor, "and you can talk with him, but talk as little as possible. we want to get you up and ready to travel, if you are bound to go north, so quiet will be necessary for a day or two." with that he vanished, taking the nurse with him. then i told amory that parker and i had been in search of him late at night, and fearing he was taken ill, as vinton had been, we trailed him out to the shell road, and there came upon peyton and a burly stranger, from whose conversation we found they were lying in wait for him. the moment they were discovered they drove off in a hurry. could he give any clue by which we could find them? peyton was "wanted" for a grave crime. "what?" asked amory, flushing, and excited. "forgery," i answered. "now let me be brief as possible, amory. i hate to excite you at such a time. have you any idea where he is to-day, or who the other man is?" "none whatever." "tell me, quietly as you can, how you came to go out there alone on horseback last night. were you ill then?" "not so ill but that i knew what i was about. i had had some fever all day, probably, and--and was worried about something,--a letter from mother. she wants me to come north at once, and i would have gone but for this. perhaps it worked on me a good deal. it was late when we got back from jeffersonville. i wrote a note to parker, and left it at headquarters, and went on down-town, hoping to see vinton, and intending to dine with you at moreau's. i did not feel well, but i wanted to see you. right there by the city hotel a passing cab splashed me with mud, and i turned into the barber-shop to have it rubbed off. quite a number of men were in there, talking a good deal, and seemed to have been drinking, but i paid no particular attention to them, until just as i was leaving one of them said, 'there's the ---- ----d yank now, peyton. what better chance do you want?' of course i turned quickly and went right up to the fellow. one or two others sprang forward. some one said, 'shut up, you fool!' but it was too late. the man was drunk, probably, and having put his foot in it, had bravado enough not to back out entirely. he was in one of the chairs, his face covered with lather, and as i inquired if he referred to me, he replied, with drunken gravity, that his friend, mr. peyton, had expressed a desire to meet me, and 'there he was.' sure enough there was young peyton, stepping out from between the chairs to his right, his face black as thunder. i was mad as a hornet, of course, and never stopped to think. 'are you responsible for this gentleman's language?' said i. 'just as you please,' said he; and with that i struck him full under the jaw, and knocked him back among the shaving-cups and bottles. of course there was a terrible row. he drew his pistol, but it was yanked out of his hand by some stranger. a dozen men jumped in and separated us. i didn't know one of them, but they seemed bent on having fair play. he raved about satisfaction, and i said any time and any place. then a gentlemanly-speaking fellow suggested that the friends or seconds meet at the cosmopolitan, at ten o'clock; that would give plenty of time, and obviate any trouble there. and before i fully realized the situation it was agreed that we were to settle the thing according to the code, and our friends were to meet at ten o'clock. with that he was led off, and i went out to think the matter over. of course there was nothing to do but fight. i had knocked him down and was bound to give him satisfaction. but this was no cadet fisticuff; it was a serious matter, and i needed a friend. of course it ought to be an officer, and now that vinton was ill, i had no one with whom to advise. i went down to the depot to find turpin. he was a classmate, and the very fellow to back me; but turpin wasn't there. i went to moreau's in search of him, and--well, he was busy, and i couldn't ask him. then i went up to headquarters for parker. he was years ahead of me at the point, but i knew he would see me through; but parker was out. he lived way up-town, and when i got there they told me he had gone to the theatre. that is what brought me to the varieties. it was getting late, and i had nobody to act for me. all those infantry fellows were strangers, and at ten o'clock i had to go to the cosmopolitan myself. not a soul was there whom i knew, though one or two men dropped in who looked curiously at me, and whom i thought i had seen during the row. "it was nearly eleven o'clock, and i was wellnigh crazy with excitement and nervousness, fearing that i had made some mistake, and they could say i shirked the meeting. but just about eleven a man came in, who looked closely at me, said 'captain amory?' and handed me a note. there's the note, mr. brandon; read it." read it i did. it was as follows: "lieutenant f. amory, u.s.a.: "sir,--in some way for which _we_ find it impossible to account, the authorities have got wind of our affair, and threatened me with arrest; but i learn from a friend that you are at the cosmopolitan unattended. the gentlemen who were present at the time of your outrageous affront this afternoon were total strangers to me, with one exception, but i cannot believe that they have betrayed me to the police. "as an officer you must be aware that there can be only one reparation for a blow, and, if a gentleman, you cannot refuse it. you said you would meet me any time and any place, and i hold you to your word. i demand instant satisfaction, before the police can interfere, and there is one place where, if alone, we can be sure of quiet. that is a shooting- and fencing-gallery on the shell road, where there is a room where gentlemen can settle such affairs with swords, and where every attention is paid and inviolable secrecy observed. "leaving my friend here with the policeman who is watching our rooms, i shall slip out by the back way and go out on horseback. if you are a man of honor you will follow. keep on out canal street to the end, cross the canal on the bridge, and then turn to the south. i will watch for your horse and conduct you to the spot. the bearer of this will bring a verbal answer, all that is necessary. reminding you once more of the outrage you have committed upon a gentleman, and of your promise to render full satisfaction at such time and place as i should demand, i am, with due respect, "yours, etc., "edward harrod peyton." i read it through twice before speaking, amory narrowly watching my face. "and do you mean to tell me, frank amory, that you could be led into a snare by such a transparent piece of rascality as that?" i asked at last. "how should i know?" said amory, flushing. "the letter _reads_ straight enough. the barbers or somebody might have told the police, and i knew only that mr. peyton was a relative of gentlemen and supposed him to be a gentleman. of course i went." "all the young scoundrel wanted was to get you there alone and unarmed, and then turn you over to that great bully he had for a terrible beating. _he_ would never dare fight you fairly. this thing is a fraud on its face; no southern gentleman would ask such a thing of a stranger as a midnight meeting without seconds in an unknown spot. why, amory, it is absurd, and as i tell you, and as their talk proved, he only wanted to lure you there and see you brutally pounded and mutilated. the scoundrel knew he must leave town at once, and, hating you, he wanted this low revenge first." "why should he hate me?" asked amory. "because of your fight with those villains of hank smith's last december, for one thing. he was hand in glove with them all. because of--well, another reason occurs to me that need not be spoken of just now. i ought not to let you talk so much as it is. tell me one thing, however. you are anxious to go north, the doctor says. can i serve you in any way?" amory hesitated. "mother is very anxious that i should come, if possible," he faltered; "and she is right. there--there are reasons why i ought to go and settle a matter that has given me much distress. i told her of it, and she writes that only one course is open to me." and the deep dejection and trouble in his face upset me completely. "youngster," said i, impulsively. "forgive me if i appear to intrude in your affairs, but you have become very near to me, if you know what i mean, in the last few months. we have learned to regard you as something more than a friend, the summers' and i, and lately it seems to me that an inkling of your trouble has been made known to me (who _would_ have said, 'i have been prying into your affairs?')--and--frank, don't worry if it is about bella grayson. she is my own niece,--you may not know,--and i had a letter from her the other day." amory almost started up in bed (capital nurse mr. g. s. brandon would make for a fever patient ordinarily, you are probably thinking), but though his eyes were full of eager inquiry and astonishment, he choked back the question that seemed to rise to his lips and simply stared at me, then with flushing cheeks turned quickly away. "i cannot explain just now; try and be content with what i tell you for a day or two," i went on. "you can hear more when you are better. one thing i want to ask you for the benefit of the detectives who are looking for peyton. how do you suppose you were so fortunate as to escape missing him and the other blackguard? we found them just below the bridge to the right." "i don't know," was the weary reply. "things were all in a whirl after i got that note. i remember telling that fellow to say that i would be there without fail. then it took some time to hurry up here and get my horse, and to write a line to mother; then i did not go straight out canal street. there were one or two things that had to be done; but i rode like the devil to get there, and there wasn't a soul that i could see anywhere around the far end of the bridge." "but didn't you go down towards the lake,--to the right hand, i mean?" "to the right? no, of course not," said amory. "he said to the south; look at the note again and you'll find it; and i had that little compass there on my watch-chain. south was to the left, man, and,--why, it seems to me i rode all night; found myself in town and rode back to the swamps; then gave it up and came home somehow; i don't know. it was all a blur." then, fortunately, the doctor came back, and, with one glance at amory's face, motioned to me that enough or more than enough had been said. i bent over amory and said, with the best intentions in the world of being reassuring, "remember, do not fret about going north or about anything else of that kind; _that_ is coming out all right." and with the profound conviction that it _was_ coming out all right through his ministration, the recorder of this curious tangle took his leave. chapter xv. two days elapsed and frank amory failed to get better with the rapidity so slight an attack of fever should have permitted; and when it is considered that my language had been, or ought to have been, very reassuring as regarded his other troubles, there seemed to me small warrant for the doctor's ascribing his slow rally to mental perturbations. it was beginning to dawn upon me that the doctor looked upon me as something of a sick-room nuisance ever since my interview with his patient about peyton, and that only his politeness prevented his saying that that interview had been a decided set-back. at all events, two days passed without my again seeing mars. he was sleeping when i called, or had had a restless night, and was not to be disturbed. yet parker saw him twice, and brought favorable accounts; he seemed to have the luck of getting around at times when amory was awake, and, being a cavalryman himself, the aide-de-camp had taken charge of the troop and was able to bear amory daily bulletins of its well-doing. vinton was rapidly improving and able to sit up a few moments each day. pauline was radiant with hope and love; and kitty--whom i had not seen for nearly two days, when we met again at moreau's--kitty once more looked pale, anxious, and wistful; i saw it the instant her eyes met mine. harrod told me that he had seen fit to say nothing to her of peyton's latest escapade. it would not help matters at all and could only cause her distress. pauline had been told in confidence, and he himself had written full particulars to the judge. the police had made no arrests or discoveries; but twice i had received visits from members of the detective force asking for further description of the burly man who was with peyton the night of the chase. the younger man, they seemed to think, had got away to texas, but for some reason they seemed hopeful of catching the other party, who was apparently "wanted" for something for which he could properly be held. it was two nights after the theatre party, and once again we were dining at moreau's; this time reinforced by pauline and by major williams. it was a lovely evening in the early spring. already the breezes from the south were freighted with the faint, sweet fragrance of the orange-blossoms; windows were thrown open, and four of us at least were placidly enjoying the spirited scene on the street below. pauline and the major were in the midst of a pleasant chat; harrod and i dreamily puffing at our cigars; and over on the sofa kitty and her now absolutely enslaved turpin were oblivious to all other objects. he, poor fellow, was bending towards her, his whole soul in his eyes, his whole heart on his lips; speaking in low tones, eagerly, impetuously. she, with feverish flush on her soft cheeks, her eyes veiled by their white lids and fringed with their sweeping lashes, was nervously toying with her gloves, yet listening, painfully listening. harrod studied them an instant, then looked significantly at me. "it is too bad," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. "i suppose you see poor turpin's woe?" i nodded. it was hard for the boy, and kitty was by no means blameless, but just now her conduct was the source of absolute comfort to me. in my fondness for amory i was glad to see that now that it came to actual love-making,--now that turpin was undoubtedly enmeshed and fluttering in her toils, the little coquette was distressed by his vehemence. she was thinking of another, and my hopes for my own young knight were high. there could be no doubt of the situation, for had we not gathered in honor of the major and his gallant young adjutant? were we not there to break bread once more before parting,--to wish them _bon voyage_ with our stirrup-cups? their orders had come. quiet restored to the crescent city, major williams's little battalion was to return forthwith to their station in kentucky. they were to start that night, and turpin was facing his fate. it was soon time to walk down "homeward," as we had learned to think of newhall's rooms on royal street. harrod and i led the way. major williams followed, escorting pauline. kitty and turpin silently took their places in the rear, and before we had gone three squares they were out of sight behind. at the steps the major said his farewells, with many a hope that we might all meet again in our wanderings. "say good-by to miss carrington for me," he added, with a smile half sad, half mischievous. "i fear poor turpin leaves his heart here. tell him for me to take his time; he won't be needed for an hour yet." and with a wave of his hand the soldierly fellow strode down the street. then, even as we stood there, turpin and kitty arrived. with her first glance at them pauline's sympathetic heart seemed to realize the situation. she signalled to us to follow her, and entered at once. unaccustomed as ever to the interpretation of feminine signals, i blunderingly stayed where i was, and harrod hovered irresolutely in the doorway. "won't you come in?" we heard her say timidly, almost pleadingly, as she held out her little hand. "no, thank you, not this time; i must catch williams. say good-by for me, please." he grasped her hand, and seemed to wring it hard an instant, then, pulling his cap down over his eyes, dashed away. kitty stood one moment looking sorrowfully after him, then slowly passed us, and went in without a word. she did not appear again that evening so long as i was there. early next morning a note reached me from harrod. a telegram had just reached him from sandbrook. "father says he will be here to-morrow. mrs. amory--frank's mother--coming on same train." and, leaving everything undone that i ought to have done at the office, i hastened up to amory's lodgings to see what that might mean. he was sitting up, partially dressed, and would be glad to see me, said the orderly; and, stumbling up the stairs, i was shown to his room. very pale and rather thin looked our mars, but his face was brighter and his eyes far clearer. he was far from strong, however, and apologized for not rising, as he held out his hand. "mother is coming," were almost his first words. "so i heard. judge summers telegraphed colonel harrod that he would be here to-morrow,--at noon, i suppose,--and that mrs. amory was on the train. what a very pleasant surprise for all!" "yes. when she heard from me how ill vinton was, and that i could not get away, the little mother must have made up her mind to come to me. it is a surprise, yet a very glad one. where can we put her? this house is no place, and yet, it may be two or three days before i can get out, and i hate to have her alone at the st. charles." "why not with the summers' at colonel newhall's place? there are one or two rooms vacant, and the landlady seems very pleasant." mars flushed to the temples. "i think not," he said, hesitatingly. "it--it's too far away. she would rather be up here with me, or near me. she wants so much to know vinton, too,--has such an admiration for him; but she could not see him just now, i suppose. how is he to-day?" "very much better last night. so much so that miss summers went over and dined with us at moreau's,--a little dinner to major williams and turpin, you know," said i, soothingly, and with calm note of the twinge which seemed to shoot over amory's features at the mention of the party. "they went back to kentucky last night, i suppose you know," i added. "they? no, i didn't!" said mars, with sudden animation. "i wanted to see turpin, too. he was here twice, but they said i wasn't well enough, or something, and he went away. did he go back with the battalion?" he inquired, eagerly. "certainly. he came around to say good-by last evening." mars settled back in his chair with an expression of absolute relief. now, thought i, is the time to have a few words about bella grayson. it was just about time to look for the coming of her reply to my diplomatic letter, and very positively did i want to know just how matters stood between her and my cavalryman. meddling old polonius that i was, it seemed to me perfectly right and natural that mars should reciprocate my warm interest in him, that he should want to tell me about bella, and that the fact of my relationship to her should give me an added lustre in his eyes. this last, perhaps, was realized. he was more inclined to be very courteous and semi-confidential in his tone, yet he was not at ease. it was at the tip of my tongue to make some genial, off-hand, matter-of-fact inquiry, such as "heard from bella, lately?" by way of putting him entirely out of all embarrassment, when, fortunately, the orderly entered, saying a gentleman asked to speak a moment with mr. brandon. going out in some surprise to the landing, mr. brandon there encountered one of the detectives whom he had recently learned to know. "can you come down to the office, sir? we have one of your birds, if not both," was the extent of his communication. and dropping amory; forgetting bella; i went. chapter xvi. an hour later, both harrod summers and myself were curiously inspecting a pair of inebriated bipeds at the police station. both were stolidly drunk, and were plunged in the heavy sleep that resulted from their excessive potations. one, the younger, was a tolerably well-dressed youth not absolutely unlike peyton; but all the same a total stranger. neither of us had ever seen him before. but his companion--was hank smith. the two had been guilty of some drunken turbulence in a down-town saloon, said one of the police-officers, and had attracted the attention of the "force." in the course of a wordy altercation between them a detective had dropped in, and, after a few moments' apparently indifferent lounging and listening, had suddenly gone in search of a comrade, meantime bidding the officer keep his eye on them. they were still drinking and squabbling when the detective returned. smith was demanding payment of money which the other protested he had never received, and it was not long before the lie was given and a scuffle ensued. this was sufficient to enable the officers to arrest them as drunk and disorderly, and then to notify us. that peyton was in some way connected with the sudden appearance of hank smith in the crescent city neither of us could doubt for a minute, as peyton's name, with many blasphemous qualifications, had been frequently mentioned in their altercation. it would be some hours before they could be in condition to account for themselves and their motives; meantime the colonel and i were devoured with impatience and curiosity. the police supposed that they had the big ruffian of our night adventure in the person of smith, but he was not the man. his presence only added to the mystery. for several weeks after his trial at jackson he had disappeared from our view and we had heard nothing of his movements. now, what could have brought him here, and what connection had his wanderings with peyton's? i vainly puzzled over this problem while studying the flushed and sodden features of this arch-reprobate. harrod went down home again to tell vinton of the important capture. i had to go to the office at noon, but late in the day we were again at the station, and now, still bewildered and surly, but somewhat freshened by liberal applications of cold water from the pump, the ex-leader of the tishomingo ku-klux was sitting up and chewing the cud of melancholy retrospect in place of the accustomed solace of "navy plug." very ugly and ill at ease looked hank as the colonel quietly accosted him. he knew us both at once and seemed not at all surprised at our presence. our only object in intruding upon his valuable time and his placid meditations being to find out what had become of peyton, the question arose beforehand, who should question him? supposing that he would be disposed to conceal everything he might know, we had been planning what course to pursue; but his first remark put an end to our uncertainty. "i'm as well as a man can be who's just over a drunk and can't get a cocktail," he growled. "have you come to pay me that money for cap. peyton?" and his bloodshot eyes gleamed fiercely up at harrod's calm features. "how much do you claim, smith?" was the evasive query. "he knows d--d well. it's a round five hundred dollars, and i'll foller him to mexico but that i'll get it out of him, if you don't pay it." "why did you not make him pay you yesterday?" "yesterday?" said hank, starting to his feet. "he ain't got back, has he? if he's lied to me again, i'll----say, _is_ he back?" he asked, eagerly. "i have not seen him yet," answered harrod, "and i do not wish to see him. i want you to warn him never to show his face among us again. now, supposing you are released to-night, how soon can you find him?" "_find_ him? the young whelp! he's tricked me. he's gone to mexico, d--n him! i came here two days ago to meet him as agreed. he was to pay me the money then, and said you was here to get it for him; and then, when i got here, he left word that he was in a scrape, and had to light out for texas right away, and never said another word about the money, except that i might apply to him there for it ('him there' being the bedraggled-looking youth sitting up now on his wooden bench and staring stupidly about him), and--and this is what came of it, by god! the money's mine, colonel, and i earned it fairly that last scrape he was in. he swore he'd pay me if we'd help him out. they'd have jailed him sure at holly springs if we hadn't stood by him. it took some of the hardest swearing you ever listened to to turn that marshal off his track." and hank's face was woe-begone as this touching reminiscence occurred to him. "and that was the service your people rendered him, was it? you could have rendered his people a much better one by telling the truth and 'jailing him,' as you say. what had he been doing to set the marshal on his track?" hank looked suspiciously at me a moment. he was apparently ready to make a clean breast of matters to harrod, but i was one of a class he regarded with distrust. seeing this, harrod glanced significantly at me, and i withdrew, leaving them to work out their own conclusions. strolling up to headquarters and thence over to amory's, i found him sleeping quietly and parker reading the newspapers at his bedside. an enlivening conversation was not to be looked for in that quarter therefore, and on my speaking to parker about a room for mrs. amory, who was to arrive on the following day, he replied that he had already secured one close at hand. this again left me with nothing especial to do, and in my loneliness and lack of occupation i went down to royal street, and came luckily upon a cheerful gathering at newhall's, as we had learned to speak of the house wherein our sandbrook party were quartered. it was a still, balmy evening, and vinton's sofa had been trundled into the sitting-room. he lay there looking rather gaunt and white, but unutterably happy, for in a low chair by his side miss summers was seated, and she had evidently been reading aloud before my entrance, for a little blue-and-gold volume of tennyson lay in her lap. harrod and kitty were seated at the centre-table near them, and rose to greet me as i entered, but the moment she had given me her little hand, with a rather embarrassed greeting, and i went forward to vinton's sofa, miss kitty dropped back to the dim light of a distant corner. i had barely time to congratulate the major on his convalescence when he inquired eagerly for amory. "i have just come from him," i answered. "he was sleeping quietly, and mr. parker was there with him. he will be all right now in a day or two. mrs. amory will be here to-morrow, as you doubtless know, and parker has taken a room for her at madame r----'s, close to headquarters." for some moments we four sat there talking quietly about her coming and its probable benefit to amory's health, which certainly had been suffering of late. kitty still sat in her corner, apparently occupied with a magazine, though it was too dark to read at that distance from the lamp. vinton, of course, was eager to hear all the particulars of the recent excitements, however, and after a few moments he asked to be fully informed. "yes, brandon, tell him the whole thing. do not spare peyton. do not imagine that it will shock pauline, for i have told her all about it. indeed, i may as well take the lead," said harrod, "and give you briefly what smith confessed to me to-day. it was peyton who planned and led that ambuscade on amory's command. he ordered his party to try and pick off amory himself, and but for the darkness they probably would have killed him. the fellow is a scoundrel throughout, and i'm almost sorry he has escaped now. smith says he has undoubtedly gone to mexico, and most of the money with him. now, brandon, tell us your story." there was a rustle of skirts at the other end of the room. pauline glanced wistfully over to kitty's corner, and i could not help looking thither myself. without a word the little lady had risen and left the room. pauline rose hurriedly. "i must go to kitty," she said. "she has been very much distressed about all this trouble of late, and she will worry herself to death." with that she, too, was gone; and mr. brandon, bereft of his feminine audience, told his story with far less interest and enjoyment than he would otherwise have felt. vinton was deeply interested, however, and greatly concerned over amory's adventure. it was some time before miss summers' return, and then she brought kitty's excuses. the latter had been persuaded finally to go to bed, for she was shocked inexpressibly at hearing that peyton had really had the hardihood to carry out the threat of that memorable day at sandbrook. "and more than that, she is convinced that peyton has been striving to harm mr. amory here in new orleans, and i _had_ to promise that she should know the whole truth. is it so, mr. brandon?" and once more mr. brandon had the gratification of relating that episode, and before another day poor kitty was in possession of all the facts. and yet when i met her the following afternoon her eyes were bright; her color heightened; her manner animated and almost gay. "so glad uncle was coming," was her explanation, and yet--she did not care to go to the station with harrod, pauline, and myself to meet uncle. this struck me as strange, and i ventured to urge her to accompany us. "oh, no! the carriage only holds four," was her reply. "but you will make the fourth, and you know i'm not coming back. i'm going to drive mrs. amory up to see her boy at once. he's sitting up in state ready to welcome her, and we had some difficulty in persuading him that he must not attempt to leave the house. you see there is abundant room, little lady, so why not come?" "thanks, i think not; i'm not ready to drive," was her confused answer; and yet i saw that she had been out. her hat and gloves lay there upon the table. her costume was perfect--and so was her determination. the carriage came and we drove off, leaving her smiling and kissing her hand gayly from the balcony above our heads. pauline glanced back lovingly at her as we turned the corner. "isn't she exquisite?" she said to harrod, whose eyes, too, were fixed upon the fairy-like little figure until 'twas hidden from our sight. "yes, and utterly incomprehensible. last night she was in the depths of misery when she heard about peyton's connection with that rascally business last december. long after the rest of us had gone to bed, pauline went in and told her the whole story of your night adventure and peyton's further rascality, and, by jove! it acted like a counter-irritant. she has been in a whirl of spirits all morning; but, paulie, she should not rush out on the streets by herself. she was out nearly half an hour awhile ago." "not out of sight, harrod. i had her in view from the balcony." "what on earth could she find to do down on royal street for nearly half an hour without going out of sight?" pauline smiled demurely. "merely making some purchases at the corner, i fancy." "at the corner? why, it's a cigar store." "i did not say _in_ the corner, _m. le colonel_. kitty is fond of oranges." "then it took half an hour to buy half a dozen oranges of that old dago at the fruit-stand, did it? still, that does not account for her blithe spirits. one would think that having sent one adorer away heart-broken; and another having vanished in disgrace (though that _was_ but a boy and girl affair), and a third laid up as the result of the second's rascality; a girl might be expected to suffer some pangs of remorse. i declare i believe some women have no more conscience than kittens, and our kitty is one of them," said harrod, half wrathfully. a moment's silence, then,-- "well, _why_ should she not want to come and meet the judge?" i asked, with blundering persistency. "and _why_ should she be bright as a button this afternoon?" demanded harrod. pauline smiled with conscious superiority. "i can understand it readily, and am really surprised that you two profound thinkers should be so utterly in the dark. i'm not going to betray her, however; you ought to be able to see through it yourselves." and that silenced me completely. i record it with absolute humility that not until days afterwards was it made clear to me that when pauline told kitty the story of amory's night-ride, the latter was able to account for the first time for his extraordinary conduct at moreau's and the theatre; more than that, the child then knew what it was that had brought him in the dead of night to take one look at her window before going out to meet peyton. as for her refusal to go to the depot, she simply felt unable to meet in that way frank amory's mother. the train came in on time. harrod sprang aboard, and in another moment emerged from the pullman escorting his gray-haired father, and with them appeared the pale, placid face i had so admired in the picture at amory's tent. dressed in black, though not in deep mourning, the gentle lady stepped from the car, and miss summers, who had extended her right hand, gave one swift glance in the peaceful eyes, then suddenly, impulsively, threw forward both; and harrod and i had abundant time to welcome the judge before either lady had a word for us. when i turned again to look at them mrs. amory and pauline were still standing hand in hand, and the latter's lovely face, flushed with happiness, and with eyes that glistened through the starting tears, was hardly more beautiful than the sweet, sorrow-worn features of her who had found "that peace which the world cannot give," and in the sanctity of her bereaved life had learned the lesson of resignation,--the blessed hope of a blessed future. we would not interrupt them as they stood gazing into each other's eyes--the mother and her boy's devoted friend. it seemed best that from pauline she should hear of frank's improvement; of his captain's convalescence; and that the bonds of sympathy that drew them in such close alliance should there be riveted without my customary interference; but neither lady was forgetful of us, and turning to me, mrs. amory, in that soft, sweet voice men love to hear,--all the more winning for its southern accent,--asked,-- "and is not this mr. brandon, my boy's friend?" and then mr. brandon had the happiness of clasping her hand, and presently of leading her to her carriage. she was impatient to get to her son, and it was soon arranged that pauline should drive up to see her later in the evening, and then we separated. ten minutes more and the orderly opened the door, and, obedient to my beckoning finger, stepped out as the lady was ushered in. we only heard the glad ring in frank's brave young voice; one cry of "mother!" and then we closed the door and left them together. an hour afterwards, mr. parker and i walked over from headquarters to pay our respects to mrs. amory and escort her to her lodgings, where hospitable madame r---- was waiting to welcome her and refresh her with tea. we found the doctor there in blithe chat with his patient and that now happy mother. very sweet and gentle was her greeting for us. she seemed to know just what to say to each and every one, and charmed parker at once, as she had me, by her lovely manner and voice. almost the first question was, "can we not move frank over with me?" but mars protested. here he was right near his troop; could hear the trumpet-calls and the voices of the men at times; and so felt _with_ them. the doctor would not let him go to duty for forty-eight hours at the least,--perhaps not then,--and he wanted to remain where he was. parker laughingly offered to come and occupy the room if he really thought an officer must be with the troop, and then the doctor said his say. a carriage could be there in ten minutes; he was all dressed; he might just as well move over to madame's, a square away; be in comfortable quarters, and have his mother in the adjoining room. the project was decided on in spite of him. parker scurried over to camp street, and came back with information that just such rooms as were needed were there in readiness, and when the carriage came, our boy was half lifted, half led, down the stairs, and correspondingly transferred to new and cosey quarters nearly opposite headquarters. some of the men brought over the trunk and his few belongings, but when it came time to start, mars himself had stretched forth his hand and gathered in a beautiful bunch of sweet wild violets whose fragrance had filled the little room. i had noticed them on the table by his side the moment we entered, and now conceived it time to inquire whence they came. "i'm not quite sure," said amory, with something vastly like a blush. "they were left here an hour or so before mother came, and i think miss summers must have sent them." and yet that evening, when pauline and colonel summers came to see mrs. amory for a few moments, i was still there. the violets were by amory's bedside up-stairs; mrs. amory made no allusion to them, but i did, unblushingly; and neither affirming nor denying that she had sent them, miss summers silenced me by saying that she was glad they gave mr. amory pleasure, and instantly changed the subject and addressed her talk to her lady friend. driving home, however, she was at my mercy and i again pressed the matter. a keen suspicion was actually beginning to glimmer in my brain. "_you_ sent those violets of course, miss summers?" "if so, why ask me, mr. brandon?" "well! _didn't_ you, then?" "no, sir; i never even knew of their being sent." and miss summers was plainly and mischievously enjoying my perplexity. leaving me at my rooms, the brother and sister continued on their homeward way and their enthusiastic chat about mrs. amory, which my unfeeling curiosity had broken in upon. it was quite late and my letters had been brought up from the office. first on the package was the one for which i was eagerly waiting,--the answer to my diplomatic missive to bella grayson. ignoring all others i plunged instanter into that, and was rewarded--as i deserved. "dear uncle george," she wrote.--"it was such a treat and so rare an honor to receive a letter from your august hand, that for some time i could not believe it was intended for me at all. indeed, to be _very_ frank, the closing page rather confirmed me in that impression. you men always taunt us by saying that the gist of a woman's letter lies in the postscript (one cynical acquaintance of mine went so far as to say that it lies all the way through), and yet not until that last page was reached did i discover the object of yours. now, uncle georgy, isn't that circumlocution itself? confess. "but you really _do_ seem 'interested in young amory,' as you call him; and his 'evident admiration for a fair young friend of yours--an heiress--commands your entire sympathy.' what a cold-blooded, mercenary avowal, _m. mon oncle_! or, do you--is it possible that you mean--you too are interested in her? no! that is hardly tenable as a supposition. there is something so disingenuous about the rest of the letter that your interest is evidently on his account. thank you ever so much for 'having half a mind to take me into your confidence.' and now, how can i dispel your perplexity? with the best intentions in the world, how powerless i am! "you believe he has some lady correspondent up north. well, that strikes me as quite a reasonable supposition. indeed, i have heard that most of them have; but what--what did i _ever_ say to lead to such a remark as this: 'knowing what susceptible fellows cadets are (from your own statements)'? what could i ever have said to give you such an impression? why, uncle george, _how_ should i know whether they are susceptible or not? and how could you be so cruel as to allude to the dismal fact that i had been up there every summer for six or eight years, and am still bella grayson? does _that_ look as though i thought them susceptible? "but seriously; you say that mr. amory has become involved in 'some entanglement there from which he would now gladly escape,' and you fancy that mr. amory has done me the honor to make me his confidante; but herein you are mistaken. certainly i have never heard a word from him of an 'entanglement,' nor do i remember his being devoted to any young girl in particular. indeed, he struck me as being rather general in his attentions, what little i saw of him. it would be a great pleasure, no doubt, 'to help him out of his boyish folly and into something worth having,' to use your own words, but indeed, uncle george, you overrate my influence entirely. "nevertheless, i always liked mr. amory very much, and am greatly interested in his romance. perhaps if you were to tell me what he _said_ to make you think he wanted to escape from his northern entanglement, i might be able to recall some one of his flames to whom the remarks would be applicable. tell me what you _know_ and then my 'thinking-cap' may be put on to some advantage. just now i'm much in the dark, and, except very casually indeed, have not heard from mr. amory for quite a while (how definite!--g. s. b.), and as he never mentioned this new charmer to his 'confidante,' i am most curious to hear of her. do tell me who she is, what she is like. is she pretty? of course that is the first question; is she--anything, everything, in fact? do be a good uncle georgy and write. we were all so glad to hear from you, but as i answered, i shall expect an answer equally prompt. so write speedily to "your loving niece, "bella." when mr. brandon finally sought his bachelor pillow that night, it is regretfully recorded that he, like dogberry, remembered that he was writ an ass. chapter xvii. two days after mrs. amory's arrival, i was seated in madame r----'s cosey parlor. beside me in an easy-chair, and dressed in his fatigue uniform, was mars. on the table beside him were two bunches of violets in their respective tumblers. one fresh and fragrant, the other faded and droopy. it was late in the afternoon; mrs. amory had gone with mr. parker in search of a little fresh air and exercise, and mars had dropped his newspaper to give me a pleasant welcome. he was a little languid and tired, he said; "had to write a long letter that morning." and here he looked very strangely at me, "but felt better now that 'twas gone." i could not but fancy that there was a constraint, a vaguely injured tone, in his quiet talk. there was a lack of the old, cordial ring in his voice, though he was every bit as courteous, even as friendly as ever. it was something that puzzled me, and i wanted to get at once at the why and wherefore, yet shrunk from questioning. somehow or other my psychological investigations and inquiries had not been crowned with brilliant success of late, and distrust had taken the place of the serene confidence with which i used to encounter such problems. "mother has taken the letter to post," he said, "but will be back very soon. i expect her any moment." as we were talking there came a ring at the bell. a servant passed the doorway, and in an instant reappeared ushering two ladies, miss summers followed by kitty carrington. "why, frank amory! how glad i am to see you up again!" was the delighted exclamation of the former, as she quickly stepped forward to take his hand; "and here's kitty," she added, with faintly tremulous tone. "we--kitty hoped to see your mother, and they said she was here." "mother will be back in a moment. how do you do, miss carrington?" said mars, looking around pauline in unmistakable eagerness, and with coloring cheeks and brow, as he strove to rise and hold out his hand. "don't try to get up, mr. amory," said kitty, timidly, half imploringly, as with downcast eyes, and cheeks far more flushed than his own, she quickly stepped to his side; just touched his hand, and then dropped back to the sofa without so much as a word or glance for miserable me. for several minutes pauline chatted gayly, as though striving to give every one time to regain composure. kitty sat silently by; once in awhile stealing timid, startled glances around; and listening nervously, as though for the coming footsteps of some one she dreaded to meet. pauline watched her with furtive uneasiness, and occasionally looked imploringly at me. to my masculine impenetrability there was only one point in the situation. mrs. amory had arrived here in town--a stranger. miss summers and miss carrington were not exactly old residents, but were "to the manner born," and it behooved them both to call upon the older lady. why should there be any cause for embarrassment? why should kitty look ill at ease, nervous, distressed? why should mars be so unusually excited and flighty? what was there about the whole proceeding to upset any one's equanimity? what incomprehensible mysteries women were, anyhow! bella grayson especially! what dolts they made men appear in trying to conform to their whims and vagaries! what a labor of hercules it was to attempt to fathom their moods! what----the door opened and in came mrs. amory and parker. all rose to greet them, and i could see that kitty, pale as a sheet, was trembling from head to foot. at least i had sense enough to appreciate and admire once more the grace and tact and genuine kindliness that seemed to illumine every act and word of this gracious lady. mrs. amory went at once to kitty; greeted her in the same low-toned yet cordial voice that had already become the subject of our admiring talk; then, after a brief word with each of us, had taken her seat with kitty upon the sofa, and in five minutes had so completely won the trust and confidence of that nervous little body that her color had returned in all its brilliancy; her lovely dark eyes were sparkling with animation and interest; and though she talked but little, we could all see that she was charmed with mrs. amory's manner, and that she drank in every word with unflagging pleasure. mars, though keeping up a desultory talk with miss summers and parker, managed to cast frequent glances at the pair on the sofa, and it was a comfort to watch the joy that kindled in his young eyes. pauline seemed to divine his wish to watch them, and frequently took the load of conversation from his shoulders by absorbing the attention of the aide-de-camp and myself, and this gave him the longed-for opportunity to listen once in a while to the talk between his mother and kitty. once, glancing furtively towards his chair, kitty's eyes had encountered his fixed intently upon her, whereat the color flashed again to the roots of her hair, and the long lashes and white lids dropped instantly over her betraying orbs. from that marvellous and intricate encyclopædia of family history, a southern woman's brain, mrs. amory had brought forth an array of facts regarding kitty's relatives that fairly delighted that little damsel with its interest. somewhere in the distant past a north carolina ward had married a kentucky carrington; and while she herself had married an officer of the army, her sister had married a ward; and so it went. mrs. amory could tell kitty just where and whom her people had married from the days of daniel boone. the chat went blithely on, and so, when miss summers smilingly rose and said that it was time to go, kitty looked startled and incredulous,--the dreaded interview had been a genuine pleasure to her. mars arose and stood erect as the ladies were saying their adieux. pauline was saying to mrs. amory that by the next day major vinton would hope to be able to drive out for the air, and as soon as possible would come to see her; and this left kitty for an instant unoccupied. her eyes would not wander in his direction, however; and after an instant's irresolute pause he stepped beside her, so that, as they turned to go, she _had_ to see his outstretched hand. i wanted to see what was to follow, but parker and i had sidled towards the door to escort the ladies to their carriage. miss summers caught my eyes; seemed instantly to read my vile curiosity, for, with a smile that was absolutely mischievous, she placed herself between me and kitty, who was last to leave the room. i only saw him bend low over her hand; could not catch a word he said, and was calmly surged out into the hall with ungratified and baffled spirit. it was cruel in pauline. she ought to have known that i was even more interested in the affair than any woman could have been. "what do you think of mrs. amory?" i delicately and appropriately asked miss kitty as we drove down-town. she was in a revery, and not disposed to talk; and miss summers, who had invited me to take a seat in their carriage, had given me no opportunity of breaking in upon her meditations until this moment. kitty started from her dream; flashed one quick glance at me, as she answered,-- "mrs. amory? i think she's _lovely_," then as quickly relapsed into her fit of abstraction. evidently mr. brandon's well-meant interruptions were not especially welcome there; then, as we reached the house on royal street, major vinton, seated at the window, waved us (_us_ indeed!) a joyous greeting, and, despite miss summers' most courteous invitation to come in a while, mr. brandon felt that he had been interloping long enough, and having thus partially come to his senses, the narrator walked dolefully away. in the week that followed, there were almost daily visits between the ladies of the royal and camp street households. vinton had sufficiently improved to be able to drive out every day and to take very short walks, accompanied by his radiant _fiancée_. much mysterious shopping was going on, mrs. amory and kitty being occupied for some hours each bright morning in accompanying miss summers on her canal street researches. mars had returned to duty with his troop, and almost every evening could be seen riding down to royal street to report to his captain how matters were progressing. i was struck by the regularity and precision with which those reports seemed to be necessary, and the absolute brevity of their rendition. having nothing better to do, as i fancied, i was frequently there at royal street when mars would come trotting down the block pavement. each evening seemed to add to the spring and activity with which he would vault from the saddle; toss the reins to his attendant orderly, and come leaping up the steps to the second floor. "all serene" was the customary extent of his report to vinton, who was almost invariably playing backgammon with miss summers at that hour; while the judge, harrod, and i would be discussing the affairs of the day in a distant corner. this left kitty the only unoccupied creature in the room, unless the listless interest bestowed upon the book she held in her lap could be termed occupation. what more natural, therefore, than that mr. amory should turn to her for conversation and entertainment on his arrival? and then kitty had improved so in health and spirits of late. she was so blithe and gay; humming little snatches of song; dancing about the old house like a sprite; striving very hard to settle down and be demure when i came to see the judge; and never entirely succeeding until amory appeared, when she was the personification of maidenly reserve and propriety. occasionally mars would escort his mother down, and then there would be a joyous gathering, for we had all learned to love her by this time; and as for vinton--miss summers once impetuously declared that she was with good reason becoming jealous. when _she_ came, kitty would quit her customary post on the sofa; take a low chair, and actually hang about mrs. amory's knees; and all mars' chances for a _tête-à-tête_ were gone. nevertheless, he was losing much of the old shyness, and apparently learning to lose himself in her society, and to be profoundly discontented when she was away; and one lovely evening a funny thing happened. there was to be a procession of some kind on canal street,--no city in the world can compete with new orleans in the number and variety of its processions,--and as the bands were playing brilliantly over towards the st. charles, vinton proposed that we should stroll thither and hear the music. the judge offered his arm with his old-fashioned, courtly grace to mrs. amory; vinton, of course, claimed pauline; harrod and i fell back together; and amory and kitty paired off both by force of circumstances and his own evident inclination. once on the _banquette_, amory showed a disposition to linger behind and take the rear with his sweet companion, but miss kit would none of it. with feminine inconsistency and coquettishness she fairly took the lead, and so it resulted that she and amory headed instead of followed the party. plainly mars was a little miffed; but he bore up gallantly, and had a most unexpected and delightful revenge. at the very first crossing, something of a crowd had gathered about the cigar store, and so it resulted for a moment that our party was brought to a stand, all in a bunch, right by the old dago's orange counter to which harrod had made disdainful allusion in connection with kitty's mysterious mission of the previous week; and now, close beside the counter, there was seated a chatty old negress with a great basket before her heaped with violets: some in tiny knots, others in loose fragrant pyramids. the instant she caught sight of kitty her face beamed with delight. she eagerly held forward her basket; kitty struggled as though to push ahead through the throng on the narrow pavement, but all to no purpose. she could not move an inch; and there, imprisoned, the little beauty, bewildered with confusion and dismay, was forced to hear what we all heard, the half-laughing, half-reproachful appeal of the darky flower-vender. "ah, lady! you doan' come to me no mo' for vi'lets now de captain's up agin." and there was no help for it; one and all we burst into a peal of merry laughter; even poor kitty, though she stamped her foot with vexation and turned away in vehement wrath. and oh! how proud, wild with delight frank amory looked as he bent over her and strove to make some diversion in her favor by boring a way through the crowd and hurrying her along! we could see him all the rest of the evening striving hard to make her forget that which he _never_ could. but kitty had only one feminine method of revenging herself, and that was on him. womanlike, she was cold and distant to him all the evening; left him at every possible opportunity to lavish attentions on anybody else,--even me; and after all mars went home that night looking far from happy. no sooner was he out of the house than harrod turned to me with an expression of inspired idiocy on his face and said, "what was it you were all laughing at up there at the corner,--something about violets and captains?" whereat kitty flounced indignantly out of the room, and we saw her no more that night. but all this time not another word had i heard from bella grayson. in fact, not a word had i written to her. she had parried the verbal thrusts in my letter with such consummate ease and skill that it occurred to me i was no match for her in that sort of diplomacy. now the question that was agitating my mind was, how was mars to get out of that entanglement if it really existed? my efforts in his behalf did not seem to be rewarded with the brilliant and immediate success that such depth of tact had deserved; and, my intervention being of no avail, what could he expect? fancy the surprise, therefore, with which i received on the following day a visit from mars himself. it was late in the afternoon; i was alone in the office and hard at work finishing some long neglected business, when the door opened and my young cavalryman appeared. he shook my hand cordially; said that he had come to see me on personal business; and asked if i could give him half an hour. i gladly said yes, and, noting his heightened color and his evident embarrassment, bade him pull up a chair and talk to me as he would to an old chum. i can best give his story in nearly his own words. "mother says i owe it to you, mr. brandon, to tell you what has been on my mind so long. you have been very kind and very indulgent, and i wish i had told you my trouble long ago. i'll make it short as i can." and with many a painful blush--but with manful purpose and earnestness--mars pushed ahead. "i met miss grayson, your niece, during my first class summer at west point, and got to admire her, as everybody else did. i got to more than admire her. she absolutely fascinated me. i don't mean that she tried to in the least,--she just couldn't help it. before camp was half over i was just beside myself about her; couldn't be content if i didn't see her every day; take her to the hops, and devote myself generally. every man in the class thought i was dead in love with her. mr. brandon, i--i did myself. i never ceased to think so--until last--until after that ku-klux fight at sandbrook. i _made_ her think so. she really tried to talk me out of it at first,--she did indeed. she said that it was simply a fancy that i would soon outgrow; and she never for once could be induced to say that she cared anything for me. she was always lovely and ladylike, always perfect, it seemed to me. she even went so far as to remind me that she was as old as i was, and far older in the ways of the world, and cadets especially. she never encouraged me one bit, and i just went on getting more and more in love with her all that year; used to write to her three or four times a week; dozens of letters that she only occasionally answered. then she came up in june, and i was incessantly at her side. she might not care for me, but she did not seem to care for anybody else, and so it went on. she would not take my class ring when i begged her to that summer. she wore it a few days, but made me take it back the day we graduates went away; but i went back that summer to see her twice, and when i came away i swore that after i'd been in service a year i would return to new york to offer myself again; and we used to write to each other that winter, only her letters were not like mine. they were nice and friendly and all that,--still, i knew she had my promise. i thought she would expect me to come back. i felt engaged so far as i was concerned; then when i got wounded her letters grew far more interested, you know (mr. brandon nodded appreciatively); and then they began to come often; and, whether it was that she thought our life was very hazardous, or that the climate was going to be a bad thing for me, or that i would not recover rapidly there, her letters began to urge me to come north. i got two at sandbrook--one the very day you were there at the tent--and two since we came here; and then--then i found only too surely that it was not love i felt for her; indeed, that i had grown to love--you know well enough (almost defiantly)--miss carrington. i felt in honor bound to carry out my promise to miss grayson, and to avoid--to--well, to be true to my promise in every way. but i was utterly miserable. mother detected it in my letters, and at last i broke down and told her the truth. she said there was only one honorable course for me to pursue, and that was to write to miss grayson and tell her the same, tell her the whole truth; and it was an awful wrench, but i did it that day you were at the house. it came hard too, for only the day before a letter came from her full of all sorts of queer things. a little bird had whispered that, like all the rest, i had found my cadet attachment something to be forgotten with the gray coat and bell buttons. she had heard this, that, and the other thing; she would not reproach. it was only what she had predicted all along, etc., and it cut me up like blazes; but mother smiled quietly when i told her, said that i must expect to be handled without gloves, and warned me that i must look for very _just_ comments on my conduct; and then somehow i decided that you had written to her about me. you said nothing to make me think so, and altogether i was in an awful stew until this morning." "and what now?" i asked, eagerly. "her answer came. brandon, she's a trump; she's a gem; and so's her letter. mother's got it, and is writing to her herself. i'm inexpressibly humbled, but somehow or other happier than i've ever been." and the boy and i shook hands warmly, and mr. brandon bethought himself that that blessed bella should have the loveliest easter present the avuncular purse could buy. "what did bella say?" he asked. "oh! i can't quite tell you. it was all just so sweet and warm-hearted and congratulatory (though that is possibly premature), and just as lovely a letter as ever was written." "and we may look for two weddings in the --th cavalry, then?" but mars' features clouded. "vinton and miss summers will be married next month; for vinton says we may expect to be ordered to the plains with the coming of summer, but no such luck for me. i have precious little hope just now." "and has miss carrington heard of our bella?" i asked, mischievously. "good heavens! i hope not. that would be the death-blow to everything." yes, it struck me that _there_ would be a weapon that miss kit would use with merciless power. chapter xviii. it was a gala night at the opera. the grand old house, so perfect in acoustic properties, so comfortably old-fashioned in design, so quaintly foreign in all its appointments, was filled with an audience composed of the music-loving people of new orleans, and a sprinkling of northern visitors still lingering amid the balmy odors of the magnolia and the orange-blossoms. spring had come,--summer was coming. the sun was already high and warm enough to warrant the appearance of parasols by day; while, after it sank to rest, the ray-warmed breezes were welcomed through open door and casement; and in hundreds of slender hands the fan, swung and flirted with the indolent grace our southern women have so readily learned from their castilian sisterhood across the sea, stirred the perfumed air, and rustled soft accompaniment to the witchery of the music. entering that old french opera-house on bourbon street, one steps on foreign soil. america is left behind. french is the language of every sign, of the libretto, even of the programme. french only is or was then spoken by the employés of the house. french the orchestra, the chorus, the language of the play. french, everything but the music. the ornamentation of the house, the arrangement of the boxes, the very division of the audience was the design of foreign hands, and here, more readily than anywhere in our land, could one imagine oneself abroad. these were days of triumph for the stockholders of the old company. the somewhat over-gilded and too ornate decorations might have lost much of their freshness, the upholstery had grown worn and faded; but the orchestra and the company were admirable. aiming at perfection and completeness in all details, the managers had kept up the old system of putting everything _thoroughly_ upon the stage. costumes and properties, though old, were accurate and appropriate; the chorus was full, admirably schooled and disciplined; and the orchestra, in the days when calabresi's _bâton_ called it into life, had no superior in the country. instead of lavishing fortunes on some one marvellous _prima donna_ and concomitant tenor, the aim of the management had been to secure excellent voices, good actors, conscientious artists, and so be sure of rendering an opera in its entirety,--every part well and suitably filled, instead of turning the grand creations of the great composers into mere concert recitations. one heard the opera in new orleans as he heard it nowhere else in the country, and there, and there only of all its places of public amusement, could one see in full force the culture and the refinement of the crescent city. it was a "full dress" night. the parquet was filled with men in the conventional black swallow-tail. the dress and second circles of open boxes, the _loges_ behind them, were brilliant with the toilets of beautifully-dressed women; and in one of these latter enclosures were seated miss summers and kitty, behind whom could be seen vinton, amory, and harrod. leaving my seat in the parquet, i strolled up to their box immediately after the curtain fell upon the first act of "the huguenots." some forty-eight hours had passed since my meeting with mars, and that vivid curiosity of mine was all aflame as to the later developments. both ladies turned and gave me cordial welcome as i entered. vinton made room for me behind miss summers' chair, and harrod strolled out to see some friends. though both officers were in civilian evening dress, the story of pauline's engagement was known among the few acquaintances she had in society, and her escort, a stranger to the city, was doubtless assumed to be the yankee major. it was too soon after the war for such an alliance to be looked on with favor by those who had recently been in bitter hostility to the army blue, and the few glances or nods of recognition that passed between miss summers and a party of ladies in an adjoining box were constrained--even cold. to my proud-spirited friend this was a matter of little consequence. if anything, it served only the more deeply and firmly to attach her to the gallant gentleman, still pale and languid from his recent illness, who so devotedly hovered about her the entire evening. her sweet, womanly face was full of the deepest tenderness as she leaned back to speak to him from time to time, and soon, with woman's quick intuition, observing that i was anxious to watch kitty and mars, she delightedly resigned herself to my abstraction and gave her undivided attention to vinton. never in my brief acquaintance with her had kitty carrington looked so bewitchingly pretty. never were her eyes so deep, dark, lustrous; never--i could plainly see--so dangerous. never was her color so brilliant, never were her lips so red, her teeth so flashingly white; and never yet had i seen her when all her fascinations were so mercilessly levelled at a victim's heart, even while she herself was tormenting him to the extent of every feminine ingenuity. the situation was plain at a single glance. her greeting to me had been coquettishly cordial, and for a moment she looked as though she expected me to accept mr. amory's proffered chair at her back. but mars had risen with so rueful a look in his eyes--something so appealing and wistful in his bearing--that i had the decency to decline; and with vast relief of manner he slid back into his seat, and the torment went on. in low, eager tones he was murmuring to her over the back of her chair. she--with head half turned, so that one little ear, pink and shell-like, was temptingly near his lips--was listening with an air of saucy triumph to his pleadings,--whatever they were,--her long lashes sweeping down over her flushed cheeks, and her eyes, only at intervals, shooting sidelong glances at him. what he was saying i could not hear, but never saw i man so plunged in the depths of fascination. his eyes never left their adoring gaze upon her face, yet they were full of trouble, full of pleading that might have moved a heart of stone. but kitty was merciless. at last there came a bubble of soft, silvery laughter and the mischievous inquiry,-- "and how should a lady answer? how--miss grayson, for instance?" for a moment there was no word of reply. amory sat like one in a daze. then very slowly he drew back, and i could see that his hand was clinched and that his bright young face had paled. alarmed at his silence, toying nervously with her fan, she strove to see his eyes, yet dared not look around. mars slowly rose to his feet, bent calmly over her, and, though his voice trembled and his lips were very white, he spoke distinctly, even cuttingly,-- "miss grayson would have answered at least with courtesy and--good-night, miss carrington." and before another word could be said he had quickly bowed to the rest of us and abruptly quited the box. evidently she had tormented him until his quick, impulsive, boyish nature could bear it no longer,--until his spirit had taken fire at her merciless coquetry,--and then, giving her no chance to retract or relent, he had vanished in choking indignation. kitty sat still as a statue one little minute, turning from red to white. pauline, who had heard only amory's sudden words of farewell, looked wonderingly up an instant, then seeing plainly that there had been a misunderstanding, and that remark or interference would only complicate matters, she wisely turned back to vinton, and the rising of the curtain gave all an excuse to concentrate their eyes, if not their thoughts, upon the stage. but the opera was an old story to me. kitty was a novelty, a study of constantly varying phases, a picture i never tired of gazing at, and now she was becoming even more--a perfect fascination. pauline glanced furtively, anxiously, at her from time to time, but i,--i most unblushingly watched and stared. she was manifestly ill at ease and grievously disquieted at the result of her coquetry. her brilliant color had fled. her eyes, suspiciously moistened, wandered nervously about the house, as though searching for her vanished knight, that they might flash their signal of recall. i, too, kept an eye on the parquet and the lobby, far as i could see, vaguely hoping that mars might relent and take refuge there, when his wrath would have time to cool, and he could be within range of her fluttering summons to "come back and be forgiven." but the second act came to a close. mars never once appeared. vinton and miss summers once or twice addressed some tentative remark to kitty, as though to bring her again into the general conversation and cover her evident distress; but monosyllabic replies and quivering lips were her only answer. i began to grow nervous, and decided to sally forth in search of my peppery hero. my ministrations had been vastly potent and diplomatic thus far, and might be again. so, with a word or two of excuse, i made my bow and strolled into the _foyer_. one or two acquaintances detained me a few moments, but during the intermission between the acts i was able to satisfy myself that mr. amory was no longer in the house. indeed, some of the officers stationed in town told me that they had seen him crossing the street just as they re-entered. presently i met colonel newhall, and his first question was,-- "how is vinton to-night?" "very well, apparently. do you want to see him?" "not particularly. he is here, i believe. you might tell him that his sick-leave is granted. it may be welcome news to him--just now." "naturally: as he expects to be married next month." "yes. i'm glad he got the leave--when he did," said the colonel, as he turned away to speak to some friends. something in his manner set me to thinking. what could he mean by saying that he was glad vinton had secured his leave of absence? was any sudden move probable? amory did say that it was current talk that their regiment was to be ordered to the frontier in the spring. could it be that the order had already come? i went back to the box. kitty looked eagerly around as i entered, then turned back in evident disappointment. not a word was exchanged between us until the close of the act; but for two occupants of the _loge_ "the huguenots" had lost all interest. it was eleven o'clock and after as we reached the lodgings on our return from the opera. mars had nowhere appeared, though kitty's eyes sought him in the throng at the doorway, and, as we drew near the house, she looked eagerly ahead at a soldierly form in cavalry undress uniform. a corporal of the troop was lounging under the gas-light at the entrance. the moment he caught sight of our party he stepped forward and handed vinton a letter. there was nothing unusual about a letter arriving for major vinton--day or night. orderlies came frequently to the old house on royal street with bulky missives for him; yet i felt a premonition in some inexplicable way that this was no ordinary communication. it was a mere note, and i thought the corporal said, "from the lieutenant, sir." yet i knew it meant tidings of importance,--and so did others. miss summers had withdrawn her hand from vinton's arm as he took the note, and with deep anxiety in her paling face stood watching him as he opened and read it under the lamp. kitty too had stepped forward, and, resting one little hand on the stone post at the doorway, gazed with equal intensity and a face that was paler yet than her cousin's. harrod and i, a little behind them, were silent witnesses. presently vinton looked up, his eyes seeking the face he loved. "what is it?" she asked. "our orders have come." for an instant no one spoke. i could not take my eyes off kitty, whose back was towards me, but who i could see was struggling hard for composure. pauline instinctively put forth her hand, drawing kitty closer to her side. "shall i read it?" asked vinton, gently, looking at pauline, after one hurried glance at kitty. she nodded assent. "it is from amory," he said. "dear major,--parker has just met me. the orders are out. regiment ordered to dakota. our troop goes by first boat to st. louis. your leave is granted, so it does not affect you; but--i'm glad to go. parker says by 'james howard' to-morrow night. "yours in haste, "amory" without a word kitty carrington turned from us and hurried into the house. "what on earth could take the regiment to dakota?" asked harrod, after a moment of silence. "the sioux have been troublesome all along the missouri and yellowstone of late, and this is anything but unexpected. we had a lively campaign against the southern cheyennes, you remember, and this promises more work of the same kind, only much farther north." pauline's eyes were filling with tears. i was plainly _de trop_, and had sense enough left to appreciate that fact at least. promising to meet vinton at headquarters in the morning, i took my departure. i had made up my mind, late as it was, to go and see amory; and, late as it was, i found him in earnest talk with his mother. "can you spare me a moment?" i asked. "i have just heard the news, and if it be true you sail to-morrow night, you will be too much occupied to-morrow." he had come to the door to admit me, and looked reluctantly back. hearing my voice, mrs. amory came into the hall to greet me, and courteously as ever she asked me to enter; but i saw the traces of tears on her face, and knew that their time was precious. "i want to have a moment's talk with this young man, mrs. amory. i will not take him farther than the corner, and will not keep him longer than five minutes at the utmost. can you spare him that long?" she smiled assent, but mars hung back. he knew well that i was once again coming forward with some intervention, and his blood was up, his anger still aglow; but i was not to be denied. he seized his forage-cap and stepped out with me into the starlit night. "there is no time for apologies from an old fellow like me, amory," said i, placing a hand involuntarily on his shoulder. "forgive me if i pain you, or am too intrusive. i heard what happened at the opera to-night. would you be willing to tell me how she came to know anything about bella grayson?" "i told miss carrington myself," said mars, rather shortly; and his hands went down in his pockets, and a very set look came into his face as he kicked at a projecting ledge in the uneven pavement. "you know how i've grown to like you, youngster, and _must_ know that i can have no other impulse or excuse in thus meddling with your affairs. i'm fond of her too, frank, and have seen enough to-night--and before--to convince me that she would give a vast deal to unsay those thoughtless words. i do not excuse her conduct; but she never for an instant could have dreamed of its effect, and it did not take the news of your order to make her repent it bitterly. i could see that plainly. amory, _don't_ go without seeing her." mars made no reply whatever. "have you told your mother of this misunderstanding?" i asked. "not exactly. i have told her--she saw i was cut up about something and asked--that something had been said that was very hard to bear, but that i had rather not talk of it now. i was too much hurt." "well. then i must say nothing further, my boy; but if i may ask anything for the sake of the friendship i feel for you and for them, tell your mother the whole affair, and let her guide your action. now, forgive me, and good-night. we will meet in the morning." he pressed my hand cordially enough, but still made no reply to my request. "thank you, mr. brandon; good-night," was all he said, and mr. brandon walked gloomily homeward. _amantium iræ_ might be easy things to settle if left to the participants, but were vastly easier to stumble into. clear, cloudless, lovely dawned the morrow, and long before office hours i had breakfasted and betaken myself to headquarters. mr. parker was there, and amory had been at the office, but vinton had as yet put in no appearance. my first question was as to the probable time of departure of the troop, and parker's tidings filled me with hope. the quartermaster had been unable to secure transportation for the horses in the "howard." the troops could not sail before the following day. meantime, he said, there was to be a review of the small force in the city that very afternoon, and the general had expressed a desire to have a look at the cavalry once more before they started for their new and distant sphere of duty. it was his favorite arm of the service, and he hated to part with them. by and by the general himself arrived, and major vinton happening in at almost the same moment, "the chief" led the latter into his private office and held him there for over half an hour in conversation. an orderly was despatched for mr. amory, who was busily occupied over at the stables, and that young gentleman presently made his appearance, looking somewhat dusty and fatigued. the men were packing for the move and getting ready for their afternoon exhibition at one and the same time, he explained. then vinton came out, called his subaltern to one side, and gave him some instructions in his quiet way, and no sooner had he finished than amory faced about and went out of the room like a shot. then for the first time i had a chance to speak to vinton and ask after the ladies. "very well; at least miss summers is, despite her natural concern at our sudden taking off----" "why, you are not going!" i interrupted. "yes," he answered. "as far as memphis, at least. then i shall leave the troop to amory and make for sandbrook, whither the judge and the ladies will start in a few days. that is," he concluded, with a smile, "unless some new freak takes miss kitty carrington. that little lady is ready to tear her pretty hair out by the handful this morning. she did not come to breakfast at all, and i fancy she had an unusually sharp skirmish with amory last night. by the way, i've got a note for him, and he's gone,--gone clear to the foot of canal street, too, to look at the accommodations on one of those smaller steamers,--and i was enjoined to give it to him at once." "give it to me; i'll take it," said i, all eagerness. "what boat will he be looking at? i'll get there in short order." "he ought to be back here by noon," said vinton. "it will take him not more than an hour." but i was eager to see mars myself. the note must be from kitty, i argued; and so, indeed, i knew it to be, from the dainty envelope and superscription when the major drew it forth. my theory was that i could get that note to him in less than twenty minutes, and probably be the bearer of peace propositions. it was too alluring a prospect; besides, i was tired of waiting around headquarters doing nothing. vinton saw my eagerness, smiled, gave me his consent and the note, and in half an hour i was at the levee and aboard the "indiana." mars had been there and gone. so much for my officiousness. this time i took a cab, drove rapidly back to headquarters. neither vinton nor amory was there. mr. parker said that the latter had galloped up not fifteen minutes after i left, reported that the "indiana" could not take sixty horses, and was off again, he knew not whither. vinton had gone to the stables. thither i followed. "the major has just driven off in the quartermaster's ambulance, and they're gone to look at some steamboat," said the corporal at the gate. "the lieutenant's horse is back, sir, but he's gone away too." this was a complication. it was after twelve. the review was to come off at three. i wanted to go down and invite the ladies to drive with me to see it. but how could i face kitty carrington with that undelivered note? over to amory's house was the next venture. new despair. he and his mother had taken a street-car and gone up-town only a few minutes before i arrived. now, what on earth could i do? "the lieutenant's horse was to be sent to his quarters," the corporal had informed me, "at quarter before three, and the lieutenant probably would not be back at the stables again before that time." for the next hour mr. g. s. brandon was as miserable a man as the city contained. no one at headquarters could tell where amory had gone. no one knew when vinton would be back. i fumed and fidgeted around the office some few minutes. neither colonel newhall nor mr. parker could help me out in the least. there was no telling where to look for amory. vinton might be found down along the levee, but what good would that do? twice the old general came trudging into the aide-de-camp's room, and looked at me with suspicious eyes from under his shaggy eyebrows,--my ill-concealed impatience and repeated inquiries made him irritable, or my undesired presence during business hours was a nuisance to him, perhaps; at all events, after i had for the tenth time, probably, repeated my hopeless remark of wonderment as to where that young gentleman could have gone, just as the general came promenading into the room with hands clasped behind his back and his head bent upon his breast, as we new orleans people had grown accustomed to seeing or hearing of him, the old soldier stopped short, and, raising his head, testily exclaimed,-- "mr. brandon, what _is_ the matter? does that young officer owe you any money?" "money, sir? no, sir!" i answered, in all haste and half indignation. "by heavens! i wish that were the matter. the boot is on the other leg, general. i owe him something more than money. a letter, sir,--a letter from a young lady, and i undertook to deliver it two hours ago." april sunshine bursting through storm-cloud could not more quickly soften and irradiate the face of nature than that wonderful smile of the old general's could lighten every lineament. who that ever saw it could forget it? it beamed from the wrinkles around the kind old eyes. it flashed from his even teeth. it dimpled his cheeks into a thousand merry lights and shadows. it was sunshine itself, and with it all the old courtly manner instantly returned. "i _beg_ your pardon, sir. i beg _his_ pardon, sir. god bless my soul, what an inexcusable blunder! a note from a young lady. that charming little friend of major vinton's? here, parker, you go. you see if you can't find him, sir. bring him here, sir. help mr. brandon any way you can, sir. god bless my soul, what a blunder!" and by this time we were all laughing too heartily for further words. my indignant and impetuous reply had virtually betrayed the situation. my cab being still at the door i decided to hurry right down to royal street, notify the ladies of the coming review, and of the fact that the troop would not sail until the following day, though i felt sure vinton had done that; then i could return to headquarters. meantime that precious note was placed in parker's hands. whirling across canal street, the cab was just turning into royal when i caught sight of miss summers and harrod on the banquette, and obedient to my shout the driver pulled up. they turned back to greet me. yes, vinton had sent word about the review and the good news that there was yet a day before they could sail. the colonel and his sister were going to attend to some business on canal street, and hurry back to meet him at the lodgings at half-past two; then they would all drive up to see the review near tivoli circle. would i join them? amory was to command the troop, as the doctor thought major vinton not yet strong enough to ride. but where was amory? had i seen him? all this was asked rapidly, as time was short, and almost as rapidly i learned that kitty was at home, and pauline's eyes plainly said waiting and anxious. i decided on driving thither at once and confessing the enormity of my sin of omission. i would find her in their kind landlady's parlor, said miss summers. so in i went. in ten minutes kitty carrington fluttered into the parlor where i was awaiting her. no need to tell that hers had been a night of unhappiness, a day of bitter anxiety. her sweet face was very pale and wan, her eyes red with weeping. how to break my news i did not know. she looked wonderingly, wistfully, at the solemnity of my face, gave me her hand with hardly a word of greeting, and stood by the table waiting for me to tell my errand, forgetful of the civility of asking me to be seated. "miss kitty, i am in great trouble. nearly three hours ago i volunteered to hurry down to the levee with a letter that major vinton had for mr. amory, but mr. amory and i missed each other, have missed each other ever since. he has gone somewhere with his mother, and yet must be back in time for the review, but i felt certain that letter ought to get to him at once. yet you know they do not sail until to-morrow, do you not?" her head was averted, her slight form was quivering and trembling, her bosom heaving violently in the effort to control the sob that, despite all struggles, burst from her lips. she had been waiting for him all the morning. in another moment, for all answer, she had thrown herself upon the sofa, and was weeping in a wild passion of unrestrained misery. poor little motherless kit! and this was my doing. in vain i strove to soothe her. in vain i protested that the letter would soon be in his hands, that no possible harm could come from the delay. nay, in my eagerness and ludicrous distress i believe i knelt and strove to draw her hands away from her face. then she hurriedly arose, rushed to the window, and leaning her arms upon the casement, and bowing her pretty head upon her hands, sobbed wildly. good heavens! what _could_ such an old idiot do? i was powerless, helpless, wretched. suddenly there came a springy step along the lower passage, a quick, bounding footfall on the stair, the clink of spurred heels upon the matting in the hall, and frank amory, with a world of sunshine in his glad young face, stood at the doorway. one glance showed him where she stood, still weeping piteously, still blind to his presence. one spring took him half across the room, one second to her side. i heard but one quick, low-toned, almost ecstatic cry. "kitty! darling! forgive me!" i saw his arms enfold her. i saw her raise her head, startled, amazed. saw one wondering flash of light and joy in the tear-dimmed eyes, but of what happened next i have no knowledge, not even conjecture. for once in his life mr. brandon had the decency not to look, the sagacity to know that he was no longer needed, if indeed he ever had been, and the presence of mind to take himself off. chapter xix. later that lovely afternoon an open carriage whirled up st. charles street towards old tivoli circle. its occupants were miss summers and kitty carrington, colonel summers and myself. at the circle we were joined by another, in which were seated mrs. amory, madame r----, and major vinton. we were late, it seems, and the review had already begun, so there was no time for conversation between the carriage-loads; but smiles and nods and waving hands conveyed cheery greeting, and kitty's cheeks flamed; her eyes, half veiled as though in shy emotion, followed mrs. amory's kindly face until their carriage fell behind; then, detecting me as usual in my occupation of watching her, she colored still more vividly, and looking bravely, saucily up into my face, remarked,-- "well, mr. brandon, have you nothing to say to me? are you aware that you have not even remarked upon the beauty of the weather this afternoon?" and this was from the girl whom, hardly two hours before, i had seen plunged in the depths of woe and dejection. verily, there was nothing i could say. such alternations of smiles and tears, storm and sunshine, exceeded my comprehension; but it was not a tax upon even my poor powers of discernment to see that my little heroine was now blissfully, radiantly, joyously happy. suddenly our carriage slackened speed. crowds began to appear on the sidewalks of the broad, dusty thoroughfare. we were off the pavement now, and driving along the "dirtroad" of upper st. charles street. i could hear a burst of martial music somewhere ahead, and presently pauline exclaimed, "here are the cavalry!" kitty, sitting on the indicated side, had said never a word. the next moment we rode past the line of troopers sitting stolidly on their horses and looking blankly into space ahead of them. then, riding backwards as i was, i saw kitty's soft cheek flushing redder, and happening to extend my left arm outwards at that instant, my hand almost came in contact with the nose of a tall chestnut sorrel, much to that sorrel's disgust, for he set back his ears and glanced savagely at me; but by that time, i had lost all interest in him and was gazing in amaze at his rider. for something absolutely incomprehensible, commend me to military love-making! less than two hours ago i had bolted out of a room down-town leaving that deliciously pretty young girl opposite me sobbing in the arms of frank amory, who, with all a devoted lover's tenderness, was striving to comfort her. yet here she sat, apparently indifferent; yet there he sat on that very horse whose feelings i had outraged, and though we--no, she--was right under his eyes,--so close that she could stroke his charger's mane with her little hand,--he never so much as glanced at her. mr. frank amory, as commanding officer of his troop on review, actually disdained to look at his lady-love. "_now_ if at any time," thought i, "this little imp of coquetry will flash into flame and wither him when they meet,--perhaps flirt with me, _faute de mieux_, meantime," but to my utter amaze miss kitty took it as admirably as did pauline. each gave him one quick, demure, satisfied little look, as much as to say, "all right, frank, i understand." they had learned their tactics already, i suppose, and i--was an inferior being, unable to appreciate the situation in the least. the review went off all right, i also suppose. it was all a blank to me. the general and his aides rode down the line and our carriages had to get out of the way in a hurry. then the troops marched over to camp street and down that thoroughfare, giving a marching salute as they passed headquarters. we sat in our vehicles on the opposite side of the street, and i simply stared when amory lowered his sabre in sweeping, graceful salute and positively looked away from us, and at his chief. why! up to this time i had been ready to take his part, and upbraid kitty whenever there had been the faintest difference between them. now, _now_, i actually wanted her to resent his conduct; and, with the unerring inconsistency of feminine nature, she did nothing of the kind. the instant the march was over, frank amory came trotting up beside us,--a glad, glorious light in his brave young eyes,--sprang from his saddle and to her side. the others he did not appear to see at all. his eyes were for her alone, for her in all their boyish adoration, in all their glowing pride and tenderness. tearing off his gauntlet, he clasped her hand before a word was said, and she looked shyly, yet steadfastly, down into his transfigured face. "i shall be down right after stables; mother will come sooner," was all he said. then he condescended to notice the rest of us. right after stables indeed! could you not even resent _that_, kitty carrington? were you already so abject that a newly-won lover dare tell you that after his horses were seen to he would look after you? are you already falling into the cavalry groove? learning that unwritten creed that puts the care of his mount as the corner-stone of a trooper's temple? in a state of daze i drove homeward with the ladies. nobody talked much. everybody was happy except my perturbed self. pauline and kitty sat hand in hand. we reached the lodgings, and were but a few moments in the parlor when vinton appeared at the door ushering mrs. amory. kitty was at the window arranging some flowers, but turned instantly, and, blushing like one of her own rosebuds, walked rapidly across the room, looking shyly up into the elder lady's face. how could i help seeing the moistened eye, the slightly quivering lip, when mrs. amory bent and, with one softly-spoken word, "dear," kissed the bonny face. we masculines took ourselves off for a while. it was plain the women had much to talk about, and when they have, the sooner husbands, brothers, and lovers leave, the better for all concerned. "mr. brandon," said the major, as we settled ourselves on the back veranda, "it looks as though your prognostication had come true. our sandbrook ku-klux affair has brought its romance with it." "two of them, major! two of them! we might call them, in view of your modest estimate of army attractions, 'miss summers' sacrifice' and, and----" "kitty's conquest," said harrod. * * * * * swiftly through a tawny waste of whirling waters a great steamer ploughs its way. from towering smoke-stacks volumes of smoke stream back along the tumbling wake and settle on the low-lying shores. breasting the torrent, we have rushed past crowded levee, past sloop, and ship, and shallop, past steamers of every class and build, ocean cruisers, river monarchs, bayou traders, swamp prowlers. lordly up-stream packets lead or follow; churches, domes, chimneys, cotton-presses, elevators, warehouses, give way to low, one-storied, whitewashed cottages, or deep-veranda'd frame homesteads on the one side, to flat and open plantations on the other. eastward there is naught to span the horizon but one far-reaching level of swamp or trembling prairie. westward, two miles back from the river-bank, bold barriers of forest, dense, dark, and impenetrable, shut off the view. in front lies the eddying, swirling, boiling bosom of the mississippi,--the winding highway to the north,--sweeping in majestic curve through shores of shining green. behind us, nestling along the grand arcs of its doubling bend, new orleans and algiers, close clinging to the mighty stream that at once threatens and cajoles. the river is master here, yet dreams not of his power. precious freight our steamer bears this bright and balmy eve. proud of its strength and grace, it surges ahead, rumbling in the vast caverns of its seething furnaces, panting in the depths of its powerful lungs, straining with muscles that glory in their task, hurling aside from iron-shod beak the burdened billows of the opposing river. black as erebus the clouds of smoke from towering chimneys, white as snow the screaming steam-jets, deep and mellow the note of signal-bell, clear, ringing, rollicking the farewell chorus of our swarthy crew. boom! goes the roar of saucy little field-piece in parting salutation to the sun, redly sinking through the forest to our left, and then, from the lower deck, what unaccustomed sound is that? a trumpet, a cavalry trumpet sounds the final tribute to departing day, and a moment later a young officer comes springing from below and joins our group upon the hurricane-deck. here enjoying the scene, the gliding rush of our gallant craft, the balmy softness of the southern air, we are seated, an almost silent party of seven. we are mrs. amory, miss summers, and kitty; major vinton, mr. amory, harrod, and myself. we are fellow-passengers for the evening only. the troop, men and horses both, is billeted below, and under command of its young lieutenant goes through to st. louis, thence up the missouri to its new sphere of duties in the far northwest. vinton is a passenger as far as memphis, where escorting mrs. amory, he takes the train to washington. the rest of us, pauline, kitty, harrod, and i, go only up to donaldsonville, where we arrive late at night, and take the local packet back to the city. in all the excitement and perturbation consequent upon the sudden departure of the troop; in all the hurry of preparation, requiring as it did the attention of both officers, there was no time for the interviews, the fond partings, the "sweet sorrows" incident to such occasions. an unusual thing occurred,--a bright idea struck mr. brandon. he proposed that the quartette should accompany the troop a short way up the river and there drink with them the stirrup-cup; and at last a proposition of mr. brandon's was regarded worthy of acceptance. so it happens that we are here together. evening comes on apace, and while harrod is smoking somewhere forward, and our cavalrymen are paired off and slowly promenading the deck with the ladies of their love, mrs. amory and i are chatting quietly in the brilliant saloon, and we are talking of mars. her voice is soft and tremulous; her face is full of trust and peace; her eyes fondly follow him and the sweet, girlish form that hangs upon his arm as they stroll forward again after a few loving words with her. "you have been a good friend to my boy, mr. brandon, and you will not forget him now on the distant frontier. it will be late in the fall before he can come east." "so long as that! i had cherished some wild notion that we might have a double ceremony, when the major and miss summers are married." "no. that would be too precipitate. she is very young yet; so is frank for that matter, but he is thoroughly in earnest. it is not that i anticipate any change of feeling, but it is best for her sake there should be no undue haste. she will spend the time with miss summers until that wedding comes off, then visit relations in the north during the summer. then 'aunt mary' will doubtless claim her. you know that as yet 'aunt mary' has had no intimation of what has been going on. indeed, but for their sudden orders for the field, i doubt very much if the young people would have settled their outstanding differences. she is a lovely child at heart, and frank has been a truthful and a devoted son,"--the dimmed eyes are filling now, and a tear starts slowly down the warm cheek,--"but he is impulsive impetuous, quick, and sensitive, and, sweet as kitty is, she has no little coquetry. it will not all be smiles and sunshine, 'bread and butter and kisses,' mr. brandon." "perhaps not, dear lady, perhaps not, yet i have no fear. he is true and brave and stanch as steel, and she is loving. god bless them!" "amen." late at night. the lights of donaldsonville lie over our larboard bow. the broad river glistens in the glorious sheen of silvery light from the moon aloft. we are gathered in the captain's cabin on the texas and our glasses are filled. moët and chandon sparkles over the brim. "my charger is jangling his bridle and chain, the moment is nearing, dear love, we must sever, but pour out the wine, that thy lover may drain a last stirrup-cup to his true maiden ever." mr. brandon has the floor, and eloquence, forensic, judicial, social, is fled. his idea is to say something stirring and appropriate, but his heart fails him. he can only stammer, "_bon voyage_, boys, and safe and speedy return!" then he slinks out into the shadow of the huge paddle-box, a vanquished man. what a thundering uproar is made by the signal-whistle of these mississippi steamers! the boat fairly quivers from stem to stern in response to the atmospheric disturbance created by the long-drawn blasts. for two minutes at least, in protracted, resounding, deep bellowing roar, that immense clarion heralds our approach to drowsy donaldsonville. three long-drawn blasts of equal length, and while they din upon the drum of the sensitive ear, not another sound can be heard. i clasp my hands to my head and shudderingly cling to the guards. all other sensations are deadened. quick light footsteps approach, but i hear them not. two young hearts are painfully beating close behind me, but i know it not. clasping arms and quivering lips are bidding fond farewell so near that, could i but put one hand around the corner of the narrow passage-way, it would light on a cavalry shoulder-strap (the right shoulder, for the other is pre-empted), but i see it not. not until the deafening uproar ceases with sudden jerk, am i aware of what is going on almost at my invisible elbow. i hear a long-drawn sibilant something that is not a whistle, is not a hiss, yet something like; i hear a plaintive sob; i hear a deep, manly voice, tremulous in its tenderness. and again the miserable conviction flashes over me that i'm just where i ought not to be,--am not supposed to be,--and yet cannot get out without ruining the impressive climax. forgive me, kitty! forgive me, frank! for years i've kept your secret. for years you never suspected that you were overheard. nearly all your story was jotted down that very spring, but not this part, not this; and now that the brief chronicle is wellnigh closed,--now that "this part" is as old a story as the rest, and as the rest would be utterly incomplete without just such a finale, can you not find it in your hearts to forgive me for hearing your sweet and sad and sacred farewell? it was hard, it was bitter trial; it was so sudden, so brief. yet my heart went out to you, gallant and faithful young soldier, when i heard these words, "five long months at least, my darling. you _will_ be true to me, as, god knows, i will be to you?" and you, kitty, rampant little rebel kit, you whom i had seen all coquetry, all mischief, all tormenting, _was_ it your voice, low, tremulous, fond as his own, that i heard murmur, "yes, even if it were years." a few moments more and four of us are standing on the wharf-boat, while the steamer, a brilliant illumination, ploughs and churns her way out into the broad moonlit stream. pauline is waving her handkerchief to the group of three standing by the flag-staff over the stern. kitty, leaning on my arm, trembles, but says no word. tears still cling to the long, fringing lashes. lovely are the humid eyes, the soft rounded cheek, the parted lips. she throws one kiss with her little white hand, and, as the gallant steamer fades away in the distance, her myriad lights blending into one meteoric blaze upon the bosom of the waters, the cousins seek each other's eyes. pauline bends and kisses the smooth white brow and bravely drives back her own tears. kitty leans her bonny head one moment upon the sheltering arm that is then so lovingly thrown around her, relieving mine, and lays her little hand upon her shoulder. a new ring glistens in the moonlight. tiny crossed sabres stand boldly in relief upon the gold; beneath them a bursting shell, above them gleams the polished stone with its sculptured motto. i know it well. 'tis amory's class ring, and his is the proud device, "_loyauté m'oblige_." the end * * * * * the colonel's daughter; or, winnning his spurs. by captain charles king. "the sketches of life in a cavalry command on the frontier are exceedingly vivid and interesting; and the element of adventure is furnished in the graphic and spirited accounts of affairs with the hostile apaches. captain king is to be thanked for an entertaining contribution to the slender stock of american military novels--a contribution so good that we hope that he will give us another."--_n. y. tribune._ "the fertility of this field of garrison and reservation life has already attracted the attention of several writers. we took up the work of captain king with the impression that it might be like some of these, an ephemeral production: we found it instead a charming work, worthy of achieving a permanent place in literature. we cordially congratulate captain king on his accomplished success, for such unquestionably it is."--_army and navy journal, n. y._ "there have been few american novels published of late years so thoroughly readable as 'the colonel's daughter,' which, if it be captain king's first essay in fiction, is assuredly a most encouraging production."--_literary world._ "the volume is a remarkable work of fiction, and will be found entertaining and well worthy a careful reading."--_chicago tribune._ "not for many a season has there appeared before the public a novel so thoroughly captivating as 'the colonel's daughter.' its fresh flavor cannot fail to please the veriest _ennuyé_, while its charming style would disarm the most fastidious critic. with that delicacy of touch peculiar to his workmanship, he draws now upon pathos, now upon humor, but never strains either quality to its utmost capacity, which distinctly proves that captain king is a writer of signal ability, whose novel of 'the colonel's daughter' we hope is but the prelude to many others."--_milwaukee sentinel._ "a departure into a new field in novel writing ought always to be welcomed. 'the colonel's daughter' is, strictly speaking, the first american military novel. it is a good one, and captain king ought to follow up the complete success he has made with other stories of army life on the american frontier. the style of the author is unaffected, pure in tone, and elevating in moral effect."--_wisconsin state journal._ "captain king has in this novel prepared for us a clear and interesting story of army incidents in the west. he is au fait in the art which made sir walter scott a companion for old and young--the art which brings to the mind of the reader that sentient power which places us directly into communion with the imaginary characters filling their parts in a book. the military incidents are interwoven into the inspiring love episode that to the pages of this work add animation."--_times-democrat, new orleans._ "'the colonel's daughter; or, winning his spurs,' a story of military life at an arizona post, written by captain charles king, u.s.a., and published by j. b. lippincott & co., philadelphia, may rightfully claim to be a good novel. its characters are strong and clear-cut: its plot original and well sustained, and the pictures of military life on the frontier, of apache character, and of the physical features of arizona territory are realistic and fascinating."--_san francisco bulletin._ "the outcome of the novel is just what every reader would wish. it is a splendid story, full of life and enjoyment, and will doubtless prove a great favorite."--_iowa state register, des moines._ * * * * * kitty's conquest. by capt. charles king, u.s.a., author of "the colonel's daughter," "marion's faith," etc. "a highly entertaining love story, the scene of which is laid in the south seven years after the war."--_new york herald._ "capt. king has given us another delightful story of american life. the reputation of the author will by no means suffer through his second venture. we can heartily commend the story to all lovers of the american novel."--_washington capital._ "will take rank with its gifted author's vivid romance, 'the colonel's daughter,' and should become as popular. capt. king writes fluently and felicitously, and in the novel under review there is not a tiresome page. everything is graphic, telling, and interesting. the plot is of particular excellence."--_philadelphia evening call._ "'kitty's conquest,' a charming little story of love and adventure, by charles king, u.s.a. the plot is laid in the south during the reconstruction period following the late war. the book is written in a most attractive style, and abounds in bright passages. the characters are drawn in a very pleasing manner, and the plot is handled very successfully throughout. it is altogether a pleasing addition to the library of modern fiction."--_boston post._ "a bright, original, captivating story. the scene is laid in the south some twelve years ago. it is full of life from the word 'go!' and maintains its interest uninterruptedly to the end. the varying fortunes through which the hero pursues his 'military love-making' are graphically depicted, and a spice of dangerous adventure makes the story all the more readable."--_new york school journal._ "a bright and vivaciously-told story, whose incidents, largely founded upon fact, occurred some twelve years ago. the scene, opening in alabama, is soon transferred to new orleans, where the interest mainly centres, revolving round the troublous days when kellogg and mcenery were _de facto_ and _de jure_ claimants of supreme power in louisiana, when the air was filled with notes of warlike preparation and the tread of armed men. though the _heroes_ are, for the most part, united states officers, there is yet nothing but kindly courtesy and generous good-will in the tone of the story, and its delineations of southern character and life, of southern scenes, and the circumstances and conditions of the time. the author is charles king, himself a united states soldier, whose story of 'the colonel's daughter' has been well received."--_new orleans times-democrat._ * * * * * "a brilliant picture of garrison life." marion's faith. by captain charles king, u.s.a., author of "the colonel's daughter," "kitty's conquest," etc. "captain king has done what the many admirers of his charming first story, 'the colonel's daughter,' hoped he would do,--he has written another novel of american army life. the present is in some sort a continuation of the former, many of the characters of the first story reappearing in the pages of this volume. the scenes of the story are laid in the frontier country of the west, and fights with the cheyenne indians afford sufficiently stirring incidents. the same bright, sparkling style and easy manner which rendered 'the colonel's daughter' and 'kitty's conquest' so popular and so delightful, characterize the present volume. it is replete with spirited, interesting, humorous, and pathetic pictures of soldier life on the frontier, and will be received with a warm welcome, not only by the large circle of readers of the author's previous works, but by all who delight in an excellent story charmingly told."--_chicago evening journal._ "the author of this novel is a gallant soldier, now on the retired list by reason of wounds received in the line of duty. the favor with which his books have been received proves that he can write as well as fight. 'marion's faith' is a very pleasing story, with a strong flavor of love and shoulder-straps, and military life, and cannot but charm the reader."--_national tribune, washington, d. c._ "captain king has caught the true spirit of the american novel, for he has endowed his work fully and freely with the dash, vigor, breeziness, bravery, tenderness, and truth which are recognized throughout the world as our national characteristics. moreover, he is letting in a flood of light upon the hidden details of army life in our frontier garrisons and amid the hills of the indian country. he is giving the public a bit of insight into the career of a united states soldier, and abundantly demonstrating that the custers and mileses and crooks of to-day are not mere hired men, but soldiers as patriotic, unselfish, and daring as any of those who went down with the guns in the great civil strife. captain king's narrative work is singularly fascinating."--_st. louis republican._ "as descriptions of life at an army post, and of the vicissitudes, trials, and heroisms of army life on the plains, in what are called 'times of peace,' the two novels of captain king are worthy of a high and permanent place in american literature. they will hereafter take rank with cooper's novels as distinctively american works of fiction."--_army and navy register, washington, d. c._ * * * * * american novels, no. . the deserter and from the ranks. by captain charles king, author of "the colonel's daughter," "marion's faith," etc. "these two stories have a tone and an atmosphere wholly different from the commonplace novel of the day, and for that reason alone they are highly enjoyable."--_boston literary world._ "the gallant captain has all a soldier's generous enthusiasm for lovely women and the delights of a cosey, love-lit home, and his heroines are all sweet, wholesome women that do honor to his heart and pen."--_germantown telegraph._ "captain king has a quick and sentient touch, and his writing is that of one whose belief in mankind is untouched by bitterness. one reads his tales with the satisfying sense of a cheerful solution of all difficulties on the final page. it is a relief, indeed, to turn from the dismal introspection of much of our modern fiction to the fresh naturalness of such stories as these."--_new york critic._ "he tells his stories with so much spirit that one's interest is maintained to the end. the character studies are good and the plot cleverly developed."--_new york book-buyer._ * * * * * american novels, no. . brueton's bayou, by john habberton, author of "helen's babies," and miss defarge, by frances hodgson burnett, author of "that lass o' lowrie's." "a good book to put in the satchel for a railway trip or ocean voyage."--_chicago current._ "in every way worthy of the best of our american story-writers."--(washington) _public opinion._ "it is safe to say that no two more charming stories were ever bound in one cover than these."--_new orleans picayune._ "'brueton's bayou' is an excellent tale, the motive of which is apparently to instil into the haughty insularity of the new york mind a realizing sense of the intellectual possibilities of the south-west. the smug and self-satisfied young new york business-man, who is detained by the lameness of his horse at brueton's bayou, and there presently meets his fate in the form of a brilliant and beautiful girl of the region, has the nonsense taken out of him very thoroughly by his southern experiences. 'miss defarge' is a strong study of a very resolute and self-centred young woman, who accomplishes many things by sheer force of will. but the most interesting and charming figure in it is that of elizabeth dysart, the blonde beauty, a kind of modernized dudu,--'large and languishing and lazy,'--but of a sweetness of temper and general lovableness not to be surpassed."--_new york tribune._ * * * * * american novels, no. . a demoralizing marriage by edgar fawcett, author of "douglas duane," "a gentleman of leisure," etc. "the plot is cleverly arranged, the action lively, the dialogue sweet, and the story bright and well sustained."--_new york tribune._ "edgar fawcett still stands at the head of society novelists, as his latest story testifies. it deals with society life in new york in a brilliant and realistic manner, and if it is at times satirical, the author has just grounds for employing this spice."--_boston home journal._ "mr. fawcett is admirably equipped to write of life in new york, the city of his birth (over forty years ago), of his education, and of his literary work. the characters that he presents are admirably drawn in bold, clear lines. he observes society keenly, and some of his bits of 'showing up' are delightfully done."--_public opinion_ (washington, d. c.). "it is one of the latest of mr. fawcett's brilliant stories of new york life. one uses the term advisedly. his work has both depth and resplendence--the two qualities that produce the effect we term brilliancy, and which, when used in its full significance, signifies a great deal. mr. fawcett's novels reveal the 'veined humanity' of the complicated, intense life of the highly-organized society of the nineteenth century."--_boston traveller._ the facts of reconstruction john r. lynch copyright, , by the neale publishing company [illustration: john r. lynch] contents preface chapter i the part played by mississippi in the early days of reconstruction ii reorganization of the state departments during governor alcorn's administration iii the republican county convention of iv important educational and political measures of the new legislature v the contest for speaker of the mississippi house of representatives vi fusion of democrats and republicans in the state election of . republican victory vii mississippi sends b.k. bruce to the united states senate viii improved financial condition of mississippi under the ames administration ix what constitutes "negro domination" x overthrow of the republican state government in mississippi xi rise of democratic radicalism in the south xii eventful days of the forty-third congress xiii state campaign of . republican victory xiv interview between the author and the president regarding state appointments xv the presidential election of and its results xvi effects of the reform administration in mississippi xvii the hayes-tilden contest. the electoral commission xviii attitude of the hayes administration toward the south xix question of the validity of senator lamar's election xx republican national convention of . nomination of the compromise candidate, garfield xxi story of the misunderstanding between garfield and conkling xxii the national campaign of xxiii the election of grover cleveland xxiv interview with secretary lamar on the retaining of colored men in office xxv the federal elections bill xxvi mississippi and the nullification of the fifteenth amendment xxvii effect of the mckinley tariff bill on both political parties xxviii interview between the author and president cleveland and secretary gresham xxix the national republican convention of xxx argument on proposed change of representation in convention xxxi comparison of bryan and cleveland xxxii the solid south. future of the republican party preface the author of this book is one of the few remaining links in the chain by which the present generation is connected with the reconstruction period,--the most important and eventful period in our country's history. what is herein recorded is based upon the author's own knowledge, contact and experience. very much, of course, has been written and published about reconstruction, but most of it is superficial and unreliable; and, besides, nearly all of it has been written in such a style and tone as to make the alleged facts related harmonize with what was believed to be demanded by public sentiment. the author of this work has endeavored to present _facts_ as they were and are, rather than as he would like to have them, and to set them down without the slightest regard to their effect upon the public mind, except so far as that mind may be influenced by the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. in his efforts along these lines he has endeavored to give expression to his ideas, opinions and convictions in language that is moderate and devoid of bitterness, and entirely free from race prejudice, sectional animosity, or partisan bias. whether or not he has succeeded in doing so he is willing to leave to the considerate judgment and impartial decision of those who may take the time to read what is here recorded. in writing what is to be found in these pages, the author has made no effort to draw upon the imagination, nor to gratify the wishes of those whose chief ambition is to magnify the faults and deficiencies in some and to extol the good and commendable traits and qualities in others. in other words, his chief purpose has been to furnish the readers and students of the present generation with a true, candid and impartial statement of material and important facts based upon his own personal knowledge and experience, with such comments as in his judgment the occasion and circumstances warranted. was the enfranchisement of the black men at the south by act of congress a grave mistake? were the reconstructed state governments that were organized as a result thereof a disappointment and a failure? was the fifteenth amendment to the federal constitution premature and unwise? an affirmative answer to the above questions will be found in nearly everything that has been written about reconstruction during the last quarter of a century. the main purpose of this work is to present the other side; but, in doing so, the author indulges the hope that those who may read these chapters will find that no extravagant and exaggerated statements have been made, and that there has been no effort to conceal, excuse, or justify any act that was questionable or wrong. it will be seen that the primary object the author has sought to accomplish, is to bring to public notice those things that were commendable and meritorious, to prevent the publication of which seems to have been the primary purpose of nearly all who have thus far written upon that important subject. but again, the question may be asked, if the reconstructed state governments that were organized and brought into existence under the congressional plan of reconstruction were not a disappointment and a failure, why is it that they could not and did not stand the test of time? the author hopes and believes that the reader will find in one of the chapters of this book a complete and satisfactory answer to that question. it will be seen that the state of mississippi is made the pivotal one in the presentation of the facts and historical points touched upon in this work; but that is because mississippi was the field of the author's political activities. that state, however, was largely typical, hence what was true of that one was, in the main, true of all the other reconstructed states. the author was a member of congress during the settlement of the controversy between hayes and tilden for the presidency of the united states, resulting from the close and doubtful election of ,--a controversy that was finally decided through the medium of the electoral commission. the reader will find in the chapter on that subject many important facts and incidents not heretofore published. why was it that the able and brilliant statesman from maine, james g. blaine, died, as did henry clay, without having reached the acme of his ambition,--the presidency of the united states? why was he defeated for the republican presidential nomination in ,--the only time when it was possible for him to be elected, and defeated for the election in ,--the only time when it was possible for him to be nominated? the answer to these questions will be found in this book. then the interviews between the author and presidents grant and cleveland, and secretaries blaine, lamar, and gresham will no doubt be interesting, if not instructive. if, in writing this book, the author shall have succeeded in placing before the public accurate and trustworthy information relative to reconstruction, his highest ambition will have been fully gratified, his sense of justice entirely satisfied. john r. lynch. the facts of reconstruction chapter i the part played by mississippi in the early days of reconstruction the year was an eventful one in the history of this country. a bitter war was in progress between congress and president andrew johnson over the question of the reconstruction of the states lately in rebellion against the national government. the president had inaugurated a policy of his own that proved to be very unpopular at the north. he had pardoned nearly all the leaders in the rebellion through the medium of amnesty proclamations. in each rebel state he had appointed a provisional governor under whose direction legislatures, state officers, and members of congress had been chosen, and the legislatures thus chosen elected the united states senators for the southern states in accordance with the president's plan of reconstruction. to make restoration to the union full and complete nothing remained to be done but to admit to their seats the senators and representatives that had been chosen. in the mean time these different legislatures had enacted laws which virtually re-enslaved those that had been emancipated in their respective states. for this the north would not stand. sentiment in that section demanded not only justice and fair treatment for the newly emancipated race but also an emancipation that should be thorough and complete, not merely theoretical and nominal. the fact was recognized and appreciated that the colored people had been loyal to the union and faithful to the flag of their country and that they had rendered valuable assistance in putting down the rebellion. from a standpoint of gratitude, if not of justice, the sentiment of the north at that time was in favor of fair play for the colored people of the south. but the president would not yield to what was generally believed to be the dominant sentiment of the north on the question of reconstruction. he insisted that the leaders of the republican party in congress did not represent the true sentiment of the country, so he boldly determined to antagonize the leaders in congress, and to present their differences to the court of public opinion at the approaching congressional elections. the issue was thus joined and the people were called upon to render judgment in the election of members of congress in the fall of . the president, with the solid support of the democrats and a small minority of the republicans, made a brave and gallant fight. the result, however, was a crushing defeat for him and a national repudiation of his plan of reconstruction. notwithstanding this defeat the president refused to yield, continuing the fight with congress which finally resulted in his impeachment by the house of representatives for high crimes and misdemeanors in office and in his trial by the senate sitting as a high court for that purpose. when the vote of the court was taken the president was saved from conviction and from removal from office by the narrow margin of one vote,--a sufficient number of republican senators having voted with the democrats to prevent conviction. it was believed by many at the time that some of the republican senators that voted for acquittal did so chiefly on account of their antipathy to the man who would succeed to the presidency in the event of the conviction of the president. this man was senator benjamin wade, of ohio,--president _pro tem._ of the senate,--who, as the law then stood, would have succeeded to the presidency in the event of a vacancy in that office from any cause. senator wade was an able man, but there were others who were much more brilliant. he was a strong party man. he had no patience with those who claimed to be republicans and yet refused to abide by the decision of the majority of the party organization unless that decision should be what they wanted. in short, he was an organization republican,--what has since been characterized by some as a machine man,--the sort of active and aggressive man that would be likely to make for himself enemies of men in his own organization who were afraid of his great power and influence, and jealous of him as a political rival. that some of his senatorial republican associates should feel that the best service they could render their country would be to do all in their power to prevent such a man from being elevated to the presidency was, perhaps, perfectly natural: for while they knew that he was a strong and able man, they also knew that, according to his convictions of party duty and party obligations, he firmly believed that he who served his party best served his country best. in giving expression to his views and convictions, as he usually did with force and vigor, he was not always considerate of the wishes and feelings of those with whom he did not agree. that he would have given the country an able administration is the concurrent opinion of those who knew him best. while president johnson was retained in office he was practically shorn of the greater part of the power and patronage that attaches to the office. this was done through the passage of a bill, over the president's veto, known as the tenure of office act. the constitutionality of this act, which greatly curtailed the power of the president to make removals from office, was seriously questioned at the time, but it was passed as a political necessity,--to meet an unusual and unexpected emergency that seemed to threaten the peace and tranquillity of the country and practically to nullify the fruits of the victory which had been won on the field of battle. the law was repealed or materially modified as soon as president johnson retired from office. the president also vetoed all the reconstruction bills,--bills conferring suffrage on the colored men in the states that were to be reconstructed,--that passed congress; but they were promptly passed over the veto. the rejection by the country of the johnson plan of reconstruction, had clearly demonstrated that no halfway measures were possible. if the colored men were not enfranchised then the johnson plan might as well be accepted. the republican or union white men at the south were not sufficient in numbers to make their power or influence felt. the necessities of the situation, therefore, left no alternative but the enfranchisement of the blacks. it was ascertained and acknowledged that to make possible the reconstruction of the states lately in rebellion, in accordance with the plan which had met with the emphatic approval of the north, the enfranchisement of the blacks in the states to be reconstructed was an absolute necessity. the first election held in mississippi under the reconstruction acts took place in , when delegates to a constitutional convention were elected to frame a new constitution. the democrats decided to adopt what they declared to be a policy of "masterly inactivity," that is, to refrain from taking any part in the election and to allow it to go by default. the result was that the republicans had a large majority of the delegates, only a few counties having elected democratic delegates. the only reason that there were any democrats in the convention at all was that the party was not unanimous in the adoption of the policy of "masterly inactivity," and consequently did not adhere to it. the democrats in a few counties in the state rejected the advice and repudiated the action of the state convention of their party on this point. the result was that a few very able men were elected to the convention as democrats,--such men, for instance, as john w.c. watson, and william m. compton, of marshall county, and william l. hemingway, of carroll, who was elected state treasurer by the democrats in , and to whom a more extended reference will be made in a subsequent chapter. the result of the election made it clear that if the democratic organization in the state had adopted the course that was pursued by the members of that party in the counties by which the action of their state convention was repudiated, the democrats would have had at least a large and influential minority of the delegates, which would have resulted in the framing of a constitution that would have been much more acceptable to the members of that party than the one that was finally agreed upon by the majority of the members of that body. but the democratic party in the state was governed and controlled by the radical element of that organization,--an element which took the position that no respectable white democrat could afford to participate in an election in which colored men were allowed to vote. to do so, they held, would not only be humiliating to the pride of the white men, but the contamination would be unwise if not dangerous. besides, they were firm in the belief and honest in the conviction that the country would ultimately repudiate the congressional plan of reconstruction, and that in the mean time it would be both safe and wise for them to give expression to their objections to it and abhorrence of it by pursuing a course of masterly inactivity. the liberal and conservative element in the party was so bitterly opposed to this course that in spite of the action of the state convention several counties, as has been already stated, bolted the action of the convention and took part in the election. of the republican membership of the constitutional convention a large majority were white men,--many of them natives of the state and a number of others, though born elsewhere, residents in the state for many years preceding the war of the rebellion. my own county, adams (natchez), in which the colored voters were largely in the majority, and which was entitled to three delegates in the convention, elected two white men,--e.j. castello, and fred parsons,--and one colored man, h.p. jacobs, a baptist preacher. throughout the state the proportion was about the same. this was a great disappointment to the dominating element in the democratic party, who had hoped and expected, through their policy of "masterly inactivity" and intimidation of white men, that the convention would be composed almost exclusively of illiterate and inexperienced colored men. although a minor at that time, i took an active part in the local politics of my county, and, being a member of a republican club that had been organized at natchez, i was frequently called upon to address the members at its weekly meetings. when the state constitution was submitted to a popular vote for ratification or rejection i took an active part in the county campaign in advocacy of its ratification. in this election the democrats pursued a course that was just the opposite of that pursued by them in the election of delegates to the constitutional convention. they decided that it was no longer unwise and dangerous for white men to take part in an election in which colored men were allowed to participate. this was due largely to the fact that the work of the convention had been far different from what they had anticipated. the newly framed constitution was, taken as a whole, such an excellent document that in all probability it would have been ratified without serious opposition but for the fact that there was an unfortunate, unwise and unnecessary clause in it which practically disfranchised those who had held an office under the constitution of the united states and who, having taken an oath to support and defend the constitution of the united states, had afterwards supported the cause of the confederacy. this clause caused very bitter and intense opposition to the ratification of the constitution. when the election was over it was found that the constitution had been rejected by a small majority. this result could not be fairly accepted as an indication of the strength of the two parties in the state, for it was a well-known fact that the republican party had a clear majority of about , . notwithstanding the large republican majority in the state, which was believed to be safe, sure and reliable, there were several causes that contributed to the rejection of the newly framed constitution. among the causes were: first. in consequence of the bitterness with which the ratification of the constitution had been fought, on account of the objectionable clause referred to, intimidating methods had been adopted in several counties in which there was a large colored vote, resulting in a loss of several thousand votes for the constitution. second. there were several thousand republicans both white and colored,--but chiefly colored,--who were opposed to that offensive and objectionable clause, believing the same to be unjust, unnecessary, and unwise; hence, many of that class refused to vote either way. third. there were thousands of voters, the writer being one of that number, who favored ratification because the constitution as a whole was a most excellent document, and because its ratification would facilitate the readmittance of mississippi into the union; after which the one objectionable clause could be stricken out by means of an amendment. while all of this class favored and advocated ratification for the reasons stated, yet their known attitude towards the clause proved to be a contributary cause of the rejection of the constitution. the reader may not understand why there were any colored men, especially at that time and in that section, that would have any sympathy for the white men who would have been victims of this clause had the new constitution been ratified. but if the reader will closely follow what this writer will set down in subsequent chapters of this work, he will find the reasons why there was and still is a bond of sympathy between the two races at the south,--a bond that the institution of slavery with all its horrors could not destroy, the rebellion could not wipe out, reconstruction could not efface, and subsequent events have not been able to change. the writer is aware of the fact that thousands of intelligent people are now laboring under the impression that there exists at the south a bitter feeling of antagonism between the two races and that this has produced dangerous and difficult problems for the country to solve. that some things have occurred that would justify such a conclusion, especially on the part of those who are not students of this subject, will not be denied. after the rejection of the constitution no further effort was made to have mississippi readmitted into the union until after the presidential and congressional elections of . the democratic party throughout the country was solid in its support of president andrew johnson, and was bitter in its opposition to the congressional plan of reconstruction. upon a platform that declared the reconstruction acts of congress to be unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void, the democrats nominated for president and vice-president, ex-governor horatio seymour, of new york, and general frank p. blair, of missouri. the republicans nominated for president general u.s. grant, of illinois, and for vice-president speaker schuyler colfax, of indiana. these candidates were nominated upon a platform which strongly supported and indorsed the congressional plan of reconstruction. on this issue the two parties went before the people for a decision. the republicans were successful, but not by such a decisive majority as in the congressional election of . in fact, if all the southern states that took part in that election had gone democratic, the hero of appomattox would have been defeated. it was the southern states, giving republican majorities through the votes of their colored men, that saved that important national election to the republican party. to the very great surprise of the republican leaders the party lost the important and pivotal state of new york. it had been confidently believed that the immense popularity of general grant and his prestige as a brilliant and successful union general would save every doubtful state to the republicans, new york, of course, included. but this expectation was not realized. the result, it is needless to say, was a keen and bitter disappointment, for no effort had been spared to bring to the attention of the voters the strong points in general grant. a vote against grant, it was strongly contended, was virtually a vote against the union. frederick douglass, who electrified many audiences in that campaign, made the notable declaration that "while washington had given us a country, it was grant who had saved us a country." and yet the savior of our country failed in that election to save to the republican party the most important state in the union. but, notwithstanding the loss of new york, the republicans not only elected the president and vice-president, but also had a safe majority in both branches of congress. one of the first acts of congress after the presidential election of was one authorizing the president to submit mississippi's rejected constitution once again to a popular vote. the same act authorized the president to submit to a separate vote such clause or clauses of said constitution as in his judgment might be particularly obnoxious to any considerable number of the people of the state. it was not and could not be denied that the constitution as a whole was a most admirable document. the democrats had no serious objection to its ratification if the clause disfranchising most of their leaders were eliminated. when it became known that this clause would be submitted to a separate vote, and that the republican organization would not insist upon its retention, no serious opposition to the ratification of the constitution was anticipated. and, indeed, none was made. the time fixed for holding the election was november, . in the mean time the state was to be under military control. general adelbert ames was made military governor, with power to fill by appointment every civil office in the state. shortly after general ames took charge as military governor the republican club at natchez agreed upon a slate to be submitted to the military governor for his favorable consideration, the names upon said slate being the choice of the republican organization of the county for county and city officials. among the names thus agreed upon was that of the rev. h.p. jacobs for justice of the peace. it was then decided to send a member of the club to jackson, the state capital, to present the slate to the governor in person in order to answer questions that might be asked or to give any information that might be desired about any of the persons whose names appeared on the slate. it fell to my lot to be chosen for that purpose; the necessary funds being raised by the club to pay my expenses. i accepted the mission, contingent upon my employer's granting me leave of absence. natchez at that time was not connected with jackson by railroad, so that the only way for me to reach the capital was to go by steamer from natchez to vicksburg or to new orleans, and from there by rail to jackson. the trip, therefore, would necessarily consume the greater part of a week. my employer,--who was what was known as a northern man, having come there after the occupation of the place by the federal troops,--not only granted me leave of absence but agreed to remain in the city and carry on the business during my absence. when i arrived at the building occupied by the governor and sent up my card, i had to wait only a few minutes before i was admitted to his office. the governor received me cordially and treated me with marked courtesy, giving close attention while i presented as forcibly as i could the merits and qualifications of the different persons whose names were on the slate. when i had concluded my remarks the governor's only reply was that he would give the matter his early and careful consideration. a few weeks later the appointments were announced; but not many of the appointees were persons whose names i had presented. however, to my great embarrassment i found that my own name had been substituted for that of jacobs for the office of justice of the peace. i not only had no ambition in that direction but was not aware that my name was under consideration for that or for any other office. besides, i was apprehensive that jacobs and some of his friends might suspect me of having been false to the trust that had been reposed in me, at least so far as the office of justice of the peace was concerned. at first i was of the opinion that the only way in which i could disabuse their minds of that erroneous impression was to decline the appointment. but i found out upon inquiry that in no event would jacobs receive the appointment. i was also reliably informed that i had not been recommended nor suggested by any one, but that the governor's action was the result of the favorable impression i had made upon him when i presented the slate. for this, of course, i was in no way responsible. in fact the impression of my fitness for the office that my brief talk had made upon the governor was just what the club had hoped i would be able to accomplish in the interest of the whole slate. that it so happened that i was the beneficiary of the favorable impression that my brief talk had made upon the governor may have been unfortunate in one respect, but it was an unconscious act for which i could not be censured. after consulting, therefore, with a few personal friends and local party leaders, i decided to accept the appointment although, in consequence of my youth and inexperience, i had serious doubts as to my ability to discharge the duties of the office which at that time was one of considerable importance. then the bond question loomed up, which was one of the greatest obstacles in my way, although the amount was only two thousand dollars. how to give that bond was the important problem i had to solve, for, of course, no one was eligible as a bondsman who did not own real estate. there were very few colored men who were thus eligible, and it was out of the question at that time to expect any white property owner to sign the bond of a colored man. but there were two colored men willing to sign the bond for one thousand dollars each who were considered eligible by the authorities. these men were william mccary and david singleton. the law, having been duly satisfied in the matter of my bond, i was permitted to take the oath of office in april, , and to enter upon the discharge of my duties as a justice of the peace, which office i held until the st of december of the same year when i resigned to accept a seat in the lower branch of the state legislature to which i had been elected the preceding november. when i entered upon the discharge of my duties as a justice of the peace the only comment that was made by the local democratic paper of the town was in these words: "we are now beginning to reap the ravishing fruits of reconstruction." chapter ii reorganization of the state departments during governor alcorn's administration the new constitution of mississippi, which had been rejected in , was to be submitted to a popular vote once more in november, . at the same time state officers, members of the legislature, congressmen, and district and county officers were to be elected. since the objectionable clauses in the constitution were to be put to a separate vote, and since it was understood that both parties would favor the rejection of these clauses, there was no serious opposition to the ratification of the constitution thus amended. a hard and stubborn fight was, however, to be made for control of the state government. general james l. alcorn, who had been a general in the confederate army and who had recently openly identified himself with the republican party, was nominated by the republicans for the office of governor of the state. of the other six men who were associated with him on the state ticket, only the candidate for secretary of the state, the reverend james lynch,--an able and eloquent minister of the methodist church,--was a colored man. lynch was a man of fine ability, of splendid education, and one of the most powerful and convincing orators that the republicans had upon the stump in that campaign. he was known and recognized as such an able and brilliant speaker that his services were in great demand from the beginning to the end of the campaign. no democratic orator, however able, was anxious to meet him in joint debate. he died suddenly the latter part of . his death was a great loss to the state and to the republican party and especially to the colored race. of the other five candidates on the ticket two,--the candidates for state treasurer and attorney general,--were, like general alcorn, southern white men. the candidate for state treasurer, hon. w.h. vasser, was a successful business man who lived in the northern part of the state, while the candidate for attorney general, hon. joshua s. morris, was a brilliant member of the bar who lived in the southern part of the state. the other three, the candidates for lieutenant-governor, state auditor and superintendent of education, were northern men who had settled in the state after the war, called by the democrats, "carpet baggers," but they were admitted to be clean and good men who had lived in the state long enough to become fully identified with its industrial and business interests. h.c. powers, the candidate for lieutenant-governor, and h. musgrove, the candidate for auditor of public accounts, were successful cotton planters from noxubee and clarke counties respectively; while h.r. pease, the candidate for state superintendent of education, had been identified with educational work ever since he came to the state. it could not be denied that it was a strong and able ticket,--one that the democrats would find it very difficult to defeat. in desperation the democratic party had nominated as their candidate for governor a brother-in-law of president grant's, judge lewis dent, in the hope that the president would throw the weight of his influence and the active support of his administration on the side of his relative, as against the candidate of his own party, especially in view of the fact that dent had been nominated not as a democrat but as an independent republican,--his candidacy simply having been indorsed by the democratic organization. but in this they were disappointed, for if the president gave any indication of preference it was in favor of the republican ticket. general ames, for instance, was the military governor of the state, holding that position at the pleasure of the president; and ames was so outspoken in his support of the republican ticket, that in an address before the state republican convention that nominated general alcorn for the governorship he announced, "you have my sympathy and shall have my support." this declaration was received by the convention with great applause, for it was known that those words from that source carried great weight. they meant not only that the republican party would have the active and aggressive support of the military governor,--which was very important and would be worth thousands of votes to the party,--but they also indicated the attitude of the national administration. the campaign was aggressive from beginning to end. judge dent was at a disadvantage, since his candidacy had failed to bring to his support the influence of the national administration, which had been the sole purpose of his nomination. in spite of that fact dent made a game and gallant fight; but the election resulted in an overwhelming republican victory. that party not only elected the state ticket by a majority of about , but it also had a large majority in both branches of the state legislature. the new administration had an important and difficult task before it. a state government had to be organized from top to bottom; a new judiciary had to be inaugurated,--consisting of three justices of the state supreme court, fifteen judges of the circuit court and twenty chancery court judges,--who had all to be appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate, and, in addition, a new public school system had to be established. there was not a public school building anywhere in the state except in a few of the larger towns, and they, with possibly a few exceptions, were greatly in need of repairs. to erect the necessary school houses and to reconstruct and repair those already in existence so as to afford educational facilities for both races was by no means an easy task. it necessitated a very large outlay of cash in the beginning, which resulted in a material increase in the rate of taxation for the time being, but the constitution called for the establishment of the system, and of course the work had to be done. it was not only done, but it was done creditably and as economically as possible, considering the conditions at that time. that system, though slightly changed, still stands,--a creditable monument to the first republican state administration that was organized in the state of mississippi under the reconstruction acts of congress. it was also necessary to reorganize, reconstruct and, in many instances, rebuild some of the penal and charitable institutions of the state. a new code of laws also had to be adopted to take the place of the old code and thus wipe out the black laws that had been passed by what was known as the johnson legislature and in addition bring about other changes so as to make the laws and statutes of the state conform with the new order of things. this was no easy task, in view of the fact that a heavy increase in the rate of taxation was thus made necessary, for the time being at least. that this important work was splendidly, creditably, and economically done no fair-minded person who is familiar with the facts will question or dispute. that the state never had before, and has never had since, a finer judiciary than that which was organized under the administration of governor alcorn and which continued under the administration of governor ames is an indisputable and incontrovertible fact. the judges of the supreme court were e.g. peyton, h.f. simrall and j. tarbell, who in mississippi had no superiors in their profession, and who had the respect and confidence of the bar and of the people without regard to race or politics. judge peyton was the chief justice, simrall and tarbell being the associate justices. the first two were old residents of the state, while mr. justice tarbell was what the democrats would call a "carpet bagger." but that he was an able lawyer and a man of unimpeachable integrity no one doubted or questioned. during the second administration of president grant he held the important position of second comptroller of the united states treasury. the circuit court bench was graced with such able and brilliant lawyers as jason niles, g.c. chandler, george f. brown, j.a. orr, john w. vance, robert leachman, b.b. boone, orlando davis, james m. smiley, uriah millsaps, william m. hancock, e.s. fisher, c.c. shackleford, w.b. cunningham, w.d. bradford and a. alderson. judges brown and cunningham were the only ones in the above list who were not old residents of the state. after leaving the bench, judge chandler served for several years as united states attorney. judge niles served one term as a member of congress, having been elected as a republican in . his son henry clay niles is now united states district judge for the state, having been appointed to that important position by president harrison. he was strongly recommended by many members of the bench and bar of the state; and the very able and creditable way in which he has discharged the duties of the position has more than demonstrated the wisdom of the selection. the chancery courts as organized by governor alcorn and continued by governor ames were composed of men no less able and brilliant than those who composed the bench of the circuit courts. they were: j.c. lyon, e.p. harmon, e.g. peyton, jr., j.m. ellis, g.s. mcmillan, samuel young, w.g. henderson, edwin hill, t.r. gowan, j.f. simmons, wesley drane, d.w. walker, dewitte stearns, d.p. coffee, e.w. cabiness, a.e. reynolds, thomas christian, austin pollard, j.j. hooker, o.h. whitfield, e. stafford, w.a. drennan, thomas walton, e.h. osgood, c.a. sullivan, hiram cassedy, jr., w.b. peyton, j.d. barton, j.j. dennis, w.d. frazee, p.p. bailey, l.c. abbott, h.w. warren, r. boyd, r.b. stone, william breck, j.n. campbell, h.r. ware and j.b. deason. the above names composed those who were appointed both by governors alcorn and ames. a majority of those originally appointed by governor alcorn were reappointed by governor ames. of the forty appointments of judges of the chancery courts made under the administrations of alcorn and ames, not more than about seven were not to the "manner born." the administration of james l. alcorn as governor of the state of mississippi is one of the best with which that unfortunate state has been blessed. a more extended reference to the subsequent administration of governor ames will be made in a later chapter. chapter iii the republican county convention of although it was not charged nor even intimated that my acceptance of the office of justice of the peace was the result of bad faith on my part, still the appointment resulted in the creation for the time being of two factions in the republican party in the county. one was known as the lynch faction, the other as the jacobs faction. when the constitution was submitted to a popular vote in november, , it was provided that officers should be elected at the same time to all offices created by the constitution and that they, including members of the legislature, were to be chosen by popular vote. the county of adams (natchez) was entitled to one member of the state senate and three members of the house of representatives. jacobs was a candidate for the republican nomination for state senator. the lynch faction, however, refused to support him for that position although it had no objection to his nomination for member of the house. since jacobs persisted in his candidacy for state senator the lynch faction brought out an opposing candidate in the person of a baptist minister by the name of j.m.p. williams. the contest between the two republican candidates was interesting and exciting, though not bitter, and turned out to be very close. the convention was to be composed of thirty-three delegates, seventeen being necessary to nominate. the result at the primary election of delegates to the convention was so close that it was impossible to tell which one had a majority, since there were several delegates,--about whose attitude and preference there had been some doubt,--who refused to commit themselves either way. in the organization of the convention the williams men gained the first advantage, one of their number having been made permanent chairman. but this was not important since there were no contests for seats, consequently the presiding officer would have no occasion to render a decision that could have any bearing upon the composition of the body over which he presided. both sides agreed that the nomination for state senator should be made first and that the vote should be by ballot, the ballots to be received and counted by two tellers, one to be selected by each faction. when the result of the first ballot was announced, jacobs had sixteen votes, williams, sixteen, and a third man had one. several ballots were taken with the same result, when, with the consent of both sides, a recess was taken until o'clock in the afternoon. the one delegate that refused to vote for either jacobs or williams made no effort to conceal his identity. to the contrary, he was outspoken in his determination and decision that he would not at any time or under any circumstances vote for either. strange to say, this man was also a colored baptist preacher, the rev. noah buchanan, from the washington district. members of both factions approached him during the recess and pleaded with him, but their efforts and pleadings were all in vain. nothing could move him or change him. he stated that he had given the matter his careful and serious consideration, and that he had come to the conclusion that neither jacobs nor williams was a fit man to represent the important county of adams in the state senate, hence neither could get his vote. at the afternoon session, after several ballots had been taken with the same result, an adjournment was ordered until o'clock next morning. soon after adjournment each side went into caucus. at the jacobs meeting it was decided to stick to their man to the very last. at the williams meeting hon. h.c. griffin, white leader of the williams men, suggested the name of the rev. h.r. revels as a compromise candidate. revels was comparatively a new man in the community. he had recently been stationed at natchez as pastor in charge of the a.m.e. church, and so far as known he had never voted, had never attended a political meeting, and of course, had never made a political speech. but he was a colored man, and presumed to be a republican, and believed to be a man of ability and considerably above the average in point of intelligence; just the man, it was thought, the rev. noah buchanan would be willing to vote for. after considerable discussion it was agreed that a committee should be appointed to wait on mr. williams in order to find out if he would be willing to withdraw in favor of revels should his friends and supporters deem such a step necessary and wise. in the event of williams' withdrawal, the committee was next to call on revels to find out if he would consent to the use of his name. if revels consented, the committee was next to call on rev. buchanan to find out whether or not he would vote for revels. this committee was to report to the caucus at o'clock next morning. at the appointed time the committee reported that williams had stated that he was in the hands of his friends and that he would abide by any decision they might make. revels, the report stated, who had been taken very much by surprise,--having had no idea that his name would ever be mentioned in connection with any office,--had asked to be allowed until o'clock in the morning to consider the matter and to talk it over with his wife. at o'clock he notified the chairman of the committee that he would accept the nomination if tendered. buchanan had informed the committee that he had heard of revels but did not know him personally. he too had asked to be allowed until o'clock in the morning before giving a positive answer, so as to enable him to make the necessary inquiries to find out whether or not revels was a suitable man for the position. at o'clock he informed the chairman of the committee that if the name of williams should be withdrawn in favor of revels he would cast his vote for revels. the caucus then decided by a unanimous vote that upon the assembling of the convention at o'clock that morning mr. griffin should withdraw the name of williams from before the convention as a candidate for state senator, but that no other name should be placed in nomination. every member of the caucus, however, was committed to vote for revels. this decision was to be communicated to no one outside of the caucus except to mr. buchanan, who was to be privately informed of it by the chairman of the committee to whom he had communicated his own decision. as soon as the convention was called to order mr. griffin was recognized by the chair. he stated that he had been authorized to withdraw the name of rev. j.m.p. williams from before the convention as candidate for state senator. this announcement was received by the jacobs men with great applause. the withdrawal of the name of williams without placing any other in nomination they accepted as evidence that further opposition to the nomination of their candidate had been abandoned and that his nomination was a foregone conclusion. but they were not allowed to labor under that impression very long. the roll-call was immediately ordered by the chair and the tellers took their places. when the ballots had been counted and tabulated, the result was seventeen votes for revels and sixteen votes for jacobs. the announcement was received by the williams men with great applause. the result was a victory for them because it was their sixteen votes together with the vote of rev. noah buchanan that had nominated revels. the jacobs men accepted their defeat gracefully. a motion was offered by their leader to make the nomination unanimous and it was adopted without a dissenting vote. in anticipation of his nomination revels was present as one of the interested spectators and upon being called upon for a brief address he delivered it with telling effect, thereby making a most favorable impression. this address convinced rev. noah buchanan that he had made no mistake in voting for revels. jacobs was then nominated for member of the house of representatives without opposition, his associates being john r. lynch and capt. o.c. french, a white republican. the ticket as completed was elected by a majority of from fifteen hundred to two thousand, a republican nomination in adams county at that time being equivalent to an election. when the legislature convened at jackson the first monday in january, , it was suggested to lieutenant-governor powers, presiding officer of the senate, that he invite the rev. dr. revels to open the senate with prayer. the suggestion was favorably acted upon. that prayer,--one of the most impressive and eloquent prayers that had ever been delivered in the senate chamber,--made revels a united states senator. he made a profound impression upon all who heard him. it impressed those who heard it that revels was not only a man of great natural ability but that he was also a man of superior attainments. the duty devolved upon that legislature to fill three vacancies in the united states senate: one, a fractional term of about one year,--the remainder of the six year term to which jefferson davis had been elected before the breaking out of the rebellion,--another fractional term of about five years, and the third, the full term of six years, beginning with the expiration of the fractional term of one year. the colored members of the legislature constituted a very small minority not only of the total membership of that body but also of the republican members. of the thirty-three members of which the senate was composed four of them were colored men: h.r. revels, of adams; charles caldwell, of hinds; robert gleed, of lowndes, and t.w. stringer, of warren. of the one hundred and seven members of which the house was composed about thirty of them were colored men. it will thus be seen that out of the one hundred forty members of which the two houses were composed only about thirty-four of them were colored men. but the colored members insisted that one of the three united states senators to be elected should be a colored man. the white republicans were willing that the colored men be given the fractional term of one year, since it was understood that governor alcorn was to be elected to the full term of six years and that governor ames was to be elected to the fractional term of five years. in this connection it may not be out of place to say that, ever since the organization of the republican party in mississippi, the white republicans of that state, unlike some in a few of the other southern states, have never attempted to draw the color line against their colored allies. in this they have proved themselves to be genuine and not sham republicans,--that is to say, republicans from principle and conviction and not for plunder and spoils. they have never failed to recognize the fact that the fundamental principle of the republican party,--the one that gave the party its strongest claim upon the confidence and support of the public,--is its advocacy of equal civil and political rights. if that party should ever come to the conclusion that this principle should be abandoned, that moment it will merit, and i am sure it will receive, the condemnation and repudiation of the public. it was not, therefore, a surprise to any one when the white republican members of the mississippi legislature gave expression to their entire willingness to vote for a suitable colored man to represent the state of mississippi in the highest and most dignified legislative tribunal in the world. the next step was to find the man. the name of the rev. james lynch was first suggested. that he was a suitable and fit man for the position could not be denied. but he had just been elected secretary of state for a term of four years, and his election to the senate would have created a vacancy in the former office which would have necessitated the holding of another state election and another election was what all wanted to avoid. for that reason his name was not seriously considered for the senatorship. [illustration: hon. hiram r. revels. the first colored man that occupied a seat in the u.s. senate. from a photograph taken by maj. lynch at natchez, miss., in .] the next name suggested was that of the rev. h.r. revels and those who had been so fortunate as to hear the impressive prayer that he had delivered on the opening of the senate were outspoken in their advocacy of his selection. the white republicans assured the colored members that if they would unite upon revels, they were satisfied he would receive the vote of every white republican member of the legislature. governor alcorn also gave the movement his cordial and active support, thus insuring for revels the support of the state administration. the colored members then held an informal conference, at which it was unanimously decided to present the name of rev. h.r. revels to the republican legislative caucus as a candidate for united states senator to fill the fractional term of one year. the choice was ratified by the caucus without serious opposition. in the joint legislative session, every republican member, white and colored, voted for the three republican caucus nominees for united states senators,--alcorn, ames and revels,--with one exception, senator william m. hancock, of lauderdale, who stated in explanation of his vote against revels that as a lawyer he did not believe that a colored man was eligible to a seat in the united states senate. but judge hancock seems to have been the only lawyer in the legislature,--or outside of it, as far as could be learned,--who entertained that opinion. chapter iv important educational and political measures of the new legislature in addition to the election of three united states senators this legislature had some very important work before it, as has already been stated in a previous chapter. a new public school system had to be inaugurated and put in operation, thus necessitating the construction of schoolhouses throughout the state, some of them, especially in the towns and villages, to be quite large and of course expensive. all of the other public buildings and institutions in the state had to be repaired, some of them rebuilt, all of them having been neglected and some of them destroyed during the progress of the late war. in addition to this the entire state government in all of its branches had to be reconstructed and so organized as to place the same in perfect harmony with the new order of things. to accomplish these things money was required. there was none in the treasury. there was no cash available even to pay the ordinary expenses of the state government. because of this lack of funds the government had to be carried on on a credit basis,--that is, by the issuing of notes or warrants based upon the credit of the state. these notes were issued at par to the creditors of the state in satisfaction of the obligations. in turn they were disposed of at a discount to bankers and brokers by whom they were held until there should be sufficient cash in the treasury to redeem them,--such redemption usually occurring in from three to six months, though sometimes the period was longer. to raise the necessary money to put the new machinery in successful operation one of two things had to be done: either the rate of taxation must be materially increased or interest bearing bonds must be issued and placed upon the market, thus increasing the bonded debt of the state. although the fact was subsequently developed that a small increase in the bonded debt of the state could not very well be avoided, yet, after careful deliberation, the plan agreed upon was to materially increase the rate of taxation. this proved to be so unpopular that it came near losing the legislature to the republicans at the elections of . although it was explained to the people that this increase was only temporary and that the rate of taxation would be reduced as soon as some of the schoolhouses had been built, and some of the public institutions had been repaired, still this was not satisfactory to those by whom these taxes had to be paid. they insisted that some other plan ought to have been adopted, especially at that time. the war had just come to a close, leaving most of the people in an impoverished condition. what was true of the public institutions of the state was equally true of the private property of those who were property owners at that time. their property during the war had been neglected, and what had not been destroyed was in a state of decay. this was especially true of those who had been the owners of large landed estates and of many slaves. many of these people had been the acknowledged representatives of the wealth, the intelligence, the culture, the refinement and the aristocracy of the south,--the ruling class in the church, in society and in state affairs. these were the men who had made and molded public opinion, who had controlled the pulpit and the press, who had shaped the destiny of the state; who had made and enforced the laws,--or at least such laws as they desired to have enforced,--and who had represented the state not only in the state legislature but in both branches of the national legislature at washington. many of these proud sons, gallant fathers, cultured mothers and wives and refined and polished daughters found themselves in a situation and in a condition that was pitiable in the extreme. it was not only a difficult matter for them to adjust themselves to the new order of things and to the radically changed conditions, but no longer having slaves upon whom they could depend for everything, to raise the necessary money to prevent the decay, the dissipation and the ultimate loss or destruction of their large landed estates was the serious and difficult problem they had before them. to have the rate of taxation increased upon this property, especially at that particular time, was to them a very serious matter,--a matter which could not have any other effect than to intensify their bitterness and hostility towards the party in control of the state government. but since governor alcorn, under whose administration, and in accordance with whose recommendation this increase had been made, was a typical representative of this particular class, it was believed and hoped that he would have sufficient influence with the people of his own class to stem the tide of resentment, and to calm their fears and apprehensions. that the republicans retained control of the legislature as a result of the elections of ,--though by only a small majority in the lower house,--is conclusive evidence that the governor's efforts in that direction were not wholly in vain. the argument made by the taxpayers, however, was plausible and it may be conceded that, upon the whole, they were about right; for no doubt it would have been much easier upon the taxpayers to have increased at that time the interest-bearing debt of the state than to have increased the tax rate. the latter course, however, had been adopted and could not then be changed. governor alcorn also recommended,--a recommendation that was favorably considered by the legislature,--that there be created and supported by the state a college for the higher education of the colored boys and young men of the state. this bill was promptly passed by the legislature, and, in honor of the one by whom its creation was recommended the institution was named "alcorn college." the presidency of this much-needed college was an honorable and dignified position to which a fair and reasonable salary was attached, so the governor, who had the appointing power, decided to tender the office to senator h.r. revels upon the expiration of his term in the senate. i had the honor of being named as one of the first trustees of this important institution. after the governor, the trustees and senator revels had carefully inspected many different places that had been suggested for the location of the institution, oakland college near the town of rodney in claiborne county, was finally purchased, and alcorn college was established, with senator revels as its first president. as an evidence of the necessity for such an institution it will not be out of place to call attention to the fact that when the writer was first elected to congress in , there was not one young colored man in the state that could pass the necessary examination for a clerkship in any of the departments at washington. four years later the supply was greater than the demand, nearly all of the applicants being graduates of alcorn college. at this writing the institution is still being maintained by the state, although on a reduced appropriation and on a plan that is somewhat different from that which was inaugurated at its beginning and while the republicans were in control of the state government. one of the reasons, no doubt, why it is supported by a democratic administration, is that the state might otherwise forfeit and lose the aid it now receives from the national government for the support of agricultural institutions. but, aside from this, there are very many liberal, fair-minded and influential democrats in the state who are strongly in favor of having the state provide for the liberal education of both races. the knowledge i had acquired of parliamentary law not only enabled me to take a leading part in the deliberations of the legislature, but it resulted in my being made speaker of the house of representatives that was elected in . shortly after the adjournment of the first session of the legislature, the speaker of the house, hon. f.e. franklin, of yazoo county, died. when the legislature reassembled the first monday in january, , hon. h.w. warren, of leake county, was made speaker of the house. in addition to the vacancy from yazoo, created by the death of speaker franklin, one had also occurred from lowndes county, which was one of the safe and sure republican counties. through apathy, indifference and overconfidence, the democratic candidate, dr. landrum, was elected to fill this vacancy. it was a strange and novel sight to see a democratic member of the legislature from the rock-ribbed republican county of lowndes. it was no doubt a source of considerable embarrassment even to dr. landrum himself, for he was looked upon by all as a marvel and a curiosity. when he got up to deliver his maiden speech a few days after he was sworn in, he was visibly and perceptibly affected, for every eye was firmly and intently fixed upon him. every one seemed to think that the man that could be elected to a seat in the legislature from lowndes county as a democrat, must be endowed with some strange and hidden power through the exercise of which he could direct the movements and control the actions of those who might be brought in contact with him or subjected to his hypnotic influence; hence the anxiety and curiosity to hear the maiden speech of this strange and remarkable man. the voice in the house of a democrat from the county of lowndes was of so strange, so sudden, so unexpected and so remarkable that it was difficult for many to bring themselves to a realization of the fact that such a thing had actually happened and that it was a living reality. to the curious, the speech was a disappointment, although it was a plain, calm, conservative and convincing statement of the new member's position upon public questions. to the great amusement of those who heard him he related some of his experiences while he was engaged in canvassing the county. but the speech revealed the fact that, after all, he was nothing more than an ordinary man. no one was impressed by any word or sentence that had fallen from his lips that there was anything about him that was strange, impressive or unusual, and all decided that his election was purely accidental; for it was no more surprising than was the election of a colored republican, hon. j.m. wilson, to the same legislature the year before, from the reliable democratic county of marion. there was not much to be done at the second session of the legislature outside of passing the annual appropriation bills; hence the session was a short one. although governor alcorn's term as a united states senator commenced march , , he did not vacate the office of governor until the meeting of congress, the first monday in the following december. a new legislature and all county officers were to be elected in november of that year. it was to be the first important election since the inauguration of the alcorn administration. the governor decided to remain where he could assume entire responsibility for what had been done and where he could answer, officially and otherwise, all charges and accusations and criticisms that might be made against his administration and his official acts. the republican majority in the state senate was so large that the holdover senators made it well nigh impossible for the democrats to secure a majority of that body, but the principal fight was to be made for control of the house. as already stated the heavy increase in taxation proved to be very unpopular and this gave the democrats a decided advantage. they made a strong and bitter fight to gain control of the house, and nearly succeeded. when every county had been heard from it was found that out of the one hundred fifteen members of which the house was composed, the republicans had elected sixty-six members and the democrats, forty-nine. of the sixty-six that had been elected as republicans, two,--messrs. armstead and streeter,--had been elected from carroll county on an independent ticket. they classed themselves politically as independent or alcorn republicans. carroll was the only doubtful county in the state that the democrats failed to carry. the independent ticket in that county, which was supported by an influential faction of democrats, was brought out with the understanding and agreement that it would receive the support of the republican organization. this support was given, but upon a pledge that the candidates for the legislature, if elected, should not enter the democratic caucus, nor vote for the candidates thereof in the organization of the house. these conditions were accepted, which resulted in the ticket being supported by the republicans and, consequently elected. all the other doubtful and close counties went democratic, which resulted in the defeat of some of the strongest and most influential men in the republican party, including speaker warren of leake county, lucas and boyd of altala, underwood of chickasaw, avery of tallahatchie, and many others. notwithstanding these reverses, the republicans sent a number of able men to the house, among whom may be mentioned french of adams, howe and pyles of panola, fisher of hinds, chandler and davis of noxubee, huggins of monroe, stone and spelman of madison, barrett of amite, sullivan and gayles of bolivar, everett and dixon of yazoo, griggs and houston of issaquina, and many others. in point of experience and ability this legislature was the equal of its immediate predecessor. chapter v the contest for speaker of the mississippi house of representatives the elections being over, and a republican majority in both branches of the legislature being assured, governor alcorn was then prepared to vacate the office of governor, to turn over the administration of state affairs to lieutenant-governor powers and to proceed to washington so as to be present at the opening session of congress on the first monday in december when he would assume his duties as a united states senator. the legislature was to meet the first monday in the following january,-- . as soon as the fact was made known that the republicans would control the organization of the house, the speakership of that body began to be agitated. if speaker warren had been reëlected he would have received the republican caucus nomination without opposition, but his defeat made it necessary for a new man to be brought forward for that position. a movement was immediately put on foot to make me the speaker of the house. upon a careful examination of the returns it was found that of the one hundred fifteen members of which the house was composed there were seventy-seven whites and thirty-eight colored. of the seventy-seven whites, forty-nine had been elected as democrats and twenty-eight as republicans. the thirty-eight colored men were all republicans. it will thus be seen that, while in the composition of the republican caucus there were ten more colored than white members, yet of the total membership of the house there were thirty-nine more white than colored members. but in the organization of the house, the contest was not between white and colored, but between democrats and republicans. no one had been elected,--at least on the republican side,--because he was a white man or because he was a colored man, but because he was a republican. after a preliminary canvass the fact was developed that the writer was not only the choice of the colored members for speaker of the house, but of a large majority of the white republican members as well. they believed,--and voted in accordance with that belief both in the party caucus and in the house,--that the writer was the best-equipped man for that responsible position. this fact had been demonstrated to their satisfaction during the two sessions of the preceding legislature. the nomination of the writer by the house republican caucus for speaker was a foregone conclusion several weeks before the convening of the legislature. with a full membership in attendance fifty-eight votes would be necessary to perfect the organization. when the republican caucus convened sixty members were present and took part in the deliberations thereof. four of the republicans-elect had not at that time arrived at the seat of government. the two independents from carroll refused to attend the caucus, but this did not necessarily mean that they would not vote for the candidates thereof in the organization of the house. but since we had sixty votes,--two more than were necessary to elect our candidate,--we believed that the organization would be easily perfected the next day, regardless of the action of the members from carroll county. in this, however, we were sadly disappointed. the result of the first vote for speaker of the house was as follows: lynch, republican caucus nominee streeter, democratic nominee chandler, independent republican armstead, independent republican howe, regular republican necessary to elect judge chandler of noxubee, who had been elected as a regular republican with four other white republicans,--all of whom attended and took part in the caucus the night before,--refused to vote for the nominee of the caucus for speaker but voted instead for chandler. it will be seen that the vote for streeter, the democratic caucus nominee, was two less than that party's strength; thus showing that two democrats must have also voted for chandler. it will also be seen that if every vote that was not received by lynch had been given to chandler or to any other man, that man would have received the required number of votes and would have been elected. the democrats stood ready to give their solid vote to any one of the independents whenever it could be shown that their votes would result in an election. but it so happened that chandler and armstead were both ambitious to be speaker and neither would give way for the other, which, of course, made the election of either impossible. the one vote cast for howe was no doubt mr. armstead's vote, while the one vote for armstead was no doubt cast by his colleague. in the nomination of hon. h.m. streeter, the democrats selected their strongest man, and the best parliamentarian on their side of the house. the refusal of the so-called independents to vote for the republican caucus nominee for speaker produced a deadlock which continued for a period of several days. at no time could any one of the regular republicans be induced under any circumstances to vote for any one of the independents. they would much rather have the house organized by the democrats than allow party treachery to be thus rewarded. while the deadlock was in progress, senators alcorn and ames suddenly made their appearance upon the scene of action. they had made the trip from washington to use their influence to break the deadlock, and to bring about an organization of the house by the republican party. but senator alcorn was the one that could render the most effective service in that direction, since the bolters were men who professed to be followers of his and loyal to his political interests and leadership. as soon as the senator arrived he held a conference with the bolters, including messrs. armstead and streeter,--the two independents from carroll. in addressing those who had been elected as republicans and who had attended and participated in the caucus of that party, the senator did not mince his words. he told them in plain language that they were in honor bound to support the caucus nominees of their party, or that they must resign their seats and allow their constituents to elect others that would do so. with reference to the independents from carroll, he said the situation was slightly different. they had been elected as independents under conditions which did not obligate them to enter the republican caucus or support the candidates thereof. they had pledged themselves not to support the democratic caucus nominees, nor to aid that party in the organization of the house. up to that time they had not made a move, nor given a vote that could be construed into a violation of the pledge under which they had been elected, but they had publicly declared on several occasions that they had been elected as independents or alcorn republicans. in other words, they had been elected as friends and supporters of the alcorn administration, and of that type of republicanism for which he stood and of which he was the representative. if this were true then they should not hesitate to take the advice of the man to support whose administration they had been elected. he informed them that if they meant what they said the best way for them to prove it was to vote for the republican caucus nominees for officers of the house, because he was the recognized leader of the party in the state and that the issue involved in the elections was either an endorsement or repudiation of his administration as governor. republican success under such circumstances meant an endorsement of his administration, while republican defeat would mean its repudiation. the most effective way, then, in which they could make good their ante-election pledges and promises was to vote for the candidates of the republican caucus for officers of the house. the two carroll county independents informed the senator that he had correctly outlined their position and their attitude, and that it was their purpose and their determination to give a loyal and effective support, so far as the same was in their power, to the policies and principles for which he stood and of which he was the accredited representative; but that they were apprehensive that they could not successfully defend their action and explain their votes to the satisfaction of their constituents if they were to vote for a colored man for speaker of the house. "but," said the senator, "could you have been elected without the votes of colored men? if you now vote against a colored man,--who is in every way a fit and capable man for the position,--simply because he is a colored man, would you expect those men to support you in the future?" the senator also reminded them that they had received very many more colored than white votes; and that, in his opinion, very few of the white men who had supported them would find fault with them for voting for a capable and intelligent colored man to preside over the deliberations of the house. "can you then," the senator asked, "afford to offend the great mass of colored men that supported you in order to please an insignificantly small number of narrow-minded whites?" the senator assured them that he was satisfied they had nothing to fear as a result of their action in voting for mr. lynch as speaker of the house. he knew the candidate favorably and well and therefore did not hesitate to assure them that if they contributed to his election they would have no occasion to regret having done so. the conference then came to a close with the understanding that all present would vote the next day for the republican caucus nominees for officers of the house. this was done. the result of the ballot the following day was as follows: lynch, republican caucus nominee, chandler, independent republican, necessary to elect it will be seen that judge chandler received the solid democratic vote while lynch received the vote of every voting republican present, including chandler and the two independents from carroll,--three republicans still being absent and not paired. by substantially the same vote ex-speaker warren, of leake county, was elected chief clerk, and ex-representative hill, of marshall county, was elected sergeant-at-arms. the legislature was then organized and was ready to proceed to business. at the conclusion of the session, the house not only adopted a resolution complimenting the speaker and thanking him for the able and impartial manner in which he had presided over its deliberations, but presented him with a fine gold watch and chain,--purchased with money that had been contributed by members of both parties and by a few outside friends,--as a token of their esteem and appreciation of him as a presiding officer. on the outside case of the watch these words were engraved: "presented to hon. j.r. lynch, speaker of the house of representatives, by the members of the legislature, april , ." that watch the writer still has and will keep as a sacred family heirloom. a good deal of work was to be done by this legislature. the seats of a number of democrats were contested. but the decision in many cases was in favor of the sitting members. the changes, however, were sufficient to materially increase the republican majority. among the important bills to be passed was one to divide the state into six congressional districts. the apportionment of representatives in congress, under the apportionment act which had recently passed congress, increased the number of representatives from mississippi, which had formerly been five, to six. republican leaders in both branches of the legislature decided that the duty of drawing up a bill apportioning the state into congressional districts should devolve upon the speaker of the house, with the understanding that the party organization would support the bill drawn by him. i accepted the responsibility, and immediately proceeded with the work of drafting a bill for that purpose. two plans had been discussed, each of which had strong supporters and advocates. one plan was so to apportion the state as to make all of the districts republican; but in doing so the majority in at least two of the districts would be quite small. the other was so to apportion the state as to make five districts safely and reliably republican and the remaining one democratic. i had not taken a decided stand for or against either plan. perhaps that was one reason why the advocates of both plans agreed to refer the matter to me for a final decision. the democrats heard what had been done. one of them, hon. f.m. goar, of lee county, called to see me so as to talk over the matter. he expressed the hope that in drawing up the bill, one district would be conceded to the democrats. "if this is done," he said, "i assume that the group of counties located in the northeastern part of the state will be the democratic district. in that event we will send a very strong and able man to congress in the person of hon. l.q.c. lamar." i had every reason to believe that if mr. lamar were sent to congress he would reflect credit upon himself, his party, and his state. i promised to give the suggestion earnest and perhaps favorable consideration. after going over the matter carefully i came to the conclusion that the better and safer plan would be to make five safe and sure republican districts and concede one to the democrats. another reason for this decision was that in so doing, the state could be more fairly apportioned. the republican counties could be easily made contiguous and the population in each district could be made as nearly equal as possible. the apportionment could not have been so fairly and equitably made if the other plan had been adopted. after the bill had been completed, it was submitted to a joint caucus of the republican members of the two houses, and after a brief explanation by me of its provisions it was accepted and approved by the unanimous vote of the caucus. when it was brought before the house, a majority of the democratic members,--under the leadership of messrs. streeter, roane and mcintosh,--fought it very bitterly. they contended that the democrats should have at least two of the six congressmen and that an apportionment could have been made and should have been made with that end in view. the truth was that several of those who made such a stubborn fight against the bill had congressional aspirations themselves and, of course, they did not fail to see that as drawn the bill did not hold out flattering hopes for the gratification of that ambition. but it was all that mr. goar and a few others that he had taken into his confidence expected, or had any right to expect. in fact, the one democratic district, constructed in accordance with their wishes, was just about what they wanted. while they voted against the bill,--merely to be in accord with their party associates,--they insisted that there should be no filibustering or other dilatory methods adopted to defeat it. after a hard and stubborn fight, and after several days of exciting debate, the bill was finally passed by a strict party vote. a few days later it passed the senate without amendment, was signed by the governor, and became a law. as had been predicted by mr. goar, hon. l.q.c. lamar was nominated by the democrats for congress in the first district, which was the democratic district. the republicans nominated against him a very strong and able man, the hon. r.w. flournoy, who had served with mr. lamar as a member of the secession convention of . he made an aggressive and brilliant canvass of the district, but the election of mr. lamar was a foregone conclusion, since the democratic majority in the district was very large. chapter vi fusion of democrats and republicans in the state election of . republican victory an important election was to be held in mississippi in , at which state, district, and county officers, as well as members of the legislature, were to be elected. the tenure of office for the state and county officers was four years. , therefore, was the year in which the successors of those that had held office since had to be elected. the legislature to be elected that year would elect the successor of senator ames as united states senator. senator ames was the candidate named to succeed himself. for some unaccountable reason there had been a falling out between senator alcorn and himself, for which reason senator alcorn decided to use his influence to prevent the reëlection of senator ames. this meant that there would be a bitter factional fight in the party, because both senators were popular with the rank and file of the party. the fact was soon developed, however, that the people favored the return of senator ames to the senate. this did not necessarily mean opposition or unfriendliness to senator alcorn. it simply meant that both were to be treated fairly and justly, and that each was to stand upon his own record and merits, regardless of their personal differences. if senator alcorn had been in senator ames' place the probabilities are that the sentiment of the party would have been just as strongly in his favor as it was at that time in favor of ames. but on this occasion senator alcorn made the mistake of making opposition to senator ames the test of loyalty to himself. in this he was not supported even by many of his warmest personal and political friends. in consequence of the bitter fight that was to be made by senator alcorn to prevent the return of senator ames to the senate, many of senator ames' friends advised him to become a candidate for the office of governor. in that way, it was believed, he could command the situation, and thus make sure his election to succeed himself as senator; otherwise it might be doubtful. but this involved two important points which had to be carefully considered. first, it involved the retirement of governor powers, who was a candidate to succeed himself. second, the candidate for lieutenant-governor would have to be selected with great care, since if that program were carried out he would be, in point of fact, the governor of the state for practically the whole term. after going over the situation very carefully with his friends and supporters senator ames decided to become a candidate for governor, public announcement of which decision was duly made. this announcement seemed to have increased the intensity of senator alcorn's opposition to senator ames, for the former did not hesitate to declare that in the event of ames' nomination for governor by the regular party convention he would bolt the action of the convention, and make the race for governor as an independent candidate. this declaration, however, made no impression upon the friends and supporters of ames, and evidently had very little effect upon the rank and file of the party; for the fact became apparent shortly after the announcement of the candidacy of ames that his nomination was a foregone conclusion. in fact, senator ames had such a strong hold upon the rank and file of the party throughout the state that when the convention met there was practically no opposition to his nomination. the friends and supporters of governor powers realized early in the campaign the hopelessness of the situation, so far as he was concerned, and therefore made no serious effort in his behalf. what gave the ames managers more concern than anything else was the selection of a suitable man for lieutenant-governor. many of the colored delegates insisted that three of the seven men to be nominated should be of that race. the offices they insisted on filling were those of lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, and superintendent of education. since the colored men had been particularly loyal and faithful to senator ames it was not deemed wise to ignore their demands. but the question was, where is there a colored man possessing the qualifications necessary to one in charge of the executive department of the state? after going over the field very carefully it was decided that there was just one man possessing the necessary qualifications,--b.k. bruce, of bolivar county. he, it was decided, was just the man for the place, and to him the nomination was to be tendered. a committee was appointed to wait on mr. bruce and inform him of the action of the conference, and urge him to consent to the use of his name. but mr. bruce positively declined. he could not be induced under any circumstances to change his mind. he was fixed in his determination not to allow his name to be used for the office of lieutenant-governor, and from that determination he could not be moved. mr. bruce's unexpected attitude necessitated a radical change in the entire program. it had been agreed that the lieutenant-governorship should go to a colored man, but after brace's declination the ames managers were obliged to take one of two men,--h.c. carter, or a.k. davis. davis was the more acceptable of the two; but neither, it was thought, was a fit and suitable man to be placed at the head of the executive department of the state. after again going over the field, and after canvassing the situation very carefully, it was decided that ames would not be a candidate to succeed himself as united states senator, but that he would be a candidate to succeed senator alcorn. this decision, in all probability, would not have been made if alcorn had been willing to abide by the decision of the convention. but, since he announced his determination to bolt the nomination of his party for governor and run as an independent candidate, it was decided that he had forfeited any claim he otherwise would have had upon the party to succeed himself in the senate. senator alcorn's term would expire march , . his successor would be elected by the legislature that would be chosen in november, . if ames should be elected to the governorship his successor in that office would be elected in november, . in the event of his election to the senate to succeed senator alcorn, his term as senator would commence march , , yet he could remain in the office of governor until the meeting of congress the following december, thus practically serving out the full term as governor. with that plan mapped out and agreed upon, and the party leaders committed to its support, davis was allowed to be nominated for the office of lieutenant-governor. two other colored men were also placed upon the state ticket,--james hill, for secretary of state, and t.w. cardozo, for state superintendent of education. while davis had made quite a creditable record as a member of the legislature, it could not be said that his name added strength to the ticket. hill, on the other hand, was young, active, and aggressive, and considerably above the average colored man in point of intelligence at that time. his nomination was favorably received, because it was generally believed that, if elected, he would discharge the duties of the office in a way that would reflect credit upon himself and give satisfaction to the public. in point of education and experience cardozo was admitted to be entirely capable of filling the office of superintendent of education; but he was not well known outside of his own county, warren. in fact his nomination was largely a concession to that strong republican county. the three white men nominated,--besides the candidate for governor,--were, w.h. gibbs, for auditor of public accounts; geo. e. harris, for attorney-general, and geo. h. holland, for state treasurer. gibbs had been a member of the constitutional convention of , and subsequently a member of the state senate. holland had served as a member of the legislature from oktibbeha county. harris had been a member of congress from the second (holly springs) district, having been defeated for the nomination in by a.r. howe, of panola county. while the ticket, as a whole, was not a weak one, its principal strength was in its head,--the candidate for governor. shortly after the adjournment of the convention senator alcorn had another convention called which nominated a ticket, composed exclusively of republicans, with himself at its head for governor. the democrats at their convention endorsed the alcorn ticket. while it would seem that this action on the part of the democrats ought to have increased alcorn's chances of success, it appears to have been a contributory cause of his defeat. thousands of republicans who were in sympathy with the movement, and who would have otherwise voted the alcorn ticket, refused to do so for the reason that if it had been elected the democrats could have claimed a victory for their party. on the other hand, both tickets being composed exclusively of republicans, thousands of democrats refused to vote for either, while some of them voted the ames ticket. at any rate the election resulted in the success of the ames ticket by a majority of more than twenty thousand. the regular republicans also had a large majority in both branches of the legislature. [illustration: hon. b.k. bruce united states senator, - ] chapter vii mississippi sends b.k. bruce to the united states senate as soon as the result of the election was known, the candidacy of b.k. bruce, for united states senator to succeed senator ames, was announced. ames' term as governor was to commence the first monday in january, . his term as senator would expire march , . upon assuming the duties of governor he had been obliged to tender his resignation as senator; thus it devolved upon the incoming legislature to elect a senator to serve out the unexpired term, as well as for the full term of six years. bruce's candidacy was for the full term. the secret of mr. bruce's positive refusal to allow his name to be used for the lieutenant-governorship, which would have resulted in making him governor, was now revealed. he had had the senatorship in mind at the time, but, of course, no allusion was made to that fact. as between the senatorship and the governorship he chose the former, which proved to be a wise decision, in view of subsequent events. it was soon developed that he was the choice of a large majority of the republican members of the legislature, white as well as colored. his nomination by the party caucus, therefore, was a foregone conclusion. before the legislature met, it had been practically settled that mr. bruce should be sent to the senate for the long term and ex-superintendant of education, h.r. pease, should be elected to serve out the unexpired term of governor-elect ames. this slate was approved by the joint legislative caucus without a hitch and the candidates thus nominated were duly elected by the legislature,--not only by the solid republican vote of that body, but the additional vote of state senator hiram cassidy, jr., who had been elected as a democrat. senator alcorn's keen disappointment and chagrin at the outcome of his fight with governor ames was manifested when senator bruce made his appearance to be sworn in as a senator. it was presumed that senator alcorn, in accordance with the uniform custom on such occasions, would escort his colleague to the desk of the president of the senate to be sworn in. this senator alcorn refused to do. when mr. bruce's name was called senator alcorn did not move; he remained in his seat, apparently giving his attention to his private correspondence. mr. bruce, somewhat nervous and slightly excited, started to the president's desk unattended. senator roscoe conkling, of new york, who was sitting near by, immediately rose and extended his arm to mr. bruce and escorted him to the president's desk, standing by the new senator's side until the oath had been administered, and then tendering him his hearty congratulations, in which all the other republican senators, except senator alcorn, subsequently joined. this gracious act on the part of the new york senator made for him a lifelong friend and admirer in the person of senator bruce. this friendship was so strong that senator bruce named his first and only son roscoe conkling, in honor of the able, distinguished, and gallant senator from new york. senator alcorn's action in this matter was the occasion of considerable unfavorable criticism and comment, some of his critics going so far as to intimate that his action was due to the fact that mr. bruce was a colored man. but, from my knowledge of the man and of the circumstances connected with the case, i am satisfied this was not true. his antipathy to mr. bruce grew out of the fact that mr. bruce had opposed him and had supported ames in the fight for governor in . so far as i have been able to learn, i am the only one of the senator's friends and admirers who opposed his course in that contest that he ever forgave. he, no doubt, felt that i was under less personal obligations to him than many others who pursued the same course that i did, since he had never rendered me any effective personal or political service, except when he brought the independent members of the house in line for me in the contest for speaker of that body in ; and even then his action was not so much a matter of personal friendship for me as it was in the interest of securing an endorsement of his own administration as governor. in mr. bruce's case he took an entirely different view of the matter. he believed that he had been the making of mr. bruce. mr. bruce had come to the state in and had taken an active part in the campaign of that year. when the legislature was organized it was largely through the influence of governor alcorn that he was elected sergeant-at-arms of the state senate. when the legislature adjourned governor alcorn sent bruce to bolivar county as county assessor. bruce discharged the duties of that office in such a creditable and satisfactory manner that he was elected in sheriff and tax collector of that important and wealthy county, the most responsible and lucrative office in the gift of the people of the county. he was holding that office when elected to the united states senate. senator alcorn felt, therefore, that in taking sides against him and in favor of ames in mr. bruce was guilty of gross ingratitude. this accounted for his action in refusing to escort mr. bruce to the president's desk to be sworn in as senator. in this belief, however, he did mr. bruce a grave injustice, for i know that gratitude was one of mr. brace's principal characteristics. if senator alcorn had been a candidate from the start for the republican nomination for governor, mr. bruce, i am sure, would have supported him even as against senator ames. but it was known that the senator had no ambition to be governor. his sole purpose was to defeat senator ames at any cost, and that, too, on account of matters that were purely personal and that had no connection with party or political affairs. mr. bruce, like very many other friends and admirers of the senator, simply refused to follow him in open rebellion against his own party. i am satisfied, however, that mr. bruce's race identity did not influence the action of senator alcorn in the slightest degree. as further evidence of that fact, his position and action in the pinchback case may be mentioned. he spoke and voted for the admission of mr. pinchback to a seat in the senate when such a staunch republican as senator edmunds, of vermont, opposed and voted against admission. in spite of senator alcorn's political defeat and humiliation in his own state, he remained true and loyal to the national republican party to the end of his senatorial term, which terminated with the beginning of the hayes administration. up to that time he had strong hopes of the future of the republican party at the south. chapter viii improved financial condition of mississippi under the ames administration the administrations of governor alcorn and of governor ames, the two republican governors, who were products of reconstruction,--both having been elected chiefly by the votes of colored men,--were among the best with which that state was ever blessed, the generally accepted impression to the contrary notwithstanding. in alcorn was elected to serve for a term of four years. ames was elected to serve the succeeding term. alcorn was one of the old citizens of the state, and was therefore thoroughly identified with its business, industrial, and social interests. he had been one of the large and wealthy landowners and slave-owners, and therefore belonged to that small but select and influential class known as southern aristocrats. alcorn had taken an active and prominent part in public matters since his early manhood. before the war of the rebellion he had served several terms as a member of the legislature. he represented his county, coahoma, in the secession convention of . he was bitterly opposed to secession and fought it bravely; but when he found himself in a hopeless minority he gracefully acquiesced in the decision of the majority and signed the ordinance of secession. he also joined the confederate army and took an active part in raising troops for the same. he was made brigadier-general, and had command of the confederate forces in mississippi for a good while. but, since the president of the confederacy did not seem to be particularly partial to him, he was not allowed to see very much field service. when the war was over he took an active part in the work of rehabilitation and reconstruction. he strongly supported the andrew johnson plan of reconstruction, and by the legislature that was elected under that plan he was chosen one of the united states senators, but was not admitted to the seat to which he had been elected. when the johnson plan of reconstruction was repudiated and rejected by the voters of the northern states, and when what was known as the congressional plan of reconstruction was endorsed and approved, alcorn decided that further opposition to that plan was useless and unwise, and he publicly advised acceptance of it. his advice having been rejected by the democrats, nothing remained for him to do but to join the republican party, which he did in the early part of . since he was known to be a strong, able and influential man,--one who possessed the respect and confidence of the white people of the state regardless of party differences,--he was tendered the republican nomination for the governorship at the election that was to be held the latter part of that year. he accepted the nomination and was duly elected. he discharged the duties of the office in an able, creditable and satisfactory manner. the only point upon which the administration was at all subject to unfavorable criticism was the high rate of taxation to which the people were subjected for the support of the state government; but the reader will see that this could hardly have been avoided at that particular time. in his message to the legislature in january, , governor e.f. noel accurately stated the principle by which an administration is necessarily governed in raising revenue to carry on the government. this is the same principle that governed the alcorn administration when it took charge of the state government in . in that message governor noel said: "the amount of assessment determines the tax burden of each individual, corporation, town, and county. the legislature or local authorities settle the amount necessary to be provided for their respective treasuries. if all property be assessed at the same rate,--whether for the full value or for ten per cent, of the value of the property,--the payment of each owner would be unaffected; for the higher the assessment, the lower the levy; the lower the assessment, the higher the levy. our state revenue is mainly derived from a six mill ad valorem tax." when the alcorn administration took charge of the state government the war had just come to a close. everything was in a prostrate condition. there had been great depreciation in the value of real and personal property. the credit of the state was not very good. the rate of interest for borrowed money was high. to materially increase the bonded debt of the state was not deemed wise, yet some had to be raised in that way. to raise the balance a higher rate of taxation had to be imposed since the assessed valuation of the taxable property was so low. the figures showing the assessed valuation of taxable property in the state and the receipts and disbursements prior to are not available, but, taking the figures for that year, the reader can form a pretty accurate idea of what the situation must have been prior to that time. in the assessed valuation of real and personal property, subject to taxation in the state, was $ , , . the receipts from all sources that year amounted to $ , , . . the disbursements for the same year were, $ , , . . now let us see what the situation was after the ames administration had been in power about two years,--or half of the term for which it had been elected. according to a very carefully prepared statement that was made and published by an expert accountant in the state treasurer's office in the latter part of the ad valorem rate of taxes for general purposes had been reduced from seven to four mills, and yet the amount paid into the treasury was not only enough to meet all demands upon the state, but to make a material reduction in the bonded debt. the following is taken from that statement: "an examination of the report of the state treasurer, of the first of january, , at which time the administration of governor ames commenced, exhibits the fact that the indebtedness of the state at that date, exclusive of the amounts to the credit of the chickasaw and common school funds, balance of current funds on hand, and warrants in the treasury belonging to the state, was $ , , . the amount of the tax of the previous year remaining uncollected on january first, , and afterward collected, $ , . , should be deducted from the above amount, which will show the actual indebtedness of the state at that date to be $ , . . a further examination of the report of the same officer, for january first, , shows the indebtedness, after deducting amounts to the credit of the chickasaw and common school funds, balance of current funds on hand and warrants in the treasury belonging to the state, to be, $ , , . . then by deducting the amount of the tax of the previous year remaining uncollected january first, , and afterwards collected, $ , . , the result shows the actual indebtedness on january first, , to be $ , . . the forthcoming annual report of the state treasurer, for january first, , will show the indebtedness of the state, exclusive of the amounts to the credit of the chickasaw and common school funds, the balance of current funds on hand, and warrants in the treasury belonging to the state, to be $ , . . then, by proceeding again as above, and deducting the amount of the tax of the previous year, uncollected on january first, , and now being rapidly paid into the treasury, at a low estimate, $ , . , we have as an actual indebtedness of the state on january first, , $ , . . thus it will be seen that the actual indebtedness of the state is but little over a half million dollars, and that during the two years of governor ames' administration the state debt has been reduced from $ , . , on january first, , to $ , . , on january first, , or a reduction of more than three hundred thousand dollars in two years--upwards of one third of the state debt wiped out in that time. not only has the debt been reduced as above, but the rate of taxation for general purposes has been reduced from seven mills in to four mills in ." notwithstanding the fact that the rate of taxation under the administration of governor ames had been reduced as shown above from seven mills in to four mills in the amount paid into the state treasury was substantially the same as that paid in prior years. this was due to the great appreciation in the value of taxable property. then again, a material reduction in the rate of taxation was made possible because the public institutions had all been rebuilt and repaired and a sufficient number of school buildings had been erected, thus doing away with the necessity for a special levy for such purposes. from this showing it would seem as if it were reasonable to assume that if such an administration as the one then in power could have been retained a few years longer there would not only have been a still further reduction in the rate of taxation, but the payable debt of the state would have been entirely wiped out. instead of this we find the conditions to be about as follows: first. shortly after the first reform state treasurer had been in charge of that office it was developed that he was a defaulter to the amount of $ , . . second. notwithstanding the immense increase in the value of taxable property from year to year, it appears from the official records that the rate of ad valorem tax for general purposes has been increased from four to six mills. third. there has been a very heavy increase in what is known as the specific or privilege taxes,--that is, a specific sum that business and professional persons must pay for the privilege of doing business or of practicing their professions in the state. fourth. the amounts now collected and paid out for the support of the state government are more than double what they were a few years ago, thus showing extravagance, if not recklessness, in the administration of the affairs of the state,--the natural result of a condition by which the existence of but one political party is tolerated. fifth. notwithstanding the immense increase in the value of taxable property, and in spite of the enormous sums paid into the state treasury each year, there has been a material increase in the bonded debt of the state. in fact it has been necessary at different times to borrow money with which to pay the current expenses of the state government. the following statistics for three years, , and , would seem to substantiate the above statement: the value of the taxable property of the state in was $ , . . receipts from all sources that year were $ , , . . disbursements for the same period were $ , , . . excess of disbursements over receipts, $ , . . in the value of taxable property was $ , , . receipts from all sources that year were $ , , . . disbursements, same period, $ , , . . excess of disbursements over receipts, $ , . . in the value of taxable property was $ , , . receipts from all sources were $ , , . . disbursements, same period, $ , , . . excess of disbursements over receipts, $ , . . on the first day of january, , what is called the payable debt of the state was reported to be $ , , . . on the first day of january, , it was $ , . . increase, $ , . . chapter ix what constitutes "negro domination" it is claimed that in states, districts, and counties, in which the colored people are in the majority, the suppression of the colored vote is necessary to prevent "negro domination,"--to prevent the ascendency of the blacks over the whites in the administration of the state and local governments. this claim is based upon the assumption that if the black vote were not suppressed in all such states, districts, and counties, black men would be supported and elected to office because they were black, and white men would be opposed and defeated because they were white. taking mississippi for purposes of illustration, it will be seen that there has never been the slightest ground for such an apprehension. no colored man in that state ever occupied a judicial position above that of justice of the peace and very few aspired to that position. of seven state officers only one, that of secretary of state, was filled by a colored man, until , when colored men were elected to three of the seven offices,--lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, and state superintendent of education. of the two united states senators and the seven members of the lower house of congress not more than one colored man occupied a seat in each house at the same time. of the thirty-five members of the state senate, and of the one hundred and fifteen members of the house,--which composed the total membership of the state legislature prior to ,--there were never more than about seven colored men in the senate and forty in the lower house. of the ninety-seven members that composed the constitutional convention of but seventeen were colored men. the composition of the lower house of the state legislature that was elected in was as follows: total membership, one hundred and fifteen. republicans, sixty-six; democrats, forty-nine. colored members, thirty-eight. white members, seventy-seven. white majority, thirty-nine. of the sixty-six republicans thirty-eight were colored and twenty-eight, white. there was a slight increase in the colored membership as a result of the election of , but the colored men never at any time had control of the state government nor of any branch or department thereof, nor even that of any county or municipality. out of seventy-two counties in the state at that time, electing on an average twenty-eight officers to a county, it is safe to assert that not over five out of one hundred of such officers were colored men. the state; district, county, and municipal governments were not only in control of white men, but white men who were to the manor born, or who were known as old citizens of the state--those who had lived in the state many years before the war of the rebellion. there was, therefore, never a time when that class of white men known as carpet-baggers had absolute control of the state government, or that of any district, county or municipality, or any branch or department thereof. there was never, therefore, any ground for the alleged apprehension of negro domination as a result of a free, fair, and honest election in any one of the southern or reconstructed states. and this brings us to a consideration of the question, what is meant by "negro domination?" the answer that the average reader would give to that question would be that it means the actual, physical domination of the blacks over the whites. but, according to a high democratic authority, that would be an incorrect answer. the definition given by that authority i have every reason to believe is the correct one, the generally accepted one. the authority referred to is the late associate justice of the supreme court of the state of mississippi, h.h. chalmers, who, in an article in the _north american review_ about march, , explained and defined what is meant or understood by the term "negro domination." according to judge chalmers' definition, in order to constitute "negro domination" it does not necessarily follow that negroes must be elected to office, but that in all elections in which white men may be divided, if the negro vote should be sufficiently decisive to be potential in determining the result, the white man or men that would be elected through the aid of negro votes would represent "negro domination." in other words, we would have "negro domination" whenever the will of a majority of the whites would be defeated through the votes of colored men. if this is the correct definition of that term,--and it is, no doubt, the generally accepted one,--then the friends and advocates of manhood suffrage will not deny that we have had in the past "negro domination," nationally as well as locally, and that we may have it in the future. if that is the correct definition then we are liable to have "negro domination" not only in states, districts, and counties where the blacks are in the majority, but in states, districts and counties where they are few in numbers. if that is the correct definition of "negro domination,"--to prevent which the negro vote should be suppressed,--then the suppression of that vote is not only necessary in states, districts, and counties in which the blacks are in the majority, but in every state, district, and county in the union; for it will not be denied that the primary purpose of the ballot,--whether the voters be white or colored, male or female,--is to make each vote decisive and potential. if the vote of a colored man, or the vote of a white man, determines the result of an election in which he participates, then the very purpose for which he was given the right and privilege will have been accomplished, whether the result, as we understand it, be wise or unwise. in this connection it cannot and will not be denied that the colored vote has been decisive and potential in very many important national as well as local and state elections. for instance, in the presidential election of , general grant, the republican candidate, lost the important and pivotal state of new york, a loss which would have resulted in his defeat if the southern states that took part in that election had all voted against him. that they did not do so was due to the votes of the colored men in those states. therefore grant's first administration represented "negro domination." again, in , hayes was declared elected president by a majority of one vote in the electoral college. this was made possible by the result of the election in the states of louisiana, south carolina, and florida, about which there was much doubt and considerable dispute, and over which there was a bitter controversy. but for the colored vote in those states there would have been no doubt, no dispute, no controversy. the defeat of mr. hayes and the election of mr. tilden would have been an undisputed and an uncontested fact. therefore, the hayes administration represented "negro domination." again, in , general garfield, the republican candidate for president, carried the state of new york by a plurality of about , , without which he could not have been elected. it will not be denied by those who are well informed that if the colored men that voted for him in that state at that time had voted against him, he would have lost the state and, with it, the presidency. therefore, the garfield-arthur administration represented "negro domination." again, in , mr. cleveland, the democratic candidate, carried the doubtful but very important state of new york by the narrow margin of , plurality, which resulted in his election. it cannot and will not be denied that even at that early date the number of colored men that voted for mr. cleveland was far in excess of the plurality by which he carried the state. mr. cleveland's first administration, therefore, represented "negro domination." mr. cleveland did not hesitate to admit and appreciate the fact that colored men contributed largely to his success, hence he did not fail to give that element of his party appropriate and satisfactory official recognition. again, in , general harrison, the republican presidential candidate, carried the state of new york by a plurality of about , , which resulted in his election, which he would have lost but for the votes of the colored men in that state. therefore, harrison's administration represented "negro domination." the same is true of important elections in a number of states, districts and counties in which the colored vote proved to be potential and decisive. but enough has been written to show the absurdity of the claim that the suppression of the colored vote is necessary to prevent "negro domination." so far as the state of mississippi is concerned, in spite of the favorable conditions, as shown above, the legitimate state government,--the one that represented the honestly expressed will of a majority of the voters of the state,--was in the fall of overthrown through the medium of a sanguinary revolution. the state government was virtually seized and taken possession of _vi et armis_. why was this? what was the excuse for it? what was the motive, the incentive that caused it? it was not in the interest of good, efficient, and capable government; for that we already had. it was not on account of dishonesty, maladministration, misappropriation of public funds; for every dollar of the public funds had been faithfully accounted for. it was not on account of high taxes; for it had been shown that, while the tax rate was quite high during the alcorn administration, it had been reduced under the ames administration to a point considerably less than it is now or than it has been for a number of years. it was not to prevent "negro domination" and to make sure the ascendency of the whites in the administration of the state and local governments; for that was then the recognized and established order of things, from which there was no apprehension of departure. then, what was the cause of this sudden and unexpected uprising? there must have been a strong, if not a justifiable, reason for it. what was it? that question will be answered in a subsequent chapter. chapter x overthrow of the republican state government in mississippi in the last preceding chapter it was stated that the reason for the sanguinary revolution, which resulted in the overthrow of the republican state government in the state of mississippi in , would be given in a subsequent chapter. what was true of mississippi at that time was largely true of the other reconstructed states where similar results subsequently followed. when the war of the rebellion came to an end it was believed by some, and apprehended by others, that serious and radical changes in the previous order of things would necessarily follow. but when what was known as the johnson plan of reconstruction was disclosed it was soon made plain that if that plan should be accepted by the country no material change would follow, for the reason, chiefly, that the abolition of slavery would have been abolition only in name. while physical slavery would have been abolished, yet a sort of feudal or peonage system would have been established in its place, the effect of which would have been practically the same as the system which had been abolished. the former slaves would have been held in a state of servitude through the medium of labor-contracts which they would have been obliged to sign,--or to have signed for them,--from which they, and their children, and, perhaps, their children's children could never have been released. this would have left the old order of things practically unchanged. the large landowners would still be the masters of the situation, the power being still possessed by them to perpetuate their own potential influence and to maintain their own political supremacy. but it was the rejection of the johnson plan of reconstruction that upset these plans and destroyed these calculations. the johnson plan was not only rejected, but what was known as the congressional plan of reconstruction,--by which suffrage was conferred upon the colored men in all the states that were to be reconstructed,--was accepted by the people of the north as the permanent policy of the government, and was thus made the basis of reconstruction and readmission of those states into the union. of course this meant a change in the established order of things that was both serious and radical. it meant the destruction of the power and influence of the southern aristocracy. it meant not only the physical emancipation of the blacks but the political emancipation of the poor whites, as well. it meant the destruction in a large measure of the social, political, and industrial distinctions that had been maintained among the whites under the old order of things. but was this to be the settled policy of the government? was it a fact that the incorporation of the blacks into the body politic of the country was to be the settled policy of the government; or was it an experiment,--a temporary expedient? these were doubtful and debatable questions, pending the settlement of which matters could not be expected to take a definite shape. with the incorporation of the blacks into the body politic of the country,--which would have the effect of destroying the ability of the aristocracy to maintain their political supremacy, and which would also have the effect of bringing about the political emancipation of the whites of the middle and lower classes,--a desperate struggle for political supremacy between the antagonistic elements of the whites was inevitable and unavoidable. but the uncertainty growing out of the possibility of the rejection by the country of the congressional plan of reconstruction was what held matters in temporary abeyance. president johnson was confident,--or pretended to be,--that as soon as the people of the north had an opportunity to pass judgment upon the issues involved, the result would be the acceptance of his plan and the rejection of the one proposed by congress. while the republicans were successful in in not only electing the president and vice-president and a safe majority in both branches of congress, yet the closeness of the result had the effect of preventing the abandonment of the hope on the part of the supporters of the johnson administration that the administration plan of reconstruction would ultimately be adopted and accepted as the basis of reconstruction. hence bitter and continued opposition to the congressional plan of reconstruction was declared by the ruling class of the south to be the policy of that section. while the republicans were again successful in the congressional elections of yet the advocates of the johnson plan did not abandon hope of the ultimate success and acceptance by the country of that plan until after the presidential and congressional elections of . in the meantime a serious split had taken place in the republican party which resulted in the nomination of two sets of candidates for president and vice-president. the independent or liberal republicans nominated horace greeley of new york, for president, and b. gratz brown, of missouri, for vice-president. the regular republicans renominated president grant to succeed himself, and for vice-president, senator henry wilson, of massachusetts, was selected. the democratic national convention endorsed the ticket that had been nominated by the liberal republicans. the republicans carried the election by an immense majority. with two or three exceptions the electoral vote of every state in the union was carried for grant and wilson. the republicans also had a very large majority in both branches of congress. since the result of the election was so decisive, and since every branch of the government was then in the hands of the republicans, further opposition to the congressional plan of reconstruction was for the first time completely abandoned. the fact was then recognized that this was the settled and accepted policy of the government and that further opposition to it was useless. a few of the southern whites, general alcorn being one of the number, had accepted the result of the presidential and congressional elections of as conclusive as to the policy of the country with reference to reconstruction; but those who thought and acted along those lines at that time were exceptions to the general rule. but after the presidential and congressional elections of all doubt upon that subject was entirely removed. the southern whites were now confronted with a problem that was both grave and momentous. but the gravity of the situation was chiefly based upon the possibility,--if not upon a probability,--of a reversal of what had been the established order of things, especially those of a political nature. the inevitable conflict between the antagonistic elements of which southern society was composed could no longer be postponed. but the colored vote was the important factor which now had to be considered and taken into account. it was conceded that whatever element or faction could secure the favor and win the support of the colored vote would be the dominant and controlling one in the state. it is true that between and , when the great majority of southern whites maintained a policy of "masterly inactivity," the colored voters were obliged to utilize such material among the whites as was available; but it is a well-known fact that much of the material thus utilized was from necessity and not from choice, and that whenever and wherever an acceptable and reputable white man would place himself in a position where his services could be utilized he was gladly taken up and loyally supported by the colored voters. after the necessity for supporting undesirable material no longer existed; and colored voters had the opportunity not only of supporting southern whites for all the important positions in the state, but also of selecting the best and most desirable among them. whether the poor whites or the aristocrats of former days were to be placed in control of the affairs of the state was a question which the colored voters alone could settle and determine. that the colored man's preference should be the aristocrat of the past was perfectly natural, since the relations between them had been friendly, cordial and amicable even during the days of slavery. between the blacks and the poor whites the feeling had been just the other way; which was due not so much to race antipathy as to jealousy and envy on the part of the poor whites, growing out of the cordial and friendly relations between the aristocrats and their slaves; and because the slaves were, in a large measure, their competitors in the industrial market. when the partiality of the colored man for the former aristocrats became generally known, they--the former aristocrats,--began to come into the republican party in large numbers. in mississippi they were led by such men as alcorn, in georgia by longstreet, in virginia by moseby, and also had as leaders such ex-governors as orr, of south carolina; brown, of georgia, and parsons, of alabama. between and the accessions to the republican ranks were so large that it is safe to assert that from twenty-five to thirty per cent of the white men of the southern states were identified with the republican party; and those who thus acted were among the best and most substantial men of that section. among that number in the state of mississippi was j.l. alcorn, j.a. orr, j.b. deason, r.w. flournoy, and orlando davis. in addition to these there were thousands of others, many of them among the most prominent men of the state. among the number was judge hiram cassidy, who was the candidate of the democratic party for congress from the sixth district in , running against the writer of these lines. he was one of the most brilliant and successful members of the bar in southern mississippi. captain thomas w. hunt, of jefferson county, was a member of one of the oldest, best, and most influential families of the south. the family connections were not, however, confined to the south; george hunt pendelton of ohio, for instance, who was the democratic candidate for vice-president of the united states on the ticket with mcclellan, in , and who was later one of the united states senators from ohio, was a member of the same family. while the colored men held the key to the situation, the white men knew that the colored men had no desire to rule or dominate even the republican party. all the colored men wanted and demanded was a voice in the government under which they lived, and to the support of which they contributed, and to have a small, but fair, and reasonable proportion of the positions that were at the disposal of the voters of the state and of the administration. while the colored men did not look with favor upon a political alliance with the poor whites, it must be admitted that, with very few exceptions, that class of whites did not seek, and did not seem to desire such an alliance. for this there were several well-defined reasons. in the first place, while the primary object of importing slaves into that section was to secure labor for the cultivation of cotton, the slave was soon found to be an apt pupil in other lines of industry. in addition to having his immense cotton plantations cultivated by slave labor, the slave-owner soon learned that he could utilize these slaves as carpenters, painters, plasterers, bricklayers, blacksmiths and in all other fields of industrial occupations and usefulness. thus the whites who depended upon their labor for a living along those lines had their field of opportunity very much curtailed. although the slaves were not responsible for this condition, the fact that they were there and were thus utilized, created a feeling of bitterness and antipathy on the part of the laboring whites which could not be easily wiped out. in the second place, the whites of that class were not at that time as ambitious, politically, as were the aristocrats. they had been held in political subjection so long that it required some time for them to realize that there had been a change. at that time they, with a few exceptions, were less efficient, less capable, and knew less about matters of state and governmental administration than many of the ex-slaves. it was a rare thing, therefore, to find one of that class at that time that had any political ambition or manifested any desire for political distinction or official recognition. as a rule, therefore, the whites that came into the leadership of the republican party between and were representatives of the most substantial families of the land. chapter xi rise of democratic radicalism in the south after the presidential election of no one could be found who questioned the wisdom or practicability of the congressional plan of reconstruction, or who looked for its overthrow, change or modification. after that election the situation was accepted by everyone in perfect good faith. no one could be found in any party or either race who was bold enough to express the opinion that the congressional plan of reconstruction was a mistake, or that negro suffrage was a failure. to the contrary it was admitted by all that the wisdom of both had been fully tested and clearly vindicated. it will not be denied even now by those who will take the time to make a careful examination of the situation, that no other plan could have been devised or adopted that could have saved to the country the fruits of the victory that had been won on the field of battle. the adoption of any other plan would have resulted in the accomplishment of nothing but the mere physical abolition of slavery and a denial of the right of a state to withdraw from the union. these would have been mere abstract propositions, with no authority vested in the national government for their enforcement. the war for the union would have been practically a failure. the south would have gained and secured substantially everything for which it contended except the establishment of an independent government. the black man, therefore, was the savior of his country, not only on the field of battle, but after the smoke of battle had cleared away. notwithstanding the general acceptance of this plan after the presidential election of , we find that in the fall of there was a complete and radical change in the situation,--a change both sudden and unexpected. it came, as it were, in the twinkling of an eye. it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky. it was the state and congressional elections of that year. in the elections of nearly every state in the union went republican. in the state and congressional elections of the result was the reverse of what it was two years before,--nearly every state going democratic. democrats were surprised, republicans were dumbfounded. such a result had not been anticipated by anyone. even the state of massachusetts, the birthplace of abolitionism, the cradle of american liberty, elected a democratic governor. the democrats had a majority in the national house of representatives that was about equal to that which the republicans had elected two years before. such veteran republican leaders in the united states senate as chandler, of michigan, windom, of minnesota, and carpenter, of wisconsin, were retired from the senate. when the returns were all in it was developed that the democrats did not have a clear majority on joint ballot in the michigan legislature, but the margin between the two parties was so close that a few men who had been elected as independent republicans had the balance of power. these independents were opposed to the reëlection of senator chandler. that the democrats should be anxious for the retirement of such an able, active, aggressive, and influential republican leader as chandler was to be expected. that party, therefore, joined with the independents in the vote for senator which resulted in the election of a harmless old gentleman by the name of christiancy. the michigan situation was found to exist also in minnesota, and the result was the retirement of that strong and able leader, senator william windom, and the election of a new and unknown man, mcmillan. what was true of michigan and minnesota was also found to be true of wisconsin. the same sort of combination was made, which resulted in the retirement of the able and brilliant matt carpenter, and the election of a new man, cameron, who was not then known outside of the boundaries of his state. cameron proved to be an able man, a useful senator, a good republican and an improvement, in some respects, upon his predecessor; but his election was a defeat of the republican organization in his state, which, of course, was the objective point with the democrats. it was the state and congressional elections of that proved to be the death of the republican party at the south. the party in that section might have survived even such a crushing blow as this, but for subsequent unfortunate events to which allusion has been made in a previous chapter, and which will be touched upon in some that are to follow. but, under these conditions, its survival was impossible. if the state and congressional elections of had been a repetition of those of or if they had resulted in a republican victory, republican success in the presidential election of would have been a reasonably assured fact. by that time the party at the south would have included in its membership from forty to fifty per cent of the white men of their respective states and as a result thereof it would have been strong enough to stand on its own feet and maintain its own independent existence, regardless of reverses which the parent organization might have sustained in other sections. but at that time the party in that section was in its infancy. it was young, weak, and comparatively helpless. it still needed the fostering care and the protecting hand of the paternal source of its existence. when the smoke of the political battle that was fought in the early part of november, , had cleared away, it was found that this strong, vigorous and healthy parent had been carried from the battle-field seriously wounded and unable to administer to the wants of its southern offspring. the offspring was not strong enough to stand alone. the result was that its demise soon followed because it had been deprived of that nourishment, that sustenance and that support which were essential to its existence and which could come only from the parent which had been seriously if not fatally wounded upon the field of battle. after the presidential election of southern white men were not only coming into the republican party in large numbers, but the liberal and progressive element of the democracy was in the ascendency in that organization. that element, therefore, shaped the policy and declared the principles for which that organization stood. this meant the acceptance by all political parties of what was regarded as the settled policy of the national government. in proof of this assertion a quotation from a political editorial which appeared about that time in the jackson, mississippi, _clarion_,--the organ of the democratic party,--will not be out of place. in speaking of the colored people and their attitude towards the whites, that able and influential paper said: "while they [the colored people] have been naturally tenacious of their newly-acquired privileges, their general conduct will bear them witness that they have shown consideration for the feelings of the whites. the race line in politics would never have been drawn if opposition had not been made to their enjoyment of equal privileges in the government and under the laws after they were emancipated." in other words, the colored people had manifested no disposition to rule or dominate the whites, and the only color line which had existed grew out of the unwise policy which had previously been pursued by the democratic party in its efforts to prevent the enjoyment by the newly-emancipated race of the rights and privileges to which they were entitled under the constitution and laws of the country. but after the state and congressional elections of the situation was materially changed. the liberal and conservative element of the democracy was relegated to the rear and the radical element came to the front and assumed charge. subsequent to and prior to race proscription and social ostracism had been completely abandoned. a southern white man could become a republican without being socially ostracized. such a man was no longer looked upon as a traitor to his people, or false to his race. he no longer forfeited the respect, confidence, good-will, and favorable opinion of his friends and neighbors. bulldozing, criminal assaults and lynchings were seldom heard of. to the contrary, cordial, friendly and amicable relations between all classes, all parties, and both races prevailed everywhere. fraud, violence, and intimidation at elections were neither suspected nor charged by anyone, for everyone knew that no occasion existed for such things. but after the state and congressional elections of there was a complete change of front. the new order of things was then set aside and the abandoned methods of a few years back were revived and readopted. it is no doubt true that very few men at the north who voted the republican ticket in and the democratic ticket in were influenced in changing their votes by anything connected with reconstruction. there were other questions at issue, no doubt, that influenced their action. there had been in , for instance, a disastrous financial panic. then there were other things connected with the national administration which met with popular disfavor. these were the reasons, no doubt, that influenced thousands of republicans to vote the democratic ticket merely as an indication of their dissatisfaction with the national administration. but, let their motives and reasons be what they may, the effect was the same as if they had intended their votes to be accepted and construed as an endorsement of the platform declarations of the national democratic convention of , at least so far as reconstruction was concerned. democrats claimed, and republicans could not deny, that so far as the south was concerned this was the effect of the congressional elections of . desertions from the republican ranks at the south, in consequence thereof, became more rapid than had been the accessions between and . thousands who had not taken an open stand, but who were suspected of being inclined to the republican party, denied that there had ever been any justifiable grounds for such suspicions. many who had taken an open stand on that side returned to the fold of the democracy in sackcloth and ashes,--upon bended knees, pleading for mercy, forgiveness and for charitable forbearance. they had seen a new light; and they were ready to confess that they had made a grave mistake, but, since their motives were good and their intentions were honest, they hoped that they would not be rashly treated nor harshly judged. the prospects for the gratification and realization of the ambition of white men in that section had been completely reversed. the conviction became a settled fact that the democratic party was the only channel through which it would be possible in the future for anyone to secure political distinction or receive official recognition,--hence the return to the ranks of that party of thousands of white men who had left it. all of them were eventually received, though some were kept on the anxious seat and held as probationers for a long time. it soon developed that all that was left of the once promising and flourishing republican party at the south was the true, faithful, loyal, and sincere colored men,--who remained republican from necessity as well as from choice,--and a few white men, who were republicans from principle and conviction, and who were willing to incur the odium, run the risks, take the chances, and pay the penalty that every white republican who had the courage of his convictions must then pay. this was a sad and serious disappointment to the colored men who were just about to realize the hope and expectation of a permanent political combination and union between themselves and the better element of the whites, which would have resulted in good, honest, capable, and efficient local government and in the establishment and maintenance of peace, good-will, friendly, cordial, and amicable relations between the two races. but this hope, politically at least, had now been destroyed, and these expectations had been shattered and scattered to the four winds. the outlook for the colored man was dark and anything but encouraging. many of the parting scenes that took place between the colored men and the whites who decided to return to the fold of the democracy were both affecting and pathetic in the extreme. the writer cannot resist the temptation to bring to the notice of the reader one of those scenes of which he had personal knowledge. colonel james lusk had been a prominent, conspicuous and influential representative of the southern aristocracy of ante-bellum days. he enjoyed the respect and confidence of the community in which he lived,--especially of the colored people. he, like thousands of others of his class, had identified himself with the republican party. there was in that community a republican club of which sam henry, a well-known colored man, was president. when it was rumored,--and before it could be verified,--that colonel lusk had decided to cast his fortunes with the republican party henry appointed a committee of three to call on him and extend to him a cordial invitation to appear before the club at its next meeting and deliver an address. the invitation was accepted. as soon as the colonel entered the door of the club, escorted by the committee, every man in the house immediately arose and all joined in giving three cheers and a hearty welcome to the gallant statesman and brave ex-confederate soldier who had honored them with his distinguished presence on that occasion. he delivered a splendid speech, in which he informed his hearers that he had decided to cast his lot with the republican party. it was the first public announcement of that fact that had been made. of course he was honored, idolized and lionized by the colored people wherever he was known. after the congressional elections of colonel lusk decided that he would return to the ranks of the democracy. before making public announcement of that fact he decided to send for his faithful and loyal friend, sam henry, to come to see him at his residence, as he had something of importance to communicate to him. promptly at the appointed time henry made his appearance. he did not know for what he was wanted, but he had a well-founded suspicion, based upon the changed conditions which were apparent in every direction; hence, apprehension could be easily detected in his countenance. colonel lusk commenced by reminding henry of the fact that it was before the club of which he was president and upon his invitation that he, lusk, had made public announcement of his intention to act in the future with the republican party. now that he had decided to renounce any further allegiance to that party he thought that his faithful friend and loyal supporter, sam henry, should be the first to whom that announcement should be made. when he had finished henry was visibly affected. "oh! no, colonel," he cried, breaking down completely, "i beg of you do not leave us. you are our chief, if not sole dependence. you are our moses. if you leave us, hundreds of others in our immediate neighborhood will be sure to follow your lead. we will thus be left without solid and substantial friends. i admit that with you party affiliation is optional. with me it is not. you can be either a republican or a democrat, and be honored and supported by the party to which you may belong. with me it is different. i must remain a republican whether i want to or not. while it is impossible for me to be a democrat it is not impossible for you to be a republican. we need you. we need your prestige, your power, your influence, and your name. i pray you, therefore, not to leave us; for if you and those who will follow your lead leave us now we will be made to feel that we are without a country, without a home, without friends, and without a hope for the future. oh, no, colonel, i beg of you, i plead with you, don't go! stay with us; lead and guide us, as you have so faithfully done during the last few years!" henry's remarks made a deep and profound impression upon colonel lusk. he informed henry that no step he could take was more painful to him than this. he assured henry that this act on his part was from necessity and not from choice. "the statement you have made, henry, that party affiliations with me is optional," he answered, "is presumed to be true; but, in point of fact, it is not. no white man can live in the south in the future and act with any other than the democratic party unless he is willing and prepared to live a life of social isolation and remain in political oblivion. while i am somewhat advanced in years, i am not so old as to be devoid of political ambition. besides i have two grown sons. there is, no doubt, a bright, brilliant and successful future before them if they are democrats; otherwise, not. if i remain in the republican party,--which can hereafter exist at the south only in name,--i will thereby retard, if not mar and possibly destroy, their future prospects. then, you must remember that a man's first duty is to his family. my daughters are the pride of my home. i cannot afford to have them suffer the humiliating consequences of the social ostracism to which they may be subjected if i remain in the republican party. "the die is cast. i must yield to the inevitable and surrender my convictions upon the altar of my family's good,--the outgrowth of circumstances and conditions which i am powerless to prevent and cannot control. henceforth i must act with the democratic party or make myself a martyr; and i do not feel that there is enough at stake to justify me in making such a fearful sacrifice as that. it is, therefore, with deep sorrow and sincere regret, henry, that i am constrained to leave you politically, but i find that i am confronted with a condition, not a theory. i am compelled to choose between you, on one side, and my family and personal interests, on the other. that i have decided to sacrifice you and yours upon the altar of my family's good is a decision for which you should neither blame nor censure me. if i could see my way clear to pursue a different course it would be done; but my decision is based upon careful and thoughtful consideration and it must stand." of course a stubborn and bitter fight for control of the democratic organization was now on between the antagonistic and conflicting elements among the whites. it was to be a desperate struggle between the former aristocrats, on one side, and what was known as the "poor whites," on the other. while the aristocrats had always been the weaker in point of numbers, they had been the stronger in point of wealth, intelligence, ability, skill and experience. as a result of their wide experience, and able and skillful management, the aristocrats were successful in the preliminary struggles, as illustrated in the persons of stephens, gordon, brown and hill, of georgia; daniels and lee, of virginia; hampton and butler, of south carolina; lamar and walthall, of mississippi, and garland, of arkansas. but in the course of time and in the natural order of things the poor whites were bound to win. all that was needed was a few years' tutelage and a few daring and unscrupulous leaders to prey upon their ignorance and magnify their vanity in order to bring them to a realization of the fact that their former political masters were now completely at their mercy, and subject to their will. that the poor whites of the ante-bellum period in most of the late slaveholding or reconstructed states are now the masters of the political situation in those states, is a fact that will not be questioned, disputed or denied by anyone who is well informed, or who is familiar with the facts. the aristocrats of ante-bellum days and their descendants in the old slave states are as completely under the political control and domination of the poor whites of the ante-bellum period as those whites were under them at that time. yet the reader must not assume that the election returns from such states indicate the actual, or even the relative, strength of the opposing and antagonistic elements and factions. they simply indicate that the poor whites of the past and their descendants are now the masters and the leaders, and that the masters and the leaders of the past are now the submissive followers. in the ranks of those who are now the recognized leaders is to be found some of the very best blood of the land,--the descendants of the finest, best, most cultivated, and most refined families of their respective states. but as a rule they are there, not from choice, but from necessity,--not because they are in harmony with what is being done, or because they approve of the methods that are being employed and pursued, but on account of circumstances and conditions which they can neither control nor prevent. they would not hesitate to raise the arm of revolt if they had any hope, or if they believed that ultimate success would be the result thereof. but as matters now stand they can detect no ray of hope, and can see no avenue of escape. hence nothing remains for them to do but to hold the chain of political oppression and subjugation, while their former political subordinates rivet and fasten the same around their unwilling necks. they find they can do nothing but sacrifice their pride, their manhood, and their self-respect upon the altar of political necessity. they see, they feel, they fully realize the hopelessness of their condition and the helplessness of their situation. they see, they know, they acknowledge that in the line of political distinction and official recognition they can get nothing that their former political subordinates are not willing for them to have. with a hope of getting a few crumbs that may fall from the official table they make wry faces and pretend to be satisfied with what is being done, and with the way in which it is done. they are looked upon with suspicion and their loyalty to the new order of things is a constant source of speculation, conjecture, and doubt. but, for reasons of political expediency, a few crumbs are allowed occasionally to go to some one of that class,--crumbs that are gratefully acknowledged and thankfully received, upon the theory that some little consideration is better than none at all, especially in their present helpless and dependent condition. but even these small crumbs are confined to those who are most pronounced and outspoken in their declarations and protestations of loyalty, devotion, and subservient submission to the new order of things. chapter xii eventful days of the forty-third congress the mississippi constitution having been ratified in ,--an odd year of the calendar,--caused the regular elections for state, district and county officers to occur on the odd year of the calendar, while the national elections occurred on the even years of the calendar, thus necessitating the holding of an election in the state every year. therefore, no election was to be held in , except for congressmen, and to fill a few vacancies, while the regular election for county officers and members of the legislature would be held in . since the regular session of the th congress would not convene before december, , in order to avoid the trouble and expense incident to holding an election in , the legislature passed a bill postponing the election of members of congress until november, . there being some doubt about the legality of this legislation, congress passed a bill legalizing the act of the legislature. consequently no election was held in the state in except to fill a few vacancies that had occurred in the legislature and in some of the districts and counties. one of the vacancies to be filled was that of state senator, created by the resignation of senator hiram cassidy, jr. senator cassidy, who was elected as a democrat in , and who had voted for mr. bruce, the republican caucus nominee, for united states senator, had in the mean time publicly identified himself with the republican party, thus following in the footsteps of his able and illustrious father, judge hiram cassidy, sr., who had given his active support to the republican candidate for governor in . governor ames had appointed senator cassidy a judge of the chancery court, to accept which office it was necessary for him to resign his seat as a member of the state senate. a special election was held in november, , to fill that vacancy. the democrats nominated a strong and able man, judge r.h. thompson, of brookhaven, lincoln county. the republicans nominated a still stronger and abler man, hon. j.f. sessions, of the same town and county,--a democrat who had represented franklin county for several terms, but who had that year identified himself with the republican party. sessions was chancellor cassidy's law partner. since the counties comprising that senatorial district constituted a part of the district that i then represented in congress, i took an active part in the support of the candidacy of sessions. although a democrat, hiram cassidy, jr., had been elected from that district in , sessions, a republican, was elected by a handsome majority in . a vacancy had also occurred in the legislature from franklin county, to fill which the republicans nominated hon. william p. cassidy, brother of chancellor cassidy; but the democratic majority in the county was too large for one even so popular as wm. p. cassidy to overcome; hence he was defeated by a small majority. from a republican point of view mississippi, as was true of the other reconstructed states, up to was all that could be expected and desired and, no doubt, would have remained so for many years, but for the unexpected results of the state and congressional elections of . while it is true, as stated and explained in a previous chapter, that grant carried nearly every state in the union at the presidential election in , the state and congressional elections throughout the country two years later went just the other way, and by majorities just as decisive as those given the republicans two years before. notwithstanding the severe and crushing defeat sustained by the republicans at that time, it was claimed by some, believed by others, and predicted by many that by the time the election for president in would roll around it would be found that the republicans had regained substantially all they had lost in ; but these hopes, predictions, and expectations were not realized. the presidential election of turned out to be so close and doubtful that neither party could claim a substantial victory. while it is true that hayes, the republican candidate for president, was finally declared elected according to the forms of law, yet the terms and conditions upon which he was allowed to be peaceably inaugurated were such as to complete the extinction and annihilation of the republican party at the south. the price that the hayes managers stipulated to pay,--and did pay,--for the peaceable inauguration of hayes was that the south was to be turned over to the democrats and that the administration was not to enforce the constitution and the laws of the land in that section against the expressed will of the democrats thereof. in other words, so far as the south was concerned, the constitution was not to follow the flag. in the rd congress which was elected in and which would expire by limitation march , , the republicans had a large majority in both houses. in the house of representatives of the th congress, which was elected in , the democratic majority was about as large as was the republican majority in the house of the rd congress. the republicans still retained control of the senate, but by a greatly reduced majority. during the short session of the rd congress, important legislation was contemplated by the republican leaders. alabama was one of the states which the democrats were charged with having carried in by resorting to methods which were believed to be questionable and illegal. an investigation was ordered by the house. a committee was appointed to make the investigation, of which general albright, of pennsylvania, was chairman. this committee was authorized to report by bill or otherwise. after a thorough investigation, the chairman was directed, and instructed by the vote of every republican member of the committee, which constituted a majority thereof, to report and recommend the passage of what was called the federal elections bill. this bill was carefully drawn; following substantially the same lines as a previous temporary measure, under the provisions of which what was known as the ku klux klan had been crushed out, and order had been restored in north carolina. it is safe to say that this bill would have passed both houses and become a law, but for the unexpected opposition of speaker blaine. mr. blaine was not only opposed to the bill, but his opposition was so intense that he felt it his duty to leave the speaker's chair and come on the floor for the purpose of leading the opposition to its passage. this, of course, was fatal to the passage of the measure. after a desperate struggle of a few days, in which the speaker was found to be in opposition to a large majority of his party associates, and which revealed the fact that the party was hopelessly divided, the leaders in the house abandoned the effort to bring the measure to a vote. mr. blame's motives in taking this unexpected position, in open opposition to the great majority of his party associates, has always been open to speculation and conjecture. his personal and political enemies charged that it was due to jealousy of president grant. mr. blaine was a candidate for the republican presidential nomination the following year. it was a well-known fact that president grant was not favorable to mr. blaine's nomination, but was in sympathy with the movement to have senator roscoe conkling, of new york, mr. blaine's bitterest political enemy, nominated. mr. blaine was afraid, his enemies asserted, that, if the federal elections bill,--under the provisions of which great additional power would have been conferred upon the president,--had become a law, that power would be used to defeat his nomination for the presidency in ; hence his opposition to the bill. but, whatever his motives were, his successful opposition to that measure no doubt resulted in his failure to realize the ambition of his life,--the presidency of the united states. but for the stand he took on that occasion, he would probably have received sufficient support from southern delegates in the national convention to secure him the nomination, and, had he been nominated at that time, the probabilities are that he would have been elected. but his opposition to that bill practically solidified the southern delegates in that convention against him, and as a result he was defeated for the nomination, although he was the choice of a majority of the northern delegates. even when blaine received the nomination in it was developed that it could not have happened had the southern delegates been as solidly against him at that time as they were in . but by the southern republicans had somewhat relented in their opposition to him, and, as a result thereof, he received sufficient support from that section to give him the nomination. but he was defeated at the polls because the south was solid against him,--a condition which was made possible by his own action in defeating the federal elections bill in . in consequence of his action in that matter he was severely criticised and censured by republicans generally, and by southern republicans especially. although i was not favorable to his nomination for the presidency at any time, my relations with mr. blaine had been so cordial that i felt at liberty to seek him and ask him, for my own satisfaction and information, an explanation of his action in opposing and defeating the federal elections bill. i therefore went to him just before the final adjournment of the rd congress and informed him that i desired to have a few minutes' private audience with him whenever it would be convenient for him to see me. he requested me to come to the speaker's room immediately after the adjournment of the house that afternoon. when i entered the room mr. blaine was alone. i took a seat only a few feet from him. i informed him of the great disappointment and intense dissatisfaction which his action had caused in defeating what was not only regarded as a party measure, but which was believed by the republicans to be of vital importance from a party point of view, to say nothing of its equity and justice. i remarked that for him to array himself in opposition to the great majority of his own party associates,--and to throw the weight of his great influence against such an important party measure as the federal elections bill was believed to be,--he must have had some motive, some justifiable grounds of which the public was ignorant, but about which i believed it was fair to himself and just to his own friends and party associates, that he give some explanation. "as a southern republican member of the house, and as one that is not hostile or particularly unfriendly to you," i said, "i feel that i have a right to make this request of you." at first he gave me a look of surprise, and for several seconds he remained silent. then, straightening himself up in his chair, he answered: "i am glad, mr. lynch, that you have made this request of me, since i am satisfied you are not actuated by any unfriendly motive in doing so. i shall, therefore, give a frank answer to your question. in my judgment, if that bill had become a law the defeat of the republican party throughout the country would have been a foregone conclusion. we could not have saved the south even if the bill had passed, but its passage would have lost us the north; indeed, i could not have carried even my own state of maine, if that bill had passed. in my opinion, it was better to lose the south and save the north, than to try through such legislation to save the south, and thus lose both north and south. i believed that if we saved the north we could then look after the south. if the southern democrats are foolish enough to bring about a solid south the result will be a solid north against a solid south; and in that case the republicans would have nothing to fear. you now have my reasons, frankly and candidly given, for the action taken by me on the occasion referred to. i hope you are satisfied with them." i thanked mr. blaine cordially for giving me the desired explanation. "i now feel better satisfied with reference to your action upon that occasion," i assured him. "while i do not agree with you in your conclusions, and while i believe your reasoning to be unsound and fallacious, still i cannot help giving you credit for having been actuated by no other motive than to do what you honestly believed was for the best interest of the country and the republican party." chapter xiii state campaign of . republican victory when i returned to my home after the adjournment of congress in march, , the political clouds were dark. the political outlook was discouraging. the prospect of republican success was not at all bright. there had been a marked change in the situation from every point of view. democrats were bold, outspoken, defiant, and determined. in addition to these unfavorable indications i noticed that i was not received by them with the same warmth and cordiality as on previous occasions. with a few notable exceptions they were cold, indifferent, even forbidding in their attitude and manner. this treatment was so radically different from that to which i had been accustomed that i could not help feeling it keenly. i knew it was indicative of a change in the political situation which meant that i had before me the fight of my life. my advocacy and support of the federal elections bill, commonly called the "force bill," was occasionally given as the reason for this change; but i knew this was not the true reason. in fact, that bill would hardly have been thought of but for the fact that mr. blaine, the republican speaker of the house, had attracted national attention to it through his action in vacating the chair and coming on the floor of the house to lead the opposition to its passage. this act on the part of the statesman from maine made him, in the opinion of many southern democrats, the greatest man that our country had ever produced,--george washington, the father of the republic, not excepted. they were loud in their thanks for the valuable service he had thus rendered them and, as evidence of their gratitude to him, they declared their determination to show their appreciation of this valuable service in a substantial manner whenever the opportunity presented itself for it to be done. no man in the country was stronger, better or more popular than the statesman from maine, until his name came before them as a candidate for president of the united states on a republican ticket. a sudden transformation then took place. it was then discovered, to their great surprise and disappointment, that he was such an unsafe and dangerous man that no greater calamity could happen to the country than his elevation to the presidency. nothing, therefore, must be left undone to bring about his defeat. i was well aware of the fact at the time that it was the result of the state and congressional elections at the north in that had convinced southern democrats that republican ascendency in the national government would soon be a thing of the past--that the democrats would be successful in the presidential and congressional elections of and that that party would, no doubt, remain in power for at least a quarter of a century. it was this, and not the unsuccessful effort to pass a federal elections bill, that had produced the marked change that was noticeable on every hand. every indication seemed to point to a confirmation of the impression that democratic success at the presidential election was practically an assured fact. there had been a disastrous financial panic in which was no doubt largely responsible for the political upheaval in ; but that was lost sight of in accounting for that result. in fact they made no effort to explain it except in their own way. the democrats had carried the country; the reasons for this they construed to suit themselves. the construction they placed upon it was that it was a national condemnation and repudiation of the congressional plan of reconstruction, and they intended to govern themselves accordingly. the election in mississippi in was for members of congress, members of the legislature, and county officers, and also a state treasurer to serve out the unexpired term of treasurer holland, deceased. my own renomination for congress from the sixth (natchez) district was a foregone conclusion, since i had no opposition in my own party; but i realized the painful fact that a nomination this time was not equivalent to an election. still, i felt that it was my duty to make the fight, let the result be what it might. if congressmen had been elected in the state would have returned five republicans and one democrat as was done in ; but in the prospect was not so bright, the indications were not so favorable. the democrats nominated for state treasurer hon. wm. l. hemmingway, of carroll county. he was an able man, and had been quite prominent as a party leader in his section of the state. the defiant attitude assumed, and the bold declarations contained in the platform upon which he was nominated were accepted by the republicans as notice that the democrats intended to carry the election--"peaceably and fairly." the republicans nominated hon. george m. buchanan, of marshall county, upon a platform which strongly endorsed the national and state administrations. mr. buchanan was a strong and popular man. he had been a brave and gallant confederate soldier. he had been for several years sheriff and tax collector of his county, and was known to be especially fitted for the office of state treasurer. as sheriff and tax collector of marshall county,--one of the wealthiest counties in the state,--he had handled and disbursed many thousands of dollars, every dollar of which had been faithfully accounted for. his honesty, integrity, ability, fitness, and capacity, everyone, regardless of race or party, unhesitatingly admitted. the administration of governor ames was one of the best the state had ever had. the judiciary was quite equal to that which had been appointed by governor alcorn. the public revenues had been promptly collected, and honestly accounted for. there had not only been no increase in the rate of taxation, but, to the contrary, there had been a material reduction. notwithstanding these things the democrats, together with the radical element in charge of the party machinery, determined to seize the state government _vi et armis_; not because it was at all necessary for any special reason, but simply because conditions at that time seemed to indicate that it could be safely done. after the nominations had all been made, the campaign was opened in dead earnest. nearly all democratic clubs in the state were converted into armed military companies. funds with which to purchase arms were believed to have been contributed by the national democratic organization. nearly every republican meeting was attended by one or more of those clubs or companies,--the members of which were distinguished by red shirts, indicative of blood,--the attendance being for the purpose, of course, of "keeping the peace and preserving order." to enable the democrats to carry the state a republican majority of between twenty and thirty thousand had to be overcome. this could be done only by the adoption and enforcement of questionable methods. it was a case in which the end justified the means, and the means had to be supplied. the republican vote consisted of about ninety-five per cent of the colored men, and of about twenty-five per cent of the white men. the other seventy-five per cent of the whites formerly constituted a part of the flower of the confederate army. they were not only tried and experienced soldiers, but they were fully armed and equipped for the work before them. some of the colored republicans had been union soldiers, but they were neither organized nor armed. in such a contest, therefore, they and their white allies were entirely at the mercy of their political adversaries. governor ames soon took in the situation. he saw that he could not depend upon the white members of the state militia to obey his orders, to support him in his efforts to uphold the majesty of the law, and to protect the law-abiding citizens in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. to use the colored members of the militia for such a purpose would be adding fuel to the flames. nothing, therefore, remained for him to do but to call on the national administration for military aid in his efforts to crush out domestic violence and enforce the laws of the state. he did call for such aid, but for reasons that will be given later it was not granted. when the polls closed on the day of the election, the democrats, of course, had carried the state by a large majority,--thus securing a heavy majority in both branches of the legislature. of the six members of congress the writer was the only one of the regular republican candidates that pulled through, and that, by a greatly reduced majority. in the second (holly springs) district, g. wiley wells ran as an independent republican against a.r. howe, the sitting member, and the regular republican candidate for reëlection. the democrats supported wells, who was elected. the delegation, therefore, consisted of four democrats, one republican, and one independent republican. while the delegation would have consisted of five straight republicans and one democrat had the election been held in , still, since the democrats had such a large majority in the house, the political complexion of the mississippi delegation was not important. the election of the writer, it was afterwards developed, was due in all probability to a miscalculation on the part of some of the democratic managers. their purpose was to have a solid delegation, counting wells as one of that number, since his election would be due to the support of the democratic party. but in my district the plan miscarried. in one of the counties there were two conflicting reports as to what the democratic majority was; according to one, it was two hundred and fifty, according to the other, it was five hundred. the report giving two hundred and fifty was, no doubt, the correct one, but the other would probably have been accepted had it been believed at the time that it was necessary to insure the election of the democratic candidate. to overcome the majority in that district was more difficult than to overcome it in any of the other districts. while their candidate, colonel roderick seal, was quite a popular man, it was well known that i would poll a solid republican vote and some democratic votes in addition. fortunately for me there was a split in the party in my own county (adams) for county officers, which resulted in bringing out a very heavy vote. this split also made the count of the ballots very slow,--covering a period of several days. my name was on both tickets. the election took place on tuesday, but the count was not finished until the following friday evening. hence, the result for member of congress in that county could not be definitely ascertained until friday night. the democratic managers at the state capital were eager to know as soon as possible what the republican majority in adams county would be for congressman, hence, on wednesday evening, the editor of the local democratic paper received a telegram from the secretary of the democratic state committee, requesting to be informed immediately what the republican majority for congressman would be in adams county. the editor read the telegram to me and asked what, in my opinion, would be my majority in the county. my reply was that i did not think it would exceed twelve hundred; whereupon he sent in the following report: "lynch's majority in adams will not exceed twelve hundred." upon receipt of this telegram the majority of two hundred and fifty instead of five hundred was deemed sufficient from the county heretofore referred to. if the republican majority in adams would not exceed twelve hundred, the success of the democratic congressional candidate by a small but safe majority was assured on the face of the returns. since adams was the last county to be reported, no change could thereafter be made. when the count was finally finished in adams it was found i had a majority of over eighteen hundred. this gave me a majority in the district of a little over two hundred on the face of the returns. the disappointment and chagrin on the part of the democratic managers can better be imagined than described. but the agreeable surprise to the republicans was at least equal to the democrats' disappointment. the defeated democratic candidate threatened to make a contest for the seat on the ground of violence and fraud; but this was so ridiculous that the managers of his own party would not allow him to carry the threat into execution. chapter xiv interview between the author and the president regarding state appointments shortly after i reached washington in the latter part of november, , i called on the president to pay my respects, and to see him on business relating to a civil service order that he had recently issued, and that some of the federal office-holders had evidently misunderstood. postmaster pursell, of summit, an important town in my district, was one of that number. he was supposed to be a republican, having been appointed as such. but he not only refused to take any part in the campaign of , but he also declined to contribute a dollar to meet the legitimate expenses of that campaign. the president's civil service order was his excuse. according to pursell's construction of that order, federal office-holders must not only take no part in political or party campaigns, but they must make no contributions for political purposes. he not only said nothing and did nothing in the interest of his party in that campaign, but it was believed by some that he did not even vote the republican ticket. after paying my respects to the president i brought this case to his attention. i informed him that i very much desired to have postmaster pursell removed, and a good republican appointed in his stead. "what is the matter with him?" the president asked. "is he not a good postmaster?" "yes," i replied, "there is nothing to be said against him, so far as i know, with reference to his administration of the office. i only object to him on account of politics. he may be,--and no doubt is,--a good, capable, and efficient postmaster; but politically he is worthless. from a party point of view he is no good. in my opinion, there ought to be a man in that office who will not only discharge his duties in a creditable manner, but who will also be of some service to the party and to the administration under which he serves. in the present postmaster of the town of summit we have not such a man, but we can and will have one if you will appoint the one whose name i now present and for whom i ask your favorable consideration. we had, as you know, a bitter and desperate struggle. it was the very time that we stood sadly in need of every man and of every vote. we lost the county that summit is in by a small majority. if an active and aggressive man, such as the one whose name i now place before you, had been postmaster at summit, the result in that county might have been different. i therefore earnestly recommend that pursell be removed, and that mr. garland be appointed to succeed him." the president replied: "you have given good and sufficient reasons for a change. leave with me the name of the man you desire to have appointed, and his name will be sent to the senate as soon as congress meets." i cordially thanked the president, and assured him that he would have no occasion to regret making the change. in explanation of his civil service order the president remarked that quite a number of office-holders had seemed to misunderstand it, although it was plainly worded, and, as he thought, not difficult to understand. there had never been any serious complaints growing out of active participation in political campaigns on the part of office-holders, and that it was not, and never had been, the purpose of the administration, by executive order or otherwise, to limit or restrict any american citizen in the discharge of his duties as a citizen, simply because he happened to be an office-holder, provided that in so doing he did not neglect his official duties. there had, however, been serious complaints from many parts of the country about the use and abuse of federal patronage in efforts to manipulate party conventions, and to dictate and control party nominations. to destroy this evil was the primary purpose of the civil service order referred to. i told the president that his explanation of the order was in harmony with my own construction and interpretation of it. that is why i made the recommendation for a change in the postmastership at summit. the change was promptly made. i then informed the president that there was another matter about which i desired to have a short talk with him, that was the recent election in mississippi. after calling his attention to the sanguinary struggle through which we had passed, and the great disadvantages under which we labored, i reminded him of the fact that the governor, when he saw that he could not put down without the assistance of the national administration what was practically an insurrection against the state government, made application for assistance in the manner and form prescribed by the constitution, with the confident belief that it would be forthcoming. but in this we were, for some reason, seriously disappointed and sadly surprised. the reason for this action, or rather non-action, was still an unexplained mystery to us. for my own satisfaction and information i should be pleased to have the president enlighten me on the subject. the president said that he was glad i had asked him the question, and that he would take pleasure in giving me a frank reply. he said he had sent governor ames' requisition to the war department with his approval and with instructions to have the necessary assistance furnished without delay. he had also given instructions to the attorney-general to use the marshals and the machinery of the federal judiciary as far as possible in coöperation with the war department in an effort to maintain order and to bring about a condition which would insure a peaceable and fair election. but before the orders were put into execution a committee of prominent republicans from ohio had called on him. (ohio was then an october state,--that is, her elections took place in october instead of november.) an important election was then pending in that state. this committee, the president stated, protested against having the requisition of governor ames honored. the committee, the president said, informed him in a most emphatic way that if the requisition of governor ames were honored, the democrats would not only carry mississippi,--a state which would be lost to the republicans in any event,--but that democratic success in ohio would be an assured fact. if the requisition were not honored it would make no change in the result in mississippi, but that ohio would be saved to the republicans. the president assured me that it was with great reluctance that he yielded,--against his own judgment and sense of official duty,--to the arguments of this committee, and directed the withdrawal of the orders which had been given the secretary of war and the attorney-general in that matter. this statement, i confess, surprised me very much. "can it be possible," i asked, "that there is such a prevailing sentiment in any state in the north, east or west as renders it necessary for a republican president to virtually give his sanction to what is equivalent to a suspension of the constitution and laws of the land to insure republican success in such a state? i cannot believe this to be true, the opinion of the republican committee from ohio to the contrary notwithstanding. what surprises me more, mr. president, is that you yielded and granted this remarkable request. that is not like you. it is the first time i have ever known you to show the white feather. instead of granting the request of that committee, you should have rebuked the men,--told them that it is your duty as chief magistrate of the country to enforce the constitution and laws of the land, and to protect american citizens in the exercise and enjoyment of their rights, let the consequences be what they may; and that if by doing this ohio should be lost to the republicans it ought to be lost. in other words, no victory is worth having if it is to be brought about upon such conditions as those,--if it is to be purchased at such a fearful cost as was paid in this case." "yes," said the president, "i admit that you are right. i should not have yielded. i believed at the time that i was making a grave mistake. but as presented, it was duty on one side, and party obligation on the other. between the two i hesitated, but finally yielded to what was believed to be party obligation. if a mistake was made, it was one of the head and not of the heart. that my heart was right and my intentions good, no one who knows me will question. if i had believed that any effort on my part would have saved mississippi i would have made it, even if i had been convinced that it would have resulted in the loss of ohio to the republicans. but i was satisfied then, as i am now, that mississippi could not have been saved to the party in any event and i wanted to avoid the responsibility of the loss of ohio, in addition. this was the turning-point in the case. "and while on this subject," the president went on, "let us look more closely into the significance of this situation. i am very much concerned about the future of our country. when the war came to an end it was thought that four things had been brought about and effectually accomplished as a result thereof. they were: first, that slavery had been forever abolished; second, that the indissolubility of the federal union had been permanently established and universally recognized; third, that the absolute and independent sovereignty of the several states was a thing of the past; fourth, that a national sovereignty had been at last created and established, resulting in sufficient power being vested in the general government not only to guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government, but to protect, when necessary, the individual citizen of the united states in the exercise and enjoyment of the rights and privileges to which he is entitled under the constitution and laws of his country. in other words, that there had been created a national citizenship as distinguished from state citizenship, resulting in a paramount allegiance to the united states,--the general government,--having ample power to protect its own citizens against domestic and personal violence whenever the state in which he may live should fail, refuse, or neglect to do so. in other words, so far as citizens of the united states are concerned, the states in the future would only act as agents of the general government in protecting the citizens of the united states in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. this has been my conception of the duties of the president, and until recently i have pursued that course. but there seems to be a number of leading and influential men in the republican party who take a different view of these matters. these men have used and are still using their power and influence, not to strengthen but to cripple the president and thus prevent him from enforcing the constitution and laws along these lines. they have not only used their power and influence to prevent and defeat wise and necessary legislation for these purposes, but they have contributed, through the medium of public meetings and newspaper and magazine articles, to the creation of a public sentiment hostile to the policy of the administration. whatever their motives may be, future mischief of a very serious nature is bound to be the result. it requires no prophet to foresee that the national government will soon be at a great disadvantage and that the results of the war of the rebellion will have been in a large measure lost. in other words, that the first two of the four propositions above stated will represent all that will have been accomplished as a result of the war, and even they, for the lack of power of enforcement in the general government, will be largely of a negative character. what you have just passed through in the state of mississippi is only the beginning of what is sure to follow. i do not wish to create unnecessary alarm, nor to be looked upon as a prophet of evil, but it is impossible for me to close my eyes in the face of things that are as plain to me as the noonday sun." it is needless to say that i was deeply interested in the president's eloquent and prophetic talk which subsequent events have more than fully verified. chapter xv the presidential election of and its results the presidential election was held in . the republicans had carried the country in by such a decisive majority that it indicated many years of continued republican ascendency in the national government. but the severe reverses sustained by that party at the polls two years later completely changed this situation and outlook. democrats confidently expected and republicans seriously apprehended that the presidential election of would result in a substantial democratic victory. mr. blaine was the leading candidate for the republican nomination, but he had bitter opposition in the ranks of his own party. that opposition came chiefly from friends and supporters of senator conkling at the north and from southern republicans generally. the opposition of the conkling men to mr. blaine was largely personal; while southern republicans were opposed to him on account of his having caused the defeat of the federal elections bill. the great majority of southern republicans supported senator oliver p. morton of indiana. after the national convention had been organized, it looked for a while as if mr. blaine's nomination was a foregone conclusion. hon. edward mcpherson, of pennsylvania,--a strong blaine man,--had been made president of the convention. in placing mr. blaine's name in nomination, hon. robert g. ingersoll of illinois made such an eloquent and effective speech that he came very near carrying the convention by storm, and thus securing the nomination of the statesman from maine. but the opposition to mr. blaine was too well organized to allow the convention to be stampeded, even by the power and eloquence of an ingersoll. it was this speech that gave mr. ingersoll his national fame and brought him to the front as a public speaker and lecturer. it was the most eloquent and impressive speech that was delivered during the sitting of the convention. after a bitter struggle of many hours, and after a number of fruitless ballots, the convention finally nominated gov. r.b. hayes, of ohio, as a compromise candidate. this result was brought about through a union of the combined opposition to mr. blaine. hon. wm. a. wheeler, of new york, was nominated for vice-president and the work of the convention was over. the democrats nominated ex-governor samuel j. tilden, of new york, for president, and thomas a. hendricks, of indiana, for vice-president. their platform pledged many radical reforms in the administration of the government. this ticket was made with the hope that it would be successful in the doubtful and debatable states of new york, new jersey, indiana, and connecticut, which, with the solid south, would constitute a majority of the electoral college, even if all the other states should go republican, which was not anticipated. that the prospect of democratic success was exceedingly bright and the probability of a republican victory extremely dark, was generally conceded. the south was counted upon to be solid in its support of the democratic ticket, for the methods that had been successfully inaugurated in mississippi the year before, to overcome a republican majority of more than twenty thousand, were to be introduced and adopted in all the other states of that section in which conditions were practically the same as in mississippi. to insure success, therefore, it was only necessary for the democrats to concentrate their efforts upon the four doubtful states outside of the solid south. up to a certain point the plan worked well. every indication seemed to point to its successful consummation. as had been anticipated, the democrats were successful in the four doubtful northern states, and they also carried, on the face of the returns, every southern state, just as had been planned; the mississippi methods having been adopted in such of them as had republican majorities to overcome. since through those methods the democrats had succeeded in overcoming a large republican majority in mississippi, there was no reason why the same methods should not produce like results in south carolina, in louisiana, and in florida. in fact, it was looked upon as a reflection upon the bravery and party loyalty of the democracy of those states if they could not do what had been done under like conditions in mississippi. hence those states _had_ to be carried, "peaceably and fairly," of course, "but they must be carried just the same." failure to carry them was out of the question, because too much was involved. according to the plans and calculations that had been carefully made, no southern state could be lost. while it might be possible to win without all of them, still it was not believed to be safe to run any such risk, or take any such chance. if the democrats should happen to carry a state that was not included in the combination, so much the better. everything seemed to work admirably. that it was a plan by which elections could be easily carried, with or without votes, had been clearly demonstrated. on the face of the returns the majorities were brought forth just as had been ordered and directed. but it seems that such methods had been anticipated by the republican governments in south carolina, louisiana, and florida, and that suitable steps had been taken to prevent their successful consummation through the medium of state returning boards. when the returning boards had rejected and thrown out many of the majorities that had been returned from some of the counties and parishes, the result was changed, and the republican candidates for presidential electors were officially declared elected. this gave the republican candidates for president and vice-president a majority of one vote in the electoral college. it has, of course, been alleged by many,--and it is believed by some,--that the actions of those returning boards defeated the will of the people as expressed at the polls, thus bringing about the seating in the presidential chair of the man that had been fairly and honestly defeated. yet, no one who is familiar with the facts, and who is honest enough to admit them, will deny that but for the inauguration in south carolina, florida, and louisiana, of the mississippi methods, those three states would have been as safely republican at that time and in that election as were the states of pennsylvania and vermont. but the plans of the democratic managers had been defeated. it was hard for them to lose a victory they felt and believed to have been won by them, notwithstanding the extraneous methods that had been employed to bring about such results. chapter xvi effects of the reform administration in mississippi because the democrats carried the election in mississippi in , they did not thereby secure control of the state government. that election was for members of the legislature, members of congress and county officers. only one state officer was elected,--a state treasurer,--to fill the vacancy created by the death of treasurer holland. all the other state officers were republicans. but the democrats could not afford to wait until governor ames' term expired. they were determined to get immediate control of the state government. there was only one way in which this could be done, and that was by impeachment. this course they decided to take. it could not be truthfully denied that governor ames was a clean, pure, and honest man. he had given the state an excellent administration. the state judiciary had been kept up to the high standard established by governor alcorn. every dollar of the public money had been collected, and honestly accounted for. the state was in a prosperous condition. the rate of taxation had been greatly reduced, and there was every prospect of a still further reduction before the end of his administration. but these facts made no difference to those who were flushed with the victory they had so easily won. they wanted the offices, and were determined to have them, and that, too, without very much delay. hence, impeachment proceedings were immediately instituted against the governor and lieutenant-governor,--not in the interest of reform, of good government or of low taxes, but simply in order to get possession of the state government. the weakness of the case against the governor was shown when it developed that the strongest charge against him was that he had entered into an alleged corrupt bargain with state senator cassidy, resulting in cassidy's appointment as one of the judges of the chancery court. cassidy had been elected a member of the state senate as a democrat. notwithstanding that fact he voted for mr. bruce, the republican caucus nominee for united states senator, and subsequently publicly identified himself with the republican party. later his brother, william p. cassidy, and his law partner, hon. j.f. sessions, did likewise. in sessions was elected to the state senate as a republican to serve out the unexpired term of his law partner, cassidy, who had resigned his seat in the senate upon his appointment as a judge of the chancery court. cassidy was a brilliant young man, and an able lawyer. that the governor should have selected him for an important judicial position was both wise and proper. it was one of his best and most creditable appointments and was generally commended as such when it was made. the fact that he had been elected to the state senate as a democrat, and shortly thereafter joined the republican party was made the basis of the charge that his change of party affiliation was the result of a corrupt bargain between the governor and himself, for which the governor, but not the judge, should be impeached and removed from office. there were a few other vague and unimportant charges, but this one, as weak as it was, was the strongest of the number. when the articles of impeachment were presented to the house, it was seen that they were so weak and so groundless that the governor believed it would be an easy matter for him to discredit them even before an antagonistic legislature. with that end in view, he employed several of the ablest lawyers in the country to represent him. they came to jackson and commenced the preparation of the case, but it did not take them long to find out that their case was a hopeless one. they soon found out to their entire satisfaction that it was not to be a judicial trial, but a political one and that the jury was already prepared for conviction without regard to the law, the constitution, the evidence, or the facts. governor ames was to be convicted, not because he was guilty of any offense, but because he was in the way of complete democratic control of the state government. personally they had nothing against ames. it was not the man but the office they wanted, and that they were determined to have. they knew he had committed no offense, but, as matters then stood, being a republican was an offense which justified removal from office. to punish him otherwise, for anything he had done or failed to do, did not at any time enter into their calculations. the governorship was the prize at stake. in this matter there was no concealment of their purposes and intentions. as soon as the governor's legal advisers found out what the actual situation was, they saw it was useless to continue the fight. upon their advice, therefore, the governor tendered his resignation, which was promptly accepted. he then left the state never to return again. if the impeachment proceedings had been instituted in good faith,--upon an honest belief that the chief executive had committed offenses which merited punishment,--the resignation would not have been accepted. the fact that it was accepted,--and that, too, without hesitation or question,--was equivalent to a confession that the purpose of the proceedings was to get possession of the office. short work was made of the lieutenant-governor's case; and state senator john m. stone, the democratic president pro tem. of the state senate, was duly sworn in and installed as the acting governor of the state. thus terminated a long series of questionable acts, the inauguration of which had no other purpose than to secure the ascendency of one political party over another in the administration of the government of the state. the sanguinary revolution in the state of mississippi in was claimed to be in the interest of good administration and honest government; it was an attempt to wrest the state from the control of dishonest men,--negroes, carpet baggers, and scalawags,--and place it in control of intelligent, pure, and honest white men. with that end in view, geo. m. buchanan, a brave and gallant ex-confederate soldier, was, through questionable and indefensible methods, defeated for the office of state treasurer, and wm. l. hemmingway was declared elected. yet when the change took place it was found that every dollar of the public money was accounted for. during the whole period of republican administration not a dollar had been misappropriated, nor had there been a single defalcation, although millions of dollars had passed through the hands of the fiscal agents of the state and of the different counties. how was it with the new reform administration? treasurer hemmingway had been in office only a comparatively short while when the startling information was given out that he was a defaulter to the amount of $ , . . william l. hemmingway a defaulter! could such a thing be possible? yes, it was an admitted and undisputed fact. mr. hemmingway had been quite prominent in the politics of the state; but those who knew the man, and i was one of those, had every reason to believe that he was an honest man, and that he was the personification of integrity. he was neither a speculator nor a gambler. even after the defalcation was made known there was nothing to indicate that any part of the money had been appropriated to his own use. yet the money had mysteriously disappeared. where was it? who had it? these were questions the people of the state desired to have answered, but they have never yet been answered and, it is safe to say, they never will be. hemmingway no doubt could and can answer those questions, but he has not done so and the probabilities are that he never will. he evidently believed that to turn state's evidence would render him more culpable than to be guilty of the act which he had allowed to be committed. he might have been forced to make a confession, or at least been compelled to give the prosecution a clue to the real criminal or criminals if the prosecution had been in charge of persons who could not be suspected of being the political beneficiaries of the methods by which it was possible for him to be placed in charge of the office. it was hardly reasonable to expect such men to make very much of an effort to secure a confession. in fact, it seems to have been a relief to them to have the accused take the position that he alone was the responsible party and that he was willing to bear all the blame and assume all the consequences that would result from the act. the names, therefore, of those who were the beneficiaries of this remarkable defalcation will, no doubt, remain a secret in the bosom of william l. hemmingway, and will be buried with him in his grave. hemmingway was tried, convicted, sentenced and served a term in the state prison; all of which he calmly endured rather than give the name of any person having connection with that unfortunate affair. all the satisfaction that the public can get with reference to it,--other than the punishment to which hemmingway was subjected,--is to indulge in conjectures about it. one conjecture, and the most reasonable and plausible one, is that if hemmingway had made a full confession it might have involved not only some men who were prominent and influential, but perhaps the democratic state organization as well. for it was a well-known fact that in nearly every democratic club in the state was converted into an armed military company. to fully organize, equip, and arm such a large body of men required an outlay of a large sum of money. the money was evidently furnished by some persons or through some organization. those who raised the money, or who caused it to be raised, no doubt had an eye to the main chance. a patriotic desire to have the state redeemed (?) was not with them the actuating motive. when the redemption (?) of the state was an accomplished fact they, no doubt, felt that they were entitled to share in the fruits of that redemption. their idea evidently was that the state should be made to pay for its own salvation and redemption, but the only way in which this could be done was to have the people's money in the state treasury appropriated for that purpose otherwise than by legislative enactment. this, as i have already stated, is only a conjecture, but, under the circumstances, it is the most reasonable and plausible one that can be imagined. the case of treasurer hemmingway is conclusive evidence that in point of efficiency, honesty and official integrity the democratic party had no advantage over the party that was placed in power chiefly through the votes of colored men. what was true of mississippi in this respect was also true,--in a measure, at least,--of the other reconstructed states. chapter xvii the hayes-tilden contest. the electoral commission although the action of the returning boards in south carolina, louisiana, and florida, gave mr. hayes a majority of one vote in the electoral college, the democrats, who were largely in the majority in the national house of representatives, were evidently not willing to acquiesce in the declared result,--claiming that mr. tilden had been fairly elected and that he ought to be inaugurated. hon. henry watterson, of kentucky,--who was at that time a member of the house,--delivered a fiery speech in which he declared that a hundred thousand armed men would march to washington to see that mr. tilden was inaugurated. the situation for a while looked very grave. it seemed as if there would be a dual government, hayes and tilden each claiming to be the legally elected president. to prevent this was the problem then before congress and the american people. conferences, composed of influential men of both parties, were being frequently held in different parts of the city. the creation of an electoral commission to pass upon and decide the disputed points involved was finally suggested, and was accepted by a majority of both parties. the name of the originator of this suggestion has never been made public; but it is believed by many that senator edmunds, of vermont, was the man, since he was the principal champion of the measure in the senate. subsequent events appeared to indicate that hon. wm. m. evarts of new york, was also an influential party to the scheme, if not the originator of it. at any rate, no one seemed to have been sufficiently proud of it to lay claim to its paternity. it was merely a temporary scheme, intended to tide over an unpleasant, and perhaps dangerous, condition which existing remedies did not fully meet. it was equivalent to disposing of the presidency by a game of chance,--for the composition of the proposed commission was, politically, purely a matter of chance. as finally agreed upon, the measure provided for a commission to be composed of fifteen members,--five from the house, five from the senate, and five justices of the supreme court. as the democrats had a majority in the house, it was agreed that they should have three, and the republicans two of the five members of that body. since the republicans had a majority in the senate it was agreed that they should have three, and the democrats two of the five members of that body. of the five justices of the supreme court, two were to be republicans and two, democrats; the fifth justice to be an independent,--or one who was as near an independent as could be found on the bench of that court. when the bill creating this commission came before the house i spoke against it, and voted against it, for two reasons. in the first place, i believed it was a dangerous precedent to subject the presidency of the united states to such a game of chance as was contemplated by the bill then under consideration. either hayes or tilden had been elected, and the result ought to be ascertained according to legal forms. in the second place, i had a suspicion that it was the outgrowth of an understanding or agreement which would result in the abandonment of southern republicans by the national administration. mr. lamar, for instance, did not hesitate to declare that it was more important that the south should have local self-government than that the president should be a democrat. in other words, what southern democrats wanted was to be let alone,--was to have the national administration keep its hands off, and allow them to manage their own affairs in their own way, even if that way should result in a virtual nullification, in part at least, of the war amendments to the federal constitution. i had a suspicion that this concession had been granted upon condition that the southern democratic leaders in congress would consent to the creation of the proposed commission, and to the ratification of its decision, whatever that decision might be. to such a bargain i did not care to be even an innocent party. my suspicions were strengthened by the fact that the principal opposition among democrats to the creation of the commission and to the ratification of its decision came from northern democrats. southern democrats, with a few notable exceptions, not only favored the creation of the commission and the ratification of its decision, but even the fiery watterson was induced to hold his peace and to give expression to his righteous indignation through the medium of a silent vote. that my suspicions were well founded subsequents events more than demonstrated. i took the position that mr. hayes had been legally elected, at least according to the forms of law and in the manner prescribed by the constitution,--and that he should, therefore, be duly inaugurated even if it should be necessary for president grant, as commander-in-chief of the army, to use the military force of the government for that purpose. i contended that, having been thus legally elected, hayes should not be subjected to the chance of losing his title to the office and that the incoming president should not be bound by any ante-inauguration pledges, which, in the opinion of some, would have a tendency to cast a cloud upon his title to the office. but the bill was passed and the commission was duly appointed. at this point the game of chance turned in favor of the republicans. it was generally understood that justice david davis, of illinois, would be the fifth justice to be placed on the commission. he was said to be an independent,--the only member of the supreme court that could be thus classed politically. but, in point of fact, he was more of a democrat than an independent. had he been made a member of the commission it is more than probable that mr. tilden, and not mr. hayes, would have been made president. the legislature of illinois was at that time engaged in an effort to elect a united states senator. the legislature was composed of about an equal number of republicans and democrats,--three independents holding the balance of power. the independents at length presented the name of justice david davis as their choice for senator. in order to make sure of the defeat of a republican, the democrats joined the independents in the support of justice davis, which resulted in his election. this took place only a few days before the time appointed for the selection of the commissioners. as soon as it was announced that justice davis had been elected to the senate the republican leaders in congress insisted that he was no longer eligible to a seat on the electoral commission. this was at first strongly combated by the democrats, who contended that the justice was only a senator-elect, and that he did not cease to be a member of the court until he tendered his resignation as such; this he was neither required nor expected to do until shortly before the beginning of his term as a senator. but the republicans pressed their objections so strongly that the democrats were induced to yield the point, and justice bradley was selected as the fifth justice. next to davis, bradley came as near being an independent as any member of the court. although he had been appointed as a republican by president grant,--as had justice davis by president lincoln,--yet he had rendered several decisions which gave the democrats hope that he might give the deciding vote in their favor and thus make mr. tilden president. in this they were disappointed; for it turned out that the substitution of bradley for davis made hayes president of the united states. it would, perhaps, be unfair to say that the decisions of the commission were rendered regardless of the evidence, the law, and the arguments, yet it so happened that every important point was decided by a strict party vote,--eight to seven. in this connection it will not be out of place to refer to a scene that was created on the democratic side of the house by hon. ben. hill, of georgia. mr. hill entered the house one afternoon, having just returned from the supreme court chamber, where the commission was in session. he remarked to one of his colleagues in a low tone that he had just returned from where the sessions of the commission were being held, and that while there the important and valuable information had been imparted to him that on a most vital point the democrats could with absolute certainty depend upon the vote of mr. justice bradley. "can that be possible?" exclaimed his excited and highly elated colleague. "yes," replied mr. hill, "there can be no doubt about it. i know whereof i speak. it came to me through a source that cannot be questioned." "then wait until i can call several of our friends," replied his colleague, "i want them to hear the good news at the same time it is heard by me, so that we can rejoice together." mr. hill was soon surrounded by an eager, excited, and interested group of anxious democratic members. "we are now ready," said his delighted colleague, whose face was covered with a smile of satisfaction, "to hear the good news." "well," replied mr. hill, whose manner was grave and whose countenance gave every evidence of deep emotion, "whenever a motion to adjourn is made by a democratic member of the commission we can safely depend upon the vote of mr. justice bradley being cast in the affirmative." the heads of the anxious group immediately fell in deep disappointment and despair. but, of course, they did not fail to see the irony of mr. hill's remark. it did transpire that whenever a motion to adjourn was made by a democratic member of the commission it was usually carried by a vote of eight to seven,--mr. justice bradley voting in the affirmative with the democrats. on no other question, however, could they depend on his vote. the decision of the electoral commission was finally rendered in favor of mr. hayes by a strict party vote,--eight to seven. strong and bitter opposition to the approval of the decision was made in the house by quite a number of northern democrats, but the majority of southern democrats, aided by such northern democrats as represented districts having large commercial interests,--interests that are at all times willing to pay any price for peace,--accepted the decision, and mr. hayes was allowed to be peacefully inaugurated. chapter xviii attitude of the hayes administration toward the south the new administration had been in power only a short while before it became apparent to southern republicans that they had very little to expect from this administration. it was generally understood that a southern man would be made postmaster general in the new cabinet, but it was assumed, of course, by those, at least, who were not fully informed about the secret deals and bargains that had been entered into as a condition precedent to a peaceable inauguration of the new administration,--that he would be a republican. senator alcorn, of my own state, mississippi, who had just retired from the senate, had an ambition to occupy that position. i was one to whom that fact was made known. i did not hesitate to use what little influence i had to have that ambition gratified. i was so earnest and persistent in pressing his claims and merits upon those who were known to be close to the appointing power, that i succeeded in finding out definitely and authoritatively the name of the man that had been agreed upon and would, no doubt, be appointed to that position. ex-senator key, a democrat from tennessee, was the man. when i informed senator alcorn of that fact the manifestation of surprise, disappointment, and disgust with which he received it can better be imagined than described. this was not due so much to the fact that some other one than himself had been selected, but to the fact that the fortunate man was a southern democrat. for the first time the senator became convinced that southern republicans had been made the subjects of barter and trade in the shuffle for the presidency, and that the sacrifice of southern republicans was the price that had to be paid for the peaceable inauguration of mr. hayes. this, in senator alcorn's opinion, meant that the republican party in the reconstructed states of the south was a thing of the past. there was no hope for it in the future. "it would have been far better," said the senator, "not only for the republican party at the south but for the country at large, to have allowed the democrats to inaugurate tilden, and to have taken charge of the government, than to have purchased republican victory at such a fearful cost. what inducement can a southern white man now have for becoming a republican? under the present state of things he will be hated at home, and despised abroad. he will be rejected by his old friends and associates, and discountenanced by his new ones. he will incur the odium, and merit the displeasure and censure of his former friends, associates, and companions with no compensating advantages for the sacrifices thus made." the senator spoke with deep feeling. he could see that his efforts to build up a strong republican party at the south must necessarily fail under such conditions, and that it was useless to make any further effort in that direction. under his influence and leadership very many of the best and most influential white men in his state had identified themselves with the republican party. his efforts in that direction would have been continued, in spite of the temporary defeat of the party at the polls, however severe that defeat might have been, if those efforts had been appreciated and appropriately recognized by the national leaders of the organization. but when he saw that not only was this not to be done, but that one of those who was known to be fully identified with the political persecutors of southern republicans was to be recognized,--thus placing the stamp of approval upon their work by an administration that was supposed to be republican and therefore opposed to such methods,--it was time for southern white men, who had been acting with the republican party and for those who may have such action in contemplation, to stop and seriously consider the situation. it was now in order for each one of them to ask himself the question: "can i afford to do this?" the appointment of a southern democrat to a seat in the cabinet of a republican president, especially at that particular time, was a crushing blow to southern republicans. it was the straw that broke the camel's back. senator alcorn was a man suitable in every way for the office of postmaster-general. he had a commanding presence, he was an eloquent speaker, and an able debater,--by nature a leader and not a follower. he had taken an active part in the politics of his state before and after the war. after he identified himself with the republican party he was ambitious to be chiefly instrumental in building up a strong party in his state and throughout the south which would not only recognize merit in the colored people and accord absolute justice and fair play to them, but which would include in its membership a large percentage, if not a majority, of the best and most substantial white men of that section. that he had made splendid progress along those lines cannot be denied. the announced southern policy of the hayes administration not only completed the destruction of what had been thus accomplished, but it made any further progress in that direction absolutely impossible. the selection of ex-senator key was, however, not the only cabinet appointment which clearly indicated the southern policy of the administration. there were two others,--those of william m. evarts and carl schurz. those men had been prominent in their bitter opposition to the southern policy of president grant. mr. schurz had been one of the leaders in the greeley movement against president grant and the republican party in , while mr. evarts was later the principal speaker at a public indignation meeting that was held at new york to denounce the southern policy of the grant administration. in fact, john sherman was the only one of the cabinet ministers that had a positive national standing, and even his brilliant star was somewhat marred on account of the impression that, as one of the hayes managers, he had been a party to the deals and agreements that had been made and entered into as a condition precedent to the peaceable induction of mr. hayes into office. it was known, or at any rate believed, that mr. sherman's appointment as secretary of the treasury was for the one specific purpose of bringing about the resumption of specie payments. he was the author of the act which fixed the date when specie payments should be resumed. he had the reputation of being one of the ablest financiers the country had produced. that he should be named to carry into effect the act of which he was the author was to be expected. for the reasons above stated, it was the one cabinet appointment that met with general approval. it was soon seen, however, that the cabinet was so constructed as to make it harmonize with the southern policy of the administration. it was not long before the announcement was officially made in prolix sentences, of which secretary evarts was no doubt the author, that the army could not and would not be used to uphold and sustain any state government in an effort to maintain its supremacy and enforce obedience to its mandates. in other words, it was a public announcement of the fact that if there should be an armed revolt in a state against the lawful state government which would be strong enough to seize and take possession of that government, the national government would refuse to interfere, even though a request for assistance should be made by the chief executive of the state in the manner and form prescribed by the constitution. i have never believed that this policy,--which was meant, of course, for the south,--was in harmony with mr. hayes' personal convictions; especially in view of his public utterances during the progress of the campaign and immediately after the announcement had been made that he had been defeated. but he no doubt asked himself the question: "what can i do?" this is what he had been bound to do, by his managers through the medium of an ante-inauguration pledge, which he felt in honor bound to respect. mr. hayes was not a man of sufficient force of character to disregard and repudiate such a pledge or bargain. had he been a napoleon, or even an andrew jackson, he would have declared that no man or set of men had any authority to make for him any ante-inauguration pledge, promise, or bargain by which he would be bound as chief magistrate of the country. to the contrary, he would have openly and publicly declared: "i am president, or i am not. that i am the legally elected president is a recognized and undisputed fact, and, as such, i shall neither recognize nor respect any pledge, promise or bargain which involves dishonor on my part or acquiescence in the suspension, violation or evasion of the constitution or of any law made in pursuance thereof. as president of the united states i have taken and subscribed to an oath by which i am bound to uphold the constitution of my country, and to see that the laws are duly executed and enforced. that oath i am determined to respect and honor. i shall not only do all in my power to see that the constitution and the laws of the land are obeyed and enforced,--both in letter and in spirit,--but it is also my determination to see that every american citizen is protected in the exercise and enjoyment of his rights, as far as it may be in the power of the president to protect him." such a declaration, accompanied by an honest effort to carry the same into effect, even if he had been unsuccessful, would have carried the name of r.b. hayes down in history as one of the greatest and most brilliant statesmen our country had ever produced. but, he was not equal to the occasion, and therefore failed to take advantage of such a golden opportunity. on the contrary, he decided to live up to and carry out to the very letter, every pledge, promise, agreement or bargain that had been made in his behalf, which involved the dishonor of his own name and the disgrace of his country. packard, for governor of louisiana, and chamberlain, for governor of south carolina, were voted for at the same time that the hayes electors were voted for in their respective states. each of these candidates polled a much larger vote than that of the hayes electors. if, therefore, mr. hayes was legally or mortally entitled to the electoral votes of those states, without which he could not have been elected, those men were entitled to be recognized and supported as governor of their respective states. but it was a well-known fact that without the support and backing of the national administration at that particular time, they could not maintain and enforce their authority against the organization of the democratic party. the public announcement of the southern policy of the national administration put an effectual end to any further effort on the part of either packard or chamberlain. the administration not only deserted and abandoned those two men and the party for which they had so bravely and so gallantly stood, but it allowed the very men whose votes made mr. hayes president to be harassed and persecuted for what they had done in that direction. after packard surrendered to the inevitable he was tendered a position in the foreign service, which he accepted. when chamberlain was forced to abandon the hopeless struggle in south carolina, he moved to new york and engaged in the practice of law. politically he affiliated with the democratic party until his death. chapter xix question of the validity of senator lamar's election mr. blaine had been elected to the united states senate from maine, his term beginning march th, . the term for which mr. lamar, of mississippi, had been elected, commenced at the same time. it was not possible to have a congressional investigation of the mississippi election of unless the same should be ordered by the senate,--the republicans having a small majority in that body. each house being the sole judge of the elections and qualifications of its own members, the senate could, of course, have mr. lamar's credentials referred to the committee of privileges and elections, with instructions to make an investigation of the methods used to carry the election. this committee would ascertain and report whether or not there had been a legal and valid election in that state, and, pending the investigation and report by the committee and the disposition of the same by the senate, the seat to which mr. lamar had been elected would remain vacant. as the result of a number of conferences between republican senators and representative mississippi republicans, this course was decided upon as the one to be pursued. but, in order to do this, the senate must have something upon which to base its contemplated action. it could not be expected to take official notice of rumors or newspaper reports of what had taken place. it was therefore decided that a memorial should be drawn up and signed by a number of reputable and well-known citizens of the state, making specific allegations with reference to that election, and concluding with a request that a thorough investigation be made before the senator, chosen by the legislature that had been brought into existence by that election, could be admitted to the senate. in support of this contemplated action there had been a number of precedents,--the recent case of mr. pinchback, of louisiana, being one of them. it fell to my lot to draw up the memorial. it was to be presented to the senate and championed in that body by senator morton, of indiana. the republican majority in the senate was small. the democrats, of course, would bitterly oppose the morton motion. to make sure of its adoption the affirmative vote of nearly every republican senator was necessary. at any rate there could be no serious defection in the republican ranks, otherwise the morton proposition could not prevail. that anyone on the republican side would oppose it was not anticipated, for every one that had been approached expressed his intention of supporting it. no one of the newly elected senators had been approached. it was not deemed necessary. it was not anticipated that any one of them would do otherwise than support the program that had been agreed upon by the older members of the senate. senator morton was to submit the memorial and make the motion when the name of mr. lamar was called to take the oath of office. the names of the states were called in alphabetical order, about three being called at a time. maine was reached before mississippi, and mr. blaine was duly sworn in as a senator from that state. no one expected that he would do otherwise than support the program that had been agreed upon, but, contrary to expectations, as soon as mississippi was called mr. blaine was on his feet, demanding recognition. of course he was recognized by the chair. he made a motion that mr. lamar be sworn in _prima facie_ as the senator from mississippi. his contention was that, since his credentials were regular, the senator-elect should be sworn in; and if there should be any question about the legality of the election it could be made the subject of a subsequent investigation. this unexpected action on the part of mr. blaine took everyone by surprise, with the possible exception of mr. lamar, who, no doubt, was well aware of what was in contemplation. it produced consternation and caused a panic among the republican leaders in the senate. hurried and excited conferences were being held while the subject was being debated. for the seriousness of the situation was recognized. mr. blaine's defection meant the defeat of the morton motion should it be made, and the adoption of the blaine motion by the solid vote of the democrats, to which would be added a small minority of the republicans. this division in the ranks of the party at the beginning of the hayes administration had to be avoided if possible. that mr. blaine should recede from his position was, of course, out of the question. nothing, therefore, remained to be done but for senator morton to refrain from making his motion; for a hurried canvass of the senate had revealed the fact that the motion, if made and brought to a vote, would be defeated, and the effect of such a defeat would be worse than if the motion had not been made. so the blaine motion was allowed to go by default, and mr. lamar was duly sworn in as a senator from mississippi. of course it was well known at the time by many,--mr. blaine among the number,--that this ended the controversy and that no subsequent investigation would be made. that mr. blaine was sadly and seriously disappointed at the result of his action in this case, as well as in his action in defeating the federal elections bill, will be made clear in subsequent chapters. chapter xx republican national convention of . nomination of the compromise candidate, garfield since the indications were that the democrats would be successful in the congressional elections of , the election in the "shoe-string district" that year was allowed to go by default. in , the year of the presidential election, i decided that i would again measure arms with chalmers for representative in congress from that district. it was practically a well-settled fact that there was to be a bitter fight for the republican presidential nomination that year. there were three prominent candidates in the field for the nomination,--james g. blaine, u.s. grant, and john sherman. grant was especially strong with southern republicans, while blaine had very little support in that section. sherman was well thought of on account of the splendid record he had made as a member of the united states senate, and, in addition to that, he had the influence and the support of the national administration, of which he was a member,--being at that time secretary of the treasury. in the state of mississippi bruce, hill and i,--the three leading colored men,--had formed an offensive and defensive alliance. bruce was united states senator, which position he had secured largely through the influence and active support of myself and hill,--of hill especially, since he was on the ground at the time of the election, which enabled him to take personal charge of the campaign before the legislature in the interest of mr. bruce. hill had been elected secretary of state on the ticket with ames in and, after the expiration of his term, was, through the influence and support of bruce and myself, made collector of internal revenue for the state of mississippi. the office of secretary of state, to which he was elected in , was one that the democrats did not take possession of in . unlike the governor and lieutenant-governor, the removal of the incumbent was not necessary to put that party in possession of the state government. i, lynch, was at that time a member of the national house of representatives, which position i was able to retain for a long time with the active assistance and support of bruce and hill,--especially of bruce. that we three should work in perfect political harmony was both natural and proper, since, in doing so, we protected our own interests and secured for ourselves, and for our friends and supporters, appropriate official recognition. at nearly every state convention either bruce or i was made chairman of the convention, with hill as floor manager. the state committee was organized and controlled in the same way. through that thorough and effective organization i was chairman of the republican state committee from to , and i could have retained it longer had i consented to serve; notwithstanding the dissolution of the combination, which took place about that time, as will be shown and explained later. there was a faction in the party that was opposed to the leadership of these three influential colored men, but it was never strong enough to organize or control a state convention as long as we three worked in union. while this union had the effect of keeping us at the front as recognized leaders of the party it could not be said it was detrimental to the party organization, for the reason that under that leadership the organization never failed to support the men that the party believed to be the strongest. in other words, while we used the party machinery to prevent our own political extinction we never allowed our own ambitions to conflict with what was believed by other influential members of the party to be for the best interest of the organization. it looked for a while as if the state convention of would result in a dissolution of this combination which had so successfully controlled the party organization in the state so many years. bruce and hill were supporters of secretary sherman for the republican presidential nomination, while i was favorable to the candidacy of ex-president grant. that grant was the choice of a large majority of the republicans of the state could not be truthfully denied. mr. bruce was the republican united states senator in harmony with the administration. mr. hill was an office-holder under that administration, and secretary sherman was believed to be the administration candidate for the nomination. as soon as the fact was developed that bruce and hill were for sherman and that i was for grant, the faction which had always opposed and fought the leadership of the bruce-lynch-hill combination took up the fight for grant, with the determination to take advantage of grant's strength and popularity in order to secure control of the party machinery. it was this that prevented at that time a dissolution of the bruce-hill-lynch combination. the situation with which we were confronted made it necessary for the three to come together and, in a spirit of concession, agree upon a common line of action. upon the suggestion of mr. bruce a conference soon took place at which i agreed that, since it was my purpose to be a candidate for the congressional nomination in the sixth or "shoe-string district," i would not be a candidate for delegate to the national convention, but that i would support bruce and hill as delegates from the state at large, with the understanding that, if at any time sherman's name should be withdrawn and grant's nomination were possible, they should support grant. it was further agreed that i should support the bruce-lynch-hill combination in the fight for the organization of the state convention, but that i should be at liberty to use my influence for the election of grant men as delegates other than bruce and hill. at the conclusion of this conference i made public announcement of the fact that, since it was my purpose to become a candidate for congress in the sixth or "shoe-string district," i would not be a candidate for delegate to the national convention but would give my support to bruce and hill, for two of the four places on the delegation from the state at large, with the understanding that the delegation, if controlled by them, would not be hostile to grant. i had reasons to know that mr. bruce, in consequence of his cordial relations with senator conkling,--the national leader of the grant forces,--was not unfriendly to grant, and that he would use his influence to prevent the delegation from going into any combination for the sole purpose of defeating the nomination of grant. in other words, grant was brace's second choice for the nomination. the fight for the delegation was waged with a good deal of heat and bitterness. the canvass had not progressed very far before it was developed that grant was much stronger than the faction by which he was being supported. the fight was so bitter, and the delegates to the state convention were so evenly divided, that the result was the election of a compromise delegation which was about evenly divided between grant and sherman. bruce and hill were among those that were elected. the national convention, which was held in chicago in june of that year, was one of the most exciting and interesting in the history of the party. it was that convention that abolished what was known as "the unit rule." up to that time the right of a state convention to elect all the delegates to which the state was entitled,--district as well as state,--and to instruct them as a body had never before been questioned. new york, as well as other states, had instructed the delegates to cast the entire vote of the state for grant. this was the unit rule. it is a rule which even now is enforced in national conventions of the democratic party. it was through the enforcement of this rule that mr. cleveland was renominated, when he was so bitterly opposed by a portion of the delegation from his own state,--especially the tammany delegates,--that general bragg was moved to make the celebrated declaration that he "loved mr. cleveland on account of the enemies he had made." notwithstanding the fact that those delegates were strongly opposed to mr. cleveland, and though they protested against having their votes recorded for him, they were so recorded through the application and enforcement of the unit rule. it was the enforcement of this rule upon which mr. conkling insisted in the national republican convention of . about twenty of the new york district delegates, under the leadership of judge w.h. robertson, refused to be governed by the instructions of the state convention. their contention was that the state convention had no right to bind by instructions any delegates except the four from the state at large. after a lengthy and heated debate the convention finally sustained this contention, and since that time the unit rule has not been recognized in a national republican convention. this action, no doubt, resulted in the defeat of general grant for the nomination; for it was a well-known fact that his nomination was possible only through the enforcement of the unit rule. his friends and supporters, however, under the leadership of senator conkling, made a strong and desperate fight with the hope that the tide might ultimately turn in their favor, but with the intention, in any event, of preventing if possible the nomination of mr. blaine. general grant's name was placed before the convention by senator conkling in one of his most eloquent and masterly efforts. "the man whose name i shall place in nomination," he said, "does not hail from any particular state; he hails from the united states. it is not necessary to nominate a man that can carry michigan. any republican can carry michigan. you should nominate a man that can carry new york. that man is u.s. grant." mr. blaine's name was placed in nomination by a delegate from michigan by the name of joy. his effort did not come up to public expectation. the eloquent speech of senator frye, of maine, who seconded the nomination, made up in part for the public disappointment in mr. joy's effort. the name of secretary john sherman was placed before the convention in one of general garfield's most powerful and convincing efforts. it is safe to say that the speech delivered by general garfield on that occasion made him the nominee of that convention. after drawing an eloquent and vivid picture of the kind of man that should be made president,--with the intention of naming john sherman as the man thus described,--he asked in a tone of voice that was pitched in a high key: "who is that man?" the response came from different parts of the hall, "garfield." and sure enough it was garfield. after a number of fruitless ballots it became apparent that neither of the three leading candidates could possibly be nominated. very few, if any, of the grant men would at any time go to either blaine or sherman. very few, if any, of the sherman men would go to blaine, while blaine men could not in any considerable numbers, be induced to go either to grant or sherman. while a number of sherman men would have supported grant in preference to blaine, there were not enough of them, even with the grant men, to constitute a majority. when garfield's name was suggested as a compromise candidate he was found to be acceptable to both the blaine and the sherman men as well as to some of the grant men, who had abandoned all hope of grant's nomination. the result was that garfield was finally made the unanimous choice of the convention. the new york delegation, being allowed to name the man for vice-president, nominated chester a. arthur, of that state. although general garfield was nominated as a compromise candidate his election was by no means a foregone conclusion. the democrats had nominated a strong and popular man, general w.s. hancock, one of the most brilliant and successful generals in the union army. associated on the ticket with him was a popular indiana democrat, william h. english. it looked for a while as if democratic success were reasonably certain, especially after the september state and congressional elections in the state of maine, the result of which was virtually a democratic victory. what was known as the celebrated mentor conference then took place. mentor was the home of general garfield. the conference consisted of general garfield, general grant, and senator conkling. who was instrumental in bringing that conference into existence perhaps will never be known, and what was actually said and done on that occasion will, no doubt, remain a mystery. but it resulted in bringing the grant-conkling wing of the party,--which up to that time had been lukewarm and indifferent,--into the active and aggressive support of the ticket. senator conkling immediately took the stump and made a brilliant and successful campaign, not only in new york but also in the other close and doubtful states. the result was that garfield carried new york by a majority of about twenty thousand and was elected. without new york he would have been defeated; for the south this time was unquestionably solid in its support of the democratic ticket; at least, according to the forms of law. it was not necessary to resort to the questionable expedient of an electoral commission to determine the result of that election. it is safe to say that, but for the active support given the ticket in that campaign by general grant and senator conkling, new york would have been lost to the party and garfield would have been defeated. with the election of garfield the national house of representatives was also republican. the majority was small, but it was large enough to enable the party to organize the house. the garfield administration started out under very favorable auspices. how it ended will be told in another chapter. chapter xxi story of the misunderstanding between garfield and conkling the garfield administration, as i have said, started out under most favorable auspices. mr. conkling took an active part in the senate as a champion and spokesman of the administration. he seemed to have taken it for granted, that,--although his bitter enemy, mr. blaine, was secretary of state,--his own influence with the administration would be potential. in conversation with his personal friends he insisted that this was a part of the agreement that had been entered into at the famous mentor conference, about which so much had been said and published. if it were true that mr. conkling's control of the federal patronage in new york in the event of republican success was a part of that agreement, it transpired that mr. blaine had sufficient influence with the president to bring about its repudiation. it is a fact well known that the president was anxious to avoid a break with senator conkling. judge w.h. robertson, who was a candidate for the collectorship of the port of new york was strongly supported by mr. blaine. judge robertson had been one of the influential leaders of the blaine movement in new york. it was he who had disregarded the action of the state convention in instructing the delegates to cast the vote of the state as a unit for general grant. in bolting the action of the state convention judge robertson carried about nineteen other delegates with him over to mr. blaine. therefore mr. blaine insisted upon the appointment of judge robertson to the collectorship of the port at new york. senator conkling would not consent under any circumstances to this appointment. mr. blaine, it appears, succeeded in convincing the president that, but for judge robertson's action, his, garfield's, nomination would have been impossible and that consequently it would be base ingratitude not to appoint robertson to the position for which he was an applicant. mr. blaine contended that the administration would not only be guilty of ingratitude should it refuse to appoint his candidate, but that it would thereby allow itself to be the medium through which this man was to be punished for his action in making the existence of the administration possible. "can you, mr. president, afford to do such a thing as this?" asked mr. blaine. to which the president gave a negative answer. perhaps it did not occur to mr. blaine at that time that, while the action of judge robertson may have made the nomination of mr. garfield possible, the subsequent action of senator conkling made his election possible. but, notwithstanding this, the president decided that judge robertson should have the office for which he was an applicant. as previously stated, however, the president was anxious to avoid a break with senator conkling. to get the senator to consent to the appointment of judge robertson was the task the president had before him. with that end in view the president invited mr. conkling to a private conference, at which he expressed a willingness to allow the new york senator to name every important federal officer in new york except the collector of the port, if he would consent to the appointment of judge robertson to that office. but the only concession senator conkling was willing to make was to give his consent to the appointment of judge robertson to any position in the foreign service. this was not satisfactory, hence the conference was a failure. the president was thus placed in a very disagreeable dilemma, being thus forced, very much against his inclination, to take a decided stand in a very unpleasant controversy. he was thus forced to choose between mr. blaine, his own secretary of state, on one side, and senator conkling on the other. to one he felt that he was indebted for his nomination. to the other he believed that his election was largely due. it was asserted by some who were in a position to know that, if the president had taken sides with mr. conkling, mr. blaine would have immediately tendered his resignation, and thus would have severed his official connection with the administration. while no intimation of this was made known to the president, yet he no doubt believed, in consequence of the deep and intense interest mr. blaine had shown in the matter, that such action on his part, in the event of an adverse decision, was more than probable. when the president saw that there was no escape,--that he was obliged to take a decided stand one way or the other,--he decided to sustain the contention of his secretary of state. consequently, after the fruitless conference between the president and senator conkling, the name of judge robertson for collector of the port at new york, was sent to the senate. senator conkling, joined by his colleague, senator platt, at first made an effort to have the nomination rejected, but the other republican senators were not willing to place themselves in open opposition to the administration. when the fact was developed that the nomination would be confirmed, senators conkling and platt immediately tendered their resignations. this in my opinion was a grave blunder on their part, as subsequent events more than proved. they had before them the example of senator sumner, by which they should have profited. senator sumner was greatly humiliated, when, through the influence of the administration, he was supplanted by senator cameron as chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations on account of a misunderstanding with president grant, growing out of the effort on the part of the administration to bring about the annexation of santo domingo, to which senator sumner was bitterly opposed. yet he did not,--because he was thus, as he felt, unjustly humiliated,--resign his seat in the senate. he realized that while he was commissioned to speak for his own state, his great power and immense influence were not confined solely to that particular state. he appreciated the fact that when he spoke and voted as a senator, he did so, not merely as a senator from the state of massachusetts, but as a senator of the united states. he belonged to no one state, but to the united states. he had,--on account of his great intellect, power, influence, and ability,--long since ceased to be the spokesman and representative of any particular state or section; he was a representative of his country--recognized as such throughout the civilized world. knowing these things to be true sumner did not feel that he should deprive the people of his valuable services simply because he was not in harmony with the administration upon some one matter, however important that matter might be. in this senator sumner was unquestionably right. what, then, was true of senator sumner was equally true of senators conkling and platt in their misunderstanding with president garfield about the collectorship of the port of new york. mr. conkling was one of the greatest men our country had ever produced. he was a man of much influence and great power. he was not only an intellectual giant, but he was a man of commanding presence and attractive personality. as an orator he had few equals and no superiors. as in the case of senator sumner he spoke and voted as a senator not merely for his state, but for his country; not for any particular section or locality, but for the united states. he was too great a man, and his services were too important and valuable for his country to be deprived of them merely on account of a misunderstanding between the president and himself about federal patronage in new york. he and his colleague should have retained their seats in the senate and trusted to the judgment of their fellow-citizens for a vindication of their course and action in that as in other matters. they not only made a mistake in resigning their seats in the senate, but consummated it when they went before the legislature of their state, which was then in session, and asked for a vindication through the medium of reëlection. this was subjecting their friends to a test to which they were not willing to submit. their friends, both in the legislature and out of it, were loyal to them, and this loyalty would have been demonstrated at the proper time and in the right way had the two senators remained in a position which would have enabled their adherents to do so without serious injury to the party organization. but when these men were asked, as the price of their loyalty, to place the party organization in the state in open opposition to the national administration for no other reason than a misunderstanding about federal patronage in the city of new york, they did not think that the controversy was worth the price; hence the request was denied. the result was the defeat of conkling and platt, and the election of two administration republicans, warner miller and e.g. lapham. this foolhardy act of conkling's had the unfortunate effect of eliminating him from public life, at least so far as an active participation in public affairs was concerned. but this was not true of mr. platt. he was determined to come to the front again, and in this he was successful. at the very next national convention ( ) he turned up as one of the blaine delegates from new york, and was one of the speakers that seconded mr. blaine's nomination. that was something mr. conkling never could have been induced to do. he was proud, haughty and dictatorial. he would never forget a friend, nor forgive an enemy. to his friends he was loyal and true. to his enemies he was bitter and unrelenting. for his friends he could not do too much. from his enemies he would ask no quarter and would give none. more than one man of national reputation has been made to feel his power, and suffer the consequences resulting from his ill-will and displeasure. but for the unfriendliness of mr. conkling, mr. blaine no doubt would have attained the acme of his ambition in reaching the presidency of the united states. it was mr. blaine's misfortune to have made an enemy of the one man who, by a stroke of destiny, was so situated as to make it possible for him to prevent the realization of mr. blaine's life ambition. it was due more to mr. conkling than to any other one man that mr. blaine was defeated for the republican presidential nomination in ,--the year in which he could have been elected had he been nominated. mr. conkling was too much of a party man to support the democratic ticket under any circumstances, hence, in , when mr. blaine was at length nominated for the presidency, mr. conkling gave the ticket the benefit of his silence. that silence proved to be fatal. in consequence of mr. conkling's silence and apparent indifference in , mr. blaine lost new york, the pivotal state, and was defeated by mr. cleveland for the presidency. the falling off in the republican vote in mr. conkling's home county alone caused the loss of the state and of the presidency of the united states to the republican party. the quarrel between blaine and conkling originated when both of them were members of the house of representatives. in a controversy that took place between them on the floor of the house mr. blaine referred to mr. conkling as the member from new york with the "turkey gobbler strut." that remark made the two men enemies for life. that remark wounded mr. conkling's pride; and he could never be induced to forgive the one who had so hurt him. as a united states senator conkling was both felt and feared. no senator ever desired to get into a controversy with him, because he was not only a speaker of great power and eloquence, but as a debater he was cutting and scathing in his irony. senator lamar, of mississippi, who as an eloquent orator compared favorably with the best on both sides of the chamber, had the misfortune to get into a controversy on one occasion with the distinguished new york senator. in repelling an accusation that the senator from mississippi had made against him, mr. conkling said: "if it were not that this is the united states senate i would characterize the member from mississippi as a coward and a prevaricator." if those words had been uttered by any other senator than roscoe conkling it is more than probable that he would have been severely reprimanded; no other senator, however, cared to incur conkling's displeasure by becoming the author of a resolution for that purpose. senator john j. ingalls, of kansas, was the only other senator that ever came near holding a similar position; for, while he was by no means the equal of conkling, he was both eloquent and sarcastic. for that reason senators were not anxious to get into a controversy with him. on one occasion it seemed that he came near getting into a dispute with senator manderson, of nebraska. while the senator from nebraska was delivering a speech, he made a remark to which the senator from kansas took exceptions. when the kansas senator arose,--flushed with anger, and laboring under intense excitement,--to correct what he declared in words that were more forcible than elegant, to be a misstatement of his position, the senator from nebraska did not hesitate for a moment to accept the correction, remarking by way of explanation and apology that he had not distinctly heard the remark the senator from kansas had made, and to which he was alluding when interrupted. "then," retorted the senator from kansas, "that is your misfortune." "i admit," the senator from nebraska quickly replied, "that it is always a misfortune not to hear the senator from kansas." the unfortunate controversy between president garfield and senator conkling resulted in a national calamity. the bitterness that grew out of it had the effect of bringing a crank on the scene of action. early in july, ,--when the president, in company with mr. blaine, was leaving washington for his summer vacation,--this cowardly crank, who had waited at the railroad station for the arrival of the distinguished party, fired the fatal shot which a few months later terminated the earthly career of a president who was beloved by his countrymen without regard to party or section. whatever may have been the merits of this unfortunate controversy, it resulted in the political death of one and the physical death of the other; thus depriving the country of the valuable services of two of the greatest and most intellectual men that our country had ever produced. when the president died i was at my home, natchez, mississippi, where a memorial meeting was held in honor of his memory, participated in by both races and both parties. i had the honor of being one of the speakers on that occasion. that part of my remarks which seemed to attract most attention and made the deepest impression was the declaration that it was my good fortune, as a member of the national house of representatives, to sit within the sound of his eloquent voice on a certain memorable occasion when he declared that there could never be a permanent peace and union between the north and the south until the south would admit that, in the controversy that brought on the war the north was right and the south was wrong. notwithstanding that declaration, in which he was unquestionably right, i ventured the opinion that, had he been spared to serve out the term for which he had been elected, those who had voted for him would have been proud of the fact that they had done so, while those who had voted against him would have had no occasion to regret that he had been elected. upon the death of president garfield vice-president arthur,--who had been named for that office by mr. conkling,--became president; but he, too, soon incurred the displeasure of mr. conkling. mr. conkling had occasion to make a request of the president which the latter could not see his way clear to grant. for this mr. conkling never forgave him. the president tried hard afterwards to regain mr. conkling's friendship, but in vain. he even went so far, it is said, as to tender mr. conkling a seat on the bench of the supreme court; but the tender was contemptuously declined. president arthur aspired to succeed himself as president. as a whole he gave the country a splendid administration, for which he merited a renomination and election as his own successor. while there was a strong and well-organized effort to secure for him a renomination, the probabilities are that the attitude of mr. conkling towards him contributed largely to his defeat; although the ex-senator took no active part in the contest. but, as in the case of mr. blaine, his silence, no doubt, was fatal to mr. arthur's renomination. chapter xxii the national campaign of when the forty-seventh congress expired march th, , i returned to my home at natchez, mississippi. was the year of the presidential election. early in the year it was made clear that there was to be a bitter fight for the presidential nomination. president arthur was a candidate to succeed himself; but mr. blaine, it was conceded, would be the leading candidate before the convention. senator john sherman was also a candidate. it was generally believed that senator edmunds of vermont would get a majority of the delegates from the new england states. mr. blaine was weaker in his own section, new england, than in any other part of the country except the south. the south, however, had somewhat relented in its opposition to him, as previously stated, in consequence of which he had a stronger support from that section than in any of his previous contests for the nomination; to this fact may be attributed his nomination by the convention. that support, it was believed, was due more to a deference to public opinion at the north,--the section that must be depended upon to elect the ticket,--than confidence in mr. blaine. the delegation from my own state, mississippi, was, with one exception, solid in its support of president arthur. the one exception was hon. h.c. powers, one of the delegates from the first district. two active, aggressive, able and brilliant young men had just entered the field of national politics, both of them having been elected delegates to this convention. those men were theodore roosevelt, of new york, and h.c. lodge, of massachusetts. both were vigorously opposed to the nomination of mr. blaine. roosevelt's election as a delegate from new york was in the nature of a national surprise. mr. blaine was believed to be very strong in that state. the public, therefore, was not prepared for the announcement that theodore roosevelt,--an anti-blaine man,--had defeated senator warner miller,--the able and popular leader of the blaine forces in that state,--as delegate to the national convention from the state at large. the blaine leaders were brought to a realization of the fact, that, in consequence of their unexpected defeat in new york, it was absolutely necessary, in order to make sure of the nomination of their candidate, to retain the support they had among the southern delegates. with that end in view the national committee, in which the blaine men had a majority, selected a southern man, hon. powell clayton, of arkansas, for temporary chairman of the convention. the anti-blaine men,--under the leadership of messrs. roosevelt, lodge, hoar, hanna, geo. william curtis and others,--decided to select another southern man to run against clayton. for that purpose a conference was held;--composed of many of the active supporters of arthur, sherman, and edmunds,--to select the man to put up against clayton. i did not attend the conference. senator hoar suggested my name and insisted that i was the man best fitted for the position. after a brief discussion it was decided unanimously to select me. a committee was appointed, of which ex-governor pinchback, of louisiana, was chairman, to wait on me and inform me of what had been done, and to insist upon my acceptance of the distinguished honor which had thus been conferred upon me. another committee was appointed,--of which hon. m.a. hanna, of ohio, was chairman, to poll the convention to find out the strength of the movement. this committee subsequently reported that clayton would be defeated and lynch elected by a majority of about thirty-five votes. for two reasons i had some doubt about the propriety of allowing my name to be thus used. first, i doubted the wisdom of the movement. it had been the uniform custom to allow the national committee to select the temporary chairman of the convention, and i was inclined to the opinion that a departure from that custom might not be a wise step. second, i did not think it could possibly win. my opinion was that a number of delegates that might otherwise vote for me could not be induced to vote in favor of breaking what had been a custom since the organization of the party. i did not come to a definite decision until the morning of the day that the convention was to be organized. just before that body was called to order i decided to confer with maj. william mckinley and hon. m.a. hanna, of ohio, and act upon their advice. mckinley was for blaine and hanna was for sherman, but my confidence in the two men was such that i believed their advice would not be influenced by their personal preference for the presidential nomination. i did not know at that time that mr. hanna had taken an active part in the deliberations of the conference that resulted in my selection for temporary chairman of the convention. i first consulted major mckinley. i had served with him in congress and had become very much attached to him. he frankly stated that, since he was a blaine man, he would be obliged to vote against me, but he told me that this was an opportunity that comes to a man but once in a lifetime. "if you decline," he said, "the anti-blaine men will probably put up someone else who would, no doubt, receive the same vote that you would receive. if it is possible for them to elect anyone, i know of no man i would rather have them thus honor than you. while, therefore, i shall vote against you and hope you will not be elected,--simply because i am a blaine man, and a vote for you means a vote against blaine,--i shall not advise you to decline the use of your name." i then approached mr. hanna, who appeared to be surprised that i hesitated about consenting to the use of my name. "we have you elected," he said, "by a majority of about thirty-five. you cannot decline the use of your name, for two reasons; first, since we know we have the votes necessary to elect you, should you now decline the public would never believe otherwise than that you had been improperly influenced. this you cannot afford. in the second place, it would not be treating us fairly. we have selected you in perfect good faith, with the expectation that you would allow your name to be thus used; or, if not, you would have declined in ample time to enable us to reconvene, and select someone else. to decline now, on the eve of the election, when it is impossible for us to confer and agree upon another man for the position, would be manifestly unfair to us as well as to your own candidate for the presidential nomination, whose chances may be injuriously affected thereby." this argument was both impressive and effective. i then and there decided to allow my name to be used. i learned afterwards that it was under the direction and management of mr. hanna that the convention had been so carefully and accurately polled. that his poll was entirely correct was demonstrated by the result. this also established the fact that as an organizer mr. hanna was a master, which was subsequently proved when he managed mr. mckinley's campaign both for the nomination and election to the presidency in . when the convention was called to order, and the announcement was made that the national committee had selected hon. powell clayton, of arkansas, for temporary chairman of the convention, an attractive young man in the massachusetts delegation was recognized by the chair. he gave his name, as h.c. lodge. he said he rose to place the name of another gentleman in nomination; and, after making a neat and appropriate speech in commendation of his candidate,--a speech that created a very favorable impression,--he named ex-congressman john r. lynch, of mississippi, whom he believed to be a suitable man for the position. the ball was then opened. this was an indication of a combination of the field against blaine. many speeches were made on both sides, but they were temperate in tone, and free from bitterness. among those that spoke in support of my candidacy were messrs. theodore roosevelt, and geo. william curtis, of new york. when the debate was over the chairman directed that the states be called in alphabetical order,--the roll of delegates from each state to be called, so as to allow each individual delegate to cast his own vote. when mississippi was reached, i joined with h.c. powers, the blaine member of the delegation, in voting for clayton. the result was just about what mr. hanna said it would be. the blaine men were discouraged and the anti-blaine men were jubilant. it was claimed by the latter, and apprehended by the former, that it was indicative of mr. blaine's defeat for the nomination. it certainly looked that way, but the result of the election for the temporary chairmanship proved to be misleading. mr. hanna's poll was not to find out how many delegates would vote for the nomination of mr. blaine, but how many would vote for lynch for temporary chairman. on that point his poll was substantially accurate. it was assumed that every blaine man would vote for mr. clayton. this is where the mistake was made. it turned out that there were some blaine men, especially from the south, that voted for lynch. the result, therefore, was not, as it was hoped it would be, an accurate test of the strength of the blaine and anti-blaine forces in the convention. since my election had not been anticipated,--at least, by me,--my speech of acceptance was necessarily brief. i presided over the deliberations of the convention the greater part of two days, when hon. john b. henderson, of missouri, was introduced as the permanent chairman. this is the same henderson, who, as a republican united states senator from missouri, voted against the conviction of president andrew johnson, who had been impeached by the house of representatives for high crimes and misdemeanors in office. the democratic senators needed but seven votes from the republican side of the chamber to prevent conviction. they succeeded in getting the exact number, senator henderson being one. he appears to have been the only one of that number that politically survived that act. all others soon passed into political oblivion; although several of them subsequently identified themselves with the democratic party. while it may be said that senator henderson survived the act, it is true that his election as a delegate to the national republican convention of and his selection as the permanent chairman thereof are the only prominent illustrations of that fact. during the deliberations of the convention mr. bishop, one of the delegates from massachusetts, introduced a resolution to change the basis of representation in future national conventions of the party. his plan was to make the number of republican votes cast, counted, certified and returned at the last preceding national election, the basis of representation in succeeding national conventions. hon. w.o. bradley, of kentucky, led off in a very able, eloquent, and convincing speech in opposition to the resolution. the colored delegates from the south selected me to present their side of the question. for that purpose i was recognized by the chair, and spoke against the resolution. in the first place i called attention to the fact that if elections were fair, and the official count honest in every state, the probabilities were that there would be no occasion for the proposed change. that the change proposed would result in a material reduction in the representation in future conventions chiefly from southern states was because the greater part of the republican votes in some of said states were suppressed by violence or nullified by fraud. the effect of the change proposed would be simply to make such questionable methods the basis of representation in future republican national conventions. this, i claimed, the republican party could not afford to do. at the conclusion of my remarks the resolution was withdrawn by its author, mr. bishop, who came over to my seat, and congratulated me upon the way in which i had presented the case; stating at the same time that my speech had convinced him that his proposition was a mistake. after a hotly contested fight mr. blaine was finally nominated. senator john a. logan, of illinois, was named as the candidate for vice-president. it looked as if the time had at last come when the brilliant statesman from maine would have the acme of his ambition completely realized. i was honored by the delegation from my state with being made a member of the national committee, and also a member of the committee that was named to wait on mr. blaine and notify him officially of his nomination. the notification committee went all the way to mr. blaine's home, augusta, maine, to discharge that duty. the ceremony of notification took place in mr. blaine's front yard. the weather was fine. the notification speech was delivered by the chairman, senator henderson, to which mr. blaine briefly responded, promising to make a more lengthy reply in the form of a letter of acceptance. at the conclusion of the ceremony he called me to one side and asked what was the outlook in mississippi. i informed him that he could easily carry the state by a substantial majority if we could have a fair election and an honest count; but that under the existing order of things this would not be possible, and that the state would be returned against him. "oh, no," he replied, "you are mistaken about that. mr. lamar will see that i get a fair count in mississippi." i confess that this remark surprised me very much. "mr. blame," i replied, "you may understand the political situation in mississippi better than i do, but i know whereof i speak when i say that mr. lamar would not if he could and could not if he would, secure you a fair count in mississippi. the state will be returned against you." "you will find," he said, "that you are mistaken. mr. lamar will see that i get a fair count in mississippi." mr. lamar not only made an aggressive campaign against mr. blaine, but it was chiefly through his influence and efforts that the state was returned against mr. blaine by a very large majority. and yet no one who knew mr. lamar could justly accuse him of being an ingrate. he was essentially an appreciative man; as he never failed to demonstrate whenever and wherever it was possible for him to do so. no one knew better than did mr. lamar that he was under deep and lasting obligations to mr. blaine; but it seems that with all his wisdom and political sagacity and foresight mr. blaine was unable to distinguish between a personal and a political obligation. mr. lamar felt that what mr. blaine had done for him was personal, not political, and that if his,--lamar's,--party was in any respect the beneficiary thereof, it was merely incidental. at any rate, it was utterly impossible for him to serve mr. blaine in a political way. had he made the effort to do so he not only would have subjected himself to the accusation of party treachery, but it would have resulted in his own political downfall. to expect any ambitious man to make such a sacrifice as this was contrary to human nature. the truth was that mr. blaine had been chiefly instrumental in bringing about a condition of affairs at the south which made it impossible for any of his democratic or republican friends in that section to be of any material service to him at the time he most needed them. and yet, he could not see this until it was too late. in spite of this he would have been elected, but for the fact that he lost the pivotal state of new york by a small plurality, about eleven hundred and forty-seven, the reasons for which have been given in a previous chapter. it is therefore sad, but true, that by his own act this able and brilliant statesman, like henry clay, died without having reached the acme of his ambition,--the presidency of the united states. chapter xxiii the election of grover cleveland the republicans of my district insisted that i make the race for congress again in , and i decided to do so, although i knew it would be useless for me to do so with any hope of being elected, for i knew the prospect of success was not as favorable as two years previous. judge van eaton, the democratic candidate for congressman in , was a representative of the better element, and would, therefore, rather be defeated than be declared elected through the enforcement and application of questionable methods. he publicly declared on several occasions that, as anxious as he was to be a member of congress, he would rather be defeated than have a certificate of election tainted with fraud. in other words, if he could not be fairly and honestly elected he preferred to be defeated. he insisted upon a fair election and an honest count. this was not agreeable to many of his party associates. they believed and privately asserted that his open declarations on that point not only carried an implied reflection upon his party in connection with previous elections, but that he was taking an unnecessary risk in his own case. chiefly for these reasons, the judge, though a strong and able man, was denied the courtesy of a nomination for a second term. it had always been the custom to allow a member to serve at least two terms; but this honor was denied judge van eaton, the nomination being given to honorable t.r. stockdale, of pike county. stockdale was a different type of a man from van eaton. he was in perfect accord with the dominant sentiment of his party. he felt that he had been nominated to go to congress,--"peaceably and fairly," if possible, but to go in any event. then, again, that was the year of the presidential election, and the democrats were as confident of success that year as they had been in and in . for president and vice-president the candidates were blaine and logan, republicans, and cleveland and hendricks, democrats. mr. cleveland had the prestige of having been elected governor of new york by a majority of about one hundred thousand. new york was believed to be the pivotal and the decisive state, and that its votes would determine the election for president. that the republicans, even with such a popular man as mr. blaine as their candidate, would be able to overcome the immense majority by which mr. cleveland had carried the state for governor was not believed by any democrat to be possible. the democrats did not take into account any of the local circumstances that contributed to such a remarkable result; but they were well known to republicans in and out of that state. one of the principal contributory causes was a determination on the part of thousands of republican voters in that state to resent at the polls national interference in local state affairs. judge folger, president arthur's secretary of the treasury, was the republican candidate against mr. cleveland for the governorship when the latter was elected by such an immense majority. it was a well-known fact that judge folger could not have been nominated but for the active and aggressive efforts of the national administration, and of its agents and representatives. the fight for the republican nomination for governor that year was the beginning of the bitter fight between the blaine and the arthur forces in the state for the delegation in . in the nomination of judge folger the blaine men were defeated. to neutralize the prestige which the arthur men had thus secured, thousands of the blaine men, and some who were not blaine men, but who were against the national administration for other reasons, refused to vote for judge folger, and thus allowed the state to go democratic by default. in , when mr. blaine was the candidate of the republicans for the presidency, a sufficient number of anti-blaine men in new york,--in a spirit of retaliation, no doubt,--pursued the same course and thus allowed the state again to go democratic by default. the loss which mr. blaine sustained in the latter case, therefore, was much greater than that gained by him in the former. but, let the causes, circumstances, and conditions be what they may, there was not a democrat in mississippi in who did not believe that mr. cleveland's election to the presidency was a foregone conclusion. that he would have the support of the solid south there was no doubt. those states, they believed, were as certain to be returned democratic as the sun would rise on the morning of the day of the election. although i accepted the nomination for congress, i as chairman of the republican state committee, devoted the greater part of my time to the campaign throughout the state. mr. blaine had many warm friends and admirers among the white men and democrats in the state, some of them being outspoken in their advocacy of his election. in making up the electoral ticket i made every effort possible to get some of those men to consent to the use of their names. one of them, joseph n. carpenter, of my own home town, natchez, gave his consent to the use of his name. he was one of the solid business men of the town. he was not only a large property owner but the principal owner of a local steamboat that was engaged in the trade on the mississippi river between natchez and vicksburg. he was also the principal proprietor of one of the cotton-seed-oil mills of the town. in fact his name was associated with nearly every important enterprise in that community. socially no family stood higher than his in any part of the south. his accomplished wife was a miss mellen, whose brother, william f. mellen, was one of the most brilliant members of the bar that the state had ever produced. she had another brother who acquired quite a distinction as a minister of the gospel. when the announcement was made public that joseph n. carpenter was to be an elector on the republican ticket, intense excitement was immediately created. the democratic press of the state immediately turned their batteries upon him. personal friends called upon him in large numbers and urged him to decline. but he had consented to serve, and he felt that it was his duty, and ought to be his privilege to do so. besides, he was a sincere blaine man. he honestly believed that the election of mr. blaine would be conducive to the best interests of the country, the south especially. to these appeals, therefore, he turned a deaf ear. but it was not long before he was obliged to yield to the pressure. the fact was soon made plain to him that, if he allowed his name to remain on that ticket, the probabilities were that he would be financially ruined. he would soon find that his boat would be without either passengers or freight; his oil mill would probably be obliged to close because there would be no owners of the raw material of whom he could make purchases at any price, and even his children at school would, no doubt, be subjected to taunts and insults, to say nothing of the social cuts to which his family might be subjected. he was, therefore, brought to a painful realization of the fact that he was confronted with conditions which he had not fully anticipated. he could then see, as he had never seen before, that he had been brought face to face with a condition and not a theory. he was thus obliged to make his choice between accepting those conditions upon the one hand, and on the other the empty and temporary honor of serving as an elector on the blaine republican ticket. his convictions, his manhood and his self-respect were on one side; his material interests and family obligations were on the other. his mental condition during that period can better be imagined than described. after giving thoughtful consideration and sleepless nights to the matter, he at length decided to yield to the pressure and decline the use of his name. he informed me of his decision through the medium of a private letter which he said he had written with great reluctance and sincere regret. the committee thereupon named dr. jackson, of amite county, an old line republican, to fill the vacancy. it will thus be seen that in pursuing a course that mr. blaine thought would place southern democrats under obligations to him he placed a weapon in the hands of his own personal and political enemies by which they were enabled to crush and silence his friends and supporters; for after all it is not so much the love of fair play, as it is the fear of punishment, that actuates the average man in obeying the laws and respecting the rights and privileges of others. mr. blaine's friends and supporters at the south were the very people who stood most in need of that security and protection which can come only through a thorough and impartial enforcement of laws for the protection of citizens in the exercise and enjoyment of their civil and political rights, as well as the enforcement of laws for the protection of life, liberty and property. judge h.f. simrall, one of the most brilliant lawyers in the state,--who came into the republican party under the leadership of general alcorn in , and who had served as a justice of the supreme court of the state,--made an effort to canvass the state for mr. blaine, but his former associates, with whom he tried to reason, treated him with such scanty courtesy that he soon became discouraged and abandoned the effort. there were two factions in the democratic party, mr. lamar being the recognized head of one of them. his political enemies suspected and some of them accused him of being partial to mr. blaine. to save himself and his friends from humiliation and defeat in his own party it was necessary for him to dispel that suspicion, and disprove those accusations. with that end in view he made a thorough canvass of the state in the interest of mr. cleveland and the democratic party. the state was returned for mr. cleveland by a large majority, for which mr. lamar was in a great measure credited. mr. blaine finally saw his mistake, which he virtually admitted in the speech delivered by him at his home immediately after the election; but it was then too late to undo the mischief that had been done. it was like locking the stable door after the horse had been stolen. that mr. blaine died without having attained the goal of his ambition was due chiefly to his lack of foresight, poor judgment, political blunders, and a lack of that sagacity and acumen which are so essential in a successful party leader. chapter xxiv interview with secretary lamar on the retaining of colored men in office in selecting his first cabinet mr. cleveland did mr. lamar and the state of mississippi the honor of making him his secretary of the interior. early in the administration, upon the occasion of my first visit to washington after the inauguration of mr. cleveland, i called on secretary lamar to pay him my respects and tender him my congratulations upon his appointment. when i entered his office he was engaged in conversation with some prominent new york democrats, mayor grace, of new york city, being one of the party. the secretary received me cordially; and, after introducing me to the gentlemen with whom he was conversing, requested me to take a seat in the adjoining room, which was used as his private office, until the departure of the gentlemen with whom he was then engaged; remarking at the same time that there was an important matter about which he desired to talk with me. i had been seated only a short while before he made his appearance. as soon as he had taken his seat he said: "lynch, you have shown me some favors in the past, and i desire to manifest in a substantial way my appreciation of what you have done for me and the friendly interest you have taken in me. no one knows better than i do, or can appreciate more keenly than i can, the value of the services you have rendered me, and the satisfactory results of your friendly interest in me. in saying this i do not wish to even intimate that you have done anything for me that was inconsistent with the position occupied by you as an influential leader of the republican party of our state. the truth is, you were, fortunately, placed in such a position that you were enabled to render a great service to a mississippi democrat without doing a single act, or giving expression to a single thought, that was not in harmony with your position as a leader of your own party. that you saw fit to make me, rather than some other democrat, the beneficiary of your partiality is what i keenly appreciate, highly value and now desire to reciprocate. the republican party is now out of power, and it is likely to remain so for the next quarter of a century. fortunately for me i am now so situated that i can reciprocate, in a small measure, the friendly interest you have taken in me in the recent past; and this, i hope, you will allow me to do. i have an office at my disposal that i want you to accept. i know you are a pronounced republican. i neither ask nor expect you to change your politics. knowing you as i do, it would be useless for me to make such a request of you even if i desired to have you make such a change. all i shall ask of you is that you be not offensively active or boldly aggressive in political matters while you hold a commission from me. in other words, i want to render you a service without having you compromise your political standing, and without making the slightest change in your party affiliations. however, recognizing as you must the delicacy of the situation resulting from the position i occupy and the relation that i sustain to the administration, you will, i know, refrain from saying and doing anything that will place me in an embarrassing position before the public and before the administration with which i am identified. the office to which i refer is that of special agent of public lands. the salary is fifteen hundred a year and expenses. the place is worth from two thousand to two thousand five hundred a year. i shall not send you down south, where you may have some unpleasant and embarrassing experiences, but i will send you out into the black hills, where you will not be subjected to the slightest inconvenience and where you will have very little to do, but make your reports and draw your pay. if you say you will accept the appointment i shall give immediate directions for the commission to be made out and you can take the oath of office within the next twenty-four hours." of course i listened with close attention and with deep interest to what the honorable secretary said. when he had finished, i replied in about these words: "mr. secretary, i fully appreciate the friendly interest you manifest in me, and i also appreciate what you are willing to do for me. if i have rendered you any services in the past, i can assure you that they were not rendered with the expectation that you would thereby be placed under any obligations to me whatever. if i preferred you to others in your own party it was because i believed in you the state would have the services of one of its best, most brilliant and most eloquent representatives. it was the good of the state and the best interests of its people rather than the personal advancement of an individual that actuated me. the exalted position now occupied by you i consider a confirmation of the wisdom of my decision. but the fact cannot be overlooked that while you are an able and influential leader in the democratic party, i am, though not so able nor so influential, a leader,--locally, if not nationally,--in the republican party. while i can neither hope nor expect to reach that point of honor and distinction in the republican party that you have reached in the democratic, i am just as proud of the position i occupy to-day as a republican, as it is possible for you to be of yours as a democrat. even if it be true, as you predict--of course i do not agree with you--that the republican party will be out of power for the next quarter of a century, or even if that party should never again come into power, that fact cannot and will not have the slightest weight with me. therefore, i do not feel that you, as a member of a national democratic administration, can afford to tender me any position that i can see my way clear to accept. while i fully and keenly appreciate your friendly interest in me and your desire and willingness to serve me, i cannot accept the position you have so gracefully tendered me, nor can i accept any other you may see fit to offer me. "but, if you want to render me a service, i can tell you wherein it can be done,--a service that will be just as much appreciated as any you can possibly render me. when i was a member of congress i secured the appointment of quite a number of young colored men to clerkships in the pension bureau of your department. i understand that all these men have excellent records. if you will retain them in their positions i shall feel that you have repaid me for whatever you may think i have done for you in the past." "that," the secretary replied, "is a very reasonable request. come to see me again in a day or two and bring a list of their names and i will then see just what i can do along those lines." i then bade mr. lamar good-bye and left his office. a few days later i returned with the list. but upon that list i had placed the names of two men who had not been appointed on my recommendation. one was a colored man, a physician; the other was a white man, a lawyer. the physician occupied a position that was in the line of his profession. the lawyer was a clerk in the pension bureau, who had been recently appointed upon the recommendation of senator bruce. the physician had been connected with the public service a long time. i knew both men favorably and felt that it was my duty to save them if in my power. both were married and had interesting families. when i placed the list in the secretary's hands he read it over very carefully, and then said: "i think i can safely assure you that the name of every one on this list will be retained except these two"--indicating the colored physician and the white lawyer. "this physician," the secretary said, "is a colored man, and the husband of a white wife. the lawyer is a white man, and the husband of a colored wife. i cannot promise you, therefore, that they will be retained, however capable and efficient they may be. so far as i am personally concerned, it would make no material difference; i should just as lief retain them as any of the others. but i cannot afford to antagonize public opinion in my state on the question of amalgamation. one of these men, the white lawyer, is from my own state, where he is well known. his case is recent, and fresh in the public mind. so far as he is concerned, i can see no escape. with the colored physician it may be different. he is not from my state and is not known in the state. i doubt very much if anyone in the state knows anything about him, or is aware of the fact that the position occupied by him is under my department. if attention is not called to his case, i shall let him alone. "but with the lawyer it is different. a representative of a mississippi newspaper that is unfriendly to me is now on the ground. he has a list of all the republicans,--especially the colored ones,--holding positions in this department. the name of this lawyer is on that list. it is the intention of the faction his paper represents to bring pressure to bear upon me to force me to turn all of these men out of office for political reasons, regardless of their official standing. but, so far as your friends are concerned, i shall defy them except in the case of this lawyer, and also in the case of this physician if attention is called to him. in their cases, or either of them, i shall be obliged, for reasons already given; to yield." strange to say, attention was never called to the case of the physician and he remained in office during the whole of mr. cleveland's first administration. i made a strong appeal to the secretary in behalf of my friend, the white lawyer. i said in substance: "mr. secretary, you ought not to allow this deserving man to be punished simply because he was brave enough to legally marry the woman of his choice. you know him personally. you know him to be an able and brilliant young man. you know that he is now discharging the responsible duties of the position which he occupies in your department with credit to himself, and to the satisfaction of his official superiors. you know that you have not a better nor a more capable official connected with the public service than you have in this able young man. under these circumstances it is your duty, as the responsible head of your department, to protect him and his estimable family from this gross wrong,--this cruel injustice. for no one knows better than you do, mr. secretary, that this alleged opposition to amalgamation is both hypocritical and insincere. if a natural antipathy existed between the two races no law would be necessary to keep them apart. the law, then, against race intermarriage has a tendency to encourage and promote race intermixture, rather than to discourage and prevent it; because under existing circumstances local sentiment in our part of the country tolerates the intermixture, provided that the white husband and father does not lead to the altar in honorable wedlock the woman he may have selected as the companion of his life, and the mother of his children. if, instead of prohibiting race intermarriage, the law would compel marriage in all cases of concubinage, such a law would have a tendency to discourage race intermixture; because it is only when they marry according to the forms of law that the white husband and father is socially and otherwise ostracized. under the common law,--which is the established and recognized rule of action in all of our states in the absence of a local statute by which a different rule is established,--a valid marriage is nothing more than a civil contract entered into between two persons capable of making contracts. but under our form of government marriage, like everything else, is what public opinion sees fit to make it. "it is true that in our part of the country no union of the sexes is looked upon as a legal marriage unless the parties to the union are married according to the form prescribed by the local statutes. while that is true it is also true that there are many unions, which, but for the local statutes, would be recognized and accepted as legal marriages and which, even under existing conditions, are tolerated by local sentiment and sanctioned by custom. such unions are known to exist, and yet are presumed not to exist. none are so blind as those who can see but will not see. one of the unwritten but most effective and rigid laws of our section,--which everyone respects and never violates,--is that a man's private and domestic life must never be made the subject of political or public discussion or newspaper notoriety. the man, who at any time or under any provocation will so far forget himself as to say or do anything that can be construed into a violation of that unwritten law, will be likely to pay the penalty with his own life and that, too, without court, judge, or jury; and the one by whom the penalty may be inflicted will stand acquitted and justified before the bar of public opinion. if, then, this able and brilliant young man,--whose bread and meat you now have at your disposal,--had lived in concubinage with the mother of his children, no law against custom and tradition would have been violated, and no one would suggest that he be punished for what he had done. knowing these facts as you do, you ought to rise to the dignity of the occasion and protect this good and innocent man from the cruel, unjust, and unreasonable demands that are now being made upon you to dispense with his valuable services. this gentleman, to my personal knowledge, is not only worthy of whatever you may do for him, but his elegant and accomplished wife is one of the finest and most cultivated ladies it has ever been my good fortune to know. she is not only remarkably intelligent, but she is a woman of fine natural ability and of superior attainments. she is such a brilliant conversationalist,--so interesting, so instructive and so entertaining,--that it is a great pleasure and satisfaction to have the opportunity of being in her delightful presence, and of sitting within the sound of her sweet, charming, and musical voice. in physical development she is as near perfection as it is possible for a woman to be. i have had the good fortune of knowing her well for a number of years, and i have always admired her for her excellent traits and admirable qualities. she is a woman that would ornament and grace the parlor and honor the home of the finest and best man that ever lived, regardless of his race or nationality or the station he may occupy in life, however exalted that station may be. she married the man of her choice because she had learned to love and honor him, and because, in her opinion, he possessed everything, except wealth, that was calculated to contribute to her comfort, pleasure and happiness. in a recent conversation i had with her, her beautiful, large dark eyes sparkled with delight, and her sweet and lovely face was suffused with a smile of satisfaction when she informed me that she had never had occasion to regret her selection of a husband. she was then the mother of several very handsome children, to whom she pointed with pardonable pride. the products of such a union could not possibly be otherwise than attractive, for the father was a remarkably handsome man, while the mother was a personification of the typical southern beauty. the man was devoted to his family. how could he be otherwise? husband and wife were so strongly attached to each other that both were more than willing to make any sacrifice that cruel fate might have in store for them. "i therefore appeal to you, mr. secretary, in behalf of this charming and accomplished woman and her sweet and lovely children. in taking this position i am satisfied you will have nothing to lose, for you will not only have right on your side, but the interest of the public service as well. rise, then, to the dignity of the occasion and assert and maintain your manhood and your independence. you have done this on previous occasions, why not do it again? as a member of the senate of the united states you openly and publicly defied the well-known public sentiment of your party in the state which you then had the honor in part to represent, when you disregarded and repudiated the mandate of the state legislature, instructing you to vote for the free and unlimited coinage of silver. it was that vote and the spirit of manly independence shown by you on that occasion that placed you in the high and responsible position you now occupy, the duties of which your friends know will be discharged in a way that will reflect credit upon yourself and honor upon your state. "you again antagonized the dominant sentiment of the democratic party of your state when you pronounced an eloquent eulogy upon the life and character of charles sumner. and yet you were able to overcome the bitter opposition you had encountered on each of those occasions. you can do the same thing in this case. i therefore ask you to promise me that this worthy and competent public servant shall not be discharged as long as his official record remains good." the secretary listened to my remarks with close and respectful attention. when i had finished he said: "i agree with nearly all you have said. my sympathies are with your friend and it is my desire to retain him in the position he now so satisfactorily fills. but when you ask me to disregard and openly defy the well-known sentiment of the white people of my state on the question of amalgamation, i fear you make a request of me which i cannot safely grant, however anxious i may be to serve you. i could defend myself before a public audience in my state on the silver question and on the sumner eulogy much more successfully than on the question of amalgamation; although in the main, i recognize the force and admit the truth of what you have said upon that subject. hypocritical and insincere as the claim may be with reference to maintaining the absolute separation of the two races, the sentiment on that subject is one which no man who is ambitious to have a political future can safely afford to ignore,--especially under the new order of things about which you are well posted. while i am sorry for your friend, and should be pleased to grant your request in his case, i cannot bring myself to a realization of the fact that it is one of sufficient national importance to justify me in taking the stand you have so forcibly and eloquently suggested." this ended the interview. i went to the home of my friend that evening, and informed him and his amiable wife of what had been said and done. they thanked me warmly for my efforts in their behalf, and assured me that there was a future before them, and that in the battle of life they were determined to know no such word as "fail." a few weeks later my friend's official connection with the public service was suddenly terminated. he and his family then left washington for kansas, i think. about a year thereafter he had occasion to visit washington on business. i happened to be there at that time. he called to see me and informed me that, instead of regretting what had occurred, he had every reason to be thankful for it, since he had done very much better than he could have done had he remained at washington. i was, of course, very much gratified to hear this and warmly congratulated him. since that time, however, i have not seen him nor any member of his family, nor have i heard anything from them except indirectly, although i have made a number of unsuccessful efforts to find them. i am inclined to the opinion that, like thousands of people of the same class, their identity with the colored race has long since ceased and that they have been absorbed by the white race, as i firmly believe will be true of the great mass of colored americans. it is to prevent any embarrassment growing out of the probability of this condition that has actuated me in not making public the names of the parties in question. no good could come of the disclosure, and much harm might follow. i can, however, most positively assure the public that this is not a fiction,--that it is not a mere picture that is painted from the vividness of my imagination, but that the story as related in all its details is based upon actual occurrences. with this one exception, secretary lamar retained in office every clerk whose name appeared on the list that i gave him. they were not only retained throughout the administration but many of them were promoted. it can be said to the credit of secretary lamar that during his administration very few changes were made in the clerical force of the department for political reasons, and, as a rule, the clerks were treated with justice, fairness and impartiality. chapter xxv the federal elections bill it was during the administration of president harrison that another effort was made to secure the enactment by congress of the necessary legislation for the effective enforcement of the war amendments to the national constitution,--a federal elections bill. mr. lodge, of massachusetts, was the author of the bill. but the fact was soon developed that there were so many republicans in and out of congress who lacked the courage of their convictions that it would be impossible to secure favorable action. in fact there were three classes of white men at the south who claimed to be republicans who used their influence to defeat that contemplated legislation. the white men at the south who acted with the republican party at that time were divided into four classes. first, those who were republicans from principle and conviction--because they were firm believers in the principles, doctrines, and policies for which the party stood, and were willing to remain with it in adversity as well as in prosperity,--in defeat as well as in victory. this class, i am pleased to say, while not the most noisy and demonstrative, comprised over seventy-five per cent, of the white membership of the party in that part of the country. second, a small but noisy and demonstrative group, comprising about fifteen per cent of the remainder, who labored under the honest, but erroneous, impression that the best and most effective way to build up a strong republican party at the south was to draw the color line in the party. in other words, to organize a republican party to be composed exclusively of white men, to the entire exclusion of colored men. what those men chiefly wanted,--or felt the need of for themselves and their families,--was social recognition by the better element of the white people of their respective localities. they were eager, therefore, to bring about such a condition of things as would make it possible for them to be known as republicans without subjecting themselves and their families to the risk of being socially ostracized by their white democratic neighbors. and then again those men believed then, and some of them still believe or profess to believe, that southern democrats were and are honest and sincere in the declaration that the presence of the colored men in the republican party prevented southern white men from coming into it. "draw the race line against the colored man,--organize a white republican party,--and you will find that thousands of white men who now act with the democratic party will join the republicans." some white republicans believed that the men by whom these declarations were made were honest and sincere,--and it may be that some of them were,--but it appears not to have occurred to them that if the votes of the colored men were suppressed the minority white vote, unaided and unprotected, would be powerless to prevent the application of methods which would nullify any organized effort on their part. in other words, nothing short of an effective national law, to protect the weak against the strong and the minority of the whites against the aggressive assaults of the majority of that race, would enable the minority of the whites to make their power and influence effective and potential; and even then it could be effectively done only in coöperation with the blacks. then again, they seemed to have lost sight of the fact,--or perhaps they did not know it to be a fact,--that many leading southern democrats are insincere in their declarations upon the so-called race question. they keep that question before the public for political and party reasons only, because they find it to be the most effective weapon they can use to hold the white men in political subjection. the effort, therefore, to build up a "white" republican party at the south has had a tendency, under existing circumstances, to discourage a strong republican organization in that section. but, even if it were possible for such an organization to have a potential existence, it could not be otherwise than ephemeral, because it would be wholly out of harmony with the fundamental principles and doctrines of the national organization whose name it had appropriated. it would be in point of fact a misnomer and, therefore, wholly out of place as one of the branches of the national organization which stands for, defends, and advocates the civil and political equality of all american citizens, without regard to race, color, nationality, or religion. any organization, therefore, claiming to be a branch of the republican party, but which had repudiated and denounced the fundamental and sacred creed of that organization, would be looked upon by the public as a close, selfish and local machine that was brought into existence to serve the ends, and satisfy the selfish ambition of the promoters and organizers of the corporation. yet there were a few well-meaning and honest white men in some of the southern states who were disposed, through a mistaken sense of political necessity, to give such a movement the benefit of their countenance. but the movement has been a lamentable failure in states where it has been tried, and it cannot be otherwise in states where it may yet be tried. men who were in sympathy with a movement of this sort took a pronounced stand against the proposed federal elections bill, and used what influence they had to prevent its passage; their idea being that, if passed, it would have a tendency to prevent the accomplishment of the purposes they had in contemplation. third, a group that consisted of a still smaller number who were republicans for revenue only,--for the purpose of getting office. if an office were in sight they would be quite demonstrative in their advocacy of the republican party and its principles; but if they were not officially recognized, their activities would not only cease, but they would soon be back into the fold of the democracy. but should they be officially recognized they would be good, faithful, and loyal republicans,--at least so far as words were concerned,--until they ceased to be officials, when they would cease at the same time to be republicans. men of this class were, of course, opposed to the proposed legislation for the enforcement of the war amendments to the constitution. fourth, a group that consisted of an insignificantly small number of white men who claimed to be national republicans and local democrats,--that is, they claimed that they voted for the republican candidate for president every four years, but for democrats in all other elections. of course they were against the proposed legislation. these men succeeded in inducing some well-meaning republican members of congress, like senator washburne, of minnesota, for instance, to believe that the passage of such a bill would have a tendency to prevent the building up of a strong republican organization at the south. then again, the free silver question was before the public at that time. the republican majority in the senate was not large. several of those who had been elected as republicans were free silver men. on that question they were in harmony with a majority of the democrats, and out of harmony with the great majority of republicans. the free silver republicans, therefore, were not inclined to support a measure that was particularly offensive to their friends and allies on the silver question. after a careful canvass of the senate it was developed that the republican leaders could not safely count on the support of any one of the free silver republicans in their efforts to pass the bill, and, since they had the balance of power, any further effort to pass it was abandoned. it was then made plain to the friends and supporters of that measure that no further attempt would be made in that direction for a long time, if ever. i wrote and had published in the washington _post_ a letter in which i took strong grounds in favor of having the representation in congress,--from states where the colored men had been practically disfranchised through an evasion of the fifteenth amendment,--reduced in the manner prescribed by the fourteenth amendment. in that letter i made an effort to answer every argument that had been made in opposition to such a proposition. it had been argued by some fairly good lawyers, for instance, that the subsequent ratification of the fifteenth amendment had so modified the fourteenth as to take away from congress this optional and discretionary power which had been previously conferred upon it by the fourteenth amendment. i tried in that letter,--and i think i succeeded,--to answer the argument on that point. it was also said that if congress were to take such a step it would thereby give its sanction to the disfranchisement of the colored men in the states where that had been done. this i think i succeeded in proving was untrue and without foundation. the truth is that the only material difference between the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments on this particular point is that, subsequent to the ratification of the fourteenth and prior to the ratification of the fifteenth amendment, a state could legally disfranchise white or colored men on account of race or color, but, since the ratification of the fifteenth amendment, this cannot be legally done. if, then, congress had the constitutional right under the fourteenth amendment to punish a state in the manner therein prescribed, for doing what the state then had a legal and constitutional right to do, i cannot see why congress has not now the same power and authority to inflict the same punishment upon the state for doing or permitting to be done what it now has no legal and constitutional right to do. no state, in my opinion, should be allowed to take advantage of its own wrongs, and thus, by a wrongful act, augment its own power and influence in the government. to allow a majority of the white men in the state of mississippi, for instance, to appropriate to themselves through questionable methods the representative strength of the colored population of that state, excluding the latter from all participation in the selection of the representatives in congress, is a monstrous wrong, the continuance of which should not be tolerated. for every crime there must be a punishment; for every wrong there must be a remedy, and for every grievance there must be a redress. that this state of things is wrong and unjust, if not unlawful, no fair-minded person will deny. it is not only wrong and unjust to the colored people of the state, who are thus denied a voice in the government under which they live and to support which they are taxed, but it also involves a grave injustice to the states in which the laws are obeyed and the national constitution,--including the war amendments to the same,--is respected and enforced. i am aware of the fact that it is claimed by those who are responsible for what is here complained of that, while the acts referred to may be an evasion if not a violation of the spirit of the constitution, yet, since they do not violate the letter of the constitution the complaining parties are without a remedy, and therefore have no redress. this contention is not only weak in logic but unsound in law, even as construed by the supreme court of the united states, which tribunal seems to be the last to which an appeal can be successfully made, having for its object the enforcement of the constitution and laws so far as they relate to the political and civil rights of the colored americans. that a state can do by indirection what it cannot do directly, is denied even by the supreme court of the united states. that doctrine was clearly and distinctly set forth in a decision of the court rendered by mr. justice strong, which was concurred in by a majority of his associates. in that decision it was held that affirmative state action is not necessary to constitute race discrimination by the state. in other words, in order to constitute affirmative state action in violation of the constitutional mandate against distinction and discrimination based on race or color, it is not necessary that the state should pass a law for that purpose. the state, the court declared, acts through its agents, legislative, executive and judicial. whenever an agent or representative of the state acts, his acts are binding upon the state, and the effect is the same as if the state had passed a law for that purpose. if a judge, for example, in the selection of jurors to serve in his court should knowingly and intentionally allow a particular race to be excluded from such service on account of race or color, the effect would be the same as if the state, through its legislature, had passed a law for that purpose. the colored men in the states complained of, have been disfranchised in violation of the spirit if not the letter of the constitution, either by affirmative state action, or through and by the state's agents and representatives. their acts, therefore, constitute state action as fully as if the legislature had passed a law for that purpose. chapter xxvi mississippi and the nullification of the fifteenth amendment the defeat or abandonment of the lodge federal elections bill was equivalent to a declaration that no further attempts would be made for a good while, at least, to enforce by appropriate legislation the war amendments to the constitution. southern democrats were not slow in taking advantage of the knowledge of that fact. my own state, mississippi, was the first to give legal effect to the practical nullification of the fifteenth amendment. on that question the democratic party in the state was divided into two factions. the radical faction, under the leadership of senator george, advocated the adoption and enforcement of extreme methods. the liberal or conservative faction,--or what was known as the lamar wing of the party under the leadership of senator walthall,--was strongly opposed to such methods. senator george advocated the calling of a constitutional convention, to frame a new constitution for the state. senator walthall opposed it, contending that the then constitution, though framed by republicans, was, in the main, unobjectionable and should be allowed to stand. but senator george was successful, and a convention was called to meet in the fall of . in order to take no chances the senator had himself nominated and elected a member of the convention. when the convention met, it was found that there were two strong factions, one in favor of giving legal effect to the nullification of the fifteenth amendment, and the other opposed to it. the george faction was slightly in the majority, resulting in one of their number,--nullificationists, as they were called,--judge s.s. calhoun, being elected president of the convention. the plan advocated and supported by the george faction, of which senator george was the author, provided that no one be allowed to register as a voter, or vote if registered, unless he could read and write, or unless he could understand any section of the constitution when read to him and give a reasonable interpretation thereof. this was known as the "understanding clause." it was plain to every one that its purpose was to evade the fifteenth amendment, and disfranchise the illiterate voters of one race without disfranchising those of the other. the opposition to this scheme was under the leadership of one of the ablest and most brilliant members of the bar, judge j.b. christman, of lincoln county. as a substitute for the george plan or understanding clause, he ably and eloquently advocated the adoption of a fair and honest educational qualification as a condition precedent to registration and voting, to be equally applicable to whites and blacks. the speeches on both sides were able and interesting. it looked for a while as if the substitute clause proposed by judge christman would be adopted. in consequence of such an apprehension, judge calhoun, the president of the convention, took the floor in opposition to the christman plan, and in support of the one proposed by senator george. the substance of his speech was that the convention had been called for the purpose of insuring the ascendency of the white race,--the democratic party,--in the administration of the state government through some other methods than those which had been enforced since . "if you fail in the discharge of your duties in this matter," he declared, "the blood of every negro that will be killed in an election riot hereafter will be upon your shoulders." in other words, the speaker frankly admitted, what everyone knew to be a fact, that the ascendency of the democratic party in the state had been maintained since through methods which, in his opinion, should no longer be sanctioned and tolerated. these methods, he contended, were corrupting the morals of the people of the state and should be discontinued; but the ascendency of the democratic party must be maintained at any cost. the george plan, he urged, would accomplish this result, because if the negroes were disfranchised according to the forms of law, there would be no occasion to suppress his vote by violence because he would have no vote to suppress; and there would be no occasion to commit fraud in the count or perjury in the returns. notwithstanding this frank speech, which was intended to arouse the fears of the members of the convention from a party standpoint, the defeat of the christman substitute was by no means an assured fact. but the advocates of the george plan,--the "understanding clause,"--were both desperate and determined. contrary to public expectation two republicans, geo. b. melchoir and i.t. montgomery, had been elected to the convention from bolivar county. but their seats were contested, and it was assumed that their democratic contestants would be seated. still, pending the final disposition of the case, the two republicans were the sitting members. montgomery was colored and melchoir was white. but the george faction needed those two votes. no one suspected, however, that they would get them in any other way than by seating the contestants. the advocates and supporters of the christman substitute were, therefore, very much surprised and disappointed when they learned that mr. montgomery, the only colored member of the convention, intended to make a speech in favor of the adoption of the george plan, and vote for it; which he did. why this man, who had the reputation of being honest and honorable, and who in point of intelligence was considerably above the average of his race, should have thus acted and voted has always been an inexplicable mystery. it is difficult to believe that he was willing to pay such a price for the retention of his seat in the convention, still it is a fact that the contest was never called and montgomery and his colleague were allowed to retain their seats. the adoption of the george plan was thus assured, but not without a desperate fight. the opponents of that scheme made a brave, though unsuccessful, fight against it. but it was soon made plain to the advocates of the george plan that what they had succeeded in forcing through the convention would be defeated by the people at the ballot-box. in fact, a storm of protest was raised throughout the state. the democratic press, as well as the members of that party, were believed to be about equally divided on the question of the ratification of the constitution as thus framed. since it was well known that the republicans would be solid in their opposition to ratification, the rejection of the proposed constitution was an assured fact. but the supporters of the george scheme felt that they could not afford to have the results of their labors go down in defeat. in order to prevent this they decided to deny the people the right of passing judgment upon the work of the convention. the decision, therefore, was that the convention by which the constitution was framed should declare it duly ratified and approved, and to go into effect upon a day therein named. the people of that unfortunate state, therefore, have never had an opportunity to pass judgment upon the constitution under which they are living and which they are required to obey and support, that right having been denied them because it was known that a majority of them were opposed to its ratification and would have voted against it. but this so-called "understanding clause," or george scheme, is much more sweeping than was intended by its author. the intent of that clause was to make it possible to disfranchise the illiterate blacks without disfranchising the illiterate whites. but as construed and enforced it is not confined to illiterates but to persons of intelligence as well. no man, for instance, however intelligent he may be, can be registered as a voter or vote if registered, if the registering officers or the election officers are of the opinion that he does not understand the constitution. it is true, the instrument is so worded that no allusion is made to the race or color of those seeking to be registered and to vote; still, it is perfectly plain to everyone that the purpose was to enable the state to do, through its authorized and duly appointed agents and representatives, the very thing the fifteenth amendment declares shall not be done. according to the decision of the supreme court, as rendered by mr. justice strong, the effect is the same as if the instrument had declared in so many words that race or color should be the basis of discrimination and exclusion. the bitter and desperate struggle between the two factions of the democratic party in the state of mississippi in this contest, forcibly illustrates the fact that the national republican party made a grave mistake when it abandoned any further effort to enforce by appropriate legislation the war amendments to the constitution. in opposing and denouncing the questionable methods of the extreme and radical faction of their own party, the conservative faction of the democrats believed, expected, and predicted that such methods would not be acquiesced in by the republican party, nor would they be tolerated by the national government. if those expectations and predictions had been verified they would have given the conservative element a justifiable excuse to break away from the radicals, and this would have resulted in having two strong political parties in that section to-day instead of one. but when it was seen that the national republican party made no further opposition to the enforcement of those extraneous, radical and questionable methods, that fact not only had the effect of preventing further opposition on the part of the conservative democrats, but it also resulted in many of the politically ambitious among them joining the ranks of the radicals, since that was then the only channel through which it was possible for their political aspirations to be gratified. the reader cannot fail to see that under the plan in force in mississippi there is no incentive to intelligence; because intelligence does not secure access to the ballot-box, nor does the lack of it prevent such access. it is not an incentive to the accumulation of wealth; because the ownership of property does not secure to the owner access to the ballot-box, nor does the lack of it prevent such access. it is not a question of intelligence, wealth or character, nor can it be said that it is wholly a question of party. it is simply a question of factional affiliation. the standard of qualification is confined to such white men as may be in harmony with the faction that may happen to have control for the time being of the election machinery. what is true of mississippi in this respect is equally true of the other states in which schemes of various sorts have been invented and adopted to evade the fifteenth amendment to the constitution. chapter xxvii effect of the mckinley tariff bill on both political parties the congressional elections of resulted in a crushing defeat for the republicans. this was due, no doubt, to the mckinley tariff bill which became a law only about a month before the elections of that year. congress convened the first monday in december, , and that session did not come to a close until the following october. the democrats in congress made a bitter fight against the mckinley tariff bill, and, since it was a very complete and comprehensive measure, a great deal of time was necessarily consumed in its consideration and discussion. when it finally became a law the time between its passage and the elections was so short that the friends of the measure did not have time to explain and defend it before the elections took place. this placed the republicans at a great disadvantage. they were on the defensive from the beginning. the result was a sweeping democratic victory. but, strange to say, the same issues that produced democratic success and republican defeat at that election brought about republican success and democratic defeat at the presidential and congressional elections in . the mckinley tariff bill of was so popular six years later, that the author of that measure was deemed the strongest and most available man to place at the head of the republican ticket as the candidate of that party for president. his election was a complete vindication of the wisdom of the measure of which he was the author and champion. in his bill was so unpopular that it resulted in his own defeat for reëlection to congress. but this did not cause him to lose faith in the wisdom and the ultimate popularity of the bill which he was proud to have bear his name. "a little time," said mckinley, "will prove the wisdom of the measure." in this he was not mistaken. his defeat for reëlection to congress ultimately made him president of the united states; for the following year the republicans of his state elected him governor, which was a stepping-stone to the presidency. all that was needed was an opportunity for the merits of his bill to be thoroughly tested. shortly after its passage, but before it could be enforced or even explained, the people were led to believe that it was a harsh, cruel, and unjust measure, imposing heavy, unreasonable, and unnecessary taxes upon them, increasing the prices of the necessaries of life without a corresponding increase in the price of labor. the people were in an ugly mood in anticipation of what was never fully realized. it is true that the tariff was not the sole issue that resulted in such a sweeping republican victory in the national elections of . the financial issue, which was prominent before the people at that time, was one of the contributory causes of that result. still it cannot be denied that mckinley's connection with the tariff bill of was what gave him the necessary national prominence to make him the most available man to be placed at the head of his party ticket for the presidency that year. chapter xxviii interview between the author and president cleveland and secretary gresham when mr. cleveland was inaugurated in , i was auditor of the treasury for the navy department. hon. j.g. carlisle, of kentucky, had been made secretary of the treasury. my resignation had been tendered, the acceptance of which i expected to see announced any day, but the change did not take place until august of that year. while seated at my desk one day a messenger from the white house made his appearance, and i was informed that the president desired to see me in person. when i arrived at the white house i was immediately ushered into the president's private office, where he was seated alone at a desk engaged in reading a book or a magazine. it was at an hour when he was not usually accessible to the public. he received me in a very cordial way. he informed me that there was an important matter about which he desired to talk with me--to get the benefit of my opinion and experience. he assured me of his friendly interest in the colored people. it was his determination that they should have suitable and appropriate recognition under his administration. he said he was very much opposed to the color line in politics. there was no more reason why a man should be opposed or discriminated against on account of his race than on account of his religion. he believed it to be the duty of the democratic party to encourage the colored voters to divide their votes, and the best way to do this was to accord to that race the same relative consideration, the same treatment, and to give the race the same recognition that is given other races and classes of which our citizenship is composed. the party line is the only one that should be drawn. he would not appoint a colored republican to office merely for the purpose of giving official recognition to the colored race, nor would he refuse to appoint a colored democrat simply because he was colored. if this course were pursued, and this policy adopted and adhered to by the democratic party, the colored voters who are in harmony with that party on questions about which white men usually divide, could see their way clear to vote in accordance with their convictions upon such issues, and would not be obliged to vote against the party with which they may be in harmony on account of that party's attitude towards them as a race. "in other words," he said, "it is a well-known fact that there are thousands of colored men who vote the republican ticket at many important elections,--not from choice but from what they believe to be a necessity. if the views entertained by me on this subject should be accepted by the democratic party, as i hope and believe they will be, that necessity,--real or imaginary,--would no longer exist, and the gradual division of the colored vote would necessarily follow." he went on to say that he had not hesitated to express himself fully, freely and frankly with members of his own party on the subject, and that he had informed them of the course he intended to pursue; but that he had been advised against appointing any colored man to an office in which white women were employed. "now," said the president, "since you have been at the head of an important bureau in the treasury department during the past four years, a bureau in which a number of white women are employed as clerks, i desire very much to know what has been your experiences along those lines." i informed the president that i would take pleasure in giving him the information desired. i assured him that if my occupancy of that office had been the occasion of the slightest embarrassment to anyone connected with the public service,--whether in the office over which i presided or any other,--that fact had never been brought to my notice. on the contrary, i had every reason to believe that no one who had previously occupied the position enjoyed the respect, good-will and friendship of the clerks and other employees to a greater extent than was enjoyed by me. my occupancy of that office had more than demonstrated the fact, if such were necessary, that official position and social contact were separate and distinct. my contact with the clerks and other employees of the office was official, not social. during office hours they were subject to my direction and supervision in the discharge of their official duties, and i am pleased to say that all of them, without a single exception, have shown me that courtesy, deference and respect due to the head of the office. after office hours they went their way and i went mine. no new social ties were created and none were broken or changed as the result of the official position occupied by me. i assured the president, that, judging from my own experience, he need not have the slightest apprehension of any embarrassment, friction or unpleasantness growing out of the appointment of a colored man of intelligence, good judgment and wise discretion as head of any bureau in which white women were employed. i could not allow the interview to close without expressing to the president my warm appreciation of his fair, just, reasonable and dignified position on the so-called race question. "your attitude," i said, "if accepted in good faith by your party, will prove to be the solution of this mythical race problem. although i am a pronounced republican, yet, as a colored american, i am anxious to have such a condition of things brought about as will allow a colored man to be a democrat if he so desires. i believe you have stated the case accurately when you say that thousands of colored men have voted the republican ticket at important elections, from necessity and not from choice. as a republican, it is my hope that colored as well as white men, act with and vote for the candidates of that party when worthy and meritorious, but as a colored american, i want them to be so situated that they can vote that way from choice and not from necessity. no man can be a free and independent american citizen who is obliged to sacrifice his convictions upon the altar of his personal safety. the attitude of the democratic party upon this so-called race question has made the colored voter a dependent, and not an independent, american citizen. the republican party emancipated him from physical bondage, for which he is grateful. it remains for the democratic party to emancipate him from political bondage, for which he will be equally grateful. you are engaged, mr. president, in a good and glorious work. as a colored man i thank you for the brave and noble stand you have taken. god grant that you, as a democrat, may have influence enough to get the democratic party as an organization to support you in the noble stand you have so bravely taken." the president thanked me for my expressions of good-will, and thus terminated what to me was a remarkable as well as a pleasant and most agreeable interview. a few days later a messenger from the state department called at my office and informed me that the secretary of state, judge gresham, desired to see me. judge gresham and i had been warm personal friends for many years. he had occupied many positions of prominence and responsibility. he had been a major-general in the union army, and was with sherman's army during that celebrated march through georgia. he was one of the leading candidates for the presidential nomination before the national republican convention at chicago in , when general benjamin harrison, of indiana, was nominated. i was a member of that convention and one of judge gresham's active supporters. in the campaign that followed judge gresham gave general harrison his active and loyal support, but, for some unaccountable reason, he supported mr. cleveland against general harrison in . mr. cleveland was not only elected, but, contrary to public expectation, he carried the state of illinois,--a state in which judge gresham was known to be very popular, especially among the colored people of chicago; many of whom, it was said, voted for mr. cleveland through the efforts and influence of judge gresham. mr. cleveland evidently believed that his success in illinois was due largely to judge gresham, and as evidence of that fact, and because judge gresham was known to be a very able man, mr. cleveland paid him the distinguished honor of appointing him to the leading position in his cabinet,--that of secretary of state. when i called at the state department the judge invited me to a seat in his private office. he said there was an important matter about which he desired to talk with me. my name, he said, had been the subject of a recent conversation between the president and himself. the president, he said, was well aware of the cordial relations existing between us, and believed that if any man could influence my action he, gresham, was that man. "now," said the judge, "the president has formed a very favorable opinion of you. he is anxious to have you remain at the head of the important bureau over which you are now presiding in such a creditable and satisfactory manner. but you understand that it is a political office. as anxious as the president is to retain you, and as anxious as i am to have him do so, he could not do it and you could neither ask nor expect him to do it, unless you were known to be in sympathy with, and a supporter of, his administration,--at least in the main. now, you know that i am not only your friend, but that i am a friend to the colored people. i know you are a republican. so am i; but i am a cleveland man. cleveland is a better republican than harrison. in supporting cleveland against harrison i am no less a republican. as your friend i would not advise you to do anything that would militate against your interests. knowing, as you do, that i am not only your friend but also a good republican, you can at least afford to follow where i lead. i want you, then, to authorize me to say to the president that you are in sympathy with the main purposes of his administration as explained to you by me, and that his decision to retain you in your present position will be fully and keenly appreciated by you." in my reply i stated that while i was very grateful to the judge for his friendly interest in me, and while i highly appreciated the president's good opinion of me, it would not be possible for me to consent to retain the position i then occupied upon the conditions named. "if," i said, "it is the desire of the president to have me remain in charge of that office during his administration or any part thereof, i would be perfectly willing to do so if i should be permitted to remain free from any conditions, pledges, promises or obligations. the conditions suggested mean nothing more nor less than that i shall identify myself with the democratic party. the president has no office at his disposal the acceptance or retention of which could be a sufficient inducement for me to take such a step as that. i agree with what you have said about mr. cleveland, so far as he is personally concerned. i have every reason to believe that he has a friendly interest in the colored people and that he means to do the fair thing by them so far as it may be in his power. but he was elected as a democrat. he is the head of a national democratic administration. no man can be wholly independent of his party,--a fact recognized in the conditions suggested in my own case. i don't think that mr. cleveland is what would be called in my part of the country a good democrat, because i believe he is utterly devoid of race prejudice, and is not in harmony with those who insist upon drawing the color line in the democratic party. in my opinion he is in harmony with the democratic party only on one important public question,--the tariff. on all others,--the so-called race question not excepted,--he is in harmony with what i believe to be genuine republicanism. still, as i have already stated, he was elected as a democrat; and, since he holds that the office now occupied by me is a political one, it ought to be filled by one who is in political harmony with the administration. i am not that man; for i cannot truthfully say that i am in harmony with the main purposes of the administration." the judge remarked that my decision was a disappointment to him, and he believed that i would some day regret having made it, but that he would communicate to the president the result of our interview. in spite of this, my successor, morton, a democrat from maine, was not appointed until the following august. chapter xxix the national republican convention of as a delegate to the national republican convention of , i was honored by my delegation with being selected to represent mississippi on the committee on platform and resolutions; and by the chairman of that committee, senator fairbanks, i was made a member of the sub-committee that drafted the platform. at the first meeting of the sub-committee, the ohio member, senator j.b. foraker, submitted the draft of a platform that had been prepared at washington which was made the basis of quite a lengthy and interesting discussion. this discussion developed the fact that the washington draft was not at all satisfactory to a majority of the sub-committee. the new york member, hon. l.e. quigg, was especially pronounced in his objections, not so much to what was declared, but to the manner and form in which the declarations were made. in his opinion, the principles of the party were not set forth in the washington draft in language that would make them clearly understood and easily comprehended by the reading public. after every member who desired to speak had done so, it was agreed that those who desired amendments, changes, or additions should submit the same in writing, and that these with the washington draft be turned over to mr. quigg as a sub-committee of one. a platform in harmony with the views expressed by members of the committee would then be carefully prepared, and the same submitted to the sub-committee at an adjourned meeting to be held at an early hour the next morning. the only amendment suggested by me was one, the purpose of which was to express more clearly the attitude of the party with reference to the enforcement of the war amendments to the national constitution. when the sub-committee met the next morning mr. quigg submitted an entirely new draft, which he had prepared the afternoon and night before, using the washington draft and the amendments submitted by members of the sub-committee as the basis of what he had done. his draft proved to be so satisfactory to the sub-committee that it was accepted and adopted with very slight modifications. mr. quigg seemed to have been very careful in the preparation of his draft, not only giving expression to the views of the sub-committee, which had been developed in the discussion, and as had been set forth in the suggested amendments referred to him, but the manner and form of expression used by him impressed the committee as being a decided improvement upon the washington draft, although the subject matter in both drafts was substantially the same. mr. quigg's draft, with very slight changes and alterations, was not only accepted and adopted, but he was the recipient of the thanks of the other members for the excellent manner in which he had discharged the important duty that had been assigned him. the full committee was then convened by which the unanimous report of the sub-committee was adopted without opposition and without change. but i had anticipated a renewal of the effort to change the basis of representation in future national republican conventions, and had, therefore, made some little mental preparation to take a leading part in opposition to its adoption. such a proposition had been submitted at nearly every national convention of the party since . that a similar effort would be made at this convention i had good reasons to believe. in this i was not mistaken. it was introduced by senator quay, of pennsylvania. his proposition, like the others, was that in the future delegates to the national convention should be apportioned among the different states upon the basis of the votes polled for the party candidates at the last preceding national election, instead of upon the basis of the states' representation in congress. on the first view this proposition seems to be both reasonable and fair, but it cannot stand the test of an intelligent analysis. as soon as i sought and secured the recognition of the chair, i offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute, declaring it to be the judgment of the party that in all states in which there had been an evasion of the fifteenth amendment by state action, that there should be a reduction in the representation in congress from such state or states in the manner and for the purpose expressed in the fourteenth amendment. a point of order was immediately made against the amendment, but the occupant of the chair, senator lodge, stated that he would hold his decision in reserve pending an explanation by me of the amendment i had submitted. at that time a suggestion was made that the whole subject be postponed until the next day, to which i assented, and then yielded the floor. but it was not again called up, hence my speech was never delivered. since it may be of some interest to the reader to get an idea of what i had in mind, i shall here set down in the main what i intended to say on that occasion had the opportunity been presented. "mr. chairman, while there may be some doubt, in a parliamentary sense, as to whether or not the amendment i have submitted can be entertained as a substitute for the original proposition, it cannot be denied that it relates to the same subject matter. i hope, therefore, that the convention will have an opportunity in some way of voting upon it in lieu of the one that has been presented by the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania. it is a well-known fact that under the present system each state is entitled to double the number of delegates that it has senators and representatives in congress. the plan now proposed is that the apportionment in future conventions be based upon the number of votes polled for the candidates of the party at the last preceding national election, according to what is known as the 'official returns,' although it may be a fact, as is unquestionably true in some states, that the 'official returns' may not be free from fraud,--that they may represent in some instances not the actual party vote polled, but the party vote counted, certified, and returned. this plan, therefore, means that representation from some states in future national republican conventions will not be based upon republican strength, nor determined by republican votes, but will be fixed and determined by democratic election officials. in other words, democrats, and not republicans, will fix and determine in a large measure, representation in future conventions of the republican party. "the proposed change is predicated upon the assumption that elections are fair and returns are honest in all the states at each and every national election. if that were true the difference in the representation from the several states would be unimportant and immaterial, even under the proposed change, hence there would be no occasion for the change. the fact that this assumption is not true furnishes the basis for the alleged inequality in representation, and the apparent necessity for the change proposed. in addition to this it is a well-known fact that in several of the southern states,--my own, mississippi, among the number,--the fifteenth amendment to the national constitution has been practically nullified, and that the colored men in such states have been as effectually disfranchised as if the fifteenth amendment were not a part of the organic law of the land. if the plan that is now proposed by the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania should be adopted, the national republican party by accepting them and making them the basis of representation in future national conventions of the party will have thereby placed itself on record as having given its sanction to the questionable methods by which these results have been accomplished. i frankly confess that the plan i have presented is based upon the humiliating confession that the government is without power under the constitution as construed by the supreme court to effectually enforce the war amendments; and that in consequence thereof nothing is left to be done but to fall back upon the plan prescribed by the fourteenth amendment, which is to reduce the representation in congress from such states in the manner and for the purposes therein stated. "it is true that the fourteenth amendment having been proposed and submitted prior to the fifteenth, the provision with reference to reduction of representation in congress was predicated upon the assumption that the different states could then legally make race or color a ground of discrimination in prescribing the qualification of electors. still, it occurs to me that if a state could be thus punished for doing that which it had a legal right to do, the same punishment can now be inflicted for doing that which it can no longer legally do. if the plan proposed by the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania should be adopted, the republican party will not only have placed itself on record as having given its sanction to the methods by which these results will have been accomplished, but it will be notice to the different states, north as well as south, that any of them that may see fit to take advantage of their own wrongs will have no occasion to fear any future punishment being inflicted upon the state for so doing. under the plan thus proposed the state that may thus take advantage of its own wrongs will not only receive no punishment in the reduction of its representation in congress, but its methods and practices will have been approved and adopted by the republican party. "on the other hand, the plan i propose is one which is equivalent to a notice to the different states that, while the national government may not be able to enforce by appropriate legislation the war amendments to the constitution, the legislative department of the government can prevent a state from taking advantage of its own wrongs, through the infliction of a punishment upon the state in the reduction of its representation in congress. since representation in the national convention is based upon the states' representation in congress, it will be seen that if the representation in congress from such states should be reduced, it would result in a reduction in the representation from such states in the national convention. the main purpose, therefore, which the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania seems to have in view will have been practically accomplished, but in a far different and in a much less objectionable way. it will be some satisfaction to southern republicans, who are denied access to the ballot-box through an evasion of the national constitution, to know that if they are to be denied a voice in future national conventions of the party to which they belong, because they are unable to make their votes effective at the ballot-box, the party or state by which they are thus wronged will not be allowed to take advantage of, and enjoy the fruits thereof. they will at least have the satisfaction of knowing that if they cannot vote themselves, others cannot vote for them, and thus appropriate to themselves the increased representation in congress and in the electoral college to which the state is entitled, based upon their representative strength. "the strongest point in favor of this proposed change, as i have endeavored to show, grows out of the apparent inequality in representation in the national convention due to the denial of access to the ballot-box to republicans through an evasion of the fifteenth amendment. i cannot believe, mr. chairman, that this convention can be induced to favorably consider any proposition, the effect of which will be to sanction and approve the questionable methods by which the colored republicans in several southern states have been disfranchised. i cannot believe that this convention can be induced to favorably consider any proposition, the effect of which will be the sending of a message of sympathy and encouragement to the democrats of north carolina, who are now engaged in an effort to disfranchise the colored republicans of that state. "the colored americans ask no special favors as a class,--and no special protection as a race. all they ask and insist upon is equal civil and political rights, and a voice in the government under which they live, and to which they owe allegiance, and for the support of which they are taxed. they feel that they are entitled to such consideration and treatment, not as a matter of favor but as a matter of right. they came to the rescue of their country when its flag was trailing in the dust of treason and rebellion, and freely watered the tree of liberty with the precious and patriotic blood that flowed from their loyal veins. "there sits upon the floor of this convention to-day a distinguished gentleman whose name is upon the lips of every patriotic american citizen. the gentleman to whom i refer, is the member from the great and important state of new york, theodore roosevelt, who, as the brave leader of the american troops, led the charge upon san juan hill. in following the lead of that gallant officer on that momentous occasion, the colored american again vindicated his right to a voice in the government of his country. in his devotion to the cause of liberty and justice the colored american has shown that he was not only willing and ready at any and all times to sacrifice his life upon the altar of his own country, but that he is also willing to fight side by side with his white american brother in an effort to plant the tree of liberty upon a foreign soil. must it now be said, that, in spite of all this, the colored american finds himself without a home, without a country, without friends, and even without a party? god forbid! "mr. chairman, the colored american has been taught to believe that when all other parties and organizations are against him, he can always look with hope and encouragement to conventions of the republican party. must that hope now be destroyed? must he now be made to feel and to realize the unpleasant fact that, as an american citizen, his ambition, his hopes and his aspirations are to be buried beneath the sod of disappointment and despair? mr. chairman, the achievements of the republican party as the friend and champion of equal civil and political rights for all classes of american citizens, constitute one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of that grand and magnificent organization. must that chapter now be blotted out? are you now prepared to confess that in these grand and glorious achievements the party made a grave mistake? "it was a most beautiful and imposing scene that took place yesterday when a number of venerable men who took part in the organization of the republican party, occupied seats upon the platform of this convention. the presence of those men brought to mind pleasant and agreeable recollections of the past. until the republican party was organized, the middle classes, the laboring people, the oppressed and the slave had no channel through which to reach the bar of public opinion. the democratic party was controlled by the slave oligarchy of the south, whilst the whig party had not the courage of its convictions. the republican party came to the front with a determination to secure, if possible, freedom for the slave, liberty for the oppressed, and justice and fair play for all classes and races of our population. that its efforts in these directions have not been wholly in vain are among the most glorious and brilliant achievements that will constitute a most important part of the history of our country; for it had been the unmistakable determination of that party to make this beautiful country of ours in truth and in fact the land of the free and the home of the brave. surely it is not your purpose now to reverse and undo any part of the grand and noble work that has been so successfully and so well done along these lines. "and yet that is just what you will have done if you adopt the proposition presented by the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania. while i do not assert and cannot believe that such was or is the purpose and desire of the author of that proposition, yet no one that will give the matter careful consideration can fail to see that the effect of it will be to undo, in part at least, what the republican party has accomplished since its organization. as a colored republican, speaking in behalf of that class of our fellow citizens who honor and revere the republican party for what it has accomplished in the past, i feel that i have a right to appeal to you not to cloud the magnificent record which this grand organization has made. so far as the colored man is concerned, you found him a slave; you have made him a free man. you found him a serf; you have made him a sovereign. you found him a dependent menial; you have made him a soldier. i therefore appeal to the members of this convention, in the name of the history of the republican party, and in behalf of justice and fair-play, to vote down this unjust, unfair, unwise and unnecessary proposition which has been presented by the distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania." chapter xxx argument on proposed change of representation in convention in addition to the reasons already given there are many others that might be urged against the proposed change of representation. in the first place, the present plan is based upon the sound and stable principle upon which the government was organized. representation in congress is not based upon votes or voters, but upon population. the same is true of the different state legislatures. all political parties,--or, at any rate, the principal ones,--have adopted the same system in the make-up of their state and national conventions. the membership of the national convention being based upon each state's representation in congress, the state conventions, with perhaps a few exceptions, are based upon the representation in the state legislatures from each county, parish, or other civil division. it is the fairest, safest, best, and most equitable plan that can be devised or adopted. under this plan or system, no state, section or locality can gain or lose representation in any party convention through the application of extraneous or questionable methods, either by the action of the government or of a political party. the representation in congress and in the different state legislatures, which is based upon population, fixes the representation from each state in the different national conventions and in many of the state conventions. any other plan or system,--especially that which is based upon the number of votes cast for the candidates of the party as officially ascertained and declared,--would have a tendency to work serious injustice to certain states and sections. in fact, it would have a tendency to sectionalize the party by which the change is made. under the present system, for instance, pennsylvania and texas have the same representation in a national democratic convention that they have in a national republican convention, although one is usually republican in national elections and the other democratic. and why should not the representation from those states be the same in both conventions? why should texas, because it is believed to be safely democratic, have more power and influence in a democratic convention on that account than the republican state of pennsylvania? the answer may be because one is a democratic and the other a republican state--because one can be relied upon to give its electoral votes to the candidates of the democratic party while the other cannot. but this is not in harmony with our governmental system. representation in congress being based upon population, every state, section and locality has its relative weight and influence in the government in accordance with the number of its inhabitants. that this is the correct principle will not be seriously questioned when it is carefully considered. what is true of pennsylvania and texas in a national democratic convention is equally true of the same states in a national republican convention, and for the same reasons. the argument that pennsylvania should have relatively a larger representation in a national republican convention than texas, because the former is reliably republican while the latter is hopelessly democratic, is just as fallacious in this case as in the other. but it is said that delegates from states that cannot contribute to the success of the ticket should not have a potential voice in nominating a ticket that other states must be depended upon to elect. then why not exclude them altogether, and also those from the territories and the district of columbia? the argument is unsound, and unreasonable; a state may be reliably republican at one election and yet go democratic at the next. in general grant, the republican candidate for president, carried nearly every state in the union, in the south as well as in the north. four years later governor hayes, the republican candidate for president, came within one vote of being defeated in the electoral college; and even then his election was made possible only through the decision of the electoral commission. in general garfield, the republican candidate for president, carried new york, and was elected; while four years later mr. blaine, the candidate of the same party, lost it and was defeated. in harrison, the republican presidential candidate, carried new york, and was elected; four years later he not only lost new york, but also such important states as indiana and illinois, and came within a few votes of losing ohio. this was due to a slump in the republican vote throughout the country, which would have made a very radical change in the national convention of if the apportionment of delegates to that convention had been based upon the votes cast for harrison in . while mckinley, the republican presidential candidate, was elected by a large majority in , he lost such important western states as kansas, nebraska, colorado, montana, washington and nevada. while he was reëlected four years later by an increased majority, he again lost some of the same states. while roosevelt, the republican presidential candidate in , carried every state that mckinley carried in , and several others besides, mr. bryan, the democratic candidate in , though defeated by a large majority, regained some of the western states that roosevelt carried in ,--notably his own state of nebraska. there was a time when such states as delaware, maryland, west virginia, kentucky, missouri, and tennessee were as safely democratic as texas and georgia. will anyone assert that such is true of them now? there also was a time when such states as nebraska, colorado and nevada were as reliably republican as pennsylvania and vermont. is that true of them now? in addition to these, taking into consideration important elections that have been held since , the republicans cannot absolutely rely upon the support of such states as massachusetts, maine, connecticut, new york, new jersey, indiana, illinois, kansas, and even ohio. even the strong republican state of pennsylvania has occasionally gone democratic in what is called an "off year." other republican states,--or states that usually go republican,--have gone democratic when it was not an off year,--illinois, for instance, in . all of this goes to prove how unreliable, unsafe, unsatisfactory, unjust and unfair would be the change in the basis of representation as thus proposed. another argument in support of the proposed change is that delegates from democratic states are, as a rule, controlled by the administration then in power, if republican, and that such delegates can be depended upon to support the administration candidate whoever he may be, regardless of merit, strength or availability. this argument, of course, is based upon the assumption that what is true of democratic states in this respect is not true of republican states. the slightest investigation will easily establish the fallacy of this assumption. the truth is that the federal office-holders--especially those holding appointive offices,--can, with a few exceptions, always be depended upon to support the administration candidate, whoever he may be. the only difference between the north and the south in this respect is that in some of the southern states, where but one party is allowed to exist,--the democratic party,--the republican office-holders can more easily manipulate and control the conventions of their party in such states. but that the office-holders of all sections constitute an important factor in the election of delegates to the national conventions will not be denied by those who are familiar with the facts, and are honest enough to admit them. for purposes of illustration we will take the national republican convention of , which nominated judge taft. it was known that judge taft was the man whose candidacy was supported by the administration. the proceedings of the convention revealed the fact that outside of five states that had what were called "favorite son" candidates of their own, there were perhaps not more than fifty votes in the whole convention that were opposed to the administration candidate, although it is more than probable that judge taft would not have been nominated but for the fact that he was the choice of the administration. i am sure no fair-minded person will assert that, in thus voting, the delegates from the democratic states were influenced by the administration, while those from republican states were not. it is not my purpose to assert or even intimate that any questionable methods were used to influence the election, or control the votes of the delegates in the interest of any one candidate. nothing of that sort was necessary, since human nature is the same the world over. that the office-holders should be loyal to the administration to which they belong is perfectly natural. that those who wish to become office-holders should be anxious to be on the winning side is also natural, and that, too, without regard to the locality or section in which they live. it is a fact, therefore, that up to no candidate has ever been nominated by a republican national convention who did not finally receive a sufficient number of votes from all sections of the country to make his nomination practically the choice of the party without regard to sectional lines. if, then, it be a fact that in , for instance, delegates to the national republican convention were elected and controlled through administration influences in the interest of any one candidate, such influences were no less potential in republican than in democratic states. outside of the administration candidate there were at that convention five very important states that presented candidates of their own. they were new york, indiana, illinois, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. that the delegation from each of said states were practically solid in the support of its "favorite son" was due largely to the wise decision of the managers of the administration candidate to concede to each of said "favorite sons" the delegation from his own state without a contest. but for this decision, which was wisely made in the interest of party harmony, no one of those "favorite sons" would have had the solid delegation from his own state. as it was, a large majority of the delegates from the five states named was not unfriendly to the administration candidate. these delegates voted for their "favorite sons" simply because they knew that in doing so they were not antagonizing the administration. there never was a time, therefore, when they could have been united upon any one candidate in opposition to the one that had at his back the powerful support of the administration. our government has reached that point in its growth, where it is not only possible, but comparatively easy, for an administration to secure the nomination of the one by whom it desires to be succeeded,--especially under the present system of electing delegates. it was in anticipation of this, and to prevent any one man from perpetuating himself in power, that washington established the precedent against a third successive term. if the advocates of this proposed change are to be believed, and if they wish to be consistent, they should include the national committee. the composition of that body is somewhat similar to that of the united states senate. in the senate nevada and delaware have the same representation as new york and pennsylvania. in the national committee each state, territory, and the district of columbia has one vote. if any change in the interest of reform is necessary, the national republican committee is the organization where it should first be made; for it often happens that that committee can not only shape the policy of the party but control the nomination as well,--especially when the result between opposing candidates is close and doubtful. in such a contest the candidate that has the support of a majority of the national committee has a decided advantage over his rivals for the nomination. if the result should be close that advantage will be more than likely to secure him the nomination. the national committee prepares the roll of the delegates to the convention, and, in doing so, it decides primarily every contested seat. if the contests thus decided should give any one candidate a majority, that majority will be sure to retain the advantage thus secured. it will thus be seen that if any change is necessary this is the place where it should first be made. it occurs to me that instead of changing the basis of representation the most effective remedy for the evils now complained of is to have the delegates to national conventions elected at popular primaries, instead of by state and district conventions. chapter xxxi comparison of bryan and cleveland it was upon the territory which now comprises the states of kansas and nebraska that the preliminary battles in the interest of freedom were successfully fought. this is especially true of that part of the territory which now comprises the state of kansas. but not only for that reason has that state occupied a prominent place before the public; other events of national importance have had their birth there. it was kansas that furnished one of the republican united state senators who voted against the conviction, of andrew johnson,--who had been impeached by the house of representatives for high crimes and misdemeanors in office,--and thus secured the president's acquittal. that state also furnished one of the most remarkable men that ever occupied a seat in the united states senate, john j. ingalls. i distinctly remember him as an able and brilliant young senator when,--in , under the leadership of senator george f. edmunds, of vermont,--he took a prominent part in the successful fight that was made in that body to secure the passage of the sumner civil rights bill. it was this fight that demonstrated his fitness for the position he subsequently occupied as one of the distinguished leaders on the republican side of the senate. he was a natural born orator, having a wonderful command of the english language; and, while he was somewhat superficial and not always logical, he never failed to be interesting, though he was seldom instructive. for severe satire and irony he had few equals and no superiors. it was on this account that no senator was anxious to get into a controversy with him. but for two unfortunate events in the career of john j. ingalls he would have filled a much more important position in the history of his country than it is now possible for the impartial historian to give him. kansas, unfortunately, proved to be a fertile field for the growth and development of that ephemeral organization known as the populist party,--a party that had secured a majority in the legislature that was to elect the successor to mr. ingalls. the senator evidently had great confidence in his own oratorical ability. he appeared to have conceived the idea that it was possible for him to make a speech on the floor of the senate that would insure his reëlection even by a populist legislature. in this,--as he soon found out, to his bitter disappointment,--he was mistaken. he no doubt came to the same conclusion that many of his friends and admirers had already come to, that in bidding for the support of the populists of his state he had made the mistake of his life. the impression he made upon the public mind was that he was devoid of principle, and that he was willing to sacrifice his own party upon the altar of his ambition. but it was neither known nor suspected that he contemplated making a bid for the support of the populist members of the legislature until he delivered his speech. when, therefore, it was announced that senator ingalls would address the senate on a certain day, he was greeted, as on previous occasions, with a large audience. but this was the first time that his hearers had been sadly disappointed. this was due more to what was said than how it was said. then it was plain to those who heard him that his heart was not in what he was saying; hence the speech was devoid of that fiery eloquence which on previous occasions had charmed and electrified his hearers. but, after that speech, when one of his auditors would ask another what he thought of it, the reply invariably was a groan of disappointment. when the immense crowd dispersed at the conclusion of the speech instead of smiling faces and pleasing countenances as on previous occasions, one could not help noticing marked evidences of disappointment in every face. the impression that had been made was, that it was an appeal to the populist members of the legislature of his state to return him to the senate, in exchange for which he was willing to turn his back upon the party which he was then serving. it was almost equivalent to an open declaration of his willingness to identify himself with the populists, and champion their cause if they would reelect him to the seat he then occupied. from the effects of that fatal blunder the senator never recovered. another thing that lessened the distinguished orator and senator in the estimation of the public was his radically changed attitude upon questions affecting the political, social and industrial status of the colored americans. from a brilliant and eloquent champion and defender of their civil and political rights he became one of their most severe critics. from his latest utterances upon that subject it was clear to those who heard what he said that the colored americans merited nothing that had been said and done in their behalf, but nearly everything that had been said and done against them. why there had been such a radical change in his attitude upon that subject, has been an inexplicable mystery. the only explanation that i have heard from the lips of some of his former friends and admirers was that it was in the nature of an experiment,--the expectation being that it would give him a sensational fame throughout the country, which could be utilized to his financial advantage upon his retirement to private life. this explanation would have been rejected without serious consideration, but for the fact that some others have pursued the same course for the same reason, and their hopes have been, in a large measure, realized. in his bid for the support of the populist members of the legislature of his state the senator had established the fact that he did not have very strong convictions upon any subject, and that those he had could be easily changed to suit the times and the occasion. nebraska, though not very strong politically, is one of the most important states in the west. it has sent a number of men to the front who have made an impression upon the public mind. for many years no state in the union was more reliably republican than nebraska. a large majority of its voters, i am sure, are not now in harmony with the democratic party,--nor have they ever been so,--but it is true, at the same time, that thousands of those who for many years acted with the republican party, and voted for its candidates, have become alienated, thus making republican success at any election in the state close and doubtful, and that, too, regardless of the merits of opposing candidates or the platform declarations of opposing parties. for this remarkable change there must be a good and sufficient reason. the state in its early history was sparsely populated, and stood very much in need of railroads for the development of its resources. in those days, railroads were very popular, and the people were in a mood to offer liberal inducements to those who would raise the means to furnish them with the necessary transportation facilities. for the same reason the federal government made valuable concessions in the interest of railroad construction in the western states. since the railroads, thus aided, were in a large measure the creatures of the state and nation they thereby acquired an interest in the administration of the national and state governments,--especially those of the state,--that they otherwise would not have had. the construction of the roads went on at such a rapid rate that they soon acquired such a power and influence in the administration of the state government that the people looked upon it as being dangerous to their liberties. in fact it was claimed,--a claim, no doubt, largely supported by the facts,--that the state government was actually dominated by railroad influence. no one, it was said, could be elected or appointed to an important office who was not acceptable to the railroad interests. this state of affairs produced a revulsion among the common people; thousands of whom decided that they would vote against the republican party, which was then,--as it had been for many years,--in control of the state government because of its having allowed such a state of affairs to be brought about. edward rosewater, editor and proprietor of the omaha _bee_, the most influential republican paper in the state, took sides against the railroad interests. the result was that nebraska, for the first time, elected a democratic governor. but many of the republicans who acted with the democrats on that occasion could not see their way clear to remain in that party, though some of them were not willing to return to the ranks of the republicans. so they decided to cast their lot with the populist party, which in the meantime had made its appearance upon the field of political activity. while the democratic party remained the minority party in the state, it was seldom that the republicans could poll more votes than the democrats and populists combined, and since, under the then leadership of the democratic party in the state, that party and the populist stood practically for the same things, it was not difficult to bring about fusion of the two parties against the republicans. this gave the fusionists control of the state government for a number of years. in the meantime a brilliant, eloquent and talented young man had come upon the stage of political activity. this man was william j. bryan. his first entry into public life was his election to congress as a democrat from a republican district. while a member of the house he made a speech on the tariff question which gave him national fame. as a speaker william jennings bryan has always been plausible and captivating. he can clothe his thoughts in such beautiful and eloquent language that he seldom fails to make a favorable impression upon those who hear him. it was this wonderful faculty that secured him his first nomination for the presidency. his name was hardly thought of in connection with the nomination by that convention. in fact his right to a seat as a member of the convention was disputed and contested. but, after he had delivered his cross of gold and crown of thorns speech before that body, he carried the convention by storm. his nomination was then a foregone conclusion. it was under the leadership and chiefly through the influence of mr. bryan that the fusion between the democrats and the populists of his state was brought about. but for his advocacy of free silver and his affiliation with the populists, he might have reached the goal of his ambition. the result of the election showed that while he commanded and received the support of not less than eighty per cent of his own party, the remaining twenty per cent proved to be strong enough to insure his defeat. in fact the business interests of the country were almost solid against him; and it is safe to say that no man can ever hope to become president of the united states who cannot at least divide the substantial and solid business interests. the business men were apprehensive that the election of mr. bryan would bring about financial and commercial disaster, hence they, almost regardless of previous party affiliations, practically united in an effort to defeat him. the state of nebraska, therefore, will always occupy a prominent place in the history of the country, because,--though young, small, and politically weak,--it has produced the most remarkable man of whom the democratic party can boast. it has also produced a number of very able men on the republican side, such men, for instance, as c.f. manderson, and john m. thurston,--who both served the state in the united states senate, and made brilliant records. but mr. bryan had an advantage over these two when he stood before a popular audience in nebraska, because they had been identified with the railroad interests, while he had not. that mr. bryan is a strong man and has a wonderful hold upon his party is shown by the fact that he has been three times the party candidate for the presidency. while it may be true that he can never be elected to the presidency, it is no doubt equally true that while he lives no other democrat can become president who is not acceptable to him and to his friends. in one respect at least, mr. cleveland and mr. bryan were very much alike. as already stated, mr. bryan is a democrat. the same was true of mr. cleveland; and yet they were as radically different as it is possible for two men to be. they were not only different in temperament and disposition, but also in their views and convictions upon public questions,--at least, so far as the public is informed,--with the possible exception of the tariff. there was another question that came to the front after the spanish american war,--the question of "imperialism,"--upon which they may have been in accord; but this is not positively known to be a fact. indeed, the tariff is such a complicated subject that they may not have been in perfect accord even on that. mr. cleveland was elected president in upon a platform pledged to a tariff for revenue only. the democrats had a majority in both houses of congress; but when that majority passed a tariff bill, it fell so far short of mr. cleveland's idea of a tariff for revenue only that he not only denounced it in strong language, but refused to sign it. whether or not mr. bryan was with the president or with the democratic majority in congress in that fight is not known; but, judging from his previous public utterances upon the subject, it is to be presumed that he was in accord with the president. it is claimed by the friends and admirers of both mr. cleveland and mr. bryan that each could be truly called a jeffersonian democrat; which means a strong advocate and defender of what is called states rights, a doctrine on which is based one of the principal differences between the republican and democratic parties. yet president cleveland did not hesitate to use the military force of the government to suppress domestic violence within the boundaries of a state, and that too against the protest of the governor of the state, for the alleged reason that such action was necessary to prevent the interruption of the carrying of the united states mail. mr. bryan's views upon the same subject appear to be sufficiently elastic to justify the national government, in his opinion, in becoming the owner and operator of the principal railroads of the country. his views along those lines are so far in advance of those of his party that he was obliged, for reasons of political expediency and party exigency, to hold them in abeyance during the presidential campaign of . jeffersonian democracy, therefore, seems now to be nothing more than a meaningless form of expression. chapter xxxii the solid south, past and present. future of the republican party to turn again to the south. this section has been a fertile field for political experimental purposes by successive republican administrations, ever since the second administration of president grant. the solid south, so-called, has been a serious menace to the peace and prosperity of the country. how to bring about such a condition of affairs as would do away with the supposed necessity for its continuance has been the problem, the solution of which has been the cause of political experiments. president hayes was the first to try the experiment of appointing democrats to many of the most important offices, hoping that the solution would thus be found. but he was not given credit for honest motives in doing so, for the reason that the public was impressed with the belief that such action on his part was one of the conditions upon which he was allowed to be peaceably inaugurated. at any rate the experiment was a complete failure, hence, so far as the more important offices were concerned, that policy was not continued by republican administrations that came into power subsequent to the hayes administration, and prior to that of taft's. i do not mean to say that no democrats were appointed to important offices at the south by the administrations referred to, but such appointments were not made with the belief or expectation that they would contribute to a solution of the problem that was involved in what was known as the solid south. political and social conditions in that section of the country are such that the appointment to some of the federal offices of men who are not identified with the republican party is inevitable. the impression that the writer desires to make upon the mind of the reader is that, between the administration of hayes and that of taft no republican administrations made such appointments with the expectation that they would contribute to a breaking up of the solid south. president roosevelt tried the experiment of offering encouragement and inducements in that direction to what was known as the gold-standard democrats, but even that was barren of satisfactory results. president taft seems to be the only republican president since mr. hayes who has allowed himself to labor under the delusion that the desired result could be accomplished through the use and distribution of federal patronage. the chief mistake on the part of those who thus believe, and who act in accordance with that belief, grows out of a serious lack of information about the actual situation. in the first place their action is based upon the assumption that the solid south,--or what remains of it,--is an outgrowth of an honest expression of the wishes of the people of that section, whereas, in point of fact, the masses had very little to do with bringing about present conditions and know less about them. those conditions are not due primarily to the fact that colored men are intimidated by white men, but that white men are intimidated by the democratic party. they are not due primarily to the fact that colored men are disfranchised, but that white men are prevented from giving effective expression to their honest political opinions and convictions. the disfranchisement of the colored men is one of the results growing out of those conditions, which would not and could not exist if there were absolute freedom of thought and action in political matters among the white people. the only part that the so-called race question plays in this business is that it is used as a pretext to justify the coercive and proscriptive methods thus used. the fact that the colored man is disfranchised and has no voice in the creation and administration of the government under which he lives and by which he is taxed does not change the situation in this respect. his presence,--whether he can vote or not,--furnishes the occasion for the continuance of such methods, and, as long as intelligent persons, especially at the north and particularly in the republican party, can be thus fooled and deceived they will not be discontinued. the announcement of president taft's southern policy, therefore, was received by the present leaders of the democratic party at the south with satisfaction and delight, not on account of the official recognition that members of their party were to receive, for that was of secondary importance, but on account of the fact that they could clearly see that their contention about the so-called race question was thus given a national sanction, which would have the effect of making that question serve them for several more presidential campaigns. it was giving a new market value to this "watered stock," from which they would derive political dividends for a much longer period than they otherwise would. they could thus see to their unbounded glee that if a man of president taft's intelligence and experience could thus be deceived as to conditions at the south, they would not have very much difficulty in deceiving others who were not believed to be so well informed. to solve this problem, therefore, the disposition of the federal patronage will cut a very small figure. the patronage question is not half so important, in a political or party sense, as many have been led to believe. it really makes very little difference by whom the few offices are held, whether they be all democrats, all republicans, some white, some colored, provided they be honest, capable, and efficient for political, personal or party reasons some feeling may be created, and some prejudice may be aroused on account of the appointment of a certain person to an office; but if no attention should be paid to it, and the fact should be developed that the duties of the same are being discharged in a creditable and satisfactory manner the public will soon forget all about it. the fact remains, however, that the disposition of the federal patronage will not produce the slightest change in the political situation in such localities. if a national republican administration should refuse to appoint a colored man, for instance, to any office in any one of the southern states for the alleged reason that it might be objectionable to the white people of the community,--and therefore might have a tendency to prevent white men from coming into the republican party,--at the very next election in that community the fact would be demonstrated that the republican party had not gained and that the democratic party had not lost a single vote as a result thereof. the reason for this result would be in the first place that the excuse given was insincere and untrue, and in the second place, because the incumbent of the office, whoever he might be, would produce no effect whatsoever in the local situation in consequence of his appointment to the office and his acceptance of it. if there should be any change at all in the situation it would doubtless be to the detriment of the republican party; for there would, no doubt, be some who would be disposed to resent what would seem to them to be political or party ingratitude. so far as the colored republicans are concerned they have been in the past, and must be in the future, nothing more than party allies. they have never dominated a state, nor have they controlled the republican organization of any state to the exclusion of the white men thereof. they have simply been the allies of white men who could be induced to come forward and assume the leadership. this is all they have been in the past; it is all they desire to be in the future. they are perfectly willing to follow where others lead provided those others lead wisely and in the right direction. all they ask, desire and insist upon is to be recognized as political allies upon terms of equality and to have a voice in the councils of the party of their choice and in the creation and administration of the government under which they live, and by which they are taxed, and also a fair and reasonable recognition as a result of party success, based, all things else being equal, upon merit, fitness, ability and capacity. even in states where it is possible for them to wield a sufficient influence to be potential in party conventions, and to help shape the policy and select the candidates of that party, they never fail to support the strongest and best men among the white members of the organization. if it be true that they were sometimes the victims of misplaced confidence, it cannot, and will not, be denied that the same is equally true of white men of far more experience in such matters. if there is ever to be again, as there once was, a strong and substantial republican party at the south, or a party by any other name that will openly oppose the ruling oligarchy of that section,--as i have every reason to believe will eventually take place,--it will not be through the disposition of federal patronage, but in consequence of the acceptance by the people of that section of the principles and policies for which the national organization stands. for the accomplishment of this purpose and for the attainment of this end time is the most important factor. questionable methods that have been used to hold in abeyance the advancing civilization of the age will eventually be overcome and effectually destroyed. the wheels of progress, of intelligence, and of right cannot and will not move backwards, but will go forward in spite of all that can be said and done. in the mean time the exercise of patience, forbearance, and good judgment are all that will be required. another fact which seems to be overlooked by many is that the so-called solid south of to-day is not the menace to the country that it was between and . during that period the solid south included the states of delaware, maryland, west virginia, kentucky, and missouri. those states at that time were as reliably democratic as texas and georgia. such does not seem to be true of them now, and yet i venture the assertion that the disposition of the federal patronage in them had very little, if anything, to do with bringing about the change. what has been done and is being done in those states can be done in others that are located south of them. as strong as the republican party is there is one thing it cannot afford to do, and that is to encourage or tolerate the drawing of the race or color line in any efforts that may be made to break up and dissolve what now remains of the solid south. one of the cardinal principles and doctrines of the republican party,--the principle that has, more than any other, secured for it the loyal and consistent support of those who represent the moral sentiment of the country,--is its bold and aggressive advocacy and defense of liberty, justice, and equal civil and political rights for all classes of american citizens. from that grand and noble position it cannot afford to descend in an effort to find new and doubtful allies. if it should in an evil moment allow itself to make such a grave blunder, such a criminal mistake, it will thereby forfeit the confidence and support of the major part of those upon whom in the past it has relied,--and never in vain,--for its continuance in power. there is nothing in the situation that would justify the experiment, even if it were thought that a little temporary and local advantage would be secured thereby. the fifteenth amendment to the national constitution was not intended to confer suffrage upon any particular race or class of persons, but merely to place a limit upon the national government and that of the several states in prescribing the qualifications of electors. whatever power the national or any state government may have had in prescribing the qualification of electors prior to the ratification of the fifteenth amendment it still has, save that it cannot legally and constitutionally make race or color a ground of disqualification. in other words, whatever qualifications may be prescribed and fixed as a condition precedent to voting, must be applicable to white and colored alike. a few states, under the false plea of political necessity, have resorted to certain schemes of doubtful constitutionality, for the sole purpose of evading this plain provision of the national constitution. they may stand for a while, but, even if they could stand indefinitely, that fact would furnish no excuse for the party,--a party that has stood so long, and fought so hard for liberty, justice, equal rights, and fair play,--to enter into a political alliance with any other party or faction which would involve a compromise or an abandonment of those grand and noble principles. the republican party is still in the prime and glory of its usefulness. it is still strong in the confidence and affections of the masses of the people, at least such was the case in , because it had not up to that time allowed itself to compromise or abandon,--so far as its platform utterances were concerned,--the fundamental principles which called it into existence and which caused it to be placed in control of the national government, and which have caused its continuance in power for so many years. whether or not the unwise and unfortunate southern policy inaugurated by the taft administration will result in disaster to the party is not and cannot be known at this writing. we can only hope. the end